Shattering Timelines

Harry quickly made his way up to the Room of Requirement. He needed to have a conversation alone with Kali, and the kitchen was not a suitable place. Dodging students and teachers, Harry eventually made his way up to the seventh floor.

‘I need a place where no one can find me. I need a place where no one can find me. I need a place where no one can find me,’ Harry thought as he paced three times in front of the wall that lead to the Room of Requirement. As soon as the door appeared, Harry dashed in.

Harry paused when he saw what form the room had taken. It looked like a strange mix of the Gryffindor and Slytherin common rooms. The room had the coloring of the Slytherin common room, but the comfort of the Gryffindor common room. Large green couches, armchairs, and bean bag chairs surrounded the roaring fire in the fireplace. Harry shook his head; he would figure out what this meant later.

With a growl, Harry unwrapped Kali from around his neck and threw her onto a sofa. Kali squaked and bared his teeth at him.

“Would you mind telling me what the hell went on in Defense? ‘Cause I would certainly like to know!” Harry growled.

Kali looked down at the cushion sheepishly and slowly backed away from Harry.

“Don’t think you can avoid this,” Harry crossed his arms, “I know you had something to do with what happened with that Dementor.”

Harry collapsed down on the couch beside Kali. “Okay,” Harry said, running his hand through his hair, “Okay. Rehash time. Maybe that will help me figure things out.

“First,” Harry stood up and began to pace, “I went to DADA with Mum and her friends where Bellatrix decided to show her bitchy side and cursed Gwen. Dad came in and saved the day, but Sirius continued the fight in the classroom. I walked in with Gwen and Marlene; we were the last ones in, and we didn’t close the door. I sat down beside Mum where she decided to start the awkwardest conversation known to man. But something didn’t feel right. I looked for the exits, but the door was closed which was weird because Gwen hadn’t closed it. I checked it out, but someone had used the Stoß Ward on it.”

Harry flopped back down on the couch. “Which I don’t understand. I really don’t think that ward has been invented yet. I thought Tom made it towards the end of the war in order to stop the Order’s attacks on his headquarters.

“Surely my being here hasn’t changed things already?” Harry said rubbing the back of his head, “Merlin, I hope not. That would complicate a lot of things.”

Harry shook his head. “Anyway, the Dementor got loose and came after me like usual. I tried to teach Lily how to do the spell, but she couldn’t do it. The Dementor almost kissed me before… you clawed me. Kali, what did you do?”

Kali sunk lower into the couch cushions. “Did you somehow make me remember happy memories?” Harry asked in shock. When Kali made no motion to answer Harry sighed. “Are you honestly not going to tell me anything?”

Harry rolled his eyes when Kali shook her head no. “Anyway,” Harry growled, “You did some kind of weird mojo of me that made me relive my happiest memories which somehow enabled me to produce not only Prongs like usual but also Lily, Moony, Teddy, and Padfoot…” Harry stuttered to a stop. “Padfoot,” He repeated quietly looking lost in thought.

Kali cocked her head and watched him warily. Suddenly he screeched and shot up causing Kali to squawk in alarm and accidently fall off the couch. Harry didn’t notice since he was in the midst of a panic attack.

“Oh god! I called Padfoot by name! I said his name! The Marauders were there; they must have heard me call him that. Did I call the others by their names?” Harry sat back down on the couch in an effort to calm himself, “Dear Merlin, what am I going to do?”

Kali crawled up Harry’s pants leg and nervously eyed her companion. “There’s no way the Marauder’s could have not noticed that. Oh, Kali, this is bad. Really, really bad. I was supposed to fly under the radar, but it’s barely been a week and I’ve already screwed it all up. The Marauders are going to want to know what they were doing as my patronuses.”

Harry took several, deep breaths trying to calm himself. “Okay. Let’s start with things we know. We don’t know if the Marauders even heard me. They may have been too freaked out by the Dementor to pay attention to me. For now, I’ll focus on what the hell you did to me in order to get me to summon five patronuses.”

