Harry woke to the sound of raised voices, or, more specifically, Snape’s raised voice. He sat up in bed and stretched, trying to hear what was being said down below. He noticed Shadow had partially sit up too and smiled.

“Morning, Shadow. What’d you reckon’s got him upset this time?”

Shadow shrugged. ‘Either we go downstairs and find out, or we stay here in the nice, snuggly, warm bed and avoid getting shouted at.’ Shadow sighed and wriggled down deeper under the covers. ‘Hmm, tough decision.’

Harry laughed and curled up tighter under the duvet, wincing as his bottom smarted a little. He was not fool enough to go and challenge Snape when the man was shouting loud enough to raise the rafters. Harry was just drifting back off to sleep when he heard a new voice floating up the stairs. It wasn’t shouting, but it was loud enough to make Snape shut up. Harry sat bolt upright in bed.

“Shadow! That sounds just like Dumbledore!”

‘My God, you’re right!’

They listened for another couple of seconds before scrambling out of bed and throwing whatever came to hand on out of the trunk. Harry tried to straighten his hair by running his hand through it as he headed for the door. He knew it was a lost cause, but that didn’t stop him trying. Lucky Shadow… I wish I had straight hair.

‘Harry!’

“What?” he asked as he doubled back to look at Shadow, feeling startled at the abrupt tone his companion had used. Shadow pointed at the clothes he was wearing – which happened to be identical to Harry’s – crossed his arms and tapped his foot. Harry was baffled.

“What?”

‘I was wearing that!’ Shadow said, pointing to the floor, at a dark brown T-shirt. ‘Humour me and see what happens when you change the top.’

“What? Well, OK.” Harry pulled off the blue top, the one which they had argued over yesterday, and tugged on the brown. For one second, Harry saw Shadow standing in the mirror while still wearing the blue top, and suddenly it seemed to dissolve around him, leaving the brown shirt in its place.

‘See?’

“Wow.” Harry blinked several times.

‘Cease the goldfish impression! We can talk about it later. Now, hurry up and go! I want to see if Dumbledore’s anything like your memories of him.’

“But they’re you’re memories too!”

‘Not quite. They’re more like watching someone else’s home video – no emotive value whatsoever. Now, let’s go!’

“Hang on. Shadow?”

‘What now?’ his counterpart sighed, backing into the mirror frame once again and bouncing on the balls of his feet.

“Your cheek. What happened?”

‘Oh!’ Shadow looked a little sheepish as he lifted his hand up to touch the angry red scratch adorning his right cheek. He winced a little as his fingers brushed it. ‘It’s there to teach me not to lose my temper in future. It happened when I… uh… broke the mirror.’

Harry gasped and reached his hand up to touch his own, unblemished cheek. “Oh God! And Snape can’t even fix it ‘cos I don’t have one. I’m so sorry.”

Shadow shrugged and dropped his hand. ‘Not your fault.’ He was about to say something else when a new yell echoed up from below. ‘Uh, can we go and see what’s happening now? There’re more people than just Dumbledore and Snape down there!’ Not waiting for an answer, Shadow turned and shot out the frame.

“Shadow! Come back!” Harry ran to the door and yanked it open. “That’s the second time you’ve got to choose the shirt we wear,” he grumbled half-heartedly as he hurried down the short corridor to the top of the stairs. He was very relieved that his ankle seemed to be fully repaired – so much so that it didn’t even twinge when he balanced his full weight on it, stopping at the top of the stairs. He remembered the long, agonising walk from Privet Drive to where Snape had found him, and shuddered. Never again.

Harry looked down the stairs and bit his lip. There was no sign of Shadow, but the voices were still making a lot of noise down there… He crept down the stairs, craning his neck forward, as if that would help him see ahead sooner. His steps were soft and stealthy; honed from years of creeping out for food in the middle of the night. Harry was sure that there was no way his quarry had heard him, especially not with the racket they were making.

The door to the living room was open. Harry stopped a little way up the stairs from it, held his breath and listened. There really did seem to be far more people than just Dumbledore and Snape in the room…

“Now, see here, Snape, you nasty git–”

“GET OUT!”

“I’m sure we could just–”

“Children–”

“No, sodding way! I don’t want them within one hundred miles of this place!”

“Can we PLEASE–”

Unable to bear the suspense any more, Harry jumped down the last couple of steps and rounded the doorframe. He was desperate to know just who had upset Snape so much, but he was still prepared to run the second the situation looked like it would turn nasty. His resolve was forgotten as soon as he saw just who it was.

