As February neared closer, Harry still hadn’t heard from Draco nor had he gathered the courage to even tell his friends about the arrangement.

In fact, there were quite a few things Harry was still yet to reveal to his two supposed best friends. Not that it mattered too much as he hardly ever saw either of them as often as he’d like, apart from the classes in which they shared. Ron and Hermione still weren’t really talking to each other with the exception of the occasional times they hushed a question or two and shared odd looks if they thought Harry was acting strangely or hinting to something they didn’t understand.

And Harry’s grumpier mood (brought on by the return of his nightmares that made him more irritable than usual when tired from the lack of restful sleep), had returned in full force, which didn’t entirely help the matters with his friends.

‘You need a haircut.’ Hermione commented as she walked to Potions with him following the end of lunch.

‘My hair is fine.’ Harry grumbled as he reached up to further flatten it. ‘I trim it every now and again.’ He added.

It was indeed a lot shorter than he had let it become in the last couple of months or so. Now his hair was still near his ears yet not quite as curtaining as before.

‘And Toby misses you.’ Hermione said sadly. ‘You barely spend much time with him anymore; wasn’t that part of the point of having him around?’

‘No!’ Harry snapped. ‘He’s safer here and I do so spend time with him. I have classes, I have to eat, I have a war approaching, and on top of that I sometimes can’t sleep because of the nightmares.’ He ranted. ‘So I’m sorry if I can’t devote an entire hour to staring at the kid drawing random pictures of things I don’t even understand!’

‘There’s no need to take that tone with me!’ Hermione scolded back.

‘You’re right, sorry.’ Harry sighed.

‘But it’s true, I’m not cut out for this parenting stuff, I just wish his grandmother wasn’t so…’ He stopped talking and halted in the dungeon corridor when he realized his slip of information.

‘His grandmother?’ Hermione stared wide-eyed at him and lowered her tone to a whisper. ‘What are you talking about? Did you find Toby’s family? Who are they?’

‘I don’t want to talk about it!’ Harry raised his tone and moved forward to enter the Potions classroom.

He ignored Hermione when she joined his right and Ron on the left, who spent most of the lesson trying to figure out what he’d executed to get on Harry’s bad side.

‘What have I done?’ Ron hissed to Hermione, who only gave him a contemptuous look in return as she opened her book and focused her attention on Slughorn.

‘Settle down, settle down, please! Quickly, now, lots of work to get through this afternoon!’ Slughorn addressed the class.

Harry found that Potions had become one of his favourite subjects again as he took the careful time to actually learn the material and find easier ways in which to interpret the knowledge. And he hadn’t used the Half-Blood Prince’s book in quite some time; the notes remained concealed by the spell he had placed upon the book to ensure such measures continued. There was a strong sense of pride and accomplishment that came with no longer needing it most of the time.

Perhaps this was the talent Harry had indeed inherited from his mother as Slughorn so often boasted about?

‘Golpalott’s Third Law.’ Slughorn continued. ‘Who can tell me-?’

Harry’s hand shot up faster than Hermione’s, which was a person record that had actually startled Ron - while he had come to expect his friend to know more about the subject, never had he thought that Harry would react so eagerly to answering a question in class as he did it only so often.

But Potions was now Harry’s remedy for his anger or uncertainties and it always provided him a release as well as elevating his mood when he felt so accomplished with a larger variety of his tasks.

‘Ah, Harry m’boy!’ Slughorn grinned as he nodded.

Harry lowered his hand and dismissed the daggers Hermione glared his way as he answered the question.

‘I believe is says that the antidote for a mixed poison would be equal to more than the calculation of the antidotes for each of the individual components, sir?’ He said and knew it wasn’t word-for-word from their textbook as all of Hermione’s answers were.

At times Harry wondered if she actually knew the material or else just memorized it all enough to answer any question or perform any basic action.

‘Yes, that is correct!’ Slughorn beamed. ‘Ten points for Gryffindor!’

Harry didn’t need to listen as Slughorn continued to explain to those who had less understanding of the Third Law; his focus also drifted when he caught a pointed look Draco sent him from across the room. Without hearing so many words, Harry had a feeling that whatever it was that Draco was trying to tell him, had something to do with their arrangement as well as this lesson. With that in mind, Harry enveloped every word Slughorn said with the entirely of his attention.

