“The ceiling is charmed to look like the sky,” a first-year girl with bushy brown hair explained to her fellow students, as they walked through the Great Hall following Professor McGonagall until they were told to stop just in front of the Head table. Harry waited patiently for his name to be called, wondering if the Hat would sort him or just tell him that he was a freak and should leave the beautiful castle immediately.

Finally, with “Potter, Harry” Professor McGonagall called his name. Harry stumbled to the front and sat down on the chair so that the teacher could place the Sorting Hat on his head.

“Ah, I can see courage and loyalty, but I can also see other traits in your head. Your magic is very strong, but I will not be misled by lies or glamours. Now, where am I going to put you?”

“Anywhere but Slytherin please,” Harry whispered back, hoping that the Hat would listen to his words.

“Oh, not Slytherin? That is, however, where I’d like to place you. Why not?”

“Because they told me that all bad people are in Slytherin, and…”

“No,” the Hat cut him off. “That’s not true, as you will see.” The Hat went quiet for a minute, before continuing in a loud voice for everyone to hear,

“Sly…,” it stopped, only to continue, “…ffindor.” With this, the hall went absolutely quiet. Harry pulled the hat off his head and threw a questioning glance at Professor McGonagall, who was standing right beside him.

“Just sit down at the Gryffindor table. We will have a talk to the Hat about this later,” she said, giving him an encouraging smile. Harry went over to the Gryffindor table, while the Sorting continued. He was glad to be able to sit next to Ron; he just hoped that the professors would not insist on putting him into Slytherin after their talk with the Hat.

“What kind of a Sorting was that?” the twins, who seemed to be Ron’s brothers asked Harry curiously, and Harry told them about his talk to the Hat.

“So it’s not yet decided if you can stay in Gryffindor?” Ron asked him, flabbergasted. Harry shook his head and replied in a small voice,

“No, Professor McGonagall sent me to sit here, but she said we would talk to the Hat later.”

“Now, Harry,” an older girl – the others called her Alicia – addressed Harry. “I know that you are scared by this Sorting matter, but look at the food here. The food at Hogwarts is always good, but during the Welcoming feast it is especially delicious, and you should eat something anyway.” Harry gave her a small smile, while Hermione, who was sitting on his left side, piled some food on his plate.

“Thank you, Hermione,” Harry whispered and started to push the food around his plate. He should have been hungry, as he hadn’t eaten anything for a few days, but he was used to only eating one or two meals a week, and he was much too excited and afraid what the Hat would tell the teachers.

At the same time, Harry’s Sorting was the topic number one at the Head table.

“How can the Hat do this?” Pamona Sprout asked. “Moreover, does this mean that he is Sorted into both houses?” Severus Snape, the Slytherin Head of House, sneered.

“You don’t believe that, do you?” he asked snidely. “A Potter in Slytherin?”

“Please, Severus, behave yourself,” Minerva McGonagall reprimanded her younger colleague. “Harry is not his father, and you don’t even know him at all.” She didn’t know what to think about this either. “Albus?” she asked the Headmaster, who was sitting next to her.

“I believe that the Hat has, in fact, Sorted Harry into two houses. The Hat has never made a mistake before, so I assume that he did this on purpose. Therefore, I think Harry should belong to both houses. He will have two Heads of House, and he may choose if he wants to spend the nights in Gryffindor or Slytherin, while both common rooms should be open for him. The points he receives will be divided equally between the two houses and vice versa, the points he loses will be taken equally from both houses.”

Suddenly Poppy Pomfrey spoke up. “Severus, do me a favour and look at Harry Potter as closely as you can from the distance. I am sure that he is wearing glamours.”

“What?” Minerva asked flabbergasted. “Do you think he isn’t really Harry Potter?”

Noticing that the others were looking at her expectantly, Poppy answered, “That is not what I think. He probably is Harry Potter, but he seems to be hiding something. He must be very powerful to have such glamours in place, but having plenty of experience with Severus and his glamours, I cannot be easily fooled.”

Severus frowned. He had only used glamours to hide his injuries, so that others could not see them. So why would a child – no, a certainly pampered child, he corrected himself – encounter the necessity to wear glamours? He stared piercingly at the subject of attention who was sitting at the Gryffindor table.

“I am not 100 percent sure, but I think you could be right, Poppy,” Severus finally said hesitantly. “But why? Could he be abused? I would imagine him to be a pampered little brat, who even seems to be used to better food, as he is not eating anything at all. He is only playing with his food.”

Albus sighed. He couldn’t imagine a reason either. But it would be necessary to speak to the child. “We will ask him to come to my office later to discuss his situation of being put into two houses. Therefore, I need Minerva and Severus to accompany me anyway, and if you could please come along as well, Poppy, you could have a closer look at him and, if necessary, ask him about the glamours.”

Everyone nodded agreeably, and Minerva went over to the Gryffindor table and stated, “Mr. Potter, please join us at the Headmaster’s Office directly after dinner. I will take you to your dormitory later.”

“Yes, Professor,” Harry replied as quietly as possible, before he turned his attention back to his classmates, who were just introducing themselves to each other. Too soon, dinner was over, and Harry hesitantly walked over to the Head table where Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape were already waiting for him.

“Don’t worry, Harry. Everything will be alright,” Minerva told Harry, while they were climbing up the stairs to the Headmaster’s office. The Headmaster greeted them and offered Harry a lemon drop, which Harry felt inclined to take. He glanced around and looked in awe at an amazing bird, which was sitting on the perch and greeting him with a short melody. Dumbledore motioned Harry to sit down, and he complied, sitting down between Minerva and Severus.

“Now, Harry, first of all, I will introduce your teachers to you,” Albus started to talk. Noticing that Harry threw an unsure glance at Severus, he continued, “On your right side is Professor Snape; he is the Head of Slytherin House. To your left side is Professor McGonagall; she is Head of Gryffindor. The lady next to me is Poppy Pomfrey, our Healer. As you will probably know, I am Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster.”

Harry smiled at the teachers and said in a small voice, “I am pleased to meet you, Professors.”

“Now, I believe the Sorting Hat has behaved a little abnormally today. He indeed has Sorted you into two different houses, Gryffindor and Slytherin. Is that right, Harry?” Dumbledore asked the seemingly scared boy softly.

“Yes, Professor,” Harry said hesitantly, watching his hands intently. “We had a bit of a discussion, and then the Hat finally.. um… said what everyone could hear. I don’t know…” He slowly trailed off. Harry did not notice the piercing looks Poppy and Severus gave him while Albus went over to the shelf the Sorting Hat was placed on and quietly talked to the Hat.

Having watched Harry now for a while and taking in his every movement, Severus was nearly sure that the boy was not only wearing glamours but that he had to be abused. Thoughts of another eleven-year-old, who carefully had to hide his injuries whenever he returned to Hogwarts after the holidays, started to pop up in his head.

“That is all right, Mr. Potter,” Severus heard himself say. “You have done nothing wrong, and it is not a problem.” Harry carefully glanced at the seemingly unfriendly professor, who had spoken in a very soft, silky voice. In the meantime, Albus had returned to his seat and resumed speaking.

“I have asked the Hat, and, in fact, the Hat has sorted you into both houses, Gryffindor and Slytherin. This has never happened before, so we are able to handle this situation as we want to. For you, Harry, this means that you belong to both houses. You may choose in which dormitory you want to spend the nights. You may use both common rooms, and you have two Heads of House, Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape. When you receive points, they will be divided equally between the two houses, and when you lose points, they will be taken equally from both houses. Do you understand so far?”

Harry nodded. “Yes, Professor, I understand. Maybe I could spend the nights in Gryffindor, because I have already become friends with Ron Weasley and would like to share the dormitory with him.”

“All right, Harry. You will stay in the Gryffindor first years’ dormitory,” Professor McGonagall confirmed in her stern voice, though she smiled at the excited boy. “You may change this any time. However, Professor Snape and I, as well as your dorm mates always have to know where you are spending the night. You have to make sure that we always know where you are,” she added.

“However,” Professor Snape threw in, “as you belong to both houses, it will be expected from you that you keep contacts to both houses and show up in both common rooms at least once a day. I would also require that you eat at least one meal a day at each table in the Great Hall.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, sir,” Harry said sincerely, warily glancing at the teacher next to him. He did not notice that Albus and Severus exchanged a glance with Poppy, who gave them a confirming nod.

“Now, Harry, I believe Poppy has something to discuss with you,” the Headmaster said, and Harry glanced, curious, at the friendly looking lady opposite him.

“Harry,” Poppy addressed him softly, “I would like to know why you are wearing glamours.”

Harry looked at her questioningly. “I’m wearing what?” he asked, not understanding what he had been asked.

Poppy and Severus exchanged a quick look. “Glamours,” Poppy repeated gently. “They change your outer appearance.”

Harry was outright shocked. He was not wearing anything. What did she mean? Unsure about how to react or to reply, he became very anxious, and noticed that it was getting difficult to breathe. He hardly noticed that Minerva took his hand, but he took in a friendly voice saying,

“Breathe, Harry, everything is alright. Try to breathe calmly; you can do it,” Minerva told him. “Does he need a Calming Draught?” she asked Poppy, who shook her head.

“No, I don’t want him to take any potions until I have done a check-up on him.”

Severus cleared his throat and again spoke very softly in order not to scare the frightened child even more. “I have to hold a house meeting in Slytherin in a few minutes. I suggest that Harry accompanies me so that he can attend the house meeting along with his Slytherin housemates. After the meeting I will bring him to Poppy’s office, because I think it would be better to have this particular conversation with less people present. When Poppy has finished with him, I shall call Minerva so that she can take him to his Gryffindor dormitory,” Severus suggested, and everyone nodded approvingly.

“Yes, Severus, that does sound like a good idea,” Poppy voiced her agreement.

“All right, Harry. Let’s go down to the Slytherin common room,” Severus addressed the student beside him and stood up from the chair he had been occupying. His dark eyes gave Harry a searching look, but he seemed unwilling to say anything more. Harry quickly got to his feet as well and followed the professor out of the Headmaster’s office. He nearly had to run in order to keep up with the professor’s fast pace. He strode purposefully to the dungeons, his robes menacingly billowing behind him.

The teacher stopped in front of a portrait and explained, “This is Salazar Slytherin, the founder of this house. The password to enter the common room is ‘The snakes’ den’. Please remember the password; otherwise Salazar will not let you in.”

In the meantime, the portrait had opened, and teacher and student entered the common room, where many students were gathered. A few of them were reading; others were talking quietly to each other. As soon as the students spotted them, everything went quiet. One of the older students approached them.

“Good evening, Severus,” he said. “Shall I call the others?”

“This, Harry, is Fabian Zabini, our seventh year’s prefect. Yes, please, Fabian.” Harry watched in awe as many students filed into the room, sitting in a circle on the floor. Severus motioned Harry to come with him and stood in front of the students, where Harry felt very uncomfortable. Noticing this, Severus quickly addressed his house.

“Welcome to Slytherin House for a new school year. First of all, I would like to introduce to you Harry Potter. He is a first year, and probably all of you have noticed at the feast that the Sorting Hat sorted him into two houses – Slytherin and Gryffindor. In the history of Hogwarts, this has never happened before, so no one truly knows what it means to belong to two houses. However, I believe that this is a superb opportunity for Slytherin to demonstrate to the other houses that we are unique, reliable and loyal towards our members.

“Harry is a full member of this house, as are you all, and I want everyone to treat him accordingly. At first, he will sleep in Gryffindor – although do feel free to convince him it is better to stay in Slytherin. He will come to our common room each evening, and he will eat at the Slytherin table at least once a day. His house points will be divided between us and Gryffindor.”

He addressed Harry and pointed to a group of younger students. “Please sit down together with your classmates,” he instructed Harry who hurried to comply and sat down next to Draco Malfoy. Severus addressed the students once more.

“My office is just next to the Potions classroom, which you will become familiar with tomorrow morning. If you wish to speak with me, you may come to my office at any time. Additionally, I will be spending some time in your common room every evening around curfew. You are not required to be here during those times. You may be in your dormitory at that time. However, each Friday evening, we will have a house meeting thirty minutes before curfew, and I expect every one of you to attend. Harry, you don’t have to worry about curfew, I will see that you have the opportunity to attend our meetings. Here in the common room, you may call me Severus, as I will call you by your given names. However, outside of this house, you must address me Professor or Sir, otherwise I shall be forced to take points. Now, I would like the first years to introduce themselves.”

The eleven first years, including Harry, introduced themselves, and afterwards Severus sent everyone to bed. Harry said ‘Good Night’ to his classmates – very relieved, because everyone had been extremely friendly to him – maybe Slytherin wasn’t so bad after all!

“Let’s go, Harry.” Severus’ smooth voice pulled him out of his thoughts, and Harry followed Severus obediently out of the common room, although he would have preferred to just go to bed with the others, as he was very tired. Apparently he was too tired to keep up with the professor’s fast pace. Suddenly Severus noticed that Harry was quite a bit behind him, and waited for him to catch up.

“Is everything all right, Harry?” he asked, in a surprisingly gently voice. Harry threw him a wary glance.

“Yes, Professor, I’m sorry. Where are we going?” he asked hesitantly.

“We must go and see Madam Pomfrey in her office in the hospital wing,” Severus explained patiently while slowly guiding his student through the empty halls. Harry cleared his throat nervously, frantically thinking of how to ask what he wanted to ask.

“Um… Professor?” he tried and continued, when he saw that the teacher was looking at him expectantly, “You know, she asked me something, when we were in the Headmaster’s office.” Severus gave him an encouraging nod. “I am sorry, but I don’t know what she means. Did I do something wrong?”

Severus shook his head and replied,

“No, Harry, you did not do anything wrong. We will explain her question to you once we are inside her office. You have no need to be afraid. Madam Pomfrey is a kind woman, and she has only your best interests at heart. Moreover, you can confide in her without any fear that she will reveal what she learns to any other student. She was already stationed here when I was a student, and she has helped me many times.” Too soon, in Harry’s opinion, they reached the hospital wing and went straight into Poppy’s office.

“Now, Harry, there you are,” Poppy greeted them, but Severus interrupted her.

“Poppy, I don’t believe Harry understood your question in the least. Could you please explain to him what it was you were asking about?” Poppy threw a glance at Harry and then explained patiently,

“I have noticed that you are wearing a Glamour Charm, and I would like to know why. Do you understand my question?” Harry threw a pleading glance at Severus and slightly shook his head.

“All right, my dear,” Poppy continued and explained, “A glamour charm is a spell, which magically hides certain features of a human’s outer appearance. Has anyone put such a spell on you, or have you put yourself under this glamour?” Harry shook his head and voiced,

“No, Madam, I’m sorry. I have no idea.”

“Okay, Harry. Then you won’t mind if I tried to cancel the spell, right?” Harry nodded, and Poppy pointed her wand at Harry. “Finite Incantatem.” Nothing happened. Poppy frowned and exchanged an exasperated look with Severus.

“Apparently the charm is quite strong. Let’s try together,” he suggested, and both of them pointed their wands at Harry, speaking the incantation simultaneously.

“Finite Incantatem.” This time it worked, and all three of them gasped.

Harry’s body changed completely, and he immediately collapsed to the floor. His left arm and right ankle were hanging from his body at strange angles, and bruises and welts covered his pale skin. Some of the bruises even seemed to be infected, and his breathing was laboured as if a broken rib was puncturing his lung.

Harry silently whimpered in pain. ‘What happened? What have they done to me? Why do I hurt so much?’ he thought, confused. He often had experienced pain when his uncle had come down on him, but his uncle wasn’t here, and the teachers didn’t look as if they wanted to hurt him.

“Oh my….” Poppy started, but immediately switched over into Healer’s mode and asked as calmly as she could, “Could you please put him on the nearest bed, Severus? I need to heal him as soon as possible.” He nodded silently, his eyes a mass of emotion. After feeding Harry a pain relieving potion and a dreamless sleep potion, the two of them silently worked together for about an hour, before they sat down in two chairs next to Harry’s bed. By this time, Harry’s breathing had evened out a little, and he was sleeping peacefully.

Severus couldn’t believe what he was witnessing. Harry Potter was supposed to be a pampered, little brat. However, this small boy had nothing in common with Severus’ image of the Boy Who Lived. He was startled that Harry wasn't what he'd imagined, and suddenly remembered that this helpless boy was Lily's son. ‘How DARE they do this to a child! How dare they do this to Lily's son,’ he thought, getting angry.

‘I owe it to Lily to do something to help her son,’ he promised himself, while he was sitting at his bedside next to Poppy Pomfrey.

“Minky,” Poppy called the house elf, which was responsible for the Hospital Wing. “Could you please tell Professors McGonagall and Dumbledore to come to the Hospital Wing immediately,” Poppy ordered her, before she sat back and tried to sort out her thoughts.

She couldn’t believe it. During the many years she had been working at Hogwarts, she had seen many abused children. However, the thought that Harry Potter, the saviour of the wizarding world, had been abused so badly, was indeed difficult to accept. The small figure in the bed next to her somehow reminded her of an eleven-year-old Severus Snape, who had come to her with severe injures every time he returned from home.

‘I shall prevent the Headmaster from sending Harry back to his relatives ever again,’ she vowed.

The two teachers arrived a few minutes later. “Did you find anything?” Albus asked, as Minerva threw a worried look at Harry.

“What is wrong with him, Poppy?”

Poppy sighed. She knew that Minerva loved the boy. She had loved Lily like a daughter, and as a little tyke of a year, Harry had called Minerva and Albus ‘Gwanny and Abu’. However, as much as it hurt, she had to tell them the truth.

“I believe he has been abused badly,” she stated and listed up all the injuries Severus and she had healed. Noticing the utterly shocked look on her friends’ faces, she added, “He will be all right in maybe a week – in a month, at the latest, provided that he will be able to walk. However, his lung is a little damaged, and his immune system is quite affected, because he must have had some of the injuries for months or even years.”

Ignoring Minerva’s gasp, Severus said, “It seems the logical conclusion that his uncle has abused him, but as he was in a great deal of pain upon having the glamours forcibly removed, Poppy had to sedate him immediately, thereby eliminating any opportunity to actually question him about his injuries. Therefore, it is only an assumption, but considering how old some of the bruises and injuries were, it can only have been his family who caused them. He did not know about glamour charms; so I suppose that he unconsciously put them around himself whenever he acquired a new injury. As he couldn’t heal himself, this was his way to get rid of the pain.”

Albus nodded pensively.

“Harry must be a very powerful wizard,” he stated then, to which Poppy and Severus nodded.

“Albus,” Poppy told him, “The charm was so strong that I could not reverse it on my own; Severus and I had to say the incantation together.”

Minerva gasped again, and noticing the tears in her eyes, Dumbledore pulled her into a fierce hug. Here, in front of their good friend and the man they considered to be a son, they didn’t have to hold any appearances up. Poppy and Severus were the only people alive who were allowed to see them like this.

Harry’s mind slowly drifted from unconsciousness to a half-awake state. He noticed immediately that his whole body was sore. What happened? He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn’t even wake up enough to open his eyes. Suddenly, as though from far away, a voice penetrated his thoughts.

“Good morning, Harry. Did you sleep well?”

Whose voice was it? It was so friendly, and it called him ‘Harry’. Nobody was ever so friendly to him – was he still asleep? His mind slowly turned into awareness, and he leisurely opened his eyes. Wondering where he was, he looked around and recognized the Hospital Wing and the nice lady from the night before – what was her name again? – and suddenly remembered himself being at Hogwarts.

“Good morning, Madam,” he mumbled and gave her a small smile that didn’t really reach his eyes; he was in too much pain.

This of course didn’t go unnoticed by Poppy’s trained eyes, and she handed him a phial. “Drink this, Harry. It’s a pain relieving potion, and you will feel better afterwards.”

Harry gulped down the potion and visibly relaxed. This time, he gave the Healer a real smile. “Thank you, Madam Pomfrey.” He had finally remembered her name. “I feel much better now.”

‘But why was I in pain to begin with’ he wondered. ‘I was fine when I arrived at Hogwarts. And then the Professor brought me here, and they told me something I didn’t understand. Then, suddenly, everything hurt,’ Harry recalled the events from the day before, frantically trying to understand.

At this instant, Professor Snape entered the room.

“Good morning, Mr. Potter. How do you feel?” Severus asked gently.

“Good morning, Professor. I’m fine,” Harry answered, blushing profoundly. Never before had anybody asked how he felt, and he just didn’t know how he was supposed to react to such a question. He anxiously watched his hands until Poppy spoke up again.

“No, Harry. You are definitely not ‘fine’. When we took the Glamour Charms off you yesterday evening, you collapsed. You had many broken bones and even a broken rib that was puncturing your lung. We have mended all your bones, but it is important that you move as little as possible during the next few days. Normally bones mend in a day, but several of your bones seemed to have been broken for years. Therefore, it might take some time. Your lung is probably permanently damaged, and we have to see how this will develop in the future. It is possible that you will get many colds and similar illnesses due to this problem, but we will have to see; you don’t have to worry about it now. Many of your bruises on your arms and legs are infected, and you are developing a fever; I don’t know yet if it comes from the bruises or your lung.”

Suddenly Harry felt as if he knew what had actually happened. The injuries Madam Pomfrey had spoken of had to be the ones he had gotten when his uncle had been angry about something. But how had he managed to suppress them all the time? ‘Strange,’ he thought when the professor’s voice pulled him out of his musings.

“Mr. Potter, please look at me,” Severus said, sitting down on the chair he had left next to Harry’s bed last night. From his own experiences in his childhood, he could very well imagine how Harry had to feel, but even if they could delay their talk, it was necessary for Harry to talk about what had happened. When Harry complied and looked at him, he continued to speak.

“We will have to talk about where you got these injuries, but it can wait until you really feel better. However, you have to promise me one thing.” Harry looked at the teacher questioningly. “You may not lie to me. Just like Madam Pomfrey, I only want to help you; but we will only be able to help you, if you tell us the truth.”

Harry proceeded to watch his hands again and said in a small voice, “Yes, Professors, I promise I will not lie to you.”

“Mr. Potter, please look at me when I am speaking to you,” Severus repeated patiently. “You do not necessarily have to talk to me. However, you have to choose at least one member of our staff to confide in. Just like me, Madam Pomfrey, Professor McGonagall, Professor Dumbledore, and the other Heads of House all want to help you. Therefore, it is up to you to choose someone whom you are willing to speak to. Do you understand me?”

Harry nodded and mumbled, “I would like to talk to you, Professor Snape, but I don’t mind Madam Pomfrey listening as well.”

Both adults smiled encouragingly at the helpless child between them.

“Very well,” Severus said. “That is very good, because I will have to leave for my lessons now; however, Madam Pomfrey will be with you for the whole day.”

‘I have to leave as well; classes will start soon, and I cannot miss them on my first day here,’ Harry started to panic.

“Professor,” he interrupted Severus timidly, “please, may I go to my lessons as well?”

Poppy sat down on the edge of Harry’s bed and replied instead of Severus, “No, Harry, dear, you are ill and have to stay in bed.”

Severus took Harry’s hand in his own and added, “Harry, Madam Pomfrey can ask a house elf to get your books out of your dormitory, so that you can read your books if you feel well enough. However, I think it would be the best to sleep as much as you can while everyone else is in class. I will tell your classmates that you are here, and I am sure they will find a way to visit you in the afternoon or evening. I will be back after classes.”

With this, the professor released Harry’s hand, stood up and left the Hospital Wing.

“Now, Harry, let’s get you some breakfast,” Poppy suggested, but Harry declined.

“No, thank you, Madam Pomfrey, I am not hungry. I don’t need to eat so often.”

“You have to eat three times a day. How often have you eaten proper meals in the past?” Harry blushed again and tried to hide his shaking hands under the bed cover.

“A few times a week,” he replied truthfully, remembering his promise to the professors.

“Didn’t your relatives tell you that you had to eat more?” Poppy asked, feverishly trying to stay calm in front of the child.

“No, Madam. They always told me I was a freak, and freaks wouldn’t get meals,” Harry said in a very small voice, only for Poppy to hear.

She pulled Harry into a slight hug and told him, “No, Harry. First of all, you are not a freak; you are a very powerful wizard. And secondly, you have to eat three full meals every day. Moreover, until you reach an at least half-way acceptable weight, you will have to drink a nutrient potion together with each meal.”

Harry nodded solemnly. After he had eaten a few bites of his breakfast, Poppy fed Harry a few potions, and helped him to lie down again. A minute later Harry was fast asleep.

When he woke up, Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey were silently talking beside his bed. Harry immediately remembered the events of the morning and his disappointment of not being able to attend classes. As soon as the adults noticed that his eyes were open, cool hands touched his temples and helped him to put his glasses on.

“How are you, Harry?” Minerva asked, sitting down on the edge of his bed. Struggling to bring himself into a sitting position, Harry answered,

“I am fine, Professor.”

The teacher gave him a piercing glance, not believing a word, and stood to help him sit up.

“I have brought you your timetable, Harry. Normally, the students of a house have all classes together. However as you are in two houses, I have made a special timetable for you, so that you have all classes together with the Gryffindors on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and classes together with the Slytherins on Tuesday and Thursday. However, both houses have many classes together anyway, like for example Potions and Transfiguration. Try to work according to this timetable, and when you encounter any problems I might have missed, come and speak to me,” the teacher explained.

‘That’s a good idea. That way, I’ll be able to get to know my classmates of both Houses,’ Harry thought, pleased, before he voiced, “All right, Professor. Thank you very much.” Then he asked, “Do you know when I will be allowed to attend classes? I would like to start as soon as possible.”

“I am very sorry, Harry, but this decision is up to Madam Pomfrey. However, if you feel well enough, and Madam Pomfrey doesn’t object, you may read your books, and I have already asked Miss Granger, a very eager first year Gryffindor, to bring her notes to my office after dinner every day, so that I can copy her notes for you. Either she or I will bring you the notes every evening. I will come and visit you whenever I can, and Professor Snape will come as well, so if you have any questions about your books or Miss Granger’s notes, you are welcome to ask one of us.”

“Thank you very much, Professor,” Harry said sincerely, and Minerva excused herself as she had classes to teach.

Harry spent the afternoon reading the first two chapters in all of his books. Poppy had come a minute ago and told him to put his books away and rest. Harry had complied grudgingly and proceeded to think about the fact of his being sorted into two different houses. In the evening, the teachers had said that it had been the first time in Hogwarts’ history that a student had been sorted into two houses. ‘Why does this happen to me? Why am I different from anybody else? Was Uncle Vernon right? Am I a freak? Will they throw me out of Hogwarts if they realise that?’ he thought frantically.

Suddenly the door of the Wing opened, and Draco Malfoy came in. He went over to Harry, sat down, and said coolly,

“I heard you couldn’t decide between Slytherin and Gryffindor, so you preferred to stay in the Hospital Wing?”

Harry laughed, before his expression became serious.

“Draco,” he asked anxiously, “can you please tell me what I missed today? You know, I still don’t know anything; it is only four weeks ago that I learned that I am a wizard, and now I am missing my classes from the first day onwards.”

Noticing that Harry was starting to panic, Draco smiled at the smaller boy and said, “Don’t panic, Harry, it’s all right. I will help you to catch up, and you’re lucky because, since you’re in Slytherin, Severus will help you as well. The members of Slytherin are a huge family, and we won’t let down a fellow Slytherin. You have your books here, I see. Have you already started to read a bit?”

Harry nodded eagerly, glad to be able to speak about his studies. “Yes, I’ve read the first two chapters in every book; but there’s a lot I still don’t understand – especially in Potions. Plus, I didn’t know if I am allowed to practise spells in here, and I don’t know where my wand is anyway.”

Draco made a face as if he was wondering what had happened to the saviour of the wizarding world, who in fact he acts as if he was a Muggleborn. He frowned and promised he would ask Severus directly after dinner and come back later in the evening.

Harry threw Draco a grateful glance and leaned back into his cushions. He was glad that the boy who had seemed so arrogant at first had behaved so nicely towards him. As he was in two Houses, it would probably it would be best to have friends in both Houses. ‘Maybe I should not sleep in Gryffindor all the time but spend every second night in the Slytherin dormitory in order to get to know the Slytherin boys better,’ he mused and decided to speak with his two Heads of House about this matter.

A short while after dinner, Hermione joined Harry. “Hello, Harry,” she said, sitting down on the chair next to his bed. “I don’t know if you remember me, I am Hermione Granger.”

“Yes, I know. We met on the train yesterday, and you were sitting next to me at the Gryffindor table,” Harry replied anxiously.

“Yes, that’s right – and after dinner you vanished. What happened to you?” Hermione asked with a strange look on her face.

Harry couldn’t decide how to interpret this – Was it a worried look, a curious one, or even a reprimanding one? Anyway, he had to reply, but he didn’t want to reveal his secret to everyone except for the few professors who already knew about it. So he tried his best.

“I went to the Headmaster’s office, you know, because of being sorted in two houses, and then Professor Snape took me to the Slytherin house meeting, and after that I felt unwell and collapsed. I don’t really know what happened.”

“Did the Slytherins do something to you?” Hermione asked again, now with a shocked expression on her face, and Harry shook his head.

“No, they didn’t do anything. I must have been ill before and just didn’t notice. But I am fine now, and I hope I’ll be able to attend classes soon. The Slytherins were actually very nice,” Harry answered firmly.

Hermione handed Harry the copy of her notes, which Professor McGonagall had made for Harry, and they talked for at least an hour – about the chapters Harry read as well as about Hermione’s family – until Madam Pomfrey came and shooed Hermione out.

“Thank you for visiting me, Hermione. Will you come again tomorrow?” Harry asked hesitantly, before she left the room, and Hermione threw him a big smile and said,

“Yes, Harry, I will. Read through my notes and we can talk about them tomorrow. I am glad to have someone with whom I can talk about books or notes. Good night, Harry.”

Professor Snape came to visit Harry directly after curfew, and they talked for quite a while; however, the teacher avoided any personal questions – they mainly spoke about the Potions lesson Harry had missed and the questions he had after reading the chapter in the book and Hermione’s notes. When Madam Pomfrey came to check on him around midnight, Harry had the impression that he learned a lot during the evening and that he had understood the first Potions lesson very well.

The rest of the week passed in a similar way, and when Harry was finally allowed to join his classmates on Monday the next week into the term, he noticed quickly that he was not behind them at all – in fact, he had already read through all his books and was ahead of his classmates in most subjects, maybe with the exception of Hermione.

His condition was still not very good because of the problems with his lung; therefore, he had to go to the Hospital Wing every evening to let Madam Pomfrey check on him, because she feared that he could easily get pneumonia or asthma. As it only took five minutes every evening and only was a slight detour on his way between Gryffindor and Slytherin Harry didn’t mind very much.

Together with his two Heads of House, he had decided to spend Monday, Wednesday, and Friday night in Slytherin, when he had lessons together with this house on the next day, and to spend Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday night in Gryffindor.

On Thursday morning during Harry’s first week of classes, the first year Slytherin students had their first flying lesson – together with the Gryffindors. Harry was very anxious about it as he had never sat on a broom before and as he still did not feel very well. When they went to bed on Wednesday, Draco watched his roommate piercingly, before he sat on the edge of Harry’s bed and finally asked,

“Harry, what is wrong with you?” Noticing that Harry glanced at him with a shocked expression, he continued, “Harry, I can see that something is bothering you; better you tell me now…”

Harry sighed. Draco had so far been very understanding and had Harry helped a lot when he was finally allowed to attend classes. Therefore, he told the other about his anxiousness.

“Have you asked Pomfrey if you are allowed to fly at all?” Draco asked worriedly, and Harry shook his head.

“No, but she gave me so many instructions what to do and what not to do that I am sure she would have said something, if I wasn’t allowed to fly.”

“All right, Harry, let’s go and talk to Severus.”

“It’s already after curfew,” Harry protested weakly, but Draco put his robe over his pyjamas and held Harry’s robe out for him. They went over to Severus’ office, and Draco told his godfather about Harry’s worries. The professor remained pensive for a moment, before he turned to Harry.

“Harry,” he began, “I am not sure what causes your problem. If you are afraid of flying because you have never flown before, I have to tell you that your father was an excellent flyer – one of the best in my year, as much as I hate to admit it because we didn’t like each other very well. However, I am sure that you have nothing to fear concerning your flying abilities. If you are anxious, however, because you do not feel well enough, you do not have to fly tomorrow.” He threw his smallest student an inquiring glance. Harry sighed.

“I think it is both. I am sorry, Professor, for bothering you with such a stupid question.”

“No, Harry, you are not bothering me, and your problem is not stupid in the least. However, I suggest that we wait until tomorrow, and if you prefer not to fly, you can tell me your decision anytime.”

Later, when Harry was back in bed, he thought about what the professor had said about his father. On one hand, Harry was glad to know someone who had actually at least known his father, but on the other hand, the professor had said in the same sentence that he had disliked him. He would probably not be willing to tell him a lot about James. ‘Will he have known my mum as well? As far as Hagrid told me, they met here at Hogwarts. Maybe I can ask Severus some time,’ Harry mused and went to sleep with this comforting thought in his head.

In the morning, Harry was still anxious but decided to attend the flying lesson. At least the broom immediately came into his hand when he said ‘up’. Harry let out a relieved sigh and watched the others who were still trying to make their brooms oblige. Suddenly, just after they had been told to sit on their brooms, Neville Longbottom, one of his roommates of the Gryffindor dormitory, went up high into the air.

Everyone was watching Neville’s every move in the air worriedly, and suddenly, Neville, who had just been flying over the castle’s roof, started to tumble down. In an instant, Harry was in the air as well and was flying straight to the sport where Neville was still steadily falling downwards. From far away Harry could hear Hermione’s voice shouting,

“Harry, come back!”

Not hearing that his classmates were calling his name and Madam Hooch was shouting for him to come back, Harry fully concentrated on Neville. Somehow, he had to try to catch him in order to prevent the boy from crashing into the ground. He flew a little underneath him, adjusted his position slightly to the side and grasped Neville as he tumbled by so that he, Harry, could pull him onto his own broom. The impact was so great that Harry nearly lost the grip on his broom, and his ribs exploded in pain. However, somehow, he managed to get them both safely to the ground where he silently lay down.

“Harry, are you all right?” Neville asked anxiously.

“Yes, Neville,” Harry moaned, gritting his teeth. ‘Oh please, don’t let the rib be broken again,’ he thought frantically. Hadn’t he just escaped the Hospital Wing? Madam Hooch ordered the shocked Neville to fetch Madam Pomfrey and sent all students back into the castle – only Hermione, Ron, Draco, and Marcus Flint, the Slytherin Quidditch captain who had been secretly watching the whole lesson, remained.

“Potter,” he addressed Harry and – ignoring the fact that Harry didn’t even look up – continued, “We need a Seeker for our Quidditch team. Would you care to play Seeker for Slytherin?”

Harry wondered if he had heard wrongly. He – play – in the House team? Could that be true? Of course he would like that! Harry slightly turned his head and replied, “I would like that, of course. Flying was great; however, I don’t even know how to play Quidditch, and I thought first years would not be allowed to play in the House teams anyway.”

“I will talk to Professor Snape about it as soon as his next lesson is over,” the Quidditch captain promised and hurried into the castle.

Immediately after the last lesson of the day, three professors were sitting together in the Headmaster’s office for an urgent meeting Severus had summoned.

“I would like you to approve for Potter to play in the Slytherin House team,” Severus told his older colleagues.

“What?” Minerva countered appalled. “He is still a first year, and he belongs to Gryffindor as well.” She seemed to be outright shocked. Severus sneered and asked,

“Did the news about what your precious ‘Half-Gryffindor’ boy did today not reach your ears yet, Minerva?”

She shot an inquiring look at the Headmaster and replied, “I am sure you will inform us in an instant, Severus. Now stop fooling around and tell us what happened please,” she instructed her fellow teacher, and Severus told the two surprised teachers everything he knew about what had happened on the grounds a few hours ago.

Minerva groaned. “So Harry is in the Hospital Wing again?” Severus nodded solemnly and said,

“Yes, I just went there before coming here. The rib that was previously puncturing his lung was broken again, but Poppy must have healed it by now. She told me he would have to stay in the wing at least overnight and he would not be allowed to play Quidditch or even fly for at least two weeks.”

“Oh, my… All right, Severus, I will allow Harry to play seeker for Slytherin, but only under one condition: he has to play Seeker for Gryffindor too.” Her face had changed from a shocked expression to a mischievous grin.

“And in the Slytherin vs. Gryffindor match, he plays Seeker against himself?” Severus sneered.

“No, he won’t play at all. Both teams need to have a reserve Seeker, and the two reserve seekers will play in the respective match.”

“All right,” Albus dismissed them, his eyes twinkling with joy. “Please inform Harry and your team captains accordingly.”

Harry was released from the Hospital Wing on Sunday evening just in time for dinner, and as before he was told to come back every evening for a check-up.

He was glad that he had not missed too many lessons on Friday, and as his friends had stayed with him throughout the weekend, time had passed very quickly. When his Heads of House had visited him together on Thursday evening and told him that they had chosen him to play Seeker for both House teams, he had been flabbergasted. He had looked at them with a hint of panic in his eyes and thought, ‘Why are they so sure that I’ll be able to play well? I don’t even know how Quidditch is played!’ However, he didn’t voice his thoughts and only thanked the professors profoundly, vowing to himself to not disappoint them.

As he had to stay in Gryffindor on Sunday night, he decided to have dinner at the Slytherin table and sat down next to Draco.

“Congratulations, Harry, for joining our Quidditch team,” Blaise Zabini, another first year Slytherin, addressed Harry from the other side of the table.

“Thank you,” Harry said, feeling a little uncomfortable, and let out an unsure laugh. “You know, I have never played Quidditch nor even seen a match, and they just decide I would be able to play. Moreover, they want me to play in two House teams – what if both houses loose because of me?”

“That will not happen, Harry,” Hermione jumped into the conversation, and Harry nearly fell from his seat. He hadn’t noticed that Hermione, who had come to take Harry with her to Gryffindor tower, was standing behind him. “Come with me, Harry. I will show you the reason why I know it, as do the Professors.”

Harry stood up and followed her out of the Great Hall, happily noticing that Ron was waiting for him at the entrance door.

“Come on, you two,” Hermione said and led them to the Trophy Room and showed Harry a trophy with his father’s name on it. “Look, Harry. Your father, James Potter, played Chaser for Gryffindor. And come on, look over here: Your grandfather, Harold Potter, played Seeker for Gryffindor. You got it from them; you won’t fail in Quidditch.”

Harry stared at the trophies in awe. That was something his father had achieved – another hint about his father’s life, and his grandfathers as well. He suddenly felt very happy, thinking that he was not all alone, that maybe there could be more people here at Hogwarts who had known his parents.

Harry threw her a grateful look and said, “Thank you, Hermione, for showing this to me. I appreciate it very much. How did you know about it at all?”

Hermione rolled her eyes. “Harry, you know that I read a lot. Have you ever read the book ‘Hogwarts - A History’?” she asked.

Harry shook his head. No, but he had heard about it, hadn’t he? And it sounded interesting. He should go to the library and get it. With a small glance at Ron, he inquired,

“Would you mind going to the library for a minute? I’d like to borrow the book to have something to read, as I have already finished the school books.”

Ron groaned. “Another person who would have been better sorted into Ravenclaw,” he teased Harry, who frantically shook his head.

“No, Ron, but I have never had access to as many books as I would have liked to read, and now I have the chance, which I’m very happy about. Besides, I don’t feel very well yet; therefore, I want to go to bed, but I need something to read, as I won’t be able to sleep so early. Enough of a reason for borrowing a book from the library?”

Hermione eyed him worriedly, noticing that he was obviously having difficulties breathing.

“Are you all right, Harry?” she asked her friend, calming down immediately when he replied,

“Of course I am. Do you think Pomfrey would have let me go otherwise?”

The book Harry had borrowed was so interesting that he just couldn’t stop reading and didn’t notice that he even fell asleep in a sitting position until his alarm clock went off in the morning. ‘Oh no,’ he groaned inwardly. How am I supposed to survive the lessons without enough sleep?

First, they had Transfiguration. Harry sat between Ron and Hermione, thinking about how funny it was that, twice a week, he sat on one side of the room between the two Gryffindors and, the other days of the week, he sat on the other side of the room between Draco and Blaise two other times during the week. He was the only one jumping from one side to the other every lesson.

Professor McGonagall brought a wooden box with her and handed each student a wooden cat.

“Please transfigure these wooden cats into plush cats. I know that it is very difficult, and you will probably have to practise for a while until you are able to do this. I do not care about the cat’s size and colour, just try to transfigure it.”

Harry was very excited. It only was his third Transfiguration lesson, and he hadn’t been able to practise anything while he had been in the Hospital Wing. During the two lessons he had attended the previous week, he didn’t have any problems, but this seemed to be more difficult.

Seeing that everyone took their wands and tried to transfigure the patient, brown cats into plush toys, Harry pulled his wand out of his robes. He pointed his wand to the cat, said the incantation, and before he noticed what had happened, a loud “miaow” could be heard from his desk, before a cute, black kitten jumped onto the floor. Harry sat there in horror and looked after the fast, moving animal. What had he done now? This was not supposed to happen – what had he done wrong? He was terrified until he noticed a cool hand on his own and heard Hermione say,

“Don’t get so upset, Harry, just breathe; everything will be all right.”

“Mr. Potter,” the stern Transfiguration professor addressed him, but Harry didn’t hear her. “Mr. Potter,” Minerva called him again, her voice sounding a little upset. Harry slowly came back to reality.

“I am sorry, Professor,” he said, trying to keep his voice as even as possible.

“Mr. Potter, please try to catch your cat and to transfigure it back in order to try the transfiguration we are practising today.”

“Yes, Professor,” Harry said and stood up to go after the tiny cat. However, the cat was very fast, and Harry could not run because he had had difficulties with his breathing since his accident the week before. He stood in the back of the class, leaning against the white wall of the classroom, thinking feverishly. He knew he had read a spell in one of the books he had borrowed from the library the week before, but what was the spell? He remembered that there had been a few spells he thought they might be useful, but… was it ‘Expelliamus’? No, that couldn’t be it. Maybe it was ‘Stupefy’.

He pointed his wand at the cat, which was just running around the teacher’s table and silently said “Stupefy.” The cat immediately fell to the ground as if it was dead, and Harry walked up to the front of the class with a horrified expression on his face. Tears were welling in his eyes when he thought about what he had done now, but Professor McGonagall picked the cat up before he could reach it, put it on Harry’s desk and said,

“Well done, Mr. Potter. Now try and transfigure the cat back into the wooden form.” To Harry’s great relief, his teacher didn’t look so upset anymore.

Harry sighed, calmed, and sat back on his chair, glancing at the cat. He wished that it was already back to its wooden form. He took his wand, and he had just prepared himself to say the incantation when he noticed that a wooden cat was sitting in front of him. He glared at the cat in shock, and when the teacher came over to commend him, he stared at her, confused. Was he hallucinating? How had this happened? Had he changed the cat back just by wishing it to go back, or had someone else transfigured his cat for him? He glanced around, but his friends were busy transfiguring their own cats. Only Hermione and Draco had succeeded in fulfilling the task so far.

He glanced at the cat again and tried to wish that it was a cute, black, plush cat with green eyes – the cat changed its outer appearance. Hermione gasped and whispered,

“How did you do that, Harry? Was that wandless magic? AND silent magic? I can’t understand how you could transfigure the cat!”

“Well done, Mr. Potter,” Professor McGonagall commended, before she – noticing Harry’s and Hermione’s shocked faces – asked, “Is something wrong?”

Harry slightly shook his head but couldn’t help the tears welling in his eyes again. Why did everything happen to him? Why did it always have to be him to be abnormal? He was so tired and could hardly keep his eyes open, especially as the wish magic had taken a lot of his magical energy.

Watching him worriedly, Hermione told the teacher, “He didn’t use his wand, and he didn’t say an incantation.”

Minerva frowned. Harry should be too old for accidental magic now, shouldn’t he? What else could an eleven-year-old be capable of without his wand? She would have to talk to Harry alone, later.

“Mr. Potter, please stay behind after the lesson,” she told the student and continued to walk around the classroom to watch the other students’ efforts.

Harry was gobsmacked. How could he explain to the teacher what he had done? What did she expect him to say? From far away he could hear Hermione’s voice.

“It’s all right, Harry. She only wants to help you.”

Fortunately, the lesson was over after five more minutes. Hermione, Ron, Draco, and Blaise waited at the door, while Harry approached Professor McGonagall.

The teacher turned to Harry’s friends and said sternly, “You are dismissed. I am sure that Mr. Potter will find his way to the dungeons on his own.”

Harry fidgeted under the eyes of the stern teacher. What was he supposed to say? He couldn’t even understand what happened.

“Harry…” Minerva pulled Harry out of his thoughts, “…can you tell me what happened today?”

Harry told her about his different transfiguration methods and about the spell he had read about in a book.

The professor thought for a few minutes and said finally, “Transfiguring things into living animals is much progressed magic. Here in Hogwarts it is subject of the sixth year’s classes. Moreover, the magic you used without your wand has to be wish magic, which is a very rare and powerful magic. However, I am not sure, and I would like you to show me exactly what you did. Can you come here to the classroom tonight after dinner, please?”

“Yes, of course, Professor,” Harry replied.

“One last question, and then you may go. Does Madam Pomfrey know that you have problems breathing when you run?”

Harry shrugged. “I don’t know, but she forbade me to run anyway.” He knew that his health was not good, but did everyone have to make such a fuss about it?

Minerva snorted and handed him a note for Professor Snape with who Harry had the next lesson. Finally Harry was dismissed and headed for the dungeons.

Harry arrived at the Potions classroom ten minutes late. Another five minutes were lost in front of the door of said classroom, as Harry had to summon all his courage in order to enter the classroom. Although Professor Snape so far had been very nice towards Harry, Harry knew very well how the teacher behaved towards the other Gryffindor students and others who disturbed his lessons. There was no question that Severus would not be pleased with Harry being late. Finally, he took a deep breathe and entered the classroom, feverishly thinking if he should hand over McGonagall’s message or try to sit down without attracting unnecessary attention. However, he could dismiss that thought immediately, because as soon as he entered the classroom, Professor Snape said,

“You are late, Potter. 10 points from Gryffindor.” Harry had to sit down as quickly as possible in order not to face the angry professor and possibly show his disappointment to the man. Therefore, he did not reply but sat down next to Hermione, who had reserved a seat for him.

Noticing that he wasn’t showing any reaction to what the teacher had said, Hermione stood up and stated, “Professor, Harry was asked by Professor McGonagall to remain after the lesson, and he even has a note from her for you. He couldn’t come here faster because…”

“Do you have to disturb my lesson again, Miss Granger?” Professor Snape sneered. “Another 10 points from Gryffindor.”

Ron jumped out of his seat and shouted, “That’s unfair! It was not Harry’s fault, and Hermione only explained…”

“30 points of Gryffindor and a detention with me tonight, Mr. Weasley,” the professor told him sharply. “Mr. Potter, are you going to work today, or did you only come to wait for the lesson to end?”

“Sorry, Professor,” Harry mumbled and tried to concentrate on the potion he had to brew. Fortunately, Hermione had been kind enough to get the ingredients for him, so that he could start to prepare them immediately. However, due to the shock that it had been for Harry to be treated like this by his so far favourite professor, Harry’s hands were shaking too much to work properly. It only took five minutes until he cut his finger. He helplessly tried to hide his finger, but Hermione’s gasp had already alerted the professor who was on his way to their table.

“Show me your finger, Potter,” he sneered, and Harry inwardly groaned but hesitantly held the bleeding finger out to the professor. Now Snape must think that he was a complete idiot. With a wave of the teacher’s wand the wound was healed.

Harry mumbled “Thank you” to the professor and resumed cutting the ingredients. If the teacher noticed his trembling hands, he didn’t say anything; however, he was watching Harry closely until the lesson ended. Fortunately, Harry was so well prepared for the lesson that he managed to brew the potion flawlessly. However, even as he – though very relieved – filled up his potion into a phial and put it on the teacher’s desk, he couldn’t yet relax. Severus’ behaviour had been too much a shock for him. As soon as they were dismissed, he went over to Draco, who shook his head, grinning at him.

“Draco, sorry to bother you, but could you come and wake me up in time for the afternoon lessons? I want to take a short nap in the meantime.” Noticing his friend’s questioning glance, he added, “I couldn’t sleep last night.”

Draco glared at him with a strange expression on his face but replied, “All right, Harry. You have Herbology too, right?” When Harry nodded he asked, “Do you need me to bring you something to eat?” Harry shook his head and left the room for the Slytherin dormitory, where he went to bed immediately in order to think for a moment without being disturbed. During the last weeks, Professor Snape had given him the impression that he cared about him – at least a little. How did his behaviour towards Harry during the last lesson fit into this? Had everything been a lie? Had the teacher only played with Harry’s emotions all the time? He didn’t know what to think anymore. Fortunately, he was so tired that he soon fell in a dreamless sleep.

To Harry’s great relief, the afternoon classes passed relatively normal, and Harry managed not to attract any attention. He slept through History of Magic, which helped him to be alert enough afterwards to sit in the common room with Hermione and Ron and finish all his homework until dinner time.

When he approached the Transfiguration classroom after dinner, he noticed, to his astonishment, that Professor McGonagall was not alone, but she had brought the Headmaster with her. He groaned inwardly. Was it necessary to attract even more attention?

“Good evening, Professors,” Harry greeted them.

“Hello, Harry,” Dumbledore answered. “I was told that you managed to show some extraordinary magic during your lesson today,” he continued. Harry shrugged and threw Professor McGonagall a questioning look. She opened the box, which was sitting on her desk and which held the wooden cats and handed a cat to Harry.

“Harry, sit down and try to transfigure this cat into a plush cat, once with your wand and once without, please,” she ordered the first year sharply. Noticing that his hands were trembling, she put a hand on his shoulder and said calmingly,

“Harry, you have nothing to fear. We only want to help you.”

Harry gave his Head of House a grateful smile, sat down and just wished for the cat to become a plush cat – black with green eyes – he thought. This time, he could feel the magic leaving his body, and he felt his magical energy drain. When he hesitantly looked up to the teachers, he saw that both of them were looking at him in awe.

Finally, Dumbledore started to speak. “Harry, I am impressed. You only wished the cat to be transfigured. Is that correct, my boy?”

Harry gave him a short nod and answered, “Yes sir.”

Albus and Minerva exchanged a glance and the Headmaster explained,

“Harry, you are a very powerful wizard. Wish magic is an extremely rare form of wandless magic, and wandless magic in itself is very extraordinary. I am able to do wandless magic as well, but I cannot do wish magic. I think Professor Snape is capable of some wandless magic too. However, it would be good to hide this wonderful power from others. You may, of course, talk to your friends and to your teachers about it, but this power might help you against future enemies. Therefore, I would advise you to use it carefully. For example, take your wand in your hand, before you use wish magic, and nobody will know.

‘Of course I will try to hide it,’ Harry thought, ‘It’s not as if I wanted to draw even more attention on myself.’

“Can you feel the magic when you use wish magic?” Minerva inquired.

“Yes,” Harry replied excitedly, “I just felt it for the first time. This morning I didn’t feel anything.”

“Very well,” Dumbledore said. “I assume that your magic is too strong to do normal spells when you use your wand; is that correct?”

Harry shrugged and pulled his wand, pointed it to the cat and spoke the incantation to transfigure it back. However, this time he was quicker. As soon as he heard the “Miaow”, he shouted “Stupefy,” and the cat collapsed on his desk. Albus chuckled, when Harry wished the cat back to wood and handed it over to Minerva, relieved that he was neither scolded nor laughed at by the professors.

“All right, Harry. Your wish magic works very well. However, I think we should train your wand magic a bit. You have to learn to control your magic in order to be able to use your wand in classes. I suggest that you make an appointment with Professor McGonagall and practise one evening a week. From time to time, I will join you as well.”

Harry was much too shocked to reply, but his Head of House suggested, “Harry, as you are staying in Gryffindor over the weekends, how about we set your lessons for Saturday or Sunday after dinner?”

Harry thought for a moment and replied, “Yes, Professor, that would be fine. Thank you very much.”

They agreed on Sunday evening, and Harry was dismissed. Before he left the room, Minerva stopped him and asked,

“Are you feeling well, Harry? You don’t look very well.”

Harry sighed and told his teacher that he felt drained after the use of wish magic, but otherwise, he was fine. He bade the teachers ‘good night’ and slowly returned to the dungeons.

He was just in front of the Portrait of Salazar when, suddenly, his scar exploded in pain.

Warily noticing that the Defence against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Quirrell, was just leaving Professor Snape’s office, he quickly told Salazar the password and stumbled into the common room, where he sat down on the floor, both hands pressed to his forehead.

Soon he was surrounded by his house mates, who looked at him worriedly.

“What is wrong with you?”

“Are you ill?”

“Shall we get Professor Snape?”

“Or Madam Pomfrey?”

He was bombarded with questions. Harry sighed and told them, “No, thanks. My scar hurt a lot a moment ago, but now it’s all right. I’ll just go to bed.” He went to bed immediately and was asleep within seconds. It had been a very long day.

A while later, he woke up to two voices talking right next to him. He groaned and turned over to face the wall. He didn’t want anyone to fuss over him, and he didn’t want to talk to anyone either. But then he noticed that someone had sat down on the edge of his bed. He turned back and lazily opened his eyes, only to see that Professor Snape was sitting next to him.

“What is wrong with you, Harry? Are you ill?” he asked in a voice that sounded concerned to Harry’s ears.

However, Harry remembered the Potions lesson in the morning and wasn’t willing to share any thoughts with the Professor – at least not at the moment. Therefore, he just answered, “No, sir, I’m fine. I’m just tired.”

Severus gave him a piercing look and sneered, “So fine that you forgot your appointment with Madam Pomfrey, that you slept through lunch and your history lesson, and that you came into the common room with an obviously bad pain in your scar?” He looked inquiringly at Harry, who felt very uncomfortable.

‘Who the h… told him about the History of Magic lesson?’ he thought frantically before he looked at his teacher. “I just forgot about Madam Pomfrey. At lunchtime, I was tired, and the pain in my scar went away immediately. Really, Professor, it’s nothing,” he explained, fidgeting in his bed.

“Has your scar ever hurt before, Harry?” the teacher asked, wondering what the problem could be.

“Yes.” Harry nodded. “Last week in the Defence lesson it suddenly hurt for a while, but that’s the only time so far. What does this mean?” he asked hesitantly.

“That is what I do not know,” Severus replied pensively. “Was anybody near you when it happened tonight?”

Harry tried to concentrate on the moment he arrived at the portrait, and suddenly, he remembered. “Yes, Professor Quirrell just left your office at the time. But it can’t have anything to do with him, can it?”

Severus lifted an eyebrow and repeated pensively, “Professor Quirrell? And he was there when your scar hurt the first time as well, I suppose.” It was more a statement than a question.

“Yes,” Harry said, glancing at his teacher curiously. What did this mean? Did Professor Quirrell want to harm him?

Severus had to try hard not to let the child see how worried he was. Harry had received the scar from the Dark Lord. Therefore, the event could be a connection to the Dark Lord. However, even if one assumed that he wasn’t dead, how could it be that the scar hurt when Quirrell was around the boy? Was the professor a Death Eater? But he, Severus, bore the Dark Mark as well, and Harry didn’t have any problems being in his company. He really would have to talk to the Headmaster.

“I don’t know what caused it,” he said finally. “I will talk to the Headmaster about it, and maybe he knows something. When your scar happens to hurt again, please try to remember where you were and who was around, and come to see me as soon as possible.”

“Yes, sir,” Harry answered solemnly. He didn’t know what to think, now that Professor Snape was back to the nice teacher Harry could confide in.

After a short break, the teacher continued, “Harry, I would like you to come to my office after dinner tomorrow. Let’s say… after you have finished your homework, so that you really have time. We have to talk about what happened to you before you came to Hogwarts, and maybe then I will know a bit more about your scar. Now, I either have to send you to Madam Pomfrey, or I have to check on you. Which do you prefer?”

“You?” Harry asked unbelievingly, and he felt even more uncomfortable.

Severus sneered and explained, “As a Potions Master I had to take the first degree of a Healer’s exam, so I have certain knowledge in this area. However, I don’t mind if you prefer to go and see Pomfrey.”

Harry shook his head, and said, “No, I don’t feel like running around the castle right now. Could you please do it for me, then?” He blushed deeply and would have preferred to hide in a mouse hole, but if the only alternative was to get up and walk up to the Hospital Wing, he preferred this solution.

Severus waved his wand over Harry a few times and nodded contently. “Your rib has healed nicely; your lung is still not good, but you don’t seem to have urgent problems. You have a slight fever, but apart from that you seem to be all right. I will tell Pomfrey that you will come for your missed check-up tomorrow before breakfast. Don’t forget it! And, now, go to sleep. Good night, Harry.”

Harry threw him a grateful smile and closed his eyes mumbling, “Thank you Professor. Good night.”

The next day passed rather uneventfully. In his Potions class, Harry managed to brew his potion flawlessly without attracting any attention. However, after class the teacher called him, “Mr. Potter, please remain for a moment.”

Harry was so shocked that he nearly chocked, but immediately, he went up to the front of the classroom, looking timidly at his teacher. What had he done now? He felt a bit consoled as he knew that his friends were waiting for him just behind the door.

“Harry, I am very sorry, but I have to postpone our appointment to tomorrow evening. Is that all right with you?”

Harry smiled at the professor, happy that he hadn’t called him to reprimand him for something. “Of course, Professor,” he replied and was dismissed so that he could reach his next class in time.

He was just sitting in the library doing his homework together with Hermione and Ron when Draco entered the library.

“Harry,” Draco whispered, “Blaise and I are going to the third floor corridor tonight to see what’s in there. Are you coming with us?”

Harry groaned inwardly. Of course he would like to go. It sounded so interesting to go and explore the castle in the middle of the night. But it was impossible. “Draco, I’m sorry, but I can’t. Remember, I cannot run. If there is something dangerous, or if Filch or someone comes to catch us, I cannot run away, otherwise I won’t be able to breathe. Maybe you can ask Ron to go with you.”

Ron threw Draco and Harry a curious glance, and Draco quietly explained what Blaise and he had planned for the night. Ignoring Hermione’s reprimanding expression, Ron agreed to come with them, and they fixed a time and a meeting point for the same evening.

However, when Ron came back shortly after midnight, Harry was already fast asleep, and Ron had to wait until the morning to tell Harry and Hermione the story of a three-headed dog guarding a trap door in the floor of a tiny chamber.

“Whose dog is it, and what can he be guarding?” they asked each other, surprised.

After classes, Harry sat in the library with his friends, but managed to finish his homework before dinnertime, so that he could go to Severus’ office immediately after dinner. On one hand, he was very reluctant to go and see Severus, but on the other hand, except for the Potions lesson two days ago, Harry had always felt very comfortable in the Professor’s presence, and Harry loved to talk to him. He really seemed able to understand him, even better than anyone had before.

When Harry knocked at the door of the Potions Master’s office, Professor Snape called him in and motioned him to sit on the other side of his desk, while he continued grading some parchments. While the professor was working, Harry fidgeted anxiously on his chair. What was he supposed to tell the teacher? How much would he have to reveal? Would he be able to deny everything? On the other hand, he didn’t want to ever go back to the Dursleys. Finally, Severus’ voice pulled him out of his thoughts.

The professor had left his desk and had gone over to a connecting door, which he held open for Harry. “Come on, Harry,” he said invitingly, and Harry hesitantly stepped into the teacher’s private quarters. In spite of the room being in the dungeons, Harry found, to his surprise, that it was fairly bright with a group of comfortable looking sofas and chairs in front of the fireplace and many book shelves on the walls. Except for the library, Harry couldn’t remember ever seeing so many books in one place. He glanced around the room in awe. It was just fantastic. He would love to live in such surroundings. Maybe, several years into the future, he would be able to have his own room just for himself to put as many books in it as he wished.

“If you have stared long enough, please sit down so that we can start our talk,” Severus said, sneering at the boy, who complied immediately.

“Now, Harry, I can imagine that you don’t want to talk about what happened at your so-called ‘family’. However, I want you to understand that it is very important that you talk about it. First of all, it will be easier for you to get over your past, and secondly, you will need someone to know in order to prevent Professor Dumbledore from sending you back there during the summer holidays.”

Seeing Harry’s unsure expression, he added, “As I told you before, you do not have to confide in me, you can choose any teacher you have enough confidence in to talk about it.”

“I already chose you, Professor, if you don’t mind,” Harry mumbled. “However, it’s not easy to talk about it. There is no other way, is there?”

Severus thought for a moment. “There is another way,” he finally said pensively. “However, it would only allow me to see your memories. You would still have to talk about it sometime. Do you know what a Pensieve is?”

Harry shook his head and Severus stood up and went to the fireplace to call Albus and borrow his Pensieve.

“Now, you think about the happenings at the Dursleys you want to show me, especially the events that led to your injuries, and every time you have grasped a memory, you give me a short nod, and I will extract the memory and put it into the Pensieve,” he instructed his student.

Harry agreed, and they worked on the memory extraction for about an hour, until Harry let out a relieved sigh and tiredly leaned back. Severus called Tipsy, his personal house elf, and asked for hot cocoa and biscuits for Harry, before he entered the Pensieve.

After only a few minutes, Severus emerged from the Pensieve with a stern look on his face. “Harry,” he softly addressed the boy, who was already half asleep on the sofa, “I would like to watch your memories together with Madam Pomfrey, Professor McGonagall, and the Headmaster. Would you mind any of these people watching your memories?”

Harry gasped. Of course he minded, but if Severus thought it was necessary... At least, he didn’t have to watch everything with them. He looked at his teacher and gave him a short nod.

“Are you sure, Harry? May I call them here now?” Severus asked, and Harry nodded once more and closed his eyes again.

During the next two hours the four teachers watched Harry’s memories of his stay at the Dursleys while Harry was fast asleep on the sofa. By the time they left the Pensieve, the two ladies had tears in their eyes.

“Oh, my….” Minerva trailed off.

“Frankly speaking, I had expected something like this, but I just can’t understand how someone can hate such a nice boy so much,” Poppy said with a very upset expression on her face.

“Albus, just promise me one thing: that Harry never has to go back there,” Severus told the Headmaster.

