Love Potion No. 13

Chapter 2

“If you say anything Ron, I’ll hex you into next week.” Harry sat opposite his two friends in the library having finally agreed to meet them. It had taken most of the weekend for what remained of the potion in the sixth year student’s bodies to be expelled. Admittedly some still suffered lingering affects but most were back to their usual selves, albeit tired from all the strenuous activity the potion had forced onto them. There was some awkwardness between certain couples that’d got further than just kissing but Madam Pomfrey had supplied the worst affected with a memory-wiping charm. Harry however was not so lucky, and while the red blotchiness had gone from his body after a long soak in the bath, the clearly defined points of his mutated ears still remained behind much to the amusement of everyone. Harry had avoided meals all weekend and had taken to wearing Seamus’ black beanie to cover the points when he was forced to leave the Gryfindor boy’s dormitory. Harry wasn’t sure what was more embarrassing wearing a beanie during summer or having pointy ears.

“He wouldn’t dare unless he wants my fist in his face Harry.” Harry smiled mildly at Hermione, the only other person aside from Snape not affected at all by the mishap in Snape’s classroom on Friday. It seemed the girl’s intelligence and quick thinking had saved her the embarrassment of being over come with lustful thoughts, a quick simple bubble charm around her head had saved her from the potent fumes of the exploding cauldron. Harry was slightly irritated that she hadn’t shared that knowledge with himself or Ron before entering the classroom but Harry supposed none of them could have predicted Malfoy’s prank or its devastating effects. While Hermione had been spared the potion, she hadn’t been spared from Ron’s lustful advances. According to Neville, who wasn’t taking potions this year for the most obvious of reasons, Ron had collared Hermione in the broom closet outside the infirmary before any of the professors could get to him. It had ended nasty with Hermione stupefying her friend when he’d tried to grope her breasts. Consequently however Ron had been the epitome of good since coming around and out of his lust induced stupor, cautious that Hermione would curse him again should he step over the line. All in all though his friends had weathered the storm in tact and now it was only Harry’s niggling problem that remained.

“I wasn’t going to say anything. I was just thinking it’s strange that’s all, that none of us have got…well you know.” Ron pointed to his ears by means of explanation and Harry sighed heavily and laid his head down on his homework. Nothing that ever happened to him would be easily fixed, even Madam Pomfrey had told him she could do nothing. Apparently his ‘special case’ as she’d put it had been referred to Professor Snape and there was no way Harry was going to go down to the dungeons to ask the potions professor for help.

“That’s true Ron, but potions affect people differently especially such as these accidental, experimental potions. I’m sure Professor Snape is working on something now to fix Harry.” Hermione smiled encouragingly at Harry who groaned and shook his head.

“I wish he wasn’t, then it would mean I didn’t have to go and see him.” Harry muttered as he pushed his quill back and forth on the tabletop.

“I agree with you there mate. They said Snape was fuming at the ears after the explosion, practically insane with rage. No one’s ever created an infectious potion before in his class, not even Neville.” Ron looked sympathetically at Harry who closed his eyes and shrugged his shoulders. He was still tired after the weekend for some reason, and his chest and back ached a little. Harry had put it down to stress and bruising left by the exploding cauldron but he did wonder if it was something more serious though, after all anything was possible with potions.

“Well there’s no good worrying about it Harry. We’ve got exams coming up and I’m sure you’ll be back to normal by the time the summer holidays come around.” Hermione stood up from the table collecting her finished homework parchments and textbooks ready to head back up to the Gryfindor common room before curfew. Harry and Ron followed suit but the trio didn’t make it past the library entrance before a familiar imposing figure stepped in front of them halting their progress.

“Mr. Potter will you follow me please?” Harry rolled his eyes as he glanced up at Snape. In the darkness of the empty halls Snape’s skin looked practically translucent, and his sneer of discontentment echoed in the silence. Knowing there was little way out of this meeting, Harry nodded and having handed his things to his friends followed Snape as the wizard swept through the castle corridors. Harry was somewhat surprised as Snape continued to lead him past his office and down a deserted little corridor. Harry had never entered this part of the dungeons before knowing it to be too close to the Slytherin’s and their common room. Snape came to a stand still in front of a dingy looking, ripped portrait hanging alone on an entirely empty wall. The portrait was small, and beyond the dirt and dust clinging to its surface Harry could just make out the movement of a face. Harry didn’t know whom the portrait was off, and he didn’t get time to ask as Snape muttered something in Latin. Where there had been an empty wall before there appeared a door and Snape stepped confidently through into its glowing warmth. Harry reluctantly followed the elder wizard inside and was slightly shocked by what he found.