Their objective was to create an antidote to whichever potion they selected from the rack on Slughorn’s desk that contained numerous different poisons.

‘Since you’re no longer using the Prince’s notes, can I have them?’ Ron whispered to him as he didn’t get even most of what Slughorn had been talking about.

Harry pretended not to hear his friend as he headed to the front of the room alongside Hermione and Draco. He reached for the poison that was a bright shade of pink but changed his mind and grasped the deep grey one instead. Draco stood beside him, selecting a pale blue one, and neither glanced at each other.

Though Harry was tempted to ask the Slytherin of the importance of this particular lesson and yet knew better than to do so during class.

Returning to his desk, Harry glanced at Hermione as he rolled his eyes for a moment and then turned to Ron with a little sympathy; this time it was they who appeared to ignoring him.

‘You basically need to counter-act each of the ingredients in the poisonous potion.’ Harry explained to Ron and scribbled down an incantation on a piece of parchment.

‘Use this spell to find out which ones are in it and look them up in One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi in order to find their opposites or what neutralizes them. That’s the best I can do.’

‘Thanks.’ Ron exhaled with actual gratitude and set about following Harry’s suggestions, much to Hermione’s ire.

Harry would not say the lesson was at all easy; however there was an element of ease for him as he was presented with a challenge and found it interesting to counter-act his poison even if he wasn’t doing quite as brilliantly as Slughorn had expected him to.

Sighing as his cauldron issued smoke; Harry ventured to the storage cupboard and glanced around at various boxes or jars for an ingredient of better use. His hand hesitated towards the dried beetle eyes as he spotted something that would perhaps eliminate his need to do any work that lesson at all.

Smirking, he grasped a bezoar and shoved it into his pocket as he gathered three more things he needed for his actual antidote. It didn’t happen very often, but for today at least Harry really felt like out-doing Hermione and even showing off a little. Not for the attention but simply because it was so amusing to him to do so in this particular lesson, while taking into consideration his past performance in it during the previous five years under Snape’s ruthless teaching.

--

When time was up, Harry – like the rest of the class – hadn’t been able to finish his task, although he was confident that it wasn’t as dreadful as several of the others around the room.

Slughorn was neutral about Draco’s results and Blaise’s apparently wasn’t all too bad either, nor was Ron’s (likely a result of Harry’s assistance), and of course Hermione’s was quite impressive even if it contained quite a large number of ingredients (over fifty, it would seem), and she too hadn’t been able to finish in time.

As Slughorn slowly reached Harry, the teenager lost his smirk and suddenly felt rather nervous.

‘And you, Harry.’ Slughorn said. ‘What have you got to show me?’

Taking a moment to gather his composure, Harry held up his mostly-completed vial and hurriedly explained.

‘It’s not quite finished sir and I think I added a little too many crushed Scurry beans, however it was interesting enough to give it a go.’ He smirked at the expression he received and held out his palm to reveal the bezoar.

‘Realistically, whilst it may be beneficial to know how to mix antidote as you said, I think this would be of greater use.’ He had to keep the chuckle from escaping his lips when not only did Slughorn stare at the small object for a full ten minutes but Hermione had turned pale as though she couldn’t believe she was truly being this outdone in a single lesson.

It was true; shoving a bezoar down a poisoned person’s throat would be much easier than coming up with a possible antidote when one mightn’t have time to do so.

As Slughorn laughed and went about his usual praising of Harry’s mother’s talent and his brilliance as a student, Harry tried to appear as humble as possible whereas he had the strong urge to laugh as well. Seriously, the looks on everyone’s faces were simply priceless.

‘You know a look like that and Snape would’ve been right all along.’ Hermione huffed.

‘What are you talking about?’ Harry turned to her and his grin instantly faded.

‘You’re showing off, aren’t you?’ She accused. ‘Attention-seeking is a trait he always said you possess and the Harry I know would never have proven him right by doing so now. I mean, really…what did you gain from this?’

