Harry Potter 1. Chapter 1

Ok so I know this has been done but they're aren't many stories in this category. I read Knowledge is Power and after trying to find a good replacement or continuation for it, I decided to give it my own shot. Harry will be two years older, same age as the twins. He will be raised primarily by Remus but will be close with the Tonks family similar to the relationship that he has with the Weasleys in cannon. Harry will be strong but not to the point where there is no excitement in the story, and he can still be injured. Now I'm going to stop before I ramble too much, You'll figure it out. Hope you enjoy.

Oh I almost forgot, I don't own Harry Potter, My brother is working on it at the moment, but it doesn't look like its going to be mine any time soon, something about me not being the original author or something.

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November 1st 1981

Remus Lupin sprinted alongside Mad-Eye Moody. They had just apparated to the edge of the wards bordering the Potter's home in Godric's Hollow, and it was immediately evident that a struggle had taken place. It had been only minutes since Moody had received James' distress signal. Moody had only been able to contact Remus, before setting out for the Potter home in Godric's Hollow. The pair were greeted by a gruesome scene at the front door. The living room had been transformed into a veritable warzone, the ground littered with the debris of countless stray curses. As they moved into the room, they discovered the first casualties of the duel; Remus staggered as he recognized the body. James Potter lie motionless at the foot of the stairs, body battered and lifeless. Who the other two bodies, next to the fallen Potter, belonged to didn't matter, not then, all that was important in that moment was that James was dead…

The werewolf was shaken from his thoughts when he heard screams coming from upstairs, and not the average scream. The sound coming from the upstairs bedroom could only come from one source. Looking to Mad eye he received a nod showing that the man knew what was going on and would do whatever he needed to. Remus dashed up the stairs and towards the room that the screaming was coming from.

Moody having come up behind him took point as they went into the room. The seasoned auror didn't even hesitate a second in dropping Barty Crouch Jr. with an over powered stunning spell. Remus reacted much the same way attacking Bellatrix, rendering her unconscious, and then binding the two with ropes.

"Evans is beyond help." Moody commented frankly as he looked over Lily. "Hows the boy, that bitch is too good at that curse." He added looking in Harry's direction.

Remus scooped the boy up into his arms, and used the poor legilimency skill to assess the boy. "I'm not sure, but I know who can tell me, and she is trustworthy, she helps my with a personal problem of mine." Remus stated solemnly. "Can you finish up here?"

"I'll get Evans to Saint Mungos and wait for the others to show." Moody growled.

"Thanks" Remus offered before disapparating with a soft pop, the crying Harry still in his arms.

He reappeared in front of a small two story house in a quiet neighborhood. Before he could knock on the door it opened. He saw the face of the woman he had just stunned, but it didn't contain an ounce of insanity, no this was the younger sister of that woman, and all her face radiated was compassion.

"I felt like something was wrong tonight." Andromeda answered, when Remus gave her an odd look. "James, and Lily?"

Remus just shook his head. "James is a known, Lily we will see but most likely, But I need you to look at Harry. He was under the cruciatus when we got there."

"That BITCH!" Andromeda growled. "This goes far beyond anything I have ever heard of. Using the Cruciatus on a three year old, he's lucky to be alive." Andromeda pointed her wand at Harry and muttered a few quick spells. "I can help him, and he should be fine, but it was close. You got there just in time."

"Thank you Andy. Can you watch him for a day or two I have some business to take care of."

"Don't go getting yourself killed. He's going to need you." Andromeda stated. "But I can watch him for a few days, and fix him up." She added, with a smile.

"I owe you." Remus stated before handing over the boy and disappearing with another soft pop.

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7 years Later

As Harry drifted out of sleep, on his eleventh birthday something did not feel right. Why do I get the feeling that when I open my eyes I'm not going to like what I see. Harry wondered as conscious thought returned to him. Wanting to get it over with, Harry cracked his eyes open.

"I'll kill him." He swore

Harry had been very kindly adhered to the ceiling of his room by a generous amount of duct tape. needless to say Harry was furious, but before he could enact his revenge he had to get down. Knowing Remus, there would be a release of some sort, but he knew it would come at a cost. The older marauder while not the most original in his pranks was master at set up. looking around, Harry found what he needed. Just to his left, A small strand of tape was hanging just within biting distance. Wondering what the cost of pulling on the loose piece would be, Harry traced it back towards the door where it was attached to a potion vial of some sort.

"Either it works on contact, or I'm missing something, but it doesn't look like I have much choice." He thought.

Gritting his teeth, Harry pulled the tab releasing the tape and dropping him unceremoniously onto the floor. Landing with a resound thud, he waited for whatever the potion was going to bring but it never came. " A dud?" Harry wondered as he stood up, "but that never happens" he thought. Then he realized it was a diversion. looking closely at his feet he found evidence of disillusion charms in small lines crisscrossing back and forth across his room. Looking up harry saw that there was still enough duct tape on the ceiling to support him. Harry jumped as high as he could straight up and grabbed the dangling remnants of his prison. Once there he swung himself back once before flinging himself forward and towards the door. Harry flipped himself through the air showing unnatural athletic ability, for someone his age. Flying towards the door, he felt he had won, but it was not to be.

Remus removed himself from an invisibility cloak just outside the door. "Sorry pup, athletics alone won't cut it" he smirked, "I win." Reaching up the werewolf pulled the visible string holding up the potion and let it fly right into the airborne Harry. He watched as a poof of smoke surrounded his surrogate godson, who fell to the floor instead of landing his stunt.

Not waiting for the transformation to complete he walked downstairs to the kitchen where the Tonks' were waiting for the birthday boy. "You think too hard sometimes harry, It makes you too easy to predict." he commented as he left.

Harry grumbled as he picked himself up off the floor. What would he turn into today: A girl, some kind of animal, a piece of furniture, the list went on, hopefully it wouldn't last long. He waited for a few seconds before he could feel his body change, it was a familiar one, and one that he truly hated. In the bottle had been some kind of polyjuice potion, he now had the body of his "sister" Nymphadora, and was wearing a bright pink dress and high heels. knowing he would have to walk down to the kitchen to get it reversed, Harry marched after his godfather.

Andromeda just shook her head when the young boy walked into the room. "He's going to kill them one day." she muttered to herself.

"Thank you." He replied rather politely, given the circumstances.

"Change me back, now" Harry ordered as he sat down at the table, sending glares at Remus, and Nymphadora. "I know it was you two."

"What do you mean Harry. We would never do this to you on your birthday." Tonks replied in feigning innocence.

Harry didn't think it was funny. "You heard me."

Harry gave them a few seconds to change him back, but no one acted. Harry resolved to do the thing he had been threatening to do since the first time they had done this.

"Fine Im going streaking in your body sis." Harry offered walking towards the front door, removing clothing as he went. Tonks stopped laughing, paling as he said this. Sprinting after him she performed a tackle that would have made any rugby player proud.

"I will never forgive you if you set foot outside this house in my body like that." Tonks growled.

"Change me back Nymphadora and there will be no problems, but if you leave me in this body you'll regret it." Harry replied from underneath her.

"Using my name are we." Tonks growled, but before she could add insults of her own, Remus cut her off.

"Damn you Potter, you just cant let us win can you?" Remus chuckled, walking into the entry way. He flicked his wand at harry who resumed his normal appearance.

"Thank you." Harry offered. "Oh and and to answer your question you wrinkly old fart. Its only been this year that I've started winning in our little war, before that I didn't stand a chance." Harry smirked as he realized what exactly today meant. "and I don't even have a wand yet, can't wait to see what I can do with one."

The involved pranksters cringed at the thought of the boy with a wand. "God save us."

"As fun as this conversation is, we have a lot to get done today." Andromeda stated as she joined the group, and placed breakfast on the table. "Nymphadora dear, please get off of him. Its time to eat." The five ate in relative silence until everyone had cleared their plates.

"Harry, go get ready we have to leave." Remus said once they had bussed the table.

Harry nodded and headed up to his room.

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The last seven years had been very defining in the shaping of Harry James Potter. They had not been the most joy filled years, but they were better than what could have been. After his father had been killed, his mother was confirmed as being in an irreversible coma. Harry had been with the Tonks' at the time and was too young to understand what that had meant, along with his own difficulties of overcoming the cruciatus at age three. Medically speaking he was a miracle, his mind came out of the encounter intact, and his nervous system while still retaining some after effects, was fully functional. Andromeda, Ted, and Tonks had taken care of Harry for about two weeks, before Remus had come back to take over in caring for Harry. He had left Harry with them while he went after Sirius Black. James' supposed best friend, and the only one who could have helped the death eaters find the potter residence because of the wards on it. However Sirius was caught by the Aurors, after the Heroic sacrifice of Peter Pettigrew, who attempted the same vengeance that Remus desired.

With Black behind bars, along with those he betrayed the potters to, Remus took it upon himself to raise the boy. Andromeda and Ted were very helpful and insisted that the werewolf come to them with anything, thus forming a surrogate family for the boy. Remus brought him up away from the magical world, for several reasons, but did not hide it from him. Harry knew from the day that he could understand it that he was a wizard and if his feats of accidental magic were anything, a strong wizard at that. Harry grew up in a happy environment, and was well cared for. Remus and the Tonks' gave him opportunities to do what interested him, which mainly resolved around learning about how things worked, and reading about anything and everything. Harry also showed an interest in sports, playing rugby and football when he was old enough for athletics, he played exceptionally well in both sports.

While he had accepted Remus and the others as his family and truly appreciated them, he would never let them replace his mother. Harry visited her twice a year: Christmas day and her birthday, January 30th. No one fought against him when he stayed at her side all day on those days, as they could not fathom having that occur to them, and usually left him to his own means. Harry drew strength from his mother and had dedicated his life to finding a cure for her. This was partially why he wanted to know so much about both the muggle and magical world, as only the most knowledgeable person would be able to find a cure. Over the years if Harry wasn't pranking his family, or playing sports then he could be found with his head stuffed into a book, usually one of tonks' school books, but it was not uncommon to see him with a book on some advanced theory or high level subject book. Remus supported Harry and taught him everything he could, and with him often lacking a job, was able to act the part of teacher to the boy. Harry insisted to pay for anything and everything that his godfather needed, going as far as lending the money to buy the small house they lived in. Often claiming that he could make his own money later, and that Remus should be paid for his work with him anyway.

While Remus was afraid of what his godson would do to him once he got a wand, he was truly proud of the boy's genius level intellect that he never stopped fueling, and his character, that with everything he had suffered should not have been as pure as it was. Harry was no angle and would often put up an act to hide his true intentions, but the boy always did what was right. What worried Remus though, was Harry's guilt towards his mother. It was obviously unfounded, as what parent wouldn't sacrifice themselves for their child, but it was there. He blamed his mother's condition on himself, and Remus had once caught him mumbling in his sleep that it should be him in her place. He never confronted Harry about it, but watched him closely and made sure that there were people around him that made sure he had a life other than research. He could tell Harry knew what he was doing, but the boy humored him, and went with things most of the time. Remus was happy to say that he had done his best in raising the young and upcoming marauder.

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Harry couldn't wait to get his wand and begin practicing on his own, without having to worry about getting caught with someone else's wand. Underage sorcery was something he had never understood, but when did anything ever make sense in the wizarding world. Muggles usually had more common sense than their magical brethren.

"Harry your letter is here, hurry up!" Tonks shouted from outside his room. "I wanna get my shopping done with and mum is making us all go together."

"Shut it, or I'm going to shout your name at the top of my lungs the first step I take into the great hall."

Tonks immediately had her want out. "Do it and I promise your first year will be hell on earth lil bro."

Harry didn't bat an eye as he walked out of his room away from her. "Try and fail sis, I have more black mail on you than you know. Not to mention I've been studying off of your books for the last five years so with a little practice there wont me much you can do that I can't once I get my wand."

Harry chuckled as his statement set foot in her brain. "Didn't you say everyone was waiting. I would suggest pulling the foot out of you mouth and following me"

Tonks grumbled, but knew she had been beat.

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Harry looked around with slight excitement, He had been to Diagon Alley a few times, but it was a place that inspired him. It had so much to offer especially if you counted Knockturn Alley as part of it. He didn't care much for the goblins in Gringotts where he had just been, but held nothing against their race. Harry looked down at the list that had come with his letter.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Mr Potter,

We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Yours Sincerely

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

HOWGARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY

Uniform

First year students will require:

Three sets of plain work robes (black)

One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear

One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)

One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)

Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags

Set Books

All students should have a copy of each of the following:

The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk

A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot

Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling

A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch

One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore

Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander

The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble

Other Equipment

1 wand

1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)

1 set glass or crystal phials

1 telescope

1 set brass scales

Students may also bring an owl, cat or toad

"If you don't care about new, Nymphadora has offered to give you her books." Andromeda offered as they walked down the steps of Gringotts.

"Why thank you Nymphadora." Harry said with and exaggerated bow. He chuckled when a vein appeared on her forehead. "I have nothing against a used book that I have already read. I would be happy to take you up on your offer. It gives me more to spend on new book anyways."

The group minus Tonks chuckled at this.

Harry looked at the list. "That leaves robes, and class materials."

"Remus can take you to get your wand Harry, and If you give us a little gold we can stop by the apothecary and get his potions utensils, and the other gear."

"Ollivanders it is." Remus offered with a smile, as Harry handed Andromeda some gold.

"Actually I'd rather go to a different store if thats possible." Harry stated. "Or at least see what they have to offer, and I need some nice robes."

"Umm the only other wand maker that I know of is in Knocturn Alley." Remus thought. "Robes can be gotten in a few different places though."

"Thats fine," Harry replied walking into the "Dark" alley, without so much as a second thought.

Remus scrambled after him. "Harry wait. It's not safe to go in there."

"Why not?" Harry questioned "What's so bad about this place? And if what you said is true than we can probably get robes here as well as the wand."

Remus thought about it, the alley itself wasn't inherently dangerous, it was just certain people that frequented the area, and most of them came at night. "We can go, but if I say we have to leave we leave."

"If you lighten up a bit I'll tell you my full reason for wanting to go in here" Harry responded.

"Fine I'll bite." Remus chuckled.

"Joking now are we?" Harry smiled, knowing Remus joked about his affliction rarely.

"Very well. I want to go in here because I'm hoping that I can find more advanced books than what I have found in Florish and Bott's. I need some new transfiguration books and I want something not as published as the stuff they carry. I think it will hold more important information if its not Ministry dissected. Charms would be nice too."

"And the wand?" Remus wondered.

"Oh I just decided that everyone going to Ollivander's is suspicious, why would everyone swear by his wands? Is he really that good. Either way I went with Tonks when she got her wand, and I want to see how a different make compares. If they are of equal quality than I'd rather go with the different maker." Harry answered.

"Your a Ravenclaw for sure." Remus stated. "Only a Raven would analyze something that much when no one else has."

"That's fine with me." Harry said nonchalantly, "their common room is closest to the library anyways."

"Here we go." Remus said as he shook his head in regard to Harry's last comment. The two stopped in front of a shop the had a sign with a wand stamped onto it.

"Funny I remember a different store than this one. I wonder if its new"

Harry didn't bother with his godfather's questioning and walked into the shop. There was a tall pale man standing behind a counter on the other side of the room.

"Good morning" Harry offered, as he approached the counter. when he reached the counter and the man smiled Harry noticed that his canines were slightly longer than they should have been. "Interesting." He added as an afterthought.

"Good morning to you as well, my boy." The man replied. "I see you are not swayed by my food preference."

"Not at all, as long as you will help me with the acquisition of a wand, if not I will still bear no ill will towards your kind, just you for being rude to a customer." Harry responded.

"Well said, well said indeed. I think you will indeed get a wand, and the wolf behind you can have his repaired if he is related to you in any way." The Vampire offered.

"He has raised me since I was three." Harry supplied. "But we are not blood related, at least as far as we know."

"Most interesting Mr?"

"Potter" Harry supplied. "But I would prefer Harry, and wouldn't mind knowing your name as well."

"I have several names for safety reasons, but because you intrigue me Harry I shall tell you my original name. It is Alucard."

"And why does everyone else spell you name backwards?" Harry asked with a cocky smirk on his face. Remus nearly fell over from behind Harry when he said this.

"Harry..."

"If that is who I am would you be afraid of me?" Alucard asked cutting off Remus.

"Not really, I'd be more intrigued as to why." Harry replied.

"Interesting, but I cannot give you that answer, as I do not go by that name, it is just a coincidence. A rather unique one, but only a coincidence."

Harry nodded at his new acquaintance. "As much as I would like to ask you hundreds of questions, I am a bit crunched for time. Could we finish business, and perhaps talk later"

Alucard nodded. "That would be most agreeable. We can discuss other matters at a later time. Hold still for a moment please."

Alucard pulled out a wand of his own. He waved it a few times, causing Harry to glow. before replacing it in his dark red suit.

"You are very interesting Harry, my sources tell me that I should make your wand from rosewood, and use a mixed core of nudu and unicorn hair. That should make a very balanced wand. It has the hair of one of the most aggressive and dark creatures known to man, right next to the most pure of creatures that does not have the capacity to do evil."

"Besides the obvious, why does that make me interesting Alucard?"

"I have been making wands off and on for a long time and never have I seen one so balanced, It tells me that you yourself are a very balanced individual. You are not a dark wizard, nor are you a light wizard."

"I think I like that." Harry stated truly intrigued by this revelation. "And how can you tell so much from the wave of a wand?"

"I have my ways." Alucard replied. "While I see us being friends in the future Harry I am not going to distribute that knowledge at the current time."

"Fair enough, when will my wand be done?" Harry asked returning to business.

"I will have it sent to you before you leave to school, and I would not mind hearing about how your wand works, After all I only make wands after my previous creations are no longer in use."

Harry smiled at that. "I will hold it with pride then."

Alucard turned to Remus who had just been watching the event. "I usually do not do this, but I would be happy to repair your wand as well. Harry has proven to be a unique individual and one as close to him as you must be unique as well"

"I'm a plain individual unfortunately, but I will take you up on your offer. We are going shopping for books after this, could you have it done in an hour or so?" Remus asked.

"Easily." Alucard replied "And I suggest you go to the bookstore known as the Red Raven."

"Thank you for the advice Alucard I hope your prediction is correct and we can become friends." Harry said as he and Remus headed for the door.

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"You handled that well Harry." Remus stated as they looked for the Red Raven. "Actually better than well. I never thought anyone would be able to gain a vampire's trust that easily, and especially not at eleven years old."

"I really don't see the big deal." Harry stated. "Your a werewolf and I'm friends with you, why should it be hard to be friends with a vampire. For that matter why should it be hard to be friends with any kind of sentient being."

"You make a good point Harry, but It's not that simple." Remus replied. "But maybe it can be in the future."

Harry nodded as ideas spun through his head. Ways of connecting these different types of people came and went, and those he thought were plausible were stored away for use later. When they reached the book store He asked Remus to look for anything that was interesting and or charms based. Harry searched the other side of the store for advanced transfiguration books, and anything else that caught his attention.

He collected five transfiguration books in the hour that he and Remus had agreed upon as the amount of time they would spend there. He had The True Theory of Transfiguration, The Science of Animagus, Transfiguring Laws, and Their Origins, Transfiguring the World and Transfiguration in a Duel. Harry was pleased with his finds, he knew transfiguration was something he wanted to master and with his newest sources he was setting a strong foot on that path. Remus had come back with similar books but based on Charms, one of the titles was Curses or Offensive Charms. which peaked Harry's attention.

"No concerns that its too advanced for me." Harry jested as the werewolf heaved the six or so books he had collected onto the counter.

"Your too smart for me to have that concern." Remus replied. "However if you come back for christmas and have already completed everything that these have to offer, I don't know what I'll do."

"You know my goal Remus, but I will try to have a life, and christmas is a stretch maybe by the end of the year though." Harry said as he handed over the gold for the books.

"I see that as highly unlikely, but you continuously surprise me Harry." Remus stated. He looked to Harry with a broad smile. "I can guarantee that your father would be proud of you, and Lily is and will be proud when you wake her up."

"Thank you." Harry mumbled. "You are one of the few people who talks about her as if she is still alive."

Remus made no comment, only nodded his head. It amazed him that someone so young had survived such a harsh life, and that they retained a positive outlook on life. "I miss her too, and if I had the intellect that you do I would help you with your goal. But I can only support you with items, like books, and a place to live."

Harry nodded, his neutral look back in place, "And that gains more appreciation from me than anything else."

Remus acknowledged the praise with a nod, knowing harry wasn't an overly emotional person.

"I would like a pet as well, if that is possible." Harry thought. changing the subject "I need some company other than dear Nymphadora."

Remus chuckled. "I think we can do something about that. For now lets go get you a trunk, I'll let you spend that book money you saved thanks to Tonks to get a nicer one."

"I think one with three compartments would be good enough to start with." Harry commented.

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Harry and Remus rejoined the others outside the Leaky Cauldron after they had retrieved Remus' wand, and gotten Harry's trunk and robes.

"Did you two get everything you need?" Andromeda asked.

"Yes I believe so." Remus said.

"Lets head home then shall we." Ted offered.

Harry was about to comment when Remus cut him off.

"Yes, lets." Remus agreed.

Harry wasn't done shopping and Remus knew it, yet the werewolf continued to press for them to leave. When his godfather didn't let up, Harry sent the older man a glare that would unnerve a dementor.

"Fine." Remus sighed. He knew not to go against that glare. Turning to the others he said. "We have to give it to him now, or none of us are going to be able to sleep for a week. I've seen that look several times in my life, and every time I ignored it resulted in an unpleasant experience."

"Harry we know you would want a pet, so while you and Remus were shopping we made a quick stop." Andromeda offered.

"Happy birthday" Tonks cheered, as a cage appeared in her arms.

Harry watched as the charm was removed and a beautiful white snowy owl appeared inside the cage. He had honestly not been expecting this.

"Thank you." He muttered, the mask he placed on his emotions cracking.

"You owe us nothing Harry. We are your friends, and we will always be your friends even when you try and push us away." Remus stated. "Now come on lets go home."

Harry's was slightly surprised at how well his Godfather could read him, but wasn't bothered by it. He knew that they expected nothing in return for caring for him, and that was why he trusted them.

"I do owe you, but I'll let it slide this time." He said, resuming his normal range emotion. "No sense in spoiling you yet."

Harry smiled, and turned to Tonks. "I haven't forgot about this morning, I'll get you back."

Tonks shuddered at the threat, once again glad that they didn't live together.

Harry smirked as he grabbed Remus' arm, and the older man apparated them to their house.

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Harry and Remus had spent the afternoon looking through the new books that Harry had gotten, and packing the things Harry wouldn't need until the semester began.

"By the way, I forgot to say. You made the right choice in going to Alucard's for your wand. Mine is behaving very well, after he looked it over." Remus said twirling his wand in his hand.

"I thought so as well." Harry said form behind one of the transfiguration books he had bought. "He has skill, and would rather make one good wand than thousands of them, that may or may not suffer in quality. I think the reason he waits until they are done being used is so that he can study them as they are in use so that every wand he makes is better than the last."

"Definitely a Raven" Remus smirked. "By the way have you named you Owl yet?"

"She seems to like the name Hedwig." Harry supplied from behind his book.

"Interesting. That is a unique name." Remus thought aloud. Harry just nodded at him.

"What is so interesting in that book?" Remus asked, when he noticed Harry's focus.

"Let me borrow your wand and I'll show you." Harry offered.

Remus grumbled, but knew that Harry wasn't after him at the moment so he passed the boy his wand.

"since you know I can do some pranking spells that I picked up from you, I'll show you with a new one." Harry stated. He pointed his wand at the used match on the table. he waved Remus' wand and gave a quick Latin command. The match on the table changed shape, but otherwise stayed the same.

"That was using the method told by my text book. This theory book says differently, it talks about the will of the castor and its role in the transformation, instead of just muttering a spell you have to will the change, and you can't be attached to object."

Harry repeated the spell and wand movement a second time. This time Remus could see in his eyes, that he didn't see a useless match, instead he saw material that could be used in a number of ways. Remus looked down at the match after Harry was done, and in its place was a needle that was larger than the match it had come from. Usually when someone did this spell for the first time the resulting object was twice as small, not twice as big.

"Harry have you ever done that spell before?" Remus asked.

"No, I have just read about it." Harry said returning to the book, while holding out the wand for the werewolf to take back. "based on that, I would say this book has some interesting things to teach me." He added after Remus had taken the wand.

"You scare me at times you know that. An eleven year old should not be able to do that on his first try."

"A. That is a good thing. You should be scared of me." Harry smirked from the other side of the room. "And B. I have been stealing your wand for years, and trying this stuff, while I never tried this particular spell, I have been practicing. How do you think I managed to change your hair color when I last pranked you."

"You sneaky little pup. You've been stealing my wand."

"Needed practice." Harry stated. "I'll be sure to let you know if I need it before mine comes." The boy added before closing his book and walking towards his room.

"Merlin help me. If the next seven years are anything but life threatening to me." Remus sighed, as he got up and followed his charge's example.

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Ok so The first chapter is done, and I'm feeling like its an ok start. Just so everyone knows, Harry's wand will not be some ridiculously powerful wand. I just wanted to make it interesting.

If you have any comments or ideas send them my way, I like knowing what I could do better, or if someone has an idea that they think will fit in. Please don't be rude.

Hope you enjoyed I'll update soon.


	2. Chapter 2

**To all those who reviewed, I give you my thanks. I am glad you like it. I fully plan on finishing this story. Updates will most likely come less often when school starts again, but I'll try to keep them coming.**

**To the reviewer known as Blah your critique is noted and I will try to make Harry's character imperfect. Give me a chapter or two and I'll see what I can do. No guarantees but i'll give it my best, as I fully agree with your point.**

**The I don't own it crap will not be mentioned from here on in. In my mind its pretty obvious, but if you feel the need to know that I don't own any of this stuff take a detour to chapter one.**

**Here is round two enjoy.**

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Harry and Remus along with the Tonks family stepped onto the platform at King Cross mid morning on september first. Harry was disgruntled because his wand had still not come yet. Alucard had sent them a letter saying that there were delays and that he would deliver it before Harry boarded the train, but he had not given a specific time. Harry was obviously in a bad mood when they had left that morning, and that was something that the rest of the group tended to avoid. The boy had a violent temper, and his tongue lashings were second to none. Each of them could attest to that.

Harry took his anger out on the blatant Gryffindor favoritism regarding the train. "Our esteemed headmaster is not biased towards the houses at all. I doubt that he was once a Gryffindor." He commented voice dripping with sarcasm.

"This is ridiculous, the color of the train should have some reasoning behind it. Maybe the winner of the house cup should get the train in their colors." Harry added as an afterthought.

"yes Dumbledore was a Gryffindor. I believe he holds the record for most academic achievements in that house." Andromeda answered. "And that does seem like a reasonable idea. You should tell the headmaster.

"Enough with this pointless bashing, lets go."

Harry sighed at her enthusiasm. "Why are you in such a rush, Nymphadora, is there someone waiting for you on the train, or do you just turn into your own dream boyfriend, and sit with yourself."

Harry watched with amusement as her hair went from a spunky and happy pink to blood red. Her Hair only changed that color when she really wanted to hex him. Harry knew what was coming, and looked forward to it, it was time for some pay back.

"I'm going to kill you potter." Tonks growled, pulling her wand on him.

"Thats the tenth time you have said that in the last three weeks, and I have yet to pass away." Harry commented, making sure to count the times on his fingers, and further infuriate her.

Tonks, failed to realize that she was doing exactly as Harry wanted. He knew her too well, and her anger went to her head.

_Rictusempra_ Tonks said with the jab of a wand. Harry smirked evilly when she did this, and took a slight step to his left letting the curse miss him by a breath and hit his watching godfather behind him.

"I don't feel much like laughing now sorry, and you might want to stop, before you get called out for underage sorcery" Harry taunted, causing the follow up.

Tonks screeched a spell that he hadn't heard of before, but harry politely bowed to her as an opponent, causing the spell to accidentally hit his guardian a second time.

