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Chapter 10: Truce

Everyone was still completely stunned after hearing the house that was just announced, but Hermione was smiling at her friend. 'I always knew that you were destined for greatness Harry. Even all the books I've read about you were right as well.'

"You will stop right where you are Mr. Potter." Dumbledore commanded as he brought out his wand.

He stopped right next to his former housemates. A devilish smirk came across his face as he turned around to see his Headmaster pointing his wand at him. "Tsk, tsk, Headmaster. Pointing a weapon such as a wand at an unarmed student…my how the mighty have fallen."

"DON'T YOU DARE SPEAK TO HIM LIKE THAT! He is a much more respected person then you will ever be Potter!" Ron shouted at him as he got to his feet.

His ice cold green-blue eyes bored into his former best mate, and silenced him instantly. "Sit down little boy because this conversation does not include you."

"YOU…!" The idiot Gryffindor yelled again trying to use physical force, but Harry avoided his punch. Unfortunately his fist went right into the face of Michael Corner.

"Congratulations Weasley. You continue to show, day in and day out, how much of a fool you truly are."

Ron's anger reached the boiling point, but his sister fired her traditional Bat-bogie hex at him. Harry simply sneered as the hex bounced off of him, and rebounded upon her. She started screaming at the top of her lungs, and ran out of the Great Hall. "YOU'LL PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID TO MY SISTER!" The young Weasley male yelled.

"Petrificus Totalis!" The teachers and students saw Hermione standing directly behind her fellow classmate with her wand pointed at him. "If you would have noticed you and your sister attacked him."

Professor McGonagall agreed with her favorite student, but released him. "You and your sister shall be serving detention for one month. If you continue to misbehave you will be removed from the Quidditch team for the rest of your time at Hogwarts. Is that in anyway unclear?"

"No professor." Ron replied with a nasty glare directed at his former friend.

Dumbledore still wasn't done with 'his pawn' yet. "Mr. Potter, you will accompany me to my office."

"I think not 'headmaster' since you have a 'lemon-drop' infestation. However, it would be a good course for a professor to become my head of house, after all time is of the essence."

Most of the other professors didn't like how Harry was talking to their boss and leader. The 150 year old wizard was about to tell his former pawn that Professor Vector would be his head of house. However, Professor Sinistra walked up to her colleagues to address them. "Mr. Black-Potter, I will become your head of house."

The staff looked at her, and Albus was seething. "Alright you will take that position."

"Let's find you a comfortable sleeping area." She put her hand on Harry's shoulder, and directed him out of the Great Hall.

"I want to see both of you in my office once you're 'settled in'." Albus said in anger as he walked back up to the head table.

Harry and Professor Sinistra walked down to the kitchens. She asked the house elves to bring them dinner, and sat down in front of her student. "Mr. Black-Potter, I must level with you. As you know Albus did not want me to do this, but there is no doubt that whatever room you will be staying in will be bugged with listening charms. I was originally a Slytherin student, and quite frankly I am very glad to see that you had the courage to take him down."

He didn't say a word to her because he could tell there were listening charms all over the castle. He looked at her with a smirk. "How do I know I can trust you?"

"What do you mean? Right now I am the only person you can trust."

"Oh really? Then if I can trust you then why don't you disable the listening charms in this room." He said as he took another bite of his chicken.

His head of house took out her wand and scanned the room to find six listening charms around them. "How did you know this?" She asked as she disabled them.

"I am not at liberty to reveal my secrets, but answer my question. How would you know how to scan for them when you are just a simple Astronomy professor?"

A smirk came across her face. "I graduated with your parents Mr. Black Potter. I worked for the Ministry of Magic as a hit-witch until one of my assignments went completely wrong. You see I was to hunt down Regulas Black, but I was nearly killed when five Death Eaters found me and my team. I was lucky when the last of my team rescued me, and brought me to your mother at St. Mungo's. She healed me and told me to get out of my dangerous life of being a hit-witch. So she came up with the name that I'm using right now. My real name is Carmen Vazquez, and I left everything behind just to teach kids about the long and boring subject of Astronomy."

