Severus let Harry lead the way in. "The first thing we must do today." He told Harry, as Toker took off with their outer cloaks. "Is to secure the Manor. I know you read the book on ancient magical houses, so you know that this house can raise protections of its own. I would like for you to ask it to do so. At that point, the floo will be the only point of entry for anyone not a Potter or not in possession of a portkey you have created for them, or otherwise allowed entrance by you. As you don't know how to secure a floo, I will do that for you, if you are amenable."

"Sounds like a plan to me, Severus." Harry agreed, and watched as the man stalked off to deal with the floo. Once he was gone, Harry reached out and put a hand on the nearby stone wall, shivering a bit at the wash of joyful welcome. "Hello, girl." He said softly, not quite realizing he was talking out loud. "Good to be back again. Listen, I need your help." He'd half expected for nothing to happen after he said that ... after all, the book had been really unclear as to how the Lord or Heir could 'talk' to the house, and he'd figured there must be some sort of really esoteric spell or something.

The Manor proved him wrong, as a flash of emotion that more or less translated to 'anything you ask!' washed over Harry ... and how he knew that was the translation, he couldn't figure. "I need you to raise your wards, girl. Everything you've got. There's some very not-nice people out there who want to hurt me, and I'd rather not let them." Harry did a triple-take at the wash of protective anger that hit him ... and, evidently, every other bit of furniture in the room, as everything quivered for a second. It took a moment for Harry to remember the bit about the house being able to animate the furniture as a line of defense.

There was a second flash of emotion, a worried sort of whine, as Harry got the sense the Manor was aware of the presence of a not-Potter in the house. "It's ok, girl. He's a good one. He saved me from some bad people a while back. Him and the woman I had with me the last time ... remember her?" There was a sort of shimmy that let Harry know the house did remember. "Those two are welcome here, always. Oh! I don't know if you recognize the names, but Remus Lupin and Sirius Black will be coming here soon."

And that proved to be the limit of the manor's abilities, because all he got back was a sense of confusion. "Don't worry about it, girl. I'll let you know when they get here." He got another happy little shimmy before he patted the wall and headed off to find Severus in the main parlor, which had the floo. "Well, that was more than a bit interesting."

Severus glanced up from his work on the floo. "How so?"

"Didn't really know what to do or what to expect. The Manor's pretty much a step shy from being fully sentient, I think. Didn't seem to recognize names when I mentioned Remus and Sirius, but remembered Professor McGonagall from the time we came here together."

"The Manor probably recognizes people by their magical signatures, then." Severus said.

"Yeah, that's kind of what I figured. An it just makes me wonder how ... aware ... Hogwarts is, if it's even more magical than this place."

"Most of the staff strongly suspect the Sorting Hat of being Hogwarts' voice, if that answers your question." Severus said.

Harry laughed. "Yeah, it does."

"Minerva will be here tomorrow to take you to your family vault." Severus told him. "And we will be talking things over tonight, in order to agree on a schedule. I do not plan to make your summer entirely about learning, but the more prepared you are, the better."

Harry nodded. "Yeah, I really don't much fancy the idea of Lucius or anybody like him pulling something on me, and me not being able to defend myself."

"Indeed. So you will be beginning to learn offensive spells this summer, Madame Longbottom has agreed to begin your training related to your rank, and I would like to begin teaching you the rudiments of Occlumency."

"What's Occlumency?" Harry asked.

"It's one of a pair of skills. Its partner is Legilimency. Legilimency is the art of reading a person's mind. It requires eye contact to work. A skilled Legilimens can pull every secret out of your mind, if it is not defended, and use it against you."

Harry made a horrified face. "Eugh. And Occlumency is ... a way to defend the mind?"

"Precisely. It's vital you learn the skill, as Voldemort is an accomplished Legilimens."

"And since he'll be after me the moment he comes back, being caught with my knickers around my ankles is not a good idea." Harry agreed.

"You should be able to do fairly well at it." Severus said. "As the greatest difficulty people have with Occlumency is the need to mentally picture things, in detail."

"Things? Like what?" Harry wanted to know.

"It varies from person to person." Severus said. "Some people use a library, or a forest. Others picture walls of various materials ... really, the choices are nearly endless, but they are ways to both hide and defend your thoughts."

"So, if someone pictured a forest, they'd have, oh, centaurs in there, to shoot anybody that gets close? While their actual thoughts are way deep in the woods somehow?"

Severus got a pleased expression on his face. "Precisely. The actual accomplishing of the defenses is a good deal more complicated than can be put to words, but you've got the essence of it."

Harry nodded his understanding. "Plus, I gotta get my regular homework done." He sighed. "I just wish I didn't have to do essays."

"You'll get better at them as you go, Harry." Severus said. "Part of your problem is that you've only recently learned how to write an essay, so you're still not used to it."

Harry smiled a bit. "I hope it'll get better." Essays were the bane of his existence. Ask him to perform a spell, and he did splendidly ... usually getting the spell right only seconds behind Hermione, who had probably spent the week prior to the lesson studying the spell in question in detail. Ask him to write an essay, and he only barely scraped by.

Harry headed to his room to unpack his things, only to meet Toker doing just that. "Hello, Toker."

The elderly elf smiled at him happily. "Master Harry! I's happy to see you again. Yous will be staying at the Manor this summer?"

Harry nodded. "Yep, though I may be doing day trips to the Weasleys, the Longbottoms, and maybe the Grangers." He wasn't as sure about the Grangers as he was about the others, not because he liked Hermione less, but because the Grangers were muggles, and wouldn't have any wards around their house for protection. Which ... maybe he ought to bring that up with Severus? He headed back out and tracked Severus to what had once been the dungeons, but had long since been refitted to storage, a big, empty room, and what looked like ... of course. A place like this had to have a potions lab, didn't it? And where else would Severus go? "Severus? Do you know if the Grangers have wards on their house?"

Severus glanced up from where he was inventorying the existing potions supplies. "I don't believe they would, Harry." He said. "You're worried for their safety?"

"She's my friend, Severus ... and a muggleborn. That's going to make for trouble, isn't it?" Harry asked.

"Unfortunately, you're correct. I'll visit them tomorrow while you're dealing with your vault, and speak to them about getting their home protected." Severus told him.

"Thanks, Severus!"

"You're welcome, Harry. Remus should be here just before dinner. You'll have to tap the fireplace with your wand in order to allow him through."

