Chapter 21- Welcome to the pack

Classes started going more smoothly after Harry had a heart-to-heart with his Uncle Sev explaining that Remus was only trying to make Neville comfortable, and honestly, it was his fault Neville was scared to death of him.

“I don’t expect you to understand the subtle art of intimidating students so they don’t blow up my classroom,” Severus had said scowling.

Harry had smiled at that; he knew that apart from keeping up his façade, Severus dealt with dangerous and explosive ingredients. If the students were scared of him they would make fewer mistakes, afraid of his wrath. The important thing was Remus was able to drink his juice without worries once again.

Soon September turned into October, and as October began Harry had also to contend with Quidditch. Oliver would was even more fanatic and desperate than before, since this was his last chance at the Quidditch Cup before he graduated. He was working the team harder than ever and his speeches were getting more emotional.

As October ended, the first Hogsmeade weekend came up which meant Harry’ would have his first Animagus session. He said goodbye to his friends, handing them a list of sweets he wanted and some money, and went down to the dungeons under his Invisibility Cloak to meet Severus in his private lab where they would start brewing the Animagus Ostendo Potion. Sirius had decided to join them for some mysterious reason that Harry quickly figured out when they started working.

“So, Sev, what is your form?” Sirius asked innocently from the bench he was sitting on swinging his legs.

Severus’ eyes narrowed at Harry over the cauldron they were working at.

“I didn’t tell!” Harry cried raising his arms.

“No, he didn’t,” Sirius smirked and jumped of the bench. Coming close to Severus he whined and pouted.

“Come on, tell me!”

“The Animagus Ostendo potion is a very delicate potion that will take a month to brew,” Severus started lecturing Harry and ignoring Sirius, “It is very complex and since it needs to be infused with the magic from the person that will drink it, no one can brew it for you. Which explains why Lupin never tried to become an Animagus,” he scoffed. Apparently the Boggart incident wasn’t as forgotten as Harry thought. “You will have to come at determined times to add the ingredients. Never forget your cloak,” Severus said firmly and Harry nodded.

“A bunny? A cute little fluffy bunny,” Sirius ventured.

“This Potion will take you to a meditative state that will show you your form.”

“I’ll find out anyway,” Sirius said.

“Oh, will you? Pray tell, how?” Severus smirked.

“Didn’t Albus tell you?” Sirius smiled and rocked happily on the balls of his feet with his hands crossed behind his back, “He wants you to complete the transformation with Harry. He thinks that will help you if you ever find yourself in a sticky situation.”

Harry swore the temperature dropped as Severus glare intensified.

“Well, I won’t!” he scowled crossing his arms.

“Uh, I think you will.” Sirius smirked.

“No I won’t.”

“And who is telling Albus that? Because I won’t.”

Severus scowled and turned to the cauldron. He started barking instructions that Harry followed without a comment before his Uncle decided to throw him in the cauldron.

“It’s a good advantage to have Severus,” Sirius said seriously. Not a hint of mischief in his voice, “Especially if no one knows. You hold a dangerous position. You have to use every advantage you can get your hands on. I don’t understand why you are fighting this so much.”

“One would think you are worried about my well being,” Severus sneered.

“Then one would be right,” Sirius said with a straight face. Severus stared at him stunned. “I don’t care if you don’t want to, you will do this. I already lost too many family members and I won’t lose any others just because you are throwing a hissy fit!” Sirius said forcibly and stormed out of the room, banging the door shut.

“Did he just call me his family?” Severus asked faintly.

Harry smirked and nudged Severus, “Told you you were part of the pack!”

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The rest of the day went smoothly after Sirius’ grand exit. Harry spent most of the day preparing ingredients and adding them to the potion according to Severus’ instructions. They stopped for lunch that Kreacher brought to them and ate in the lab so they didn’t have to go out and raise suspicion. Harry had just added the last ingredient for the day and put a stasis charm on the potion when there was a knock on the door. Severus opened it and in came a smiling Remus Lupin.

“I came for my potion,” he said pleasantly.

Severus stalked away to another cauldron that had been a little far away from Harry’s, filled a goblet and handed it to Remus scowling. With a smile, Remus drank it all and shuddered.

“Disgusting as always” he said also pleasantly handing back the goblet, “So, care to tell me why I was stuck with a moody thirty-three years old teenager?”

“Because you have no taste in friends,” Severus sneered.

Harry laughed, “Dad got angry at Uncle Sev.”

“Oh, yes. I know. I heard all about it. I am here for the other side of the story. Care to tell me why you are so averse to becoming an Animagus? Worms are very misunderstood animals.”

“I am not a worm,” Severus cried.