Albus sighed. Of course he didn’t want to send Harry there, but it would be the safest place for the boy, wouldn’t it? “Severus, I don’t want to send him there, but you know about the blood wards, don’t you?” Dumbledore started slowly, but was interrupted very fast by three angry voices.

“Albus!”

“F…the blood wards!”

“No! I cannot let you do that. If you send him back there, I will have to send a report to the Ministry because of child abuse. I am sorry, but this is my responsibility as a Healer.” Poppy’s reasoning finally was the one which convinced the Headmaster.

“All right,” he agreed. “We won’t send him back. However he will need a guardian, which, frankly speaking, probably will have to be one of you.”

“No problem,” the three others firmly replied at the same time. Tipsy once again served tea and snacks, and the four teachers talked for a while about what they had seen in the Pensieve. Fortunately, Harry didn’t even stir; otherwise he would have been very embarrassed by the topic of the evening.

Before the teachers returned to their quarters, Minerva suggested Severus to just let Harry sleep on the sofa instead of waking him up, and Poppy, who was just doing her usual check-up on Harry, agreed immediately, waving her wand once more to transfigure Harry’s clothes into comfortable pyjamas.

Finally, Poppy deemed Harry fit to fly under the condition that he came to her immediately when he encountered any breathing problems. Harry happily went in search for his Quidditch captains, Oliver Wood and Marcus Flint, to tell them the good news. They had to hurriedly teach him how to play Quidditch, as the first match would take place only a few weeks later.

Harry hadn’t thought about the timing of his appointment with the two captains and had just nodded to their suggestions. The two rivals, however, did not take it well that he had made appointments with them at the same time and threw temper tantrums on the Quidditch pitch.

“Now, look,” Harry begged. “We don’t have time for such rivalries. I am on both your teams, and if you can’t manage to teach me how to play Quidditch, none of your teams can win in your matches. So, please, help me now – two teachers are better than one!”

When Professor McGonagall stood in front of her window and had a glance at the Quidditch pitch, she couldn’t believe her eyes: The Quidditch captains of Gryffindor and Slytherin were training their new seeker TOGETHER! ‘I have to show this to Albus,’ she thought and stepped through the Floo into the Headmaster’s office, pulling him to the window.

“25 points each to Gryffindor and Slytherin for cooperating nicely,” was the Headmaster’s comment about the unusual scene.

After one hour of explanations and two hours of flying and catching the Snitch about a dozen times, Harry knew what he had to do on the Saturday of the first match, and he noticed that he had to stop the practise because he could hardly breathe any more.

He flew down to the ground, breathing heavily, and told the captains, “I am sorry, but I have to stop practising now. However, I know what I have to do in the match, and I will try had to catch the Snitch fast.”

Both captains let him go immediately and told him to attend Quidditch practise from the following week, onwards. ‘Practise for two teams means practise every day,’ Harry thought. ‘When am I going to do my homework?’ He had to talk to his Heads of House about this. As he was practising for two teams, maybe half of the practising time each would be enough.

Halloween was a few days later. Harry had never thought much about Halloween, especially since the Dursleys hadn’t allowed him to do anything on that day. He only had heard stories from other pupils at his primary school – and he remembered that somebody at Hogwarts had told him that his parents had been murdered on that day. Therefore, he didn’t really look forward to the party, which had been announced for the evening.

Harry and the other Slytherins had just had Charms together with the Gryffindors. When they were on their way back from the class, heading for the Great Hall to eat lunch, Ron came to Harry’s side and complained about Hermione, who had – as always – managed to do a charm better than him and had tried to help him.

Unfortunately, Hermione heard him calling her a ‘know-it-all’ among other things and ran away crying. She ran too fast for Harry, who tried to catch her but had to give up when he noticed that it was getting difficult to breathe. As he didn’t know where she had gone, he went to the Great Hall and sat down at the Gryffindor table.

In the afternoon, Hermione didn’t show up for History of Magic, which fortunately was the last class for the day. Harry spent the afternoon in the library doing his homework, and he finally managed to finish everything before dinner, although he often caught himself watching the door pensively and hoping that Hermione would show up.

He sat down at the Slytherin table, feverishly scanning the Gryffindor table. When he couldn’t see his friend, he said to Draco, “I am worried about Hermione. You know that she ran away before lunch, right? She has not returned yet. What can I do?”

“I know where she is,” Millicent Bulstrode, one of Harry’s classmates, told him. “She has been in the girls’ washing room on the first floor crying for the whole afternoon.”

Harry threw a short glance at Draco, before both boys stood up and left the hall, not noticing that several people at the Head Table were watching them sternly. They walked to the girls’ bathroom and entered hesitantly, softly calling Hermione’s name. After a few minutes of talking, they managed to get her to leave the washroom so that they could talk in the hall.

“Come on to the Great Hall with us, Hermione,” Harry tried to coax her. “The Halloween Feast is just going to start.”

“No,” Hermione cried. “I hate Ron. He always laughs about me because I like to read and because I’m better in class than he is. He always tells me I should have been sorted into Ravenclaw. And this morning after Charms, he called me an ‘insufferable know-it-all’, and that was just too much.”

Harry frowned. What was he supposed to say?

“You are lucky, Harry. When Ron gets jealous of you because you’re on the Quidditch team or something, you can just go to Slytherin and spend some time there. And then you are gone, and I’m stuck with Ron alone. I don’t have any other place to go.”

Suddenly, they heard a strange noise from around the corner, and Professor Quirrell came running towards them. However, the teacher seemed not to notice them and continued running in the direction of the Great Hall.

“What the h…” Draco started to speak. However, he quieted immediately when something huge came around the corner, obviously following the teacher. It was gigantic, and it stank.

“What is that?” Harry asked urgently. He had never seen something like that before.

“It must be a troll,” Hermione answered in a slightly panicked voice. “Yes, probably a Mountain Troll,” she added.

“Disgusting,” Draco mumbled, wrinkling his nose at the hideous smell, before he started to think if they had to panic or not.

‘What are we going to do?’ Harry thought, terrified. He was on the verge of running away, but he couldn’t really let the troll attack the Great Hall when there were so many students in it, now, could he?

“Hurry back into the Great Hall and alarm the teachers, Hermione,” Harry instructed his friend firmly and gripped his wand.

“No, Harry! You have to come with me. You don’t think that the two of you can take on a Mountain Troll, do you? Do you know how dangerous that is?” Hermione contradicted severely.

“Hermione, go! We don’t have time for that,” Harry urged her and turned to Draco. “Let’s attack him together with ‘Expelliamus’ and ‘Stupefy’,” he urgently whispered to Draco, while Hermione ran to get help from the teachers.

Harry summoned all his magic and cried, “Stupefy”, while Draco shouted, “Expelliarmus” at the same time. However, the magic of two eleven-year-olds was nothing compared to the power of a full grown Mountain Troll. The Troll trembled a bit, and the stick he was holding fell down onto the floor; however, he still managed to stand upright.

What could they do now? They had to keep the troll in check at least until help arrived. Who knew where the troll would go otherwise? Harry once again summoned all his magic and concentrated on wishing the troll’s stick to float over the troll and hit the troll in the head full force. He had a hard time concentrating on his wish as the troll was making a horrible noise and was drooling disgustingly. However, Harry managed to concentrate, and this time, he was efficient. The troll collapsed onto the floor, where he was hit by an additional Stunning spell Draco had cast at him.

At the same time as the troll landed on the floor, Harry collapsed as well, due to the use of too much magic. Only a few seconds later, Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall arrived, followed by several other teachers.

“Enervate.” Dumbledore woke Harry up, who hurriedly stumbled off the floor and tried to remember what had happened. He couldn’t recall until he saw the troll only a few metres away. Dumbledore looked sternly at the two boys. However, his look was nothing compared to the glare McGonagall gave the two students.

“What do you think you were doing?” she shouted. “You can call yourselves very lucky to have survived a duel with a Mountain Troll. 20 points each from Slytherin and Gryffindor for your foolishness.”

Harry tried hard not to let his disappointment show in his face. He had tried so hard to save the other students from the troll – just to get points taken off his Houses?

“Now, now, Minerva,” Dumbledore said calmingly. “First of all, let us hear what the boys have to say.”

Harry and Draco told them the whole story, that they thought it would be the best, if Hermione went to get help, and then they had tried to keep the troll in check until help arrived, so that the troll couldn’t attack the Great Hall with so many students in it.

“Yes, my boys; that was very reasonable and you have done very well. 50 points each to Slytherin and Gryffindor. Now, let us return to the feast. As Professor Quirrell is our specialist in Defence against the Dark Arts, he will take care of the troll.”

By now, Professor Snape had arrived as well, and when everyone except for Quirrell turned back to the direction of the Great Hall, he came over to Harry and Draco.

“Is everything okay with you? You are not hurt, are you?”

Harry shook his head, but Draco told him that Harry had collapsed after the fight with the troll. Severus eyed Harry worriedly and suggested Draco should go back to the Great Hall, while he would take Harry to the Hospital Wing; however, Harry protested vehemently. After explaining that he had only used too much magic and would be fine in the morning, he could finally convince the professor to just let him go to bed.

Later in the evening, Severus came to check on Harry, as he had missed not only dinner, but also the House meeting, which always took place on Fridays before curfew. Harry, who had woken up by a cool hand on his forehead, noticed that Severus’ leg was hurt badly.

“What happened to your leg, Professor?” he asked hesitantly.

“Nothing of your concern, Harry. Now, you have used too much magic today, which is not good. Your magical resources are at a level of 50 percent, which is much too low. Please do not use any magic at all during the next few days, until Pomfrey allows you to use magic again. Do you understand me?”

Harry nodded solemnly. “What about lessons, Professor? I have to use magic in class.”

“No, Harry,” Severus answered. “You may go to your classes and follow the lesson without doing magic. I will talk to your other teachers so that they will know. Please let Pomfrey check on you before breakfast tomorrow. Good night, Harry.”

“Good night, Professor.”

As the next day was Saturday, nobody woke Harry up, and when he finally opened his eyes, it was nearly lunchtime. He quickly took a shower, went to see Poppy, and entered the Great Hall with the intention to have lunch at the Gryffindor table.

However, when he noticed that Ron and Hermione sat far away from each other, he went over to Ron and told him to wait for him at the entrance door after lunch. Then he passed behind Hermione’s seat and told her the same, before he turned around and walked over to the Slytherin table to sit down next to Blaise.

As he hadn’t eaten anything in exactly 24 hours, he was quite hungry, and when he finally finished eating, he noticed that Hermione and Ron had already left their seats. He quickly stood up and went to the entrance door, where Hermione and Ron were waiting next to each other. Both of them seemed quite uncomfortable.

“Hi,” Harry greeted them as if nothing had happened. “I would like to go and visit Hagrid. What do you think?” Harry asked.

Hermione visibly relaxed. “Oh, yes, that’s a good idea.”

Ron nodded his agreement. “Why not? It’s better than doing homework anyway.”

“Ronald!” Hermione immediately started to scold him but shut up when she remembered the events of the day before.

Harry groaned inwardly. He hated people fighting, and he didn’t want to stand between his friends while they were fighting either. Hopefully, they would come to reason soon. Until then, he was glad that Hermione had enough sense to choose her battles.

Hagrid seemed to be very pleased to see them. “Oh, Harry, good to see you. I thought you’d never come to visit me. Ron and Hermione have told me everything of course, and I know you couldn’t come, but…”

“Let him breathe, Hagrid,” Hermione admonished him sternly, noticing that Harry could hardly breathe under the strong hug Hagrid had pulled him into.

“Oh, sorry, Harry,” Hagrid said, releasing him immediately. “Now, sit down there. I was just about to make tea.”

While they were fighting with one of the rock cakes Hagrid had put on the table for them, Ron suddenly asked, “Hagrid, do you know something about the three-headed dog?”

Hagrid watched him astonished. “Fluffy? How do you know about Fluffy?”

“Oh, I just heard someone talking about the dog,” Harry lied quickly, trying to cover for Ron’s lack of tact. “I haven’t seen him but I can imagine that I would be very scared if I met him.”

“Ah, no, Fluffy is a really nice one,” Hagrid told him. “You just have to know how to keep him asleep, and then you can do anything around him.”

“We heard the dog was guarding a trap door,” Hermione threw in. “Do you know what he is guarding?”

Hagrid coughed a few times, before he cleared his throat and said, “I’m sorry, I cannot tell you what he’s guarding. That only concerns Professor Dumbledore and, his friend, Flamel.”

“Who is Flamel?” Harry asked curiously.

But before Hagrid could answer, Ron said, “But whatever he is guarding, I think that Snape is trying to get it.”

Hagrid snorted. “No, Ron, Professor Snape is one of the people who guard the… Oops,” he interrupted himself.

“No, Ron, Professor Snape would never do that,” Harry contradicted firmly. He was slowly getting angry at Ron for suggesting such a thing about his favourite professor. How many times had they already had a similar discussion?

“Look, Harry, yesterday evening, when all the teachers went to look after the troll, Snape left the Great Hall through a back door, and I bet he tried to get into the trap door. That’s where he got the wound on his leg from.”

Harry tried to remember details of the day before. Professor Snape had indeed joined them very late; in fact, he had only seen the professor just before he went to bed. In the meantime, the teacher could have gone to the third floor, but why would he? And had Quirrell been there yesterday, when Dumbledore scolded them about their fight with the troll? As he had passed them just minutes before the troll showed up, it seemed to be obvious that he had let the troll in, didn’t it?

“Maybe he wanted to make sure that nobody else could use the chance to get past the dog while everyone else was busy with the troll?” he guessed. ‘Maybe I should try to talk to Severus about this matter,’ he thought.

“Now, Harry, how is life in Slytherin?” Hagrid asked. “Is it very different from Gryffindor?”

Harry sighed. “Yes, it is very different. The Slytherins are more like a family. Our Head of House comes to talk to us every evening, and once a week we have a family meeting, where everything that has occurred in the house is talked about. And Professor Snape is really nice to us. If I am not in the common room when he is there, he always comes in my dormitory to check on me, because he knows that my health is not so good. When I have any problems, he is very easy to talk to.

“I like Professor McGonagall very much, too, but she is completely different. She wouldn’t come into the House, let alone the dormitory to check on me without reason, and I wouldn’t dare go to her office and disturb her just because I want to ask a stupid question. However, next Sunday, I’m hopefully going to have my first private lesson with her, and I’m looking forward to it very much. Maybe I can get to know her better then. The students are very nice in both houses. So I am quite happy to belong to two houses.”

Two weeks later, on Saturday morning, Harry was sitting at the Slytherin table, and Severus watched Blaise and Draco trying to coax the boy into eating a few bites from his spot at the Head table. Why couldn’t they stop fussing over him? He just couldn’t eat because he was much too nervous. His first Quidditch match was today, and his nerves were stretched thin. Why weren’t they able to understand that? And would he be able to catch the Snitch in time, or would he play so poorly that he would be laughed about by his House mates?

When Professor Snape suddenly called Harry from behind, he nearly jumped out of his seat. He hadn’t noticed the professor leaving his place at the Head table.

“Mr. Potter, please accompany me to the Headmaster’s office for a moment,” he said in the stern, silky voice he used in front of his Slytherin students.

Harry was flabbergasted as he always was when the professor didn’t use his soft voice he normally spoke to Harry with when they were alone. He stood up quickly and followed the teacher out of the hall.

When they were walking up the stairs that led to the Gargoyle, Severus put a calming hand on Harry’s shoulder, who even managed not to flinch noticeably at the touch, and said, “Don’t worry, Harry, you will be very pleased about what the Headmaster wants.”

Harry threw him a questioning glance but calmed down a little.

After the Headmaster had greeted them in his usual ‘lemon-drop way’, Severus sat down and motioned Harry to sit between him and Minerva, who, to Harry’s surprise, was here as well.

“Congratulations Harry, on making it to the Quidditch team – moreover, on making it to two Quidditch teams,” Dumbledore beamed at Harry, who gave Severus a slight glance, before he looked back at the Headmaster.

“Thank you, Professor,” was his automatic reply. It was an hour before the start of his first match, and he was too excited to make small-talk with anyone.

“Together, all your teachers,” the Headmaster continued, “have organized a broom for you. As first years are not allowed to have their own brooms, you may use your broom only for Quidditch practise and matches. At all other times, it has to stay in your Head of House’s office. Let’s say, in Professor Snape’s office, as the dungeons are nearer to the Quidditch pitch as Professor McGonagall’s office.” Dumbledore held out a Nimbus 2000 to Harry, who was so shocked his face turned white.

“You mean… for me?” he stammered helplessly. Nobody had ever given him a present except for Hagrid, who had bought him Hedwig for his birthday. Tears welled in his eyes. Why would the teachers do this for him?

Professor McGonagall said calmingly, “Yes, Harry, the broom is for you. Please be careful not to get injured again.”

Harry beamed at his teachers and said, “Thank you, Professors. I am very happy, and yes, I will be careful in the match.” He quickly excused himself in order to test his new broom before the match and soon noticed that the old, school brooms had no comparison to it. The teachers had given him a very good broom.

Fortunately, it was a bright, sunny day, and considering that it was the third Saturday in November, it was still quite warm – the ideal conditions for a Quidditch game. Harry was glad: When the Gryffindor vs. Slytherin game had been played a week before, the weather had been horrible, and it had taken the Gryffindor Seeker four hours to catch the Snitch.

Harry circled above the other players, always keeping the Ravenclaw Seeker in view. Once he managed to bluff the other Seeker by going down so fast that the other Seeker thought he had spotted the Snitch and followed him quickly, only to nearly crash into the ground while Harry was pulling up again as fast as he could. After twenty minutes, he spotted the Snitch for the first time, but had to evade a Bludger, and after that, it had vanished from sight.

But now, after nearly two hours of playing he spotted it again near the goal on the Ravenclaw side. He dove to just a few meters over the ground again, always with the Ravenclaw Seeker shortly behind him, then shot upwards and aimed for the small golden ball. As soon as he held the Snitch in his hands, he descended to where he spotted Madam Hooch, who blew the whistle and ended the game immediately.

"240 – 60, Slytherin wins!" He could hear the announcement.

A moment later Hermione pulled him into a fierce hug, whispering, "Don’t you ever do such crazy stunts like that again! I was so worried."

It had taken a lot out of Harry not to flinch under her hug, but fortunately she released him quickly, and before he knew what happened, he was surrounded by his team-mates.

"Harry!" Draco approached him urgently. "You have to tell whomever you have to tell that you will stay in Slytherin tonight as we will have a victory party tonight." Harry obliged and immediately went to talk to his two Heads of House and Ron. He was very happy – he had done it! He had managed to catch the Snitch in time. The thought ‘Would my Dad be proud of me now?’ kept popping up in his head, but fortunately, his Slytherin friends managed to keep him out of deep thoughts for the rest of the day.

The Gryffindor - Hufflepuff match took place exactly a week later and was a whole success for Gryffindor. Harry managed to catch the Snitch only fifteen minutes into the game. However, the instant he closed his hand around the struggling, little ball, something hit him in the head at full force.

Several people watched in horror as a Bludger, which seemed to have been directly aimed at Harry, hit him in the head full force.

Harry could barely manage to keep a grip on his broom and the Snitch, as his fingers were slacking on the grip, and he was forced to grapple for a solid grip. He whirled toward the direction of the ground, while he had to fight hard against the darkness that was threatening to overlap his sight. Finally he passed out a few metres above the ground.

When he slowly regained consciousness, he could hear sounds and voices from what seemed far away. Concentrating on the voices, he could recognize Madam Pomfrey’s voice, but there were others as well. Where was he? He lazily opened his eyes and saw that he was still on the Quidditch pitch. The Gryffindor team, as well as his friends were sitting around him and Madam Pomfrey was standing in front of him.

"What happened?" Harry asked confused, before he remembered catching the Snitch.

Poppy threw Harry a stern look. “This time, your rib is only cracked a little. However, you have a slight concussion and have to lie down for a few hours, either in one of your dormitories or in the Hospital Wing.”

Harry groaned. Under no circumstances did he want to go to the Hospital Wing again! “What exactly happened?” he asked, feeling very confused. “I know that I caught the Snitch, and then something hit me in the head,” he added.

“You were hit by a Bludger,” Madam Pomfrey replied calmly. “However, your two Heads of House will come and talk to you about it as soon as you feel a little better.” She handed Harry three potions, and since he was feeling bad enough that he didn’t want to question her, he gulped them down and felt better immediately.

“Now,” Madam Pomfrey spoke again, “don’t run around, don’t use a lot of magic, don’t play Quidditch, and try to rest as much as possible during the next two weeks. I will see you in the evenings anyway, and if your condition is worse then, I shall keep you there.”

Harry groaned. No, he wouldn’t let that happen. He had already seen too much of the Hospital Wing to last for the entire school year.

-----

His friends slowly escorted him to his dormitory in Gryffindor, where he lay down and slept through the afternoon. By the time Harry woke up, it was already dark outside. When he noticed voices talking quietly next to his bed, he looked up and saw Professors McGonagall and Snape talking animatedly to each other.

“I suspect Quirrell,” Severus said, not noticing that Harry had woken up, “although I cannot give you a reason for this assumption. It is nothing more than a feeling.”

Hearing Professor McGonagall’s gasp, Harry put his glasses on, which Minerva had handed to him as soon as she had seen that Harry was awake. He was very confused, and he threw the professors an enquiring look.

“Harry,” Minerva started to speak, “do you remember the Quidditch game this morning?”

‘What a question! Of course I remember the match!’ Harry thought but refrained from voicing his thoughts.

“You were hit by a Bludger,” Snape continued, “which, according to the people who saw it, seems to have been purposely directed at you.”

Harry gasped. “What?” he asked unbelievingly. He couldn’t believe that. Why would anyone do that? And why to him? He hadn’t done anything to anyone.

“Yes, Harry, that’s true. I saw it myself,” Professor McGonagall confirmed the annoying fact. “Harry, do you have any enemies here at the school?”

Harry slightly shook his head and winced doing so. His head still hurt very much. He turned to Severus. “Can I have a Headache Potion please?”

Severus quickly checked on Harry, before he handed him two phials and said, “Drink this, and if you feel well enough then, you may join us. Dinner is going to start in a few minutes.

His friends kept him busy for the rest of the evening. The Weasley twins had organized a huge victory party in the Common Room, so that Harry didn’t have any time to think about what the teachers had told him.

-----

A week later, Harry finally had his first private lesson with Professor McGonagall, which was as interesting as the first one had been. For an hour, she let Harry practise very easy spells with his wand. He had to transfigure buttons into several sorts of things, like plush animals or other toys. However, his spells were much too strong, and the animals always ended up as real animals, and the other items most times appeared in a very high number – like when he had to transfigure a button into a plate. Suddenly, a complete tea set, with six cups, six plates, and everything else that belonged to a tea set, sat on the table.

“Yes, Harry –” Minerva sighed, “– I think tea will be in order. Would you like to try to conjure tea and biscuits for us?”

Harry beamed. Of course he would like to try. However… “Um… Professor? May I use wish magic?”

Minerva nodded affirmatively, and Harry concentrated on two cups of tea and biscuits. The teacher’s gasp brought him back to reality.

Harry looked at the table and gasped as well. All six cups were filled with tea, and the six plates were overflowing with many different sorts of biscuits. He groaned. Why did that happen? At least with wish magic he should be able to control his magic reasonably. “I’m sorry, Professor,” he apologized.

Minerva, however, laughed, which was very rare for the stern teacher, and said, “Yes, Harry, we really have to practise a lot. Maybe we should increase your lessons and practise on Saturdays as well. However, you are so powerful that I nearly could try to teach you sixth year’s exercises.

Harry gave her a surprised look and asked, “And what would that be, Professor?” Then he remembered something he had read about a few weeks ago and quickly added, “I would like to learn how to become an Animagus. Could you teach me that?” A hopeful glance took over his face.

Minerva threw him a shocked glance and replied sternly, “Harry, the Animagus transformation is the most difficult one, and at the same time, the most dangerous part of Transfiguration. I normally do not teach it in the regular classes, as only very few people are capable of it. A person’s magic has to be very strong to achieve this transformation, and I have never heard of an eleven-year-old Animagus.”

Harry looked at her pleadingly, and she just couldn’t resist his face. He was such a nice boy but had had so many bad experiences growing up without his parents. Now, at Hogwarts, he seemed to be quite happy but was ill half the time. She really pitied him, especially as she had known him well as a baby, and he had always been like a grandchild to her, just as she always had had kind of a mother-daughter relationship with his mother, Lily.

She sighed deeply and said, “I cannot promise anything now, because I have to ask Professor Dumbledore for his agreement. If he agrees, I will try to teach you how to become an Animagus. However, there will be one condition you really have to fulfil. You may only try to transform when Professor Dumbledore or I are in the same room. You may not practise on your own. Do you understand me?”

Harry nodded excitedly and asked, “Professor, please, can we go and ask Professor Dumbledore immediately?”

Minerva felt herself getting excited like the student in front of her. She stood up and motioned Harry to wait for a moment, while she went into her office where she fire-called the Headmaster. “Albus, could you step through for a moment, please?”

A minute later, Dumbledore was sitting on a chair next to Harry, enjoying one of the cups of tea Harry had conjured before.

“Now, this looks like a joyful tea party. What a pleasure,” he stated, before he threw Minerva and Harry an enquiring smile.

“Albus, Harry wants to learn the Animagus transformation. As powerful as he is, I think it might be possible for him to learn it, although he is only eleven. Do you think it would be all right to try to teach him?”

The Headmaster’s eyes were twinkling madly, and he said, “Yes, Minerva, I have no doubt that Harry will be able to learn it. However, as he is so young, it might take a few years. Moreover, he has to promise that he won’t practise on his own, but only when you are in the same room with him. Or I,” he added, smiling at Harry.

McGonagall fetched a timetable and tapped it with her wand, muttering something that Harry couldn’t understand. Finally, she said,

“All right, Harry. We have two parallel free periods, Tuesday and Friday at the fourth period. Come to my office during these hours, and we can practise either here or in my office, depending on your form and its size. If the size of your animal is not too big to practise in my office, you could additionally come any time in the evening and could try on your own, while I am grading parchments.”

“Thank you very much,” Harry said excitingly. He was so happy that he really had to stop himself from hugging his teacher.

In the meantime, McGonagall had written something on a parchment, which she handed to Harry. “Here, Harry. Go to the library and take this book out. Read at least the first two chapters before our lesson on Tuesday. Moreover, you have to ask Professor Snape if he could help you to brew the Animagus potion or even brew it for you.”

“What does this potion do?” Harry asked interestedly.

“When you drink this potion, you will be transformed into your animal for a few minutes, so that you know your animal and can have a close look at it. If you manage to brew it before Tuesday, we can try it out then.”

Harry thanked the teachers and received the permission to talk to Professor Snape about it, although he had to keep quiet about it to all other people. Then he went to the library to borrow the book and headed for the dungeons to talk to his other Head of House.

Professor Snape was not very pleased when five minutes into curfew a very happy Harry Potter knocked at his door. He was supposed to be in his dormitory in Gryffindor.

“Harry Potter! What are you doing here? It is already past curfew,” he asked sharply.

Harry gasped. He hadn’t thought about curfew at all. “Oh, I am really sorry, Professor. I completely forgot. I had my transfiguration lesson with Professor McGonagall until just now, and I have something I would like to talk to you, sir.”

Severus sighed. Of course, he knew about the lessons with Minerva, but curfew was curfew. On the other hand, it was not the child’s fault that he had two Heads of House, and wherever he stayed for the night, one of these two teachers was always quite a walk away.

“All right, Harry. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing is wrong, Professor!” Harry told Severus the whole story, and Severus inwardly groaned.

On one hand he despised the Gryffindors for giving Harry even more attention by teaching a first year student sixth or even seventh year lessons. On the other hand, he was very glad for Harry who could really use any kind of help and affection he could get. Severus really had to try hard not to show his emotions in front of the child, but he efficiently managed to keep his face blank.

“Now, first of all I’ll have to transfigure the cover of the book in your hand to something else, into a difficult or uninteresting title, so that nobody would ever consider having a look inside the book.”

Harry gasped. He had completely forgotten that the Animagus thing had to remain a secret and that therefore, no one was supposed to see what he was reading. He held the book out to the teacher.

Severus pointed his wand at the book in Harry’s hand, and when Harry looked at the book again, the title had changed into ‘The Seldom Inefficiency of Birch Bark in Healing Potions’. The subtitle was ‘When Pepper-up Potions Do Not Work – A Rare Problem’. Harry threw him a grateful glance. He had already forgotten that he wasn’t supposed to do a lot of magic.

“Harry, let’s brew this potion together. It is quite difficult to brew, although it only takes about two hours including the preparations. Can you come here after dinner tomorrow, or do you have Quidditch practise?”

“After dinner will be fine, sir. No, I am only allowed to play Quidditch twice a week at the moment; therefore, I practise with the Slytherins on Tuesdays and with the Gryffindors on Fridays, that’s all.”

“Now, shall I accompany you to Gryffindor, or are you going to stay in your dormitory here tonight?”

Harry thought for a moment and sighed. “I would prefer to stay here, as I am very tired. However, I still have not gone to Madam Pomfrey, and if I don’t return to Gryffindor, everyone will be worried about me.”

Severus raised an eyebrow. “You are aware of the features of the Floo network, aren’t you? I can easily Fire-call Professor McGonagall, whose office is near the Gryffindor common room and inform her, so that she will be able to calm your excited roommates. Concerning Madam Pomfrey, it would not be the first time for you to skip her check-up and be checked by me, would it now? I can Fire-call her too.”

Harry sighed again and shrugged. “Do you mind, Professor? I am sorry; I don’t want to bother you beyond…”

Severus interrupted him. “You are not bothering me; I just do not intend to be killed by your other Head of House if I send you up all the way to Gryffindor when you are obviously dead on your feet and could as well sleep in your dormitory here. Now, let me check on you, and then you can go to bed while I make the two Floo-calls.”

A few minutes later, Harry was fast asleep in his Slytherin dormitory, surrounded by his excited dorm mates, who were still waiting for an explanation why Harry had joined them on a Sunday and why he was so late.

“Maybe he had a fight with Weasley,” Draco tried to guess. “Ron can be such a b… sometimes.” Nobody knew more, and so they decided to go to sleep and ask Harry in the morning.

-----

In the morning, Draco woke Harry up early. “Harry, wake up! Tell me why you are here.”

Harry flinched at the touch, groaned and lazily opened an eye. “What’s wrong? What time’s it?”

“Now, tell us, Harry. Did you get in a fight with Ron last night?” Draco asked again.

In the meantime, Blaise had woken up as well and came over curiously. “Harry, is everything all right with you?”

Harry nodded. “Yes, of course. Except for the fact that this bundle of energy here had to wake me up so early.” What was wrong? Why were they so excitedly fussing over him? He had just woken up, hadn’t he?

“So, tell me, now. Why you are here?” Draco whined.

“Am I not supposed to be here? That’s my bed, isn’t it?” Harry asked confused, before he remembered the events of the evening before.

“Of course it is. We just didn’t expect you on a Sunday evening, especially an hour beyond curfew, but we are glad to have you here anyway,” Blaise answered quickly, giving Draco a snide glare.

Draco, however, didn’t notice. “Did you get in a fight with Ron?” he asked again.

Harry laughed. “No, Draco. I just had a conversation with our Head of House, and afterwards, I was so tired that the Gryffindor dorm seemed so far away and I just stayed here. That’s all.”

“Oh, I see,” Draco commented with a small hint of disappointment in his face.

Harry closed the curtains around his bed and proceeded to read the book that he had borrowed the night before, until it was time to get up.

Two hours later, when Harry had breakfast at the Gryffindor table, he had to endure a similar conversation with his friends who had worried a lot when an hour after curfew their Head of House came to tell them that Harry would stay in Slytherin for the night.

-----

Harry could hardly manage to concentrate on his lessons. The thought “What will my Animagus form be?” kept popping up in his head every now and then. He hoped so much that it would be a bird, so that he could fly without a broom. But what if….

“Mr. Potter!” the stern voice of the Transfiguration teacher penetrated his ear. “Do you think this is too easy for you?”

Harry nearly jumped out of his chair. “No, Professor, of course not. I’m sorry, Professor,” he stammered, hastily glancing at Hermione and Draco in order to find out what they had to do.

“Try to transfigure your button into a plush teddy bear,” the teacher said strictly.

Harry took his wand, pointed it at the button, and thought, ‘I want you to be a cute, white teddy bear with green eyes and an orange jump suit.’ In an instant, the teddy bear sat in front of him, and the whole class applauded, as everyone had been watching Harry after the professor’s outburst.

“Very good, Mr. Potter. However, the next time I would like to hear your incantation, please,” McGonagall admonished him.

Harry sighed. He knew he had to do that… but here? In front of all the others? Noticing that not only the teacher but the whole class seemed to be waiting for him to comply, he wished the teddy bear back and again pointed his wand at the button, pronouncing the spell that the teacher had told them the other day aloud. He sighed and closed his eyes immediately after the word had left his mouth. He didn’t want to see the result of his transfiguration.

However, it only took the class a few seconds to scream so loud that Harry opened his eyes again, only to find himself eye-in-eye with a fortunately still-small polar bear, which was – of course – alive. Harry was wide awake, now. Before the polar bear could even move, Harry had wished him back to the plush teddy bear from a few minutes ago, and he felt his classmates relaxing.

Harry took the teddy bear into his arms and absentmindedly cuddled it. Looking down at the teddy, he was too busy trying to keep his tears from pouring down and trying to catch his breath to notice the concerned looks that his teacher and his friends gave him.

-----

Harry was still absentmindedly cuddling his teddy bear when he arrived at the dungeons. When Professor Snape entered the classroom and saw Harry he raised an eyebrow and threw an enquiring look at Hermione, who was sitting next to Harry.

“Harry,” Hermione whispered to Harry in a soft voice, “you better put the teddy away now.”

Harry gasped and felt himself blush terribly. He had not noticed at all that he had been cuddling the teddy bear for the whole time. He quickly opened his bag and put the teddy away. ‘Now, I have to concentrate on this lesson,’ he thought and feverishly tried not to think of anything else but the potion instructions that had just appeared on the blackboard. Fortunately, he had read the chapter in the book several times and knew the instructions by heart, so that he managed to brew a flawless potion.

-----

After dinner, Harry went straight to the Potions classroom, where Professor Snape was already busying himself with several potions that were simmering at a table in front of the classroom. “Good evening, Professor,” Harry said and settled down at the table next to the teacher’s.

“Good evening, Harry,” the Professor replied evenly. His face didn’t show any emotion at all. With a flick of his wand, potions instructions appeared at the blackboard.

Harry looked at the front of the classroom and gasped. The strangest ingredients were needed for the potion – Some of them Harry had not even heard of.

Snape raised an eyebrow and sneered. “Does this seem too difficult for our Mr. Potter…” Harry blushed and looked down at his table, and the teacher continued, “… who has, so far, made nearly all his potions in class correctly?”

Harry threw him an unsure glance, trying to assess the teacher’s mood.

“Harry, I know that this potion is very difficult. Get the ingredients out of the classroom’s stock, and then, I will show you how to prepare them.”

They brewed the potion together, and two hours later, Harry held a potions phial concerning a slightly orange potion in his hand, watching it from all sides. He wanted to try it out immediately, but he had to wait until his lesson with McGonagall.

“I want to try it immediately,” he blurted out.

Severus sneered and raised an eyebrow. “What did Professor McGonagall tell you?”

“She told me that we can try it in my lesson tomorrow,” Harry answered honestly and put the phial into his bag. Then he remembered something he had wanted to ask his teacher.

“Professor Snape,” he started timidly, and seeing Severus’ enquiring look, he continued, “are you an Animagus too, Professor? I hope you don’t mind me asking,” he added hesitantly.

The edges of Severus’ mouth twitched as if he was laughing a bit, before he replied, “Yes, Harry. I am a snake.”

Harry’s eyes grew bigger and he looked expectantly at this teacher, hoping that the Professor would show him his Animagus form.

Severus sighed and transformed into a black snake with a beautiful, green pattern.

Harry was impressed and looked in awe at the stunning snake in front of him.

‘Do you like it? That’s why I always know what happens in Slytherin house – A snake is very inconspicuous, and none of my students know when I’m there,’ Severus hissed in Parseltongue, more to himself, of course, as he was aware of the fact that no student could understand what he said while he was in his snake form.

‘Is that true?’ Harry thought to himself, before he realised that he could understand the snake like he was able to talk to the snake in the zoo before he had arrived at Hogwarts. But should he let his teacher know about this? Was it normal for wizards to be able to speak to snakes? Probably yes, but he had never heard anyone talk about it.

Severus noticed that Harry seemed to be far away in his thoughts. What could have triggered this? He had pleaded that Severus should transform, and as soon as he transformed, Harry had pulled himself back into his thoughts. And suddenly, something began to dawn on him.

‘Do you understand me, Harry?’ he hissed again.

Harry shifted uneasily from one foot onto the other. ‘Yes, sir.’

Severus transformed back into his normal form, sat down, and motioned Harry to sit down as well.

“Harry,” he said pensively, “you were able to understand what I said, right?”

“Yes, Professor,” Harry answered warily. “Why?” he then asked. “It’s not unusual for wizards to be able to talk to snakes, is it?”

Severus frowned, before he told Harry that it was indeed very unusual – even for wizards – to understand Parseltongue. When he asked Harry if he had talked to a snake before, Harry nodded and told him of his visit to the zoo, where he had talked to a boa constrictor. ‘Why is he able to understand? He is not an heir of Slytherin,’ Severus thought fervently. He knew that this ability to speak to snakes had sometimes appeared in his own family as well, as the Princes were an old family that had always been very close to the Slytherin family. However, the Potters couldn’t have anything to do with those Slytherin-bound families.

“Professor,” Harry’s voice pulled Severus out of his thoughts. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anybody what you told me while you were in your snake’s form.”

Severus nodded. “Yes, Harry, please keep quiet about it. Moreover, nobody should know that I am a snake at all. So far, only Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall as well as Madam Pomfrey know about it, and I would like it to remain like this.”

“I won’t tell, Professor. I promise,” Harry said firmly, and Severus decided to believe the boy. Although he looked like his father, his behaviour so far had been completely different from the way James Potter had conducted himself. Had James known Severus’ secret, surely at least the whole Gryffindor tower would have been informed during the next hour.

-----

“Harry, does Professor Dumbledore know that you are a Parselmouth? I mean someone who can talk to snakes?”

“No, sir, I don’t think so. I haven’t spoken to anyone about it,” Harry replied anxiously.

“Then let’s pay him a visit. With a bit of luck, Professor McGonagall will be there as well, so that you can try your potion.”

Harry beamed at the Professor, and they quickly left the Potions classroom. He was indeed lucky, as he noticed the moment he entered the Headmaster’s Office. Professor McGonagall was just having tea with Dumbledore.

Before Severus could tell his colleagues the reason for their visit, Harry had addressed his Head of House. “I have the potion, Professor. Professor Snape helped me to brew it.”

“And he wants to take it immediately, Minerva. Do you think we could release him from this burden?” Severus added, smirking.

Minerva snorted and glanced at Harry. “Harry, do you feel well enough, I mean, physically well enough to transform? It might hurt a lot, depending on the animal you are likely to become. Even later, when you have managed the transformation on your own, you may only transform when you are in a good, physical condition. Otherwise, it could be dangerous and you could make yourself worse.”

Harry thought for a moment. His chest hurt a bit, and he couldn’t breathe easily, but that was nearly normal nowadays. “Yes, I think so,” he answered apprehensively.

Dumbledore pointed to the sofa. “I would recommend you to lie down on the sofa before you take the potion and make yourself as comfortable as possible, because you will really transform in the animal you are going to become, and, as Professor McGonagall said, the transformation might hurt a lot the first time,” he advised Harry.

Harry did as he was told, took the Potion, started to transform, and found himself in a black world of pain.

After a few minutes, he regained consciousness again. However, something was not right. His field of vision had been greatly expanded, and it felt as if he had wings. He looked at himself and saw many green feathers.

“A phoenix! A very agreeable Animagus form,” he could hear Severus say.

“A wind phoenix. He has lots of green feathers and a few white and orange ones in the back – very nice,” Dumbledore commented. “Harry, work hard at it, and then Fawkes, you, and I can have much fun in our phoenix forms,” he added smilingly.

#Yes, I would think so too. Hello, Breeze,# Harry could hear Fawkes trill at him.

“A magical animal. Very well. Now you have to practise as much as possible. – I don’t think this is a transformation, which will be easy to achieve,” was Minerva’s comment.

Suddenly, Harry transformed back into his human form. Everything hurt. Seeing the teachers beaming at him, Harry finally realized that if he were able to become an Animagus, he would be a phoenix! That would be wonderful. He’d be able to fly without a broom. Harry was so happy.

“Thank you, for helping me and letting me try this, Professors. I am very glad that I have such a great Animagus form, and I will try hard to achieve this goal.”

-----

“Albus, are you aware of the fact that Harry is a Parselmouth?” Severus questioned the Headmaster, who had just sat down behind his desk.

“Really? Are you sure?” was the surprised answer.

Severus told his two older colleagues about his transformation and about his small conversation with Harry while he was in his snake form.

Harry felt himself getting red in the face. Again he was the topic of their conversation. Why couldn’t anything be normal with him? Why did he always have to be the exception? He hadn’t even known that talking to snakes was abnormal.

“The only thing that I could imagine would be that Voldemort has given him some of his own powers when he gave him the scar,” the Headmaster said pensively. “Apart from that I have no idea. However, I think it would be the best not to tell anyone about it.”

“All right,” Harry said in a small voice.

“Harry! Look at me, please,” Professor Snape tried to calm him. “This is not bad; there is no problem with it. However, you know how people are: Snakes are associated with Slytherin, and many people think that Slytherin is bad anyway – which of course it is not. The students talk about everything, and I can imagine that you wouldn’t like it if everyone knew. Am I right?”

Harry gave his teacher a grateful look. It was very relieving that the professor seemed to be able to understand him so well. “Yes, Professor.”

Together, they bid the two older professors ‘Good night’ and left the office. When Severus asked him if he had already gone to see Madam Pomfrey, Harry denied and Severus accompanied him to the Hospital Wing.

-----

In the morning, Harry could only think about his fourth lesson – his first Animagus lesson. Classes passed in a blur. Harry was tired, and he could hardly suppress his excitement because of his Animagus form. He was very lucky that he didn’t attract any attention during the morning classes.

Finally, the third class was finished. Harry had slept through History of Magic, and Draco woke him up when the lesson was over. Hermione, Ron, and Blaise were waiting for them at the door.

“Are we going to the library, or do you prefer to do your homework in the common room?” Draco asked with a mischievous look on his face.

Hermione shook her head. “For you, lessons might be finished for today, but Ron and I still have a class left. You have classes with the Slytherins today, right Harry? We can meet in the library afterwards.”

“I have a Transfiguration class with McGonagall,” Harry explained and hurried up to the Transfiguration Classroom.

-----

Professor McGonagall was already waiting for Harry when he entered the classroom. She motioned him over to her office, saying, “As your Animagus form is not too big, I think you will be more comfortable on the sofa here in my office.” She sat down on the sofa next to Harry and threw him a piercing glance.

“Harry, are you feeling all right today? I explained yesterday that it is very important to do this kind of transformation only while you are in a good health condition. However, according to Madam Pomfrey, your health was far from good yesterday,” she said sternly.

“Professor, I’m sorry, but I didn’t know that. I felt just like I usually feel. Otherwise, I would’ve told you.”

The Professor glared at him and asked unbelievingly, “You did not notice that you were congested enough for Poppy to make you use the inhaler when you went for your check-up?”

Harry shrugged and repeated, “I’m sorry, but no. It always feels like this since they have taken the glamour off. Now, may I start to practise? What do I have to do?” he asked a little impatiently.

“First of all, you look at your left hand,” the teacher admonished. When Harry complied, she continued, “Now imagine your hand to be the pretty green wings of your phoenix.” She transformed her left hand into a cat’s paw.

Harry wished his hand to become part of his phoenix wings. Nothing happened.

“You will have to try over and over. It is very difficult. As I said before, I don’t know anyone who has managed to become an Animagus at the age of eleven. However, as you are capable of wish magic, it might be possible for you, because you have to be more powerful than anybody else at Hogwarts. In a few years, you will probably be the most powerful wizard alive.”

“But Professor Dumbledore….” Harry started timidly.

“He is not capable of wish magic,” Minerva said softly. “Now, go on and try; however, take care of yourself and try not to drain your magic too much.” She went to sit at her desk, where she had piles of homework and essays to grade.

Harry tried again and again without success, which was very frustrating. He was getting really tired now, but as he knew that he was only allowed to do this when he was together with the professor, he decided to practise as much as possible on this occasion.

“All right, Harry, let’s go to dinner. If you want to practise more, you may join me again after dinner, provided that you feel well enough,” Minerva suddenly suggested.

“I would like that very much. Thank you, Professor,” Harry said happily.

-----

It took Harry ten days until he was able to transform his hand into his beautiful, green phoenix feathers. During the first two days, he had obliged and only practised when Professor McGonagall was with him. However, as nothing happened anyway, he had proceeded to practise in bed every night when everyone else was asleep.

Very early on Friday morning, it happened. He suddenly saw green wings instead of his left hand. What now? Should he be happy or worried? Worried because he had practised against the professors’ orders, alone in his bed when nobody was around who could have possibly helped him if something happened. He wished his hand back and succeeded. Taking a deep breath, he decided on being happy.

Classes passed much too slowly for Harry. He just couldn’t wait for his private lesson with McGonagall in the fourth period – and he had to be careful not to give himself away. The teacher couldn’t know that he had already managed to transform his hand; so, he would have to feign surprise, provided that he was able to do it again, of course.

However, in the third period they had Defence against the Dark Arts, and this time, his scar hurt really badly. Harry whispered something to Hermione, who was sitting next to him, and ran out of the classroom.

Hermione excused herself quickly with Professor Quirrell and followed Harry, who groaned when he saw her. He didn’t want anybody fussing over him. He sat down on the floor, leaning against the wall with his hand at the livid scar.

Hermione suddenly gasped. “Your scar is bleeding, Harry. Are you all right?”

Harry summoned all his strength and led Hermione to the Gryffindor Common Room, where he collapsed on a sofa. Then he slowly began to talk and told his friend about his scar and how it sometimes started to hurt when Professor Quirrell was nearby. He was slowly getting afraid of the strange professor. Maybe he really meant to harm Harry. ‘As soon as I have a chance, I will talk to Professors McGonagall and Snape about it,’ Harry vowed.

“Do you have any idea why that could be?” Hermione asked, astonished.

Harry shook his head. “No, but I think Professor Quirrell might have been the one who attacked me at the Quidditch match. However, this is only an assumption – one that Professor Snape seems to share – and I don’t know anything for certain.”

They spent the rest of third period in the common room. Fortunately, Hermione had brought both of their bags with her when she left the classroom.

Harry excused himself and told his friend that he had another Transfiguration lesson with their Head of House. He still had a headache and felt a bit shaky, but he knew that he had to hide it well; otherwise, he would not be allowed to practise.

At the first try, he again managed to transform his hand. He was so glad that for a moment he forgot everything that was bothering him. Maybe he would be able to become an Animagus soon. Being able to fly would just be great!

“Professor, look at my hand,” he shouted happily, and Minerva looked at him in awe.

“Very well done, Harry. This was probably the most difficult step.” She gave him an encouraging smile and went on, “Now, try to change back and transform again several times until you can manage very fast and without thinking a lot. After that, you can try to transform your right hand too.”

Harry changed his hand forth and back a few dozen times. Then he tried to change his right hand but to no avail. He was getting too tired anyway, so he decided to end his practise session.

“Professor?” he asked in a small voice, not wanting to disturb the teacher. When she threw him an enquiring look, he asked timidly, “Has Professor Snape told you about my problem with Professor Quirrell and my scar?”

Minerva frowned and put her quill down. “Yes, he has told Professor Dumbledore and me that you think that he is always nearby when your scar starts to hurt. Do you know this for sure?”

“Yes, Professor. I am quite sure, because it happened again today in our Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson.”

The teacher threw a piercing glance at Harry, noticing that his scar seemed livid red against the pale colour of Harry’s face. “Professor Snape even thinks that it was he who sent the Bludger after you in the Quidditch match,” Minerva said hesitantly.

To her great astonishment, Harry agreed immediately. “Yes, Professor, I think so too. And I am getting afraid of him. But there is no way around the Defence Against the Dark Arts class, is there?”

Minerva frowned and answered, “If you really feel threatened by him, you should not be forced to attend his classes. You could learn everything on your own, and some of us could give you a lesson once or twice a week. Let us talk to Professors Dumbledore and Snape later, maybe after dinner. I will ask them during dinner, and I will tell you before we leave the Great Hall.” She thought for a moment before she continued, “Unfortunately, although we are very suspicious about Professor Quirrell, we cannot take outright action until we have solid proof, but we are keeping our eyes on him.”

“All right, Professor, thank you very much.”

-----

When they talked in the Headmaster’s office after dinner, Harry had to tell all the teachers about the few incidents concerning his scar and Professor Quirrell. When he told them about his Defence against the Dark Arts lesson of the afternoon, Severus cursed under his breath.

It had happened again, Severus thought. So, there was no doubt that there had to be a connection between the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor and the pain in Harry’s scar. But what kind of connection could be there? Suddenly a thought appeared in his head.

“Can it be,” he asked pensively, “that Quirrell is possessed by the Dark Lord?”

“Sorry,” Harry’s anxious, small voice could be heard, “Who is the Dark Lord?”

Severus wanted to answer, but Dumbledore beat him to it. “The Dark Lord is Voldemort. His followers call him that; others call him ‘You-know-who’. They are different names for the same evil person.”

Harry groaned inwardly. If Quirrell was possessed by the one who had murdered his parents, of course the professor would want to harm him, if not outright kill him. He vowed to be very careful around the Professor.

The three adults discussed how to investigate Quirrell for an hour, and finally, they decided on a procedure that was based mainly on a Leglimency spell performed by Severus. During the next meals, he would try to look into his colleagues head.

Harry was exempted from Defence against the Dark Arts classes from Monday onwards. They decided that he should have a free period instead, in which he could get a head start on his homework, so that he would have time for Defence lessons in the evening. Professor Snape agreed to teach Harry three times a week. The classes would be held between the end of the last afternoon class and dinnertime. Harry was very relieved and happy by the time the meeting was finished.

Before he could leave the room, Minerva asked, “Harry, don’t you want to show the professors your progress?”

Harry smiled and transformed his left hand into his phoenix wing, and Albus and Severus looked surprised at the pretty wing.

#Very good, Breeze, go on and transform your other parts too,# Fawkes commented, and Harry went over to the pretty bird to stroke his head feathers, which the phoenix seemed to like very much.

“I’m sorry, Fawkes. I haven’t managed yet,” he told the bird.

#As soon as you manage, come over and visit me. You may sit on my perch with me, and we’ll have a lot of fun. Don’t forget: The only person who can understand Phoenix Talk apart from you is the grumpy, beardy one over there!# Fawkes joked.

-----

During the next weeks, Harry was very busy. Apart from the evenings when he had Quidditch practise, he spent every evening with Professor McGonagall in order to practise the Animagus transformation. However, it took him two more weeks until he managed to transform his right hand.

Three times a week he had Defence Against the Dark Arts lessons with Professor Snape. In Harry’s opinion, the teacher seemed to be predestined to teach the subject. Lessons with him were much more interesting than Professor Quirrell’s lessons, and two weeks before Christmas, they had already finished the first year’s book.

Severus lent Harry his own second year’s Defence against the Dark Arts book, but on Harry’s request, he helped him to owl-order his own copy of the book at Flourish & Blotts, the huge book shop at Diagon Alley.

-----

Ten days before the end of term, parchments were put up in the common rooms, and the students who wished to stay at Hogwarts were requested to put their names on the list. Harry was very happy to be given the opportunity to stay at Hogwarts during the holidays and wrote his name on both lists, the list in Gryffindor common room and the one in Slytherin, as well. The teachers were not so stupid; they would know that it meant that he was going to stay in both dormitories every other night, as usual.

When Ron saw that Harry had put his name on the list, he immediately invited Harry to join his family during the holidays.

“Yes, Harrykins, come with us to the Burrow. You can share a room with Ron,” the twins immediately expressed their agreement to his invitation.

Harry remained quiet, thinking for a moment. Of course, it would be great to spend the holidays together with his friends and their families at a real home. And a wizarding home as well! However, would he be able to behave as everyone expected him to? He didn’t have any experiences with Christmas traditions at all. ‘I don’t want Ron to have to be ashamed if I cannot behave myself properly,’ he thought.

“Thank you very much,” Harry answered finally. “I appreciate it very much, and I would love to come; however, I have to ask either Professor McGonagall or Professor Snape if I may go.”

“Why do you have to ask them? It’s up to you to decide about what to do in your holidays,” Ron blurted out.

“No, I don’t think so,” Harry contradicted sadly. “Professor Dumbledore has told me that they are my magical guardians during the time I am at Hogwarts. Therefore, they have to decide what I am allowed to do. If it was you, you’d ask your parents. They’re your magical guardians. But I don’t have parents, so I have to ask the professors.”

“Then let’s go and ask McGonagall,” Ron said stubbornly, and the three friends went over to their Head of House’s office.

However, the teacher said they would have to ask the Headmaster as Harry’s case was special. They didn’t understand everything they were told, but nevertheless, they went to see the Headmaster.

Dumbledore frankly told them, “I am sorry, Harry, but: No! The Weasleys would be in a lot of danger if you stayed with them, and I am sure you don’t want that, right? However, Professor Snape has told me that Draco Malfoy asked if you could join him during the holidays, and I believe that this solution would be much safer for all of you. Although Lucius Malfoy was known as a Death Eater before, he would not touch a friend of Draco, especially not a member of Slytherin House.” ‘Apart from the fact that he doesn’t know that Voldemort is alive,’ he thought to himself.

Harry looked curiously at his teacher. Draco? He hadn’t told him anything. He looked over to Ron, who was still trying to argue the matter with the Headmaster. “Ron, it’s all right. I don’t want to put your family in danger, and Draco is my friend, too, so it will be all right.”

-----

During the last weeks, Harry had spent a lot of his nights practising the Animagus transformation. However, he preferred doing so in the Slytherin dormitory, although he knew that Severus sometimes entered the dormitory during the night to check on his students. He couldn’t even tell a reason – maybe he trusted the Slytherins more than the Gryffindors that they wouldn’t tell his secret if they happened to get to know it? Maybe it was just because he was further away from Professor McGonagall as it was her rule that he was breaking by practising alone.

One night, about a week before the beginning of the Christmas holidays, he was sitting on his bed in the Slytherin dormitory, practising his transformation into his phoenix form, when something strange happened. He couldn’t even tell what happened, he only knew it felt strange… and it hurt. He unconsciously rubbed his forehead and thought, ‘What did I do now?’

After a few minutes, the pain receded slowly, and Harry began to look at his body. What had hurt so much? Suddenly he realised that he had managed to transform his complete body into his phoenix form from his neck to his toes – everything except for his head. What an immense progress!

He spent a few minutes in this form, before he transformed back. He would have liked to spend more time in this strange form, but he was too afraid that he would fall asleep and be found in the form by someone in the morning. Fortunately, tomorrow was Friday, and he had a private lesson with McGonagall today during the fourth lesson.

When that hour came, he found, to his delight, that he was able to transform into it once again.

The professor watched his beautiful bird’s body from all angles, before she said, “Congratulations, Harry. Very well done. Now, you won’t have problems with the rest.”

-----

From Monday onwards, they had to take their first End of Term tests, and Harry was very excited. However, he soon noticed that his tests were very easy, except for the Defence Against the Dark Arts test Severus gave him during their lessons. The theoretical part and the practical part were both difficult, but somehow, he managed to get through them. At their last Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson on Friday, which was the last day before the holidays, Severus told him that the Defence Against the Dark Arts test had in fact been the second year’s test. Nevertheless, Harry had managed to get an E on the advanced test.

“Very good, Harry,” he commended his student with a hint of pride in his voice. Harry felt very happy. Hopefully he had done well in his other tests, too.

In the House Meeting later in the Slytherin Common Room, Severus wished his students enjoyable holidays and told them that he expected them to send him an Owl at least once during the holidays, so he would know they were all right. Harry briefly considered taking Hedwig with him but decided against it. She was comfortable here at Hogwarts, and he would be able to use Draco’s owl anyway.

Back in the dormitory, he asked Draco what he should take with him, and Draco gave him a bit of advice. Suddenly, Harry felt very uncomfortable and asked his friend, “Do you think we could go to Diagon Alley for a few hours? You know, I don’t have proper clothes, and I would like to go and buy some.”

“Of course we can go to Diagon Alley, and I will help you choose proper attire that will actually fit a pencil person like you,” Draco replied happily.

-----

During the night, Draco woke up to strange noises coming from Harry’s bed. He jumped out of his bed and ran over to his friend’s bedside, noticing that he was obviously having problems breathing and that his cheeks were flushed. “Harry!” He tried to wake the other boy, but Harry was already awake.

“Get Severus,” he croaked, and Draco ran to get his godfather.

“Severus, come quickly! Harry can’t breathe!” Draco yelled urgently.

Severus threw Floo powder into the fireplace, ordered Madam Pomfrey to floo to the Slytherin Common Room, and then hurried there himself. In an instant, they were standing next to Harry’s bed.

Poppy held an inhaler in front of Harry’s face and, when his breathing became more natural, she put his hands around the inhaler, so that he could hold it by himself. Then she began to check on him and frowned.

“Pneumonia, maybe from too many Quidditch practices in the snow,” she diagnosed and ordered a few potions from Severus. While he went to get the potions, she talked softly to Harry, “I am sorry, Harry, but you will have to stay here at Hogwarts during the holidays. We will wait a few minutes until you have taken the potions and feel well enough to move, and then I will take you to the Hospital Wing.”

After they had moved Harry to the Hospital Wing and he was finally sleeping peacefully, Poppy and Severus spent a while in Poppy’s office, animatedly talking to each other.

“Severus, he cannot stay alone in a dormitory, neither in Slytherin nor in Gryffindor. He has to stay in the Hospital Wing with me.”

Severus thought for a moment, before he replied, “How long do you think he will have to stay in bed? I will feel sorry for him. No one should have to stay in the Hospital Wing over Christmas. Maybe I should take him in. He could stay in my guest room. You would come and check on him every day, even if he stayed with me, wouldn’t you?”

Poppy thought for a moment. That would be a good solution. In fact, she felt very sorry for Harry. However, none of his friends or his dorm mates, who could look after him, stayed over the holidays. Therefore, he just had to stay in the Hospital Wing. But if Severus was going to take him in, Harry would be able to enjoy his holidays, even if his condition was unfavourable. And, with Severus, she could be sure that he was in good hands.

“I think that is a very good idea,” she said finally. “And, yes, of course, I will come twice a day to check on him, and I don’t want you to take him immediately. As long as his condition is so bad, he has to stay in the Wing, where I can monitor him all the time. However, after the first few days, it would be much nicer for him to spend the holidays in your quarters. Thank you, Severus.”

The professor sneered and replied, “I am sure we will both survive it. However, I have to talk to Albus tomorrow morning to get his approval.”

The Headmaster, of course, did not mind at all, and his eyes were twinkling madly when he heard what Severus had to say.

When Pomfrey told him that he had to stay at Hogwarts during the holidays, Harry felt very sad. He had been so happy that his friends had invited him to stay over the holidays, in a wizarding home, with a real family, but now he could only hope that someone would invite him again next year. Anyway, he consoled himself by remembering that staying at Hogwarts was much better than going back to the Dursleys.

In the morning, all of Harry’s friends came to visit him for the last time before they left for the holidays. Hermione cried when she heard that Harry had to stay at Hogwarts during the holidays.

“But, Harry, no other first years are staying. You will be on your own. Can’t you go to visit Draco later?”

“I don’t know, Hermione. I don’t even know how long I have to stay here in the Hospital Wing. However, in two weeks time all of you will be back, so it really is not such a problem.”

During the next two days, Harry’s condition was steadily getting worse. However, on Monday morning, Poppy noticed that the potions finally seemed to have worked, and his condition had improved a little. She called Severus and told him that he could take Harry with him, provided that Severus was near the boy at all times.

Severus went over to Harry and sat down on the edge of his bed. “Good morning, Harry. Do you feel a little better today?”

“Yes,” Harry answered tiredly. “Sorry, Professor, I don’t want to bother you, but could you perhaps bring me a book when you come here again? I would like to read a bit.”

Severus pulled something out of a pocket in his robes and held it to Harry. “I’m sorry, Harry. I didn’t think you would be well enough to read, so I only brought this.”

Harry looked at the thing the teacher had brought him and blushed terribly. It was the teddy bear he had transfigured in the Transfiguration lesson a few weeks before. However, he took it and held it close in his arms. “Thank you, Professor,” he said in a small voice. “I really appreciate it.” He felt himself getting red all over the face. This was just too embarrassing.

“You are welcome, Harry,” Severus replied. “However, I came to discuss something with you. Madam Pomfrey told me that your condition has improved to some degree. However, it is still not good, and you may not return to either of your dormitories during the holidays. You can either stay here in the Hospital Wing or come to live in the guest room of my quarters during this time. As you know, I am capable enough to look after you, and Madam Pomfrey has already promised to come and check on you twice a day.”

“But that would be very inconvenient for you, wouldn’t it, Professor? I don’t mind staying here; I don’t want to be a burden to anyone,” Harry whispered. Of course, he would like to stay with Severus, very much so, but he didn’t want to be anyone’s burden.

Severus frowned. How could the boy assume that he was a burden to anyone? He put a cool hand on Harry’s arm. Trying to keep his anger at Harry’s relatives out of his voice, he admonished his student, “Harry! Look at me, and listen very well. You are not a burden, neither to Madam Pomfrey, to me, or to anyone else. However, you are still a child, and an ill child to that. You still need someone to look after you. Everyone here at Hogwarts would be willing to do this. Would you like to come with me?”

Harry looked anxiously at his teacher. Even if Professor Snape talked like this now, he would soon find out that he WAS a burden and regret taking Harry in. However, Severus had always helped him so far and had never hurt him once. Very hesitantly, he said, “If you are really sure that you wouldn’t mind, I would like that very much, but…” The rest ended in a coughing fit, but Severus already knew him well enough to understand what he wanted to say.

