"Can I talk to you for a moment?"
Harry warily looked up from the game he was playing with Neville, Seamus, Dean and Lavender as Ron sought him out in their dorm where they'd retreated for a quiet evening.
He hadn't spoken to the other alone any more since before the holidays, when Ron had once more become mad he wasn't going to come for Easter.
"Depends on what it is about, if it's about the summer holidays then don't bother," Harry moved his pawn four steps forward when the dice fell to that number.
"No, Sirius said that I should talk to you."
"Sirius did? What did he say you should talk to me about?" Harry frowned curiously as Sirius hadn't said anything to him.
"Not sure, he said something about talking to you before I planned our future," Ron shifted his weight.
"Ah," suddenly realising he hadn't actually shared with the other that his career choices had changed, Harry sighed. "He probably meant the change in my career choice as I'm not going to pursue a career as an Auror any more."
"Why did you change your mind all of a sudden?" Ron raised an eyebrow.
"Not suddenly, it's been on my mind since last year. Becoming an Auror seemed like the only logical career choice at the time, with Voldemort after me and all."
"Don't say his name!" Ron hissed, even as Lavender and Seamus grimaced but didn't tense and Harry shot them a smile as Sirius and Remus had been working on getting the students over their fear of a mere name.
"It isn't cursed any more, Sirius made sure of that," Neville shrugged, having been one of the only ones not to tense as he'd become used to Sirius and Harry saying the name.
"I suppose Sirius was the one who had you change your mind?" Ron ignored Neville.
"In a way. He fought in the war without ever being an Auror, letting me realise I didn't necessarily need to follow that path to learn how to defend myself against attacks."
"It's a great job!" Ron snapped.
"It is, but not what I want," Harry shrugged.
"Yeah? Then what do you want to do now all of a sudden?" but even as he said it, a look of realisation crossed his features. "Teach?"
"As a matter of fact, yes, that is my plan," Harry fought to remain calm even as Ron turned red in anger, reminding him eerily of Molly Weasley.
"Should've known. You do whatever Sirius wants you to do!"
"Sirius has nothing to do with my choice. I love teaching, have since you and Hermione talked me into running the DA."
"We were going to become Aurors together. It's why we take the same classes!" Ron stubbornly argued.
"I took the same classes as you because I hadn't the foggiest what I should choose and would at least have a friend for company if the choice would turn out to be wrong," Harry bit at him. "Something you know very well. And I changed some of my classes after returning from the Christmas holidays."
"Sirius set you up to this! He just doesn't want you to hang out with me because I'm poor!" Ron's voice rose, but Harry didn't care.
"No, he doesn't," he admitted calmly. "But he's accepted that you were my friend and treated you kindly because of that."
"Sirius doesn't..." Ron actually looked taken back by the admittance. "He hates me?"
"No. He thinks you could be a good person if you'd let go of certain aspects of your personality. He's seen what you can be back in the shack and told your brothers as much when they complained about your attitude," Harry could see Ron colour again as he clearly hadn't expected that. "But he doesn't like how you act towards others and certainly doesn't appreciate the possessive attitude you display towards me."
After taking a deep breath, Harry looked into Ron's eyes. "And neither do I. I have my own life, my own friends and am not your property and do not appreciate being treated as such. I am tired of walking on my toes in the hopes of not gaining your anger or trigger your jealousy over my unwanted fame or money. I decide who I want to hang out with, who I wish to talk to and what I want to do, not you. You are not my keeper and you certainly do not decide for me how and where I spend my time, holidays or otherwise."
Ron gaped at him like a fish for a long moment, before he began to splutter. "I'm your best friend! And you've always spent the holidays with me!"
"And I don't wish to do so now," Harry cut him off. "I told you before that I appreciate that I've always been accepted into your house and family, but I want to spend time with my own family as much as I can right now. And although I am very fond of your siblings and father, I have no intention of ever stepping foot in a house with your mother ever again."
"I could always come to your house," Ron offered immediately, but Harry shook his head.
