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Assistant: Title: How is this My Life?
        Author: FMPtrumpets FMPtrumpets 
        Chapter: 10/21 
        Summary: Harry and Ron were in the middle of a rescue when they suddenly found themselves in a room full of loved ones, the Dursleys', and a few who were supposed to be dead. All to read a few books about him. Can't his life ever be normal? And why is Snape here! Great.
        Contents: Chapter 10: The Potions Master
    

    


      
        
          Those from the past with an older self. Everybody else.
  
    Parselmouth
  

  Sign language/telepathy
Sadly neither Harry Potter, nor any of his friends and companions belong to me. I really wish it were different, but it is not and likely never will be.
      
  

  
  
    
    
  
    (He rolled over... the dream at all.)
  

  
    "Oh, that explains it. Yeah, that's probably going to happen a lot." Harry muttered.
  

  
    "Next chapter? We can eat after this one?" Molly suggested to the room, when everyone nodded, the book kept going. 
  
  
    Chapter eight: the Potions Master.
  

  
    "Oh, this can't be good." Sirius and Remus both muttered. Sirius was looking at Severus suspiciously, and at the same time wondered just how much he was going to regret all those pranks.
  

  Severus sank back into his seat slightly. He was eyeing the Marauders, wondering how much he was going to pay for Harry's treatment at his hands.

  ("There, look."

  "Where?")

  A few people had confused frowns on their faces at the way the chapter was starting out. This was odd.

  ("Next to the tall kid with the red hair.")

  Understanding was starting to dawn on a few faces. This must be what Harry was hearing in the hallways.

  ("Wearing the glasses?"...

  "Did you see his scar?")

  Those who hadn't already figured it out, now knew what was going on. They were hearing about the whispers from the other students, all of them trying to get a glimpse of Harry Potter.

  
    Harry 
  
  made a face. "Don't they have anything better to do with their time?" He grumbled.

  Harry snorted. "I've been asking that for years."

  (Whispers followed Harry... dormitory the next day.)

  "Do any of you have any idea how annoying it is?" Harry whined. It was very annoying! Even if he got good at ignoring it over the years, it didn't get any less annoying. At least they got used to his presence as the year went on, although there was always something happening during the year that made them whisper about him all over again, and then, of course, the whole thing started all over again with the next batch of first years.

  
    Harry 
  
  looked repulsed, while Ron and Hermione nodded in agreement. The whispering did get very annoying after a while, and they only really caught the edge of it by virtue of being his friends. They weren't the center of attention like he was.

  (People lining up outside... corridors again, staring.)

  
    Harry 
  
  looked disgusted. "Shouldn't they be focusing on their first class of the year? Honestly," and he started grumbling about people who had nothing better to do with their lives than to invade a kids privacy. Harry snorted, but he didn't say anything.

  (Harry wished they... his way to his classes.)

  The teachers frowned. So that was why Harry and Ron were later than first years usually were. They were being distracted by the older years...

  (There were a hundred... staircases at Hogwarts:)

  Everybody blinked and slowly turned to Harry, who had gotten his sketchbook back out and was now drawing a Grim, a stag, and a Wolf standing proudly around a Lily under the light of a full moon. Since the drawing he did earlier was done, a picture of Hedwig in full flight with a Grim and a Wolf running underneath her. 
  Hedwig had looked at it and hooted in approval.

  "Harry, how on earth did you know that? It's not even in 
  
    Hogwarts, A History
  
  ." She said.

  Harry glanced up at her quickly before he went back to his drawing, "I asked Nick." He said simply.

  "Oh." A few people blinked. They never really thought about asking the ghosts about stuff. Sure, they asked for directions from the ghosts and portraits if they needed to, but otherwise they never really thought of them. Harry seemed to talk to them all the time.

  Harry looked up at Sirius suddenly. "Did mom have an animagus form?" He asked.

  Sirius and Remus frowned and shook their heads, "Not that we know of." Sirius said, before looking at Severus, but he shook his head. 

  "We looked into it in our fourth year, but in the end decided to wait until our seventh year before doing the transformation." Severus said, "But, of course, everything fell apart in our fifth year, so... it never happened." Harry frowned, sad about it, but he nodded and went back to his drawing. He had been going to draw her animagus form, or at least the animal that she was.

  (wide, sweeping ones... to remember to jump.)

  "Let me guess, Nick again?" 

  "No, actually," Harry muttered absently as he drew the Grim's eyes. "I asked an older Gryffindor. Nick was busy in a ghost meeting, they were discussing what to do with Peeves after he flooded the seventh floor." He said.

  "That was Peeves?" Ron muttered.

  "How did he flood the seventh floor? There's no bathroom up there." Hermione muttered. 

  "With Peeves,"

  "Who knows?" The Twins asked with a shrug.

  The Dudley's were looking at the wizards like they had two heads. For one thing, that place sounded amazing and strange, for another, how on earth did they find where they were going or get there on time? Not to mention remember all that?

  (Then there were doors... walls just pretending.)

  "Why on earth would anyone have any of that in the castle?" Dudley asked, incredulous. 

  "Hmm, well..." Harry said slowly while he ordered his thoughts. "The Baron said that, when they built the castle, it was built as both a sanctuary; since back then the witch hunts were going on, there was a problem with a nearby band of trolls, he said something about several wars and problems with the goblins too, as well as a school. He told me that the doors and stairs were built the way they were as a security measure in case the castle was ever invaded. I guess behind the solid walls pretending to be doors, are actually safe rooms that will only open if the alarm is triggered, and once that alarm is triggered, the castle's non-fighting occupants only have ten minutes to get into a safe room before the rooms seal themselves again until the fighting was over. In the event of the invaders succeeding and the castle being taken over, then the doors would unseal and the stairs would lead the people on a path away from the invaders, out of the castle." Everyone stared at him and a few people blinked.

  Finally, Dumbledore spoke. "I did not know any of that." He said, shocked. He got a roll of parchment and started making his own notes on what to do when the reading was done. At the top of the list was asking the ghosts and portraits about safety measures for the students, or any other information about the castle that might have been lost to time. He was ashamed to say that he himself never thought about ever asking the ghosts or portraits if they knew anything he should know.

  (It was also very... move around a lot.)

  "That's also part of the security measures, the thinking was that only those who were supposed to be there would know their way around, while invaders would get lost easily, leaving them easy pickings for the defenders to hunt down." Harry said while he focused on drawing the Grim's head around the eyes.

  (The people in the... of armor could walk.)

  "They can. I am assuming that's another part of the castle's security?" Albus asked.

  Harry nodded. "The Baron said that they are enchanted to become both the sword and shield of the castle. In the event of an attack, they will either station themselves outside the safe rooms or go out to meet the attackers, it depends on what they are ordered to do by the Headmaster."

  Dudley looked slightly alarmed. "You keep talking as if the castle is constantly being attacked." He said.

  Now it was Hermione's turn to shrug. "Well, if you consider the time period in which the castle was built, it probably was constantly being attacked. From one side, you had Muggles hunting and persecuting wizards and witches, on the other side, you had other magicals trying to claim the castle for themselves, either Dark Lords and Ladies trying to just take over period, trolls just attacking anything and everything, Harry said the Baron mentioned the goblins causing trouble... there were probably giants and dragons attacking, even." She said thoughtfully.

  "Exactly." Harry said with a nod in Hermione's direction. "And, it wasn't just a school back then, either. Remember? It was also a safe haven for anyone who needed it. Whether they were attacked and driven out of their homes by Muggles, or Muggleborns driven out of their families because they were magical and their families, like most Muggles back then, didn't understand that and tried to 'get rid of the evil'. If they had nowhere else to go, Hogwarts was open to them. Of course, as witches and wizards got better at hiding from Muggles, and as society developed more over the centuries, the need for it to be a safe haven disappeared and it became just a school, but..." Harry shrugged and went back to his drawing.

  "How on earth do you know all this?" Percy asked, incredulous.

  Harry sighed and looked up again. "I told you, I talked to the Baron. Well, I also talked to Godric, but the Baron has been out and about the castle the most, so he's seen more of the changes over the years. I don't think Godric leaves the Maze much..." He shrugged again and went back to his drawing, again. He had also tried asking about the infamous rivalry between Godric and Salazar Slytherin, to ask him what really happened, and how much the history books had skewed over the years, but Godric refused to talk about it. So, whatever happened, Godric was clearly either still angry about, or in pain over it centuries later.

  Albus frowned. He never thought to speak with Godric about any of this, either. He should probably pay more attention to the portraits and ghosts beyond them letting him know when there was a problem with the students, or helping him keep an eye on trouble students, (mostly students who were on probation, or students Madam Pomfrey put a notice to keep an eye on for health reasons). He made a note down to also speak with Godric about the ward scheme. Find out what the extent of the wards was supposed to be, and how much they deteriorated over the years as knowledge of them faded. Maybe young William Weasley could help with that. He studied wards and curses for a living, after all.

  (The ghosts didn't help... you were trying to open.)

  "Especially when you don't get out of the way fast enough and they end up going through you." Ron muttered. He always had a problem with that, where Harry never did, Ron blamed Seeker reflexives.

  "Why, what does it feel like?" 
  
    Dudley 
  
  asked, curiously.

  "Like your being dumped with a bucket of ice water, while standing outside in the snow." Harry said. The Dudley's eyebrows went up, that sounded... cold. 
  Then he frowned, didn't his mother do that once...?

  Hermione narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "Why does it sound like you have personal experience with that?" She asked suspiciously.

  Neither Harry answered, they pointed at their respective Aunt and Uncle. 
  Moody was scribbling away again on his parchment, 
  Molly and Poppy were practically shaking in suppressed rage while resisting the urge to go over and smother Harry in warm blankets, while Sirius gave into his urge to smother the boys in their warm blankets, careful that it wasn't too tight so they could still breathe, and draw, and drew them into his arms again, trying to rein in his urge to kill the Dursley's and make use of every bit of the Dark Arts taught to him by his family growing up.

  He didn't want to scare 
  
    Harry
  
  , after all. Wow, having to take care of 
  
    Harry
  
   these past couple of days was teaching him restraint fast.

  (Nearly Headless Nick... were late for class.)

  A few people winced. Yeah, you did not want to ever run into Peeves when you were late. Depending on where you were in the castle, it could be humiliating and everyone would know really quick that you were late. If you ran into him in a deserted part of the castle, then it wasn't that bad, run into him outside the classrooms though...

  Of course, it didn't help that you would be so busy trying to get away from him safely that you usually ended up even more late than you already were. Luckily, most of the time, all you had to do was keep your ruffled appearance, and tell the teachers you ran into Peeves, they usually let you off. As long as you can prove that you really ran into him and weren't in a broom closet somewhere.

  (He would drop wastepaper... worse than Peeves,)

  "Is that even possible?" Severus and Remus both asked. Nobody dared comment or laugh at the fact that they were copying each other now.

  Especially when Severus glared around the room after he and Remus looked at each other in surprise.

  (if that was possible, was the caretaker, Argus Filch.)

  "Oh, yup. Those two are tied when it comes to being awful." Remus said.

  "I will never understand why he is there, he is absolutely horrible to the students." Hermione said, shaking her head.