"I see. Do you expect me to reveal one of my secrets since you revealed yours?" He used the focal point of his staff to disable the listening charms, "Now that we're not being spied on…you can call me Harry. One of my secrets is that my Godfather, Sirius Black, was framed by Peter Pettigrew the night of my parent's murder. That vindictive slime was finally murdered by Voldemort when he failed him for the last time. I know your asking yourself 'how do I know this?' I have a curse scar connection with that bastard since he tried to kill me as a baby."

She was in shock after she heard about Sirius. "You…you mean he was sent to that hell hole for twelve years without a trial!? Why didn't Dumbledore do something to get my fiancée out of there?"

"Because he thought that it would be better to use me as his useless pawn that would go crawling back to him on all fours with my tail between my legs. He never told me you were his fiancée."

Her anger started to get the better of her as she stabbed her piece of chicken with her fork. "Never would I have thought that old man would do something like this…Now I'm glad I refused his invitation to his 'Order of the Phoenix'. I am on your side Mr. Black-Potter…"

"Harry." He interrupted her.

"Excuse me?"

"You can call me by my first name. Calling me by my titles makes me sound like that vindictive old man thinking I'm important." He said with a grin.

"Thank you…Harry. Before I was interrupted I was saying that I am on your side, and I'm not going to let anyone know about our conversation. He proposed to me the day before your father named him his best man. You see we actually met in Auror training…Aurors and Hit-Witches and Wizards train in the same programs at the Auror Academy. But it's all just a happy memory now." She blinked back a couple tears, took out her wand, and re-enabled the listening charms. "I know the spot where you will be staying. Blinky…"

A female house elf ran straight up to the Astronomy professor. "You called Blinky?"

"Yes I did…would you be kind enough to clean up the room on the fourth floor behind the portrait of the winged demon sitting on a hilltop." Professor Sinistra asked the young house elf.

"Blinky will do it." She bowed before them and disappeared with a snap of her fingers.

He looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Any particular reason you asked for that room?"

"Well for starters it's near my office, and also I wouldn't want you too close to Gryffindor tower. I imagine that most of your old housemates wouldn't hesitate to curse you for leaving them. After all that Weasley moron should be thrown out of this school, because he didn't do too well on his O.W.L.'s. From what I've heard from Minerva he's been trying to pay more attention to Granger's breasts then his studies."

Anger surfaced on his face once again after hearing about how low Ron truly was. "Yes…what a shame. When I get into my room, will I have to let the prefects and the Head boy and girl know my password? Or do I only have to let you know?"

"For now only I'll know what it is. When Blinky comes back we'll head up there. I'm going to request that you be retested for your O.W.L. exams. For some reason I believe that you are much smarter then the rest of the staff led us to believe."

Blinky came back with a few of her fellow elves, and bowed before them. "Blinky is finished with the room. Is there anything else Mistress Sinistra for Blinky to do?"

"No there isn't, but thank you for helping. As soon as you're done Harry we'll go up there."

Seamus and his fellow Gryffindors were in their common room and wondering what just happened in the Great Hall. "Why would Potter leave us? Why did you attack him Ron?"

Hermione put her book about magical families down. "He attacked him because he is upset that he didn't get what he wanted. Harry left Gryffindor…because we as a house betrayed him in some fashion. Some more then others and I'm not going to deny that I did as well."

"How did we betray him? I remember always supporting him even when others turned their backs on him." Neville informed them.

"I don't get it…how did all of us betray him?" Dean scratched his head.

"If you think about it this house is built on nothing more then backstabbing, prejudice, and racism. How many of us thought that he put his name in the Goblet of Fire? How about how many of us didn't believe him that Voldemort was back? How many of you believed the Daily Prophet when it told nothing more the lies about him? What about the time when the Chamber of Secrets was opened…how many of you turned your back on him thinking that he was the 'heir of Slytherin'?" She asked all of the students present in the common room.

Most of them hung their heads out of shame. "What did you do to betray him Hermione?" Lavender spoke up.

"I spied on him for Professor Dumbledore along with that spineless coward and his sister." She hung her head in shame. "He promised me that I would get my own library of rare tomes and books, along with being Head Girl…I didn't know that he would give me a vault filled with money he stole out of Harry's family vault."

"So you mean to tell us that you did this to him…and the Weasley's too?" Colin asked with anger in his words.