"Not a chance. Sirius won't allow you access. He might accept that you hang around with me at school, but he won't accept your presence at our home. Not with how you've been treating me lately."
"I haven't treated you differently!"
"That might just be the whole problem," Dean snorted. "You've always acted like a possessive twat, blocking all of us from coming close. Only difference now is that he's stopped allowing you to do so and grew a backbone."
"Stay out of this!" Ron snapped.
"Why? Because he's telling the truth?" Hermione inquired softly from her seat near Dean, book on her lap.
"You're one to talk! You've treated Harry horribly!" Ron yelled.
"Yes, and I'm trying to make amends for my disgusting behaviour," Hermione flushed but didn't rise to his insult. "I've had a long talk with both Sirius and Remus by now and apologised for what I've said and how I behaved and am working on changing. It's more than you can say."
"I don't need to apologise, I'm his best friend!"
"No, you are not," Harry cut him off. "Not with how you've been behaving. Best friends don't act the way you do or how you've acted in the past. I've made the choice to change my future career and you're going to have to accept that as you don't get to tell me what to do with my life."
"I suppose Sirius does that for you," Ron sneered.
"It would be within his right as he's my guardian, but he never said anything about his wishes for my future until I'd told him my dream had changed."
"What did he say?" Lavender asked.
"That he respected my wishes, but that he was relieved I had found a less dangerous dream."
"Why? Any parent would be proud if their child became an Auror," Ron grumbled.
"Proud and terrified," Dean corrected him. "Mum was horrified when I explained to her what an Auror was. It is a very dangerous profession."
"My parents can vouch for that," Neville agreed lightly and although it wasn't a funny matter at all, Harry couldn't help but smile at his words.
"My Mum has always wanted the best for us," Ron snapped. "And being an Auror is the best there is."
"Maybe, but my family just want me to be happy," Harry shrugged.
"Yeah well, not everyone is rich," the jealousy in Ron's voice was impossible to miss and Harry sighed.
"Even if we hadn't been rich, they'd still want me to be happy above everything. Remus grew up in a very poor household, but with parents that only wanted him to be happy and although Sirius did grow up in a rich household, he had to fight for what he wanted and worked hard. They don't believe a fantastic job is the most important thing in the world as long as you're happy," Harry shrugged before he picked up the dice again and held it out to Lavender. "I believe it was your turn?"
"We're talking!" Ron growled in anger at the clear dismissal.
"No, you are yelling at me for something that is none of your business while I'm trying to play a game with my friends," Harry waved him off as Lavender took her turn.
"Well, I think you will be a marvellous teacher," Hermione interrupted anything Ron might have said, the others agreeing immediately.
"She's right, you really have a flair for explaining things so everyone understands," Seamus agreed as Dean rolled the dice.
"I hope so; the plan is that I'll take over part of Sirius and Remus' classes after graduation."
"So we'll become colleagues!" Neville grinned as he accepted the dice from Dean after his turn was over.
"You're going to teach, too?" Lavender asked as she accepted the bowl of treats from Seamus.
"Herbology. I've worked out a plan with Professor Sprout to become her apprentice after graduation," Neville nodded as he picked up a handful of crisps from the bowl. "But enough about that. Are you guys excited about the mock duel tomorrow?"
"It's going to be brilliant to see Professor Lupin and Professor Sirius duel," Dean grinned excited.
"I wonder who'll win. I know Professor Sirius is really powerful, but Professor Lupin took down You-Know-Who," Lavender mused.
Neville cheered as his last move let him win the game and the others groaned. "I guess we'll see tomorrow. Do you guys want to play another game or turn in for bed?"
"I think it's best to turn in, it's already ten pm and we'll want to be able to pay proper attention tomorrow," Lavender suggested as Hermione closed her book and Ron stormed off.
"Sounds like a plan, it's going to be an amazing duel tomorrow," Dean grinned as he and Seamus cleaned up the game of Don't Worry and they all readied themselves for bed, excited for the following day.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The fifth year Gryffindors stared in shock as Sirius suddenly straightened the following afternoon, shooting up red sparks as he did.
