Archive of Our Own ^beta

“Bloody perfect.” A posh looking woman groaned in frustration when the train they were on suddenly stopped. Harry couldn’t stop his grin.

“Happens every once in a while.” Harry commented, offering her a small shrug.

“The one time I decide to meet the girls from the tube instead of taking the bus and I get stranded.” She sighed. “Do you take the tube often?”

“Only really this summer.” Harry shrugged. “Gotta have something to do to pass the time when I get locked out.”

“Get locked out? How old are you? Like, 14?” She asked in shock.

“Just turned 16.” Harry chuckled. “But, yeah. Safe to say I’m not liked much so I just usually ride the tube around or wander the city before going back when I know the door is unlocked.”

“Well I think you’re adorable. I’m Victoria, by the way.” She held a hand out to shake.

“Harry.” Harry smiled at her. 

“Harry?” She tilted her head curiously as she looked him over. “You wouldn’t happen to be related to James or Lily Potter?”

“Ye- yeah.” Harry said cautiously. “They were my mum and dad.”

“Sorry about that. I’m sure it sounded way creepier than I meant.” She apologized. “Lily and Petunia were cousins. Our mums were sisters. Petunia was a nightmare when Lily got accepted to that special school, so mum told me. Could never understand why she hated her and James so much. Went to their wedding when I was just a toddler. It was really beautiful.”

“You’re cousins with my Aunt Petunia?” Harry asked in shock. He didn’t think he had any other relatives.

“Unfortunately. Thought you’d be off living with what’s his name?” She snapped her fingers a few times. “Sirius something. He was your godfather, I think. Couldn’t make it to the christening, had a thing.” She shrugged. “Well. You absolutely cannot go back if she’s still an awful bitch and locking you out. You’re coming with me to meet with the girls and then we’ll figure out what to do next.”

“You don’t even know me.” Harry pointed out, grinning. He’d never met a woman so determined other than Hermione before. It was amusing. “I could be a vagrant.”

“Could be.” She snorted, very unladylike. “But highly unlikely with James and Lily as your parents, no matter how short a time you got with them. James was a pushover any time you flashed your big adorable eyes at him and Lily would just laugh at him. Oh, here.” She handed him a small photograph that had her, Remus, Sirius, his parents, and a very small Harry with a cake that had a big candle in the middle saying ‘Happy 1st birthday’. She looked rather young herself, only a handful of years or so older than Harry. “Kept it with me in case I ever ran into their crowd again so I could ask after you. Blimey, haven’t seen you in around 15 years. We must catch up and you have to tell me about how school is going.”

“It’s alright.” Harry shrugged. “On my house sports team, classes are awful. No one explained shit to me when I got there and a majority of the kids are there from long family lines that attended before them already knowing what they’re going into career wise. Nepotism at its finest, for sure.”

“God, I hate that.” Victoria groaned. “The girls are absolutely going to love you.”

“What girls are you talking about?” Harry asked curiously.

“Oh, signed on with a record label. Me and a few girls are making a band. We’re not widely known yet, but we will be.” She said it so certainly, Harry fully believed they’d make it.

“Sounds fun.”

“It’s a lot of work, but we all get along well enough already. Is there anything you would need that Petunia or her whale of a husband might have locked away?” She asked, digging through her bag.

“She locks my school stuff in the cupboard that used to be my room as soon as I get back every year.” Harry sighed. “Doesn’t like the reminder of it all.”

“Hm. Finally!” She exclaimed as the train started moving again. “Once we’re done meeting with the girls, you and I are going to get this all sorted and get to know each other.”

“I’m told I’m more trouble than I’m worth.” Harry said hesitantly.

“Please, that awful woman used to say the same thing about me.” Victoria rolled her eyes. “Come on, dear Harry. We’ve got people to meet and I’m going to feed you. You’re far too skinny for a teenage boy.”

“I get that alot.” Harry chuckled, following her through the station and along to a small cafe where a group of girls cheered at her arrival. 

“Girls, this is Harry, he’s my cousin’s kid, and I’ve decided that I have to take him in to make sure he’s actually taken care of. Harry, this is Mel B, Mel C, Geri, and Emma.” Victoria introduced him but Emma was looking at him in shock.

“You’re Luna’s friend.” She said quietly.

“You know Luna?” Harry asked, smiling. “She’s great, but I haven’t heard much from her this summer.”

“Her dad’s been keeping her busy.” Emma shrugged while Harry and Victoria sat down. “You’re one of her kind, yeah?”

“Yeah.” Harry nodded. 

“That works out then.” She grinned. “You girls remember when I told you about my cousin Xenophilias?”

“Oh. The magic bloke.” Mel B nodded.

“Right, well, Harry and Luna go to the same school up in Scotland. She’s been sending me letters about all of her friends since she started because we don’t get to see each other often.” Emma sighed. “Good kid, if a bit odd.”

“She just sees the world a bit differently.” Harry conceded.

“Well we’ve all got family there, it seems.” Mel C chuckled. “My dad’s cousin works there teaching astronomy, I think.”

“I’ve got a very distant niece that I don’t know much about. Angel or something.” Mel B said. “Our families weren’t close before they all disappeared into that community.”

“I knew there was something Lily wasn’t telling me.” Victoria said in annoyance. “It’s fine. We’ll figure it out. So what’s the latest, girls?”

Harry listened to them talk about recording studios and executives and producers and found it all rather fascinating. When they took him to the studio with them afterwards, he really wanted to play with some of the equipment. The girls all sounded great when they sang. He crashed on Victoria’s couch when they finally got back to her flat. He slept soundly for the first time in what felt like years. 

Going back to the Dursleys with Victoria was strange. Not because he was worried about how they’d react, more that he didn’t think, as much as he hated his Aunt and Uncle, that they quite deserved to be on the receiving end of whatever she was planning to say to them. 

“Victoria.” His Aunt sneered when she answered the door. “What brings you to our quaint neighborhood?”

“Petunia.” She said politely. “Was dropping by to get Harry’s things. He’s not staying here anymore. You were a wretched twat when I was a kid, and it doesn’t look as though that has changed. I’m a relative that is willing to take him in and provide him with actual care and support. So. Move aside so we may collect his belongings and we’ll be out of that dreadful hair.”

“He can’t leave.” She said through gritted teeth, but moving aside so they could enter. “The Headmaster at his school has said as much.”

“Well he’s obviously an idiot.” Victoria replied. “Harry, go collect your things. We must be going soon as we have another recording session this evening.”

“Alright.” Harry grinned, ducking his head to try and hide it as he hurried up the steps and put what he could in his bag. “Head out to school or Ron’s for a bit, girl.” Harry told Hedwig. “We’re getting out of here and hopefully never coming back.” She nudged his head with hers before taking off. When he got downstairs he found his Aunt sitting rigidly and glaring at Victoria who was sitting perfectly poshly and glaring right back. He pulled his trunk out of the cupboard and managed to get the cage for Hedwig in it. He had to stop and get a new trunk and more school things at some point. 

“He has to stay.” His Aunt finally gritted out again, once Harry had his things set on the front step for a man to load in the back of the car that Victoria had rented. 

“No. You were convinced he had to stay because you were blood and that was what would keep you and him safe. I’m also blood, so his protections will still be in place if he’s with me. If you’re so worried about it, perhaps consider moving?” She stood primly and straightened out her outfit that was barely wrinkled from the car ride, let alone sitting while Harry packed. “His people can always track him down with an owl if they need him for something before school starts. You should have the papers dissolving your guardianship of him within the week.”

“See ya, Big D.” Harry called, waving at Dudley who was looking down the stairs and watching everything. 

“You can write some time. If you want, I mean.” He muttered quietly, coming down and shaking Harry’s hand. “You saved my life last summer.”

“I’ll try and stick to regular post unless I’m in school.” Harry nodded, glad that his cousin seemed to have changed so much. “Take care.”

“You too, Harry.” Dudley waved as he climbed in the car with Victoria. It felt surreal to be leaving Privet Drive and not having to come back. 

“You have far too few possessions, dear.” Victoria sighed. “Do you want to stop by the alley now, or later?”

“Can we stop now? I’m running a bit low on a lot of things and need a few upgrades anyway.”

“Certainly. Roger, swing by the Leaky Cauldron.” 

“Yes, ma’am.” The man nodded.

“There’s loads of wix that leave that awful, close-minded society and find more fulfilling things to do with their lives.” Victoria said absently. “Roger here tried submitting law changes with what he learned by getting his degree, but they laughed him off. Now, he helps people find their way, more or less.”

“Sounds brilliant.” Harry smiled. When they got to the alley, Victoria grabbed a cap and pulled it over his head to hide his scar since his hair was a bit longer and was more often brushed to the side out of his eyes. She gave Roger a look that had him rolling his eyes before he pulled his wand out and transfigured Harry’s jeans into shorts that fit and a graphic t-shirt. Harry nodded his thanks before leading the way to the alley. When they arrived at the bank, Victoria glared at the goblin who was speaking with Harry. 

“He’s putting a lock on his accounts as well.” She stated. “I’m almost certain money was being funneled to Petunia for his care that she kept for herself.”

“And who might you be?” The goblin asked with a wicked grin that didn’t phase her one bit. 

“A cousin who is taking him in. Harry needs a safe place, not a prison.” She replied. “Victoria Adams.”

“Perhaps you’d like to do the guardianship papers we have as well for Mr. Potter?” The goblin offered.

“Love to.” She agreed. “And you will lock his accounts so that the only one with access is Harry, unless he gives explicit permission, in person, to allow another access.”

“You can have access.” Harry said, pursing his lips when two unimpressed looks were sent his way. “I only meant that if I need something while at school, it would be easier for you to already have access to get what I need.”

“I’ll have limited access.” She replied. “Maximum withdrawal limits without you verifying in person that I have permission for anything over.”

“Alright.” Harry agreed easily. 

“We’ll also need the elves assigned to the Potter estates and the Black estates.” She stated. 

“And the remaining Slytherin estate?” The goblin asked.

“Whatever estates he holds, we need to speak with the head elf of each one.” She corrected airily. “Does his trust vault have his family books?”

“I believe there are a few.” The goblin nodded, looking thoughtful. “We will escort you, Ms. Adams, to an office where you may sign the necessary documents while Mr. Potter gets what he needs from his vault.”

“Perfect.” She smiled. “Get enough that you can exchange your currency for pounds. There are shops we need to get to to update your wardrobe if you will be around world famous popstars.”

“Sounds good.” Harry chuckled, waving her off as she went in an office and he went to his vault. He grabbed more than he needed for his school things, but also several books that said something about family magicks. There was an old Potions book that he grabbed on a whim. He didn’t have his OWL results yet, but he figured he might as well keep up with it. He also grabbed a Charms and Transfiguration book before grumbling and adding the Runes book as well. 

Victoria was fantastic at dealing with the goblins and sorting his elves and accounts. Things Harry had never even really considered. He purchased his new trunk and new school robes as well as supplies he expected he might need for classes. He snagged an owl order catalog from the bookshop so he wouldn’t have to do it in person. 

“This looks interesting.” She said, looking up at Fred and George’s new shop. 

“Harry!” The twins shouted, coming out and picking him up in big hugs. 

“What brings you our way?”

“Thought you were still locked away.”

“Nah, weird as it sounds, found out about more family I had. Guys, this is Victoria. Turns out I had another cousin. She’s taking me in over the summers now. Victoria, this is Fred and George Weasley.”

“Charming shop you have here.” She said pleasantly.

“Wouldn’t have half of this if it weren’t for Harry.” Fred shrugged, and Harry blushed.

“Gave us our start up.” George added. 

“Interesting. Have you done any contracts for additional investments or return on his initial investment?” She asked.

“Haven’t had a chance.” George sighed in annoyance. “Harry’s Aunt and Uncle, well, if you’re family you know how awful they are.”

“We’ve got some things drawn up, just need Harry’s review before they can be instated.” Fred added.

“Be dears and send them to us so I can help Harry understand them?” She asked sweetly. “This looks to be a fantastic first investment, Harry.”

“Thanks.” Harry said shyly, shoving George when he snickered at him. 

“Love to chat more some time later. I’ll have Harry send for you where you can meet us once we get settled and I’m perhaps not spending several nights a week in the studio.” Victoria said pleasantly.

“Absolutely.” They both agreed, smiling brightly, shaking her hand before hugging Harry once more and waving him off. 

“And how long has George been pining after you?” Victoria asked once they were back through the Leaky, making Harry trip on his feet.

“What?” Harry asked, straightening up again. “He’s not pining. Wait, is he?”

“He most definitely is.” She said certainly. “We can discuss it later, though. Let’s go shopping!”

“Yes!” The other girls all cheered, startling Harry at their sudden appearance. 

“We’re obviously helping with your transformation.” Mel C said, smiling brightly at Harry. 

“The more the merrier, I suppose.” Harry shrugged, chuckling. 

The shopping trip was the most chaotic and most fun he could remember ever having. It was a wonderful and welcome distraction from the disaster his life had become. He should have expected them to do something wild with his hair, seeing how much Mel B kept looking at it. He rolled his eyes when they got it dyed and it was a mix of blue and teal and trimmed up nicely so it could be styled. Victoria helped him learn how to use the stuff the shop gave him to style it at home. She only rolled her eyes when Geri took him to get a tattoo. It wasn’t anything big, but he got the marks from each Marauder across his collarbone with a few lilies around it. Emma even convinced him to get his ear pierced. 

Honestly, letting them do all of that seemed to be a good bonding experience and helped them be less stressed about the impending release of their first album and single. The producers were great, too, because they showed Harry what everything was on their soundboards and what it all did. He really wanted to get something like that he could mess around with. One of the musicians got him in front of a keyboard and gave him a few lessons when the girls were recording in another studio. He picked it up quickly because it was wonderful being able to play how he felt instead of being forced to talk. It was very therapeutic. 

“You’re going to do great.” Victoria said, hugging him tightly as he was preparing to go on the platform. Once she let go, he was pulled in by Mel B.

“Knock ‘em dead, kid.” She agreed.

“But don’t forget to write, and tell Luna the same.” Emma added.

“We’ll see you next summer.” Geri agreed, kissing his cheeks.

“And keep practicing.” Mel C said, her hug almost tighter than the others.

“I will.” Harry nodded, smiling at them and feeling a little choked up. “This was probably the best summer of my life. I’m really glad we got stuck on that train together.”

“Me too.” Victoria smiled at him. “Now get going and let me know as soon as you get there.”

“Alright. Hope you still have time for me when you’re world famous stars.” Harry waved, hating that he had to walk away.

“We’ll always have time for you, Harry.” They all agreed, waving as he walked through the barrier. 

The silence of the platform didn’t bother him as much when he walked through, dropping his trunk off. Fred and George gushed over his new look when they cornered him, but George was flushing as much as Harry was. He slipped a note in George’s pocket, winking at Fred before he boarded the train. He pulled out his headphones and turned on the music that the girls had been working on and snuck him a copy, knowing he wouldn’t be splashing it around anywhere. When he spotted Luna he ducked into the compartment and tugged his headphones off one ear.

“Hey, Luna!”

“Hullo, Harry.” She said, smiling brightly at him, her eyes shining as she took in his hair and overall new look. 

“Your cousin Emma informed me that you need to write her more this year.”

“Oh.” Luna looked surprised.

“Yeah, met a distant cousin of mine, Victoria, who is in a singing group with her and she insisted that we both make sure to write them all.”

“She always had a beautiful voice.” Luna sighed dreamily. “I’ll make sure I write her every chance I can.”

“Good. Otherwise, I’m sure I’ll never hear the end of it.” Harry chuckled. “I’m gonna walk a bit, but I’ll see you at school, yeah?”

“Ok, Harry!” She waved as he walked off again, heading for the back of the train and settling in by the window, his headphones back on. He couldn’t help but twitch his fingers like he could play along. He took out his family books after a while, flipping through and making a few notes in his notebook. Victoria had convinced him to get a few normal supplies instead of just parchment and quills. It was brilliant and he only felt a little bit like an idiot for not doing it before. 

“This is Slytherin territory.” Malfoy said, flicking his headphones off and making him scratch across his page, interrupting his notes. He looked up and saw that they were moving already.

“Says who?” Harry asked, raising an eyebrow at Malfoy who looked to be having trouble meeting Harry’s eyes. He was really glad he’d gotten contacts. 

“Says everyone.” Parkinson sneered.

“Fine.” Harry shrugged. “As heir to Slytherin by rite of conquest, and as the hat wanted to put me there to begin with, I’m free to stay.” Harry pulled his headphones back on and turned the page so he could keep writing but sighed in annoyance when someone shoved them off his head again. “What?”

“You can’t be the heir to Slytherin.” Malfoy said, looking rather angry. 

“Why? Because I’m a half-blood?” Harry asked, shutting his notebook and setting his family book on top of it.

“You’re like the poster boy for Gryffindor.” Crabbe said, looking confused, which wasn’t all that unusual.

“I’m the poster boy for everything.” Harry deadpanned, holding back a grin when Zabini and Goyle looked to be having trouble keeping straight faces. “Quidditch, Gryffindor, most hated student by a majority of the teachers, let alone my peers; broken family, probably the poster kid for whatever passes as the child services in the magical world. I have layers, you know. I’m not just a pretty face with money and a fast broom. Now please, leave me alone. I want to get through this a bit more before I’m stuck with whatever is gonna happen this year at school.”

“What book is that?” Nott asked curiously, ignoring Malfoy’s glare.

“Found it in my vault this summer. Family magicks. Didn’t know that was a thing, actually, but it’s got a lot of cool stuff in it. Did you know my family traces back to Ignotus Peverell? One of the rumored three brothers in that story about Death.”

“What?” Malfoy asked, looking startled all of a sudden.

“It’s pretty fascinating, but I have to say, wizarding children’s stories are on par with the Grimm Brothers fairy tales. A majority are dark, and a very few have morals or lessons learned.” Harry nodded.

“No, I mean, you didn’t know you were descended from the Peverell’s?” Malfoy clarified, pinching the bridge of his nose like Snape often did.

“How would I?” Harry asked. “Grew up with muggles, remember? And I’m not Hermione. I’m not gonna raid every book in Flourish and Blotts in the chance they might mention something that actually applies to me. I only ever had a few minutes to get what I needed from my vault in the past, but this year I was actually able to see what was all there.”

“We were told you were learned in our ways, though.” Parkinson said, her face looking constipated.

“Well that’s bullshit.” Harry huffed. “You want to know what I knew before getting to actually read my Hogwarts letter? I’ll lay it out. I learned my name when I was six. Took me most of my first year at primary school to respond to it because my Aunt and Uncle only ever called me ‘boy’ or ‘freak’. I got over a hundred letters for my first year because my Aunt and Uncle kept throwing them in the fire or destroying them in some way. HAGRID is who came to retrieve me and take me shopping. When I was first getting to the platform at 11, my Aunt and Uncle dropped me and my trunk off by the entrance and practically ran off laughing. I have been bullied and beaten and starved nearly my entire life. So whatever you actually think you know about me is bullshit. That being said, I’d like to get back to my book.”

“Wait.” Malfoy waved his wand and cast a silencing charm over the compartment and paced a few times before sitting in front of Harry. It was all very odd and suspicious.

“We’re going to fix that.” Nott said, watching Malfoy closely.