"Yes…and I've regretted it ever since I started informing the headmaster about Harry." She hung her head again in shame.

Neville looked upset because most of the younger students didn't know about what the Weasley's did to his friend. "Your betrayal wasn't as bad as what Ron and Ginny's was. At least you didn't act poor and pretend to be his friend while making a good living off of his family's money. It's getting late you lot…we can talk about this tomorrow. I want to talk to you in private Granger."

Most of the students headed up to their dormitories, but there were a few that stayed in the common room. The two prefects walked over to the corner for some privacy. "What did you want to talk to me about?" She asked.

"I know that you talked to him on the train…he didn't forgive you that easily did he?"

"No he didn't…instead I gave him a blood oath that I would never betray him ever again and never to reveal his secrets." She raised her head to look at his shocked face.

"Are you stupid Hermione? Do you have any idea what a blood oath signifies?" He nearly shouted at her.

She shook her head. "He told me that a simple witch's oath wouldn't suffice."

"Merlin Granger…you're lucky that my gran told me about blood oaths. By giving one to another witch or wizard…you just signed your freedom away to Harry. Legally you've just become his servant, and if you betray your oath you bleed to death."

"I would've bled to death if he didn't accept it. But I'm curious to ask…is it possible to be forgiven even if you gave a blood oath?" She tied her hair up in a ponytail to ease her emotions.

"I've never heard of anything like that, but it could be possible that he could forgive you thus ending the blood oath. Listen…you should be very lucky that all of us didn't turn on you; however the other two won't be so fortunate. I bet by breakfast tomorrow they will be wishing that they transferred to a different school. Now I'm going to go to bed."

"Neville, I don't mean any offense but when did you become so confident?" She asked with a small smile.

He smirked at her. "I can thank Harry for giving me that confidence boost. After all I never thought I would be fighting along side him against V-V-Voldemort. Besides it's not everyday that you realize that Harry was as good as my brother before Dumbledore screwed it up, and my gran broke all the blocks on my magic that he put on me as an infant. Good night Hermione."

"Good night." She sat down in her favorite chair, but she couldn't help but feel empty inside because Harry wasn't there. 'It's just not fair…why did I do something so stupid just for him to forgive me? Maybe what Sirius said in his will was true…I really don't know anything about this world…and now I am legally my best friend's servant…what have I gotten myself into.'

Meanwhile Harry walked with his head of house up to his new dormitory. He couldn't help but frown as he saw the guardian portrait of the winged demon on top of a hilltop. "Are you the new owner of this common room?"

Professor Sinistra smiled at her student's frown. "Yes he is. Go ahead and place your hand on the border of the portrait. When you feel a little pull on your magic go ahead and say your password in your mind, then write it on parchment so I know what it is."

He did exactly as she said. The demon's eyes turned to the same color of Harry's. "Name your password human."

"Judgment" He said in parseltongue.

"Very well…password has been changed…you may enter." The demon said as he swung open.

The common room looked like a mix of all the common rooms combined with the over all color being gray, white, and black. "I like it. Now Professor I am going to let you know that I will be leaving this place at 5 am for my morning exercises, and on certain days I will be in the Chamber of Secrets training myself in my magic. Is that acceptable?"

She looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "It sounds perfectly acceptable, but I will be escorting you to your morning exercises. I wanted to ask if you could train me how to use a sword?"

"I could teach you…but we would need a place to train away from certain eyes, and I don't have a spare sword on me." He said as he took his trunks out of his pocket, and let his wolf cubs come back out.

"Harry, you keep wolf cubs with you?"

"Yes Professor I do, and they're names are Lyan and Eli. But I believe I'm going to have to call it a night."

"Good night and I'll see you in the morning." She said before walking out of the common room.

"Master, how come you had that lady with you?" "Yeah are we going out for a run?"

"That lady is my head of house in this school, and yes we're going out tonight. I just hope we can leave this castle without setting off any alarms. Alright let's go." He transformed into his albino shadow wolf form and disappeared into the shadows with his pups.

Professor Dumbledore was seething at how Harry beat him again. He decided to call a staff meeting to find out some clues on where he's been, and whom he's been living with. The other Professors came in to see their boss sucking on one of his disgusting lemon drops. "Ahh hello my fellow colleagues…would any of you care for a piece of candy?"

