Chapter 11

The New Arrival

The next few days passed very quickly. Harry filled Ron and Hermione in on what Dumbledore had told him about his mother, but not about the Pensieve or what Snape had done. He continued to explain Snapes' ankle as a freak accident; that he'd simply pushed back really hard because he was tired and Snape had gone flying across the room; insisting he still didn't know what he'd done different though. Hermione was still dubious but Ron looked satisfied with the explanation and moved on to Hagrid's sudden departure so she couldn't question Harry anymore.

Hagrid, apparently, disappeared in to the Forbidden Forest halfway through their Care of Magical Creatures lesson, leaving Neville in charge of a particularly large Garuda bird. Hermione, however, seeing Neville panicking and trying to hold on to a bird that was two feet taller than him, took over and started reciting everything she knew about them until Professor Sprout arrived.

The atmosphere in Harry's next potions lesson was understandably tense to say the least. After a mumbled apology to Professor Snape who was pretending not to listen anyway, the rest of the lesson continued as normal.

Friday flew by with another morning of Defence lessons spent going over old spells and chatting. Herbology and Transfiguration flew by even quicker because everyone was chatting excitedly about the first Defence Club meeting that was happening that evening at half past six.

At twenty past six Harry, Ron and Hermione made their way from the Common Room to the Great Hall. Now clear of the house tables they had been sitting on an hour before; eating their dinner and anxiously watching the grains of sand passing through the hour glass.

There were twelve large, thin, cotton mats placed all around the edges of the Hall; each one a different colour. As more students came in to the centre of the Hall Harry, Ron and Hermione started to move over to the end wall where the teachers table usually was, so that they wouldn't be squashed in the middle.

"Wow" Harry jumped back instinctively as he went to walk over the purple mat. "Have you felt these mats; it's like trying to walk on a bed". He edged forwards again and tested the mat again with his right foot before wading in even further.

"Bewitched" Hermione announced knowingly. "Makes you wonder what we're going to be practising though doesn't it!"

Five minutes later and the teachers arrived. Professor Flitwick started distributing cushions with Hagrid, while Bill spoke to Professor Snape by the main doors. As Snape gave a dismissive glance around the Hall at all the students, Harry shrank back behind Ron. Thankfully for Harry, however, Professor Snape did not stay. Bill closed the doors with a flick of his wand and all the students fell silent as he made his way to the centre of the room.

"Everyone pick a mat and take a seat please" he called to the few students who were still standing around. Laughter erupted on the green mat as Colin Creevey tried to bounce his way in to the corner but fell over and narrowly missed Susan Bones. A red-faced, grinning Colin struggled back on to his feet before bowing to the rest of the laughing students then taking a seat on the mat.

"Okay" Bill continued, regaining everyone's attention. "Welcome to the first 'official' Defence Club meeting!" At which point he grinned in Harry's direction. "Now as you can see there are twelve different coloured mats placed around the room. There will be six students per mat and each teacher will monitor three mats each for the time being. I have taken the liberty of putting the groups together already so that you all get to practice with people of similar abilities. Today we are going to practice something new for all of you. It is on the NEWT syllabus but I thought we'd start it early. Professor Flitwick if you could assist me please".

As Professor Flitwick ambled his way to the centre of the hall, Harry couldn't help grinning as he heard Ron muttering 'if you could assist me please!' under his breathe. After conjuring up a large pile of cushions behind himself, Professor Flitwick raised his wand at Bill. As the two Professors nodded at each other, Flitwick bellowed "Expelliarmus!" At the same time however, Bill roared "relatio!" and a blue wall of light appeared in front of him, rebounding Professor Flitwick's curse right back at him, knocking him backwards on to his cushions. Bill moved forward and helped the tiny Charms teacher to his feet before continuing.

"Now, you've all had some practice with shield charms and now this rebound charm takes you one step further. With a basic shield charm you have no control over where a curse may rebound too, but with the charm we have just demonstrated, you can direct an attackers' curse right back at them". A whisper of approval swept throughout the Hall. "Before you all get too excited" Bill continued quickly, "it isn't as easy as it looks! You have to aim carefully at the same time you say the curse, with your wand up and before the curse is at least halfway between you and your attacker. It takes a lot of practice and concentration. Now as your other Defence teacher isn't here yet, we are just waiting for Professor Sprout to come and help us". Bill paused and twirled his wand elegantly in the air, making all the students gasp as silver smoke clouds appeared in the air above every mat and arranged themselves in to letters; each cloud forming the names of six students. "Now if you could please check the lists and move to the appropriate coloured mat and take a seat, you will be given more instructions shortly. Oh and please remember your colours as you will be staying in these groups for the rest of the term" he finished.

