It was a strange sort of pride as Richard happily instructed the children on how to make things go 'fwoosh' and then seeing the light in their eyes as the dementors were set on fire. The screams of the unholy creatures that annoyed him were music to his ears.

The fact Harry rather gleefully mentioned he was no longer the out-of-the-closet pyromaniac in Gryffindor tower was even better.

Now there were a lot of children going 'fwoosh' and setting their defense homework ablaze.

Most teachers would be upset by that fact, but to Richard, it meant that they were finally going to try their luck at attacking instead of defending for once.

Apparently Harry gave a rousing speech on how they should concentrate on taking out the day's frustrations with Professor Richard, rather than be afraid of him. He was subtly trying to set it up so that they could actually provide entertainment once he started the 'questing prank' until people finally figured out he was setting them up from the start.

Well that and he needed to get a decent staff he could trust not to make mistakes. For example, the twins were his potion masters, Hermione would be in charge of the library and research, Luna took care of things while he was away, while Crabbe and Goyle were mostly for intimidation.

They were big enough to scare people, but dumb enough to never question the commands of the one making their lives more comfortable and would give them things within reason.

Five minutes under Harry's command, and they were his for life. Simple thugs like them could understand not angering the one who gave them actual respect.

"Remember children, there is no bad questions. Only ones that are so stupid that will get you set on fire...unless you hit first," said Richard in 'lecture' mode.

"Sir? Are we allowed to set you on fire?" asked a particularly brave second year...who promptly tried to set him on fire.

"Very good! That's the initiative that will get you through life!" said Harry approvingly.

"Ten points to Hufflepuff," said Richard, having remembered it was a Hufflepuff/Ravenclaw class.

The children were slightly disappointed when the bell rang...until Richard said that if their aim improved he would move on to ice shards and lightning if they were good.

Richard wiped away a fake tear.

"They grow up so fast. Hard to believe they used to piss their pants in sight of me."

"Harder to believe that people will soon no longer fear dementors once word gets out that the newest crop of students have been learning to cast wandlessly and how to aim properly," said Harry as dryly.

Oh yes, the 7th years like Oliver Wood had been particularly enthusiastic when they learned wandless magic was so prized that you could almost pick your career if you were any good at it. There had been a jump in auror and healers when people found out they could cast wandlessly.

Being able to heal without a wand was more than enough for people to overlook your potions grades, especially since Snape had been laying off non-Slytherins with Richard around.

Richard looked at the time.

"Don't you have that meeting with Lupin in an hour?"

"Thanks for reminding me. Bet you ten galleons he wants to talk about Black."

Richard rolled his eyes. That was a sucker's bet. Lupin seemed to be of the sentimental sort, so odds were he would try to convince Harry not to go looking for his 'psychotic' dogfather.

Or tell him stories about his parents.

Or try to turn him away from evil and Richard.

Either way, Lupin would either get with the program or be kicked out at the end of the year.


The first thing Harry did was stun Lupin while his back was turned. It was the last class of the day, so they could have a private chat where no one would find them and he could be assured of zero listening charms, since Snape had given Harry the head's up that Dumbledore wanted to overhear the entire conversation.

However, he was a werewolf so Harry didn't have much time to lose. With a little help from Sirius, who was polyjuiced to look like a random Gryffindor and his cloak, they had Remus in the Room of Requirement five minutes after stunning him.

Twenty minutes later found the werewolf awake and pretty pissed when he saw Sirius.

Before Lupin could get a single word out, Sirius had a letter he had Harry retrieve from the Marauder's Vault. Using his wand so Remus could read it, seeing as how he had never bothered to retrieve his, Harry held up a single finger.

"You get speaking rights back after you read this," he said flatly. He had already silenced the wolf before he woke up as a precaution.

Remus glared, but read the letter anyway. It was definitely James' handwriting...no way could Sirius fake that. The glare turned to confusion, shock and outright disbelief.

"Are you ready to be reasoned with or should we just obliviate you?" asked Harry, removing the charm.

"Before you try to yell, the room's already been silenced," warned Sirius.

"Is this real?" he asked.

"I got it out of the Marauder vault myself," said Harry, swearing with his magic for extra clarity.

"I was a fool to doubt you Padfoot," said Remus. Suddenly a lot of things made sense.

"He tricked us all. And now he's paying for it."

"How?"

Harry cheerfully held up his right hand...which was covered in a familiar gauntlet.

"The Overlord Gauntlet? But all records say it was destroyed!"

"More like Salazar Slytherin apparently absconded with the thing before he hid it in the basilisk's nest. Fortunately it seems to like me, but I'm not stupid enough to come out and declare myself Overlord while I'm still only thirteen. Besides...staying in the shadows means more fun for us all later," said Harry, grinning in a way that reminded Remus and Sirius hauntingly of James before a spectacular prank.

"He's going to go on elaborate quests to overthrow the Overlord, then reveal he was the bad guy all along and force people to keep their mouths shut about the truth," said Sirius grinning.

"Okay that I can see...but who brought that thing to Hogwarts?" asked Remus. That was a question bugging him ever since he saw Richard.