“We were informed that you were learned in our customs and traditions.” Malfoy said tentatively. “So here is what’s going to happen; you are going to be re-sorted when we arrive because you were technically expelled last year and in order for you to actually be counted as a student you would have had to go through sorting again. You will come to us and you will be tutored on everything that those around you have failed at. Government, politics, family magicks, everything. But you are going to do something for me.”

“You’re going to make a big deal about the sorting, aren’t you?” Harry groaned in annoyance.

“Yes.” Malfoy said, voice firm and his eyes hard. “You have been failed, horrendously, by a list of people that I’m almost sure are doing everything they can to keep you ignorant of the actual power you hold.”

“Did no one know how you were treated outside of school?” Zabini asked cautiously and Harry couldn’t stop his snort of derision.

“Dumbledore knew. I argued with him and McGonagall each year about not wanting to return, but they never listened. If not for Fred, George, and Ron, I’d have probably died before second year, if not shortly after it started, from malnutrition caused by starvation. No one cares.” Harry saw there was a sudden realization in all of their eyes, but he wasn’t interested. “I’ve been treated like a pariah, a disease, or a martyr every year at school. I got lucky this summer and happened to run into a woman that was cousins with my Aunt and demanded my guardianship be turned over to her. I’ve spent the last month knowing what it must have felt like for everyone else to have a family. So I don’t really care what anyone has to say about me this year. We’ve got one year left of school after this one, then I’m doing whatever the hell I feel like.”

“Can you help us?” Parkinson asked quietly, looking at the floor.

“Help you what?” Harry asked, looking between them all.

“Father’s in Azkaban.” Malfoy said slowly. 

“Right.” Harry nodded, waiting for them to make sense.

“They marked Draco.” Nott said, and Harry whipped from looking at him back to Malfoy in shock. 

“But- but you’re just a kid.” Harry said, not liking the pained expression on Malfoy’s face.

“Yes, well, that certainly didn’t stop him from torturing you at 14, so you should know my age wouldn’t have stopped him from marking me.” Malfoy muttered, rubbing his arm. “It was take the mark or watch them kill my mother.”

“So what is it you need? I can’t do much if you’ve been marked already.” Harry said hesitantly. “Wait-,” he pulled one of his other books out and flipped through it to what he was searching for, “-show me.”

“Potter.” Malfoy hissed.

“Trust me for one bloody second.” Harry said sternly. 

Malfoy gritted his teeth and slowly rolled his sleeve up after taking off his jacket. Harry hummed as he felt the Parsel magic, the curse. He couldn’t break it entirely without drawing attention from Voldemort, but he could lessen the curse. He telegraphed his movements so he didn’t startle or anger Malfoy, grabbing his wrist firmly and holding it tight. He hissed and used what he’d learned about Parsel in the last month to unravel as much of the curse as he could. When he was done, Malfoy practically sagged in relief in his seat. 

“I’ve only lessened the hold the curse had on you. You’ll still know when he calls you and you’ll know if he’s displeased, but it won’t be debilitating like it was meant to be. If I unravel any more, he’ll notice.” Harry said, shutting his book.

“Thank you.” Malfoy whispered, covering his arm back up hurriedly. 

“That was a pretty intense bind he had on you. What impossible task is he trying to achieve?” Harry asked, leaning back and slipping his headphones off and putting them on the table.

“Dumbledore.” Malfoy said, looking around as if he expected someone to show up and hex him. 

“Why does he care if the Headmaster is alive or not?” Harry asked, confused.

“I’m not sure. But he expects me to kill him.”

“That’s not happening.” Harry blew out a rough breath. “Give me a few weeks and I’ll figure out what Dumbledore is up to and why Tom is after him so intently.”

“How?” Zabini asked.

“Dumbledore has been planning something.” Harry said cautiously. “He always is with me. If he doesn’t pull me in his office as soon as you demand a re-sort, I’d be surprised. Where is Snape involved?” Malfoy looked at him in shock and Harry rolled his eyes. “Let’s assume I know a bit more about some things than I should, while next to nothing on others, yeah?”

“He’s my godfather.” Malfoy said slowly. “I’m certain he’ll try and intervene in some way.”

“I’ll talk to him.” Harry shrugged. “Should be easy enough. He’s gonna be itching to give me detention as soon as I walk in.”

“Why is that?” Goyle asked, looking startled that he asked the question.

“He knew my mum. They were best friends in school together, apparently. Which I learned in failed Occlumency lessons last year. Essentially, he hates me because him and mum had a falling out and she chose dad in the end. What is the first thing a majority of people say when they meet me?”

“You look like your father.” Nott said in understanding.

“Aside from having mum’s eyes.” Harry agreed. “Not one of those teachers at that school has ever seen Harry Potter, only James and Lily. People they all knew well and watched grow before they died. Those people knew my parents longer than I did, so I’ve no idea how I can possibly act like them when I never knew them. They should all be happy I don’t act like my Aunt and Uncle, nor like my cousin used to. Doesn’t matter though. The point is, Snape is always looking for a reason to fail me or call me out. I give him a day, at most, before he gives me detention. If I’m re-sorted into his house? I’ll have it by the time we reach the dorms.”

“Two galleons he does it before dinner’s over.” Zabini interjected, grinning crookedly. 

“You’re on.” Harry chuckled. “Shouldn’t you two be patrolling?” Harry pointed between Parkinson and Malfoy.

“Let Granger drag Weaselbee around to do it.” Malfoy muttered, sniffing haughtily. 

“Yeah, but see, if they do that, they’ll find me back here and think you’re trying to corrupt me or hex me or something.” Harry pointed out.

“And?” Parkinson asked, raising an eyebrow. “Everyone already thinks we do that all the time anyway. Besides, you barely look like yourself. We hardly recognized you.”

“Fair. It’s really the Hufflepuffs people should look out for, anyway.” Harry nodded. “Those kids are sneaky and scarily good with tripping jinxes.”

“Oh?” Malfoy asked, crossing his arms and looking at him expectantly.

“You didn’t think they left me alone when my name came out of the goblet, did you? I fell down at least three staircases because of them. All because of something I didn’t want or willingly enter to begin with.” Harry shrugged. “Something happens every year that has everyone hating me for some reason. Guess this year it’ll be because I got sorted as a snake.”

“Why didn’t you want to be in Slytherin, anyway?” Crabbe asked. “I mean, you came from muggles, so you didn’t know anything but still argued against us?” Harry looked at Malfoy.

“The robe shop conversation for one.” Harry arched an eyebrow at Malfoy who flushed. “For two, the first kid I met that was ever nice to me was Ron. This git insulted him as soon as he saw him. I was wearing clothes that were three sizes too big, and he goes on about hand-me-downs. I didn’t care about the houses, not really. But I was already dealing with a bully at home and I didn’t want to be around someone who wanted to make me feel small.”

“You were small.” Malfoy grumbled. 

“‘S what happens when you don’t get fed properly and live in a cupboard, I reckon.” Harry said, eyebrow still arched. “I don’t tolerate bullying. So if I end up with you lot, then things are gonna change. No more animosity between every house and Slytherin. You are not the only ones with family who were or are Death Eaters. You are not the only ones with family that have caused others to be hurt or murdered. It was a Gryffindor that betrayed my parents, after all.”

“So you’re not an idiot.” Malfoy said assessingly. “Good. You might just be able to pull this off, I expect.”

“No promises there still won’t be a death. Each year I’ve been here, someone has been killed or nearly.”

“Who?” Goyle asked, getting up and getting an armful of snacks from the trolley witch before she hit their silencing ward. He set them all out on the two tables they were spread across.

“Quirrell, first year. Second year was technically Voldie and a Basilisk, third year … actually, I don’t think anyone died third year, just nearly. Fourth year, Cedric. Last year, my godfather. I’m five of six so far.”

“Blimey.” Zabini huffed, sitting back.

“Also sitting at five for five on DADA teachers trying to kill me at some point.” Harry shrugged. “Thanks for this.” Harry waved the pasty he opened and took a bite. He missed wizarding snacks during the summers. 

The rest of the train ride was pretty quiet aside from the occasional question from one of the Slytherins about something Harry was doing or working on. When he was changing into his robes, Malfoy seemed to choke on his spit when he saw his tattoo. Harry rolled his eyes and finished changing. He was definitely telling Geri about that in his letter. She’d find it hilarious. 

No one seemed to recognize Harry as he joined the throngs of students heading for the castle, taking a carriage with the other Slytherins who had apparently decided they were his personal guard now. They separated at the Great Hall and Harry sat at the end so when he inevitably had to go through the sorting again, he had everyone’s attention. Colin recognized him right away, though and started an animated conversation about all the cool things he’d photographed that summer. He hadn’t actually talked to many of the younger years, but it was fun. They were all still young and energetic and excited about everything. 

“Slytherin house is invoking charter six.” Malfoy said, standing up with his wand pointed toward the ceiling, the tip alight, before Dumbledore could begin the feast.

“Oh?” Dumbledore said, looking at Snape who was frowning more than usual.

“And who is it you believe needs re-sorted?” McGonagall asked, looking at Malfoy intently.

“When a student is expelled or disenrolled for any reason, they must be sorted in order to be re-enrolled, regardless of the circumstances.” Malfoy said clearly. “Harry Potter was expelled before last year started and is required to be sorted to maintain his standing as a student.”

Harry snickered when a lot of people burst out in agitation at the statement, but Snape and McGonagall were watching Malfoy closely. Dumbledore was even frowning. Colin was pouting at him, though. 

“Don’t worry, Colin.” Harry chuckled. “We can still hang out no matter what house I end up in, yeah?”

“Promise?” Colin asked, looking hopeful.

“I promise.” Harry nodded. 

“Harry’s not even here.” Someone shouted and Harry laughed, drawing curious looks his way. He sighed and got up and headed for the front of the room, smirking at all the surprised looks sent his way.

“Sure I am.” Harry shrugged as he walked. “Just got a makeover from my cousin and her girlfriends.”

“Mr. Potter, if you’ll come back here for a moment?” Dumbledore gestured to the back room where the Champions had gone when they were selected and Harry went, not worried about the whispering that followed him. “I was not aware that you had a new cousin.”

“She’s not new.” Harry shrugged, when Snape, McGonagall, Flitwick, and Sprout joined them. “She’s my Aunt’s cousin. Even had a picture with my parents and their friends at my first birthday party.”

“Victoria?” McGonagall asked in surprise.

“Yeah, she’s great. Funny stroke of luck had us trapped on a stalled train together for a bit this summer and she took over my guardianship. She and my mum wrote when they could, granted, Victoria was quite a bit younger so her memories are really those of a five or six year old. Anyway, she had a lot of friends that have family that are either employed here or go to school here, so it wasn’t me telling her anything about this.”

“And you’re prepared to be re-sorted?” She asked, watching him, though she nodded when she met his eyes. “Aye, it seems you are. Well. It’ll be a shame, but I’ll still be expecting you to perform well this year.”

“I will.” Harry agreed, smiling at her. 

“Surely he’ll end up back where his father came from.” Snape sneered at him.

“Want to bet?” McGonagall asked innocently.

“You must ask to stay in Gryffindor, Harry.” Dumbledore said, drawing incredulous looks from all the Heads of Houses.

“Asked to be anywhere other than where the hat originally wanted me once already, sir.” Harry said, raising an unimpressed eyebrow. “I’ll end up where I end up this time. I’ve only got two years of school left, so it doesn’t matter what house I’m in. If it’s all the same, I’d like to get this over with.”

“You will meet with me with your new Head of House directly after dinner.” Dumbledore finally conceded.

“Shall we, then?” Harry asked, heading back out and plopping down on the stool and waiting. Hermione and Ron were whispering heatedly, but everyone else was looking on curiously. Well, aside from the Slytherins in his year who already were expecting him to join them. Zabini had even already scooted over so he could fit between him and Nott. 

“Very well.” Dumbledore said, once he was at the podium. “As Mr. Potter was expelled last summer, he will be sorted so that he may proceed with his remaining years of study.”

“Best of luck, Potter.” McGonagall said, placing the hat on his head. 

>Back again, eh?

<Seems so.

>Right, then. Ready to put that cunning mind and ambition to the test?

<Don’t mind if I do.

“ Slytherin!” The hat yelled, seemingly happy. Harry gave a mock salute to Gryffindor and dropped into the seat that had been saved for him. 

“Green’s a better color for you anyway.” Zabini sniffed.

“So I’ve been told.” Harry chuckled. 

Dumbledore gave a speech that seemed rather more stilted than expected, because a lot of the students were still watching Harry with wide eyes. He smiled at them and waved, snorting when they flushed and hurriedly looked away. Zabini seemed to enjoy it though and joined in waving with Harry at whoever was looking until the food showed up. 

“Detention tomorrow night, Potter.” Snape practically growled as he caught up to him before he could get up from the table. Harry sighed heavily and handed two galleons to Zabini who nodded and walked off, leaving Snape looking slightly more constipated. Harry walked beside him casually as they went to the Headmasters office. Once inside, neither man said anything, so Harry pet Fawkes’ wings while they gathered themselves. 

“Do you mean to tell me,” Snape finally said, having gathered himself, “that this boy was living with Petunia all these years?” He was looking at Dumbledore like he was ready to murder the man, which wasn’t all that different to how he looked at most people.

“She was Lily’s sister.” Dumbledore said, though he sounded tired he looked ready for a fight. “She was the closest blood relative we had at the time.”

“And this other cousin?” Snape pressed.

“As Harry said, she was only just five or six when James and Lily died.”

“So obviously her parents were unsuitable?” Snape scoffed. “At least with them he might not have come here looking and acting like a house elf!”

“So you figured it out, then?” Harry asked quietly, walking back to the desk. “You figured out that I wasn’t much of a wizard so much as a slave? Yet you still took every opportunity to belittle and degrade me. Luckily I didn’t have any memories of my parents for you to ruin or I’d be worse than Neville around you.”

“You cannot let your guard down, Harry.” Dumbledore said, giving him a hard look. Harry frowned at him.

“What makes you think that I’ve ever let my guard down in my entire life?” Harry argued. “I couldn’t afford to. You made sure of that. Is there something specific you needed, sir? Only I have classes tomorrow and a few of the other heirs want to start planning how to educate me on everything I’ve missed out on that they weren’t aware I didn’t know.”

“You will be doing private lessons with me this term.” Dumbledore said, sitting down. It was then Harry noticed his blackened hand. 

“I recognize that.” Harry nodded toward his hand, drawing confused looks from both men. “I found some books in my vault. That’s a Parsel curse. You touched a family relic that someone really didn’t want disturbed.” He tsked.

“May I see this book?” Dumbledore asked, sitting forward.

“I mean, you can look at it, but it won’t make sense to you.” Harry shrugged. “It’s written in Parsel so you’d need me or Voldie to interpret for you. I don’t really think he’d be interested in helping. And I’m not leaving a book on family magicks out for anyone.”

“Is it reversible?” Snape asked, cutting off whatever Dumbledore was gearing up to say.

“Might be.” Harry hummed, looking at his arm closely. “You’ve probably done the best you could with delaying it, but I’ll have to read some more and see what I can find.”

“Your detention tomorrow will be to study this curse.” Snape nodded. 

“I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to fix it, but I will look into it.” Harry said, looking between them. “Anything else?”

“I’ll send you a notice when I wish to hold your first lesson.” Dumbledore said, waving them both toward the door. 

Harry wasn’t surprised that Snape more or less dragged him through the castle and set him on a sofa beside Malfoy before launching into his speech, welcoming the new kids to Slytherin. A lot of the older kids were looking at him, though, not Snape. When he was done, he motioned for Harry and Malfoy to go into his office. He set up a silencing ward and went straight for whatever liquor was in his decanter and threw back a couple fingers without even flinching. Harry cautiously took a step back, ignoring Malfoy’s frown. 

“What the hell were you thinking, Draco?” Snape demanded, pouring another few fingers and turning to face them finally. Harry had taken another small step back. He didn’t trust adults with alcohol. Not that he trusted adults anyway, but with alcohol thrown in? Yeah, no, he learned the hard way to stay clear and stay quiet. 

“I was thinking that our only way out of this bullshit my father got us both into is if Potter was on our side.” Malfoy argued.

“Stop retreating, Potter.” Snape barked, and Harry jumped back another step.

“Habit.” Harry muttered, stepping closer, but staying slightly behind Malfoy.

“What?” Malfoy asked in confusion.

“Your Uncle, I presume?” Snape asked, setting his glass down. Harry just shrugged. 

“His Uncle, what?” Malfoy asked, looking between them.

“His Uncle would drink and go after him, as my father did me.” Snape said tiredly and Harry grit his teeth.

“Not in a while.” Harry argued.

“And how long is a while if your reaction to someone drinking in your vicinity is still to get away?” Snape raised an eyebrow at him.

“Three years.” Harry answered quietly, shifting his shoulders uncomfortably at the topic. “Did you need me for something?”

“You’ve managed to make things incredibly messy, Potter.” Snape said, rubbing his temples. “He gets most of his followers from this House.”

“Not all of them, though.” Harry frowned. 

“No, Pettigrew was an anomaly that I should have seen.” He conceded. “You must tread carefully. The rest of the school will turn on you, saying you’ve gone dark.”

“No different than any other year.” Harry crossed his arms. 

“It is, because everyone is fully aware that He is back now.” Snape said, twitching to reach for his glass again.

“I’m not interested.” Harry stated. “I’ll figure out what the Headmaster wants from me, I’ll go to classes, and pretend I’m still the same idiot everyone has always said I was. I’ll handle things the same way I always do.”

“Which is?” Malfoy asked, raising his own eyebrow.

“Alone.” Snape answered for him, but Harry could only scowl at him. “You have been pitted between your friends and housemates every year you’ve been here. As far as I’m aware you didn’t go to Minerva about the blood quill until just before the holidays.”

“I tried sooner but she just told me to keep my head down. Sir.” Harry gritted his teeth. “No one’s believed me about anything I’ve said since I started primary school, so it’s nothing new. It’s just another scar now.”

“What do you mean another scar?” Snape asked, standing up straighter. “None of the other students have scarring.”

“Yeah, well, they weren’t issued dozens of detentions that lasted between an hour and five.” Harry argued. Snape grabbed his hand and Harry nearly toppled over with how fast he’d moved. 

“You can’t lie.” Snape said, looking at the words that were carved in his hand.

“No.” Harry agreed, trying to keep calm about being grabbed. 

“If you cannot lie, you cannot know what is going on.” Snape said, dropping his hand finally.

“I can’t lie outright.” Harry countered. “Don’t really have to do much if someone assumes something and I don’t correct them, do I?”

“Clever.” Malfoy said, flushing when they looked at him.

“Everyone almost always comes up with the story for me so all I have to do is nod or act like I’m in too much shock to argue.” Harry added. 

“The mark is Parsel magic.” Malfoy said suddenly, looking at Snape. “He … adjusted the hold the curse had on me on the train.”

“He’ll know.” Snape practically growled. 

“He won’t.” Harry argued. “Does he know I’m a Parselmouth?”

“No.” Malfoy said, still looking at Snape.

“Then he won’t believe that anyone has the ability to make alterations.” Snape nodded slowly in understanding. 

“I’ll still feel the summons, and I’ll know when he’s directing things at me, but it won’t be constricting my magic nor torturing me for failing to act before I have any information.” Malfoy said certainly. “Perhaps it’s something you should look into during your detention tomorrow evening?”

