Disclaimer: Jo's world, I just live there.
Summary: Voldemort has a plan to catch Harry out of bounds and cast a spell to send him back two hundred years, but all does not go as planned and Harry isn't as gone as he'd thought...
Author's Notes: I'd like to dedicate this chapter to my reviewers, especially Steve on FictionAlley, without whom I would have goofed big time. I'd like to mention you all, 'cause I'm very grateful to your input, but it's late and I'm lazy and there are a lot of you. So please, consider yourself mentioned in spirit if not in person. Luv y'all!
Chapter 3: Classes, Maps, and Long Talks:
All NEWT classes contained students from every house, and still the numbers were less than a score. NEWT potions had an impressive total of sixteen. Severus was the only Slytherins; Aries, Charles, Sirius, James, Lily and one of Lily's dorm mates were the Gryffindors; and the class was rounded out with three Hufflepuffs and six Ravenclaws. By the time Aries arrived the only seat left was next to Snape, which could just as easily have been purposeful as an accident. The question of which was answered as he sat down and heard Sirius mutter to Charles.
"Now he'll see how bad Slytherins are. If anyone can show him that, Snivellus can."
Aries made a face at him behind his back.
"I trust you had an…interesting night explaining why you were so late?" Severus asked with clear amusement.
"Oh shut up," Aries grumbled playfully. "You could have warned me not to tell them anything, you know. I had to endure a lecture on why Slytherins were all evil and Gryffindors Did Not Associate with them. And I hadn't even gotten to the part where you showed up!"
"I'm not surprised," Severus quipped, "if you had mentioned me with anything less than disdain either you or those despicable Marauders would be in the hospital wing. Gryffindors have been against Salazar's Corner ever since Dumbledore brought it back, saying it's full of evil and will corrupt any student who reads there." The last phrase was said in a high-pitched voice, meant to imitate Professor McGonagall, that was simply ridiculous. Aries covered his laughter with a cough when Sirius turned to glare at him.
There might have been a row, but the door sung open then and Professor Velveson stepped in, walking briskly to the font of the classroom.
"Welcome NEWT students," she began. "This year will be far more difficult than any other, except perhaps your OWL year." She went on in this vein for a little over fifteen minutes, until Aries' weren't the only eyes drooping – and he knew he could pass this class, he had passed it last year. Charles was just sneering at her with utter disdain.
The potion they were supposed to brew that day was ridiculously easy as well – probably a quickie meant to leave enough time for her 'We will work you to the bone!' schpiel. Snape had had no such verbose inclinations and had assigned much harder work. Aries could understand that, as he watched Severus roll his eyes and barely restrain himself from grumbling unsavory words. The insults were almost palpable in the boy's sneer, and Aries could hear them echoing from the future: Insufferable chattering wench! Do not waste our time prattling, if you please.
The former he had once heard muttered behind Rita Skeeter's back, the second had been directed at Hermione as he called on her for a question, requesting she keep her answer concise. He laughed lightly at the memories.
"What, may I ask, do you find so amusing?" Severus snapped without any real rancor.
"I can practically hear you grumbling from here," Aries answered with amusement. "Tell me, is it the ease of the potion, the length of the speech, or do you just not like her?"
Sev' snorted softly. "Perceptive, aren't you?" Aries just smiled and shrugged as he left to get the ingredients.
The potion – Caveo Veles – was simple even by Aries' standards. It was a polish to use on light weaponry to make it nearly indestructible and much sharper, but more than three weapons doused in it couldn't be kept close together or they would cancel each other out and become completely ineffective, hence the name. Caveo Veles, beware the light armed troops. Aries remembered brewing it the summer after fifth year when Auror Shacklebolt had been giving him lessons on armed combat, fencing, archery and the like. The auror hadn't known what had hit him when he'd found his sword two feet shorter after what had clearly been a light swing on Harry's part.
