Harry Potter and the Marauder's Secret

A Re-Write of the Harry Potter Series

By: marauderette-47

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I do not claim to own the series, characters, or any lines quoted directly from the books. I am making no money from this creation. It is purely for the enjoyment of myself and other fans. Please don't sue!:)

Author's Note: Sorry for the wait! I hope you all like this chapter though - again, so much fun to write! Any questions or comments, please review!

And, to answer a question: Dumbledore knew that the world had to think Lily and James were dead. And he knew that the Polyjuice Potion was going to wear off of Peter and Marlene after they were killed. So, he dispatched a wizard to remove their bodies, and make sure that all was well. After that, Dumbledore wiped the wizard's memory, and Peter and Marlene were declared missing. Dumbledore eventually made a statement to the public that Peter and Marlene had been murdered, and that they were awaiting an investigation. But there's a twist in all of this - you'll find out later. I was planning on revealing all of this later as well, but you deserved an answer:) Thank you for reading!

*Also - I wasn't sure about the order or quantity of Harry's classes, so his new schedule is in the author's note below:)


A Sirius Problem

The new dawn rose in the east, lighting the world with its magnificence. The birds began to wake and sing, and the plants perked up from their midnight rest. But on this particular day, the sun was shining even more brightly on the grounds of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It was as if the brilliant star was trying to make the school's inhabitants a little cheerier, considering all of the sadness that had been present under the moon's hateful glow.

The sunrise peeked through the windows of the boy's dormitory, and Harry Potter opened his eyes. For a moment, he didn't realize where he was. The pale blue paint of his ceiling was missing, and the sheets weren't warm enough. When a light snore came from his right, he remembered where he was: Hogwarts.

He hoped and prayed to whomever was listening that the previous night had only been a dream. For a little while, he fooled himself into thinking that it was only a dream; it had certainly been outlandish enough. But the burning in his eyes and the folded map still in his hand told him otherwise, and he was forced into his own cruel reality.

Without bothering to wake Ron or anyone else, Harry slowly got out of bed and maneuvered his feet gently into his slippers. He put on a bathrobe, and crept out the door and down the steps into the common room; it was still early morn, much too early to be awake, but Harry knew that he would not be able to go back to sleep.

"Ah!"

As Harry had sat down on the couch to relax for a bit, he failed to notice Hermione, who was sniffling on the edge of the cushion. Harry had accidentally sat down on her, and she'd screamed - rather loudly.

"Sorry, sorry!" apologized Harry quickly, jumping away from the brunette. "I'm still half-asleep, and I didn't see you there, and I-"

"Have you been crying?" interrupted Hermione, staring at the obvious red rims around Harry's emerald eyes.

"No," said Harry quickly, involuntarily rubbing his eyes. He turned his attention to Hermione, who herself looked rather teary-eyed. "Have you?"

"No," she whimpered, wiping away the last of the tears.

"You're a dreadful liar," laughed Harry. "It's scary, isn't it? Being away from your family, I mean."

Hermione gave Harry a watery smile, nodding her head. As she did so, her bush of hair bobbed up and down on her small head. "This is already the longest I've ever been away from Mum and Dad."

Harry was so close to saying, "Me, too." but he didn't. He couldn't. As much as he already treasured her friendship, Harry didn't really know Hermione all that well. And until he was positive he could trust her fully, he couldn't tell her anything about his life. "I understand," was his actual reply.

Hermione smiled again, and rubbed her eyes one more time. "I'm going to get changed," she said. "I'll see you at breakfast?"

"Sure," said Harry, and his friend was gone.

Instead of going to get changed himself, Harry sat on the couch and stared at the fireless fireplace. Thoughts were tumbling through his mind like tumbleweeds in an otherwise barren desert. Images of his father dueling Sirius were flashing like lightning bolts, and pictures of tiny dots on magical maps were playing over and over again. In the back of his mind, Harry kept hearing his godfather's words over and over again...

"You don't want to hurt me You don't want to hurt me? Then don't go parading around as James Potter! Perhaps no one's told you, but he's dead! If you don't want to hurt me, then leave before I hurt you!"

The hate that had been in Sirius's voice had been unlike anything Harry had ever heard before. He had always known in his heart that Sirius's reaction to the truth about his parents wasn't going to be the one his father always imagined, but he could never bring himself to say anything to his dad. He didn't figure that anything about his life would be changing anytime soon, so what was the point in upsetting James further? Harry sighed, and realized that he would probably be late for breakfast if he didn't get a move on. Without looking back, Harry ran back up the staircase to get changed and wake up Ron.

Harry never noticed the large gray rat sitting in the corner - how could he have? The rat easily blended in to the surroundings...there was nothing special about his beady black eyes or fat, balding belly. There was nothing menacing about the way his whiskers twitched or his tail whipped quietly back and forth on the soft carpet. But those eyes...those eyes followed Harry's every move...and their gaze was not at all animal like.


Sirius Black had decided that he'd never had a more realistic dream in his entire life.