“All right, Harry. Get up slowly, and then we will walk down to the dungeons.”

-----

When they arrived at the teacher’s quarters, Severus took Harry to his guest room, which Harry liked immediately. It was decorated in green and silver and it held a huge and comfortable looking bed on one side, a desk with a chair and a wardrobe next to it on the other wall. The wall opposite the door was charmed to show the view onto the lake – Harry’s favourite view at Hogwarts.

Severus pointed to a door next to the wardrobe. “This door leads to your washroom. Now, I suggest that you go to bed and rest for a while. We will discuss other things later.”

“Yes, Professor, thank you very much,” Harry answered. He was quite tired but very delighted at the same time. Never before had he had a room just for himself. Even Dudley’s spare bedroom, in which he had lived for a month, had always been Dudley’s spare room and not his own. But here, the teacher had called the place ‘your room.’ – Even if it only was his for two weeks, it was more than he had ever had. He lay down and was asleep within seconds. He didn’t even notice when Severus carefully tucked him in and placed a cool towel on his forehead.

When Harry woke up, it took only a minute for Severus to show up. Severus sat on the edge of his bed.

“Harry, do you feel well enough to come to the kitchen for lunch? Or do you prefer to eat in bed?”

Harry groaned. He wasn’t hungry at all. “I can try to come to the kitchen, but I really don’t want to eat right now.” He crawled out of bed and shivered immediately.

“Tipsy has brought your belongings from the dormitory. You’ll find your clothes in the wardrobe. Do you have a warm sweater?” Severus asked in his soft, silky voice.

Harry went to look for something to put on top of his pyjamas. He pulled the warmest sweater he possessed out of the wardrobe and put it on. Seeing the exasperated look he got from Severus, he proceeded to search for a robe to put over the sweater. He would have to ask Severus or maybe Hagrid if one of them could take him to Diagon Alley one day in order to buy some proper clothes.

However, Severus told him in a soft voice, “No, Harry, you don’t need anything else. That will do for the moment. When you are well enough to go to the Great Hall, you can wear a robe on top of it.” He ushered Harry into the kitchen, called Tipsy and asked for lunch.

After Harry had eaten a few spoonfuls of chicken broth, Severus escorted him back to bed, checked on him and fed him a few potions. They talked for a few minutes, but it didn’t take long for Harry to fall asleep.

As soon as he was sure that Harry was fast asleep, Severus went to the fireplace and Floo-called Minerva. “Could you come here for a few minutes, please?”

Professor McGonagall stepped through the Floo into Severus’ living room. “Is something wrong with Harry?” she asked, worried.

Severus raised an eyebrow. “What would not be wrong with him? No, he is all right at the moment. However, I had a look at his clothes today and discovered that he does not own even one piece of clothing that fits him except for his school clothes. Everything seems to be rags. Therefore, I would like to go to Diagon Alley and buy some appropriate clothes for him that I can give him for Christmas; however, I need someone to look after Harry while I am gone for maybe an hour or two.”

“No problem, Severus. I can stay here. Let me just get some parchments to grade from my office, and I will sit down here until you are back. Does Harry need anything when he wakes up? Are there any potions I have to give him?”

Severus shook his head. “No, I have just given him everything he needs, and he should be all right for a few hours.”

When Severus returned after two hours, he was accompanied by Hagrid, who brought a huge Christmas tree and put it up in a corner of Severus’ living room.

Minerva couldn’t help grinning inwardly. Who would have believed that one day Severus Snape would have a Christmas tree in his quarters for the benefit of a student, moreover the son of his worst enemy? “Do you need help decorating the tree?” she asked innocently.

Severus sighed. His former teacher just knew him too well. “Yes, please, Minerva. I’m not good at such things. However, I would like to do it tomorrow morning. Hopefully, Harry will be well enough to join us. He will surely like that.”

-----

The next day was Christmas Eve. In the morning, Harry was stunned when he saw the huge Christmas tree. ‘How is the Professor going to decorate it?’ Harry mused. He had never been allowed to help decorate the tree at the Dursleys, but he had often heard Dudley’s shouts of excitement when the Dursleys got their tree and could imagine that it had to be a lot of fun.

Harry was just resting on the sofa in the living room, when suddenly the fireplace flared and Minerva stepped out. Harry was very happy to see her.

“Now, Harry, do you feel up to decorating the tree?” Minerva asked him, and Harry beamed at her.

“I don’t know if I can do a lot as I have never decorated a tree, but if you could teach me, I would like it very much.”

Minerva sat down on the edge of the sofa and took a tissue out of her pocket. She pointed her wand at it and incanted a spell to transfigure the tissue into a pretty Christmas ornament.

Harry looked at the bauble in awe. Would he be able to do this as well? He took the tissue Minerva was holding out for him and used his wish magic to produce a white – gold bauble with a green wind phoenix on it. The phoenix was slowly flying around. Then he looked at the beautiful ornament in admiration.

“Very good, Harry,” Minerva commended him. She took the bauble into her hands and showed it to Severus, who stood up and put it on the Christmas tree.

Harry took another tissue from Minerva, and this time, he transfigured it again into a white – gold bauble. However, this time it didn’t have a phoenix, but two black snakes with a green pattern playing together.

Minerva gasped. “Severus, look!”

Severus inspected the ornament and gave Harry a small smile. “Thank you very much, Harry. It’s beautiful.”

Harry smiled back and said, “You’re welcome, Professor.” He wanted to make two more baubles for McGonagall and Dumbledore, but he was too tired. He leaned back and closed his eyes. Warily he noticed that Minerva took his glasses off, tucked him in and placed something cool on his forehead. “Mmm, feels good. Thank you,” he murmured while he was falling asleep again.

When Harry woke up, he noticed that he was alone with Severus, who was reading a book, and that the Christmas tree was decorated beautifully. Harry couldn’t stop the thoughts about Christmas at the Dursleys from popping up in his head. He always had to do a lot of cooking beforehand, and when he was lucky enough, he was left alone in the kitchen, so that he could try the food while he was cooking. When he was finished, Aunt Petunia had given him a sandwich or something and let him use the bathroom, before Uncle Vernon locked him into the cupboard.

He had always spent Christmas in the cupboard wishing that Santa might bring him a present. However, he had never received one. Uncle Vernon had often talked about bad boys, who wouldn’t get Christmas presents, and Harry had tried so hard to be a good boy, but it had never been enough. From the cupboard, he had heard them enjoying Christmas and tearing off the wrappings of their presents. He had listened to Dudley’s joyful cheers as he received his many presents.

How would Professor Snape handle Christmas? Would he, Harry, have to spend the whole evening in his room? Or would he be allowed to be here, on the sofa, to look at the beautiful tree? Most likely not. Probably Christmas trees were only something for good people, not for bad boys like him. Harry sighed deeply and closed his eyes again.

Severus threw him a concerned look. The boy seemed worried about something. Was it because he missed his friends? Or did he feel even more unwell than he should? Severus took his wand out of his robes and unobtrusively did a quick check on Harry, noticing that his temperature was much higher than before, in spite of the strong fever reducer he had given the child just a few hours ago.

“Harry, is something wrong?” he asked finally.

Harry turned his head to face him and said, “No, Professor. The tree is beautiful, isn’t it?”

“Yes, Harry,” Severus replied with a hint of a smile on his lips. “It’s very picturesque. I like your baubles very much.”

Harry frowned. “Oh, yes, I wanted to make two more, one for Professor McGonagall and one for Professor Dumbledore. Do you have anything I could transfigure?”

Severus handed Harry a tissue, putting another on the table next to him. Harry looked at the tissue, and a minute later, Harry held another pretty white-gold bauble in his hand. It had a design of several small cats playing with a Snitch.

Severus nodded his approval. It was beautiful. He raised his wand and put an Unbreakable Charm on the ornament, explaining to Harry what he was doing. “Harry, this is really well done! You could wrap it in Christmas paper and put it under the tree for Professor McGonagall to open in the morning,” he suggested, and Harry threw him a small smile.

“Yes, Professor, I’ll do that. Um… where could I get paper to wrap it? Shall I transfigure another tissue?”

“You could either do that or we can call Tipsy and ask her to wrap it for you or to bring paper in case you want to wrap it. I am sure she will be able to see to your needs.”

Harry sighed and leaned back into the cushions. He would care about the baubles later when he felt better.

“Harry,” Severus said quietly, “I shall call Madam Pomfrey to let her check on you.” When Harry didn’t protest, he went to the fireplace and talked to the Healer, who stepped through the Floo a few minutes later.

Poppy turned to Severus. “While I’m checking on Harry, could you brew a batch of Headache Potion for me?”

Severus looked astonished for a moment, but then the look faded and he agreed. “It will take about an hour though.”

“That’s not a problem. I’ll stay with Harry.”

Severus gave her a knowing glance and left for his private lab.

Poppy sat down next to Harry and checked his temperature, before she asked, “What happened in the afternoon to worsen your condition so much? Are you worrying about something?”

Harry sighed and told her, “I only slept for a while, talked to Professor Snape for a moment and transfigured a Christmas bauble. Nothing more.”

Poppy frowned. “Have you been talking to Severus about something unpleasant?”

Harry shook his head. “No, Madam Pomfrey. However, I have been thinking about Christmas at the Dursleys, which was not too pleasant,” he admitted.

The Healer threw him a surprised look. “Can you tell me about it?”

Harry snorted. “There is not much to tell. After I was finished cooking for them, I was always locked in my cupboard, and I had to stay there until Christmas was over.”

Poppy now had a shocked expression on her face.

“Harry,” she said softly, “try to forget your relatives; you are staying with Professor Snape, and he would never lock you in anywhere. Everything is all right now.”

She gave Harry a worried glance and continued, “Our only problem now is to get your fever down quickly, so that you will be able to open your presents and attend Christmas dinner tomorrow.”

Harry shook his head and said quietly, “I never get Christmas presents anyway. I’m not a good boy.”

Poppy was now staring at Harry. “Excuse me?” she finally voiced, a hint of anger sounding in her voice.

“For many years, I’ve tried to be really good, so that Santa would bring me a present,” Harry explained in a small voice. “But I never got one, and my uncle always told me only good boys would get presents.”

Madam Pomfrey had to try hard to keep the anger out of her voice. “But you have been a very good boy since you were here at Hogwarts, haven’t you?”

Harry shook his head and confided, “No, I have twice slept through my History of Magic lesson. Once I have skipped the lesson and slept in my dormitory. So, I know that I haven’t been good.”

Poppy could not help laughing at the innocent child. “Harry, dear, you have been very good. Sleeping instead of going to a lesson because you need the sleep due to your poor health condition is not bad. However, you should have come to me instead of just skipping the lesson, but it was not bad enough to make you lose your Christmas presents. I am sure you will have a nice surprise tomorrow morning. Your relatives are very mean people, telling you that you’re not good. You are a very good boy!”

Harry, however, was not so sure. If skipping lessons or sleeping during lessons was not bad enough to miss Christmas, what was it that he had done at the Dursleys that had been bad enough?

Pomfrey made a mental note to talk to Severus, Minerva and Albus later tonight. For now, she changed the topic and talked to Harry about Hogwarts, about his classes, and about her own time at Hogwarts, when she was a student together with Minerva McGonagall and Rolanda Hooch.

-----

Severus lay awake for a long time that night. He thought about Harry. What a poor child, having to assume he was not worth a Christmas present. As he had witnessed Harry’s strange behaviour, he was more than tempted to go and pay the Dursleys a visit. However, the thought that Harry would need him here and not in Azkaban made him abandon this urge immediately. What could he do to help the child? He didn’t even completely understand why he felt so inclined to help the boy. Was it only because he seemed to have so much in common with the eleven year old Severus? Then his thoughts wandered to Lily, the only true love he had ever had and suddenly an idea popped up in his head. However, this would entail a lot of research.

When Harry woke up the next time, it was just getting light outside. He could see the still dark sky through the charmed window in his room. He went over into the sitting room and sat down on the sofa. Then he threw a glance at the beautifully decorated tree and let out a gasp of shock when he saw the piles of presents under the tree.

A minute later, Severus was at his side. “What is wrong Harry? Are you all right?” he asked with a hint of concern in his voice.

Harry cleared his throat and replied, “Yes, Professor. Good morning.”

“Are you feeling up to opening Christmas presents?” Severus asked Harry casually. Poppy had given him, Minerva, and Albus a detailed report about her conversation with Harry yesterday, and the four colleagues had decided to have Christmas breakfast together with Harry in the Snape living room.

“Christmas presents?” Harry asked with a confused expression on his face.

Severus went over to the Christmas tree, where many presents were piled, took one that said ‘Harry’ on it, and brought it over to Harry.

Harry gave him a shocked glance and asked unbelievingly, “For me?”

“Yes, Harry, of course it is for you,” the teacher said as casually as possible.

Harry carefully opened the wrapping paper and saw… “The bear I made in Transfiguration. What does this mean?” he asked, even more confused now.

Severus inwardly sighed at Harry’s expression and explained patiently, “I took your bear and gave it to Professor McGonagall, who transfigured it into a bag. She then gave it to Madam Pomfrey, who put an inhaler in it for you to keep it with you at all times. Look at its back; it has a zipper. Now, Professor Flitwick has put a charm on the bear, so that Madam Pomfrey will know every time you take the inhaler out. She will also know for how long you took it out, so that she will be alerted immediately, if you are having severe problems.”

Harry turned the bear and opened the zipper. Everything was as Severus had explained. Harry was still confused. He had thought Christmas presents came from Santa, but this one seemed to have come from his Professors and Madam Pomfrey. He threw Severus a curious look, who then proceeded to patiently explain to him about the real nature of Christmas presents.

When Severus finished his explanation, Harry blushed horribly and said flabbergasted, “If that’s true, then I should have bought Christmas presents for all my friends, but I didn’t because I didn’t know that! What am I going to do?”

The teacher patiently explained that presents were not so important and that his friends would understand, but he couldn’t calm Harry with this theory. Therefore, he suggested, “You could make a bauble for each of your friends, and we’ll let Tipsy hand them to the school owls to deliver them before lunchtime.”

Harry thought that was a good idea. He nodded excitedly and immediately started to transfigure parts of the wrapping paper he still had in his lap. He made a bauble each for Hermione, Ron, Draco, Blaise, and Hagrid. Severus put the Unbreakable Charm on them before he called Tipsy and asked her to wrap the presents and send them as quickly as possible. Then Harry made two more baubles for Professor Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey. On Dumbledore’s he placed two fire phoenixes like Dumbledore and Fawkes. The two birds were animatedly talking to each other. Madam Pomfrey’s was decorated with several potion phials flying toward a green phoenix that kicked at them playfully.

“Both are beautiful,” Severus assured him. Assuming that Harry must be tired after doing so much magic, he conjured wrapping paper and proceeded to wrap the ornaments for him.

In the meantime, Harry found that he was tired, so he lay down. No sooner had he done so then the fireplace flared and Albus and Minerva stepped into the room, shortly followed by Poppy. While Poppy checked on Harry, Severus called Tipsy and asked for Christmas breakfast for the five of them.

Harry was much too excited to eat anything. There had been so many presents under the tree, and on his way to Severus’ small dining area he had seen at least another one with ‘Harry’ written on top.

“Harry,” Severus called him in his soft, silky voice, “you have to eat something before you can open your presents.” He handed him a bowl and added, “Look what Tipsy brought specially for you.”

Harry managed to eat a bit of fruits yoghurt, which was his absolute favourite, and impatiently waited for the others to finish their breakfast. The teachers had to try hard not to laugh. They knew that Harry’s lack of appetite was not only because of his excitement but also because he was still not well. Despite that, however, Harry really behaved like a child waiting for Santa.

-----

“This is something your father gave me for you,” Dumbledore told Harry and handed him a soft package as soon as they had returned to the living room. Harry opened it and …

“Albus, do you really think that wise?” Professor Snape blurted out. Seeing Harry’s questioning look, he added, “This is an Invisibility Cloak, and your father caused a lot of mischief hiding under it. However,” he added pensively, “as you are not your father, I hope that you will use it wisely.”

Harry stood up from the sofa and threw the fabric around himself. He looked down at his body and found, to his awe, that it had vanished from sight. Finally, he pulled the cloak off and sat down again, noticing that a few presents were piled on the table next to him. He started to open the presents, wondering if he was trapped in a nice dream or if this was actually reality.

He received several books. In Hagrid’s package he found a book about magical animals, Hermione had sent him his own copy of “Hogwarts – A History”. The Headmaster gave him a book about phoenixes and two packages of different phoenix treats. Harry couldn’t help laughing when he opened Professor Dumbledore’s present.

However, Professor McGonagall told him, “You see, Harry, we know from experience how nice it is to have a treat when being in our Animagus form. It might be that you don’t want to transform back for one or the other reason, and then you will be happy to have something to eat.”

Harry gave her a smile and said, “Yes, thank you, Professor. I appreciate it very much, although I still think it’s funny. But I will try hard to transform my head so I can try the treats.”

From Ron and Blaise Harry received chocolate frogs, and Draco had sent Harry a book “Potions for Fun and Mischief”. Harry giggled when he unwrapped the present.

Severus threw a glare at Harry and threatened, “Wait until I get my hands on that boy. How dare he?”

Harry couldn’t help laughing again. “He probably thought you would be happy, if I studied more about Potions than I have to, Professor.”

Professor McGonagall snorted and proceeded to open her present from Harry. She gasped when she saw the bauble. “Harry, thank you very much. This is beautiful, and I am really impressed. This is very advanced transfiguration, and I am sure that only a very few of my seventh year students would be able to do this.”

She handed Harry another present, which contained a robe in a beautiful green that matched the colour of Harry’s eyes.

Harry was stunned. He couldn’t believe it. After all these years, he had worried about Santa in vein. He hadn’t been a bad boy like he had always assumed. It was only because nobody had cared enough about him to give him a present. “Is this really for me?” he asked in a small voice.

“Yes, Harry, this is for you from me,” she answered and handed him another, larger package, “and this is from Professor Snape.”

Harry opened the present and didn’t know what to think anymore. It contained two dark blue trousers, two T-shirts and two sweatshirts, as well as a voucher for an afternoon in Hogsmeade to buy more clothes. One of the T-shirts was red with writing in white letters that said, “I like potions”. The other one was green and had a similar white writing saying, “Catch me” as well as a Snitch that was moving around. The sweatshirts were in dark blue and green. The blue one had the same, moving Snitch on it, while the green one was decorated with a bubbling cauldron that kept saying several things in turn like “Don’t insert that now!”, “Stir counter-clockwise!”, or “Run and hide!” He threw an anxious glance at Severus.

The teacher gave him an encouraging nod and explained, “I thought you needed something urgently. However, I promise that we will go to Hogsmeade together to buy more clothes for you as soon as you are healthy.”

Harry nodded and said, “Thank you very much, Professor. I'd like that a lot, but I don't think I really need anything else right now. This stuff is perfect. Thank you so much!”

“No, you really need more clothes,“ Severus answered thinking that spending the day in Hogsmeade would be fun for Harry in any case.

The last present was from Mrs. Weasley. Harry was very surprised when he pulled a handsome green Weasley sweater out of the package.

-----

Harry spent the afternoon on the sofa, filled up with potions and fast asleep. He woke up when a cool hand was placed on his forehead. He unconsciously flinched back from the touch but calmed down immediately when he recognized Severus’ voice.

“Now, Harry, do you feel well enough to attend Christmas dinner in the Great Hall?” Severus asked.

“I don’t know,” Harry replied honestly. “I would like to though.”

“Then I would suggest that you take a shower and dress properly. We will see how you feel then. However, don’t use too much hot water, and leave the door open please. If you feel unwell just shout.”

Harry did as he was told. After he had showered, he chose his new green sweatshirt and the new trousers, both of which fit perfectly. Finally, he put his new robe on and admired himself in the mirror.

“You look quite dashing, Harry, but our dinner is getting cold, you know,” Severus said, and Harry blushed immediately.

“Sorry, Professor, it’s just that I’ve never had such beautiful clothes,” Harry admitted.

“All right, Harry. Sit down here for a few minutes and rest,” ordered Severus. When Harry complied, Severus waved his wand over him and sighed. He pulled a phial with Fever reducer out of his robe and handed it to Harry.

Harry relaxed as the potion worked immediately. His teacher’s voice penetrated his ear.

“If you really want to go, we should be on our way. As you are in no condition to walk all the way up to the Great Hall, we will take the internal Floo system. Are you ready?”

Harry gave him a short nod and stood up.

Severus ushered him into the fireplace and stepped next to him shouting “Great Hall.” When they’d transported, Severus explained. “As you know, students are not allowed to use the internal Floo. Therefore you cannot go on your own, we only can use the Floo together.”

Christmas Dinner exceeded Harry’s expectations by far. Only very few teachers – mainly the Heads of House, the Headmaster and Madam Pomfrey – had remained at Hogwarts. Five students were there beside Harry, and the House tables had been replaced by one round table in the middle of the Great Hall. The Hall was filled with Christmas music, and dinner was delicious.

Although Harry didn’t think he could eat much, he ended up trying everything. He had made the mistake to let Severus choose where he sat, so Harry had ended up between Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey, who made him eat much more than he wanted.

When they had finished dinner, which had taken more than two hours, the candles on the huge Christmas trees lit themselves, and a huge pile of Christmas crackers popped up on the table.

“Harry, what’s wrong?” Professor Sprout suddenly asked from the opposite side of the table. “You seem to be far away.”

“Ah, sorry,” Harry replied tiredly. “I just thought that this is my first real Christmas and that I like it much more than I had expected.”

-----

The rest of the first week of the holidays passed in a blur. Harry spent much time on the sofa in Severus’ living room reading every book he could get into his hands. Madam Pomfrey came twice a day to check on him, and Professors McGonagall and Dumbledore visited Harry and Severus nearly every day. Harry couldn’t wait to be allowed to get up and take a walk around the lake, but at least he felt very comfortable living with Severus. The man was very friendly to him and was always there whenever Harry needed him. Severus even comforted him when he had a nightmare or when he felt depressed because his condition didn’t improve fast enough.

At the beginning of the second week, Harry felt better, and he was finally allowed to leave the castle for short walks around the lake in Severus’ company. He then got a head start on his homework, and it only took him two days to finish his homework completely. When he read one of the books he had received for Christmas for the second time, he suddenly had an idea.

“Severus…” He turned to the teacher hesitantly. “…do you think I could use the Potions classroom to try to brew a potion?”

Severus eyed him suspiciously. “It depends on your condition and on the potion you want to brew.”

Harry reached for the book Draco had given him for Christmas, opened it and pointed to a potion he thought could be interesting. Severus looked at the book and scoffed humorously. He hadn’t played a prank since he was a fifth year student. However, the company of this child during the holidays somehow made him feel much younger than he had felt during the last years.

“You mean you want to celebrate your comeback to the Great Hall with a prank? All right, I will help you, but you may not tell people that I helped you as this would gravely undermine my authority.”

“All right,” Harry agreed. “When can we start to brew?”

It took Harry little more than two hours to brew the potion. While he prepared the ingredients, Severus busied himself at a table next to Harry’s where he started three different potions at the same time. However, he seemed to watch Harry’s every move. He suddenly gripped Harry’s arm and hissed, “Counterclockwise! Be careful to actually read the instructions!”

Harry complied immediately and mumbled, “Sorry, Professor.” Finally, Harry managed to brew a flawless potion. When he filled the potion into a huge phial, he giggled inwardly. To think that the so called ‘Greasy Git of a Potions Professor’ Snape had helped him to prepare a prank was a contrary idea in itself.

Severus called Tipsy, handed her the phial, and instructed her, what she had to do with the potion.

Tipsy smirked as she knew enough about potions to know that this had to be funny and bowed deeply. “Tipsy give it to the kitchen elves immediately, Master Snape, Master Harry.”

-----

It was the first time that Severus and Harry had been able to attend dinner since Christmas, and they were welcomed warmly.

“Hello, Harry. How have you been doing today?” McGonagall asked from his right side.

“I completed my homework, read a book, and in the afternoon, I brewed a potion,” Harry replied and tried hard not to giggle in anticipation of the results of their prank. However, he couldn’t help a giggle escape his mouth and quickly turned it into a coughing fit.

“Severus, do you think Harry is already well enough?” McGonagall worriedly asked Snape.

“I wouldn’t dare bring your precious ‘Half-Gryffindor’ here, if he wasn’t,” Severus replied coolly, so that Harry had a reason to laugh aloud.

Finally, the meal popped up on the table, and everyone started to pile food on their plates. When they started to eat, Harry unobtrusively watched the people drinking the pumpkin juice. Then he addressed Poppy, who was sitting just opposite of him.

“Professor Snape and I thought about going to Hogsmeade tomorrow. May I go?”

Madam Pomfrey watched him pensively before she opened her mouth to reply. But it was not words that came out of her mouth; it was a blue flame.

The others gasped, and the same kind of flame came out of their mouths. Harry couldn’t hold back the laughter anymore, but once more he efficiently hid it behind a coughing fit.

“Here, Harry, drink something,” Professor McGonagall, who had not yet drank from her juice, told him and held his glass out for him.

However, Harry shook his head, still coughing, and quickly conjured a glass with water from which he took a big swallow.

“Oh, is this wine, Harry?” Severus asked innocently. “May I have a glass too?”

Harry conjured a glass of wine and handed it to his teacher.

As McGonagall, Snape and Harry were the only ones able to talk without blue flames coming out of their mouth, everyone was glaring at them suspiciously.

“How long is this going to last?” McGonagall whispered to Harry.

“About ten minutes,” Harry mouthed.

“You know what this means, Harry, don’t you?” Severus asked. When Harry shook his head, he explained, “That we have to be gone by the time it wears off. Minerva, are you coming with us?”

When she nodded, Severus motioned Harry to feign another coughing fit, and when he complied, Severus got up and said, “I shall take Harry back to our quarters. We shall see you tomorrow.”

Harry got up as well and followed Severus.

“I will go and make sure that Harry eats something,” Minerva said quickly and went after the two.

Having arrived in Severus’ quarters, the three collapsed on the sofa laughing.

“They will kill us tomorrow. Nobody will believe that I am completely innocent,” Professor McGonagall said sternly. “Whose idea was that?”

“You came to make sure that I will eat something, right? Then maybe we should call Tipsy and ask her for dinner,” Harry suggested innocently, managing to change the topic efficiently.

Later in the evening, Harry wrote a letter to Draco, telling him how useful the book that he had given him for Christmas was.

-----

Harry enjoyed the last days of the holidays very much. In the morning, he went to Professor McGonagall’s office to practise the Animagus transformation. He spent the afternoons in the Potions classroom with Severus so he could brew several potions from his new book. However, he also helped Severus to brew Healing potions for the Hospital Wing.

Severus watched Harry while the student was brewing a Pepper-up Potion for Madam Pomfrey. It was astonishing how fast Harry had adapted to the life together with the professor. He was no longer as shy towards Severus as he used to be, and he seemed to have gained a lot of self-confidence being together with him. Even when Severus touched him – for example to feel his forehead – he mostly didn’t flinch away anymore. Moreover, Severus was surprised how well he, Severus, had been able to get used to the boy’s company in his own quarters. The only person he had ever been able to stand for more than a few hours had been Lily, but somehow it seemed to be the same with her son.

One day, Severus had taken Harry to Hogsmeade to buy some more clothes, underwear, pyjamas and shoes for him. Harry had enjoyed the day very much. When he was together with Severus, it felt as if he had a father – at least he imagined that it had to be like this if someone had a father.

Finally Sunday arrived. The other students would be back in time for dinner, and it was nearly a bit sad. As happy he was to finally have all his friends back, Harry had gotten used to his life together with Professor Snape and he enjoyed it very much. Especially since he could imagine that it was something like having a family.

While he was waiting for his friends to arrive, Harry’s eyes were twinkling mischievously. He had already prepared several new potions from his book, and on Sunday afternoon, he told Severus what he intended to do. Harry asked him to call Tipsy to take one of the phials to the kitchen elves. This time, Severus and Harry had decided they would drink the pumpkin juice as well, so that nobody would know who was behind the prank. Still, Harry had another plan he was not about to tell Severus.

When the students finally arrived back at Hogwarts and entered the Great Hall, Harry was already sitting at the Slytherin table, wondering if the house elves had put the Potion in the pumpkin juice. Draco and Blaise immediately sat next to him, taking in the mischievous look on his face.

“Hello, Harry. How are you?” Draco asked.

“Fine, Draco, thanks. And you?” Harry replied with an extremly innocent expression.

“Harry, what’s wrong? Are you up to something?” Blaise asked.

However, Dumbledore had just gotten up and started to talk, so Harry didn’t have to answer. A moment later, the food popped up on the tables, and Harry immediately concentrated on his task at hand. He wished the glasses of his friends and his two Heads of House, as well as his own glass to change into glasses with apple juice instead of the normal pumpkin juice. Then he piled some food on his plate and started to eat, still looking extremely innocent.

Suddenly Harry’s and his friends’ attention was drawn to the other side of the table, where their classmates had started to stutter. Harry grinned and proceeded to watch the Head Table, where McGonagall seemed to be in a livid talk with Dumbledore, who had a very strange expression on his face. Snape, who was sitting on the Headmaster’s other side, smirked and threw Harry a knowing look.

Harry lifted his own glass a little and gave his professor an acknowledging glance, before he drank from the juice, noticing that Severus did the same.

When the meal was finished, McGonagall rose from her seat and addressed the students instead of Dumbledore. Harry, Blaise and Draco had a hard time keeping their laughs at bay.

“Don’t talk too much tonight. Don’t let them know that you are the only ones in Slytherin – except for our Head of House – not to stutter,” Harry advised his two friends before he went over to the Gryffindor table in order to join his other friends for the night.

“Now, Harry, admit it. It was you, right?” Ron asked immediately.

“Hmm? What?” Harry asked back innocently.

“Harry, everyone except for Ron and me is stuttering. And you don’t seem to have a problem talking either – not to mention your extremely mischievous expression,” Hermione told him in a reprimanding voice.

Harry only laughed and told them to join him in his dormitory, where he told them about the book he had received from Draco and the pranks. “And believe me, in the meantime, I have brewed several of these potions, and I’m already thinking about when to use the next one.”

“Where and when could you brew these potions? Wouldn’t Professor Snape know?” Hermione asked flabbergasted.

“Um... You mustn’t tell anyone, but he helped me,” Harry answered, grinning at Ron’s shocked expression.

“He what!” both his friends shouted at the same time.

“Oh, right,” Harry suddenly remembered, “I haven’t told you that I spent the holidays with him. I wasn’t allowed to sleep alone in the dormitories. He took me in, so that I didn’t have to spend the whole time in the Hospital Wing. And he was really nice. I enjoyed my holidays very much, having my first Christmas and everything. It was like having a family.”

-----

On the next day, Severus had to postpone Harry’s Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson until after dinner because of a teachers’ meeting. When they were finished, the teacher asked Harry if he would like to join him for tea in his quarters. “However, Harry, no one should know about this,” the professor warned him.

“Of course, Professor, I know that you have to treat all students alike and cannot invite everyone into your quarters. Don’t worry; I won’t tell anyone.”

They talked for an hour, while they were having tea and biscuits. Harry thought about telling Severus about a prank Draco had decided to play the next day, using one of Harry’s Potions. However, just in time, he remembered that Severus was a teacher, whom he couldn’t tell about playing pranks during lessons.

In the meantime, Draco had gone to the kitchen, where Tipsy immediately came over when she saw him.

“What can Tipsy do for Master Harry’s friend Draco?”

He told her what he was planning and said, “This is for breakfast tomorrow, but it would be best to spare the Head Table. Don’t forget, this is very important. I don’t want everyone to be angry at me for pranking the teachers. Plus I don’t want to put anyone in danger because the professors can’t do magic.”

Tipsy giggled and replied, “Of course. Not for Head table. You doesn’t worry, we does this tomorrow morning.”

Draco gave the kind elf a nod and quickly left the kitchen.

-----

Harry was giggling inwardly while Draco and he were walking up to the Transfiguration classroom.

Today in class they had to transfigure buttons into pink plush rabbits. However, none of the students were able to fulfil the professor’s request. Whenever they raised their wands trying to cast a spell, colourful bubbles came out of the tip of their wands.

Professor McGonagall was slowly getting angry. Pranks could be fun, but wasting a whole Transfiguration lesson because of a prank was stupid beyond imagination. “Mr. Potter, try to transfigure your button please,” she demanded sharply.

Harry took his wand and tried to cast the spell. However, nothing but bubbles escaped his wand. “I’m sorry, Professor,” he mumbled, not daring to look up to the stern teacher. Knowing that the potion would wear off after casting three spells, he tried a few more times, until suddenly a dozen pink rabbits were running around the classroom.

McGonagall turned back to the class. “As you have seen, your wands will recover after trying a few times. Mr. Potter, collect your rabbits and vanish them please.”

‘How could I be so stupid as to let Draco do this prank when we had McGonagall in the first lesson,’ Harry thought while he tried to send Stunning Spells after the fast, moving rabbits.

Fortunately, Draco was nice enough to help Harry after he had managed to transfigure his own button, so that all rabbits were vanished after ten minutes.

The teacher called Harry after the lesson. “Please stay behind for a moment, Mr. Potter,” Harry’s hands began to shake, but he tried to hide it as well as possible and anxiously went to the front of the classroom.

“Mr. Potter, please hand me the potions book that you received for Christmas. You will get it back on the last day of term.”

Harry threw her a flabbergasted glance. “Professor, please let me have my book. I promise that I won’t do any pranks. I will give you all the potions I have already brewed, but please leave me my book.”

The professor took in the hint of shock in the boy’s face and his shaking hands and relented, “Well, that will do. I will believe that you won’t do it again. However, I am a bit disappointed, Mr. Potter. Twenty points from your Houses.”

Harry slowly walked down to the dungeons with Draco, who had waited for him outside of the Transfiguration classroom. Harry was deep in thought. Apart from the Potions lesson when he had come late from Transfiguration, he had never lost house points so far. Today had been the first time, and everyone would know. He was horrified, and he could hardly breathe.

“What happened? What did she want?” Draco asked worriedly.

“She took points of me because of playing the prank and I have to hand over all Potions I’ve already brewed,” Harry answered solemnly.

“You didn’t play the prank; that was me!” Draco nearly shouted.

“But she doesn’t know that. I did play the other pranks, and it was my fault anyway, since I gave you the Potion,” Harry replied, breathing heavily.

“Let’s go slowly, Harry; we’re late anyway,” Draco told him, trying to calm his upset friend.

“But… no, Draco. Severus… will… be… very… angry,” Harry contradicted, wheezing.

When they entered the classroom, Draco addressed the teacher immediately, “Sorry, sir, but Professor McGonagall wanted to talk to Harry after our lesson.”

“And do I assume correctly that she also wanted to talk to you, Mr. Malfoy?” Severus sneered, taking in Harry’s white face, shaking hands and heavy breathing.

“No, sir, but I noticed that Harry wasn’t feeling well and decided to wait for him. I thought that was what a Slytherin should do for a house mate.”

The teacher gave him an acknowledging nod and admonished, “Now sit down and start brewing, Mr. Malfoy, and if you don’t finish your potion until the end of the lesson, you will do it again tonight.” Severus went over to Harry and told him, “You cannot brew potions, breathing in the harsh fumes if you are having trouble breathing from the beginning. Please sit in my office and try to get your breathing under control. When you feel better, you may come back. You can brew the potion tonight. “

-----

A few days later, Dumbledore summoned Minerva and Severus to his office. “I have been thinking about the last End of term tests,” he started. “Except for History of Magic, where Harry only got an ‘A’ and Defence against the Dark Arts, where he got an ‘E’, Harry has gotten ‘O’s in every subject. And if I understood correctly, the ‘E’ in Defence was for the test of the second year.” He glanced at Severus, who nodded impatiently. “I know that he is able to do sixth years’ Transfiguration and you, Severus, have told me how he excels in Potions. Because of this, I have been thinking about letting Harry attend second years’ classes.”

“No, Albus!” both professors protested immediately.

“He has friends in both houses, who are in his class. They are probably the first and so far only friends he ever had, Albus. I don’t want to take that from him,” Professor McGonagall was the first to give a reason.

“Moreover, he has so little confidence in himself personally, that he needs to know that he is at least good in class, and he doesn’t have much knowledge about the wizarding world yet,” Professor Snape followed immediately. “If you suggested that to him, he would be terrified.”

Albus sighed. He only wanted what was best for the boy. Besides, he had hoped this could help his, Albus’, guilty conscience towards the child. For half a year now, he had been keeping knowledge hidden, but yet, he could not bring himself to reveal the truth. He still wanted to watch for a while. He abruptly dismissed the thoughts and turned back to the teachers. “All right, my friends. If you are so sure, then let us just forget the thought.”

-----

Two weeks later, it was time for the Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw Quidditch match. At breakfast, Draco told Harry he had heard that Severus would referee the game. Harry was stunned. Why would a teacher do that? Normally Madam Hooch refereed the games. Was it because of the attack on him, which had occurred during the last match he had played in? Anyway, it was good to have Severus nearby. Somehow, Harry felt very safe and ensured, knowing that Severus would be there.

When it came time to play, Harry didn’t care about the game the others were playing. He was frantically looking for the Snitch and managed to end the game after only five minutes.

The Gryffindor team landed in a circle around Harry and cheered. They couldn’t take the Quidditch cup yet, because the final game Slytherin against Hufflepuff was still going to be played in May, and so far it was relatively equal between Gryffindor and Slytherin. The team went to take a shower and change, while the other Gryffindors were going to get the common room ready for the victory party, which lasted until late in the night when McGonagall came through the Portrait Hole and sent them to bed.

-----

The next weeks passed fairly uneventful. In the meantime, Severus had had a few talks with Professor Quirrell and had also tried to use Leglimency on him during the meals in the Great Hall. He was quite sure that Quirrell was possessed by the Dark Lord. However, when he spoke to Albus about his suspicions, the older man told him that there was nothing they could really do about it apart from keeping an extremely close eye on him, alerting all the other teachers, and putting even more protection on the Stone. Moreover, he told him, it was probably that Voldemort would send Quirrell after the Stone, and if he tried to take the Stone out of the mirror, Quirrell would not be able to retrieve the Stone.

“Albus,” Minerva asked with a very concerned expression, “do you think it is safe enough for Harry here at Hogwarts when a combination of Quirrell and Voldemort is running around?”

“He should not be alone,” Severus threw in. “We should ask his friends to never let him alone in the halls. As he has friends in both of his houses, this shouldn’t be a problem. We should also have teachers or prefects escort him whenever possible. Apart from that, I would like to tell Harry the truth. I know that he is already suspicious and therefore, I am teaching him Defence Against the Dark Arts, trying to proceed as fast as possible. However, I think he needs to know the exact danger he is in, so that he can behave accordingly.”

“All right. Minerva and Severus, please tell Granger, Weasley, Malfoy, and Zabini to join me in my office tomorrow after breakfast. Ah, and Harry, too, please.”

On Saturday morning, Dumbledore spoke to Harry’s friends. He didn’t explain about Professor Quirrell or Voldemort, but told them that Voldemort’s spirit seemed to be alive and that there was the possibility that he could possess people in order to harm Harry.

All four of them promised immediately not to leave Harry alone at any time. Harry didn’t know what to say. He was stunned. Although he had heard that Voldemort might not be really dead and that he was after him, and even if he had been a little afraid of Professor Quirrell all the time, it was something else to hear about such a danger directly from the Headmaster. He somehow knew that there was something more to the story, something he couldn’t understand yet.

When the Headmaster dismissed them, Harry addressed Professor Snape. “Professor, do you have any potions to brew for the Hospital Wing? I have already finished most of my homework, so I could help you if you don’t mind.”

Severus gave him a slightly astonished look, but one glance at Harry’s slightly panicked expression showed him that the student probably wanted to talk with him, and he nodded knowingly. “Yes, Mr. Potter, I have a few potions to brew. Join me after lunch today in the Great Hall, and I will accompany you to the Potions lab.”

Harry obviously relaxed a little and said, “Thank you, Professor.”

-----

When they reached the Potions classroom that afternoon, Severus motioned Harry to sit down and took a seat next to him. “Now, Harry, did you really want to brew potions, or did you want to talk to me?” he asked immediately.

Harry fidgeted a little in his seat before he answered in a very small voice, “Both.”

“All right, Harry. I will tell you everything I know about this matter; however, you have to promise that you won’t tell anything of what I tell you to anyone – not even to your best friends! Do you understand me?”

“Yes, Professor. I understand, and I won’t tell anyone. I promise,” Harry replied sincerely.

“After a few talks and a bit of Leglimency I came to the conclusion that Professor Quirrell is probably possessed by the Dark Lord. I have talked to Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall about it, and at the moment, we do not know what can be done about it. However, as you have told me before that you know about the three-headed dog, I suppose you know that the dog is guarding something.”

“Yes,” Harry told the teacher. “I know that he is guarding something of Professor Dumbledore’s and Nicolas Flamel’s. And,” he added in a small voice, “Ron suspects you of wanting to take it.” He blushed terribly after telling Severus this.

Severus smirked amusedly. “So, that’s what Weasley thinks, right? Do you think so too?”

Harry shook his head vehemently. “No, of course not, Professor. Otherwise I wouldn’t have told you. If someone wanted to steal it, it would be Quirrell, wouldn’t it?”

“Yes, Harry, that is correct.” He then explained about the Stone, noticing that Harry was listening intently.

“However, the stone is protected by several kinds of magic. Each of the professors has added one difficult riddle, which might be solvable but it is quite difficult. However, in the last step it will be impossible for Quirrell to take the Stone, as only someone who doesn’t want the stone for himself would be able to take the stone. Therefore, in case he tries to lure you or one of your friends who know about the Stone, you must come to me immediately. If Granger knows about Flamel, she will soon know what it is.”

Harry was still listening in awe, as Severus continued, “Anyway, if you notice anything strange or feel like you are in danger, come to me or any of the teachers except for Quirrell immediately. Will you promise me that, Harry?”

“Yes, sir,” Harry assured the teacher, wondering if he had heard something like concern in the teacher’s voice or if it just was his imagination.

-----

“All right, Harry,” the professor continued after a short break, “I have to brew several potions for Madam Pomfrey. Do you want to help?”

Harry’s eyes lit immediately, and he answered, “If I won’t bother you, I would like that very much.”

“You can help me, Harry, and you won’t bother me,” Severus told the boy, trying to keep his voice patient and soft. “We will make a Headache Potion and a Fever Reducer first, as both are very easy potions.”

He handed Harry a book and let him brew the first potion while he tended to his own cauldron next to Harry’s. Only once he had to reprimand the boy to read the instructions more closely, and in the end, Harry had brewed a flawless potion. “Very good, Harry,” he commended the student. “Are you still up to brewing the other potion as well?”

“Yes, of course, Professor,” Harry replied at once. It was so soothing to sit next to the professor, concentrating fully on the simmering potions; he just loved it.

‘Of course, Lily was brilliant at Potions,’ Severus reminded himself when he saw how much Harry seemed to enjoy himself. “You got this from your mother,” he told the boy. “She was very good at Potions. We often brewed together while we were at Hogwarts.”

Harry’s hands stopped to move for a moment. “Um… you?” he asked incredulously. “I mean… you and my mom have brewed potions together?” he elaborated.

Severus threw him a sad smile. “Yes, Harry, your mother and I were very good friends,” – ‘until I made the biggest mistake in my life,’ he continued just for himself and sighed deeply.

Harry was watching him curiously, but the professor didn’t say anything else, so he turned back to his potion. This time he finished the potion correctly without Severus correcting him even once.

Severus examined both potions closely and nodded contently. “If you don’t mind, it would be nice if you could fill the potion in these phials.” Severus quickly cast an unbreakable spell on a batch of phials. “Then you will need to label them accordingly.”

“Yes, of course, Professor,” Harry replied and set to work. When he was finished the teacher seemed to be busy with his own potion, so Harry sat down and waited for a moment.

Finally, Severus looked up and saw that Harry had finished his work and had even cleaned up the working space he had occupied. Severus said, “All right. Let us take the potions to Madam Pomfrey on our way to dinner.”

“What!” Harry blurted out and, seeing that Severus was looking at him curiously, he continued, “I mean I didn’t realise that it was so late.”

Severus smirked. “Time always flies when I am brewing potions. Clearly it does the same for you.” He took one box of potion phials and motioned Harry to take the other one, before he turned to the door.

When they arrived in the Hospital Wing, Severus told Madam Pomfrey that Harry had brewed the potions for her, and that he had checked and approved them.

“Oh, that is very good; then I know whom I can ask when you are too busy, Severus. I appreciate that very much,” Poppy said, smiling at Harry. “However, Severus, only let Harry make Healing Potions or other potions with harmless ingredients that won’t harm his sensitive wind-pipe and lung.”

“Yes, Poppy, I will only let him brew potions with ingredients that won’t harm him.”

-----

After dinner, Harry had his Transfiguration lesson with Professor McGonagall. Very slowly he learnt to control his magic and do easy spells with his wand. When he returned to the Gryffindor common room, his friends nearly jumped onto him.

“Harry, we haven’t seen you for the whole day! Where have you been?” shouted Ron, and Hermione threw him a questioning glance.

“I’ve just come from McGonagall’s office. But I’ve been at the meals in the Great Hall. I’m sorry for sitting at the Slytherin table, but I had to discuss something with Draco and Blaise,” Harry apologized.

Then suddenly the lights went out and the common room turned dark.

Suddenly two small fireworks emerged from the dark, and the faces of Fred and George Weasley came into sight when the lights lit again.

“As we had visited a friend in the kitchen today…”

“… and you know how the house elves are…”

“… they gave us a few items…”

“… for a little house party.”

Under the applause of their housemates, one of them put a box with bottles of butterbeer onto the table. The other twin put a huge bag with sweets down next to the bottles.

The party was loud and jolly, and the Gryffindors had much fun until their Head of House came to scold them for making so much noise and to send them to bed at 2 o’clock in the morning.

-----

A few weeks later, Harry, Ron and Hermione were just on their way to lunch, when they met Hagrid, who invited them to visit him on Saturday afternoon. However, Harry already had promised to spend the day with Draco and Blaise, so he asked Hagrid if they would be welcome too.

“Of course they’re welcome. Your friends are my friends, Harry,” Hagrid bellowed.

Unfortunately, Harry fell ill after playing Quidditch in the rain on Friday evening, and Poppy had to keep him in the Hospital Wing over the weekend. On Saturday night, far beyond curfew, his four friends came to visit him and told him something about Hagrid having a dragon they had watched hatch. Later, Harry wasn’t sure if the visit of his friends had been reality or if it just had been a fevered dream. However, during the next weeks his friends kept talking about the dragon, and Harry slowly understood that Hagrid in fact was keeping a dragon in his hut, which could be very dangerous to the whole school.

“Can’t you ask your brother, Charlie, to take the dragon? You told me that he was working with dragons, didn’t you?” he asked Ron one day who then stared at him in awe.

“Of course! Why didn’t I think about that earlier?” he answered and went to write a letter to his brother.

-----

During the next weeks, Harry started to make a habit of visiting Professor Snape on Saturday afternoons in order to help him brewing Potions. Although his friends could not understand in the least why he would join the grumpy professor during the weekends, Harry just loved to brew potions with Severus. Brewing itself was incredibly soothing, and Severus was very easy to talk to.

His Transfiguration lessons with Professor McGonagall had been reduced to once a week and took place on Saturday evenings, while on Sunday evenings Professor Dumbledore taught Harry in the use of wandless magic, although Harry already was very good at it.

With his Animagus transformation he hadn’t made any more progress so far. Every time he tried to transform, he managed to transform his whole body except for the head. However, the transformation itself had become very fast. But one day… suddenly… he managed it!

He was a phoenix!

The professor studied the beautiful bird from all angles, before she said, “Congratulations, Harry! I am very proud of you. 100 points to Gryffindor.”

#Wow, thank you, Professor,# Harry exclaimed in phoenix tongue, although he knew that Minerva wouldn’t understand. He flapped his wings a few times and tried to fly over to the window… and fell onto the floor. Fortunately, it didn’t hurt too much, and he flapped his wings and tried again and again. It was more difficult than he had imagined. However, it finally worked! Would he be able to flash as well? When he had visited Fawkes a few days ago, the phoenix had told him that he was able to flash to other places; he had even told him what he had to do. Harry thought of the Transfiguration Classroom, and with a flash of a whirlwind, but nothing happened. He concentrated on his magic for the next try – and suddenly, he was gone. An instant later, he reappeared in the classroom, where he transformed back into Harry, knocked at the Professor’s door and re-entered her office.

“Very good, Harry,” he was commended.

Suddenly Harry had an idea. “May I try to flash to Fawkes’ perch in the Headmaster’s office?” he asked the teacher, who gave him a worried glance.

“Harry, I believe you have done quite enough for today. I don’t want you to overexert yourself.”

“Oh, please, Professor. I feel fine, and I promise I won’t do anything else today. Let me just flash to see Fawkes, please,” Harry begged.

The Professor sighed and finally gave him an encouraging smile. He transformed into Breeze again, and shortly later, Breeze sat next to Fawkes on his perch, who was so surprised that he nearly fell off. Fawkes and Breeze exchanged some phoenix pleasantries, until Albus transformed as well and joined them on the perch, where Fawkes introduced him to Breeze as Firefly.

The three phoenixes chatted happily until a very annoyed Professor McGonagall entered the room and didn’t know if she should laugh seeing the three birds sitting next to each other or if she should scold them for missing dinner.

-----

One evening a few weeks later, when Harry was eating dinner at the Gryffindor table, Ron told him that Draco, Blaise, Hermione, and he were going to help Hagrid to take the dragon baby to the Astronomy Tower, where Charlie, Ron’s older brother, would meet them after midnight and take the dragon with him. Ron asked Harry to join them, but Harry declined as he wouldn’t be able to run away when danger or a professor approached. He was too tired anyway, but Ron didn’t have to know that. However, he promised Ron that they could use his Invisibility Cloak.

“Oh, that’s great, Harry. Thank you very much,” Ron said very pleased, before he stood up and went over to the Slytherin Table to talk to Blaise and Draco.

When Ron’s alarm clock went off shortly after 11 o’clock the same evening, Harry was already fast asleep and didn’t even stir. Ron took Harry’s Invisibility Cloak and silently left the dormitory to meet with Hermione, who was already waiting for him in the Common room. Hidden under the Cloak they met with the two Slytherin boys at the Castle’s Entrance Door. Unfortunately, none of them noticed the shadow quickly hiding in one of the arcades.

So far, everything had gone well. They had fetched the Dragon, who really had grown a lot during the few weeks, from Hagrid and had transported it up to the Astronomy tower under the Invisibility Cloak. Charlie had already been waiting for them and had happily taken the dragon baby.

“His name is ‘Norbert’,” Ron told his older brother, and Draco snorted. He still couldn’t get used to the name that he thought really unfit for a dragon.

Suddenly they could hear voices from downstairs.

“Charlie, you have to leave with Norbert. Somebody is coming,” Hermione whispered urgently, before the four students ran back down the stairs, hoping to be able to hide somewhere before being caught by a teacher. The Invisibility Cloak remained forgotten in the Astronomy tower. Draco and Blaise had managed to efficiently hide under a shelf the Astronomy classroom; however, Hermione and Ron ran straight into their Head of House, who was accompanied by a girl they recognized as Cho Chang, a second year Ravenclaw.

As Cho insisted she had at least heard three voices and had watched them taking a dragon out of Hagrid’s hut, McGonagall quickly strode up the remaining steps onto the top of the Astronomy tower, where she found Harry’s cloak.

“So that means Mr. Potter has been here as well,” the teacher said and took the Invisibility Cloak with her when she ushered the students downstairs into her office. Although Hermione and Ron denied Harry’s participation immediately, McGonagall didn’t believe them.

“The four of you, including Mr. Potter, will serve detention with Mr. Filch tomorrow night,” she said strictly, “for being out of bed after curfew.”

“Sorry, Professor, did I hear correctly? You said the four of us. This was a mistake, wasn’t it?” Cho asked the professor.

“No, Miss Chang, you have been out of bed exactly like the others. Therefore, you will have your detention together with the others. And each of you will lose 50 house points.”

-----

Harry nearly cried in exasperation when his friends told him about the detention. He hadn’t done anything, but unfortunately he couldn’t prove it. He didn’t care so much about the detention, but to have lost so many points for his Houses was hard.

“Could you talk to Professor Snape, Harry? Maybe he can help you,” Hermione suggested.

However, Harry replied, “No, I will serve the detention with you. The professor is already helping me a lot, and as I cannot prove that I didn’t accompany you anyway…” He slowly trailed off.

“But Draco and Blaise could confirm that you weren’t with us,” Ron insisted.

Harry shook his head. “If I had spent the night in Slytherin, they would have been able to confirm that I was there. But they can‘t prove where I haven’t been except for the case they were there. However, they can’t tell anyone that they were with you, because they’d be more in trouble with Professor Snape than we are with Professor McGonagall. So please don’t talk to them about the matter at all!”

Ron still had to argue. “Hagrid could confirm that you weren’t there last night.”

“No! If he confirmed that he would have to tell about the Slytherins. Please drop it. I will do the detention with you, and then we can forget about it. Fortunately, half of the points I lost will be taken from Slytherin, which the House deserves anyway because of Draco and Blaise. What I was wondering about is why Cho was watching you at all. Does anybody know her?”

His friends shook their heads. They had no idea either.

As Professor McGonagall had instructed them the previous night, they met with Filch at 9 o’clock in the evening at the Entrance doors. He took them over to Hagrid, who led them into the Forbidden Forest for their detention in order to look for a unicorn, wondering why Harry was with them and where the two Slytherin boys were.

Harry was not very keen on going into the forest, especially as Hagrid divided the group and he had to go only with Cho and Fang as company. If he had known what kind of detention awaited him, he would surely have talked to Professor McGonagall or Severus.

-----

At the same time in the Slytherin first years’ dormitory, Draco asked Blaise, “Do you know where Harry is? Did he tell you anything?”

Blaise shook his head. “No, Draco, I don’t know, but as it is already half an hour after curfew let’s go and ask Severus if he knows anything. Maybe Harry’s in danger somewhere.”

They went over to Severus’ office and knocked, impatiently waiting for the door to be opened.

“Professor, do you know where Harry is? He’s supposed to stay in Slytherin tonight, but he hasn’t shown up yet,” Draco asked immediately when his godfather opened the door.

“He is serving detention together with his Gryffindor friends and some second year Ravenclaw,” Severus said with a hint of anger in his voice.

“Detention?!” Draco repeated flabbergasted. “Why?”

“Because of being out of bed after curfew yesterday night,” Severus said grudgingly.

“WHAT?!” Blaise and Draco exclaimed together.

“What is wrong with detention if someone deserves it?” the teacher asked appalled.

“Wrong is when someone has to serve detention although he has done nothing to deserve it,” Draco told his godfather firmly. “Harry wasn’t out of bed yesterday night, I’m sure!” he insisted.

Professor Snape went over to his fireplace, called McGonagall and asked her to join him in his office for a few minutes. Seconds later, the stern Professor stepped through the Floo.

“These boys,” Severus explained, “say that they are sure that Potter was not out of bed last night.”

Minerva frowned. “Weasley and Granger told me the same, but I think it is proof enough that I found his Invisibility Cloak and that Miss Chang said she had heard three voices under the cloak. She seems to have watched them the whole time.”

Draco and Blaise had turned white hearing what the professor said. They exchanged a short glance, and Blaise gave Draco a confirming nod.

“Um… Professors, we’re sorry, but that wasn’t Harry; that was us. We were with Hermione and Ron.” He told the two stunned teachers the whole story about Hagrid’s dragon and how they had pulled the rescue action through.

“Harry never does anything after curfew,” Draco added finally. “He knows that he can’t run and wouldn’t have a chance to get away if there was any danger. We have met with the Gryffindors several times, but Harry never joined us even once, although he is the one responsible for the fact that we even do things together with Gryffindors.”

McGonagall let out a deep sigh. What had she done to the poor boy? In fact, she didn’t have any reason to doubt what Granger and Weasley had told them about Potter’s participation. However, she hadn’t believed them. But why hadn’t Harry come to her to complain about a detention he didn’t deserve at all? She shook her head and said, “Fifty points back to Gryffindor and Slytherin, and 20 more points for Harry Potter’s reasonable behaviour to stay in bed when all his friends were out.” Then she threw a look at the two Slytherin boys and added, “20 points each to Slytherin for accusing yourself in order to help a friend.”

“You may return to your dormitory,” Severus addressed the boys and added, “we will talk about your punishment later. However, I appreciate that you told us.” He turned to his colleague, “Minerva, let us go and look for Filch in order to get Harry off the detention.”

Together they left the office in search for Filch, who sent them to Hagrid’s hut and told them, “As far as I know Hagrid wanted to take them into the forest to look after unicorns or something.”

Severus caught a glance of his colleague’s face. Minerva had turned white. Severus said calmingly, “Minerva, go back to your quarters; I will go and search for them, and I shall contact you as soon as I have found him.”

Minerva shook her head and countered, “Let me go with you; that’s the least I can do.”

Together, Minerva and Severus turned in the direction of the forest. They didn’t have to go far into the forest until they met Cho, who was running back to the castle on her own. She told them that she came from their detention, that Harry was still in the forest, and that she didn’t know where the others were. Snape shook his head, wondering why she hadn’t at least waited for Harry. However, they didn’t have to search for long, because suddenly Harry appeared. He was riding on Firenze’s back and was shaking when he climbed down from the centaur.

“Harry! Are you all right?” they suddenly heard Hermione’s voice, and seconds later, Hermione, Ron and Hagrid had joined them.

“I believe that was enough of detention, especially as Mr. Potter shouldn’t have served any at all,” Severus said sneering. “Miss Granger, Mr. Weasley, please follow your Head of House and return to your dormitories. Mr. Potter, you will accompany me to my office.”

-----

Harry trailed along the empty halls, not noticing that the professor was watching him in a concerned way. When they arrived at the office, Severus pulled Harry through to his private quarters and made him sit down on the sofa. He glanced at the shaking hands of the boy, who hadn’t moved yet.

“What happened?” he asked as casually as possible.

To his astonishment, Harry proceeded to look at him for once. “It was Voldemort,” he blurted out. “He’s there… in the forest, feeding from unicorns and waiting for someone to steal the Stone for him.”

Trying to hide his shock by this revelation, Severus sat down next to Harry and waved his hand to Accio a calming draught for his student.

“Harry,” he sighed, “I have already told you that the stone is protected extremely well, right?” Harry nodded. “Very well. If you hear or notice anything strange, come to see me or any other teacher immediately. I shall talk to the other professors, so that they will know about this too.” He vowed to teach Harry more difficult spells during their defence lessons.

‘Will he be able to harm me if I meet him alone again?’ Harry worried but didn’t voice his question.

“Harry?” The teacher’s voice pulled him out of his thoughts. “Why did you serve detention in the first place? Why did you not tell Professor McGonagall that you did not leave your bed last night?”

‘How does he know?’ Harry thought, confused.

Seeing Harry’s puzzled expression, Severus proceeded to tell him about his conversation with Blaise and Draco. Harry was stunned that his friends had turned themselves in on his behalf.

“I didn’t know how to prove my innocence without blaming others,” he replied flatly.

Severus sighed. “As noble as that was, it was very foolish as it put you in danger. If something like this happens again, you will come to me immediately. I promise that I will not punish others in your place.”

He threw a glance at his watch and stated, “It is nearly two o’clock in the morning. As it was not your fault that it got so late, I will allow you to sleep in tomorrow morning. However, I expect you to brew the potion you will miss tomorrow evening, and you have to attend your second class.”

Harry vowed to himself that he would be up for his first class but only told the teacher, “Thank you very much, sir.”

Severus threw him a small smile and said softly, “You are welcome, Harry. Now, let me accompany you to your dormitory.”

In the morning, Harry attended his Potions lesson – to Severus’ great astonishment. He hadn’t expected the boy to show up in spite of being allowed to sleep in. Naturally the child managed again to brew a flawless potion.

After the Transfiguration class, Professor McGonagall kept Harry for a few minutes in order to apologize for not believing his friends and assigning him an undeserved detention. When she asked if everything was all right, Harry simply told her, “Yes, of course, Professor.”

-----

On Saturday was the last Quidditch match of the school year - Slytherin vs. Hufflepuff. The day dawned warm and sunny – ideal conditions for a Quidditch match.

However, Harry was not in too good of a mood this morning. As his House mates of Gryffindor and Slytherin had spent the last evenings counting how many points Slytherin had to get in order for each house to win the Quidditch Cup, Harry knew that he had to catch the Snitch with a Slytherin lead of 40 points or less in order for Gryffindor to win the cup. If he caught the Snitch with a Slytherin lead of 50 points or more, Slytherin would win the Cup.

By the time the players went out to the Quidditch pitch, surrounded by the tribunes full of students – the whole school seemed to have come to see the match – Harry groaned inwardly. ‘Bad enough that I have to play for both houses – but to have the responsibility for the decision which of my Houses will win the Quidditch Cup is the last thing I wanted.’

Harry hated that this decision was on his shoulders. When he first spotted the Snitch it was twenty minutes into the game and Slytherin was ahead 60 – 20. However, before he could finish wondering which house he wanted to win, the Snitch had disappeared.

The Hufflepuff Seeker, who had already played a Gryffindor – Hufflepuff match against Harry in autumn, should really have known better than to be fooled by Harry’s sudden dives and climbs and yet… he was. Finally 38 minutes into the game, Harry caught the Snitch. The score was 80 – 30 and the Slytherin side of the tribunes erupted into a deafening applause.

While his teammates were joyfully jumping and dancing around him, Harry didn’t know if he should be happy that he helped the Slytherins win the Quidditch Cup or sad because he didn’t let the Gryffindors win it. As soon as he could he escaped his cheering House mates and made his way to Professor McGonagall. He apologised for being too slow catching the Snitch.

With a hint of disappointment still written in her face the teacher assured him, “It’s not your fault, Harry. If your Gryffindor teammates had gotten just one more goal, Gryffindor would have won the Cup. So don’t blame yourself, Harry. Go and enjoy your party with your other House. Have fun today and don’t worry: I don’t expect you back in Gryffindor tonight.”

Consoled, Harry went back to his House mates. Hopefully, Ron and his Gryffindor teammates would feel the same way their Head of House did.

