Harry Potter and the Great Sacrifice

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Author's Note: Much thanks goes to fifespice, imakeeper, Count-Colville and Dreamer of Destiny for your reviews! I guess I changed my opinion about hating Ron… it just seems abnormal for them not to be good friends. As for Dumbledore, I don't really like him being depicted as manipulative, so I'm keeping him nice and warm for now. :P I've altered my initial plans about Harry vs Hermione and added Ron in… hope you guys will enjoy it

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Chapter 4 – Weird Lessons

Deep in the Forbidden Forest…

"Wormtail, what do you have to report?" A man with a raspy voice asked.

"Master, the Potter boy is here," the man called Wormtail said nervously as he kneeled before the stunted figure in front of him.

"Very well, let the plan proceed then," the man said.

"Yes, master," Wormtail answered.

In a blink of an eye, one man disappeared, and instead, a rat stood in his place. The rat took a few moments sniffing out his location before moving away and back to Hogwarts…

-- 0-o-0-o-0-o-0 --

In the Great Hall…

"Oh no, we got Potions first with the slimy Slytherins," bemoaned Ron as he checked his schedule.

The trio had just finished their breakfast and were making their way to the first class of the year.

"My uncle used to study at Hogwarts too, and he knows of a Snape whom he described as 'a greasy git'," Harry said, his eyes darting around as he looked around the corridor for any 'dangers'. He had suspected that the twins would try another prank on him as soon as they had finished planning one, so he told himself to be extra cautious these few days.

"Then we should be talking about the same guy," Ron replied cheerfully. "He's obviously a greasy git." Insulting Snape was like a past-time for him.

"It's Professor Snape, Ron." Hermione started, being the model and respectful student Harry knew her to be.

"Alright," Ron acquiesced and continued talking to Harry. "Where was I? Oh yes, I wanted to tell you about the incident where Snape had bullied Neville…" Harry bit back a laugh while Hermione just shook her head in defeat. Some things never changed.

Not long later, they found themselves in a dark and gloomy dungeon and quickly found a seat together. Lack of punctuality would have resulted in loss of points especially to their house, Hermione explained to Harry. The rest of the students soon trickled in.

It took a while, but Professor Snape soon entered the dungeon last and closed the door behind them with a loud and ominous bang. As he walked to the front with his robes billowing behind, Harry observed that he had greasy black hair, a hooked nose and sallow skin. Just like what Sirius had told him to look out for.

"10 points from Gryffindor," Professor Snape said all of a sudden. "There will be no whispering behind my back Ms Patil." He finished talking and turned away from the direction of Parvati, a pretty girl who has long dark hair worn in a plait, making his way to the front of the classroom. Harry got to know a few of his housemates the night before, no thanks to his scar.

With a swish of his wand, Professor Snape pointed at the board and instructions appeared. "You shall be brewing the Draught of Living Death today and you will be working in pairs." Whispers could be heard immediately after he said that and Hermione whispered to Harry, "That's an advanced potion! We shouldn't be doing that so early!"

"However," Professor Snape said, effectively stopping all the noise in the class. He turned to look at Harry and revealed an evil smile before continuing. "As Mr. Potter is new to our class, he shall be working alone to be assessed."

Hermione immediately stood up and went to Harry's defence. "But sir, the Draught of the Living Death is a sixth-year potion which should not be used as an assessment."

"Are you questioning my teaching capabilities, Ms Granger?"

From the tone of Professor Snape's voice, Hermione knew that what she said would be of no use and sat down before saying, "No, sir."

"Good. 10 points from Gryffindor for interrupting me," Professor Snape sneered, eliciting laughs from the Slytherins.

Harry had expected something like that to happen after all that Sirius had told him about Snape. He even knew of the incident that involved his dad and Snape, but Sirius had told him how much his dad had changed after becoming a prefect, and Harry believed him.

