Chapter Six; Horace Slughorn

Thanks guys, hope you enjoy the next chapter! It's about to get interesting! By the way, I can't remember what Lavender Brown is supposed to look like in the books, so I just did my own interpretation.

"Harry wait!" Snape cried as he ran after his son and grabbed ahold of his shoulders turning his body towards him. "Listen Harry, you are not a mistake. God doesn't make mistakes. If it wasn't for you I wouldn't be half the man that I am today. I wouldn't even be married to your mother and you wouldn't have any brothers or sisters, and most of all I probably wouldn't be on the road to Heaven. You changed me Harry, and I owe my life to you." He told him.

"For that just goes to show that one little boy can make a difference. The only question is now is what happened to that little boy?" he asked him placing a tender hand to his cheek and gazing deeply inside his eyes.

"He's gone. He's all grown up now." Harry replied.

"To you maybe, but it's all in the eyes of the beholder. And to me you're still that wonderful intelligent little boy that I have come to know and love as my own flesh and blood. You have just forgotten how to use that wonderful brain that you were blessed with. Otherwise you would have figured that out for yourself. Don't you know how much I love you?" he questioned him.

"No." Harry told him as he suddenly felt tears trickling down his cheeks.

"I see, well then the fault is entirely my own. I'm sorry for all the pain that I've caused you. Do you forgive me?" he asked him as Harry just simply nodded, sniffed and rubbed his nose with the back of his hand. "Come here." He said as they wrapped their arms tightly around one another and embraced each other tightly. Snape rested his chin on the top of his head and kissed it while feeling his heartbeat quicken. A few moments later they broke apart.

"You better go back to the great hall and finish eating your supper. Your friends are starting to worry about you. Or should I say, our friends." He said as Harry simply just nodded at him before he turned around and walked away. As Snape watched him he suddenly had this feeling that he wasn't alone. A light breeze blew in through the window and he quickly turned his head to see who had opened it but nobody was standing there.

….

The next morning at breakfast Harry was feeling much better than he had before. However that had all changed when he saw Ginny and Dean on the other side of the room kissing each other. He felt as if this monster inside his chest was trying to claw its way out. He didn't know who he was more angry at. Dean, or himself. Either way he secretly wished that he could perform one of those curses in Ginny's magazine, but it was inside the girls dormitory for one, and for two, if he had, Ron would know that he was lying when he told him that he didn't have any romantic interest in her.

After breakfast they all went down to potions class together as usual. There was a new girl in their class that they hadn't seen before. She had dark brown hair and chocolatey brown eyes, and to much of Hermione's annoyance, was smiling brightly and staring at Ron as they entered the room and took their seats. "Good morning class." Professor Slughorn began as soon as the bell had rang.

"This year in potions we are going to be studying our required material like the liquid luck potion, and love potions, but this year we are also going to be working more individually according to your chosen careers. For example, can I have Mr. Harry Snape come up to the front of the room please?" he questioned as Harry glanced up nervously at him but stood up and walked over to him nether the less.

"It's good to finally meet you Harry. Your mother was one of my favorite students." He told him.

"You taught my mother?" Harry questioned him back.

"Oh yes and your father too. James I mean. He wasn't always the wisest and most behaved boy in my class I'll admit, but he showed a lot of improvement when he got older. More particularly when he started dating your mother." He told him. Harry really didn't understand why he was telling him this. Sure he loved hearing stories about his birth father, but he also knew how much his adoptive father had detested him and that it brought back painful memories for him whenever somebody talked about it.

"Anyway, it is from my understanding that you wish to either work with or study dragons after you leave Hogwarts am I correct?" he asked him as Harry silently nodded in response. "Well you see in this case you would have to make sure that you knew all the correct ways of treating dragon bites and burns as well learning how to cure their illnesses and injuries." He said.

"I already know how to. I've had a dragon before." Harry told him.

"Ah yes, and that's very good that you do, but it's always good to review every now and then. Especially if something unexpected comes up. Besides, I was just using you as an example. You may go ahead and sit back down now." He told him as Harry started walking back to his seat before Slughorn turned his back to the class and start writing "Felix Felicis" onto the chalkboard before facing the class again. "Now who can tell me what this is?" he questioned them before Hermione shot her hand up into the air.

Draco Malfoy just simply shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Typical." He muttered under his breath.

"Yes Ms. Granger?" Slughorn asked her when suddenly she put her hand down.

"Felix Felicis is another term for liquid luck." She began. "It will make the drinker extremely lucky for a short period of time, but can be very harmful if drunken in large quantities." She recited.

"Well done Hermione, ten points to Gryffindor. Now, I want you to open your books of Advanced Potion Making and copy the ingredients down before attempting to brew your potions. You have until the end of class to get it finished." He told them as Harry took out his book. For this year when he had gone to Diagon Alley, all of the Advanced Potion Making books were already sold out.

Harry's father had given him a book that he had had himself when he was in school. It was only now that Harry had started examining it. It was worn and old, and the first thing that Harry read when he opened it up was;

"This book is property of the Halfblood Prince."