Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter and everything recognizable belongs to J K Rowling.

TO KNOW YOUR ENEMY,

by blaugrana-al-vent

Chapter 7: One Heated Argument

Harry and Neville made their way towards the path that led back to Hogwarts. They followed the tree line at the edge of the forest in case Harry had to hide from view should anyone appear. Nobody aside from Sirius and Neville had seen Harry in Hogsmeade, and it had to continue that way if he didn't want to get severely punished for disobeying the people who called themselves his parents. Harry doubted it would involve a ridiculous amount of points being taken off and a couple of detentions. This time he had gone against their wishes. No, not their wishes. It had sounded more like orders. They had forbidden him from coming to Hogsmeade and he had openly defied them by coming. Now he feared that his spot on the Quidditch Team might be what his parents would use to punish him. If it came to that he intended to blackmail his father. He had dreamt of this opportunity, and he wasn't about to lose it. Not if he could do something about it.

When they were nearly there, they heard sobs. Faint at first, but they became gradually louder. They stopped and watched the start of the pathway. Nobody was heading to the castle yet, but someone was definitely walking in that direction. They waited for a few seconds, concealed in the forest's undergrowth, waiting for whoever it was to walk past them so they could get back to the castle unnoticed. After a brief wait, Hannah Abott emerged at the bend of the twisting path. She was clearly heading back to the castle. The poor girl was wiping her tears repeatedly while she continued to sob. Harry instantly concealed himself behind a couple of trees while Neville just stood there watching her, with a sympathetic look that then turned to rage. He had fancied Hannah Abott since last year, but she didn't notice poor Neville.

"Isn't that Hannah, Nev?" Harry asked quietly.

"Yes…" Neville replied, his eyes never leaving Hannah.

"She seems quite upset. I wonder what happened." Harry commented.

"Probably your brother." said Neville with gritted teeth. "She was his date." Harry's look then turned to a murderous one. They remained for a few seconds silently observing her.

"Nev, I can fly from here. No one will see me transform. You could head back with Hannah. This could be your chance."

"What? What are you talking about?" Neville stuttered.

"Come on Nev, I've noticed the way you look at her. You fancy her." he said grinning and making his friend blush.

"Well I've noticed that you're paying attention to a certain someone too." Now it was Harry's turn to blush.

"I don't know what you're talking about." he said rapidly and very unconvincingly.

"Yes you do. Every time Wilkinson is around you can't stop staring at her."

"Well ok, but she's not here now, Hannah is. Come on, walk her up to the castle." he said pushing him in her direction.

"Are you crazy?" Neville hissed at him. "I bet she doesn't know I even exist."

"Come on we've shared classes with her for more than four years and she doesn't know you? If you go to her now, she'll notice you exist, believe me."

"Are you sure of this? And what should I say? We don't even know why she's so upset. Your brother might not have anything to do with it."

Harry raised his eyebrows at Neville. "Come on Nev! You know that Karl's the reason she's so upset. It'll do her good to have someone who also hates Karl to talk to right now."

"Ok, fine. I'll do it." he said walking towards the pathway.

"And Nev, don't be too direct. Just be a little tactful." Harry recommended him.

Neville took a sharp breath. "Ok." he said. Then he started sprinting towards the Hufflepuff girl so he could catch up.

"Good luck." said Harry in a low voice that only he heard.

After that he started walking deeper and deeper into the woods in case someone had followed him. When he was sure he was alone and nobody was watching him, he transformed into the falcon and took off, heading back to the Astronomy tower.

.o0o.

Hannah Abott couldn't stop crying. She had just had the worse date of her life with the guy that presumably had to be the best. Karl Potter, a name she had respected greatly for many years. But now, after this date it would be a name she would despise for the rest of her life. She now realized that she had been biased towards the Gryffindor brat, as had been everybody. It shamed her to remember the countless times she had sprung to the defense of the Boy-Who-Lived every time that someone called in question his actions.

Although not many people dared to defy Karl Potter, there had always been a small group that hated him, as should every normal person if it weren't for the press, undoubtedly bribed by the Potters, this was clear to her now. On one side of this little 'resistance group' was Draco Malfoy and his Slytherins, a pureblooded wizard of her year that took his father's word as law and that was clear he would join the Dark Lord Voldemort once he finished school. He was always connected to any 'attack' that the Gryffindor Golden Boy suffered at school.