Professor Snape looked at Harry, as if wanting him to challenge his authority, but Harry simply smiled back. Eventually, the professor broke the eye contact and said out, "If there are no further questions, you shall begin. I expect to see a perfectly brewed Draught of the Living Death at the end of the lesson, or you shall get a zero for your assessment. The same goes for you, Potter."

Harry stood up and moved away from Ron and Hermione with his potions stuff, telling them not to worry about him. What they did not know was that the potion Professor Snape had assigned was one he was quite familiar with. He had to learn how to brew that when the Blacks and he were experimenting with a new candy which they named the Sleeping Sweet. It was quite a success in the end, and after losing a coin toss with Regulus, Harry ended up being the guinea pig and had to sleep for one whole day until the effects had ended.

Harry started to prepare his ingredients, not even looking at the board since he knew them at the back of his hand. At the front of the classroom, Professor Snape stared at the boy, whose father he had grown to hate, feeling unease. Why did he smile back so confidently? He then noticed that the boy did not even look at the instructions at the board and continued working at an easy pace.

Harry took out the silver knife he had brought along and squeezed the juice out of the sopophorous beans. He learnt that it was a more effective way of acquiring the juice rather than cutting after many experiments. He continued the rest of the potion-brewing easily, occasionally feeling an intruding presence in his mind. Just like what Sirius said, Snape will never resist the opportunity to 'mind-rape'. Well, he's in for some fun… Harry smirked.

The mind of a normal wizard would lie open and any skilled Legilimens would be able to see that person's memories. Moreover, the information would also be scattered around, unless the person happened to be very organized. However, the minds of strong Occlumens are sheltered with layers of protection.

Generally, there were two kinds of protection: one, the direct type, which involved placing a strong mind shield so that Legilimens who were weak would not be able to break though at all; two, the subtle type, which involved placing fake memories on the surface whereas the real ones were hidden behind a shroud which only a strong Legilimen would be able to detect, and break. Harry, however, had prepared a surprise in his mind. He had started creating a few memories of Snape in various female clothing the moment he felt an intruding presence in his mind, and faked a mind shield that would be easily broken. When he was ready, he allowed Snape entry to his mind.

Professor Snape, being curious as to how Harry Potter was able to breeze through brewing that particular potion that even sixth-years had difficulty in making, had decided to use his Legilimency to use. Hm… I wonder what kind of embarrassing memories I will find in that brain of the Potter brat, Professor Snape smirked.

He closed his eyes and pretended to think while he slowly entered Harry's mind. Powerful Legilimens like him did not require the need to look into the other person's eyes, though it would certainly be easier to gain access to the mind. It took a while for him to gain entry to his mind, and he quickly found a weak shield present in Harry's mind. To think the Potter brat has been taught Occlumency… but nevertheless, his shield is weak and pathetic, just like him. Snape sneered inwardly. After a few seconds, he broke through the shield with a satisfied grin, but he had never expected was the tirade of memories that flooded him the moment he entered.

"Would this pink and frilly dress look good on me, Auntie McGonagall?" Snape asked in a shrill voice as he gave a spin to show Professor McGonagall his dress. He then attempted to use his puppy eyes method on her, knowing that it would never fail.

Much to his disbelief, Professor McGonagall shook her head disapprovingly and Snape burst into tears, disappointed that he…

"Damn you Potter!" Snape shrieked as he finally managed to break away from that mind trap. He clenched his fist in anger as he had just realised he shouted in front of the whole class. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself down, whereas Harry continued stirring nonchalantly in his cauldron before looking up with a bored face and said, "Yes, professor?"

Professor Snape tried to rein in his anger, but Harry's blasé attitude just stroke the fury in him to greater heights. Knowing that it was all Harry's fault, but not being able to reveal the trap he had entered, he started firing questions at Harry, hoping to deduct points from Harry's house. Everyone in the class was surprised at the professor's sudden outcry, even the Slytherins. To the general population of students, he was usually a cold and emotionless person.

"Fluxweed is an ingredient used for making which potion?"

