What If… Harry Potter

The war with Voldemort was taxing on everyone, especially for the Potters and their close family friends, including the Marauders. The Leader of the Light had come to the Potters and warned them that Lily's baby was the subject of a prophecy and that no one could be trusted because there was a spy in the Order of the Phoenix. They needed to hide and he would cast the intricate spell needed to hide them.

Remus had been away while he had negotiated with the local werewolf pack to try and stop them from attacking on Voldemort's orders. He had no idea that his friends had thought he was the traitor and had blocked him from messaging them or talking to them.

When he returned, James and Lily had already disappeared with their son and Sirius didn't want anything to do with him, because he was a dark creature and hadn't stopped the latest werewolf attack. His protests that Fenrir Greyback had killed the old pack leader and forced him to flee had fallen on deaf ears.

Albus Dumbledore didn't seem to want to hear his excuses either and Peter Pettigrew was nowhere to be found. Remus resigned himself to loneliness once more and did his best to straddle both the muggle world and the magical world for the next few months. All he could do was wait and hope that his efforts with individual werewolves would make a difference.

*

Remus sat inside his sparse flat and stared at the copy of the Daily Prophet he had nicked from Fortescue's. The cover page showed the ruined Potter cottage and proclaimed the Dark Lord was dead. It took him nearly half an hour before his shock wore off and he fought down his instincts to get over there and investigate.

That thought gave him pause, because he could now remember where the cottage was. That meant the Fidelius Charm that Dumbledore had cast was broken.

With that horrific revelation, Remus read through the rest of the paper and saw several other articles, the main one being Sirius Black being arrested and sent to Azkaban for killing Peter Pettegrew and betraying the Potters. That didn't make sense, considering Sirius and James were like brothers. They had been through everything together and... Remus paused again.

The last time he had seen Sirius, the man yelled and hollered at him as he accused him of helping the other side and being a traitor. Sirius being arrested put that whole scene into a new light, because it would have been the perfect way to shift attention to another person if you were the traitor.

Remus sighed and closed his eyes. He knew then that it had to be true. Sirius hadn't acted like his usual carefree self and that was more telling than anything else. Was it the pressure of the war that had gotten to him or had he known at the time that he would soon be turning on his friends and needed an excuse?

In any case, he had to go and investigate. Little Harry was all alone now and that was unacceptable. He hadn't spent much time around the little tyke and he wanted to make up for that, now that he was the only Marauder left.

His plan set, Remus called in sick at the dock he was working on, claimed that a death in the family has caused him to need a few days off, and he gathered a few things to help him. He didn't have much in the way of personal possessions, considering his affliction, and that was on purpose. He was too rough with everything when he changed and he didn't want to keep feeling regret for losing something he wanted to keep.

With enough money for meals, Remus left his flat to head to Godric's Hollow. He needed to find out what happened and where Little Harry was.

*

Two days later, after getting Harry's scent and losing the scent in an apparently random muggle neighborhood, Remus found himself at Hogwarts and stared down Albus Dumbledore.

“What do you mean Harry's hidden away and safe?” Remus asked, his voice angry.

“We both know that Voldemort's followers are scrambling to find their missing Dark Lord.” Albus said in his grandfatherly voice. “Why, just yesterday Frank and Alice Longbottom were attacked and...”

“You LET them be attacked!” Remus spat at him. “They were still hidden and you told them it was safe to come out of hiding!”

Albus let out a sigh. “That's not how it happened, my boy.”

Remus growled and slammed a hand down onto his desk. “I am NOT a boy!”

Albus gave him a calculating look before he spoke. “It's not near the full moon. Why are you acting angry at...”

Remus grabbed the edge of the heavy oak desk and heaved.

Albus caught his breath as the scruffy man easily tossed it to the side and it crushed a cabinet that had all his monitoring devices in it. Before he could draw his wand, Remus grabbed him by his robes and caught his arm before he lifted Albus up and held him a foot above the floor.

“You have always underestimated how dangerous I am.” Remus said in a deep voice and his eyes briefly changed to yellow. “You are going to tell me where you hid that scared and lonely little boy that just lost his parents, or...” He smiled and two of his teeth seemed more fang-like than normal, which made Albus pale. “...you are going to regret it.”

Albus knew he was taking his life into his hands and he had to do it. “I'm sorry. He must be protected from those that would harm him and you can't do it.”

Remus growled and he squeezed the hand holding the old man's wrist. Albus let out a pained sound and there was a snap of bone. A second later, he was shaken like a rag doll and the hand that had just broken his wrist was grasped around his neck. The pressure was immense and he couldn't breathe or speak.

“You know that any magic you've cast to hide him will end not long after you're dead.” Remus growled.

Albus choked and his mind raced. He couldn't let his spells end. He had done so much over the years that even he didn't really remember what he had charmed and enchanted. If any of them ended, it could cause a disaster that he wouldn't be around to mitigate.

“Make your choice, Albus. Give me everything you took from James and Lily, including their son, or I take your life and raid your office for everything anyway.” Remus said.

Fawkes made a keening sound and Remus ignored the sad and regretful feelings that tried to fill him.

Albus felt the hand around his neck squeeze tighter and he thought his frail neck wouldn't take much more. After another moment, his lungs protested having no air and he closed his eyes as he nodded.

What seemed like an eternity later, he had sucked in several deep breaths and sat in his chair. It took him several moments to recover and he looked up at his assailant, only to feel a sense of dread, because he saw his wand was in Remus' hand.

“This doesn't feel right. There's something wrong with it.” Remus said and rolled it in his fingers.

“That's because... it's still... loyal to me.” Albus croaked and rubbed his damaged and bruised throat.

“That's not what I meant.” Remus said and pocketed it before he waved his own wand at the desk against the wall. The thing lifted up and floated back over to the middle of the room and rested back where it had been.

“Then what... did you mean?” Albus asked.

“Ask me again in ten years.” Remus said and shot an overpowered stinging hex at the man's hand and Albus yelped and jerked from it. “Get their things and be quick about it.” He said and created a spartan chair to sit down in front of the desk. “Just so you know, I'll be checking everything for charms, hexes, and compulsion spells.”

Albus took a deep breath and sighed. He stood up and gave the werewolf a bit of a glare. “I've done what I've done to protect the wizarding world.”

“As have I.” Remus said and levelled the wand at him. “Stop stalling or you're going to feel like a pin cushion.”

Albus held in his glare, even though Remus deserved his harshest one, and went to where he had stashed the things he had taken from the Potters. The invisibility cloak, several tomes of magic with one filled with family history, and their vault key.

“Don't forget Lily's charms notes and the transfiguration journal that James kept in his home office.” Remus said, his voice menacing.

Albus did give him a glare this time and received a stinging hex in his side for it. His body jerked from it and he grit his teeth at the pain, brief as it was. He dug out the notes and the journal and added them to the pile.

“The Potter Family humbly accepts their heirlooms back.” Remus said formally and stood. “Are you going to resume the payments for the rental of the Potter pensive or will I be taking that with me?”

Albus didn't say anything and just nodded. Another stinging hex in his belly made him flinch.

“Verbal contracts need verbal responses, Albus.” Remus said.

“I have been appointed Harry's guardian and...”

“You mean you appointed yourself.” Remus corrected.

“I don't need to pay myself for the rental.” Albus said.

“You aren't paying yourself. Hogwarts is supposed to reimburse the Potters.” Remus said and then smiled. “Does that mean you're taking that money for yourself?”

Before Albus could respond, four more stinging hexes hit him in the arms and legs.

“You will undo whatever money machinations you've put into place or I'll come back and force you to sign everything over to me.”

“Werewolves can't accept custody of children.” Albus reminded him.

“Custody? I don't want custody. I know how prejudiced you are and I wouldn't waste my time trying to convince you otherwise. I never have.”

“My boy, I let you come to school and...”

“Yes, you did. Just me, though. No one else. I wonder why that was?” Remus asked. “In all the years since I was bitten, why was I the only werewolf allowed to attend school?”

“There wasn't enough room or enough people to care for more than one of you.” Albus said.

“At a time or ever?” Remus asked and he didn't answer. “Because out of all the werewolves that exist, it's quite a shock that no one else has ever been offered the chance to go to school, despite all werewolves starting out as magical children.”

Albus sighed. “Nothing I say will placate you.”

“You finally understand. That's good.” Remus said and smiled at the surprised look on Dumbledore's face. “Perhaps you'll also learn to stop interfering.”

“Like you are?” Albus asked and Remus huffed.

“If you think me dropping everything to take care of a child that needs someone responsible to take care of them, then you are just as barmy as everyone thinks you are.”

Albus couldn't respond without either confirming the words or discrediting himself. If he said he wasn't barmy, he admitted he let everyone think he was and encouraged it. If he said he was barmy, then he lost his self-delusion of not being that barmy.

Remus let him stew in silence as he took out a shrunken trunk and returned it to the right size, put in the Potter Family's things, and returned it to the shrunken state and put it into his pocket.

“Are you going to give me the address of where Harry is or do I have to go to the ministry and report that you've kidnapped the saviour of the wizarding world?” Remus asked.

A gleam came into Dumbledore's eyes. “I don't want you to hurt me further. I left Harry on the doorstep of Number 4, Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey. His aunt Petunia will be quite upset when you show up to...”

*CRACK!*

Albus Dumbledore's nose was twice as crooked as it had been and he was unconscious on the floor.

“That woman hated her sister with a passion, you idiot!” Remus growled as he rubbed his fist and took several minutes to calm down. “If she has already taken revenge on Lily's son for it, I'll be back to finish you off.”

None of the headmaster portraits said anything as Remus raided Dumbledore's office for everything that would be useful in raising Harry Potter.

*

Petunia was actually relieved when a man she hated and respected a little showed up on her doorstep to claim the little freak. She handed the boy over and signed the guardianship papers, not that they were necessary. She hadn't filed anything with the muggle government and hadn't planned to. When Remus left the house, he didn't feel the weak blood wards based on love fail.

No one in the ministry noticed the name change form and it passed through without question. The filed guardianship papers that were copies from the muggle world gained even less attention and Harry Potter's magical guardian changed from a fiercely fought and possibly illegal Chief Warlock's claim to that of a man named Remus Potter.

*

With access to the Potter account at Gringotts, Remus moved to a nice two bedroom house near the docks where he worked regularly and hired a babysitter. Andromeda Tonks was a housewife from a several years ahead of him in Hogwarts and she had married a muggleborn, so she was perfect. She also had a seven year old daughter that was completely head over heels for the adorable Baby Harry.

Of course, with his own steady income and a child to take care of, Remus had to change his spendthrift ways a little. He wore normal clothes and not shabby ones, since he had to look good for when the muggle child services showed up at random times to inspect the home and checked on Harry's home situation.

Toddlers were very high on their agency's priority list and Remus thanked them for being so dedicated to their job every time they visited. This made them relax a lot and they were not upset that he had found a babysitter that had a stable home while he was at work. In their eyes, it just proved that he was just as diligent in Harry's care as they wanted him to be.

The goblins at the bank were also happy, because that account had a lot of money in it and it wasn't sitting idle and not being used. Since Remus was used to being in both worlds, he made several investments in muggle and wizarding businesses that he knew were going to be popular. This went well with the Potter Family's patent for Sleakeasy's Hair Tonic and the galleons kept pouring into the account.

*

When Harry Potter was five and it was the weekend before he started elementary school, his cousin Dora Tonks was already eleven and finished muggle school and would be going to Hogwarts. Harry was really upset about that, because he wouldn't see her every day anymore and he cried and cried about it. His little arms held onto her and he didn't want to let her go.

Dora was just as upset about it, because she really did adore him, and she promised to write to him every week. They both knew that wouldn't be the same and they were both sad about it.

“Look, I... I can... if you want me to, I can...” Dora stopped talking and gazed into his eyes. It took her a lot of concentration and nearly ten minutes before her normal long curly black hair reformed into a copy of Harry's messy bird's nest and her brown eyes changed to a vibrant green that was identical to his.

Harry's tears slowed as he saw her transform and he reached up to touch her hair. Even though it was just as long as it used to be, the top was exactly like his and he ran his hands through it.

“Every time I look in a mirror, I'll remember you.” Dora said and gave his cheek a kiss. “I need practice to hold it, though. Do you think your dad will let you stay here all weekend?”

“DAAAAAAD!” Harry yelled and Dora winced. “STAY! STAAAAYYY!”

Remus and Andromeda poked their heads back into the living room where they had left the two children alone to say goodbye. They both looked at Dora and saw her attempt to make herself look like Harry.

“I think I can delay showing Harry the school until Dora boards the train.” Remus said.

“YAY!” Harry said and hugged Dora's neck and he gave her cheek several kisses.

Andromeda held in her laugh at the blush on her daughter's face. She didn't say anything about the both of them being too young for anything more than that. “Supper's ready.”

Dora carried Harry into the kitchen and she sat down with Harry on her lap, which pleased Harry to no end, because he loved playing the choo choo game with Dora. The three adults looked at them with fondness and Remus, Ted, and Andromeda promised themselves that they would do everything to make sure that Harry's and Dora's relationship would never change.

With Dora at boarding school for ten months out of the year, that might be a little difficult, especially since she would finish at Hogwarts the same year as Harry started it. It just seemed like they were meant to just miss each other every time they should have spent their school times together. The proud parents weren't going to let that stop them. By the look in the children's eyes, they weren't going to let it stop them, either.

*

Dora's school time was a lot different than it should have been in Hufflepuff. Because she had adopted changing herself to look like Harry Potter and told everyone that they were cousins, everyone wanted to be her friend and to get to know her. It wasn't because she was a metamorphmagus, since she never admitted that and had worked hard to never slip up and kept it a secret.

She was grateful to Uncle Remus for teaching her about transformations and how your body could remember how it felt if you held it for long enough. Once she had learned that, her hair never changed colors on its own or when she was upset or angry. It was a huge breakthrough for her and the refinement of her abilities.

She wrote letters to Harry every weekend and told him everything that was going on, especially about all of the friends she had made because of him. Remus always wrote back on Harry's behalf and they both told her how happy they were that Harry was helping her so much, even with them so far apart.

*

Harry excelled at school, because he was so happy and outgoing. It had been Dora's fault that he was like that, because he always saw how happy she was and copied her as much as he could. He had tons of friends growing up and everyone liked him. The teachers praised his studious nature when it was time for class and how he brightened the entire room with his smiles.

Harry also received a lot of fan mail for being the Boy-Who-Lived and Remus always checked it for spells and curses before opening it himself to check for poisons or corrosive materials. Everything else he told Harry about and they both composed responses and thanked them for writing.

*

Christmases and summer vacations were a blast for the Potter family and the Tonks family. Since they were both a perfect mix of the muggle and magical world, they benefited and had advantages from both worlds.

The kids had background lessons for muggle and magical subjects, learned spells and mathematical formulas, and both families took brief trips to France or Italy every summer for a week. It really was the best times for both Harry and Dora, because when they met each other after each time spent away, they had so much time to make up for and spent it together.

*

On Harry's eleventh birthday, they went to France for two weeks in celebration. He had received his letter and Tonks had graduated with seven Newts and could go into any profession she wanted. It had been a difficult decision for her, because her metamorphmagus abilities would be perfect for undercover work with the Aurors.

She had kept her abilities under wraps and no one really knew that she had them, because she had locked her Harry Potter lookalike disguise as her base form for years and no one ever caught her changing anything. Her mother convinced her that she could still help and fight when it was called for, she just didn't have to put her life on the line every day to hunt down petty criminals to do it.

After a long talk with Remus, Dora decided that going for her Defense Against the Dark Arts mastery would give her the best background to keep herself and Harry safe. Remus promised to help her as much as he could and loaned her all of his mastery study materials. Since he was classed as a dark creature, he couldn't take her on officially as a student or assistant. That wouldn't stop him from teaching her, however.

The two families settled into their rooms in the villa and changed before they went out to the local beach. It was a beautiful sunny day and Harry always had fun at the beach with Dora. At least, he used to. For some reason, this time felt different.

Harry wasn't sure if it was because of the blush on Dora's face or the fact that when she took off her towel and revealed the string bikini she wore, Harry finally noticed that she was definitely a girl. A curvy girl. A very curvy and pretty girl that stared at him with a determined look in her eye.

“Take a walk with me.” Dora whispered and took his hand.

Harry nodded and they walked down the beach and away from prying eyes and listening ears.

“We always keep missing each other.” Dora said when she felt they were far enough away to not be seen or heard. “You just start school and I'm finished. That's twice now and I'm really sorry that my parents wouldn't let me intentionally fail a year so that we could be in school together.”

Harry was stunned to hear that and stopped walking. That tugged on Dora's hand and she seemed to use it like a pivot and turned to stand right in front of him. He was surprised that they were nearly the same height with only a couple of inches between them.

“You... you really would have...” Harry whispered.

“Of course I would.” Dora said and her free hand reached up to touch the side of his face. “It's taken me years to understand what I felt and now that we're changing roles, with you going to magic school and me waiting at home for you, I can finally admit it to myself... and to you.”

Harry wasn't sure what she was talking about until she leaned in and gave him a kiss right on the lips. He felt his heart swell up and beat like a drum as Dora moved her lips and his lips copied her without his conscious decision. It made him tingle from his forehead down to his toes and it was the best feeling in the world!

Dora broke the kiss and saw his bright red face, which matched her own. Before she could ask him what he thought of his very first kiss, Harry beat her to the punch.