“Then what?” Remus asked calmly in that way Harry knew so well from when he had misbehaved and Remus wanted him to confess. He saw Severus squirm and Remus just keep watching calmly as if he had nowhere to go. His Uncle’s methods were quite efficient, as they made you feel guilty and spill your darkest secrets. Once, when he was eight, Harry even confessed to having had some of Remus’s stash of chocolate before dinner when Remus had been interrogating him about placing water balloons on the staff room’s door. Remus hadn’t even known about the chocolate yet!

Harry stifled his laugh with his fist as Severus mumbled something.

“Didn’t catch that,” Remus said.

“I am a bloody wolf,” Severus hissed.

“See, that wasn’t hard. Didn’t hurt,” Remus said happily, “Now, you can stop being childish and act your age and start the rest of the training.”

Severus mumbled and scowled, Harry just laughed, but he knew that his Uncle had, grudgingly, agreed to become an Animagus too and he was happy about that. Just like his dad said, Severus could use all the advantages he could get his hands on.

“Oh, and Severus, welcome to the pack,” Remus chuckled as he left for safer areas.

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For once, Harry had a wonderful time on Halloween. His time in the lab served to take his and Severus minds off the date and he knew that while Sirius had been ranting about Severus he and Remus couldn’t have had too much time to brood either. He was walking back to the Gryffindor Tower where Ron, Neville and Hermione would have brought back many sweets and stories from Hogsmeade. He honestly should have known better.

As he was approaching the tower someone grabbed him from behind and put a hand to his mouth. A hand that was missing a finger. Harry’s mind went in overdrive and he started kicking and trashing the best he could. He tried to reach for his wand in his pocket but Pettigrew had him in a firm grip and his arms were pinned.

“Stop fighting you little wretch. Bella is waiting for us,” came the squeaky voice from behind him. Pettigrew was trying to get Harry in a passage behind a painting when Harry was finally able to move his mouth enough to bite him.

Pettigrew yelped and loosened the grip and that was enough for Harry to reach his wand. Harry cried the Stinging Hex and Pettigrew fell back with another yelp as Harry scrambled away.

“You filthy little-”  Pettigrew was hissing but his head snapped up as a familiar voice cried.

“Harry!”

“Seems our party has been crashed. See you later Harry,” Pettigrew sneered and transformed. Harry scrambled trying to catch the rat but Wormtail was faster and disappeared in a corner.

“Harry, what happened?” asked an out of breath Remus.

“He transformed Uncle Moony!” Harry cried desperately looking at the dark corners.

“Who?” Remus asked, finally reaching Harry and helping him up.

“Pettigrew.”

Remus breath hitched and he positioned himself in front of Harry, wand drawn and ready.

“Lets go back to the staff wing. I have to put up the alert,” he said ushering Harry, his eyes scanning every corridor, every corner.

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“The castle is locked and we searched it completely. No sign of Pettigrew,” Severus told Sirius grimly.

Sirius nodded twisting his hands nervously, “He isn’t stupid enough to linger.”

“Harry?”

“Sleeping in his room, I gave him a calming draught after I had Kreacher bring him dinner. I never thought I’d say this but poor Kreacher, he was a nervous wreck, sobbing about Master Harry getting hurt. Where’s Moony?”

Severus nodded, “Gryffindor Tower. He said he wanted to talk to the Weasley twins about something.”

“Probably the map. Should have thought of that before,” Sirius said as he paced looking like he wanted to kick himself.

“What?”

“Wait for Moony to get here and we’ll show you,” Sirius said as he sat on the couch and hid his face on his hands. “How the bloody hell did he get in?” he cried. “We closed every passage we knew of!”

Severus plopped next to him in a very un-Snape-like fashion, “He’s a bloody rat. It’s easy to go unnoticed.”

“But we spelled the passages to recognize him. We spelled the gates. We put a freaking line through the whole border of the bloody Forbidden Forest to recognize him! How did he get through?” Sirius asked, compulsively rubbing his eyes.

“I don’t know,” Severus whispered defeated. “If Remus hadn’t shown up… I can’t even think about it.”

“He put a good fight from what he said,” Sirius said softly.

“But he’s thirteen! Pettigrew is a grown Wizard that has run along with the Dark Lord. Who knows what he learned, what Bellatrix taught him these months?”

Both heads snapped up as the portrait opened to let in a tired Remus holding an old parchment.

“With the compliments of the Weasley Twins,” he said grimly. Sirius perked up and Remus shook his head, “No where to be found. I’ve checked it. He’s definitely out of Hogwarts grounds.”

“What’s that?” Severus asked and Remus explained to him all about the Marauders’ Map as he sat on the armchair.

“And the Weasley twins handed this to a teacher willingly?” Severus asked skeptically.