The panic that had encompassed him for the past few minutes began to fade away. At least he had a plan now. Harry glanced down at Kali but sighed in frustration when he noticed her closed lipped stance on the patronuses. “It looks like the only place I’ll get a straight answer is the freaking manual that came with you. I swear, you are more of a hassle than what you are worth sometimes,” He grumbled, ignoring Kali’s squawk of indignation before groaning and dropping his head into his hands, “But getting the book means going back to the Gryffindor Tower, and going back to the Gryffindor Tower means running into the Marauders. Fuck!”

Harry growled, “Just my luck,” he glanced up at the clock that materialized on the wall, “Maybe they’re not back to their dorms yet. If I leave now, I can probably make it there and back without being caught.”

Harry quickly grabbed Kali from her resting spot and draped her around his neck. “Do you think we’ll make it?”

Kali shook her head causing Harry to roll his eyes. “This is the point where you lie to me and say we will.”

Harry peeked out the door to the Room of the Requirement before slipping out and making his way to Gryffindor Tower. Harry had to hide a wince when he saw students whisper when he passed them. It seemed as if his escapade in Defense had already become the hot gossip in school.

Harry continued to sulk as he stomped up the stairs to the Fat Lady. An interested gleam entered her eyes, but Harry cut her off before she could say anything. “Leonis animum.”

The Fat Lady pouted but allowed him to enter. Harry let out a sigh of relief when he saw that the only people in the common room were a couple of first and second years. Harry bounded up the steps to his dorm before he could receive odd looks from the students. He paused outside the door, hoping that the Marauders weren’t inside, and opened it with a quiet click.

It must have been Harry’s lucky day because the room was deserted. “Thank Merlin,” Harry leaned against the door in relief before quickly walking over to his trunk. Out of habit, he checked the wards he placed on it and froze. It looked as if the Marauders had tried to break into his trunk. The amount of sheer power they had used would have broken into even the most guarded trunks, but thankfully Harry had found in the Black grimoire and Kali’s book many long forgotten and powerful spells that the Marauders were no match for. With a growl, Harry flung his trunk open and snatched Kali’s book and his invisibility cloak before warding his trunk again. He didn’t know if the Marauders were back from their classes yet, and he was not going to get caught by them especially after he learned that they tried to break into his trunk. Harry doubted he would be able to keep control of his temper if he ran into them.

Harry threw the cloak over himself and tiptoed out of his dorm and down the stairs. Harry peeked into the common room and immediately thanked whatever god there was that he had decided to use the cloak. The Marauders were huddled together by the fire, deep in conversation ignoring the other students in the room. Carefully, Harry picked his way through the room to the portrait hole making sure that he didn’t bump into anyone. Harry had just got to the portrait hole before he realized something important. He couldn’t just leave the common room invisible like he had in his time. The Marauders had a cloak of their own; they would notice and realize someone was invisible if the portrait opened and closed with nobody entering or exiting. Harry huffed and waited impatiently for a few minutes. Every few seconds, he would glance warily at the Marauders, paranoid that they would realize that he was there. Finally, the portrait opened and a group of first years entered. Harry hastily exited the common room, accidentally nudging the last first year in the group before he ran through the corridors.

Harry quickly put a lot of distance between him and the common room, not really caring where he was going as long as it was far away from the Marauders. When he made it to the third floor he ducked into an old hidden alcove. He glanced down the hallway to make sure nobody was around before shrugging the cloak off and wrapping it around the book. Now that he knew where the Marauders were he didn’t need the cloak, but the book needed to remain hidden. Quickly, he stuffed the invisible bundle into his bag and put a Notice-Me-Not charm on it.

Harry walked out of the alcove like nothing had happened and wondered where he should go. He really should have gone back to the Room of Requirement, but in his haste to get away from the Gryffindor Tower he had taken a wrong turn. After a few minutes of deliberation, he decided to go to Myrtle’s bathroom. Nobody would be there, and he could start to befriend the sullen ghost. You never knew when a ghost would come in handy.