On the other side, Harry, who was Karl's older twin, although only for a few minutes, and his friend Neville Longbottom, who lived with his grandmother, for reasons she didn't know, just seemed to be the ones to ignore Karl. This only infuriated the Boy-Who-Lived, who was always eager to try and pick a fight with them or play some serious pranks on them. The first few years they got into a couple of fights, which Harry and Neville lost badly. But this year, they seemed different. Karl had continued to pick on them, but he always seemed to leave them alone after he had exchanged a few insults with them. Furthermore, he and his cronies weren't able to prank them anymore. They always seemed to know when, where and how they were going to be pranked. If she didn't know better, she'd say that Karl and his goons had become wary of the pair.

"Hey Hannah!" cried a voice behind her. She turned to see Neville heading her way. Speak of the devil…

"Um, hi… Longbottom." she said after wiping her tears discreetly while he approached her. "What are you doing here?"

"Going back to the castle…" Neville replied as if it was evident. "Hannah, are you all right?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" she lied.

"Well, your eyes are all teary, and you're heading back to the castle early, and all alone…"

"I just had a really bad date. That's all." she replied a bit rudely. She wasn't in the mood right now to talk to Longbottom, a student that she had very little contact with although he was from her own year and House.

"Let me guess. Potter?" asked Neville, although it was more of an affirmation. She looked up at him with a questioning glance.

"How did you know?"

"Well, Karl Potter's dates aren't exactly a secret in the school. That and that many girls end up in a similar way after he goes with them on dates."

"I know. Either they end up in his arms or upset as I am right now. But I didn't mind that the moment he asked me. I didn't want to believe it, or maybe I thought it would be different with me… I'm not speaking to him ever again, in my whole life."

"Good for you then." Neville said with a reassuring smile.

"I don't know how I could be so blind." Hannah continued to rant. "I wish I had realized sooner how arrogant and self-centered he is."

"And don't forget, liar and spoiled."

"Yeah, that too." she said with a small smile. "So why are you also heading back alone to the castle? Where's Potter's brother?"

"Harry? Back at the castle. His father banned him from coming to Hogsmeade. Didn't you notice the argument he had with his parents this morning? It was hard to miss…"

"Yes I did. But do you expect me to believe that he stayed at the castle and you came down here all alone?" Neville didn't answer. He only shrugged and looked away.

"All right, keep your secrets. I wasn't going to tell anyone anyway. So what was their argument about? I only heard the last of it."

"We were supposed to meet a friend of Harry's. One who doesn't have the sympathy of Professor Potter. So he banned him from coming down to meet him. He was Professor Potter's best friend when they were young. His name is Sirius Black." he said casually. She gasped. "He is Harry's godfather."

"Sirius Black? Wasn't he one of the Marauders?" she asked.

"Yeah." he said and they fell into a brief silence, Neville considering what to tell Hannah without betraying the trust Harry had placed upon him by telling him everything about his life before Hogwarts. Hannah meanwhile was starting to see more clearly what kind of people the Potters where, although it was hard to imagine. Everyone loved them.

"How could someone forbid his son from seeing his own Godfather?"

"Potter and Black had a fight some years ago concerning Harry."

"What happened?" she asked, making Neville hesitate.

"Er… Listen Hannah, I really shouldn't tell. That's Harry's business, I have spoken too much already. Just know that growing up under the shadow of the Boy-Who-Lived wasn't a very pleasant experience for Harry."

"I can imagine that." she said sympathetically.

At this point they were already entering the castle's Entrance Hall and they had fallen into an awkward silence for a few seconds, not really knowing what to say to each other. Neville was especially nervous, although it didn't show in his features. He was about to say something stupid or ridiculous to try and start the conversation when they heard a heated argument starting in the corridor that lead to the stairs. They stopped in their tracks and tried to listen. At first they couldn't discern the voice, so they got closer. With every step the voices became clearer and Neville and Hannah recognized them.

.o0o.

Harry landed gracefully on the Astronomy Tower after spending a bit more time than he should have had flying over the school's grounds and the Forbidden Forest. He had given some of the school owls quite a scare when he dived near them at great speeds. The Peregrine Falcon was after all one of the deadliest predators in the air. He changed back effortlessly and headed down to the Entrance Hall to meet Neville. Hopefully he hasn't said or done anything stupid, he thought. Neville was once very shy and had little confidence on himself, as Harry had also been. The past few years had changed this, but they were still nervous around pretty girls they fancied, as many teenagers were. He stopped at his common room and dumped Sirius' mirrors into a secret locker he and Neville used to store things safely. Things that shouldn't fall in nobody's hands but theirs.

