Jacob woke up the next morning bright and early. He turned in the hammock ever so carefully so he didn’t fall out. He blinked once or twice and it was then that soft voices could be heard. He got out of bed on cat's feet and walked towards the voices.

There in a the kitchenette he saw the Ambrosius speaking to his twin and their father. The other twin’s back was to him...but already he looked really funny. His hair was shorter and more messy looking..and he was a little thinner then the day before. And he wore different clothes too.

Today he was wearing regular jeans and a green hoodie. His shoes were a little more worn looking.

Ambrosias looked up then and saw their charge. “Morning, Jacob, did you sleep well?”

At the voice Aubrey turned around; Jacob backed up a few feet, attempting to hide in the shadows. That wasn’t Aubrey at all!

As if sharing a silent thought, Aubrey walked over to him and crouched in front of him…still keeping a little distance between them.

“Its me, Aubrey. I’m wearing a glamour. You don’t need to fear me.”

As if to make his point clearer, he took off his glasses and showed them to Jacob.

Jacob looked the glasses over. “But you weren’t wearing glasses yesterday.” In the same moment, his fast- working brain brought something else to his attention. And he cocked his head to the side. “What’s a glamour? Is it like putting on makeup?”

Aubrey shook his head. "Not exactly. This is a wizard glamour. I’m changing my appearance…its like wearing a magical costume. In this ‘costume’ my name is Harry Potter… the boy who lived.”

At this, Severus snorted and Ambrosias rolled his eyes.

“People wear costumes to hide…who are you hiding from?”

"I’m not hiding, just the opposite. Unfortunately among magic kind, I’ve become a hero. Or rather Harry Potter is a hero…but that was before I found out who I really was. Almost nothing would make me happier then to shed this costume, but because I’m a hero, I have to stay visible…if Harry Potter were to dissapear or die, all hope would die with him. I have to play to them to keep up morale."

“But why, who tried to kill you?”

Harry was already getting tire of crouching so he sat on the floor and crossed his legs under him.

"A very evil wizard called Moldy Voldy killed Harry Potter’s parents with a curse…a very evil curse. By some miracle, I didn’t die that night. Around that time there was a fortune teller who made a prophesy stating that a baby would be born that would defeat the evil wizard. Now around that time, another baby was born a day before me. His name was Neville. Now that prophesy could have involved either me or Neville. Moldy Voldy heard about it, and went after me. But because of his mother’s love, the curse rebounded off at me and hit the bad wizard."

"So you see, if Harry Potter were to die, then the bad wizard may go after Neville. And lets just say he’s not very good at defending himself. So in a way, I’m keeping him safe because of what I’m doing. Can you understand what I’m saying?"

Jacob nodded.

Aubrey smiled at him. “Don’t worry about Moldy Voldy coming after you. Hogwarts is very safe. Now, how about we get something to eat, we’ve got to be at Kings Cross Station in a matter of hours. Oh and you’ve got to keep who I really am a secret, okay? I don’t want anyone but my closest friends to know that I’m really Aubrey Snape. Can you do that for me?”

Jacob nodded and then took the hand that Aubrey held out for him and was pulled to his feet. Ambrosias smiled at him and then handed him a bag of crips. "This’ll hold you over till we get to a restaurant, in the meantime we need to get your trunk packed."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“That’s a brick wall.”

“Only to your eyes. I thought the same thing the first time I went through. All you have to do is run right through it.

“Are you sure I won’t get hurt?”

"I’m positive. Go on, Darcy is waiting on the other end. You won’t get lost…but we might miss the train if we linger here much longer. Id suggest taking a running start. I’ll be right behind you."

Jacob looked back at the brick wall…and hesitated.

He had no reason to distrust his guardians… Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and ran at the wall…and passed through it!

As promised, Darcy was there waiting for him, .

Darcy grinned at him. "Nice to see you made it through, now come on, the trains gonna depart soon. If we don’t hurry, we won’t find an empty compartment."

