Nature or Nurture
Dumbledore looked around at his cell in the basement of the Ministry and wondered where he’d gone wrong. He’d had it all planned out. Harry would grow up with Petunia’s hate of magic and be more open to the right sort of guidance once he reached the magical world. He was supposed to end up in Gryffindor, and like a good little Lion, to tackle the tests he’d set the boy in defense of the stone and school. Quirrell being possessed by Voldemort was a bonus and had confirmed his theory that the dark wizard hadn’t completely been destroyed ten years ago.
He was supposed to guide the child until the final battle with the self styled dark lord and fulfil the prophesy in death. It was all rather neat so why had it gone so terribly wrong to land him in a cell. This was never part of his plan to manipulate the wizarding world for the greater good. And he certainly did not enjoy being forced to speak the truth, he had too many secrets. And since he’d been a little too successful in encouraging Fudge’s paranoia, he could hardly rely on that fool to get him out. The public finding out he’d known Black was innocent and let him get railroaded into Azkaban meant he’d lost the support of Sirius and Lupin. And the Weasley’s certainly didn’t have the political clout to be of any help.
If he’d been able to pin that blasted boy down, he could have avoided all this, but he hadn’t wanted to play his hand too soon and ordering the boy to his office would have done just that. The restriction on not meeting with the brat without both a lawyer and his actual legally appointed guarding not withstanding. When he got himself out of this mess he was going to find out where his plans had gone wrong. Black’s exoneration being the main point of contention but he still had a few aces up his sleeve. Harry did not know about the prophesy yet and in telling the boy it was the reason his mother was dead would put a wedge between him and the Slytherin head of house. He still had pieces in the game, just not all the ones he wanted. At least Minerva would look after his school until he got back.
---
Harry approached the Weasley twins once they were allowed out of their common rooms and invited them to join him at the Slytherin table. Answering their questions was their price for silence, given he’d often thought they would have done well in Slytherin he wasn’t entirely surprised and had quickly agreed. Casting a discrete privacy spell, he decided to cut straight to the chase. ‘I need to borrow the map.’
The twins spoke together. ‘How do you know about the map?’
‘It was created by the Marauders when they were students here.’
‘You know who the Marauder’s are?’ The twins asked in a whisper speaking as one.
‘They were my father and his friends.’ Harry said. ‘If you promise to say nothing about what happened, I will introduce you.’
‘I knew there was a reason we liked you.’
‘Imagine, we are currently sitting with the son of a Marauder.’
‘My father was Prongs, my godfather is Padfoot and their friend Remus Lupin is Moony.’
‘Who was Wormtail?’ Fred asked in a soft, almost reverential whisper.
‘He was Peter Pettigrew, the rat who betrayed my parents to Voldemort.’ Harry toyed with the knife and fork by his empty plate. ‘You knew him as Scabbers.’
‘Perfect Prefect Percy’s pet rat was Peter Pettigrew?’
‘Putting that aside Fred, this is the son of one of the Marauders.’
‘As I said, I can introduce you to Padfoot and Moony, Sirius is going to love meeting the two of you.’
Taking his seat at the high table Snape felt a cold chill moving across his spine and shuddered. It felt like a portent, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to be here to find out what of. He had never put much stock in divination, for all the trouble overhearing a prophesy eleven years ago had caused him. But something had his senses paying attention. And looking over at Harry Potter he groaned when he saw who he was sitting with.
‘What is it Severus?’
He pointed towards the lions at his table of snakes. ‘No good can come from that.’
‘Oh my.’ McGonagall quietly agreed. ‘Now that is interesting.’
---
Using the map, Harry made his way to the gargoyle guarding the entrance to Dumbledore’s office. He got lucky, rattling off the names of different sweets until he got the password right and quickly ran up the spiral staircase. Casting a spell to freeze the portraits he stood in the middle of the room with his eyes closed, reaching out to feel for the magic of the invisibility cloak. It led him to a panel in the only wall with nothing in front of it. His wand moved in a detection spell and he found the latch. Thankful it wasn’t warded he watched the panel pop open and reveal his cloak. Another detection spell was cast before he reached for it. The silky cloak felt like home as he wrapped himself in it’s welcoming folds. Closing the panel he just needed the Elder Wand and the Hallows would be his once more. On a whim he cast a gemini spell on the books in the office and swapped the originals with the copies before tucking the shrunken books in a conjured bag.
