ast Chapter...

"It was delicious, if you honestly want to know..."

"This is completely off topic!"

"You asked, I answered, Jamie."

"If this continues, you're gonna find your wand in the morning when you wake up where the sun don't shine."

"We can improvise."

"Go on, then. Give me your best."

"J-man? Jama? Jamesie? James-a-nator? Jam? Jim? Make a decision, Potter!"

"How about...JAMES?!" Sirius rolled his eyes and broke away from their argument suddenly, to address Harry.

"Was that Malfoy again? What did he want?" Harry contained a grin, it was adorable how wrapped up in their fight the boys were not to notice a conversation two feet away.

"Oh, nothing. Just being a bother," Harry said, "same old, same old." He bit into the apple with a crunch, wondering how the two other Gryffindors would take to him sitting with the Slytherins at lunch.

Oh, well.

Not to mention, Harry's lengthy to-do list. That was gonna take some time- and maybe an Invisibilty Cloak. Or a Map. Who knows?

Chapter Ten

I Spy With My Little Eye... Another Spy?!

Harry should have know better.

It couldn't have just been an ordinary affair.

Oh no, that was too plebeian for the great Slytherin house.

It needed to be a production, a big show, a posturing event.

Which is exactly what got him into this mess, he made a spectacle of Malfoy, because he was a prick, and Harry wasn't so forgiving of the Malfoy he had known in the original timeline.

Why, oh why, did he agree to this again?

Harry thought back to the happenings right after breakfast when he had first accepted Malfoy's lunch invitation.

Better known as the happenings before everything went downhill.

It hadn't seemed that dramatic at the time...

"So, say we check out that passageway again? See what the path down leads to, eh?" James nudged Harry's shoulder with an exaggerated wink, as they walked out of and away from the Great Hall.

Harry grinned half heartedly in return.

"James, do you even know how to find that passage again?"

"You are a dream crusher."

"Dramatic much?"

"Crusher. Of dreams."

"Jamie, chill-ax. It's all good, great, fantastic." Drawled Sirius. James' left eyebrow twitched at use of Sirius' nickname for him. Harry watched the two begin to bicker again, and drifted into thought.

How was he going to tell the two that he was eating with the snakes at lunch? To be very fair, they had taken the Parseltongue extremely well- but this may be the straw that broke the camel's back.

"I thought it was a hinkypunk or a cow, how was I supposed to know that-"

"Wait, how can you mix up a hinkypunk or a cow with-"

"You weren't there! It looked suspicious at the time, considering that there was more than one of them!"

"Still weird as a one-legged, tutu wearing, Grindelwald birthing Merlin. With a cat fetish."

"Jamie, I'm telling you- wait. Grindelwald birthing?"

"Yep."

"That crosses a significant line."

"It really does."

"It disturbs me." Sirius said in wonder.

"I bet so." James smirked.

"Say it again!"

"A one-legged, tutu wearing, Grindelwald birthing-"

"Hey, guys?" Harry stopped the conversation of James and Sirius from its disturbing fall into a deep, dark rabbit hole. "How would you feel..." Now his dorm mates' eyes were on him. "IfIsatwiththeSlytherinsatlunchbecauseLuciusMalfoyaskedmeto-" He took a breath. "BecauseSlughornwantstopromoteHouseUnityand-" Another breath. "Ihappenedtobeintheircommonroomthismorningcausethingshappenpleasedon'tjudgeme-" Deeper breath. "Would you mind?"

A moment of silence.

"What did you say?" James asked, scrunching up his face, while Sirius simultaneously said,

"I don't know what's happening right now."

Harry grimaced.

"If I sat with the Slytherins at lunch because Lucius Malfoy asked me to, because Slughorn wants to promote house unity, would you mind?" Harry decided to not re-mention that he has been in the Slytherin common room. No knowing what problems that could cause.

"I don't mind, I guess, if the teacher wants you to do it and all. But, I mean, you're Muggleborn and grew up in an Orphange, why you?" Sirius wondered aloud. James nodded along.

"Dunno," Harry said shrugging and containing his internal glee at Sirius' acceptance. The Maruaders' leaders were much more lenient in their earlier years at Hogwarts in regard to Slytherin house.

"Wait, you're a Muggleborn!" James exclaimed.

