Disclaimer: I don't own the name Harry Potter or the characters. Need I say more?

Harry Potter and the Potion of Devil's Tears

Harry stared at the Pensieve, and for the first time he noticed the runes around the bowl; they were Nordic.

"Sir?" Harry asked.

"What?" Snape growled, his eyes studying Harry carefully.

"What do the runes say? On the Pensieve, I mean," Harry said, meeting Snape's gaze.

Snape studied Harry's face, then moved over to where the Pensieve sat. He picked it up, running a finger along the runes as he read.

"We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world," Snape recited.

With our thoughts, we make the world. Harry thought that Professor Snape was a less-than-likable person. Could it be that with everyone thinking this, it had indeed made him so? That if he were to give Snape the chance to really show who he was, that also would change the way Harry thought, and in doing so affect the world around him? What if Snape thought ill of Harry, and that in turn intensified the enmity between them. If he were to give Snape the opportunity to see him in a new light, wouldn't that change things as well? Harry pondered this, then looked up to meet Snape's eyes.

"Thank you, sir," Harry said, carefully gauging Snape's reaction.

Snape seemed slightly taken aback. Then his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Thank you for what?" he asked, clearly dubious of what Harry was saying.

"Thank you for saving my life, sir. That makes twice, with the Quidditch match in my first year," Harry still watching Snape's face.

Snape's face softened ever so slightly, then immediately switched back to suspicion again.

"Who told you about the Quidditch match?" he asked.

Harry frowned. "Quirrell. He said that he had been jinxing my broom, and that he would have gotten me off it if it hadn't been for you and your counter-curse." Harry grimaced. "I thought that you had been jinxing my broom. I'm sorry."

Now Snape's expression changed to one of masked surprise. Harry had thanked him, and apologized for thinking ill of him all in the same meeting.

"Forgiven," Snape said shortly, not betraying any other emotion on his face.

Now it was Harry's turn to register surprise. Snape had said something nice to Harry: the first time ever.

All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world.

What a truth, Harry thought to himself. He pulled out his wand.

"What do I do?" Harry asked.

Snape looked at him, then at the Pensieve. "You fix the memory of yesterday's Potion class in your head, then place your wand to your temple. If you are concentrating hard enough upon it, it will affix itself to your wand, enabling you to place it in the Pensieve. You will find that it requires similar concentration required to produce a Patronus."

Harry nodded, placing his wand to his temple. He concentrated as hard as he possibly could upon the memory of that Potions class, of his mind wandering, and of the botched potion…

He slowly pulled his wand away from his temple, and a silver gossamer strand came away, fixed to his wand and to his temple. He pulled it farther away, his wand hovering over the Pensieve. He gave a sharp tug on his wand, and the gossamer strand broke from his temple and fell, slowly, ponderously, into the Pensieve.

"Excellent," Snape said, with a slight trace of—was it admiration? He picked up a stopwatch and his wand from his desk. "After you, Mr. Potter."

Harry took a deep breath, and placed his wand in the Pensieve, stirring the contents. A picture of the Potions dungeon rose to the surface. Harry bent over, placing his nose in contact with the semi-liquid materiel that was Harry's thoughts.

The office lurched, and Harry tumbled head over heels into the Pensieve. He landed on his bottom, and threw out his arm and stump to prevent his head banging into the stone floor of his memory.

Snape suddenly dropped down through the ceiling of the dungeon, landing on his feet. He saw Harry sprawled on the floor. He offered his left hand, then glancing briefly at Harry's stump, offered his right hand instead.

Harry gave a smile in spite of himself, and took Snape's hand, hauling himself to his feet.

They were at the back of the dungeon. They both worked their way around to the table where Harry was just unpacking his potions text.

Snape took his wand and drew in the air. Fiery letters were left behind as he scrawled in insubstantial atmosphere.

Directions.

Harry gave another small smile. Snape was taking notes.