---
Harry returned the map to the twins at breakfast when they joined him at the Slytherin table.
‘Are you going home for the winter break or staying in the castle?’ He asked.
‘Mum and Dad mentioned visiting our brother Charlie for Christmas.’
‘He works with dragons in Romania.’
‘I’ve written to Sirius and he definitely wants to meet the pair of you. Said he remembers your uncles and that you sound just like them.’
Fred smiled softly. ‘Mum wont speak about them.’
‘Makes her cry.’ George added.
‘Too many children of Magic were lost to the stupidity of a genocidal half blooded fool.’ Harry hissed as the air around him grew cooler. That was new. It wasn’t just the twins who exchanged a look as warmth seeped back into the space around them.
‘Steady on mate.’
‘Easy tiger.’
‘Sorry about that.’ Harry poured himself a cup of tea. ‘If you want I can ask Sirius to meet you at in Hogsmede if you want to meet him before summer.’ He watched their silent conversation as he loaded his plate for breakfast.
‘We’ll let you know the dates for the next few Hogsmede weekends.’
‘Deal. And you can always visit over summer.’ He watched the twins as they nodded before rising as one and heading back to the Gryffindor table.
Sitting next to Harry, Blaise shook his head.
‘I don’t want to know do I.’
‘Fairly sure you don’t.’
‘No Hermione or Neville today?’
‘Nev has some plant that is only flowering today or something so he’ll be in the greenhouses and Hermione wanted to go to the library.’
‘As exciting as that sounds I can think of better things to do.’
‘You and me both.’ Harry agreed. ‘But it does make them easy to shop for when it comes to Yule.’
‘New pair of gardening gloves and a voucher for Flourish and Blotts?’
‘Pretty much. And anything Chudley Cannons for Ron.’
Theo slid in opposite them. ‘You planning gifts for Yule?’
‘One can’t be too prepared.’
‘Oh, well I like books, pass me the sugar will you.’
Harry looked to Blaise. ‘What would you like to be surprised with?’
---
Harry lay on the grass in the room of requirement watching fake clouds in a fake sky as he contemplated the different ways he could blackmail Tom’s diary out of Lucius Malfoy. He still hadn’t come to a conclusion with Draco and he wasn’t sure he should expect anything to come of it. The boy had clearly been told not to engage with him if his continued distance was anything to go by. Eventually they were going to come to blows but he didn’t think a physical fist fight was on the cards. Draco was too reliant on his father’s name to keep him safe and he’d seen how little stock Harry placed in that.
As the head of House Black he wondered if Sirius could put pressure on his cousin to put pressure on her husband and discounted that idea as quickly as it had popped up. That was unlikely to work and it was reliant on Narcissa Malfoy being pissed at the idea of a horcrux in her home and wanting to get rid of it. While he doubted she would be happy about it, he didn’t know if it would be enough to get her on side. It wasn't like Sirius could dangle the Black Heirship in Draco's face. He even considered cornering Snape and asking him to help. If the man really was no longer one of Riddle’s followers, that might work. It didn’t speak well of the life debt the potions master owed James Potter in how responsible he was for the man’s death.
But if Snape really didn’t want the dork lord to come back, he might be in a position to talk to Malfoy. He was Draco’s godfather so he clearly had a vested interest. But. Was Malfoy still the property of Tom and did he want out of his dark curse. Dying and coming back how he did, he had no idea what the after effect of finally destroying Voldemort had been on the followers he’d branded. He knew their dark mark had faded with the dark wankers first death. Would his final death mean it vanished completely, or would it remain, a shadow to remind them of their ideals. He didn’t exactly want to leave them a banner to raise to their martyred lord. Or tell them how to bring the idiot back if Snape was playing both sides.
The hints and clues he’d been dropping the children of death eaters was being fed back to parents but it wasn’t enough. He had Rita Skeeter looking into Riddle but didn’t know when or what she would publish. Or if what she could find would be damaging enough to discredit the dork wanker never mind exonerating Hagrid and Aragog for the death of Myrtle Warren. Which just reminded him of the acromantula’s in the forbidden forest. Not being a native species he was sure they weren’t well suited to the Scottish climate and were bound to be a drain on the local ecosystem. He was pretty sure the centaurs weren’t thrilled to have them as neighbours. Just one more of Tom Riddle’s messes he was left having to clean up.