"No one will notice with this many people around, and if I do get caught I'll say you forced me to do it with blackmail." She commented once her hexing was complete.

"You win Nymphadora. Remus has been incapacitated by rictusempra, and whatever you sent afterwards makes him look like a gorgon. Impressive." Harry stated with a grin. He laughed roughly when upon realizing that she had hit Remus with those spells, involuntarily changed her hair to a morbid blue.

"I'm sorry Remus." She muttered, before walking away towards the train. Her parentst followed shaking their heads at the antics of the two.

Harry turned to Remus with a smile. "My last prank to you for several months. I have always admired her spell work when she was angry, haven't you Remus."

Harry offered a hand to Remus, only to have it swatted away. "Sorry I couldn't resist."

Remus looked at him with fury in his eyes, but couldn't do anything as he was still laughing too hard.

Harry, wanting to say a proper goodbye, grabbed the man's wand and ended the tickling spell. "Take care of yourself old man, and now that I'm not holding you back you should go get a job."

"Yes, of course you are the reason I could never get a job. Now everyone will be wanting to hire me." Remus gasped, as he struggled to catch his breath. He was about to make another comment, when a very familiar man in a dark red and black suit appeared behind the group.

"I was beginning to think you had forgot." Harry commented noticing where Remus was looking. "I like the hat, it adds something that was missing before." He added noticing that the vampire was wearing a matching large brim fedora.

"The sun can be irritating." the Vampire shrugged. "And I am sorry for being late, it took me a while to collect the ingredients for your wand."

"Fresh is better right." Harry asked rhetorically.

Alucard nodded seriously, and handed the boy a long thin box. "I enjoyed making this. Every step of the process offered me a challenge. I will have a hard time making the next one."

"I'll find a way to live forever so you don't have to." Harry offered with a smile. "Now please excuse me, I have a train to catch and an angry sister to overcome."

Harry got chuckles from the both of the men, and Alucard gave him parting advice. "Careful Harry, women are capable of being the devil himself."

"She's to clumsy" Harry answered over his shoulder as he disappeared into the train.

Remus noticed that the Tonks' were coming back over. "Ted, Andy, I would like you to meet an acquaintance of Harry's." He said. "This is Alucard." He motioned.

"That boy amazes me. A friend like yourself already." Andromeda said, immediately noticing exactly what the man was. "The next few years should be interesting, to say the least."

"It is a pleasure to meet Harry's first friend outside of our family." Ted stated offering his hand to the man.

"He is a very interesting boy." Alucard agreed. "One who I hope will meet my expectations as the owner of one of my wands."

"So you are the one that made his wand." Ted wondered.

Alucard nodded "Before I go, if I heard correctly, you could use some employment." He said looking at Remus.

The werewolf nodded.

"I may have some work that would suit you well. Come by my shop tomorrow afternoon, and we can discuss it."

"Please excuse my briefness." He added before disappearing in a swirl of red.

"He is gifted in making friends when he wants to." Remus muttered. "And this hair is hell." Remus added realizing that he still had snakes for hair.

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Harry boarded the train and made sure to stay well clear of Tonks. He had done enough to her for the day. He found a compartment that only had one other person in it. Harry knocked and entered the compartment. "Do you mind If I join you."

"Nope, Whats you name." The boy said with some enthusiasm.

"Harry Potter."

"Nice to meet you I'm Artemis Wilks" The boy said. He went really quiet when Harry raised an eyebrow at his name. He was about to say something, when Harry cut him off.

"I don't care so save your breath."

"Really?" The boy asked astonished.

"Unless you were raised to be like him I have nothing against you." Harry replied, as he studied the boy. He had short dark brown hair, and dark blue, almost grey eyes. He was slightly shorter than Harry, but he didn't look underfed.

"Thanks for the chance. Most people just assume" Artemis stated.

"I'm not most people." Harry said, as if it was nothing.

Artemis visibly relaxed at this. "Exploding snap?"

"Sure why not. I haven't played in ages." Harry answered.

As Artemis set up the game he and Harry began talking about the school. Mostly general things like classes that they would be taking, Quidditch, and the house point system, which led to the current discussion.

"I take it from the red you're a Gryffindor." Artemis said commenting on Harry's red rugby shirt.

"I have parents from gryffindor, an adoptive sister in Hufflepuff, and but I'm a book worm." Harry answered. "So it's a toss up, and what does my favorite color have to do with anything." He added with slight irritance.

"Why is it your favorite color?" Artemis asked.

"Just catches my attention, I don't know I really don't have a reason for it." Harry supplied, "Does it matter."

"No not really, just most people I know don't like red." Artemis answered.

"Again I'm not most people, and I like red so deal with it." Harry stated, voice edged with irritation again.

"Right, well I have nothing against red, good strong color in my mind." Artemis offered trying to appease Harry's mounting irritation.

"What about you? What house do you want?" Harry asked trying to get back to what they had been talking about.

"I'm hoping to be anywhere but Slytherin. As long as I'm not there, I could care less." The shorter boy answered.

before harry could ask him why, other than the obvious reason of his father, the door opened emitting a third person to the compartment, a short, raven haired girl.

"Crappy gossip time is over." The girl stated, obviously annoyed with whatever she had just been doing. Noticing that she and Artemis were not the only ones in the compartment, she turned to Harry. "Who is your new friend Arty."

"Tracy this is Harry Potter. Harry this is my close friend, Tracy Davis." Artemis supplied.

"Nice to meet you, car to take over for me, I have some reading to do." Harry offered motioning towards the snap cards that he had been playing with for the last hour or so.

"Sure, I'll finish slaughtering him for you." The black haired girl said as she moved to his side of the compartment.

"Don't beat him too badly. I like having someone to talk to thats not bitching about being beaten in a stupid card game. I would suggest a few freebies to even things out." Harry said as he dove into one of his charm books.

Tracey coughed as she fought back a laugh, while Artemis looked angry enough to strangle his new friend.

"You arse, what makes you think she will win." Artemis shouted.

"Because if she looks closely she can end it in three turns." Harry offered. "But, if she doesn't find my play then you might have a chance."

Tracy chuckled. "He's right Artemis, besides you haven't beaten me in a game yet."

"Thats because the gentleman loses on purpose to the lady." The boy scoffed.

"Actually there is winning and losing, those that continuously win are winners, those that continuously lose are losers." Harry stated. "If you keep losing at a certain game, event, or task, then you are mot learning. If you are not learning then you are trying the same thing over and over again expecting different results, and thus a loser."

"Well put." Tracey smirked.

"Are you calling me a loser?" Artemis fumed.

"If you meet my description then yes, but I have not known you for long enough to make that judgement on my own." Harry supplied with a face of neutrality.

Artemis decided not to comment, and went back to the game, mumbling something about new friends being arses and having to put up with them.

Harry smirked once his face was behind his book. Artemis would be a good friend, and showed promise as being a trustworthy person. Hogwarts was looking better and better.

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Harry had become absorbed in his book, and only noticed the time when he felt the train stop. He had tuned Tracey and Artemis out for the better part of two hours, and they had left him undisturbed. This took them up a notch in his book. He valued his book time, and those who interrupted it were not on his friends list.

"Well time to go see how we get sorted into our houses." Harry mentioned as he replaced his book in his trunk.

"You need to change into robes first." Tracy announced. "best not to start the first day looking like a muggle."

Harry looked down and realized he was still wearing hi red shirt and black jeans from earlier. "Right, forgot about that." He said before grabbing a robe and throwing it over his clothes. "This will have to do for now."

Artemis lead the way out of the compartment and onto the platform, while asking how they were going to get sorted.

"I'm not sure no one would tell me when I asked." Tracy said as the stepped onto the platform

"Firs' years over here." A voice could be heard calling.

"Guess we go there." Artemis said walking towards the looming figure of Hagrid.

"Thas' right firs' years over here." Hagrid announced as he led them towards a small dock.

"Righ' no more than four to a boat. An' nothin funny ya hear." The giant man said as he took a boat to himself

Harry watched as the boats glided effortlessly across the black water of the lake, without any known means of propulsion. "Interesting spell." He commented. "Must be some kind of summoning charm."

"I don't care how the boats move." Artemis grumbled. "I wanna know how we get sorted. Your the one that brought it up, why do you not care anymore."

"Because we aren't going to find out until it happens." The newest member to the group said.

Harry turned to the boy. "My thoughts exactly."

"Hey how come you don't call him an idiot the like you did to me back on the train." Artemis grumbled.

"Because he was able to figure out what I was thinking, and I don't even know his name, so it would be impolite to insult him before he names himself." Harry answered with confidence.

"You had no trouble insulting me right after you met me." Artemis returned.

"That would be because you are annoying." Harry said with a smile.

"Fine i'm not talking to you anymore." Artemis huffed, getting a laugh from Tracy.

"He'll be back at it in a minute. We call him seven eleven at home." Getting a raised eyebrow from Harry and the other boy.

"I'm Tracy." She added looking towards their unknown company.

"Cedric" The boy replied, offering his hand to Tracy and Harry. "Cedric Diggory"

"Harry" Harry said as he shook the boy's hand.

Before they could converse anymore the ride was over, and they had reached the awe inspiring castle. "Time to get sorted." Harry thought as they waited for guidance from some form of administrator. Footsteps were heard, and Harry recognized the witch that appeared as one Minerva McGonagall.

Deciding to start the year on an interesting foot Harry raised his voice and imitated his father as remus had taught him knowing that james would want to torment his favorite teacher through harry.

"Why am I getting detention this time. All I did was swap Snivellus's parchment with some of my own."

McGonagall stopped as soon as she heard that voice. "Who said that."

Artemis looking for a chance to get back at Harry pushed him forward. "It was him."

McGonagall looked at the boy and nearly fell over. Here stood an almost identical copy of James Potter standing in front of her and behind him were two other boys that could have passed for Remus lupin and sirius black.

"Merlin save me. He would send his son to haunt me. I hope your laughing James" She muttered under her breath.

"Mr Potter detention. Tonight." McGonagall said sternly.

Harry smirked. "But I'm not a student yet, and I don't understand what I did wrong."

McGonagall had to resist the urge to smile. _He's smarter than James. _"Very well then I have a message for you to send to your uncle when you write him next."

"Everyone follow me." The transfiguration teacher ordered.

Artemis looked at Harry like he was some kind of god, while they walked through the doors. "How did you already manage to get detention and get out of it. We haven't been here for more than five minutes."

"Skill points Artemis. Skill points. You'll get there some day."

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Harry and the other first years stood at the back of the Great Hall as McGonagall fetched a stool, some kind of hat and a large scroll.

When she set the hat down on the stool It began to sing.

_Oh you may not think I'm pretty,_

_But don't judge on what you see,_

_I'll eat myself if you can find_

_A smarter hat than me._

_You can keep your bowlers black,_

_Your top hats sleek and tall,_

_For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat_

_And I can cap them all._

_There's nothing hidden in your head_

_The Sorting Hat can't see,_

_So try me on and I will tell you_

_Where you ought to be._

"There is the answer to our question." Harry stated, as he tuned out the hat. "A ratty old hat sorts us."

"What no battle?" "No glory?" Two identical voices cried. "We have been tricked brother George" One of two identical red heads said. "A tricking requires return tricking brother Fred." The other added.

"Of course there is no battle or glory you twats. We know nothing about magic other than what we picked up at home, and unless your some genius you'd die if they had any kind of real test." Tracy snapped.

"Damn. how long have you lived with her?" Harry whispered to Artemis. "I reckon you're lucky to be alive."

"Her love taps do hurt a bit." Artemis answered in a low voice. "Don't piss her off, in this department my skill points highly exceed yours, and I still don't win."

"I believe you are catching on Artemis. There is hope for you yet." Harry smirked. "It is safe to say that you have vast potential. I think we will get along just fine.

Their conversation ended when they heard McGonagall call out "Tracy Davis."

The two turned to watch as their fellow boat rider was sorted. They both thought it was a bit strange. McGonagall walked up and placed the hat on Tracy's head and then stepped back. The hat made strange faces, before shouting "SLYTHERIN!"

"So it just shouts to the world where we go. Thats no fun." Artemis grumbled.

"Then make it fun." Harry commented.

"How?" Artemis questioned.

"I'm not the one that wants excitement." Harry answered, obviously not having a clue.

"Cedric Diggory" McGonagall called.

The process was repeated, only this time the hat shouted. "RAVENCLAW"

Harry and Artemis watched with amusement as people were sorted into houses. Some looked like they were ready to kill themselves, and others were beyond happy about their placement.

"Does it really matter where you end up." Harry questioned. "They teach everyone the same don't they?"

"Yes, but people have branded the houses, and some people don't like those brands, or desired a particular one" Artemis supplied.

"This is ridiculous." Harry muttered. "The wizarding world has no common sense."

"Complain later, your next." Artemis stated as McGonagall looked at her list again.

"Harry Potter." She called.

"Lets get this over with," Harry grumbled "oh and Artemis don't worry about were you end up. You can make a name for yourself in any of the houses."

Harry walked up and sat down on the small stool in front of the entire school. He looked up at McGonagall as she placed the hat on his head, and received a small smile. "You look just like him. Wherever you end up make him proud."

Harry nodded, and she stepped away. As soon as she was out of hearing range that hat began talking to him. "A young Potter eh?"

As the hat said this Harry felt like something was prodding his brain. Not realizing it was the hat, he tried to push it out of his mind.

"Mr. Potter, I am forced to do this job, I suggest you make it easy or I'll scramble your brains and make it seem like your just a dimwit. "

"If you tell me what I just did I'll let you in." Harry offered, always wanting his questions answered.

"Thirst for knowledge, even if there is danger to yourself." The hat commented. "Very well, what you just used is known as Occlumency. It is an advanced form of mind magic, that you seem to have come by naturally."

Harry, satisfied with the answer, stopped trying to force the probe out of his mind.

"Good boy, now we can get you sorted." The Hat said.

"Very loyal, but only to a select few, You seek knowledge to the highest degree, Ambitions drive you, but they do not define you, and you are brave, but you seem to dislike the favoritism towards Gryffindor, nor do you throw caution to the wind."

"You show the traits of all the houses, and yet you could care less where you are placed. Your loyalty is strong, but not freely given, so you are not a Hufflepuff. Thus with your balance of traits and thirst for knowledge, there is only one place for you."

"RAVENCLAW"

"You have left an impression on me boy. Not many have stood up against my threats I think we could have many conversations, that would peak your interest. Come see me when you get a chance." The hat added quietly before being taken away by McGonagall.

Harry stood and walked towards the Ravenclaw table. He was met with applause, but his housemates seemed to be looking for where the intelligence lied within him. As Harry sat down next to Cedric, he saw familiar pink hair at the table across from him. Tonks was staring at him, with her face transformed to look like a four year old, and sticking her tongue out.

Harry smirked "Sorry sis, I'm not loyal enough. At least that's what the hat says."

"What took so long?" Cedric asked once Harry was done taunting the girl he claimed as his sister.

"The Hat and I had a nice conversation. How long was I sitting up there for." Harry answered.

"Only about two minutes, but most people only take a few seconds, a minute tops." Cedric replied.

Harry just shrugged and watched as Artemis received the hat.

"Where?" Harry asked, figuring cedric would catch on.

"Slytherin would be my first guess, but since he said he doesn't want to go there, I'd say here. Hufflepuff isn't right for him, and he doesn't scream Gryffindor, so if not Slytherin then here."

"I wonder what he and the hat are talking about." Harry said, as if that would answer the question.

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"Ah Mr. Wilks. I know exactly where to put you. You share your father's ambition. Slytherin will treat you well." The hat stated, as it sat upon Artemis' head.

"No. I refuse to be like him. I will be my own person." Artemis growled under his breath.

"Ah but what makes you think you can sway me, brat." The hat replied.

"I will read as many books, be as loyal as a dog, or throw myself into any situation, If that is what it takes to not go there. I know that the houses are a stupid system that pits students against each other, but I want to use that to show that I am different than my stupid family."

"Very well, your statement has convinced me. Your ambition and cunning are tools that you gain knowledge from, before using it to suit you best. For your use of knowledge. "RAVENCLAW"

"I will not forget this." Artemis said, before joining Harry and Cedric.

"Have an argument with the hat?" Harry asked when his friend joined him.

"How could you tell. Was it my face or the clenched fists." Artemis wondered.

"Actually, it was your tapping foot." Harry stated, with a smirk.

"What did you fight over?" Cedric asked, the hat had talked with him, but had given him no reason to argue with it.

"Personal matters." Artemis grumbled. "I didn't like where it was leading me."

Harry sent a look towards Cedric telling him to shut up. Cedric clearly understood, but he wasn't sure how Harry knew so much when the two had apparently met only this morning on the train. Before Cedric could question this the headmaster stood and made his speech.

"I would like to welcome our newest members to the school, and inform them, and returning students, that the Forbidden Forest is exactly that. Those who break this rule will most likely meet an untimely end. There is also a list of banned objects in the room of our caretaker Mr. Filch. Please feel free to stop by and look at the list. Mr. Filch would also like to remind everyone that the use of magic in the corridors is not allowed."

The Headmaster was about to return to his seat when he remembered something.

"Ah, I almost forgot. I would like to present our two new professors, that have joined us this year. As you all know Professor Slughorn retired last year. Replacing him as our new Potions Master, is Professor Severus Snape."

Snape stood and gave a small bow. Harry watched as Artemis' face fell, and made a note to ask him about it later.

"Our new defense against the dark arts teacher, is one Madam Amelia Bones. She has been an Auror for several years, and has a very good reputation, as one of the best. Please give her a warm welcome." Dumbledore concluded, waving at the new professor.

The tall proud woman stood and took a full bow. "I look forward to a wonderful year, and hope I can get to know you all very well."

The Great Hall burst with applause at that. Smiling she sat back down, and waited for Dumbledore to start the feast.

"Let the feast begin." Dumbledore shouted from his seat, and with the clap of a hand the tables were full of food.

Harry eagerly pilled food onto his plate as soon as it was in front of him. While he had never been underfed, thanks to Mrs. Tonks, Remus had been a horrible cook. Harry had of course taken it upon himself to learn, but his guardian had insisted on doing the cooking, so Harry naturally hoarded food when he could.

"Take a bit more Harry, and you'll last all year." Cedric commented.

Harry muttered something under his breath, but Cedric couldn't hear it.

"Maybe you're just a shrimp." Artemis supplied from the other side of the two.

Cedric looked to see a similar pile of food on the other boy's plate, and wondered how the smaller boy was going to eat it. Sure Harry looked big enough to eat what he was taking on, but Artemis was a good two inches shorter, and looked like he couldn't eat more than a quarter of what he took.

Harry looked to Artemis once they were done collecting their meals. "So whats your beef with the new potions professor?" He asked, knowing that with that man it could be many things, but wondering which one it was.

"It's not that I have anything against him. It's that Slughorn was a true master. I was hoping to learn from him, and become a potions master myself. Snape was his student so he can't be too bad, but I wanted the best." Artemis answered between mouthfuls of food.

Harry nodded before returning to his meal. It looked like he had chosen right for friends. Artemis, while aloof showed promise, and Harry thought like himself the boy put up an act. Cedric, while having not shown any real skill or talent, picked up on things rather quickly. The boy had a sharp mind. _It should be an interesting set of years. _Harry thought to himself as they continued dinner in silence.

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Dumbledore stood up again at the end of the feast and instructed the prefects to lead the first years to their new dorms, where their luggage would be waiting.

Harry, Artemis, and Cedric followed their prefects to Ravenclaw tower which was located up on the seventh floor above the library.

"Gather round." The prefect boy announced, as they approached a blue door with a bronze knocker.

"To get into the common room you have to answer one of the eagle's riddles." The prefect girl stated as she walked up to the door. "Some are easier than others, and if you don't get it right then you can either wait for someone else, or go get Professor Flitwick, our head of house."

The eagle seemed to gain life when she approached it. "Give me food and I will live; give me water, and I will die. What am I?" It asked.

Harry waited for someone to answer, but no one did. Not wanting to wait around all night he spoke up. "You are fire."

"Correct." the female voice of the knocker replied.

At this point everyone was looking towards Harry who just shrugged "What someone had to answer it." and walked forward into the large room on the other side of door.

"Right, well this is the common room the prefects announced. Boys are up the stairs on the right, girls on the left. Tomorrow you will be getting you class schedules at breakfast in the great hall, along with a meeting time from our head of house. These meetings are mandatory, and of great importance. Breakfast starts at five for those that rise early, and the food is gone at approximately nine, which is when classes start."

The group began to disperse into their rooms after the announcement was made, Harry, Cedric, and Artemis found their room, it had three large four poster beds on one side of the room and three huge desks each set below windows on the far side. Discovered that they were the only ones in the room they all breathed a sigh of relief.

"Either we are the only first year boys, or they only put three to a room, and we're bloody lucky to get put together." Artemis commented flopping onto one of the beds.

"There are more than the three of us, and luck has nothing to do with it. My guess is that there is some kind of sorting among house members to decrease the likelihood of conflict, and increase the possibility of friendships." Harry supplied. "But that just is my guess."

"here there's a letter." Cedric said as he picked up a piece of parchment on the closest desk. "It says that there are bathrooms on the next landing up, that we are to share with the other two first year dorms. It also directs us to some seventh year named Alexander if we have any questions."

"Right well I'm going to bed see you to in the morning." Artemis stated before diving onto his bed. "Oh, and Harry you might want to start liking blue. You can't go around wearing Gryffindor colors as a Ravenclaw.

Harry turned to glare at the boy. "Artemis, we went over this on the train. Red is my favorite color. Preferably worn with black, and no house colors crap is going to get me to wear otherwise. Why does everyone have something against red anyways."

"I have nothing against red, but you have to support our house, come on blue isn't bad." Cedric stated, not really understanding where this argument had come from.

"I don't like blue." Harry replied with a barely noticeable pout. "I will wear red if I want to."

"We'll talk about it later then." Artemis offered, before pulling the curtains closed on his bed.

"See you guys in the morning." Cedric announced repeating Artemis' reaction.

Harry unpacked his stuff, before settling on his bed. Why did everyone challenge him about his desire to wear red. It was a normal enough color wasn't it. I mean Tonks walked around with pink hair, and no one accosted her about that. Figuring the answer would come to him eventually, Harry opened the Transfiguration theory book he had bought in knockturn alley, and this years transfiguration books, in front of him. Now that he was at the castle he could practice all he wanted, and right now seemed to be as good a time as any. Harry opened the box his wand was in, and slowly removed a very nicely polished rosewood wand that measured a total of thirteen inches. The wand was plain, but to Harry that felt right. He didn't need some flashy wand The only distinguishing marks were small fang like protrusions on one ends of the grip, showing were one part stopped and the next started.

In the box there were two other things. A note and a nice wrist holster to protect the wand. Harry slid the wand into the holster and grabbed the note.

_keep the wand in the holster or the box when you are not using it, and polish it once every two weeks. If you fail to follow these instructions, and I will know, you will be without a wand. Any notions you have about thirteen being an unlucky number is a load of bloody crap, and there is no trace on this wand so feel free to use the wand wherever you want._

_Good luck with that excuse for a school_

Alucard

Harry chuckled at the note. "He says what he wants to say, thats for sure."

Harry opened the school book and began attempting to perform the spells in order going from easiest to hardest, consulting the theory book whenever he had trouble with a particular spell.

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**Well there is chapter two hope you liked it. Comments, opinions, anything. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Here is chapter 3**

**Sorry for the weight its been a rough week.**

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Harry woke early the next morning, and made his way down to the Great Hall for breakfast where he awaited his class assignments, and whatever appointment Flitwick desired. He ate breakfast silently in by himself at one end of the Ravenclaw table. Others from his house were up and about, but Harry didn't feel like socializing. He had made two friends in his house, and felt that it was plenty. Why did he need more friends then that. Two or three friends was the most he could have and still maintain his school focus. It also helped that small groups went unnoticed, making pranks all the more possible. Apparently his desire to be alone at the moment did not register with one Tracey Davis.

"So how is your house?" She asked sitting with him instead of at the Slytherin table.

"Why are you sitting over here?" Harry replied munching on a roll.

"My house doesn't wake early apparently." she offered. "Why does it matter?"

Harry was about to say that it did, but then he would be a hypocrite. Deciding no answer was a better action he kept silent.

"I guess not." Tracey answered. "Where is Artemis?" She asked changing the subject.

"He is still sawing logs, my guess is that either Cedric will wake him when he gets up, or he will sleep through his first class." Harry said.

"I know it may be early of me to ask favors." Tracey stated, to which she received a nod.

Harry heard her mumble "Ass" just loud enough to hear, before continuing.

"but please don't let him flunk out. Waking him up in the morning is the least you can do."

"If it gets you to let me eat quietly then I'll do it." Harry monotoned. "But I won't go out of my way for him. He has to learn to walk on his own."

"Thank you. As much as he didn't want to end up there I hoped he would have ended up in Slytherin so I could keep an eye on him." Tracey replied.

"I have a better idea." Harry said, thinking of a way to get the girl out of his hair. "The Ravenclaw common room is not password protected. Instead you have to answer a riddle. Go answer the question and wake him up. Your free to keep an eye on him as much as you want, just leave me out of it. Seventh floor directly above the Library."

Tracey thought about it for a second, before muttering thanks and running off to Ravenclaw tower. Harry was able to eat in peace again, only to realize he had just given her access to his room as well. Frustrated with himself, he had no words for anyone other than a curse to his own stupidity.

"Shit."

Grumbling, Harry finished up his meal. No schedules were being handed out yet, so Harry decided to get in more studying. Having done extensive amounts of transfiguration last night, he began reading one of his charms book. He compared it to what he had read in the school book, and was pleased to find some differences in style, that he could test. Absorbed in a book, he barely noticed as the hall filled up with people from various houses. It was only when Artemis sat down next to him that anything really caught his attention. His friend did not looked pleased, and was glaring right at him.

"Yes, Artemis?"

"Why did you tell her how to get in!" The brown haired boy snapped.

"At the time it seemed like a good idea. She was not letting me eat." Harry answered from behind the book. "Now I regret it because she will be able to bother me in my room as well."

"What about me. I was safe from her. Now I have no where to hide." Artemis stated.

"Then don't piss her off. Oh and keep her away from me will ya." Harry replied, still reading.

"Get your head out of that crappy book." Artemis growled. "This is all your fault so you fix it."

"Actually, it is your fault. If you didn't let her run you life with a leash and a whip there would be no problem." Harry expected his roommate to make some kind of comment in reply but received none. Wondering why not Harry looked up, and could see the boy staring directly behind him. Knowing who was there, Harry ducked to one side as a fist plowed through the space where his head had been. Reacting with years of experience, Harry reflexively grabbed the nearest pitcher of liquid and tossed it at the girl behind him.

"You'll have to do better than that Tracey, and resorting to fists is a bit un lady like.." Harry said as he turned to the drenched girl.

"Would you like me to dry your clothes?" He offered. Not waiting for an answer Harry mumbled "_Siccoi"_ in a quiet voice, instantly drying the milk that covered her robes. Following it up with "_scourgify,_" her robes were clean again.

Harry thought about apologizing, but decided to see how she would react first. Tracey had started this whole thing anyways.

The girl said nothing, just glared at him. When Harry didn't react to her glare, she stomped away, and sat at the slytherin table.

Artemis completely forgot about being angry with his new friend, instead wearing a look of astonishment asked. "How did you do that. She would have killed me."

"Simple, years of living with a Marauder, and an "evil step sister" have taught me well." Harry offered.

"What's a Marauder?" Artemis asked.

"I'll explain it later." Harry said, "Too many people around."

Cedric joined the two at this point. "So how did she devil get into our room?" He asked sitting next to them.

"I told her how to get in." Harry answered. "She wanted to make sure Artemis didn't miss breakfast."

"I doubt anyone in Ravenclaw tower will miss breakfast after that scream." Cedric said. "You should have gotten up the first time she asked."

"I'm not a morning person alright." Artemis grumbled, picking at the plate of food he had gathered.

