— —

The more sand has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it.

Niccolo Machiavelli

— —

Chapter 37

"So what the hell is that thing, Potter?" Zabini asked, hunching over and eyeing the vanishing cabinet that Harry was presently sitting crosslegged in front of on the floor beside his bed.

"It's a vanishing cabinet," Harry said distractedly as he leaned forward into it and examined the glowing runes along the inside of the door frame that he'd revealed with a spell for deconstructing the make-up of more complicated enchantments.

"A vanishing cabinet?" Nott echoed from across the room where he sat cross-legged on his bed. "Like the things that let you vanish from one cabinet and instantly reappear in a matching cabinet somewhere else?"

"It is precisely like that," Harry said as he tapped his wand at a string of glowing symbols and they began to vanish and appear slightly altered.

"Why do you have a Vanishing Cabinet in our dorm?" Zabini asked incredulously.

"So I can quickly and easily travel from our room to another location as often as I want and need," Harry said sounding slightly exasperated before moving up onto his knees and leaning further into the cabinet so he could reach the back wall. He waved his wand and revealed another series of glowing symbols etched into the back. He began poking at various places with his wand, moving around symbols and replacing others.

"What are you doing to it, anyway?" Zabini asked curiously.

"I'm fixing it. It's presently broken."

"Oh."

"How the heck did you get it in here?" Nott asked.

"I disillusioned and levitated it," Harry said simply.

Nott rolled his eyes.

"But you can't shrink these things, right?" Zabini asked. "They're too complicated. If you tried to shrink it down, it wouldn't work."

"Correct."

"Then… how the heck did you get it to the school?"

"It was already here, in the school. I just happened to find the matching cabinet on the outside. All I have to do now is fix this one," Harry explained.

Draco was sitting crosslegged on his bed which was on the other side of the cabinet from Harry's bed, so he had a good view of Harry down on the floor, and Blaise standing over him. He and Harry still hadn't gotten much of any one-on-one time, so Harry hadn't really had a chance to explain, even to Draco, what was up with the cabinet. He was obviously listening in curiously, but he wasn't going out of his way to question Harry on the object, either.

"So, where's the other half located? The other cabinet?" Zabini asked.

"Somewhere none of the rest of you are allowed to go," Harry muttered as he twisted sideways and reached upwards, getting at another set of now-glowing symbols and using his wand to move around a few of them, and rewrite a few others.

"And what would happen if one of us went through it anyway?" Nott asked in a somewhat snarky tone.

"A very large snake lives on the other side and she will eat you," Harry said dryly.

You could practically hear Nott gulp in the silence that followed. Draco snickered.

"Additionally, I'll be warding it so that only I can open it, and if you know what's good for you, I would definitely recommend against making efforts to circumvent those wards," Harry pressed on a moment later.

Nott made an irritated scoffing sort of noise before turning over on his bed and shifting his focus onto a book instead.

Harry rolled over a bit, angling his body back towards another part of the cabinet's interior, revealed another set of symbols and performed his modifications on them as well. A few moments later he pushed himself back up and out of the cabinet, let out a small relieved sigh and pushed himself up to his feet. Zabini took several steps back, giving Harry more space.

"I think that should do it," Harry said and Draco sat up a bit straighter, looking at him curiously. Harry shut the door once before pulling it back open. He made a quick little motion with his wand and a little twittering bird appeared in a yellow poof of smoke. Harry pointed his wand and the bird flew into the cabinet, still twittering away and Harry closed the door. He opened it back up and the cabinet was empty.

"Well, that's a good sign," Harry said.

"It's a good sign that the bird is gone? What would be a sign that it was still broken?" Draco asked.

"Well, either the bird would still be inside it, or the bird would be dead."

Draco's eyes widened. "There's a chance this thing could kill you?" he exclaimed.

"Nah, not me," Harry said shaking his head. "I'd power my way out of it before it could do that. But a little conjured bird is another matter."

Draco still looked rather wary of the cabinet.

"Well, here goes nothing," Harry said a small grin on his face.

"What?! You're just going to go in it? Just like that?" Draco exclaimed. "How am I supposed to know if it worked or if you've been vanished into nothing?"

"I'll come right back and let you know, okay?" Harry offered appeasingly.

Draco's brow was still deeply furrowed with concern. "And if you don't come back right away? What do I do?"

"Contact your father and he'll contact the other person who needs to know. But I'm honestly confident that this will work."

