Potions and Snitches
Snape and Harry Gen Fanfiction Archive

Railing Against Logic
Harry didn't need to ask Seamus the next morning why he was still irritable and angry with him. Harry knew why. He was upset about Cedric just like Cedric's friend from Hufflepuff. He woke up with this thought and by the end of the day it had cemented itself firmly in place. Four or five different Hufflepuffs in the upper years made comments as Harry passed in the corridors. "I want my friend back Potter," and "What really happened to Cedric? Did you kill him?" were common things he heard that day. A few Hufflepuffs were even wearing their old ‘Potter Stinks' badges again, and pointing to their badges as he passed.

Harry kept his head down and barely listened through Double Transfiguration and Double Charms, glad that Hermione was taking copious amounts of notes on their upcoming OWL exams since all he could think about was Cedric.

Harry made an effort to pull himself together for Divination at the end of the day, but Treylawney hadn't talked about OWLs at all aside from to say that the exams would reveal who had ‘the gift' and who didn't. Harry felt miserable by dinner and didn't eat much.

"What's wrong Harry?" Hermione asked. "It's OWLs isn't it? Don't worry, I'm creating study schedules for Transfiguration and Charms too."

Ron looked over at her with his mouth open, shocked. "Are you nutters or something? Where have you been all day? You don't have a time turner again do you?"

"What?" she asked, confused.

"Look at him. It's not OWLs Hermione. It's what people have been saying all day."

She did look at Harry again, but he was trying hard to ignore both of them.

"You haven't been with us at all have you?" Ron asked more quietly, not angry anymore.

"I've been very... focused," she said. "What have people been saying?"

Harry actually got up and left the table, dinner entirely forgotten. He didn't want to hear his friends say it. He didn't want to hear Ron describe the newest ‘Potter Stinks' campaign or go into the details of why the Hufflepuffs were doing it.

He hadn't even made it up the grand stairs to the first floor landing when Ron and Hermione both came up behind him.

"I'm sorry Harry," she said. "That was thoughtless of me."

"Nevermind," he told her. "You didn't have to leave your dinner."

"I didn't," she said. "And I didn't leave yours either."

He turned to her and found her holding out two bread rolls stuffed with meat. Ron had one too and had stuffed his pockets with apples.

"Take it," she told Harry. "You have to eat. Ron said you barely ate at lunch."

"Thanks."

Harry did eat it, though he didn't feel hungry, and felt warmed for a moment at the thought that his friends were willing to leave the Great Hall behind to go with him back to the common room. Harry didn't want to go back to Gryffindor though and face Seamus. He wondered if Seamus had a ‘Potter Stinks' badge too.

"Do you want to study in the library?"

"Ugh, Harry, study is such a dirty word," Ron said. He was clearly trying to make Harry laugh, but Harry couldn't even make himself smile at the moment.

"Yes, that sounds like a good idea. I need to work on the study schedules."

"Fine," Ron said, "I still need to finish my Defense and Care of Magical Creatures homework."

"Me too," Harry told them. They stopped off at Gryffindor to get their books and then Harry led them to his new favorite spot in the library.

"Harry, I know you're being forced to study potions, but does that really mean we have to sit in the potions section?" Ron asked as they went deeper into the potions section of the library. They had just passed a bookshelf full of creepier books that talked about potions and dead creatures.

"There's a spot I wanted to show you."

There were tables and chairs in the larger book aisles as there were in the rest of the library, and they probably thought Harry wanted to sit at one of those, but as they came to the back corner, Hermione made a little noise of approval.

"I love study nooks," she said. There were little study nooks across the library as well, always embedded into a wall. They were usually just a padded bench under a window, though some had a table too. This one was huge comparatively though. "This one's so big."

"It's flooded with light in the day," Harry said. It was dark now, though Hermione tapped her wand to the table to activate the lighting charm placed on the library and the nook lit up enough for them to study with soft warm light.

"Not so bad," Ron commented, dropping his bag and sitting down on one of the benches in front of a window. "Kind of like a private common room."

"There's one like this in the transfiguration section," Hermione said, "But it only has one window and two benches. The Ravenclaws usually sit there so I never get to. There's a little one in the charms section as well, and the Ravenclaws always take that one too."

"Do you mean to tell me Harry found something in the library you didn't know was here?" Ron asked.

"I've never had cause to come this deep into the potions section before," she said. "Most of the books the lower year students need are on the outer edge, or just a few rows in." They both turned to look at Harry.

"Master Snape sent me to find a book he needed a few days before school started. It took me a while to find it."

Harry and Ron pulled out their homework and started working on it while Hermione used a ruler and pen to make several charts. It wasn't long before Ron was complaining about the defense text though.

"How are we supposed to learn with this?" he asked, disgusted. "There's nothing in here."

