Disclaimer: Though I hope to have characters of my own to write about someday, this is NOT that day. So if you don't want to read of my writing about other people's characters, there's a back button somewhere on the screen. Use it.
This is AU in that Harry meets the twins in London, rather than his first Weasley meeting being Ron on the train. Since I've only plotted out through the first book's worth of story line, I'm not sure HOW AU it will get yet.
What if?
When the holidays finally rolled around, Harry relaxed just a little. He no longer had the constant trade of skills to get information, the competition for reading material, for space in the halls, or even for time on the brooms in the Pitch. He even let this knowledge distract him for a day during the week, and kept the twins on their own borrowed brooms for the better part of it, to play a quick game of Broom Tag.
They were lacking a Hermione searcher, because the girl had gone back to her parents, and was enjoying her holiday. In the Hogsmeade weekend just before the term ended, Harry had given the twins a list, and what he had hoped was enough Sickles and Knuts to buy it all, and had been pleasantly surprised when they came back with almost half of it still. He'd quickly and quietly wrapped each individual item, and at the end of term, sent off the gifts that needed sending. He'd also found the house elves and asked how to distribute gifts to people still in the school.
The second day of the holiday, it was nose back to the grindstone, as the trio continued to search for information on Flamel, bitterly missing the Gryffindor girl's knack for cataloguing books. Harry was still working on a chance to speak with Professor Snape, and was still finding the man unusually impossible to approach. He was always either shadowing students, shadowing Quirrell, or so grumpy that Harry wasn't about to take the chance. Suspecting that the man wasn't getting much sleep, Harry resolved to try just before Christmas day itself, so he could give the gift he'd gotten for his Professor. He'd wondered exactly what to get each professor, as he didn't know any of them very well, but finally settled on gifts that seemed to go with the personality of the person in question. He and the twins had picked out a package of catnip as a prank gift to McGonagall, and Harry's serious gift had been lens cleaner for the woman's glasses. It had seemed to him that her container for it sitting on her desk was getting a little low. Sprout got a couple packages of flowers that would serve well in a Muggle garden, because Harry thought she might have both kinds of garden at home. Professor Flitwick got a stepladder Harry had put together from several small poles and boards he'd gotten the twins to purchase, and Harry had gotten the twins to look through the Muggle Studies section of the bookstore in Hogsmeade to find chemistry and other Muggle science texts if they could. When they came back and said those books were there, Harry resolved to chase one down for professor Snape. If nothing else, it would make good kindling. Harry hoped that it would give the man new ideas for potions.
The day in question, Harry returned from breakfast, and wandered back to the professor's office, and rather timidly knocked on the door. After a bit of silence, steps sounded, and the door opened.
"Mister Potter," Snape stepped back to allow the child into the room, "I have noticed you trying to speak with me about something. I would apologize for being so unapproachable, but it's not my job to babysit all students at all times."
Pausing, as it seemed Harry hadn't managed to catch the man on a good day after all, Harry reached into his carrying case, and pulled the gift he'd gotten for his Head of House, "Sorry I gave you that impression, sir. I just wanted to ask you a couple questions I didn't think any students would know the answer to, and to give you this."
Taking the wrapped package, Snape peered at it, muttering. Harry realized after a start, that the man was checking it for hexes and curses. He supposed he wouldn't call it an insult, as Harry was one of the Junior Marauders. When the man stopped spell casting, he looked up, "What is this?"
"It's a gift sir," Harry was smirking internally at the chance to smart off.
"Why," Snape drawled, "would you give me anything, Potter?"
"Mostly as a thank you for not treating me as my father's son," Harry shrugged, "I probably do act like him at times, as I've heard other professors mutter about it, but you've managed to keep treating me like an individual. I appreciate it, and the time you've taken to explain things in Potions for me."
"You can cease buttering me up, child," Snape shook his head and focused on the small boy again, "What is your real reason for venturing to my office during the holidays?"
"Well, that was a real reason," Harry shook his head, "But it wasn't my only reason. I've been digging around the library with the twins and we'd found books that mentioned a Nicholas Flamel. They just mention him, and pass on to something else. But I wanted to know what he did. He obviously did something important, to be mentioned in-"
"He's not mentioned in any books in Hogwarts' library," Snape interrupted, "More likely than not you were speaking with Hagrid and he let slip something to do with the man."