Students chatted excitedly as they moved around the hall to join their groups and Harry was happy to see he was still with Ron and Hermione. Following the crowd, they made their way across the hall to the blue mat to join Ginny, Neville and Luna.

"All we need now is Cho, Dean and Ernie and we've got most of the DA" Ron laughed.

"That's what Professor Dumbledore thought" Bill added, strolling up behind them. "He particularly requested you six stay together! After last term I think he wants to keep you all in one place!" he laughed.

"Anymore news on the new Professor?" Ron enquired hopefully, trying to catch his brother off guard hoping he would slip up.

"Patience" Bill laughed. "Two more days and you'll find out little brother. Ah Professor Sprout is here. I'll be right back".

"You'd think having a brother as a teacher would have some perks wouldn't you" Ron announced grumpily as Bill made his way to the hall doors. "What are you smirking at?" he asked Hermione irritably as he caught sight of her grinning.

"Nothing!" she smiled innocently.

Harry jumped in before Ron could continue. "Don't forget Quidditch practise tomorrow Ginny".

"How could she forget" yawned Hermione after giving Ron a playful punch. "It's all you and Ron talk about".

"Don't worry I haven't forgotten" Ginny laughed.

"Good" Harry replied giving Hermione a filthy look. "I've just had a fixtures sheet today and our first match is against Hufflepuff in two weeks so we need to get some strategy practise in …"

Before Harry could continue however, Bill returned; split them in to twos and left them instructions to take it in turns practising in pairs alternately around the mat. Ron was not very happy to be paired with Neville; while Hermione practised with Luna and Harry with Ginny.

The charm was a lot harder than it looked and every now and then Bill would come around giving tips. The complete surprise however, was that on his first attempt, Neville managed to rebound Ron's twitchy ear's hex right back at him sending him in to a scratching frenzy. His jubilation didn't last long, however, as on his second attempt he missed Ron completely and deflected a curse straight at Professor Sprout, sending her bouncing over the pink mat.

After half an hour, whilst they weren't perfect Harry did at least think they were all starting to get some control with their aim. It was Harry's turn to practise again and he stood concentrating very hard, trying to remember all the things Bill told them. Watching Ginny he tried to anticipate when she would raise her wand; though he couldn't help thinking to himself that if it took this much concentration when you knew a curse was going to be fired at you, then he'd stand no chance of doing it if he were surprised. He mentioned this to Ginny and she admitted that she had just been thinking the exact same thing so they decided to try speeding up the hexes to give Harry a little less time to prepare himself.

Harry was surprised to find that his aim was a little better with less time to worry about where he was pointing. Ginny kept on going faster and Harry was astonished at how many different curses she knew and how many he had never heard of before. But then he figured she had come from a wizard family so was bound to know more than him, especially with Fred and George as brothers. All the same, it was a bit disconcerting though.

Ginny kept going, firing more and more and it took a couple of minutes for Harry to realise that he was edging towards the end of the mat.

"Uh … Ginny I think we need to stop a minute and move back in" but Ginny didn't stop and as Harry looked down to check his footing, he got hit square in the chest by Ginny's last curse. Harry flew backwards through the air but luckily landed on the next mat. As he sat up rubbing the burning patch on his chest he was shocked to see Ginny was glaring at him. Hermione had shouted as she saw what was about to happen and now everybody was craning around to see what had happened.

"Everyone wands down" Bill bellowed as he and Hagrid rushed over to check on Harry.

"I'm fine" Harry insisted struggling to stand up as Ginny came over.

"I'm am so sorry Harry! I didn't see you look away. Are you sure that you aren't hurt?"

Harry eyed Ginny warily as he rubbed his sore chest but there was not a trace of the anger he'd seen a moment ago, she just looked incredibly upset. "I am so sorry" she repeated again and again.

"I'm okay Ginny, really" Harry replied. "Besides, it was my idea to try it faster; not such a great idea after all!" he grinned sheepishly.

"Okay I think we've done enough for today" Bill announced. "If you get a chance go and look up rebound charms in the library for next week but homework is not essential as I know you have got a lot of other things to be doing. I'll see you all in class".