"It talks about tactics, spying and other useful things later on," Hermione told him, not looking up from what she was working on. "The homework due tomorrow is only for the introduction."

"Let's just get it done," Harry told him. "I have to get a good grade in Defense right now."

They were done with their homework in just over an hour, and Hermione had been waiting for them to finish so she could show them her schedules.

"Actually," Harry said, "could I just see your notes about OWLs from Transfiguration and Charms today?"

"You didn't take any?" she asked. But then when she realized both boys were staring blankly at her she said, "Right. Here they are. I'm not copying the notes out for you though."

"I'm not stupid," Ron reminded her. "I know how to copy."

Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick had given them lists similar to the one Snape had given them. McGonagall's had a list of concepts they needed to know followed by a list of basic transfigurations they'd be asked to perform. The difference with Transfiguration and Potions was that they had to be able to perform all 25 transfigurations on the list for the OWL examiners. Charms was the same, but there were only a few concepts listed that they'd be tested on. Most of the Charms exam would be practical and there were nearly 100 charms they had to perform. After Harry had made copies of the lists he went down them and checked off everything he was comfortable with. He felt like he could take the Charms OWL right away and get a good grade, but he'd need to study and practice in Transfiguration.

"What about Divination?" Hermione asked them.

"If you have the gift you pass your OWL," Ron recited.

Hermione huffed. "Honestly, that class is a waste of time and I'm surprised you two haven't dropped it yet."

"We're not allowed to drop it," Harry reminded her.

"We're not allowed before fifth year," she said. "You only need five OWL's. If you drop Divination it will give you two extra hours every week to study for your other classes, not to mention time in the evenings you would have been doing Divination homework."

"I don't see you dropping any courses," Ron said.

"I'm in Arithmancy and I like it thank you very much."

"Fine then, let's drop Divination, History of Magic and Astronomy Harry," Ron said.

"You can't!" Hermione said in shock. "Besides, you can only drop electives until after your OWLs." Ron was grinning at her though. They only went to Astronomy one night a week on Fridays and by fifth year they were only going to History of Magic on Fridays for one hour as well.

She realized he'd been joking and trying to rile her, so she settled down.

"It's a good idea," Harry finally said. He hated Divination class and he needed to spend time studying for the apprentice exams anyway. He could use that time to read his apprentice textbooks.

* * *

Harry took a breath before entering the Defense classroom the next morning. He had a problem. He didn't want to pretend like he had on Monday, but he had to. He'd set a precedent now and he had to follow through. He'd presented himself as the boy who wanted to be sure everyone showed Umbridge respect, so that was the boy he needed to be today, at least in this class. What a hole he'd dug for himself he grouched to himself in his head.

"We're sitting up front," Harry informed his friends as they came up behind him before he went in.

"What?" Ron said. "Why?"

Harry turned to Ron and channeled Percy in that moment. "It's important that we lead by example Ronald. I want everyone to see how much I respect Professor Umbridge and am enjoying her lessons. You could learn something by putting more effort forth in your classes."

Hermione choked behind him and Ron couldn't pick his jaw up off the floor. Harry had never called him Ronald before. Percy always called him that when scolding him, and Hermione had picked up the habit of doing it too.

"You're not Percy are you? Using polyjuice?" Ron asked, turning to go into the classroom.

"Just Harry," he said. "Front row."

Harry and Ron sat together at the front table on the right, and Hermione took up a seat at the front table on the left, the side Slytherin usually sat on. It confused the Slytherins when they came in, but Draco's cold eyes fell on the trio and made up his mind that this was another play at manipulation and decided to join in. He sat in the empty seat next to Hermione.

"Granger, what are we doing today?" he asked her. Umbridge wasn't there yet, so it surprised Hermione along with everyone else that Draco had been so cordial.

"We're showing respect to Professor Umbridge by sitting up front and being ready to learn," she said.

Draco dropped the false respect he'd shown her a moment before and said, "You're not Slytherin enough to pull this off. She'll see right through it."

"Of course she will," Hermione said, but didn't say anything else because she didn't want to engage with him.

As Umbridge came in Harry hoped Seamus would keep quiet today and wondered if he should channel Hermione or Percy for the rest of the class.

"Harry," Ron whispered, and Harry leaned in toward him, keeping his eyes up front. "We really doing this?"

He gave a nod and sat up straight again.

"This can't work," Ron muttered. He was probably right. It couldn't work, but it had to. Harry didn't want a single detention with Snape that year. He didn't want Umbridge to say a word about him to Snape again so that Snape would yell at him. The last time that had happened, Harry had spent too many days in a row studying on a hard stool. He'd rather have as much free time as he could so he could sit with his friends in the library nook. He didn't want to study at all, but if he had to do it, that sort of thing was best done with friends, not alone with Snape.