To think! James Potter alive and well, walking and talking and breathing...the most outlandish thing Sirius had heard in decades! Sirius must have just been hung up on that talk he'd had with Remus...or perhaps that had been part of the fantasy, as well.

Any moment now, the first year Gryffindor and Slytherin students would be entering the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom to begin their very first lesson. Sirius was in his very best robes, and his hair was gently combed back. He eagerly sat at his desk, and tapped his fingers on the hard wood surface. He took a sip of Pumpkin Juice from his goblet, and stared at the wall in front of him. He was trying his very hardest to forget the dream, but it just wasn't happening...

"Professor?"

Ah. The students had arrived.

"So sorry!" apologized Sirius quickly, standing up and gazing at his class. Half of them were staring at him dumbly, as if they would rather be getting fed to the Giant Squid than sitting there, and the other half were fooling around and not paying attention whatsoever. "Why, aren't you a lively bunch."

The only two who were listening to Sirius at all were Hermione and Harry - Hermione because she had a desire to learn, and Harry because he was concerned that his godfather was a time bomb about to go off at any moment.

But why would Sirius be angry? And why would Harry be looking at him that way? Harry hadn't known about Sirius's dream...and even if he had, none of that would have been his fault. Sirius gave his godson a reassuring smile, before picking up the thickest book on his desk and throwing it on the floor.

The loud BANG! that resulted from the book reverberated through the whole room, and woke up the half of the class that were half-asleep. He now had the attention of his class, and Sirius began his lesson.

"Welcome, first years, to Defense Against the Dark Arts, the coolest of all wizarding classes!" he shouted jovially, putting on his 'happy face' for his students. He wouldn't allow his personal nightmares to interefere with his teaching. "This year, we'll be covering a load of dung, but there'll be a few neat things, I promise! We'll begin this year with the basic history of Defensive magic, and go from there!"

"Professor Black?" asked Hermione, her hand thrust in the air. Sirius had a flashback of Lily before answering the girl.

"Yes, Miss -?"

"Granger, sir." smiled Hermione. She lifted her book into the air, and asked, "I was just wondering what page we'll be starting on?"

"Oh, you won't be needing those for a while," said Sirius, waving his hand in the air dismissively. "I'm more of a hands-on instructor."

Most of the Gryffindors grinned, and Harry's first Defense lesson was much better than he expected it to be. Sirius seemed completely happy and at ease - much more like his father had described. But like James, Sirius was a marvelous actor - Harry could see the pain in his godfather's cold, gray eyes. Whether he had believed what he'd seen that evening with James, or he thought it was all a nightmare, Sirius was focused on something other than his lesson, and Harry could tell.


The sunrise that had been trying its hardest to cheer the world awoke James Potter later than usual. The young man with disheveled black hair was sprawled in what had to be a very uncomfortable position on his bed. His wife had removed his glasses from his face and folded them on his bedside table, and all of his joints were stiff and achey. When he opened his shining hazel eyes, they were still bloodshot, and they burned like crazy. He slowly reached his hand over, and thrust his glasses onto his face.

At first, James didn't want to think about what had transpired the night before - it had been awful and he did not want to relive it. But as he thought more and more about it, he realized that the only way to get over it was to confront what had happened - James had to speak to Sirius without trying to hex him. James had to take charge of his own life, and not live the way that Dumbledore had tricked him into living years before. Back then, at the ripe age of 21, James and Lily still did what ever Dumbledore asked of them - they still called him 'Headmaster', and thought of him as a figure of authority. But as the years had progressed, the idolization of Dumbledore withered away, and now James couldn't even think about him. Dumbledore made him so angry sometimes...

"Darling?" came Lily's sweet voice from the floor below. "Sweetheart, are you awake? I've made breakfast."

For the first time in years, James took his time getting out of bed. The mention of food didn't arouse his stomach like it once had. When he finally made it into the hallway, he immediately looked to his left, at Harry's door. For a minute, he waited for his son to get ready, so that they could race down to the kitchen as they always did. But then James realized that Harry wasn't there - Harry had been awake for hours, attending classes and socializing. Sadness washed over James like a wave in the sea, and he slowly made his way to the table for his meal.

"It's different," chuckled Lily as her husband sat down. "For the first time in a decade, I don't need to worry about you and Harry breaking anything in one of your little races." James knew that Lily wasn't being serious - he could tell how much she missed Harry. She wouldn't quit talking about him. "He was what, four or five when you two started doing that? I must say, I've grown used to it over the years, but I suppose it's nice to have a little break. But then, it's not really a break, is it? Instead of worrying about my son breaking a vase, I have to worry about my son going off to school without his parents. He could get hurt, or get sick, and would we even know?"

Lily sighed, and served James a portion of the enormous meal she had prepared. Even after both of them had had two helpings, there was still plenty of food left.

Lily chuckled self-consciously, and looked sheepishly at her husband. "I guess I'm so used to feeding three, right?"

