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Harry woke very early Thursday morning and quietly got dressed. He checked the map to make sure no one was awake and warped over into the first year girls dorm. "Tonks wake up."

"Dunwann.."

"Tonks wake up right now we have a statement to make." Harry said poking her a few times.

"Murgh what time is it?" Tonks asked slowly opening her eyes.

"Quarter after five." Harry said. "Up!"

"This had better be good...Harry?"

"Yes Nym?"

"How did you get up here?" Tonks asked fully awake for the first time.

"Don't worry about it. I'll stand outside while you get dressed." Harry stood back up and walked out the door, but not without quickly confirming there were no triggers for the stairs where he was stepping.

A few minutes later a bleary eyed Tonks joined him. "You're not wearing pajamas...you must be serious. What are we doing?"

"Psychological warfare." Harry said. "We eat breakfast before anyone else shows up and don't talk to anyone looking angry the whole time, then as soon as Nott arrives we fix him with the death stare and don't let up the whole time he eats."

"To what end?" Tonks asked.

"Just to make him really uncomfortable and on guard." Harry said. "He'll jump at every shadow and sound."

"This is your brilliant detention worthy revenge?" Tonks asked skeptically. "You need to work on you schemes."

Harry laughed at this point as they were walking down the stairs. "No this is just to get him off balance. And then..." Harry jumped down over the last ten stairs into the common room. "BAM! Sunday morning he comes to breakfast expecting to see us shooting death glares at him but instead we smile sweetly, he gets really nervous and then revenge strikes."

"And this all starts now?" Tonks asked. "At five in the freaking morning?"

"If you come with me I'll let you in on the plan." Harry baited. "If you don't you'll have to wait for Sunday."

"Oh fine." Tonks said and dragged him out the portrait.

"You're the one who just woke up!" Harry exclaimed as they were going down the hall. "Shouldn't I be dragging you today?"

"Good point." Tonks said coming to and abrupt stop. "Drag away little boy. Chop chop."

"Ha Ha. I'm not going to drag you." Harry said blandly and then cheerily added "But I'll walk with you."

"Deal." Tonks giggled.

"No more dragging?" Harry asked.

"No sir." Tonks replied with mocking seriousness.

"Good."

"At least not until tomorrow!" Tonks said with a big grin, causing Harry to groan.

Theo Nott discovered that Thursday just how many times during the day he saw Potter and his girl. It seemed like every time he went around a corner he would run into one of them giving him a death glare. The glares weren't the worst. During classes they had together they would sit at the back and every time Theo would glance back they were whispering to each other and shooting pointed looks in his direction. The older Slytherins assured Theo that he had nothing to worry about so long as Harry didn't enlist the help of the Weasley twins.

His stomach dropped Friday night when Harry and Tonks joined the twins for dinner.

"Hello Twins." Harry said sitting down next to George.

"Harry." The twins responded with a nod.

"This is Tonks, if you haven't already gathered." Harry said while Tonks sat down next to Fred.

"Pleasure." Fred said. "What brings you two to our part of the table?"

"An unusual mix of business and pleasure." Harry said.

"We're trying to scare our target." Tonks added.

"Scare your target how?" George asked.

"You have a reputation." Harry replied with a shrug.

"We see."

"So who's"

"The target?"

"Theodore Nott." Harry said pointing to the panicking boy who flinched when they all looked at him. "Seems to be working."

"I'll say." Tonks said.

"So what are you"

"Going to do?"

"You'll see, just be sure to bring cameras to breakfast on Sunday." Harry said. "Actually if you could spread the word and get as many cameras here as possible I would be much obliged."

"Not that we would ever deter you from pranking a snake." Fred said.

"But can we ask what he did?" George finished.

"Well he challenged me to a formal duel and didn't show." Harry said.

"And sent Filch instead." Tonks finished when Harry's dramatic pause went on long enough.

"Knowing Slytherins he was bragging about it too huh?" Fred asked. "Did you get caught?"

"Yea, we both got detentions." Harry said casually not mentioning that it was intentional.

"Well good luck." George said and leaned in over the table. "Now huddle up so it looks like we're planning."

"We know the drill." Tonks said as she leaned forward.

"So you kids play quidditch?" Fred asked.