‘Apart from house points, you mean?’ Ron retorted as he too had found Harry’s little stunt to be rather hilarious and the relative success of his own potion had put him in a good mood, which he felt Hermione had now ruined somewhat.

Harry scowled and tried to calm himself but her words had irked him more than he’d been able to predict.

‘Oh? So because I proved that not only can I be as good as you in at least one class and actually turn out to enjoy it as well while I decided to have a little fun than I’m showing off?’ Harry glared.

‘What about you? At least I didn’t recite the phrase from the book, nor do I put my hand up for every question any teacher ever asks. That’s all right for you, Hermione, but for once did you ever care about the fact that this is the only thing keeping me sane these days or did you only notice that I might be just a bit better than you for once?’ With a slam of his book, Harry matched the bell’s intention as he turned and stormed from the classroom.

He barely caught Ron saying “He’s got a point, you know” to Hermione before he turned a corner and strode down a corridor.

Harry paused as he spotted the door to Snape’s office and remembered what Hermione had said, which only made him further annoyed by her words. While it had been uncalled for on her behalf and angered him, Harry could not deny that there were far too many similarities between himself and Snape lately, or at least he was beginning to really notice them now. Hadn’t everyone always said he was so much like his father? And yet apart from his Quidditch talent and the shape of his glasses, Harry struggled to really see the truth in their words.

Sighing to calm his raging mood, he leaned against the wall opposite the office door and pondered for a moment. He decided it couldn’t be ignored any more as it actually started to bug him and therefore Harry formulated a plan. Since he could involve Toby, it was rather genius as he believed it would resolve more than a few little issues.

And it was time to get out his father’s old cloak again.

‘What time is it?’ Harry asked Toby as he spread the invisibility cloak over himself and the boy on the first day of February. He glanced down at his brother as they stood in their dormitory and waited for an answer.

Harry would have no trouble working it out on his own, however, Toby had acquired a new watch as a belated birthday gift from Irma the moment the boy had begun his lessons in telling the time.

‘Er…one moment,’ Toby stared at the hands of his watch and figured it out. ‘Oh, it’s almost 10:20am.’ He smiled.

‘Very good!’ Harry approved as they began to leave the mostly-empty common room.

The pair wandered through the castle in relative silence until they reached the castle grounds. Technically, Harry didn’t regard this as breaking his personal vow of rule-obedience; at least not until he cast the spell to freeze the Whomping Willow tree and began to venture along the secret passageway to the shrieking shack.

‘Why can’t we just use the invisible spell thing?’ Toby shivered in a way that was not a reaction to the cold – although, there was still a little snow around the grounds that hadn’t quite melted entirely, even as it was being replaced with cold, tedious wetness that was slippery and muddy from the frequent rain.

‘I think it’s best we keep that to ourselves if we can.’ Harry said. ‘And the cloak is easier right now, for the most part.’

‘It’s real scary in here.’ Toby confirmed Harry’s suspicions about the boy’s fearfulness.

‘I know, but we’re safe. I promise.’ Harry didn’t dare tell the boy what exactly used to take place in the shack or what the tunnel was used for.

Toby had overheard Draco in the corridors muttering to Blaise about werewolves several weeks ago and that had been impacting enough on the poor boy who only had his imagination and a few gory details to aid him in his assessment of such a dangerous creature.

It also wouldn’t help since the very same one that had transformed in the shack was the wizard in which they were meeting and Toby was well aware of the man’s “condition”.

Harry pushed open the door and saw Remus Lupin sitting in what was no doubt a conjured armchair (judging by its cleanness and the fact that it was still in one piece), across from the doorway.

‘Is that you?’ Remus stood instantly with his wand gripped in his hand.

‘Don’t shoot!’ Toby panicked as he saw the wand and Harry removed the cloak from over themselves. ‘Or blast, whatever.’ He calmed a little as the man lowered his wand and returned to the armchair.

‘I’m surprised you requested us to meet here.’ Remus said to Harry once they had exchanged greetings and the man conjured two other armchairs for his company.

‘Word has it that you’ve been breaking fewer rules than Hermione these days.’ He chuckled. ‘I’m proud of you, of course, although I admit it came as a great surprise.’

‘You’re not the only one.’ Harry muttered. ‘Is this place secure?’ He asked. ‘I mean, like privacy charms and such.’