The little private room he’d just wandered into appeared to be a mismatch of many different types and styles of furniture thrown together after probably years of dedicated collecting. A Victorian rocking chair with a sky blue seat cushion, sat beside the fire and next to an old red leather couch. The walls were lined with shelves, each shelf cluttered to the point of over flowing with a variety of wizarding artifacts and books. A glass coffee table sat on a rug between the chairs, the table’s surface littered with parchment, quills, books and unwashed dishes. For saying Snape was such a methodical and pedantic potions master Harry had expected something a little more organized for the wizard’s private quarters. However amongst the miss matched furniture and unorganized personal items, there seemed to be an almost homely feel to the warm room, and Harry knew that despite appearances Snape probably knew where every single item of his was. Organized chaos, just like Harry’s own things were in his trunk upstairs.

“Drink Potter?” Harry shook himself from his blatant staring and glanced at where the potion master had shrugged off his outer robe and was now offering Harry a crystal glass of amber liquid. Curious as to what the liquid might be Harry nodded and accepted the glass, watching as Snape sat himself down on the leather couch beside the comfortable looking black cat. “Sit down, and take off that ridiculous head garment.” Snape snapped sharply at Harry who reluctantly slid the beanie from his head and shoved it in his jeans pocket before sitting down cautiously on the edge of the rocking chair. “Now for the past two days I have been consulting my books concerning your condition.” Snape sipped his drink as he gestured casually at Harry’s ears. Involuntarily Harry blushed with embarrassment feeling the heat of it turning his already hideous ears a pale shade of pink. Snape raised a curious eyebrow at the boy’s reaction but said nothing about it as he continued. “Naturally after some tests and a lengthy discussion with the headmaster I believe I have discovered your ailment.” Harry’s hopes raised a little as he sipped at his own drink, forcing back a shudder as the amber liquid burnt its way down his throat.

“So am I going to be stuck like this forever?” Harry coughed as he sipped again on his drink. Snape pursed his lips together irritated at being interrupted but not commenting.

“That depends on you Mr. Potter.” Harry frowned worrying a little that Snape was about to say something terrible. “Have you as yet discovered your animagus form?” Harry narrowed his gaze dubiously at Snape, who looked far too smug not to know the answer to this question already.

“No I haven’t, I don’t have one.” Puffing his chest out in an effort to rescue his pride a little Harry watched as Snape huffed a contemptible laugh. McGonagall had been teaching animagus transformation in transfiguration since fifth year and as yet Harry had not managed to transform into anything other than a gooey snot like substance. Ron and Hermione had picked it up relatively easily; even Neville had managed to get himself into his animagus form even if he still had the hair of a human where he should have had the quills of a hedgehog. Harry was a laughing stock, especially to people like Draco, whose own transformation into a panther had been quite spectacular. His animagus form, or lack there of was one of his sore points and he hated it when anyone mentioned it, even Sirius his godfather had made an effort not to transform in front of his godson knowing it upset him.

“Don’t be stupid Potter, everyone no matter how incompetent at transformation has an animagus form. Even you.” Snape gestured casually over at Harry who had swallowed the rest of his drink and put aside his empty glass. Harry was getting irritated and folded his arms over his chest defensively as Snape stared at him from across the room.

“Look are you going to tell me what’s wrong with me or are you just going to sit there and take the piss because I can assure you there are any amount of students out there already capable of bagging me out about transformation without me having to sit here listening to you.” Harry watched as Snape narrowed his gaze at him, the man’s lips thinning impossibly tighter at being insulted.

“Watch your mouth Potter, I have absolutely no qualms about removing your tongue, especially after your ‘accident’ in my classroom the other day.” Harry swallowed nervously and backed down a little under Snape’s threatening gaze. Ron had been right, the professor was still pissed off about Friday, and rightly so Harry assumed. “Now if you’ll let me continue, did you know the bat is one of the very few animals that mate simply for pleasure rather than procreation?” Harry’s mouth hung open gaping like a fish, wondering where on earth the professor’s last comment had come from, and what middle part of the conversation Harry had missed. Harry remained silent even as Snape stared at him waiting for a reply. When it was clear Snape wouldn’t continue without an answer Harry merely shrugged his shoulders uncaringly.