  "We have asked the Headmaster many times over the years to find someone else, but he refuses to consider getting anyone else. He says that 'students will often exaggerate to get out of punishment'." Minerva said.

  Remus's eyes widened. "I can assure you, Headmaster, if anything, the students have downplayed his nastiness over the years." He said, slightly alarmed by the fact the Headmaster was blinding himself to the truth of what was going on. Dumbledore frowned, but didn't say anything, he would see what the books held before passing judgement on Argus.

  (Harry and Ron managed... very first morning.)

  "What?!" Both Remus and Sirius yelped in shock.

  "But it took us two weeks before we got in trouble with him!" Sirius exclaimed, he was both put out and proud that Harry had beat his and James record, and so quickly, too.

  Harry sighed dramatically, "Sadly, I wasn't even doing anything the first time, we were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Besides, how were we to know where we were, we were first years, it was the first day of school, it's not like we knew where to go." He complained. Sirius frowned, he kind of wished Harry had gotten in trouble for something he actually did, not because the Prefects didn't do their jobs. Not that he wanted Harry to be getting in trouble.

  Remus tilted his head and looked towards Percy. "Isn't it the seventh year prefect's job to make sure the firsties know where to go?" He asked.

  Percy frowned. "Yeah, I have no idea why they didn't, I thought they had, or I would have done it myself, but I was making sure the third years knew where to go for their new electives." He said.

  Neville spoke up, "I caught them in a broom closet when I was trying to find my way to the Great Hall for breakfast." All the teachers turned to him with wide eyes. McGonagall herself was almost gaping, when she snapped out of it, she pulled her parchment towards herself and started writing furiously and muttering to herself about making sure those two missed the prefect badge this year, or at least were watched more closely.

  Percy himself started writing, presumably to his own younger self to ensure that he kept an eye on the seventh year prefects and made double sure the first years were taken care of.

  (Filch found them... on the third floor.)

  Dumbledore frowned. He hadn't thought of students getting lost and ending up there.

  Sirius and Remus winced. "He's never going to believe them that they were lost." They muttered. Ron and Harry scowled. No, he didn't.

  Then Harry thought of something, and he looked at Ron, snapping his fingers to get his attention. 

  "
  
    Didn't we get bailed out of that by Quirrell?" 
  
  He signed.

  Ron's eyes widened. "
  
    Yeah, you don't reckon he was already trying to get the Stone, do you?"
  

  Hermione snapped her fingers, and when the boys attention was on her, she signed, 
  
    "It's possible, but thankfully we will never know because you both were there." 
  
  She said with a raised eyebrow. They frowned, but nodded in agreement. When they turned back to the books, they found all the adults watching them suspiciously, obviously wondering what the Trio had figured out now, with Severus being the only one who had been able to follow their conversation.

  He was frowning thoughtfully. The Headmaster had never told anyone what happened to Quirrell, not even him. Oh, he had his suspicions that Quirrell had been working with the Dark Lord, but he never had it confirmed. And then, the Dark Lord came back and, when Severus had finally returned to his side, he had been furious over Severus stopping Quirrell from getting the Stone, thus delaying his return. Severus had barely gotten out of there alive by explaining that if Severus had known Quirrell wanted it for the Dark Lord, then he would have helped. Now, it sounded like he was going to find out just how much the Dark Lord knew of that year. (What he didn't know yet was just how lucky he was that he'd been able to convince the Dark Lord of his loyalties. Because the Dark Lord had been planning his painful death after what he witnessed that school year.)

  (He wouldn't believe they were lost,)

  "Honestly, we were first years, how could we not be lost?" Harry muttered. Ron nodded in agreement.

  Minerva frowned, "If the prefects had been doing their jobs, then you wouldn't have been lost." She muttered.

  (was sure they were... Quirrell, who was passing.)

  The Trio narrowed their eyes. He was definitely checking the place out. Moody was watching their reactions to Quirrell and he didn't like the conclusions he was coming up with.

  (Filch owned a cat called Mrs. Norris,)

  "Your mother gave him that cat." Severus said. "She was the only one who Argus seemed to ever get along with." He said fondly.

  "Really?" Harry asked, jerking his head up from his drawing. Severus nodded, but then frowned thoughtfully when Harry slowly went back to his drawing. He flipped a page and lightly, so he could erase it easier, jotted down an idea to draw later, which would be Mrs. Norris twisting around a Lily with Hogwarts in the background. Then he went back to the one he was currently working on.

  (a scrawny, dust-colored... school better than anyone)

  "Except, of course, me." Harry piped in.

  "And us." The Twins added.

  "I'm pretty sure the Marauder's came first, boys." Sirius said with a mischievous glint to his eyes, one copied by Remus.

  Harry looked up, "Although, judging from the Map, I've discovered more of the school than you two and my dad ever did." He said with the same glint in his eye.

  Sirius looked at him, shocked. "You have our Map?" He asked. He would have thought it would have been burned years ago after the Rat lost it to Filch in the beginning of their seventh year.

  "We nicked it from Filch's office in our first year." Fred said, answering for Harry.

  "It was in a cabinet marked, 'Extremely Dangerous'." George added on.

  "Although, now that I think about it," Fred said thoughtfully, turning to his twin. "Didn't Filch also have the Marauder's written under that?" He asked.

  "Yes, I believe he did." George said with a thoughtful frown.

  Sirius and Remus were wide-eyed. "He kept our stuff?" Sirius whispered to Remus incredulously.

  "I guess so." Remus said, trying to process. Why on earth would Filch have kept all the stuff he confiscated off them over the years? And marking it 'extremely dangerous', it was almost like the old Squib 
  
    wanted 
  
  students to get ahold of their stuff and continue their legacy.

  ((except perhaps the... Mrs. Norris a good kick.)

  "Not me, though." Harry said with a frown. "I've always liked cats. Even if all of yours can get to be a bit much." He said to Mrs. Figg. She smiled and waved it off.

  Severus frowned too, he may not like cats much, but he did like Mrs. Norris, if only because she'd been a gift from Lily. She would often come visit him in his dungeons, and students he caught messing with the cat came to very much regret their existence.

  (And then, once you had... few funny words.)

  "Of course there is." Draco said, confused. Neville and his younger self were confused too, what did just waving a stick and funny words have to do with anything? Of course there was more to it.

  "Most of how the Muggles think of magic comes from back during the witch hunts, back when Muggles knew magic existed, before we went into hiding." Hermione started. "So, much of what they know has become distorted by history, folklore, and the belief that magic isn't real. Where we know that all our spells are derived mostly from Latin, at least in Britain, they have ended up twisting them slightly. For instance, when pretending to do magic, a magician would most commonly use the words, 'abra kedabra'. Which, we would know to actually be a mispronunciation of the Killing Curse. That was probably a commonly used spell back then for some reason or other."

  Severus nodded, "The Killing Curse was originally created to quickly and painlessly slaughter animals for food, or by a Healer to put a suffering patient out of their misery if there was nothing they could do for them. Sometime in the last century or so, the Ministry decided to make it Unforgivable to cast under any circumstances. Well, unless of course you're an Auror and somebody like Crouch is in charge." He said, glancing at Moody before he turned his attention back to the others. "So, yes, Muggles back then would have seen it used frequently by wizards who kept their own animals."

  Draco nodded thoughtfully, "So, Muggles back then would have seen us waving our wands, and saying, what sounded like to those who can't speak Latin, funny words. And then passed that knowledge onto their children as bedtime stories. And they wouldn't know the theory or effort that goes into actually using magic."

  "But, the actual pronunciation of those 'funny words', has become distorted with time." Harry said with a nod. "Just like their view on what magic is actually capable of."

  "Wait, I thought Muggles weren't supposed to know about magic." 
  
    Draco
  
   said, confused.

  "Well, they all know about magic. The point is, they don't think its 
  
    real.
  
  " Arthur said. "They think its a bunch of bedtime stories from a time when people tried to explain what at the time was unexplainable, and came up with wild theories. Which is what the Statute of Secrecy is primarily about, making sure they 
  
    keep 
  
  believing it to be just bedtime stories." The Draco's and Neville all frowned, but nodded.

  (They had to study... movements of the planets.)

  Dudley blinked, confused. "What does that have to do with magic?" He asked.

  "Some potions ingredients are best when picked at a certain stage of the lunar cycle, some are best picked when certain stars are in certain positions. Of course, it's not necessarily the stars themselves, its more the time of year and length of time between those positions. Some animals and creatures are also affected either negatively or positively by the lunar cycle. The Full Moon has its own... magic, I suppose. The moon and stars are also often used in Divination. Now, the subject itself is next to useless, you either have the Gift or you don't, but... some of the concepts of Divination are very accurate. The Centaurs, in particular, can get a fairly accurate idea of what is to come from watching 
  the night sky." Severus explained, going into lecture mode.

  "Some rituals, too, can only be done by the light of a certain moon. Rituals done by the New Moon are the most powerful, as the New Moon symbolizes a fresh start, starting something new. That is why weddings and bonding ceremonies are most often held on nights of the New Moon, or as close to it as the couple can get." Filius added. "And children born on the New Moon also tend to be slightly more powerful than their peers."

  "Astronomy is very important to our world. The position of the moon can affect so much, and so many plants and animals thrive on it being in a certain location. So, we study it." Minerva said.

  Then Pomona frowned. "We should really figure out some way of having it during the day though, that way the students are more awake during it." The other teachers agreed. They couldn't learn anything if they were half asleep, after all.

  Hermione frowned, "Maybe we could adapt a Muggle observatory, make it work with magic..." She said thoughtfully, Harry bit his lip, but nodded. It sounded like a good idea, if they could make it work. It was very difficult, after all, to have Astronomy lessons when it was stormy, or during the winter.

  (Three times a week... called Professor Sprout,)

  "Dumpy?" Pomona muttered with a frown. Everyone ignored the Petunia's snort of derision.

  "It could be worse." Minerva said, patting her on the arm while everyone else snickered behind their hands. Her frown deepened, but she didn't say anything.

  (where they learned... was History of Magic,)

  Everyone who ever sat a class with Professor Binns groaned.

  Dumbledore frowned, "I myself found him a fascinating teacher when I had him." He said, and everyone always passed their exams with him.

  "That was when he was still alive, probably." Harry snorted. "All that class is is nap-time."

  Dumbledore frowned again, "If its nap-time, then why do students pass their exams?" He challenged.

  Harry shrugged. "Self-study or tutoring over breaks, if you have the money for it. I don't know about the other houses, but the Lions have a room in the Maze set aside just for History. It's full of history books left behind by graduated students, and copies of past OWL and NEWT exams without the answers so we have an idea what to study for them. Otherwise, all he does is drone on about goblin wars and rebellions while the rest of us sleep." He said. The other teachers nodded. They had been telling the Headmaster for years that Binns was no good, and he would be better off finding a teacher who was still alive. He wouldn't listen, he said that Binns was a good teacher, and the students were passing their exams just fine with him.

  Dumbledore frowned. Was he really this disconnected from his school that he hadn't even known about this?

  (which was the only... down names and dates,)

  "Most of the time we're in a daze, we usually only barely wake up enough to hear that a name or a date was said. Then, we look up what that name and date means later." Ron said. "Hermione is the only one who can stay awake, its insane." He said seriously. Hermione just shot him a dirty look, despite the somewhat compliment he gave her.

