#I’d agree and say this is exactly why James AND LILY made SIRIUS the godfather

[v-a-l]

The worst thing about Wolfstar is that Remus’ mediocrity and negligence is blamed on Sirius to facilitate a false equivalence that hinges entirely on Remus having Sirius’ personality and Sirius having no personality.

[zyhkoo]

little spark ☆ ー REGULUS BLACK X READER. chapter 1

fluff, angst, regulus reunites with you, friends to lovers, co-parents

synopsis: with james and lily dead and sirius’s false conviction. regulus had escaped the death eaters with harry in his arms. his last resort was go to you, his former best friend and james’s sister. mlist

A/N: hi everyone! I hope you liked this :) feel free to ask to be in a taglist.

It was a full moon tonight, Regulus was dragged by you to watch the night sky. James had tricked you into thinking that there was a meteor shower tonight, Regulus convinced you so hard that there wasn’t going to be one today but you were just so convinced that there was one.

Regulus looked at you, the moonlight reflected your skin and your hands held the railings. The cold wind blew in your (length) hair and you had your Gryffindor scarf wrapped around your neck. You were focused on the beautiful starry sky, waiting for the meteor shower that was probably not going to happen.

“This is stupid.” Regulus muttered behind you, you looked back with a smile. “Well if James was lying, we could do some star gazing.” Regulus walked towards you, he laid his arms against the railings.

“What do you plan for the future?” he asked.

The future, Regulus was not sure if he was prepared for anything. After graduating, then what? Will he continue to stay with his parents? Or follow his own path? Well, he doesn’t even know what he wanted. So what was the point?

Meanwhile you were tough and independent, you were everything Regulus wanted to be. You placed your cheek to your palm and faced him “Me? I want to be a performer.” you answered his question. Regulus was quite puzzled “..A performer?” you answered innocently “Yeah!” you placed your hands back in the railings.

Regulus paused for a moment, furrowing his gaze. “Well, if you had enough money to support you till you die. What are you going to do?” Regulus asked once again, but your answer remained the same “I’d still be a performer.”

He was baffled by her response “So all that freedom and you choose to perform for what? Is it your love for magic? Or are you trying to gain more recognition?” he questioned. You hummed “You can say that.” he noticed the change of your tone and cleared his throat.

“Sorry.” he murmured, you looked back at him with a soft expression. “It”s okay.” you replied. “I want to perform because, the look of happiness in someone’s face makes me feel so warm.

Regulus looked back at the night sky “If that’s what you wish then, why don’t you make yourself feel loved?” Regulus questioned.

“What about your happiness?”

You paused to think for a moment, “You have a point, you cant love someone if you cant love yourself.” Regulus nodded “Exactly.” He agreed. “It’s very easy to love others, but hard to love yourself.” He added with a sigh.

“Why do you ask this?” you asked. He was silent for a moment. He did not like talking about himself; but for some reason you made him say things he did not want to say.

“I do not find it simple loving myself. I am aware of my flaws and that does not make this process simple.” Regulus admitted quietly. “Maybe soon you will accept yourself. In my eyes you have great qualities.” you reassured, staring back at the beautiful sky. Regulus looked at you, a small tint of pink formed on his cheeks. He didn’t answer, why do you care anyway? This could be just some mindless baffling, but yet.. he can’t help but smile softly at your compliment.

“Reg! Look!” his smile disappeared and his jaw almost dropped down the floor. An actual meteor shower displayed at the night sky. “See, I told you.” you playfully elbowed his arm, he softly sighed “Yeah, yeah, you’re right.” he smiled.

That was in the past, this was the present. Three years have passed after Regulus graduated and it had not been so well. James and Lily has passed, leaving their son Harry to be orphaned. The godfather, Sirius convicted wrongly of their murder and as well as many others.

Though Sirius was the godfather, he was not the one chosen to raise Harry. Instead they chose Petunia because no one was able to find Y/N’s location. But Petunia had only abandoned the boy, leaving him in the orphanage.

Before Sirius was convicted, he asked one request from Regulus. To take Harry and raise him, Regulus had to choose between keeping his loyalty to the death eaters or take care of Harry.

Regulus chose to take care of Harry.

Regulus escaped the Death Eaters and fled to find Harry. At night, Regulus tracked down the orphanage Harry was in then secretly took him away from the muggles then attempted to find.. you.

He couldn’t just raise the boy on his own, it was a lot of responsibility. And since he was wanted by the death eaters, his head was practically on the line. You said that you wanted to leave your past in Hogwarts behind and start a new life, the reason for this was because you thought living amongst muggles would be a better life because you felt so isolated.

You did not told a single soul where you were going to settle from now on, but Regulus.

It was a cold and stormy night, Regulus was soaked. Regulus laid his head down to protect Harry from the rain. Before he left, Regulus tried to find letters that hinted on where you lived. It was a little difficult to navigate where you lived, but eventually he found a street you described.

Regulus opened the gate in your backyard, and rang your doorbell. “We are here.” Regulus whispered to the sleeping infant on his arms “We just.. have to wait.”

Regulus heard the door opened, he looked up to see you. You had a night gown with a jacket to warm you, you now had (length) hair and you grew a little taller. But your beautiful face never changed.

“Regulus?” your face was a mix of shock and fondness. “Y/N.” Regulus replied “I need help..” he pleaded.

His hands moved the cloth covering Harry’s face to show you what he was carrying. Your eyes widened, you moved closer to take a good look at him. You stammered a bit “What, Reg? Why do you have a baby with you? Is this yours?”

Regulus inhaled before he spoke, his shoulders dropping ever so slightly. He was tired, that much was evident. The bags under his eyes were dark and heavy, as if he hadn’t had a proper nights sleep in weeks. Raising an infant was no easy feat, and it was one Regulus had never been equipped to face.

"What makes you think it’s mine?” Regulus told you, he gestured for you to take the baby in his arms and you gladly accepted. You take a good look at him, his face looked familiar..

“Who’s baby is this Regulus?” you asked.

"That.." Regulus began, "That’s Harry." He murmured.

He hoped you wouldn’t ask how Harry arrived in his care. At the same time he was aching to tell you. But how could he? How could he tell you that the child’s parents were dead? James and Lily’s lives were over.

Your stomach dropped “What? Where's James and Lily?” you questioned. Regulus closed his eyes and inhaled through his nose, his shoulders falling as a heavy sigh left his lips.

"James and Lily are dead." He revealed quietly, opening his eyes to look up at you once more. His expression was laced with sorrow, an emotion you hadn’t thought possible from the man standing before you.

"I wasn’t going to tell you. But I can’t lie to you, N/N."

Your eyes clouded with pain. “How.. why” you looked at the small baby in your arms. And there it was. Regulus feared this question. He dreaded it more than anything.

"Voldemort," Regulus answered, "He’s the reason. He found out about a prophecy about a child that could end the war. He believed that child was Harry but, as you know James and Lily had just had their baby. He suspected it was Harry but.. there was no actual way of knowing for sure."

His lips pursed, his expression growing dark as he went on.

This was so much for you to take in, you did not want to cry. Not in this moment, you needed to be tough. “I’m sorry, I.. I don’t know how to take this in.” you apologized "Don’t say sorry." Regulus implored, tilting his head ever so slightly as he looked at you, "You don’t have to stay strong, Y/N. If you want to cry, then cry."

Regulus was never one to encourage emotional vulnerability, but with everything that had occurred? He’d say you had a good reason to. You forgot you were leaving Regulus freezing outside your doorstep.

“Merlin, I’m sorry. I was getting distracted, why won’t you come inside?”

Regulus nodded, "Or course, thank you.." He answered with a small smile, "I haven’t gotten much sleep lately. A cup of tea and good conversation would be nice." you returned a smile “Nice to see you again, Reggie. I missed my best friend.”

Regulus’ eyes widened a fraction as he was addressed by that nickname. He hadn’t been called that in a long while. But he couldn’t say he didn’t like it. Not when it came from you, anyway.

"It’s nice to be back, N/N." He responded with a faint smile of his own.

[mumufic]

My ranty Author Notes to address questions on my Three Sisters fic

So, I feel like I should put up some notes on a number of recurring questions I get in the comments, for those who don’t really read my responses (because I do provide some detailed explanations for why certain things are happening in my fic, but I get it if sloughing through comments for insight isn’t your thing; it isn’t mine either, hence the A/N.)

Why is Lily so stupid / obtuse / blind about Snape? Let’s level-set a couple of things: A) Lily is about as Gryffindor as they come, and some of the more common character flaws of people who belong to that house is that they rather tend to think a lot less of situations before diving in. That’s the case for Lily in this fic. Snape was her first magical friend that she’d ever met. She cherishes that friendship because she knows it’s returned even though she might not agree with a lot of Snape’s beliefs, not to mention Snape was the first person who told her that all the strange things that have been happening to her was the result of her being magical. For a child feeling the otherness of her abilities so keenly around her perfectly normal, muggle working class family, that is a huge thing. For the first time, Lily thought she’d met someone who understood her and the things she could do, and for that to have happened to her as a child, the person who validates that part of her being is going to play a very central role in her life until she reaches a breaking point. In the books, that breaking point was when Snape’s bigotry included her. For the longest time, he’d always excluded her from his hateful rhetoric, and there’s passages in the books that support that. B) Lily is a kid. She’s 11, and she probably met Snape at a much younger age (I’m guessing around 8 or 9) Kids who value their friends can sometimes be stupidly loyal to them even when their friends are behaving badly. Why do you think peer pressure is such a huge thing among young people? It’s partly because they value the person who is their friend to the point of being foolhardy over said friend’s bad actions. C) A lot of Snape’s bigotry goes over Lily’s head, because she’s never been taught to find differences between magical and non-magical people. Her parents obviously love her and Petunia the same and for her, that means they’re no different. She doesn’t understand the superiority Snape feels over Petunia, and because she doesn’t understand it, and also because she’s just a stupid kid who doesn’t really know better or even understands the slurs that come out of Snape’s mouth, she doesn’t think too much of it. Notice that Lily actually does call him out when he’s being mean to Petunia in ways that she can understand, when Snape tells Petunia that he had no place being in Platform 9 3/4 for example. But then Snape follows it up with reasoning that seems to be perfectly sound - Platform 9 3/4 is a magical location; it might not be the best place for Petunia to be. As for the spoon encounter, Lily had some basic understanding of accidental magic, thanks to Holly, and mostly chocked up that unfortunate event to Snape’s accidental magic rearing up from Petunia’s mean-spirited taunting. Petunia isn’t innocent in that scene, if you go back to it and think critically on it, look at it in the eyes of a normal rational adult. She’s just presented as being sympathetic because the narration is from Holly’s POV, and Holly likes this Petunia and hates Snape absolutely. Lastly, pretty much everything I have on Snape during the Summer with the Evanses part of this story have a basis in canon. He was hateful to Petunia, but Lily constantly made excuses for him, thinking that he’s just mean in general because of his difficult family life. The same goes when they get to Hogwarts. Snape spouts the same bigoted things the Slytherin Purebloods say, and Lily makes excuses for him. That’s canon. Lily made excuses for Snape’s behavior to her sister and her friends (especially Mary, who was canonically muggleborn) until she found she couldn’t anymore because his hatefulness suddenly spilled over to include her. Does that make Lily stupid? Probably, yes. Does it make her human? Fucking hell yes, and anyone who thinks that they won’t behave that way have clearly never figured out conflicted love-hate relationships with toxic people, so good for you, but these things happen to others, and it shouldn’t be surprising. There’s a basis for this in reality, and there’s a basis for Lily’s blind loyalty to Snape in canon.  And barring all of that if you don’t agree, it’s my fic, and I choose to write her this way. If that makes her a stupid character and you think I’m assassinating Lily’s characterization from canon, your interpretation is valid, but so is my right to write what I want as long as I’m not making a cent off of this. Thanks.

Why is Sirius spouting the bigotry he vehemently disavowed in OoTP? And why did he call Holly a mudblood? I don’t know about you, but I think Sirius had to have been an extremely sheltered child, growing up in a magical house surrounded on all sides by a muggle neighborhood. I think he started questioning why he wasn’t allowed to play with other children whom he could probably see from his bedroom window, but he didn’t actually know how and why he needed to reason it out with his parents until he met people who taught him how to articulate the feelings he had over his parents’ bigotry against muggles and muggleborns. As for why he called Holly a mudblood, again, has a lot to do with the normalization of hate in the household he grew up in. Walburga and Orion Black taught their children to hate anything and anyone that didn’t subscribe to the same Pureblood rhetoric as they did. And since Sirius thought Holly lived with the Evanses, who were muggle, and not with the Potters who were Purebloods, he didn’t see a distinction for her blood status from Mary or Lily, who were actually muggleborn. Hell, I don’t even think Sirius understood blood status all that well at all as an 11-year-old. He was just repeating shit he heard his parents say because he didn’t know any better. I’m not going to tell you how to interpret your reading of my fic, but generally, I wouldn’t ascribe knowledge that I know of characters and events to the characters within the story, because they can’t be expected to know and understand what I know and understand, especially in a fic written in such a limited POV, and things like Holly’s blood status, would not be known to Sirius because Holly had never actually told James or him about her parents, other than that they were Potters. And while you can make a case for the fact that Holly told Sirius and Regulus in Chapter 7 that she’s not muggleborn, I still stand by the idea that the Black exclusionist ideas that Walburga and Orion taught their children would still have Sirius identifying her as one simply because of where he thinks she grew up in.

Why is Holly so stupidly letting so many details from her timeline out to her friends? I think we should all cut Holly some slack for spilling so many details about her life to Lily and Petunia. She’s an orphan who’ finally met the girl who would be her mother. She can’t shut up about her life because OMG my MUM! I finally got to meet her! On top of that, up until the point where Holly met Fleamont Potter, the last time Holly had been warned about meddling with time had been when she was in third year, and it was rushed and the warning hadn’t even been made to her; it had been McGonagall warning Hermione and Hermione repeating the same information to her. So the meddling about time? Holly didn’t exactly give a shit. Lastly, we have so many references in canon of Harry Potter being an exceptionally impulsive little blockhead to the point where he constantly gets himself into trouble. Running after the Philosopher’s Stone in PS, continuing on to fight the basilisk and look for Ginny while Ron tries to get help in CoS, haring off to the Ministry in OoTP, Sectumsempra in HBP, uttering Voldemort’s name and getting them caught by Snatchers in DH… the list is actually pretty damn long. So why should it not be a character flaw for Holly in this fic to be stupidly impulsive in the information she gives out to a person she thinks is her mother, one she’s loved and idolized and put on a pedestal all her life? Why shouldn’t she spout similarly incriminating information to a boy she knows would be her godfather, whom she trusted and loved up until he got killed? It’s a character flaw, yes, and I’m not here to write perfect characters, because perfect characters who only do the right and intelligent thing make for a dry, boring read. If you weren’t about annoying flaws like this, then you’re welcome to click off my fic and find some other story where Harry is the perfect godsent angel come to save us all. That’s not what this story is about.

Why aren’t you patching up any of these inconsistencies that multiple people have already pointed out? Some of them, because that is how I want to write the characters in my story. Some of them, because there will be points in the future where these things are addressed and resolved. And yet still some of them because I don’t want to. Yes, even the stupid ones that really don’t make sense and should probably be changed. I don’t want to go back and change them. That’s how I am as a fic writer, and last I checked, this is still my fanfic.

Want to have a say in how I’m planning the characterization and plotting out? I’m still looking for a beta who I’d like to be able to help me with things like plot inconsistencies, annoying characterization (ok, shut up about Lily already. I didn’t make her this stupid; JKR did when she wrote Lily insisting on her friendship with Snape all the way up to fifth year!), and just generally talk about how and where I intend for the story to go.

If you’d like to beta for me, hit me up on my main Tumblr, @mumuinc  or DM me on Discord; my profile is mumuinc#7662.

[mfingenius]

Halo! Can you please write fic where like a random character is new to the school and they befriend Draco and are like aww, isn't he the most innocent person ever. And then they find out that this literal angel is dating this other dude with a really bad reputation which is of course Harry. And then D keeps trying to introduce them but the newbie is making up excuses becuz hello, scary person alert. Until one day they do end up meeting each other and their reactions could be up to you. Thanks!

“And that’s the music room.” Draco says, shifting from foot to foot nervously. 

Hermione considers herself to be kind looking - not harmless, by far, but certainly not intimidating - but Draco Malfoy, the Honor Student who’s showing her around, has been anxious the entire tour.

“It’s really nice.” She says, and sees Draco smile, a little relieved. He’s been anxious the entire time they’ve been together, and she gets the feeling that he was forced to do this rather than volunteered for it. “How long have you been here?”

“Three years.” Draco says. He’s wearing a jade jumper with a silver H on it, three sizes too big on him. Hermione’s curious as to why, but she doesn’t think she can ask yet. 

“What’s your favorite place here?” She asks. Honestly, the school is so big that she’s already half lost - and most of the places she’s seen are too crowded for her taste. She wants something else; a library, or maybe a quiet spot in the gardens where she can read. If her first impression of Draco - he’d arrived at the Headmistress’s office with his clothes and hair ruffled and carrying four heavy books - is right at all, she thinks he’ll know where she can find peace and quiet.

“The library.” Draco says immediately. He chews on his lower lip as he rebalances the books on his arm with a frustrated huff. “I’ll show you.”

“Thank you,” Hermione says. “I hear the classes here are interesting. Do you enjoy them?”

That had been the main reason for her transfer. Hogwarts is a prep school for either incredibly smart people - with scholarships - or incredibly rich ones. She’s almost entirely sure Draco’s the former, just like her. 

“I like most of them.” Draco says as they walk into the library. He says hello to the librarian and then leads to Hermione to the back of it, around a corner and to a lone, sunlit table. He spends a lot of time here, Hermione can tell, because of the familiarity with which he sinks down onto the chair nearest to the wall. “I can tell you about the classes, if you’re interested.”

“I am,” Hermione says, sitting down in front of him.

*

They begin hanging out a lot after that. Draco seems to enjoy being in the library as much as Hermione does, and their time together mostly consists of reading in silence or voicing out loud incomplete thoughts. Still, Hermione finds herself thinking of him as her friend, and she thinks he feels the same way.

They spend so much time together - between classes, and homework, and free periods - that it’s impossible not to notice some things. The first thing Hermione notices, is how often Draco gets flirted with. The second thing she notices, is how entirely oblivious he is to it.

It’s endlessly amusing.

“You keep doing that.” Hermione says, when Draco pushes up the sleeve of the jumper for the fifth time in an hour. They’re working on a project, outside this time, because the day is nice. “Why don’t you just wear tighter clothes?”

“It’s not mine,” Draco says distractedly, fingers typing quickly on his laptop. They’re working on a research paper for their Biology class, and it’s taking a ridiculously long time. “It’s my boyfriend’s.”

“Harry, right?” Hermione asks distractedly. It hadn’t taken too long for Draco - or other people - to bring Harry Potter up. Hermione has never met him, but she’s heard plenty about him, seen him from afar.

He’s taller than Hermione - and she’s tall - and has a motorcycle, and a leather jacket that used to be his godfather’s. Hermione hears that he has six tattoos, and one of them is Draco’s name - she doesn’t know if it’s true and is too polite to ask - and that he once hospitalized a guy who grabbed Draco’s arse. 

Hermione has no idea how they ended up together.

“Yeah.” Draco says. “He’s having a party on Friday. You should come, he wants to meet you.”

“He what?” Hermione’s head snaps up, alarmed.

Harry Potter is exactly the kind of person she wants to avoid. He’s filthy rich and the epitome of careless, two things which Hermione is the opposite of. He’s also scary as hell. Hermione doesn’t want to meet him.

“Wants to meet you.” Draco repeats, thinking Hermione hadn’t heard him. 

“Right,” Hermione says faintly.

Draco continues working, entirely oblivious to her inner conflict.

*

“Are you ever going to stop stealing my clothes?” Harry asks teasingly, one of his hands on Draco’s thigh and the other on his back, underneath his jumper.

“I don’t steal them,” Draco pouts, upturning his nose. Harry’s sitting on his bed and Draco’s straddling his lap, hands knotted in his boyfriend’s hair. He smirks lightly and brushes his lips against Harry’s jaw. “And you like how I look in them.”

Harry smirks lightly and tightens his hold on Draco, moving the hand on his back down to his arse, squeezing lightly. 

“I do.” He says, pressing their lips together teasingly. Draco frowns lightly and chases his lips when Harry pulls away, causing him to laugh. “Fuck, you have no idea how much I want to kiss you.”

“So do it,” Draco is not whining, he’s really not. 

Harry smirks lightly. “I’d love to, but I’m pretty sure my dad and my godfather are both outside.”

“We’re not!” Sirius says from outside the door. Draco’s cheeks immediately go crimson. His mother is a very private person, and he’s never had any extended family; it had been quite a shock when he’d met Harry’s and realized how nosy and intertwined they all are. 

There’s fumbling outside the door, along with not-very-quiet whispers, and then the door opens. James peeks his head in, Sirius right below him. Harry’s hand immediately leaves Draco’s arse and comes up to rest on his hip.

“We’re leaving.” James informs them. “But we’re going to be watching movies downstairs, and you’re going to keep this door open!”

“Don’t do anything indecent.” Sirius sing-songs, and then they both disappear.

“And use a condom!” Lily yells from outside. 

Harry groans. “My mom, how did I not see that coming?” 

Draco laughs, face still burning, and rubs his nose fondly against Harry’s.

“Next time, we can go to my place.” He says teasingly. “We haven’t made out in my bed yet.”

Harry laughs and kisses his forehead fondly, squeezing at his arse one more time before rolling sideways so they’re face to face and their legs are tangled together.

“Next time,” He agrees. “For now, we can just lay here.”

There’s nothing that Draco wants more.

-------------------------------------------------

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[halothenthehorns]

TLTNL- THE SLUG CLUB

James took the book from Lily, their hands lingering for an extra second on each other. It didn't seem possible, but somehow every new year of their sons school added an extra layer of worry, and this one was no better. With only more worrisome details for whatever the Death Eaters were planning, the parents terror could only grow when Harry would figure it out.

For now though, they could at least hope the rest of his stay at the Burrow and his soon train ride held no excitement, so James still continued with high spirits.

Harry spent a lot of the last week of the holidays pondering the meaning of Malfoy's behavior in Knockturn Alley. What disturbed him most was the satisfied look on Malfoy's face as he had left the shop. Nothing that made Malfoy look that happy could be good news.

"I entirely agree," Sirius couldn't help but dejectedly say, there wasn't much of a funny spin he could put on that.

To his slight annoyance, however, neither Ron nor Hermione seemed quite as curious about Malfoy's activities as he was;

"They what?" They all demanded, sure they'd heard wrong.

"Let him finish," Harry soothed, though the look on his face showed it wasn't going to end much better.

or at least, they seemed to get bored of discussing it after a few days.

"It is now a good thing Molly never let them join the Order," Remus rolled his eyes. "After the third meeting they'd probably stop attending."

"Be fair, they don't know what we know, which is there is something going on," Lily halfheartedly defended. "They just know that for the past five years Malfoy's been a rotten child, they've just witnessed one of his acts this time."

"They should have believed me when I said it was something more, how else was I supposed to figure out what Malfoy was up to if I couldn't bounce ideas off of them," Harry huffed.

  Hermione impatiently agreed as much when he brought it up again. She was sitting on the windowsill in Fred and George's room with her feet up on one of the cardboard boxes and had only grudgingly looked up from her new copy of Advanced Rune Translation.

"I'm still amazed you can accomplish that at all," James smirked.

"Why would she even bring that in there and expect to get any work done?" Sirius agreed.

Reminding there could be any number of things they just didn't know about.

Ron suggested Malfoy could have broken his Hand of Glory.*

"When on Earth did Malfoy have that?" Sirius demanded, clearly thinking he'd missed something.

"I told Ron Malfoy took an interest to it the first time I was in there, maybe Ron thought I meant his dad did buy it," Harry offered, though they'd never actually seen him use it in school.

Harry repeated Malfoy's instructions of keeping ‘that one' safe, making it seem Malfoy had a broken set of something. When neither of his friends responded to him again pointing this out, Harry insisted with his dad in Azkaban, Malfoy would want revenge.

"I can't see even Borgin and Burkes having anything to help with that though," Remus disagreed. "Revenge against who? Azkaban? The Ministry? You?"

"I would have said the first seemed the most likely, what with the 'it's never been done before' bit Narcissa offered, but just last year there were massive breakouts, so that doesn't seem the problem," Sirius sighed.

"Voldemort's gotten others into Hogwarts if he was the target, and Malfoy's also a student, so that shouldn't be it either," Lily agreed while trying not to bite at her lip.

"And I can not for the life of me imagine what a sixteen year old could do against the Ministry of Magic, even they're not that incompetent," James sighed.

"You're missing the part where this was originally Voldemort's idea," Harry insisted as he felt sure they were missing the mark on all accounts.

"Yet Malfoy's clearly pleased to go along with whatever it is, not just following orders, so it must be something he'd be for as well. Revenge is the best we've got to go on as far as motive," Lily patiently reminded.

Harry couldn't help smiling at them, they'd already offered more for his idea than his two friends, and it felt nice to not be so dismissed.

Ron was baffled what Malfoy could do about any revenge, and Harry agreed in frustration he didn't know, he was clearly up to something serious.

Sirius look muddled, like he wasn't sure what the response he was supposed to give for that was. His preferred joke was most certainly in poor taste, but it would be crass of him not to do it at this point!

Then he saw Harry look to him, almost genuinely concerned at even the hint of a pause, so Sirius finished as if there hadn't been one, "I wish I could still help out with this pup."

Lily gave the obligatory groan and Remus made to flick him in the ear, but all of them had an almost relieved look about them. At least they didn't look like they were counting down how many times he had left to do that.

His father was a Death Eater and-

Harry broke off, his eyes fixed on the window behind Hermione, his mouth open. A startling thought had just occurred to him.

"And that is?" James encouraged when Harry got a rather dissatisfied look on his face for this thought occurring to him now.

"That Malfoy's a Death Eater," he sighed.

There was a pitying little pause at the look of resignation on his face while Sirius nodded slowly.

"Guess you already put that together from what Narcissa said. I wish it was more surprising, or rare honestly, for that megalomaniac to be using anyone and everyone he wants." It was an even more depressing realization his own little brother was hardly older than this Malfoy kid when he'd suffered a similar fate, and likely as undo-able a task from what they'd heard. Sirius couldn't come up with another reason for why he'd desert his lifelong dream other than getting a job he couldn't handle.

Hermione anxiously demanded what was wrong, Ron nervously asking if it was his scar.

"Can't even blame him, after last year, that's the first thing I would have thought to," Remus sighed.

Harry slowly said aloud his idea Malfoy was a Death Eater.

"Actually, why would you have put that together considering you didn't know what we did," James couldn't help but jump at this leap.

"You guys just agreed it isn't so crazy," Harry said defensively at once.

"Because we know it's true," James agreed, "but you haven't exactly seen a lot of experience with it, or had it confirmed before that. You were just chatting about his dad and what he could be up to."

Harry just huffed and muttered, but waved his dad on, knowing he'd have to explain himself to his friends in a few moments already like he'd already been doing all summer.

There was a silence; then Ron erupted in laughter, reminding Harry he was only sixteen, You-Know-Who would have to be crazy.

"Age has never been a factor for him, it's what you can do for him," Sirius scowled.

Hermione agreed it was highly unlikely, where had he come up with that?

Harry reminded how in Madam Malkin's he hadn't let her touch his arm, he must have been branded with the Dark Mark.

"I, didn't even notice that," Lily's brows shot up in surprise, before she corrected, "though joining the Death Eaters doesn't automatically mean you got a Dark Mark. I'd think that was only for those he's marked as worthy, not of every single one."

Harry chose not to argue back since she didn't call him crazy outright for it.

Ron and Hermione looked at each other, clearly unconvinced, while Harry went on Malfoy had shown Borgin something, and it seriously scared Borgin.

"I could scare the pants off of him without pants!" Sirius agreed without the hesitation this time, but as his friends winced slightly and Harry gave a softer laugh than usual, he needlessly pointed out, "You keep invoking my name, I can tell how much you'd been missing me."

Harry grinned at him again, though he'd willingly admit he'd have liked to have his godfathers opinion on this at the time as much as anything.

It was the Mark, he knew it. He was showing Borgin who he was dealing with, they saw how seriously Borgin took him!

"He'd treat him nothing like me!" Sirius insisted while Remus flicked his ear again.

"To Harry's credit, Malfoy did show him something and he seemed much more likely to back down," James agreed with that logic, never not astounded how his son so easily put such things together they'd only given passing thoughts to.

Ron and Hermione exchanged another look.

Annoyed, but absolutely convinced he was right,

"It's not usual you've got to deal with that with Hermione and Ron," Remus sighed, already exhausted by this ongoing argument he could feel brewing.

Harry snatched up a pile of filthy Quidditch robes and left the room; Mrs. Weasley had been urging them for days not to leave their washing and packing until the last moment. On the landing he bumped into Ginny, who was returning to her room carrying a pile of freshly laundered clothes.

She warned him to be careful in the kitchen, there was an excess of Phlegm around.

"What a kind warning," Sirius couldn't help but snicker.

Harry smiled and thanked her, promising he wouldn't slip in it.

Sure enough, when he entered the kitchen it was to find Fleur sitting at the kitchen table, in full flow about plans for her wedding to Bill, while Mrs. Weasley kept watch over a pile of self-peeling sprouts, looking bad-tempered.

Fleur was explaining more wedding plans. They'd narrowed it down to two bridesmaids,

"Who were the other options besides the two sisters?" James wondered at that.

"Hopefully not past girlfriends of Bill's, that wouldn't do him any favors," Sirius smirked.

"Sirius, I'm advising you I don't care how far in advance, don't ever bring that up in your own wedding, it will get you cursed," Lily promised, wanting to smack him herself for the stupid suggestion no matter how much he was joking.

"Padfoot seems to have an unfortunate ability to attract violent women," James pleasantly noted.

"I imagine they were far less violent before they met him," Remus rolled his eyes. "Lily's the only exception I've met."

and their dresses would be pale gold, Ginny would look horrible in pink of course.

"Why?" Harry asked in confusion, thinking Ginny wouldn't look horrible in any color she chose.

"I'm not going to let Lily explain that, no one else cares," Sirius loudly said.

She scowled at him even more than before, honestly wanting to smack him herself now just for thinking she would, she hadn't really a care for that sort of thing.

"You're only proving Prongs' point," Remus happily reminded him while James ignored them anyways.

Mrs. Weasley loudly interrupted at the sight of Harry to explain they'd be getting Ministry cars to the train again tomorrow and Aurors at the station. Harry asked if it was Tonks again, to which Molly explained Arthur said she was already positioned somewhere else.

Fleur inserted Tonks had let herself go, while gazing into her own reflection in the back of a spoon.

"You really can't blame those girls, thinking her so vain, when every time she's been mentioned this summer she's talking about herself and doing that," Lily sighed.

Mrs. Weasley tartly cut in Harry should have himself ready, no one needed the usual last minute scramble.

Indeed, their departure the following morning was smoother than usual. The Ministry cars glided up to the front of the Burrow to find them waiting, trunks packed; Hermione's cat, Crookshanks, safely enclosed in his traveling basket; and Hedwig; Ron's owl, Pigwidgeon; and Ginny's new purple Pygmy Puff, Arnold, in cages.

"The Weasley's really do have the most interesting names for things," Remus cocked his head to the side, thinking Arnold the most mundane thing that could be given to a purple ball of fluff.

"Remember Ginny named Pig to, so as of now it's all her fault, and she seems to have no consistency on how wild they get," Sirius chuckled.

Fleur gave him a double kiss goodbye. Ron hurried forward, looking hopeful, but Ginny stuck out her foot and Ron fell, sprawling in the dust at Fleur's feet.

"What a lovely sister," James noted.

"Growing happier by the moment I never used to have one," Sirius agreed, making Lily flush in surprise and decide not to put extra salt on his plate at lunch, for now.

Furious, red-faced, and dirt-spattered, he hurried into the car without saying good-bye.

There was no cheerful Hagrid waiting for them at King's Cross Station. Instead, two grim-faced, bearded Aurors in dark Muggle suits moved forward the moment the cars stopped and, flanking the party, marched them into the station without speaking.

"There is such a thing as taking your job-" Remus cut himself off with a nasty look at Sirius, who looked disappointed his friend hadn't slipped up.

Mrs. Weasley, seemed a little flustered by this austere efficiency.

"I can't really blame her, it just sounds odd to need security for the short walk it is onto the platform," James agreed.

An Auror even tried to guide Harry straight through the barrier by his arm before Harry snapped he could walk on his own as he jerked his arm away.

"So ungrateful for someone trying to hold your hand," Sirius nodded.

He pushed his trolley directly at the solid barrier, ignoring his silent companion, and found himself, a second later, standing on platform nine and three-quarters, where the scarlet Hogwarts Express stood belching steam over the crowd.

Harry really couldn't help a nostalgic smile as that image lingered in his mind, and he really did wonder for a moment why he'd feel like it would be so long before he saw it again. He still had another school year left of course to be missing such a thing.

Hermione and the Weasleys joined him within seconds. Without waiting to consult his grim-faced Auror, Harry motioned to Ron and Hermione to follow him up the platform, looking for an empty compartment. Hermione reminded they couldn't they had to go check in as Prefects.

Harry admitted he'd forgotten.

"Poor thing is probably going to forget that next year as well, it is odd to get used to," Sirius sighed, it had always thrown him off when Moony did it, and then Prongs as well in their last year.

Mrs. Weasley was hugging everyone goodbye, before Harry made the impulse decision to ask Mr. Weasley for a quick word.

"Well this is bringing back an unpleasant flashback," James grumbled, but tried to ignore Sirius shifting in unease as well for the reminder of when this had last happened.

Mr. Weasley, who looked slightly surprised, followed Harry out of earshot of the others nevertheless.

Harry had thought it through carefully and come to the conclusion that, if he was to tell anyone, Mr. Weasley was the right person; firstly, because he worked at the Ministry and was therefore in the best position to make further investigations, and secondly, because he thought that there was not too much risk of Mr. Weasley exploding with anger.

"Well you're certainly not wrong on either account," Sirius burst out with surprised laughter.

James couldn't get the same enthusiasm for realizing what Harry was going to tell him, it was too depressing to once again here his son turning to someone else who should have been him.

He could see Mrs. Weasley and the grim-faced Auror casting the pair of them suspicious looks as they moved away.

Mr. Weasley interrupted Harry's starting by asking if he was finally going to learn where they'd really disappeared to when they were supposed to be in the back of the shop.

"I'm not really surprised they didn't fall for that," Sirius agreed.

Harry was surprised he knew otherwise,

"I'm more shocked than anything Harry thought they did," Remus snorted.

but Arthur interrupted to remind he was the same man who had raised Fred and George.

"He's got you there," James agreed.

Harry admitted to that, and Arthur said he was ready to hear the worst.

"Oh don't say that, he'll actually be getting it," Lily sighed.

Harry again tried to explain they'd seen Malfoy and decided to follow him under the Cloak- Arthur again interrupted to ask if there had been an actual reason, or just a whim?

"Honestly the second," Sirius pointed out while Harry tried to scowl at him without admitting he was right.

Harry insisted he'd done so because he thought Malfoy was up to something, and then explained the rest. Arthur took it in silence, contemplated for a moment, before saying slowly he doubted You-Know-Who would allow a sixteen year old-

"I'm almost glad that's not as common place in their time," Lily blinked in surprise for that response from him.

"Voldemort also doesn't have the swollen ranks he does in this time," James reminded pityingly. "Now he's got massive followers every which way, from all we've seen though, he really may not have more than his circle. I can almost see where Arthur's coming from."

Harry at least felt better hearing that explained, but it didn't make him feel better everyone kept calling this such a crazy idea when he knew he was right.

Harry shot back no one really knew what Voldemort would do.

Mr. Weasley slowly explained that when Lucius had been arrested, his mansion had been searched, and the Malfoys had been stripped of everything that could be dangerous.

Harry insisted they must have missed something, and Arthur agreed in a tone that implied he was only humoring Harry now.

Harry's scowl increased, this was as maddening as last year! Hadn't he proved himself more than a paranoid child! He should be taken seriously about this!

"Relax Harry," James tried to sooth with a look Harry couldn't quite identify with. "You've come to him with a hunch, and he's at least listening to you. Come back again with a bit more proof, which I know you'll get during your year, and I know you'll get something done."

Harry did relax just a bit, hoping he was right, and missing his dad's smile increasing.

There was a whistle behind them; nearly everyone had boarded the train and the doors were closing.

Harry hurried to the train as it began chugging along, while Mrs. Weasley called after them he was coming to their house for Christmas, the train began picking up speed as she continued, moving along with it, for them all to be good, the train was rounding the bend now as she nearly jogged to keep up with her final warning to stay safe!

Sirius honestly wanted to laugh at the woman again, but the look on Lily's face promised he wouldn't be allowed without getting an earful. She was grateful someone was still looking after her boy.

Harry waved until the train had turned a corner and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were lost to view, then turned to see where the others had got to. He supposed Ron and Hermione were cloistered in the prefects' carriage, but Ginny was a little way along the corridor, chatting to some friends. He made his way toward her, dragging his trunk.

People stared shamelessly as he approached. They even pressed their faces against the windows of their compartments to get a look at him.

"Suppose you should be grateful they're not all following you around like Collin was yet," Remus sighed.

He had expected an upswing in the amount of gaping and gawping he would have to endure this term after all the "Chosen One" rumors in the Daily Prophet, but he did not enjoy the sensation of standing in a very bright spotlight. He tapped Ginny on the shoulder, asking if she'd like to find a compartment.

She returned she had to find Dean, but she'd see him later.

"Ouch, getting dismissed all over the place this year," James winced.

"What a sight to behold, little Ginny dismissing the Great Chosen One," Sirius agreed.

Harry found their teasing only mildly less annoying than the staring and chose to ignore them just as well.

He felt a strange twinge of annoyance as she walked away, her long red hair dancing behind her; he had become so used to her presence over the summer that he had almost forgotten that Ginny did not hang around with him, Ron, and Hermione while at school.

"Was she really around that much? You hardly mentioned her more than normal," Lily asked in surprise.

Harry chose not to answer, still in a clear bad mood for the gawkers it seemed.

Then he blinked and looked around: He was surrounded by mesmerized girls until a voice behind him called for his attention and Harry turned in relife to find Neville,

Sirius inhaled deeply, and this time Remus swooped in and jammed his finger into Sirius' ear, causing him to yelp in protest but thankfully not again be able to shout about one of Harry's friends showing up. Sirius rubbed at his ear and called Moony a killjoy, who decided he'd rather be that than Sirius, killer of ears.

with Luna right behind him.

"Luna's back," Sirius said pointedly to Remus, though thankfully he kept it at a decent volume, his hand still protectively on his ear.

"Thank you Sirius, that's quite interesting to know," Remus gently pandered now that he wasn't shouting it.

Harry greeted them gratefully, asking how their summer had gone. She replied very well, already clutching a copy of the Quibbler which promised a free pair of Spectrespecs inside. Harry asked their magazine was still going well, having a fondness for it after giving an interview last year.

"To Rita Skeeter though, we just can't forget that part," James wrinkled his nose at the reminder.

"Worth it," Harry shrugged, it had done him much more good than harm for once.

Luna happily agreed circulation was still up.

Harry offered they should go find seats, and the three of them set off along the train through hordes of silently staring students. At last they found an empty compartment, and Harry hurried inside gratefully.

Neville told they were even being stared at, because they'd been with him.

"Congratulations, they're getting what Ron always wanted," Lily rolled her eyes.

"Hope they enjoy it," Harry sighed.

Harry reminded they were staring because they'd also been at the Ministry, the Daily Prophet had made that clear.

Neville had thought his Gran would be mad about that publicity, but she'd been really pleased, saying at long lost he was living up to his dad.

All five of them made agitated faces at that, honestly wishing Neville would stop being compared to his parents as much as Harry wished the same of late.

She'd already bought him a new wand. He pulled it out and showed it to Harry, proclaiming it as Cherry and unicorn, one of the last Ollivander had sold, as he'd vanished the next day.

"Blimey, Neville's already getting some better luck for his life," Remus winced for the reminder.

Then he shouted for Trevor to get back here.

"Glad to know at least that toad won't let a joke die," Sirius chuckled.

And he dived under the seat to retrieve his toad as it made one of its frequent bids for freedom.

Luna asked, while detaching a pair of psychedelic spectacles from the middle of The Quibbler, if the D. A. meetings would continue this year.

"That's actually a good question I hadn't thought of," Lily agreed at once.

"Won't need to will we, unless we actually manage to get another teacher like Umbridge who refuses to teach us," Harry shrugged, very much hoping his luck wasn't that awful.

"Well yes, but who says you can't still use it to help along students. The classes in general are still majorly behind on most basic curses, as was apparent by Fred and George," Remus reminded.

"Plus study groups actually make doing work more bearable," James agreed.