Sure, a giant, man eating spider was hardly an ideal pet for Hagrid but would there be an established colony in the forbidden forest if Tom’s false accusation hadn’t gotten Hagrid expelled in the first place. It was a philosophical headache he didn’t need. This, having to work out a strategy to get the last soul shard and come up with a plan to discredit Riddle and Dumbledore, this was where he missed the friendship he’d had with Ron. Hermione would take whatever idea Ron would have and make it work. He missed that dynamic even if he preferred the Ravenclaw Hermione and while he didn’t miss the pettier side of Ron’s personality. He did miss the strategist chess playing whiz that was Ronald Weasley.
So, did he knock on the door of Malfoy’s Wiltshire home and demand the diary. Threaten the man with revealing his hiding places to Amelia Bones in an anonymous tip before he could off load the darker items he didn’t want found. Or did he appeal to the death eater’s sense of self preservation and ask for it so he could destroy Tom Riddle and stop him from coming back. Or did he sit back and hope Malfoy would still drop the diary in Ginny’s cauldron. He didn’t want to see what the ghost of Riddle would do once it found the chamber empty. Well, part of him did want to see the look on the idiots face but not enough to actually let it happen. Not if he could avoid Ginny being touched by a horcrux. He didn’t feel any lingering affection for the woman she would become but that didn’t mean he wanted her tortured by Tom.
The more he lay back on the grassy hill he’d asked the room of requirement for, with clouds in the summer sky making shapes over head. The more he felt talking to Snape was the right thing to do. To get an idea of just how much the man was no longer a slave to the bad decisions made by an angry teenager.
---
Snape looked up from the potions journal he was reading as his wards told him someone was approaching his door. He waved the door open after the knock and was surprised to see Potter.
‘What do you want?’
Harry stepped into the room shutting the door behind him along with a discrete privacy spell. Crossing the distance between them he looked the older man in the eye. ‘What is the one thing you want more than anything in the entire world, muggle or wizard?’
‘You are an eleven year old child, you don’t get to ask that.’
Harry crossed his arms over his chest. ‘Shall I tell you want it is you want?’
Snape scoffed. ‘As if you could.’
‘I know my mother forgave you in death for telling Tom Riddle, who you worshipped as the dork lord, the portion of Trelawney’s prophesy you heard. The one that led to her death. I bet you wished you hadn’t done that.’
Snape felt the room drop several degrees as he sat back and really looked at the boy before him. ‘You can’t know that.’
Harry unfolded his arms and put his hand in his pocket. Pulling something out he laid a stone on Snape’s desk. ‘You’d be surprised what I can know.’
‘What’s this?’ He picked it up and frowned at the symbol carved into the stone.
‘Turn it three times and find out.’
‘That’s a fairy tale told to children and believed by fools.’
Harry raised an eyebrow. ‘Then you lose nothing in trying.’ He watched as his head of house flipped the stone three times and screamed.
The shade of Lily Evens Potter appeared. ‘Hello Severus.’
‘No.’
‘Harry’s right, I did forgive you. Maybe you can learn to forgive yourself.’
‘How?’
‘How am I here? How could I forgive you? Or how can you forgive yourself?’
‘How are you here?’
‘The Hallows are real, and Harry holds two of them in his possession. The Potters are descended from Ignotus Peverell. Thanks to my mother I can trace my lineage back to Cadmus Peverell and Harry defeated the last living descendent of Antioch Peverell. Although living is an interesting way to describe Tom Riddle.’
‘Voldemort.’
The shade of Lily nodded. ‘I don’t have long. Riddle was a fool who made my son his last horcrux in death.’
‘He’s a horcrux?’
‘Was. It’s been removed. Which means he doesn’t have to die to defeat Voldemort and Dumbledore is an old, dangerous fool.’
‘But if the horcrux is gone, what do you mean last horcrux, surely not.’
‘You really think Voldemort only made one?’ She shook her spectral head. ‘Harry has collected all but the first one, ironically.’
‘I wish.’
‘I know.’
‘I vowed to protect him.’
‘I know.’
Snape nodded. ‘What can I do to help?’
She smiled. ‘Forgive yourself and let me go.’ She looked to her son and smiled. ‘Harry.’
‘Mum.’
‘I wish I could stay.’
‘I know.’
She brushed a hand across his cheek and faded as the stone fell from Snape’s hand.
Harry pocketed the stone as Snape seemed to snap out of a fog.
‘You are a very unusual child.’
‘I know.’
He signed as he turned towards the son of his childhood friend. ‘Do you know what or where it is?’
