Chapter 16

Serious Issues

Saturday mornings had become reserved for his most strenuous workouts, and they would generally include him running up and down all the stairs of the grandstands surrounding the Quidditch pitch at some point, he affectionately called these, "stadiums." He was exiting the pitch to continue his exercise down by the lake—

'Cody!' He turned to see his two friends, brooms in hand, happy yet tired looks on their faces.

'Hey, what's got you up so early on the weekend?' He asked with a tease.

'Hello, flying with Krum,' Tracey intoned, bouncing up and down in excitement.

'Oh, yeah? I didn't know that was happening today. And so early.'

'It's definitely too early, but I guess less people are out this early, and he doesn't really want an audience. Did you just come out of the lake or something? You're dripping,' Daphne declared.

'Just been running some stairs, headed to the lake now though.'

'You mean to say you run up and down stairs? For fun?' Tracey asked incredulously.

'Not necessarily fun, but for exercise, yes,' he responded with a small grin.

He saw Krum and his group walking up, it looked like it included a few boys and a few girls. He didn't really care to talk to them so he wished the girls luck and jogged off.

Neville didn't keep him in the greenhouses as long as usual that day so he stopped by Professor McGonagall's office to see if he could go see his mom the next weekend. He thought telling her about the tournament was a perfectly good reason to go see her sooner than they had planned. Fortunately, the professor agreed and it was a quick visit. This resulted in him actually having some time to chill in the common room. His year mates had been working on an assignment for their Magical Creatures class, which had devolved into a debate about which creature was the most dangerous.

He asked a few questions, but they were quickly dismissed by the group since they were more basic in nature. He also tried asking about what they knew of the creatures found in the forest, but didn't get much more than speculation or hearsay for answers. Hermione noticed his frustration at not getting substantial answers to many of his questions.

'Have you met Hagrid yet?' she asked.

'Just getting on the boats to cross the lake.'

'You've got to meet him. As far as his teaching skills go, he leaves a lot to be desired. But he's one of the nicest men you're ever going to meet. I have to ask him some questions about this assignment, and he can answer your questions better than anyone here,' she said convincingly.

'Alright, let's go,' Cody said, and they set out together.

'Cody, I have to say, you have surprised me with how serious you have taken your studies. I hardly ever see you goofing around. I'm sorry to say, I kind of expected more of the latter after our first meeting,' Hermione said impressed at first, then with an apologetic tone.

'You weren't really wrong in your assumption. I never took school real serious back home and I wasn't planning to do a big 180 or anything. But once I got learning, it started feeling less like school and more like cool things. In my old school we always complained about not knowing what the things we were learning were good for. Here, I know almost right away how I'm going to be able to use a spell, so I am more motivated.'

'For me, it was how every piece of magic was new. The novelty of every spell makes me want more,' she said excitedly.

'I can see that,' he agreed. They reached Hagrid's hut, and Hermione introduced Cody, who Hagrid recognized as "the big first year" from the boats. Hagrid invited them in for some tea and cakes, and Hermione didn't just have a question, she had a whole slew of them. These Blast-Ended Skrewts sounded quite ominous, and he certainly didn't have any desire to come face to face with one. As interesting as the conversation was it had caused him to forget the questions he had come to ask. Of course, it was when he realized he'd forgotten his questions that Hermione turned to him—

'Didn't you have some questions you wanted to ask Hagrid?'

'Uh, yeah I did. Now, I can't remember them though,' he said with some embarrassment.

'Hey, that's ok. I'm always forgettin stuff,' Hagrid consoled.

'Yeah, well—' he was interrupted by a large black dog barreling in from the front door. Hagrid took a moment to calm his pet down. The incident jolted Cody's memory.

'Is Fang a magical dog?' Cody asked Hagrid.

'Nah, he's just a regular ol' Boarhound.'

'Are there magical dogs?'

'Oh yeah, all kinds, you've got a Cerebus, Crup, Hellhound, Gytrash, Grim—'

'Did you say Grim?' Cody cried out. Hermione almost dropped her tea at the outburst, Hagrid barely batted an eye.

'Yeah, it's supposed to be an omen of death. I'll bet they're not as mean as people say, though,' Hagrid reasoned.

'Right, but is it a huge thing, with shaggy black hair?' Cody asked with interest. His brain was fitting pieces together at rapid speed.

