What Voldemort Left Behind

Chapter 7 - Potions

Harry was exhausted but forced his eyes to stay open, he was too worried about what would happen if he lost control, could he hurt others? Eventually Ginny persuaded or rather, forced him to take a dreamless sleep potion and promised to stay with him to make sure he couldn't hurt anyone. They had the potion on hand, as many people heavily involved in the war did.

A few minutes after Harry fell asleep Ginny sneaked back into the room after leaving Hermione in the spare room and pretending to sleep herself, nothing would keep her away from Harry, she spent the rest of the day and night confiding to her older brother all of her fears about how Harry was dealing with memories of the war.
The next morning Harry woke up, with a feeling Ginny had charmed the potion to work for longer than it naturally should. He attempted to get out of bed, wincing as his legs did not cooperate. Hermione conjured a crutch but Harry ignored her, pushing himself up. He tripped over his own feet and landed face down on the floor.
Ron sniggered and Ginny rolled her eyes at him "Harry, you idiot. Here." She handed him the crutch and he tentatively pulled himself up and took a few steps limping.
"I feel old," he groaned, "I can't walk around like this."
He pictured himself stumbling down the street as reporters crowded round him, he'd spend the next month trying to explain to people that he was fine and perfectly capable. Worse, they could insist that Voldemort was back, sending the public into a mild panic.
"No you can't," Hermione thought out loud, "And that's why we're going to Madam Pomfrey at Hogwarts to get you some healing potions."
Harry considered it for a second; on one hand he liked Hogwarts and it would give him a chance to see the kids, he couldn't understand how most parents just saw their children at Easter and Christmas, he found excuses to be at Hogwarts at least once a month. It had been a month and a half already and Easter wasn't for another four weeks. On the other hand though, he hated being treated like this because he could take care of himself perfectly well thanks. He knew that no matter what he said, he wouldn't have a say in this, Ginny had inherited her mother's stubbornness.

-

James walked into Potions to loud cheers.
"POTTER! POTTER! POTTER!"

"James, that was brilliant!!! I can't believe we had a game of Quidditch in History of Magic! How did you stop Binns from seeing?"

James grinned, "Simple. I used a Patented Daydream Charm (New and Improved Suitable For Ghosts), that my uncles sent me."
The class cheered louder, with someone else yelling, "I thought those were banned at Hogwarts? How did you get it past Filch?"

"Um I think you're forgetting that my uncles invented the charm, I think they can get it past a caretaker who can't even do magic." Half the class gasped with unconcealed awe and James's friend who had hung back in the last class with him to erase any leftover evidence spoke, "James... is everyone in your family famous?"

"Well yeah I think..... I know my dad's mum had Muggle relatives who were pretty normal though. But everyone else is pretty much known for something... My great grandfather invented like that potion girls use in their hair, and skele grow, but most of my family are famous cause of the war."

The class continued to stare at him in awe, no matter how long they knew him they still wanted to hear about his family, but James didn't mind. His brother hated it but James loved being a Potter, there were so many good things about having a famous family to flaunt around the school. He'd even worked out the whole autograph thing, he'd sold lots of his books and Hogwarts equipment to Hogwarts students because his parents had written his name on all of it, even though it said "James Potter", loads of Hogwarts students, even the 7th years, would buy first year textbooks that Harry Potter himself had written in, and James charmed each to have an authenticity mark to prevent counterfeits. Then he would owl order new copies of everything, and still had lots of spending money left over. In second year, his mum found out about his scheme and James swears he can still hear her shout ringing in his ears. It was odd that his family were famous because of a war. Most of his classmates at Hogwarts knew of at least one family member or friend of their family who died, but James knew that his was the most involved in it and he had heard that his father was never the same after it. His dad seemed fine and happy but James wasn't stupid, he heard the frequent nightmare induced shouts and screams through the house, and his occasional outbursts, though James was never present, he knew how to use an Extendable Ear.
James was brought back to his thoughts as Professor Haywood walked in and he panicked as she immediately looked in his direction. His class were shooting guilty glances from Haywood to James and James noticed that her expression was definitely not as happy as usual, it didn't look angry either but maybe she would take him outside before exploding. She was a particularly nice teacher but she never shied away from disciplining them if they deserved it, she was always fair. "James Potter, could I see you outside for a moment?"
The class whispered loudly, half was telling him "good luck" and "hope you only have one detention", the other half sniggered.
James followed his teacher outside apprehensively, he knew he must have got caught and prayed that teachers couldn't ban 5th year students from playing Quidditch.