Realizing the possible seriousness of their gathering, Remus nodded and sat straighter in his armchair as he prepared to hear the teenager out.

‘Did you keep your word?’ Harry stared at him. ‘Marauder’s Honor?’

‘I haven’t told a single soul save Tonks about this little tyke.’ Remus offered Toby a smile.

The small boy didn’t notice because he was pouring his interest over a new book he’d been able to lend from the library and had developed enough reading skills that he could enjoy it further.

‘Thanks.’ Harry exhaled in relief even as he hadn’t really expected Remus to betray his promise.

‘I need it to apply to this conversation as well. What I have to tell you is something not even Ron or Hermione know, only because I haven’t been able to find the right words to tell them yet.’

‘What’s this about?’ Remus began to feel concerned if Harry hadn’t confined in his best friends about something.

‘Toby,’ Harry answered. ‘I know who his father is and I know his grandmother personally.’ He revealed to the man he had come to consider as his uncle. A version much more of a real family member than Vernon Dursley had ever been to him, anyway.

‘I take it I know him?’ Remus guessed. ‘Who is it?’

‘Severus Snape.’ Harry said.

‘No.’ Remus denied and stared at the six-year-old. ‘That’s not possible.’ He breathed.

‘Obviously it is.’ Harry deadpanned and wondered why he wasn’t too nervous about revealing such a secret to an adult whereas he broke out in a sweat whenever he considered telling his best friends.

‘How?’ Remus swallowed. ‘I mean, does Severus know? And his mother is dead, how could you know her personally?’

‘She’s not dead, she’s merely in hiding.’ Harry explained. ‘It doesn’t really matter, the fact is that Toby’s mother died around about the time he was born and Snape never found out the truth.’

‘You can’t tell him, either.’ Toby looked up and stared at Remus, which caused the older wizard to believe Harry as the resemblance was very clear in the young child’s features.

‘Not ‘til after the war.’ The boy added.

‘Why?’ Remus frowned. ‘Any parent deserves to know they have a child out there!’

‘Remus, please listen.’ Harry was anxious as he hadn’t considered that Remus may tell Snape the truth.

‘If he knows about Toby before the war…well, think about the distraction it would cause him and the danger they could both be in!’ Harry insisted. ‘I fully intent to tell him afterwards, but for now their safety is more important then his right to know.’

Remus hated the logic but mutely agreed, which was something he did not want to make a habit of since it was not a teenager who was supposed to dictate an adult’s decisions and duty. Even so, he had already spoken to Dumbledore on the matter of Toby once he discovered that the headmaster knew of the small boy’s existence.

In the end, Dumbledore had told him and Tonks to trust Harry when it came to the child; it was of utmost importance.

‘I didn’t just ask you here to tell you about Toby’s heritage.’ Harry added. ‘I have something I’m a little worried about, or at least it’s annoying me and I wondered if you could help me?’

Relieved that Harry finally felt able to approach him with those sort of matters as Remus had always hoped the boy would open up to him with his problems rather than dealing with it all on his own. As Harry considered him an uncle, Remus accordingly thought of the teenager as his nephew. He was also filling in for Sirius as well, trying to be the one Harry needed if he had no one else, since the boy had lost his parents and now his godfather as well.

Remus was also one of Harry’s only real links he had left to his parents.

‘And I’d be happy to help; although my advice may not be as wise as Dumbledore’s, I’ll do the best I can.’ Remus smiled only a little as he attempted to lighten the mood.

‘Thanks.’ Harry grinned back.

‘Um, well firstly I need you to be completely honest with me: how much do I look like James or Lily Potter right now?’

Remus had not been expecting that but decided to be truthful with his reply.

‘Well…right now? Hm.’ He looked the boy over and sighed as he knew what answer the teenager was likely expecting as he stared back at Remus in search of any sign of falsehood.

‘Harry, I must say that you look more like someone else’s son rather than resembling your parents quite as profoundly as you did in the past. Possibly because your hair is longer now and you’re taller.’

‘I look like Snape, you mean.’ Harry said and bent to pick up Toby’s book as they boy had just dropped it.

