Placing his glasses on the cabinet beside the bed, Harry kicked his shoes off and shuffled fully dressed under his duvet. He pulled the curtains around his bed and buried his aching head into his pillow.

I can’t think about any of this. Not now. It’s too much.

Somehow, in spite of, or perhaps as a result of his splintered emotions Harry fell into an uneasy sleep. He stirred when his roommates came in but didn’t rise to greet them. He could do without facing anyone just now. Luckily it was late and they got ready for bed without disturbing him.

Struggling to keep his eyes open, Harry hoped that Connor would come good on their agreement from earlier. He’d promised to be the one who would stay alert this time and wake Harry when they could creep out, although after yesterday Harry wasn’t confident that he would manage to do so. In the end Harry felt so drained that he had little choice. Giving up on the battle to stay awake, his eyelids closed once more. His body seemed to be sinking into the mattress from the sheer weight of his physical and emotional exhaustion.  

It felt like the middle of the night by the time that Connor gently shook him awake. At once everything flooded back to Harry but he felt better for his short nap, more in control; in any case the prospect of seeing Sirius again made everything bearable.

“Harry, you awake?”

Harry could see the faint indistinct outline of Connor’s face from the light of his lumos. He’d obviously cast a silencing charm as well because he didn’t seem to be making any attempt to keep his voice low.

“What time is it?” Harry groped for his glasses in the semi-darkness.

“Coming up to midnight. I kind of drifted off a bit as well, but luckily I’d cast a spell to wake me just in case.”

Harry pulled on his shoes and a thick cloak hurriedly. He turned and grinned at Connor.

“Come on then.”

***

“Wait,” Harry breathed, putting a restraining hand on Connor’s shoulder.

They were barely out of the Slytherin common room when he’d caught sight of a tuft of dust-coloured cat fur at the end of the corridor and sure enough a moment or so later Filch shuffled past behind Mrs Norris, seemingly intent on catching someone. Harry took a deep breath. So he was patrolling around Slytherin quarters. For some reason, Harry had always thought Filch had it in for Gryffindors, targeting them instead of the other houses, but perhaps that was being unfair and he treated all the students equally. Not that it would make Harry dislike the spiteful, old man any less.

“Ok,” Harry gave a little push. “We can move.”

“I hate that bloody cat,” Connor replied in an ominous tone. “She tried to eat me once.”

“Shhh. Come on.”

***

When they were outside Harry was reminded once again of the sheer all encompassed joy that Connor found in his animagus form.  He stood beside the lake and watched as the Crow soared high above him in the night sky, only needing to flap his wings occasionally.

Letting his gaze leave Connor, Harry concentrated on scanning the undergrowth around him for any signs of Padfoot. He zeroed in on any slight rustles in the bushes.

“Caw-caw-caw!” The screech overhead made him jump as Connor gradually made his descent. He hadn’t noticed the minutes passing, he’d been watching his surroundings so intently. In a movement of fluid grace, Connor landed upon the ground beside him.

The next second he transformed back to human form. 

 “So was it windy enough tonight?” he asked plonking himself on the ground beside Harry’s feet, stretching out his limbs as though reminding himself of his human form.

“Yes...No.... I don’t know,” Harry sounded uncertain. He sighed and also sank down on the muddy bank. “Probably not. I’m sorry. I should have said earlier. I guess I just keep hoping, you know?”

“Hey, it’s ok with me. You don’t need to apologise. I love coming out here to fly.”

Connor stared up at the moonlit sky, his expression unusually serious for a moment.

“It’s so peaceful out here at night time. And when you’re up in the sky... I can’t begin to explain it really. It just makes everything feel so right.”

“Sirius and I... we spent hours flying together on our brooms at night-time this summer. It was some of my best memories of him,” Harry said quietly.

“I used to fly at dawn, every day, back home.” Connor’s eyes were shining. “If you listen to the dawn chorus as a human it sounds nice, right, perhaps even beautiful, but when you’re transformed...well you can hear it properly. It’s something else, I tell you.  Sitting there, hearing the world wake up. I feel totally in awe of everything around me. It’s like another level of magic completely.”

“How did you manage to sneak out before you came to Hogwarts?”

“I didn’t have to. I only became an animagus last year. My tutor- Declan- his form’s a Wood pigeon. When we found out I was avian as well I just started coming with him on his morning flights. Of course, we kept it secret from the house elves and staff.”

“Does your father know you’re an animagus?”