“He’s with Zabini. Get him settled. We’ll discuss things more at a later date.” Snape finally stated, waving his hand and dropping his wards. Harry breathed a sigh of relief when they were gone, drawing curious looks from the other two.

“What?” Harry asked defensively. “That spell was stifling.”

“You could feel it?” Malfoy asked, looking at him funnily.

“You can feel magic.” Snape said.

“Yeah?” Harry said, but it sounded more like a question. “If I couldn’t feel it, how could I cast?”

“Fuck, we’ve got our work cut out for us.” Malfoy muttered. 

“Your mother was the same, had the same sensitivity.” Snape said quietly. “We’ll get you caught up and help you hone that talent more.”

“So that’s another weird thing I can do. Super.” Harry popped the ‘p’. “Please show me my room so I can shower and pass out before you tell me other things I can do that are not as common as I thought. Every bloody year; can’t just be a normal wizard.” Harry muttered, opening the door and walking out, feeling irritated. Malfoy directed him to his room and left him alone. He wrote a few quick letters out so the girls would know he made it and that it promised to be an interesting year. 

The next morning wasn’t so bad. Harry got dressed, styled his hair a bit after putting his contacts back in and swung by the owlery to drop off his letters. When he got back to the entryway by the Great Hall, he was punched hard in the face. He didn’t even think, just swung back. He didn’t spend years getting chased by his cousin to not have some fighting skills by now. He blocked another hit and kicked out, kicking the other person’s feet out from under them and spinning in time to block another punch before a loud voice yelled, freezing them. 

“What in the name of Magic is going on here?” McGonagall demanded. Harry finally looked around and saw that Justin Finch-Fletchley was groaning on the ground, Terry Boot was holding his stomach, and some other Hufflepuff Harry couldn’t remember the name of was trying to slowly step back. Zach something. “You three,” she pointed at the two Hufflepuffs and the Ravenclaw, “my office, now. Potter, you best head to the hospital to get that checked.”

“We’ll get him there, Professor.” Zabini said, stepping up with Nott, Parkinson, and Greengrass (whom he hadn’t officially met yet). 

“I’m fine.” Harry muttered, shaking out his hands.

“You’re going.” McGonagall stated, leaving no room for argument. “Your housemates are going to ensure ALL of your incidents are recorded and reported from now on.”

“We will.” Nott agreed, tugging lightly on Harry’s robe to lead him up the stairs. “You don’t go anywhere alone in Slytherin.”

“Shit like this happens all the time.” Harry argued. “It’s not going to suddenly stop because I’m in a new house.”

“It will.” Greengrass said, sneering at a staring Hufflepuff girl. “There’s a reason no one comes after us. Because we travel in groups.”

“Mr. Potter.” Madam Pomfrey said in surprise as he walked in with his new entourage. “Sit.”

“I’m fine.” Harry said again, waiting for someone to listen to him.

“I can see that.” She said as she waved her wand to scan him. “Nothing broken, just scrapes and what will be a rather impressive bruise. Here’s a pain reliever,” she handed him a vial, “and you’ll put this cream on twice a day to keep the swelling and bruising down.”

Harry winced as she carefully rubbed it into his cheek and temple where he’d been punched. It felt better, though, when she was done. He drank the potion and they were shooed back out to get breakfast before classes started. Classes were going to be weird not being with all the Gryffindors anymore. He smiled when Colin came and sat with them, though.

“Heya, Harry!” He said cheerfully.

“Hey, Colin.” Harry chuckled. “Where’s your brother?”

“He’s trying to convince one of the younger kids there’s a troll in a fourth floor corridor.” Colin shrugged unconcernedly. “Are you gonna do the defense club again this year?”

“Dunno. It’s first day of classes, so I’ll have to see.” Harry replied, grinning at the surprise from the other Slytherins when Luna and Ginny joined Colin. “Hey guys.”

“Hey Harry.” They replied. 

“Are you lost?” Greengrass finally asked, looking at the newcomers in confusion.

“No.” Ginny replied looking at Luna, Colin, then Harry. “I usually have breakfast during school with Luna and Harry. Usually Seamus and Dean are around but they’re being arseholes, so I’m done with them for now. Luna usually sits wherever she wants.”

“Harry told me we could still hangout no matter if he was still in Gryffindor or not.” Colin frowned. 

“And we can.” Harry agreed. “Who decided that the Houses can’t get along? Who decided we can only be one thing?”

“Yeah.” Hannah and Neville said, sitting on Luna’s other side. 

“Harry was the first one who was nice to me when I got here.” Neville shrugged.

“He even kept the twins from coming after our entire house for what Justin said in second year, let alone what others did during the tournament.” Hannah added. “You remember what they did, don’t you?”

“How could we forget?” Parkinson said, looking disgusted.

“Besides, if you’re going to be training him up on his heir status, then we want to help.” Hannah shrugged. “I can’t, obviously, but Susan and Nev can.”

“Where is she, anyway?” Harry asked.

“She went to give Justin and Zach a piece of her mind and threaten them with expulsion no matter what McGonagall says.” She replied. “She’s already got a letter written up for her Aunt, Amelia Bones, Head of the DMLE.”

“Does this mean you’re going to tell your brothers?” Nott asked, perking up and looking at Ginny.

“Might do.” She conceded. “Want to see how the first week goes, then I’ll tell ‘em.”

“Just don’t let them get carried away?” Harry pleaded, but she gave him an unimpressed look. 

“It’s not up to me.” She argued. “How’d you do on your OWLs?”

“Not great, but not bad.” Harry shrugged. “Found one of mum’s old potions books that has a lot of notes in it, so I’m curious to see how much it’ll help.”

“Your mother was rather adept at potions.” Snape said, looking at the group with distaste. “Not that you seem to have acquired her talent for it.”

“That I did not.” Harry sighed. “Still wanna give it another go.”

“I’m sure Professor Slughorn will be thrilled to have you.” He muttered, handing out their schedules and walking away. 

“That was practically downright friendly, Harry.” Neville said in shock. “I think you sorting to his House might have finally cracked him. Nicely done.”

“At least we’ve still got Herbology together.” Harry said, looking over at Neville’s schedule. “And defense and Charms.”

“You keep helping me in defense and I’ll help you in Herbology.” Neville said, pointing a fork at him.

“Works for me.” Harry hummed, finishing off his breakfast.

He found it a little odd that Hermione and Ron hadn’t tried to talk to him yet, but considering what Ron did in their fourth year, let alone factoring in what happened in fifth year, he wasn’t too surprised. When they got to DADA, Harry was a little surprised that Snape was teaching. He pursed his lips as those he’d taught the previous year were so adept at the spells he was wanting them to start with, already able to cast them. He tried to keep to himself, he did, but he couldn’t stand watching his new housemates struggling when he knew what they were doing wrong. 

“This way.” Harry finally said quietly, correcting Zabini’s wand movement. “Now try.”

“Wicked.” Zabini said, when he got his shield up. 

“Potter!” Snape shouted and Harry winced. 

“Yes? Sir?” 

“Perhaps you care to demonstrate?” He growled and Harry sighed internally before going to the center of the room. He cast his shields, catching a surprised look in Snape’s eyes as he held three linked shields that deflected the spells. “So. There’s at least one subject you aren’t abysmal at.” 

“Yes, sir.” Harry said, dropping his shields. 

“Remain after class, Potter.” Snape growled again before starting his rather aggressive lecture. 

“How’d you do that?” Nott asked, leaning over.

“Do what?” Harry frowned at him.

“Linking shields.” Malfoy muttered, copying down what Snape wrote on the board. “That’s not taught until someone starts working on their Mastery or goes to the Auror Academy.”

“Oh.” Harry said, forgetting that it wasn’t done at Hogwarts in class. “Practice, really. Had to learn to do a lot of this during the tournament or I’d be dead. Sphinx claws are a bitch and a half, and it made sense to be able to stop from being stunned from behind should there be others with magic in the tasks as more obstacles or whatever.”

“Would you teach us?” Zabini asked, leaning back in his chair.

“Could do.” Harry said cautiously. “Let’s talk about it later, because I don’t want him yelling at me again.”

They nodded reluctantly and lingered when class was dismissed before Snape sent them to the hall to wait. He looked at Harry curiously, as if he were studying him or dissecting him. 

“You’ve taught your peers.”

“Someone had to.” Harry agreed. 

“But you did not teach the Slytherins.”

“Starting the group was Hermione and Ron’s idea.” Harry shrugged. “Umbridge favored those in green and we couldn’t involve them without getting caught aside from when we finally did. I wanted everyone to be able to defend themselves, should it come to that.”

“You know this position is cursed?” Snape asked. Harry nodded. “You will be apprenticing under me, for the duration of my tenure.”

“What all would that entail?” 

“You will be tutoring those in your new house as you did the rest of the school last year to get them brought up to sixth year standard.” Snape said, pulling out a parchment and waving his wand across it. “If a student is struggling with a concept, of any year, I will be sending them to you. You will also be assisting me in class. I will find out which classes you will be assisting with during what are currently your free periods. Work on casting your shields nonverbally. Those are usually the easiest for those with strong defensive magic.”

“Alright.” Harry agreed, accepting the parchment that Snape handed over. 

“You will continue to apprentice under whoever is assigned next year as the apprenticeship is a two year program. You might just be able to achieve your Mastery at the same time you do your NEWTs.”

“Can you make that sort of obligation when you don’t know who the next teacher will be?” Harry asked, tucking the parchment away in his bag.

“It’s a contracted position with the school. Should there not be a teacher willing to take you on and keep to the contract, they will not be offered the position. Should that happen, you have already proven your ability to teach your peers enough they all passed their OWLs or NEWTs. However we will discuss it further another time. Go.”

Harry pursed his lips and left, rolling his eyes when the Slytherins surrounded him as they walked the corridors. 

“Harry.” Hermione called, running toward them, Ron hanging back with Seamus and Dean, looking torn between following her or not. 

“Hermione.” Harry nodded.

“I’m sorry we didn’t talk on the train.” She apologized, sliding in beside him and giving him a strong side hug. “We didn’t even recognize you with your fancy new hair and no glasses.”

“Got contacts.” Harry shrugged. “How was your summer?”

“Oh, not too bad. Mum and dad didn’t want me coming back after what happened at the end of last year, but I finally told them I was coming and they could deal with it. Great job in DADA, by the way. Your shields have gotten better. You basically whispered the spell. You’re going to get nonverbal casting before any of us at this rate.”

“Like you didn’t get nonverbal in Charms already.” Harry scoffed, grinning when she flushed. 

“Maybe, but it’s not near as impressive as what you did.” She argued. 

It wasn’t a surprise that more different colored robes were sitting at the Slytherin table with Harry once they were at dinner. Luna even got into a discussion over Creatures and Divination with Parkinson and Greengrass, while Ginny and Malfoy argued about quidditch. Hermione pulled Nott into talking about something in Arithmancy and Colin was chatting with some of the younger Slytherins instead of just focusing on Harry. Neville was telling him about his new wand and Hannah and Susan were debating Wizengamot procedures with Zabini. Malfoy and Parkinson walked him to Snape’s office when it was time for his detention, completely ignoring his whining.

“Can I use this board, sir?” Harry asked, finally looking up from where he’d been reading into the different curses that can be placed on objects with Parsel. 

“If you must.” Snape nodded.

Harry stood up and wrote out the spell matrix as the book described it and made it three dimensional so he could analyze it better. He had to erase and rewrite various sections so he could find the right curse that might have been used. 

“There.” Harry touched part of the spell, finding where the darkest part was that ensured a slow death. “Slow, not inevitable.”

“Can you alter it?” Snape asked quietly.

“I need something to draw it out into.” Harry replied. “Think the opposite of a snake bite. The curse acts, essentially as a bite, pushing the venom, or curse, into the invading magical person. Even if I can draw it out, I’m not sure it’ll be enough to give him use of the hand again. It may very well be saturated into his body enough that he’ll lose the arm altogether.”

“Serves him right for blindly touching dark magic.” Snape hummed. “How do you hope to accomplish the drawing out of the curse?”

“I-” Harry froze as he remembered seeing Dumbledore and Snape both pulling memories out of their heads. How they placed them elsewhere to view them. The curse was something like that. A painful memory, meant to kill whoever disturbed it the same way whoever wore it previously had been killed. “A memory.” He whispered.

“You believe you can draw it out like a memory?” Snape asked in disbelief.

“No, not like a memory. It IS a memory. Parsel magic isn’t the same as typical magic we learn here, at the core level. It’s very tied to emotions and feelings, specific memories, that’s what makes it more powerful. I think … I’ve got to work this out some more, but I think I can draw it out and place it in something, like with the pensieve, and it’ll leave the host mostly unharmed.”

“Mostly?”

“As I said, the arm will be nearly useless, if it doesn’t shrivel up when the curse is extracted.”

“Go back and work out your numbers, Potter.” Snape sighed. “I expect that contract back during your next class with me.”

“Yes, sir.” Harry nodded, holding up a parchment and copying the spell matrix from the board onto the paper.

“And you’ll explain how you managed that when we have our first meeting as Master and Apprentice.” 

“Um. Alright.” Harry said uncertainly. 

He collected his things and headed back to the dorm which was only down the corridor. He dropped into a chair near the fire and took off his robes, tie and sweater, leaving just his button up shirt that was driving him nuts. He pulled out his homework and did a little of it, but his mind kept wandering back to the contract. He set it on top of his books and looked through it. Seemed pretty straight forward, actually. He’d work under Snape, assist him with grading and teaching the younger years, things like that. And he’d assist in demonstrating in any fifth, sixth, and seventh year classes he was observing in. He wasn’t concerned with the stipend he was meant to receive, so he ignored that part. Aside from the 50 galleons he’d pay to the school for the Apprenticeship fee, which he had in his trunk. Without seeing anything he disagreed with, he signed it and watched it dry before it was ripped away from him. He looked up and saw Nott holding his contract, mouth hanging open.

“No way.” He said, grabbing Zabini and thrusting the paper in his face.

“That’s unexpected.” Zabini agreed, showing Parkinson, who pulled Greengrass, both of them, over to show them.

“I didn’t know they still did this.” Goyle said, leaning over the others to see.

“What?” Malfoy asked, striding in from doing his rounds as Prefect. Which Harry thought Parkinson was meant to do with him.

“Potter’s apprenticing under Snape for DADA.” Nott said, not quietly, either. Half the room turned to look at them in shock and curiosity.

“Snape never apprentices anybody.” Malfoy frowned, looking over the contract. “Left an addendum that whoever takes over next is required to take you on as well should he not be the teacher next year.”

“If I say it isn’t a big deal, would anyone believe me?” Harry asked, putting most of his other things away. 

“It is a big deal.” One of the seventh year girls said, joining them. “None of the teachers here have taken on apprentices in the last 20 years.”

“Why?” Harry asked, unable to stop the question.

“If I had to guess,” Zabini said cautiously, “they speak with Headmaster Dumbledore before they offer it. He’s most likely been vetoing them all.”

“That’s … not his decision.” Harry said with a heavy sigh. “It’s up to the teacher and the Board of Governors to allow an apprentice or not.”

“How do you know that?” Greengrass the younger asked.

“Mum had a book full of the old charters and things in the vault.” Harry shrugged. “Like I said, I was finally given the opportunity to go through my stuff and found it rather useful. That one I can actually share, if you’re interested?”

“I am. I wonder how different it is than the current guidelines.” Malfoy hummed. “Now. In regards to catching us up to everyone else you tutored last year?”

“Right.” Harry groaned and rubbed his temple. “Erm. Last year I did the lessons on Sunday’s primarily, as quidditch was Saturday along with Hogsmeade. We’d usually meet for an hour, but with just catching this smaller group of people up, I can most likely get you where you need to be by Halloween.”

“That’s optimistic.” Crabbe grunted.

“It’s realistic.” Harry countered. “Zabini just needs to work on his wand movement a bit more, Parkinson is concentrating too hard on maintaining other beauty spells instead of what we’re doing in class. Crabbe is focusing too much on the verbiage, instead of what he actually wants the spell to achieve, Goyle is putting too much force behind his spells, making them putter out quickly. Nott needs to be more confident, because he’s too worried about messing up a word or something. Greengrass just needs to stop staring angrily at the Gryffindors, no matter how dumb they may be acting. Davis is really the only one I’m not worried about.”

“You didn’t mention Malfoy.” Nott mumbled, cheeks red.

“Malfoy needs to quit worrying about what I’m doing, which should be easier to do now that we’re in the same boat, so to speak.” Harry shrugged, before looking at several startled faces. “What?” 

“You got all that from one class with us?” Zabini asked, looking impressed.

“Yeah.” Harry shrugged again. “Could feel your magic. You need to lighten up the charms or tether them to an amulet or pendant or something.” Harry pointed at Parkinson who was flushing all the way to her hair. “Work on being able to defend yourself properly first, then work on doing it while looking flawless and unruffled.”

“You are not meant to start until next week, Potter.” Snape said, startling everyone facing Harry. Someone yelped.

“Sorry, sir.” Harry apologized. “I’ll wait until we discuss the specifics before launching into my observations again.”

“See that you do.” Snape said, taking the signed contract to his office. 

“Can one of you help me with Runes?” Harry asked, pulling his rune book out that he’d been studying. “I had some questions.”

“Lay them on us.” Greengrass said, as she and Davis sat beside him, looking over his shoulder.

“I need help understanding order of precedence with these.” Harry pointed out the configurations he was looking at. “How important is the order of this section?”

Eventually, the others wandered off in a bit of a stupor, but Malfoy kept glancing at him as if he could see what was so different about him this year. He was going to be looking for a while. Davis, who demanded he call her Tracey, along with Daphne, who demanded the same, helped him work through his self-assigned Rune homework since he was trying to take the OWL for it in the summer. 

The first week of classes went about as expected. Ron, Seamus, and Dean still weren’t talking to him, no big surprise, but a lot more of the houses were mingling with Slytherin now that Harry was there. 

“Not there, Potter.” Snape said when they went into dinner at the end of the week, stopping him from sitting by Theo and Daphne. (All of his year mates had eventually conceded to using first names with him. Malfoy was still hit and miss most days.) 

“Sir?” Harry looked at him in confusion.

“You have survived your probationary period as my apprentice. You will sit at the head table.”

“Er-” Harry looked up and saw several other teachers watching interestedly. 

“Don’t dawdle.” Snape said in a low voice, inciting he wouldn’t entertain arguments. Harry sighed, bit back a groan, and followed Snape to sit in the chair beside him at the head table. Once he was sitting the hall was practically silent. 

“How have you found the first week, Harry?” McGonagall asked, giving him an encouraging smile.

“Alright so far. Bit of a learning curve seeing how each year starts out from a different perspective. The younger kids like me well enough.”

“Understatement.” Snape grumbled. “They seem to all prefer working with him over me.”

“Harry’s great!” A first year Ravenclaw boy shouted, blushing bright red as soon as all the attention turned to them. “I mean, Mr. Potter. Mr. Potter’s great!”

“Never heard a student that excited about you, Severus.” Sprout chortled. 

“It’s all the black.” Harry said, leaning over conspiratorially. “It’s designed to scare away the kids so they believe he really is the big, bad, dungeon bat.” Harry grinned when the other teachers laughed aside from Dumbledore who looked like he was sucking on a lemon and Snape who looked resigned to taking Harry on. That seemed to be all that needed said as conversations resumed around the hall. Harry let out a breath of relief now that all the attention wasn’t on him anymore. “Blimey, give a bloke a warning next time, would you?”

