I hate myself. Seriously, late, late, late. I had like 50 million assignments because my teachers actually hate us, and I got seriously distracted. I'm actually currently doing this instead of my assignment that's due tomorrow... whoops. Anyway ENJOY!

Chapter Seven

Praise of a Killer As Remus read this he walked to the centre of the room, looking around for someone to take the book from him to read.

"Ki-Killer?" Damien nervously stuttered. "Does that mean..?" He turned with wide eyes to his father, unable to continue. James smiled reassuringly, making his way over to Damien and squatting down in front of him. He placed his hands on Damiens knees, looking up into his son's anxious face.

"No, Damien. Harry didn't kill me, I believe that. Don't you?" Damien hesitantly nodded, disbelief evident on his face. James, seeing this, sighed. "How about we just read this chapter, and find out, huh?" Damien nodded frantically, desperate to find out what happened to his dad. As James stood up, and moved to return to his seat, Damien leapt up and grabbed his cloak. James turned back to him and raised an eyebrow quizzically.

"I'm sitting with you this chapter." James beamed, moving back to his seat with Damien still clutching his cloak with white knuckles. His cloak was going to get wrinkled, but he didn't complain, knowing that his son needed comfort. He sat down and Damien snuggled down between him and Lily. Sharing an amused look with his wife as Damien wriggled under his arm, James cleared his throat, and looked pointedly at Sirius.

"Oh. OH! I'll read!" Sirius leapt out of his seat, bounding over and grabbing the book from Remus, before trotting back to his seat, reminding everyone of a dog. He dramatically sat down and exaggerated clearing his throat, earning a giggle from Ginny. Remus sighed and sat down next to him, shaking his head at his long time friends antics. Sirius began to read.

"Mum, what's going on? Why are we at St Mungo's? Mum!" Damien was trying not to panic but the tears that had just appeared in his mother's eyes and her shaky breathing was making Damien very nervous.

Damien gulped.

"Damien…j-just come w-with me." Lily managed to croak out and took her son's hand, gently this time, and led him to the lifts on the other side of the hall.

"It's your dad Damy, he was hurt last night."

"Hurt," Damien breathed out, relieved. "Hurt, not killed. Harry didn't kill you dad." He smiled up at his dad, who returned his smile.

"I never doubted it," he smugly proclaimed, "I had complete faith that my son didn't kill me." Everyone chose to remain silent, not mentioning the doubts James had before Dumbledore had pointed out that Harry never missed.

Damien felt his entire world crash around him. His dad had been hurt before, being an Auror, it was an occupational hazard, but never before did he end up in the 'Serious Injuries caused by Illegal Curses' Ward. He had never seen his mum this upset either which made him think that his dad might be badly injured this time.

"Awwww- OUCH!"

"No more noise."

"Then how am I supposed to read?"

"No noise apart from reading!"

"But it was romantic!"

"Sirius!"

"Yes Lily." Sirius withered under Lily's glare, flashing back to the time he spent at Hogwarts in fear of that look. He shivered, thinking it wise to keep his mouth shut for this chapter. Just this chapter though...

"What happened?" he asked as they made their way up to the seventh floor. They were alone in the lift.

"He was on duty last night and was injured during a duel." Lily was trying her level best to keep her voice steady. It was unfair to upset Damien more than he was already.

"I'm not upset!" Lily looked pointedly at James' arm, which Damien was still cuddled under, and Damien blushed. Shrugging his fathers arm off, he flounced back over to his seat with his friends. James chuckled, throwing his arm over his wife instead, and pulling her close.

"What duty?" Damien asked, knowing his mother would understand his real question, Auror or Order.

"The first one." she said as she never said the word Order of the Phoenix when outside safe walls. She knew her son always referred to the Order as James' second job.

"Smart." Hermione complimented Damien. Damien smiled, proud of himself.

The doors opened and Lily and Damien rushed out of the lift and ran to room number five. They were not at all surprised to see a very tired and disgruntled Sirius sitting next to James.

"Naturally." Remus rolled his eyes, sighing heavily. "Honestly Lily, if you didn't marry Prongs, Padfoot just might of." James and Sirius just looked at each other and shrugged.

"We're brothers Moony, you know that." James defended both himself and Sirius, seeing as the latter was still taking Lily's warning seriously.

"I know." Remus looked down. Seeing this Sirius nudged him and smiled, while James reassured,

"Your our brother too." Smiled were exchanged at the friendship between the Marauders. Seeing the way they interacted made everyone wonder how Peter could ever betray them. He wasn't just betraying his friends, they realised, he was betraying his brothers. That made it devastatingly worse.

Damien breathed a huge sigh of relief as he saw his dad sitting up in bed taking animatedly to Sirius. He looked really pale, and there was a bandage wrapped around his neck and one on his forearm. Other than looking really tired, James seemed to be okay.

"I'M OKAY!" James shouted, and the room broke into cheers. Snape sat moodily in the middle of a celebrating room, glumly wishing that everyone would just shut up. 'Honestly,' he thought. 'I thought we had already clarified last chapter that Potter wasn't dead.' He sneered as James and Sirius began waltzing in the middle of the room, before breaking into a dramatic tango. James dipped Sirius, who threw his head back and flung his leg into the air, making it look like he was doing the splits. The students laughed and clapped. When Sirius and James had wrapped up their dance with a 'secret handshake' (that was fourteen moves long, ending with them jumping into the air and chest bumping, while Remus threw glitter he had conjured) everyone sat down, the atmosphere considerably lighter. Sirius picked the book up again, and continued reading.

