Albus had been relieved that there had been a short recess after Harry's ‘inquiry' - Cornelius had wanted it so he could talk to reporters, of course. Albus had needed the time to think and reflect.

Albus had made the mistake of catching Severus' eye during Albus' ‘Harry needs a guardian who will care for him as he needs' speech to Dolores Umbridge. If Severus had shouted the word hypocrite at him he could not have been more plain.

Severus was right of course, Albus had not taken much care in overseeing how the Dursley's had raised Harry - certainly he hadn't thought deeply over how Vernon Dursley would take the instruction that Harry needed to be ‘not be a wimp' and when summoned because of the muggle social services investigation, he'd simply thrown money at the problem and chided the abuser to be more careful.

A renewed sense of failure lay across his shoulders. He'd no real right to lecture Dolores or Rufus after his own actions - and inactions. Rufus at least, likely had true concerns - even if they were unfounded. Dolores, of course just wanted raise her own importance - as she had accused Severus of doing.

Albus rubbed an aching brow and took a headache potion. He would be having a full week of court during the spring break. Important trials were scheduled during ‘school vacation' days whenever possible, there usually weren't that many ‘big trials', so it was not difficult to do. Albus attended court one day a week during the school year for anything big that couldn't be put off.

Albus dearly wished he could hand over the reins of the Wizengamot to someone else, but he was afraid he would need the extra leverage in the upcoming struggle. The minute it was over he was tossing the towel in, though. He slowly relaxed as the potion took effect. He would just have to face the fact that he had apologies to make to Harry in the near future.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Neville watched Uncle Algie carefully out of the corner of his eye. Great Aunt Enid and several of her grandchildren were visiting again, and the children tried to draw him into their games. As long as the games stayed firmly on the ground it was alright.

Unfortunately they were all quite Quidditch mad and couldn't understand why he wouldn't be pushed onto a broom. He had found, to his own dismay that after being hung out the window - and then falling, he was very phobic about heights.

Neville tried to explain this, but was cut off by Augusta, who would just as soon forget that incident - since so many people seemed disturbed by it. Enid had understood immediately though and had whispered to the cousins and they had stopped trying to pull him onto broomsticks. However the pity in their eyes had been hard to take.

Algie had been watching him intently for weeks - whenever grandmother wasn't watching, and Neville knew there was a plan in the works. He'd discussed it all with Callidora, who had frowned and said he should ‘stick close to his grandmother' - poor though her protection seemed he was unlikely to try anything within her sight.

Neville had lost interest in his prank book, for a time, after his near - miss in getting outed after cursing Draco Malfoy. But now, with the cousins sending pitying looks and Algie smirking - while grandmother smiled obliviously...he decided that the battle needed renewing.

Anything to shore up his swiftly falling morale.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Tom spent most of the Harpies Quidditch match deep in thought. The ‘Inquiry' had been difficult for him to sit through without doing something. Yvane had had to do some fast talking while he had been forced to watch Rufus Scrimgeour attack his brother's integrity and choice of guardian. He'd desperately wanted to curse the man and only knowing Yvane would have blocked him had stopped him from trying.

It was still difficult to hear Yvane - and Auror Hugo say that Rufus was not a bad person...that indeed he would be someone to recruit to their cause if it was possible. When Tom had heard Hugo say that he had been aghast with a horrified sense of betrayal...Rufus had been trying to steal Harry - and they admired him?

It had taken Yvane hours to explain that Rufus had genuine fears regarding former Death Eaters possibly turning ‘The Boy Who Lived' into a dark wizard. Just because he was wrong in his fears did not make him bad - just mistaken.

Hugo had also tried to explain, when he saw Tom's distress. "Rufus has trouble ‘thinking outside the box'. He has trouble with people who are not working within the ministry to stop dark wizards. He just sees people like the Order as troublesome and ‘in the way'. And it is true that vigilantes are usually just lawbreaking rogues themselves. It's the reason I would never invite him into the Order, were I in charge of it - Rufus would never be a part of something not totally within the law."