A few tears welled up in Lily's beautiful eyes, and she immediately excused herself from the table to clean things up. James felt useless as he sat there, staring at his wife busy herself to keep from thinking about Harry for too long. Long ago, it had just been the two of them, and those times were wonderful, but Harry had been the center of their world for the whole eleven years of his existance. He had been the sun, and now, they had been plunged into darkness. They didn't know what to do with themselves.

"I miss him, too," murmured James, too low for Lily to hear. "I bloody waited for him to finish getting ready this morning."


"Sirius?" asked Harry sheepishly after class. It was time for lunch, and Harry's stomach begged to be fed, but he silenced it with a charm that was taught to him by his mother. Speaking with Sirius was more important than food - at the moment.

"Yes, Harry?" asked Sirius, smiling. "What is it?"

"I think that we should talk," began Harry, sitting down on Sirius's desk. He knew his godfather wouldn't care - he himself had his feet propped up on the desk, so why couldn't Harry sit on it?

"About what, champ?" asked Sirius, a bit too cheerily. "Were my teaching styles not up to par?"

"No, it's not that," chuckled Harry nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. Sirius cringed a bit as he watched Harry do so - James used to do the exact same thing when he was nervous about Harry. That got Sirius thinking again...what if the night before had not been a dream? Harry acted so much like them, and he was pretty sure that habits like rubbing the back of your neck were not hereditary. But Sirius didn't have time to dwell on these thoughts, because Harry continued. "It's just that...last night...I didn't mean to yell at you like that. You and dad were just-"

"Harry," sighed Sirius, putting a hand up to stop Harry from speaking further. "I know you had your hopes up. But that man last night was not your father."

"Sirius," said Harry fervently, staring into his godfather's eyes. "That was my dad. I swear it."

"And just how do you know this?" challenged Sirius, raising an eyebrow.

"Because he never died!" exlaimed Harry, throwing his hands in the air like Lily did when she was angry. Harry hopped off the desk, and began to pace angrily around the room. "When I was a baby, Dumbledore came up with this huge plan to keep me and my parents safe - but it went wrong. Voldemort came early, and he killed Peter and Marlene, and Hagrid took me to my parents' house that they'd been staying at. We lived in that bloody house for ten years all alone, and we were forbidden by Dumbledore to tell anyone! It was awful, and dad missed you and Remus, and mum was always moping about her friends, and I've always felt so useless, because there was nothing I could do for them!"

A few tears had sprung from Harry's eyes during his rant, and he angrily brushed them away. Sirius stared at him for a moment, before asking, "You're telling the truth, aren't you?"

Harry sighed in happiness, and said, "Yes. I solomnely swear."

"But he couldn't have told me?" asked Sirius, more hurt than angry. He stared into his godson's eyes, and asked in so much pain, "Why would he leave me in the dark? He knew how much I needed him - how much we all needed him. And he just left us to the dogs? That doesn't sound like the James Potter that I knew - not at all."

"He wanted to tell you guys more than anything," swore Harry, coming closer to Sirius. "All he ever did was talk about you and Remus. And he tried so many times to write you letters or Floo you - but Dumbledore always stopped him, or intercepted his owls. And dad was afraid - afraid that if anyone found out about us, mum and I could be in danger. Dad's too good of a guy to put his needs before ours. That's what makes him such a good dad."

Tears of happiness threatened to escape Sirius's eyes, but he held them at bay. Harry had grown up loved - he knew James and Lily, and they knew him, and Harry had not missed out on half as much as Sirius had assumed. All manliness aside, Sirius scooped Harry into his arms and hugged him for all he was worth. "Thank you," he whispered fiercly. "Thank you so much."

Harry smiled triumphantly, and watched with glee as Sirius ran from his office to a potential place to Floo to the Potters.


And that's that! I loved this chapter, mainly because nothing too traumatic happens - things seem to be looking up! Except for that rat...hm...

Anyway, I hope you guys liked this chapter! Visualizing Sirius as a teacher always makes me laugh:) And working with Snivellus? Ha! A riot;)

Please review! You're questions and comments make my day:)

And I believe that's it! Harry's schedule is below:) See ya!

~marauderette-47

MONDAY:

Transfiguration - AFTER BREAKFAST

Defense Against the Dark Arts - BEFORE LUNCH

Potions - AFTER LUNCH

TUESDAY:

Transfiguration - AFTER BREAKFAST

Flying Lessons - BEFORE LUNCH

Charms - AFTER LUNCH

Astronomy - MIDNIGHT

Wednesday:

Defense Against the Dark Arts - BEFORE LUNCH

Potions - AFTER LUNCH

Flying Lessons - BEFORE DINNER

Thursday:

Charms - AFTER BREAKFAST

Potions - BEFORE LUNCH

Herbology - AFTER LUNCH

Friday:

Defense Against the Dark Arts - AFTER BREAKFAST

Transfiguration - BEFORE LUNCH

Astronomy - MIDNIGHT

I know it's a weird schedule, but hey, it fits the plot;) Thanks for reading!