"My, we are eager to learn today aren't we?" Umbridge asked, seeing Harry and Ron up at the front of the room as opposed to the back row where they had been Monday.

They handed their homework in. Harry had asked Hermione to double check it to be sure he'd given good answers.

"Today we're talking about the dangers of spreading rumors, and how this can negatively affect the wizarding community. The topic of the day is fear mongering." Harry bit his tongue so hard he thought it might bleed. Ron and Draco were right. This was going to be too hard to pull off. As Umbridge came around to face him though, he put on a smile and tried to look eager to learn. Harry raised his hand and noted the gleam of excitement that crossed Umbridge's eyes at seeing his hand up.

"Yes Mr. Potter?"

"Fear mongering played a big role in the Goblin Rebellion of 1512 didn't it maam?"

The excitement was replaced with disappointment. She had hoped he'd open his big mouth and say something stupid, but he'd decided to be Hermione for the rest of the class. He knew little of History and had barely managed a passing grade in the subject for all these years. There were a few things he remembered though, and he had the general idea of how events had played out thanks to Hermione badgering him and Ron to study.

"Yes, a very big role," she said. She turned from him and didn't call on him for the rest of the class, despite that he raised his hand every time she asked a question.

At the end of the class Harry stood up and put his notes away but didn't leave. "Yes Mr. Potter?" she asked. Ron and Hermione were waiting with baited breath by the door.

"I found what we were talking about today really interesting. I was wondering if you could tell me about some books where I could read more about it. I mean to say maam, I'm going to read everything in the chapter about it in our textbook, but I was hoping for some extra reading on it."

She stared into his eyes like she was searching for something, but Harry only waited with as innocent a look as he could muster. Finally she said, "I don't offer extra credit in my classes Mr. Potter."

"I understand. Do you know of any books where I could read more about this?"

"Rebellion Rising," she said. "Portions of chapter two and seven from your textbook come directly from that."

"I'll look for it in the library," Harry said with a smile, trying to seem in earnest. "Thank you." Then he turned and left, ignoring Ron and Hermione until they were down in the dungeons.

"What is happening here?" Ron asked. "Tell me you're not really turning into Hermi- I mean Percy," Ron said when Hermione shot him a look.

Harry felt charged up a little though, amped, like he'd really done something in the last hour. He grinned at Ron and said, "Percy's very helpful sometimes, don't you think? And Hermione too."

"You're crazy Harry. Besides, you wouldn't be saying that if you knew what Percy's been saying lately."

Harry raised his brows but Ron mumbled that he'd tell him later as they went into the upper year potions classroom.

"Take your seats, hurry up," Snape urged the fifth year Gryffindors and Slytherins coming into the room. They weren't late, but the man wanted them to hurry nonetheless. "We have a lot to get through today." Before the last of the students were seated Snape had already tapped the blackboard with his wand and the recipe for Essence Of Insanity had appeared.

"That's a sixth year potion," Hermione said.

"How do you know?" Ron asked.

"She's probably got the sixth and seventh year textbooks," Harry replied, and when she didn't respond, he knew he was right.

"Miss Granger is correct," Snape said, sending the door closed with his wand with a snap as Parvati Patil hurried in and sat down, the last of them to arrive. "Essense Of Insanity is typically a sixth year potion. However, they are offering it on the OWLs this year as a potion for extra credit. This extra credit works differently for OWLs than it does for regular classes. It will not give you extra points to make up for other failed potions during the exam. What it will do however is give you a point towards your NEWT exam. If you choose to brew this optional potion for your OWLs, it will be one less NEWT level potion you must brew in your seventh year when taking your NEWTs. Extra credit points are occasionally added to the OWLs."

Draco raised his hand and Snape called on him. "Why have they added extra credit this year sir?"

Snape didn't look up at Draco, or at Harry as he said, "Because there is a potions apprentice amongst the fifth years. The masters running the potions OWL this year wish to gauge the apprentice's progress. If brewed correctly the apprentice will get one point towards passing their apprentice exam."

The students in the room looked around and murmured some, wondering who the apprentice was and if he or she was in their class. Neville, Ron and Hermione didn't say anything. He knew someone else would ask who the apprentice was and wondered if Snape would tell them or not.

"Miss Parkinson?"

"Who's the apprentice?"

Harry did look up. She was looking across the aisle at Hermione. It made sense, Harry thought. She was an overachiever in every sense and was usually top of the Gryffindor Slytherin class in Potions. She frequently complained that there was a Hufflepuff in their year in the Hufflepuff Ravenclaw class that got better potions grades than her by a few points every year.

"Mr. Potter."

Harry looked away as his face heated up. No one said a word about it or murmured about him and Snape went straight into the lesson.