  (and got Emeric the Evil and Uric the Oddball mixed up.)

  "Who are they?" Dudley asked, that was an odd name.

  "Eh, one of them is a famous, if a little insane, inventor, and the other... wasn't he one of the worst kings the Goblin nation ever had?" Hermione said.

  Draco nodded. "Yeah, Emeric invented a lot of stuff, some of it not good, and Uric was the king that almost destroyed the Goblin nation when he had them make too many tunnels in the mines under their main city and it collapsed. Luckily, they noticed the problem and got most of the women and children out before it did, along with most of the warriors to protect them. A lot of the miners that were in the city though... they were in the tunnels trying to brace it so it didn't collapse, and didn't quite get it done in time. It took them forever to go through the rubble and salvage what they could, then they had to fill in the tunnels and rebuild the city. And then, of course, all this was while trying to fend off a bunch of wizards who thought it was a good idea to try and steal what they could while they were weak and recovering." He said. 

  When he saw all the wide-eyed looks he was getting, he frowned before he realized why they were looking at him like that. "My History tutor was a taskmaster who liked the small details."

  Dudley blinked. "Wait, I thought those two would be the other way around." He said.

  "See, that's why we get them mixed up."

  (Professor Flitwick, the... and toppled out of sight.)

  Filius flushed red. "I was excited to see how much talent he inherited from his mother. She was my best student, I had just accepted her on as an apprentice when she had to go into hiding and had to put gaining a Mastery on hold. James Potter, while Charms wasn't his best subject, was no slouch either." He explained. "It had nothing to do with your fame, I was just excited to finally get to teach you, it was also good to see you again after all those years." He explained to the Harry's. It didn't escape his notice that both Remus and Sirius were eyeing him oddly. Harry accepted his explanation, though, and sat back in his seat against his godfather's side, going back to his drawing. 

  (Professor McGonagall was... wasn't a teacher to cross.)

  "Again, that never seemed to stop you." She said, amused and annoyed in equal parts.

  Harry grinned at her over the top of his sketchbook. "But, it's no fun otherwise." He said, with that mischievous glint in his eye. She narrowed her eyes at him, but decided to leave it be for now.

  (Strict and clever, she... leave and not come back.)

  "You never kicked us out." The Twins, Sirius, and Remus all said together.

  She narrowed her eyes at them. "None of you ever messed around in such a nature as to make me kick you out." She said sternly. "And thank goodness too, there have been students I have had to kick out of my class for immature and dangerous behavior, some of them are now either in Azkaban, or a permanent spell-damage ward of St. Mungoes."

  A few of the adults flinched, they had seen just how extensive the damage had to be for them to end up there, the younger people looked worried when they saw the looks on the adults faces.

  "As wonderful as magic is, it can also be very dangerous when used irresponsibly." Dumbledore murmured. The other teachers all nodded. They had seen many times over the years when a student was being irresponsible or immature, the results were never pretty. Sometimes, they could get to them in time to reverse it with no ill-effects to the student, sometimes they had to be sent to St. Mungoes for a while. Sometimes, they came back from the hospital, sometimes they didn't.

  Both Dudley's looked concerned, could magic really be that dangerous? It looked like such a great thing, nothing like his parents had always told Dudley... although Dudley supposed that he had seen cases where magic wasn't so good. The Dementors came to mind.

  (You have been warned."... a pig and back again.)

  Dudley frowned and rubbed his backside. "What is it with you wizards and pigs?" He muttered. "First, your school is called HOGwarts, and then you keep turning things into pigs."

  Hermione blinked at him. "You know, he does have a point. I mean, we have Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, and the Hogshead tavern, and we do tend to turn stuff into pigs a lot." She said to the other wizards in the room. Some of them looked around at the others and shrugged. Dudley just blinked at the fact that they had three different places with the 'hog' in the name.

  "Never noticed." Fred and George both said. 

  (They were all very... animals for a long time.)

  "Indeed not, I only do that as an example of what could be accomplished, that way students don't get too disillusioned when we start with the small stuff." Minerva said, her lips twitching upwards.

  Poppy nodded, "Yes, if you try too much too soon, you could rupture your core." She agreed, giving 
  Hermione a piercing look. The girl blushed slightly and looked down.

  (After taking a lot of complicated notes,)

  Minerva sighed, "They actually weren't that complicated, if you had grown up magical or gotten the introductory books, like you should have been told to do." She said with a glare at Dumbledore. "Still, considering that you were so far behind everyone else theory-wise, you did remarkably well, your theory work was average at worst, some concepts you just... got, while you struggled a bit with others... and all that without having the background that the introductory books give you." She said thoughtfully, either not noticing, or choosing to ignore the blush on Harry's cheeks as he focused on his drawing.

  (they were each given... turn it into a needle.)

  "A match into a needle? How could that be used in life?" Dudley asked. He had been told by a teacher once, when he complained about how he would never use something, he forgot what that exact lesson had been on that day, and she told him that every lesson he learned from her could actually be applied to a real life situation in some way. Whether it be the way of thinking required to solve the problem, or learning how to think through a process to find a solution. But he just could not figure out how on earth turning matches into needles could transfer into real life. Well, unless they went on to become a seamstress or something and needed to be able to make needles whenever they needed, wherever they were.

  Minerva smiled, happy to see the boy asking questions, even as his mother looked like she was sucking on a lemon as she stared at him and his father was turning different colors in his shock and anger. "Well, it sets up a foundation. That is some of the easiest Transfiguration you could ever do. And it does seem a little useless, but it gives the students a feel for how the magic flows, for how their magic feels when they use it to turn something into something else. Different branches of magic have different feelings to them, which is why some students could be Charms prodigies, able to do things with magic that would seem impossible when it comes to Charms. But, ask them to Transfigure something, and they struggle. Their magic is just more suited to Charms than it is Transfiguration. So, by starting off small and simple, it lets the students get a feel for how Transfiguration feels, then when they go to Charms they can hopefully feel the difference." She said.

  Filius added, "I do something similar in my class."

  Minerva nodded before she continued. "Also, it is the simplest piece of Transfiguration because it is a solid, inanimate object being turned into another. Eventually, they start turning living creatures, like beetles or mice, into inanimate objects, and then it only gets more complicated. But most of what we teach in the classroom is a foundation for how something feels, the theory is that if they master the foundation, they can do basically anything they need to."

  Dudley nodded in understanding.

  (By the end of the... difference to her match;)

  Minerva said, "And when you yourself came back the next lesson, you managed a complete Transfiguration on your second try, it even had small designs etched out around it. Mostly Lilies." She said with a small smile. Harry's face turned even more red as he seemed more determined than before to focus on his drawing.

  "Really?" Sirius asked, interested. He leaned towards Minerva slightly without disturbing his boys who were still leaning against him while they drew. "I don't suppose you made his permanent and kept them?" He asked.

  She smiled and held out her hand. With a flash of light that was becoming almost normal now, a small snuffbox appeared in her hand, it was beautiful. Pure white with gold trim, it had an engraved image on the top of the lid of Hogwarts; outlined in blue, yellow, green, and red. Along the sides, were engraved flowers in various shades of gold and bronze; roses, lilies, and daffodils. "This is what he made for one of his exams. I kept all of his other works in here too." She said as she opened the box, revealing the needle from the second lesson Harry ever had with her, along with a button that she had collected from her students as a sample to grade while they got to keep the rest, this particular button was black, with red flame-like patterns. There were a few other items as well; a crystal water goblet with silver inlays, a teapot with a phoenix and snowy owl soaring together along the sides of it, and many other items Transfigured by Harry over the years (some of them shrunk down to fit in the box).

  All of them were spelled by Minerva and Filius to be permanent, otherwise some of them might have gone back to being their original objects years ago.

  "I keep all my students' best works over the years and then give them back when they graduate." She told those that were still in school, or supposed to be (The Trio), while those who had her as their teacher nodded in agreement. She did indeed do that. She smiled slightly and leaned forward to give the snuffbox to Sirius, who took it almost reverently and started examining the items. Minerva was right, his work was at a higher quality than most.

  Both Dudley's were staring in slight shock at what they were seeing. Their cousin had made all that? Some of that (the goblet) would be worth a pretty penny in the store. And he could just make stuff like that? Of course though, monetarily, stuff probably wasn't worth as much if it was magicked than if it was actually made, but, still.

  (Professor McGonagall showed... out to be a bit of a joke.)

  Dumbledore frowned. Yet another Defense teacher who didn't actually teach. Of course, now that he suspected Quirrell to be on Tom's side, he had been just hoping that Quirrell wouldn't teach them anything inappropriate, but if his class was a joke then it sounded like he should be more worried about whether or not he was actually teaching them anything at all.

  Minerva sighed, and muttered, "Thank goodness for the Maze and all its empty rooms." She had several rooms set aside, of course, the students themselves had several rooms set aside for various things (like the history room), but she herself had rooms set aside in addition to the exercise and training rooms just for Defense practice. Since they had such bad luck finding a competent Defense teacher, she had a tutoring schedule set up with the older, more Defense oriented Gryffindors, and each of her tutors had their own 'classroom' within the maze. And, naturally, even with several rooms reserved for these things, there was still plenty of other empty rooms for the students to do what they pleased. She knew the other Heads had their own tutoring schedule set up for Defense as well, their tutoring sessions just had to be in the library or empty classrooms around the castle, depending on what they could find that week.

  If it weren't for her tutors, she didn't think anybody would be passing either History or Defense, ever.

  It was such a shame, though, what happened to Quirrell. Whatever it was that happened to him, he was a good teacher back when he taught Muggle Studies. Then he went on his trip and came back a mess.

  (His classroom smelled... one of these days.)

  "Despite what people seem to believe, garlic doesn't actually do anything to vampires, they merely avoid it because of its strong odor and their rather strong sense of smell." Severus said, amused.

  Remus nodded. "I know that Werewolves tend to avoid garlic too for those same reasons." He didn't mention the fact that he himself was a Werewolf. He knew that most of the room knew, and he didn't want to panic the few kids who didn't know, this wasn't the time. They would have to pull them aside later and discuss that with 
  
    Ron, Hermione, 
  
  and 
  
    Draco. 
  
  He didn't think the Dudley's would pose much of a problem in that regard, judging by the looks of pure amazement on their faces.

  "Vampires and Werewolves are real too?" Dudley asked.

  All the wizards nodded while the Petunia's fainted in horror and the Vernon's, while horrified as well, had to put it aside to take care of his wife. A few wizards noticed this and grudgingly felt a measure of respect for the man. As foul as he was, especially towards magic in general and Harry, he did genuinely care for his family.

  Poppy went over to make sure they were alright, but would let them wake up on their own if nothing was wrong. "Yes, I'm rather good friends with some of them, in fact, my Master is a vampire." Severus said, watching in amusement as Poppy tried to get close enough to the Petunia's to make sure they weren't having a shock-induced heart attack, and having to stun the Vernon's when they tried to attack her to keep her away from their respective wife.

