Chapter 21

'Why the hell do we have to help Madam Pomfrey with an inventory in the holidays? Everyone is coming back tomorrow and probably spending their last day of holidays doing something fun, whereas, we are counting potion bottles and bandages.'

'Ron, do stop complaining. If you shut up and hurry up, then we can be finished by lunch.'

'Would you two please be quiet? Your bickering isn't going to help anyone go faster.'

'Bickering, Malfoy? How dare you. Ron is the only one bickering here. I am simply stating that we will finish this much faster, if we stop talking and put our energy into finishing this.'

'Hermione! It takes two to bicker, as you and Malfoy put it. So if I was bickering, you certainly were.'

'I was not.'

'Was too.'

'Was not.'

'Was too.'

'Shut up! Harry, please help me out here.'

'Huh? Help you with what?'

'Stop these two.'

'Stop these two what?'

'Harry, are you feeling alright?'

Ron and Hermione stopped glaring at each other to stop and stare at Harry in concern. Harry rubbed his hand over his face wearily and turned to face his friends.

'No, not really.'

'Harry, you haven't really been yourself since the first meeting of the Order. Did that Figg woman really upset you so much?'

'Figg woman? What Fi- oh, Mrs Figg. No, I had completely forgotten about her.'

'Who was she?'

'She lived up the road from me, since I was a baby. She was my babysitter and she knew who I was and how I was being treated, and she did nothing to help me. It isn't so much that she didn't tell me that I was famous, but she didn't tell me that I was a wizard, and I was brought up thinking that magic was evil. I was the Dursleys slave and she didn't do a thing about it, even when they hit me, she never did anything.'

'Oh, I'm sorry Harry.'

'Is this Arabella Figg? The auror?'

'I dunno, Hermione, I guess so.'

'Well, if it is, then she was one of the best aurors around, in You Know Who's last reign. She trained Mad-eye Moody to become an auror. She also taught DADA in the seventies, which means that she probably taught your parents. Also, she worked very closely with your grandparents before they were killed, I think she and you grandmother were close friends.'

'Huh? She knew my parents? She worked with my grandparents? She trained Mad- eye Moody? It can't be. Mrs Figg? The only thing she could train, would be her cats to use the litter tray.'

'Harry! I have it all in a book somewhere.'

'Were my grandparents really Aurors?'

'Of course they were. They were the most famous of there time. So were you parents.'

'My parents were aurors?'

'.'

Harrys friends stared at him open mouthed.

Draco found his voice first. 'You didn't know that you parents were aurors?'

'No.'

'Harry, even I knew that. Dad worked at the ministry and he met them a few times on raids.' Ron looked scandalised at the fact that he knew more about Harry's parents than Harry, himself.

'Harry, they were the best aurors for their age. They and Sirius, were the youngest aurors to get so high up in the ranks as they did. They became aurors straight out of Hogwarts. It was thought that they would be some of the most dangerous in the business, before, well, you know.'

Harry stared at his friends. 'What books are these in?'

'They are mainly in the research books in the DADA section in the library.' All three rolled their eyes at Hermione's answer.

'Can we go and check, later?'

'Of course, Harry.' replied Ron. 'But we have to sort out these sodding bottles first.'

'By the way, Harry,' Draco broke the hour long silence that had followed, only punctuated by the occasional smashing of glass followed by a muffled "bugger" and quick exclamation of "Ron, be more careful".

'What was the thing that was bothering you before?'

'Oh, that. Well after the meeting the other week Dumbledore kept me back to tell me that he had found somewhere for me to stay during the summer.'

'Oh, Harry, that's really good. You'll still be able to come and visit us, wont you?'

'Well, Ron that's the thing. I don't know. My new "guardian" may not let me. I don't think he will let me have much fun at all.'

'Why, who is it?'

'Snape.'

Bang, clash, clatter, smash

'Bugger.'
*************************

'Wow, Harry. Look at your potions mark. That isn't just a pass, that's a pass with honours.'

Harry looked in bewilderment at his paper. 'But, I never pass potions, well, not unless Dumbledore intervenes.'

Hermione looked up from her paper. 'Well, Harry, your hard work has certainly paid off. Yours too, Ron.'

'Oi! Potter, Weasley! What'd ya get?'

Harry threw his paper over to Draco, who caught it and looked up with a stunned face.

'Fucking hell.'

Harry grinned back and after yelling his score over to Dean and Seamus, who were trying to comfort Neville, he linked arms with Ron and Hermione and the marched out the door of the potions classroom.

******************

'So, we have five weeks left. What are we going to do or, more to the point, what aren't we going to do?'

Hermione looked at Harry and Ron over her copy of the Daily Prophet.