"Polyjuice potion," Harry replied in his bored tone. Deep inside, he was laughing at Snape and knew that Snape wanted to vent his anger on Harry by making him answer questions that he should not be able to know. Well, he's in for a good time then, Harry mused.

Professor Snape then asked a few more questions at Harry, who had, to the surprise of the class, answered all of them accurately and fast. Professor Snape was equally surprised at the accuracy and speed at which Harry answered his questions, but that simply made him angrier, and he started asking more difficult ones.

"What is the colour of a Shrinking Potion?" Professor Snape asked, as his anger slowly simmered down, though his hatred of the Potters just increased tenfold that day.

"Green, though acid green would be more accurate," Harry answered, not bothering to look up at the professor and instead concentrated on his potion.

"15 points from Gryffindor. You shall look at me when I speak to you," Professor Snape snarled. "Is that clear?"

"Sorry, but this potion requires my immediate attention, unless you want it to explode," Harry replied, feeling angry at the points deducted.

"Another 15 points from Gryffindor! You shall speak with respect to your professors and end your sentence with a 'sir'!" Snape said coldly with a smile. By then, his anger had festered into a deep hatred, though he felt a grim satisfaction at deducting points from Gryffindor.

The whole class was staring at both of them, with the Slytherins snickering while the Gryffindors were feeling miserable. Many believed that their house points would be close to negative now. Only Ron and Hermione were actually feeling afraid for him. They knew how Professor Snape was like.

Harry, on the other hand, was feeling infuriated too. 30 points deducted for nothing! What a bloody git! Harry thought angrily. He turned his head sharply and looked into Professor Snape's eyes. Despite his weak Legilimency, he was still able to send messages to people of close proximity.

Deduct another point and I shall let the class know who you really are, Harry snarled as he sent that message to Professor Snape.

Professor Snape simply cocked an eyebrow before replying via Legilimency.

Your threats mean nothing to me, you insolent brat. You're just like your father, arrogant and good for nothing.

All around Harry, the equipment started to shake. Harry's eyes were blazing once again, and those who saw him during the incident with Malfoy knew that Harry was pissed. Whatever Professor Snape did, it was no good.

Taking out his wand, Harry sent his completed Draught of Living Death potion towards the professor before muttering another spell. Immediately, all his stuff was packed into his bag neatly, except for his cauldron. Harry cleaned his cauldron with another spell before minimizing it and placing it into his bag. Without a word, he stormed out of the classroom, leaving an amazed class behind.

Professor Snape saw the potion hurling towards him just in time and managed to grab hold of it without spilling. To his surprise, the potion was a light shade of lilac, which means it was completed as well as being perfect. He masked his surprise and told the distracted class to continue.

-- 0-o-0-o-0-o-0 --

Harry was mad. He started making his way to the Transfiguration classroom as it was his next class. Not seeing anyone in it yet, he sat by one corner and took out his notebook. Inside his notebook were all the experiments and cool spells he had learnt, and he browsed to see if there was anything interesting he could do. Snape shall pay… my father was ten times a better man than he was, Harry thought angrily. He took a few deep breaths and calmed himself down. An angry person is a brainless person, Regulus once told him. No use being angry with that git.

As he was browsing through the section on interesting spells, he found one on Transfiguration. Might as well make myself comfortable, seeing that I've twenty minutes left before the lesson starts, Harry thought. It was a spell that turned an object into a comfortable armchair. After about five minutes of spellwork, Harry finally managed to transfigure his stool into the desired armchair. He then sat down relaxed, wondering how he should behave in future Potions classes. Maybe I should just treat him coldly and do whatever he says. If I continue what I just did, Gryffindor would definitely end up as the last House at the end of the year, Hurry thought sensibly.

As Harry was deep in his thoughts, he was oblivious to Professor McGonagall's entry into the classroom. She preferred entering the classroom earlier so that she could prepare her coursework, so imagine her surprise when she found Harry sitting on a cosy armchair ten minutes before the first class was over. Fine piece of work there though, I guess there's no need to give him an evaluation exam, Professor McGonagall smiled as she made her way to Harry.

