Disclaimer: The usual stuff, you know...

Author note: Thanks for all the reviews and comments. I corrected the spelling mistakes, which Kekelina pointed out and changed Alice's surname to Nesbit (thanks to songbreeze about that). I really appreciate all constructive criticism and if you see some stupid language mistakes I made please, let me know... It is my first attempt to write anything like that and in English moreover, so I suppose I make a lot of them...

And one last thing – my studies are starting right now, so I will have a lot on my head and I won't be able to update very often – I will try to add new chapter at least once a week, but I'm not sure if I'll manage. Right, on with the story, then...

Author note: Huge thanks for Aln-Mai for editing.

Chapter 5

Ron and Harry stared at Hermione blankly, her last statement making it's slow way inside their brains, until the comprehension of what exactly she was talking about dawned on them both. Ron opened and shut his mouth few times, before he finally managed to say the only thing that came to his mind.

"Shit."

"Yes, indeed. We need to think of something now," Hermione replied.

"I don't think it's good idea to talk here—let's go somewhere more private," Harry suggested, trying to remain calm. "The Room of Requirement?"

It was a good choice, as it was probably the only place in the entire castle apart from the Chamber of Secrets not mentioned on the Marauder's Map. The more time they spent there, the less they risked the Marauders accidentally noticing their real names on the Map—that is, assuming that they were going to use it tonight, which wasn't terribly likely to happen.

They headed there, grateful that none of the other Gryffindor sixth-years were in the Common Room to inquire where they were going. In a very short time they arrived and the doors appeared in front them.

The inside of the room surprised them a little. They subconsciously expected the classroom-like, cozy chamber, which The Room of Requirements turned into every time they came for the DA meetings last year. Instead, they found themselves in a large room, absolutely empty apart from three chairs and a small table in the middle. The walls glowed with a white-blue, dim light.

"Oh..." said Hermione, looking around. "That's cool—I wouldn't have thought of it myself."

"You wouldn't have thought of what?" Ron demanded.

"We needed a place to talk, a place where no one can overhear us. So it is probably some sort of protective charm that's making the walls glow like this."

"It looks creepy..." Ron muttered. "Like an interrogation room."

"No," Harry objected. " I think it is like this so nobody can sneak in and eavesdrop. We can see everyone, since there is literally nothing to hide behind here."

"Right, um—maybe we will just sit and decide what to do about the Map, instead of discussing how intelligent this room is." Hermione said, and moved towards the chairs.

The boys followed her and took their seats. Some tea and biscuits appeared on the table.

"So, what should we do?" Hermione asked, looking at her friends expectantly.

"We can't let them keep it, that's for sure. Maybe we can just steal it," Ron said thoughtfully. "I mean, it's not like it's a decent thing to do, but we don't have much choice, do we?" he added, seeing the horrified expression on Hermione's face.

"I don't know—it feels wrong, to just steal it like that—I think we'd better go to Dumbledore," she answered uncertainly.

"No," said Harry. "We can't do that. We know that in our times he has no idea that the Map even exists!"

"You don't know that for sure, Harry," Hermione pointed out. "Maybe he just pretends he doesn't know."

"Maybe—and maybe not. Anyway, I agree with Ron, we had better get it ourselves. We need it, especially now. And I don't think it makes any difference to my father whether we take it or Dumbledore does. Only if we do it, then there is a chance that they will think they lost it or something—it would be less suspicious than Dumbledore suddenly discovering one of their most guarded secrets."

"OK, let's say I agree with you for a second," Hermione said, folding her arms on her chest. "How exactly do you want to steal it? You don't even know where they keep it!"

"Well, what we really need..." said Harry slowly, with a frown on his forehead. "What we really need is some time alone, to search our dorm. I'm sure they keep it there, just like we did—we need to have time when we are absolutely sure that they won't come in the middle of me or Ron going through their trunks..."

"No, that would be really bad," Ron said. "Sorry to say that, Harry, but your father and Sirius—they aren't exactly very nice..."

"No, they aren't..." Harry agreed, and pondered telling his friends about what he had seen in Snape's Pensieve. He had promised not to, but it wasn't really important anymore, as they were probably about to see some similar events. Ron didn't seem to notice his doubt and he soon came up with another suggestion.