"Oh, ok. Thanks!" Harry said, and darted off, back to the parlor and the floo. He knew Severus wasn't all that comfortable around Remus. Needing to sort out the potions lab was just a convenient excuse to not have to pal around until absolutely necessary.

About fifteen minutes later, the floo flared bright green, and Remus' face appeared. "Severus? Oh! Hello, Harry. Would you mind allowing me through?"

"Just a second, Remus!" Harry said, darting forward to tap the fireplace with his wand. Remus' head disappeared the moment he started moving, and then a few moments later, Remus stepped through. "Already have the security procedures in place? That's good."

"Yeah. Severus is downstairs fussing with the potions lab. He said he'd join us for dinner, but I'll probably have to send Toker after him. It was kind of a mess down there."

"It would be, after so long." Remus agreed.

"How's Sirius?" Harry wanted to know, having not seen him in the last few days.

"Doing incredibly well. Madame Pomphrey has promised to let him out of her clutches later this week, so long as he finishes his convalescence here. Sirius, of course, is going more than a bit stir crazy, but it's as well Pomphrey is being so insistent. Azkaban took a lot out of him."

Harry nodded. "He didn't look so good even the last time I saw him, and it's been over a month now since he got out. That place must be really awful."

"It is, Harry, it is." Remus agreed.

They talked quietly for about a half hour before Mallie appeared. "Dinner is being ready, Master and sir!" She told them.

"Thanks, Mallie. Would you make sure Severus comes up? You might have to get insistent."

Mallie nodded and popped out, while Harry and Remus headed for the small family dining room. Small being a relative term, as the table in there could easily seat twelve. Severus arrived a couple minutes later, looking somewhat less than pleased to have been interrupted in his work, but the expression cleared when the food appeared on the table and the aroma reminded him that he hadn't eaten for a while.

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The next morning, McGonagall arrived, and she and Harry headed for Gringotts. Harry wasn't quite able to suppress a grin when he realized that McGonagall, for all her strict and severe air, enjoyed the cart ride as much as he did. When she saw his somewhat surprised expression, she just smiled at him. "I was a Chaser for Gryffindor when I was a student, Harry." She explained, which made Harry grin.

"Really? Wicked!" Harry wondered if anyone else in Gryffindor knew, and finally decided that they probably didn't. Eventually, after a very long cart ride, they stopped in front of a massive vault door. It had the same crest on it that Toker and Mallie's uniforms did.

The goblin with them wordlessly stroked the door with a long finger, then stepped back. The doors creaked open, and Harry's jaw dropped. The room was huge! There was a massive pile of galleons (with a handful of sickles and knuts near the front) in the center of the huge room, but the sides of the room were cluttered with all manner of objects ... everything from furniture to jewelry and beyond.

"Whoah!" Harry squeaked.

He had no idea where to look first. For a little bit, he entirely forgot why they were really there as he poked about in the various items. It wasn't until he'd worked his way around to the back of the pile of galleons that he was rather sharply reminded of why they'd come here. For there, leaning against an old wardrobe, was a portrait of two people in a surprisingly simple wooden frame, dressed in what was apparently wizarding wedding finery. The portrait was about four feet tall and maybe half that wide. The man looked so much like what Harry saw in the mirror every morning it was a bit spooky, while the woman had red hair. Both were asleep at the moment, which at least afforded Harry a chance to stare at them and come to terms with the fact that these were his parents before they started talking.

After a minute, he called out. "Professor? I ... found it. It's back here."

"That's excellent, Harry." There was a distinct wobble in McGonagall's voice when she answered, and Harry blinked when he realized she hadn't followed him into the vault.

That thought abandoned him, though, when the portraits, responding to the sound of voices, began to stir. For a long moment, Harry forgot to breathe as the two shifted around and opened their eyes, peering around to find the source of the voices. It was Lily that spotted Harry first, her eyes going wide.

"Oh! Oh! James, look! Harry, is that you, sweetie?"

That was all it took. Harry collapsed to his knees, fruitlessly trying to fight the tears that started pouring down his face.

"Oh, sweetheart." Lily said sadly.

James finally spoke up, his voice nearly as gentle as Lily's. "None of that, now, Prongslet. You've still got us. It won't be quite the same as us actually being there, but better than it could be."

It took Harry several minutes to get himself back under control, but he finally was able to wipe away the remaining tears. "It's not that, so much as I didn't think you'd know me. They said it was a wedding portrait." Ok, so that was more than a bit of a lie, as a great deal of his reaction was indeed the whole 'getting to see/talk to some version of my parents' thing, but he wasn't quite ready to admit to that.

"Oh, sweetie. Of course we would!" Lily said. "We updated the painting's memory and knowledge the day after your first birthday."

Just three months before they'd died.

"How long have we been down here? Sirius should have pulled us out shortly after ... well, after." James said.

That made Harry give a rusty, shaky, bitter chuckle. "Things kind of got messed up, pretty badly, dad. I'll be twelve in two months. You guys were k-killed ... " He had to suck in a steadying breath. "About three months after you updated the painting."

"Oh dear." Lily said, looking rather upset.

James, on the other hand, looked murderously angry. "Pettigrew." He snarled.

Harry nodded. "Got it in one, dad, though he wasn't the only one who managed to get things screwed up. He s-sold you guys out, and Sirius went after him. He managed to make it look like Sirius killed him, and Sirius got thrown into Azkaban without a trial."

That got an outraged yell from James, and a look from Lily that said she was contemplating ways to escape the painting and exact revenge.

"I got left with Petunia." Harry told them.

"WHAT!" Lily fairly shrieked. "Where is that manipulative old goat? I'll hex him to within an inch of his life, painting be damned! You were to have gone to Alice and Frank if Sirius wasn't available!"

"The Longbottoms?" Harry clarified, having never heard their first names before.

"Yes." Lily's tone was still murderous.

"They, uh ... couldn't. I don't know what happened, but Neville, their son, grew up with his gran."

"They were tortured into insanity via the Cruciatus curse." McGonagall's voice floated through the vault, sounding more than a bit shaky.

"Minerva? Is that you? Get in here, woman, where I can see you!" James demanded.

"It might be better if Harry brought your portrait out of the vault." Minerva pointed out.

"Oh, right. Umm, hang on a second." Harry got a good grip on the frame and then carefully carried it to the vault door.