"Ahem, what are you doing here so early Mr. Potter," Professor McGonagall asked, putting on her trademark stern looks.

Harry was shocked out of his train of thoughts and stood up immediately. "Erm, sorry Professor, Snape and I had a heated discussion and I decided to leave the class before I blasted anyone."

"That's Professor Snape for you. A heated argument you say?" Professor McGonagall asked curiously. "Would you like to elaborate more on that?"

Harry decided he could trust his Head of House and started explaining how Professor Snape had treated him, adding in indignantly about the points deducted from Gryffindor. He hesitated about telling her about Professor Snape's attempt at viewing into his mind, but convinced himself that as his Head of House, she should know about it. When he finally finished relating the series of events that had happened in the Potions class, Professor McGonagall pressed her lips thin and looked angry. For a moment, Harry thought he had said something wrong.

"Well, Mr. Potter," Professor McGonagall finally said, after gathering her thoughts. "I'm glad you told me about this incident. Rest assured that I'll question my colleague about his method of teaching, and I'll also bring this to the Headmaster's attention. "

"Thank you Professor," Harry said and smiled. "I'll be going back to my seat now if there's nothing else?"

"Of course," she replied. "Before I forget, you might want to sign up for the Qudditch tryout that's happening this weekend. I heard that you're as good a flyer as James." She said and gave Harry one of her rare smiles.

Harry blushed at her compliment and told her he would sign up for it. Sirius had told him countless of times how good his father was as a Chaser, and he hoped that he would be as good as his dad one day. He went back to his seat and untransfigured the cosy seat before reading his textbook while waiting for his friends.

The students started streaming in after a while, and it appeared that the Gryffindors would be sharing the class with the Hufflepuffs. Ron and Hermione were looking around for him, and he could see that their relief when they finally found him.

"Wow, Harry, you've just become Hogwarts' first ever person to make Snape so pissed off," Ron said gleefully. "You should have seen his face when you slammed the doors!"

Harry just smiled. Ron was definitely anti-Snape. Maybe he could rope him in for a plan of his…

"How did you manage to finish the potion so quickly? I saw the colour of your potion when it flew across the room. It was the exact shade that the book says the completed potion should look like!" Hermione asked excitedly. Anything that was related to academic was of great interest to her. While she did not approve of Harry storming out of the dungeons, she could also tell that not everything was Harry's fault, and she was relieved that Harry did not do anything silly outside the classroom.

"Haha, I'm lucky that Snape chose that potion. I've done it lots of time when I was with my uncle," Harry explained. He did not want to lie to his friends, so he decided to tell them half-truths. "It was for some of his projects that he does at times, though he never tells me what he's exactly doing."

Hermione just nodded, accepting what he said. "I'll tell you more about it after class. Professor McGonagall's starting class." Harry said as the last student entered the classroom.

Their first lesson of the year was on transfiguring an old piece of rag into a piece of clothing. It went on smoothly with different people getting different results. Harry looked at Ron's piece of work and had to fight to keep from laughing. Ron had managed to transfigure his rag into… something slightly better than a rag. Well, that was if you consider wearing a shapeless and oversized 'shirt' that had holes for your hands and head better. Hermione had done much better, transfiguring it into a dress, although it still retained the material of the rag.

Harry had transfigured his into robes with more or less the correct material, though it's just black with no other decorations. At the end of the lesson, surprisingly, it was Parvati's transfiguration that was the best. Although the material was still rough and some parts were frayed, it clearly looked the best. Harry was a close second, losing out to Parvati only in the design aspect, whereas Hermione came in third. Professor McGonagall awarded 15 points to Parvati, 10 to Harry and 5 to Hermione for their efforts before setting them with an assignment on the topic 'Transfiguration and Design: How they are related'.

