#and yeah sure he knows of james IN THEORY but sirius never really brings up harry bc hes convinced reg hates kids | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

halothenthehorns · 3 years ago

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TLTNL- GRAWP

"What I don't understand," Remus said in exasperation, "is how Voldemort was even in Nagini's mind? What on earth kind of magic allows that!"

It had taken them ages for the Marauders to finally stop talking about the twins epic leave of Hogwarts, but finally as James made to grab for the book again, Remus chose now to break in with something he'd been thinking on all morning. He glanced anxiously at Harry, and though he paled and flinched again at the reminder, he waved Remus on with a curious look in place.

"We've no more idea than how he's even alive," Sirius sighed, also glancing at Harry nervously, though in fear for what was happening to his pup, he was sure Harry could handle this conversation so long as he had them around.

"I was wondering if it was some unprecedented Parseltongue ability." Remus offered. "Nagini was telling Voldemort what happened in such detail, Voldemort was visualizing the whole thing, and Harry just happened to be present while that was happening. Just because Snape said it happened one way doesn't mean there aren't other options."

"I mean, I guess it could have happened that way," Lily frowned as she thought that through. "He'd be learning about this information and feeling the emotions in the moment, so it still counts-"

"but doesn't explain Harry's insisting fear he felt he had fangs for a moment," James disagreed.

"Harry still could have just been projecting what Voldemort was visualizing during Nagini's attack," Sirius disagreed.

"None of that explains Dumbledore's sudden no contact with Harry," Lily shot down. "This must be something, more. I can't think how else to put it, but something new must have happened over the summer, some ability Voldemort seems to have. It clearly does involve Harry in some way, his mind and connection at least, that has Dumbledore avoiding Harry."

"That doesn't track with everything else though," James said in exasperation. "Why allow Harry to even know about the Order if he really thought Harry knowing anything was dangerous?"

"He hasn't let me know much of anything," Harry shot back. He hated having to think about all this again, but it somehow felt better as well. He was no longer in the heat of the memory, being forced to listen to the idea he was turning into Voldemort. Now he instead got to hear them push around theories and ideas, and that would always feel more bearable, especially when he could feel they were close.

James didn't blame Moony for the change of subject, that had probably been on his mind since the part before Snape's memory had turned their world in a new direction, and it was a miracle he hadn't butted in with this by now. Nonetheless he beckoned to Harry, "why don't we do something nice for your mum, we'll do lunch."

Harry didn't hesitate in following him out, Lily watching them with a light frown. She didn't think Harry felt any ill will for James anymore, but clearly James had more to say. So she forced herself to remain in her seat rather than follow.

When James had said, 'do lunch,' he actually just rapped a pot on the stove to start heating leftovers, but it was the thought that counted, right? Instead he watched as Harry uneasily set the table. When both tasks were done, lunch was ready, and still neither had said a word, James finally forced himself to just spit out what he'd been chewing on this whole time.

"I am sorry."

Harry looked around in surprise, that was usually his line.

James watched Harry steadily for a reaction, hoping his continuing to bring this up wouldn't change whatever comfort Harry had taken in from Sirius, but he couldn't let this one drop without saying his piece either. "Not for that time," he clarified, "I'll never let anyone talk to Lily like that, but I am sorry I was that way, and it pushed Snape into saying that. I'm sorry if what I did to him really did push him into being a Death Eater, when I'd spent the past five years of my life showing Sirius that would never happen to him despite his family. I'm sorry for the way Snape treats you, that's entirely my fault."

Harry rested his hand on the back of a chair like he needed the support. The realizations still hit sometimes, that he was speaking to James instead of wishing it like he'd spent all his life doing, and now more than ever after such a harrowing blow to his memory was returned. "I forgave you," he told him with confidence. "It's like Lupin said, you were only fifteen. If you guys had just seen shots of my memory, me shouting at my friends for nothing, Hermione punching Malfoy, Ron's anger at me before the First Task; you'd all be thinking the worst as well. I wish I'd gotten to know more about you, but Mum's right. You changed," Harry stopped there. He wanted to say Snape hadn't, that he was still a bitter fifteen year old treating Harry like dirt because of what James had once done, but the words wouldn't fully come to him either. Snape was still a vindictive arse, but this memory had really charged something in him, leaving him very confused about his full memories to the man.

James didn't seem to notice that part though, as he roughly pulled Harry into a hug. The absolute fear Harry could have actually hated him hadn't really been felt until it was gone.

Harry returned the affection with a natural ease he never would have believed.

He also broke the hug first, saying, "I'm glad this one should be almost over, I've had a bad feeling about it from the start and I really just want to be done with this year."

James agreed at once, though Harry felt like he hadn't made himself plain enough about that bad feeling considering he was still smiling.

At least lunch was a calm affair, Lily saying they should be able to finish this book by dinner if they didn't have any more long dramatic interruptions which she tried to blame entirely on Sirius.

Sirius informed her she did this too much, but took the blame with grace by spending the rest of lunch refusing to talk about anything else by discussing with the boys anything and everything he could about Quidditch.

James and Lily managed to slip away for a few minutes by themselves to care for the baby, and James happily showed Lily a broom design made from redwood. Even if that tree wasn't native to their land, he'd import it just for his Lily flower.

It didn't actually take that much effort though to get them all back in seats, but they'd switched it up just a bit so now Harry was in between James and Sirius again simply to prove he had no ill will towards either of them. Remus took the seat next to Lily and muttered for her alone while James began looking for his place, "any bets on how long before the next catastrophe takes place in here?"

"I'd rather just pretend there's not going to be one," Lily huffed.

"Joys of being a pessimist, either you expect the worst, or you're pleasantly surprised to be wrong," Remus shrugged without remorse.

"That sounded more like the optimistic view on pessimism," Lily rolled her eyes while James began with a genuine smile again.

The story of Fred and George's was retold so often over the next few days that Harry could tell it would soon become the stuff of Hogwarts legend:

"I'm so proud!" Sirius squealed. "We've forever been upstaged by Weasley's and I'm not even upset!"

"I can hardly believe what they did, the mark they left," James couldn't stop smiling for something so momentous as the twins putting themselves into Hogwarts history like that.

For just a moment as Harry watched them react so proudly to this, he got just a touch jealous. They'd made it clear they were proud of him too, but he'd certainly never felt like he'd done anything Marauder worthy like the twins just had. Then he wondered if this was how Ron felt all the time, towards his own brothers, to his own best friend?

it stretched into the two becoming their own phrase, students could now be heard saying if they suffered anymore classes they'd pull a Weasley.

"I can't believe we were so easily replaced with our infamy," Sirius sighed.

"I think hiding our symbol in the Shrieking Shack is still good enough," Remus shrugged, that was where they spent more time than even their dormitory.

"Yeah," James grudgingly agreed, "guess I'm just jealous. If it wasn't for Lily, I'd feel like I wasted my last year at school not doing something as spectacular before I left."

Lily blushed faintly James had actually admitted aloud he'd cooled himself down just for her.

Fred and George had made sure nobody was likely to forget them too soon.

"Oh that's impossible," Sirius said firmly.

For one thing, they hadn't a clue how to remove the swamp filled corridor.

Then James promptly burst out with laughter as he kept envisioning the thing, the others joining in with delight. They hadn't thought the twins could get better and they just kept being proven wrong.

Umbridge and Filch had been seen trying all manner of things to be rid of it, but with nothing working, Filch was given the task of ferrying people across when need be, who was not at all pleased with this.

Lily gave a righteous laugh, still wanting to punt him from the school after what he'd so wanted to do to the twins, to any student. This was far more what he deserved.

Harry was certain that competent teachers could have removed the swamp in an instant,

"Well I do agree," Lily nodded, her mind boggling a bit at this stretch of magic, "I'd like to ask them how. What kind of magic even was that, an ever lasting potion, a transfiguration spell for the corridor?"

"I want to ask the twins!" Sirius whined. "Curse them not having done this yet."

Remus gave him a look for that comment even as he did agree.

but just as in the case of the fireworks, they seemed to prefer to watch Umbridge struggle.

"The appropriate response," Remus agreed.

Umbridge's door had to be replaced for the two broom shaped holes in it, and rumor now had it Harry's Firebolt was being kept in the dungeon with a security troll to prevent him doing the same.

"I actually believe that," Sirius groaned miserably.

"I wish you'd summoned it to you when they had," James sighed. "Even if you didn't fly off and join them, you'd find a way to keep it out of her webbed fingers."

"I was a little stunned at the moment," Harry protested, and no one argued the point, as they would have been as well.

Her troubles were still only just beginning.

Inspired by the twins, half the population of the school was now vying for the newly vacant position of Troublemakers-in-Chief.

"At some point the title could rest in peace," Lily said without a hope it would happen.

"My fingers are crossed for Ginny now," Sirius grinned, clearly the lot of them ignoring her, "she's got potential."

"What about that one lad always friends with the twins," Remus offered. "He wasn't mentioned going with them, but I'm sure he'd still miss them enough to keep up their legacy one more year."

"Guess it's too much to ask you tried?" James asked of Harry, who was already shaking his head in answer even with a smirk in place for remembering the chaos so constantly erupting in corridors for all this.

Such occurrences of this involved a niffler somehow getting into Umbridge's office and trying to chew off her rings.

"That poor Niffler," Remus said in concern.

"I saw Hagrid nursing it that afternoon," Harry promised.

As well as Dungbombs and Stink Pellets were dropped so frequently in the corridors that the Bubble-Head Charm became a new trend,

"I'm glad that spell's gotten some popularity," James grinned even remembering the ire of not knowing about it when it would have come in handy.

even though it gave them all the peculiar appearance of wearing upside-down goldfish bowls on their heads.

"Well, whoever said fashion isn't functional clearly never met that trend setter," Lily giggled.

When he wasn't attending tasks, Filch was prowling the corridors with a horsewhip in hand, desperate to catch someone to use it on, but the problem was there were so many around he had no clue which way to turn.

Harry watched all of them shake their heads in disgust for that, Lily even starting to get a nervous tick picturing some poor innocent kid ending up on the wrong side of him, so soothed, "don't worry, as far as I know, no one actually did get a single hit. If ever it looked like he'd pinned down someone long enough, kids you'd never believe did something to distract him so others could run away. I saw this Slytherin fourth year knock over a statue on purpose after Filch was screaming at a little Hufflepuff girl for accidentally tripping over one and 'destroying school property.'"

As if they hadn't enough reason to smile already, that gave them all yet more warmth for this display.

The Inquisitorial Squad was trying to help, but odd things kept happening to the members. Warrington was submitted to the hospital wing for his skin being covered in something akin to burnt cornflakes,

"I feel like someone got a hold of more wartcap powder," Sirius smirked.

and Pansy missed all her lessons the following day as she had sprouted antlers.

James in particular looked pleased with this bit of magic, one of his personal favorite tricks when people asked why he was called Prongs was to grow antlers on others for answer and claim that as his signature spell.

It also became clear just how many Skiving Snackboxes Fred and George had sold in their time, as soon every one of Umbridge's classes were fainting, vomiting, high with fevers, or had blood pouring endlessly from their noses, claiming to have Umbridge-itis.

"A deadly disease I would not wish upon my worst enemy," Remus kept grinning wider every second.

"I don't know, what do you think would happen if we put Voldemort and Umbridge in the same room?" Sirius couldn't help but ask.

"Either they'll kill each other-" Lily said hopefully.

"Or she'll have a new master to follow and somehow become even more terrifying," James shivered. "I still can't believe she's not actually a Death Eater!"

After putting four successive classes in detention and failing to discover their secret,

Harry sighed heavily for that one, rubbing at the back of his hand in remembrance. Madam Pomfrey had ordered whole stocks of Essence of Murtlap and had started handing them out without question, but none of that made it feel better to see others suffering what he had.

she was forced to let the droves of students leave.

In all their efforts though, no student had come close to the master of chaos, Peeves, who seemed to have taken Fred's words to heart.

James looked as if he'd found a treasure map, ticking off each item Peeves did like a new nugget of gold!

In a constant state of cackling, he was never seen without anymore; bursting through walls to scare anyone on the other side, knocking over whatever was upright, regularly shutting Mrs. Norris into anything available, smashing anything remotely breakable, juggling lit candles, flooding whole hallways, dropping tarantulas into the Great Hall during meals,

"I'll bet Ron loved that one," Remus got out in between James' breathless retelling.

and whenever he fancied a break, spent hours at a time floating along after Umbridge and blowing loud raspberries every time she spoke.

"I am actually impressed," Lily said faintly. "I never thought he could get worse!"

None of the staff but Filch seemed to be stirring themselves to help her.

"I'd be worried if they were," James wheezed, acting so giddy upon reading such massive mayhem he was likely to pass out soon. Of all the regimes going on inside their school, all the hateful new being passed around his son, finally some good was being the cause of it all!

In exact opposite it seemed, as Harry distinctly saw McGonagall pass by Peeves trying to unscrew a chandelier, and she told him it worked the other way.

Sirius fist pumped the air in triumph, all of them red faced from laughter and wishing McGonagall was here already so they could give her a hug in congratulations.

To cap matters, Montague had still not recovered from his sojourn in the toilet;

Sirius managed an extra hard laugh for that swift remembrance.

and his parents had been summoned to the school, the trio watching their arrival on the front lawn through their Charms class.

Hermione was worried they should say something about what happened to him, if it might help Madam Pomfrey cure him.

"Nah," the three Marauders said at once, while Harry rubbed at his temple in some empathy for Montague and Lily just shook her head at them.

Then they froze, and looked to Harry like any hint of no remorse upon another student would set him back into thinking the worst of them again. He however only considered this like he did all their passing comments, just them mouthing off. Even if they did mean it, he still couldn't really care, Madam Pomfrey had fixed worse injuries without anyone's help.

Ron said no at once, he'd be fine.

Harry agreeing it only caused more problems for Umbridge.

"This is true, it's not a good mark for the woman parents have to come up to the school," James smirked.

Not at all distracted, the two tried to tap their teacups and have legs grow from them. The spell was supposed to be like Hermione's, who's had grown four strong willow sticks and was trotting around happily.* Instead, Harry's grew such tiny stumps they didn't even bend enough to bring his cup off the desk, and Ron's were so flimsy the cup stood for only a second before falling and cracking in half.

Hermione repaired Ron's cup for him while still speaking if Montague was permanently injured?

Remus actually considered that for a second, again remembering the half broken cabinet and genuinely wondering if something had gone permanently wrong there.

Harry suddenly felt a heavy twitch cross his mind, some dire warning he should have paid more attention to this, because someone had...but he tried to shake that off and told, "I feel like he recovered." For some reason though, this only made him feel worse, and they easily let the matter drop, all confident Pomfrey could fix this.

Ron insisted no one cared, this was only a good thing for their already slim chances at the Quidditch Cup. If Hermione wanted someone to worry about, let it be him.

"Oh Ron, the spell's not that hard," Lily giggled, Flitwick would probably just assign them more homework practice.

While putting his finger under his cup to help support its weight, he told them he was expecting a howler any day now when it got through Umbridge's screening process.

"Why?" Sirius said slowly.

"If I'd guessed, it would have been back when the DA had been outed, but it's been far too long, he hasn't done anything more recently," James agreed curiously.

Hermione tried to ask why, but Ron was already explaining his mum was going to blame him for not stopping the twins leaving. He should have grabbed their broom tails or something to stop them, this was somehow going to be all his fault.

"Oh, she wouldn't," Lily tried to say even if her tone showed no signs of meaning it.

"I really can't see even Molly doing this one," Sirius shook his head. "I don't remember her ever saying to go after the twins once he got his Prefect badge. She's got a bad habit of comparing the youngest to the elders, but never seems to have expected the younger set to tell the elder ones off."

Harry at least fervently hoped so, Ron most certainly did not deserve that one when Harry was their enabler in all of this.

Hermione said if she did, it would be entirely unfair, he couldn't have done anything.

Harry grinned for Hermione again, thankful that finally she seemed to be on their side again in these arguments.

She was confident Molly wouldn't, clearly they had been planning this anyways if they had premise in Diagon Alley.

Ron said that was something odd though, as he wrapped his teacup to try the spell again, but he'd hit it so hard it only fell again.

"I don't think that's helping," Lily randomly giggled.

Where had they gotten the gold for that? Their mum was going to want to know.

"Did they never ask you what you did with your Triwizard Winnings?" James asked. He knew Harry had never told them, but his friends had never brought it up?

"I guess they just assumed I shoved it into my vault," Harry shrugged.

Hermione agreed that had occurred to her too, ignoring her own cup that was going in circles around Harry's cup who still hadn't tried moving with its stubby legs.

"This is just getting insulting," Lily couldn't stop giggling even while she said it.

She'd been wondering if they'd been doing work for Mundungus to get that kind of money.

"That wouldn't have been a bad guess," Remus agreed.

Harry said they hadn't at once.

"You finally going to tell them, because otherwise that was idiotic," Sirius scolded.

"I wasn't going to have their family thinking they'd done something illegal," Harry sighed. "I'd far rather Mrs. Weasley hate me than think something like that of anymore of her children."

"She's not going to hate you," James at once said with conviction. "The only thing she might be is flustered at the generosity, but she'll just have to get over that."

They asked how Harry would know that, and he only hesitated a moment before finally telling why.

Hermione was so surprised, her cup took a dive off the desk and neither of them noticed.

"Timing," Lily gave the loudest snicker of all.

Ron stated this was excellent, at once asking if he could tell his mum this was all Harry's fault!

Sirius burst out with laughter once again, James nodding along and agreeing, "Ron's priorities."

Harry agreed he'd better, especially if she was going to start thinking her sons had stolen cauldrons.

"I can see why you wanted to wait," Remus agreed, "now they're really going and she can't guilt them into giving it back."

Hermione said nothing at all for the rest of the lesson, but Harry had a shrewd suspicion that her self-restraint was bound to crack before long.

They all sighed, not particularly wanting to hear another Hermione lecture about what Harry had done stupidly lately.

Sure enough, once they were out in the quad in the weak May light, she turned to him with a determined look on her face, so Harry interrupted before she could start.

"Has that ever helped?" Sirius asked in surprise.

"Nope, but it was worth a shot after the last time she spent a whole day on it," Harry sighed.

He told her not to even start, it was over and done with, and to save her breath because he did not regret doing this for them.

Hermione sounded hurt when she said she wasn't going to say anything about that.

"Maybe if she wasn't nagging you all the time, she wouldn't be so offended when you try to stop her doing it," Remus rolled his eyes.

"Oh stop," Harry cut them off with a sigh. "Hermione's a bit much, I know that better than anyone, but lay off her for a bit, I jumped the wrong conclusion that time."

They gave in with a muttered apology.

Ron snorted disbelievingly and Hermione threw him a very dirty look.

"Can't say that wasn't deserved though," Remus muttered.

She insisted she wasn't, she'd wanted to ask him when he was going to ask Snape for more Occlumency lessons

"Why!" Sirius demanded. "He's been tortured enough this year!"

Once Fred and George's dramatic departure had evaporated their talk, the two had wanted to know what Harry had gone to talk to Sirius about. Still failing to explain the initial reason, Harry instead told them it had been to do with Snape stopping his lessons and Sirius wanted him to keep going with them.

James crinkled his nose at this, saying, "there are far too many holes in that, I'm not surprised Hermione's trying to get the real story."

"That's still not why she was having a go at me," Harry groaned.

He had regretted this ever since, as Hermione had then chosen to bring the subject up again when Harry least expected it.

"Ah, well honestly this one's your own fault, I could have told you not to bring this back up with her," Lily rolled her eyes.

"Especially as you still have no intentions of doing it," Remus shook his head, Harry's expression made that abundantly clear, and he felt quite sore his warning had so easily been brushed off by Harry.

Hermione snapped at him he couldn't pretend like they weren't needed, Ron had said he'd been muttering in his sleep again.

Harry gave Ron a furious look, who had the grace to be ashamed.

"I don't know, I can see the good of that one," Lily sighed as she saw some snippy comment on Sirius' lips. "He's worried about his friend, not on the same level as Hermione, but both recognize far more than you seem to this shouldn't be entertained," she finished with a look at Harry, who also had the grace to look ashamed for never trying harder at this. He wasn't sure if it was his mother's guilt trip, or something far more unspeakable that was causing him to feel this so heavily...

Ron apologetically said for both it had only been a bit, he'd been muttering about reaching further.

Harry lied he'd been dreaming of Quidditch, he wanted Ron to reach out just a bit further for the Quaffle.

Ron's ears went red, while Harry didn't feel a drop of remorse for lying.

"Brutal," Sirius laughed in surprise.

"But deserved," James sighed.

He had in fact again dreamed all the way up to the room full of glass spun orbs, but again woken up feeling he'd been moments away from the true want.

James stopped in alarm at the noise Harry made, all of them looking to him with deep concern as he groaned with misery, head in his hands again, breathing so heavily they could have been his last breaths.

"Harry!" James swiftly put the book aside at such an alarming reaction that somehow got worse each time this was brought up. "Harry, calm down! You're going to be fine, whatever is in there, you are going to be fine!"

This had no effect on making him better, as that was not what was gripping him so tight he couldn't breath. It wasn't his safety he so feared.

"It's okay, it's going to be okay," Sirius insisted, looking frantically to Lily or Remus to help, but they had no more clue what left him in such a mess. "Erm, what if I-" his mind flagged desperately for something to distract Harry with, "show you how we created the Marauders Map!"

"What?" Harry looked up in genuine surprise, the pain from his skull not yet fully subsiding which must explain the tears trickling out, but he wiped furiously at them to keep his attention on Sirius.

"Yeah," he confirmed at once. "Something to look forward to!"

James agreed at once, saying, "it took me a few days to create it, but it won't take near as long to recreate it. I've been wanting to show Lily anyways, you'll both get a kick out it."

Harry gave a slow nod, taking easier breaths now as he kept this promise tight inside him. Whatever horrid thing had happened in his past to cause this feeling, they were right, he had something he could cling to now as a promise he wouldn't have to relive his memory long.

James waited an extra moment to make sure Harry wasn't going to set himself into a full blown panic attack before gingerly picking the book back up, almost afraid of what else it was going to do to his son if this topic didn't change soon.

Hermione inquired then that he was still trying with his Occlumency?

Harry lied and said he was, but the truth was he was curious about all this and wanted the dreams to keep going.

Harry's whole center shook, he looked very much like he would collapse in a fit in moments. Clearly what he'd been thinking at fifteen, the exact opposite was trying to run through his mind now, and the two together were wreaking havoc inside of him.

James reached over again, grasping his shoulder firmly until he fought back for control, still waving him to go on adamantly for this to just be over with.

The problem was, with less than a month till exams, his mind usually seemed much more focused on stupid dreams.

"First you were complaining about them, now you want them and you're not getting enough of them," Remus tried to get a rise out of Harry instead of watching him tear himself apart for something he couldn't yet understand. "You never can seem to make up your mind eh?"

Harry offered him a flimsy smile that was as weak as the toddler upstairs.

He also suspected the more Hermioneish part of his mind was guilting him into waking up before the journey's end.

"Hermione doesn't seem so bad now she's right," James offered as Harry kept rubbing at his temples.

Sirius gave Remus a sympathetic look as well which Moony easily grasped. It wasn't just him being ignored, Harry wasn't taking advice from anyone about this.

Something new to distract him was the final match of the Quidditch season, Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw, which was to take place on the last weekend of May. Although Slytherin had been narrowly defeated by Hufflepuff in their last match,

"Wow, where's my description of that match!" Sirius yelped, grasping at any pleasant conversation, and this was an easy one.

"Nothing too memorable happened," Harry shrugged. "Malfoy actually caught the Snitch, for once, but he took Krum's way out. Hufflepuff was winning on points, Montague hadn't come back yet and the appointed Slytherin was a right idiot, I don't know what they were doing during training but it wasn't practicing."

"As much as they deserve," James cheered, wriggling in pleasure even as he kept a close eye on Harry to make sure he really was trying to put mention of that Department past him.

Gryffindor did not yet dare for a victory, though no one said it to him, because of Ron's goalkeeping ability.

Ron took his own outlook on the morning of, telling them at least he couldn't get any worse.

"There's the bright side," Lily snickered in surprise, while James just looked bemused at this. Better than constantly ragging on himself he supposed.

As Harry and Hermione were shuffling into the crowd, Hermione mentioned she suspected this game might just go better because Fred and George weren't around, they never helped his confidence.

"I can see that," Remus said fairly.

"They mocked him from time to time," Sirius disagreed, "but they were never so bad I think it damaged Ron any more than that horrid song. I don't think they'll make a real difference to him."

"Least Angelina already had their replacements," James grumbled, still wishing it was Harry on that pitch rather than Ginny, he was sick of reading side line events, he wanted to be back in the air!

Luna Lovegood overtook them with what appeared to be a live eagle perched on top of her head.

The boys burst out in surprised laughter Luna had indeed gone further with that idea!

It was as Harry watched this though, not at all mean spirited but that recent memory still with him, that the expression they'd first carried upon hearing of her finally clicked as he turned sharply to them. "Would you lot have done all that to Luna?"

James' automatic response wanted to be no, but he still considered the question for a moment before saying slowly, "ah, well, we certainly would have liked to have words with her, she's a fascinating thing."

"You would have mocked her?" Harry outright demanded with a raised brow.

Sirius blew a chunk of hair out of his face, but didn't deny, "guess it depends on how well we bothered to get to know her. We thought Remus was a right odd ball before we had a proper chat with him."

Harry saw they were still avoiding the question, as he'd honestly noticed outside their little group they didn't seem to 'converse' with much of anyone unless it was for a motive. Still though, he was just as fascinated they looked a touch ashamed even as they side stepped this. He hadn't realized his disapproval really meant so much to them.

Then the teams assembled on the edge of the field, and Hermione said her surprise she'd forgotten Cho would be playing. Harry grunted in response, he had not.