James looked up at the two new arrivals and his face broke into a smile. Sirius also looked like he had been through hell and back, but he let his handsome face break into a smile at the sight of his pup, Damien.

Sirius looked smug at being called handsome, putting emphasis on the word and looking around the room as he read it out.

"Hey guys, come on in." James called out and extended his hand to take Lily's as she rushed to his side. Damien still stood at the door leaning against it to steady his heart at the sight if his dad and godfather, looking so beat up.

Sirius, still too fearful to actually talk, settled for making pouting faces in Damien's direction, sticking his bottom lip out and widening his eyes. Damien scowled in his direction, causing his dad to laugh. Sirius joined in, his bark like laugh ringing around the room in harmony with James' heavy chuckles. Their laughter was contagious, causing Damien to break into a grin. Lily slapped Sirius upside the head, cutting him off mid laugh. She motioned toward the book, shooting him a sharp look. Sirius hurried to read on.

"Hey pup, come on in." beckoned Sirius and gave him a lopsided grin. Damien walked in slowly and sat next to his dad.

"Oh come on guys, cheer up, I'm fine." James tried to get his wife and son to stop looking as if he was already dead and they were attending his funeral.

"Fine! You call this fine. My God James, you could have been killed…" Lily stopped suddenly and looked towards a much shaken Damien who was staring at the blue swirls pattern of the bedspread.

"Harry wouldn't have let me die-" James began.

"You may not believe it Potter but I do." Snape curled his upper lip as he continued to speak. "He may not have meant to kill you, but make no mistake if you had of died he would not have felt guilty, or sorry."

"Only because he doesn't know who James is!" Arthur defended his friend.

"Perhaps." Snape settled back in his chair, refusing to further elaborate.

"Damien, I'm sorry, I should not have taken you out of school like that. I had just found out about your Dad and I just reacted without thinking."

Damien looked up his mother.

"I'm glad you brought me mum. I would have gone crazy if you left me at Hogwarts while dad was in hospital." Lily smiled at her considerate son, glad he wasn't mad at her for dragging him along and scaring him, even if it hadn't happened yet.

"You did the right thing Mum. I would never have forgiven you if you had not brought me here. Just don't scream at Dad, he looks as if he's been through hell."

"Jee thanks." James said sarcastically.

"Oh, thanks son, I'll remember that!" smiled James trying to look offended. Damien smiled back at him.

"Trying?" James said. "I don't doubt that I am very offended in the future, because I'm very offended now!" His face contradicted his words, however, a smile already beginning to appear.

"So, are you gonna tell us what happened to the both of you?" he asked already knowing the answer.

"Nope." Damien said.

"Na." Ron waved his hand in a shooing gesture, as if waving the question off.

"Can't do that pup-"

"Top secret stuff-"

"Sure you understand." The twins added, imitating Sirius 'bored' tone.

"If I told you, I'd have to kill you." Ginny smiled sweetly, causing her brothers to lean away from her.

"Can't pup, top secret and all that, sure you understand." Sirius replied in a boring voice that he always used to answer Damien's questions regarding the Order.

Sirius avoided looking at the twins who had so accurately mimicked him just seconds ago.

Damien looked towards his father, "Dad, are you going tell me?"

"Nope." Damien said.

"Na." Ron waved his hand in a shooing gesture, as if waving the question off.

"Can't do that-"

"Yeah, we get it guys." Hermione snapped.

James smiled sadly at his son.

"Honestly son, it's really boring stuff, nothing interesting."

Damien huffed a little and sat back with his arms crossed at his chest. A few minutes later Damien was asked by his mum to go up to the food court on the nineteenth floor and get some refreshments. Damien got up and left, quite thankful to get away from all the boring talk that was happening.

As soon as he had left Lily cast a Silencing charm on the room and rounded on James and Sirius.

"Alright, spill. What happened last night?"

"Seriously! Send me to get food, then you talk about it!" Damien cried, outraged.

"Well, we weren't going to talk about it with you in the room, now were we?" James said, looking at his son with a raised eyebrow. "After all, it's top secret Order stuff, sure you understand." Here he winked at the giggling twins. Damien just pouted, sinking sulkily down on the couch and crossing his arms with a huff.

James and Sirius almost looked ashamed.

Similar to how they looked now as they recalled just who beat them, and just how old he was.

"Well, I guess there is no other way to say it but…um…we kind of underestimated the enemy." replied a very red looking Sirius.

"You don't say." Moody looked unhappy about doubting Harry's abilities to start off with. "At least now we won't make that mistake." Kingsley nodded, shamefaced as he remembered that he too, was one of the many people who believed that Harry would be easily beaten by the Aurors.

"What do you mean 'underestimated'? Were there too many Death Eaters? How many were there?" Lily asked trying to imagine five Aurors fighting an army of fifteen or more Death Eaters. That would certainly explain the injuries.

If possible, James, Sirius and Kingsley turned even redder with shame.