McGonagall's eyes were red, but she was giving the portrait a shaky smile. "It's good to hear your voices again, both of you." She said.

"Tell us everything." James demanded.

And so they did, Minerva and Harry trading off as they explained things. It was hard to tell who of the two was angrier at how things had turned out, though Lily did seem oddly pleased when Harry told her about Severus. James just quirked an eyebrow at that particular discovery.

"And he found Remus, and they found Pettigrew, and got Sirius cleared, about ... what, two months ago now, or thereabouts? Sirius is still at the school right now, in Madame Pomphrey's clutches, but he'll be at the Manor later in the week." Harry said, then giggled. "He even gave the twins the map back, and told them to give it to the 'son of Prongs', who was at school, if they could figure out who that was. It's been driving them nuts, since they kind of hero-worship the Marauders. I haven't said a word to them."

James had to grin at that. "You might have to end up telling them, kiddo. Doubt they'd figure it out."

"Oh, they will, soon enough. They'll be over at some point this summer, and Remus and Sirius call each other Moony and Padfoot all the time."

James laughed. "That'd do it, all right." He admitted. "Now, I think we've tried yon goblin's patience long enough. Better pack off home now."

Harry nodded. "Right ... can the portrait be shrunk down?" He asked this of Lily and James as much as he did McGonagall.

McGonagall nodded. "Yes, it can." She told him, and proceeded to shrink the portrait down. Harry then slipped it carefully in his pocket, patting it gently before they shut the vault door and climbed into the cart to return to the surface.

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James and Lily's portrait took pride of place in the parlor, above the floo, where they could see and hear most of the activity in the Manor without having to run all over the place. Remus and Minerva spent most of that evening talking to the pair. Severus, on the other hand, had disappeared into the potions lab again.

The next couple of days were rather quiet. Severus was impossible to find, and Harry eventually figured out he was hiding from James and Lily, since they could come and go through any portrait in the Manor.

The quiet was broken when Sirius was finally allowed to come to the Manor. The reunion (of sorts) between Padfoot and Prongs was a very tearful one (on Sirius' side). It took both James and Lily giving him a bit of a bollicking before he seemed to finally accept that what had happened was not his fault, despite what he thought.

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Lily, exasperated with Severus, finally cornered him almost a week after the portrait had been set up in the parlor, sliding into a portrait just outside his room in the morning, before he headed back down to his lab.

"Severus Snape! You are the living end, do you know that?" She said, giving him a dire look. "I never thought to see you hiding! Least of all from me!"

Severus went totally rigid, staring at some indefinable point far down the corridor for a long moment before he finally, reluctantly, turned to face Lily, his face an expressionless mask as he stared at the wall just to the side of the portrait. "This conversation is best left for another time."

"I don't think so, Sev." Lily disagreed. "You'd put it off forever if you could. I know you."

Severus winced. "Very well. Somewhere a bit more private, then."

"The library. No one's in there just now." Lily agreed.

"Very well." Severus stalked towards the library, his posture absolutely rigid. He really, really, really didn't want to have this 'talk'. He was entirely too sure what it would contain, and he was not much in the mood to face Lily's ire from beyond the grave. The ending of their friendship had been painful enough while she was alive. He stalked into the library and made sure the doors locked.

Lily watched him from her portrait. Even as a painting, she knew this man well enough to realize that he fully expected to get ripped to shreds verbally. "Oh, Sev. Still? After all this time? I thought you would have realized ... " She sighed. "Severus, I would never have asked someone I hated and distrusted to watch over my son." She pointed out. "I forgave you long before I asked that of you."

Severus fought to keep his face expressionless, still refusing to look directly at Lily. "You should not have." He rasped. "It was I that ... " He swallowed painfully. "That brought the prophecy to ... him."

"An incomplete shred of it, yes." Lily said. "Dumbledore told me, before we went into hiding. He didn't say who, but I was able to figure out who it was. The clues were there ... who else, that I knew had taken the mark! ... would be so worried for my safety when they realized the prophecy would make me and my son a target? Oh, Severus. I may not have liked what you had done, what you had become, but I understood why it happened. And I knew that you'd not been completely corrupted, no matter what anyone else said, when I realized you'd risked everything to become Dumbledore's spy. That is not the act of an evil man, Severus. That was the act of a man who realized he'd made a godawful mistake and wanted to atone for it. That's when I forgave you. That's why I was willing to ask you to watch over Harry, if the worst happened."

Severus sank into a chair, dimly aware he was trembling slightly, and that his vision had gone funny. He didn't even realize he was crying until he brought a hand up to brush aside what he thought was a strand of hair tickling his cheek and his fingers came away wet. Horrified, he immediately fought to bring himself back under control. When he had regained his equilibrium, he wordlessly reached over to touch the frame of the portrait that Lily was in, finally looking right at her for the first time, if only briefly before he swept out of the room.

They say that forgiveness is good for the soul, meaning that forgiving someone for their wrongdoings is good for you. What few people realize is that honest forgiveness is as good for the forgivee as for the forgiver. After over a decade of castigating himself for what he had been, what he had done, Severus felt oddly lighter as he stalked down the corridor and headed for the basement.

It was amazing what changes a decade could bring. Sirius found himself thinking that many times over the last weeks. Harry ... ahhh, his little pup. He wasn't so little anymore, and looked so much like James at times it made Sirius' heart hurt. Fortunately (for Sirius' mental equilibrium, anyway), that was where any resemblance to James ended. Harry's eyes and personality were all Lily. Harry's brains and ability were an almost frightening combination of both. Oh, Harry wasn't a genius or anything like that, but he had a scary amount of power for an almost-twelve-year-old, and picked up spells almost as fast as he was taught them.

Remus had changed too, and in more ways than the gray in his hair. The last decade alone, with no pack to call his own, and, if how he looked was any indication, little money and less rest, had not done the 'quiet' Marauder any favors. Oh, there was still a spark of the fun-loving Moony in him, but it had got rather deeply buried. Of course, over the last few weeks, more and more of 'Moony' seemed to be resurfacing, and Remus was smiling and looking happy more and more, something of which Sirius approved wholeheartedly.