"Albus, please stop eating those disgusting things. None of us like them…now what are we to discuss?" Minerva scolded him.

"Always straight to the point as always Minerva…I know all of you have your lessons to plan, but I was wondering if you found any information regarding Harry Potter. Is it me or does he not seem himself?"

Snape scoffed because he knew what the old man was doing. "Had you opened your eyes you would've seen that he isn't a Gryffindor anymore. How is it that we never knew of the fifth house? Nor the fact that Merlin was the fifth founder of this school?"

"In all my years of being headmaster at this school…I have never heard of this house." He summoned the sorting hat to him, and placed the hat on his head. "How is it that the fifth house was never mentioned? Why was Mr. Potter sorted into that house?"

"There never was a single student who possessed the qualities of Merlin's house. The fifth founder was very picky about whom he taught as his apprentice not as a student. Mr. Black-Potter was the perfect candidate for his house, but I still stand by my original decision for him to be in Slytherin." The hat informed him.

"Personally Headmaster, I saw no fault in his behavior. He was surprisingly calm when he addressed the situation with Mr. and Miss Weasley. However, I believe detention is not the way I would've punished them." Professor Flitwick piped up.

"I agree with my colleague. I think that certain privileges should be revoked to prove a point." Professor Sprout commented.

"His prefect privileges have been revoked…"

Minerva glared at her boss. "No Albus…this has gone on for far too long. Both Weasley's shall be placed on a Quidditch ban for the rest of this year for their actions. No more will I just sit around and allow them free access to whatever you had planned. It is time they realize the punishment for their actions, and Mr. Weasley was about to be kicked off the team for his dismal OWL grades."

Dumbledore sighed heavily before turning his attention to Professor Sinistra. "Where is your student's common room?"

"It is located on the fourth floor behind the portrait of a winged demon sitting on a hilltop."

The headmaster's twinkle came back full force. "What is Mr. Potter's password? I have to have a conversation with him about his actions in the Great Hall."

"I'm afraid that I couldn't even tell you much less understand what words he used in parseltongue." Sinistra informed him.

Snape had to admit that his enemy's son did have a Slytherin side. "If I maybe excused I have a very important potion that I must get to Madame Pomfrey."

"Very well this will conclude our staff meeting for now. However, I must ask that all of you report to me about how he is in his classes."

"Oh Headmaster I would hold off giving Harry his schedule tomorrow. I will be requesting that he be re-tested for his OWL's. Before you start telling me that it cannot happen…it can. You know that it is the student's right to be retested if they are resorted. Therefore I will be taking my student to the Ministry of Magic tomorrow morning. Good night." She couldn't help but smirk because she got her boss on that one.

Dumbledore fumed as the teachers walked out of his office. 'Where is Fawkes when I need him?'

Harry and his wolf cubs returned to their common room to get some sleep. "Did you two have fun out there tonight?"

"THAT PLACE WAS SOO COOL! CAN WE DO THAT EVERYNIGHT? PLEASE?" Both of them said in unison.

"I don't see why not, but I don't want you two to stay up here all day like common dogs. While I'm in those stupid classes you two can run around in the forest, but if there's any sign of danger come back here ok?"

"OK!" They replied before lying down on the floor.

He turned back into his albino shadow wolf form, and looked at them. "Please be careful and don't run into any other wolf packs. I'm sure that they would kill you on sight without me there."

"Don't worry Master we won't do anything stupid."

"Alright I'm going to go to bed so if you want to explore just be careful, and I'll see you in the morning." He transformed back into his normal self and scratched them behind the ears before changing and going to sleep.

It was nearing 5:30 am when Harry woke up to begin his exercises. He went inside his trunk, put on his sweats, and snuck out of his common room. He didn't get any further then the staircase when he felt another presence behind him. "I suppose you want to have a conversation with me Professor?"

"Yes I do Potter, now it would be prudent for us to go into your common room." Snape commented.

He looked at the Potions Master with a calm but deadly anger. "I'm afraid that is not possible unless you want to me mauled by my familiars. However, we only have a half hour until I leave with my head of house for the Ministry of Magic."

