"So… I blew up my aunt."

Jax blinked and looked at him, strands of his blond hair getting into his eyes. He was wearing a grey hoodie with SAMCRO written in the center of it, along with sweatpants, probably having fallen asleep in it. Harry brushed his own hair out of his face as memories flashed through his mind of what had gone down last night.

"You did what?"

"Not consciously. She was insulting my parents," Harry argued, throwing up his hands. "She started to call me names, say that I was right to be punished at St Brutus'. Not that she knows that I don't actually go there but…"

"Is she still alive?" Jax asked, amusement in his eyes and also a fair bit of… anger. His fists clenched as Harry watched him, unclenching, his eyes flashing. It was protective anger, that much Harry could see, directed at him, Jax wanting to be there in person to protect him. Something in his stomach curled warmly at the sight before he shook his head. It was too dangerous for it, for Jax to be with him in London.

"Yeah. I blew her up as in… She blew up like a balloon," Harry explained, smiling at his words. "She was apparently the size of a hot air balloon before the goon squad caught her and deflated her."

Jax laughed out loud, smiling widely, matching Harry's clear amusement. "I would have paid to see that."

Harry snorted and made a gesture with his arms, trying to encompass how big Marge had gotten. Jax laughed even harder, his cheeks turning red at the force of it.

"Then I fled the house," Harry finally said, as both of them quieted down, glancing around at the whited out dream version of the Chamber of Secrets. He shuddered at the sight of it before shaking his head. "Took the wizarding version of a bus."

Jax bumped his shoulder against his as they leaned against one of the tunnel walls. "What's the wizarding version of a bus?"

"The Knight Bus. Has like three or four floors on it and beds instead of seats and can squeeze between other vehicles. Trust me. You wouldn't like it."

"Wait. What did that guy do?" Jax asked, glaring down at the wanted poster that Harry had conjured from memory. "He looks insane. He looks a little like how Tig sometimes gets. Harry."

"What? I didn't ask for this!" Harry retorted tiredly, pointing down at the poster and starting to pace again. "Apparently he ratted out my parents. Was a good friend of theirs too."

Jax flinched, his hands flexing, curling into fists.

"It's not even a month into my third year and I've got someone out for my blood," Harry added, scowling and sitting down.

"The club doesn't look at people who rat well," Jax offered finally, his eyes flashing with anger. "He was their best friend?"

"Yeah. Apparently."

"Then he's dead to you too," Jax muttered vehemently, glancing around them at the whited out version of the Charming movie theater. "That's the worst. He shouldn't have ratted out your parents. He just shouldn't have. My dad and the club wouldn't tolerate that."

Harry shrugged at Jax's words, his fingers curling into fists as well before he sighed, dropping his arms to his sides. "We'll see. Ron says that Black might try to get into Hogwarts. The dementors around the castle also mean that the Minister thinks that as well."

"Dementors?"

"Creatures who can suck out your soul," Harry explained, sliding down to sit in one of the seats. "One tried on the train to suck mine out."

Harry shivered as goosebumps trailed up his skin and Jax walked over to sit down next to him.

"What stopped it?" Jax asked, narrowing his eyes in worry as Harry leaned into him, shuddering slightly. Harry reached out with his left hand and Jax automatically curled his fingers into his. "Are you alright? Your soul didn't get sucked out, right?"

Harry huffed and nodded. "I'm fine. If my soul got sucked out, I'd be a vegetable, Jax."

"A professor who had ridden on the train cast a spell to get it to back off. I'm gonna learn from him how to cast it," Harry said, his eyes drooping closed. "The Patronus charm."

Harry looked around the dreamscape, feeling his heart gallop through his chest back in his body, at the sight of it. It was a whited out version of a cemetary, of one that was unfamiliar to him. Though it wasn't like he had seen many cemeteries in the first place.

"Jax?"

A strangled noise echoed through the mist of the dreamscape, followed by a yell, and Harry winced at it. Jax had just turned 15 a week ago. What… Surely his friend was okay? He knew he would have felt something if Jax wasn't alright. At least he hoped he would have.