"Ex crush versus ex fan girl!" Sirius said loudly, very clearly trying not to let Harry linger on that last subject.

"Sadly I think Cho's got the better edge, she's played more games, actually wants this position," James eagerly put in.

"I wouldn't underestimate Ginny, we don't know how long Cho's been flying outside her house team, but we know Ginny's been doing it since single digits, she may well have the advantage," Remus offered insight.

Harry decided to let the Luna matter go, they'd yet to actually be doing anything wrong to her and there was no sense yelling at them for something they hadn't done wrong yet to one of his friends.

Across from them in the stands, the Slytherins were all filing in, and Harry hoped desperately they wouldn't have anymore chances to sing Weasley Is our King.

"I wasn't aware they needed an excuse, they just continued doing it because they're arse holes," Lily grumbled.

Lee Jordan, who had been very dispirited since Fred and George had left,

"That was it," Remus huffed for forgetting.

"Guess I can't blame him for not being in the mood to prank others when his mates up and did that," Sirius sighed.

was commentating as usual. As the teams zoomed out on to the pitch he named the players with something less than his usual gusto.

"I can just imagine McGonagall feeling sorry for the poor kid," James frowned sadly.

Harry watched Cho chat with Davies as the teams matched up, prepared to shake hands, and Harry found he only had a slight twinge of jealous as the two Ravenclaws smiled at each other before the captains shook hands.

"Guess that crush wasn't as gone as we thought," James looked to Harry in surprise, who only shrugged, he really didn't have much of a memory for this game, especially not Cho, though he wasn't exactly sure why. Surely even if he wasn't playing in it, he'd have a care? Maybe Ron really hadn't done any better and he'd tried to block the whole thing out, but that wasn't the right kind of disconnected feeling...

Lee began as usual, saying who had the Quaffle in what position, and Davies was already heading for Gryffindors goals, Gryffindor had a chance at making it, and- Lee swore.

"Least he hasn't lost all of his enthusiasm," Remus chuckled.

Ravenclaw had scored, and the Slytherins at once took up the chance with their song.

Harry and Hermione were distracted from what happened next by Hagrid sidling up to them, trying to remain crouched as if wanting to be out of sight, but even doubled over he was four feet taller than those next to him.

"Why's he trying to hide at all?" Lily asked in surprise. "He's been known to come to a few matches."

"Don't look at us," Remus shrugged even as he looked eagerly at James for this explanation that he had his fingers crossed in hope for.

He asked if they'd come with him, now, while everyone was watching the game.

"I can't believe I'm saying this," James gaped down at this, "but I'd actually go with him."

"If there's one thing to drag away a good Quidditch match," Sirius agreed, though finished rather threateningly, "but Hagrid had better finally be showing you what he's been up to, if it's for anything less, I'll find a way to curse that man through his skin for cutting this off."

Harry merely hummed in agreement.

Hagrid's nose was gently dripping blood. His eyes were both blackened. Harry had not seen him this close-up since his return to the school; he looked utterly woebegone.

Lily crooned loudly for the poor dear, all of them feeling a pain deep inside for what Hagrid was putting himself through. He must have a really good answer for this one!

Harry agreed without any thought.

Harry felt absolutely no regret for this decision, even as his face tightened just a bit, his innards promising this wasn't going to be a pleasant stroll.

The three got themselves out of the stands, Hagrid saying how much he appreciated them, and hoped she didn't see them leaving.

"Only one she I can think of," Lily spat, "and sadly she might have."

"She can't stop them from going off with Hagrid," Remus miserably tried to argue, already feeling it pointless.

Harry said Umbridge was surrounded by her Inquisitorial Squad like she was expecting trouble, there was a good chance she hadn't noticed them.

"Guess she understands less than I thought, which is saying something. No one would try a prank during a Quidditch game," Sirius heavily rolled his eyes.

Hagrid said that may be good for them, give them more time, as he started heading towards the Forest.

Lily began playing with a strand of hair with nerves. She knew Hagrid wasn't purposefully leading Harry to anything dangerous, but this was certainly not a pleasant beginning in her opinion, and it was nice to see the others faces showed agreement even as well used to the Forest as they were.

Hermione asked what they were doing as they went across the lawn, but in favor of answering Hagrid heard a roar go up from the crowd behind them and asked if someone else had scored.

Harry said it would be Ravenclaw again.

Harry winced heavily and they all felt the same, maybe leaving had been a good idea anyways, that wasn't fun to think about.

Hagrid was so distracted, he said this was a good thing.

"Now I know he's not thinking right," Sirius grumped.

Hermione tried to turn into Hagrid's cabin when they passed it, but Hagrid kept walking right to the edge of the trees where his crossbow was waiting.

"He must have just come back from whatever he was training," Remus realized.

"Think he thinks he's finally got it domesticated and wants to show off?" James asked, that didn't feel important enough to be dragged away from Quidditch, but then, Hagrid had different priorities.

"I still think there's something more than that going on," Lily sighed. "It's very clear Hagrid cares deeply for something new going on, just training a new best can't really mean more than his job?" She phrased it as a question though, none of them were quite sure of Hagrid's comments from before.

Harry asked why he needed that, he hadn't taken it with him when they'd seen the Thestrals.

"This new thing of his is less and less encouraging," Sirius agreed.

Hagrid said they hadn't been going in as deep, and that was before Firenze left the Forest.

"Why's that change anything?" Remus asked in surprise.

Hermione asked why that made a difference.

"Thank you Sirius!" Remus said quickly and with such a mocking gratitude you could almost believe it. "Really, just thank you so much for sharing that, I hadn't a clue I'd done it!"

"Alright, no need to get snippy," Sirius smirked.

Hagrid said the other centaurs were now very riled up. It used to be he could go wherever he liked in this Forest, they were always friendly, but not anymore.

"What's that got to do with Hagrid though?" James ruffled up his brow.

"Familiar loyalty," Sirius nodded to himself as he explained aloud. "The centaurs know Hagrid's trust in Dumbledore, they'll blame anyone associated with him right now for what he asked a Centaur to do."

"But it was Firenze's decision," Harry protested. "Why be mad at us?"

"For offering it," Remus sighed.

Harry felt a deep chill web around his mind, promising he had no want to deal with an angry centaur.

Angry didn't cover it, they were livid with Dumbledore and Firenze, probably would have kicked their fellow centaur to death if Hagrid hadn't stepped in, he'd had half the herd on him.

They all gave sympathetic noises for that, Harry even saw some traces of fear in them at the same time. He could hardly imagine the scene himself, but just the thought was giving him the creeps, it probably was terrifying thinking about all this in detail when he wasn't so distracted wondering why he may have seen it in person.

Harry was amazed Hagrid had stopped all that, and Hagrid said he certainly couldn't have just stood by. Then he added more menacingly he'd have thought Firenze would remember that before sending stupid warnings.

"I'm worried he was trying to return a favor," Lily muttered, still considering Hagrid's injuries. They weren't yet deadly, but if he kept at it, they may keep progressing.

Hermione asked if that's what Hagrid wanted their help with, the centaurs?

"Oh he'd never ask for your help with that," Remus said at once.

"And those injuries started up well before this," Lily agreed.

Hagrid simply said no, and kept plunging deeper into the shadows. Harry wasn't too worried, he'd been in the Forest a few times and followed Hagrid willingly, until he stepped off the path. Remembering vividly what had happened in his past when he did this, he tried to ask where they were going, but Hagrid didn't answer as he plunged into the more wild parts of the woods. Harry and Hermione had a hard time following, often getting caught in thickets and brambles while Hagrid walked right through them.

"I'm surprised he hasn't created a new path, as often as he seems to have headed to this thing," James said, his eyes still narrowed suspiciously to what Hagrid had added to a Forest he knew so well.

After several miles of heavy silence where even the snapping of a twig felt ominous, it occurred to him that he had never managed to get this far into the Forest without meeting some kind of creature.

The tense unease kept growing in here, like the book was pressing that darkness out and shadowing the whole room with its eerie vibe. Harry had yet had a very pleasant experience in this Forest in any sense, and even with Hagrid inviting them into this one, they could already feel it wasn't going to turn out much better.

When Hagrid came to an abrupt halt, Harry walked right into him and fell back into a thorny bush Hermione had to dig him out of.

Hagrid apologized and decided to explain back here before they got to the spot, and began by saying there was a good chance he'd be getting the sack any day.

"He did not bring them all the way out there to say that," Sirius rolled his eyes.

"No," Remus agreed, "but we know he finds this more important than that, so at least we're finally getting that answer."

Hermione said he'd done well so far, what changed?

Hagrid said Umbridge thought he'd put that Niffler in her office.

"That's ridiculous," Remus scoffed at once, it was akin to him doing that, and he'd never put anything in her vicinity if he could help it.

"And when has she ever done anything remotely reasonable," Sirius' face was scrunched up for the ludicrousness of it even as he agreed.

Harry asked if it was before he'd thought about it.

"Harry," James said in exasperation, his son should know full well Hagrid would never use a creature for such a purpose.

"I know," Harry agreed with his idiotics. "Reflex question." This lot knew all about that.

Hagrid said no, but that hadn't convinced Umbridge, who associated any problems with creatures on him. He'd honestly leave now so that he wouldn't have to suffer in public like Trelawney had.

James didn't have to think about that one at all as he nodded in agreement, he could respect that.

He'd be useful to the Order out there helping Dumbledore.

"Hagrid knows where Dumbledore is?" That one caught Remus by surprise.

"I wouldn't be surprised if the Order actually does," Lily shrugged, "even if we're not sure now."

They had Grubbly-Plank to get them through their exams, his voice wobbled there and broke.

Lily felt a heartbreaking sigh pour out of her, she didn't want Hagrid to ever feel unneeded! She wanted him in her son's life just for being such a good man, no matter how he was in a class!

The problem was, he couldn't just leave without telling anyone, and he needed their help, and Ron's if he was willing.

Harry agreed at once asking what he needed them to do?

"You have such a big heart," Lily told her son, starting to feel a little teary eyed herself for what Hagrid was going through.

Harry had no response for that, he'd do anything to help his friend.

Hagrid thanked them tearfully, and led them the rest of the way.

"I thought he said he was going to explain!" Sirius said, the suspense was about to kill him. "He just stopped to tell them what was going on!"

"That's the same thing," Remus told him just to keep James paused for an extra second.

Sirius scowled at him, while James decided to ignore them anyways.

They reached a small clearing where a great mound was in front of them like a den, and all around were trees ripped up by the roots. Hagrid breathed sleeping, and Harry heard it too, a great set of lungs at work. He looked sideways at Hermione, who looked terrified.

"I don't blame her," Remus muttered, his mind flipping through all sorts of things that lived inside mounds, though as this could be something undiscovered even any of those may not be possible.

James was more in deep curiosity than anything. Hagrid was there, he had no fear Harry would come to any harm.

She asked who is he?

"Err," Lily began in confusion, sure she'd heard wrong.

Then she kept going, her voice shaking why he was here, Hagrid had said none wanted to come!

"What's, Hermione, on, about?" Sirius said slowly, he couldn't put together such a declaration with just an animal...

Harry looked to Hagrid, Hermione, and then realization struck as he looked back at the mounded earth, which in fact was moving in time with the deep breaths. It was a curved back.

"A giant!" Remus interrupted with a near shriek. "He actually brought a giant into that forest!"

James' voice had failed him, his mouth left hanging open so he couldn't have kept going even when the book had broken off. This truly was a new level of unbelievable.

"Has he lost his mind!" Sirius was so blown away by this one he wouldn't even deny the squeak in his voice. "A giant! A real, bloody, giant!"

Harry felt just as numb as the others from shock, but it was his fumbling fingers that snagged the book away to try and force this to keep going.

Hagrid agreed he hadn't exactly wanted to, but Hagrid had to bring him.

"It's his family," Lily whispered, her eyes still too wide from shock, but a flash of understanding lit them nonetheless.

"When he was at the Three Broomsticks," James recalled breathlessly.

"Oh Hagrid," Remus groaned in sudden understanding, genuine sympathy now for the man even if he couldn't find the air to really say it.

Sirius wasn't quite there yet, he was still putting his mind into the thought someday he'd walk into his Forest and a giant would be there!

Hermione demanded why!

Hagrid insisted that if he just spent a little time around here, taught him some manners, he could show everyone how harmless he was.

"Harmless!" Lily said near hysterics. "He's been beating the shit out of him for months!"

"Hasn't killed him yet though," Sirius couldn't help but point out as this started to fully form in his mind.

"Was that supposed to make me feel better?" Lily demanded, her voice wasn't lowering in volume and starting to hurt their ears.

Hermione accused this was why he was always injured. Hagrid defended he didn't know his own strength.

"That I'd actually believe," Remus said slowly, some form of acceptance starting to set in as he really thought past the shock.

Hermione still couldn't believe this was why he'd taken two extra months to get home!

"Yeah, I'd say lugging a giant behind you could slow you down!" Lily's voice was still extremely high pitched, but at least she was making an attempt to lower it now.

Hermione demanded why he had, he'd have been happier with his own kind!

Hagrid insisted he'd been picked on while there for being so small.

"Small." James repeated the word slowly, shaking his head back and forth as he was stuck in the same vision as Sirius, their forays into the Forest suddenly being interrupted by a giant crashing through a nearby tree, no one wanted to know how Moony would have reacted to that. Yet thankfully Harry reading was putting a good distance from that image, and James got the book back from Harry without fuss.

Hermione repeated small in near hysterics.

"I suppose, by that description, he's either not fully grown, or a runt," Remus nodded.

"Try telling him that," Harry muttered, his mind still boggled at such a huge movement as his breathing.

Hagrid pleaded with them to understand, near tears as he told that was his brother.

"That, is a relation, that makes sense," Lily grudgingly agreed, finally her voice only just a touch more off than usual, but sympathy for Hagrid's situation was finally pushing past the shock. It was the same as always, she trusted Hagrid. If he said his brother hadn't meant to hurt anyone, then she'd just have to believe he wasn't going to turn on her son the moment he awoke.

Well, half-brother, he amended. His mum had another child when she'd left his dad, Grawp here.

"Grawp?" Harry repeated curiously.

"Never claimed giants had our kind of names," Sirius shrugged, his brow still set deep in thought, but now he was almost back to normal and could appreciate Hagrid's position at least.

Harry wasn't sure he'd heard that right, and Hagrid said that's what he thought was being said when asked for a name. He didn't know much English, though Hagrid had been teaching him. His mother had abandoned Grawp as well for being so small, so he was all alone, he was only sixteen feet.

"Poor Hagrid," Lily went new, her voice now coming out in a whisper as now she felt like Hagrid needed a hug, after she popped him over the head for giving her heart failure.

Hermione's voice was still in shrieking shock as she said how miniscule that was!

"Who knew Hermione turned sarcastic during these times," Sirius muttered, he couldn't get a joke to his mind yet.

Hagrid insisted he was being kicked around by the others.

Harry asked what Maxime had thought of this, and Hagrid said she'd realized how important this was to him, but got tired of fighting to get him back, so she'd just promised not to tell anyone.

"Good woman, that," James sighed, knowing he'd probably have done the exact same as Maxime, he wouldn't pretend he'd try to handle a giant, even a...small one.

Harry asked how he'd even gotten back here. Hagrid explained they could only travel by night and very out of the way, Grawp could cover quite a bit of distance when he wanted to, the problem was he didn't, kept wanting to go back.

Harry gave a pitiful sigh, he didn't need to ask. He'd been kicked around plenty in his youth but had always returned home because he'd always known he had nowhere else to go. Hagrid seemed to have a gift for taking wayward souls away.

Hermione buried her face in her fingers as she asked why Hagrid hadn't just let him, what was he going to do with a violent giant?

Hagrid defended violent was too strong, he took a swing now and again when he was in a mood, but he was getting better.

Harry asked what the ropes were for then?

"Well if he was wanting to go back, I suppose I can see Hagrid stopping him leaving when he wasn't around," Sirius frowned heavily.

As Harry's eyes had adjusted and made out more detail, he found ropes binding the giants ankles and around his waist.

Hagrid repeated he didn't know his own strength, and Harry now understood why there were no other creatures in the area.

"Oh yeah, I can see that," James finally nodded at something that made sense to him in his forest.

Hermione circled back to asking what Hagrid wanted them to do?

"Almost forgot about that," Remus shivered, he didn't like the idea of Harry around...Grawp with Hagrid around, now Hagrid was asking them to keep looking after a hateful giant after Hagrid was gone! How was this worse than the Skrewts?

Hagrid just said he needed looking after, while Harry and Hermione exchanged an uncomfortable look, well aware they'd already promised Hagrid they would.

"I feel as if at some point there's a line, and he crossed it," Lily said miserably, as she wouldn't feel right backing out of this either even with the circumstances. "A bruised rib to Hagrid could knock your skeleton right out of you! I'm sorry Harry, but I'm worried this one's above you!"

Harry certainly wasn't going to argue the point.

Harry did not argue the point, and they were just as relieved as they were upset for Hagrid Harry didn't seem gung ho to keep this particular promise.

Hermione asked for details, and Hagrid said nothing too big. He got his own food, birds or deer that traveled through,

James looked vaguely offended, even if he knew it to be true. It just wasn't helping his mind's eye as he kept imagining trying to run away from this thing.

Hagrid really just wanted them to come out here and talk to him, help teach him along in talking.

Harry said nothing as he kept eying Grawp, picking out details. Now he saw that his feet were the size of sleds and bare, his clothes seemed roughly stitched together. His head was like a boulder sitting right atop his shoulders with his ears sitting more on the area where his neck should be.

Remus couldn't deny a touch of fascination in him at Harry's description. He'd only heard general depictions of them as well, and though he still had no want to meet one in person, Harry's were always more vivid than usual texts.

Harry hollowly repeated Hagrid's want for them to teach him English. He now understood what Firenze's warning had meant.

"I almost wish I didn't," Sirius grumbled, in this case ignorance had been bliss.

He could just imagine the other creatures of this Forest hearing Hagrid's vain attempts to teach Grawp English.

Hagrid agreed cheerfully, even if they just came out here to chat with him, keep him around people.

Harry looked to Hermione and said it made him wish for Norbert back.

Sirius blanched for a moment, but after considering he told, "no, actually this is still marginally better. I'll take whatever form of intelligence this thing posses over that beast."

"Wow," Harry said towards him, as of now he'd still rather have it the other way.

Hagrid misunderstood, confirming that they'd do it?

"He really didn't get that was supposed to be a bad thing?" James muttered, that concept seemed lost on Hagrid quite a bit.

Harry uneasily said they'd try-

Hagrid beamed at him, saying he'd known he could count on him!

Even as Lily shook her head in exasperation for Hagrid, she was smiling just a bit as well now. She couldn't deny some part of her was happy for Hagrid finally having a bit of family back to him.

He insisted it wouldn't be much, just nip out here once a week, then he decided to introduce them.

Hermione said that wasn't necessary!

"Well yes it is," Remus corrected. "Much safer to be first seen with Hagrid, at least he knows him."

"And considers him his kidnapper," James reminded hollowly. "So I'm really torn here."

Harry still didn't want to say what was really on his mind, he didn't really have a want to see Grawp again with or without Hagrid.

Hagrid ignored them, picked up a long sturdy branch, and jabbed Grawp in the back with it.

"He just poked a giant!" James said faintly, unable to believe what he'd just said and stuck on that one for several moments before Harry gave him a commiserating pat on the shoulder that was probably supposed to be reassuring.

Grawp woke with an ear splitting roar that shook birds from trees. He got onto his knees to turn around and see who was here, and Hagrid greeted him as Grawpy, telling he'd brought company.

Harry and Hermione backpedaled as far as they could while keeping him in sight, as his face leaned in like a dull grey full moon.

All three Marauders blanched in shock at the description they weren't taking kindly too.

His features seemed misshapen, the nose of no real design, the hair looking more like moss even a dark brown, and his pupils were rather tiny and currently still cummed with sleep. He took to his feet with surprising agility and turned away.

"Don't ever underestimate speed for size," Remus agreed, James wanting to smack him for starting to sound more interested than resigned like the rest of them.

He went over to the nearest tree and plucked a birds nest up out of the higher branches, turning it upside down and pelting them with eggs like grenades below.

"I can see how riveted he was by the company," James said deadpan.

"Be pleased while it lasts," Lily grumbled, at least finding some small comfort Grawp hadn't at once started trying to take Hagrid's limb off.

Hagrid tried to keep his attention, yelling to Grawp about that trip he'd be going on, and these were his new friends who'd be coming to visit him.

"I thought he couldn't understand English quite yet," Sirius shifted uneasily.

"I can see why Hagrid does it though," Remus shrugged, "that's one of the ways you learn other languages, hearing them as well as practicing to speak them."

"Oh, so now it's a good idea," James frowned at him.

"I'm not saying Harry should do it," Remus defended, "I just understand why Hagrid is talking to him."

Grawp took no notice, Harry wasn't even sure if the giant recognized what Hagrid was doing was speech. He'd instead sized the nearest tree and began pulling on the top, the fascination on his face making it clear he did it for the simple pleasure of seeing how far he could go before it would spring back.

"Exactly how old is he?" Lily asked.

"Not sure," Harry muttered, "I only know what Hagrid said."

"He could be older than Hagrid, we don't know which kid came first, though I think Hagrid assumed it was himself." Remus shrugged.

"Either way, I don't see what that has to do with anything," Sirius muttered.

Lily considered this response more to do with the fact Sirius would probably try to do the same thing if he was that size no matter what age.

Hagrid tried to tell him not to, that's how he'd pulled up the last ones, but when the creaking roots could be heard, Hagrid intervened and gave him another jab with the stick.

Grawp looked down with an expression of clear annoyance as Hagrid waved to Harry and Hermione. Grawp only just seemed to realize their presence as he gazed down at them still half hidden behind a tree.

"How good is a giant's eye sight?" Harry asked wearily, he wasn't going to enjoy the experience of one checking out his hairline.

"As good as ours I'd imagine," Remus scratched at his ear. "Perhaps better, as they hunt more naturally than we do."

He introduced Harry first, and tried to do the same for Hermione, but realized her full name may be beyond him, so asked her if he could call her Hermy.

Hermione gave a squeaky agreement.

"I know I would have protested," Sirius sniffed. "If my name was the first four syllable word he'd said, it could be an accomplishment."

Hagrid introduced Hermy to Grawp,

"So does that mean we can start calling her-"

"No," Harry told Sirius flatly before he could even finish.

saying she was going to come out here as well and, Grawp no!

James nearly jumped from his chair in surprise, he hadn't intended to shout that so loud but he'd just been getting back to a place of normalcy in his mind as he adjusted to this situation, now Hagrid was scolding him!

Grawp's hand had shot out of nowhere and tried to seize Hermione, but Harry reacted a moment faster and pulled her back behind the tree as Grawps palm scraped against the bark but seized on air.

Lily gasped, watching Harry's arms tense at his side now like he was prepared to pull her away again.

Hagrid scolded he was being a bad boy, not to grab, while Hermione clung to Harry whimpering.

"Oh, he wouldn't have really hurt her!" Remus tried, and failed to say even as he'd gone a bit white in shock. "He might have just been trying to pick her up, out of curiosity-"

"And look how well that's worked out for Hagrid," Harry shuddered all over.

Then Hagrid let out his own yelp of pain, and Harry poked his head back out to see Grawp had swatted Hagrid away and gone back to his tree.

"Good to know of his attention span I suppose," James tried to say around a squeak, there was just no way he could find some fun in this one.

Hagrid stumped over to them holding his newly broken nose, saying that was enough for one day.

Some color finally started coming back to James' face, Lily was still rubbing at her chest, and the other three were still trying hard not to show they were shaking. A giant. This was a new level, even for Hagrid...

They began walking away, Harry and Hermione still struck dumb. Hagrid actually wanted them to come visit a giant in the Forbidden Forest and pointlessly teach him English?

"Now that's pushing it," Remus couldn't quite push into scolding as he was still shifting his weight in unease. "You heard Hagrid say he had full conversations with them, they can be spoken to as well as a Centaur if you give them half a chance, this one in particular just never seems to have been put into any type of situation like this."

Harry looked at him like he wasn't sure what to say to that. He'd put up with a lot of crazy things for Hagrid, and this one still felt like the worst.

Harry had never understood Hagrid's insistence the most killing things were lovable and harmless, but this was a new one fooling himself Grawp could mix with humans.

"That one is stretching it just a touch," Sirius agreed. "He'd be just fine spending his days in a far off proximity, but not unapproachable, if Hagrid shows we're not all bad." He couldn't quite put the right tone into place, he still wanted to rage at Hagrid for putting a giant into the Forbidden Forest! If the name hadn't been appropriate before, it was now!

Then Hagrid took them both by surprise by drawing his crossbow and fitting an arrow in.

"There's a giant in the forest," Lily enunciated clearly like they already would have forgotten. "I can't imagine something much scarier, and Hagrid hadn't pulled a weapon on him."

Even still, James was back to bouncing his leg with unease. He knew plenty of things Harry could expect in there, and it was good for Hagrid to be on guard, they seemed far enough away from Grawp this was necessary.

They waited in tense silence until a male voice told Hagrid he was no longer welcome here.

"Can the Centaurs do that?" James protested in further outrage, that was somehow even more offensive to him than the giant.

"By our laws, no," Remus said carefully. "The Forest is property of the school, so it's technically Hogwarts land...but the Centaurs may well recognize no such thing. It's rather a conflict that's never had to be brought up in our history, for we've never fought over the space."

"That Forest has been there since Hufflepuff sanctioned it back when the castle was being built," Sirius offered to Harry.

"The stories are unclear though, if the Centaurs were already in the area, or if the Hogwarts Founders created it and they claimed it," James sighed.