“Hey, Hadrian!” a voice shouted from behind him.

Harry jumped and turned around. Lily and her group of friends had just exited Professor McGonagall's room and were coming towards him.

“Well, what do you know? It’s the Gryffindor genius!” Alice said with an easy grin, “What are you doing all the way down here? I thought you had class now.”

Harry gave the group an uneasy grin and started to answer, but Lily cut him off. “Guys, can I talk to Hadrian for a moment?”

The group looked at Lily oddly. She still looked pale from the encounter with the Dementor and she was unsmiling. She had a blank look on her face, but there was a fire in her eyes that had Harry worried.

Gwen gave Lily a small smile. “Sure. We’ll meet you at the common room.”

Alice and Marlene looked hesitant to leave, obviously wanting to know what Lily wanted to talk to Harry about, but Gwen quickly dragged them away from the silent duo. Once Gwen had managed to drag the two around the corner Lily turned back to Harry. Harry fought the urge to step away from her. She truly looked frightening, her eyes blazing and her arms crossed.

“Hadrian,” Lily began in a sickeningly sweet manner, “How do you know my sister’s name?”

Harry froze as he tried to remember anytime he had mentioned Petunia. Lily had never mentioned anything about her family in all the times he had been with her. Then he remembered. The attack, that’s what this was about. She had said something about being a freak, and he told her that Petunia was a bitch. Fuck, Lily never said it was her sister, much less her name.

“One of the girls told me, I think,” Harry said hoping that the vague answer would be enough for her.

Lily eyed him carefully. “That’s odd because, you see, I asked the girls if they had mentioned my sister to you and they said no.”

“Maybe they just said something in passing,”Harry said uneasily.

Lily shook her head. “No, I don’t think they did. My sister is a very touchy topic, you see. They wouldn’t tell someone they just met about her.

“Maybe I heard it from James then. He wouldn’t shut up about you after that party. I swear, you’re all he ever talks about,” Harry said offhandedly.

“No, I don’t think that’s it either. I don’t tell anyone about my sister especially since the war has started. The only people that know about her are Gwen, Alice, and Marlene. James doesn’t even know about her,” she said with a fake pleasantness that was worse than shouting.

Harry plastered on a grin. “Well, it’s James. He probably knows a lot of things about you that you don’t realize,” Lily raised an eyebrow at his statement and he quickly tried to backpedal, “Not in a weird stalker way, just things like your favorite color and your sister’s name!”

Lily was silent for a moment and stared deep into Harry’s eyes. Even though Harry didn’t feel anything pushing against his occlumency shields, he would have sworn that Lily was trying to read his mind. “You’re lying,” she said quietly.

“I’m not. How else could you explain how I know your sister’s name?”

Lily shook her head. “I don’t know, but I do know you didn’t learn it from anyone at Hogwarts. There’s no way you could have learned it from anyone here.”

“Lily, somebody told me about your sister. Maybe I was wrong, maybe it was Severus who mentioned her; we did share a carriage. Even if it wasn’t him, somebody had to have told me about her,” Harry claimed.

At the mention of her old friend’s name, Lily’s head snapped up. She stared at him for a moment, seemingly lost in thought before shaking her head no again. “No, you’re lying. Severus wouldn’t mention me much less my sister.”

Harry threw up his hands. “Well, I don’t know what to tell you! Somebody told me Petunia’s name. I couldn’t have known it any other way!”

Lily flinched slightly at her sister’s name but she fought to retain the calm facade that masked her anger and fear. “I don't know how you know her name, but I know you are lying. And I do not accept liars as my friends. This is your one and only warning. I will not tolerate it if you lie to me again. I will not let you around me or my friends if you so much as tell a white lie. Do you understand me?”

Harry paused. “Shouldn't your friends decide for themselves if they want to be friends with me or not?”

“I'm sure they would understand my reasoning if I tell them you've been lying to us.”

Harry sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “Fine. Fine, I won't lie to you, alright?” He inconspicuously crossed his fingers behind his back.