“That was bloody brilliant!” Harry blurted. “Can we do that again? Can we? I love you!”

Dora felt full of relief at not being rejected and a laugh bubbled up her throat. She let it out and nodded before she spoke the words she had been denying for over a year. “I love you, too.”

Harry grinned at her and put his arms around her as her arms went around his neck, then their lips went together once more and they didn't come up for air for a very long time.

Andromeda ended the listening charm on Dora's earring. “Now that you have the proof, will you sign a betrothal contract with a line continuance clause?”

Remus sighed. “I'll ask Harry about it tonight.”

Andromeda's husband Ted barked a laugh. “Ask? He's going to maul you to get you to sign it.”

Remus saw Andromeda's satisfied face and knew Ted was right. “I might as well send my acceptance letter off to Hogwarts, then.”

“Oh? You're finally admitting that you don't want Harry's education to suffer without you there to shepherd it along?” Andromeda asked with a crooked smile.

“I didn't admit to anything.” Remus said and Andromeda and Ted laughed. “I didn't.”

“You keep telling yourself that.” Andromeda said and pat his arm. “Wait for eleven minutes before you holler for him.”

“Only eleven?” Remus asked.

“We can't let Dora think she can get Harry to untie her bikini top before we can find them.” Andromeda said with a mischievous grin.

That made Remus laugh and Ted hugged his wife.

*

It was September first and Harry was really excited. He had a girlfriend and fiance for a month and it was the best thing in the world. Of course, everything they did was the next best thing in the world, so his opinion was a little skewed in favor of Dora and whatever she wanted to do.

Andromeda's whispered words about not letting her daughter corrupt him had fallen on deaf ears because Harry would do anything Dora asked him to. That wasn't an exaggeration, either. They had gotten into a little trouble when they snuck out and went to a bar and danced for several hours. They didn't drink, since they were underage; but, they did come home much later than their normal curfew.

Being grounded was a blast, too. How could they not enjoy being stuck at home together for a week all alone? They studied and practised magic, both for school and Dora's mastery, and kissed like there was no tomorrow. It had been a great time.

“You be good, make a bunch of friends, and try to not get caught sneaking around at night.” Remus said and pat Harry's pocket. “Your father would be angry at me if you didn't have any fun.”

Harry laughed and hugged him. “Thanks, dad! I'll try my best.”

Dora rolled her eyes. “You're acting like you're not going to see him again in eight hours.”

“Dora! I'm going to miss you soooooo much!” Harry shouted and grabbed her into a hug and kissed her lips and cheeks several times.

Dora laughed and didn't try to fight him off as Harry said goodbye to her. “It's only until next week, you dummy!”

Harry let her go and gave her a single kiss. “I'm really glad McGonagall arranged a workaround for your mastery studies.”

“Being a teaching assistant to the DaDa professor for a year, with all of that practical experience for all seven years of students, is going to accelerate my study progress by almost three years.” Dora said, happily. “I can handle the homework grading to ease your dad's workload, too.”

“I'm taking over your History of Magic classes, so don't go to the classroom Binns uses. Go to my office instead.” Remus told him and Harry nodded. “I'm sorry I can't do anything about your potions classes.”

Harry let a huge smile appear on his face. “Don't worry, dad. If he acts like we know he's going to, he's going to realize that I'm going to act exactly like he expects me to.”

Remus chuckled. “I'll make sure to assume responsibility for all of your upcoming detentions.”

“And that's why you're the best dad in the world!” Harry said and gave him another hug. With a quick goodbye and another lingering kiss to his girlfriend, he went to the train and hoped on.

Harry found a compartment and sat down and pulled a second year Charms book out of his expanded jeans pocket. It was something he and Remus had worked on and it worked until you removed everything from the pocket, then it became a normal sized pocket and the spells had to be cast again.

They had an order in for some enchanted moleskin at the Apothecary that would be able to hold the expansion spells and they would replace the pocket in the jeans with it. They were still waiting months later, so either moleskin was really rare or they lived long lives and no one wanted to bother catching them to kill them just for their skins. According to the shop owner, it took a lot of work to get them prepped, too.

Half an hour later, the train whistle blew to let everyone know the train was leaving. Harry ignored everyone scrambling to get onto the train and kept reading the charms in the book. He had only done a few of them and he had no trouble with them, so he silently thanked his dad, Andromeda, and Dora for teaching him so much.

A few minutes later, the door to his compartment opened and a lanky redheaded boy stood there. “Hey, uh... do you mind if I sit here? Everywhere else is full.”

Harry lifted his head from his book and saw who it was. “Oh, if it isn't the son of Dumbledore's most loyal lackeys. Did they send you here to try and befriend me to turn me against my dad?”

The boy's face drained of color. “Uh... um... no, I... I was...”

“I don't see a trunk. If everywhere is full, where is it?” Harry asked. “You're also wearing muggle clothes. How awful do you feel wearing them, since you prefer wizard robes?”

“P-pretty bad.” The boy said.

“Why don't you go and change into the Hogwarts uniform? You'll feel better.” Harry suggested.

“R-right. I... yeah. Good idea.” The boy said and left without shutting the door.

Harry chuckled and stood up to close it. No sooner had he sat back down when it opened again.

“Have you seen a toad? A boy named Neville's lost one.” A bushy haired girl wearing plain Hogwarts robes asked.

“Don't worry about it. Trevor's an escape artist.” Harry said and waved his hand in dismissal. “I swear the thing can apparate, because he once escaped a locked cage from inside a locked room.”

The girl blinked her eyes at him for a moment. “Apparate?”

“It's like personal teleportation, only with a higher risk because you need to keep your own pattern locked into your head or you might lose something when you reappear.” Harry explained.

The girl's eyes lit right up and she closed the door behind her and sat down right next to him. “How do you know that?”

“My dad told me a bunch of stuff.” Harry said. He wasn't weirded out by the girl's closeness, thanks to Dora's years and years of hugs and closeness.

“Like what?” The girl asked.

“Like how it's polite to introduce yourself when you meet someone new.” Harry said and held out a hand for her to shake. “I'm Harry.”

The girl blushed a little and then smiled as she took the hand and shook it. “Hermione.”

Harry gave her an odd look for a moment as he let her hand go. “How much do you hate it when people shorten that to a stupid sounding nickname like Hermy or Mione?”

Hermione beamed a smile at him. “I hate it with a passion!”

Harry chuckled and nodded. “Before you ask, my name's not shortened from anything. It's not Harold or Harrison or anything else just as stupid. It's just Harry.”

“It's nice to meet you, Just Harry.” Hermione said with a bit of a giggle.

“I said it's just Harry, not just Harry!” Harry said in a snooty voice and she laughed. He liked the sound and it was just different enough from Dora's that he didn't compare them.

The door to the compartment slammed open and a blond boy stood there with two slightly chubby dark haired boys behind him. “Word on the train is that Harry Potter is in this compartment.”

“So, the redheaded lackey didn't like me sending him away and he made sure he sent you to do his dirty work to antagonize me instead.” Harry said and the boys and Hermione looked surprised. “Well, you can go right back down the train and tell the weasel that it won't work. I will never be friends with someone like him if all he wants is for me to fight his battles for him.”

The blond boy looked at a loss for what to say.

“When you write to your father tonight, let him know that Harry Potter isn't interested or involved with any of the pureblood families, the blood traitors, or any ministry flunkies.”

The blond boy looked shocked by his words. Harry handed his book to Hermione and stood, then he eased the blond back out into the hallway and closed the door.

“H-Harry, what... what was that about?” Hermione asked.

“Stupid politics.” Harry said and sat back down right beside her. “His dad's a Death Eater and their family is just as fanatical as the Weasleys to try and influence my opinions of the wizarding world in their favor.”

Hermione looked stunned, so he put a hand on hers.

“You don't have to worry about any of that, even if you decide that you want to be friends with me.” Harry said, reassuringly.

Hermione took in a sharp breath. “Yes, I... I'd like that.”

Harry smiled at her and took the book from her tense hand. “Me, too.” He said and sat back. “What House do you think you'll end up in?”

“I want to be in Griffindor.” Hermione said. “The greatest wizard in Britain was in that house and...”

Harry listened to her go on and on about Albus Dumbledore and all of his accomplishments. She had turned 11 almost a year ago and just missed attending the previous year, so she had a lot of time to learn everything she could about the wizarding world. Her words segued into Harry Potter lore and he didn't interrupt her for quite some time. When she was done, he smiled sadly at her.

“You are basing your entire future on the reputation of someone you respect, rather than relying on your own merits and talents?” Harry asked her.

Hermione looked thoughtful for a moment and nodded. “I want to change things like he did and I believe that starting like he did will let me accomplish it.”

Harry did his best to not to get angry at her for being so stupid. Remus had told him several times to not let everyone's opinion of him affect his decisions, or to let the stories of Remus' adventures in Griffindor with his parents change his views or affect his beliefs. That wasn't the point. You could still use them as inspiration without having to change who you were to fit in.

“What if I told you that Albus Dumbledore was a manipulative old bastard and he cares more about the criminals he wants to save and turn to the light than the good people he doesn't bother trying to save because he believes that they don't need it?” Harry asked her.

Hermione's face showed anger and she moved back to glare at him. “How dare you say something like that! The headmaster is a great man and he killed Grindelwald to end the second world war!”

Harry smiled at her reaction. “I didn't say I believed that. I only wanted to know how you would react if someone gave you a different opinion than your own.”

The anger on her face didn't quite disappear. “That's not very nice.” Hermione said. “Are you jealous of him or something?”

Harry chuckled. “Why would I be jealous of him? Everyone knows my name specifically because of him and his followers spreading all of those lies about that night.”

“Lies? What lies?” Hermione asked.

Harry lost the smile and his eyes were hard. “I was never interviewed about what happened and I was the only living witness to what happened the night that Voldemort killed my parents.”

“What does that have to do with...”

“All of the things in the books you've read about me are just rumor, speculation, and educated guesses.” Harry told her and she gasped. “Yes, Hermione. The books you love and get your facts from, are not always full of actual facts.”

The anger was back in full force on Hermione's face. “You... you... I can't believe... how dare you!”

Harry shrugged. “Supposition and conjecture about a significant historical event can change how someone perceives such an event. If all you hear are the wrong things, then your opinion of it can only be wrong.”

Hermione's glare would have set him on fire if it was possible.

“Did you know that everyone in the wizarding world celebrated the deaths of my parents and me becoming an orphan that first Halloween? They set off fireworks and broke the Statute of Secrecy hundreds of times as I was taken from my destroyed home and abandoned in the muggle world.”

Hermione's face immediately changed from anger to sadness.

“So, with some actual facts about that night, what do you think about the downfall of Voldemort? Do you still have the same hero worship for the Boy-Who-Lived for defeating him?” Harry asked her. “Do you even want to know how I feel about being famous for something I did as a baby?”

Hermione let out a little sigh and didn't say anything in response.

“It's okay, we're just kids. Our opinions don't really matter, right?” Harry asked and chuckled at the sour look on her face. “I see you heard that a lot, too.”

Hermione turned her head away and stayed quiet.

“I hope you realize that friends can have different opinions and still be friends.” Harry said.

Hermione blushed a little from embarrassment, because she didn't believe that. The whole point of being friends was to share opinions, or so she thought.

“We're not going into the same House anyway, so maybe you'll be happy with only being acquaintances.” Harry said and opened his Charms book to keep reading.

“But, you... your parents were Griffindors and... and...” Hermione stammered.

“Just because I'm the Boy-Who-Lived, that doesn't mean I want to become arrogant and brash, always rushing into situations, and causing trouble.” Harry said without looking up from the spell he was reading about.

“That's not what Griffindor stands for.” Hermione said in defense of her future House.

“You need to gather more facts about the members of that House before forming a full opinion. Dumbledore and my parents were not the only members.” Harry said. He didn't bother reminding her that his own godfather had been a member and he betrayed the Potters and gave them to Voldemort.

Hermione stayed quiet until the cart lady showed up. Her eyes widened at all of the sweets that she wasn't allowed to partake in and she mumbled an apology about not getting anything.

“Two sugar quills and two chocolate frogs, please.” Harry said and paid for the items.

Hermione couldn't help but stare at the quills, because as far as she could see, you could actually write with them and eat them at the same time.

Harry saw her interest and handed her one. “Believe me, when you're doing homework and you're lagging and tired, a suck or two on the end of that perks you right up.”

Hermione stared at it and then looked at him. “But, I... my parents are dentists and...”

“I figured it was something like that if you haven't had a healer fix your teeth in the year you've known about magic.” Harry said and her eyes widened. “It's like two spells. One for straightening them and one to shrink them. You might need a pain potion for a few days to let them settle, too.”

Hermone blinked her eyes at him several times. “I... but, I...”

“The healer at Hogwarts should be able to set you right in only a few minutes.” Harry said and handed her a chocolate frog. “This should distract you for a while.”

Hermione looked at the five-sided blue package. “Why?”

Harry gave her a knowing wink and popped open the remaining package he held. The chocolate frog perked up and looked around, saw a means of escape, and leapt for its life. It smacked against the closed window and stuck there.

Hermione stared at the thing as it crawled around and tried to get outside.

“It's a timed animation spell that activates when the package is opened.” Harry said and plucked the frog from the window. The frog struggled for several minutes as it covered Harry's fingers in melting chocolate.

When the spell wore off, the frog had its mouth open and one back leg extended and one forelimb pointing down.

Harry nodded at it and bit off the back leg and chewed on it. “Milk chocolate tastes better after it struggles.” He said with a laugh and kept taking bites out of it until all that was left was the chocolate on his fingers.

Hermione watched in fascination as Harry proceeded to meticulously lick and suck the chocolate off. She wasn't sure why she couldn't stop staring at him while he did it, though. She would never know that Harry was using some of the tongue and kissing tricks that Dora had taught him and he knew exactly how distracting it could be.

When Harry was done, he took a granola bar out of his pocket with his unlicked hand and handed it to Hermione. “You can't indulge in sugar without balancing it with something healthy.”

Hermione accepted the bar and watched as Harry ate one of his own.

“I need to go wash my hands. I'll be right back.” Harry said and she nodded.

Hermione waited until he left before she looked at the things she held in her hands. She had just met someone, became friends, had an argument that angered her enough that she didn't know if she wanted to be friends, was told that they could argue and still be friends, then he bought treats and shared them with her. It was all so far outside her normal experiences that she wasn't sure how to react.

Her eyes went to the book on the bench seat and Hermione was surprised to see the second year Charms book. She hadn't known that you could buy more than your current year's course materials and she felt an almost overwhelming desire to snatch the book up to start reading it. Her eyes went back to what she held in her hands and then went back to the book as her thoughts warred with each other. Did she have enough time to take a peek at the book before Harry came back?

The door to the compartment opened and Hermione jerked a little and felt guilty as she looked up at Harry's face. He must have known what she was thinking, because he handed her a napkin to wrap around the sugar quill and then sat down before he handed her the book. She blushed at him handing it over without a fuss and he sat down and took out another book. Her eyes widened at the second year Transfiguration book.

“My girlfriend Dora loaned me her school books.” Harry said as an explanation.

Hermione nodded and opened the Charms book to start reading. She felt a little sad for some reason, too. If you had asked her right then, she wouldn't have been able to explain it. She would figure it out eventually, though. They had a rough start to their friendship and she would always regret that, because they would never be as close as she felt like they should have been.

Hermione was so engrossed in reading the Charms books that she hadn't noticed when Harry changed into his school uniform and put on his robes. In fact, she didn't react at all until the train's whistle blew and told her that it was pulling into Hogsmeade station. She sighed and closed the book to hand to Harry. He took it and tucked it into a pocket as they sat there and waited for the train to come to a stop.

When the second whistle blew to let them know it was safe to disembark, they joined the crowd leaving the train and stepped out into the crisp evening air. A bellowing voice called to the first years and they walked over to a huge man that waved to them.

All of the first years were gathered and were led down to the lake. They entered the boats and Harry and Hermione were joined by Neville and a dark skinned boy named Dean. The trip went fast and they walked up a large set of stairs to a side door of the castle. Professor McGonagall was there and gave them a speech about the Houses being like their family.

Harry already knew that, which was why he already knew what House he was going to. He just hoped that Neville didn't cower and bow to his grandmother's wishes and went where he was meant to go. He glanced at Hermione and saw a determined look on her face, so he knew that was a lost cause. She wasn't going to go where she should and he was sure that she was going to hate being the only studious person in Griffindor.

The unsorted students were led inside the castle and told to smarten themselves up and left alone. When the ghosts showed up, Hermione didn't notice them, because she was composing her arguments about being sorted into the House she thought she could make the most difference in. If she could argue with her parents about it and win, she could convince whomever was in charge about it, too.

The sorting started and they were sorted into the four houses in nearly equal measure. Harry thought that was fair and odd, considering the mix of students present. When Hermione sat under the hat for two minutes, Harry let out a sad sigh when the hat shouted out her choice of Griffindor. She smirked at him as she walked by him to sit at the Griffindor table.

Harry hadn't told her that the Ravenclaws had their own library, because he didn't want to influence her decision by using her vices against her. That wasn't a normal thought for an eleven year old to have, except he had been raised by a very smart man and Remus had instilled the same instincts into him that he himself had.

Harry knew that all you could do was be a voice of reason and advise friends on what they should do. You were to never manipulate them into changing their behaviour like a certain headmaster always did to those around him. To Harry's disappointment, Neville went to Griffindor as well and wouldn't meet his eyes.

