‘Ah, Severus m’boy, what do I owe this pleasure?’ Slughorn beamed at Severus from where he had hastily shoved a small container into his desk drawer - likely a potions ingredient that wouldn’t make it to the student’s stores.

‘I require a memory.’ Severus told him and noticed the clouded darkness that formed in the other man’s gaze; Slughorn’s grin had vanished very quickly.

‘You needn’t fear; this particular memory isn’t for Albus.’ He added. ‘The curiosity is purely my own. I remain unconvinced of Potter’s apparent talent and wish to view an excessively challenging lesson in which you taught to the sixth year dunderheads, in which Potter ought to be in attendance. Perhaps one that requires the students to understand the concepts involved with such material rather then knowing a few useful…tricks?’

‘Why of course!’ Slughorn instantly returned to his cheerful self. ‘And I think I know just the one! Some time ago we were working with Golpalott’s Third Law and it should be exactly what you seek.’ Slughorn nodded as he raised his wand to his temple and then moved to place the memory into a vial.

‘It is not my place in which to retain this memory.’ Severus accepted the corked vial from the other wizard with hesitant caution.

‘Upon the conclusion of viewing its contents, I shall return it without vacillation.’

‘I appreciate it, m’boy!’ Slughorn nodded. ‘And I think you’ll be quite impressed with what you’ll see.’

‘I doubt it.’ Severus muttered. He bid his former mentor farewell before he returned to his office and located his new pensieve; one with extra security charms placed upon it in the instance that any curious Gryffindors should venture near it ever again.

Tipping the memory into the liquid, Severus locked and warded his door before he leaned forward and viewed the recollection.

--

There was Slughorn, over by his desk as the 6th year students filed into the room, chatting amongst themselves in a way they would never have dared to do if Severus had still been their teacher.  

Moving around the babbling teenagers, Severus sought out the one in particular in which would hold his sole interest regardless of if Slughorn had offered comparable observations; this was unlikely, as Slughorn never paid as much attention as he perhaps should and therefore Severus expected to see or hear additional things in the man’s memory than its owner knew the existence of.

And Severus was correct in that logical assumption as he lingered by the doorway and waited for Potter to arrive with his annoying friends.

‘I don’t want to talk about it!’ Harry’s tone was raised as he marched into the classroom and paid very little attention to Ron or Hermione.

‘What have I done?’ Ron asked Hermione, who didn’t seem to be too pleased with him either. The three Gryffindors proceeded to pay attention to their teacher.

Severus stood directly in front of Granger’s area of the table as the position was diagonally to Harry’s right. This way he was very close to the boy’s center of interest; able to hear and see everything Harry did and yet also pay attention to anything that may capture the child’s own focus. Severus had no awareness of what Slughorn was doing or saying unless it was entirely necessary in order to establish a full understanding of Potter’s reactions.

‘Golpalott’s Third Law?’ Slughorn was saying. ‘Who can tell me-‘

Severus rolled his eyes towards Granger and was stunned to see Potter trounce the girl in speed with his own efforts to raise his hand. This was impossible!

Although, the fact that the victorious, viper-fast movement had given Ron a fright, was a tad amusing.

‘Ah, Harry m’boy!’ Slughorn nodded with a grin.

Severus watched as the Gryffindor lowered his hand and ignored the annoyance of Hermione - who no doubt hated being bested by anyone. He listened to the explanation and couldn’t believe that not only was it entirely correct and filled with the necessary level of understanding, but it also wasn’t recited from the textbook like Hermione always boasted her knowledge with.

While Slughorn handed out ten points to Gryffindor for the answer, Severus observed the way Harry glanced over at Draco and the pair shared a rather curious expression. Draco was trying to mutely tell Harry something and Severus wondered if it had anything to do with their recent events involving the Unbreakable Vow. And since when were these two rivals on such non-shouting terms, anyway?

Whatever the reasoning was, Draco’s important look only sharpened Harry’s focus towards the material of that lesson.