"Um…one." replied James not quite meeting Lily's eyes.

"One" repeated Lily

"Yeah..." James hid his face in his hands. "Oh Merlin, beaten by my own son in a duel! Harry will never let me live it down." He smiled at this however, overjoyed at the prospect of having a son to have a friendly duel with, one to tease and be teased by. Damien was great, but he would never replace the bond James had with his firstborn. Damien filled the hole in his heart, and was James' treasure, his pride and joy, but Harry was his firstborn, and he wanted him back more than anything in the world.

"Yeah one." answered James and Sirius together.

"Do you two talk in sync too?" The delighted twins turned to the startled Marauders.

"Ummm, no. It was just coincidence." James replied, uncertainty thick in his voice as he was unsure as to how the twins would react. However, they merely shrugged their shoulders, giving off the impression that they didn't care. Underneath that façade, however, they were secretly glad that they had something the famous Marauders, their idols, didn't.

"Okay! I don't understand how could one Death Eater fight against five Aurors and put two of them in hospital?" she asked starting to feel really annoyed.

"Three" said a small voice that surprisingly belonged to Sirius.

"Excuse me?" Lily was definitely annoyed and a little ashamed.

"Oh sweethearts," Lily sighed, putting her face in her hands and shaking it slowly. McGonagall looked at her former students, thinking that perhaps she should offer some comfort to them to halt their embarrassment. After all, she doubted anyone in the room (Exempting Dumbledore) would stand a chance against the 'Dark Prince' in a duel. However, remembering the number of grey hairs that had suddenly developed on her head in the years James and Sirius spent at Hogwarts as students, she decided against comforting them.

"Well Kingsley is here with me and James too."

At this, Kingsley joined James and Sirius in their apparent quest to sink as far into the comfy chairs below them as possible.

"Hold on a minute, Kingsley Shacklebolt, the huge bloke who three Death Eaters weren't able to bring down, is also injured." Lily was staring to get really freaked out.

"What the hell happened?"

"Harry." Chorused the children seated on what was deemed the 'underage' sofa. Damien took particular delight in seeing the embarrassment on his father and uncles faces, still unforgiving towards them for their future actions of excluding him from the conversation.

"The damn kid happened." snapped Sirius, obviously not taking his failure well at all.

"The kid, what kid? What are you two talking about?" Lily asked, no longer able to keep up with their conversation.

"Our kid." James and Lily smiled at each other, clasping hands. Lily rested her head on her husbands shoulder, positively giddy with joy.

Both James and Sirius explained what happened. They told her about catching Hunt in conversation with the 'Dark Prince' who turned out to be none other but, Lord Voldemort's son.

Growls resonated throughout the room, anger and frustration being the emotions everyone shared.

Lily was looking from one to the other. They were famous for their pranks.

James and Sirius looked awfully smug at this.

Maybe this was just a joke to freak Lily out. Well it worked.

"Come on Lils, not even we could be that cruel." James declared. Snape scoffed, remembering his years of torment at the Marauders hands, and conveniently forgetting his own sins and the torment he put them through. Lily looked up at James whispering an,

"I know," before snuggling closer to him still.

"Please explain this to me before I pass out from shock." Lily said, hoping it was nothing more than a silly prank.

"I don't know what to say. I'm kind of hoping it's not true. But from seeing first hand what the boy is capable of, I think there's a good chance he is his son.

"My son." James proudly interrupted. "He's my boy, and nothing will ever change that."

The boy was just a blur at times. He moved so fact and there was no way his moves could have been predicted." James replied.

"And it wasn't only wizard duelling, he was kicking our ass muggle style. Really, Lily that was the weirdest thing. The Dark Lord's son taking muggle style fighting to tackle us." Sirius informed an open mouthed Lily.

"I can't believe that Voldemort would ever allow Harry to learn muggle fighting. You must be right Headmaster," here Remus nodded in the direction of said person, before finishing his sentence with an awed, "Harry's a bit rebellious then."

"Just like his father." Lily grinned at James.

"And he wasn't even intimidated in the slightest that he was being faced with five fully grown Aurors. He just wiped the floor with us." James said with a slight red twinge in his pale cheeks.

"Oh, I'm never going to live that down." James moaned, hiding his face in his hands. Moody, Kingsley, Tonks, Sirius and Remus, as well as everyone else who doubted Harry's abilities, looked suitably shame-faced. They cursed themselves for underestimating what turned out to be a powerful opponent.

"What…what happened to Hunt?" Lily asked already fearing the answer.

The rooms atmosphere sobered, and many visibly tensed at the reminder.

James's face fell and a look of anger darkened his hazel eyes.

"He killed him, right in front of me. He was so powerful Lily, there was nothing I could do. He sent me flying in the air wandlessly and the way he dealt with Hunt, it was co sold! He just killed him, without a care in the world, no remorse, nothing!"

"My baby doesn't feel anything!" Lily cried, tears streaming down her face. "James, he doesn't feel emotion! What did that monster do to him to destroy Harry's feelings!" James pulled her closer, whispering reassurances.

"Harry will feel, he will have remorse, and when he feels the guilt we will be there for him. Lily, we will fix what Voldemort did, I promise you." Lily sniffled before smiling sadly, and James nudged Sirius signalling him to continue.