“Potter, Harry.” McGonagall called out.

Harry ignored the whispers and chatting that the other students did at the sound of his name. He sat down on the stool and the hat was placed on his head.

I really thought you would be the most difficult one to sort, Mister Potter. The hat thought to him. Your cousin has been a bigger influence on you than anyone would suspect.

Harry felt warm and tingly inside as he remembered Dora and the kissing session from last night.

The hat chuckled at the intentionally shared memory. Yes, a huge influence. “Better be... Hufflepuff!”

Thanks. Harry thought at it. Don't forget to prank Weasley.

The hat laughed as Harry handed it to McGonagall. The woman gave him an odd look and he grinned at her and walked over to the cheering Hufflepuffs. They couldn't believe their luck and greeted him like a conquering hero. He accepted the pats and handshakes and sat beside a plump girl that gave him a blushing smile.

“Hi, there.” Harry said. “I would introduce myself if you didn't already know my name.”

“You still can.” She said, her blush deepening.

Harry barked a subdued laugh and held a hand out to her. “I'm Harry Potter. It's nice to meet you.”

The girl took the hand daintily and held onto it without shaking it. “I'm Susan. Susan Bones.”

Harry knew she was expecting a proper greeting, so he bent over slightly and lightly kissed her fingers before he gave her a searching look for several seconds, then he let a huge smile appear on his face.

“Little Suzie? The one that sent me her favorite scarf that her mother owned?” Harry asked.

Susan made an embarrassed sound and her blush increased to make her face fire engine red.

Harry held onto her hand and leaned in close to whisper. “My dad was pretty angry that I sent you my baby blanket in exchange, because that was all I had left from that night.”

Susan felt like she was going to pass out. “I... I... I still have it.”

“I still have the scarf, too.” Harry breathed and turned his head a little to lightly kiss her cheek. “I already have a girlfriend, so that's all I can do.” He moved back to see her disappointed face. “She's a Hufflepuff and knows the value of friendship.”

Susan lost the disappointed look, because she knew he meant that they could still be close friends.

“I'm Hannah Abbot.” The girl next to her said and she put her hand in front of Harry's face. That made half of the table laugh and she blushed. She didn't take her hand back, though.

“It's a pleasure to meet you, Hannah.” Harry said and accepted the hand to lightly kiss the fingers.

“Now you've done it.” An older boy said. His face was full of amusement and he waved at all of the girls in their house, because they all had eager looks on their faces and their hands at the ready. “You better get to it.”

“Are you sure this isn't Griffindor House in disguise?” Harry joked and they all laughed.

To everyone's surprise, Harry actually did stand up and went to each and every girl to greet them properly and he learned their names. By the time he was back at his seat, all of the girls wore blushes and he had also shaken every guy's hand.

“Pretty smooth there, Harry.” The older boy that had spoken before said.

“Thanks, Cedric.” Harry said and then grinned. “You all need to pay attention to the redhead being sorted.”

That got their attention and they all turned to look at the sorting hat just in time to see Ron Weasley sit down and don the hat.

“Slytherin!” The hat bellowed and half of the Griffindor table students shot to their feet and shouted in protest. The hat coughed several times and everyone quieted down. “Sorry about that! I didn't take the student's choice into consideration. Better be... Griffindor!”

Ron sighed with relief and handed the hat to Minerva McGonagall.

“That was an epic prank, Harry.” Susan said, her face bright with a huge smile.

“Thanks.” Harry said and looked over at the group of redheads as they swarmed Ron and consoled him by telling him that the hat had made a mistake, not realizing it could be taken the other way and the biased bigot should really be in Slytherin.

Blaise Zambini was sorted into Slytherin and the sorting ended.

Albus Dumbledore stood and introduced the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher named Remus Lupin, much to the Potions Professor's anger and dismay. He had wanted that job for years and was always denied it.

The welcoming feast started and Harry and his new friends talked about their home lives and Harry shared that the books written about him living in a castle were a bunch of lies and he and his dad had been fighting for years to get them to stop using Harry's likeness without his permission.

By the time the meal was over and the desserts taken away, the entire hall knew Harry didn't live in a castle or anywhere in the wizarding world, because the headmaster had kidnapped him and kept him away. The only ones really upset by that were the Griffindors, especially Hermione. She glared at him and said they couldn't be friends if he could say such lies publicly.

“I'm sorry you feel that way, Hermione. Now I don't feel so bad about not telling you that the Ravenclaws have their own research library.” Harry countered and her face paled.

“No, that... no one said... it can't be true.” Hermione said.

“It is.” A pretty Asian girl said from the Ravenclaw table. “It's the only reason I came to Hogwarts.”

Harry turned to look at her. “Can I ask for your name?”

“You can.” She said with a smirk.

“Ha!” Harry barked and hopped up and walked over to her table. He held out his hand for her and she blushed as she placed her hand into his and he kissed the fingers. “I'm Harry, first year, and I have a girlfriend.”

The pretty Asian let out a little laugh. “Cho Chang, second year, and aren't you too young to have a girlfriend?”

“She said she didn't want me to get away.” Harry said. “We signed a contract and everything.”

“At least she's a smart one.” Cho said and Harry nodded.

Harry went back to his seat when Dumbledore stood again and he listened to the other announcements with half an ear and pretty much ignored it, until the headmaster mentioned the third floor corridor on the right-hand side being out of bounds for everyone that didn't want to suffer a painful death.

By the look on Remus' face, he hadn't known about that qualification and he and Harry exchanged knowing looks. They both slightly nodded and would meet up tonight at his office. They had some investigating to do.

*

Remus opened his office door when a quick double knock sounded. He stepped back for a few seconds and closed the door without seeing anyone. “Did you have any trouble?”

“No, dad.” Harry said and took off his invisibility cloak and handed him a folded piece of parchment. “The new map works like a charm!”

Remus laughed at the joke and pulled him into a quick hug. “I've done a bit of snooping with the other professors and it looks like Albus has set up a gauntlet of traps for you to get through. I don't know what's at the end, though.”

Harry shrugged, because it didn't really matter. “As far as I can tell, the Weasley Twins have the first map.”

“Let's see.” Remus said and they went to his desk and opened up the parchment. “I solemnly swear to protect Harry as much as possible.”

The Marauder's Map 2.0 flowed over the parchment and showed the different floors and the secret passages. Remus tapped the map and asked for the other map. The parchment seemed to unfold without unfolding and it showed the third year Griffindor dorm and a blinking dot appeared inside a trunk.

“It looks like George has it and it's pretty well protected.” Remus said as he tapped the image of a trunk and it showed several defensive spells and a rudimentary ward. “I bet Bill taught them that.”

Harry nodded. “I've checked the seven passages into the castle and three of them have been blocked.” He said and tapped the map and asked for each one. “All that's left are the One Eyed Witch statue to Honeydukes, the Whomping Willow passage to the Shrieking Shack, the Gregory the Smarmy statue on the second floor that goes to the outskirts of Hogsmeade, and the mirror on the fourth floor that leads to the edge of the Black Lake on the far side of the castle.”

Remus looked thoughtful. “You can bet that Argus Filch knows about the mirror and Gregory the Smarmy. He should also know about the collapsed ones, since they would be perfect for catching people trying to sneak out of the castle.”

Harry moved the map back to the main part of the castle. “I haven't checked everyone's names yet.”

Remus chuckled. “That's a weeks long project, Harry. There's no rush.”

“If anyone's hiding to ambush me or attack me, I want to know who to look out for.” Harry said.

Remus smiled and nodded. “Let's start from the top down.”

Harry smiled back and touched the map. “Albus Dumbledore's office.”

The map changed to show it and they saw the old man's feet pacing around his desk. There were also a whole bunch of enchantments and things all around his office.

“This might take a while to sort through.” Remus said with a chuckle and the pair sat down and started searching for anything detrimental to Harry's survival at the school.

*

Going to classes with a bunch of friends during the first week was a new experience for Harry. He wasn't reclusive, thanks to Remus doing his best to take them out as much as possible and Harry had a few muggle friends while attending normal school. He just hadn't had everyone in his class wanting to be his friend. It wasn't because he was famous, either. It was just the Hufflepuff way.

Professor Sprout was a rotund and jolly woman that loved digging in the dirt and tending to her plants, which made for the best kind of Herbology teacher anyone could ever want. The class was fun for everyone and they all enjoyed the happy atmosphere, even with deadly plants surrounding them. Apparently, being happy and talking to them made the plants calm down and relax.

Charms class was a little boring for Harry, since he had progressed so far in his self-study curriculum. He didn't complain, because he new that a few of his classmates hadn't had such a great parent to teach them so much growing up. So, Harry made it his mission to help the others as much as possible. By the end of the first class, Harry had earned Hufflepuff 20 points and a little respect from the Ravenclaws they shared the class with.

Defense Against the Dark Arts class was almost like being at home, only with a bunch of other kids to enjoy it with him. Being quiet and not jumping to answer every question Remus asked had earned him a few discreet points and several hugs from Susan, because he had whispered a few answers to her.

Astronomy was only really fun when shared with a girlfriend, so he felt lonely as they had class and he couldn't snuggle with Dora and enjoy it. He still got the questions right, though. Just because he was sad, that didn't mean he could slack off and not study.

Transfiguration was mostly lectures and admonishments about carrying on in class and how dangerous the skill could be if misused or miscast. Harry pretty much ignored her until the start of the next class and he was given a matchstick to change into a needle. He did it on the first try and earned 5 points, then helped Susan and Hannah with theirs.

A few more friends and relevant tips had earned Hufflepuff 35 more points by the end of class. Harry's friendships were growing stronger and he couldn't have been happier. The first flying lesson was boring as all get-out, because he wasn't allowed to fly like he was used to. He did manage to teach his classmates the best way to control their broom when it misbehaved or one of the charms failed.

History of Magic was dry as always, even with Remus adding his own teaching flair to the material. There was only so much you could do with memorizing dates and events and both he and Harry did their best to not let the subject bring them down.

Of course, after two classes of Harry not going to History of Magic and Harry being constantly bombarded by questions from two very insistent girls, the secret was out. Now all of the first year Hufflepuffs joined Harry in his off-the-books private tutoring lessons and they all pitched in a silver sickle each week to pay for the hassle Remus suffered because of it.

Remus tried to refuse at first and then reluctantly accepted it. After he had gathered the money that week, he told Harry that he would save it all and use it to throw a party for the class before the end of the year and he was to keep it a secret. All of his classmates knew about it a day later. Susan and Hannah were getting really good at pestering the truth out of him.

The last class of the week was Potions and no one was looking forward to it. They had heard the horror stories all week from older students about the evil greasy bat of a professor and how nasty he was to everyone except the Slytherins, whom the Hufflepuffs shared the class with, despite Slytherin normally sharing the class with the Griffindors.

The students received proof of Snape's bias as soon as the man finished harping about how great and powerful potioneering was. He did the roll call for students and paused when he reached a particular name.

“Ah, Harry Potter. Our... newest... celebrity.” Severus Snape sneered.

“Thank you for reminding me that my parents were murdered by your old master, Voldemort. I had almost forgotten about it.” Harry responded and everyone looked shocked, even the Slytherins.

“You dare say the Dark Lord's name!” Snape spat.

“Why shouldn't I? Voldemort is dead, isn't he?” Harry asked and Susan made a surprised sound from beside him. “Why would I be afraid to say his name? I killed him when I was a baby and it made me famous. You just said so yourself.” Harry said and everyone stared at him, Snape included.

Snape quickly got over his shock and glared at the insolent boy. “I think someone needs to teach you some humility, Potter. You will serve detention with me tonight scrubbing out cauldrons.”

“I knew we would discover that problem soon enough.” Harry said and grinned. “Professor Lupin has assumed responsibility for any and all detentions I have and I will serve them with him.”

“He has no right to...” Snape started to say.

“He is my legal guardian in both the muggle and magical world and is also a professor at this school. He has every right to stop a hateful and petty man from harming me physically and verbally by calling it a detention.” Harry interrupted.

Snape looked ready to explode and his hand twitched to grab his wand. “You are just as arrogant and boastful as your father, you insufferable little brat!”

“Of course I am, Snivellus. You forced me to act this way.” Harry said.

A few of the other students nodded, because Harry hadn't acted like that in any of the other classes.

“All you had to do was act like you didn't care and dismissed me as unimportant. Instead, you just couldn't resist trying to take out your unreasonable anger at my father by making fun of me, an innocent little boy that's done nothing to you.”

“How dare you accuse...” Snape started to sputter.

“Or are you angry that I killed your old master and now you have to serve a new one?” Harry verbally prodded. “What is it like to go from willingly serving a murdering psychopath to willingly serving a manipulative old sociopath?”

“OUT!” Snape yelled and pointed at the door. His mouth was almost frothing. “OUT! OUT! OUT!”

Harry packed up quickly and left the deathly silent room. Remus had been worried about letting Harry suffer under Snape during potions class and now he had the perfect excuse to take over Harry's potions lessons.

Harry took out a folded sheet of parchment and checked off the second option. His multi-step plan about Snape had already been completed and he hadn't needed to gather evidence of incompetence to get the man fired. He still would, because it would have more weight without Harry being there to influence Snape's behavior.

Remus had a double Defense class with the seventh years that morning, so Harry went to the library to do his homework. He really should have waited until the afternoon to do it with his friends, then decided he could help them more if he did the homework first.

*

Remus and Harry sat back after spending some time inside the pensieve. They had gone over each other's observations during the week and had shared their conclusions. They also checked the new map and confirmed that the Muggle Studies teacher that smelled like garlic, Professor Quirrel, had the shade of Voldemort on the back of his head.

“I'm not sure what we can do about him, Harry.” Remus said with a sigh.

Harry sighed himself, because there was no crime for them to use to report the man. They couldn't very well say it was because of his smell and a magical map that used the castle's wards to track everyone inside. They also couldn't tell anyone that Albus Dumbledore had to know about it, because the map used the same wards that the headmaster used to track the students.

“With the proof of Voldemort's spirit still being around, I'm wondering what else the old man is letting into the castle unchecked.” Remus pondered.

“Can we alter the map to show cursed or dark magic items?” Harry asked. “I know we left a few spots for additions and we can alter the Arithmancy equations to compensate for them.”

Remus rubbed his chin with his hand. “We did leave off magical animals, pets, and creatures to streamline the spellwork. I don't see why we couldn't do up a few more calculations.”

Harry smiled and put his wand to his temple and pulled out another memory. “While you think about what else we should add, I want you to see how I earned this detention.”

Remus chuckled. “I did get an earful about it from Snivellus during lunch.”

“You're going to love the unbiased version!” Harry said and dropped the strand into the pensieve.

They both laughed and dove inside, then kept laughing as they watched Snape bluster.

“You... handled that... really well, Harry.” Remus said between laughs and put an arm over his shoulders. “I'm impressed.”

“Thanks.” Harry said. “I really took your eloquence lessons to heart.”

Remus smiled. “You knew you could make yourself sound older and still win an argument.”

“Exactly.” Harry said and grinned. “You taught me well.”

Remus laughed and hugged him close before he let go and they left the pensieve. “Grab the parchment sheets and a spare pen. We've got some work to do to adjust the map.”

Harry brought over the parchment and he settled down with Remus as they worked out the things they wanted to add into the map.

*

Hermione sat in the library and did her best to ignore the whispering from the closest table. Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil were just like the airheads she had known in grade school and were just as confrontational when she tried to help them. She had thought, quite wrongly, that they would be happy to have help from someone as smart as her.

“Hi, Hermione.” A male voice whispered and she sighed as Harry sat down next to her. “Do you regret your decision to follow in the Great Albus Dumbledore's footsteps yet?”

Hermione thought about not responding and turned her head to look at him. His brilliant green eyes mesmerized her for a moment. “Why do you want to know?”

“Ex-friends can still wonder how those ex-friends are doing.” Harry teased her.

Hermione looked back at her book and didn't respond.

“Ouch, I guess not.” Harry whispered. “Oh, there's one of my new friends. See you later.”

Hermione couldn't stop herself and lifted her head to watch as Harry walked over to a handsome fourth year boy. She tried to squash her jealousy as the two boys shared a quick chat and then grabbed a huge book and sat down to whisper to each other. She watched them for a few minutes until they became a little rowdy.

Madam Pince strode over to them and spoke in a harsh whisper. “What is going on over here, Mister Diggory?”

“I'm sorry, Madam.” Cedric said. “My friend and I became excited over learning a few new things in one of your books and we let it get out. We apologize and it won't happen again.”

The older woman smiled. “See that it doesn't.”

“We will.” Harry said. “Thank you for keeping us in line.”

Madam Pince nodded to him and walked back to her desk.

Harry and Cedric put their heads together and Harry wrote out a few things and copied it for Cedric. They shared a smile and Cedric patted his back before he left at a fast walk and gave a wave to the librarian as he passed her desk. Harry put the book back and walked over to Hermione to resume his previous seat.

“What was that about?” Hermione couldn't resist asking.

“I told him something Dora and I did last summer and he helped me track a spell down. Once we had it, he decided that he's going to surprise the girl he likes with it.” Harry whispered.

That really gained Hermione's interest and she couldn't hide it, because Harry saw it on her face. He smiled and took the piece of parchment out of his pocket and placed it in front of her. Hermione caught her breath at the simple transfiguration spell for a rose from a stick and the color changing charm to make it any color you wanted, from friendship yellow to the red of love.