“You handled it well enough.” Snape stated unconcernedly, serving himself and digging in. 

“So I’m not sure I can explain how I did the diagram transfer.” Harry said tentatively. “I’ve always been able to do stuff like that, long as I can remember. I’d always draw things out on a spare paper first, then just move it over.”

“So it’s instinctual?” Snape asked, looking genuinely interested, which was bizarre enough that Harry just stuffed it back in his head so he didn’t have to think about it. 

“In a way.” Harry wobbled his head. “When Hermione was learning runes and such, I sort of did it a few times so she could better see the actual spell matrix. It helped her understand it better. But I’ve only started delving into the matrices a few weeks before school started this year so I understood them myself. I’m still figuring all that out.”

“Have you spoken with Fig?” 

“No. Can’t ever seem to find him. Either he’s avoiding me, or he really is that busy.”

“He’s been very busy lately.” McGonagall interjected. “Someone showed his first and second year students a few tricky pieces of magic and are hounding him with questions.”

“We might have to give him an apprentice as well.” Snape hummed. Harry saw Dumbledore’s eye twitch. “How is your nonverbal casting coming?”

“Getting there.” Harry sighed. “I can get a few things, but others are trickier. I’ve got my shields and a few hexes and jinxes, but nothing too substantial. I’m hoping to get my Patronus before the holidays.”

“Have you seen his shields, Minerva?” Snape looked at McGonagall.

“I haven’t, no.”

“They are better than half the Auror department, if not a majority of them.” Snape stated with a put-upon sigh. 

“Oh?” She asked interestedly. “And how many shields can he do?”

“He demonstrated three on the first day of class, nearly nonverbally.”

“Fascinating. You know, I think his mother had three by the time she graduated.” She said thoughtfully. “Remus had two, and he was the second closest.”

Harry focused on his food and listened to the conversation flow around him. He frowned when he felt a slight change in the magic in the room and looked around.

“What is it?” Snape asked, watching him.

“Someone’s casting something.” Harry replied, looking around, standing up to try and hone in more. He threw a shield up by Colin before he could eat something from the plate in front of him. He was sitting with Luna at the Ravenclaw table, both of them looking surprised at the sudden shield over the food. Harry walked over, Snape following him, along with Flitwick and McGonagall. “Don’t eat that. It’s been spelled somehow.”

“Nothing too serious.” Snape added, waving his wand. “But you’d have ended up in hospital with food poisoning, no doubt.”

“Someone tried to poison me?” Colin asked, looking around, his face reddening. 

“Come with me, Colin.” Harry said gently, holding out a hand. The boy was only a year younger than Harry, but he was still more of a kid than Harry ever was. “Let’s take a walk, ok?”

“We’ll take care of it.” Snape agreed, while Flitwick froze all of his students aside from Luna in their places. McGonagall did the same to the rest of the students at the other tables while Snape began checking wands. Harry gave Colin and Luna tea in his office that was off of Snape’s and let them calm down a bit. 

“Any idea why anyone would want to target you?” Harry asked slowly.

“No.” Colin groaned. “Not unless someone was still mad that I was defending you.”

“I appreciate the defense, I do, but you don’t have to worry about that.” Harry said, offering a small smile. “You know why?”

“Why?”

“Because Harry will show them how wrong they are by being better than them.” Luna said serenely. 

“Don’t let the nargles get you down, Colin.” Harry agreed, biting his lips when Luna brightened. He was definitely going to get that on a t-shirt.

“Yeah, alright.” Colin agreed. Harry met McGonagall on the stairs and she took over taking Colin and then Luna back to their common rooms while Harry returned to his. 

He was surprised to find Hedwig waiting on him with a small package. He opened it and found a video camera. Flipping the screen open he pushed play and laughed as all the girls were yelling at each other and shushing each other. He laughed as they talked about their time recording and showed off their new outfits, as well as their new names. He couldn’t help how happy seeing them all made him feel again. 

“We love you Harry!” They all shouted before the video ended. 

“Who are they?” Blaise asked tentatively. 

“My cousin and her friends.” Harry replied, rewinding it to watch it again. “That’s my cousin Victoria,” Harry pointed her out, “she’s called Posh Spice. That’s Emma, she’s Baby, that’s Mel C, she’s Sporty, Mel B, Scary, and that’s Geri, she’s Ginger. They’re the Spice Girls.”

“Odd names.” Blaise said, chuckling at how silly they were acting in the video.

“We have bands called the ‘Weird Sisters’, who are all blokes. We really don’t have room to talk.” Harry countered. 

“You gonna make a video to send back?”

“Gonna try this weekend, probably. Gotta make sure Luna’s in it. She’s Emma’s cousin.”

“Cool.” He looked like he meant it, too. 

The first lesson alone with the Slytherins was … interesting. He didn’t just have his year mates, but also some of the older students. Which was fine, because he’d taught some of Fred and George’s class too. He dug out his old notes to go off of the schedule he’d set before and more or less started from the beginning. Several people promised various things from a round of drinks at the Broomsticks to dungbombs, for doing another hour with them, even though all he had done was review what his crash course in defense was going to look like. 

Harry met Luna, Neville, Hermione, Ginny, Colin, Dennis, his Slytherin year mates followed as well, out by the lake when he could finally call it a day. 

“I want to give this a shot and see if it’ll work.” Harry said, holding up his video camera. Hermione perked up and suddenly wanted to help more. He turned the screen around so he could see himself as he hit ‘record’. He introduced everyone and said hello, Luna doing so as well, before his friends were complimenting him as much as they could to make him blush. Hermione went on about his amazing hair, Neville went on about his charming smile and shining eyes now that they could see his face better, and his new Slytherin friends bragged about him helping them with their homework. Once they were done, Harry put it back in the box and Hedwig took off. He watched her go for a bit before turning on his friends with a frown that became a pout because they’d started laughing at him. 

“This.” Harry stated, barging into Snape’s office while he was brewing. The man didn’t flinch or budge or anything. “I need one of these, and I should be able to draw out the curse.” 

“A skull of an Occamy?” Snape asked, looking over the book as he set his potion in stasis.

“Yeah, but it has to be a small one. Occamy has the best properties to draw it out and contain it. Could probably do it with a baby basilisk skull, but those are going to be even more rare.”

“When is your lesson with Dumbledore?” 

“Here shortly.” Harry sighed. “Should I inform him of this?”

“No, not yet. See what he is doing, first.”

“And should I inform you?”

“Only if you wish to discuss it, but I would advise speaking with Draco or Blaise. They have excellent Occlumency shields and would be able to hide it if need be.” 

“Alright, yeah, I can do that.” Harry sighed. “Bit odd for you to be brewing when Slughorn is back.”

“He wants to test his students on a few potions to see if they can tell what they are. Now run along to the Headmaster.”

“Yes, sir.” Harry mock saluted and left him alone. He ran into Slughorn at the entrance to the office and barely braced himself in time for the man to pat his shoulder. 

“Harry, m’boy! How are you this fine evening?”

“So far so good sir. Yourself?”

“I’m well, thank you for asking. Listen, I used to throw the occasional get together, back when I first taught. I’d like to start them up again. Would you be interested?”

“I’d be honored, sir. Of course.”

“Wonderful! I’ll send you a note for our first meeting. Have a good night, now.” 

“Have a good night, sir.” Harry waved and headed up the stairs. “Sir?” Harry called, knocking on the door that was slightly open.

“Thank you for coming, Harry. Shut the door if you would.” Harry shut it and took a seat in front of the desk where the pensieve was sitting. “I’d like to show you some memories, if that’s alright?”

“Might I ask who they’re about, sir?”

“They’re about Tom Riddle.” He replied, watching Harry closely.

“And might I ask why you want to show them to me? Sir?”

“Because I feel like you have the most open mind to perhaps show me something I’ve missed. I’ve reviewed them several times, but I can’t quite figure out what I’m missing.”

“I can certainly give it a shot.” Harry agreed. And so Harry found himself seeing Tom Riddle’s life, practically all through his years at Hogwarts. Even when he applied for the DADA position and was denied. He watched the man trick the elf of the old lady to murder her and steal the locket he recognized and a cup that had the Hufflepuff emblem on it; the family crest. They sat for a while after looking through memories for the better part of two hours, drinking tea. 

“What are you thinking of, Harry?” Dumbledore finally asked.

“I’m not sure.” Harry tugged a hand through his hair. “Sir, those objects he collected mean something, don’t they.”

“I believe they do.”

“Are they like the diary?”

“Diary?”

“Sir.” Harry gave him a look that he was sure said ‘don’t play dumb’. “The diary that possessed Ginny Weasley four years ago.”

“That’s the question, isn’t it?” Dumbledore sighed in frustration. “I believe they are, but I have no way to test it.”

“But you do.” Harry argued. “That locket, sir. I’ve seen it before.”

“You have?” Dumbledore sat up straighter. 

“Yeah, at Grimmauld Place. It was in a cabinet. It … sir, it sounded like the diary did.”

“Sounded? What do you mean?”

“I mean, magic has frequencies, more or less; resonances. That locket has the same feel, the same sound, as the diary did. They’re pieces of something. Something he did. Aren’t they?”

“Could you show me where you found the locket?”

“Probably.” Harry shrugged. “I just don’t know how well I’ll handle being back there.”

“Would you prefer to inspect it another day?”

“No, I think I’d rather actually get it over with sooner than later, if at all possible.” 

“We can take my floo.” Dumbledore nodded, throwing the powder in and walking in, Harry following shortly after.

He had to take several deep breaths when he opened his eyes and found the empty kitchen just as it was the last time he’d seen it. He shook out his hands and cracked his neck, doing whatever he could to not drown in the smell of Sirius still hanging in the air. When he finally collected himself, he cleared his throat and led Dumbledore to the drawing room, to the cabinet where the locket was still sitting. He didn’t bother advising Dumbledore not to touch it, the man should know better by now than to just grab at dark artifacts, Snape was right about that. Harry winced as he heard it whispering in his mind again. Once they had the locket and were back in the office in Hogwarts, Harry bent over and placed his hands on his knees to catch his breath and let the memories just pass over him.

“Sir?” Harry said shakily. “If it’s the same as the diary, can it be destroyed the same way?”

“I believe it can.” He nodded, still looking at it curiously.

“Would you mind if I borrowed it and returned it?” Harry asked. 

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Harry.”

“Just an hour. Then I’ll bring it right back here.”

“An hour.” Dumbledore looked at him appraisingly and eventually gave him a short, sharp nod. 

Harry collected the locket and headed for Myrtle’s bathroom. He opened it and jumped when Snape came out from the shadows. Harry took a deep breath and slid down the tunnel, leading the way. Snape followed silently, just looking at everything curiously. He even managed to get some of the shed skin in a few vials before hurrying after Harry. Harry cracked his knuckles as he spoke to open the final part of the chamber, trying to calm his heart as he vividly remembered being here before. 

“Calm.” Snape said, and Harry shook his hands out again. 

“Just-” Harry let out a breath, “-bad memories.” When they were inside, Snape tripped into Harry as he saw the size of the basilisk that was laying dead. “Three years sure didn’t do too much to it.” Harry commented.

“It’s been here for three years?” Snape asked incredulously, finally collecting himself and moving closer. 

“It’s lived here a lot longer, but it’s been dead for three years. Well. Nearly four.” Harry carefully extracted a fang and set the locket on the ground. “Er, I don’t know how this will react, so just, erm, be prepared.”

“What is it?” Snape asked, looking over at the locket.

“Something nasty.” Harry muttered, before focusing on the snake and whispering for it to open. Instantly, his scar burned fiery hot. He scrambled with the fang for a moment before he jabbed it into the center of the locket, falling back when it screamed and he felt it in his head. He was gasping for breath, but managed to still swallow the potion Snape poured in his mouth. “That was so much worse than the diary.” Harry groaned, still holding his head.

“Potter, how did you end up with a horcrux?” Snape hissed, eying the still smoking locket with anxiety.

“Dunno what that is.” Harry said, sitting up slowly, since he kept tipping. “And probably shouldn’t tell you.”

“He made horcruxes.” Snape sighed, his head drooping. “Of course he did. How many is this, then?”

“Well,” Harry groaned, flipping the locket closed as well as he could in it’s deformed state, “if the cursed object that is killing Dumbles was one, this makes three that I know of.” 

“And you suspect there’s more.” Snape whispered, looking paler than normal. 

“If Tom set out to make these at all, he would have had a goal number in mind.” Harry said, rubbing his head. “Fuck, that’s what he wants me to do.”

“What?” Snape asked quietly.

“Dumbledore. He wants me to find out how many there are. If three are gone, how many are left?”

“Go back to the headmaster, then come straight to my office. Defeating magic as dark as this is going to take a toll on you.”

“Did you hear it?” Harry asked, getting to his feet.

“Hear it?” Snape asked, frowning and staying well away from the locket as if it were going to bite him.

“The screaming.”

“Screaming?” Snape looked perplexed, but there was some sort of realization dawning in his eyes. 

“You suspect something.”

“Find out what the others are.” Snape cleared his throat. “Nagini may be one, as she’s been with him so long, even when he was a wraith.”

“I’ll meet you at your office, sir.” Harry interrupted. “Because I have a feeling I won’t like what you have to say.”

“You won’t.” Snape conceded. “May I harvest what is left of the carcass at a later date?”

“Probably wouldn’t be a bad idea.” Harry nodded. “Let me grab an extra fang or two in case I find another one of those bloody things around the school.”

Snape helped Harry pull out a few more fangs, keeping a few for himself as well. Going back up the slide, even when Harry called stairs out, took forever. Once the Chamber was closed, Snape practically melted back into the shadows of the castle walls while Harry returned to the Headmaster. He dropped the locket on Dumbledore’s desk and the man seemed to sag in relief that it was destroyed. He showed Harry one last memory, an altered memory, of Tom Riddle talking to Professor Slughorn. 

“You want me to get the real memory from Slughorn.” Harry stated, watching the Headmaster who looked weary. 

“I’d certainly like you to try, Harry.”

“I’ll see what I can do. You think he knows the truth?”

“I think he knows more than any of us but has been too afraid to come forward.”

“Fear does strange things to a person.” Harry agreed. “That’s three down, then, yes?”

“Yes.” Dumbledore nodded, setting out the diary and the ring. Harry froze as the ring was set out and couldn’t keep himself from reaching for it. There was no curse on it any longer, as it was latched onto Dumbledore. 

“That was the Gaunt family ring.” Dumbledore said, which was unnecessary since he’d shown Harry the memories of the family earlier. 

“No.” Harry shook his head. “It’s older than them. Older than Slytherin.”

“What do you mean?” Dumbledore perked up a little. 

“It’s-” Harry froze as the ring shot to his finger and shrank down to fit along his index finger. He stared at it with wide eyes. “Damn it.”

“Harry?” Dumbledore called anxiously.

“I’m the last of the lines.” He whispered, looking up finally. “Sir, I can’t find it, I can’t.”

“What do you mean?” Dumbledore asked, frowning.

“The wand, sir.” Harry whispered. “I possess the stone and the cloak.” Harry held up the ring on his finger that showed the symbol inside it. “Peverell. Ignotos’ family led to the Potters, but Cadmus’ led to the Gaunts. They’re all gone and I’ve inherited Slytherin by rite of conquest when I killed the Basilisk. If you know where the wand is, sir, keep it hidden.”

“It’s just a story, Harry. A story for children.”

“A story with some elements of truth.” Harry corrected. “The best stories are seated in something real, are they not?”

“Should I discover it, I will not share it.” Dumbledore finally agreed. 

“Have a good night, sir. I’ll inform you when I’ve been able to retrieve the memory.”

“Good night, Harry.” Dumbledore’s voice followed him out the door and Harry was nearly hyperventilating by the time he reached Snape’s office. It took several minutes for him to calm down once he was seated by a fire. 

“We might have another problem.” Harry croaked, still holding his head in his hands.

“We have enough problems.” Malfoy grumbled, making Harry look up a little and realize it wasn’t just Snape in the room. 

“Well?” Snape asked expectantly, but he’d obviously come back and had at least one drink because he was far calmer than Harry expected him to be.

“Slughorn has the answer, the memory. He was Tom’s Head of House when he was in school. Tom went to him about whatever a horcrux is, maybe told him a number or something. I’ve got to get the memory from him so we can figure it out.”

“And that’ll stop him?” Malfoy asked.

“It’ll take away what’s keeping him alive outside of whatever is holding him together now.” Harry nodded. 

“It’s very dark magic.” Snape said quietly, staring into the fire. “What worries me is that you felt  one die.”

“I did.” Harry sighed heavily. “Felt the diary die, too. If I felt the ring, I was either asleep and woke up from a nightmare or something. Please don’t tell me you think one of those things is in me?”

“Very well.” Snape pursed his lips and kept staring at the fire. 

“Wonderful.” Harry whined, flopping over on the sofa. “Don’t suppose there’s anyway to get rid of it without killing me?”

“You are already working on another option.” Snape stated. “If you can draw out the curse on the Headmaster, you may very well be able to draw out the horcrux in yourself to another object to be destroyed in the same manner.”

“That … sounds more reasonable than me dying. Let’s aim for that.” Harry said.

“What was the other problem?” Malfoy asked.

“You’ve heard of the Deathly Hallows?” Harry asked, turning on his side.

“We already discussed your lineage on the train.” Malfoy said in agitation.

“Right.” Harry cleared his throat and pulled his cloak out of his bag, nearly falling on the floor and tossing it to Malfoy who’s eyes were comically wide. “Cloak of Invisibility, granted to Ignotos Peverell so he may hide from Death. Passed on through the family for generations from father to son.”

“You possess a Hallow.” Snape said quietly, touching the edge of the cloak reverently. Harry held out his hand so they could see the ring. 

“Resurrection stone, belonged to Cadmus Peverell before being passed through his line that led to Slytherin and then the Gaunt family, before they were all wiped out.” Harry stated, dropping his hand. “Why the fuck are two Hallows making appearances at the same time we’re finding and looking for horcruxes to destroy?”

“The wand?” Malfoy asked, setting the cloak down gently on the table. 

“I don’t want to know.” Harry shook his head. “I mean it. If you figure it out, I don’t want to know, because it’ll somehow find its way to me.”

“If He starts looking into the Hallows, the wand is the first he’ll go after.” Snape argued.

“Fine. If it’s between him and me, I’ll do what I have to.” Harry huffed. “How much longer before he’s expecting you to report on your progress?” Harry looked at Malfoy who’s expression was pinched. 

“I have to send in a report midway through this term, and he’s expecting an in person report over the holidays.”

“News of my re-sorting should distract him for a little while.” Harry hummed. “As will news that the Headmaster encountered a highly cursed item that is now slowly killing him.”

“Maybe.” Malfoy bit his lips. “How long before you can get an answer from Slughorn?”

“Honestly?” Harry blew out a breath. “Few weeks, maybe a month or two at most. He’s starting up some sort of club that he’s asked me to be part of.”

“The Slug club.” Snape groaned, sinking down in his chair. “Your mother was part of that with me, as was your dogfather’s brother.”

“Just have to figure out how to approach him.” Harry nodded.

