See first chapter for full warnings.

DISCLAIMERS: I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER

{Chapter Three}

Casting a quick Notice-Me-Not charm and strolling into the Forbidden Forest was far too easy, for a place earmarked as forbidden just in the name, part of Harry expected some kind of ward placed, especially in the midst of the first war, but no, it wasn't the case. It helped that he timed it so the area was relatively empty, with Hagrid and Ogg out of sight, but still, it shouldn't have been that easy.

For a while he walked aimlessly, steering clear of acromantula dens or centaur tracks, measuring his deviations from well-worn footpaths made by the gamekeeper or those harvesting for the school's potion's supply. It took a while before he found the old oak tree he was looking for, and politely he knocked on it until small creatures fluttered out from the hollow of the bark. They were tiny, about the side of his palm at best, but pretty. Their wings beat like that of dragonflies or butterflies and the air permeated with tracks of light wherever they went, they weren't poisonous or as hazardous as their doxy relatives, but were quite the tricksters with humans all the same.

"Is Arcadia there?" he asked politely, softly.

The small creature eyed him, sniffing him a bit before nodding and disappearing back into the tree.

A few moments later, a blue, larger fairy emerged, with shimmering tresses of hair that pooled to her ankles a face that refused to age, staring at Harry critically.

"You're rather big to be one of us, and though I feel I should remember you, I do not," said Arcadia crisply, Harry just chuckled weakly and replied wryly.

"In another time and another world, you and me know each other quite well," he said sagely, the fairy didn't respond, fluttering around his head before deciding to sit on a low hanging branch that was near to his nose.

"I can see that," she said after a moment "-your magical signature is familiar to my senses, tell me, little Light Lord, what are you doing here?"

Harry let out a stressed noise, leaning on the tree and letting his shoulders droop before rubbing his eyes and his head in a tired frustration.

"I'm in the wrong place and the wrong time, I don't know how, it was an accident in one of Hogwart's special rooms…."

Arcadia shushed him and clucked at his tone, rolling her eyes at his foolishness.

"I meant in the forest," she said patiently, eyeing the boy carefully. Slowly, he stooped down to the soil and sat cross legged to lean against the tree bark, stretching a bit and tilting his head back to look up at the branch that the small dainty figure sat upon.

"Finding somewhere to fit in I suppose," he closed his eyes for a moment "-and asking if I should be trying to find a way back,"

The fairy cocked her head, before crossing one leg over the other.

"Well, it is the nature of all living things to not want to leave home, to stay close to home, tell me, are you missing home? Where is home, for you?" she kicked her feet a bit like a child, and Harry's mind struggled to come up with anything. Godric's Hollow? Gods no, Privet Drive…? No, he had no home there, only in name, or Grimmau—no, that place was a prison both to him and to Sirius, it was a means to an end, it was no home.

Hogwarts, Hogwarts had always been home, just like Snape, just like Tom Riddle – lost boys who all made their home in the castle.

"Home is Hogwarts," he said softly.

"Isn't home where the people you love are? Would they not miss you?"

"There isn't enough left," he bit down on his lip "-the war is over but I have little, just…responsibilities, I suppose, and…rebuilding… ironically there are more people I care about existing in this wrong dimension – this wrong time, than there are where I belong,"

Arcadia looked very interested at the idea of the wizard's war with Voldemort being over in that world, hopping off the branch and planting herself directly on Harry's knee, looking up, she saw his eyes – swimming with pain, sorrow, loss – and the smile dropped from her cheeks out of respect.

"Then perhaps you are exactly where you need to be," she flew up, pressing both tiny hands against his cheek and wiping at the stray heated tears that had managed to bubble up – Harry wasn't much of a crier, but his breathing was heavy, because he was without Ron and Hermione – and it had been a long, long time he'd been without them.

She looked at him squarely in the eye, over his glasses.

"Nothing is an accident, everything is preordained, things happen for a reason, you are here for a reason, make good of it you silly boy," she said, tilting her head a little. Harry could only manage a watery smile at her bluntness – it didn't matter what the universe, some things did not change, and Lady Arcadia was one of them.

"You should leave soon, they will notice your absence," she said, fluttering back into the hollow.

Harry gave a loud sniff, nodding his head and wiping his eye abruptly.