Harry noticed that it was exactly 30 points earned for Gryffindor, the same number of points lost in his previous lesson, and looked suspiciously at Professor McGonagall. She pretended to look innocent, though if you noticed closely, the ends of her mouth were actually quirked up. At the end of the lesson, Harry was feeling much better and gave the professor a grateful smile before leaving for the next class.

Hermione, who had not taken being third in something well, was quizzing Harry on how he managed to alter the material of his transfiguration as they exited the classroom. It was not a lucky day for her, it seemed, as Harry chose to keep her anxious.

"Why don't we have a deal, Hermione," Harry said, after being asked for the tenth time on the subject of Transfiguration on their way to the Charms classroom.

Hermione stopped talking abruptly and motioned for Harry to continue.

"We'll have a mini-contest in the Charms lesson later," Harry started. "Before you say anything, I'll be the one setting the contest, and if you can beat me in it, I'll tell you how I transfigure the material of an object." By then, Harry was all smiles. Knowing Hermione, she would never put down a challenge.

"Alright," she replied, her eyes clearly showing her anticipation.

Ron, who was feeling a bit left out, said, "Hey, I'm not bad at Charms too, you guys mind if I join?"

Harry felt a bit embarrassed for leaving out his friend and immediately replied, "No, feel free to join in the fun," and ended with a smirk as some ideas drifted into his mind.

-- 0-o-0-o-0-o-0 --

30 minutes later in the Charms classroom…

It was practical time, so everyone can roam around testing out the new charm. The trio found a corner and started their competition.

"This contest here is somewhat a combination of endurance and strength of the wizard," Harry began. "Everyone knows that spells can be of varying strength. For example, the Wingardium Leviosa spell. If you apply more strength into your spell, the object can be raised higher." Ron and Hermione both nodded, listening attentively to Harry.

"Thus, I've decided on an interesting way we can practice today's charm in a competitive way," Harry declared, grinning mischievously at the end.

"Wait a minute, what do you mean by that," Hermione asked suspiciously. The grin on Harry's face was a dead giveaway that his 'mini-contest' was not something easy. "The charm we learnt today is the Cheering Charm, so how do we go about competing?"

"This is how the game will be played," Harry said mysteriously with an eerie smile. "What we have to do is to cast the strongest Cheering Charm on someone else in this class. A powerful Cheering Charm is able to make someone faint or at least suffer from a nosebleed. The winner is the person who makes the most people faint or nosebleed."

Ron laughed and said, "That sounds fun. I'm in. What about you, Hermione? Are you up for the challenge?"

Of course, when Hermione heard that, she immediately declared herself in.

"The only rule in this game is not to let Professor Flitwick find out about this mini-contest. The person who gets discovered loses immediately," Harry said quietly, his eyes twinkling with joy. "Alright, if there are no further questions, let the game begin."

-- 0-o-0-o-0-o-0 --

Later on in the Great Hall…

Harry tried not to laugh. Serious, he tried very, very hard. But in the end, he still ended up laughing.

A red-faced Hermione spluttered indignantly, "Harry James Potter, you… you'd better stop laughing this instant!"

It did not help that a moment later Ron had burst into laughter too. People started casting curious and weird glances at them, but the trio were oblivious to them. Those who were in the same class as the trio understood what they were laughing at and smiled knowingly, while others told their neighbours what had happened.

"Oh god, you should have seen your face when Professor Flitwick asked what you were doing," Harry said weakly as he gasped for breath. His eyes glinted mischievously and he cleared his voice before imitating Hermione. "Oh Professor, I wasn't doing anything –"

SMACK!

"Ouch, that hurts," Harry raised his hands up in protection and struggled to say anything as he continued laughing before passing Hermione's bag back to her. Soon, even Hermione had joined in the laughter as it got too contagious.

Apparently, what had happened was that the class was about to end when Professor Flitwick noticed something amiss. Although it was normal for everyone to look happy after a session of Cheering Charms, he found that a certain bushy-haired student was going around testing out her Cheering Charms. Of course, that was nothing wrong, but when the numbers of students she was testing on increased alarming, he thought that it might be good to find out what was going on.