The party in Slytherin House was huge. The house elves even brought lunch to the Common room and Harry could hardly believe his eyes when Severus joined them for lunch. He didn’t even scold them for drinking the butterbeer that some older students had brought from Hogsmeade.

So far, Harry was torn and not reallyenjoying the party as half of him was very disappointed and sad for Gryffindor. Moreover, he had been wondering if Severus was expecting him to join him as he did every Saturday afternoon, in brewing potions together. When Harry noticed that Severus was leaving the Common room, he followed him and whispered, “Professor, are we going to brew potions today?”

Severus threw him an astonished glance and answered quietly, “If you have enjoyed your admirers’ fawning for long enough, you are welcome to assist me.”

Harry gave him an annoyed glare and followed his teacher over to the Potions classroom where he sat down, waiting for instructions.

-----

Severus chose a potion he knew Poppy often gave Harry when he had difficulty breathing. It was called the ‘Eucalia Potion’. In case Harry had to spend his summer holidays somewhere without Poppy or himself nearby, it would be best for the boy to be able to brew the potion. Of course, he didn’t voice this thought and only made a mental note to explain the purpose of the potion later.

As usual, Harry was very diligent preparing the ingredients. He was extremely careful brewing the potion that was definitely not a first-year-level one.

As soon as Harry was finished brewing, bottling, and cleaning up his workspace Severus ushered Harry over to his private quarters. While they had tea and biscuits Severus quizzed Harry about the potion.

“Do you know the purpose of this potion? What ingredients are responsible for the effects of this potion?” he asked the boy questions, which in normal classes were at least third year level.

Harry thought for a moment, before he replied, “Birch bark helps to strengthen the immune system. The combination of moon fern and crushed eucalyptus leaves should cure – I’m not sure – a sore throat?” he guessed.

“Not exactly,” the Professor replied and gave Harry a detailed explanation about every single ingredient in the potion and the effects it had. Finally, he told him that it was the potion Poppy often used on him.

Although Harry had been carefully listening to the explanation and had even taken notes on each ingredient Severus had explained, his thoughts had drifted away as soon as the teacher had finished his dissertation. He couldn’t help thinking about the Dursleys. It was their fault that his condition was so bad that he was forced to take this potion nearly once a week.

-----

“Harry,” Severus carefully moved Harry’s attention back to their conversation, “I would like to speak with you about something.” He paused for a moment to be sure that the child was listening, before he continued, “As you are certainly aware, the summer holidays are going to start in less than a month.”

Harry nodded anxiously. ‘Oh, no! Will they make me go back to the Dursleys?’ He summoned all his courage and asked, “Do you think it would be possible for me to stay at Hogwarts, sir?” Although he had turned his eyes down to his shoes, he knew that Severus was shaking his head and moaned inwardly.

Severus sighed deeply and replied, “Students are not allowed to stay at Hogwarts during the summer holidays. However, there may be a way for you to remain at the castle during this time,” he added calmingly when he noticed the boy’s panicked expression.

“I will do anything if it saves me from going back to the Dursleys, Professor,” Harry said urgently.

Severus rubbed his forehead as if to get rid of a headache, while Harry was watching him anxiously. Finally he said, “Somebody would have to become your temporary guardian. Then you would be allowed to stay as a teacher’s ward and not as a student.”

Hearing this, Harry didn’t know how to react. Severus had let him stay in his quarters over Christmas but that had been because he was ill and couldn’t stay in his dormitory. And it had only been for two weeks. Becoming someone’s guardian for more than two months was an entirely different matter.

Seeing that Harry was deep in thoughts, Severus could imagine what he was thinking and tried to assure him. “Harry, I have told you before that you are not a burden, not to anyone. Several people here would be pleased to take you. Professor McGonagall, Professor Sprout, Madam Pomfrey, or I, of course, would be more than happy to have you,” he added.

“You, too?” Harry asked with a hint of fear and a lot of hope clearly written all over his face. If Severus said this after experiencing his company before, he would probably really mean it, Harry thought, unconsciously rubbing his forehead.

“Of course, Harry,” he said softly, only to add, “I would even be willing to become your permanent guardian, if you so desired.”

Harry just stared at his teacher. Would that mean that he could always stay with him? That he never had to go back to the Dursleys? But why would someone want to take him in? It had to be very inconvenient.

“Why?” he simply asked. “I mean, why would you want to do that for me?” he elaborated.

Severus frowned. “Don’t tell me again that you are a not worth it, because that’s not true,” he said sharply, before he continued more softly, “As I have told you before, your mother was my only real friend. In fact, I loved her very much. You have a lot in common with your mother. Moreover, although until now your mother was the only person whose company I could stand more than a few hours, I found that your company doesn’t bother me either. If you wanted me to become your permanent guardian, I would be willing to do so. However, this is your choice, and you don’t have to decide now. You may think about this matter until a week before the start of the holidays.” He threw Harry an encouraging smile and proceeded to take a sip of his tea.

Harry’s thoughts were going haywire while he was busily munching a biscuit. Finally, he cleared his throat and said hesitantly, “Um… Professor, thank you very much for offering. Um… I mean… I don’t have to think about it. If you’re really sure that you wouldn’t mind, I’d like that very much.”

“Very well,” Severus replied. “I will speak to the Headmaster about it, and he will probably call you sometime to hear the same thing again directly from you. Now, I do believe it is time for dinner. I don’t know if your House mates will join us for dinner, but I suggest that you go and console your desolate Gryffindor house mates during the meal, before you re-join the party in the Common Room.”

-----

On Sunday evening, Harry was having dinner at the Gryffindor table when Severus showed up behind him and stated sharply, “Please come with me to the Headmaster’s Office as soon as you have finished eating, Mr. Potter.”

Harry nearly jumped out of his seat. “Yes, of course, Professor,” he said with a slightly shocked expression on his face. ‘Why am I so shocked?’ he thought. ‘I knew this would happen, and it’s not a bad thing.’ Under the worried glances of his Gryffindor House mates he went over to the Head table where Severus got up immediately upon Harry’s arrival.

“Harry,” the Headmaster started the conversation without offering a lemon drop, which was the first time in Harry’s experience. “Professor Snape has told me that you want him to become your permanent guardian. Is that correct, my boy?”

“Yes, Professor,” Harry replied immediately. His eyes turned to Fawkes, admiring his pretty wings.

“All right. Now, I appreciate your decision very much. However, I want you to know that there are several more people who would be willing to take guardianship over you. There are, for example, Professor McGonagall, Professor Sprout, Madam Pomfrey, the Malfoys and the Weasleys. Neither the Malfoys nor the Weasleys know about your treatment at the Dursleys. They have offered because they thought it might be convenient for you to have a magical guardian.”

Harry threw an anxious glance to Severus and, seeing his encouraging nod, he answered, “Thank you, Professor Dumbledore, but I have already decided on Professor Snape. Apart from my decision, whom would you have recommended, sir?”

Dumbledore laughed at the boy’s honest answer and told him, “I would have recommended Professor Snape, Harry. And if you wouldn’t be comfortable with him, I would have recommended Professor McGonagall. However, I believe that your choice will be the best. And, please, don’t misunderstand me. Professor Snape has already told me about your decision, but I wanted to hear it directly from you, Harry.”

Harry smiled at the Professor, thanked him and bid him ‘Good night’, before he left the room with Severus.

-----

“All right, Harry. Let me escort you to your Gryffindor Common Room,” Severus suggested, but Harry declined.

“No, thank you, Professor. I have to go to see Madam Pomfrey first, and then I can return on my own.”

“No, Mr. Potter, definitely not. You know that you are not allowed to roam the halls all on your own. I will accompany you to the Hospital Wing and then to Gryffindor.”

Poppy’s check took a lot more time than usual. Finally she said, “Harry, I have to keep you here for a while.” Noticing the flabbergasted looks Harry and his Head of House gave her, she explained, “I am sorry, but I am hearing sounds from your lung that shouldn’t be there.” She motioned Harry to sit on a bed, put a breathing apparatus on the side table and connected him to the machine. “Let’s see if it gets better with this.”

After ten minutes, Harry felt a lot better. Poppy checked on him again and told him, “Yes, it is better, but it is not good. You have to stay here tonight, and I will let you do this again every few hours.”

Seeing Harry’s shocked face, Severus said soothingly, “Harry, it is not the end of the world, and tomorrow morning you will probably be able to attend classes. However, if you don’t do what Madam Pomfrey suggests, you will almost certainly be stuck here with pneumonia for several days.”

Fortunately, in the morning, Poppy deemed him fit to leave, and Harry was happy to be able to join his friends, although he was tired because Poppy had woken him up every three hours.

-----

After dinner, Harry joined his four friends who wanted to visit Hagrid. However, during their talk with the Half-Giant it became obvious that the stone was in even more danger than they had thought because Hagrid had told someone how to make Fluffy sleep. Therefore, they left Hagrid’s Hut quickly in order to prevent Snape – as Ron thought – or Quirrell – as the others thought – from taking the stone. They ran up to the castle in order to talk to Professor Dumbledore but could only speak to Professor McGonagall who told them that the Headmaster had been called to London for the night.

While Ron and Hermione decided to go through the trapdoor later in the evening, Harry, Blaise and Draco went to see Professor Snape and told him everything they knew. In turn, Severus shared his knowledge with his students and assured them that he and Professor Flitwick would follow Quirrell, disillusioned, in case he would descend. Yes, he would be very careful, and yes, he would tell them what had happened immediately.

Severus thought about what to do with the five students. He could rely on his three students not to do something stupid. However, noticing that Harry was obviously having breathing problems, he decided to put all five into the Hospital Wing and make Madam Pomfrey watch them or lock them in. Poppy immediately fussed over Harry, connecting him to the machine again. Before she could get angry at him for running, however, Severus asked her not to scold him as the students had had a very exciting evening and just needed to be safe somewhere while he was gone.

As soon as Professor Snape had left the Hospital Wing, Poppy locked the doors with a flick of her wand, putting a charm that would allow people entrance but would not allow them out.

A few hours later, Severus was back, looking very tired but relieved. Harry, who had just been woken up by Poppy, was the only one except for the Healer who was awake. He looked at him expectantly.

“Quirrell is dead,” Severus told him. “When he tried to get the stone out of the mirror that was in the room downstairs, he died. The spirit of the Dark Lord, however, escaped. Therefore, the Dark Lord is not gone, but at least he is not at Hogwarts anymore.”

“And I have destroyed the stone,” Dumbledore, who had entered the Hospital Wing after Severus added, and Harry nearly choked because he hadn’t noticed the presence of the Headmaster at all.

Harry was very relieved that Quirrell was gone, although the threat with Voldemort seemed to remain. Now he should be able to really concentrate on his studies as the End of Year tests would start the next week.

-----

The next days went by quickly, and too soon the test week arrived. Harry had made Ron and Hermione apologize to Professor Snape because of suspecting him – not that they wanted to talk about it; however, Harry had told them that the professor probably would become his guardian and that they had to be careful if they wanted to be able to visit him during the holidays. Harry found that the tests were as easy as the last ones, again with the exception of his Defence Against the Dark Arts test, which obviously had to be at least a second years’ test.

On the last day of tests, they had their Potions test. When the instructions appeared on the board, Harry relaxed and smiled at his teacher. They only had to brew a Dreamless Sleep Potion, which was very easy. He already knew it by heart as he had brewed it for the Hospital Wing several times. However, as Harry was adding his last ingredient, Peeves, the Poltergeist, showed up and threw something into Harry’s cauldron. Whatever he threw into the potion caused the mixture to hiss angrily before the brew exploded all over the shocked Harry, who immediately fell to the floor, unconscious.

“Go on with your work. You have three minutes left,” Severus admonished the students, before he knelt down next to Harry to check on him. He couldn’t find anything wrong with him except for the fact that he seemed to be in a deep sleep. Severus hurried to the fireplace and called Albus and Poppy to come immediately. Seconds later both of them stepped through.

“Albus, ask Peeves what he threw in Potter’s potion NOW!” Severus urged the Headmaster, who proceeded to have a stern conversation with the Poltergeist while Severus threw the students out of the room and Poppy checked on Harry.

“Oh no!” Severus suddenly groaned. “Peeves! Did you add basilisk scales?”

Under Dumbledore’s angry look, Peeves finally acknowledged that it had, in fact, been basilisk scales.

Severus turned to Poppy and Albus. “The mixture of the Dreamless Sleep Potion and basilisk scales is a potion I know from my days with the Dark Lord. It makes someone sleep and, at the same time, relive all their bad experiences they ever had in their dreams. It is about the most horrible thing someone could do to Harry! Headmaster, don’t you think it is time to throw this good-for-nothing ghost out of the castle?”

“Severus, is there nothing you can do to help Harry?” Albus asked urgently. “Isn’t there any antidote?”

Severus shook his head. “The only thing I can imagine would work is to try Legilimency on him. I could try to enter his mind in order to see his dreams and also reassure him that they won’t happen again. I don’t know if that will manage to help him, however.”

Albus threw him a grateful glance. “Please, Severus, try to help him. I will cover your lessons for the last two days. Poppy, please help Severus and Harry.”

“Of course I will,” Poppy replied and suggested that Snape should take Harry into his guest room where Harry had stayed before.

Harry and Severus spent nearly two days watching Harry’s memories of the Dursleys. From time to time, Poppy pulled Severus out of Harry’s mind in order to force the teacher to eat, drink, or rest for a few minutes, before he entered Harry’s mind again. He witnessed scenes where Harry was beaten by his uncle or hunted by his cousin.

He saw a three or four year old Harry toddling into the kitchen, climbing onto a stool, and starting to cook breakfast. Only minutes later, the boy fell off the chair, hit his head on the stone floor, only to be hit on the head and be shouted at by his aunt, who threw him into the cupboard, where he had to suffer from a bad headache, chattering teeth and a churning stomach for several days.

In one scene he saw a six or seven year old Harry painting a picture of someone in what looked like robes giving a little child – also clothed in wizarding robes – a present. When he was finished painting, he looked at the picture thoughtfully, and suddenly the people on it began to move – yes, it was a wizarding picture. Harry pinned the picture onto the wall of his cupboard, folded both hands, looked up to the ceiling and said, “Look, Santa, I have drawn a picture for you! You may take it with you. Oh, and I would so love to get a present this year. I promise I’ve been very good.”

The scene changed, and Harry was coming back from school. He entered his cupboard to put his books away. Suddenly he saw that his picture had gone. ‘Oh, Santa has come and taken it,’ he told himself, and happiness and hope were written on his face. However, as soon as he entered the kitchen, he saw his picture torn into pieces that now lay in the rubbish bin.

During each scene, Severus talked to the eleven-year-old Harry, who was standing next to him watching the memories. “Harry, you know, this is only a bad dream. You do not have to live with the Dursleys anymore. It’s only a memory. Remember, you are going to stay with me now. Try to wake up, Harry. Your friends are all waiting for you to wake up.”

Finally, Severus managed to coax Harry to let the dreams go and wake up. He slowly opened his eyes and reached for his glasses, not noticing that it was kind hands who helped him to put them on. He looked around carefully. ‘No, it’s not Dudley’s second bedroom, and it’s definitely not the cupboard. Where am I?’ he thought frantically throwing a worried look in the direction of the door, fearing that his uncle would be about to enter at any moment. Suddenly he felt his eyes being pulled into the other direction when he heard a soft voice talking to him.

“Harry, you are in your own room in my quarters at Hogwarts. Your uncle is not here and he will not come here.”

Harry recognized Severus, and his recent memories – of school and friends and kind professors – fell back in place at once. He let out a deep sigh and let himself sink back into the cushions. When Severus sat down at the edge of his bed and made him drink two potions, he asked warily, “What happened?” Hearing the whole story from his teacher, Harry was utterly shocked. However, Severus managed to coax him into taking one more potion, and Harry fell into a long, dreamless sleep.

When Harry woke up, Severus made him sit on the sofa in the living room for a while and talked to him about several things he had witnessed in Harry’s dreams, while they were eating breakfast. Seeing that the boy was still exhausted, he suggested to him that he should return to bed and sleep for a while in order to be fit and able to attend the leaving feast in the evening.

-----

Harry suddenly fell back into consciousness when he heard several voices. He blinked several times and reached for his glasses, this time fully aware of kind hands helping him to put them on. The first thing his eyes took in was bushy, brown hair that could only belong to Hermione, who was sitting next to him. He could also see Draco, Blaise and Ron and grinned happily at his friends.

“Wow,” he said in awe, “I didn’t expect to see you here.”

His friends giggled, and Draco explained, “Severus sent his house elf to us telling us that our immediate attendance at his office was requested, so we all met at his office, and then he brought us here.” The five friends talked for an hour or two, until Severus entered the room and threw everyone out telling them that Harry had to get up and get ready for the Leaving feast, which was going to start in an hour.

“Professor?” Harry started anxiously, just before they were going to leave Severus’ quarters. “Um… Sorry, I know, it’s a stupid question, but I don’t know which table to sit at during the feast. Will I be staying in the Slytherin dormitory tonight?”

The teacher gave Harry a surprised look and replied calmly, “You may either stay in the Slytherin dormitory, or you may return to your own room here. It’s up to you. However, for the feast, I would recommend the Slytherin table over Gryffindor. As for why, you will see at the feast.”

Harry threw the teacher a grateful glance and said, “Thank you very much for your advice, sir.”

Half an hour later, Harry knew exactly why Severus had suggested for him to sit there. Slytherin had not only won the Quidditch Cup but had clearly achieved the House Cup as well. The party in the Common Room lasted until an hour before breakfast, when everyone hastily started to pack their things in time to take the Hogwarts Express, which was leaving from Hogsmeade shortly after breakfast.

-----

At breakfast, two owls entered the Great Hall. One flew over to the Head table, the other landed on the Gryffindor table in front of Harry. Very confused, he took the attached parchment, which read, ‘Please take the carriage to the station together with everyone else but do not take the train. We will apparate from Hogsmeade. S. Snape.’

‘What does that mean?’ Harry thought frantically. ‘Do I have to go back to the Dursleys? I thought it was already fixed that I could stay here with Severus.’

Hermione saw his expression and asked what was wrong.

When Harry told her the whole story, she remained pensive for a moment, before she replied, “I don’t think that Professor Snape will let you down, Harry. Have confidence in him; he has always helped you so far.”

Encouraged, Harry put the thought aside and waited for the things to come. When everyone had boarded the train, Severus motioned Harry to put both hands onto his arms so that he could Apparate them safely.

“Where are we going?” Harry asked.

“To the Dursleys,” was Severus’ sharp answer that came just before they Apparated away without leaving Harry a second to pull his hands away from Severus’ arms.

Harry and Severus re-appeared in the garden of Mrs. Figg’s house. Seeing that Harry, who hadn’t been able to stay on his feet when they landed, made no move whatsoever, Severus held out a hand to help him up.

“Did you and Dumbledore lie to me?” Harry blurted out. “Do I have to go back to them after all?”

Severus looked at Harry’s face and in horror, realized that there were tears running down his cheeks. Severus groaned inwardly. “I am very sorry, Harry, for not talking to you about it beforehand. You will of course NOT stay at the Dursleys. However, we have to go there in order to get their signed proof that they are releasing you to my care, so that I can get the guardianship over you from them. That’s what we are going to do now. I also intend to leave them a small thank you present for all the care they awarded you during your stay at their house. Afterwards we shall return to our quarters at Hogwarts, where we will stay over the summer.”

Harry looked straight in Severus’ face but couldn’t recognize any sign of betrayal. Hope replaced the expression of fear in his face, and when Severus gave him an encouraging nod, he stood up and gave the teacher a small hug – slight enough for both of them to feel comfortable with it.

-----

On their first knock, Dudley opened the door just to shut it in their faces. “It’s him, and he’s brought another freak,” they heard him shout, and Harry, feeling safe next to the Professor, let out a small giggle. However, it vanished quickly when Vernon Dursley appeared at the doorframe.

“What do you want?” he hissed at Severus. “I was told I had to pick up the brat in the afternoon.”

“Perhaps, Mr. Dursley, it would be more agreeable if you let us into the house, or do you want the whole neighbourhood to witness our conversation?”

Grudgingly Vernon opened the door and ushered them inside into the sitting room. Harry was careful to stay close to his teacher, who sat down on the sofa and put a bunch of parchments onto the table.

“Now, Mr. and Mrs. Dursley,” he started in the tone he always used for students who showed up for detentions. “I have come to understand that your relationship with your nephew is not the best. Therefore, I would like to take over the guardianship of Harry. If you please could sign here and here.” He pointed to two different spots on the parchment. “After that, Harry and I won’t bother you any longer.”

As soon as Petunia and Vernon had signed the parchments – without any comment at all – one copy of them folded up automatically and disappeared on the spot. Harry couldn’t believe his luck. He smiled happily. Severus pocketed the other copy and turned to Harry. “Now, would you like to show me your cupboard, Harry?”

Harry went out into the hall and opened a small door under the staircase. Severus stretched out his hand into the tiny room and waved his wand a few times, while Harry was staring at him incredulously, wondering what the professor could be doing in his cupboard.

When Snape straightened and pocketed his wand with a very content expression on his face, a tiny, white ghost emerged from the cupboard and hovered through the hall into the sitting room, where it began to murmur with a voice sounding like Harry’s.

Before Harry could even think about asking a question, Severus pulled the boy close to him and Apparated both of them back to Hogsmeade. This time he had Harry in a close grip so that he didn’t fall down when they arrived.

“What was that, sir?” Harry blurted out, and Severus had to try hard not to laugh aloud.

“That, Harry, was kind of a ghost – conjured from your cupboard’s memory of you. It speaks with your voice and has your memories. This ghost is not bound to the cupboard, but I have bound it to the Dursleys. So even if they think they’ll be able to get rid of it if they move houses, the ghost will follow them wherever they go. Until the end of their sad lives, they will never forget what they have done to one Harry Potter.”

-----

When they arrived at Professor Snape’s quarters, they stopped in front of the door and Severus suggested that Harry should choose a password he would be able to remember. However, Harry didn’t know what to chose and didn’t want the teacher having to remember his passwords, so he declined.

“Any password will be all right with me, Professor,” he said in a small voice. Would the Professor behave differently towards him when he officially became his permanent guardian?

“Would you be agreeable to ‘Potio Temporis’?”

Harry threw him a strange glance but nodded affirmatively. “Yes, of course, Professor.”

As soon as the Portrait let them in, Severus motioned Harry to sit down on the sofa. When he complied, the teacher sat down as well, Accio-ed parchment and a quill, and put both in front of Harry. He cleared his throat and started to speak. “As you will be living here with me for at least two month each year until you finish Hogwarts, we have to agree on certain rules. Have the Dursleys ever put up rules for you?”

Harry wondered what the professor meant, but he couldn’t remember anything that had been specifically called ‘rules’. “I don’t think so, sir,” he said hesitantly.

Severus gave him an encouraging look. “You know, here in our quarters or whenever we are alone, it is all right for you to call me Severus. Then let me start telling you what I would assume appropriate rules for you.” Seeing that the boy was watching him expectantly, he continued.

“1. No sleeping in on week days. The holidays are too long to just sleep in and do nothing all the day.

“2. Fixed meal times: Breakfast is at 7 o’clock, lunch at twelve, and dinner at six. I suggest that we take breakfast here in the kitchen, dinner in the Great Hall, and lunch as we see fit. You are not to miss meals.

“3. A fixed bedtime: You will be in bed at 9:30 every night. After that I will check on you, if you don’t mind; otherwise you will have to see Madam Pomfrey every evening. And then you may read until 10 o’clock, but I don’t want to see any light in your room after 10 o’clock.”

Harry frowned but didn’t say anything. He was not a baby after all. Why would he have to go to bed so early? But anyway, living with the Professor was so much better than with the Dursleys that he could live with a few rules, couldn’t he?

“During the weekend, you may stay up an hour longer,” the Professor continued.

“4. I will set up a time table for you and you will study according to this time table. If you have finished your work before 3 o’clock in the afternoon, we will go flying together.

“5. Although Tipsy will keep our quarters clean, you will clean up after yourself and keep your own room tidy at all times.

“6. You will not leave the castle without escort, and you will let me know where you are going to be at all times.

“7. You will not enter my room or my private lab when I am not there. If I am in the room, you will knock and wait until you are called in, except for a case of emergency.

“8. If you are ill, in need of something, or have any other problems, you will tell me immediately.

“That’s all I can think of at the moment. Maybe we will have to add a few more during the next days or weeks. I expect you to follow these rules. Is there anything you deem unacceptable?”

Harry thought for a moment and then shook his head. “No, sir. These rules are all right for me.”

Severus said, “All right, Harry. Now, once again, there is no need for you to call me sir when we are alone. Except for our classes, we will have more of a parent to child relationship than a teacher to student relationship. I have told you a lot about your rules; however, in the same way, I will have certain responsibilities towards you.

“I will care for you, for your safety, for your health, and for your needs – which means I will provide food, clothing and anything you need for school. I will be here for you and help you as much as I can. And, concerning things I deem necessary for you to know, I will always tell you the truth. This is one thing I forgot in my list of rules: I want you to tell me the truth. I will not starve nor beat you. If you do something, which is clearly against the rules, I will assign you a task like writing sentences or cleaning cauldrons without magic.”

“All right, Severus,” Harry said lazily. He was slowly getting problems concentrating. Severus’ voice was so smooth and calming that Harry just liked to listen without grasping the content. However, he had tried hard and so far understood everything the teacher had told him.

-----

They went down to the Great Hall to attend dinner, which took place at an even smaller table than during the Christmas holidays as there weren’t any students staying in the castle. Except for Severus and Harry only Dumbledore, McGonagall, Sprout, and Pomfrey had remained at Hogwarts during summer. Some of them would go away for a week now and then, but these were the people mostly staying at the school as Severus had told Harry before. Suddenly, a parchment appeared in front of Severus, and Harry watched him opening it hesitantly. A minute later, Severus put the parchment away into his robes and glanced around, getting conscious of several eyes looking at him expectantly.

“Yes,” he told them, “I managed to become Harry’s guardian.”

While everyone proceeded to congratulate the two of them, Harry threw the Professor a huge smile and mouthed, “Thank you, Severus.”

During the next weeks, Harry and Severus slowly got used to living together. Harry especially enjoyed the feeling of having a caring parent watching over him. He had already finished all his summer homework during the first week of holidays. Afterwards, Severus made a schedule for him, which contained lessons as well as study projects in Potions, Defence, Transfiguration and Charms. Every morning he had lessons with either Severus or Professor McGonagall, and in the afternoon, he was supposed to work on the study projects with the aim to finish them before 3 o’clock in order to go flying whenever the weather allowed it.

Harry was grasping things so quickly that Severus decided to sacrifice a few hours of their Defence lessons in order to teach the boy Occlumency and if possible Legilimency. It could help the boy a lot against the Dark Lord, and even if Defence was very important too, Harry had already finished the second years’ book and was a year ahead of his classmates.

As Severus had given him a detailed explanation why he found Occlumency and Legilimency useful for Harry, Harry had been trying very hard so far, however, so far had not managed to improve even a little bit in either subject. One day, however, something happened that made Harry use his abilities more efficiently.

-----

One Sunday afternoon at the end of June, Draco Malfoy came to visit his godfather and Harry together with his parents. They had announced themselves a few days in advance, and Severus had used the days to tell Harry several things about the Malfoys. Among other things, Severus had warned Harry that Lucius Malfoy would perhaps try to put a Legilimency spell on Harry and that he should try to occlude his mind as well as possible.

At first, Harry and Draco went flying together for two hours. They had so much fun that they completely forgot the time. However, their enjoyable time ended quite abruptly, when the two boys, who were trying to catch the Snitch, which Draco had brought from home, suddenly crashed into one another, and Harry lost the grip on his broom.

Professor McGonagall, who had witnessed the scene from her window, nearly had a heart attack seeing that Harry was steadily tumbling down towards the ground. Suddenly, however, she couldn’t see Harry anymore, but a green phoenix was flying around.

Draco watched the beautiful bird in awe. “Harry, when did you manage to become an animagus? I’ve heard that’s very difficult and advanced magic!”

Harry quickly transformed back and replied, “I don’t know if it’s difficult. I have been practising during the last six months, mostly at night when everyone was asleep. I’m supposed not to talk about it, so please keep it a secret, Draco.”

Draco gave his friend a sharp nod and warned him, “Harry, please be careful around my father. Don’t tell him any secrets. I believe that he is still a follower of the Dark Lord; therefore, I don’t trust him. Of course, he doesn’t know that though. He thinks that I’m going to follow him in whatever he does, but I have decided that I’m on your side just like Severus and Blaise.

When they arrived back in Severus’ quarters, Tipsy brought tea and cake, and after Harry and Draco had washed their hands, they sat down at the table where the others were already seated. Severus worriedly took in Harry’s white face and his shaking hands.

“Is everything all right, Harry?” he asked in a very concerned voice, and Harry gave him a sharp nod, before he proceeded to staring into his guardian’s eyes. Fortunately, Severus understood the hint and stared back, very carefully casting a soft Legilimens spell to enter Harry’s mind, where Harry presented him with the memory of his fall and the escape.

Shortly after Severus had left his mind, Harry felt a different power trying to enter his thoughts. He knew instantly that it couldn’t be his guardian this time. Severus was very careful and always tried not to hurt him, but this mind was rough and forceful. He saw the memory of his flight passing in front of his eyes and suddenly thought, ‘NO! I don’t want him to see that,’ and with the combination of his Occlumency abilities and his wish magic, he managed to push Lucius Malfoy out of his mind.

In the evening, Harry and Severus talked about the event and agreed that Harry should only use normal Occlumency and Legilimency during their lessons. Severus explained that the use of the combination of both would be too tiring for a boy of his age, and from his experience during the afternoon, Harry had to admit that he was right. However, when he felt that he was in danger like with Lucius Malfoy, he should use his combined powers.

-----

One day, after his Transfiguration lesson Professor McGonagall told Harry that the person who would probably become the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher would be joining them for lunch on the next day. “So if you want to see him, you’d better come for lunch into the Great Hall,” she told him and gave him a copy of one of his books to read until the next day.

Harry spent the afternoon lying on his bed, completely engrossed in the book. Severus noticed surprised that Harry wasn’t standing in front of their quarters’ entrance door, broom in his hand, and jumping from one foot onto the other, waiting impatiently for Severus to come and go flying with him. Therefore, Severus came looking for him and noticed with astonishment what Harry was reading.

“Do you prefer this piece of dragon dung to flying?” he asked incredulously, but Harry calmed him down immediately.

“No, Severus, but I don’t want to go flying today,” he mumbled, and seeing Severus’ curious look, he added, “I’m having breathing problems, and I somehow don’t feel too well. Therefore, I prefer to lie here and read ‘what did you call it – dragon dung’. But if you want to go flying, I’ll stay here on my own – no problem,” he added.

Severus threw a short glance at the boy and waved his wand a few times to assess what could be wrong with him. It only seemed to be a slight cold, so there was no need to drag him up to see Poppy. He fetched a dose of Pepper-Up Potion and fed it to Harry.

As Harry wasn’t feeling better in the morning, Severus waived his Potions lesson and let the boy stay in bed and read his book, which he finished shortly before lunchtime. Then he insisted on getting up and going to the Great Hall for lunch. Not believing that this was a good idea but wanting to let the boy have some fun anyway, Severus relented, and the two of them joined the other teachers to have lunch.

Harry was very excited to meet someone who could write so many lies in one book. He didn’t believe one thing that was described in the book as it would be impossible for one person to do all these things without reducing their magic level too much and without having lived for at least one hundred years. Anyway, he was going to ask some questions. He wasn’t very hungry, and so he started asking his questions only five minutes into the meal.

“Professor Lockhart, may I ask you a question, sir?” he asked as innocently as possible.

“Of course, you may. You are Harry Potter, right?” the Professor replied.

“Yes, Professor, um… I have a question. You know, in the seventh chapter of your fourth book you describe how you defeated the Maho Yakuza (Japanese Wizarding Mafia) in Kyoto. Why would the Expelliarmus Spell not work on them? And how did you communicate with them? Do you speak Japanese, or were they able to speak English?”

The Professor seemed to be a little besides himself by this question. “Oh, no, I had to speak Japanese; they don’t speak English,” he replied curtly. “And concerning the Expelliarmus Spell… There we had the phenomenon that it didn’t work at all in Japan. However, I am not sure why; I would have to look it up in one of my books.”

“Oh, Professor, do you think you could teach me how to speak Japanese?” Harry asked again and elaborated, “You know, I have a girlfriend, and she lives in Japan during the holidays. She invited me to visit her next month, but as I don’t speak Japanese…”

“Oh, yes, of course, I could try to teach you, although it is quite difficult, and in fact, I will be very busy during the next month, so I am not sure…”

Harry got ready for another question. “All right, Professor, sorry to bother you again, but I have one more question. You describe how you fought against several magical creatures with the help of a dozen phoenixes, and I have read in another book that you are very acquainted with this wonderful kind of bird. What kind of phoenixes were they? And how did you communicate with them?”

The Professor let out a stupid laugh. “Ah, my boy, that is a very difficult question. It was several years ago, so I don’t remember exactly. Wait a moment…”

While the Professor frantically thought about how to reply to Harry’s questions, Harry efficiently tried to do Legilimency on the man. What he saw was not nice. It only took him a few minutes until he had seen what he wanted. This person was not worth any more than one of his books.

Harry threw a pleading look at Severus and said quietly, “Sorry, sir, but I don’t feel very well. May I go back to our quarters?”

Severus threw a piercing look at Harry, determining that his condition was not worse than before and that the boy probably just wanted to tell him something. He stood up immediately, excused them and motioned Harry out of the Great Hall. Before they left the hall, Severus turned around and stated, “Albus, please don’t forget that I had something extremely urgent to talk about. Could you come by for a minute after lunch?”

“Of course, my boy,” Dumbledore answered and exchanged a look with Minerva.

-----

As soon as Professor Dumbledore saw Lockhart’s memory, which Harry had put into a Pensieve, he rose from his chair very angrily and motioned Severus and Harry to accompany him to his office where Professor McGonagall was entertaining Lockhart.

When they entered the Headmaster’s Office, Dumbledore immediately addressed Lockhart. “As my student has proven to me, we cannot believe in your abilities, and therefore, I am not able to entrust you with our Defence Against the Dark Arts position. I am sorry, Mr. Lockhart.”

Lockhart threw a glance at Harry, who couldn’t manage to hide a huge grin, and raised his wand to throw a Memory Charm at the boy. It was the worst thing he ever could have done.

Just a few days ago, Severus had taught Harry the Protego Charm and Harry had practised it endlessly. When Lockhart threw the Memory Charm, Harry protected his teachers and himself with a very strong Protego, summoning all his magic and sending it into the wish. Harry’s defence spell was so strong that the memory charm backfired on Lockhart who had to be taken to St. Mungos by Professor Dumbledore.

“It’s good to see that you are able to use the things others try so hardly to teach you efficiently,” Severus commended Harry when they were back in their quarters. There was a hint of pride in his voice.

Harry felt his face getting red. This was probably the highest praise he could ever get from his guardian. “Thank you, s….um… Severus,” he replied softly. In fact, he was a little proud of himself – being able to prevent the Headmaster from hiring an absolute flop of a teacher had been a good feeling.

A week later, Severus told Harry that Professor Dumbledore had decided on a different Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Remus Lupin. He told him that Lupin had been in the same year as himself and Harry’s parents. Furthermore, he told the boy, who had grown on him as if he was his own son, that he, Lupin, was a werewolf and explained exactly what he had to know about werewolves.

One day, Professor Lupin showed up for lunch and was introduced by Professor Dumbledore who told Harry that Lupin had already moved into the castle and would take the meals together with them from now on. Although he didn’t have much chance to talk to the new professor, he seemed congenial to Harry. However, Harry became sad when he thought about the fact that he wouldn’t have his Defence lessons with Severus anymore, if they had a new Defence teacher.

Later in the evening, when Severus sat on his bed as he did every evening, Harry voiced his thoughts and the Professor said calmingly, “Harry, you are like a son to me. This is your home now, so you may come here anytime. You can even leave your things in your room; nobody else will enter your room when you are not here. Moreover, if you want me to teach you something, you only have to tell me what you wish me to do and I shall try to help you.”

-----

A few days later, Severus had asked Albus if he could visit Severus in his quarters, as he had something he wanted to talk about, but he didn’t want to leave Harry alone, so they arranged to meet after Harry was asleep. Severus told Albus about his idea, which he had had during the Christmas Holidays, and about his research that was nearly finished. Then he waited for his mentor to assess if he had a way to help him.

Dumbledore was stunned at first. After a short while, he confirmed, “Do I understand correctly that you want to take Harry and travel back in time for a year?”

“Yes,” Severus confirmed. “I want him to get to know his parents and to kill Voldemort if possible. As it is only Harry who can defeat him, at least according to the prophecy,” he slowly trailed off.

“That’s correct, my boy.” Dumbledore tried to recall the past. Finally, he said pensively, “I will have to watch a few memories in my Pensieve; however, as we had a new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher every year, I suppose I could offer you this post at any time. Maybe you should preferably choose the year in which you and Harry’s mother are in your second year, so that Harry can have a chance to get to know all of you very well.”

“And we would both be able to stay at Hogwarts,” Severus stated more to himself. “But, why Defence?” he asked astonished. He hadn’t thought about the possibility to teach at Hogwarts at all, he had just hoped Professor Dumbledore would help him to find a place where he could stay and still be in contact to Harry and his younger self.

“Yes, you could be Professor Salazar Snape, and Harry could be disguised as your son. Defence Against the Dark Arts seems to be the subject you are predestined to teach, apart from Potions of course. However,” he continued contemplatively, “this would be 1973, but I would prefer you to be there in 1974 as this is a year of a great expansion of Voldemort’s activity. It would be much more efficient to be there in 1974 or 1975 than in earlier years. How about you aim at the beginning of the school year 1974 and pretend that Harry is not 12 but 13. Then he could attend third year together with his parents.”

Severus eyed his mentor thoughtfully and said, “I am quite sure that Harry wouldn’t mind to skip a class in this case. He is already above third level in Potions, Defence, and Transfiguration. I can easily teach him whatever he needs to him catch up to that level. He would easily be able to attend third year classes. The only problem is his size. He is small, even for a second year,” Severus mused aloud.

Dumbledore laughed. “Yes, my boy, that is true. However, I shall prepare a potion for Harry to make it so that he will look like your son. With that I expect him to be at least a little taller than he is now. So you could try to go back to the year 1974, your third year.”

Severus nodded his agreement.

“When are you going to tell Harry? Are you sure that he will agree to your plans?”

Severus thought for a moment. As it was only recently that he had managed to invent the potion and because he wanted to speak to Albus beforehand, he hadn’t yet talked to Harry in order not to get his hopes up too early. “I thought to tell him on his birthday and to leave on the same day. Then we will have a whole month to flexibly time our return in order to be back in time for Harry’s second year here. Of course, we have to decide in which year we should place him here then, too, but we can leave this decision until we are back and include Harry in this decision later.”

“Have you already thought about how to accomplish your goal and get rid of Voldemort?” Dumbledore asked another question.

Severus shook his head. “No, but I intend to work intensively together with your younger self, maybe Minerva, my younger self, Harry, Lily, and if Harry manages to get close any other students, even with them. I am sure we will be able to manage something. I know that my younger self is not a Death Eater at that time; however, my mother’s oldest brother, Uncle Cronus, was already pushing me to accompany him to the meetings, so maybe we will find a way to use this to our advantage. However, we will need you to tell all these people about us and about our goal, which we need help with.”

Dumbledore gave him a firm nod. “Don’t worry, Severus. I will write a long letter to my younger self, and I will also add a few of my memories for his Pensieve.”

Severus thanked the Headmaster profoundly and said, “I have another topic I wish to speak with you about.” He told Albus about his thoughts to magically adopt Harry as his son.

As soon as Dumbledore heard about this idea, however, the Headmaster somehow reacted strangely. “Severus,” he said, “this is impossible. It’s fine for you to be his guardian, but you cannot blood-adopt him. I shall not tell you the reason now, but you will understand in the near future.”

Ignoring the fact that Severus mumbled something about ‘meddling old coots’, he added, “I suggest that we have another meeting, together with Minerva, Filius, Remus and Poppy. You will need their help, at least in the past, and it would be an advantage if all of them could write a letter to their younger selves. It would also be good to ask Filius to give Harry a few lessons to get him up to the third level in Charms as well.”

Severus gratefully inclined his head and said, “Thank you, Headmaster.”

-----

When the Headmaster had left his quarters, Severus went over to Harry’s room and sat down on a chair beside his bed. When he looked down at the boy’s face, he suddenly noticed how pale the child was. He even looked worse than he had at the beginning of the holidays. Recently, Harry had often declined when Severus suggested to go flying and had preferred to stay on the sofa and read, saying that he had difficulties breathing. Maybe something was really wrong with the child and he, Severus, had not noticed it because he had been too occupied with his research? Maybe he was an unfit guardian even if he had recently felt like a father probably would feel.

Getting really worried about his own abilities to care for the child, he decided to talk to Poppy. If someone was able to help him and to advise him, it would be her. She knew him better than anyone else.

“No, Severus, you are a very good father. Otherwise you wouldn’t have noticed anything yet,” Poppy told him after doing a thorough check on Harry. “He has a small infection on his lungs again.” She put a wrist band over Harry’s right wrist and said, “This will monitor his oxygen level and his temperature, and in case his level gets too low or his temperature too high, it will alarm you and me immediately. If this happens, you must bring him to the Hospital Wing instantly, so that I can connect him to the breathing apparatus.”

She threw a last glance at the child and silently left the room. “Give him a spoon full of the Eucalia Potion three times a day. And I want to see him daily until his condition improves.” She thought for a moment and added, “The next time Harry refuses to go flying, you bring him to me so that I can let him use the apparatus, and afterwards just take him out to sit near the lake for an hour. Both of you need to get fresh air!”

Severus invited the Healer to have tea with him and used the opportunity to confide in his friend about his plans of going back to the past. She promised to write a letter to her younger self, especially since Harry would need to be looked after daily, even in that decade.

“I will have to swear a wizard’s oath to Harry,” he said suddenly. When Pomfrey looked at him enquiringly, he elaborated, “You knew, Poppy, that Lily and I were together after leaving Hogwarts , didn’t you?”

“I know that, Severus,” she replied quietly.

“We separated because I was a Death Eater. It was too dangerous for her, so I let her go. Then,” Severus confided, trying to keep the tears that were welling in his eyes at bay. “Soon after that, she married Potter, and Harry was born ten months after we separated.”

Poppy put a calming hand on his arm, and Severus continued, “This time I will hopefully prevent myself from becoming a Death Eater, but I still cannot be with Lily. If we don’t separate, she won’t marry Potter, and Harry won’t be born.”

Poppy gasped, but then she thought about something. Dumbledore had asked her to brew a certain, very rare potion for him that only could have one implication. But the fact that he asked her and not his Potions Master meant that Severus was still unconscious about the fact that concerned him so much. She groaned. Dumbledore would certainly have his reasons for not telling Severus something as important as this, but on the other hand, she couldn’t see her friend so desperate.

“Severus,” she started slowly, “when I tell you something, will you give me your word that you keep it for yourself and won’t tell anyone – especially Albus – that you know?”

He threw her a confused glance and nodded. “Yes, of course. Why?”

“Severus, Harry was nearly a month late. Pregnancies can be prolonged magically. I cannot tell you more about it because of my Healer’s oath. Remember, don’t tell anyone until Albus tells you!” she admonished and excused herself.

Severus Accio-ed a bottle of whisky from the shelf and gulped down a whole glass full of the burning liquid, before he tried to think again. Would that really mean…? He jumped from his seat and went into the boy’s room. The boy looked like James Potter, only the eyes were those beautiful green eyes of his Lily. He couldn’t stand the thought anymore. He Accio-ed an empty phial and waved his wand over Harry to magically get a few drops of the boy’s blood into the phial.

The next two hours, he spent in his private Potions lab. Finally, the Potion was finished. Should he really do it? His emotions, which he normally could keep at bay, were going hay wire. Finally, he held his elbow over the cauldron and repeated the spell he had done on Harry before, and two drops of his own blood fell into the cauldron. He pressed his eyes closed, waiting for two minutes before he opened them again… and gasped.

His blood had mixed into the Potion, and the Potion had turned into a clear blue. He slumped down into a seat. On one hand, he was happier than he had thought he would ever be; on the other hand, he felt so betrayed, by Albus, and worse, by Lily. Why hadn’t she told him?

He spent the rest of the night at Harry’s bedside, watching his son’s shallow breathing.

-----

When Harry woke up in the morning, Severus was sitting at the edge of his bed. They talked about Harry’s condition for a moment, before Severus asked suddenly, “Have you thought about your birthday, Harry?”

Harry threw him an unsure glance. Of course he knew that it was his birthday in two weeks time, but what was there to think about? He would become twelve anyway. “Um… sorry, Severus, but what do I have to think about? I will become twelve, I know that already.”

Severus would have laughed about Harry’s naïve view of birthdays, if the whole thing hadn’t been so sad. He sighed and elaborated, “I meant who do you want to invite to your party.”

“Party?” Harry asked confused. “Am I getting a party? For my birthday?”

This time, Severus laughed. “Only if you want one. You could, for example, invite Granger and Weasley, or Draco and Blaise, or all four of them. You don’t have to decide now, but you can think about it and tell me when you have decided.”

Harry started to think immediately. He would love to invite his friends, yes, of course. But at the moment, he just didn’t feel well enough. Even if he invited them, he wouldn’t be able to do anything interesting with them. They could only sit there and talk or play boring games. However, there were still two weeks left, and maybe with Poppy’s help, he would feel better then.

Seeing his guardian’s enquiring look, Harry hesitantly voiced his thoughts, and Severus sighed. “Harry,” he explained softly, “when your friends come to celebrate your birthday, they will be willing to do whatever YOU want to do. We could invite them to come at 3 o’clock, for example. You could start by eating your birthday cake in the Great Hall, either with everyone remaining at Hogwarts or just with your friends. Afterwards, you could unwrap presents and talk to your friends until 6 o’clock. Your friends would go home just before dinner starts or even after dinner, if you prefer that.”

Harry still felt unsure. As he had never had a birthday party before, he really didn’t know if he would be able to manage everything. What Severus had told him sounded very easy though. “Will you be there to help me, Severus?” he asked hesitantly.

“Of course, Harry,” Severus replied immediately.

-----

During the next days, Severus kept himself busy brewing potions for the Hospital Wing so that everything would be ready for the next school year when he returned from the past. Harry had convinced Severus to use their Potions lessons for this work and helped him efficiently. One day Harry hesitantly asked, “Maybe we could ask Professor Lupin if he is willing to teach me sometimes, so that you could use the time to brew. Or we could just skip Defence and only brew Potions during that time.”

Professor Lupin was more than pleased when Harry asked if he could teach him. However, he was stunned to see Harry’s abilities. He already knew most spells that were taught in third years’ classes. So maybe Lupin should either think about something special to teach him or just practice duelling with the child. He decided on the latter as they had only one hour left until lunch anyway, and he would ask Severus later what he would recommend they do.

After thirty minutes of duelling, however, Harry sat down suddenly, breathing very heavily. When Remus asked if he was okay, he only shook his head and mumbled, “Sev’rus”.

At this moment, Severus stepped through the Floo and directly went over to the child. While he studied the wrist band, which was hidden under his robes, he heard Harry mumble, “I don’t feel well, Dad.”

Utterly shocked, it took Severus a moment to reply. “I know, my boy, hold on. Poppy will help you in a minute.” Then he told Remus, “I have to take him to Pomfrey. I shall talk to you later, Lupin.”

A very worried looking Remus followed Severus, who was carrying the child, to the Hospital Wing, where Poppy, who had been alerted by the same alarm as Severus, had already prepared everything and instantly connected Harry to the breathing apparatus.

Severus had to try hard to stay calm. However, he had to tell himself that this wasn’t Lupin’s fault. Seeing his colleague watching him worriedly, he explained about Harry’s situation as patiently as he could.

“I am sorry, Severus. I didn’t know that and let him practice duelling,” Remus said horrified.

“It’s not your fault, Lupin. You didn’t know, and he has been ill for a while now. He cannot do anything strenuous, at least, not at the moment.”

“But, Severus, what are we going to do? Yesterday evening you told us about your plan to go back to the past and about the prophecy. How is Harry going to vanquish Voldemort if he can’t even duel?”

Severus sighed. That was something he wanted to know as well. “Together with your younger self and your friends, we have to think about a way for him to vanquish the Dark Lord without duelling. However, I still haven’t talked to Harry about my plan; therefore, I do not even know if he will agree to travel into the past.”

“He will, Severus,” Madam Pomfrey threw in. “He adores you, and if you suggest this, he will agree. I’m sure.”

“Poppy,” Severus said hesitantly, “thanks for telling me the other day.”

The Healer threw him an understanding smile. “You are very welcome, Severus, and I hope that Albus will explain everything to Harry on his birthday. Otherwise, I suggest that you tell Harry upon your arrival in the past.”

Severus glanced at his friend thankfully. “Yes, Poppy, I shall do that. How is he, by the way? Is he better now?”

Poppy shook her head. “No, he is not, and I’m going to keep him this time, otherwise he won’t get better. The infection is worse than it was, and he is in no condition to go on a time travelling trip. He will have to stay here for at least a day, probably more. You are welcome to see him anytime of course.”

-----

When Pomfrey finally released Harry, he felt much better. It was only three days until his birthday. While he had been sick, Severus had sent invitations to his friends, and he hoped they would be able to come. Severus and Poppy had decided that Harry shouldn’t have any more lessons until his birthday but should rest, relax and do what he wanted.

On the first day, Remus took Harry for a long walk around the grounds. They sat down near the lake and talked for hours, and Harry enjoyed the afternoon with the new Professor very much. When Remus tried to apologize to him because of not taking care of his condition and practicing duelling, Harry contradicted vehemently. It had not been the Professor’s fault.

At dinnertime, Professor McGonagall asked Harry, “Would you like to accompany me to Hogsmeade tomorrow?”

Harry’s eyes started to twinkle happily and he replied, “Of course, Professor. I would like that very much. Thank you. Um… Professor, um… could we go to the bookstore, too? Please?” he added hesitantly.

His Gryffindor Head of House smiled at him widely. “Yes, Harry, we will go to the bookstore, and you will have time enough to have a look.”

“I cannot understand why the Sorting Hat didn’t put you in Ravenclaw,” Professor Flitwick mused. “Normally, people who like reading as much as you belong to Ravenclaw.”

Harry laughed and replied, “The Hat actually told me that I’d fit in any House. However, I think two Houses are more than enough.”

-----

At breakfast, Harry received three owls. The first was from Blaise, who told him that he would be happy to join Harry’s birthday party the day after tomorrow. The second owl brought a letter from Ron, who told him he would, of course, come and bring Hermione with him, who was staying at the Weasleys for a week.

When Harry opened the letter the third owl brought and had looked at it, he let out a huge gasp. He suddenly found that it was getting hard to breathe. Seeing that everyone was watching him worriedly, he unsuccessfully tried to hide his shaking hands and said solemnly, “It’s from Uncle Vernon.”

“What?!” Several people gasped simultaneously.

“Harry, give me that letter please,” Severus said and held his hand out.

Harry handed the letter over to his guardian, who read the letter aloud for everyone to hear.

Potter, you will tell the other freak, who was with you to undo what he has done. Otherwise I will tell your Lord Whatsoever all about your weaknesses and help him to get rid of you. You will never be happy again! Vernon

“What a piece of BS!” Severus blurted out very uncharacteristically. “What does the dunderhead think a Muggle is able to do?”

“Severus?” Remus eyed his colleague curiously. “What have you done to the man?”

Severus smirked and told the others who didn’t already know about what he had done to Harry’s relatives, who, in fact, would have deserved much worse.

“Harry…” Severus turned to his son and handed him a Calming Draught. “…drink this and calm down. Vernon Dursley cannot do anything to you, me, or any other wizard.”

Harry obliged and felt better immediately. “Thank you, Severus,” he mumbled gratefully.

“Now, Harry,” Minerva addressed Harry, “do you still feel up to go to Hogsmeade?”

“Yes, of course, Professor,” Harry replied firmly. He only had been to Hogsmeade twice, both times together with Severus, and he had liked the small town very much.

“Here, Harry, take this with you, please,” Poppy addressed the boy and handed him a key on a golden chain.

“A Portkey?” Minerva asked, glancing at Poppy curiously.

“Yes, it’s a Portkey leading directly to the Hospital Wing. When you are in danger, you have to touch it, together with Professor McGonagall, or – in case you have been separated for some reason – alone and say the activating password. It activates on ‘Poppy’s Place’. Is that clear, Harry?”

“Yes,” Harry replied. “Thank you, Madam Pomfrey.” He threw the Healer a soft smile.

-----

Hogsmeade was very quiet so early in the morning. Minerva and Harry spent two hours in the bookshop, where Minerva managed to buy a few books for Harry’s birthday without him noticing it. Harry bought several books: ‘Advanced Transfiguration – Changing your World’, ‘Wandless Magic and Practical Application’, ‘The Patronus Charm and Other Complex Defence Methods’, ‘Magical Animals and their Characteristics and Interactions in Nature’, and three different wizarding children’s stories Minerva had recommended him.

Finally, it was about lunchtime, and as Minerva had arranged with the other teachers to have lunch together at The Three Broomsticks, she ushered Harry out of the bookstore and into the inn for lunch and pumpkin juice.

While Minerva had kept Harry busy, Severus had collected several things to take with him into the past like the Daily Prophet of today, copies of the Daily Prophet of specific events in the years around Harry’s birth, an assortment of recent chocolate frog cards, and letters from Remus and Poppy to give to their younger selves. He had also gotten the potions ready.

Albus had consulted some of his old journals and had been able to tell Severus that he had signed the contract for the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher in 1974 on August 1. Therefore, he knew that they had to arrive in the past on July 31, the same day on which they were leaving, so they had to move back exactly 18 years. He had also made another special potion they would both have to drink in order to avoid being separated during their travel to the past whatever happened.

-----

Very early on Harry’s birthday, Severus sat on the edge of Harry’s bed, waiting for his son to wake up. Finally, he stirred and lazily opened his eyes. He was fully awake as soon as he saw his guardian sitting next to him.

“Good morning,” he groaned. “Is something wrong?”

Severus chuckled slightly. “No, my boy. Happy birthday!”

“Thank you,” Harry said, smiling. He nearly had forgotten that this would be his first real birthday celebration.

“Harry,” Severus started to speak, and Harry noticed that he was looking much sterner than just a minute ago. “I have thought and done a lot of research about something.” He held a phial with a green Potion out to Harry and sighed. “I want – together with you of course – to travel back into the past and to try to save your mother and many others from their deaths. Do you agree to come with me, pretending to be my son?”

Harry nearly choked. There were many things he could have expected from the stern Potions Professor, but certainly not an invitation to join him for a travel to the past as his son.

“Um… yes, um… why not? I mean. um… eh… how long will we stay in the past, what will we do there, and when will we be back? And how do you intend to save my mum? And why so suddenly?”

Severus smirked. “So many questions! Why: I thought about this on Christmas, when I realized that you were abused and hadn’t had any Christmas presents before and so on. I then tried to invent a potion that would take us to the past and back. We will go to Hogwarts in the year 1974, where you will attend third year together with Lily, Remus Lupin, James Potter, and my younger self, while I shall be teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts.”

“Wow,” Harry commented in awe.

“So, do I understand your comment correctly when I assume that you are inclined to accompany me?”

Harry gave his guardian a wary glance and nodded excitedly. “Yes, sir. Um… when will we leave?”

“Tonight.”

Harry nearly choked again. He then continued to ask several dozen questions until Severus reminded him that they had exactly fifteen minutes until they had to show up in the Great Hall for breakfast.

“Hadn’t we decided to have breakfast here in our quarters at the beginning of the holidays?” Harry asked reproachfully and was informed that everyone would be waiting for them because it was his birthday.

-----

Finally, they were so late that Harry had to flash the two of them to the Great Hall to be almost in time for breakfast. As soon as they arrived, he saw a huge cake in the form of Hogwarts on the breakfast table and a pile of presents on an extra table. He sat down between Severus and Minerva, and suddenly the twelve candles on the cake were lit. Harry blushed when everyone started to sing ‘Happy Birthday’. ‘Why hadn’t they eaten in their quarters?’ he contemplated, hating the attention he was getting again.

He didn’t notice that everyone was looking at him expectantly until Minerva whispered, “Harry, you have to blow the candles out.”

Harry obliged quickly, and Professor Dumbledore started to cut and distribute huge pieces of cake. When Harry eyed his piece, which was extremely large, Minerva giggled.

“This is the Transfiguration classroom,” she told her student, and Harry had to laugh as well, especially when Severus got the Gryffindor Common room.

“Just wait,” he told his son, “until your Gryffindor friends are here in the afternoon and will be given the Slytherin dormitories.

Harry exploded with laughter. It was really nice to have his birthday together with so many nice people. He was very happy.

-----

After breakfast, Severus ushered him up to the Headmaster’s Office. Minerva and Poppy joined them there as well. After offering a round of lemon drops Dumbledore started to speak.

“Harry,” he addressed the birthday boy. “Has Severus already told you about his plans, and have you agreed to accompany him?”

Harry threw a wary glance at Severus and answered, “Yes, sir, he has talked to me, and yes, I will accompany him.”

“Very well, my boy. That’s what I expected,” Dumbledore said contentedly. He walked around his desk and held out a phial, which contained a yellowish potion. “Harry, before you go for your trip, I want you to take this potion. However, you should lie down on the sofa…” He pointed to the sofa. “…because the potion will change your appearance, and it might hurt a lot.”

Harry threw an unsure glance at Severus, and when he nodded encouragingly, he complied and lay down on the sofa. He gulped down the potion and groaned in agony.

Poppy rushed over to Harry and made him drink a Pain Relieving Potion, and Severus followed her, looking piercingly at his son. What happened? What was this potion? Had it been Polyjuice? However, no… that couldn’t be. If it had been Polyjuice Potion, Harry’s eyes would be black now. But in fact, Harry looked like a combination of Lily and Severus. And his scar was still there. With Polyjuice, it wouldn’t be visible. Suddenly he understood.

“That was not Polyjuice. Was that the Inhabitas Potion?” he asked in the direction of Dumbledore.

“Yes, my boy,” Dumbledore replied and handed Severus a letter.

Severus suddenly noticed that Harry was crying silently and rushed over to his son. “Harry, what’s wrong?” He quickly conjured a mirror and held it in front of his son’s face. “Look, Harry, now you look like a mixture of Lily and me,” he said proudly.

Harry sat up and had a thorough look into the mirror. “What happened?” he then asked, slightly upset. “What was this Potion, and what has it done to me?” he added.

Severus sat next to him and laid an arm around him, holding the letter with the other hand. Then he opened the letter and gasped when he saw who it was from. It was from Lily – HIS Lily. He suddenly decided that this would concern Harry as well and proceeded to hold the letter in front of both of them, so that they could read together.

Harry threw Severus an unsure glance, but receiving an encouraging nod in the direction of the letter, he started to read as well.

My dear Severus,

When you read this letter, it means that I am dead. There is something I still need to tell you.

I have to tell you that Harry is your son. He is not James’ son like everyone believes. In fact, I have prolonged my pregnancy so that nobody would notice. Please, Severus, be a father to him. He needs you as much as you need him.

I have given Harry the ‘Inhabicua Potion’ to give him James’ appearance. Not even James knows that Harry is not his son. As you will certainly know, you have to give your son the ‘Inhabitas Potion’ containing your blood in order to restore his original features.

I am still very angry at you for leaving me. I have married James, although you know that I won’t ever be able to love anyone but you – and Harry, of course. I know that you only abandoned me for my safety, but nevertheless, sometime I’ll probably be able to forgive you.

I will always love both of you!

Lily

Harry was stunned. Had he understood that correctly? James wasn’t his father, Severus was? He, his guardian, was his real father? Could that be true, or was it just a dirty joke? Of course, Severus had always felt like a father to him, but… oh, he didn’t know what to believe any more. However, he hoped very much that this news was true.

Severus had to try hard not to let his emotions show on his face. However, a hint of anger could be heard in his voice when he turned to Albus. “How long have you known?”

“Since the day before his eleventh birthday,” Albus replied solemnly. “I am sorry, Severus. I should have told you; however, I thought it was the best to wait a little.”

“So that’s why you told me I couldn’t blood-adopt Harry,” Severus stated, sighing. Then he gave his son a proud look.

“You wanted to adopt me?” Harry asked anxiously.

“Yes, Harry,” Dumbledore replied this time. “He really wanted to be a father to you, but he couldn’t adopt you as he already was your father. But I had decided to wait until your birthday to tell both of you at the same time. Congratulations to the two of you!”

Severus turned to Harry and put both hands on his son’s shoulders, his eyes looking for the approval in his son’s green gaze.

“Dad?” Harry asked softly. “May I call you that?” ‘It feels so natural,’ he thought.

Severus threw Harry a proud smile. “Yes, of course you may call me ‘Dad’. I am very glad that you are not having problems with it, in fact,” he assured his son.

“Um… can we go back to our quarters now, Dad?” Harry enquired, unconsciously playing with a small parchment that was in his robes.

“Yes, my son. That we will do. We will come back later, Albus,” he addressed the Headmaster.

“Very well,” Dumbledore answered, his eyes twinkling madly. “Come back after dinner, and we will speak for a few minutes before you may go for your travels.”

-----

The new found family spent the next few hours in the Snape quarters. Both of them still had to get used to the fact that they were family now, even Severus who had known of this now for two weeks. Severus was very happy, and looking at Harry was a pleasure, as happiness was written all over his face.

Suddenly Severus gasped and pointed to Harry’s robes. “Oh no, Harry. You have grown at least three inches – all your clothes will be too short now.”

Harry groaned and asked, “Do you think we can transfigure them? I mean can I try to make them longer with wish magic?”

“Yes, Harry, either that or we have to go and buy new clothes for you now. But I’m afraid it will be too strenuous for you as you have a birthday party and a time travel waiting for you today.”

Harry went over to his room and tried to wish his clothes longer, noticing that it was very easy.

“Only charm the clothes you want to take with you. We will spend a year in the past, but we still have a month until school starts, so we can buy a few clothes in the past.” He handed Harry a travelling bag and added, “Put everything you are going to take with you in the bag. However, we should have lunch first. Do you want to eat here or in the Great Hall?”