But the one that had changed the most was Snape. So much so it startled the hell out of Sirius. Oh, he was still greasy, and vindictive, and had a razor-sharp tongue, but the defensive, rather easily bullied boy he'd known had become a man that Sirius would hesitate to cross wands with. And as much as it burned him to admit it, Snape genuinely seemed to care for Harry. All he'd really needed to know to figure that out was the little ... encounter ... with Quirrell. While a Gryffindor would have done what Snape did without a thought, and maybe a Hufflepuff as well (maybe), for a Slytherin to count someone else's life and welfare as more important than their own ... that was big. For a Slytherin to go charging into battle in defense of someone else was ... pretty much unheard of, as far as Sirius knew. That 'Snivellus' had done that, and more, for the son of his hated enemy ... well, the impact was incalculable.

It was enough to get Sirius to (albeit reluctantly) bury the hatchet. Whatever his reasons, Severus was clearly willing to do whatever it took to help Harry and keep him safe. It was a cause that Sirius could get behind whole-heartedly, even if it meant not sniping at the greasy git like he wanted to. Well, sort of wanted to. Knowing Severus had gone to such lengths for Harry kind of took some of the fun out of poking the git's ego down to size.

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Harry had just that first week of quiet in which to get as much of his homework done as possible before things got really busy. The first (and worst) was the 'pureblood etiquette' lessons with Augusta Longbottom. Augusta was rather a lot like Severus, which explained why Neville was so intimidated by the man. Severe, strict, and more than a bit of a perfectionist. It really didn't help that the lessons she had to impart were deadly dull.

Harry learned more about posture and the million and one different kinds of etiquette from Augusta than he ever really wanted to know. She also undertook to teach him to dance. He also learned about who ranked who, which in his case was pretty much summed up by 'you rank everybody but the Minister, The head of the DMLE, Dumbledore, and your own godfather', thanks to how old the Potter line was. In theory, anyway. In practice, thanks to his age, the list was considerably longer, but once he was of age and could exercise his political and social weight to the fullest, he'd have a lot of sway in the British wizarding world.

Fortunately for him, he only had one two hour lesson with Augusta three times a week. The rest of his lessons were far, far more fun, and interesting.

McGonagall and Flitwick introduced him to a huge range of spells that were not on the syllabus ... healing spells and what Harry termed 'combat' spells, whether they were transfigurations or charms. Learning them and performing them pushed Harry to his limits. What McGonagall and Flitwick never told him was that virtually every spell they were teaching him was post-OWL level. That he proved able to perform the spells at all stunned both teachers.

Harry got a kick out of watching McGonagall and Flitwick show him how the spells worked in friendly 'duels'. Flitwick almost always won, but McGonagall was no slouch, and made him work for the wins. When they dragged Severus and Remus into the duels, to demonstrate how to handle a two-or-three-on-one fight, rather than a 'proper' duel, things just got that much more interesting. Towards the end of the summer, when Sirius was finally able to participate, Harry was left wide-eyed at how well he and Remus worked together. They were downright scary, and between them, despite neither of them being in top condition, they could generally fight McGonagall to a standstill. Harry could just imagine what they'd been like when they were younger and in better shape.

Those lessons took place twice a week, on the days between Augusta's etiquette lessons. He also had lessons with Severus, both revising the potions they'd learned in first year, and learning how to brew some healing potions. They also spent an hour or two together every evening working on teaching Harry occlumency.

The potions proved easy enough, so long as he had an accurate recipe. It was rather simple to follow the directions, after all. He even managed to memorize the instructions for a couple of the simplest. The occlumency, however, was going painfully slowly. Learning to meditate in order to calm his thoughts was the first step ... and one which Harry questioned, because how on earth was he to do that every time ... ? To which Severus had responded that eventually, the 'calming' process would become automatic and instantaneous, but he first had to learn how to do it at all.

Given that Harry was a nearly-twelve year old boy, with a range of lessons being taught, calming his mind proved rather difficult until near the end of summer, when he finally hit on something that worked consistently. Of course, it still took him a good twenty or thirty minutes to quiet his mind, but at least he could. Severus was surprisingly patient about the whole thing.

Of course, as Severus promised, Harry's summer wasn't all about lessons. While he had at least one lesson a day during the week (two, on etiquette days, as that's when Severus worked with him on potions), those lessons generally only took two or three hours of his day at the most, which left the entire rest of the day, and all day on the weekends, free.

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The Weasleys were the first to accept Harry's offer to come over, of course. Harry spent a good bit of time with Ron and the twins, and even got to know Mr. and Mrs. Weasley a lot better. Arthur amused him no end with his desire to comprehend the Muggle world. The only real fly in the ointment was Ginny, who tended to squeak, run and hide whenever she spotted him or he spoke to her. Or worse, she ended up doing something embarrassing, like tripping over her feet and falling flat on her face or some such.

But by far the most amusing incident to involve a Weasley was the day Fred and George figured out just who Sirius and Remus were, a little less than two weeks into the summer, and on their second visit to the Manor. And it was all Sirius' fault, too. Stir crazy from weeks in the infirmary, and finally shaking the worst of the lingering effects of long-term exposure to Dementors, he'd decided to embark upon a pranking spree. Harry woke the morning of the twins' second visit to find his room and everything in it a nauseating, neon pepto-bismol pink. From the yells of outrage, he wasn't the only one that got hit, though from the lack of Severus' enraged bellows, Sirius had possessed the wit to not reopen old wounds.

War having been declared, Harry promptly conferred with Moony on a proper avenue of paybacks. Needless to say, by breakfast, Severus had locked himself into the potions lab and refused to come back out until hostilities ceased, while Sirius, Remus, and Harry had a fine time racing about the Manor trying to trip each other up or slow each other down long enough to manage to connect with a tickling jinx or some other bit of silliness. The twins, Ron, Ginny and their parents flooed in in the middle of the chaos, and the twins, being who they were, dove right into the mayhem with a devious grin. Ron and Ginny were a bit slower to join, while the elder Weasleys promptly fled back through the floo.

It wasn't until nearly lunchtime when Moony finally landed a telling blow, nailing Sirius with a jinx that temporarily left him bald-headed. Sirius howled in outrage. "You've gone too far, Moony! I'll get even with you for this!"

The twins froze dead in their tracks, eyes wide. "What did you just call him?" One of them squeaked. From his mostly-hidden spot behind a heavy chair, Harry grinned hugely. Remus, who'd made tracks towards the kitchen the moment he'd hexed Sirius, poked his head around the door and grinned as well as he watched the twins. Ron and Ginny, clueless about the Map or the Marauders, just looked baffled.