“SIRIUS!” Harry flew across the room and into his godfather’s arms; the man only just about managed to maintain enough presence of mind to catch his errant godson. The next second, he was being hugged close and whirled around by the laughing man. Harry was grinning madly, hardly able to believe his luck. To his delight, his godfather seemed to have gained a little in weight, and he was sporting an impressive tan.

At long last, the Sirius put him down and held him at arms’ length.

“Harry! It’s fantastic to see you! Here; let me look at you.” Sirius grabbed Harry’s shoulders and twirled him round. Harry stuck his arms out to the side and laughed, enjoying the attention. However, when Sirius stopped spinning him, he wasn’t smiling anymore.

“Harry? You’re far too thin; much thinner than you were when I last saw you! What happened? Has that slimy bastard not been feeding you?” Sirius sneered over Harry’s shoulder, pulling Harry’s body close to his own as though shielding him.

Harry saw Snape open his mouth to deliver a cutting remark about the other man’s attitude, and he decided to intervene before the situation became heated once more.

“No, no! Sn- err… Professor Snape’s been really good to me. When I first came here, I had a broken ankle, but he completely fixed it without me even having to ask!” Harry grinned and lifted his foot a little, effectively distracting Sirius from his latest anti-Snape campaign. Unfortunately, it also directed his attention towards something Harry really didn’t want to talk about.

“Those bastards! I knew I should’ve come and given them what-for when I had the chance!”

“Erm…” Harry looked around the room, pleading for someone to get him out of this particular position. Snape’s face remained impassive, Dumbledore looked concerned, and the fourth person in the room… Harry broke into another huge grin.

“Professor Lupin!” Harry wriggled free of Sirius and trotted over to his ex-Defence teacher. “Did you get my letter?”

Lines crinkled Lupin’s eyes as he smiled. Harry was surprised to see that he also had a tan. “Yes, I did, Harry. It was most enjoyable to read – especially the part where you told me how Ron managed to defeat the Troll…”

In the background, Harry heard Snape mutter something under his breath and Dumbledore murmuring, “Now, now, Severus!” in a censoring tone. The old man seemed to be trying not to laugh.

Harry bit back a smirk of his own as he listened to Lupin gently admonishing him for his lack of self regard in the Troll situation. Now that Harry knew Snape better, he could appreciate how amusing their positions were, instead of worrying about who would be left alive at the end of the day. Snape may shout and hex and bluster to get rid of his two unwanted guests, but he wouldn’t murder them. For a start, it wouldn’t please the Headmaster.

Why are Sirius and Remus here anyway? Why is the Headmaster here? Am I going to be taken away? Harry suddenly felt strangely reluctant to leave. Though Tharabraye Manor had only been his home for a short time, it had been a much more stable one than the Dursleys… Even including the spanking – Harry could almost see the point behind that, and at least Snape had been reasonable afterwards.

“Headmaster, if you’ll excuse me…” Harry turned again to see Snape giving Dumbledore a brief, formal bow and heading towards the fireplace. “Potter!”

Harry blinked. “Yes, sir?”

“Keep those two animals in check until I get back! Lord knows what the state of the furniture will be in otherwise!” Snape grabbed a handful of Floo Powder and disappeared into the hearth shouting, “Leaky Cauldron, London!” before the two men could even get past the first syllables of their outrage.

“Bastard!” Sirius roared, storming towards the fire and viciously punching the chimney breast. “When he gets back, I’m going to make sure there’ll be nothing left of him except that greasy mop of hair!”

Harry gasped in surprise before noticing Professor Lupin’s expression. He quickly edged away from the sandy haired man, feeling a little uneasy. He had never seen his old Professor look so outraged. Though I suppose I was never around after the people who had angered him left the room… Lupin’s jaw had clenched and his face had paled in anger. Harry knew enough about people to be more wary of Lupin’s silent anger, than of Sirius’ blustering.

Still, I can’t blame them, he thought. As far as I can tell, the last time these three met, Snape was busy trying to hand them both over to the Dementors; that’s not the kind of attitude that would  promote friendly feelings.

In fact, Harry had to suppress a little of his own anger at the past injustice. Maybe I should go and vanish his cauldrons after all!

Harry turned towards Professor Dumbledore, who looked like he was still trying his hardest not to laugh. “Professor?”

Dumbledore twinkled at him. “Yes, Harry, my boy?”

“Why did Sna- Professor Snape go to Diagon Alley?”