‘Since you’re no longer using the Prince’s notes, can I have them?’ Ron whispered to Harry.

Severus almost began shouting profanities at the Gryffindors when he remembered that this was a memory and it would do the situation no good. He had suspected early in the year that Potter may have come across his old Advanced Potion-Making textbook and now Severus was certain that it was indeed the secret behind the boy’s sudden success in the subject.

Yet Ron’s words and the fact that the appearance of Harry’s textbook was as normal as the others (although the bespectacled boy did seem to be taking better care of his), indicated that there really was actual talent somewhere in the brat.

Severus watched Harry and Draco closely but gained no further clues as he followed the Gryffindor back to the table. Potter offered some very useful advice to Ron about how to find what he might need to accomplish their task and then proceeded with his own.

Severus was sure he already knew everything that he had hoped not to find and yet suspected he would, involving the boy’s newfound skill in the subject. Even so, he wanted to see the entire memory through to the end, just in case.

Severus watched the boy work with practiced hands and categorized skill, right up until he snatched a bezoar from the storage cupboard and stashed it into his pocket as his arms filled with several other potential ingredients.

At first Severus thought the brat was thieving but knew even Potter would not have been so obvious with his actions, not even considering the “perfect student” he appeared to be in Slughorn’s eyes.

Once their given time had concluded, Severus cared nothing for the efforts of the other dunderheads and only focused on what Slughorn thought of Harry’s; he himself would have discreetly given the boy an “Exceeds Expectations” for the work, which was really saying something when one took into the account the abysmal attempts of the rest.

‘And you, Harry.’ Slughorn finally approached his favourite student. ‘What have you got to show me?’

‘It’s not quite finished sir and I think I added a little too many crushed Scurry beans, however it was interesting to give it a go.’ The boy said as he held out his vial and then revealed the bezoar in his hand as he continued talking.

‘Realistically, whilst it may be beneficial to know how to mix antidotes as you said, I think this would be of greater use.’

Many stared and Slughorn laughed, but Severus could not believe the boy’s cheek and…cunning. He was right; the bezoar would counteract the entire range of poisons in which the class had been working with. Yet if the teenager had the bezoar, then why would he have even bothered to do the work?

Severus begun to get a headache and wondered if by giving him this particular recollection, Slughorn was enacting his revenge on Severus for convincing him to give up whatever memory Dumbledore had so desperately needed from Slughorn involving Tom Riddle as a student.

‘You know a look like that and Snape would’ve been right all along.’

Hermione’s words brought Severus out of his glaring towards Slughorn’s boasts of the boy having Lily’s talent, and his pressuring headache. Imagine that, Slughorn had given him a memory without realizing that Severus himself was mentioned in it.

And Granger had a point about Potter’s James-like expression of glee, one that Severus always took a lengthy moment in which to loathe.

‘What are you talking about?’ Harry’s previous expression was gone.

‘You’re showing off, aren’t you?’ She blamed. ‘Attention-seeking is a trait he always said you possess and the Harry I know would never have proven him right by doing so now. I mean, really…what did you gain from this?’

‘Apart from house points, you mean?’ Ron defended whereas Harry scowled in effort to calm himself.

Severus stared at the scene and tuned out the entirety of the classroom; he refused to believe what he was hearing and yet didn’t want to miss a single word of it.

‘Oh? So because I proved that not only can I be as good as you in at least one class and actually turn out to enjoy it as well while I decided to have a little fun than I’m showing off?’ The bespectacled boy glared at his friend.

‘What about you? At least I didn’t recite the phrase from the book, nor do I put my hand up for every question any teacher ever asks. That’s all right for you, Hermione, but for once did you ever care about the fact that this is the only thing keeping me sane these days or did you only notice that I might be just a bit better than you for once?’

Severus watched with astonishment as Harry slammed his book shut and followed the rest of the students from the room. He had to agree with Ron that Harry did in fact have a point and yet it was as though Severus had watched the development relating to a different boy, not the arrogant Potter he had thought the child to only be.

