“Dad, look what I have found! This seems to be a cure for Lycanthropy!”

He showed his father the pages he had just translated, and Salazar quickly cast a Lumos spell so he could read what his son had written. “The Wolves Cure” it said.

“Is this what I think it is?” he asked, scanning the parchment frantically.

“I believe so,” Harry answered excitedly, crawling into the bed next to his father, where he fell asleep immediately. He just couldn’t keep his eyes open anymore.

Salazar spent the rest of the night researching each of the ingredients to assess the effect the Potion would have on a werewolf. By the time his alarm went off in the morning, he was relatively sure that the Potion had to be what it promised. He had also checked out the time of the next full moon and decided that it would be just right if he started brewing the Potion on Friday afternoon in order for Remus to be able to drink it on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday evening, just in time for the full moon, which would be on Wednesday – provided that Remus would be willing to take the Potion.

Salazar looked at his son proudly. He had done it – he had found the long-lost wolves’ cure! But Harry seemed so small and fragile to him and he wondered, ‘Are we continuously expecting too much of him? He is only twelve years old.’ And yet his son had worked on his translation during the night in order to possibly help someone else. Salazar had no idea, however, why Harry had been awake in the middle of the night. When he went to bed at midnight, Harry had been fast asleep.

It was just a few days ago that Lily had complained about Severus pushing Harry too hard in order to let him translate the Potion recipes despite the fact that he was still recovering from pneumonia. Salazar had yet to talk with Severus and Harry about it. He had wanted to wait until Harry’s condition was better. However, yesterday, Minerva had told him after teaching Harry’s class for two hours that she wouldn’t deem him fit enough to attend lessons yet although he had done very well on a test she had let them write.

Salazar took another glance at Harry’s pale and tired face and decided to let his son sleep. Determined to speak with Remus about what Harry had found out before the start of the first lesson, he went into the shower to get ready for the day.

He placed a parchment on the table in the sitting room, which Harry couldn’t miss when he exited Salazar’s room, and strode quickly down to the Great Hall in order to speak with several people and have a small breakfast. First, he walked by the Gryffindor table and addressed Remus.

“Mr. Lupin!” he called the horrified student from behind.

“Yes? Ah, good morning, Professor,” Remus answered kindly.

“I have something urgent to talk about with you. Please come to our quarters to speak to my son or I today.”

“Yes, Professor, of course,” Remus promised, wondering what that could be about.

“Professor, where is Harry? Is something wrong with him?” Lily asked worriedly.

“He is asleep. I don’t think he is very well yet. Therefore, I have told him to stay in bed today,” Salazar replied shortly and went up to the Head Table.

First he talked to Dumbledore. “Albus, I need you to cover my lessons on Friday afternoon. Will that be possible? I will tell you the reason later, confidentially.”

As soon as the Headmaster agreed, Salazar quickly told the other teachers that Harry was sick and wouldn’t attend classes today, before he returned to his quarters. Harry was still fast asleep. Salazar went through his office into the classroom, leaving the door slightly ajar.

-----

Harry woke up because he had to go to the bathroom. He quickly went over to use the toilet in his own bathroom, noticing that his father was nowhere in sight. ‘Probably brewing a Potion,’ he thought while he returned to the sitting room. Seeing a hand-written parchment on the table, he recognized his father’s handwriting and began to read.

Dear Harry,

You may not attend classes today. Please stay in our quarters and rest. Try to sleep some more. Breakfast is on the dining table. I shall be back for lunch.

Dad.

Harry groaned and lay down on the sofa. He was glad that he didn’t have to attend lessons, because he was really tired. He hadn’t slept well and had spent half the night translating, but on the other hand, he didn’t want to miss classes as it only was the second day after the holidays.

Salazar and Harry had lunch together in their quarters, and Salazar told his son what he had researched during the night. “I am sure that it must be what it seems to be, and I have asked Remus to visit us and talk to either you or me as soon as he can.”

They had just finished their meal, when Pomfrey showed up and asked what was wrong with Harry.

“Nothing’s wrong; I was just too tired this morning because I didn’t sleep well during the night. But I’ll attend the afternoon classes,” Harry replied, very annoyed.

“Thanks for enquiring about Harry’s health, Poppy. Now, I have some very good news, too. I don’t know if you’ve heard about the books Harry is translating.” At her interested look, he continued, “Tonight he has found a long lost recipe for the Wolves Cure.”