"But...you were winning!" Ron spluttered, all his anger of the previous evening seemingly forgotten.
"There are more important things than winning a duel, Ron," Sirius replied as he walked over to Remus, who was bend over, leaning on his knees as he took several deep breaths.
Summoning a desk Sirius helped Remus onto it before kneeling down to carefully remove the shoe.
"I hadn't realised I had aimed for your ankle."
"You didn't. I deflected your freezing charm but then stepped aside in the same moment to barely avoid the full body bind you send in its shadow."
"Thus stepping directly onto the frozen ice and twisting it in your counter-attack," Sirius nodded.
"That looks painful," Lavender wasn't the only one to wince as they could all see the clear break in the limb.
"You didn't stop though, the Petrificus Totalus charm and your answering Jelly-Fingers Curse were at least five minutes ago," Harry accused.
"I hadn't realised it was broken," shifting to give Sirius better access to examine the rest of his ankle, Remus winced as he touched a sensitive spot.
"How did you know then, Professor?" Parvati asked as the boys pulled up two desks for them all to sit onto.
"His eyes tightened twice in the same movement, so I knew I had hurt him," Sirius explained as he inspected the foot itself.
"You were halfway across the room, how could you have possibly seen that?" Ron asked.
"I told you that it is important to keep an eye on your opponents' movements as they tell you a lot about what they are planning next and aiming at. For me, it is easiest to keep looking into their eyes."
"It is also intimidating when someone is seemingly staring you down so it throws the opponent off from their game" Remus added.
"Will we ever stand a chance against either of you?" Dean sighed as Sirius pulled out his wand to heal the bone.
"Sure, just keep practising," Remus smiled.
"Don't get your hopes up though, I can't last more than five minutes against either of them and I've been training for months now," Harry sighed.
"You're still young, pup, and are improving rapidly."
"Why didn't you just heal it immediately?" Lavender asked interested as Sirius slipped his wand into his sleeve again.
"Just wanted to make sure there were no other problems. It is harder to see underlying problems in his bone structure with the use of magic."
"Because you are a werewolf?" Lavender turned to Remus.
"Yes. While it is usually harder to break my bones it also makes it more difficult to detect deeper injuries, even with magic."
"So what Professor Sirius did makes it easier to detect if something is wrong?" Dean asked.
"It only works when you know the layout of someone's body very well," Sirius contradicted him as he rubbed his fingers into Remus' shin. "I could let you or Harry do the same thing I'm doing now, but you wouldn't detect a single difference."
"Then why can you?" Ron raised an eyebrow.
"He's been taking care of me since we were teenagers, healing my wounds and caring for them. I'm willing to bet he knows my body's layout better than even Madam Pomfrey does. Ow," he twitched, wincing as Sirius worked his way up his calf.
"Yeah, I think you tore a muscle," pulling out his wand again he ran it over the calf and Remus' expression relaxed again.
"That's better. Are you done?"
"Yeah."
Dean cocked his head as Sirius leaned forward to grab Remus' sock and shoe.
"Is that….a dog?" he asked a little uncertain.
"That's a werewolf," Sirius answered, realising what he'd revealed by leaning forward.
"You have a tattoo of a werewolf on your ankle?" a sly smile spread over Lavender's lips.
"Don't get any ideas, it's not a tattoo and it's not the only animal there," Sirius laughed as he tightened Remus' shoe again.
"I'm glad it's not a tattoo. No offence Professor, but your tattooist would have been an awful artist, it's barely recognisable," Dean said.
"Oi, it is a fine werewolf," Harry defended the drawing.
"It's a horrible werewolf," Remus snorted. "But that doesn't matter since he loves it."
"If it's not a tattoo, then what is it?" Parvati asked as they had all leaned in to have a look, too.
"It's the result of a toddler's creativity with a sharp pencil while I was drugged up on potions after a battle. There are a dog and a deer on the sides," Sirius rose to his feet, pulling up his trouser leg as he turned around.
"Very artistic Harry," Neville chuckled as the other two were revealed.
"What can I say? I'm an artist," Harry grinned.