‘It’s a diary that used to belong to Tom Riddle, and Lucius Malfoy has it.’
‘Does he know what it is?’
‘I don’t think so, but I can’t be sure. It was given to his father by old Tommy features, back when he still had a nose. But I don’t know if Lucy knows what it is, just who it belonged to.’
‘And you need me to help you get it.’
‘Obviously.’ Harry drawled.
Snape raised his own eyebrow at that.
‘I was debating blackmailing it out of him, I know where he keeps some of his more, questionable artefacts, and I’m sure he wouldn’t want Madam Bones to find out.’ He shrugged. ‘But I wasn’t sure if that would work.’
‘You’d have better luck if you told Narcissa there was a horcrux in her home.’
‘I thought of that but wasn’t sure how to approach her.’
‘How do you know Lucius has a horcrux in his possession?’
Harry looked around the room and moved to sit on an empty chair. ‘Would you believe me if I told you I was born seventeen years ago in 1980.’
‘Time travel? There isn’t a spell or ritual that can do that.’
‘Oh I’m sure there is. Wizards are entitled idiots, most are lazy and few have any common sense. If it’s been lost or hidden it’s for a good reason.’ He shook his head.
‘No. I was born in 1980, kept in a cupboard by my Aunt and Uncle after my parents died. I got my Hogwarts letter which my uncle tore up. He destroyed the next two that turned up and the three that arrived the day after that. Until eventually Dumbledore sent Hagrid to bring my letter to me on my birthday.’ Harry smiled. ‘Hagrid brought me the first cake I’d had since living with the Dursley’s. I was moved from the cupboard under the stairs and got my cousin’s spare room for a bedroom. I went from living with the spiders to Dudley’s broken toys. And every summer, Dumbledore sent me back to hell. He didn’t believe family could treat each other badly, which is ironic since he probably killed his sister. By the time I was seventeen I destroyed the horcruxes so Voldemort could kill me and destroy the one he’d made of me. In an epic battle that destroyed most of this castle and killed too many witches and wizards.’
‘But that’s impossible.’
‘Oh I haven’t got to the punchline yet.’ Harry took a deep breath. ‘I died and was given the chance to stay dead or to go back to being the seventeen year old hero of the wizarding world. Until they vilified me again. Talk about a Madonna-Whore complex. But I was given another choice, by Lady Magic herself. She is not happy with Dumbledore or Voldemort. Both of them are idiots and responsible for the death of too many of Magic’s children. And trust me, she’s pissed.’
‘So she what, sent you back but also back in time.’
‘Yes.’
‘To stop Voldemort.’
‘And Dumbledore. Who is partially responsible for Voldemort by the way. As well as Grindlewald.’
‘What?’
Harry smiled. ‘Rita Skeeter has put it together, about Dumbledore’s old next door neighbour being Grindlewald’s aunt. That is where two idiots cooked up the greater good nonsense that threw the wizarding world into chaos. She’ll be publishing that over the next few days. It’s quite the irony, that the man the wizarding world heralds as the greatest light wizard since Merlin.’ Harry paused. ‘Is actually, directly responsible, for the development of the last two dark wizards.’ He nodded. ‘Albus Dumbledore is indirectly responsible for every death caused by Grindlewald and arguably, Voldemort. He is quite possibly the one wizard with the most second-hand magical blood on his hands. And if I was going to call anyone a dark lord, that would qualify him I reckon.’
‘But Dumbledore is a light wizard.’
‘Do you know who introduced a young orphan named Tom Riddle to the world of magic? It was a judgmental professor from Hogwarts who when faced with a slightly odd magical child in an orphanage in 1930’s muggle London, set his things on fire. And reinforced for that child that speaking with snakes was bad. Now I’m not saying that is the only reason Riddle became Voldemort, but it was sure as hell a contributing factor. You take a child who was beaten to get the devil out of him after being abandoned by the death of his mother who used love potions to trap his muggle father. And ask yourself if you are surprised that when denied the sanctuary of Hogwarts during world war two, he became obsessed with living beyond death.’ Harry shook his head.
