Turning Time (A Harry Potter Fanfic)

The Hate Potion, pt. 3

Lily thought, when she recovered, that Severus would be mad at the Marauders, and not upset with her. She was left with a less than vivid memory of what happened. Her guilt about what she’d said temporarily prevented her from considering the truth behind her words. 

“’Morning, Sev.” Lily studied his face, which appeared worn and tempered beyond thirteen years old. 

“Good morning.” 

“I’m sorry about whatever I said. If James shows his face at breakfast, I’ll hex him. You know what? We should do something to them. Give ‘em a bit of their own medicine. Sev, where are you going?”

“I’m not hungry.”

Lily looked to Harry, confusion clear. Raven sighed. “Lily, what you said really hurt him. Do you remember anything?” 

“I…” Lily thought for a moment, brow furrowing. “Yeah, I do. But he knew I had been cursed, or, what’d Remus say they used? A hate potion?”

Raven nodded. “They did use a hate potion, but I don’t think it’s that simple. Hate potions are different from Love Potions. A Love Potion blurs reality; it creates a dreamy sort of obsession. Hate potions, if they can, take what the person already feels. They make everything sharper. You know I’m bad at potions, but I remember Severus telling me because—well, because I wanted to make one.”

Lily put her head in her hands. “It was horrible. I felt as though I’d suffer if I didn’t tell him off. Like I’d waited my whole life to do so. “Don’t tell him I said this, but I understand what I said. It was awful, I know. But, he is mean to people.” 

So Lily is already harboring bad feelings for Severus, Harry thought. Maybe, the sooner Severus lost Lily, the sooner he could get her back.

The next day, James approached Harry, perhaps to apologize. Then, his true objective became clear; “If you help me with Lily, I promise to leave Severus alone for the rest of the year.” 

“This really isn’t a good time, James.” Unless the day after an incident, with the victim sitting ten feet away, was a good time. 

“Okay, all of us will leave him alone. And you can stop helping me if any of us mess up.”

“Well, that’s a start, because the first thing you could do to get Lily to like you is to not bully people.” 

“Wait, hang on, was that a yes?” 

As much as Harry didn’t want to agree, he didn’t believe there was another way they could connect. A week later, they met to discuss Lily.

James pulled out a piece of parchment. “Okay, I made a list of the top fifteen—no, sixteen—annoying gits who aren’t in Slytherin. There’s one or two people not on the list that we’ve pranked in the past year.”

“One or two people?”

“Hey, we have to compromise. I need to keep a couple—”

“A couple, as in two?”

“…a couple kids around in case I’m stressed and require a creative outlet.” 

It was weird, talking to his dad like this. The lure of his father’s acceptance was too great to refuse. If Harry made James a better person in the process, what was the harm? 

A day later, James returned to Harry with a new request. “I need you to ask Lily what she doesn’t like about me.”

“Do you really want to know?” 

“I’m prepared.” 

Harry waited until dinner. Things were strained between the friends. Maybe the mutual dislike of James would help unite them.