‘I…well…’ Remus sighed. ‘Yes.’ He admitted. ‘Again, because of the hair…when was the last time you washed it, by the way?’

‘A few nights ago, but I brew a lot more potions than I used to so it…’ Harry paused and frowned deeply as he let that information sink it.

‘Remus, I really need to know what Sirius said. I know I’ve asked before but this is different.’ He looked worriedly at the man. ‘Were…I mean, were my parents happy? I know about Snape; I know that he was mum’s friend although no one bothered to tell me this until recently. They knew each other before Hogwarts too.’

‘Yes, they did.’ Remus said carefully. ‘Who told you that?’

‘Snape,’ Harry shrugged. ‘But were my mum and dad happy?’

‘Very.’ Remus nodded.

He found it hard to believe that Severus had willingly given Harry such information about his past with Lily, how they had been friends; perhaps he’d actually discussed this with the boy since Harry had a more knowledgeable look in his eye when he’d mentioned it.

‘Lily and James were perfect together. While they bickered like all couples did, they were very happy, even more so when you were born.’ Remus nodded.

‘Why do you ask? Has someone told you differently?’

‘No, I…’ Harry sighed and stared at the dirt-covered floor beneath his feet, trying not to remember the first time he’d met Sirius inside this shack three years ago.

‘It hadn’t bothered me before as I stopped fussing over my hair and began to take more interest in Potions instead of sneaking out and slacking off.’ He explained.

‘But now my friends keep comparing me to Snape; probably because of my hair, love for Potions, and the fact that I’m a little grumpier than usual. It’s because I can’t sleep much with the nightmares, and still…they sort of have a point.’ He admitted.

‘You want to know if it’s possible that you have any relation to him.’ Remus realized and instantly felt he should have formulated an excuse not to attend this little gathering.

‘You could really be my brother?’ Toby grinned up at Harry, all thoughts on his book long forgotten. ‘For real?’

‘Shush, Toby.’ Harry said. ‘I don’t know, it’s just weird and I’m not stupid…I’ve noticed that I have a lot in common with Snape. I can’t help but wonder if there’s a reason for it.’

‘Naturally,’ Remus nodded. ‘I would have done the same. However, there is no evidence whatsoever that you should be too concerned about this, Harry. It’s not as though a glamour has been lifted or a failing spell is unveiling your true looks. This is really you, simply that you’re expressing it more.’

‘What do you mean?’ Harry frowned.

‘Perhaps this was always you but now you’re growing up and developing your own style. You look a great deal like you did when you were in fourth year; your hair was longer then too. That’s what I’m reminded of, when you were fourteen.’

‘Really?’ Harry couldn’t help feeling relieved. Even as he no longer despised the man, the idea of being related to Snape did send a great deal of shivers down his spine. He also felt bad for getting Toby’s hopes up, even if they would always be brothers in their own way.

‘Really,’ Remus chuckled. ‘Goodness, I could only imagine the look on Severus’ face if he were to hear the comments others are making about your appearance nowadays.’

‘Yeah,’ Harry laughed as well.

‘My dad’s not bad, you know.’ Toby pointed out. ‘My cat is magic and can tell if someone is bad or not and he likes my dad.’

‘I never said you could keep that cat yet.’ Harry grimaced.

‘I don’t think Severus is bad.’ Remus assured the smaller boy. ‘He does have his moments.’

--

And as the subject drifted to schoolwork and several of other topics of scattered interest, the time ticked by and before long, the younger pair departed the shack and returned to the castle for lunch. Remus had even received an unexpected hug from Harry only to have Toby mimic the action in worry that he was being rude otherwise.

Watching the boy’s conceal themselves under James’ old cloak, Remus waved and bid them goodbye. Once he was clearly alone again, he sank heavily into the armchair and hoped Harry would forgive him one day if it turned out that he had misled the boy when there was still matters left unresolved about Sirius’ last announcement of possibility.

Scowling, Remus conjured a piece of parchment and scribbled a note before he sent it off to its addressee, with a few protective charms in the unlikely case of theft or someone else reading it.

With a crack Remus apparated away once he was safe enough to do so and instantly sought out Tonks as she had demanded to be kept in the loop about such things.