James said. "But the really weird thing about the kid was that something about him just didn't make sense."

"What do you mean?" Lily questioned, confused. James didn't answer, just smiled secretively, somehow knowing exactly what his future self was on about.

"What do you mean?" Lily asked

The repeated statement that usually would have made Lily the butt of many jokes was ignored, everyone leaning forward and listening intently to Sirius' every word.

James as he dropped his gaze from her. Even Sirius was leaning closer to hear this.

"Well, he just, I don't know, he just made me feel really uneasy. Like when he was fighting he didn't use any Unforgivables, just standard spells like Stupefy and Incendio. He didn't actually kill anyone except for Hunt. That just doesn't make sense. Death Eaters are all about numbers. They kill and torture as many as they can. But this kid, he just dealt with us and got to Hunt. He didn't cause any other casualties."

"That's...true." McGonagall sounded surprised. "How did we not notice that?"

"We were in shock." Arthur supplied. "Shock that Harry was alive and could do those things. But," He turned to James, "A father always knows." James smiled.

"He could have!" interjected Sirius with a nod towards James. "You were lucky that…that…blade, star thing he threw didn't cut you too deep, otherwise..." Sirius couldn't finish. He looked away, trying not to remember how his friend had looked when he found him in a pool of his own blood.

"Ah mate." James began, looking uncomfortable. "I'm sorry. I mean, because I almost died. I mean, not that Harry would have killed me! Because he wouldn't. But if he did, accidently, and you had to see it... I mean, hypothetically... well I'm just, I'm sor-" Sirius cut him off with a hug. James sighed in relief, returning the hug and grabbing Remus, who sat beside Sirius, pulling him into the hug.

Lily let them have their brotherly moment, knowing how much the Marauders meant to each other, 'probably why they were all so torn up after Peters betrayal,' she thought. She gently nudged James, who pulled back from the group hug and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Sirius removed himself from Remus' grasp, cleared his throat and began to read again.

"It's called a Shuriken." James informed him.

"How-" Remus began, to be cut off by Sirius nudging him. Padfoot looked pointedly at the book, and read on.

"How do you know that?" Lily asked at once,

Here Sirius paused, raising a pointed eyebrow at Remus. "Yeah, yeah." Remus muttered. "Keep reading, you mutt."

surprised that James knew the name of a muggle weapon, such as the ninja stars.

"Healer Thomas told me. He's a muggle born and recognised it from my description."

"Naturally," Remus smirked.

"What's that supposed to mean?" James asked, looking offended.

"You're always curious, but can't be bothered doing your own research." Remus explained.

"Why bother, when other people can tell you what you need to know?"

"Don't listen to him Damien." Lily quickly told her son, who merely avoided looking at Hermione, who had suddenly realised that Damien was exactly the same as his father.

James told her before turning to Sirius. "I know that he tried to kill me, but see that's the thing. I don't think he really wanted to hurt me. He told me to move out of the way like three times, it was only when I attacked him that he retaliated. I mean I did give him quite a nasty cut…"

"Why on earth are you making excuses for him!" exclaimed Lily.

"Ah, I can see it now." Fred said, pretending to daydream. "Harry! Why are you late home!" He exclaimed, mimicking Lily fairly accurately. His twin immediately joined in.

"I know he arrived late, but that's the thing. I don't think he really meant to hurt you love. He said he loves us three times when he left, it was only after you hugged him that he bolted. I mean, you did give him quite a nasty lipstick stain..." George adopted the role of James, to appreciative applause from Sirius and Remus, and laughter from his brothers and Damien.

"Why on Earth are you making excuses for him!" Fred shrieked. Unable to retain their façade any longer, the twins started laughing. Molly rolled her eyes affectionately, before asking Sirius to begin reading again. He did, and the twins immediately suppressed their laughter in order to listen.

"He tried to kill you and you are going on about him as if he was forced to do this!" added an irritated Sirius.

"Because he is. No one just wants to kill... right?" James started off certain, before looking unsure.

James closed his mouth and bowed his head slightly, why was he making excuses. He had seen the rage quite clearly in the boy's eyes. He knew that the boy had attacked him with the intent to kill but something inside him just didn't want to believe it. Then there was the fact that the boy had seemed somewhat familiar to him.

"Familiar?" Lily glanced at Damien. Was it possible Harry was like Damien?

James didn't know how it was possible but he felt that he knew him from somewhere. That voice had seemed very familiar. He didn't want to admit it, but the boy's voice has reminded him of Damien.

"YES!" Damien pumped his fist into the air, thrilled at this news. The thought of being similar to his 'cool' older brother was exciting to him, and made him want to meet Harry even more.

However he kept this from Lily and Sirius. He didn't want to sound crazier than he was sounding already.

"Not crazy." Lily whispered.

He sighed.

"I guess I just don't want to believe that a child can be so evil." he told them.

"Harry is not evil!" Surprisingly, this statement came from the fierce looking Tonks, who had taken quite a liking to Harry and refused to accept that statement.

Lily comforted her husband and Sirius looked down at the ground deep in thought. He understood what James meant. It was not only disturbing but a little heart breaking to see such a young boy in battle and taking other's lives so mercilessly.