"Didn't you feel it when he drew on you? Or did the potions numb his actions completely?" Seamus asked interested.
"I had no idea he was drawing on me with sharper tools than usual," Sirius let his trouser leg drop again as he pulled himself up to sit beside Remus.
"Moony, Padfoot and Prongs," Neville suddenly smiled. "You drew the Marauders onto his ankle."
"That's rather cute," Lavender laughed as Harry blushed.
"How did we go from a lesson about duelling to this?" Sirius looked to Remus curiously.
"No idea, but let's get back on track. Are there any questions left about duelling?" Remus grinned.
"How do you know what kind of spells are allowed in a duel and which ones aren't?" Parvati asked Sirius.
"In an official duel you usually set the rules beforehand. In a duel during a battle any kind of spells are used as your opponent often comes at you with the intention to kill or seriously maul."
"How do you know if they are coming at you with the intention to kill?"
"Blood starting to flow and them not stopping is usually a good indication of their intention," they all laughed at Remus' words and Seamus grinned.
"The truth is, you can't always tell. Many witches and wizards can cast non-verbal, so being able to identify a spell by the colour alone will give you an advantage. But it is not always enough so you need to be prepared for anything," Sirius finally answered.
"There is no way to be able to recognise every spell, especially those that are self-invented or old," continuing when Sirius paused Remus looked at the students. "The best you can teach yourself is to be quick on your feet and raise a shield the moment something comes at you."
"Would a Shield Charm protect against violent curses?" Lavender wondered.
"Against most curses it does. Even if it isn't able to stop the curse, it can still lessen the effects by letting it hit the shield first and gives you time to sidestep it," Sirius explained, looking up when the bell rang.
"All right, that is it for this year. If there is anything you're still unsure about for the upcoming exams then don't hesitate to ask. Study wisely and don't overdo things, make sure you take some time to relax, too, or you're heading straight to a nervous breakdown."
"Focus your last minute studying on the subjects you aren't strong in, eat well and make sure you get a good night's sleep before every exam," Remus added as Sirius turned to Harry as he made no move to rise.
"Go with the others, we have a short meeting with McGonagall first but we'll come pick you up when we're done."
Nodding Harry followed his classmates as they wished them a good afternoon and left the classroom.
"Are you guys ready?" Neville asked as they made their way towards the Great Hall for dinner.
"Can you ever truly be ready for exams?" fidgeting nervously Dean looked at Seamus who shrugged and turned to Neville. "Neville. Are you nervous?"
Neville thought for a moment, "No, not really. I'm as prepared as I can be and confident actually."
"I think you are the only one then," Ron grumbled.
"No, I'm pretty confident, too," contradicting him Lavender smiled at Neville.
"Do you have a last tutoring session with Professor Sirius tonight?"
"No, he believes I'm ready. I think they will spend the weekend preparing the exams for the other years."
"Yeah, It is pretty interesting to see how they develop an exam," Harry grinned.
"They make their own exams?"
"Of course, what did you think they did?"
"I thought there was a standard exam for every year," Ron admitted.
"No, every teacher makes his or her own exam, I thought you'd have realised that after Lockhart's exam. Though I do admit that most teachers keep it pretty much the same every year. Sirius, Remus and Andromeda have just decided to make their exams from scratch to give students a proper chance based upon what they've actually learned."
"Because it would be unfair to give them an exam with things they haven't been taught," nodding in understanding Lavender sighed.
"I wonder if our examiners will be that thoughtful for us, too."
"I've heard the History of Magic exam was adapted because T- Professor Ted hasn't been able to get us up to speed properly," Harry admitted.
"Not even with Professor Lupin teaching before him and both of the Professors helping out now?" Dean asked.
"No, Ted thinks we're about at the level of what we should have known last year. It is more than he'd expected really, Sirius and Remus worked really hard to stamp information into our heads."
"It left them exhausted though. They were juggling three classes around while tending to other duties at the same time."
"And yet they've done more for us in these last six months than any other teacher has ever done. I just hope we'll be able to do them justice," Lavender smiled to Neville.