Harry was a bit surprised they were all so encouraging of an idea that hadn't even crossed his mind, and honestly regret just a bit not continuing with it. Though he wasn't sure how it would have even been possible, considering his Quidditch practices and upcoming lessons with Dumbledore would honestly make his schedule as hectic as last year.

Neville thumped his head under the seat, coming out with a bit of fluff in place with disappointment on his face, saying he'd liked the D. A. He'd learned loads.

Luna serenely agreed it had been like having friends.

"Well that was depressing," Sirius said with chipper what everyone was thinking.

"Surely she has friends," Lily tried at once to say positively as if to the girl herself. "She's been known to hang around with Ginny."

"She said friends plural though, making me wonder how many others besides Ginny," Remus muttered.

This was one of those uncomfortable things Luna often said and which made Harry feel a squirming mixture of pity and embarrassment.

"She's rather good at that, I should be taking notes," James agreed.

Before he could respond, however, there was a disturbance outside their compartment door; a group of fourth-year girls was whispering and giggling together on the other side of the glass, all telling each other to go ask him!

One of them, a bold-looking girl with large dark eyes, a prominent chin, and long black hair pushed her way through the door. She introduced herself as Romilda Vane, and offered he

could come sit with them! She finished in a stage whisper, her eyes on Neville's bum again poking out of the seats and Luna in her psychedelic glasses.

"Romilda clearly has no sense of fun at all, not immediately asking what was going on in there," Sirius scoffed.

"Why would they think Harry would want to sit with them anyways," James scowled. "Who wants to sits with brats two years below them."

Lily honestly wanted to tell James he was being a brat by saying that, but she couldn't disagree with him either.

Harry coldly returned those were his friends, and after an awkward pause, she said okay and left.

"Hopefully that taught her right quick about opening her mouth," Remus rolled his eyes. Confidence could be as much a hindrance if not used correctly, which he'd had seven years to watch.

Luna once again displayed her knack of embarrassing honesty by stating people expected him to have cooler friends.

"Who says they're not cool, I'd hang out with them," Sirius scoffed.

"Harry did," James reminded with a chuckle, thinking this wasn't far off from how his last year had started. If Neville's plant spit up on everyone again and Cho came around it would get eerie.

"I learned my lesson," Harry said smoothly.

Harry at once said they were cool! They hadn't been at the Ministry with him.

Luna beamed at him, telling that was very nice to say, before going to her magazine.

Neville quietly reminded they hadn't faced him though, coming back out with his toad in hand. His Gran kept going on about how that Harry Potter had more backbone than all the Ministry of Magic put together.

"Well that's true," James puffed up his chest with pride.

She'd give anything to have Harry as a grandson.

Sirius made a deep snarling noise, well to aware of the feeling your parent wished to replace you, and wouldn't wish that on anyone else! His noise of disgust was echoed throughout the room, Lily couldn't keep going for a moment she was so depressed anyone could think that about themselves!

Harry laughed uncomfortably and changed the subject to OWL results as soon as he could.

James made a little noise of sympathy for Harry though, he had heard Sirius say much the same and had just as quickly himself diverted the topic, there just wasn't much you could say to that.

While Neville recited his grades and wondered aloud whether he would be allowed to take a Transfiguration NEWT, with only an "Acceptable,"

"Highly doubt it," Remus frowned, mind still lingering on other things.

"Did he at once tell you that? Surely he mentioned his better grades," Lily tried to cajole out something positive of that.

Harry distractedly said no, but he hadn't been listening in great detail to what Neville had been saying either.

Harry watched him without really listening.

Neville's childhood had been blighted by Voldemort just as much as Harry's had, but Neville had no idea how close he had come to having Harry's destiny.

None of them had forgotten this, but they'd been happily side stepping that in the hopes it wouldn't bog Harry down. Clearly it was going to now though.

The prophecy could have referred to either of them, yet, for his own inscrutable reasons, Voldemort had chosen to believe that Harry was the one meant.

Had Voldemort chosen Neville, it would be Neville sitting opposite Harry bearing the lightning-shaped scar and the weight of the prophecy. ... Or would it? Would Neville's mother have died to save him, as Lily had died for Harry? Surely she would. . . . But what if she had been unable to stand between her son and Voldemort? Would there then have been no "Chosen One" at all? An empty seat where Neville now sat and a scarless Harry who would have been kissed goodbye by his own mother, not Ron's?

Lily was near tears by the end of this, and James wasn't feeling much better. Their conviction to change this path Harry had been on suddenly put a cold spin on in it like they'd never have believed. What if they did stop this from happening to their family? Could they still guarantee the same for Neville, put this fate on someone else? Were they condemning another child to this life just to save theirs?

James refused to let himself linger on that, he'd find a way to save his family, Neville, the whole bloody world if he had to! He wasn't going to let this happen again, and he wouldn't hear a thing about it otherwise!

Neville noticed Harry's distraction and asked what was wrong, and Luna inserted she thought there was a Wrackspurt going around.

"Didn't she already mention those?" James demanded with more force than the question called for.

"Not that I've heard, unless you're thinking of the Nargles that were never explained," Remus said lightly.

James hardly heard him any more than he'd realized he'd asked a question.

Then she explained Wrackspurts were invisible, they floated into your ears and made your brain go fuzzy.

"Who knew there was an actual reason for the way Sirius was," Lily halfheartedly poked fun. It really was impossible to get on with just twenty minutes without something depressing dragging them all down of late, even the thought of trying to preserve their own future was doing it now.

Sirius was so distracted he didn't even have a response for her.

She flapped her hands at thin air, as though beating off large invisible moths. Harry and Neville caught each other's eyes and hastily began to talk of Quidditch.

"Which Harry is Captain of!" James burst so loud it was as if he was actively trying to see how loud he could say it.

Harry managed a half-hearted laugh for him, and James kept listening feeling just a bit better he'd managed to shout about something good again.

The weather beyond the train windows was as patchy as it had been all summer; they passed through stretches of the chilling mist, then out into weak, clear sunlight. It was during one of the clear spells, when the sun was visible almost directly overhead, that Ron and Hermione entered the compartment at last.

After greeting them, Ron delivered the news that Malfoy wasn't doing prefect duty.

"He what!" Harry wasn't the only one to shout in surprise, but did keep going, "I didn't even know you could do that."

"I've only known one to," Remus frowned uneasily, "and she had Maledictus, though I don't know what kind. Could barely keep up in the corridors she was so sickly, she certainly didn't want the extra Prefect duties."

Harry had no clue what that was, though understood enough by that to understand it was a sickness you wouldn't want, so instead keep going with determination, "this is proof then! Malfoy is up to something! There's no way he'd give up that power otherwise," he finished with his fist in his hand to prove his point.

"Calm down Harry, nobody in here disagreed with you," Lily half scolded why he was being so adamant about this.

"Right, sorry," he muttered, backing down at once but that triumphant look lingered and James kept going despite his friends still muttering curiously if there could be something else going on.

Harry sat up straight, interested. It was not like Malfoy to pass up the chance to demonstrate his power as prefect, which he had happily abused all the previous year. Harry asked what Malfoy had done when he'd been seen, and Ron said the usual, before demonstrating a rude hand gesture. It wasn't like him, well that was, he did the hand gesture again,

"Was that really necessary, I'm sure we got that all on our own." Lily rolled her eyes.

"He's had his fingers threatened for months, let him enjoy his free range," Sirius chuckled while wagging his own.

but why wasn't he out there bullying first years again.

Harry agreed it was odd, his mind was racing. Didn't this look as though Malfoy had more important things on his mind than bullying younger students?

Hermione pointed out he'd probably preferred the Inquisitorial Squad, and Prefect seemed a bit tame in comparison.

"Not really that crazy," James agreed. "It's almost like he's been demoted after abusing so much power."

Harry looked offended, like he thought he was being dismissed, but forced himself not to snap at him. He was being crazy, they knew something was going on, he didn't need to go shouting at everyone like they were his friends trying to tell him otherwise.

Harry began to disagree before he could expound on his theory, the compartment door slid open again and a breathless third-year girl stepped inside.

"What were you going to say?" Sirius asked.

"Exactly that, I think he's got better things to do this year," Harry sighed, already feeling he had no care for what was fixing to happen and would much rather focus on what he'd been interrupted on. "I was still debating how much farther I was going to keep going though. I trust Neville and Luna of course, but wasn't sure if I was going to tell them what I saw on holiday yet."

"I don't see why not, they know about as much as you do on Malfoy's front, and since you're own friends are driving you nuts, I'm sure at least Luna would have indulged hearing you talk about it," James pointed out.

Harry nodded his agreement, now looking even more agitated by whatever this interruption was.

She was holding out two scrolls of parchment tied with violet ribbon for Neville and Harry. Perplexed, they both took the scroll addressed to each of them and the girl stumbled back out of the compartment.

Ron asked what it was, and Harry explained it as an invitation, not inserting, from Slughorn.

Neville nervously asked why he was invited, as if expecting detention.

"Neville's clearly a name in this future, if to a lesser degree than Harry without all the press. I'm sure Slughorn's heard of his parents anyways," Lily said without surprise.

"Why was Slughorn on the train though?" Harry demanded, he'd been right to be annoyed by this, it seemed pointless already.

"He does it every few years or so, scope out new students and invite the older ones in early, a way to reconnect over the summer before school even kicks in," Lily shrugged.

Harry said no idea, which was not entirely true, though he had no proof yet that his hunch was correct.

"Hasn't seemed to stop you yet," Sirius chucked.

He took the opportunity to ask Neville to come with him under the Cloak, so they could spy on the Slytherin Compartment on the way there.

"I completely forgot now Luna and Neville know about your cloak, as well as Ginny if she didn't before," James blinked in surprise.

"Least Neville's getting a new experience out of this," Sirius grinned.

This idea, however, came to nothing: The corridors, which were packed with people on the lookout for the lunch trolley, were impossible to negotiate while wearing the cloak. Harry stowed it regretfully back in his bag, reflecting that it would have been nice to wear it just to avoid all the staring, which seemed to have increased in intensity even since he had last walked down the train. Every now and then, students would hurtle out of their compartments to get a better look at him. The exception was Cho Chang, who darted into her compartment when she saw Harry coming.

"No love loss there eh?" James couldn't help but tease.

Harry didn't even change colors for this, just shrugged while his mind lingered on other things.

As Harry passed the window, he saw her deep in determined conversation with her friend Marietta, who was wearing a very thick layer of makeup that did not entirely obscure the odd formation of pimples still etched across her face.

Lily couldn't help but frown severely for that. "Honestly, was Hermione's curse permanent? That's well going beyond what the girl deserved, making the decision she did. Did she really ruin another girl's life with that?"

"I really don't think so, it was fading, slowly," Harry shrugged. "Certainly at the end of last year even that wouldn't have hidden it as well, so I'm positive given another month it'll be gone."

Lily still looked a bit tart, but couldn't hold it onto her forever so long as Hermione hadn't. 

Smirking slightly, Harry pushed on.

When they reached compartment C, they saw at once that they were not Slughorn's only invitees, although judging by the enthusiasm of Slughorn's welcome, Harry was the most warmly anticipated.

Slughorn jumped right to his feet, his velvet-covered belly seemed to fill all the remaining space in the compartment. His shiny bald head and great silvery mustache gleamed as brightly in the sunlight as the golden buttons on his waistcoat.

His reaction to Neville was just as cordial if less bouncy.

They didn't need to ask how Harry felt about this, his unimpressed look spoke volumes. He'd no more cottoned onto all Slughorn could offer from Dumbledore's and their own explanations than decided he wanted to master potions.

Neville nodded, looking scared. At a gesture from Slughorn, they sat down opposite each other in the only two empty seats, which were nearest the door. Harry glanced around at their fellow guests. He recognized a Slytherin from their year, a tall black boy with high cheekbones and long, slanting eyes; there were also two seventh-year boys Harry did not know and, squashed in the corner beside Slughorn and looking as though she was not entirely sure how she had got there, Ginny.

"Ouch, how'd Ginny end up in there and not Ron?" Sirius asked.

"I've no idea, but she doesn't seem any more pleased with it than I was," Harry said with a bit of sympathy, wishing he could swap places with Slughorn to at least let Ginny breath a bit.

Slughorn began introducing everyone for those who needed them, starting with Blaise Zabini in their year, of Slytherin.

Zabini did not make any sign of recognition or greeting, nor did Harry or Neville: Gryffindor and Slytherin students loathed each other on principle.

Lily clucked her tongue and rolled her eyes while the boys grinned.

Then there was Cormac McLaggen, perhaps they'd crossed paths already.

Harry then imitated his mother, rolling his eyes heavily and not at all enjoying the sensation telling him he'd rather forget this one all over again.

McLaggen, a large, wiry-haired youth, raised a hand, and Harry and Neville nodded back at him.

That was Marcus Belby who was thin and nervous-looking, gave a strained smile while Slughorn finished they both knew this charming young lady.

Ginny grimaced at Harry and Neville from behind Slughorn's back.

"As welcome a greeting as Zambini's from that," Remus snickered

He had them all sit down and offered them food he'd brought along, the trolley's tendency to stock licorice wands wasn't good for a poor old mans digestive.

"Considering the man's favorite treat is Crystallized Pineapple, I wouldn't hold him to that," Lily said with the same old indulgence she'd used for seven years when speaking to Slughorn. She couldn't believe how much she was enjoying hearing about him again interacting with a new round of students, she felt like she could have been in there chatting along with the whole thing. It was all too easy to picture the man wagging his finger in reprove at her for giving that away already.

Belby accepted what looked like half a cold pheasant from Slughorn, who began asking him about his Uncle Damocles, who'd gained an Order of Merlin. Did he see much of him?

Unfortunately, Belby had just taken a large mouthful of pheasant; in his haste to answer Slughorn he swallowed too fast, turned purple, and began to choke.

Slughorn calmly vanished it with the spell Anapneo, pointing his wand at Belby, whose airway seemed to clear at once.

Belby gasped, his eyes streaming, not much of him.

Slughorn agreed he was a busy man, what with inventing the Wolfsbane Potion.

"Well this conversation just got a lot more interesting," James muttered while Remus shifted around, not sure how to feel about that being brought up again. Considering it had last been spoken of ruining Sirius' life because of him, not ecstatic, but if he could actually find a way to make that a routine part of his life...

Belby, seemed afraid to take another bite of pheasant until he was sure that Slughorn had finished with him and halfheartedly agreed.

"Frightening the kid into not eating, this man really knows how to push buttons," Sirius huffed.

He admitted his didn't get on with his uncle very well, so he really didn't see him at all.

His voice trailed away as Slughorn gave him a cold smile and turned to McLaggen instead.

"And that's Belby gone from the group," James mimed pointing his wand at nothing and blowing it away.

"Because he doesn't keep in contact with an Uncle? He might still be really good at something even so," Harry defended.

"Doesn't have many proper connections though, to get him many places," Lily reminded. "Or he's not yet realized he should be mentioning those."

Slughorn turned towards Cormac then, saying he knew he spent time with his Uncle Tiberius because he'd seen a picture of the two hunting nogtails on his desk in Norfolk.

"Fascinating creatures, I think they should be studied much more than they're given the chance," Remus began babbling at once with a sad little frown that hunting them was such a popular sport.

"You can only run one off with a pure white hound, and they're known to curse the farm they locate to by suckling on a mother pig, but I'd love to see more studies of the extent-"

"Just remember if you bring one of those home, I can't run it off," Sirius rolled his eyes before waving James on while Remus continued muttering to himself.

McLaggen at once agreed that had been great fun, Bertie Higgs and Rufus Scrimgeour had come along as well, before he'd become Minister of course.

Slughorn beamed he knew them as well.

"I think McLaggen just became his new poster child," James scrunched up his face at this kid somehow managing all that, though trying hard not to yet judge him as pompous as the rest of the Slug Club ended up being. Lily of course never went the same way, so he was trying to be mature here.

now offering around a small tray of pies; somehow, Belby was missed out.

Harry huffed and muttered he wished he'd noticed that before he'd swallowed his own.

It was as Harry had suspected. Everyone here seemed to have been invited because they were connected to somebody well-known or influential, except Ginny.

"I'd consider Arthur well-known and influential from what little we've been able to hear about his life," Lily rolled her eyes.

"Maybe Slughorn recognizes he made a mistake missing him and won't do it again with the first female Weasley in seven generations," Remus shrugged.

Zabini, who was interrogated after McLaggen, turned out to have a famously beautiful witch for a mother (from what Harry could make out, she had been married seven times, each of her husbands dying mysteriously and leaving her mounds of gold).

"Right," Sirius grumbled while making a face.

It was Neville's turn next: This was a very uncomfortable ten minutes, for Neville's parents, well-known Aurors, had been tortured into insanity by Bellatrix Lestrange and a couple of Death Eater cronies. At the end of Neville's interview, Harry had the impression that Slughorn was reserving judgment on Neville, yet to see whether he had any of his parents' flair.

All five of them were shifting uncomfortably by the end of this, all knowing Neville didn't need anyone's validation to know how good he was without his parents constantly being brought up, and wished the world would realize that same as Harry.

Slughorn shifted towards Harry last with the air of a compere introducing his star act. He contemplated Harry for a moment as though he was a particularly large and succulent piece of pheasant,

"Lovely mental image," James' scowl increased, he could still distaste Slughorn even while cheering in the background better this than hearing Snape again.

and began with his title of him being the Chosen One.

Harry said nothing. Belby, McLaggen, and Zabini were all staring at him.

When Harry didn't respond Slughorn kept going, saying there had been rumors for years about him, that terrible night, word already was out how extraordinary he was.

Zabini gave a tiny little cough that was clearly supposed to indicate amused skepticism.

"I don't need a Slytherin in the conversation to know when I've heard such loaded dung thank you!" Sirius snapped.

Harry tried for an awkward laugh that couldn't get through, no matter how many times this was mentioned it just wasn't easy to hear.

An angry voice burst out from behind Slughorn, telling Zabini he was so talented with his posing!

Slughorn chuckled comfortably, looking around at Ginny, who was glaring at Zabini around Slughorn's great belly.

"Ginny really is just growing better with every mention," Sirius smirked, cackles smoothing at once at least someone in there would keep them on their toes.

He warned Blaise should be careful, he'd caught this young lady performing quite the Bat-Bogey hex. She wasn't to be crossed.

"Concurred," James needlessly agreed while Harry smirked without surprise.

Zabini merely looked contemptuous.

Slughorn went right back to Harry, open endedly saying the Prophet had been saying a lot, though it was known to make a few mistakes,

"Tiny, minuscule ones, wouldn't even notice them, why bother," Remus snipped for this being so dismissed.

but there was no doubt he'd been in the thick of it all with the disturbance at the Ministry.

Harry, who could not see any way out of this without flatly lying, nodded but still said nothing. Slughorn beamed at him, calling him modest, but there was no need to downplay the sensational stories, of a fabled prophecy even-

Neville interrupted to say that had been smashed, no one had heard it.

"Thank Merlin for Neville," Lily sighed in relief, she'd hug him right now for getting Harry out of that no matter how unentinally.

Ginny agreed at once, the Prophet was just making up things as usual with that Chosen One nonsense.

Slughorn seemed undeterred, looking to both of them with just as much interest they'd been there to. Both of them sat clam-like before his encouraging smile.

"Not going to get a great story out of this one," Sirius sneered.

"Maybe we'll get lucky and he'll forget our invitation along with Belby's," Harry said dully without any real hope.

Finally he agreed how things could get away from people, why Gweong Jones, of the Holyhead Harpies, had just been telling him-

Harry's good mood swung back at once though, for no reason he could tell, he could just imagine for some reason at least Ginny got a kick out of that conversation.

He meandered off into a long-winded reminiscence, but Harry had the distinct impression that Slughorn had not finished with him, and that he had not been convinced by Neville and Ginny.

"A crying shame, I know I'm done with having him around," Sirius mocked with a smirk at Harry.

"Thank's Sirius, it's about time," Harry smiled.

The afternoon wore on with more anecdotes about illustrious wizards Slughorn had taught, all of whom had been delighted to join what he called the "Slug Club" at Hogwarts.

"Really couldn't have picked a worse name," Remus crinkled up his nose.

"Don't know what you're talking about, it speaks volumes about it's members already, certainly the head fat slimy git," James happily tuned Lily in to many of their jokes growing up with this. She merely rolled her eyes and ignored them.

Harry could not wait to leave, but couldn't see how to do so politely.

"I'm starting to regret the fact you even have manners sometimes," Sirius sighed, he knew he'd walked out of there long before this part with Prongs right behind him.

Finally the train emerged from yet another long misty stretch into a red sunset, and Slughorn looked around, blinking in the twilight. Amazed it was sunset, he set them all free, though gave McLaggen in particular the invite to come see him soon for a book on nogtails he'd mentioned. Everyone else except Belby were departed by name.

As he pushed past Harry into the darkening corridor, Zabini shot him a filthy look that Harry returned with interest. He, Ginny, and Neville followed Zabini back along the train.

Neville sighed gratefully that was over, what a strange man.

Harry agreed while asking Ginny how she'd wound up in there.

Ginny shrugged he'd seen her hex Zacharias Smith.

All of them whooped with further laughter, that story just got ten times better.

They remembered that idiot Hufflepuff from the D. A.

"Hard to forget someone with a nose up his own arse," Sirius agreed.

He'd kept on and on asking about what happened at the Ministry and in the end he annoyed her so much she hexed him.

"Perfectly reasonable," James agreed.

When Slughorn came in she'd thought she was going to get detention, but he just thought it was a really good hex and invited her to lunch! Mad, eh?

"Best reason he's ever invited anyone to those things!" Remus disagreed.

Harry loudly said it was better than being invited along because of a famous mother, his eyes still on Zabini's back.

"I'm glad you agree Harry," Sirius said with such enthusiasm he didn't even take his crack at pointing out the two had essentially said the same thing.

Then he stopped, an idea occurring to him, a reckless but potentially wonderful idea...

"You seem to get those a lot," Lily sighed.

"I blame you," James happily told his wife. "Whenever I got them, a corridor just got filled with all the suits of armor in the castle. Whenever you got them, you put yourself in the hospital wing for a potion experiment, so it's really all you he gets it from."

"I resent that," she halfheartedly defended, "I never went about spying on anyone for fun, that was far more up your alley!"

"Fine then, he gets it from both of you being insane," Sirius happily inserted. James seemed satisfied enough to go onto the actual idea while Lily made a face at him.

In a minute's time, Zabini was going to reenter the Slytherin sixth-year compartment and Malfoy would be sitting there,

"Why on Earth would you think that?" Remus blinked in surprise. "Does he hang around with Malfoy often? You well know the students don't get their own compartments by grade and house."

"I saw them all in there all the other years, they tended to band together," Harry defended. "Sorry I've never mentioned it before."*

thinking himself unheard by anybody except fellow Slytherins... If Harry could only enter, unseen, behind him, what might he not see or hear?

"Them all congratulating themselves for being part of the an elite human species. Idiots." Sirius told Harry in disbelief.

"Or something like what Malfoy's up to," Harry said pointedly.

"Narcissa made it clear this was top secret information, Bellatrix was surprised when Snape knew," Lily reminded. "So Malfoy's not likely to be blabbing it around."

"I didn't know that at the time," Harry reminded. "I just wanted proof of what he was doing."

"You might get something then, you are fairly good at picking up on details," James went on curiously.

True, there was little of the journey left, Hogsmeade Station had to be less than half an hour away, judging by the wildness of the scenery flashing by the windows, but nobody else seemed prepared to take Harry's suspicions seriously,

Sirius at once insisted, "I'm telling you, I'd totally believe you!"

"I know Sirius," Harry said quietly, trying to force a laugh again, but now all the more determined he could pull off something he was sure the Marauders would approve of, no matter how much they thought it a goofy idea at the beginning.

so it was down to him to prove it.

Quickly telling the other two he'd catch up later, he slipped on the Cloak and hurried away before either could ask why. Darting after Zabini as quietly as possible, though the rattling of the train made such caution almost pointless, the corridors were almost completely empty now. Nearly everyone had returned to their carriages to change into their school robes and pack up their possessions. Though he was as close as he could get to Zabini without touching him, Harry was not quick enough to slip into the compartment when Zabini opened the door. Zabini was already sliding it shut when Harry hastily stuck out his foot to prevent it closing.

He angrily began smashing the door repeatedly on Harry's foot.

Harry let out a hiss of breath in remembered pain, shifting his foot uncomfortably, and ignoring the almost pitying look of those around him. He didn't want to hear what better idea they would have come up with to avoid that happening, but Sirius gave it anyways. "It's too bad you didn't bring an extendable ear with you, or even just manage to leave a crack in the door they wouldn't have noticed. Then you could have stayed on the outside and avoided this problem of actually slipping in."

"You lot just come up with the best strategies sitting around comfortably in here," Harry grumbled, though admittedly he was just as sure they would have come up with that on the spot, they'd trained their minds to think up such on the spot lies and solutions, as they so constantly reminded him.

Harry seized the door and pushed it open, hard; Zabini, still clinging on to the handle, toppled over sideways into Gregory Goyle's lap, and in the ensuing ruckus, Harry darted into the compartment, leapt onto Zabini's temporarily empty seat, and hoisted himself up into the luggage rack. It was fortunate that Goyle and Zabini were snarling at each other, drawing all eyes onto them, for Harry was quite sure his feet and ankles had been revealed as the cloak had flapped around them; indeed, for one horrible moment he thought he saw Malfoy's eyes follow his trainer as it whipped upward out of sight. But then Goyle slammed the door shut and flung Zabini off him; Zabini collapsed into his own seat looking ruffled, Vincent Crabbe returned to his comic, and Malfoy, sniggering, lay back down across two seats with his head in Pansy Parkinsons lap.

"That right there was almost worth the price you going in," Sirius laughed heartily, imaging all those dumbfounded expressions for this happening.

"I'm now regretting not pulling more stunts on the train like doors randomly opening, would have been a kick," James agreed.

"Best we didn't, wouldn't want the trolley lady giving us hell if she caught us," Remus pointed out. "She might have withheld snacks from us," he finished with a horrified look.

"I wouldn't put it past her to tell McGonagall though, so I guess it's best," Sirius sighed.

Harry lay curled uncomfortably under the cloak to ensure that every inch of him remained hidden, and watched Pansy stroke the sleek blond hair off Malfoy's forehead, smirking as she did so, as though anyone would have loved to have been in her place.

Lily in particular had a crude look on her face, that sounded like a punishment, pampering such a toerag.

The lanterns swinging from the carriage ceiling cast a bright light over the scene: Harry could read every word of Crabbe's comic directly below him.

Malfoy casually asked of Zabini what Slughorn had wanted, and while still glowering at Goyle he answered their new teacher was just trying to make up with well-connected people. Not that he'd managed to find many.

Malfoy was clearly displeased with that information, demanding who all had been invited?

"Not him? Oh, the horror!" Sirius managed a simpering impression of a teenage girl.

"The horrifying part is, he might have actually got one the year before his father lost so much favor," James crinkled his face in disgust.

McLaggen from Gryffindor, Zabini began listing off,

"I didn't realize he was a Gryffindor," Lily said in surprise.

"Shows how much Harry pays attention to even his fellow students in his house," James shrugged without much concern, though there hadn't yet been anything wrong with him, it was still annoying he'd been a prime example of everything wrong with that Club.

-Malfoy agreed he had a big Uncle in the Ministry-

Belby, from Ravenclaw, Zabini continued-

Pansy referred to him as a prat.

"Been liking him more and more lately on principle," Remus rolled his eyes.

Zabini finished with the last three Gryffindors.

Malfoy sat up very suddenly, knocking Pansy's hand aside, demanding Longbottom had been invited!

"I really am glad Neville outranks me on the scale of his outrage," Harry shook his head.

Zabini indifferently agreed he assumed so, since he'd been there.

Malfoy demanded what about Longbottom had Slughorn interested?

Zabini shrugged.

Malfoy went on to sneer about Potter, that was obvious, him being the Chosen One.

Then Harry sighed without surprise that had come soon after. He'd have to be sure to mention to Neville he wasn't in fact the person Malfoy hated most though, perhaps he'd get lucky and Neville would put Malfoy in a dress and feathered hat for him next.

That Weasley girl though, what was so special about her?

Pansy pointed out a lot of boys liked her, obviously watching Malfoy for a reaction.

Harry felt his blood start boiling at once at the idea, that was ridiculous! Of course Ginny was good looking, but surely Pansy was just being her usual pugnacious self!

Even Blaise had mentioned how good-looking she was, and they all knew how hard he was to please.

"Her exact sentiments as well I'm sure," Sirius rolled his eyes while Lily giggled a bit at the expression on her sons face, he looked far more agitated by this than she would have thought. He really must have grown fond of her over the summer.

Zabini coldly replied he wouldn't touch a filthy little blood traitor no matter what she looked like.

"Well at least he won't turn out like his mother," Remus snarked.

Pansy looked pleased. Malfoy sank back across her lap and allowed her to resume the stroking of his hair.

"Allowed her," James couldn't help but repeat that like speaking of curdled milk, it really was odd to think of Malfoy having a girlfriend.

Malfoy decided he didn't think much of Slughorn's taste in all, a shame, as his father had spoken of him highly in his old days. Slughorn probably just hadn't heard he was on the train-

Zabini cut in to point out Slughorn didn't seem to have an interest in Death Eaters, Nott hadn't gotten an invitation either.

"The one good thing that man has going for him," Sirius sighed.

"As if they need a way to make more connections," James agreed solemnly.

Malfoy looked angry, but forced out a singularly humorless laugh. Deciding who cared then, he was just some stupid teacher.

Remus went wide eyed in mock concern. "Of course! Now next time, try backtracking before you go out of your way to show how much you care, it'll come off much better."

"Why couldn't you be on the train again Moony," Sirius muttered.

Malfoy yawned ostentatiously before declaring he might not even be at Hogwarts next year, what did it matter.

"Considering I already had my fingers crossed he wouldn't be there this year, I refuse to get my hopes up again," James grumbled.

Pansy indignantly demanded what he meant by that, ceasing grooming Malfoy at once.

He just smirked when he told he'd soon be moving on to bigger and better things.

Harry perked up with interest in the conversation again, easily distracted from picturing Ginny releasing a few more Bat-Bogey Hexes in this compartment again. This was exactly what he'd been in there to hear!

Crouched in the luggage rack under his cloak, Harry's heart began to race. What would Ron and Hermione say about this?

"Probably dismiss it again," Harry pessimistically answered himself.

"They haven't dismissed anything love," Lily patiently corrected, clearly determined to stop him griping about this. "They just need more to go on than you. It's not that they don't believe you, they know you're right, they're just not as convinced it's as terrible as you seem to think."

Harry looked simmered at least, though not at all comforted he hadn't found himself as wrong as he found her right.

Crabbe and Goyle were gawping at Malfoy; apparently they had had no inkling of any plans to move on to bigger and better things. Even Zabini had allowed a look of curiosity to mar his haughty features.

"Praise Merlin!" Sirius mock raised a glass.

"I'm not thankful we don't have to hear about him more, as if we needed to hear of more smug expressions," Remus told him with an obvious look Sirius happily ignored.

Pansy resumed the slow stroking of Malfoy's hair, looking dumbfounded.

Clearly enjoying the attention, Malfoy continued his mother wanted him to complete his education, but did the Dark Lord care about N. E. W. T. grades? Of course not, it was about service and devotion that mattered when the time came.

"I really hate it when he's not wrong," James sighed.

"At least he's right in all the wrong ways," Sirius said with mock chipper.

Zabini scathingly returned Malfoy thought himself a fully qualified wizard to be doing anything like that.

Malfoy returned maybe the job he was going for didn't require a fully qualified adult.

James hadn't meant for his voice to go so quiet at the end, but he certainly hadn't been expecting Malfoy to bring up something so casually that had reduced his mother to tears and pleading.

Narcissa hadn't been joking when she'd said Malfoy was eager to be doing this. Maybe not anytime soon, but even then Malfoy was impling whatever this job was wasn't far off in the future.

Crabbe and Goyle were both sitting with their mouths open like gargoyles. Pansy was gazing down at Malfoy as though she had never seen anything so awe inspiring.

The moment was broken by Sirius snorting viciously and snapping, "here I thought she'd get that expression any time she tried to look in a mirror without breaking one!"

"Those poor deluded kids have no idea what they're hearing," Lily gave a resounded agreement.

Malfoy then chose to change the subject by pointing out he could see the castle in the distance, and got up to get his robes.

Harry was so busy staring at Malfoy, he did not notice Goyle reaching up for his trunk; as he swung it down, it hit Harry hard on the side of the head. He let out an involuntary gasp of pain, and Malfoy looked up at the luggage rack, frowning.

"Uhoh," all five of them muttered in unease. Harry was pinned with five against one, that wouldn't be a friendly fight even with his slight advantage of getting the first surprise attack in.

Harry was not afraid of Malfoy, but he still did not much like the idea of being discovered hiding under his Invisibility Cloak by a group of unfriendly Slytherins. Eyes still watering and head still throbbing, he drew his wand, careful not to disarrange the cloak, and waited, breath held. To his relief, Malfoy seemed to decide that he had imagined the noise; he pulled on his robes like the others, locked his trunk, and as the train slowed to a jerky crawl, fastened a thick new traveling cloak round his neck.

Harry could see the corridors filling up again and hoped that Hermione and Ron would take his things out onto the platform for him;

"I have no doubt they'll grab Hedwig for you," Lily distractedly agreed, wishing he'd get out of there already, but knowing he had to wait anyways for them all to leave. It was only a slight relief Malfoy hadn't noticed anything, but they were all acutely aware now how much trouble Harry could have potentially gotten himself into, and it wasn't much fun now.

he was stuck where he was until the compartment had quite emptied. At last, with a final lurch, the train came to a complete halt. Goyle threw the door open and muscled his way out into a crowd of second years, punching them aside;

"It's good to know they really are as terrible as the one they follow around," James rolled his eyes.

Crabbe and Zabini followed, but Malfoy had to wave Pansy out, saying he wanted to check on something.

Pansy left. Now Harry and Malfoy were alone in the compartment. People were filing past, descending onto the dark platform. Malfoy moved over to the compartment door and let down the blinds, so that people in the corridor beyond could not peer in. He then bent down over his trunk and opened it again.

The others perked up with interest at once, thinking that would have been worth it if they could know something so early of what Malfoy was up to, while Harry sank back uneasily in his seat, not at all getting a good feeling about this.

Harry peered down over the edge of the luggage rack, his heart pumping a little faster. What had Malfoy wanted to hide from Pansy? Was he about to see the mysterious broken object it was so important to mend?

He was not expecting the spell Petrificus Totalus to be shot right at him.**

Sirius was so surprised a spell had come out of James' mouth he accidentally drew his wand and shot a hex right back at him, causing the book to sail away along with his glasses.

"Really Sirius? Was that necessary?" Remus asked him as James scowled and summoned them back.

"You were just as thrown by that as I was!" Sirius defended.

"Least I didn't try to throw him across the room for it," Remus rolled his eyes.

Lily had yelped in surprise and tried to jump away from James, they'd all startled hard at a spell of all things coming out of his mouth!

"Bloody hell, I take it back!" James groaned as he gazed at that and back to his son, unphased by his best mate, eyes only on his kid. "Don't you ever do this again without backup!"

Harry just nodded with a resigned expression in place, he wasn't looking forward to the shock wearing off and all of them realizing he'd just been bested by Malfoy!

Without warning, Malfoy pointed his wand at Harry, who was instantly paralyzed. As though in slow motion, he toppled out of the luggage rack and fell, with an agonizing, floor-shaking crash, at Malfoy's feet, the Invisibility Cloak trapped beneath him, his whole body revealed with his legs still curled absurdly into the cramped kneeling position. He couldn't move a muscle; he could only gaze up at Malfoy, who smiled broadly.

Lily groaned and put her face in her hands, while the boys as well looked miserable for how this was going to go. Harry would be lucky to leave with tentacles on his face, for all the revenge Malfoy could give of the past few train rides.

Malfoy jubilantly declared he'd known as much, he'd heard Goyle's trunk hit him and seen his shoes when he'd come in.

"Pity he's really not as stupid as he looks," Sirius ground out, clutching his wand tight and wishing more every second he could retaliate in some way against someone who deserved it.

He continued Potter hadn't heard anything he cared about, but just for good measure, he stamped hard on Harry's face. Harry felt his nose break; blood spurted everywhere.***

Harry couldn't help but cover his nose now, his face still leary of what was to come next, while James hissed in outrage for an extra moment before noticing this part was almost done. He couldn't decide if that was a good thing or not.

That was for his father. Malfoy dragged the cloak out from under Harry's immobilized body and threw it over him, deciding no one would be looking for him until he was back in London. Guess he wouldn't be seeing him around.

And taking care to tread on Harry's fingers, Malfoy left the compartment.

Not, most definitely not!

"Of all the cowardly, black-hearted things to do!" Sirius snarled in outrage. "He's just going to leave you there!"

"I- what's going to happen to me!" Harry demanded in a panic. It had certainly been funny enough to do the same to Malfoy back at Nine and Three-Quarters the past two years, but not at Hogsmeade station!

"I, honestly have no clue, never tried," James groaned as he passed Sirius the book, no one looking forward to finding out.

HPHPHP

*The Hand of Glory and this are both guilty of just randomly inserting things that apparently should have been common knowledge. Zabini hangs around Malfoy though he's never been mentioned since his sorting, Malfoy just apparently has a hand of Glory though it was mentioned all of one time in book two Malfoy certainly didn't own. I feel like this was one of those moments JK just made up something on the spot and obviously by this point didn't have a chance to go back and put in, leaving me unable to help noticing both of these would very obviously be important later. One out of two was.

** I think JK meant Stupify, as that one paralyzes you the way you are, where as Petrificus Totalus has all your limbs snapping together before you do the same.

***Four people to do with that Prophecy have their noses broken. Voldemort doesn't have one, Neville got his broken last year in the Department of Mysteries, Dumbledore by Aberforth all those years ago, and now Harry here. If something had happened to Trelawney's nose, I would have thought it was some curse of Prophecy type thing for this to happen.

[breanime]

Rumors

A fluffy, post-Azkaban Sirius fic that came out of nowhere! Lemme know what you think! 

*gif by @siriusblackfoot*

It’d been a busy few weeks for Sirius—for all of them, actually. After Peter betrayed the Potters and tried to have them killed and frame Sirius, it was nothing but trials and publicity until finally James and Lily (haven made sure that Harry was somewhere safe) were able to come out of hiding and vouch for Sirius. Remus, of course, had been on his side from the beginning, as well as most of the Order. It still pissed Sirius (and James, and Remus, and Lily…) off that Dumbledore took so long to make a statement on Sirius’ behalf. James said that was due to (newly turned double agent) Snape’s influence, but Sirius was pretty sure Dumbledore was just waiting to see if he had bet on the right horse…or dog, to be more accurate. His family, of course, doubled down on the disownment, and he’d been called a blood traitor so many times that it became a badge of honor. Old friends, teachers, complete strangers all knew who he was, and everyone had an opinion about his innocence—even now, after it had been proven that he hadn’t done anything wrong, people still looked at him suspiciously. He’d been getting hate mail (from both sides, actually) for weeks now. But finally, the trial was over, he’d done everything he could to help track Peter down, the Potters were safe, and they were all about to be released from the safe house and go back to their lives.

“Are you nervous?” James asked, lying on his stomach on a bench because he could never sit correctly.

Sirius answered with a shake of his head, unlit cigarette dangling from his lips. He was incredibly nervous. Before they could leave the safe house, they had to be transported to another location and have a protection spell put on them all. And as talented as they all were, there was one witch in particular who was a genius with protection spells, and she just happened to be one of the few people—besides the Marauders—who’d believed in Sirius this whole time, the one person who’s memory was enough to keep the Dementors at bay while he was in Azkaban, the only woman Sirius had ever truly loved… You.

“I think he’s nervous,” James said, looking over at Lily.

“Stop it, James,” she admonished him lightly, “he’s every right to be nervous.”

“”M not nervous,” Sirius spoke around his cigarette, “Why would I be nervous?”

“Because you’re a newly released, notoriously famous blood-traitor convict?” James supplied.

“Because you’re about to be reunited with your lost love who you haven’t seen in years,” Lily added.

“And you haven’t even had a proper haircut in all that time,” Remus reminded him.

“Not that you need one, darling,” James said sincerely, “You look good no matter what.”

“Thanks, babe,” Sirius said back, distracted as he continued to stare over at the door. Due to their collective level of importance and celebrity, everything they did had to be shrouded in secrecy, meaning not even they knew exactly when you would be arriving. Dumbledore had sent word saying you were coming and what day you were coming, so they’d all be ready, but—in true Dumbledore fashion—he hadn’t given any more detail than that.

