A Whirlwind of Non-Evil Endeavors and Adventures
It was late at night, and Harry was finding himself to be happy. Genuinely happy, not just excited like he had been in first year with finding all sorts of friends, but true happiness. It was subtle, a calm feeling as the Chosen One roamed the halls he knew. It was better here, even if Voldemort was still very much real, Harry wasn’t the one destined to kill him. He didn’t have to, not now, not yet, not as a kid.
Instead, Harry journeyed down to the bottom of a stairway, where he had first appeared. If anyone found him at this hour they might be worried he had lost his mind. Crawling around, looking under things, behind suits of armor, and in the small crevices of the area. A wave, no, a tsunami of distraught, fear, and slight anger aimed at himself washed over the boy as his eyes laid upon the time turner, but in a million little pieces. Gears led in a haywire path to somewhere behind the stair way, and there was a cat there. Playing. Thankfully it was not Minerva McGonagall’s animagus, but likely someones pet. The pet in question was pawing at the broken sand vial.
What was he to do now? Without a time turner he was stuck here…that definitely wasn’t good. No, no, it was very, most definitely, so terribly bad.
Shooing the cat off and away, Harry nearly fell to his knees trying to gather all of the pieces. Tears in his eyes as the realization of the matter truly found him. It was different when Harry believed he had a choice, but now? Truly being stuck in time? Was it even worth it? How could Harry fix the catastrophe he has caused? What if he wasn’t back in time to kill Voldemort? Would he have to defeat him in this time period? In that case, how would it even work with his prophecy and all?
Would Harry get to grow up first?
The idea didn’t sound too terrible, that is until it did. He had to actually study. There wouldn’t be hero-house points at the end of the year, because he wouldn’t be a hero. He would just be some kid with parents and uncles who hated him. A kid nearly illiterate. A kid who no one knew, or wanted to get to know.
Pocketing the gears and broken pieces, he used the palm of his hands, pressing them into his eyes to stop the frightened tears from falling. He began to lean against the stone wall until he heard the shuffling of footsteps. Oh no! Was it a professor doing rounds? Merlin forbid it to be Snape—oh, right, he wasn’t a professor here.
The realization was appreciated, but it didn’t stop Harry from hiding himself in the shadows, and quietly curling himself into a corner not to be seen. The sound of huffs, and soft scared growls filled the hall with other whispers trying to calm some kind of angry animal. Harry looked at the full moon through the wide panned window as he waited for the situation to pass. However his eyes went wide with the realization that Remus Lupin was most definitely going to be turning into a werewolf tonight, and that the fact the shuffling of feet was not a professor at all (well, not yet anyway), but instead a group of stressed out bullies.
Peeking out from the corner Harry had hid himself away in, he recognized the sight. The cloak, it was eventually Harry’s cloak, but now? Right now it was the Marauders, and they had far too many people under it that their feet weren’t covered. Was this how Harry and Ron looked to Hermione? Like bumbling idiots?
No matter, the boys were walking slowly, yet somehow also very quickly. As if they couldn’t decide what was safest. Now, Harry may have been hated by these boys thus far, but even if his dad and uncles were complete assholes, they were still his dad and uncles. Naturally, he followed behind them. He didn’t want any of them getting hurt. He also didn’t want to feel like the only person who could stop them from some terrible fate, but somethings you just don’t get. Especially when you are so used to being the one who needs to save everyone else like Harry has been thus far.
They took forever, making it increasingly hard for Harry to stay hidden. They were nearly out of the school when a soft, almost snarling voice spoke a little too loudly.
“I smell something…” It was definitely Remus judging by the monstrous voice of a slowed transition. Harry nearly showed himself then and there hoping he’d be given a little mercy until Sirius said;
“It’s probably Peter, he ate something weird at dinner.”
“It was a casserole!” Peter attempted to defend in a hushed whisper.
“It had raisins in it!” Sirius countered in the same breath until James urged them forward with a few unintelligible words. Finally they took off the cloak and started running towards the whomping willow. Harry was no fool, he knew what was near the abusive tree. Waiting by the doorway, he was going to follow them when they got in, but instead Remus froze. The boy was entranced, and his friends realized this, trying to push him onward, the marauders failed in their attempts.
Failing when trying to calm a changing werewolf was never good. Harry was reminded of this when he thought back on the time he witnessed Remus Lupin lose his control, and even when Snape had jumped in front of him and his friends, willing to risk his life just to save them…admittedly the man wasn’t all bad. Very harsh, grumpy, rude, rough around the edges, arrogant, witty even in the worst of situations, and sometimes rather dark, but he had his charms. Well, hopefully he did. That was truly what Harry was trying to find out, if the man had ever been likable. He had at least gotten something earlier with Severus and Bellatrix seeming to get along, but it was all rather—Bellatrix!
