A Father's Sin

A Father's Sin

By Severitus

CHAPTER 2--Revelo and the Fire Rose

"Very well class, settle down now, settle down," McGonagall said on Monday morning, clapping her hands firmly before the class. The din of noise slowly faded away, dulling to nothing but the occasional rustling of an energetic student or the flipping pages of a book. McGonagall laced her fingers together at her waist and looked slowly about the classroom, her spectacles twinkling in the midday light. She cleared her throat slightly and stood up taller, lifting her chin up in that peculiar manner that suggested she was about to begin.

"Although I told you that we would begin practicing glamourie today, there has been a slight change of plans," she began, and almost the entire class groaned in protest, "At the request of Headmaster Dumbledore, I will first be showing you how to see through a glamourie spell. Usually this sort of thing would be taught in Defense Against the Dark Arts, but due to...troubles--that have arisen with that particular class, we will be covering it in here instead. Glamourie is not detectable by any means magical or non, therefore the only way to discover it is to allow yourself to see /through/ it. The spell for this only has temporary effects, but in the history of magic it has proven a most useful tool against dark wizards attempting to conceal themselves in that fashion," she said, then went as if to demonstrate something or other, but the doors to the classroom opened suddenly to reveal Headmaster Dumbledore himself. For a moment the class looked utterly confused, glancing about at one another nervously.

"I apologize, Professor McGonagall. But may I borrow our Mr. Potter for a while?" Dumbledore asked from his place in the doorway. McGonagall looked a bit surprised, and she took a moment before replying nervously.

"Yes, of course, Headmaster. Is something the matter?" she asked, her eyes wide with worry as she cast a glance at her thoroughly surprised student.

"No, everything is quite alright, I assure you," he said, giving her a convincing smile. She calmed down then, straightening the front of her robes as Harry collected his books and rose from his seat, casting a confused glance to his friends. He followed the headmaster out into the hall, struggling to stuff the stubborn transfiguration book into his bag. Once the door had closed, Dumbledore turned to him and waited patiently.

"What is it, Headmaster?" Harry asked after a moment, having successfully slung the bag across his shoulder. The old wizard shook his head slightly and adjusted his glasses, motioning down the hall with one hand.

"Please come with me Harry, don't worry though, you aren't in any trouble," he said, and Harry nodded solemnly, following the man down the hall. Harry's mind reeled in confusion as they walked, up stairs and down several hallways. It was only the third day of classes and the Headmaster had already fetched him. Something was certainly up, though he usually had a fair warning of what. This time though, he was completely clueless. They finally stopped before the stone gargoyle that led to Dumbledore's office, and with the whispered password, they soon passed beyond that. When they reached the office, Dumbledore motioned for Harry to sit while he took his own seat behind the desk, pausing briefly to stroke Fawkes on her perch. Shifting nervously, Harry watched and waited, conscious of the sweat beginning to bead on his forehead.

"Harry, I don't mean to make you nervous by calling you up here so soon into the school year, but I feel I must give you warning. I understand you stumbled across a certain bit of information regarding the mythical 'Serpent's Children?'" Dumbledore said, and Harry paled in surprise. He'd always known that Dumbledore had an uncanny sense of what went on inside the school, but never to such an extent. After all, they'd only found the book Friday, had ignored it all weekend, and not another soul had been around at the time.

"Yes, sir. A prophecy, I think," Harry said, scratching the back of his neck in unease. Dumbledore nodded, leaning his hands forward on the desk.

"I appreciate your honesty, Harry. However, I must ask you not to pursue the subject. This is a matter that the Ministry of Magic is currently investigating, and I will not have you risking yourself if it can be helped. If we are right in believing that it is indeed the Serpent's Children, then things could become extremely dangerous. Do you understand, Harry?" Dumbledore said, fixing his piercing, blue gaze upon his cringing student. Harry shrunk back in his chair, startled by the seriousness of Dumbledore's attitude as well as the tone of the statement.