"Maybe we can do it next full moon? They would be out..."

"No, that's pointless, they will take map with them for sure," Hermione replied.

"Next Hogsmeade visit?"

"No, that's in six weeks, Ron!"

"OK—then maybe we will just not go for our classes one day..."

"They will know that we took it, then. Really, we should go to Dumbledore."

"Right, so how about this: you pretend that you're cursed by a tickling charm, the Marauders try to help you and are distracted—to make it more real, we could actually really put you under a tickling charm, don't you think, Harry?" Ron smiled mischievously and took his wand out, trying to look threatening.

"Ron! We are here to discuss something important!" Hermione shouted with a small hint of annoyance in her voice. She tried to remain serious, but seeing his expression she snorted, and then started giggling. Ron grinned and said with a mock concern, "Well, you know, I don't think you really need the tickling charm after all..."

Harry observed those two bickering as usually. Ron came up with more and more ridiculous ideas of how to steal the Map and soon they were all laughing, for the first time that day. It was good thing, to forget about all their troubles for a while.

They spent rest of the evening in the room, not missing the world outside at all.


The Marauders watched the two new boys and their sister leave their dorm, and immediately after the doors shut, Remus started to speak, sounding rather cold.

"Sirius, could you explain what do you think you are doing?"

"Don't you think it's rather obvious, Moony?"

"You can't throw them out like that, even if it might be inconvenient to have to share the room..."

"Inconvenient—you will end up as a teacher, Moony—you're already start to speak like one..." James interjected with a snort.

"I don't see any sane headmaster employing me—but back to what I was saying, Sirius. The way you are—it's worse then Snivelly sometimes, don't you see that? First day in a new school and you shout at them like that..."

"Don't you dare compare me with him." Sirius' voice was calm, but his eyes flashed dangerously. He folded his arms and sat on his bed. "Anyway, the whole argument is pointless—I changed my mind."

"You changed your mind?" James asked incredulously. "That's rare—Sirius Black changing his mind—unless—it's the Hermione girl, Padfoot?" The knowing look appeared on his face, followed by a smirk as Sirius straightened up and glared at his best friend, obviously annoyed.

"NO, it's NOT the Hermione girl. I put that second thought to the matter, if you need to know. We can't throw them out, because McGonagall wouldn't let us and we're in enough trouble already. So I changed my mind. Simple," Sirius explained, as if he was talking to a child. He took a breath and continued in a quiet voice, looking accusingly at James. "You think I would want to endanger my FRIEND, because of some stupid blonde girl? Even if this friend thinks that I'm worse than Slytherin—I did what I did for a reason..." His voice sounded unusually bitter.

The two Marauders looked at each other uncertainly. James shifted uncomfortably, and then said, with guilty look on his face, "Look, Padfoot, I didn't want it to sound like that—I only noticed that you, well—you know—the way you acted around her during the feast..."

"Please, James, stop that—I just wanted some fun—she's not my type... " Sirius interrupted him with a scowl.

"Listen, I'm just trying to say I'm sorry—I guess we really had a bad day today after all..."

Sirius gave small smile and wanted to say something, but Remus was first.

"Yeah, I'm sorry too, Padfoot, sorry about what I told you—about being worse than Snape," he paused for a while. "But I still think you're being an arse to those new guys."

"That's settled then," Sirius said lightly. "I'm an arse. I just don't want them to discover who you are, Remus." He added more seriously, "I was worried. And I care a little bit more about you than about being polite to some jerks who don't even try to defend themselves. You don't know how they might react if they discover who you are. Well, I guess I can apologize, if you really think I should."

"We should all apologize," Peter said nervously. It was the first time he had spoken throughout the entire conversation. The other boys turned to him, surprised. "I mean, it would be better to make them think that we like them or something—so they would like us as well—and be less suspicious..."

"Maybe—guess, you're right, Wormtail," said James thoughtfully. "And it's not very likely that they will figure anything out soon. It took US half a year after all!"


It was past curfew when Harry, Ron and Hermione came back to the Gryffindor Tower. They didn't really come up with any plan, apart from the fact that they had decided not to go to Dumbledore just yet. Hermione was fuming about it, but boys convinced her to wait a little. She had to agree that the Map would be very useful for them now, when it was so crucial for them not to let anyone overhear some of their conversations.