"Urm," Harry blinked.
"What reason would a Potter have for wanting to know more about an Alchemist? Much less the one who is called the 'godfather' of Potions?" the professor pondered to himself.
Harry wanted to jump for joy, as not only was he getting a clue about Flamel, but also the man tied into Alchemy, which he was genuinely curious about. He wanted to interrogate Snape, but he knew there was no faster way to shut down the conversation than to do that, "Sir? He was an alchemist? That's great because I'd read mentions of Alchemy in some of the Potions texts and was curious about the subject."
"Again, Mister Potter," Snape leaned forward, "Why do you want to know about Alchemy?"
"I know you'll find this hard to believe, sir," Harry began, "but I don't do well in Potions just because I want to be able to ask you endless questions. I actually kind of enjoy it. I didn't get that far in school, but it sounds like Muggle chemistry would be similar to Potions, and it's also kind of close to cooking, which I did kind of enjoy back in Surrey."
"You're right, I do find it hard to believe you actually enjoy Potions," Snape shook his head, "That's at least in part due to the fact that there's never been a Potter who did enjoy it, to my knowledge."
"Did my mother?" Harry was questing for information about his mother, and for a possible excuse as to why he liked Potions.
"Actually, yes," this made the professor pause, "Fine. That explains your interest in Potions and Alchemy even, but it does not explain why you were searching through three-fourths of the library."
This gave Harry pause. He hadn't known that anyone would keep track of the books they had been looking through. He then supposed that since they had started with history texts, he could go with the cover story the quartet had cooked up, "Fred and George got assigned a research assignment for History. Since McGonagall caught them slacking in class that one time and assigned it," which had actually happened, "and when they came back with the texts, I naturally started snooping. We ran across the one reference to Mr. Flamel, and couldn't find any others. They've got their paper written and everything, we just decided to search for more information on the man, in case we could use it in another assignment."
"You mean prank," Snape smirked at Harry's expression. Then the man reached over to a drawer in his desk, "Fine, if you want information on Flamel's contribution to history, I will help. The twins will turn in a copy of this history paper to me, and you will write about Flamel, his contribution to Alchemy, and why he is called the godfather of Potions. I'll even accept one from Miss Granger, as long as she doesn't blather for more than twelve inches past what you write."
Harry's eyes felt like they should be popping out of his head, he was so surprised that not only was the professor giving him a pass into the Restricted section, he was also listing the exact books to look up. Harry wondered if this had to do with the thing Fluffy was guarding, but he wasn't sure what to make of it, "Sir? Not that I'm ungrateful or anything, but why are you so…?"
Smirking some more, Snape passed the paper along to the boy, then stood, "Because I know that you would find a way to get into that section of the library anyway. This way, I know you're in there, when, and what you're looking for. I will also have a better sense of what you've gleaned from your search. Besides, there are so few interested in Potions anymore, who am I to block the search of another?"
Harry began to get suspicious, "Sir, that sounds, if you'll pardon my saying, like a load of, well, junk."
Harry didn't know whether he wanted to run and hide or if the man was actually going to give him points. He'd had that expression before for both occasions. As he led the boy from his office, Snape explained, "If you can actually write a coherent paper on Flamel and Alchemy, I won't give you a detention for snooping into things that are none of your business. If the twins can write a decent paper on Magic History in general, I won't subtract points from Gryffindor and give them detention for not only worming out of actual class, but for also sticking their noses where they don't belong. And if you can keep Miss Granger from submitting a thesis on both subjects, I won't subtract points and give her a detention for being a know-it-all who has to show it."
Groaning, Harry said aloud, "I should have left them to the assignment for themselves."
"Exactly," came the drawled response, "Now, good day Mister Potter."
Beginning to feel that this particular form of travel was being labeled as a 'Harry Potter scuttle,' the boy scuttled to Junior Marauder Central, as the password was now, and slipped inside. He beelined for what he thought was the comfiest chair, and pulled the note back out of his pocket, to read the titles he'd been cleared for in the library.
"Well, mate," over his left shoulder, a twin stood, "I take it you buffaloed the bat?"
"Oh no," Harry paled, "Not even close. He just made it clear he wants copies of those fake papers I had you two write up to cover our skins. He also wants me to write one on Potions, Flamel and Alchemy. And one from Granger too."
"Wait a-," Fred paled to match the brunet, "We wrote basic stuff in there."