"It's funny, this is the first year that I really want to do well, just to make them proud," Dean commented thoughtfully.
"That's because we're all wrapped around their little finger. We're wiped," Seamus laughed. "And bloody happy about it."
"It makes a huge difference if you like your teacher," Harry agreed.
"It's rather hard not to like them; they're so different from the other professors."
"They make things interesting, the other teachers are more approachable now, too," Dean agreed with Lavender as they took a seat.
"Hey, Sirius and Remus the topic of discussion again?" Ginny asked as Harry and Neville sat down beside her and Luna.
"As usual, yeah. They are saying life at Hogwarts became much more interesting since they arrived," Neville grinned.
"Not just more interesting, better too," Katie mused.
"Yeah, it never ceases to amaze me," smiling Ginny looked out over the Great Hall.
"What doesn't?" Ron asked.
"That Sirius managed to do in less than six months what Dumbledore failed to do in over fifty years."
Neville hummed in agreement but Ron just looked confused.
"House unity Ronald, honestly," Hermione sighed from across them as she gestured at the other students. "Just look around, all four houses are mingling together."
Harry followed her gaze to indeed see several students seated at other tables and he smiled proudly, knowing Sirius was mostly to blame for that.
"I've become so used to the sight that I kind of stopped noticing it," Alicia admitted.
"Sirius is the best thing that has ever happened to Hogwarts," Luna simply stated and the others couldn't agree with her more.
"Hey Harry, have you seen this yet?" Hannah came their way, handing over a Chocolate Frog Card to him.
"Yeah, I…."
"It's Dumbledore's card, just throw it away," Ron interrupted as he pulled it out of Harry's hand, ignoring his protest as he did.
"The text has changed," Hannah waved him off annoyed, indicating for Ginny to read it as she took it from her brother with a glare.
"Albus Dumbledore. Was considered by many to be the greatest wizard of modern times; before it was revealed in court that his manipulations resulted in the deaths of many innocents, most known of all the Potter family."
She paused to swallow thickly.
"He is serving a life sentence as an accomplice in their murders and for knowingly condemning an innocent Black Heir to a lifelong imprisonment in Azkaban to get the Potter Heir under his control. Once famous for his defeat of the Dark Wizard Grindelwald in 1945, now he is mostly famous for his severe manipulations."
There was a moment of silence before Katie snorted in disgust.
"They should have taken his card away completely."
"It´s going to be taken out of production next year. They just want to spread this new more accurate edition around for people's collections before it's removed completely," Harry told them as Ginny handed him the card back.
"How do you know that?" curiously Hannah looked at him as she accepted the card he held out to her.
"Sirius holds stock in every major candy fabricator and the companies keep him updates on things."
"Is there anything he doesn't hold stock in?" grumbling Ron piled food onto his plate. "He also holds shares in your company, doesn't he?"
"He is our business partner so of course he holds stock," Fred shrugged as he watched in disgust as Ron began to shovel food into his mouth.
"Does he help develop products?" Luna asked curiously.
"He's given us some pointers and ideas, but he's mostly a silent partner for now. Only thing he did openly was sell us our future store location."
"He sold you a building?" Hermione inquired.
"Yeah, the Black family owns several buildings in Diagon and Knockturn Alley. He showed us several interesting locations for our planned shop a while back."
"Why am I not surprised that family owned property there?" looking at her brothers Ginny turned suspicious. "You aren't planning to open your shop in Knockturn Alley, are you?"
"No, we found the perfect location in Diagon Alley. We were going to rent it from him, but he's decided to sell the property to us."
"Where'd you get the money to buy a property in Diagon Alley? The rent is massive so I don't even want to know how much it would be to actually buy one, even if the Professor would give you a generous discount," Seamus whistled.
"We've worked something out," George answered cryptically.
"You didn't go into debt did you? Because Dad will kill you if you work yourself into a debt before you're even out of school," Ron frowned, ignorant to the disgusted looks thrown his way as he spoke with his mouth full. Seamus and Hermione shuffled a little further away from him.