“I'm putting my trust in you, Hadrian Emrys-Slytherin. Do not break,” Lily said before she began to walk away. “Oh, and by the way,” Lily turned back, “Don’t call my sister a bitch. She is my family. You have no right to judge her.” With a flip of her hair, Lily left.

Harry finally let his calm mask drop as soon as his mother disappeared from sight. He groaned loudly and yanked at his hair, the sharp pain distracting him from the ultimatum his mother had given him.

“Fuck! Why does this always happen! Am I literally that stupid as to mention Petunia in front of Lily? Why did I do that?!” Harry admonished himself as he stomped the rest of the way to Myrtle’s bathroom, “And now, she thinks I’m a liar. Which I am but still! The only reason I lie to her is to protect her. Who knows what would happen if I told her the truth; I doubt she would take it well. I can just imagine it. ‘Hi, mum. My name is actually Harry James Potter-Black, and I’m your son from the future. I’m here to make sure you and my father, who is James Potter, by the way, don’t die in four years.’ Yeah, that would just be just great. She would totally accept me with open arms.”

Harry forced himself to calm down before he entered Myrtle’s bathroom. It wouldn’t do to get off on the wrong foot with the temperamental ghost. If he somehow insulted or infuriated her in some way during his first meeting, Harry doubted he would ever gain her trust in the future. Plastering on a smirk that would make most playboys envious, Harry walked into the girls’ bathroom without so much as a knock and cast as many silencing and locking charms on the door as he could. He’d rather it not be shouted to the world that he was in Myrtle’s bathroom when she noticed him.

An infuriated shriek greeted him when he entered the room. “WHOEVER IS IN MY BATHROOM NEEDS TO LEAVE NOW!! I’M SICK AND TIRED OF YOU GUYS PICKING ON ‘PATHETIC, CRY-BABY MYRTLE’!!” The furious ghost shrieked from her stall.

“Excuse me, miss? May I speak to you?” Harry called out carefully.

A pale figure poked her head above the stall. “This is the girls’ bathroom, idiot! The boys’ is on the fourth floor!”

Harry effortlessly pulled up a flirtatious smirk. “I wanted to meet the brilliant girl everyone has been talking about. I heard she haunted this bathroom. I assume that’s you?”

Myrtle blinked and smiled bashfully before she squashed it down with a wary look. “Who are you? This better not be a trick! If it is, I swear I will haunt you! You won’t sleep peacefully until you leave Hogwarts!”

“I must apologize. It seems as if I have forgotten my manners. I am Lord Hadrian Emrys-Slytherin, and I would never dare trick a beautiful lady such as yourself,” Harry said with a small, polite bow.

Myrtle watched him warily. Evidently his flattery had not convinced her of his willingness for a friendship. “Lord Slytherin,” She began carefully, watching his every move, “I knew a Lord Slytherin once. A cruel, sadistic creature he was. He caused so much pain and hatred in so few years. Are you anything like your relation?”

“Although he is a relative of mine, I do not claim his as family. We are too different and I do not agree with many of his...ideals. I prefer a much simpler way of life that involves beautiful people like you,” Harry answered with an easy smirk that he had used in his past to win over the press.

Myrtle chuckled darkly. “You say you are different, yet it is obvious you have inherited his charm. Although the previous Lord Slytherin was a very cruel man, he had a certain quality about him that could infatuate even the noblest of people. You clearly have that ability, and use it commonly,” Myrtle stared at him, a far off look entering her eyes, “But you also have a darkness in you that I have only seen in Riddle. I have to say, you handle it much better than he ever could.”

“Just because there is darkness in me doesn’t mean I am anything like Tom,” Harry said sharply before conceding, “You are right, I share many qualities with my ancestor, but I do not let these qualities define me. I form my own ideals and I will not become some mindless sheep that simply follows the ideals or superiors that society sets. I am my own man, and I won’t let myself be controlled, not again.”

Myrtle watched him appraisingly. “Riddle was the same way. He refused to become a mindless follower and set out to change the world. Take care you don’t end up like him.”