“Why don't they teach this in class?” Hermione asked and picked up the parchment to study it.

“It's not something first years usually need to know, since it's for sharing with someone you care about.” Harry said with a shrug. “By the time we're supposedly old enough to need it, looking it up for ourselves isn't a problem.”

Hermione turned her head to look at him. “Then why do you need it?”

Harry blushed a little and then grinned. “I'm meeting Dora this afternoon.”

“Oh.” Hermione said and handed him the spell back. “Have fun learning it.”

Harry put the parchment into his pocket and took out a stick. “I already know the spell. I just needed to learn the incantation for the color changing charm.” He said and with the proper motions with his wand and a muttered spell, the stick transformed into a beautiful white rose. He tapped the petals of inner rings with his wand and more mutters changed them to yellow. The outer petals were next and were changed to blue.

“That... that's b-beautiful.” Hermione whispered, her voice a little shaky.

“Yellow is for friendship and happiness and blue is for mystery and uniqueness.” Harry said and handed it to her. “Happy Birthday.”

Hermione's mouth dropped open from shock and she could do nothing but stare at him.

“You're welcome, ex-friend.” Harry said and kissed her cheek. “Bye!”

Hermione didn't move at all until Harry disappeared out the door to the library. Her mind had come to a complete halt at what had just happened and she didn't know what to do.

“Breathe, Granger.” Parvati advised from the next table. “You'd swear you've never been kissed by a boy before.”

Hermione sucked in a sharp breath as her brain restarted and she looked down at the beautiful multi-colored rose in her hand. I haven't. She thought and her face flushed to a bright red.

*

The entire class of Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws laughed when a massive vase that was filled with over a hundred roses in various colors floated through the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom door. That is, they laughed until the vase was placed on the floor in front of the gorgeous new DaDa assistant that hadn't been introduced yet.

Dora's hair flicked through the different color roses and stopped on red. “H-Harry... you...”

“It took me the whole lunch period to get this many done. I would have made more, except I had to stop because class was going to start.” Harry said and she blushed.

“Thank you.” Dora said and pointed to his seat. “Don't think this is going to buy you any leniency.”

“Huh? I was trying to get you to push me harder!” Harry admitted and that made Susan and Hannah laugh. He sat down between them and handed Susan a pink colored rose and Hannah received a peach colored one.

Both girls blushed as much as Tonks did.

“Pink is for elegance and sweetness and peach is for sincerity and gratitude.” Harry told them.

Both girls nodded, gave Dora a brief glance, then they leaned in and kissed Harry's cheeks.

“Thanks, Harry.” Susan and Hannah said at the same time.

“I am definitely going to push you harder now.” Dora said with squinted eyes and her red hair changed to black. Harry grinned at her and was happy that his ploy had worked.

Remus chose to stay out of the little bi-play until the bell rang to start the class. “As a few of you may have somehow noticed, there is someone else in the classroom today.”

That made a bunch of the students laugh.

“Let me introduce you to the newly appointed DaDa assistant, Dora Tonks. She's studying for her mastery in Defense and will be here all year to assist myself and all of you.”

Harry clapped and a few of the other students joined in.

“It's only a starting position, so she's pretty much going to be setting things up for myself and you to use, like duelling mats and shields, bringing in specimens when they are needed, accepting homework and grading it, and anything else I can make up... I mean, that will become her assigned duties.” Remus said with a tooth-bearing grin, which earned another laugh from the students.

Dora rolled her eyes and her hair briefly changed to bright pink.

“Let's get started with today's lesson.” Remus said and taught the class. Whenever there was a problem or a student had a question, Dora was there and easily handled it. By the end of class, both Remus and the students appreciated having Dora there.

When Harry put on his backpack and left the classroom, he had received no less than five discreet kisses from Dora and more hugs than he could count on two hands during the class.

Dora sure can be sneaky when she wants to be. Harry thought, happily.

“You liked that lesson a lot.” Susan said as they walked and she saw his goofy smile.

“I can't help it. Dora's great to be around.” Harry said and put an arm around Susan's waist.

Susan forced herself to not blush at being held like that. “She's why you're in Hufflepuff.”

“Yep!” Harry said and hugged her a little closer.

“Hey, give me some of that.” Hannah said and stepped close. She blushed a little when Harry really did put his arm around her waist and hugged her as close as Susan. “I was... kinda joking.”

“I know.” Harry said and grinned as both Susan and Hannah put one arm around him and hugged him back. He loved being a Hufflepuff.

*

Later that evening, Dora hovered behind her boss and her boyfriend as the pair put the finishing touches on the Marauder's Map 2.1 that they had sneakily created without her knowledge. She wasn't angry about it, though. It was a wonderful piece of magic and they agreed to teach her the spells they had used after warning her that it would only work if you could tie it into the wards protecting a building.

“...aaaaand done.” Remus said with a last flourish of his wand and poked the parchment. It shimmered slightly and he nodded before saying the password to activate it.

Dora heartily approved of protecting Harry as much as possible and then gasped when she saw the pulsing dots that weren't people.

“I'd say that's working.” Harry said and tapped the closest dot. “There's a bad luck curse on a plaque in the trophy room.”

Remus looked at it and nodded. “That's the wall for special services to the school. I'll check it out tonight during my rounds.”

“Won't someone else see the map if you're using it?” Dora asked.

“No, it's enchanted to only work for those keyed into it.” Harry said. “Anyone else sees a list of muggle groceries.”

Dora giggled before she could stop herself. “Dammit, I hate it when I do that.”

Harry laughed and stood up to hug her. “It's just proof you're still a girly girl at heart.”

“Bite your tongue, squirt!” Dora said with fake anger.

“Don't mind if you do.” Harry said and kissed her.

Dora couldn't stop herself as she wrapped her arms around him and snogged him nearly senseless.

Remus watched with amusement as the two of them lost themselves to what they were doing. He knew they had progressed their relationship a little and as he watched, he realized Dora wasn't taking advantage of Harry. She easily could have and given him knowledge far beyond his age, because Harry would never tell his girlfriend no.

Dora kept things respectful and didn't let either of their hands roam as they snogged without a care in the world. It didn't seem to matter to them that Remus was right there, so he went back to looking over the map to see what else was being detected by the wards and not being taken care of by the headmaster.

It didn't take Remus long to find quite a few things that he could pretend to stumble across during his nightly patrol route and he quickly wrote out several paths to take to weed the things out. He paused when he came to the seventh floor, because it had a blank box pointing to a blank wall.

Remus puzzled over this for several minutes, because it was similar to the common room of each House that had text boxes by them, with the passwords for Griffindor and Slytherin or directions on how to open them for Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. The difference was that this one was blank and it wasn't a common room.

Dora made a slight moan sound and Harry reciprocated it before the both of them seemed to melt into a nearby chair together and continued their snogging session. Remus held in his laugh at them making up for the week they had been separated and left his office to start his rounds. His first stop was going to be the trophy room and then he was going to see why the third floor corridor on the right-hand side was blanked out on the map.

Little did Remus realize that with an updated map, he would soon discover a few things that would change things in both his and Harry's lives.

*

Dora and Harry didn't know how long they had been at it and they didn't care. They wallowed in each other's taste and could almost feel how the other felt as their lips and tongues played and caressed each other. It was almost hypnotic as they kept going and going without stopping to catch their breath or to give their tongues a rest.

They didn't notice Remus entering the office after his rounds or heard the thump of wood on wood. They also ignored the little pulses of magic and the muttered muggle curses that came from him. This went on for quite some time until Remus nearly howled and Dora and Harry finally broke the kiss.

“Wow.” Dora and Harry whispered and stared into each other's eyes.

“Yes, it's amazing that I finally broke it.” Remus said.

Dora and Harry turned their heads to look at him with confusion on their faces.

“Don't give me that look.” Remus said and motioned to the broken plaque on his desk. “It took me almost an hour and a hundred calculations to figure out the key to pop the bad luck curse.”

Harry gave Dora a glance and she shrugged. “What are you talking about, dad?”

Remus chuckled and held up the plaque as he put the two pieces together. “Tom Marvolo Riddle is the one that cursed the Defense Against the Dark Arts job.”

“No way!” Dora exclaimed. She didn't let Harry go or tried to stand up, though. She really liked where she was and she didn't want to move.

“This gives us an avenue to investigate and to figure out what the award was for.” Remus said and Harry nodded. “I'm still working on how to get rid of Quirrell, too.”

“It's the outrageous stutter that's the worst.” Dora said. “He can't say two words without spitting.”

Remus nodded this time. “I wonder why he's playing it up so much? Even just a mild stutter would make people dismiss him. It's almost like he's forcing people to avoid him and...” He paused and let out a few more muggle curses.

Harry softly laughed. “It's always fun when he does stuff like this.”

Dora gave him a quick kiss and agreed, because Remus making a discovery was always entertaining.

“He doesn't want to get caught roaming the school or doing whatever the shade of Voldemort wants him to do without anyone seeing.” Remus said.

“Is he roaming?” Harry asked and both Dora and Remus looked at him. “What if he's doing what we're doing?”

“Oh, Merlin!” Dora gasped. “He's searching the school!”

Remus gave them a thoughtful look and nodded. “He must think the obvious path that Albus set out at the starting feast is a false one. He's looking for whatever he thinks Albus has hidden.”

“Wait, it's not a false path?” Dora asked.

Remus took out the map and moved it to the third floor corridor. Dora and Harry stared at the various hidden rooms and the items and things inside.

“That's a lot of work for a false trail.” Harry said and tapped the four paws named Fluffy. “A Cerberus? Really?”

“It's about eight feet tall and has three heads, so yes, really.” Remus said.

“Did it whimper or pee itself when you entered the room?” Harry asked with a grin.

“Both.” Remus said proudly and Harry and Dora laughed. “I'm sure it was Albus that magically blocked the rooms from being detected and I had to physically take the map to each one to let it reconnect.”

“Would that work for any room or just ones previously added and blocked?” Harry asked.

“I'm glad you asked that.” Remus said and moved the map to the seventh floor and the blank wall and empty text box. “Your father and I didn't find anything there to add to the map when we were teenagers. There's no door, a cozy nook, or anything else.”

Harry gave him a knowing look and then looked at Dora. “You know what that means.”

“Look for more hidden doors.” Dora said and the other two nodded.

Remus cast an enlargement charm on the map and hid the people markers before the three of them took their time to scour over every inch of the map and the castle to look for every marked and unmarked door, odd passwords where they shouldn't be, and portraits in random areas or at ends of corridors.

After two hours, they each had a list of what they had found and compared them as they made a fourth list. They scratched off the ones they had similar as they added them to the new list and the locations. When they had it done, they had found four portraits with passwords they had missed, eliminated the doors that went nowhere, and only Harry had one that the other two hadn't seen.

“Where was that one, Harry?” Dora asked. “I don't remember seeing a hidden entrance with 'Open' as the password.”

“It's right there on the second floor.” Harry said and pointed. “It's inside the girl's bathroom and...”

“That's Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. No one goes in there.” Dora said.

“Moaning Myrtle.” Remus said and rubbed his chin. “If I remember the story right, she died under mysterious circumstances about fifty years ago.”

“We could ask her about it if she's in a good mood. Otherwise, we'll have to dodge spraying toilet water.” Dora said and tapped the small text box there on the wall. “I don't see anything but a squiggle there.”

Remus looked as well and Dora was right. It was a small text box with a squiggle in it. It was no wonder he hadn't seen it when the map was shrunk to its normal size, because it would be practically invisible. The opening was either smaller than a door or hidden, and he suspected it might be both.

Harry chuckled and ran his finger across the squiggle. “O-P-E-N. Open. Are you both blind?”

Remus and Dora exchanged looks and looked at Harry.

“You can't see it?” Harry asked.

Dora shook her head and tried to copy the squiggle onto her list and showed it to him.

Harry blushed a little. “Why did you write P-E-N-I-S?”

Dora blushed and scratched it out as Remus laughed.

“We definitely have to check that out as soon as we can.” Remus said and cast the Tempus spell. “It's one in the morning. You need to get to bed, Harry.”

Harry didn't say anything as he turned his head and looked right at Dora. Dora didn't want to refuse his sincere request and it was after curfew anyways. Without a word, she stood up and took his hand. Harry took out his invisibility cloak and wrapped it around them to make them disappear from sight.

Remus held in his laugh as his office door opened and closed on its own, if you didn't know that someone had an impenetrable invisibility cloak hiding them and was the one doing it. He shrunk the map back to normal and didn't bother folding it up or speaking the password before he held it out.

Five seconds later, the office door opened and the piece of parchment disappeared from his hand.

“Goodnight.” Remus said with a smile.

“Night.” Harry's and Dora's disembodied voices responded and the door closed once more.

*

It wasn't until the next weekend that the trio of sleuths had a chance to go gallivanting around the castle to search out and confirm their previous findings. They did all the little things first and marked them off of their list. The four portraits with passwords led to old and dust-covered family rooms that hadn't been used in years.

A word with a Hogwarts House Elf had the one closest to the Hufflepuff dorms cleaned up and Dora moved her things out of the tiny room she had been assigned and into the huge and spacious apartment.

“I think the staff might have forgotten about those rooms.” Remus commented as they went to the seventh floor to investigate the blank wall.

“Don't you dare tell them about it.” Dora warned him. “You know they'll make me go back to that little hole in the wall they stuffed me in.”

Both Remus and Harry nodded, because they knew that was exactly what would happen. They had tried to do that to Harry when he was a baby, and he was the saviour of the wizarding world. An assistant to the DaDa professor would be pretty much considered nothing in comparison.

“This is it.” Remus said and handed the map back to Harry.

“Nothing's appearing in the text box.” Harry said. “I wonder how to access it?”

“Is it a part of the castle or is it an add-on?” Remus asked. “It can't be tied into the wards if it's not on the map.”

“Even if you've never cast the room spells to map it out?” Harry asked.

Remus opened his mouth to say it shouldn't matter, then chuckled. “You got me.” He said and clapped Harry's shoulder. “Tipsy!”

“Professors be calling Tipsy?” A female house elf asked as she appeared with a small pop.

“What can you tell me about this wall?” Remus asked and tapped it.

The house elf's eyes gleamed. “Youse be finding the Come-and-Go room!” She said and clapped. “Only those that be needing it would haves it be appearing!”

“Would a smart elf like yourself know how to open it?” Harry asked.

The elf shivered and beamed a smile at him. “Tipsy knows! Youse walk three times across and asks for what youse wants! Elves be putting things into the Room of Lost Things for years and years!”

Harry beamed a smile right back at her. “Thank you very much for helping us, Tipsy.”

“Youse be welcome, Pretty Green Eyes!” Tipsy said, let out a startled sound, and popped away.

The three people stared at the spot for a few seconds before Dora laughed.

“You charmed a house elf, you scoundrel!” Dora said and hugged an embarrassed Harry.

Remus laughed under his breath as Dora made Harry promise to not gather a harem of house elves. The man paced across the space three times and asked for the room the house elf mentioned. A large oak door appeared and the three of them stared at it.

“The door is on the map now, as is the method to open it.” Harry said when he checked it.

“Stay behind me, just in case.” Remus said and cautiously opened the door.

Dora made a surprised sound at what they saw and the three of them entered the room and shut the door. “That elf wasn't exaggerating, was she?”

The mounds and mounds of discarded and lost items filled the room that was about the size of the Quiddich pitch.

“They must be held up by magic.” Remus said and carefully poked the closest stack of furniture. It wobbled dangerously. “Or not. Try to not touch anything because we'll be buried. I'll cast the mapping and measuring spells to add the room to the map.”

Harry and Dora nodded and stepped back towards the door.

Remus held up his wand and did the spells and then turned around and tapped the map in the right spot. The room drew itself where there was a blank spot and then it populated with all of the things the map was designed to detect.

“There's only us inside with a whole bunch of dark and cursed objects.” Dora said and tapped the closest one. “Some of them have multiple enchantments like that school plaque.”

“Or there's multiple items stacked nearby.” Harry said. “Enlarge this, please.”

Dora cast a weak Engorgeo charm and the map only doubled in size. “It looks like we're both right.”

Remus looked at the map and nodded. “We need to be very careful. Summoning anything in here could cause an avalanche and everything would be buried with us on the bottom.”

“No playing around. Got it.” Harry and Dora said together.

“Let's get to work.” Remus said and the three of them slowly made their way through the enormous room and the stacks and piles of items in search of dark and cursed things.

An hour later, Harry held up a bag of galleons. “Finders keepers, right?”

“Only if we split it.” Dora joked.

Remus chuckled and waved. “Like Tipsy said, it's the room of lost things. Finders keepers is fair.”

“Dibs on all the jewellery.” Dora immediately said and Harry and Remus laughed. “Checked for curses first! I'm not stupid.”

Harry pulled a nice emerald pendant out of his pocket and held it up by the chain. “Remus and I found this half an hour ago.”

“If I didn't love you already, I'd smack you for holding out on me.” Dora said and stepped close, slipped the chain out of his hand and into her own, then kissed him hard.

Harry had a goofy smile on his face when she was done. “I wanted to surprise you.”

Dora put it on and smiled. “Surprise.”

Remus laughed and shook his head. “Stay close and don't let greed drive you. We're here for the bad stuff and we can look for the good stuff later.”

Harry and Dora nodded and they kept working and searching. The trio made it about a third of the way through the room when they found a dresser with the bust of an old woman on top of it wearing a dirty wig with a glittering tiara tucked into it.