"How long do we have?" George dug through the pile of paperwork to find the dummy drafts.
"The first day back from holidays," Harry read off the note, "according to this."
"Well, at least we have time," Fred shrugged, and pulled notes from scattered places, "Time to revise."
"Good thing we have the prank for tomorrow already set up," George sighed and dug out his own notes, "We'd never have time for both otherwise."
"We'll need to send an owl to Granger though," Harry mumbled, "With all kinds of notes on it, to warn her," he looked up at the twins, "because she's supposed to turn one in too, you know."
"Yeah," Fred muttered distractedly, "We heard you the first time."
"That means we need to hurry up and do this other research," Harry interrupted the twins, "so the information is even there to write about."
"Eh," George stood reluctantly, gathering the research supplies, "What are our consequences?"
"Detentions for all four of us," Harry rubbed the side of his head, "And Gryffindor point loss for you three. Other than that, he wasn't specific."
"Eurgh," the twins chorused.
"Oh," Harry paled yet again, "And you'll have to turn those in to McGonagall after all."
"Double Eurgh," Fred grumbled.
"We'd all but convinced her to leave off on it," George whimpered, "So much for that idea."
With that, the three boys ventured into the library, where Harry walked right up to Madam Pince's desk and met the disapproving frown with the note from Professor Snape, "Sorry ma'am, but Professor Snape caught me snooping in his office, and set me a paper about Potions and Alchemy."
Taking the note, and reading it, the librarian nodded, "Fine then, I'll go into the section and collect the books for you. Wouldn't want you to snoop in there either, Mister Potter."
When she returned, the boys had set up camp at a table. She set the books down at the table and asked for Harry's wand, "Wouldn't want you to forget to return them either, now would we?"
While Harry skimmed and scanned, and read the rather dauntingly large Potions text and Alchemy tome, the twins were frantically rewriting their 'History' paper. They knew they'd need to write it loads better to meet Snape's standards. By the time Harry finished reading and jotting notes, his hands were cramped like mad, and the twins were poking each other in the ribs to prevent themselves from falling asleep.
"Done now?" Fred rubbed his eyes.
"We are," George was muffled, as his head was resting on the table.
"Near as can be," Harry gently closed the books, and moved to take them up to Madam Pince.
"Wait," George peered around the area.
"She's not looking," Fred grinned, and pulled a sheaf of paper out of his pouch, setting it on the desk, "We've tested this before on other Restricted books, so we should be okay with this. We might lose a few words here and there, but we'll have our own copies."
With that, one twin tapped on the sheaf of blank pages, and the other on the first book. They muttered a spell, and roughly half of the pages moved to rest next to the rest of the pile. The process was repeated with the other book, and that left the three boys with a tall stack of loose-leaf pages copied from the two tomes. Harry carried the books up to the librarian's desk as the twins shuffled all of the papers back into bags.
"Thank you ma'am," Harry nodded as the librarian took the books and passed back his wand. Then he met the twins on the way out, and took his third of the things they'd brought into the library and headed back for their secret room.
They spent much of the rest of the day organizing the notes, and revising the twins' papers. Once they had that done, Harry finished his notes, and asked the twins to recopy them. Granger constantly griped about having to read Harry's writing, even though he always warned her about his script being cramped, so he wanted to stave off her grumping. When the notes were copied in a more legible manner, Harry penned a note. Amazingly his cursive was more readable than his manuscript, but he wasn't about to write class notes that way. The note told the girl what Snape had said, and threatened, and that she needed to tell him how long her paper was, so he could make sure his was nearly the same length. He only hoped that she didn't write that thesis that Professor Snape was worried about.
With the preparations for papers complete, the three boys proceeded to put the last details for their prank in place. It would take place, in full glory, or 'technicolor glory' as Harry called it, the day that the rest of the students came back, but small things would need to be placed first, so that they could lessen their chances of being caught. By the time the boys all returned to their respective Common Rooms, the initial layering of pieces for the prank were in place. They just had to wait until the same time the next night to place the second level.
