Hello everyone! I know that it has been forever since I last updated, and I would like to apologize (Hopefully a chapter with 1,000 more words than I usually write will do)
All of you wonderful commenters, followers, and favoriters have a right to know why. Well, hopefully you know, but there has been a lot, and I mean A lot going on in my Fandoms as of late. Sherlock and the Abominable Bride episode (Yes I know that was months ago, but it was a big deal!) Captain America: Civil War, The new season of Race to the Edge, and not to mention Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them! Plus, Rick Riordan put out a new book.
I also don't have a structured writing schedule or a lot of free time to write (I was just away from home for a week) So, yeah.
Like I said before, I'm sorry. And I'm hoping to update this more often, and to everyone who read Poison Blood and is waiting for the new story, I'm sorry. It will be up, I promise.
Also, in the future there may be some more random one shots and drables because they are a lot of fun to write and sometimes they just come to me. So, yeah.
Onwards with the story!
Harry woke up the next morning to a rustling of cloth and hushed, arguing voices around him. He pulled back his curtain to reveal the Doctor, Rory, Ron, Neville, and Dean all working as quietly as they could to get ready. Seamus had obviously already headed down, probably trying to avoid Harry.
"Harry!" The Doctor exclaimed as soon as he spotted the tired wizard. Harry hadn't slept well that night. He was once again plagued with memories of the Triwizard Tournament. Rory sent a glare at the Doctor.
"Don't think this conversation is over," he said, before turning back to his trunk. The Doctor stuck his tongue out at his back before turning back to Harry.
"Don't mind him," he said, "He's just grumpy because he misses his girlfriend. Anyway, how did you sleep last night? Not well, I gather. Well, more I know. Thrashing about in your covers, debated waking you up. Chose against it, what with classes and everything," Harry didn't say anything. He had learned that the Doctor rarely slept while at Grimmauld Place, so the fact that he noticed Harry's strange sleeping habits didn't surprise him. What did surprise him, though, was that on closer inspection he noticed that dark circles were beginning to rim the bottom of the other boy's eyes. Strange, he thought.
"Come on, Harry," Ron said from his side, causing Harry to look up at the taller redhead. "I don't want to be late for breakfast," Harry nodded and quickly changed into his robes. They were downstairs in ten minutes, and the Doctor had not stopped talking for one second of it. Actually, the Doctor and Rory were filling every moment with noise. They were arguing over… Something, but Harry couldn't quite tell what it was. In his defense, he was still half asleep, though he did catch the words, "Younger," "Sleep" "Fool," "Nurse" and "Physiology," He didn't pry, though. This was a mystery for another day, a day that didn't involve worrying about classes.
They met up with Hermione, River, and Amy down in the Common Room and headed out to breakfast. The ceiling of the Great Hall was dark and gloomy, reflecting Harry's emotions perfectly. Occasionally, a low rumble of thunder swept through the hall, but not much else. When Professor McGonagall handed out the schedules, though, Ron dropped his fork back onto his plate.
"Bloody Hell!" He exclaimed, "Can you believe the day we have? History of Magic, double Potions, Divination, and double Defense against the Dark Arts! Binns, Snape, Trelawney, and that toad Umbridge! I wish Fred and George would hurry up with those Skiving Snackboxes! This is the worst Monday ever!"
"Doth mine ears deceive me?" George said, suddenly appearing over Ron's left soldier.
"Or does the ickle li'l prefect want to skip classes?" Fred said, appearing to the right.
"Look at this schedule! This has got to be in the league for worst-day-back ever!" Ron exclaimed. George nodded thoughtfully for a moment.
"Fair point, little bro," he said, "Tell you what, we'll give you a pack of Nosebleed Nuggets cheap!" Ron narrowed his eyes and looked skeptically up at his brother.
"Why cheap?" He asked.
"Because we haven't figured out how to reverse it yet," Fred answered, "So you'll keep bleeding and bleeding until you dry out!"
"Uh, I'll pass," Ron said. Fred shrugged.