She was there! Why on earth was she outside?! It was past curfew! Didn’t she know there was a werewolf nearby? Well, of course she didn’t, and even though Harry would’ve stepped in before he knew of her presence if he had deemed it truly necessary, now he most certainly had to step in, just in case she got hurt. He couldn’t bear the idea in that moment. He didn’t want to lose anyone else to this hell of a world. Even if he only knew them for a moment, and they technically tortured Neville’s parents when they were older…yeah, he didn’t want to think about that.
Running out of the doorway, and down the steps to the lawn where the marauders were trying to get a shifting werewolf a little closer to their end destination, they were having the most difficult of times. Was this all because Remus had smelled Harry earlier? Were those few seconds so precious? And why on earth was dear Bellatrix not running?!
“Bella, run!” Harry found himself yelling at the girl who sported a confused expression. The marauders attention now drawn to what they assumed to be an oncoming threat, only, Harry was no such thing. Harry was about to be a hero, because Harry didn’t know what else to be.
He just couldn’t get away from it, could he?
There were three wands pointed at him, though Harry already put a shield up so whatever they threw at him would hardly cause him to flinch. Bellatrix, on the other hand, wasn’t running like he told her to, and sneaky little Peter Pettigrew pointed his wand at the innocent.
Yeah, Harry didn’t like that. He was already too attached to the girl whom he lied to, who pushed him, who also threatened him a few times (at least he thinks she might’ve), but in the end claimed him as her adopted family. It was all rather odd now that he quickly thought it over, but what with Bellatrix wasn’t odd?
Well, Harry just didn’t like the threatening towards Bellatrix, so he zapped Peter unintentionally, and made him drop his wand with a little spark at his wrist. He wasn’t quite sure how he did it, maybe it was just his magic that was getting all kinds of messed up the longer he stayed there. Maybe his mind and heart were finally working together for once. Maybe the surprised looks of the non-shifting marauders made him smirk, but he wasn’t quite sure, because by the time he got close enough to deal with the werewolf situation, he was far too focussed on the werewolf situation.
“Shit, shit, shit—” He wasn’t very helpful yet, but he would be. Exactly, about, almost, so very close…yes, now. Right now he was useful, because finally the incarcerous spell shot out of his wand, and bound a very real, very angry werewolf to a tree. Appreciatively it was around the waist, and not gagging the poor boy-creature. Perhaps Harry would have thought of it faster if it hadn’t been for the fact he kept looking over his shoulder to make sure no non-werewolf marauders were trying to kill him or the very unbothered Bellatrix.
Speaking of an unbothered Bellatrix, she came striding over to his side, peering over his shoulder as she watched the werewolf struggle against the magic ropes. The spell wouldn’t last long, so Harry had to look over at the fumbling and confused Sirius, James, and Peter who were staring, and waiting for what would happen next.
“Can someone please come up with a better plan than me having to do this the entire night?!” He would have nearly yelled it if it weren’t for the fact he would’ve woke up the entire school in the process. Thankfully, the marauders had enough sense to take his words into consideration and got to work. They’d put their uncontrolled friend first before their grudges, collaborating together to come up with something as Harry returned his focus onto his victim. That’s when he noticed there was another rope there too, and Bellatrix was actually helping him. Doing it exactly like him too, making sure the werewolf wasn’t being gagged, but firmly held against a creaking and cracking tree. Well that wasn’t good…
“Petrificus Totalus!” Came a familiar voice, only the spell (that Harry now remembered Hermione used on Neville once), didn’t work. Blasted pronunciation. “Guys, guys, why didn’t it work?” James asked his friends who were equally as confused, and even more so scared. Harry would’ve happily done the spell himself if it weren’t for the fact both he and Bellatrix had to hold their spells. Even Bellatrix was starting to get weary from holding it.
“It’s—it’s the pronunciation!” Harry called back over the growling and huffing, “I…I don’t know what it really is, I just know it’s wrong.”
“Very helpful, Granger.” Spat Peter, which naturally made Harry upset. Out of all of the people he was getting to meet (that most of which did him or his friends wrong), Peter was proving to be the only one who he couldn’t bring himself to like, or at least find a redeeming trait for. Possibly because he was cowardly and unloyal, not to mention down right creepy with the whole rat thing he had going for him in the future.
“Oh I’m sorry,” He’d start sarcastically, “Would you like for me and Bella to remove our charms?” It was a threat, yes, and a threat he knew he’d never follow up with. Remus was still his uncle, James was still his dad, Sirius still his god-father, and Bellatrix was some kind of family-friend-acquaintance now. All four of those would be the first in line of danger. If it had been just Peter, things could’ve been different.
“No, no, keep holding it, uh, thanks—” James was all over the place, not proving very helpful. It may or may not have crossed Harry’s mind how his father had even graduated. Wait…did he graduate? Oh no, the tree was starting to completely break, it was so close—
“Petrificus Totalus!” Perfect pronunciation and execution! Harry dropped the spell just as the werewolf stopped struggling and stopped moving. Bellatrix did the same, only she was quick to recognize the (un)friendly voice, and turned around like an excited puppy.