Lily was honestly impressed at their history lesson, and so apparently was Harry as he tried to keep focus on this and told them how interesting that was even as he kept looking worriedly at nothing. He didn't like this set up, Grawp not too far off, angry centaurs...

A whole group of centaurs had arrived, including one Harry recognized as Bane. Hagrid wearily greeted the foremost, Magorian, who gave no friendly greeting back, repeating Hagrid was no longer welcome here after he'd helped the traitor Firenze enter servitude.

Hagrid protested this, saying he was doing a favor for Dumbledore!

"There is no point arguing this," James said tensely. Even having Hagrid describe the fight before had made him uneasy, now Harry may well find himself in the middle of it.

"Hagrid won't really start something," Lily tried to say with conviction, "he'll get them out of there, he's been dealing with this for a while now at least."

The centaur said there was no coming back from such disgrace, and Hagrid had lost the friendship of the centaurs by helping him, he was no longer welcome in their forest.

Hagrid shot back he wasn't going to be hearing any of this 'their'. It wasn't their say who came and went here.

Magorian cut in no more than Hagrid's. He'd let him pass today because he was with his young,

"His young," James couldn't help but mutter that a second time, though they'd all long since noticed Hagrid seemed to have as unofficially adopted the kids as much as Molly had.

Bane interrupted they were not his, but students, profiting from the teachings of the traitor Firenze!

"I would not call his vague life's a mystery speech profiting," Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Not helping," Remus hissed at him.

Magorian did not waver, they did not hurt the innocent. Hagrid may pass today, but this was his final warning.

Hagrid shouted he wasn't going to let these mules tell him where he could and couldn't go.

They all began itching terribly in fear of this fight. It was probably easier not being there, but they could see both sides in light, and didn't care about either! They just wanted Harry to get out of there!

The centaurs turned to leave anyways, but Hagrid kept shouting after them he wasn't going to let them scare him off. Harry and Hermione put their hands on Hagrid's back to try and force him to move along, but then he glanced down in surprise like he hadn't even felt it.

"Bloody hell," James blinked in surprise. Not that they'd ever tried, but they'd have liked to think Hagrid would have at least registered the two!

He told them to calm down, they wouldn't really do anything, then he took off again as if nothing had happened.

Hermione uneasily kept pace, trying to say to Hagrid that if the centaurs weren't letting people come through, than the three of them wouldn't be much help to Grawp.

Hagrid brushed this off, repeating their own words they wouldn't hurt the innocent. Besides, they shouldn't let those centaurs push them around.

"I see where he's coming from," Sirius said genuinely, he knew he'd have a few things to say if a centaur had ever told them off for being caught in there.

"But while I admire Hagrid for not letting them push him around," James grudgingly agreed, "it wouldn't kill him not to insult them while he's at it!"

"A little avoidance can go a long way," Remus agreed, knowing Hagrid knew this place well enough he should be able to pass by Centaur heavy areas just like they could.

Harry watched all of them with a small smile of pride in place. As if he'd needed further evidence they weren't still fifteen, but here they were actually speaking of avoiding a real life fight.

Harry told Hermione nice try at her disappointment this hadn't made a dent in Hagrid.

They rejoined the daylight to see people pouring out of the stadium laughing and cheering,

James spluttered in surprise, he'd actually forgotten a game was going on!

"Well, I found something to cheer me up next time Ron's goal keeping is mentioned," Sirius groaned. "Teaching ABC's to a giant!"

and Hagrid told them to hurry along into that so they wouldn't be missed, then he went to his cabin. Harry and Hermione trudged back looking distinctly out of place with their numerous tiny cuts and twigs in their hair, but Hermione took no notice of this as she said she couldn't believe him!

"Oh I do," Lily sighed. In Hagrid's...inflated world, she really did see where he was coming from, but did he have to drag Harry into this one?

Harry tried to get her to calm down, but she wouldn't hear it. A giant in the Forest! He wanted them to teach English to it, assuming they could get past the murderous centaurs!

"I think the centaurs scare me more than the giant!" Remus shivered harder than ever to prove his point.

"That didn't make me feel better," Harry told him, a still rather distracted look in place as he had no clue why he agreed with him.

Harry tried to say they didn't have to do anything yet, and Umbridge might not-

Hermione cut him off to say of course she'd get rid of him, and after this who could blame her!

"I can!" They yelped in protest. It was very clear Harry wasn't the only one losing his temper this year if Hermione was going to be saying nonsense like that!

There was a pause in which Harry glared at her, and her eyes filled slowly with tears.

"At least she regretted it," James sighed, letting go of his anger the moment he read that. Hermione did care, she was just scared, they all were at this news.

She admitted she didn't mean that, but the rest of her words were cut off by singing.

Insert Gryffindor version of Weasley is Our King.

James paused with his head cocked to the side in confusion, his wild hair looking more flyaway than ever as he shook it and told them he hadn't read that wrong. Hardly daring to pretend to understand the mix up, he kept going in a slow, forced calm voice.

Hermione began miserably she wished they'd stop gloating, it was already bad enough, but then Harry whispered it wasn't the Slytherin's singing as the edited lyrics continued.

"No, way," Sirius whispered, his eyes now locked on James with nothing else going through his ears.

"They, used the lyrics," Remus spluttered, a grin spreading across his mouth more from surprise than actual pleasure hitting him yet.

James ignored them both, Lily and Harry were still sitting there with their mouths open in shock as he practically shouted the rest.

Hermione whispered no in surprise, Harry shouted yes in excitement, and Ron caught sight of both of them atop many people's shoulders and shouted about their win!

Lily squealed in triumph, clapping and bouncing in place as they all began laughing and cheering loudly. The damn broke, James hardly wanted to finish he was dancing around in so much excitement, but he also couldn't have stopped yelling the words in triumph no matter how hard he tried!

They beamed up at him as he passed. There was a scrum at the door of the castle and Ron's head got rather badly bumped on the lintel,

Sirius laughed so hard he nearly fell out of his seat and banged his own head on the table, and no one stopped to notice that either in their fusing excitement. They didn't have to keep worrying about Grawp right now, this was something so immensely good instead!

They waited until the large cheering crowd had stormed past before turning back to each other, their smiles fading a bit.

Harry said they'd tell him tomorrow.

"You are the best friend ever," Remus assured Harry, or at least tried to over the din. No one would want to be the one to tell all this to Ron in such a glorious moment.

Hermione agreed as they headed up to the party, but both stopped at the door and looked back, wondering if it was their imagination a bunch of birds shooting into the sky far off into the Forest, as if something had just tried to pull up their tree by its roots.

James hardly paid this any mind, the giant wasn't actually hurting anything in the forest yet, but this was wonderful!

"I can't believe you missed that!" Sirius shouted right in Harry's ear, and he hardly even noticed. "You, you actually missed the Quidditch Cup, and they won!"

"I'm sorry, okay," Harry raised his hands in defence even as he couldn't straighten up in his seat from his shoulders shaking too hard. "I know Ron'll make sure I hear every last thing!"

James suddenly didn't want to give the book up to Sirius. This was fantastic! So many bad things had happened this year, but he was actually hoping this was a pattern that was going to keep going, and with his luck Sirius was probably going to get to read about something happening to Umbridge finally. Surely Grawp was the worst thing to happen to Harry the rest of the year.

HPHPHPHP

*This is one of those spells I genuinely question, why? If you just want to transfigure the cup, then you're in the wrong class. If the goal is for the cup to sprout legs to bring you, like a sugar bowl or something, levitate it to you. This...is just so entirely random to be an actual spell being practiced in class!

#Harry Potter #fanfiction #The Life that Never LIved #Marauders #HP #OotP #James Potter #Remus Lupin #Sirius Black #Lily Potter #Harry and James talk #reading the books

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alifeincoffeespoons · 4 years ago

Text

part x of the avatar au: prince remus and master slughorn

For a while, Lily wasn’t sure if they’d ever make it to the North Pole.

After all, they’ve gotten sidetracked—and almost killed—at least twenty times by now. At the rate they were moving at, they would’ve arrived at the North Pole in three years.

But now they’re actually here. And it’s beautiful. Lily looks down at the thick ice walls surrounding the capital city of the Northern Water Tribe, her mouth open in awe, as they fly over on the back of Prongs. It’s the most wonderful thing she’s ever seen.

Then, suddenly, Prongs are falling out of the sky, and she realizes that they’re surrounded by spears. This time, though, they’re almost a pleasant sight to see.

“It’s the Northern Water Tribe!” she exclaims, and by her side, James beams.

As they’re led into the city by the tribesman, Lily gapes unabashedly at the buildings of ice. It looks like something out of a fairy tale, all sparkling snow and sharp edges. Glancing at James, she can see the same look of amazement on his face. Looking forward, she smiles. She has a good feeling about this place.

That feeling is confirmed that night at dinner, when the chief of the tribe makes a toast to her and James. “To our guests, James and Lily,” he says, lifting up his glass. “The Avatar and, as I’ve been told, a wonderful waterbender.” Involuntarily, she blushes at the praise. “And,” the chief continues, “I would be remiss if I didn’t make a toast to my son, Remus, as well. Today is his sixteenth birthday.”

Looking to the side of the chief, Lily sees a lanky boy with shockingly white hair and a thin scar across the bridge of his nose. He’s dressed in silver-embroidered blue robes that hang off him just a bit too loosely. She gives a small smile and a wave to the boy—Remus—which he returns warmly.

An enormous snow crab is lifted onto the long table, and the chief inclines his head. “Well? Dig in!”

James shovels the crab into his mouth quickly, as though he hasn’t eaten anything in days, and Lily rolls her eyes. “I’m sorry for his utter lack of table manners,” she says, smiling at Remus.

“Don’t be,” he replies. “My father will be happy to see that he’s enjoying the food.”

“I’m Lily,” she says. “Wait, you knew that.” And the blush is back on her cheeks.

“I’m Remus, but you knew that too,” he replies, not unkindly. “How’re you liking the city?”

“Well, I’ve only been here for less than a day, but from what I’ve seen, it’s amazing,” she says sincerely. “I’ve never been anywhere with so many waterbenders before. It’s almost surreal.”

“Well, we’re happy to have you here,” Remus says. “And we’ve got tons of waterbenders here—I think my father mentioned that you were searching for a teacher?”

Lily nods, and Remus smiles again. “My father will introduce you to one after dinner—I’m sure Master Slughorn is excited to meet the two of you. He’s probably the best waterbender in all of the Northern Water Tribe.”

“I’m excited to meet him too!” Lily says, returning the smile. By her side, James clears his throat, apparently done demolishing his meal.

“Remus, why’s your hair white?” he asks loudly, and Lily huffs, rolling her eyes.

“James! You can’t just ask that!” Turning to Remus, she sighs. “I’m sorry again for him. You’d think the Avatar would be more polite.”

“It’s fine,” Remus laughs. “When I was a baby, I was very ill, almost from the day I was born. None of our healers could do a thing, and my parents weren’t sure if I would live past a month. Finally, my father decided to place my fate in the hands of the spirits. He brought me to the Spirit Oasis—I can take you there later, if you want—the most spiritual place in the entire North Pole, and prayed to the Moon Spirit to save my life. The Moon Spirit listened to his prayer and gave me part of its own life to save mine, which turned my hair white.” He smiles shyly. “I know it’s a little weird at first, but you get used to it.”

“I don’t think it’s weird at all,” Lily says. “Your hair is beautiful.”

James coughs loudly, and Lily frowns at him. “Are you feeling sick too, James? You really shouldn’t have eaten the crab so quickly.”

“It’s fine!” James declares loudly. “I’m fine! Anyway, Remus, Lily and I should get to meeting Master Sluggy—”

“Master Slughorn, actually.”

“Whatever his name is! We should go meet him, Lily. Time is of the deepest essence and all that, right? Let’s hop to it!” James stands up quickly, almost knocking over his drink in his haste, and extends a hand to Lily to pull her up. Rolling her eyes, she takes it, before dropping it quickly.

“Again, I’m so sorry for him,” Lily says to Remus.

“Yes, I’m such a burden, aren’t I?” James grumbles.

“James, you know I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant you should be more polite to our hosts. You’re not a burden at all.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he says, but he looks slightly cheerier.

Master Slughorn turns out to be a cheerful middle-aged man with a large mustache and an echoing laugh. Just as Remus had said, the Waterbending Master smiles widely and excitedly when James asks him to teach them waterbending.

“Of course, of course!” Slughorn exclaims. “We’ll start tomorrow morning—eight o’clock sharp, and don’t be late!”

That night, Lily can barely sleep, out of sheer excitement. The last time anyone besides a scroll had tried to teach her waterbending had been more than half a year ago, back when Sev was more concerned with helping her learn than railing against Prince Sirius and spreading conspiracy theories about the Avatar. She smiles wistfully at the memory—Sev correcting her stance, teaching her to shoot spikes of ice in the same way he shot spheres of fire out of his own hands.

In the morning, she has to drag James bodily out of bed, but somehow, they make it to Master Slughorn’s training grounds on time.

“Why don’t you show me what you know first?” Slughorn suggests. “First the Avatar, then Lily?”

James grins, and he sends up a great tidal wave of water out of the ice, bringing it up to the sky and then back down. It crashes with a great force, but Slughorn just hums. “Interesting. Lily?”

She takes a deep breath and thinks of Sev, thinks of the waterbending scrolls, thinks of everything she’s tried to teach James in the past few months. Then, she brings up long lashes of water that quickly crystallize into whips of ice, forming spikes as they land back onto the ground. She grins, and whirling around, she sees a matching smile on Slughorn’s face.

“Wonderful, Lily!” he applauds. “You know, I don’t think I’ve actually ever seen that move before. Where did you learn it?”

“I kind of just, uh, figured it out,” Lily says, suddenly bashful. “It’s not from a scroll or anything. Down at the South Pole, I couldn’t really learn waterbending from another waterbender, so my friend who was a firebender taught me instead. Really, we just learned from each other.”

“Very ingenious,” Slughorn says approvingly. “Lily, why don’t you show me something else?”

Over the next eight hours, Lily demonstrates to Slughorn every trick she’s learned and read about, and almost every time, he claps enthusiastically afterwards, giving her small corrections and tips to improve her focus. It might just be the best day of her life.

That is, until she realizes that James looks increasingly tired and frustrated. “I just don’t get it,” he sighs. “None of this is working for me at all.”

“Well, James, not everyone can take to waterbending as easily as Lily,” Slughorn chuckles. This, of course, is basically the worst thing he could have said, and a moment later, James has a look of despair on his face.

“How can I be the Avatar if I can’t waterbend?” he bemoans, after Slughorn’s dismissed them for the day and they’re walking back to their lodgings with Remus.

“Well, you can waterbend,” Lily says, trying to cheer him up.

“But I can’t do anything advanced,” he says. “I can’t do any of the things that he taught you to do today. It’s like—I don’t know. I know how it’s supposed to work, but I can’t see how it does, you know? Everything’s all mixed-up in my head, and I can’t separate it.”

Remus looks thoughtful. “James, how have you been learning waterbending before this?”

“Er, from scrolls, mostly,” James says.

“That might be the problem, then,” Remus says. “You’re used to seeing the moves illustrated first and then trying them out.”

James grunts. “Maybe.”

“I can take you to my father’s library,” Remus continues. “He should have waterbending scrolls there—we’d be happy to let the Avatar borrow them.”

James doesn’t say anything, so Lily nudges him, but all he does is let out another grunt. Rolling her eyes, she smiles. “He’d love to.”

“Great!” Remus says cheerily. “I can bring him to the library after dinner.”

She waves goodbye to Remus as they go their separate ways, still smiling. The moment Remus disappears from their sight, she nudges James again. “Why are you being so rude to him? He’s been nothing but kind to us.”

“What’s so great about him anyway?” James exclaims. “So what, he’s a literal prince, and he’s handsome, and he’s probably stinking rich, and the Moon Spirit gave him life or whatever, but I’m the Avatar. I’m the bridge between humans and the Spirit World! I’m the most spiritual person alive!”

“Careful, James, or you might get a big head there,” Lily says sarcastically. “And I know you’re the Avatar. What’re you going on about?”

“Nothing,” James says sullenly. He kicks a ball of snow into the nearest canal.

Suddenly, a thought occurs to Lily. It’s as clear as day, honestly—she can’t believe she didn’t see it before. “James, are you jealous?”

“What?” James laughs nervously. “What would I be jealous of? His fluffy hair and ridiculously nice smile? No way!”

“Oh, James, I get it now,” Lily says sympathetically. “I know you’ve been having a tough time with the Avatar State, and you’re still nervous about what Avatar Dumbledore told you when you visited the Spirit World, and today’s waterbending lesson was—well, it wasn’t the best. Look, just because Remus has part of the Moon Spirit in him doesn’t mean he’s more suited to the role of the Avatar than you are. You have such a big heart, James—you’ve already helped so many people!—and you’re amazing at earthbending and airbending. You can do this, James. I believe in you.” She takes his hand and squeezes it for good measure.

“Yeah,” James says slowly. “Yeah, that’s definitely it. I’ve been jealous of Remus because I’m scared of not being a good enough Avatar. Thanks for the pep talk, Lily.”

She smiles at him, relieved, and finally, he gives her a genuine smile back.

That night, when James and Remus return from the library, waterbending scrolls in hand, both of them are laughing, talking quietly to each other like they’re old friends. When James manages to create and control multiple water whips in their lesson with Master Slughorn the next morning, Lily smiles broadly, proud of how far her friend has come.

The next few days are full of laughter, cheer, and engaging lessons.

Then, of course, the Fire Nation attacks. Again.

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rainandhotchocolate · 5 years ago

Text

About Last Night - P2

A/N So i know I have a million other requests but I’m a sucker for this story sooooo here’s part 2222 lel enjoy!!

Mon 12:00pm

Sirius ~ So before I read the weekend news, should I be worried about seeing any murders I was supposed to be involved in? ~

Y/N ~ Don’t worry I planted your fingertips everywhere so they’ll know you were involved as well ~

Sirius ~ Oh thank god, I needed something to destroy my reputation ~

Y/N ~ And what reputation is that? ~

Sirius ~ Oh you know, cool edgy creative writing major with a soft side ™ ~

Y/N ~ Dear god you’re one of them :O ~

Sirius ~ Ur DiffEReNT thAN OthER giRlS ~

Y/N ~ **Blocked**

Sirius ~ I sincerely hope you know I was joking ~

Y/N ~ I guess I’ll have to find out :P What are you up to today? ~

Sirius ~ Well apart from giving my alibi to police, I have about 3 hours of classes today and an essay due ~

Y/N ~ Wow, that sounds like a super fun day – any good classes? ~

Sirius ~ Yeah I’m enjoying my lit class at the moment, we are doing genre fiction at the moment so looking into how writers create worlds, even within our own world, and why genre fiction is so looked down upon in literature society ~

~ and now that I’ve typed that out I am realising that it probably doesn’t sound wildly interesting ~

Y/N ~ Hahaha nah it does! That would be cool to learn about, I’m a sucker for genre fiction tbh, could never read the classics ~

Sirius ~ That just means you never found a good classic 😉 – What kinda stuff do you read? ~

Y/N ~ look I want no judgement here… I honestly mostly read fantasy/ sci-fi ~

Sirius ~ Have you read Dune?? ~

Y/N ~ Yes !!! Holy shit such a good series !! ~

Sirius ~ I’ve been trying to get my mates to read it for a LIFETIME its so good ~

Y/N ~ I would have thought Remus would have read them? He’s always got a new book with him ~

Sirius ~ I didn’t know you knew Remus as well? But yeah, he in theory would but he also has a long list of to reads and wants to go through them one after another ~

Y/N ~ Yeah, he studies with Lily a lot and I sometimes join them 😊. Also jesus that’s commitment, I’m usually picking up another book whilst I’m halfway through another ~

Sirius ~ I have no idea how he does it, if I’m being honest, if I hate a book I just don’t finish it (please don’t tell my literary friends I told you that, I would be killed in my sleep) ~

Y/N ~ Haha your secret is safe with me – imo I reckon that’s the best way to read, like why force yourself through something just because it’s a classic or whatever, I feel like that’s why so many people don’t read a lot you know? ~

Sirius ~ Completely! I actually just realised I have no idea what you study? ~

Y/N ~ Ahh that’s because I’ve been avoiding the question ~

Sirius ~ It can’t be worse than creative writing – I won’t even get a job after uni ~

Y/N ~ Oh believe me, it is. I study communications ~

Sirius ~ Oh dear lord you are every white girl who ever existed ~

Y/N ~ I know, I’m perpetuating the stereotype its very disappointing tbh ~

Sirius ~ So is that where you work then? ~

Y/N ~ Wow you remember a lot haha yeah, I’m doing an internship in social media management, it’s surprisingly soul-sucking ~

Sirius ~ Is that surprising… 😉 ~

Y/N ~ I mean, that was thinly veiled sarcasm haha but it’s actually not all bad, the strategy behind content etc is actually pretty interesting, and I’m working for an eco-friendly company so at least I get to come up with cool environmental memes ~

Sirius ~ Ahh yes, hit the youth with the memes ~

Y/N ~ See, you’re learning the comms ways already ~

Thurs 11:28pm

Y/N ~ Whats ya facebook? ~

Sirius ~ Uhhh… Sirius Black? It’s not wildly hard to find, why? ~

Y/N ~ I’m gonna be real, I would like to stalk you ~

Sirius ~ Is this Y/N? ~

Y/N ~ :O ok you’ve known Y/N like 2 days how did you guess that ~

Sirius ~ Cause this message felt like one of those old school msn ‘my friend hacked me !!!’ ~

Y/N ~ You’re a smart boi, Black ~

Sirius ~ thank you kindly stranger ~

Fri 6:45 am

Y/N ~ I AM SO SORRY ~

~ MARLENE STOLE MY PHONE ~

~ I PROMISE I’M NOT A STALKER ~

Sirius ~ Why on earth are you awake right now ~

Y/N ~ Because my body never allows me to sleep in ~

Sirius ~ how rude, also don’t worry I accepted your Facebook request so you can stalk all you want 😉 ~

Y/N ~ Literally am going to stab Marlene ~

Sirius ~ At least she’s up front ~

Y/N ~ Wait why are you awake rn? ~

Sirius ~ James wants to make the firsts soccer team at uni and has decided I must train with him ~

Y/N ~ Well that’s gross ~

Sirius ~ Couldn’t have said that better myself ~

Y/N ~ so what does this training consist of ~

Sirius ~ Mainly James trying to shoot balls at my head as I attempt to goal keep ~

Y/N ~ Can’t see that ending well ~

Sirius ~ Excuse you, I happen to be VERY athletic. I am a multisided human being thanks ~

Y/N ~ I am so sorry to have placed my predisposed ideas on you ☹ pls forgive ~

Sirius ~ I will have to think about it – right now James wanted me to do suicides and I must go into hiding ~

Y/N ~ Godspeed ~

Sun 2:58pm

Y/N ~ Ok I know I promised not to stalk, but what the fuck is going on in this picture ~

~ file ~

Sirius ~ oh no no no no no no no no ~

Y/N ~ ehheheheheheheheh ~

Sirius ~ I really thought my privacy settings were better than this ~

Y/N ~ Yeah this was very easy to find ~

Sirius ~ I’m going to kill James ~

Y/N ~ You can’t blame james for this beauty ~

Sirius ~ Oh I really can, he decided it would be hilarious for us to have a photoshoot when I was completely trashed one night. And then proceeded to post everything and tag me ~

Y/N ~ James sounds like a fun night out ~

Sirius ~ I wouldn’t say that to lily ~

Y/N ~ What she doesn’t know won’t kill her 😉 ~

Sirius ~ You are slyer than I thought ~

Y/N ~ I think I’m going to frame this photo and place it all over your uni ~

Sirius ~ You wouldn’t ~

Y/N ~ You may need to convince me otherwise ~

Sirius ~ Anything to avoid that embarrassment in my life ~

Y/N ~ Perhaps you’ll just have to owe me for sparing you ~

Sirius ~ I think that’s a fair deal – what about a coffee? ~

Y/N ~ I think a coffee or two would be a fair trade off :P ~

Sirius ~ Well I have the most disgusting week of midterms but perhaps on the weekend? ~

Y/N ~ Sounds LIT ~

Sirius ~ You’ve just made me regret inviting you anywhere ~

Y/N ~ That’s what I’m here for 😉 ~

Wed 3:07pm

Sirius ~ Bit of a creepy question, but did I see you at uni today? Navy Skirt, Black Jumper, & tights?