Draco made a disgruntled grumbling sound but did not protest any further. Harry stepped inside the cabinet, gave Draco a little wave, and then pulled the door closed.

Draco sat there for a silent moment before jumping up off of his bed and pulling the door open. It was empty.

Draco made another groaning sort of noise and closed the door before sitting back down on his bed and staring at the cabinet impatiently.

On the other end of the Vanishing Cabinet's connection, Harry pushed a door open and stepped out into the small room in Marvolo's home where they'd decided to put the cabinet. The room itself was also warded on the off chance that someone undesirable managed to get through the cabinet from Harry's end.

"Fwew," Harry said, blowing out a relieved breath of air and smiling to himself. He'd been pretty confident that he'd fixed it, but that certainly didn't mean he was absolutely sure of his work either.

The door to the room opened and Harry turned around to see Marvolo standing there, smirking. "Took you long enough."

Harry laughed. "Three days. It took me three days. Personally, I'm rather impressed with my efforts. It took Draco Malfoy nearly the entirety of a school year to fix that blasted cabinet during my first life."

Marvolo snorted and rolled his eyes. "I would't trust Draco Malfoy to fix a broken shoe box."

"Draco's not that bad. He's just young and a bit naive. Speaking of Draco — he's currently waiting for me to return and inform him that I survived the trip. If I don't pop back there real quick and let him know I'm fine, he's going to run into Snape's quarters and firecall Lucius to call you and get help. So let me just run and do that real quick and then I'll be right back."

"Be my guest," Marvolo said with a flippant gesture of his hand.

Harry opened the cabinet back up, stepped inside, closed the door, and then re-opened the door, now exiting back into his dorm.

"Oh thank Merlin," Draco exclaimed with a huge sigh.

Harry popped his head out, still holding the handle of the door. "Just popping back to let you know I'm fine. I'll see you in the morning."

"Wait - you're leaving already?" Draco asked, sitting up and looking concerned.

"That was the point of doing this. Sleeping in my own bed — eating breakfast in comfort, rather than in the Great Hall surrounded by hundreds of noisy children… it's kind of appealing. Figured there was no reason to wait."

"So… that's it then?" Draco said, his voice sounding uncharacteristically small.

Harry rolled his eyes. "I can hardly get away with doing everything back there — I will have to spend some time in the school socializing and being seen by people outside of classes. It's not like I intend to just live there when I'm not in class. I can't skip all my meals or just vanish from the school. Look — I promised I'll be at your first Quidditch team practice — that's something, right?"

Draco sighed and shrugged.

"So, hold on Potter — " Zabini cut in, coming back over from his bed where he'd been sitting. "What exactly is going on here?"

"I intend to sleep in the home on the other end of the cabinet because it's more comfortable and private. Pretty simple," Harry explained.

"Never knew you had a problem with sleeping here," Zabini said, mildly surprised.

"Mostly, I prefer to sleep with my boyfriend, and he's on the other end of the cabinet," Potter said, giving Zabini a cheeky grin.

Blaise's brows raised and his eyes widened slightly. "Oh. I see." His eyes darted over to Draco and then back to Harry and he arched a single brow as if silently asking what exactly the deal was between Harry and Draco in relation to this new information.

Harry grimaced slightly and have a subtle shake of his head and Blaise just rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Anyway, I'm off. I'll see you guys in the morning. I may, or may not, make it for breakfast," Harry said and Draco gave as disinterested a look as he could manage while shrugging.

"Fine. See you later, Harry," Draco said in a bored tone.

Harry refrained from rolling his eyes and instead just pulled the door closed once again. When he re-opened the door, Marvolo was standing on the other side, his arms folded across his chest and his body posture bored and somewhat impatient as he leaned against the door frame to the room's entrance.

"Done?"

Harry grinned. "Done."

— — —

"Dear gods you're amazing," Harry moaned. He was laying on his stomach with his head rest upon his folded arms while Marvolo straddled his hips and worked his hands into the muscles of Harry's back.

"Well yes, I am. But we already knew that."

Harry snickered.

"So how's your new seventh year going?"

"Eh. As good as it could be I suppose. It's a little weird because I'm not used to taking seventh year classes in 1995, nor am I especially familiar with most of the students in my classes now, but if anything, the newness is refreshing."

"I imagine it would be. How are the seventh years taking your unexpected presence?"