With a swish of his wand Professor Flitwick cleared the hall of mats and cushions and the students found themselves stood on the stone floor. Making their way in to the Entrance Hall Ginny continued to apologise but Harry just laughed it off insisting they could have done with those mats in their DA meetings.

The majority of Saturday was spent on the Quidditch pitch training for the next game. As Harry flew high up in the air watching the new formation the team was learning, he also caught a glimpse of the aurors patrolling around the edge of the school grounds in pairs. One, with very bright blue hair gave Harry a wave and even from a distance Harry knew it was Tonks; who else would have chosen hair that colour.

In the stands Hermione was reading a book about goblin history; much to Ron's obvious disgust. He complained when she came to watch and tried to give tips but got more annoyed if she didn't pay attention. A few rows away from Hermione, Bill sat talking to Fleur Delacour. Fleur was up visiting Bill for the weekend as they had been dating for a while now. When they had first come down to the pitch Harry had heard her filling Bill in on all the goings on in Gringotts, where they had both worked before Bill came to teach. By the sounds of it there were quite a few disagreements going on at Gringotts between different goblins but Harry didn't recognise any names and didn't hear anything specific about the disputes. He knew from his past encounters that Goblins weren't the most amenable of creatures so it may or may not have been related to Dumbledore's meetings with them.

Bill was supervising their practise because Professor Dumbledore wanted all outdoor activities monitored by at least one adult. There were still a lot of attacks happening in the muggle world and a lot of parents had been bombarding the head master with owls questioning security at Hogwarts and wondering whether their children would be safer at home. Every now and then Bill would look up and shout some tips up at Ron but Ron was not very happy about it. Harry could see that he was taking it as criticism rather than help, same as he had with Hermione, but then Hermione had never really played Quidditch. Ron had always felt intimidated by his brothers and as some of the tips were very useful Harry decided to try and use them next time but phrasing them differently so that Ron hopefully wouldn't notice.

Harry woke up early on Sunday morning; unsettled by a nightmare about a potions exam and Professor Snape; he'd been having a lot of them lately and they almost always involved Harry turning in to someone else. The first couple of times he had turned in to Voldemort like in his vision at Grimmauld Place but then he turned in to a few other people like Lucius Malfoy and Molly Weasley. He would have been concerned that it was Voldemort trying to get in to his head again but for the fact that Snape would turn in to other people too and sometimes ridiculous things would come out of their wands like flowers or chocolate syrup when they fired a spell. What had unnerved him this time however, was not the presence of Snape but the fact that on casting a hex at him, Snape turned in to Sirius and hit square on the chest fell backwards through a black veil. They were back in the Department of Mysteries again.

For a minute Harry lay gazing up at the ceiling getting his breathing back to normal and wondering how on earth he expected to pass NEWT level Potions let alone get the grade he needed to become an auror, when he heard a soft whimpering coming from the other side of the dormitory. Crawling to the end of his bed; he gently pulled apart the red velvet curtains ever so slightly, so that he could see across the room. It was still fairly dark but Harry could just make out the blanket covered bodies in the other beds and saw that the noise was coming from Neville's. Harry could see that Neville's hand was draped over the edge of the bed, completely still, and he looked to be asleep.

"Neville?" Harry whispered. "Are you okay?". There was no reply and Neville did not move, but the whimpering had stopped so Harry crawled back up in to his own bed and decided to try and get a couple more hours sleep.

Eleven o'clock found Harry, Ron and Hermione sat at the table by the window in the Gryffindor Common Room. Hermione was flicking through a copy of 'The Sunday Prophet' while Harry and Ron hastily tried to catch up on their Herbology and Potions homework. Though Harry would never actually admit it, Hermione may have been right in her earlier lecture that they had been spending too much time on Quidditch plans.

Staring at a very old dusty text book, Harry's mind began to wander, picturing Snape sat at his desk in his dungeon, writing on a very long piece of parchment with a peacock feathered quill. Every now and then stopping to ponder thoughtfully before he continued writing once again. As Harry wandered closer green vines slithered silently along the floor, effortlessly winding around table legs and fast approaching the potions master's desk. Harry grinned to himself as he pictured in his mind the vines rising up suddenly off the floor and twisting themselves around Snape's throat, sending him crashing to the floor. Edging even closer in to the room Harry gazed eagerly ahead but just as it was about to happen Snape's head shot up and looked right at Harry as he reached for his wand at the same time. As Snape was rising from his chair, head twisting, looking all around the room, his gaze came straight back to Harry just as a book slammed loudly and the Gryffindor common room came rushing back in to view and Harry's herbology text book had a Hermione-shaped handprint on the dusty front cover.