"I understand, sir. I'll leave it alone," Harry said with all the resolve he could muster, Dumbledore smiled and nodded, leaning back in his chair once again.

"Thank you, Harry. You may keep the book though, if you wish. It belonged to your mother, you know. She was very fond of prophecies, I believe..." Dumbledore said with a smile, and Harry gaped slightly.

"My mother's book? But...what's it doing in the library?"

"She brought it to me after she married your father. I believe she said something about no longer needing the dreams of others now that she had her own. I put it in the library afterward, I'm surprised anyone was able to find it in that mess," Dumbledore chuckled, and Harry smiled, remembering Hermione's own similar opinion of the library.

"Hermione found it," he said, and Dumbledore smiled again.

"Not surprising. Oh, and that reminds me...you all ARE going to register once you become animagi, aren't you?" Dumbledore said with a mischievous gleam in his eyes. Harry opened and closed his mouth several times before closing it again and swallowing loudly.

"Of--of course, sir," he said, and Dumbledore laughed, adjusting his glasses with one wrinkled hand.

"Very good, Harry. I do hope I never hear otherwise. Now, I believe you have Potions next, am I right?" he said, and Harry nodded, groaning slightly.

"Come now, are you and Severus still at each other's throats? I would have thought four years would have brought at least some peace between you two," Dumbledore said, and Harry only stared at his feet, dreading whatever insults would fly his way from that infamous teacher today.

"He hates me," Harry muttered, and Dumbledore only shook his head, making a 'tsk tsk' sound in his throat.

"He doesn't hate you Harry, sooner or later you'll understand. Now you better get along, I believe you have some transfiguration homework to get from Miss Granger as well."

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Hermione couldn't wait to try out the new spell the instant Transfiguration let out. Once everyone had gathered their books and fled into the hallway, she dropped her books near the wall opposite the classroom and brandished her wand with a grin.

"Hermione, don't tell me you're trying that spell already?" Ron complained, allowing his own bag to slide to the floor. "You know you probably won't see a thing," he muttered, but Hermione ignored him, adjusting the position of the wand in front of her.

"We have time between classes, and besides, Professor McGonagall encouraged us to practice this one," she said, then pointed the tip of her wand between her eyes and said firmly, "Revelo Veritas!*"

Hermione blinked away the brief flash of light, and then looked around the hall, searching for anything odd or unusual. At first she didn't see a thing, and Ron was giving her the look that clearly said 'told ya so!' but then Draco Malfoy happened to walk by, and she nearly doubled over in laughter. He ignored them as he breezed past with his eternal bodyguards, but she'd seen something that would surely ruin his reputation if it ever got out.

"Ron, you won't believe what I just saw!" she said quietly, bouncing on her heels. Ron raised an eyebrow and looked past her at the retreating Slytherins, then back to her again.

"What?" he said, and Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Draco's been using glamourie...to hide the huge wart on his nose!" she said, and Ron instantly broke out in a fit of wild laughter. Many a student cast them an odd glare as they passed by, but it all went unnoticed. It took Ron a good five minutes to completely regain control of himself. By the time he had, Hermione was glaring at him and tapping her foot impatiently, but smiled when he grinned sheepishly in return. Hermione glanced up when she saw a dark figure approaching out of the corner of her eye.

"Oh, hey Harry! What did Dumbledore want?" Ron said as he turned around.

"He just warned me to stay out of the 'Serpent's Children' business, and wanted to make sure we'd all register ourselves when we master the you-know-what," Harry replied. Then he turned to Hermione and raised an eyebrow, concern knitting his features. She was gaping at him like a fish, her jaw opening and closing without a sound. "Hermione, are you all right?" he asked, and she snapped her mouth shut, shaking her shoulders quickly and attempting to act normally.

