Finally Harry will learn the past he has been denied. And also some things I have been forgetting have come in this chapter.
Well, onward to the chapter!
Finally Learning
The weeks passed by swiftly to both the pain and pleasure of the trio. Projects filled their day and the potion filled their nights, an enjoyable escape to the tiring exams. All was calm in their routine, until one day…
"There is something we had not expected happening…"
Harry, automatically thinking of the potion as it has been on his mind all day, leapt up and gripped the speaker by the shoulders, calling out "What? We have followed everything to the letter!"
It wasn't until then that he found out it was only Ginny in his grasp, not Hermione as he had thought. Though the other three students (Ginny, Luna, and Neville) were with them one hundred percent in wanting Sirius back, the trio never told them of the potion currently brewing in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Oh they knew the others would be disappointed in not trying out the potion, but they really didn't think it was necessary. It would crush them to find out that the potion didn't work, oh it would hurt the trio as much (maybe, and probably even more) but at least the trio was used to dedicating their lives to the cause and understanding the pain that came as well. It wouldn't do to crust their dreams while they still had them. The trio knew how hard it was to grow up before their time and wouldn't wish it on anyone.
"To what letter?" Ginny asked suspiciously.
"Oh you know…" Harry returned, seeing the close save he needed, "I was trying to quicken the… the…" he scanned the room desperately for a possible escape. Bingo! He leaned in to whisper, "Animagi transformation."
Ginny didn't let up in her suspicion, "Luna and I have that all covered. We'll start transforming in two day… I told you a week ago, and it was always known that you were in charge of the Sirius Project."
"Shush!" He grabbed her again and ran out the common room. There simply were too many people there that could overhear. What would happen if someone heard them talking about Sirius and contact one of the teachers? They were no help at all, telling them it was no use and to concentrate on their studies. What was the point of school if they were going into war? Wouldn't it be more beneficial to be teaching dueling and defense instead of the useless Herbology they were forced to endure. Only those going into potions or Herbology itself would ever need the skills learned in that class, so why waste the time. Or better yet, the student could contact the Ministry! They would double the security and make it impossible to get to Sirius's black cage of Death.
"What is this all about?" Ginny asked, hands on her hips in rebellion.
"I think we are close to getting a lead on the SP, if you catch my drift," he started walking away from any place known for people, "just don't want it to drop. It's just making me jumpy."
"You can't be jumpy, Harry," she laughed, "You're the Boy-Who-Lived!"
"Don't remind me…" he groaned.
Ginny's laugh died down as she saw that her comment caused so much misery. They stood in the middle of a corridor, students walking past them unnoticed, not knowing what to do. That was until Ginny's watch went off and she grabbed onto Harry's arm. "You have to come with me!"
Harry wasn't even given time to say, "Huh?" before he was dragged into the Room of Requirements (the door already made) to find Luna in the middle of a room filled of boxes. She kept placing miscellaneous objects in the boxes until she heard Ginny's return.
"Oh! You got him. Great," she bustled over to where the two stood, "Neville's coming with the others."
"What's going on?" Harry asked, clearly confused. He tried to enter more into the room but was stopped by Ginny's arm.
Luna cleared the area with a flick of her wand. In its place a soft mat was set and a magical wall caged in the area. Soon enough Neville came running in with Ron and Hermione in tow, each confused as he was. Without a word the three who looked as if they knew what they were doing pulled the other three into the closed off area and handed each a goblet of red liquid.
"Drink up," Ginny encouraged before downing her own glass. The other two complied with the order while the Gryffindor Trio followed with quick thoughts of uncertainty.
A swift pain encompassed his body, forcing Harry to his knees unwillingly. The very bones of his body cracked and healed skin and hair forming in odd places. Screams were caught in his thought as if it was unbearable to sound. But just as it came the pain ended and six thumps were heard as they each fell in exhaustion. He didn't even have the strength to open his eyes to see if the others were okay. But the more pressing matter of the strange weight attached to his arse. It was a feeling he couldn't imagine even possible but yet again, he had it. Just another thing to add to the wonderful world of Harry Potter.
"What the-?" Ron cried out, though if he didn't know better, it sounded as if it were a canine talking at the same time.
"Don't try to get up…" Ginny answered though the whole echo was apparent, "we aren't strong enough yet, and this is our fourth time! You've got to get used to it!"
The whole thing was quite confusing with his eyes closed, but by opening them he found it was a confusing ordeal indeed. Right in front of him was a red wolf and cat looking as if arguing to each other and from the sounds of it they were Ron and Ginny.
"We did it!" He found himself saying unexpectedly. Ron's wolf form turned towards him surprised and laughed in response. "I know! Can you believe it?"
"Actually…" Luna sounded so weird as an owl. "This potion only allows a practice transformation and will only last…" she looked to a clock they hadn't noticed before, "one minute now."
"That's it?"
"Yes, Ron, that's it. But I wouldn't try to stand yet; your bones are still weak." But Ron didn't listen to his little sister's reasoning and tried to stand… The first try was a failure but surprisingly he accomplished it in the next. The others encouraged by his success, tried as well. By the time their time was up (it actually lasted about three minutes instead of one) all six were able to stand though not very long.
"I wonder why we were able to stand before you three could." Hermione asked after the pain gave way.