“What my father knows doesn’t matter either way.” Connor’s jaw tightened slightly and his expression became guarded. “Though I think you have the wrong idea about the secrecy surrounding all of this. I’m not doing anything wrong, it just makes sense tactically to keep certain information private from outsiders for as long as possible.”

“But it’s illegal? In Ireland, I mean as well as over here? You are supposed to be registered?” Harry asked. He didn’t really know how things worked in Ireland. Of course laws were pretty much the same as far as Muggle Britain and Ireland were concerned, but that didn’t mean it would be the same for the magical ministries.

“To be sure. But no one does. Look at your own registers over here. I bet there’s scarcely a dozen names down for registered animagouses.”

“Less than that.” Harry said, remembering the time that Hermione had read up on it. “There were seven, this century, I think. Of course Sirius ended up having to register as well when everything came out, so that makes eight altogether now.”

“Well you see then. Becoming an animagus is difficult but not that difficult. Shocking the amount of wizards who just happen to get caught the ‘first’ time they manage the animagus transformation.”

“So they only register if someone sees them?”

“Well, wouldn’t you?”

Harry hadn’t really thought about it before but he supposed it made sense.  In all those times Sirius had been trying to teach him to transform over the summer they’d never discussed what he’d do if he was successful. Bearing in mind that Sirius had spent years as an unregistered animagus, only registering at all because he was forced to do so, he probably wouldn’t have urged Harry to keep to the rules.

“I tried to become an animagus,” Harry admitted. “Sirius was teaching me, though I never managed it.”

“How long were you trying for?”

“A few weeks, over this summer.”

“That’s nothing.  You shouldn’t have given up. It took me nearly a year to manage a full transformation. Mind you, I was a bit younger then. Declan may have started me a bit before I was ready for it, I was that eager to give it a go.”

“I haven’t really given up. It’s just what with everything that’s happened to Sirius and being busy I kind of stopped practising. I’m going to keep trying though,” Harry decided.

He stood up, brushing leaves and mud off the back of his trousers.  He looked back at Connor for a moment racking up the nerve to ask him some of the questions which had been bothering him.

“Do you... do you get on with your tutor alright? You seemed a bit upset when he came to visit?”

Connor looked at him with a hint of suspicion and Harry tried to look back steadily. He didn’t want to have to explain how he’d been hidden in Severus’s office while they’d been arguing, but he would admit it if it came to it.

“It’s complicated,” Connor said at last.

“Oh, Ok,” Harry felt rebuffed. “You don’t need to explain.”

“No it’s ok, I’ll tell you. But my background, my family, they’re not exactly average. So I’d prefer it if you kept this between the four of us.” 

Harry nodded, feeling relieved that Connor was now automatically including Ron and Hermione in his secrets.

Connor hesitated, seeming to struggle to know where to begin. “Well, first of all- all the stuff you think you know about my family is wrong.”

“Your Dad’s not the Irish Minister for magic?”

“Who is then?”

“What?! No, shut up and listen for a minute Golden boy, and I’ll tell you in my own way.”

Harry sat back down expectantly.

Connor seemed to hesitate, for a moment before continuing.

“About two years ago I was making a potion and I wanted to use a drop of blood from my little sister, Katie...”

“You were using blood magic?”

“It wasn’t for anything harmful, Harry! It was for a protection potion which would warn me if she was in mortal danger. The point is that Declan found out and kicked up an awful fuss...and well, you have to understand that there’d always been rumours but I’d never believed them till that point.”

“Rumours..?”

“...that my Father, wasn’t really who I thought he was.”

There was a long pause while they both sat in silence. Eventually Connor picked up a twig from the ground and began to peel the bark off it.

“The irony is that I never needed to find out,” he continued eventually. “The protective potion works regardless of whether you’re kin, but Declan’d obviously thought I was doing some kind of bloodline potion. He’d always been one of my Mother’s closest friends when she was alive and had blatantly known the truth all along.”

“And your father, I mean... Sir Finleigh...”

“He obviously didn’t have a clue. He’s barely even spoken to me since it all came out. My stepmother was never bothered even beforehand and Katie, my little sister, well she’s not even related to me, not that she knows though.”

“I’m sorry,” Harry said softly. “I can imagine how that feels.”

“You don’t get along with your relatives?”

“Not really,” Harry said simply, unwilling to go into any further detail. “So, did you ever find out who your father was? Did Declan tell you?”