"They were a bit weirded out at first, but I think they've gotten over the initial shock and my performance has made it clear that I more than qualify to be there." Harry paused and chuckled. "I actually had a few of them ask me if I'd consider running a study group."

"Oh really?"

Harry snickered and shrugged a bit beneath Marvolo's continued ministrations over Harry's back. "Yeah. I told them I didn't have time of course, but it is still kind of amusing that it only took a few days for a bunch of 17 year olds to decide asking a fifteen year old for tutoring was appropriate."

"That hardly surprises me. You're so far above their level it's comical. The fact that they saw that just shows they're not total morons — that and you're obviously not making any attempts to hide it," Marvolo's voice took on a vaguely reprimanding tone, but it was mostly playful.

"Heh… yeaaahhh…. Honestly, I'm finding it kind of hard to muster up the desire and energy necessary to be all secretive."

"I know I should scold you on being reckless, but I have to admit I'm beginning to come to terms with the value in this new tendency towards honesty you're exhibiting more and more."

Harry turned a bit and Marvolo sat up a bit giving him more freedom of movement.

"The value in my new tendency towards honesty? And what exactly do you mean by coming to terms with it?"

"Obviously, it's not a habit I generally condone," Marvolo drawled, "—and your insistence on telling Draco Malfoy and letting him keep his memories afterward was only the beginning, really. Telling Lucius and then Narcissa… I suppose I've slowly come to understand that it might come with risks but that perhaps the benefits and the grander picture it indicates, justifies that risk."

Harry propped himself up on his elbow and twisted around as much as their position would allow so he could look up at Marvolo and give him a semi-incredulous look. "What the heck does that mean? What… benefits exactly are you referring to?"

Marvolo let out something of a thoughtful sigh before scooting back a bit on the bed, kneeling now low enough that Harry was able to pull himself out completely and turn around to sit cross-legged facing him.

"This desire you have to share your secret with a greater number of people… As you are fully aware, it bothered me, and at first I told myself it was entirely because of the possible security risk it could pose, but I came to understand that it bothered me more than that excuse could reasonably explain. Then it occurred to me that this… impulse to want to keep it more tightly concealed was less about our plans and security and more about what you being honest with another person means. For the longest time, Severus and I were the only ones who knew, and Severus is someone you've been close enough to in the past that you named one of your bloody children after the man. It's an indication of… of affection, I suppose. And as you started to want to tell more people, it meant that there were more people with whom I had to share your affection."

Harry blinked at him taking aback to some degree. "I… don't think I'd really thought about it that way. So uh… how is it that you've started to see this as a good thing?"

Marvolo made something of a twisted up face as if it pained him to continue, but he did. "The more people here that you actually care about the more likely you'll stay."

Harry rolled his eyes. "This again? Marvolo, I swear I'm… I'm not going to off myself. And if something went horribly bad enough for me to consider it again, I have promised to tell you first."

"Yes, and I appreciate that. And I do understand it. But I also understand that as you have slowly come to the conclusion that this life might be a real, long-term investment, that you're natural desire to be honest with people you care about has increased. You wanting to tell people the truth is a sign that you intend to stay. I've concluded that I should not hinder that natural tendency, so long as it isn't putting our work in jeopardy."

"This is why you never made me put Narcissa under a secrecy contract," Harry said with a dawning and almost amused sort of tone. "I'd almost forgotten about it and when I did mention sending off a letter to my solicitor to get one drawn up you told me not to bother. I thought you'd gone mental."

It was Marvolo's turn to roll his eyes though he made no other remark.

Harry paused thoughtfully for a moment before looking curiously back up at Marvolo. "Does this mean you wouldn't object terribly if I told more people the truth?"

Marvolo grimaced. "I'd prefer you keep it to a minimum and I would certainly appreciate some degree of warning before-hand. But I suppose it really is your secret to tell. I was perhaps being a bit… controlling before."

Harry barked out a brief but loud laugh with Marvolo glared at him for. Harry hid a grin behind his hand and turned it into a cough. Harry's smile turned soft and he looked at the man sitting opposite him with a sudden surge of affection. Harry's hand reached out across the gap between them and tucked a stray hair behind the other man's ear. Marvolo cocked a single eyebrow, looking a bit thrown off by Harry's expression.

"The softer-side of the Dark Lord. I've seen it more and more lately and it's still startling. But I do appreciate that you're doing it. I know it's for me."