Poppy let out a loud gasp. “The Wolves Cure? You mean…?”

“Yes, that’s what I mean. If Lupin agrees to test the Potion, I shall start brewing it on Friday, so that he can take it on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday – just in time for the full moon.”

“Oh, Salazar, that’s really good news,” Poppy said happily, and Salazar left for his afternoon classes, turning over the list of Potion ingredients in his head.

-----

When Salazar returned a few hours later, Remus showed up. Together they went to Harry’s room, who smiled a little when he saw them coming. “Now, Harry, would you like to tell Remus your news, or shall I tell him?”

“You tell him, please,” Harry asked his father.

“Mr. Lupin, you surely know that my son is translating books full of Potions, written by Salazar Slytherin.” Seeing Remus’ nod, he continued, “One of them seems to be a cure for Lycanthropy. Harry discovered it last night, and I can start to make the Potion on Friday if you want to try it out. I don’t know if it really works of course, but you could try. What do you think?”

Remus dropped into a chair. He was stunned – so many years had he hoped for a cure, while he was a small child, but after a number of years he had given up all hopes of a cure. “Harry… Professor… I… I just don’t know what to say, I don’t want to get my hopes up too much, but nevertheless I would like to ask you to try whatever you can.” His eyes were swimming in tears.

“Remus, it’s okay,” Harry told him softly. “We cannot promise anything and I can’t do anything for you, but I can tell you that if anyone is able to make the Potion, it will be my father. He is the best Potions Maker you can find.”

“The Potion will take three days to make, but I have already gotten permission from the Headmaster to skip classes on Friday afternoon, so that I should be able to finish the Potion on Sunday. Then you have to take it on three successive days, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, and on the day of the full moon – Wednesday I think – you can go into the Shrieking Shack and see if it works. I cannot promise anything either; we will just have to try and see. Don’t get your hopes up too much.”

-----

On Sunday evening, the Potion was ready. In the meantime, Dumbledore had received permission from Remus’ parents to try the Potion on their son, and Remus had been instructed to come to Professor Snape’s quarters after dinner on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. He had also been told that he had to stay the three nights in the guest bed in Harry’s room because nobody could know what nasty effects the Potion might have as they couldn’t test it in advance. Here, Salazar and Harry could watch over him, and this was much better than having to stay in the Hospital Wing.

Harry was very happy for his friend, and he was looking forward to having his friend stay with him. When their friends had left on Sunday, just before curfew, Salazar told Remus to get ready for bed. Ten minutes later, Salazar, Poppy, Minerva, and Albus entered the room, and Remus blushed at the attention. Harry was sitting in his own bed, finding the whole commotion extremely amusing as for once it was not he who was at the centre of it. Poppy waved her wand over Remus, mumbled contentedly to herself, and gave Salazar a short nod, so that he handed Remus a Potions phial. Hearing Harry say, “Good luck, Remus,” Remus quickly gulped the potion down and lay back, waiting for whatever would come.

However, nothing happened, and after a few minutes Remus relaxed. Harry however began to worry. ‘Will the Potion work at all? Maybe we’ve only managed to get his hopes up and nothing happens,’ he thought frantically.

Before Harry could worry anymore about it, someone sat down on the edge of his bed. He opened his eyes and saw that it was Minerva. “Hi Granny,” he smiled at his Grandmother.

“How are you, Harry?” she asked, carefully pushing a strand of hair out of his face.

“Fine,” Harry replied. “I hope so much that the potion will work. Everything would be so much better for Remus.”

“I know, Harry. However, don’t get your hopes up too much. If it doesn’t work, you’ll just continue your research. Now try to sleep, and no more work during the night please,” she said firmly and gave Harry a kiss on his forehead, before she stood up and left the room.

-----

In the morning, Salazar came and woke Harry and Remus up in time for breakfast. “Good morning, boys.”

He checked on Remus and asked, “Do you feel any difference? Does anything hurt?”

Remus shook his head and replied, “No, it doesn’t feel any different. My joints ache slightly, but that’s normal so close to the full moon.”

“All right,” Salazar said with satisfaction. “You may go to your classes, and I will expect you back tonight for your next dose of Potion. If you feel unwell come and see Madam Pomfrey or me immediately.”

When their double Transfiguration lesson was over, Lily suggested going out for a walk around the lake during their free period, but Harry declined. “Sorry, but I just want to make a small excursion to the Chamber in order to get a few more books,” he said, and Lily noticed that his eyes were twinkling mischievously.

