Snape decided the most important lesson to start with was learning non-verbal magic. Everyone was supposed to pair up. One person casting a jinx in silence and the other defending, also in silence. Everyone moved to create pairs. You were left out since it was an odd number. You didn't think much of it. You would've left yourself out anyway. There was no way your partner was going to learn effectively with you. Snape walked around criticizing everyone. There was something different about him this year. He seemed meaner but you weren't sure. Every student was wrong in his eyes, especially Ron who looked like he was going purple as he held his breath so he wouldn't say the spell. Snape scolded him especially and then grabbed his wand and pointed it at Harry.
"Protego!" Harry yelled without thinking.
"Do you remember me telling you we're practicing non-verbal spells, Potter?"
"Yes," Harry muttered.
"Yes, sir."
"There's no need to call me sir, Professor," Harry said— also without thinking.
His own words registered when the whole class either gasped or covered their mouths with their hands to avoid laughing out loud. Snape gave Harry the biggest scowl you had ever seen and a Saturday's detention— effectively cancelling your date that you had planned. He met your eyes and smiled sheepishly. Everyone walked to lunch talking about the incident. You didn't sit down right away, checking on all the Hufflepuffs first. When you did your prefect duty, you dropped next to Hermione and let your face relax. Hermione pushed her plate at you.
"You didn't eat breakfast, you need to eat something."
That was the hardest part, eating. You and Sirius bonded over food. Everything he learned about you was over a meal, especially at the muggle pizza shop. There was a lot that you were still processing and you figured that you could through it. But food was still sensitive. Tentatively, you took your fork and ate. It was only a few bites but that seemed to satisfy everyone around you.
You were supposed to be professor's assistant in Potions for N.E.W.T. level students which meant reluctantly going to Potions with the rest of the Golden Quartet after lunch. You didn't want to meet Slughorn or any new professor. You wanted Snape back in his old position and to be nicer again— change wasn't exactly something you were liking. There was still a lot of change that you had to get used to and so far it was all for the worse. Slughorn on the other hand was very excited to meet you and discuss your brewing of felix felicis. That felt like such a long time ago to you. He shook your hand wildly as he introduced himself. Your nose turned at the smell. What used to be Christmas seemed replaced with new smells. Broomstick wood, butterbeer, catalogues, galleons, and a cologne that you easily recognized as Harry's.
"We're already doing Amortentia?" you asked.
"Oh no," Slughorn said. "Not until Valentine's Day but I wanted to introduce a bunch of potions the students can expect to see this year and next."
You nodded and simply sat at the back like you used to when Snape taught. At least your former professor seemed to have given Slughorn a heads up because the back desk was reserved with all your stuff on it. You zoned out a bit as Slughorn gave his introductions and asked people to get books. The only reason you mentally checked in was because Harry and Ron almost pushed you in an effort to get the new looking copy of the Potions textbook rather than some old one that looked like it would fall off under someone's touch. Slughorn began giving everyone previews of the potions— Polyjuice, Veritaserum, and Amortentia.
While the others began working on the first potion of the year, Draught of Living Death, in order to win a small bottle of felix felicis, you were looking at your own work. You sighed as you looked at the plans you had for discovering how to give squibs magic. Something told you that you wouldn't get to it this year. Dumbledore wouldn't have given you that random children's book because he thought it was a cute story. There was a reason and you'd have to figure it out. It wasn't a thick book but you remembered that. Each story was a quick read and you would easily finish before the class period ended. You flipped to the first page, a story called "The Wizard and the Hopping Pot". You were pretty sure that was your favorite story growing up. You remembered quite well actually— this story was your favorite and in the same book, "The Tale of Three Brothers" used to give you nightmares.
You only got halfway through the first story when someone called your name. Harry pointed to his book instructions when you came over. He and Hermione had been arguing. You peered down to see that there were annotations all over the book, replacing ingredients and changing instructions. Hermione was insisting that Harry should follow the real instructions that said to cut the sopophorous bean instead of crushing it like his book said.
"Can I look at this?" you asked. You quickly scanned through the instructions. "Nothing is going to make the potion blow up in your face. If you want to follow these instructions, go ahead."
"(Y/N)," Hermione gasped.
"'Mione, I made a modified wolfsbane potion because a penpal told me they grew aloe with similar properties. Not following potion instructions is going to be encouraged by me to a certain extent. Nothing here will kill him. At worst, Harry's going to fail. It's fine."
Hermione still seemed against it but let it happen. You stayed at the table because you were curious. The potion was practically in overdrive. Every modified instruction that Harry followed was cutting down on the potion's brew time but still making a correct Draught of Living Death. Harry finished his potion faster than anyone else, correctly as well. You stared in amazement at the textbook while Slughorn granted Harry his prize of felix felicis.