Marvolo rolled his eyes again at the emotional display, but Harry could see the small smile that curled the other man's lips and felt the faintest hint of pleasure the other man held beneath the surface.

Harry's grin widened. "Only I get to see this side of you. And only you get to see this me. You… you really are special, you know that right?"

"Of course I do," Marvolo drawled.

Harry chuckled and shook his head. "Not like that. I mean… yes I've told Severus and Draco and Lucius. Yes, Narcissa knows more of the truth now and yes there are a couple more people I think I want to tell. But you know more than anyone else. You see more and… and the level of honesty I have with you is nothing like what I have with anyone else. I wish sometimes that I could make other people understand what I see in you that they just don't get. But honestly, I don't think I'd actually want you to treat anyone else the way you treat me. What we have is special. It goes both ways."

"This conversation has devolved into an overly sappy mess."

Harry snorted and shrugged. "Yup. So it has. But that's what you get for melting me into a puddle with that back-massage of the gods. You got all my defenses down."

"Oh? So you're defenseless, are you?" Marvolo purred, his voice suddenly both playful and threatening. He pushed himself forward and Harry let himself lean back until he was propping himself up on his elbows with Marvolo now leaning over him. "I just might have to take advantage of that, then."

Harry grinned and pushed forward enough to kiss the man before reaching up with one hand behind Marvolo's head and neck and pulling him down as he himself fell back onto the bed. It didn't take long at all before the two were tangled up in each other, moaning and panting and taking all the pleasure in each other they could manage.

Harry fell asleep laying over one of Marvolo's arms with his head resting on the man's chest. In his younger body he tucked into the other man's side rather nicely and Harry found that he enjoyed the feeling of being held like this. He knew Marvolo liked it more than he cared to admit as well.

He slipped off into sleep with the thought that this was monumentally better than sleeping in the his bed in the Slytherin dorm.

—

"You could still get breakfast in the Great Hall if you hurry," Marvolo said as Harry finished brushing his teeth and glanced over at the other man in the mirror as he put the finishing touches on his hair. He was naked except for a loose towel wrapped around his waist and Harry's eyes followed the man's chest down to the faint line of hair beneath his navel that disappeared beneath the flannel before looking back up and catching the man smirking at him playfully in the mirror.

"Yeah, I suppose I should," Harry said with a shrug as he made a brief but vain attempt to flatten his bed-head hair into a more reasonable state. "Draco's going to need some attention soon, I just haven't found a block of time to deal with it yet."

"What's wrong with mini-Malfoy now?"

Harry chuckled lightly before clearing his throat. "He's been acting off ever since the dinner party."

"That's been more than a month."

"I know, but it was a busy month. I just didn't find the time to really address it before. I think I kept telling myself it'd be easier once I was back at Hogwarts. I could focus more on Draco then, but the truth is that we don't share classes anymore, and now with me sleeping here, I'll see him even less. Anyway, I finally realized a lot of it stems from him freaking out once he realized just how powerful I am, and now he'd doubting the validity of our entire relationship. I think he's afraid that I was just faking the whole thing. Like… like I was humoring him the way an adult will humor a child that they're babysitting."

"You were."

Harry grimaced. "Not entirely. I really have grown quite fond of Draco. I certainly wouldn't consider our entire friendship faked."

Marvolo hummed, sounding rather disinterested and shrugged. "Oh, there was one thing before you leave."

"What?"

"You mentioned yesterday that you'd been asked to do some sort of study-group thing, right?"

"Yeah?" Harry asked, unsure where this was going.

"I think you should do it."

Harry arched an incredulous eyebrow. "What? Why?"

"Because that is precisely the sort of thing that will ingratiate them to you, and these are seventh years, so gaining their loyalty will be considerably more useful, and useful much sooner, than the loyalty of your previous classmates who are still nearly three years out from graduation."

Harry hummed and gave a conceding sort of shrug. "Yeah, I suppose that's hardly a bad idea. Probably smart, even. I mean, I don't doubt I've already got the respect of a large portion of the school beyond my own year, but it's definitely true that most of them don't know much about me, and respect does not equate to any degree of loyalty or trust. Some more one-on-one time with more of the seventh years probably would prove useful in the future."

"Of course it's a smart idea. I suggested it," Marvolo drawled and Harry chuckled.