"Okay, g'bye, be safe," he said, slowly rising to his feet, brushing the soil off of his uniform and edging out of the woods, trying not to be spotted, Arcadia - though simple and blunt, had given him a lot to think about.

xx

He wasn't spotted, thankfully, and nobody was keeping enough tabs on him to note the brief absence, it was strange - not having tracking charms all over him or people constantly concerned for him the way that they had been for Harry Potter. It was a strange thing, to be a Fey, he wondered briefly if the Marauder's Map would pick up who he truly was, then again, the one back in his world started struggling computing his name, he supposed that was the fairy business though, their gift had strange after-effects, they did not believe in last names. Their communities were so small now but they had no concept of blood hierarchy, vampire hierarchy looked complex beyond belief, werewolves were a little easier to understand - but wizards, fairies could barely make heads or tails of how they treated each other based on bloodline. It was even more complex than vampires, really. It baffled them that last names were so important, and the idea that humans could share the same first name seemed like lunacy, as every one of their kind chose a different name as they had no last names to point to things like lineage.

To them, he was always 'just Harry' - and that suited him fine, and it corrupted the display of his name on the Marauder's Map, he wondered briefly, what it would look like here. Harry Potter? Well, he'd just have to play ignorant to his birth name, somehow, Harry Fey? Perfect. If it was the garbled mess in his world? Well, that might cause an issue too.

Hopefully they wouldn't look, but he was pretty sure they were keen on investigating him, even though he wasn't the Boy-Who-Lived here.

He had his own sort of fame of course - Dumbledore's ward, to give him some kind of impunity when putting him in a dorm with people who were fiercely protective of their werewolf friend. It was for other reasons too, Harry was sure - his knowledge of the future or at least, one possible future that Harry swore through and through was far too bleak not to change, and he knew Dumbledore was counting on him making waves.

Being his ward was, well, strange though.

Especially to a Harry Potter who, in his time, inherited Dumbledore's penseive with his blessing, to understand his actions after, to not resent him anymore, to gain vital knowledge to stop any more Riddle's in the future.

He dare say he knew the man better than himself, but figured he wouldn't bombard this universe's Albus with such intimate knowledge, it wouldn't be very nice for him.

It just surprised him that he'd take such a personal role in his life, because he knew, deep down, that whilst Albus cherished love, he knew what it was to love, how to love, he distanced himself from it in regards to Harry, so he would not suffer when he had to sacrifice the boy - or suffer as he did when Ariana passed, Aberforth estranged from him, or when he lost the love of his long life to himself in a showdown that ended with Grindelwald in Nurmenguard, for even then, his love had been so great that he could not kill him.

Being his ward was frighteningly close to being family, so Dumbledore did not do this without a political goal in mind, aside from using his knowledge, he was trusting Harry to alter things, because the timeline was meant to be altered, else he would not be here.

It was confusing to think about, really.

He spent the rest of the day acclimating, quietly in his dorm, reading their OWL curriculum aimlessly for any differences, his eyes glazed over until it was dinner, where he once again had to show his face.

All it took was a bump, a knock, the lightest graze, and suddenly the glassed over look of his eyes dispersed, and though the moment was short, to Severus Snape, it felt infinite, slow, strange, and that their mere brush had caused an uncomfortable static through his robes like he'd touched a ward in a negative way. A sneer was already forming, an insult on his lips, something to tell the mudblood to piss off, to go away, or simply to dwarf him - Dumbledore's ward or not - but the smile startled him. Gryffindors did not smile at Slytherins, but that wasn't the most disconcerting part, it was the boy - his eyes, when those greens peered over his rectangle-set frames and met with Severus's tunnel-irises, he felt naked. Not in a coveted way, but rather, as if he'd been caught with his boxers down, it made every hair stand up on end, the way Dumbledore could when he made his aura of magic crackle within the room and peer into your mind. For a second, if not for his mental shields, Severus wondered if the boy - Fey? - had Legilimency, but his mind remained unprobed. To Harry, all he could see was draining colour, the healthiness to his pallor - the light, it was dying, like embers on the mounds of ash that once remained of a bright, gorgeous fire, and Harry could tell, from the colour draining from his appearance - that he was delving deeper into the Dark Arts. That's how it was, for things with his kind of a gift, Dark really did mean Dark, and when people succumbed, they began to lose their colour, and eventually, turn to monochrome piles of rage and madness, like Bellatrix, or complete darkness, like Tom Riddle.

Snape resisted the urge to give a solid shudder, lost in their moment, and turned quickly out of the Great Hall, trying to ignore the feeling as though he'd just been judged, that reminded him of Dumbledore's accursed phrase - 'Is there something you would like to tell me, Mr Snape?'