Theo was visibly panicked by the time Potter and the Weasleys stated talking. "Hey Blaise, can they do anything that would be worse for my reputation than me apologizing to them profusely?"

"I don't think so Theo." Blaise said. "And you would have to explain to your father why you were afraid of a first year."

"I was afraid you were going to say that." Theo said gulping when the twins and his two tormentors all suddenly looked at him before going back to their conversation. "Maybe I'll just leave school."

"Oh, it can't be that bad." Blaise said trying to reassure the boy, then looked at the four conspirators in question speculatively and smirked. Things were looking good for Blaise.

Sunday morning arrived with Theo entering the Great Hall to see a sight that would have made him turn and go back to bed if he wasn't with Pansy and Tracy. Harry Potter was sitting facing the Slytherin table with Tonks on one side and Hermione to the other. Flanking the girls were the Weasley twins, and all five of them were watching Theo with the most innocent smiles they could muster. It was creepy, but Theo started his breakfast anyway.

After a few minutes the whole Great Hall fell silent just after hearing a loud rooster crowing. Every head turned to the doors of the Entrance Hall as a six foot tall rooster wearing first year Slytherin robes walked in. Theo felt the blood run out of his face as the chicken strut down the aisle, wings half extended and accenting each step with a "Ba-CAW"

It was a few feet away from Theo when he saw that it had light brown hair in the same style as his own. When the rooster reached Theo it crowed again and started eating the food off of Theo's plate. The whole room was a mix of laughing uncontrollably, giggling slightly and staring slack-jawed in shock. Then the sound of cameras flashing reached his ears and Theo turned bright red. Theo took this as his signal to jump up and flee the room, and the laughter.

The chicken made to give chase, eliciting a small shriek from Theo and a Finite from Professor Snape. The rooster burst into a cloud of bright pink smoke and Theo was gone before it cleared, had he stayed though he would have seen that after the smoke cleared there was a large rat in its place with a brown wig on its head.

The Slytherins managed to keep from laughing the whole time but several, including Blaise and Daphne, looked very amused by the event. Things were going very well for Blaise indeed.

"I can't believe that isn't against the rules." Hermione said being one of the few that were stunned silent and the first of them to recover.

"That...Was...Brutal." The twins gasped between laughs, their twin talk making something more cohesive for once.

"Too bad Snape didn't attack it outright first." Harry said pensively even through his grin.

"Why?" Hermione asked growing worried.

"It would have defended itself." Harry said grinning bigger than a moment before.

"You have to tell us who helped you." Fred said.

"That was quality work." George added.

"Well, Let's just say I know a guy who already graduated." Harry said with a shrug. "And you can assume that it was very easy to get him inside the premises."

"Can it, Snape is coming." Tonks said hurriedly making the others stop talking immediately.

"POTTER!"

"Yes Professor?" Harry asked looking up innocently at him.

"What is the meaning of this?"

"The meaning of what sir?"

"Why was my student accosted by a chicken?" Snape snarled barely containing his anger.

"Why are you asking me?" Harry asked. "Why would I know anything?"

"Because you're behind this!" Snape barked.

"You think I could do that level of transfiguration?" Harry asked. "I'm honored, sir. I thought you thought little of me."

"One hundred points from Ravenclaw!" Snape shouted and stalked away.

"Bye Professor Snape!" Harry called out cheerily to his back. "I look forward to class!"

The laughter of the five children as he left would haunt Snape for days.

Charms the next day could only be described as awkward. Nott ended up skipping class and there was a clear division in the class room between the Slytherins and the Ravenclaws. Flitwick had stinging hexes on the schedule for today but decided that it would be safer to teach the bubble charm instead. As it was there was so much tension that Filius was sure the group would throw away their wands and fight like muggles if any of them were provoked. The only person not on edge was the one in most danger, Harry Potter.

He just sat their smug though. Filius could understand why, he was one of the ones that captured and examined the rat. The results of the test left the staff with more questions than answers. Even though there was only evidence of five spells having been cast, there were at least fifteen magical signatures found. It was as if it took three people to cast each spell. If that wasn't bad enough, when they tested the magical signatures they found that most of them belonged to the staff members. The remaining signatures were completely foreign to Filius.

