A Past Reclaimed by nuw255
Chapter Notes: Have you been dying to see what happens when MemoryLoss!Harry goes to Snape’s Potions class? Then this chapter is for you!
Harry awoke with a start on the first day of classes when Dean Thomas kicked the side of his bed. Hard. Shaking his head to clear it, he put on his glasses and looked up at his dorm-mate with an annoyed expression.
“What was that for?” he asked.
“Ron said to get you up,” Dean grunted. “Although I don’t see why you’re even in this dorm anymore, seeing as you’re a sixth-year.”
Harry blinked. “I’m here because this is where McGonagall sent me, Dean. And what’s with the attitude? I don’t remember anybody telling me you were such a git.”
“Ask your girlfriend; she’ll tell you.” Dean began stomping toward the door, but Harry wasn’t going to let him off that easily. Standing up, he used a whispered Banishing Charm to slam the door shut before Dean could reach it.
“What the-?” Dean whirled around, but stopped short when he saw that Harry wasn’t holding his wand. “What just happened?”
Harry shrugged. “I’m not sure, but I’m glad it did. We need to get something straight right now, Dean. Ginny’s not my girlfriend, and she didn’t dump you for me.”
Dean snorted derisively. “Right. That’s nice to know, seeing as you weren’t even here when it happened.”
“I’m serious,” Harry insisted. “Look, Ginny and I aren’t going out, but it isn’t for lack of trying on my part, okay? She’s already turned me down a couple of times. Feel better now?”
“Yeah, a little,” Dean admitted after a moment, although his tone was still belligerent. “But she did break up with me over you.”
“The way I heard it from Hermione, Ginny broke up with you because you never left her alone about me. That’s nobody’s fault but your own, and I don’t want to have to suffer for it all term. So can we just forget about all this rubbish and be civil to one another?”
Dean thought for a moment before answering, “I think I can do that. But if I catch you snogging her, I don’t promise I won’t pound you.”
“You don’t own her, Dean,” Harry said quietly. “And if I have my way, I will be snogging her sooner or later. I suggest you get used to that idea in the meantime.”
Dean suddenly let out a laugh, startling Harry. “You never were one to be intimidated, were you Potter?”
Harry grinned at him. “Never was, never will be.” He watched as Dean left the dormitory, and then hurried to get ready for class.
When he arrived at breakfast, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were already waiting for him at the Gryffindor table.
“Where have you been, mate?” Ron asked as Harry sat down between him and Ginny. “Didn’t Dean wake you up?”
“You asked Dean to get him up?” Ginny asked in disbelief. “Ron, you know what happened with Dean.”
“No, it’s okay,” Harry interrupted before Ron could respond. “I ended up talking to him and I think things are okay now.”
“Really?” Ginny asked, clearly shocked. “How’d you manage that?”
“I told him I’d asked you out and you turned me down,” Harry replied with a shrug. “Now he knows, and he can’t say you dumped him for me.”
“See? It was a good think I asked Dean,” said Ron.
“Shut up, Ron,” Ginny snapped. In an undertone that only Harry could hear, she added, “You do know that I really did dump him for you, right?”
Harry nodded. “It’s not like that matters now, though, does it? I mean, you did turn me down - multiple times, I might add - so what’s the difference?”
“Harry, please don’t start this right now,” Ginny whispered. “You know why I had to do that.”
“I know,” Harry muttered. “That doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
“There you are, Potter,” Professor McGonagall called out in her crisp voice, effectively ending their whispered conversation. “Here is your class schedule; I trust you have all of your books and supplies?”
Harry nodded as he took the parchment from her. Ginny read it over his shoulder and said, “Well, at least I know I won’t be the only Gryffindor in Potions.”
“You got into Snape’s Potions class?” Ron asked Harry in disbelief. “I didn’t know you got an O on your O.W.L.”
“I didn’t either,” Harry said truthfully. “Umbridge was still nicking all my letters when the results came out, so I never saw them. Come to think of it, they’re probably in my trunk somewhere - I still haven’t bothered to go through it properly. How do you know I got an O in Potions, though?”
“Snape doesn’t take anybody for his N.E.W.T. class unless they got an O,” Ron explained. “I only got an A, and I had to change my whole career path.”
“How come?” asked Harry.
“You need Potions to be an Auror,” Ron answered with just a hint of bitterness in his voice.
“So what’s your new career ambition, then?”
“I’m not really sure,” Ron admitted. “I’m thinking professional Quidditch player sounds pretty good, though,” he added with a grin. Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw Hermione rolling her eyes.
“We’d better get going,” Ginny said, checking her watch. “If we’re late for Snape’s class, he won’t hesitate to let Filch hang us up by our toenails.”
Harry got up and followed her, thankful that he had been able to avoid being questioned about the wandless Shield Charm he had performed on the train. “Is Snape really as bad as you and Ron make him sound?” he asked.
“Worse,” Ginny answered grimly. “And from what Ron says, he always saves his bitterest moods for you.”
“Perfect,” Harry grumbled as they began descending the steps to the dungeons.
