Chapter 4
Harry stared into the low fire early the next morning. He had been woken by a vision from Voldemort, making his remaining jitters from the previous day worse. Parvati was the first down, and noticed his distant eyes.
"Harry" She spoke softly, making two short clicks with her wand to grab his attention.
"Parvati, morning" He responded, coming back to himself a bit. She sat on the pouf to his side.
"What are you thinking about?"
"I had another dream. Of Snake-face. And then I was thinking how I may have agreed to let James close too fast. He offered me stories of our family and I...I just want to know them. To hear them from someone close to my grandparents."
"Oh Har. I'd be desperate for stories too. People always forget the stupid every day embarrassments of those we lost. Can I hug you?" Parvati scarcely had opened her arms before they were full of emotional teenager.
"So. Potions. Any good?" Ron asked conversationally as they got ready to head to the dungeons.
"Yes. It's a family gift actually" James smiled brightly.
"Jamie and Rem both are the ones who do the best at Potions. When James isn't being an idiot at least" Sirius glared at the taller of the two Potters. "Oh, and Evans. But she's also friends with Snivellous"
"Who?"
"Severus" Lily appeared behind them, satchel already on her shoulder.
"That's gonna be fun then. Maybe he'll go easy on Harry finally" Lavender hummed happily.
"Lav, I love your optimism but we all know Snape will never go easy on our boy" Hermione sighed, taking Harry's hand.
"Bitter old bastard" Dean shrugged.
"Dean, language. Firsties around"
"Like you can talk Ms. Throwing-a-knife-and-drawing-blood"
"C-can we go? I want this to be over" Peter interrupted the brewing argument. The group hummed, Hermione leading the way with Harry still attached. He didn't seem bothered by it at all.
"So, Snape. What should we expect from him?" Remus asked.
"Swooping around, unhelpful comments, bullying Neville and Harry, insulting Hermione, turning a blind eye to Slytherins tossing things, allowing the Slytherins to mock us, sneers, no instruction beyond the procedure he tosses on the board, taking points for stupid things, and just general unpleasantness" Seamus listed out.
"Ignoring Seamus trying to set fire to everything " Harry added.
"All the professors do at this point. I swear Shay could straight up set fire to an entire classroom and none of them would do anything but send an aguamenti at it" Dean was unbothered by his boyfriend's crimes.
"We're hereee" Neville sang quietly to quiet snickers from the entire group of friends. Evans and the Marauders just continued on. They lined up on the opposite wall from the green-clad students. One small boy gave a nod to the entire group from where he was nestled between a dark skinned boy and a broad-shouldered girl. Each of which inclined their heads minutely. The Gryffindors nodded in return.
"Oi, Potter! Looks like you picked up more strays" A platinum blond boy jeered, his bookends laughing.
"They're in our house and year, Malfoy. It's hard not to arrive with them" Ron answered instead, a fierce glare accompanying his words. Harry made a sharp cutting gesture at his friend, who schooled his expression back to politely annoyed. Just in time as the door banged open.
"In" the professor ordered. His expression wrinkled when he took in the Marauders, though it smoothed out when Evans went by as they all filed in. The Gryffindors divided up in what appeared practiced motions, Ron and Harry taking the second row while Hermione took the first with Neville. Dean and Seamus, Parvati and Lavender took the rows behind them. James glanced at his friends before grabbing Sirius' arm and dragging him to the other available pair of seats in the front row. Peter and Remus followed to sit behind them. Evans sighed before setting up alone.
"Here we go" Neville breathed as the Professor swooped to the front of the room.
"Today you will be brewing an Invigoration Draught. Instructions are the board and any necessary ingredients in the cabinet. Begin" Snape waved his wand to reveal the instructions in a spiky scrawl. James closed his eyes briefly, breathing out before beginning. He had only been working for maybe five minutes when a voice barked out.
"Patel! What are you doing!"
"Preparing the first ingredients, sir" James kept the disrespect out of his tone other than the address.
"You're doing it wrong. Restart" Snape waved his wand and vanished the chopped leaves before leaving to bark insults at Seamus and Dean. James could only stare in disbelief where his perfectly prepared leaves had been.
"That was out of line Sni-" Sirius started to rise out of his seat in anger before James yanked him down and shook his head.
"It's fine, I'm fine. I can do this. Just need to adjust the ingredients slightly. Do not start trouble". Sirius let out a low growl before continuing. James worked diligently until a ball of unidentifiable leaves sailed towards his cauldron. With the ease born of Quidditch practice, he caught it and flung it back to the thrower. There were screeches as a girl ducked the projectile.