The ingredients were amber resin, a griffin talon, dragon's blood, iron shavings, dried gladiolus petals, iris roots, and two drops of hydrochloric acid. Not the average witch's brew and difficult to come up with in a pinch, but useful to have around when you have the luxury of planning ahead. Which Aries did, he planned on bottling a vial for himself after the lesson was over, and had a two empty ones stored on either side of his wand in the wrist holster for this exact purpose. He noticed with amusement that Severus also appeared to have an empty vial in his pocket.
They finished their potion to perfection a full quarter of an hour before anyone else, and managed it with no mistakes or talking.
"Nice working with you, Hesuchazo," Severus said appreciably as they savored the sight of the thickening blue-grey polish. "You're quite good at potions."
"Not really," said Aries, smiling self-deprecatingly. "I always had a lot of trouble with it. "I think you were doing most of the work."
"Well then," said a frosty voice from right behind them. "Perhaps he should get most of the credit, Mr. Hesuchazo?"
Aries whipped around to find Professor Velveson glaring at him. He blinked, wondering just what he had done to set her off, and decided it was just his lot in life to be randomly hated by potions professors.
"Aries did his fair share, ma'am," Severus responded quickly. The woman looked him over appraisingly, shot Aries one last stern look, and stalked off.
The Gryffindor, meanwhile, was trying valiantly to get his mind to stop swirling. Professor Snape, albeit a younger version and one without any knowledge of the Boy Who Lived, had jumped to his defense? Against a potions teacher?
"Thanks mate," he replied shakily. "Man, what's her problem?"
"She's a very traditional witch," Severus answered. "Believes in the separation of the houses and whatnot. It upsets her when things that Don't Normally Happen, start happening."
"Like a Gryffindor and Slytherin working together," Aries supplied. Severus nodded. "In any case, we'd best bottle some of this to get to her before we…get rid of the rest." He resisted winking at the Slytherin, but just barely.
While Severus narrowed his eyes at him, Aries deftly scooped one cup of the potion into their assigned beaker, wrote their name and the date on it, and stepped back.
"After you," he said with a grin and a half-bow.
"Very funny; really witty," Severus drawled with a half-smile as he surreptitiously filled his own vial. Aries did the same right after.
Lifting the pestle he had used to crush the iris roots like a wine glass, he said, "To never letting a good potion go to waste?"
Severus responded in kind with the wooden stirring spoon and they clinked together. "To efficiency and resourcefulness. Proud, Slytherin traits. Are you sure you're a Gryffindor?"
"You never know," Aries replied with a laugh. "I may be half and half. A Gryfferin."
Severus cringed. "What a horrible word. Have you no taste for flow? You, my eloquence-challenged friend, are a Slythindor."
"Changing houses on us already, Hesuchazo?" someone hissed quietly to the side. Both turned to see Sirius Black holding his empty cauldron with a grip that looked tight enough to break the thing in half.
"And if I were?" Aries asked coolly. "What then? What would you do about it? I'm not," he added languidly, "but what if I were?"
Sirius glared at him, but said nothing, and Aries returned the boy's gaze easily with a hard stare of his own. Sirius looked away first.
Soon enough the class ended and Aries pulled out his schedule. Ancient Runes would come after lunch. That was in room 8 on the fifth floor, so he would need to use the passage at the West end of the second floor, right off the stairways, the one behind the Gothic door with reliefs of Linwood the Lucky's many mishaps. Of course, that was always assuming the stairs were cooperating, otherwise –
Aries thoughts were cut off as he was rudely shoved from behind, his bag snatched off his shoulder and its contents thrown to the floor. He looked up, startled into James Potter's laughing face. Harry watched, frozen, as James pulled his wand and shot a spell at him, turning his robes green with silver polka-dots. As he stared at his father's retreating back, Harry was suddenly faced with all the drawbacks of his plan; a rather uncomfortable feeling at the best of times.
Charles came along moments later, just as he finished repacking his bag, and dragged him by his cloak into a nearby empty hallway.
"That's it, I'm sick of this," he hissed. "Tell me what you're up to, now Potter."