“Here!” Harry said firmly, and after a few bites of lunch, he returned to his room and engrossed himself in his packing. It took him nearly two hours to adjust his clothes and to decide which books to take with him.

Suddenly Severus knocked at his door. “Harry, your friends will be arriving in twenty minutes. I think it is nearly time to head to the Great Hall. Are you ready to go?”

“Dad? Um… what do you think they will say? I mean everyone can see I look different than before. Will they…?” Tears were welling in his eyes.

Severus looked at his son’s face, slightly shocked. “You mean, your friends won’t like you anymore because you are my son?” he asked. Seeing Harry’s expression, he sighed. “No, Harry. I don’t think that Mr. Weasley will like it very much, but they won’t abandon you because of it. You are still yourself even if you look differently now.”

Harry’s expression brightened and he sat upright again. “Thank you, Dad. All right, let’s go.”

-----

When they arrived in the Great Hall, the teachers were already there, and Ron and Hermione were just climbing out of the fireplace. Already forgetting about his different look, Harry went into the direction of the fireplace to greet his friends. However, Ron eyed him suspiciously while Hermione gave him a piercing look before she carefully asked, “Is that you, Harry?”

Harry threw his friend a huge smile while Ron scolded her, “Why should that be Harry? Look, he looks like Snape. Where the f… is Harry?”

Hermione let out a loud sigh. “Look, Ronald,” she said in a lecturing tone. “He has a scar like Harry’s and he has Harry’s green eyes. I think it is Harry, although he really looks like a miniature version of Professor Snape.” She went over to her friend and carefully hugged him, fully aware of the fact that Harry was very reluctant hugging people. However, Harry managed not to flinch at her touch. “Happy birthday, Harry,” she said finally.

“Thank you, Hermione,” Harry replied before he turned to Ron. “Hello Ron, nice to have you here. Unfortunately, I completely forgot to invite your brothers. In fact, I would have liked to have Fred and George here as well, but I was busy and then ill and then Professor Snape sent out the invitations for me….” He trailed off.

Suddenly the fireplace flared green and Draco stepped out. He went over to Harry, held out his hand and said, “Nice to meet you. I am Draco Malfoy, I…” Suddenly he stopped, had a closer look at Harry, and said, “Harry? Is that you? Did he blood-adopt you or… what happened?”

Harry laughed and seeing that everyone was looking expectantly answered, “No, he didn’t do anything. However, we have learned this morning that I am his son. So, this is what I am supposed to look. My mum had given me a potion so that I looked how I looked before.”

“This is much better, Harry,” Hermione blurted out. “You look gorgeous, you know.”

“What?” Ron blurted out. “The gr…”

“Shhh!” Hermione shut him up by kicking him in the shin. “Be quiet and behave yourself for once. Don’t you see that Harry seems to be happier than we have ever seen him? So just let it be for Harry’s sake.”

Ron shut up, eyeing Harry with a hint of disgust in his eyes. Fortunately, Harry was too happy to notice.

Fortunately, Blaise had arrived just in time to hear Harry’s explanation, so that he didn’t have to tell the story again. Suddenly Dumbledore’s voice directed them to the table, where the enormous remains of the huge birthday cake were waiting.

Harry was so happy to see his friends again that they chatted and giggled and didn’t notice how the time flew by. It was nearly time for dinner when Severus came over to the five students and said, “Harry, if you want to open your presents before the beginning of the new school year, you should do it now.”

Everyone laughed and Harry started to unwrap presents. He received many books from his friends, as well as from the teachers, as it was well-known how much Harry loved to read. From his father, Harry received two envelopes. One contained a silver necklace holding a pendant in form of a snake with the Prince emblem on it. The other envelope contained a voucher for a Nimbus 170. Harry let out a giggle and quickly closed the envelope, before he turned to his father to let him help fastening the necklace. Severus complied while he explained about the emblem of the Prince family, his mother's family.

Too soon, it was time for Harry’s friends to leave. The house elves had overdone themselves with Harry’s birthday dinner, and the five friends had eaten so much that they had the impression they couldn’t even move anymore. However, Harry’s friends stepped into the fireplace to Floo home, and Harry was pulled out of the Great Hall by his father.

After returning to their quarters because Harry had forgotten his inhaler teddy, they finally arrived at the Headmaster’s Office. Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall each handed Severus a letter, addressed to their younger selves. Then Albus gave Severus a few phials with Pensieve memories to give to his younger self.

Finally Albus said pensively, “I believe you need some proof in order for Minerva and me to believe you. Therefore, we want to let you in a secret nobody except Poppy knows.” Seeing that both of them were listening interestingly, he continued, “Minerva has been my wife now for 52 years, and our wedding day is April 1, 1930. Moreover, you, Harry, are related to us. As soon as you arrive in my office, tell my younger self that I have instructed you to tell him that, and he will certainly believe you.”

Severus and Harry remained quiet for a while, stunned. The professor was the first to recover and he decided, however, not to comment on these revelations. “All right,” Severus said and pulled three phials out of his robe pocket. “This is the bonding potion, Harry. We drink this in order to stay together until we arrive in the past. You know, it could be that I brewed the potion incorrectly and we arrive at a very different time. In that case, you will still arrive next to me. Of course I have tried the potion on rats, but I believe it is better to be on the safe side.” He let Harry drink half of the potion before he gulped down the rest of it. Then both of them took one of the remaining phials, said ‘good bye’ to Minerva and Albus and downed the potions.

The effects were immediate and horrible. Just in time, Severus managed to pull Harry into a fierce hug, but everything about them turned and turned and Harry felt himself getting sick. It seemed to last endlessly.

After a long time, the movements got slower and finally stopped, the horrible journey seeming to come to end However, when Harry carefully tried to open his eyes, the world started to turn again and he got sick all over himself. Totally embarrassed, he lay down, hoping that the world might stop turning. From very far away he could hear the voices of his father and Professor Dumbledore. They talked for a while, until Severus turned to Harry.

“Harry, try to open your eyes again,” he could hear his father say. He carefully tried to open his eyes again only to close them quickly.

“I can’t, Dad. Everything turns, and I’ll only get sick again,” he mumbled. Then he felt his head being held up a little and a cold Potions phial being pressed against his lips. He quickly swallowed the potion. He let out a relieved sigh as his stomach settled and he finally succeeded in opening his eyes. He sat up and threw a quick glance at the younger looking Headmaster. “Hello, Professor, I’m sorry for puking in your office,” he apologized.

“That’s all right, my boy. Sit down and rest for a while,” the Headmaster told him, his tone friendly. He then asked his house elf, Twinkle, to bring tea and biscuits for them.

Harry complied with the Headmaster’s wishes for him and Severus told the Headmaster everything about them, their plan, and the people it involved. When he asked for the date, they were told that it was in fact the 31st of July, 1973. However, it was six o’clock in the morning. Severus handed Albus his older self’s letter, and while the Headmaster was engrossed in his older self’s musings, the two time travellers slowly sipped their tea. Severus had shaken his head disbelievingly when he saw that Harry put four spoons of sugar in it. Normally Harry took two which was even too much for his findings. Finally, Albus had watched the memories in the Pensieve long enough and he emerged from the Pensieve deep in thoughts.

“All right, Severus and Harry. Oh, sorry, it’s Salazar and Harry, right? I have to try hard not to get you mixed up with your younger self. You are lucky, because the person I intended to give the Defence Against the Dark Arts position to, was going to come here tomorrow. As I still haven’t signed anything with this person, I can easily make you our new Defence teacher. Your quarters should already be ready, and I will ask Twinkle to add another room to your quarters for your son. I will Fire-call Minerva and Poppy now and ask them to come over here for a few minutes before breakfast.”

“Would it be possible to have a small Potions lab in my quarters, too, please? As you probably know, I am your Potions Master in the future, and as far as I remember of Professor Slughorn’s knowledge of advanced Potions I fear that I might need a place to brew Potions for ourselves and for the Hospital Wing. I would also like to teach my future self a few things, which might help you and Madam Pomfrey during the next years.”

“Of course, my boy. You will get your private lab.”

“Thank you very much, Headmaster,” Severus said, followed by a small echo coming from Harry.

Dumbledore went to the fireplace and made two calls before he called Twinkle and asked for the extra room and a Potions lab to be added to the Defence quarters.

A few minutes later, Minerva entered the office, shortly followed by Poppy. Albus introduced Severus by his alias, Salazar, and Harry, and Severus handed over the respective letters. Both women took their time to read the letters; Poppy’s letter seemed especially detailed and even contained several copies of parchments. When she was finished reading, she gave Harry a piercing glance, and Harry couldn’t prevent himself from blushing terribly. ‘Oh no,’ he groaned inwardly. ‘No more attention for me please.’

Suddenly, a thought shot through Harry’s head. ‘Here, in this time, I won’t be the Boy Who Lived; maybe it will be possible for me to just be myself without attracting anyone’s attention.’ He smiled happily at this thought.

The teachers talked for a few more minutes and they agreed that Minerva should try to contact Lily, Severus, James, and Remus and ask if they could come over to Hogwarts for a meeting in the afternoon.

“Tell them to Floo into my office, Minerva. I’ll open the Floo at two o’clock.”

“All right, Albus. However, do you think it is wise to tell them the truth about who they are?” Minerva asked sceptically.

“Professor Lupin, um… I mean Remus will know, because we have a letter for him from his older self,” Harry popped up in a small voice.

“Right, Harry, and then he will know, and I can imagine Professor Snape would need his younger self to know, at least in order to give him some advice, and we need their help, so we should tell them the truth, but maybe not from the beginning. Let’s try without telling them who you are and only tell that you came from the future. However, I will put a charm on them to prevent them from telling anyone about it,” Dumbledore promised firmly, and Minerva nodded contently.

Harry watched the two – now younger looking – teachers in awe. He had always thought that they behaved as if they knew each other very well, but that they already had been married for fifty years – or in this time it would be about thirty. ‘Wow,’ he thought. Suddenly a thought popped up in his head. ‘Wait,’ he thought, ‘there was something else Dumbledore told me, but what was it. I just can’t remember – I only know that there was something.’

Finally, Harry was pulled out of his musings when Dumbledore asked him in which house he was and told him at the same time that he would have to be sorted again after breakfast. However, before Harry could reply anything, Severus jumped into the conversation.

“My son is the first student in the History of Hogwarts who has been sorted into two houses, Gryffindor and Slytherin, and the Hat has been very insistent to not change this decision. However, would it be possible to have the Sorting after lunch? Harry’s condition is not very good, and he has had a long day so far. He is in dire need of a few hours of sleep. Would it be very rude if we retreated to our quarters and joined you again for lunch?”

“Of course not, Salazar. That’s no problem at all. I will take you to your quarters now, and we will meet you at lunchtime.”

Poppy turned to Severus. “Salazar,” she started to speak, laughed then and said, “I’m sorry, but I will have to get used to your new name soon enough. However, my older self gave me a note that I had to check up on Harry every evening. Therefore, I would like you to come to my office every day between dinner and curfew. As your quarters are very near the Hospital Wing, I don’t think it’ll be too uncomfortable.”

Harry looked at the Healer and gave her a confirming nod. She looked so young. And Professor McGonagall was so young, too. He couldn’t prevent himself from staring at the two women in awe.

-----

Their quarters were not very different from their quarters in the future. Harry went into his room, which was ready by the time they arrived, went to bed, and fell asleep immediately, not noticing that Severus carefully tucked him in, gave him a kiss on the forehead, and placed a charm on him in order to alert himself if Harry should wake up or have any problems. However, Harry didn’t even stir until Severus woke him up in time for lunch. Harry opened his eyes and stared at his father in awe.

“What’s wrong, Harry?” Severus asked immediately.

“Nothing really, Dad. It’s just… um… difficult to get used to… I mean to the fact that you’re my father.”

“That I am your father? Now, I have been kind of your father now for more than a month, haven’t I?”

Harry shook his head vehemently. “No, Dad, that’s completely different. All right, there were several times, even much earlier, for example at Christmas, when I thought ‘Oh, it must be like this to have a father,’ but to know that YOU are really MY father it is the best present I could ever get,” Harry was able to say in a slightly strange voice before he burst out in tears. “I’m so happy,” he still managed to get out, crying even more.

Severus pulled him in a slight embrace and looked into his son’s marvellous green eyes. “I am very happy, too, son,” he confirmed softly. “However, it is time to get up, clean yourself up and attend lunch,” he added firmly.

-----

Twenty minutes later, they found themselves in the Great Hall, being introduced to the other teachers.

“How interesting. You must be related to my student, Severus Snape!” Professor Slughorn said to Salazar.

“I do not know him. But I assume that he would be a distant cousin of mine,” Salazar replied curtly, before he added, “We come from a branch of the Snape family that used to live in the far east since my many times great grandfather, Benjamin Snape, has left England in the 16th century. I can imagine that the Snapes here have erased every bit of proof of the existence of our part of the family; however, I can assure you that we exist.”

Harry couldn’t hide a snort. He watched his father, utterly impressed. ‘How can he lie so easily?’ he thought. He couldn’t know that his father had never liked Slughorn and couldn’t care less that he was lying to the Professor.

Professor Sprout turned to Harry and asked friendly, “And how old are you, Harry?”

Harry threw a quick, helpless glance at his father, before he replied, “I am twelve, Professor.”

“And we are going to have his birthday party here, later today,” Minerva threw in. “The House elves are just working on a cake.”

“So you will be a second year student,” Professor Sprout addressed Harry once more, but was answered by Salazar.

“No, he actually was so ahead of his classmates when he was in first year that the teachers agreed to put him into second year immediately. Therefore, he will attend third years’ classes.” It was only a half lie. Albus had in fact wanted to do this to Harry. However, Minerva and he had protested vehemently.

“Do you like to read, Harry?” Professor Flitwick addressed Harry.

“Yes, I love to read, Professor,” Harry replied honestly, and his eyes started to twinkle happily.

‘Like Albus,’ Minerva thought and smiled at the boy.

“Then you will surely be sorted into Ravenclaw,” Professor Flitwick shouted happily, and Harry’s face fell abruptly.

‘Not again!’ he thought frantically. ‘We already had this discussion in the future.’

After lunch, they climbed up the stairs to the Headmaster’s Office. The Gargoyle opened on ‘Back to the Past’. Professor Dumbledore offered them a sweet in his usual ‘Lemon-drop-way’, and they both declined politely.

Harry sat down on a chair next to his father, while Professor McGonagall fetched the Sorting Hat from the shelf. When she put it on Harry’s head, the Hat straightened itself.

‘Oh no, it’s you again. I know that I’ve already seen you in the future. Don’t think I wouldn’t know that, and don’t think I will sort you differently because you have a different look. I told you before that I will not be fooled by anything. Therefore it’s still,’ the Hat paused and continued aloud.

‘SLYTHERIN AND GRYFFINDOR. DON’T LET ME SORT HIM AGAIN, HE WILL ALWAYS BE SORTED IN THESE TWO HOUSES I TELL YOU.’

Everyone looked in shock at the Hat, wondering if the Hat had gone insane.

Fawkes commented in his usual, frivolous way, only intended for Albus to hear of course, #This f… old, crazy know-it-all. Thinks he knows everything better than the rest of the world. If you ask me, it’s time to put him through a burning day and let some of his hatchlings do the work.#

While Albus ignored the phoenix completely and discussed Harry’s Sorting with his colleagues, Harry stared at the bird, trying hard to hide a giggle. Fawkes gave Harry a knowing nod, which left Harry thinking, ‘Does he know that I can understand him? Can he sense that I am a phoenix, too? But, except for my father, nobody knows about it here, and it might become handy at some time, so I shouldn’t let anyone know.’ However, he vowed he would transform and pay Fawkes a visit sometime during the next days, when he could be sure that Dumbledore wasn’t around.

Suddenly he had the feeling that someone was talking to him. He took his eyes off Fawkes and looked around. “Now, Harry,” Albus said amused, “We have just discussed the following. As you have only finished your first class except for Defence where you have taken the second years’ test, all teachers who are currently here will give you a few lessons during the remaining weeks of the holidays. Professor McGonagall and your father will work out a schedule for you, and I ask you to study according to this schedule until further notice.”

Seeing a hint of fright in Harry’s eyes, Professor McGonagall added calmingly, “However, from the letter my older self sent me, I have no doubt that you will exceed all our expectations. She told me that you are capable of sixth years’ Transfiguration, wandless magic and wish magic. However, she advised me to teach you easy spells with your wand in order to keep your overflowing magic at bay. Therefore, we will do this in our lessons, and,” she turned to Dumbledore, “you will teach him wandless magic, right Albus?”

“Of course I will do that, my dear,” the Headmaster confirmed.

-----

Suddenly the fireplace flared green, and a very young Severus Snape stepped out, looking around curiously.

“Good day, Professors,” he said politely.

Dumbledore greeted him, offered him a lemon drop, and introduced Salazar and Harry Snape as two very distant relatives from the Far East.

Severus eyed them suspiciously, although Harry threw him a big smile. He wanted so badly to talk to his future father, but he dare not start a conversation. What if the boy hated him? How would he react if he knew the truth? Dumbledore was going to tell everyone the truth shortly, wasn’t he?

Suddenly Harry felt his father’s hand on his arm and heard a calming voice say, “It’s all right, Harry. Severus, this is Harry, and he will be in the same year as you. He has just been sorted into two Houses, Slytherin and Gryffindor.”

“In two Houses?” Severus repeated astonished. “I didn’t know that was possible.”

“Nor did I at first,” Harry admitted truthfully. “As I don’t know anyone here, will you be so kind and help me, please?”

Severus gave him a short nod. “Yes, I shall do that.”

In the meantime, James and Remus had arrived, and finally, Lily stepped through the Floo. Harry couldn’t take his eyes off her. ‘My mum!’ he thought enthusiastically and couldn’t help a few tears running down his face. Noticing thankfully that his father squeezed his shoulder, he finally managed to get himself into grip before any of the newcomers could notice anything strange about him.

“Now, as everyone has arrived, let’s start,” Dumbledore began to speak. “But first, I will put a charm on you, which will hinder you from speaking to others about anything concerning the facts you will hear here today.” Seeing his students’ confused faces, he added, “This is just a precaution, and it is not because I don’t have confidence in you but because this matter is very important and extremely dangerous.”

He threw a glance at the four students and asked, “Do you all agree to this?”

“Yes,” the four replied unison, and Dumbledore waved his hand four times, before he nodded contently.

He threw a glance at Salazar, who successfully tried to suppress the emotions that had come up seeing the woman he loved and lost after so long of living without her. He gave Albus a short nod and – without telling who he was – explained briefly what happened during the last eighteen years. When he came to the point where Severus had separated from Lily, she burst into tears.

The younger Severus went over to where Lily was sitting, put an arm around her shoulders, and said, “Calm down, Lily. These people have come from the future to help us make things better, haven’t they? I won’t push you away this time, Lily, I promise!”

Lily threw him a hopeful glance and calmed down, so that Salazar could continue with the sad story. When he came to the point where Sirius had betrayed Lily and James, James burst out in anger and disappointment, which even froze completely at the point where Lily and James were killed.

Severus pulled Lily into a fierce hug and said, “It’s all right, Lily. We will prevent this from happening.” Turning to Salazar, he asked, “Is that why you came?”

Salazar nodded and told them that he got to know their son when he came to Hogwarts and told them about the condition the boy was in. He was very careful not to tell his son’s name and said finally, “That’s why I came to the past. I have been his Head of House for a year now, and my son, Harry, here is a good friend of your son, so I decided to bring him with me.”

In the meantime, Remus had read the letter from his older self and could only confirm everything Salazar had told them. James turned to Lily and the younger Severus and said, “I am very disappointed, Lily, because I have loved you from the first time I met you; however, I promise that I will help you. Maybe you can make me your son’s godfather.”

#What a sneaky Slytherin thinking. Why do people have such an interest in others’ hatchlings?# Fawkes commented instantly, and Harry burst out laughing.

The younger Severus glanced at Lily to confirm for her agreement and then eyed the boy, who had been his rival for two years now, and promised, “We will remember to do that.”

“I still cannot understand why Sirius betrayed us. I mean he is my best friend, and he hates the Dark side; that’s why he hates his family,” James voiced his desperate thoughts.

Salazar turned to James and very thoughtfully said, “Maybe it’s not true, I don’t know. As far as I know, he has never had a trial, because Professor Dumbledore confirmed that he was your Secret Keeper. However, if I think about it, I believe that I have seen Pettigrew at the Death Eater meetings. Can it be that he was your Secret Keeper? I am sorry, I am not aware of these details.”

“Thank you… um… What are we supposed to call you? Salazar? Professor?” James asked confused.

Everyone laughed and Salazar replied, “Here you may call me Salazar; however, in front of other students or teachers you have to call me Professor.”

“All right; what I was going to say is I think I will believe in your theory, Professor, um… Salazar, and trust Sirius. Although I can now understand why he is not here, which I was wondering about before,” James said pensively.

“All right. I suppose that you are all willing to assist Professor Snape and Harry. They will need every help they can get, especially as the first and most important task is to defeat Voldemort.”

He remained pensive for a moment, before he added, “My older self has told me about a prophecy, which is going to be told in a few years, directly before Harry’s birth, in fact, which will be today in seven years’ time. Content of this prophecy is that Harry has to be the one to vanquish Voldemort.”

Salazar interrupted the Headmaster and told them that because of Harry’s bad condition resulting from abuse and neglect at his relatives home, they had to find a way apart from a battle in order for Harry to be physically able to defeat the Dark Lord.

They agreed with the four students that they would meet at least twice a week in the Headmaster’s Office, but they would try to meet more often in the Snape quarters, according to their time tables when the school year started in a month’s time. For now, the four students would go home and ask their parents if they could stay at Hogwarts for the remainder of the holidays in order to participate in a summer study group with the approval of the Headmaster.

“But before you return home in order to talk to your parents and floo-call me later, I believe that a party is in order. Your friend Harry here has his birthday today, and a huge cake should be waiting for us in the Great Hall.”

Harry was just sitting in the Great Hall between his 13-year-old mother, who of course didn’t know that he was her son, and his father Salazar, happily devouring a huge piece of cake. Suddenly however, his scar exploded in pain, which was much worse than any pain he had experienced in his scar before. ‘Why? Voldemort can’t be here, now, can he?’ he thought frantically while he gripped his head with both hands.

Harry gripped his head and glanced at his father, who tried to steady him. Then the sight of his father faded away, and he found himself in a dark chamber, where he heard himself say, “My faithful servants, come. I have received a note from one of my faithful servants that the Minister of Magic will speak to the wizarding citizens in front of Gringotts tonight. Now, I want to show the Muggle loving wizarding world a spectacle. Let’s show them what wizards are capable of.” He sent a few spells at his Death Eaters, and Harry cried in agony.

In the meantime, Salazar had taken Harry up into his arms, and Minerva had conjured a soft mattress, so that Salazar could put his son down on it. Now everyone was watching in horror as Harry thrashed around, his scar bleeding.

Salazar tried to wake him up. “Harry, wake up. What’s wrong?”

Harry opened an eye and saw his father towering over him. He groaned and mumbled, “Get Dumbledore. Voldemort’s going to attack Diagon Alley tonight.” He just managed to add, “I’m going to be sick.”

Minerva quickly transfigured a fork into a bucket, before Harry turned on his side and threw up into the bucket.

“Can you tell me exactly what happened, Harry?” Harry could hear Dumbledore’s voice, which was interrupted by his wife’s.

“His scar is bleeding and he is burning up, Albus. We should take him to the Hospital Wing.”

“No, I must tell you something. It’s important,” Harry requested urgently. “I don’t know how it happened, but I had a vision. Voldemort is going to attack Diagon Alley tonight when the Minister of Magic will be speaking in front of Gringotts. You must do something about it!”

The professors looked unbelievingly at Harry. McGonagall whispered to Dumbledore, “He seems to have a fever. Maybe he is hallucinating?”

Now Salazar jumped into the conversation. “No! I believe what he says is true. He got his scar when the Dark Lord tried to kill him at the age of one. Since then he seems to have been connected to Voldemort with this scar. A few months ago, we had a professor at Hogwarts who was housing the Dark Lord’s mind, and Harry’s scar often hurt while he was in his company. However, he has – of course – no experience concerning this connection to a real version of the Dark Lord. Maybe he can really look into his mind. Maybe it was just a strange dream. However, I believe it would be wise to follow his advice and alert the Aurors.”

“As unbelievable as it is, Minerva, I deem Harry as very trustworthy and believe what he says. Therefore, I will contact the Aurors and some of our friends to meet me in Diagon Alley in the evening. Please guard the school for me tonight.”

“Dad,” Harry croaked, “please, don’t let them take me to the Hospital Wing. Take me to our quarters, please.”

“All right,” Salazar agreed and turned to his colleagues. “I will take Harry to his own room. You are free to come and see him whenever you need to talk to him, and if necessary, I will call Poppy to have a look at him. But I think he will be all right.” He helped Harry to get up and walk to their quarters, not minding that his younger self went with them and steadied Harry on the other side. Back in Harry’s room, Salazar did a quick check on Harry, determined that he needed a Pain Relieving Potion and a Fever Reducer, and Accio-ed both potions out of his still not unpacked travel bag.

Harry gulped down both potions and felt better immediately. He thanked his father and chatted a few minutes with the thirteen-year-old Severus, before he fell into a deep sleep. It had been a very long day.

Severus silently left Harry’s room and joined Salazar in the sitting room, talking to him for a while. “Thank you, Salazar,” he said suddenly, “for doing this for Lily, for me, and for our son, of course.”

“You are very welcome, Severus,” Salazar replied. “However I will not be able to do it without your help.”

“May I ask you one question?” Severus asked hesitantly and continued when Salazar gave him an encouraging nod. “Will my son’s name be Harry?”

Salazar hesitated. He could easily come up with a lie and make sure that Severus would no longer have these suspicions – on the other hand, he wanted Severus to know that he was his younger self. He made up his mind and replied, “I know that you are not a dunderhead. However, you have to keep this for yourself.”

“So you are me?!” Severus stared at his older self, who have him a short nod, the edges of his mouth slightly moving upwards.

-----

Later in the evening, Minerva and Poppy knocked at Salazar’s door and were invited for tea. They talked for a few hours, until a spell Salazar had put on Harry alerted him that the boy was awake.

When he entered his son’s room, however, Harry told him, “It’s all right, Dad. Voldemort was just angry that his plan failed, nothing else.” He turned around and was asleep again.

Lily, Severus, James and Remus had gotten the permission from their parents to stay at Hogwarts and returned in the morning. They didn’t want to use the Houses during the summer holidays because of the distances within the castle, as Severus would have to stay in Slytherin and the other three in Gryffindor, while Harry wanted to remain in his father’s quarters. Therefore, Albus provided an apartment for the four students just next to the Snape quarters. They had a common room, which led to four small rooms, each with a tiny bathroom.

After lunch, the group met for the first time in the Headmaster’s Office. Salazar explained to them as much as he knew about Voldemort and his activities and told them once more that the problem was to find a way to vanquish him in the near future without coming to war. They discussed several topics in this context, and finally each of them was told to search the library for some kind of method they could use to reach their goal.

During the next weeks, Harry had lessons in the morning, although all his teachers seemed to acknowledge that his knowledge and his abilities were far beyond third class level. The only class where he was behind was Herbology, but Professor Sprout said she didn’t doubt that he would be able to catch up before the end of the holidays. During this time, the other students did their summer homework or used the library for their research. In the afternoon, the group used to meet in the Snape quarters to discuss their ideas and research.

“Where is Voldemort normally? Dad, do you know?” Harry asked once in their meeting.

“Most times he lives at Riddle Manor, as far as I know,” Salazar replied. “Why do you ask? Do you have an idea?”

“Um… no. Not really. I mean… I can’t just go there and kill him. So maybe, first of all, we have to think of a way to lure him away from there. If we wait for him to come to Hogwarts, it will be a battle, and unfortunately, I’ll lose. Therefore, we have to get him at a time when he doesn’t expect it at all. Right?” Everyone nodded, and Harry continued, “So, maybe first of all we think about magical methods of transportation. What do we have? The Floo Network, but that won’t work of course. What else?”

“Portkeys,” James said.

“Apparating,” Severus added.

“Flashing, but I can only flash people together with myself of course,” Harry went on.

“Flashing?” Lily asked. “What’s that?”

Harry laughed and transformed into Breeze. Ignoring the “Aah’s” and “Oh’s” of the others, he flashed to the other side of the room, before he transformed back.

“That was wicked,” James said, staring at him in awe. “How did you do that?”

Harry remained quiet. Why did he do that? He didn’t want anyone to know now, did he? Suddenly he noticed that everyone was watching him expectantly.

“Oh, sorry. I’m an Animagus,” he explained casually.

“Wow,” James said. “Can you teach us how to become one?”

Salazar sneered. “As soon as we have solved the problem at hand, we can teach you. However, you may not talk to anyone about it. Nobody is supposed to know that Harry is an Animagus at all.”

“All right, sorry,” Harry resumed speaking. “What else do we have as a magical transport method? Ah, Potions we have,” he remembered.

“A potion would be the best, of course,” Salazar said. “However, how do you want to get him to drink a potion? A Portkey would be easier. Severus has told me that his uncle is urging him to join him for the meetings with the Dark Lord. So he could – without taking the Dark Mark of course – join his uncle for a meeting and just toss a Portkey at him. That wouldn’t be a problem.”

“And how would he get out? I mean Severus?” Harry asked.

“He would – of course – take his own Portkey with him, son.”

“Can we be sure that the use of a Portkey will work at any time?” James asked. “I mean you can put up Apparition Wards or something. Can you put up something to prevent the use of a Portkey?”

“As far as I know, no. I have never heard nor experienced such a thing, and I am sure that Voldemort only applies Apparition Wards,” Salazar answered firmly.

They discussed the pros and cons of several magical transportation methods until dinnertime, and so far the only half-way possible way seemed to be a Portkey delivered by Severus. However, they still would have to do a lot of research.

-----

One day, Harry noticed that Remus was very nervous and not his usual self. Therefore, he talked to his father during the hour after lunch, which they had declared as free period for everyone, and asked, “Dad, do you know when the full moon is and what Remus is going to do during the night of the full moon?”

Salazar went over to his office, consulted a calendar, and stated, “The full moon will be the day after tomorrow, so it’s two nights away. I remember that he always went to the Shrieking Shack and spent the night there.”

“Dad, when I am in my phoenix form, he cannot harm me, right?”

Salazar immediately snapped at his son. “Absolutely not; you will not go near the werewolf!” He let out a deep sigh. “You would be quite safe because you can fly. However, you wouldn’t be able to communicate and I don’t think it would be a pleasure for you. Moreover, if your Animagus form failed for any reason and you transformed back, it would be deadly.”

“All right, Dad, I will not join him. However, I’ll talk to him and ask him to share his secret with the others. I will tell him that I know. I’ll be back soon,” he said and left their quarters only to enter the next door and knock at Remus’ door.

“Hello, Remus. May I come in or would you like to come over to our quarters? I would like to speak with you for a few minutes,” Harry said, smiling at his friend.

Remus invited him in immediately. “Now, Remus, please let me talk first and don’t interrupt me and don’t be angry at me, ‘cause I only want to help you. I know that you are a werewolf, and of course, I don’t mind at all.” He noticed that Remus’ face had taken a shocked expression at first but now relaxed a little.

“Anyway, I think you shouldn’t keep this for you, you should tell Lily, James, and Severus. They wouldn’t mind either. They wouldn’t tell anyone, and it will be much easier for you when everyone knows. We can help you, you know. For example, as I am a phoenix, I can flash you into the Shrieking Shack before you transform, and I can even spend some time with you. Maybe the others will also be willing to become Animagi in order to spend these nights with you.”

“Do you really think so?” Remus asked anxiously.

“Yes, Remus. I think so,” Harry confirmed honestly.

“Does your father know?”

Harry nodded affirmatively. “Yes, Remus, that’s why I know. But we won’t tell anyone else.”

During their afternoon meeting, Remus told the others about him being a werewolf. Everyone took this information very well and promised not only to keep quiet about it but also to help Remus whenever possible.

On their way down to the Great Hall for dinner, Remus whispered to Harry, “Thank you very much for pushing me into talking. Otherwise, I would never have told them. I’m very relieved and happy now.”

-----

One day, James had an idea. “I think we are so good students, studying and researching and planning all day. So what about having some fun in the evenings? We could go and explore the castle. I’m sure there must be parts of the castle that nobody knows. And in the worst case, if we got lost, Harry could just flash us back, couldn’t you, Harry?”

“I don’t know if I’m able to flash four people at the same time, but maybe we should try that out sometime!”

“Let’s try it out now,” James urged Harry. “We have to go down to dinner anyway.”

Harry sighed. “I don’t think we should try it on our way to dinner. If something happens and we have problems, they will know of it immediately.”

“Yes, Harry, I think you’re right,” Lily agreed immediately. “We can try it on the way back.”

“All right,” James said. “And then we can go and explore the castle. Are you all in?” he asked the others.

Remus nodded his acceptance, before Severus reluctantly agreed as well. Harry thought for a moment and said, “I want to come. However, I have to go by the Hospital Wing every evening. It only takes five minutes, but I cannot skip it.”

“Then we will accompany you on our way, Harry. That’s no problem,” Lily said immediately, and Harry finally agreed, too.

After dinner, Harry flashed his four friends from the Entrance Hall up to his friends’ common room. He managed to bring his friends into their room safely. However, when he transformed back, he noticed that he was tired beyond measure – this must have taken a lot of magic, so that he shouldn’t do this too often. He explained to his friends that he wouldn’t go on any walk tonight but would head into his own room and just go to bed.

-----

Salazar was busily brewing potions and didn’t notice that his son returned to their quarters and retreated to his own room. When he glanced at his watch and saw that it was thirty minutes before curfew, he sighed and hesitantly cleaned up the place in order to sit in front of the fireplace and read something until Harry returned. However, curfew came and went and Harry didn’t show up. For a moment, he considered visiting the students next door to see if Harry was there but dismissed the thought. Harry was very careful; he would know better than to roam the halls alone.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door and Salazar nearly jumped to open it. Outside was Madam Pomfrey, throwing him a disapproving look.

“Did something happen to my son, Poppy?” he asked, quickly assessing in his head in what kind of trouble Harry could have brought himself now.

The Healer shook her head and replied sharply, “Not that I heard of. However, he did not show up for his check-up tonight, so I thought I would come and look after him.”

Salazar, now fearing the worst, knocked at the next door, which was opened soon by Severus. “Where is my son?” he asked impatiently, scowling at the student as he was too pre-occupied to wonder if his scowl would even work on his younger self.

Severus frowned and answered, “He was very tired and went to bed. But that was hours ago.” He shut the door and ran after Salazar who had turned on his heals rushing into his son’s room, followed by Pomfrey.

There he was; Harry was fast asleep. Poppy quickly checked on the boy, shook her head and asked sharply, “Mr. Snape, what have you been doing tonight? Why was he so tired? He has depleted his magic to a degree of 60 percent, which I cannot approve at all.”

“Oh, I am sorry; we did not do anything really. We wanted to see if he was capable of flashing all four of us at the same time and…”

“…and you tried that out?” Salazar interrupted his younger self impatiently.

“I am sorry, Professor,” Severus replied, looking straight at his older self.

‘No, the boy is definitely not afraid of me,’ Salazar assessed and turned to Poppy. “How long should he refrain from doing magic?”

Poppy sighed. “For a few days at least; let’s say, until further notice. I will tell him when he may use magic again. His levels should be back to 90 percent. He may attend theoretical lessons. I will inform the other teachers accordingly.”

“All right, Poppy. Thank you. If you could wait a moment, please. I have just made a batch of potions for you.” Seeing her astonished look, he elaborated, “It is a newer version of the Pepper-up Potion, which I have invented ten years into the future. Severus here already knows that he is my younger self, and I am going to teach him several potions so that he can provide them for you when I return to the future.”

Poppy followed him into his lab and let out a deep sigh. “Then I can just hope that Albus will hire Severus as soon as he has taken his NEWTs – I’m really looking forward to seeing Professor Slughorn retiring.”

-----

The remaining days of the holidays passed very quickly. Salazar had decided that Harry shouldn’t have any lessons during the last week of the holidays, but that he should use the time to rest and to enjoy the time together with his friends. He hadn’t forgotten that he had promised Harry a broom for his birthday, which he hadn’t bought him yet. Professor McGonagall had told Salazar that her older self had informed her about Harry’s Quidditch activities. She had even promised to suggest him as new Seeker for Gryffindor to her Quidditch captain as soon as the students arrived back from the holidays.

As Harry also needed his books for the new school year Salazar decided to take him to Diagon Alley on Saturday morning, which was the last day before the students would return to Hogwarts. He knew that his friends would have liked to go as well, but his father had told him before that they would go alone, because otherwise they’d have to get the approval of their parents first. And with Voldemort as active as he was recently, it would be safer for the two Snapes to go alone.

First they went to get Harry’s Potion ingredients; afterwards they took some time in the Quidditch shop, because Harry couldn’t decide if he wanted a new Nimbus 170 or a used model of a Cleansweep 7, which was a tick newer than the Nimbus. Finally, he decided on relying on his father, who – from his own experiences in the past – recommended the Nimbus 170.

Flourish & Blotts was their last stop. As Snape knew how hard it would be to lure Harry out of the book store, he had insisted on finishing all other business first and then enter Harry’s favourite store.

Harry had just gathered his school books, while his father was engrossed in the Potions section, when suddenly several shouts could be heard from the street. “Death Eaters!”

Instantly panic broke out, even inside the shop. Salazar rushed over to Harry and gripped his arm in order to apparate them away immediately, before he mumbled, “Anti Apparition wards! S…!” What should they do? He would, of course, like to fight the Death Eaters to repay them for all the evil they’ve done, but his son couldn’t fight, and he surely had not come to the past in order to lose his son.

Harry quickly said, “Dad, grip my tail feathers” and transformed into Breeze. His father obliged, and in a flash of a whirlwind, they were gone. An instant later, they reappeared in the sitting room of their quarters.

“Harry, are you all right?” Salazar asked worriedly, as his son had never flashed over such a distance, especially not with a passenger.

Harry slowly transformed back and sat down on the sofa. “Yes, Dad, I’m all right,” he said wearily, his limbs still shaking from the shock.

Salazar Accio-ed a Calming Draught and handed it to Harry, before he made a Floo-call to the Headmaster and told him about the Death Eater attack at Diagon Alley. He excused himself immediately after as he didn’t want to leave Harry alone at the moment.

When Harry told his friends about the events, Lily nearly cried. “Oh my, Harry, please be more careful! I don’t want you to give up your life, in order to save mine. However, you managed really well,” she admitted.

“Yes, Harry,” James agreed. “And if you’re able to flash your father over such a distance, you should be able to flash at least two of us within Hogwarts.”

“Hmm, probably,” Harry said pensively, “however, Dad has forbidden me to flash anyone except when it’s an emergency.”

James snorted. “Do you know what, Harry? I don’t know if it’s because you came from the future or some other reason, but I think everyone is very overprotective of you.”

Severus sneered. “Salazar is Harry’s father, and since Harry doesn’t have a mother, he is raising him by himself. Of course he is protective, especially as Harry’s health is not good. Being a parent means to be protective.”

“And how would you know that?” James asked, ignoring the upset looks his friends threw him.

“Severus is right, I think. I’m only Harry’s friend, but I can’t help feeling as protective of him as if he was brother. I feel like I should take care of him, especially since he doesn’t have a mum,” Lily said, smiling fondly at the boy she didn’t know was her son.

“Anyway,” Harry said quickly, “in case we were stuck somewhere in the castle, I would either flash four times to get you all back or I would try to flash two of you at the same time. So, are we going to do something tonight? We still have two hours until curfew.” Harry efficiently changed the topic.

-----

Early on Sunday morning when it was nearly time to get up anyway, a spell Salazar had put on Harry notified him that his son was in trouble. When he rushed over to the boy’s room, he saw a scene similar to one he had witnessed a few weeks ago. Harry was obviously having another vision.

Harry found himself in the room he had seen before, where he was speaking to his followers in their Death Eater attire. “You know that the train leaves Kings Cross at 11 a.m. It should be on the bridge between 1:45 p.m. and 1:48 p.m. Avery, you’ll be on guard at Frogs’ hill and alert Malfoy as soon as you can see the train. Malfoy, you give notice to Crabbe and Goyle. All others hide on the bridge and attack as soon as the train arrives. Avery and Crabbe, you take the driver. Afterwards, you search for your faithful sons and let them show you who the Mudblood students are. Keep them with the luggage; I shall arrive at 2 p.m. Do not disappoint me. We shall show the Muggle-loving old fool who he has to deal with today.”

Harry slowly opened his eyes and, seeing a blurred figure at his bedside, croaked, “Tell Dumbledore he’s going to attack the Hogwarts Express. They have to stop the students from boarding.”

Snape didn’t waste a minute and ran over to the Floo to alert the Headmaster, who stepped over into the Snape quarters a minute later.

“Harry, do you know what a Pensieve is? Do you think you could put this memory into a Pensieve?” Dumbledore asked Harry, who had just finished vomiting into a bucket his father had conjured right in time.

“Yes, I know what a Pensieve is, and yes, I can put the memory in,” he replied a little annoyed. ‘Dumbledore should be on his way to warn the parents, before it is too late, and not wasting time with me,’ he thought, however pointed to the shelf, where his own Pensieve stood, which the future Albus had given him for his birthday.

His father fetched the Pensieve and watched the memory together with the Headmaster. When they emerged from the memory, he said, “We should not alert all parents via Floo-call or owl, because we cannot let the Death Eaters know that we are conscious of their plan. Instead we should let the students board the train normally. Several members of the staff, as well as a few Aurors, should be on board, at least two for each carriage, each of them equipped with two Portkeys. They can gather the students in their carriage as soon as the train has left the station and activate the Portkeys.”

“And for the luggage, we will send the house elves as soon as the train is out of sight of the platform,” Dumbledore added contently. “All right, Severus – sorry, Salazar – let us have a staff meeting directly after breakfast. We tell the others the news and decide who will accompany the train. I will alert the Aurors and a few friends of mine and ask them to join us for our staff meeting.”

“Dad?” Harry timidly interrupted their conversation. “Could you stay here with me? I still don’t feel well, and when Voldemort gets to know that his plan failed, he will be so angry that I’ll be having another vision – as it was the last time.” ‘Plus I don’t want to lose my Dad, whom it took me twelve years to find,’ Harry thought frantically.

“All right, my boy.” Albus turned to Harry. “Your father will stay with you. He should attend the staff meeting, however. Would you mind if I showed your memory at the staff meeting?”

Harry shook his head and winced at the pain. His father Accio-ed two potions from his lab and helped his son to sit up and drink the potions, which worked immediately. Now feeling better, Harry insisted on getting up and joining the others for breakfast – a decision he would soon regret.

While everyone was eating breakfast, Albus recounted what he had seen in the Pensieve, interrupted by many questions and comments of the teachers. Finally he said, “I have alerted the Aurors and a few friends, for example the Potters and the Longbottoms. Everyone will be here in half an hour. Therefore, I would like all teachers to remain here after breakfast.”

Then he turned to Harry and said, “Harry, my boy, I’m sorry, but the Aurors have requested to meet you as well, so that they can ask you a few questions.”

Harry’s face had turned white hearing this announcement. Very hesitantly, he asked, “What are they going to ask, sir? I cannot tell them anymore than I told you.”

Salazar turned to the Headmaster. “It is up to my son whether he will comply with the request of the Aurors. However, I shall not allow anyone to use Veritaserum on my son. Just to let you know of the conditions under which they may question Harry in case he agrees at all.”

Harry threw his father a grateful glance. As annoyed as he was, he didn’t want to anger Professor Dumbledore and decided to attend the meeting. The Aurors asked many questions, and Harry tried to answer them as well as he could without letting them know who he was and where he came from.

Finally, Professor McGonagall said, “I think that’s enough. Leave the boy in peace. Thanks to him we can do something to save our students, and that should be the topic of this meeting. If you are not willing to help with this, you should leave our meeting now, so that we can concentrate on important matters.”

Harry sat back, very relieved, and smiled thankfully at his Head of House, still admiring how young she looked in this time. Then his gaze wandered over to the Potters. Until a month ago, he would have believed them to be his grandparents. How excited would he be now if that was the truth! For the rest of the meeting, he was so wrapped up in thoughts that he didn’t notice when the meeting was finished and was startled when his father suddenly called his name.

-----

Everything went according to plan, and at 11:30 a.m. all students and teachers arrived safely at the Entrance Hall via Portkey. After a few minutes of confused chattering among the group, everyone quieted when the Headmaster’s voice could be heard.

“My dear students, welcome to Hogwarts, First Years, and welcome back, older students. As you have noticed, we have pulled you off the Hogwarts Express. This happened for the first time as far as I can remember and – of course – for a good reason. We had notice that Voldemort and his Death Eaters were going to attack the train. Therefore, we had to take this extraordinary measure.”

He looked around at the students, whose faces had turned into a shocked expression and continued, “Don’t worry; as long as you are here at Hogwarts, nothing will happen to you. We have decided to go forward with our Welcoming Feast and the Sorting as previously planned, but just a bit earlier. Now, I want our older students to sit down at your House tables and the younger students to wait for a minute until our Sorting Hat is ready to begin.”

At 1:30 p.m. the feast was still on its way, when Harry decided to head for his own room. It would be thirty minutes at the most until Voldemort knew that his plan failed, and Harry didn’t want everyone in the Great Hall to witness him having a vision. He whispered to Lily, who was sitting next to him, “Don’t worry. I’m just going to my own room,” and left the Hall, not noticing that several pairs of eyes were watching him worriedly from the Head table.

Severus, however, noticed and hurried after his ‘supposed to be cousin’, knowing that his older self wouldn’t be able to leave the Head table at this time. The two boys headed straight to Harry’s room and sat down on Harry’s bed.

“You know, you didn’t have to do that,” Harry said, feeling a little uncomfortable that his friend had left the feast on his behalf.

“No problem, Harry. As my older self is too busy to look after you at the moment, I can very well keep you company for a while, can’t I?”

It took Harry a minute to really comprehend what Severus had said. His older self? Did that mean he knew? Then he would also know that he was his son. “You… wait! What? You know? Why? Did he tell you?”

“No, of course not,” Severus said, rolling his eyes. “But as he told me I am not a dunderhead.”

“Oh, yes,” Harry said laughing. “That’s about the biggest compliment you will ever hear from him… Dad.”

Severus gave him a small smile. “Don’t let anyone hear that, Harry. Even Lily doesn’t seem to know yet.”

At this moment, there was a knock at the Entrance door to their quarters. When Harry quickly went to open the door, Lily came in and threw him a worried glance. “Ah, Severus, good. I’m glad you’re here. Are you all right, Harry?”

“Nothing has happened so far. But it will be a matter of minutes, so I’d prefer to return to my room.” Harry ushered his friends into his room, made them sit down on the two chairs in front of his desk, sat on his bed and conjured a bucket. Maybe he would need it.

“Wait, Harry. What potions does he give you normally when it happens?” Severus suddenly asked.

“Pain Reliever and Fever Reducer,” Harry answered. By the time Severus had rushed over to his future self’s potions lab to get the potions, Harry’s vision had already begun to fail. Harry just managed to mumble, “It starts,” before he found himself in the room with the stone floor.

Voldemort was furious. Harry felt as though he himself was very angry. He was surrounded by five Death Eaters. “My most faithful servants of my inner circle, the time has come to question if you are really as faithful as I always believe. How could the Aurors or the Muggle-loving old fool have known about our plans to free Hogwarts from the Muggle-borns? I only can imagine one reason – we must have a spy in our midst!”

The Death Eaters fell to their knees. One of them, whom Harry could not recognize because he was wearing a hood, spoke up, “My Lord, I do not know how anyone could know about your plans, but I cannot imagine a spy here in your inner circle. Maybe one of the others have heard anything about it and warned the school or the Aurors.”

“Impossible, Malfoy. Nobody was here this morning, and I put my Anti-Apparition wards up, so nobody could get in or out while we were talking.” He looked straight into Malfoy’s eyes, and suddenly strange scenes played out in front of Harry’s eyes.

Scenes of Death Eater attacks flew by so quickly that Harry was hardly able to grasp what was happening. Suddenly the Hogwarts Express came into view and he could see Platform 9 ¾, where the students were just boarding the train.

The scene changed and the Hogwarts Express came to a halt on a high bridge. Two Death Eaters jumped onto the front part of the train where the driver should have been. One of them returned seconds later and shouted, “The driver is gone.” The other one came back seconds later from one of the carriages and said, “Nobody is on the train. They must have known.”

Malfoy apparated back to Voldemort.

At this point, the Legilimency spell ended. Voldemort asked each of the four others if they had an idea how this could happen, but nobody could give him a reasonable explanation. So he angrily proceeded to punish his followers immensely, ignoring their painful cries and apologies, while they were wriggling along the floor. “Sorry is not enough! I expect better from all of you. I am very disappointed. You are dismissed.”

Harry’s mind slowly turned back to awareness. Before he was even able to open his eyes, he knew that he was going to be sick and turned to the side, where, just in time, Lily managed to arrange the bucket under his face. After vomiting heavily, he lay back, slowly getting aware of the fact that someone was carefully wiping his face with a soft, cool cloth. He lazily opened his eyes and saw his mother sitting on the edge of his bed. “Thank you, Mum,” he mumbled and closed his eyes again. ‘Oh no,’ a thought popped up in his head then, ‘I’m not allowed to call her that’.

“Harry!”

He heard a voice call him from far away. It was his father’s voice. Suddenly he felt a cold phial pressed against his lips and he quickly swallowed it down. After gulping down the second phial as well, he felt better and opened his eyes. Both his parents were now sitting next to him.

“Thank you, Lily, Severus,” he mumbled tiredly. He still didn’t feel good; in fact, it was much worse than it had been the other times. “I still don’t feel well, I’m afraid,” he murmured and closed his eyes again.

“Lily, can you go and get his father, please,” Harry heard Severus say, and a few minutes later, the voices of Madam Pomfrey and the older version of his father penetrated to his ear. “He appears to be suffering from the after effects of the Cruciatus Curse,” he could hear Poppy say, followed by a multiple gasp.

He opened his eyes once more and said hoarsely, “He punished the Death Eaters with this curse and it felt horrible.”

“You could feel the curse he did on his followers?” his father asked horrified, and Harry gave him a short nod.

“When I had the vision, I could not only see and hear what Voldemort and his Death Eaters say, but I could feel his emotions and felt every curse he placed on someone. I even could see into Malfoy’s mind when he did a Legilimency spell on him.”

“Severus, would you be willing to help me brew the Anti-Cruciatus-Potion, please? If you helped me, it would only take us an hour to brew. Lily, would you stay with Harry until we get back?”

Lily nodded. “Of course.”

“I don’t know this potion, Salazar, but of course, I’ll help,” Severus said, glancing helplessly at his older self.

“That’s all right. You cannot know because I only invented it a few years ago. Poppy, I think Harry will be all right when I give him the potion.”

Pomfrey nodded and left the room, muttering to herself about professors who knew everything better than her.

When Severus and his older self had retreated to the Potions lab, Lily turned back to Harry. “Harry, do you want to drink something? Or can I get you anything else?”

Harry gave his mother a tired smile. “Thank you, Lily. I would like a glass of water, please.”

Lily went into the kitchen and came back with two glasses and a pitcher of water. She helped Harry to sit up, handed him a glass and asked hesitantly, “Harry, may I ask you something?

“Of course you may,” Harry answered immediately.

“Do you remember what you called me earlier, when you woke up?” Lily asked and Harry groaned inwardly.

Harry sighed. ‘What was he supposed to say now? He had really screwed up this time by calling Lily ‘Mum’, hadn’t he?’ “Sorry, I…” he started to explain, feverishly thinking of a half-way reasonable explanation when Lily interrupted him.

“I thought so anyway. I can’t explain properly, but I felt so close to you that somehow I knew that you are my child,” Lily told him and added, “And I must say that I’m very proud that I’ll have you as a son in the future, and I love you very much.” She leaned over and pulled Harry into a slight hug, while Harry feverishly tried not to flinch away. He finally relaxed, leaned into the embrace and hugged his mother back – for the first time since he could remember. They intimately talked until Salazar and Severus arrived with their freshly brewed potion.

“Here, Harry, drink this. You will, however, need another dose in about six hours,” Salazar said, holding a phial to Harry’s lips. Noticing that Harry’s limbs were not shaking as much as before, Salazar gave his son a contented nod and quickly waved his wand over him to check on him. “You seem to be better now; nevertheless, try to sleep for a while.”

Harry obediently closed his eyes, and Lily and Severus silently followed Salazar into the Sitting room. “Salazar, do you think it will be all right for him to stay in Slytherin during the nights?” Severus asked worriedly.

“No, I do not think it will be all right. Seeing his condition, I am inclined to keep him here in our quarters. Maybe he can spend the evening – or at least some time every day – in the Common Room, and he should change tables between Gryffindor and Slytherin at meal times, but it would be much too dangerous for him to have a vision while being in Slytherin with all the Death Eater children.”

“Have you already told him that?” Lily asked cautiously.

“No.” Salazar sighed. “We will have to discuss this when he wakes up. I did not imagine that his visions would be so bad; otherwise we would have spoken about it before.”

When he was told, Harry didn’t take this decision very well but it was not as if he couldn’t understand it. The Death Eater children really couldn’t know about his visions. The small advantage they had over Voldemort with the mind connection would be gone if one of them sent world to their parents. He could, of course, stay in Gryffindor, but if his visions continued to happen as often as they did recently, he would feel safer here with his father. If he stayed in the dormitory, everyone would just make a fuss over him and not be able to help anyway.

He thought about the whole thing and finally, he decided to just spend the evenings with his friends. As he would probably only stay for a year, it wasn’t important for him to get close to the whole Slytherin House or to the whole Gryffindor House. He would meet the students of his year in class anyway, so it should just be all right to spend the evenings with his friends.

When Lily, Severus, James and Remus came to visit him after dinner, they agreed on his suggestion to meet at the Snape quarters every evening in order to do their research and homework together. On Saturdays and Sundays they would go and explore the castle during the evening hours.

-----

Lessons were not so different from those in the future. So far, Harry hadn’t had any problems with classes nor with his classmates, but that changed on the Sunday two weeks into the term. The five friends had agreed to meet directly after lunch in Harry’s room, so Harry had a few hours left to spend on his own. He considered visiting one of the common rooms, but his father told him Poppy had given him orders to take Harry out so that he would get some fresh air. However, when they were half way around the lake, their walk was interrupted by a white phoenix Patronus that told Salazar he was expected in the Headmaster’s Office immediately.

“Harry, I don’t like leaving you along like this,” Salazar said worriedly.

“I’ll be fine, Dad, really. Look, I’m going to sit here, near the Entrance Door,” Harry replied and sat down to read his book, hoping his father would return soon.

However, a few minutes later, Sirius and Peter came out of the Entrance Doors and saw Harry sitting there on his own. For the whole two weeks since the beginning of term, Sirius and Peter had been more than jealous of Harry. First of all, he was the son of a teacher and had the privilege of having his own room in the castle. Secondly, he had managed to steal Sirius and Peter’s best friends, James and Remus. The two boys seemed to be spending much more time with Harry, Lily and the Slytherin Snivellus than with them, and this enraged the two boys immensely.

Harry, who was still engrossed in his book, was oblivious to the happenings, even as Sirius pointed his wand at Harry, said an incantation, and suddenly Harry hovered in the air upside down. After a few minutes, Harry was on the verge of crying. What had they done to him? He could hardly breathe anymore, and he really didn’t know how to help himself. The idea of doing wish magic didn’t even come to his mind, which was fully concentrating on trying to breathe. Just when he thought he was going to suffocate, Severus came by, looking for Harry, and cancelled Sirius’ spell before he pointed his wand at the two culprits, sending a very strong Expelliarmus spell at them, so that they both landed in the lake.

When Severus rushed over to Harry, seeing that he could hardly breathe, he said, “Let’s take you to the Hospital Wing, Harry. Are you hurt?”

“No,” Harry moaned, “I’m fine… just can’t breathe… need my teddy,” and fingered for his robe’s pocket.

Finally, Severus helped him to find the teddy and held the inhaler out for him until Harry’s breathing evened a little. Then he suggested, “I don’t know what you think, but I want them to be punished so that they never, ever want to do such a stunt again. I will take you to the Headmaster or to Professor McGonagall; which do you prefer?”

Harry protested, saying that he just wanted to return to his quarters; however, Severus pulled him to Minerva’s office, where he told the story, while Harry still had to concentrate on his breathing.

“Is that true?” the professor finally asked Harry.

“Yes, Professor. I just thought I was going to die when Severus arrived and cancelled the spell,” Harry admitted in a small voice.

McGonagall was so angry that she sent a house elf to fetch the two boys immediately, shouted at them for five minutes about people going to Azkaban because of killing others by a prank, and finally told them they were suspended for a week and would go home tonight.

“Please, Professor, that’s too hard. Don’t send them home please. I don’t think they intended to kill me,” Harry said timidly. “Couldn’t you just take points from them and tell them not to do it again?”

Minerva thought for a moment, until she replied, “All right. You can thank Mr. Snape for not being suspended. You will serve detention for two months. Come to see Mr. Filch every evening after dinner, and he will tell you where you will serve your detention. And 50 points each from Gryffindor. Moreover, if you ever do something like this again, you will be expelled from Hogwarts.”

-----

A few days later, Harry had an idea. He spent his lessons thinking about it and was lucky not to get into trouble because of his inattentiveness. When he was sitting together with his friends in the evening, he suddenly said, “I think I have an idea.”

He told the others about it, who sat there stunned until Severus stated, “I think that’s it! Let me get Salazar.” He then told his older self about Harry’s idea, and Salazar was impressed too.

“I believe that could be possible. Let me talk to Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall about it; maybe they have something to add. Now, you should try to invent it. You have to draw a sketch of it and to think about how to produce and control it. You could look for one of the hidden, empty classrooms that are far away and not used any more, and use this room, as it has to be quite huge when a full grown human being has to fit in it.”

“That will be possible by wish magic, won’t it?” Harry asked, feeling a little unsure about the whole matter.

“Yes, I believe it will be possible; however you cannot do it all at once, because it would take too much magic,” Salazar warned his still too naïve son.

The next evenings, the five friends spent the time drawing pictures and plans of a possible machine that would fit their purpose. As they had spent every Saturday and Sunday evening exploring the castle, it was not difficult to find an empty and completely unused classroom for their use. One day they had, by chance, found a never used corridor after a portrait that opened on ‘landscape’. And this corridor led straight to a locked door. However, Harry flashed behind the door and managed to open it from the inside. The door led to a never before used classroom. When they left the corridor, they had left the classroom door open in any case.

-----

A few days later, Harry’s scar suddenly started to hurt during a Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson. This time, he wasn’t pulled into a vision, he could just feel that Voldemort was very happy about something, and his head hurt terribly. In order to suppress the pain, he closed his eyes for a moment and concentrated on secluding his mind to prevent himself from getting a vision. Therefore, he didn’t hear his father calling his name three times.

From far away, he suddenly heard Salazar say, “Detention tonight after dinner, Mr. Snape, for not listening at all in my class. For homework read chapter three in your books and write a summary. You are dismissed.”

Harry went through the rest of his lessons feeling as though he was trapped in a dream.

-----

When he showed up in his father’s office for his detention in the evening, his father asked, “What happened this morning? Why were you so inattentive in my class?”

“I’m sorry, Dad,” Harry apologized immediately. “I had a vision. No, it wasn’t exactly a vision, just… um… he was very happy about something and my scar hurt so much in your lesson that I just couldn’t concentrate.”

Salazar nodded his understanding and relented, “In that case, it is all right. If you were ill this morning, you did not deserve a detention. You are free to go.”

Harry thought for a moment. “Dad?” he asked hesitantly. “Do you have a few minutes for me?”

“Of course, my son. What’s wrong?” Salazar replied.

“We have found a room, and I’d like to show it to you. I’d like your opinion, so I can be sure it’s a suitable place for our purpose. If you had a few minutes, I could flash us there.”

“All right, Harry, but only if you are sure you can manage to flash us safely.”

Harry nodded, transformed into Breeze, and flashed them into the empty corridor, where he transformed and entered the classroom.

“The room looks suitable enough, but where are we?” Salazar commented, looking around as to assess where they were.

Harry grinned. “Do you know the portrait of Frederic the Tiny on the fourth floor? This room is behind the portrait.”

Snape gave him an astonished look and shook his head. “I am sorry, Harry, but although the room seems adequate, you will have to search for an empty room far away from everything. You cannot do this in the middle of the school, you know. As I know the dungeons very well, I am capable enough to show you an adequate room far away from everything else if you cannot find anything else suitable. However, we should take your friends with us. Let us return to our quarters. It’s still early enough for an expedition to the dungeons.”

The five friends walked through the dungeons behind their Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor. A long way back, the doors had ceased to be on both sides of the hall, which had become narrow and clammy. However, the way they were walking on was not the only one. A few times, corridors had branched off on both sides of the way they were heading to … where? Although Harry loved damp places more than too dry rooms, he was slowly starting to have breathing problems. His head hurt, and he slowly began to worry where they were going.

“Dad?” he asked, breathing heavily.

“Are you all right, Harry?” Salazar asked, stopping his fast pace immediately.

Harry nodded and asked, “Is it still far, Dad?”

“Where are we going?” James asked curiously.

“And where are we? I mean, the Slytherin dormitories are already under the lake, and we are much deeper here,” Severus added.

Snape sighed. “I am sorry about not telling you in advance. The place where I am taking you is over there.” He pointed to a door that was just a few metres in front of them. “This is the most distant room Hogwarts has. It must be under the far end of the lake, I suppose. And I am relatively sure that nobody knows about it, because I discovered it on my own, and at that time, the way here was so dirty and dusty that I am sure nobody had come here for at least a hundred years. I know that it is far to walk here; however, once Harry knows this place he will be able to flash you here. But only one or two people at one time, Harry.” He eyed his son sternly.

Behind the door was a large room with a stone floor, reminding Harry of the one he used to see in his visions. With a flick of Snape’s wand, small torches lit along the walls.