Twenty minutes later in the storeroom as Harry was gathering supplies for he and Ron to start their first attempt at the potion (Snape had told them the class would be working on it for the next week until everyone had it down), Draco came in and stared at him.

"What?" Harry asked.

"What are you playing at this year Potter? Who took you on as an apprentice?"

Harry turned away from him and pulled a small jar of beetle eyes down from the top shelf.

"Just trying to survive," he said.

"Is it Professor Snape?"

Harry turned and gave the boy a close looking over. He didn't seem like he was there with malicious intent. "Yes." He took his ingredients and went back out of the potions cupboard to deliver them to Ron.

"Is this enough meadow waxcap?" Ron asked, looking into the jar of dried mushrooms Harry had brought out. "We each need two tablespoons crushed," he said, looking down at the recipe he'd copied down for he and Harry while Harry was getting ingredients.

"No," Harry said, "but its all that was left."

"Better check the potions cupboard again," Ron said, and Harry went back in to look, glad that Draco was gone and that everyone else was already settling in to prepare their ingredients.

This potions cupboard was in desperate need of a restock on several ingredients, Harry thought. There was no more meadow waxcap. He looked for snowy and crimson waxcap knowing he could use those, but there was none of those available either.

Harry left the supply closet and went up to the front of the room where Snape had just finished answering questions for Crabbe about the potion they were brewing. He turned to Harry but didn't say anything.

"I need something from the supply cupboard in the corridor."

"Go," he said and waved him away with his hand. Snape didn't usually let students leave the room once class had started, not even to use the loo. Occasionally he took one of the Slytherins or Hermione with him to get extra supplies from one of the other classrooms, but never Harry. He could feel the eyes of his classmates on him as he left the room and went into the corridor. He gave the password Caldus Major, and was pleased that it hadn't been changed since school had started earlier that week.

Harry browsed the shelves for waxcap, but couldn't find the meadow waxcap the potion called for. There was crimson waxcap however. It was from the stock he'd helped gather that summer. Harry took the jar and closed and locked the corridor storeroom before heading back to class with the dried orange mushrooms. Most of the class had finished preparing their ingredients and had moved on to starting their potion.

Harry mashed frog brains and crushed his beetle eyes before adding them to his cauldron along with the seven other ingredients called for in the potions recipe and charmed a fire underneath, waving it up to high to bring the potion to a boil. Then he turned his attention to the crimson waxcaps. Snape had said a fifth as much crimson waxcap was needed to thicken a potion as meadow or snowy waxcap, and that he was supposed to start out with as little as possible and add more as needed to get the right thickness. This potion was supposed to be thick and gelatinous.

They were supposed to have two tablespoons of crushed meadow waxcap, so Harry was going to need slightly less than half a tablespoon of the crimson waxcap, or at least he hoped that he was remembering correctly what he'd been told. It had been over two months since they'd been out collecting mushrooms.

"Harry, no, that's the wrong mushroom," Hermione said from behind him.

"I know," he said.

"But you have to use meadow waxcap."

Harry grinned, knowing she couldn't see it. He'd wondered for a while now how she would handle him substituting an ingredient. He would use the meadow waxcap if he had some, but this was the perfect opportunity to panic her a little. He couldn't deny that since he'd gone to Defense that morning he'd felt full of chaotic energy at pulling off his act with Umbridge. He'd tried to keep Umbridge calm, but now he wanted to make Hermione panic. This must be what Fred and George felt like on a regular basis.

"I'm making a substitution."

"But you can't Harry! We have to follow the recipe!" She sounded desperate for him to understand that he was making a dire mistake. Snape was listening from across the aisle as Hermione's voice rose a little in her desperation, but had yet to come over to tell Harry to borrow some snowy waxcap from someone else to use instead.

"It's ok," Harry said, "focus on your potion or you'll get a bad grade."

She gave a little huff behind him and Harry shared a look with Ron, whose brows were raised. "You know what you're doing right?" he asked Harry.

"Yup."

After an hour Harry's potion was nearly done and their class time was almost up. Before turning down the flame Harry added his crimson waxcap and stirred, hoping he hadn't added too much. Hermione would gloat if he ruined his potion after warning him he was making a mistake. The potion thickened some, but not enough, so Harry added another pinch of the waxcap powder, and after another minute, another pinch after that. Finally it gelled up and Harry turned the heat off altogether and decanted some into the phial they were to turn in to be graded. Ron's was clear but not thick enough. Harry turned and looked at Hermione's and Neville's, whose potions were also clear. Harry's was clear but slightly orange due to the difference in waxcaps.