"Your loss," he said and the twins walked away to sit with Lee Jordan.
"Hey," Amy said, drawing the attention of the group "So last night in the common room I was talking to the twins and their friends and they said Fifth years was a nightmare. Do you think it's true?"
"Bound to be, isn't it?" Ron said "O.W.L.s are really important, affect the jobs you can apply for and everything. We get career advice, too, from the teachers later this year. Bill told me. So you can choose which N.E.W.T classes you take,"
"D'you know what you want to do after Hogwarts?" Harry asked the group as he put jam onto his toast.
"Not really," Ron said, "Except…. Well…."
"What?" Harry urged him on.
"Well, I think it'd be cool to be an Auror," Ron finally said. Next to him the Doctor broke into a grim and looped one arm around the taller boy's neck.
"An Auror? Sounds fantastic! Saving people, catching bad guys, secret messages! Just fantastic!" He said. Ron grinned sheepishly."
"Yeah," he said, "But they're, like, the elite. You've got to be really good. What about you, 'Mione?"
"I don't know," Hermione said, "I want to do something worthwhile."
"An Auror's worthwhile," River said from where she sat across from Hermione, "Fighting, crime scenes, the works,"
"Yes, it is. But it's not the only worthwhile thing," Hermione said, "I mean, if I could take S.P.E.W. Further…"
Harry and Ron carefully avoided looking at her. The group took a few more minutes to finish up their meal before heading out the Great Hall to their first class.
Professor Binns hadn't changed at all over the summer. He was the only ghost teacher at Hogwarts, and his lectures were so boring Harry was often surprised they never killed anyone. People say that one day Professor Binns went to sleep in his chair in the staff room, and when it was time to teach the next class he got up and left his body behind. Apparently the man, sorry, ghost hadn't noticed and continued to teach Hogwarts students with lectures that dragged on in a monotone voice.
Hermione was the only known student to actually manage to stay awake and take notes, which was quite lucky for Harry and Ron because they couldn't be bothered. After nearly two hours of that, it was finally time for the next class, which no one knew whether to count it as a blessing or a curse. Double potions with the Slytherins, which was bound to be terrible.
The group arrived in the dungeons and joined the queue lining up outside of Professor Snape's classroom door. A moment later, an ominous squeaking noise signaled the class to move in, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione chose a table directly behind that of the Doctor's, Amy's, and Rory's.
"Settle down," Snape said coldly as he shut the door, though there was really no need to call the class to order. As soon as the Professor stepped into the room quiet had fallen and all fidgeting had ceased.
"Before we begin today's lesson," Snape said, as he strode over to his desk and glared down at the children, "I think it appropriate to remind you that next June you will be sitting an important examination, during which you will prove how much you have learned about the composition and use of magical potions. Moronic though some of the class undoubtedly are, I expect you to scrape an 'acceptable' in your O.W.L. Or suffer my…. Displeasure."
He turned his gaze to Neville as he spoke the last line, who gulped.
"After this year, of course, many of you will cease to study with me," Snape continued, "I take only the very best into my N.E.W.T Potions class, which means that some of us will certainly be saying good-bye,"
His eyes rested on Harry and his lip curled. In the seat in front of him, it looked like Rory was physically trying to keep the Doctor in his seat, and the brown haired boy looked ready to stand and punch Snape in his large hooked nose.
"But we have another year to go before that happy moment of farewell," said Snape softly, "so whether you are intending to attempt N.E.W.T or not, I advise all of you to concentrate your efforts upon maintaining the high-pass level I have come to expect from my O.W.L. Students.
"Today we will be mixing a potion that often comes up at Ordinary Wizarding Level: the Draught of Peace, a potion to calm, anxiety and soothe agitation. Be warned: If you are too heavy-handed with the ingredients you will put the drinker into a heavy, and sometimes irreversible, slep. You must pay close attention to what you are doing," Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw Hermione sit up a little straighter, giving her utmost attention to the instructions, "The ingredients and method," -Snape flicked his wand - "are on the blackboard," -(they appeared there) - "you will find everything you need," - he flicked his wand again - "in the store cupboard" - (the door of said cupboard sprang open) - "you have an hour and a half…. Start."