"You know, if the idea is to gain more respect and potentially even their loyalty, a defense club of some sort would be just as good or better. Maybe I'd even make a go at doing both that and a study-group. I ran a defense club in my very first life and it was actually quite a bit of fun. Plus, I can imagine getting more of the Gryffindors interested if I offered something like that. Just coming together to study wouldn't interest a great many of them, but learning dueling spells? Definitely much more enticing. The more diverse a group I can gather around me, the more useful it'll be in the long run."

"As much as I would rather not have to enlist the services of Gryffindors, I will concede to their occasional usefulness."

Harry snorted.

"One potential obstacle I can imagine popping up if you were to go the route of a defense club, is that you might need a teacher sponsor…" Marvolo said thoughtfully. "Severus is an obvious option of course."

"I actually think I'd like to aim for Remus," Harry said grinning. "That might be kind of fun. I've barely interacted with him outside of classes since he started working as the Defense professor. I think I might actually enjoy an opportunity to reach out to him. He absolutely has no business being on Dumbledore's side of things, given his lycanthropy and the official position the cavaliers have on werewolf rights. The only reason he sticks it out with the Order is because of loyalty to Dumbledore for having let him come to the school when he was a kid, and now for the job."

"I don't particularly see any substantial value in luring Remus Lupin away from Dumbledore," Marvolo drawled with obvious disinterest.

"Eh, maybe not, but I still think it'd be interesting to see what I can do with it. I mean, I've already got Sirius pulling away from Dumbledore, and Remus and Sirius are each other's best friends. And honestly… the more people I can peel away from Dumbledore's ranks, the more accomplished I feel, personally."

Marvolo chuckled. "Do what you like."

They had both managed to finish up with their bathroom tasks at the same time and left the room for the attached bedroom to get dressed. Harry started to rush a bit, seeing as how he knew he was going to be running late for breakfast at this point.

Marvolo followed Harry to the room that held the vanishing cabinet, his own shirt still open and unbuttoned with a loose casual robe draped over his shoulders. The shared a brief kiss before Harry opened the cabinet and disappeared inside.

Harry spent a great deal of that morning brainstorming ideas for both the potential study group and the defense club. It wasn't something that had really occurred to him before, but now that the idea was there, he couldn't help but think it was probably one of the better potential uses of his time. One of the more frustrating parts of having to return to Hogwarts for the school year was the knowledge that he could be using that time for far more productive ventures. But recruiting was still a very essential and beneficial endeavor, and this way he could at least feel like he was accomplishing something.

And while he would probably keep the 'study group' to only involve the seventh year students, the defense club could be opened up to students fifth year and up. Hell, maybe even fourth years… In any case, it would be an opportunity to involve Draco some more and perhaps that could aid in mending some of their rather tattered bridges.

Charms class entailed Flitwick rambling on about some review stuff, and Harry zoned out pretty quickly, opting instead to spend most of the class writing out a club proposal, which he knew would be necessary if he was honestly going to make a go of this. His last class of the day was, conveniently enough, Defense, so he figured he'd like to have it ready by then so he could make the actual proposal to Remus then.

If Remus refused, then Severus was the obvious backup plan, and Severus wasn't really in a position to refuse. Sure, Harry wouldn't force him… but Marvolo would.

Harry made an effort to feign interest and attention upon his house mates during lunch and found his attention split between the seventh years he now shared classes with, and the fifth years who still seemed intent upon seeking his attention. Draco made no effort to engage him, however, and Harry got the distinct impression that the blond was sulking — most likely in response to Harry's disappearing act the night before.

Harry had an open block after lunch, which gave him plenty of time to refine his proposal before heading to Defense for his final class of the day.

It was Thursday and only his second Defense class of the year; his first having happened on Tuesday. This year the seventh year Slytherins were sharing Defense Against the Dark Arts with the Hufflepuffs, however it appeared that only four Hufflepuffs were bothering to take NEWT level Defense, leaving the class rather lop-sided.

All but one of the Slytherin seventh years were present, while only Cedric Diggory, Alexis Sykes, Roberta Hawking, and Gideon Landale were there from Hufflepuff. Harry still wasn't entirely accustomed to the idea of sharing classes with Cedric. Many of the seventh year students were just names and faces to him, but he'd actually gotten to know Cedric in several of his previous lives. He supposed it was probably a result of having held so much survivor's guilt over losing him in his first life.