"Uh yeah, have you heard of the Riddle pure blood family?" Sirius said in a condescending, exaggerated voice, hands on his hips to emphasize his point. Harry nearly jumped when Sirius said 'Riddle'. Seems like he had forgotten again that he was 'Riddle'.

"No, just wondering how a Muggleborn would know about quidditch and the quidditch national teams and have the ability to watch the national games." James said. Sirius glared at him and huffed.

"He wouldn't, stupid."

"But he did say so- on the train. I was talking about quidditch and asked what his favorite team was, and he answered. We talked a bit about it, and Hadrian knew what he was talking about." Harry swallowed slightly. Looking at the shrewd gleam of interest glistening in James' eye, he now realized that this was the shred of James that would be his adult self one day.

Careful, catching little details, and one of the best Aurors that the Ministry had ever had in ranks.

"I did some reading up on the Wizarding World- you know, new world, wanting to explore, all that. Quidditch seemed real interesting, and I did a little extra research on it. Flying sounds amazing."

And like that, the gleam was gone.

"We'll get you a chance to try out a broom soon Harry- a nice one too. I gotta Fulgurs 300- Fulgur means lightning in original Latin. That means super fucking fast!" James grinned excitedly and squirmed about like he tended to do when happy, Harry noticed.

"Sounds great!" Harry replied, not faking the enthusiasm. He hadn't gone flying in a long time- too long.

"Hey, just try and ignore Bellatrix, okay? At your lunch thing? She's been in a horrid mood since Saturday. She's the one with the frizzy hair and deranged eyes. And remember, I can't help whom I'm related to." Sirius said sheepishly.

"Sirius, she wouldn't have been in a horrid mood, if you hadn't gone and-" James was interrupted.

"She deserved it! It was just a joke. No harm done, Merlin relax." James still looked at Sirius with one questioning eyebrow raised.

"What exactly did you do?" Harry asked, both worried and intrigued by the answer.

"I dyed her hair. HARMLESS." Here Sirius looked pointedly at James.

"Then you jinxed her shoes to tap dance until she apologized for calling you a blood traitor. Which, was a rather impressive piece of magic, my friend-"

"Why thank you, James." Sirius cut in with a smirk.

"But she still didn't apologize, she just undid the jinx and then proceeded to attempt to hex our bits off. Not cool, Sirius. Not. Cool." James shifted unhappily as if remembering the occurrence. Harry frowned.

"When did this happen?" Sirius shrugged carelessly.

"Saturday. After lunch. Y'know, the day you basically slept through?" Harry's frown receded, but he did wonder if he had missed anything else noteworthy during his hibernation.

"Passageway, Harry, come on?" James' mind had gone back to the beginning of their conversation. "It would be fun," he practically whined.

"James, we've talked about this. Do you know how to make the passageway reappear?"

"Well- no."

"So how would you get into a passage you can't open?"

"I wouldn't," he said with a pouty voice and a scuffle of his toes.

"Exactly," Harry huffed, but he was smiling.

The three walked in a companionable chatter through the mostly empty halls. There was the occasional upper year rushing by in a frantic hurry, or a lost first year bumbling down the hall and craning their neck around as if that would help them gain direction. Or the rare group like themselves, just walking and talking and enjoying the Hogwarts of a mid-morning Sunday.

"Mr. Riddle," A stern voice with clipped words called out from behind. Sirius and James stiffened at the authoritative tone, but Harry smiled serenely. He recognized after many years that that voice was meant to be frightening. 'Keeps them in line', McGonagall used to say, then smiled with stern lips at Harry. But that was a different McGonagall- then that McGonagall he once knew.

This one barely knew him, and was calling for him by an incorrect last name. Not that she knew that, of course.

"Yes, Professor McGonagall?" He said smoothly and calmly while turning around to face her.

"Your History Professor would like to have a word with you, Mr. Riddle. In his office. If you'll follow me now, I will be taking you there."

Sirius and James looked awed.

"Second day here and you're already in trouble with a class we haven't had." Sirius whispered.

"You're my role model, did I ever tell you that?" James put in with a dazed look on his face.

"Mr. Riddle." Professor McGonagall repeated. Harry said a quick goodbye to James and Sirius, then hurried to follow his Head of House. Before they had gotten far though, a silver Phoenix swooped down on them. It seemed to convey something to Professor McGonagall, then suddenly she and Harry were walking a different direction.