'I think we had better go to the library.'

Ron and Harry's jaws simultaneously dropped as they looked at her serious face.

'What the fuck, Hermione? We just finished our fucking OWL's you got eighteen, Harry got eleven and I got ten. Even my mum would tell us to stop working. The library?' Are you certifiably insane?'

Ron's face had become bright red and his voice was rising to a shout. People were turning around to look at him and he slid down in his seat.

Harry found his voice and began his rant on a much softer scale. 'We are going to the cave tonight to see Sirius, and I have to get some food ready for him. Then, when we get back, there is going to be an end of OWL's party in the common room. Please can we leave whatever it is until tomorrow?'

Hermione looked up from the paper again, her eyes twinkling. 'Well, I just thought that we could get out some books about your parents, but if that's the way you want it. We'll wait.'

Harry's mouth closed as fast as it had reopened and Ron sat up in his chair.

'Oh.'

**********************

'Well, that was a complete and utter waste of time.' Draco ran his hand through his no longer gelled back hair. 'Hermione, are you sure that they were here?'

'Of course I am. I don't understand it, even the family trees are go. oh.'

'Oh, what?' Ron looked up, his face interested.

'Um, oh nothing. Look let's try again later.'

Harry looked up, his face discouraged. 'Alright. Let's leave it until tomorrow afternoon. We'll go and get some food from the house elves to take to Sirius, and come back via The Three Broomsticks, to get some stuff for tonight.'

'Harry, why tomorrow afternoon? Do we have something planned for tomorrow morning that I have forgotten about?'

'Well, apart from the very nasty hangovers, oh don't me forget to buy some hangover cure, I have to see my lovely guardian Snape, about our arrangement.'

'Fuck, I'd forgotten about that. Is there anyway that you can get out of it?'

'I don't think so, I don't know what would be worse, going back to Vernon and Dudley or Snape.'

'Hey, that's my godfather you are talking about.'

'Yes, and I pity you. I would hate to have any permanent connections like that with him.'

Hermione looked down at her feet, before quickly changing the subject. 'So, what are we getting for Snuffles?'

******************

The next morning Harry awoke, his ears ringing and his head buzzing. 'Grrrllaauugghhhh.'

'Harry, mate, you don't sound at all well.'

'Blaaauuggghhhh.'

'Sorry to wake you, like that, but you have to see Snape today, and we thought you had better prepare.'

Harry slowly became aware of the water running down his chest and over his face. He opened his eyes, fighting the waves of nausea. The bright sunlight shined straight into his eyes and he scrunched them up with a groan.

'Easy, mate. Drink this, I'm glad we remembered to buy it.'

Harry forced himself not to be sick at the taste of the potion and slowly the room came into focus. His head stopped spinning and the nausea slipped away. He sat up quickly and glanced around the room.

'Fucking hell. What did we do?'

'I'm not sure, but we did it well. The Weasel Twins would be proud.'

'Hey, stop calling our family that, ferret.'

Harry let their fighting continue as he continued to survey the room. The floor was covered in broken glass and every flat surface was covered with bottles of all shapes and sizes.

Bodies were lying everywhere, some still unconscious, others holding their heads or drinking vast amounts of hangover cure. A couple of people were playing chess in the corner, drinking the dregs of the bottles around them. Hermione was in the corner casting cleaning charms.

'Why are there so many people? I thought it was supposed to be just four fifth years.'

'Well, sixth and seventh years joined us, not to mention half the fourth years.' Ron looked up from where he was positioned as Dracos new cushion.

'But, this is our just our dorm. What's the rest of the tower look like?'

'I assume its worse. Last time I tried to get out the door, it felt like there were many unconscious bodies blocking the door.'

'Damn, oh what time is it?'

'Ten thirty.'

'Shit, I have to be at Snapes office in five minutes, and,' Harry pushed on the dorm door. 'I cant get out.'

'So?'

'So. If I don't go there, then he may come here.'

Draco jumped off Ron in alarm. 'Shit, he'll tell my father.' He ran over to the fire place and threw in some floo powder.

'The kitchens.'

When he came back, he was followed by about ten house elves.

'This lot will clean this room, and I have sent fifty to each of the other rooms. I give then ten minutes to have this place spic and span.'

Harry choked back a laugh at Hermiones face. 'Spic and span? Where do you come up with these terms?'

Draco went slightly pink, but was saved from a reply when the door that Harry was leaning on opened suddenly.

'Well, I see you later. I've got to go.' He disappeared out the door at high speed.

He came to a skidding halt outside Snapes classroom door. 'Sorry I'm late Professor, professor?'