Y/N ~ Wow you really observe an outfit don’t you ~

Sirius ~ I mean I noticed the outfit cause I thought it looked good and then I realised it was you and so it stuck in my head ~

~ in a less creepy way ~

~ in fact let me just completely start over – were you at uni today? I think I saw you! ~

Y/N ~ Maybe, what was I wearing? ~

Sirius ~ I hate you ~

Y/N ~ 😉 Well to answer your question, yes I was at uni – it was Lily and I’s weekly cheap lunch date ~

Sirius ~ Classy ladies you two are ~

Y/N ~ Couldn’t describe us better myself ~

Sirius ~ Oh by the way, are you going to Remus’ party this Friday? ~

Y/N ~ Mmmm I was thinking about it, why? ~

Sirius ~ No reason, I just knew Lily was invited and he mentioned inviting some of her friends ~

Y/N ~ Mmmm, yeah he told Lily to bring Marlene and me along, unsure though as Lily is particularly annoyed at James this week and he will of course be there and be annoying ~

Sirius ~ What if I can promise he won’t annoy her? ~

Y/N ~ I really don’t think you should make a promise you can’t keep :P ~

Sirius ~ Ah, you underestimate me! James has to go home this weekend to see his parents so he won’t actually be there ~

Y/N ~ This is a very interesting development – we may reconsider ~

Sirius ~ Well Remus does throw a great party ~

Y/N ~ DO you actually know what James did anyway? She usually likes to rant about it but she’s been shut in her room the past 2 days ~

Sirius ~ Honestly I’m not sure, James has been unprecedently quiet as well ~

Y/N ~ Hmmm how odd ~

Sirius ~ Indeed it is ~

Friday 4:42pm

Y/N ~ What are you guys wearing tonight? ~

Marlene ~ Not sure, I’m torn between a velour tracksuit or the classic Canadian tuxedo ~

Lily ~ Both very classy options ~

Marlene ~ You know me, go hard or go hard ~

Y/N ~ You’re both incredibly unhelpful ~

Marlene ~ Worried about meeting a certain dark haired texter? ~

Y/N ~ Am I not allowed to want my best friends’ help on my outfits?? ~

Marlene ~ I mean I can’t help you look hot if I don’t know who its for 😉 ~

Lily ~ God forbid she looks hot for herself ~

Marlene ~ Hey, you’ve gotta play to your audience ~

Y/N ~ How would you even know what he likes ~

Lily ~ She stalked him around campus yesterday ~

Y/N ~ um MARLENE ~

Marlene ~ I just wanted to know his style, habits, if he was a psycho killer ~

Lily ~ She has a point, if he’s as annoying as James we have to protect you at all costs ~

Marlene ~ We need to make sure she isn’t sucked in by his serial killer prowess ~

Y/N ~ You’re making me sound like prey ~

Marlene ~ 😉 ~

Y/N ~ How did you even stalk him, Lily has no classes with him ~

Marlene ~ I have my ways ~

Lily ~ She flirted with the office assistant until she gave her Sirius’ schedule ~

Y/N ~ You minx ~

Marlene ~ No one can resist my charms ~

Lily ~ That is yet to be determined actually ~

Y/N ~ very true Lils, we’ve never met anyone you’ve dated yet ~

Marlene ~ Sooooo not the point, and we’ve gone off topic! How are you going to wow Mr Black ~

Y/N ~ That is 100% not what I asked ~

Lily ~ you may as well have ~

Y/N ~ You both suck ~

Lily ~ Wear that flowy black dress you refuse to ever wear!! ~

Marlene ~ YES YOU LOOK BANGING IN THAT ~

Y/N ~ ugh but it’s a casual party ~

Marlene ~ Who gives a shit, stand out ~

Lily ~ He’ll be drooling ~

Y/N ~ I don’t need him to drool I just want to make a good first impression ~

Marlene ~ Aha the truth finally comes out ~

Y/N ~ if you were actually in your dorm I’d be hitting the roof with a broomstick rn ~

Lily ~ Where are you?? ~

Marlene ~ Where do you think 😉 ~

Lily ~ Not the office assistant ~

Marlene ~ 😉 ~

Lily ~ How!? I was with you the whole time, you never exchanged numbers ~

Marlene ~ Exchanging numbers doesn’t have to be an oral task… unlike other things 😉 ~

Y/N ~ We get it, your sexual prowess is above all of us ~

Lily ~ I’m honestly impressed, she was cute ~

Marlene ~ I’m offended you’d be impressed tbh ~

Y/N ~ Ok so you are both coming over to my house in an hour to dress and intoxicate me ~

Lily ~ Deal ~

Marlene ~ Maybe give me an extra 30 mins 😊 ~

Taglist: @averytruerayofsunshine @siriuslyjanhvi @blushingskywalker @blackpinkdolan @thebabblingbookworm @cherrie511 @imlukesnirvana @avengersassemblee @maraudersandco @sly-vixen-up2nogood @katbernoulli @sirius-lysad @evyiione @minerva26love @aikeia @gollyderek @greatwombatblaze @songforhema @your-typical-giggle

#rainandhotchocolate #sirius #sirius black #sirius x reader #sirius x you #Sirius x Y/N #sirius black x you #sirius black x y/n #Marauders RP #marauders x you #marauders #marauders imagine #marauders era #marauders fanfiction #sirius black x reader

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liw-the-melancholic-apple · 4 years ago

Text

How it may have gone - Humble Beginnings

A fic taking place in the marauders era. While the political climate seems to head to a conflict, James, Sirius, Remus and Peter are still just teenagers. Dealing with typical teenage problems.

But this year their little group grows. Who would have known that more prefects would be a good thing?

Masterlist

Ten: Detention III

When I came back to Greenhouse 4 the next day around the same time a new list lay on the first workstation. Next to it I found the lower section of the one I had worked off of yesterday. The little facts about the plants and creatures were apparently mine to keep. I folded that piece of parchment and put it in my bag.

Then I unfolded the new list.

To Do – Day 2

Behind the bumblebush by the desks you’ll find a door. I houses the supplies and tools. It’s not locked, grab whatever you need.

One table over is a stack of books that tells you what you need to know about the various plants and animals.

Feed the Abtu in the river

Check elderly mandrakes for signs of life (or death)

Water nettles, beets and tea (green, white and black)

Cut eight branches of Dittany

Wear gloves !!! and collect Streeler slime.

The Chameleon Potion is a very advanced one but it is one of the most powerful ways of disguise. In contrast to polyjuice potion which lets the drinker only turn into one person, of whom a ‘piece’ is required as an ingredient, which poses its own risks and obstacles, the Chameleon potion enables the drinker to practically become a metamorphmagi for at least two hours after consumption.

Nettles, beets and tealeaves (fresh or dried) are basic ingredients in a lot of potions. Nettles are mostly used in healing potions to provide the best starting points for the more magical ingredients. Not a single common healing potion is brewed without nettles! Beets are mostly used for colour in cosmetic applications. White, Green and Black Tea all have different properties that are released when put in hot water. Those properties often react with more magical plants like devil’s snare or moon dew to bring the potion to full potential.

When dittany is boiled and reduced, then combined with liquid silver it becomes a paste that is a very powerful cure against werewolves bites, called Lykoiaomai. This is the full recipe: Boil and reduce dittany leaves, strain the liquid to rid it of all solids and stir it into a liquid but slightly cooled silver. The ratio is one tablespoon of liquid silver to five tablespoons of dittany reduction.

When dried over a moderate flame Streeler slime turns into thin transparent gelatinous sheets, that can be dissolved in hot water. Dissolve the sheets in white tea as a cure for sleep deprivation.

Again, with the factoids… While the last ones seemed random these appeared to be a little more tailored to my situation. Mainly because of the werewolf and sleep deprivation. Full moon would be tomorrow. All of the Gryffindor boys would be completely destroyed on Thursday, if I could find dried sheets of Streeler Slime in Slughorn’s shelves, I might just take them to see whether they worked as well as pepper up potion.

While Sirius was right and there were no side-effects to using the potion it was pretty hard to get a hold of and expensive to buy. If the giant slugs provided an alternative I could see myself nicking some jars of their slime before detention was over. It would be helpful to the boys and to Crick and me. Just yesterday the next month of nightshifts had been figured out and I was serving at least one a week, not one on the weekends. Crick had had a similar fate while Jonas got way too many Saturdays to his name. Anything that would get me through a day of classes after a nightshift was absolutely worth breaking the rules for.

On the other hand, Sprout had never once said that I wasn’t allowed to take anything from the greenhouse. Obviously I could assume that nothing was to leave the treehouse but nobody had officially forbidden it.

I got to work and finished a bit quicker than the day before. One of the mandrakes didn’t react to anything I did to it, so I assumed it to be dead and put it on the table with a note. I thought it smart to let everybody know that I wasn’t sure what a dead mandrake looked like. Just in case this one was just really old and moved so slowly I didn’t realise it. The last thing I needed was to get in trouble while serving detention.

After I placed the dittany branches on top of the books I walked back into the shed and looked through the Potions section. I found two interesting things: There were a lot of sheets of Streeler slime and there were about 12 glasses of Dittany-Silver-Paste. They were labelled with dates. All of which lay in the future. One of which was tomorrow.

I had thrown myself in a homework marathon yesterday night and written my essay on the significance of Venus in relation to death for the Thursday class. Normally I couldn’t be bribed to research astronomical deteails outside of class or homework. It was one of those subjects whose importance to general magical education I understood – unlike divination – but I really wasn’t all that interested in it. Yesterday however, I had broken out my moon chart for the decade and checked the dates of full moons. I had made a list and pinned it into my wardrobe, just so I was prepared for a weak and sickly looking Remus and a grumpy Potter-posse. Aside from that, I had a feeling that the other boys were stupid enough to hang out with Remus after he had transformed and I wanted to be able to run to their rescue when something happened.

The dates on the glasses of anti-werewolf-bite-cream were all full moon dates. Seeing how Remus didn’t need a specific potion to be healed, even if he bit himself, because he already was a werewolf and didn’t get affected by the poison in his own fangs, the existence of all of these jars seemed to proof my theory that my stupid, stupid friends did regularly lounge with a transformed werewolf. And that the school knew.

While making these observations I found one glass with a December date. The 26th, to be exact. Remus would have been with his parents during the holidays, so this one went unused. Then, again, I doubted that every other jar of this stuff had been used. Did it maybe spoil quickly? Maybe, but not very likely. There were jars labelled for next November. I went back out into the bright garden and checked the special edition book on uncommon healing potions. I had a section Dittany, the recipe for the cream and stated that it was good for roughly ten years.

So, maybe the teachers relabelled the jars after every full moon that went well. I could safely assume that every single one of these jars was good to go in case of an emergency. And that it would be for couple of years. After all Remus had only started school five and a half years ago. And I doubted, that we had more than one werewolf on campus.

I struggled with my conscience and I didn’t feel good about it. But I went back into the shed, ripped the label off the December jar and put it into my bag. Just in case I really needed to run to anybody’s rescue. When I left I felt really guilty but I also reckoned I could talk myself out of the situation if it ever came to light.

We were all pretty nervous on Wednesday. It was our first full moon. And even though we weren’t going to actually be around Remus during the night, all of us girls were hyper aware of Remus’ bad shape and what would happen at night. I was glad that we went on revising spells in Charms class that morning. That way nobody noticed how little I could concentrate. Transfiguration went fairly well, too, as it was a theoretical class and I only needed to write down notes. I did, however, pull myself together to write them completely, detailed and legible because Milla was an absolute wreck at this point. Yes, her feelings for Remus weren’t influenced by the fact that he was a werewolf but the thought of every bone in his body breaking horrified her for him. Her voice was shaky all day and it sounded like she could start crying any second. Needless to say that she didn’t take any notes at all during McGonnagal’s monologue.

“Please, keep me away from Remus!”, she begged when we crossed the foyer for lunch. “Or at least don’t let me talk to him. He already looks like death and I don’t think my state would help that at all.”

“Sure thing. We’ll distract him.”

We did. Quite successfully. By now the others knew what my detention consisted of exactly and I decided to tell the entire group about my recent venture into thieving.

“Point is, that I have that stuff. I don’t hope you’ll ever need it but in all honesty if you should ever need it, it’s probably better if you have it with you rather than it sitting in my night stand”, I whispered while smoking.

“You stole Slughorn’s supply from a restricted area of the school? You sure you’re still you, Goods?”

“Fairly certain, yeah. Honestly, I’d rather lose my badge and serve detention for the next two years, than live through the nightmare of something happening to any of you.”

“I’m with Jette”, Remus agreed strongly. Well, as strongly as he possibly could. Milla was right, saying he looked like death. His skin was basically see-through and the dark circles under his eyes nearly reached his upper lip.

“I’m not myself. What if I do bite one of you?”, his voice got a little shaky and I had the distinct impression that that had nothing to do with his physical condition.

“You haven’t yet, Remus”, James tried to calm him down, with a pad on the shoulder.

“First time for everything”, Remus half-smiled in response.

“Just take it!”, I shoved the jar in Peter’s hands. “If you never need it, I’ll be heavenly happy, but if you do need it and don’t have access to it I’ll kill myself over it. And so will Remus. So, don’t argue!”

We sent them off to their classes and descended to the dungeons to learn something or other about fever-reducing-potions. Blair took care of her cauldron that she shared with Millla and the one that Chloe and Nica were supposed to brew in, while Joe was absolutely on his own with ours. I’d told him that I wasn’t on my A-game and could barely concentrate and being the wonderful person he was, he took it upon himself to just do the potion on his own, allowing me to lift. I had to promise that I’d help him out in Defence, though. And I was more than willing to pay that price.

When I got to the treehouse that afternoon I was met by Professor Slughorn. Oh. Not good.

“Miss de Witt. How nice. I thought it useful to talk you through some of the ingredients we have you collect and store. While I’m aware that Professor Sprout provided you with the books and some additional information, I’d like for you to know a little more. You up for it?”

“Certainly, Professor.” Maybe he hadn’t noticed that I nicked his December jar.

“Very well. We will get to the Dittany you collected yesterday. First, you should feed the animals. I’ll set up over there.” He pointed at the tables and pulled out a collapsible cauldron. I scanned my list for the day that just told me to feed the fish and lay out some hay for whatever other creature. I did both those things, visited the mandrakes, who were all still alive and returned to the table.

The Dittany branches were already in the cauldron and a shimmery, shiny substance sat atop a different fire. Shimmery, shiny and silver. Maybe he had noticed that I nicked the jar.

“Now, I’m sure you can guess what we’re doing today.”

“The potion – paste – that Professor Sprout wrote about. The one that heals werewolf bites?”

“Excellent. Five points to Hufflepuff.”

“Oh, thank you, Sir.”

“Now, I’m aware you don’t like potionmaking all that much. Contrasting your brother, who is still doing brilliantly.”

“Happy to hear that, Sir.”

“But with your strong suit being Defence against the Dark Arts, I don’t think that it would be crazy to assume you at least think about working in theat field. I would favour you for an auror but obviously you might end up a curse breaker, a member of the department for magical law or a dejinxer at St. Mungo’s. Every single one of these professions is connected to potions and potionmaking in one way or another. And if you’d ever want to apply to the auror training programme you need to have achieved an A at least in your NEWTs. So, I thought we’d try to install some interest in you by meeting here every now and again during your detention to work on interesting and practical potions. Would you be okay with that?”

“Of couse, Sir. Thank you. This is probably the best opportunity anybody has ever gotten by getting detention.”

“Well, I personally don’t agree with your actions, Miss de Witt. But I also don’t agree with those of my own students.” I had fully forgotten that Slughorn was Slytherin Head of House.

“What Messrs Black and Mulciber said and did does not represent my house. I trust you know that. And I don’t want you to miss opportunities over a throw-away nasty comment.”

“Thank you, Professor. I appreciate that. A lot. A whole lot.”

“Let’s get to work then.”

He went through the recipe and one or two tricks that could help me when brewing the thing myself. At the end we had produced four more of the jars. Three of them Slughorn put on his shelves, one he gave to me.

“I’d guess you won’t need it anytime soon. But it keeps nearly forever, so it won’t hurt to keep it for emergencies in whatever field you chose to work. And now that you know how to brew it and should wish to practice again, you can always ask me for the ingredients or supplies. I would have to supervise your use of them. You’ll understand that I don’t want you to take the silver for making jewellery. “

“Completely.” Frankly, I didn’t understand anything that was going on but I ran with it. By this point I was one hundred percent certain that Slughorn had noticed the theft. Otherwise he’d not have said that I could ask him for more of the potion. I thought he’d be mad at me but since he wasn’t I had to conclude that he knew about Remus’ condition and my friendship to him.

When Slughorn dismissed me it was pitchblack outside. I quickly looked up. The moon hadn’t fully risen yet, but it was definitely visible. According to our DADA material the transformation didn’t happen until the moon had done exactly that. Full rise and full moon. I imagined that the boys had already eaten and were on their way to wherever they hid during these nights. They’d gone so far as to tell us that there was a hideout but not where it was.

My steps quickened as I crossed the lawn. Suddenly, the lights from the castle’s windows seemed very far away. How fast did the moon rise? How far away from the castle was the hideout? Did the boys get there in time for the transformation? I quickened my steps. I started jogging. I did not want to run into Remus tonight. Absolutely not. Nope.

“Goods!” I stopped. Turned around.

“Sirius?”

“What are you still doing out here? Moon’s nearly risen.”

“Why d’you think I’m running?” I couldn’t spot any of the other boys.

“Oh… are you scared of the big bad wolf?” Sirius smug smirk appeared on his lips.

“I thought I already told you that I’d rather not run into a transformed werewolf. So, yeah. I love Remus, I do, but …”

“You don’t want to share his fate.”

“Well, no I don’t. And I’d rather not die, either.”

“Fair enough. No need to be scared, he’s already where he’s supposed to be.”

“Why aren’t you?”

“Forgot you wonder potion in the dorm… We have a fairly established routine for nights like these. And your stupid jar, is not yet part of it. But Remus insisted I get it.” I swung my backpack from my back to my chest and opened it.

“What are you doing?” I handed him the new jar of dittany and silver.

“Slughorn was at detention. He must have noticed that I stole one of the jars and taught me how to brew it. I got to keep one. Fully legal this time.”

“What kind of detention is that? I only ever get to clean things or write the same sentence over and over again.”

“Haven’t quite worked that out yet. But it seems to have some kind of deeper meaning. Slughorn said that he’d stop by more often during detention to teach me potions. The useful kind that I might enjoy brewing. He said it’s to help me get into the auror programme but I don’t know whether I should believe that.”

“Curious” Sirius looked up at the dark sky. “I gotta run.”

“Right… Hug Remus for me, yeah?” Sirius tilted his head. He didn’t look impressed with that suggestion.

“Or tell him I’m hugging him mentally.”

“Will do.” He was ready to head back to where he had come from.

“And be careful, you hear?”

“You worried about me?”, again he smirked at me.

“Yes, Sirius, I am. About all of you. Including Remus. So, be careful and not arrogant or heroic or Merlin knows what. Okay?”

Sirius came a little closer and studied my face.

“Nothing will happen, Goods. We’ve done this for a while now. We know what we’re doing.”

“Yeah, right because it’s such a common practice to ru…”

“Nothing”, Sirius interrupted me “will happen to any of us. I promise.” He gave me that look that made one feel like he uncovered the deepest and darkest secrets of one’s soul.

“Fine. Fine, fine. Run off, then.” I pushed him against his shoulders to give him some momentum.

“Get something to eat you worried Goodie-two-shoes”, Sirius grinned as he ran back into the blackness of the grounds.

I continued on my way to dinner, slower than before, but distinctly more concerned. He could promise me that they’d be fine a million times, I would never fully believe that none of them took unnecessary risks. That was in their blood. They were inherently adventurous. To the point of stupidity. This was going to be a long night. I doubted I’d get any sleep at all.

Entering the Great Hall and spotting Milla, Blair, Chloe and Nica I realised that none of us would sleep. We’d all be awake all night assuring one another that the boys would be fine. Although none of us were sure about that.

#james potter #remus lupin #marauders fanfiction #marauders era #original character #sirius black #harry potter #peter pettigrew #james & peter & remus & sirius

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siriuslyblack12 · 5 years ago

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chapter 2

Sirius stood on the blocks, heart beating fast, legs threatening to give out at any moment. His arms gripped the block tighter, steadying his nerves as he let out a long breath. Thoughts spiralled chaotically in his head, impossible to ignore as they built in strength and severity.

Is my cap on tight enough?

Don’t go too soon.

Don’t go too late.

I have to win. Dad’ll go mad if I don’t win.

I have to make him proud.

I don’t give a shit whether I make him proud or not.

“Mr Black,”

Don’t breathe on breakout.

Don’t breathe at all.

You need to get a good time.

“Mr Black,”

Winning is everything.

But be a good loser.

“Mr Black,” the distant voice was getting louder and louder.

You know what happens when you lose.

“Mr Black, I asked you a question! You could at least pretend to be paying attention.” Professor McGonagall scolded, bringing his attention back to the classroom. He wasn’t at the pool, rather in an English classroom, his almost empty page of notes lying in front of him.

“I’m sorry, Professor. Won’t happen again.” He said shyly, not daring to meet her eyes.

School had only started a couple of days ago and Sirius already felt as if he was suffocating. Their professors really weren’t holding back this year, piling up homework and lectures and revision to the point where the student’s backs ached with the pressure. Atop of all of that, social lives and media presences took a lot to keep afloat, as well as sport and fitness. Sport seemed to take up 90 percent of Sirius’s current brain capacity, which was now seeming to be a problem.

English was by far his favourite subject, being the only one that he shared with all 3 of his closest friends. He looked over at James only to see him staring adoringly at the back of Lily’s red head, chin on his hands. With a roll of his eyes, he turned the other way to meet the sight of Peter sneaking snacks out of his bag, handing a few crisps to Remus under the desk. At least he was eating.

The lesson came to an end with the sharp sound of the bell, and Sirius collected his things as quickly and quietly as possible, heading for the door to finally sort through the anxieties swirling in his head; until he heard an old voice call out, “Mr Black, can I speak to you for a moment?”

Shit, this was exactly what he didn’t need.

Defeated and ashamed, Sirius was surprised as his eyes met a kind looking smile and a careful gesture to take a seat. His mind reeled in confusion, but he did what was asked of him anyway. McGonagall cleared her throat and began to speak.

“Is everything alright?” Three words, simple yet powerful, and definitely out of the ordinary. He had no idea how to answer that, not exactly knowing where his boundaries were and how much he could say. He may have been one to overshare on social media, but he was certainly not one to spill his emotions wholeheartedly.

“Never better, Minnie.”

“It sure doesn’t seem like it, Mr Black. I remind you that this is a safe space.”

Sirius looked down at his hands, wrapped in tight fists with his knuckles turning white with the effort. The walls suddenly felt as if hey were closing in on him, his heart rate picking up and foot tapping a rhythm on the floor.

“I’m just finding it hard to concentrate, that’s all.” He said defensively. “Nothing I can’t handle.”

McGonagall nodded glumly. This situation was uncomfortable to say the least. Sirius glanced back at the door of the room, where he could have sworn he saw Remus looking in through the window before hurrying away awkwardly. That boy was a mystery, which only drew Sirius further to him.

“You know Sirius,” his professor never called him by his first name. “Help is always given to those who ask for it.”

“Please Moony,”

“No.”

“I’m begging you!”

“No, Sirius.”

“Why not? It’ll be fun, I promise. I really need it.”

Sirius really was like an excited puppy, Remus thought to himself. He’d just been relaxing in the library, catching up on some reading and enjoying the quiet lull in the day before he was quite rudely interrupted by the one and only trade of Hogwarts High. He supposed he didn’t mind it, given that he was always happy for Sirius’s company – no matter the circumstances. However, on this occasion he was less willing to participate in what the other had planned, that being tutoring him.

Remus let his mind wonder for a few moments, imagining what it would be like to be alone with Sirius, bonding over books and equation. Now that he thought about, it sounded stupid, but that wasn’t going to stop him.

“Why are you asking me, Pads? Why not one of the girls?” He suggested thoughtfully. “I’m sure there are plenty of people who would be better than me.”

“I’m calling bullshit, because you my friend are the smartest person I know.”

Remus slumped back into his chair, his heart skipping a beat. He desperately wanted to say yes, to help him out and be a good friend. He knew that Sirius hated studying, so asking for the blue-eyed boy to help him with that must have been a challenge for him. He also knew that he needed to exercise at least some self-control. Maybe tutoring Sirius would be an excellent idea, a chance to do a good deed and spend some quality time boding with his crush at the same time, without it being too suspicious.

Do you know how pathetic you sound?

He watched as the boy in question looked down towards the floor, one hand running through his hair which Remus had quickly learned was a nervous habit of his. This wasn’t going to end well, nothing ever ended well for him. Rising to stand on two weak legs, he swept his things that had been spread over the table into his bag and slung it over his shoulder with as much swagger as he could muster. He looked back to see that Sirius’s eyes were trained on him, silently reading the room and atmosphere.

“Tomorrow lunch, 12:30, in the library. Don’t you dare be late.”

Remus walked briskly away, not waiting see Sirius’s reaction and biting back a wide smile.

Turns out that tutoring Sirius Black was not the gentle, romantic, flirt-fest he thought it would be, and was in fact turning out to be a lost cause. The boy had a lot of trouble recalling metaphors, understanding Shakespeare and the like, frustrating Remus with basically everything he said. Often times he would zone out, picking at a loose thread on his t-shirt or twirling a piece of hair through his fingers, and even more likely were his frankly stupid remarks that were only made out of his compulsive need to be the funniest in the room. The most stupid thing about them is that they were actually funny, and Remus couldn’t always contain his laughter.

“Pads, stop, stop, no,” He warned. “You cannot compare Romeo and Juliet to fucking Spider-Man and MJ.”

“What? Why not? It fits, that’s all that matters, right? Sirius reasoned, pen between his teeth.

“You have to get rid of that. The whole paragraph would probably be best, so it still makes sense.”

“But that’s my best one! If you didn’t like that then you’re definitely not gonna like the next few.”

Remus buried his face in hands, as Sirius took the essay and out of his hands and ripped it right in half. Drama queen was the only thing he thought to think but a closer look at the other’s face told a different story. “You didn’t have to do that.” Remus said softly.

Sirius didn’t reply, instead opening his notebook and flipping through to find a blank page and start again. The remnants of drawings and doodles did not go unnoticed, some of which were surprisingly good. He wasn’t taking art this year, but by the looks of the pages in front of him, he should be. Sirius got back to work quickly, scribbling none sense that wouldn’t do him any favours in front of his teachers.

“C’mon, you can do better than that. Let me help you.” Remus pried the pen from his hand and pushed the textbook towards him. “And no more drama.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” Sirius added with an enthusiastic wink that made him swoon and squirm in his seat.

The table was subdued for the next few minutes, Remus’s intelligence never failing to impress Sirius, but this was more due to the fact that he shared practically none of the same wit. He wasn’t actually as clueless as he had previously made himself out to be, but that didn’t keep him from acting like it. Perhaps some people’s smarts were more suited to other areas: those areas not exactly helping Sirius’s grades. Remus helping him out was just an extra bonus, or so he told himself.