Snape went around the room commenting on each student's potion. Milicent Bulstrode and Pansy Parkinson had brewed a perfect potion, but none of the other Slytherins had done it correctly. Draco's was close but not perfect enough to get a good grade on the OWL exam. On the Gryffindor side most of the students had failed miserably. Ron's potion had almost passed, much to Ron's surprise, and Hermione's was in the same state as Ron's. Finally Snape came to Harry's cauldron and looked inside. Everyone seemed to be watching to see how badly he'd berate Harry for his potion. Not everyone knew he'd used a different waxcap, but they were used to this part of class, where Snape came to stand in front of Harry to tell him he had a zero for the day.

"Why did you choose to use crimson waxcap?" he asked, looking down into the potion. He wasn't angry, and Harry hoped this was going to be like all the other times they'd brewed together that summer where the man had managed to stay relatively calm.

"The supply cupboard and corridor supply are out of snowy and meadow waxcap sir."

"How much crimson waxcap did you use?"

"I started out with just less than half a tablespoon and then added two more pinches until it was the right thickness."

"Do you believe this is brewed correctly?" he asked.

Harry really hoped he wasn't planning on making Harry try it. Essence of Insanity made the drinker temporarily lose their mind. "It's the right thickness and smells right."

"The color is different than the potions of your peers," Snape countered, again not angry. His voice was even and Harry looked up from the potion to find the man holding his gaze.

"It's orange from the crimson waxcap."

Snape didn't break eye contact and pointed to Ron's cauldron. "What did Mr. Weasley do wrong?"

"He didn't grind up the waxcap enough so when he measured there wasn't enough to thicken it."

"And miss Granger's potion?"

Harry turned and looked into her cauldron. Hers looked all right but the smell was slightly off. It was thick enough, but something just wasn't right about it. He let his eyes rove around her clean workstation and then picked up what remained of her jar of meadow waxcap and opened the lid to look inside.

"Hers aren't dry. They probably mashed instead of turning to powder when she crushed them. Moisture might have gotten into the jar and rehydrated them." He sniffed the open bottle and then set it back down. "They're not moldy. They can just be dried out again."

Snape murmured in agreement and then said, "For those of you who did not pass your potion you will be re-brewing it Friday. Mr. Potter, Miss Parkinson and Miss Bulstrode will also be re-brewing it to prove they have it mastered. They have earned the top marks for the day. Class dismissed."

Harry moved to clean up his station and put the ingredients away but before he could leave class Snape stopped him and said, "Come to my office after dinner. You will retrieve a crate of waxcap from there and then restock this and the corridor supply cupboard. I do not expect it to take more than half an hour."

"Yes sir."

He waved him away and Harry looked back at him, trying to see if the man was angry or had any sort of look of approval on his face. He didn't. His face was impassive, and Harry decided that was the best he could hope for at this point. He'd take impassive over being yelled at and put down.

As they went to lunch, Harry and his friends were silent. They ended up taking seats at the far end of Gryffindor where the table was less crowded.

"That was pretty wicked," Ron said after he'd put two pieces of roast chicken onto his plate.

Harry raised his brows. "It was?"

"Yeah, everyone thought Snape was gonna yell at you for sure, because you usually fail and we figured he'd yell even harder since you're his apprentice now. I think half the class failed because they were watching you and Snape all class," Ron said. "He even let you leave to get supplies from the corridor supply on your own."

Harry shrugged. "I spent three weeks in and out of that corridor cupboard while I was brewing potions for the Hospital Wing."

"Still," Ron said, mouth full of chicken. He swallowed and said, "You could have at least told me I was powdering the mushrooms wrong."

"I didn't see you doing it."

"Then how'd you know I did it wrong?" he asked.

Harry took a drink of water and said, "I looked down at your workstation. You hadn't cleaned up yet. The mortar had leftover waxcap and I could see you hadn't ground it up fine enough."

"Well I won't make that mistake again," Ron said. "Waste of time having to re-brew it if you ask me."

Hermione was quiet throughout their conversation. "What's with you?" Ron asked across the table from her.

"Nothing," she said. She turned to Harry though and asked, "Why did that work? Why did your potion work when you substituted the crimson waxcap? Our textbooks always tell us to follow all of the directions in the recipes."

"Crimson, snowy and meadow waxcap all have similar properties and do the same things in potions," Harry said. "They all thicken potions. The only difference is crimson waxcaps are more potent so less has to be used, and they're also harder to come by which makes them more expensive, so they're not normally in the student store cupboard. I would have used the meadow waxcap if there had been any left."

"And why was my waxcap wet?" Hermione asked.

"Did you open the jar and let it sit open while you brewed before you crushed it?"

She hesitated. "I did."

"The moisture coming off of your cauldron probably did it."

"I didn't think of that." She gave Harry a look like she was surprised he'd thought of it.