-----

During the next weeks, Harry flashed over to the room every second night. However, his father and his friends, especially Lily and Severus, had insisted that he had to take two of them with him each time he flashed there. In the meantime, they had decided on one of Harry’s sketches of a machine, which looked like a mixture of a rubbish machine and a concrete mixer. He and his friends took a lot of tissues with them, and Harry, Salazar, and James had slowly started to transfigure tissues into parts of the machine. Remus kept an eye on the technical part and watched closely to make sure Harry and James assembled the machine parts correctly, while Lily and Severus practised transfiguring tissues and kept an eye on Harry to prevent him from using too much magic at once.

Harry sighed. ‘Is this really going to work?’ he wondered. And what could happen in the worst case scenario? As Lily and Severus didn’t let him do a lot of wish magic at once, it would take him another six weeks to complete the machine. Maybe he should come here and work on it every evening.

Fortunately, the others agreed to increase their travels to the far away dungeon room, and after three weeks and a lot of hard work, the machine was finished.

“How can we test it to see if it works?” Lily asked excitingly.

“We can just put a rat in it,” Severus answered without even thinking about it.

“How can we put something in it at all? There is no opening or such,” Lily enquired confused.

Harry sighed tiredly. “I have to make a Portkey and portkey the rat into the machine. However, we should enlarge a rat before we do that, otherwise we won’t know properly if it worked as rats are too small.”

“Do you know how to make Portkeys?” James asked astonished.

“Yes,” Harry replied, “Professor Dumbledore has taught me how to do it.”

They agreed to perform the first test immediately. Harry made a Portkey using a ribbon while Severus left only to return a few minutes later with a stunned rat. Remus enlarged the rat until it was the size of a sheep and Harry fastened the ribbon around the rat’s tail. Then he thought the incantation and the rat vanished from view. Now Harry pressed the green start button at one side of the machine, and the machine began to rotate. After two minutes, a red light flared and Harry used wish magic in order to transfigure the remaining of the rat into cow dung, which shortly afterwards appeared in a drawer beneath the green button.

Severus quickly cast a ‘Scourgify’ spell on the cow dung, which vanished immediately. Then he looked at his future son and said, “Congratulations, Harry! Now, what do you think; shall I look for another rat, and you flash to get your father and Professor Dumbledore here, maybe Professor McGonagall too?”

Everyone agreed, and Harry quickly flashed home, transformed and talked to his father, who pulled Harry into a hug and whispered, “Congratulations, my son. I am so proud of you!”

Harry flashed both of them to the front of the Headmaster’s office. When the door opened for them, he noticed that Professor McGonagall was there as well. ‘That’s good. It’s such a waste of time to tell the story more often,’ he thought contentedly and spoke to the teachers about what they had achieved. Finally, they managed to show their experiment with the second rat to the teachers without problems.

“Very good,” Dumbledore complimented the five friends. “However, are you sure that the interior is large enough to accommodate Voldemort?”

“Yes, sir,” James replied. “It is 2.20 m x 1 m x 1 m, so several people would fit in actually. However, we will have to do a few more tests and some fine tuning. For example, we have to check the remaining of the rat before Harry turns them into cow dung to confirm that the remaining are scrambled enough in order to really vanquish Voldemort.”

“All right,” Harry agreed immediately. “Then we will return here tomorrow after the Quidditch tryouts, if that’s all right with you.”

During the next days, they did several tests and were nearly finished with the machine and ready to proceed to the actual planning of the event, when something unforeseen happened. Harry had just taken James and Remus to the room and was now on his way back in order to get his future parents. However, he must have not been concentrating enough for an instant and arrived somewhere he didn’t recognize at all. ‘Where am I, and how did I manage to get here?’ he thought frantically and transformed back into his human form in order to explore his surroundings. He was in a room made of stone like the room he always saw in his visions. And suddenly he heard a voice.

Harry heard a voice, hissing in Parseltongue. “Who are you? Are you a sspeaking human? If you are, you have to tell me to change my eyesss to white, otherwise my eyesss are yellow, and everyone who lookss at my eyesss will die.”

“Hello,” Harry hissed back. “Please change your eyesss to white, because I would love to ssee you. Are you a ssnake? Um… Yes, I am a human, and I sspeak ssnakes’ language. Is it ssafe for me to look at you now?”

“Yesss, it is all right now. I have changed my eyesss to white. You have to know, I only do this for speakerss. However, the last speaker I met wass very evil. He forced me out into the castle without changing my eyesss, which I can only do when I’m told to do it. And at least one student died I believe. I hope you are not evil. I have met many speakersss over the yearsss, and most of them were very kind people. I’m a Basilissk, by the way.”

Harry was stunned. He walked a few steps, and then – suddenly – he took in the huge snake. It was beautiful. “You are beautiful – but huge!” he hissed. “By the way, what iss thiss place? Where are we?”

“Thisss iss the Chamber of Secrets. My first owner and good friend Salazzzar Slythssserin built this Chamber for himself – and for me. It’s huge. I can show you around the place if you wish.”

“That iss very kind of you, thssank you very much. However, I’m afraid my friends are waiting for me and will be worried now, sso I have to leave. But I will return tomorrow, if you don’t mind. Doesss this chamber have an entrance?”

The Basilisk told Harry to follow him and showed Harry the entrance, telling him what he had to do in order to get access from the other side of the entrance.

“All right. Thssank you very much. I will ssee you tomorrow,” Harry promised and left the chamber, then transformed and flashed home, where everyone was worrying about him. He had been in the Chamber for so long that Remus and James had, in the meantime, returned to the others to see what was wrong.

Hearing the beginning of Harry’s story, Salazar’s face turned very stern. “Wait, Harry. Before you go on, let me call Professor Dumbledore. He should hear this as well.” He went to the fireplace, and a minute later, Professor Dumbledore stepped into the room, followed shortly by Professor McGonagall.

“There was an incident, about thirty years ago,” Albus told the students. “Someone opened the Chamber of Secrets and let out a so-called monster, which would apparently be your Basilisk, and it really killed a student. At that time, Hagrid was accused of opening the Chamber, wrongly as I have always presumed.”

Harry shook his head vehemently. “No, Professor. Hagrid couldn’t have opened the Chamber, even if he wanted, because it can only be opened in Parseltongue. And the Basilisk told me this was the only entrance. He also told me that there had been an evil man speaking Parseltongue.” He recounted what the Basilisk had told him about the incident with the girl that died because of looking into his eyes.

“Is that so Harry? Can you prove it? Would you be willing to do so in order to prove Hagrid’s innocence? I don’t know if he would want to continue his studies, but at least he would be allowed to have a wand. The only speaker I can imagine the Basilisk can be referring to must be Voldemort. At that time, however, he still used his real name, Tom Marvolo Riddle.”

Harry sighed. “I hate people knowing that I’m a Parselmouth, but of course, I would help Hagrid if I could.”

“Thank you, Harry. I will speak with the Aurors about it, and it might be that you will be called either to the Ministry or to court one day to tell someone what you know about the Chamber of Secrets and how to open it.”

-----

As the next day was a Saturday, Harry had time enough to visit the Basilisk. In case something happened, he told Severus that he would go into the Chamber and leave the entrance open, so that he could go and look for Harry if he wasn’t back before lunch. Severus would have liked to accompany Harry; however, he told his future father that he would prefer to ask the Basilisk first if guests who didn’t speak Parseltongue were welcome at all. Harry was very excited. What was the Basilisk going to show him? The room had not looked as if there was anything interesting at all, merely a huge chamber with stone walls all around.

After breakfast, he flashed over into the bathroom, where the entrance to the chamber was sited. He opened the entrance and entered the Chamber. While he addressed the Basilisk, Harry told the creature that he had come to visit him and ordered him to change his eyes to white.

The Basilisk seemed to be glad to see him and invited Harry on a tour around the chamber, which did in fact consist of several rooms that were hidden by hardly noticeable doors, opening on passwords in Parseltongue. There were rooms of all sizes. Harry was guided to a very large room, which somehow resembled the sitting room in the teachers’ quarters. A really huge fireplace seemed to be the centre of the room.

“Can you do me a favour pleassse?” The Basilisk suddenly asked.

Harry threw him a confused glance. He still felt a bit unsure being with the huge snake. “Of course,” he replied curiously, “What can I do for you?”

“Pleassse light thiss fireplace; I’m cold. Salazar really cared about me. He ordered the castle to always leave enough rats for me to live and to have the fireplace lit all the time. However, when the bad sspeaker wass here a few yearsss ago, he extinguished the fire, and from then on, I’ve alwaysss been cold,” the Basilisk told him.

With a flick of his wand, Harry lit the fireplace, and the long snake lay down in front of the huge fireside, making noises that sounded very satisfied.

“Thank you,” it hissed contently.

Harry laughed and hissed back, “You’re welcome.”

“You can use this fireplacsse to move around in the cassstle,” the Basilisk told him. “At leasst Ssalazzzar was able to do so. Over there isss some powder, which he alwaysss used.”

Harry looked over to where the Basilisk had looked and gasped. There was a small stone pot containing Floo powder. He suddenly remembered something. He would like to show this place to his father and his friends. He looked to the Basilisk in order to be able to speak Parseltongue and asked, “By the way, do you have a name?”

The Basilisk nodded. “Yesss. Salazssar called me ‘Amaterasu’.”

“Oh, that’s a nice name. My name is Harry, by the way, Harry Snape. Um… do you think it would be possible to bring my father and few friends in here? My father is a snake Animagus, and I am sure he and my friends would be very interested to get to know you.”

“Yesss, you can bring your friends. As you are my master now and you have ordered me to change my eyes to white, nobody will be in danger looking at me. But I would like you to introduce them to me as I want to know who is in my Chamber.”

“Of course, I will do that,” Harry promised and proceeded to look around. There were several comfortable looking chairs and two sofas, everything in dark green. A book shelf next to one of the chairs contained a handful of old, brittle books. Harry took one of them in his hands, seeing that it was a very old Potions book for beginners. The other books seemed to be school books as well.

“Do you think I could take one of the booksss with me to read in the evening?” he addressed the Basilisk.

With a nod of his huge head, the Basilisk replied, “Yesss, Master Harry, you may do that, and if you are interested in booksss, I can show you to the Chamber’s library.”

“Library?” Harry asked curiously, and his eyes began to twinkle in anticipation. He just loved libraries, and to think there was a personal library of Salazar Slytherin…

The Basilisk’s hissing pulled him out of his thoughts. “You see the book shelf over there, right? If you say the password when you touch it, you will be able to slide it to the right side. The password is ‘snakes’ books’.”

Harry did as he was told, and the sliding bookshelf revealed the entrance to a huge chamber, filled with book shelves from the bottom up to the ceiling. Harry stood there, stunned. A room full of books from the time of the founders. He couldn’t believe it – this Chamber was a treasure trove for research.

“If you push against the third shelf from the left and say the incantation ‘snakes’ potions’, the shelf will reveal my master’s Potions lab,” the voice of the Basilisk again pulled him out of his thoughts.

While Harry was still torn between the urge to look at the books and the wish to explore more of these interesting rooms, he threw a glance at his watch and noticed that it was already lunchtime. If he missed lunch, he wouldn’t only be in trouble with Madam Pomfrey and his father, but Severus would worry about him and would eventually go looking for him. He hurriedly exited the room and put the book shelf back into its position, before he explained to the Basilisk that he had to go for lunch, but that he would try to convince his friends to come back in the afternoon.

“Do you know what the name of this fireplace is?” he quickly asked the Basilisk.

“It’s ‘Chamber of Secrets’. And it only works in Parseltongue,” the snake replied patiently.

-----

“Sorry for being so late,” Harry whispered to Severus, when he slipped in the seat next to him at the Slytherin table.

Severus gave him a very relieved glance. “Good that you are back, Harry. I was already very worried, and I was going to speak with your father directly after lunch. What happened?”

Harry gave his friend a huge smile, his eyes twinkling merrily, when he explained what he had been doing all morning.

“And you’re sure this is here within the castle?” James asked him unbelievingly, when Harry told him and his other friends about the Chamber of Secrets after lunch.

Harry glared at him. “Do you think I’m hallucinating or what?” he then asked, a little hurt. ‘Maybe I shouldn’t have told anyone except for my father,’ he thought, slightly upset.

“I suggest that we go and have a look at the chamber,” Salazar finally suggested. “However, I think, we should at least inform Professor Dumbledore of it, in case someone is looking for us. From what Harry told us I am sure this expedition will take the whole afternoon.”

They went up to the Headmaster’s Office, where Harry had to tell his story again to the surprised Headmaster and his Deputy.

“All right,” Professor Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling with the same excitement that could be read in Harry’s eyes. “I will try to go through the Floo, if you could say the incantation for me please, Harry.”

“No!” Harry contradicted immediately. “Let me go first and tell the Basilisk about what to expect; otherwise she might attack you. I’ll be back in a minute.”

Minerva handed him the Floo powder and said, “Please be careful, Harry.”

Harry gave her a short nod and Floo-ed over to the Chamber, where Amaterasu greeted him happily.

“Are you back already? That’s nice; I’ve been ssso lonely here alone all the time.”

During the next minutes, Harry prepared her for the visitors that were going to Floo over and then returned to the Headmaster’s Office. One after another the Professors and Harry’s friends went on their expedition. Harry was the last to Floo over, and when he arrived, he saw that Amaterasu had left her place in front of the fireplace, so that everyone could step out of the fire comfortably.

He thanked the Basilisk, told her about his and his father’s time travel and introduced everyone to his new friend.

“All right. Just look around and have fun. If you don’t mind, I will stretch out in front of the fire again – it’s ssso nice and warm. Just wake me up if you need me or if you want to use the fireplace.”

Harry thanked her again and moved the book shelf, so that they could access the library. This was a paradise – thousands and thousands of books, most of them written in old English. Harry was very surprised when he noticed that the language adjusted itself to modern English, as soon as he took a book in his hands.

‘Wow,’ he thought enthusiastically, ‘this room is so interesting that I could live here for a few weeks.’ Many of the books seemed to be Potions books, and Harry noticed that both his fathers, who normally didn’t show their emotions very much, had very excited looks on their faces. ‘What will they say when they see the potions lab?’ Harry thought and said the incantation to open the entrance to the lab.

“Professor, should we perhaps catalogue all the book titles onto some parchment?” he then addressed the Headmaster, who gave him an encouraging look.

“Yes, Harry, that might be a very good idea,” Dumbledore said pensively.

“What’s this?” James shouted suddenly and held up a book.

Harry looked at it and didn’t know what James’ problem was, until after a second glance he recognized it as Parselscript. “Wow, do you know what this is?” he shouted in excitement. “This is a Potions book, written by Salazar Slytherin. Are there any more such books?”

James led him to the shelf where he had found the book, and Harry saw about a dozen books looking similar to the one he was holding in his hand.

“Wow, that’s great. Maybe we’ll find Potions, which are unknown in our time,” Harry said excitedly, looking for his fathers, who had apparently disappeared into the Potions lab a while ago and not come back yet. “I could try to translate the book. However, when will we have the time to catalogue and translate books?” he said warily.

“I thought we were about finished with the machine. We just have to plan the actual event for the demise of Voldemort, and then we could use the evenings doing research here,” Lily suggested.

“That’s right, Lily,” Remus agreed immediately, and finally everyone except for Severus and Salazar, who were still absent, decided to do as Lily had suggested.

When Harry entered the Potions lab to look for his fathers, both of them were engrossed in a shelf full with ingredients. “Hello?” he carefully addressed them.

“Oh, Harry, this is a paradise here,” Salazar said when he noticed his son watching them. “There are many rare ingredients here, shelves full of them.”

“Just have a look, Harry!” Severus added.

The Potions lab was about the size of the Potions classroom. It held at least a dozen working areas as well as one wall full of shelves with empty phials and one wall of shelves with Potions ingredients. Harry threw a glance at his fathers and laughed. “I had never thought I’d see you so excited.” He giggled at them.

Salazar, Harry, Severus, Lily, James and Remus spent the whole weekend in the Chamber’s library, feverishly working on cataloguing the books. When Harry started to sneeze continuously because of the dust sticking to the books, Salazar threw a strong Anti Dust Charm on the shelves, hoping it would help his son; otherwise he would have to quit working in the library.

“Harry, maybe you should just let the cataloguing be, at least for today. Sit in the room with the fireplace and try to translate one of Slytherin’s Potions books?” Salazar suggested to his son.

Harry obliged immediately, trying to hide how relieved he was with this solution. As much as he loved books, it was still too dusty for him in the library, and it was getting difficult to breathe. He took one of the books in Parselscript and settled down comfortably on the sofa in front of the fireplace. It took some time to get used to reading Parselscript, not to speak of translating it into English. However, Harry soon became engrossed in the Potions, all of which he had never heard of.

-----

A few days later, Professor McGonagall addressed Harry at lunchtime. “Mr. Snape, Professor Dumbledore would like to have a few words with you before your afternoon classes. Please go to his office as soon as you have eaten.”

‘Oh, no! What have I done now?’ Harry thought frantically. Yet he didn’t feel guilty at all. Losing his appetite, he pushed his plate away and glanced at the Head table. Professor Dumbledore was still sitting there. Harry flinched from the hand that suddenly touched his shoulder.

“Harry,” Lily tried to calm down her son. “It’s all right; I’m not going to hurt you. I just wanted to say that Professor Dumbledore probably wants to speak with you because of the matter with Hagrid or something. No reason to worry. Try to eat a bit more.”

Harry threw her a grateful smile, but got up and left the Great Hall, heading for the Headmaster’s office, where he waited in front of the Gargoyle until Professor Dumbledore arrived.

“Ah, Harry, thanks for coming immediately,” Albus greeted him and added, when they entered his office, “Lemon drop?”

Harry declined and looked expectantly at the Professor.

Dumbledore smiled at the boy and told Harry that Moody, one of the Aurors the Headmaster knew well, had talked to the Head of the Aurors about the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets and that Hagrid had been granted a trial which would take place on Monday next week. “Harry, they are requesting that you attend the trial and tell them everything you know about the Chamber of Secrets. Are you willing to do this for Hagrid?”

“Everything?” Harry repeated immediately. “I mean… also about the hidden library and the Potions lab? And will they do anything to the Basilisk? She is my friend, and I don’t want anything to happen to her.”

Dumbledore let out a small laugh. “No, Harry, you don’t have to tell about the hidden rooms. Moreover it would be unwise to tell them. And you don’t have to fear anything for your friend. They won’t do anything to her, and they can’t access the Chamber without your help, anyway.”

“All right, Professor. Then I’ll try to help Hagrid,” Harry agreed finally, and Professor Dumbledore promised to accompany him and stay with him all the time.

-----

On the day of the trial, Dumbledore, Hagrid, and Harry Floo-ed directly from the Headmaster’s Office to the ministry. The trial took place in a small courtroom under exclusion of the public. Moody had arranged for the trial to be held with as few people involved as possible.

As Harry was the most important witness, he was called up immediately. Fortunately, Moody had talked to the important people and had told them about Harry’s real identity and had arranged that he wouldn’t be questioned about his birthday or his parents. Harry was very relieved as he knew he wouldn’t be able to lie under Veritaserum. When he was asked about the circumstances of his discovering of the Chamber of Secrets, everyone gasped. As he feared people would not believe that he was able to speak Parseltongue, Harry proposed to be questioned under Veritaserum, so he was given just one drop of Veritaserum before he was further questioned.

He recounted his first meeting with Amaterasu and told the judge everything the Basilisk had taught him about the Chamber, except for the part with the hidden rooms.

Finally, Hagrid was judged to be innocent and was given permission to receive a new wand, as his had been snapped thirty years ago, and was granted 50 thousand gallons as compensation for the misjudgement which had taken place thirty years ago. Harry beamed at his friend – how good it was that he had travelled to the past!

“Headmaster, Harry, thank you!” Hagrid just managed to say before starting to cry.

“You are very welcome, Hagrid,” Harry said.

-----

The instant they left the Ministry, they heard cries on the street just in front of them. They looked around, alarmed, and Harry could see Death Eaters running over to them. Before he could react, Death Eaters had spread out all over the street. They started to attack them immediately, so that Harry was caught by surprise and didn’t have the chance to transform into Breeze.

Knowing that Hagrid didn’t have a wand to defend himself, Harry immediately threw up a powerful Shield Charm over both of them and glanced over to Professor Dumbledore, who was deep in a fight with a few Death Eaters. Many spells were fired at them too, but Harry’s Shield Charm was very stable so far. However, Harry could feel himself growing weak and knew that he wouldn’t be able to hold the Shield up much longer. Suddenly, a dozen people – probably Aurors – rushed out of the Ministry and came to their aid.

The instant his Shield Charm failed, Harry was hit with a spell in the chest. He didn’t know what it was, but it hurt a lot. He managed to dodge a few spells, trying to fire Expelliarmus spells at the Death Eaters at the same time. Noticing that his vision was beginning to fail – as was his breathing – he had to try hard not to panic. His chest felt very painful as if it were on fire.

He summoned all his wish magic and threw a very strong Stunning Spell at the Death Eaters. He registered vaguely that it had worked before he, much like the Death Eaters, collapsed to the ground.

-----

When he slowly returned to consciousness, everything was quiet. Where was he? Was he dead? ’No,’ he decided, ’I can’t be dead, because everything hurts. If I was dead, it wouldn’t hurt anymore.’ Suddenly, he noticed that something was pressing against his face. He felt around his face and noticed that the same something was above of his nose and mouth. Harry lazily opened his eyes and saw that the thing in his face was connected to a breathing machine. His left arm at the same time was connected to another machine. He didn’t know what it was for.

Then understanding set in: He was in the Hospital Wing again. Only the night lights were lit, and it was dark outside. He sighed. It seemed to be the middle of the night. Would he have to wait until the morning, until he could get a Pain Relieving Potion? He was lucky. A movement at one side of his bed alerted him to the presence of his father, who said, “Wait a moment. I’m going to get Poppy.” A few minutes later, Poppy arrived and handed him a phial. When he visibly relaxed after drinking down the Potion, Poppy told him that his internal organs had been gravely damaged by the Death Eaters’ spell but that she had already managed to heal most of the damage. She also told him that he had been in a coma for two days, because he had depleted his magic completely. However, he would have to stay in the Hospital Wing and connected to the machine for a few days.

Harry wanted to protest badly, but he just didn’t have the energy, so he lay back and went to sleep again until he was woken up by the Headmaster’s voice in the morning.

“Harry, you helped to put more than a dozen Death Eaters into Azkaban. We are all very proud of you,” the Headmaster told him.

Harry threw the Professor a small smile that didn’t really reach his eyes. “Dad,” he said then, “Could you please bring me Slytherin’s book, which I’m in the middle of translating? As Madam Pomfrey told me I had to stay here, I’d like to use the time efficiently and continue translating.”

Salazar sighed. “I will bring you the book after breakfast. However, you may only work here when Poppy allows it. Otherwise, you will have to wait a few days.”

Harry spent three days translating the book. He was just contemplating how he could manage to make a short trip to the Chamber to grab the next book, when Pomfrey told him she would release him if he promised to be very careful next time.

“No Quidditch. No flashing or even transforming. No running around for at least a week,” she said sternly. “I’ll see you tonight.”

Harry agreed happily. He would do anything – if he just could leave the Hospital Wing.

-----

When Severus received an owl from his uncle, who had once again invited him to come to a Death Eaters’ meeting, Severus wrote back that he was interested and would like to join him.

Finally, he received another owl from his uncle, which included a Portkey and an invitation to a meeting with the Dark Lord for the evening of December 1st. Severus immediately took the Portkey to his older self to let him check on it. He especially wanted to be sure that it would be possible for two people to use the Portkey, but this didn’t seem to be a problem.

The few weeks until December 1st were spent planning the big event, which would hopefully lead to the demise of Voldemort.

Harry had suggested that he would accompany Severus, hidden by a Concealment Charm, which would make him invisible. As his wish magic was much stronger than normal wand magic, he could apply the charm to himself in a way so that only Harry would be able to cancel it.

They had already prepared two nearly invisible Portkeys for Voldemort, which would take him directly into Harry’s machine. Harry would try to throw his Portkey onto Voldemort, thinking of the password at the same time. If he managed, Harry and Severus would activate their own Portkeys back to Hogwarts. However, if Harry failed and Voldemort wouldn’t vanish, Severus would hand his Portkey over to the Dark Lord and take his own Portkey immediately afterwards.

Harry was very excited and scared, and couldn’t wait for the day to come. However, it was still ten days away and in the meantime, he had to do a lot of homework and even had to play a Quidditch match.

-----

Just like in his own time, the teachers had agreed that Harry should play in both teams – Slytherin and Gryffindor. In Slytherin, they had been looking for a Chaser as Severus was playing Seeker. However, hearing Harry’s story from his future self, Severus had immediately suggested he could play Chaser and leave the Seeker position to Harry. Fortunately, this discussion had taken place while Harry was in the Hospital Wing, so that he wasn’t aware of the details. Otherwise he probably wouldn’t have agreed to play at all.

The Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff match took place on the last Saturday in November. Unfortunately, Harry hadn’t been allowed to play Quidditch during the last two weeks and, therefore, hadn’t been able to practise with the team at all.

“I hope you’re really as good as they say,” Sirius growled at breakfast. “We don’t want to lose Quidditch because people come and join teams just because they are children of professors, without even doing tryouts.”

“Sirius!” James scolded his friend, while Lily jumped off her seat.

“Black!” she shouted furiously. “How can you say that? You’re horrible!”

Harry didn’t notice Professor McGonagall coming over, hearing the story from Lily and assigning Sirius detention. Harry just got up and left the Great Hall, oblivious to the fact that Severus followed him worriedly. He returned to their quarters and went straight to the bathroom, where he threw up the little breakfast he had eaten.

“Harry! Are you all right? What is wrong with you?” Severus asked as soon as Harry was finished.

Harry turned around to face his future father and let himself be pulled into a hug, while tears started to flow down his cheeks. He clung to Severus’ robes and cried into his shoulder until Salazar came looking for him. In the meantime, his cries had turned into coughs and Salazar watched him worriedly.

“Harry, you have to stop crying immediately; otherwise you won’t be able to play Quidditch today,” Salazar said sternly and handed him a Calming Draught. Professor McGonagall had told him what had happened at the Gryffindor table at breakfast, and he was very angry. How could Black say such a thing to his son? “The match is going to start in thirty minutes. Do you think you will be able to play?”

Harry nodded. The Calming Draught and his inhaler had done wonders, and he felt much better now. He changed into his Quidditch clothes and walked out to the Pitch together with Severus. His teammates came over to him as soon as they saw him.

“Harry, don’t listen to Black; he’s only jealous,” James told him.

“Just ignore him, Harry, and give your best. We’ll do the same,” Frank Longbottom, who was playing Chaser, said.

“We don’t care what Black says. Our Head of House has seen you playing and has recommended you. That’s enough for us,” the team captain consoled him.

Harry threw a hesitant smile at his teammates and said, “Thank you very much. I will try hard, and so far I have never lost a game. But, of course, I cannot promise anything.”

Finally, they mounted their brooms, and Harry pushed off. It was as though no time had past since he last flown, because he took to the air as easily and as naturally as ever before. He forgot everything that had happened in the morning and proceeded to concentrate on the Snitch. As nobody had seen him flying before, he managed to fool the Hufflepuff Seeker twice with his stunts, before he spotted the Snitch twenty minutes into the game. Unfortunately, a Bludger came into his way, so that Harry had to dodge, and the Snitch was gone. However, he saw it again five minutes later. Could he fool the Hufflepuff Seeker a third time? He tried and succeeded – maybe the other Seeker couldn’t believe Harry would do the same stunt three times? Harry caught the struggling Snitch in the 25th minute.

“210 to 30, Gryffindor wins!” Madam Hooch’s voice sounded over the pitch, and Harry slowly glided down, very relieved. He soon was surrounded by his team and his friends. Fortunately Sirius was not in sight. Nevertheless, Harry flinched badly when he felt a hand on his arm.

“It’s all right, Harry,” Remus said. “I just wanted to congratulate you.” He eyed his friend worriedly.

“Thank you, Remus,” Harry replied and headed back to his quarters to take a shower. Fortunately, nobody followed him this time, and after showering and changing, Harry tiredly lay down on his bed, musing over the events of the morning.

‘Why does Sirius hate me so much? Is it really because he is jealous? James would have so much more reason to be jealous of Severus, but he doesn’t behave so stupidly. Maybe we should go back to the future as soon as I have managed to vanquish Voldemort,’ he thought, but corrected himself immediately. ‘No, Dad cannot go back until the end of the school year as he has to teach. However, I could go back on my own. On the other hand, maybe I should translate some more Potions books? Maybe I’ll be able to find valuable Potions, which might help people a lot. Then it would be good to have the translation eighteen years earlier,’ he thought.

Being so wrapped up in his thoughts, he completely forgot the time and finally fell asleep. He only woke up when he heard the voices of his future parents beside his bed. He slowly sat up. “Hi, Lily. Hi, Severus.”

“Harry, are you all right? You have missed all your meals today!” Lily said reproachfully. “Plus, you should come with me to the Gryffindor common room; the victory party is going to start in a few minutes.”

-----

The party in Gryffindor Tower was loud and lasted half the night, but in spite of the Marauders being there, Harry missed some of the atmosphere the Weasley twins used to bring to their victory parties. He spent the evening mainly talking to Lily, Remus and James.

“Um… Lily? Where is Sirius?” he asked anxiously.

Lily grinned and explained, “Professor McGonagall noticed about your little quarrel at breakfast and has assigned him detention with Mr. Filch.”

“He will probably be gone the whole evening,” Remus commented. “So, Harry, please enjoy our party, and try to eat something.”

Hearing this, Harry finally relaxed. He was not in the mood for more discussions with that specific Gryffindor third year. He grabbed a few sandwiches and a bottle of Butterbeer and enjoyed the evening together with his friends. Although the party was still in full swing, Harry excused himself five minutes before the beginning of curfew – just as Sirius entered the Common room – and returned to his quarters.

He nearly stumbled back out of the door in shock, when he entered the sitting room and spotted his father, having tea together with Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey. “Good evening,” he greeted them friendly. He was on his way into his own room, when he was called back.

“Where do you think you are going?” Madam Pomfrey asked sternly. “You haven’t come to see me today, and I heard that you haven’t eaten any meals today. Have you already forgotten what I told you about missing meals?”

Harry sighed, annoyed. “I’m sorry; I just returned from the Gryffindor Party. I only thought about being back here in time for curfew, although the party is still in full swing, but I completely forgot to go to see you. About missing meals, I’m sorry too, but I didn’t feel very well and preferred to sleep for a while.”

Minerva gave Harry a sharp look and threatened to take points of him when it happened again. After an explanation that he had eaten at the party and a quick check-up by Poppy, he was finally allowed to retire.

-----

Too soon, December 1st approached. The five friends, along with Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall and Snape had spent the whole evening in the dungeons, testing the machine a few times more. Everything seemed perfect. Afterwards, they had talked once more about the plans for the next evening. All seemed foolproof.

When Severus and Harry were having breakfast together at the Slytherin table, Salazar approached them and said, “Snape and Snape, please come to my quarters directly after breakfast. You will be excused from your first class.”

“But Dad,” Harry tried to contradict, “I have missed so many classes recently…”

“…that it doesn’t matter if you miss a few more!” Salazar replied sharply and added, “This is an order from Professor Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey.”

Harry was nervous when they returned to their quarters after breakfast. He was just glad to have Severus with him. It was good to know that Severus would be together with him tonight when they would go to straight into the lion’s den.

When they arrived at their quarters, Harry’s father was already waiting for them. He made them sit on the sofa and waved his wand over each of them a few times, then he nodded contently. “Now, I hope you are both feeling well today. You have to be in your best possible condition tonight, because what you are going to do is very dangerous. Therefore, Albus, Poppy and I have decided that we want you to stay here in our quarters today and rest. You will both take a Dreamless Sleep Potion and sleep as much as you can. I will wake you up before dinner and I expect you – both of you – to tell me if you have any problems.”

Salazar had conjured a second bed in Harry’s room for Severus, and both boys slept during the whole day. When Salazar woke them up twenty minutes before dinner, they were well rested and eager to fulfil their tasks they had been planning so feverishly during the last months – not to mention that they were scared to death too. After dinner, Professor McGonagall escorted them to the Headmaster’s office, where Albus, Salazar, Poppy, Lily, Remus and James joined them.

They once again spoke about the actions they had planned for the evening, and once more checked the plan, which seemed quite easy. Professor Dumbledore handed a Portkey to each of the boys – a small phoenix pendant on a silver chain, which turned invisible as soon as they put it on. They could use this Portkey to return to Hogwarts in case they didn’t have an opportunity to flash back. The password was ‘back home,’ and the Portkey would bring them straight into the Headmaster’s office.

However, if possible, Harry had to flash them back in order to be in the machine room in time. If Harry wasn’t back by the time the machine alerted them that a victim had arrived inside, Salazar would push the green activating button. The procedure within the machine took ten minutes, and if the machine showed the end of the procedure and Harry was still not back, Salazar would just start the procedure again until Harry returned as it was necessary that Harry took care of the next process.

All those who were assembled in the Headmaster’s office planned to walk down to the machine room as soon as Severus and Harry had parted. They would wait in the room for the two boys to return.

Harry was slowly getting afraid, wondering if they would manage to succeed. Maybe the Death Eaters would discover him even before he could toss the Portkey at Voldemort. Or they could be suspicious of Severus and punish him. It could also be that they cursed him immediately after he had tossed the Portkey at Voldemort. He knew he only had to transform into Breeze, hop to Severus to let him grab his tail feathers or just grab the Portkey and think the incantation. Would at least one of these methods work?

“Harry!” His father’s voice pulled him out of his thoughts. “Do you need a Calming Draught?”

Harry threw an astonished glance at his father. “Yes, please.” He took the phial Salazar handed to him and gulped the Potion down, feeling better immediately. “Thank you, Dad,” he mouthed gratefully.

“Harry,” Salazar said, trying to keep his emotions in check. “You know that I have full faith in you. But please be very careful, son.”

Finally it was time to leave. Harry wished himself invisible and according to the Professors and Harry’s friends, it worked properly. Albus pointed his wand at Harry and sent another invisibility spell at the boy, explaining that two spells were safer than only one. Now Harry whished Severus to be able to see him, and Severus’ gasp let him know that it worked as well.

“What happened?” Salazar asked immediately, and Harry explained what he had done.

“Don’t give me a heart attack,” Severus mumbled but visibly relaxed. “Now, grab the Portkey and let us be on our way,” he admonished his future son.

Harry complied immediately, Severus spoke the password, and they were gone.

-----

An instant later, they arrived in a huge room, which Harry immediately recognized as the room from his visions. They were surrounded by Death Eaters. He looked around. As he always saw the room from Voldemort’s view, when he saw it in his visions, he didn’t know exactly where Voldemort would be. Therefore, he quickly scanned the room for the man, even though he wasn’t sure what he looked like. Suddenly he recognized something like a throne. ‘Ah, this must be where he is always sitting when the people of his inner circle kneel in front of him,’ he thought.

However, the throne was empty – Voldemort didn’t seem to be there. Harry was flabbergasted. He couldn’t believe it! They hadn’t thought about this possibility at all. For them, it had been clear that Voldemort had to be there, when a new, possible Death Eater came to join them for the first time. Even Salazar, who had to know the Death Eater meetings quite well, hadn’t voiced any thoughts about the possibility of Voldemort not being there. What were they going to do? There were so many Death Eaters that he wouldn’t have any possibility to confer with Severus at all without anybody noticing.

Harry re-arranged his position so that Severus could see his face and gave him an enquiring look. Everything had sounded so easy – maybe too easy to be possibly true? Had their whole plan failed? Harry tried hard not to panic.

Severus noticed the flabbergasted look Harry gave him and threw a calm glance back. Then he addressed his uncle, who was patiently waiting next to him.

“When will the Dark Lord arrive?” he asked innocently.

“He should be here shortly,” his uncle answered firmly. “He always arrives a few minutes later.”

After a short time, which felt to Harry like an eternity, his scar began to hurt fiercely. Lord Voldemort finally arrived. The Death Eaters, who had been talking animatedly so far, fell to their knees until their Lord had taken his place on the throne. Then they finally stood up, put their robes into order, and returned straight to their places, where they proceeded to stand straight, facing their master.

Harry had used this commotion to walk up to the side of Voldemort, glad that nobody could hear him moving, as the crowd of Death Eaters was making much more noise. He had positioned him on a spot from where he could easily place the Portkey into Voldemort’s lap. His scar was burning, and he felt a liquid – probably blood – drip down his cheek. Trying to ignore the pain Harry waited for a moment, in which Voldemort was sitting on his throne, calmly talking to someone, in order not to attract any attention. Suddenly the opportunity came – and Harry used it.

He placed the Portkey onto Voldemort’s lap, pulled himself back, and thought the password to activate the Portkey. In a blink, Voldemort was gone. Harry didn’t even take the time to worry if Voldemort’s Portkey would really take him into the machine or if the Apparition Wards on the machine would be working properly. He summoned all magic he could summon at once and Obliviated all present Death Eaters completely about their Dark Lord, transformed into Breeze and flashed to Severus. His friend immediately grabbed his tail feathers and Harry flashed them to Hogwarts.

Arriving directly next to the machine, Harry transformed back and – completely ignoring his friends, who were gathered around the machine – jumped over to the green button, pressing it urgently. Not even noticing that the persistent pain in his scar was proof enough for Voldemort’s presence, he rushed to the other side of the machine, where a tiny window guaranteed a glance into the interior of the machine. ‘YES! There he is!’ Harry thought unbelievingly. Deep in thoughts and with both hands at his burning scar, he sat down onto the floor, taking in the quiet that came after the fading cries of agony that had come from the inside of the machine moments before.

Suddenly he felt a cold phial pressed against his lips. He looked up and saw his father standing in front of him.

“Here, Harry. It’s a Pepper-up Potion. Drink; it might help you to summon your magic. The machine will finish soon. Are you feeling all right, son?”

“Yes, everything is all right, thanks,” Harry replied, got up from the floor and gulped down the Potion.

Of course, Salazar had been right. After two minutes, the machine informed them that the current process was finished. Harry once more summoned as much magic as he could and wish-transfigured the remaining of the process into cow dung, which he Scourgified immediately. He kept watching the machine for two minutes, but nothing else happened, and the pain in his scar slowly decreased. Hesitantly, he threw a glance at his father, who was standing next to him.

“Dad? Is he gone?”

His father pulled him into a slight hug and said, “Yes, my son, he is. The last time, when Quirrel died and the soul of the Dark Lord fled, a black shadow could be seen. This time, however, not even a shadow remained. I believe that he has gone completely.” Suddenly he remembered something and rolled the left arm of his robes up.

Everyone watched in awe as the Dark Mark, which had been on Salazar’s left arm, faded from existence. Salazar let out a relieved sigh, sensing that every single mistake that he had made over the years was slowly dissipating.

After a few minutes, in which everyone present just stood there and stared, lost in thought, Professor Dumbledore finally broke the silence. “Ah, well done, Harry, really well done! Severus, too. Thank you, my boys. You have done the wizarding world a huge favour today!”

-----

Two hours later, the same people were sitting in the Snape quarters, enjoying Butterbeer and other delicacies the house elves had prepared for their instant party. While Poppy had bandaged Harry’s head, Albus had contacted the ministry, made an appointment for the next morning in order to show them the machine and explain everything. Then he had sent his Phoenix Patronus to all teachers, telling them of Voldemort’s demise and cancelling all classes for the rest of the week. Then Albus joined the others in his Defence teacher’s quarters.

“Oh, what a nice party you are having,” he said, his eyes twinkling madly, before he turned to Harry. “Harry, my boy, I am afraid that I will need you tomorrow morning. The Aurors will come to my office at 9 o’clock. They first need a detailed explanation from you about what happened. Then we will pay a visit to your machine, and I believe it would be reasonable if you could explain to them how it works.”

Harry groaned inwardly. Yes, he knew he would have to explain what he had done, but tomorrow morning? It was already 2 o’clock in the morning, and he was achy and tired. Hadn’t he done enough for the wizarding world?

Noticing that Dumbledore was watching him expectantly, he said, “All right, Professor.”

Madam Pomfrey shook her head and jumped into the conversation. “No, Albus. I cannot promise you that Harry will be well enough in the morning. The Aurors might have to wait a day or two. He has a severe headache, which probably won’t go away completely with pain killers. He has a fever, and his magic is at a level of 40 percent. He won’t be allowed to do ANY magic for at least a week.”

“Why is your magic so depleted, Harry? Is this only from wishing him to cow dung and Scourgifying him?” Minerva asked disbelievingly, and Harry laughed.

“No, Professor. As soon as the Portkey took Voldemort to Hogwarts, I used wish magic on the Death Eaters. I Obliviated them. Of course not completely, but so that they won’t remember anything relating to Voldemort. Therefore, I’m glad that their Dark Mark is gone; otherwise they would have wondered what it was.”

His professors and friends were staring at him, stunned. “You – Obliviated – them of selective memories?” his father finally asked in amazement.

“Ah,” Severus suddenly said. “That’s why it took you so long to transform and fly over to me. I was wondering what you were doing.”

Harry smiled at his future father. “I’m sorry, Severus, but I thought it was important.”

“Then,” Dumbledore said very pensively, “we only have to think about what to do with the Death Eaters, who are currently in Azkaban. Maybe it would be better to Obliviate them as well.”

Harry let out a deep sigh, before he stated firmly, “All right, Professor, if necessary I will travel to Azkaban and Obliviate them – in a few days’ time if you wish.”

The Headmaster threw him an admiring smile and returned, “Thank you very much, Harry. If necessary, we will rely on your help once more. We will ask the Aurors when we talk to them in the morning.”

-----

“Lily and Harry,” Dumbledore turned to the two students, “Minerva and I would like to tell you something, both of you. In one hour, Ms. Baker from the Daily Prophet will be coming for an interview. No, Harry, I won’t make you be there,” he added quickly, seeing the angry glances of Salazar, Poppy, and Minerva. “However, I am going to tell her something about you, which I want Lily and you to know before the whole wizarding world will read it in the paper tomorrow morning.”

He threw a glance at Minerva, who gave him an encouraging nod, and continued, “Minerva and I have a son, Robert. He is a Squib, and he hates everything that has to do with magic. He grew up here with us until he was 11, then he went to a Muggle boarding school, and when he turned 18, he cut off all contact to us. He and his wife, Rose, have two children, Lily and Petunia, who don’t even know that we are their grandparents.”

Lily gasped. “Me?” she questioned, and Minerva threw her a confirming glance, smiling fondly at her granddaughter.

Harry was stunned. “So you are my great grandparents! Amazing! Is that really true?” He looked at the Professors questioningly, before he glanced at Lily.

“Wait!” James blurted out and turned to Harry. “YOU are Lily’s son?”

“Yes…. godfather,” Harry replied smirking.

“Albus, then why for god’s sake didn’t you take Harry in when Lily and James died? Why send him to your abnormal granddaughter and her abusing husband?” Salazar asked, suddenly getting very upset.

Dumbledore’s face became very sincere. “I’m afraid that you will have to ask my future self, Salazar. I cannot imagine a reason to do so, although I am sure I would have had a reason.”

During the night, Harry didn’t have any time to contemplate about what he had learned as he fell asleep before his head hit the pillow.

-----

To Harry it felt as if he had just closed his eyes a few minutes ago, when his father came to wake him up in the morning. “Harry, I am sorry, but Professor Dumbledore would like you to come to his office. You know, the Aurors will be coming in half an hour, maybe the Minister of Magic as well. I know that you are still tired and do not feel well, but I believe that it would be better to get this over with. Afterwards I hope that nobody will bother you, until you are fully recovered from your ordeal. I will see to it.”

Harry sat up, feeling very confused about what his father was talking about. Then suddenly, he remembered the events of the evening before. ‘Oh, I did it, didn’t I? If he’s really dead this time,…’ “Dad? Is Voldemort… I mean, is he really gone this time?” he asked anxiously.

Salazar gave his son a real smile and said, “Yes, Harry, I am sure that you really vanquished him.” He showed his son his left arm and explained, “The last time, the Dark Mark was still there, very faint but I could see it. This time, it has completely vanished.”

Harry took in what his father said, but he still couldn’t believe that he finally had succeeded in the task they had been planning so intensely over the months. He quickly downed the potions Salazar held out to him and – feeling much better immediately – slowly crawled out of the bed. Seeing that Severus was still peacefully asleep in the other bed Salazar had conjured for him yesterday, he turned to his father again. “Dad, do I have to meet the Aurors alone? I mean, Severus has been with me the whole time. Shouldn’t he come as well? It’s not only me who vanquished Voldemort!”

Salazar smirked. “It is very thoughtful of you to say so, and I know that Severus helped you; however it is you who has conquered the Dark Lord – just as the prophecy in the future said.”

‘Wait!’ Harry thought while he took a quick shower. ‘This means that Dad isn’t going to become a Death Eater, that he’ll stay together with Mom, and that Mom isn’t going to die when I’m a year old, right?’ How would everything be when they returned to the future? Would he have grown up at Hogwarts together with his parents? He hurriedly ate a banana instead of breakfast and went up to the Headmaster’s Office.

When he saw Professor McGonagall waiting for him at the bottom of the steps that lead to the office, he realized that the Headmaster had forgotten to tell him the password. The Gargoyle opened on ‘The Demise’, and together with his Head of House, Harry climbed up the stairs.

-----

When they entered Dumbledore’s office, it was full of people. The second thing that fell into Harry’s view was the newest edition of the ‘Daily Prophet’, laying on the Headmaster’s desk. Half of the front page was covered by a huge headline that read

“HARRY SNAPE VANQUISHES ‘YOU – KNOW – WHO’

– Great Grandson of Albus Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall –”

Harry had completely forgotten that Dumbledore hat told him they were his great grandparents. “Good morning, Harry,” his great grandfather greeted him and proceeded to introduce the people who were seated around his desk. “Now, Harry, here are Mr. McNeill, the Minister of Magic, and Aurors Moody, Potter, Crouch, Dawlish, and Diggory.”

Most of them Harry had already met on the day the Hogwarts Express had been attacked. Nevertheless, he went around and greeted each of them, before he sat down next to Professor McGonagall on the only empty seat.

It took him an hour to recount the happenings of the evening before because of the many questions the Aurors and the Minister had. Finally, the Headmaster suggested to go to the Dungeons and have a look at the machine.

“No, Dumbledore, one last question, please,” the Minister asked kindly, and when everyone looked at him expectantly, he continued, “Mr. Snape, what happened to the Death Eaters? Did I understand correctly that you placed a strong Memory Charm on each of them?”

Harry cleared his throat. “Yes, Minister McNeill. However, I could only use a Memory Charm on the Death Eaters that were present. As far as I know, there are more Death Eaters in Azkaban, and I don’t know if any other Death Eaters were missing at the meeting yesterday. These people do have their complete memories.”

The Minister nodded thoughtfully.

“Dermot,” Dumbledore addressed the Minister, “we would like to keep this secret, but Harry here is capable of wish magic. The Charm he placed on the followers of Voldemort will not be reversed easily. Therefore, Harry has offered to visit the Death Eaters at Azkaban and put them under the same Charm. However, as our Healer, Madam Pomfrey, has forbidden him to do any magic for a week, this visit has to wait until next week in case you want him to do this.”

“Thank you, Mr. Snape,” the Minister said. “However, I prefer to let the Dementors give them a kiss, and then the problem is solved.” Ignoring the gasp of Harry and his great grandparents, he turned to the Aurors, “Moody and Potter, you will contact your colleagues at Azkaban upon your return to the Ministry and instruct them accordingly.”

-----

Finally they left the office in order to have a look at the machine Harry had used to vanquish Voldemort forever. While Harry had expected the Headmaster to make a Portkey for them in order to go to the machine room, Dumbledore led everyone through the Dungeons.

They spent the rest of the morning in the Dungeons room, where Harry had to explain how the machine worked. Finally, the Minister turned to Harry. “Do you think we could get a demonstration, Mr. Snape?”

Harry sighed. He wasn’t supposed to do any magic, and he really didn’t feel up to it. But could he deny this to the Minister? ‘No,’ he decided. “Professor, could you make a Portkey from here into the machine please?” he asked his great grandfather and added, “In the meantime, I’ll go and catch a rat.”

Two of the Aurors accompanied him to a corner in the dungeons where Salazar had shown him and Severus a place they could always find many rats. Lucky for Harry, the Aurors immediately stunned and caught a rat, so that Harry didn’t have to use any magic. Back in the room, they enlarged the rats and put it through the whole process in the machine, until Harry had turned it into cow dung that could be Scourgified.

With mixed up feelings Harry anxiously glanced at the Minister and the Aurors. Would they approve what he had done to Voldemort? Nonetheless, he had murdered a human being. However, the guests were very impressed, and when they left the Dungeons, the Minister addressed Harry once more.

“Mr. Snape, I would like to thank you very much for what you have done in favour of the whole wizarding world. We will have a You-know-Who Demise Party here in the Great Hall – provided that your Headmaster agrees – and on this occasion you will be presented with the Order of Merlin, 1st Class.”

Harry blushed deeply and groaned inwardly. ‘Oh no! I haven’t done it for the wizarding world; I’ve done it to save my Mom! I don’t want anything, and I don’t want any attention,’ he thought but only voiced, “Thank you very much, Minister.”

Finally, he was excused and could return to their quarters, where Salazar and Severus were waiting for him.

“The Order of Merlin, 1st Class?” Salazar said when Harry had told them everything. “I know that you don’t want anything like that, son, but let me tell you something.” He glanced at Harry, who was looking at him expectantly. “I am very proud of you son, and I think you should accept the award because you really earned it. Moreover, this Order will probably include money. You will probably receive quite a sum of money with it.”

Harry groaned. “I don’t want the money. There’ll be people who’d need money much more than me,” he protested vehemently.

“If you don’t want it, you can think about what to do with it. You can sponsor something with the money,” Severus suggested.

“However, you don’t have to decide this now,” Salazar said calmingly. “I suggest that you go and sleep for a few hours.”

Harry complied happily as he was exhausted.

-----

When Harry’s mind slowly turned back to consciousness, he could hear his parents’ voices. Smiling slightly, he lazily opened his eyes and found that Lily and Severus were sitting on the edge of his bed, fondly talking to each other.

“Hello Harry. Did you sleep well?” Lily asked immediately.

Harry was still too sleepy to answer properly, but he took his mother’s hand and squeezed it, noticing that he felt very refreshed and much better than he had before his nap.

“Are you all right, Harry?” Severus asked worriedly, giving his future son a piercing look.

“Yes, of course,” Harry replied. “I feel just great – as if I had slept for a week.”

Lily and Severus laughed. “To put it straight, son,” Severus explained, “you have indeed been asleep for two days. However, it is fortunate that you woke up now as the Demise Party is going to start in an hour.”

Harry groaned. “Do I have to go? Didn’t Great-Grandfather promise me that the talk to the Aurors was the last I had to do?”

Severus laughed. “Let me get my older self, and you can discuss it with him, all right?”

Harry gave him a grateful nod. “Yes, thanks, Severus.”

“Harry!” Salazar was very pleased to see his son awake. “I understand how you feel but the Party won’t be so bad. I had several talks with Albus and the Minister during the last days, and they have promised that you don’t have to do anything except for accepting the Order of Merlin from Minister McNeill. We will eat dinner, and afterwards there will be fireworks over the lake, and that is all. You are not required to say anything, and no reporters will be allowed into the castle,” he explained patiently, knowing how much his son hated any kind of attention focused on him.

-----

Salazar was right. Harry sat among his friends at one of the small tables, which had replaced the House tables for the night, and enjoyed his dinner together with the others very much. There was no huge ceremony, the Minister just called his name, explained shortly what he had done, thanked him, and gave him the Order of Merlin.

Suddenly James addressed Harry. “Harry! Do you remember what you promised us weeks ago?” Seeing his future Godson’s confused glance, he elaborated, “You promised to teach us how to become an animagus!”

Harry laughed. “All right, I will try to teach you. However, we should keep this among ourselves and not tell other people about it. Who else is interested?” he asked and glanced around the table, where Lily, Severus, James, Remus, Peter and Sirius were seated. Everyone except for Remus showed their interest, and Harry sighed. “All right. We have to see where we can practise.” He thought for a moment and suggested, “Maybe I could teach you in my room, however, I have to ask my father first. What do you think? Anyway, we should practise every evening after dinner, whenever we don’t have Quidditch practise. Will that be all right with you?”

When everyone nodded their agreement, Harry turned to Severus. “Severus, can you help me to brew the Animagus Potion tomorrow, I mean, you know, the Potion you can take in order to know, which animal you’re going to turn into?”

Severus gave him an enthusiastic nod. “Yes, Harry, of course. You should know how much I love Potions.”

Harry gave his future father a huge smile and continued to devour his dinner. As he had been asleep for two days he was very hungry, and the meal was especially delicious this evening.

When everyone headed outside for the fireworks one of the Headmaster’s friends had organized over the lake, the Minister caught up with Harry and asked, “May I talk to you privately, Mr. Snape?”

“Yes, of course, Minister,” Harry replied astonished. What could he want now? They walked a few meters around the castle, in the opposite direction from where everyone else was headed.

“Mr. Snape, I just wanted to tell you that the Order of Merlin includes a financial reward, which is worth – in case of the Order of Merlin 1st Class – one million Galleons. Now, I wanted to ask if you had your own account at Gringotts or if we should open one for you.”

Harry stared at the Minister in astonishment. How thoughtful the man was! He hadn’t expected a Minister of Magic to think about people’s needs – and that the Minister even had the thoughtfulness to take him aside and not talk about this in front of everyone. Harry was very impressed. He cleared his throat and answered, “First of all, Minister, thank you very much for not talking about this in front of everyone else. No, I don’t have an account yet, but I’ll ask my father to accompany me to Gringotts and open one on the next opportunity.”

“All right, Mr. Snape, then I shall inform Gringotts accordingly, and as soon as your vault is opened, the money will be yours within an hour. Now let’s go and see if the fireworks are about to start.”

The fireworks were beautiful, and Harry enjoyed himself very much.

-----

In the morning, Harry asked his father to accompany him to Gringotts, and Severus immediately agreed.

“I shall speak to Albus at breakfast. If he agrees, we can make the trip directly after breakfast.”

Dumbledore let them go immediately and even allowed Severus to join his future self and Harry for the trip. Diagon Alley was full of joyful people. Everyone seemed to enjoy the peace and quiet after the threat, which had towered over the wizarding world, was vanquished.

The group of three made their way to Gringotts. After they had the Goblins make a vault for him, Harry asked Severus, “Do you already have your own vault, Severus?” When his friend denied, Harry said, “Severus, as you know, the Ministry has given my one million Galleons. Now, I want you to have at least thirty percent of the money. Please don’t say anything, because I insist. I want you to be financially independent, and you’ll probably need a lot of money when you study for your Potions Mastery, because you’ll have to buy many ingredients and such things. So please, let’s make a vault for you, so that I can tell the Goblins to put thirty percent of my vault in it. Or shall I just leave my key with you, when we return to the future?”

His friend was stunned. Therefore, Harry added, “I don’t want the money anyway. I’ll probably donate a large part of it, provided I find something I want to sponsor. So, please take the money. Maybe you can buy a few children’s books for me as I never had any in my old time line.” He grinned at the younger version of his father, who had yet to reply.

Salazar smirked and told his younger self, “He means it, and I think you can use the money well. I had the advantage of being the Potions Master for the Dark Lord, which gave me access to his huge Potions laboratory, equipped with any ingredient you could imagine. You won’t have this.”

Finally Severus relented. He let out a deep sigh and said, “I really do not want to do this, but if you insist, then I can only say ‘thank you’.”

When they left Gringotts after all, Salazar asked, “Did you have anything else in mind, or did you only want to visit the Bank?”

“Ah, I wouldn’t mind a short trip to the bookstore,” Harry replied immediately, and both versions of his father laughed.

“And to the apothecary, I suppose?” Salazar asked, giving Severus a questioning glance. When his younger self nodded, Salazar stated, “In that case, I suggest going to Florish & Blotts last, otherwise we won’t manage to go anywhere else, knowing how much my son loves books.”

Harry frowned and said pensively, “Maybe I could buy some Christmas presents as it’s only three weeks until Christmas.”

Salazar and Severus agreed immediately as they too wanted to buy Christmas presents. “Harry?” Salazar suddenly turned to his son, who gave him an enquiring glance. “Is there something what you want for Christmas?”

Severus stared at Harry when he saw that his friend nearly jumped in astonishment at the question. Sensing that something was wrong, he sent a confused glance at his older self. Salazar however simply shook his head and told him if Harry wanted him to know he would tell Severus.

Salazar put a firm hand on his shoulder and said, “Don't worry, Harry. Everything is different now. You will not go to the Dursleys, and no one will ever, ever harm you. I promise.”

Harry gave Salazar a grateful nod and finally resumed walking, just as his father suggested, “Shall we go and have something to eat first?”

“That would be great,” Harry replied thankfully. Not that he was very hungry, but he had become very tired and was glad for the break.

Salazar led them out of the Leaky Cauldron into Muggle London, where they entered a sandwich restaurant. After devouring a huge sandwich with Chicken Teriyaki and resting for an hour, they took a relatively short trip to the Apothecary and finally ended up in the bookstore, where Harry bought Christmas presents for all his friends. Salazar and Severus even managed to buy a few books for Harry without him noticing as he was so engrossed in the books he was looking at.

The three enjoyed the rest of the afternoon very much and only returned to Hogwarts two hours before dinner – just in time to brew the Animagus potion before they had to head down to the Great Hall.

-----

In the evening, Severus, Lily, James, Sirius, Remus and Peter joined Harry in his room. Harry had asked his father if they could use his room for their Animagus lessons and he didn’t mind, provided that the students promised to practise only when Harry was with them.

“All right,” Harry said, turning to the five students, who wanted to try the Potion. “Do you all want to do it at the same time, or would you prefer to do it one after another and watch the others?”

“Won’t we able to watch the others if we did it at the same time?” James asked unbelievingly.

Harry shook his head and explained, “No, probably not. Depending on the kind of animal you turn into, the first transformation will hurt more or less, and you’ll be too preoccupied with yourselves to care about the others. I suggest that you do it one after the other, and the person who’s turn it is should drink the Potion and then lie down on my bed.”

Everyone agreed immediately, and James gave Lily an encouraging smile and said, “Ladies first.”

Lily sat down on Harry’s bed and drank the potion her future son handed her. She turned into a beautiful white owl. Harry looked in awe at his mother before he had an idea and transformed into his phoenix form and tried to talk to Lily. #Hi, Mum. Can you understand me?#

#Yes, Harry. I can hear you. What am I? An owl?#

Harry giggled. #Yes, you’re a very beautiful snowy owl – a great Animagus form. Congratulations!#

Lily shohooed and replied, #Thank you, son.#

After a few minutes, Lily returned to her usual self, and Salazar, who had entered the room without anyone noticing him, handed her a Pain Relieving Potion, which she gulped down greedily.

Now, James sat down on Harry’s bed, and knowing what his form was going to become, Salazar ushered the others, who had sat down on the edge of the bed while Lily was in her bird form, to sit down on the chairs Harry had conjured for them before. “You don’t know what his form is going to be; therefore, it’s better to keep some distance, otherwise you might get hurt,” he advised the students.

James transformed into a stag, and everyone watched him in awe. After he had turned back and Sirius and Peter had experienced their dog and rat forms, Severus sat down on the bed and took the Potion, turning into the pretty snake Harry had already seen the few times Salazar had transformed. Ignoring his friends’ gasp, Harry sat down on the edge of his bed and asked, “How are you feeling as a snake, Severus?”

“Thisss iss very sstrange,” Severus replied in Parseltongue.

Harry had to hide a laugh, not wanting to let everyone know that he was able to understand. At least Sirius and Peter didn’t know about it, and he wanted it to remain like this. “I can imagine that it must be a very strange feeling, probably even more than being a bird as you only have one large limb, but you’re really beautiful,” he told the younger version of his father.

“Anyway, I’m glad to be able to talk to you in thisss form,” Severus hissed, and Harry grinned widely.

When Severus had turned back to his usual self, Harry spoke up. “I’m impressed. You all have beautiful Animagus forms! However, you have to practise a lot, and please don’t forget your promise; you’re only to practise here, when we’re all together. Now, I think it’s enough for today. Let’s meet here again tomorrow after dinner and start with your practise.”

During the next two weeks, they practised every evening they didn’t have Quidditch practice, but until the beginning of the winter holidays, none of them had managed to even transform their left hand. “Are you all going home for Christmas, or is anyone staying here?” Harry asked on the last Sunday of the term. They had decided not to practise during the test week, which was the final week before the holidays.

“Maybe, we should ask our parents to let us return to Hogwarts as soon as Christmas is over,” James Potter suggested, and everyone nodded affirmatively. They proceeded to write to their parents immediately, and at the end of the week, Harry knew that all his friends would return for the last week of the holidays.

When they were sitting in the Great Hall for their last dinner before most of the students would head home in the morning, Sirius suddenly said, “You know, I mean, I know that we’re coming back here in order to practise, but as it’s clear that we can’t practise the whole day, we could use a few hours a day to explore the castle. Maybe we can even make a map of Hogwarts that shows every person in the castle? It would be great for playing pranks, if you could see exactly where people were and who was nearby.”

“SIRI!!!” James embraced him. “That’s the best idea you’ve ever had, Cool!”

-----

After dinner, Harry met with Lily and Severus. He had asked his two best friends to join him in their quarters in order to talk to them. First he spoke to Lily and asked, “Will it be possible to send you an owl, Lily? Will your parents let it in?”

Lily sighed and replied, “They don’t like it, but they let me have my post, no problem. The only problem is my sister; she won’t let any owl in.”

Harry groaned. He could imagine that very well. He sighed and said, “Lily, you already know that Voldemort killed you in my old time line and that this was the reason for Dad and me to come to the past, right?” When she nodded and smiled at her son, he continued, “What I haven’t told you is that I grew up with your sister and her husband…”

Ignoring Lily’s loud gasp, Harry continued, “They starved and abused me. I didn’t even get a birthday or Christmas present, and I had to live in the cupboard under the stairs!”

Hearing of the mistreatment by the hands of her sister, Lily’s eyes filled with tears. “Is that why your condition is so poor and why you can hardly be touched without flinching away?” she asked solemnly, giving Harry a piercing look.

