The Greatest Power

Chapter 17: A Surprise Attack

After Harry had put all of his things away in the chest next to his bed, changed into his pajamas and had taken a drink of water from the jug, he took a small vial out of his trunk and considered it. Moony had given him the vial before they had left Grimmauld Place. It contained a Dreamless Sleep Potion.

"You don't have to take this, Harry, if you don't want to," Remus had told him gently. "But here it is, if you want it. After this, if you feel you need some, all you have to do is ask Madam Pomfrey. I've spoken to her, and she will monitor your use of the potion."

Harry thought about it. It made him feel weak to admit that he might need the potion on his first night back at school. 'After all,' he thought, 'nothing has happened today to make me anything but happy.'

He had almost decided to save the potion for another time when he looked furtively around at his roommates. Neville, Seamus, and Dean were already sleeping, the scarlet hangings drawn around their beds. Harry was not surprised; he, Ron, Ginny and Hermione had stayed up talking, and it was now almost midnight. Ron, having finished putting his things away, was yawning widely as he changed into his pajamas. Harry decided that he did not want to risk waking his roommates up on the first night of term. He bid goodnight to Ron, pulled the hangings around his bed, and drank the potion without another thought. He was soundly asleep in minutes.

* * *

When Harry woke early the next morning, he was glad he had taken the potion. As his roommates stirred around him, Harry quickly pulled on his robes and stuck his wand in his pocket, forgoing his book bag until he knew what classes he would have today. He felt relaxed, well rested, and ready for whatever the day would bring.

He and Ron met Hermione and Ginny in the common room ten minutes later, and the four headed down to the Great Hall, Ron and Hermione holding hands in a sickeningly sweet sort of way, Ginny and Harry walking behind them.

When they reached the Great Hall and began serving themselves breakfast (Ron kept shooting furtive glances at Harry's plate, but did not try to serve him again), they discussed their classes. For the first time, Harry, Ron, and Hermione would not be together in all of their classes, and it was not without a slight bit of trepidation that they all received their timetables from Professor McGonagall. Ginny was a bit nervous as well; this was her O.W.L. year, and she remembered only too well how stressful classes has been for her brother and his friends the year before.

Harry took one look at his timetable and groaned. This was going to be a hard year, academically. All N.E.W.T. classes were double periods, and they were only allowed to take six, which left sixth- and seventh-years more study time than their younger counterparts. Suddenly, Harry realized that it was not something to be envied; they would need every moment of it.

"Harry," Hermione said, looking sideways at his timetable. "It says you have free periods on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. That can't be right - you passed enough O.W.L.s to have a full schedule."

Not having wanted to take any of the attention off of Ron and his new captaincy, Harry had not mentioned his private lessons with Dumbledore to Hermione or Ginny the night before, so he lowered his voice and told them all about his conversation with McGonagall, leaving out the bit about the additional special training that Dumbledore was planning. He wanted to find out what it was before he told anyone; his friends didn't know about the prophecy yet and he didn't know how he would explain why Dumbledore would want him to learn the Unforgivables without telling them.

"Oh, of course!" Hermione answered when he told her about Occlumency lessons. "Well, that's good, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Harry replied, but the look on his face was so much more pensive than usual that they all immediately knew he was holding something back.

"Harry, what is it?" Ginny asked tentatively, and he immediately tried to arrange his face into a more casual expression.

"Nothing," he lied. "I'm just dreading Potions this morning, is all. I can't think of a worse way to start the week."

"Maybe Professor Snape won't be too bad, now we've made the N.E.W.T. class," Hermione said unconvincingly.

"Don't count on it," Ron said darkly. "I don't envy you two. Personally, I'm glad to be shut of the old - "

"Ron!" Hermione hissed. "You are still a prefect, and the first years could easily overhear!"

"I say 'forewarned is forearmed,'" Ron grumbled, but much more softly. Harry and Ginny both nodded vigorously.