Rage at Voldemort and sadness for Harry were the two emotions shared by all, even the usually unsympathetic Snape.

Before they could say anything else Damien reappeared in the room, holding lots of refreshments. He took in the sight of his mother, her arms wrapped up around his father, who was looking really defeated and his uncle Sirius also looking very upset.

"Is everything okay?" he asked as he dumped the goodies on his father's bed.

'No,' Damien thought, taking in the expressions of the rooms occupants, before gazing at his brothers face in the photograph, smiling sadly at it as Harry pointed at him. 'Everything is not okay, but it will be.'

"Well it is now, that you got chocolate frogs and sherbet pops!" said his father while taking one each of his favourite candy and looking at Damien as if he were Father Christmas.

Damien sighed and ripped open a chocolate frog of his own and watched it jump up and down on his dad's bed. Honestly, he didn't think his father would ever grow up.

xxx

Harry walked

Everyone noticeably perked up at the mention of Harry, the twins going as far as to let out a cheer.

steadily over to his room. His mind and body thoroughly exhausted from the lesson he had just had with Lucius Malfoy.

"Well, now we have conformation that he's a Death Eater!" Sirius bounced excitedly in his seat. He hated the man Cissy had married, and was thrilled that she had rebelled against both him and the 'Dark Lord' he served, brining Dumbledore the book.

"We can't arrest him." Tonks grumbled, to Sirius' outraged exclamation of,

"WHY?!"

"Because," Moody answered for her, "We don't have proof. The Minister won't accept the excuse, 'Oh a book telling us all about the future of the Potters dead son told us!' Now will he?"

"No." Sirius sulked.

"And if you were thinking straight, Black, and not getting distracted by 'family' matters, you would know that." Severus sneered. He was pleased Lucius wouldn't be arrested, as a long time friend of the Malfoys. He was even Draco's godfather, for Merlins sake.

At least he had managed to finally get to grips with the Lacerate curse.

"The Lacerate curse?" James chocked out, devastated that his son knew such a dark curse. The Aurors, Arthur, Snape, McGonagall, Dumbledore, Bill and Charlie all looked shocked, with the rest of the room sitting in confusion, not knowing what the 'Lacerate curse' was.

"James?" Lily questioned, but he just shook his head sadly.

"I can't believe Harry knows how to perform that." Arthur looked and sounded depressed.

"And after only one lesson too." Tonks added softly.

"The boys powerful, that's for sure." Moody grumbled, impressed despite himself.

"We shouldn't be surprised," McGonagall forced out, "After all, the boy can perform... Unforgivables." She looked at the Potters apologetically, and received sad smiles in return. They might not be happy about it, or approve, but it was true, and they couldn't change that.

It was a very difficult hex but he had managed in the end.

Harry's room was located in a secret location of the castle that was Lord Voldemort's home. Harry had always known his self importance but had never quite given up the urge of exploring.

Remus nudged James. "Sounds like someone I know."

However an incident when he was seven years old had taught Harry the hard way to keep himself a secret.

"In-Incident?" Lily stuttered out, looking at James worriedly. He answered her wordless question with a shrug, looking nervous himself. What kind of incident could make their son scared and cautious?

So his father had an entire wing of the castle dedicated to Harry.

Damien squashed down the jealousy welling within him. He would never trade his childhood for Harry's, no matter how many cool things Harry had. Damien had his parents, and that was enough for him.

I wasn't enough for Ron though, as the youngest boy in his family he always wanted and demanded more from his parents, no matter how much he loved them. He opened his mouth to complain about the unfairness of it but was interrupted by Hermione's sharp elbow digging into his ribs. He cowered before her equally sharp glare, keeping his mouth shut.

As a child he had spent many hours exploring his surroundings and had endless adventures here.

Lily smiled sadly. 'At least he spent some time acting like the little boy he was,' she thought.

Harry opened his door and entered his chamber. It was a huge room and had everything Harry would ever need for training, relaxing and generally anything else he wanted.

"Cool." Fred breathed. "Well not the training cause euch!" Here he pulled a disgusted face, shaking his head, making Ginny giggle. "But all the rest is cool."

He strode over to his huge wardrobe and flicked it open wandlessly.

"Wandlessly" Hermione mouthed.

He took out a pair of casual dark blue robes to replace his dark green ones.

Dumbledore frowned at the Slytherin colours. 'That will have to change once he comes to Hogwarts.' He thought.

He caught himself in the mirror and stood for a moment just looking at the reflection.

Lily squeezed James' hand eagerly as he grinned. Beaming Sirius excitedly announced, "bet five galleons he looks like James."

Lily didn't bother to tell him off for talking, impressed he had managed to last as long as he did. "No one will be stupid enough to take that bet, Pads." Remus said (Ron horridly closed his mouth as Hermione smirked - in his defence he never even knew Harry existed, let alone what he looked like). "Besides," Remus smiled, "He won't look exactly like James." He sighed smiling sadly at the photo of little Harry on the table, "He'll have Lily's eyes."

He never gave his appearance a lot of heed and it was not needed since he had a natural ease of looking good no matter what.

"Well, I don't know who he got that from." Sirius smirked at Lily and James, who glared back.