"POTTER" Snape roared. Both Harry and James jumped, looking in his direction. James watched out of the corner of his eye as Ron moved his son slightly away. "A week of detention. With me" The professor's voice dropped to a silky whisper.
"FOR WHAT?" Another yell and bang came from behind James. He half turned to see Evans with her hands on the table in front of her, green eyes ablaze. "For throwing something back where it came from?! If anything you should be assigning detention to your snake! If I'm not wrong, if that landed it would have hurt all of the people on this side of the room. I thought you'd be strict to protect students. But no, you're just a bitter old man with no care for anyone but the Slytherins! I can't believe I was your friend. The Severus I knew would never ever dare to allow what I witnessed in this class alone! I will not step a foot in this classroom until I know I will be safe to learn!" She packed up her things and stomped out, hair standing halfway in the air and crackling with magic.
"Cats out of the bag. Fuck" Harry glanced over, almost identical eyes to Evans' (holy shit James got her?!) stale.
"She's not wrong. Shame on you Severus" Remus threw caution to the wind, giving a disappointed look to the 35 year old man. Said man looked shell-shocked. He retreated to his desk, staring at the door numbly for the rest of the class period. All of the students quietly finished their brews, took a sample, labelled it, and put it on the desk before cleaning up and leaving.
"Malfoy" Harry spoke once they were clear of the room.
"Yes, Scarhead?" The blond turned, one elegant eyebrow raised.
"Do not spread around who our new housemates are. Or you'll find the gossip will turn against you" Harry gave a sharp smirk. "After all, I know what you said about Hermione over Christmas break second year. Would be a shame if your future business dealings were tainted by words you spoke when you were 12. Muggleborn or not, the entire school knows how clever she is and how close we are. Am I understood?"
"And what makes you think others won't do it?" The pale boy had almost no blood left in his face, eyes afraid.
"Heirs Crabbe and Goyle must act as your vassals so I don't need to use any of my blackmail on them. And it's nice of you to pretend you aren't the leader of the year group in Slytherin. I may pretend to be still ignorant but even before, I knew where you stood. Have I been clear enough for you?"
"Crystal. Does your knowledge of your place count under the silence agreement"
"It does"
"Fine. I agree to keep my silence, along with ensuring my year mates'. Glad to see you're not as ignorant as you pretend Heir Potter" Malfoy gave a formal head incline.
"Not anymore. While we are speaking frankly, I apologize for not shaking your hand on the train before Sorting. I was Muggle raised and didn't know of the cultural difference" Harry returned one.
"I'll accept your apology. As long as you take a long hard look at the Leader of the Light".
"We already have. And have found him...lacking" Harry's words startled a laugh out of the other boy.
"Well then. It was nice to see under your Golden Boy mask. We must take our leave now, good day" Malfoy led his group deep into the dungeons. Harry rearranged his features to a more neutral look.
"Time to head to the tower?" Parvati asked.
"Yes. Sorry for keeping you waiting" Harry gave a sheepish smile.
"It's no issue Harry. Just glad you had control of that" She waved off the apology. He laughed quietly with a nod. They talked about the homework they had due the next days all the way back to the tower. Once inside, the casual talk dropped when they saw the still-angry Evans. Hermione sighed and took Harry's hand to lead him over. The rest trailed after in interest.
"Evans" The black girl said neutrally "You nearly cost your cover".
"Not my fault Severus was endangering us" Evans snapped back, a lightning bolt streaking out of her hand.
"Maybe not, but you could keep your temper. We have it handled. We long ago carved protective runes in the tables and floor. Snape may be endangering our lives, but we aren't taking it lying down. Because of your outburst, it's likely Umbridge will crack down on us hard. Which we cannot afford. We are at war Evans. One that's bigger than one teacher being negligent in order to please his master. I have to live with the fact that half of this Merlin-damned school believe I killed a student, a friend, all because Voldemort decided to circumvent the protection on me by using my blood in a necromantic ritual! And I took Cedric with me because he was the true champion and we were too noble to take it independently. And because of that, he's dead. Your little outburst may get Snape to take a look at himself but it could also worsen it. Remus already made it worse when he taught here and showed us boggarts and one of ours' was Snape. Snape got worse, which we never thought he could after hearing of the incident. So take the advice everyone has give me. Keep. Your. Head. Down. You are in a precarious position because of who you are" Harry snarled, eyes glowing brightly. Evans stared back, first in anger and then horror. The Marauders could only join her. This small boy in front of them was terrifying in his anger.