Sirius, ignoring his friend’s ongoing discussion about his nerves, took a second to look away from the door to glance down at himself. His hair was longer than it’d been at Hogwarts, and he had facial hair—you’d never seen him with facial hair. James, as concerned as a doting mother, had nearly cried when he saw Sirius after Azkaban, apparently, he’d lost some weight. However, Remus said he didn’t look so bad. His exact words had been “you couldn’t look worse than I do after a full moon”, which had made Sirius laugh. Lily had brought him a bag of clothes and other toiletries when they got there, so now instead of his prison robes, Sirius was wearing his favorite pair of dark jeans (complete with a chain wallet that he, a wizard, did not need), a black button-up that was not all the way buttoned up, his silver necklace with his prison number that he, James, and Remus had made a few nights ago, and a gently worn leather jacket with black boots. He frowned, running a hand through his hair. Maybe he should have dressed up? Except that wasn’t him, and you knew that. But what did it matter, anyway? You were probably seeing someone, and even if you weren’t—you and Sirius had been friends at school, dated throughout your 5th, 6th, and 7th years, broke up at the end of the school year, kept hooking up for a while afterwards, and then amicably parted ways as you both fought in the war—so why would you be interested in an old flame like him?

“You look wonderful, Sirius,” Lily said, practically reading his thoughts.

“’Course he looks wonderful, he’s Sirius Black. Look at that face!” James said proudly, bringing a grin to Sirius’ face. “And that hair! And the legs! Give us a twirl, darling!”

Sirius, never one to disappoint his fans, put his arms up and twirled around, making sure to flip his hair to give his modeling the full Sirius affect. James clapped enthusiastically while Lily and Remus laughed, rolling their eyes.

“I see some things never change.”

Sirius froze, back to the door and arms still out. He knew that voice. He dreamt of that voice. He’d memorized the sound of that voice laughing, and moaning, and whispering his name oh so sweetly.

“Y/N!” Lily cried, running past Sirius to tackle you in a hug. Remus followed, giving Sirius a small smile that clearly said “sorry you embarrassed yourself in front of the love of your life, mate”. James straight up laughed in his face.

Sirius turned on his heel, and he took in a breath as he saw you. How could you be even more beautiful than you were the last time he’d seen you? How was that fair?!

You looked over at him from behind James’ shoulders, and wow… did he miss those eyes of yours.

“Hi Sirius,” you said once James released you. You offered him up a small smile, and Sirius felt himself melt.

“Hi. Hey.” He put a hand up in greeting before awkwardly dropping it to his side. “Hi.” He heard James giggle and Lily shush him.

“You—it’s good to see you,” you said.

“Yeah, it’s good to see you, too. You look—you look good.” Sirius cleared his throat. Why was this so hard? Back at Hogwarts, he’d been able to charm you effortlessly (after a short learning curve, of course), now he felt like he did 4th year when he realized he had a crush on his friend Y/N.

You smiled, a real, full smile, and Sirius had to remind himself not to swoon. “Thanks,” You pulled out a cracked, ceramic coffee mug from your bag, “So we’re going to be traveling via Portkey,” you explained, “The Order has safe houses all over the world, of course, but we’re going to my place until everything dies down a bit.” You turned to address the Potters. “They’ll be bringing Harry to us before the day is over,” you smiled warmly when you saw the looks of pure bliss on their faces, “I thought you’d like to be with him right away.”

“Thank you, Y/N,” Lily sighed out, “I can’t tell you how happy that makes us.”

“Of course,” you said, shrugging one shoulder, “I know how hard it can be to miss someone,” you glanced over at Sirius, and his heart skipped a beat, “Anyway, my place is secure, it’s set up with a variety of complex protection spells, so everyone will be safe.” You held out the mug. “Shall we?”

Remus, James, Lily, and Sirius all came up to you and put their hands on the mug. Sirius vaguely registered that familiar tug that came with traveling this way, but his main focus was the feel of your hand—so soft and smooth—underneath his.

In a second, you five were standing in the entry way of a home—your home—and you ushered them inside. Once the door was locked behind you all, you got to work setting the protection spells on them. You started with Lily (“have to protect Mommy,” you had said cheerfully), then James, and then Remus. Each one took a few minutes, and Sirius watched; entranced. He was in awe of you, of every flick of your wand, every complex mixing of spells that passed your pretty lips, every small frown or satisfied smile as you finished a particular tricky spell—it was incredible.

You were just finishing up with Remus when James put his arm around Lily and said, “Thanks so much, Y/N! We really are so lucky to have you! Is there a room we can go to freshen up? Maybe get an owl to Harry—he can’t read yet, but he’s a right good listener.”

You laughed. “Sure, your room is at the top of the stairs to the right, and Remus is right across from you.” You stepped back from Remus. “You’re all done, you can go get comfortable if you like. I’ve an owl named Ninny, and another called Nessie, and I put invisible ink, parchment, and quills in all the rooms.”

“Oh, thank you,” Remus said, “But you know, I’m actually quite interested in these spells you’re doing. I noticed you seem to have combined—”

“—Now, now Moony,” James interrupted, “They’ll be plenty of time for shoptalk later, let’s let Y/N work on Sirius.”

“Oh,” Remus grinned, “Right. Of course.” Sirius had to fight down the urge to facepalm. “I’d like to send a few words to Harry, now that I think about it…”

“Yes,” Lily agreed, already leading the two men up the staircase, “we’ll just go and do that now—you two take your time! And Sirius, I’ll tell Harry you send your love!”

“Thanks, Evans,” Sirius grumbled, calling her by her surname due to force of habit.

Lily winked at him, James have him a VERY unsubtle thumbs up, and Remus pushed them both up the stairs.

And suddenly you two were alone together.

“So,” you said casually, coming to stand in front of Sirius so you could start the process, “I hear you’re Harry’s godfather.”

Sirius smiled. He doted on Harry—but then again, they all did. It had caused him so much pain to think that little Harry would grow up thinking his godfather killed his parents, but thankfully, that terrible scenario hadn’t happened, so Sirius decided not to dwell on it. “Yeah,” he answered, “He looks just like James—with the hair and everything. Except he’s got Lily’s eyes, and probably her badassery, too.”

“The badass gene does come from the mother,” you said.

“Then where’d mine come from?” He said back.

You laughed—he’d made you laugh!—and walked around Sirius for the next spell. “Don’t move,” you said. The command was unnecessary. He wouldn’t have moved away from you for anything. “I also heard you got Muggle tattoos after school.”

He nodded. “D’you know they do them with needles? It was bloody torture,” he shrugged, “I mean, I would still take that over the Dementors any day, but…” He saw you frown as you moved to stand behind him. He needed to change the subject. “…I heard you were offered a position at Hogwarts.”

Your eyebrows went up as you came to stand in front of him again, wand up. “How’d you hear that?”

Sirius smirked. “How’d you hear about me?” He asked back.

You smiled, looking away from him in a way that just made him want to kiss you. “I may have asked around.”

“That’s exactly what I do—did,” he confessed.

“I’ve also heard some rumors about you,” you said, moving around him again. Sirius twisted around, trying to keep you in his sights. “I’d like to know if they’re true or not.”

He licked his lips. His name had been in the papers a lot recently, and the reviews weren’t all glowing. But he knew you, and more importantly: you knew him, and Sirius had no doubt in his mind, now that you were standing with him, smiling at him like that, that you would never let your image of him be swayed by the tabloids. “Well, today’s your lucky day,” he grinned, “You have me all to yourself: ask away.”

“All to myself, huh?” You gave him a smirk that had his body tingling with excitement. “About time…” Before Sirius could even unpack that, you were behind him again, whispering out another spell before you spoke again. “I heard you escaped on a Hippogriff.”

“True,” Sirius smiled fondly, “Well—I didn’t escape on him, but he was my ride out. What else?”

“I also heard you have a hippogriff tattoo.”

“Where?”

“Where did I hear that or where do you have it?” You asked back.

Sirius’ smile widened. “Where did you hear I have it?”

“Rumor has it that you have the wings between your thighs,” you giggled, circling back around to his front.

He barked out a laugh. “That’s an incredible idea!”

“I knew it was fake!” You laughed back. “Joanna Rawlins said you got it during 6th year, which was obviously a lie.”

Sirius made a face. You had been together 6th year. “How would she even know?”

“She tried to make it sound like she’d seen you naked,” you huffed, “Even though I know for a fact that you can’t stand her.”

“I wouldn’t get a tattoo there anyway,” he said, “Why ruin perfection?”

“Exactly!” You agreed.

Sirius cocked an eyebrow. “So you think I’m perfect?” He asked, grinning.

You rolled your eyes, but he saw that smile as you stood behind him. “Hush, I have to do this spell.”

“Interesting,” he went on, starting to feel more like himself than he had in weeks, “You know, I was quite worried about seeing you again, but now that you admit you think I’m perfect—”

“—I never admitted that.”

“—I’m starting to feel a little better.” He turned, smirking over at you. “So what is it about me that’s just so perfect to you?”

You put his head in your hands and turned it so that he was staring straight ahead and not at you. “You’re insufferable, you know that?”

“C’mon, Y/N, tell me all about how you’ve been pining for me, wishing we would cross paths again and that I would bless you with all of my divine perfection.”

He could practically hear you rolling your eyes. “Sounds like you’re the one who’s been pining.”

Sirius felt his heart skip a beat—you had no idea how right you were. Truly, you had a gift for reading him without even knowing you were doing it. He swallowed, thinking back on those days when you were his, how happy and free he had felt when he was in your arms. Life had dealt him a shitty hand, it’s true, but Sirius also had a lot of happy memories, memories that he used to keep the Dementors from literally sucking the soul out of him—and quite a few of those memories were of you. He couldn’t deny that he loved you; he had and always would. And maybe… as you walked around him, wand up and voice low as you concentrated on performing the proper spells, maybe you still loved him, too. “I suppose that’s true,” he said quietly, glad that his back was to you now, “To be honest, the memory of you—of us—is pretty much what kept me going in Azkaban.” You stopped your rotation around him, standing in front of him with caring eyes. “I know I haven’t done a good job of keeping in touch, but I hope you know… I think about you all the time. And I’m…grateful for having been with you, for having those memories with you.” He looked away, down at his feet and then over to the wall. “Hell, I’m even grateful for the rumors you’ve just told me,” he said with a shallow laugh.

You took a step back, pocketing your wand. “There’s still a few more that we haven’t discussed,” you said, voice serious.

“…Okay…”

“I heard a rumor,” you said slowly, carefully, as if you didn’t want to startle him away—as if he hadn’t been dreaming of being this close to you for years now, “that you still have feelings for me.” You put a hand up before he could even open his mouth to respond. “True or false?”

“True.” He said, not wasting a second on hesitation.

You nodded, a small smile building at the corners of your increasingly kissable lips. “I also heard that you hadn’t been in a relationship since we broke up.”

“Also true.”

“Because…?” You prompted softly.

“Because I love you,” Sirius answered easily, “And only you. If I can’t be with you, then there’s no point in dating at all, is there?”

You were full-on smiling now, and so was Sirius. “I suppose not,” you said back. “You know, I heard another rumor that you were going to ask me out,” you shrugged, feigning causality, “And that you were going to stay here with me for a while, I mean—as long as you’d like to…”

“I’d like to stay forever,” Sirius blurted out, not at all embarrassed by his eager reaction, “And you know what, Y/N? I think that’s the most accurate rumor I’ve heard about myself in weeks.” He grinned. “I know we’re supposed to be laying low and what not, but would you like to go out with me? I can take you to the patio, or upstairs, or even to the kitchen!”

“Why yes, Mr. Black,” you stepped up to him with a smile, “I’d enjoy that very much.”

Sirius put a hand on your hips and pulled you to him, and he knew in that moment that you belonged at his side, always. “Then it’s a date,” he said back, leaning down slowly.

“HELL YEAH IT’S A DATE!” James yelled from the top of the staircase, making you and Sirius pull back, cheeks warm.

“James!” Lily scolded him.

“Really, Prongs?” Sirius yelled back, unable to keep the smile off of his face. “Aren’t you lot supposed to be writing Harry?”

“Harry would like to know that his godfather is getting back together with his badass pseudo-aunt,” Remus replied.

“And there’ll be a wedding soon!” James added excitedly.

You laughed, and Sirius could drown in the sound. “Don’t start spreading rumors, Potter!”

Sirius pulled you back to him, eager to have you back in his arms again. “Give it a few years,” he said softly. Your eyes widened, and Sirius leaned down and kissed you, melting against you as his mouth worked over yours. Lily, James, and Remus—parents and professionals all—were cheering and clapping above you, but Sirius was used to ignoring their dramatics by now. As he held you, Sirius knew that this was the start of the rest of his life; he wasn’t feeling completely whole yet—though he was certain the arrival of Harry was all that he needed to get there—but he was feeling good. Happy. Safe and loved and incredibly lucky to have such great friends in his life, and such an amazing woman in his arms.

And really, as he thought about rumors of weddings going through their circle of friends, and then probably the Order, and then to the entire Wizarding world as well, Sirius had to say…

…rumors weren’t always so bad after all.

*******************************************************************************************

I think I may be ready to write more for Sirius... maybe. I want to write something for my James x reader x Sirius verse (shameless plug for my fic In Sync!) at some point, too. 

Thanks for reading!

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[halothenthehorns]

TLTNL- THE LOST PROPHECY

Lily watched Harry come back inside and flop morosely down at the table, burying his head into his arms and looking so exhausted she wouldn't be surprised if he'd simply fallen over asleep. Still keeping Hickory wrapped in her arms for that deep purring noise keeping her together instead of what she really wanted but determined to keep her infant upstairs, she sat down next to him and ran her nails through his hair, smiling slightly when he tilted his head towards her touch.

"They'll get through this, they always have," Lily promised.

"Exactly how many times has some kid come plopping down into their life to tell them in detail how you lot were going to die?" Harry demanded, his words muffled and all the more grateful he couldn't see the look he knew would be on her face for that.

He was right not to look, he decided, when her voice came out so strained but still as sure as ever. "Doesn't change what I said, they're the most resilient lot I've ever known in my life. They'll bounce back from this just because that's who they are."

When Harry didn't respond to this, she instead tried, "Remus will forgive you, the man can't seem to hold a grudge anymore than he can avoid laughing at his mates," except towards himself she mentally finished with a pained wince for the poor dear.

Harry peaked up at her then, whispering, "I'm killing you all, why should any of you forgive me?"

Lily swapped to smacking him on the forehead, across his scar, and he went cross-eyed for a moment but his stricken expression didn't change. "You are doing no such thing," Lily snapped. "Even if we could, we wouldn't change our own past! I'd fall in love with James again, I'd have you as my first child all over again, I wouldn't change a thing that's happened in my life because of everything it's gifted me. Can you really say you wouldn't come here and meet us if you had the choice right now?"

Harry met her eyes, and felt worse than ever he would deny no such thing. Did that really make him a terrible person though, just to meet his parents, to have his chance again to see Sirius? He'd kept struggling with this the more he cared for is own friends, when had they switched to being his family? Now they were all he had left from that time, he wouldn't ever want to live without them, but could he give that up for being with his new one?

He was saved from having to answer that now by Sirius stomping back in and kicking Harry's chair.

  "What did I do now?" Harry asked as he looked up at him, still sounding more exhausted than anything, though not entirely able to cover his awe he was still able to just look at his godfather, still just have a casual conversation with him.

"Since when did I need a reason to get your attention?" Sirius demanded back, before tapping him on the forehead with the book. "It's your turn by the way, think you can manage that without causing another storm?"

It was spoken as a jest, but Harry managed something resembling a smile at Sirius still looking out for him, his every indication saying he'd keep going if Harry couldn't. He'd been a fool, of course this was still his Sirius, Azkaban may have changed him, but nothing could really take him away.

He took it and followed James and Remus still muttering to each other into the living room, the two sitting down on the double seater while Harry still felt heavy with guilt for what he'd said, it was saying something Remus would still be in the same room with him as he sat down between his mother and Sirius to try and start.

They didn't know, and they didn't care what came next, whatever hellish thing was set to end Harry's fifth year. It wasn't going to mean much except Harry still walking those halls, truly the only thing they could stand hearing about at this point.

Harry landed in Dumbledore's office, which had magically repaired itself to its former glory.

Sirius tried in vain for a giggle, sharing with the others his instant idea of Dumbledore just waltzing into the school just to repair his office.

James countered with McGonagall might have done it, and the two may well have turned the whole thing into a debate of who was more likely to have done that under Umbridge's nose if Lily hadn't kept their attention. Harry was only just keeping himself pulled together, his voice still shook with every word and he was all but glued to Sirius' side while remembering a grief he'd only just suffered through in here, and though watching the two avidly, it would only hurt him more the longer that had to linger in his mind. The two quickly realized all of this and shut themselves up as soon as she'd cleared her throat.

His breathing was rapid, he tried not to think, but there was nothing to stop it. It was his fault Sirius had died; it was all his fault.

Harry could feel the protest boiling around him, but he had to get this out, he didn't want to hear any false securities right now, venting as loud as he could.

If Harry had not been stupid enough to fall for Voldemort's trick, he'd still be alive, if only he'd listened to Hermione.

"No, no, no, and extra no!" Sirius still managed to speak over him. "Harry, how could you blame yourself for something you had no clue of at the time!?"

"Everyone was warning me this would-"

"No one told you shit!" Sirius barked back, keeping one eye on Harry's bleak face and the other on his mates who were both breathing rather heavily again as well as if stopping themselves from screaming.

"Hermione did," Harry breathed, and though nestled right beside his godfather, there was still that dark hole that may have grown smaller with time, but seemed open fresh and wide now Harry could not shake off, the thoughts still plaguing him all these years later if he'd only listened...

"Then blame her," Sirius seemed to conclude, even as he watched Harry with a small little smirk and knowing what to expect.

He got exactly that, Harry looked at him utterly affronted, "it was my fault for not listening to her, not her job to force me to!" He didn't look like hew was going to start crying anymore.

"You did listen to her," Sirius agreed as much to soothe that temper as make Harry hear what he was saying.

"Even when none of us would, you wouldn't let us yell at her for doing so," James uneasily agreed, now wishing he'd thought more of that at the time as well.

"Then Kreacher did some twisted mess, and Umbridge got in the way, and you had no reason to think otherwise," Sirius' face couldn't help but cloud at the end himself, how the world seemed stacked against Harry like that.

"Yeah, what was with that," Remus snarled quietly under his breath. "Why did Kreacher lie then of all times?"

"Doesn't particularly feel like he chose then to grow a sense of shitliss humor," James agreed foully.

They didn't actually have an answer for that, and now the one person who could have forced him to say what had been going through that deranged elf's mind was no longer around to do so...

Sirius swallowed hard when he realized his own words had backfired, and for a moment he let Harry keep going just to keep himself collected. He enjoyed hearing about this no more than them, honestly hated himself more than anyone ever could, for doing what he'd done to Harry, leaving him like that, failing James and Lily and his godson for his stupid arse getting caught and leaving the last of his family alone. If he thought about that too long he'd see red again, the only thing keeping himself in check was making absolutely sure Harry would always know the real truth, it wasn't his fault.

It was unbearable, this hollow feeling growing in him where Sirius should have been, he could not be alone with it.

Lily made a keening noise as she reached out for her child, could no more let him be alone with this than let her infant go without food. Harry leaned into her touch, knowing he wasn't alone now as he had been during the worst moment of his life then. Lily carded her fingers through his hair as gently as she could while her mind viciously demanded what had Dumbledore been thinking putting him back in there all alone, where was Remus or the rest of the Order, someone?!

The portraits around him, which had actually been sleeping, began to stir as dawn crept into the office, Phineas being the first to spot him and asking if Dumbledore had sent him to give another useless message to his worthless great-grandson?

The page snapped out of place as if it were Phineas' face. He couldn't help it, no matter the stupid petty insult it was, no one was ever going to talk about Sirius like that!

Lily quickly reached over and fixed it, smoothing it back into place while keeping worried eyes on him, but he hardly acknowledged her look, continuing like nothing had happened, though they could feel by the second something was churning in him, just waiting for a release.

Harry couldn't respond, to say the words aloud would make them irreversible.

Harry had to breathe carefully through his nose or that was going to end on a sob again. He'd had his moment, pouring his past out that way onto his godfather now, he wouldn't just keep breaking down and crying like some child every time it was mentioned now!

He couldn't just stay here and be scrutinized by these paints, so he tried to leave, but the door would not open. Another ignored this attempt entirely and asked if Dumbledore would be back soon, it had been very dull around here.

"That school has never been anything remotely dull," Remus muttered, though there was no inflection in his voice, they were still reeling from too many emotions to feel something simple like a joking tone right now.

Harry started to panic as he couldn't get the door open. He couldn't just stay here, where the feeling was rising in him like a wave leaving him ready to crash, he could not stay here!

A flash of green behind him, and Harry turned to see Dumbledore appear in his fireplace. He stepped out carefully, and avoided looking at Harry

"Oh, this again!" Lily burst out in frustration so loud everyone around her jumped and her cat ruffled and glared up at her.

"I swear if that man doesn't do some explaining, I'm going to-" Sirius cut himself off before he'd let his stupid threat pass through his lips. He'd been fixing to say haunt him, but even he knew he couldn't get away with that without Harry breaking down again in his lap and his mates possibly murdering him here and now.

as he stepped over and deposited the tiny baby Fawkes into his usual perch before sitting at his desk, telling Harry none of his fellow students would have permanent damage from the nights events.

"Good," Harry sighed in relief, though he'd winced heavily while saying so as he'd hardly spared a thought for them while hounding after Bellatrix. He already couldn't really forgive himself for what had happened to Sirius, he'd have wasted away to nothing if the same had befallen his friends because of him as well.

Madam Pomfrey was patching everyone up now. Nymphadora Tonks may have to spend some time in St. Mungos, but everyone would make a full recovery.

Sirius made a little rumbling noise of concern, he'd loved hearing of how his little cousin had turned out and didn't like imagining what Bellatrix had done to her.

Harry tried to say this was good, but the word escaped him.

Dumbledore next said he knew how Harry was feeling, and Harry at once said he had no clue!

Lily sighed deeply, her hand still a comfort on him. Dumbledore was only trying to say what many would in that instance, they weren't naive in thinking he'd never lost anyone as surely the man had parents or some such at some time in his life, but what Harry needed most now was the one thing he'd just been denied for the rest of his life, and no sympathy on anyone's part would make that better.

Phineas laughed at this, saying he'd told Dumbledore already never to try and sympathize with the students. Harry ignored this and turned away to the window. The Quidditch pitch could be seen in the distance, where Harry had once seen Sirius as a black dog watching his game, he'd never asked why...

"I thought that was implied," James said through a thick throat, his voice cracking at the end anyways, that was not a memory he wanted to be reminded of right now! His whole body shook, he could have fallen over in that moment from too much loss, but then like he had so many times for Sirius, Remus leaned over and whispered something in his ear. James muttered something back, and while he still seemed to be having trouble breathing, he desperately waved on anyone who would change the bleeding subject.

Dumbledore continued that there was no shame in what Harry was feeling, on the contrary, this pain was his strength.

Harry felt a white-hot anger lick at him, leaving him with the desire to hurt back Dumbledore's calm words.

James could sympathize, he'd feel the same way of anyone who walked in right now, almost wished for it as he needed someone to take all this out on, he just couldn't even imagine doing so to those around him.

Dumbledore just kept going though, saying Harry's suffering proved he was still human-

"That's not helping!" Remus said lowly, fighting shaking limbs himself just to keep upright, and now took back his own thought. Did Dumbledore know nothing of comforting someone in pain?

In all honesty there was no comfort for this, but that certainly hadn't been a way to go!

Harry roared back he didn't want to be human! He picked up the nearest thing, one of Dumbledore's silver instruments, and threw it against the wall.

Sirius swallowed hard as Harry managed to shout all of that with the same intensity, that anger from before bleeding right through back into him now.

Several of the portraits gasped in surprise, but Harry kept going at the same volume he didn't care, he'd had enough, he didn't want anymore, all the while chucking the things around him until he ran out so he flipped the table to.

None dared to stop his tirade, letting him vent and yell all that out and honestly wanting to join in. It felt like too much, he just kept losing everything, and they no longer had the will to promise it would get any better, not after this.

Dumbledore had not made a single move to stop him, in fact still watching with that maddening calm as he said Harry did care, he cared so much the pain left him feeling as if he'd bleed out from it.

Lily watched Harry steadily even as she vaguely registered Dumbledore's words. There was what they'd been looking for, that truly did make it sound as if Dumbledore did know what Harry was feeling, he did know what loss was...

Harry now senselessly screamed he didn't, shaking in place and wanting to rush at Dumbledore now, to break him to, so he'd feel just an instant of his own horror.

That violent streak, though not a surprise, worried them the most. They'd seen that play out in here, and didn't want to know what Dumbledore would do if Harry acted on that in there.

Dumbledore just kept at his calm, saying oh yes Harry did, he'd now lost his mother, father, and the closest thing he'd had to a parent. Of course he cared.

"Still not helping," Remus said again through gritted teeth. Constantly feeling on the verge of crying and refusing to act on it made him feel as if he were suffocating, but he refused to let himself. If Harry punched him again than so be it, but the only thing keeping him listening was watching Sirius, knowing this hadn't happened to him, it wasn't going to, so he would not cry!

Harry tried to keep shouting, but words were no longer enough, smashing things wasn't helping. He just wanted to run, keep running and not look back.*

Sirius inhaled sharply as he understood that all to well. He'd felt that twice in his life, in very short amount of times. Once after what he'd done to Remus, he hadn't come out of the Forest for days and no one had even noticed his friends had all been so furious with him, he almost hadn't come back but finally guilt had triumphed over his own self loathing and so he'd returned. That very summer, after that night his parents had kicked him out, turned on him as no mother and father ever should to a child, and there was a reason it had taken him some time to make it to James's place in the state he was, he'd simply ran all the way there. Those two stuck vividly in his mind, and he couldn't breath for a moment knowing Harry had to feel the same and it was still worse for him.

Harry went back to the door, which was still locked, and commanded to be let out.

Dumbledore simply said no.

Harry tried to make a threat, but Dumbledore was not impressed, saying Harry may continue doing as he pleased with his possessions, he did have to many.

"Is he trying to be funny!" Lily said near hysterics now, feeling a wild mess herself at how alone her child was, how it felt like he could never have a single reprieve! She kept flashing back to what he'd seen witnessing this happening to Cedric, but then Sirius had been there for him! Now he'd never have that again, and a few more tears traced down her cheeks for this future.

Harry commanded in a cold, calm voice just like Dumbledore's to be let out, but again, Dumbledore simply said no, not until he was heard.

Harry was back to shouting he didn't care what Dumbledore had to say!

Dumbledore said he would. Harry was not yet nearly as angry as he should have been, for it was his fault Sirius had died.

James went utterly still, like a wild animal that had just scented its prey.

Though he would not be arrogant as to claim the whole, Sirius was a brave, energetic man who would not have simply sat by while others were in danger. Yet Dumbledore should have been honest from the beginning, that Voldemort may have tried to lead Harry there and this could very well have been a result, therefore, the blame lay with him.

"You are kidding me." James stated, and there was not a trace left of sorrow, though his face was still a blotchy red. "He knew-"

"James," Remus tried, honest fear galloping so hard through him his words still shook. "Prongs, he-"

"Shut up Remus!" James snapped right back, his eyes laser focused on Harry now. If Dumbledore was actually saying what James mind insisted he'd just heard, that man wasn't going to live, and Remus nor anyone was going to stop him!

Harry was still shaking by the doorknob as he watched Dumbledore, who asked he please sit down.

It was not a command, but a request, and Harry threw himself into the chair as violently as he could.

Phineas interrupted to ask that the last of the Blacks were dead?

Dumbledore said yes, and Phineas said he didn't believe it, walking out of his portrait.

Harry couldn't say that properly, he still didn't want to believe it even as he'd had no choice.

Harry could imagine him appearing in Grimmauld Place, how he'd hop from portrait to portrait shouting for Sirius who would never again answer...

Lily felt that catch in the back of her throat, her hand shaking in place upon Harry and he covered hers with his for a moment, but unable to look up, away from an answer he only wished he'd had at the beginning.

Dumbledore continued he owed Harry much, to start with an apology of an old man's mistake. He'd forgotten what it was to be young.

James felt a rushing noise in his ear, a fire that he still wanted to act on, but he'd hear Dumbledore out, know in detail if that man had really done the unthinkable regarding his family.

So Dumbledore began with Harry's scar, saying he'd suspected those fifteen years ago the connection it could hold to Voldemort, and much more recently when he'd gotten his body back, how this may progress. This became apparent on the night Mr. Weasley was attacked.

Harry said Snape had told him this, but Dumbledore corrected Professor Snape.

"No!" James snapped so sharply the cat hissed at him. "He's done nothing to earn that, and you need to keep your priorities right now!"

Harry shifted uncomfortably under such a quelling gaze, it helped nothing to remind him his father wasn't looking at him with that acquisitory look, but Dumbledore...right?

When Harry ignored this Dumbledore kept going, asking Harry had he not wondered why he hadn't been teaching Occlumency, why in fact he hadn't so much as looked at Harry for months?

"A damn fool would wonder that, clearly except the man doing it," Lily hissed.

It was because he'd feared Voldemort would soon learn of this connection as well, and that he'd use it through Harry to spy. Dumbledore had feared if he looked Harry in the eye, he'd see the shadow of a snake stirring, and he'd been right.

Harry's skin crawled, no matter the explanation that feeling still residing of how tainted he was, and now he had absolute proof of how true it was. He suddenly expected those around him to pull away, his errant thought from before festering into a sickening fear he could not shake. They should hate him, blame him for this happening to Sirius, Voldemort had been using him this whole time and now it was no longer just a thought but a fact, Voldemort had possessed him, was inside of him, maybe even now-

"It's alright Harry," Lily breathed in his ear, all of them had sensed the change jumping through Harry, his anger switching to something new and it wasn't the loss Sirius could help with, that was an expression none could stand to see on his face, he was back to feeling guilty and maybe something more.

She tried to take the book away from him, she couldn't stand to watch him suffer through this twice and though whatever idea that was in his head would continue, at least she could hopefully keep his attention on one problem she could fix, but Harry's grip only tightened around the binding, he wouldn't let it go. If he did, they could realize the same as him, and he couldn't lose them now, he just couldn't!

Harry vividly remembered those times where he'd felt like a snake ready to strike, and watched Dumbledore avidly now as he continued to explain that Voldemort's aim of possessing him would have meant destruction as he'd tried tonight, to sacrifice Harry in hopes Dumbledore would try to end them both.

Then he made a desperate noise, every joint feeling like it was going to pop out of his body.

"Harry," James watched him in surprise, the only thing able to pull him away, to distract him from what he'd felt for Dumbledore and Sirius, but his son.

Harry wouldn't though, he wouldn't look at him, couldn't look at any of them, he knew what he'd see, what should have been there. Anger, hate, how could they not after what he'd done?

Dumbledore sighed then, and Harry cared nothing. He would have wanted to know all of this less than twenty four hours ago, but now it felt meaningless.

It all slide away with one brush of Sirius' hand. Just like every time Harry had needed him, Sirius was there now, making a little tisk noise and telling Harry, "alright, deep breaths there, I have proof now I'm not the center of the universe and I may need some comfort here soon."

He tried for a pleasant tone of voice. Harry just watched him with a feeling he knew he'd had until this moment, which vanished in a flash. Sirius didn't blame him, didn't hate him, even knowing Harry's part in this. He kept looking to his parents and back to him, and for a moment he didn't know what to do with this.

Sirius chuckled in surprise when Harry hugged him, but he took it in stride and just let him cling until he pulled back. Sirius wasn't even quite sure what that had been, but the deep warmth he felt that he'd helped Harry figure it out wasn't comparable.

Sirius had told Dumbledore Harry had felt Voldemort inside of him the night Arthur was attacked, and Dumbledore had only known that his fear was correct, Voldemort now knew of this connection, which was why it was so important he learn Occlumency.

James still felt that heat all across him, two levels as some part of him still wanted to murder Dumbledore on the spot for a full explanation of what exactly had been done to others lives, but also a feeling of peace he'd already accepted and now got to almost blissfully watch. It would never not burn he couldn't be there for Harry, but at least he had the one here who did.

He paused, and the whole world felt like it should have been suspended in silence, but it wasn't. The portraits around him were still shuffling or clearing throats, Fawkes was cawing behind him, the sun was creating dazzling images off of the sparkling broken glass around like dew in the carpet.

Remus fidgeted uneasily Harry had an audience for this, as well as one in here. It was different for sure, but truly the boy had never had an alone moment in his life when he really needed one, as opposed to such a lonely childhood all he'd ever wanted was the one thing now gone.

Then of course Harry had pieced together the rest, understood that something was hidden in the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry of Magic. Only those who had a prophecy ordained about them could lift one from such a place or suffer madness, and the urge to learn Occlumency had become of even greater importance.

"Would it have killed the bloody man to say that?" James said for only Remus, he was afraid if he spoke any louder he'd only hurt the others but he couldn't keep this bottled up. "So Voldemort would know Dumbledore was trying to stop Harry seeing these things, I don't see the flaw in that!"

Remus couldn't either, he had no defense for his old idol, and he couldn't even think of him as that anymore, not after what he'd just confessed to doing.

Harry reminded he hadn't, though everyone had warned him, but if he had Voldemort couldn't have shown him, and Sirius-

Sirius now realized what he'd just saved Harry from thinking as his godson further leaned into him. He continued to look worriedly down at him, but his voice was trying hard not to keep that heavy tone, so Sirius must have convinced him this wasn't his fault.

The explanation burst out of him he'd tried to find him first at Grimmauld Place, but Kreacher had said-

Dumbledore explained Kreacher had lied. Not being his master,

Harry was so lost in his own mind, the tiny nudge of contradiction on his conciseness meant nothing to him right now.

Kreacher could lie without even punishing himself while he intended for Harry to go to the Ministry of Magic.

"He what?" Lily began poisonously.

Harry gaped he was sent there on purpose, and Dumbledore explained Kreacher had been serving a new master for months.

Sirius had felt betrayal, he knew he'd never feel something so deep again as when his mind flickered to a certain rat, but this was something new. An insulted pride for something he couldn't have called, his mouth hanging open and just waiting for a punchline he was sure was coming, because this was a sick joke, right?

Dumbledore had Kreacher explain to him that shortly after Christmas, after Sirius had commanded he 'get out,' Kreacher took him at word and went to the only other family he had, Narcissa Malfoy.

"No." Sirius said the one word in a flat, cold tone that chilled Harry to the bone. "He did not, he could not- what did I do..." he trailed off though and Harry shivered harder than ever, wondering if he'd just heard Sirius beyond the veil.

"That, that vile, that-" Remus spluttered, beyond words now. He'd never even meet Sirius' elf, and that was probably a good thing right now, his mind didn't need any more fuel for the burning mental images playing through.

Harry shushed them though, as unwilling to let Sirius think he'd done something stupid as Sirius always did for him. This was not his fault, something more was going on there...

Harry asked how he knew, and Dumbledore went back a bit and explained that when Snape had gotten Harry's message, he had contacted the Order. Moody, Tonks, Kingsley, Lupin and Sirius had all been at Headquarters at the time.

"You have got to be kidding!" Lily hissed, feeling all of this spin through her mind sickeningly fast now. "All of them were there, and not one of them heard Harry shouting in the kitchen! Came down to see what Kreacher was laughing at! What, how-"

There was something twisted up inside of Remus, a snarled thread of reminder he was one of those, and Lily seemed to realize this at the same time and stopped protesting how the world was out to kill everything that mattered to her.

Sirius was supposed to stay behind and tell Dumbledore everything, but Sirius had delegated this to Kreacher. So when he'd arrived the elf had done as told while laughing.

That part hadn't surprised Sirius, the wretched little thing it was always laughed at misery of any kind, especially his, and to know the feeling he'd have hearing of Harry like this, Kreacher would be ecstatic.

While Kreacher hadn't been able to give up any Order secrets as Sirius had explicitly forbade this, he was able to pass on something vital enough Voldemort could use that Sirius hadn't deemed worth banning. The person Sirius cared about most in the world was Harry, and the feeling was shared as Harry was coming to regard Sirius as mixture of brother and father.

Sirius couldn't imagine hiding that fact from anyone, he'd wear it proud on his shoulders just like he would his little pup some day when he was big enough. It couldn't be though, something like that couldn't get you killed, the world wasn't such a cruel place something like that could exist!

While Voldemort may have known this already, through Kreacher's information it became clear to Voldemort how he could use this.

Harry's lips were numb and cold.

Harry could feel that now, remember that vividly as it tried to cut through his words, but Harry wouldn't let them stop him, he had to hear all of this while he still had the breath.

He realized that Sirius had been there yesterday, Dumbledore confirming as much that Sirius had been upstairs tending to Buckbeak. Kreacher had been instructed to keep Sirius as away from others as possible in case someone came to check on him when Harry received his vision, and so the elf had injured the hippogriff, which Sirius was tending to while Harry was there.

Sirius made a strangled noise, his eyes fit to pop out of his head, his hands twitching maddeningly. That elf had hurt his hippogriff to keep him away from Harry, had been the cause of all this! James could do what he liked to Dumbledore for withholding all this from Harry, but Sirius was very soon fixing to be without a servant the moment he stepped out of here!

Harry still couldn't believe Kreacher had said all of this, while laughing. Hermione had told them to be nice to him!

Dumbledore had not found it surprising, he had warned Sirius to show more kindness and respect for Kreacher as well.

James spluttered something that may have been forced laughter. He just couldn't believe Dumbledore was still saying this, even now! That f'ing thing should have been put out of its misery rather than what it had ultimately done to his brother!

He'd warned Kreacher could be dangerous, but Sirius had not taken him seriously,

Sirius felt a funny tugging feeling inside him, he never would have thought saying his own name as a joke would ever hurt, but for the first time in his life he questioned whether he even should. He'd never once done it around Harry in his time, and though he lived to do it for his friends never ending annoyance, it somehow didn't feel right now that the idea was firmly set in stone he may not get to do it again some day.

Then he glanced at Harry, and he knew he'd never regret saying, "I always take things Siriusly."

There was a heart stopping beat, like now that Harry was told his godfather had passed he'd somehow lost the nerve to laugh at all for anything relating to him. It was proven untrue the moment Harry chuckled and looked to him with a happy shake to his head, muttering, "that's never going to get old."

Sirius smirked and straightened up in his seat, absolutely in agreement with his godson.

or that he'd even seen Kreacher's feelings as acute as a humans.

"Now you see why!" Remus snarled, his hand itching to go for his wand and slit someone's throat out for this. "That, that- no human could do this and laugh!"

Harry was back on his feet without remembering how he got there, rage nearly constricting his words as he told Dumbledore not to talk about Sirius like that!

Dumbledore gave this no notice as he continued that Kreacher, much like Dobby, was how he was because of how wizard kind treated him. To be pitied, a miserable existence.

"Then he should have been released like I wanted him to be!" Sirius howled in frustration, finding yet another mark to chalk against that aged old man. "I never wanted him there! If I'd had my way he'd have crawled into a grave and none of this would have happened!"

Being forced to do Sirius' bidding while enslaved, he'd had no loyalty, and Sirius had never done anything to make this easier-

"He went too easy on that thing!" James said in pure disgust, "by not ripping its eyes out!"

Lily watched all of them get whipped into a frenzy over Kreacher, and her arms tightened around her cat, her hair falling across her face in a bit of shame she didn't feel the same. She still pitied Kreacher more than anything, seeing the manipulation that must have gone on there. Sirius had never said a kind word to him in his life, had only made his being there more unbearable, and even now it seemed they couldn't see their own mistake.

Harry shouted not to talk about Sirius like that! Dumbledore didn't understand how much Sirius had suffered!

Sirius just huffed and wouldn't look at anyone for that. He didn't want to think about that right now, how shitty his life was after the next Halloween, or that feeling was going to overwhelm him all over again they'd never find a way to change it.

Harry tried to force him to change onto Snape, he wanted to hear the blame on him! When Harry had told him about this he'd sneered as usual!

Dumbledore kindly reminded what was he to do in front of Umbridge? He could not take Harry seriously,

"Now he's just doing it on purpose," Remus muttered into the oddly deadly silence. Sirius hadn't even seemed to have heard Harry that time, his wide green eyes watching his godfather with worry like all of them were for the lack of comment.

Sirius had to drag himself back around and see why they were all staring at him, then he fixed a smile into place but just waved Harry on without comment.

or she would have been aware as well. Yet the moment he was away he'd made others aware of the situation, he'd also been the one to prescribe Umbridge with fake Veritaserum when she'd gone to interrogate Harry earlier this year.

"That makes all his behavior okay then!" James spluttered in outrage. "All his taunts, his complete lack of any human emotion when trying to help Harry when it should have been that old cod who couldn't give you the time of day for fear it would ruin his own plans!" James was so close to shouting by then the cat finally had enough and slinked restlessly out of Lily's arms. She watched him flit from the room tail in the air and honestly felt like following, she couldn't hear much more of this without having her own breakdown. She could already see where this was going, how much Harry and all of them hated Snape and so his part, or lack of it during this instance would not go through quietly.