"Severus, where are you going?"

"I just realized, I ah, I left something brewing, save me something," he hurried out, evading everyone on the way out, with such speed that it was startling - but the man was just good at running away, to be honest.

The moment was caught briefly, on an instinctual level, from Remus Lupin, Sirius thought it an awkward moment - and Snape just being a rude git, pushing people in corridors and not even looking back, but their hearing - including James, picked up on it.

"His ward, huh? I guess the headmaster takes in strays," Mulciber had said, with nothing but disdain, as though Harry were trash, but that wasn't what caught their attention, it was Snivellous's mutterings.

"...That boy is a monster," was clearly heard as Severus took off like a bat out of hell, for a potion he'd left under a stasis and started in class, now under Slughorn's watchful eye - using it as an excuse to leave instead.

He didn't know about Remus, he hadn't figured it out yet - for all his trying, and they were definitely talking about Fey, and Fey definitely heard him, but for all intents and purposes, was pretending he hadn't, and calmly took his seat at Gryffindor's table, smiling benignly at the plates of food appearing, his eyes idly wandering over to Regulus - searching for a drain in colour, aside from the natural amount from happily absorbing his family's propaganda, he didn't seem to be losing much - he was still vibrant, and not far gone.

'Innocent, just misguided,' - Harry did his best to dispel the discomfort or urge to save R.A.B in that moment, and quickly cast his stare back down to the roast chicken and slowly piled some onto his plate.

"Heya Harry," Sirius's voice jolted him out of his empty thoughts, and the Black gave him a dazzling smile.

"Hey Sirius - hey guys," said Harry, acknowledging the other Marauders too, who were shovelling food onto plates in the boatload except Remus, who was rather dignified about it all.

"We just had sooo much homework," Peter complained, poking a steaklet and looking sullen.

"Three feet on Polyjuice Potion, what's Slughorn thinking?" huffed James in agreement, glaring up at the jovial man at the staff table, but Harry just gave him a casual sort of smile.

"Well, Potions isn't really fun but Polyjuice and morphing potions are kind of like human transfiguration, since they don't really involve glamouring over something so much as changing it, you could do the first two feet on the ingredients, brew time complexities and what-could-go-wrongs and stretch it to the extra foot by relating it to the laws of transfigurations when you have to write how exactly it effects the body - er, I mean, if you're good at Transfiguration, might even get you double brownie points. I know that Flitwick guy seems to like it when you can cross-reference subjects at your NEWT level, something about being a well-rounded critically thinking wizard, might apply to other teachers too," he said, mulling over how proud Hermione would be of his essay writing abilities - at least, at this point he knew how to break down something into what a teacher wants and then how to exceed the expectation if you have the time and research on hand. Rarely did he, but it was something he did a lot of in DaDA which helped expand his knowledge massively, so the method had credence.

James stared, before nodding hurriedly.

"I'm top of the year in Transfiguration Fe-err, Harry, you know, so that just might work, I have old essays I could lift stuff off and get the extra foot in and bonus marks," he beamed a bit, before adding "...nerd, surprised you aren't in Ravenclaw,"

"I don't really read for the fun of it, don't have the um, the drive for knowledge for the sake of knowledge, I like using what I have and trying new things with it but I'm not really...scholarly or research-y," smooth Harry, real smooth.

"Only Remus is any good at getting through a book cover to cover," said Peter, to which Remus went bright red and snorted.

"It's not that painful," he said dryly.

"Says you," grinned James, digging into a pastry.

"Whatchu been up to anyway? Stay in the dorm all day?" asked Peter curiously, oddly, he seemed the less self-absorbed of all the Marauders which was a little strange to contemplate.

"Nah, I roamed, getting to know the castle and stuff," he lied easily "-found a passage way by the One-Eyed Witch," he added, just to measure their reaction, James swore, but lightly, and Sirius grinned.

"On your second day? Good job, plenty more secret passages to go!" commented James, and Sirius - who seemed to be over his flustered manner around Harry and the insinuation of...touching yourself...from earlier, leaned in, undeterred.

"I'd gladly show you a few," alone, just us two, a private secret rendezvous in the hidden passageways - what a mental image. Geez.

Harry resisted the urge to shudder from the breathe right in his ear, though his face coloured briefly - boy, they weren't kidding back in his world when they said Sirius was something of a flirt.