"But look at what he did and said at the inquiry..." Tom had spluttered in anger.

"Ah, but that was all perfectly legal - except for the secretary making that grab at guardianship...which shocked him as well." Hugo replied easily, he was heartened by Tom's obvious protectiveness of Harry - and Severus, but didn't want that temper of his turned loose. Hugo hadn't seen him waving a wand with a faintly mad glint in his eye since the first time he'd seen Tom. He hoped that whatever had made him loose control that time was now firmly under wraps.

Tom had mulled over all that was said that evening as he sat in the stands of the Quidditch pitch, listening to the boys howl and yell in excitement at the match. Normally he would have at least been interested in perusing all the cleavage the Harpies were displaying, but he had a new worry.

The morning paper had announced that Auror Rufus Scrimgeour was taking over the Auror Academy. The paper had, of course speculated on whether it was a slap on the wrist for the Auror or really a promotion. Severus and Lucius had seemed sure that Rufus would not dare be overtly hostile to Dora, but they all knew there were subtle ways for a teacher to make a students life hell.

Severus had tried to lighten things by saying he would have the twins send enough pranks for Dora to use to drive Rufus from Auror service totally. Tom had smiled, but he still feared for Dora. He didn't like feeling helpless in this manner. Over the past few months he'd had to become accustomed to a new experience - to be fearful for a loved one. He wasn't enjoying it.

Minerva visited, as promised, to give Harry pointers in controlling his animagus form. Draco and Tom listened in. Dudley wasn't interested - he found the idea of becoming an animal disturbing. Meditation and guided imagery were tried and Harry promised to do no more than that until Minerva returned.

Minerva was a bit disturbed by Harry's obedience in these matters. James and Sirius would have barely waited before she cleared the room before trying things on their own. Keeping to a promise not to try to gain their animagus forms would never have crossed their minds. They had always seemed to feel that no one could argue with success and never considered that they might not be successful.

Minerva had mused at the head table, once school resumed, over Harry's inexplicable obedience - when compared to his father, or even his mother. Lily would never have been deterred from an area of study she wished to follow - of course she would not have promised to stop in the first place, and would have argued her instructor into the ground to be allowed to continue.

Albus had frowned at Minerva's concerns. Minerva was, of course merely worried that Harry was still nervous of rejection from Severus and was wary of disobeying his guardian. Albus, though, had other concerns. Harry needed to be willing to buck authority and do what must be done in the future. Yet another reason he'd not cared if Harry disliked the Dursley's - Harry would already be disdainful of anyone trying to curb what he wanted - or needed - to do.

With a respected guardian like Severus he would be less likely to flout the rules. Albus had counted on genetics - Harry being James' son working in his favor. Perhaps it still would. Harry might be persuaded after starting at Hogwarts that he should emulate James and the marauders a bit more, after all he intended Harry to have a bit of training in the form of ‘tests' in the upcoming Hogwarts years.

Of course Severus would disapprove, so Albus would have to plan them all on his own. Albus sighed; he'd just recently had to remind himself that he needed take more care where Harry was concerned - that Harry's needs had to be considered as well...but Severus could still ‘coddle' him a bit and Albus could still arrange for Harry to learn to face the evil sure to come.

Albus muttered a reassurance or two to Minerva, "He had a scare with the fall from the cliff - he'll be fine once the anxiety from that fades." He didn't need her fretting and fussing over Harry as well.

Albus had been hearing disturbing rumors from wizarding communities of Eastern Europe. He'd known that Voldemort would likely make his move when Harry Potter started at Hogwarts. He'd intended to start Harry's ‘training' at that time, guiding him toward the goal of destroying Voldemort's Horcruxes and ultimately Voldemort himself.

The path was now skewed, what with Harry now having Severus as a guardian. He felt that was a good thing - except for the small detail of Harry likely needing to die for the world to finally be rid of Voldemort. He knew Severus was still working on finding another answer for Harry to be rid of the Horcrux in his scar; he nagged Albus endlessly to find more dark arts books to search for a solution.