Harry nodded. “I will keep that in mind.”

At his words, Myrtle smiled brightly and actually began to look like the thirteen-year-old girl/ghost that she was. “Now that that is out of the way, mind telling me why you’re in my bathroom? And I would like the truth instead of the lies and flattery that your silver tongue was spouting off minutes ago.”

Harry contemplated her words. He could go two ways: he could lie and manipulate her or he could be himself and tell her the truth. After a moment's thought, Harry let his mask slip for the first time since he had come to Hogwarts. He had a feeling he would be much more convincing if he told the truth instead of twisting the truth. He couldn’t afford to lose any allies. Harry took a deep breath and finally said, “I needed a friend.”

“Oh?” Myrtle raised an eyebrow at his statement, “You? Shouldn’t you have a whole posse of followers that would be willing to do anything for you?”

Harry glared at her. “You’re confusing me with Tom. Unlike him, I seem to be having a shortage of true allies. Yes, people are willing to smile and play nice but they either have their own motives or don’t trust me.”

“So that’s what this is about. Allies? I would think they would be much easier to gain than friends. Riddle seemed to acquire many of them, although I doubt all of them were true. What seems to be the problem?”

“I’m not what people expected.”

Myrtle snorted. “And that’s a bad thing? Being unpredictable keeps you alive.”

“But it doesn’t get you many friends,” Harry countered.

“I thought you wanted allies,” Myrtle shot back.

Harry forced down a growl. “You’re twisting my words! I want friends, but if I can’t have them then I at least need allies.”

“Then why did you come to me?”

“Because I hoped you’d be my friend or at least an ally,” Harry repeated.

Myrtle floated out of her stall until she was in front of him. “But that still doesn’t answer the question. Why me? Why did you choose me over some human? Or am I your last resort?”

Harry shifted slightly. He hadn’t expected the ghost to act like this. In his time, all she did was yell at the girls or flirt with the boys, but then again, he had only met her a few times, and the Lord Slytherin was never mentioned. But even then, she never seemed so serious. Harry thought back to what he knew about ghosts. He had had very few interactions with ghosts in his time, and the few times he did they only seemed to focus on what was occurring in the castle at that time or their deaths. They very rarely talked about their lives. If they did, it was always vague. Maybe the older a ghost became, the more they forgot about their lives? That would explain why Myrtle never told anyone about Tom. “You’re not my last resort,” Harry said eventually, “Actually you were one of my top picks.”

“But why did you pick me,” Myrtle whined, beginning to get annoyed with Harry.

“Because you’re useful,” Harry finally said, “Nobody expects you. At most, people ignore you as if you’re not there. You know all the gossip that goes on in this school. I mean, you live in a girls bathroom, of course, you would know all the gossip! Plus, you’re smart. I know you were a Ravenclaw before you died,” Harry faltered for a moment before continuing, “And I thought that if worse comes to worst then at least I wouldn’t get you killed since you’re already dead.”

Myrtle looked at Harry appraisingly. “I told you to tell the truth but I didn’t actually expect you to.”

Harry rolled his eyes before holding out his hand. “So, what do you say? Allies?”

Myrtle glanced at his hand before smiling. “Friends.”

The teenage ghost passed her hand through his in a semblance of a handshake. Harry shivered as chills racked through his body but smiled anyway. At least, if everyone turned on him now as the sorting hat predicted (which was looking more and more likely the more he slipped up. Lily had already threatened to leave him and take her friends with her. The only other person he may be able to consider an ally was Theodosia, but he had just met her today and she didn’t know he was the new Lord Emrys-Slytherin.) he would have at least one person who’d have his back.

“So, how’d you know I was a Ravenclaw?” Myrtle asked.

Harry grinned cheekily. “You’re not in the smart house. Us Gryffindors can be smart too!”

Myrtle’s eyes skyrocketed. “Gryffindor, huh? How’d you end up in that house?”

“Why does everyone ask that!”

“Because you’re Lord Slytherin! Duh!” Myrtle rolled her eyes, her age becoming apparent.