“Take this when you get back to the dorm.” Snape handed him a set of two vials. “Recovering from interacting with dark artifacts is a lot like recovering from the Cruciatus. I trust you remember that feeling?” Harry winced and sat up. 

“I’d rather not, but thanks for bringing it up.” Harry grumbled.

“It has a slight sedative, similar to dreamless sleep, but it won’t work the entire night. Maybe four hours.” Snape stated, pressing them into Harry’s hand. 

“Most of us have quidditch tomorrow, so you should be able to sleep in, Potter.” Malfoy said, pulling him to his feet and steadying him when he swayed a bit. Harry stumbled most of the way to his room before stripping and pulling on his pajama pants, leaving off his shirt so he wasn’t so constricted, and taking his potions before passing out. He didn’t even care that there were several people in his room still. He needed to shut down and not think about all the crazy that came up.

Naturally, when he dreamed, he was back with Voldemort. Bellatrix was there and Harry could feel that Voldemort detested her nearly as much as Harry did. Instead of focusing on whatever Tom was telling his followers, Harry slunk back in his mind and decided he would poke around a bit. He used to sneak around the house on Privet Drive when he needed something to eat and not be noticed, so theoretically, he should be able to do it in Tom’s head. He saw the weird crown with a blue gem that Tom created when he’d killed Myrtle and his body stiffened as he was found out. He screamed himself awake as a Cruciatus was sent through the connection. When he was done getting sick after running to the bathroom, he found Blaise watching him concernedly. 

“‘T’s fine.” Harry mumbled, spitting once more before getting up slowly and getting his toothbrush. “Bad dream.”

“That was not a dream, Potter.” Blaise said, pointing at his head. Harry leaned into the mirror because he’d left his new glasses by his bed and didn’t have his contacts in. His scar had gotten a bit bigger, like it was slowly being carved out more. 

“Fine. Wasn’t a dream. But I’m working on it.” Harry groaned when Snape was in the room waiting for them after he’d put his contacts in. “I’m fine.”

“Of course you are.” Snape said, giving him a deadpan look. “What did you see?”

“Some sort of crown.” Harry gestured around his head. “Actually, I can probably draw it.” He pulled out his notepad and sketched it out as quickly as he could while still getting most of the details. “It’s a rough estimate.”

“Isn’t that the lost diadem of Ravenclaw?” Blaise asked, looking at it curiously. “Is that gem blue?” Harry held his hand over the drawing and pulled it out, giving it the colors he’d seen. “That’s a handy trick.”

“Any clues as to where it might be?” Snape asked, studying Harry, not the drawing, which Harry pushed back into the paper, leaving it a black and white sketch again.

“It’s in the castle somewhere.” Harry sighed. 

“It’s in Hogwarts?” Blaise asked, perking up. 

“There are many places it could be hidden.” Snape said in annoyance, but he looked at Harry curiously as he froze at the word ‘hidden’. “Yes?”

“I might know where it is.” Harry said, biting his lip. He grabbed a hoodie and pulled it on then slipped on his shoes. “Sir-”

“Go.” Snape waved him off. “I’ll meet you at the entrance to the Chamber.”

“Yes sir.” Harry nodded before he took off running. He wasn’t surprised when he passed Hermione who ran after him, catching up when he got the Room of Requirement to open. 

“What are we looking for?” She asked, following him inside and looking around at the towers of things collected in the room over time. 

“A crown with an eagle on it and a big sapphire in the middle.” Harry said, walking further in, Hermione still following.

“I’ll check this path and call out if I find it.” She said, turning down a different path of random things. It felt like they looked for hours before Harry stopped suddenly, hearing the same noise he heard from the locket. 

“Hermione!” He called, before he heard running steps and she was beside him. “Need a box or something that might be able to hold in the curse.” Hermione, naturally, handed him one. 

“I don’t suppose you can tell me what this is?” She asked, raising the crown with her wand and dropping it in the box while Harry shut the lid quickly, sighing when he couldn’t hear it anymore. 

“Not yet.” He shook his head. “But I will, once I’ve got it figured out. Hey, what are the odds this place might have other things, like ingredients, that someone could be looking for?”

“It probably has a bit of everything.” Hermione shrugged. “Try an Accio and see what happens?”

Harry held up a hand and focused his magic on summoning an Occamy skull. He laughed when there were four that landed at his feet. He picked them all up and put them in his hoodie pocket before leading Hermione out. She walked with him all the way to the bathroom, though, making Snape glower at her presence. 

“I’m not staying, sir, so there’s no need to look at me like that.” She huffed. “I’ll leave you to it, Harry, but I’ll be expecting an explanation at some point.”

“I’ll see you later.” He hugged her before she glared at Snape once more and left them alone. 

When they were in the Chamber, Snape pulled several things from his pockets and a few pouches he carried, setting them out. He took several samples of the Basilisk before finally turning to Harry expectantly. Since he had a few Occamy skulls, now, he decided he wanted to test what he’d found; to see if he could draw out the dark magic and just destroy the skull instead of an artifact that belonged to a founder. Snape watched on curiously. As soon as the dark magic transferred over, the Occamy skull started smoking and Harry stabbed it quickly, managing only to wince as it screamed and crumbled to ash. Once the pile of ash stopped smoking, the crown shimmered before disappearing. 

“It will appear again when it feels like it.” Snape said, handing him a vial of potion to drink. “The diadem is much like the sword of Gryffindor and appears when needed. It’s meant to bestow wisdom to the one who puts it on, but it also does not bestow the wisdom the person is typically looking for.”

“So kind of like the Mirror of Erised.” Harry hummed. “Hooks you in and makes you a bit obsessed with finding more meaning or desires.”

“Similar, yes.” Snape answered, looking at him in surprise. “Rest while I harvest some of this carcass and we’ll return to the castle proper.” He conjured a cot and lifted Harry onto it with his wand before ignoring him while he worked on the Basilisk. 

Harry ended up sleeping most of the day, only waking up when Snape nudged him and alerted him to a lot of shouting. He rubbed his eyes and sat up. He hated when he fell asleep with his contacts in, but he still managed to do it sometimes. He looked at the three goblins, one of which was Professor Flitwick, who seemed to be in a heated argument. 

“Answer as respectfully as you are capable of.” Snape muttered under his breath so only Harry could hear him. 

“Alright.” He stretched out as he stood and Snape vanished the cot he’d been laying on. “Something I might be able to help with?” He offered, biting his lip when three intense goblins suddenly looked at him. 

“Mr. Potter, apologies for interrupting your rest.” Professor Flitwick said, actually looking apologetic. “There is the small matter of compensation for the harvesting of the creature.”

“Forty percent!” One of the other goblins shouted, and Harry looked between his professors. 

“Erm, just to clarify, you want to offer me a percentage of the profits from the harvestable parts?” Harry asked, getting nods in return. “Right. I don’t want any of it. If you must split profits for whatever, then I’d like to have whatever portion you are wanting for me to go to Hogwarts. The brooms for first year lessons are beyond disastrous, not every student is coming in with a new wand, which is more dangerous than old brooms, and the robes are expensive, especially when a student hits a growth spurt which happens a lot since we are children when we arrive.”

“Unacceptable.” The other goblin growled. 

“If you must give me a percentage, I’ll take no more than 10. This creature was in the school far longer than most of us have been alive. She was centuries old. She was the protection added to the school by Salazaar Slytherin and was forgotten over time as less people came along with Parsel magic. Any proceeds rightfully belong to the school.” Harry argued. “Perhaps take some of the funding and add to family services to get students into safer homes.”

“Fifteen.” The first goblin grumbled. 

“Fine. Fifteen.” Harry conceded. “I expect there will be a contract drawn up for what you determine for the remainder?”

“We’ll have it to you within the week.” Professor Flitwick stated, cutting off what looked like another impending argument from the other two goblins. 

“There was blood on one of the fangs.” The first goblin said, looking at Harry expectantly.

“Is that a question, sir?” Harry asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

“Who was killed when the creature was defeated?” Snape asked, barely holding in a sigh.

“No one.” Harry frowned. “There’s blood on a fang because I was bitten when I put the sword of Gryffindor through its mouth. Fawkes was here, though, and healed me.”

“You were not healed.” Snape frowned, pulling Harry’s arm and shoving up his sleeves until the scar was visible. “You’ve very toxic blood, Potter. The tears would heal the surface wound and keep the venom from killing you, but it is still very much present in your blood. It’s simply inactive.”

“He needs to be cleansed.” One of the goblins said, the others nodding in agreement.

“Does it matter that this was nearly four years ago?” Harry asked, shoving his sleeves back down.

“No.” Snape said, collecting his samples. “At the holiday you will go to Gringotts and be cleansed, as that should allow you the most time to recover.”

“We can cleanse them both at the same time.” One goblin said, making Harry focus on him. 

“Cleanse both what?” He asked with narrowed eyes.

“I informed them of the items you have been set to hunt down.” Snape said, still frowning. “They believe they can cleanse you of the horcrux you carry as well as one they found in their vaults.”

“You found one? Is it the cup? Hufflepuff’s cup?” Harry asked interestedly.

“It is.” A goblin replied, studying Harry. “We can cleanse it with a method similar to what you have done with the other relics, from what I was informed.”

“Great, saves me the trouble of having to worry about that.” Harry said happily. “Granted we still need to figure out if Nagini is one.”

“As much as we dislike the idea,” Snape said cautiously, and Harry already knew he was probably going to hate this plan, “it would be easiest for you to enter the Dark Lord’s mind once more and find it. You found the diadem that way, even if it was an accident.”

“I’ll be a bit useless the rest of the day if I do that.” Harry argued. 

“Which is why we won’t be trying it until you can speak with the other in regards to discovering a quantity.” Snape said sternly.

“Ah, right, yeah that makes sense.” Harry hummed. “Very well, if we’re done here, I’d like to get the Chamber closed so no one else wanders in.”

“I warded the bathroom so no one may enter while we are here.” Snape said. Harry could hear the eyeroll in his tone. 

“We’ll go to dinner and proceed as normal for the remainder of the day.” Flitwick agreed. “The contract will be delivered to your office once it is ready.”

Harry nodded and led the way out, calling for the stairs so they could ascend easily. Snape had taken the skulls Harry had collected and placed them in a pouch that was bigger on the inside and Harry carried it in his pocket. Flitwick showed the goblins out while Harry and Snape went straight to dinner. 

“Think we’ll have a good team this year?” Harry asked, nodding to those still in quidditch clothes who had gone to tryouts. 

“If we can get them to focus on the game, perhaps.” Snape hummed. “Should be easier for them to do now that you are no longer on an opposing team.”

“Would they be opposed to me being around in a coach-like capacity?” Harry looked at him curiously. 

“We can present the option.” Snape said diplomatically. Harry rolled his eyes and went back to his dinner, stumbling back to his room to shower and change before meeting Snape in his office to go over lesson plans and grading for the next few weeks. It only took a few hours, but Harry was still drained from the other events of the day. Sunday, he met with the Slytherins in the common room after breakfast and sighed. He nodded for them to follow him, Snape trailing after. When they reached the Room of Requirement, they all looked rather surprised at the space that appeared. 

“Right. As this is the second meeting, you need to understand how different it will be to the first. That was an introduction. This session, and all others that follow, will be much more active. This is going to be fast paced, and you will need to stop me if you don’t understand something. I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what you're having trouble with. I’m going to start with spells from fourth year and work up to more complicated spells that you don’t usually learn until later on. Are we clear?” Harry looked around and saw everyone watching him curiously. 

“Clear.” Several of the sixth and seventh year students agreed. 

Harry took a deep breath and had everyone set up in pairs and start practicing the spells they should have mastered already, making a few corrections, before moving on. 

“I’m not using my charms, so why can’t I get it?” Pansy asked, stamping her foot dramatically.

“Because you are still not focused.” Harry said quietly. “Watch.” Harry put his hand over hers on her wand and performed the movement, sending her partner sprawling to the floor. “Feel the difference?”

“Oh.” She said, looking dumbfounded. 

“Keep trying.” He encouraged, stepping back as she did it again and succeeded with much less effort. “Good.” He nodded, earning a small smile from her.

“I think that is enough for now.” Snape called, looking at his watch. “We’ll meet again next Sunday to check your progress.”

“If you have questions or anything before our next meeting, write them down. I’m more than happy to answer questions before we move on.” Harry added. He was a little surprised when a few people he wasn’t expecting walked in. 

“Mind if we join?” Hermione asked cautiously, Ginny, Neville, Lavender, Parvati with her, along with some Hufflepuff and Ravenclaws. 

“We’ve just finished, but perhaps a practical demonstration of where Potter can get them would be prudent?” Snape lifted an eyebrow at Harry. 

“Only if you don’t mind?” Harry said, looking at the Slytherins who had grouped together away from the others. 

“Might as well.” Malfoy nodded, standing at the front of the group.

“Three on three, with reinforcements at ten and two and eight and four.” Harry instructed, and those who had joined them all took their places. Snape watched interestedly as everyone followed Harry’s instructions without question. “Do you need to do half speed?”

“Half speed to start.” Hermione said, standing beside him, while Neville was on his other side. Ginny, Susan, and Ernie were across from them.

“Move on to full speed after five blocks.” Neville agreed. 

“Wands ready!” Harry called, nodding when everyone took their stances. “Set!” He shot up a green spark and they started their mock duel. When Ernie was knocked back, Colin stepped up and took his place on the attack. When Susan was out, she grumbled but allowed Parvati to take her place. Ginny lasted through another switch where she was defending with Lavender and a Ravenclaw boy. Hermione and Neville blocked and attacked, moving in sync with Harry as they shifted around each other effortlessly. “Time!” Harry shouted, once everyone had had a chance to participate and his group was still standing, though breathing heavily.

“Need to work on my reaction time.” Susan complained. “You’ve gotten faster, Hermione.”

“So’s Nev.” Lavender pouted.

“That was an interesting tactic.” Snape said, drawing their attention. “What made you go for three on three configurations?”

“When in an actual fight,” Harry said slowly, “you need to have people beside you that can defend and attack from all angles. Four and five works but gets harder to track everyone’s progress unless I’m just watching, not participating. In this configuration, I can effectively block for Hermione and Neville while they launch attacks. Two on two is what I usually do as soon as we’ve completed a new spell. It allows me to see each person’s attacks and defense of their partner.”

“This might just work.” Blaise said, watching them all with curiosity. 

“Of course it will.” Ginny scoffed. “Harry’s a bloody brilliant teacher, and a nightmare to duel against.”

“Longbottom.” Snape called, earning an interested look from Neville. “You’ve improved.”

“Got a new wand.” Neville said happily. “Gran was having me use dad’s old wand until it was broke during the-”

“Never mind.” Hermione interrupted. “It was broken, he’s got a new one that’s actually his, so that helps.”

“You’ve been using a wand that was not yours for five years?” Snape asked, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Now I understand your demand, Potter.” Harry shrugged.

“Is that why you were asking the first and second years so many questions about their wands?” Theo asked.

“Yeah. Older families, from what I’ve seen, often send their kids with something they already have so they aren’t spending additional money on it. EVEN THOUGH there is meant to be a fund to assist with this purchase and all they need to do is have Olivander send it through Gringotts.” Harry stated. “Neville and Ron were two in our year alone who came with wands that weren’t theirs. We need the proper tools to be able to accurately determine what our magic can and can’t do. Honestly, the muggle-born and raised were the ones I was never worried about because their parents always got them new wands since they didn’t have something just lying about. Yours is the only one that might need replacing, Vince.” 

“It was my grandad’s.” He said quietly. 

“And it works alright, but I think with your own you’d find things a bit easier.” Harry said, giving him an encouraging smile.

“I’ll take care of it this week.” Snape sighed. “You best discuss this at the staff meeting tomorrow evening, Potter.”

“I need to be in those?”

“You are an apprentice.” Malfoy said in exasperation, as if that explained it.

“Yes, you need to be in those. Now that we are done, everyone get to lunch and go find somewhere else to be, preferably away from me, for the remainder of the day.” Snape grumbled, leaving the room. 

They made a rather large gaggle heading to lunch, each talking excitedly about the duel, sitting between the Slytherin and Hufflepuff tables. Harry was intending to sit with them, but McGonagall came and pulled him up to the head table to sit between her and Dumbledore, which was not exactly where he wanted to be. Dumbledore, oddly enough, looked more relaxed than the last time Harry had seen him. His hand didn’t look any better, but that was expected. 

“Oh, here you are, Harry.” Slughorn said cheerily. “I’ve only just got the invitations done. Would you mind passing these along to your housemates?”

“Of course, sir.” Harry agreed, accepting the bundle of invitations that Slughorn had made before he wandered off again. “Odd man.”

“Always was.” McGonagall snorted. “He’s awfully proud of those he’s able to collect, more or less.”

“Why don’t we have more clubs, Professor?” Harry asked, huffing when she raised an eyebrow at him. “Minerva. Blimey, that feels weird.”

“You’ll get used to it.” She chuckled. “We’ve not really had the staff available to sponsor additional clubs. If there are things you’re interested in, you should draw something up and present it at a staff meeting.”

“So this defense club could be an actual school organization?” Harry asked interestedly.

“Certainly.” She nodded. “You just need a teacher to sponsor it. As an Apprentice, you are not able to sponsor it yourself, but you shouldn’t have trouble pulling someone in to supervise you.”

“Cool.” Harry nodded. 

“How are the lessons coming along, Harry?” Dumbledore asked, finally looking over at him.

“Pretty good. Had the first big practice session with the Slytherins this morning to work to catch them up. A few others showed up when we were done with the lesson so we demonstrated a full-speed spar.”

“They are annoyingly adept for being taught by a fifth year.” Snape sighed, sitting on Dumbledore’s other side. “Longbottom was rather confident, which is not something I’ve ever seen from him before.”

“He doesn’t do great when someones just focused on him, but I think we got him to a better place. He didn’t even stutter or act embarrassed when he joined me for breakfast at the Slytherin table my first morning there.” Harry said proudly. “Though when you point out how well you think everyone was doing after learning from me, it doesn’t really look good on the school.”

“Which you are correcting.” Snape commented. “As soon as you have your Mastery, the position is yours and I’m retiring.”

“I never agreed to be the new DADA teacher.” Harry pointed his fork at him while narrowing his eyes at the older man. 

“And the new Head of Slytherin.” Snape added, ignoring Harry. “Longbottom can take over Herbology and be the Head of Gryffindor.”

“Ms. Clearwater is meant to be taking the Ravenclaw Head as well as Magical Theory once she completes her Mastery abroad in a few years.” Flitwick added. 

“If you’re all going to devolve into which of us are coming back to take over for you,” Harry said, scooting his chair back once he was done eating and picking up the letters, “I’m going to deliver these and take a bath and pass out.”

“Good night, Harry.” Several of them chuckled as he walked away. 

When it was finally time for Slughorn’s party, Harry almost didn’t want to go. Blaise dragged him through the corridors, though, with Daphne and Tracey nudging him every now and then to stand up straighter. It was nice, though, seeing Hermione and Ginny there. It was just a simple get together, a lot like an ice cream social that his Aunt had hosted a few times. Lots of idle gossip and Slughorn walking around to make sure he greeted everyone. There were even a few extra adults that the man had invited. A Werewolf couple, a few Vampires, and a Veela. 