“Declan wouldn’t have said, but he didn’t have to. There were rumours in the papers from before... and during my parent’s marriage. She was supposed to be seeing this bloke- Kyran McLaughlin when they were engaged... anyway it was all a big scandal at the time, not least because Kyran is the polar opposite of Finleigh politically.”

“Have you ever met him?”

“No.” For a moment Connor looked wistful. “But you know, one day, I will. It’s not right, that he doesn’t even know I exist. That we haven’t had chance to meet each other, but right now things are...”

“Complicated?”

“Difficult, to be sure,” Connor agreed. “How much do you know about the political situation in Ireland at the moment?”

“Um, next to nothing.”

“Well to over-simplify hundreds of years of build up and tension, the political leaders have all split into factions and are fighting among themselves.”

“About Voldemort?”

“To some degree, but that is only a part of it.” Connor sighed. “It seems that the government, which includes Finleigh of course, are on the way out. Various groups seek to fill the gap which will be left behind but no one’s letting go without a struggle.”

“Are you worried, about your family and what will happen to them if the Government does fall?”

Connor shook his head bitterly. “Finleigh’s life has been in politics. He can read the political landscape like the back of his hand, about the only thing he’s good at. He’ll make sure they’re all out of the way long before matters erupt.”

“And your real father? Where does he fit into all of this, seeing as he’s on the other side to Finleigh?”

“Ah. Well that is the issue. From what I’ve found out Kyran’s certainly no angel, and you must understand where he stands politically does him no favours. Anyway, for the moment he’s confined.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know: confined, detained against his will, at the Minister’s pleasure.”

“He’s in prison?”

“Well, political captivity anyway. It’s not his fault, it’s the political situation. It’s not a proper gaol anyway. It’s more like house arrest in that he can see visitors and things. He’s not treated like a common criminal.”

Harry’s mind flew back to one of the dreams he’d had about Sirius shortly after he’d gone missing. He’d been speaking to a tall, dark Irish squib and there’d been something strange about the room they  were in... He racked his brains trying to remember.

That was it. The man had been in a prison of sorts, the window was barred at least, though that hadn’t seemed to fit with the rest of the room which had been richly furnished...

“Connor,” he asked excitedly. Your real father, Kyran, do you know if there’s any chance that he’s a squib?”

Connor frowned.

“Harry. You grew up with Muggles so you have no idea how offensive that is,”he replied flatly, getting to his feet. “I’ll have you know Kyran McLaughlin is reputed to be one of the strongest wizards around.”

“Oh, sorry.” Bang goes that idea then.Harry stood up as well, shaking out the cloak.

“I didn’t mean to insult you.”  

“I know,” Connor sighed. “It’s just...he’s kind of a big deal to me, you know. Finleigh and I were never close and since I found out about Kyran, it’s like a lot of things slotted into place for me.”

Harry could understand that only too well.

***

They made their way back towards the castle under the invisibility cloak, careful to cast a silencing charm to prevent any sounds giving them away. They both froze up as they entered the main door at the sound of a movement somewhere nearby.

“Harry, did you just hear something?” Connor asked.

Harry nodded his head and they both crept inside cautiously.

There was no sign of anyone around in the hall way and gradually they both began to breath more steadily.

“It was probably just Peeves,” Harry said at last.

By the time they had made their way down to the dungeons they had both began to feel a bit more relaxed.

Harry muttered the password and the door sprang open.

“How did you do that?”

“What?”

“Give the password without cancelling the silencing charm?”

“Oh,” Harry shrugged. “I don’t know.”Another benefit to Severus’ wordless magic lessons, he thought internally. Not bad at all.

They slipped in through the door but hadn’t gone far into the room when Harry came to a stop so abruptly that Connor bumped into him, dragging the cloak an inch or so above their feet. Grabbing the cloak to rearrange it Harry motioned urgently.

“Look!”

“Shit!”

At the end of the common room Filch was hunched over in a dark corner. He seemed to have been stroking the bony form of Mrs Norris but by the way he was staring in their general direction was anything to go by he’d obviously worked out they were there.

Drawing himself upright, his bulging pale eyes gleamed in the dim light.

“We know you’re there, don’t we, my sweet?” he whizzed delightedly. “Got you now you little blighters! We knew you were coming back to Slytherin!”

His eyes fixed on Filch, Harry slowly edged forward.

“What are you doing?” Connor found himself whispering in spite of the silencing charm.

“He can’t hear us or see us. If we can just manage to slip past him and down the corridor we’ll be back in our dorm...”

“Wait- he’s going somewhere.”