After reaching Slytherin Common Room, Harry peered around, suspicious of being snuck up on by his Head of House, but relaxed after a bit when he encountered no one. He settled into one of the cushioned chairs near the fireplace, and started further organizing his notes. When he had that finished, he dug out a section of the text the twins had copied for him, and he began reading it to glean more from it. The notes he'd sent a copy of to Granger were purposely brief, to hopefully prevent her from writing more than ten feet of text. Harry hoped he hadn't given her more than that amount, but knowing her, she'd have access to a plethora of books to supplement her writing with. He could only hope that it wasn't enough to put her more than a foot past what he wrote.
When he realized he was spending more time yawning than writing, Harry deemed it time to go to bed. At about that time, the only other Slytherin still at Hogwarts stumbled through the portrait. Harry wasn't sure what to make of Bletchley staying at the school for the break, but it didn't seem to him to be anything good for the smaller boy. Part of Harry's mind told him that the others of his House had decided someone needed to stay behind for the first year, but Harry couldn't figure out what they'd get from it. And as Harry hadn't seen the older boy thus far during the break, he couldn't ask his fellow Slytherin any questions regarding the situation.
Taking a chance, Harry stood and met the older boy in the middle of the Common Room, "Bletchley, I wanted to know if you were here for any particular reason, say, to keep an eye on the first year Slytherin staying at the school this year?"
The older boy chuckled, and said, "Not in the way you think Potter. But yeah, I'm here to keep an eye on you. Rather to keep an eye out for you. There are Gryffindors staying all over the place, and not all of them are your pet Weasels. Some might want to hurt a Slytherin for being a Slytherin, regardless of his also being the Boy-Who-Lived."
Nodding, Harry grinned, "I rather hoped it was that reason, and not because you all thought the 'Boy-Who-Lived' was just waiting for the rest of the snakes to leave the nest so he could lay traps."
Harry knew he'd hit the nail on the other side of its head when the older boy flinched. Grinning, Harry made it clear that he'd known all along, but didn't care much.
"Potter, you're an odd one," Bletchely guided the smaller boy down the passage to the sleeping quarters of each year group, "How is it you're so good at all your classes, and can pick up on such things so quickly?"
"As far as knowing that you all were trying to guard your own backs," Harry shrugged, "It's just as much a matter of I had to do that for myself for ages, so I know what to look for, as it is a case of intuition serving me well. The other, well, I'm good at classes because I am, I guess. I don't know why otherwise."
The taller Slytherin shook his head, turned back towards the older student rooms, and muttered, "At least you don't wonder why you're the Raven of Slytherin for your year."
"Aw," Harry mock pouted, "You mean I'm not the Raven of Slytherin for the whole House?"
Hearing the other snicker as he headed off, Harry turned to his own door, and walked through. When he was sure of Bletchley's departure, Harry cast a quick set of charms he'd found in one of the twins' books. They locked the door and would warm up a person's hand when touched, which would give him a little forewarning, if anyone attempted to force it. He'd take the spells off the door in the morning, but he wanted to be sure no one knew that he had the notes from the Alchemy text.
Working with the twins had only encouraged Harry's search for a spell that would prevent manipulation from occurring to his papers. So he'd dug up a charm that would require a password to change the information on the page. He'd used that, along with a blanket password to protect his assignments, and would mutter the password to the professors as he turned in the papers. Eventually, he hoped to be able to charm his assignments to look like something else, until he wanted them to appear as his assignments, to fully protect them, but even the twins didn't yet know how to do that. Meanwhile, Harry hadn't stopped working on his map. He was frustrated by the moving parts of the castle, but he figured that was a small price to pay.
As he wanted to wait until he'd completed it to make any trades for it, Harry hadn't revealed his progress to anyone else. Harry knew the older Slytherins would be willing to trade for even what he had now, but Harry wanted the map to be more complete. He knew the twins had something that told them where everyone was, but Harry couldn't ever fathom what it was. He knew it had something to do with that paper he'd been tested for Marauder-ness with, and he suspected it had to do with a password as well, but he wasn't able to hear the password from either of the twins. He just knew they had some interesting traditions for each pranking session. After all, he couldn't think of any particular reason to solemnly swear to be up to no good as they left the base each night, as that was obvious. He knew they stared at something as they did so, but he couldn't tell if it was a folder, a sheaf, or a single page of paper.
I'll ask again, how do you all feel about Thestrals?
Oh, and don't be angry about about the spell the twins pulled out of their hats, there's a consequence/drawback to it. The three just don't know it yet. One quick change made to the chapter thanks to back-in-black22's comment on something I wrote on accident.