"Well, unless we want to be late and upset Professor Snape right off, we'd best be going," Hermione said, ending the conversation and giving Ron a quick kiss on the cheek before standing up. "We've got to go to the dormitory and get our books, and then get back down to the dungeons, and we've only got twenty minutes! Come on, Harry."

"You two have fun!" Ron called after them smugly, glad that he wouldn't have to deal with Snape this year.

* * *

With Hermione's constant insistence that they hurry, she and Harry arrived in Snape's dungeons with a full five minutes to spare. Harry tried to catch his breath as he swung his book bag onto the table he was to share with Hermione, and he looked around as his classmates filed in.

As he had fully expected, most of the class consisted of Slytherins, including, of course, Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson. They did not sit together; instead, Pansy threw a disgusted look at Draco as she flounced dramatically across the room to sit with another Slytherin sixth year. To Harry's great surprise and consternation, Draco dropped his bag on the table right in front of the one he was sharing with Hermione. Although he shot a blatantly malevolent look at them, he did not say a word. Harry couldn't help but notice that, away from his rather large cronies, Crabbe and Goyle, Draco seemed smaller than usual. However, he carried himself even more arrogantly than he had in the past, and Harry wondered what the change could be. Draco just seemed different, somehow.

Because of Snape's requirement of an "outstanding" O.W.L. to gain entrance, this class was unusually small. Besides the eleven Slytherins that Harry had counted, the only other students were Harry, Hermione, Parvati Patil and her Ravenclaw twin, Padma, Justin Finch-Fletchley and Susan Bones from Hufflepuff, and Ernie Macmillan and two other Ravenclaws who Harry did not recognize. Hermione and Harry exchanged friendly greetings with the non-Slytherin students, most of whom were D.A. members, but before they had a chance to say anything besides the usual pleasantries, the door to Snape's office opened and the greasy-haired professor stalked into the room. Everyone fell silent.

"Welcome to N.E.W.T.-level Potions," Snape said, his voice anything but welcoming. "Although I expected many of you to make this class, I did have a few surprises when O.W.L. results came back." He glared at Harry, and then moved his gaze to Justin and Susan. "Needless to say, now that you have proven what you are capable of, I will expect nothing less than the best from each of you, and from the beginning, I will be grading all assignments to N.E.W.T. standard."

Harry could feel Hermione straighten attentively as Snape continued, "It seems that there are those among us who have never performed to their potential in this class." Again, he glared at Harry. "That will no longer be tolerated."

Harry bit his tongue as he willed his face to remain neutral. He wanted to shout at Snape that the reason many of them had done poorly in Potions had nothing to do with their abilities on the subject matter, but everything to do with Snape's constant criticism and belittling of anyone who was not in his own house. Wisely, however, Harry decided to remain silent.

"I do not have time to waste on review if we are to cover everything necessary in this class," Snape sneered. "We will begin immediately on your N.E.W.T. work." He flicked his wand at the blackboard behind his desk, and many rows of his spiky handwriting appeared. Before even reading the instructions, Harry could tell simply by the long list of ingredients and procedures that Snape had, as usual, set them an extremely difficult potion for their first day in class.

"These," Snape indicated the board, "are the instructions for the Wolfsbane potion." Harry was slightly startled. Why had Snape chosen to teach them this particular potion today? "This potion is a partial antidote for the werewolf transformation. Can anyone tell me why it is only partial?"

Hermione raised her hand, and Harry immediately followed suit. Of course, they knew of the Wolfsbane potion from the time they had spent with Moony since third year. No one else, however, raised their hands.

Snape raised his eyebrows at the rest of the class. "Not at all what I would have expected," he commented. "N.E.W.T.-level Potions students who can't even answer the simplest question for such a common potion...I see that none of you have seen fit to open a book this summer. How disappointing. Wolfsbane - " As usual, he ignored Hermione and Harry as they kept their hands pointedly in the air.