"You are never going to catch up if you keep drifting off … focus!" Hermione had put her newspaper to one side and was looking disapprovingly at Harry.

"Oh you are in for it now!" Ron laughed, quill still writing as he tried to look busy.

"I can't concentrate" Harry groaned trying to get his breathing back to normal. Snape looking right at him had really unnerved him, even if it was just a daydream though it seemed different to the dreams he had at night. He threw his quill down on the table in frustration. "I'm going to go for a walk".

"Oh, hang on I'll come with you" Ron decided as Harry stood up.

"Oh no you don't Ron Weasley, you are going to finish that essay. I promised your mother I'd make sure you did your homework".

"And I suppose you are going to tell her I'm slacking then!" Ron replied folding his arms indignantly and glaring at her.

"No!" Hermione grinned cunningly "but if you don't finish it, you and I will not be going for our own little walk later!"

As a huge grin spread over Ron's face he sat back down and picked up his quill. "Sorry mate, you're on your own!"

The hallways were pretty busy for a Sunday so Harry headed up to the owlery to see Hedwig, hoping for a bit of peace and quiet. As soon as he walked in, however, he saw that he was out of luck as Luna Lovegood was perched over by the window busy writing a letter. Harry hesitated wondering whether he still had time to head back down the steps but she looked up and gave him a big smile. "Harry! Are you looking for me?"

"Uh, no Luna" Harry muttered "just popping up to see Hedwig".

"Ah right … okay then. I'm just writing a letter" she said turning a misty gaze back to the parchment in front of her.

"Oh … who to?" Harry asked edging his way further in to the room and finding Hedwig. He pulled some bacon rind out of his pocket to give her that he had saved from breakfast.

"I haven't decided yet" Luna replied happily, not looking up from her letter.

Only Luna, Harry chuckled to himself, could spend an morning writing letters to no one in particular.

As he wandered over to the window next to Luna and looked out, Harry heard shouts echo up from the driveway. Looking down he saw a horseless carriage with three battered trunks on the top, come pelting up the school drive, gravel flying and leaving a grey mist in its wake. Two patrolling aurors, in black hooded cloaks, waved at the carriage as it passed before it disappeared from Harry's view.

"What the …" Harry started but stopping as a bemused Luna gazed up at him. "It …" but he stopped again, looked at Luna then looked back out of the window. He was sure he recognised the etchings on the top of one of the trunks but it couldn't be.

Without a word he turned and took off down the stairs; leaving Luna tutting at his rudeness and muttering to herself "… and they think I'm weird!"

Harry pelted down the corridors and had a very near nasty collision with a small Slytherin first year but he carried on going. Pounding down the marble staircase in to the entrance hall Harry grinned as he saw Dumbledore and Mcgonagall greeting the mystery guest.

"Well it didn't take you long!" Remus Lupin, in brand new black professors robes grinned at him. "Well a hello would be polite!"

Harry was half wanting to run forward and hug Lupin but was also half unsure whether he should be so friendly with so many other students around, and then there was the fact that he was hardly a child anymore. The decision was made for him however, when a cloaked figure swept forward from Harry's right and stood next to Dumbledore. Professor Snape looked positively evil and after a quick sneer at Lupin's new robes turned on Harry.

"Where have you been this last hour?" he growled menacingly.

"The common room and the owlery" Harry tried to say assuredly looking Snape straight in the eye. He wasn't exactly lying but with his daydream he did feel a bit edgy.

"Severus is this really necessary" Professor Mcgonagall asked wearily.

"Someone was in my dungeon" Snape snapped. Harry felt his stomach drop to the floor. It was a daydream, he imagined it, he was sure. But the look at the end … a chill ran down his spine. He looked up uncertainly to see Professor Dumbledore gazing at him.

Their eyes linked for a second and then Dumbledore turned to Professor Snape. "Did you not say you would be in your dungeon all afternoon marking homework?" he asked casually.

"I …" Snape paused then cleared his throat. "I have been" he replied as Professor Mcgonagall looked at him completely bewildered. "But if you were there then you would have seen someone". Snape glowered at her then at Harry.

"Well this doesn't seem particularly urgent Severus, but as you never actually saw anyone then I think we can let Harry go for now!" Dumbledore turned back to face Harry.