"Probably from all the time he spent with me." Remus smugly ran a hand through his hair. Tonks giggled quietly, looking at him adoringly. Sirius saw and waggled his eyebrows at her, causing her to turn red. She used her unique ability to change her skin tone back to normal before anyone else saw.

He ran a hand in his usual messy locks and pushed his bangs out of his eyes.

"Messy locks." Sirius looked over at James, who ran his hand through his own messy hair and positively beamed.

As he did this the light caught his unusual scar and illuminated it against his forehead.

"His scar." Lily whispered.

"The only thing marring his appearance, I bet he hates it." Sirius stated, to nods from everyone.

Harry traced the scar slowly with his fingers. It was the only thing about his appearance that he liked.

"HUH?!" Cried the whole room.

His messy black hair, sparkling green eyes and the rest of his features were of someone that he despised with all his might.

"Despises?" Lily whispered to the silent room. "But why?" It was as if these words broke a dam, as the room flooded with noise.

"I don't understand?"

"Why?"

"Despise with all his might?"

"Makes no sense-"

"Merlin-"

"James, Lily, I'm sure he doesn't mean it-"

"Probably just confused-"

"Brainwashed-"

'Most likely-"

"Doesn't know what he's talking about-"

"Raised by Voldemort, bound to have some repercussions-"

"ENOUGH!" Dumbledore cried, silencing the room at once. "The book will provide the answers, so, if you will Mr Black." He nodded at Sirius, who started reading again.

His father had not allowed him to change his appearance, no matter how much Harry had begged him.

Silent tears streamed down Lily's face as James clutched at he arm desperately.

Harry tilted his head slightly and smiled as he took off his green robes. Although he was only sixteen years old he had already achieved the body of a warrior.

"Sixteen is too young to be a warrior." McGonagall whispered, scandalised.

His arms and chest were already muscled and he had worked hard to get his body to be that way. Endless hours of practise and training had resulted in a very well formed body and mind that Harry couldn't help but be a little proud of. He wasn't very tall or short. For his age he was perfect. If Harry had been at school, like all the normal boys of his age, he would have been very popular with the girls.

Hermione and Ginny blushed at the mental image, glad that no one was looking in their direction, as they were all so absorbed in the book. Hermione's blush faded as she thought of Ron, her first crush. Honestly how that boy was still oblivious...
Ginny's face remained flaming as she struggled to remove the image from her head. Every time she succeeded she could feel those strong arms encircling her, and her face went bright red again.

Harry had just dressed into his casual robes when there was a knock on his door. Harry flicked his door open wandlessly and saw Lucius Malfoy standing at his doorstep.

Harry wasn't surprised to see him. There were only two Death Eaters that could enter his wing, without giving the password and one of them was Lucius Malfoy.

"Bet the other one is Bella." Sirius muttered.

"Most likely." Dumbledore smiled, completely undeterred to the tension both Sirius and Tonks were feeling, due to Bellatrix being related to them. Although Tonks felt it to a smaller degree than Sirius, she was still saddened by her family members betrayal, especially after hearing the stories her mother would tell her about when she was a child growing up with her sisters. Bellatrix always seemed so loving in those stories... Tonks' face hardened, but perhaps that was just her mothers biased opinion.

"Yes?" Harry asked, wondering what he had forgotten to say as he had spent the last four hours with him.

"I just wanted to congratulate you once again. It is unheard of to be able to learn the Lacerate curse in just one session." Lucius said, with a hint of a smile.

"Most of the things I do are unheard of." Harry replied with a smirk.

Sirius whistled. "Cocky." Remus stated. "Arrogant, over-confident-"

"Sounds like a certain someone I know," Lily interrupted, smirking at her husband. Damien roared with laughter at the look on his dads face.

Lucius couldn't help beam with pride over Harry. He had known Harry since he was brought to Lord Voldemort and over the years had developed a growing compassion for the raven haired teen. It was him that had fondly named Harry the 'Dark Prince'.

"Of course he did." Sirius sneered. He had always hated Lucius, and despised the fact that Cissy chose to marry him. Snape looked disgruntled, but didn't comment. The Malfoy's were long time friends of his, he was even the godfather of their only son. He never told everyone of his exact relationship with Draco and the rest of the Malfoys, fearing that they would believe him to be a traitor if they found out.

Lucius was very proud that Draco had become best friends with the Dark Lord's heir

Silence.

"Get him." Lily directed the command at the old Headmaster, who merely looked at Snape. Severus stood and hurried out of the room, the door slamming shut behind him.

The room waited in shocked silence for his return. Ron broke the disbelieving atmosphere with a frustrated cry.

"Ron? Ron what's wrong?" Molly questioned, concerned for her son.

"Malfoys friends with him, that's what!" Ron hissed. "He beat me, again!"

"Honestly Ronald," Hermione scolded. "You should be focusing on something other than your petty feud with Malfoy, and your jealousy."

"Like what?" Ron rudely questioned.

"Like the fact that Harry had a friend." The room fell into shocked silence at this, as Hermione elaborated. "I, for one, am glad that Malfoy is Harrys friend, it means he had one." Ron contemplated this before nodding.

"Your right, I'm sorry. I can't believe Malfoy kept it a secret though."