"Easy there you dog, you. Hitting on the headmaster's ward in full view of the staff table," said James with a leer, smiling inwardly at his joke - calling Sirius a dog, the boy almost rolled his eyes in retaliation. Almost - but Peter giggled.

"Maybe I want him to watch," Sirius all but purred, and James gagged.

"Gross, you're gross,"

"This coming from the guy who can rock the same pair of boxers for a week-"

Harry pulled a face, he did not need to know that, thank you very much.

"Moving on," James glared "-Harry, we have a free period, I want to see you fly Mr-Never-Miss-a-Snitch, the field is free, are you up to it?" he asked between swallowing mouthfuls of food, Harry nodded eagerly and Sirius was all but vibrating in his chair in excitement.

"It won't be that exciting you know," said Harry.

"Yeah because James will wipe the floor with you," grinned Peter, but Sirius shook his head, sharing a knowing glint, and suddenly, it felt like all the Marauders were hiding something as the food disappeared to mark the end of the feast and people began to rise to go to lesson.

That is to say, most of them did, but the Slytherin's found their arses stuck to their seats and unable to move, and every time they struggled, the adhesive charm got stronger.

The hall filled with laughter but McGonagall darted down from the staff table, displeasure on her face.

"Mr Potter, Mr Black, Mr Lupin and Mr Pettigrew, reverse that charm this instant!"

"Sorry 'fesser, but we don't have anything to do with this," James chortled, managing to look as innocent as the day he was born.

"Oh, spare me," her eyes narrowed - as she didn't believe it one bit.

"Well, I could take them off their chairs, but I'm not sure if both buttocks would be firmly attached," he said with a playful wink as he heard Slytherin's cursing and wiggling frantically in the background.

"Mr Potter,"

"Baseless accusation Professor," he singsonged, making McGonagall glower, slap her hand on her forehead and titter at them "-oh just get to lessons, we'll take care of it - as usual - try not to cause any trouble between now and the end of the day, if you can manage," she was rearing up to dock points for cheek - pun not intended -at least, until she heard a Slytherin try to vanish the chair they were under to get the spell off.

"OH MERLIN, MY ARSE VANISHED!"

"Can Madame Pomfrey even regrow arse cheeks?"

The Marauders burst into peels of laughter - and McGonagall hurried off - presumably to get the mediwitch, who would spend the evening unglueing arse cheeks and restoring vanished body parts, but the look in McGonagall's eyes let them know if she ever found out they did that, they were in for a world of hurt.

xxx

The pitch was clear and empty, the grass stretched on and on, and in truth, the school brooms didn't look nearly as bad as they did in Harry's time, though he couldn't vouch for how well a granny broom would compare to his Firebolt, or heck, even his old Nimbus 2000 - speed meant a lot true, but speed wasn't everything, the general broom resistance against hard winds and sharp turns was important, as was it's general approach to weight capacity and so many other things. The wood type and handle even all played their part to how well they worked, so Harry was apprehensive but hopeful when James handed him a rather decent looking Cleansweep model.

"The snitches are charmed not to be summoned and the team would have my head if we lost it, so we've got the golf balls charmed to act like practice snitches, so if neither of us can get it, we can summon it after about thirty minutes," said James with a crooked smile, similar to Harry's own.

"I play Chaser but I think I'm a pretty decent shoe-fit for Seeker, lets see how good you are, Mr Never-Missed-a-Snitch," he hopped onto his own broom, watching Harry mirror his action as Peter let go of a small white-charmed-yellow golf ball that had poorly transfigured wings, that immediately soared into the sky without a problem.

James was impressive, looping through the air for effect and through the various goal posts just for fun, Harry however was singularly minded, sweeping the pitch with his eyes narrowed behind his glasses, unfortunately the Cleansweep required a great deal more of strength to jerk in the right direction, luckily, it was strength Harry more than possessed - and seeing that Harry had caught a glimpse of the faux-snitch, he ceased showing off and made a dive for it along with Harry.

There was no way James would be able to clear the field and get to it as close as Harry was, but he made a good job of trying, even swerving in front of Harry dangerously at the risk of crashing directly into him to try to throw off his sight off the ball.

Apparently, he must have been at least a bit intimidated by the other's flying ability to try that, watching as the boy streamlined himself by throwing his entire front flat down on the broom with an incredible dexterity and throwing his hand out, the broom, unfortunately, wasn't the best for a Wronksi Feint, but Harry was able to modify the move at least a bit, by tilting all his weight to the left instead of downward, so as he was mere feet from the ground - almost nose to nose with it really - he began careening to the left.

