Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by J.K. Rowling. No money is being made.

This piece was written as a reserve for the positions of Keeper in the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition. The prompt was the following: Potions is one of the most important classes you can take at Hogwarts, so here we are paying homage to the lesson and to Professors Snape and Slughorn. Each position has a specific potion and it, or it's effects must be a major plotline in your story. KEEPER: Felix Felicis. However our wonderful Keeper appeared at the last minute and was able to submit. So this story wasn't needed. But since I had already written it I decided to post it either way. It just won't be for the competition.

I hope you enjoy it.

Lucky Last Dose

Everyone had been so shocked when they were born. Quadruplets were a rarity in the Wizarding World. Their parents didn't care about the rarity of their birth, they were simply happy to have them.

Of course there was a reason why quadruplets were a rarity, the magical core of the witch just couldn't sustain such a strain. It was hard enough for it to sustain more than one child, but four? The healers called their birth a miracle, especially when it became known that none of them had been born a squib.

Though it became obvious quite quickly that there was something wrong with the children. Well, maybe not wrong, but different.

As the youngest of the four brothers he was a little more perceptive, so he noticed it too as he grew older, how could he not? He had eyes, he could see how different they were. Besides, the adults around them weren't all that discreet, he heard their whispered condemnation.

His three older brothers were taller, stronger, more handsome. His brothers excelled in everything they did, while he just... didn't. His brothers were extraordinary, while he was simply ordinary.

Still, he was happy. His parents and brothers never mentioned it, never even alluded to it. His parents treated him with just as much love as they did his brothers. His brothers never left him out of whatever they did, always including him, always making time for him.

So, as far as he was concerned, his life was pretty good. He was happy, and in his mind that was all that mattered.

Of course, life was never that easy.

When the time came for them to go to Hogwarts he had been overjoyed. His joy quickly came crashing down when he got there, though. His brothers, and he were all sorted into different houses. Four houses for four brothers.

It was the very first time that he had been separated from his older brothers. At first he didn't let it bother him, but that was before he realized just how cruel children truly were.

The Fourth disgrace they would call him. They wondered how he could ever be related to his brothers. How he could be so bad at magic, when his brothers excelled.

Slowly, almost without him noticing, he melted into the shadows. He didn't talk with his fellow students, didn't spend time with them. His days consisted of going to his classes, and back to his dorm. His brothers tried to find time to be with him, but they were spreading their wings. They were making new friends, learning magic, they were striving; and he wouldn't be the thing that held them back.

Before he knew it his first year at Hogwarts had gone by, and they went back home. He smiled and laughed with his brothers; telling his parents that Hogwarts was great, that he couldn't wait to go back.

When his parents smiled at him, he knew that it was the right thing to do. It may be a small lie, but at least his parents were happy. His brothers had been so busy during the year that they hadn't notice anything wrong, so they couldn't contradict it.

Years passed, and life continued more or less the same for him. The only true difference was that his brothers seemed to be so caught up in their own lives that they didn't have time for him at school. They didn't do it on purpose, he knew that; they tried their best to spend as much time together as they could. But with O. first, and then preparing for N.E. things were just too hectic. So, as his brothers become even more busy, he disappeared even more from the daily life of the Hogwarts students.

He became the forgotten quadruplet, many of the students believing that his brothers were triplets. His existence had been practically erased from their memories. It was bound to happen, he knew, but it didn't mean that it hurt any less.

He didn't resent his brothers, but he wished, if only once, to be the one that people took notice of. He wasn't asking for much, just a little bit of attention, a sliver of recognition.

Late at night, when he was in his bed while his dorm-mates once more didn't invite him to participate in whatever new thing they were up to, he thought that his brothers had been the ones born with all the luck. That there simply was nothing left for him. He was sure that if he had just the tiniest bit of luck then things would have been different.

It was that misery induced thought that led him to make the decision he did. He may not excel in most magical fields like his brothers, but he was quite good at one thing: Potions.

He understood the delicate art of potion making like nothing else. It was one of the few things that made sense to him. He could brew most potions with his eyes closed, and an arm tied behind his back. Not that anyone noticed it, of course.

So when he ran across the name in an old potion book it had sparked an idea.

He was certain that with just a tiny bit of luck he could change his life. The little bit of luck that his brothers had been born with, but he hadn't.

It wasn't cheating, he told himself, it was just evening out the odds.

It took a while, but he was able to do it. He had to admit that it was one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen. Liquid gold. Truly a wondrous creation.

He hesitated, just for a fraction of a second, before he took it. But take it he did.

For the following hours, everything was perfect. It didn't matter what it was, if he wanted to do it he was able too. His professors praised him for the first time he could remember, his House mates congratulated him on a successful spell casting; for the first time since he stepped foot in Hogwarts he was noticed.

It was an intoxicating feeling. Deeply addictive. And he was lost to it.

He knew the dangers, of course, but for someone who had been starving for just a shred of attention it was too much of a temptation.

For the first time he could remember he was more than the invisible fourth quadruplet. For the first time people actually saw him, and that was worth any consequences that he may face.

As time passed, first one week, then two, his brothers remarked on his behavior. How he seemed more outgoing, more reckless. They worried, but he assured them that everything was alright. That he had simply come out of his shell. His second oldest brother laughed, throwing an arm around his shoulders; remarking that it was about time. Only the oldest out of the four of them seemed slightly skeptical, but even he conceded eventually.

So he continued, and he basked in the attention he was getting.

Then one day it all caught up to him. He was so sure he could do it, of course he had been wrong, so very wrong.

One moment he was free-falling, then the next he wasn't.

It had happened so fast that he hadn't even realized what had happened until after the fact. Looking back he wasn't that surprised that it had happened. After all, no amount of luck can stop Death, especially not when he was so recklessly courting it.

He knew he should go, something in his very soul was telling him that it was time to go; but he couldn't. He felt trapped. He felt as if there was something that he had to do, or see, or know. He wasn't quite sure. He just knew that he couldn't go, not quite yet.

So he remained.

He lurked about, being careful not to be seen. He followed his brothers, guilt consuming him when he saw how shattered they seemed. It took years for them to pull themselves together, it was agonizing to see in just how much pain they were. But he endured, and so did they.

He stayed long enough to see his first nephew be born, and when his oldest brother welcomed the child into the family, the child with his name, he felt free.

He followed his soul's pull, and let go.

While he glanced at his family for one last time he couldn't help but think back on that last dose he had taken. It truly had been his luckiest dose; with that one dose he had been able to finally realize that he hadn't been invisible at all, that he had been noticed, and loved all along.