“But I could still be a Gryffindor!”

“Yeah! If you bribed the Sorting Hat!” Myrtle snorted.

Harry tried to look affronted. “I didn’t bribe the Sorting Hat!”

“Sure you didn’t,” Myrtle drawled.

“I didn’t,” Harry grumbled before shaking his head, “Anyway, we’re getting off topic. I had something to ask you.”

Myrtle looked at him curiously. “What did you want to ask me?”

“Do you know of anyone who might be experimenting with warding or dark spells?”

“No, actually,” Myrtle said looking extremely put out before brightening slightly, “But the most of the Slytherin house along with a few of the Ravenclaws are probably experimenting with the dark arts.”

Harry paused at the mention of the Ravenclaw house. “Some Ravenclaws are practicing the dark arts?”

Myrtle nodded energetically. “Yeah! There’s a lot of purebloods in the house that are being pressured by their parents to join the ” Myrtle paused, glancing around, “Um, french, if you know what I mean.”

Harry grinned. “I put up silencing and warding spells as soon as I got in here.”

Myrtle pouted. “But we might as well be secretive. You never know what might happen. Plus code names are awesome!”

Harry laughed. “Okay. We’ll start referring to you know as the french.”

Myrtle floated up and down as if she was bouncing, laughing. “Yes! I knew I could convince you to use code names! Hey, do you want a code name? I’m sure we could come up with something cool!”

Harry grinned. Her cheerfulness was contagious. He watched as she excitedly started spouting out ideas. Harry thought about it for a moment before shrugging. His father and his friends had their own code names. Why couldn’t he and his friends? “Sure! Why not?”

Myrtle squealed and gave him a ghostly hug that made him shiver, but he returned it the best he could. “So I was thinking we could have our code names be our favorite animal or something.”

Harry thought for a moment before shaking his head. It was too close to the Marauders nicknames for his liking. “What about something to do with whatever we like to do? Like having to do with a hobby or something?”

This time, it was Myrtle who was shaking her head. “I don’t think so. What would we call ourselves then? ‘Cause I’m definitely not going to be called something like Books or whatever. It’s not going to happen.”

“You’re right. That was a dumb idea.”

“It wasn’t that bad,” Myrtle said trying to make up for his flop idea, “Just not thought out.”

Harry sighed. “Do you have any other ideas? I’m all out.”

Myrtle paused before pouting. “This is harder than I thought.”

Harry chuckled. “How about we think about and we meet again in a few days and exchange ideas.”

Myrtle nodded but seemed hesitant. “Okay, but do you have to go now? We don’t have to talk about codenames! We can talk about hobbies like you said or your classes! We could talk about your classes!” Myrtle said desperately.

Harry paused. He really should be going, but she seemed really desperate for companionship. After a moment he conceded. “I can stay for thirty more minutes, but after that , have to go.”

Myrtle immediately brightened up and started babbling about almost everything. Harry just leaned back on the sinks and let her talk, making the appropriate comments whenever she paused. Thirty minutes came and went, but Harry didn’t have the heart to tell her. For the first time since Harry had met her, she actually seemed happy, but when an hour had passed Harry was forced to stop her even though he didn’t want to. “I’m sorry, Myrtle, but I’ve got to go.”

Myrtle paused in the middle of her description of the Ravenclaw Tower and nodded dejectedly. “Yeah, you probably have something to do.”

Harry smiled kindly and said his goodbyes before turning and heading to the door. He was just about to open the door when Myrtle called out.

“Wait!” she cried, stopping him from leaving.

“Yeah, Myrtle?” He asked quietly.

The ghost began to nervously fiddle with her hands. “Just-just come back soon, okay? You weren’t the only one who needed a friend.”

Harry smiled gently at the girl. “I promise to come back as soon as I can, Myrtle. I’ll try to make it tomorrow, but if I can’t make tomorrow then I promise to come the next day. Is that okay with you?”

Myrtle smiled at him gratefully. “I’m sure I can fit it into my schedule,” she joked.