"Don't look at me," he said. "It's just a guess. But I spent days and days on my hands and knees foraging for different waxcaps, drying them out, crushing them, and selling them this summer. Every step of the way I got quizzed by master Snape and the apothecary I was selling them to. When all you think and talk about is waxcaps for two weeks it's hard to forget the information."

"Well," Hermione said, finally picking up her fork to start eating, "the apprenticeship seems to be serving you well."

"I'll trade you," Harry told her, and she looked up, question in her eyes. "You take the apprenticeship and I'll take the freedom of having summer and Christmas holidays and being able to focus on my regular classes without having to worry about extra work and extra books I have to memorize."

"I don't think she meant anything by it," Ron commented blandly across the table.

"Neither did I," Harry said, and he nudged Hermione a little next to him. "You're not gonna be mad at me all year if I'm getting better grades in Potions than you, are you?" he asked.

She scoffed. "No, I'm just going to have to study harder."

"Or," Ron offered up, "you could let him tutor you."

She scoffed again, but then looked at Harry sheepishly, like she'd just realized she might have been insulting him. Usually it was Ron who was putting his foot in his mouth. Harry laughed.

"Don't worry about it," he said. "You still have to get me through Transfiguration and History of Magic."

"Oy," Ron said and they looked across the table at him. "I'm smart at some things too you know. I can get Harry through Transfiguration."

Hermione and Harry shared a smile with each other but didn't say anything. Ron was good at Transfiguration but his grades didn't reflect it because he never spent any time on his homework.

* * *

Friday during Potions class Snape had set up three smaller workbenches and sent Harry, Milicent and Pansy to sit at them. Harry's was at the front by the workbench he'd been sharing with Ron, but far enough away from Ron that they couldn't chat comfortably. Pansy's was at the back of the room and Milicent's was next to the workbench she usually shared with her friend Tracey.

"Anyone who did not brew a perfect Essence of Insanity potion Wednesday will re-brew it today. Follow the recipe and ensure your ingredients are prepared correctly. Miss Parkinson, Miss Bulstrode and Mr. Potter, you will re-brew the potion without looking at the recipe. Potter, use the ingredients found in the crate under your workstation."

The rest of the class moved to go into the supply cupboard to gather ingredients and Harry picked up the crate of ingredients set aside for him, wondering why he wasn't allowed to go into the supply cupboard. Maybe Snape didn't like that he'd substituted waxcaps on his own without asking.

Harry was confused when he looked through the ingredients he'd been given though. There was a jar with a single crimson waxcap, a single snowy waxcap, and half a meadow waxcap. There wasn't enough of any of them to get the required amount of a single kind of waxcap into the potion. He examined the waxcaps further. Even together the three wouldn't be enough to brew a full Essense of Insanity potion, at least not with the recipe they'd used Wednesday.

The rest of the ingredients looked to be what he needed, though the beetle eyes were already crushed for him.

Harry pulled out a piece of parchment and wrote down the recipe from what he remembered Wednesday. If he'd been asked to do this after a week he might not have remembered. He set to work crushing his waxcaps first. He crushed the meadow and snowy waxcap together and measured them. It wasn't even half a tablespoon of powder. The single crimson waxcap only amounted to a few pinches. He supposed if he wasn't allowed any more ingredients he'd have to cut the potion recipe down to match the amount of waxcaps he had. If he cut it in half... no, maybe a little less than half, it might work. He did some maths for a few minutes until he was sure he had cut the recipe down enough and then began measuring and preparing ingredients. It was almost fun. He'd expected to be bored having to re-brew this today, but then Snape had given him and the two Slytherin girls the added challenge of doing it without providing them the recipe. Pansy and Milicient hadn't received crates of ingredients, so Harry assumed Snape was giving him the added challenge of dealing with the wrong amount of ingredients.

"Harry."

Harry looked up. Ron was whisper yelling at him to get his attention.

"Do these look ok?" Ron asked, holding up a phial of meadow waxcap. Harry was close enough to see what he had but too far away to really examine the ingredients.

"If it's dry and the right color and doesn't smell moldy," Harry said, not bothering to whisper.

"Let Mr. Weasley pass or fail on his own Potter," Snape said as he swept by, but he left it at that as he was on his way to criticize Goyle for grabbing a non-waxcap mushroom out of the store cupboard.

After making his smaller batch of the potion Harry added all of his meadow and snowy waxcap powder in and watched to see if it would gel. It was starting to, but not enough, so he added the little he had of his crimson waxcap. The potion gelled and looked as it had on Wednesday. None of the other students were done with their potions yet, but they'd had more ingredients to prepare than Harry did. Snape seemed to have expected this and came over the moment Harry canceled the flames under his cauldron.

After looking into the cauldron and not finding anything wrong with the potion, he said, "Show me the maths you used to figure out the proportions of the new potion."