"You would be surprised what one would do when threatened with death, Weasley." Heads snapped to the door, which had silently opened to admit the two Slytherins. "That was the Dark Lords warning, well threat, after all." The young blonde continued, gracefully sitting down on the couch with his Head of House. "Snape explained everything on the way." Draco curtly informed Dumbledore, before settling back in his seat, relaxed.

"He threatened to kill you?" Ginny gasped.

"No." Draco stated. "He threatened to kill my parents in front of me." Ginny's flew to her mouth in shock as Hermione gasped. "He threatened to torture me." Draco continued calmly, as if the threat didn't bother him. "Shouldn't you be reading?" He sneered at Sirius, raising an eyebrow delicately at him. "If you don't know how, just pass it to someone who can. No use embarrassing yourself."

Sirius growled and began to read.

since that would ensure Draco's success in the wizarding world once it was under Lord Voldemort's control. He knew that Draco had been saved from Lord Voldemort by Harry many times, as Draco's arrogance and tendency not to follow rules had caused much embarrassment.

Draco smirked, remembering times spent with his closest friend. Lily saw this, and restrained herself from asking him to tell her about her son, remembering the comment Harry made earlier in the book about despising them. If he did, then it was highly likely that the notion was shared by his best friend.

Luckily the growing friendship the two boys shared had made life very easy for the Malfoy family and, if it was possible, they were now even more arrogant and obnoxious.

Draco frowned at that, before shrugging. Harry had said it enough times for him to accept the fact that it was probably true.

"I would like to be there when you perform this curse." Lucius said carefully.

"Not going to happen, father." Draco snorted.

Harry looked over at him before replying. He had gone over this many times with him.

"I told you. I like working alone." Harry said as he closed the door to his wardrobe.

"I know, and I respect your decision. It's just, I would like to see you in a duel. It would be a sight to remember." Lucius said.

Harry raised an eyebrow at him.

"Well, you can't. Deal with it." Harry replied, cutting the conversation short.

The blonde Slytherin sniggered.

Lucius didn't say anymore. He knew better than to argue with Harry.

Before he could say anymore the door behind him opened again. Thinking that it was probably Bella, as she was the only other person who could come to Harry's room, Lucius turned around with a sneer on his face.

"I told you Harry would learn it in one session, Bella."

"Five sickles says it's not Bella." Fred whispered in his twins ear.

"Your on." George whispered back.

His sneer slipped off his face when he saw that it was actually Lord Voldemort standing before him. Without another word, the aristocrat Malfoy fell to his knees and bowed to his Lord.

George sighed, fishing the money out of his pockets and handing it to his smirking brother.

Harry looked on with a little distaste. He never found the whole, 'obey me and behave like I am God' thing very appealing. The mere thought that soon people will be doing that in front of him made him feel slightly nauseous.

'Interesting.' Dumbledore thought.

"Leave us." Voldemort said in his high cold voice.

At once, Lucius Malfoy rose to his feet and left the room. Harry waited until Malfoy had left before addressing his father. He was surprised to see him in his room. Usually he summoned Harry to see him.

"Like a dog at his masters beck and call." Moody stated, to frowns. James opened his mouth to protest, but was interrupted by Draco's laughter. Confused he, along with everyone else, turned to look at the laughing boy.

"Better not let Harry hear you say that." Draco said, amusement clear in his tone, "He might just kill you." Taken back, no one said anything, until Sirius cleared his throat to break the silence before reading.

"Is everything alright, father?" Harry asked, a tinge of worry in his voice.

Voldemort took a moment to observe the teen standing before him. The sound of Harry's voice alone was enough to calm him down.

'What?' was the thought running through the majority of the rooms head.

"Everything is fine." He answered before walking further into the room.

Harry looked at his father. He knew something was bothering him. It wasn't all that hard to figure it out. But Harry didn't say anything to contradict him. He knew his father would bring up the reason for his visit sooner or later.

James winced every time Sirius reluctantly read out the word 'father'.

Sure enough, Voldemort reached into his robes and pulled out a small box. He held it in his hand for a moment before handing it to Harry.

Wordlessly, Harry opened it and stared at the sight before him. Inside the small box was a silver pendant. It was in the shape of a serpent that had two heads on either side of its intertwined body. The eyes of the serpent were a shimmering green colour that seemed to almost hypnotize you.

'Cool,' Draco thought, 'gonna have to get Harry to show me that.'

Harry looked up at his father with a questioning look.

"This belonged to our great ancestor, Salazar Slytherin. I want you to have it." Voldemort explained, reading his heir's thoughts.

Eyes widened around the room at the knowledge of where the gift came from.

Harry was now eyeing the pendant with an awed expression. Voldemort loved it when he managed to bring out a childhood expression from Harry.

"But this pendant has another special aspect to it. This pendant has a piece of my soul in it, so I only see it fitting that you have it with you at all times."

"We have to destroy that pendant." Dumbledore announced. "I cannot explain it, but it is necessary if we wish to defeat Voldemort." The Order members nodded, even the underage students looked determined to get their hands on the pendant. Draco noted that he would also have to warn Harry to keep all future presents from his father even safer than he already does.

Harry's expression changed from awe to sudden understanding. He looked down at the pendant before fixing his stare to his father's face.

"Why are you giving it to me?" Harry asked in his most controlled voice.

