The Marauders: take two

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, all credit goes to JK Rowling.

Chapter 6- Weasley's and meetings.

A/N: ok, so I have made the decision that Harry, Teddy, Regulus and Neville will be the year below Ron, Seamus and Dean. This will put them in the same year as Ginny and Luna but, for the sake of the story, Hermione is in the same year as Harry. I'm sorry if you do not like this, but there simply can't be three boys in Harry's dorm that were not mentioned whatsoever.

Regulus sighed and dropped down onto his bed in a rather unceremonious fashion. He was finally back at Hogwarts after three days spent at home with his family. The others were all down at tea and the young Black wanted to get some rest before he had to face Professor Snape first thing in the morning for double potions. He kicked his shoes from his feet and slid into his pyjamas before clambering into bed. He hadn't been laying there long when the door opened and the sound of chatter filled the room. "Regulus!" the chatter was halted by Teddy's shout as the young Lupin threw himself across the room. "How's Mer? Is she ok? Are you ok? What's going to happen?" the sandy blonde babbled on until Harry gripped his arm and yanked him away with a chuckle.

"Give the poor boy room to breathe Ted!" he laughed, his dark hair fell into his emerald green eyes as he flashed his friend with a grin "hey Reg"

Regulus chuckled and snuggled deeper into the warm blankets, letting out a small yawn as he did so. "Mer's fine, she's better now that she's home. I'm fine, why wouldn't I be?" he chuckled at this before continuing to speak. "Nothing's going to happen except that Snape's going to eat us alive if we don't get some sleep in order to be properly rested for his lesson." The boys shared a grin and even Neville smiled as he passed Regulus' bed.

A chorus of "G'night guys" was heard from each boy before they drifted off to sleep.

-XXX-

The sun streamed joyfully through the red curtains of Gryffindor tower the next morning. Four boys groggily rose from their beds and made their way sedately to the common room. The bottom of the staircase was blocked, strangely enough, by a sea of red hair. "This is so unfair" came an indignant huff as one of the four redheads peeled himself away from the group. "I want to go to Hogsmede."

A boy that looked too much alike the younger boy to be anything other than his brother placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Next year Ron" he said with a chuckle.

A second boy, identical to the first stepped up on his younger brother's other side "yeah Ron, patience." The older boy's chuckled and sauntered away. That's when she turned to look at them. Her long, vibrant red hair danced around her shoulders in a curtain of silk. Her chocolate eyes sparkled with life as she offered the boys a small, apologetic smile. "Come on Ron" she urged "we're blocking the staircase" the boy, Ron turned and nodded towards Harry and his friends.
"Sorry" he offered with a shrug, before turning and walking away, his younger sister hot on his heels. Regulus didn't follow the others down the stairs, his eyes were still glued to where she stood; her natural beauty was a beacon of light in the boring room.

"Oi! Reg!" Harry's shout drew the boy back to reality and he jogged down the stairs to join his friends as casually as possible.

-XXX-

Breakfast passed by at a horribly fast pace and, before they knew it, Regulus, Teddy and Harry were sitting anxiously in potions class, waiting for Snape to arrive. The man finally strode into the room, his robes billowing out behind him. He didn't say a word as he wrote the instructions on the board but his glare was so fierce that no one dared to fill the heavy silence. "What do you think's wrong with him?" Harry murmured as they began slicing the carakoo root for the sleeping potion. Every head in the room snapped up as a heavy book smacked against the teacher's desk.

"POTTER!" Snape bellowed and the eyes of both Gryffindor and Slytherin went wide at Snape's unexpected outburst. "Who said you could talk in my lesson?" the question was rhetorical and Harry had no time to answer before Snape shouted again "no one! That's who! Fifty points from Gryffindor and I want a length of parchment on my desk by dinner on why you were wrong to talk in potions class. Is that clear?!" Harry didn't get a chance to respond as Snape had already turned from the boy and stalked away. Emerald eyes glanced around the room and he sighed as he saw that almost everyone else was chatting quietly amongst themselves. The greasy git really did hate him. Of course, he hated Regulus and Teddy to, but his eyes always seemed to burn with an extra flame of pure, unadulterated loathing when he looked at Harry.

The potions class seemed to drag on, with Teddy and Remus whispering quietly about their potion and Neville too terrified by Snape to so much as utter a word to Harry. When the lesson finally ended, Harry stared down at his potion in despair. "Neville?" he asked and the boy looked up "how many bat's claws did you put in the potion?"

"Erm…five I think….why?" Neville stuttered, looking slightly nervous as Harry sighed.

"You were only supposed to use three" he told the boy sadly and Neville looked perfectly ashen. Just as the boy opened his mouth to apologise, Harry held up a hand "don't worry about it Neville, if Snape would let me talk then I would have been able to tell you how many to put in" but when Harry looked up, he noticed instantly that Neville was not watching him, he was staring at something looming behind Harry. Three guesses as to who it was.

"Mr Potter" a voice drawled and Harry turned slowly to look into the black eyes of Severus Snape. "please refrain from blaming your own mistakes on Mr Longbottom, merlin knows that the boy has enough of his own to account for" Neville's face burned with embarrassment but Snape continued to speak "and, as you find it so fit to question my rules and judgement, I feel that it is fit to put you in detention tomorrow night, straight after lunch." Harry looked ready to argue, so the greasy haired potions master simply raised an eyebrow and stalked from the room, his long robes billowing out behind him. Harry bottled the potion and set it on the desk, before waving at Neville and turning to follow his friends from the room.