From the window he looked down to the Hogsmeade path and saw the students walking to and from the castle. He couldn't differentiate them from this distance, at least not with his current vision. He performed the first step of the Animagus transformation, the one concerning the mind. The second one involved changing physically. With only the first step, one would gain the characteristic traits and instincts from his form, in Harry's case, the instincts to fly, to hunt, and more importantly right now, the enhanced sight from the falcon.

He felt as his eyes prickled for a moment and then his eyesight improved instantly. He looked down at the path again. This time he was able to see clearly Hannah and Neville, walking towards the castle side by side. He smiled. He was happy for Neville. His friend seemed to be enjoying a nice conversation with the girl he had fancied for some time now. Harry decided he wouldn't intrude their conversation by waiting Neville at the Entrance of the castle so he decided to go down to the kitchens. The snacks Sirius had brought had not been enough to satisfy his hunger and Neville would probably feel the same so he would find him there.

On his way down, when he was nearing the Entrance Hall, a wall suddenly opened at his side and from it emerged a fuming James Potter with her wife and son in tow. Harry tried to walk the other way and make as if he hadn't seen them. It didn't work out.

"Harry!" James called out after him. From the tone of his voice Harry could tell he was angry.

"Yes, father?" Harry asked looking innocent although it was pretty clear to him that they knew he had left the castle.

"You and I are going to have words." he said angrily striding towards him.

"What about?" he asked politely.

"Don't play dumb with us Harry. We know that you left the castle against our wishes." her mother reprimanded.

"I did not!" Harry defended himself.

"Of course you did!" Karl said bitingly.

"Prove it." he said quietly with a shrug, earning a murderous look from his father.

"What did you just say?" he asked looking really angry. "What did we teach about talking to your elders?"

"You haven't taught me anything in my whole aside from arrogance and selfishness."

"See, Lily?" James said turning to his wife. "Those were Black's same words when he dared lecture us about how to bring up our sons after that night after Harry's incident with his broom."

"Why, father, must you think everything I do and say comes from him?" Harry asked looking disappointed.

"Because I haven't forgotten what he told us that night!" James yelled at him.

"What did he say?" Harry asked taking a step forward. When he was little he had overheard part from that argument, but not all of it. He had always known he had missed on something important but Sirius had never agreed to tell him.

"Nothing you should worry about." James told him. "Anyway, I explicitly told you not to meet him, or write to him, or have contact with him in any way. You disobeyed me."

"I did not. He was the one to write to me." Harry lied. "I hadn't written to him."

"Even if that was true you went to Hogsmeade to meet him."

"I already told you I–"

"We saw you in the Map, Harry." Lily cut in. "So don't you dare to lie to us again."

"So you're going to punish me because you assume I went against your wishes. The Map may not work properly. Would it be fair for me if that was the case?"

"The Map works properly." James said forcefully. "And let me tell you that if you ever try to lie to us again about Black and take us for fools, your punishment will far exceed the one I'm gonna give you know."

"Is that a threat?" Harry asked, showing some of his cocky side.

"You bet." James told him dangerously. It was obvious he hadn't liked one bit Harry's comeback.

Harry smirked at him. "If you punish me I'll tell the Board of Governors, and anyone who cares, about your little Map." James and Karl's faces went pale. "I wonder how will the parents of the students will react to the news of their teacher having such a device. When you were a student it was different, but now you're a teacher. Not even the Headmaster is allowed to control in such a way his students, although I strongly suspect he does anyway. Come to think about it, you're already suspended from the DMLE. This could very well mean the end of your career." By now all of his family's faces were red with anger. "See father, that's how you seriously threaten someone." Harry told him with a subtle hint of mockery.

"You ungrateful brat!" Lily hissed angrily, slapping him across the face.

"Maybe we could have that friend of yours expelled for attacking Karl and Ron." James said with a malicious look. Apparently he had learned how to make threats in no time. Now Harry found himself between a rock and a hard place.

"Again, I know not of what you are speaking."

"Oh yes you do. The Quidditch Pitch, this morning. That coward, Longbottom, he jinxed us." said Karl raising his voice.

"That's a lie." a voice said from behind them.

They all turned to see Neville standing beside Hannah Abott. They had heard part of the argument. Karl flashed an evil smirk at Hannah who felt nauseated.

"What did you say Mr. Longbottom?" asked James, his anger rising.