It went like that for a while. Every potion that had modified instructions, Harry did. Every potion turned out correct. Slughorn became almost hyper-focused on Harry when he wasn't focused on you. Despite offering to share with Ron and Hermione, they refused to look at the book. You were the only one interested. You were sitting in Harry's lap in the Gryffindor common room, copying down the notes from his book while he did the Alchemy homework you had assigned the sixth years.
"This is so fascinating. I would have never thought to add ginger to Wound-Cleaning Potion. Of course, though, ginger has antibacterial properties according to muggles. Adding it is brilliant, I would love to meet this Half-Blood Prince... what's funny, Harry?" You turned your attention to him when you felt his chest rise and fall.
"I'm losing my girlfriend to a textbook and the worst part is I think it's doing a better job at helping her get better."
"You've been helping me tons."
You slipped the textbook back into his school bag now that you had copied all the modified potions into your notebook. Even though he wasn't done with the Alchemy reading, which he complained to you that you assigned a lot, Harry set it down and turned you so that you were facing him. You poked at his tie. The common room was really quiet and you realized that this was the longest you had been around your boyfriend without your tongues down each other's throats. Just being in Harry's company was enough for you again. It wasn't completely back to normal but you realized you were feeling again. Harry smiled as you poked at his tie a bunch of times, with the tip of your tongue sticking out, before you turned your head. He held your hands while watching you tap into dark senses that you hadn't used since Sirius died. For once, he noted, you weren't looking scared when using the senses. You actually just seemed confused. Your body relaxed and you turned back to Harry with a pout.
"I can't understand it. I saw something but I can't understand the whispers."
"You can't?"
"It sounds like you when you talk in your sleep while we nap."
"I talk in my sleep?"
"You have entire conversations with yourself Ha—"
Your head turned again. Harry sat up a bit straighter. You tended not to have episodes back to back of dark senses. You were muttering something. He turned your head to him so he could hear you better. The words that were gibberish to you made perfect sense to him in Parseltongue. You blinked back to the reality in front of you.
"Voldemort's looking for something, three somethings," Harry said. "Hallows?"
"That must be the weird symbol, whatever those Hallows are... I don't know, I'll figure it out."
"Tell me when you do, it's got to be important in stopping him."
You rolled your eyes. "I will Mr. Chosen One. Don't let Professor Trelawney's prophecy get to your head."
"You heard the prophecy?"
"Yeah, when we entered the Depar— did no one else hear it?"
Harry shook his head. "What did it say?"
"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches, born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies. And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives. The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies... I wonder if she knows she repeated herself with the seventh month bit."
"So that's it then? I don't have a choice but to stop him, I've always had to."
"Nothing is written in stone, Harry. I've changed enough fates to know that senses and prophecies only show one path."
"The most likely path, though."
"... how could you not hear it? It was practically yelling when we entered that room."
"You were the only one, I swear. Your dark senses?"
"They aren't all hearing and seeing. It's supposed to be for death and danger only... forget Voldemort. Let's just be students for a minute of our lives. Please."
Harry nodded. "Our next game is against Hufflepuff."
"And?"
"And I want you to cheer for us."
"Against my House? While I'm a pre—"
"How much longer are you going to keep using that prefect excuse?"
"As long as you let me."
"Well, if you're going to cheer for Hufflepuff, at least wear my captain's jumper."
"I can do that. Oh, I'm not coming to Slughorn's Slug Club again."
"How do you keep managing to avoid that?" Harry asked, exasperated. Slughorn's secret club for his favorite students was a chore to him.
"I keep telling him I have Alchemy lessons to work on, he doesn't know any better. But I am being forced to come to the Christmas Party."
"At least you don't have to worry about a date."
You sat back and looked at him, resting your hands on his shoulders. "You think Ron will piss Hermione off before she asks him?"
Harry's laugh answered your question. Ron had been feeling very upset about being the only member of the Golden Quartet that wasn't in Slug Club. Even though you never went, the fact that you were a part of it technically still bothered him. Hermione started feeling bad and decided that if Ron couldn't make it into Slug Club by Christmas she would ask him to be her date to the party. She had been talking to some Gryffindor named Cormac McLaggen who had the impressive ability to piss Ron off just by saying his name.
You knew immediately something was going to go wrong with Hermione's plan at some point. One of them would bring up Cormac and Ron would get mad and Hermione would forget about asking him. The two of them were at each other's throats so much lately over other people even looking at them. You and Harry couldn't tell if they were trying to leave the Golden Quartet or were going to start dating. Harry thought one way and you thought the other. The clock chimed in the common room.
"I have to go. Dumbledore's private lesson."