Just as Harry put his hand down, Hermione predictably spoke out, "Sir, the Wolfsbane potion is only considered a partial antidote to the werewolf transformation because, while it allows the taker to retain his or her normal human mind during the transformation, it does not prevent the physical changes during the full moon."

"Miss Granger, I did not call on you," Snape began, and Harry just knew he was about to take points from Gryffindor. However, Harry was surprised when Snape continued, "but your answer is correct. However, if you wish to remain in this class, you will remember that you are not to speak until you are called upon." Hermione nodded, as surprised at Harry that Snape had not taken points. Calling out answers in class was one area in which Hermione had barely improved since her first year, and neither could remember a time in which Snape had let it go this easily.

"Now, before Miss Know-It-All Granger interrupted, I was going to tell you that Wolfsbane must be taken daily for the entire week prior to each full moon. Just one missed dose and the transformation will go on as normal, with the victim transforming both in mind and in body." Harry shuddered at this...in his third year, he had seen what had happened to Remus during a transformation after he had forgotten to take the Wolfsbane. He never wanted to see that again.

"I think," Professor Snape said, looking at all of them scornfully, "that we will see what you can do without further instruction. You will find everything you need in the store cupboard, and your instructions are on the board. If done correctly, this potion should be opaque and murky brown in color, with a moderate amount of pale-green steam. You have one hour and twenty minutes to complete today's work. Begin."

Determined that this was one potion he would learn to make perfectly, Harry began reading the instructions on the board carefully, copying them down on a piece of parchment, while Hermione went to collect their ingredients from the student store cupboard. If he could learn to make this potion correctly, Remus would no longer have to depend upon Snape to provide him with it the week before the full moon, and Harry didn't like to think of Remus having to depend upon Snape for anything.

Harry and Hermione did not talk while they worked, as they usually did, except to check on one another's progress as the hour went on. It seemed that Hermione was just as determined as Harry to get the potion exactly right, but as she was always determined to get everything exactly right, he wasn't sure if this was actually anything new. Never before had Harry chopped his ingredients so carefully, watched the clock so diligently, and checked the flames on his cauldron so constantly as he did today. Even Professor Snape, who hovered over Harry even more than he did the rest of his students, found nothing to criticize.

At the end of the period, Harry's efforts were rewarded by an opaque, murky-brown potion giving off moderate amounts of steam. His was identical to Hermione's, and that was an accomplishment, seeing as how Harry had never attempted a more difficult potion than this one on his own. Feeling confident that he had done well, he poured a small amount of potion into a glass vial, and took it up to Professor Snape's desk, muttering to Hermione as he went not to clean up his cauldron until he made sure Snape had received the sample for marking.

As he placed his and Hermione's vials on the center of the teacher's table, Snape muttered without looking at him, "Potter, I want to see you after the rest of the class has left the room." Harry nodded, wondering what this was about. He went back to Hermione and they cleaned up their cauldrons quickly, feeling that Potions, at least, had gotten off to a good start. She looked concerned when Harry told her that he had been asked to stay, but she left the room with the others after Snape had assigned a two-foot essay on the significance of the ingredients of Wolfsbane, promising to wait for Harry down the hall.

Harry had gathered all of his things so that he would be able to leave the room quickly, and as soon as the last sixth-year had left the classroom, he approached Snape's desk. "Professor, you wanted to see-"

Snape did not give him time to finish, but stood up quickly, raised his wand, and before Harry had time to react, cried, "Legilimens!"

Harry was completely unprepared for this, and as he felt the violent push that was Snape's intrusion on his mind, memories began to play in his head...memories he feared...memories he treasured...

Only three or four seconds passed before Harry was able to throw up his defenses and begin pushing the intruder out of his mind. In his surprise and anger, Harry pushed back harder than he had ever pushed before, panting from the exertion, sweat pouring from his brow. With one final, very intense push, Harry's mind cleared. He had succeeded.