They were all in a pretty good mood as well, as they had spent the rest of the evening in the Room of Requirement, joking and laughing about nothing in particular. The room had changed for them a bit, somehow sensing the change in their needs, and it produced a very big trampoline and some pillows, as if it could predict that they would indulge into massive pillow fight right away. Which they did, of course. The boys tickled Hermione and she laughed and then set a tickling charm on them as revenge.

They were all covered in feathers in the end and it took them some time to clean themselves. Hermione still felt quite giggly when they decided to come back.

When they entered the common room, they were surprised to see quite a huge amount of people awaiting them. There was Lily Evans, looking furious again, as well as Marauders, Alice and Lea, who seemed to be the only person in the room having a good time. They were in the middle of some heated argument, but they stopped it and stared at the three teenagers standing in the hole behind the portrait of Fat Lady.

Hermione blinked few times and chuckled, and not being able to restrain herself any longer, she started to laugh, although she really tried hard to fight it. Everyone present, apart from Ron and Harry, seemed startled by her reaction and finally she composed herself and tried to keep a straight face. Somehow the grave expressions of the people in front of her seemed extremely funny to her at that moment.

"Something happened?" she asked as seriously as she could.

"We were scared—we thought that something might have happened to you—you were gone for few hours and after those idiots behaved themselves the way they did, I was—I thought you might do something stupid—I don't know..." Lily Evans answered. She sounded uncertain, and soon Sirius broke in, looking quite relieved, although he tried not to show it.

"Evans thought that after the way you were—mistreated, you might decide to, erm, run away from Hogwarts." Harry, Ron and Hermione looked at him incredulously, and seeing that, Sirius smoothly added, "See, Evans? I told you we weren't that bad and there was nothing to worry about."

Lily only snorted in response. In fact, it seemed that she was a little bit disappointed to see the three new students not even a little unhappy about what she considered to a major misbehavior from the boys she hated. Hermione noticed that, and was about to say something when she heard Ron speaking in a very sarcastic voice.

"Oh, no, of course, it was simply lovely to be thrown out of your dorm on the very first day in a new school. We felt really welcome after that..." he probably would have carried on like that little longer, if Remus hadn't broken in.

"Look, we all are really sorry about that. You are REALLY welcome and I mean it. And, despite what this idiot is saying, we were worried about you—not that you would run away or something, but, well, we looked for you—around the castle and couldn't find you anywhere."

Harry, Ron and Hermione exchanged significant looks. They were obviously trying to find them with the Marauder's Map and didn't see them on it. No wonder they had thought that they had left the school grounds. Harry broke the uncomfortable silence, trying to look as innocent as he could—he was a pathetic liar.

"Well, we went outside—for a walk, you know..." He was sure that if Marauders used the Map, then they knew it was a lie, but they couldn't openly say so, because then they would have to explain how they knew for sure. Hogwarts' grounds were huge, and they certainly didn't have enough time to search them thoroughly in the dark.

"And you are all right?" Lily demanded.

"Yes," Harry said, nodding.

"Well, there's one more thing then—McGonagall came and brought this for you." With that, she handed them a letter signed with Dumbledore's handwriting. Harry opened it and found a short note inside, informing them that the headmaster would like to see them.

"It's past curfew—we'd better go tomorrow..." he said, showing the note to Ron and Hermione. Lily, however, shook her head and told them that McGonagall insisted that it was urgent and they should go to the headmaster as soon as they could, which meant now. She offered to walk them to the headmaster's office, which was good idea, as she was a prefect and was allowed to be out past curfew.

And so they went.


Dumbledore watched the three students in front of him. He listened to their apologies for coming so late, and then offered them some lemon drops. They refused politely, and waited for him to inform them why he had demanded to see them.

"I would like to ask you how your first day of school went. Was it difficult?"

He observed them glancing at each other, as if to consult about what to say—typical behavior for teenagers, he mused, this need to act as a part of the group, never to do anything that your friends might consider wrong. Finally, the boy named Harry spoke up.

"We are all right, sir. It wasn't that bad..." The rest nodded in confirmation.

Dumbledore didn't really learn much from this, so asked as gently as he could, "If there is anything that you would like to tell me about—anything important, or anything that is worrying you—well, it's time to tell me about it now..."