“Do you also have magic?” Harry asked, unable to stop himself as he spoke with the creatures. 

“We do.” August, the man, sighed. “Got bit after we got through school, though, so at least we were already done.”

“In your opinion, how difficult is it to get tutors or teachers for children with creature heritages?” Harry asked, handing them refills of drinks that passed by. “A friend of mine, Remus Lupin, was able to come to school even though he’d been bit as a child. But I’ve never heard of any other exceptions being made, let alone others coming.”

“Our kind tends to home school.” Florence, one of the Vampires, said. “We learn more of our history and not just the drabble about goblin wars.”

“I honestly don’t understand why that’s all that’s really taught here.” Harry nodded fervently, Hermione appearing at his side. “Why aren’t we learning about our government and how it stands? How laws are passed or how seats are assigned? The only way I learned any of it was through private lessons from other heirs.”

“It definitely needs an overhaul.” Hermione agreed. “A majority of students don’t read like I do, so they’re missing this information.”

“Have you talked to the ICW?” Natalie, the Veela, asked curiously.

“No.” Harry frowned, looking at Hermione. “Shite, they would be the ones to be able to fix it, wouldn’t they?”

“They would?” Hermione asked, watching them all interestedly.

“They have an Educational team that sets the test standards needed to be met in order for a magical school to be open.” Florence agreed.

“Perhaps you could write them with any concerns or questions you might have?” Greta, the other Werewolf, encouraged. “I know we would all appreciate there being more accessibility to the school and teachers for our children.”

“Do we just address it to the ICW Education Department?” Hermione asked, digging a quill and small notebook out of the beaded bag she carried.

“To start with, yes, that would work.” August nodded. “Once they receive your letter, someone will reach out to you about specifics. If your letter causes them enough concern, they’ll reach out to the Board of Governors and schedule appointments to visit the school and review the courses taught as well as the staff.”

“May I write to you as well?” Hermione asked, glancing up as she wrote a few things down quickly. “Only I’m not familiar with the type of learning environment that would work best for your children. Wolves, from what I understand, still need some sort of pack when they transform once a month, otherwise they risk hurting themselves.”

“That’s true enough.” Greta wobbled her head. “But if there are two or more together, it would ease the process, along with having access to the potion.”

“Maybe your Lupin can even put in a brief statement about what it was like at school for him as a lone wolf?” August suggested.

“He was only really alone the first four and a half years.” Harry nodded at Hermione and she added it to her notes. “In his fifth year, my dad, godfather, and another of their friends became animagi to help him, to be his pack.”

“I expect his last two years of school were much easier than the first four then.” Greta snorted.

“Oh, would you mind if I gave him your names? Only, I don’t think he has much of a pack anymore. My father died years ago, obviously, but my godfather died recently as well, so he doesn’t really have anyone. He’s been rather closed off to other wolves since he was only five or six when he was bitten.”

“Understandable.” August winced. “It’s a rather traumatic experience, and to have it so young? Yes, please let him know he can reach out to us. Even if it’s only meeting to have lunch.”

“I’ll do that.” Harry nodded. “It was really lovely to meet you all.”

“You as well.” They smiled and shook Harry’s hand before they went to mingle some more. Harry wandered as well, once Hermione was saying she was needing to leave so she could write her letters. He found himself in front of a strange assortment of moving pictures. Some of the people Harry recognized, but most he didn’t. They were from many different years, stopping around the time his parents were killed. 

“That’s your mother.” Slughorn said, giving Harry a sheepish smile when Harry jumped at the sudden conversation.

“I didn’t realize how much I looked like her.” Harry said, looking back at the photo. “Everyone always says I look like dad, but I don’t really.”

“I imagine it was the glasses.” Slughorn agreed. “James wore the same style all through his years, and his hair was always messy. From what I was told you had his hair and adding in the glasses people just immediately saw him. But with your hair out of your face and no glasses, you definitely look like your mother. She was quite brilliant, you know?”

“I found some of her notes from school.” Harry nodded. “It’s helped me a lot this year already.”

“You’re much quieter than either of your parents.” Slughorn hummed. “That reminds me more of Regulus Black than them.”

“Who was he?” Harry asked, following Slughorn’s finger that pointed at a picture of a boy draped in green. 

“He was a phenomenal wizard, casting easily almost without thought. No one would have known he was top of his year because he never spoke without purpose.”

“Do you know what happened to him?” Harry asked, seeing the young boy give a small smile as a young Lily put an arm around his shoulders and tugged on his hair affectionately. 

“Alas, he was drawn into the war.” Slughorn sighed. “His mother was quite dark, and his father was more concerned with power than his family. When his brother refused to follow them, he ran to the Potter’s. Sirius was meant to be their Heir, but he disagreed with their ideals. So once he was gone, they focused on Regulus instead.”

“That doesn’t answer what happened to him, sir.” Harry sighed, finally looking away from the pictures to see that they were the only ones left. “Oh. I didn’t realize the party was over already. I’ll go sir.”

“It’s quite alright.” Slughorn chuckled. “Come here, let’s share a drink and then you can be on your way.”

Harry hesitantly joined him, sitting in an armchair, but not drinking the glass that was poured for him. He lifted it to his lips a few times to make it seem as if he was though, slowly vanishing some of it each time. Well, he vanished it from his glass and into Slughorn’s. 

“Regulus figured it out, didn’t he?” Harry asked hesitantly.

“Figured what out?” Slughorn asked, looking rather inebriated. 

“What Tom was doing?” Harry saw the barely there flinch from Slughorn, so he knew he was on the right track. “You don’t have to tell me about it, sir, I won’t drag that up. I, er, found something when I was at Sirius’ home last summer. I guess Regulus figured out what Tom had done and managed to get one of them.”

“It’s very dark stuff, Harry.” Slughorn said, going pale. “Not something for children.”

“I agree.” Harry said, looking down at the glass and actually considering drinking some. Before he could talk himself out of it, he drank it, barely keeping from coughing when it burned. If he was going to talk about horcruxes and Voldemort, he was not going to do it while trying to fight back any sort of panic attack. The alcohol could surely help with keeping it back. “Just for the record, I didn’t go looking for them.”

“Merlin’s beard.” Slughorn groaned, pouring more in both of their glasses. “So he did it, then? He actually went through with it and tore his soul apart seven times?”

“Seems to have.” Harry nodded, taking another drink. “We’ve taken care of …” He counted them out on his fingers since his head felt a little swirly, “diary, locket, ring, diadem, cup will be at Christmas. Then there’s just two left, if you’re saying he meant to do seven.”

“It’s a magical number m’boy.” Slughorn slurred, sinking down in his chair. “He was a very bright young man, you know. Charismatic and quite handsome, according to the other students. Top of his class.”

“So the only thing we really have in common is that we’re both orphans.” Harry grumbled, sinking down a bit as well.

“I don’t know that that’s true.” Slughorn frowned. “You’re very gifted yourself, Harry. Your friends are all fiercely protective of you. You are opposite in that you are able to laugh and have fun. I don’t know that I ever saw Tom do anything for fun. Things he hadn’t calculated in his head. You feel, as he did not.”

“He can’t feel.” Harry shrugged, finishing his drink.

“What do you mean?” Slughorn asked, scratching his head.

“His mum trapped his dad with a love potion. Married him then got pregnant with Tom. At some point she finally stopped dosing him and when Tom Riddle had his will back again, he ran home. Merope Gaunt gave birth to her son and named him after her love and her father before she died. Tom Marvolo Riddle.” Harry wiped a hand over his face. “Dumbledore showed me.”

“Why would the Headmaster show you that?” 

“Dunno.” Harry sighed heavily. “Think he probably meant for me to be the one to stop him or something ridiculous.”

“Can you?” Slughorn asked, looking at Harry hopefully. 

“I think so. But I’m doing it my way, not his.” Harry shook his head and immediately regretted it as his vision swam. “Honestly, I don’t even need your memory of any of it, not as long as you can just tell me how many he made. Snape figured out what they were.”

“Good man, Severus.” Slughorn said in a quiet voice, as if he were falling asleep. “Always keeping his snakes safe like I couldn’t.”

“I should be going, sir.” Harry stumbled to his feet, while Slughorn did the same only with more effort. 

“Oh, yes, right. Of course.” Slughorn patted Harry on the shoulder a little roughly and walked him to the door, waving him off before Harry was stumbling through the corridors as he went. 

He really should have known better than to drink and spend so much time after the party talking to Slughorn. Luckily he tripped when the first hex was sent at him, so it missed. He hastily put up a shield, which wasn’t going to hold long since his brain was fuzzy. 

“Stop!” Harry yelled, as much as he could, keeping one hand on the wall to keep steady. He wasn’t surprised to find Justin and Zach back, their wands raised. As long as it was only two of them, he figured he should still be fine. He was in worse shape in the Ministry and still managed to make it out of that mess. “Are you trying to get expelled?”

“We won’t be caught.” Zach snarled. “It was our mistake thinking others would be on our side when we first confronted you. Obviously you’re just as dark as he is if they’re still hanging around you.”

“If I’m supposed to be the dark one,” Harry grunted, keeping his shield up, “then why are you the ones doing the attacking?”

“We’re doing what we have to.” Justin sneered. “For Cedric.”

“Cedric-” Harry fell back as they both shot spells at him with a lot of force, “he was a friend. It wasn’t my fault.”

“The whole thing was a setup to get to you!” Zach growled, shooting another spell at Harry. “They killed him because you were the one they wanted!”

Harry did his best to keep his shield and send a few small hexes back at the other boys. He couldn’t do a lot wandless, he’d only tried a few things so far. He got a rope around their ankles, which allowed him enough time to get back to his own feet at least. He must have hissed out something in Parsel, because a wall opened and he slid inside, and leaned against it when it closed behind him. 

“I should not have drank.” Harry groaned, holding his head and sitting on the floor. 

“ Come.” Harry jumped when he heard the quiet voice. He slowly got to his feet and followed the tunnel a little ways. “ Took you long enough.” The voice was a little muffled and distinctly unimpressed with him.

“I am not clear headed enough to handle this right now.” Harry groaned. 

“ Rest, then. I’ll be here when you get up.” Harry saw a cot appear and dropped onto it, not even caring that he was in a strange place. He’d slept in plenty of strange places, at least this one was a place that he knew no one else could get into. His dreams were weird, but not terrifying at least. He dreamed of changing his hair color, of getting more tattoos, of jumping backstage as his cousin performed with the other girls all smiling and jumping around. He dreamed of getting to work on a soundboard and make music. It was a really nice dream. Especially when he spotted several of his friends in the audience, Luna beside him backstage. 

He was still smiling when he woke up, feeling warm and comfortable. Which is when he noticed the warm fire. He yawned and sat up, his head feeling clear again, not even aching from having drank. He stretched as he stood up, finally looking around the strange room he’d found. It was a ritual room of some kind, he could tell that from the rune circle on the floor. There was an egg in the middle, and he suspected that’s what called him in. 

“ The question is,” Harry hissed, walking around the circle, “ what are you ?”

“ I am a hatchling, like you. Set here for the next Heir to find. But it has been a very long time.”

“That doesn’t answer what you are.”

“I am but an infant. I have yet to decide what I will be.”

“So you can change what you are?”

“I know what you are worried about. But I am not my mother.”

“Your eyes won’t kill anyone?”

“Not until I am much older. Well. Once I’ve hatched, older. Fifty years after I am released from my egg is when that occurs. But I have a set of eyelids that can prevent it. My mother’s were removed.”

“Will you take up the mantle she was meant to uphold? Will you protect those of the school?”

“I will.”

“Come forth, Hisoka.” 

Harry smiled as the shell pulsed and a small head finally poked free. He was sleek black, with some dark gray scales scattered throughout that almost looked silvery. Harry walked back up the tunnel, with Hisoka curled around his neck so he could see everything. He snuck through the corridors, not sure how long he’d slept, or what time it was. Blaise was still sleeping when he got to his room. Hisoka dropped in his bed while Harry went and took a shower. He crawled back into bed in just his pants, letting the baby basilisk curl around his arm. 

“Potter!” Harry jolted up.

“Twenty seven!” He said, falling out of bed, groaning as he hit the floor.

“You’re going to be late!” Blaise said, not concealing his laughter. 

Harry groaned again and got up to get dressed for the day of classes. He frowned. The party was on a Saturday evening. How was it time for class already? Sure enough, everyone was in the common room heading out for breakfast. He sat by Snape at the head table and looked around still confused how he lost an entire day. 

“Must have been more tired than I thought.” Harry said, loading up his plate, passing a few pieces of meat to Hisoka.

“You were missing all of yesterday.” Snape said quietly, so only Harry could hear. “We knew you were still in the school, but not where.”

“We checked the wards when we were informed you weren’t in your dorm.” McGonagall said, leaning over. 

“Found a room.” Harry said cautiously. “After leaving Slughorn’s party.”

“And the two students we found tied up in the corridor not far away?” McGonagall asked, raising an eyebrow at him. “Including the amount of hexes and jinxes fired from their wands?”

“You were informed not to go anywhere alone.” Snape growled. 

“I stayed after the party a bit longer and talked with Slughorn.” Harry sighed. “Didn’t realize how late it had gotten and he was a bit drunk.”

“You have the answer then?” Snape asked, his eyes flitting to Dumbledore briefly. 

“Yes.” Harry said, picking at his breakfast. 

“And the new familiar?” McGonagall asked, redirecting the conversation.

“Hisoka.” Harry said, rolling his eyes when the snake perked up.

“That’s-” Snape gritted his teeth.

“I’m aware.” Harry sighed, sitting back. “He’s the new guardian. Gotta show him the school a bit,  get him settled in the Chamber where he can move around and everything. Eyes won’t be a problem until he’s much older.”

“You’ll be speaking with myself, your Head of House, and the Headmaster in regards to what happened in the corridor later today.” McGonagall stated. Harry just nodded, knowing they wouldn’t let him out of it. 

Harry went through his classes and assisted when he was needed for DADA. He barely held back a groan when Dumbledore and McGonagall came in his small office before dinner with Snape setting some privacy wards. He told them what happened once he left the party, but Snape and Dumbledore were still watching him closely.

“And what was it you were discussing with Horace?” Dumbledore asked. 

“At first it was just the pictures of all the people he had setting out.” Harry shifted his shoulders a little uncomfortable.

“And?” Snape pressed, looking agitated.

“I asked him what happened to Regulus Black.” Harry sighed. “He was in a picture with mum and I had never heard of him. Victoria only sort of knew Sirius, but not well since she was just a kid back then. Sirius barely told me that he had a brother and nothing else about him. So I was curious who he was. Slughorn said I acted a lot like Regulus. I only made a guess, because he poured us each a glass of something and looked rather sad talking about him. I guessed that Regulus figured out what Tom had done and that’s why the locket was at Grimmauld. He didn’t want to tell me about it, said it wasn’t something kids should know. I agreed, but it’s a little late for me to not know about it. I asked for a number and he said it was seven.”

“So there’s only two left.” Snape said thoughtfully, but Dumbledore sat up in alarm for some reason.

“Sir, Professor Snape was with me when I destroyed the locket and the piece that was in the diadem. He’s why I know what they’re even called.” Harry said pointedly. “Honestly, he’s the one with the best access to Nagini out of all of us to get her taken care of if all we plan to do is kill her outright.”

“I plan to do it over the holiday while you are being cleansed through Gringotts.” Snape agreed.

“He’ll know it was you, Severus.” Dumbledore said, looking concerned finally. Concerned for Snape’s well being instead of just concerned about his plan. 

“And he’ll die along with her.” Snape said firmly. “I’ve not spent the past more than 20 years being a spy and serving one master or another just to die. He’ll be gone, for good. And soon enough, Potter will be taking over teaching. I think I’ve more than earned a long holiday abroad.”

“I will be sad to see you go, dear boy.” Dumbledore said with a heavy sigh. “Perhaps I should do the same.”

“You’ve said there were two left.” McGonagall interrupted, crossing her arms and giving the Headmaster a rather daunting glare. 

“There’s one in me.” Harry raised a hand, but she was still staring at Dumbledore who looked to be wilting a bit under her watch.

“You will be resigning after this year is over, Albus.” She said sternly. “You allowed yourself to be spread too thin and you were ready to send a child off to die. You will take a long holiday and then, when you return, you can pitch in or give guest lectures or whatever it is you want, but you will no longer be responsible for children.”

“Yes, Minerva.” Dumbledore said, rightfully chagrined. 

“And Mr. Potter?” She said, turning her look to him.

“Yes?”

“You will not accept a drink from Horace again until you are of age.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Harry chuckled, grinning at her. “Thought it might help make what we were talking about easier to handle, but I was wrong, and I am more than happy not to do that again.”

“I’m surprised you were able to tie those boys up so well being unable to focus.” She said, fighting a smile.

“I wasn’t even sure I’d got them, I just knew I needed to get away. Felt lucky to have found the passage I did, even if it was just to hide for a bit. They aren’t being expelled are they?”

“They have been suspended for a week and have monitored lessons for another week when they return. Their families have been informed and they are being required to see a Mind Healer for some time. There is actually a team that is going to be coming to offer their services for the remainder of term for any student wishing to speak with them.” McGonagall said, her tone softening a bit as she talked to Harry, not the older men. 

The rest of the term was fairly uneventful. Harry got the Slytherin’s caught up by Halloween, as he figured he would, and the girls were getting back from promoting their first album. He’d noticed that his hair, while it was growing out, wasn’t growing back black. It was matching the color they’d dyed it. Curious about it, he started reading up about metamorphmagus abilities. He knew Tonks had the ability to look however she wanted. Harry had done that a few times when he was younger without realizing it. By making his hair grow back out. Things like that. 

So he stood in front of his and Blaise’s mirror and focused on his hair. He grinned when it slowly started to shift to deep purple and lightened at the ends. He laughed happily and his hair shifted to a bright blue again with his mood. When he calmed down, it went back to his first purposeful color change of purple. He was definitely going to play around with that new ability. He must have someone from the Black family in his line. He tracked down Malfoy and spent a few hours trailing him around the castle and asking him as many questions as he could before he finally grew agitated enough that he gave Harry a book, slamming it into his chest, and walking away. His grandmother was a Black, apparently. 

He wrote to Tonks about it, who was rather excited that he had some of the gift and wanted to help him figure it out. They planned to meet up in Hogsmeade for the spring holiday. Remus was even excited and wrote back about the Wolves Harry and Hermione had met and how they had started meeting up, even making plans to see if they could handle a full moon together in January. 

“We’ll meet you at the Ministry the day after Christmas.” Malfoy said quietly as they all loaded onto the train.

“Don’t be reckless.” Harry said sternly, pursing his lips when Malfoy’s eyes widened while looking at his hair. He took a deep breath and let it settle again. “Sorry. Still working out a few things.”

“I want to be annoyed that you got that particular Black family gift, but I don’t have anything about myself that I’d change.” Malfoy sighed heavily. 

“I’m gonna meet up with Tonks in the Spring to go over some things, see if I can do any of what she can.” Harry shrugged. “Should be fun.”

“Going to the bank straight away?” Malfoy asked.

“Yeah. I’ll know when Nagini is gone, because I know Tom will not be pleased if he discovers it. As soon as I feel it, they’re going to do the ritual on me. I’ll meet my cousin some time around the Solstice to spend the rest of the holiday with her and her boyfriend. Actually looking forward to it. Never gone home for a holiday on purpose before.” Harry smiled, feeling giddy about it. 