“MINE!” Dora yelled and dove for it.

A stunning spell and a petrifying spell hit her at the same time and she dropped to the floor, frozen and unconscious. Thankfully, she hadn't had much momentum and she hadn't knocked the cursed thing off of the dresser.

“Good thinking with the Petrificus Totalis, Harry. You stopped her from grabbing it.” Remus complimented him and checked her. “She's not hurt.”

“I will be when she wakes up.” Harry said and levitated her back and out of the way. “I promised to never cast spells at her.”

“You may have just saved her life, so I'll make sure she knows that.” Remus said and stepped close to check the tiara. The thing glowed black when he cast several detection spells at it. “Sweet Merlin, it's another horcrux.”

Harry walked over and looked at it. “That's the same color as the one that used to be in my scar.”

Remus nodded and conjured a metal box to levitate the tiara inside and sealed it. “I doubt we can deal with it the same as yours, however.”

Harry nodded. “We need to use either basilisk venom or fiendfire.”

“We are not doing it here. The fire would eat everything and destroy the room.” Remus said and checked the map. “There are still six more cursed items in here. We'll have to leave them for now while I go and deal with this thing.”

Harry nodded again and levitated Dora into the air. “I'll lead the way back to the door.”

Remus followed Harry, whom was following the map, and they reached the door ten minutes later. Navigating around the piles of items took a lot longer than it should have while levitating someone in front of you. Before he opened the door, Harry covered Dora with his invisibility cloak and they left the room.

As soon as the door closed, it faded away. Since Harry was looking at the map at the time, he saw the map go blank where the room used to be. “Remus!”

Remus looked and saw the blank space. “I cast the spells, so the room should still be there on the map.” He said and thought about it. “Then again, if the room itself was enchanted like the third floor corridor, when the door isn't there, the room doesn't register.”

Harry watched the map as Remus called for the room again. When the door appeared, it also appeared on the map with the room behind it. “It's back.”

Remus opened the door and then closed it. It disappeared and the room on the map also disappeared. “That's an interesting piece of magic.”

Harry nodded once more. “I'll bring Dora to your office and we'll wait for you there.”

Remus checked the map and gave Harry's shoulder a squeeze before he ran down the hallway and disappeared behind a tapestry. Harry went down the stairs instead and through a hidden door to get to a back hallway and then slid down a short slide to step out from behind a suit of armor. He used normal stairs and hallways after that and went to Remus' office to rest Dora on the couch.

Harry took off the cloak that hid her, tucked it into his pocket, and sat down across from her in a chair. He suspected Remus would be a while, because if he used fiendfire anywhere, the Ministry would detect it and would send Aurors to investigate. Well, they should have. Who knew what they would do with all the corruption and bribes going on.

*

A sweaty and ragged Remus stumbled into his office late that night and saw Harry was deep asleep next to Dora. She had been unfrozen, so the boy wasn't hugging a statue, and he didn't bother reviving either of them. He had worn himself out apparating to the edge of France to find a large enough rocky outcropping to let a small amount of fiendfire out without endangering the surroundings.

He had almost lost control of it when the power of the horcrux and whatever enchantments the tiara had were added to fuel the fire. It was a desperate fight to keep the blaze contained and it had started to feed on his own protective magic before he had apparated away from the area and watched from afar as it eventually burned itself out.

Thankfully, the French Ministry Aurors that showed up to the site quickly ascertained what had happened and confiscated the remains. A quick switching spell made sure they carried a rock away instead and Remus put the charred remains of the tiara into another conjured and sealed metal box.

Remus tucked the thing into his bottom desk drawer and went to his bedroom. He would help Harry face Dora in the morning after the three of them had a lot more sleep.

Dora was surprisingly forgiving the next morning when they told her about what happened. She didn't remember it and she thanked the both of them for protecting her when she couldn't do it herself. Harry apologized for breaking his promise and Dora hushed him with another marathon snogging session.

*

The trip to the bathroom was delayed when Remus came across a very interesting thing on the updated map that showed dark curses. It was a name that he hadn't seen in over ten years, Peter Pettgrew. He also had a dark curse on him, the same as the one Severus Snape had on him. The Dark Mark.

It was almost a mad scramble for the man to race after the little pattering feet of the rat. It was trying to escape, now that it knew someone was after him. A bunch of the students laughed as Remus knocked over suits of armor, jostled paintings as he avoided the students, and how he lunged like a jungle cat into various corners.

After nearly fifteen minutes of chase, the rat finally made a mistake and tried to dash across a bare patch of floor to go outside through a crack in the wall across the hallway. Remus let out a yell of joy as he dove and wrapped both hands around the squeaking and squirming rat that he had just caught. Applause broke out and Remus looked around to see a huge gathering of students that had just witnessed his miraculous catch.

“Aha! Ya finally caught the little beast!” Argus Filch said. “That damn rat's been leaving his grubby little paw prints all over my nice clean floors!”

Remus stood up and gave his audience a bow, two members of which gave him thumbs up gestures. “Don't worry, Argus. You won't need to worry about that anymore.”

Argus gave him a toothy smile and walked off with his cat Mrs. Norris behind him. Surprisingly, she didn't seem bothered that she hadn't caught the rat herself.

“That was a great catch, dad... I mean, Professor Lupin.” Harry corrected.

Remus conjured a metal box and put the rat inside and sealed it before adding air holes. The trio walked back towards the DaDa office.

“Can we give him viritaserum before reverting him back?” Dora asked.

“It would be better to stun him first, revert him, and then give him the truth serum.” Remus said. “I'll need a dictaquill and perhaps an unbiased witness to read the questions.”

“That's us disqualified.” Harry said.

“What about Susan's aunt? She's the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, isn't she?” Dora asked.

“That is a great suggestion.” Remus said and put a hand on Harry's shoulder. “After all these years believing that Peter was dead, we both have a few misconceptions to sort out.”

“Sirius could still be guilty.” Harry said, halfheartedly.

Remus gave his shoulder a squeeze and let it go. “We have the perfect opportunity to find out.”

Harry nodded and the trio went into the office and prepared for the interrogation. When the room was finished, a quick message sent to Susan ended with her arriving in the office and she made a floo call to her Aunt Amelia. To everyone's surprise, she dropped whatever she was doing and asked to step through the floo. They all greeted her and the situation was quickly explained to her.

“Let me get this straight.” Amelia said and gave Remus a stern look. “You created a map of the school that can pinpoint dark marks and dark objects, and you're handling them yourself and not informing the headmaster whose job it actually is to do that?”

Remus sighed. “Perhaps a bit more background is needed before we continue.”

“That would be in your best interest, yes.” Amelia responded.

Another hour of talking managed to give Amelia Bones, Head of the DMLE, an explanation as to exactly why Remus Lupin, and the famous saviour of the wizarding world Harry Potter, didn't trust the headmaster.

“All right. Let's get his done.” Amelia said and picked up the list of questions. She had added a few questions of her own while things were being explained to her and she registered the dictaquill as an official recording device. She recorded the name of the file as the interrogation of Peter Pettegrew, with the date and the location. “I expect copies of your pensive memories for verification purposes.”

“Of course.” Remus said and Harry, Dora, and Susan nodded in agreement.

Remus opened the metal box and stunned the rat, dumped him onto a chair, and cast the animagus reversal spell. Peter was tied to the chair's arms and legs and three drops of truth serum were given to him before he was revived.

The next two hours were filled with revelations that would rock the wizarding world to the foundations. Voldemort's real name actually was Tom Riddle, whom was a half-blood that was born from a squib and a muggle. He had also performed many dark rituals to boost his magical power and committed a lot more murders than the Aurors ever suspected.

Two of the biggest revelations were that the Minister Cornelius Fudge was a willingly bribed stooge to Lucius Malfoy, and Sirius Black, who was the supposed right-hand man of Voldemort's, was completely innocent because Peter Pettegrew was the secret keeper that betrayed the Potters and Albus Dumbledore knew it. He had lied about it when questioned a decade ago and let an innocent man rot in prison for ten years.

Harry and Remus exchanged angry looks and nodded to each other. No one betrayed them and got away with it. If it was the last thing they ever did, Albus Dumbledore would pay for what he did.

Another question brought out the names of all of Voldemort's followers, none of which were under the Imperius curse, and everyone the Dark Lord owned or coerced in the Ministry of Magic.

Amelia had a similar angry look on her face as Remus, because she thought the same way about betrayers. They had broken their oaths to be loyal to protecting the public and she would make them pay for it.

“Leave this with me.” Amelia said and copied the sheets of information to give to Remus. “If anything happens to me, send copies to the Daily Prophet.”

“I'd rather avenge you first, if that's okay.” Remus said and his eyes flickered yellow briefly.

Amelia looked into his eyes and gave him a small smile. “I'll floo or owl as soon as I move on this.”

Remus waved his wand over Peter before he changed him back into a rat and put him back into the metal box. “He has a dozen tracking charms on both forms of his. If he escapes, you should have no trouble finding him again.”

“Thank you.” Amelia said and accepted the box. “Susan, I still expect your normal letter this week.”

“Yes, Auntie.” Susan said and gave her a hug. “Good luck.”

“I don't need luck. I'm just that good.” Amelia joked, nodded to Harry and Dora, and disappeared through the floo.

“Thanks a lot for your help, Susan. You don't know how much this means to us.” Harry said.

“I'm pretty sure I have some idea after hearing about all of that.” Susan said and blushed a little. “You could thank me with a kiss on the cheek if you want.”

Harry looked at Dora, whom nodded, so he stepped close to Susan and puckered his lips as he leaned in. Susan waited for a second and turned her head as she puckered her own lips and kissed him.

Harry jerked and pulled back. “Hey!”

Susan giggled and ran from the room, her face red.

Dora looked at the open door and shook her head as she looked back at Harry. “If I didn't appreciate how sneaky that was, I'd be mad at her stealing a kiss from you.”

Harry stared at her for a moment, then he wiped off his lips. “I don't think that's why you're not mad.”

“Oh?” Dora asked and looked at him. “Why, then?”

Harry couldn't stop his smile. “Because she had to steal it. I wasn't going to give her one because I give all of my kisses to you.”

“Aww.” Dora said and pulled him in close and snogged him senseless.

Remus shook his head at them and swiped his wand at his office door to close it. He had some paperwork to do and he would let the happy couple enjoy themselves with some clean fun for a while. They could check out the bathroom tomorrow.

*

“I'm glad we brought brooms for this.” Harry said and looked at the grimy water pipe. “Not having stairs is weird, though.”

“It's probably because the bathroom had plumbing installed afterwards and they tore out the bricks that might have transformed into stairs.” Remus suggested.

“Yeah, that would do it.” Harry said and turned around to look up at the ghost known as Moaning Myrtle. “I know you're a Ravenclaw; but, I hope you can accept having a friend in Hufflepuff.”

Moaning Myrtle gave him a shy smile. “You're always welcome to share my toilet, Harry.”

Dora chuckled and Remus barked a laugh.

“Thanks, Myrtle!” Harry said and walked over to the opening. “Potters! Follow me!” He said and dove inside.

“I guess that means you're an official Potter now, despite the contract not being enforceable yet.” Remus said and waved Dora forward.

“Being invited to discover the lost Chamber of Secrets is not the worst marriage proposal I've ever heard.” Dora said with a grin and dove after her boyfriend. “Waaahoooo!”

Remus waved goodbye to Moaning Myrtle and dove after the two speed-crazy nuts. He landed at the bottom of the long pipe and Harry had already cast the spells to add the antechamber to the map.

“This might take a while.” Harry said and the three of them moved off through the biggest tunnel and Remus and Harry took turns casting the room mapping and measuring spells to add them to the map.

“Is that a shed snake skin?” Dora asked and they stopped walking.

“Sweet Merlin, it is.” Remus said and walked over to it. He cast several spells at it and frowned. “It's not giving me many readings.”

“It's spell resistant?” Dora asked and he nodded. “The only magical snakes I know that are like that are the ashwinder, the three headed runespoor, and a basilisk.” She said and gasped. “Oh, shit! It's a basilisk! The other snakes can't grow that big!”

Remus took out a trunk from his pocket and enlarged it to normal size. He stuffed the skin inside the expanded space and closed the trunk and shrunk it. “Secondary effects work fine around it.”

“That's good to know.” Dora said. “What the hell are we supposed to do with the actual snake?”

Remus put the trunk into his pocket. “If we don't mind losing ten thousand galleons, we can shove a conjured spear through one of its eyes to scramble its brain.”

“T-t-ten th-thousand?” Dora asked, shocked.

“By estimating from the size of the shed skin, the eye would be about the size of a dinner plate.” Remus said and held his hands out to indicate the size. “Extremely rare to find one that big and intact.”

“I found a sealed door.” Harry's voice echoed from down the tunnel and Dora and Remus scrambled after him to see it. “The map says it's the same password as the sink.”

Remus looked at the map and saw the same squiggle. “Wands out and be ready to close your eyes and dive back through the doorway.”

Harry and Dora nodded and the three of them moved off to the side.

“Open.” Harry hissed and the door made several clicking sounds before it opened up on its own. It looked as thick as a bank vault door and Remus crept inside, his wand ready to attack. Harry and Dora went in behind him and split to either side with their own wands ready to attack.

To their relief, there was nothing waiting for them and they relaxed a little. Remus nodded at Harry and he brought over the map to have the room mapping spells cast and added to it. There were four side tunnels on each side and a huge statue at the end of the room.

“That's a long squiggle password.” Remus said and tapped the image of the statue on the map.

“It says, speak to me Salazar Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts four.” Harry said.

Dora gave Harry a surprised look and then they both laughed.

“It's definitely an aggrandizing mouthful.” Remus said and took out a small painting of a bowl of fruit. “Want to give me a hand?”

“What's the plan?” Dora asked and the three of them huddled together and Harry handed Remus a sheet of parchment.

“We're going to copy the arithmancy pattern of a painting's password and switch it with a password normal people can't speak.” Remus said.

Dora stared at him and then smiled a huge smile. “That's brilliant!”

“It works for passwords you don't know, too.” Harry said. “It's how we broke into the Black Townhouse to raid their library.”

Dora laughed. “It couldn't have happened to a nicer pile of bastards and bitches!”

“Sirius hated them, too.” Remus said and that brought their moods down a little. “Amelia has already snuck Peter into the next court session listing.”

“She has? That's great!” Harry exclaimed.

“It should only be another week before we hear anything else.” Remus said and the three of them did up the calculations for the spell to add a password to the painting.

Remus cast the setting spell on the portrait. “What do we use as a password?”

“Suck it, Dumbledore.” Dora and Harry said at the same time with huge smiles.

Remus shook his head and set the password before he stuck the portrait onto the wall beside the statue. “Go ahead, Dora. I want to see your spellwork as you switch them.”

“Remember the arithmancy formula and you'll do fine.” Harry encouraged her.

“Thanks, Harry.” Dora said and closed her eyes as she remembered the formula. She concentrated on that and opened her eyes as she waved her wand at the portrait in a slightly complicated manner, then she jabbed her wand at the statue and reversed the wand motion. When she was done, Dora let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding.

Remus cast a diagnostic spell. “Well done. It worked.”

“YES!” Dora yelled and Harry hugged her. The two of them kissed and then let out a little moan.

Remus let them celebrate for a moment and then spoke. “If you could do the honors.”

Dora and Harry broke the kiss and grinned. “SUCK IT, DUMBLEDORE!”

The statue's giant mouth creaked and slowly dropped down. Remus cast several diagnostic spells and waved Dora and Harry aside. “As far as I can tell, nothing has passed through here in at least several years.”

“If its dormant until someone wakes it, we have to take advantage of it.” Dora said.

“If it huddled up for warmth and coiled around itself, we better hope that it left its head up enough for us to reach it.” Harry added.

Remus cast a temperature spell and smiled. “Nice and toasty warm.”

Harry and Dora gave him predatory smiles. The three of them crawled in through the open mouth into the snake's den and stopped dead when they stood up and saw the thing. It was just over 60 feet long and its head was right there in front of them.

Without a word, Remus conjured a long metal spear, Dora transfigured the tip into jagged pieces, and Harry cast the bluebell flames spell on the tip. Remus motioned without speaking and asked if they should do it by hand or by wand. Harry and Dora pointed to his wand. He nodded and levitated the enhanced spear into position and banished it into and through the slit of the snake's closed eyelid.

The three of them took turns as they did their best to cast various levitation spells on it and the spear jerked in a different direction each time. After several minutes of them scrambling the sleeping snake's brain, the thing stopped breathing. They exchanged relieved looks that its hibernation hadn't been disturbed by their actions.

“Can we fit this thing into the trunk?” Harry asked and cast the room measuring and mapping spells to add it to the map.

“I honestly don't know.” Remus said and cast the same measuring spells on the dead basilisk. “No, its square volume is greater than the space available inside the trunk.”

“We can't buy a better one and we can't take the chance that expanding it past its limits would keep the other spells on the trunk intact.” Harry said and both Remus and Dora nodded. “Portkey?”

“It depends on if the chamber is covered by the Hogwarts wards or not.” Remus said and tapped the map. The ward line appeared and he sighed. “We are well inside the ward boundary.”

“How far are we below the main part of castle?” Harry asked and Remus raised his eyebrows. “I know the ward line crosses the tunnel going to Hogsmeade about halfway through; but, that's barely ten feet underground.”