A second later, Aubrey came through with his own trunk followed. As a group, they walked up to the first car and put their trunks up on the side and hurried up the steps and picked out an empty compartment half way down the train.

It didn’t take long for them to be joined by two other girls.

"Ginny, how did you find us?" Harry asked looking surprised.

The redhead frowned as if the thought had just occurred to her. “I don’t know…I just knew….”

“Who’s the firstie?” asked Hermione a second later as Jacob scooter closer to Harry’s side.

"This is Jacob. He’s for all intents and purposes my cousin. I’m going to be taking him under my wing and help him settle into school.”

"I’ve got aspugers syndrome.” Jacob blurted out. “I don’t like being around people…” then he trailed off looking at his shoes.

To his surprise, the girl that called her self Hermione knelt in front of him. "It’s okay, Jacob. A cousin of mine has it and she’s a brilliant artist. What subjects do you like?”

"I like science but I’m not good at math, its so complicated…I want to learn chemistry…but it has too many big words and my teachers went to fast…I like animals too…and reading!"

Hermione grinned at him. “What sorts of reading, mysteries?”

"I like stories about knights and dragons! But I know they’re not real. I wish they were! It would be brilliant!”

Ginny smiled at him. “Oh but they are! One of my brothers, Charlie, works at a dragon reserve in Romania.”

That one statement launched the three of them into a discussion that lasted them through the arrival of the trolley cart and through a plethora of choclate frogs, pumkin pasties and a round or two of butter beers.

All the while Harry and Darcy discussed plans for the upcoming year. This would prove to be an interesting year.

-Meanwhile at Hogwarts-

It was night and Stella stood waiting at the gates of the castle, illuminated by moonlight that made her a dazzling sight. As if sensing her nearby, Ambrosias materialized and began walking towards her.

With a tone of delight, that sounded bery much like tinkling bells, she all but danced to him and allowed him to swing her in his arms and then he was kissing her…and then bit her.

Now, had they been teenagers, this could have led down a different path, but being that they both were vampires…or rather half vampires, this was merely a sign to other vampires that she was his.

When he released her from his hold, she kissed him again and then cocked her head, hearing a train whistle in the distance.

“Here comes the express.”

A moment later, her boyfriend and mate- to- be heard the whistle as well. “Then come, my chosen, accompany me to the black lake, I have something important to do.”

“Anything I can do to be of help?”

"Not unless you can transform into a bat. The idea is to give young Mason a feeling of security. This is the first time that he’ll be alone with the other firsties. He feels very uncomfortable, just me landing on his shoulder might help him relax.”

As silently as a wisp of air they made their way to edge of the lake and waited like shadows for the boats to arrive.

They didn’t have long to wait. Upon hearing the boats creak under the weight of the children, he handed off his cloak to Stella and with a parting kiss and a promise to be there in the great hall waiting for her, he transformed into a bat and took flight.

Jacob was very nervious. The teens had told him that he’d be in the great hall to see him sorted. The process had been explained to him before they departed to train. But still, he was nervous. He looked out fearfully on the water as they left the shore. Then his eyes saw the breathtaking look of the ancient magical castle as it loomed closer and closer to them.

“Snake!”

Suddenly the boat shifted and a loud shriek split the silence that had fallen over them. Jacob looked down and saw his familiar peaking out from other the sleeve of his robe.

“No, its okay. He’s my familiar. He’s not poisonous, I promise!”

“Keep it away from me!”

Silence ruled once again, every eye was turned on him and he could once again feel his heart beating out of control.

“He’s one of them!” the girl hissed. “A dark wizard!”

Jacob wanted to hide but just as he began to back away, he could hear a soft whisper of wings. And he looked up to see a small shadow hovering over him. He looked up to see a black bat.

He smiled. He didn’t know how, but he knew it was his guardian. The bat landed on his shoulder and rubbed its head against his ear.

"You really are a freak." The girl continued. "First you speak to snakes and now bats are drawn to you.”

Jacob didnt ‘bother answering her. Instead he quieted and once again turned his gaze to the looming castle.