"Harry maybe you can help Professor Lupin take his belongings up to his office so that he can settle in".

Harry rushed forward to the trunks, grateful for an excuse to get away from Snape. "I've got them" Lupin said merrily smirking at Snape and taking out his wand muttered "mobulus". The trunks drifted up off the floor and stood ready waiting for the next command. "You'd better come with me though" he said winking once at Harry "just in case I get lost!"

Harry and Lupin chatted all the way to his office about what Remus had been up to since Harry had come back to Hogwarts. Harry was kicking himself that he hadn't linked up all the clues sooner and knew now why Hermione had been smirking all the time. She of course would have noticed the last few nights of full moons, though Lupin had also been busy doing a few things for the Order in London that he wasn't allowed to tell Harry about. He was still taking his potions and whilst it could still be a risk him being at Hogwarts, Dumbledore had promised a few extra security measures to ensure that no one got harmed.

"Not that I'm not expecting another flurry of Owls as soon as parents find out I'm back again, but Dumbledore insisted that I was needed here, so … here I am".

Unlocking his office door with a swish of his wand, Lupin gestured for Harry to go in first. It was the same office that he had used last time he taught at Hogwarts though the room was a little more dusty; but a few empty glass tanks sat waiting on the shelves where Dolores Umbridge's porcelain cats had sat the year before. Lowering the trunks on to the floor Lupin sighed happily and gazed round the room then grinned at Harry "feel like helping me unpack?"

Ten minutes later and they were kneeling on the floor pulling books and magical devices out of one of the open trunks. Lupin had a story for each of the devices and most of them included James or Sirius. Harry laughed loudly at one particular story involving his father, a woman called Florence and half a dozen other trainee aurors.

It was an undercover exercise towards the end of their initial training and they had to pass to go on to the next level, Lupin explained chuckling. "They were in a pub in Betws-y-Coed, in Wales, and your father was supposed to talk to this Florence to find out information about her brother, discreetly of course. Well … a few other agents were positioned around the pub in case anything nasty happened, as it was a real lead on a death eater group (they were a bit stretched for aurors at the time so lower priority cases were sometimes used for training). Your father was sat at the bar, casually chatting to her in his best attempt at a strong welsh accent, when one of the other trainees wandered past just as your father flicked his cloak backwards. Albert, the trainee, got his foot caught in the cloak and went flying forwards into this big Welsh man, taking James flying backwards off his stool clutching the cloak tight around his throat with his feet in the air, both of them landing in a heap and setting of their auror alarms, which is what this is".

Harry looked at the thin silver tube grinning, it just looked like a small wand.

"The thing about these …" Lupin continued, "is that they are incredibly loud, like a high pitched siren and they flash red when they go off. The idea being that any auror within ten miles will either hear it go off or their own alarm will pick up the signal and lead them to it. So when James and Albert's went off about thirty aurors came pelting in to the pub from a nearby surveillance. Needless to say they weren't very popular and Florence disappeared for a while".

Lupin got up and set the device on the shelf by the door. Walking back to another open trunk on his desk, he leant over it and peered at the contents inside.

"Ahh" he said quietly reaching down in to the trunk and pulled out a light blue velvet box and set it down in front of him. He sat in his chair and looked up at Harry sadly.

"This, I believe, belongs to you". He opened the box and pulled out one of the two dark blue clothes that were in side, passing it over to Harry.

Harry carefully unwrapped it and found the small, square mirror that Sirius had given him the year before.

"You fixed it!" Harry said running his finger over the no longer cracked glass and turning it over, saw that Sirius' message was gone off the back.

"I hope you don't mind" Lupin answered, watching Harry staring at the object in his hands. "I found it when I was packing your things for you at your Aunt and Uncle's house. It seemed a shame to leave it as it was, it holds so many memories, so I cleaned it up and repaired it".

Harry looked up to see Lupin looking back in to the blue velvet box at the remaining blue cloth, but he didn't touch it. "Sirius made them ,you know, the mirrors. The one you have there was your fathers. We each had one, the mauraders, to keep in contact when we were apart over the holidays or in different parts of the school. Sirius was good at making things" Lupin laughed. "He made a lot of stuff that got us in to trouble and would definitely have given Fred and George Weasley a run for their money!"

"Messer's Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs" Harry said quietly.