Long hair fell into his eyes as Sirius leaned over Remus’s shoulder, too close for comfort, inspecting what he was pointing to and explaining. Something about themes that even Remus was quickly forgetting as the boy by his shoulder got closer.

His trance was broken as the bell rang, penetrating through his ears, earning a laugh out of Sirius as he jumped slightly.

“Well, moony, I best get going,” he said briskly. “Maybe we could do this again sometime, eh?”

“Yeah, sure, yeah” Remus stumbled exasperatedly, a blush forming on his cheeks that was often present these days. “Whenever you need me.”

It was an authentic moment, sweet and short, but meaningful nonetheless. Until…

“Padfoot! Moony! Get over here, Peter’s trying to arm wrestle Marlene.” James. Always one to ruin it.

“Poor thing, why the hell would he?” Sirius laughed, rushing to follow him. “Moons, you coming?”

Remus smiled. “You go ahead, I’ve got my own work to catch up on.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’m sick of you anyway.” He added sarcastically, earning another deep laugh.

They continued to have these study sessions, Sirius becoming alarmingly enthusiastic about what would once have kept him far away and out of reach. It was a strange change in the groups’ dynamic, as where Remus and Lily would disappear of to the library, or a classroom to interrogate professors about the work, Sirius now trailed along with them. The red-headed girl had at first raised her eyebrows, or squinted her eyes suspiciously, but had now acclimated nicely. But that didn’t stop her from forming her own theories about what was going on with Remus and Sirius.

This also had the unexpected effect of getting James Potter of all people in the library for what must have been the first time in his life. Seeing Sirius so confident surrounded by nerdy things like books and papers had been the push he needed to follow him and shamelessly flirt with Lily. Remus noted the way she tucked her hair behind her ears and fiddled with her bracelets whenever James was around.

At this current moment, the four of them were hard at work on different projects, making mindless small talk as they grew increasingly bored. Sirius whispered something to James, obviously amusing as they burst into fits of laughter.

“Do you two ever shut up?” Lily said, fighting her own amusement.

“Lily, my dear,” she rolled her eyes. “That would take the fun out of it!”

More comments were exchanged, mainly between Lily and James, as Remus found himself unable to form any words of his own in the presence of Sirius.

Stop it. If you fall too deep you won’t be able to swim back up.

Maybe I don’t want to swim back up anymore.

“Hey, moons, what do you think about this?” Sirius questioned happily, thrusting a sketchbook towards him. To say it was absolutely beautiful would be an understatement, Remus thought as he studied what was in front of him. It was a detailed drawing, all in coloured pencil, of a field at sunset. The outline of a forest coated in orange and pink shades covered the page and his eyes were drawn to the silhouette of a rabbit, burying itself a hole in the grass.

“I’ve been trying my hand at art, my dad hates it.” He said, directed only at Remus. “I know you saw some drawings the other day and thought you’d like it.”

“I-, Sirius this is amazing.” He gushed, until Lily saw what he was looking at and joined on his shock.

“Where have you been hiding all this talent? Are you serious?!” She squealed.

“Nah, I’m Sirius. You know that.” The familiar joke didn’t exactly catch anyone off-guard.

Remus’s mind went to what he’d said about his father, and he began to wonder the exact meaning. He only knew what everyone knew about Sirius’s home life: it was shit and he didn’t like to talk about it. He’d speculated that his parents were quite controlling, but the details were unknown. James hadn’t even been informed.

He secretly hoped that perhaps one day he would know, and he would be able to help Sirius through whatever was going on, but he would wait until the other boy was ready. In the meantime he supposed he would do whatever he could, whilst making sure his secret didn’t show itself.

He’s your friend. That’s all.

But when a friend is hurting, you should put in a little more effort.

#as we grow older wolfstar sirius black remus lupin fluff modern au high school studying friendzoned

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lovesickjily · 5 years ago

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feel like glitter

JILY CHALLENGE ( @jilychallenge ) | @lovesickjily vs @chierafied

"you have horrible taste in festival snacks, the clear winner is a pot of pringles and all you've got is some crappy cereal bars in here"

ffn or ao3

***

If James Potter had a dollar for every time someone offered him drugs, he swore he’d have twice the money in his bank account.

That should have been a given because hello? Music festival? Home to Instagram influencers and modern-day hippies alike? James shouldn’t have been surprised at the turn out.

Still, he didn’t think it would have been that bad.

Sure, the music was decent enough, but no one had warned him of strangers after strangers offering him their equally strange drugs. No one had warned him that once the sun went down, he’d see dark silhouettes hunched over bushes and smell what could have only been natural body waste.

And least of all, no one warned him that once he returned to his tent, he’d be greeted by a stranger sprawled out amidst the snacks that Sirius had been so insistent on bringing. A pretty stranger, no less.

She might have looked like the other girls who James had passed up— glitter decorating her cheeks like they were a cake and sprinkled atop her hair like snow stuck to a person’s clothes— but something about her set her apart from everyone else. It could have been her silky red hair, or those sparkling green eyes, but whatever it was, all James knew was that she was gorgeous. Supermodel— more than a supermodel— gorgeous.

“Is this your tent?” she asked, her mouth full of what James could only assume to be Sirius’s snacks. No hi, or hello, no greeting. Hell, not even an apology for trespassing on his property— nevermind the fact that the turf that the festival was on technically didn’t belong to him— and yet that, in combination with the crumbs decorating the perimeter of her lips, still made her look pretty.

He leaned against the pole holding up the tent, ignoring the smell of the unholy combination of drugs and alcohol wafting from the tents besides his, and cocked an eyebrow at her. “Is this yours?”

“Obviously not. I’ve actually got some taste buds.”

“And I don’t?”

She sat up, sticking her hands out to steady herself, and it was apparent that the readily-supplied stock of alcohol at the festival had gotten to her. "You have horrible taste in festival snacks, the clear winner is a pot of pringles, and all you've got are some crappy cereal bars in here.”

Right. Of course. Out of all the people that could have raided his and Sirius’s tent, it had to be someone critical of the poor, innocent snacks sitting in a messy heap on the floor. Even if he agreed that the snacks weren’t the best.

“Would you believe me if I said that I wasn’t in charge of the snacks?”

She hummed, pondering his wonders for a moment. “That would be a relief. Otherwise I would have questioned what evil entity in their right mind would give someone so fit a horrible taste in junk food.”

At his age, he shouldn’t have been so affected by someone complimenting his appearances, unable to help the light smirk forming on his face. “Think that horrible entity does exist.” He nodded towards the pile of her empty wrappers. “You practically ate all the snacks we packed.”

“The food here is horribly overpriced, and if not that, it’s swarming with flies.” She grimaced, plucking another Pringle from the box and shoving it into her mouth. “I’m terribly hungry, so do you really blame me?”

“Fair enough,” James said, and he decided that there was no harm in letting himself into the tent. It was his tent after all. “Move over.”

She complied, her hand still gripping the box of Pringles. With eyes greener than the fields and constellations of mascara dotting her cheeks, she suspiciously peered up at him. “What’s your name? Oh!” She clapped her hands together. “Don’t tell me. You look like… a Harry.”

“A Harry?” James asked, amused by the drunken rambles of an equally drunk girl. He leaned back, letting his body rock the chair with his weight. “My grandpa was named Henry, but no. It’s James. Potter.”

“James,” she echoed, and he liked the way the words fell from her lips. “I guessed a Prince name, so I suppose I wasn’t too far off.”

“You think I’m a prince?”

“Well, are you? Otherwise, I think I’ll have to leave a message for the Queen and tell her that I’ve found her long-lost son.”

“Tell her I’ve run away for good. Avoiding responsibilities and all that.”

“Obviously you aren’t here to court noble women.”

“Maybe I am,” James said, flashing her a slight cocky grin, and he bowed, outrageously curtsying her. “My lady.”

She laughed. “You’re bold, courting me when you don’t know my name.”

“‘Course I do. The name gods have told me that it’s…” He looked at her for help.

“Lily,” she finished.

“Lily,” he repeated, liking the sound of it rolling off his lips. “You a flower, then?”

She sighed, leaning back. “Maybe. I’ve got a sister named Petunia if that helps my case.”

James shrugged. “Depends on if you want to be a flower or not.”

“What I want right now,” she started, flopping her head back onto one of the pillows littering the tent floor and holding up the now-empty can of Pringles. “Are better snacks.”

“I reckon if you raid one of the other gazillion tents, you’ll be able to get that.”

“That, unfortunately, means I’d have to get up.” She buried her head further into the pillow as if to prove her point. “Is this yours?”

“I mean, it is my tent.”

“That’s the wrong answer. It’s mine now.”

James smiled, no doubt amused even more than he would have been had he chosen to stay out to listen to Sirius’s horrible interpretations of the EDM beats that were currently blaring throughout the air. “Take good care of it, yeah? It’s my most prized possession.”

“Is it really?”

“Nah,” he replied, shaking his head. “There was a pack of pillows on sale at the store the other day.”

She laughed. “You’re supposed to be wooing me here.”

“Thought I was. You’re not into thrifty blokes? Thought you’d be the type, seeing as we’re at a music festival and all.”

“And yet we’re not participating. Why is that so?”

“Because I found you raiding my tent and eating all the snacks?” James replied, and she let out a huff, weakly and terribly chucking a pillow that sent his athletic side into tears. “Couldn’t help but get sideswept.”

She sat up. “What do you say we get out there, then?”

He grinned. “Lead the way.”

***

In theory, it shouldn’t have been so hard to lead someone around, to take them by their hand and show them the way.

In reality, it was the exact opposite— so bloody hard. Because even if said someone was the prettiest girl that James had ever seen in his life, it was really hard to maneuver the two of them around throngs of people who were all out of it. Thank the bloody drugs.

As they got closer and closer to the main stage, James careful to step over what he hoped could have only been throw up and not something else, the music grew louder and louder. And, apparently, Lily’s excitement grew as well.

“I love this song!” she exclaimed over the music, moving her body to the beat.

“Yeah? You a fan?”

She shook her head. “I’ve never heard of them in my life, but you can’t deny how good they are!”

Lily swayed to the beat, grabbing his hands to make him move along to the rhythm. If he was being honest, he didn’t think he’d find himself in the company of another person who wasn’t Sirius— not tonight, at least. Perhaps it was the alcohol from earlier that day, or maybe it was the adrenaline that came with the thrill of being one among an entire crowd of people jumping and dancing and throwing their hearts— and stomach’s contents, to the slight disgust of James— out, but James didn’t think he felt so alive.

WIth everyone singing along to the song, James couldn’t help but to join in, screaming along with them and watching Lily jump around. And it wasn’t planned. It just sort of… happened.

Even surrounded by people, it still somehow felt like just the two of them, and he kissed her. Spontaneously. Hands looping around her waist and pulling her to his chest, James pressed his lips around hers, slowly and tentatively, before it escalated into something a little more.

Her lips tasted salty— perhaps from the Pringles that she’d eaten— but he didn’t mind a bit, determined to deepen the kiss. The action seemed to elevate every one of his senses, pounding at his ears even harder as the music seemed to grow louder.

And when they— he didn’t even know who had done it first— pulled away, he didn’t think he was letting her go anytime soon.

***

The bright, sudden sun jolted James awake.

“Rise and fucking shine,” Sirius announced, walking in through the flap of the tent and making a beeline towards the cooler.

James groaned. “Fuck off.”

“I was about to, actually. It reeks of a potential relationship in here,” Sirius said with a grimace, and satisfied with the water bottle in his hand, he turned back around. “We’re leaving in ten.”

And then it was James and Lily alone once again.

Lily shifted besides James, having spent the night in the tent with him, and to keep Sirius away, she promised that she’d pay him back for all his snacks that she’d eaten. She rolled over, snuggling herself into the crook of his neck. “Good morning. Did you get a good night’s sleep?”

“As good that sleep could be with the bloody mosquitoes flying around. Swear I had to swat off at least a dozen for my lady.”

“And who is your lady?”

WIth her tucked against his person, it was obvious who that title belonged to. “Am I being too presumptuous?”

“No,” she hummed. “But I’ve got a massive headache right now, and I don’t think the flutters in my stomach are helping any matters.”

“Ah. That’s my bad. Is there anything that I can do to help?”

“Well…” she started, looking over at him with a light glint in her eyes. “There is something.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“And would that involve maybe seeing you again?”

“Only if you get better snacks next time,” she said, and James let out a chuckle, letting his hand fly down to hers and giving it a slight squeeze.

“Deal.”

#jilychallenge #chierafied #jily #james potter #lily evans #jily fanfiction #jily fic #music festival au #lsj writes #okay but remember when i used to write like 10k words #now i'm struggling w 1k

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aidanchaser · 5 years ago

Text

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: Everyone Lives AU

Table of Contents beta’d by @ageofzero, @magic713m, @ccboomer, @aubsenroute, and @somebodyswatson

Chapter Fifteen The Unbreakable Vow

The first Quidditch match of the year also marked the beginning of the run up to Christmas. After an intensive rivalry game, the castle always transformed into a festive collection of evergreen trees and baubles. It seemed to Harry that there was more mistletoe hung in the corridors than in previous years. Or perhaps it only appeared that way because each time he walked by, a cluster of girls was there, waiting. Luckily, he knew enough of the castle’s secret passages to avoid these traps.

Ron was traditionally jealous of the attention Harry received, and under other circumstances he might have been annoyed at the number of detours they had to take to navigate the castle. However, this year, Ron found it all highly amusing. Perhaps because Ron had his own source of constant attention from Lavender Brown, he did not have reason to be jealous of Harry.

For Harry’s part, he could do without Lavender Brown being attached to Ron during meal times and in the common room in the evening. He preferred to eat his dinner and finish his homework without the unfortunate sounds that accompanied the manic kissing that took place between the two of them. Their intense passion did, however, mean that it was not so difficult to slip away and spend time with Hermione. She was, unsurprisingly, not speaking to Ron.

Harry, as Ron’s best friend, found it difficult to maintain his two friendships. He had to listen to Ron, on one hand, justify his relationship to Lavender at each turn. “I never promised Hermione anything,” he said as they studied in the common room. “I mean, alright, we were going to Slughorn’s Christmas party, but as friends — she never said… I’m a free agent.”

And Harry, in the interest of keeping Ron as a friend, said nothing.

When Lavender came by for her nightly ritual of entangling herself in Ron’s arms, Harry slipped down to the library, where he would often find Hermione. There, he could listen to Hermione justify her definite lack of jealousy. “He’s at perfect liberty to kiss whomever he likes. I couldn’t care less.”

And in the interest of keeping Hermione as a friend, Harry kept his mouth shut. It seemed that the only friend he could really talk to anymore was Neville.

When Harry had told his parents he did not want to be stuck between Hermione and Ron, he had not expected it to be this bad.

As the Christmas holidays, and thus the full moon, drew near, Harry was glad to have the mirror to talk to Remus. It helped to have someone who actually understood. Neville could only partially commiserate, as he avoided Ron as often as possible these days, but Remus knew what Harry was going through. Harry also learned quite a bit about his parents during their time with Hogwarts, and he was particularly surprised to hear that their fights and make-ups were often very public common room events. He was not surprised to learn that Sirius and Peter had coordinated an entire betting pool based on these fights.

“You didn’t stop them as Prefect? Wasn’t Dad Head Boy? Shouldn’t he have done something?”

Remus laughed. “I’m not sure James knew. And, well, I’ve never been able to tell Sirius that he couldn’t do something. He even had an illegal butterbeer trade going on for a while. For someone who was able to turn such a profit in school, he certainly squanders money quickly.”

Harry leaned back into the pillows of his dormitory bed. Hermione may have hated it, but Harry found that Muffliato allowed him to be much more comfortable when talking to his parents through the mirror, rather than having to hide in the bathroom and hope that the bath water would muffle his conversation.

“Are… are you and Sirius talking again?” Harry asked tentatively.

Remus’s smile vanished and the colour seemed to drain from his face. “Er — no. I’m afraid Sirius and I have nothing new to say to each other. Ah — looks like your mother’s finished the potion. Let me pass you off to James.”

Harry had never seen Remus so eager for such bitter medicine.

Once the awkwardness of being carried from one room to another had settled, and Harry had a view of his father’s forehead, he said, “He didn’t look mad at Sirius, but he said that they still aren’t talking.”

“No, I don’t think Remus is angry anymore,” James agreed, and adjusted the mirror so his face was in the center. “His transformations have actually been better since Sirius got back, if only because it gives your mum an extra hand with the healing charms.”

“She did it all on her own before?”

“Sort of. She asked Nympha — er, Tonks to help with the full moon just before Halloween. I don’t know what went wrong, exactly, but Tonks made it clear to your mum that she was happy to help with potions if necessary, but she wasn’t going to stick around for any more sunrises. She wouldn’t say why, but I imagine she and Remus had a fight.”

“Have Remus’ transformations been bad?”

“September and October were… not very much fun for anyone involved.” James ran a hand through his hair, and though his eyes were distant, he smiled at Harry. “Don’t worry. November was much better; your mother’s got it well in hand. And with Sirius back, he’ll be able to help your mother with healing charms, though I doubt we’ll need many of them. I’m sure you can give her a hand too.”

Harry didn’t know how much help he could be, but he was glad that his father seemed to think he’d be useful. “So we’re spending Christmas at home this year?”

“That’s the plan. It’s hard to know what the Order will need from us, but we’ll certainly be here Christmas Eve for the full moon, and we’ll have a leisurely Christmas Day to recover. Speaking of Christmas, your mum mentioned last night that you’re going to one of Slughorn’s parties. Is that right?”

“Yeah, he asked Hermione to make sure I could be there. I really don’t want to be.”

“Your mum didn’t care much for the Slug Club in her day, either. Slughorn was alright, but most of the club was purebloods, and she never felt welcome with them. I hope things have changed for Hermione’s sake.”

“Hermione says she has a good time. You and Remus weren’t ever invited?”

“Remus was too quiet and not good enough in Potions to attract Slughorn’s attention. Sirius and I did, but we always had better things to do than sit in a stuffy room with a stuffy professor. But you’ll have other friends there, won’t you?”

“I suppose — Ginny’s taking Dean. And I asked Hermione if we could go together as friends, but she’s said she’s got someone already. She said I’d better pick someone quickly, or someone’s going to slip me a love potion.”

“Love potions are a dangerous business. They’re not just silly tricks. Be careful. When I was Head Boy I confiscated quite a few.”

Harry eyed the chocolates on the end of his bed that Romilda Vane had handed to him on his way upstairs that evening. He hadn’t planned to open them, but now he thought it might be worth setting them on fire before he fell asleep tonight.

“I’ll be sure to keep an eye on my pumpkin juice,” he said. “Apparently love potions are a popular Weasley product.”

James frowned. “I wonder if they’re effective? I’ll have to talk to them about it…. It’s not right to take away someone’s self-control like that. Headless Hats and Puking Pastilles are one thing, but love potions….”

Harry recalled Dumbledore’s theory that Voldemort had been conceived under the use of a love potion and agreed with his father’s distaste for them, but he still hadn’t told them about his lessons yet, so he bit the comment back and simply said, “I promise I’ll be careful.”

“Take a friend with you, Harry. One friend at a party can make all the difference between merriment and misery.”

“Sure. I’ll just ask Neville in the morning.”

“Why not?”

Harry did not think that Neville would enjoy being asked, nor that asking Neville would curtail the love potion problem, but he didn’t voice his reasons to his father. Instead, he only rolled his eyes. “Good night, Dad. Tell Mum hello from me. Best not to interrupt her while she’s making Remus’s potion.”

“You just don’t want her to tease you about not having someone for the party.”

“You’re the one teasing me.”

“Only because I love you.”

“I love you too, Dad. And Mum. And Remus. And Sirius if you see him.”

“I’ll pass it along. Sleep well, Harry. Sweet dreams.”

“Thanks. You too.”

As Harry tucked the mirror into his bedside table and ended the spell that muffled his conversation, he knew that he would be able to at least partially comply with his father’s wishes. He would not dream of Voldemort, and hadn’t for the last month. Which was excellent, because he was absolutely terrible at Occlumency.

Though his dreams would not be about Voldemort, they would be vivid enough. Luckily, Ron was no better at Legilimency than Harry was at Occlumency, so he had no way to know just what or who Harry had begun dreaming about. Harry was not sure he would survive to see Slughorn’s Christmas party otherwise.

The day of Slughorn’s Christmas party did not bring Harry any reasons for optimism. They were working on human Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall. Harry had found much of the theory familiar, after a summer of learning healing charms with Sirius. They had not, however, spent any time on changing colour. There wasn’t much use for altering hair colour in healing magic.

So while Hermione had managed to give herself eyebrow variations that rivaled a rainbow, Harry was stuck with one blonde eyebrow, and was struggling to understand why his left was so particularly stubborn. Ron, for his part, accidentally Conjured an enormous handlebar mustache. As funny as it was, Hermione’s laughter was sharper than the class’s general laughter. Ron, to the amusement of Lavender and Parvati, mimicked Hermione’s over-enthusiasm to answer each of McGonagall’s questions. He was careful to only raise his hand and bounce in his seat when McGonagall was not looking, so their professor was unable to sort out why the girls were giggling so enthusiastically. Harry imagined that McGonagall was smart enough to suss out some of what had happened when the bell rang and Hermione ran from the classroom. She had grabbed her pencil case and book, but Harry picked up her parchment, ink, and bag and hurried after her. Ron had all the support he needed in Lavender and Parvati.

Harry used the Marauder's Map, which he now kept with him at all times beside his Invisibility Cloak, and found her in Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom. It was one most people avoided, and allowed those who needed a good cry an excuse if they were overheard. It was also nice for Harry, who did not feel so terribly uncomfortable walking into a girls’ bathroom as long as it was the one frequented by Moaning Myrtle.

Luna Lovegood was there with Hermione, patting her on the back.

“Oh, hello, Harry,” she said. “Did you know one of your eyebrows is bright yellow?”

Harry had forgotten, and dismissed the reminder as unimportant. “Hi, Luna. Hermione, you left your stuff….”

Hermione turned away from him, and Harry awkwardly turned as well. One night of her crying in front of him had already been too much for her pride. He could allow her this privacy.

Once she’d finished drying her eyes on her pencil case, she took her things from Harry. He’d hardly opened his mouth to tell her he’d go when she hurried past him and out of the bathroom.

“She’s a bit upset,” Luna said unnecessarily. “I thought it was Moaning Myrtle in there, but it turned out to be Hermione. She said something about Ron Weasley….”

“Yeah, they’ve had a row.” Actually, “been having a row,” would have been more accurate, but Harry thought that Hermione would prefer discretion, particularly with Luna Lovegood, who held nothing back.

“He says very funny things sometimes, doesn’t he?”

Harry held the door open for Luna and was briefly grateful that there was no one around to see him coming out of the girls’ bathroom with her.

“But he can be a bit unkind,” Luna continued, demonstrating the exact bluntness that made Harry love her, but wary of confiding secrets in her. “I noticed that last year.”

“I s’pose,” he said, maintaining his neutrality in the war between Ron and Hermione as best as he could. “So, have you had a good term?”

“Oh, it’s been alright.” If Luna was surprised by the change in conversation, Harry could not tell. “A bit lonely without the D.A. Ginny’s been nice, though. She stopped two boys in our Transfiguration class calling me ‘Loony’ the other day —”

In an effort to defeat the tightness in Harry’s chest and the turning of his stomach, he blurted out, “How would you like to come to Slughorn’s party with me tonight?”

“Slughorn’s party? With you?”

Harry wished that Luna did not always sound like she was far away. It was hard to tell if the idea bothered her or not, and if it did, he would love to discern whether it was the party that bothered her or the idea of going to a party with him.

“Yeah — We’re supposed to bring guests, so I thought you might like… I mean… just as friends, you know. But if you don’t want to —”

“Oh, no, I’d love to go with you as friends!” She smiled, wider than she had when she’d first cast her Patronus last spring. “Nobody’s ever asked me to a party before, as a friend! Is that why you dyed your eyebrow, for the party? Should I do mine, too?”

“No. That was a mistake. I’ll get Hermione to put it right for me. So, I’ll meet you in the entrance hall at eight o’clock then.”

A scream of laughter echoed overhead. Harry jumped and looked up to see Peeves, the castle’s poltergeist, hanging from the chandelier. “Potty asked Loony to go to the party!” the poltergeist shrieked. “Potty lurves Loony! Potty lurves Loony!” And he was gone, shrieking his chant across the castle.

“Nice to keep these things private,” said Harry. He was used to rumours spreading quickly at Hogwarts, but this one may have set a new record. When he arrived at the Great Hall for dinner, he thought he had never seen the hall go so quiet, not even when Dumbledore gave the start of term speech. The silence, however, did not last long. It dissolved in a flurry of whispers. Romilda Vane, notably, kept casting dirty looks at both Harry and the Ravenclaw table. Another group of girls, who had eagerly invited Harry to sit with them every meal even though he turned them down each time, now refused to look up from their plates as he passed. Harry thought perhaps he should have asked Luna to Slughorn’s party much sooner.

He noticed Hermione sitting at the end of the Gryffindor table, alone, and started towards her, but he was accosted by Ron, who sat him down and looked at him as seriously as if Harry had decided to quit Quidditch.

“You could’ve taken anyone,” he said. “Anyone! And you chose Loony Lovegood?”

“Don’t call her that, Ron,” a voice behind Harry snapped. He did not need to turn around to know it was Ginny. In fact, he did not want to turn around.

“I’m really glad you’re taking her, Harry,” Ginny continued. “She’s so excited.” And then Ginny was gone, joining Dean farther down the table.

Harry was not as pleased as Ginny, and not particularly pleased that Ginny was pleased. He had sort of hoped that she’d be annoyed. Not that he had invited Luna in order to make Ginny jealous, but he would not have complained if it had been a side effect.