He slowly made himself sit upright on the broom again as he did this, focusing what little weight he had downward and encouraging the left swerve, so that his left foot hit the grass eventually and he was merely skidding, and then his right foot joined it, sending the Cleansweep to an elegant, skidded halt, mere steps away from Remus, Sirius and Peter, who were on the ground, gaping as Harry held a poorly transfigured golf ball in hand.

James hopped down, his eyes in complete awe of the new kid, if not just a bit of a jealousy, his job as Team Captain came first, and immediately he threw his arm around Harry, taking the golf ball out of his hand with the other and handing it to Peter to stow away with the brooms.

"You bloody maniac! You got it!" he turned to Harry, eyes still glassed over in appreciation and awe.

"You were going to crash weren't you? It was like you fused with the broom and - wow, Merlin, if that had been a better broom you could have done a fine Wronksi Feint!" it was now Sirius's turn to gush, it seemed, as he had equal glee on his features.

"You out flew James! That was the most elegant save I'd ever seen! I was sure we'd be cleaning you off the pitch!" he said, as enthused as James.

"Thank you, for that sterling vote of confidence," commented Harry dryly, prompting a chuckle from Remus.

"That was pretty insane," he added, once he'd stopped laughing "-you were born to fly, don't be surprised if James has already put you down for the reserves - even if you don't try out,"

"He doesn't need to! He's on! As far as I'm concerned, you're the new Seeker, Cromwell will just have to suck it up, that was a smashing audition if there ever was one," said James proudly, and though Harry was fearful of retaliation from whoever this 'Cromwell' person was, he was too excited to be on the Quidditch team again, and did his best not to physically glow under praise from the man, but it was hard for it to go unnoticed, at least, for Sirius and Remus. Remus had an eyebrow raised but didn't comment, Sirius however, assumed he was just mooning over the lad a bit too much - like a girl - if he really was thinking about how perfectly the sunlight outside made him glow like that - so radiantly.

Luckily, the unnaturalness subsided as quickly as it came, and the less perceptive of Marauders didn't catch it.

"Are you sure this Cromwell person won't be angry?" said Harry softly.

"He might be but he can just go on Reserves, honestly, it's best for the team, he's only ever caught one snitch and he's been on the team since second year," said James, folding his arms over his chest.

"If Cromwell gives you any trouble, you just let us know, alright? In fact, I'll go break the news to him now, I'll see you guys in the dorm," with that, they watched James do a 'Point Me' charm and stalk off in search of a boy to disappoint, and Harry could only stare after him in a slight daze at how seriously the man took Quidditch.

He took Quidditch seriously too, but damn, not quite on that level.

"Hey, if Cromwell does give you trouble, I'll send a bludger his way, I'm a beater for the team," said Sirius - watching Harry light up again - as he hadn't known that about the boy, and Sirius had to wonder what it was about him specifically that made Fey light up like the sun. It was sort of cute, if a little confusing, but they hadn't known him long, maybe he just responded to the flirting well, he wasn't sure, but it was endearing either way.

"You should see him," said Remus, adding on his commentary as the boy lit up "-he's like a human bludger himself,"

Harry resisted the urge to smile, the same was said about the Weasley twins back in his time and world, but his heart twinged at the near painful reminder, they weren't around any more, at least, one of them wasn't...

'No, that doesn't have to be the future. They aren't even born yet. You can fix it.' He told himself, trying to lessen the pain, while Remus wondered where the sunlight went and why the smile seemed almost strained on the boy's face all of a sudden, but Sirius didn't particularly notice, still preening under the praise.

"I'm sure you're wonderful," he said softly, trying to keep the smile on the man's face, remembering how sparse they'd been after his own Sirius's - who always remained so haunted after Azkaban.

'That won't happen. Not again.'

"Damn straight!" said Sirius, chest puffed out in pride as Peter finished clearing up the brooms and fake-snitch and chuckled at his antics.

"Easy there, you'll swell his ego," grinned Peter, and though Harry didn't like Peter per-se, he wasn't going to miss out on an opportunity to embarrass the man who had thus far been embarrassing him with all of his uncouth flirting.

Sirius had the nerve to put up a show of being affronted, until Harry sniggered at him and retorted.

