sorry about the delays between chapters. my computer is playing up, so here's a few at once. enjoy and thanks for the continuous reviews. it seems that people are almost certain that harrys child is katie which i fond rather peculiar but there you go.

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

History of Magic

The following Tuesday Max rolled out of bed. Looking around his dormitory he noticed both Weasleys had gone. This was nothing for him to be surprised at. Recently he had spent less and less time with them and had only become more isolated in the dormitory. He leaped out of bed, glancing at his watch, history of magic started in 5 minutes, and he was still wearing his pyjamas.

However, the time he spent with Lucious and the others had its benefits. He had picked up several useful spells he guessed Harry and Alastor had never thought about. Using these he was able to wash and dry himself, brush his teeth and get dressed in seconds. With that he ran out the portrait hole.

Looking around to check no one was looking, he tapped the portrait on his left. A portrait usually ignored as its inhabitant was constantly sleeping. Max knew he only had to tap the man twice on the shoulder and the old wizard would let him through. This had become an extremely important feature of the castle in Max's eyes as it meant he could get directly to the History of Magic classroom, the charms corridor and the transfiguration department without going the long way round.

As he ran down the corridor he thought about how he never met anyone else whilst using the passage. In fact, he doubted if anyone besides himself and his friends knew of its existence. It was of little use to the others as they would have to walk round to Griffindor tower in the first place but it was the only way Max ever managed to arrive to his lessons on time.

Quickly he reached the end of the passage; quietly he snuck out from behind one of the suits of armour and straight into the classroom where everyone else was already sitting. After muttering a quick apology to the professor he took his usual seat at the back next to Harry and Alastor where he had sat from the very first day. He made eye contact with Katie, smiled at Alice and nodded toward Lucious, all of whom grinned back. None of the other first years, besides the four of them, knew of their midnight meetings, needless to say if they did, Max felt sure they wouldn't approve.

After he had taken his seat Professor Lupin began.

'Morning class, today we will learn about more recent history. This young man is in fact still alive. You've all met him. A wizard considered by many to be the most astounding wizard of our times due to the circumstances he's survived. Some say he's extremely powerful, others just lucky, the ignorant say he's a madman. I'm sure you all know who I'm talking about?'

Max knew of course, who couldn't? He had read the other day the article about his dark arts professor written by some muppet who wrote on the ministry's behalf. The minister of magic, Percy Weasley had been trying to convince the magical population for years that the boy who lived couldn't be trusted. He was either a liar or a dark wizard. The Griffindor lad didn't believe any of it, neither did many other people nowadays thanks to the decline in the ministry's popularity over the last 10 years. Max however, could see that Harry stood for all that was good. He could see in his eyes.

It was Katie who had pointed them out to him; she seemed to have an obsession with eyes. His eyes were full of pain and acceptance of pain, almost as if he'd seen hell and learnt to deal with it. Max felt it was almost like this man only lived to be the person to save the world. He spent his days trying to put on a chirpy face, but Max could see he was constantly agitated, looking for something. It was these things that he saw in his professor, which the others had also seen that made the four of them decide they believed the stories. Harry Potter could survive the killing curse; he could duel with Voldemort, the most feared dark wizard ever, and he could get away alive. But these things, this great power had ruined this man's short life.

Max looked up at the teacher in front of him. This man too showed similar symptoms. The two men, so very close it appeared, both appeared tired of life. The lot they had cast had not been the best, yet for the good of the wizarding world they had to keep on living it. After all, what would happen if Harry Potter died? That little hope they had against Voldemort would disappear and the light would be extinguished. He supposed that was what happened to you if you had lived through the worst of the Great War. Recently Potter had managed to weaken the dark lord into hiding, but Max had heard stories about the years before, around when he had been born. Stories about tortures and deaths, mainly to muggleborns, like himself.

The remainder of the class was spent with Lupin extracting all the information the first years already knew about their defence teacher, and giving them a few more facts on his life. Max noticed that when Lupin spoke of the sacrifice James and Lily Potter had made that memorable Halloween, his face grew older and, if it was possible, his hair grew greyer.

As the lesson drew to a close, all the students were shocked as a head appeared in the fire behind the teacher's desk. The young face in the fire had bright pink hair, which reminded Max of candyfloss. She caught Max's eye, winked at him and turned to his teacher.

'Remus? The order needs to meet with you, when you're done'

At that she turned back to the class, who watched in amazement as her nose changed to a pig snout and back. 'Wotcher!' she laughed and with that, she disappeared.

The entire class just sat and gaped. A woman had appeared in the fire, said something in code and disappeared. Lupin dismissed the class and they all hurried out, all except Max who sat there stunned. This however had little to do with the strange woman, more to do with something insignificant she had said. He was woken from his daze by his professor and he noticed all the others had left.

'Is there something I can help you with Matthew?'

'No, Well... erm it's just that woman...'

'Ah Tonks, she's an old friend, Why what about her?'

'Well, no, not really, nothing about her, just something she said'

Max looked down at his feet, wondering whether to say anything. He decided to continue what he'd begun.

'Well sir, she called you Remus.'

The professor looked puzzled, 'yes, erm, that would be my name, it's a strange one I know but, erm, rather well suited.'

Max knew the professor was referring to his lycanthropy, all the students knew now, but only a few slytherins had a problem.

'No it's not that, I think it's a great name, in fact, it's, well its just I've never met anyone else with that name.'

He noted a sudden curiosity spread over the older mans face as he realised what his student was saying.

'Matthew Remus Henderson?' he asked. Max nodded. His teachers curiosity seemed to deepen, 'Do I know your parents?'

Max felt a pang of sadness; he didn't even know his true parents. The only real family he had was Sarah and since finding out he was a wizard he felt like she was on a completely different planet.

'Well, I was hoping you could tell me.'

Max doubted he had ever seen a teacher look so weird. The man was staring into his face, as if looking for some feature that would resemble someone he knew, whilst thinking back through all his memories to find a match. Max could see by the look on his face that he wasn't really getting anywhere so decided to explain.

'You see, I've never met my parents, I'm in foster care at the moment. And erm, well the only thing Sarah, that's my foster mother ever knew about my real parents was that my mother wished for my name to be Remus. Naturally Sarah thought this was a bit too unusual, not meaning to offend you, she didn't know about magic of course, for everyday use so she made it my middle name. I guess I presumed that it would have been because of someone they knew and since I'm a wizard, they may be too, so erm...'

'You hoped you'd be named after me?' Lupin smiled at the thought. 'I'm afraid I can't really help you there.'

Max was embarrassed, this teacher couldn't help, and it was silly of him to have even thought it, let alone voice it. Of course there would be more than one Remus in the world, mumbling an apology he ran from the room, straight to the room of requirement to think. Never before had he realised so strongly how much he wished to meet his biological parents until that moment of hope had passed.

If he had looked back, he would have noticed a small smile spread across the face of his history teacher. After all, his red headed friend was brilliant at charms.

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O