'That's what they say, I've never seen one. You haven't tried the cakes yet.' For such a huge man, the hurt was evident. Cody looked to Hermione and they simultaneously shrugged and reached for a cake. They both took a bite and—

Crunch

He leaned over and let the contents of his mouth fall into his palm. Cody inspected the pieces and sure enough, half a tooth, with a bright red dot in the middle, was mixed amongst the. . . rocks? He drew in a breath to speak and a lightning bolt of pain shot through the exposed nerve and up into his head. He quickly shut his mouth and pressed his tongue against his broken tooth, the warmth and pressure helped the zing subside, though now, there was a constant throbbing in his head.

He glanced over to Hermione who was examining the cake in her hand, her teeth seemed to have survived the battle. She returned the glance, and could see Cody's face contorted in pain. He answered her inquiring look by showing her broken piece of tooth in his hand, her hand flew to her mouth, eyes widened in shock.

'Hagrid, are there actual rocks in these?' she asked with a definite note of displeasure.

'Yeah, they are rock cakes,' he replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

'And you didn't think to tell us that?' Cody responded, though it came out more like, 'mmm mm mmm mmm mmmm?' Since he was not going to risk opening his mouth again.

'Sorry, I don't get many students coming for tea. I didn't want to be rude. I'm sure Madam Pomfrey will be able to fix you right up,' Hagrid said apologetically, he was a hard guy to stay mad at.

'He's right. This will be nothing for her, but we should get up there soon,' Hermione comforted Hagrid's concern and Cody's worry at the same time.

'Before you go, I have something you need to pass on to Ron. Well, I guess any of the Weasleys, but since you both are prefects together. . .' Hagrid said while handing her a folded up piece of parchment. She took the parchment and they began making their way to the hospital wing. Hermione talked almost the entire time. Cody didn't mind since all he was capable of at the time was head shakes and nods, with the occasional "Hmm." He was also grateful that Hermione accompanied him to the wing so she could give Madam Pomfrey all the relevant information.

'Let me see that tooth, son,' Madam Pomfrey said, holding out a hand. 'Oh, this is a substantial chunk of tooth. Good thing you saved it, that'll make this much easier. Open up.' She placed the tooth back in his mouth and held it in place as she cast her charm. It was only a moment before she released her hold and looked at Cody with a satisfied smile. 'Good as new,' she declared proudly.

'Wow,' Cody said after exploring the restored tooth with his tongue. 'You wouldn't have been able to do that if I didn't have the broken piece?'

'I would have been able to, but you'd have had to take a potion and you would have been here for a few hours waiting for it to grow back. Regrowth takes much more time than a relatively simple reconnection, in our case.'

'Reconnect and regrow teeth, wow. What about moving them or reshaping?' For him this was another branch of unexplored magic, and he was interested.

'Yes, though reshaping is far simpler than shifting. When I reshape, I typically only have to change one layer of the tooth. When I shift, I have to consider all the underlying tissues, such as bone and gingiva. Even then, we see a high incidence of relapse, where the teeth go back to their natural alignment.'

'That's interesting, I want to know more about that,' he said with interest.

'You sure this boy is a Gryffindor? He knows how to use his flattery,' she said to Hermione with a playful smile.

'Honestly, I wonder about that hat sometimes,' Hermione said, somewhat in jest.

'So, could you fix Hermione's teeth pretty easy?' he asked casually, though he realized his mistake when he caught sight of her glare. 'Sorry, Hermione that was the wrong choice of words—could you reshape them easily?' Her glare didn't soften much.

'Oh yes! That would be a very simple reshaping. I'm surprised I haven't seen her for it already.' Pomfrey replied in a matter of fact tone.

'No thanks,' Hermione said defiantly.

'Oh come on. I'll bet you'd love it,' Cody coaxed. 'Give it a chance.'

'No!'

'I could do a temporary change, just so you could see what it looks like,' Pomfrey said sweetly, but out of Hermione's view she winked at Cody. She has pulled this little stunt before, he thought. 'It will only last a couple minutes.'

'Ok, only for a minute,' Hermione consented. Pomfrey beamed, it was evident she was passionate about her career. It wasn't a long process for this charm either. Hermione had her mouth closed and it was obvious she was inspecting her new teeth with her lips and tongue.

'Let's see a smile,' Cody encouraged, Hermione just shook her head, she was obviously hesitant to reveal the results. 'Oh, come on, Hermy.'