Sirius, of course, didn't realize why the twins were reacting the way they were, as he'd never been told who'd had the Map. "Moony. It's been his nickname since we were in second year. Why?"

The twins were not stupid. They knew about Sirius being an animagus, and what his form was. It took them all of about two seconds to add up the facts and come to the appropriate conclusion. They flung themselves at Sirius' feet, giving him wide-eyed, hopeful looks.

"Please, please tell us you're Padfoot." they said in unison.

Sirius grinned widely, though it was clear he was still slightly confused. "Of course I am, but how ... "

"The map! We nicked it from Filch first year!" One of the twins explained.

"We owe the Marauders so much." The other one said, giving Sirius a look that bordered on worshipful.

About then, they added the last couple pieces together, and as one, their heads swiveled towards Harry.

"Your dad." One of them started.

"Was Prongs." Harry confirmed, grinning widely. "I've been having more fun watching the two of you try to figure out who the 'son of Prongs' was ... "

The other twin abruptly went ghost-pale as the knut dropped. "Oh god, I think I'm going to be sick. Wormtail ... "

"Is never to be spoken of again." Sirius fairly snarled. "At least, not by his Marauder name."

"Agreed." Remus said solemnly.

The twins, looking both sick at heart and enraged, gave solemn nods of agreement.

Remus brought the conversation back on to more comfortable grounds as he flicked his wand at Sirius, restoring his hair. "From everything I've heard about you two, you're proper Marauders yourselves, if not by blood, then by temperament." He glanced over at Sirius. "What say you, Padfoot? Should we induct them?"

Sirius eyed the two boys for a moment. "Hmmm. Every generation needs Marauders, and they have shown the proper spirit. They got the map, and clearly got it working, at least in part, to know it's a map. They do, however, lack one criteria, but if they agree to attempt it, I believe inducting them will be quite possible."

"Anything!" The twins said in unison.

Remus grinned. "You need to find out if you can become animagi." He told them. "Padfoot there can help you with it best. You too, Harry, though we'll have to wait a year for you, just to be on the safe side. Sirius and your dad didn't begin working on accomplishing the transformation until fourth year."

"Why can't you ... " Started one twin, looking at Remus.

The other squinted at him. "Moon ... " and then both their eyes went wide as they figured it out. Remus went stiff, half expecting them to react badly, but the twins just grinned hugely. "Wicked!" They said together.

"What?" Ron wanted to know, frowning in confusion.

"I am a werewolf." Remus said, sounding resigned.

Ron glowered at him for a moment, then shrugged. "Been around you plenty, and you haven't tried to take a chunk out of me." He said. Ginny seemed to be of equal mind.

Remus looked deeply relieved, while Sirius just looked pleased. "See, Moony? I keep telling you and telling you. Not everyone is a blind fool."

Remus gave Sirius a look that said he was thinking of re-starting the pranking. "That's enough out of you, cueball."

Which had Harry laughing, though from the look of it only he and Remus seemed to know what the name meant, and they had to spend a few minutes explaining it to the others.

HPHPHP

After that, the twins insisted on being a part of Harry's training. And with them insisting, so did Ron. And, incredibly, the twins managed something that Harry had thought impossible. They managed to drag Severus (protesting mightily at first) into the so-called Marauder meetings. Severus still disliked pranks on general principles, and he and Sirius still didn't much like each other. They were very stiff and formal with each other, but it helped that Sirius had wit enough to not start pranking Severus and thus reopen old wounds. It also helped that they had a common cause, protect Harry and make the lives of everyone that wanted to hurt him a living hell.

To say it was the beginning of an unholy alliance was to vastly understate the case. Remus and Sirius' strengths lay along lines similar to Harry's, meaning charms and transfiguration. That fact had been the basis of all their pranks as teens. The twins, on the other hand, were budding potions geniuses, and it went without saying that Severus was brilliant at them. None of them were mental slouches, despite Sirius and the twins' penchant for being silly and immature. When Hermione, returned from her summer vacation with her folks, finally joined them mid-summer ... well, the combined brainpower and magical strength and knowhow in the re-formed Marauders scared the hell out of Harry.

And the Marauders were a potent weapon. Shortly after Hermione's return, Sirius finally felt up to dealing with Narcissa, and agreed to meet her at the Leaky Cauldron, since there wasn't a power on earth that would induce any of them to welcome a potential enemy into the Manor.

Whatever situation Narcissa expected to encounter, it definitely hadn't been to walk into the private dining room and come face to face with not just Sirius, but Remus, Severus, and Harry. She stopped short and blinked, and Harry could just about see her mentally recalculating her approach.

"My lord Black?" She finally settled on, sounding surprised and curious.

"They are family." Sirius said. "I will not decide something as weighty as this without their input."

Severus looked rather a bit pained at being called family, but the truth was that at this point, he was, if only tangentially, thanks to him being Harry's guardian.

"As you wish, my lord." She said, then seated herself across the table from them.

The next hour or so, as they ate dinner, was filled with awkward silences as everyone tried to avoid dangerous conversational ground. Eventually, dessert was consumed and Narcissa regarded Sirius for a long moment. "As much as it pains me, I believe I must speak plainly at this juncture. I love my husband, my lord, and will not apologize for that. I share many of his beliefs, and will not apologize for that, either. I do not, however, approve of his chosen venue for ... " She hesitated a moment. " ... expressing ... those beliefs. It is beyond my ability to comprehend that he seems to believe bowing and scraping to a man of unknown breeding and station will present him as a figure of power and influence. That his actions endanger our son is unconscionable."

"Then our sole problem lies in how you intend to express your beliefs." Sirius said.

Narcissa eyed him. "Muggleborns have no place in our world. They are destroying it." She said flatly.

At that point, Harry couldn't quite suppress the compulsion to say something. "And if purebloods stick to their own kind, wizards will die out in another couple hundred years." He pointed out. "The Weasleys seem to be the exception, rather than the rule. One child to a generation ... " He shook his head. "Total isolation won't work, Mrs. Malfoy, even if it was practical. The Muggleborns will still be born with magic, after all. Nothing you or anyone else can do will stop that."

Narcissa glared at him. "So our only solution is to watch our world, our way of life, be destroyed?"

