As the students filed in, Harry put his hand on Neville's shoulder. "Neville," he said softly, "I'm sorry about your parents. I didn't know. And thank you for... for being a bigger man than Malfoy deserved." Neville shrugged but smiled a bit at the compliment. "Eh, he was just lucky that Jim's been more of a prat this week than him. He's been strutting around like Godric Gryffindor himself all week long, and most of us are sick of it."
"Not surprising. If you happen to know, how is Hermione Granger doing?"
"You could ask me yourself, you know," said an amused Hermione from behind his back.
"Ack! You startled me, Miss ... um, Hermione?" Harry said with uncharacteristic nervousness. He had not spoken to his first Hogwarts friend since before the Sorting, and he wasn't completely sure they were still on a first name basis given the rivalry between their houses. The smile she gave reassured him that they were. "Hello, Harry. I'm so sorry I haven't had a chance to come talk to you, but I had promised to sit with Parvati and Lavender in Herbology, and this is our only other class together. Incidentally, the books you recommended were all in the Library and extremely helpful, even if most Gryffindors aren't as well-mannered as Neville here." Neville blushed at the compliment. "If you're free and interested, Neville and I have a study session planned in the Library for the free period after lunch."
"Yeah, please come, Harry. Hermione's been a real life-saver!"
"Sure thing. Oh, forgive me. Hermione Granger, this is Theodore Nott of the House of Nott." "A pleasure to meet you, Miss Granger," Theo said tersely.
"Likewise, Mr. Nott."
By the time the four students made it into the classroom, the only seats left were near the front, and unfortunately, right next to Jim and Ron, though Ron, Hermione and Neville separated the two feuding brothers. As the children settled in, Professor Snape reentered from the back storeroom with a flourish and proceeded to give a speech alluding to the superiority of potion-making to the "foolish wand-waving" of other branches of magic. Then, he took roll, pausing to remark on "James Potter Jr., our new ... celebrity." Snape had also glared at Harry when reading his name out, but he made no comments. Instead, he suddenly barked "Potter!" before clarifying "James Potter! What would I get if I added powdered root of Asphodel to an infusion of Wormwood?"
Jim rolled his eyes contemptuously. "I don't know, sir. Obviously not shampoo, though."
The room went deathly quiet. Almost in unison, Harry, Neville and Hermione slowly turned their heads towards Jim Potter in complete amazement. Ron was grinning like a mad man, but the rest of the Gryffindors were horrified.
"Five points from Gryffindor for your cheek, Potter. Here's an easier one: Where would you find a bezoar?"
Harry saw Hermione flinch her arm and suppressed a smile. It was apparently taking all of her willpower not to raise her hand.
"Sunken within the greasy depths of your hair, perhaps?" Jim asked sarcastically.
"Another ten points from Gryffindor!"
"My father said you'd be like this bullying, snide, and cruel – and that you'd probably try to make an example out of me be asking a bunch of obscure trivia questions first thing. He also said to call you Snivellus."
"Twenty points from Gryffindor! Did he also mention I can do this all day? Here's another one: What's the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?"
"No idea. What's the difference between..." "JAMES POTTER JR. WILL YOU STOP ACTING LIKE AN IGNORANT BRAYING ASS!"
The entire class, including Snape, stared in astonishment at Hermione Granger, who had shot out of her chair and was literally shaking in rage at Jim's antics. After a few seconds of dead silence, Snape quietly said "Five points to Gryffindor." Hermione took a deep breath and slowly sat down.
Snape turned back to Jim and said, more quietly, "I've had quite enough of your idiocy for one day, Mr. Potter. I'll be discussing this matter with your Head of House ... and your mother. If you will have no respect for my authority, perhaps you will show some for theirs." Jim fumed at that but said nothing more. "However," said Snape silkily, "in this instance, we have an unusual opportunity to investigate the relative value of nature versus nurture.
Mr. Harry Potter! Can you answer even one of the questions I posed to your brother?"
Harry coughed. "I'm confident I can answer all three, sir. In reverse order, monkshead and wolfsbane are two of the many common names for the poisonous flowering plants of the aconite family. And if I had to find a bezoar somewhere around here, I would look for an emergency kit or, failing that, search the store rooms in the section containing animal byproduct supplies."
"Explain," ordered Snape. "For your less educated peers." He sneered at a sulking Jim Potter as he said that. "Well, a bezoar is a small stone formed of undigested plant matter and harvested from the stomach of a goat. The textbook said that it can counteract most poisons, although I don't believe it actually mentioned which poisons it would not cure."
"For future reference, Mr. Potter, it will not cure poisons derived from dragon's blood or basilisk venom, though thankfully those are rare. And my first question?"
"Er, yes sir. Adding powdered root of Asphodel to an infusion of Wormwood is the first step in the creation of a extremely powerful sleeping potion. I'm afraid I can't recall the exact name of it," he turned to look directly at his fuming brother, "but I do recall it was on the very first page of the assigned reading." And then he smiled. And it didn't hurt at all.
Curiously, Snape did not award Harry any points for his correct answers, even though he was notorious for favoring Slytherins in his Potions classes. The rest of the period passed relatively uneventfully, save for one hiccup. Snape did not allow Harry and Neville to partner as they had agreed. Instead, he placed Neville with Hermione and Harry with Theo. Neville was initially panicked at this change of plans until Harry reassured him that Hermione was probably better at potion-brewing than him anyway, and the four of them would be at adjacent cauldrons. There were a few near explosions, but Hermione kept Neville calm and on-task, and Harry was close enough to whisper some advice and words of encouragement. Eventually, Neville and Hermione produced an acceptable Boil-Curing Potion, as did Theo and Harry. Ron and Jim were less fortunate, their potion resulting in a thick black sludge that melted out the bottom of their cauldron. Finally, as everyone filed out, Harry told Hermione, Neville and Theo to head on without him as he had a personal matter to attend to.
When everyone else was gone, Snape looked up from his notes to see that Harry was still there.
"Class is over, Mr. Potter."
"I know sir. But I would like the opportunity to discuss some ... house matters with you. If right now isn't good, I would be happy to come back at some more convenient time. But I think it's important that we address with this immediately rather than just let things ... fester."
Snape snorted. "I was right. You are just as arrogant as your father and brother."
"Not at all. Before this summer, I literally didn't even know James Potter was alive or that I even had a brother. And I haven't learned anything since then to give me the slightest regard for him. I gather based on things he's said in our brief conversations that he bullied you when you were at school together. And I can see that he raised Jim to be an arrogant bully as well. But he didn't raise me. And I don't want to spend the next seven years feeling as though my head of house was an enemy just because he thinks he has grounds for hating my birth-father."
"I don't think anything of the sort, Potter!" spat the older man.
"I know I have reasons to hate him."
"With respect sir, you really don't," said Harry with an eerie calm.
"Explain yourself!" Snape snarled.
"Harry Hunting."
Snape blinked in confusion at the odd expression. "What?"