Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and can't get money for this, but I can make him into a Mafia Prince.

Warning: Some chapters (the ones including pranks) might not be appropriate to read at work. Laughter may ensue leading your co-workers to see you as even more insane than they previously thought.

Chapter 19: Memories and Meetings

Harry and Blaise spent the rest of the weekend slipping unobtrusively through the old castle and avoiding as many people as they could, especially Theo. It wasn't their style to hide or run from problems but they couldn't afford a confrontation yet. Harry knew he had told Blaise to be cautious about a friendship with the slightly younger Slytherin but to go ahead, now he was beginning to regret it. The boy tried to cleave to them too much and was full of questions that they didn't want to answer. It was almost as if the boy had been instructed to find out as much about them as possible but Harry wasn't quite sure who. It could have been a teacher, the headmaster, or even some of their fellow Slytherins. It didn't really matter who though, the boy was getting annoying. Almost as bad as Ronald Weasley. If the youngest Weasley male had actually had guts instead of making idle and completely unstable threats he might have been a worthy opponent and belonged to Slytherin. In the end Harry finally had to tell Theo in no uncertain terms to back down and he had acquiesced. They still talked occasionally but Theo had given up on his prying, understanding that it was for his own good.

Yet all in all the avoidance technique did do them some good while they had employed it. They learned their way around the castle better than most first years and found a few passageways that would greatly cut down on the time it took them to reach some of their classes. The most profitable part of their wanderings turned out to include a run in with Peeves who was still being pettish over his encounter with the suits of armor.

Upon sighting them the mischievous poltergeist immediately launched into a singsong tune of, "Scarhead! Scarhead! Scary-scar-e, scarhead…" while trying to pelt them with a handful of stones he had.

"Shut it Peeves," Harry finally snapped at the annoying little man, "the Bloody Baron is around."

Peeves flipped himself upside down and blew raspberries at Harry.

With an irritable sigh Harry tossed a few of the spare dung bombs from their breakfast prank at the poltergeist, "here, go cause trouble with these somewhere else but don't you dare say where you got them or you won't get any more."

An unholy light lit itself in the eyes of Peeves and with a gleeful cackle and a nod the irritant flew through the wall and in the general direction of Filch's office.

At Blaise's urging Harry headed back to the dungeons with her. Unlike most students they felt comfortable in the dungeons and it was one of the areas they had explored the most so far. It was a veritable maze of rooms and passageways that one could head down into and disappear without a trace, easily allowing a person to lose any pursuer they might have picked up. It reminded them a bit of the tunnels winding under the Darkov mansion that were to be used in extreme emergencies and as escape routes. Harry shivered and remembered how just about a year ago they had been made to use the tunnels for the first time, never had the safety of their home been so threatened as it had been that night.

Flashback

Something was wrong. Harry knew it. Something had woken him and he had realized that the house had never seemed so still and silent before even though all occupants of the house were stealthy in their movements even when just walking around in the open. His fears had escalated when his father had burst into the room with five other fully armed guards and Trevor who was frantically clutching Blaise in his arms. This was no ordinary attack where Harry would be told to stay put and be ready to fight should an assailant somehow make it to the upper levels and into his room.

"The basements tunnels," even Manuel's voice had sounded odd and Harry had moved quickly to obey.

But Harry either hadn't been moving quickly enough or Manuel was afraid that it would be the last time he would get to hold him. His father had scooped him into his strong, sheltering arms and ran as if the legions of hell were breathing flames upon their heels.

Manuel, Trevor, and the guards who were protectively flanking them had expertly maneuvered the escape routes and Harry found himself reciting the turns from memory. It was only after the third right turn in the tunnels that he realized where they were going and he stiffened in his father's arms. They had practiced such drills before but never this one. This one had only ever been mentioned in passing along with the directions. They were heading for the Hole. Blaise whimpered and Harry realized she had understood where they were going as well. Reaching a section of the uniform wall that could only be found by counting your steps Manuel knocked in a few bricks and pressed a trigger on the inside of the wall causing the section to swing open and reveal a blackened space behind. Two blankets, four bottles of water, some crackers, and a flashlight were all that was in that little space. Manuel had hugged him fiercely and settled him in the Hole beside Blaise.

"Three hours," Manuel had told them sternly, "three hours and then you flee through to the end and barricade yourselves in the safe-house. Only move before then if things get too dangerous to stay here, and no matter what don't look back. Someone will come for you when it's safe and give the signal, don't let them in otherwise."

The wall swung closed and one of the guards replaced the few bricks that had been knocked out to make it seem as if there was nothing out of the ordinary with that section of wall. Harry's last view of his father through that opening had been of Manuel arming his gun as Blaise choked back her cries for her father next to him. They had huddled together under the blankets for both warmth and comfort, not knowing that the safe haven of their home had become a warring ground of two powerful Mafia's.

End Flashback

Beside Harry, Blaise was having similar thoughts. They had grown up together and went through many of the same things so that some situations triggered identical thoughts in the both of them. Yet that one horrifying memory was most often blotted out by the fonder memories they had of scampering through the tunnels, avoiding their fathers as a simple game of hide and seek was turned into a lesson the two children hadn't known they were learning. There were many things they had learned under the guise of childhood games only to recognize it as training later on. It was something they enjoyed and wouldn't give up for anything. It also made tedious but necessary training more interesting and they tended to never forget those lessons compared to some others that were merely told to them. One lesson they always forgot was the stern lecture on how immature pranks were. But then Manuel tended to counteract Trevor's anti-prankster lessons by giving them new ideas and new products from the lab to use. For a Mafia King Manuel sometimes seemed to be an immature kid trapped in an adult's body. Harry wouldn't have it any other way.