"Aries," Harry corrected automatically. "And it's a long story and I'm hungry. Can we go to lunch first?" Charles glared at him. "Alright, fine. I'll explain everything tonight. It's a full moon, so our roommates won't be there. Deal?"
"Fine, but if you forget or decide to weasel out, I'll come after you, you know I will," Charles promised. Aries rolled his eyes.
"Very friendly of you, Higgins. Now I'm heading to the Great Hall, if you don't mind. I'm starving."
The meal was a tense affair as Charles started to sit across from Aries, as was his custom, but James and Sirius pulled him away and over to where they were sitting. A good ways away from Aries. The isolated seventh year ate in silence, going over everything he'd learned that summer about Ancient Runes and hoping he wouldn't make a fool of himself. He barely noticed the strange looks and strangled laughs (and not so strangled in the case of the marauders and a few Slytherins) he was getting for his 'improved' robes.
Luckily, on his way out, he happened to glance down and, red rising in his cheeks, quickly changed his robe back to black.
Ancient Runes was worse than he had feared. One week of frantic studying had barely made a dent in the vast amount of knowledge he was expected to know. Professor Jera went through the same doomsday speech as Professor Velveson, though he was a little more supportive about it, and then started on the lesson. Aries took frantic notes, copying down every word the man said so he could decipher it later, when he actually understood more than half the words he was writing.
It was horribly frustrating. He knew he would need help to even begin catching up, but his only friend (though it made him cringe to admit it) was Severus, who didn't take Ancient Runes. As a matter of fact, the only people in the class he did know were Peter Pettigrew and Remus Lupin. Pettigrew he wouldn't ask for help if his life depended on it; well, perhaps then, but not before, and his life certainly didn't depend on Ancient Runes. Remus...he had his reasons for not asking Remus.
So instead, he struggled through the first class as best he could and tried not to look forward to seeing Charles too much.
Had he not been so tired, Aries might have avoided the Great Hall altogether and instead eaten in the kitchens, but as he concentrated on rubbing the soreness out of his writing arm, his legs walked him straight up to his usual spot at the Gryffindor table. The moment he sat down, he realized that everyone was staring at him. Well, he amended mentally, not everyone, just a good number of Gryffindors, but it was still highly uncomfortable. He forced down barely half his plate of food before heading for the Gryffindor dorms.
This was going to wear him down fast, he could feel it. Being trapped in such a familiar place with no one to talk to, half-familiar faces with unfamiliar attitudes, and the one all-too familiar attitude. He took out his journal and wrote down everything that had happened during the day; the book was probably all that was keeping him sane. He hadn't really thought about it during the last week, when Charles was being almost nice and there weren't crowds of noisy, ignorant, and oft times cruel children suffocating him, but he missed Ron and Hermione. True, he hadn't talked to them about his feelings and the things that were bothering him in his own time, but they had been there, offering silent support, which was a good deal more than he had now.
He found himself yet again looking forward to the meeting with Charles. Since the students had arrived, the other boy had been mostly avoiding him, but on the rare occasion they did have to exchange words, he was acting more like the Malfoy he had been in the future than the Charles Higgins Aries had actually grown to think of as a friend.
Thoughts of the meeting turned to thoughts of the full moon and his father and friends' nighttime revelry. They would probably sneak out under the invisibility cloak, using the Marauder's Map to keep from getting caught.
Harry cursed loudly.
The Map! With a single glance it could completely give him and Charles away as imposters. Checking his watch he found, to his relief, that dinner wouldn't end for another fifteen minutes, and he had heard Remus asking the others to help him with some research in the library afterwards, so he had some time. First he had to find it. He searched first in his father's trunk, but it wasn't there, and he wasted a good ten minutes just staring at his things. Next came Sirius', but it wasn't there either. Finally, after almost twenty minutes of searching, he found the folded up parchment in Remus' trunk. Thinking fast, he wrote a note to the werewolf about having to borrow some parchment and took the map. Activating it, he searched for Filch and found the old caretaker by the broom sheds at the Quidditch pitch.
