Father Christmas' Gift
by Healer Pomfrey
All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.
Harry did not feel hungry in the slightest. The thought of Professor Snape's earlier reaction and the threat of going to see the headmaster right after lunch completely ruined his appetite.
As soon as he noticed that Professor Snape had finished eating, Harry made his way to the high table, closely followed by Neville.
"Longbottom, what do you want?" Snape sneered, when Neville followed his friend up to the headmaster's office.
"Accompany Harry," Neville replied, tentatively, causing the Potions Master to glare at him.
"Mr. Potter does not need your help," he said, icily. "You better go and join your classmates if you don't want to serve detention with me for the rest of the week."
"Yes sir," Neville mumbled, casting Harry an apologetic look, before he turned around and ran back to where they had come from.
Inwardly groaning, Harry followed the Potions Master to the headmaster's office. 'I should have gone to Madam Pomfrey to get some more of the ear salve instead of attending lunch,' he thought, as he entered the round office and came to stand in front of the phoenix with whom Blizzard had sat together at the Sorting last night.
"Hello," he whispered to the phoenix.
#Hello nestling,# the phoenix trilled, loud enough for Harry to understand his trills. #Don't be scared of the grumpy one. He's always very moody, but he has a good heart,# the phoenix informed him, causing Harry to inwardly smile.
"Severus, Harry," the headmaster greeted them, motioning them to take a seat, before he offered them a lemon drop from a small bowl.
Like the Potions Master, Harry politely refused, thinking, 'Who knows if there might be Veritaserum in these.'
"What brings you here?" the headmaster queried, at least that's what Harry guessed from his expression.
"Mr. Potter saw fit to use Legilimency on me during class," Snape complained, causing Harry to cast the professors a questioning look.
Seeing that the headmaster looked at him in apparent expectation, Harry spoke up, sighing. "I'm sorry, Professor Dumbledore, but I can't hear well today. I'm having a problem with my ears."
"Then you should go to the hospital wing and ask Madam Pomfrey for a potion," Snape was the first to reply, seemingly agitated.
"Madam Pomfrey came to check on me in the morning and gave me the necessary potions," Harry explained, calmly, only to add, "However, they only helped so much." Turning to the headmaster, he said, "Professor Snape asked me many questions, which I tried to answer correctly, and then all of a sudden, he became very angry. I've no idea why."
"Professor Snape believes," Dumbledore replied in a voice loud enough for Harry to understand, "that you used Legilimency on him."
Harry shook his head in confusion. "Excuse me, sir, but I didn't use anything. What is Legilimency, sir?"
The headmaster thoughtfully stroke his long beard, before he asked, "How come that you could answer all of Professor Snape's questions correctly?"
Harry smiled. "I'm very interested in Potions, sir, and I love to brew," he informed the headmaster.
"That's very good, Harry," Dumbledore replied, his eyes twinkling happily. "I'm sure that Professor Snape will appreciate having such an eager student." Turning to the Potions Master, he said in an equally loud voice, "Severus, on your way back, will you please take Harry to Poppy, so that she can have a look at his ears?"
"Albus, I don't believe a word," the Potions Master replied in an angry and loud voice. "Will you please call Poppy here?"
Harry inwardly groaned, wondering why the professor behaved as if he was a stubborn child. He sighed in relief, when Madam Pomfrey stepped out of the fireplace, giving him a concerned look.
The headmaster quickly explained the situation, and the healer nodded in understanding. "Mr. Potter has ear problems, but they are chronic, which is why I didn't keep him with me but allowed him to attend classes," she explained in a firm voice. "As to Severus' accusation, I can only say that I know for a fact that Harry is very gifted at Potions and that he probably doesn't know what Legilimency is."
"Why would you know that, Poppy?" Dumbledore asked, frowning. "Have you known Harry before he came to Hogwarts?"
"Mrs. Figg called me one or the other time because of Harry's problems," Poppy replied, calmly. "I've known Harry since the age of six."
"And who taught him Potions?" Snape threw in, impatiently.
"I'm sorry, Severus, but that's not my secret to tell," Poppy replied, apologetically.
"Severus, if that's so, you should consider asking Harry to become your student assistant," Dumbledore suggested. "Remember our recent conversation. 100 points back to Hufflepuff by the way."
Snape cast the headmaster a murderous look, before he turned to Harry and asked, aloud, "Who taught you Potions? As far as I know, you grew up with your Muggle relatives."
"My aunt," Harry replied, simply, causing the Potions Master to see red.
"I know for a fact that Petunia has no idea about Potions whatsoever," he hissed, glaring at the boy. "Detention with me for the rest of the week."
"Yes sir," Harry replied in a small voice, wondering what he might have done to anger the professor so much. 'Oh right, he thinks my aunt would be Aunt Petunia,' he realised. 'But I can't tell him about Aunt Rose. She doesn't want anyone to know that she's alive.'
"I'm sorry, Severus, but as long as Harry is still running a temperature, he won't be allowed to participate in any detention, even if I might let him attend classes," Poppy countered in a strict voice. "When he'll be able to attend your detentions, I strongly suggest to let him assist you with the potions for the hospital wing," she added, before she excused herself and Harry from the meeting and took Harry with her to her office.
HP
"Thank you so much for standing up for me," Harry said, smiling, as he followed the healer through the halls, which were empty, as the first afternoon class had already commenced.
"You're very welcome, Harry," Pomfrey replied, giving the boy a fond look. "Once Professor Snape gets to know you, he'll appreciate your proficiency at brewing," she added, before she turned into healer's mode and began to wave her wand over the boy.
"Not better at all," she muttered and made Harry drink two potions, before she carefully applied the ear salve. "Do you feel well enough to attend your afternoon classes?" she asked in a soft voice. "You don't have to. I can excuse you with your teachers."