Harry tore his eyes away from Hermione to find Ron staring in the same direction.

“You could say sorry,” he said, taking a page from Luna on being direct.

“What, and get attacked by another flock of canaries?” Ron hastily shoved a bite of stew into his mouth.

“What did you have to imitate her for?”

“She laughed at my mustache!”

“So did I; it was the stupidest thing I’d ever seen.”

This comment went unheard by Ron, who was distracted by Lavender squeezing her way in between Harry and Ron. She did not need all that much room; she mostly sat on Ron’s lap, which Harry thought to be a bold move in full view of the Professors’ table. He weighed the satisfaction of alerting Snape to the unfortunate sounds he now had to eat dinner next to against the betrayal that Ron would feel. It was not a hard decision, in the end. Harry did not have to share a dormitory with Snape.

Parvati slipped into the seat beside Harry and smiled apologetically. He wondered if she was as annoyed by her best friend’s behavior as Harry was by his.

“Hi, Harry,” she said.

“Hi. You alright? I heard from Hermione that you and your sister might be leaving Hogwarts.”

“Oh — I managed to talk them out of it for the time being. The Katie thing really freaked them out.”

Harry imagined his parents were worried too, but it had to be safer here than out there. “Hogwarts is probably safest, despite that.”

“Yes, they admitted that Dumbledore and the Ministry probably have better protection than home might. And anyway, it wasn’t as if the curse got into the castle. Padma and I are banned from Hogsmeade though — at least, our parents have said not to go.”

Harry thought it was only a matter of time before his delivered the same news. Then again, perhaps since his parents knew that Tonks had been there, they trusted that the Order had it well in hand.

“But at least nothing has happened since then,” Parvati said.

“Yeah,” Harry agreed, though he was thinking of the Daily Prophet and all the things that had happened since Katie’s attack, just not at Hogwarts. He didn’t know what else to say to Parvati, but he realised it was possibly the politest conversation they’d had since before the Yule Ball.

Harry searched for some topic of conversation to mask the noises of Lavender and Ron’s public intimacy, and was grateful to be rescued by Hermione.

“Hi Parvati,” she said. “Hi, Harry.” She appeared to be completely recovered, and smiled brightly at the two of them. Perhaps too brightly, considering Parvati had enjoyed Ron’s joke in class, and Ron was currently attached to Lavender like a Flesh-Eating Slug.

“Hi, Hermione,” Parvati smiled. She, too, was a bit overeager in her greeting, perhaps because she had teased Hermione not long ago and wanted it forgotten.

“Are you going to Slughorn’s party tonight?” Hermione asked.

“No invite,” Parvati said. “I’d love to go, though, it sounds like it’s going to be really good…. You’re going, aren’t you?”

“Oh, yes. I’m meeting Cormac at eight, and we’re —”

The Flesh-Eating Slug pulled itself off of Lavender’s face with a slurp and a pop. Hermione ignored it.

“— we’re going up to the party together.”

“Cormac?” Parvati said. “Cormac McLaggen, you mean?”

“That’s right. The one who almost became Gryffindor Keeper.”

“Are you going out with him, then?”

“Oh — yes — didn’t you know?” Hermione giggled, something more akin to Parvati or Lavender and not like her at all.

Parvati stared up at Hermione, eyes wide. “No — Wow, you like your Quidditch players, don’t you? First Krum, then McLaggen — You go through them as fast as Ginny Weasley —”

“I like really good Quidditch players,” Hermione said, before Harry could quite process the comment about Ginny. “Well, see you… Got to go and get ready for the party….”

Lavender seemed to have forgotten all about Ron in the wake of this new gossip, and she quickly leaned over Harry to discuss this new development with Parvati. Ron’s face appeared empty. Either he had not fully resurfaced from Lavender, or he was still processing Hermione’s revenge. Harry, for his part, was divided between wondering who on earth kept repeating something about Ginny Weasley moving through Quidditch players and musing over just how far Hermione would sink for revenge.

Harry arrived in the entrance hall promptly at eight o’clock. He was not wearing the dress robes his great-great grandmother had designed. Instead, he had opted for the simpler red robes he had originally bought in his fourth year. The hem, which had been extended to suit Ron at the Yule Ball, was now just inches too short for Harry, but he had not had any desire to ask Dean for help extending it. When Harry saw Luna waiting, though, he thought they might have made an interesting pair if he had worn the evergreen robes with animated snow drifts.

Luna’s silver robes were glittering with stars, like her earrings. Harry was grateful she had left off the radishes. She reflected the hall’s chandelier as she turned. It was both absurd and dazzling.

More amusing than Luna’s robes, however, were the crowds of girls gathered in the corners and corridors. Some were giggling unkindly at Luna’s appearance. Some were whispering fiercely. All went quiet as Harry met her at the bottom of the steps.

“Hi,” he said. “Shall we get going then?”

“Oh, yes.” She beamed, and Harry could not help but be infected by her excitement, as nervous as the onlookers made him.

“Where is the party?” she asked.

“Slughorn’s office — oh,” he belatedly remembered the manners his mother had drilled into him, “you look nice, by the way.”

“Thank you! You do as well. Ginny’s right; red is a lovely colour on you.”

Harry’s mind seemed to have been struck with a Freezing Charm. As he led Luna up the marble staircase towards Slughorn’s office, he could think of nothing other than Luna’s innocuous statement on a loop, like a broken Muggle record. He was vaguely aware that his silence was rude, but he could think of nothing to say. He thought that if Luna were to ask how he planned to defeat Voldemort right now, he might simply answer, “Ginny thinks I look nice in red.”

When they arrived at Slughorn’s office, the party appeared to already be in full swing. Music and laughter filled the corridor, finally giving Harry something new to think about. He pushed the door open for Luna and together they walked into an office much larger than any teacher’s office Harry had been in before. He wondered if Slughorn had expanded it somehow. It also looked nothing like an office. Green, red, and gold strips of satin draped across the ceiling and down the sides of the room. In the center, a lamp illuminated the office in a dim yellow glow. It did not flicker like candlelight and it took Harry a moment to notice the fairies flitting in and out of it. The music turned out to be a live band, but not any band Harry had heard of. The singer was a woman in an elegant, glittering dress, and the musicians beside her plucked at mandolins.

There were also several clusters of non-students, Harry noted. None of them looked like any Aurors he’d met, so he did not think that they were security. He wondered if it had been troublesome for Slughorn to get his guests access to Hogwarts in these dark times.

Just as Harry caught sight of a house-elf carrying a platter of what looked like miniature chocolate cakes, Slughorn caught him around the shoulder.

“Harry, m’boy! Come in, come in, so many people I’d like you to meet.”

Harry, remembering his father’s advice that one friend could make the difference between an enjoyable time and a miserable time, dragged Luna with him and prayed for the former.

Slughorn led Harry, and Harry in turn led Luna, through the crowd of party guests to two men in dark robes, as different in size and stature as Fabian and Gideon Prewett, standing not far from the singer.

“Harry,” Slughorn announced, “I’d like you to meet Eldred Worple, an old student of mine, author of Blood Brothers: My Life Amongst the Vampires — and of course, his friend Sanguini.”

The short, round man with glasses and bright red cheeks shook Harry’s hand eagerly.

“Harry Potter! I am simply delighted!”

Harry did his best to smile, and eyed the tall, thin man with waxy skin and long, dark hair. It was easy to see why someone had mistaken Regulus Black for a vampire.

“I was just saying,” Worple continued, “where is the biography of Harry Potter for which we have all been waiting?”

Harry tore his eyes from Sanguini and looked for the joke on Worple’s face. He was disappointed to see nothing but earnestness. “Er — were you?”

“Just as modest as Horace described! But, seriously —” the enthusiasm faded a little, and Worple finally stopped shaking Harry’s hand, “I would be delighted to write it myself — people are craving to know more about you, dear boy, craving! If you were prepared to grant me a few interviews, say in four or five-hour sessions, why, we could have the book finished within months. And all with very little effort on your part, I assure you.”

“Er — all that time?” Harry was not sure he could manage to talk about himself for more than fifteen minutes, let alone for four hours.

“Ask Sanguini here if it isn’t quite — oh — where’s he got off to?”

Harry was quite pleased that Worple had to disappear to keep Sanguini from a pair of witches hanging around the musicians. He found that Slughorn, too, had vanished into the party, and he was grateful to spot a pile of thick dark hair slip between two wizards. He pulled Luna along.

“Hermione — Hermione!”

“Harry, there you are, thank goodness! Hi, Luna!”

They paused to grab goblets of mead from a tray, then tucked themselves into an empty corner of the room. Harry took a moment to actually take in Hermione’s appearance and was surprised to see her dress rumpled and her hair out of place — well, compared to the hours she had put into it for the Yule Ball. It appeared that it had once looked tight and smooth as it had at the ball, but now had started to fall apart.

“I’ve just escaped — I mean, I’ve just left Cormac under the mistletoe.”

“Why in Merlin’s name did you bring him?” Harry nearly spilled his mead down the front of his robes as he punctuated his question with a more aggressive gesture than he had intended.

“I thought he’d annoy Ron the most,” Hermione said.

Harry, who disliked McLaggen about half as much as he disliked Draco Malfoy, found this a little rude to McLaggen.

“I debated for a while about Zacharias Smith, but I thought, on the whole —”

“You considered Smith?” Harry had to refrain from retching up his mead. He made the decision that he was no longer tolerating Ron and Hermione’s fight. As soon as the Christmas holiday was over, he was done keeping his mouth shut, and he was going to make sure that they both knew how wrong they were.

“Yes, I did, and I’m starting to wish I’d chosen him. McLaggen makes Grawp look like a gentleman — oh no, here he comes!” and she was gone, disappearing between a pair of witches laughing heartily at something Slughorn had just said.

McLaggen reached Harry and Luna a moment later. “Seen Hermione?” McLaggen asked.

“No, sorry,” Harry said. “Er — have you met Luna Lovegood?”

McLaggen shook Luna’s hand warily. “I didn’t realise you two were… friends.”

“Harry!” Slughorn’s voice boomed. “That’s where you got off to.” His tasseled hat was now sitting askew and his face glowed red, though his glass of mead was full. “I was just telling Severus here what a natural you are at Potions — oh, stop sulking Severus! — Some credit for Harry’s exceptional potion-making must go to you, of course, you taught him for five years!”

Harry felt strangely sympathetic towards Snape, who could not easily break free from Slughorn’s tight arm around his shoulder.

“Funny,” Snape said, “I never had the impression that I managed to teach Potter anything at all.”

Harry thought, given their dismal Occlumency lessons, he could quite agree with the statement that Snape was a terrible teacher.

“Then it’s natural ability!” Slughorn said. “You should have seen what he gave me, first lesson, Draught of Living Death — never had a student produce a finer on a first attempt. I don’t think even you, Severus —”

“Really?”

Harry focused on Slughorn, and refused to make eye contact with Snape. He did not need Snape uncovering the truth of why he had succeeded in Potions so suddenly. He had a feeling that Snape would not approve.

“Remind me what other subjects you’re taking, Harry?” asked Slughorn.

“Defense, Charms, Transfiguration, Herbology —”

“All the subjects required, in short, for an Auror,” said Snape. There was a sneer in his voice, but there was always a sneer in Snape’s voice, so Harry could not be certain whether or not it was personal.

In truth, he and Snape had hardly spoken this year. Nonverbal casting in Defense Against the Dark Arts meant that he never had to open his mouth, and so he did not. Snape, largely, had taken to ignoring Harry, which Harry had no problem with. They’d reached something of an impasse; Harry knew that Snape loved Lily, and Snape knew that Harry had, however foolishly, risked his life to save Snape from Voldemort. There was a debt beneath that loathing, and both were content to pretend that nothing existed between them.

“I don’t think you should be an Auror, Harry,” said Luna. “The Aurors are part of the Rotfang conspiracy, I thought everyone knew that. They’re working to bring down the Ministry of Magic from within using a combination of Dark Magic and gum disease.”

Harry choked on his mead as McLaggen and Slughorn gaped at Luna. Snape remained unperturbed, but perhaps he was familiar with Luna’s absurdities after four years as her professor.

“And who,” Slughorn asked, perhaps having had enough glasses of mead to be genuinely interested, “is at the head of this conspiracy?”

“Rufus Scrimgeour, of course. They’ve nearly won now that he’s become Minister for Magic. Did you know Scrimgeour is a vampire? He’s got very close connections with Regulus Black from the years they spent together in Transylvania.”

This got an eyebrow raise out of Snape. Harry would have loved to watch more of the Enchanting Eccentricities of Luna Lovegood Hour, but something much more interesting grabbed his attention. Argus Filch appeared, dragging in Draco Malfoy by the ear.

“Professor Slughorn,” Filch gasped, “I have discovered this boy lurking in an upstairs corridor. He claims to have been invited to your party and to have been delayed in setting out. Did you issue him with an invitation?”

Malfoy managed to wrench himself from the caretaker’s hold. “Alright, I wasn’t invited! I was trying to gate-crash, happy?”

“No, I am not!” Though Filch looked utterly pleased at the possibility of punishing a student. “You’re in trouble, you are! Didn’t the headmaster say that nighttime prowling’s out, unless you’ve got permission, didn’t he, eh?”

“That’s alright, Argus, that’s alright.” Slughorn did not look upset in the least. “It’s Christmas, and it’s not a crime to want to come to a party. Just this once, we’ll forget any punishment; you may stay, Draco.”

Malfoy did not look pleased to hear this, and Harry wondered just what Malfoy had been up to. Snape, too, looked displeased, which was his default expression, but it was different somehow. Whatever Harry saw on Snape’s face was brief. It vanished as Filch did, though Filch left with far more grumbling. Malfoy’s displeasure, too, had disappeared, and he was smiling and thanking Slughorn for his graciousness.

“It’s nothing, nothing,” Slughorn said. “I did know your grandfather, after all.”

“He always spoke very highly of you, sir,” said Malfoy. “Said you were the best potion-maker he’d ever known.”

Though the displeasure had vanished, and Malfoy was his usual self again, full of flattery for those in power, Harry noticed that Malfoy was, incredibly, paler than usual. Shadows rimmed his eyes, and his features were, strangely, not unlike Sanguini’s, and not unlike Regulus Black’s, when he was fresh from Azkaban. He doubted Malfoy had recently received a vampire bite, and he was fairly certain that Malfoy had not run into any dementors at Hogwarts. He wondered what it was that had changed Malfoy so thoroughly.

“I’d like a word with you, Draco,” said Snape.

“Oh, now, Severus,” Slughorn paused to hiccough, “it’s Christmas. Don’t be too hard —”

“I’m his Head of House, and I shall decide how hard, or otherwise, to be,” said Snape. “Follow me, Draco.”

Harry had a brief moment of trepidation. He did not want to leave Luna with McLaggen, but he decided Luna was quite capable of looking after herself. He was the one who had taught her defensive spells, after all.

“Er — I’ll be right back. Bathroom.”

“Alright,” Luna said. She appeared entirely unbothered as she continued to tell McLaggen exactly how deep the Rotfang conspiracy went.

As soon as Harry had slipped out through the doors of the party, he pulled the Invisibility Cloak over himself and unfolded the Marauder’s Map. He searched the corridor and adjacent classrooms for Draco Malfoy and Severus Snape. He finally found them behind the door at the very end of the corridor. He knew it would be impossible to open the door without disturbing them, so he crouched at the keyhole, careful that the cloak covered his feet.

“... what a risk it was! And utterly foolish. How did you expect it to even get into the castle? Filch may be an idiot, but even he wouldn’t let an unmarked package enter the castle without a thorough inspection. You must understand that you cannot afford mistakes, Draco, because if you are expelled —”

“I didn’t have anything to do with it, alright?”

“I hope you are telling the truth, because it was both clumsy and foolish. Already you are suspected of having a hand in it.”

“Who suspects me? For the last time, I didn’t do it, okay? That Bell girl must’ve had an enemy no one knows about — don’t look at me like that! I know what you’re doing. I’m not stupid — but it won’t work. I can stop you!”

There was a lull in the conversation and Harry wondered what Snape had done, but he got his answer quickly.

“Ah… Your Aunt Bellatrix has been teaching you Occlumency. I see. What thoughts are you trying to conceal from your master, Draco?”

“I’m not trying to conceal anything from him, I just don’t want you butting in!”

Draco had always shown respect towards Snape. Snape was his favourite professor, his Head of House, and Snape had always shown him favour in return. This contempt was entirely new.

“So that is why you have been avoiding me this term? You realise that, had anybody else failed to come to my office when I had told them repeatedly to be there, Draco —”

“So put me in detention! Report me to Dumbledore!”

There was another long pause.

“You know perfectly well that I do not wish to do either of those things. Listen to me, Draco, I am trying to help you. I swore to your mother I would protect you. I made the Unbreakable Vow, Draco —”

“Looks like you’ll have to break it then, because I don’t want your protection. It’s my job. He gave it to me, and I’m doing it. I’ve got a plan and it’s going to work. It’s just taking a bit longer than I thought it would!”

“And what is your plan?”

“It’s none of your business!”

“I have no interest in credit, Draco, I am only trying to assist you —”

“I don’t believe you! I know what you are — I know why he asked me to do this and not you. Filthy Mudblood-lover.”

For a moment, Harry forgot to breathe.

“Do you doubt my loyalty, Draco?”

“Why shouldn’t I?! You betrayed him for Potter’s Mudblood-mother —”

“Keep your voice down!” Snape hissed, for Draco had begun to shout. “The Dark Lord is satisfied that I have proven myself. I was the one who told him the importance of the prophecy. I was the one who gave him the plan that lured Potter to the Ministry, was I not? I have put myself in a position that is as valuable to him as yours, and I have put myself at great risk to do so. You are putting yourself at risk unnecessarily. I am here to assist you Draco. I understand that your father’s capture and imprisonment has upset you, but —”

Harry heard Draco’s footsteps and only just managed to scramble away from the door as Draco flung it open and hurried out of the office, past the party, and down the stairs.

Harry stayed perfectly still, crouched in the centre of the corridor, and watched Snape exit the classroom. He appeared perfectly unperturbed, which Harry thought unfair, considering how fast his own heart was racing.

#hp everyone lives #harry potter and the half blood prince #hp fic #hbp

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leviohhsa · 7 years ago

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The Marauder’s Map: A Horcrux?

My friend had an existential crisis at 4am and sent me this.

(I definitely don’t think this is “canon” but it’s an interesting theory if you open your mind to interpretation/look at the HP universe as a whole instead of just what’s in the books)

What we know about the map (from Pottermore/the books/J.K. herself):

Remus, Peter, Sirius, and James created it.

Its magic is “advanced” and “impressive.”

They used the homonculous charm for tracking people in the castle.

It’s “enchanted to repel Snape” (Pottermore specifically says Snape because he was their “nemesis,” but he is also the only person seen trying to force the map to “reveal its secrets,” so it’s unknown/unlikely in my opinion that this feature is unique to him)

They were able to map the grounds from exploring them as animagi.

They mapped the inside of the castle using James’ invisibility cloak.

Filch confiscated the map in their 7th year.

Fred and George steal the map back in their first year.

The twins have always been drawn to mischief as naturally born troublemakers, but this wouldn’t explain why, out of everything in Filch’s “Confiscated and Highly Dangerous” drawer, they would take a piece of parchment? Yeah, they tossed a dung bomb and just grabbed whatever, but it’s a pretty amazing coincidence. Even more amazing is that they somehow figure out how it works with nothing to go on. How did they even know there was anything to work out? With enough certainty to devote “ages” to crack it? The label on Filch’s drawer could be it, I suppose, but even Filch only put it in there because of its association with the Marauders.

“I solemnly swear that I’m up to no good” is not a common phrase… which is why the map had to help them, “flickering to life” when they got close. I could go on and on about this, I really could, but to keep it short: why would the Marauders waste time putting this into the spellwork? Hints for someone to try and get into the map? They wouldn’t. It just doesn’t make sense, meaning the map must be able to think for itself, and decided that the Weasley’s were fellow mischief makers…

Which brings me to my second Weasley-related-point.

“Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can’t see where it keeps its brain.” - Mr. Weasley, in the second book, which is ENTIRELY ABOUT THE ONE HORCRUX WHICH RESEMBLES THE MAP THE MOST.

Moving along.

Fred and George pass the map along to Harry in his third year.

Nobody talks about how weird this is. The map is the twins’ most prized possession- I mean, why wouldn’t it be? It’s amazing. And, yeah, they give it to Harry because they want him to be able to go to Hogsmeade/because they’ve already learned everything on it, but they’re giving up the ability to know exactly where every professor, let alone person, in the entire school, is at any given moment. All so some kid their brother is friends with can get butterbeer? I get that Harry is basically an adopted Weasley but that’s feeble. They could’ve just shown him the passage and kept the map!

Note: I recognize that coincidences are necessary in book land. I know that The Map is fundamental to PoA and is used as plot-lube. J.K. isn’t purposefully constructing a marauders-map-horcrux-connection, but it fits in with canon effortlessly when you actually apply logic outside of “well, that had to happen for the story.”

We already know that horcruxes can influence people in close proximity. It’s not an insane leap to make that, if the Marauders Map were a horcrux, it might influence Fred and George to pass the map along to the direct link of one of its founders. Or maybe, they were beginning to feel a bit too dependant on it… As Hermione said in DH, “You’re in trouble if you get too fond of or dependent on a Horcrux.“ Maybe this was their version of when Ginny tried to destroy the Diary…

Okay, so, horcruxes. Deep, dark, horrible things. Bad.

This is sort of where, in order for this theory to work, you have to bring the HP universe into a sort of reality and challenge wizarding society as a whole.

For example: who decides what magic is dark? Who decides what is good and evil?

What we know FOR SURE about Horcruxes:

Definition: splitting a damaged part of one’s soul off and putting it into another vessel.

Each of Voldemort’s horcruxes were created following an intentional murder, an act so evil it permanently wounds a person’s soul, and this damaged fragment can be extracted for the horcrux. This has lead us to believe that a murder must take place, however, J.K. Rowling’s definition says a horcrux is "a receptacle prepared by dark magic in which a dark wizard has hidden a fragment of his soul for the purpose of attaining immortality.” Nothing is said about murder. Murder, however, is likely the easiest and/or original method, and would explain why Horcruxes might have become a symbol for “dark wizards.”

“Hor” means “dirt, evil, impurity” and “crux” means “container.” This could translate into “container for evil”, which would explain the requirement of an act such as murder, but it could also mean “a container for impurities.” (This will be relevant later).

Horcruxes, to some extent, retain the identity of their creator at the time of creation. Example: Voldemort created the diary when he was 16 (around the same age the Marauders would’ve been when the map was created), and took the form of 16-year-old Tom Riddle when the time came. Despite this, though, it still seemed to be aware of events which had happened since that time, and who he was connected to. Example: “I am Lord Voldemort.”

Horcruxes can think for themselves but in the same thought patterns of their creator.

Horcruxes have certain magical abilities such as influencing those around them or even possessing them. Example: Ginny, obviously. Or Slytherin’s locket worsening the trio’s mood whenever they wore it.

They can sense destruction and will defend themselves magically.

Anyone with a horcrux may never be unable to leave “limbo” after death, unable to become a ghost or go to the land of the dead because the soul is unwhole.

So basically, horcruxes are putting your soul into something that is not your body. They were invented/discovered by a dark wizard and then used again by the evilest wizard of all time, so obviously they’d be revered as dark magic. But what would happen if a horcrux was created by one, or perhaps four, not evil individuals?

Answer: The Marauders Map.

Theory holes debunked:

1. “But what about that part- ‘For the purpose of attaining immortality?’” My theory is not stating that James, Remus, Sirius or Peter wanted to remain immortal- At least, not in the literal sense. Immortality doesn’t necessarily have to mean living forever. If you think these four boys wouldn’t have been into the idea of a way to continue to wreak havoc at Hogwarts forever, you’re wrong. This map would be their legacy. Wanting to live on, but not live forever, could have been enough.

2. “How did they split their souls apart without killing anyone?” My theory for this is, in a way, a reverse Patronus charm. There is a lot of soul-talk when it comes to patronuses and dementors, and a Patronus is a physical manifestation of the lightest parts of a person’s soul- but what would happen if a spell was created for the darkest parts? Parts so dark they were damaged and marred. A person’s absolute worst, more traumatic thoughts or memories. For Sirius, just about anything from his childhood as a Black would probably work. James is less clear, but as it’s never mentioned when James’ parents died, his father’s death could easily be it. For Remus- duh. Just duh. And for Peter, as we know, he had darkness lurking just below the surface.

3. “But then why didn’t they all turn into bald snake looking assholes?” The form we see of Voldemort is his new body, completely reconstructed from that weird potion thing that happened. That isn’t to say that splitting your soul up wouldn’t have an effect, it does, but at 7 Dumbledore said Voldemort’s soul was “pushed to the limit.” His physical body isn’t ever mentioned in regards to the horcruxes. In fact, Dumbledore says he underwent “magical transformation.” So sorta like plastic surgery. Makes him even lamer.

4. Why didn’t the map do evil stuff?” Because none of the marauder’s souls were, inherently, evil. My theory is that a horcrux’s influence reflects the original person and brings out those traits in whoever interacts with the object. For example, the trio all acted very differently with the locket. Hermione got sad (mostly), Harry got angsty, and Ron got angry and insecure. The horcruxes don’t make new behavior (with the exception of Ginny, but this was only after she was possessed), they just amplify already existing behavior in a way that mirrors the original soul. Starts to make a whole lot more sense when you think about the Twins, doesn’t it?

5. “How are they all dead then?” Okay, first of all, fuck you. Second of all… maybe they don’t have to be.

Other points:

If the map was just spell-work, it’s safe to say a good portion of it was done by James, yet when he died the spells remained intact. Throughout the books, the lifespan of spells in inconsistent, but for example, Lily transfigured a lilypad into a fish for Slughorn, but when she died, it disappeared.

