Hi! I'm a bit late, reviewing, but better late than never, I suppose. Lovely chapter, as usual. Several little gems. First one is of course the way you show that Harry is abysmal at homework. He's easily distracted, writes two sentences an hour. That's one of the things that infuriates me about the books, you know. Poor Hermione is the only one of the trio who actually does her homework and she gets flak from Harry and Ron about it. But those same Harry and Ron constantly bleat about how 'unfair' Snape is in class, how he always gives them low scores. Well, if they actually did some work, he might give them better scores. And if he would be so smallminded to give Harry low scores regardless of the quality of work, Harry would at least have the right to complain if he actually did excel instead of goof of. (I always would work harder for teachers that were exacting and difficult to please and the few and far between teachers that I disliked, well, I worked even harder for them. Just to show them!) All that moaning about in the books about Snape being so 'mean' always ticked me off. Even in his very first lesson Harry was awfully cheeky towards Snape (he 'raised his eyebrows to Ron' over Snape's introductiory speech and when he doesn't know the answers to a few questions - which Hermione, a muggleborn, does know: she apparantly has read the assignments of the class, if not the whole textbook - he tells Snape to ask Hermione the questions because 'she seemed to know'. Cheeky bratling! Then we see Harry goof off for years until his sixth year, when not Snape but gullible Slughorn teaches Potions and Harry has the advantage of using the Half Blood Prince's notes. Only when he can cheat Harry takes an interest in doing some schoolwork. Sorry if I don't feel sorry for him when 'mean' Snape snips at him in class. I'm glad you put that bit about Harry not doing his assigned work in this chapter!

The bit about Snape having to ask about Harry's feelings (Dumbledore made it a term to guardianship) cracked me up! Typical of Dumbledore! Dumbledore, who would willingly and knowingly leave little Harry at the Dursleys and who would refuse to look Harry in the eye his entire fifth year (for a good reason, but in this case it would be better if he had at least told Harry it was for a very good reason), Dumbledore would be the one who would tell Snape to ask the boy how he was feeling. Dumbledore, who is atrocious in caring for children would think it important to ask how Harry *feels* about things. Not that he would alter one bit of Harry's circumstances, but he would *ask*. Probably would think it would be good for Harry's 'selfesteem' :-) (there is this trend blowing over from the USA to think that children will behave if you make them feel good about themselves. What utter nonsense! One only feels good about oneself if one behave like a civilised person and not vice versa. But the selfesteem brigade is doing it's job. More and more I see little kids turning into attention junkies. They're so used to be made feel good about themselves by their parents and teachers that they can't generate the feeling themselves anymore. But I digress)

Ahh, and then there is Harry's little expedition to find his wand and his cloak. (Loved the remarks from the portraits btw.) Harry is not allowed to use his wand during the holidays and there is no reason why Harry should have his cloak whilst residing in Snape's house (or in school; that cloak is a recipe to disaster. What was Dumbledore thinking, giving an invisibility cloak to an eleven year old boy! If his father had left him a loaded gun, or a sword, would Dumbledore have given that to him as well? It would be just as dangerous. What would a boy do with an invisibiltity cloak but snooping around and getting into trouble?)

So the distruction of the potionsroom was unintentionable, but he did it because he wanted to find his cloak and wand which, if not explicitely forbidden, would be (as Harry knows) against the wishes of his guardian. And Harry's intention, once in possession of his cloak, is to snoop around for timeturners. So Harry is in hot water, to say the least. But something tells me that this story won't be over until Harry has tested all his boundaries and tried out, several times, how far he has to push Snape. Hopefully he'll also have learned by time to focus his thoughts and to curb his impulses. And to trust. But the story isn't calle 'a time and place to grow' for nothing :-) Me? I'm enjoying the ride...