“Sevvy!” She cried out, and bounded over, taking the grumpy (and visibly exhausted) Severus into a massive embrace. After letting her have a second to take the feeling in, he got to pushing her off with little more than a grimace. The fact he didn’t hex her then and there was a bit of a shocker, but of course, now the non-paralyzed marauders had their wands at the ready, pointed at the Slytherins. Harry had half a mind to cuss them out. Oh, wait, he was.
“What the flying, hyppogriff-taming, dragon-riding fuck do you three think you’re doing?” Gripping his wand firmly between his fingers, Harry wasn’t paying attention to the slightly amused glimmer in the black eyes of Severus Snape. He was far too focussed on the overwhelmed marauders who believed the ones who helped them to be their enemies. “Would you like for me to go killing-curse wild on your asses? Or perhaps you’d like a fucking cruciatus curse as payback for the massive migrain you three have caused me.” Okay, well the three non-paralyzed marauders were dropping their wands, a tad worried with how careless Harry was waving his wand about, and the unforgivable-curses threats that came with. They really were confused, overwhelmed, and uncertain of everything. For one, they had just gotten their lives saved by three people they swore they hated (and had all hurt, harmed, or bullied in some way or fashion), plus their werewolf shifted friend was whimpering and blinking helplessly as he laid there paralyzed. He wasn’t in pain, but he was definitely confused and overwhelmed himself. The marauders simply weren’t having a good night by the looks of it, and especially when Harry Potter-Granger continued on with his half lecturing, half nagging, and half insulting. “You think after all that any one of us want to fuck with you?! Oh, for crying out loud, Remus could’ve killed any of you due to your carelessness! Not to mention what could’ve happened if the three of us weren’t here—” Harry had no idea that he sounded like a frightened mother (or Hermione), and he had no idea that at least four of the six others there found it slightly endearing. Even if that four had a certain despise, or reservation towards him. “What if you got hurt? Killed even?! All because you took too long to get to wherever the fuck you were going to help him with that.” Waving his hands and wand around as emphasis, he at least had a listening audience. Even Bella was grinning from ear to ear, though she was the only one showing any kind of emotion that wasn’t confusion, displeasure, or slight entertainment. Remus didn’t have much of a choice to listen, but the other five were giving him some kind of time to get it out of his system. “Not to mention Bella! What if she got hurt? Hm? Oh, and you don’t get away that easy either, nuh-uh. I don’t know what the fuck you two are doing out here, but if any of you get hurt with anything that happens next, no one better come crying to me. I’m not dealing with anyone’s crying bullshit tonight. Un-der-stand?” Through gritted teeth, and mother-like rage (because Harry was far too used to having to deal with more difficult things than something that should’ve been easy for his family, and somewhat friends), he turned on his heels, not waiting for an answer. They had to hide Remus in case anyone looked out of their window and saw a paralyzed werewolf and five out-of-curfew students on the front lawns.
“Wait—what comes next?” Sirius asked dumbly, following after like a lost puppy. He had been easily entranced by the quick to command nature, so he was quick to follow. Walking right behind Harry as he marched over to the paralyzed werewolf, Bellatrix was giddy to follow, even giggling softly as she did.
“We have to hide him, obviously.” Harry couldn’t believe himself, finally being the one to say the word. Finally being one of the smartest in the metaphorical room. It seemed almost unreal.
“Right, obviously.” James added on, having followed the growing crowd of students at some point. Peter was right at his side while they all gathered around the paralyzed creature. Severus was some ways off, boasting a sour face. He wasn’t so easy to forget grudges like the marauders were in this moment. They still abused him for years. There was no way he was trusting them, even in such a desperate situation like this. It didn’t go unnoticed, but only Harry seemed to care by the looks of it.
“Any ideas, Severus?” He called over, he didn’t mind if the others had ideas, he just didn’t trust their wit. No offense to his father and uncles or anything (complete offense to Peter), but so far they didn’t seem like the brightest bunch. Snape reluctantly strode over.
“One.”
“Well? What is it?” James urged with dumb annoyance, getting a grumble from Bellatrix and a roll of the eyes from Severus.
“Take him wherever you typically have.” That did seem the smartest way to go, so Harry thought it over and nodded in agreement. Yes, he had a feeling he knew exactly the way and place, but he couldn’t let anyone know that.
“Alright, one of you three lead the way then.” Harry commanded grumpily (still affected with whatever that mother-like rage was), with a gesture of his wrist. He was starting to feel a little too much like Molly. Only, whatever it was that was making him feel as such was working, because James and Sirius listened, and started marching off with Peter right behind.
Harry couldn’t help the grumble that left him, typically he would be just like James or Sirius, but right now he had one too many mature thoughts in his head that doing something so ridiculous just wasn’t coming to him. He had to be the smart one, and that was not his strong suit.
No matter though, because a simple wave of his wand and the mass of werewolf would start to float at his side as he and the Slytherins followed after the conscious marauders. The others didn’t seem all that impressed either. Harry couldn’t help it.
Harry was smiling.
Severus was staring.
Bellatrix noticed.
What a whirlwind of non-evil endeavors and adventures.