Sirius snorted, taking over from Harry. "Of course not. The way things are now, Muggleborns find out about being magical at the age of eleven, then get dropped in the deep end at Hogwarts, sometimes within a few weeks. There's a Muggle Studies class available to third years, but there's not a comparable class for the Muggleborns to learn about the wizarding world. If you're so worried about the wizarding way of life being destroyed ... that's the fastest way to fix it. Contact the muggleborns at an early age, introduce them to the wizarding world well before they're old enough for Hogwarts. Teach them the ins, outs, and traditions of our world and then those things won't be lost! And maybe, just maybe, the muggleborns can teach us a few interesting things along the way. Not all traditions are good ones."

Narcissa seemed to think that one over for a few minutes. "You make a valid point." She finally allowed. "But it will never happen. The Wizengamot ... "

"Has been completely broken, Narcissa." Sirius pointed out. "And is in the process of reforming. You know how much weight being Head of House Black carries, not to mention House Potter. Even if the Dark families had remained, we could have forced new legislation through eventually. As things are now, we hardly have to try, and we have the Weasley, Prewett, Longbottom and Prince lines behind us."

Narcissa's eyebrows headed for her hairline as she perceived the point Sirius was making. With the Weasleys and Longbottoms throwing their weight behind Black and Potter, many other Pureblood families that normally sat the fence or had, until now, not had a chance at making their voices heard would rally to their banner. They possessed the ability to completely remake the British wizarding world.

For the next hour, they talked, Narcissa bringing up her concerns and beliefs and hearing Sirius and company out. Again and again, she found herself surprised to discover that while they did not agree on everything, solutions to the problems that had driven most of the purebloods to Voldemort's banner were offered. Solutions that were palatable to both sides of the issue.

Finally, Narcissa brought things back around to the main point. "I believe, my lord Black, that I can be at peace remaining a Black. Given my ... circumstances ... I rather imagine, however, that you will require reassurances."

Sirius looked pleased, but nodded. "Nothing against you, Narcissa, but Lucius is a slippery son of a bitch, and might try to force your hand, and mine, if we give him any room to wiggle. I'll require an Unbreakable Vow from both you and your son to not aid Voldemort in any way."

Narcissa nodded. "I can agree to that quite easily."

"What about Draco?" Harry wanted to know.

Narcissa glanced over at him. "Draco ... has had much to think about, since his father's arrest. I will speak to him, but I believe he will be amenable. Whatever his other faults, my son has his pride, and knowing he would be required to bow at another man's feet ... "

Harry tried hard not to grin, but wasn't too sure he managed it. He could well imagine Draco had a problem with bowing to anyone, the proud, spoilt git.

HPHPHP

Two days later, both Narcissa and Draco took the Vow. Before Harry knew it, summer was drawing to a close. Severus and McGonagall had to head back to Hogwarts for staff meetings shortly after that. When they returned, neither of them looked at all happy.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked Severus.

"Your DADA professor." Severus fairly snarled. "You will not be buying the required books. None of you will. They are so much useless dross. I will be scheduling lessons with you so that the year is not a complete lost cause."

Harry and the others were a bit wide-eyed. "Wow. Ok, who is it that's so bad?"

"Gilderoy Lockhart." Severus fairly spat the name. "He is a charlatan and a fool."

Ron grimaced. "I've heard of him. Mum half-fancies him. He's got a load of books he's written, about the things he's done. Never read them myself. He's a real ... " Ron made a face. "Kind of a smarmy git, if the photograps on the books are anything to go by."

Severus gave Ron a nod. "Quite so. I think the twins will find him a prime target for their particular brand of mayhem."

Of course Hermione, when she came over the next day, strongly disagreed, and thought Lockhart was quite clever and brave, much to Harry and Ron's disgust. Ginny seemed to be of the same mind, which had all four boys rolling their eyes. Fortunately, Severus had found out the git was planning on doing a book signing one day in Diagon Alley, and scheduled their trip to purchase school supplies for a different day.

The day after they'd bought their supplies, Harry was in the parlor with Severus, relaxing, when Toker and Mallie popped in, holding a third elf, struggling wildly, between them. The third elf was dressed, if you could call it that, in a badly stained and torn ... well, Harry couldn't quite tell what it had been at one point, it was in such bad shape.

"Yous lets Dobby go!" The elf wailed, twisting and trying to bite Toker in order to get free. Toker, visibly aggravated, snarled and snapped his fingers, at which point 'Dobby' froze up like he'd been hit with a Petrificus Totalus.

"Toker, what on earth?" Harry asked, eyeing the third elf.

"We caughts him sneaking about, we's did!" Toker fairly snarled in outrage. "Hes is trying to hide Master Harry's trunk, he is! He is a bad elf!"

"Can you make it so he can talk to us, but keep him from running off?" Harry wanted to know.

"Toker can be doing that, Master Harry sir." Toker confirmed, and snapped his fingers again, freeing 'Dobby's' head.

"You said your name is Dobby?" Severus wanted to know immediately.

Dobby cringed, but nodded. Severus fairly snarled, then glanced over at Harry. "Lucius." He said. "Until he's caught, tried, and convicted, he retains control over the Malfoy elves."

"Damn. Draco can't do anything, nor Narcissa?"

"Not unless the Head ring abandons Lucius. Which it might, at this rate, but it doesn't solve the current problem." Severus said, eyeing Dobby with deep dislike. "I'm tempted to just ... "

Dobby squealed in alarm. "Dobby is not here to hurt Harry Potter sir!" He wailed. "Dobby is here to warn him! He cannot go back to Hogwarts!" There was real terror in Dobby's voice.

"So Lucius is up to something." Severus said, he thought for a long moment. "But what ... ahhhh. He's asked you to smuggle something in. Something that poses a danger to Harry specifically."

Dobby shook his head violently.

Severus blinked. "Not just to Harry then, but to everyone? Damn that man, his own son is at the school!"

Dobby nodded frantically.

"Very well, Dobby. Listen to me well. We are warned. We will be careful. We will guard Harry, and Draco. You know the house-elf laws. You have to obey Lucius' commands." Severus put a slight stress on the word 'command'.

From the way Dobby was nodding, he caught the significance. "Dobby understands, Professor Snape sir."