Harry ignored him and kept going, feeling a savage pleasure in blaming Snape for this guilt, and he wanted to hear Dumbledore agree with him.

Lily tucked her hand more firmly around Harry, her nails digging in a bit as she was well aware no matter what Dumbledore said, nothing would satisfy him right now, but she understood. It was only human this, she just couldn't imagine doing this herself, blaming all these problems on one man.

He stammered how Snape had goaded Sirius about staying in that house, calling him a coward.

Sirius tried to ruffle himself up, to eye Harry and bring up an old argument, "you think I let something like what that man said to me do anything to me?" It didn't come off like he meant it, his voice still too heavy, Harry's reality crashing down on all of them more every second, this future no one person should live through.

Dumbledore reminded Sirius was too old and clever to let such feeble taunts get to him.

Then Sirius winced for repeating Dumbledore at a time like this, chancing a glance at James who just shook his head for his best mate always seeming to get the last word, even through Dumbledore.

Harry viciously reminded right back Snape had thrown him from his office, stopped giving him Occlumency lessons!

"Which is all the more loathsome now that we have the full understanding for that," Remus said quietly but with such a promise of violence none would be surprised to see his wand appear. None disagreed either, what Snape had done in that moment was like what he'd done to Lily all over again. He'd left Harry to deal with Voldemort all on his own, instead of treating this like one should have, pushing his childhood problems aside and focusing on why Harry needed him.

Dumbledore agreed, that was his mistake as well, he'd been sure at the time nothing was more dangerous than himself teaching Harry for fear Voldemort would use the connection to spy while in his presence.

"Conceded old birk!" James said flatly. "The man's the best one for the job of that happening when it did, the only one who could have found some way to explain to Harry why it was instead of getting Snape of all people to farce some explanation about this!" James was breathing heavily, he couldn't decide who he was most angry at anymore, Dumbledore, Kreacher, Snape, all three could have dropped dead in front of him this second and he wouldn't bat an eye, would probably be tucking his own wand away after doing it himself!

Harry threw out what Ron had once said, that his scar always hurt more after dealing with Snape, that Snape was probably helping Voldemort all along!

"You can't convince me otherwise," Sirius seethed, hearing Kreacher's part of the plan put it together easily in his head, how many around Harry had set this up, and he didn't believe for a second Snape had done anything to help. That bat had dragged his feet in telling everyone, taken his bloody precious time informing of the situation, and then wasted time puttering around 'looking' for the kids after they'd long gone. Harry could have died before the Order had reached them, and Sirius would never forgive that.

Dumbledore simply disagreed, stating he trusted Severus Snape with his life. He'd thought the man would rise above a childhood grudge against James Potter in helping Harry, but he had been wrong, but this did not put Snape in any way responsible. The blame entirely laid with him.

"Oh, it can admit when it's wrong!" James said through gritted teeth, "f'ing too late!" Dumbledore seemed to have been at fault for everything that had happened to Sirius!

Harry seethed that was okay then? Snape could hate his dad, but Sirius couldn't Kreacher?

Dumbledore corrected Sirius did not hate Kreacher,

"That man doesn't know me at all, though that was made perfectly clear," Sirius snapped with pure loathing, Dumbledore speaking for him at a time like this.

he'd simply regarded him as lesser, of no importance. Wizards had mistreated and abused others for too long, and now they were reaping their rewards.

Harry shouted back Sirius didn't deserve this!

Dumbledore agreed that was not what he meant, nor would he ever say such a thing. Sirius was no cruel man, but kind to house-elves in general. Yet he had no love for Kreacher, being the reminder of the home Sirius hated.

Sirius blinked slowly, as at least that was true, but there was a coppery taste in his mouth for Dumbledore having to speak for him, a taint that wouldn't leave he'd never have the chance to speak to Harry again...

Harry's voice was starting to crack as he agreed with that, he had hated that place, and Dumbledore had made him stay in there, that's why he'd gone out last night!

"No Harry," Sirius softly whispered, he'd never let Harry forget this one. "I came to get you out of there, just like I always would. Doesn't matter if I was on the opposite side of the planet free as a bird, I'd still show up there for you."

While Harry had known that to be true, it didn't exactly make him feel much better about the end results.

Dumbledore couldn't just lock people up like he'd done to Harry last summer as well!

Sirius shivered while Harry gave a heavy sigh, neither appreciating that.

Dumbledore closed his eyes and buried his face away, and Harry's anger only grew. Dumbledore should not be showing signs of weakness when Harry was raging at him.

James fingers were digging furiously into his palms, he quite agreed with Harry but as his son worked all of this out from his past James didn't have that same release, had no one he could properly vent at and that just kept building inside him.

When he looked up again, Dumbledore asked that Harry sit back down, it was time he was told everything.

Lily couldn't help but scoff a bit in disgust. "Oh yes, tell him all the answers now when he's sick with grief and wants nothing to do with you!"

"Twisted bit of sense that, Harry's angry at something else and can't snap at Dumbledore for the more important detail," Sirius muttered.

After that, he would not stop Harry from doing whatever he felt he needed.

It took every bit of concentration for Harry to just retake his seat, and Dumbledore stared at him for a long time before stating that five years ago, Harry had arrived here safe and whole just as he'd planned.

Harry heard four deeply disgusted noises around him for that.

Dumbledore corrected himself not quite whole, he had suffered. He'd known what he was condemning him to leaving him on his aunt and uncle's doorsteps all those years ago, a dark and difficult youth ahead.

"He knew!" Harry heard the splutter of outrage around him, knew he should have felt something for that as well, but honestly when he looked up he saw Dumbledore's timing had been perfect.

They were so drained, exhausted, and hurt from having to live through Sirius' death that no matter how much they wanted to rage for this as well, it would not erupt. It was simmering below each of them, Harry could feel it himself as he could already count the days again of when he'd be going back, but for now, talking would keep the fire back.

If Harry were to ask why had he not been left with any numerous wizarding families who would have taken him in, Dumbledore would have responded same as he did to anyone at the time. It was too dangerous. Voldemort would return, and though he had not been sure how long that would take, it would happen. In the meantime, Death Eaters had still roamed free, hungry for revenge against the Boy Who Lived.

Remus still had enough of himself to shake his head in disgust. He still couldn't believe that was Dumbledore's decision to make! Lily would never leave Harry to Petunia, she knew well her sisters feelings for her. Clearly Sirius and...the other weren't an option at the time, and he wouldn't be able to...so then there was truly no one left but a bystander family. It still should have been their decision. Dumbledore was begin vain in saying no one would realize that taking in this particular infant was dangerous, but at least it would have been by choice, not something Dumbledore should have made for anyone!

In killing his mother, Voldemort had gifted Harry with the most powerful enchantment that could be enacted. So long as Harry lived with blood, his mother's sacrifice would remain.

"It wasn't worth it," Lily said at once, her face growing more ghastly by the moment as she still felt responsible for her child's terrible fate because of her blood. "Anything else could have been done, and he still would have grown up with more love and care than the absolute nothing he got."

Harry agreed, he'd wished more than once he had grown up in some kind of foster system, anything other than the neglect he'd had.

Harry at once said Petunia didn't love him, but Dumbledore corrected she'd taken him in. Grudgingly, bitterly, she'd given him room in the house which enacted the strongest shield Dumbledore could give.

"I don't believe that!" Sirius said in pure disgust. "Of all the magic in the world the man can do, that was the best he got? He himself admitted it would only be a temporary fix, it's not a long term solution, and so he still put you through his own admittance of suffering for nothing!"

This was not what Harry had been hoping to focus on, as if flipping from one fresh torture to an old festering wound.

While he called the place where his mother's blood dwelled home, Voldemort could not touch him.

"But he doesn't think of that as his home!" Remus dissected, trying anything like he was chatting with Dumbledore about this now. "He refers to Hogwarts, even the Burrow as more his home than, than that place!"

He need only return there once a year to be safe.

"That's not-" Remus tried again, but Harry couldn't hear anymore. He was on the verge of something again, whether anger, sorrow, or something else he did not know, but he just couldn't hear this now.

His aunt was aware of this, he'd left her a note detailing this when she'd found him on her stoop. Petunia Dursley was aware that sharing houseroom with him had kept him alive the past fifteen years.

"He didn't even have a room!" James bitterly protested his word choice. "He lived in a bloody cupboard the first ten years! They only changed that after they realized someone else knew! No, that doesn't make what they did okay!"

"What about the Death Eaters anyways, he said that's the reason he didn't offer you to another family, they'd be attacked sooner than even Voldemort's return," Harry whispered miserably. He wished more than them this hadn't happened, but he'd never wish the circumstances of his life on anyone else either, considering everyone around him suffered because of it.

"Clearly the protection runs against anyone who would do you harm, otherwise you'd be right in saying that should have happened," Lily bitterly pointed out.

Harry realized he was not going to get even a small bit of understanding from any of them.

Something clicked inside Harry as he watched his headmaster, stating in surprise Dumbledore had sent that howler, it had been his voice shouting to remember the last.

Dumbledore agreed he had thought she'd need reminding of his last correspondence, of the pact she'd sealed in taking him in.

Harry's heart thudded painfully in his chest as he realized this, the snarky comment flying through his mind of how Dumbledore had even sent Petunia more mail than him over that summer.

"That utter arse," James blinked in stunned disbelief. "He, I didn't thing Dumbledore was capable of sending a-"

"Honestly that just makes the whole thing all the more confusing," Lily seethed. "Why care whatever Dumbledore bloody says, it shouldn't have changed anything, they clearly don't care what happens to you in the house! Why not abandon you the first time they could, they wouldn't care!" Lily jerked with the force of her own shouts, face ablaze with hatred for the thing that should have held the responsibility of her child but instead had treated him like scum.

He'd suspected the dementor attack may make her aware of the dangers of having him as a surrogate son.

"How dare he even pretend to call it that!" Lily spat in disgust. "Those, those ruddy-"

"He choked our child!" James snarled, his hands still fisting up for that reminder. That hadn't even been the only occurrence, the constant insults, the frying pan, instant after instant of questioning the humanity of them, the legality part wasn't even in debate if someone looked at it for even a moment! And it was all Dumbledore's fault!

It had been one thing for him to leave Harry there and pretend it was okay, it was a wholly other for the implication the man knew of it all! Had even anticipated such a thing and gone through with it anyways!

Both were sitting forward in their seats, their grief was quickly slipping into murderous anger again, both wanted to crack Dumbledore's head open for putting Harry through this suffering just as he'd done to Sirius, when they still blamed half the mess of him winding up in Azkaban on the old man as well! It didn't feel right, how could he have done this? Who was he to decide this for their child!?

"What the bloody hell would Dumbledore have done if they'd killed him?" Sirius demanded, his teeth bared, eyes wild. "They came bloody close to starving him, glory knows how much they really hurt him!"

"Stop," Harry finally pleaded before they could go full blast with this, of listing every single thing he'd mentioned and what they'd pulled together themselves. "I know okay, it's just...wouldn't you rather hear the rest than yelling about this?"

"Can't we do both?" Remus demanded snidely, but Harry ignored them and kept going more quietly than he needed to in hopes they really would stop.

Dumbledore got back on track then, saying five years ago he'd arrived at school alive.

Harry heard it again, that deep throated noise all around him promising no one thought this excusable or at all okay.

He had not been a pampered child, but as normal a boy as the circumstances could have.

"The man's damn lucky you even made it there," James snarled. "Considering they tried to stamp out your magic to begin with!"

Harry shivered at the reminder but was clearly still determinedly ignoring them.

So his plan had been working, and even in his first year he'd faced challenges and rose magnificently against them.

"There should never have been a challenge!" Lily seethed in protest, all her fears of Harry's first year ultimately confirmed right then. "He set you up! He wanted that bloody Stone there, he wanted to see how you'd handle it!"

Then he'd found himself again face to face with Voldemort, and survived. Dumbledore had been prouder than words could say.

Remus felt nothing for that like he would have thought. There was a time where Dumbledore's word meant everything to him, but that feeling was getting harder to recall the more he heard.

Harry should have been honored to have such a thing, but after all he'd been through because of their old headmasters decision, it felt more like the man should be begging forgiveness than showing off pride.

It was also then Dumbledore had foreseen a flaw in his plan.

"His plan," Lily bitterly repeated, not caring one damn bit about anything of his plan right now, she wanted Harry as far away from that man as Voldemort.

Harry still had no clue what he meant, so Dumbledore continued, reminding that while Harry had asked at the time, Dumbledore had denied the answer of why Harry carried that scar. He should have, but eleven had been much to young.

So he recounted the rest of Harry's years, his triumphs and life, how he'd been matched more closely and carefully than Harry even realized, and still Dumbledore's flaw in his plan grew as he delayed in telling Harry. He'd cared too much.

Harry felt that deep, soothing feeling of why he hadn't been as angry as those around him, like he'd been expecting a warm hug and had received just that.

He chanced a look at the others and saw they didn't share the same feeling.

"Cared my arse," James muttered, his face still set in a hard line of frustration as he watched his child, still imagining his crying infant with no comfort to come. "What that man put you through doesn't at all sound like he gave a damn."

Harry winced and kept going anyways.

He'd cared more for Harry's happiness than placing the burden on him of what was to come, wanted Harry's future to seem more than it had been no matter what it was costing countless lives in not sharing with Harry sooner what he needed to know.

"He can't say one thing while doing another," Lily said with pure ice. "He can not just say he cared about you above others while leaving you to go back there against your wishes!"

Remus caught Sirius' eye though, and they felt a tiny niggle of understanding for just a moment. Were they any better? If Harry had to go there right now to protect the rest of the world from falling under Voldemort's reign...and they couldn't do it. No matter how terrible that made them, they still couldn't bring themselves to accept this as their fate, they'd just have to find some other answer, there had to be one!

Dumbledore couldn't bring himself to add another after all the boy had been through, the greatest one of all.

James couldn't breath. He wanted to keep screaming, threatening Dumbledore and promising this was never going to actually happen to his child, but here finally was the answer for that. The truth of why it had happened at all...so he caught Lily's eyes and finally managed to still her as well, a deathly calm settling over them for the one thing that would stop the retribution against the Dursley's and anyone, what had happened to make this their future?

Now he saw he had no choice. Voldemort had set out to kill Harry because of a prophecy made shortly before his birth. Voldemort had only heard a part of it, and had set out only to gift this baby and fulfill the prophecy himself, leading to the backfire, Voldemort's own downfall. The record of all this had been in the Hall of Prophecy. Since his return Voldemort had been determined to hear it in its entirety, to know where he'd gone wrong.

Harry could feel it, like a rubber band fixing to snap into place somehow helping all of this to make sense, and he worried his words would come out to jumbled for them to make sense even as he kept going.

This was the weapon he'd been seeking, the knowledge of how to kill Harry.

"Bloody hell," James was the first to speak in the echoing silence, and it wasn't even that coherent.

"That, is, insane," Lily spoke this clearly in fear anyone would misunderstand. "Voldemort, is out to kill Harry, because of a prophecy!"

"But, but those things-" Remus kept blinking spastically, but no new words popped up to prove he wasn't hearing things. "They're, they're a farce, a whim at best to tell you-"

"But they're not, are they," Sirius whispered, his face haggard. "They're bloody real, and somehow Voldemort knows it."

"I-" James couldn't keep going, none of them could. Their future was in ruins because of a Seer!

Harry only kept going from the will of having to know everything, the answer right on the tips of his fingers though those around him still sat like gaping fish at this news.

Harry blankly recalled that no one could know, it had broken.

Dumbledore mostly agreed, only one person left knew it, and that was who the prophecy had been ordained to, himself. Sixteen years ago in the Hog's Head inn.

"Sixteen years!" Lily repeated with hissed fury. Her shock wore off fast enough to latch onto this bit of information. "The Order knows about this, Dumbledore knows about this right now!"

"But, he hasn't, we haven't-" James tried to protest this. Yet it was there. Harry was only fifteen during this, which meant this had happened while Lily was still pregnant. "He hasn't told us!"

James got angry again as well, shock switching to all but shouting again at once. "Is this why he even let us into the Order! To keep an eye on-"

"I'm going to kill him," Lily snarled in disgust, there was no more question about this, and no one said otherwise.

Harry still twitched uneasily, though there wasn't a trace of any of them showing they didn't mean it, Harry still kept plowing on, though at this point even he wasn't sure why, it still only managed to keep getting worse.

He briefly explained he'd gone to see a teacher for the post of Divination, and while not keen on allowing the subject in school, he'd respect that the woman applying had been the ancestor of a renowned Seer. Dumbledore went to get his Pensive and set it between them, then he plucked a memory from his mind and set it inside. After a moment, Sybill Trelawney materialized before them,

Harry's mind floundered for just a moment, but a squeak of protest informed him this shocking moment held no more care than a fly on the wall, not now.

When she spoke it was not in her mystic voice, but the harsh tones Harry had only heard once before;

Insert the Prophecy

Sirius could still remember the last prophecy seared into his memory, every word had convinced him it had been his undoing, and it had been completely wrong. Now he finally understood this had been what made Voldemort come after Harry! Something so entirely vague it could have applied to a dozen people, and Voldemort had chosen his best mate! His godson! It didn't feel real! Like nothing else before since this mayhem had started with Harry landing in their kitchen, Sirius felt like he was dreaming, a nightmare though, that in such a short amount of time lives would end all because of-

James couldn't help it, he breathed in relief. "This is ridiculous!"

"James, I know you don't like them, but you can't deny now," Remus tried to calmly say to a clearly irrational father-

"No, no!" James insisted, a smile edging at his features that held a slight tint of detached humor, but his eyes were edging for complete disregard of this world. "It has nothing at all to do with- that's why Dumbledore hasn't told us! Don't you see! It's not..." but he trailed off as he blinked again, the world snapped back into sharp focus, and he looked at Harry. From that very first day he'd convinced himself he'd somehow brought Voldemort down on his family, that he was the reason his son's life was the way it was. Now it was all because of a stupid prophecy gifted by Sybill Trelawney! In the most deranged way there was, he was almost happy again!

Then he'd realized the rest, that somehow, Voldemort had decided that nonsense was his son.

"How did he know?" The tone was such a shift they all watched him with even more worry, his voice now bleak and hollow. "Trelawney couldn't have told Voldemort about this, Dumbledore didn't! How did Voldemort get a hold of this thing long enough to decide- why us!"

Lily had no answer for him, none of them did. There had to be any number of people out there who that prophecy spoke of, why was Harry alone left with this burden?

Harry couldn't even find it in himself to keep going, like the final nail in the coffin. The why didn't matter, it truly was his being alive that had cursed this family, Voldemort had chosen him and now everyone he knew suffered because of it. He wanted to snap the book shut, to walk right out of here and no one could stop him, why would they? He'd be leaving for good, he'd find Voldemort now and make sure he got exactly what he wanted...but he couldn't move. The idea was crystal clear in his mind, but his fingers wouldn't do the simple job of putting this all away, his feet seemed glued rather than the fierce energy driving him out. Why? The question that just kept coming up again and again for him, what more had he to learn from this that excused his existence, his infestation in their lives?

He realized why he couldn't bolster that anger at Dumbledore then, because he was just as bad as him. He wouldn't leave them, because he cared too much about them. He wanted to stay here as long as he could, until he had no other choice, still childishly clinging to that hope of something, an answer that would make all of this okay. The prophecy hadn't done that...so was there more?

There had to be, everything he felt believed in that, so amidst all of their still whispering panics and mutters, Harry still kept going, that was all he could do.

The slowly revolving Professor Trelawney sank back into the silver mass below and vanished.

Sirius growled still more loudly over Harry, "I have a solution, let's just kill this one and be done with it! I'm sick of her ruining our lives!"

Harry was much more sure Sirius didn't mean that one, he was still speaking out of besotted anger he did deserve. What were the odds the same woman would do this twice to him in such a short amount of time?

Harry just gaped, tried to recall the words, and then gave up and asked what that meant.

Dumbledore explained in simpler terms Voldemort would be conquered by a child born at the end of July, whose parents had defied Voldemort three times.

Harry fidgeted with the page, still feeling his parents words, honestly wishing for the same, that Voldemort had not decided his family was the one this meant...but if not him, then it would have been someone else, and did they deserved this any more or less than him?

Suddenly Harry was finding breathing difficult, even as Dumbledore acquitted that it very possibly could not not have meant Harry at all at the time.

"Exactly, that's what I was-" James mutinously tried to keep going.

Two boys could have been the likely child of the prophecy, the other was Neville.

Lily felt her heart still in her chest, eyes narrowing as her mind flew with that information, well aware of how true that was...and she gave a deep, broken sob. "Oh, oh this is-" she couldn't keep going, raking her nails through her hair with fury at what her mind was showing her.

"Lily," James whispered, wanting to hold her tight to him and never let go, but she was not to be comforted right now.

"Don't you see, we were fooling ourselves! Of course Voldemort didn't pick just one and go with that! The attack on Alice and Frank, Voldemort probably has a list of families like ours! He has Death Eater's going to every one of them to, to silence and make sure-" It had been said the attack on their friends had happened shortly after Voldemort's downfall, but how shortly? The story had been spread the Death Eaters had been torturing the Longbottoms for information, but what if they'd simply been having some fun before moving onto their goal, the infant. Was it possible they hadn't even heard word of what had happened to their master yet and been acting out his orders still?

"That doesn't make this unavoidable," Remus said flatly, his hand on James shoulder and watching her with absolution. "We figure that out as well! I'll bet you anything that's why Dumbledore hasn't told you lot about this yet! He's deciding who Voldemort is going to pick as well, probably got his own list of family's! We get them as well, we make sure Voldemort can't take this out on anyone!"

Harry watched them agree, the fight bolstering back in them that he couldn't quite feel. It all still felt inevitable to him, but he tried to blame that on his scar, that it had already happened to him. For them, this was still a concept, something they were going to fix, and if this was one of the ways Harry wasn't going to be the one to stop them even if he couldn't find the hope it would work.

Harry wasn't even sure what was in his own voice when he asked that it could be Neville?

Dumbledore corrected could have been, but no longer was. There was no doubt this was now meant for Harry.

James still snarled in outrage, Dumbledore couldn't let them just have one moment of peace! That man just had to ruin whatever life they tried to have, as if he wanted this to happen! There must be some other way to defeat Voldemort than what some bloody Seer said, there had to be!

Voldemort had fulfilled his half of the prophecy by marking Harry, who was now his equal, Neville bore no scar that was both a blessing and a curse to its bearer.

"More one than the other," Harry muttered as he took pause for a moment to rub at it, as if they'd forgotten.

Harry protested Voldemort could have chosen wrong!

Sirius did as he always would, he started wondering aloud any errant thought flitting across his mind to chat to the others about. "Could Neville have taken the Prophecy? If it's meant for the person who it was spoken of, and Neville and Harry were both candidates-"

"No, I don't think so. Dumbledore said it himself, he made me the child." Harry reminded, his voice much calmer than the others would have guessed for this topic, but clearly as they weren't discussing his past about Sirius and his living arrangements, he was almost back to normal.

"Sirius, you are a wonder," Lily said flatly, meaning to scold for trying to jump off topic, but he just smiled when she couldn't really get that tone.

Dumbledore had no more clue than anyone, Voldemort had made his choice. He had not picked the pure-blood child, but the one he'd seen himself in, the half-blood.

James was still riled up with disgust. "How dare he! My son- nothing like him-" but his furious mutterings weren't cutting into Harry now, he could see the end in sight, and more than ever before, he just wanted to be done with his part. He wished it hadn't been so just as much, but their terse mutters changed nothing, only action did that, and Harry had to act on his.

Harry didn't understand why Voldemort hadn't waited, to see which child would have been more dangerous to him.

Dumbledore agreed that may well have been the correct course of action, if he'd heard the whole thing. Instead they'd been interrupted, much as Harry himself had learned. The person listening had been thrown out before hearing the whole thing, and so had only reported the part that set Voldemort on his way, not knowing what he was creating in the process, giving Harry powers the Dark Lord knew not-

Harry's pulse quickened at the new tirade of insults around him, but as always he could feel the importance of that without knowing why. It was some scum Death Eater, he realized the same as the others, some information carried on by a careless person who gave not a thought for the consequences of what they were sharing. So why then did Harry feel no want for a death he should have, that ultimately made his parents?

Harry protested he hadn't anything of the sort!

"I don't know Harry, that look you give me sometimes is something I'm sure Voldemort never could," Sirius told him with an attempt at his chipper tone, the constant anger and fear around him feeling suffocating.

Harry gave him that exact look, watching his godfather in pure exasperation for a moment before shaking his head and continuing while Sirius smirked at the others who continued to look at him as if for his health, but it had worked for just a moment, they were all fighting back a smile as well for him.

Dumbledore ignored this and derailed back to talking of the Department of Mysteries. Of the room that was always locked inside, because the power it held, what they were studying was one that was more powerful than any source available, it resided in his body, it was the reason Voldemort could not possess him when he'd tried. His heart saved him.

Harry gazed down at that for a long time before he looked again at his mother. It hurt to even take his eyes off her, the woman he'd wanted most to meet in his entire life. He craved to know about his father, but through Sirius even for the briefest second he'd had just that. There had been no one for her though, not Molly or anyone could ever cause him to feel like he was watching her brush at her hair, eyes meeting in the way only theirs could. He still didn't understand, not really. He loved her, he loved all of them, but why then was that all it took to defeat someone as powerful as Voldemort, when he knocked such things as love aside like they were nothing? James had loved them, but he had been tossed out of the way without so much as a glance. Yet Lily's love for him had saved his life. Where was the key to this answer, that Voldemort somehow bestowed upon him?

They could gain no answer for this. Somehow, again, Dumbledore's answer felt like no answer, but finally, they could not hold that against him. He could only speak of what he knew, and perhaps even Dumbledore didn't know this as the answer, but was only speaking more speculation. Finally then, they felt they knew all he did, and they'd just have to work out the rest for themselves.

Harry closed his eyes. If he had not gone to save Sirius, Sirius would not have died . . .

"As endless a cycle as Hermione's time-turner," Sirius softly returned. "You should have known all along not to come, if you had than none of this would have happened, if and if, we can go back as far as you want Harry, but that makes nothing your fault. You couldn't change your past no matter how many possibilities there were."

Harry still kept searching his gaze and finally seemed to find what he was looking for, though it had been there all along. His voice was not steady, but at long last he knew without any regrets why this had happened, and he couldn't hate the fact that he'd loved his godfather enough to do this to him.

To stave off that, Harry whispered the last of the lines, concluding for himself this meant that one of them had to kill the other?

Dumbledore simply said yes.

Harry waited then, vividly remembering their reaction to his using one lone Unforgivable curse against someone who had inexplicably deserved it. He waited for them to finally be afraid of him, convinced if this hadn't done it than perhaps his family was truly mad.

Then James scoffed and muttered, "why do I get the feeling there's some stupid catch to that as well?"

"Because this whole thing has been one long gotcha'," Sirius rolled his eyes.

"I'm just so glad Dumbledore thinks he's got this prophecy all worked out," Remus agreed bitterly.

Lily seemed no more able to believe it, leaning over Harry's shoulder and hoping he was done soon, trying to completely disregard the fact that Dumbledore had just told her child he had to be a murder. As if that man hadn't done enough to Harry's life.

Harry wasn't sure what to make of them, but while he forced himself to try and finish with some sense of ease they weren't disgusted with him, it helped nothing to ease his mind of the rest to come.

For a long time neither of them spoke again. Harry's mind was back on Sirius, and he was still convinced if he'd pulled that curtain aside his godfather would have stepped back out, smiling as always at the sight of Harry, maybe greeting him with that laughter like a bark.

Sirius tried to do that now, just to prove he still could it seemed, but the effort only offered a sharp noise like a kicked puppy.

It went unmocked, but it made the sharp sting return to all eyes. This just could not be it, they refused to accept this as the end to their Padfoot. They'd find a way to save him as much as James and Lily.

Dumbledore broke the silence by telling Harry he owed him one more explanation.

"Not another one, I can't take much more of these," James whispered.

If Harry had been wondering why he hadn't been made prefect, it was because Dumbledore had felt he'd had enough responsibility to be getting on with.

Sirius blinked once, twice, and then it came through, his bark like laughter filling the room. He just couldn't believe his ears, after all that, Dumbledore had decided to say the one thing that had been on no one's mind!

Lily watched him throw his head back with that carefree laugh of his. In school, the noise had been maddening, like a braying donkey. Now she honestly considered it one of the most cheerful noises that could be, right along with her baby's giggling and James soft chuckle. It was something that still made them all smile, that infectious noise they all knew they would never see end.

Harry looked up at him and saw a tear trickling down Dumbledore's face into his long silver beard.

Sirius shook himself slightly in pity for laughing so hard when Dumbledore was reduced to tears, something none of them had ever envisioned was possible. Sirius had laughed his way through much of life, seeming to find the only way to make others hear you was to start with something as attention grabbing as a good laugh. That's how he'd gained his friends, it's how he'd lived through his summers, laughing off everything he could. Apparently that's how he was going to die as well.

HPHPHPHPHP

I've never been subtle in showing I don't particularly like Dumbledore's character, he was a man given too much power and decided too many fates he shouldn't have, which was all proven in this very chapter. Yet like with everybody, the man gets his redemption's in the next two books. Like with Snape, Harry very clearly forgave Dumbledore for this and everything, so if you think thinks got to heated in this, remember to wait till the end. I love you all!

*I sympathize with this a lot. Whenever the world feels too much to me, I go on long walks with my dog, this line echoes in my head, I can't imagine what Dumbledore did to Harry really is okay. The guy just needed to get away for a moment before he was talked to. This isn't like last year where I can see Dumbledore's side in needing to hear everything. It wouldn't have been a kindness for Harry to have a break before sharing all that. This time though Dumbledore didn't need information, Harry should have been allowed to just flat run and not look back until he chose to, but I guess that's just a personal opinion.

[halothenthehorns]

THE FOUR CHAMPIONS

"Merlin's shit-"

"I'm going to kill someone-"

"Can't go one bleeding year-"

"Got to be a way he doesn't do this-"

Maybe it was because of the way Harry was acting that hadn't left them so surprised, maybe it was because by this point they were just so sick but unsurprised at Harry being dragged into everything, but whatever it was, they skipped right to angered disbelief and began shouting at once of the injustice of this.

Harry only half-heard something going on around him. It just didn't seem real, and yet it explained what had been bothering him since Percy had brought this up over the summer. He did compete in this bloody Tournament, and something went wrong.

    "-to hell he can't! Just put him back on the train. He can go stay at the Burrow for the year, problem solved!"

"Oh hey, the train," Lily said with a sideways look at her son. He was still running his hand through his hair in a vain attempt at flattening it, his eyes vacant and in no way showing he was following a word of what anyone was saying. When Lily just kept getting odd looks from the others, she got up to sit on the table in front of him, then leaned in close to Harry and tapped him on the shoulder, waiting until he fully looked at her before explaining. "I just thought of a way Hogwarts would have gone to the other schools: They'd have taken the train. It is magical after all, so as long as it was given a destination, the tracks and a station would appear with the train as needed."*

Harry gave his mother a weary smile. Clearly talk of this Tournament wasn't actually making him feel better, but it was still nicer to think of that train going to some other school without him where he wouldn't have even been involved, so he finally engaged her back by saying, "That's pretty cool, but where would the Hogwarts students sleep once they got there? Remus didn't exactly look comfortable when he did." He finished with an attempt at a smile towards him.

Remus returned it at once, the boys finally relaxing when they saw Harry was at least trying to act normal again.

Lily said right back, "Magic, love. Those compartments could easily be converted to mini bedrooms once they arrived. It would actually be easier than squeezing all of Beauxbatons into that carriage."

"About as comfortable and roomy as the Durmstrang boat," James finally agreed.

Sirius was still grumbling foully under his breath, glad that Harry was at least coming back around, but still unable to stop himself from pressing the point he'd been trying to make. "Here's me agreeing, yes that would work, but that's not the point now! Harry shouldn't have to be in this Tournament. Someone set him up, so he should be able to leave school until it's f'ing over!"

Remus sighed, giving him a pitying look as he reminded, "You know as well as I do why that wouldn't work. Magical contracts are binding. You can't just pay a fine when you don't do it. Harry's name would be as bound as the other champions. If he didn't compete, something really bad could happen to him. His magic could be in danger. Merlin, I don't really want to know specifics because no one's ever broken one and lived long enough to say it."

Sirius groaned, raking his hand through his hair so hard in frustration he was likely to pull out a few strands, and didn't care one bit.

They all looked absolutely miserable, just so tired of hearing about Harry's life like this. This Tournament was going to be dangerous. Harry was going to have to deal with even more terrible things than he'd already had to before, and that was saying something!

James' mind kept flickering around, his face purely sour as he tried to come up with something else to say, but what came out wasn't particularly helpful. "You know, I think I'm really starting to hate this holiday."

Harry gave him a surprised look, but before he could even ask he'd continued, "It's apparently the day we're going to die." He only paused for a moment to grimace in disgust at that sentence.

"Your first year you got attacked by a troll-"

"But that's the day Hermione and I became friends," Harry reminded, "so I'm rather fond of that memory."

"No, I agree with your father." Lily huffed, ignoring the fact she'd always liked this holiday as her and James' anniversary for their first date. Now didn't seem the time to indulge this. "Because it also happens to be that same day Mrs. Norris was attacked, and that awful Chamber mess happened."

"Plus that was the day Sirius apparently lost his marbles," Remus added.

Sirius simply shrugged, having nothing to add to that but "agreed, this holiday sucks."

Harry really couldn't disagree that he didn't seem to have a very good track record for this particular day of the year. Still, looking around at all of them, he couldn't resist a smile either. For some reason the mention of Hermione had made his mind want to flicker to something else, like he should be angry, but not at her, maybe one of his friends though? What would Ron and Hermione do that could actually make this feeling worse? It was such a contrast to watching his family now, so outraged on his behalf they were all clearly stewing and trying to come up with some way to get him out of this.

Still though, Lily did marginally relax as she watched her son regain his normal composure. Sadly this only kicked up her anger at the situation another degree. She got to her feet and began pacing the length of the couch as she stormed. "I still want to know how the bloody hell this happened to him! How did his name even get put in? Someone had to have done this to him! And why!? What on earth could be the point of doing this to him!?"

"My money's on Moody," Sirius smirked.

Harry only had the smallest moment to glance in surprise at his Godfather, opening his mouth with that old look of something flickering in his eyes, when James snorted, giving him a sideways look as he told him, "You know, sometimes I think your jokes are actually your mind trying to warn the rest of us how crazy you are."

Sirius' grin widened. Of course he didn't mean it of the head Auror, even if he was retired now, but it was making him feel better to at least pretend this was a joking situation. "Well, look at it this way: every single DADA teacher Harry's had has had some interest in Harry. It's definitely in Moody's capability to pull off a stunt like this."

Lily just sighed before saying, "Can someone offer up a real solution before he starts accusing Ron next?"

"Oi!" Sirius pouted, but didn't argue the point, recognizing he wasn't making anyone else feel better by his picking.

At least Sirius' fun had turned off the harder question Lily asked, why would someone do this to Harry. It wasn't hard to think up the reason. Their boy seemed to have more enemies than friends it felt like, but it didn't really help them to start listing them. Top of their list was Voldemort, and by extension any Death Eater he had at his availability. True, they only knew of one at the time, but he was off somewhere else, scheming something else. That did leave the nasty suspicion they had that there were two current Death Eaters around Harry at school, but as much as they hated Snape, and had a very growing dislike for all the suspicions they already had about Karkaroff, it was mind blowing to think either of them could pull this off under Dumbledore's nose.

Their opinion of the Headmaster was at an all time low considering everything they suspected, and basically knew even if they weren't there to see it all, involving his hand in Sirius' jail time. Still, that was the outside world, this was his bleeding school! He should be able to have stopped this from happening!

They had no answers, and no one to ask.

Considering Lily had thrown the book to the ground and kicked it into the wall in her temper to take her shock and hatred of this situation out on something, James had to walk across the room to go and fetch the book. None of them had even marginally calmed down, but they did come to the same realization James had. This had already happened to Harry, he had lived through whatever they were fixing to find out, and that was the most important thing to them. Whatever came next, Harry had survived.

James tried his best to steady his breathing so that when he found his right spot, he didn't keep screaming bloody murder about this. It was best he didn't anyways, because even in their shouting, Remus was the only one who hadn't gotten up in his outrage, still too sore and curled up into the chair with a very fussy baby now. His infant son's agitated whining at this mess only accented how the rest of them were feeling though, so it wasn't exactly as calm an environment as he was trying for as he began.

Harry just sat there with every eye in the hall on him, convinced he'd heard wrong.

"I feel like everyone in the hall wouldn't be looking at you if that were true," Remus grumbled low enough Harry couldn't hear.

There was no applause.

Sirius made a breathy noise, like he wanted to laugh at Harry's expense for that but he couldn't really get it out.

Instead a buzzing, unpleasant, noise was growing. McGonagall reacted first, getting to her feet and sprinting to Dumbledore's side to whisper something in his ear.

"I can only imagine what she's got to say about this," James sighed.

"Hopefully something along the lines of, I know the perfect solution of how to get him out of this," Lily huffed.

Harry turned to face his two friends, telling them he hadn't done this.

Harry sighed with pure misery. Somehow he just knew that was going to pop up a lot. It didn't make him feel any better that saying this to his two friends gave him an aching feeling, like one of them wouldn't even believe him. That couldn't possibly be true, right?

Neither answered.

At the staff table, Dumbledore repeated Harry's name, telling him to come up there. Hermione had to give him a push to get him to move.

"I'd need more than a push to get my behind up there," Remus shuddered.

Harry got to his feet, feeling wooden all over as he stumbled between the wide eyes of the Gryffindors and the stone faces of the Hufflepuffs. It seemed to take forever as he came forward, feeling like a spotlight was on him the whole time.

Lily sighed deeply, shifting in her place and having to stop herself going over to her son, snapping at anyone for staring too long. This wasn't his fault!

The buzzing kept growing louder as every eye in the room wouldn't look away from him.

He finally approached Dumbledore, who continued by telling Harry to go through the door like the others had.

"Honestly, this is one time I wanted him to get special treatment, put him somewhere else, like the train home," James ground out. He didn't care how bad of an idea it was logically, he wanted someone to do something other than just stare at his boy!

He wasn't smiling.

"Be a little more worried if he was," Sirius mumbled.

Harry kept going, edging around until he passed Hagrid, who neither waved nor gave any of his usual greetings as he too stared at Harry the whole way.

Harry was getting more despondent the longer this kept going, remembering all of those shocked faces and just wanting to scream that he hadn't done anything.

His face looked as astonished as everyone's.

"Anyone want to place bets on when this is going to wear off?" James moaned, just trying to say something that didn't depress him for just a second, though it clearly didn't work when everyone else ignored him.

Finally Harry passed through the door to see the three champions in a small circular room, covered with portraits over a fire. Harry found them imposing in the firelight.

Lily had her hair wrapped so tightly around one finger it was beginning to hurt, but she didn't release the strands, just kept pulling harder in agitation of picturing her Hare Bare having to go through all of this.

Fleur was the first to notice him, asking if he was there to tell them to come back into the hall?

"No, they wanted to make sure Hogwarts' mascot got shoved into this bloodbath as well," Sirius growled. All four of them looked at him like they were really going to do more than smack him this time, but when Sirius put his hands up in surrender meaning he regretted his own joke, no one acted on it, no matter how much they wanted to.

She thought Harry was there to give a message, but Harry couldn't come up with a way to answer.

"I still don't either honestly," Remus snapped.

He simply stood there, watching them, as it occurred to him how much taller they were.

Sirius plugged his nose to stop a snort of laughter, knowing he'd have loved to pick on both Harry and James for that any other time as they were usually on the shorter side even when they were the same age as those around them, but knew he couldn't have gotten away with it. Still, he regretted his missed opportunity the moment it passed, because no matter how stressed they all were for this, some humor really would have done them good for even a moment.

The first person to enter behind them was Bagman, who came bouncing in and grabbed Harry's arm, dragging him farther into the room as he exclaimed how extraordinary this was.

"NO!" Lily snapped at once. "I do not care for one second what the bloody hell you think is going on, but this is not extraordinary or anything else! My son-" she strangled herself off, her cheeks puffing up with indignation but clearly trying to hold off another shouting fit that this was Bagman's first reaction!

The others didn't look any better, Sirius in particular looked like he'd been smacked. What was Bagman playing at, trying to make this look like a good thing? Everyone should be trying to work on a way to get him out of this!

Turning to the other champions and shouting about how they had a fourth champion!

Lily couldn't seem to stop herself constantly uttering the word 'no' under her breath, and didn't seem likely to stop until something else happened.

Remus gave an exhausted sigh at that declaration, still trying to work out in his head how this had been done. That Goblet was one of the oldest of magical items. It would take something really powerful for it to have broken and spit out four champions. The question of who on earth could have pulled this off was still open ended, though, as they had no actual suspects.