He could tell from the way they shook their heads that it was not true, that there actually was something that bothered them, but he was sure that there was no point in asking; they didn't intend to tell him. So, instead of voicing more questions, he looked into the eyes of the boy who spoke and slowly started to reach inside his mind.

He was surprised to find very strong resistance and retreated immediately after he discovered that the boy was aware of his attempt to read his thoughts. He saw his expression to turn into the one of anger as he rose and clenched his fists.

"Professor, what are you doing? Keep away from my head!"

Two others students looked at him with surprise, but the face of the girl soon broke into smile.

"Harry, so the books I lent you helped! You can Occlude your mind! That's fantastic!"

Dumbledore was amazed both by the fact that the sixteen year-old boy actually knew what Occlumency was and had some skills in this area, and the brilliancy of the girl, who guessed what exactly had happened. Slowly, trying not to annoy the boy more then he already was, he started to apologize.

"I am sorry—I shouldn't have tried to read your mind, but I have strong impression that you are keeping something away from me. And in your situation, I would advise you to tell me everything." He knew, of course, that after the last event, the boy would be even more reluctant to share his problem, and indeed, he only glared at him furiously, before saying icily, "We've got nothing to tell you, Professor."

Dumbledore looked at the boy apologetically.

"Well, I guess I'll move on to the reason I summoned you, then. I received the letter concerning your education—the Hogwarts' governors are, of course, not aware of your real past, so they expressed their concern about your ability to cope with all the challenges of the N.E.W.T. level classes. They believe that your mother didn't put you under any pressure and therefore you might find the lessons too difficult and stressful. You must understand, this is highly unusual to let the students start the schooling later, the way you were allowed. And so, they decided that every teacher has to asses your capabilities during September and October and then make the final decision whether you should be allowed to take N.E.W.T. in the subjects they teach."

Hermione gasped and shouted, before she managed to control herself.

"But sir, we took our O.W.L.s! They know that we are not worse than any other student in the school!" Her lips were almost trembling, and it seemed pretty strange compared to the joyous outburst from a moment before, when she thought that Harry had managed to block his mind.

"I am aware of this, but they do not question your knowledge, only the fact that you are prepared to learn in the way which they think you are not accustomed to. I'm sure that it won't be any problem for you." He smiled reassuringly. Harry only glared at him and asked, "Is that all, Professor?"

Dumbledore nodded and examined the teenagers in front of him once more. It was clear that they were tired and under a lot of pressure, even though they didn't want to admit it.

"We'll be off, then. Good night," He still sounded cold, and didn't wait for Dumbledore to respond. The others mumbled "good night" as well and left the room.


Throughout the rest of the evening, the Marauders started to act around Harry and Ron in a pretty annoying way. They tried to chat with them in what was supposed to be natural manner, but turned out so fake that Harry almost told them to just shut up and stop pretending that they had suddenly started to like them.

In fact, Harry suspected it must have been quite the opposite. It was clear that although Harry and Ron didn't mean it that way, the fact that they seemed not to be affected at all by the throwing-out-of-the-dorm attempt somehow offended Marauders in their pride of the Almighty Kings of Gryffindor and Hogwarts.

Harry wasn't bothered that much about it. He was tired and after the joyous feeling from earlier had faded, he suddenly realized that he was also disappointed. He hoped deep inside that his father and godfather would prove themselves different from the arrogant-bully image from the Snape's Pensieve, but obviously he had hoped for too much.

Lily, on the other hand, seemed rather impressed and told them before going to bed that she was happy that they took her advice to ignore "those insufferable brats" as she had put it. She then wished them good night and headed to the girls' dormitories, Hermione with her.

Harry tried to sleep, wondering how long he would be able live like this. It was enough to look at usually coolheaded Hermione and her almost hysterical reaction today, when she heard all that Dumbledore told them about the fact that they can be thrown out of their classes—he felt drained by the way his emotions altered from joy to anger and disappointment all the time. He felt a little ashamed by his own reactions, as well. When Sirius had attacked them, he did nothing really to defend himself and later, when Dumbledore tried to read his thoughts, he had almost hit the old man. And the headmaster meant no harm; after all, he was only worried. They could keep assuring him that they were all right, but in fact, he couldn't help but wonder how long they would manage to go on like this.