Harry grimaced. He didn't like this, but there was literally nothing they could do to help Dobby, or save him. Not with Lucius god-knows-where. "Let him go, Toker."

Toker nodded and snapped his fingers. A split second later, Dobby was gone.

"He risked a great deal, coming here." Severus said.

"How'd you know who he belonged to?" Harry wanted to know.

"Dobby is Lucius' personal elf." Severus explained. "And as such, goes just about everywhere with him, so I've seen them together frequently."

"Ahh, gotcha." Harry said. "So hopefully Dobby will only do as Lucius says, and screw with the plan every way he can other than that, whatever the plan is."

"Lucius has at least already forbidden him to speak of it at this point, given Dobby didn't say anything. Unfortunately, I don't think he can write. Lucius is very controlling, and has made sure none of his elves possess that skill."

"To keep them from spilling the beans about what he's up to." Harry fairly growled, then sighed. "So, trouble this year. And no idea what. Damn."

"I must inform the Headmaster. The sooner he knows, the better." Severus said.

"No kidding." Harry agreed.

The train ride to Hogwarts was a blast. Harry's compartment was filled to bursting for most of the ride, what with the twins, Neville, Ron and Hermione all in there for at least part of it. The twins left about halfway through the ride to go visit with Lee Jordan and their other, older friends, and Neville had to leave for a bit once to go chasing after an escapee Trevor. Ginny had opted to sit in a compartment with some of her agemates.

The real surprise showed up about five minutes after the twins left. Draco and his ... minions. For half a heartbeat, Harry was worried they were there to cause trouble, especially since Harry hadn't actually seen Draco since school ended last year (he'd not been there when Narcissa and Draco swore their Unbreakables), but then the differences registered. Draco didn't have the arrogant sneer on his face, nor did he (or Crabbe or Goyle) seem braced for a fight, verbal, physical, or magical. Matter of fact, Draco looked ... almost hesitant.

It took Harry an effort of will to not snap at Draco. "Yes, Draco?"

"May I join you?" Draco asked.

Harry glanced at Ron, Hermione, and Neville, and, seeing no objection, nodded. "Sure." It took a bit of rearranging, but they managed to get all three boys into the compartment.

Draco eyed Harry for a long moment once he'd sat down, then finally spoke again. "I would like to formally apologize for last year." He started.

Harry held a hand up. "Draco, neither of us were exactly at our best, ok? So let's just pretend last year didn't happen and try to start over, all right?" Then he offered his hand. "Hi, I'm Harry Potter."

Ron and Hermione were looking at Harry like he was ever so slightly insane, while Neville just gave his head an amused shake. Draco stared at him for a minute in confusion before accepting his hand. "Draco Malfoy." He said, then nodded towards his two shadows. "This is Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle."

Of course, being willing to 'start over' did not make the rest of the ride go perfectly smoothly or make them all fast friends, but it was a start. By the time they got to Hogwarts, though, the worst of the awkwardness seemed to have passed. The next day, after their first Transfiguration lesson of the year, Harry approached McGonagall.

"Professor ... is there a rule saying we have to sit with our own Houses during meals?" He asked.

McGonagall blinked. "Only for feasts and important events." She said. "Why do you ask?"

"Because Draco is trying to get along with me, and Neville has friends in Hufflepuff, and ... " He hesitated for a moment, wrinkling his nose. "Much as I might hate it, being who I am, and being seen with Slytherins ... well, people might start to realize they aren't all bad." Severus wasn't. Draco, Vince and Greg weren't either. And according to them, most of their yearmates were in the same general category. Draco had only identified a few Slytherins that were definite Voldemort sympathizers (all of them sixth or seventh year students), though he told them there might be others.

McGonagall nodded. "It will take a lot to break the association in people's minds, when it comes to that House, but you certainly might put a dent in that sort of thinking." She admitted.

Not for the first time was she glad Severus was Harry's guardian, because Severus had been right ... there was more than a dollop of Slytherin in Harry's makeup. Some people would be horrified to think their precious Golden Boy was so 'tainted', but McGonagall was practical enough to admit that Gryffindor bravery did not solve all the world's problems. And McGonagall was honest enough to admit that while she had occasional bouts of cunning (like last year when she managed to get the badly needed new brooms approved finally) she did not normally, naturally, think along typically Slytherin lines. Severus, however, did, and would be able to teach Harry the tricks ... and would know what to look for to indicate Harry was up to something mischievous.

She gave Harry a small smile. "So yes, Harry, you may sit with whomever you please, at whichever table you please, except for feasts and important events."

"Thanks, Professor." Harry said with a grin, and then took off.

The next morning, Harry, followed by a slightly reluctant but determined Hermione and a somewhat more reluctant Ron (who was still having issues with the whole 'Slytherins are evil' thing), plunked himself down at the Slytherin table across from Draco at breakfast. Draco gave him a thoroughly startled look, then shot a look at the Head table. Seeing no sign of impending doom from that quarter, he relaxed.

Of course, by then, the entire Hall was buzzing with speculation and gossip. Why was The Boy Who Lived sitting with Slytherins? The Slytherins looked as confounded as everyone else, and those nearest Harry and company were openly staring at them. A few looks were more than slightly hostile, but Harry ignored that, and started talking to Draco.

Harry repeated the act, this time with Neville accompanying them, at the Hufflepuff table at lunchtime. And, despite the fact that none of them really knew anyone in Ravenclaw, again at that table at dinner. Though that trip paid unexpected dividends, in the form of a very quiet, shy, odd blonde girl named Luna Lovegood. She was more than a little entertaining, with her tales of creatures that probably didn't exist, and she seemed to be almost pathetically grateful for the companionship.

It took almost a week for people to stop talking about the way Harry and company rotated through the four tables, but it only took three days for some of the braver and more gregarious to follow their lead. By the time the gossip died down, the chances of spotting all four Houses at one table at any given meal were pretty good. Draco and his two shadows got a few suspicious looks the first time they came to the Gryffindor table rather than Harry going to the Slytherins, but by that point people had been swapping tables for a day or two and the Gryffindors seemed content to leave it at just suspicious looks.

That first week of school was a heck of a lot of fun for Harry because of the table-swapping. He'd discovered that he rather liked confounding people and their expectations of him. When he'd confessed as much to Severus, he'd had the pleasure of seeing Severus laugh rather hard.