Harry's insane grin only widened as he pulled out a massive hardcover book with the title "Looking For Group", with Richard's signature inside.

"You?!"

"Even we never got something this big over McGonagall and Dumbledore, eh, Moony?" grinned Sirius. He still found it hilarious.

"I refuse to fight Voldemort with the power of love. I'm not some damn magical girl," said Harry shuddering.

"'Power of Love'?" said Remus dryly, as Sirius undid the ropes.

"Dumbledore seems to think I killed Voldemort before with love. I prefer fire. I sent the initial letter as a joke, but I never knew Richard actually existed until he came to Hogwarts last year."

"Best prank I've ever heard of," agreed Sirius.

"Which reminds me...these are a copy of all the pranks Richard and I have played last year, up to and including blowing up half the castle's plumbing to get Myrtle out of the toilets."

"...Why was she in the toilets?" asked Remus, noticing Sirius' eyes glinting with amusement.

"Richard put her there after she got his robes soaked in toilet water that hadn't been properly flushed because she scared some firsty, and she wouldn't shut up. It's also why Peeves avoids him like the Black Plague," said Harry helpfully.

"And the toilets?"

"A cherry bomb with a chain spell that would detonate them all at the same time the primary one went off. Hid in the DADA room to provide ourselves an air-tight alibi. They still haven't caught the culprit."

"He's a right mini-Maruader, eh Moony? I'm thinking Pyro."

"Or Natsu!" offered Harry. He refused to be called Draco.

"Natsu?" said Remus dryly. Now that he wasn't freaking out over Richard, he could see the impishness in his cub. Clearly he just took after James in an unconventional way.

"It means 'summer' in Japanese. Or Homura, which means fire."

"How about Loki?" said Remus, cutting that discussion off. James' penchant for chaos and mischief, with Lily's brains and love of reading. Snape must be having kittens.

Sirius' eyes glinted.

"Loki it is then," he said with finality. If anyone fit the Trickster god and his darker nature, it was Harry.

"Now that that's out of the way, what sort of position would you be interested in once people find out the Overlord Tower is back in business?"

"Position?"

"Sirius is the head torturer...he's got experience with darker spells and he's not afraid to get a little dirty, plus he's been fully accredited by the guild. Coincidentally werewolves get a leg up in new membership, along with a spiffy card that makes it harder for the Ministry to ban you in Europe."

Most of the better shops were owned or run by the guild after all.

"Moony's always been good at research," offered Sirius.

"Only because you and Prongs were too lazy to do it yourselves," said Remus with half-heated annoyance.

"Hmm. How about a recruiter for the darker creatures? Odds are they're sick of Dumbledore's empty promises and Fenrir Greyback's lies. And if you join the guild you would get the satisfaction of killing Greyback yourself, with someone to hold the fool down."

"You don't discriminate against werewolves?"

"I asked Richard of all people to come teach defense because I wanted to actually live past my seventeenth birthday, which wasn't likely if what I saw my first year was any indication. Besides, I'm not entirely sane, and from what I've seen werewolves are normal folk outside of full moons. So long as you don't mind being near a village of the undead and act as guards, I could care less if you did turn furry once a month," stated Harry flatly.

"He's got you there Moony."

"Hell, I even got Snape off my back by helping him join the guild and keeping Richard from blowing up his personal cauldrons every week."

Considering how much Snape loathed James, that in itself was a testament to his mindset.

"Besides, it's rather ironic how much the other teachers pity me because I'm Richard's assistant, when I was the one who asked him to come in the first place," said Harry with a grin.

Sirius went back under polyjuice (Harry would get some food from the kitchens for him later) and went straight to sleep in Richard's private rooms. No one sane would bother the warlock when he was sleeping.


"So the first Hogsmeade weekend is tomorrow," said Ron.

"So what? I have papers to grade."

Left unspoken was the fact he planned to sneak out anyway. Less crowds and no chance of dealing with Draco.

"Well it's good that I won't have to break the news that you aren't allowed outside the school Mr. Potter," said McGonagall.

"Because of some deranged wizard out for my life? I'm well aware of Black and Richard expressed an interest in the shop that Professor Sprout frequents so much, and he's taking me with him to carry it back," said Harry.

Hermione was thankfully in the library helping Pince for free access to the unseen parts of the library she kept hidden from casual students. Otherwise McGonagall would have known Harry was half-lying his ass off.

Richard had expressed an interest in the store, but he didn't need Harry to carry things back.

McGonagall's lips thinned.

"I suppose I could overlook it...provided you are accompanied by one of the Professors at all times and it has to be outside Hogsmeade weekends," she said.

"...Does Hagrid count?"

"Considering Dumbledore made him a professor as well, yes."

Hagrid, while lax in safety when it came to animals, was fiercely protective of the students, house be damned. He didn't care if you were a Hufflepuff Seventh year or a lowly Slytherin firstie, he would defend them with his dying breath. He would protect Harry.

"You have all the luck," said Ron in amazement.

"It's called common sense and knowing how to play people. So long as I'm discreet and toe the line when it comes to rules, I can get away with practically everything. How else would the twins have survived five years of Hogwarts without being expelled for their pranks?" said Harry simply.