Lupin laughed again. "Well that little detail was actually my idea … our catchphrase so to speak. Sirius chose to make them as mirrors though, he used to spend a lot of his time looking at himself back then!"

"He said that it was a two-way mirror … that I could use it to speak to him. He didn't say there were three" Harry muttered. "But last year when I was trying to find him … I forgot about it … if I had remembered then … he might still be here".

"Harry what happened was not your fault, he may not have answered even if you had … sometimes no matter what you do, if something is meant to be then there is no way that you can stop it, magic or no magic. Besides it was probably for the best that you didn't use the mirror. Sirius wasn't exactly telling the truth when he said they were two-way and there wasn't just three … there were four. Your father's, Sirius', mine and Peter's. It was irresponsible of Sirius not to warn you. I still have mine so it was, and still is, possible that Peter may have his". Lupin leant forward and lifted the other piece of dark blue cloth out of the box and revealed his own square-shaped mirror. "It is possible to speak to just one person but you can also call the other three mirrors as well. If you had asked specifically for Sirius then you may have been okay but if Peter had told Lord Voldemort about the mirror then it is possible that they could have been altered to spy on what you were saying, or tampered with so that you thought you were speaking to Sirius but weren't; especially with Kreacher being involved with them. I'm showing you these now because I need you to understand … you are in so much danger Harry and you have to be careful of everything and everyone. The death eaters are very active at the moment and you must be on your guard. You can't be doing anything daft like you used too because it is too risky, especially if you have your friends with you. Don't look so despondent Harry, I'm not trying to alarm you I just need you to understand".

"I understand" Harry said angrily. "I understand that everyone I care about is going to get hurt because of me and there's not one thing I can do to stop it because it is never going to end until I'm dead and it would be so much easier if people just came out and said it. I'd be better off out of here on my own, well you all would be anyway".

For a second Lupin looked shocked and Harry knew he had said too much, he'd been thinking it for a while but never actually come out and said it, he had shocked himself as well as Remus. Lupin's shock faded and for probably the first time Harry saw that Lupin was angry with him.

"I know sometimes we may treat you like a child and sometimes we treat you like an adult, maybe we expect too much of you, but do you have any idea of what some of us have sacrificed to help protect you? This war has been going since before you were born and if we don't succeed then it will continue long after we are all gone. It is not all about you; stop wallowing! Your mother died so you could live and you wont if all you do is sulk. You are not the only person to have lost people you care about. Whether you are here or not every single witch and wizard in this school is at risk from Dark Magic as a whole not just Voldemort. This whole war is much bigger than one person, our whole magical world is at risk".

Lupin stopped to catch his breathe, anger abating and as his cheeks turned bright red he looked sadly at Harry. "I'm sorry … I didn't mean to be so harsh. It just … gets a bit much sometimes being the only one left, they were all I had and I don't want that for you. Look closer at your mirror".

Harry looked down to the small square mirror still clutched in his hand.

"The top right corner" Lupin hinted also picking up his own.

Harry squinted but he could just make it out. "It's a stag! I never noticed it before!"

"That's because it was so dirty; like I said I cleaned it up. See mine has one too!"

Lupin pushed his own mirror across the table towards Harry and looking down Harry could see a small orb etched in the top corner. Pulling it back across the table Lupin smiled to himself. "Maybe I'm not the only marauder left now! I will keep mine on me always Harry, same as you can if you can keep it concealed from everyone. Don't even tell Ron and Hermione about it. We should keep them just in case of an absolute emergency and have a codeword so we know it is definitely us; something unrelated to us so that no one can guess. We need to pick one now and never mention it again".

"How about Errol?" Harry suggested, referring to the Weasleys ancient, accident prone owl.

"Yes … that's good; Errol it is! But remember you must keep the mirror hidden. If anyone were to find it, it might be taken from you. People are very nervous about bewitched items, especially these days with all the attacks happening". Lupin chuckled lightly "quite a few of Sirius' inventions got confiscated when we were in school! Including that mirror you had for your birthday!"

"The Mirror of Reflection" Harry smiled.

"Of course Sirius couldn't admit that he had made them so they got taken, usually be Professor Dumbledore. Dumbledore knew of course, I think that's why he rescued quite a few. He was fascinated by them. He knew they were harmless but he kept an eye on us all the same!"

"Like Professor Mcgonagall?" Harry smirked to see if Lupin knew how she'd been watching him at Privet Drive and Remus grinned back at him.

"You've had some use out of it already then" he laughed.

