a/n: in ch 36, I referred to the potion as 'heritage' potion rather than lineage…oops
Chapter 37 missing
Harry walked at a fast pace, eager to return to the comfort and security of the Tower. After muttering the password to the fat lady, he entered the Gryffindor common room.
"Hermione!" Hermione!" He yelled up the stairs that lead to the girls dormitory.
"Harry," she hissed. "What is it? Are you trying to wake everyone up?"
"Sorry," he muttered. "But I need your help."
"I gathered you needed something. What is it that couldn't wait until morning?" Hermione said as she led him to the chairs in front of the fireplace.
Harry set up privacy and silencing charms in case anyone wandered downstairs to see why he yelled. "I need to know how to brew the lineage potion."
"Why did something go wrong tonight? Is that why you aren't talking with your father right now? I would think that the two of you would have much to discuss. Of course, if you made a mistake with the potion I'm sure that Professor Snape will make time for the two of you to brew it again. Oh!" Hermione exclaimed, waving her arms frantically, alarm showing in her eyes. "Did it show that Snape isn't your dad? What-"
"Hermione," Harry said as he reached over to grasp her moving hands. "You're rambling. You never ramble; usually you leave that task to me or Ron."
Hermione took a deep breath to calm herself before continuing, "Sorry. Now tell me what happened tonight with Professor Snape and the potion."
"He had no intention of brewing the potion tonight."
"What! What about what he said in class?"
"You were right; he said a potion, meaning wolfsbane."
"Of course," Hermione stated, "the full moon's tomorrow."
"He knew I would assume he was referring to the lineage potion. I can't believe he did this to me. That he would deliberately hurt me like this. Well, it's obvious that he doesn't care to know the truth. That he doesn't care to know me."
"Harry, you can't jump to conclusions like that."
"Why not, Hermione? He has since the moment he met me."
Hermione was silent for a moment at the truth of his words. "Yes, perhaps he has, but that should show you how wrong it is."
"Hermione, can you honestly say that it looks like he wants to know the truth? Look at the facts," Harry said harshly. "Since my appearance started to change, he's assumed it was a joke, even after he found out about the adoptions and the charms; Very rarely does he volunteer information about himself, I usually have to ask; plus he keeps changing from hot to cold in his dealings with me, it's like he has to keep reminding himself to be nice to me. If he really wanted to know the truth, he wouldn't be acting like this."
"What are you going to do?"
"I don't care whether he wants to know the truth, I need to know. Even if he never acknowledges me or if we never have any type of relationship, I need proof that I'm not imagining all of this. I'm going to make the potion myself."
"But Har-"
"Hermione, I need to know. And I need your help. You're the one who mentioned the potion in the first place; I don't even know what book to look in."
"Most Potente Potions, of course."
"Of course," Harry replied with a smirk, making him resemble Professor Snape. "Okay, now that I know what book it's in I'll get the book from the library."
"Harry, it's in the restricted section remember? How are you going to get it?"
Harry grinned, "The invisibility cloak, of course."
"Of course," Hermione echoed, "But without a pass you can't take it out of the library, unless you want to get expelled."
"Who said anything about taking it out?" At Hermione's puzzled look, Harry explained, "I'll sneak into the library at night and use the copy charm that I learned over the summer. The library will be empty, so no one should hear the spell. Then I'll sneak back into the dorms with the copied pages. The copies should last long enough for me to brew the potion."
Hermione nodded, not able to believe that she didn't think of that herself. "Is that all you needed me for? To know what book it's in? And you couldn't wait until morning?"
"Please, Hermione, it's not like you were asleep. I mean, you were probably up studying," Harry said, laughing when Hermione started to blush. "No, that's not quite all I need you for, as I said, I will brew the potion myself, but I was wondering if you would read the instructions with me, just to make sure that I know what I'm doing."
"Of course, Harry. I still think you should wait and see if Professor Snape changes his mind about the potion, but I will help you in any way that I can."
Harry was in the common room telling Ron the details of last nights 'detention' and his conversation with Hermione when she walked in. "Harry, I've been thinking about our conversation from last night. Maybe you should talk to Professor Dumbledore."
"Why?" Ron asked.
"He might be able to help. If nothing else, he can make Professor Snape brew the potion."
"No. If he doesn't want to know, then it won't do me any good to have Dumbledore order him to brew it. I can handle him not knowing and hating me. I don't like it, but at least I can try to convince myself that he still think it's a joke and that he's not really rejecting me."
Hermione's voice was full of sympathy as she started to speak, "Har-"
"No, Hermione. You don't understand. Neither of you do. Both of you have parents that love you. Ron, you have a whole slew of relatives that care about you. I have no one. The Dursley's don't care, actually they would much prefer if it I was dead. This was my chance for a family. If he's knew the results of the potion and still hated me, knowing that I'm his son, well, I don't know what I would do, but that it would difficult to take."