The potion Snape had set couldn't be more difficult or fiddly. The ingredients had to be added to the cauldron in precisely the right order and quantities; the mixture had to be stirred exactly the right number of times, the flames on which it was simmering had to be lowered to exactly the right level for a specific number of minutes before the final ingredient was added. It didn't help Harry concentrate much when the whole time the Doctor was muttering things to himself, and extremely random things at that. He would go from calling Snape a "bullying disgusting bat" to talking about summertime in the Bahamas in a matter of seconds.
"A light silver vapor should now be rising from your potion," Snape called when there were ten minutes left in the class.
Harry, who was sweating profusely, looked desperately around the dungeon. His own cauldron was issuing copious amounts of dark gray steam; Ron's was spitting green sparks. Seamus was feverishly prodding the flames at the base of his cauldron with the tip of his wand, as they had gone out. The surface of Hermione's potion, however, was a shimmering mist of silver vapor. The Doctor's own steam was possibly a slight bit lighter than hers, and Amy was furiously trying to fix her own potion which was emanating a dark red smoke. And Rory's potion was just about as dreadful as Harry's. As Snape swept by he looked down his hooked nose at the two perfectionists without a comment, which meant he could find nothing to criticize. At Harry's cauldron, however, Snape stopped, looking down at Harry with a horrible smirk on his face.
"Potter, what is this supposed to be?" He asked.
"The Draught of Peace, sir," Harry replied without looking up at the sneering man.
"Tell me, Potter, can you read?" Snape asked softly. Draco Malfoy laughed.
"Yes, I can," Harry said, tensely, his fingers closing around his wand.
"Read the third line of the instructions for me, Potter,"
Harry squinted at the blackboard; it was not easy to make out the instructions through the haze of multicolored steam. In front of him he vaguely noticed the Doctor's jaw clench, his entire figure seeming to tense up.
"Add powdered moonstone, stir three times, counterclockwise, allow to simmer for seven minutes, then add two drops of syrup of hellebore." His heart sank. He had not added syrup of hellebore, but had proceeded straight to the fourth line of the instructions after allowing his potion to simmer for seven minutes.
"Did you do everything on the third line, Potter?"
"No," Harry said quietly.
"I beg your pardon?"
"No," said Harry, more loudly. "I forgot the hellebore."
"I know you did, Potter, which means that this mess is utterly worthless. Evanesco," The contents of Harry's potion vanished at the same time the Doctor stood up, his chair sliding back with an almighty Screech!
"You wait just one minute there, Bat-Face Snape!" He shouted, spinning around to face the tall man.
"Excuse me?" Snape said coldly.
"You heard what I said!" The Doctor replied, "Now, I tolerate a quite few things, for example Amy's cooking. But there is one thing I do not, will not, and never have tolerated, and that is bullies! Now, what you just did is most definitely enough to land you on my list, so…" At this point he had stood up and strolled over to where Malfoy was sitting. He glanced back at the boy who was gritting his teeth before turning his attention back to Snape. He raised his wand, aimed it at his own cauldron, and…
BAM! An explosion to rival Seamus Finnigan's rang through the classroom.
"I'm going to boycott your lessons." He said with an air of finality. Snape strolled over quickly, appearing in front of the Doctor, and anger evident in his black, glinting eyes.
"Detention," he said, "Tonight. The night afterwards, the next night as well. You will report down here as soon as dinner ends."
The Doctor stared at him coolly .
"Class dismissed," Snape said shouted suddenly and sharply. The group of terrified students fled the room quickly, except for the group of friends.
They all stared in shock at the Doctor, who straightened his bow tie.
"Come along," he said, startling the group out of their frozen state. Moments later, they were walking up the steps that lead out of the dungeons.
"That," Ron said, "was bloody brilliant!"