Albus' quest for books among his connections across the wizarding world had raised some eyebrows, but he had explained that he felt Voldemort was still a threat and needed to research to block his return. This had the duel purpose of explaining his need for books and alerting the world to the coming danger. It had alarmed some people, but Albus began to feel that Severus and Lucius had been correct - the wizarding world would need the extra time to come to terms with the fact that Voldemort was not gone, and starting now would allow them to adjust to the idea that they would be facing the foulest Dark Lord in several centuries once again.

Albus sighed in resignation. Severus had returned from spring break with a renewed determination to protect Harry. Watching him as he had searched for Harry, Albus knew that Severus truly cared for the boy. He hoped Severus did find an answer, though he felt it nearly hopeless.

Severus had also presented a letter to Albus, along with his demands for more books. Remus had written a lengthy letter to Harry extolling the Marauders exploits as unregistered animaguses while still students at Hogwarts. The letter had been awaiting Severus' perusal when he arrived back at Hogwarts.

"I don't need Lupin urging Harry to become an animagus before he even attends his first class here at school." Severus had ranted at length regarding the werewolf's careless attitude toward Harry's safety.

Albus had tutted, and soothed the Potions Master as best he could; reminding him that just reading the stories didn't mean Harry would run along and emulate the marauders. Severus had looked at him in disgust and sniffed that a Headmaster of Dumbledore's vast experience from watching youthful folly at Hogwarts as a teacher and as a Headmaster - surely he knew that emulating the marauders was exactly what Harry might do.

Albus had watched Severus leave, hoping the man would not keep letter from Harry.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Severus had brooded over the letter and finally came to a decision. He wandered to Minerva's office and flounced into a chair, tossing the letter to her with a sneer. Minerva raised an eyebrow and picked up the letter. She was soon engrossed in the lengthy tale of the Marauders and their animagus forms they acquired to be able to run with their friend when he was a werewolf.

She pulled out a handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes at times. The risks they took were appalling, of course, but she remembered the boys with a bit of pride as well. They had tried so hard to be supportive of Remus and had been quite protective of him...she sighed...well, when they weren't putting him at risk themselves.

She shook her head - if Harry were older, he could probably appreciate the stories without feeling the urge to copy James. Whatever was Remus thinking?

Minerva looked at Severus' annoyed visage - well, more annoyed than usual. "I expect you are wary of encouraging Harry in risky behavior." Minerva watched Severus roll his eyes - he was likely holding back a sarcastic ‘you think?' Minerva continued with a small smile. "I think that Harry is willing to do almost anything for his new ‘dad'. Simply remind him of his promise and don't make too big a deal of this and he will not disappoint you. A lengthy lecture on rules he has already agreed to will just make him stubborn ... and he has kept to his promises faithfully so acting like you don't trust him can only be detrimental."

Severus frowned thoughtfully, he disliked taking parenting advice from the Head of Gryffindor, but he couldn't deny that she had a point. Nagging about something just made it more attractive and showing Harry some trust would be good - he'd been trustworthy with the cloak, after all.

Severus nodded and stood, picking up the letter once again. "Thank you Minerva, I believe you are correct." She nodded back at him pleasantly, trying to not show too much triumph. It was enough that the Head of Slytherin was listening to her.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Saturday arrived once again and Severus flooed to Dragonsrest for a few minutes, an hour or so before Minerva was due to arrive for a lesson with Harry. Albus had given his permission with a beaming smile, once he knew Severus was delivering Harry's letter from Lupin.

Severus had waved Harry into the library and sat in the window-seat beside him. Severus pulled out the letter and gave it to Harry. "I hesitated to give you this, but you have proven trustworthy in the matter of your invisibility cloak, so I felt this letter wouldn't lead you to break your word and try to master your animagus form on your own."

Harry looked at his guardian in surprise. "I wouldn't break a promise to you, dad. I know how dangerous transforming can be - Tom and Dora have made sure I read several books with horror stories about it." Harry concluded with a grin.