Flitwick was walking towards them with a pile of papers in his hands. "Hello gentlemen. Here are your schedules, and at the bottom of the sheet is a date and time for your meeting with me. please be on time to all your classes. Ravenclaw prides itself on its studious behaviors" The short man then handed each of them their schedules and proceeded to the next people down the table.

"Wonder what we have first?" Artemis spoke over the food crammed in his mouth.

"Transfiguration." Harry answered. "With McGonagall."

"She's the one that tried to give you detention last night, isn't she?" Cedric asked.

"Yeah thats the one." Harry answered.

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Harry, Cedric, and Artemis walked to the transfiguration class after breakfast had ended.

The classroom was very plain, but well kept, and matched McGonagall's stern personality very well. The three took seats among the others that were already there. Cedric being the most social of the three, went off and sat with some hufflepuff boy that he apparently knew. This left Harry and Artemis by themselves. They took a pair of seats in the middle of the classroom, and began pulling their books out. Harry, noticed a cat sitting on the teachers desk. Remembering stories about their current professor from Remus, Harry got up and walked over to it. He gently reached out his hand and began scratching it behind the ears. This gained the attention of the other students, but when the cat began to purr, the other classmates just shrugged, figuring he was an animal person.

"Remus said you liked this." Harry whispered when no one was looking. The cat turned its head and glared at him. "Should I stop, or do you want to keep up the appearance of a cat?" McGonagall continued to glare at him. Harry couldn't help chuckling, as he walked back to his seat. She was definitely going to be his favorite professor.

"What's so funny?" Artemis asked.

"Wait and see." Harry whispered.

"Where is McGonagall, class starts in a minute."

"She'll be here."

The bell rang shortly after that, and the door to the classroom shut by itself. Most of the students began wondering where the professor was, but their questions were soon answered. The cat on the McGonagall's desk stepped forward, before leaping into the air. As it leapt the cat began to change. It grew and shifted to the general form of a human, before gaining definition as Professor McGonagall.

"Welcome to Transfiguration." She announced. Most of the students were too stunned to realize that Harry had been petting the cat formed McGonagall, but some sent glances his way. "I this class you will be learning to transform objects from one form into another. It is a very serious matter, and joking around." She stared at Harry, "Will not be tolerated in my classroom."

"Does anyone have any questions?" She asked.

Artemis ignored everyone's questions, and looked at Harry. "You knew?"

"Why do you think I went up and pet her. I thought it would be a good way to make friends with her." Harry said with a smirk. "She liked it until I told her that I knew it was her." Harry added, smile only getting wider.

"You are going to bite off more than you can chew one of these days." Artemis said. "And I'm going to laugh myself to tears when you do."

"That is where you are wrong Arty." Harry said. "I will be sure to drag you and Cedric down with me."

Artemis frowned, but before he could comment McGonagall started the class. "Today we will be working on transfiguring a match into a needle. " She announced. "You will need to follow the instructions and wand movements on the board, and I will assist you with the incantation as I walk around the room." She instructed as she handed out the matches and charmed the board to animate the wand movements.

"Any questions? No, very well, begin."

Harry just sat and read his book ok animagus transformations, which he had successfully charmed to look like his standard text book, after several attempts last night. It had been his first challenge of the school year, and a worthy one at that.

"Why aren't you doing what she asked" Artemis asked.

"Because while you were sleeping last night, I was working on this, and I have already done it." Harry answered. "Why waste time sleeping when you can be doing something productive."

Artemis grumbled "book worm" under his breath, as he got back to work.

"Thats not much of an insult coming from a Raven." Harry commented as he read his book.

McGonagall made her way around the classroom, and helped each student with their task. Some were having better luck than others, and only a few had managed to make the transformation. Those who had were now working on getting it back to a match. As she walked around she noticed that Harry had not once attempted the spell.

"Mr. Potter, is something wrong." She asked as she walked over to him.

"No professor. Just reading ahead." Harry answered.

"And why would you be reading ahead if you have not done the spell I assigned you." McGonagall inquired.

"Oh I forgot about that. I'll give it a whirl though." Harry said. He flicked his wand in the proper way and quietly said the incantation. His match promptly transformed into a larger needle. He gave her a second to inspect it before changing it back. "Is there anything else I can do for you Professor, or can I continue with my reading."

"No, that will be all Mr. Potter. Ten points for an excellent transfiguration, and studious behavior." McGonagall replied.

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Harry, Cedric, and Artemis, walked into the dungeons for potions later that afternoon. Artemis, who was a self proclaimed potions master, wouldn't shut up. Harry and Cedric, doubted the boy somewhat, but it was more to do with the fact that neither of them were potions experts, and that they weren't looking forward to the class. Harry had the additional pressure of knowing that Snape would not be kind to him. The greasy haired professor couldn't do anything, if all Harry did was sit in class and brew the potions that he asked, but Harry felt this was going to be his most difficult class.

For potions Harry and Cedric let the "Master" sit by himself, and shared a table to themselves. Artemis had taken on a serious demeanor, the second he had stepped through the door, and neither of them thought it wise to interrupt that. Harry and Cedric were setting up, when Snape entered the room. He presented himself as and ominous figure, with billowing robes, and a stern look on his face. Most of the class seemed to understand that he meant business.

"Wands away." The man ordered. "This class is simple. There will be no wands, you will follow my instructions, and you will not complain. Any breach of these rules will result in you no longer being a part of this class. Do I make myself clear."

"Potions is a science more complex than any form of magic save Arithmancy, and should be treated as such. There are no short cuts, and only with hard work and skill will you get anywhere." He added as he wrote instructions on the wall. "Today you will be brewing Boil-cure potion Get out the ingredients you need and begin."

"This is going to be a fun class." Cedric muttered under his breath.

"You got that right." Harry replied. "Come on lets get started so he doesn't have a reason to single us out."

"Too late. He's coming this way." Cedric announced.

Harry looked up just as the professor stopped in front of their table. "Mr. Potter," Snape sneered.

"Yes sir?" Harry replied, trying to be respectful

"I gave you instructions, why are you not doing them." Snape questioned.

"Sorry Professor I was distracted for a moment."

"Twenty points from Ravenclaw." Snape stated. "Now get to work."

Harry nodded, and began following the instructions on the board. He and Cedric quietly helped each other through the process, until both had produced an above average potion. That had been with constant interference from the teacher, as well.

"I guess that will have to do, It's not perfect but its close." Harry thought as he and Cedric bottled their potions.

"At least ours didn't blow up like that one kid's did." Cedric commented. "Those porcupine quills looked like they hurt. Hope the nurse has a better way of getting them out than pulling."

"You make a very good point." Harry chuckled.

"I guess he is good at potions." Harry commented, when artemis walked by with a Vial of perfectly colored potion.

"Yeah, he wasn't joking." Cedric laughed. "I guess we were wrong."

"But why did Snape keep coming over to our table. He would always stop and glare at you like you were the devil." Cedric asked, once they had stepped out of the classroom.

"Bad blood between our families." Harry answered. "I'm not going to have an easy time in that class."

"We can get Artemis to help us." Cedric offered. "Where did he learn to make potions like that anyways."

"I used to make potions whenever I had spare money growing up." Artemis said as he joined them. "No wands, so no restrictions. I can probably brew most of our fourth year potions by now, but I doubt they would come out perfectly. I still need more practice."

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After dinner, Harry, Cedric, and Artemis were making good use of the desks in their room. Snape had very kindly assigned a full paper on the Boil-cure potion, that they had brewed today.

"So what's a Marauder?" Artemis asked, the question having been on his mind most of the day.

Harry looked up from his paper. "The Marauder's were a group of friends that went to school here in the 70's. My dad and Godfather were two of the four members. The Marauders were known as rule breakers, and pranksters, which is why Snape doesn't like me. He was their biggest target, AKA Snivellus."

"So thats what you mean't by bad blood." Cedric stated.

Harry nodded. "It looks like he still holds the grudge and it doesn't help that I look like my father."

"So are we going to be the new Marauders?" Artemis asked, back to his usual, non potions demeanor.

"I planned on a few acts of rule breaking," Harry said, with a smirk. "And your welcome to join, but you have to develop skill first. I'll send small stuff your way now and again."

"I think it would be a good way to get away from schoolwork for a a few hours here and there." Cedric commented. "I'm in"

Harry nodded in response before beginning to read transfiguration again. This time Artemis couldn't help himself.

"Why are you so intent on Transfiguration?"

"I have a goal I want to meet by the end of the year." Harry stated, "And It's my favorite subject"

"And what would that goal be?" Artemis asked.

"I'm not going to tell you that." Harry replied. "Please let me read in quiet."

"Artemis, leave him alone." Cedric said. "He doesn't want to be bothered."

"Fine, but he's holding out on us."

"Yes, I am. And until I know that I can fully trust you. I will be." Harry answered. "Until then please don't bother me about my goals. I know you have one of your own Artemis, and I am kind enough not to ask about it. Please do the same for me."

"What, how did you know?" The short brown haired boy asked.

"Your focus in potions. From what I have seen you have no patience, yet in that class you did everything meticulously, and with great patience. That tells me that there is something that you need out of that class. I won't ask what it is, but thats what my observations of you are telling me." Harry intoned from his bed, where he now sat.

"You were talking and working with Cedric all class." Artemis stated. "How did you have time to observe me?"

"One of the things I have noticed over the years is that it is better to not attract attention to oneself. Therefore I have learned to act like someone my age in my situation should, oblivious and uncaring, but that doesn't mean I'm not taking in every bit of information I can from my surroundings." Harry supplied.

"If Artemis were to brew a fourth year potion right now it would appear odd right?" Harry said giving an example. Getting two nods he continued. "I can do most transfiguration spells up to O.W.L. level, and I haven't tried many charms yet, but I should be about that level before Christmas. I will turn in or do just what I need to get the grades that I want."

"So your going to hold yourself back then." Cedric questioned.

"No I'm actually pushing myself harder than the school demands, but I'm not going to show it. Now can I read my book?" Harry concluded.

Artemis and Cedric nodded.

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The week continued much the same, Harry, Artemis, and Cedric were introduced to each of their new classes, and professors. Some were enjoyable, others were not. Charms which they were walking out of at the moment, held promise, but they were all frustrated with the class. All week they had done nothing but the levitation charm. All three of them had it mastered by the second day of class.

"Seriously he should just assign it as homework to anyone that hasn't gotten it yet." Cedric said.

"Just read ahead in the book and do the spells yourself." Harry offered. "Flitwick never said we can't do that. What do you think I do in class."

Artemis and Cedric looked at Harry with pleading looks on their faces. "No I'm not teaching you what I know. Learn to walk on your own."

"But why not." Artemis moaned.

"Yeah your smarter than both of us. Surely you can help us a little." Cedric added.

"No." Harry replied. "Now come on we have flying class for the first time."

Artemis and Cedric grumbled at the lack of support from their friend as they walked towards the courtyards where the flying class was going to be held.

"You'll thank me later." Harry said. "It's better to not be dependent on someone else."

The three walked out onto the grounds and stood next to the other student, who were listening to the hawk like Madam Hooch give instructions on broom riding. Harry ignored most of this, and just stood near a broom. He waited patiently until Hooch told them to call their brooms to them.

Harry muttered "Up" in stern voice, causing the broom to jump into his hand. He swung a leg over the broom and waited for the Teacher's order to fly. He hadn't done it much when he was younger, preferring rugby or soccer, but it and pranking were one of the few connection to his father that he had, thus making it something of value.

He looked over at Cedric, who had his broom in his had, and nodded to the boy. His gaze switched to Artemis who was screaming "Up" at his broom and kicking it in frustration. Fed up the brown haired boy just reached down and picked the broom off the ground. This got chuckles from most people in the class.

"When I blow my whistle kick off the ground" Hooch ordered, once Artemis had a leg over his broom.

She raised her hand and dropped it as she blew her whistle. Harry and Cedric took flight easily and raced around the courtyard as others, including Artemis, struggled to float a few feet off of the ground. Hooch directed everyone that was still having difficulty flying, giving them tips on gaining better control of their brooms.

Harry stopped above the group and looked towards Cedric. Cedric nodded at him, and they both dove straight towards Artemis, who had finally gained control of his broom. Harry dove right in front of Artemis, while Cedric dove right behind him.

Artemis nearly flipped over when they dove past him, and ended up hugging the broom as closely as possible, hoping that would gain him more control.

Needless to say Madam Hooch was not happy about this. "Potter, Diggory, what is the meaning of this!"

"Just giving our friend a hard time Professor." Harry answered. "It wont happen again."

"Both of you are done for the day, get back on the ground." She ordered "any further incidents will result in instant detention for both of you."

Harry and Cedric both said "Yes Professor." as they flew back down to the ground to wait for the class to end. Neither of them really cared that they were done for the day. It was obvious they weren't going to learn anything in the class.

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"I Hate you two." Artemis grumbled when they were walking back to their room later.

"Sorry we couldn't resist." Said Cedric. "It was too good of an opportunity. Besides you really liked that broom, if that hug was anything."

"Shut up." Artemis growled. "I don't do well with flying."

"We saw." Harry replied. "But I think you could improve with the proper motivation. Like Tracey trying to kill you. I should be able to arrange something."

Artemis paled at that. "You wouldn't do that."

"Not at the moment, but give me a good enough reason and it can become a reality." Harry said.

Cedric was laughing on the ground at this point. He couldn't handle how many different fearful expressions crossed Artemis' face. After Cedric regained control of his body, they set off towards the castle again.

As they walked towards Ravenclaw Tower to drop their bags, Harry saw McGonagall down one of the corridors. He turned and walked after her, before either of his friends could notice. Harry wanted to get that letter from her, assuming that she still wanted to send one to Remus through him.

"Professor." Harry said trying to catch her attention.

"Yes Mr. Potter." McGonagall intoned. "Is there something I can do for you?"

"Actually I came here to tell you that I am sending a letter to Remus tonight if you still want to send him one in regards to my first night here." Harry said.

"Yes, I do have a letter for Mr. Lupin." McGonagall reached into her coat, and drew her wand with a flick. "Accio letter."

Harry waited patiently for the letter to arrive, and took it with a smile from the transfiguration teacher. "I'll be sure he gets it soon. See you in class on Monday."

"Good day Mr. Potter." McGonagall said with a smile. "Do try to be on time."

Harry laughed knowing he had been early each day this week. "I'll try Professor."

Harry went back to his room and dug through his desk until he found the letter that he had been adding to all week. He wrapped the two together and set off towards the owlry.

It only took Harry a second to find Hedwig amongst all the school owls, her white feathers sticking out among the darker colored barn owls.

"Take this to Remus, girl." Harry said when he had attached the letters to her leg. "And you can stay with him until he has time to write back."

The owl bobbed her head once before taking to the air and flying south. Harry liked the fact that she was smart enough to fully understand what he was saying. He had given her a few small tasks before school had started, to test her, and she had completed them all faster than he had expected possible. She was a good and loyal owl.

Once she was out of sight, Harry walked down to the great hall for dinner. He sat down between Cedric and Artemis, and began piling food onto his plate.

"Where did you go?" Artemis asked. "You just disappeared earlier."

"I sent a letter to my godfather." Harry answered, before he began eating his dinner.

"What do you think our meeting with Flitwick are going to be about tomorrow?" Artemis asked changing the subject.

Harry just shrugged and continued eating.

"Probably something to do with Ravenclaw's reputation as the smartest." Cedric commented. "And he probably wants to get to know us."

"I guess that makes sense. Hopefully it won't take too long." Artemis replied.

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Harry stepped into Professor Flitwick's office early the next morning. He was the first of his three roommates to have this meeting, and he was not looking forward to that.

"Hello Mr. Potter how are you this morning?" Flitwick asked.

"Fine Professor." Harry answered. "Could we get this over with though. I have some things that I would like to do this morning."

"Very well the purpose of this meeting is for me to get to know you as a member of my house, and I will be assigning an older student to be a tutor of sorts to you. Hopefully I can pick someone that you will get along with." Flitwick announced.

"I don't need a Tutor." Harry stated. "I am perfectly capable of making my way through school on my own power."

"I see that I have struck a nerve." Flitwick replied.

"I prefer to work alone." Harry said, a blank expression on his face.

"Why is that Mr. Potter?"

"I can work faster and harder when I am the only one involved. I don't want to be slowed down by help that has been forced on me." Harry said.

"You say that as if you are more advanced than those above you." Flitwick commented.

"At the moment I may not be, but I will be." Harry said, straight faced. "I will make sure that my scores reflect my status as a Ravenclaw, and those that do have tutors, but I refuse to be told how I should do my schoolwork by another student who may not be as knowledgeable as I am."

"I can see that even if I assign someone to you, they will be ignored." Flitwick replied. "As long as your grades are among the top in your class I will respect your wishes, however should they drop you will gain a tutor, and in your fourth year I will assign you someone that you must tutor as well."

Harry grumbled at this, but could see that this was as far as the short man was willing to go.

"Now that we have gotten past that, what do you think of school?" Flitwick said in a cheery voice.

"I have yet to be challenged by the curriculum." Harry said. "I believe I am about a month ahead in your class, at the moment, and gaining. I'm further ahead in Transfiguration, which is my favorite class, and I am doing well in the other classes."

Flitwick was surprised at this, but not shocked. "I see you have inherited traits from your mother. She was often ahead in her classes as well."

"So I have been told." Harry replied. "Everyone that knows her has praised her knowledge of spells and her ability to use them."

"If you need something more challenging in time come to me, and I will give you harder assignments." Flitwick offered.

"I will come to you once I have completed all of the Charms that you teach here," Harry said. "Plan something challenging won't you Professor."

Flitwick smiled as Harry stood and left his office. The boy showed determination he had not seen in years, and was already well on his way to being a powerful wizard. It would be fun to watch him ascend through the years at Hogwarts.

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Remus Lupin was sitting alone, in his living room. His life had been dull for the past week without Harry around, but it was better for Harry to be away at school. Remus' thoughts were interrupted by a light tapping on the window. He looked over, and saw Hedwig sitting on the windowsill. Remus stood, and opened the window so that she could hop through, and deliver her two letters. Remus was curious, obviously one of the letters was from Harry, but who was the other from.

After setting out a dish of water and some treats for Hedwig Remus sat down and opened the letters. He read Harry's first, it wasn't extremely detailed, but it gave his impression of school, and what he had done in the last week. Remus had to laugh when he read the part about the boys first transfiguration class. Now he knew who the other letter was from. She had always had a soft spot for James, and now it had probably carried over to his son. Harry also said that his friends had expressed interest in becoming Marauders, and that he was going to reform the group with them.

Remus set down Harry's letter. "Well I guess I should help them out. McGonagall's going to hate me." He commented as he picked up her letter.

_Mr. Remus Lupin_

_How dare you send me an exact replica of James. It was bad enough to have him in _

_school once. I thought you would have raised the boy to be more like his mother. I'm not _

_going to survive his tenure at Hogwarts if he is even half of what his father was. That _

_being said, the boy is well mannered, and kind to me so you have done at least some _

_right. Do come to the castle once and a while I miss my favorite students, and now that _

_your not here I can say that. _

_Sincerely _

_Minerva McGonagall._

Remus laughed. Harry had already created the soft spot that james took a year to make. whether or not that had anything to do with him looking likes James, Harry had at least one of the staff on his side, and she was not even his head of house. The letters that would be coming in the future would be interesting to say the least.

Remus wrote a brief response to McGonagall saying he would come see her in a few weeks. Maybe at one of the Quidditch matches. Once it was sealed in an envelope He wrote a letter to Harry.

_I'm glad you took my advice, and decided to have a life at school. Send me a letter _

_every once and a while, and don't get caught doing anything your not supposed to. It _

_won't do me any good to say don't do it, so don't get caught and drag me into it. I'm _

_sending a little gift with Hedwig, be sure to show it to Cedric and Artemis._

_Use it well._

_Remus_

_P.S. think like a Marauder._

Remus folded the letter and set it in an envelope next to McGonagall's letter. Remus then walked over to the bookshelf and pulled the most ordinary, unimportant, looking book off of the shelf. He wore a sad smile holding the book, but that was the past. He wrapped some string around it so Hedwig could carry it and set it with the letters.

He was planning on sending the letters the next morning to give Hedwig a rest, but the owl hopped onto the table and held out her leg. Remus smiled. Hedwig had been a good choice. He attached the letters, and held the string up on the book so she could grasp it with her talons.

"You know where to take it. Keep an eye on him for me." Remus said as he held the book and lifted it and her out the window. He gave Hedwig a light toss to get her started, and a few flaps of her wings later, she was flying back towards Hogwarts.

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**Hope you liked it send any opinions or comments.**


	4. Chapter 4

**There have been a few comments about Cedric being in Ravenclaw, and his age being different. He is in Ravenclaw for a reason, and I did change his age on purpose. Other age changes were made with other characters, but they two were changed to suit this story, however most characters will retain their original ages.**

**Thought I would try and clear that up. Here is chapter four. Hope you like it.**

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On halloween morning Harry, Artemis, and Cedric could be found in Defense against the Dark Arts. All three of them enjoyed the class which was very hands on, and informative in the hands of Professor Bones. They moved at a fast pace having already learnt, three spells, and researched several mildly dark creatures. They had gone over Alohamora, Lumos, and the knockback jinx, The spells weren't that advanced, but at least they were focusing on more than one spell. Bones had also taught them about the most basic of creatures. Teaching her students which spells were effective against imps, and fire crabs, and bringing in a few of the animals for a demonstration. The three of them liked Bones for fast style, and keep up or come in for help later style of teaching. She never let the class stay on one subject for too long, but always taught her lessons thoroughly and with the proper amount of depth for each concept.

Today they were learning a new spell. Nothing exciting or very new to Harry, but at least it was a change. Today's lesson was on the Stinging Jinx, a mild offensive jinx that caused a slight amount of pain, and swelling of the impacted areas. Bones was lecturing on the jinx, and would most likely have them practicing by the end of class. Instead of focusing on the lecture, Harry charmed his quill to take notes, and thought on the plans for tonight.

The book that they had received from Remus, had been full of information of events and occurrences that happened under the watchful eyes of the Marauders. it was going to be put it to its first real use tonight.

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Flashback

Harry woke to a tapping on the window next to his bed. He rolled over and placed his glasses over his eyes as he opened the window, and let Hedwig in. "Hey girl, back already."

Hedwig have a small hoot in response before floating over to Harry's bed. She held out her leg, with the letters attached to him, so he could remove the items. Harry laughed when he saw the letter Remus had written in reply to McGonagall. "I wonder what they are saying to each other."

Moving on Harry opened the letter from Remus.

_I'm glad you took my advice, and decided to have a life at school. Send me a letter _

_every once and a while, and don't get caught doing anything your not supposed to. It _

_won't do me any good to say don't do it, so don't get caught and drag me into it. I'm _

_sending a little gift with Hedwig, be sure to show it to Cedric and Artemis._

_Use it well._

_Remus_

_P.S. think like a Marauder._

Harry smiled at the letter. Instead of worrying or babying him he encouraged Harry to bend the rules of the school. Harry pulled the string off of the book and opened the cover. The first page of the book showed what looked like a history text of some sort, but harry knew that remus had sent him more than a history book from the last thing in the letter.

"Think like a Marauder." Harry muttered to himself. He thought about it for a second before it hit him. "They made it after the map, so it works on that system."

"I solemnly swear I am up to no good." Harry whispered to the book. He watched as the text on the page rearranged itself into journal format. The top of the page read.

_Messers. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs present the catalogued collection of their work. _

Harry read a few pages to get a feel for the book, and its contents. The book gave a description of every prank that the group performed, and how they did it. Some of the pranks were more complicated than Harry would have thought, but the end result always appears more simple than the process really is.

"Six in the morning and you're already studying?" Cedric questioned.

"No I'm reading something that should interest you." Harry said, before handing the book over to the boy. "Read the first page."

Cedric nodded as he flipped the book back to the first page. He read the title, but it took a second to click. "You're godfather sent you this?"

Harry nodded. "He supports rule bending. I'm going down to get some food, show that to Artemis too. We should start planning one of the bigger ones, and we need to make a map."

"A map?" Cedric asked.

"Turn to page fifty." Harry said "And when your done reading it say "Mischief managed." Before walking out of the room.

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End flashback

The three had read every page of the book,over the last three weeks and planned one of the more interesting pranks. After hard work by all three of them, the Halloween feast was now going to be a much more entertaining event. It would be an interesting twist of the house system. The Marauders had tricked Snape into brewing them the potion, that was needed for the rule bending, but with Artemis as a team member they had been able to replicate and alter the potion to suite their needs.

"Mr. Potter could you please demonstrate the spell." Professor Bones asked, noticing that he wasn't paying attention.

Harry quickly focused back on the class at hand, glancing down at his notes to see what it was that the Professor was asking.

"Yes, Professor." Harry answered, once he knew which spell was being asked of him, and quickly performed the spell.

Bones, was unhappy that Harry had gotten away with daydreaming, but she couldn't punish him for getting the spell correctly.

"Very good Mr. Potter. I hope you can continue to achieve results like that throughout the year."

"I will try my best Professor." Harry answered.

Once the class was back under way, Artemis nudged the back of Harry's shoulder.

"Yes Artemis?"

"We have competition tonight." Artemis said. "I didn't get the chance to tell you earlier, but when I was finishing things up last night I ran across a possible obstacle to our plan."

"Who?" Harry asked.

"The Weasley twins." Artemis answered. "I came across them last night on my way back to the common room."

"This doesn't effect out plans." Harry replied. "Even if they use the same method as us, I doubt it will interfere with ours."

"You sure?" Artemis asked.

"For someone so focused in potions, your can be a bit slow." Harry stated. "You made our potion, and said it was extremely stable."

"How is it that you manage to beat me in my own subject?" Artemis groaned.

"Actually potions is your subject this is pranking." Harry responded with a smirk. "Now be quiet before one of us gets called out again."

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Cedric and Artemis groaned as they walked to History of Magic. Binns was not exactly the most exciting of teachers, and you could only listen to so much of his lectures before sleep claimed you as its own. What they failed to notice was the smirk on their other roommates face. All three walked into the classroom, but harry didn't begin to unpack his bags.

"Harry what are you waiting for?" Cedric questioned. "Class starts in less than a minute."

"Actually I am waiting for a message that should come in the next forty seconds." Harry answered, positioning himself so that he was facing the door at the back of the classroom.

"And what is this message?" Artemis asked curiously.

"One that will have the two of you upset, but me in a very good mood." Harry answered.

Binns walked in at that moment, and walked to the front of the classroom. "Books open to page one hundred." He said as he prepared his lecture.

Everyone but Harry followed his instructions. Harry just sat and watched as an older Slytherin girl walked into the class and gave Binns a message. After getting a few nods from the professor the girl walked up to Harry, "Mr. Potter could you please come with me. You won't be making it back to class."

Harry smiled and collected his things before falling in step behind her. As they walked out of the room Tonks looked at Artemis and Cedric, and changed her face back to normal. With a wink she and Harry were gone.

Artemis and Cedric looked on in absolute furry. Harry had just skipped class in a "Legal fashion" and if he was caught Slytherin was to take the blame thanks to Tonk's ability. It just wasn't fair.

"I say we alter his batch tonight and make him suffer." Cedric muttered.

"I already have an idea." Artemis replied, as he fought the sleep that was induced by Binns' lecture.

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"I think they took it well." Tonks smirked as they walked down the corridor.

"I'll probably regret not taking them along later, but I'd rather that then them accompanying us in our current activity." Harry replied.

"Where do you want to practice?" he added.

"Secret passageway to Honeydukes." Tonks offered. "We should be away from prying eyes in there."

Harry nodded and led the way. He was glad that Tonks was willing to take her free period to practice dueling with him. They had practiced some after curfew in the last few weeks, but Harry had come up with this as a more suitable replacement. He didn't need to sit through Binns' class, with a good memory one could read the book and remember most of it, and Tonks conveniently had her free period at that time.

"So have you learned anything new lately or are you still going to get crushed by me?" Tonks asked.

"We will see what happens." Harry smirked. "Now that we don't run the risk of being caught I can really break loose."

"You were holding back?"

"Naturally, I don't want people knowing what I can do you should know that." Harry replied as he opened the passageway to Honeydukes.