He crept around the headstones with no names on them, feeling as if he was walking through mud, an ugly feeling in the pit of his stomach. "Jax!"

The yell that filled the dreamscape drew him towards one of the headstones in particular, a few yards away, and to where his friend was standing over it. Jax's skin was pale, or at least the skin that Harry could see, as Harry walked over to stand next to him, quietly looking him over.

His friend was in a black hoodie, his blond hair messier than Harry had ever seen it.

"Jax?"

"My dad died," Jax muttered, not meeting his eyes, just staring limply at the headstone in front of them. Harry followed Jax's gaze and inhaled sharply at the sight of the white stone with black words carved into it.

John Teller. Devoted father, husband and brother. Son. First 9. President.

Something sharp and painful curled in Harry's stomach as he flinched, slipping his fingers into Jax's as they hung at his sides. Jax winced at the touch but returned Harry's squeeze.

"How'd it happen?" Harry asked quietly, leaning into Jax's side, hoping it would help. Jax's shoulders seemed to deflate a little, shuddering, his breath hitching.

"The road happened. John rode his bike into a truck," Jax said, his voice wavering, half faint, half… "He rode his bike into a truck and left me. Left mom! He left us!"

Harry flinched as Jax's body shook, the heat in his voice not sounding anything like Harry had ever heard from him. Though the vehemence with which Jax had denounced Sirius had somewhat matched the anger now. But…

"Fuck! You left us!" Jax yelled, throwing a punch at the headstone and another. Harry stiffened and squeezed the fingers in his tighter, reaching out to pull Jax's other hand back from another punch. He didn't exactly know if Jax's right hand, his knuckles, were now bloody in reality but given that Harry had healed Jax's left arm those years ago…

"Jax. Hey," Harry whispered, holding his friend's hands in his, tugging him around to face him. Jax stared at him, breathing hard, his eyes bloodshot, a few inches taller than Harry, enough of a height difference that Harry might have been scared. Might have been… if he didn't know Jax. There was a look in those blue eyes, a glint of something, the faint beginnings of rage.

Jax continued to stare at him and then glanced down at their hands, at his hands in Harry's before deflating suddenly.

"I'm sorry," Jax whispered, his knees buckling. Harry withdrew a little bit, letting the other teenager fall down to the dream grass, letting him lean back against the headstone. Harry followed him down and sat down next to him, their fingers still entwined. Jax was silent for a few minutes before he let out a strangled gasp and Harry leaned against him, hearing the quiet sobs that followed and flinching.

"My father and his friends called themselves the Marauders," Harry said warily, meeting Jax's eyes before closing them. "They had a map that they created that let me sneak out and go to Hogsmeade."

Jax sucked in a sharp breath at the words. "You used the cloak?"

"Yeah. I finally get to go to Hogsmeade and what did I overhear?" Harry asked, maybe more talking to himself than Jax. Harry scowled and then sighed, running a hand through his hair, opening his eyes again. Jax stared right into those green eyes, seeing a hint of darkness that wasn't… hadn't been there before. "Sirius Black is my godfather."

"Shit."

"Yep."

"He's doubly dead to you then."

Harry huffed and looked around at their surroundings, his eyes flashing with curiosity. "Where is this anyway?"

"The courtyard between the garage and the clubhouse," Jax said, smiling a little, pride curling in the pit of his stomach as he looked out at the whited out version of the yard. "You're sitting up against one of the walls of the clubhouse. The guys… brothers line their bikes up over there."

He pointed out each spot and as he spoke, ghostly motorcycles filtered into existence, white and foggy shapes. "I'm gonna drop out next year and prospect."

"Drop out? You can do that?" Harry asked, lifting an eyebrow.

"Yeah. I can get my GED instead of a high school diploma," Jax explained, a spark of excitement in his eyes. "Means I don't have to continue going to school."

Harry tilted his head and looked the yard over, even as he drew his legs into his chest and wrapped his arms around them. "Looks nice enough I suppose."

"Nice?"