“Oh, he went to go and fetch your school supplies. Now, if you’ll excuse me also, I shall go and work on the wards. I’m sure you three can find something to talk about in the mean time.” Dumbledore then quickly strode towards the open door. Harry stared for a second, and then rolled his eyes, chasing after him.

“Headmaster!” He reached out and caught Dumbledore’s sleeve, bringing them both to a halt. Harry was quite surprised at his own daring and stayed still for a couple of minutes, looking down at the sleeve in his hand.

Now, it was Sirius and Lupin stifling laughs. Harry cleared his throat and glared at them before turning back to the Headmaster. “Professor, why is Snape buying my stuff? Why can’t I go?” He frowned up at the old man, determined not to let go of the sleeve until he got his answers. Dumbledore seemed to realise this too, for he sighed.

“Do you remember the conversation we had about Professor Trelawney’s second true Prophecy, Harry?” he said gravely.

Harry nodded, his brow furrowing in concentration.

“Well, there have been a few disturbances which point towards the prediction coming true sooner than I expected. Though I am sure you would have enjoyed going to Diagon Alley, the fact of the matter is; it is much safer for just Professor Snape to go and buy your things for you. On a brighter note, I intend to make sure there is much higher level of security in Hogsmeade this school year. You should still be able to go and enjoy yourself, then.”

Harry nodded. Voldemort’s coming back? Now? Harry spent a moment feeling apprehensive about his future concerning Voldemort before the reality of his current situation intruded, making his stomach swoop in anxiety. He let go of Dumbledore’s sleeve and looked towards the fire, half wishing that he could call Snape back. “I haven’t any money with me. Anything Snape pays for, he’ll have to pay for himself!” He twisted his hands in his robes, trying not to panic at the idea of not being able to pay Snape back when the man asked for it.

It was Sirius who came to his rescue. “Don’t worry, Harry,” he said as he came up and clapped his hand on Harry’s shoulder. “Dumbledore already gave Snape money out of the school funds to pay for your things.”

Dumbledore nodded. “Yes, yes. You might have noticed before that any money you used previously on your school things mysteriously reappeared in your vault. That is because James and Lily paid for a full scholarship for you before you were even born, if you remember.” Here, Dumbledore paused, for a young owl had flown over and perched on his shoulder. The old man stroked the bird a bit before letting it out the window and continuing his explanation. Harry briefly wondered whose bird it was, but he was more interested in hearing what the Headmaster had to say.

“And so, Harry, any expenses you need for Hogwarts are immediately replaced out of the school fund. Now, I really must get those wards done before Severus gets back. Good day, Harry, Sirius, Remus.”

The two older men murmured their goodbyes as the Headmaster left, but Harry could only stare after him, dumbfounded. “You mean I could have bought that Planetarium last year, after all?” he said sadly, almost to himself.

“What Planetarium, Harry?” Lupin asked as he came up behind the boy.

Harry turned and grinned. “Oh, it was awesome! I would never have had to go to another Astronomy lesson again, and if that isn’t considered educational, then I don’t know what is!”

Sirius chuckled along with Lupin and squeezed his shoulder. “Too true. I wish us Marauders had thought of something like that when we were in school! Come on, kid, show us whatever room Snape’s been keeping you in, in this dump!”

“Dump?” Harry’s eyes widened as he led them out into the hall and up the stairs. “Have you actually seen this place? It’s amazing! Have you been in the library? It’s two storeys high and absolutely stuffed with books. And Professor Lupin knows I don’t like reading all that much, but I could quite happily spend the rest of my life in that room!” Harry sighed dreamily, looking back and grinning at the two men following him, who were laughing happily at his enthusiasm.

“Yeah, right! Like Snape would let us anywhere near his library! He hoards those books like a mad dragon hoards treasure,” Sirius told him, coming up alongside Harry and slinging an arm around the boy. “I actually remember the git trying to hex us one time ‘cos we tried to nick his book! Honestly, we were only trying to check a reference and he had to get all snooty with us!”

“Be reasonable, Padfoot. We could have just as easily gone and found someone else willing to lend us a copy.”

“Well,” Sirius gave a roguish grin and Harry just had to laugh at the obvious mischief dancing in his godfather’s eyes, “truth be told, all I wanted to do was start a fight in the school library!”

Harry gasped. “You didn’t!”

“We did! It ended up with four shelves being knocked over – and you know they’re about ten foot tall – books were strewn everywhere, and everyone within a twenty foot radius was covered in purple blotches. You should have seen Pince’s face! It looked like she’d swallowed a live hornet! Remember that, Moony?”