"I make something swell and it isn't his ego,"

Peter's eyes went wide and he let out a guffaw, Remus coloured a bit before loudly laughing and Sirius, who did not appreciate being the butt of a joke, glared half-heartedly.

"Oh shut up, you're not that good looking," said Sirius, glowering a bit at Harry (or trying to, at any rate) - and instantly regretted his words at the flash of hurt he saw, feeling like he'd kicked a thousand puppies, at least, until it was quickly replaced by playfulness.

"Not that good-looking he says, so, you think I'm good looking to some degree?" Harry said smugly, happy to have caught Sirius in his words, not willing to be outdone.

"Well...you've got nothing on me," smirked Sirius, taking it into stride and tossing some of his hair back in an exaggeratedly feminine fashion, causing a series of snorts from Remus and Peter.

"Whatever Lover-Boy," sighed Harry, a smile tugging on his lips as they all began to walk back inside the warm castle, yes it was weird that Sirius was looking at him like that but the more he got flustered and difficult about it, the worse it would get, so all he could do was beat him at his own game - that would be what the twins would do, and when dealing with Marauders, it was probably a decent way of lifting his own experiences to have some use when handling the others.

"So..." Harry began, willing to break the oddly comfortable silence as they walked aimlessly down the corridors "-whose idea was it to keep the Slytherins glued to their seats?"

"Mine," said Sirius, surprised when Harry didn't immediately react positively, but instead looked at him funny - it was a rather cruel prank, and Sirius's mean streak was showing, the same way it had yesterday, and it was disconcerting, knowing this Sirius nearly led Snape to his death.

"Well, it was a little mean to glue them by the arse, but assuming because McGonagall stormed up to you guys like that, they couldn't just undo it, making me think this prank was hand-made somehow, tell me, how'd you manage it?" he asked curiously, though disproving, Sirius was mollified by having a captive audience to really criticize Harry's goody-two-shoes nature and launched on a rather excited spiel about muggle adhesives mixed with magic.

"Keep it down, you don't want someone to hear you," murmured Remus, the boys suddenly quieted as they saw Slughorn coming down the corridor carrying an armful of herbs and plants for his cellar, who lit up once laying eyes on Harry.

"Ah, just who I was looking for, do you mind if I steal him boys?" said Slughorn merrily, the three obediently stepped back and Harry looked up at him warily.

"What do you need Professor?"

"Oh relax, you aren't in trouble, just a quick word in my office, I'll bring him back in one piece," he assured the remaining Marauders, and reluctantly, Harry trudged behind Slughorn.

They continued in relative silence down the hall until Slughorn asked him to open the door for him as both of his hands were occupied in holding herbs, Harry did so, and upon entering the potion's classroom, saw a student quietly brewing in the corner, and upon closer inspection, was none other than Severus Snape.

"My office is just through here," the boy brewing looked up and tensed when he saw the pair enter, before throwing himself back into his work.

Harry pretended to pay no mind to Snape and made his way into the cramped side-office as Slughorn dumped his ingredients down to sort through later, and closed the door, not bothering to put up a privacy spell, and Harry, assuming one was already in place, sat down.

"I heard of your situation from McGonagall," overheard, most likely "-and as you evaded shadowing my lesson earlier, I was wondering if you were alright,"

Harry looked at him in surprise, startled by the man's concern.

"I-I just wasn't feeling so great, I'm fine now, it was nothing, really," he said, wanting to get out of the man's office.

"Ah, I thought..." Slughorn glanced to his cellar of ingredients and let out a thoughtful noise, looking over Harry appraisingly.

"Well, considering what some of the things we work with in this classroom I thought...well, you'll let me know if there is something you'd rather not deal with, right? For instance, doxies, while considered pests, might not be something you'd want to work with as a potion's component," said Slughorn gently, to which Harry just gave him a small smile.

"Thanks - er - for the concern, but I was born a wizard, you know, and...well yeah, I guess it'd be pretty weird to work with doxy-pixie or related creature bits that come from them dead, but I can deal with it, usually, um, I'll let you know if I can't, thanks for being so worried about it," he added - okay, so maybe Slughorn was self-motivated and had an agenda, but Harry could not deny that he was a good person, even if he did some questionable things.

He could not deny that he was an okay teacher too, he recalled students flourishing under him after his world's Snape no longer taught Potions.

"Another thing - I've cleared some time for you to do your Potions OWL after tomorrow, that is, if you are up to it," he said, Harry just nodded - honestly wanting to get them out of the way, it was just OWLs after all, and he'd done them before.