"Fine. It looks great," Harry retorted, shrugging. "I suppose… The clubhouse probably means the same to you as the quidditch pitch does to me. Or Hogwarts."

"Hmm?"

"Home."

"Yeah. Just not the whited out, dream version."

Harry snorted. "Definitely."

"Took Tara out for a ride on my bike yesterday," Jax remarked, smiling widely, part smug, part adoration in his expression. "She loved it."

Harry stared at Jax for a moment before looking up at the grey, misty sky equivalent of their dreamscape. "I faced down a werewolf, several dementors and Snape yesterday. And ooh, meddled with time. That was a personal favorite, I've gotta say."

Jax blinked at him, blinked again, his mouth opening and then closing, hearing the slight sarcasm in those last words. "You what now?"

"So… it turns out… Sirius Black didn't rat out my parents," Harry offered bemusedly, grinning faintly, glancing around at the Shrieking Shack. Or the whited out version of it anyway. "James and Lily changed secret keepers at the last minute. To the guy who could change into a literal rat."

Jax stared at him, his eyes widening a little bit more before darkening, gears moving behind his eyes. "Pettigrew? Scabbers?"

"Yeah. Yep, it was him," Harry said, sighing and lying down on the wooden floor. "Peter Pettigrew's animagus form was a rat. Scabbers was a human being underneath."

"Sirius said he would rather die before he would rat out his friends," Harry added, pondering his godfather's words, what Sirius had said before he had fled the grounds. "He also said that he would invite me to live with him. Probably no chance of that happening now though."

"What do you mean? That's great news! You don't have to live with those shitheads anymore," Jax argued, elbowing him.

Harry stared at Jax, who shrugged. "I'm not taking that word back. The shit they do to you ain't normal or right, Harry."

"I know. She's my aunt though."

"She's still doing what she's doing," Jax retorted, scowling and crossing his arms. "Those red haired friends of yours did good, breaking you out last summer. If I was there, I would'a broken you out too. Sicced Tig on them maybe. Or Chibs."

Harry laughed quietly at the thought. He didn't know what Tig looked like or what Chibs was like but he had heard stories from Jax throughout the years. "At least the threat of a renowned criminal and alleged killer being my godfather is keeping them scared. And Ron said something about the Quidditch World Cup this summer."

"Good."

"Clay's making moves on my mom," Jax muttered, rolling his eyes and shuddering, as the whited out version of Charming High School spread out around the two of them. There was a slight movement of air that had never been in one of their dreams before but nothing else was different. "I don't like it."

Harry lifted an eyebrow and settled down next to him, sitting on one of the picnic tables in the yard.

"Oh… and..." Jax trailed off, pausing and recalling the date. He had gone to bed around 11:30pm so it would be nearly midnight now, he thought. "Happy Birthday, Harry."

"Thanks. I don't particularly feel any different now that I'm 14," Harry offered, shrugging and leaning back on his arms. "You said Clay's making moves on Gemma? Nothing too traumatizing, I hope."

Jax snorted. "Nothing yet. But… it was like… they wanted to erase everything that happened with my dad. I don't want anyone replacing him. And Clay's already become president."

"He's not replacing John," Harry tried, flicking Jax's shoulder.

Jax scowled deeper this time at Harry's movement. Harry stared at him before sighing.

"To be fair, I don't have a lot of experience with this," Harry added, his nose wrinkling. "The only thing that could be relatively similar is my aunt and uncle… 'raising' me. It's not like they replaced James and Lily. Clay's not gonna replace John."

Jax let out a sound of consideration, leaning back against the picnic table they were on. He laid down on it, his back to the table, and looked over at Harry, whose eyes were wide as he took in the sight of the normal non magical high school.

"I also don't have any experience with girl stuff," Harry remarked, shrugging. "Though there are the occasional couples that we see in the hallways of the castle sometimes."

"Tara." Jax paused on a smile, his eyes taking on that now familiar look that Jax got when he talked about her. Dreamy daydreaming. Or Harry supposed… night dreaming. "She's gonna be my Old Lady."

"Hmm. Seems nice."