Disclaimer: I own not, you speak not, I steal not, you sue not.

A/N: My muse isn't really working on this…and I'm hesitant to post more on FF, even if I write more, as this was to be a TSS fic…

OBLIVION

Chapter 3

"Harry, be careful! That's the third time I've had to stop you from adding the wormwood to the potion too early. If Professor Snape sees…" Hermione hissed urgently to Harry under her breath.

"If Professor Snape sees what? That Mr. Potter is incompetent? I already know that. How he managed to get an Outstanding in Potions I will never know. What havoc were you going to do now Potter?"

"Add…um…wormwood?" Harry forced out holding his body still. He kept his head down, he couldn't look at Snape.

"Yes and…?"

"Err…it's too early to add the wormwood?" Hermione sounded curious and Harry risked looking up, catching sight of Snape's suddenly confused face. "Wormwood is the last thing to add to Dreamless Sleep potions Sir."

"Wormwood…that's what I forgot." Snape turned away from them absentmindedly and went to his desk to make a note. Harry and Hermione stared after him in shock before a quick glare sent them back to work. Hermione was soon over the incident but Harry was panicking inside.

'Snape never forgets anything! Gods I've wiped other parts of his memory clean too!'

Harry watched him closely for the rest of the class and noticed little inconsistencies, which were hidden fairly well. Snape couldn't remember the exact thickness the potion was supposed to be so he came to Hermione's caldron first. He couldn't remember the notes he'd made them write last week so they only had one essay to do for homework but the biggest slip Harry saw by far was when he didn't remove points from Gryffindor for Harry's own ridiculously bad potion. He hoped no one else had noticed.

"Harry…do you think Professor Snape was a bit out of it today?" Hermione pulled his away from the corridor they usually walked back to the common room by for a longer route. Harry cringed slightly, there goes that hope.

"Isn't he always out of it?"

"Harry! Don't act like Ron now. I'm serious! I really think something was wrong with him today."

Harry put on a stubborn look. "Why should we care?" I'd rather we didn't try delving into why our Professor is acting strange, thanks very much Hermione. Why can't everyone just act like nothing's wrong! I'm doing it fine.

"Harry, he might be…sick or something. He seems preoccupied. Forgetting things. He even forgot to take points from Gryffindor for your potion! And it was horrid!"

"Gee…thanks."

"I'm serious Harry." Hermione gave him the 'mothering' look. "Maybe we should tell Professor McGonagall. Or go to Madam Pomfrey and get her to give him a checkup or something."

"Hermione why don't you just leave people's private lives alone!" Harry suddenly snapped. "Maybe the man is going through something! Did you think of that! If you go talking to Madam Pomfrey then it just turns out he's preoccupied with his life or work or something…! You'll make us look like fools!"

Hermione stood gaping at him. Then she straightened her back and glared at him. "Well fine Harry! Forgive me for caring about someone else! What's happened to you Harry? I mean…"

Hermione shook her head and lowered her voice. "I know that you're still…grieving for Sirius…but what happened to the Harry who would care about anyone in trouble? Even if it was Snape?"

"That Harry got someone killed." Harry gave Hermione a glare. "You can go be the hero with Ron this time. I'm not…having anything to do with this." And he walked away.

'I've never seen Potter cry have I? Then why do I have memories of his eyes filled with tears? Him sobbing. But I can't place where…' Where the hell do these memories come from? There's something wrong with me…and it has something to do with Potter! And maybe my prototype potion too. Potter coming to my chambers…he frowned deeply. Potter saying he'd been apologizing for the past hour while I ignored him…must have been ignoring him…or maybe that's just something else I don't remember!

Severus paced his office apprehensively rubbing his temples, long after classes and missing supper in Great Hall. He needed to figure out what was wrong with him that had him so wrong-footed. Why he was forgetting things. What was it about Potter that made him want to…do something! He didn't know whether he wanted to go break the boy's neck or…comfort him.

'Why would he need comforting? I've seen him in classes and he is doing as could be expected. He's a little withdrawn mostly, downright isolated in mine but that's expected, and slightly aloof from his friends but that too is expected.' Severus could guess what Black had meant to Potter.

'Like a second father.' He almost cringed. Never mind that, that is quite besides the issue at hand. Why do I care about Potter? I have no connection to him. No feelings for him…besides aversion. Well…no, that's not true. He did feel…slightly sorry for him. Slightly. After all, he was a meddlesome brat, impudent and impatient…he sighed. He had felt, displeased, to come back to his office to find Potter rooting through his memories like some gold digging niffler…but he realized later the boy had been sorry…and now he apologized they could bury that incident once and for all hopefully. But the fact he'd been displeased proved he'd expected better of the boy. Which meant of course that he did have feelings for him…did care.

'Honestly.' He settled in the chair behind his desk and worried his lip with his teeth. He looked up suddenly as the fire flared.

"Hello Albus." He said wearily. "I've been waiting for you to come by and offer me a lemon drop." He was so sick of thinking over his Potter problem, he couldn't even infuse the sentence with his usual amount of sarcasm.

"I was worried about you dear boy." Albus swept soot off purple and yellow robes sweeping behind him.

Severus narrowed his eyes watching Albus make himself comfortable in a chair across from his desk.

"And the reason you're here after me? I doubt you're that worried about me skipping meals Albus. I do that whenever I'm working."

"Quite apart from the fact you aren't working right now and still skipping meals," Albus smiled slightly. "Actually…I'm here about Harry."

A/N: My muse and I have nothing more to say...

J:...Holly just got found out...stares at television

...ahem, well anyway...yeah.