Harry laughed and waved at her one last time before finally exiting the bathroom.

“I always knew you were a perve, but really? The girls’ bathroom?”

Harry jerked at the accusation, but before he could do or say anything rough hands grabbed him and yanked him into the alcove that he had hidden in just hours before.

“What the hell, guys!”

The Marauders stood in front of him in all their glory. James, Sirius, and Remus looked quite menacing with their silhouettes shrouded in shadow since the blocked the only exit. Harry had to hide a wince when he noticed that they were glaring down at him with their arms crossed. Peter stood behind them slightly, peeking over their shoulders. He smirked and cheekily waved at Harry before disappearing into the hall probably playing lookout for his friends.

“What are you guys doing?” Harry said hesitantly.

James gave him a fake smile. “Well, we did want to ask you a few questions, but now I’m more concerned about the fact that you came out of the girls’ bathroom.”

“Yeah, what’s up with that,” Sirius jumped in.

Harry ran his hands through his hair. “Look, it’s a long story that I don’t have time to explain. I’ve got to go; I’ll see tonight.”

Harry tried to push past him, but James and Sirius immediately blocked him. Remus stepped forward, arms crossed and deadly serious. “It seems like a lot of things are long stories when it comes to you.”

Harry ignored him and tried to push past them but was blocked again. “I’ve got to go! We can talk later, I promise, but I have to go.”

“Whatever it is can wait,” Sirius growled, “If it even exists. It couldn’t have been that important if you didn’t do it during that potions class you skipped.”

“How’d you know about potions?” Harry asked, thrown off by the fact that they knew his schedule.

“It doesn’t matter,” Remus glared at Sirius causing him to look appropriately cowed, “What does matter is you and all the weird things that happen around you.”

“Oh, Lupin! I didn’t realize you cared so much about me!” Harry said with a flirtatious wink.

Sirius growled and pushed in front of Remus, getting into Harry’s face. “Now, you listen to me. I don’t trust you. Hell, I don’t even remotely like you. Even though you somehow managed to trick your way into Gryffindor, you’re still a slimy snake, and you always will be.”

“Don’t hold back, Black,” Harry drawled, “Tell me how you really feel.”

Sirius snarled and looked like he was going to lunge forward, but Remus pushed Sirius behind him effectively blocking him from Harry. “Now’s not the time, Sirius. We need him breathing so he can answer our questions.”

“Oh, so cute,” Harry snickered, “Listen to your boyfriend. Black. He’s just trying to protect you.”

Harry tried not to laugh at Sirius’ outraged face as he lunged at Harry again barely being stopped by Remus. Harry glanced at James and felt a flash of hurt pass through him when he noticed his father had done nothing to stop Sirius and just stood back watching the situation play out with a smirk. Harry immediately tried to squash the feelings. They were completely irrational. James didn’t even know that Harry was his son. It was so incredibly stupid to be upset about his father not stopping his godfather from attacking him. Hell, his father wasn’t even his father yet, same with Sirius not being his godfather. They didn’t know him, and to be completely honest, Harry didn’t know them. Sure he knew a little bit about their adult counterparts, but Harry knew next to nothing about their teenage selves. They were just James, Sirius, and Remus not his father, godfather, and honorary uncle.

“Sirius! Calm down! He’s just trying to rile you up! It’s just another distraction,” Remus barked.

When it looked as if Sirius wasn’t going to stop struggling, James pushed off the wall he was leaning on with a sigh. “Come on, Pads. Remember the mission. You want to figure this out, right?”

“Yeah,” Sirius said stiffly, beginning to calm down a bit.

“Then stop acting like an idiot!” James rolled his eyes before turning to Harry. Harry subconsciously straightened his spine as James walked around him, silently appraising him before saying, “For an all powerful lord, you’re not much to look at.”

Harry choked on the laughter he was trying to hide. Really? Even though he had changed his looks so that he didn’t look exactly like his father, they still looked similar! James basically said that he wasn’t much to look at by saying Harry wasn’t much to look at.