What was going on?

With an ounce of good fortune, Slughorn had ventured to the corridor outside for a moment to speak with a Ravenclaw prefect, and Severus was able to follow Harry further.

He observed as the Gryffindor paused not far from Severus’ own office and a contemplative expression clouded Harry’s face. The teenager even leaned his back against the stone wall and stared at the door for a little while longer before he finally turned and departed the dungeons…

--

Severus gasped as he left the memory and instantly moved to drop into the nearest chair in his office.

He had been curious about finding out if the boy had any real talent or was cheating and yet he had discovered so much more. He wished he hadn’t but with all of the re-arrangements he’s had to make in his own judgment and mind about the sixteen-year-old Harry Potter, it felt only worse to realize that he was adapting to seeing Harry in a new perspective, just a little more each time.

Beyond the painful regret, maddening error, and inexcusable reasoning behind everything he had previously considered to be fact…Severus hated nothing more then the sickening feeling that he owed the boy an apology.

Justified or not, that was NEVER going to happen!

The following morning was the 1st of March and Harry was awoken by the excited babbling of Toby as the boy sat over on Ron’s bed and eyed the teenager’s birthday presents.

‘That one looks best; I think you should save it for last.’ Toby was saying as Harry sat upright and stifled a yawn as he reached for his glasses.

‘Save it for last?’ Ron stared. ‘Are you mental?’

‘But the best stuff should always be last!’ Toby insisted.

‘Yeah, but then if you wait too long, you might not get the chance.’ Ron reasoned. ‘Oh, hello Harry,’ he greeted his sleepy friend who was shuffling about for something to wear.

‘Happy birthday, Ron.’ Harry turned and tossed a gift onto the bed to join the other brightly-wrapped ones that sat there in a glorious pile.

Seamus and Dean passed by noisily to head downstairs to breakfast, chuckling at the way Toby was making a big deal of someone else’s birthday (they didn’t know it was because Toby himself had never really had one before), and Neville was crawling under his bed for a lost sock.

‘Cheers,’ Ron said as he reached for the present and began ripping at the paper while Toby inched closer across the bed to stare at it eagerly.

Harry smirked with amusement and moved to gather his Potions kit from where he kept it near his bed and rummaged through it to see that he had quite a bit of restocking to do.

‘Nice one, Harry!’ Ron grinned enthusiastically and waved the pair of Quidditch Keeper’s gloves while Toby clapped just as energetically.

‘No problem.’ Harry barely had time to reply as he moved to sit on his bed to gather a quill and piece of parchment to categorize the ingredients he would need, sorted by two columns for the ones he would have to order/buy and the rest in which he could find outside.

He had received a reply from Snape about the area at the back of the grounds and what could be of use to him, with the warning that if he were to share the knowledge with anyone else then Snape would not offer such details again.

‘Seriously good haul this year!’ Ron announced as he held up yet another unwrapped gift. ‘I think I’ll come of age next year too…’

‘What’s that mean?’ Toby asked.

Harry was no longer really listening to either of the pair as he was too absorbed in his all-important recreational list - indeed, this was a separate kit he kept for non-class related work and instead for his own brewing that he still tried to find time for every couple of days or when he was in a bad/stressed mood.

‘Oh, means I’m seventeen and can use magic whenever I like.’ Ron explained as he tugged at a string binding his next present.

‘Before that we have a sort of trace on us that tells the Ministry if we’re using magic when we’re not supposed to, like around muggles or whatever.’

‘What’s that?’ Toby pointed to the bottle Ron had unwrapped in which contained a swirling, chestnut-coloured liquid.

‘Is it a potion?’

‘I hope not.’ Ron frowned as he checked the label. ‘Nah, it says it’s liquorice pop.’

‘Urgh.’ Harry caught sound of those words and frowned at the bottle. ‘I hate that stuff. Who’s it from?’

‘Dobby,’ Ron said, surprised. ‘But the caps are really cool, you can flip them with your hand and they’ll do wicked stuff liked change colour.’