Remus set the class to a group task, telling everyone to pair up in groups of two. The two Hufflepuff girls, Alexis and Roberta, paired up instantly, but Gideon Landale actually paired up with Felicia Blunt from Slytherin, leaving Cedric as the odd-man out. The rest of the Slytherins were already in the process of pairing up with other Slytherins so Harry walked over to Diggory and gave him something of a questioning look.

"Mind the idea of pairing up with a fifteen year old?" Harry asked and Cedric actually snorted.

"Honestly Potter, if any of what I've heard is true, you're probably the most capable snake in the school. I'd be a fool to turn you down."

Harry chuckled and rolled his eyes slightly before taking the seat beside Cedric and pulling out his book and parchment. They worked for the next half hour, primarily having been tasked with brainstorming ideas on the topic and compiling a list of spells and counter spells before Remus called them to attention again and started going through the groups asking questions and finally getting to the point where he actually assigned some homework. There was still about ten minutes until the bells would ring in the clock tower, signaling the end of the school day, so Remus let them all use that time however they chose — whether it was to get started on their work, or to just start talking with the other students, he didn't seem inclined to really care.

Harry pulled out his proposal sheet and re-read it one last time, making sure he'd covered all of the bases he thought would be best to cover and make sure he hadn't managed to forget anything.

"What's that?" Cedric asked a few minutes later and Harry looked up at him mildly startled.

"Hm? Oh — it's a proposal for a club. I'm going to talk with Professor Lupin about being the sponsor."

"A club? What sort of club?" Cedric asked curiously.

"A Defense Club."

"Defense club? Really? That's interesting. What exactly have you got in mind for that?"

"Well… I suppose dueling club would be just as appropriate a title, I just wasn't thinking of something quite that formalized, so I went with 'defense' instead. But basically, it's just about learning to cast offensive and defensive spells, specifically in regards to wizard versus wizard battles. So none of the magical creature or cursed enchanted objects sort of defense, we focus on in class."

"Oh, that does sound kind of interesting. Have you spoken with Professor Lupin about this before now?"

"Before? Nope. But I'm hoping he'll be game. If Lupin isn't able to do it, I'll just go to Snape, but I figured it'd feel like less of a 'Slytherin thing' if I got Lupin to be the faculty sponsor instead. If it's Snape, then it's a club run by a Slytherin student and sponsored by the Head of Slytherin House, so people from the other houses might not feel as welcome to attend, and that'd be kind of shit and not at all what I'm after."

"That is a good point. So what inspired you to do this, anyway? I never really pegged you for the sort to even really participate in a club, let along start one."

"Oh?" Harry said with a small laugh.

"Well, yeah — I mean, I'm not sure I've even seen you attend any of the quidditch games, or chess or gobstones tournaments, or anything really. You don't even tend to show up to any of the school banquets, except for the start of year banquet and sometimes the end of year banquet."

"Paying rather close attention to my participation in things, don't you think?"

Diggory rolled his eyes and chuckled. "Potter, everyone pays attention to what you do. I mean, how many years have you been writing for MP magazine? And every time a new issue comes out the whole bloody hall goes crazy about it. I doubt even a fraction of those kids would give two knuts about any of the stuff discussed in that magazine if you weren't writing for it."

"Well then I suppose I should feel rather accomplished. I'm spreading cultural and social awareness to the youthful masses who would generally rather remain ignorant of such matters."

Diggory snorted and shook his head. "You definitely do not sound like a fifteen year old."

"Thank you," Harry said grinning, causing Cedric to just chuckle.

Harry was just about to return his attention to the piece of parchment in front of him when the bells began to chime in the tower, signaling the end of the school day. The room was almost instantly filled with the sounds of things being gathered up, excited chatter, and chairs scuffing about as people stood up and began to leave.

"See ya around, Potter," Cedric said as he waved to Harry, slung his bag over his shoulder, and headed out of the class room. Harry waved him off and stuffed his few extra supplies into his own bag. He took his time doing this, and didn't bother to stand up until everyone else had finished up and finally left the room. Harry slung his bag over his shoulder and walked up to the front of the classroom where he stood to the side of Remus' desk and waited for the man to look up. He was looking rather tired and worn and Harry did a mental tally, suddenly realizing that the full moon would start the following night. Remus was fortunate that it was starting on a Friday night, since it would give him the weekend to recover.

"Mr. Potter?" Remus said, looking up at him with a rather startled expression. "Can I help you with something?"