‘By modern terms it all fits the progression of an antisocial personality disorder so you could argue that it didn’t matter what happened. Tom Riddle was always going to turn himself into Voldemort. Did he lack empathy because he was conceived due to a love potion. Was it the inbreeding in the Gaunt line that resulted in psychopathic tendencies. Or maybe the lack of empathy was a result of being starved and beaten as a child. I don’t think exorcisms in the thirties were life affirming experiences so it’s possible he ended up with some sort of brain damage from that.’ Harry thought about what he had learnt in primary school about the human brain. ‘It’s even possible something happened when he was born as his mother died in childbirth. Regardless, it all rather supports the idea that wizarding orphans should never be left in muggle orphanages once they exhibit accidental magic.’ He looked at Snape. ‘I know I’d have had a better childhood if that was the case.’
Harry frowned. ‘Well that got pretty dark, guess I had a lot on my mind. Anyway, I was sent back to the age of eleven to stop a lot of people dying. Magic can not lose so many witches and wizards and not be diminished by it. It’s bad enough all the pure bloods are so focused on their blood status that they are breeding the magic out of their bloodlines, without us killing each other.’ He looked at Snape. ‘I need that diary so the Goblins can destroy all the pieces of Riddlemort’s soul and stop him coming back.’
Snape dragged a hand though his hair amazed at what he had just witnessed as this child had laid out an epic rant that ran from nature verses nurture with an accusation of Dumbledore as a Dark wizard. ‘What can you tell me that will support this?'
‘You could tell Lucius your dark lord needs the diary to come back because it’s a horcrux and ask him for it. Quirrell was possessed by him so it’s not unreasonable that you could know that.’
Snape nodded. ‘I can work that.’
‘As to what I can tell you that I shouldn’t know, the Malfoy house elf Dobby is a damaged little thing. And I know Lucius was never under the imperious curse, it cost him a lot of gold. And with the loss of access to the Black Vault, he’s going to be hurting. Which may mean he may not be able to bribe the Slytherin quidditch team with Nimbus 2001 brooms to get Draco on the team next year. Besides, Flint wants me to be his seeker and for a Slytherin he’s remarkable in that he places a higher value on talent than bribery.’
‘Yes, that is remarkable.’
‘Your old potions textbook is around with the name the Half Blood Prince in it. You might want to make sure no students can get their hands on that, some of the spells you invented are pretty nasty. Oh, and has Damocles Belby published his wolfsbane potion yet? I know it will be available in two years so it may be out already.’ Harry watched the expressions on Snape’s face and wondered if he had managed to convince him.
‘Damocles Belby has asked to meet with me at the Malfoy Yule Ball to discuss a potion he wants me to peer review but he hasn’t told me what the potion is.’
Harry nodded. ‘I can wait but the sooner I get the diary the sooner I can end Voldemort and stop him coming back.’
‘How? How did he come back last time?’
‘Pettigrew and Barty Crouch Jr did the heavy lifting, he used some potion that had his father’s bone in it, Pettigrew’s hand and my blood.’
Snape frowned. ‘I am unfamiliar with a ritual or potion that could be used for that.’
‘Don’t go looking for it on my behalf. Besides, I may have put a spanner in that plan this time around. Crouch Jr is back in Azkaban and Pettigrew is in Sirius’s old cell.’ He paused with a smile as he remembered what happened to Tom Riddle Senior’s bones, along with the bones of all the Riddles in the Little Hangleton graveyard. ‘I may have taken other steps to stop the same ritual being able to be used.’
‘I will speak with Lucius about the diary.’
‘Just be careful, it looks innocuous but it’s dark and will try to protect itself. And for gods sake don’t write in it.’
‘What will you do once this is done?’
‘Be a kid, I haven’t exactly had the Hallmark childhood so I want to try it out. I want to do well in school and maybe become a curse breaker or something where being a parseltongue is an advantage, rather than a curse of its own.’ He smiled, a soft genuine smile. ‘I want my friends to have the same opportunity to enjoy their years at Hogwarts without the expectations of idiots and bullies colouring their world.’ He leaned forward. ‘There is this Ravenclaw who will start next year that sees the world in colours the rest of us can only imagine. I want to see her grow with Hermione keeping the bullies in their house from crushing the purity of her soul. I want Nev to show everyone what I’ve seen him become. He stood up when it mattered and saved the students of Hogwarts when death eaters were teaching students to cast the crutiatus curse on each other. I want to see him grow without having to live though that. And I don’t want to see Slytherin’s become baby death eaters. Malfoy doesn’t deserve to be branded like cattle. He may be a complete git and a spoiled brat but he doesn’t deserve to have his mother’s death hanging over his head to make him compliant to the dork lords megalomania.’