Professor Snape had stumbled backwards into the blackboard from the force of Harry's defense, and Harry himself was leaning on the front table as they glared at each other. "Whose side are you on, anyway?" Harry snapped, feeling the beginnings of a headache pounding in his temples.

"Watch your tone, Potter," Snape warned him coldly. "As a member of the Order, it is my responsibility to see that you are keeping up your end of the bargain, learning Occlumency the way you are supposed to."

"No, sir," Harry replied, barely keeping his temper in check. "It was your responsibility last year, wasn't it? Since you didn't see fit to actually teach me anything, I reckon it's none of your concern anymore."

Snape's eyes flashed dangerously, but Harry was beyond caring. "I won't deny that your skills have improved, Potter," he said coldly, "but your arrogance is going to do nothing but put you into more unnecessary danger, as well as your friends." Although he did not specifically mention the Department of Mysteries, the implication was clear, and Harry's temper finally boiled over.

"Well, you didn't help much there, did you? I tried to tell you, to warn you! But you just left! Better to save your own sorry skin than to actually try and help us, wasn't it?" Harry shouted, his head pounding furiously.

"Do not speak of things you do not understand, Potter," Snape replied just as furiously. "You should count yourself lucky that I was able to alert the Order in time to save your pitiful life."

"It wasn't my life that needed saving!" Harry screamed, totally out of control now that he had finally found an outlet for his fury. "You knew it was a trick! You could have stopped us going there! But you didn't care about Sirius, all because of some stupid trick he played on you back when you were in school! I think you did it on purpose, I think you wanted me to go to the Department of Mysteries...it was what your master wanted, wasn't it?"

Snape raised his wand, his face white with rage, and hissed, "Get out, Potter. Get out, now."

Without another word, Harry spun and ran from the room, the pain in his head so blinding that he ran right past his supplies on the table and out of the room, slamming the door shut behind him.

As Harry ran down the dungeon corridor, he was too furious, too out of control, to notice Draco Malfoy slip out from around the corner and head the opposite direction, deeper into the dungeons, his pale face set in a decided smirk.

* * *

"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed as her friend rounded the corner, his face white and sweaty, his mouth set in a furious line. "What happened?"

Upon hearing her voice, Harry finally stopped running, but he did not look at her. Instead, still looking slightly crazed, he backed into the stone wall and slid down it, hiding his face in his hands. He was shaking badly, and Hermione was terrified that he'd had another attack.

"Harry?" she asked softly, approaching him and kneeling next to him, putting her hand on his shoulder. "Harry, do you need someone? Should I go get Professor Dumbledore? Madam Pomfrey?"

Harry shrugged her hand away and did not look up as he replied, "Just go away, Hermione. Leave me alone."

Hermione didn't know what to do. Harry's voice sounded extremely angry, but he seemed completely conscious and aware of his surroundings, very much unlike he had following the attack on his birthday. What had happened between Harry and Professor Snape to put Harry in such a state? He had seemed so much better lately, so much happier...what could have changed that so completely?

"Come on, Harry," Hermione said gently. "We have study period next in the library, but no one will notice if we aren't there. Let's go back to the common room."

"Hermione, didn't you hear me?" Harry asked furiously. "I want to be left alone. Just go on. I'll see you later." He tried to calm his voice down as he looked up into her concerned face, but the last thing he wanted was a long, drawn-out conversation with her. "Go on. I'll see you at lunch," he repeated, trying to make his voice sound more even.

"Harry, I don't think..."

"Hermione, go. Just go away, alright?" His voice was harsh again, and Hermione could feel the anger radiating from his body. She backed away, and finally began to walk up the corridor towards the stairs, deciding that she would find someone else to come down and talk to Harry. She knew her friend well enough to know that if she did not leave him, he would only become more furious. However, she could not resist one last glance at Harry before she went up the stairs, and she was alarmed, although not altogether surprised, to see his entire body still shaking with fury.