“That is an excellent point.” Remus said. “I'll need a few minutes to work out the distance based on how long we flew, the angle of the pipes, and subtracting the height of two floors of castle and perhaps the first dungeon level.”

“It's too bad we didn't have something like a depth gauge that divers wear.” Dora said.

Remus and Harry exchanged looks and Remus motioned him towards Dora.

Harry turned to her and pulled her into a hug. “You are bloody brilliant!”

Dora blushed and then she moaned as Harry snogged her senseless, like she had done to him the day before.

Remus borrowed Harry's invisibility cloak and left them there as he used his broom to fly out through the chamber. He was back up into the bathroom only a minute later and then he was on the fourth floor and going down the tunnel behind the One-Eyed Witch statue. When he passed the marked ward line in the tunnel to Honeydukes, he apparated back to their home and went into the attic.

After a quick rummage through their summer storage, he found the scuba tanks they had used during their last vacation. He checked the battery in the depth gauge and nodded, then apparated back to the tunnel. The trip back seemed to go a lot faster and Remus was back down in the chamber. With the accurate gauge to tell them how far down they were, they discovered that the wards did not cover the chamber.

“It's going to take me a while to conceal this thing back at the house.” Remus said as he took out a length of rope. He cast the Portus charm on it with the destination set, then tied it around the basilisk's neck.

“What if you transfigure some of the stones in the backyard into similar stones as in the chamber? You can then cast cooling and stasis charms to stop the carcass from rotting.” Dora suggested.

Remus motioned for Harry to reward her again. Dora blushed as Harry called her brilliant again and then she lost herself in the reward as they snogged like there was no tomorrow. Remus activated the portkey and disappeared. He could trust them to eventually get back up into the castle without being discovered.

*

Remus sat in his office the day before his transformation and he couldn't stop his shivers. It was involuntary and he wouldn't want to change that, even if he had the choice to do so. It kept up everyone's expectations of his condition and it was best for everyone if they still thought he was dangerous.

The knock on his office door was a preliminary warning, because Severus Snape didn't want to be given permission to enter. He strode into the office as if he owned it and wasn't trespassing in someone else's domain. He held a nearly overflowing goblet of slightly smoking potion and placed it on the desk without a word. The look of contempt on his face said it all.

Remus didn't say anything either and just nodded. He trusted the man to not poison him, only because he was a consummate professional when it came to brewing potions. He would never be caught poisoning someone so blatantly.

Snape nodded back and retreated from the office with the same pompousness that he had entered the room with. The swish of his robes the only real sign that he objected to helping Remus.

Remus chuckled and used his wand to check the potion anyway. It was perfectly brewed and wasn't poisoned, so he went to his fireplace. A pinch of floo powder and a whispered destination, and a woman's scarred face appeared in the flames. He handed her the potion and she smiled thankfully and disappeared.

Unlike what everyone thought, Remus had never needed the Wolfsbane Potion. His feeble excuse that it was too expensive to waste money on, always made him laugh in private. He also didn't need to be segregated for everyone's safety. Ever since he was a little boy and had been bitten, he had thought it was the best thing to have happened to him and he had fully accepted himself and his wolf side.

Remus hadn't joined Fenrir Greyback, though. That crazy monster only wanted to infect wizards and witches to cause as much chaos and destruction as possible. He also wanted to spread his madness to as many like-minded individuals as he could, or to create them and indoctrinate them into his pack.

That was stupid, because it caused the Ministry of Magic to declare all werewolves as dark and dangerous creatures that could be hunted down when they were transformed. They couldn't get jobs in the wizarding world during the rest of the month because the government didn't want to encourage the general population to accept their condition as a magical disease.

Remus finished checking the last of the paperwork that Dora had completed for him and stood. He put on his shabbiest clothing and snuck out of the castle. He went right to the Whomping Willow and used the trick knot to immobilize the tree for a few seconds and used the tunnel entrance it concealed within its roots to go to the Shrieking Shack.

He always took three days off every month, just because it was expected of him and he had gotten into the habit. The old shack was just as he remembered it with the old and wrecked furniture. He laughed as he repaired a bunch of it and remembered the times he had intentionally let himself have fun and tore the things up. Who knew that maintaining everyone's expectations would be enjoyable?

A few cleaning charms took off the top layer of dust and cobwebs inside the room Remus had chosen to set up as a bedroom. It wasn't strictly necessary, since as a werewolf he could sleep anywhere he wanted. It helped with the stiffness the next morning, though. He even set out a small desk to sit at and to read with a comfy plush chair to relax in.

The next evening as the sun set, Remus put his things away and cast several protective charms on them, just in case. He went downstairs to the main room and waited. He smelled something different in the room and chuckled.

“How many times have I told you to cast a scent masking charm?” Remus asked the corner of the room.

“Dammit.” Harry said as he took off his invisibility cloak. “I must have picked up something in the Entrance Hall.”

Remus walked over to him and sniffed at the hem of the cloak. “A bit of Mrs. Norris and a hint of floor cleaner.”

Harry sniffed it himself and sighed. “Right. You need to cast the spell again whenever you pass over a non-natural surface.”

Remus patted him on the shoulder. “You'll be tall enough in a year or so that it won't matter.”

“Only if it's just me under the cloak.” Harry said. “It's weird that it only fully engages if its worn by a single person.”

Remus chuckled. “It's not my fault Dora wore red shoes the last time you two tried to sneak past me to go to the bar.”

Harry grinned at him. “We still went, you know.”

“I know.” Remus said and hung up the cloak in the corner. It was indestructible and he wasn't worried about it. “I would have gone as well if I wasn't trying to act like the responsible one.”

Harry laughed and checked his pockets one last time. “Dora really lets herself go when she dances.”

Remus nodded and checked his pockets as well. Nothing was found by either of them and they both felt a shiver start at their heads and roll down their spines. Their heads turned as one and they stared out of the window just as the clouds parted and a bright full moon appeared.

Remus and Harry let out growls before they started twitching and shaking. The change was usually painful for those that fought against it. Neither of them did. They welcomed the enhanced energy and the immense strength that their altered bodies brought them. It was a part of them and they both fully embraced the transformation.

Their bodies changed and grew, bones snapped and reformed, and hands and feet changed from having digits to having paws and claws. Their faces elongated and massive teeth grew out to accommodate their new muzzles. Fur grew out and covered them as their shabby clothing tore and fell away. When they were fully transformed, they lifted their heads and howled as loudly as they could.

“AAAAAWOOOOOOOO!” The two werewolves proclaimed their dominance to the world.

Remuswolf growled and waved at the closest repaired couch. Harrywolf growled back in surprise, then the two of them let out sounds of happiness and dove at the thing. They had a grand old time as they dug their claws into the fabric and tore out the plush stuffing.

The sounds of crashing and breaking wood echoed from the Shrieking Shack and through the Forbidden Forest all night.

The next morning, Remus and Harry woke up on the huge bed. They had curled in on themselves to sleep and they were stiff and sore after letting themselves go last night. Neither of them regretted it. Remus dispelled his protective charms over his things and handed Harry a pain potion.

“Thanks.” Harry said and sipped half before he handed it back.

Remus finished it and put the empty potion bottle away and handed him a bathrobe. “You better sneak back into the castle before your dorm mates wake up.”

Harry nodded and accepted the robe, put it on, and left the bedroom. Remus didn't have to listen intensely to hear Harry leave and he dressed into moderately nice clothing. He sat down at the desk and took out one of the books he liked and relaxed. He always enjoyed transforming with his adoptive son and last night had been fun for the both of them.

Remus was halfway through the book before he realized that Harry was going to be a terror when he hit puberty. He already had a girlfriend, technically fiance, and he suspected that with the way they behaved, Harry was going to start puberty a heck of a lot sooner than either he or Dora expected.

“Maybe I should warn her that werewolves mature faster?” Remus asked himself and then laughed. “No, I'll let it be a surprise to the both of them. When Harry shoots up an inch or two in height after a transformation, she might clue in. Maybe.”

The thought that one of their next snogging sessions might devolve into something else, had Remus laughing pretty hard, because Dora was not going to stop him.

*

A month later, just before Halloween, it was Dora's day off that just happened to coincide with the day after a full moon on a Saturday. She was relaxing in her apartment inside the castle when a knock came on her door. She hopped up from the loveseat and slipped on a bathrobe, since it was so early in the morning and she hadn't gotten dressed in normal clothes yet.

When she opened the portrait, Dora caught her breath, because her eyes were now at the exact height as the brilliant green ones that stared at her. “You're not a squirt anymore.”

Harry grinned at her and stepped inside. The snogging session that usually had Harry tucked onto her lap had just evolved to them mutually hugging each other. They somehow made it to the loveseat and the two occupants quickly learned why the loveseat was named that way.

Not surprisingly, it was Dora's voice that made howls of pleasure that echoed that day.

They would find out the next morning that their betrothal contract was enacted, too.

*

Hermione sat in the bathroom stall and wiped at her eyes. She had been berated by that idiot Ronald Weasley and she had let it get to her. It was just that his words were not only hurtful, they had been the same ones that the horrible kids in grade school had said to her. It had brought back all those memories of being bullied and she hated it.

The bathroom door opened and Hermione held her breath, because she didn't want anyone to know that she had been crying. The knock on the stall door let her know her efforts didn't matter.

“Hermione, Professor Quirrell let a troll into the school.” Harry's voice said. “It's on the first floor right now and it's coming this way.”

Hermione gasped and opened the stall door. “What are you doing here if there's a troll coming?!?”

Harry smiled crookedly. “I can't let you get hurt by a stupid troll. You're the only one in the whole school that doesn't know about it and I came to warn you.”

Hermione blinked her eyes at him. “You... you...”

“You can worry about thanking me later.” Harry said and took her hand. He pretty much dragged her out of the stall and then the bathroom. He sniffed the air and nodded. “It's coming up the left side stairwell.”

“H-how can you t-tell?” Hermione asked, her voice a little shaky, because Harry's firm and warm hand held hers tenderly.

“Troll's stink.” Harry said and they went to the right.

Suddenly, the smell swelled and seemed to flow over them.

“Ugh!” Hermione groaned and covered her nose and mouth with her free hand.

“Told you.” Harry said and looked back. “We need to run!”

Hermione didn't think twice about pretty much hopping into his arms. Harry easily caught her and took off. They managed to get to the main staircase and the troll, having much longer legs, had almost caught up to them.

Hermione made a squeak sound and pointed over Harry's shoulder. “Club!”

Harry knew what that meant and dove onto the floor. He twisted at the last second and landed on his back and slid for about ten feet as the troll's giant club swished where his head used to be.

The troll looked confused for a second, then it was angry and hefted the club over its head. “RAH!”

Harry kicked up his legs and Hermione screamed as Harry rolled up and over her and the club smashed into where Harry's legs used to be on the floor. As the club crushed part of the stone floor, Hermione was lifted into Harry's arms again.

“Hold on!” Harry said and Hermione's hair flew around her head as Harry ran down the stairs faster than she thought a person could safely go down the stairs. This was proven true when the stairs ended and Harry had to do the same dive trick and landed on his back with her in his arms. “OOOOF!”

The pair slid all the way across the Entrance Hall and slid to a stop just in front of the wall. Hermione scrambled to get off of Harry to let him catch his breath, since it had been knocked out of him from the fall.

Harry wheezed and tried to breathe. He only had a bit of time to spare, because the troll had a difficult time walking down stairs that were not made for a troll's big feet. “G-g-go.” He managed with what little breath he had.

Hermione shook her head and stayed beside him on her knees. “You didn't leave me, so I can't leave you.”

Harry growled a little and nodded. He took out his wand and pointed it at the stairs.

“What are you doing?” Hermione asked.

“T-trip.” Harry wheezed.

“Oh!” Hermione gasped and took out her own wand. “Together!”

Harry nodded and they held their hands together. At the moment the troll entered their target area, they both cast the tripping jinx on the stairs, because the troll's skin was spell resistant. Since only a small part of the troll's big feet actually touched the stair, the doubled tripping jinx actually worked. The troll slipped, caught its heel on the next step, and tumbled forward.

“M-move!” Harry managed to say and Hermione barely pulled him out of the way when the troll rolled down the stairs and across the Entrance Hall to slam its head right into the spot Harry had just been.

Of course, the professors showed up just when they weren't needed. Minerva McGonagall, Filius Flitwick, and Severus Snape.

“What is going on here?” Minerva asked.

“Threw... a party.” Harry said and finally took a full breath. “We had an uninvited guest.”

Minerva looked surprised, Filius smiled, and Snape sneered.

“It was chasing us and we tripped it on the stairs.” Hermione explained.

“Why weren't you in your common rooms?” Filius asked.

“I was in the bathroom and didn't know.” Hermione said and didn't say why she was in the bathroom. “Harry found me and warned me about the troll. We made it out of the bathroom and it found us in the hallway.”

“The floor was damaged by the club when we fell down and it attacked us.” Harry added.

“We barely made it down the stairs when Harry had the idea to trip it.” Hermione said. “We waited until it was halfway down before trying and now its knocked out.”

“It's not dead?” Minerva asked.

“No, its still breathing. A hit to the head won't hurt a troll because there's not much there to damage.” Harry offered.

Filius laughed and Minerva frowned. Snape stayed with his trademark sneer.

“Well, off with you.” Minerva said and waved them away from the troll. “Do you need an escort to your common rooms?”

“No, thank you.” Harry said. “I'm getting married in the summer and will be considered an adult.”

“Wh-wh-what?!?” Hermione and Minerva asked with the same tone of exasperation in their voices. Filius and Snape looked stunned.

“It's nothing. I inadvertently activated the marriage clause in a betrothal contract. I still have to go to school until fifth year to legally sit for my Owls.” Harry said and ignored the stunned stares. “I'll walk you to Griffindor Tower.” He said to Hermione and took her hand again.

Hermione walked beside Harry in a daze as he led her back up the stairs that they had just desperately fled down. It wasn't until they were near the seventh floor a few minutes later that she spoke.

“Who?” Hermione asked.

“I can't legally say until we're married.” Harry admitted, sheepishly. “Confidentiality is part of the contract.”

Hermione stopped walking in front of the Griffindor entrance. “She can't tell anyone about you, either?”

Harry shook his head. “Not until the vows are spoken.”

“Wow.” Hermione whispered.

“I know.” Harry whispered back.

“You're going to be the youngest married person ever.” Hermione said.

“No, that's Ginger Whimpernipple. She was eight when her father sold her to Sheik Taulgash in 1687 as his first wife.”

“That's horrible!” Hermione gasped. “The age difference would have ruined their lives!”

“Nah, he was only nine at the time.” Harry said with a grin and waved at the Fat Lady in the portrait. “Balderdash.”

“Thank you.” The Fat Lady said and bowed before the portrait opened.

Hermione squinted her eyes at Harry. “You... you...”

Harry stepped close to her as he whispered. “Thank you for saving me from the troll.”

“You saved me first.” Hermione countered.

“Then there's no debts between us.” Harry said and kissed her cheek. “Friends?”

Hermione could barely make herself nod and couldn't stop her blush.

“I'll see you tomorrow in the library.” Harry said and walked away.

Hermione waited for a few moments to fight her blush down and went into the Griffindor common room, only to stop at all the staring faces.

“You fought the troll?” One of the Weasley Twins asked.

“After it chased Harry and I, we tripped it down the main staircase in the Entrance Hall.” Hermione said.

“Wicked.” Both twins said in chorus.

Hermione liked the looks of respect she saw on their faces. When she looked around, a lot of the people that had dismissed her and made fun of her, looked a little scared, especially Ron Weasley. She decided right then that she liked that look as well. If the other students weren't going to respect her for her brains, she thought it was good that they would respect her for being scary.

*

Albus Dumbledore sighed at the formal request by all of the teachers, including his spy Severus Snape, to have Professor Quirrell fired for endangering the students. The large pile of evidence of the man's antics, hundreds of complaints about his stuttering and his offensive smell, and proof that the man had intentionally brought the troll into the castle to cause havoc and to harm the students, was irrefutable.

The problem Albus had was that he hadn't had the chance to set up a meeting between the possessed teacher and Harry Potter. He hadn't gauged their interactions yet, since Quirrell was still the Muggle Studies professor and not the DaDa professor like he had planned for. Even during meals, Harry was too focused on all of his friends to bother looking up at the staff table.

Albus considered burying everything for a couple of months, at least until Christmas, when an owl flew in and dropped two disturbing things. One was a letter from the school's board of governors that claimed they had the same evidence and the other was a printer's test copy of the next day's Daily Prophet and they had the same evidence.

-

Professor Quirrell's Dastardly Deeds! By Rita Skeeter

It has come to this reporter's attention that the current Hogwarts Muggle Studies professor is a budding Dark Lord. That's right, loyal readers! The man has done some questionable things that we could overlook as eccentricities. It's the horrible acts that we cannot ignore!

The man is illegally hunting unicorns in the Forbidden Forest and slaughtering the innocent and endangered species. It is unconfirmed if he is harvesting them for their potions ingredients or wand components. I'm sure we all hope that the headmaster of Hogwarts and the Aurors investigate these proven allegations and punish the man for his crimes.

The worst offence so far is the man's act of intentionally bringing a troll into the halls of Hogwarts on Halloween. It caused untold damage to the school, an unnecessary panic, and two unnamed students were in grave peril as it chased them!