Voldemort kept his eyes fixed to Harry as he answered.

"I want you to always remember who you are." Was the simple answer.

"What does that mean?" Bill wondered, to silence.

Harry felt his heart leap in his chest. He knew what brought this to his father's mind. He reached into the box and took out the beautiful pendant. He slipped the chain over his head and let the pendant, his father's Horcrux, sit on his chest, next to his heart.

James and Lily flinched at the thought of a part of that monsters soul resting so close to their sons heart.

Without taking his eyes away from his father, Harry spoke.

"I'll always be your son." Harry said. "I don't have to be reminded of who I am. I know what you're thinking, but that's not the truth. Just because I never managed to kill him doesn't mean anything. I'm your son, and your son alone. I'm not a Potter, I never was." Harry finished, his voice reduced to a whisper.

"What?" Lily sobbed, tears streaming down her face. "What does he mean, 'never was?'" She turned to Dumbledore for answers, but it was Draco who snapped,

"Don't act like you don't know Potter." James stood from the couch, outraged.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He demanded. Draco rose from his position, and moved to join James in standing in the middle of the room, shouting,

"Don't pretend Potter! You know damn well what I'm talking about! HARRY TOLD ME EVERYTHING!" The last part came out as a roar. James briefly stepped back, and Draco stepped closer whispering, "No wonder he hates you." He looked James up and down. "You disgust me." Draco turned away, but James roughly grabbed his arm spinning him back around. Draco looked up at the slightly taller man, fear in his eyes even as he hissed, "You going to hit me, Potter?"

James let go of Draco, stepping back in shock. "No. I would never hit a child, no matter how much they deserve it."

Draco sneered, turning and walking back to his seat muttering, "could have fooled me." Only Dumbledore heard him, he frowned as he considered what the young Malfoy could possibly mean.

Sirius awkwardly cleared his throat to read.

Voldemort felt the worry lift from his mind. He had put a lot of work into Harry. It was frightening to think that after all he had done and all the effort he had put into raising Harry, he could still have any compassion for the Potters.

'What?' Draco thought, sitting up straight in surprise. 'What could that mean?... I have to talk to Harry.' He slumped back down, arranging his cool, calculating mask back over his face in a matter of seconds. Only Snape noticed the Slytherins slip up.

Voldemort walked over to Harry and placed his hands on his shoulders.

"You are always going to be my son, I know that. No one is ever going to take you away from me." He said carefully.

"Oh we will." Sirius growled. Draco frowned at that. Did they want to take Harry away from his father to hurt him, or save him.

Harry looked a lot more relaxed. He looked down at the pendant and a look of panic crossed his face.

"My assignments, what if something happens to this on one of my assignments. What if…"

"Don't worry, the pendant has many charms placed on it including a non breakable one. Only you or I would be able to take it off once you are wearing it. No matter what happens, it can't be taken from you."

"Damn." Moody growled. "Can't destroy it unless he takes it off."

Voldemort smiled again as he saw the worry lift away from Harry's emerald eyes and they shone like bright jewels at the thought of having something like this with him.

"Thank you, father." Harry said before tucking the pendant underneath his robes. "Just don't tell Bella you gave me this. I don't think she'll ever recover." Harry said with a playful smirk.

Voldemort laughed, something that only Harry managed to make him do, and both father and son headed for the door. It was time for dinner.

Draco casually stood, gracefully walking over to a desk that popped up in the corner. He sat down, aware of the suspicious gazes on his back, and slowly started to write down his letter. He scribbled the letter on one paper, and some potions nonsense on the other.

"What are you doing?" Moody snapped, limping over to where Draco was seated. The Slytherin smoothly slid his letter under the 'potions work'.

"Potions." He looked up at Moodys scarred face and smirked. "Is that a crime?" He stood up. "Going to throw me in Azkaban?" Moody looked over Malfoy's shoulder at the piece of paper, noting the scribbled potions work. He gestured for Snape to come over.

"Is this your Potions work?" He snapped, gesturing towards the paper. Snape leant over, examining the work. He turned and raised a greasy eyebrow at Malfoy in a silent question, who held his gaze before quickly blinking twice in response. Mad-Eye was too occupied with reading the parchment on the desk to bother watching them, and therefore missed the silent exchange.

"Yes." Snape finally said. "Yes it is." Alastor grumbled, before nodding and lumbering away. Snape grabbed Malfoy tightly by the arm, making the boy wince, hissing in his ear, "be careful," before striding back to his seat. Molly clapped her hands together causing many to jump.

"How about something to eat?" She asked, and Ron's stomach growled. Malfoy sat down and returned to his letter.

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So, the reason this was so late was that I kept debating with myself on whether to add a part in, or take it out. I kept putting it in, then changing it, then taking it out, then putting it in, the taking it out, then putting it in, then changing it again, then taking it out. This, combined with Exams and Assignment, made it difficult to complete this chapter. But, I did it, it's done.

In 2 weeks I'm on holidays, which means the updates should get a bit more regular. Hooray!

Anyway, Draco made an appearance! YAY! Please review, and let me know what you think should be in Draco's letter to Harry and, more importantly, if Harry should reply...

Thanks guys

Mythology-Is-My-Religion