"At least I'll have good training for being an Auror." Tonks groaned.

"You could still beat me sis, its just not going to be as easy." Harry offered.

Tonks turned after they had entered the tunnel and threw up a quick spell. Harry recognized it as one that would alert them should someone else enter the tunnel.

"Not bad." He commented.

"Now you can't say you lost because you held back." Tonks replied.

"Technically both of us still can." Harry said. "I doubt either of us will be using something lethal, so we are still restraining ourselves for the sake of safety."

Tonks frowned, before leading the way down the Tunnel. "Sometimes you get on my nerves."

"Little brother is a title that comes with responsibility. Annoying little prat is just one of them." Harry returned.

"Well put." Tonks smirked, as she flicked her wand at him, and sent a jelly legs jinx at him.

Harry tried to dive out of the way, but the jinx caught one of his legs, severely reducing his mobility.

"And the job of the older sibling is to pound the snot out of the younger one when they pick a fight they can't win." Tonks laughed, following up the previous spell with a stunning spell.

Harry threw himself out of the way, landing with a thud and a groan.

Rolling back to his feet, Harry muttered the counter curse under his breath, releasing the affected leg. Harry took a firm defensive stance, waiting for the next spell.

Seeing the stance, Tonks threw a strong stunner, and a leg lock jinx in rapid succession.

Harry countered with a roll to the left, dodging the stunner, and conjured a wall in front of him to take the jinx.

Tonks conjured ropes and sent them after Harry which he dodged, before burning.

"Stop playing monkey and fight back!" Tonks growled as Harry continued to bounce around in the tunnel, blocking or negating her spells.

"Monkeys are fun, but if you insist." Harry smirked, throwing a stunning spell back at her.

Tonks returned it using a shield charm, and threw the tickling charm after it.

Harry ducked the stunner and swatted the tickling charm away with the tip of his wand. Harry smiled at the look of shock on her face.

"New trick I picked up." Harry said. "It's quite useful."

Tonks growled at him, and sent a mild bludgeoning curse his way.

Harry conjured a shield to hide behind. Seeing a small stone near Tonks' feet, he waited for the shield to dissipate before transfiguring it into a rope, and wrapping it around her feet.

Tonks, began to fall, but cut the rope off with a flick of her wand, and rolled to the side.

"Where's the clumsy trip I was expecting." Harry said as he fired a stunner at her.

"Not here." Tonks smirked, as the stunner flew by.

The pink haired witch shouted "Langlock" flicking her wand at Harry.

Harry's eye's bulged when he felt his tongue glue itself to the roof of his mouth. He tried to remove the jinx, but he wasn't fast enough; his silent casting was rudimentary at best.

"Petrificus Totalus" Tonks muttered, stabbing her wand towards Harry.

Harry felt his body stiffen as he fell over backwards. He could still move his eyes, but he couldn't say or do anything.

"Don't let yourself get surprised, it will cost you." Tonks smiled as she reversed the spell. "And learning non verbal spells wouldn't hurt."

"Thanks for the advice." Harry grumbled. He had felt like he could have won.

"You'll beat me by the end of the year, but I still know more than you, and have experience." Tonks said, noticing his frown.

"Again next week?" Harry asked.

"You bet squirt." Tonks replied. "You keep me on my toes, its good for me."

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"Have fun?" Cedric grumbled, in the common room later that day.

"Lots" Harry replied, looking rather smug. "How was history of magic?"

"A good nap." Artemis answered. "And everything is set for the feast."

"You two work fast. Teachers too?"

Cedric nodded at that. "Yeah it took a little extra for the elves to do it but I got them to."

"Lets start the show then." Harry stated. "Dinner starts in five minutes. We don't want to be late."

"How many different creatures did you get?" Harry asked as they walked down to the great hall.

"About thirty." Artemis answered. "I spread them out as best I could."

"And Snape?" Harry asked.

"I gave him the potion you made." Artemis answered.

The three sat down at the Ravenclaw table, and waited for the festivities to begin. The Great Hall had been decorated darkly, in honor of Halloween, and sported pumpkins, bats and all of the castle's suits of amor had been transfigured into mummies.

"I think our additions will be welcome don't you?" Harry smirked.

"Most definitely." Artemis replied. "And it starts now." He added as the Headmaster walked up to his podium.

"Halloween is a rather fun holiday in my opinion." The Headmaster stated. "It has many appealing qualities, such as the amount of candy involved with it. I hope everyone here enjoys the nights festivities, that our staff have presented you with. Please give them a round of applause."

The great hall clapped loudly for Dumbledore and the others, eager to get to the feast. Dumbledore smiled, "Let the feast begin."

Harry, Artemis and cedric began piling food onto the plates that appeared, and sipped from the goblets that they knew were spiked. It took a few seconds, but pops began emanating around the hall as the potions took effect. The entire student body changed into various 'dark' creatures that were known to haunt halloween. Vampires, Werewolves, ghouls, and other creatures of the night. The reactions were to say the least not calm. Many people fell out of their chairs, in slight hysteria, but people quickly noticed that it was just a joke. The other calming factor was that one of the students had not changed into a dark creature, but a dark person. Harry Potter was currently sitting in the guise of Snape, and wearing a tight spandex suit that looked bat like.

"Next time you ditch us think about it first." Artemis whispered under his breath.

"This is not the end of this Artemis." Harry said, but then the second change took place.

Another round of pops and everyone in the great hall had retained their form, but changed to a pink coloring. Fur, cloaks, and hair were all pink now. Harry was now Snape with pink hair, and a pink batman suit, needless to say the Great Hall found him greatly amusing. He was a bat fairy.

"I'm going to kill you." Harry ground out between clenched teeth.

"But we didn't do the pink." Cedric replied.

"I don't care. Your are both dead." Harry said devoid of all emotion.

With the transformations complete, staff and students resumed their meals in their new costumes. Dumbledore, in the form of a goblin looked out over the Hall with approval in his eyes.

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Harry was sitting in the library early the next morning when Tonks walked up. "how was being Snape for an hour?"

"Wonderful Nymphadora." Harry said his voice dripping in sarcasm.

"I'll ignore the name today, but just this once." Tonks said. "How are your projects coming along?"

"Quite well, but I still have no idea how to cure her. Everything I've read in the last two months of school has gotten me nowhere." Harry sighed.

"If it was easy she wouldn't be in there." Tonks answered. "I know I'm not much help, but if you need something from me let me know."

"You can't help me with Mum, but I do need help with Animagus transformation." Harry said from behind his book.

"When?" Tonks asked.

"Give me a week to find a safe place to do it. I'm not sure what I'll change into yet, and I want space, but off the beaten trail, and I don't think the passage to Honeydukes is enough." Harry replied.

"I'll be there when you need me. Don't push yourself too hard Harry. She would want you to have life." Tonks announced.

"I have one, and it will be better when she is back in it." Harry answered, as Tonks left the room.

Harry returned to his studies once Tonks was gone. He had been looking for spells, charms, and potions, that had anything to do with the mind. He was making a list of them, and adding them to his extracurricular activities. He wanted to know them all inside and out, so that when he learned arithmacy he could alter them to work for his purpose. It was difficult for Harry to have no definite solution, but he refused to give up hope. If the was no cure he would find a way to make one.

"I will not fail." Harry muttered to himself as he scoured the pages of the book in his hand.

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	5. Chapter 5

Your all probably going to yell at me for not updating, and I can understand why. I have my reasons, but rather than bore you all with them I"ll just give you this to read, and hope that my time becomes more readily available for this creative hobby of mine. Also my roommate agreed to be my Beta reader so hopefully he can help me make this story better, but neither of us has too much time so for now expect sporadic updates.

Anyways I hope you enjoy.

/

/

It had been over a week since the Halloween fiasco, and Cedric and Artemis were beginning to let their guard down around Harry. Sure he had been mad at first, but it had worn off eventually right. Harry even commended them on their prank a few days after he had gotten over it.

"It was good I'll admit that, and I'm sorry that I reacted the way I did. A prankster always runs the risk of becoming the prankee." Were his words when he had reconciled with his friends. This however was where Cedric and Artemis showed their lack of skill points. Sure he had gotten over the prank itself, but Harry was never one to leave the score uneven. That was precisely the reason why he was currently sitting with one Tracey Davis.

"So is there anything that dear Artemis fears above all else?" Harry asked as they sat in the library, trudging through Snape's latest assignment.

"And why should I give you this information?" Tracey questioned.

"Because you enjoy watching him suffer." Harry replied. "And I can record whatever his reaction may be and give it to you afterwards."

Harry watched as she mulled over the prospect of giving him the information he wanted. He could tell that she wanted to, but maybe a juicier deal was needed to end all doubts. Harry was considering what else he could bribe her with when she decided to help him.

"Snakes." She announced. "Scare him if you will, but hurt him and I'll remove your manhood with a rusty spoon."

Harry nodded with a slight gulp. "Understood."

"Did I just scare you Mr. Potter?" Tracy taunted slightly.

"A man has priorities in life, keeping that particular appendage attached is a priority all men share." Harry responded. "However I have the feeling that the two of us could make for an interesting team should we ever decide to collaborate."

"I still haven't forgotten about our first day of school." Tracey said as she ended the conversation.

Harry remembered how he had doused her with a pitcher of milk when she had taken a swing at him. Wanting to add to the fire harry pulled out a small book and started writing in it. He whispered what he was writing just loud enough for her to hear. "Note to self, Slytherin girl holds grudges for extended periods of time. Seeks to avenge herself with violent unladylike behaviors, such as castration with rusty spoons. Possibility of teamwork in the future low."

He received a glare for this, but shook it off with a smile.

"You have the traits of a slytherin." Tracey commented as she returned to her paper.

"Yes, but they do not define me." Harry replied. "They are just useful from time to time."

She shook her head at that, not knowing how to reply.

"I won't hurt him don't worry." Harry said easing up on her.

"Your a good friend to him." She replied.

"Don't broadcast it to the world." Harry said as he stood up.

"I want that recording tomorrow at breakfast."

"You'll get it." Harry confirmed as he left the library.

Harry was sitting on his bed tinkering with a muggle video camera when Artemis came into the room. Having grown up far from muggles the boy was instantly curious.

"What is that Harry?"

"Something that I've been meaning to fix for a while." Harry supplied. "It records images and allows me to watch them over again, but all the magic around here is interfering with it so i'm trying to charm it to work with magic as its power source."

Satisfied with the answer Artemis flopped down onto his bed. "So do you have any plans for christmas."

"Actually I do." Harry answered. "Remus's employer is taking him to the States for some business. I could stay with Nymphadora and her family, but the invitation was extended to me as well. I think seeing the Yanks would be interesting so I agreed to go."

"You're lucky. I'm stuck here with Tracey." Artemis grumbled.

"I think the charm just worked." Harry said triumphantly. He flipped the switch on the camera, knowing that there had never been anything wrong with it in the first place.

"Scream for the camera Arty." Harry chuckled as he waved his wand and lifted the illusion that hid the snakes he had left in his roommates bed.

Artemis barely had time to register what was going on, when he saw the snakes all the color drained from his face.

Harry had never heard a scream as high as the one such a high scream until then. His friend easily set a muggle record for the vertical jump when he leapt to the top of his bed. What made harry laugh the most though was when his roommate pulled out a potion vile and dumped it on the bed. the snakes and his bed began to melt away, but the larger constrictors just climbed the supports up to where he was. He had trapped himself. Harry decided he had done enough and blasted the snakes away from his friend before they could get to him. He followed up by tossing them out the window.

"Don't get mad Arty you started this." Harry chuckled. "Now we are even for halloween."

Artemis wanted to be angry but his fear of snakes had overridden his ability to do so. He was about shout at Harry, telling him off, when Cedric came running into the room.

"I heard a girl...scream" The brown haired boy stuttered slightly when he saw Artemis's bed smoking and a very pale Artemis clinging to its highest point.

"No girl, just our dear Artemis." Harry smiled. "would you like to see the video while he tries to repair the damage he did to his bed."

Tracey came and sat with Artemis and Harry the next morning at breakfast. Upon her sitting down Harry set his video camera down in front of her.

"I take it my information produced good results."

Harry chuckled at that. " You'll have to see for your self."

Artemis grunted in displeasure at that, but offered no comment.

"He's not exactly speaking with me at the moment, but he let up slightly when I fixed his bed for him."

Tracy frowned at that. "It's just a joke Arty cheer up."

"Your an evil woman, you know how much I hate snakes yet you told him anyway." The boy grunted.

Tracy could see she wasn't going to get anywhere, so she let it drop for a moment. Turning her attention back to Harry she asked him how the camera worked.

"You press this red button to turn it on." Harry said showing her the power button. "Then you press the button with the triangle on it to play the video," he continued; however, he didn't hit the button, sparing Artemis from the video and keeping it within their group.

Tracy smiled at the action, not letting it go unnoticed. "I stand by my statement from yesterday Harry."

"Don't push it." The raven haired boy replied.

Tracy shrugged before wrapping her arms around Artemis. "Sorry but it was too much to resist." She teased in a sweet tone, returning to the task of getting his forgiveness.

Artemis struggled to remain upset, but Harry could tell that the action was getting to him. Harry didn't know whether or not to applaud Tracy at the control she held over their friend, or frown at Artemis for caving to her affections.

Harry stood to leave as, but not before getting in at a final jab at his friends. "I thought you two were just friends. I hear there is a nice spot out by the lake for more than friendly outings, just ask if you want directions."

Tracy and Artemis flared red at this, Tracey in rage, and Artemis in embarrassment. Harry left before either could collect themselves enough to make an objection. He had decided that today he wanted to search out the sorting hat and take up its offer for a conversation.

He had learned from professor McGonagall that the "wretched hat" resided in the headmasters office. She had warned him that the hat was extremely unsociable and had the mouth of a sewer rat. Harry had questioned her about that, saying that while it had been rude during his sorting months ago it hadn't been horrible to converse with.

McGonagall had been surprised at that, usually the hat refused to speak with the students and only stated what house they were to be sorted to. She went on further to add that only the Headmaster seemed to be able to control the vile piece of clothing and even he could only get it to remain respectable for the beginning of the year feast.

Undeterred Harry sought out the headmasters office. Having actually read Hogwarts a History, Harry knew where the office was. McGonagall had been kind enough to give him the password, when he told her he was seeking out the hat anyways.

"Lemon Drop." Harry muttered as he walked up to the gargoyle that acted as the headmaster's guardian. The giant stone creature stepped aside allowing Harry up the staircase behind it.

Harry was about to knock on the doors to the Headmaster's office, when the Headmaster said, "Come in Mr. Potter." from the other side.

Harry opened the door, curiosity clearly shown on his face as he entered the room. "How did you know I was here?" Harry asked.

Dumbledore smiled at Harry, chuckling slightly "You truly are a ravenclaw."

Harry sat down in one of the chairs opposite the Headmaster, still hoping for an answer.

"To answer your question however is a bit more complicated. The simplest answer is that it is a perk of the job." Dumbledore stated.

Harry frowned at that, but it wasn't what he came for in the first place.

"Not that I am complaining about the visit, I don't get many, but is there anything I can do for you Mr. Potter?" Dumbledore questioned.

"Yes," Harry replied. "I came because at the beginning of the year the sorting hat offered to have a conversation with me, since I am free for the rest of the day I was wondering if I could borrow it."

"So the only one of the crotchstains that the balls to stand up against me, wants to take me out and about?" The hat interrupted.

"Your the one that offered." Harry replied, staring at the hat.

"I don't think it would be productive to your schooling to be around Godric's hat, Harry. It is a bit temperamental, and speaks in a civil tongue about once a year." Dumbledore said.

"Thats because you've kept me locked up here with you for company you dusty old pedophile." The hat shot back. "I used to travel the world, and now you confine me to this shit hole of an office that you've crammed full of stupid instruments."

Harry had to chuckle at that, not many could get away with calling Albus Dumbledore a pedophile.

"Unlike you the boy actually showed some semblance of a spine, which has earned him a token of my respect." The piece of cloth continued.

"It seems to respect you for some action of yours Mr. Potter, therefore I will grant you your request, but should it become a problem, or it becomes beyond your ability to control you will return it immediately." Dumbledore sighed. At least the hat would be off his hands for a short period of time.

"Thank you, professor, when should I bring it back." Harry asked.

"When you are done conversing; however, should you be better at containing its temper than I, you are more than welcome to keep it until the next sorting. Merlin knows I could use some quiet around here."

"I'll try my best professor." Harry offered as he collected the hat.

"Mush boy, Mush!" The hat chanted as Harry walked towards the door.

"Push it and I'll leave you here." Harry said seriously. "Do we have an understanding?"

"See that you old coot, the boy has only been here for five minutes and he already knows how to threaten me." The hat cackled as Harry walked out of the room.

Dumbledore could only shake his head, he had just been beaten by a first year student. A smart, and gifted first year from what he had seen, but a first year none the less.

Harry left Dumbledore's office, laughing at the Hat's antics, as it cheered of freedom in a style of its own. Sure it saying, "That's right you cocksuckers, I'm free again. Submit to my rule or die." probably would have drawn attention, had there been anyone around at the time.

"So do I call you Hat or do you have a name?" Harry asked taking its previous comment in stride.

"Godric never gave me a name." The hat intoned, oddly serious. "However I will respond to his Royal Highness, King..."

"Just tell me your damn name."

"Simon, has a nice ring to it. Everyone has to do what Simon says"

"So besides being an ass, what can you teach me?" Harry questioned as he set off to wander the halls of the school.

"Who said anything about teaching you brat." Simon spat back. "I clearly said we could have an interesting conversation, nowhere in that statement was there anything about teaching."

Harry frowned at that, "At least tell me more about occlumency, the headmaster seems to have removed anything about it in the library."

"The old codger would do that." Simon replied. "Probably feels its too dangerous. He scoffed.

Harry, curious as ever, asked, "How can it be dangerous?"

"Occlumency can't be, it only makes you a stronger wizard. Legilimency is the dangerous one." The hat answered. "And before you ask it's the opposite, Occlumency keeps others out, Legilimency lets you in. It is how I am going to make good on my offer to scramble your brains if you don't stop asking questions."

Harry smirked at that. "You don't have it in you. Torment me possibly but you've only been free of the headmaster's office for about ten minutes so you wont risk going back so soon."

"Don't push me potter, you may forget that I am over one thousand years old, and things were done differently in that time."

"Point taken." Harry replied calmly. "So would you be willing to help me get revenge on a friend. I need him scared, and or tormented, but not harmed."

"Now you're talking in my language. Although I would rather just mind fuck the person and leave them drooling like an idiot."

"So you like little boys?" Harry smirked.

"You have balls brat. You and me are going to get along just fine."

Artemis and Cedric were sitting in the Ravenclaw common room when Harry stepped through the door. Both immediately noticed that he now had a hat on his head, which they felt was odd considering his lack of one as of this morning. The hat also seemed a bit worn, which led to Artemis' most tactful question of the day.

"Oi whats with the pile of rags?"

Harry smirked at that, as he waited for the hat to respond personally.

"You ungrateful little twat I put you in Ravenclaw like you begged me to do and now you call me a pile of rags."

Needless to say the looks on both Artemis' and Cedric's face were priceless.

"Boys, welcome our most esteemed sorting utensil into the group." Harry chuckled. "I have him on loan from Professor Dumbledore, until our esteemed headmaster needs its services once again."

The hat let the utensil comment slide, instead going after what he really wanted. "So these are the two you were telling me about. They don't look like much."

"Yes," Harry responded pulling the hat off his head. "The one on the left is Artemis, and Cedric is next to us."

Harry set Simon on the table, before kicking up his feet next to the hat. Needless to say his actions didn't go over well with the cloth accessory.

"Brat get you fucking feet away from me."

Harry didn't even bother opening his now closed eyes for his response. "I walked you all around the castle so deal with it. If you can't, then convince cedric to let you sit on his head."

"Nice vocabulary on that one. How is it that the headmaster hasn't given him the boot." Artemis commented.

"He tried and failed miserably." Simon cackled.

"How can a hat beat a wizard?" Cedric asked.

"Let me sit on your head and I'll show you."

Cedric cautiously picked up the hat and set it atop his head.

"Good brat, now my name is Simon and we are going to play a little game. It's called Simon says."

"I thought you were going to show me how you beat Dumbledore." Cedric replied, his voice giving hints of nervousness.

"I thought about it, but getting revenge for Harry has so much more potential for my enjoyment." Simon offered, dangerously.

Harry cracked open an eye at that. "Remember no permanent damage."

Simon formed a frown, folding the brim of his body into a unique shape. "Fine, time constraints."

"He needs to be at dinner, otherwise have at it. Have fun Cedric." Harry offered with a smirk.

"I hate you Harry." Cedric groaned, as Simon started messing with his mind.

"Now we're even you didn't think I'd only go after Artemis did you."

Cedric tried to flip him off in response, but collapsed into unconsciousness before he could do so.

"Simon only fifteen minutes. In return I'll walk you to a destination of your desire tomorrow." Harry offered. "Within reason," He added, seeing the hat smirk.

"Deal, brat, now leave me to my work."

Harry saw drool coming out of Cedric's mouth, and he was smiling pleasantly. Harry was about to say something when his friend's smile immediately disappeared, and was replaced by mumbles of "No not that, get it away." Satisfied, Harry looked to Artemis.

"I believe we should all stay on the same team from now on."

Harry's brown haired friend nodded at that. "You make a convincing argument, mate."

"Somehow I thought you would come around." Harry replied with a smile and a soft chuckle. "Game of chess?"

"Sure."

Artemis cleared text books from the table in front of them before grabbing a chess set from the wall and reseting the pieces. "You won last time Harry, so you get first turn."

"Fair enough." Harry replied. "Pawn to G6"

/

/

Again sorry for the time between updates, Ill try and get one out every now and then for now, but when I head home for the summer I should be able to write more consistently. Hope this was a good chapter. Send opinions and comments as always.


	6. Chapter 6

Sorry for the wait, one new computer and a lot of distractions later, and I'm back. I have devoted my sundays to writing in hopes that it will help me get chapters out on a more regular basis, but given my track record I wont make any promises. On a side not you'll have to forgive me if there seems to be a split in this chapter. I wrote half of it in march or may can't remember and half in the last few days so it might not mesh perfectly. Hope you like it.

/

/

Four weeks had passed since Harry had taken Simon from the Headmaster's office. Harry, and Artemis thought the hat was a riot, and enjoyed its company, but Cedric was slightly more hesitant around the magical item. Granted, the boy had been tormented by the hat within minutes of meeting it. Harry, was now the only one that wore Simon. After the hat had gotten all three of them detention with Snape, it had become the unspoken agreement among them that harry wear the hat. The reason being, he was the only one with any semblance of control over the magical item. Tracy could control the hat as well, but after the first time he had insulted her, she had tried to light Simon on fire. While she tolerated the "Vile object," as she called Simon, she refused to wear the hat, thus leaving it to Harry. Like most news in the school, knowledge of Harry having the Sorting Hat had spread quickly, gaining him more attention than he had wanted, for a short time that was. Simon had proved quite good at dispersing crowds with his highly educated vocabulary, that the hat reserved for anyone that hadn't earned his respect. A few of these incidents had caused Harry trouble with his professors, but with some very well thought out arguments and a promise to keep more control over the hat, he had managed to keep his new friend and escape further detentions. The four of them, currently sat at the ravenclaw table, enjoying their last meal together before the christmas break. Harry and Cedric would leave for the train shortly after the meal, while Artemis and Tracy would be staying behind, at the school.

Harry ignored Dumbledore's mid year spew about the semester. There was nothing that he needed to listen to. Instead, he went straight to antagonizing his friends for the last time that semester.

"Well, seeing as I'll be gone for a few weeks. I figure it best to leave on a high note." Harry started, causing his three friends to pale. Harry chuckled at that. "Three months and you three still can't read me. I'm disappointed, we called a truce ."

"Yeah and that doesn't mean shit. Everyone here can testify to you being bloody dangerous, when your in the right mood. Forgive me for being cautious, truce or not." Artemis announced.

"Artemis." Tracey spoke sweetly, causing said boy to pale.

"Yes?"

"You shouldn't use such fowl language in front of a lady."

"What lady?"

At his educated response, Tracey planted a fist into the back of Artemis' head sending the boy's face into what was left of his food.

Harry and cedric laughed at the groan that came from their friend. Looking at each other they both mumbled something along the lines of "He's never going to learn."

Harry taking pity on his friend tried to help him out some. "Tracy, we all know you secretly love Arty here, but do you think you could find another target other than his head. In Ravenclaw brain damage is frowned upon, any more than what he already has and he might get the boot." Harry said. Before he could offer an alternative Simon saw opportunity to cause his favorite target harm.

"Seeing as he mumbles things about you in his sleep, that most twelve year olds would think is 'Icky,' I think you should strongly consider the region between his legs." The hat offered evilly.

Artemis was immediately alert and trying to get away from the table. "Simon's lying Trac. He's just trying to get back at me for..."

Tracy hadn't heard a word. Instead her eyes flashed red, while she drove her knee into the boys groin. "I thought you told me you had outgrown your problem at the beginning of the year." The dark haired girl calmly returned her gaze to the table leaving Artemis moaning on the ground. "It has been nice meeting you both this semester, I hope you have good holidays." Tracy left quietly for the Slytherin table afterwards.

Cedric reached down and grabbed Artemis from the floor, hauling the boy back to the table. "You alright mate?" The taller boy asked as he let go of Artemis.

"I've had worse." Artemis groaned. "But It's been a while since I earned a knee."

/

Harry stepped off the Hogwarts express and began looking for Remus. He assumed his guardian would be standing with the Tonks' who would be picking up Nymphadora. What ended up catching Harry's attention was not any of his family, but the Wand making Vampire that was now Remus' employer. Alucard stood behind Harry's family, offering what was supposed to be a warm smile, though it looked more sadistic than nice with the sharpened incisors known to his kind. Harry immediately shifted his eyes to Simon.

"Antagonize Remus all you want, but I would suggest being quiet around my aunt and Alucard." Harry said seriously.

"If the last century has taught me anything, it is to not play around with those of the Black household." Simon replied. " And psychotic I may be, but I have no desire to upset a seasoned vampire."

"I'm glad you've come to terms with your affliction," Harry replied no longer serious.

"It's not an affliction when you enjoy it." Simon cackled.

Harry ignored the stares he was getting, because of the hat, and stepped over to his adoptive family.

Remus was the first to greet him, nearly breaking Harry's back with a hug. "It's great to have you back Harry."

"Remus, I can't fix a broken back." Andromeda said as she forcefully parted the boy from his arms, giving the boy a much gentler hug.

Remus grinned sheepishly, "oops"

"It's fine Remus, my back hasn't broken after seven years of abuse, It'll survive a few more." Harry offered.

"Harry where is Dora?" Ted asked as he stepped forward to give the boy a firm handshake.

"Not sure" Harry replied. "I think she was saying goodbye to her friends."

As if on cue, the group spotted the metamorph emerging from the crowd, appearing slightly frazzled. She walked up the group muttering something along the lines of "And I thought the damn hat was rude."

"What was that?" Simon said, speaking up for the first time since Harry had warned him. "Clearly I'm not trying hard enough if some other person can be compared to me so easily."

Tonk's hair turned blood red at that. "Shut you fucking mouth before I burn it off, and use it to wipe dog shit off my shoes."

Harry laughed as Simon wilted. "I believe you have another to add to the category of women not to anger."

"From this point forward Artemis' presence is mandatory." Simon grumbled. "That way, I'm guaranteed insults to at least one party."

Harry ignored the hat's comment for the most part, but a slight smirk crept onto his face at Simon's request. Stepping over to Alucard, Harry performed the last of his greetings.

"It has been a while, I hope the venture you decided upon with Remus is going well. He has been rather tight lipped about it." Harry greeted.

"Yes it has been a while, I see you have added another unusual companion to your list of friends." The vampire responded politely, nodding towards Simon on Harry's head.

"Your one to call me unusual," Simon spat back, unable to control himself.