"Good! Good! Brilliant! Now, I was wondering if you had some time to join myself and a few others for a little gala - a club, if you will, where students from other houses get to mingle without all that house politics," Ah, here it was, Slug Club, though why was he recruiting Harry? They hadn't had a class together, so what was his angle?

"I have a friend I know who'd love to meet you - Sanguini - pureblood vampire you know, very interesting fellow," ah, there it was, he wanted to strengthen friendships he already had, and Dumbledore's Ward as a title must have put him on the celebrity watch list, along with the man's blatant curiosity over what he was. How recently did Slughorn find out what he was and have time to Floo or firecall someone about it? God, he really did like collecting people like rare and shiny objects...

He was about ready to say 'no' on instinct until he remembered - Lily Evans was in Slug Club - he could have a chance to talk to her and get to know her better.

"I...would like that, it'll help me get to know people a bit better, thank you, that's very considerate," said Harry, carefully choosing his words as Slughorn beamed.

"I'm sure you'll be a well received addition to Slug Club,"

'It begins' he thought darkly, offering to help him stack his ingredients away, if only so he could try to see what Snape was up to - the guy missed dinner, and the subsequent prank that occurred after.

The man then went to marking essays in his office, dismissing Harry once he'd finished up helping and letting him see himself out, locking eyes across the empty classroom with Severus Snape.

Calmly, he walked over and glanced at the potion brewing, which was a deep red colour, and saw no potion's text in sight, just various ingredients that were already weighed up, cut, diced and measured to whatever ends the boy needed them to be. Snape looked at him with a narrowed stare, regarding him icily, as he'd most definitely been listening to Slughorn and Harry talk.

"What?" he hissed after a moment, unwilling to endure the moment any longer.

"You missed dinner," he said conversationally "-good thing too, most the Slytherins were glued to their seats by a prank, but you should probably watch out, they like to make a clean job of things, you might be a target next," said Harry in the most casual tone he could muster.

Snape just sneered at him, confusion in his eyes as he paused his stirring and gave Harry a levelled look, trying to shake off the discomfort of being in the presence of Dumbledore's Ward - who had the same uncanny ability to see through him.

"And you care, why, exactly?" he said, icily - and true, why would he? He was seen in the Marauder's company, their friendly new Gryff addition, Dumbledore's Ward, he most definitely had an agenda, or maybe his being nice was all part of the Marauder's plan, they had an amazing ability to suck people into their schemes, and Snape was an often abused target of the group, though he gave as good as he got, it didn't help abate any of it.

"Just a warning, one friendly classmate to another, Mr...?" he trailed off, pretending not to know his name, as they had no introduction, but the boy regarded him coldly all the same, so Harry switched tactics.

"Why weren't you at dinner anyway? You seem to be brewing something...interesting, I don't see a potion's book anywhere," said Harry, deciding to butter him up a bit instead, surely child Snape couldn't be any worse than him as an adult, after all, this was before he became entirely embittered, there had to be something in there - something worth treasuring - after all, Lily saw it in him, once upon a time. It had to still be there. Somewhere. This boy would grow up to be a man who did horrible things, even if he was on the right side of the war, and would have an entirely thankless job the whole time, and Harry realized that, his fate too - could be changed - and fully intended on doing so.

"I don't need the book to do a simple Magical Exhaustion Relief potion," that potion was most definitely not simple, and Snape revelled in how wide Harry's eyes went, even if those eyes creeped him out.

"That - that's more than NEWT level," said Harry, the appropriate amount of respect in his tone "-that's amazing,"

Snape turned an odd colour, like he could be blushing, clearly not used to praise from peers, and resumed stirring his potion, no longer looking at Harry.

"Haven't you Gryffindors got anything better to do than corner Slytherins?" he said darkly, Harry used this moment to take in the lack of colour slowly encroaching the boy - like Regulus, he wasn't too far gone, but arguably worse - the fact he lost his only friend and love was clearly taking it's toll and he was probably beginning to seek refuge in his Dark Arts as a way of avoiding his emotions that reduced him to sadness, and encouraged anger over his grief. Harry wondered, briefly, how he ever would have handled losing a friend when he was very little - if Dudley ever let him have a best friend - and inwardly winced at the devastation it would have caused. He had to be feeling something like that. The soft, almost melodic, decidedly unnatural voice washed over Snape as he worked, forcing out a gentle chuckle at his words.