  "Cool." The Dudley's whispered. Everyone else looked in shock at Severus, they hadn't known that, not even Dumbledore. All they knew about when he got his Mastery was that he was the youngest to earn it in the recorded history of Potions Masteries. He never talked about his Master much, although they knew that he and his Master had gotten along rather well and Severus kept in contact with him.

  And now they knew why he didn't talk about his Master much, aside from the fact that Severus was a very private man and didn't talk about himself much in general. Vampires were considered Dark Creatures and were shunned just as much as Werewolves were, if the Ministry knew his Master was a Vampire, they might try and take his Mastery away just because of that and ignore his obvious skill and the fact he'd held his Mastery for years now.

  (His turban, he told... troublesome zombie,)

  If it was possible, the Dudley's eyes got even wider, although Dudley's eyes now held a touch of fear, but otherwise he was just amazed. Zombies were real too? Cool! Although they did wonder about what was true and what was fact that the Muggles twisted over the years like they had with spell pronunciation and what they knew of magic in general.

  The Trio snorted, they all knew the turban was to hide Voldemort from view. They highly doubted he'd even been in Africa.

  (but they weren't sure... about the weather,)

  Severus snorted. Ravenclaws had always been the closest to the Slytherin house, so it wasn't unusual to see a Raven being just as, if not more, cunning and sneaky as a Snake, and that was the most un-Slytherin like act he had ever seen from a Raven. He had seen Lions (the Trio) be more Slytherin-like than that.

  (for another, they... around the turban,)

  The Trio looked at each other again, could the funny smell have been because Voldemort was there? Is it possible that his possession of Quirrell caused a negative reaction with Quirrell's body? After all, people's bodies weren't really meant to carry two.

  Moody narrowed his eyes, there was a lot of mention of that turban, and the Trio had exchanged a lot 
  of significant looks whenever it was mentioned as well. He made a note to keep an eye on Professor Quirrell when they got back. Of course, depending on what they learned in these books, he might not even bother keeping an eye, and just take action.

  (and the Weasley twins... full of garlic as well,)

  
    "It wouldn't surprise me if he used the garlic to cover up the rotting stench that probably clung to him from the possession." 
  
  Harry signed after getting Ron and Hermione's attention. They both nodded in agreement, thankful that Hagrid had never quite gotten the hang of sign language, he could understand and make simple signs, but he just never quite got it.

  
    Harry 
  
  huffed. "
  
    You are teaching me sign language later on.
  
  " He hissed. Harry looked at him before he shrugged and agreed.

  Severus, watched their signed conversation with narrowed eyes. Possession? What were they talking about? The only person who would have, or could of, possess Quirrell, that he could think of anyway, was... oh. How on earth had Severus walked out of that first meeting with the Dark Lord after his return alive? If the Dark Lord was really possessing Quirrell that year... he had said some things to Quirrell that year, that would have certainly made the Dark Lord suspicious enough to think him a traitor, and rightly so, but then why did the Dark Lord not kill him? Why let him live?

  He gulped slightly and started quickly adding to his letter, he had to warn his younger self to be careful around Quirrell until Mad-eye could take care of the man and the Dark Lord was gone for good.

  (so that Quirrell was protected wherever he went.)

  "Well, they actually weren't entirely wrong, it just wasn't for protection." Harry muttered absently as he considered his drawing.

  Severus frowned, so the Dark Lord was under that turban? Hmm... wait a minute. Didn't the Weasley Twins...? His eyes widened in slight horror as he turned to Minerva, "Didn't you give the Messers. Weasley detention for enchanting snowballs to target the back of that turban?" He asked stiffly. When she frowned and nodded, he looked at the Trio to see them staring at him in horror and amusement, they had forgotten all about that. Horror that the Twins had been pelting the Dark Lord with snowballs, and amusement that 
  
    the Twins had been pelting the Dark Lord with snowballs.
  

  "Why? What's wrong?" Minerva asked, Molly looked concerned.

  Instead of answering her, he turned to the Twins, and said very seriously, "Never enchant objects to target another object unless you are completely 100% sure that the object is what it appears to be." The Twins were lucky that the Dark Lord hadn't ordered Quirrell to arrange an accident for the Twins, there were plenty of stairs in the castle, it wouldn't have been looked into too carefully if the wards around the edge of the railing were to fail from age and the boys were to... slip over. He then went back to his letter and wrote to keep an eye on the Twins too, make sure that, if by chance Quirrell was still around, (which he doubted would happen given what he now knew, but you could never be too careful) that the Twins stayed away from his turban.

  He may not care for the Weasley's much, but they were still his students, he was still responsible for their safety. And he took his responsibilities very seriously.

  (Harry was very... behind everyone else.)

  "Actually, considering your lack of background information and the introductory materials you should have gotten, you were miles behind everyone, you were just intelligent enough to figure things out on your own." Pomona said kindly. "It really is quite amazing." The other teachers nodded in agreement while Harry again hid behind his sketchpad, much to everyone's amusement. They all noticed that his younger self also happened to be doing the same.

  "You were extremely disadvantaged and didn't even know it, but you pulled through with good grades anyway." Sirius murmured, unbelievably proud of his pup.

  (Lots of people had... witches and wizards.)

  The teachers frowned. They never really thought about it before, by why did they wait so long? If they informed the parents of the Muggleborns sooner, introduced them sooner, then they would be able to get used to the idea faster, and their children would be a little more knowledgeable about the world they were now a part of. Minerva made a note on her parchment for her younger self to look into it.

  (There was so much... day for Harry and Ron.)

  Sirius cocked his head to the side curiously. What was so important about Friday? Other than the fact that it was the last day of classes before they got a break for the weekend.

  (They finally managed... without getting lost once.)

  "Ah, yes that is quite the accomplishment, especially when the prefects haven't been doing their jobs." Minerva said with a small smile on her face. Sirius snorted in amusement. Yes, learning how to navigate the castle by themselves was quite the feat. Especially in just one week. It seemed Harry had a good sense of direction, which was good.

  "I know, right?" Harry asked. A few people chuckled.

  ("What have we... sugar on his porridge.)

  Pomfrey nodded in satisfaction, "Good choice when you're not used to eating a lot." She said, she was glad that Harry at least knew not to eat a lot of heavy foods before his body was ready. Although she did wonder how much sugar he poured and hoped it wasn't too much. His body wouldn't have been used to large amounts of sugar, she was surprised he hadn't been sick on the train from it.

  ("Double Potions with... to see if it's true.")

  Luna spoke up then, "He's actually really fair to Ravens and Badgers, we are always trying to figure out what the Gryffindor's are complaining about. Sure, he can be a bit harsh with his points taking sometimes, but that's when we're breaking the rules." She said, making all the Lions in the room who went through his classroom turn to look at Severus incredulously. 

  He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, "All the Gryffindor classes seem to, for some strange reason," He said with a glare at Dumbledore, "share classes with the Slytherin's. Many of my Slytherin's, and many from other Houses too, for that matter, have parents who are Death Eaters.

  Those parents would be expecting me to favor those children above others, almost to the point of cruelty. I am constantly being watched, even during detentions, I can't let up for fear of that student saying something about me being lenient where the wrong ears can hear it, and sometimes the Death Eater children find an excuse to come and see me even when I'm in detention with another student, just to see what I'm doing in private. I knew the Dark Lord would be returning, and I also knew that those parents would tell him if I was being nice to his enemies' children, which would only put myself in further risk when I went back to spying. It would have either led to my death, or led to me not being able to get as much information as I could have." He said tiredly.

  "So, yes, I am more lenient with the Ravens and Badgers than I am with the Lions, because the Ravens and Badgers are never in the company of other Snakes nearly as much as the Lions are. And the Lions have the smallest population of Death Eater children within their ranks." He finished. Although he had admittedly gone too far with Harry, he let his hatred of the father cloud his judgement. Both Draco's were staring at him like he had a second head, they never knew their godfather had so much to deal with. Every action was being watched, and every act was carefully planned to make sure those watching saw what they wanted to see, what they needed to see if he wanted to stay alive.

  The other teachers looked at him guiltily, they knew that he was a spy, they all knew the Dark Lord would be returning someday, and all they did for years was berate him for being unfair and unreasonable when it came to the Snakes and Lions. When the whole time he was toeing a very thin line that could have meant either his death should he stumble on the wrong side, or his imprisonment for child cruelty and abuse. Because if he ever went too far in his act for the Death Eater children, that is exactly what could have happened.

  ("Wish McGonagall favored... homework the day before.)

  "Of course not, how else am I going to know that you know the theory? Or that the lesson has stuck?" She asked, slightly scandalized that her Lions would suggest she give them less homework, if anything she would be giving them extra. The Lions grimaced, but nodded in agreement to appease their Head of House.

  (Just then, the mail... Great Hall during breakfast,)

  "What if they leave messes?" Dudley asked, he himself was a little shocked at hearing about it, he could only imagine how shocked he would be at seeing it for the first time.

  "They are well trained." Was his answer.

  "Although, if they do make a mess, its not difficult to clean up." Harry said, thinking of the few times he had seen a family owl fly over somebody and leave them a present on their head. Usually, their target was somebody who had been bullying their human. Owls were very protective of their humans. Especially when their humans were younger...

  (circling the tables until... Harry anything so far.)

  "Not like I had anybody for her to bring me anything from." Harry muttered absently as he considered the antlers on the stag.

  He was so absorbed in his drawing he missed the guilty look on Sirius face and the angry one on Remus's, Sirius because he had been more focused on the rat than he was on his godson, letting his pup go to that place, and Remus because he had sent Harry letters. He sent Harry a letter the first night of school, when Harry hadn't answered, he had thought that maybe Harry didn't want to talk to him, so he stopped writing. He still sent presents, but he never wrote again. Now, he knew that Harry never got his letter, like he never got his Christmas and birthday presents.

  
    Harry 
  
  glanced up at Sirius, and saw the look on his face, so he rolled his eyes at his older self, who had yet to glance up, and put his drawing to the side to try and comfort his godfather as best he could. While he was angry at the fact that Sirius had just left him with Hagrid, Sirius had honestly thought he was being taken to a Healer, so he took the opportunity to go after the traitor before coming back for him. He honestly thought he was going to come back.

  (She sometimes flew in... with the other school owls.)

  Harry smiled at the owl currently perched on the couch arm beside his younger self, while Luna murmured something about just wanting him to make sure she was back from her hunt safely. They all knew that Hedwig would go sleep while Harry had classes and then come find him shortly before dinner and spend the rest of the evening perched on his shoulder if she could. Those two spent every second they could together, always have.

  (This morning, however,...
  
     with Hedwig.
  

  
    Hagrid.)
  

  Sirius smiled at Hagrid in thanks while a couple teachers muttered about putting Harry on a salary, and making it his job to read Hagrid's handwriting, and possibly rewriting it for them so it was more legible.

  (Harry borrowed Ron's... and sent Hedwig off again.)

  "After she ate all his bacon, of course." Ron teased, while Harry scowled for a moment before smiling fondly and Hedwig preened.

  She may not be the Hedwig that belonged to the older chick, but that didn't mean she wasn't proud of her accomplishment. She just hoped that her new chick made sure there was plenty of bacon available, especially if he expected to have any.

  
    Harry 
  
  turned to look at Hedwig before making a mental note to have more than enough bacon at all times.