Although he did find out what had happened in the end as Harry came to Hermione's rescue and claimed that everything was his idea, Professor Flitwick decided that since no harm came out of their 'mini-contest' he would just send them off with a warning. The trio were told not to do something like that in future unless they sought out his permission in advance.

Even though Hermione did not win that contest in the end, Harry still told Ron and her how they could transfigure the material of something. It was indeed an interesting day for Harry.

-- 0-o-0-o-0-o-0 --

At the staff table…

Two men smiled, their eyes twinkling with the joy they shared with the students, as they watched Harry, Hermione and Ron spread the laughter around the hall. Even though word had already reached everyone about the Harry versus Snape incident, they were more curious about what had the three of them laughing hilariously.

When those who knew the model student Hermione was had gotten into trouble for doing something as silly as casting Cheering Charms, they started laughing too. It was rare for someone like Hermione to be doing something so ridiculous.

As usual, most of the Slytherins felt themselves above the rest and chose to distance themselves from the laughter all around. Only the few Slytherins who did not believe in pureblood supremacy smiled.

-- 0-o-0-o-0-o-0 --

Elsewhere, in 12 Grimmauld Place…

"Damn it Regulus!" screamed a frustrated Sirius. "How the hell am I supposed to know why the Erodium spell works better than Scourgify when used in different context?" He grabbed the ends of his hair, trying to figure out what had made him do that piece of research paper in the first place.

"Relax Sirrie," said Regulus with a smile. "You know why you have to do this."

Upon hearing the nickname his brother had given him, Sirius shot a death glare at him, whose only response was to chuckle heartily. While Regulus had managed to get a job as a bartender in one of the bars in Hogsmeade due to his extraordinary Metamorphmagus ability to change his image at will, Sirius had no such luck. After a few recommendations from Dumbledore, Sirius managed to get a job opportunity somewhere, but the people there had wanted to test his abilities first before allowing him to join their ranks. Among their tests was a written component part.

"Do not test my patience, my little brother," Sirius clenched his teeth and growled.

"Haha, you'd do better shutting your mouth now and work on the paper. You have four days left, you know?"

Sirius heaved a sigh and said, "If only I can have your Metamorphmagus talents, then I won't be stuck here doing a bloody assignment for the past few days."

"Both of know how important that job is to you –" Regulus said before being interrupted.

"Yes, yes, I know! I won't want to stay in this house forever…" Sirius said, as frustration gripped him once again.

"Why don't you relax for a few minutes and spend your time writing a letter to Harry?" Regulus suggested with a smile. Anything that involved Harry was able to get Sirius' attention.

As expected, a large grin could soon be seen on Sirius' face.

"That's a great idea!" Sirius said excitedly as he grabbed a parchment and started scribbling away. He would tell Harry some of the cool spells he could use for pranking in Hogwarts, and perhaps the laughing charm he had discovered when he was in his fifth-year. Yes, he could tell him all that and more. Sirius frowned when he remembered that there were some things that he could not tell Harry.

Sirius let out a breath as he thought about the Oath of Secrecy he had taken. Yes, there were just some things that cannot be revealed yet.

-- 0-o-0-o-0-o-0 --

Author's Note: School's started… sigh. That will also mean slower updates, but I will still try to update at least 1-2 chapters a week. Any particular scenes you guys interested to see? I'd love to integrate ideas of my readers into the story! Feel free to email me or send me a message if you have any interesting ideas you believe is suitable. On a final note, please review the story:) It will certainly give me more motivation to write. Thanks!

Next Chapter: Qudditch! Harry could finally show off his excellent Qudditch skills! Yup, it's that among other interesting stuff. Also, the first reader to guess the job Dumbledore had recommended to Sirius can choose to name the broom Harry would be getting later on! He was riding a Nimbus 2001. Lol, after all, nobody said that the best broom in the wizarding world had to be the Firebolt, right? ;)