Chapter Text
Harry fidgeted where he sat on the Potion Lab stool. He hadn’t moved from the brewing table since class let out, on Snape’s order. Ron and Hermione had looked concerned, but he had motioned them on. Defense was next and Snape wouldn't give them a pass if they waited for him. Reluctantly, they'd left.
Then Snape had given him one final command to stay put and left himself.
It was ten minutes later that the professor finally returned. “Mister Potter,” he said gravely. “Did anyone else see you brew today’s potion? See you brew it completely ?”
Harry scrunched his nose up a bit as he frowned, a bit surprised at the question. He’d messed up the potion – so what? “I don’t know, why?”
“ Think , Potter,” Snape growled as the door opened a second time and Dumbledore walked in.
Harry shrugged. “Hermione, maybe, before you gave her that assignment. What’s the big deal? I mucked up another potion,” he said with a scowl. “No one’s going to care how I did it.”
“The problem, Mister Potter,” the Potions Professor snarled, “is that you did not, in fact, ‘muck it up.’ It would be better if you had.”
“What?” Harry asked in confusion. The Potions Master had made very clear he’d been disappointed with Harry’s brew and thought him an idiot. He always told Harry he'd done something wrong even when Harry had done everything right.
“The potion was brewed correctly,” Dumbledore clarified. “At least, that’s what we believe – despite some rather far-fetched ideas on what may have been amiss.”
Harry stared at the Headmaster blankly, not understanding. “But the potion – it didn’t produce the right result. I must have made a mistake, right?”
“It did not produce a common or well-known result, my dear boy,” Dumbledore said. “It is a result Potion Masters keep low-key because of the potential uproar when it occurs, but it is valid. It is not a secret kept very closely, which is the cause of our concern. Some of your classmates may inadvertently put you in danger if they speak of it in front of the wrong ears. Therefore, it is very important that we know if anyone else saw you brew the potion correctly.”
Harry thought back on the class carefully, trying to answer despite his confusion. “I don’t think so, sir, and even if they thought they did it wouldn’t be unusual for me to mess up somehow. Maybe I diced something wrong or something.”
“The potion itself is not difficult,” Snape said slowly. “Still, I would rather believe there was a mistake in the brewing than consider the alternative."
"But you made a fuss," Harry said.
Snape raised an eyebrow. "How very eloquent, Mister Potter."
"You kept me after class, and you brought in the Headmaster," Harry continued stubbornly. "You even made me late for another class. You wouldn't have done that unless you thought something was wrong. But I still don't get what the problem is."
Snape let the silence drag on for a bit before saying: "Any mistake I can think of would have produced different results unless you somehow managed to brew a completely different potion or added a very unusual ingredient. The only reason we wait until fifth year is due to the blood component, not difficulty.”
The Headmaster nodded, “Alas, I do not believe the defense instructor has reached this topic yet.”
“Umbridge doesn’t teach us any topics,” Harry said, almost whining. “We read in class and then take a test. No practicals, no questions, no anything .”
Snape rolled his eyes. “Of course not. The likes of her can never understand how knowledge from books is easily forgotten, especially in children. She’s a Ravenclaw to the bone. The Defense instructor should have covered why some potions which contain blood are not considered blood magics, and therefore not illegal.”
“Now, now, Severus,” Dumbledore scolded, “the minister did have his reasons for placing her in this position. How Professor Umbridge teaches does not affect the result of this potion.”
“We will reproduce the potion in order to confirm the results, both with a potion brewed by Mister Potter and myself. I fear the results will be the same, however. I admit I did not see any mistake in brewing this period, and as it was during class there is only a small chance of magic affecting the potion.”
“Magic?” Harry asked curiously.
“The potion reacts to spells cast in the general area poorly until it reaches the final stage. Once the potion is stable, spells and outside magics will not affect the result. Did you not read the notes?” Snape sneered.
Harry squirmed. “I read them.”
Snape gave him a flat look and raised a single eyebrow. Harry found it most annoying.
“I did read them,” he insisted. “It didn’t seem important. We’re never allowed to cast spells in class anyways, so why does it matter?”