Filch was shuffling away from them towards the back of the room which led to the dormitories and Severus’s rooms. Mrs Norris followed him, purring.

“Where’s he going?”

Filch wasn’t that quick on his feet but it didn’t take him long to get to the door of Severus’s rooms, where he rapped sharply with a bony fist.

“Professor Snape! Professor Snape! Come quickly!”

“Fuck,” Harry cursed.

“Quick then...” Connor urged him but it was no good, they’d barely taken a couple more steps towards the door of their dorm when the Professor’s door opened and Severus appeared clad in a long grey nightshirt, clasping his wand.

“What is it Mr Filch?” Severus demanded urgently.

“Slytherins creeping around the castle after curfew! We’ve been after them all evening, haven’t we Mrs Norris?!” the caretaker sounded overcome with excitement.

For a moment, Harry thought he saw a look of exasperation dart across Severus’ face, but then it was gone. 

Wordlessly summoning his dressing gown, Severus wrapped it around himself.

“And the rule breakers ...?”

“They’re hiding!”Filch declared.

Quickly glancing around to assess the surrounding area, Severus seemed interested in spite of himself.

“Indeed?” he said softly and waved his wand saying, “Finite Incantatem.”

Harry and Connor hardly dared to breathe as their silencing charm was cancelled, although of course to Severus and Filch everything appeared the same. The two boys began to slowly edge backwards, away from the adults.

Nothing happened. Severus glanced at Filch.

“They’re here!” the old man insisted. “The door opened by itself and then I saw bits of trainers on the ground, then they disappeared again!”

“I see.” Seeming to arriving at a conclusion Severus drawled, “Do come out from under the cloak, Mr Potter.”

The boys froze.

“Immediately,” he added in a dangerous tone.

 Rather than waiting to see what spell Severus would fire off next Harry shot an apologetic look towards Connor and reluctantly removed the cloak from over their heads.

“And Mr Donovan, as well. How unfortunate that you continue to show such exceedingly bad judgement,” Severus said smoothly, seemingly unsurprised.

“We knew we heard something earlier this evening, Professor,” the caretaker said triumphantly. “They’ve been out goodness knows where, breaking curfew, in the middle of the night! We waited and we waited and we got them! Didn’t we my sweet?!”

Mrs Norris rubbed herself against Filch’s bony ankles, purring happily.

“Thought they could trick us with our magic didn’t they? But not when we knew where they were going! Hah. Not so clever now are you? They want locking up, Professor, stringing up even, when I think...”  

 “Thank you for your assistance, Mr Filch, as you say the hour is late so I will take this from here,” Severus interrupted curtly in mid-rant. “We need not detain you any longer.”

Filch looked disappointed but nodded and shuffled away muttering to himself.

“So,” Severus glanced back towards the two boys. “You can start by explaining to me exactly where you’ve been and what you’ve been doing whilst you were supposed to be in bed asleep.”

There was a long pause during which Harry glanced at Connor helplessly.

“Ah, dumb ignorance, I see,” Severus said scathingly. “How very unexpected.”

 He cleared his throat. “Well I can only assume that both of you were concerned that you had far too much time on your hands seeing as you’ve obviously outdone yourselves in your attempts to earn a plethora of detentions?”

“Like it makes a difference,” Connor muttered under his breath, knowing any additional detentions for him could only be added to the long list that he was already serving.

Severus stepped towards Connor, “Do not tempt me Donovan,” he said icily. “You may feel hard done by now, serving weeks of detentions, but let me assure you that this is nothing compared to what I may choose to do. I’ve been party to your immature, petty acts of defiance for too long now. And they will stop.”

Connor opened his mouth but Harry was quick to cut in before him.

“Professor,” Harry said awkwardly. “Can I speak to you alone?”

I’ve promised Connor, that I’ll keep his secret. He wouldn’t even have got caught if it wasn’t for me. I’ve got to try to put this right.

Connor shot Harry a questioning look which Harry tried his best to answer by looking reassuring.

Severus looked at Harry briefly. He turned back to Connor.

 “You will go into your dormitory and remain there until breakfast time tomorrow. Should you so much as consider setting so much as a foot outside Slytherin quarters during curfew again I will personally ask the Headmaster to floo your Father to request your immediate removal from this establishment. Do I make myself clear?” Severus loomed over Connor in his most overbearing manner.

“Crystal,” Connor muttered, hastily heading towards their dorm.

Severus glared at him once more before turning to Harry.

“Come,” he said simply and opened the door into his rooms.

***