‘Can you show me?’ Toby grinned. ‘Please, please?’

‘Hold your hippogriffs; let me finishing opening these first.’ Ron smirked.

‘Oh, alright,’ Toby huffed and crossed his arms, which was a mood that barely lasted another second as the wrapping fell of the next gift to reveal yet another object the small boy had never seen before.

--

They had a little time before the group planned on heading to Hogsmeade for the afternoon, so following breakfast they wandered around the corridors to chat idly about the trip ahead and the fact that Ron had gathered the courage to break up with Lavender last night, with urging from Toby. It was news that had later caused cheers from the small child when Hermione had marched into the dormitory that morning to happily give Ron his birthday gift. Toby and Harry made an excuse about one thing or another in order to give the two reconciled friends a moment to talk and apologize.

As Harry and Ron were about to turn and head back to the dormitory, a second-year Ravenclaw boy hurried up to them while clutching to an oddly-shaped gift covered with gold wrapping.

‘Harry Potter?’ He stared at the teenager while Ron eyed the gift expectantly. ‘I was told to give this to you, as a thank-you gift.’

‘Who’s it from?’ Harry was suspicious as he accepted the object offered to him. ‘And what am I being thanked for?’

‘I was just told to deliver it.’ The sandy-haired boy shrugged and turned to hurry off to the other end of the corridor to join a huddle of classmates.

‘Well, what is it?’ Ron was a little put out that Harry received a gift on his birthday.

‘It’s one of those pops you got before.’ Harry frowned.

He had tried the liquorice pop cap trick that Ron had taught him and Toby all during breakfast; the cap had been fun as it fizzed and turned bright blue, but still the drink itself was no more appealing to Harry then it had been before.

‘If only it was raspberry.’ Harry sighed and was half-tempted to just toss it into the nearest bin.

He followed Ron up the stairs to their common room and rejoined Toby in the dormitory where the boy had just finished his assigned reading for that day. Dobby left once he saw Harry and had bid Ron a very virtuoso “Happy birthday”.

Placing the pop bottle on his nightstand, Harry wondered if he should have chucked it away since it probably wasn’t best to drink something when he wasn’t sure who the sender was (ignoring the fact that he hated that flavor anyway). And given his status as the Boy-Who-Lived, he knew the logic behind such a decision wasn’t impossible.

And the strange gift was the last thing on his mind when it suddenly occurred to Harry that Ron had stolen a box of cauldron cakes that had been left on the floor from when Harry had been going through his trunk for his Marauder’s Map earlier; they were also the same ones from Romilda Vane. The cakes she’d spiked with love potion in attempt to get him to take her to Slughorn’s Christmas Party.

‘What’s wrong with him?’ Toby panicked as the two teenage boys started arguing about the cakes and then Ron aimed a punch right at Harry, who dodged it enough to save his nose but not his right ear.

‘Stop it!’ Harry scowled and whipped out his wand without realizing it and thought the incantation: Levicorpus!

‘Harry!’ Toby rushed to his side and clutched to the Gryffindor’s robes, fearful of Ron for the first time since they had known each other.

‘What happened?’

‘He’s had a love potion and it’s making him act crazy.’ Harry placed a hand on Toby’s back to reassure him. ‘It’s okay; I’ll just have to brew an antidote for it.’

‘Let me down!’ Ron declared as he magically dangled upside-down by his heel and fought away his robes as they hung partially off him.

Harry ignored him and thought on how to handle the situation. He couldn’t take Ron to Madam Pomfrey as it would raise unwanted questions about having a Weasley product (which were banned, thanks to Filch), and while Slughorn was a more trustworthy option, Harry didn’t want to figure out how to get his friend there. Plus he had a stressed Toby with him and needed to calm the boy but couldn’t do that if he was elsewhere.

With a spark of relief, Harry remembered when Hermione had warned him about the love potions he had proceeded to brew an antidote in case there was a repeat of such.