  (It was lucky that... had happened to him so far.)

  Severus winced minutely, and Sirius and Remus both turned to glare at him suspiciously. Just because the past couple of days and the presence of 
  
    Harry 
  
  forced Sirius to behave civilly (and the fact that, if he was honest about it, Severus never deserved any of what they put him through) did not mean that he would take any torment he put his godson through. If Severus did anything, Sirius just might give them a reason to keep him in Azkaban when these books were over.

  Remus already knew most of how Harry was treated by Severus, so he was less suspicious and more promising of what would happen to Severus if he heard that most of the rumors he chalked up to as being exaggerated, weren't very exaggerated.

  (At the start-of-term... Harry- he 
  
    hated 
  
  him.)

  Severus grimaced, "By this point, I had heard 
  
    all 
  
  about what happened on the train." He said 'all' about as sarcastically as he could. He was still disbelieving that his godson had lied to him like that. Draco grimaced. He still needed to start writing his lines later on. And then, of course he would be assisting in the Potion Lab his godfather would have appear somewhere, and no dessert. He still couldn't believe he got off so lightly.

  (Potions lessons took... up in the main castle,)

  "Why is that anyway? It's awful in the winter!" Ron complained.

  "It's to preserve the ingredients better, make them last longer. You can't just put preservation charms on them, the magic would interfere." Neville said, surprising everyone.

  "Mr. Longbottom?" Severus asked, shocked. How did the Potions Disaster know that? Although, now that he thought about it... the boy was pretty good with his essays... it was just putting him in front of a  cauldron where things went wrong, he supposed.

  "You do the same thing in Herbology with some of the plant cuttings, store them in a cool, dry place so they last until you get around to planting them. And using magic on some of them only wilts them faster, because it interferes with the natural magic of the plant." He explained further. He knew he was no good in front of a cauldron, early on, he was too scared of Professor Snape, and then later on he just... the fear of the professor was gone, but now it was so deeply rooted that it still carried over and interfered with his practical work with potions. But, he still knew what he was doing with plants, and a lot of the ingredients in potions were plant based.

  Pomona nodded in agreement with what Neville said, it was certainly true.

  (and would have been... all around the walls.)

  Both Dudley's got looks of disgust on their faces while, even unconscious, their mother still managed to look disgusted before her face smoothed out again. Poppy took that as a sign that she would be waking up soon.

  Severus saw the looks and smirked. Those were rare ingredients, if he used them to creep the students out a little... besides, it also served to show him which students would be good in potions. A true Master didn't let ingredients gross them out. They couldn't.

  (Snape, like Flitwick... paused at Harry's name.)

  "Except he wasn't eager to finally get to teach Harry." Ron muttered under his breath. Hermione jabbed him in the side and gestured toward Remus, who was looking at them with raised eyebrows, having heard all of it. Ron just looked at him before turning back to her and shrugging. It was the truth.

  ("Ah, yes," he said... Our new- 
  
    celebrity.
  
  ")

  Remus and Sirius both looked at each other warily. That didn't sound good. They hadn't even begun anything yet and Severus was already calling Harry out. They were so going to regret all those pranks and other tricks they pulled on Severus when they were younger. Not that they didn't kind of regret it already...

  Harry scowled, it's not like he asked to be a celebrity. He was perfectly content living with his parents back then, but 
  
    somebody,
  
   coughTomRiddlecough, decided to come and mess that all up.

  (Draco Malfoy and... behind their hands.)

  Remus and Sirius scowled, wondering what was so funny about that and why the bad feeling they had about this class was getting worse. Draco turned a little bit red. He didn't even remember why he thought that was funny...

  (Snape finished calling... none of Hagrid's warmth.)

  "They can be quite warm looking, when he's in a good mood." Draco defended.

  "Mostly when he's brewing or with people he actually cares about." 
  
    Draco 
  
  added. They would have continued, but Severus clamped his hands down on their knees and muttered something in their ears about them ruining his carefully cultivated reputation. Then he thought of something to add to his list. He had a feeling that if his younger self and Moody did everything right, then he could be free of the Dark Lord by the beginning of the 
  
    kids 
  
  first school year... which meant he would be able to teach how he wanted to without having to worry about keeping the Death Eater parents off his back about how he treated the 'enemy children'...

  Yes, he would have to write out some form of a plan... specifically geared towards making sure Dumbledore didn't interfere when he and Moody did what needed to be done, how they knew they needed to do it, not how the old man seemed to think it needed to be done.

  (They were cold and empty and made you think of dark tunnels.)

  
    Draco 
  
  winced. His godfather was in a really bad mood that day. Probably because of Harry, he knew that his godfather hated James Potter, and he had heard Severus grumbling about having to put up with the mans spoiled son when started Hogwarts. Contrary to popular belief, Severus actually enjoyed teaching... when the students were behaving and paying attention that was... Although now that they knew that Harry Potter was NOT, in any way spoiled...

  ("You are here to... silent without effort.)

  Both Minerva and Severus let a smirk cross their faces. It was really more like an art-form than anything else. It truly was.

  ("As there is little... usually have to teach.")

  Minerva raised an eyebrow, "That was a nice speech... until the end." She said to her colleague. Severus merely raised an eyebrow at her and went back to writing. He happened to like his speech, thank you very much. It helped him see which students would take his class seriously, see who would take the challenge...

  Both Dudley's eyes were wide. Could Potions really do all that? That sounded amazing! And Potions didn't seem like a subject that required magic to learn... maybe he could ask to learn how to make them? Dudley made a mental note to ask later.

  (More silence followed... with raised eyebrows.)

  Harry shrugged, "I was more interested, although after the last bit, I started to get a bad feeling." He explained. "That, and I've never heard a teacher call a bunch of students names before..." He said thoughtfully before he shrugged again and went back to his drawing. He was going to put these in a bag later on along with everything else he got from the room to give to 
  
    Harry 
  
  later. Like the wand holster. All his family heirlooms and such would be staying with Moody until it could be put back in the Potter Vaults where they belonged.

  Ron shrugged too, "I was thinking that he'd already proven my brothers right." Molly looked at her youngest son disapprovingly, although she had to admit that he did have a point.

  (Hermione Granger was... that she wasn't a dunderhead.)

  Severus looked at the girl and frowned, she had taken his little challenge a little too seriously... it had caused many, many headaches having to grade her essays. The other teachers frowned too, they hadn't seen this kind of eagerness in their classes. Yes, she was eager, but not quite like this... then again, they also didn't have 
  
    quite 
  
  the reputation that Severus had for being hard on the students. Especially when it came to Gryffindor House. Yes, he was fair to the Ravens and Badgers, but that didn't mean he went easy on them.

  ("Potter!" said Snape suddenly.)

  "Why are you picking him first thing? You haven't even lectured on anything." Sirius asked, suspicious. Severus looked suddenly uncomfortable. He wasn't going to tell the dogfather that this had been Harry's 'last chance', as it were, to prove to Severus that he wasn't like his father. Him not knowing the answers had kind of cemented it further for him.

  ("What would I get... infusion of wormwood?")

  Sirius's eyes widened and he glared at Severus, how dare he ask such questions right off the bat! This was a fifth year question! Despite it being used in the introductory books as an example, Severus didn't know that Harry would have even needed those books! Let alone that he needed them and hadn't gotten them anyway! He was going to be having words with the Potions Master later, when his godsons weren't in the room listening.

  Hermione had her head cocked to the side. She seemed to be considering something. Finally, she spoke. "Professor, you wouldn't happen to be fluent in the language of flowers, would you?" She asked. Neville looked confused for a moment, before he seemed to understand what Hermione was thinking, which just left the rest of them, except for Sirius, Pomona and Luna, confused. Sirius's glare changed to a considering look.

  Severus looked at her and closed his eyes, resigned. "Miss Granger, I am fluent in many languages. That does happen to be one... Lily taught it to me, it is, along with the tradition of naming their girls after flowers, an Evans family tradition to learn it." He said as he laid his head back. "And yes, it is one of my greatest regrets." He said, answering her unasked question.

  "Evans family tradition?" Harry asked. Severus looked at him, confused, then understanding bloomed in his eyes when he saw that both Dudley's seemed equally confused. Then, that understanding turned to anger and he turned to glare at Petunia, putting his knowledge of languages to good use and cursing her in a way the younger ears wouldn't understand, making sure not to use any languages that he knew 
  
    Draco 
  
  was currently learning.

  "I knew she hadn't told you anything of your mother, her sister, but to deny the 
  
    BOTH 
  
  of you knowledge of her own family? What is she thinking?" He hissed furiously in English. Harry cocked his head to the side, he was hissing so much it almost became Parsel. Interesting. Finally, he calmed down enough to look at the four boys denied their Evans heritage with a considering look on his face, finally, he nodded as if making a decision. "I don't know much, but I can tell you what Lily told me. Later, when we have more time to just sit, for now I will just say that the Evans family has a history almost as rich as some of the old wizarding families. They may not have been rich and influential 
  
    all 
  
  throughout history, but... they had their moments." When the time came for that talk, he was going to have the room acquire the family tree Lily had done at Gringotts for herself back in fourth year, if he remembered right there were some wizarding names on it somewhere...

  Arthur looked considering, "So, basically, Lily's family was like the Weasley's of the Muggle world. Even when we were wealthy and influential, we still lived humbly, and we, of course, had our ups and downs." Severus considered for a moment, before he nodded in agreement, yes, that analogy was accurate enough, he supposed. 
  Of course, the Weasley's were much more known than the Evans were, but... it fit.
   He would also need some pictures of the boys grandparents... they were wonderful people and it was disgusting how Petunia seemed to have completely written them out of her life, not even telling Dudley about them.

  (
  
    Powdered root of...
  
   hand had shot into the air.)

  Pomona cocked her head to the side, she wasn't asked. Although, she supposed, Severus would at least know she knew and could call on her since it was clear Harry didn't know. Unless, of course, Severus was targeting Harry, in which case he would just ignore Hermione.

  ("I don't know, sir,"... clearly isn't everything.")

  "How was he supposed to know?" Sirius finally demanded, while everyone else shot Severus disappointed or disapproving looks at targeting an eleven year old like that. "That's a fifth year question, even if he did have those introductory books!" He said hotly.

  "I was hoping he would at least have his mother's aptitude for Potions." Severus muttered tiredly. "I was also hoping he would know Evans family tradition, but apparently not." He said quietly to himself. Sirius narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth to say something else, but Remus stopped him, saying that they would never finish this chapter if they kept going at it the whole time, save it for the end, he, too, shot Severus a dark look.

  
    Harry 
  
  just wondered what fame had to do with not knowing an answer during the first ten minutes of his first ever class in that subject.

  (He ignored Hermione's hand.)

  Pomona nodded, yes, he was going to ignore her.

  ("Let's try again... find me a bezoar?")

  Sirius grumbled a bit, at least that was a second year question... although he was getting a little suspicious after Hermione's question about the language of flowers.

  Ron and Harry looked a bit grateful and relieved, probably because this question saved Ron's life in sixth year.

  Severus sighed and looked at the over-protective mutts wearily. Now it was at the point where he had been trying to make sure Potter didn't have a giant ego, that his head was shrunk down to size, as Severus at the time believed it needed to be.