These things must be stopped as soon as possible. I call upon you, my loyal fans, to send your letters of admonishment to the school and force the headmaster to act in all of our best interests and...

-

Albus groaned at being called out for Quirrell's actions. He should have suspected that he wouldn't be allowed to push all of this aside for the greater good. His work in trying to save the wizarding world was being hampered constantly and he was sure that he knew who was behind it. It was just unfortunate that the evidence presented couldn't be twisted to implicate Remus Lupin instead.

That thought gave Albus a train to follow and he looked down at Severus Snape's recommendation. He couldn't get the man falsely accused of Quirrell's crimes; but, he could have Severus let slip in a particular circumstance that he was tired of brewing the Wolfsbane potion for Professor Lupin. Yes, he could ensure that he removed the infuriating man from interfering with his plans for Harry Potter.

Albus only considered for a moment that he was ruining the future of Remus Lupin and justified it by deciding that it was for the greater good for him to be out of the way. He would need to find a replacement DaDa teacher quickly to make sure that there would be no interruption in the class, then he chuckled.

They already had an assistant DaDa professor and Albus would promote Miss Tonks temporarily; and by contract, she would be gone by the end of the year anyway. It was quite handy to have that curse on the position to explain away the necessities of his own machinations.

After a week of howlers for Albus Dumbledore and his reluctant sacking of Professor Quirrell, whom he also arranged an accident for to return Voldemort to a spectre form, Remus Lupin's furry little problem had become general knowledge available to the student population. Owls winged their way to hundreds of parents and after another round of howlers, it ensured that Professor Lupin was sacked as well.

*

“We can't wait until summer.” Dora whispered to Harry as they laid in bed inside their hidden apartment. “If Dumbledore was willing to have Remus publicly outed to keep you alone and unsupported, you need to legally become an adult to stop him from claiming your guardianship again.”

Harry didn't hesitate as he nodded. He gave his fiance a kiss before he cast several cleaning spells on himself, left the bed, and started to dress in his best clothes.

“What are you doing?” Dora asked.

“I'm skipping school today and we're going to Andi's to get her and Ted. After that, we'll floo Remus and we'll meet at the closest bonder.”

Dora blinked her eyes for a moment. “H-Harry, I... I thought... maybe this weekend or something.”

“There's no time like the present.” Harry said with a grin.

Dora looked over at the pile of paperwork on her desk and the full schedule of classes she had today. It was her first day teaching classes and her mind warred between her Defense Mastery and her desire for Harry or to crush Dumbledore's plans that had ruined Remus' life.

“If you're so worried about it, just do what Snape does. Write on the board what each year needs to read for today's lesson on the chalkboard with the excuse that you need another day to prepare to take over the class fully.” Harry said, confidently.

Dora caught her breath and hopped out of the bed to hug him tightly. “You're brilliant!”

“Well, you are marrying me.” Harry said and his grin didn't lessen.

“Yes! Right!” Dora said and ran to her closet. She dug through it and pulled out a nice dress that she had planned to wear during the next Hogsmeade weekend to surprise Harry.

Harry saw her cast the same cleaning spells on herself and slip on some very risky and sexy underwear. He let out a low whistle that sounded suspiciously like a wolf howl.

“Down, love.” Dora blushed and bent over to step into the dress. She moaned when Harry's hand caressed her ass and she successfully ignored the sensation as she pulled the dress up and over her shoulders. “Zip me up.”

Harry did as she asked and kissed her cheek. “Thank you.”

“F-for what?” Dora asked and turned around to face him.

“For not getting upset that we're rushing into this before we're both ready.” Harry said.

Dora put her arms around him and gave him a soft and tender kiss. “I told you years ago that I'm willing to do anything to help you, Harry.”

“While also helping yourself?” Harry joked and she laughed.

“Of course! Just because I'm going to be your wife, that doesn't mean that's all I have to be.” Dora said and gave him another kiss. “Plus, with you declared as an adult by magic and the Ministry, we can legally sell the basilisk and won't have to give anything to the school.”

Harry's face lit up as he grinned. “Can I tell Snape? I want to tell Snape. Let me tell Snape!”

Dora laughed again and nodded.

“I love you.” Harry said and gave her a good snogging.

The happy couple left the apartment under the invisibility cloak and with the map. They avoided everyone and used several different hidden passages in the castle to get to the fourth floor and the One Eyed Witch statue. They made it out past the ward line through the tunnel to Honeydukes in Hogsmeade and Dora apparated them to her mother's backyard.

A quick explanation, a floo call, and half an hour later, Dora and Harry were in front of a legal bonder that co-signed the marriage contract and performed a nice little ceremony. The flash of magic when Dora and Harry kissed to seal the bond, blinded everyone for several seconds.

To everyone's surprise, Harry let out a cry of pain and he dropped to his knees as his body started changing. The sound of bones cracking were loud in the silent chapel and Harry's whimpers made their hearts break, even the bonder. The man was surprised as he watched Harry's hair grow out to be about two feet long and his back widened to push his shoulders apart.

After ten minutes, Harry let out a relieved sigh and slowly stood. Dora stopped breathing when the boy that had been her exact height was not six inches taller than her and his shoulders were twice as wide. The slightly baggy suit Harry had worn was strained to bursting and his muscles had popped the seams on the arms and the buttons of his shirt.

“S-s-sweet Merlin.” Dora whisered and stared into the man's eyes. Her husband's eyes.

“That... doesn't normally happen.” The bonder said, shocked.

“Magic seems to have decided to actually make me an adult.” A now five foot ten Harry Potter said and took off his fake glasses.

“You still need to wear them when you're studying.” Dora told him. “I like how they make you look smarter.”

Harry laughed and hugged her as he kissed her. “We need to pop by the ministry to file the papers.”

Dora nodded and they walked over to where their witnesses stood. Andromeda stared at Harry like Dora had, Ted looked about fit to burst out laughing, and Remus looked proud.

“Let me get that for you.” Remus said and used his wand to enlarge Harry's suit coat and shirt before he repaired both.

“Thanks, dad.” Harry said and smiled, because he was only two inches shorter than him.

“We're going to have to accelerate your studying and training to keep up with your new form.” Remus said and Harry nodded. They both knew that he had just jumped through his magical maturity that should have been years away and there would be consequences from it, because of his condition.

The five of them left the chapel and went right to the Ministry of Magic's registry office and filed the paperwork. They also checked Harry's wand for him and it no longer had the trace on it. He could legally do magic and the Ministry couldn't stop him.

“I'll be using the Potter surname from now on, now that we don't need to hide it from certain individuals anymore.” Remus said as they left the Ministry of Magic.

“Remus Potter hasn't been declared a werewolf, either.” Harry said with a laugh and everyone joined him. It was a legal fiction and they would use it ruthlessly to install Remus into a position of power that no one would be able to stop.

“You might want to settle down with your woman on the side, too.” Andromeda suggested.

Remus raised an eyebrow at her and Ted elbowed him in the side.

“Your adopted son got married before you, old man!” Ted teased him. “He's putting you to shame!”

That set everyone to laughing again and they apparated back to the backyard of the Tonks family home. With magic, they quickly set up a small reception and sat down to talk and enjoy the rest of the morning. Harry had an appointment at Gringotts that afternoon and a few things needed to be settled and put into place to stop a certain headmaster from claiming the Potter fortune.

The group of family needed the relaxing time because the reaction when Harry went back to school the next day was going to rock the wizarding world.

*

Breakfast in the Great Hall was a normal affair until a hush seemed to fall across the students. They had just noticed an adult they had never seen before enter the room wearing Hufflepuff robes. He looked both handsome and a little ridiculous for wearing school robes and everyone stared when he walked over to Susan Bones and sat beside her.

“Good morning, Susan.” Harry said and started dishing himself some food.

Susan's eyes went to his face and she gasped. She would recognize those brilliant green eyes anywhere, with or without glasses. “Harry Potter! What happened to you?”

“I had my magical maturity yesterday.” Harry declared as if it was no big deal and started eating.

Susan's mouth opened and closed several times before she let out a shuddering breath and fainted. She slumped against the table and Hannah wasn't far behind her. She seemed to have trouble breathing and then laid her head on Susan's back and fell unconscious.

The room stayed silent for several more seconds before everyone started shouting and yelling about the impossibility. Harry ignored everyone and kept eating. He heard the footsteps approaching and he could almost feel the anger in them. He stopped eating and wiped his mouth with a napkin.

“Potter! What's this nonsense?” Snape sneered at him. “You can't cheat your way to becoming an adult by taking an aging potion!”

Harry slowly stood and everyone saw that he now stood as tall as the potions professor. He didn't meet the man's eyes, however. He wasn't stupid. He looked right at the man's long beak-like nose and drew his wand.

“I, Harry James Potter, claim your life debt to the Potter Family.” Harry said and Snape's pale face changed from anger to shock. “In your pettiness and upon the advice of Albus Dumbledore, you have harmed the Potter Family's reputation, despite your sworn oath to protect it.”

Snape reeled back as if slapped.

“All of your possessions, both personal and professional, are now wholly owned by the Potter family. All current and future potions patents are claimed as well. Your name will be stricken from all magical records to be replaced by Betrayer.” Harry said and his wand flashed brightly.

“N-no, you... can't take my life.” Snape whispered.

“I'm not going to kill you or take your magic, Betrayer. I claimed your life's work instead because I knew you valued it more than your pathetic existence.” Harry said and put his wand away. “Tipsy!”

“Lord Potter be calling Tipsy!” The female elf said when she popped in and a lot of people gasped.

“Pack up all of Professor Betrayer's belongings and deliver them to this address.” Harry said and handed her a piece of paper. The elf accepted it and read it, then the paper dissolved away. “Then go to his home in Spinner's End and seal it. Do the same with his family home in Cokeworth, too. I'll send someone over later to take possession of them.”

“Tipsy be doing that right away, Pretty Green Eyes!” The female elf said and popped away.

Harry didn't bother trying to dissuade the elf from calling him that. He waved a hand at Snape to shoo him away. “Go back to your seat, Betrayer. Your services are not longer required by the family you betrayed.”

Snape stood there and watched as Harry sat down and started eating again. The two girls near him woke up from their faint and everyone in the hall started muttering about Snape being a betrayer and not denying it. The man looked defeated for a moment, then his face changed to anger. He reached for his wand and drew it to point it at Harry.

“Avada...” Snape started to say.

A red bolt of light hit him in the back and Snape dropped to the floor. Dora walked over to the downed man and took his wand, then summoned his two illegal backup wands, a portkey, and a set of keys.

“Thank you, love.” Harry said without looking up from his food.

“I already called the Aurors.” Dora said and pulled Snape's sleeve back and lifted it up to show off the man's Dark Mark. “It seems that once you go dark, you can never come back.”

The older muggleborn students let out laughs at that and then had to explain what it meant to the people around them. The purebloods looked disgusted by it and most of the others laughed. Dora winked at everyone and then levitated the unconscious man to cast the Incarcerous spell on him before she wrapped him in magical ropes and took him out of the Great Hall.

“Is it true? It's just an aging potion?” Susan asked after hearing some of the talking from the other students.

Harry finished eating and turned slightly to look down at her. He was about a foot taller than her and he looked like a giant among the first years. He lifted his hand and showed off two rings. One was his family ring that his grandfather Fleamont Potter had left in the care of the goblins and the other was a gold wedding band with runes engraved on it.

“Oh.” Susan said, her voice sad.

Harry put an arm around her shoulders and she leaned against him. “We can still be friends.”

“My aunt won't be happy when she finds out one of my friends is an adult.” Susan said.

Harry couldn't argue that. “I'm sorry, Susan.”

“Me, too.” Susan sighed.

“Can offer to buy you chocolates, since I can leave the castle whenever I want?” Harry asked.

Susan let out a half-laugh half-huff. “Yes, an adult bribing me with sweets is so much better.”

Harry laughed and put his other arm around her to hug her properly. “This is all going weirder than I thought it would.”

“What did you think would happen?” Susan asked and looked at his face. “No one would notice?”

Harry gave her a roguish grin and Susan's heart went pitter-patter. “My life has never really been normal, so no. I knew everyone would notice. I am famous, after all.”

“Your new height must have put your head in the clouds.” Hannah said with a teasing smile.

“I didn't want to be famous. That's Dumbledore's fault.” Harry informed her. “He had Hagrid go to every pub and bar in Britain to let everyone know I was the boy-who-lived and defeated Tom Riddle.”

Those words sent a ripple of surprise to everyone within earshot.

“Who's Riddle?” Susan asked.

“That's Voldemort's real name. Tom Marvolo Riddle.” Harry said. “If you hadn't guessed from the last name, he had a muggle father.”

“NO!” Several voices from the Slytherin table shouted.

“Yes.” Harry said. “Your vaunted champion of pureblood rights that all you morons bowed down to, that your parents let him brand like cattle, was a half-blood raised in the muggle world.”

The looks of anger on a lot of the Slyterhin's faces was worth letting that secret out, as was the look of shock on Albus Dumbledore's. Almost as one, most of the Slytherin students stood up and walked out of the Great Hall. There were only about twenty students left behind that looked confused, including three first years. Two girls, one blonde and one brunette, and a dark-skinned boy.

“So much for Slytherin solidarity.” Cedric said with a chuckle.

“There's definitely going to be some changes in the castle with so many of the Slytherin idiots openly admitting they agreed with Voldemort to get rid of the muggleborns and muggle raised.” Harry said and nodded at the remaining students. “Those over there are the real cunning and ambitious ones.”

The blonde first year locked eyes with Harry and he gave her a thumbs up with his right hand. She let a smile appear on her face for a second before she composed herself and gathered up the others. She led the newly split faction out of the Great Hall with her head held high.

“Yes, definitely a change.” Harry said and everyone at the Hufflepuff table nodded.

*

The Potter Family gained hundreds of potion patents that were not released. That was stupid, because Betrayer, previously known as Severus Snape, had sat on them because he didn't want people benefiting from his inventions. He really had been a bastard to everyone except Slytherins.

As Remus Potter established a new company to start producing the new and updated potions, hiring werewolves to do the majority of the work, Betrayer was sent to Azkaban after he had been interrogated with veritaserum.

The previous crimes the horrible man had been known for and acquitted for, were just the tip of the iceberg. It was so bad that the official record of the trial was sealed by Wizengamut order and no one would comment on it.

Albus Dumbledore lost his positions in both the Wizengamut as Chief Warlock and the International Confederations of Wizards as the Supreme Mugwump because of Betrayer's testimony. For some reason, this did not disqualify him from being the headmaster of a school that was responsible for the future of the British wizarding world.

The Muggle Studies class was taken over by a pureblood witch and she had no clue how the muggle world actually worked. It was almost funny how many people dropped the class, except for other closed-minded purebloods. They apparently believed every word and it reinforced their superiority complex over muggles.

Potions hadn't been taken over by another professor and anyone that actually showed up for the normal classes, saw the potion on the chalkboard and the assigned reading material and homework assignments. It eventually became a joke, because one student per yer group would go in, write the things down, and passed out copies to everyone else.

Dora Tonks-Potter excelled teaching the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, thanks to Remus Potter and his copious notes and lesson plans. He was also available by floo whenever she had a question or a problem, so it worked out well for everyone.

Harry Potter moved into their apartment officially, just so he didn't have to shock anyone by having a man showering in the boy's bathroom. The very first time he had forgotten to bring a robe into the shower, he had a particularly randy thought about his wife. He also just happened to walk out of the shower and into the boy's dormitory and both Susan and Hannah had been waiting there for him.

Needless to say, both girls had sudden nosebleeds and had fainted on his bed from the sight. Hermione had laughed so hard that she left herself nearly unconscious when Harry told her about it. Dora just shook her head and did her best to make sure Harry didn't have stray erections without her being there to fix the problem.

Peter Pettegrew was sentenced to be kissed by a Dementor so that he could never escape justice. The people in the know were disappointed that he didn't have to suffer for years to make up for all the damage he had done, then accepted that there were some things that just couldn't be helped.

Sirius Black was declared innocent of all charges and quietly released on Christmas Eve. Under orders from the Head of the DMLE Amelia Bones, he was to never speak of what happened to him. He was also paid a million galleons for each year of his false imprisonment and he would spend a long time recovering in St. Mungo's Hospital from the ordeal.

*

The rest of the year seemed to pass by without further incident, despite Albus and his blatant attempts to get Harry to investigate the third floor corridor. The man almost seemed desperate to prove to himself that the boy needed his guidance, even though he had made terrible mistakes in judgment.

Albus finally admitted defeat when the Hogwarts Express left the Hogsmeade station and he went to the third floor corridor on the right-hand side. He easily disabled the traps and subdued the creatures to reach the final room with the Mirror of Erised. He let out a sigh and looked into its depths to retrieve the Philosopher's Stone that his cleverness had hidden inside of the thing all year.

To his shock, his deceased little sister Arianna Dumbledore held up a piece of parchment instead of the bright red stone.

-

You need to get up much earlier in the mornings to trick a Marauder and the son of a Marauder. Thank you for all the free gold. It's being put to good use.

-

Albus sighed with resignation and Arianna waved to him with a huge smile on her face. She then suddenly grew into a beautiful young woman and hugged a young man without a face and kissed him passionately. A little boy appeared, also without a face, then a baby girl. They hugged their happy parents and it broke the old man's heart.

Tears flowed down Albus' face as he saw his family grow and become huge. He was a proud uncle with his brother and they were both godfathers and great-godfathers to many nieces and nephews and grandnieces and grandnephews. His knees gave out and he stayed there kneeling for days, then a week, as he stared at what could have been.