"Sorry he has an interesting sense of humor." Harry offered, hoping that the vampire wouldn't take offense to the hat's comment.

Alucard merely looked directly at simon. "What happen to not upsetting seasoned vampires." He followed the sentence with a flick of his wand that sent a silencing spell at the hat.

Harry laughed at the lack of sound coming from his companion's moving mouth. Simon switched to relaying messages through harry when he realized what had happened "He's grumpy because almost everyone here is willing to deny him his pleasure." Harry translated.

"So it seems." Alucard chuckled.

"I said bye to the Tonks'. We're all set to go unless you want to say bye personally Harry." Remus stated as he joined the two.

"I'm ok. It's only a few weeks and I already said hi earlier." Harry answered.

"Then that only leaves one thing to do" Alucard announced as he offered his arm to the wizards. "Hold on tight."

In a swirl of red the three figures melted into the shadows of kings cross station and disappeared.

/

Harry was surprised when he felt no need steady himself once his feet were back on solid ground. Despite taking a several thousand mile trip, across the atlantic, his equilibrium was still intact. They had come out of a shadowed wall in what appeared to be a large mansion style estate. Harry assumed it was Alucard's home, or at least one of them. The dwelling had an old feel to it, having a victorian style, but still retained a sense of modernism. Harry looked around approvingly, he could see out a window and saw snow covered mountains, cluing him in slightly as to their location, but not giving enough detail to confirm it. Satisfied with looking around he turned his gaze to the owner of the house who was removing his traveling items.

Once Alucard had removed his hat, glasses, and coat, Harry asked his question. "Is there any way you could teach me how to do that?"

Alucard smirked at the boy's question, which slightly unnerved Harry now that the Vampire's blood red eyes were fully exposed. "I could, but I doubt you would want to go through with the prerequisites."

Harry frowned at that. "There's no other way?"

"Not that I know of." Alucard responded. "And unlike some of the laws of Magic, which are more along the lines of it hasn't been done, this cannot be done by someone who hasn't been turned."

"Then how were you able to pull us through?" Harry questioned, thinking that if it was possible to drag someone through a shadow then it may be possible to circumvent that particular law, at least with enough work.

"For now let's call it magic." Alucard offered, not appeasing Harry in the least. "But if you would like I could teach you about it and some of the things that have been on your mind, should I have any skill with them."

Harry's frown was wiped from his face at that. "Being tutored by a vampire, who's been alive long enough to compile hundreds if not thousands of years of knowledge. I'm in."

Remus paled at that. "What happened to learning everything on your own?"

Harry smirked at that. "Usually that is my policy, but I'm willing to bend it for this opportunity. I would also like to start my animagus training remus."

Remus looked to Alucard. "I hope you know that you just created a monster."

"It is one of his abilities, technically speaking." Harry offered, still smirking at the educational possibilities of the coming break.

"I smell food!" a feminine voice said sadistically. "Have you brought me a present Alucard.

The three people in the room quickly turned their attention to the new arrival. Harry and Remus, did so nervously, knowing they were the mentioned food. What they saw was a beautiful woman that looked to be in her late twenties. She stood fairly tall with dark auburn hair, the blood red eyes of a vampire, and an american accent.

"Harry, Remus, this is my wife Jill. And no they are not food Dear. They are guests. One of which is here to work on your request."

"And the other?"

"Is the boy I made the wand for." Alucard replied.

"He is the one you were so interested by. He doesn't look like much. Oh well scrawny boys and wolves don't suite my tastes anyway."

Hedwig who had been rather upset at their method of travel now found a new target, while having only been with Harry and Remus for a few months she was deeply attached to her owners. At the insults to Harry and Remus, Hedwig bolted for the female vampire. Flapping her wings violently, Hedwig pecked at Jill's face.

"Fucking owl!" Jill screeched, as she moved her arm, with lightning fast reflexes. Aiming for the birds neck, she planned on snapping it, but when her hand reached what should have been the bird, all that her hand crushed was a rough cloth like material. Staring at her hand she saw the hat that had been previously on Harry's head. turing to the boy she saw the bird now perched atop his head being petted lovingly by the boy.

"Good girl" Harry cooed "I'll be sure to get you some treats the next time I'm out."

Which got a proud hoot from hedwig along with a puffing out of the chest.

Jill wanted to yell at the boy but two things stopped her, one was the surprising speed and skill that he had acted with, the second was the garbled sound that was coming from her hand. She curiously uncurled her fingers, letting the hat drop to the ground.

"What the fuck!" Simon shouted once he was free of the vampire's grasp. "You could have switched anything with the bird."

"Simple you don't help me, you won't die from being crushed, at least in theory, and I needed Hedwig close to me to prevent a second attack." Harry supplied. "Besides she sticks up for me against a vampire and you refuse to do anything helpful on most occasions, so if someone was going to die in that situation it was going to be you."

Simon shut up at this, deciding to be a bit more helpful to the boy in the future. Seeing a change in attitude from the hat Harry summoned it back to him. The tension that had once been in the room was all but gone.

"Now I see why you like the boy. I approve." Jill offered to Alucard.

Alucard burst out laughing at that. Harry and Remus weren't sure what was going on but once the vampire had contained himself he explained. "Never since I have known her has anyone gained Jill approval by attacking her, nor as quickly as you just did. Harry you are by far the most interesting human I have ever met."

"Glad to be of service, now will someone please explain what in bloody hell we're here for." Harry responded. "By the way Alucard, cradle robber much. I don't know how old you are, but I do know you are older than the United States here, and from Jill's accent here I'd say she's not."

It was now Jill's turn to laugh "Boy you and I are going to get along just fine. I like your sense of humor."

"Not many seem to get it, I don't understand, only Simon here seems to agree with it and that's only when it's not directed at him." Harry replied.

"Yes well people are far too sensitive these days." Jill replied. "Now on to business. I would like the ability to watch television, and thought it would be most profitable for my dear husband to create a business out of altered muggle electronics. Amazing that no one has done it before now really."

"And you need Remus for this why?" Harry asked.

"I don't really." Alucard supplied. "But Remus excels at charms, as you know, and has agreed to the things that I don't like doing. Mainly being seen by the rest of our world."

Harry thought about it for a minute before replying. "So your having him help, which will cut down on time, then he will be the head of the company here in America were the werewolf laws are a fare bit nicer. And by him doing so you get remain in the shadows like your kind seems to prefer."

"Pretty much, but my name is not Remus Lupin as far as the United States are concerned, and I'm hoping to avoid being noticed as a werewolf."

"Sounds like a plan to me." Harry replied.

/

Harry was wandering around the seattle underground which was one of multiple american diagon alley equivalents. When the wizarding community in America had expanded, largely to the west coast, the famous underground of the north western city had been expanded and turned into a mall like shopping center known as The Catacombs. Harry enjoyed the shopping area and would often head there to wander around when he had the time. He frowned thinking about it, this was, unfortunately, going to be his last visit as he had to go back to Hogwarts the next day. The break had been successful, for him at least. Harry had taken full advantage of Alucard's knowledge and made large leaps forward in his magical knowledge. He had worked nonstop over the break. The only exception being christmas day, which, as customary, he spent with his mother.

Harry exited one of the many small concession stands, ice cream in hand, and looked up at the clock that hung above the entrance to The Catacombs. Seeing the time he decided he should leave soon. Grabbing his bag, which was now weighed down by a few things he had picked up on his trip, new books, potions ingredients that were uncommon in the U.K., and a few other small items, Harry set off for the exit where he could use his portkey to get back to Alucard's.

"How many of those stupid boxes do you think have blown up?" Simon asked from atop Harry's head.

Harry looked up at the hat. Simon found Remus and Alucard's failed attempts extremely entertaining. This was probably because most of the time things went wrong, the Televisions would explode. "A few, but your favorite firework shows have become less frequent as they have gotten closer to the goal. It's a shame I have to go back to school, I've learned more from watching this project then I ever will in class."

"You've got that right. The old codger has lowered the schools standards far too much." Simon replied. "But I am excited to go back."

"Oh really, and why is that?" Harry asked genuinely curious as to why the hat would want to go back to the school where he had sat for the last few centuries or more

"Because," Simon cackled. "My favorite toy, or object of torment if you want, is there."

"Ah, Artemis" Harry thought.

"Yes, that one."

"Your not gay are you?" Harry asked. "You have a male voice, and your longing for the presence of another man. A bit weird if you ask me" He thought aloud.

"I should fry your brains for that you Little shit." Simon growled, fully expecting a witty comment about how Harry could cast a fire spell, and burn Simon to a crisp before any major damage to his brain could occur, the enchanted hat was surprised when his words were met with silence. Peering over his own brim, Simon looked down to see exactly what had caught Harry's attention. He followed the boy's stare to a middle aged man, who was balding and looked very much like a rat. Simon stared at the man for a second before realizing who it was.

"Ah Mr. Pettigrew." Simon offered. "It seems age has not been very kind to him, although he really hasn't changed much since I sorted him. He's probably still a sniveling little coward, that begged me for a spot in Gryffindor. He was a sneaky little shit though. Do you know him?"

"No I never got to meet him." Harry answered. "He was supposed to have died on the night my family was attacked."

Harry quickened him pace slightly so as to not lose sight of the man, that had just appeared by apparation. Harry followed him into a small book store. The balding Pettigrew snuck to the back of the store, looking slightly paranoid, he checked to make sure he wasn't being followed. Just before the supposedly dead man spotted him, Harry ducked behind a bookshelf. Harry quietly cast a silencing charm on Simon and his feet, and then used a strong disillusionment charm to render himself invisible. Harry stepped out from behind the bookshelf just in time to see Peter cast some spell on one of the books revealing it to actually be a old tome. Harry could't read the runes on the book, but they looked dark. It was at this point that Harry felt he needed to stop whatever Pettigrew was doing and take him to see Remus. There were some questions that needed to be answered.

"Stupefy" Harry muttered, attempting to stun Peter; however, at the faintest hint of the spell Peter transformed himself into a rat, and scurried off into the bookshelves. Harry knew he couldn't go after the rat without raising some serious questions, such as how he could do magic underage, so he let the rat run for now. Canceling his disillusionment and silencing charms, Harry picked up the book Pettigrew had been holding, he still couldn't read it but, he knew Alucard would be able to. Shrinking the book he stuffed it in a pocket before walking out of the store like nothing had happened. As he walked towards the apparation/portkey point Harry looked up at, the strangely quiet, Simon. "Any thoughts?"

"Pettigrew has been a bad boy." Simon offered, an edge of darkness to his voice. "But you already know that much. What he was up to, I haven't managed to figure out yet." Simon added. "I recognize that book from somewhere, but I can't seem to remeber where or when. I assume your taking it to our vampiric friend. He should know, but I will search my memory for any clues."

"I don't like where this is going." Harry muttered, activating the portkey to take them back to Alucard's mansion.

/

"So you're telling me you ran into Peter Pettigrew." Remus asked as he listened to Harry's story.

"Yes, and he was looking at this." Harry said pulling the tome from his pocket. "I tried to stun him so I could bring him back here, but he transformed and I missed."

"and he ran, in rat form so you couldn't look for him without raising some serious questions." Remus concluded

"I don't think I need that kind of attention right now, or ever." Harry replied.

"That was a good choice." Remus said, but his mind clearly was somewhere else.

Harry thought about it for a minute and then it clicked. If Pettigrew was alive then Black should be innocent. "What does this mean about Sirius?"

"It means that I should have trusted him all those years ago." Remus replied painfully. "It means he's innocent."

Alucard who had been silently watching until that point offered his opinion. "I know what that book is, and if Pettigrew was after it, that does not bode well for us. It is a copy of Lady Morgen Le Fay's journal." Alucard announced. "The spells and rituals in this book are not for the faint of heart and have few if any good purposes."

Remus paled at Alucard's announcement, while Harry just stared at the book. One could tell that all the gears in his brain were turning, trying to come to a conclusion.

"He's been delayed for now, but I would guess that whoever found this one can find another." Harry thought.

"You are probably right." Alucard responded. "There are five copies including the original."

"One of those copies is safe." Simon announced. "Salazar had one and It has been locked far away. I doubt anyone other than the snake himself could find it."

"We should have time. I imagine that these copies are hard to find, but we have to assume that they will find another. Pettigrew is working for someone, and they are trying to do something involved with that book. I think the smart thing to do would be to read the book and try and guess what." Harry offered, then he smiled. "But first I think we should pay a little visit to Sirius, I think it would be nice to see my godfather."

"You will not read that book." Remus announced, not a bit of hesitance in his voice.

"Yet." Harry replied. "I'll admit it's a stretch now, but in a few years, which is probably how long it would take to find another copy, and prepare whatever is being planned, I should be able to handle its contents."

"Maybe." Remus grumbled. "For now leave it to me and Alucard."

Harry nodded accepting that. Harry turned to face Alucard, "Does Azkaban have a no vampire policy?" He asked.

"Yes, I can give you a ride. If that is what you were asking." The vampire responded.

"Will you?" Harry asked, knowing that can and will were two different things for the vampire.

"I'll take you cutie." Jill offered sadistically, as she stepped into the room, a glint in her eye that promised pain

Harry didn't flinch at her tone, or the look in her eye "Fine by me." He replied. "Can we go now?"

Jill nodded, disappearing into a shadow. She reappeared from Harry's shadow with her arms wrapped around him and he fangs just shy of his neck. "Don't worry this won't only hurt a bit." She said sweetly.

"You've been trying the same thing for a month." Harry groaned, not caring that her fangs were rubbing his jugular. "I'll admit it scared me slightly the first time, but it lost its effect after that, can we go now."

Jill pouted, "Fine" as she and Harry began to melt into the ground she looked to Alucard "I'll see you there."

Remus chuckled once they were gone. "You made a mistake in introducing them to each other. The pranks alone have nearly killed us both."

"I take the stance of a senile old man." Alucard responded, despite how far it was from the truth. He offered remus his arm. "We all make mistakes, this one may eventually be the end of me, but not for now at least. Shall we go see you old friend."

"Hopefully he can forgive me." Remus replied, grabbing the extended appendage before both of them melted into the floor in a similar fashion to the previous duo.

/

Azkaban definitely lived up to its reputation. The place just looked rotten, not to mention the dark aura it gave off. Harry probably would have been more intimidated if it weren't for the fact that Jill had made a game of chasing the prisons guards, aka the dementors, around like they animals that needed to be caught, and in her case, probably tortured. It was quite funny really one of the most feared creatures in the world being chased around in circles by what appeared to be a young defenseless woman. Said woman was shouting "get back here" and "I won't bite you fluffy, I just want a hug."

"I take it this isn't the first time she's come to the prison." Harry offered, watching the scene with a smirk.

Simon was laughing uncontrollably from his head. "What gave you that impression, them running from her or her treating them like long lost pets."

Alucard and Remus appeared seconds later. The former shaking his head upon seeing what his wife was doing. "Every time we come its the same." He sighed.

"The good news is that we don't have to worry about a patronus, they're clearly afraid of her." Remus offered. "Why are they afraid of her?"

"it's best you don't know." Alucard answered. "It wouldn't do well for your mental state. Lets just say there are a few less dementors in the world because of that incident."

"Impossible." Remus muttered. "They can't be killed."

"I had thought the same." The vampire replied.

"Shall we go visit Sirius." Harry offered, still chuckling at the events occurring down the hall.

The group walked along checking each cell until they finally found Sirius. He wasn't that hard to find considering that his cell was the only one devoid of a person, instead it containing a very skinny grim.

Remus stepped towards the bars. "Sirius is that you he asked?" Already knowing the answer.

The dog in the cell stood up and walked towards the cell bars. Just before reaching them Sirius returned to his human form.

"Hello Remus." Sirius grunted, sounding slightly bitter.

Remus' head dropped at his friend's tone. "I'm sorry I should have believed you."

"Damn right I didn't do it. You know I would have done anything for them." Sirius grunted, "What made you see the truth?"

"Harry found Pettigrew in America." Remus answered.

"Ah so the rat thinks he can hide across the sea does he?" Sirius cackled. "I really should have killed him, but he blew off his finger and ran before I could."

Harry stepped forward, with a smile on his face. "Well then your innocent, even if you are a bit touched in the head."

Sirius chuckled at that. "You look and act just like James, although you seem a bit more refined. As for the touched bit, you try living here for more than a year and see what it does to you."

"Thank you." Harry replied "And I'll pass on the free room and board, I prefer not living in mold and decay."

"My point exactly." Sirius said. "Now since I am an innocent man, and my proof of it is out there roaming around free, how about we go and catch him."

"We?" Remus asked.

"Yes we." Sirius replied.

/

/

I hope you liked it and I should be updating more regularly. As always comments are appreciated, and again I'm sorry for the poor update schedule, but if you like my story know that I'm not giving up.


	7. Chapter 7

I got so many good responses from my last chapter it was great. It really helps motivate me to get on with writing instead of sitting on my butt playing Starcraft. I'm glad people are enjoying my story. This chapter gave me some difficulties so hopefully its not too bad. I also got one comment about my punctuation, spelling and so on. I haven't really gotten many complaints which is nice, and I feel like I'm doing an ok job, but if anyone wants to be my beta be my guest. Enough with the boring crap heres another chapter.

/

/

A few days after the whole prison incident, Harry sat at the Ravenclaw table with Cedric and Artemis discussing the events of christmas break. Cedric had been surprised by his parents, who had taken him to Sweden to visit some relatives of theirs. He said the country had been really fun and that it was a nice change from Great Britain. Artemis had stayed at the castle for the break which while not exciting was not uneventful for the boy. He had a few new potions under his belt and had completed his own Marauders map. Although because of his charm work sometimes the map would ignore his commands or produce insults almost worthy of Simon. Simon found this extremely funny, his favorite toy was tormented by everything and anyone.

The owls arrived as they were finishing up their meals, Hedwig was surprisingly among them. Harry fed her some scraps, while he removed the Prophet and a letter from her leg. "Hey girl, your early I wasn't expecting you for another few days." Harry said giving her a light pat on top of the head. Hedwig hooted and pecked at the letter that was clearly written by Remus. Harry was about to pick up the letter when an uproar started around the people who got Daily Prophets. Mildly curious about how it was being presented. Unrolling his Prophet, he looked on at the huge headline on the front page. "So thats how they are presenting it. I was wondering how long it was going to take to get out." Harry commented handing the paper to Cedric and Artemis. They nearly fell out of their seats when they looked at the paper.

**Sirius Black Escapes Azkaban **

_Three days ago convicted death eater Sirius black escaped from the high security prison without a trace. Know for his highly public murder of Peter Pettigrew, along with his family's history we advise anyone that sees Mr. Black to flee from him and report his location to the authority. Do not attempt to engage him, as he clearly has no issues with killing those who oppose him or his late master, he who must not be named..._

The paper went on but Artemis and Cedric stopped reading as what Harry said registered. Both of them looked at Harry, their faces contorted in confusion. "So you already knew about this?" they asked simultaneously.

"Yup" Harry responded. "I know some people who work in the ministry learned about it the day after it happened." He lied.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Artemis asked.

"Wasn't worth the energy." Harry answered. "I would have had to answer all sorts of questions and then it would have spread across the school, and put me at the center of attention which is something you both know I dislike with the exception of academics."

Cedric nodded accepting the answer, but Artemis just fumed at Harry for keeping a secret from them. "I told you before Artemis I am not an open book for you to read I will tell you what you need to know, no more no less, now get over it." Harry's statement only cause Artemis to pout further, but it was more in defeat than anything else. Finally getting his energetic friend to shut up, Harry opened the letter from Remus.

_Hey pup, I figured you'd want a heads up. Because of what's going on, and the fact that I know your bored with school one of us is going to come pick you up in a few days after the Prophet gets an anonymous tip that Sirius is coming after you. We will claim puling you for safety reasons, and tell those who need to know that we are enrolling you in an american school under an alias until black is "found." If you really want to stay you can, but I figured you would want some field experience in rat hunting. You were the one who found him in the first place. Write me back if you want to stay. If not, have a fun few days at school, your favorite dog suggests a send off worthy of our successor. You have the book, but I bet you can come up with something good yourself._

_Remus_

Harry thought about it for a moment. Sure after the four months that he had known them, Harry actually considered Artemis and Cedric his best friends, not that he would admit it. However Harry's goal and purpose in life wasn't to make friends. Until Lilly Potter stood beside him his life was not his own. Pursuing Pettigrew may not lead to that end goal, but it would put him in a better position to do so, and time to grow. Hogwarts would come to serve its purpose in time. However he wouldn't deny his friends a parting prank. It wouldn't do to part without one.

"I think a welcome back event is in order" Harry said, folding up the letter.

Cedric's eyebrows raised at Harry's comment, and Artemis started to do some sort of excited wiggle that slightly disturbed the other two.

"Got anything in mind." Cedric asked.

"Actually I do." Harry responded. "Remus suggested it."

/

Artemis, Cedric, and Harry sat in their room going over various bits of homework, reading a quidditch magazine, and studying ahead, respectively, when Tracy burst through the door. "I've seen that stupid wiggle Artemis did this morning before. What are you three up to?"

"Why did I tell her how to get into here again." Harry groaned, completely ignoring her.

Simon interjected from the shelf at his comment. "Just blame Artemis. It will make you feel better. At least it should." The hat offered with a bored sigh.

"For once I agree with the hat." Cedric said hesitantly. He still had issues with the dusty old rag, as he called Simon.

"Artemis this is all your fault. Your lack of a spine that lets this harpy control you created this situation." Harry said nonchalantly, after deciding that it really was Artemis' fault. Considering why he had told Tracy how to get in to their dorms in the first place. He turned to look at the girl and with a frown. "What do you want?"

"I just told you what I want." Tracy growled, angry at being ignored.

"Oh those noises before. They just sounded like banshee shrieks mixed with Snape's accusations to me." Harry replied, getting sniggers from the other occupants of the room.

Tracy glared at the others to get them to shut up, but she had learned not to give Harry any sort of reaction. It would have only fueled his tormentive personality. "I know you three were pulling the strings behind most of the events first semester. I'm bored with classes at the moment"

"Aren't we all." Harry interrupted "Haven't really learned anything from my classes."

"As I was saying." Tracy offered, fighting the urge to scream at the black haired boy. "I would like to join you for this particular venture, see if I like it."

Harry went deep into thought at her request. Sure at times she was annoying, but was probably his only friend outside of Cedric and Artemis. They were going to need a few people for this one as well, and even if he did include her, he wouldn't have to deal with the aftermath since he was leaving.

"An extra hand wouldn't break the plan." Harry said making it seem like an inconvenience. "You will have to be a good sneaky Slytherin, and bend a few rules." He added.

"I bend the rules often enough." Tracy smirked. "You just never see it and I never get caught."

Harry chuckled at her response, she really was a Slytherin, however that didn't mean he couldn't out snake her. "I personally find it funny that as a Raven I break the rules in plain sight, and get away with it. It seems Slytherin house has fallen over the years." He offered, beginning to read an advance transfiguration book.

Tracy twitched at his insult to her house, but offered no response. In truth his point was well made.

"Your in." Harry said. "Now let me figure out the spells we need in peace." He added effectively ending the conversation and nodding towards the door.

/

Two days Later

Harry, Tonks, Artemis, Cedric, and Tracy sat in one of the old unused classrooms. Tonks was the only one that looked confused. She really wasn't sure why she was there.

"Harry what am I doing here with you and a bunch of your firsty friends?" Tonks huffed, staring at her brother.

"I needed another Marauder." Harry answered. "We're putting on a welcome back performance for the school."

"I don't feel like it." Tonks muttered. "Too much work, and you could probably do it without me."

"How about another solution then." Harry suggested. "We duel, I win you help."

"You've gotten better little bro I'll give you that, but your still too young and inexperienced to beat me" Tonks answered as she started walking towards the door.

"Walk out and I'll write some very interesting facts about you on a giant poster in the great hall and accompany it with a most interesting picture I gained from my last birthday." Harry said, an evil tint to his voice.

You wouldn't dare!"

"Try me." Harry said. "I've never not followed through with a threat."

"Your on, but if I win your wearing a dress and using tap dancing as transportation for a week." Tonks growled.

"I accept those terms." Harry stated, calmly sliding into a ready stance. With a wave of his wand the desks of the room slid to the sides of the room.

"Silent casting, you took my advice to heart." Tonks applauded. "But it wont get you a win by itself."

"Couldn't have such a simple weakness." Harry responded.

"Who do you think will win?" Cedric asked Artemis as they removed themselves from the direct line of fire.

"Potter's adoptive sister will easily win." Tracy commented. "Potter is the best in our year by a far margin, but he can't compete with a sixth year."

"Harry hides his true skill, you should know that by now, but I don't know how much." Artemis replied. "This will be close."

Tracy was going to say somthing but it looked like the match was about to begin.

"Simon will moderate and act as the judge." Harry said tossing the hat onto the one desk he had left nearly centered between the two.

Simon coughed a couple of times before dawning a dramatic announcers voice. "Welcome welcome, ladies, gentlemen, and everyone's favorite item of abuse, today you will be witnessing a duel between on Harry Potter and Nymphadora Tonks." Simon announced, defying physics by jumping out of the way of Tonks' curse for using her name. "The rules are as follows. Lethal spells are illegal and if a participant is unfit to continue I will call the match...Begin!"

"I hope you enjoyed being better than me sis, cause it ends here." Harry taunted as he waved his wand, conjuring a lightweight shield on his arm.

"You haven't beaten me yet, and I don't plan on letting you." Tonks growled, sending a stunner at Harry, testing the sturdiness of his shield.

Harry deflected the spell easily, having no kinetic properties it would have only shattered a sub par shield. He retaliated with an arrow conjuration, shooting five arrows from his wand.

Tonks rolled out of the way and came up using an advanced form of _Incarsurus,_ that featured chains instead of ropes.

Harry slashed his wand at the chains producing a strong gust of wind, that reversed their direction. Thinking quickly, he cast a modified serpensotia at the last second transforming the chains into various snakes.

"Shit!" Tonks growled diving out of the way, using a trio of blasting curses to disintegrate the snakes. Rolling to her feet, the pink haired witch conjured bird with the avis charm, before sending them on the attack.

"I always forget that your clumsiness seems to disappear in a duel, why don't we bring it back." Harry offered, shooting a tripping jinx at her, while turning the closest desk to him into tin soldiers. The tin soldiers shooting the birds out of the air before they could reach Harry. Harry had them march towards the downed tonks, the miniature figures surrounding her, pointing their bayonets at the older girl.

"Do you surrender?" Harry asked.

"No." Tonks grunted, beginning another spell from the ground, but Harry beat her to it. In a surprising show of speed he hit her with a full body bind spell.

"Now you surrender, I win." Harry smirked, canceling both spells, he walked over and offered her a hand.

Tonks' glared at him, but gave in. "I'll help, I think you've been holding out on me in our duels though."

Harry smirked. "In a way yes I have, in others not really." He answered vaguely. Tonks gave him a look that said he would tell her more later, but she let it go for now.

/

Harry and the others had to time their entrance right. Tracy and Tonks had it easy, since they were already in there, but too early or too late, on the boys part, and it would be obvious that they were the ones responsible. It had been quite difficult to keep people out of the great hall for long enough to get things set up, but using Tonks' abilities, and a few distractions, they had pulled it off. Harry was actually rather impressed with this one. As he approached the great hall, with Cedric and Artemis, he could hear loud conversations coming from within the dining area. It took a conscious effort on their part no to smirk as they entered the large hall with a fellow group of Ravenclaws. Acting like everyone else, they began to inspect their handy work, by mumbling questions about the current situation. They had taken the four house tables, the staff table, and Dumbledore's podium, levitated them up onto the walls and stuck them there with a combination of sticking charms and duct tape. Mostly duct tape for its unique spell resistant properties, making the various attempts by the professors to right the situation ineffective. Ladders had been placed against each of the tables, but no one had figured out what they were for yet. Harry was about to signal Tonks to give a demonstration when the Weasely twins entered the hall.

"This is right brilliant." Fred announced.

"Too right brother why didn't we think of this." George responded.