Harry sighed. ‘And it isn’t fair for Dumbledork to ask you to kill him to save Malfoy from having to do it. Although that isn’t likely to happen this time around because the stone was acquired before the grey bearded moron could put a cursed ring on his finger.’ He looked down at his hands, his voice raw. ‘I don’t want to go to the funerals of friends and see my godson grow up without his parents because of cowardly adults expecting children to solve problems they created.’ He shook his head before meeting Snape’s eyes. ‘The wizarding world needs to grow up and catch a clue or there wont be anything left to save.’
There was an edge in the child sitting before him that left Snape in no doubt of the honesty within. He saw hints of the man this boy was and would become. He was on the cusp of greatness he didn’t want with no room for compromise. There was power walking with this wizard, and if he wanted to, he could become the most devastating of all the dark lords if he gave in to the pain and darkness within. Would that be a third dark wizard laid at the feet of Albus Dumbledore if it happened he wondered. Or would this child be a force for change their world needed.
‘How will I contact you once I’ve got the diary from Lucius?’
‘I’ll be staying with Sirius and Remus for Yule, you can send me a message and take the diary straight to Goldsword, the branch manager at Gringotts in Diagon Alley. While you are there you should take an inheritance test.’
‘My mother was a pure blood, I think I know my family tree.’
‘Was your grandfather the last male in the Prince line?’
‘Yes, but he disowned my mother for marrying a muggle.’
‘Did he really? Or did he just tell her he did because it’s actually a bit of a process to disown someone.’
‘You would know this why?’
Harry shrugged. ‘I had my lawyer explain it to me, you probably knew her as Andromeda Black before she married her muggle born husband. Andi was cut off from the Black name, money and magic, Sirius just thought he was but his mother wasn’t the head of the family.’
‘As touching as that insight into the Black family is, this affects me how?’
‘It might not, I’m just saying that with a muggle parent you should have an inheritance test done. Turns out muggle born are actually the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of squibs.’
Considering this Snape gave a wiry smile. ‘That will upset the pure bloods.’
Harry let the disdain drip from his words as he snapped. ‘Maybe they shouldn’t have been so quick to throw their children away.’ He shook his head. ‘I don’t understand the genetics. I only have a primary school level education in the muggle sciences, although I’ve been looking into distance learning to fix that oversight.’
‘If you do not feel you have enough homework Mr Potter, this can be corrected.’
‘Ah, but which better determines what chance of success I will have once I leave Hogwarts, the mark I got on an essay in first year potions? Or my OWL and NEWT results.’
‘Indeed, but it would not do for a Slytherin to get bad marks.’
Harry snorted. ‘I may not have been raised by her but I am my mother’s son. I never did well at primary because it wasn’t worth getting better grades than my stupid cousin. Doesn’t mean I wasn’t reading when I hid from him in libraries.’ He shook his head. ‘Having the correct prescription for my glasses helps.’
‘Well as enlightening as this has been Mr Potter, you have reminded me of the homework I have to finish marking.’
Harry took that for the dismissal it was and decided to read over the distance learning catalogues he’d dropped on his desk and not looked at since ordering them. He really did need to maintain his muggle education while improving his magical one. He’d spoken with Hermione about it and she agreed that it would open more options to them if they did. He’d only have two months to catch up on if he started now. Thinking about it, it was actually surprising that more Ravenclaw muggle born didn’t do something similar. Or, he conceded, it was just one more of the huge glaring gaps in the wizarding mentality.
He knew if the wizarding world didn’t get its head out of its stuck up arse, there was going to be trouble as muggle technology improved while wizards still believed muggles lived in hovels. It didn’t take a genius to work out the disparity between the two worlds, look at how wizards dressed when trying to blend in. They were lucky they didn’t end up sectioned and locked up for mandatory psyche evaluations. And how quickly would things have ended with old Tommy’s followers if instead of firing stunning spells, aurors used guns.
He reached his quarters without running into Parkinson or Malfoy and counted that as a win. He was however, getting a lot of practice with wandless and wordless shield spells. At his desk he sorted through the piles of correspondence waiting for his attention and found the brochures he was looking for. He’d asked Remus to get them for him, Sirius’s contribution was a catalogue for Zonkos and a magazine advertising witch and wizard underwear. With moving pictures that Blaise had stolen, trying to be stealthy but he wasn’t going to judge. It wasn’t like Sirius wouldn’t send him more if he asked.