The professors had interrogated Harry and his friends thoroughly and could only conclude that Harry was the mastermind and someone named 'Nick' did the casting. The staff meeting after those interviews was tense until Minerva asked if Harry could be talking about Nicolas Flamel. Dumbledore then told them that he had already asked Nicolas who claimed ignorance. None of them knew who Harry's friend was but they were all impressed with his talent.

The class was filing out after the lesson ended when someone bumped into Harry from behind and pressed something into his hand. "Get out of the way Potter!" Blaise said pushing passed, nearly knocking him over in the process.

"Watch yourself snake!" Anthony Goldstein said moving forward only to be stopped by Harry holding up an arm and Kevin Entwhistle grabbing the back of his robes.

"Let it go Tony, it isn't worth it." Harry said watching the snakes walk away before looking down at his hand. "It was a cover to pass a note it seems."

Potter,

Your little stunt all but destroyed Nott's political capital here. Some people are happy about this but Nott isn't. He'll be after your blood now, watch your back.

"Huh," Harry said before crumpling the paper up and throwing it away.

"Well?" Hermione asked.

"Well what?" Harry responded looking confused.

"What did he want?" Tonks said impatiently.

"Oh, it was just a warning." Harry said.

"Like a threat?" Hermione asked concerned. "We should report him if he threatened you."

"We're not reporting anyone Hermione." Harry said. "He said that Nott was going to be coming after me."

"Well, duh." Tonks said. "Who wouldn't come after you for that?"

"That's why I threw it away." Harry said. "It could be a nice, albeit useless, gesture or Blaise might be angeling for something."

A few days later Harry was down at breakfast across from the girls, in pajamas again, when something bumped into his foot. He looked down at the clear glass ball before looking around for Neville real quick. Not spotting him Harry picked the remembrall up and went to set it next to his plate when he saw it fill with red smoke. When he heard footsteps he looked up expecting Neville but saw Susan coming his way instead.

"Hey Susan." Harry called out waving.

"Hey Harry." Susan said as she sat down next to him. "I hope you don't mind but I told my Aunt that we're friends."

"Why would I mind that?" Harry asked. "We are friends aren't we?"

"Oh, of course." Susan said blushing a little. "I just didn't know whether or not you wanted people to know I guess..."

"...Anyway, what did your Aunt say?" Harry asked.

"Oh, right, um, I asked her if she could tell me anything more than the article said about the Black case." Tonks eyes shot up at this and she started listening intently. "She told me that they brought him out of Azkaban yesterday for questioning."

"Is she allowed to talk about an open case like this?" Hermione asked. "It would get you in a lot of trouble in the muggle world."

"So did he say anything important?" Tonks pressed leaning forward.

"Aunty Amy said that he claimed innocence." Susan told her. "He also claimed to be Harry's godfather and demanded to see him."

"Really?" Harry asked excitedly. "Are they going to let me see him?"

"I don't know." Susan said. "Maybe it depends on if his story checks out. You should be watching for a ministry owl though."

"Oh." Harry said looking away from Susan and at Tonks, who looked angry. "Uh, what's wrong Tonks?"

"Nothing." She replied shortly.

"You were happy a few minutes ago, before we started talking about Sirius." Harry said. "Something is wrong."

"Just leave me alone Potter." Tonks said and got up and stormed out.

"What's her problem?" A boy asked from behind Harry.

"AH!" Harry yelled surprised, before turning around. "Oh, Hi Neville."

"Hey." Neville said.

"Oh, is this your remembrall?" Harry asked picking the ball up and watching it fill with smoke again.

"You're forgetting something." Neville said taking his ball back.

"I know I just can't remember what..." Harry trailed off as he looked back to Susan then to the doors where Tonks left. Then his eyes shot open wide. "Oh, I got to go find Tonks."

Harry found Tonks in an alcove off a side hall staring angrily at the floor, hair shifting colors rapidly. She glanced up quickly when she heard him approaching. "What do you want?"

"To apologize." Harry said crouching down in front of her so their heads were level. "I can't believe that I forgot that Sirius is your cousin."

"So you knew?" Tonks said looking up.

"Yea, I just also knew that he is my godfather and I guess I got caught up in that." Harry said.