Krum and Cedric looked more surprised, though hardly reactive. Fleur, though, gave her hair a toss and began laughing, saying Bagman had made a good joke.

"I wish," Sirius sighed, though even he'd admit this was never funny to begin with.

Bagman was shocked, saying this was no laughing matter. Harry's name had just come out of the Goblet. Krum and Cedric's expression continued growing more confused,

"I almost envy the reaction," James groused.

while Fleur frowned telling him there must be some mistake.

"Well, she's got that one right," they all agreed.

Harry couldn't compete, he was too young.

"Ironically, that was only a rule this time around," Lily sighed, "and still not my biggest problem."

"Really?" Harry asked in surprise, the first time he'd actually tried to speak to any of them since his name had come out, so though Lily didn't look happy she explained.

"I know you can handle a lot love, I've seen that proven time and again. No, what I, we," she quickly corrected since all of the boys housed the same face she did, "are so mad about is that you didn't volunteer for this. If you had, well, I can't say I'd be pleased, but, Merlin help it, I can't pretend you haven't dealt with this dangerous mess before. It would have been your decision at least. No, the fact that someone put your name in, forcing you to do this, that's why I'm going to be putting someone in their place," she finished with a dangerous flash to those green eyes.

Harry looked around in surprise, but when he saw nothing but agreement from the others, he felt a flash of warmth finally chase away that cold dread. No, he still wasn't happy about this situation he'd landed in one little bit, but the absolute fact that his parents were so infuriated on his behalf, not because they hadn't a shadow of a doubt he could handle this, but because he'd been forced into this, left him feeling almost giddy.

James couldn't stop himself from smiling just a bit as he kept going now. At least his son finally looked almost back to normal now.

Bagman agreed this was amazing, but since the age restriction had only been put in place this year it should be overlooked. The Goblet had used his name, there was no ducking out.

"Please stop saying that, though," Sirius pouted, not really exaggerating it much as he continued. "The point is, he shouldn't have to do this!"

"Where's Dumbledore?" Remus agreed with a heavy sigh. "Maybe he could, I don't know, if the Goblet was tricked once, can't it be convinced again to take his name back, or something?!"

"You let us know if you figure it out," James huffed.

It was all down in the rules, he was obliged

"If you put your name in," Lily stressed the word "you" for emphasis like she was speaking to a two year old. "Harry didn't, so he isn't obliged to do anything."

"I think it's moments like this where I hate magic," Harry agreed.

to do so and just do his best!

He was cut off by the entrance of Dumbledore, Crouch, Karkaroff, Maxime, McGonagall, and Snape.

"Why is Snape there?!" Sirius fired up at once, finally having something else to put his temper on. "Everyone else, I don't care, but, bloody hell, can he just not be there for one second!? He has no part of anything going on. Merlin, he'll probably start a cheer squad for this happening to my pup!"

"Malfoy'll be captain of that," James agreed just to finish the joke. He couldn't muster up an ounce of humor for it though.

Harry could still hear the noise coming from the Great Hall before McGonagall shut the door, and Fleur darted to her headmistress at once, telling her that they were going on about this little boy competing with them!

Harry finally felt something other than numbness, anger. Little boy?

"Oh, that's what got through to you, then?" Remus asked mildly.

"You want to insult a boy, you start calling him little," Lily agreed with an almost amused smile, which increased to actual laughter when indeed every boy in the room looked agitated at her.

Maxime drew herself up to her full height,

"I can believe how scary that is," James nodded absently.

her head brushing the ceiling as she swelled at Dumbledore what the meaning of this was?

Karkaroff said that he'd like an answer for this as well, two Hogwarts champions? There was nothing about that in the rules, or had he not read them properly? Giving a cruel laugh at the end.

"Guess people really will be calling Hogwarts biased now." Harry rolled his eyes, thinking back when this had just been a recurring joke, he'd never expected this as an end result.

Maxime agreed there was nothing saying Hogwarts would have two champions, it was unjust!

"Agreed," all five of them muttered.

Karkaroff added on that the age had restricted them bringing more from their schools.

"Yeah, I feel like you only would have brought one if you could get away with it." Sirius rolled his eyes.

Snape said his due, saying it was Potter's own fault.

Lily's hand twitched, her face so murderous in that moment the others had to fight down the urge to duck as she looked likely to draw her wand and do something irreparable to Snape for saying that. She was as sick and tired of hearing about him as the others, seeming to regret every moment she'd ever stood up for him previously as she could no longer even think about him without wanting to scream in his face for starters.

James felt the exact same way, the murdering part as he'd never pretend to stand up for Snivellus if his life depended on it, but he kept going with only the faintest hope Dumbledore would kick his slimy butt out of there before he could keep going long.

Saying it wasn't Dumbledore's fault Potter had decided to break the rules, he'd been doing that since he arrived here-

Dumbledore cut him off.

James looked so furious by the time Dumbledore had cut in, Sirius and Remus decided Snape should be lucky James hadn't ever managed to find some way to take a limb off in school, because he'd clearly do it now.

Then he turned to Harry and calmly asked if he'd put his name in the Goblet of Fire?

"Least Dumbledore didn't lose his temper on this," Remus huffed.

"I've never seen Dumbledore lose his temper over anything," Sirius sighed. "It'd be really weird to even picture it."**

Harry said no at once, while Snape made a soft noise of disbelief in the shadows.

Lily made a murderous noise of disbelief in plain view for everyone to see.

Dumbledore, ignoring Snape, then asked if he'd asked one of the older students to do it for him?

"Would that work?" Harry asked in shock. That was an even simpler solution than the Aging Potion.

"I, well sort of, I can kind of picture it at least," Remus said with crossed eyes. "If the Goblet works so that it takes the essence of the person who put the paper in, well it would be absorbing the person, not the name on the slip. So if another person wrote Harry's name down, and the Goblet accepted that name to go with the person who put it in, well I couldn't see why this wouldn't work."

"You'd really have to work on an older student to convince them to give up their chance for you," Sirius agreed in tones showing how impossible that scenario would be.***

"What about a Polyjuice Potion then?" Harry asked. "You'd turn into someone physically old enough."

"If Dumbledore had the thought to set up against an Aging Potion, he'd most likely have done it against all Potions. If you had one in your system, I don't think you could get through," Lily explained.

"Problem is," James ruffled up his brow as he sorted through this, "what would be the point? No one would do that as a joke, because anyone who put their name in would want their own go at it."

"No one was suggesting this as a prank," Lily muttered with pure mutiny.

"Oh, he knows," Sirius sighed. "No one here's pretending a student is powerful enough to do this to the Goblet. Even Hermione couldn't get away with that. No, it would have to be someone at Dumbledore's level of magical power, and how someone managed to do that without Dumbledore realizing is still what's getting to me."

Harry sighed. Clearly they were as lost as he on that front, so he kept at the other thing instead, at least that didn't explicitly have to do with him. "But now I'm really thinking about this, couldn't a whole school do that as a form of cheating? What if every single Durmstrang student just put down Krum's name, that way the Goblet would have no choice but to shoot out that name?" His frown increased as he jumped to, "what if it wasn't the Goblet that was magicked, but every person at Hogwarts who just thought they were putting their own name, but really put mine? Though," he quickly amended when he could sense how wrong that was even without letting the others deny this, "I guess that would be just as hard to pull off around Dumbledore."

"And wouldn't explain how Cedric got in, and a fourth name came out," James agreed gently. Still, they were all happy to at least have seen him try. It was good to see him trying to throw those kinds of things out there, as it meant he wasn't solely trying to rely on his mind for answers anymore, which only ever led to hurting him.

Again Harry said no, and Maxime said he was lying at once, while a shake of Snape's head showed he agreed with her.

"I am going to rip his head off," Sirius said sincerely.

McGonagall stepped in, saying Harry couldn't have crossed the age line, while Maxime pointed out Dumbledore must have made a mistake.

"Now she's just being ridiculous." Remus rolled his eyes. "We've seen an abundance of evidence it's stopped a number of students, so why on earth could Harry get around that?"

"Can someone please stop blaming Harry and instead get to how he doesn't have to do this?" James agreed.

Dumbledore agreed this could be a factor, while McGonagall told them all they were being ridiculous. Harry couldn't have crossed that line, and if Dumbledore says he believes him that should be good enough for everyone!

"Thank you, McGonagall!" Lily nodded sharply, happy at least someone was around to keep these idiots in their place.

She shot a very angry look at Snape.

"Well deserved, that," Sirius nodded along.

Karkaroff turned to Bagman and Crouch then, saying they were supposed to be the objective judges, and they had to admit this was irregular.

"Oh, no one's arguing this is irregular," Sirius rolled his eyes.

Bagman still had a smile on his face, while Crouch had been standing silently in the shadows this whole time.

"Actually more surprised he hasn't spoken up by now," Lily said briskly. "Put his bleeding opinion out in the open of all of this."

He looked ghastly in the dying light, but he spoke in his usual curt tone as he said the rules must be followed. The Goblet of Fire had chosen him, so he was now bound for the Tournament.

"No!" Lily snapped again, sick of this being everyone's go-to answer. She was seconds away from getting to her feet and stomping her way to Crouch's house and telling him off next. "You find a bleeding loophole and get him out of this!"

"If there's a way around getting an underage student into the Goblet, there should be a way to get him out of it," James agreed in seething tones.

"It was a rule an underage student shouldn't be in," Remus agreed with an ugly look in place, "but then again, isn't Crouch the one who decides what rules should and shouldn't be followed?"

Harry looked at him in surprise at this. Clearly something had just gone over his head, but even though James agreed he didn't notice Harry and instead kept going.

Bagman seemed to decide that made the matter closed while giving a charming smile to everyone.

"I do not like him anymore," Sirius growled, any shine gone to be replaced by a murderous growl in his voice. Quidditch player be damned, no one should be in a good mood while this was happening to Harry.

Karkaroff insisted this wasn't right. He wanted all the names of the students resubmitted until all the schools were even!

Lily opened, then closed her mouth, shutting her eyes for a moment before opening them and saying "actually, that seems fair."

"Wish I could say otherwise," James sighed, "but the man's got a point."

"That doesn't solve our problem," Remus sighed, keeping the baby in his lap as close to his chest as he could like he feared someone was going to wrench him away any second and throw him into this Tournament. "Harry's still stuck in the bleeding middle of this, but it might take some of the heat off of him if they do pull that off."

No one looked remotely happy, but if this was the solution that everyone ended up coming to, it would have the benefit of Harry not being the sole attention anymore at least somewhat.

Bagman reminded the Goblet had gone out, and it would not reignite until the start of the next Tournament.

"So tell it to do otherwise!" Sirius snapped in outrage. "It's a magical object, use some f'ing magic on it and get it to do what it's told!"

Karkaroff exploded at them all, saying Durmstrang would take no part of this! He was tempted to just leave now!

"You know it's sad when I can't even say he's not wrong," Lily moaned into her hands, pressing her face so tight into them in frustration she was leaving nail marks on her forehead. "I'd be just as bleeding pissed if this was happening from another school."

A new voice told Karkaroff how stupid that was, leaving his champion. They've all got to compete, which was convenient.

"Now why couldn't this one have been here this whole time instead of Snape?" James huffed, thankful someone else had stepped in, hoping against hope whoever would find a way out of this for his son.

Moody had come in, while Karkaroff turned nasty eyes on him and told him no one understood why this was convenient.

"Pretty sure he's saying what none of us want to hear," Lily mumbled, still not removing her face, her curtain of red hair hiding most of the act, and she didn't look likely to move until her Hare Bare was pulled out of this.

Moody told that it was obvious, someone put Potter's name in so he would have to compete.

Maxime exclaimed it was so Hogwarts could have two bites at the apple, and Karkaroff agreed with her: he'd be lodging complaints against everything he could.

"And a number of other things, which do absolutely no good," Sirius rolled his eyes in pure contempt. "If I could have a go at the Goblet, I'd be doing it now as well."

Moody reminded if anyone should be complaining, it was Potter, but he'd stayed quiet.

"He's actually got a point there," Remus raised a brow at him. "You haven't spoken a word."

"I kept hoping someone would find a way to get me out of this." Harry shrugged, choosing not to add on he hardly ever liked speaking when adults were around discussing him, probably one too many years of the Dursleys had put that into him. They always somehow managed to make it clear if Harry's name was in the conversation he should keep his mouth shut, not that they ever included him in any other discussion either. "Besides," he finished out loud to get rid of his trailing thoughts, "couldn't think up anything to say. I hadn't done anything."

Fleur bit back he was the last person who would complain, he was getting the chance many would die for!

"Oh, please don't say that," Lily sighed, finally raising her head to give a stank eye at the book. This French girl continued to agitate her the longer she spoke.

Moody agreed maybe Harry's death was the end game here.

"That's why I didn't want her to say that," she snarled when James got that out looking more than a little sick after doing so.

Sadly, they'd already realized this, but with any luck maybe Moody would suggest someone who could have done this to Harry they hadn't thought of.

Silence rung in the room. Bagman lost some of his good mood

"Finally an expression that doesn't read, 'oh this is brilliant!'" Sirius snorted.

while he bounced on his heels in unease as he told Moody off for saying that.

"Oh, how I wish he was wrong," Lily hissed.

Karkaroff reminded Moody hadn't made his day until he found six attempts on his life.

"And how do you spend your mornings?" James snarled. Moody and McGonagall were the only ones sticking up for his son so far. He wasn't going to let someone have a go at them without returning. "In fact, maybe you should start that practice!"

He was clearly imagining things. Moody glowered at him, reminding that it took someone with more skill than a fourteen year old to do this to the Goblet.

Maxime demanded what evidence he had of that?

"Logic," Remus raised a brow.

"Common sense," Sirius agreed with a sigh.

"Something any adept person would know," James sniffed.

Moody reminded how it must have taken a powerful wizard to Confound the Goblet into thinking there were four Champions, and put Harry's name down as the only entrance from an extra school.

Karkaroff told Moody he'd thought this through quite well,

Harry felt something just as cold trickling towards his stomach, for the first time wondering on Karkaroff, at what he'd said...and for an inexplicable reason going back to Sirius' earlier joke of who'd done this to him...

and while it was smart, last he'd heard Moody had taken a birthday gift and broken it in fear it was poisoned, so he should forgive them all for not taking him seriously.

"I'd be worried if you did treat him like me," Sirius agreed with an ingenious smirk in his opinion, and when Harry snapped out of whatever that face was and laughed, it was worth it.

Moody reminded it was his job to think like Dark wizards, Karkaroff should remember that.

"Well, there's our proof, as if we needed any more," James sighed. "Karkaroff was, or is, I guess, depending on what time we're talking about, a Death Eater."

"Never heard of him before, though," Remus gave an absent shrug, "so either he's not very high in the ranks, or hasn't joined yet."

"Or we've gotten a spot more dodgy information," Sirius scowled, for the first time really thinking past that rat's betrayal and jumping on the fact that it wasn't just James and Lily he'd got killed. How many more people would that rat get murdered for Voldemort, how soon until he started telling Death Eaters their plans instead of them figuring out theirs?

The others were confident they knew where Sirius' mind had gone, but they were already in a foul enough mood without something else like this being brought up just now, so no one asked him for details.

Dumbledore gave a warning to Alastor, and it took a moment for Harry to realize who he was speaking to.

That managed to snap James onto something far more pleasant at least, as he began giggling at once, managing to get out, "It took you how many months-" before he broke off into a bit more chuckling.

Harry rolled his eyes good-naturedly, but none of them had seen that eye in person. If they had, they wouldn't have questioned him using that as a name either.

Then again, Mad-Eye could hardly be his real first name.

"Oh, but it would have been so much more interesting if it was," Lily agreed mildly.

Moody stopped speaking, though he still kept a distasteful eye on Karkaroff's hateful one.

Dumbledore continued speaking, saying that however this happened, it didn't appear they had another choice but to accept it.

"NO!" Lily snarled in outrage, this time joined in by everyone else as Harry watched. It was his mother, though, who kept going in a full-blown, no-longer-able-to-bottle-it-up tangent as she really did get to her feet, pacing the length of the room in a towering outrage. "I am so bleeding sick of seeing him just saying, okay, Harry's going off to do this insane thing, let's see what happens!"

Remus opened, then closed his mouth as he couldn't come up with an argument for that. The only time he may have tried for some defense was in Harry's second year when Dumbledore hadn't even been around there at the end, but even still with that odd advice he'd given indicating he'd known Harry was around, he hadn't offered words of caution trying to deter Harry. He'd instead said the very thing Harry had repeated in calling Dumbledore's bird to him. Coincidence? Maybe, but as this was the fourth time it felt like Dumbledore was in no way hindering any of this happening to Harry, he couldn't really believe it as much anymore.

James and Sirius exchanged a look that spoke volumes, but honestly felt the exact same way as the other two. Dumbledore had abandoned Sirius when he needed him most, and they'd never forgive him for that. They even suspected he had a hand in convincing Remus Sirius had done all of those terrible things. He was the only one who could have done such a thing to make Remus think the worst of Sirius.

Harry felt something crumbling inside him, though he realized it was already cracked beyond repair anyways. This was just more coming out. He knew in his younger years he'd believed Dumbledore could do anything, but now because of last year, and now this, he knew that illusion would never come back.

Still, James kept going, which did not make one beat of Lily's pacing skip. She kept stalking back and forth, wearing out the carpet like that would somehow help.

Both Cedric and Harry would have to do this.

Maxime tried to cut in, but Dumbledore said if anyone had an alternative, he'd love to hear it.

"That's true," James grumbled. "Everyone else has been doing nothing but complaining, but I haven't seen one bleeding person actually trying to offer up a solution."

Silence. Everyone was now glaring at Dumbledore, except Bagman, who gathered his excited nature back.

Sirius started grinding his teeth to fight back the urge to snarl a few more death threats at someone he never believed he'd direct them at.

He decided it was time to move forward, asking Barty if he'd like the honor of telling the champions what they would be up to first. Crouch seemed to come back to life at being spoken to.

"What's got him so distracted?" Lily raised a brow in surprise, finally stalking to her seat, though it wasn't making the situation any better. "What on earth could be going on that's demanding more of his attention than this?"

Harry sighed, that old feeling returning, making him sure that he knew an answer at some point, and he wasn't too eager to learn this one.

The longer Harry watched him, he noticed that his skin looked unhealthy and far more wrinkled than it had at the Cup.

"I would feel bad for him," Remus sniffed, "if he deserved it. It's his own fault for firing his help and acting like a prick to everyone he doesn't deem worthy."

His voice was as crisp as ever as he told the four of them, the first task was to test their daring,

All five of them gave a few terrible mutterings, still wishing more than anything Harry's name wasn't in that, that they could be hearing about this like Harry should be through the rest of the school amongst rumors and in the stands. Now they were going to have to hear what the Triwizard decided daring was, and Harry would be in the middle.

as it was important for a wizard to face courage in the unknown.

"Well, Ron was right," Harry huffed without a trace of humor. "I've lived that part."

None of them looked remotely pleased about it.

He gave the date of when this would be happening, and that it would take place in front of the panel of judges. The champions were not to ask for help from anyone regarding anything during the Tournament.

"Right, I can see that happening." Remus rolled his eyes.

They would go into this first task with only their wands,

"As opposed to the other challenges? Are they going to take their wands away?" Sirius rolled his eyes, though he shuddered at the thought, not even wanting to imagine that kind of horror.

and they would receive further instructs on the second task after the first. Also, all champions were exempt from the end-of-year finals.

"Finally, the bright side," James sighed, sounding like that was still the worst news in the world. He'd give anything for Harry to be taking those stupid exams rather than this!

"Well, how does that work though?" Harry asked. "Everyone else would be in seventh year. They'd have to take their N. E. W. T. s, right?"

"I feel like winning the Triwizard Tournament is your job application." Sirius rolled his eyes, and Harry realized he wasn't really kidding. With the amount of fame and prize money this came with, it really wouldn't be difficult to find a job with those standards behind you, and you had plenty of time to look.

He turned to Dumbledore to indicate he was finished, and Dumbledore kept watching him with concern.

"Guess he really does look bad." Lily rolled her eyes, unable to find it in herself to actually feel anything for it. It felt like compensation for some of the more ruthless laws he'd been passing of late finally catching up to him.

He asked if Barty would like to stay the night at Hogwarts, but Crouch declined, saying he was too busy. He'd left Weatherby in charge,

Sirius finally managed a real smile this chapter, sad that he couldn't do more at that joke.

and while he was enthusiastic, he may be a little overtly so in this case.

"Didn't know there was such a thing," Lily said, still more grimly than with any amount of humor, but at least they were trying again.

"If there was, Percy would hit it." Remus attempted a smirk.

Dumbledore asked if he'd at least like to have a drink, and Bagman jumped in saying Barty was being ridiculous! Everything was happening at Hogwarts. What could be more exciting than that? Crouch gained some of his impatience back as he told Ludo he would not indulge this.

"Good to know he's not too sick." James rolled his eyes.

Dumbledore offered to have a drink with the other two heads of the schools, but Maxime and Fleur stalked out,

"Can't even blame them," Harry sighed.

into the now silent Great Hall, speaking in French.

"Don't need a translation for that," Remus grumbled.

Karkaroff summoned Krum to him, and they left as well, though in silence.

"Krum didn't say a word during that," Sirius realized in surprise, somehow actually thankful at least one of his Quidditch fascinations this year hadn't managed to tick him off yet.

"You'd think he'd be just as outraged as Fleur," James nodded in agreement.

"He was making a lot of the same faces as Cedric," Harry shrugged, "switching between surprise and confusion. Maybe some contempt in there."

Dumbledore turned to Cedric and Harry, telling them to get off to bed, now smiling at the two.

"I still want to strangle him with his own beard," Lily snarled. "Smiling at a time like this, can't someone at least pretend to be upset!"

"I think we're doing that enough for all of them, love," James sighed.

Reminding that their respective houses would want to be celebrating this.

The two left, and only when they made it to the Entrance Hall did Cedric point out that they'd be playing against each other again.

"I'd listen to a hundred Quidditch matches over this," Lily groused.

Harry agreed, his mind not on the conversation, though. Cedric did catch his attention as he asked how Harry had pulled it off.

"If Harry didn't tell them, what the bloody hell makes him think he'd admit it to him?" Sirius snapped.

"He's not any more special than those arse wipes," James agreed.

Harry gave a mild frown at them both, finally understanding why he would have felt so agitated at Cedric this year, as he was sure once the shock wore off, he'd look at Cedric as a rival again. It still didn't explain that other feeling, this want to defend him and not hear a bad word against him. Considering the last time he'd felt this was towards Dobby, and he'd made a few attempts at making Harry's life hell, he didn't feel like sharing that this time.

Harry insisted he hadn't, and Cedric clearly didn't believe him for a second.

Any feelings he would have anyways slipped away at once as his lip sneered in protest along with the others, outraged at once no one believed Harry about this!

He walked off towards the Hufflepuff common room then, and Harry was left to climb the stairs in silence. Was anyone going to believe him except Ron and Hermione?

Harry's breath released in a sudden rasp, looking like someone had just kicked him when he was down. They all thought it was just lingering agitation at what Harry was thinking, though. Even Harry himself had no idea why he'd felt anything for that.

Harry found the idea ridiculous. Why would he want to go up against those who had three years of magical learning over him? Sure he'd fantasized about entering,

"So did every other person at that school," Remus snapped, "and if they say otherwise, they're bleeding liars."

but he hadn't really meant it, he was never serious about entering.

"I'd be a little more concerned if you did think I'd enter," Sirius said at once, none of his usual humor in his favorite joke, but meeting Harry's eyes anyways with a spark of amusement nonetheless.

Harry managed a sour-filled smile for him, but not because the joke had quite worn off yet. He was just a little too distracted still to really give the laugh.

Someone had done it to him, though, and he got the feeling it wasn't meant as a treat.

"If someone really thinks that, they need a dictionary," Lily scowled.

To watch him make a fool of himself? They'd get their wish.

"Now, I don't think that's really all fair," Sirius sighed, still trying his hardest to get a smile going. "Give yourself some credit."

"No," Harry said back, deadpan.

To get him killed? Was Moody just being his paranoid self,

"So far, I think he's actually been the perfect amount of paranoid," James said with a shrug.

did someone really want him dead?

"I hate that I know the answer to that," Remus scowled.

Well, yes, Voldemort certainly did, but he wasn't anywhere near Harry. He was in hiding, feeble and powerless.

"Well, that's not entirely true," Lily murmured, shrinking just a little closer to Remus and her son.

Yet when Harry had dreamed about him, Voldemort hadn't been alone, he'd been with Wormtail, plotting Harry's murder.

"Thank you, because I hadn't remembered that recently," Sirius scoffed, his too-dark eyes still trying to keep Harry's, to show he didn't really blame his pup for thinking about this.

Harry was shocked to find himself in front of his portrait hole, and that the Fat Lady wasn't alone. Harry recognized the wizened old witch next to her as one of the ones from the portraits in the room downstairs.

"The portraits are the biggest gossips in that school," James muttered randomly, his mind happily latching onto anything old and familiar.

She must have run all the way up here to beat Harry. The Fat Lady looked down at Harry, asking if it was true he really was a champion? Harry replied Balderdash, and the other painting shouted it wasn't a lie!

"Timing," Remus rolled his eyes, missing the time where he would have laughed at the fortune of this password happening in relation to this.

The Gryffindor guardian eased her friend this was merely the entrance word before opening. The noise she opened up to was deafening, as seemingly every member of his house reached forward and pulled Harry in to congratulate him, the twins getting there first as they told Harry he should have said something about entering, looking half annoyed and half impressed.

Sirius groaned into his hands, wanting to laugh along with the twins like he always had, but wanting to smack them a good one for not giving Harry a chance to explain himself because he hadn't done this.

Everyone else was the same. They'd procured food, and kept trying to force it on Harry, despite Harry trying to say he wasn't hungry, and in no mood to be celebrating.

"Never thought a celebration would depress me so much," Remus grumbled.

Lee Jordan had found a Gryffindor banner somewhere and had decided to tie it around Harry's shoulders, all of them asking how he'd gotten over that Age Line.

"And not one bleeding one of them got the picture that you hadn't," Lily seethed, wishing Harry would shout it in someone's face already. He was so clearly upset and frustrated by this.

He kept saying over and over that he hadn't done it, but for all the notice he got he may as well not have answered.

James was opening and closing his mouth, clearly having reached the level of too outraged to speak on his son's behalf anymore, so forced himself to keep going in hopes Harry would just leave.

He began shouting at George that he was serious,

"No, I am," Sirius muttered under his breath, more out of obligation than anything at this point.

he just wanted to go to bed! He nearly knocked some of the younger kids over as he finally bolted up the stairs.

"About bleeding time," Sirius huffed. "Where were Ron and Hermione in that mess? They should have been there to at least try and keep that horde off of you!"

Harry didn't answer, and he was getting the ever growing feeling he wouldn't like it when he got one.

He went into his dormitory to find Ron laid out on his bed, and as Harry entered, Ron said hello.

"That's his response?" Remus rolled his eyes. "Hello?! I would have thought he and Hermione had rehearsed another conversation to try and calm him down!"

He was grinning, but it was a very odd, strained sort of grin.

"What?!" Lily balked, sure she'd heard him wrong.

James didn't answer though, didn't even glance up as he kept staring down at the pages, getting a very bad feeling about this...

Harry realized he still had that banner on, and struggled for a few minutes to remove it with Ron simply watching.

"Awkward silence," Sirius muttered into the room, which had somehow joined the same atmosphere.

When Harry kicked it back out of the room, Ron told him congratulations.

"Please tell me he was being sarcastic," Remus demanded, a furious glint lighting his eyes. "I am begging you to tell me, James, that there was some sarcasm in there."

James did not respond, his face going slack and pale the more words he kept pressing out.

Harry demanded what Ron meant, watching that grin become more of a grimace. Ron explained he was congratulating him getting over that Age Line, and asked how he'd done it? The Invisibility Cloak?

"Why would he, what-" Lily tried to stammer out, her face growing steadily more red the more she couldn't snap out a question.

Harry reminded him the cloak wouldn't work. Ron accepted that, adding on that he would have expected Harry to tell him if that were it, because both of them could have fit under the cloak, but Harry must have found some way to do it!

"He would have told you if he had!" Sirius howled in outrage, the shock finally wearing off, and he began trembling with rage. "How can Ron, of all people, think you'd done this! He's not heard a word from you, and he's really saying you did this!"

Harry's mouth was left hanging open, the expression of mingled fury and disbelief still not quite covering the hurt that was quickly rising. Something had been trying to warn him of this, but even with it resurfacing clear as day, Harry didn't want to believe it. He'd always known Ron had some jealousy issues, but this?! He now couldn't decide what hurt worse, someone putting his name in the tournament, or his best friend treating him like this because of it.

Harry said, again, he hadn't done this, someone had done it to him. Ron just raised his brows at him, asking why would someone do that? Harry felt like it would be too melodramatic to say 'to kill me.'

"Sadly, I can believe it's accurate," Lily hissed.

Ron's look did not change as he told Harry he could tell him the truth, it's not like he was going to get in trouble so there was no need to lie.

"I wouldn't tell him the truth now if he begged me," Remus sneered with as much fuel as he could. "Not the way he's acting."

Dumbledore was letting him play, Violet the portrait had told them all.

"Letting him," James repeated crossly, his voice still coming out too quietly, though. He hadn't quite seemed to get past his own disbelief at the situation yet and was still floored on that.

Harry now shouted back he hadn't put his name in!

"Oh, I'm long since past angry," Sirius growled, entirely sick of this whole bleeding school treating Harry like this, now someone who'd supposedly been a friend had joined in.

Ron believed that as much as Cedric, and everyone else, reminding how Harry had said last night he'd find a way to put his name in when no one was watching.

"And you once thought you could turn a rat yellow with a spell a three year old knew wasn't real. You don't see him holding that against you!" Lily half shouted, a muscle going off in her jaw she didn't seem aware of.

Reminding he wasn't stupid.

"Could have fooled me," Remus snarled.

Harry told him he was doing a really good job of proving otherwise. Ron wasn't even pretending anymore, telling Harry he should get to bed for his big photo shoot tomorrow!

Remus made a noise of pure outrage. He hadn't believed he could be more disgusted with the situation Harry was in, and here was Ron of all people proving him otherwise! The baby in his arms began fussing, and Remus was having a very hard time settling him back down when he couldn't even pretend at that emotion himself anymore.

He pulled the hangings of his bed shut around him, and Harry was left staring at a shadow of one of the few people he'd been sure would believe him.

James slammed the book shut with a sharp snap.

HPHPHPHP

*A lot of you suggested the train as an option, so I'm not going to single any one person out because I loved them all so much, but thanks again for the offer. The more I thought about it, the more I realized what a cool idea it was! Sorry if I came across as a jerk to anyone for my initial turn down of it to anyone.

**Come on, you know I had to make a joke about that.

***This and one other are thrown around all the time to kingdom come about a plot hole in the series, and I'm sure you all know what the other is and I'm already working on a far better explanation for it, but for this one in particular...yeah I couldn't really come up with anything. Magic can be outwitted as has been shown, but in this particular instance I think Sirius said it best, just because it could have happened, doesn't mean anyone could have been talked into getting away with it. All that prize money and glory couldn't have been talked on to my slip of paper.

[halothenthehorns]

TLTNL- OCCLUMENCY

It took Lily several moments to come back and realize how deeply she was nestled in James' side, and she hardly had the energy to pull away after that. It felt callous, to keep going after hearing the fate of her friend, but the only way she knew to help was getting to the bottom of these books, to Harry's memories. She just knew that would be the key to saving everyone, it had to be. The moment he understood how to let them out of this place, she could go and save Alice, Frank, and everyone.

With that thought in mind, it still took her a few moments to process why Remus wasn't still going, and she had to clear her throat hard for a moment before calling to him.

He jolted in surprise, almost as if he'd forgotten where he was. She couldn't blame him, but he finally agreed that part was done and she begrudgingly let her infant leave her arms, but some color finally came back to at least Remus' face as he cradled the infant and she found her place to start.

They found Kreacher in the attic.

Harry was glad he wasn't the one reading again. He could feel some nasty catch in his throat, but as he tried to quietly clear it, it almost came out as a sob. He only just managed to turn it into a cough, his face more troubled now than ever to understand what that could mean.

Sirius still couldn't care less, but Harry found it odd upon his reappearance he had stopped muttering about them quite as much, and Harry had caught Kreacher staring at him when he thought no one was looking.

Sirius was frowning in unease in here though, a trickle of worry starting to replace his calm. Kreacher wasn't like Dobby though, his wretched thing didn't have the gall to go against him, and it's not as if he abused Kreacher like Dobby had been. He mainly ignored the imp unless he did something that deserved a kick from the room.

  Harry did not mention his vague suspicions to Sirius, whose cheerfulness was evaporating fast now that Christmas was over.

"Oh boy," James muttered. He'd already been watching Sirius with concern, he'd seen the confusion and beginnings of something on his face at the mention of Kreacher, but now something else was entirely masking that. Hearing about how flamboyant he'd been during Christmas had been the most they'd seen of their Padfoot yet, and Harry hadn't even been in the same way to enjoy it. Now somehow things were flipping right back around! Was it really so impossible to have everyone be happy for a moment?

As the day came along for them to head back to school, Sirius went back to his reclusive ways of avoiding everyone. Harry was honestly considering joining him, since for the first time in his life, he didn't want to return to school.

Lily was worried that's all they seemed to feel in here anymore as well. School, while not an ideal time in their life what with Voldemort trying to kill them all, was where they all had their best memories. It seemed that way for Harry as well, and yet the horrible things that so often happened to him there seemed to rival the good of his first home.

Going back would mean being under the thumb of Umbridge again, no Quidditch practice, and more homework than ever with the exams coming up at the end of the year, not to mention Dumbledore still avoiding his presence. In fact if it weren't for the DA, Harry would have begged his godfather not to make him go back.

"The worst part is, I may cave in and agree with you by now," Sirius grumbled.

On the last day before they went back to school, it still managed to get worse.

"That was pleasant, honestly just what we needed," Remus groaned as Lily now clearly dreaded just flipping to the next page.

He was up in the rooms with Ron, Hermione, and Ginny, the two girls watching the boys play a chess match when Mrs. Weasley poked her head in and called for Harry, because Professor Snape wanted to see him.

Lily stuttered to a halt in surprise, her lip already curling in agitation of thinking of Harry back around him for any reason when they'd had quite a space since the last time.

The boys were already grumbling and shifting around in agitation as well, knowing without a doubt any reason Snape was singling Harry out wasn't going to make them feel better even without the books warning.

Harry did not immediately register what she had said;

"Honestly I try to ignore most sentences with his name as well," Remus agreed.

as he was yelling at his castle to knock Ron's pawn off the table already, and asked Mrs. Weasley to repeat herself, which she did.

"That wasn't any more pleasant to hear a second time!" Sirius groaned.

Harry's mouth fell open in horror.

Lily almost wanted to laugh if she hadn't wanted to do the same thing.

Harry exchanged looks with the other three. Hermione was so surprised her grip on Crookshanks even failed, the cat had been squirming for ages trying to get free and now ran amok chasing all the pieces off the board and no one noticed.

Sirius wouldn't deny he was stalling as he demanded, "why not just kick him out of the room then?"

"Hermione's always been big on letting Crookshanks where ever she is. If anyone suggested making the cat get out, she'd get really offended and say she'd just leave to," Harry almost smiled again, even if his brow was still creased with worry for whatever was fixing to happen.

Harry repeated Snape just to be sure, Mrs. Weasley correcting it was Professor Snape.

"He's certainly done nothing to earn that respect," James said bitterly.

"I'd call him Professor Snivellus though," Sirius smirked.

Ron asked what he could want, but his mother had already left, so Ron asked of Harry if he'd done anything?

"That presumption is almost hurtful," Remus rolled his eyes.

"If it wasn't so often true," Harry sighed.

The only thing Harry could think of was he'd finally achieved a T on his last assignment.

"Still not worthy of such a highly esteemed house call," James snarked.

He took his time edging all the way down into the kitchen, and stood in the doorway for a moment to see Snape at one end of the table, Sirius at the other with a letter.

"Well some good will clearly come of this," Lily said with even more worry now. "The two are going to kill each other, and that'll give us a little more breathing room."

"I'm hurt Lily," Sirius frowned at her, "as if he could actually kill me, if I wanted him dead I'd already have the stake ready."

Lily just rolled her eyes at him.

He hesitated until one noticed him, Snape telling him to take a seat.

"Tell him what to do, not at school, even then he doesn't deserve to-" James trailed off into more disdainful mutterings that Lily was trying to ignore in favor of curiosity of all this.

Sirius said, while leaning back on two chair legs and glaring at the ceiling, he didn't think Snape should be giving orders in his house.

"Ha!" Sirius barked, all three boys looking far to pleased in Lily's opinion.

Snape scowled at him even as Harry edged in and took a seat next to Sirius. Snape began he was supposed to see Potter alone, but Black-

Sirius cut in he was his godfather loudly.

Snape spoke more quietly that if it made the man feel involved in something, then he may as well.

James flushed in agitation. He was already worried sick Sirius was going to do something to get himself hurt, shut up in that house. He couldn't help thinking about the last time he'd been shut away for his family's good, and someone else had given him up, resulting in all of this happening. If Snape pushed the right, or in this case the wrong buttons, he didn't want to imagine what Sirius would do to prove him wrong.

Sirius let his chair fall with a bang as he glared daggers at Snape now, demanding what he meant by that.

Snape coolly replied he knew how frustrated Black was he could do nothing useful for the Order.

Remus' face flushed with fury, his jaw tensed and ready to do more than snap something back for that. First Molly, now Snape, he was sick of everyone putting him down for doing exactly what he'd been told to do!

Lily kept her face buried behind her hair and the book closer than it strictly needed to be, because she didn't want the others to see she couldn't come up with an argument for that one. Sirius was still on the run, his face could very well still be in the public image. She'd be just as worried about him doing anything as well, and even though she'd love to slap Snape for saying that to him, she couldn't come up with anything else to say either.

Sirius flushed without response while Snape turned to Harry and told he was to be learning Occlumency the rest of the year.

Lily froze in confusion, studying the word as if looking for a mistake. She'd considered the idea, but had ruled it out because whatever was happening to her son was too unknown, why add the extra strain of such a complex bit of magic that they didn't even have proof would work. This wasn't like normal Legilimency she'd heard about, there was no eye contact to what Voldemort was doing, so how would this help?

Harry cut off her train of thought by asking uneasily what that even was, his expression making it clear he wasn't going to enjoy relearning the answer, and indeed while James gave a brief explanation, only more worry lines appeared.

Sirius hardly waited for Harry to wrap his head around such complex magic before howling in frustration, "I still don't understand why he's there! Where the bloody hell is Dumbledore!?"

"We've been wondering that one all year, what makes you think we're getting an answer now," Remus ground out.

Harry asked what that was, while Snape sneered more than ever while explaining it was defence of the mind against external attacks. Obscure, but useful.

Harry couldn't help an extra little scowl, how Snape managed to make the most simplest explanations put him as if he were stupid for not knowing, when his dad had explained even better than that without making him feel idiotic at all.

Harry felt his heart thudding uncomfortably. That made it sound as if Voldemort could possess him, but they'd ruled that out!

"No, no Harry," Lily quickly agreed. "Not possessed, he's not controlling you or forcing you to do anything. If, well if this does work the way it's supposed to, then that just means you won't see inside his head anymore."

Harry could not force himself to relax though. It sounded like a great plan...if it worked. He hoped that was his pessimism saying otherwise.

Harry demanded why he had to learn such a thing, and Snape said Dumbledore found it a good idea he take private lessons once a week.

"Then I actually can't wait for them to start," James snapped. "Dumbledore'll finally have to do some explaining, there's no way he can avoid looking at you while teaching you this."

Harry opened his mouth, a nasty warning already going off because of that.

He was not to tell anyone about this of course, least of all Umbridge.

"Really? I thought he just told her every little detail of his life!" Sirius snapped.

Harry asked who his teacher was?

"Thought that was obvious," Lily's brows pulled together in confusion as she glanced at Harry. "Dumbledore's the only one I'd trust to do this, considering how advanced it is for you. I'm not even entirely sure McGonagall knows how."

Harry had no energy in him to say anything otherwise, he was already holding his breath against blurting something out that was going to be still more unpleasant.

Snape did not look pleased as he stated himself.

Lily was now convinced Dumbledore was out to kill her son as much as Voldemort was.

"Wha-" James's voice failed him, he couldn't even put into words every way this was a bad thing!

Sirius did. He said a few things that made Lily's ears want to curl before stating in no uncertain terms, "there is no way I was told about this! Otherwise I'd have broken off his nose and shoved it up his arse for suggesting such a thing!"

"You mean Snape, or Dumbledore?" Remus tried to ask in a pleasant tone of voice, failing miserably.

"Both!" He barked. "The one person worse than Voldemort rooting around in Harry's head while he learns to block it, I still question why that vermin's allowed to teach children! Now he's being given more-" he strangled off with a deep throated noise promising violence that no one would have stopped.