“All right,” James replied. “Let’s go to the Chamber together. We’ll help you.”

As Harry couldn’t flash all of them, they decided to walk. When they finally arrived, Harry was the first to enter the library. He motioned them to stay at the door, stood with his back to the shelf his friends had piled the Parselscript books on, held his arms out, and quietly said, “Accio Parselscript books.” A second later he quickly threw a strong Protection Charm around himself as a few dozen books came flying in his direction. Finally, the books piled neatly in two stacks in front of Harry. He added the books from the shelf, put a shrinking charm on the piles, and pocketed the books, before he turned back to his friends and said, “All right, let’s go back to my room.”

His friends remained quiet on the way back to Professor Snape’s quarters. They obviously were stunned by the display Harry had showed them.

“Harry?” Lily finally turned to her son. “What are you going to do? Are you going to translate all these books? There are at least thirty of them!”

“No!” James contradicted. “There were twenty books on that shelf, plus the let’s say another twenty that came flying over to Harry when he accio-ed them. Slytherin must have been really busy to write so many books.”

Harry sighed. “Yes, it really is a lot. I don’t think I’ll be able to translate all of them before I go back to the future. But I want to skim through them and see if I can figure out what’s interesting and should be translated first.”

“That’s nice, Harry,” Sirius jumped into the conversation, “but that’s enough about books and about Potions anyway. Let’s talk about the prank we’re going to play on Slughorn tomorrow.”

Harry groaned. In the meantime, they had reached and entered their quarters. He ushered his friends into his room, where Salazar had recently added a small, round table with seven comfortable chairs around it. When everyone had found a seat, Harry turned to Sirius. “Sirius, as much as I love your pranks – and I really do! – I don’t want to hear about them in advance because I can’t lie. Last week, I was impressed how easily Lily could lie to our Grandmother. Sorry, but I couldn’t. If she had asked me, I’d probably have told her the truth. Plus, in order to prank the Potions lesson, you should get Severus’ advice in advance. Messing up with Potions could be very dangerous.”

“I think you’re right, Harry,” Lily agreed immediately.

“Where is Severus, by the way?” Peter threw in.

“He has lessons with the Slytherins, so he doesn’t have a free period now,” Remus stated the obvious.

“Actually we’ve one more prank we want to play on McGonagall,” James suddenly spoke up. “However for that, we need Harry’s help.”

“My help?” Harry asked, flabbergasted, and his friends laughed at his horrified expression.

“It’s really harmless,” James told Harry. “You only have to wish a wand, which I’ll give you tomorrow morning, to be exchanged with the wand in McGonagall’s robes. Do you think you can manage that?”

Harry frowned. That didn’t sound too difficult. “Probably… yes…” he said hesitantly. “But what am I going to do with her wand?”

“You can give it to me. I’ll make sure to sit next to you, Harry,” James replied mischievously. “Or,” he asked pensively, “do you think you could wish it into her office? Would that work?”

Harry thought for a moment before he replied. “Can I have your wand for a moment, James?” He took the wand his friend handed to him and wished it over into his bathroom. The wand had indeed vanished from his hand, but had it arrived in the bathroom? With a small smile Harry retrieved James’ wand and returned it to its owner.

“All right, lads, let’s do this on Wednesday in Transfiguration,” Sirius laughed. “I can’t wait to see Minnie’s face. What a pity that we don’t have Transfiguration tomorrow,” he added.

Suddenly, they heard a door flung open and a voice shouting, “Harry!”

Harry’s face turned white and he jumped out of his seat, not a second before his father stormed into the room. “Harry,” he repeated, panting. “Do you feel well enough to do wish magic?” he then asked sternly.

“Of course, Dad, what’s wrong?” Harry questioned.

Salazar turned to Harry’s friends and said urgently, “You will all stay here in my quarters or return to your dormitory immediately until you are told otherwise…”

He was interrupted by an announcement from the Deputy Headmistress. “All students return to their Common rooms immediately. Do not leave your Common rooms until further notice. Please return to your House immediately.”

With that the announcement ended, and everyone looked at Harry’s father expectantly. “Are you sure that we can stay here, Professor?” Lily asked anxiously.

“Yes, Lily, I am certain,” Salazar answered quickly. “Now, Harry, put your warm coat on and follow me, please. Take your broom with you in any case. I shall take mine as well.”