Severus Snape didn't bother trying to calm the students down as he stared at the large cauldron. He was looking right at it and it was right in front of him, and yet, his mind refused to accept that it was real. The large cauldron that he normally used was old and had seen better days. He had meant to buy a replacement for quite some time and never got around to it. He always seemed to be too busy with work and the potion requests from the headmaster, the other teachers, and the hospital wing.

Now he had been given a large solid gold cauldron.

He had tried to be fair to the Potter boy; but, he was so arrogant and obnoxious that it was much too difficult to ignore it. Even the normal things he did always gained attention. Creating a privacy curtain in class to cut himself off from the rest of the class, as if he was better than everyone else, had been the last straw. He needed to discipline some sense... some common sense... into the boy before he got too out of hand.

And now this happened.

Snape's eyes could see the boy as he stood there, a smug grin on his face, while the other students, even his friends, shouted and yelled in shock and surprise. His friends. He thought. His friends with solid gold cauldrons.

He lifted his eyes from the glittering gold of his 'Christmas present' that was two months early, and realized that Harry was staring at him.

He's staring at me. Snape thought. He's... wait, he knows. His eyes widened at the realization that the boy knew he had been using Legilimens on him to fuss out his secrets. Secrets that had been previously elusive, because he always diverted his gaze and thought about something else. He was not diverting his gaze this time and Snape could easily see Harry receiving the shrunken cauldron order in secret.

He planned to give this to me before, just not like this. Snape thought in surprise and lost his concentration as his hard won composure crumbled a little. Even in front of the Dark Lord, he had never lost focus or let his emotions show. It was a death sentence if he suspected that you weren't genuine in your devotion to him.

Now here he was, in front of an eleven year old boy that had a horrible upbringing, and he was losing that battle. He knew that Harry was verbally abused by his family, even more than he was as a child, and yet none of that showed in Harry's behavior. Or so he believed. When he tried to use Legilimens again, specifically searching for anything like that, he saw the awkward interactions with people in authority, especially Professor McGonagall, and Snape finally understood.

Snape knew that Harry saw in him a version of his uncle and McGonagall was a version of his aunt. He acted accordingly when confronted by people that verbally abuse him, now that he was away from that constant oppressive atmosphere at home. The thing was, Harry would encounter that same atmosphere whenever he came into conflict with the teachers. They weren't family, so he could act out and respond like he wouldn't at home.

It was then that Snape saw how Harry had been acting at home the last while during the summer before coming to school. He had pretty much ignored his aunt and uncle. He still cooked the meals and cleaned the house, like a diligent house elf would, then he would disappear from sight and do whatever he wanted. Studying magic, practising in secret and at night. So many long nights reading and re-reading, copying spells and erasing them, and copying them again. Over and over.

He's still doing that. Snape thought in surprise as he saw Harry in his bed and doing the same thing. At the library. In the common room. In an empty classroom. Alone. With the bushy haired girl. With both her and the bumbling Longbottom. Then he saw Harry teaching the other two. He blinked his eyes and lost his concentration again as his eyes dropped to the large gold cauldron.

He's not keeping the knowledge to himself. Snape thought and closed his eyes. He's not being greedy and he should be. He should be secretive, and deceptive, and... everything that a proper Slytherin should be. That was the moment the potions professor understood. He understood it all. Harry was supposed to be in Slytherin!

It had been an underlying current in nearly all of the things Snape saw in the boy. That was why Harry's actions had always seemed a little wrong somehow. The professor was trying to slip everything Harry did into the Griffindor ideals and they just didn't fit. At all. Now he knew why. He wasn't like his father, who was a real Griffindor and an arrogant prick.

No, Harry was a Slytherin wearing Griffindor colors. He was a snake that was wearing a false skin to hide in plain sight. Snape's thoughts went right to Harry's reaction to Quirrell's death and the memories of the boy's reaction to it from the points of view of the witnesses. He had been calm, composed, and unfazed. With the realization that Harry was actually a Slytherin, it made sense. All proper Slytherins would stay calm in the sight of adversity, knowing that they were always watched and judged.

Why didn't I see it before? Snape asked himself and took several deep breaths to regain his composure. He needed to get the unruly class under control before things got too out of hand. He had been blinded by Dumbledore's words about the boy's nature before and he couldn't grasp why he wouldn't have taken everything he had learned about Harry and made his own conclusions instead. It was very... un-Slytherin-like of him.

Snape opened his eyes and saw, to his surprise, the class was almost back to normal. The Slytherins were sulking on their side of the room and the Griffindors were chatting under their breath with each other. He could clearly see the jealousy from the students that Harry hadn't given gold cauldrons to, especially all of the Slytherins and one of the Griffindor boys, Seamus Finnegan. He almost looked angry, in fact.

“That is enough.” Snape said and all chatter died as they all looked at him. “Mister Potter. A word. In private.”

Harry walked over to him and deployed his wand, then they were suddenly surrounded in a privacy curtain and silence was cast.

“You've become quite adept at those spells.” Snape observed.

“I cast them all the time.” Harry said.

Snape got the distinct feeling that Harry was hiding his skills. “You can cast them silently, can't you?” He asked and Harry nodded. “For how long?” He asked, even though he knew from Legilimens.