… … … … …

Meanwhile the teachers weren't having nearly as much fun in the first official staff meeting of the year. Albus was sitting there just as jovial as usual, forcing tea on them all and trying to futilely hand out his beloved muggle lemon drops. Snape sneered and once again declined an offer of the sweet and wished there was somewhere he could dump out the third cup of tea the headmaster had just pressed upon him.

"Can we get on with this Albus," he dared speak up knowing the others wouldn't out of deference to the old man, "I have an important potion brewing that I do not wish to leave unattended for too long a time."

"Very well Severus," Albus answered with his eyes twinkling madly in that infuriating way as if knowing there wasn't really a potion brewing, "we will begin. Does anyone have anything to say before we go about the usual routine?"

At the various negative nods and murmurs of 'no' Albus continued.

"Then it will please you all to know that the Weasley twins have been found innocent of the prank played during breakfast, the only crime they have committed is one of indulging openly in their mirth, not that such a thing constitutes a crime."

McGonagall gave a small groan, "that means we have some anonymous pranksters on our hands capable of pulling things off Weasley style."

Severus bit back a retort and resisted the urge to roll his eyes skyward; it was going to be an even longer year than he had thought. If Albus thought that such news would please them he didn't want to know what the man considered unpleasant news.

The meeting continued on with them addressing the usual concerns and planning various activities. Hogsmead weekends were planned out as well as Quidditch matches. Flying lessons were also planned for the first years and Severus wanted to strangle Albus for putting his Slytherins with the Gryffindors. Didn't the old coot understand yet that the two houses loathed each other and didn't even want to attempt to get along? The worst thing though was pairing the two houses in Potions. He had to constantly breathe down the student's necks while hoping to prevent sabotage attempts on some of the extremely volatile concoctions they brewed. Any event that had Slytherins and Gryffindors in the same room or Merlin forbid, paired together for work, was bound to land students in the hospital wing with a variety of ailments and injuries both magical and physical. Not that he didn't purposely pair the two houses together in class for just that reason on some of the days he was feeling slightly more sadistic than usual.

Finally to every professor's relief Albus came to the final point he wanted to discuss during the staff meeting. They had just finished talking about the adjustment and performance of the new first years when Dumbledore singled out two that had been preying on his mind the most.

"We also need to discuss two of our first years a bit more in depth; Harry Potter and indirectly the influence of his friend Blaise Zabini. Minerva?"

"There isn't a whole lot to say about them. Both are quiet students and seem to ignore most of the house rivalries when they do speak with others though there seems to be some contention between them and Ronald Weasley. They are adept at magic and I cannot find fault in their work, they do not goof off in my class but take their learning seriously."

So it went around the room, none of the professors had anything they could really fault the two children on.

Filch was the exception and he merely muttered about, "nasty little children being all the same. Trouble."

Severus merely sat back and processed what he was hearing from his colleagues while his quick mind went over what he was going to say.

"Severus?" Albus had finally singled him out, saving him for last as he was their head of house.

"I must agree with most of the assessments made already. They are quiet in class and get their work done even if they could use a little work on their brewing," everyone smiled covertly at Severus' way of saying they weren't complete dunderheads, "They don't seem to pay attention to house rivalries but they don't go around trying to make friends. They keep their emotions in check as is common for my Slytherins. Neither child has come to me for any problems as of yet."

Here Severus paused as if he was merely thinking but inside a fierce debate was waging. Finally Slytherin nature won out.

"Other than both Mr. Potter and Ms. Zabini being among the first students to breakfast and therefore early risers I cannot think of anything else to currently add."

Sighing Albus learned back in his chair after he had dismissed the meeting only to realize that Severus was still in the room.

"What can I help you with Severus?" The omnipresent twinkle was coming on in full force.

"I didn't want to bring this up in the meeting Headmaster since we had not had a chance to previously discuss it but in my first year Slytherin/Gryffindor potions class the other day something unusual happened."

Severus went on to describe the explosion of Neville Longbottom's cauldron and how the caustic potion had seemed to hit an unseen barrier in the air before falling harmlessly to the stone floor, none of the students getting doused with the potion that surely would have sent many to the hospital wing with painful injuries.

Albus mused over this information a bit, "from what you say we cannot conclude if it was desperate accidental magic or a more controlled magic. You did not see any student with a wand out and such a thing would be very advanced for a first year. It will take some watching to figure out who but I must say that it appears that there is power amongst the first years and we need to find out who possess it."

Severus left the room quickly after that not wanting to hear anymore of the Headmasters talks of power. He had a very sharp suspicion of who wielded the power and knew the Headmaster held the same idea. He knew which student or students would be watched more closely. He had basically sealed the boy's fate by uttering that it had happened during the lesson with the Slytherin and Gryffindor first years. He could only be glad that he had not revealed all his observations on his student during the staff meeting or to Albus afterwards. The child may be the son of the Potter that had made his life hell during their school years but the boy was a Slytherin and he was very protective and possessive of his Slytherins. No one messed with them without going through him first. This would take cunning and secrecy but he would do his best to shield his students from outside manipulations. Not that they would be needing as much help as most of his Slytherins from what he had observed so far. Severus was starting to revise his opinions a bit; after all no true Potter would be caught dead in Slytherin. It was time to find out more about the boy currently in his care.