“See you in the new year, Harry!” Colin and Dennis called, leaning out of their compartment to wave.

“See you in the new year, guys!” Harry laughed, taking an empty compartment that was soon filled up with Daphne, Tracy, Goyle, Theo, Hermione, and Neville. Luna and Ginny popped by for a bit and sat on the floor before they went to get their things as they arrived at the station. 

Harry went through the floo at the platform after telling everyone to have a good holiday and came out by Gringotts. They showed him to a room for his things to stay while he went through everything. It was pretty cool watching what they did to the cup to cleanse it. As soon as his scar started prickling, he went to the room and sat in the rune circle to wait. He had to wait until he knew it was done. He groaned and clutched his head as he saw through Tom’s eyes as Nagini writhed on the floor before she lay still. His anger burned until he realized he was dying as well. 

“Now!” Harry said through gritted teeth as Tom set his sights on his followers, some of which were clutching their arms, Snape among them. Only Harry knew that Snape wasn’t feeling what they were, because Harry had adjusted his mark much like he had Malfoy’s. Pulling the horcrux out was definitely the most painful thing he’d ever experienced. He was burning up and freezing cold at the same time. Easily a hundred times worse than when he’d ended up with pneumonia or when he’d been tortured in the graveyard or Ministry Atrium. 

He felt incredibly weak once it was gone, but also like a livewire. He had energy thrumming through him, but it felt like it had been hijacked and was trying to figure out how it was meant to function now. He spent a few days recovering before he was able to leave and head to Victoria’s apartment. When he met her on the sidewalk, he got the biggest hug he could ever remember getting from a family member. David was with her as well and shook his hand, smiling at him pleasantly. 

Victoria had gotten a bigger flat so he had his own bedroom now, which was really great. David was amazed that Harry didn’t know who he was and started telling him everything about football that he could and even got Harry to play a little with him at his house in the back garden. At least until there was too much snow to do so outside. It was a lot of fun, actually. Victoria got him a keyboard and some music recording equipment for Christmas while David got him one of his jersey’s and a ball. Harry got them some wine he’d found through Zabini, and, even though it felt weird, a picture of himself with Hisoka. They were normal muggle pictures, so they didn’t move, but apparently they loved them. 

The girls all gave him a signed copy of their album and several t-shirts with their names and faces on them. Harry gave them each small bracelets that he’d made with little charms woven in. Luna had helped him so they were really from both of them. He got his tongue pierced when he went out to tea with Geri, which got them both a bit of a lecture from Victoria, but it was worth it. 

Malfoy, his mother, and Snape met him at the Ministry the day after Christmas, all looking rather haggard, but somehow still put together. They met with Amelia Bones in her office and provided proof of Tom Riddle’s death as well as what he had done to be able to make any sort of comeback. The Auror’s had collected the body already and those of his followers who had perished shortly after he had. Harry removed the marks from Malfoy and Snape fully, which seemed to make everyone rather relieved. When Madam Bones suggested recognizing Harry for his part, publicly, she’d burst out laughing at his hair turning dark red like Tonks’ did when she was particularly angry. It took him a while to get it to go back to normal. 

“Harry!” The twins called when he was walking out of the bank from getting a few extra pounds to spend while home.

“Hey guys.” Harry chuckled as they hugged him. 

“Wonder if you have a moment?” George asked, nodding toward his shop.

“Oh, er, sure.” Harry agreed, following them to the shop, raising an eyebrow when they went to the apartment above it. He didn’t get a lot of time to ask what was going on as the entire Weasley family cheered at his arrival. Ginny cackled when his hair turned light blue with hints of pink in it. 

“Wonder what other colors we can get out, eh?” Fred teased. Harry scowled as best he could and shoved him into Charlie, who knocked into Bill and Fleur, drawing their attention back to Harry.

“No. We are not going to test it.” Harry said sternly, shaking his head as it went back to purple. “I’m still figuring it out, alright?”

“Happy to lend a helping hand.” George grinned crookedly, and Harry felt his face heat up. 

“Perhaps don’t lend that hand while family is present, yeah?” Bill teased, making Harry flush more, but this time George’s cheeks were pink too. 

“Don’t corrupt poor Harry.” Charlie added.

“What makes you think I’d be the one corrupted?” Harry asked, raising an eyebrow and smirking when they cracked up laughing. “I promise, I’m not nearly as innocent as everyone seems to think I am. You learn an awful lot sleeping at parks and wandering London at night, you know.”

“Why would you be sleeping at a park?” Bill asked, frowning.

“Had to sleep somewhere.” Harry shrugged. “Got locked out nearly every night, and didn’t want to wake up to being sprayed by a hose because my Aunt found me before I woke up in the back garden again.”

“I think he means,” Charlie said, looking at his older brother, “why did you not have a bed or room?”

“His Aunt and Uncle are bastards, that’s why.” Fred muttered darkly.

“Liked to starve him and lock him in his room or the cupboard.” George added.

“Locked out of the house wasn’t so bad.” Harry said carefully. “‘Sides, it doesn’t matter now. I’m living with another cousin who is amazing and most likely getting married next year. I’ll be on my own soon as I’m 17 or as soon as she’s willing to let me get my own place.”

“Harry-” Bill tried, but Harry cut him off.

“No. It’s not important. I had a shit life until the month before school started this year. I’m good now. Even came home for the holiday break unlike normal. No use dwelling on it. I’m gonna be busy enough with school the next year and a half as it is, not to mention at least a year after NEWTs.”

“That’s true.” Fred brightened up. “Ickle Harry is apprenticed under Snape for defense.”

“Really?” Arthur asked interestedly, coming to join their conversation. 

“Yeah.” Harry’s face was burning again. “I’m apprenticing the rest of this year and next, and Snape said he’s retiring as soon as I have my Mastery because I’m taking the position, as well as Head of Slytherin House.”

“That’s wonderful!” Molly cheered. “Why didn’t you tell us any of this, Ron?” Harry finally looked and saw Ron standing at the back of the room, flushing. 

“We haven’t really talked much this year.” Harry said quietly. “Not since I got re-sorted.”

“Yeah, because Ron’s being an arse.” Ginny muttered, glowering at her brother. 

“I needed time.” Ron said, looking away from Harry. “I’ve always heard bad things about Slytherin, about how most of them are bad. Not to mention all our experiences with several of them. But Harry isn’t bad. Never was, no matter what I did during fourth year. I’m still trying to work past it, the idea that nothing’s really changed. I am sorry we haven’t talked.”

“I get it.” Harry nodded. “Whenever you’re ready, we can talk.” Ron nodded at him in thanks and seemed to sag in relief. “No.” Harry said, pointing at Fred and George who pouted at him. “It’s a big adjustment for a lot of people, so no pranking him because you think he’s being daft.”

“Fine.” They grumbled, but Molly and Arthur both smiled happily at Harry. 

Harry was surprised a few days later when the twins showed up to Victoria’s flat. She was going out for new year’s with David and the girls, so she had lots of snacks and things for Harry to enjoy while she was gone.

“What are you guys doing here?” Harry asked, after letting them in.

“I invited them.” Victoria said, striding in, dressed to kill. “Thought you might like some company for the night since I most likely won’t be back until tomorrow sometime.”

“Oh.” Harry said intelligently, feeling a little stunned. 

“He’s used to being alone or still at a near empty school for new year.” Fred shrugged, dropping onto the sofa and getting a game controller ready.

“Don’t make too much of a mess, and if you do, I will expect you to clean it up.” She said, adjusting her hair once more in the mirror in the entryway. 

“Ready?” David asked, walking in and giving her a kiss on the cheek. “Hey Harry.”

“Hey David.” Harry shook his hand. “Don’t get too crazy tonight. Don’t need to see either of you on the cover of any tabloids.”

“Don’t you worry about us.” Victoria rolled her eyes. “I’ll see you boys tomorrow!”

“Night!” They called, waving them off. 

“You really don’t have other plans?” Harry asked hesitantly, taking the other controller. 

“I’m actually only planning to stay for a bit. Meeting Angelina and Lee later on.” Fred shrugged.

“I don’t have plans.” George said, picking through the snacks set out and filling a plate. “Might as well hang out here instead of at the flat where those drunkards will come back and be screeching all night.”

“We’re not that bad.” Fred argued.

They played games for a little while, eating and harassing each other. It was really fun. But as soon as Fred left, the atmosphere felt different. More tense. When Harry couldn’t stand it anymore, he pulled George into his room and shoved him against the door, pressing their bodies together, waiting to see if George would stop him. When he didn’t, Harry kissed him. He’d only had a few kisses with Cho before, but kissing George was drastically different. For one, George was obviously a bloke. For two, he wasn’t crying. And three? He was definitely into it and not afraid to take control. 

When they stumbled their way to the bed, scrabbling to get each other’s clothes off, Harry was actually glad to have such an involved guardian. Victoria had put a few things in his bedside table and told him to be safe about whatever he did. Harry laughed a lot, because George talked nearly non-stop, which made it that much more amazing to him. He fell asleep with his face pressed against George’s back, and woke up with George sprawled across his chest. George had been awake for a little bit, it seemed, because he was tracing the tattoo on his chest with his finger lightly, making Harry shiver. Harry rolled them over so he was on top of George, fully intending to have a repeat of the night before. George had the same idea and wrapped his legs around him, pulling him closer. 

They both jumped when the bathroom door banged open while they were showering. Harry poked his head out and found Victoria rummaging for something in the cabinet before leaving with some of his headache pills. George put some of Harry’s sweats on, not wanting to wear his clothes from the night before and they joined a rough looking Victoria and David in the kitchen for coffee. Harry shooed them to the dining room and made a decent sized, somewhat greasy, breakfast for them all. George stayed and watched a few films with Harry before he said he had to go.

“Come by before you head back, yeah?” George pleaded.

“Yeah.” Harry agreed easily. “Maybe you can come visit on a Hogsmeade weekend or something?”

“I’ll see what I can work out. Hope this qualifies as an answer to the note you left me.” George hummed, kissing him once more before closing the door. 

“I’m so fucked.” Harry whispered, once George was gone, going back and flopping on the sofa once more. 

There were only a few days after new year before he had to go back to catch the train, so he bid goodbye to everyone a full day early, intending to stay at Fred and George’s place that night. He packed his keyboard and music things in his trunk, hoping he’d get some time to play around with them in his minimal free time. Fred, Lee, and weirdly enough Oliver Wood, cheered when Harry showed up. George only rolled his eyes and pulled him into his lap while they all sat around chatting and laughing about the old days when they were all in school together. 

When Harry went to the bathroom, George cornered him and Harry thought he was going to combust just from the sight of him on his knees. Harry knocked a few things off the sink when he tried to grab onto something, but George just put his hands in his hair. He tried to help George when he got up and was kissing Harry’s neck and lips heatedly, but he was still a bit out of it from having his brain sucked out. He groaned when George got off, spilling on his stomach and hand. 

“Really hate that this happened and you have to go back to school.” George complained, kissing Harry a few more times while cleaning them up. 

“Me too.” Harry rasped.

“But I’ll get a room a time or six in Hogsmeade and you can visit me there.”

“We’ll make it work.” Harry hummed. 

“Good. Exactly what I wanted to hear. Now let’s go eat so we can come back and I can get you naked again.” George smiled brightly, making Harry laugh.

“Yeah, sure. Let’s go sit with our friends and your twin who all probably suspect what we were doing in here.” Harry said, following George out. 

Dinner was nice, actually. It was a lot of the old team that had graduated already, so they had a good time reminiscing and discussing old matches. It was a great night, followed by great sex, and amazing sleep at the end. He only barely got to the train on time the next day because George had decided to practically fuck him senseless before he left, since it had been all Harry doing it to George the first few times. He was really thankful for spells that made sitting on the train more comfortable so he wasn’t shifting every few seconds. They didn’t really do much for walking, so he just had to hope no one noticed him walking a bit funny when they got back to the castle. 

Harry pointedly ignored his friends passing money around to each other, not caring what they had bet on this time. If a majority of the kids in his year were doing even part of what Harry had the past few days, for the past year or more, he was perfectly within his rights to be all glowy or whatever Ginny called it. Luna wasn’t wearing her uniform shirt. She was practically glowing herself while she wore the hoodie Harry got her that said ‘don’t let the nargles get you down’. 

Snape was almost a completely different person when classes started up. He was actually teaching instead of sneering, for one. And he wasn’t wearing robes any longer. He wore denims or slacks and either a regular button up shirt or a flannel. Plus his hair was tied back and out of his face. Several of the students were often gossiping about him now. McGonagall found it all very amusing and even pitched into the rumors now and then just to see when they would reach the other man. Dumbledore was still wearing his outlandish robes, but he seemed to be sitting back more than participating in anything anymore. Harry should have known something was going to come up, but he was distracting himself from thinking about sex constantly by doing his school work and apprenticeship. How his classmates managed to do it when the person they were sleeping with was in the same building was confounding to him.

“Harry, we wonder if you have a moment?” McGonagall said, holding his office door open. Harry nodded and followed her to the staff room. He looked around in confusion at the new faces that greeted him. “Harry, these are some of the educational team from the ICW.”

“Right.” Harry nodded. “Hello. Guess you got Hermione’s letters, then?”

“She’s quite bright.” One witch said approvingly. 

“She is.” Harry agreed, sitting down, not sure why everyone was still looking at him. “Ok, spit it out. What is going on?”

“The Board of Governors has invited us in to review the courses and see where things can be improved.” A wizard said, leaning on the table as he reached for a teapot. “We wanted to discuss times and days with the current staff to see when would work best for their schedules.”

“Makes sense.” Harry agreed, still feeling as if he were being cornered. 

“Professor Snape has said it is up to his apprentice when we come through his classes.”

“Bastard.” Harry grumbled, frowning when McGonagall snickered. “I help in classes Tuesday through Thursday. So anytime one of those days, if he’s leaving it up to me, is fine.”

“And when may we meet the new guardian?” The first witch asked again, watching Harry in anticipation.

“Oh. Right, I hadn’t thought you might be interested in meeting him.” Harry scratched his head and rolled his eyes when he heard Hisoka.

“I will meet them.”

“Then quit being creepy and come out here.” Harry huffed, tilting his head as Hisoka slid through a low grate in the wall and stopped when he could rub against Harry’s scruffy chin. 

“This is Hisoka.” Harry lightly nudged his face away from his hair. “Stop paying attention to me, they want to meet you.”

“ It’s a pleasure to meet you, Hisoka.” One of the witches hissed, and Harry snapped his eyes to her. “Surely you didn’t think you were the only one, Mr. Potter?”

“No, but I’ve only ever met one other and he was always trying to kill me.” Harry blushed. 

“Though often considered a dark gift, it is still just that; a gift.” She said confidently, giving Harry a small smile. “I’d like to go over a few things that are expected of a guardian, as I had to do with Durmstrang, if that is acceptable with Hisoka?”

Hisoka looked at Harry, as if wanting his approval. Harry smiled and bumped their heads together before motioning for the snake to go say hello. He slithered around Harry’s neck once more before going across the table to meet the new witch. Harry ended up in a rather interesting debate with the woman meant to be monitoring his classes about which spells were better for which grades. She believed they should start nonverbal shielding in fifth year, but Harry felt they should start at the end of fourth year, so in fifth year they would be able to actually do it. 

“You yourself said you are only just teaching your students this spell now, in sixth year.” She exclaimed, drawing attention to them as they walked to the Great Hall.

“Yes, which is because we haven’t been able to keep a DADA teacher for more than a year at a time due to a curse!” Harry said in exasperation. “Even if it’s gone now, each year we’re essentially having to start over and make sure we know, through independent study, what might be covered. I learned shields, verbal, linking shields, in fourth year. My peers are behind if they want to go into fields to be Aurors or something similar.”

“Sixth year is far too late, we agree on that, but fourth year is too early. You are still learning control of your magical core and using that much of it for one class is unnecessary!”

“It’s not.” Harry denied. “Because if you line it up with where the other classes are, such as Transfiguration and Charms, and alternate which days are meant to cover the magic heavy spells, then it will give each person time to recover enough that they are able to cast.”

“The core does not recover that quickly.”

“It does for those still developing it.” Harry argued. 

“Prove it.” She said through gritted teeth. “You!” Harry whipped around and saw the woman had pointed out Colin Creevey who was standing with his brother and watching them curiously. “What year are you?”

“Fifth year.” Colin answered hesitantly, looking at Harry.

“And you?” 

“Fourth.” Dennis answered, arms crossed, a defiant look on his face. While Colin was excitable, he was still often quiet. Dennis, however, was the one people should really look out for. He hadn’t taken someone attempting to give his brother food poisoning very well and the retaliation was rather funny, not that Harry said so out loud.

“Good. Cast a shield charm, if you would.”

“Why?” He asked, frowning at her, his eyes flitting to Harry. 

“Because Potter believes you should start learning nonverbal shields in fourth year. I disagree.” That made both brothers frown at her. Dennis straightened up and cast a shield, nonverbally. Just the one, though. He could do the linked shields, but he had to do them verbally. “And how is it you came to be able to cast that without speaking?”

“Harry’s a good teacher.” Dennis sniffed. “Gave us some … extra lessons last year to help us learn defense better than that Ministry bitch who was here.”

“Dennis.” Harry sighed. 

“No, he’s right.” Ginny agreed, bumping fists with him. 

“I didn’t do nonverbal with those below fifth year, just to be clear, but if the younger kids watched and picked it up, that’s on them.” Harry said in defense when the witch turned to look at Harry sternly. 

“You.” She pointed at Luna who was looking around curiously. “Did Potter teach the Patronus charm?”

“He did.” She said happily.

“Show me.” Luna swished her wand and her jack rabbit hopped through the corridors surprising several students who didn’t see what was going on.

“She’s a fifth year.” Ginny stated, preventing the witch from asking the question, while slapping Luna’s hand. 

“You.” She pointed to a seventh year Slytherin girl who merely raised an eyebrow. Her name was Hestia, and she was often unimpressed with anyone or anything. “Disarming. Nonverbally.” She pointed her wand to a seventh year Hufflepuff, because the whole house was practically ready to fight them anyway, and snatched the wand out of the air when it got to her, twirling it in her fingers.

“No, no, absolutely not.” Fig said when he saw what was going on. “No, he has been teaching these students and sending them after me in drones with questions on their magical core and development that are above their necessary learning level requirements for OWLs or NEWTs. If you are going to demonstrate or have them demonstrate what they learned from him, you are getting a new Theory teacher. For years, I have had small classes, with minimal questioning, but he comes along and now suddenly everyone wants to know all about their core development and how it affects their ability to grasp certain spells.” He practically stomped off, head still shaking as a lot of the younger kids laughed and slapped hands together, smiling at Harry brightly. 

“For the record,” Harry said tentatively, trying not to smile, “I didn’t send them after him. I showed and taught them a few things, held discussions, and they took it upon themselves to consult the proper teacher.”

“Fill this out.” She demanded, handing him a rather large sheaf of parchment. “Have it complete for when I audit your classes.” Harry watched her go in confusion but put the papers in his bag. 

“That went well.” Hermione said, bumping her shoulder against his. 

“Dinner, all of you.” McGonagall said, hiding a smile behind her hand as everyone went to their tables. 