“How could I ever forget? We did end up with detention for the rest of the school year, though.”

“And bear in mind, it wasn’t even the Christmas holidays yet when this happened! Next time you’re in the library, check out the shelves nearest the Herbology section – I think there’s still one bookcase there with hex marks from your dad, myself and Snape all in one patch.”

“It turned the wood fluorescent orange, if I remember correctly?”

“Yep. It showed up wonderfully against the dark mahogany. Ah, one the many tributes to the Snape/Marauder feud!”

Harry snorted and reached out to open the door to his room. “This is my room… erm, sorry about the mess.”

True to the form of teenage boys everywhere, the room had changed from being pristine to being covered in random clutter in the shortest space of time possible. However, Harry’s clutter was more subdued than most boys’.

“Mess? What mess?” Sirius bounded forward and leapt on the unmade bed. “When I was your age, this would’ve been freakishly tidy! Don’t know why you’ve let him put you in a room covered in Slytherin green though!” Harry grinned evilly before running over and shoving Sirius so hard that he fell off the bed and landed with a loud thump on the floor. “Ow! What was that for?”

Harry stuck his tongue out and quickly ducked behind Lupin, who was desperately trying to stifle his laughter behind his hand.

“Moony! My godson’s being mean to me!” Sirius whined, and then pouted. This only served to make the two other people in the room laugh all the harder – Lupin ending up clinging onto the wall for support. Unknown to the two men, but visible to Harry, Shadow was in mirror, hanging onto the frame and howling with laughter at the expression on Sirius’ face.

“Right, that does it!” Sirius came around the bed so quickly that Harry didn’t even have time to react before the man grabbed him. Harry found himself being whirled around for the second time that morning, and laughed in delight; both at the action and at Shadow’s shouts of ‘Go, Sirius!’ in the background. Eventually the whirling stopped and the two of them clung to each other for balance, still laughing.

Sirius grabbed him and pulled him into another fierce hug before letting go.

“Now, come here and let us tell you about what we’ve been up to since we last met.” Sirius jumped back on the bed and patted the space beside him; Harry leapt up and settled against one of the bedposts where he could see both Sirius and Shadow. “Come on, Moony. Up you come!”

Lupin looked a little apprehensive until Harry also encouraged him. “Come on, Professor! There’s room for you too.”

Lupin acquiesced and perched on the foot of the bed, smiling at Harry as he did so. “You don’t have to call me ‘Professor Lupin’ anymore if you don’t want to, Harry.”

“What should I call you instead, then?”

“Oh, I don’t know; Remus, Moony, Lupin. Whatever you feel most comfortable with.”

Harry gave him a lopsided grin. “I think I’ll let the circumstances decide on what I call you then, Professor.”

The man smiled. “Why not?”

Sirius bounced up and down on the bed a little, redirecting their attention to him. “News now! News!”

“All right, Sirius.” Lupin smiled conspiratorially at Harry. “We’ll let the youngest of our group speak first, won’t we, Harry?”

“Hey!” Harry giggled at the half-offended, half-amused look on Sirius’ face, giggling even more as the man tried to mock-glare him.

“Fine!” Sirius raised his hands to the sky. “I know when I’m beaten.

“Now, our fantastic story starts quite soon after Moony left Hogwarts. By then, I was making my way ever southwards, leading the Dementors away from Hogwarts.” Here, Sirius’ face grew stern for a minute before it relaxed once more.

Harry was relieved that his godfather seemed to be healing a little already, despite the reminders of the horrors of Azkaban. It proved his strength of character.

“Once I had drawn their attention and given them the slip again, Moony came to meet me near Portsmouth in the south of England. Around that time, I sent that little owl for the task of delivering your message.”

Sirius smiled at Harry, and Harry, feeling suddenly shy at the strong emotion in the other man’s eyes, ducked his head and blushed.

“Then, Moony and I continued on our journey southward to the wonderful sunny places of Africa and Ecuador where all Dementors fear to tread…”

“Staying out of sight of anyone who might have recognised Sirius, I might add,” Lupin muttered into his proverbial beard.

Sirius shrugged. “So, we were slumming it. Who cares? It was then – about a month after we’d left – that we got the mysterious emergency summons from Dumbledore…”

Sirius paused dramatically, but the silence was broken almost immediately by Shadow screaming, ‘What then? What happened then?’ with his eyes as wide as saucers. Harry hid a smirk at his counterpart’s enthusiasm, to which Shadow stuck his tongue out and pretended to sulk.