"Mrs Figg showed up green" Harry started "so did Aunt Petunia". Remus looked around nervously.

"Arabella showed green because she's what most people would call a squib. Not very polite if you ask me though. You have heard of them haven't you?" Harry nodded.

"Well she's a witch but has no real magical ability, though she more than makes up for it" he laughed. "I don't know about your Aunt though. She's definitely not a witch, but maybe she showed up on the mirror because there is a hint of something magic in her blood because of Lily. I'm really not sure about that one Harry. You should ask Professor Dumbledore. All I really know about your Aunt is from what Lily told me about her. They never really got on, Lily said Petunia was always nasty to her and called her a freak. Made her life a misery but personally I think she may have just been jealous. Has your Aunt ever spoken to you about your mother?"

"No not really. I'm not allowed to mention anything to do with magic at their house or do any magic. When I first found out about being a wizard they called Mum a freak and Dad a waster. They don't like anything 'abnormal'. They tend to just leave me alone unless they want something done that they can't be bothered doing themselves". Lupin nodded glumly.

"Aunt Petunia did mention her once though, this summer, when I got my results. Said Mum would have been proud of me. Only nice thing she has ever said to me".

"People will always block out things they are scared off Harry; it's human nature, doesn't matter whether you are a muggle or a wizard. I suppose it's why people keep secrets, some memories are harder to face up to than others so its easier to bury them and not tell a sole. Maybe one day she will be able tell you about your mother, things that we can't, that maybe only she knows. Everyone has their secrets".

"I seem to be finding them out all the time" Harry muttered.

"Ah the books" Lupin smiled. "Dumbledore told me you found them. That wasn't a secret Harry its just like I said, sometimes its hard to face up to certain memories and everyone loved your mother so much. Sometimes its easier to try and not to think about the past. I think a lot of people tend to stay away from topics that make them uncomfortable and death is certainly one of them. We just forget that maybe in doing so that we unwittingly might hurt you. It's all to easy to assume that everyone else knows all the things you know. She taught Bill and Charlie you know".

"Really!" Harry grinned "They never said".

"She was very intelligent, your mother, people often wondered what she saw in James" Lupin laughed. "How's your Quidditch practice going by the way? Can't wait to come and watch".

"First match is soon" Harry smiled "I think we'll be ready!"

"Good, Minerva and I have a little wager with Professor Sprout that I can't really afford to loose!"

They continued unpacking and until it was time to go down to the Great Hall for dinner. They talked about the Defence Club and Lupin told Harry that it had been Dumbledore's idea to have Harry help with the lower years to give him some more responsibility of his own as Ron and Hermione were prefects.

When they walked in to the Great Hall together there were a lot of shocked glances though the majority changed to happy ones after a few seconds; a lot of people still remembered Lupin's classes from the last time he taught at Hogwarts. A few people in the lower years looked a bit nervous, having probably heard from others about Lupin being a werewolf and not having been taught by him yet. Quite a few of the Slytherins, however, looked positively evil and were definitely not happy; Malfoy in particular.

Taking a seat between Professor Mcgonagall and Bill, a few words from Dumbledore formally introduced Remus as the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher and everyone got back to their whispered conversations. Harry was amused to see quite a few disdainful sideway glances from Snape but Harry smiled knowing there was absolutely nothing he could do about it.

Later that night settling down in his dormitory, Harry felt happier knowing that Lupin was there and that maybe this year might not be as bad as he thought it would be. Pyjamas on Harry went and sat in the window waiting for Ron to finish throwing his belongings all over the place as he searched his trunk for his transfiguration text book that he would need the next day. Up above stars twinkled in a clear night sky, while down below two aurors passed down the path leaving the trail on the side of the forest and headed down towards Hagrid's hut, wands dimly lighting their way.

Harry was just about to turn round when he saw an unmistakable cloaked figure moving swiftly down from the direction of the Entrance Hall and heading straight in to the Forbidden Forrest. The aurors carried on walking not noticing the movement behind them. Harry leaned further forward a bit trying to peer through the darkness of the outer trees but he could see nothing. That was the second time he had seen Professor Dumbledore creeping down to the forest this week in the dark, and this time it was pretty obvious that he hadn't wanted to be seen. Wondering what his headmaster could possibly be up to, Harry didn't say a word to the others. He just climbed in to bed, still thinking, as Ron blew out the light having now found his textbook and got in to bed himself.