It took a moment for him to catch his breath before he almost said in a calm voice that was nearly as scary as his yelling, "there's no way this is going to happen. Dammit, I should have had some kind of say in this, there's no way I'll let him do this to Harry."

Harry still wasn't sure if he was threatening Dumbledore or Snape more, but he still tried to offer with whatever assurance he could, "I don't think it lasts long." He broke off uneasily, mostly for trying to remember this, but some even larger warning to do with this.

"That wasn't anymore reassuring," Lily grumbled, forcing herself to keep going now.

Harry had the sensation of his insides burning, wondering what he'd done to deserve this.

James couldn't help recoil a bit at Harry's rhetorical question. All his son had ever done was have him for a father, and it had given him nothing but misery his whole life.

Sirius snapped why Dumbledore wasn't the one doing this.

Snape said the headmaster had delegated, and though Snape had not begged for the job, he was to show up in his office a six on Monday. If anyone asked, he was to tell he was taking remedial Potions.

"That's as unbelievable as Snape teaching Occlumency!" Remus spluttered. "He certainly hasn't stolen a heart long enough to be helping Harry extra with a class, I'd more likely believe he was actually torturing you!"

"Saying he had detention for the rest of his life would even be better," James agreed.

"You're not far off," Harry grumbled, his head starting to pound worse than ever at the idea of this. It helped nothing his detentions with Umbridge were going to seem laughable here soon.

Snape tried to leave then, but Sirius snapped at him to wait one moment. Snape only paused to glance back long enough they could see his hand in his robes, Harry was sure now gripping his wand.

"Oh boy," Lily muttered, her joke from earlier looking more likely by the second. It helped nothing the sneer on James' face showed he'd be egging his friend on any second.

Sirius took no care of that as he warned if he heard these Occlumency lessons were being used to give Harry a hard time, Snape would answer to him.

"There's my Padfoot," James smirked, Lily having to fight the urge to smack him upside the head for doing exactly what she'd known he was going to do.

Snape sneered that surely Black noticed how much like his father Potter was.

"This isn't going to be good," Remus groaned, his eyes already flashing furiously. Snape belittling James in front of Harry infuriated them enough, but now he was going to try the same in front of Sirius. That murder was becoming more apparent by the second.

Sirius agreed to this with pride, Snape finishing viciously that this obviously meant criticism bounced off his arrogance as well.

"I think that's the nicest thing he's ever said about me," James looked bewildered now, unsure just how mad he was supposed to be at that.

Sirius jumped to his own feet then, pulling his wand furiously. Harry called after him in surprise, but neither gave him notice as Sirius growled he didn't care what Dumbledore said, he'd never believe Snape was reformed!

Severus was not impressed, saying he couldn't take a man very serious who'd spent the past six months hiding in his mother's house.

"You'd think he of all people would know better than to do that," James just had time to say before Sirius snapped.

"I'm going to very Siriusly rearrange his face!"

Remus tisked sadly, "haven't heard one that bad since first year."

"He hasn't tried to insult me like that since first year, then I taught him better," Sirius said, his face still too red to return Remus' attempt at a smile. "Clearly he needs a reminder."

Sirius returned how Malfoy was doing, he couldn't believe the man let his lapdog out of sight.

Snape returned by pointing out Malfoy had seen the real lapdog at the train station, asking if that had been his plan all along, to get himself spotted so he wouldn't ever have to leave this place again? It had worked.

Sirius had his wand aimed in Snape's face now, snarling in outrage Snape had just called him a coward! Harry jumping in between the two, telling them to stop.

Sirius looked at Harry like he'd never seen him before. "Of all the times you try to stop a fight? Neville I understood, but I completely deserve this one Harry!"

Harry's face was set though as he matched his godfather's glare. There was something about this moment, a fight brewing that involved Sirius. He didn't like it, and he tried to make Sirius realize he didn't always have to jump into a fight. "And cursing him would do what? You're already in enough trouble Sirius, this wouldn't help any-"

"I was helping you," Sirius snapped, looking stung Harry wasn't more thankful for this defence.

"I didn't need your protection with this, he's said worse to me," Harry said back, still looking more beseeching than anything, "and you, why'd you suddenly snap?"

"I think I've shown plenty of patience listening already, excuse me if I hit my limit," Sirius growled, now looking as affronted at Harry as if he'd just called him a coward as well.

Harry just kept frowning at him, neither clearly grasping the other's point. The worst part was, Harry wasn't entirely sure what he was trying to say. That Sirius shouldn't be involved in a fight? Harry didn't need to know his godfather long to know that wasn't likely, so why was the idea filling him with such dread...

The others were watching with deep unease, it was unsettling for Harry to be arguing with Sirius like this, and they weren't even sure why he was either. Harry had backed down though, muttering an apology he clearly didn't really mean, just looking for an excuse to look away and move past this.

Sirius just gaped for a moment, before scowling but unbelievably letting go as well. If Harry wouldn't tell him what his problem really was he wasn't going to pry it out of him, especially if it somehow involved him not standing up to Snivellus for any reason.

Sirius tried to push Harry out of the was Snape stood his ground, both clearly itching to send a curse any moment, but Harry wouldn't budge. The door swung open, then, the whole of the Weasley family and Hermione coming in, Arthur in the front as he announced to the kitchen he was cured!

"There's the bright side," Remus told Lily mockingly, more tense with unease at the fight in here than the one between Snape and Sirius which was so common place he could practically picture himself in the background.

Lily gave him an extra huff, still glancing at Harry and Sirius who weren't looking at each other. She wondered if she was the only one who agreed with Harry, Sirius was being an idiot picking a fight with Snape now of all times. The real bother was that she had no clue why Harry thought that way, and clearly neither did he.

They all froze in place at the scene before them, the two adults squaring off and Harry firmly in the middle.

"I know I can't picture it," James grumbled, still watching the two critically in here. He couldn't picture anything in his mind's eye that wasn't Harry with his wand on Snape as backup, what was Harry playing at trying to mediate that one?

Snape began to step out without a glance back. Sirius glared after him, his wand at his side.

Arthur spoke first with shock, finally snapping the two men into their surroundings. Snape stalked out with one final reminder of his office, on Monday, at six. Sirius glared after him with his wand still clutched in his hand.

Remus shivered in unease of the last time Sirius and Snape had been in the same room, he'd be cheering Sirius on just for some pay back of that disastrous night. Instead he threw out a question that had only just occurred to him, "where did you even get a wand?"

Sirius looked to him in confusion, before the question clicked and he said, "don't know, maybe Ollivander got me one. If Dumbledore told him to trust me I'm sure he would do it."

Harry had already presumed Azkaban took a wand away and snapped it, but it was the little questions like this he'd never bothered to ask his godfather that bothered him the most. He'd spent so much time worrying about Sirius in his past, he hadn't a chance to ask him much of anything. His worry from before was rising up with more force than ever, that he should be taking the time while he had it to ask Sirius anything and everything. He'd only made him smile once in his life, and that had lasted all of a second. He didn't want Sirius to ever think he didn't care, that's the conclusion his godfather could easily draw from Harry, so he quickly blurted, "I'm sorry Sirius, I just got worried watching you start that fight...I don't know why. I-" he stumbled off though, as useless with an apology as he was explaining himself to begin with.

Sirius sighed, but seemed to take it with good grace, he just couldn't seem to stay mad at Harry. "It's alright, I guess. Not like you did something irredeemable, like side with him."

Harry looked affronted at the idea, causing him to laugh, and Harry flushed with warmth at least he was doing something right in here he'd never taken the time to do in his own past.

Arthur again asked what was going on, and Sirius only said with a scowl just a chat between two old school mates.

"I claim that as the most ludicrous lie you've yet told," Remus told him pleasantly.

"And that's saying a lot," James snorted.

Then he shook himself, forcing a smile into place as he congratulated Arthur on his cure.

Molly agreed as she led her husband to a chair and still watching the door and Sirius with unease while explaining Arthur's healer had finally found an antidote to keep that wound closed, and her husband had learned his lesson about dabbling in Muggle medicine, she finished menacingly towards her husband.

James grinned a bit, all too easily picturing that one as if from his own wife.

Arthur agreed meekly.

Dinner that night was lively enough for most, several members of the Order coming over to congratulate Arthur. Sirius sat several spots away from Harry and was forcing himself to laugh at Fred and George's jokes, but when he thought no one was looking, he was glowering at his untouched plate.

"I can imagine that didn't bring back the best memories," Sirius muttered, still unsure what it had tried to awaken in Harry, but already knowing thinking back on all his fights with Snape, and having Harry try telling him to stop rather than having James at his shoulder would make him wish more than ever to not be where he was.

Harry wanted to tell him that Snape's insult meant nothing, no one in the order thought him a coward for doing what Dumbledore told him to do.

"That was not what was really bothering me," Sirius scoffed. "As you so pleasantly informed me, he's said much worse."

Harry wasn't much reassured.

Yet Harry wasn't even sure if he could say it if he had the chance with the ugly look still dominant on his godfather's face. Instead he began telling Ron and Hermione the whole thing.

Hermione was happy at the news of Occlumency lessons, that would make his dreams stop and he wouldn't be sorry about that.

"I think the nightmares will still be more pleasant than more time with Snivellus," Remus scowled.

Ron said extra lessons with Snape was worse than the nightmares.

Sirius perked right up at once, snickering away that Remus had mimicked Ron, who only rolled his eyes indulgently.

The next day was their return trip to school, Harry and Ron making it to the kitchen first to see Tonks and Lupin already present having a tense conversation that stopped when they saw their audience.*

"Always nice to feel talked about," James said, looking affronted at Remus, who looked just as hurt and confused at himself. He had a hard time imagining hiding anything from Harry.

Breakfast was a quick affair before everyone huddled up near the front door for one last goodbye. Harry looked anxiously to Sirius, he had a bad feeling about this departure.

The feeling was made even worse doubled up inside of him now, he looked likely to be sick.

Harry still wanted to tell him Snape's words shouldn't mean anything to Sirius, but was worried his godfather was planning some trip beyond Grimmauld place to show something.

"Would you give me a little more credit?" Sirius demanded of him. "If I didn't go out and do it already, than that man isn't going to be the one to cause it, I'll do it because I want to."

"Was that supposed to make me feel better?" Harry demanded, his throat nearly restricting the words at the idea of Sirius leaving again!

Sirius just grumbled a bit, the only thing the others caught were his wishes the Ministry would hurry up and clear his name already, he couldn't take Harry's panicking much longer. Harry agreed with that at least, wishing something would quiet his mind, at least that.

Sirius was the one to pull Harry aside though, pressing an object into his hand that was quickly wrapped and the size of a small book.

"Not another book!" James said in exasperation.

"It was to light," Harry disagreed, thinking back, and somehow now feeling worse than ever. His vision started to blur out of focus, and he tried to pass the moment by quickly cleaning his glasses on his shirt, ignoring his hands shaking the whole time.

Harry anxiously asked what it was, Sirius saying a way for Harry to tell him how Snape's lessons were going. Harry tried to open it, but Sirius said not here, he didn't think Molly would approve, giving her a swift look as she was hugging her children feet away. He promised Harry could use it when he needed him though.

"You really couldn't have just said what it was," Remus said with intense curiosity.

"Think I might know," James said as he thought about the little description Sirius had given, but it resembled their old mirrors. They still used them on Order meetings to keep in contact with each other, had Sirius possibly rebuilt another pair to do the same with Harry?

When he realized the others were looking at him expectantly, he just shrugged without answering further though. Whatever Sirius had just given Harry, he wanted to know about it as much as anyone, and he wanted to hear about Harry opening it more than some idea.

Harry agreed even as he slipped it into his pocket with no intentions of ever opening it.

"Harry," Sirius spluttered, hurt really coloring his face now. "It's a gift, you took the last ones happily enough."

Harry wouldn't meet his eyes again.

He would not be the reason to make Sirius leave this place just because Snape treated him any way in the coming lessons.

Even as Sirius groaned with understanding, he didn't feel any better. "You have got to stop worrying about me so much!"

"Kind of hard to do when you won't stop giving me reasons," Harry said back softly, a tight lump balled up at the back of his throat. He couldn't seem to look at his godfather much at all as these memories were returned.

Sirius just huffed, highly tempted to do something that would make Harry have to look at him, at least in exasperation or something, but Lily was still going loudly over Sirius who she thought was being an idiot again.

Sirius didn't wait for a response anyways, giving Harry a last clap on the shoulder before ushering him to the door. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley gave him a last goodbye as well, Arthur giving him a wink and telling Harry to watch out for snakes for him.

All of them laughed, probably harder than they should have, but all of them could appreciate a man who joked about what he went through.

Sirius got one last chance to give Harry a one armed hug before he was out the door with Lupin and Tonks their escort, the later of whom was disguised as an elder woman today.

Harry was very glad he wasn't the one reading, as he felt his heart growing heavier by the moment. It would be a long time before he came back to Grimmauld place...and that should be a good thing! It must mean Sirius would be free of there soon...how could that be a bad thing?

Tonks stayed very close to Harry's elbow as they only went to the street corner before Lupin flung his arm out with his wand, summoning the Knight Bus.

"Look, you're teaching him how to do that on purpose," James snorted, none of them thinking much about Harry looking so pale. He was clearly still thinking about Arthur's attack after the man had just brought it up again.

It appeared with its usual loud BANG, the conductor Stan Shunpike hopping off to give his usual greeting before spotting Harry-

but he couldn't say more as Tonks hissed at him if he shouted his name she'd curse him into oblivion while pushing Harry onto the bus.

"Well someone's in a grumpy mood," Sirius snickered.

Ron climbed on after him, saying with glee he'd always wanted to ride this thing.

"That doesn't last long," Lily chuckled.

The last time Harry had was night, when there were beds all around. Now the triple decker bus was covered in mismatched chairs, many of which were still tipped over from the last stop, one person's groceries had scattered from beneath theirs now covering the floor with frogspawn and custard creams.

"Pleasant," Remus crinkled his nose.

Tonks took note there weren't enough of them to all sit together, so she had the twins and Ginny stay up here with Remus, and she'd go up top with the other three.

"Can't deny I love this match up," James said a little wistfully. Remus had taken no part in singling Harry out for any conversation since he'd met back up with him over the summer, and that continued to hurt worse the more opportunities he missed. It was like listening to the third book all over again, that constant wonder of what had happened to their Moony. Instead he said aloud so as not to focus on that, "I do love you seem to be spending time with the twins, really makes me wish we could hear those conversations you get up to."

Remus just frowned, as unable to answer that as Harry, but he wholly doubted they were anything as lively as James was thinking, considering he seemed to have lost all sense of fun after his friends had died. Even getting Sirius back hadn't seemed to help with that one bit.

They climbed all the way to the top, Harry and Ron taking two seats at the rear while Hermione and Tonks sat at the other end. Then the bus took off with another wrench to their surroundings, throwing Ron out of his seat at once. Harry only just managing not to do the same by hanging onto a lamp welded into the wall.

Stan had followed them and asked how Harry had been.

"I guess I should still be glad he's not calling me Neville," Harry said airily.

He'd seen his name in the papers a lot lately, but it was never anything nice, which he hadn't of guessed by meeting him last time, just went to show.

Harry had a strange expression on his face. He wasn't mad at Stan like he was everyone else in the world for thinking him crazy, but he wouldn't quite call that a compliment either.

Harry couldn't come up with a response to that as the bus went on, stopping and starting for its passengers, every time making its usual BANG and explosion of stopping and starting.

By the sixth time this happened and Ron pulled himself back into a seat, he muttered he'd changed his mind,

"Really, he fell every time?" Sirius asked with disappointment. "I learned to brace myself by at least the third."

"Brace yourself against what?" Harry demanded. "I nearly ripped my arm out of socket hanging onto that thing to keep me upright."

"Permanent sticking charm on one of the chairs," Sirius grinned, "if you'd been on the second floor you'd have seen it."

"I wouldn't call that bracing yourself so much as disturbing public property," Lily rolled her eyes.

"Ernie wasn't pleased," James snickered, "it's still there when they put the beds up, so it's just a random chair that looks funny there."

he never wanted on this thing again.

Stan told them their stop was coming up next, that bossy woman had paid a bit extra to move them up the queue.

"Tonks is getting better and better, bribing people to get her way," James snickered.

As if on cue, the next BANG had them speeding through the familiar streets of Hogsmeade.

Harry had never thought about it before, considering he'd never left the school on holiday before, but he suddenly asked, "would we always have gotten there and back by the bus?"

"Depends on you honestly," James shrugged. "Some families don't want to make the trip back to London in the weather so they put together with the school to let you come back through the Floo system, some pony up for the Bus, others do take the train again."

"Why can't you have all those options every time you go to Hogwarts?" Harry asked, thinking it would be easier on the Weasley's the other two ways.

"Tradition," Lily said. "Since they built Hogwarts they created a magical way to get in and out of the schools borders, and so they created the train to make it an all access kind of thing. Holidays make it a bit more chaotic, constantly checking people in rather than letting them all in at once."

Lupin and Tonks stepped off with them at first, making sure they all still had their luggage, while above several passengers were pressing their noses to the glass to watch them.

"A bird would be very useful right about now," Sirius grumbled.

Tonks was watching their surroundings more than noticing who she was hugging goodbye, muttering they'd be safe once they were back on the school grounds.

"She's being really paranoid today," Sirius kept snickering.

"Maybe she's just proving a point, being so young and all," Remus shrugged.

Lupin purposely seemed to get to Harry last in saying goodbye, telling him that everyone, especially Sirius, wanted Harry to really try at these Occlumency lessons.

"Wish I'd told him that myself," Sirius snipped.

They wanted him to be able to protect himself, so he should work hard at it.

That made all of them frown with unease, the two Marauders most of all. Remus hadn't shown he found this a better idea than any of them in here, so why the change this time?

Remus in particular looked troubled at his own words, though he was the only one thinking of the possible reason, and had no want to share it. This more than likely meant he still trusted Dumbledore absolutely, and when he said Harry needed this than he just automatically agreed. He had no proof of this, but it bothered him he hadn't gotten to hear him talking about this with Sirius. Though he was fairly confident he'd have curled up in a corner and died already if he'd had a book just about what he'd been up to in the meantime, he hadn't seen any evidence it had been anything good.

Harry agreed heavily, saying he'd see him again.

They dragged their things back to the school gates, Harry still wishing he were on the bus more than what he was heading back to.

"How has your Monday actually managed to grow worse!" James groaned.

He spent his time leading up to Monday evening dreading it, Snape somehow managing to be even more unpleasant in the lesson before.

Sirius pressed his hand to Harry's forehead in concern, practically yelling in his ear, "I think his brain melted at some point, there's no way he could be delusional enough to think otherwise!"

Harry pried his fingers away with a glare he couldn't hold for long above the twitching lips for the antics.

It helped nothing the DA kept seeking him out in the meantime, asking if there was going to be a gathering tonight.

"This actually manages to get worse already!" Lily groaned. "Now it's going to be even harder to plan your meetings now that one day a week is tied off!"

Harry said with remorse it couldn't be because of the...remedial Potions.

"That's actually what you told people?" James demanded, looking faint. "Okay Sirius, check him again, you may be onto something."

Sirius leaned forward again, but Harry smacked his palm away even faster, shaking his head at the two.

When Zacharias heard this, he laughed loudly in the Entrance Hall, saying he must be the worst ever as Snape had never offered such a thing before.

"How does this keep getting worse?" James said with disgust.

As he walked away, Ron offered to jinx him.

"No need for permission, the act speaks for itself," Remus said with chipper.

Harry told him to forget about it.

"You know, maybe Harry needs some medicine to cure this suddenly passive phase, it's starting to worry we," Remus couldn't help adding to the joke, Harry rolling his eyes harder than ever.

He turned and nearly ran into Cho, both exchanging an awkward hi before Hermione not so subtly dragged Ron off to the library.

"Subtle," Lily chuckled, her smile only growing as all of the boys snapped to her attention and Harry groaned with misery louder than ever. He should have stolen the books over night and edited all the parts with Cho's name out.

She started by asking if he'd spotted when the next Hogsmeade trip was.

"Congratulations Harry, you are officially two years ahead of your father on this accomplishment," Sirius beamed with actual praise while Harry's face already began glowing red again.

When he said he hadn't, she told it was on Valentine's Day, and Harry just looked on in confusion why she was bringing this up.

"Oh, oh Harry my poor boy," James's eyes lit with mirth. "You see when a girl likes a boy, especially a girl you've kissed-"

"Dad," Harry pleaded between gritted teeth. Looking back now he was well aware of what Cho had been asking, but he'd like to see his father at fifteen trying to talk to his mum. Surely he wasn't all bravado like he claimed.

James only kept himself quiet by the bare amount, wanting to hear this more.

He began to say he supposed she'd want to-

She eagerly interrupted only if he wanted to!

Harry's confusion grew, he'd been fixing to ask he supposed she wanted to know when the next DA meeting was, but that was an odd response.

Sirius' shoulders were already shaking with silent laughter, chuckles escaping regularly while Harry considered snatching the book away from Lily and burning a few particular pages. Surely this couldn't be that vital for them to watch!

His speech stumbled and just stood there, Cho suddenly looking mortified as well as she tried to walk away. Harry was left standing there, his brain working frantically,

"I give it twenty-four hours before it clicks," Sirius managed semi-intelligibly.

"Give him some credit," James tried to say while getting some air back. "He'll figure it out as he's lying in bed tonight."

Remus was laughing too hard to add in while Lily was trying hard not to join in and also looking pitifully at her boy.

then something clunked into place.

All three boys lost it and were still slumped back in their seats laughing as Harry excused himself to the bathroom, not coming out for far longer than was necessary. Upon his reappearance, they began snickering all over again, but Lily kept reading quickly before they could build themselves up again.

He called after Cho, running to where she'd made it to the stairs to ask if she wanted to go to Hogsmeade with him on Valentine's Day.

"Valentine's day is my favorite holiday!" Sirius declared.

"That's a pretty big set up you've got, first date being then and all," Remus forced himself to say while wiping away the tears.

"No pressure or anything," Harry hissed.

"You'll be fine Harry," Lily soothed, her own smile still unable to dim as she watched him. "Just be yourself, that's obviously what she's fallen for."

Harry was growing more glad by the minute he hadn't tried asking for advice on this, and was now terrified what Hermione and Ron were going to say as well.

James failed to add for a moment for the quick realization Halloween hadn't been mentioned this year, and he couldn't have been happier considering it's previous mentioning's.

She agreed at once while turning crimson, Harry stammering in relief that was all settled then.

"Articulate as always," James jumped back in with glee, beaming at his muttering son.

They departed then, Harry all but bouncing up to the library to get his friends. By six however, even having finally asked out Cho,

"I think she technically asked you out, so that shouldn't count," Sirius critiqued.

"I think he should take whatever he can get, all things considered," Remus said with an obvious nod at James, while Sirius conceded the point.

could not make him walk down to the dungeons feeling anything but dread. He only paused long enough to wish he could be somewhere else, before knocking and entering.

"You do that a bit," Lily told him, the smile already dimming again, "knock then enter, I'm not sure you got the message you're supposed to wait in between."

Harry almost wished to go back to talking about Cho now, rather than all of the dower faces around him again. He couldn't fool himself any more than them this was going to go well.

Snape's office was dark and shadowed, the shelves filled with slimy pickled things, and the cupboard full of ingredients he'd once been accused, not without reason, of robbing.

"I disagree, just because you did it doesn't mean he should accuse you of doing it," James scoffed.

"And yet, if you're going to get accused of doing it, you might as well just do it," Sirius shrugged.

Lily was eyeing the pair, and looked hopefully at Remus as he said, "Rules are like paperclips. Meant to hold things together, fun to bend, and easy to twist out of shape."

Then she sighed and went back to reading loudly before they could impart any more wisdom.

The first thing he focused on though was the a Pensive sitting on Snape's desk, it looked exactly the same as Dumbledore's.

Lily raised an inquisitive brow, but looking up she saw they only looked cross at the idea, James already muttering about hypocrisy. Knowing full well Snape wasn't so stupid as to actually do that, and he in fact likely had one of his own, she just kept going.

Snape called for him to shut the door without looking up, and Harry did so while feeling like he was imprisoning himself.

"Honestly, I don't even feel like you're exaggerating," Remus sighed.

When he turned back, Snape wordlessly gestured to a chair across his desk, and Harry sat matching his glare, dislike etched into every bit of Snape's face.

"A talent he perfected early in life," James scowled, shifting in agitation, automatically wanting to move between Snape and his son picturing such an expression being aimed towards him.

Snape began that though this was not a class setting, he was still to be addressed as Professor or sir at all times.

"Only when you deserve it!" James snapped.

"So, when it snows in July," Sirius agreed.

Harry agreed yes, sir.

"I can just hear the sincerity," Remus rolled his eyes, even Lily couldn't manage any degree of respect reading about this. He'd done nothing to deserve it, nor could she yet find reason this wasn't more torture for her son. Maybe if someone would answer some questions of why Harry was being put through this she'd give in a little, find the gratitude buried in her for Snape doing this.

Then he asked why Dumbledore thought he needed to learn this.

Snape took his time answering that as the Dark Lord was a highly skilled Legilimens- Harry interrupting to ask what that is. Snape began to explain it as the ability to extract feelings and memories from a person's mind, Harry interrupting to confirm he could read minds!

Snape sneered this only exemplified Potter's inability with subtlety.

James felt his jaw tensing already, fighting back the urge to wave in Harry's face how founded Sirius' reaction had been now. Harry couldn't ask a single question without being insulted!

Snape paused for a moment, apparently to savor the pleasure of insulting Harry, before continuing that only Muggles referred to this as mind reading, as the mind was no book to be flipped open at will. It was a complex structure and many layered thing, at least most minds were he finished with a smirk.

"Clever." Remus managed to make the word sound like an insult.

Those who mastered Legilimency could penetrate and delve into the recesses of one's mind, something the Dark Lord had mastered. Only those who knew Occlumency could shut off their feelings and emotions and lie to a Legilimens.

"Oh bollocks," Sirius groaned, quickly explaining before anyone could ask, "remember Harry's first year, that Stone and he was worried Snape read his mind and knew what he knew?"

"Oh," Remus groaned.

"I'm still not quite believing he managed to accomplish this, as hard as it is to do," James snapped.

Whatever Snape said, Legilimency sounded like mind-reading to Harry, and he didn't like the sound of it at all.

"In layman's terms, it is," Lily agreed.

"Snape's just trying to make himself seem intelligent by correcting you," Sirius scowled.

"And failing," Remus grumbled.

Lily shot them all a look of agitation. They were no better than Snape constantly insulting him after everything he said. Still, she'd rather ignore them for now, as they at least knew all this, she still wanted to know why Harry was supposed to so young.

Harry asked if he could know what they were thinking, even now.

Snape corrected distance mattered in magic, and it would normally still be impossible on these school grounds with the many enchantments blocking outsiders, on normal circumstances eye contact was a key to this obscure branch of magic. However, the Dark Lord and Potter seemed to share a special connection where these rules didn't apply, therefore the Headmaster wished him to learn to close this.

This didn't feel like much of an answer, as it was all they had worked out for themselves last year, what they wanted to know was why it was becoming more intense!

Harry demanded to know why Dumbledore wanted it stopped? Harry may not like it, but it had become of use so far, Mr. Weasley could have died.

"I can see what you're doing Harry," Lily said softly, "but what it does to you still outweighs whatever potential you're thinking. It's dangerous, you come away from it in pain every time worst than the last, and an open connection is certainly not healthy! If," she stressed the word, "this does work, than you certainly need to use it, or your fears from earlier really could happen, and Voldemort could know what you do. Best to shut this off if you have a chance."

Harry wanted to argue the point, that anger flaring in him again from the other night. His safety shouldn't make anyone's else's death okay. He couldn't do that to his mother though, her eyes pleading with him to at least give this a chance. It felt pointless to argue that, considering, and so he held his tongue between his teeth, for now.

Snape took a long time to answer before saying Dumbledore theorized that before now, the Dark Lord had not even been aware of this connection, but because of what happened over Christmas-

Harry supplying what had happened with the snake and Mr. Weasley.

Snape said dangerously he was not to be interrupted,

"How dare he ask for clarification! It's as if he's supposed to be reading his mind already," Remus snapped.

continuing that the event was such a powerful occurrence into the Dark Lord's mind-

Harry again interrupting he hadn't been in his head, but the snake's.

Snape again stated he was not to be interrupted.

"Maybe he wouldn't if you'd say something useful," Sirius ground out.

Lily was about ready to snap the book in half in frustration. Severus was trying to say so, if he'd quit being interrupted by these petulant boys! She'd gathered it for herself already though, and by their stark expressions, they had to and were just lashing out.

So their guess had been right, and Voldemort had seen inside his own snake? Controlled Nagini? Just what kind of magic was that? It was infuriating they kept getting more questions than answers.

Harry did not care if Snape was angry, at last he seemed to be getting to the bottom of this business;

"Who'd have thought from him of all people," James said with further anger at Dumbledore. He still wanted his answer of why that man who'd claimed so much responsibility for Harry's life had suddenly disappeared when Harry needed him most.

and leaned forward eagerly without acknowledging Snape's rebuke to continue asking how this had happened, how he'd shared Voldemort's thoughts?

Snape spat the Dark Lord's name was not to be spoken!

"Naww, does the poor little Death Eater need his Dark Lord's permission to take a piss as well?" Sirius snarled in disgust, he couldn't imagine being so afraid of something he had to use some other stupid name to call it.

There was a nasty silence as they glared at each other, Harry breaking first by reminding Dumbledore called him by his name.

Snape responded Dumbledore was a powerful wizard who may feel secure enough to do this, but the rest of them...he trailed off by rubbing at his forearm where Harry knew the Dark Mark to be.

"I'd like to burn something else into his skin," James snarled.

Harry realized he was not getting any further with this and switched back to asking why-

Snape cutting him off to finish explaining Potter had been inside the snake's mind because that's where the Dark Lord had been at the time, in possessing his own snake he'd dragged Potter along while he slept.

Lily tasted copper in her mouth, and hadn't realized she'd been scraping her teeth against her lip as she paused for breath in reading this, so hard it cut her lip. She couldn't stand this, thinking about this connection happening to her son, having to have this explained by someone who detested him. Why couldn't Sirius be doing this if not Dumbledore, at least he'd show some kindness in his effort to explain. What on earth possessed Dumbledore to entrust this task to someone so despised, it's not as if Harry trusted him, so she couldn't blame him for questioning all of this the way he was.

None of this was helping the revelation of why this had happened, not that they'd really gotten that, more of a confirmation they were right in saying this was different.

Harry asked how Dumbledore knew all this, was he just guessing?

Snape snarled the reminder he was to be called sir, as up to this point Harry had been doing so, but in his haste for answers had neglected this the past few questions.

"After every other word eh? You sure demand a lot of special treatment," Sirius sneered.

Harry impatiently added the formality, still trying to ask how anyone knew-

Snape stated it was enough that they knew.

"No, it is not." James said flatly. "There is no way Dumbledore put this together without some theory as to why it happened!"

"It's that bit of Voldemort he accidentally put in me," Harry quietly reminded, still unbelieving they'd taken that in stride back in his second year when it still made him feel contaminated if he thought about it too long. He began running his hand through his hair in agitation again, brushing his bangs down over his scar despite how unnecessary it really was in here, the only place where they never wanted to look at his scar for the reminder of what it would mean to them.

"Well, yes but I thought that was more like-" Sirius waved his hand at Remus for help.

"Magical residue? Maybe a bit of magical backlash from a spell gone wrong that emanated from his wand," he offered.

"Yes, that," Sirius kept going. "I didn't think he meant, literally! The worst side effect we've put down to that so far was the Parseltongue, but this seeing into his head bit is..." he trailed off shaking his own head as he ran out of words to describe all this.

Harry started edging away from Sirius a bit, his skin crawling with nerves. Sirius looked really upset about this, and if Harry's reminder had somehow put the thought into his head there was something wrong with Harry-

Sirius scurried that idea from him at once as he reached over and ruffled Harry's hair. "Would you stop doing that. I get it's a nervous tick, but it's unnatural for me to see even a hair lying flat."

Harry brushed his hand away even as he couldn't help smiling at him again.

The important part was now the Dark Lord was as aware of this as well, and could now possibly in return reverse the process to see into Potters thoughts as well-

Harry interrupted he could make him do things, hastily adding the sir this time.

Snape sounded unconcerned as he agreed with this conclusion.

James made a blistering noise, already wanting to tow Harry out of the room himself so he could have a private chat with old Snivellus!

Lily on the other hand finally put together why Snape of all people would have been picked for this. She'd never gone through the process herself, but had heard tales from some of the oldest seventh years who had begun the process of learning it, and all they spoke about was how excruciating the process was. Someone like Sirius would probably go easy on Harry then, considering he was even younger, but some cold hearted distance could be a better teacher, until he took it to far and Lily would have to start breaking fingers. Still, in the wake of this revelation, she felt a small bit of thawing around his name she hadn't felt in a while. She didn't know why Snape was doing this, simply because Dumbledore told him to? Yet he was doing it, and that finally earned him a morsel more of respect than he'd gained this whole time he'd been in Harry's life.

Which brought them back to Occlumency.

Snape ignored Harry for a moment more as he pulled out his wand and took a few more memories from his mind, putting them into the Pensive without explaining why.

"He's really not that hard to figure out," Sirius scoffed, while Remus more kindly explained, "if you're going to learn Occlumency, even though he's going to be the one going through your head, it does make sense for the teacher to ah, put away any thoughts they wouldn't want on display." He finished with a disgusted twist of his own lips though he'd had to refer to Snape like that.

Then he put that away, telling Harry to stand and take out his wand as he did the same. He instructed Potter that he was allowed to try and disarm, or defend himself from this in any way he could.

Harry asked what exactly Snape was going to do.

Snape explained he was going to break into his mind, and Potter was supposed to resist. He'd heard he'd been through the Imperius Curse, and the process to break free needed much the same aptitude. He'd need to block his mind and prepare himself.

"Aptitude," James repeated with a sniff, still considering what Harry had done an even more impressive feat than his Patronus.

He'd need a similar power to break free of this. He'd need to block his mind and prepare himself, then without further forewarning other than to brace himself, shouted Legilimens.

"What?" Lily shrieked as she glared at the page, her nails nearly breaking through in frustration. "That's all the information he gives you, to block and prepare yourself? I am going to kill him!"

"What was I supposed to do?" Harry couldn't help but ask a bit timidly in the face of her wrath.

Lily took a deep breath before answering, "I'll be honest, I'm not sure, never having studied it myself, but I know there must be more."

"I actually find it a bit like casting a Patronus," Remus shrugged, "concentrate on one thing to block out what you're really thinking."

Harry looked to him in surprise, asking, "is that why Dumbledore and Snape never figured out Sirius was an animagus from you? Can you do this?"

"Oh, no," he quickly waved off, "at least I wouldn't think so, most likely I avoided thinking about it all together." He finished with a terrible wince for even thinking of what he'd think of Sirius in the future. He tried to shake that off around a suddenly burning throat, "been practicing it a bit, all of the Order has I thought."

"Dumbledore never said anything to me," James said in surprise, Lily nodding as well. Remus looked just as shocked.

"Err," he said uneasily, exchanging an uneasy look with Sirius, who looked just as mystified. "We only started practicing on each other last week because Dumbledore mentioned something about it, I'm sure he will to you two soon."

The couple still exchanged an unsatisfied look, but didn't argue the point. The only reason Remus and Sirius had been here to begin with when this started was because they'd just returned from a two week long mission, so it wasn't impossible to believe something new had happened, just surprising.

Lily managed to shake the whole thing off by going back to finding out what Snape was fixing to do to her son.

Snape had struck before Harry was ready, before he had even begun to summon any force of resistance.

"That is most certainly not how you're supposed to practice," Sirius hissed, especially on someone's very first try as a beginner! "Give him a little warning for what's fixing to happen, how about a suggestion for how to block it other than brace yourself!"

Harry shivered as he ran his fingers through his hair, his head already aching again from this experience.

The office swam out of focus, instead memories taking up Harry's vision; being five years old and watching Dudley with jealousy riding his first bike, being nine and Ripper chasing him up a tree while the Dursley's laughed,

"Oh yes, because this is really what I wanted to remember!" James snarled in outrage, already wondering how many times Vernon had strangled his son in between those memories again!

the sorting hat, Cho drawing near him under the mistletoe-

Harry tried to shut them off, Snape shouldn't see that, it was private!

Remus couldn't help but hum curiously even while he was scowling for Harry's closed eyes, he could only imagine thinking about all of those things again would hurt him at any time. Still, it was fascinating that this was just a touch like his Imperius training, and Harry's resistance stemmed from his will of what he did and didn't want to show someone.

He felt a sharp pain in his knees, the room came back to him, and he saw Snape rubbing his wrist and watching Harry with a calculating look as he asked if he'd intentionally performed a Stinging Hex?

Sirius was growling hatefully even as a twisted smirk appeared. Finally Harry was getting just the smallest payback, and Snape couldn't do anything, considering he'd told Harry to fight back however he could. Not that this would stop Snape from giving Harry a detention on top of everything, but he could dream.

Harry realized he'd fallen to the floor and quickly stood again, saying he hadn't.

Snape brushed off that wasn't an utter waste of a first attempt, but he'd lost control.

"He never had control," Lily spat, her hand twitching more every moment to rest on her own wand, sick of his teachings that were now hurting him more than just bad grades.

Harry asked if Snape had seen what he had, and Snape agreed with a twisted smile some of them, before asking who's dog that had been?

"You're ugly step-sister," Remus grumbled.

Harry petulantly muttered his Aunt, Snape moving past and telling Potter he must remain more focused, to repel with his brain and not his wand.

Harry snapped he was trying, but he wasn't told how!

Snape's response to this was to mind his manners while smirking again.

"No!" James snarled, "no he will not be doing anything of the sort so long as he continues to torture you with smirking!"

Harry was starting to miss Umbridge's detentions as he rubbed hard at his forehead, the anger around him while comforting on his behalf, helping nothing with the pain of all those memories flashing back to him so suddenly, already leaving him feeling weak kneed even while sitting down.

Then he told him to close his eyes, and Harry gave him a filthy look before doing so, feeling more vulnerable than ever, as Snape told him to clear his mind and empty all emotions.

"That is actually impossible," Sirius scoffed. "The moment you try to do anything of the sort, you start feeling annoyed because you can't do it."

Harry tried to offer Sirius a smile no matter how forced it felt.

Harry couldn't even begin to manage that, his anger at Snape still pounding through him, it would be easier to detach his legs.

"Or his," James huffed.

Snape realized this at once, telling him he wasn't focusing enough, but then launching the spell at him again; Harry saw the Hungarian Horntail shooting fire at him, his mother and father in the Mirror of Erised, Cedric Diggory lying before him, his eyes empty of life.

Lily inhaled sharply, the burn of that memory crackling through her full of so many things, double upon her son. What she would give to take that all away from him...

Harry fell to the ground again, crying out with fear, his brain aching so bad it felt as if it were being pried from his skull.

Snape seemed to have released the spell himself this time, looking angrier than ever as he told Potter was only handing him weapons, he was not making any effort to resist.

Harry insisted he was between clenched teeth, struggling this time to get to his feet.

Snape no more believed this, repeating his command to clear all emotions!

"Yeah, after he'd already been through the most traumatic thing in his life, so helpful!" Remus said aghast, looking from Harry to the book and not for the first time wondering how the poor kid still had any sanity after all he'd been through.

He called Potter weak for so willingly displaying his emotions.

Harry said back quietly he was no such thing, his hatred for Snape rising more every moment, on the verge of attacking Snape any second.

"I'm well past that," James vowed, his hatred for the slimeball in school holding nothing for what the man had become. His abuse of Harry, his belittling of his best friend, what he'd tried to do to Remus and Sirius. No, there wasn't a chance in Merlin's mind Snape was going to live when James got out of here.

Snape clearly cared nothing for this, telling him to prove it, and then starting again; a hundred dementors swarming around him on the edge of the lake, running with Mr. Weasley down a long dark corridor, Harry expecting to go through the door at the end, but being taken by surprise at the sharp right turn down a flight of stairs-

Harry began shouting in surprise he knew!

He found himself this time on all fours on the floor, Snape glaring down at him as he demanded what Potter realized?

"Realized what?" Sirius tried to keep the savagery out of his voice while speaking directly to Harry.

Harry didn't answer, but it was clear from his face he wished he hadn't. He was drawn tight into himself now, his eyes fixed on a point none of them realized. Whatever he'd just put together, he was going to live to regret it.

Harry did not at once answer, still savoring his moment of realization as his forehead stung worse than ever.

The dream he'd been having of the long dark corridor, he'd visited it! It was the same place he'd headed down on his way to his Ministry hearing, the same place Mr. Weasley had been attacked at a few months later. It was a real place, and it was the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry of Magic.

Lily finished with ice replacing her veins. She couldn't help her mind flashing back to his first two years, how he'd figured out where something was being kept and so had launched himself after it.