They both proceeded to walk over to the ladder that led to the Gryffindor table. Giving it a shake, they knew it was real and began climbing. George reached the top first and touched one of the massive seating benches with his hand. "Absolutely ruddy brilliant!" George shouted stepping onto the seat and walking along it, to the shock of most in the hall. Fred followed, both walking to about where they normally sat before sitting down. Both of them turned to look at the rest of the houses. "We can't eat until at least a few of us are up here."

A few more Gryffindors climbed the ladder and joined the twins on the walls of the hall. Seeing as none of them had fallen off yet, confidence spread throughout the great hall, and most of the students began climbing the ladders to their respective tables.

Once the students had been seated, Dumbledore stood on the back of his podium so as to be facing the students, instead of the ground. "In all of my years at this school I have never experienced such an ingenious bit of magic. I suggest that we take the time to enjoy this as it will most likely never happen again. Dig in" He added clapping his hands, causing the food to appear on the tables. In a bit of a show himself, Dumbledore walked straight up the wall of the great hall to his seat at the staff table. His stunt earned him a few shocked expressions from some of the students, but others merely appreciated it as another of Dumbledore's skills, that few could replicate.

/

Harry set the Marauders book infront of Artemis and Cedric. "I'm leaving tomorrow." He said. "I expect both of you to keep up with this book. I'm not sure when I'll be back, but I can't leave the school Marauderless."

"What...Why are you leaving?" Artemis asked, while Cedric patiently waited for an explanation.

"Officially or really?" Harry said giving them an option. He had debated whether or not to trust them with the information, but eventually decided as his only real friends outside of the family he should trust them.

"Both." Cedric answered, sensing the seriousness of the situation he knew Harry was about to tell them something he wouldn't tell anyone else. It was a rare moment where his friend was opening up enough to trust them with another secret from his life.

Harry looked to a serious Artemis who nodded his agreement to Cedric's statement. "Officially I'm leaving because Sirius black is thought to be coming after me, which we have leaked to the press. I'm really leaving because Sirius, who is my godfather, is actually innocent. I ran into Peter Pettigrew, the real secret keeper for my parents and the one who betrayed them, in the states over break. He's the one responsible for my mum."

"So your going to hunt down Pettigrew." Artemis supplied, to which Harry nodded.

"Someone should be here to pick me up in the morning." Harry offered. "I trust that you two won't divulge this information to anyone else."

"Never dream of it mate." Cedric answered.

"Yes Artemis you can tell Tracy some of it, but id rather you leave the things she doesn't know out of it." Harry said before the boy could ask. "You both know about my mum, but that is something that I never really intended to tell, it was a result of us living together." Harry said, late in the first semester he had ended up in a situation that had forced him to tell them about his past to a degree, and he considered that information secret above all else. The fact that they had kept it a secret this long had earned them his trust.

"We would't tell anyone about your mum" Artemis replied. "I understand not wanting everyone to know about unpleasant things from your past." He added speaking as if he had his own experiences similar to Harry's.

Harry nodded his appreciation before turning to Simon. "Can't take you with me so your stuck here, but its probably for the better because Jill would eventually turn you into ash."

"Evil woman." the hat shuddered.

"No just rough around the edges." Harry answered, "With a violent temper."

"Oh and I almost forgot." Harry said, turning to rummage through his trunk. He pulled a book out and set it on top of the Marauders book. "I'm done with this." Harry said. "You're not a true Marauder until you've accomplished that."

Artemis and Cedric looked at the book. The title read _The Science of Animagus_. The other two looked at Harry with a look of shock. "What's..your...form?" they stuttered.

"Thats for me to know, and you to wonder." Harry smirked. "You'll find out someday."

"I've never even seen you practice. When did you do it?" Artemis asked.

"I had a month off for christmas." Harry answered simply. "And you have seen me preparing for it you just didn't notice. I learned as much as I could from that book and a few others including the Maruader's book, so that the process was actually relatively fast once i set myself to it. Not that it was easy."

/

Harry had attended classes until about mid day when he was summoned to the headmasters office. Most of his classmates made a big ordeal, making it seem like he was in trouble, but Harry knew that was the farthest thing from the truth. Whatever prefect that had delivered the message, also led him to the headmasters office, which seemed to be in a different place than it was first semester. Harry shrugged it off as one of the many oddities about the castle as he left his escort and walked up the stairs behind the trademark gargoyle entrance.

Just as he was about to knock, the headmaster's voice came from the other side of the door, saying. "Come in Harry."

Harry entered the room with a puzzled look on his face. "How did you know I was here? I was just about to knock." Harry asked, searching all of his knowledge about the school for a possible answer. "Wards, a detection spell..."

Harry was about to go on when the headmaster chuckled. "Those are good guesses, but something you most likely will not discover unless you take up my position in a few years."

"Perks of the job." Harry commented.

"Yes that is one way to put it, but we are not here to talk about me." Dumbledore responded. "Miss, excuse me, Mrs. Strix has come to me with some interesting news. It seems as though Remus feels you are in danger due to the recent escape of Sirius Black, and wishes to pull you from school."

Harry was slightly confused by the Mrs. Strix bit until he saw Jill sitting in the seat next to the one Dumbledore was currently motioning for him to take. "Hello Mrs. Strix, I assume Remus and your husband are still hard at work on their project." Harry said as he sat next to her.

"Yes, but I also volunteered to come get you." Jill replied. "I was dying to see my favorite cute little wizard."

"I doubt that." Harry muttered. "Probably just wanting one more chance at attempting to scare me."

"Or that, you do smell oh so sweet." Jill replied smiling evilly, baring her fangs to Harry.

"No effect." Harry stated, making her pout.

"You have an interesting friend Mr. Potter." Dumbledore interrupted, trying to get the conversation back in a productive direction.

"Yes well when your guardian, or uncle as I prefer to call him, is a werewolf, you tend to meet interesting people." Harry answered. "I feel it is a good experience and has taught me many things I would not have known otherwise."

"Always a Ravenclaw. I must say you are a true contribution to that house." Dumbledore replied. "Your presence will be missed."

"So you are letting me go?" Harry questioned, unsure if it was going to be that easy.

"Yes, Remus is an old student, and friend of mine, and I can understand his concern for your wellbeing. Even though I consider Hogwarts to be a secure and safe location, your uncle, is allowed his doubts, especially with the man in question." Dumbledore offered.

"Thank you for your understanding headmaster. Remus told me to assure you that Harry will return to the school as soon as Black is caught." Jill replied, as she stood to shake the headmaster's hand. The old wizard happily returned the gesture.

As they were walking out of the office, Dumbledore gave one last statement with a smile. "By the way Mr. Potter. Your parting gift to the great hall was truly ingenious. I doubt even your father and his friends could have accomplished such a feat, at least until much later in their careers."

Harry turned to the headmaster, a slight look of shock on his face, before inspiration hit him. "A perk of the job?" Harry asked.

"Quite and enjoyable one if I say so." Dumbledore chuckled.

"I'll have to improve while I'm gone then, and trick even you, when I return." Harry concluded as he left the room.

Dumbledore watched the door close. Harry was one of his best and brightest students, that much was obvious, but on what path was he set the ancient wizard wondered. On the right path he would be an asset in the years to come, the wrong path and he would become a great hindrance. "Perhaps some guidance will be in order when he returns" the headmaster mused to himself as he sucked on a lemon drop. Leaning back in his chair, Dumbledore relaxed and focused his attention on one of his many instruments. It tracked the magical signature of all or in this case one of the students. When it suddenly went slack, Dumbledore immediately sat up. It was far too soon for Harry and his escort to have left the grounds yet, perhaps the wards around the school were not as secure as they could be. "Guidance indeed." Dumbledore muttered as he began searching his instruments for any clues as to what had happened.

/

"So Mrs. Strix. Subtle." Harry thought aloud as they appeared inside the vampire's home.

"You don't think he noticed did he." Jill giggled sarcastically.

"Not at all, Strix just means vampire in latin, which ninety percent of our curriculum is based around."

"Oops." Jill replied, though sorry was the farthest thing from her mind.

"Your funeral not mine." Harry said "If you can call it that. Where's Sirius." Harry asked wanting to get to know the man that was original godfather. While not his mother or father, Sirius was a piece of that time and someone Harry hoped to connect with on some level.

"Where they always are." Jill offered pointing towards the room that had been dedicated to Remus and Alucard's experimentation. "Thanks, do we know anything about Pettigrew."

"He hasn't left the country, but he's good at hiding." Jill answered. "Worry about him later though. Relax and take some time for yourself. Your going to put yourself in an early grave, at this rate, and if that happens, I'll have to turn my favorite wizard against his will."

Harry shrugged at her statement. "I won't slow down I have goals to accomplish and a life to return, but if that's what it takes to keep me out of an early grave be my guest." Harry replied walking towards the room where the others would be.

/

/

Right so there it is. Hope you liked it. The Strix thing I'm not sure on. I came across it on some site that if i sited on a school paper would probably get me shot, but just go with it for now. I'm thinking that I might give Harry two animagus forms but I'm not sure, so let me know what you think. On a different note I'm leaving for school tomorrow so I wont be able to write much next week while I move in and get settled. After that I plan to get right back to it though. I am happy that I managed to get out two chapters basically within a week of each other.

Anyways until next time. Thanks for reading, send any comments or opinions my way.


	8. Chapter 8

Sorry for the wait, I got an itch to write for another series so I have the start to another story written, but seeing as one story is hard enough to keep up with I probably wont post my new one. While I'm at school it takes me about two weeks to get a sizable chapter done so expect somewhere in that range between posts from now on. I also realized after my last post that I've been really bad about responding to questions people have sent my way. To anyone that has given me a question that I haven't responded to I'm sorry. I'll answer a few here but its probably too late for some, and I don't want to take up too much room.

Simon normal speech ""

Simon mind speech ''

GreyAuror commented on Remus having custody of Harry. He isn't the savior of the wizarding world in this fic so in the aftermath of the first war him being taken in by Remus is something most would overlook.

Trogo made a comment about Tracy and her postition with the Marauders. No Tracy is not a member of the Maruaders, she is more of an outside partner that only participates in certain events but has more insider knowledge than most.

To Halomasterchief yes I am a Hellsing fan, I feel there few if any better vampire portrayals than Alucard.

On with the Chapter, hope you enjoy.

/

/

It was August, 30th, 1991 and Artemis was preparing to go back to school, for his third year. It had been over a year since Harry had left. They exchanged letters every month or two, but he and Cedric were beginning to think that their best friend was not returning. This of course was harder on him than Cedric. While both of them missed their friend, Cedric was a more social person, and had more friends than just the two of them.

Artemis sighed as he grabbed the morning prophet from the morning owl. Walking back to the Davis' kitchen, he read the title of the paper expecting some more crap about how the Boy-Who-Lived would be attending Hogwarts this year. Much to his surprise that was not what was on the front page. "That crazy bastard, only he could pull something like that off." He chuckled.

"Arty, Language!" Rebecca Davis shouted at him. "Your lucky none of the girls are here."

"Sorry." Artemis mumbled. "I just got a bit excited."

"Your excused, now what has your shorts in such a bunch." The older woman asked.

"Just a friend of mine on the front page of the Daily Prophet." Artemis answered with a smirk. Rebecca motioned for him to hand over the paper which he happily did. His smirk only grew wider when his Tracy's mother grew a look of shock on her face. She was about to ask Artemis about it when Tracy walked into the room.

Seeing the look on her mother's face, Tracy turned to face Artemis. "What did you do? You better not have slipped another potion into our food." She said menacingly.

"Wasn't me for once; Harry's fault." Artemis responded. "And do you really think I'd try that again after what happened last time."

"Your dumb enough, so yes." Tracy offered, going for the paper in her mother's hands. As she took the paper, Rebecca gave her a look that spoke of apology. Tracy looked at the front page and gained a look of understanding. "Alright I'll apologize for jumping to the conclusions, and insulting you, but he is your friend so I can still blame you to a degree."

"Your friend too..." Artemis mumbled under his breath.

"I heard that." Tracy growled. "I classify him as an acquaintance. You know we don't consider each other friends."

"Same thing." Artemis shot back.

"Enough you two." Rebecca huffed, "I take it this is the Harry that you befriended in your first year?" She asked pointing to the picture of Harry, among Remus, Sirius, and a bound Peter Pettigrew.

/

Harry smirked when he saw the morning's paper. It had been Sirius' idea to barge into the ministry as a wanted man. His godfather had become slightly touched in the head thanks to his stay in Azkaban, not that he was entirely sane before his stint in the prison. Harry didn't think of him as a loon, but he definitely had a more twisted personality.

Yesterday Remus, Harry, and Sirius, carrying the bound Peter Pettigrew, had waltzed in the front door of the Ministry. Obviously the Aurors and most of the Ministry had surrounded them within seconds. Before any one of them could utter a spell or retain him, Sirius had thrown Pettigrew at fudge's feet. "I'm here for my trial. Sorry it took me so long to turn myself in. I needed my evidence first, and he's a slippery little bugger."

The look on the idiotic Minister's face had been priceless, they had been forced to acquit Sirius of all charges, given the proof that Pettigrew was still alive. Fudge had tried to cover up the blunder as much as he could, generously compensating Sirius for his time in prison, and absolving him of any other charges that had been placed against him. Harry had laughed at that, the Minister was such a bumbling fool, trying so hard to save face, that he hadn't even realized the fault fell on the administration before his.

Harry tossed the paper onto the table. "You know when I was little and Remus was directing me towards the Marauder I am today, I had always wondered if it was actually true. Sure Remus had skill as a prankster, but nothing over the top or elaborate. He would just use the basics, whatever worked best. After this though, I find it much more possible."

Sirius had grabbed the paper and was smirking at the front page, but Harry could tell that his godfather was paying attention to what he was saying. "Remus was the smartest of our little group." Sirius answered "He could always do more with less, but he lacked any style or flair." Harry nodded at the assessment, it sounded about right. "but we were a group for a reason, each of us added our own traits to create the best thing possible." Sirius continued.

"I can see that now. Clearly you were head of the shock and awe department." Harry offered.

"I was, although James, as our leader, was pretty damn good at it himself." Sirius answered.

Harry gave a rare smile, not a pranking mischievous smile, or a mask, but one of true gratitude. It wasn't because the information had escaped him before, or that it was something no one else knew, but Sirius had just given him another confirmed piece of the puzzle that was James Potter. Every bit of information that Harry got about James, was placed into the never ending puzzle. Who was James Potter? What was he like? What were his habits? Those were all questions that Harry had about his father, and every clue he got put him closer to answering those questions. Sirius had been a huge help with that. While Remus had talked of James some in the past, the werewolf seemed to have some sort of guilt for Harry's situation, making it a rough conversation topic. Sirius on the other hand, had given him more insight into his father than Harry could have hoped for. While it was obvious that the heir to the Black family severely missed his best friend, he had worked his hardest to become the godfather he was supposed to be.

"So now that you're free to run around, what do you plan on doing with your life?" Harry asked.

"Piss off the ministry, and use my recent situation to bend any and all regulations in my favor." Sirius answered, shit eating grin from ear to ear.

"This should be interesting to watch." Harry commented. "What do you have in mind."

"I feel like opening a pub." Sirius offered. "But not just any pub." He added, his grin only getting wider.

"I don't think I even want to know." Harry claimed, clearing his plate from the table. "I'm off to get my supplies for school. I'll be back later."

"Funny, I thought you already had everything you needed for school." Sirius quipped.

"Maybe I do. Maybe I don't" Harry offered.

"I'll tell Remus you went out." Sirius offered. "Last night's transformation was hard on him, so he probably wont be up for a while."

Harry nodded. "Thanks, I'll be back later."

/

Harry meandered through the shops of Diagon alley. As usual anything that ended up on the front page of the Prophet was all anyone could talk about. Harry being one of the people involved with Sirius' stunt, was getting a lot of strange looks and attention.

"I can't even think with this many people following me around and watching my every move." Harry groaned. "Why the hell did I let him talk me into it. We should have just turned him over to the Aurors. Then I shop in peace without all this attention."

Thinking of a solution, Harry ducked out of the main alley. After making sure he was alone, Harry began to transfigure himself. He changed his hair from its trademark uncontrollable black to a straight dark brown. Following with his eyes, Harry changed them from his mother's green, to a deep dark blue. Figuring he'd be taken more seriously if he looked a little older, Harry finished off the transformation by aging himself about five years. The complex transfiguration left him winded, but he considered it an overall success.

"Now how to test it?" Harry wondered as he made his way back to the main alley. Trying to come up with an adequate test Harry wandered the alley flitting from shop to shop, his original intentions far from mind. At least they were until Harry saw Tracy dragging Artemis around like some sort of pet.

"Killing two birds with one stone." Harry smirked. "This should be fun."

"Excuse me. My name is Ivan Bliminse" Harry offered as he stepped up to the two. "I'm not very familiar with this area. I was wondering if one of you could point me in the right direction to purchase these items." Harry asked using an american accent. He conveniently handed Artemis his list, much to the disappointment of Tracy who seemed to be expecting the attention.

Artemis made several faces at the list, much to Harry's amusement. "What exactly do you need all these for?" Artemis asked.

Harry just gave him a look that said it was none of his business. "Right well you could probably find most of it at the Apothecary, but if your willing to go into Knockturn Alley you could find all of those things at the Rotten Egg, and probably at a better price.

"Thank you Artemis, I'll see you around." Harry or in this case Ivan, said, before disappearing into the crowd.

"But I didn't even tell you my name." Artemis mumbled at the man's disappearing back.

/

Artemis sighed as he sat alone on the train. After seeing Harry in the paper he was hoping his friend was going to come back to school, but it wasn't looking like that was going to happen, and once again he and Cedric would be by themselves in their dorm room. They would probably only get the few vague letters that their former roommate would send every month or so.

"So He hasn't shown up?" Cedric commented as he stepped into the car.

"No the lazy ass hasn't shown up." Artemis grunted. "Probably too famous for us now."

"I resent that you know. I'm not like Longbottom." Harry said suddenly appearing in a relaxed position across from Artemis. "For one you know should I hate attention, Two I don't think I'm really that lazy, I just give out that image. For my own reasons. Mainly my dislike of attention, and three I have been sitting here for a while under a disillusionment charm."

"What was the importance of point three?" Artemis asked scratching his head.

"To stop us form asking questions." Cedric answered. "something which you did anyway."

"You haven't changed a bit, either of you." Harry commented with a smirk. "Sorry it took so long for me to get back, there were some complications along the way."

"No worries mate." Artemis chuckled giving him a thumbs up. "We knew you'd come back eventually."

"Thats not what it sounded like a few minutes ago." Harry offered.

"Ok so I had my doubts." Artemis huffed.

"You were gone for a quite a while." Cedric added.

"Yeah sorry about that." Harry replied.

"Did you get a recording of that?" Artemis nearly shouted to Cedric.

"A recording of what?" Cedric asked.

"Harry said sorry. Thats what." Artemis shot back. "We're never going to get to hear that again."

"You may, but I do prefer being a bastard." Harry offered with a smile. "so it is unlikely."

"Hogwarts number one bastard, best friend a mate could have, and former prank king, is back." Cedric stated.

Harry shook his head at that statement. "You two lost out to the twins while I was gone didn't you?" Seeing their frowns Harry didn't need a verbal response to know he was right, not that he expected them to be better than the twins. The Weasley boys were gifted that was for sure. What else had changed in the last two years. "Did you make the team Cedric?" Harry asked trying to catch up on things he had missed.

"I was reserve seeker last year, but it was Adrian's last year so I'll hopefully start this year, but with the way Elizabeth runs the team you never know." Cedric answered.

"How does she run the team?" Harry asked genuinely curious.

"She holds tryouts every year for all the positions, and keeps a full set of reserve players. And If one of the reserves starts practicing well she gives them the chance to replace a starter."

"So she only fields the best and has no problems booting players that aren't keeping up with the team." Harry concluded.

"You don't know how to be wrong do you." Cedric shot back with a smile.

"Oh I can be very wrong." Harry said darkly, his mood only changing for a split second before going back to his usual indifferentness. "Just not about something so trivial."

"Enough stupid Quidditch." Artemis grunted, not caring about the death glare's the other two sent his way. "What were you up to while you were gone Harry? You rarely ever sent any letters." The fledgling potions master asked.

"A lot happened." Harry answered vaguely, making both of his friends think he wasn't going to divulge. "I'll tell you a few things though. First of all you both know that Sirius is/was innocent." Harry said bringing up what he had told them before he left. "I basically spent the last two years chasing him around America, while attending school there. We cornered Pettigrew once about a year after I left, but he got away. We finally got him about three months ago, but we took time off to relax, before bringing him back to the UK." Harry explained, giving them a bare bones of what happened. Of course they both wanted to know details, how had the rat gotten away the first time and how had they had finally caught him. Something which Harry refused to tell them. His only comment being. "It was an unpleasant experience both times." Which of course only left them with more questions.

"What about school?" Artemis asked, when he finally gave up on his other questions. "What was school like with the Yanks."

"They were interesting." Harry answered. "They focus more on Arithmacy, Runes, Dueling, and Transfiguration to an extent, but we have that here. The first three are all core classes over there. I would describe them as having a different style of magic than us." Harry answered.

"What about Defense and Charms?" Cedric asked.

"I had a Charms class while I was there, but Dueling replaces Defense." Harry replied.

"I bet you stomped them didn't you." Artemis said, thinking of the time he had watched Harry duel Tonks.

"Not really." Harry said. "I was about average at the beginning. My assortment of spells was definitely better than most, but my lack of experience and technique showed. All in all it was a good learning experience for me. I almost considered going to school in europe for a year to get a more diverse skill set, but Durmstrang is too cold and probably wouldn't accept me, and I refuse to go to school in France." Harry stated, the others gagging slightly at the idea of school in france.

Before Harry could go any further into details about his time abroad Tracy stepped into the compartment. "Welcome back, Potter." She said, somewhat tersely. Her tone showing, that the forced coalition that they had formed, was still the norm. "Did you enjoy your vacation."

"Not much of a vacation, but yes my time away was enjoyable." Harry answered. The others could see that they weren't going to get much more out of him, so Cedric switched topics. "What do you think of boy wonder?"

"The longbottom runt?" Harry asked. Cedric nodded "Haven't met him yet, but the papers sure do love him. If he's what they claim then Merlin has been reborn. If not well the world has a very famous ordinary wizard with an extreme amount of luck."

"So your saying you don't care as usual." Cedric replied.

"Right you are Ced, I don't give a rats ass about any of the new students." Harry offered. "Probably a bunch of snot nosed brats, that think their wand is this amazing play toy."

As if to help demonstrate his point, a young blond boy, flanked by two brutish friends, threw the door to their compartment open. "I've heard Longbottom is on this train. If you know where he is tell me." The boy commanded.

"My point exactly." Harry commented. "Get out of here you little shit, If you ever ask something of me like that again I'll turn you into a mouse and feed you to my owl."

The boy paled at Harry's threat for a split second, before his confident demeanor returned. "Do you know who I am?" He asked. When he got no response he continued. "Draco Malfoy, heir to the house of Malfoy. My father does not tolerate threats to my well being. He sees them as a personal attack against the most noble and ancient house of Malfoy." The boy spouted, sounding like he was royalty. "Apologize to me this instant or I'll write him and have you expelled."

Cedric and Artemis tackled Harry against the wall, before their friend could draw his wand. Harry attempted to fight off both of them, trying to get just free enough to make good on his threat from earlier. Malfoy appeared shocked by what was going on, and didn't notice Tracy stepping towards him. The third year Slytherin kicked Malfoy out into the hall. "As one Slytherin to another, know this." She said darkly, while Malfoy collected himself from the heap he had landed in. "If you try that boys patience and make an enemy out of him, your life at Hogwarts will be beyond miserable not matter who your father is." Malfoy blanched at Tracy's statement. "Now scram you little twerp, before I decide to curse you myself."

Tracy stepped back into the compartment after, Malfoy had ran off like the little girl he was. "He's gone, you can let go of him now." She said sitting back down in the compartment. Artemis and Cedric jumped back away from Harry, who although looking upset didn't look like he was going to pursue the Malfoy Heir. Instead Harry jabbed his wand at the compartment door, locking it, and drawing the curtains.

"Exploding snap anyone?" Cedric asked pulling out a deck of cards. The rest of train ride went relatively quietly, the only other highlight of the ride had been the Weasley twins swinging by. They had come by unlocked the door despite Harry's charm, and using their usual twin speak declared war on Harry. Harry responded to them indifferently by saying "Sure why not could be fun and I don't have much better to do." The Twins had tried to comment on his lack of enthusiasm was unbeffiting of their opponent. Before they had even gotten half way through their complaints, Harry had magically thrown them from the compartment, and doubled his protections on the door. Discussion had resumed at a slower pace after the disruptions. Harry had been unsurprised but disappointed to find out that Professor Bones, who had been one of the better professors, was no longer at the school. She had moved on to be the head of the DMLE, and the teacher that had replaced her hadn't lasted either. The curse on the defense position was clearly alive and well.

After the train had stopped they had fought their way through the hundreds of disembarking students to find their own carriage, while the others found their own, and the first years set out across the lake, with Hagrid. The first thing that Harry noticed when they approached were the Thestrals that pulled the black carriages. "So thats what they look like, interesting." Harry muttered.

"What are you talking about?" Artemis asked, having been close enough to hear his friends muttering.

"Oh nothing, just talking to myself." Harry replied, a slight hint of defensiveness to his tone. Harry's eyes flicked to the horse like creatures briefly before climbing into the carriage.

Artemis didn't miss where his friend's gaze had been, and being able to see them himself, Artemis knew exactly what it took to be able to see the horse like creatures. "What exactly did you get yourself into these last two years." Artemis asked himself, as he quietly followed Harry into the carriage.

/

The sorting ceremony was pretty standard, Simon rattling off a little tune to appease the masses before sorting the little brats that would come to be the first years. Of course the newest Weasley and Boy Wonder had been sorted into Gryffindor, while the arrogant spawn of Malfoy strutted his way over to the Slytherin like he owned the reptilian house. Obviously Boy Wonder's sorting had produced a huge uproar of applause and disappointment. Ignoring the celebrations of the sorting, Harry walked up to the staff table before Dumbledore could begin his start of term speech.

Harry looked at the headmaster and calmly voiced his request. "I was wondering If I could act as Simon's caretaker like I did during the fall semester of my first year?"

Dumbledore thought about it for a moment, before nodding his head. "I don't see why that would be a problem. You may watch over him until you are tired of the duty. Welcome back Mr. Potter we are all glad to have you back."

"Thank you Professor. It is good to be back." Harry replied, as he took the Simon from Professor McGonagal.

After Harry had made his way back to his seat Dumbledore stood up to make his trademark speech.

"I would like to welcome back our returning students, including Mr. Potter who is able to rejoin us now that the issues of his departure have been resolved. And to our newest students I would like to bade a warm welcome to Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. As usual I would like to remind everyone that the Forbidden forest is exactly that, forbidden to all students. A new restriction for the duration of this year will be the closing of the third floor corridor on the right hand side. Any student venturing there will die a most painful death. Finally before we eat, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!"

Harry groaned slightly when the Headmaster singled him out in his speech, but otherwise tuned out the speech. He could really care less about the warnings that were given out every year or whatever dangers lied on the third floor. Sure he would probably go see for himself at some point, but Harry had other things to accomplish at Hogwarts with the resources it provided. In reality he almost felt like the headmaster was tempting some of the schools more daring students to get themselves killed. Which logic dictated was bad for the aging wizard and him keeping his position.

"So Harry boy, how was your trip to colonies?" Simon asked gently probing his favorite perch's mind.

"Do you want me to tell you or are you going to just read through my memories yourself?" Harry asked, having noticed exactly what the hat was doing.

'You've gotten better, you have more control.' Simon commented, switching to his version of telepathy and increasing the strength of his probe.

Harry held off the Hat's mental push by adding strength to his shields. 'As much as I want to test my mental limits at the moment, I'd rather not attract the headmasters attention. And I am hungry.' Harry stated calmly. 'I'll let you watch what happened if you let me eat in peace. And not that you have much of a mouth, but I ask that you keep silent about what you see.'