“Since the first week of learning magic.” Harry said. “If you didn't see it, it was Healer Ela that showed me how important silence was.” He admitted. “I had to be quiet at home, so I cast silence on myself to practice.”

“Which let you learn to internalize the incantation.”

“I don't even have to think about the words after a while.” Harry said and swiped his wand in a circle and made a bowl appear, then used the water charm to fill it with water and then vanished both without a single word spoken. What amazed Snape was that the boy was right. He had barely formed the concepts into his mind and had cast the spells as if it was as natural as breathing.

“Why did you buy me a cauldron?” Snape asked.

“I don't know.” Harry said, truthfully. “I just felt like I should. I was ordering the small ones and remembered seeing that old one you have on the shelf behind your desk.” He shrugged. “I hadn't planned on it being a Christmas present, though. I just made that up at the last second.”

Snape saw it all in his head, exactly like that. The only difference was, they were normal cauldrons that he had ordered and not solid gold ones. “Mister Potter, I am... aware... of some of the plans that the Headmaster has within the school...”

“If you mean the philosopher's stone, I had it, used it, and gave it back to Nicolas.” Harry interrupted and his thoughts immediately became muddled with reading books on famous stones.

“You need more work to fight off Legilimens.” Snape said as he finally got a glimpse of Nicolas Flamel talking to Harry in his dorm room.

“I haven't had time to meditate properly.” Harry shrugged again. “I'm not too busy this weekend after I visit Amelia, so I'll be practising it tomorrow.”

“So, that's where you've been sneaking off to.” Snape said.

“I don't have to sneak. I walk out of the castle and meet her down at the gates.” Harry said. “I have permission.”

“You would go even if you didn't.” Snape said, without making it a question.

“Wouldn't you?” Harry asked.

Snape wasn't sure if he should answer that, so he stayed silent.

“Did you know that a gold cauldron makes better potions and reduces brew times?” Harry asked. “I didn't know that until Ron told me.”

“I am tempted to tell you that you can't use them for just that reason.” Snape said. “Potion brewing is an exact science that must be followed to produce the best results.”

Harry didn't say anything and just filled his mind with all the mangled ingredients that Snape had given everyone.

Snape was angered for a moment at having that thrown in his face, then he sighed. “I will allow a thirty minute break for everyone to... adjust their ingredients.” He said, not wanting to admit that he had made a mistake that was against his own penchant for strict potion brewing. “We will be staying that much longer after class.”

“What about the brewing times?” Harry asked. “Can my friends and I follow your instructions, even with a gold cauldron to work in?”

Snape wanted to say no, he really did.

“I gave my normal cauldron to Nicolas.” Harry said.

Snape sighed. “I will provide you... and your friends... the adjusted times. After that, I will only give you the proper formulas and you will have to work them out for yourselves.”

Harry couldn't stop the smile from growing on his face, because he was going to learn more magic secrets.

He is actually happy to do it for himself. Snape thought, then he remembered that he was looking at a Slytherin wearing Griffindor colors. Yes, I suppose that is fitting. He waved his wand at the privacy curtain and it disappeared. “Go back to your table, Mister Potter.”

“Yes, professor.” Harry said, a bit more respectfully than he had previously.

Snape walked back to his desk and turned to face the class. “After a brief discussion, and some admonishment that it will mean more work for the affected students, I have decided that they may keep their gold cauldrons.”

“WHAT?!?” Draco Malfoy yelled. “That's not fair! Why does HE get to...”

“Quiiiiet.” Snape drawled and Malfoy closed his mouth on his hot retort. “As I stated, it will be more work, because the brewing times will be different. Most of the basic potions won't be much different, so those can be made normally. Today's is quite complicated and I will provide the proper time changes...”

“That's a relief!” Ron said.

“...for this time only.” Snape finished.

“Oh.” Ron said in a defeated tone and a few people chuckled.

“I will also grant you thirty minutes to make the best of the ingredients you already have.” Snape said and a lot of the students were happy to hear that. “You will be staying that much longer after class.”

A collective groan came from the students and Snape smiled. He always liked hearing that sound from them.

“You may begin.” Snape said and turned away from the class to levitate the old cauldron off of the shelf behind his desk and shoved it into a less used corner cabinet. He turned back and levitated the large solid gold cauldron from beside Harry's trunk and placed it on the shelf. It was the only glittering thing on any of his shelves and stood out, as if nothing else was as important.

Snape had completely ignored Harry going to his friends to help them duplicate their ingredients. For some reason, he wanted to see if they really would produce an adequate potion with their new cauldrons, even though he normally didn't care much about their results. He had been truthful in his words to Harry before. As long as a student did the work and tried, he would give them a passing grade. He wouldn't go out of his way to help them, since that was a waste of time for most of them. Most.

Sometimes, he would find one or two students that would prove to be worth the effort. Snape glanced at Harry and in the back of his mind, he remembered seeing one particular memory of Harry Potter as he complained that he really liked making potions and wasn't getting a fair chance from the professor to prove it.

Now's your chance, Mister Potter. An actual fair chance. Snape thought and walked over to the Slytherin side of the room and started to help them recover their ingredients, just like Harry was doing for the Griffindors. He had already sorted out his friends and their friends, and was now helping Dean and Seamus, despite the angry face on the latter.