"Harry, I'm sorry. You're right, I don't understand. And I can't imagine Professor Snape or anyone not wanting to know you especially as their child. I just wish there was something-" Hermione's voice trailed off as she got caught up in her thoughts.
"Hermione? Hermione, are you okay?" Harry asked.
"Sorry, I was just trying to think of something that might help us. Something that would let us know what Professor Snape is thinking and feeling."
"Veritaserum!" Ron cried.
"It's too difficult to brew, besides we would get into trouble for using it on a professor. We would need something else, something that couldn't easily be detected."
"Hermione, no. This isn't important enough to risk you getting expelled or having your prefect badge taken away, especially if you want to be head girl next year. Don't worry. I'll just stick to my plan of brewing the potion myself. As long as I know the truth, nothing else matters."
The three friends lapsed into silent as they left the common room and headed towards the great hall for breakfast.
"What are going to do while we are in Hogsmeade?" Hermione inquired, as she took a sip of her pumpkin juice.
Harry shrugged.
"You could always study and get a head start on some of your homework."
Ron snorted. "Study? I think not. It's Saturday, he deserves to do something fun. Something to take is mind off of the greasy-git and last nights detention. Besides, it's bad enough to study with friends, but alone? No way."
Hermione just shook her head at Ron's antics, before turning to ask Harry another question, "Are you sure you don't want anything from Hogsmeade?"
"Better yet," Ron asked, "Are you sure you don't want to sneak out and join us?"
Harry smiled, but didn't answer. Ron had been trying to convince him all week that he should use the invisibility cloak to sneak out to Hogsmeade and meet them at the Three Broomsticks.
"Ron!" Hermione exclaimed. "Not only will you get Harry in trouble, but you might be putting him in danger."
"Oh, come on, Hermione. If Voldemort want to attack, he'll attack, whether Harry's there or not. The only difference is that if Harry stays in the castle, he won't be there to stop him as usual. I still think that he needs to have some fun and forget about last night's detention."
"Ron, if an attack does happen, one: we'll know that Harry is safe and two: the DA will be there to help defend everyone."
"Hermione, everything we learned in DA Harry taught us, so he is obviously better than all of us at defense. Plus he is brilliant at spontaneous defense, if Voldemort attacks, he would be needed to direct everyone. We already know that the DA would listen to him if there was a real attack and I'm sure that most of the village would as well, considering he is Harry Potter."
"I'm not contesting the point that he would be valuable. All I'm saying is that I would feel much better knowing that Harry is safe in the castle."
Harry listened as his two friends debated his options for a few minutes before finally interrupting, "Hello…I'm still here, you know."
"Sorry, Harry," they murmured, Hermione looking embarrassed, while Ron just grinned.
"So, Harry, are you going to use the tunnel to sneak out?"
"Ron!"
"Guys, please don't start that again," Harry pleaded. "Both of you have some good points. I know that I would feel better if I knew that the two of you were safe in case of an attack, however, I also know that I don't like being here alone, left to wonder what might be happening in Hogsmeade. And if there was an attack and someone was hurt, I imagine that I would wonder if things might have turned out differently if I was there."
"Harry, I'm sure that we will be fine. Professor Dumbledore is bound to have some extra professors and aurors around town in case something happened. Besides, if he thought an attack was possible, I'm sure he would cancel the trip."
"If he's so well prepared and so confident that everything would be fine, then why won't he let me go?"
Hermione avoided Harry's eyes as she tried to think of an answer to his question answer.
"Doesn't matter," Harry said as he gathered his belongings in preparation to leave the great hall. "You guys just have fun today." He finished as he stood up and started walking towards the door.
"He never answered what he would be doing today, did he?" Ron asked as he looked from Harry's retreating figure and back to Hermione.
"No," Hermione whispered as she stared fearfully after Harry, hoping that he wouldn't try to sneak out.
"Severus. Severus!" Remus called as he ran into the potion lab.
"What is it, wolf?"
"Harry. Has Harry been down here today?"
"No, thank Merlin. Why would I want to spend anymore time with that boy?"
Remus ignored Severus's question and instead asked his own, "Have you seen him at all today?"
"No, and my day was quite enjoyable until you marched in."
"He's missing."
Severus's hand paused in mid-motion. "He probably took his invisibility cloak and snuck into Hogsmeade."
Remus paled. "He wouldn't do that. He knows that Dumbledore doesn't think it's safe for him to be away from the castle."
"Like the castle has been safe for him these last five years." Snape muttered quietly. "He did it in his third year when he didn't have permission from his uncle."