"No, no, I'm quite alright. And we ARE registering, just in case you two are getting any ideas," she said, doing her best to scold them. Ron rolled his eyes.

"Of course we will. Just not right away..." Harry said, and Hermione nodded grudgingly, still staring at him strangely. Harry frowned and crossed his arms. "Hermione, what's wrong? You've been staring at me like I've got a live dragon on my head," he said, and Hermione jumped in surprise. She quickly shook her head and waved her hands in front of her, saying:

"Nothing! Nothing is wrong! I'm just a little out of it at the moment, I think I might have cast that new spell wrong...I was trying it out while you were gone," she said, and Harry relaxed slightly, though obviously not completely buying the story.

"Yeah, she saw a wart on Draco's nose! He's been hiding it with glamourie!" Ron said, and Harry stared at him briefly before breaking out in a fit of his own laughter. Picking up her bag, Hermione turned away and started toward the next class, shaking her head in a mixture of confusion and annoyance.

*Revelo Veritas==reveal truth

(again, please forgive my mangling of the Latin language....)

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Potions class was met with the usual chorus of groans and nervous shaking, with almost the entire Gryffindor half of the classroom constantly shifting in unease as they waited for class to begin. Only the Slytherins seemed particularly calm, though many of them also were slightly more anxious than was normal. Though it was indeed a fact that Snape always favored his own House, it was no mystery that the majority of Slytherins were at least somewhat terrified of him as well. Harry believed that Snape should have been teaching 'Intimidation 101' rather than potions, for he indeed was a master of the subject.

The classroom doors made their traditional 'boom' as they were flung open the very second class was scheduled to begin. And sweeping through them in a flurry of black robes came the Potions Master himself, a leather case of some sort clutched tightly in one hand. Many of the students stared more fearfully at the case than the Potions master, for he'd never carried anything of the sort before. The mysterious case was set gently on the desk in the front of the classroom, where Snape proceeded to pop the latch and spin it around so that the contents were clearly visible. He leaned idly against the side of the desk and glared about the classroom, looking for the entire world as if he'd never been more bored in his life.

"I'll not bother to repeat what my expectations of you all are this year, as even the most moronic of your number should be able to remember that much after four years. Therefore, we shall be starting your lessons immediately," he said, then turned and carefully lifted a thin jar from the open case, which was filled with dozens of it's like. Inside was an odd looking plant, with orange leaves and tiny blue spots across it. It was also moving of it's own accord, twitching this way and that against the other stalks in the jar.

"Today's lesson shall be a bit different, and you, Longbottom, will be pleased to know that I do not expect the potion we'll be making today to actually work. It's far too advanced for the lot of you, but the curriculum requires that I teach you about the ingredients. As stupid and pointless as it is to teach you about something you're not skilled enough to actually use, I'm going to do it anyway," he said, and sneered evilly at the last. Harry imagined that Snape was only doing it in order to laugh at their failure. "In this jar is a fairly rare plant known as the 'Fire Rose.' It is quite dangerous to work with, as it has a tendency to ignite anything flammable that touches it. Therefore, I expect you all to pay PERFECT attention, unless you want to run crying off to Madam Pomfrey with 3rd degree burns up your arms," he said, and Harry could nearly hear Neville sliding down in his chair at the last, most likely clutching his arms in terror.

Snape continued on, scribbling the list of ingredient on the board for the 'Eternal Flame' potion, which was supposed to make any candle or torch dipped in it burn forever. Everyone collected the necessary ingredients from the cupboard while Snape passed a jar to each student along with a pair of tongs for handling the Fire Rose. After the class was seated once again, he wrote out the order of ingredients on the board and explained a few points of importance, stressing the fact that the Belladonna could not touch the Fire Rose unless they wanted the entire table in flames. The potions were actually supposed to turn a bright crimson color if done correctly, but Snape continually stressed that no one would be able to do it correctly, and instructed them merely to pay attention to the effect each ingredient had upon the mixture, as they'd have a paper to write on it for homework. Everyone began cautiously, doing their best to follow the instructions word for word, and all taking extra pains to keep their ingredients separated.