Upon entering the Potions classroom, it was immediately apparent from the sneering faces that Harry and Ginny were the only non-Slytherins in the class. They sat down at an empty table just before the door to Snape’s office banged open and the Potions Master swept into the room, his black robes billowing behind him. His eyes swept over the class, and seemed to linger a bit longer on Harry’s face than anyone else’s.
“If you are in this class, it means that you managed, in one way or another, to achieve an O on your Potions O.W.L.” Snape began. “Most of you-” his eyes swept over the Slytherins in the class, “-achieved this honor on your own merit. Others-” he stared directly at Harry, who resolutely forced himself not to look away, “-seem to have discovered some way to cheat the system. That, however, is no concern of ours, as any and all cheating will be brought to light during the course of this term, isn’t that right, Mr. Potter?”
Harry kept his face impassive and politely answered, “Yes sir.”
Snape blinked, and Harry had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from smiling. Obviously, the professor had expected some sort of snide comeback, but Harry wasn’t going to bite. One of the first lessons he had learned during his year at St. Brutus’s was that his being a model student rankled Madam Davies much more than smarting off ever could, and it had the added bonus of not giving her an excuse to put him in detention. Tyler had assured him that Snape wouldn’t be any different, and Harry was starting to agree.
“Very well,” Snape continued, turning his attention back to the rest of the class. “We will begin the term with this potion.” He waved his wand, and a cauldron full of what looked like sluggishly bubbling dark mud appeared in front of him. “Who can tall me the name of this potion? Potter?”
Harry looked closely at the bubbling concoction, trying to remember Hermione’s tutoring from the summer. His first reaction was just to say it was boiling mud, but that would give Snape exactly what he wanted. He closed his eyes, trying to visualize the moving diagrams in his textbooks.
“The Polyjuice Potion, sir?” he asked tentatively.
“And how, exactly, did you know that?” Snape asked, swooping down on Harry like an overgrown bat and leaning threateningly across the table.
I can’t let him get to me, Harry told himself. I can’t let him get to me. He’s no different from Davies. He looked Snape directly in the eye and said, “I remembered it from the summer reading, Professor.”
Snape exhaled angrily through his nostrils, reminding Harry of an angry bull. “Or perhaps you remember it from when you stole ingredients from my private store to brew it with your little friends,” he whispered icily. Straightening, he strolled back to the front of the classroom and said, “Ten points from Gryffindor for lying to me, Potter.”
Harry forced himself not to react. He might not be a very good liar, but the past year had definitely taught him how to keep his head and remain impassive during class. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, Snape tapped the blackboard with his wand, causing a list of instructions to appear.
“The instructions are on the board,” he said. “You may begin.”
“You okay, Harry?” Ginny whispered as she began unpacking ingredients.
Harry nodded slightly and whispered, “Don’t talk about anything but the lesson.”
“What was that, Potter?” Snape asked, swooping down on them once again.
“I, er, was asking my partner if her bicorn horn was whole or powdered,” Harry answered after a quick glance at the blackboard. It was a terrible lie, and Snape obviously didn’t believe him, but he simply sneered and moved on to the next table.
By the end of the period, Harry and Ginny’s potion was coming along famously, and Snape still hadn’t found a good reason to punish either one of them. Noting this with satisfaction, Harry packed up his ingredients, put his cauldron away, and walked purposefully from the room. As soon as they were a safe distance from the Potions classroom, he dissolved into a fit of laughter.
“Did you see his face?” he gasped.
“Yeah,” Ginny replied slowly as she watched him with a look of growing concern. “Harry, are you okay? I know you tend to bottle things up and everything, but that was ridiculous in there. It was like you were... I don’t know, completely emotionless or something.”
“I know,” Harry laughed, “and it drove Snape up the wall.” He took a few deep breaths to calm himself and then continued, “I learned back at St. Brutus’s that when a teacher hates you, the best thing to do is become the perfect student. It just makes them angrier, but they can’t put you in detention and they have to give you decent marks.”
Ginny raised her eyebrows. “Wait, so this is all just a ploy to get under Snape’s skin?”
Harry nodded. “I don’t think even Hermione could’ve come up with a better way to go about it.”
Ginny’s face broke into a grin. “Me neither. This should be a fun year in Potions. I wonder if you can make him pop a blood vessel. Does that sound like a reasonable goal?”
“Sounds good to me,” Harry laughed as they entered the Charms corridor.
Charms class couldn’t have been more different from Potions. Where Professor Snape was silent at best and hateful at worst, tiny Professor Flitwick was extremely helpful. He began the class by welcoming Harry back, and then congratulating everyone on their O.W.L. scores. After a brief introduction, they began working on the Aguamenti charm, which Harry soon discovered was much more difficult than any other spell he’d ever attempted. The charm was supposed to produce a jet of cold water, but at the end of the lesson the classroom was still perfectly dry; nobody had managed to produce so much as a drop of water.
Professor Flitwick didn’t seem the least bit bothered by his class’s apparent failure. He simply assigned an essay on the charm, told the students that they would continue working on it they next time they met, and sent them off to lunch.