"I said that Karl Potter is a liar." said Neville evenly. "I did no such thing."

"Yes you did! I saw you do it Longbottom!" Karl yelled, his face red with anger. Harry smirked.

"You want to show us your memories of the event, brother?" he said. That shut him up.

"That won't be necessary. Mr. Longbottom!" James barked. "Your wand."

Neville hesitated before handing it over to James. He eyed it for a moment checked it for the last spells used.

"Priori Incantatem." he said while waving Neville's wand. Instantly a short list started forming in the air along with dates and times, each indicating the use of spells, curses and charms. Much to James' dismay, not a single Petrificus Totalus appeared.

"I told you so." Neville said evenly.

"Well, there's still the matter that he sneaked into Hogsmeade without permission!" said an angry Karl pointing with an accusatory finger at his brother.

"That isn't true either." said Hannah, surprising everyone.

"What?" Karl said. "Of course he did. Black was there to meet with him." he said to his father.

"I am certain that Harry didn't meet with Mr. Black." Hannah said.

"And how is that Ms. Abott?" asked Lily condescendingly.

"Because I went to Hogsmeade with Neville as my date and we spent most of our time with Mr. Black. And Harry wasn't there."

This statement provoked many reactions. Neville blushed at the words 'Neville', 'my' and 'date' when said in the same phrase by her. Harry looked surprised and then grateful, although he didn't understand why was she helping him out. Karl was instantly consumed by rage and was about to say something when James beat him to it.

"Your date…"he said disbelievingly. "You went on a date with him and then you spend most of the day with a third person? What kind of date is that?"

"I really wanted to meet the best of the Marauders." she said looking at him in the eye. James eyes widened at the insult, and Karl was watching the exchange with his mouth wide opened. He was the one that had gone with her. She was outright lying! "So when I found out that Neville knew him I asked if I could meet him."

"You're lying!" yelled Karl taking a few steps towards her. Neville immediately took two steps forward, placing himself between them. "I was your date. You came with me! Dad, she's lying."

"No, I'm not." replied Hannah, with some tears starting to form in his eyes.

"Yes you are!"

"Why don't you show your parents your memories from today Potter?" she said in a cold voice. Tears were now flowing freely from her eyes.

Karl froze at those words and then resumed his angry expression. He remained silent for a few seconds in which he opened his mouth to say something a couple of times but wisely any words didn't come out. He spared a glance at his parents, and scowled at the other students before turning on his heel and stalking away. James threw a murderous look at the three of them, one which Harry and Neville were already familiar with. Then the Potters followed his son down the corridor. Tears were now leaving Hannah's blue eyes. Neville made to comfort her but she backed away.

"I'm sorry." she said, and then left towards the Hufflepuff Common room.

"What do you think that happened between her and your brother?" Neville asked, looking at her retreating back.

"I don't know. But it's pretty obvious that whatever it was is something serious."

"You think I should…?" Neville said indicating the retreating girl.

"No." said Harry. "I think it's best to let her be for a while and talk to her later."

"Ok. Maybe you're right and it's better this way."

"Care to join me for a quick dinner at the kitchens?"

"Sure. I'm pretty hungry myself. Those snacks Sirius brought weren't that good."

After that they walked for a few minutes in silence until Harry broke the silence just before arriving to the kitchens portrait.

"Nev, how did Hannah know about Sirius?" he asked his mate. Neville's expression lost some of its color and he looked a little bit ashamed.

"I'm sorry Harry. I know you don't like people knowing about your 'real' life at home. I apologize for telling about him to Hannah." The apology surprised Harry, who hadn't asked the question in a reprimanding tone. He was only curious, and he didn't mind that Hannah knew. She had proved his new hatred towards the Potters, so he considered her, not as a friend as he didn't really know her, but a person wiser than all those who worshiped his brother.

"Don't worry my friend. I'm not mad. In fact I am grateful that you did. My parents would have punished me some way or another, and because I didn't have a solid enough alibi, Dumbledore would have complied. But now, I have someone who confirms I wasn't there."

"After I left you in the forest, when I reached her, she was crying, she was crying a lot. She heard your parents rant during breakfast, so after I had asked why was she so upset she asked me why wasn't I with you at the castle. I had to tell her something. But don't worry I only told her that Sirius was an old friend with whom your father had had a fight, so your family wasn't comfortable with you seeing him."

Harry only nodded in understanding and then tickled the pear that gave entrance to the kitchens.

.o0o.

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