Aries wiped the map and ran, arriving at the sheds not five minutes later. Holding the parchment in one hand and his wand in the other, he put on his shiftiest look and made as if to unlock the doors.
"What do you think you're doing, eh?" Filch snarled, coming around from the other side.
Aries jumped and glanced around nervously. "No-nothing," he stammered. "I was just looking."
"And what's that, then?" Filch pointed at the map and Aries made as if to hide it.
"J-just a spare bit of parchment."
Filch obviously didn't believe him and promptly confiscated the map and sent Aries off with a warning. The plan had gone absolutely perfect. He was careful to sulk until he was out of sight, then ran back to the dorms. With any luck, the Marauders would have to contain their anger so it didn't seem suspicious that they were overreacting about one sheet of parchment.
That night, he pretended to be asleep while three of the four closely knit friends walked in.
"We need the cloak, I'll grab that," he heard James whisper. "Padfoot, you get the map, kay?"
"Where is it?" Sirius asked. "Who had it last?"
"I think Moony did, check in his trunk," James answered, shuffling around his own.
More shuffling sounds came from over by Remus' bed, then a muffled curse and the soft glow of wand light. Louder, more vigorous curses.
"That little prat!" Sirius hissed. "He took our map!"
"What?!" James and Peter exclaimed in unison.
"That Hesuchazo kid, he 'borrowed' some parchment from Moony and took our map!"
More cursing, more rustling, someone peeked in his curtains.
"He's still asleep, what do we do?" Aries turned the snarl at hearing Peter's voice into a snore for emphasis.
"We can't just wake him up and demand a random bit of parchment," James sighed exasperatedly. "That'd seem a might fishy, don't you think? We'll just have to do as we did before the map. At least we still have the cloak, eh?" Disgruntled muttering, probably from Sirius. "Look, we'll get Moony to ask him about it later. What's the worst that could happen?"
"Don't say that, Prongs," Peter said tremulously, "You'll jinx it!"
Muffled laughter, then the door shut and they were gone.
Not ten seconds later, Aries' curtains were ripped open and he was subjected to wand light at full glow.
"You'd better explain and you'd better explain now," Charles demanded. Aries sighed and stretched, using one hand to shield his eyes.
"Explain which bit?" he asked, then shook his head. "How about we play twenty questions, eh? You ask, I'll tell, so long as you swear on your life not to use it against anyone. Alright?"
Charles eyed him appraisingly. "Fair enough," he said finally. "Just twenty?"
"Well, not really," Aries said, rolling his eyes. "Twenty questions is the name of a muggle game. What I meant is, I'm not going to try to guess just what you want to know, so you'll just ask. Now go."
Charles smirked. "Thought we already had," he muttered under his breath. "First things first, what map?"
"The Marauders Map," Aries answered. "Those four made it – I don't know when – but it shows the whole of Hogwarts, including most of the secret passages, with a little dot and nametag for everyone in it. If they'd looked on it tonight, they'd see our real names, so I stole it and let Filch confiscate it."
"Very Slytherin of you," Charles said, smirking approvingly. "So now, where are they going and what are they going to be doing there?"
Aries blew air out through his teeth. "They're going to the Shrieking Shack, where they're going to meet up with Remus Lupin to go play in the Forbidden Forest as animagi. Yes, they're all animagi, and have been since they were fifteen."
Charles narrowed his eyes. "Are you an animagus?"
"No," Aries answered shortly. His bed dipped as Charles sat on it.
"You're lying."
"No I'm not."
"Then you're telling a half truth!" Charles slammed a fist on the mattress, creating a rather unsatisfying WHUMPH. "Can you change into an animal at will."
Aries sighed. He had said he'd answer, and Charles had agreed not to use it against him. Hadn't he? The Gryffindor quickly reviewed the start of the conversation.
"Give me your word first," he said aloud, turning over to face the other boy.