Lupin, apparently, had also decided the story was taking too long. “And so we left for England immediately and once there, we discovered that the Ministry was under Death Eater attack,” he said very quickly, ignoring Sirius’ shout of “Moony!”

Harry gaped. The Ministry attacked? Is that why they haven’t come to snap my wand yet? And… “What are ‘Death Eaters’?” Harry risked a glance at Shadow, who, instead of looking equally puzzled, was unexpectedly grave.

“You-Know-Who’s followers,” Sirius snarled. “I’m surprised Snape didn’t go out and join the fun.”

Harry blinked. The name calling he could stand as he did a fair bit of that himself, but Snape was a good person, despite the prickly exterior… all right, the very prickly exterior. “Sirius, that isn’t fair,” Harry said earnestly. “Snape was looking after me the whole time the fight must have been going on, and he saved me from Malfoy. If he were one of them, then he wouldn’t have hesitated in hurting me or handing me over. But, he healed me, and made sure I ate plenty. That isn’t the kind of thing a bad guy would do.”

‘Maybe he’s fattening us up?’ Harry struggled to contain a snort of laughter at Shadow’s oh-so-innocent comment. Luckily, Harry’s speech had the effect he desired; Sirius backed down, unwilling to fight with his godson.

“But, umm, Moony?” Harry cast a worried glance at Lupin. “You did manage to stop them, didn’t you?”

Lupin suddenly looked very tired. “Yes, eventually. But in the process we lost fifty people to their curses. There were more of us, but the Death Eaters were better skilled – I have a feeling we shall all have to brush up on our duelling skills before much longer.” Lupin sent a grim look at Sirius while Harry exchanged a worried one with Shadow.

Shadow was chewing his lip and trying to tug his shirt into knots. Harry gave him a look that he thought was reassuring and ran his hand down the centre of his chest, hoping Shadow would understand the meaning. The Death Eaters don’t know I have this – they don’t know how powerful I am and they don’t yet know not to mess with me.

Shadow nodded and Harry breathed a sigh of relief – at least we have each other.

‘Maybe we should cheer them up. They look a little down, now,’ Shadow told him, nodding towards the now maudlin Marauders. Lupin was leaning against a bedpost, and Sirius was sitting cross-legged on the edge of the bed, staring down into his lap.

Harry smirked and pushed Sirius off the bed again.

“Ahh! Ow! How is that fair?”

Harry stretched out on his stomach and looked down at his rumpled godfather. “You did your best, and probably saved a lot of people’s lives. There’s no point in beating yourself up about it.”

‘Hark! He speaks true sense!’ Shadow told Sirius, nodding wisely before muttering under his breath, ‘If only he’d listen to his own advice every now and again!’

Harry ignored his counterpart, but Shadow’s words did bring to mind something he’d been wondering about. “Sirius? Moony?” Sirius looked up from dusting himself off and Lupin leaned forward, obviously concerned at Harry’s tone. “Would you…” Harry broke off and swallowed. “If I turned out to be someone else’s son, would you… still care about me? Despite the fact that I wasn’t the son of your friend?”

Sirius snorted and stood up, ruffling Harry’s hair as he went. “Don’t be ridiculous, there’s no one else’s son you could be; especially not with that hair.”

“Sirius, I mean it. It’s important to me. Do you just see James’ son when you look at me?” Harry bit his lip as his brow furrowed. What if he says yes? What’ll happen when he really does find out I’m someone else’s child?

Sirius sighed and sat down next to Harry, hemming the boy in between himself and Lupin. “You want to know what I see when I look at you?” Sirius took his chin and tipped it up so they could look each other fully in the face. “Just Harry. That’s all. You’re not James, you’re not Lily, and you never will be. We – me and Remus – will always care about you no matter who you decide to be. Isn’t that right, Moony?”

Harry twisted so that he could see Lupin’s face. The man looked sad, but he was smiling. “Wise words, Padfoot. Very wise words; and none truer that could be spoken. You’re not getting rid of us now, you should know that!”

Harry broke into a big smile, feeling a great weight lifting from his chest. He winked cheekily up and Sirius. “And if, by some weird twist of fate, I turn out to be Snape’s son, would you still love me?” Harry joked, blinking innocently.

Sirius’ face screwed up in disgust. “Urgh, that doesn’t bear thinking about.” A moment later, he looked down and winked at Harry. “But if putting up with the nasty git meant I’d get to spend time with you, it’d be worth it.” The next second, Padfoot found his lap full of Harry, while his godson squeezed his arms around Sirius’ neck as tight as possible.