She didn't smile, but she did open her mouth to berate Cody. Whatever words came out were not attended to, Cody and Pomfrey were solely focused on the beautiful new smile. Well, eventually it would become a smile, currently it was set in a scowl. Pomfrey didn't hesitate to grab a mirror and hand it to Hermione.

'Oh my,' Hermione gasped.

'You better be careful, son. You're walking on thin ice,' Pomfrey said softly to Cody as Hermione was admiring her new look.

'I was just making sure your marvelous magic didn't go to waste,' he responded with a cheeky grin. 'You never intended it to just be temporary.'

'Some people just don't know what they want until they see,' she replied with a knowing smile.

'It looks good, doesn't it?' Cody said suggestively to Hermione.

'It actually does,' she agreed shyly.

'No actually about it, it looks really good,' Cody affirmed. 'You have to keep it.'

'I should, shouldn't I?' she didn't need much convincing.

'Just say the word and I can make it permanent,' Pomfrey prompted.

She did, and they walked back to the common room in relative silence. Cody knew her mind had to be racing, but for now, she was keeping it all to herself. That was up until they got to the portrait guarding the common room when she turned to him,

'Don't think you're totally off the hook,' she said dangerously.

'Hey, you weren't gonna show us. I had to do something drastic,' he defended.

'Well, you're lucky no one else was around.'

'I excel at that,' he beamed, and they entered the common room. She quickly found Ron and without a word handed him the parchment from Hagrid, then she hurried up to her dorm.

'She alright?' Ron asked Cody, who was left just standing there. The silent Hermione was an obvious flip of the script.

'Yeah, she's more than alright,' he said with a satisfied smile. This drew a few curious glances from those around, the implication was more than he had intended. So, to prevent any more attention coming his way he changed the subject, 'Hagrid said that note was for your whole family.'

'Oh, yeah?' Ron opened up the note and read. 'Oi, Ginny, Fred, George, get over here! It's from Charlie!' The other siblings rushed over to their brother and they all read the note together.

'So, what does it say?' Seamus called out.

'Not much really. Just that Charlie is here, but only until the beginning of December,' Ron replied with a hint of disappointment; at the length of visit or lack of information, no one could tell.

'There's only one reason Charlie would be here, Ron,' Ginny proclaimed. He only looked at her curiously. 'The first task.' Ron's eyes widened in response.

'Why would your brother come for the first task?' Cody asked curiously.

'Charlie is a dragon handler. The champions are probably going to have to do something involved with dragons for the first task,' Ginny elaborated.

'Dragons?' Cody gulped.

'You look like you've seen a ghost. Don't worry about it. It's not like you are going to get anywhere close to them,' she laughed.

'Oh—yeah. Hearing you all talk about them is one thing, but hearing they are actually coming here kind of makes it real. You're talking about big huge flying fire breathing lizards, right?'

'Yup, it's going to be so cool to finally see them in person. Charlie always has the craziest of stories,' Ginny said excitedly.

'Yeah, so cool,' Cody trailed off, a sickness beginning to develop in his stomach.

'I wonder if we should tell Cedric,' Ginny thought aloud.

'He's always been a good bloke,' Fred said. Their conversation continued as Cody zoned out, and slowly left the room and headed down to get dinner before the crowds arrived.

His appetite was nearly non-existent, so he was in and out of the Great Hall in a flash. He made a pit stop in his dorm to change clothes and grab his shrunken guitar. He needed to run and let off some steam, hopefully he could find a fairly isolated location where he could play. If he happened upon the Grim, great. If not, well, he could wait until tomorrow. Between the near sprint he made around the lake and letting loose on the guitar, he had a cathartic evening.

He barely made it back before curfew, but not a soul noticed his almost late entry as the entire common room was fawning over Hermione's new smile. Some of the girls seemed jealous, and many of the boys were giving conspicuous nods of approval. It was apparent Hermione wasn't used to this type of attention, the color in her face was a dead give away. This distraction allowed him an easy opportunity to sneak upstairs unnoticed in order to clean up for the night.

The looks on the faces of his Astronomy tutors told him they had had an enjoyable day.

'Hey, TouchDown, how was flying?'

'So good,' Tracey beamed. 'We couldn't keep up with Krum at all, but we held our own with a couple of the others. I don't think I could say I had quite as good a time as Dee, though.'

