A/N: I do not own Harry Potter or any character thereof.

Chapter 48

Security did indeed increase around Harry. So much that teachers had started finding excuses to walk around him.

He was about to go homicidal on someone.

As it was, he was already in a foul mood, having just witnessed Ron and Hermione fighting again, when Snape suddenly swooped into the defense classroom.

"Turn to page 394."

"Where's Professor Lupin?" asked Harry.

"That is none of your concern. Turn to page 394."

"But sir, we're not supposed to start nocturnal beasts for another couple of months," said Hermione.

Harry and Ron both jumped. She hadn't been there a second ago. "Where did you come from?" hissed Ron.

"I've been here the whole time."

Harry just shrugged at Ron. It wasn't the first time this year that she had just seemingly appeared out of thin air.

"Who can tell me the difference between an animagus and a werewolf? No one? Pity."

Hermione's hand was in the air. "Please sir. An animagus is someone that elects to turn into an animal. A werewolf is someone that has no choice. Furthermore - "

"That is the second time you've spoken out of turn Ms. Granger. Ten points from Gryffindor for being an insufferable know-it-all."

"What did you ask for if you didn't want to know the answer?" asked Ron, very much upset.

Instantly, the class knew that he had gone too far.

"Detention Weasley. See me after class to schedule it. Page three hundred and ninety four! Now!"

Harry was desperately trying to stay on his broom and on course. The wind and rain was blowing hard and to beat it all, it had begun to lightning.

It appeared that something good had come from all those practices in the rain though.

He had become desensitized to the numbing cold.

Albus and Severus were watching with extreme concern as Harry flew higher and higher, side by side with Cedric Diggory (the Hufflepuff seeker). The way Harry was flying left even Severus impressed with the young man's skills.

The lightning flashed which made the snitch illuminate again.

The wind was so strong that it was blowing the rain sideways.

Harry saw the snitch and pushed his broom even further. Cedric's weight was definitely an advantage in this type of weather. He didn't get blown off balance as much.

"Albus, Potter and Diggory are too high," Severus heard Minerva hiss.

Harry felt them before he saw them. The snitch had shifted downward and Cedric was chasing it. But the dementor that just flew in front of Harry caused him to take defensive action.

He reversed in mid-air and headed the other direction only to see about 10 waiting on him.

Suddenly one was in his face and he began to hear his mother in his head begging Voldemort to spare him and take her instead.

It caused him to let go of his broom.

The last thing he remembered was seeing a tiny grim on the outer edge of the Quidditch pitch as he fell to the ground.

Severus felt as if he had been sucker punched when he saw Harry fall. Something inside of him snapped - something primal. While Albus sent a spell slowing the boys' decent, Severus sent a spell to the ground to make it absorb him when he landed - which would cause minimal damage.

"My broom?" asked Harry to Ron and Hermione in the hospital wing.

"Harry it ... er ... hit the whomping willow and well, you know that the whomping willow doesn't like to be hit ..." trailed off Ron.

Hermione handed him a bag that contained what was left of his Nimbus 2000.

Harry just groaned and pulled the pillow over his head.

Albus was beyond furious at the Dementors and he was just as angry at Cornelius Fudge.

Fudge still refused to remove them and had even yelled at Albus for not letting them on the grounds.

As it was, Albus decided he should turn in before he done something he'd regret later.

Like hex the Minister of Magic.

Severus entered the hospital room silently and eyed the sleeping form of Potter in one of the infirmary beds. He stole a glance at the record Poppy was keeping on him and saw that he was going to be fine.

He carefully sat in a chair beside of Potters bed and stared at the boy as he slept.

Severus still didn't know what came over him to make him feel such fear as Harry was falling. It was almost the same feeling that he had gotten during the time the boy had been bitten by the basilisk.

He watched as Harry started tossing and turning in his sleep yet he didn't make any sound. It appeared the boy had cast a silencing charm on himself. He raised an eyebrow slightly.

Severus wondered how long this had been going on. Something suddenly came over him and he reached out and carefully moved the boys fringe out of his eyes and murmured, "Shh ... It'll be alright Harry. Sleep peacefully." He traced his finger lightly over the scar on Harry's forehead.

To his shock, the boy stilled his restlessness. Severus got up and backed away. He didn't know what overcame him.

More than confused, he retreated silently back to his quarters.

When Harry woke the next morning, he was surprised at how peacefully he slept and how fully rested he felt. He smiled at the dream he had of his mom and dad playing with him then grimaced as Madam Pomphrey came out of her office holding a potion for him to take.

After Wood had finished trying to drown himself in the showers he had cut back the practices to 3 days a week which gave Harry more time for important things - like playing exploding snap with Ron and sleeping.

His nightmares had abated some, not completely but some, so he was finally able to get a bit more sleep during the week. He had not needed that second dose of dreamless sleep. It was currently tucked away in his trunk for a future use.

One evening towards the end of November found Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville sitting in the library trying to work on their potions essay.

Actually, Hermione was surrounded by like 10 books so Harry wasn't sure what she was working on. Ron had a Quidditch magazine stuck in his potions manual, so Harry was pretty sure that he wasn't studying.

"This essay makes no sense to me," growled Neville.

Harry looked up to see if Neville was working on potions or if he had moved onto something else.

"What's confusing you about it?" asked Harry. He had 1 of the 2 feet already written.

"The poisonous part?" said Neville with a slight question in his voice.

Harry smiled. "Are any of the ingredients in any shape or form poisonous?"

Neville check his notes. "No."

"Are you sure?" asked Harry.