“Should I be worried?” Harry asked, taking his seat.

“No.” Snape snorted. “But don’t be surprised when you’re the teacher next year while I nap on the desk.”

“That’s what we basically do now.” Harry rolled his eyes.

“I still teach some days.” Snape sniffed. 

“And others you send tripping jinxes at people to try and break their focus.” Harry countered.

“Constant vigilance!” McGonagall and Snape shouted together, making half the tables who could hear them start laughing. 

Since it was the weekend, Harry went with everyone into Hogsmeade and couldn’t help the giddy smile when he saw George leaning against the door at the Broomsticks. 

“My love! He comes!” George said dramatically, dropping on a knee and holding his arms out making Harry laugh. 

“You’re such an idiot.” Harry said, still laughing as he pulled George to his feet. “Now wine and dine me so we can get to dessert.”

“Should have known you’d only want me for my body.” George sighed, but put his arm around Harry’s shoulders and led him to a table where they were joined by Hermione, Blaise, Luna, Pansy, Neville, and Hannah. 

“I take it you won’t be in tonight?” Blaise asked, winking at Hermione who snickered.

“Nope.” Harry agreed. “Should be back by dinner Sunday, though.”

“Have a good weekend, boys and girls.” George said, pulling Harry to his feet and dragging him out and down the road to the small inn the village had. 

It was a really good weekend. Most of which they spent naked. 

Harry was wearing his Spice Girls jumper when he went back to the castle, several of the other muggle-borns stopped him to comment on it. Eventually he had to admit that his cousin was none other than Posh Spice and they nearly lost their minds. Hearing Luna’s cousin was Baby Spice only set them off more. Luna was wearing a shirt that said ‘beware the blubbering humdingers’, which made Harry smile. He was really glad he found a place to print a bunch of things for her. They really seemed to make her happier than she was before. 

He pulled out the stack of papers the ICW witch, Madam Fecilier, had given him when he was in the common room after dinner. It was basically an application for his Mastery, which he found odd. He filled it out and answered everything as best he could, though there were a few areas where he added extra parchment because there wasn’t enough room for his answer. He felt like there was more that he didn’t know, that he still had to learn, but that’s the way things usually were, it seemed. He knew Remus still consulted books on occasion, so did Slughorn, Flitwick, and McGonagall. If they still did, then it was reasonable to assume that he’d always find something he needed to look up to articulate better. 

When she was observing the classes that Harry mostly taught, with Snape sitting back and sending occasional jinxes or tickling spells at people, she stayed rather quiet. Harry handed her the papers at the end of the class, which she nodded approvingly at. It was interesting hearing the ICW representatives speak with some students and the other teachers about their classes. The only things they really asked Harry were how he found completing an apprenticeship while also still attending classes to get his NEWTs. With as much help as he was getting from his classmates, it wasn’t so hard to keep up. Tracey and Daphne were amazing help for Runes and Blaise was incredible at Arithmancy. Pansy was very knowledgeable about Divination, which was nice. He actually found he enjoyed her view of the course and understood it better than Trelawny could teach.

“We need to tell him.” Harry sighed, crossing his arms as he looked at Snape draped over his sofa. 

“Want me to have him come here?” Snape offered, not looking away from his book.

“Probably best to do it in the hospital wing, honestly.” Harry pursed his lips. “I’m still not confident he won’t lose the arm altogether.”

“I’ll go prepare with Poppy while you fetch him then.” Snape sighed, finally getting up and setting his book down. 

Snape went through the floo so Harry did the same, surprised that McGonagall was having tea with Dumbledore when he arrived. 

“Er, I can come back?” Harry offered.

“Not at all, my boy.” Dumbledore smiled. “What may we do for you?”

“More the other way around.” Harry countered, motioning to Dumbledore’s hand. “Got it figured out. We can draw out the curse, but we aren’t sure what will happen with your arm after. You won’t regain full use of it again, unfortunately. Either it’ll be like with stroke patients who don’t regain use of the limb, or you could lose it. Sort of depends on how deeply the magic has sank in.”

“But how will he be able to cast?” McGonagall asked worriedly.

“He can still do wandless, but you’ll need to learn to re-channel through your other hand. I don’t know how easy that would be to do, or if it would work with your current wand. Your movements would be jerky. It’ll take time, but you could eventually have it under enough control to maintain one.” Harry offered.

“In case I cannot,” Dumbledore said, getting to his feet, “I would like for you to hold onto my wand, Harry.”

“Oh.” Harry said, feeling dumbfounded. “Um. Sure. I can do that, sir.”

“Are we going to Poppy, then?” McGonagall asked, getting to her feet.

“Yeah, Professor Snape is there waiting on us already.” Harry nodded, accepting Dumbledore’s wand. 

It felt oddly comfortable in his hand and he couldn’t help tilting his head as he twirled it in his fingers. It felt warm, like it belonged to him, not Dumbledore. He shrugged, not wanting to think about that yet, and put it in a pocket in his robes before heading back through the floo to the hospital. Pomfrey had set up a privacy screen already and ushered them behind it. Dumbledore removed his over robe and Harry snickered at the ‘justice for crumple-horned snorkack’s!’ shirt he was wearing, that was a rather alarming shade of neon green. Luna had insisted on getting more of her themed shirts made and had apparently gifted this one to the Headmaster. 

“Will a pain potion interfere, Potter?” Pomfrey asked, watching them all closely.

“He’ll need it after.” Harry said, looking at Snape who nodded his agreement. 

“He shouldn’t feel pain while the curse is drawn out, but it may very well crash in once Harry is done.” Snape added.

“Hold this in your other hand, sir.” Harry handed him a stress ball, which Dumbledore seemed delighted about. Harry set out the Occamy skull, the largest he had, and started his spell to draw out the curse. Snape held Dumbledore’s shoulder on one side, while McGonagall had him on the other when he arched and squeezed the ball quite strongly. Harry let out a heavy breath when the curse was completely removed from the Headmaster, but he grimaced when the limb shriveled and shrank down. He jumped out of the way and let Pomfrey take over as she did all she could to lessen the pain of removing the dead limb. Once the Headmaster was asleep, and what was left of his arm was wrapped securely, the others collapsed into chairs around the bed wearily. 

“Was afraid that would happen.” Harry said, wiping sweat from his head. He vanished the skull that contained the curse, making sure that it couldn’t affect anyone if it was ever somehow found. 

“He’ll live now, at least.” Snape said, running a hand through his hair. 

“While I wished I’d known the severity sooner,” Pomfrey said, wiping her face with her apron, “I am glad it was contained to the arm. You did well, Severus.”

“I think we should all take a nice holiday this summer.” McGonagall said, summoning a serving set and passing out tumblers of whiskey to the teachers and a glass of juice for Harry. “A good month away, at least, before coming back.”

“Potter’s going to be doing the lesson plans for first through fifth years over the summer.” Snape said, raising an eyebrow at Harry’s frown. “I’ll give you the template I used. You know more about what the younger years have learned with all your interactions with them, so you will know the best places for them to start for their next term.”

“That pretty much doubles my summer homework.” Harry whined. 

“Between my templates and Lupin’s, you should be fine. I’m confident you could do all years, but I know you’ll throw a fit.” Snape replied unconcernedly.

“Have you made any more progress with your metamorphmagus skills, Harry?” McGonagall asked curiously.

“Not much. Meeting with Tonks in a couple weeks, though, so she can give me some lessons or pointers. I don’t think I have the full capabilities that she does, but I can still do small adjustments to my appearance. Oh, actually, since we’re here,” Harry turned to Pomfrey who raised an eyebrow at him, “is attention deficit something that is common in wix? Only, I think that might be why Pansy has had trouble with some of her lessons.”

“I wouldn’t say it’s common, but it isn’t uncommon either. There are things that can be done to help with it. Non-medicinal as well as medicinal.” Pomfrey replied with a thoughtful look.

“I know it isn’t really my place to say, but I think, if you have a test for it, that Pansy should take it. She still does well in her classes, but she has to have at least three subjects in front of her at once. If there’s only one, she doesn’t have the patience or attention for it. It’s part of why I think she does the extra beauty charms while she’s in class.”

“I think the Mind Healers would need to go over that with her.” Snape said, also looking thoughtful. “I’ll set her an appointment and have them review some options with her so Poppy knows what to prescribe.”

“I’ll speak with my House and let them know that if they are having trouble focusing it is worth setting an appointment as well.” McGonagall added, giving Harry a proud smile. 

“Might you be attention deficit as well, Harry?” Pomfrey asked.

“Don’t think so.” Harry tilted his head. “I’m just used to being kept busy. When I was with my Aunt and Uncle I had an insane amount of chores I did, so I’m used to always doing something. I wouldn’t say I’m hyperactive, I’m just not used to sitting for long without something to do.”

“Teaching will definitely give you that.” Snape nodded. “As will leading the defense club.”

“Oh, I almost forgot.” McGonagall sat up, “Pomona has accepted Longbottom as her apprentice starting next term.”

“That’ll be great.” Harry smiled. “Nev’s got a real knack for plants. Pretty sure I can talk him into co-sponsoring the club with me.”

“That’s two new Heads.” Snape grinned. “Just need to get someone for Hufflepuff once Ms. Clearwater joins us in a few years.”

“Hannah could probably do it.” Harry said, thinking about her. “I think she’s wanting to do something with Arithmancy. Might have been Runes, I can’t really remember.”

“It would be easier to get her in for Runes.” McGonagall said, summoning a parchment and making a note. “Lupin has agreed to come next term to take over History.”

“Brilliant.” Harry said happily. 

“His new pack is planning to have a few homes in Hogsmeade so they can help with his monthly condition.” Snape stated, drawing surprised looks from the women. “Yes, we’ve spoken, yes, we’ve made a truce, so to speak. One of his pack, Greta Long, I believe, has applied for the Potions position should Slughorn decide to retire once more.”

“Not a bad idea to separate out classes for after OWLs.” Harry agreed. “Maybe have Slughorn for one or the other and Greta do the opposite.”

“The ICWE suggested something similar for several of the classes.” McGonagall agreed.

“But not all of them.” Harry sighed. “I’ll still do all years for Defense.”

“Lupin will do all years for History, Vectra will continue with Arithmancy, as will Sinestra for Astronomy.” Snape nodded.

“Why not have an additional teacher for Astronomy?” Harry suggested. “I mean, being up all night with the younger classes and having to have lectures for the older students the next day means she’s essentially working 24 hours straight for a bit.”

“And your suggestion?” McGonagall raised an eyebrow.

“How do you know I have a suggestion?” Harry countered.

“Because I know you, Harry Potter. Now. Who or what is your suggestion?” McGonagall said plainly, ready to write more on her parchment.

“It might sound barmy, but I think we should bring in either Narcissa Malfoy, or Andromeda Tonks. The Black family was very oriented with Astronomy, so their families could probably pass the NEWTs for it when they arrived for first year.” Harry said, his cheeks feeling warm.

“I don’t know if Cissa will be interested, but I can ask.” Snape hummed. “I’ve not heard from Andromeda for a few years.”

“We’ll check with Mrs. Malfoy first, and if she declines, I can reach out to Mrs. Tonks.” McGonagall said, writing it down. “I do believe we should all be getting to dinner, though.”

“I’ll inform you when he wakes, Minerva.” Pomfrey said, getting up and waving them off before running a few more scans over Dumbledore. 

Harry made sure that George knew he was meeting with Tonks in Hogsmeade so that he didn’t show up and expect to spend the weekend with him like they had before. As much as Harry wanted that, he also wanted to see if he could learn any more about this ability. She was really excited about it all and her hair kept shifting colors when he changed his. She’d been changing her appearance since she was a toddler, though, so she wasn’t fully able to verbalize what to focus on to get the change he wanted. In the end, they just ended up drinking together and testing each other’s reactions to various topics through hair color. It was a lot of fun.

“What the hell?” Harry frowned looking down at the packet on his desk addressed to him from the ICW. He opened it cautiously and jumped when confetti shot out of it before he was holding a Mastery in Defense certification. Once it was out, it floated out of his hands and set itself on the wall, as if that’s where it wanted to be. Hogwarts must have agreed because a frame appeared around it. “Seriously, what the hell?” Harry grumbled, scratching his head still when Snape came in, following Harry’s line of sight before he did the most bizarre thing Harry had ever seen the man do; he laughed. He laughed and kept laughing before hurrying out of the office and continuing to laugh the whole way. 

“You officially broke him.” Neville said a little awestruck when he slipped through the still open door.

“I didn’t even do anything!” Harry exclaimed.

“Then what-?” Neville stopped when he spotted the newly framed certificate on the wall. “Ah. Never mind. Got it. You earning a Mastery means he doesn’t have to stay on anymore.”

“What? No! Hey! Snape, hey! Get back here you bastard! Severus!” Harry yelled running down the corridor, following Snape’s continued laughter. “Stop laughing, you lunatic!” Snape laughed harder, though, as he entered the Great Hall and ran to the head table. “You aren’t leaving!”

“Jokes on you, Harry Potter!” Snape shouted back, drawing even more attention to their conversation. It seemed like most of the school had followed the odd noise of Snape laughing and were all watching in fascination. “Joke! Is on! You!” 

“It is not! You’re stuck with me through the end of the year, you fucker!” Harry argued.

“Wrong!” Snape exclaimed, turning to face McGonagall fully and ignoring Harry. “Headmistress, I am tendering my resignation, officially. A Mastery has been granted and I am no longer needed. The contract states once a Mastery is achieved the apprentice moves into the position.”

“Bullshit!” Harry shouted, trying to force him to look at him again, but it didn’t work.

“I received the notification this morning.” She said calmly. How the hell was she so calm?. “I expect you to have your things cleared out and duties handed over by the end of the month, Severus.”

“Accepted. It has been both horrible and a pleasure to work here. I will send a postcard from my holiday.” Snape gave her a dramatic bow before hugging her. Snape! Hugged McGonagall! Who just laughed at him before he was skipping (Seriously! Skipping!) out of the Great Hall. 

“Congratulations, Professor Potter.” McGonagall said, smirking at him. “I’ll have your new quarters and office available at the end of the month. We can meet later this week to discuss your salary.”

“What?!” Harry exclaimed agitatedly. “You-!” Harry pointed at her as angrily as he could, “you! You all tricked me! All of you! That paperwork from the ICW and all those- those interviews were for this, weren’t they? You all planned this shit so I’d-”

“So you wouldn’t be able to back out of an amazing career opportunity? To help shape the future witches and wizards through teaching? To encourage and enhance the level of students we produce so we are, once again, a preeminent school for magic?” She countered, raising an unimpressed eyebrow at him. “Accept it, Professor. I look forward to seeing your teaching style develop.” She turned and left the Great Hall, not skipping like Snape had, but there was definitely a bounce in her step. 

“What the fuck?!” Harry exclaimed, frowning when the entire hall burst into cheers and applause, even a few fireworks. “Yeah, yeah, get back to class!”

“Yes, Professor!” Several people shouted, laughing as they left, all talking loudly. 

Harry muttered under his breath all the way back to his office before realizing he was meant to be in class and growled before stomping into the classroom. Thankfully, it was his year, so he could glower at them all he wanted. It didn’t stop them from smiling at him or smirking, though. So he put them through a very rigorous class. They weren’t even mad at being so sweaty when it was over. 

When the weekend came, after he’d done his first week of classes on his own, there was a massive party for Snape retiring and Harry earning his certification. Harry wanted to be angry still, he did, but he couldn’t be when the girls somehow showed up. 

“Harry!” They screamed, rushing at him and hugging him tightly.

“Hey!” Harry laughed, hugging them back. “What are you all doing here?”

“We got word our boy earned a prestigious degree!” Mel C said happily.

“You didn’t really think we wouldn’t show up, did you?” Mel B teased.

“Come on, girls, let’s get a picture!” Victoria cheered, holding a camera out as they all squeezed together. 

“Luna! Get in here!” Emma yelled, and then Luna was right next to Harry and Emma, smiling happily.

“You guys are amazing, and horrible at the same time.” Harry chuckled. 

“You love us.” They scoffed.

“Yeah, I suppose I do.” Harry sighed defeatedly. 

“Care if we livin this party up a bit?” Geri asked, grinning at him.

“Feel free.” Harry got his wand out and summoned his equipment for the small stage they had. “Want me to mix it?”

“Obviously.” Victoria rolled her eyes. 

“Alright everyone!” Mel B shouted, drawing the noise down some as the girls lined up on stage and Harry hooked up the electrical stuff for their mics and the speakers he’d acquired. 

“We’re gonna give you a private concert in celebration of our boy Harry.” Emma said, smiling brightly.

“We’ve missed him, but we’re very glad that he’s doing so well.” Mel C agreed.

“So this is for him and for all of you encouraged by him.” Victoria added.

“Here we go!” Geri cheered, and Harry kicked off the music. As soon as the girls were singing, the party started to get more wild. They only did four songs, but it was enough that everyone was wound up, aside from the older teachers who were watching in amusement. Dumbledore even made an appearance and sat in the back with a big smile on his face. 

“Well done, darling.” George’s voice rumbled in his ear, making him shiver. 

“Prat.” Harry huffed, leaning into him. 

“You should wrap up so we can get out of here.” George bit his neck lightly and Harry groaned a little. 

“Go on.” Victoria said, catching sight of George wrapped around Harry’s back. “We’ll keep them entertained. You take care of him. I’ll know if you haven’t. I may not have magic, but I’ll still find someone to hex you if you hurt him.”

“Noted.” George accepted, smiling against Harry’s temple. 

“Tell the girls bye before you go, though, or they’ll barge in on you no matter what you’re doing.” She informed Harry, tugging him away from George and hugging him. Harry rolled his eyes and saw all the girls and hugged them goodnight before George was dragging him to Hogsmeade. 

“Should probably get an apartment or something here.” George said, gasping when Harry yanked his belt off. 

“Unless you want to sneak into my chambers once they’re all mine.” Harry agreed, losing his shirt.

“Oooh.” George waggled his eyebrows as he stripped his shirt off as well. “Maybe one day I’ll earn spousal privileges.”

“You want to marry me?” Harry asked, freezing after he shoved George back on the bed.

“I don’t just sleep around, Har.” George said more softly. “It’s just you. You and me. I figure you can teach for a few years, get used to it, then we can talk about it or just do it.”

“You want to marry me.” Harry smiled slowly, feeling warm and loved. “You love me.”

“Yeah.” George said, sitting up and cupping Harry’s face gently. “I do. I love you.”

“I love you too.” Harry whispered, feeling his eyes sting, but still smiling. “God, this is so ridiculous.”

“It’s not.” George shook his head, wiping a few tears away. “I love you, Harry James Potter. Today, tomorrow, the day after. Always.”

Harry couldn’t respond, so he just kissed him. Hoping George felt what he couldn’t put to words. It was very different sex to what they’d been having. Before it had been mostly exciting and quick because it was new and fun. But now? Now it was slow and gentle and Harry finally understood the sappy phrase ‘making love’. Because George loved him. And he loved George. 

“I’d marry you tomorrow if you wanted.” George whispered as they fell asleep tangled together. 

“Maybe not that soon.” Harry snorted, holding George closer. “Few years. Give your mum time to plan something. And Ginny. And Victoria. All our insane friends.”

“So smart, Harrykins.” George hummed. “Night, baby.”

“Night.” Harry murmured, falling asleep peacefully.