‘Toby,’ Harry said importantly as he kept his wand trained on the frustrated, bewitched Ron. ‘Go to my trunk and find a vial of clear blue liquid labeled “Love Potion Antidote”, would you be able to read that?’

‘I think so.’ Toby nodded and slowly detached his hands from Harry’s robes as he moved to do as he was told, glad to be able to help in getting Ron back to normal.

‘Is this it?’ He carefully held up the correct vial and approached his brother when Harry nodded in conformation.

‘Ron.’ Harry turned back to him while gripping the vial. ‘If I let you down will you promise to calm yourself?’ He raised an eyebrow as he thought of something quickly. ‘I’ll give you a tonic and we’ll go see Romilda Vane.’

Those words calmed his redheaded friend immediately as the struggle stopped and goofy grin formed on the teenager’s face.

‘Yeah,’ Ron agreed.

Harry unceremoniously let Ron down and sighed when Toby dashed to hide behind him again. Holding out the vial, he watched Ron gulp it down and waited for the effects to take place, which thankfully didn’t take very long.

Seeing the devastated look on Ron’s face as Harry turned to make note of brewing another antidote just in case, Toby moved over to the pop bottle and held it out to Ron.

In the attempt to cheer up the other boy, Toby had unknowingly made a terrible mistake as the redhead accepted it and swallowed a large sip from the bottle.

‘Ron!’

Harry spun around at Toby’s shriek and saw his best friend collapse to the floor where he began to jerk uncontrollably while foam bubbled from his mouth and his eyes bulged.

While Toby began to cry in terror that he had killed Ron, Harry reacted quickly and snatched the last bezoar in his personal Potions kit and hurried back to Ron, shoving Toby aside. Crouched at Ron’s side, Harry yanked open Ron’s jaw and forced the bezoar into his mouth.

With a final shudder, the redheaded Gryffindor gasped and became limp.

Harry stepped back and lifted Toby against his hip to cradle the boy close as the child buried his head against him and sobbed garbled apologies. Ron coughed and sat upright, looking a bit dazed and ill. He didn’t say anything and Harry had a feeling the ordeal wasn’t over just yet.

Harry was tempted to vanish the offensive pop bottle but decided against it and called for Dobby. The house-elf didn’t have time to say anything as he was urgently ordered to fetch Madam Pomfrey without hesitation.

--

When the Mediwitch bustled into the room with Professor McGonagall at her side, Toby was with Dobby as the house-elf took him straight to Irma Pince in the library. Harry didn’t know how serious Irma had been about her lack of motherly tendencies towards her own son but hoped that with the passed time since then, she’d overcome the misery of her husband’s treatment and could at least keep her grandson occupied until Harry could fetch him.

For now, Harry's only concern was Ron.

No one wanted to hear any explanations further then “Ron’s been poisoned”, as the two witches put all their efforts into getting Ron to the hospital wing as quickly as magically possible. Making sure to bring the pop bottle with him as instructed, Harry hurried along after them and ignored the frantic questioning of the few remaining Gryffindors (most of the school had left for Hogsmeade by now), in which they passed along the way.

Harry wasn’t aware of much as he stood near the back clutching cautiously to the pop bottle and watched the others fuss over Ron. A few minutes later, Professor Dumbledore and Snape hurried into the room in answer to their summons from Professor McGonagall.

It was then that Harry received the full attention.

‘What happened, Harry?’ Dumbledore asked in a tone kinder than Snape’s hard expression as they all stared at him.

Ron was stabilized and although Madam Pomfrey was clearly listening to the conversation, she continued to fuss over his induced, unconscious form.

Harry paused for a moment, unsure if he should risk mentioning the love potion and yet knew that it could have an effect on whatever they gave Ron to counterattack the poison further if it was needed. Getting in trouble for a simple love potion was not worth avoiding if it could lead to his friend’s further harm or…death.

Shivering at the last word, Harry began to explain the best he could.