  (Hermione stretched her... her leaving her seat,)

  Pomona frowned. Severus wasn't asking the class for the answer, he was asking Harry specifically, so why was she still trying to get his attention? He would have to have been blind not to have seen her when she first put her hand up, so why was she still trying after already having been ignored? It was extremely rude and show-offish to the rest of the students, no wonder they isolated her in the beginning.

  (but Harry didn't have... were shaking with laughter.)

  "What is so funny about another student not knowing an answer when it's the first day of class?" Remus asked mildly with a raised eyebrow. If he recalled correctly, he had asked Draco the same thing back when he was teaching Defense.

  Draco went red and muttered something that nobody could quite understand. Severus glared until they went back to the book. He wasn't about to let them start in on his godson, not with him there. With him there, his godson was his responsibility, therefore he would handle any punishments or talking to's the boy needed.

  "We were also laughing at Hermione." Draco said, louder, before the book had a chance to start again.

  ("I don't know, sir."... coming, eh, Potter?")

  "I did." Harry said with a suddenly hard voice, not looking up from his drawing. "Those questions were nowhere in it, I checked later." Severus blinked at him, he hadn't thought that the boy would have gone later and looked it up.

  He shrank back slightly as Sirius glared at him. Normally, he would be sneering at the man, but he was tired at fighting, the past year had been hard and mentally exhausting.

  (Harry forced himself... those cold eyes.)

  "Severus, you weren't reading surface thoughts, were you?" Dumbledore asked mildly.

  "No, although I kind of wish I had, then perhaps I might have backed off some." Severus said, ignoring Sirius's scowl.

  (He 
  
    had 
  
  looked through...
  
     Magical Herbs and Fungi?)
  

  "Wrong book." A few people muttered. Harry looked up and scowled.

  (Snape was still ignoring Hermione's quivering hand.)

  By this point, all three of the other Heads of House were frowning at the older girl. They hadn't seen this behavior in their classes. Granted, they also didn't tend to pick on one student. If they had really looked instead of being lost in thought as they stared at her, they would have seen Hermione sinking into her seat, embarrassed.

  "
  
    Miss Granger," 
  
  Pomona finally said, turning to the younger girl. "While I admire your need to prove yourself, when a teacher asks one student a question, waving your hand about anyway is extremely rude. Not to mention distracting and off-putting to the other student while they are trying to think of the answer. It will only cause the other students to isolate you even more and make it even harder to get along with them." She said sternly. She seemed to have taken it upon herself to instill some... more polite classroom habits into the girl before they ended up setting her loose on their own younger selves. Not to mention making sure she didn't turn in essays that were feet more than they should be. And, hopefully, make it so that 
  
    Ron 
  
  and 
  
    Harry 
  
  weren't the only ones who would even speak to the girl.

  
    Hermione 
  
  bit her lip and looked down for a second, before she looked back up at the teachers and nodded her understanding.

  "Verbal response, please, 
  
    Miss Granger
  
  , I will tell you now that I detest when students just nod or shrug." Severus warned her.

  She blinked before responding, "Yes, sir. And thank you, ma'am, I will work on that." She said to Pomona. The teacher nodded and told her to see that she did.

  ("What is the difference... monkshood and wolfsbane?")

  Sirius frowned, but looked at Severus thoughtfully. If he remembered his flower meanings correctly (Lily was determined that he learn them for some strange reason) he just apologized, while warning Harry to stay away. He would have to wait and hear what the plants he used were again.

  (At this, Hermione... toward the dungeon ceiling.)

  "That was extremely distracting." Harry muttered. "I knew I had read something about that somewhere, but I couldn't remember with you jumping around beside me." Harry said, glancing at Hermione. She blushed while 
  
    Hermione 
  
  looked like she was seriously considering what Pomona had said.

  ("I don't know," said... however, was not pleased.)

  "That was exactly the kind of response your father would have come up with back before he grew up some, to humiliate somebody. You saying it only solidified the image in my head of you being just like him." Severus said, he knew it was petty, and he regretted how he treated the boy. Who he now knew to have been nothing like he blinded himself to believe. Just the past couple of days had been enough for him to see that he was wrong.

  Harry frowned. "I didn't say it to humiliate her, I really did want you to just let her answer it already and stop humiliating me by asking me a bunch of stuff when I had no idea. That, and I was tired of her trying to answer even with you ignoring her."

  Severus sighed and nodded, "Yes, I think I understand that now." He said. He missed the silent conversation going on between Sirius and Remus.

  ("Sit down," he snapped... Draught of Living Death.)

  "What does Draught of the Living Death do?" Dudley asked, curious.

  Severus raised an eyebrow. "It puts the drinker into a deep sleep... almost deep enough as to mimic death, depending on the dosage. Of course, if it's not made precisely and carefully, then the drinker could be sent into a permanent sleep." He explained.

  Poppy nodded, "It's mostly used in hospitals... I believe it would be the equivalent of a Doctor sending a patient into a drug induced coma, to help their bodies to heal without the patient moving around and making it harder."

  (A bezoar is a stone... the name of aconite.)

  Hermione, Neville, Sirius, Luna all looked at the Potions Master in varying states of shock. Pomona just blinked at him before she became lost in her thoughts. Professor Snape had more or less just apologized and then gave his condolences for Lily Potter's death, and then warned Harry that he, Snape, was dangerous. All wrapped up in random questions about potions ingredients. They didn't say anything though, although Sirius looked at him calculatingly.

  He didn't say anything though... yet.

  (Well? Why aren't you all copying that down?")

  "Because you didn't tell them to, you were too busy attacking another student." Remus said dryly, although everyone could hear the dangerous undertone if they cared to listen. Severus heard his tone and tensed, watching Remus warily. He'd been wary of the wolf ever since he faced him under the Whomping Willow, and he didn't like having the wolf annoyed with him, no matter how much he acted otherwise. He just did not want to risk the man losing control and going off on him. Remus was usually pretty mild tempered, though, but when he went off... 

  He hadn't done it yet, he'd been too busy focusing on making sure Harry was alright. And it was clear he was quickly becoming annoyed over Severus attacking his cub.

  (There was a sudden rummaging... for your cheek, Potter.")

  "The words may have been something James Potter would have said, but the tone was exactly like Lily's when she was warning somebody to stop messing with her and leave her alone already." Severus muttered. That had thrown him off enough that he only took one point instead of the five he had meant to take. Harry looked startled for a moment before he grinned.

  Over the years he had heard a lot about his father, but very little of his mother. 

  Everyone else was just startled that a point was all he had taken off.

  (Things didn't improve... potion to cure boils.)

  "Did you at least go over safety first?" Remus asked, slightly alarmed when the only thing it said happened was that they started the potion. Going over safety rules was what Slughorn had done, and, yes, accidents still happened, but the students at least knew what to do and what to NOT do.

  "...I made sure they knew enough so they didn't kill themselves."

  That... wasn't reassuring.

  (He swept around in... whom he seemed to like.)

  "Of course I do, he's my godson... even if he can be an annoying spoiled little brat." Severus said, and the Lions all felt their jaws hit the floor at the teasing note in his voice at the last bit. Draco just huffed and pretended to be a little offended, but he had a quirk to his lips that gave him away.

  Minerva blinked at him for a moment, before she reprimanded gently, knowing this was years in the past and he couldn't be nice to some of the students. "Even so, I hope the criticism was at least as constructive as you could make it given the circumstances." She said, and he blinked back at her before nodding. In his opinion, it was constructive.

  (He was just telling... loud hissing filled the dungeon.)

  All those who knew Potions flinched, because that was not good.

  "Sounds like somebody added porcupine quills too soon." Sirius said after taking a moment to think through the recipe of a boil cure. It took him longer than he liked, his mind was still foggy from prison. He should talk to Poppy later on, he recalled reading about a new treatment for Dementor exposure shortly before he went to prison.

  Severus actually looked surprised, "How on earth did you know that?" He asked, shocked that Sirius Black knew something like that. He hadn't exactly been the most studious in class, although he supposed that he couldn't have become an Auror without good grades... and he was in the NEWT class.

  Sirius looked amused, "I wouldn't have been an Auror if I didn't know my potions." He said, and Moody smirked. He had made sure of it.

  (Neville had somehow... into a twisted blob,)

  "That is actually a rather impressive feat." Remus said. 

  Sirius snorted, "Oh please, as if you weren't melting your own cauldron about every week." He said, and Severus smirked for a second before it disappeared. A few other people who had seen Remus with a potion in front of him smiled or chuckled while Remus turned red.

  One thing Remus Lupin had never been good at, was Potions.

  (and their potion was... the cauldron collapsed,)

  A few flinched, that would hurt. With the stage the potion had been in, instead of curing boils, it would cause them.

  Poppy suddenly understood why she had been curing Neville of boils that day. Neville had refused to say. She had a guess, but without Neville saying anything, a guess was all she had.

  (moaned in pain as... his arms and legs.)

  They flinched again. That did sound painful. Neville grimaced at the memory. Molly wanted to mother the boy, but Arthur held her back.

  ("Idiot boy!" snarled Snape,)

  "Whoa, hey!" Came the general protest. 

  "No wonder the boy was always so terrified of you." Minerva exclaimed. Severus didn't say anything, just looked at Neville with regret in his eyes. Not that everybody could see it. Neville was Lily's godson after all.

  He ignored everyone's glares and how Neville shrunk down into his seat. He had gotten more confident over the years, but sometimes he could get lost in memory.

  (clearing the spilled potion... cauldron off the fire?")

  "Actually, professor," Neville started hesitantly, but gained confidence as he spoke. "The quills were thrown into our cauldron from the Slytherin's side of the room. While you were praising Draco with your back turned to us." Honestly, he had been doing fine before that, and then after that incident, the way the Potions Master had reacted, had just reminded him so much of his Uncle Algie, he was terrified to be in the man's presence and, thus, turned into a walking disaster in Potions. He could brew just fine at home though.

  Severus actually looked taken aback, he almost scoffed and said that his Snakes would never sabotage another's cauldron, they knew the dangers, they also knew exactly what he would do if he caught them at it. But then he paused and thought that over in his head. If he 
  
    caught them 
  
  at it. They were Snakes, they knew exactly how to 
  
    not 
  
  be caught. Then he remembered that he 
  
    had 
  
  caught them at it a couple of times. But that was never the first lesson of the year! He closed his mouth and looked thoughtful for a moment, then asked who.

  Neville shook his head, "We didn't see who, we just know where it came from."

  "Why didn't you say anything then?" Minerva asked quietly, watching as Severus processed the fact that one of his Snakes would ignore the dangers of potions like that and risk his wrath by messing around in his subject.

  "Because we had already heard about how he favors the Slytherins, we knew he wouldn't do anything about it even if we did have proof and a name." Harry said. He hadn't seen anybody throw anything either, but if he had, he doubted he would have said anything, just like Seamus and Neville kept quiet. Besides, the amount of his own potions sabotaged over the years?