"What? What about?" Charles asked, sounding shifty.
"Give me your word that you won't use what I have told you or what I will tell you against me, the marauders, or anyone else, and I'll answer your question," Aries said. "You made it sound like you'd promised, but you never said it. I need your word."
"Fine, fine," Charles made a disgusted noise. "Trust you to finally have the brains to catch that just when I get the chance to use it on you. You have my word that I will not use any information you give me in the course of this conversation to the detriment of anyone else. I reserve the right to use it for my own benefit."
Aries dipped his head in agreement and lay back down. "Do you know the incantation for the spell to become an animagus?"
"Primus Animagi, why?"
"The Primus Animagi spell allows someone to take the form of a creature that matches both their power and their personality. However, for some, this spell is too difficult or the creature is too huge or exotic for practical use. So, a second spell was created. Minimus Animagi. It allows the caster to turn him or herself into a creature of their choice, non-magical and of domestic variety. This is why McGonagall, though powerful, has a cat as her form. I imagine her real form, if she has ever even bothered to manage it, is something far less suitable to teaching demonstrations and nighttime patrols."
"So I take it you used this spell?" Charles asked. Aries nodded. "Well, what are you then, and what would your prime animagus form be?"
"I'm a little black cat," Aries answered, then took another deep breath. "And it's a Gryffera, a one-time-only cross between a chimera and a griffin." There was silence from Charles' end as the redhead absorbed this information. "Mind you, I haven't managed it yet, but –"
"Would you teach me the Minimus Animagi spell?" Charles asked, cutting off the last half of Aries' sentence.
"Er…yeah, if you'd like. You realize it is illegal, don't you?"
Charles waved his hand dismissively. "Like they can arrest someone who doesn't exist. In any case, we'll get to that later. Now, what I came here for in the first place. Why are you antagonizing every Gryffindor in sight and trying to make nice with Snape? I know you hate him."
Aries took a moment to make himself comfortable before answering. He'd been trying to gather his thoughts for this since dinner. "I can't handle it," he began. "I can't handle being here, and having my parents here, and not being able to be close to them. If I were even on semi-good terms with them, I don't think I could help blurting out something to change the past. Future. But at the same time, I don't want to be the one to push them away. It's complicated, and my reasoning was sort of spur of the moment, but basically, if I can get them to not like me enough that they actively avoid civil conversation, then I'm safe. You see?"
Charles nodded. "And what about Snape?"
The brunette sighed. This was where it got really muddled. "I don't hate him, per se, you know. I might have once, a long time ago, but I stopped hating him when I found out he saved my life, and haven't been able to start again. Especially once I realized that the reason he hated me was because of my father, and his hatred for James came with good cause."
"Still, you've never seemed particularly keen on chatting with him before," Charles sneered. "Why did you seem so amiable in potions?"
"Last night, when I was reading in Salazar's Corner, Severus found me," Aries admitted. "He was a bit stand-offish at first, but then we got to talking, and he was really interesting. It was about then that I came up with my plan for getting my parents to avoid me – what better way than be friends with Severus Snape? It seems to be working, too."
"So you're just using him?" Charles snapped. "That's a rather underhanded thing to do to a person, for a Gryffindor."
Aries stopped short. Using him? That was a bit harsh, and not even Snape deserved to be used through false friendship. He shook his head.
"It's not like that, not entirely," he said quietly. "I do…enjoy his company. He's quite intelligent, and funny in his own sarcastic way. I can appreciate his wit much more now that it's not directed toward me. Besides, he holds the unique position of being an adult I know who's still alive in our time and who still is worthy of respect."
"What about Lupin?"
"He's, well, he's pretty much the same, I guess." Aries shrugged. "Just too close to the marauders."
Charles nodded and thought for a moment. "So you'd call yourself Snape's friend? Honestly and truly?"
He must really respect Sev, to want to protect him, Aries thought tiredly, yawning despite himself.
"Yes. Yes I would."