* * *

Draco entered the special chamber in the dungeons only after making sure that no one else had seen him. He had been told that this chamber had been built during the first war, to allow his Lord to communicate with his servants at Hogwarts undetected. By some powerfully invoked magic, the room was impervious to the wards surrounding the castle. Although no one could enter or leave Hogwarts through it, open and secret communication was possible.

When he heard the stone wall slide shut behind him, and he was again in complete darkness, Draco knelt on the floor, his eyes down. "I am here, my Lord," he said softly.

The voice of the Dark Lord filled the small space, and Draco could hear him as clearly as he would have if they had been standing side-by-side. "Ah, yes, my young Death Eater," he hissed. "Do you have information for me?"

"Yes, my Lord," Draco answered meekly, never raising his eyes. He was not sure if Lord Voldemort could see him or not, and he took no chances of incurring his wrath.

"Very well," hissed the voice once again. "Speak quickly. I have other matters that need attending to."

"Professor Snape kept Potter after class this morning," Draco began, speaking quickly but with more humility than anyone else who knew him would have believed possible. "I listened from around the corner. Snape tried to perform Legilimency on Potter, but Potter was able to close him out."

"Of course he was," the voice almost purred. "Continue."

"Professor Snape accused Potter of being arrogant, and Potter asked him which side he was on. Potter thinks Snape purposefully ignored him when he tried to communicate what had happened at the Department of Mysteries."

"Potter is not as dull as many believe him to be. Snape was indeed part of my plan, as you now know, young Malfoy."

"Yes, my Lord." Draco was not as certain of Snape's loyalty, but he knew his master had ways of finding the truth. It would be dangerous to speak of it without proof.

"What about the girl, the little redhead?" Voldemort hissed, a hint of cold amusement in his voice.

"They are always together, my Lord," Draco answered, "besides when they are in classes, or she is on prefect patrol."

"Yes, Potter is starting to care for her. I have seen it in his mind. She, her brother, and the Mudblood may well be useful tools. Keep watching, but make no move."

"I will, my Lord," Draco answered, but there was the slightest hint of petulance in his voice now.

"You will have your chance, young Malfoy. Now, go before anyone notices your absence. I will be waiting for your next report."

Draco could sense that Lord Voldemort had left him, and he stood, smoothing his robes carefully before exiting silently from the chamber.

* * *

Harry sat in the corridor for a full five minutes, trying to regain enough control of himself to get up and leave the dungeons. He kept his head down, hidden from the second-year students that were now trickling past to go to their own Potions lesson. The students were Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, and none of them recognized Harry, although several of them wondered why this older student was sitting alone in the hallway, his head buried in his knees. After he was certain all of the students had passed, Harry slowly rose, looked around, and walked up the stairs into the deserted Entrance Hall. He did not know where Hermione had gone, but knowing her as he did, he supposed that she had gone to find an adult. 'Typical,' he thought bitterly. 'I can't even be angry without someone raising the alarm.'

Harry did not want to talk to anyone, least of all Professor Dumbledore, and he guessed correctly that Hermione had gone straight up to the Headmaster's office to find him. He crossed the Entrance Hall furiously, wrenching open the large front door, and then stopped for a second in the courtyard, wondering where he should go. Finally deciding to take a walk around the lake in the cool, mid-morning air, he headed down and started walking, going in the opposite direction than Hagrid's cabin lay.

As he walked, his fury with Snape abated somewhat, and it was replaced by complete disgust with himself. He should have kept his temper with the Potions master. His outburst was going to do nothing more than increase the man's irritation with him.

'But so what if it does?' he thought, kicking a small rock out of his way. 'It's not like we got along to begin with, and the old bat had it coming to him. I should not have gone to the Department of Mysteries, but he was the one person who could have stopped me. If he had, Sirius would still be alive, my friends wouldn't have gotten hurt...'

His fury returned, and he broke into a run, stopping only when a sharp pain down his left side doubled him over. He sat down heavily against a tree, staring out at the water. Fury, despair, and guilt fought for domination in his mind, all the positive emotion from yesterday having evaporated completely.