"Nope," said Neville.

Harry laughed. "Recheck the potion ingredients list then re-look them up."

Neville nodded. He knew Harry wouldn't just come out and give him the answer.

Harry was just putting the finishing touches on his essay when he heard, "ah ha!" from Neville.

"Find something?" he asked grinning.

"Kinda. None of the ingredients if cut up the way the recipe said is poisonous."

"If that's the case, then why is this potion labeled poisonous in the book?"

Neville banged his head on the table which caused a glare to be sent his way from a neighboring table of second years that included Ginny Weasley and Colin Creevey.

Harry took pity on him. "Do you remember what Snape said a few days ago in class about the heat?"

Neville shook his head.

Lurking nearby, under an invisibility charm, Severus listened as Potter explained to Longbottom about the burn salve they would be making in the next potions class.

This wasn't the first time that Severus had over heard him helping someone with potions. It confused him though because he never seemed to display the type of knowledge physically, even though it was obvious he knew the theory behind a potion.

Sure, his Slytherins' sabotaged him occasionally but that didn't account for all of the discrepancies.

Severus pondered this situation. He had a hunch that he would investigate on the next day in class.

Glancing at his watch, he realized that his "babysitting" time was up. He left the library and headed down towards his quarters.

Severus had just collected the essays from his third years. After he put them down on his desk, he turned to Potter.

"Potter. Why is this recipe poisonous?"

"It contains Henbane sir."

"A lot of recipes contain Henbane. What makes it poisonous in this case?"

Harry shrugged. "I don't know sir."

Snape raised an eyebrow.

Hermione's hand went up so fast she nearly knocked Harry's glasses off his face, which elicited a few snickers from the Slytherins.

"Longbottom. Do you know why the henbane is poisonous?"

Neville frowned at Harry. "The h-heat."

The entire class turned around to gape at Neville. It was the first thing he had ever answered correctly in there.

Harry was silently cheering him on.

"This potion brews for how long Parkinson?"

"Thirty minutes, sir." Pansy Parkinson replied.

"Five points to Slytherin."

Severus eyed the room again. "Potter, how do you plan on keeping from poisoning yourself and your classmates if you have to boil the potion."

Harry shrugged.

"You don't know?"

"No sir," lied Harry.

"Detention for obviously not doing your homework. Longbottom?" he asked in a tone that said he doubted the boy would get the answer right again.

"Add it after it's cooled completely," he managed to stutter out.

"Before any of you add the ingredient, I will be checking the potion. I don't relish spending the day telling the Headmaster why someone was poisoned. Get your things and begin."

Severus spent the double class period watching Potter brew a perfect potion - despite his claim of a lack of knowledge.

It appeared that his hunch was correct in that Potter was hiding his intelligence. He wondered why he had never realized that before.

But why? He would find out. After all, his father had never bothered to hide his knowledge.

"Enter."

Remus entered the Headmaster's office.

"Got a minute Albus?"

"Of course. What did you need?"

"I had a talk with Harry this afternoon. I promised him that I would show him how to cast a patronus."

"Remus, most wizards can't cast one and that spell is well beyond Harry's skill level," stated Albus with a raised eyebrow.

"I have to try Albus. Harry said that every time a dementor gets near him, he can hear Voldemort killing Lily."

Albus paled. "Very well. Just make sure you explain to him that it's advanced so that he doesn't expect too much of himself."

Remus nodded. "I told him I'd start after the holidays. If you run across any boggarts by then let me know."

"Boggarts?" asked Albus confused.

Remus was shocked that Albus didn't already know. "Harry's boggart is a dementor."

Albus' eyes widened. He had assumed that it would be Voldemort. That boy was certainly full of surprises.

It was currently the end of the holidays. Harry and Ron walked into the boys dorm room to see Neville writing a letter. He had just got back to Hogwarts about an hour before.

"Thanks for the book Neville," said Harry as he threw himself on his bed.

Neville smiled. "My Gran suggested it. She said that since you grew up with muggles you probably didn't know many wizarding traditions and figured you should learn them."

Harry could see that Neville was uncomfortable explaining so he smiled and said, "She's right. The book is fairly interesting."

Neville smiled again.

"Who are you writing to?"

"Gran. I forgot my potions and transfiguration books," he said sheepishly.

"Hey Neville, guess what happened during Christmas dinner," exclaimed Ron.

Harry chuckled because he knew what Ron was bursting to say.

Neville looked up from his letter with a questioning look on his face.

"Snape and Dumbledore pulled a Christmas cracker and a hat with a vulture on it came out. Dumbledore put it on because Snape looked like he was about to kill someone."

Neville groaned around a laugh. "I guess this means that he's going to be horrible for another couple of weeks."

Harry chuckled. "Nah. I'm sure Dumbledore won't let him."

Dean and Seamus came in a few minutes later so Harry listened to their holiday stories - anything to keep his mind off of the Firebolt that was sent to him but was now confiscated because it had an unknown sender.

A/N: See ... somewhere deep ... very deep inside of him Severus has a fathering side, even if he is unaware that's what it is yet. Some instincts just come naturally it would appear. ;-)

The next chapter has a few things happen out of order than how they did in the book, but I needed them too. Depending how well my editing goes tomorrow, I should have another chapter posted in a couple more days. =)

And for what it's worth, I know that if the time turner was used rightly, Hermione would always have appeared at their side, not just appeared out of nowhere like in the movies ... but I loved the idea of her just appearing between Ron and Harry suddenly when neither of them were looking. It was just too amusing not to put in a chapter somewhere. LOL *halo*