Classes didn’t change much during the first week. Snape was a git, of course, and tried his best to trip Harry up during Potions, but Harry again managed to keep his cool and laughed all the way to his next class. Thankfully, all of his other professors were very helpful - even the paranoid Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody, who spent most of his first lesson assuring the students that he was really himself, and not an imposter.
After an exhausting week of classes, Harry was nearly beside himself with anticipation when Saturday arrived. Quidditch tryouts were Saturday, and he wanted to be sure to get back onto the team. Of course, Ron and Ginny had both tried to argue that Harry should automatically take up his old position as Seeker, while Ginny would replace Katie Bell at Chaser, but Harry didn’t really think that was fair - after all, he hadn’t played Quidditch in over a year, and he couldn’t remember ever playing at all. Consequently, he had insisted on trying out against Ginny with the condition that they use identical brooms.
The tryout was held immediately after breakfast, and Harry followed Ron and Ginny down to the pitch. Ron found a pair of old Shooting Stars among the school broomsticks, and handed one to Harry and the other to Ginny.
“You know this is stupid, right?” he asked. “I mean, you’ll never go more than about fifteen miles an hour on these old things.”
“Then we’ll just have to rely on skill, rather than speed,” Harry replied.
Shaking his head wearily, Ron released a Golden Snitch, which he assured them was fast enough that their ancient brooms would never be able to keep up with it. Harry and Ginny kicked off the ground, circling the Quidditch pitch so slowly that Harry felt the urge to get off his broomstick and push.
“Having fun?” Ginny shouted to him.
“Loads!” he shouted back. “See the Snitch anywhere?”
Ginny laughed. “Like I’d tell you!” She swerved sharply to her right - as sharply as her decrepit broom would allow, anyway - but Harry knew she was only feinting and didn’t deviate from his course. He circled higher and higher, scanning the pitch below for a glint of gold.
“Nice fake there, Ginny; you really had me fooled,” he laughed as she pulled her broom around and headed back toward him.
“I’m in a flying mood, not a hovering mood,” she responded as she did a loop around him.
“Well then see if you can fly like this,” Harry challenged, yanking back on his broom handle and climbing straight up.
“Ooh, impressive, Potter,” Ginny taunted from right behind him. Harry suddenly threw his weight forward, quickly reversing directions and diving straight toward Ginny. Her eyes opened wide for a split second before narrowing again in determination. Harry continued diving straight for her until, at the last possible second, he made a small adjustment to the left and passed by close enough to brush her arm on the way.
“You like that one?” Harry called out as he and Ginny began doing loops around one another.
“It wasn’t bad, but it would’ve been a lot more intimidating if you were riding your Firebolt,” she replied truthfully.
Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, Harry caught sight of a glint of gold far below on the pitch. Ginny spotted it at the same time, and they instantly fell into identical dives. The dive seemed to take forever on the painfully slow brooms, and Ginny slammed into his right side as she tried to improve her position.
“Hey! I thought you wanted me to win!” Harry shouted at her.
“I do; but I want you to earn it!” she shot back.
The Snitch was still hovering about twenty feet off the ground, and both Seekers were still neck-and-neck. With a flash of inspiration, Harry suddenly realized that his dive was actually slower than a freefall, and he made an extremely rash split-second decision. Gritting his teeth, he threw himself forward, diving off of the broom and freefalling toward the hovering Snitch. He didn’t hear the gasps and shouts of his teammates as he drew his wand, grabbed the Snitch with his left hand, twisted around in the air, and Summoned his falling broom. He caught it and barely managed to level out his fall as his toes skimmed the grass.
Grinning madly, he hopped off of the broom and shouted up at Ginny, who was still ten feet up in the air, “What do you think? Did I earn it?”
“You earned it,” she laughed as she landed next to him. Nobody dared disagree.
“So, do I get to take Katie’s Chaser spot, Ron? Or are we having an open tryout?” Ginny asked as the team gathered around her and Harry.
“Well, er- I think we should let the team decide,” Ron answered, clearly trying to avoid making the decision himself.
“I think she should be Chaser,” Harry said quickly.
Ron rolled his eyes. “We all know what you think, Harry. What does everybody else think?”
“She’s already part of the team,” said Demelza Robins, one of the other Chasers.
“And she is good,” Dean admitted, smirking at Harry, “even if she does like Potter.” Ginny grinned with relief as she saw that the rift with Dean was finally beginning to heal.
“If it’s fine with the Chasers, it’s all right with us,” Jimmy Peakes added. His fellow Beater, Ritchie Coote, nodded his agreement.
“I guess that’s settled, then,” Ron said, his relief at not having to hold an open tryout evident on his face. “Congratulations, Ginny.”
A/N: If you're curious about how this story ends, I put a (vague) hint in my response to the first review to this chapter. For your convenience, I'll repeat it here:
My good friend "Moony 62442" should really like the end of this story. Now run along and search through her MNFF profile for hints, and then speculate to your hearts' content. :)