Very sorry it took so long, dears. I've sustained and injury to my wrist which detained me, and I was fretting over Harry in this chapter. Do you think he's okay?

Aquarius

Harry Potter was surprisingly ecstatic for a summer day. His uncle had written a letter to the Headmaster detailing how Harry could not possibly stay at Privet Drive any longer. It mostly stated that Harry was a burden over and over again, but maybe the repetition was a good thing. Having no way to get it to Dumbledore, Vernon had given it to Harry, stamps and all. The Headmaster had replied by Muggle mail, annoying the Dursleys to no end.

Harry was now busily packing everything he could think of, as he wouldn't be returning for long, if ever. In Dumbledore's response, he had detailed a ritual that would allow the protections to be renewed in a few minutes. Petunia promptly agreed, ignoring the fast that she would have to have a quite a bit more to do with magic. they had agreed to hold off on the ritual until the Winter Holiday for reasons unapparent to Harry, but he was quite used to being left in the dark.

He absently swept some trading cards into a paper bag and set it in his trunk. He had already sorted through most of the books on the bookshelves, as Dudley had strongly suggested he take as many as he could. (His mum was making him actually read, so he wanted the least amount of books to read.) He had also taken some board games and small trinkets from the room, but they were already packed. With a sigh, Harry added the last of his schoolbooks and clothing, neatly closing the trunk and dragging it to the top of the stairs.

Quickly, he headed downstairs, eager to intercept whichever teacher came to collect him. As the clock in the living room struck on, a sharp tap sounded on the door. Harry opened it swiftly to admit a grinning Remus Lupin.

"Hello, Professor," Harry said swiftly.

"Oh, hello, Harry. How are you doing today?"

"Fine, fine, never better. I'll go get my trunk," Harry said, "Oh, umm... you should probably come in so the neighbors don't see."

Lupin promptly stepped inside with a depressed look at his frayed apparel.

"No, no, Professor, nothing like that. You'd be unacceptable in this town even if you were filthy rich like a Malfoy. Don't fret."

With that, Harry trotted off to slid his trunk down the stairs and to retrieve Hedwig. As he ran down the stairs, his aunt Petunia came up them.

"Oh, hello, Aunt Petunia. I'm off," Harry said, surprised.

""Is that man there the werewolf Lily talked about?" she asked quietly.

Harry nodded, dumbstruck. He knew his aunt knew some things about the Wizarding World, but he had never expected her to speak so calmly about werewolves in the foyer.

"She was right, he is cute," she said, giggling. Then she straightened and continued up the stairs. Harry could only stare blankly after her before moving to join Lupin and his trunk.

As he shifted Hedwig's cage to his other hand, he asked Remus vaguely, "Did she say anything to you?"

"No, just look at me for a moment. So, she thought I was cute? That's interesting," he replied, seeming much younger than he was.

"Erm, you do know she's married, right?"

"Your point? It never stopped Sirius. I remember one year he got drunk in Hogsmeade and started flirting with Minerva. The Headmaster was quite amused as I recall."

Harry's expression darkened minutely, but he had to admit Sirius must have been pretty drunk.

"Shall we, Harry?"

Harry nodded and grasped Lupin's arm. With a loud pop they arrived outside the Shrieking Shack. It was drizzling in Hogsmeade, so they hurried towards the school where the Headmaster and the various staff members were having a staff meeting in the Great Hall.

As they open the doors, the Headmaster gave an apology to the staff and hastened to the Entrance Hall, arriving just as Harry sat down Hedwig and Lupin sat down the trunk.

"Hello Harry, Lupin. How are you? Good? That's lovely. Come, I'll show you to your quarters. Minerva and I decided that if your not going to been much at your aunt and uncle's, you should have a room here. When we tried to find you one, the only one the castle would let you have was a tower. Maybe it's setting you up to be Headmaster, huh?"

With a wave of his wand, Hedwig's cage open and she flew outside. The rest of his luggage began trailing behind the Headmaster. Lupin slipped into the Hall and Harry and Dumbledore began a trek across the castle. Harry noted that he no idea where they were going when they passed the Room of Requirement. He hadn't realized there was a tower in this wing. Soon they stopped in front of a painting of a black-haired man and a snake.