"Sorry, I'll leave you to it, far be it for me to interrupt a genius at work," said Harry, holding his hands up in mock-surrender before turning to leave.

Snape turned a funny colour but was still wary and distrustful of the boy who approached him, he was still unnatural, and the words he heard from the office meant he was obviously some kind of half-breed, though not a werewolf or vampire, clearly, something related to pests, like doxies...Hm...

"Snape,"

"Pardon?" said Harry, about to leave.

"My name is Severus Snape," said the Slytherin, against his better judgement - he had to get closer if he wanted answers, and he was always an unnaturally curious boy - it's what the Marauders hated about him, of course.

"Lovely to meet you Severus Snape, have a good night, good luck with your potion," and somehow, the soothing voice, however suspect it was, sounded entirely genuine.

It seemed this Gryffindor wasn't concerned with house rivalries or the problems his friendly interactions would have with his Marauder allegiance, either he was naive due to his newness and being foolish, or he truly didn't care for playing the Hogwarts politics.

It hurt his head to think about when he didn't have enough information to go on yet, so instead he settled on the fact that it had been a long time since someone had been genuinely glad to see him, or meet him, and focused on his potion in silence.

'That boy is a monster, and Slughorn knows,' he bottled his potion not an hour later and handed it to Slughorn, who didn't even check his work at this point, and beamed at him.

"Professor?" he started, glancing to the door to check they were not listened on.

"Yes Severus?" Slughorn responded warmly, tucking the potions vials away to send to the Hospital Wing.

"If you knew a student were a potential threat to the school, you'd let the student body know, right?"

Slughorn looked at him oddly before slowly nodding, and putting both arms over his chest in a defensive position, already wary of the convesation.

"I'd certainly let the headmaster to know first, he'd then let me know if a warning needed to be issued, the safety of the students is always first, why do you ask Severus?"

Snape paused to consider his words, so the headmaster obviously knew too as it was his ward, he didn't know how many staff knew something was not entirely right with Harry Fey, so pushing it wouldn't get him anywhere, would it? Except, on the teacher's bad side.

"No reason," he said slowly "-there's just something...different about that Fey person,"

"Different doesn't always mean bad," said Slughorn sagely "-you'll see him at Slug Club if you care to attend, perhaps you could get to know him better then," he smiled warmly, finding a way to reel his favourite student who was halting in attending - to avoid Lily - he suspected, and was delighted when Snape nodded.

"I would so like it if you could branch out more - that Avery and Mulciber are nice enough boys but terribly dim, not on par with yourself, you'd do better surrounding yourself with a brighter crowd, the genius mind is stimulated best by challenge," said Slughorn, easily lambasting the students not in his presence, he was always terribly blunt with Snape, and it was something he appreciated out of his Head of House.

Snape didn't care much for the disregard of his friends - he knew it was true - but they knew enough about Dark Arts, so there company wasn't totally unwelcomed, they were always willing to share the latest hex with them they managed to pilfer from their ancestral vaults books or personal libraries that wouldn't even be in the Restricted Section - and didn't mind his half-blood status as much as other Slytherins.

"So, you say Fey is a worthy challenge," mused Snape aloud - they hadn't had proper classes together - wasn't the man jumping the gun a bit, especially inviting him to Slug Club?

"Perhaps not in Potions, we don't know that yet, but he is certainly bright, he has his talents, or he wouldn't be named Albus Dumbledore's ward," he'd be just another student if there wasn't something different about him - was what Slughorn was saying.

Interesting.

TBC

A/N: Nothing really happens in this chapter, sorry, still accepting BETAs, I'd really like it if I got a review or two - not to whine, (hello to the one person who did - you are awesome!) but it feels like i'm typing to a brick wall and it'd be nice to know if anyone's enjoying this, that's all.

More coming soon - especially with Sirius's mean streak and that getting addressed with the flirting and stuff...

...the approaching full moon and what to do about Remus's furry little problem too..

...and the fact Harry is in dire need of his vault and a way to make money if he's stuck there for the foreseeable...

...Peter Pettigrew and his development - can he be saved?...

Furthermore, can Regulus be?

and what on Earth is going on with Severus Snape?

All this and more coming soon, so kindly R&R!

edit: re-uploaded due to minor story inconsistency, will slowly undo any errors I see in unnoticable chapter replaces, I pulled an all nighter and it's 8AM now, so forgive me.