The only fly in the ointment was Lockhart. The guy was completely useless, obsessed with Harry, and had every girl in the castle drooling over him. Harry was hard put to refrain from hexing the idiot into the next century, since the man seemed to think that Harry was a young up-and-coming celebrity that needed Lockhart's guidance and wisdom. Harry had to bite back a comment to the effect that he'd been more famous than Lockhart could ever dream of being since he was a year old more than once.

To make matters worse, DADA class was a joke and a half. The first one had resulted in a dozen freed pixies wreaking havok in the classroom while Lockhart flailed around trying to look impressive and failing horribly, at least where the boys were concerned. Hermione maintained that he'd simply wanted to see what his class was capable of. The quiz that started the class, though, had been worth a ton of laughs. Harry had copied the questions onto a spare bit of parchment and showed them to Severus later. Severus' expression had been more than worth the effort.

The second DADA class late in the week had been both better and worse. Better in that Lockhart did not expect them to memorize his favorite brand of hair care products and other such useless trivia anymore, worse in that he now seemed to be under the impression that DADA was actually a threatre class, and he drafted an extremely reluctant Harry into reenacting one of his 'triumphs'.

At least he, Hermione, Neville, and the male Weasleys weren't losing out on learning what they needed to know when it came to DADA. Severus was as good as his word and taught them things. Ginny, being female, was disinterested in anything but drooling after Lockhart, well, that and squeaking in alarm every time Harry spoke to her, so she didn't come to the lessons.

The weekend was a relief after the chaos of the first week, as it was just Harry and Severus, down in their quarters. It was nice to sprawl in front of the fireplace on his cushion, working on his homework or just enjoying a bit of quiet time with Severus, which had been in short supply over the summer.

Life got interesting again on Sunday evening, when a forlorn, bruised and beaten Dobby popped in, staring at them with huge, sad and scared-to-death eyes for a moment before he popped back out.

Severus and Harry eyed each other for a long moment before Harry spoke. "Somehow, I think life just got a bit too interesting for comfort."

"Agreed." Severus said. "I need to inform the Headmaster about this." He got to his feet and Harry sat up, to be out of the way of the fireplace. Severus tossed a pinch of floo powder into the fireplace and called for the Headmaster's office.

"Severus!" The Headmaster did not look over-pleased to see Severus, but then, Harry rather suspected that the Headmaster knew this wasn't a social call. "What brings you to calling me?"

"I am afraid, Headmaster, that things are about to get interesting in the school. Dobby just popped in. If the look on his face was anything at all to go by, he's just been forced to deliver whatever mayhem Lucius has devised to its intended victim."

The Headmaster sighed. "I had hoped you were wrong about that." He admitted. "Do you have any idea what the trouble might be?"

"None, I'm afraid. Dobby was unable to say, and we could have played guessing games from now until the end of time before we hit on the correct scheme. We will be forced to wait and see. All we were able to discover was that it could potentially put Draco in danger, which is probably what drove Dobby to seek us out." The little elf had said it was trying to keep Harry safe, but Severus wasn't quite certain that was the truth, as it was entirely possible that Dobby had used twisted logic to get around whatever strictures Lucius had put him under.

"I shall have the ghosts and portraits keep an eye out for anything unusual." Dumbledore said. "The staff as well. Until something makes itself known, that is all we can do."

HPHPHP

The rest of September and all of October were almost ominously peaceful, at least where Hogwarts was concerned. The rest of the world, however, was not nearly so quiet.

The Wizengamot had finally gathered for its fall session, which promised to be the most contentious ever, as the men and women at that august gathering wrestled with the damage done their society by Crouch an company. The arguing about various laws got pretty damn heated, according to Augusta and Arthur, who owled Severus and Harry regular reports. The good news was that slowly, one by one, the laws were being repealed and abolished. Of course, to keep the conservatives and hardliners happy, there were a myriad of promises to 'reweigh the issues brought forth by these unjustly passed laws, and pass such laws as are deemed necessary at a later time'. What Augusta and Arthur weren't telling the opposition was that for the vast majority of the laws, they had precisely zero intention of ever bringing them up for review, as most of them were unbelievably nasty to those involved, like the law that made it illegal for a werewolf to hold a job where they'd have a lot of contact with the public. Harry had been dumbfounded when he found out about that particular law. No wonder Remus had looked so ragged! He, at least, was able to function in the Muggle world, and had managed to keep himself employed at least enough to not starve to death. Most werewolves weren't that lucky.

Of course the goings-on in the Wizengamot were gossip fodder for everyone. The Prophet had a lot of fun shrieking about the destruction of the Wizarding way of life, but most folks seemed happy to have things change ... it was only a small number of extremists that were balking. Unfortunately for everyone involved, that minority just happened to be the moneyed, politically elite.

Harry had mentally been cringing all of Halloween, remembering the troll last year and half expecting something nasty to happen this year. Much to his relief, nothing happened. The next day, a Sunday, he, Severus, Sirius and Remus headed to James and Lily's graves for a visit. It seemed somewhat odd to Harry at first, because they had the portrait now, and in a way it didn't really feel like they were actually dead, anymore. Sort of. Sometimes, the wizarding world could be confusing. Maybe that's why they came here ... to remind themselves that the two actually were dead, portrait notwithstanding.

The very next day, heading for Gryffindor tower after dinner (eaten at Hufflepuff table, today), Harry stopped dead in his tracks when he heard a low, menacing voice snarl. "... rip ... tear ... kill ... so hungry ... for so long ... kill ... time to kill ..."

"Shit!" He yelped. "Did you guys hear that?" He swung around to look at Neville, Ron, and Hermione, and only got a series of headshakes in response.

"I ... there's a voice ... c'mon! We need to ... " Harry took off after the voice, not thinking, completely ignoring the multiple requests to stop, slow down, and/or explain himself. They raced around a corner on the third floor only to come to a screeching halt, kicking up quite a spray of water, as there was a pool almost an inch deep across most of that part of the corridor. On an otherwise blank stretch of wall were some words in red. 'The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the Heir, Beware.'. And hanging from a nearby torch bracket ... was none other than Mrs. Norris.

"Uh oh." Harry gulped. "This ... is not good."

"You can say that again." Hermione whispered, but she was not looking at the cat. She was, in fact, looking off to their right.

Harry finally tore his gaze away from the cat in time to spot what looked like half the school crowded into the adjoining corridor, and cringed.