Harry only gave her a short nod.

Lily threw a glance at Severus. “As you have already killed Voldemort, maybe this time we will be able to raise you ourselves.”

“I hope so.” Harry breathed wistfully.

“Anyway this time we will take precautions. Who was it that placed you with Petunia?”

“Dumbledore.”

“All right. I will tell everyone – and also write a ‘final wish’ stating – that in case something happens to Severus and me, you are going to be placed with James, Remus, Alice or with your great grandparents. Don’t worry – you will never have to see Petunia again, I promise!”

Severus nodded. “Yes, Harry, that we will do!”

Harry was so happy he was on the verge of tears. “Thank you, Mum and Dad,” he mumbled. Then he remembered something and turned to Severus. “Sev, are you all right going back home? I know for a fact that your father doesn’t treat you much better than my uncle treated me, right?”

Severus sighed and told him, “You know, Harry, I wanted to stay here at Hogwarts, but my parents didn’t allow me to remain here. I have to be grateful that they let me return directly after Christmas. And I’ll be all right. Salazar has given me a box with a lot of Potions phials he knows I’ll need; so I’ll really be fine this time.”

Harry sighed and threw his future father a worried glance. “All right, Severus. Salazar must know. Nevertheless, if you encounter any problems, send me an owl, and I’ll come and get you out of there, or if you need other Potions or anything, we’ll meet somewhere so that I can give it to you.”

“All right, thank you, Harry,” Severus said gratefully.

-----

After breakfast, the carriages with the students left. Only two Slytherins, a first year and a fourth year, remained because their parents were in Azkaban.

Seeing the sad look on Harry’s face when the carriages with his friends left, Salazar suggested, “Shall we go for a walk to Hogsmeade?”

Harry threw his father a grateful glance and replied, “All right, Dad. Thanks.”

Salazar exchanged a few words with his colleagues and agreed with McGonagall, Sprout, Pomfrey, and Flitwick to meet at The Three Broomsticks for lunch. Harry and Salazar met with the other Professors after a three-hour tour through Hogsmeade. They had visited Honeydukes, Zonko’s Jokeshop and – of course – the Apothecary, before they ended up in the bookshop for the rest of the morning. Harry enjoyed their trip very much, and already couldn’t understand why he had been so sad in the morning. His friends would be back in a week, and he had the best father one could imagine. Plus, they were going to spend their first Christmas together as a real family. By the time they had to head to The Three Broomsticks, his mood had lightened remarkably.

When they were having Butterbeer and lunch, Salazar explained to his colleagues what Slughorn had told him at breakfast. “Slughorn told me that he has invited the two remaining Slytherin students to his quarters for Christmas dinner and wanted to know if Harry and I were coming as well. As I am not in the mood to spend Christmas with Slughorn, I refused, saying that Harry wanted to spend Christmas at our quarters. Therefore, I would like to invite everyone else remaining at Hogwarts to have Christmas dinner in our quarters. I have already suggested this to Albus, and he told me he thinks it’s a good idea.”

“Thank you very much, Salazar,” Minerva replied immediately. “I think it is a good idea, too. There is no need to have Christmas dinner in the huge Great Hall with only eight people.”

The others voiced their agreement, and they returned to the castle. On their way back, Salazar talked to Minerva and asked for her help to decorate the Christmas tree. She laughed and promised to join Harry and Salazar in the morning of Christmas Eve. Then Salazar and Harry walked over to Hagrid’s Hut to invite the half-giant for Christmas dinner and to ask about a Christmas tree for their quarters.

“Hello Harry, Salazar,” Hagrid bellowed. “Glad te see’ya. How’re you doin?”

“We came to invite you to Christmas dinner in our quarters, 6:00 p.m. on Christmas day,” Salazar told him.

“And we would like to ask you where we can get a Christmas tree,” Harry added enthusiastically.

“Christmas dinner? Oh, yeah, great. Thank you. I appreciate it very much. And a tree? Now, d’you wan’a come to the forest with me? We can get one for you now.”

Harry threw his father an unsure glance, and when his father said, “If you want to go, we can join Hagrid to get a tree for our quarters.” His eyes started to twinkle madly, and he gave Hagrid a huge smile.

Two hours later, they returned with a tree, which was so huge that Hagrid had to carry it for them. He even was so kind as to put it up in their sitting room. Harry sat down on the sofa and watched the pretty tree in awe. Even without any decoration, the tree was beautiful. The next two days, Harry mostly spent on the sofa, translating one of Slytherin’s books, while his father busied himself in the Potions lab, where he tried a few of the Potion recipes Harry had translated a few weeks ago. After dinner, Minerva, Albus and Poppy joined them for tea and biscuits, and Harry was glad to get to know his great grandparents better. Of course, he had spent a lot of time with them the year before, but to know that they were related to him was a very different feeling.

-----

On Tuesday morning, Harry had just made himself comfortable on the sofa with a parchment, a quill, and his book and started with his translation, when Professor McGonagall entered the room. “Hello, Harry,” she said, frowning at his book. “Now, first of all, you shouldn’t work every day during your holidays. The lesson free time has the purpose to let students take a rest, you know,” she said disapprovingly. “However, today, you are going to have a Transfiguration lesson,” she added.

Harry immediately put his things away and anxiously eyed the teacher. “Sorry, Professor.”

“Harry,” his father threw in calmingly, “your grandmother is only worried about you; she is not angry. You haven’t done anything wrong. Everything is all right.” He sent McGonagall a reproachful glance and continued softly, “How about you make one of your baubles for your grandmother and show her what kind of Transfiguration lesson you need?”

Harry threw him an apprehensive look and – receiving an encouraging nod – he took a tissue and transfigured it into a Christmas ornament. It was white-gold with seven animals playing on it, a stag, a snake, a dog, a rat, a wolf, an owl and a phoenix. Minerva looked at the beautiful bauble in awe and finally said, “All right. You don’t need any Transfiguration lesson, Harry, my apology. This is very advanced Transfiguration. What about Charms?”

Harry looked at her enquiringly, and during the following hour his grandmother showed him several ways to charm the Christmas tree. Finally, Harry tried out his own version. He sent his wish magic into a charm to add several red balls to the tree, seemingly Quaffels and Bludgers, as well as many tiny golden stars, and finally made a Snitch fly through the tree. Together with the dozen golden baubles he had Transfigured in the meantime in order to give them to his friends and the teachers, who would be joining them for Christmas dinner, the tree looked very interesting and very beautiful.

“A Quidditch tree,” Salazar sneered, when he exited his lab to see what Minerva and Harry had done about the tree. Although he would have preferred a different topic for the tree, he was glad that Harry had managed to charm the tree like this and commended his son for his success.

-----

On Christmas morning, Harry was up very early. He immediately went over to the sitting room and stared at the beautiful tree – and suddenly he had an idea. He sat down on his favourite spot on the sofa, just in front of the fireplace and looked intensely at the tree, sending a huge amount of wish magic into the tree. Suddenly, the Quidditch image was gone. Many tiny gold cauldrons were sitting on the branches, and small pieces of harmless ingredients were flying around, diving into the cauldrons and mixing themselves at the right time. From time to time, steam in different colours came out of the cauldrons. Maybe it was more funny than beautiful, but Harry was quite sure that his father would like it. At least the ornaments Harry had made were pretty.

A few minutes later, his father entered the room and looked in awe at the tree, before he went over to Harry, pulling him into a slight hug. “Thank you, son, I appreciate it very much. You did extremely well with this.” He gave Harry the greatest compliment the boy had ever heard coming out of his father’s mouth.

Harry smiled happily and suggested, “Can we open presents now, Dad? Look how many there are!” he exclaimed unbelievingly. Seeing his father smile encouragingly, he proceeded to open his presents. He received many books as all his friends knew how much of a bookworm he was.

From Sirius he got a book called ‘Magical Creatures and How to Cook Them,’ and from Hagrid a book called ‘Understanding Phoenixes’. James gave him another book called ‘1000 Easy Tips for the Magical Prankster,’ and from Minerva he received Phoenix treats and a book named ‘Transfiguration During the Ages.’ In the present from his mother he found a charmed quill that changed the colour of the ink to whatever the owner wished. From Remus he got a different sort of Phoenix cakes and chocolate frogs from Honeydukes.

The package from his grandfather was huge and contained a perch, which Salazar set up in front of the fireplace. “That’s a good idea,” he commented. “You can rest in your phoenix form on there. And now you can even invite Fawkes to come over for a phoenix talk.”

Harry looked from his father to the perch in awe and smiled. ‘I’ll also be able to use it together with my mum, provided that she manages to master becoming an owl,’ he thought happily.

Salazar and Severus gave Harry a pile of Potion books. Each of the recipes in them seemed very interesting but not too complicated. Salazar had also bought his son new every-day robes and warm winter robes for him. From Poppy Harry received a book named ‘Powerful Healing Methods’ along with a note that said she would like to give Harry some Healing lessons if he wanted them.

-----

Salazar and Harry had just returned from a huge breakfast in the Great Hall when suddenly there was a knock at the door. When Salazar went to open it, he saw Lily, but she looked horrible. Her face was pale as a sheet, her cheeks were flushed, and she was shivering and sobbing uncontrollably.

Salazar pulled Lily into the room, frowning that she felt so hot to the touch.

Harry, who had come over hearing his father’s gasp when he opened the door, sent Lily a worried glance and asked, “What’s wrong, Lily? Are you ill? Why are you here?”

Salazar steered Lily over to the sofa and helped her to lie down, before he waved his wand over the girl to assess her condition. “She seems to have bronchitis along with a very high fever,” he said to Harry worriedly, before he walked over to his private lab and brought back a few Potions.

Lily gulped down the Potions, relaxed visibly, and began to talk. “Thank you, Salazar. I’ve had this cold for two days now, and this morning I really felt bad, so I decided to stay in bed. I didn’t think about the fact that it’s Christmas and that I should watch out for owls. Anyway, my sister must have tricked the owls into giving my mail to her, saying that I was sick and she’d give it to me. But she didn’t. In fact, she must have been reading my letters, because she suddenly took all my presents from under the tree into the backyard, set fire to them and screamed something about having me was bad enough but having a son of mine would be unbearable. I woke up to her screaming. My father then told me what had happened. Anyway, I just ran out of the house, called the Knight Bus, and here I am. I won’t go back there anymore.”

“Oh, Lily, I’m so sorry,” Harry said horrified. He looked at his mother and noticed that she was only wearing her school robes on top of her pyjamas. “It’s all my fault, because I called you ‘Mum’ in my letter. I’m so sorry,” he repeated. Huge tears were running down his cheeks.

“No, Harry,” Lily croaked hoarsely, “you couldn’t know.”

“All right, Lily,” Salazar spoke up. “I suggest that you sleep for a few hours to improve your condition, and when you feel better we shall talk about it. In the meantime, I am going to inform your grandparents. As they are your magical guardians, you will probably be able to stay with them without returning home if that is what you want. Harry will stay here with you, all right?”

Lily gave him a consoled smile and mumbled, “Yes. Thank you very much, Salazar and Harry.” She lay back onto the cushion Salazar had placed under her head and closed her eyes.

Harry carefully tucked her in as his father had often been doing at his bedside during the last months and went to get a wet cloth, which he placed over her burning forehead. Then he sat on the edge of the sofa, holding her hand and sadly watching his mother sleep. ‘How could I be so stupid?’ he thought. ‘I know Aunt Petunia, and still I had to send Mum a book about Potions and to write a letter telling her ‘I love you, Mum’. And now she’s very ill, only because she ran around in the snow in her pyjamas and her school robe when she was already sick – and that’s no one’s fault but my own.’

He spent the next few hours there, watching his mother and bathing her flushed face with a cold cloth he wished ice cool every now and then.

After nearly two hours, Salazar returned to their quarters, only to proceed to his Potions lab immediately in order to brew a more efficient Potion for Lily. After inserting the first two ingredients, however, he banished the Potion and started brewing twice the amount of it, thinking that there was quite a possibility that Harry would get ill as well after spending so much time with his sick mother. Taking this Potion for a few days should be able to prevent that.

Salazar had just returned to the sitting room with one phial of the Potion in his hand and waved his wand over Lily, when she woke up. Harry helped her to sit up, and Salazar handed her the phial. “How do you feel?” he asked then, taking back the empty phial.

“Better now,” Lily replied. “I’m hungry.”

Salazar immediately called a house elf and ordered soup and sandwiches for them, which popped up on the table in the dining corner a minute later. After finishing their late lunch, Salazar sent Lily to bed, suggesting she should use the second bed in Harry’s room, which they had left there so that Severus could stay any time. It was then that Albus and Minerva arrived with Lily’s luggage. They put the luggage in Harry’s room and joined Harry, who sat on the edge of Lily’s bed and was quietly talking to her.

“Lily,” Minerva addressed her granddaughter, “we have talked to your parents and they have agreed to allow Albus and I to be your guardians in the future, not only in the magical but also in the Muggle world. Therefore, you will never have to go back there if you don’t want to.”

Lily threw her grandmother a grateful look and croaked, “Thank you, Granny, Granddad. I appreciate it very much. I don’t want to go back to my parents’ house again, at least not as long as my sister lives there. May I stay here with Harry and Salazar, until school starts again?” she added questioningly.

“If Harry doesn’t mind and you are all right with it, you may,” her grandmother ensured her. “And later, we will set up a room for you in our quarters.

“I don’t mind at all. Why should I?” Harry asked confused.

“Because this is your room, which you shouldn’t have to share with anyone,” Lily replied hoarsely.

“Don’t talk too much, Lily,” Salazar joined the conversation and added, “If you feel well enough, you may get up for Christmas dinner, which will take place here in our quarters, Lily.”

-----

Christmas dinner was a funny affair, which Harry enjoyed very much. Although his mother was still sick and Poppy put her to bed immediately after eating, Harry was very happy to have her here. Everyone seemed to be impressed with the interesting decoration of the Christmas tree.

“What charm did you use for this?” Professor Flitwick asked interestedly.

“Um… it’s not really a charm, Professor. I just did it with wish magic,” Harry replied quietly.

“You are capable of wish magic?” Professor Sprout asked unbelievingly. “That’s very rare, isn’t it, Albus?”

Dumbledore nodded and said, “Yes, it is indeed very rare. However, I believe that it happened from time to time in the Merlin family, and as my great grandson he is an heir of Merlin just like Lily and I.”

“Wait!” Flitwick exclaimed. “Your great grandson? Yours and Minerva’s? How can Lily have a child? She’s much too young!”

Harry laughed and shrugged. He didn’t mind Sprout and Flitwick knowing that he came from the future. He smiled at the two professors, when Dumbledore told them who they were.

-----

The next two days, Harry spent sitting on the edge of Lily’s bed, working on his translation. From time to time he wiped her face with a cool cloth, or when Lily was awake and felt well enough, they talked for a while. He even stayed with his mother for the meals instead of going to the Great Hall. On Friday evening, she was finally allowed to get up, so that they could join the others for dinner in the Great Hall.

When they returned to their quarters, Harry said, “Dad, Lily, um… I would like to go to the Chamber of Secrets in order to get a few more books in Parselscript. I’ve already finished the first three books I borrowed. Would you like to come with me?”

Salazar threw Lily a piercing glance, but when she nodded eagerly, he said, “All right, shall we use the fire place, or would you prefer to flash us, Harry?”

“I can Flash you,” Harry replied, quickly went to his room to get the books, and transformed into Breeze. When they arrived in the Chamber, Amaterasu greeted them happily. Harry talked to her for a few minutes, before he followed the others into the library. They only spent an hour in the chamber, scanning the shelves for books in Parselscript. When they had gathered about twenty books, Harry selected a few, which he wanted to translate next. He was very tired and just wanted to go home. Most of the books were indeed Potions books, but Harry also found one about Hogwarts in the time of the founders and one, which looked as if it was some sort of diary. He took these two books as well as three of the Potions books with him, when he Flashed them back.

“Maybe we should ask our friends if they could join us in the Chamber for a few days in order to search for all books in Parselscript,” he said after they returned to their quarters.

“We also have to continue cataloguing the books,” Lily added.

“You know,” Harry said pensively. “Our friends are going to come back the day after tomorrow, so we will have exactly one week of holidays left. As you want to practise your Animagus transformation, we should spend every morning here in our room and practise. So we still have the afternoon and the evening left to do other things. I know that James suggested making a map, but we could do that in the afternoon and spend the evening in the Chamber to do the cataloguing.”

“You shouldn’t help with the cataloguing,” Salazar said firmly. “I’m willing to help, and I can imagine that Albus and Professor Flitwick would offer to help as well. You have much more work than the others, translating all these books.”

“That’s true,” Lily agreed immediately. “You can still join us in the Chamber and just sit down on the sofa in the living room. The Basilisk will be glad to have you there anyway.”

Harry laughed. “Yes, she seems to be quite clingy.”

-----

When Harry woke up in the morning, he knew immediately that he was ill. He was hot and cold at the same time, and he could hardly breathe. Glancing over to Lily’s bed, he noticed that it was empty. How late was it? A look at his watch showed him that it was already 9:00 a.m., but he was in no condition to get up anyway. He groaned and closed his eyes again, thinking that his father would come to look after him if he didn’t get up.

The next time he woke up, he felt a cool hand on his forehead and unconsciously leaned into the touch. Then he heard two voices talking next to him. “What’s wrong with him, Sal? Does he have the same thing I had?”

“No, I’m sure he got it from you, but it seems to be worse. If I’m correct, it’s pneumonia, and his temperature is at 40.5 degrees, which can be dangerous if it gets any higher. I don’t know if the Potion I made for you will work here, so I’m going to get Pomfrey. Can you stay with him for a few minutes please, Lily?”

“Of course,” Lily replied and sat down on the edge of Harry’s bed.

Harry groaned when the cool hand vanished from his forehead, but it was immediately replaced by another. “Hi, Harry,” Lily whispered. “I’m sorry you’re sick.”

Harry lazily opened his eyes and threw his mother a helpless glance. A moment later, Poppy and Salazar entered the room. “Yes, you’re right. Pneumonia,” she said after checking on Harry. “In fact, I should take him with me,” she mused pensively.

“No,” Harry groaned. “Please let me stay here. I’ll do everything you want, please,” he begged hoarsely.

“Yes, yes,” Pomfrey replied absent-mindedly, attaching a wrist band to Harry’s right arm. Then she turned to Salazar. “What I can’t understand is why the Potion didn’t work. You gave him the same Potion you gave to Ms. Evans for three days, didn’t you?”

“Yes,” Salazar replied simply. “I thought it would prevent him from getting sick.”

“It should have,” the Healer agreed firmly. “But obviously it hasn’t. Therefore, I need you to brew a Potion against pneumonia. Do you have any recent Potion you could make?” she asked hopefully.

“Yes,” Salazar’s answer came quickly. “He caught pneumonia a year ago, and the Potion I brewed then worked for him. So I shall make the same Potion again. It will take an hour to brew.”

“All right. If his oxygen level gets any lower than it is now or his temperature goes up, I’ll have to take him with me. I’ll be back in a few hours,” Pomfrey said after glancing once again at Harry’s wrist band and left the room.

The next few days passed in a blur for Harry. He drifted in and out consciousness. Sometimes he noticed the voices of Lily, Severus, Salazar or Poppy, and whenever he felt something cool pressed against his lips he swallowed obediently. When he finally woke up, Severus and Lily were sitting on the edge of his bed, talking to him in a soft voice. “Wake up, son, you have to get better, school is going to start again soon,” he heard his father’s voice.

Harry lazily opened his eyes. “Sev’rus?” he asked tiredly. “Whattimeisit?” he added, slurring the words.

“It’s already Wednesday,” Severus explained. “You have been very ill for a few days, Harry. I’m glad you’re a little better now. Wait a moment; I’ll get your dad for you.”

“I’m glad you’re finally awake, Harry,” his mother said, stroking his still flushed cheeks. “We were so worried about you.”

“Sorry, Mum,” Harry whispered. “It’s all right; I’ll be fine.”

Salazar came and studied his son. “Good to see you conscious again, Harry,” he stated, before he waved his wand over him.

“Dad?” Harry asked desperately. “You know, the others have all come back early in order to practise their Animagus transformation. Can they come in here so that I can teach them? I mean, I don’t have to do a lot; I just have to watch them. Please, Dad.”

Salazar sighed. “Definitely not today, Harry. Maybe tomorrow. Let’s talk about it again tomorrow morning.”

On the next day, Salazar noticed that Harry’s condition had finally started to improve and had grudgingly allowed his friends to come over for an hour to practise their Animagus transformation.

-----

“When are we going to start with the map?” Harry asked one evening. Noticing that everyone threw curious looks at him, he elaborated, “Sirius, or was it James, had the idea that we should make a map showing everyone at Hogwarts, right?”

“Ah, yes, of course,” James fell in. “Yes, we wanted to start immediately when we came back, but we wanted to wait for you to participate as well, and we didn’t have time as Lily made us go into the Chamber every day to catalogue the books in the library.”

“You did what?!” Harry exclaimed, completely stunned. “But how could you go into the Chamber? You have to speak Parseltongue to either open the Chamber or to Floo over.”

Sirius laughed. “You know that your father’s Animagus form is a snake, right?” He transformed and opened the Entrance in the girl’s washroom, and he talked to the Basilisk, telling her that you were ill and couldn’t come but had ordered us to work in the library, and she didn’t have any problems.”

“Fortunately you had introduced your father to her before,” Lily threw in. “We have put all books in Parselscript together. I think we found about twenty, plus the twenty we collected before, so there’s a lot of work waiting for you, Harry.”

“Did any of you have a look at the Parselscript books? Are there any books, which aren’t about Potions?” Harry asked curiously and elaborated, “I’ve already finished the book about Hogwarts at the time of the founders and I’m about to finish the diary of Slytherin. At least it’s kind of a diary, and it’s very interesting. But I’ll finish this tomorrow as well, and everything that’s left are Potions books.”

“Potions books are the most important, Harry,” Severus said vividly, glaring at Harry.

“Yes, I know, but they are the most difficult, and as I’m still not feeling completely well I prefer something easier for the moment,” Harry replied apologetically.

Severus stood up and fetched the three Potions books from the shelf, looking through all of them. “Harry, I believe that most of these Potions are already lost in our time. You would do the wizarding world a huge favour by translating these Potions books.”

“Yes, Severus, I know that, and I’ll do it, but please give me a few days,” Harry replied a little upset. During the evening, he finished the other book and started to translate the first Potions book. It was difficult as he didn’t know the exact names of the ingredients, but his father and Severus were eager to help and took the translated recipes with missing ingredients, which Harry didn’t know, for correction. If they saw the other ingredients and the purpose that was described together with each recipe they could guess easily what the missing ingredient was.

The translation of the first Potions book went very smooth, and Harry had already gained a little confidence in translating these difficult books. He immediately started with the next one. However, as classes started on Monday, he didn’t have so much time anymore.

-----

Harry’s friends, who had come to know Harry quite well, believed that he wasn’t really well enough to attend classes for the whole day and had decided to do something – play pranks. Sirius had received a book from James for Christmas with lots of interesting pranks. During the week when they had stayed in Gryffindor on their own, the four friends had planned and prepared a few of them, and now seemed to be the right timing to set them into action.

On Monday, Salazar made Harry eat breakfast in their quarters; therefore, he didn’t notice the tension and anticipation within a certain group of third year students at the Gryffindor table. When Harry entered the Transfiguration classroom, his friends were already there, but they were the only ones. Tired from climbing all the stairs, Harry approached a chair in the last row, but before he could sit down, James pulled him back.

“What are you doing? I want to sit down,” Harry demanded indignantly.

James, however, whispered, “Not yet, Harry, wait a moment, and you’ll know.”

Harry groaned and waited impatiently. Suddenly a group of students entered the room and sat down – only to utterly disappear the instant they touched the chair. Harry threw James a strange glance, and James pulled him over to one of the chairs the students had tried to sit down in only instants before. Their friends sat down as well. Other students entered the room, but they, too, vanished as soon as they sat down, except for the few who sat down on chairs that had been occupied before. Then suddenly, several first year students arrived. However, they didn’t come through the door but via Portkey, gasped when they noticed where they were, and hurried out of the room.

Seeing Harry’s suspicious glance, James proceeded to explain, “Harry, listen. We’ve placed Portkeys on each of the chairs except for McGonagall’s. They’ve all been transported to the Potions Classroom. The people that arrived here came from the Charms Classroom, and…”

His explanation was interrupted by the arrival of Professor McGonagall, who frowned seeing the half-empty classroom. “Does anybody know what happened to your classmates?” she asked, looking straight at Lily, who had an extremely innocent expression on her face.

“I’m sorry Professor, I don’t know. I just arrived myself, and at breakfast everyone seemed to be all right,” she explained calmly.

‘How can she lie so easily?’ Harry thought. He was on the verge of laughing; he would never be able to lie straight into the Professor’s face.

The first lesson was already half over, when a part of the remaining students finally arrived. They had been so confused when they arrived in the Potions classroom that they had spent several minutes feverishly discussing what might have happened until Professor Slughorn threw them out, threatening to take points. Seeing that the students, who sat down in the Potions Classroom, were whisked away, too, a few of the students had even tried to sit down, hoping they’d be taken back into the Transfiguration Classroom – however, they arrived in the Herbology greenhouse, from where they had to walk up to the Transfiguration Classroom. It was utter chaos all over the school that lasted more or less until the end of the first lesson.

Unfortunately, in the third year, Gryffindor and Slytherin students had a double lesson with Professor McGonagall, and the Professor was so angered about the stupid prank that had cost valuable lesson time that she took the opportunity to announce a pop quiz for the second lesson. As Harry had been working on his notes from before Christmas over the weekend, the quiz was fairly easy for him, and he turned his parchment in after twenty minutes – at the same time as Lily. When they left the classroom, Lily asked, “Now, Harry, as we have a free period until lunch, do you want to go to the library together?”

“I’d like to go out and sit down near the lake for a while,” Harry countered. “I haven’t been outside since before Christmas.”

Lily gave him a fond smile. “I know, my dear. All right, let’s go out, but we have to get our cloaks first. I’ll come down and meet you at your quarters.”

“All right, thank you, Lily,” Harry answered and returned to their quarters, put his warmest robe and his scarf on and sat down on the sofa to wait for Lily, who arrived five minutes later. They spent the time until lunch outside, walking half around the lake. Finally sitting down, they leaned their backs against a tree and talked animatedly.

“Yesterday,” Lily told Harry, “our grandparents invited me for tea in their quarters.” Seeing that her son was listening intently, she continued, “Granddad says that they would like to adopt me, if I agreed.”

Harry gave her an astonished look. “That’s very nice of them. And it’s great, Lily. You’ll do it, right? Or is there something wrong with it? I mean, would anything change?”

Lily laughed. “No, Harry, nothing would change. They are my guardians now anyway. The only thing that would change – but only if I want it to – is my name. I’d be Lily Dumbledore instead of Lily Evans.”

“Is that bad?” Harry asked. “And where does the name ‘Evans’ come from? Is it the name of your mother? Your father’s name should be Dumbledore too, shouldn’t it?”

“Granny explained that my father took on my mother’s name when they married because he didn’t want to be in any connection with the magical world – and of course he didn’t want his children to get to know the connection to the Dumbledores in case his children were magical.”

“Oh, I see. So, have you decided yet what to do?”

“If you don’t mind, I think I’m going to do it,” Lily answered, smiling at her son.

“That’s good. And why should I mind? It’s up to you to decide.”

-----

Their last lesson of the day was Charms – a Double period as well. Sirius and James had still another joke prepared for the day. The clocks on the classroom walls were charmed to show the time the Headmaster’s watch showed. However, the two Gryffindors had – with Remus’ help – conjured a new clock, which looked identical to the other, and glued it onto the wall in front of the other clock.

Of course, they had done this during the night when they had come to place the Portkeys on the chairs. But now, five minutes after the beginning of the lesson, Sirius, who was sitting on the far left side of Harry’s friends, bothered Professor Flitwick with a question about a Charm he had read about, while James, who was sitting on the very right end of the row, pointed his wand to the clock and advanced it twenty minutes.

Harry nearly groaned. ‘What do they think they are doing?’ he thought. ‘Nobody is stupid enough not to notice when the lesson is twenty minutes shorter than usual.’ However, Professor Flitwick didn’t notice anything and dismissed them, saying, “Oh, we have lost too much time with the Charm Mr. Black brought up. So I cannot give you any homework today; please just read over the chapter in your book.”

Harry, Lily, and Severus went up to Harry’s room and quickly did their homework, which they managed to finish an hour before dinner. Afterwards, their other friends joined them to practise their Animagus transformation, while Harry used the time to translate a few Potion recipes.

Sirius was the first, who managed to turn his left hand into the left front paw of his dog form.

“Wow, congratulations, Sirius,” Harry beamed. “Now, change this hand forth and back several times, until you can do it quickly and without thinking about it. Then you can try to transform your right hand as well.”

A short while later, Lily and James managed to transform their left hands as well. “Very good, Lily and James.” He gave them the same advice he had given to Sirius the day before. “Now, let’s finish our practise here. We’ll meet here again tomorrow evening after dinner.”

“All right, thank you, Harry,” James said happily.

“Thanks, Harry. I’m so glad I’ve improved at least a little. I can’t wait to be able to fly,” Lily added, beaming at her son.

“You’re welcome,” Harry replied, his eyes twinkling a little. He, too, was very glad that his friends had managed to do the first step on their way to being an Animagus. If only his father would manage soon, otherwise it would be hard for him to watch the others proceed. “Severus,” he addressed his friend. “I believe that it will take you much longer as you have to change your whole body at the same time. It’s much more difficult than all the other forms.”

“Thank you, Harry,” Severus replied with a small smile.

When his friends had returned to their dormitories just before curfew, Harry continued translating for a while.

At three o’clock in the morning, Salazar was shaken awake by Harry. “What’s wrong?” he asked immediately, worried about his son’s condition.

“Sorry, Dad,” Harry replied impatiently. “Sorry to wake you up, but I couldn’t wait until the morning. Look at this!” he added, sitting down on the edge of his father’s bed and holding out a parchment.

“Dad, look what I have found! This seems to be a cure for Lycanthropy!”

He showed his father the pages he had just translated, and Salazar quickly cast a Lumos spell so he could read what his son had written. “The Wolves Cure” it said.

“Is this what I think it is?” he asked, scanning the parchment frantically.

“I believe so,” Harry answered excitedly, crawling into the bed next to his father, where he fell asleep immediately. He just couldn’t keep his eyes open anymore.

Salazar spent the rest of the night researching each of the ingredients to assess the effect the Potion would have on a werewolf. By the time his alarm went off in the morning, he was relatively sure that the Potion had to be what it promised. He had also checked out the time of the next full moon and decided that it would be just right if he started brewing the Potion on Friday afternoon in order for Remus to be able to drink it on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday evening, just in time for the full moon, which would be on Wednesday – provided that Remus would be willing to take the Potion.

Salazar looked at his son proudly. He had done it – he had found the long-lost wolves’ cure! But Harry seemed so small and fragile to him and he wondered, ‘Are we continuously expecting too much of him? He is only twelve years old.’ And yet his son had worked on his translation during the night in order to possibly help someone else. Salazar had no idea, however, why Harry had been awake in the middle of the night. When he went to bed at midnight, Harry had been fast asleep.

It was just a few days ago that Lily had complained about Severus pushing Harry too hard in order to let him translate the Potion recipes despite the fact that he was still recovering from pneumonia. Salazar had yet to talk with Severus and Harry about it. He had wanted to wait until Harry’s condition was better. However, yesterday, Minerva had told him after teaching Harry’s class for two hours that she wouldn’t deem him fit enough to attend lessons yet although he had done very well on a test she had let them write.

Salazar took another glance at Harry’s pale and tired face and decided to let his son sleep. Determined to speak with Remus about what Harry had found out before the start of the first lesson, he went into the shower to get ready for the day.

He placed a parchment on the table in the sitting room, which Harry couldn’t miss when he exited Salazar’s room, and strode quickly down to the Great Hall in order to speak with several people and have a small breakfast. First, he walked by the Gryffindor table and addressed Remus.

“Mr. Lupin!” he called the horrified student from behind.

“Yes? Ah, good morning, Professor,” Remus answered kindly.

“I have something urgent to talk about with you. Please come to our quarters to speak to my son or I today.”

“Yes, Professor, of course,” Remus promised, wondering what that could be about.

“Professor, where is Harry? Is something wrong with him?” Lily asked worriedly.

“He is asleep. I don’t think he is very well yet. Therefore, I have told him to stay in bed today,” Salazar replied shortly and went up to the Head Table.

First he talked to Dumbledore. “Albus, I need you to cover my lessons on Friday afternoon. Will that be possible? I will tell you the reason later, confidentially.”

As soon as the Headmaster agreed, Salazar quickly told the other teachers that Harry was sick and wouldn’t attend classes today, before he returned to his quarters. Harry was still fast asleep. Salazar went through his office into the classroom, leaving the door slightly ajar.

-----

Harry woke up because he had to go to the bathroom. He quickly went over to use the toilet in his own bathroom, noticing that his father was nowhere in sight. ‘Probably brewing a Potion,’ he thought while he returned to the sitting room. Seeing a hand-written parchment on the table, he recognized his father’s handwriting and began to read.

Dear Harry,

You may not attend classes today. Please stay in our quarters and rest. Try to sleep some more. Breakfast is on the dining table. I shall be back for lunch.

Dad.

Harry groaned and lay down on the sofa. He was glad that he didn’t have to attend lessons, because he was really tired. He hadn’t slept well and had spent half the night translating, but on the other hand, he didn’t want to miss classes as it only was the second day after the holidays.

Salazar and Harry had lunch together in their quarters, and Salazar told his son what he had researched during the night. “I am sure that it must be what it seems to be, and I have asked Remus to visit us and talk to either you or me as soon as he can.”

They had just finished their meal, when Pomfrey showed up and asked what was wrong with Harry.

“Nothing’s wrong; I was just too tired this morning because I didn’t sleep well during the night. But I’ll attend the afternoon classes,” Harry replied, very annoyed.

“Thanks for enquiring about Harry’s health, Poppy. Now, I have some very good news, too. I don’t know if you’ve heard about the books Harry is translating.” At her interested look, he continued, “Tonight he has found a long lost recipe for the Wolves Cure.”

Poppy let out a loud gasp. “The Wolves Cure? You mean…?”

“Yes, that’s what I mean. If Lupin agrees to test the Potion, I shall start brewing it on Friday, so that he can take it on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday – just in time for the full moon.”

“Oh, Salazar, that’s really good news,” Poppy said happily, and Salazar left for his afternoon classes, turning over the list of Potion ingredients in his head.

-----

When Salazar returned a few hours later, Remus showed up. Together they went to Harry’s room, who smiled a little when he saw them coming. “Now, Harry, would you like to tell Remus your news, or shall I tell him?”

“You tell him, please,” Harry asked his father.

“Mr. Lupin, you surely know that my son is translating books full of Potions, written by Salazar Slytherin.” Seeing Remus’ nod, he continued, “One of them seems to be a cure for Lycanthropy. Harry discovered it last night, and I can start to make the Potion on Friday if you want to try it out. I don’t know if it really works of course, but you could try. What do you think?”

Remus dropped into a chair. He was stunned – so many years had he hoped for a cure, while he was a small child, but after a number of years he had given up all hopes of a cure. “Harry… Professor… I… I just don’t know what to say, I don’t want to get my hopes up too much, but nevertheless I would like to ask you to try whatever you can.” His eyes were swimming in tears.

“Remus, it’s okay,” Harry told him softly. “We cannot promise anything and I can’t do anything for you, but I can tell you that if anyone is able to make the Potion, it will be my father. He is the best Potions Maker you can find.”

“The Potion will take three days to make, but I have already gotten permission from the Headmaster to skip classes on Friday afternoon, so that I should be able to finish the Potion on Sunday. Then you have to take it on three successive days, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, and on the day of the full moon – Wednesday I think – you can go into the Shrieking Shack and see if it works. I cannot promise anything either; we will just have to try and see. Don’t get your hopes up too much.”

-----

On Sunday evening, the Potion was ready. In the meantime, Dumbledore had received permission from Remus’ parents to try the Potion on their son, and Remus had been instructed to come to Professor Snape’s quarters after dinner on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. He had also been told that he had to stay the three nights in the guest bed in Harry’s room because nobody could know what nasty effects the Potion might have as they couldn’t test it in advance. Here, Salazar and Harry could watch over him, and this was much better than having to stay in the Hospital Wing.

Harry was very happy for his friend, and he was looking forward to having his friend stay with him. When their friends had left on Sunday, just before curfew, Salazar told Remus to get ready for bed. Ten minutes later, Salazar, Poppy, Minerva, and Albus entered the room, and Remus blushed at the attention. Harry was sitting in his own bed, finding the whole commotion extremely amusing as for once it was not he who was at the centre of it. Poppy waved her wand over Remus, mumbled contentedly to herself, and gave Salazar a short nod, so that he handed Remus a Potions phial. Hearing Harry say, “Good luck, Remus,” Remus quickly gulped the potion down and lay back, waiting for whatever would come.

However, nothing happened, and after a few minutes Remus relaxed. Harry however began to worry. ‘Will the Potion work at all? Maybe we’ve only managed to get his hopes up and nothing happens,’ he thought frantically.

Before Harry could worry anymore about it, someone sat down on the edge of his bed. He opened his eyes and saw that it was Minerva. “Hi Granny,” he smiled at his Grandmother.

“How are you, Harry?” she asked, carefully pushing a strand of hair out of his face.

“Fine,” Harry replied. “I hope so much that the potion will work. Everything would be so much better for Remus.”

“I know, Harry. However, don’t get your hopes up too much. If it doesn’t work, you’ll just continue your research. Now try to sleep, and no more work during the night please,” she said firmly and gave Harry a kiss on his forehead, before she stood up and left the room.

-----

In the morning, Salazar came and woke Harry and Remus up in time for breakfast. “Good morning, boys.”

He checked on Remus and asked, “Do you feel any difference? Does anything hurt?”

Remus shook his head and replied, “No, it doesn’t feel any different. My joints ache slightly, but that’s normal so close to the full moon.”

“All right,” Salazar said with satisfaction. “You may go to your classes, and I will expect you back tonight for your next dose of Potion. If you feel unwell come and see Madam Pomfrey or me immediately.”

When their double Transfiguration lesson was over, Lily suggested going out for a walk around the lake during their free period, but Harry declined. “Sorry, but I just want to make a small excursion to the Chamber in order to get a few more books,” he said, and Lily noticed that his eyes were twinkling mischievously.

“All right,” James replied. “Let’s go to the Chamber together. We’ll help you.”

As Harry couldn’t flash all of them, they decided to walk. When they finally arrived, Harry was the first to enter the library. He motioned them to stay at the door, stood with his back to the shelf his friends had piled the Parselscript books on, held his arms out, and quietly said, “Accio Parselscript books.” A second later he quickly threw a strong Protection Charm around himself as a few dozen books came flying in his direction. Finally, the books piled neatly in two stacks in front of Harry. He added the books from the shelf, put a shrinking charm on the piles, and pocketed the books, before he turned back to his friends and said, “All right, let’s go back to my room.”

His friends remained quiet on the way back to Professor Snape’s quarters. They obviously were stunned by the display Harry had showed them.

“Harry?” Lily finally turned to her son. “What are you going to do? Are you going to translate all these books? There are at least thirty of them!”

“No!” James contradicted. “There were twenty books on that shelf, plus the let’s say another twenty that came flying over to Harry when he accio-ed them. Slytherin must have been really busy to write so many books.”

Harry sighed. “Yes, it really is a lot. I don’t think I’ll be able to translate all of them before I go back to the future. But I want to skim through them and see if I can figure out what’s interesting and should be translated first.”

“That’s nice, Harry,” Sirius jumped into the conversation, “but that’s enough about books and about Potions anyway. Let’s talk about the prank we’re going to play on Slughorn tomorrow.”

Harry groaned. In the meantime, they had reached and entered their quarters. He ushered his friends into his room, where Salazar had recently added a small, round table with seven comfortable chairs around it. When everyone had found a seat, Harry turned to Sirius. “Sirius, as much as I love your pranks – and I really do! – I don’t want to hear about them in advance because I can’t lie. Last week, I was impressed how easily Lily could lie to our Grandmother. Sorry, but I couldn’t. If she had asked me, I’d probably have told her the truth. Plus, in order to prank the Potions lesson, you should get Severus’ advice in advance. Messing up with Potions could be very dangerous.”

“I think you’re right, Harry,” Lily agreed immediately.

“Where is Severus, by the way?” Peter threw in.

“He has lessons with the Slytherins, so he doesn’t have a free period now,” Remus stated the obvious.

“Actually we’ve one more prank we want to play on McGonagall,” James suddenly spoke up. “However for that, we need Harry’s help.”

“My help?” Harry asked, flabbergasted, and his friends laughed at his horrified expression.

“It’s really harmless,” James told Harry. “You only have to wish a wand, which I’ll give you tomorrow morning, to be exchanged with the wand in McGonagall’s robes. Do you think you can manage that?”

Harry frowned. That didn’t sound too difficult. “Probably… yes…” he said hesitantly. “But what am I going to do with her wand?”

“You can give it to me. I’ll make sure to sit next to you, Harry,” James replied mischievously. “Or,” he asked pensively, “do you think you could wish it into her office? Would that work?”

Harry thought for a moment before he replied. “Can I have your wand for a moment, James?” He took the wand his friend handed to him and wished it over into his bathroom. The wand had indeed vanished from his hand, but had it arrived in the bathroom? With a small smile Harry retrieved James’ wand and returned it to its owner.

“All right, lads, let’s do this on Wednesday in Transfiguration,” Sirius laughed. “I can’t wait to see Minnie’s face. What a pity that we don’t have Transfiguration tomorrow,” he added.

Suddenly, they heard a door flung open and a voice shouting, “Harry!”

Harry’s face turned white and he jumped out of his seat, not a second before his father stormed into the room. “Harry,” he repeated, panting. “Do you feel well enough to do wish magic?” he then asked sternly.

“Of course, Dad, what’s wrong?” Harry questioned.

Salazar turned to Harry’s friends and said urgently, “You will all stay here in my quarters or return to your dormitory immediately until you are told otherwise…”

He was interrupted by an announcement from the Deputy Headmistress. “All students return to their Common rooms immediately. Do not leave your Common rooms until further notice. Please return to your House immediately.”

With that the announcement ended, and everyone looked at Harry’s father expectantly. “Are you sure that we can stay here, Professor?” Lily asked anxiously.

“Yes, Lily, I am certain,” Salazar answered quickly. “Now, Harry, put your warm coat on and follow me, please. Take your broom with you in any case. I shall take mine as well.”

The two Snapes hurryingly left their quarters. “What’s wrong, Dad?” Harry asked worriedly. “What do I have to do?”

Salazar sighed and gave his son the explanation he needed. “A dragon is attacking the Giant Squid in the lake. I don’t know where it came from and why it is attacking, but we have to do something about the dragon before it can attack the castle. All the teachers are outside trying to stun the dragon, but as your wish magic is much stronger than the normal magic of everyone else put together, we would like you to help.”

“Of course, Dad, Let me try.” Knowing that he couldn’t run, Harry jumped on his broom and flew down the empty corridors towards the huge Entrance doors with his father following directly after him. When they flew over to the lake, where the teachers were busily sending spells at the Dragon, Harry noticed a wave of relief spreading around. He sighed inwardly. What did they expect from him? Did they forget that he was only twelve years old? He wasn’t very healthy, and hadn’t even known that he was a wizard until 18 months ago. He made up his mind and glanced at the Dragon that was frantically attacking the Squid.

‘Do I have to fight against the Dragon? Will it be enough to wish it stunned on the ground? Maybe the Dragon understands Parseltongue and I can ask it why it’s fighting in the first place,’ Harry thought, while he landed next to the lake. He summoned as much magic as he could access and wished the Dragon to be on the ground next to the lake, stunned. Letting out a huge amount of magic, he stumbled and quickly sat down on the ground before he fell. While some of the teachers ran over to him, worriedly, he saw that some of the others were still firing spells at the Dragon. He held his hand out to stop them and said urgently, “Wait please. I’d like to try something first.” He tried to get back onto his feet, leaning against his father, who was standing next to him, and tried to assess if the Dragon could speak Parseltongue.

“Hello,” he hissed. “Can you understand me?”

“Yes, I can understand you. I was just flying over the lake here, when thisss big fish attacked me, sso that I lost my egg and it fell into the lake. Now, I want my child back, but the fish doesn’t help, and the stupid people try to attack me. Can you help?”

Harry sighed. “I can probably help you. Please promisse that you won’t attack anyone elsse and wait, while I tell the others what happened and try to retrieve your egg.”

The Dragon agreed, “Yesss, but please be quick, because it will be too cold for my baby down in the water. I have to get my egg back fast in order to warm it.”

Harry gave her a short confirming nod, turned to the teachers, and hurriedly explained what the dragon had told him.

“Thank you, Harry. Now, sit down and rest for a while,” Dumbledore told his grandson and addressed the Giant Squid. He talked to the Squid for a few minutes and managed to coax it into diving for the egg and handing it over to him. Albus immediately came over to Harry and put the egg down in front of Harry. “Now, Harry, before you release the Dragon from your spell, could you please ask her, where she comes from, why she is here, and where she is living? We cannot allow this to happen again.”

Harry picked up the egg, scrambled back onto his feet, and went over to the Dragon. He placed the egg directly in front of the Dragon, so that the Dragon’s feet touched the egg. “As you see, your egg isss safe, and I will let you go in a minute. However, I’ve a few more questions for you. Can you please tell me, what you’re doing here? Where do you come from, and where are you living? I don’t think that this place will be safe for you and your baby.”

“I don’t know where I came from. I lived together with a huge family, but I got lossst. And the large human living over there took me in and promisssed to keep me and my egg ssafe. But I just had to fly for a moment today, and then thisss happened. I’m sssorry.”

“You don’t have to be ssorry, it’ss all right. I mean nothing happened. Now, I cannot promisse anything yet, but we’ll try to get you back to your family or at least to a place where many dragonss live – that’s much safer for you.” Then Harry turned to the teachers and explained what the Dragon had told him.

“I’ll go to the ministry and ask them to take the Dragon away immediately. They can take him to the Dragon preserve in Romania. However, someone should watch her until the Aurors come in case she manages to break Harry’s spell. I hope it won’t take too long,” Dumbledore said, transformed into his phoenix form and was gone in a red flame.

“I’m going to stay here and keep her company,” Harry said immediately and sat down next to the Dragon.”

“I won’t leave my son here alone, Minerva. However, the rest of you can go inside and release the students. It’s time for lunch anyway,” Salazar told the Deputy Headmistress, trying to keep his face free of emotions.

“All right. Thank you, Harry, Salazar, and please be very careful, both of you,” Minerva said and ushered the other teachers back into the castle.

Harry and his father didn’t have to wait long. Twenty minutes later, a few Aurors arrived on brooms from Hogsmeade in order to take care of the Dragon. “We will fly to Romania and accompany the Dragon to one of the huge Dragon preserves,” one of the Aurors explained to Salazar and Harry.

“Go and fly with them. They won’t harm you; they will take you back to your family. Good luck with your egg,” Harry told the Dragon, for once not caring about the fact that others could hear him speak Parseltongue. Then he released the spell and watched as the Dragon took into the air, followed by the Aurors, who had to hurry in order to catch up with the fast flying animal.

“I am very proud of you, son,” Salazar stated, looking straight at his son. “I am happy that you didn’t get hurt except for the fact that you depleted your magic again,” he added, throwing his son a fond smile.

“I’m glad too, Dad. I don’t think I’d have been able to battle her,” Harry replied in a small voice. “Anyway, let’s return to our quarters. The others will be waiting for us.” They headed up to their quarters, where Harry’s friends surrounded them as soon as they opened the door.

“Are you all right, Harry?” Lily asked frantically, tears running over her face.

“Lily! What’s wrong? Of course I’m fine,” Harry answered, shocked about her behaviour, and threw an enquiring glance at James.

“We saw everything,” he explained reluctantly. “The window in your room… you know you see the lake… We were so worried.”

Salazar handed Lily a Calming draught, and she stopped crying immediately. “I suppose you haven’t had lunch yet, right?” he asked, and when the students shook their heads he called a house elf and ordered lunch for the six students. Then he stated, “All right. I have to leave for the first afternoon lesson. What’s your first lesson?”

“History of magic, sir,” Remus replied with an expression on his face that told the teacher that he didn’t care at all if he was going to miss the lesson.

The edges of Salazar’s mouth went slightly up, and he told them, “I shall excuse you for the first lesson. Eat your lunch and be ready to attend the remaining afternoon classes. Harry, you may only attend lessons if you feel well enough. I shall come and check on you after the first lesson.” He strode through the room and vanished into his office, his robes billowing behind him.

“I always wonder how he does that,” Sirius commented and everyone laughed.

-----

Remus spent another two nights in Harry’s room, taking the Wolves Cure Potion. Finally, on Wednesday night, Madam Pomfrey and Professor Dumbledore accompanied the boy to the Shrieking Shack, hoping it would be the last time. The professor decided to spend the whole night together with the student. In case Remus turned to a wolf, Dumbledore would transform into his phoenix form and stay safely on a ledge in the upper part of the wall. If Remus stayed human, he would remain with him in his human form to watch over him, making sure that he didn’t encounter any problems because of the Potion. In this case, they had agreed, Albus would send his phoenix Patronus to Salazar to let him know that the Potion had worked.

Harry was extremely upset. If Dumbledore could stay in the Shack in his phoenix form, he would be as safe as the professor when he transformed. Poppy had forbidden him to do any magic at all for a week, but this was a very special case for which an exception should be made, especially as Harry felt well enough to transform.

“It’s not my fault that you had to call me to solve the fight between the Dragon and the Giant Squid while the teachers were helpless now is it? Maybe the next time I should refrain from helping the teachers and save my magic to do things I value like for example being together with a friend when he needs me,” he ranted at his father when his friends had left shortly before curfew.

“You probably saved many students’ lives the other day. If the fight had gone on, the Dragon would definitely have won. And she certainly would have attacked the castle afterwards. Remus will be fine and alive in the morning whether you stay with him or not. Moreover, I am sure that Remus prefers to have you here safe, than having you there so that he had to worry about if nothing happened to you in case he transformed.” Salazar handed Harry a potion. “Here, drink this; it’s the Sleeping Potion from the recipe you translated recently. It’s a tad different from our normal Dreamless Sleep Potion, but it is not as addictive as the normal one.”

Harry’s eyes suddenly lit up. “Is that true? Then maybe I should make a list with the titles of all recipes in Slytherin’s Potion books, and you could look over it and tell me which ones to translate first.”

“That’s a good idea, Harry, and we can start to do this tomorrow. Now take the Potion and sleep. When you wake up, we’ll already know if the wolves cure worked.”

Although Harry badly wanted to start skimming the books immediately, he for once relented, took the Potion, and let his father tuck him in, before he fell in a deep, dreamless sleep. He didn’t even have the time to think about what Remus would be doing.

When Harry woke up, Remus was sitting on the edge of his bed. “Hello Harry,” he beamed.

“Remus! Did it work?” Harry asked excitedly, glad to see his friend so happy.

“Of course it worked. I only…” the rest was drowned as Harry pulled his friend into a hug – an action that Remus knew was extremely rare when it came to Harry.

-----

On Monday morning, Harry had breakfast in the Great Hall for the first time since coming back from the winter holidays. As soon as he reached the Slytherin table, his eyes fell on the front page of The Daily Prophet that was lying on the table. The main headline was

‘Death Eaters in Azkaban receive Dementors’ kiss’

Harry quickly sat down next to Severus, frantically trying to sort his thoughts. Wasn’t he supposed to travel to Azkaban in order to obliviate the Death Eaters? Why hadn’t Minister McNeill asked him to do so?

“Harry, what’s wrong? Are you all right?” Severus asked suspiciously.

Harry gave him a short nod and pointed to the newspaper. Severus sighed and said, “Yes, I’ve already read the article. Why couldn’t they wait for you to deal with them? It’s incredible!” He took a sip of his pumpkin juice, adding, “However, I’m glad that you don’t have to go there, I wouldn’t have liked it at all. It’s told to be the most horrible place in England.”

“That’s true,” Harry mumbled and picked at his breakfast, until James came over from the Gryffindor table with a mischievous look on his face.

“Harry! Do you remember the prank we talked about last week?” He unobtrusively handed Harry a wand that immediately took over the outer features of Harry’s own wand when he held it into his hand. “Can you try to exchange this with your granny’s wand as soon as she enters our classroom?”

Harry gave him an anxious glance. “I don’t know, but I’ll try. Let’s head to the classroom and settle in then.”

Severus and Harry quickly stood up and approached the classroom together with their other friends. As soon as the professor came through the door from her office, Harry exchanged the wands. When he was still wondering if he had succeeded, he suddenly noticed having McGonagall’s wand in his hand. Anxiously he wished it away to the desk in her office and it vanished from sight immediately. Harry leaned back into his chair and let out a relieved sigh, which resulted in the Professor interrupting her speech and looking over to Harry.

“Is everything all right, Mr. Snape?” she asked concerned, continuing her talk about transfiguring silent objects into noise-making objects as soon as Harry gave her a nod and smiled. The professor pointed her wand at the button lying on her desk and mumbled something. However, the only effect was that orange sparks came out of the top of her wand forming into letters saying, ‘this doesn’t work.’ Her next try was rewarded with bright green words, ‘I need a holiday.’

Very angrily the teacher looked around the class, obviously sending a special glare at James and Sirius. “I expect my wand to be back to normal by the end of the class, otherwise the culprits will be in real trouble. Now as you seem to think that you’ll be able to go on without my demonstration, change your button into a plush cat. Then in the next step, you make it miaow by saying the incantation ‘Sonitus Adiectio’. Mr. Snape, be so kind as to demonstrate this transfiguration.”

Harry took his wand, a bit consoled by the thought that his magic hadn’t yet recovered completely, so he wouldn’t have to be afraid of the spell coming out too strong. Nevertheless he hated to have to do things in front of the whole class. A few seconds later a pretty black cat with green eyes was sitting on his desk meowing.

“Thank you, Mr. Snape, very well done. 10 points to your Houses. Now, those who are done with this transfiguration may transfigure their button into any plush animal they like and have it make sounds.”

Harry didn’t have to be told this twice. He immediately transfigured his button into a wind phoenix letting him trill a beautiful melody. “Wow, that’s ‘Eine kleine Nachtmusik’ by Mozart, isn’t it?” Lily whispered in awe, and Harry threw her a satisfied smile, glad that his other classmates were busy with their own spells. Only the teacher noticed what he had done and threw a proud glance at her grandson.

The rest of the lesson Harry spent thinking about the Death Eaters that had been kissed by the Dementors. He knew that there were some of the Slytherins, who had one or even both their parents in Azkaban. Moreover, many of these Death Eaters had been put into the wizarding prison when they had been captured after their fight in front of the ministry. This, however, had been Harry’s fault because he had stunned the Death Eaters so that the Aurors could arrest them. He hadn’t wanted to take all these kids’ parents away, and he was very angry at the Minister of Magic, because it would have been so easy to just obliviate the Death Eaters of everything concerning Voldemort and send them back to their families. If anyone knew how bad it could be not to be able to grow up with parents, it was Harry.

“Harry, are you coming?” he suddenly heard Lily’s voice and noticed that the room was empty except for them and their friends, who were obviously waiting for Harry.

“Harry, can you wish-Accio the fake wand back to you, please,” James whispered urgently as soon as they had left the classroom.

Harry concentrated and a moment later he held the wand in his hand and quickly gave it to James.

“Thank you, Harry. Now, let’s do the same in the Charms lesson this afternoon.”

Harry groaned and urgently said good-bye to everyone as he intended to spend his free period looking through the Potions recipes in Slytherin’s books.

-----

During the next few weeks, Harry was very busy. Apart from lessons, homework, and Animagus study with his friends, he spent every free minute translating the titles and summaries of all Potions recipes in the 45 Parselscript books he had found in the Chamber. Salazar and Severus were taking turns to look through Harry’s writings and ask him about Potions that seemed to be interesting. Their main priority was finding something they could use for Harry. However, so far they hadn’t found anything useful apart from the Sleeping Potion they discovered the other day, although there seemed to be many interesting potions recipes, which he would translate as soon as he had skimmed through all the books first.

One evening, when Harry had gone to bed and Salazar had checked on him and tucked him in, Harry suddenly asked, “Dad, I’ve thought about something. You know,” Harry said excitedly, sitting up again, “We have changed the future so much that this time I won’t be living with the Dursleys, so I shouldn’t have the health problems I have now, right?”

“Yes, I believe that should be true. However, I’m not sure if your future self will just be the ‘you’ of the new time line, or if both types of ‘you’, the old one and the new one, will get mixed together. At the moment, Albus and Poppy are researching about this; however, so far I do not believe they have found any information I believe.”

He stopped for a moment as if to decide if he should say more, before he finally continued, “As far as I can imagine, it will be like this: The new timeline ‘you’ will grow up with Lily and my younger self, having no problems at all. And then, we’ll come back to the future, and from that time onwards, you will be a mixture of your other self and you as you are now with all your bad experiences and memories because of the Dursleys. However, I have no idea how the two types of ‘you’ will mix. The only thing I know is that we shall get through this together as I shall have similar problems because of my experience with the Death Eaters. I will help you as far as I can, and I am sure Lily and your Great Grandparents will help us as well.”

Harry threw his father a tired smile and mumbled, “Okay, Dad, good night.”

“Good night, Harry.” Salazar kissed his son on the forehead before he switched off the lights with a flick of his wand and left the room.

-----

On Sunday afternoon, Harry and Salazar were called to the Headmaster’s office.

“Hello Harry, Salazar, how good that you could find the time to join us,” Dumbledore greeted the two people he cared so much about, while Minerva poured tea in four cups waiting on the table.

“In fact, I had something to show to you, Harry,” the Headmaster continued and handed Harry two small books. One had a dark blue cover, which was decorated with small twinkling stars. The title said, ‘The Diary of Salazar Slytherin – translated and edited by Harry Snape’. The other book had a green cover, decorated by the same twinkling stars. The title was ‘Hogwarts at the Time of the Founders’. The subtitle said, ’Written by Salazar Slytherin, Translated and Edited by Harry Snape’.

“Flourish and Blotts agreed to print them for me with a first print run of 250 copies each. I have got twenty complementary copies of either book and would like to ask you for one for the library and one for my office; the other eighteen copies of each book are for you to keep or give to your friends or whatever you want to do with them.”

Harry threw his Grandfather a huge smile. “Thank you, Grandfather. I appreciate that very much.”

“Harry, for every sale of your books, which is sold, you receive 20 percent of the book’s price from Flourish and Blotts. This money is being put directly into your vault at Gringotts. Moreover, they have promised to print each of the Potions books you want to have printed. However, I think you, Salazar and Severus should discuss what to do with the Potion recipes. I can imagine that your father would like to sell some of the Potions without anybody else knowing the recipe. The three of you should talk about this at least before you go back to the future.”

Harry shook his head. “No, I think this should be completely up to Severus. We won’t be around for quite a long time anyway, and he should be able to decide on his own what he wants to do with the recipes.”

“No, Harry, we shall discuss this with Severus during the next weeks,” Salazar contradicted firmly.

-----

It was a few weeks later on a Monday morning in early March. Harry and his Gryffindor friends were enjoying their free period after the Transfiguration lesson in the morning sitting near the lake. They were eagerly talking about the Map, discussing how to add a spell to it that would show the password, which was needed in order to access one of the hidden passages they had discovered. Harry had so far been staring over the grounds, deeply wrapped up in his own thoughts, while he observed a few crows playing at one of the outer window sills of the Shrieking Shack. Suddenly he jumped up and turned to his friends. “I’m sorry, I have to go and talk to Dumbledore. I’ll see you at lunch time.” He transformed into Breeze and flashed away.

“What’s up with him? First he’s far away in his thoughts and then he suddenly leaves. That’s not like Harry normally behaves,” James put into words what everyone was wondering about.

“I don’t know, but whatever it is, Granddad will be able to help him,” Lily replied to calm herself.

But Harry didn’t come to lunch. Lily consoled herself and the others with the fact that Dumbledore wasn’t there either and that perhaps they were still talking together. However, when he didn’t show up for any of his afternoon lessons either, his friends really began to worry.

Harry flashed immediately up onto Fawkes’ perch, nearly giving the poor bird a heart attack.

#Hello Breeze,# Fawkes greeted him after nearly falling off his perch when his friend suddenly arrived next to him.

#Sorry, Fawkes, I didn’t intend to give you a fright,# Breeze apologized. #In fact I had something urgent to talk with my Grandfather about.# He threw a glance at the Headmaster’s desk, curious about the voices he was hearing.

Dumbledore was just in a meeting with Minister McNeill. He sighed and turned to Fawkes again. #Do you think their conversation will take long?#

#You know that’s the boss of those who believe all the eggs belong to them. As the bad ones got their wings clipped a few weeks ago, they are discussing new nests for their hatchlings.#

#Oh, Fawkes, that’s just what I wanted to speak with Granddad about. But I can’t transform here now,# Harry told his friend urgently.

#Don’t panic, Breeze. Let me talk to the meddling old coot,# Fawkes replied and turned to Albus. #Albi, Breeze had an idea concerning what you are just discussing with the all-mighty fool. Shall he flash out of your nest, transform and enter again in his human form?#

Albus gave him a nod, before he excused himself with his visitor. “I’m sorry about the interruption; my phoenix sometimes thinks he has to give advice, which can be useful, but in this case it wasn’t.”

In the meantime, Breeze had flashed away after Fawkes had told him, #The Password for the annoying busy-body outside is ‘Chocolate phoenix’.#

He transformed back into Harry, shaking his head about how bold and at the same time funny Fawkes was. He told the Gargoyle the password and knocked on the door of his grandfather’s office, thinking feverishly about what to say in order not to be thrown out immediately. Finally, he was called in and hesitantly entered the office he had only left minutes ago.

“Minister McNeill, Professor Dumbledore,” he greeted the two men, before he silently added, “Hi Fawkes.”

“Nice to see you, Mr. Snape,” the Minister returned the greeting, while Dumbledore ushered him into a seat.