Harry walked around to the front of the desk and leaned on his right arm, watching himself work. Harry had to admit even he didn't look totally there; it was somewhat obvious that he was daydreaming.

That's how all the other famous witches and wizards discovered what they did: daydreaming, Harry thought to himself.

He continued to watch, and Snape continued in his note-taking. He was being far more meticulous than Harry had ever been in his note-taking, but then again, this was for the record.

Snape gave a slight sneer as he continued to take notes, clicking the stopwatch every now and again to get the simmering times.

"What?" Harry asked, seeing the look on Snape's face.

Snape looked at him for a brief moment. "You have no idea how far and away you were from what you were supposed to be making," he said with a disdainful scowl curling his lip.

Harry laughed. "I believe it. Even I have to admit I wasn't paying any attention, now that I see the look on my face. I can't blame you for telling me I'm hopeless, if that's what you see every time I try and make a potion."

Snape's scowl turning briefly into a smile, before he fixed his face and concentrated again on taking notes.

It's a start, thought Harry.

Harry looked back at the memory-Harry, who was glancing at his watch. Oh, no, he thought. Here it comes…

The memory-Harry cast a brief glance at his potions text, then sifted through the things in front of him, coming up with a vial of beige-colored powder.

"Stand back! This is it!" Harry said, back-pedaling from the table. Snape likewise leapt away from the memory-Harry as he opened the vial and tipped the contents into his cauldron…

The potion exploded violently, spraying the dungeon and Harry, as he threw up his left arm to protect himself. Harry watched in morbid fascination as the dangerous concoction went to work, dissolving, eroding, corroding, destroying…

Finally, the bloody mess that was Harry's arm threatened to make the real Harry lose his breakfast.

"Can we go now?" asked Harry, clenching his teeth together.

Snape glanced briefly at him, then waved his wand at the long list of directions that were burning in mid-air. They vanished, and a parchment appeared in their place, floating where the words had been. Snape reached forth a hand, and grasping the parchment, gestured upward.

Harry nodded, thinking of how he would like to leave his memory, and he felt himself rising upward, Snape next to him…

They flipped over backwards out of the Pensieve, landing again in Snape's office.

Snape dusted his robes off briefly, then unrolled the parchment he had created.

"Well, Potter, it's no wonder your potion did what it did; there's about six ingredients on here that I wouldn't mix with each other even by themselves, and you threw them all in together…" Snape said, perusing the list.

"Incentive for me to pay better attention in class, huh?" said Harry, looking down at the stump of his left arm.

Snape looked up at him, his face unreadable. "Have you decided on a name for it?"

Harry glanced at the potion sitting on Snape's shelf. The sphere reminded him of a tear, suspended in mid-air, and yet Harry knew the power behind that seemingly innocuous potion…

"Devil's Tears Potion."

"Excuse me?" Snape said.

Harry turned to look at him. "Devil's Tears Potion. That's it's name."

Snape surveyed Harry's face, his own still unreadable. "Write it in." He slid the parchment and a quill and ink across the desk for Harry. Harry saw that the directions had been magically transposed onto the parchment. He took the quill and wrote under the inventor name, 'Harry Potter.' Under the name of the potion, he wrote, 'Devil's Tears Potion.'

Snape took the parchment from him. "I will have to concoct it to be sure my directions are accurate, then we can submit it. I suggest you some back in—" Snape checked the directions again briefly, "—half an hour. I should be ready to add the final ingredient by then."

Harry nodded, and pulling the cloak over his shoulders again, he left Snape's office.

A/N: The words around the rim of the Pensieve are taken from a larger passage that comes from Buddhism.

We are what we think.
All that we are arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts we make the world.
Speak or act with an impure mind
And trouble will follow you
As the wheel follows the ox that draws the cart.
We are what we think.
All that we are arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts we make the world.
Speak or act with a pure mind
And happiness will follow you
As your shadow, unshakeable.

Although I don't follow Buddhism, I liked this passage and agree with it, so I put in an excerpt.