"Maybe," Neville piped up, "it's because you guys are always fighting evil and stuff so your body is used to freak changes…"
"It's so crazy that it might just be it…"
For the rest of the day, the six students went through manuals and manuals of Animagi transformation and tried out their different techniques.
It wasn't until much later that Harry realized that he never heard what wasn't expected but passed it off thinking it wasn't important. He didn't know that in a few days, that incident would involve him to an uncomfortable degree.
Why they were forced to take Potions each year, they would probably never know. Unless they were going to be a Potions master, Auror, or a Healer, they wouldn't necessarily need the knowledge. It was something just to fill out the time. A very painful something to fill the time…
As the Sixth Year Gryffindor and this time actually Hufflepuffs trudged down to the dungeons, they prayed to whomever they believed in that Snape was actually in a good mood, and one that would be bode to them. Snape being in a good mood most likely meant a difficult test that even Hermione couldn't pass, even with the book.
Nothing seemed to be out of place within the classroom, though a pile of parchment loomed ominously over the vacant desk. It was most likely their test from the last week, graded perfectly to cause a weekend worth of devastation and just a bit of stomach pain. A failed test requires a ten inch paper on what they did wrong. Nervous mutterings came from the Hufflepuff side. Probably as they didn't normally have the Slytherins, their sworn enemy, right next to them they didn't have to worry about who saw their worried actions. Why were the Slytherins always partnered with the Gryffindors anyway? If it was to kill them off, it surprisingly hasn't worked… yet… Even the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaws were considered rivals, if that was even a word, but they were always paired together.
Just then the door slammed and the black bat of Slytherin House flew down the desk hallway. The room became dangerously silent; a dropped pin would only cause the clichéd echo. As the Potion's Master reached the desk, every head was bowed as they either glared or stared worriedly at their books.
"Turn your page to two hundred seventy-three." It was just like Snape to make them wait for their test grades while they sat in plain view. "If I see that anyone des not have the proper safety preparations out when they are handling the Amaro leaves I'll personally hand you over to the headmaster and make your life unbearable." The glare given caused everyone to scoot back in their seats to avoid eye contact. No one cared that he already made their lives miserable; it was quite evident that Snape was not in a good mood. "Well what is stopping you? Get going!"
The room erupted into sound as each student scrambled from their seat to collect the necessary supplies for the Flyang Potion, created by Michael Flyang to cure weak cases of the wizarding chicken pox.
The class passed quickly enough. A few bumps and bruises along the way, as could only be expected but Snape didn't go around to check the potions, just instructed for them to be bottled. They didn't doubt that the test grades had been so horrible for him to be so nice during class.
"Don't worry about it," Harry could hear Hermione muttering to Ron, "The potion is ready, for tonight."
No matter what happened with the tests, today would be a good day.
The Room of Requirement was the most detailed they ever needed that evening. It was a long list of requests made to create the perfect summoning room. Blood red draperies decorated the walls though there were no windows or offending sun. Silver candlesticks floated in the air carrying pure white candles illuminating the darkened void. There was no furniture to be used, no refreshments to consume, only a pedestal in the middle of the room raising a podium.
An ominous silence surrounded the sextet of Gryffindors and the Ravenclaw as they entered the room. Previous complaints about the class and the requirements needed for the room's setup disappeared as a mist in the wind. They knew what was in line. Silently they went into place, each at a point of a star on the floor, Harry on the pedestal. He placed a black fabric covered booklet on the podium which caused a seemingly loud echo to fill the room.
"We call upon the ancient lines that bind us to our ancestors."
"We ask you to show us the way," the other five answered Harry's opening statement in the calling.
"We ask for guidance in our quest to find the past."
"To show us through the void."
The book opened unhelped and the empty pages rustled in the unearthly wind. "We ask for the lines of my blood for questions of the past." From inside his robes, Harry took out a needle to prick his finger. The blood slowly dropped to the book, soaking into the pages at an unnatural rate. The wind had stopped but yet the pages continued to turn, back and forth as if from a tennis match, undecided on where to stop until…
As Harry watched his lone drop of blood spread out throughout the page visible to create lines of a family tree. He could see names that would be from his mother's side as the name "Evans" popped up quite a bit, down it went until it came to "Lillian Evans" and stopped. The line representing marriage went across just as it would have, but the line came down from the other side of the page. He did not pay attention to the new information as he had read many stories about the Potter's line from Sirius during his stay two summers ago until it ended. Skimming over to the end, he was confused to see the name "Snape" repeated over and over again instead of "Potter", but looking just next to "Lillian Evans" created a shock he couldn't imagine. Glaring at him was the words:
Severus Snape
The reason why this is late is quite simple. It was my little sister's birthday yesterday so I went out with her and her little friends for her party. The good news is that I have most of the next chapter ready, just need to write the transition between this one and the stuff I have already. The more I end up putting in, the longer it will probably take me… I just have to find out how to get Harry from the end of this chapter to the beginning of what I have… that might prove to be a problem…
HecateDeMort: Okay, you really are out of it… Sansone would be the name Lily gave Harry when he was born. It's his real name…
Wytil: Yeah, CalTech did hack into the scoreboard, which was so cool. I will be applying there but it's just that I don't want to get my hopes up… My grades aren't exactly the ones they are expecting and my PSAT scores weren't all that great either…