"Harry" Neville cut in, stepping in front of him. "Calm. We have your back" Harry's eyes dimmed and he touched foreheads with the Longbottom heir, breaths rattling through his heaving chest. Lavender stepped beside them and reached slowly to comb through Harry's hair, barely reacting when sparks hit her hand. The boy sagged slightly as she went through it.
"I think we'll be retiring to our room" Ron spoke after a few minutes, watching how his best friend was swaying slightly.
"I'll carry him. You wrap up here" Neville leaned slightly to get the sleepy boy up in his arms. He then headed up the stairs, Seamus and Dean covering his back with fierce glares.
"Evans" Hermione's strict voice had all five time travelers whipping around to stare at her. "Harry has covered the loose ends of the Slytherin students. Snape likely already knew, and if he didn't then there's nothing we can do about it now. And Harry's right. You need to control your temper. This school is currently a mine field that we're having to navigate carefully and you may have messed with it".
"All of you need to figure out how to prevent this from happening again. I don't care that you and Evans were at odds. That ends now" Ron continued. Once he had received a nod from the girl he turned to his friends.
"We'll keep watch down here. Make sure he knows we're also here for him?" Parvati asked.
"We will" Ron confirmed. The two girls nodded, taking seats where they could see up the stairs and the portrait at once. Hermione and Ron hurried to the boy's staircase and climbed out of sight. James numbly took a seat near Evans, pulling out his homework while he waited for her to settle. Remus and Sirius sat to do the same, with Peter sitting at their feet. It took half an hour until Evans spoke again.
"Do you know what he meant by that?"
"His friends obviously do and that's enough for me. I'm trying to earn his trust, not break it. He's all that's left of my family" James threw a look at her. Her eyes were shimmering with tears. "Look, Evans. Siri and I never let on, but even at eleven we were playing politics. You-Know-Who's gain in platform just worsened the pressure. Where before Slytherin heirs socialized just like the rest, they were suddenly expected to believe in certain things. Things like blood purity. My Father was before all that. My parents were old when I was born, so there's easily a generation of Hogwarts graduates who heard that shit so much it eventually became their genuine opinion. And whatever happened in the last 20 years just made it rot even more. I have no doubt whatever the kid's gone through relates to that. And you heard Umbridge yesterday, 'there are some liars claiming You-Know-Who is back'. Somehow, he was defeated but assuming by Harry's rant, he's back through an illegal ritual using his blood. Blood magic is already outlawed though still practiced behind closed doors in family homes. Whatever was referenced is beyond that. The only possibilities for a necromantic one are black and demand a heavy price".
"Even my family would hesitate using them. And we're known for engaging in black rituals, so much so that the laws have a clause allowing us to practice the tamer ones with costs held by the mage doing the ritual without the Aurors hunting us down. It's one of the reasons for our name" Sirius added seriously.
"Point is, You-Know-Who is back and some don't believe that. Likely he's still operating in the shadows. And Umbridge, as she was specifically mentioned even though you were angry at Snape, is likely here to stop people from talking about it or preparing to fight. We have the unfortunate luck of coming now. And I think Lady Magic may be supporting our new lives because you heard Granger. We are copies of ourselves so we can freely exist at the same time. And Hogwarts alone could not have done such a clean separation, much as I love the old girl" James crossed his arms. "So we need to settle into our new lives so we can help my son".
"Fine. What's off limits then?" Evans crossed her arms.
"Well I'll certainly not be asking you to Hogsmeade in dramatic ways. None of us have permission to go, and that's a very James Potter thing to do. Plus, no offense, when I realized my own son was scared of me off the bat because of me being....me, I did some thinking. When he told me last night of my reputation, I hated how they said it. So I think I need to do some self improvement before I think of romance. I want to be someone my son can be proud of and trust to watch his back first".
"You can't comment on Snape being friends with you, or on our friends who aren't here. If you must, use first names or nicknames even if you never got permission" Remus jumped in. "The lack of manners in that regard can be ignored since it's for protection all around".
"Spend some time figuring out what we missed" Sirius grunted.
"And just generally play nice. Most of the time you can use the excuse of being muggle-raised to explain away any slights. But it's easier if you're friendly" James finished. Evans sighed.
"I guess you can just refer to me as Lily. If we're going to sell this. Harder to slip up that way".
"Alright Lily. Also, Pads, you owe me a galleon. The fifth years warmed up to me first" James smirked at his best friend. The dog animagus groaned loudly and pulled out a coin and threw it at James' head. Who caught it easily.