The first explosion came from Neville's cauldron, predictably. It wasn't terribly large, and thankfully only his cauldron was in flames, but Snape took the pleasure of deducting 10 points nonetheless. Hermione finished her potion early, which was now an odd orange color. She busied herself scribbling notes on a parchment, and Harry stared at his remaining ingredients, tapping his fingers on the table in thought. His potion was progressing slightly slower than the rest, as he'd been watching everyone else to see if he could figure out why no one was getting it right. An idea struck him just as Ron's cauldron burped a huge lick of flame, and he instantly dived back at the ingredients. It was the wolfs bane, each time it was added, someone's potion would flare crimson briefly before dying down to orange or some other color. Harry knew what to do, he wasn't quite sure how he knew, but it struck him like a bolt from above. After carefully adding the other ingredients, he quickly ground up the wolfsbane and began stirring his potion in earnest, adding a pinch of the wolfsbane with each rotation. Slowly, his blue potion began to lighten in color, until finally it had turned a brilliant, lasting crimson. Harry leaned back and smiled slightly, he'd gotten it right!

Hermione was gaping at him, looking in shock from her own potion to his. Then she shook her head and smiled brightly.

"You did it, Harry!" she whispered, and he shrugged. Ron gave him a friendly whack on the back and said:

"Way to show Snape, Harry!" he said, and then returned to inspecting and taking notes on his own still smoking mixture. Harry was in the process of dragging a quill and parchment from his own bag when the toe of a boot settling in his line of vision. He sat up slowly, unsure what to expect from his teacher, he certainly didn't look happy though.

"Well, Potter, I must say I never expected you to get it right," Snape sneered, and Harry remained quiet, terrified to say anything lest it was twisted the wrong way. Snape continued, "I never took you for a cheater, but there appears to be no other explanation...." he drawled, his lips curling in a smirk. Harry jerked in his seat, unable to repress an angry glare.

"I didn't cheat, Professor...." Harry began, but Snape leaned closer and silenced him with a loud command.

"SILENCE! I expect your paper to be at least three pages long, and I also expect to see you for detention this evening. Is that clear, Potter?" Snape hissed, and Harry bit back on his own anger.

"Yes, Professor," he said, his tone strained. Snape sneered and walked away, heading off to insult Neville or some other poor, unsuspecting Gryffindor. Harry spent the rest of class scribbling notes and grumbling under his breath, accidentally botching his notes in his anger and frustration. Once ingredients were stored away and class was dismissed, Harry stalked out of the classroom with his bag slung haphazardly slung across his shoulder. Ron and Hermione finally caught up with him at the end of the hall, each gasping for breath.

"Harry, wait up!" Ron gasped, and Harry finally stopped, hands fisted at his sides.

"Don't take it so hard, Harry, Snape is always on our cases. He knows you didn't really cheat...." Hermione said, but Harry only kept glaring at the floor, reminding her somewhat of the certain teacher that had been its cause.

"I know he's always on our case...it's just that...it's the first time I actually manage to do something unarguably right in that class, and he accuses me of cheating! And gives me detention!" Harry fumed, and then took a moment to calm himself, straightening the bag at his shoulder. "I'm sorry...I shouldn't be so angry about it, it is Snape after all, the one person who may just hate me more than You-Know-Who,"

"Don't worry about it Harry, just don't let him get to you during detention and maybe he'll lose interest in insulting you sooner or later," Ron suggested, and Harry and Hermione each gave him a look.

"Yes, then the skies will turn to fire and Snuffles will be proclaimed a national hero," Harry muttered darkly, and then turned to start back down the hall. Yes indeed, Snape growing tired of his favorite victim? Hardly. Harry was fairly certain he'd see the end of the world before that ever happened.