James continued, not bothering to wait for Harry’s reaction. “You’re a very odd person, Slytherin. We’ve done a little bit of research on you, and let’s just say it’s been surprising what little we did find out about you. First, you tried to sit with us on the train,” Harry tried to explain that he hadn’t but James ignored him and began to pace, “Then, we hear that you sat with Sirius’ brother and Snivellus. Not to mention, Malfoy wants to add you to his list of conquests. Then you go and sit with some of the most dangerous people in the entire school, yet you somehow managed to get on their good side in one meeting. It normally takes them weeks just to acknowledge people let alone doing it without disdain. But that all makes sense because you’re the heir of Slytherin. Nobody would flinch if you turned out to be evil.”

James stopped pacing and turned to stare at Harry. “But there’s a lot of things that don’t make sense about you. You’re a Slytherin. You’re supposed to be in Slytherin, yet you somehow managed to make it into Gryffindor. I don’t know if you bribed the hat or if you threatened it, but I do know it had a weird reaction to you. In all my years at Hogwarts, I have never seen the Sorting Hat shutter before. And that’s not even the weirdest thing that’s happened to you! Defense today took the cake!”

James stalked closer to Harry, and if Harry didn’t already know his patronus was a stag, he would have sworn his father’s animagus was some kind of predator. “We have a lot of questions to ask you about Defense. You see, we’ve done a lot of research over the past few hours on dementors and patronuses and everything we’ve read claims that a person can only have one patronus, and the patronus only takes the form of said person’s animagus form or the animagus form of a loved one. So would you like to explain how you have five patronuses?”

Harry nervously ran a hand through his hair. “Although I don’t think any of this is your business,” Harry threw a glare at the group of boys, “I’ll answer you the best I can. I honestly don’t know how I managed to produce five patronuses. I’ve only ever been able to produce the stag. I’ve never even seen the other patronuses before.”

James nodded sagely before saying, “I don’t believe you. You recognized the patronuses. Hell, you even had names for them. Pretty odd names if you ask me. What were they? Prongs, Paddy, and Moon Moon?” James asked Harry, seeing if he would correct him.

Harry winced but said nothing. James continues after a moment's pause. “We looked you up after the class. Did you know there’s no trace of you until a few months ago? It’s like you appeared out of thin air! There’s no mention of you or your mysterious parents in any newspaper? You would think the deaths of two influential purebloods would make the front page but we couldn’t find anything. Hell, we couldn’t even find their names.”

“They were very private people,” Harry snapped.

James gave him a fake smile. “Sure they were. And I’m Snivellus’ brother.”

“What exactly are you implying?” Harry ground out.

“We don’t think you are who you claim to be,” James said with a smirk, “Hadrian Emrys-Slytherin didn’t exist until a few months ago. We think you created this identity of an influential pureblood for your own nefarious purposes. We couldn’t figure out why someone would want everyone to believe they were Lord Slytherin, but we eventually did. After all, who has the most ties to Salazar Slytherin but Voldemort?”

“What?” Harry choked out, completely shocked, “You think I’m in league with Voldemort?!”

“Why not? You have managed to put yourself in the best place of recruitment. You can scout out the most talented, and everyone will trust you because you managed to threaten your way into the house of the brave.”

“You’re mad,” Harry muttered in shock, “You’ve all gone bloody insane.”

“Admit it, Death Eater,” Sirius snarled, pushing past Remus and James, “You’re in league with Voldemort!”

Harry stared up at Sirius, not really processing what was happening around him. “You’re not going to let this go, are you?”

Sirius snarled, “We will when every one of you hypocritical bastards are dead or in prison!”

Harry sighed. “I was afraid of that.”

He knew he was going to regret this in the future, but he had no other choice. They already knew something was off about him, and even though they didn’t reach the right conclusion, who knew how long it would take them to find out who he truly was? They would keep researching and badgering him, always suspicious of every little thing. He couldn’t allow that. Harry flicked his wrist and pointed his wand at the Marauders. “Obliviate! Imperio!”