This theory would explain some of the patterns of un-feeling when it comes to the Marauders. Remus sucking at relationships and remaining alone most of his life, Peter’s ease in betraying his friends, and even Sirius has flashes of difficulty dealing with emotions or having inappropriate/disproportionate ones

Another aspect of this I’ve considered is that, if the marauders figured out a way to do this, they might have given even less of their soul up because they were putting four pieces into one object, which would lessen any effects even more.

The map insulting snape shows that it can think in the present and on its own. (As well as it recognizing that Snape is currently a professor!) This is all speculation, but if James or Sirius tried to just enchant the map to insult Snape, Remus would absolutely point out the missed opportunity to insult anyone who tried to force their way in. It also proves the theory by showing the marauder’s personalities and that they know who Snape is and have opinions about his greasy hair. I think that if someone the marauders never knew tried to breach the map it would just write generic insults, but if it’s someone they knew by the time of making the horcrux the insults would be more specific.

The map would have remained undetected by Filch. He was a squib, so if he tried to destroy it or reveal it would have been without magic, which the map, or rather the soul fragments of the Marauders, wouldn’t have considered him a real threat. It’s also not very likely to have influenced him at all since he was so completely opposite to the marauders soul-wise.

Also, if all four souls were even smaller parts than what Voldemort had to use for his horcruxes, it’s likely any influence would be minute for anyone since the Marauders were four very different people.

Fred and George said they owed everything they knew to Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs. They opened a prank shop. They were incredible wizards who used their power to make people laugh even in the middle of a war. I refuse to let go of the fact that their biggest influencers were the marauders in their younger years. Just look how different they are from everyone else in their family, and McGonagall even says they’re the same as the marauders at one point doesn’t she??? I’m pretty sure she does.

Harry uses the map in every book after the third, when he first gets it. I haven’t gone through the books to find every instance the map is used, mostly because it’s pretty often. I mean, obviously. Without doing any sort of research I can’t definitively back up the idea that the map somewhat influences Harry, but since this wasn’t a part of the story it’s unlikely there would be anything outright stating that anyway. This point is a loose one, but I think it’s valid enough to point out that Harry has a certain amount of assurance when using the map that might come from the resource itself, or possibly, something else entirely.

I honestly think the most undeniable truth is how similar the map is to Tom’s diary. Eerily. Sure, it didn’t converse with anyone per se… but it did give hints in response to the twins trying to crack the code, and honestly, did anyone ever try writing on it? Hm? Ugh.

They could’ve found out about horcruxes from anywhere, especially with James having an invisibility cloak. I think it probably started with them creating the map, but deciding it was missing something and being unsatisfied with it not being more clever, so they started to look for ways to achieve that.

Like a lot of things in the HP universe, a “soul container” isn’t an original concept and exists in mythology, legends, religion etc. and it is not always a sinister object. I think a lot of the idea of it comes from power leading to corruption of the mind, though, which is why a “good” horcrux would need to be made by people who didn’t have those corrupt intentions in the first place. Sort of like the whole “those who wanted to find it, but not use it” lesson from the sorcerer’s stone.

This is completely abstract and not really part of the theory so much as wishful thinking: it’s possible that, because they all did this, all four marauders end up stuck in limbo between the land of the living and the land of the dead forever. How to make this suck less: since Sirius entered through the veil, he stays close to it, and when James and Remus find him and figure out he can still see through the other side, they decide to walk back through together and live. Somehow. Let’s say that the freak hand Voldemort kills Peter with is enough to obliterate his soul so he doesn’t get this luxury. Only downside: Lily.

#harry potter theory #hp #harry potter #marauders #marauders map #james potter #sirius black #remus lupin #peter pettigrew #padfoot #prongs #moony #wormtail #sirius #remus #peter #james #jk rowling

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lilmissmarauder · 7 years ago

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Jily Headcanons

- Lily never actually hated James. Not in first year, not in second year, not in third year, not in fourth year, not even in fifth year.

- She told herself she did, but she was actually rather intrigued by him.

- She also couldn’t help but admire the fact that no matter how harsh she was with him, how often she pushed him down, he would always bounce back within hours

- James was an idiot

- That being said, you know he asked Sirius for advice.

- And since we are also sure that Sirius was a major player, you can imagine how that went.

- James spent a week trying to figure out why hanging a banner in the Great Hall with confetti, glitter, and a love poem couldn’t convince Lily to go out with him.

- So, he went to Remus. Remus just rolled his eyes and said, “You’re asking the werewolf, who can barely talk to a girl without reminding himself of all of his issues, about how to get a girl to go out with you?”

- However, after a bit of convincing, Remus told him to try being her friend for a while.

- Yeah... that didn’t work out

- James tried, he really did. But he didn’t really know how to be her friend. He did everything. Carried her books for her, opened doors, complimented her daily, but each of those acts would end with him asking her out.

- Finally, James went to Peter. Wormtail merely raised an eyebrow and replied with, “Wow, Prongs. You’re asking me? You’ve really hit an all time low, my friend.”

- No one really knows how James actually convinced Lily to go out with him.

- But you know people would make up idiotic stories to satisfy their own curiosity

- “They’ve actually been dating for years now. But they didn’t feel comfortable going public, so they put up an act of James being a prat while Lily pretended to hate him.”

- “Evans was drowning in the Black Lake where the Giant Squid was holding her hostage, but Potter saved her, so she allowed him to take her on a date.”

- “Lily’s under a love potion.”

- Those were all some theories

- It also didn’t help that Sirius, Remus, and Peter all agreed with every theory they were asked about.

- They would do the unthinkable for each other

- Actually, James did the unthinkable for Lily.

- As in, he stole chocolate from Remus for her, even though he knew he would probably not live to see tomorrow if Remus found out

- They are literal couple goals

- They like to just curl up on one of their beds and cuddle. James will bring butterbeer and biscuits and Lily will read one of her books to him. When either thinks the other isn’t looking, they’ll sneak adoring glances towards one another. It’s honestly the cutest thing to witness, especially if they fall asleep like that.

- James leaves little love notes everywhere for Lily to find throughout the day.

- Lily leaves small presents on his pillow for him to find at the end of the day.

- Both of them carry out these daily tasks no matter what; even if their stressed as hell, in the middle of a giant fight, or in the Hospital Wing.

- If their in the Hospital Wing, though, they’ll ask someone else to bring the notes/presents to where they need to go

- They still do it after they graduate Hogwarts

- James likes to draw Lily when she’s reading. He’s usually a terrible artist, yet all of his Lily portraits end up great. There’s always a little quirk somewhere in it, like a snitch that wasn’t actually there buzzing randomly by her ear, her uniform miraculously replaced by a ‘I Love Potter’ tee-shirt, or rainbow hair

- On the last day of their Hogwarts education, James convinced all the professors to refer to Lily as ‘Mrs. Potter.’

- No one but the Marauders had any idea why

- Until, that is, right before they got on the train station home, he randomly got down on one knee and gave her a ring.

- They were always there for each other. No matter what happened, they love each other indefinitely.

Also, let’s just pretend they didn’t die. I saw this gif and I couldn’t even function

- JILY IS LIFE

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munarlothhp · 7 years ago

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The Witching Hour

Also available on ao3

evanslilyy: jily headcannon that they both totally slept in the same bed “platonically” for a few months before they actually ended up getting together in seventh year because they were both suffering from nightmares/insomnia as a result of the oncoming war and slowly realised how much they actually cared about one another when they were lying in bed talking about the most random and ridiculous things at 3am in james’ four-poster

“Alright, Evans?”

Lily started, whipping around towards the boys’ stairs. There stood, of course, James Potter.

“Couldn’t sleep. What time is it?”

“Half gone three.”

“What’re you still doing up then?”

“Couldn’t sleep,” He shrugged. He crossed the common room to join her on the couch. They settled back into the cushions, shoulders barely touching, and stared into the dying embers in the fireplace. They had become friends again last year when term started new after that horrible thing with Snape. James really hadn’t been that bad before but he’d definitely shaped up over the last year, and Lily found herself seeking his company more and more as they neared the end of their time inside the castle’s safe walls.

“Bad dreams?”

She pulled on the end of the braid falling over her collarbone. “Sometimes.”

“Me too.” He curled onto his side, crossing his legs so his knees were pressing either end of her right thigh. He reached out and twisted the end of the braid around his finger. “I’ve never seen you wear braids before.”

“I only wear them to bed.” She shifted to face him more solidly, sweeping the braid back over her shoulder. “Petunia used to call me Pippi Longstocking.”

His brow furrowed, his hand falling into his lap. “What’s Pippi Longstocking?”

“Erm, a muggle book character. She has red braids and is super strong and some people in her stories think she’s very odd. Petunia said she must be a freak like me.”

“I don’t think you’re a freak.”

“You hang out with Sirius, your opinion doesn’t count.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

She grinned, looking down at his knees pressing close again. “Clearly you have no taste.”

“I won’t tell him you said that.”

“For my benefit, I suppose,” She snorted.

“Duh. If he knew how you really felt, he wouldn’t ask to copy your homework anymore.”

“Oh gee, then what reason would even I have to do it in the first place?”

“Exactly my point, I’m doing you a favor.”

She laughed once and settled deeper into the cushion, trying to press her shoulder until she could feel the back of the couch unyielding under her bones. “Do you come down at night a lot?”

He shook his head. “Nah. The house elves come ‘round at night - they don’t show up when anyone’s in here and I wouldn’t want to cause them to rush or anything.”

She shot up straight, looking around the room. Curling parchment ends, broken quills, and discarded books littered most surfaces, and more than a few cushions were upended. “Fuck, I hadn’t thought of that, I’m down here late all the time!”

“I’ve noticed.” Her eyebrows rose and he might’ve blushed, just a little bit. “Map.”

“Oh, right. I still can’t believe you all made that and still can’t beat me in Charms.”

“I prefer to focus my attention on worthwhile magic that I’ll actually use one day.

“You sound like a kid talking about algebra.”

“What’s algebra?”

“Nevermind - thanks for letting me use the map for rounds, by the way.”

“No problem, I know you won’t lose it. So...why do you come down here, anyway?”

“I don’t want to wake anybody else up.” She waved a hand towards the girls’ stairs. “They get grumpy if they get woken up. And when I can’t sleep I can’t just lay there, you know? It feels like such a waste of time.”

He nodded. “I know what you mean. I read a lot, when I can’t sleep.”

“That works for me sometimes. Sometimes, I just - I just really need a cig, you know? To help me settle down. But I open the window for the smoke and somebody always wakes up.”

“You know, you could come up to our dorm, if you want - when you can’t sleep. Usually somebody’s up if it’s before 3, and everybody sleeps like the dead anyway. You can get away with anything.”

She glanced away to the fireplace and back, reaching for her braid again. “I wouldn’t want to wake you up.”

“You wouldn’t. It’s ok.” He didn’t usually look that determined off the quidditch pitch, and she considered taking him seriously.

“Ok. Thanks.”

He nodded, then grinned and flicked her knee. “What are friends for?”

She smiled and they were silent, half leaning into the couch and maybe, possibly, leaning closer to each other. Their knees brushed and she let them settle for a moment, then stood up. “We should get up to bed. House elves, you know.”

“Right. See you at breakfast?”

“Yeah. Night, Potter.”

“G’night Evans.”

Less than a week later, Lily was again tossing and turning behind her scarlet bed hangings long after midnight. It had been a Double Potions day, and the looks she caught Snape throwing at her from across the dungeon made her skin crawl. It had been easy enough to ignore them when they were still friends but they seemed to have intensified since fifth year. As if that wasn’t bad enough, he was never without the company of his slimy Slytherin friends anymore and Lily just knew where they were all headed after school ended in June.

Someone started snoring across the dorm and she flopped onto her stomach, huffing into her pillow. That was it - she had to get up. She almost gave up when it took more than a few moments to disentangle her legs from the blankets but she was soon out the door, feet shoved into her trainers and a dressing gown tied tight around her middle.

Several loud pops echoed up from the common room as she scuffed down the stairs and a scrap piece of parchment was still floating down to the floor when she reached the bottom. She bit her lip and hurried across the room - the sooner she was up in the 7th year boys’ room, the sooner the elves could get back to work. Upstairs, she hadn’t even gotten close enough to knock when the door was wrenched open from the inside. James practically glowed, his hair sticking up in every direction and the quaffles on his pajama pants zooming around like mad.

“Couldn’t sleep?”

She stopped just short of running into him, grinning at his magical pajamas. “Nope. You?”

He shrugged. “I’ve been in and out.”

Her brows wrinkled in the middle and she reached for a braid. “Oh, no, did I wake you up? I’m sorry, I’ll go back --” She turned back to the stairs but he grabbed her hand.

“Evans. Stay.” He had that hard look again.

She blinked, nodded, and followed him into the room. That was how it started.

“Did you understand Transfiguration today?”

Lily felt James nod against the pillow. “Did you need help with something?”

“I’m not sure yet. I need to review the theory. I’ll let you know.”

“You know you can always come to me, Evans.”

She could hear the smug grin on his face and she rolled her eyes, smacking him in the ribs. “You’ve got something coming your way if you keep this up, that’s for sure.”

As if on cue, a pillow sailed across the room straight into James’s face. Lily curled into a ball and snickered as he flung it back into Remus’s bed and shoved her towards the edge of his own. “Fuck off, Moony.”

“Evans is right, you had it coming.”

“The only thing he’s got coming tonight,” Lily muttered, repositioning herself closer to the middle of the bed.

“Evans! Language!”

Lily stuck her tongue out at James and took his pillow, doubling up on the one behind her own head and lounging comfortably. He rolled his eyes and laid down, angling to take up the pillow space directly between her shoulder and ear while keeping their bodies separate from the shoulders down. They pulled up the covers and, somehow, were soon asleep.

She had been coming up to the boys’ dorm at least 3 nights a week for the last 3 weeks, and had gotten quite used to getting comfortable wherever she ended up. James wasn’t always awake when she showed up, but Sirius and Remus both proved good sports about sharing quilts. Lily had found that it was easier to fall asleep next to somebody else, anybody, really, and the boys seemed to understand that better than her own roommates.

“You’d better get in here quick, Evans, it’s still the witching hour.” It was Sirius answering the door tonight, Lily’s third night in a row. “Who knows what might happen to you out wandering the tower after midnight!”

“I’m literally a witch, Black.”

“I knew it!” She rolled her eyes and he ushered her into the room, grinning. “Prongs fell asleep on his Charms essay about half an hour ago.”

“I hope he wakes up with it printed back all over his cheek.”

Sure enough, James was fast asleep on his stomach with his head pillowed on his Charms book at the foot of the bed and his feet sprawled across his pillows at the head. His ink bottle was precariously close to tipping over on the quilt, and his glasses, still on his face, were almost definitely bent. He was drooling slightly, leaving a damp spot on the page underneath his chin.

“Oh God,” Lily snickered, covering her mouth with her fist. “I wish we had a camera!”

“Oh shit, wait! I have one here somewhere!” Sirius rummaged frantically through his trunk, eventually reappearing with a polaroid camera in hand. “We picked this up in muggle London over the summer, I completely forgot. Here, do you know how to work this thing?”

Lily took the camera, popped up the flash, and quickly snapped a picture. She snatched the photo as it spit out and handed it to Sirius. “Here, wave this around.” She set the camera down on the bed and eased James’s glasses off of his face, placing them and the ink bottle on the nightstand before he could roll over and do any real damage.

“Why am I doing this?” Sirius sat cross-legged on his bed, fanning himself with the photograph.

“Well, it’s - it’s supposed to help, isn’t it?”

“I dunno, you’re the muggle.”

Lily rolled her eyes. “It’s your camera, haven’t you ever used it before?”

He shook his head. “We got it to bring back to school and then forgot, I guess. Thanks for reminding me though.”

“Sure.” She joined him on the bed, kicking off her trainers and scooting towards the middle of the bed. He pulled out a carton of cigarettes, lit one with one hand, passed it to her, and lit his own from the glow near her chin.They were the only ones awake, and Remus and Peter both had their hangings pulled shut, and they kept their voices low. “Thanks. Have they been out long?”

“Since before midnight. Moony’s been tired and crabby lately, and Pete’s still got that cough. He put a silencing charm on his curtains when he shut them.”

“Nice of him.”

“Yeah, I thought so.” Sirius reclined, pillowing his head on the outside of Lily’s thigh and blowing a stream of smoke up into the canopy above. “How long am I supposed to wave this for?”

“Here, let me see it.” The square was almost clear, a perfectly still muggle photo of James sprawled over his covers like a newborn giraffe. Lily muffled a laugh behind her hand and showed Sirius the picture.

“That’s so weird. That it doesn’t move, you know?”

“I guess, if you’re not used to it. Imagine how I felt my first night in the castle when all of the paintings talked. I thought I was going mad!”

“Don’t blame the paintings.”

“Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.” He grinned up at her and she rolled her eyes. He quieted and looked back at the photo for a few minutes. “I think we’re going to get a flat after school ends.”

“Can you afford that?”

“Neither of us are exactly hurting for money, Evans. Besides, my uncle left me a flat in London when he died.”

“So when you say you’re ‘getting a flat’, you mean that you’re just going to fuck about in London until Mrs. Potter puts up enough of a fight to make you both get jobs?” She stroked his hair, combing it out over her knee with her fingers.

“Basically. And anyway, there’s always the Order.”

“Do you think you’ll definitely join?”

“Won’t you?”

She shrugged. “I’m not sure yet. With my mum, you know--”

He sat up on one elbow, knocking her hand aside and spilling ash from his cigarette onto the quilt. “What do you mean? What else are you going to do?”

“I don’t know, that’s kind of the whole point, isn’t it? I mean, I wanted to go into spell development at the Ministry, but at this point is there even going to be a Ministry by the time we finish our N.E.W.T.s? And if that’s how things are going at that point, I have to make sure that I’m taking care of my family. That might mean going back to the Muggle world for a while.”

“You can’t do that, you’re a witch!”

“Not if you ask them. Mudblood, remember?”

His brow furrowed and she looked away, rolling her cigarette between her thumb and forefinger. “You shouldn’t call yourself that.”

“Why not? Everybody else does.”

“Evans.”

“It’s fine,” She shrugged.

“Is not.”

“Is too. I’m serious.”

“No, I’m Sirius.”

She snorted and looked up, relieved to see that he was grinning. “Anyway - yeah, I dunno what I’m doing after school yet. We’ll just have to see...how things are, then.”

“Well, you’re always welcome to come in with us. I’ve got spare bedrooms.” He laid back down across her knee and she took a long drag of her smoke.

“Thanks, Sirius.”

“You probably couldn’t sleep without us anymore, anyway.”

“You know, that might actually be true.”

They were quiet, her playing with his hair and him looking at the picture of his closest brother. She tried distracting him from the heaviness in the air with a smoke ring contest, and it almost worked.

“We should go to bed,” His voice vibrated through her leg. They stubbed out their smokes in an ashtray on his nightstand and climbed into bed, Sirius waving his wand to extinguish the last lamps.

When Lily woke with a start hours later, green flashes dancing behind her eyelids, Sirius pulled her down, cushioning her head as best he could on his bony shoulder. Snapping her hair tie around his own wrist, he slowly pulled her braid out and rubbed her back as she drifted back to sleep.

Lily was awake and ready when 3 of the 4 Marauders spilled into their dorm with barely enough time for a nap before breakfast. They didn’t look surprised to see her, but they looked so exhausted that she wasn’t sure if they were even capable of surprise at the moment. She, too, had been up all night, but she didn’t think that her evening had left her half as exhausted as theirs had them.

“I have Pepper Up potions.”

“Lily, you’re a goddess.” Peter accepted a flask gratefully before disappearing into the showers.

She smiled at him, then turned to see the other two boys already almost asleep on their own beds. “No! Get up! You have to bathe before breakfast, you’re all filthy!”

“Bugger off, Evans,” James barely got out through the pillow his face was pressed into, waving an arm half-heartedly in her direction.

She stomped to his bed and yanked the covers off before turning and doing the same to Sirius. “Up!”

“What the fuck !?”

“We have Double Transfiguration first thing this morning,” Lily crossed her arms and glared back and forth between the two boys. “I can’t cover for all of you if you don’t show up. Remus is the only one with an excuse, unless you want to explain to Professor McGonagall where you’ve been all night.”

They both only groaned in response, and Sirius was the first to rise, dropping a kiss to Lily’s temple as he passed. She pressed a flask into his hand and pushed him in the direction of the shower. James sat up slowly, rubbing his eyes and knocking his glasses askew. His hair was standing up in every direction and there were twigs and leaves tangled in the top. Lily sighed and pulled him to the edge of the bed, standing in front of him and slowly picking the bits out of his tangled mop.

“It wouldn’t be this bad if you would quit rubbing all over every tree you pass.”

“I can’t help it when they itch,” he grumbled.

“Is Remus in the hospital wing?”

He nodded, knocking a twig loose onto the floor. “We put him to bed and scampered before Pomfrey could say anything.”

“How is he?”

“Not too banged up. Tired, mostly.”

“I’ll duplicate my notes for him after class. I also left my Charms question set in your bag for you to copy before this afternoon, just make sure to get it back to me at lunch.”

“Oh shit, I forgot all about that.”

“I know.” She pulled the last leaf from his hair and waved her wand, Vanishing the small pile of rubbish. He smiled and reached out, touching her elbow softly.

“Thanks, Evans.”

“You’re welcome, Potter.” She ignored the warm feeling in her gut from his gratefulness and handed him a flask, waiting to make sure he drank all of it before gathering her things. “Shampoo twice. I’ll save you some coffee at breakfast.”

“I’m so fucking tired.”

“Me, too.”

Lily unwrapped another chocolate frog and flicked the Dumbledore card into James’s lap. “Do you think this will actually work?”

“Guess we’ll see.”

Lily had just read that morning in Witch Weekly that eating before bed, especially sweets, could induce some seriously weird dreams. She and James already both had regular nightmares that left them sweating and shaky, so they agreed that they’d take weird over realistic and terrifying any night of the week. At any rate it didn’t seem like it’d hurt to try, though Lily thought she might change her mind after the stomach ache set in.

“So, I have a question,” James got out around a mouthful of chocolate.

“Shoot.”

“What’s it like having a sibling? Like, a real one?”

“I dunno, I mean…” Lily pulled back the covers and squirmed into bed, twisting back and forth until she was in just the most comfortable position, her head pillowed on one arm. “It’s a built-in friend when you’re kids, but everyone changes when they get older, just look at Sirius and Regulus. I think Petunia feels some weird kind of pressure because I’m a witch and she isn’t, and she hasn’t exactly been nice for the last few years. We get along loads better since I’m not friends with Severus anymore, though.”

James Vanished their candy wrappers and got under the covers, laying on his side to face her. “Really?”

“She always thought he was creepy,” She nodded.

“He is creepy.”

She rolled her eyes. “Well, yeah, but that’s not the point. Anyway, we do get along a bit better now, and I try not to talk about school as much.”

“That doesn’t seem fair.”

“Yeah well, it’s not always about fair. It makes things easier. I’d still do anything for her, you know? And I think she would me too - to a point, anyway. I guess that’s kind of what it’s like to have a sibling. You might not get along but you’d still do anything for each other.”

“Makes sense.”

“What’s it like to be an only child?”

His response was immediate. “Lonely.”

“Coming to school was probably the best thing that ever happened to you, then.”

“Something like that.”

Lily blushed, James studying her face just a bit too hard then, and turned onto her back. “Hogwarts was the best for me, too. I can’t imagine living as a Muggle now.”

“That’s not what Sirius said.”

“Just because I can’t imagine it doesn’t mean it might not be my reality,” She sighed. “Can we not talk about that right now? I’m just...I’m so tired, you know?”

“I know.” He touched her elbow softly, then retreated back to his side of the bed. He set aside his glasses, extinguished the last lights, and they both tried to sleep.

It didn’t feel like much time had passed when Lily sat straight up in bed, gasping and warm. James started awake, sitting up and lightly touching her back. “Bad dream?” He rubbed the sleep from his eyes with his other hand and tried to fix his vision on her face. Lily flinched at his touch - the dream had felt so real, and it wasn’t her back he had been touching then. He pulled back and turned more fully to face her. “Lily, are you ok?”

“I - um - yes.”

He squinted, his head coming forward slightly. “Are you sure?”

She nodded, smoothing her hair back from her face. She seemed to have lost her hair tie and her braids were long undone. “Just a dream. The chocolate worked, I think.”

“Oh. Ok.” She stared at him, and she could’ve sworn he was blushing the longer she looked. “Evans…?”

Before she knew what she was doing she leaned in and pressed her mouth to his. Kissing James Potter for the first time wasn’t like it always was in those books that Mary kept under her bed - he definitely did not freeze up in shock, and she didn’t have a chance to doubt before he moved closer, hands already in her hair. Come to think of it, it was usually the girls who froze up or stepped back, wasn’t it? But Lily definitely did not want to move away, especially now that she finally had proof that it was even better to mess up James’s hair herself than to watch him do it. She didn’t have any trouble breathing like the girls in the books either, which was just as well because neither of them seemed to want to take a break for anything as silly as air.

It did occur to her, eventually, that she didn’t want to get anywhere approaching what they did in her dream while they were still in the dorm surrounded by the other boys sleeping in their beds. “James.” That was one thing Mary’s books got right - it was quite difficult to talk, and she had to try again. “James, we have to go to sleep.”

His voice was muffled against her neck, but she was pretty sure he said “Nope. Don’t need sleep.”

“We have Potions tomorrow, and there are other people in this room.”

He paused and seemed to deflate. “At least let me give you a hickey to wear to class.”

She snorted and he grinned in the dark. “I think you already did anyway.”