‘A Ravenclaw said he was told to deliver this to me as a thank-you present.’ Harry held up the bottle. Snape reached a hand for it and Harry handed it over, watching as the Potions Master sniffed it and gave Dumbledore a grave expression.

‘He didn’t say who it was from.’ Harry continued. ‘I didn’t dare drink it and I should’ve just tossed it. Instead, Ron and I went up to our dormitory to get ready for the trip to Hogsmeade and Ron ate some cauldron cakes filled with love potion. I had an antidote on hand since I’d been expecting something like that since Christmas.’ He sighed.

‘He was fine and ended up sipping from the pop drink and that’s when I realized his was poisoned.’

‘What did you do?’ McGonagall wondered. ‘He’d have died by the time we'd found him.’

‘I shoved a bezoar down his throat.’ Harry shrugged with an added frown as though to say “duh”, and turned to notice a bewildered look on Snape’s face as well as a somewhat amused one on Dumbledore’s.

‘That was smart thinking on your behalf, Harry.’ Dumbledore said with a hint of pride. ‘And it was lucky you had a bezoar with you at the time.’

‘I always make a habit of having one, sir.’ Harry reasoned as it was true.

‘Yes, very good thinking.’ Dumbledore repeated as he and McGonagall left to explain things to the older Weasleys who were likely to come bursting through the hospital wing doors at any minute.

This also left Harry and Snape relatively alone.

The professor was still holding the pop bottle as he firstly spoke importantly to Madam Pomfrey and then proceeded to wait on the opposite side of the room for the others to return.

Harry could not bring himself to sit in a chair beside Ron as he felt he’d betrayed his friend somehow by first not throwing away the bottle and second for not warning Toby of the dangers of weird gifts. He felt an incline of terror at the “what if” moment of Toby drinking the pop instead. The fact that their secret would be out was the least of Harry’s panics.

Seeing nothing else to do, Harry moved to stand a few feet from Snape’s right. A little bored yet anxious about the events that had occurred, Harry extracted his ingredient list from his pocket and made sure to add bezoars to his “order/buy” column. He glanced sideways at Snape for a moment but the wizard appeared to be ignoring his presence entirely.

Harry's right hand felt itchy and he scratched at it, only to pause as the lines caused from his Unbreakable Vow with Draco were once again visible. He hadn’t remembered reading anything about something like this happening and for a moment felt freaked that he was about to die from the cause of breaking the vow.

Except it hadn’t been broken…wait!

Draco never told him the information he was supposed to and Harry hadn’t noticed until now; he had been so flustered over the Vow when it had happened that Harry just wanted to get away from it and then he’d bumped into Snape and…

‘Could you please tell Dumbledore I’ll be back in a minute?’ Harry said hurriedly to Snape as he didn’t wait for a response and rushed from the hospital wing.

He was unaware that the professor had cast a non-verbal spell in which aimed to prove that the marks which had once been on the teenager’s arm was indeed the cause of an Unbreakable Vow.

He had done the same to Draco the previous night when the teenager had fallen asleep by the fire in the Slytherin common room.

Severus had to remain behind in order to brief Dumbledore and reassure the adult Weasleys that their son was likely to live (He couldn’t see why he had to be the one to do it), and was unable to depart the Hospital Wing because of that. Perhaps he should go after Potter to make sure he didn’t attack Malfoy or something similar, given their history of endless disagreements and over-reactions.

Ah well, perhaps they won’t knock each other out and Severus would live another day to hand out deserving detentions to annoying brats that deemed themselves invincible?

Or maybe he was being too hopeful?

Either way, the boys were likely to end up back in this ward anyhow and it was far more productive to merely wait where he was. Yes, Severus was certain that this was the best course of action - Dumbledore’s moral blabbering be damned; Severus was tired of chasing after those two boys and was through with putting so much effort into preventing something so dreadfully inevitable.

‘Where did Potter go?’ Poppy asked Severus as she rejoined him a moment later, looking around for the boy.

‘No idea.’ Severus said simply with a plausible expression of innocence.

It was strange though, how clearly Poppy did not believe him.