"It seems we will be meeting my colleague, in Professor Slughorn's office. It is closer, and where your History of Magic Professor currently is." A Patronus, that's what the silvery magical bird was, Harry realized. Probably Dumbledore's. It had told McGonagall to go elsewhere, just then.

So with a purposeful march, the two headed for the dungeons.

"Minerva! Jolly good to see you, here visiting my humble abode!" Slughorn boomed with cheer, waving a hand wildly to usher them inside. "Would you like a cup of tea? Something, perhaps, stronger?" He said mischievously. Harry, for the life of him, couldn't decide if the man was joking or not. If not, it was certainly not an appropriate thing to be mentioning around a student- first year no less.

From the look on McGonagall's face, she agreed.

"I am quite alright, Horace." Before she could say more, maybe even reprimand Slughorn for his misplaced sense of humor, an auburn head of hair with large silver streaks strode into the office.

"Ah, I see you could manage to join us, Minerva. Tea, by any chance?" Harry was a bit offended that, despite the fact he was the one Dumbldore had summoned, not a single adult had yet taken account of his presence, much less had spared time to address him.

Sure, not like the student is an actual person or anything.

Only after a meaningless few minutes of chatter, in which they proceeded to Slughorn's private parlor room (draped in deep greens and soft grays) and ended up calling a house elf for some earl grey, Dumbledore finally set his periwinkle eyes on Harry.

"Mr. Riddle, no need to look just so tense- I assure you, you are in no trouble. This was merely a call of curiosity." Harry forced himself to unwind a bit, and placed a gentle expression of relaxation on his face. Honestly he had been expecting to be in some sort of trouble, Dumbledore was not wrong.

"Curiousity, sir?" Also, why on earth was Dumbledore a History of Magic Professor? Downright baffling. He somewhat recalled that the old Headmaster had once taught defense, or charms or something, he couldn't quite remember anymore. But History- just seemed so- boring.

"I was chatting with Professor Slughorn here, and he mentioned the most fascinating story. It seems someone ended up in the wrong common room, last night." Harry nearly face palmed, of course Slughorn would tattle to Dumbledore. The man wasn't as nearly as stupid as Harry liked to think he was, and he was a horrid gossip.

"Well sir, I did actually find my way to Gryffindor the other night, but in the morning decided Gryffindor is a very, um, loud house. I wanted to have some peaceful reading time, and found myself in the dungeons." He looked up at McGonagall, but she hadn't reacted. He cleared his throat and continued. "I happened across the Sytherin portrait hole, and was messing around trying to guess what the password could be. It was really on chance, that I ended up getting it right, so I thought might as well go in. Sorry," he said, looking at Slughorn. "I found it very peaceful for some reading, and had planned to stay for only a little bit, but a fellow first year came down and caught me. So, I stayed longer considering I was already seen."

The three teachers looked at him, with what looked like understanding at the 'innocent' tone he used. Harry knew this was a weird situation but surely it can't be that big of a rule break. Only McGonagall looked a bit unhappy with the depiction of her House, but let it be.

"You know," he added, for a sweet touch, "I really hate the stigma everyone seems to plaster to Slytherin house. An entire house cannot just be bad. It's like saying, 'oh you're in Slytherin? You must be an, excuse my language, a total twat!' It's ridiculous."

"Indeed, Mr. Riddle. Indeed." Dumbledore murmured appreciatively. "Well, we have taken up more than enough of your time. Please, go. Join your friends. I'm sure they're quite worried about you. This was just a little check in, that nothing untoward is happening in Gryffindor Tower." He peered over his glasses at Harry. "If you are feeling unsafe in the Tower-"

"Oh no, sir!" Harry exclaimed. "Not at all, I- no."

"Well, Harry, that concludes our little talk then, but if you like to finish your tea you may, and go rejoin your classmates."

Harry nodded his head and simply stood, and let Slughorn escort him out.

He stepped into the hall once more, fully intending to find his friends, but never got the chance. One Lucius Malfoy had slid out from the shadows, as he came out of Slughorn's office.

"Hello," he greeted politely. It seemed the boy was trying not to ressurrect the ill will between them.