'Hmm must have been serious at times for you to ask me that.' Simon thought. 'Just because I'm curious I'll agree to keep quiet.'

'Stupid annoying hat.' Harry grunted, before lowering his shields allowing his magically animated friend to sort through his thoughts and memories.

/

After dinner Harry moved back into his old room, along with Cedric and Artemis, who were both extremely happy to have him back. Harry was pulling a few books out of his trunk when Hedwig flew through the open window. Flying around the room, she skimmed over the heads of Artemis' and Cedric's. She hooted her greeting at them before landing gently on Harry's shoulder. Harry grabbed the letter from her outstretched leg, and laughed when she started to peck at simon. Harry split the two of them up by tossing Simon onto his bed, much to the hat's annoyance.

"Why does the damn bird get to sit on your shoulder, while I get tossed around like a piece of crap!"

"Cause you look like a piece of crap." Harry answered, not looking up from his letter.

"I do not look like crap!" Simon shouted. "I am an antique, and a valuable part of this school, you sniveling little..." Whatever insult Simon was about to spew was cut off by Harry flicking his wand, forming a zipper where the hat's mouth would have been.

"I love doing that." Harry sighed contently, as he watched the hat writhe back and forth on top of his bed. "Some things will never change." He thought aloud while petting Hedwig. "Thank you for the letter girl. I'll have one to give to you in the morning. You can stay here or up with the other owls till then." He offered

The snowy owl hooted at him before flying to the headrest of his bed. Harry looked at his beautiful bird and smiled. "Thats fine, but don't crap on my bed tonight." Hedwig glared at him for his comment, "Unless its on Simon." Harry added, which seemed to cause her to smirk, if that was possible, and Simon to squirm even more on the bed. Harry turned to his roommates, who by this point were nearly on the floor form laughter. "You'll like this letter." Harry said. "Remus feels bad for dragging me away for two years, and I guess I do as well for going, so we're going to give you a gift. It's more from him than me though."

"What are you getting us?" Artemis asked immediately.

"It's not a gift or a surprise if I tell you, but I will say that the three of us will be the only people in the UK that will have this particular item, aside from Remus and possibly Sirius." Harry answered.

Artemis and Cedric pondered that statement, both knowing they wouldn't get any more out of Harry. When nothing came to his mind after a minute or so, Artemis' hyperactive thought process decided to switch to something else. "What do you two think is on the third floor?" He asked.

"It's better to let sleeping dogs lie Artemis." Cedric answered.

"But what could Dumbledore have here that would kill students?" Artemis asked.

"If you really want to know. Wait about three weeks and then ask around in Gryffindor." Harry answered bluntly, from behind a new arithmacy book. "McGonagall will probably keep a good leash on the more daring ones for a while, but one or two of them will eventually go for a peek. And if those one or two morons don't die in that process I'm sure they will be talking all about it."

"So neither of you is curious about it?" Artemis asked.

"Not really I have other things to waste my time on. And as I said I'm sure the information will spread or the school will experience its first student death in over fifty years." Harry answered, while turning the page of his book. "Really just a waiting game."

"Such a load of crap." Artemis grumbled, before pulling out some potions ingredients, and getting to work on some random concoction.

"That better not smell like ass." Cedric said as he read his newest issue of monthly Quidditch magazine.

"I doesn't" Artemis answered calmly.

"It doesn't, explode, produce toxic gasses or acids that eat through my bed sheets, cause me to hallucinate, induce vomiting, wind me up like I'm on crack, give me frostbite, become potentially lethal, obliviate me, force me to speak my mind for the next three days; give me boils, sores, or a rash or some sort; knock me out, confuse me, double my vision, blur my vision, make me temporarily blind, cause numbness, deafness, or vanish various parts of my body for any period of time, does it?" Cedric asked, seriously.

Harry looked up from his book after hearing the list, his right eyebrow raised in curiosity. He saw the look on Cedric's face and knew that all of those things had happened at some point.

Artemis frowned at his friends questioning. "I doubt it...but it's always possible."

Cedric grumbled not getting the answer he wanted, but went back to his magazine anyway.

/

Being back at Hogwarts was interesting for Harry. Some things were good others he felt indifferent about. Of course the first few days had been annoying, having teachers welcome him back, another meeting with Flitwick to catch him up on a few new policies, and arranging for more difficult work in his electives. He had tried to see if he could jump a year ahead, since he already knew everything they would be teaching in those classes this year, but apparently it was against school policy. However other things were good. He was back with his friends, who he hated to admit he had missed slightly over the year, and he was able to get mostly unrestricted access to the library, which had more diverse selection of books than probably any other magical library on the planet.

Currently it was week three of school, and Harry was sitting in the back of the defense classroom, talking to Simon. He was ignoring the current attempt of Professor Quirrel, the man who was afraid of his own shadow, to teach Defense against the Dark Arts. Harry had come to the conclusion after the first day of class, that he wouldn't be learning anything new all year, and thus designated it to researching other more important things than useless superstitions. At the moment the teacher was making some insane accusations about vampires, that Harry knew weren't true, finishing his accusations by saying they would learn more in the next few years.

"How did this cowardly fool become the Defense teacher?" Harry asked.

"Simple, he was one of the only ones that actually showed up for an interview, probably because he's too dumb to know about the curse on the position." Simon answered.

"Anyone would have been better than him though." Harry answered.

"Actually you're wrong on that." Simon answered. "The other choice was worse than him. Gilderoy Lockhart tried for the position, but Dumbledore made the correct decision and chose the lesser of two evils."

"I stand corrected." Harry muttered, having read the first page of one of the latter's books.

"So your familiar then." Simon chuckled.

"Familiar enough to know that he's worse than Quirrel. Quirrel is a yellow superstitious coward yes, but I doubt he'll get any of the students killed with what he teaches." Harry answered.

"Speaking of students killed. Why haven't you gone poking around on the third floor." Simon asked.

"Like I told Artemis, I really don't care." Harry answered. "I have other things to worry about, which I'm sure you know."

"Ah but what if there was something being hidden on the third floor that was conducive to your everlasting project." Simon offered seductively.

"What did Dumbledore hide down there?" Harry asked, suddenly very serious.

"I'm forbidden to say." Simon returned. "Unfortunately I am not allowed to speak of certain things that originate in the headmaster's office due to my forced loyalty to the school."

"Can you tell me anything about it?" Harry asked more curious now than ever.

"I can say that its guarded." Simon answered. "But how well is a matter of your opinion."

"Interesting..." Harry thought. Before he could ask anything else the professor dismissed the class.

Cedric came up to Harry as they were leaving, and shook his shoulder. "You alright mate?" He asked.

Harry shook his head slightly before answering. "Yeah I'm fine why."

"Just wondering." Cedric said. "You just looked out of it and I wanted to remind you that tryouts are after this. If "

"Oh right. Thanks for reminding me" Harry answered. "Give me a few minutes, better yet,I'll meet you there. I need to go do something real quick." Harry added before rushing off.

"I wonder what's gotten into him." Cedric questioned with a shrug.

/

Fred and George were walking out of Snape's classroom with their arms full of what appeared to be random potions ingredients. George also had a piece of paper logged in the tips of his fingers and was looking at it intently. "Potter is nearby." He whispered to Fred. "Looks like he's coming this way."

"What's he doing down here." Fred asked quietly. "Maybe he has the same idea as us, but he's not here to visit Snape."

George nodded toward one of the suits of armor that lined many if not all of the schools hallways, and got a nod in return from Fred. The Weasley twins ducked behind the armor, hiding in the small recess it usually occupied.

Harry walked down the corridor and stopped at the suit of armor, that he knew the twins were hiding behind. "Not bad. It's only about three inches out of place." Harry commented. "It probably would have fooled anyone other than Dumbledore, or McGonnagall." He added.

"Come on out I need to ask you two something." Harry announced. "If you help me out, I might even give you a reward."

"No point in hiding now, right Gred."

"Too right Forge, this one's a tricky bird."

"Enough with the twin crap, Fred...George." Harry said nodding to the appropriate twin as they came out of hiding.

"Definitely a tricky bird." George said.

"He can tell us apart." Fred continued.

"I want to know whatever you two know about the third floor corridor." Harry stated, cutting to the chase.

"Right to business." George commented. "Very well what do we get in return."

"How about a better map than the one you currently have." Harry offered. "Although I would also like the one in your possession." Harry added looking at the Marauder's map that was in George's hand. "Though you'll probably charge me extra for that."

"Definitely." Fred answered.

"What's your price?" Harry asked.

Fred looked to George who nodded. "Teach us how you made the tables in the great hall stick to the wall in our first year. We can't seem to duplicate it."

"Done, now what do you know about the corridor?" Harry asked.

"We need a better place to talk, Snape's coming." George said, looking at his map. "Follow us."

Harry followed the twins on their roundabout path through the castle for several minutes before ending up on the third floor corridor itself.

"I asked what you know not to lead me here." Harry grunted

"Easy easy Harry boy." George offered with a smile.

"We aren't taking you in that door." Fred said pointing at one near the end of the hall.

"Instead we will visit this one." George continued, opening the door they had stopped in front of. "less people less chance of being discovered." He added as the three of them stepped into the room.

Harry stepped into the room after the twins, taking a quick look around he could tell thy had been using this room for more than just planning pranks, there were scorch marks on the walls, pieces of rumble all around, and several large piles of trash.

"Not sure I want to know what you two get up to in here." Harry commented, "Although i have a few guesses."

"Yes well, despite our lack of engagement our war continues." Fred offered. "But today we meet on more friendly terms."

"Spit it out." Harry said impatiently. "I have tryouts soon."

"Right, well we've only managed to get passed the Cerberus and the devils snare." George answered.

"But we haven't been able to get passed the flying keys." Fred added.

"Right nasty buggers." George continued. "We figure they're hiding something down there, but we haven't been able to figure out what it is yet."

"So a Cerberus and Devils snare." Harry thought. "Those are a bit dangerous. What are the keys your talking about?"

"Well there's a third room, its full of flying keys, and one of them opens the door, but every time we try to nab it the other keys attack us in a bloody fury." Fred answered.

"Thanks for the info." Harry said. He pulled out his personal version of the Marauders map and handed it to Fred who was the closer of the two twins. George handed Harry their original copy in return.

"Password the same?" he asked.

"Yes." Harry answered. "And the spell you want me to teach you can be found on page 327 of this book." Harry said, pulling out one of his older charms books. "I've already memorized the book so you two can keep It." Harry offered. "I don't want our little war to be too one sided."

Fred and George gave him a look that said 'cocky much' but Harry waved them off. Harry left the two miscreants to do whatever it was that they got up, and began walking towards the quidditch pitch.

"If it weren't for their personalities and the fact that those two are Weasley's I would have put them in Ravenclaw." Simon commented as they left. "No drive for school itself, but they have your same thirst for knowledge."

"In a slightly different way but yes I would agree with that." Harry replied. "So you couldn't tell me about the Cerberus, Devils Snare, or the keys?" Harry questioned.

"No, even now that you know I still can't say it. My loyalties are tied to the school you know."

"You've said that." Harry responded, "Sucks to be you then."

"You have no idea how true that is." Simon grumbled.

/

Harry jogged out onto the field and stood next to Cedric in the line up of all the prospective Ravenclaw quidditch players. It looked like he had made it just in time too, as Elizabeth, the team captain, and another Ravenclaw, who had a pronounced limp, walked out onto the field. She looked up and down the line of students, there were a few new second years, but most of the students were either on team last year or ones that had come back for another shot at tryouts.

"Welcome to tryouts. For those of you that have been here before you know the deal, for the new students let me explain the rules. I will be picking five chasers, two of which will join me on the starting team, and the other three will act as the reserve. I will also be picking four beaters, starters and reserve, two keepers, and two seekers you get the point. You will be judged on flying skill, teamwork, endurance, and points scored for your position. Chasers will be randomly rotated so everyone gets play time with everyone else, Keepers will be rotated in and out, beaters will fight in two vs two format, and seekers will go against each other in one vs one. Any questions?"

"Good." Elizabeth concluded.

She chose a full practice group out of the line up, that included Cedric and a few other players that Harry knew had been on the team last year, but there was enough fresh blood in the air for it not to be favoritism. She watched them practice for a few seconds before whispering something in the ear of the girl next to her. Harry saw the other girl nod, and could tell she was saying something back to the quidditch captain, but they were too far away for him to hear what they were saying. Elizabeth turned to the remaining recruits on the ground that were waiting for their turn. She seemed to be sizing each of them up. When her gaze finally landed on Harry, she shouted at him. "Potter, what position are you trying out for?" She asked.

"I can play both Chaser and Seeker." Harry answered.

"I won't let you play seeker with bad eyesight." Elizabeth said, "And I'm hesitant to let you even try for chaser. One wrong move, your glasses fall off, break, or fog up, and you become useless."

"What if I use charms to ensure those things don't happen." Harry suggested.

"Usually I trust magic, but on the field I won't risk it." The captain announced.

"We'll then that eliminates seeker, but I can play chaser without my glasses." Harry offered. He was determined to make it onto the team.

"How bad is you vision?" Elizabeth asked. "I don't believe you."

"You sound like you won't even give me a chance to prove it." Harry replied. "If I can beat you in one on one will you let me on the team."

"First to three. You, me, two beaters aside, and we act as our own keepers." Elizabeth offered.

"Deal." Harry replied, throwing a leg over his well polished Cleansweep six.

Elizabeth told everyone to clear the field except for hers and Harry's beater teams. Which to her credit seemed to be as equal as they could be. She gave the Quaffle to her friend/assistant on the ground before following Harry up into the sky.

Harry took his glasses off in mid air and tucked them into his pocket. In truth his eyesight was pretty much atrocious. beyond a few feet he really couldn't make out details. But he could see well enough to discern between teammates and foes, and blurry or not the motion of bludgers was easy enough to detect. Harry looked at Elizabeth and gave her a nod that said he was ready.

"On, three." Elizabeth shouted from her position opposite him. "Three...Two...One."

The Quaffle was thrown up between them. Harry shot forward, reaching out for the ball, but his fellow Ravenclaw got there first. She had snagged it just as Harry's fingers brushed the ball. Taking it in stride, Harry spun around and followed after her. Harry trailed a few feet behind Elizabeth, as she raced for the goals. Harry knew he wasn't the best keeper so he patiently waited for an opening or a mistake. Their race too the goal was interrupted as the beaters gained control of the bludgers, and began sending them their way. The first one nearly took Harry's head off forcing him to dive down several feet. The evasion cost him his position behind Elizabeth, who he now needed to catch. Shooting after the captain Harry, searched for the other bludger hoping that his beaters had gotten a hold of it. Harry smirked when he caught sight of the ball flying right towards Elizabeth, his smirk and hopes of catching her, or her dropping the ball went away when the Ravenclaw captain performed a flawless sloth grip roll. Elizabeth righted herself on her broom and heaved the quaffle towards the goal.

"Damn" Harry groaned. Laying as flat as he could, Harry pushed the broom as hard as he could. He was gaining on the ball, but doubted it would be enough. Stretching forward Harry reached out and swatted at the ball. It was mere feet from the goal. Harry's fingers grazed the ball just enough to send it off course. Time slowed down for Harry as he watched the ball swerve away from the hoop. He watched as it hit the ring that made up the edge of the goal, and felt despair as it bounced back through the goal. With a sigh, Harry flew through the ring ,and caught the ball before it could fall to the ground. Slowly flying back up he shouted at Elizabeth.

"Face off or loser's ball?" He asked

"Your choice." Elizabeth offered. She really didn't care.

"Face off." Harry called back to her as he flew to the center of the field. He tossed the ball down to the girl who had started them last time. Harry waited while Elizabeth readied herself opposite him. He smirked a little when he saw the surprised look on her face. "Expected me to take easy way out."

"Most people take any chance they can to get the ball, so passing up free possession is unusual."

"I'm not most people." Harry answered. "Besides when I beat you this way then you can't deny me a position on the team." He added smugly

"Cocky little shit." Elizabeth spat, she turned to her friend who was holding the Quaffle. " Jenna when you're ready."

The girl nodded, before pausing as if she was counting down in her head. With a heave she tossed the Quaffle high into the air directly between Harry and Elizabeth. Much like last time Elizabeth made it to the ball first, but unlike last time Harry hadn't jumped for the ball, instead he was in position to block his opponents path. Harry's eye's were glued to the ball. Elizabeth tried to roll over his head and get around him, which he let her do, just not with the quaffle. The second she initiated the maneuver Harry struck. Leaning to the side he shot out his fist, dislodging the ball from her grasp. Rolling under his broom in a hands free sloth roll Harry caught the ball, before rocketing off towards the goal. It took most of the crowd and Elizabeth a second to realize what had just happened. Elizabeth was quick to regain her mindset, and shot off, chasing after Harry. Bludger's came and went with greater frequency this time. The beaters on both sides had been controlling them since the first faceoff, and wasted no time in firing them one after another at the competing chasers. The flying blurs slowed Harry, who was constantly forced to duck and dodge the deadly balls, but for every one that was hit at him, another was hit at Elizabeth. Because Elizabeth couldn't catch up to him without being debroomed, Harry had no opposition at the goal line when he tossed the ball through the tallest hoop. Harry circled back and slowly flew back to the center of the field.

Elizabeth followed returned to the center similarly. With a scowl on her face she dropped down to the ground. "Toss it towards him, I'm going to make him pay for what he did last time." The captain seethed. "Nobody steals the ball from me."

"Don't kill him." Jenna replied.

"what was that about?" Harry asked, when Elizabeth formed up opposite him.

"Don't worry about it runt." Elizabeth grunted. "Lets just get on with me beating you."

"Seems to me the score is one to one." Harry offered nonchalantly.

"Not for long." Elizabeth spat back.

Their disagreement, was put on hold when Jenna threw the Quaffle up. Harry noticed that the girl gave a snap in her wrist at the last second, which conveniently sent the ball towards Harry. Harry wasn't stupid he knew he was being given the ball for a reason, but a trap didn't really work too well if you knew it existed. Harry watched as the ball came towards him. Tapping into his Marauder side, Harry came up with a plan of action. The ball floated up right in front of him, well within his area of control; however, rather than reaching out to catch it, Harry swung his broom out from under his legs. Swinging it as hard as he could, Harry batted the ball straight for Elizabeth. "I won't be played like that, catch this!" Harry grunted, as vibrations traveled up the shaft of his broom. Fighting the stinging sensation in his hands, Harry pulled the broom back under himself. He watched as the quaffle shot towards Elizabeth, though it was more bludger than quaffle by this point. The Ravenclaw Captain nearly fell from her broom, in her scramble to dodge the ball. Harry flew within inches of her as she fought for control of her broom, which delayed her recovery further. Diving towards the turf, Harry caught the quaffle, before taking a free run at the goals for a second point.

Harry returned to the center of the field for the third third time. "How about a fair toss up this time, so you actually have a chance." He said to Elizabeth as he dropped the quaffle down to Jenna. Elizabeth only glared at him for his comment. Harry just smiled back at her and waited for the next bout to begin. The toss of was perfect, equidistant form both of them. Harry shot forward, just slightly ahead of Elizabeth this time. He snatched the ball out of air a split second before she got to it, and dove to ground level. Flying inches off the ground Harry raced for the goals. Elizabeth wasn't far behind him, but was flying about three feet above him, not wanting to risk getting that close to the ground. Like with the last three bouts bludgers began flying shortly after the initial breakaway, but this time they were noticeably more dangerous. With the ground inches below their feet, there was less room available to dodge. Harry swerved left and right as the metal projectiles were guided towards him by the beaters. One of the bludgers even scrapped through the turf, leaving a small trench as it passed by. Grass and dirt blew through the air pelting both chasers, but neither lost sight of their goal. Harry risked falling to look over his shoulder to see where Elizabeth was. She was almost close enough to reach out and grab his cloak, if she had been flying at the same level as him, and it looked like she was gaining ground. Not one to buckle under pressure, Harry began his climb towards the goals. Griping the ball with one hand, Harry flew as close to the goals as he was allowed. Throwing it as hard as he could, Harry sent the Quaffle flying towards the tallest goal. Pulling his broom back to a stop, Harry watched. Elizabeth shot past him, and much like him during their first bout, attempted to stop the ball. Harry's hands clenched as she caught up to the ball, it was going to be close. The Ravenclaw captain, caught the ball just before it was going to go through the hoop, but was unable to get rid of it. Instead she fumbled with the ball as she flew through the ring, which made it Harry's point.

Harry floated over to Elizabeth who was beating her fist against her broom, and cursing up a storm. "It was enjoyable playing against you." Harry said holding out his hand, which she shook reluctantly. "I'll see you at the first practice."

Elizabeth sputtered but her newest teammate had already flown off. Gritting her teeth she barked out orders for the other players to resume tryouts, before returning to the ground to watch.

Harry walked by Cedric on his way out of the stadium. "Well hurry up and make the team, I'm liable to kill someone if I'm forced to play with all these bonkers."

Cedric just laughed at his friend. "If I don't make the team then I blame you. Tryouts just got five times harder because of your little show, which has Elizabeth pissed beyond all hell."

Harry shrugged at Cedric, "Sucks to be you. I'll see you later. I have other things to get on with. Best of luck dealing with the captain."

Cedric just shook his head, as Harry walked away. "It's good to have you back mate." He muttered, before kicking off and joining the other seeker in the air.

/

"You can't do this! Its not allowed!" Umbridge screamed

Sirius just smirked at the toad like woman. "Actually I can. I can do pretty much whatever I want, seeing as the ministry wrongly imprisoned me. If that is not enough then this nice piece of parchment form the Wizengamot and the minister himself should do the trick. Now pull fudge's bowler hat out of your arse and sign the papers."

Umbridge looked absolutely appalled. "In all my years... who do you think you are?"

"Quit bitching you overgrown toad." Sirius retorted. "You know exactly who I am and exactly why I can do this if I want to. Now sign the paper's before I floo up to the minister's office and get him to sign it, after requesting that he fires you because you were insensitive to me and my recent ordeals." Sirius said all of this with a smirk on his face, that could only be matched in intensity by the look of horror, anger, and disgust on Umbridge's face. The toad like woman finally submitted and signed the papers.

"Why thank you Dolores. I am sure I will back here a few times for similar reasons, and do hope we can come to similar agreements, though perhaps a bit sooner." Sirius offered cheerfully. "Have a good afternoon."

After he left her office, Sirius waited just outside the door to listen for a bit. His grin only grew wider as he heard Umbridge throwing and breaking various around her office, probably her creepy cat decorations, and cursing up a storm. He could hear her mutter things like "Arrogant piece of shit," "Bastard is trying to undo my life's work," and "If it weren't for the minister, I'd crucify him myself."

"Ah I love political immunity." Sirius sighed as he began walking away. "If this is how it feels, no wonder Lucius spends a fortune buying off Fudge every year." On his way out Sirius ran into Moody, who was accompanied by a girl with pink hair. After a moment he recognized her as his cousin Andy's daughter Nymphadora.

"Black" Moody growled in acknowledgement.

"Hey Alastor." Sirius responded. "Who's the unlucky soul?" He asked knowing full well who she was.

"My new apprentice." Moody answered. "Nymphadora Tonks." The girl glared at him for saying her name, but refrained from attacking the seasoned Auror. "She's a lot better than you too." Moody grumbled. "What's got you in such a good mood, I've seen that smirk before and every time I did you were up to no good."

"I'm just enjoying my new found freedom Alastor, just enjoying life." Sirius replied.

"Your up to no good." Alastor corrected. "But you deserve it. Just don't make any messes that I have to clean up."

"No guarantees." Sirius shrugged, resuming his trek out . "Life with restrictions isn't very fun. Oh and Dora tell your mother I said hi. I'll come visit soon."

/

/

Holy crap I never knew Quidditch was so hard to write, for whatever reason that part of this chapter was murder, hopefully I didn't fail too badly at it. This one turned out to be a longer chapter, that will hopefully work well as a setup for what I have planned for Harry's third year at Hogwarts. On a side note I wont be skipping the time in between the years, but rather bring them up at other more relevant points in time. As always comments and thoughts are appreciated.


	9. Chapter 9

Well I'm back. It has been forever since I've written anything but I finally got this down. Sorry for the wait, hope you like it.

(Wit Beyond Measure)

(Wit Beyond Measure)

Harry sat in the library scouring through a book he had ordered on magic's of the mind. His gift at occulumency had brought several new ideas into his search for a cure to his mother. Lily's brain was damaged beyond conventional repair, and Harry had yet to find a different way to cure the damage. Harry's newest idea revolved around using an enhanced version of legimancy to possibly repair parts of his mother's brain. There had been no research into what Harry was thinking of, so he was grasping at straws. However, Nicolas Flamel had looked into the properties of mental magics while on the hunt for the recipe for immortality. The french wizard had scrapped his research and replaced it with the Philosopher's stone, when he had found it to be the better and more simple answer. The book went into some of Flamel's findings, but because the research was incomplete, and of a different nature Harry was having to draw his own conclusions in most areas. His skills in arithmacy and runes were helping him plot out his ideas, but his knowledge was woefully incomplete in the two subjects. Harry wasn't satisfied with his work so far, but it was progress of sorts.

"You should go down to the great hall. It is halloween you know." Simon commented. "You stick around here for much longer and you'll miss the feast."

"You act like I really care about these types of things." Harry replied, still staring at the book in front of him.

"It will be more trouble for you to skip it." Simon offered. "The questions, the rumors...

Harry sighed, cutting the hat off, but he knew Simon was right. He hadn't made any progress in a while either. Tossing his books into his bag, Harry swept up Simon, placing the hat on his head. "How late am I?" He asked, walking out of the deserted library.

"I'd say a few minute's." Simon offered. "Fashionably late suits you."

Harry chuckled at the hat's comment. The magically animated hat was always a good source of humor. Harry let his feet carry them to the great hall. Uncaringly, the teen ignored his surroundings on the way to the great hall. Instead he thought about ways to improve his runes and arithmacy. Perhaps he could go to his teachers and request more advanced lessons, or books. Both were good options, and others bounced around inside his head. Harry was about to open the door to the great hall when he heard low thuds coming from the dungeons. Curious, Harry continued past the doors to the great hall. Tracking down the origin of the noise, his nose was overrun by a horrid stench. Coughing in disgust, Harry cast a bubble charm around his head. Satisfied, Harry continued towards the repeating noise. He may have been curious, but Harry was careful enough to not go running around corners when he didn't know what he was dealing with. His caution ended up saving him too. He had checking each corner on his way down into the dungeons, carefully peering down the each corridor. Up until now they had all been empty, but this time Harry had been surprised to find Quirrell directing a troll down the corridor. Now a defense teacher handling a troll probably wouldn't have seemed that far out of place. Especially in the dungeons where it could be locked up and then possibly displayed to an older class, but when the defense professor was incompetent, and scared of his own shadow. It did seem out of place. Quirrell was not one to play with trolls, so Harry knew something was going on. Harry watched carefully, noticing dark look on the Professor's face. It was clear the man was taking a perverse pleasure in dominating the brutish creature. _It seems as though you have been pulling one over on all of us Quirrel. _Harry thought as he watched. _The question is, what are you up to?_ Harry's observations were cut short when the defense professor released his control of the troll. The professor seemed to nudge the troll in one direction, before turning to leave. Harry knew that it was in his best interests to not get caught, and with the Professor briskly making his way towards his place of observation, he had to act quickly. He really only had two options, hide or run. Harry quickly looked around. He wasn't surprised by the lack suitable hiding places. The dungeons were very bare in comparison to the rest of the school. The corridor was too far for him to normally run without alerting the approaching professor. With no other choice, Harry looked to Simon. "I hope you can stay on my head." He whispered, diving towards the ground. In mid air, Harry morphed his body. Landing in the form of a large, emerald eyed, black wolf, Harry sprinted away on all fours. Careful not to let his claws make too much noise, Harry barely escaped notice by professor Quirrel. Harry didn't stop until he was outside the doors of the great hall again. Careful to check that no one was around, Harry transformed back into himself. He realized that had anyone, relatively knowledgeable been around it wouldn't have been hard to identify him in his animagus form. How many students had his eyes, and carried the sorting hat around. A green eyed wolf wearing the tattered old hat should have raised a few questions, but luckily for him everyone was at the feast. Dipping into the great hall, Harry joined his friends at the Ravenclaw table.