Severus smiled a bit. "I know you are eager for stories of your father, and I didn't want to keep this letter from you - just remember that although the tales are quite exciting and adventurous - I expect you to not try to imitate them. I can assure you that adventure is likely to find you - you will have no need to go looking for it."

"I promise to be careful." Harry said, giving Severus a hug as he prepared to leave. "We all miss you, you know - summer can't come soon enough."

Severus chuckled as they walked to the fireplace. "I suppose you and Dudley ordered dozens of brochures of interesting places to camp in and catalogs with camping gear in them?"

"Sure did!" Harry chirped. "It says the tents have wizardspace - some have what sounds like entire mansions inside them. Mr. Malfoy says he has a couple of tents - one of them is really big - the other is ‘pretty small' - it just has just four or five bedrooms." Harry snickered at someone considering that small.

Severus ruffled Harry's hair and smiled fondly. "Why don't you and Tom look over the catalogs with Dudley and Petunia? They will likely want a small tent of their own at some point as well. Pick out a few to look over and we'll go get it - hopefully on a weekend off, or when summer gets here if the students don't let me get away."

Harry nodded eagerly. He hoped that their destination would be near a sea. He at least knew now why he was so attracted to water. He still dreamed about flying as an Osprey, brooms were almost as good, though and they were going for lessons again at Malfoy Manor. Mr. Higgs still reminisced about flying with James - or rather against James in Quidditch matches. It was nice that Harry was playing Chaser, just as James had; it made him feel a bit closer to the memory.

"Thank you for bringing the letter, dad." Harry said, hugging Severus one last time. He knew how difficult it likely was for him to cater to Harry's curiosity about his parents. He appreciated the pains Severus went to for him.

Severus hugged him in return and Harry promised a letter soon.

Harry found Dudley and Dracoin the living room with Tom and read the letter out loud to them. Lupin told the story of how he'd been bitten as a child, but Albus had invited him to try to complete his wizarding education, anyway - as long as they could keep his affliction a secret. Sirius and James had found him out by his third year, though and to his amazement had continued their friendship. Harry felt some pride in that.

The marauders had come up with the idea to become animaguses and spend the summer before fourth year researching. It had taken them much of their fourth year, but they had done it - even Peter. They had, at first, simply kept him company during his nights as a werewolf. Soon, though they were letting him out and running the forest with him. Lupin described their adventures, though he admitted he remembered little of it, himself - they were James, Peter and Sirius' memories that had been told to him.

The letter ended with him complementing him on his accomplishment and his 'taking up the marauders mantle as an adventurer'. Harry wasn't sure what to make of that.

"Did he believe the accusation of studying this on your own?" Draco asked, understanding immediately.

Harry looked at the letter reluctantly. "It must be that he does. The stories he sent were exciting sounding, but blimey - the risks they took - what if they'd met up with some poor bloke while he was a werewolf?"

Tom, who had been getting more tense by the moment listening to the letter, relaxed a bit - Harry didn't sound eager to go straight off adventuring himself. Of course, Harry was still recovering from an adventure, so perhaps he wasn't so tempted. Still, he felt Lupin had tried pretty hard to make running wild as an animagus sound awesome.

Dudley had remained quiet during the letter, it had all sounded like a mad fairy tale - but he knew it was true. The pack of hooligans sounded dreadfully like him and his mates a year ago.

"I expect they weren't really thinking ahead." Dudley said slowly. "I know me and Piers and the others didn't when we were running the streets looking for 'fun'. They wouldn't had meant to hurt anyone, but it could have happened."

Harry sighed, "Sounds like they were fun if they were your friends. They just didn't think too far ahead on some stuff."

"One always should have a plan B, and preferably a plan C as well." Draco intoned, mimicking his father.

"Ah, yes - the Slytherin motto." Tom chuckled, making them laugh. Well, as long as they remembered that they would be okay, he hoped.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