-XXX-

Later that night found Harry sat at his desk, whilst he scrawled a quick letter to his parents.

Dear mum and dad,

How are you? I'm not too great myself, I have detention with Professor Snape tomorrow. He's our potions professor and the most cynical man that I've ever met. Do you want to know why he's giving me detention? For talking whilst we were doing the practical. It doesn't matter that everyone else was talking as well. Then he got mad because I told Neville that if I could talk, I would have told him that it was only three bat's claws instead of five. Whatever though, he hates me and I'd be lying if I said that I cared. This is just a quick letter to say hi and to check that everything's ok. How's Mer doing? Anyway, I'm going to do my homework. Night.

Love, Harry. X

-XXX-

Severus Snape sat at his desk in his office, sorting through various pieces of work. He reached over and grabbed the stack of Ravenclaw essays, they always made him feel slightly better after reading those written by the Huffellpuff's. His eyes scanned the parchment that held Luna Lovegood's writing; people could say what they wanted about the girl, but she had a damn good mind, even if it was clouded over with thoughts of nargles and other strange things. Severus lifted his glass absently to his thin lips and took another swig of the firewhiskey, revelling in the way it burnt his throat. Suddenly, there came a knock at the door and Snape felt his eyebrows furrow in confusion. Dumbledore would just barge straight in and no one else really came to visit him, especially not at this time of the night. "Yes?" he called, annoyance seeping into his voice. That's when he heard it. The most beautiful voice that a person could ever hear, it was music to his ears.

"C'mon Sev. Let me in!" the potions master was on his feet in seconds, he threw the door open and stood stock still as he stared at the beautiful red-head before him. Lily Potter raised an eyebrow and swept past her old friend, into his quarters.

"L-Lily?" Severus asked, barely daring to believe his eyes.

She laughed and nodded "we need to talk Severus" he didn't ask any questions, simply gestured to a seat before falling into the one beside her. She took a deep breath and began to speak but her words shocked Severus into silence. "it wasn't Harry's fault that he was born Severus" Lily scolded, giving him no time to defend himself before she continued "I know that Harry's part James and that you hate James, but I thought you cared about me Severus."

His eyes went wide at the hurt look in her emerald green eyes "I do care for you Lily! It's just that…after the willow….I thought…." He trailed off, unable to form the words in his head.

"I forgave you a long time ago, Sev." She told him gently, placing her hand over his own "Harry is part of me Severus and If you care for me then surely you care enough not to hurt Harry" she was giving him a pleading look. The look that persuaded him not to talk to Narcissa Black in his first year, the look that forced him not to say a word about Lupin's….condition. That look. The only look that could make Severus Snape melt inside.

"Lily" he whispered gently "why did you come here? It's hard Lily. To see the eyes of my best friend on the face of the boy who made my life a living hell for years" she couldn't take his forlorn expression, nobody else got to see this side of Severus Snape. It was all reserved for her and her alone.

"Sev" he looked up "I came here to make a deal with you. I know that Harry looks like James and that he has his moments, but he's a good boy Severus. He helps others and he's not arrogant like James was. I want to be your friend Severus, but don't make me choose between my friend and my child, because it will always be my child. Always." Severus sighed. He couldn't blame her. Here she was, wanting to be his friend. Forgiving him for something that was so bad. She added gently whilst he was watching her silently "I know it's not easy. I know what James did, but it wasn't easy for me to be called a mudblood for trying to help or to avoid the disgusted stares of Mulciber and Nott when I spent time with you. Yet, I'm here. I want to be your friend Severus."

He raked a hand through his long, greasy hair and looked up at her through his long eyelashes "you mentioned a deal?"

A smile spread across her face and he marvelled at the way in which her beautiful eyes lit up "Yes. I'll visit you Sev, ill drop by more and spend time with you as a friend and in return, you have to be civil with my son. I'm not asking you to worship him, just be fair. That means no detentions for speaking to his friends" she added the last part sternly but the smile never left her face. Severus didn't even have to think about it. He would do anything to have Lily back in his life, even as nothing more than a friend. How hard could it really be to be kind to the Potter brat….Potter spawn….Potter child….he'd work on it.

Lily rose from her chair and pulled her friend into a hug, he wrapped his strong arms around her and allowed himself to smile happily. His Lily had returned and no matter whose ring she wore or whose children she bore, she would always be his Lily.

-XXX-

Harry knocked upon the portrait, annoyed at having to leave his friends for Snape's stupid detention. "Enter" called the potions master and Harry sighed before pushing open the door. "Ah. Mr Potter. I have rethought your detention. You may go" Snape didn't even look up, he simply continued to write whilst Harry stood there in shock.

"But Sir-" the boy began, only to be cut off by Snape lifting his head and raising a brow.

"Would you like to have a detention, Mr Potter?" he asked, without a hint of sarcasm, malice or mocking in his tone. Harry shook his head. Dumbfounded. "Well then. I will see you in potions tomorrow, do not forget your essay on sleeping draughts" his tone was dismissive as he went back to marking his papers and Harry scurried from the room.

"Shouldn't you be in detention?" Teddy Lupin asked sternly when Harry caught up with his friends.

"Cancelled" came Harrys reply as he shrugged. Teddy raised a sceptic eyebrow and Harry shook his head "don't ask, but I think Snape's finally lost it"