“Stupid boy,” Snape said sharply. “Precautions are always there for a reason. And if you'd think, you'd realize other students would have experienced similar oddities because their potions would also have been affected." He paused long enough to take in the disapproving look of the Headmaster then snapped: "We must proceed as if it were a valid result.”
“But what does the result mean ?” Harry asked, getting frustrated.
“It is a most unusual potion and we must be certain it is correct before proceeding," Dumbledore said, shaking his head slightly when Snape scowled at him. "That is why Professor Snape wishes the potion to be rebrewed immediately. He brought me here to take precautions. If this result is correct, then it presents us with many difficulties.”
“Are you going to answer or are going to talk in circles?” Harry muttered.
“Show some respect, boy,” Snape snapped.
Harry glared at him. “You’ve both done a stellar job of telling me just how complicated this could make things, but neither one of you will answer my question, sir .”
“Harry,” Dumbledore said, sitting on a nearby stool so he no longer towered over the sitting student, “what can you tell me about Paternal Ink ’s results? The ones you know, please.”
“Well, it tells if a parent is still living – that’s why goblins and such like to use it as ink in legal documents. Like wills which can be written in potion that has a drop of the heir’s blood. When the ink turns a certain color, then both parents are dead and the will is to be executed. The potion should be clear just before the drop of blood is added. If it turns pink, then only the mother is alive. If it turns blue, then only the father is alive. Purple indicates both are alive, and black shows both are dead. But sir – mine turned green.”
Snape scowled. “As usual, Potter, your sense of color is abysmal.”
“Nevertheless, the descriptions are accurate enough. Five points to Gryffindor,” Dumbledore said cheerfully.
“So if green is right, what’s it mean?”
“An undetermined result,” Dumbledore said.
“What?” Harry asked, confused when the Headmaster didn't elaborate.
“It means the potion cannot determine if your parents are alive or dead,” Snape said flatly.
Harry frowned. “But my parents are dead.”
“Yes, Potter, which is why we need to investigate . Such a result for you is unthinkable,” Snape snapped.
“Please, Severus, calm down,” Dumbledore soothed. “We do not yet know why Harry's results were undetermined. Perhaps there was, as Mister Potter first thought, a mistake in the brewing.”
“And perhaps there wasn’t and the boy’s been dabbling in magic he shouldn’t,” Snape countered.
“What magic?” Harry asked. “What could make the potion give the wrong result?”
Snape scowled.
“We’ll start with the easiest answer, instead of assuming the worst, Severus. Harry, it sometimes happens that a young woman - or a young man - chooses to hide the identity of the other parent. This is very rare, but it is possible.”
“So you’re saying someone tried to hide who my father was?” Harry asked slowly.
“Or who your mother was,” Snape commented. “Such spells do not care for gender, and the ambiguity of the potion result only tells us that someone has tried to conceal a portion of your heritage. It does not tell us who, why, or what they have attempted to conceal. Maybe your father tried to hide his age and the magic contaminated the result. He was certainly vain enough to do so. Or maybe he polyjuiced himself shortly before your mother conceived you. He played enough pranks in his day that a bit of polyjuice would be nothing to him, and there can be lingering effects hours after the potion's intended use has faded."
"Or," Dumbledore said, cutting in before Harry could protest the slights on his father, "perhaps your mother created a second identity to hide during the war or work undercover. Even now we do not know who all of Lily's contacts were. It is possible it was not even their identities your parents attempted to conceal and the effect was unintended.”
Harry relaxed a little. “So they maybe, what, put a protection spell on me that protects a little too much?”
“Precisely, my dear boy,” Dumbledore beamed. “It is unlikely, but not impossible in theory.”
"We will have to look more carefully at how they hid themselves from the Dark Lord," Snape said. "Lily was good at finding obscure spells."
“So what do we do now?” Harry asked when the adults were quiet too long for his tastes. He wanted something to do now that he knew something was wrong.
“I will write an excuse for you for your next class – Defense, I believe – and you and Professor Snape will rebrew the potion. You will then add a drop of blood to each potion, and we will proceed based on the result.”
Harry nodded. He wasn’t upset to miss Umbridge’s class, but he wasn’t sure about redoing the Potions lesson in its place. He realized the reason he was missing class also couldn’t be told to Umbridge, so he was likely to end up serving detention anyways.