“I’m sorry to interrupt your meeting, Professor. Maybe I should come back later,” Harry said, suddenly feeling very bad about interrupting a meeting with the Minister.

“No, Harry, I believe what you wanted to talk about just fits into the topic the Minister and I were speaking about, therefore, I would appreciate hearing your idea first,” his Grandfather ensured him.

“All right then; to make it short, I had an idea. As you know, we don’t need the Shrieking Shack anymore for werewolves because of the Wolves Cure, so I thought; maybe we can completely renovate the building and turn it into an orphanage for wizarding children. That would also solve the problem about what to do with the Death Eaters children, who have lost their parents and relatives when they were kissed by the Dementors.”

Seeing that both men were listening intently, he continued, “Apart from the orphanage I think we should give students, who do not have a proper home to return to during summer holidays, the possibility to stay in a part of the orphanage during the summer break, and furthermore, I think we should have a Primary school for wizards, perhaps in an adjoining building. Probably, the money in my vault will suffice for the supplies, renovations and construction that will be needed. With the money from the Order of Merlin and the money that will be coming in because of my translations, I think we should be able to do a lot, shouldn’t we?”

“Yes,” his Grandfather confirmed. “Although, I don’t want you to pay for everything, the ministry should be able to at least pay for the wages of the teachers we need to work there. And I think your ideas are not only extremely good but also very reasonable. They wouldn’t be too difficult to put into motion and complete either. What do you think, Dermot?”

The Minister seemed stunned. “How can a twelve-year-old have so many good ideas?”

“Dermot, I have told you where Harry comes from, haven’t I?” Dumbledore asked and when the Minister nodded, he told him about Harry’s experiences growing up without his parents.

“All right,” the Minister said pensively. “I would like both of you to accompany me to the Ministry for an impromptu meeting. I appreciate your ideas very much, Mr. Snape, and I intend to put them into motion as soon as possible.”

The Headmaster threw a look at his watch, seeing that the last morning class had just finished, and turned to Fawkes. “Fawkes, please go and get Professors McGonagall and Snape here quickly.”

Fawkes flashed away and was back within two minutes. #They are coming.#

A few minutes later, the two professors entered the room and sat down, where they remained speechless when they were told about Harry’s ideas. “I just wanted you to know that I’m taking your son accompany us to the ministry, Salazar. I would ask you, Minerva, to take over the school during my absence,” Dumbledore asked. When everyone was in agreement the Minister, Dumbledore, and Harry used the Floo to get to the Ministry of Magic.

-----

Harry and his grandfather spent the whole afternoon at the Ministry. By the time they returned to Hogwarts, the planning was done. Within the week Harry had to make a floor plan for all floors and rooms within the new building, which Albus and Harry would then present to the Ministry in a week’s time. On Monday they would have another meeting at the Ministry together with the two wizarding architects they had agreed to entrust with the renovation, which was going to take place during the next week. Of course the architects would be able to build the interior by themselves, but as it was Harry’s idea and as he was the one donating the money, everyone had agreed that he should have the privilege of designing the building.

They returned to Hogwarts just in time for dinner. Since Harry hadn’t had a chance to eat lunch, he was very hungry, although he was even more tired than he was hungry. When he asked his grandmother, who had been waiting for them at the Headmaster’s office, if he could go back to their quarters instead of having dinner with everyone else, Minerva took her grandson by the hand and pulled him down to the Great Hall. “Your friends have been so worried about you because they didn’t know where you were that they have skipped their Charms lesson in order to look for you. Fortunately they were clever enough to come here first. So, you will have to have dinner together with them before you return to your room, and you must eat something, since I know that you were probably so busy you did not stop to even think to eat,” Minerva told him strictly.

His friends were more than relieved when Harry showed up for dinner. However, as he had eaten breakfast together with them, he sat down next to Severus at the Slytherin table. He couldn’t tell his friends what he had been doing in the Great Hall anyway – they just had to wait until they could meet in his room after dinner.

Later in his room, he told them the whole story and his friends were stunned. “What a great idea, Harry!” Severus was the first to find words, and hearing this, the others started to talk at the same time.

“How did you come up with this idea?”

“How are you going to arrange the interior?”

“Have you already made plans?”

“What is the building going to look like?”

“Now, wait,” Harry said tiredly. “The only thing I have thought about so far is that I want to have a three store building. The first floor should be the Primary school for the children from age six years until age eleven when they will then be entering Hogwarts. The second floor and part of the third floor are for the orphanage. However, on the third floor I want to have some space for the students, who don’t have parents or a proper home, so that they can spend their holidays there instead.”

“Will the Primary school be accessible for all wizarding children or only for the children of the orphanage?” James asked interested.

Harry sighed. “Frankly speaking, I hadn’t thought about that, but I think it would be a great idea to make the school open to all wizarding children. They could come to the school either by Portkey or by Floo every day, so that wouldn’t be a problem. In this case, however, we’ll need five classrooms and five different teachers, so that every year has its own classroom and teacher.”

“But that’s not so bad; parents can pay tuition for those that are not in the orphanage and send them, it only needs to be free for the children of the orphanage,” Severus threw in.

“Of course, and there will be enough parents who will be happy to send their children to Hogwarts Junior School or whatever it’ll be called that it will pay the salaries of the teachers and the supplies that are needed to keep it running,” Sirius added.

“I actually like the idea. Maybe we can call the orphanage ‘Hogwarts Children’s Home’ and the school ‘Hogwarts Junior School’.” Harry confirmed.

-----

During the next few days, Harry spent every minute he had free planning the new building. On Friday, he had finally finished his plan but was still contemplating whether it would be better to re-build the Shack or to just enlarge the building magically. The only thing he was sure about was that the new house would need twice the space of the old Shack apart from the third floor they had to add on the top.

He had made three different plans, one for each floor. For the ground floor he planned five classrooms, a huge multi-use hall, like the Great Hall in the castle, which could be used as a dining hall or meeting room, a small Potions lab, toilets, and a staff room. The multi-use hall as well as the staff room would be equipped with fireplaces that could at least be connected to the Hogwarts internal Floo system. The Entrance door would be situated on the side of the street leading from Hogwarts to Hogsmeade, so that it was easily accessible.

The second floor would hold a nursery, a playroom for the toddlers up to the age of three, one playroom for the older children, one study room for the children that wanted to read or do their homework, one multi-use hall similar to the one on the ground floor, toilets, a staff room and one teachers’ apartment. Finally there would be a tiny kitchenette, with a connecting door to the Hogwarts kitchen, which would be providing the food needed for the building. Harry knew that his grandfather was able to add additional rooms and doors within the castle, and he intended to ask him for this connecting door. In case it could be easily added, he even wanted to have a connecting door from the Entrance hall of the castle to the Entrance of the building.

On the top floor Harry planned to have several dormitories that could hold four to six beds, depending on the number of children in the orphanage. Then he planned five smaller rooms with two to four beds for Hogwarts students who had to stay during the summer holidays. This floor would also hold washing rooms as well as a Hospital room with a connecting door to Madam Pomfrey’s office, although Harry hadn’t yet spoken to his grandfather or Madam Pomfrey about it. Then there would be one teachers’ apartment and a guest apartment that could be used for anything.

“On the third floor, you should make a common room for the students staying over the summer, so that they don’t have to spend all the time in their dormitory rooms, especially when they have friends staying too,” Salazar advised Harry, looking over the detailed plan. “One more point is that they need a library with children’s books, which I would place on the ground floor, so that it is accessible to the day school children as well.”

-----

After dinner, Harry and his friends met in Harry’s room for their Animagus training as usual. Apart from Severus, everyone had managed to transform completely during the last two weeks. However, on this Friday evening, Severus succeeded in transforming into his snake form, too.

“Wow, Severus, you did it,” Lily beamed. “You’re beautiful!”

“Very good, Severus,” Harry hissed to his friend in Parseltongue. “How does it feel to be a snake?”

Severus glanced at his friend. “It feels strange,” he admitted. “It seems that I have to get used to it. At least I’m able to talk to you, which is very useful.” He slithered around the room for a few minutes, before he finally transformed back into his human form.

“As you all have managed the transformation by now,” Harry began to tell his friends his newest idea, “what do you think about having an Animagus Party? We could meet in the forest, for example tomorrow evening after curfew and play in our Animagus forms.”

“That’s a very good idea,” James shouted immediately.

“Brilliant,” Sirius agreed.

“Maybe we could finish the party with a picnic near the lake. I’ll ask the house elves for Butterbeer and something to eat,” James suggested eagerly.

They agreed to meet at the edge of the forest at midnight on Saturday night. When Harry arrived in his phoenix form, the others were already there and were running around playfully. He sat on a branch of a tree, happily watching the others, deciding that he really needed to thank his father for giving him the opportunity to spend such a great time in the past, together with his parents and their friends. Suddenly, he was pulled out of his thoughts, when Lily sat down next to him.

#Shall we go for a flight over Hogsmeade?# the beautiful owl trilled.

#Yes, I’d like that very much,# Breeze answered, happy to be able to communicate with his Mum.

They flew all around Hogsmeade, and afterwards they went for a flight around the castle, glancing into every window they passed. The time flew by, and they noticed that James had already transformed back and called everyone together for their picnic. The house elves had supplied James with drinks and food for a whole class, so that they spent the rest of the night enjoying the food and talking animatedly. Nobody even thought of being tired – they only noticed that the darkness slowly began to fade, and they hurried back into the castle.

-----

On Sunday morning, Harry told his friends that he wanted to visit the Shrieking Shack in order to take some measurements of the rooms. His friends decided that they wouldn’t let him go on his own and would accompany him. Directly after breakfast, which they only attended with the purpose of meeting each other in order to do something together as they had only eaten a few hours ago, they headed for the old building.

They climbed up to the upper floor in order to figure out how much the building had to be enlarged on each side, and magically measured the length of each of the walls. Peter had just pointed his wand to the ceiling in the largest room, when a huge part of the ceiling broke and fell down onto Harry and Severus. The two boys were buried under a huge pile of rocks and wood.

Alerted by Peter’s shriek, James, Sirius, Remus and Lily came running over – just to see that the floor had broken in and the pile of rocks and wood that had obviously fallen down from the ceiling was now falling onto the ground floor even knocking a hole into one of the outer walls.

“Harry and Severus, where are they?” Lily asked horrified.

“They were hit by the rocks and then buried,” Peter confirmed.

“You f… idiot,” Sirius shouted at Peter, while they were running down the stairs in order to look for their friends.

“Sirius, stop it. That won’t help Harry and Sev.,” Lily hissed, hot tears running over her face.

“That’s right, Lily, we have to get help. We need Fawkes, he might be able to find them, since there doesn’t seem to be a way out here,” James said urgently.

The ground floor was completely devastated. There were so many rocks, stones, and wood, as well as glass splitters lying around that it was impossible to get down the stairs.

A black snake wiggled its way over to them and transformed into Severus. He had a head wound, and his arms at least seemed to be broken. Lily gasped when she saw him. “I’m fine, Lily, but Harry isn’t. We need help to get him out of there. I don’t know where he is,” Severus moaned, obviously in pain.

“All right, let me transform into my owl form and fly over to Dumbledore’s office to get Fawkes,” Lily agreed, glad to be able to do something. “Severus, you stay here, don’t move unnecessarily and don’t transform again,” she admonished her friend. Then she transformed and flew out of the large opening in the wall, heading for Professor McGonagall’s office as it was the only office she definitely knew where it was from outside.

-----

Fortunately, the Professor was there and opened the window immediately, when the owl knocked insistently. Lily immediately transformed and urgently told the story to the stunned professor, who was pulled out of her musings about her granddaughter being an owl Animagus by the thought about what may have happened to her great grandson.

Minerva threw Floo powder into the fireplace and shouted, “Albus, we need Fawkes and you here immediately,” and seconds later, two phoenixes were sitting on her desk.

Lily urgently told the whole story once more, and Fawkes and Dumbledore in his phoenix form flashed away without comment. Lily changed back into her owl form, while a grey cat could be seen coming from Gryffindor Tower dashing through the school.

When Lily arrived on the second floor of the Shack, her friends were still standing there, horror written on their faces. Severus however was gone.

“Has Fawkes taken Severus?” she asked worriedly, as soon as she had transformed.

“No, Lily, Dumbledore has taken him to the Hospital Wing, and Fawkes is looking for Harry,” James replied, putting a calming hand on her shoulder.

While Lily was wondering if she should fly over to the Hospital Wing or wait for Fawkes to show up with news about Harry, Dumbledore arrived and told them that Madam Pomfrey was looking after Severus at the moment. He offered to remove them from the Shack before joining Fawkes in his search for Harry. As soon as he had transformed, the boys grabbed his tail feathers and were taken to the grounds just outside of the Shack, while Lily changed into her owl form and flew out, too. The others were standing in front of the Shack, talking frantically about if there was anything they could do. Professor McGonagall just came over, looking very worried.

Suddenly Fawkes arrived, sat on Lily’s arm, and carefully put something into her hand. She let out a loud gasp. It was a baby phoenix, a very small, naked bird. “Is that… is that Harry?” she asked, tears welling in her eyes once more.”

Suddenly, Dumbledore was at her side. “Yes, Lily, that’s Harry. He was very lucky to be in his phoenix form; otherwise he wouldn’t have survived it. As a wind phoenix, he had his Vaporizing Day and is now a baby.”

“Will he also be a baby in his human form?” Lily asked flabbergasted.

#No, he will be a big hatchling, but you mustn’t transform him back for at least ten egg-turns. I will be the one to do chit-chat with him.#

“He will be his normal age; however we cannot transform him back for at least two or three weeks. Fawkes will care for him in the meantime,” Dumbledore translated for the others, carefully taking Baby phoenix Harry from Lily.

#Be careful, old man, you have to keep our nestling warm, otherwise he will not make it!# Fawkes advised Albus, who put the small baby phoenix under his robes and translated Fawkes’ warning to the others.

After that a discussion about where they should take Breeze and who should take care of him started, until Dumbledore called everyone to silence and decided, “I will take him to the Snapes’ living room. We can place his perch, which is also made for a baby phoenix to sit on, in front of the fireplace, it will be warm and comfortable enough for him while he recovers. I would like to ask every one of you to take the time to be there for him as much as possible. I suggest that we take him there now and then discuss everything else. Hopefully Fawkes will be able to give us further advice about how to care for a baby phoenix.”

They walked up to the Snape quarters. However, before they could knock, Remus asked, “Should we go in there together? I mean, it will be quite a shock for Professor Snape; so maybe it would be better if only the Professors and Lily went in together with Fawkes.”

“Yes, Mr. Lupin, that’s right. Thanks for your understanding. Please return to your Common room, so that I can find you if we have questions later on,” Dumbledore spoke up and knocked at the door.

When Salazar opened the door, Lily threw herself at the teacher, bursting into tears and Dumbledore quickly told him what had happened.

#In about a week he should be able to communicate to you – I will be the first able to have a proper conversation with him of course,# Fawkes informed Albus. After a short while, he added, #And don’t make such a fuss over him, he will be alright.#

“Where is he?” Salazar asked, and looked over to the perch that Minerva had placed directly in front of the fireplace. When Lily, looking at the perch to search for Breeze she suddenly started to giggle, everyone followed her eyes and saw that Fawkes had taken a position just next to Breeze, spreading his pretty wings all over the baby, so that not even the tiniest bit of the small phoenix could be seen. The room erupted with relieved laughter.

By now, everyone had settled into the chairs around Breeze’s perch and Albus called Twinkle and asked for tea and biscuits for everyone. When she came back a minute later, he told her that Breeze was a baby now and that he wanted her to take care of him during the next couple of weeks. Seeing the confused looks the others were throwing at him, he explained, “Twinkle always takes care of Fawkes while he is a baby. Therefore, she knows exactly what he needs and is well prepared to care for him. Don’t worry; he will be in the best hands,” he explained reassuringly.

A few minutes later, they were silently sipping their tea when suddenly, Minerva started to speak. “Lily, can you tell me what exactly happened? How did the ceiling come down when they were trying to measure the length of the wall?”

Lily shook her head. “I have no idea. Sorry, but I really don’t understand what happened. We were in the other room and only came over when Peter suddenly cried out.”

“Maybe we should call Mr. Pettigrew and ask him,” Dumbledore suggested.

“No,” Lily contradicted vehemently. “Let’s try to ask Severus first if he knows something. Peter probably won’t know what happened anyway.”

Minerva stood up from the sofa immediately. “I’ll go and check on Severus. Poppy should be finished treating him and can tell us how he is. I will also ask her when we can talk to him.”

“May I come with you, Granny?” Lily asked immediately.

“Let’s all go together,” Dumbledore suggested. “Fawkes will look after Harry while we are gone.”

-----

When they reached the Hospital Wing, Poppy was sitting on the edge of Severus’ bed, and the two of them were engaged in an animate conversation. “What happened to Harry?” Severus asked immediately.

“It’s all right, Severus, calm down,” Albus replied calmingly, and Severus relaxed noticeably.

“Oh, thank God,” Poppy said and turned to Severus again. “Then please drink your sleeping potion now, you have to rest in order for your body to heal properly.”

“No,” Severus contradicted urgently. “I have to speak to the professors first. It will only take a minute. Please stay here and wait.” He turned to Dumbledore. “Professor, please, you have to ask Pettigrew under Veritaserum what he did today. If he had only done what he was supposed to do, there is no way that the ceiling could have collapsed.” Ignoring Minerva’s, Poppy’s, and Lily’s gasp, he repeated urgently, “Please investigate using Veritaserum.” Then he turned to Poppy and gulped down the Potion she held out for him.

When Severus fell asleep, Poppy tucked him in and turned to the others, who were still standing around his bed, stunned because of what he had told him. “How is he, Madam Pomfrey?” Lily asked worriedly.

Poppy sighed. “He has a concussion and several broken bones. Both arms and three ribs were broken, but they are already healed and will be fine by tomorrow.”

“Can Salazar take him to his quarters, so that he can keep our Baby phoenix company?” Dumbledore asked straight away, and Poppy sighed.

“Not yet. As soon as his fever has broken, you may take him with you, Salazar. He may keep Harry company, but I also want him to rest for at least a few days.”

“All right. Thank you, Poppy.” Albus finished the conversation and turned to his wife. “Minerva, please bring Potter, Black, Lupin, and Pettigrew to my office. In the meantime, I shall prepare some tea. Lily and Salazar, would you care to join us for a cup of tea?”

“Oh, yes, Professor, thank you.” Lily was the first to reply, and Salazar gave Albus a short nod to show his agreement.

-----

In the Headmaster’s office, Dumbledore immediately called Twinkle and ordered tea. A minute later, he poured the tea into eight cups, while Salazar busied himself carefully pouring a drop of a plain looking liquid into four of the cups. When Minerva arrived with the four students, Albus motioned her to sit next to Lily and invited the students to take a seat and have some tea.

While everyone sipped their tea, Dumbledore started to question James. “Mr. Potter, can you tell us what happened this morning at the Shrieking Shack?”

James gave him a confused glance. “I don’t know,” he said finally. “Harry and Severus went over to measure the walls in the large room, and Peter followed them, while Lily and Remus measured the walls in the smaller room, and Sirius and I tried to measure the walls in the hall. One in each team was performing the Longitudo Dimetiri spell, and the other was taking notes. Harry and Severus had already done the same thing at the front part of the Shack and showed us how to do the spell.”

“Who did the spells, and who exactly was taking notes, Mr. Lupin?” Dumbledore enquired.

“Lily performed the spell, and I took notes. I’m not 100 percent sure, but I believe James did the spell, while Sirius noted the measurements, and I’m quite sure that Harry performed the spell and Severus took notes.”

“What did Mr. Pettigrew do in the meantime, Mr. Black?” Albus asked once more.

“I don’t know, but he isn’t capable of doing difficult spells, he just always follows those he thinks are the best and watches,” Sirius replied and gasped at his own words.

“Can you please explain exactly what happened in your group, Mr. Pettigrew?”

“Harry and Severus didn’t even give me a chance to participate. They just did their own thing without me. So I pointed my wand to the ceiling, when they were not looking, and performed the Tectum Collabor spell, so that the ceiling came down on top of them.”

“Did you want to kill them?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“I was going to become a Death Eater during the Christmas holidays. But those stupid Snapes killed the Dark Lord before I even had the opportunity of joining him. They shall wait and see – I’ll get my revenge on them.”

“Have you tried to kill them before?”

“Yes. I charmed a Bludger to attack Snape at the Quidditch match, but he managed to escape. It’s difficult to get him because he’s so good at everything.”

“Mr. Potter, Mr. Black, and Mr. Lupin, you are dismissed. Please do not talk about this to anyone until you hear from me again,” Dumbledore said, with a sad smile at his students without the usual twinkle in his eyes. He stood up and went to the fireplace to call the Auror Office.

Two minutes later, Aurors Moody and Potter stepped through the fireplace, and Dumbledore hurried to question Peter again before the Veritaserum wore off. Finally, the Aurors took Pettigrew with them to keep him in a ministry’s cell, since they couldn’t throw him into Azkaban because of his young age. He will be tried for the attempted murder of his two classmates.

Just before the Aurors left with the boy, Albus asked Moody, “Alastor, could you please organize a few registration cards for Animagi for us? We need at least three but better send me six.”

“Oh, yes,” Lily threw in, “just to let you know, Pettigrew is an unregistered rat Animagus.”

“Really, thank you very much, Ms. Evans. This is very valuable information,” Mr. Potter commended immediately and threw a spell around Peter that would prevent him from transforming.

-----

On Monday evening, Severus was finally allowed to transfer to the Snape quarters under the condition that he wouldn’t do anything but lie on the sofa and keep Harry company for the rest of the week.

During the first week, Fawkes didn’t move at all. Every piece of food Twinkle brought went into his beak first and from there into the tiny baby’s mouth. He trilled and trilled to entertain the little phoenix whenever he seemed to be at least half-awake. Severus often stood next to the perch talking to Harry. Of course, he didn’t know if he would understand, but he was quite sure that he would – at least – recognize his voice. Their friends visited as often as they were allowed to join Severus. On most days, Salazar threw them out after an hour as Severus still didn’t feel too well, and Salazar was as protective of him as he was of Harry.

As soon as Severus had recovered, Minerva, Albus, and Poppy started to visit Salazar in the evenings, and most of the time Lily and Severus were there as well, drinking tea and waiting for the baby phoenix to grow.

On the eighth day, Fawkes finally moved and took a spot next to Baby Breeze who had grown a bit during the week and was even sporting small green feathers here and there. The little phoenix lazily moved his head out from under his wing, and slowly opened his beautiful green eyes. Albus immediately transformed into his phoenix form and sat next to his great grandchild on the perch to exchange a few trills with him and Fawkes.

Finally, Breeze looked around to where his family was sitting and trilled, #What happened?# Lily went over to his perch and held the back of her hand directly in front of his feet, and Breeze accepted the invitation and carefully put one foot after the other onto his mother’s hand. She carefully took him over to the sofa and sat down next to Severus quietly talking to Breeze. Severus carefully put his hand onto the back of the phoenix’ head, knowing how much his future son liked him stroking the feathers there and told him what had happened in a quiet and calm voice.

“Harry”, his great grandmother addressed the tiny bird, “I don’t know when you will be able to transform back to your human self, but I can change you back whenever you want me to.”

Breeze nodded his head and trilled, #Fank you vewy much Gwanny. I don’t know how and when to twansfowm back; I have to ask Fawkes.#

Lily could understand what he said – probably because of being a bird too – and translated for everyone what Breeze had said. Salazar turned to the bird and told him, “No, Harry, you don’t have to ask Fawkes. He cannot tell you how to change back because he is not an Animagus, and about the timing, YOU have to decide in which form you feel more comfortable. You can either wait until you feel strong enough to transform by yourself, or we can ask your Grandmother to change you back.”

The phoenix baby took his time in making a decision, and for some reason Lily grew more and more upset. Severus asked Lily softly one day when everyone was assembled in the Snape quarters for tea, “Lily, what’s the problem with Harry being a baby phoenix? You know that he’s fine; you’re even able to talk with him, and remember you’re the only one except for the Headmaster to be able to do so. Also, don’t forget, when Harry is born in a few years’ time, we are going to have to raise him from birth onwards. You have to be very patient to have your fine big son back.”

Lily rolled her eyes. “Yes, of course, Sev, I know that. But you see, it’s only a few more months until Harry and your future self are going back to the future, so I want to enjoy every second of the time we have remaining with them.”

None of them noticed baby phoenix Harry tilting his head and listening in to their conversation intensely. A few minutes later, Harry started to let out a stream of words that was endless and much too fast for Lily to understand.

“Lily, what is he saying?” Severus urged his girlfriend. “He seems to be very upset.”

Lily gave Severus an exasperated glance before she admitted, “I have no idea at all. He’s ranting about something but it’s much too fast and too babyish to understand a word.”

In the meantime, Minerva had gone over to the perch and had taken the baby phoenix onto her hand, carefully stroking his head feathers with the other hand. Suddenly, the tiny phoenix stopped his ranting and his bright green eyes stared pleading at his great grandmother. All of a sudden, an image started to float in front of Minerva’s mind and she let out a huge gasp.

“Are you sure, Harry?”

The baby phoenix shook his small feathers before he nodded his head in a confirming nod.

Minerva turned to the others. “Of course I don’t know what his rant was all about but he obviously did Legilimency on me and planted an image in my head. If I understand it correctly he wants me to transform him back into his human form. Is that right, Harry?”

The baby phoenix nodded, and Lily could understand a small, #Yes, pwease, Gwanny.#

Minerva carefully stood up, holding baby phoenix Harry tight in her hand in order not to drop him as his feathers were still too small for the bird to be able to fly. When she walked over into Harry’s room, everyone stood up in order to follow her.

However, Salazar immediately held the others back. “No, you will please stay here and wait. Everyone! Poppy or I will be the only one to accompany them. Don’t you think Harry would be uncomfortable having so many spectators? He probably won’t even have clothes on him.” He threw the Healer an enquiring look, who nodded and quickly followed Minerva out of the room, while the others grudgingly sat down again.

Ten minutes later, Minerva and Poppy left Harry’s room. “Where’s Harry? Is he all right?” Lily asked impatiently.

“He is all right but he was very upset and tired, and Madam Pomfrey gave him a Sleeping Draught. You will all be able to see him in the morning,” Minerva answered sternly.

“Will he be able to attend lessons beginning tomorrow?” Remus asked eagerly.

“No,” Poppy replied before anyone else could answer differently. “I want him to rest for the remainder of the week. He’s not allowed to do any magic anyway. You can ask Professor Dumbledore about Fawkes condition after a burning day and after being a baby for a few weeks.”

“Yes, that’s correct,” Salazar agreed. “The Headmaster has once told me that it takes Fawkes at least six weeks to be back to his usual self after a burning day. And I don’t think it will be any different for Harry, especially as he isn’t used to it and then after what happened at the Shrieking Shack. Everything must have been a huge shock to him.”

-----

In spite of his friends’ and teachers’ concerns, Harry seemed to cope with everything very well. When he woke up late in the morning, Lily was sitting on the edge of his bed, reading her Transfiguration notes. She jumped suddenly when her son’s voice penetrated her ears.

“Hi Mum.”

“Harry! You’re awake! How are you?” Lily carefully pulled Harry into a hug.

“I’m fine, Mum. Have they already done something about the orphanage? Has Granddad given them my plans?” Harry asked eagerly.

“Oh, Harry,” Lily said, exasperated. “Don’t you have more pressing things to think about than the orphanage? Was that what you were talking about yesterday when you were in your phoenix form?”

“Yes, of course it was, and no, the orphanage is a pressing matter. Remember, the Death Eaters’ children, they don’t have anywhere to go. I have to go speak with Granddad.” He scrambled out of bed, and Lily let out a loud laugh.

“Oh, Harry, that’s priceless. What have Granny and Madam Pomfrey done to you?”

Harry frowned and looked down. He was wearing light blue footed pyjamas with little lions in yellow and orange roaring silently. He could feel his face getting red. “Oh, wait until I get back at them for this!” So threatening Harry quickly picked out an outfit and ran into the bathroom. When he emerged ten minutes later, fully dressed, his hair still damp from his shower, Lily was still pondering what to do with her son.

“Harry, you cannot just leave. Let me at least call your father or Madam Pomfrey to check on you. You aren’t even allowed to attend classes for the rest of the week. They said you mustn’t do any magic at all.”

“It’s all right, Lily, I’m fine. You can return to your class. Thanks for staying with me,” Harry answered speedily, took his plans out of his desk’s drawer, and transformed into Breeze in order to flash away immediately. However, as soon as he had transformed he remembered that Breeze wasn’t able to flash at all. He was still a baby.

Lily picked the baby phoenix up from the floor and said sternly, “Harry, you have to think before you rush to do something.” She put him on his bed and asked, “Do you think you can transform back, or do I have to call Granny?”

#I’ll try# the phoenix trilled a reply. Harry tried to transform back but soon had to realize that he didn’t have enough magic. He tried again and again until he gave up. #I can’t# he told his mother and tiredly closed his eyes.

“All right, Harry, sleep for a while. I’m going to call Granny as soon as she finishes teaching her lessons.”

-----

During lunchtime, Minerva came to once more transform the baby phoenix into her twelve-year-old great grandson. Salazar, who had followed his colleague into the room after hearing from Lily what had happened, asked sternly, “What do you think you were doing? Nobody has allowed you to get up and roam the castle.”

“But nobody has forbidden me to get up and do what I have to do,” Harry retorted. “I have to talk to Granddad. Does anyone of know if he has given my plans to the Ministry? We have to proceed with the project.”

“As far as I know,” Minerva replied pensively, “he had an appointment with the Ministry last week and has handed over your plans to them. And if I remember correctly, he was very satisfied after the meeting. I’ll tell him to come and visit you later.”

“Harry, with your transformation and your tries of transforming back you have depleted your magic completely. Now, please behave and be a bit more careful. You are not to leave our quarters today,” Salazar stated calmly with a stern look on his face.

Harry grudgingly obeyed and proceeded to sleep until his great grandfather woke him up a few hours later. “Now, Harry, what’s all this commotion about? Did you think we abandon your plan just because you decided to spend a few weeks as a baby phoenix?” Albus asked his great grandchild, his eyes twinkling merrily.

Harry groaned. “No, but…”

“No buts! I have taken your plans to the Ministry and they have made an enquiry to the few people within the magical world who are able to change the present building into the building from your plans. They have given the contractors this weekend to look over the plans and to turn in a bid for the needed work, and then we will choose the most convenient, which will probably be the cheapest, offer.”

“How long do you think it will take them to make the changes to the building? And do they only do the outside part and the additional walls for the rooms, or are they going to take care of the furnishings as well?”

“Oh my, have you spent your time as baby phoenix thinking about this all the time?” Albus asked, astonished. “The interior will be up to us to complete. We could hire someone to do it for us but with so many powerful wizards and witches among my colleagues it would be a waste of money to do so. Therefore, we will do it ourselves, and yes, you may help. However, you mustn’t do too much and you have to listen to what your father and Poppy say. I am aware of the fact that you are very powerful, but don’t forget that you’re only twelve years old while the teachers are grown-up wizards and witches. Do you understand me?”

“Yes,” Harry replied grudgingly.

“Now, Harry,” Albus continued, and Harry noticed that his eyes weren’t twinkling anymore. “Listen well. If you start to argue with any of us instead of just listening to us, you won’t be allowed to help at all. Is that clear?”

“Yes but…”

“No buts.”

-----

During the rest of the week, Harry spent most of his days studying with the help of Lily’s notes. He had already missed three weeks of classes and was glad to have time to catch up a bit at least on the theoretical parts. He also started once again translating potions recipes from Slytherin’s books as he was eager to finish as many books as possible before he had to go back to the future.

Apart from being diligent however, he had also thought about how to get back at his great grandmother and Madam Pomfrey for dressing him into footie pyjamas with a baby design.

On Friday evening, Harry was finally allowed to join his friends for dinner in the Great Hall. He knew that he was still not supposed to do any magic. However, Harry couldn’t care less. When he entered the Great Hall he immediately threw an unobtrusive glance at the Head table, glad to notice that Poppy was there too. If she hadn’t been there, he would have had to wait for the next meal, but now was the perfect opportunity to get his revenge. Harry sat down between Lily and Remus at the Gryffindor table and told his friends, “I’m sorry, but please give me five minutes. I just have to do something. Afterwards, I’m all yours.”

“Harry, you know that you can’t do magic yet,” Lily warned him but Harry decided to ignore everyone around him.

Harry concentrated on the task that was in front of him. Suddenly, two women at the Head table were wearing baby jumpsuits. Minerva wore a yellow jumpsuit with green crocodiles that made small noises of splashing water. Poppy had on a pink jumpsuit with purple dragons on it that were roaring fire from time to time. Both ladies had bibs around their neck with sparkling letters on them saying ‘Attention – Minnie’s trying to eat’ and ‘Be careful – Poppy’s messing’. On their heads the two women were wearing baby bonnets, the colour matching the pattern on their jumpsuits. Harry had transfigured their knives and forks into baby cutlery and their glasses into feeding cups. He completed his revenge by sending some more wish magic into the prank that should assure that the Transfiguration Charm couldn’t be cancelled easily but would last until the two women had left the Great Hall.

Within a minute, the whole student body had noticed what had happened at the Head table and the Hall was roaring with laughter.

While Minerva and Poppy glared daggers at Harry, Albus stood up and announced, “Thirty points for your Houses, Mr. Snape, for a splendid Transfiguration show!”

“Oh, Harry, how could you do that?” Lily asked. On one hand, she had enjoyed the prank very much, but on the other hand she was worried for her son.

“Don’t worry, Lily. What can they do? They won’t kill me.”

“But they can prank you, which can be really uncomfortable,” Remus contradicted.

“Ah, but I’m not afraid of their pranks. Anyway, that was my revenge for the prank they played on me.”

“What?” James gasped.

Lily explained, giggling that Harry had found himself dressed in footie pyjamas the morning after he had been transformed back from his phoenix form. “But even if they won’t prank you, Poppy will be very angry because you weren’t allowed to do magic,” she added.

And Sirius suggested, “Maybe you should hide somewhere tonight.”

“No!” Lily said flabbergasted. “You’ll only make things worse.”

“No, actually I believe that’s a good idea. I will spend the night in the chamber. Can you tell my Dad please, Lily?”

“No, Harry, wait. You’re crazy. You can’t escape them anyway,” Lily begged Harry.

Suddenly Harry felt a hand on his shoulder. Jumping up in a fright he saw his father standing behind him. “Now, Harry, let’s go back to our quarters.”

Harry frowned. They had been so engaged in their discussion that he hadn’t noticed that dinner was already finished, and he hadn’t even managed to eat anything.

-----

A week later, the renovation of the Shrieking Shack started. Harry was dying to go watching the transformation but Albus had told him that it normally took Fawkes six weeks after a burning day to be strong enough to fly or flash. Therefore, Harry knew that he had to wait at least two more weeks until he could safely transform into his Animagus form again. A few days later, the outside of the new building was already finished. As Harry had suggested in his plan, that the outside the orphanage/school building resemble a miniature version of Hogwarts.

One day, Salazar finally told Harry, “This weekend, beginning after breakfast tomorrow morning, Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall and I will go to the Orphanage to start adding furniture and other items to the rooms. Do you want to help?”

“Of course I want to help. Do you think my friends, or at least Lily and Severus could come too? You know how good Lily is at Charms, don’t you?”

“Yes, that’s right. And as it is you that’s paying for the whole renovation project I don’t think Professor Dumbledore would deny your wish to include them. However, let’s ask him when the professors join us for tea tonight.”

Already knowing Albus’ answer as he had spoken to the Headmaster during dinner Salazar asked Harry’s friends to stay in their quarters after curfew. When Albus, Minerva, and Poppy arrived for tea as they used to do in the evenings, Salazar officially asked if Harry’s friends could join them at the Orphanage to assist with things that needed to be completed.

Albus pensively replied, “If you promise not to tell everyone about it, so that I won’t be asked ‘why could they help and we couldn’t?’ then I don’t see any problem with it.”

“Why should anyone ask that? I mean it’s me paying for the whole renovation, so why shouldn’t my friends and I do the rest of it then?” Harry asked innocently.

“Are you sure that you want everyone to know that it was you to finance the renovation?” Salazar asked, giving his son a piercing look.

“Oh, no, of course not, sorry,” Harry replied, blushing fiercely.

“All right, that means there are three adults and six students, so one adult and two students for each floor. We should decide how to pair ourselves in order to always have one person good at Charms, one person good at Transfiguration, and one person for general Magic, to overlook everything and help here and there,” Dumbledore continued before he gave the students a piercing look.

“Please tell me what you think your most useful ability is for the furnishing and decoration of the orphanage.”

“Lily?”

“Charms.”

“James?”

“Transfiguration.”

“Sirius?”

“Transfiguration.”

“Remus?”

“General.”

“Severus?”

“General.”

“All right, Harry I don’t have to ask you since with Wish Magic you can do Charms as well as Transfiguration easily. Professor McGonagall will do Transfiguration of course, Professor Snape general Magic, and I’m afraid I have to do Charms. This means, Professor McGonagall will work together with Lily and Severus, Professor Snape will work together with Harry and James, and I will make a group together with Sirius and Remus. Do you all agree with this solution?”

Everyone agreed and Salazar dismissed Harry’s friends for the evening. However, Severus still had a question he asked very hesitantly. “On the third floor, there will be dormitories for the students who are not able to return to their families for the summer, right?”

“That is correct,” Albus replied. “Why do you ask, my boy?”

“I was just wondering what kind of qualification students needed to stay there?” Severus asked quietly.

“Albus, I will speak with you about this later, but I believe that Severus fulfils the qualifications.”

“In this case, maybe we should let Severus’ group do the third floor. If it concerns you personally, perhaps you will have better ideas than those whom it doesn’t concern directly. Severus, I will listen to what Salazar tells me and we will talk about it later.”

-----

Directly after breakfast, the three teachers and six students headed to the Orphanage. Harry’s group was responsible for the Primary School floor. Using his wish magic he covered the floor with gleaming white tiles before he conjured ten desks and chairs as well as a blackboard for each classroom. In the meantime, Salazar had decorated the walls and James had conjured a fireplace for each classroom. After two hours, they only had the library, the washing room, the Hall, and the teachers’ room left. However, noticing that Harry was obviously starting to get tired Salazar decided they had done enough and motioned the students to follow him up to the other floors to see how the other groups were progressing.

On the other floors, they had to conjure or transfigure beds including pillows and bed covers, wardrobes, and many other things that were needed in the orphanage as well as the students’ summer dormitories. Therefore, the other groups had a lot more work than Harry’s group, so Salazar, James, and Harry proceeded to help the others from Sunday morning onwards. On Sunday afternoon, everything was finished.

“Now, I believe we have done enough and especially the students should go to rest and enjoy the remaining hours of the weekend. I would suggest that we come here again tomorrow after dinner – only those of you who have time of course – and once more walk through the whole building. I believe that we’ll still find lots of things to do, and we may even need to come here one other evening. As soon as we are sure that everything is perfect, I will need to invite Minister McNeill for a tour through the building to which I’d like you to accompany me, Harry.”

“All right, Professor,” Harry agreed immediately.

Everyone agreed to come again the next evening, and they left the building in order to head back to the main castle.

“Oh, Granddad,” Harry suddenly shouted. “What are we going to do about the connecting doors, I mean from the Entrance Hall to the Hogwarts Entrance Hall and from the Hospital room to Madam Pomfrey’s office?”

“Ah, yes, Harry, I know that we need these doors. If you don’t mind I’d like you to try to make the doors with Wish Magic. However, this will require a lot of magic, so I don’t want you to do it right now since you’ve already done so much work inside the building today. However, in case you are well rested and fit tomorrow evening, maybe you could try to at least make one of the doors.”

“Ah, all right, I will try,” Harry agreed immediately.

The group had already walked about a third of the way up to the castle when Lily suddenly noticed that Harry was not with them. “Wait!” she shouted alarmed. “Where’s Harry?”

Everyone looked around. “I only know that he left the building with us, but then…” Severus started when he was interrupted by Remus.

“Look, he’s standing in front of the Orphanage building. But what is he doing there? Maybe he is having some problems?”

The group worriedly hurried back to the Orphanage, and Harry’s friends let out a huge gasp when they approached the building.

Above the Entrance Door to the Orphanage, Harry had conjured a huge sign. The sign was dark blue with many sparkling golden stars and border that surrounded the white inscription announcing that the building was ‘HOGWARTS ORPHANAGE AND PRIMARY SCHOOL’.

“Wow, Harry, that’s gorgeous,” James stated loudly.

“Very well done,” Salazar commended his son and the others in the small group nodded their heads in agreement.

-----

Later in the evening, when Harry was alone with his father, he said pensively, “Dad, I’ve thought about something. I want to speak with the Minister of Magic and tell him that Severus re-invented the wolves cure. I don’t think Severus would do that on his own if we don’t do it for him.” Harry paused to catch his breath. “I’d like to do that before we have to return to the future.”

Salazar gave his thoughtful son a grateful look, and the edges of his mouth pulled slightly upwards. “Thank you Harry, that’s more than generous of you, son.” He looked at his son, bursting with pride. “However, Severus cannot claim that for himself. It was you who found the long lost potions recipe, and translated it.”

Harry let out an impatient groan. “Look, Dad. That’s why I don’t want to discuss this with Severus right now. Yes, I did, but let me tell you something, when I killed Voldemort, I didn’t do that on my own. Severus helped me a lot. However, he didn’t receive the Order of Merlin like I did although he earned it in just the same way. So this time, it will be the other way round. And believe me; I’m going to get him the Order of Merlin, and if you don’t help me I’ll ask Granddad or contact the Minister directly.”

Salazar sighed. “All right, Harry. I’ll speak to the Headmaster tonight and ask him to contact Minister McNeill accordingly.”

A few days later, Salazar and Harry had the opportunity to speak to the Minister at the Headmaster’s office. They told the Minister about the potion that they had found and that they would like to patent the potion in Severus’ name.

The Minister listened astonished before he replied, “Yes, I believe it would be the most reasonable way if Severus Snape would claim the patent – or you can do it in his name of course. However, in order to give him the patent, we would have to ask him to supply us with the potion whenever it’s needed, so that we can cure all werewolves as soon as possible. Of course he doesn’t have to do that for free; we will of course pay him for the potion and his time brewing it,” he added reassuringly.

“Of course, Minister. That’s no problem, and we are aware of the necessity.”

“Very well,” the Minister replied. “In that case, I would like to ask you to inform your father and your younger self accordingly. I will come back in a few days and will present the patent certificate to Severus in exchange for his sign on the declaration that he will be willing to provide the Ministry as well as St. Mungo’s with the wolves cure potion whenever the need arises. If Severus agrees to the conditions, which I assume he will, I will award him for his efforts with the Order of Merlin 2nd class.”

Harry gave the Minister a delighted smile. “Thank you so much, Minister McNeill!” he exclaimed enthusiastically. “Um… Minister, um… would you please be so kind to explain the matter to Severus when you come to speak with him? I mean… if he knew in advance, he’d never agree to take the credit for himself, but you know that we really want him to, so…”

“It’s all right, Harry, I understand what you want to say, and, yes, I will explain everything to Severus. I will tell him that you arranged all of this, so hopefully he will agree.”

“He will,” Salazar spoke up. “Thank you very much for your understanding and cooperation, Minister.”

“You’re welcome, and I have to thank all of you for such a valuable potion,” the Minister countered and stepped into the Floo.

-----

Only the Headmaster and his Deputy Headmistress were present when the Minister gave a stunned Severus the patent certificate and the Order of Merlin. As grateful and happy as Severus was, it upset him immensely that his older self and Harry had arranged everything secretly. He also felt that it was not right for him to receive so much money while Harry didn’t get anything.

“Oh, Severus,” Harry groaned. “When we killed Voldemort, I received the Order of Merlin and you didn’t receive anything. Plus, like I told you before, buy some children’s books for me and read them to me when I’m young and that’ll make it all up to me. Congratulations, Severus!” He pulled his future father into a light hug, noticing that the boy’s eyes were full of tears. ‘Wow, that’s a lot of emotion for my Dad,’ Harry thought, amazed.

During the next few weeks, Harry fully concentrated on translating as many the potions recipes books as possible. The Marauders also managed to finish the Marauders’ Map, and James mischievously presented a copy to Harry. “Here, Harry,” he told him, “Take this with you. Who knows if we still have our maps when you come to Hogwarts in the future? Filch may have confiscated them from all of us by the time we graduate.”

Harry chuckled. “All right, thank you, James. I can imagine that it will come in handy and, not only for playing pranks,” he replied, glancing at Sirius and pocketed the map. ‘Oh, I already know that Draco and I will be using it wisely,’ he thought, grinning. ‘I wonder if Hermione will admire the map because it’s great Charm work or if she will despise it because we could cause so much trouble with it.’

-----

At the beginning of May, the orphanage started its work. Right from the beginning it was filled to half its maximum capacity. The Ministry had taken over the responsibility and dealt with the applications and with hiring teachers for the orphanage as well as for the primary school that was going to start in September. As the main financial sponsor, however, Harry had a certain amount of authority, which he didn’t intend to use at first because he wanted the fact that he was the main financial sponsor to be kept a secret. However, on the day the orphanage opened the Daily Prophet printed a large article about the orphanage that contained information about Harry being the inventor as well as the main financial sponsor of the building.

Harry was very upset. ‘All right,’ he thought, ‘if they want it like that and can’t respect that I didn’t want to be named, I’ll use my authority and interfere with them.’ He wrote a letter to Mr. Jones, the person, who was responsible for the orphanage at the Ministry, and told him to add Severus and Sirius on the list of the students, who couldn’t return home for some reason over the summer holidays. Normally, the students had to complete a lot of paperwork, but in this case, Mr. Jones just accepted the information provided by Harry.

-----

Shortly after the orphanage and primary school opened, the end of year tests started, and Harry suddenly became aware of the fact that his school year in the past was nearly finished and that he would, in two months at the latest, be returning to the future. On one hand, he was very eager to see how they had managed to change the future, but on the other hand, he became very anxious because he didn’t know what could have happened to his family or himself in the future because of the changes they had made.

On the first day after the tests were completed, Lily gave Harry a concerned glance. During the last few days, she had noticed that Harry was very quiet and seemed to be worrying about something, but she had thought it was because of the stressful week of testing. When however Harry was still not his usual self after the tests were over, she cornered him on his way from the dungeons to the Great Hall for dinner.

“Harry, what’s wrong?” Lily asked softly.

“Nothing really,” Harry replied quietly. “I’m just worried if all of you will be there when I return to the future. You know, before I came here I only had Dad, but now… um… you know, because of the changes I made I hope that you both will be there, but maybe something happened to you and Dad and you’re both gone or something. Sorry, I know it’s probably stupid to worry about such things but…”

“No, Harry, it’s not stupid at all,” Lily replied softly. “But Harry, I’m sure we will be there for you. And in case something happens to one of us, you still won’t be alone. This time, you know that Severus will be your father; James will be your godfather plus someone else, maybe Sirius as he won’t be in Azkaban this time, right? Granny and Granddad will be there as well. Relax, Harry, everything will be fine.”

However, in spite of Lily’s and Salazar’s reassurances, Harry remained very restless, especially when the summer holidays started and he didn’t have classes or homework to occupy his time. Fortunately, Lily was living at the castle with her grandparents, and Severus and Sirius, who were staying at the orphanage, came to spend the whole day together with Harry and Lily in the castle, so that Harry at least didn’t have to miss his friends, except for James and Remus, who had returned home to their homes.

Nevertheless, Harry couldn’t really enjoy the weeks with his friends. Every other night, he had nightmares, seeing himself returning to the future together with his father, who vanished immediately after arriving in the Headmaster’s office, seeing his grandfather explaining to Harry and his father why Lily wasn’t alive in this timeline either. He became more and more tired with each passing day, and he was hardly able to eat, and what little he did manage to eat he was having a hard time keeping down.

Salazar made a decision after watching Harry for a couple of weeks. It was during the second week of the holidays he decided not to wait until Harry’s birthday to return to the future. He went up to the Headmaster’s office and explained to Albus and Minerva that he would like to return to the future as soon as possible, the next day.

“Yes, Salazar, as much as I hate to say it, I believe that it would be for the best. Harry can not continue like this and stay healthy.” Minerva answered immediately, who had been very worried about Harry during the last two weeks.

“All right,” the Headmaster agreed hesitantly. “Poppy will be disappointed though. She had hoped that you could brew the potions for the next school year for her, so that she didn’t have to ask the Potions Professor.”

Salazar rolled his eyes. “She can ask Severus. As he is staying at the orphanage anyway, he can come here and brew all potions she requires. Severus will be glad to have the opportunity to use the Potions classroom, and would be happy to brew anything for Poppy. Shall I speak to him about it and ask him to talk to Poppy?”

“Ah, yes, Salazar, that would be very much appreciated,” Albus said gratefully. In fact, he was a bit afraid of the strict Mediwitch, who always complained about the incompetence of the current Potions professor. “However, won’t Harry be disappointed not to have a birthday party here, together with his friends?”

Salazar raised an eyebrow. “As of right now Harry is in full panic mode. He has nightmares and he can hardly eat anything. His birthday is six weeks away and I am afraid that it will cause him further anxiety to wait much longer to take him home. Taking him home now will be the only way to stop all of the stress that he is under. Frankly speaking, I’m even thinking about just taking him back during the night when he’s asleep.”

“No, Salazar,” Minerva told him strictly. “I understand your feelings but you have to give him the opportunity to say good-bye to his friends, if you do not he will resent you for it. However, you should only tell him a short while before you leave. Do you have the potion and everything you need ready?”

“Yes.” Salazar sighed. “The potion is ready, and we just have to pack our trunks, which is a matter of two spells.”

“Salazar, when exactly do you believe you will arrive in the future?” Dumbledore asked.

“We left to come here the evening of Harry’s birthday after his first year. Therefore, I’ve timed the potion so that we should arrive back in the future on the following day. I don’t know what time it will be though,” he added. He remained pensive for a moment. “Albus, I shall inform Poppy and Harry’s friends that we will leave tomorrow afternoon; could you please tell anyone else whom it might concern?”

“Of course, Salazar, I will inform our colleagues.”

Salazar excused himself and went to see Poppy to tell her the news. The Mediwitch threw him a slightly sad glance and sighed. “I will miss both of you, Salazar, even if I know that your younger self is still here and that I’m going to meet Harry again in a few years. Nevertheless, I think that you are doing the right thing returning now instead of staying for another six weeks. It would surely harm Harry if the stress he is bringing upon himself was to continue for that long.”

Poppy gave Salazar a piercing glance. “Salazar, are you all right? You are worried too, aren’t you?”

Salazar let out a small laugh before he sighed and replied, “Oh, Poppy. You know, coming here was easier as I knew exactly what to expect. This time, we don’t know who will be there, if we’re all alright, or what will happen during the next eighteen years. I hope so much that Lily, Harry, and I are peacefully living together here in the castle, but we’ll only know when we arrive. The thought isn’t really comforting; therefore I can understand Harry is feeling all too well.”

Poppy sighed. “I can understand your worries, but everything will turn out all right. Not only for Harry but also for you, it’s better to return to the future as soon as possible, for both of you.”

-----

Salazar thanked his friend and returned to his quarters, where Lily and Severus were talking animatedly, while Harry had obviously fallen asleep during the conversation. Salazar joined his younger self and his future wife and told them about his decision to depart the next day.

“I’m very sad because I’ll miss both of you very much,” Lily said immediately, and Salazar noticed that tears were welling up in her eyes. “However, I also know that it would be the best for Harry as he really seems to be suffering.”

“I will miss both of you as well,” Severus confessed. “But of course you have to do what is best for Harry and for yourself, and I can only imagine that you are both very worried about what the future will be like. Are you going to tell Harry in advance, or are you planning to surprise him tomorrow?”

“Do you think Harry would even close one eye for a second if I told him today?” Salazar asked, raising an eyebrow. “I will tell him ten minutes before lunch, so that he has just enough time to pack his belongings, and after having lunch together with everyone here, we will leave.”

Lily and Severus decided to send two owls to James and Remus, inviting them for lunch for the next day. They tried to behave as normally as possible in order not to alert Harry to the fact that something was going to happen soon.

-----

As Salazar had told Lily and Severus, shortly before lunchtime he entered his son’s room, where Harry, Lily, Severus, and Sirius were talking and laughing together. He sat down on an empty chair and told Harry, “Now, Harry, do you know the Spell to pack your luggage all at once into your trunk?”

Harry threw him a confused look. “No, Dad. Why?”

Salazar sighed. “We’re going back to the future immediately following lunch, son.”

Harry’s eyes widened and he threw his father an unbelieving look. “No! You’re joking, aren’t you? We’re leaving in six weeks or so, right?” he asked pleadingly.

“Harry,” Salazar spoke in a very calm, soft voice. “I’ve been watching you for awhile now, and it is not healthy being so upset constantly. I believe that the best thing for us to do is bring our time travel in the past to an end as soon as possible, so that you can return to thinking about other things, instead of being worried about what may have happened when we return.” He waved his wand around the room, quickly casting a Spell, and Harry watched nervously as his belongings piled into his open trunk.

In a trance-like state, Harry followed his father and his friends down to the Great Hall, astonished to see Remus and James there as well. Lunch was a relatively quiet affair. Although his friends, especially James and Sirius, tried their best to entertain the others, their laughter was not contagious enough to infect Harry, and everyone watched Harry worriedly.

Seeing that Harry was only pushing around his food and everyone else had finished eating, Salazar turned to his son, who was sitting next to him. “All right,” he said and pulled three phials out of his robe pocket. “I don’t know if you remember from last year, Harry; this is the bonding potion. We drink this in order to stay together until we arrive in the future in case something goes wrong with the potion and we arrive at a very different time than we are supposed to. In that case, you will still arrive next to me.” He let Harry drink half of the potion before he gulped down the rest of it. Then both of them took one of the remaining phials, said ‘good bye’ to Minerva, Albus, Poppy, Severus, Lily, James, Remus, and Sirius before they stood up from the table. They both stepped back and downed the remaining potions.

Severus pulled Harry into a fierce hug, but everything about them turned and turned and Harry felt sick immediately. After a seemingly endless journey finally came to a stop, Harry felt himself stumble to the floor and get sick over himself before everything turned black.

Harry’s mind slowly turned back to awareness. The first thing he noticed was the voices of his mother and his grandmother, and he lazily opened his eyes. He found himself lying next to his father, who was obviously still asleep, in a bed in an unknown room – oh, no, he knew that room, there was a new memory. Harry groaned when he remembered that there had been many new memories he had been watching while he was asleep.

Memories about his childhood had flashed by in front of his eyes. He had a great childhood, growing up at Hogwarts together with his parents and great grandparents. Harry watched his father teaching him as a little tyke Potions, saw himself attending the primary school in the Orphanage being taught by his mother and his godfather. He watched his small twin brothers growing up and saw himself trying to teach them little pranks.

‘I’m in my parents’ bedroom,’ he thought, glancing around curiously. Then he spotted Lily and Minerva talking to each other animatedly.

“Harry!” Lily said in a very relieved voice and came over, sitting down on the edge of his bed.

“Harry, how do you feel?” Minerva asked, giving him a piercing look.

“I’m fine,” Harry replied, looking at his mother in awe. ‘She really is alive,’ he cheered inwardly. ‘The memories were real!’ “I feel a bit confused though. I think I’ve received my new memories while I was asleep, is that what happened?”

“Yes, Harry. At least we believe so. You have been in a coma for five days, sweetie.”

While Harry let out a huge gasp, Minerva told him, “Harry, if you have questions or need any kind of help, just ask any of us anytime, please. Maybe it will help to speak about certain memories in order to fully understand them. However, as you have lived here in this timeline for nearly thirteen years, you probably won’t have any problems. Your father is still in a coma, which is not astonishing as he has many more memories to receive than you.”

Severus slept for two more days. In the meantime, Harry spent a lot of time playing with his two six-year-old twin brothers Leon and Louis, who were too cute and absolutely adored their big brother.

“Harry, what’s primary school like?” Leon asked worriedly.

“Is Mummy very strict at school?” Louis added.

“Yes, you two. Mummy is very strict, so if you want to play pranks, you shouldn’t do it during Mummy’s lesson but in Uncle James’ class since he likes pranks. He has much more sense when it comes to fun than mum, but if I hear you tell him that, I’ll use you for potions ingredients!”

“Harry, can you teach us…”

“… how to play a prank on Uncle James?” Louis finished Leon’s question.

Harry laughed. “All right, let me think of something and I’ll teach you.”

-----

During the next weeks, Harry often spoke with his parents about the two timelines. Harry was especially glad that his father had been with him the whole time and thus had similar experiences in dealing with the two different timelines.

Harry also spent some time with his friends from the past. Most of them were nearby anyway as Remus was teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts, Lily and James were teaching at the Orphanage, and Severus of course was the Potions Professor. Sirius was the only Marauder, who was working outside of teaching as he was an Auror at the Ministry of Magic. On the night of the full moon, the Marauders even met for an Animagus party on the grounds, and Harry was happy that he was allowed to join the party although he was the only child among the adults.

Shortly before the school year began, Harry’s parents also discussed with Albus and Minerva about what class Harry was supposed to attend classes with, and what dorm he would stay in. Before he went to the past, he had only finished his first year; however, in the past he had attended third year. Moreover, he had passed all his tests at the end of third year with excellent marks, so that it would be ridiculous to have him attend second or third year once more. On the other hand, his friends were all in second year.

“I believe we should let Harry attend the fourth years’ classes, but he should stay in the second years’ dormitories together with his friends,” Severus suggested, and everyone agreed immediately.

Harry was very pleased with this solution and couldn’t wait to see his friends, whom he hadn’t met for a whole year, although for them only a few weeks had passed. Fortunately, Harry had been sorted into Slytherin and Gryffindor in the new timeline as well, so that he still had the same friends as in the old timeline.

-----

Finally, the students came back to Hogwarts. Harry was very happy to be able to talk to his friends again, although at first it was a strange feeling to still share the dormitories with his friends in Gryffindor and Slytherin but to attend fourth class while his friends were only second years. However, Harry was soon able to adapt to the situation, and the fourth year’s students were all very friendly to him. Just like before he went to the past, he played Quidditch for his two House teams and had many friends in both houses.

The first year after his return to the future was quite eventful. Before heading back to Hogwarts, Draco had noticed his father putting a strange book into Ginny Weasley’s bag, when they were buying their school supplies in Diagon Alley. Knowing that something coming from his father couldn’t be good, he unobtrusively took the book from Ginny’s bag, hiding it in his robe pocket. During the first night back at Hogwarts, he showed the strange book, which didn’t contain any writing, to Harry, and together they tried writing into the book. After several months of communicating with a certain Tom Riddle, said person suddenly appeared out of the book, leading them into the Chamber of Secrets.

Upon their arrival in the Chamber, Harry immediately spoke to the Basilisk. “Hello, Amaterasu. Could you please change your eyes to white for me?”

“Wait!” Riddle hissed. “Ssnake! I’m your Master, and you will listen to me. Now, kill these two boysss. Go on. Now!”

“No!” Amaterasu answered. “You are evil, and I won’t listen to you. Harry isss my Master and a very good one. The only one that needsss to be killed isss you.” With that, the Basilisk didn’t only get rid of Riddle but of the diary as well, by piercing both with his poisonous fangs, and destroying both.

“Thank you, Amaterasu,” Harry hissed gratefully. “I returned back recently from the future and am sorry I have not had a chance to visit you. Have you been well during the last eighteen yearss?”

“Yes, Harry, I’m well but I have missed you although your father came to speak with me from time to time. Good that he iss able to transform into a small snake.”

Harry laughed. “That’s good, at least you were not totally alone. By the way, this is my friend Draco. Now we have to go and tell everyone what happened. But I promise to visit you again as soon as I can.”

“All right, bye Harry.”

-----

Harry’s last three school years passed relatively uneventfully. Voldemort and his Death Eaters were long gone, and the wizarding world experienced a long period of peace, continuing for many decades. At the end of his seventh year, when his friends fought with their OWLs, Harry took his NEWTs as the youngest student to ever do so in Hogwarts recorded history.

When Harry finished Hogwarts, he became his father’s successor as Potions Professor and Slytherin Head of House. Severus remained at Hogwarts with his family and continued to be the Potions Master for Hogwarts while working freelance, brewing and researching Potions for the Ministry of Magic and St. Mungo’s.

A few years later, Harry married Nicole, the daughter of Remus Lupin, who remained the Defence Professor for many years, and Amelia Bones, who was teaching at the Primary school together with Lily and James. Nicole was two years younger than Harry and was a Ravenclaw when she attended Hogwarts. After Hogwarts she took over the newly invented Playschool at the Orphanage.

When Harold Potter, the father of Harry’s godfather James, retired from his position as Head of the Orphanage, Harry took over that position as well, enjoying the interaction with the small kids very much. Whenever he could spare a minute, he visited the children living in the building he had helped to plan and construct so many years ago.

On his hundredth birthday, Minerva asked him to give all his posts to some of his grandchildren and accept the position as Headmaster of Hogwarts because she wanted to spend the future together with Albus without working any more and wanted him to be her successor. After trying to refuse the post in favour of his father, Remus, or other older teachers, he finally let Minerva convince him that he would be the right person to take over the position. Minerva and Albus gladly accepted Harry’s invitation to continue residing in their quarters at Hogwarts.

-----

“Headmaster Harry, Headmaster Harry!” a small boy called the old man excitedly. “I’m sorry, Professor, but I’m Charlie, the best friend of your great grandson Jamie, and he told me about the Chamber of Secrets and that there are many really old books. But he also told me that nobody except for you is able to enter the Chamber because one needs to know Parseltongue.”

“Yes, that is true, my boy,” the old man replied kindly. “However, several of my grandchildren and great grandchildren are able to speak Parseltongue. They are in fact able to open the Chamber. And you would like to visit the Chamber I suppose?”

“Yes, I’d like that very much. I’m very interested in old books, and am fascinated by all that they might contain. Could you take me there, Professor? Please?”

“All right, Charlie, I’ll take you,” Harry chuckled at the excitement that Charlie was showing. “Join me in my office after dinner. Then we will pay the Chamber a visit. Amaterasu, the basilisk, who is living there, will be very pleased as she enjoys having visitors very much.”