She straightened her pajamas and somehow even found her elastic, quickly bundling her hair up on top of her head. They tried to settle back to sleep, though they weren’t quite as careful as usual to keep from touching under the covers. Lily’s heart was still running a million miles a minute, and she had to force the grin off of her face or else she was sure her cheeks would actually crack off. A glance to her right proved that James wasn’t having any more luck than she was.

“So...this means…?”

“Oh come on Potter, what do you think it means?”

“I’m pretty sure you don’t hate me anymore.”

“Oh my God, I never hated you.”

“I just need to know for sure - am I a better snog than the giant squid?”

She paused just long enough to furrow his brow. “I’m going to have to do more research - I snogged the squid on the beach, not in a bed.”

“We have a free period tomorrow afternoon, I wouldn’t mind a walk down by the lake.”

“Oh, I meant I’ll have to get the squid into bed.”

“Well just let me know how many more experiments you need - all in the name of science, of course.”

“Naturally.”

“I can’t have you telling people that the squid’s a better snog than me, after all.”

“Go to sleep, Potter.”

The next morning came sooner than either of them would have liked, but the look on Snape’s face when she pushed her hair behind her ear in Potions was worth it. Until that point she still wasn’t fully convinced that the night before hadn’t just been a very extended fever dream, but Sirius’s passed note of ‘muffliato next time, would you?’ was more confirmation than she’d expected. At any rate, she found that she didn't seem to mind her sleeplessness as much as her usual insomnia, and as she looked ahead to that night she thought she might not mind a future in research, after all.

#I did it!!#this is about 4K words #and is fluffy as all hell #jily #james potter #lily evans #evanslilyy #sarah writes #fic recs

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illuminating-dragons · 7 years ago

Text

Fading Scars (9/?): Career Choices

Time: 1998 onwards

Summary: We've gotten a glimpse at the futures of the first generation. But what else did they do in their careers?

Harry Potter

The first year Harry taught Defense Against the Dark Arts passed in a bit of a whirl. His predecessor had left a suggested outline, and Harry had followed it as best he could. He went off-script a few times, especially with the older students, and by the end of the year was winging it class by class. It was exhausting, and he wanted to create a better plan.

At first he thought it might be arrogant, but he eventually decided that he would create a 7-year syllabus, and have each year dedicated to an area of Defense. The idea would be that everyone would get to experience each kind, and until he caught up with new students, he would do some quick coverage. For example, James was now going into 6th year; he and his classmates wouldn’t hear 1st—5th year curriculum from him, so he’d go through some of it and see how it went.

It actually worked quite well.

The Plan

1st year: Basic defense training, with and without a wand. Small charms of protection, working as a team, recognizing threats, first aid, Dark objects.

“I know you just got your wands,” Harry explained as he put the bunch away. “But your wand can be taken from you, and it’s important to learn how to protect yourself in every way. Now make a fist. My cousin taught me how to do this.”

2nd year: Defense history and some theory. Psychology, explanation of old wizarding systems of belief (Draco Malfoy guest speaker).

“In order to understand Dark wizards, we need to talk about how they came to be that way.”

“Professor, aren’t we going to do anything practical this year?”

“Of course we are. What do you think the dummies are for? We’re continuing what we learned last year. There’ll also be some duel re-creations, if you’re all very good. Professor Longbottom’s going to help out.”

3rd year: Creature Encounters. Dark creatures defense (explanation of Patronus Charm), learning about creatures that aren’t necessarily dark but require some defense if things go wrong, learning about old stereotypes (in conjunction with some classes with Hagrid).

“There are a few different kinds of dangerous creatures,” Harry explained. “First we’re going to cover the ones which are genuinely out to get you, and learn how to fight them. Then we’re going to talk about ones that you need to be careful with; they have their rules, you need to follow them. Then we’re going to talk about the teacher who inspired these lessons, and what Remus Lupin taught everyone about preconceptions.”

4th year: Offensive maneuvers. Jinxes and counter-jinxes, battle strategies, negotiation techniques.

“Before we get to the fun stuff,” Harry said, and his face became more serious, “there’s something I want you all to understand. In the future, you might take up a cause that you believe in with all your heart. Whatever it might be, there may be a moment where you have to make a choice—your cause or your life. If you choose to die for your cause, then that is your choice. But I want each and every one of you to understand that your life is worth something. You getting out alive is a worthwhile option. There is no shame in choosing to fight another day, and I want you all to make it home. Do you understand me?”

They didn’t, of course. But that was alright. He’d said it, and he would keep saying it as long as he had breath in his body.

5th year: Advanced 1-4.

“Don’t worry about your OWLs,” Harry promised as he looked at the exhausted fifth-years. “You’re going to be ready, each and every one of you. Whether you continue or not, you’ll be prepared. My door’s open if you need to vent, and I’ll leave some dummies after-hours. If you want to come in and blow things up, go ahead. Just clean up after, yeah?”

6th year: Silent magic, magical law and law enforcement (Auror guest speakers), curse-breaking (Bill guest speaker).

“Professor, do you miss being an Auror?”

“Not really,” Harry answered, smiling. “It was worthwhile, and I did have some fun. But I love this job. Especially the part where I get to assign the homework instead of having to do it.”

7th year: Career preparation, duelling (supervised), teaching others (Wizards and Muggles)

Harry waved the desks against the walls. “Everyone make a circle with your chairs, okay?”

After about five minutes where his seventh years proved that they still couldn’t make a proper circle, Harry accepted an oval. He brought his own chair in and leaned forward, elbows on his knees. “Alright, let’s go around. What do you want to be, and what kind of defensive techniques will help you most? I’ll make a list and we’ll go through it all by the end of the year.”

Harry really didn’t stop being nervous until the first group of first-years graduated, going through each year of his schedule, all of them doing extremely well.

He continued with his syllabus, and kept to three rules he didn’t publicize.

His door was always open. When he was at home with Ginny he could answer owls, but he kept reasonable office hours through the week.

He kept the classes as fun as he could. It gave the OWL and NEWT students a break from their other classes, and anyways, they were safe. Why not have a bit of fun?

He would never give homework over break. EVER.

Hermione Granger-Weasley

Hermione went into the Ministry because Kingsley promised her two things. The first was that the werewolf registry was off the books immediately, and new laws would be considered first priority. The second was that she could have a small library instead of a traditional office.

She was happy for years. She worked to bring S.P.E.W to the major leagues, got promoted a few times, had a chance to be off with Ron for a year with each of their children, and made some real strides in the legal Wizarding world.

Hermione was happy.

And then Harry quit.

Ron leaving the Aurors hadn’t bothered her the same way. She’d known her Ron wasn’t set right for the Aurors. He’d followed Harry, but his heart was never in it. He was far happier working in the joke shop with George and Seamus, spending afternoons with Hugo and making people laugh.

But Harry…Hermione fully supported his decision, but it did seem a bit odd. After all, wasn’t Harry happy fighting?

No, Hermione realized. He wasn’t. He wanted to help people be safe, but he’d realized that his way to that wasn’t through being an Auror, but being a teacher.

Now Hermione paced in her library/office and wondered. Was this her best way to help people learn? She didn’t want to teach; she knew she wouldn’t be good at it. In this job, she could make sure everyone understood the law, and that it was as fair as she and her team could make it.

It was good work. But was it her work?

In the end, it was Harry who helped her make a decision, though he hadn’t quite meant to.

They’d gone on their annual Christmas Eve pilgrimage to Godric’s Hollow. It was the first one since Harry had started teaching, and Hermione had missed their lunches in the Ministry café. They laid roses on Harry’s parents’ graves, Remus and Tonk’s graves, and the memorial Harry had set up for Sirius. It was clear and cold that night, and they walked in silence through the village, stopping in front of the burnt remains of the Potter’s home.

Then Harry jumped the fence. He’d done it so quickly Hermione took a second to notice.

“Harry! What are you doing?”

“James asked me this morning if I’ve ever been inside,” Harry called over his shoulder. “I promised him I would try. Are you…will you come in, ’Mione?”

Hermione levitated herself over the fence, half-expecting to be blown out. She landed next to Harry and took his hand. “Of course.”

The cottage was nearly destroyed, and Hermione forbade Harry from going upstairs; his levitation charms weren’t very good, and the curse remnants were stronger up there. They picked their way through the remains of a sitting room, a kitchen and—

“Harry,” Hermione breathed.

The Potters had built a small library.

It would have been very small, just big enough for two people to read in on a sofa. Harry ran trembling fingers over the shelves.

There were still books on the shelves. Some of them were burnt almost to a crisp, but some…some could be salvaged.

Harry looked at her desperately. “Can you—”

Hermione had spent part of her seventh year working with Madam Pince in the library, helping her restore old books damaged in the Battle and in raided homes.

“I can try. You can help me.”

It took six months, but working together on weekends Hermione and Harry slowly restored the books that were left. There were some Quidditch memoirs, a few Charms books, some Muggle and Wizarding novels…

And two books that changed Hermione’s life forever.

The first was a diary that proclaimed itself to be Lily Evans Potter’s, detailing everything from her fourth year until the day before she died. Hermione sent Harry off to read it, and started working on the next book.

It was a Potions textbook—Advanced Potions Making TK, in fact. When Hermione opened it, she was shocked to see that Lily Evans had written in it, making neat notes in the margins. As she started to read them, her eyes grew wider and wider.

She ran to interrupt Harry. “I know you want to read that,” she told her friend, “but you’ve got to answer something for me first.”

It took five seconds for Harry to confirm her suspicions.

“Those were notes in Snape’s textbook,” he whispered. “The Half-Blood Prince one.”

“I thought so. I remember you making some of these changes.” Hermione peered closer. “There are no spells in here, only notes on Potions. Are you sure?”

“I don’t have a memory like yours,” Harry said slowly. “But I’m positive that some of these are identical. And that’s—that’s definitely my Mum’s handwriting.”

The two would never know the full story, but after speaking with Slughorn and Hestia Jones, one of the few surviving classmates of Lily Evans, and looking through Lily’s diary, Hermione and Harry managed to piece the story together. Lily had spoken of the improvements she wanted to make to Potions textbooks; she’d even shown Slughorn some of the work. Snape, on the other hand, had kept fairly quiet except in Defense Against the Dark Arts.

“I think it was Mum who came up with most of the Potions notes,” Harry said. “The spells are more like Snape anyways. They were best mates; they probably just shared their notes.”

Hermione agreed with him, though in the end it didn’t really matter. Both were dead, and it without the Half-Blood Prince text (burned in the Room of Requirement) there was no way to prove anything. In any case, it was no longer a case of intellectual property.

Harry was just happy to have more of his mother’s words, but Hermione was intrigued by another possibility. She’d ignored Harry using the notes in sixth year because she’d been so sure the textbook writers were correct, but these were good notes. And there were other potions Lily hadn’t touched, ones Hermione knew could be improved if she worked at it…

It started as a side project. She just wanted to see if she could expand on Lily Potter’s work. She’d felt a kinship with her, her best friend’s mother, a Muggleborn like her who came to magic with a different point of view, a different understanding of the world. As Hermione started experimenting further (with Luna helping her set up wards in case something went wrong), she realized that Lily had been truly brilliant, and her work deserved to be shared.

And as she slowly stopped looking at the textbook, started thinking in terms of why and how things worked, Hermione found new methods, new techniques to apply to potions. Her notes stacked up, and she called in sick to work in order to finish pulling them into a book.

Well. That was it. It was done. Maybe she’d publish it, and perhaps look into other potions. But that would take time away from work…

Hermione knew where her responsibility lay. She quit her job.

She spent mornings with her children that summer, and when Ron took them in the afternoon she went deeper into the Potions field. And she didn’t stop there; thinking back now, the textbooks weren’t really that great, were they? They told a victor’s account and glossed over huge sections of magical theory.

But then she stopped short. Because who was she to challenge these mainstays of education, to even say that there were other stories to tell and lessons to learn?

She explained this to Ron, who didn’t hesitate with his response.

“If bloody Lockhart can write them, you damn well can.”

Hermione loved her husband.

She spent the next year working on her three main oeuvres: the Potions textbook, now split in two for first- to fifth-years, and for NEWT students; a History of Magic textbook that covered both Wizarding Wars with detail and as many interviews with survivors as she could; and her biggest worry, Transfiguration Theory.

To Hermione’s shock, it appeared that people wanted to read her books, and they were heralded as wonderful, original work. Hermione was careful to tell the story of Lily Evans in her Potions book (and Snape, of course), but her own work stood out too, and stood up to criticism. Ron beamed with pride when Rose and Hugo wrote that Professor MacMillan had spend an entire day raving about Transfiguration Theory and how splendid it was and everyone needed to buy a copy immediately.

Hermione kept on writing textbooks in various fields (she co-wrote one with Harry about Defense Against the Dark Arts), and soon her books were required reading not only at Hogwarts but across wizarding schools. She cried the day the wizard who’d written Hogwarts: A History wrote her and asked if she would collaborate on a new edition.

That letter hung under her most treasured possession; a small photograph, burnt round the edges, of a woman with red hair and laughing green eyes with her diploma held high. Harry had given it to her from his album, the only one where Lily appeared alone. Sometimes Hermione could swear Lily was smiling at her and only her, but of course that wasn’t how pictures worked.

It was years and years later when she was doing a collaboration with Dennis Creevey, when she realized there was a chance that it was in fact exactly how pictures worked.

And Hermione smiled and waved back.

Ron Granger-Weasley

Ron was an Auror because he didn’t know what else to do.

He’d let Harry down last year, and he felt the only way he could assuage his guilt about that was to watch his friend’s back. So he was an Auror, and stood beside Harry in every fight.

But it wasn’t right.

Ron hated the bureaucracy, hated the infighting (they were on the same damn team, who cared how the desks were organized?), and the constant exposure to the terrible things people did to each other was wearing him down.

Harry could deal with it, somehow. Oh he cried with Ron for the victims, and they both had nightmares, but Harry could sleep and smile. Ron was losing his ability to do either.

As it turned out, so was his brother.

Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes was still doing brilliantly, but there hadn’t been much new in the year after the Battle of Hogwarts. When Victoire was born, Ron was shocked to realize that he hadn’t seen his brother in two months, and George looked terrible. There were dark circles under his eyes, and his hands were trembling as he held the baby.

The next day Ron called in sick and went to see his brother.

When they were younger he’d looked up to the twins as superhuman. They never minded getting shouted at by Mum, never minded getting in trouble; they did what they wanted. Of course they were irritating and Ron never enjoyed being the butt of their pranks, but his brothers were amazing, and he’d always been in awe of them.

Now, when he was let into George’s flat, he was terrified.

“I’m trying, Ron,” George whispered through his tears. “I’m trying to be what he would have wanted. But I can’t…it’s like everything’s gone. I don’t want to make new ideas when he’s not there to see them.”

Ron wrapped his arms around his wounded brother and let him cry.

Once George had calmed somewhat they started to talk as they never had before: as equals, brother to brother. There were three major results of that conversation.

Firstly, George went to see a trauma Healer. He went through therapy once a week for over a year, and continued to go monthly for years after. He learned how to accept his grief, accept being a person on his own, and eventually how to find joy in that.

Secondly, Ron (after checking multiple times that he was welcome) explained to Harry that he was done with the Aurors. Bless him, Harry understood what his brothers needed, and helped Ron get through the process of quitting his job and beginning anew at Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes.

Thirdly, Ron convinced George that they could use a third person as an idea developer. George agreed, and Seamus Finnegan joined the team, to his husband’s relief.

“Dean won’t let me blow things up at home,” Seamus explained. “This is wicked!”

Ginny Weasley Potter

Ginny had wanted to play Quidditch since she was six. She wanted to play for the Harpies, then for England. Then she would settle down and have exactly two children.

When she was sixteen, she wanted to survive the war, and for Harry and her family and friends to survive. She wanted to marry Harry and never let him go again, and they would have…well, maybe two children. Three would be okay too.

And the war did end, and several people survived. Ginny carved the initials of those who didn’t into her broom and flew for the Harpies and Harry watched every game he could and she was happy.

Then a job opened at the Daily Prophet for a sports correspondent.

Ginny was getting tired of playing by then. It was an amazing world, and she loved her teammates, but she missed Harry, and she was intrigued by the idea of trying to write about sports instead of playing them.

To her shock, she got the job. And as an even bigger shock, she realized that she absolutely loved writing. Scribbling notes during a game, cheering herself hoarse, watching the play intensely…it was brilliant, utterly brilliant. And the work was hers, it was nothing anyone had told her to be, it wasn’t the dream of a little girl who’d known nothing of the powerful evil and the powerful good in the world.

And to her great delight, her writing dovetailed quite nicely with her other dream; she didn’t have to stop writing when she was pregnant.

When Ginny Weasley Potter was twenty-six, she was pregnant with her third child, and she laughed with delight when she had her little girl. And she promised herself that she would teach her daughter to chase her dreams, but to always remember that new ones would come unexpectedly, and that being ready to change your mind was the fastest way to happiness.

She got a chance to do that hands on with her daughter and other girls when she came to Hogwarts to teach flying lessons.

Neville Longbottom

Neville graduated after the Battle of Hogwarts. Everyone got the credentials that they wanted, no questions asked. Neville wondered how well he’d really done at Hogwarts; no exams in 2nd year, none in 6th year, and half of 7th year spent in the Room of Requirement, trying to protect everyone.

He’d thought once of travelling and looking for new species of plants. Instead, he spent the summer working with Professor Sprout between funerals and hearings, restoring the greenhouses, getting new species, planning new lessons. Professor Sprout had always been his favourite teacher, even more so now because she let him work in peace and quiet next to her, tending to the wounded plants as a balm for his wounded heart.

When August came, Professor Sprout surprised him.

“I’m thinking of retiring, Neville.”

“Retiring?” Neville looked at her in dismay. “But Professor—”

“It’s time, Neville. I want to spend some more time with my wife.”

Very few even knew that Pomona Sprout was married. Her wife was one of the owners of Honeydukes. Professor Sprout never missed a Hogsmeade outing.

“I’m not leaving yet,” Professor Sprout continued. “I’ll give one more year; I owe it to Minerva and the students. Besides, I’ve got to train my replacement.”

“Your replacement? Who is it?”

“You, of course.”

“Me?” Neville couldn’t believe it. “No, Professor, I can’t do that.”

“Yes you can,” Professor Sprout said. “We’ll teach together in the fall, and after Christmas you can do some classes on your own and work on developing some new lesson plans.”

“But—”

“You hacked off Nagini’s head, you stood up to the Carrows and you protected all those kids,” Professor Sprout said. “Neville, you’ve found your courage, and you know plants. Think of the students like seedlings; they need strong roots and a guiding trellis. You can provide both. Now, hand me that Flutterby bush.”

There was no more discussion, and in September Neville found himself facing the first class, a group of curious Ravenclaw first years.

“This is Neville,” Professor Sprout said. “He’ll be Professor Longbottom soon, so listen to him.”

She split the kids up into pairs to begin work, and Neville started awkwardly moving among them. He spotted a girl who could just barely reach the table, staring at the plants nervously.

“Don’t use your wand, you’ll blow us all up, Worth-less,” her partner sneered.

“Enough of that,” Neville said sternly. “Jessica, you can go ahead and work alone. Five points from Ravenclaw. Any more nasty comments and it’s detention.”

Jessica reddened and turned away. Neville summoned a stool and helped the first girl up. “What’s your name?” he asked.

“Amy Worth,” she whispered. “And she’s right—I can’t do anything. Mum’s going to be furious.”

Neville crouched so they were eye to eye. “It takes practice,” he promised. “Why don’t you speak to your professors about getting extra help? They’ll all be willing to do it. And you don’t need your wand for this. Now, the first step is to check if the plant is properly watered…”

Draco Malfoy

Draco had no idea what to do.

Suddenly poor and drifting for the first time in his life, he paced back and forth in his parent’s house, the place where once he’d believed he could do anything. Be anything.

Now he was nothing.

Five days a week for a year he was busy, working for his community service. He spent two months at St. Mungo’s, three working in the Compensation Office, another three at Hogwarts helping to repair damages (trying not to vomit as he worked to remove the marks of curses he and his group had fired), and the last four working to build houses for families who’d lost their homes. In every job he was mocked, spat at and checked carefully to make sure he was doing nothing wrong.

Draco took the treatment in silence, accepting the blame, the snarls, the tears. He did everything he could to work through the problems, to help as many as he could. But what could he do for people who’d lost limbs to curses, lost family…lost children? He spent several nights late at work, trying to find more solutions, to do more to silence the screaming in his head.

Oh he knew he was guilty, and at first he tried to justify some of it. He was young, he was raised that way, he was forced to. It didn’t matter. His actions were his own, and now he had to suffer the consequences.

One much happier consequence was meeting Astoria. She was one of the few Slytherins who hadn’t been pulled into the Death Eaters, a highly intelligent witch who designed the new houses and did her best to make them look like homes on the inside. She could read people really well, which was why Draco was surprised that she wanted to spend time with him at all.

“Can’t you see the rot in me?”

“I can see you trying to clear it out,” she replied.

It was the first time someone other than Harry believed in him.

He kept working with Astoria after his sentence was up, kept going to see Harry, who somehow didn’t mind being an Auror and being seen in the company of a former Death Eater. Draco was wearing a long-sleeved shirt the hot August day Harry told him about the problems with Azkaban.

“We’ve gotten rid of the Dementors, which is a great first start, but I want to rip the place to the ground,” Harry said. “There’s nothing there that even allows for someone to change, you know? People like Umbridge deserve to suffer forever, but there are others…and what about people who break the law in a small way? Why do they have only Azkaban?” “We need a new prison,” Draco blurted out.

Thanks to nearly a year of looking at housing plans, he started sketching immediately on a scrap of parchment. “We need to look at rehabilitation programs, and different levels, and treating people…well, like they’re human. Because they still are!”

He looked up to see Harry staring at him.

“What? Oh, they won’t let me do it. They might let Astoria do it, though.”

“I think they’ll let you do it,” Harry said slowly, a smile coming to his face. “I’ve just never seen you so excited.”

“Some people need a second chance,” Draco said. “If I can give it to them, and make sure that the people who deserve to be there are still treated like humans…that would be good work.”

“You might want to look into Muggle prison systems,” Harry said hesitantly. “I think there are some in Denmark and Scandinavia that sound like what you’re thinking of.”

Draco pressed his fingers together, his personal reminder to ignore his old prejudices. It was hard; it was why he kept so quiet. But he was trying, and every time it was a little easier.

“That sounds great, Harry.”

A year later he stood with Harry and Astoria on the island where Azkaban stood.

“Ready?” he called to Harry. “You get the first try.”

Harry smiled, a savage glint in his eye. “Bombarda!”

Azkaban was blasted to bits, and with purifying charms Luna Lovegood and Hermione Granger had created, the ground was secure. They’d build the new prison village here, with a tower for the people who really had no remorse in their hearts. They were in the minority though, and Draco had high hopes that there would come a day when most of the prisoners on the shore would walk free again, with the outside world understanding that they had paid their debts and were ready to be among people again and to feel happy.

Luna Lovegood Scamander

Luna headed for the jungle after the last funeral. She answered Ginny’s owls, but that was it. She needed to drown out the memories of the basement, of the fighting. She’d always been able to hold back her sadness—losing Mum, not having friends—but Bellatrix’s laughs and Mr. Ollivander’s sobs and the terrible silence in the Great Hall with the dead wouldn’t leave her heart.

She found new sounds, observing fantastic beasts in the wild, finding new ones, taking extensive notes. She visited with specimens and notes and spoke at naturalist events and came to every wedding, but it took five years before she really felt ready to come back for good.

In those five years she’d been to every continent, discovered sixteen new species, and had seven lovers. Her favourite was Himari, whose speciality lay in magical fauna. Luna introduced her to Neville via owl and the three of them spent an amazing summer in Brazil, trekking up the Amazon.

But Himari got back together with an old girlfriend at the end of the summer, and Luna let her go. It was alright, really. Himari didn’t want anything permanent, so she wasn’t surprised. And they stayed friends; Luna brought a tiny bundle of flowers when Himari’s son was born, and at Himari’s request named him Haru.

But long before that baby was born, Luna was in Madagascar in autumn, and she got lost for the first time in years. It was getting dark, and she was nervous. There were tales of a creature who hunted by night in these plains, one that wasn’t afraid of wands.

“Hello.”

Luna spun.

A man stood behind her. “You’re glowing,” he said.

Luna looked down. The moon was coming up, and a faint beam of light was falling on her. “I am.”

“Are you Luna Lovegood?” Her name sounded like an incantation in the stranger’s accent.

“Yes.”

“It’s an honour to meet you.” The man made a little bow. “My name is Rolf, and I am a humble naturalist. Would you like to join me for supper?”

“Aren’t you worried about the Aye-Aye?” Luna asked.

Rolf chuckled. “Ah, that old story is still around. I promise, Moonlight, there is nothing to fear. In fact, after we eat I can show you one.”

Luna had never seen such an amazing creature, and was astounded to learn it wasn’t fantastic in the least.

It was about a week later that she found out he was Rolf Scamander. It was also a week later when they both realized they were falling in love.

And that was when it was time to go home.

They did go on more trips, and when the twins were old enough they came along too. In between, Luna started to paint her favourite observations from memory and from notes. Rolf was astounded.

“Moonlight, these are beautiful! And the detail…” Rolf peered at them. “You ought to exhibit them.”

It took some persuading, but eventually Luna did exhibit her paintings, all but one.

The one painting she kept at home was a small painting. It showed an Aye-Aye, peering up curiously at two naturalists trying to drown out their pasts, and in doing so found their futures in a moonlit night in Madagascar.

#harry potter fanfiction #professor harry #harry potter careers #harry potter au #au after deathly hallows #fading scars universe #professor harry potter #researcher hermione #joke shop ron #career choices #acme146 fanfiction #crosspost from AO3

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