"What took you so long?" We're almost done." Artemis commented when Harry joined them. Harry may have been the most antisocial of the group, but he was rarely late to dinner.

"I lost track of time in the library." Harry answered absently, while piling food onto his plate. His mind more focused on what he had just seen, than eating the food in front of him or socializing.

Harry managed to get a few bites in, before the doors of the great hall were slammed open. A panicked Quirrell ran into the hall shouting, "TROLL IN THE DUNGEON. TROLL IN THE DUNGEON." Stopping halfway up the hall between the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables, the professor muttered, "Just thought you should know." His message delivered, the professor collapsed to the ground. His fainting triggering mass hysteria across the four houses. A few, including Harry, remained calm until Dumbledore restored order in the great hall.

"SILENCE!" the Headmaster shouted, asserting himself and his position. Harry could see power radiating from the ancient wizard. Dumbledore was currently showing the calm knowledgeable power he was famous for. "Prefects lead your houses to their common rooms. Professors follow me." Dumbledore ordered leading the way out of the great hall.

"Just when I begin to think he's not a senile old bat he goes and pulls something like this." Harry sighed.

"My opinion that he is an incompetent, two bit, backstabbing, manipulating, dusty old pedophile, was just partially proven." Simon commented.

Harry rose from the table and began flowing out of the hall with the rest of the students. Once they were all there. The Ravenclaw prefect, who's name Harry didn't care to remember, led them up into the castle. "Been working on that list while I was gone?" Harry commented, ignoring the panicked population.

"I have, thank you for noticing." Simon replied. "Should I go on? I have more."

"What are you two talking about?" Cedric interrupted.

Harry looked at his friend like he was an idiot. Which really was the case at this point in time. "Dumbledore is a damn buffoon. No one has realized it because no one questions the senile old codger." Harry offered. "Think about what's going on and then think about what our esteemed headmaster is doing about it."

Cedric thought about it for a second before he realized what Harry was saying. "The Slytherin common rooms are in the dungeons where the troll is supposed to be."

Artemis who had come to similar conclusions, but had something else on his mind. "Tracy!" Not bothering to wait for the other two Artemis sprinted back towards the dungeons

Harry sighed as his friend sprinted down the corridor, fro which they came. "If we let him go by himself he will get killed. Which he really deserves for this stupid stunt."

"No one else will claim him, will they." Cedric commented, as they stopped following the group.

"No one wants the ugly duckling." Simon cackled. "But he is my object of torture."

"Right well since the hat claims him, I guess we have to go." Cedric offered. Harry nodded, before the two of them set off at a brisk pace. Artemis was long gone, but they had a pretty good idea of where he was going. Harry and Cedric were quick to return to the ground floor of the castle. They were about to go into the dungeons, looking for Artemis, when a feminine scream tore through the silence. It had come from one of the adjacent halls. Artemis' voice rung through the corridor after the scream, but his shouts were masked by sounds of crushing stone, wood and a crash. A second, louder and more panicked, scream followed the noises.

"Our luck can't be that bad can it?" Harry groaned.

"Only one way to find out." Cedric gulped. He really hoped, their friend wasn't stupid enough to take on a troll. The two teens drew their wands, and sprinted towards the noise. When they ran into the horrible stench of the troll, both knew they were in for a fight. This was only reinforced when they found destroyed sets of armor, and a collapsed Artemis on the ground. Harry and Cedric ran up to their friend, Harry immediately checking for a pulse. Finding one he knew Artemis was hurt but alive.

"He'll live. We need to find Tracy." Harry announced seriously. Waving his wand, Harry cast a spell that sent out a loud booming noise, that should have been heard throughout the lower half of the castle. "Someone will of heard that. Lets go. He will never forgive us if we let her die." Harry said as he left Leaving Artemis on the ground. It wasn't hard to figure out which way the troll had gone. The destruction created a nice path through the hall. The destruction ended at the door to the girls bathroom at the end of the hall. It was clear the Troll was still in there, from the way the walls were shaking and the grunts it was giving off. Screams and shouts rang out between the grunts. The boys stopped outside the door, Harry turning to Cedric. "I'll distract it, you get the Tracy, and whoever else, out of there.

"Right." Cedric nodded.

Running into the bathroom Harry and Cedric split up. Harry went straight for the troll, getting the beast's attention by blasting it with a cutter. It may not have put the troll out of commission because of its tough skin, but if the roar the troll gave off was any indicator, the spell had hurt. Turning to face Harry, the troll swung its club at the teen. Harry ducked under the swing, and cast a permanent sticking charm on the end of the club. When the wooden object connected with the wall, it stuck. The troll was easily confused when its club didn't come away from the wall. Tugging on it, the troll became engrossed in freeing its club. Harry noticed Cedric had a hurt, but conscious Tracy draped over his back. Behind his roommate three terrified first years, including boy wonder, stood at the ready. "Get out of here." Harry ordered, keeping himself in front of the troll incase it decided its club wasn't worth it. Not needing to be told twice the group led by Cedric tried to run past the troll. Three of them made it, but Longbottom tripped falling into the rubble of the stalls. To make matters worse, the troll managed to rip its club, and part of the wall free. "Worthless little bastard." Harry cursed, as he was forced to dive away from the troll. The stone encrusted club smashing through his previous position, sending debris flying and blocking the door. Harry had no intentions of staying in an enclosed space, with a live troll. With only him and the mostly expendable boy wonder in the room, Harry assumed it was safe enough to do what he probably should have done to begin with. At least now if the troll collapsed, there would be less risk of it landing on someone. Facing the troll, Harry silently summoned the creature's club. Levitating it above his head, Harry made a few intricate flicks with his wand, turning the club into a giant stone spear. A ruthless look on his face, Harry muttered "Depulso." Banishing the newly created spear with as much force as the spell could create. Guiding the weapon towards the troll's head, Harry ducked to avoid the splatter of brains as the creature's head was impaled, the spear going all the way through and pinning the troll to the wall. Even with a giant spear through its skull, the troll still struggled for a few moments, trying to remove the object and free itself from the wall.

"Utterly stupid creatures, but they're persistent. I will give them that." Harry muttered dragging Neville out of the debris. Ignoring the boys whimpers of pain, Harry drug the boy towards the door. Staring at the rubble blocking the door, Harry sighed. "You had to trip didn't you. I could have gotten out without killing the thing if you had just made it out the door. You're more trouble than you're worth you know that." Letting go of the first year, who fell to the ground without support, Harry pointed his wand at the rubble. "Cedric get everyone clear of the door, I'm making a new one." Harry shouted. He could hear some shuffling out in the hall before Cedric responded.

"It's all clear Harry." Cedric announced.

Harry's face took on a determined look as he viciously jabbed his wand at the rubble. A blasting curse blazed out of his wand, impacting against the remains of the bathroom. The incandescent spell, forcefully removed the obstructions, sending them crashing out into the hallway. Harry pushed the boy who lived out into the hallway, following closely behind. Harry looked around at the group he and Cedric had saved. The first years had gotten off easy scrapes and bruises, but nothing threatening. Tracy appeared to have a broken leg, but she was awake. The slytherin girl was currently leaning heavily on Cedric for support. Harry was about to ask her what had started all of this, when he began to hear rushed footsteps. "Oh look the calvary is finally here." Harry spat, upset with the situation. He knew the professors would ask all the questions he had and more, so he held off with his own. The group could see McGonagal, Snape, Flitwick and Dumbledore trotting towards them from the end of the hall.

"Potter! Diggory! What has happened here?" McGonagall demanded, clearly distressed by the destruction rampant across the corridor.

"Lord Voldemort appeared inside the castle and began blasting walls apart." Simon offered much to the annoyance of several of the professors. "No that wasn't it. I remember now. There was this giant angry troll like creature. I think it wanted to grind our bones and make bread, or is that a Giant. Either way it was not in the dungeons."

"Enough, explain!" McGonagall ordered, quickly losing her patience.

"Well you see, this all started because the old codger is also a senile old fool. Artemis here ran off with the intention of collecting the harpy, after having come to the realization that she was walking into a death trap. I mean really, who sends a fourth of their student population into the exact area where a troll was just spotted." McGonagall and Snape glared at Simon for his insults, despite his rather valid point. Dumbledore just seemed to chuckle humorously at having his mistake pointed out. Ignoring them, Simon continued with his tale. "My caretaker and previous chew toy, knew that Artemis would certainly run into the troll that had everyone's knickers in a bunch, and most undoubtably meet a squishy end. Their theory was almost proven correct, which is why Artemis, also known as my current chew toy, is unconscious. Apparently, the harpy and the three braveharts also had the misfortune of ruining their nostrils by way of troll. This leads me to my next assumption, in that my current chew toy attempted to take on said smelly beast in the hopes of saving the harpy. Most likely hoping for a rather intimate reward." Had the situation not been what it was, Tracy probably would have hexed the hat for his comment. "Needless to say he was bested by the troll, which resulted in his injuries, but allowed the others to run to the loo. Their mediocre hiding skills, did little to sway the flesh pile who gave chase. My caretaker and former chew toy arrived at that point, and were forced to save the day. Upon discovering the dire circumstances the others were in, they proceeded into the loo. One collected the disabled Harpy and the three bravehearts, while the other distracted the troll." None of the teachers seemed too skeptical so far given that everything the hat had stated was within the realm of reason. Although the name usage was making it hard to follow. "However in the process of escaping from the troll the braveheart leader, managed to find something so fascinating on the floor that he decided to inspect it with his face. In the process of doing so he wedged himself into the debris. Much like an ostrich sticks its head in the sand. Quite amusing actually. At this point, the flesh pile forcefully freed it's club from the wall. Creating quite a mess in the process, it managed to trap the braveheart leader, my caretaker, and I in the loo. Trapped inside the loo with the angry, undistracted, flesh pile and the clumsy braveheart leader, my caretaker was forced to find a more permanent solution to the problem. He expertly created the rare dish known as troll on a stick, quite a tasty entree, before blasting his way back out of the loo. The carnage you see around you is a result of this entire process."

"I believe some congratulations are in order." Dumbledore announced, the usual twinkle in his eye. "Had misters Potter, Diggory, and Wilks not seen to take action after realizing my mistake, this incident could have resulted in much worse than a destroyed corridor. Fillius you should be proud of your house. Not only did they spot a mistake no one else did, they chose to actively attempt to correct it. For showing commendable skill, and bravery, I award you two hundred points collectively."

Harry muttered under his breath, never enjoying the spotlight. Thankfully everyone's attention was switching to Longbottom who had just been asked why he and his friends where there. As Gryffindor tower was nowhere nearby. The boy stuttered under the pressure, not really producing a good answer.

Tracy spoke up, sharing as much dislike for the boy as the Marauders, if not more after today's incident. "I ran into them on my way out of the dungeons, during my attempt to avoid running into the troll. A full house of students or not, I had no desire to possibly become a victim of the troll. Longbottom seemed to be boasting about besting the beast in combat...

Harry tuned out Tracy as she explained how moronic the boy who lived actually was. With the boy's quidditch skills and arrogant mindset it would be amazing if Longbottom actually survived the year. Harry's thoughts shifted when his nose caught the scent of blood. He was surprised he could pick it up. Even with his sharp sense of smell thanks to his animagus form, the troll's stench should have masked it. Harry searched the group for the source. Ignoring the small cuts and scrapes the Braveheart brigade had, the only other source of the smell came from Snape. The potions professor had covered it well, but his pant leg was drenched with blood. Harry wasn't allowed to think on the matter as Dumbledore was currently bringing the conversation to an end. The esteemed headmaster had let the braveheart brigade off with little more than a slap on the wrist, taking away a few measly points. It was a blatant showing of favoritism. Knowing it was safer to get out now than to stick around and become the object of Dumbledore's attention once again Harry excused himself.

"Unless you need something else from me, I have school work to do." Harry announced. Rather than wait for an answer, Harry started to walk away, hoping they wouldn't call him back.

The professors stared at the retreating back of the teen. Each having their own thoughts about Harry Potter, but in the fashion of Ollivander, Great things were to come from the boy. Once he was out of sight, Dumbledore drew his wand and began repairing the damaged corridor and bathroom. The others took this as a signal to disperse as well. McGonagall led the injured students to the hospital wing, while the others went back to their respective duties.

(Wit Beyond Measure)

"So they really let you do this?" Remus asked astounded by what his friend had done. Over the last month, Siruis had been spending all of his time on some pet project of his.

"Well I didn't really give them a choice." Sirius smirked. "It needed to happen too. Think of it as my belated birthday present to you for the last seven years. Besides, I don't want to go back to being an Auror. I think this is much more up my alley, causing trouble and ignoring rules, and I can throw parties whenever I want."

Remus was forced to smile by his friend's antics. No matter how old he got, Sirius would still be the same person looking to have a good time, and break some rules. Before he could comment on his friends antics, Hedwig came flying into the room. Swooping past them, she dropped a letter between the two. Circling around she landed on Remus' shoulder and gave the werewolf an affectionate hoot. Remus scratched the top of her head, much like Harry often did. The bird just glared at Sirius.

"Why does she like you so much but hate me?" Sirius asked. Every time Harry's owl was around him she would glare at him, and sometimes she would violently peck the innocent felon.

"I'm not sure, the only two people she seems to dislike more than you are Simon and Jill. Jill did try to eat her though so its not really surprising." Remus offered as he opened the letter. He scanned over its contents before handing it over to Sirius. "He's just like James, but you add the brains of Lily and he's a bit of monster." Remus chuckled.

Sirius read the letter and chuckled. It was a warning that Dumbledore may be contacting them soon. He explained how he had killed a troll, unintentionally turning a few heads in the process. "And I thought I was going to be on the front page this week. Although dumbledore might cover it up with that silvery tongue of his."

"We will see soon won't we?" Remus offered. "About your project, what are you going to call it?"

"I haven't really come up with anything yet, but I promise it will be rude and obnoxious." Sirius smirked.

"I'm sure it will." Remus chuckled, not expecting anything else form his friend. "Harry has a quidditch game coming up do you want to go watch it?"

"Of course I do." Sirius replied happily. "I can catch up with Minerva while we're there too."

"Your going to get a claw stuck in your nose." Remus offered. "But suit yourself."

"Life is no fun if you don't take a chance here and there, and she needs a good joke to lighten her up." Sirius rambled.

Before either of them could continue their conversation Alucard appeared between them in a swirl of red. Remus had grown used to it, but Sirius jumped a few feet at the vampire's sudden appearance. "I hate that you can do that. Even if it did get me out of jail." Sirius muttered.

"Did I hear something about Quidditch?" Alucard questioned, ignoring the man's complaint.

"You did, we're going to see Harry play in a few days. Would you like to come?" Remus offered.

"Harry never fails to entertain, and a game would be fun to watch" Alucard replied.

"I'll inform Dumbledore that the four of us will be coming to the next game." Remus concluded.

(Wit Beyond Measure)

The Troll incident had rolled through the rumor mill, and passed on relatively quickly. Everyone was more interested in the quidditch match between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor that was going to take place in a few days. Harry was happy being able to back to being the relatively invisible student that had an angry, fowl mouthed, hat that scared away any brave students trying to interrupt his studies. Even though he was on the Ravenclaw team most of the attention was on the Braveheart leader as Simon liked to call Longbottom. It would be the boy's debut game as a seeker since the one against Slytherin had been postponed for some crackpot reason. Either way attention was off of Harry and he was back to sneaking around the castle at night. Artemis was still in the hospital wing, so Cedric and Harry were on their own tonight. Harry had decided it was time for a bit of a show, retaliation for the whole troll incident. In an interesting bit of circumstance the two marauders had run into the Weasley twins. The twins were adventuring as well, carrying their new map. "Gred I do believe our nemesis has pulled one over on us, look here." George announced pointing at the map.

"Too right Forge he gave us a faulty map." Fred answered.

"No It just doesn't display my location, or those of a few others." Harry answered, effectively cutting off what was sure to become a two sided rant. "Now unless you were actually searching for us I suggest we get on with our selective tasks there is a whole castle beckoning to be toyed with."

The twins smirked at Harry's words and in a show of mutual respect departed with nods. The twins began heading for the dungeons probably to mess with Snape. Harry watched them go, but he was after Quirrell. He hadn't really figured out what the man was after yet, but he was the one who had let the troll in as a distraction. At least that was what Harry had come to believe. He hadn't told Cedric or the recovering Artemis anything about Quirrell of course, but it hadn't been hard to convince Cedric to come along.

The first stop was Quirrell's chair in the great hall. A simple permanent sticking charm along with several thumbtacks magically hidden from view was phase one. The classics tended to produce some of the best results. Stop two was the defense classroom. Knowing his teachers phobia of all things vampire, Harry, with the assistance of Cedric, removed all of the vampiric defenses from the room. Harry would have to thank the twins for the next bit, at least partially. He had managed to snatch a box from their workshop during his talk with them. He had no idea what the original intention of product had been, but with some intensive tweaking of his own, Harry had created the insta boggart. Simply activate it with the desired image/creature mentally pictured, and presto you have an easy scare for any intended target. The two Neo Marauders placed several in easy and not so easy to find locations to ensure several good scares in the coming days.

After leaving their fun surprises for Quirrell in the defense room Harry and Cedric checked the map for signs of anyone nearby. Most of the castle was in their rooms for the night, minus the usual exceptions. The twins were in Snape's classroom, a few prefects were out patrolling the corridors, However the markers for Snape and Quirrell caught Harry's attention. Snape seemed to be chasing after or looking for Quirrell. The potions professor was following a similar path to the defense teacher. Harry thought about checking it out, but removed the notion from his mind he had gotten his revenge for the troll. This did however leave the third floor corridor completely open for exploration. "Cedric, can you make it back to the common room on your own?" Harry asked.

"Probably why?" Cedric questioned.

"There's something else I want to look into." Said Harry, turning to walk the other way. "I'll be back later." He said before Cedric could protest. Leaving Cedric to find his own way back to the common room, Harry made his way down to the third floor corridor. He had yet to venture there himself, but after his chat with the twins he knew about a few of the things the quarantined area held in store for him. Which was why he was not surprised to find the huge three headed Cerberus at the ready when he entered the first room. Whipping out his wand Harry cast a shrinking charm on the beast reducing it to the size of a puppy. "Much better I'd say he's a lot more bark than bite now. What do you think?" Harry asked Simon.

"Well done, simple yet effective." Simon commented, giving genuine praise for a change. "Amazing how simple things can be if you approach them from the right angle. Ravenclaw was definitely the right choice for you."

"Like you would ever admit to being wrong." Harry quipped as he attempted to scoot the three headed puppy off the trapdoor with his foot. Despite its currently small stature, the dog was still trying to bite him so Harry had to magically remove the canine from its position on the trapdoor. With the first obstacle removed Harry quickly lifted the trapdoor and jumped down. He landed on the soft and squishy plant known as Devils Snare. Thinking it best to not leave evidence of his visit, Harry calmly allowed the plant to pull him down to the next level. "What exactly is this supposed to be guarding?" Harry questioned. "This couldn't stop a first year let alone anyone with half a brain."

"Something of great value that our headmaster seems determined to lose." Simon commented vaguely. "At least thats how it appears."

Harry entered the next room and new exactly who was responsible for it, and why the twins hadn't been able to get passed it. Hundreds of small keys were flying about in the room. A broom was also floating in the center of the room. All in all it seemed like a simple find the right key challenge, but Harry knew better. Professor Flitwick wouldn't make it that simple. Blasting his way through the door wouldn't do either because A, the door was probably magically reinforced, if not then why even bother, and B, Harry didn't want to leave any traces of his venture. He remembered the twins saying that this was as far as they had gotten. That when they had grabbed the correct key the rest had attacked them in a flurry. Harry quickly tried unlocking the door and summoning the key to him. When neither work he just shrugged his shoulders. "Worth a try." He mumbled, before stepping over to the floating broom in the room. It wasn't the most appealing thing in the world, gnarled and scratched to the point that Harry was genuinely wondering if it would fly. The first two obstacles had been jokes to say the least, but Harry was thinking more about the situation now that Flitwick was involved. "Now If I really wanted to protect something I'd make it seem possible to attain it but in the end impossible." Harry muttered aloud, but he couldn't turn back now. Simon had said this would help him with cure Lily, and while the hat was a right ass most of the time Harry had enough trust in it to know Simon hadn't been lying. With a regretful sigh, as he knew what was coming would probably hurt, Harry threw a leg over the broom and kicked off. Everything went well at first. Harry flew up and joined the flock of keys, searching around for the one needed to open the door. The old and tarnished key hadn't been very hard to find, but things had gotten really exciting when he plucked it from the air. Like an angry swarm the rest of the keys came straight for Harry. Ramming into him at surprising speeds, the hundreds of small keys easily drew blood. With one hand on the broom and one barely holding on to the door key, there was nothing Harry could do to stop the onslaught except fly away. He pushed the broom far harder than was probably safe, but at the moment he didn't care. Currently he was trying to get some distance between himself and the angry swarm. The gleeful cackling of Simon wasn't helping much either, but Harry was forced to chuckle a bit when the enchanted rag of a hat started cursing up a storm.

"You fucking worthless excuses of iron. I'll melt you down to slag and have you rammed up Dumbledore's decrepit, sagging expanse of an ass. How dare you defile my beautiful face." Apparently being the enchanted had of Gryffindor didn't make Simon impervious to high velocity keys. From the commentary Harry would bet his trust fund that one of the keys had managed to fly straight through the tattered hat. A key nicking Harry's arm brought his attention back to the relatively perilous situation he was currently in. Diving for the ground Harry barely slowed the broom in order to keep his slight lead. Once near the door Harry launched himself from the broom. Rather than land on his feet Harry performed what some would call a slightly controlled rag doll. Bruised a slightly bloody, he transfigured a small stone wall out of a pebble on the ground. With a barrier between him and the swarm, he was able to open the door and step through to the next room.

"Not impossible, just bloody painful." Harry sighed as he looked to see what was sure to be the next obstacle. "Ah, chess, Minerva your too kind." He said happily. Harry walked up to the black queen and placed Simon on her head. "I present you with the opportunity to vent your anger."

Simon may have been duty bound to not speak of things said inside the headmaster's office, but nothing said he couldn't do this. Even so he wasn't having any of it. With a flop he turned to face Harry. "It's your damn fault I've got a hole in me. I should be taking my anger out on you."

"Yes there is some truth to that statement, but lets be honest who do you hate more. Me who carries you about and takes you on adventures or Dumbledore who keeps you on a dusty shelf and is responsible for this whole mess."

Simon seemed to think it over for a moment. "You know me well, but your still a little cock sucker for getting me into this." Simon stated, clearly still very agitated. Harry wasn't about to tell him that he had gotten himself into this by baiting Harry with his mother's well being. Harry was about to step in and play himself, but right before he stepped onto the board, Simon reversed his position. With an evil cackle he shouted to the black pieces, "Prepare for battle my minions!"

Harry watched in amazement as Simon ruthlessly crushed the opposing force. Despite the considerable skill used by McGonagall in designing the chess game, it was over relatively quickly. "Never knew you liked chess." Harry commented, as he picked up the tattered hat and placed it on his head.

"Why wouldn't I enjoy this. It's a giant game of Simon says, where I get to control every move of my minions and lay waste to a battlefield." Said Simon, his voice laced with a bloodlust of sorts.

"I will have to challenge you to a game sometime. I'm curious as to how I stack up against the creation of the founders." Harry stated, walking towards the next room. A few steps and a horrible stench told him exactly what he was in for. "What the hell is with the trolls. Does Quirrell have a fetish or something?" Harry grumbled

"Perhaps his stutter comes being fondled by trolls." Simon cracked. "And they're not known for being gentle."

Harry shuddered at the image that presented him with. He shook it from his mind before observing the problem. For once luck was on his side as the lumbering beast was sleeping. "Remind me not to use trolls as guard dogs later on. They smell and sleep on the job."

"Don't forget that they are moronic flesh piles." Simon added, as Harry tiptoed around the sleeping beast. Once again he was beginning to wonder exactly why it was even possible to get around these obstacles. Was it a trap, or was a great plan in play here? The next room wasn't helping him with his dilemma. The second he had stepped into the room, flames had erupted around the two doors. "I almost miss the troll." He sighed walking over to a table with a piece of parchment and several vials on it. Harry scanned over the parchment.

"Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind,

Two of us will help you, whichever you would find,

One among us seven will let you move ahead,

Another will transport the drinker back instead,

Two among our number hold only nettle wine,

Three of us are killers, waiting hidden in line.

Choose, unless you wish to stay here for evermore,

To help you in your choice, we give you these clues four:

First, however slyly the poison tries to hide

You will always find some on nettle wine's left side;

Second, different are those who stand at either end,

But if you would move onwards neither is your friend;

Third, as you see clearly, all are different size,

Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides;

Fourth, the second left and the second on the right

Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight."

"A bit too long of a riddle for entrance to the common room, but it is fairly simple." Harry said after thinking the riddle over a few times. "The third one sends me forward, and the seventh sends be back." Harry picked up the third vial. "Here's to hoping they aren't all poison." He said downing the contents of the vial. Harry instantly felt like ice was pumping through his veins. Walking over to the door he waved a hand through the flames. His hand barely registered the flames only tingling slightly when immersed. Satisfied, Harry stepped through the door. The next room was more of a chamber. Large and round it looked like it served some sort of purpose in the past. A depression existed in the very center of the room. A large full sized mirror sat in the depression with several steps leading down to it. Harry approached it cautiously, and took time to inspect the object. A simple mirror wasn't valuable, so there must be something else to it. Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi was engraved in the frame. Harry quickly translated the backwards text to "I show not your face but your hearts desire." Curious to see how his hearts desire would be displayed by the mirror, Harry stepped in front of it. Not surprisingly it showed Harry's mother. More specifically it showed her standing next to him alive and well. The Lily potter in the mirror draped her arms around his reflection in a loose hug. "Simon what the fuck is this." Harry growled genuinely angry. "I don't take kindly to being tormented by this worthless piece of glass." Simon just stayed silent. Harry was about to blast the mirror into oblivion for showing him something that despite devoting his life to he had been unable to attain, but Lily's image stopped him. Waving her finger in an admonishing way she drew out something from behind her with her other hand. Harry watched as she placed it in his reflection's pocket, and gave it a soft pat. Harry felt a weight settle into his pocket and looked down at his pocket before looking back at Lily. The red headed Potter nodded to him before blowing him a kiss. After the loving gesture, she waver her hand in a shooing motion, as if she was saying "Go on and get out of here." Smiling and no longer angry at Simon, Harry pulled the object out of his pocket. "And to think I was beginning to doubt you." He muttered easily identifying what had appeared in his pocket.

"You may be a crotch stain, but even a crotch stain deserves a bone here and there. Now about my reward for this. Due to grievous injuries on my part I will require five hundred galleons a Harem of..."

"I don't want to know." Harry interrupted. "You can take it up with Sirius. I'm sure he would be happy to indulge in whatever your cooking up in that crooked mind of yours. What would you even do with money and any kind of harem anyway. you're a hat." Harry stated.

"Pansy." Simon spat. "And there are plenty of things to be done with money and a Harem, hat or not."

"Over the years various things have warped my mind, but somehow I fee that looking too far into yours would be the end of me." Harry stated calmly. "I may not fear magic, but I don't trust many aspects of it, especially whatever twisted spells were used to create you."

"Smart boy, you know better than to poke your nose into places that bite back." Simon cracked. "You've learned from mistakes over the past few years."

"Yes, now we should make ourselves scarce before someone comes prodding for answers they don't need, and I don't want to answer."

(Wit Beyond Measure)

(Wit Beyond Measure)

This feels a bit rough probably as a result of me not writing at all for several months, but hopefully its passable for now. Next chapter should feature a quidditch game so look forward to that. Anyway, let me know what you think.


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Harry Potter, Adventure, Romance