Harry merely blinked as Dumbledore explained.

"It's Salazar Slytherin and a snake, obviously. They both speak Parseltongue, too. I checked, and this is the only painting of him that speaks Parseltongue. Apparently the castle thought you were well suited-"

Here the painting broke in- "If you think you've got it bad, kid, the Slytherin Head of House traditionally lives behind a painting of Godric. The current one wasn't too pleased."

Harry stifled a laugh a the Potion Master's predicament before letting out a stream of Parseltongue. Over the years, he had found that he could do it without a snake with effort.

"Hello, sir, snake. My password will be Slytherin, okay?"

"Quite right, boy- er... Harry, right?"

"Yeah."

"This used to be my tower, you know. I was kind of a snob when I was alive I do believe the current Headmaster lives in Rowena's tower, maybe."

"Okay. Why do I get Slytherin's tower? Why not Snape?"

"What language are you speaking boy?"

Dumbledore was smiling gently as Harry shook his head and climbed through the portrait hole as the painting swung open.

"Did you know you had Ravenclaw's tower, sir?"

"Yes, Harry, I did. Why?"

"Oh, just the fact that this is Slytherin's tower."

"Really, my boy? Then you will find them most interesting, I believe."

"But why do I get them?"

"I don't know. Remember, you may be a Slytherin, but you chose Gryffindor. There is a marked difference."

The y were met by stairs with snakes for the handrails, and Harry was amused to see that they were wriggling. They climbed the stairs, Harry's trunk still trailing them. At the first landing, the door opened into a sitting room lined with bookshelves filled with books. Just glancing, Harry could discern many Potions books, and a few he recognized from the Restricted Section in the Library. There was also a fireplace of what seemed to be some green stone, and a couple beige couches.

Here Dumbledore motioned to the trunk to stay as Harry continued up the stairs. The next landing was a bedroom arrayed in silver and green. The third was a study with more books and a desk. Next came a room with another set of couches and some paintings, then what seemed to be a potions lab, then an empty room, and finally a room with large open windows. He quickly trotted down the stairs to the room where Dumbledore was perusing the books.

The Headmaster looked up from the book he was examining as Harry entered.

"Ah, hello Harry, my boy. I'll be leaving, okay? Dinner is in an hour. Do try to attend. I know you probably would like to unpack, but quickly. The staff is generally excited to greet you." With that he trotted briskly down the stairs and out the door.

After he had gone, Harry turned to his trunk. Dragging it up to the bedroom, he threw it open and began putting everything away. His clothing barely took up a quarter of the space, so he made a note to try and get more clothing at Diagon Alley. He set out a few trinkets to the bed table and took his school books to the sitting room and his other books to the library room. Setting a Gryffindor blanket on the very green bed seemed odd, but he found he needed a reminder he was, in fact, a Gryffindor.

He looked at the time, and since he still had a good forty minutes until dinner, he grabbed one of his school books at random and began work. He had grabbed his Potions work, so he began riffling through his book to finding the nine uses of griffin claws.

Some time later, he looked at his watch and was startled to realize he had five minutes to get to dinner. He quickly marked his page and ran to the Great Hall. He managed to skid into a chair at the end of the table as people started serving themselves.

"Sorry, Headmaster," he said breathlessly. Unfortunately, the seat he had chosen was across from Snape, but the Professor did not comment, and Lupin next to him quickly started a conversation.

"Professor, do all the teachers stay here over the summer?"

"No, Harry, most of us only stay until we've finished grading the OWL's and the NEWT's. This year, only Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, Trelawney, and myself are staying. So, I've heard you were the surrogate Defense teacher last year. Care to give me an overview?"

After dinner, he quickly retreated to his tower (quiet celebration), and returned to his essay. He could only find eight uses of the claws in the books he had, so he turned to the older books. The book he chose seemed to be a referendum of sorts, and listed what seemed to Harry every potion ingredient he had ever heard of. Strangely, the book had thirteen potions listed, so he marked the page with he essay, intending to ask some one the next day. The he decided to go to sleep, so he changed and slid into bed. He fell asleep quickly, into a dreamless sleep.

Review, please? I swear it won't take so long this time!