Albus Dumbledore collapsed from starvation and dehydration and his lifeless eyes stared at the happy old woman his sister had become and the multitude of blank faces around her that would have come into existence if his sister had lived. No one would ever find his body or discovered why he disappeared or what happened to him.

*

Three years later, Harry Potter stood in front of his close friends in the Room of Requirement. The group had been through a lot since first year and now Harry's name had come out of the Goblet of Fire.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Harry asked them.

“Harry, we're all with you and we always will be.” Hermione said, her voice like steel.

Susan Bones, Hannah Abbot, Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood, Ginny Weasley, Fred and George Weasley, Cedric Diggory, Sue Li, Sophie Roper, Sally-Anne Perks, Lisa Turpin, Tracey Davis, and surprisingly Daphne Greengrass, all nodded in agreement.

Harry smiled warmly at them and walked around as he handed each of them the heavily modified Animagus potion that Remus had first invented years ago to change Harry into a werewolf with all of the benefits and without the virulent infection or the drawbacks. It had been the only way to keep him safe, because Harry never wanted to abandon his dad or let him feel alone again.

Each potion had to be carefully brewed for each individual, so that they wouldn't suffer any side effects or be in too much pain, despite the way their bodies would break and change every full moon. Without being asked, they all waited until they had their potion and then drank it all as one. By the time Harry walked to the front of the room again, all of them groaned and dropped to the floor.

“Don't fight it, my friends. Let it fill you and lift you up!” Harry said in encouragement as he watched their backs ripple and expand slightly.

The first change wouldn't be a full one and only changed their human bodies, since the full moon was several weeks away.

“You are stepping into your new lives. You are going to become stronger, and smarter, and more powerful. You are going to be better than you were, better than you ever could be, and you're going to love how freeing it is. You will have friends and family that will always be there, no matter what. You have each other. You have us. You have the pack.”

A low guttural growl came from Hermione and her eyes briefly changed to yellow.

“Stand, Hermione. Embrace what it means to be what you are.” Harry said and held his hands down to her. “Feel it. Know it. Believe it.”

Hermione let a smile appear on her face and her teeth were quite a bit sharper than they had been. She took his hands and stood up, only to realize that she was several inches taller, her breasts were fuller, and her jeans were tight. She let out a soft laugh and gripped her friend's hands hard.

“You incorporated my polyjuice accident into my potion.” Hermione said, almost in a purr.

“The only way to fully change you was to change all of you.” Harry said. “Remus said it was like trying to take a dip into a pool of body temperature water. It might be water still; but, it doesn't feel like it, because it feels like a part of you.”

Hermione grinned and nodded in understanding and her longer bushy hair shook with extra mass.

“May I?” Harry asked.

“Of course. I am yours.” Hermione said boldly, then blushed. “I mean, I am your pack.”

Harry stepped close and leaned down slightly to dig his hands into her bushy mane and gripped it hard as he put his lips by her ear and whispered. “We both know what a Freudian slip means.”

Hermione felt her whole body shiver and then she softly moaned when Harry's sharp teeth nipped her ear. Her arms slid around him and she couldn't stop her own playful bite onto the side of his neck. She let out a little growl and it was Harry's turn to have his whole body shiver.

“I wish I had been first.” Hermione whispered to him.

“I know.” Harry whispered back and leaned back just enough to see her face. “Dora needs a Beta.”

Hermione's eyes widened and her mouth worked to say something, only she couldn't. When she had decided to join Harry's pack, she never expected to become second in command. She would be the most important female in the pack, right under the Alpha female.

“Tonight in our room. Wear something nice so I can tear it off of you.” Harry whispered.

Hermione let out a cute sound before her hand went to the front of her damp jeans and she blushed. Harry grinned at her and went to each person and helped them stand as he gave them encouraging words.

Unsurprisingly, Neville was nearly six inches taller than Harry and he had torn his shirt apart with his slightly changed body. Several of the other girls, especially Daphne and Tracey, gave him very pointed and assessing looks. He had always been a bit heftier than the other boys his age and now he was nearly monstrous. It looked good on him.

The others looked very pleased with their changes as well, even Susan. Her large breasts had firmed up and seemed to defy gravity. Hannah let out several girly giggles as she tested that out and poked them. This act set off the others and they all gathered closely as they examined each other and themselves.

Hermione hung back and stayed beside Harry, because she wanted him to be the only one who knew that she had gotten off because of him. Harry appreciated that and made sure to tuck her under his arm and against his chest. It let her turn slightly and kept the front of her damp jeans out of sight.

“I'll loan you my invisibility cloak.” Harry whispered and Hermione smiled at him as her hand slid down to his backside and gripped it tightly. He jerked a little at the dominant move and held in his chuckle, because he was sure that he was going to like the more forward Hermione a lot.

*

The wand weighing ceremony was a laugh and Cedric and Harry had enjoyed scaring the nosy reporter named Rita Skeeter. Her weak attempt to call Harry a scared little boy had them laughing their asses off and one comment about Harry owning controlling interest in the Daily Prophet had shut the woman up better than a muzzle would have.

They split up at the third floor staircase and Cedric took off to meet his girlfriend in Ravenclaw Tower and Harry went back to his apartment. When he entered it, it was a little too quiet, so he suspected that something was going on. He took out his wand and searched the place and ended with the bedroom. When he cautiously entered, he stopped dead at what he saw.

Dora and Hermione were cuddled up at the head of the bed, fully naked, and they had Luna tied down in a bent over position and propped up on pillows at the foot of the bed. Harry suspected that her cute and quite naked little ass was at the perfect height for him to stand behind her and plunder her main entrance without trouble.

“What's going on here?” Harry asked, even though he knew. Luna's dripping opening was the only clue he really needed.

“Luna's decided that she's an Omega wolf.” Hermione said. “Since it's an Omega's job to relieve the stress of the pack's wolves, she needs to give her unclaimed self to the Alpha first.”

Harry barely managed to not slap himself on the forehead. “You know that normal wolves don't do things like that.”

“You're lucky that we're not normal wolves.” Luna's muffled voice said. “The Alpha is supposed to claim any unclaimed females and have as many pups as possible to ensure his dominance of the pack.”

Dora looked surprised, Hermione let out a little moan, and Luna wiggled her ass.

“I'll limit myself to only helping you and the unattached males after you claim me, my king.” Luna said in a sexy voice.

Harry wouldn't have stopped his erection, even if he wanted to. He knew he was becoming a degenerate by accepting the so-called rules that a pack is supposed to follow. He was sure that Hermione had dug them up from somewhere that he really didn't want to figure out.

“Fine.” Harry said and stripped off.

Dora and Hermione made needy sounds at the sight of his muscular body and his ready state. They had always had a great time when he was already hard and they knew that Luna was biting off a lot more than she could chew with this latest ploy.

Luna made the cutest sounds when Harry gave her several exploratory licks to make sure that she would be okay with what was to come, then she cried out with pleasure when he mounted her and she gushed like a fountain.

Harry didn't ignore such a blatant invitation to pretty much have his way with her and he did so with gusto. Luna's constant screams of pleasure had Dora and Hermione masturbating each other as quickly as they could, because they didn't want to waste the opportunity to give Harry the best show of his life. His eyes drank them in as he wrecked the now euphoric Luna that was singing his praises.

By the time Harry was done, Luna's usual dreamy smile was permanently etched onto her face.

“I hope... my claim... was enough... to give your new career... a good start.” Harry panted before he collapsed beside Luna and untied her hands.

Luna pulled herself onto his chest and cuddled up. “I'm... overjoyed... to help, my king.”

Harry hugged her and kissed the top of her head. “Who... are you planning... to help next?”

Luna let out a high pitched giggle and both Dora and Hermione laughed.

“What is it?” Harry asked, a little confused.

“There are no unattached males.” Dora said with an amused face. “Cedric's with Sue Li, Neville's claimed Daphne and Tracey, and Fred and George switch between Susan and Hannah, sometimes at the same time and in the same bed.”

Harry blinked his eyes for several moments before he stopped fighting the urge and actually slapped a hand to his forehead. “I am officially an idiot.”

The three women in his bed laughed and laughed.

*

The first task was dragons. Harry and his pack had known since the first day that the creatures had been secreted into hidden paddocks deep in the forbidden forest. Their sense of smell had caught the stench of fresh dragon dung almost immediately. The bags of the stuff in the greenhouses didn't count, because it was processed and dried out.

Victor Krum went first and hurt his dragon on purpose by casting caltrops and enlarging them under the dragon's body. Luckily, there had been layered protective spells over the nesting mother's precious eggs as she stomped around to get away from the sharp objects.

It had been Fred and George that had let their brother Charlie the dragon handler know weeks ago about the real danger that the eggs were in from both the contestants and random spells being flung around. The man was grateful for the advice and had gifted them several dragon fangs and scales that they could sell for a decent price.

Cedric went next and transfigured ten wolves from nearby rocks and had them annoy the dragon to distract it from the eleventh wolf that retrieved the golden egg and returned it to Cedric. The crowd cheered at the suburb spellwork and he waved to his fans and his pack.

Fleur Delacour didn't waste any time as she changed into her humanoid avian form and blasted her dragon with blue elemental passion fire that stuck to the dragon like napalm. A lucky shot on its muzzle covered the dragon's eyes just long enough to give Fleur the chance to race in and retrieve her golden egg.

The last to compete was the Pack's Champion, Harry Potter. He had been entered under an unnamed fourth school, so he made sure everyone knew he wasn't a Hogwarts Champion, Cedric was. It had earned him a lot of respect from his House and everyone cheered when Harry entered the arena.

Harry had at first been reluctant about competing, then Luna had said something significant. She told him that he had always been known as the boy-who-lived and he shouldn't miss out on the chance to make a name for himself. He had given her the snogging of her life after that and now every time she saw him, she automatically let out a happy growl.

It was time for the world to see what they were dealing with. Harry waved everyone to be quiet and he looked over at the fierce dragon that he was facing. It roared and blew a blast of flame in his direction, which was a great deterrent... for normal people... and Harry was not normal. He had grown up learning how to be the Alpha of his own pack and he let that knowledge and the power of his pack fill him.

Everyone stared as Harry threw off his wizard robes and left himself in shabby clothes, then he let out an ear-piercing howl that shook everyone's bones. As the howl continued, his body changed and shifted, lengthened out, bulked up, and he dropped to his hands and knees. He was soon covered in messy black fur and the howl ended as his true form of an eight foot tall wolf was revealed.

No one moved, not even his pack, because they had never seen anyone change when it wasn't the full moon and this was the first time that they had seen there was another form they could take. It made them all love their alpha even more than they already did and they let that feeling fill their pack bond.

The dragon looked nervous as the huge predator, one that she knew was swift and fast, stared at her. The wolf huffed as if things weren't tense, then it sauntered without a care right over to the dragon's nest and stopped in front of it. It sat down and stuck its tongue out to the side of its muzzle and panted happily.

There was a single giggling laugh from the crowd, clearly Luna's amusement, and it spread to the rest of the pack. They all started laughing and the crowd soon joined in. The big black wolf yipped several times and started doing a little dance, which made the crowd laugh and cheer, and the dragon stayed where it was and looked a little confused.

In the blink of an eye, the golden egg was somehow in the giant wolf's mouth and it finished its dance. It bowed as regally as it could to the dragon, then it sauntered over to the exit tent with his tail wagging the whole time. The wolf stopped and dropped the egg, changed back to a very naked Harry Potter, and he picked up the egg and entered the tent.

The crowd lost it and cheered, yelled, and applauded.

“I could have lived without seeing his naked butt at the end.” Minerva McGonagall groused.

The other judges exchanged looks and had to laugh at her unintended pun.

Harry Potter received nines across the board, even from Igor Karkaroff, because he forgot to be a bastard when judging the last champion that wasn't his own student.

*

The Yule Ball was only eventful because Harry Potter had three dates. One official in Luna, because she couldn't attend otherwise, and the other two were his Potter Family wife and his Black Family wife. All three of them had fun and danced like they were the only people in the Great Hall. The funny thing was, each of the other pack members did the same thing and everyone's spirits were raised to have so many happy and carefree people around.

*

The second task was to retrieve hostages from the bottom of the Black Lake. Harry showed up at the docks in full robes and pulled them off to reveal ragged clothes. Several catcalls and whistles came from the crowd as he shoved something into his mouth and chewed as he changed into his wolf form.

“You have an hour to retrieve what you'll miss most.” Ludo Bagman said and the canon went off.

Harrywolf was poised at the edge of the dock and leapt with his full strength as he pushed off of the dock. Several people shouted in surprise as he flew out almost thirty feet and splashed into the water. It gave him a gigantic lead on the competition. By the time he hit the water, the gillyweed had changed his paws into flippers and his neck into gills.

With his immense strength and four limbs to push and swim with, he was at the center of the lake in only ten minutes and dove straight down. He spun like a top to go faster and the merpeople in the village screamed at the monster coming for them and scattered.

Harrywolf laughed and easily bit the seaweed holding Luna in place and saw the pale and slightly bluish skin of the little girl beside her. He noted it and bit Luna's collar and swam back up to the surface of the water. When they broke it, Luna woke and grabbed onto his neck fur. He yipped happily and then swam as hard and as fast as he could.

As they approached the docks, they saw the frantic French champion as she exclaimed that they couldn't leave her sister in there for the whole hour. Luna climbed onto the dock and pointed Harrywolf back towards the merpeople village.

“Yip!” Harrywolf responded and Fleur looked at him. He nodded to her and then he dove back into the water. He had lots of time left on the gillyweed and he made it to the village a second time, just before the other two contestants. After a quick snap of the seaweed and a bite of the girl's collar later, Harrywolf was up to the surface of the water and the child woke and scrambled to grabbed onto him.

When she was settled, he took off at a steady pace and still made it back before Cedric and Victor. Fleur scooped the little girl up out of the water and into her arms as Madam Pomfrey tended to them both.

Harrywolf waited a few minutes for the gillyweed to end and climbed up onto the dock. He walked over to the judges and shook himself like a dog and drenched them all, especially Ludo Bagman and Professor Moody.

“You mangy mutt!” Moody growled and lifted his wand.

A second later, Moody's wand and three fingers were bitten off and everyone started shouting. Harry ignored them as he knocked Moody over and dug the flask out of his inside pocket and stomped on it. Everyone saw the greyish colored liquid spill out and McGonagall stunned the man and wrapped him in ropes.

Harrywolf made a show of it as he spat out the three severed fingers and the wand, then he wiped at his tongue with his paw before he went to the water and gargled some of it before he spit that out, too. His actions let everyone know he did not like doing what he just did and he didn't bother changing back to human form yet.

Luna walked over with a blanket and Harrywolf licked her face before he changed back. The now human Harry held her and the blanket against his naked body to get warm and Luna didn't mind at all. Moody turned out to be Rodolphus Lestrange, Bellatrix's husband.

Amelia Bones just happened to be there with several vials of veritaserum. “After getting to know Mister Potter years ago, I always carry a supply on my person.”

It sure was enlightening to find out that Barty Crouch was really his son impersonating him and he had snuck his friend out of Azkaban by switching him with an almost random muggle that had similar looks.

Voldemort was trying to regain a body and had set everything up for Harry Potter to be entered in the tournament. Harry was doing really well and hadn't needed them to cheat to let him complete the tasks.

With that revelation, everyone now believed that Harry hadn't put his name in the goblet. A lot of his detractors tried to apologize and he told them all to shove it. If they wouldn't believe his word when he was completely innocent, he wasn't going to believe their words of apology.

Voldemort's hideout was soon raided. Several recovering death eaters that had been switched out for muggles in prison were captured and Voldemort himself was tossed, baby blanket and all, right into the Veil of Death. After a short debate, the rest of the death eaters caught and still in prison were also tossed through. They couldn't take the chance that someone else would pull the same switching stunt again.

*

Harry Potter voluntarily entered the maze of the third task and then stepped aside. He allowed the three actual champions to go first, despite his huge time lead, and each champion thanked him for it. They knew he deserved to be where he was, in first place, and he was humble enough to give them a sporting chance.

Little did they know that Harry already knew where the cup was and how to get there. He could also smell the creatures and could avoid them and the traps easily. He jogged through the maze as if it was just a normal morning jog and easily reached the triwizard cup. It had already been checked for jinxes and traps, so he grabbed the handle and the portkey deposited him and the cup at the start of the maze.

Harry Potter became the Triwizard Winner, earned a thousand galleons, and eternal fame. It made him laugh, because Luna was right. Making his own name with his own achievements, meant a lot more to him than any silly moniker that had been given to him as a baby.

*

Harry Potter's Pack grew over the years and he eventually had enough to take down Fenrir Greyback and his vicious pack. Unlike them, Harry's pack were also all trained witches and wizards and tore them apart magically and physically. Remus couldn't have been prouder of them for getting revenge for him.

The number of naturally born cubs in Harry's Pack was growing every year, too. Harry had always wanted a large family, so he had signed a line continuance contract with Luna and soon there were children for the Lovegood line that joined the Potter, Black, Tonks, and Granger Families.

Remus married the female werewolf that he always gave his spare wolfsbane potion to and they had three cubs of their own. They didn't have his full condition, so Remus, Harry, and Hermione worked their potion magic and gave each of the kids the ability to become more than they were.

Wolves, werewolves, and family.

It was always all about family.