"Hello, Mr. Malfoy," Harry said as neutrally as possible.

"Studying anytime soon?" Harry just then remembered what he had said to the boy in the hall.

"Going to study, right now, actually."

"Good. I'll walk with you." When they got to the Slytherin common room entrance, his 'study' area, Harry was extremely grateful to every deity that Malfoy said the password, because he honestly hadn't known it. And Harry preferred his methods of traveling the castle to be kept a secret.

"So." Malfoy drawled, once they were both seated by the fire. He completely ignored the rest of the House, which was watching out of corners of their eyes. Harry fought the urge to roll his, they weren't shy at all. "How did you do it? What little trick or game did you use to accomplish something that, ordinarily, is extremely... difficult." Harry smiled.

"Magic."

"Well, obviously, but what kind?"

"My... magic. Not a way to explain it." Harry shrugged. Malfoy looked like he would ask again, but then he decided against it. He also gave Harry an oddly appreciative once over.

"Well, Hadrian Riddle, I am glad you will be joining us for lunch." Harry was impressed, Malfoy almost sounded sincere when he finally spoke again. That took some serious skill, considering the boy was tended to look constantly disgusted. The rest of the common room didn't seem so surprised when this information was announced- they must've already known somehow.

"As am I, Lucius Malfoy." Harry stood as calmly as he could manage, every movement fluent. He spared Malfoy a small smile. "Until then, Slytherin house." With that he left the snakes' pit, done with with the dull interrogation- only to hiss to a nearby wall. The secret passageway slid open, and Harry smirked to himself. Oh yeah, he thought, I still got it.

This passage was one that connected to the hole behind the painting that hung above the Slytherin common room. Perfect for entering their common room, and also for spying. Harry knew the real conversation would start as soon as he left.

He leaned against the portrait, and listened attentively.

"I don't like this," Someone muttered angrily, "a Gryffindor and a mudblood. What in the Dark Lord's name are you thinking, Malfoy?"

"Don't use Lord Voldemort's title so crassly," Malfoy hissed. Harry had his suspicions confirmed. Tom Riddle was still a Dark Lord here. And had influence in the school... That was worrying. "Besides, Slughorn took a liking to him immeadiately. Not to mention his power-" The other boy scoffed.

"You mean the trick he played on you and a couple other of your friends? A trick and nothing else."

"He did it," Malfoy insisted. "If you don't take the luggage incident as proof, then I must ask how you don't feel it."

"Feel what?"

"This- this aura. So strong and- oh, indescribable." Malfoy's voice had taken on a breathless quality. "Besides, I don't think he's a mudblood. Did you notice how he reacted when they called his name for the hat? It took him a minute to realize they were calling him." Silence followed that. "I think he's hiding something, at the very least. Anyway, for a Gryffindor he acts very proper. Befitting of the better house."

"On your head, Malfoy. If He hears of us associating with those below us, who knows what our punishments would be." Harry heard another boy speak up.

"Someone talks back to you, and your pride is so wounded you have to stalk their every move? Don't you think you're being a bit thick right now?" A girl was speaking now.

"Our fathers, our mothers, our cause, how will associating with mudbloods make us look?"

"Don't whine, He won't know. Yet."

"Oh, dear Lord, tell me you're not planning to get him involved."

"I'm telling you. That power..." Malfoy trailed off.

"Whatever. It's going to take more than a cheap trick to win over my favor."

"Guys," a shrill voice suddenly said, "isn't that shipment coming today? Honeydukes, right?"

"Yeah." someone else piped up. "Macnair is gonna grab it, I heard. The Lord'll be pleased." Harry thought to himself. Macnair... he had seen him at the Feast. Tall, muscled build, Fifth year.

What shipment? Of what? And what would the Dark Lord want of it? Well, it can't be anything good. Not if teen students are involved.

Harry then smirked. What good would sitting around and wondering do? If he wanted to see what that shipment was, he would have to go look himself. The teen headed for the humpbacked witch statue, ready to start his first true adventure.

"Dissendium," he whispered and tapped his wand to its hump.

He then slipped into the passage swiftly, never noticing the pair of shocked eyes that were pinned on his every move. As he darted down the earthen tunnel, he also never noticed when someone else dropped into the passage with him and began to silently follow, eyes still burning into his back.