You got off of Harry to let him get to work. Besides, you needed to get through Beedle the Bard. After being interrupted in Potions, you never went back to reading it. You easily read through the stories. They were meant for children after all. A chill ran down your back as you flipped to the page with "The Tale of Three Brothers". It was a chill you hadn't felt since watching your father hit the ground in the Ministry of Magic. But no one was with you and you knew you weren't the one in danger of dying. You read the entire story and the chill persisted until you closed the book. The story gave you just as much of a fright now as it did when you were a child. The Gryffindor common room didn't feel friendly anymore so you took your stuff and left to go to the Great Hall. You needed a more open space. Snape stopped you in the corridor.
"You need to practice non-verbal counter jinxes. At least a Shield Charm."
"Professor, I'm not going to be able to get it. What I need to do is plan how to teach first years to apply muggle studies to magic. Which is what I'm heading to the Great Hall to do."
Snape grabbed your arm and forced you to walk into a classroom. "You can do that in the free time you would have if you weren't busy snogging Potter every chance you got."
"Why are you being so mean this year?" You yanked your arm out of his grip.
Snape actually scared you when he hit the desk next to him. He pulled his wand from his robes before whirling around to face you.
"Because you don't seem to understand that you are the only known banshee in existence. The others are either dead or in hiding and when Voldemort shows up he will use you again. Your squibness is no longer a luxury you can dwell in. Dumbledore insists that you learn. You are a death omen, a weapon of death itself! Do you understand that?!"
You felt like a small third year again as you nodded.
"This isn't a fun lesson. None of them will be. You will be put back into a scared, vulnerable version of yourself. And by the end of this, you will have to confront blocking the Cruciatus Curse."
You weren't prepared for the first jinx. Snape didn't hesitate. Your entire body couldn't move and you already felt the panic set in. As quickly as it set in, it was gone with the removal of the spell. Snape tsked before going again. It went like that until he decided you were done. Every attempt was a fail and by the end you were a puddle of tears. Snape stood there, stating you would try again sometime later. You stared at the floor for a moment. Snape and Dumbledore were different and you didn't like it. You did something that you hadn't done all summer. A short but sharp scream left your mouth. You both jumped when the classroom window shattered.
You left the classroom and went to your greenhouse that was now Neville's since you gave it to him. Neville was in there, looking at you in confusion when you opened the door. He immediately set down the mandrake pot and moved to close the greenhouse door and pull you into a hug. You wiped at your eyes.
"Blimey, I didn't think you'd be in here. I wasn't trying to bother anyone."
"With your crying?"
"All I seem to do in front of people is cry nowadays."
Neville moved you both to the stools around the wooden table. "People cry a lot more for a lot less than what you've been through."
You sat with Neville, telling him to distract you. He did a good job just like he did last year. All he did was talk about his new job as professor's assistant for Herbology. He was ecstatic for the job and kept thanking you for letting him have all your old stuff. As much as you didn't enjoy losing your Herbology, you knew Neville was right for it. Between Potions and Alchemy, there wasn't room for it anymore. Especially with the new task that Snape and Dumbledore seemed to have given you.
Lessons with Snape didn't get easier. The only thing that did get easier was teaching. It ended up being what you needed. Less so when you were teaching sixth and seventh years but especially when you were teaching first and second years. Teaching Alchemy was causing you to improve.
It was noticeable to everyone how the smiles became more and more real. Your kisses with Harry were softer again, unless he won a quidditch game. You started writing to Remus and Tonks— who you knew started a relationship even if they denied it. Andromeda enjoyed the pictures you sent her, happy that you were using your cameras again. You began having Thursday tea with Draco once more. He seemed more jumpy all the time but you figured with his dad being in Azkaban and the stress of sixth year it was normal. You started going to Hogsmeade again. That's where you were with the Golden Quartet when the weekend came.
It was a needed break, going to the Three Broomsticks. You had finished reading through and marking a bunch of first year essays on which alchemist they most admired. If you saw one more thing on Flamel's Elixir of Life, you were going to scream. He was your mentor but you were tempted to ban him just because you couldn't take listening to that. The Three Broomsticks wasn't as good of a break as you hoped. Hogwarts was truly the only place with happiness inside. Everywhere else had a fear of Voldemort. Occasional killings kept occuring, dementor and Death Eater attacks were frequent. You all had to be inspected just to leave Hogwarts and go to Hogsmeade— only fifth years and above were now allowed to go.
At Harry's suggestion, you all put on your scarves and hats to leave. Sirius' beanie was fraying around the edges and you made a note to ask Mrs. Weasley or perhaps Kreacher to fix it for you. You stopped in the path when Katie Bell and her friend started arguing. Everyone was walking around them, trying not to listen in as they both seemed extremely heated. You all scooted right past them when you smelt something. Harry stopped when he noticed you weren't next to him. You spun back around to see the package that Katie and her friend had been arguing over fall into the snow. You screamed just as it hit the ground. Katie rose into the air before crashing down to snow, writhing around and screaming.
"Get help!" you yelled at Harry before going over to the girl.