"Oh," the Marauders all muttered, but they'd already put this together last night, not that it made any more sense now. Why was Harry reacting again?

Harry wasn't even sure himself, he could just feel the difference. Of having an answer in knowing, and his memories also doing the same. In here it was a relief, but for his time then he didn't want to know what he'd do with this.

Instead of answering Snape's question, he asked what was in the Department of Mysteries?

When Snape demanded why Potter would want to know this, he explained his realization, and concluded this was what Voldemort wanted, something from inside.

Snape scowled and corrected there were many things inside that place, few of which he would understand, none of which concerned him. Did he make himself clear?

Harry rubbed hard at his ear to get rid of the ringing noise suddenly erupting, some lie hidden in Snape's words he no more wanted to understand at this moment than his last realization.

"That you don't know either and you're just failing to sound smart again," Remus grumbled, even if he knew that not to be true, or at least, Snape may be as aware as the rest of the Order, still didn't mean he had to acknowledge it happily.

Harry snapped yes, hardly acknowledging what he said as he rubbed at his painful scar.

Snape concluded that was enough for now, he wanted Potter back here on Wednesday.

"I thought he said once a week!" Lily snarled in frustration. "What's this coming back two days later?"

"He reset them for Wednesdays, guess he just wanted that extra day to torture me my first back," Harry said bitterly.

Harry said fine at once, trying to turn to leave, to find his friends.

Snape instructed before he went to sleep, he was to clear his mind of all emotions, leave it empty and blank.

"I do not understand how that would make things harder for someone to read my mind," Harry said, venting all of his frustrations with his jumble of emotions into this problem he could complain about. "Wouldn't that make things easier!"

"I can see it working both ways," Remus sighed with frustration. "To many emotions, and the Legilimens can peel them all apart and see what's causing them, yet being of no emotion means you're also more likely to feel one very strongly if a memory does pop up. I really wish we had more practice at this, I do agree this just can't be that helpful-"

"Coming from Snape of all people," Sirius finished bitterly. Remus rolled his eyes as that hadn't been what he was going to say, but also had nothing to argue the point.

He'd know if Potter wasn't.

Harry hardly acknowledged this as he left, finding his friends in the library, and taking a seat while still shivery, aching, and feeling feverish.

Lily was blinking more than was necessary to keep her eyes focused, rather than constantly darting to her son. He was shaky and pale in here from remembering this happening to him, she imagined he was even worse at the time.

Ron and Hermione looked at him in concern as they caught sight, he glanced at himself in a window and saw how white he was, and thought his scar was standing out more than normal.

"I'm sure that's just your imagination," James said evasively. "It's a mark, can't be glowing or anything."

Harry sighed, his fingers tracing the familiar pattern without answer.

He told them everything that had happened, his realization of the door and where it was.

Sirius wondered if there was something else about that, something that had been bugging his mind earlier at St. Mungo's, but then that heart breaking scene with Alice and Frank had taken place, now he was trying to remember what he couldn't even remember before!

Hermione said this made sense, remember Sturgis Podmore? He'd been caught trying to break into the door at the Ministry, it must be this one, it couldn't be a coincidence.

They hadn't much of a chance to question that themselves, but none of them could disagree with Hermione either. Lily still hesitated a moment before saying, "do you think something happened, and he was trying to get whatever it was out, but got caught?"

"That could be," James agreed, his brow creased in agitation they didn't have more information about this. Why would the Order suddenly decide to move it? What had been the change there?

Too much was going on they just weren't privy to, Harry never seeming to be told enough.

Ron still didn't understand why he'd be doing that, and Hermione agreed it didn't answer everything.

Harry asked Ron if his dad ever mentioned anything about that Department, and Ron said the only thing he'd ever been told was the people who worked there were Unspeakables, because no one knew what they did unless you worked there. Weird place to keep a weapon.

"Sounds more like a disaster waiting to happen," Remus corrected with a huffy breath. He couldn't find much more comfort the Ministry had whatever this was over Voldemort, considering how many Death Eaters they knew had access to the place same as the Order.

Hermione kept her attention more on Harry, asking if he was alright?

Harry tried to say he was fine, still trembling in his seat as he concluded he didn't like Occlumency.

Sirius brushed up against Harry in commiseration, he hadn't much of a talent for it either the few times he'd tried.

Hermione was sympathetic as she said anyone would feel the same after what his mind had gone through. She suggested they go to the common room to continue working, but that place turned out to be worse as Fred and George were demonstrating a new item.

"Finally!" James burst out so loud Lily nearly dropped the book in surprise before glaring at her husband, the baby across the room giggling madly as he heard his father's voice. "I've been waiting ages to hear more about this!"

Lily hesitated for a moment before going back with the smallest of smiles, but he wasn't wrong. This was something normal, to giggle and envision what the twins were up to again rather than snake attacks and what Voldemort was up to.

They were declared as Headless Hats, only two galleons. Fred was waving one around, bright pink and with a fluffy feather on it.

Sirius hummed thoughtfully before shaking his head slowly. "I guess they all can't be Skiving Snack boxes, this is more like a cheap one second trick."

"Still, credit to them for putting this together, it's more than anyone else ever bothered to do," Remus shrugged as he grinned lightly.

George placed one on his head, and for a moment he just looked rather silly, than only his head and hat vanished while he continued waving at the crowd. Some girls screamed while others went wild, roaring with laughter and clamoring for one.

George removed the hat and traded it to one for two galleons, Hermione ignoring her homework to watch, clearly being marginally impressed by this one.

"A first for her I'm sure," James snickered.

Obviously it was an Invisibility Spell, but it was clever it extended past the item it was bound to down to the object below it, she imagined the spell wouldn't have a long life though.

Lily was smiling in appreciation as well, she would love to meet the twins just to ask them how they'd managed to only make the charm extend across the head rather than the whole person like most spells of that type would do. They were ingenious little buggers.

"I think I'm getting jealous," James pouted as he caught her grin. "You think they're cleverer than us?!"

"Then you dear? No, never."

James actually pouted at her for the sarcasm, while Lily took advantage of Harry laughing loudly to keep going before she was accosted by all three of them.

Harry did not answer; he was feeling ill.

James let the moment go just because Lily's picking had managed to push that feeling off of Harry for even a second in here, he'd get back at his wife later.

Harry shoved his homework back into his bag, saying he'd do it tomorrow.

Hermione encouraged him to at least write it down in his planner so he wouldn't forget.

"Forgetting was never the problem," Sirius rolled his eyes, "it's finding the time to do it."

Harry begrudgingly pulled that out instead, the little book telling him not to leave it till later, calling him a second rater as he jotted down Umbridge's undone assignment.

"I can't decide what I want to burn alive more, the woman or the work," James huffed.

"Need kindling to get started," Remus offered helpfully.

Hermione beamed at it.

"Ergh, as if that wasn't Hermione's quote already, now we have inanimate objects doing it too," Remus grumbled.

Harry quickly stuffed it back out of sight, making a mental note to drop it in the fire the first opportunity he got.

Causing all four of them to snort with laughter at Harry's unintentional continuation of the joke.

He made it to the stairs repressing chills, he felt as sick as the night he'd had the snake vision, and was hoping lying down for a bit would help.

Lily started fidgeting with the pages uneasily, hating that Harry's humor was already drying up in here again, he was already back to rubbing at his scar. She'd lose her mind if he suffered another of those visions again already, surely another Order member wasn't going to be attacked so soon after the last! She wanted Harry to just this once tell her she was being paranoid and reading those signs wrong.

He'd only just stepped foot into his dorm when pain exploded across his forehead again, falling to the floor and knowing nothing but this.

Lily made a keening noise of frustration, fighting back the urge to throw the book away and run to her son now. She didn't know what she'd do if he fell back into that fear of what Voldemort was doing to him, they'd only just gotten it through his head he was safe here, but if something happened now-no! She cut the thought off, watching him steadily until he forced himself to meet her eyes. He still had his hand pressed firmly to his scar, his eyes shining with fear and pain, but he was aware enough to egg her on, to reveal this new horror.

A laughter that wasn't his rung through him, jubilant and triumph waring with a current of pain that wouldn't leave.

Someone was shouting his name, and Harry came back to himself on the floor of his room, Ron leaning over him with concern, his hand still prepared to tap Harry on the face more if he didn't respond.

"Why does Ron think smacking you is helpful!" Sirius burst out, his eyes to wide from continued panic.

"He's as violent as you?" Remus offered, staring shrewdly at the book and forcing himself to do no more than that, rather than go for his wand with the baby still cuddled up in his lap.

Ron asked with worry what had happened, Harry unsure himself, he could just feel Voldemort was happy. Ron helped him to his bed, Harry fighting back the urge to be sick. He tried to explain better, saying something good had happened, something Voldemort had been waiting for.

"The weapon?" James began in a panic, if they lost that he didn't want to know how much worse things were going to get.

"No," Harry spoke in a detached way, trying to think back to that feeling while also not let it consume him into laughing maniacally in here as well. "No, it was something else-"

"Okay, okay, I'm almost done," Lily cut in gently, trying to hurry up and finish now before Harry did something everyone would regret.

He was very glad that Dean and Seamus were not here to watch this time.

"Why, it's not like he can think you're anymore crazy," Remus muttered to himself. He honestly couldn't imagine how Seamus couldn't believe Harry anymore after what he'd seen, surely he knew Harry couldn't push a lie that far. What had happened to Harry should have been proof enough for any non believers something was going on in the magical world.

Ron tried to change the subject by saying Hermione had asked him to come up here and check on him, she knew his defences would be low after Snape had been fiddling with his mind.

"How is that helpful!" James snarled in frustration. "Making him more vulnerable, I'm going to rip someone's tongue out if they don't explain why Harry's being put through this, and it's just making things worse!"

"Start with Dumbledore," Sirius told him helpfully with the same scowl in place.

Still, it would help in the long run, right?

Harry did not answer. His foray into Occlumency had not been promising, and now he was left wondering what had made Voldemort happier than he had been in the past fourteen years.

Lily hardly had a second to look to her son, her mouth seemingly set in that uneasy frown she held for him and everyone of his time for this happening, when the sensory alarm went off.

 Someone else was here.

HPHPHPHP

I know the timing is unbelievable, but it makes for a great cliff hanger rather than happening in the middle of a chapter and cutting off whatever's going on. Sorry for asking for a little suspension of disbelief for the timing.

I would be terrible at Occlumency/ Legilimency. I know that's how most people even try to fall asleep, but I actually let my mind wander and create things in my head until I fall asleep without realizing it. Also I get really easily distracted. So on these basis, though I'm not really sure if I trust Snape to be supplying the most helpful advice learning this, you think you'd be any good?

*I actually read this really interesting fan theory that Tonks and Lupin were having an argument about them getting together. Lupin was again telling her she was to young for him, and you know what Tonks does? Disguises herself as an elder woman for their return trip in spite. Also why she's so extra on edge during the trip, trying to prove to Remus she takes her job as seriously, (shut up Sirius!) as anyone his age. Just something that amused me.

[halothenthehorns]

THE DEMENTOR

This is more of replying to clh comments, so if you want to skip by this point I don't blame you, but here you go.

I'm inclined to believe that because JK said so herself, she's not very good at math and her statement of saying Charlie's age in relevance to Percy's is loosely interpreted, so I worked it this way because of the inconsistencies in the book saying how and when and what exactly he did there. I'm not inclined to go back and change it, because I like putting in those random comments in trying to explain the book's mistakes.

I'm sorry you didn't like the parts I put in about Remus, but when you get to this book you'll see that I've got a very big thing about trying to explain a lot of things that aren't even touched on about his character, so I threw in that part about wanting him to be Harry's godfather but the government wouldn't allow it to give him some extra backstory the books never do. I don't think it's too farfetched that the prejudices against werewolf's would try and stop him from having anything to do with kids, and allowing one to be any kind of part of a kids life would be an easy thing to pass in the laws. I do recognize and admit Godfather doesn't equal guardianship, like I made it sound, but it doesn't change my point either that Remus was very forcibly tried to keep out of Harry's life by the Ministry. Yes I know James and Sirius are just that little bit closer and that's why he got picked in the end, but that was just my headcanon and I'm sorry you disagreed.

Despite how that might have read, I love clh and everyone's continued comments and critiquing of these little things I add, please feel free to open any kind of discussion and questions you like!

HPHPHP

Sirius eyed his chapter with more weariness than almost any other before. He wasn't sure how much longer he could stand being talked about like this before he really did have some kind of breakdown, and avoiding the issue just didn't seem possible at this point. Still, it's not like he could avoid it, he'd rather break his arm then try to cut off the story here. He still wanted to know more than anything about Harry's life. So with a heavy heart he went to the correct chapter and read.

Harry woke the next morning and packed quickly, then went to find Ron who was grumbling the sooner they hit the road the better, he was sick of being around Percy, who was now blaming Ron on getting water on a picture of Penelope Clearwater, his girlfriend,

"Wow, Percy really needs to figure out which brother he's talking to," James shook his head in disbelief, "I still can't see Ron doing something like that."

Harry began to explain what he'd heard last night, but then Fred and George popped in to praise Ron for further annoying Percy.

"So, the twins didn't do that?" Lily asked in confusion.

"So who did?" Remus agreed, more than puzzled.

"Must have been Ginny," James said with a frown, "there's no one left."

"Well if she takes after those twins, I'll be more than happy to hear it," Sirius agreed.

They headed down to breakfast and Ron asked what Harry was about to say, but Harry said he'd explain later, now surrounded by Weasley's.

Sirius grimaced, selfishly hoping that later never really came up as he didn't want to hear Harry trying to tell his friends there was a crazy person after him any more than he enjoyed hearing Molly and Arthur talk about it.

Everything was by the doors waiting for the cars, all the animals caged up, including Crookshanks who was unpleased to find himself in a makeshift basket.

"I'm sure that cat loved this," Lily giggled.

Hermione was promising to let him out when they got onboard, but Ron protested she couldn't, because Scabbers was going to be in there as well.

"This could be rather complicated," James agreed with a frown, while Harry sighed as he realized his friends had something new to bicker about, as if they needed any more fuel. He had a very bad feeling this one in particular lasted for some time.

The cars arrived and Harry, Ron, and Hermione all got in one, but before Harry could try to explain again, Percy climbed in as well, to Ron's protest.

"I agree, it would have made sense for one of the parents to go with the group," Remus shrugged.

"Guess Percy counts as adult enough," James offered.

They reached the station with nearly half an hour to go,

"A new record for the Weasleys it seems," Lily chuckled.

then the cars drove away, for some odd reason able to jump to the front of the line at the next light.

"Makes me kind of want to get a car," James grinned, "they seem useful, and I'd like to learn about that spell."

Lily furrowed her brow, not one hundred percent sure they really needed another motorized vehicle around here since she still was quite irked at Sirius' bike, and that car had been a disaster no matter the good end results. She didn't argue the point though, not just now anyways.

Mr. Weasley kept close to the trio as they went inside, telling Harry the two of them should go onto the platform first.

'He's not exactly being subtle' Sirius frowned, but didn't say that out loud, wondering if he was just being paranoid.

"I've never asked," Harry said, trying to take away Sirius' perturbed face, he might not have said anything out loud but they could all see it anyways. "How does the platform work?"

"What do you mean?" James asked, looking for specifics.

"How come Muggle's don't just wander into it, or notice us going in?"

"Oh," Lily said in understanding, "there's a muggle repelling charm on it, so they instinctively know not to go in or around the area."

"What about Muggle-borns parents?" Harry pressed.

"They can go in so long as they're lead by a wizard," Lily further explained.

Harry nodded, happy that this little detail had been put to rest. He also realized it must be the same for the Leaky Cauldron. His attempt had worked, Sirius was slightly distracted and looked just a little bit better again as he continued.

Once everyone was joined on the platform, Percy spotted his girlfriend, and puffed out his chest so that she couldn't miss his badge. Harry caught Ginny's eye, and the two had to turn away to stop themselves from laughing.

Harry gave a very happy smile of remembrance, thinking that was probably the first time Ginny had ever met his eyes and turned away for some other reason then blushing. That had been her first instance of finally showing she had a personality other than shy.

"Props to that girl for putting up with him," Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Be nice," Lily chided, she wasn't the biggest fan of Percy's attitude either, but they were seeing him from Harry's point of view. She was sure he must have a kinder side, at least around his girlfriend. She also had to stop herself from pointing out at least Sirius and James were just as pompous about certain things.

They all loaded their stuff into a compartment then exited to say their goodbyes to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, the mother going around and giving all of her children hugs and kisses, then Hermione, then surprisingly Harry.

"Aw," Lily smiled while the boys rolled their eyes at this mother act in front of school students, all the boys but Harry. He was blinking in surprised shock and pleasure, since no one had ever done that for him before.

He went red in the face from embarrassment, but was quite flattered when she gave him an extra hug.

"Think you were right before James," Remus grinned, "the Weasleys might just up and adopt Harry if he asks."

"I can only hope," James laughed, which was tinged with sadness all the same that this had to be a happy thing at all.

Molly began to hand out sandwiches to her sons, turning to Ron and giving him his while promising it wasn't corned beef this time,

"Wow, she remembered," Sirius grinned.

"Guess someone must have said something," Harry smirked.

"Where'd she make them at?" Lily asked. "Did Tom let her use the kitchen?"

"I guess," James shrugged, not really thinking too much about it.

Harry was pulled away though, by Mr. Weasley asking for a quick second.

"Now what's this?" Lily said in surprise.

"You think Arthur is going to tell?" James said curiously.

Sirius huffed and grumbled something under his breath, but none of them could think of anything to say to him that they hadn't already.

Mr. Weasley led Harry away from the group, but before he could get started, Harry admitted he already knew what he was going to say.

"Wow, not many people will admit too eavesdropping, " Remus said in a laugh.

"I did it so he technically still kept his promise to the Minister that Mr. Weasley didn't tell me," Harry shrugged.

Harry admitted to having overheard the conversation last night, and Arthur was now frowning as he said that's not how he'd liked to have explained this.

"How exactly was he planning to tell you 'hey some crazy guy is coming to kill you'?" Sirius demanded in a snarky tone of voice.

Harry gave him an anxious look, but he couldn't really answer that since he'd never given Mr. Weasley the chance to explain.

Harry assured him it was fine, because know he knew, but Mr. Weasley hadn't broken his promise to Fudge. Arthur tried to ask if Harry was terrified, but Harry shrugged, admitting he wasn't.

Sirius looked up and around in surprise as he said, "okay, I know why you mean it now, but why did you then?"

Harry gave an easy shrug as he admitted, "sorry Sirius, but you didn't exactly scare me more than Voldemort did."

They all grimaced slightly at that, still rather happy Harry wasn't actually afraid for his life since it just wasn't possible Sirius could ever hurt him, but hating the idea all the same that there really was someone out there who did want Harry dead.

When Mr. Weasley didn't look like he believed that, Harry said he was being serious,

Sirius released a surprised snort of laughter and made to say something, but stopped quickly when James smacked him across the back of the head before he got a chance. Giving him a haughty look, he continued anyways this time, "not as serious as I could!"

"Where is your off button!" Remus demanded, while Sirius gave them all satisfied smirks and continued.

how could Sirius Black be worse than Voldemort? Mr. Weasley flinched like all wizards did upon hearing that name, but then pressed on trying to make Harry promise him something, but Harry cut him off by grumbling that he was supposed to stay inside this year. Mr. Weasley said that wasn't what he meant, looking more serious,

"Ouch, dang it guys," Sirius grumbled, he'd been smacked even before he'd finished the word that time.

"How many times can you make the same joke and still think it's funny?" Remus demanded.

"As often as I want," he shot right back, a superior smirk now in place. This was such a turn around to his depressed mood of late that no one really felt that mad at him anymore.

then Harry had ever seen him as he told Harry not to go looking for Black. Harry was stunned, and asked why he would even do that?

That had them all stumped for a moment, until James snapped his fingers and said, "you think Arthur thinks you know everything? That you might know Sirius was a friend of mine, and you would go looking for him because of that?"

"But I didn't now then," Harry pointed out, "and even if I had, that still wouldn't encourage me to go find him, when I thought he wanted me dead." He finished, giving an apologetic look to Sirius for saying that.

They all shrugged then, not really having any better reason why Arthur would think this.

The train gave a warning whistle then, signaling it was about to take off, but Mr. Weasley was still talking, telling Harry to promise him that no matter what he heard but Harry cut him off again by demanding to know why he'd go looking for someone who wanted to kill him?

Sirius grimaced all over again, hearing Harry say that twice in a row made him want to vomit, cry, and scream all over again, no matter how Harry felt now, him thinking this to be true at any point in time tore him to little pieces. He wouldn't let anyone try and console him this time though, blasting on.

The train really was rolling now, and Harry had to bolt inside as it began picking up speed, then before he knew it the train was pulling from the station and the platform was out of sight.

"I notice you didn't actually promise him," Lily said in mild amusement.

Harry shrugged and said, "still don't understand why he wanted me to at all."

Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were all waiting for him, and when Harry said he needed to talk to his friends, Ron told his sister to get lost.

"Oh that was nice," Lily frowned.

"I don't blame him," Sirius rolled his eyes at her. "Who wants their sibling following them around."

Ginny snapped that was nice before storming off.

"So now you've mimicked Ginny as well," James grinned over at his wife, "are you going to mimic everyone by the end?"

Lily decided to ignore them in hopes they would stop this annoying gag.

The three of them went moving down the compartments, looking for an empty one,

"I thought you already stored your stuff away in another one?" James reminded.

Harry gave a disgruntled look as he said, "yeah, but some first years had come in and taken it, so we'd grabbed our stuff and decided to move rather than force them out."

but every one they came across already had people in them except for one, which had a man sleeping against the far window.

Harry suddenly went very pale and rocketed to his feet, shaking his head from side to side furiously. Lily reacted just as fast, clutching at his arm and demanding he calm down, or he was going to hurt himself. He relaxed, but didn't glance over at his mom at all, but instead focused on Remus like he never had before. His face scrunched up, and it was all too easy to picture the man before him with a little extra gray hair, sleeping in that compartment. So he had been right, he did know him!

The boys got up wearily as well, Harry reacting like this to something couldn't be good, and the way he was eyeing Remus set said man's intestines churning into themselves. Lily still had her hand on him, looking from him to Remus and back before finally demanding, "Harry, what's wrong?"

"I-" he began, before swallowing hard and still not answering, now rocking backwards on his heels in unease. There was no doubt in his mind, the man he suddenly remembered being in the compartment was standing in front of him, older yes but not nearly as dissimilar to Sirius' later unhealthy looks. He should say something now, because the bomb of a reaction to Sirius being alive was terrible for his family, so he should get it out of the way now, but the words wouldn't come out, jammed down his throat as he kept looking wistfully at Remus.

Sirius, still on his feet and wondering what on earth could be going through Harry right now, read to hopefully ease some of the stress.

They found this odd, since no adult had ever been seen except for the woman who pushed the food trolley around.

James and Lily exchanged uneasy looks, James starting to walk over to the pair in case Harry was going to react to something soon. Harry had been reduced to rubbing furiously at his temple, trying to get a word in, but of course he couldn't say anything even though he knew with every fiber of his being he was right. Remus stayed rooted to the spot, mind going a mile a minute as he prayed he was misunderstanding why Harry was looking at him like that.

They decided to go for it though, entering the compartment to find he'd stored away a battered suitcase above him. He wasn't that old, but between the patched and shabby robes, and the pale complexion with gray streaked brown hair he looked like he'd been through the run. Ron asked who he might be, and Hermione whispered Professor R. J. Lupin.

The book clattered to the floor and Sirius decked Remus so hard he fell with it.

Sirius was standing over him, shaking and pulling back as if fixing to swing again. James cursed wildly and flew towards him, tackling Sirius and all but dragging him away step by step while Remus stayed on the ground, hand pressed to his cheek in shock. Where to begin as his mind stayed on utter lockdown, unable to process too many things at once.

He kept hearing Sirius shouting, but the words didn't seem to be getting through, while Lily and Harry heard quite clearly as they moved to Remus side, eyeing Sirius like he truly had gone mad.

"-let me go! I'm going to kill him, that idiotic, manic depressive, self-loathing-" he tore into several other more colorful words for a few moments, while Lily got to her feet again and stood protectively in front of the pair, green eyes flashing as Sirius finally circled out and actually used proper words again, James still keeping such a tight hold on him it was a miracle he was still on his feet. "What the bloody hell is the matter with you, why weren't you there, huh? Where were you when all this mess was happening to Harry, oh I know, not there for him because you're more afraid of yourself then-"

"Sirius, you know damn well why Remus wouldn't be allowed near Harry while he was living with his Muggle relatives." Lily finally cut in, advancing a step towards him and jabbing him in the chest for emphasis.

He was still puffed up and looked ready to breathe fire at a moment's notice, but the shouting momentarily stopped as Lily's full words registered. There was a tick going on in one of his jaw muscles, but James took this small moment to continue dragging Sirius backwards, all the way into the kitchen and out of sight. Then Lily turned back to Harry still trying to coax Remus into saying something, while the man looked like he'd never speak again.

He'd landed on his arm, and had automatically sat up on it with his other hand pressed to the spot Sirius had slugged him, looking dazed and frozen. He'd known for a while Sirius was going to get over his shock and fear at what was going to happen to him and channel it into something more violent or at least something that involved a lot of his energy. He had not expected that to all be channeled at him, though in that moment he knew he deserved it and more; because Sirius was right. No matter the legal ramifications of his condition, why wasn't he there for Harry? He loved that boy like he would his own, and knew without a shadow of a doubt that if he had an inkling of what was going on while he was living with the Dursleys he wouldn't have joined Sirius in Azkaban, he'd probably be dead on sight for what he owed them.

His whole time he'd been at school, he always wondered if this happy feeling, the miracle he had in his friends, would end sooner or later. Hearing about what happened to his family now was physically tearing him apart inside, and he'd been wishing this whole time he had survived just so that he knew someone would still be out there looking after Harry. Now he'd found out he had survived, and shirked his duty, for what?

There was a light tapping on his forehead, and he finally blinked the static from his brain clouding him from truly registering his surroundings, to find Lily and Harry both watching him with more than concern on their features. Harry had been the one tapping him and trying to get his attention, while having a conversation Remus quickly understood as Lily was clearly explaining to Harry "-I meant that there are laws in place stopping Remus from doing certain things because he's a werewolf, for example he couldn't legally adopt you, but he's also not allowed within a certain radius of Muggle dwellings, or he really could be killed."

"But why?" Harry persisted, his brow ruffling up just like his father's did whenever he didn't understand something.

"All sorts of things dear, prejudices for one, they think he's some dangerous animal all the time and such. It's also to ward off temptations, after all not all werewolves are like him, some would purposefully seek out Muggle neighborhoods, so the law is a general sense that they have a right to kill one before they can do the act."

In the background he could still hear Sirius and James arguing in the kitchen, where James stood in this he wasn't sure he wanted to know since he was still considering slinking out the front door. Then Lily and Harry seemed to notice he'd come back down to earth, and Lily was quick to try and convince him otherwise of those actions. He said nothing, couldn't think of anything to say, as the guilt continued to eat him alive from the inside the longer he realized what Harry had been through all because he wasn't there. Damned those laws, he should have been able to write to Harry at least, set up something with Dumbledore so he could check on him, anything then what Sirius had implied what happened, which seemed likely by this point.

He hadn't ended up in jail, or otherwise physically stopped, he was clearly still alive and...why was he on the Hogwarts express? He blurted this question out before he had time to think on it himself, finally relieving Harry and his mother of the pent up stress they were clearly feeling. Harry was quick to say exactly what Sirius had just read, and stating, "I did recognize you, Professor Lupin, you were my favorite teacher that year."

Something twitched inside of him, a little niggle that he never would have believed he'd truly feel. Whenever Sirius and James had jokingly called him that in the past, he'd brushed them off and snap at them to quit it because they all knew he'd never actually get that profession, what school could ever allow such a thing, except perhaps the very school he'd attended in his youth.

Now, here Harry was, calling him that very thing he would long for, in a completely serious tone of voice. No mocking, no jesting, he meant it with a respectful tone and a sincerity that spoke volumes of truth. This flashed through him so fast, he'd barely had time to register the happy warmth before James and Sirius came back out of the kitchen.

Sirius still looked rather peeved, which he had every right to according to Remus; since he knew full well his friend would feel wronged at himself being locked away and forcefully stopped when Remus himself hadn't exactly been tied down and prevented from their personal duty of looking after Harry. As Sirius marched towards him, he half considered apologizing to Sirius, knowing he'd trade places in less than a breath. Then he was stunned all over again as Sirius bent down and offered his hand to help him back up.

After hesitating a few more moments he took it, getting uneasily to his feet and then rocking back on his heels and pushing his hand through his hair, still at a loss for words. Sirius filled in the silence, while avoiding eye contact and saying, "I'm sorry I punched you, I know it's not really your fault and...what else was it?" He asked, trying to force a joking tone in his voice no one else felt as he turned back to James, who simply raised one brow at him and made a 'go on' gesture.

Sirius released a huffy breath and slightly turned back to him, still looking more above his head then anything and trying to continue, but Remus cut him off and instead said, "honestly, I was going to let you take another swing at me. I can't say what's been going on those past twelve years any more than you can, but I was wrong. What made me stay away, is inconsequential." He came very close to adding on, 'I won't let it happen now,' but stopped himself as he realized that, possibly whatever had happened the first time to set up these circumstances, he may not ever really be able to prevent.

Sirius hesitated, but nodded and seemed to take this as some sort of apology, because most of his hostility drained out of him and he went back over to pick up the book. James hesitated and followed him, making Remus hesitate and ponder if James really was feeling just like Sirius, and just couldn't think of anything to add on. Lily and Harry exchanged uneasy looks, neither of them used to any kind of fight between these three, but when Remus finally decided to go back over and sit next to Sirius, who gave no protest, the other two wandered back to their spot as well.

There was a very sticky silence for a long time, Sirius rummaging for his page being the only noise, and once he found it he began again with a bit more anger in his voice then was normal, but no one said anything. Remus gave a very dark mental laugh, thinking that at least this got Sirius to stop thinking about his problem. *

Ron asked how on earth she could know that, and Hermione gestured above his head where he'd stamped his name on his luggage.

Lily frowned over at these boys, personally annoyed and affronted for Remus at them. She had a very good idea why he hadn't been allowed to go see Harry, and if they didn't cool it with the attitude soon she would shove it in their faces why.

Ron asked what on earth he was teaching, and Hermione pointed out the only position was Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"Or Care of Magical Creatures, since we've already established there's an opening for that job as well," Lily offered, watching them all carefully. No one said anything for or against this idea, in fact she was a little more concerned Remus didn't seem stoked at the idea of this happening. He loved teaching people, had always had a special fondness for younger students at school and was well known for being the most approachable of the Marauders little gang. Secretive, a little odd yes, Lily hadn't even figured out that Remus was a werewolf until her and James were engaged. So she had not the slightest problem with this, and would gladly curse anyone who said otherwise.

None of them spoke it, but they were all thinking of the jinx placed on this position that had stopped them or anyone else having a teacher in this job for longer than a year. Ron did voice that he hoped the man was up for it, as he didn't look like much.

Remus gave a wane smile, this wasn't the first time he'd heard this. He'd always been rather small and underdeveloped because of his condition, and Ron wasn't the first person to think he didn't have a source to his wand. It had led to a few instances of teasing and one memorable instance where he had proved a crowded corridor just how stupid it was to underestimate him.

Then he finally turned his attention back to Harry and asked what he wanted to tell them.

Sirius frowned, not at all pleased to be right back on this subject.

James had to force down a strangled laugh as he realized all over again how odd this wasn't for Harry. Twice now, two of his old friends had made an appearance in his life, someone Harry should have rightfully known since he was born, and Harry had not a care in the world for either of them. Then James frowned further, suddenly wondering at the coincidence of this. What on earth were the odds Remus would wind up at Hogwarts, on the same year Sirius had made his grand escape? Was it possible Dumbledore had sought out Remus for this very reason, like he thought one friend would know the other's mind set well enough that Remus would perhaps try to stop Sirius. The longer he thought on this, it actually brought up a whole new round of questions, like where was Remus when that big blowdown happened that wound up Sirius in jail. Did Remus really think he'd done it? That was ridiculous, right? He had defended him now, so what could change in the coming year that would stop Remus fighting tooth and nail to keep Sirius out of there. To be fair, even if he had tried to give credence to Sirius, not many people would have believed him anyways.

Sirius hadn't let himself stay on the matter long, and James was in no mood to bring up any of this, so the reading continued.

Harry told of all he'd heard, and Hermione looked more then freaked out as she demanded that Sirius Black had broken out of prison just to kill Harry!

That finally released a pitiful chuckle from all of them, even at the new tension, they all still found this stupidly funny in the context Hermione meant.

Then she warned Harry he had to be extra careful this year, he couldn't go looking for trouble, and Harry pointed out that trouble usually found him.

"If that ain't the truth," Lily grumbled, having noticed that pattern a while ago.

Ron pointed out that Harry would have to be mental himself to go after the guy who wanted him dead.

'Oh thank you Ron,' Sirius mentally grumbled, though still kept that one to himself.

Harry realized they were taking this a lot worse than he had as Ron continued by reminding that no one knew how Black had got out of Azkaban, which was the most well protected prison there was, and Black had been under twenty-four hour surveillance watch.

Sirius shuddered all over again, he had known at the start of this chapter he couldn't exactly gloss over this, but after the bombshell of realizing Remus was still alive, it almost had less of an impact on him. Almost. His anger at Remus abandoning Harry almost made reading about what was to become of himself semi-bearable. It also brought up the fun question of what on earth happened to Peter. Since their original theory of them all being dead turned out to not be true, exactly how untrue was it? Was Peter somewhere out there as well? Sirius decided right then he would kill him if so. Remus had the vaguest of reasons, Sirius would give him that even if he was convinced there were ways to get around them that Remus should have thought up, but Peter didn't have any reason to abandon Harry.

Hermione was beginning to convince them that he would be caught again, when she heard a noise. They all stopped for a moment, looking around for the tiny whistling.

Sirius couldn't help but let his voice pique with interest, finally bleeding out that angry tone, making Lily finally relax.

Harry found the source of it in his trunk, as the Sneakoscope Ron had sent him was going off.

"What do you suppose?" James asked mildly, deciding for now to at least try to act like this was as normal as before, though the feeling was getting harder and harder to force as they went.

"Maybe Remus was faking being asleep?" Sirius smirked, attempting to do the same thing as James and not let himself grit out his friend's name.

"It wouldn't be the first time he's pulled that trick, he's fairly good at it," James agreed in forced light tones.

Remus didn't add his opinion on the matter, and Lily and Harry had no idea at all, which let Sirius go on.

Ron scoffed and apologized he'd gotten one so cheap, it may even be broken as it had been going off when he'd mailed it to Harry, then he did reconsider that he wasn't supposed to be using Errol in the first place which may have been untrustworthy of him.

"Like I said earlier, those things should be taken lightly, since they go off so easily," Remus said uneasily, which bothered Harry and Lily at once. He shouldn't be trying to stop himself from commenting any more than anyone else.

Harry went to put it back away, not wanting to wake up the stranger.

"Nah," James scoffed, a real smile finally lighting his features as he continued. "I've known him to sleep through the worst of rackets, and it also depends on just how close to a full moon that was."

Harry cocked his head to the side in remembrance, but he didn't exactly watch the lunar cycles very often, so he had no real idea.**

Ron suggested Harry could take it to Hogsmeade to get it checked over, then began listing all of the shops they could go to. Hermione tried to butt in by saying how historically important the sight was to, but Ron was talking right over her, now thinking on Honeydukes. Hermione asked what that was.

"Only the best shop ever," Sirius smirked, wanting to drool again at once as he reminisced about all of the candy in there.

Ron told how it was the best sweet shop in the world! Then he began listing every item you could find on the shelves, including sugar quills which you could suck on in class.

"Those don't really work," Lily rolled her eyes, "the teachers know a student doesn't suck on feathers."

Sirius wasn't listening, he was too busy smacking his lips in appreciation at Ron's very good descriptions and continuing eagerly.

Hermione was still trying to talk about some more scholarly things that had happened, like the Shrieking Shack being one of the most haunted places in their country,

"Is that still running?" James asked in amusement.

Harry wanted to ask what he meant but Sirius, much like Ron, was rather bored at Hermione trying to put in historical type things into a conversation about sweets, so he was still continuing.

The two were still talking over each other, when Hermione turned to Harry and mentioned how much good it would do them all to get out of the castle for a bit. Harry told them he was sure the two of them would enjoy it, and Ron was flabbergasted to hear that the Dursleys hadn't signed his form.

"Ask why," Lily murmured, "please ask why and kick up a real fuss on the matter."

Ron tried to say that surely McGonagall would let him go anyways,

"Dammit," Lily cursed rather loudly.

None of the boys had to ask why, but Sirius rounded on Harry and demanded, "didn't you ever tell Ron and Hermione, anything?"

"They must have noticed something," Remus agreed, finally pushing the last of the general unease from the room as the boys all found something to rally against again, "they did note back during your second year that you lost weight without being told. You never got anything for Christmas from them, even their cryptic little comments about how they 'hope the Muggles were treating you alright' back during the summer."

Harry hesitated a long time, choosing his words carefully as he said, "they, well we never exactly sat around and had it out like you all seem to want to, but I think they were suspicious. Sometimes, I'd just make these snarky little remarks or whatever, but no I don't think they ever really knew. I didn't tell them anyways."

"What about the cat flap then?" James huffed, more frustrated that Harry hadn't at least told his friends about that excuse for a home life.

"What about it?" Harry repeated curiously.

"Surely Ron, Fred, and George all saw it and wondered, or even questioned why they had to unlock you out of your room," Lily pointed out, clearly not appreciating Harry's attempts to be daft.

He just shrugged and admitted, "Ron asked me once, and I just told him we used to have a cat. I also told him all of the rooms were like that, cause they were paranoid about burglars. Didn't really feel like explaining it."

They all sat there gawking at him for a moment, but Harry kept himself tight lipped as ever and was looking pleadingly for Sirius to keep going. Why on earth was the boy still hiding something, even from his best friends? It was driving them all crazy, but they still weren't even sure how to ask him themselves, since whenever they tried he would just shrug and do exactly as he was doing now. They could hardly force him to tell them, it would do more harm than good. So Sirius, grumbling and unwillingly, decided to keep reading anyways.

but Harry knew better as McGonagall was one the strictest teachers, even if she was head of their house. Then Ron said they could get Fred and George to help, as they knew every secret passage in and out of the school.

"Now there's an idea," Sirius said, going bright eyed.

"Harry should know those anyways," James agreed, "it's practically his birthright."

Lily really couldn't come up with a reason to protest this, it's not like Harry was doing anything particularly bad, just wanting to go out and spend time with his friends in a village. The more she thought about it, the more she'd rather endorse the idea, it really would be good for her son to get out more on undangerous missions like visiting the village.

Hermione began to tell Ron off for that suggestion, saying that Harry should be staying inside school with Black running around.

"So what?" Sirius rolled his eyes. "Can't really do too much to Harry in such a public place as Hogsmeade can I?"

"Sirius, I hate to remind you, but you do know what you were put in there for in the first place," Lily asked with a frown.

Sirius opened, then closed his mouth, before nodding and deciding to skip the argument that he really wasn't that stupid, it was a moot point in this future.

Ron tried to argue the point, saying no one would be stupid enough to do something to Harry with them around,

"He's got a point there," James said with a weak grin. "Sorry Padfoot, I really can't see you being able to do anything with Ron and Hermione there as well."

Sirius nodded in agreement, continuing with only the hint of a joke, "I can see them taking me down easy, I'm definitely no match for these three."

Harry smirked, but was honestly unable to decide just how much they were kidding.

but Hermione told him he was being an idiot, that he'd been put away for murdering a street full of people with witnesses abound.

"Thanks, cause I wasn't reminded of that enough already," Sirius huffed under his breath.

As she was doing that, she was getting to her feet and working the slip loose to let her cat out. Ron snapped at her not to, but to late, Crookshanks pounced onto the seat and stretched before going over to Ron and sitting quite close to him, eyeing the pocket Scabbers was in.

"Knew those two pets were going to be all kinds of fun," Remus murmured lightly.

Ron snapped at the cat to get while pushing it away, and Hermione told him don't.

"Don't what?" James frowned, rather on Ron's side for this particular argument. "Don't stop the cat from sitting on him? Don't yell at the cat for eyeballing his pet? Personally, I think Hermione needs to get a grip here."

Everyone else in the room nodded in complete agreement.

Ron was about to snap back when Lupin began to move.

They all brightened, but for different reasons. Lily, James, and Sirius were all dying for Remus to really wake up and get some explaining going on. Maybe he even knew more about Sirius' case that he would bring up, aside from his general explanation of where he'd been.

Harry simply wanted to replenish memories of him, already in these few days he had a high respect for Remus, now he knew he'd get to talk to him for at least a year.