  Severus sighed, "On the contrary, Mr. Longbottom. I will not stand for willful sabotage of another's potion. If I had known there was sabotage involved, even just the idea, I would have investigated further, and the culprit would have been regretting ever stepping foot in my dungeons. More so if they were a Slytherin. Since I am the Potions Master as well as their Head of House, they make sure they work extra hard in my class, and I make sure they know exactly what will happen to them if I catch them doing anything but focusing on their own cauldron's." He said, and Draco nodded beside him.

  "At the beginning of every year, he gathers all of us in the Common Room and makes sure we know the rules, both as Snakes and in the Potions Classroom. And he may not punish us in public, but he lets us have it in private." He said.

  The Gryffindors taught by Severus over the years all blinked, then looked at each other before they looked back at Severus and promised to tell him about every single potion sabotaged over the years by the Slytherins. Luna was the only one who didn't say anything, but then she never had a potions class with the Snakes. Draco gulped quietly, an act not missed by his godfather, he had sabotaged his share of Lion potions over the years. Severus narrowed his eyes at his godson.

  He wouldn't dare. Would he?

  (Neville whimpered as boils started to pop up all over his nose.)

  Draco spoke up, "It was Blaise. Blaise threw the quills in the cauldron." He said, looking straight forward. Severus looked at him before he made a note on his parchment to keep an extra close eye on his Snakes during class.

  ("Take him up to... on Harry and Ron,)

  "Excuse me?" Remus growled, looking very close to attacking now. He was starting to lose control, children or no children. Harry and Sirius looked at each other before Harry put his drawing pad down and they both stood up and walked Remus out of the room before he went feral right in front of the kids that didn't know he was a wolf.

  It took a good fifteen minutes and Sirius turning into Padfoot before he calmed down.

  When they finally got him calm, and the threat was over with, Harry had to calm Sirius down. "Siri, he's going to say a lot of things in these books, we don't exactly have the best of relationships. He is going to do stuff that makes you mad, I am going to do stuff that he punishes me unfairly for, it is going to happen. You need to stay calm though, and not attack him every time." He said, a little desperately. 

  Sirius watched him for a moment before turning around to face the wall, breathing deep for a few minutes before he finally punched the wall (while imagining it to be Severus's face) and stood there for a minute. Finally, he turned around and stalked back out into the reading room, closely followed by Harry and a still ticked werewolf.

  (who had been working next to Neville.)

  Harry muttered something that nobody quite caught, but Ron snickered about it.

  ("You- Potter- why didn't you tell him not to add the quills?)

  "Maybe because I was focusing on my own potion, and Ron was sitting between me and Neville?" Harry asked dryly while Remus began to growl and 
  
    Harry 
  
  had to shift so he was sitting with his legs across Sirius' lap, so Sirius wouldn't get up and attack Severus. He was tense like he wanted to, Harry had already silenced him, otherwise the death threats he was spewing would probably not be appropriate for many of the ears in the room. It was clear that the young ears and eyes in the room as well as what Harry said earlier was the only reason Remus was holding himself back from attacking.

  (Thought he'd make... lost for Gryffindor.")

  "Just one?" Was asked around the room. It was very confusing, Severus had only taken two points off Harry so far, when he was known for taking ten at a time at minimum. Once he took one hundred points in a double lesson.

  "He reminded me too much of Lily earlier in the lesson." Severus said stiffly.

  (This was so unfair that Harry opened his mouth to argue,)

  "I was waiting for you to argue so I could take more points," Severus admitted. He'd actually been a little disappointed when it hadn't happened, because he'd been feeling a little odd, with being nice to the boy, he had wanted to feel like normal again. Harry looked up and tilted his head, but then shrugged (that was about how their relationship worked sometimes) and went back to his drawing. It was almost done.

  (but Ron kicked him behind their cauldron.)

  "That hurt." Harry said, glaring slightly at Ron. Ron shrugged, unrepentant.

  
    Harry 
  
  and 
  
    Ron 
  
  watched their interactions before looking at each other. They hoped they were that 
  close someday.

  ("Don't push it," he... can turn very nasty.")

  "He can." The Twins chorused before they shuddered. Back in their second year, he had ripped into a student so thoroughly, that the student in question transferred to Ilvermorny the next day after needing to go see Madam Pomfrey for a series of Calming Draughts. Severus faced an inquiry from the Board, but all the students said the same thing, that other student had almost gotten everyone in the Dungeons killed, not just the classroom. The Board fully agreed, that while Severus could have been a little less verbal, he did nothing wrong. Ilvermorny had also been informed that she was not to be near a cauldron, EVER. At least not without direct, constant supervision.

  It had been terrifying for them to watch.

  Severus looked at them for a moment before he realized what they were thinking about and he smirked a little at the memory before he scowled. That Dunderhead almost blew up the castle and killed everybody! How on earth was such a thing even possible with such a simple potion?! All they were doing was reviewing a first year potion.

  (As they climbed the... his very first week-)

  All the Gryffindor's snorted. Two points was nothing, considering Harry lost fifty at a time on multiple occasions, of course he always got it back during Quidditch games. Although... maybe that was why Severus took so much off Harry in the first place, to try and give Slytherin a chance...

  ( 
  
    why 
  
  did Snape hate him so much?)

  Severus shifted, "It's not exactly 
  
    you 
  
  I hated, but rather... what you meant." He told Harry.

  Harry looked at him with his eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. "What I meant?" He asked, but Severus refused to answer.

  Sirius and Remus looked like they understood some of it though. After all, there had been a betting pool, up until the incident in fifth year, on how long after Hogwarts Severus would wait before he and Lily got married. Of course, the fact that Severus had thought Harry to be a carbon-copy of his father, would not have helped his attitude towards Harry, either.

  ("Cheer up," said Ron,... meet Hagrid with you?")

  "Yer always welcome at me hut." Hagrid informed 
  
    Ron, Harry, Hermione, 
  
  and even 
  
    Draco. 
  
  Despite the treatment Hagrid received at the hands of Draco and most of the other Slytherins over the years.

  (At five to three they... outside the front door.)

  "What's the crossbow for?" 
  
    Ron 
  
  asked curiously.

  "When I need to go inter the Forest. There's a lot of powerful creatures inside the Fores', and I don't have me magic, so..." Hagrid said with a shrug.

  Harry looked up at Hagrid and frowned, then he got another piece of parchment and started writing a letter. He didn't know why he didn't do this years ago, but he knew what happened, and he was going to make sure that Madam Bones knew it too, from what he heard about her, he knew that she would at least hear it out. He stopped for a second and glanced at Dumbledore. Why did he never do anything about this? Moody could give it to her. When they reached that part in the book, Moody would probably make a note of it himself.

  (When Harry knocked... several booming barks.)

  "Do you still have Claw?" Sirius asked, curious.

  "No, he died a little before James and Lily died. The last I saw James was just a few days before that Halloween when he brought me Fang as a pup." Hagrid said. "I still don't know how he knew Claw died, but he did." Hagrid said with a smile.

  Harry looked at him in amazement, before he grabbed his drawing book and opened it to a fresh page before lightly writing down his new idea, a Stag and Fang as a puppy running through the trees. On the back of it, he wrote that it was for Hagrid, and he went to the one he set aside for the Lily and Mrs. Norris picture, and wrote that that one was for Argus Filch. He would make a copy of them for 
  
    Harry 
  
  to keep.

  "He sounds eager." Fred and George said, talking about Fang.

  Hagrid grinned and nodded. Fang was always eager for visitors. He was a very social dog.

  (Then Hagrid's voice rang... he said. "
  
    Back
  
  , Fang.")

  Hagrid sighed fondly. "Sometimes he's jus' a little too excited..." He said with a grin.

  (He let them in... enormous black boarhound.)

  "Is Fang really that strong? That even you struggle to hold him?" Minerva asked, a little surprised that Hagrid would be having trouble holding the dog.

  "Jus' when he's excited." Hagrid said fondly.

  (There was only one... patchwork quilt over it.)

  "That sounds cozy." 
  
    Hermione 
  
  said with a smile at Hagrid. Neither Draco said anything, although there was a faint grimace on Draco's face. She may think it sounded cozy, but compared to what he was used to, it was a hovel.

  Hagrid smiled at the girl, glad that she liked it.

  ("Make yerselves at home,"... started licking his ears.)

  "Why is it always the ears?" Ron complained.

  Harry smirked, "He likes you."

  "He likes my ears." Ron grumbled. Hermione smirked at him and Hagrid chuckled at them.

  (Like Hagrid, Fang was clearly not as fierce as he looked.)

  "Nope." Ron, Harry, and Draco all said. Ron and Harry were both thinking about watching Fang hiding under his bed after the whole thing with Aragog, while Draco was thinking about Fang running even before he did that time in the forest near the unicorn.

  "He's a coward." They all said again. Everyone just turned to stare at the three boys, but none of them were looking at each other, they were too busy grumbling to themselves about how much of a coward Fang was.

  ("This is Ron," Harry told... rock cakes onto a plate.)

  Ron and Harry winced, those things should never be eaten, they were very painful. Especially on teeth.

  ("Another Weasley, eh?"... away from the forest.")

  Said Twins high-fived each other while their mother narrowed her eyes at them, and Sirius chuckled. 

  "And the other half was spent chasing us." He said with a smile.

  "And me!" Harry chimed in. 

  "Of course there are also the times where you didn't catch us." Remus pointed out smugly. The others grinned and nodded while the teachers groaned. These troublemakers gave them all premature grey hairs.

  (The rock cakes were... almost broke their teeth,)

  Hagrid winced. "Sorry 'bout tha'. You didn't have ter keep eating them, though." He knew he wasn't the greatest cook. He knew it.

  "It's ok, Hagrid, that's what potions are for." Harry said with a wry grin. It was one of the few potions he could brew without a recipe. He could brew others with a recipe, given a chance to actually brew without sabotage, but given how often he had tea at Hagrid's and ate his rock cakes, he had to learn how to brew a teeth strengthener. Severus raised an eyebrow at him, curious, but not wanting to ask.

  (but Harry and Ron pretended to be enjoying them)

  "You don' have to pretend. It would have been fine." Hagrid said, shaking his head.

  "It's alright, We didn't want to hurt your feelings or anything." Harry said with a smile at his large friend. Hagrid shook his head again, while the other teachers smiled at him fondly.

  (as they told Hagrid... all over his robes.)

  Harry smirked at Ron, who glared. "Why is it, every single time the dog attacks my ears, while all you get is some drool on your robes?" Harry's smirk just grew, but he didn't answer.

  A few people chuckled, and 
  
    Ron 
  
  and 
  
    Harry 
  
  glanced at each other. They really hoped that they could be that close someday, to be able to argue like that and it not actually mean anything.

  (Harry and Ron were... Filch "that old git.")

  Both Ron and Harry shrugged when the adults looked questioning. "He already made us not like him." Harry explained. 

  "Yeah, and it had only been the first week." Ron agreed.

  Minerva sighed, "Which for him would be a new record." She said as she shook her head.

  ("An' as fer that... her to Fang sometime.)

  Harry made a face and gave Hagrid a dark look. Both Mrs. Norris and Fang were presents for their respective owners from his parents. Before, he didn't like Mrs. Norris either, but now that he knew what he did... they were both a piece of his parents. He didn't want anything happening to either of them. When they died, it would be from old age after being well taken care of.