"Very well Potter." Severus said as he turned around and started walking with his traditional robes billowing behind him.

The two of them were very silent until they walked into the potions lab. The Potions Master withdrew his wand and placed privacy and locking spells around the room. "What is it that you wish to discuss with me, sir?"

"You read my note and I must say that your acting skills were very good. I'm not going to beat around the bush anymore Potter. I never had a grudge against you, but I was forced to 'hate' you by the headmaster to keep his little weapon angry against Slytherins." He informed him.

"Sorry to interrupt you sir, but who said I was acting. You may say that you don't hate me, but that still doesn't mean that I don't hate you for raping my mind during our Occlumency lessons."

Snape sighed heavily at his words. "This was the entire plan that Dumbledore cooked up to keep you 'compliant' in his grand scheme. You don't understand how far he is willing to sacrifice you as his martyr. If you still hate me then I cannot change your mind, but I am asking for a truce. I see more of your mother Lily in you then your father, and that is why I don't hate you. You also have other people in the Order that are on your side. Moody, Minerva, Shacklebolt, and I are willing to help you in your training."

Harry chuckled when he heard that. "As much as I appreciate the training you're willing to offer, I must decline. I've been training ever since I left your precious Order meeting that fateful night with my mentors. Have you noticed that Remus and Tonks haven't been at your meetings of the fried chicken?"

"Bellatrix has been training you as well hasn't she?" He asked.

"Sorry sir but I am not at liberty to say."

He couldn't help but smirk at his words. "I understand now. Since you've become the head of the Black family you made her your charge after dissolving her forced marriage. I have a favor to ask of you…would you be willing to take Narcissa as your charge as well?"

"Now why would I want to do that when I disowned her and her bastard child to begin with?"

"Harry, please reconsider this. If you don't then she will be sold into prostitution to get galleons for the Dark Lord. Do you not know that my godson Draco cares for his mother more dearly then his Father?" Snape pleaded with him.

"I will think about it, but don't hold your breath."

"I understand, however can you tell me why you look so…Slytherin?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

Harry sneered at the Potions Master. "I did nothing more then take the appearance of my ancestors. Now how do I know that you won't be saying anything to the Headmaster?"

"I am a master of Occlumency. Not even he can break through my barriers, but I want to test you to see if you've improved. Legilimens!" He made his way to Potter's barrier, and saw something that really scared him. He saw nothing but a huge inferno of red and black flames everywhere. He didn't even notice that a huge silver dragon was glaring at him from above.

"Be careful Professor…there are many more traps then what you're witnessing. However, I think your time is up…GET OUT!"

Snape blinked several times to regain his mental balance. "How…how did you learn Occlumency like this?"

"As you said sir, I practiced everyday the right way through meditation, and read the books that were in my library. Now was there anything else that you wished to discuss with me?"

"I'm still grasping the concept of how you've progressed this far in less then four months. Now I know why the Dark Lord is obsessed with trying to kill you." He got up and poured himself a small glass of aged bourbon.

"Why is that Professor? Because I live to piss him off or the fact that I've foiled every attempt to kill me which has failed? Maybe it's the effect that every time I can see everything inside his head during one of your little meetings. Only now I can successfully close the link on my end, but I can still spy on him. It is only a matter of time before I end that pitiful bastard. My time is up. Good day to you Professor Snape." Harry said getting up from his seat.

Severus got up from his own chair, and held his hand out for him to shake. "I look forward to seeing you in class, Mr. Black-Potter. Also it's Severus in private."

He shook his hand and smiled. "Thank you and you may call me Harry. I look forward to your lessons. However, before I leave might I ask what charm you used to make your robes billow behind you when you walk?"

For the first time the Slytherin head of house grinned. "How did I imagine that you of all people would ask me that? It's just a combination of a little levitation spell, and me walking. I trust that you will not tell my secret?"

"Locked away in my mind, and I'll see you in class."

Professor Sinistra met up with Harry at the Castle Doors. "Are you ready to go?"

"But of course Carmen. How will we be traveling?"

She gave him a small smile. "Only use that name in private Harry. We'll walk outside the Hogwarts gates and we'll apparate together."

"No I have a better way that won't make me feel sick." He grabbed her arm and both of them disappeared into the shadows…