Remus, while still personally thinking he'd never give a good enough reason for his actions to be okay, was simply hoping he and Harry could have a normal conversation about anything, he could only imagine how his life had been without both James and Sirius around. They still had no idea where Peter was, so if he'd truly been on his own for twelve years, the very idea he'd get to interact with Harry would brighten his day.

They all went silent as they watched him, but he only rolled his head and let his mouth hang open slightly as he continued sleeping.

"Okay," James and Sirius said together, "now I know he's faking it." The pair sounded so disgruntled about the fact, no one asked for details.

The weather outside began turning stormy as the train rattled on, and they found more pleasant things to discuss as the lunch trolley came around. Ron asked if they should wake their new teacher,

"Please say yes," Lily sighed, wanting to stop this delay to what she felt would be the most important conversation of this year to Harry.

pointing out he looked like he could use something to eat.

'Ge thanks' Remus mentally rolled his eyes, though he said nothing out loud since he knew quite well how he looked to others, it was one of the things that made him so obviously what he was.

Hermione went over to him,

This time they couldn't help but lean forward eagerly, Remus couldn't possibly ignore this.

and gently spoke his name, but he didn't even twitch.

James and Sirius muttered something foul under their breath, knowing quite well that wasn't exactly enough to wake him up normally, but having a fairly good idea he was faking it and knowing he was just stalling now. Remus snored like crazy when he was asleep, and hardly so much as twitched which had been the giveaway from before, his mouth wouldn't have flopped open like that unless he was just going to start snoring louder. Yet Moony had faked sleep a few times in their youth to listen in on them sometimes, so they knew he could do it well enough to fool most people. James and Sirius weren't most people. Even only hearing a description of him, they knew they were right.

The kind faced woman told them not to worry about it while handing over Harry's food, telling them that if he woke up later and was hungry he could come up to the front and get her.

"Probably the only time I've ever disliked that woman," Sirius scowled over at Remus as he said that, no one needed to ask why as Remus sunk into the couch cushions a little more, rather upset himself.

Ron wondered if the man really was sleeping,

James rolled his eyes, dearly wanting to point out to Ron what he had a good idea of, but resisted anyways for the sake of repeating himself.

then making the joke that he looked like he'd died.

Lily released a surprised snort of laughter, she remembered one time back during their first year where she had come into the common room and saw him passed out in an armchair and wondered the same thing.

Hermione reassured that his chest was moving.

"Well that's a relief," Sirius couldn't help but smirk, being able to picture that all too well.

Professor Lupin may not have been very good company,

"I think I should resent that," Remus remarked, smiling lightly over at Harry.

Harry was quick to return it, saying, "well, no person asleep is actually good company, so don't take it too personally."

James and Sirius couldn't help but laugh at that little exchange, it did help to relieve their mood a bit.

but he did have his uses as the day wore on and they were visited by far less pleasant people, Draco Malfoy, who as always was accompanied by Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle.

"Oh joy, cause this was just going so well before," James grumbled.

He opened up the compartment door and gave his common sneer at seeing them, making a clever joke he was sure that he'd found Potty and the Weasel.

"His excuse for jokes have actually gotten more lame," Sirius said in disgust.

"I didn't think that was possible," James agreed with a grimace.

Then he turned on Ron and admitted his surprise at the Weasleys having won that gold over the summer, asking if Mrs. Weasley had a heart attack from the news.

"Wish yours did," Sirius grumbled, then winced as he realized what he'd just said. He'd made joking death threats before, but now at the all too horrible realization he might have carried through with one of them, he didn't seem to find them quite as funny.

Ron jacked up to his feet with such anger he crashed Crookshanks basket onto the floor, causing Professor Lupin to snort.

"Now that might have actually gotten his attention," Sirius nodded eagerly.

Malfoy took a step back from shock while asking who that was.

"Your worst nightmare," James grinned, suddenly lighting up in a whole new way. After finally accepting and adjusting to Remus being alive and getting his dream job, it truly sank in that this meant Remus was a teacher at Harry's school! Once Remus 'woke up' and realized who he was sitting seats away from, Harry would finally get what he'd deserved from the moment his parents had died. He was still ticked at whatever reasons had stopped this from happening before, but the point now was that Harry couldn't get into any trouble this year! Remus would never let anything like the last two years happen to Harry! This raised such a giddy mood in him, he actually laughed out loud, and was forced to explain this to the others.

Lily and Harry beamed, both clearly agreeing with James on the matter. Sirius sulked and didn't say anything, trying to decide if this made up for his previous absence. He'd withhold judgment for now.

Harry pointed out that he was a new teacher, while getting to his feet too in case he needed to hold back Ron.

"Or back him up," Sirius scoffed. "Honestly don't you ever let your friend have fun."

"Not this time," Harry remarked, "for the same reason I knew Malfoy should have backed off, no one's stupid enough to go at it when a teacher's around."

Remus shrugged, honestly agreeing with Harry, while James and Sirius grumbled they didn't really think Remus would have done anything against Harry and his friends.

Malfoy backed down then, recognizing defeat as he and his friends left. Ron sat back down with a huff, stating he was done taking it from Malfoy, and if he said one more thing about his family, then he swung at the air.

"Good on ya," James nodded in approval.

"I'm more than sick of his crap as well," Sirius sniffed.

Hermione told him to keep it down, gesturing at the still asleep Professor.

"Still can't decide if he's faking that or not," James smirked, knowing the answer really, but trying to get a rise out of him and giving Remus an obvious look who just shrugged. He had no idea.

Sirius played along and pondered it for a moment before saying, "I don't know, even he isn't so dense as to snooze right through a bunch of kids being that loud, but then why would he still be faking it?"

Lily honestly wondered if Remus wasn't perhaps faking it out of fear of meeting Harry. This was going to be the first time he'd seen him in years, it was going to be more than awkward for both of them, so she couldn't blame him one bit for stalling.

The weather outside only continued getting worse, smashing against the glass like mini drums, the wind howling as they roared on, but still Lupin slept on.

"That's not the problem," James shook his head, "it's the other noises I'm not buying."

Darkness had truly descended outside when Ron voiced they had to be getting close, and just as he spoke the words the train began to slow. Hermione though was frowning at her watch, pointing out they were still a bit early, and Ron asked why they would have stopped.

Sirius frowned in concern now, his voice matching that expression. The Hogwarts express was one of the most magical objects he'd ever heard of, it hardly just broke down for any reason, and if Hermione said it was too early for it to be stopping, then what on earth could be going on.

Harry suddenly got a very hair raising feeling, something truly awful was fixing to happen, so he blurted out purely to delay it, "you know, I've never thought about it before, but how come school always starts on a Monday that's always September 2nd? That isn't really possible is it?"

"Its part of the Magic of Hogwarts, it kind of exists in its own little time pocket," Lily explained at once. They all noticed how Harry seemed to be slowly losing color, fidgeting and starting to rub at his temple, which were all horrible signs that something very awful was about to happen.

Harry asked for a bit more, still wanting to delay as long as he could, "so you mean the day of the weeks there really aren't the same as they should be."

"Not really," James agreed, "I asked Lily about this a few times, and she said she read it in a few books about how the magic bordering the school, keeping out anything but allowing students and teachers and such, that sustains that magic seems to make a skewed timeline. Apparently it registers the same, for example back during your second year when you got caught in the flying car, it was the same night to you as the rest of the world, but it wouldn't have been a Sunday night to them but a Tuesday...did I get that right dear?" He finished, giving her a cheeky little grin at Lily's indulgent smile.

"Mostly yes, you left out some details I'll forgive, I'm just impressed you remembered that at all." She returned affectionately, and Harry smiled to himself as he realized it had worked, however temporarily, and he was feeling almost at peace again.

Pressing further he asked, "but if the train is what causes that, how come Ron and I made it in the car?"

"You were following the train," Remus reminded, "in a magical object, so the magic the train gives off creating this effect would have affected that Anglia as well. It also would have registered you as two students, so if two adults had tried that same trick, they never would have been able to follow the train in that same manner, they would have had to been invited onto the grounds by Dumbledore, or at least another teacher."

Harry nodded in disappointment as he realized he was out of questions, but he'd done what he set out to do, the others looked far calmer as Sirius continued.

Then the lights went out.

"Sirius, relax," Harry tried to sooth, all the while his tone said the exact opposite was appropriate. His memory was very forcibly trying to show him, or warn him, of some very bad impending things.

Sirius did hesitate for a moment longer to give Harry a reassuring smile, giving them all a brief reminder that Harry was clearly okay with whatever was about to happen physically anyways, his attitude was still scaring them almost as much as the book itself. Now as tense and jumpy as a cat Sirius read on.

Harry asked if the train could have broken, but none of them knew.

"Not possible," Lily whimpered loud enough for all of them to hear, now clutching Harry's hand tightly in hers again just for that small reassurance. Harry had a very strong impulse, which he followed, to squeeze right back; instantly confusing him. What on earth could this memory have to do with wanting his mother?

Lily took the comfort from her son for a moment before properly explaining, "the Hogwarts Express is magically enchanted almost as much as the school itself, nothing could just make it brake."

"Then what's doing this?" James demanded of nothing.

Outside through the mess of the storm, Ron swore he could see people getting onto the train.

"What?" James demanded, looking ready to reach forward and take the book away from Sirius.

He stopped him, swatting him away, while Remus was frowning and offered, "they must have been invited on, there is no other explanation."

"I've never heard of anything like this," Lily groaned, her hand tightening on Harry's all the more. "Who would be getting on? Why?"

"Guess Hogwarts wanted to take pity on some hitchhikers," Sirius grumbled without any humor at all, now rushing on for a real answer.

Outside they could hear people moving about the compartments, all looking for someone else to somehow find an answer, and Harry heard their own door slide open again as someone came shuffling in, and Harry recognized him as Neville.

"Can't blame that kid one bit," James nodded.

Neville made to sit down, and accidentally sat on the cat.

That random comment released a surprised snort of mirth from Sirius, but it didn't last long enough for him to delay.

Hermione made to get up and go ask the conductor what was going on, but she ran into someone else at the door, which turned out to be Ginny.

"Aw, that's so sweet she'd go looking for Ron," Lily murmured.

"I don't like all of these students moving around though," Remus frowned, bouncing around in agitation now, "it's still creepy that something's getting on, it would be safer if they stayed still in one place."

"You can't really blame them for seeking out friends and older siblings," Lily chided at once.

"No," he nodded, "just my personal advice."

They were all talking at once now, trying to decide what was going on, when an unfamiliar voice told them all to be quiet.

They all lit up at once, having almost forgotten Remus was there in their new panic. After all it could hardly be anyone else, since Harry hadn't recognized the voice. James and Sirius at once took back any bad feelings they'd had, now knowing without a shadow of a doubt their friend could handle whatever was fixing to happen that had Harry so on edge in this room.

Professor Lupin had awoken at last, and he quickly drew the attention of all the children as he lit a blue flame in his hand,

"Why would you use the Bluebell Fire instead of Lumos?" Harry randomly asked.

"I prefer that spell because quite a few things are afraid of fire, and it provides just as much light," he shrugged.

showing his pale face, but intelligent eyes as he scanned the room. He told them all to wait here while he made for the door, but before he got there it opened on its own. Harry felt cold at once, a deadly chill creeping over him as he made out a dark hooded figure, a hand creeping out of the folds, which was skeleton gray but gleaming as if wet or still decaying.

Sirius was near fainting by the end of this description. No one, not even Harry after Remus' thorough description of these monsters, needed to ask what had boarded the train, or even why.

"This is ridiculous!" Lily spat hotly, her green eyes shining with light as she continued, "those bloody things shouldn't be allowed anywhere near these children! Sirius can't even get on the train unless a staff member from Hogwarts invited him on, so what do they think they're doing?"

Harry quickly asked very loudly, watching Sirius with concern to make sure he really didn't faint, "what do you mean? Remus was on the train?" He also had a vague feeling another teacher was on the train with him at some point, but that was only the hint of something he knew better than to try remembering.

James, still torn between wanting to yell all over again in defense of his friend, or hug him, answered Harry, "like we said, the train's got all sorts of magic surrounding it allowing its entrance to Hogwarts, not just anyone can get on, only the students. Why do you think the parents never help load their kids' luggage. So unless," then he trailed off, going bright eyed himself and turning to Remus, now almost beaming as he finished, "unless someone did invite him on?"

Remus cocked his head to the side in wonder as he pondered this. He would like to think Sirius would have contacted him after he got out of prison, and it's not like Remus would think twice about helping him. Why wouldn't he help Sirius get to Hogwarts, since as of right now he honestly wouldn't put it past his friend to be trying to get into contact with Harry as well? Aloud he said, "I've no idea. If I did, then I would be regretting it then."

Sirius had to swallow very hard around a lump in his throat, but when no one offered anything more, he finally forced himself to read again.

Then the worst part came, when a sound reached Harry's ears that resembled a drowning man gasping for breath, a soul sucking noise looking for something deeper than oxygen.

"Sirius, do you want someone else to read?" Lily asked kindly.

James and Remus gave her grateful looks, they had been fixing to ask themselves, the only thing stopping them was his response, which he gave to their predictions.

He fired up and went from stuttering and shuddered disgust, he couldn't help but think of himself in the future being crammed inside with those things constantly whenever they were mentioned now, to outrage that Lily thought he needed to be pandered. He snapped, "don't patronize me Lily, I'm a big boy," and went on in more huffy tones.

Lily smiled grimly to herself, and Harry wasn't the only one who realized Lily had done this on purpose.

Harry couldn't see, couldn't hear anything but the terrible noise. He could feel his eyes rolling into his head, cold the only thing he knew as he began falling, the terrible sound getting louder every second,

Then they frowned all over again, Sirius switching back to fearful as he could think of several things that would be considered this poor kid's worst memories. Voldemort sticking out the back of some guys head for one, being poisoned by a giant snake, the worst part is he could go on! Then he glanced over and saw Harry leaning in to Lily, which he found rather odd. Harry had been pretty stoic through most of these misadventures, so what on earth could he be remembering that would make him want his mother's touch now?

Still half afraid, and now half curious, he read.

when something new began to come forward, from far away he could faintly hear someone screaming.

Harry was shuddering, extremely white and going almost clammy as he remembered that sound all too well. The sound of his mother's voice cut in, making him almost jump... it couldn't possibly have been her screaming was it? Her voice now wasn't nearly as high pitched as the memory...but were they the same? Then her words sank in, and he forced himself to remember where he was and what exactly was going on. Giving his head a firm shake he focused back in on this world as Lily said, "-you alright? Harry, please, what's the matter."

He pressed his hand to his forehead, pulling it away when he realized he was sweating, and murmured, "don't know. I've no idea what that could have been a memory of."

This was a lie, his mind knew full well what was being repressed, and he almost wondered if this wasn't one of those moments he might not want to get that particular memory back. His words didn't make anyone else feel any better either. What on earth could Harry have remembered that would involve someone screaming like that? Obviously nothing they had read about covered it, it wasn't from his childhood or he would remember it...then what?

The four of them were exchanging panicked looks, but Harry had no clue what to offer them this time for comfort. Swallowing back bile, Sirius wondered if Harry might come out of it having a better idea, and hopefully tell Remus then, so read uneasily.

He knew he should do something, but there was cold and white everywhere...then someone was shouting his name and slapping him on the face, and he sat bolt upright to find himself on the floor of the train, which was moving along again.

'Thank goodness it's gone,' Lily groaned, hoping she wouldn't have to deal with those things ever again. They caused far too horrible reactions, now in two of her boys!

Ron and Hermione were on either side of him, terror all over their faces as they watched him. Neville and Lupin looked pretty similar as they stared down at him.

'What a lovely reunion,' Remus mentally grumbled, only imagining what he had been thinking of seeing Harry again in this future, and it being spoiled like this.

Harry still felt terrible, cold and sticky all over, and likely to be sick any moment, while Ron helped him back onto his seat and asked if he was okay.

"Oh yeah, he's just peachy," James scowled, hating to hear about his son in such an awful condition.

Harry said that he was fine, then asked who'd been screaming? Ron said he hadn't heard anything like this, and Harry glanced around to find the others saying the same, even Ginny who was huddled up in the corner and looking paler then Harry was used to.

They were all frowning for this poor kid, not even needing to guess that her worst memory was probably still plaguing her nightmares after last year.

Harry insisted he'd heard someone screaming, but cut himself off in shock when he heard a crack. Lupin had dug out some chocolate, and was breaking it apart.

"Why do you have that?" Sirius asked suspiciously.

"Is it so odd for him to have some food on him?" Harry asked, giving a weak laugh at what he thought was an overreaction.

James and Lily were both frowning though, James adding, "no, I agree with Sirius, bit of an odd coincidence that Remus happened to have something on him that makes people feel better after they run into a dementor."

"So, you think you did know about the dementors getting on the train?" Lily asked, still feeling rather odd asking anything in regards to Remus being present for this.

Remus threw his hands up in the air, looking rather agitated as he snapped, "how should I know?"

"Cool it Moony," Sirius grumbled, giving him a nudge in the ribs, "no one's blaming you but yourself. At least you got the thing out." Sirius knew exactly why Remus was on edge right then, he was most likely blaming himself for not acting faster and getting that Dementor out of the compartment before Harry had such a severe reaction.

Sirius' guess was exactly right, and Remus then gave Lily a sheepish smile and slumped back in his seat, still rather annoyed at his future self. He'd been in the room with Harry again for how long now, and he not only hadn't introduced himself to Harry properly, but he'd let that situation go on far too long. He should have used that charm the moment he had awoken, if the others' guess was right and he had been forewarned of Dementors would be on the train. It also answered his earlier question, that no he most certainly hadn't helped Sirius get on the train, the dementors would have found him no matter where he'd been hiding on it.

There was another long, drawn out silence after this horrible moment, and they were all wishing it would just stop soon. They hadn't even reached the school yet, and so far this was the worst book possible for all of them. Still, it's not like they had anything else to do about it, so Sirius forced himself to keep going.

He handed the largest piece to Harry, telling him to eat it. Harry took it, but then just stared at it.

"You don't realize how lucky you are," James said weakly, trying and failing for a joke, "Remus doesn't share food lightly."

Remus didn't raise to the bait, and Harry only gave a halfhearted grin at his father.

He instead asked what that thing was, and Lupin explained it was called a dementor, one from Azkaban. He stuffed the empty wrapper in his pocket, having given some out to all of them now, and told them to eat up while he went to go and find the conductor, before leaving altogether.

"What was that?" Sirius demanded, now scowling over at said man.

Remus shrugged and looked to the ceiling as he murmured, "that was me making a quick exit I presume."

"Leave it Sirius," James sighed, pressing his face into his hands as he finished, "I can hardly blame him for delaying that. It wasn't exactly a very nice time to get into such a topic with all of his friends around."

Remus looked a little better, making Lily and Harry chuckle to themselves that his actions being explained to him by James made him feel better. Sirius rolled his eyes, Remus had more impulse control then he did, since he was sure the moment he laid eyes on Harry he was going to try blurting out all kinds of things. He was positive if the Knight Bus hadn't interrupted, he probably would have already.

Hermione turned back to Harry and asked if he was really okay, and Harry just asked what on earth had happened. Hermione tried to explain that when the dementor had come in, Harry had kind of...she trailed off, and Ron explained that Harry seemed to go into some kind of fit as he fell off his seat jerking around.

"That's a pretty sever reaction to something you can't even remember now," Lily whispered, still keeping a maternal eye on Harry.

He simply shrugged, feeling shame start to replace fear. Why did he have such a sever reaction, when clearly Ron was fine?

Hermione jumped back in by saying that Lupin had stepped in then, telling that none of them were hiding Sirius Black, but when the dementor still hadn't gone he'd shot some silver thing at it, making the dementor go away.

Remus grumbled something foul about himself under his breath, bordering along the lines of he still should have reacted faster mixed in with a few choice words, but Sirius was still ignoring him.

Neville agreed it was the worst feeling he'd ever had in his life, Ron adding on it had given him the feeling he could never be cheerful again. Ginny was still curled into herself and gave a light sob.

"That poor girl," James frowned in concern, "like she really needed to be reminded of her last year."

Harry was frowning in real concern, wanting to go back and hug the girl now and try to make sure she was okay, but he'd been a little preoccupied with his own reaction at the time.

Hermione gave her a small hug, but Harry instead asked hadn't any of them fallen down as well? Ron was still watching Harry very carefully as he admitted that Ginny had been shivering like crazy, but no.

Remus was quick to explain the different reactions people would have to dementor effects. It was all too clear on Harry's face now what he was feeling, and none of them wanted him to feel like that when it wasn't his fault how he reacted to this type of thing.

Harry nodded in understanding, very grateful to have this explained to him now rather than sitting on it, and finally understanding why he might have a sense a Deja' vu about Remus telling him this. He very well might have asked him later this school year.

Harry didn't understand, he still felt like he'd spent a week running a fever, and why hadn't anyone else reacted like he had?

"Your reaction wasn't that bad," Sirius said bracingly, taking pity on his pup and admitting something he was very not proud of. "My first time running into a dementor, I remembered back to when I'd been locked up with that dragon in Gringotts and I ran for it. Didn't think twice about it, course I felt just as ashamed as you after the fact."

Harry gave his godfather a full blown smile then, realizing what it took for Sirius to admit to this. He still thought passing out was still a far worse reaction than running, but he understood what he was trying to do all the same and appreciated it.

Lupin came back in then, and when he saw all of them holding melting pieces of chocolate, he made the joke that he hadn't poisoned it. Harry went to take a bite, and found himself warmed all over.

"Lesson number one, take his advice when it comes to dealing with creatures," James told Harry wisely.

"I'm sure I remember that," Harry smiled right back, more than pleased some of that horrible mood was finally leaking back out of the room. All five of them were almost eager to keep reading now, wondering when exactly Remus was going to pull Harry aside so they could talk, hopefully with a simple and understandable explanation of why it hadn't happened already.

Then he told all of them that they'd be arriving at the castle very soon, before asking if Harry was alright by name. Harry didn't bother to ask how he'd known his name.

Remus' face twisted all over again with self-hatred and annoyance, Harry should have grown up knowing the answer to that dammit, but no one said anything about it this time.

He just muttered that he was fine before turning away with embarrassment all over again. They all remained quiet the rest of the trip, not having much to say as they went out into the weather,

Then they all felt a sinking feeling residing in them as they realized Remus hadn't exactly seized an opportunity quite yet. Then Lily said what they were all thinking, "I'm sure he just didn't want to risk being interrupted, the trains not exactly private after all. I wouldn't even be too surprised if he waits until tomorrow after all of your classes are over, and asks you to his office or something."

She said it with such confidence, it made the other boys feel better at once, but Harry was still frowning. Why wouldn't he believe his mother about this? Surely Remus did come talk to him, explain away what was bothering them all now...right?

and the cacophony of the many pets displaying their protest to the rain, even Neville's toad who could be heard croaking under his hat.

"Glad he didn't lose him again," James smirked, remembering back to their first year and the mysterious missing Trevor, glad Neville seemed to have found a way to keep a better eye on his pet.

They followed the short path up to the school carriages, said their hello's to Hagrid whose job was to escort the first years down a different way to boats, and then climbed into the warm seats pulled by invisible horses.

"Nah, you'll learn about those sometime in your sixth or seventh year," Remus shrugged.

"So, what are they?" Harry asked, feeling grumpy all over again at having to ask a question he should know.

This time Sirius explained, and Harry nodded as he remembered them mentioning these odd beasts earlier, but then asked, "so you can only see them when you've seen someone die?"

"Yep," Sirius agreed.

"Then how come Harry didn't see them after he technically saw Quirrell die?" James asked, now realizing this hadn't exactly come up at the end of the last two books when he would have taken the carriages back.

"Harry passed out before he actually saw Quirrell die," Lily reminded, "we didn't even know he was dead until Dumbledore told us."

"Oh yeah," he nodded.

Since Sirius had given Harry a pretty good description of the beasts, Harry let the matter go, but he was still wondering why he had a good idea he knew these beasts better.

Harry had started to feel better since he'd eaten the chocolate, but still weak. His friends kept throwing covert looks his way, like they thought he was going to pass out again any second.

"I really wish you had explained better what dementors were then," Sirius grumbled.

"So do I," Remus agreed, more than frustrated with himself...which was an odd feeling, being mad at something you hadn't technically done yet.

There were two more dementors hovering just outside the gates of the school,

"Yes, because I'm so sure I'm just going to come waltzing through the front gates, please give me a little credit," Sirius huffed. James and Remus rolled their eyes, but Sirius had said that with an almost normal tone of voice, a first since finding out and referring to himself, so they let the comment slide.

and Harry had to fight hard against another cold feeling creeping up on him again. Then they moved past, and he went back to feeling just semi nauseous until the carriages stopped and they climbed out, to a less then pleasant welcome as someone said behind him that they'd heard from Neville that Harry had fainted.

"Who did Neville tell that would be mocking Harry like that?" Lily said in outrage.

Harry defended his friend at once, still grimacing in annoyance as his memory recognized all too well that tone of voice, but he knew Ron had asked/ snapped at Neville about this later so he explained, "Neville and Ginny had been talking about it in their own carriage when they had been getting in one, and Malfoy overheard. He didn't mean to start this."

Lily backed down, mollified at once, but Sirius was still rather annoyed enough his tone showed it as he read.

Ron turned on Malfoy and told him to piss off, but Malfoy was still laughing, asking if the dementors had scared him as well? None of them had a chance to respond when Lupin got out of his own carriage behind them.

"Professor Lupin is the best," James said, then burst out cackling when he realized how much fun this could be.

Sirius was frowning at him though, slightly miffed as he said, "you couldn't have held off on that? I wanted Ron to punch him."

"So sorry my timing wasn't to your liking," Remus rolled his eyes at him.

Malfoy gave Lupin an unkind appraising look, taking in his thin frame and very old clothes, before giving an unconvincing no, adding on Professor at the end in the most degrading way possible before walking off.

"And I already hated this kid before," Sirius scowled down at the book now, "but if he really gives you crap I'm going to insist someone needs to knock his lights out."

"I think I can handle a third year picking on me Sirius," Remus smirked at him, still warmed all the same, and flashing back to a few times when Sirius had made that threat about any other kid who picked on him for his appearance.

The three of them went into the castle then, only for Harry and Hermione to immediately be called aside.

"What did they do now?" James demanded of nothing, Merlin they'd just stepped foot in.

"Why Hermione?" Lily puzzled, long since used to Harry seeming to get more attention than any of them wanted, "and I agree, what on earth could this be about?"

They turned to find McGonagall waving them over to her,

"Well at least it wasn't Snape or Filch trying to blame them for something before school even started," Sirius grumbled.

with a look on her face that made Harry think he was already in trouble.

"She has that effect on everybody," Remus smirked.

She clearly noticed this, telling them to relax and she just wanted to talk to them in her office.

"A word about what though?" Harry asked, still a little on edge at that remembered look.

All of them shrugged, not having the faintest idea.

Then she told Ron to go inside and escorted them to her office, starting on Harry and telling that Lupin had sent word ahead something had happened to Harry on the train.

"Oh Remus, you didn't," Harry groaned, going bright red with remembered embarrassment.

Remus however was smiling, finally pleased with something he'd done in this future, as he explained to Harry, "oh I'm very sure I did. You shouldn't be embarrassed about what happened to you Harry, but I'd still feel much better if you were double checked by someone."

Harry grumbled to himself, not in any kind of agreement because of the fuss he knew this would cause, but it caused the others to continue smiling more broadly. Finally, here was something they had all been hoping for since the very first book, someone who really was there simply to look after their little Harry.

Harry tried to protest, but then the school nurse came in, Madam Pomfrey, took one look at Harry and stated he must have been up to something dangerous again.

"She makes it sound like I do this on purpose," Harry fumed to himself.

McGonagall explained for him it had been a dementor, and Pomfrey was not pleased as she began checking Harry over, muttering her distaste at those things in this school, around delicate children,

"I'm not delicate," Harry said in outrage, causing Sirius to burst into unrestrained laughter.

He refused to explain why though, swallowing back more laughter as he read.

Harry rebutted he wasn't delicate!

Causing the rest of them to snicker as well at Harry's mirrored response. Harry crossed his arms and grumbled about them picking on him.

McGonagall asked what he needed, should he stay the night in the hospital wing?

"Oh he shouldn't be that bad," James rolled his eyes, "he's really had all the treatment that could be given."

Harry protested this at once, horror already coming to him as he realized what kids like Malfoy would have to say about that.

"I swear teachers were never young," Sirius agreed in disgust, they never seemed to understand what their actions could do to a student's status.

"I think I should resent that comment now," Remus butted in, grinning from ear to ear at being able to say that.

Sirius appraised him for a moment, before amending, "okay, most teachers."

Madam Pomfrey said he should be fine so long as he ate some chocolate, and Harry said he'd already had some, from Lupin. Pomfrey was pleased, saying that for once they had a Defense teacher who knew what they were doing.

"DADA huh," James said in approval, "well I couldn't be happier, at least now Harry finally has a competent teacher!"

"Thank Merlin," Sirius agreed, nearly bouncing in place in excitement. "I'm almost happy to be able to hold off on all those insults I've been coming up with, and push them off for another year."

"I am equally delighted you both have so much faith in me, and offended you think something's going to happen to me at the end of this year Sirius," Remus smiled indulgently at the pair of them, continuing by addressing Sirius again. "What exactly do you think is going to happen? I like to think I might even be able to break that stupid rumor, I'm not superstitious."

"Oh I don't know," Sirius shrugged, not looking very concerned by the matter, "in fact, you've got my vote of confidence for doing just that."

"Well now I'm all settled then," he rolled his eyes indulgently, causing the others to continue laughing at the pairs exchange.

Lily kept her lips pursed and her thoughts to herself, disagreeing with the boys and rather wishing he had been taken up for Care of Magical Creatures instead. There was no curse on that position after all to even be a worry, and the less of that the better.

When Harry confirmed that he really was okay, McGonagall asked him to step into the hallway because she wanted to speak privately with Hermione about her schedule, but to wait for them.

"McGonagall's probably telling her she can't actually take all of those classes," Lily remembered sadly.

"But she's already bought all of her textbooks," Sirius protested with a frown, "shouldn't they have done this before the year started, like last year?"

"Maybe they can come up with some sort of deal so that she can rearrange her schedule?" Harry offered, nodding to himself as he was pretty sure this answer felt right.

"Can't see how that would happen," James disagreed, "like we said, some of those happen at the same time."

Harry waited outside as Pomfrey went away, still grumbling to herself about the things around this school. He didn't wait long though when Hermione came back out looking quite pleased,

"Well lookie there," Remus raised a brow in surprise, "looks like Harry was right."

"How though," Sirius insisted, "private lessons?"

Harry shrugged when he realized they were actually expecting him to answer, saying, "she didn't tell me, that was just me trying to guess."

They speculated a few more ideas, but when they finally realized they wouldn't really know until lessons started, let the matter go for now.

then they all went down to the Great Hall where Flitwick was carrying away the standard stool and hat that was used to sort first years.

"Hadn't thought of that," Lily nodded, "McGonagall wasn't the one to do the opening ceremony. Guess I would have thought that the first years would have just waited on her."

"Something else I've never seen before," James grinned.

Hermione was disappointed they'd missed the event of watching the new students be sorted into Hufflepuff, Slytherin, Gryffindor, or Ravenclaw.

"I still don't understand why this book keeps randomly explaining things we all know," Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Probably some weird catch that has to do with the spell these were created with," Remus shrugged.

McGonagall went up to the teachers table while Harry and Hermione went over to the Gryffindor, taking a seat on either side of Ron, while Harry was trying to ignore all the looks of students watching him, wondering if it was possible the whole school knew of his dementor debacle already.

"Sadly, I can believe that," James said with a wince for his son. Looks like another first week that was going to consist of people gawking at his boy.

Ron asked what they'd been doing, and Harry was fixing to explain when Dumbledore stood up to make his speech, and watching his headmaster Harry couldn't help but feel more at peace right then than he had since before his train ride.

While the boys couldn't help but smile at this, they did tend to feel the same way around such a calming and powerful figure that was their headmaster, Lily felt a sinking feeling as she suddenly wondered if perhaps Harry might even be projecting a sense of parent on Dumbledore? It's not as if he had anyone else to connect to like this.

He began by welcoming them all to school, but pointing out the search of the train,

"Was trying to forget that honestly," Sirius grumbled.

was instructed by the school itself. The dementors were on the grounds of Hogwarts this year by order of the Ministry of Magic, while pausing for a moment leading Harry to remember that Arthur had mentioned Dumbledore's distaste with the creatures.

"And now you know exactly why," James grumbled with his own distaste.

He went on by telling them that there were dementors at every in and out of the school, and could not be fooled by anything, not even invisibility cloaks. Harry and Ron glanced at each other.

"Why?" Remus grinned. "You know he knows you have it."

"Just thought it was odd he pointed that thing in particular," Harry shrugged.

Dumbledore warned that these were not things that could be reasoned with, and it was best to avoid them if at all possible. He then instructed that the Head Boy and Girl were given special permission to make sure no students did anything that had to do with the dementors. Percy puffed himself up, making himself look as important as possible in that moment. Dumbledore took another short pause, continuing on seriously,

"Not as Sirius as I could I'm sure," said man smirked, ducking instinctively as both of his friends made to smack him. He then quickly hurried on, still smirking.

that he did have some good news, and addressed the newest teacher Professor Lupin, who had consented to taking the Defense Against the Dark Arts job.

"Consented," James smirked over at him, "like you didn't faint from happiness when he asked you to."

Remus shrugged though, not exactly arguing with James, but also rather weary all the same. He knew for a fact he could put the same measures in place as he had when he was younger, and make absolutely sure he never did harm a student, but he also had the lingering fear as he did when he was a child. If anyone, students or parents, found out what he was he had no doubts he'd be forcibly removed from the school. Now though, a new tightening was also beginning to happen in his throat as he realized the circumstances he'd been planted in. Not only would he be locked up in the Shrieking Shack without his friends, but he'd be having the ghost of his memories haunting him in that castle. He shook it off, gave a weak chuckle for James' benefit, but Sirius still gave him a perturbed look before reading on anyways.

Very few people clapped at the announcement,

"Ouch," Lily winced in sympathy, but Remus quickly waved her off, saying, "I'm not heartbroken. You didn't hear them applauding Lockheart or Quirrell did you? Being a teacher is hardly a popularity contest."

"Please Remus, don't even bother comparing yourself to those two loons," Harry said, rolling his eyes in contempt. "I've known you for a few days and I don't need memories to know you'll be ten times better then them."

"That's what I was going to say," Sirius smirked, then pretended to pout as he continued, "though now I am slightly upset myself that I have to hold back on all those new insults I came up with for this position."

"My heart goes out for you," James snorted.

the only ones doing it with any real heart were the select Gryffindors who'd been in the compartment that Lupin had saved. Harry couldn't help but notice though how he looked even less then healthy and even more shabby compared to all of the other teachers.

Remus couldn't help but wince, having a pretty good idea his finances over the years hadn't gotten any better, but he wouldn't let anyone pause to give him sympathy for it, nearly pushing the book against Sirius' nose to make him keep going.

Ron then told Harry to take a look at Snape.

"Oh Merlin yes," James crowed, pumping his fist in the air and bouncing around like he had a sudden sugar rush.

Sirius wasn't any better, he started laughing so hard the book nearly slipped from his grip, while Remus rolled his eyes indulgently at the pair and couldn't hide a smirk himself.

Lily gave scathing looks to all three of them, knowing quite well what had them hooting like morons, but Harry was giving them all puzzled looks so she explained to him, "they're being childish idiots dear. You know as well as I do that Severus wanted the DADA position, so they're lording it that Remus got the job instead."

"It's priceless," Sirius insisted, wiping tears of mirth from his eyes.

"It also means that Snape can't give Harry too much hell this year," James grinned, still squirming with happiness, "because if McGonagall doesn't stop him Remus will."

Remus bit at his lip, he didn't really know what his friends were expecting. It's not like he could sit in the back of the Potions class and tell off Snape for what he did to Harry. He also knew for a fact he was hardly going to dog him in the corridors to make sure Snape didn't unfairly punish him like he had in the past, he was also rather torn on if he did come along how much help he'd really be. Snape was a teacher just like him, and if Harry was doing something wrong, he would hardly want to let Harry get away with it, in fear of showing Harry favoritism. So he remained silent, still grinning slightly as Lily told them both to shut up. Sirius was still chuckling lightly as he read.

Harry easily spotted him. Snape was well known for wanting that position for himself, but Harry was still shocked to see the look of outright hatred twisting his features that he normally only saved for Harry.

"I would hardly be his favorite person to see again," Remus nodded, "though I didn't exactly go out of my way to bug him like they did," he finished, gesturing at his friends.

Lily narrowed her eyes in annoyance, and James and Sirius took that as a sign not to add anything on. What they didn't know was that Lily was actually getting rather annoyed at her old friend this time. She still hated the way he treated Harry, but if he turned and started acting that way towards Remus as well, she really was going to lose her patience with his actions. Remus was hardly innocent in his friend's actions, but she would be the first to snap at him; he was being childish if he was still going to hold a grudge against him now. She hated what these four boys had done, but she had learned to forgive and forget their stupid actions, why on earth couldn't he?

Dumbledore carried on, mentioning they had another staffing change,

"Oh yeah," James nodded in remembrance, "there's supposed to be a new Care of Magical Creatures teacher too," he leaned in eagerly to hear this one.

as the old Care of Magical Creatures teacher had retired, wanting to save his remaining limbs,

Sirius released a surprised snort of laughter, yeah he couldn't exactly blame him for that, though he was sorry to hear him go.

but Dumbledore had hired Rubeus Hagrid as his replacement,

"Really?" Harry beamed.

"Absolutely," Sirius nodded, grinning right along.

"That's awesome," James nodded eagerly, "no one could do better then Hagrid at that."

"Does that mean they'd need a new gamekeeper though?" Remus asked, just as happy as the others, but still thinking more big picture.

Sirius looked down curiously.

for the job, who'd gladly accepted along with keeping his original title of gamekeeper.

"Wow," Lily forced a laugh to hide her disappointment her idle idea clearly had no hope now, "well I'm more then happy to hear that."

"So, for once, Harry will actually get a good education all year," James smirked.

"Just so long as Hagrid doesn't try and bring another dragon to class for a lesson," Sirius muttered, mostly to himself.

The trio more than happily applauded this, noting Hagrid's look of embarrassment. Ron was laughing then, pointing out that it made sense he would be the one to get them all to buy a biting book.

That released surprised and happy laughter from all of them, yes it did seem Hagrid's type now they thought about it.

Hagrid was trying to subtly wipe his eyes on the tablecloth at the staff table.

"Aw," Lily cooed.

"Can't blame him one bit," Remus nodded in understanding. He more than anyone knew what it felt like to be something someone didn't particularly have much faith in, but had been given such a chance as this.

Harry knew what this must mean to Hagrid, as he'd been kicked out of school at thirteen for a murder he had not done, meaning he wasn't technically a full wizard.

"Doesn't matter," Sirius said, though no one had asked him, he kept going anyways, "you don't have to be a fully qualified wizard to teach Magical Creatures."

"Wasn't that charge dropped anyways?" James asked.

"Yes, but I never asked why he didn't chose to go back to school," Harry shrugged.

After the food was served and everyone else was heading off to bed, Harry and his friends went up to congratulate him in person, but Hagrid didn't get much coherency as he started crying with pleasure all over again and McGonagall told them to get to their dormitories.

"Aw," Lily squealed again.

Remus couldn't help but lean down and whisper something into Sirius' ear, causing him to laugh quite loudly, and Lily to shoot the pair poisonous looks, making Sirius quick to hurry on.

They caught up with the rest of their house and went up to their tower, waiting for Percy to get there and tell them the new password, making Neville bemoan. He was well known for commonly forgetting the secret word to gain entrance.

"Write them down on something?" Sirius suggested with a shrug.

"You're not supposed to," Lily said at once, "what if another student found it?"

"I'd rather he did that then get locked out," Remus said in sympathy.

They went inside to find all their stuff already in their rooms, and Harry beamed around finding himself home once more.

"I remember that feeling," Sirius nodded, passing the book along to Harry for his turn.

HPHPHPHP

*I know all of you guys have been hyped up for the big Sirius reveal, and I'm so glad you all found it to be good and in character, but this is the chapter I've been most anxious to get to. Remus is unabashedly my favorite character! (Have you ever noticed if you ask an HP fan who their favorite character is, no one actually says Harry.) I've spent many a long hours trying to understand why and where he was during Harry's life, and I do hope you guys liked the reasons I provided. More will keep coming the more they understand about Harry's and Remus' life later in books five and six, I've got some more theories and add on's then, but until then hope you enjoyed!

** I looked it up, and poor Remus, it was actually a full moon that night, even though Sept. 1st 1993 was actually a Wednesday, but hey logistics of magic means the true full moon was the night before/that morning. He's recovering from it, hence he was okay for the feast that night and why he slept most of the trip; he'd been awake all night as a werewolf.