"It's okay, I'm just glad you knew in the first place." Tonks said.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"It's just that you know all of these little things about Hermione." Tonks said blushing. "I was just upset that you don't seem to know anything about me, not even the big stuff like my famous relatives."

"Oh, well like I said all of that information was incidental." Harry said. "It isn't like I tried to learn more about Hermione than you."

"I know, but that doesn't help, I don't know why you learned more about her. I don't even know how you learned it!" Tonks said getting angry again. "Why won't you even tell us that?"

"Nick asked me not to." Harry said quietly. "He delivered me information on my noteworthy class mates."

"So I'm not noteworthy but Hermione is?" Tonks asked looking crushed and she started to cry.

"Oh, sweety, it's nothing like that." Harry said pulling her into a hug. "Shortly after I met you I demanded to know what the smart, funny, hot metamorph didn't make it onto his list. He said he had never heard of you and that he isn't perfect."

"Really?" Tonks asked hair turning back to its normal pink hue.

"Really." Harry said with a smile.

"And you don't like Hermione more than me?" Tonks asked timidly.

"No I don't like her more than you." Harry reassured earning a big smile and a hug.

"Are you sure there isn't anything you can tell me about Sirius?" Tonks asked before releasing him.

"Since you're family I think I can tell you some. But you can't repeat anything you hear." Harry said and took a deep breath. "Sirius and my father were best friends and while they were here for school they met up with two other boys and named themselves The Marauders..."

Harry told her about their history with Snape and about them becoming animagi, he left out the reason why though. He told her how after graduation Sirius was Harry's Parents' best man, and how James and Lily trusted Sirius more than anyone else. Harry told her the whole story.

"...and then Peter turned into a rat and escaped down into the sewers framing Sirius for everything." Harry finished.

"Wow, how do you know all of that? Nick again?" Tonks asked.

"Yea, he found my mom and dad's journals and I read them." Harry said.

"So do you know what evidence was turned in?" Tonks asked.

"Peter Pettigrew." Harry said with a smile. "In an unbreakable jar with a note."

"Nick?" Tonks asked.

"Yup, but the note was signed anonymously so really really don't tell anyone that part." Harry said.

"Okay, Thanks for telling me." Tonks said smiling at him and giving him another hug. They stood their quietly for a few moments. "Harry? Shouldn't we be in potions right now?"

"Yea..." Harry said looking around sheepishly. "I think we can count on another detention."

"Aww." Tonks said sadly before quickly smiling. "Then there is no point in showing up late huh?"

The days turned into weeks as the students settled down into their routines. Harry kept going to breakfast unshod in pajamas and Tonks continued to wake him up rudely every day. Hannah and Susan regularly joined the three of them at meal times and the whole group frequented the Gryffindor table. Hermione kept drawing closer and closer to Neville and they had even gone off on their own to get intentionally lost a few times when no one else wanted to.

Theo Nott and his girls kept trying to make trouble for Harry and his but the Slytherins were limited to low level hexes and insults. The scariest moment was when Pansy hit Hermione with a tripping hex while they were on the stairs. Fortunately Harry was able to catch Hermione as she fell and a Prefect saw everything, Pansy ended up in detention for a week. Blaise and Daphne would occasionally nod or smile at Harry, but other than them the Slytherins were coldly indifferent or mildly hostile towards Harry, but none of them directly did anything.

The Daily Prophet had a big day when Andy Smudgley wrote an article revealing that Sirius had never had a trial. A few days later the Ministry announced that Sirius' trial would be held in late January. Tonks was growing frustrated with how long everything was taking and both she and Harry were let down when they received word that Minister Fudge had denied Sirius a visit with Harry until after the trial.

Halloween arrived and after classes were done for the day Hermione excused herself saying that she had a errand to run and would meet up with them at the feast. Harry and Tonks relented and went up to Ravenclaw tower to drop off their school stuff and hung out for a while before heading down to the feast. When they didn't find Hermione there they got nervous.

"I'm going to go look for her." Tonks said. "What if Nott got her."

"I'll go with you." Harry said standing when Tonks did.

"No you stay in case we just miss each other. We wouldn't want her to go looking for us too. If I don't find her in fifteen minutes I'll come back." Tonks said as she walked away.