Remus smiled, “They may goof around but they can be serious when needed. Besides I had to promise on my Marauder honor that this would not be used to tail students. They said to pass it on to Harry once this is over. Apparently they think it’s his right as a Marauder heir.”

“Please don’t,” Severus begged, but by the glint in the other two men’s eyes he knew that it was a lost cause.

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He sat on the bed next to his son and watched him sleep in silent vigil. Asleep and without his glasses on ,he looked even younger than his thirteen years. Sirius ran a hand through Harry’s hair. He sighed and rested his head on the bed’s headboard. Why couldn’t they have peace? Why did every year have to hold something dangerous? Why did Pettigrew enter the castle? That was easy. Bellatrix wanted Harry. Peter would never risk his neck in a place full of people that wanted to catch him. Oh, no! Sirius knew that was all Bellatrix. And that’s what scared him, because there was no stopping her when she wanted something.

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Rumors of how Pettigrew had managed to get in were spreading like fireworks. Some said he Apparated, which Hermione was quick to quote that according to “Hogwarts, a History” you couldn’t do. Some said he had entered through a secret passage, which Harry knew that, unless Pettigrew knew of a passage that dad and Uncle Moony didn’t, and that was very unlikely, he couldn’t have.

When he went back to Gryffindor Tower on Monday he had been assaulted by his housemates for details. Ginny and Hermione had been quite nervous and were fussing over him in a very annoying fashion. He already had three parents for that, because who was he kidding? Uncle Sev acted as much as a parent as his dad and Uncle Moony.

Security had been tightened, and Harry was once again under orders to go nowhere alone. The teachers were patrolling the Halls in groups and therefore they had more patrolling nights.

Hermione had asked Professor McGonagall to allow Crookshanks, the part Kneazel cat she got for her birthday, to roam the castle. Surprisingly, McGonagall allowed it and Hermione said that if Pettigrew was in his rat form Crookshanks had a better chance than Mrs. Norris to identify him for what he was. Apparently Kneazels were highly intelligent animals, which Remus was quick to confirm.

Harry almost had a heart attack when Professor McGonagall suggested him not practicing Quidditch but after quite a bit of begging from his part and conceding to have a teacher on the pitch with them, she gave up such an atrocious idea. This actually turned out fairly well since his dad volunteered a lot and gave tips to the team from when he had been a Beater. Of course, Harry, Fred, George and Oliver could have done without the giggling the girls on the team were doing.

As the weather worsened and the winds blew, their luck did so too. After training consistently according to the Slytherin’s flaws, Oliver Wood gave them the grim news that they would be playing Hufflepuff for the first game instead. Apparently the Slytherins were claiming that their Seeker was still too traumatized about his near death experience in Hagrid’s class.

“Near death experience!” Harry cried. “The moron insults a Hippogriff and gets me injured and he is the one traumatized?”

“They just don’t want to play in this weather so Malfoy is faking it. Up until now he wasn’t playing the traumatized boy!” Fred cried.

Oliver had quite a nervous fit when he tried to talk about the Hufflepuff team and the girls kept giggling about Cedric Diggory. He kept saying they weren’t taking anything seriously. It had taken a good while and Sirius coming down and rubbing the boy’s back, for him to calm down.

“See, no need to get all worked up just because of a game,” he said in the end and. That phrase undid all his good work as Wood hyperventilated again.

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The drawing room was as sumptuous as the rest of the Mansion. Severus snorted mentally as he took a sip of his wine. Lucius always did like to show off. He didn’t remember this many proofs of wealth when Lucius’ father was the head of the family. Albino peacocks, honestly!

Lady Malfoy was just sitting next to her husband, as formal as ever.

“What a delicious surprise Severus,” Lucius drawled, “What brings you here today?”

“Thought I’d catch up with old friends,” Severus said with an indifferent mask.

“It is always a pleasure,” Narcissa said pleasantly. “You don’t visit often enough.”

‘Actually, I visit too much in my opinion. Never would be better,’ Severus thought.

“I apologize for my shortcomings but life at Hogwarts is quite demanding. Dumbledore is always very perceptive of my comings and goings. It’s quite hard to evade him,” Severus said evenly.

“Yes, the old fool can be bothersome,” Lucius sneered.

“How is Draco, Severus?” Narcissa asked. “He regards you highly.”

Severus smiled falsely, “He is a very bright child,” compared to Crabe and Goyle, “He is on his way to follow his father’s footsteps.” Unfortunately.

“That pleases me greatly my friend,” Lucius said almost proudly.

Severus took another sip of wine and rested his arm on the armchair calmly. “You may rest assured that young Draco is thriving and that I personally see to his safety in these troubled times,” he said deliberately observing the couple’s reactions attentively, “Not that he is in any danger, now is he?”

There, now he had to wait for them to take the bait.

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