“No, why should I care about the sex lives of bats sir?” Snape chuckled throatily at Harry’s reply as he stood up and refilled his glass of liquor.

“Even as dense as you are Mr. Potter I would have thought it obvious.” Harry remained silent knowing it was best not to add fuel to Snape’s arsenal of sarcastic comments when the wizard was on a power trip such as the one he was on now. “If I must spell it out for you then. Your animagus form is a bat Potter, which is why at present you have ears like radar dishes and look as if you haven’t slept in a week.” Harry was dumfounded and reached up instinctively to touch the points of his ears.

“A bat?” Harry whispered not really knowing how he felt about the new information or what to say regarding it. A bat wasn’t exactly as glamorous as his fathers ‘Stag’ animagus nor was it as crappy as Seamus’ animagus form that turned out to be a toad but it still wasn’t what Harry had expected or had hoped for.

“Yes a bat Potter.” Snape snapped irritably as he moved into another room, returning a moment later with a luminescent bottle of potion in his hand.

“Then what has this got to do with the potion the other day? I thought it was a love potion?” Snape rolled his eyes but nodded anyway. The boy was trying his patience and at this time of night Snape had neither the patience nor the fortitude to be bothered.

“Indeed it was Potter, an extremely potent potion that is attracted to one’s internal feelings of lust, driving the normally controlled emotion to the surface and causing rash behavior as you saw in your classmates.” Harry smiled to himself at the thought of Ron’s lust filled gaze and his sloppy words of love he’d professed to Hermione. Snape however snapped him out of his thoughts quickly as he pushed the vial of potion into the boy’s hand forcefully. “The reason you were not affected like your classmates was either that you have not reached puberty yet and your body is not ready for a relationship of the kind the potion seeks to achieve or, and might I add a more likely scenario, is that you have already passed puberty and are in better control of your emotions than your hormonal friends, such as the reason why I was unaffected.” Harry felt suddenly a little better at hearing these words, knowing he was better in control of his emotions and hormones was something to be proud about he was sure.

“Fine, but what’s with the ears then?” Harry again pulled at his pointed ears watching as Snape smiled and uncorked the bottle of potion in Harry’s hand.

“Ah, that would be the bat in you, literally.” Snape seemed to smile at his own joke but Harry didn’t get it and merely waited patiently for the professor to continue. “As I said before bat’s are among the very few animals aside from human’s that is, that mate for ‘recreational amusement’ so to speak. While you in human form controlled those lustful emotions brought to the surface by the potion, using practiced skill and no doubt a longer than necessary session in the shower…” Snape paused and Harry blushed bright red, remembering the frenzied wank he’d had in the bath on Friday evening, his erection having come from seemingly nowhere. “The bat in you however was not so controlled because you haven’t experienced its form yet and with aid of the potion it sought to find some company to relieve itself. Thus your transformation, and I use that term loosely.” Snape bit dryly as he flicked Harry’s pointed ear before retreating to his leather seat.

“Right so you’re saying I was in control of me, but not of the bat?” Snape sneered but nodded in acceptance of Harry’s crude summary of his condition. Harry sat back in the rocking chair for a moment to ponder what he’d just found out but before he could ask Snape any further questions Snape had beat him to it.

“It is late Potter, and I am already tired of hearing your voice. I have arranged for you to have some extra lessons with Professor McGonagall in animagus transformation. As you’re aware flight worthy transformations take more skill and control, which is why you haven’t achieved your form sooner, so McGonagall has agreed to tutor you one on one. That potion you have there will remove what little transformation the potion caused, leaving you free to start from scratch again. Now if that’s all, get out of my sight.” Snape flicked his wand at the door and Harry quickly downed the potion and rose to head for the open doorway. Harry paused briefly in the hall outside the professors room’s to glance back inside. It occurred to Harry suddenly that it really hadn’t been necessary for Snape to invite him into his ‘private’ chambers to tell him about his animagus form, nor had it even been legal to give Harry a glass of what he assumed was brandy. However before Harry could question himself more the wall slammed closed with a gust of wind, returning the stonework to its usual form and leaving the grubby little portrait swinging on its hook. With an exhausted sigh Harry turned to return to the Gryfindor Tower, there was so much he had to tell Hermione and Ron, but it would have to wait till tomorrow morning.

TBC>>>>>>>>>>>