"Severus, you have to help me find him."
"Just find his friends, he won't be far behind."
"Hermione and Ron haven't seen him since this morning when he left the great hall during breakfast. None of the students have seen him."
"Lupin, they are probably covering for him, not wanting Gryffindor's Golden Boy to get into trouble."
"Severus! Stop it! This could be serious. No one has seen him since this morning. Not even your Slytherins. We asked all the students to return from Hogsmeade after a few students were found stunned."
The vial Severus was holding fell from his hands, crashing onto the floor, both men ignored the sound. "What happened?"
"I don't know. I left immediately to locate Harry."
"Have you checked with the students who stayed at the castle?" Severus asked as he headed towards the door, Remus close behind him.
"Yes. I've also checked his dorm, the infirmary, the library and the Great Hall. I've walked around the grounds and the lake and up to the astronomy tower. There is no sign of him. No one has seen him since breakfast."
"You've said that already, wolf," Snape sneered. "He seemed upset when he left the great hall during breakfast. No doube he'soff pouting somewhere, unaware of the chaos he's creating. Merlin help that boy if he did ignore the headmaster's orders and snuck off the castle grounds."
"After what happened in your class yesterday, I don't think he would be feeling up to sneaking out."
"Yesterday?" Severus asked, concerned and puzzled. How could something happen in his class without him knowing about it? "What happened yesterday?"
"He had some visions ab-"
"Visions? From the Dark Lord?" Snape interrupted.
"What?" Remus asked as he processed Severus's question. "No, these visions don't have anything to do with Voldemort."
"Hmm, I'll be the judge of that. What were these visions and why didn't he say anything?"
"I think he was just anxious about brewing the lineage potion with you. His anxiety seemed to play itself out in daydreams with various results, most of which he found unappealing."
Snape stared at Remus in shock before muttering, "The root of the rutabaga rhubarb."
"What?" Remus asked puzzled.
"It appears that the Golden Boy has an allergy to the root of the rutabaga rhubarb that was used in yesterday's potion."
"What makes you say that?"
"Because unlike some people, I know the possible side effects of various potion ingredients. It is very rare for someone to have a reaction to the root of the rutabaga rhubarb, it only effects about one in every ten thousand wizards, actually. It produces visions, hallucinogenic type visions, taking your current thoughts and gradually mixing them with some of your worse fears, similar to the boggart in that aspect. The more contact you have with the ingredient, the worse and more frightening the visions get."
"Why didn't you prevent it? How harmful is it?"
"As I said, the more contact, the worse things get. After enough exposure, a person's mind can be permanently ensnared in a world of their own making. There are some easy ways to prevent the reaction from occurring. If I knew that there was a possibility for one of my students to have this reaction, I would have mentioned it to them. Usually it is-" Severus' voice trailed off as he left his last sentence unfinished.
"What? Is it fatal? Is there a cure? Will Harry be okay?"
"No, it's not fatal. Mr. Potter didn't have enough exposure to the ingredient be harmed. In fact, I am rather confident that he was fine once he left the classroom."
"Then what were you going to say?" Remus demanded. "What don't you want me to know about this?"
"Nothing that concerns you, wolf. As I mentioned before this condition is rare and is usually hereditary. I had no reason to suspect that Potter was allergic to it, he has been exposed to that ingredient before."
"Hereditary?" Remus repeated, before scrutinizing the man in front of him. "Severus, do you have a reaction to it, as well?"
Severus didn't answer and avoided the wolf's eyes as he picked up the pace, exiting the castle.
"Do you? Severus, answer me!" The wolf asked. With the full moon being that night, the wolf did not take kindly to being ignored, especially when the topic involved his cub. "Sererus, answer me!"
"That is not your concern. Now, come on, we need to be looking for Harry. You check the forest; I'll check the grounds and the lake."
"You do," Remus stated calmly, quite the opposite of his demeanor from a few minutes ago. "Yet you didn't think he would have a problem. Why is that?"
Severus was silent as he stepped away from Remus and turned in the direction of the lake.
"You still don't believe that he is your son, do you? Or is it that you are afraid to believe?"
Except for the slight momentary stiffening of his shoulders, Severus gave no indication that he heard those questions as he started to walk away.
Where is Harry?
I'd like to thank everyone for reading & reviewing. I know I wrote that this story will be finished soon, and it will be, I figure, a nice even 40 chapters should do the trick (unless of coursed inspiration strikes and leads me in a totally different direction than what was originally planned…oh wait, I think that's already happened once or twice.
Was going to post this yesterday, but well, couldn't as you know. I then have been trying all day to download this file and after many hours it worked! Yeah!