  (D'yeh know, every... puts her up to it.")

  "He does." Minerva confirmed with a wry grin.

  (Harry told Hagrid about... "Why should he?")

  "Oh, I don't know. There could be several reasons, one of them by the name of James Potter and the other by the name of Sirius Black." Harry muttered, looking at Hagrid with a raised eyebrow. Sirius coughed and shifted uncomfortably. It seemed like Harry hadn't been too happy when he first found out about all that... whenever that was. Remus had already told him that Harry knew about some of the 'pranks' pulled on Severus when they were in school, but he'd been unsure of just how much Harry knew.

  Of course, Remus had also said that Harry had been a little angry with them over the incident at the end of fifth year.

  Hagrid smiled sheepishly, he hadn't wanted to give Harry a bad impression of his parents... what orphan would want to hear that his dad was one of the biggest bullies in school? Sure, a lot of their pranks were harmless fun... but they also had their targets.

  (Yet Harry couldn't help... when he said that.)

  "Hagrid, you're a really bad liar." Harry said seriously. 

  Hermione snorted. "Pretty bad at keeping secrets, too." She muttered.

  ("How's yer brother... great with animals.")

  "Thanks, Hagrid." Charlie said with a smile. The Weasley boys had been pretty quiet this chapter.

  (Harry wondered if... subject on purpose.)

  Hagrid turned red in embarrassment at being caught out like that.

  "Something else you need to work on." Hermione said with a small, fond smile.

  (While Ron told Hagrid... from the 
  
    Daily Prophet:)
  

  "Oh, no." Hermione muttered. "This is where it really kicked off, isn't it? He'd forgotten all about it until this point, didn't he? This reminded him." She asked Ron with a long-suffering look on her face. Ron nodded gloomily. 

  The teachers looked at each other before groaning, some of them had their heads in their hands and were shaking them.

  (GRINGOTTS BREAK-IN LATEST... spokesgoblin this afternoon.)

  Bill nodded, "Yeah, they hate it when wizards try to stick their noses in. Especially when they are running investigations and testing security. Or, rather, having us poor, unsuspecting Curse-Breakers test security." Bill said with a sour look on his face. "I hate testing security." He muttered with a scowl.

  Molly immediately looked worried. Her son was testing the security of Gringotts bank? A place notorious for having high security that was set at lethal levels?

  The teachers were mentally begging Harry to just let it go.

  (Harry remembered Ron... mentioned the date.)

  "Thankfully, or you would have started this earlier than you did." Minerva muttered.

  ("Hagrid!" said Harry,... while we were there!")

  "Please don't give it away, please don't give it away..." Minerva was begging under her breath. She knew Hagrid though, she knew that he was about to give it all away.

  (There was no doubt... Harry's eyes this time.)

  The teachers groaned. "Hagrid, we really need to work on that." Remus informed him with a smirk. The Marauder's would have never gotten away with anything if they gave themselves away nearly as much as Hagrid did.

  (He grunted and offered... thieves were looking for?)

  "Yes." Harry said bluntly. The teachers groaned again, why, WHY, did Lily and James have to get together and share their curiosity with their son? A curious James or a curious Lily was bad enough... their son was twice as bad as both of them! 

  They had so many grey hairs from the boy.

  (As Harry and Ron... too polite to refuse,)

  "There's such a thing as being too polite." Minerva said, raising an eyebrow at the boys. "There's also such a thing as being polite to the point of endangering your health."

  Ron shrugged. "We didn't actually eat them, not that we could, given how hard they were." She nodded in relief, as did Poppy. Although Poppy did wonder why she didn't see either boy for a teeth strengthening potion at any point.

  (Harry thought that... package just in time?)

  "Yes."

  (Where was it now?)

  "Under the trapdoor on the third floor guarded by Fluffy."

  (And did Hagrid know... want to tell Harry?)

  "Yes, he did." Harry finished with a nod.

  Everyone was silent for a moment. The teachers were cursing Harry's natural curiosity, while Dumbledore was pleased that it seemed like his plans were coming along. He hated having to do it, and he would have to keep a close eye on the situation to make sure the rest of the students wouldn't be in any danger... although from the sounds of it he would have to put a better locking charm on the door with Fluffy -maybe something keyed to 
  
    Harry's 
  
  magical signature, so it would only open with 
  
    Harry 
  
  nearby- to keep the rest of the students out, he hadn't factored a school full of curious teenagers into the equation, merely a curious Harry.

  "Alright everyone! Food will be ready shortly, I will call you when it is." Molly said, breaking the silence and standing up to make her way towards the kitchen. Draco nodded and, with a glance at his godfather, went to find somewhere quiet so he could start his lines.

  "Actually, Molly, we already have dinner for tonight planned. So, you can go just, I don't know, spend time with your family." Harry said, as he and his younger self rushed to get passed her and claim the kitchen before she could. She stood there shocked for a moment when the door closed behind the boys and locked with an audible click.

  Inside the kitchen, the boys looked at their work-space and grinned when the necessary ingredients for what they wanted to make appeared.

  "You start the potatoes, I'll start seasoning the steaks." Harry said. 
  
    Harry 
  
  nodded in agreement before he grabbed the potatoes and took them to the sink to start washing and peeling them. Harry himself grabbed the steaks (he grinned when he saw one that was Hagrid sized) and blinked when a grill appeared against one wall, he tilted his head and blinked before he grinned. It had been a while since he grilled anything, the Dursleys got rid of their grill years ago, they said it was too much work, but Harry knew it was because he enjoyed using it. After starting a fire, he started rubbing spices into the meat and pounding it a bit to tenderize it. By the time he was done with that, 
  
    Harry 
  
  was already cutting the potatoes so he could boil them and mash them later on.

  As an afterthought, Harry unlocked the door to the reading room and poked his head out to see who was there, when he saw the Weasley parents and the teachers in there talking, he quickly made sure nobody was allergic to garlic or anything, he really should have thought about this the day before when he and his younger self made lunch. Madam Pomfrey would have students' medical records, so she would be able to tell the kitchen elves if there was anything any of the students couldn't eat and what house they were in so they could avoid using those ingredients when cooking. And, of course, Molly knew if any of her kids were allergic, and probably the Order members too. He was happy when Madam Pomfrey answered and said that there were no food allergies among the readers that she knew of, considering she had to test Harry herself due to his lack of medical records.

  Now that the door was unlocked, Moody decided he would prefer to be in the room where the food was prepared as opposed to watching through the walls with his eye.

  Harry looked up when he came in, "Hey, Mad-Eye, how do you like your steak?" He asked.

  "Medium rare, if you please." Harry nodded as he put the steaks on the grill, making sure to keep the steaks for Bill and Remus to the outside so they would be a little extra rare. Moody waited until he was done and working on dessert while they cooked and 
  
    Harry 
  
  worked on the bacon and stuff for the potatoes while the potatoes themselves boiled. He then put on some green beans, and some mushrooms on the stove to fry up a little later to put on the steak.

  "So, how are you two boys doing? It must be difficult to have to read about your life like this. And, you," He nodded towards 
  
    Harry, 
  
  "You didn't even know magic existed, and now suddenly there's magic, and you have a protective godfather and uncle." He said. Moody was many things, uncaring was not one of them.

  Harry shrugged. "I'm used to strange things happening to me, I haven't had a single quiet year at Hogwarts, the quietest it's been was when I thought I had a murderous, traitor godfather after me... of course I found out later that he wasn't the traitor and it wasn't me he was after... so, yeah, this is just one more strange thing." He said, glancing towards Moody as he mixed stuff together for a treacle tart. He was planning on a chocolate mousse too.

  
    Harry 
  
  looked up from where he was chopping garlic and onions. "It has been a bit much to take in. I mean, a couple of days ago I thought my parents were unemployed drunks who died in a car crash, now I find out they were magical, wealthy, and influential in the government. I always dreamed about family coming to get me from the Dursleys, but it was always a dream, it was never going to happen, because there was nobody. But, now I find out that I have a godfather and uncle, but my godfather was imprisoned illegally, and my uncle wasn't allowed near me or he risked being executed. Somehow he ended up being my teacher though... I've always been told I had nothing, but..." He trailed off and shrugged.

  "I've always been good at just taking whatever life throws as it comes." Harry said softly as he finished the treacle and flipped the steaks over. He was fast at making the treacle, the chocolate mousse shouldn't take long either.

  
    Harry 
  
  nodded in agreement. "It is a lot to get used to, suddenly I have a godfather who is trying to make sure I'm alright, and trying to make up for not being around. But I'll get used to it." He said with a smile in Moody's direction as he pulled the bacon off and tested the potatoes, they weren't quite ready yet. He also sprinkled some garlic into the mushrooms and started them on a low simmer, the rest would be mixed into the mashed potatoes.

  Moody nodded and dropped the subject, instead sharing a few more stories about James Potter and Sirius Black from their training days. He had some pretty embarrassing ones, too.

  When the food was done, they put the mashed potatoes and green beans in bowls and set them on the table, leaving the dessert on the counter for until they were done eating. They set out steak knives, butter, water and Butterbeer, and then wine for the adults. They left the steaks on the grill to stay warm while they called people in, and put the pan of mushrooms beside them on the grill so people could put them on their steak if they wanted. Naturally, they also set up the Dursleys and Dumbledore's table away from everyone else's, although they just got water. They did not want to deal with a Vernon who'd been drinking, especially not two of them.

  Then they opened the door to the reading room to see if anyone was still in there, when he saw the teachers still there, talking quietly, he informed them dinner was ready and Pomona and Poppy decided to go and find the rest of the group and bring them into the kitchen.

  When everyone came in, it was to a delicious smelling dinner, Harry had a smile on his face when he told them the steaks were on the grill, and pointed out which ones were which, there were a couple that were medium rare, some were well-done, with the steaks for Remus and Bill set off to the side. And there was more than enough for everyone to have two if they wanted. Dinner was full of laughter and compliments for the food, with the Dursleys and Dumbledore sitting quietly at their table (The Dursley's had all woken up sometime while the food was being made). Molly was also a little subdued, and Arthur was looking annoyed, so Harry figured they must have finally discussed Charlie's old wand.

  Afterward, they decided to just spend the night together, no more reading for the night (Draco again disappeared somewhere to continue writing his lines). Although, they did pull 
  
    Dudley, Hermione, 
  
  and 
  
    Harry 
  
  aside. 
  
    Dudley 
  
  to start some remedial lessons in everything he had 
  
    Harry
  
   do for him in school growing up, and 
  
    Hermione 
  
  and 
  
    Harry 
  
  so they could start learning some theory. They couldn't do much, otherwise they would be too far ahead when they started Hogwarts, but they could at least cover some of what was in the introductory books for the Muggleborns and wizarding customs.

  They managed to get about two hours worth of lessons in (those hours with 
  
    Dudley 
  
  were spent figuring out what he already knew and where they should start) before Sirius, Ginny, and Bill came to get their respective charges for bed. It had been decided that 
  
    Hermione 
  
  would stay with Luna and Ginny with Ollivander, while the Draco's would stay in Severus's room and 
  
    Ron 
  
  would stay in Charlie's room with Percy and Neville. They would continue reading in the morning.'
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