Twenty-five minutes later Harry was showing how worried he was when Tonks came back in. "She is okay. She asked Neville out and got shot down, he said he is too young or some nonsense like that."

"So she took it bad." Harry asked.

"Yea, she'll be fine though. I talked to her for a while then she told me to come eat, that she wasn't hungry and just wanted to be alone for a while." Tonks said.

"Where is she?" Harry asked.

"Crying in a bathroom." Tonks said as she picked up a roll. "Why?"

"Shit." Harry said just before Professor Quirrell came running into the Hall.

"TROLL!" Quirrell yelled. "In the dungeons. Thought you should know."

Harry watched Quirrell pretend to pass out. He had been intending to follow Quirrell this time but it looked like he would be saving Hermione again. With a sigh he joined the crowd of students leaving and when they were out the doors he dragged Tonks off to the side. "Hermione doesn't know about the troll. We have to get her."

"This way." Tonks said and led Harry through the castle.

Harry realized that Hermione was in a different bathroom this time and let out a small sigh of relief. Then they heard the scream. Harry and Tonks picked up their pace and rounded a corner as they heard another scream and saw the troll walk into the girls bathroom.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck" Harry said as he ran into the bathroom and drew his wand. He shot off a few stinging hexes to get its attention, which worked. The troll rounded on Harry and swung his club catching Harry in the left arm and throwing him into a wall.

"HARRY!" Hermione yelled as the troll brought his club up to finish Harry off. Just then Tonks threw a piece of a sink hitting the troll in the ear.

Harry regained consciousness as the troll spun on its heel, club still raised. He took a breath Broken arm, broken rib, broken rib, concussion. Not bad. Shit! He thought just before the troll started to swing his club down. Harry could only think of one thing to do and leveled his wand at the troll's back.

"ACCIO CLUB!" Harry shouted and heard a sickening crunch before passing out again.

Even though this Harry Potter had never been there before the memories of the old Harry Potter were sufficient to ensure that he didn't even need a moment's thought to recognized the Hospital Wing when he woke up there. He sat up and rubbed his eyes wincing at the pain in his side. "Unngh, did anyone get the plates of that lorry?"

"Harry!" Hermione squeaked and ran over. "Are you okay?"

"I feel like I got hit with by a bus...there was a troll right?" Harry asked memory cloudy.

"Yea, you and Tonks came and saved me." Hermione said smiling at him.

"Tonks! What happened to Tonks? Did she get hit? The troll was about to kill her!" Harry asked panicked.

"I'm over here Harry." Tonks called from behind a curtain. "Just hurt my ankle."

"Mr. Potter. Good to see you awake." Madam Pomfrey said coming into view. "It is a miracle you're alive. These girls said that you got clubbed by a troll. Three broken ribs and two breaks in your arm."

"Three ribs? I only remember two breaking. Huh." Harry said bewildered. "I think I got a concussion too."

"You did, and you still got off light, a full grown mountain troll and only a few broken bones." She said while casting diagnostic charms. "You should be thanking Merlin you're still alive."

"Yes, you said that already." Harry said. "How long til I can go?"

"Impatient. Just like your father." Pomfrey said handing him a potion. "He was always trying to leave too. You'll be free to go as soon as you talk to the Headmaster. That potion will take care of the concussion and some of the residual ache."

Pomfrey bustled around a little while longer and opened the curtain between him and Tonks. Harry looked Tonks in the eye and smiled. "So what happened after I got hit?"

"We would like to hear the story too." Dumbledore said as he walked into the room with McGonagall and Flitwick behind him.

A few minutes later the story was recounted, evidentially when Harry summoned the club he put too much effort into his spell and the club ended up buried in the trolls chest, killing it quickly. Dumbledore was smiling by the end of the tale. "Harry I know you don't accept house points so instead I would like to present you and Ms. Tonks a pass on a detention of your choosing in the future."

"Brilliant, thank you Professor." Harry said smiling.

"Yea, thank you Professor." Tonks parroted with a giant grin.

"Unless there are any questions I think we can wrap this up and get you three back up to your dorms." Dumbledore said watching the children shake their heads.

"I have a question Albus." McGonagall spoke up and turned to look at Harry. "Mr. Potter, could you please tell us how you managed to know a fourth year charm?"

"Uh..." Harry said feeling the panic rising again.