Harry handed him the parchment with his scribbles and felt satisfied that Snape hadn't been able to trip him up on this one. He was certain that was what he'd been trying to do.

Snape handed the parchment back and said, "Keep your calculations in neat columns, left, center, then right. More complex potions will require more maths and you are likely to get your calculations mixed up if you do not keep them organized."

"Yes sir."

"Clean up your workstation and spend the rest of the class period studying."

Harry did as he was told and then sat down to study in one of his apprentice texts. Class was over in another twenty minutes, and Harry stopped studying to see how his friends had done. Hermione had passed her potion this time and so had Ron and Draco along with a few others. Many still hadn't though.

"Everyone will re-brew this potion again on Monday," Snape announced, and then he dismissed the class.

"What were you doing over there with your potion?" Hermione asked as they walked to lunch. Harry explained it to her.

"I think he was trying to trip me up. Pansy and Milicent only had to brew theirs with no instructions. I had to brew mine with the wrong amount of ingredients."

"Think that's what we'll be doing Monday?" Ron asked.

"Just memorize the recipe and you should be fine," Harry said.

* * *

Harry had not been told to go to the potions lab on Saturday morning, but assumed he was expected to be there, so he showed up with Hermione. Ron had opted out because he preferred to have Saturday off altogether. Neville went with them though because Harry had promised to help him with the list of OWL potions that he didn't have down yet.

None of the other Gryffindors showed up, but a few of the Slytherins did, along with a handful of Ravenclaws and two Hufflepuffs. Harry made sure to grab a workbench as far from the Hufflepuffs as he could. Most of the Hufflepuffs were wearing ‘Potter Stinks' badges by Friday, and even the younger ones had taken to calling him out in the corridors between classes over Cedric's death. Hannah Abbot and Ernie McMillan didn't say anything to Harry since Snape was there, and they opted instead to work with their friends from Ravenclaw in the back corner of the potions room.

"You may brew whatever potion is on the list that you are struggling with during these lab times," Snape said. "I will answer questions if you have them, but will not be tutoring you. When you are done brewing a potion you may bring it to me to examine so I can tell you if it's passing or failing."

Hermione and Neville stood on one side of the workbench Harry and Ron usually shared, and Harry stood on the other side facing them. He didn't have any potions he wanted to brew that day and had figured on just taking notes out of his apprentice books while he was there helping Neville for two hours, or doing whatever else Snape wanted him to do.

"What potion should I start with?" Neville asked Harry, setting his list down on the table between them. He only had a few checked off.

"Start at the top," Harry said. He looked over to Hermione but she didn't look like she wanted his help. Most of her first through fourth year potions were checked off already, and he wondered if she was going to attempt some of the fifth year potions they were going to be learning that year but hadn't yet. Instead she seemed to be practicing the one they'd brewed twice that week already.

Neville went to the supply cupboard and brought out the ingredients for pepperup potion. He started pulling out ingredients right away but Harry put out a hand to stop him. "Look over the recipe first," he instructed. "Get a good idea for what the steps are and the timing of when you're going to have to add things in. Sometimes if you prepare ingredients too early they'll spoil, or if you prepare some that don't go in until the end and neglect the ones you need at the beginning you could end up rushing and the potion won't turn out."

Neville nodded and took a deep breath. "Right, I should have thought of that. I never do that." He took a few minutes to look over the recipe, and then started to prepare ingredients. Harry pulled out his book on compositions and classes of potions and picked up where he'd left off in chapter two. He understood there were 27 classes of potions, and he'd been working on memorizing all 27 classes despite having trouble remembering the last ten. Each of the 27 chapters of the book were broken up into their own class as well as different potion compositions and examples for each class.

Chapter one had been easy enough, it was about restorative healing potions and had potions like Skelgrow and potions to mend bones or heal deep gashes and cuts. There were only two different types of compositions for restorative healing potions, and every potion in that category fell into one of the two composition types. This meant that there was a base for one composition and a base for another composition, and then individual ingredients that went in on top of whatever base was needed for whichever restorative potion you were using. Harry understood all of it and had read the chapter three times already.

The problem was that chapter two was about core replenishing potions. These were potions that restored a person's magical core when it was severely depleted, and there were nine different compositions for the 18 potions listed in this category. It was going to take him forever to memorize the bases for the nine compositions, and he didn't understand why there had to be nine bases. For regular restorative potions it was clear why half of the potions were built on one base and half on another, but there was no rhyme or reason to what he was being taught in chapter two.

"Harry, how's this look?" Neville asked, and Harry looked up, glad to have a break for a moment because his head was starting to hurt from trying to figure out the compositions of core replenishing potions.

"Looks good so far," he said. "What step are you on?"