"As a matter of fact, yes, I think you can," Harry said with a polite smile. He took the proposal parchment he had in hand and laid it out on Lupin's desk in front of him. "I am hoping to start and run a school club this year. To start the club I need a faculty sponsor and I was wondering if I might be able to convince you to agree to do it."

"A club?" Remus said clearly caught off guard. He accepted the parchment from Harry and glanced over it. "A defense club?"

"My intention is for it to remain focused on the wizard against wizard combat type spells, which would set it apart from the Defense class which tends to focus more on defending oneself from creatures, enchantments, and dangerous situations. At the same time, I don't intend to stick to any of the strict restrictions and formal structure of the international dueling league, so I hesitate to call it a 'dueling club' either. It'll be less about dueling tournaments and more about learning the practicing the sorts of spells a person might use in a duel. Though I do think we'll have a few dueling tournaments over the course of the school year. Maybe twice — one about halfway through the school year and the other at the end a few weeks before final exams."

"Huh… it sounds like you've put a lot of thought into this," Remus said looking rather curious at this point.

"I was thinking that the club would primarily be open to fifth years and above — as far as participation is concerned. I suppose younger years could attend as well, but only for observation. I don't think that the general student population below their OWL year would really be ready for the sorts of spells I think we'd be focusing on. There is always the possibility for exceptions of course."

"Much like you yourself has always been an exception to people's expectations," Remus said with a small somewhat tired-looking smile.

Harry just smirked slightly and shrugged.

"How often were you thinking of holding these club meetings?"

"Hmm… I was thinking once a week for three weeks, then one week off, then repeat. So basically one week a month would get skipped. It probably won't line up perfectly like that though — the schedule will probably be a bit tricky, seeing as how I'll need to make sure I plan it around the quidditch practices from all four houses, and any quidditch games. I'll also have to make sure it doesn't conflict with any of the Astronomy classes if I hold meetings on week days, and if I aim for just weekends, it'll have to be later in the afternoon, or else anyone who tends to sleep in will never show up. Then there's also Hogsmeade weekends to keep in mind, and as long as you agree to help, I'll also make sure to plan around the full moons."

Remus's eyes widened and his already pale and rather sickly face took on an even more pale sheen. Then his face softened and he chuckled lightly and shook his head. "It really is absurd that I should be surprised that you know…" he muttered with an air of self-deprecation.

Harry just smiled and shrugged. He then paused and looked curious. "You know… there is one thing I don't know that I'm curious about."

"Oh?"

"Does Sirius still come into Hogsmeade each month to keep you company in the Shrieking Shack?"

Again Remus looked slightly surprised for a moment before his face softened and he chuckled. "Really shouldn't be surprised…" he muttered again before looking back up and meeting Harry's curious gaze. "Yes. He does."

"So he'll be here tonight?" Harry asked.

Remus nodded. "That's the plan."

"Hnm…" Harry hummed and then chuckled and shook his head. "It's really quite silly how tempting it is to consider slipping down and visiting."

"Absolutely not," Remus said, sitting up straighter. "It's far too dangerous. If you want to visit with Sirius, there are better ways to go about doing it. Being anywhere near me during a transformation is far, far too dangerous."

Harry gave him what he knew probably looked like a somewhat condescending sort of smile but he nodded his head and waved his hand somewhat dismissively. "Yes, yes. Of course. So what about this club sponsoring thing? Do you think you'd be up for it? If not, I can always fall back on Severus, but I fear that with a Slytherin running the thing, and the Head of Slytherin as the sponsor, that people from the other houses might not feel welcome and I certainly don't want that. It'd really be much better if I could enlist someone from outside Slytherin House, and of course, you being the Defense professor just seems like the best match."

"Hm," Remus let out a huff of breath before pausing thoughtfully for a moment. "I… think I can do it. I hadn't really taken it into consideration obviously when planning for my work load…"

"It won't be any work for you at all, I guarantee it," Harry dismissed quickly. "I'll handle everything."

"Well, if you're sure…"

"I'm positive."

"Then I suppose I can't think of any valid reason to refuse."

"Brilliant," Harry said with a grin.

Harry let Remus read over his full proposal then, and once he'd finished he added his name to it so Harry could take the proposal to McGonagall for final approval.

Harry thanked him again before wishing him good luck with his transformation and leaving. It was still early enough in the afternoon that Harry knew McGonagall would be in her office so he headed straight there and after a brief chat with her, he dropped off his proposal and left.