You were the only one who wasn't affected by Katie's screaming. You held her and tried to make sure she didn't writhe around too much and hurt herself. The friend she was arguing with began to tell you in a panic that they were yelling about the package— which had a necklace inside. Katie had come from the bathroom with it all of a sudden and said she had to deliver it to somebody. She wouldn't say who it was for or who it was from. Katie's friend only seemed to sob harder when she realized that Katie might have been under the Imperius Curse and she never noticed.
Harry came back with Hagrid who easily scooped up Katie and rushed back to Hogwarts with you all. You were carrying the cursed necklace in your scarf so no one else could accidentally touch it. Your ears pricked up when you heard Harry mention Draco's name. It was the second time now that he and the others seemed to mention him around bad stuff. You would have told him off right then but you were so concerned with making sure that Katie was safe that you dropped it, making a note to mention it later.
The commotion didn't stop once you reached Hogwarts. Filch took the scarf covered necklace from you to deliver to Snape while McGonagall sent Hagrid to Madame Pomfrey and then directed you all to her office. Katie's friend— Leanne— told the story again in between sobs while you acted as a translator of sorts. She left pretty quickly after in order to check on Katie.
"I need to see Professor Dumbledore," Harry said.
"He's away until Monday. Whatever you need to say, if it's pressing then tell me," McGonagall said.
"Malfoy gave her the necklace," Harry said brazenly.
Ron looked away when your head turned to stare at the side of your boyfriend's face. He actually dared to continue making the accusation about your cousin while you were right there. And such a serious accusation as well. You started to fume when you heard him tell McGonagall that the proof he was going off of was seeing Draco at Borgin and Burkes looking at the necklace and then leaving with something he bought— Harry couldn't confirm that he had bought the necklace though. When you all left McGonagall's office, he could sense you were mad. You pulled your hand away from his grip.
"If you ever accuse my cousin again so senselessly, you won't have a date to Slughorn's Christmas Party. Am I clear, Harry? Don't expect to see me at your game tomorrow."
You walked away before he could even give you an answer. True to your word, you didn't go to the game between Gryffindor and Slytherin. You heard that Gryffindor won and still didn't leave your room. Taking a shower, you changed into one of your dad's large flannels and some sweatpants. You were going to go turn out the muggle lantern on your dresser when you heard the weird parseltongue mumbling. You turned to stare at the diadem on the top of the dresser drawer. There was no way the whispering was coming from it but it didn't seem like it was distant enough to be your dark senses. You shook it off and continued towards the light when you heard knocking on your door.
"No one saw me come in," Harry said quickly when you opened the door. "I came to apologize."
Rolling your eyes, you sighed and let Harry in. He acknowledged that what he did was wrong and based purely on a hunch. You accepted the apology— not letting him kiss you. He was allowed to hold you though. You both cuddled on the bed as he told you about the fiasco that was the Gryffindor celebration party. Apparently, Cormac didn't set Ron and Hermione off. Lavender Brown did when she decided to snog Ron in the corner the entire time. Ron complaining about Cormac was something you forever saw coming. Hermione on the other hand, you couldn't predict. Harry accidentally mentioned having to avoid a bunch of girls when he went to go see where Hermione had run off to after seeing Ron and Lavender snog. He looked down when he felt your grip get tighter around his sweater.
"Didn't I say Romilda Vane wasn't taking me away from you?" He asked, enjoying your jealousy a bit too much.
"She seems insistent on trying. I'm not even wallowing anymore and they think they have a chance with my boyfriend. My boyfriend. One of them is going to slip you a love potion, I just know it."
"It won't work," he said with assurance.
"You and your Half-Blood Prince aren't the only ones good at Potions, Harry. They could also just buy it."
"It won't work because I'll always know who I love, even if deep down."
Your eyes widened. You moved from resting your cheek on his chest to propping up your chin as you tried to look at him as best as you could. Harry drummed his fingers along your back and fixed your hair.
"Did you just say you love me?"
"I did, I do. I love you... I've never seen that smile on you before."
You immediately ducked your head and went back to laying down on his chest. Harry just chuckled as you reached a hand up to poke his cheek. You couldn't look at him as you felt heat rush to your face. Your hand went back to tangling itself up in his jumper.
"I love you, too," you said, still not looking at him. "Harry?"
"Yes?"
"What if we went to Slughorn's Christmas party separately? You should bring Ron, I think he'd like to go at least once."
Harry nodded. "He has been a bit distant, alright then. Who will you bring?"
"Hmm, maybe Luna. I like her even if everyone calls her Loony Lovegood... will you turn off the light?"
Harry chuckled as he pulled out his wand and pointed it at the muggle lantern muttering 'Nox'. He wrapped his arms around you a bit tighter and you both just enjoyed each other's company. Your fingers traced his chest in the weird symbol you had seen through your dark senses. You still couldn't figure out what it was.