"We aren't stupid. We worked something out with Sirius and that is all you need to know," Fred cut him off before he could say more.
Grinning Harry took a sip from his pumpkin juice to avoid having to look at Ron. The twins were technically telling the truth.
They had arrived at Marauder Headquarters the afternoon of their birthday, packed with business plans and proposals to convince him to rent the property they had set their sights on out to them.
Sirius had asked all the proper questions and had even made some suggestions to give them an even more professional appearance as he listened to their proposal.
Once they had finished their story, Sirius had pushed a folder towards them with his own proposal; Harry would never forget the complete confusion on their faces as they had opened it to reveal a stack of papers, endowing ownership of their desired property onto their names.
Picking up the papers to try and understand them, Fred had revealed the paper Sirius had slipped underneath it, the simply handwritten note that wished them a happy birthday and to enjoy their present leaving them speechless.
Their objections that it was too much fell to deaf ears and Sirius cheerfully informed them the act was already done, so they could whine all they wanted, or they could take the upcoming holidays to begin getting their property cleaned and ready for their well thought out business plans.
It was a brilliant scheme as it gave the twins an excuse not to have to face their mother so soon and as Sirius had included the flat above the shop it immediately gave them a living place where they could stay during the holidays.
But while they had told their father the truth, Sirius had requested they'd keep it a secret for everyone else for now to prevent askance looks and to allow them a chance to build a name for themselves without immediately being associated with him.
"What is the address and have you got a name yet?" it was Neville who asked the question but they all looked at the two interested.
"Number ninety-three and we'll call it Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes," George grinned.
"That's rather a mouth full isn't it?" Frowning Ron took another bite.
"It is. Sirius has begun to refer to it as Triple W because of it. We were going for Weasley and Weasley, but Triple W works too."
Chuckling at Fred's words they nodded before Lavender spoke up.
"When will your shop open?"
"The beginning of August if everything goes according to plan. We've managed to do a lot during the Easter holidays, but there's still some stuff we need to take care of before we are ready to open."
"But don't worry, we'll advertise before the opening and we'll have three special celebrities appearing when we do."
Snorting at the wink Fred sent him Harry shook his head. "You do realise that is a Muggle habit, right? Try to attract a crowd to a new opening by inviting celebrities that will sure bring lots of curious people."
Dual grins were his only answer and rolling his eyes Harry looked up as Remus arrived in the Great Hall, returning the smile as the man spotted him and smiled before making his way towards him.
"If you're inviting Professor Sirius then you're sure to get many female customers."
Harry wasn't sure who had said it, but the words did draw his attention back to the conversation.
"What?"
"Girls don't just chase after someone just because they are handsome, you know," Ginny objected.
"It sure seemed that way with Lockhart, Hermione was crazy about him," Ron commented.
"I wasn't crazy about Lockhart," protested Hermione, glaring at him.
"You were drooling over him!"
"I think you are mixing her shy crush up with the drooling mess you became whenever Fleur passed by last year," Harry commented offhandedly as Remus reached them.
"Sometimes you are just like him."
Blinking surprised Harry wasn't the only one to look up to Remus as the man stared at him with a fond smile.
"Harry's dad was witty, too?" Ginny asked.
Snorting Remus shook his head. "James is not the one Harry reminds me of."
"He's not?" curiously Hermione glanced at Harry as his face broke into a large grin.
"No, he reminds me of Sirius. The same wittiness, enthusiasm and behaviour. You may look a lot like your parents at first glance but from the first time I actually got to speak to you it's always been Sirius you've reminded me of," the last part was directed at a still grinning Harry.
"I expect that is a good thing?" staring at Harry now, Seamus couldn't help but ask the question.
"A very good thing," Remus decided with a smile as he ruffled Harry's hair, messing it up like Sirius always did and Harry chuckled.
"Where's Sirius?"
"He went ahead to start dinner so we can eat by the time we arrive and you can help us with the first to fourth year's exams as training for later," rising to his feet he nodded at the explanation; and wishing the others a good evening he left with Remus, as he often spent the weekends at Marauder Headquarters.