"I've been stirring it for sixty seconds every few minutes."

"Look at it and look at the description of what it should look like."

Neville looked down at the recipe and then back into his cauldron. "It's bright red like it should be," he said. "Thin, and it smells like mint."

"Is it done?" Harry asked.

Neville fidgeted. "I don't know, is it?"

"How long did you brew it for?"

"It's been on the heat for 14 minutes."

"Is that what the recipe says?" Harry asked, and Neville looked again, and then nodded.

"Turn down the heat," Harry said, and then told him, "taste it."

Neville's face paled. Snape was always threatening to make them test their own failed potions. "It's fine," Harry reassured him. "This one's harmless if you have some and it looks like it's been brewed right. Taste it." To prove his point Harry stuck his pinky finger into the hot liquid, tried not to wince at how hot it was and put his finger in his mouth.

Neville, still looking uncertain, did the same. "Blech," he said. "That's disgusting. It's so bitter!"

"You did it right but didn't get enough peppermint in there. Banish this one and do it again. You can't actually add too much peppermint to this one so add as much as you want to get a good flavor."

"That's not what the recipe says," Hermione finally commented. She seemed to be at a place in her potion where she could take a break for a few minutes as it simmered. She pointed to the book Neville had open with the recipe in it and read, "27 peppermint leaves."

"I used 27 though," Neville said. "I counted twice before I added them."

"Look at how small they are though," Harry said. "When you add leaves like this it's imprecise. Potions that need a precise amount of something call for powder or a certain weight of the item. Some peppermint leaves are huge and others are tiny. The ones you're using are small. If they wanted a precise amount they wouldn't have just said ‘leaves'. The peppermint in this potion is just there for the taste and some basic health benefits like settling an upset stomach or helping with headaches and sinus infections. You can add as much as you want."

"But the recipe," Hermione insisted.

Harry motioned for Neville to start his potion over again and he set to work while Harry looked across the table at his friend, trying to think of the best way to explain it to her.

"Do you like peppermint tea?" he asked.

"Of course," she said. They usually served it with dinner along with pumpkin juice and water.

"But how do you like it? Ron adds a lot of sugar to his and Ginny likes hers weak and always adds extra water to hers."

"I prefer it strong," Hermione said.

"Yeah, Ginny's ruining hers by adding more water, isn't she?"

"It's not the same with potions," she said.

"Just go with me on it for a minute," Harry told her.

She looked like she didn't want to but said, "She's not ruining it."

"Even if the recipe calls for it to be made strong?"

"Even so, it's up to preference."

Harry sat up straight and said, "So are some potions."

"That's not how it-"

He raised his brows at her and she closed her mouth so he could finish. "Everything else in Pepperup is precise because it needs to be so the potion will turn out, but in that specific potion the peppermint is there more for the taste than anything else. Just like stronger peppermint tea, it's not going to hurt someone if there's too much. Not everythings like that, you can't just add random stuff to a potion to make it taste better, but with this potion you can definitely add as much peppermint as you want."

"Why doesn't the book say that?" Hermione asked, and the three of them startled then as Snape spoke from behind her. They hadn't noticed him come over to them.

"Because first through fifth year potions is about learning to follow easy recipes and preparing ingredients so your textbooks encourage you not to deviate from instructions. NEWT level potions goes into substitutions and basic potions theory. Beyond NEWT potions is an apprenticeship, which goes deeper into potions theory and potion creation and experimentation as well as other things." He looked down at Harry's open apprentice book and pointed at the chapter Harry was reading. "By the time Potter has this chapter memorized he should be able to brew potions with any of the bases here and make substitutions as needed, so long as the bases are stable, because he will understand the theory behind class two potions and why the ingredients work together the way they do."

"Yes sir," Hermione said, and he left to go answer a question one of the Ravenclaws had.

Harry sighed. "That's all well and good except I'm never going to understand chapter two," he said. "It's too complicated and there's no reason or pattern to the potion bases in this chapter." He wished he could just ask Hermione for her help, but for the first time in a long time he found himself in the odd and unenviable position of knowing more than her about something.

"You could ask Professor Snape," Hermione said, as though reading his mind.

"Could do, probably won't," Harry said.

"Did he teach you about the peppermint leaves?" Neville asked, nearly done with his second batch of pepperup.

"Yeah, a few weeks ago," Harry said. Then both Neville and Hermione stared at him, willing him to get the point.

Harry sighed and rose to go across the room with his apprentice text. He needed to talk to Snape anyway because Professor McGonagall had informed him earlier in the week that if he wanted to drop Diviniation he needed Snape's approval first.

Chapter End Notes:
Let me know if I'm getting too descriptive with the potions aspect. These last two chapters had quite a bit about classes, but they were necessary to set the scene for the school year.

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