"No thank you," Harry replied, firmly. "I want to attend classes."
HP
During the next two Potions classes, Harry noticed that the professor chose to completely ignore him. While he ridiculed all of his housemates because of their - as he pointed out - atrocious attempts at the brewing of potions, Harry had the impression as if he did not even look at Neville's, his own and Hermione's cauldrons.
On Friday evening, Harry decided to attend his detention. 'He can't ignore me then,' he thought. "Maybe I can speak with him and ask what's the problem," he explained to the healer as he asked her to let him attend the detention.
"Harry, one problem that he has is your resemblance to your father," Pomfrey informed him in a gentle voice. "They were the greatest enemies during their time at Hogwarts. However, your mother and your aunt were his best friends, and if you give him enough time to get to know you, he'll eventually realise that you resemble them much more than your father."
Harry let out a long sigh. "Thank you so much for telling me this, Madam Pomfrey. If that's his problem, there's really nothing that I can do about it."
"Just try to get to know him," Pomfrey replied, smiling. "You have much in common."
HP
After dinner, Harry traipsed down to the dungeons with apprehension. He hesitantly knocked at the door to the professor's office.
Snape barely looked at him but strode ahead into the Potions classroom, where he ordered him to clean a huge pile of dirty cauldrons and held out his hand, demandingly.
Harry gave the professor a questioning look, wondering what he wanted.
"Your wand," the professor drawled, causing Harry to obediently hand over his wand, in surprise.
'What does he want to do with my wand?' Harry wondered but did not really care. At home, he never carried his wand with him and was used to clean his workspace wandlessly. He waved his hand over the cauldrons, a process that he had to repeat twice, as some of them were very dirty, before he magically returned them to their respective shelves.
"Potter!" Snape growled, angrily. "What do you think why I took your wand?"
"I've no idea, sir," Harry replied in a small voice.
"Because you were supposed to clean these without magic," the professor said, icily, before he instructed the boy, "Brew a salve for sunburn."
Harry nodded, eagerly. "May I have the recipe, sir?" he asked, politely, recalling that it was one of the potions that had been in the seventh year's book.
An instant later, the recipe found itself on the table in front of him, and Harry happily set up his cauldron, while the professor sat at his desk, seemingly engrossed in his Potions Monthly.
HP
Severus opened his Potions Monthly, feigning to engross himself in his lecture, while he unobtrusively observed the child's every move. After mere minutes, he was sure that Harry knew exactly what he was doing. 'Poppy was right. He's extremely adept, especially for a child of his age,' he thought, with a combination of disgust and amazement. 'I wonder where he learned that. Definitely not from Petunia.'
While Harry was busying himself brewing the requested salve, the Potions Master's thoughts drifted off to Petunia and her two lovely sisters. The thought 'Lily and Rose were both extremely adept' crossed his mind. 'If they were still alive, the boy would be as brilliant at his age,' he thought, recalling how he had loved to brew difficult potions, even as a first year. 'Nevertheless, it's unsettling that I don't know where he learned it,' he thought.
Suddenly, the boy's voice brought him back to reality. "Finished, sir."
Severus stepped around the table and eyed the salve, sniffed at it and applied a very tiny bit to his left hand, before he nodded, contentedly. "Bottle it into small glasses. I'll take it to Madam Pomfrey for use in the hospital wing later on," he instructed the boy.
"Excuse me, sir, may I use magic to bottle it?" Potter asked back in a barely audible voice, causing Severus to absentmindedly nod his agreement. 'I've never used a first year's potion in the hospital wing,' he realised, inwardly groaning.
HP
Apart from his problems with the Potions Master, Harry enjoyed being at Hogwarts very much. He and Neville had become good friends with Susan, a Hufflepuff classmate, as well as the Ravenclaw first year, Hermione. The four of them were always together and even worked on their assignments together in the library every afternoon.
Not wanting to upset Rose, Harry did not tell her about the Potions Master's behaviour towards him. He only informed her about other classes, his friends and whatever he liked. 'She must know Snape though,' he thought one day, suddenly recalling that his godmother had told him Snape had been best friends with his mother and aunt. 'She can't mean Aunt Petunia, as she never attended Hogwarts,' he mused and decided to speak with Rose about Snape during the Christmas holidays. 'Only two more weeks, before we're going to go home,' he thought, feeling very happy at the idea of spending two weeks with his aunt. 'She's like a mum, more than like an aunt,' he thought, smiling.
The only sad thing about going home for Christmas was that he wouldn't be able to see his friends for two weeks. Of course Neville was going to come over - with or without his granny - every now and then, however, Susan and Hermione were going to go home as well during the holidays.
One day, a sudden idea crossed Harry's mind. He immediately scribbled a note to his aunt and asked Blizzard to take it home and wait for a reply as fast as possible. Ten minutes later, Blizzard brought back a small parchment.
'Hello my son, of course you may invite your friends home after Christmas for a few days. I'm looking forward to meeting them. Love you, Rose.'
Harry dashed into the common room, knowing that his friends were already waiting for him on their way to breakfast, and blurted out, "Do you want to come and visit me after Christmas?"
Hermione and Susan were all in for it and used the History of Magic class to urgently write home, happily accepting that Harry offered they could use Blizzard to have their letters delivered.
Knowing that his friends would come to visit him during the holidays, Harry was very happy when he boarded the Hogwarts Express for the first time to travel home for Christmas. 'I'm so happy, and it all began with my Christmas present five years ago,' he thought, smiling broadly when he spotted Rose on the platform and allowed himself to be pulled into a bear's hug.
tbc...
Thank you very much for your kind comments!