Harry looked around the room in confusion. 'Oh well. I'll just sit down and wait.'

At the time that Harry was running into the classroom, Snape himself was leaving Dumbledores office. He had been in a meeting with Dumbledore about the best way to deal with Harry. He had confiscated all the books in the library that even mentioned Drulisa's name and they were sitting on his desk in his classroom.

Meanwhile, Harry had perched himself on the edge of the aforesaid desk to wait.

Snape hadn't put his watch on that morning and it was most unfortunate that it was that particular morning when Dumbledores clock had slowed by an half an hour, courtesy of the Weasley Twins.

So when Snape had glanced at the clock on the mantelpiece in Dumbledore's office he had been pleasantly surprised to find that he had an extra half an hour on his hands, so he headed to the kitchens for a cup of coffee.

As Snape was entering the kitchen he found his godson disappearing into the fire shouting something that sounded suspiciously like 'The Gryffindor Common Room' and a large amount of broken glass on the floor by the bins.

As he was enquiring as to the origins of this spectacular amount of glass, Harry was looking at the large pile of books sitting on the Potion Masters desk.

It was just a quick glance, but in that extremely short amount of time, a title caught his eye.

"Aurors in the field at the time of the demise of He Who Must Not Be Named."

He flipped through the book but there was only a short paragraph about his parents. He flipped through the next one, and the next one. He was at the bottom of the pile and just about to throw the book down in frustration when a footnote caught his eye.

"It was a highly controversial point as it was unknown whether or not Lily and James Potter could be trusted with such close connections to the Dark Side as they had in Drulisa Potter."

Harry stopped in amazement. Who was Drulisa Potter? What a weird name. How was she close to his parents and still on the Dark Side?

Harry resumed his search through the books. Many facts arose that made him more confused and didn't tell him who she was.

All that Harry could discern, was that she was close to James, had an unfortunate marriage. Wavered back and forth from either side so often that it was impossible to tell where her loyalties lay. Was killed in a Death Eater attack along with her baby son, leaving the husband.

Harry was at his wits end, when he caught sight of a smaller book hidden under some papers.

"The History of Old Wizarding Families"

Well, this was what he had been looking for ages ago. Why did Snape have all these books?

He flipped to the Potter page which was blank. He was about to throw the book in the air in frustration when words began to appear on the page.

'Due to the extensive members of the Potter Clan, we have arranged this information so that it is much easier to access with much more detail. Please write the name of the member of the Potter family here________.

Harry picked up the quill lying next to him and scrawled in 'Drulisa Potter'.

The words faded away and were replaced by a page of tiny writing.

Harry read through it quickly. Wow, Drulisa was his aunt, and didn't she have a son, yes here it is, Sean. Oh, that's right. They were killed in Death Eater raids leaving the husband.

Well, he still had an uncle. Why hadn't the uncle taken him in? Was he a death eater himself.

Woah, both his aunt and uncle were death eater spies for the Order of the Phoenix. Why wasn't the name mentioned? If he was a spy then maybe that's why he hadn't taken him in. But, Voldemorts death would have made it safe for him to do so.

Why wasn't his name mentioned. Wait, wait. Here we are. Drulisa Potter was married on blah blah blah blah, and marched down the aisle blah blah blah blah, the happy Mrs Severus Potter-Snape.

Oh.

It was about this time that Snape looked up at the clock in the kitchen, and noticing that the time was much different to what he had first thought it was he got to his feet.

It was only a matter of seconds before he realised that Potter had been alone in his office with those books for 25 minutes.

To panicked to want to leave Potter with the books to much longer Snape threw some floo powder into the fire and came spinning out of the fire with a crash.

He looked up to see Harry sitting towards the back of the room with his back to him. A quick glance at the desk told him that everything seemed to be in the right spot.

He looked up at the boy who was slowly turning to face him. His face white and eyes red. He looked up sneeringly. 'You're late, Uncle Sevvie.'

Seeing the book in the boys hands made Snape freeze. Now being frozen in a room with an irate family member who has only just discovered that you are a family member can be dangerous. When that family member has hated you ever since he knew you it makes things more complicated.

Snape thought those thoughts very slowly for someone with as quick a mind as he usually possessed. Thus, he hadn't moved when a certain Harry Potter launched himself at his greasy uncle yelling.

"You fucking bastard. You fucking asshole. How the fuck could you? You are my fucking uncle.'

At this point the words became incoherent as Harry's fist connected with Snape's nose.

He didn't remember much after that, but when he came too in the hospital wing, the residing marks of both curses and fists told the story loud and clear.

Unbeknown to him, Harry was also in the hospital wing, suffering from shock and also suffering from extensive bleeding from his legs and arms.