'Oh, really?' Cody continued with the teasing tone Tracey ended on. Color began to fill Daphne's cheeks.

'Yeah, Dee here scored a date with the number one Seeker in the world,' Tracey added a waggle of the eyebrows. Daphne looked more timid than ever in her expression.

'Oh, really?' the teasing tone being replaced by a deflated one from Cody. If he thought learning about the dragons made him feel sick, it was nothing compared to this hypothetical bludger, straight to the gut.

'Yep, not until Hogsmeade, but still, a date with Krum!' Tracey declared.

'So, are you excited about that? Tracey seems to be.' Cody directed the question and comment directly to Daphne so she would finally have to speak.

'Uh, yeah, and a bit nervous, to be honest,' she said tentatively.

'Don't let her fool you, she was ecstatic this morning. She's just been overthinking things as the day goes on,' Tracey couldn't help but pipe in.

'Did you do anything fun today?' Daphne asked, seemingly focused on changing the subject.

'Today? No, nothing.' His mind had gone blank; Sirius, a broken and mended tooth, dragons; all forgotten, as if they never happened. Not that he was going to tell them everything about everything, but now there was nothing to say.

To say he was distracted looking up at the night sky would be a tremendous understatement. Very little of what Tracey said entered his head, and the little that did went in one ear and out the other. Oh, he heard one thing. He heard when she pointed out the Draco constellation, Latin for dragon, of course. He was so out of it he didn't even hear the jokes the girls made about their housemate. After that brief moment of lucidness he went back to aimlessly gazing, getting lost in his own thoughts—

Real smooth, Cody. How to get a girl 101, don't ask her out, just set her up with another guy. . . And not just any guy, one of the most famous wizards out there, who just happens to be the best player at her favorite sport. What could go wrong? Don't ever try and claim you aren't a Gryffindor, you need Victor to help you think through all your ideas. . . And who says she would've gone out with you anyway? Just cause she gave you a tiny kiss on the cheek, and seemed a little bit jealous about your date with Susan? Susan! She still thinks you are dating Susan. . . Who are you kidding though? Even if you'd already asked her out —and then Krum comes along— do you really think she wouldn't have found a way to get out of the date with you? You're nothing compared to him. . . Maybe if you were Harry Potter you could stand a chance. Yeah, tell them you're Potter. . . But do you want to sacrifice every inch of your privacy for the off chance she says yes? Probably not.

And, it's not like you can blame her, it would be like if Michael Jordan asked you out—well, not the same, but close. And you would probably say yes to that anyway, just to hang out with him. . . But, no, it would be more like if Cindy Crawford asked you out. You would find a way to ditch any other girl in the world to make it happen, any girl but Daphne. . . Stop thinking about her, it's not helping, just look at the stars. . . Is that a koala constellation? Couldn't be, koalas live in Australia. It doesn't matter where they live, you're just looking at stars, you idiot. . . I wonder if this is what it's like being high? I should try that, Coach Williams couldn't get mad at me now. . . Do wizards even do that? If anyone would know it would be someone named Greengrass, right? Yeah, just go ahead and ask her that. . . It's just a harmless question. . . But if she takes it the wrong way you might as well jump off the tower yourself. . . Stop being so dramatic—

'Cody! Cody! Hey, are you listening at all?' Tracey declared, breaking Cody from his fog.

'Uh, yeah, I'm listening,' he murmured.

'Ok, what's the last star I was pointing out?' she asked firmly.

'Uh, Koalas Major?' he answered uncertainly.

'What are you on about? There are no koala stars. No, what's the brightest star in the Canis Major constellation?'

'Uh. . . Sirius. Sirius!' He shook his head trying to rid himself of the cobwebs.

'Are you ok, Cody? You don't seem yourself tonight,' Daphne asked with concern. He was spared having to answer by a giant rumble of his stomach, having had next to nothing for dinner was catching up with him.

'Uh, I don't think so. Maybe, something I ate for dinner, I should go. Goodnight, girls.' He quickly got to his feet and headed out.

'Hey, no hugs?' Tracey called out.

'I don't think that's a great idea right now.' He was hoping they would take that as he was feeling sick, and he was, just not in the same sense that they would imagine.

'Ok, night, Cody,' Daphne called to him. 'That was kinda weird,' Cody heard her say to Tracey just before he was out of range.

He had a restless night of sleep. That'll happen when you dream of a giant dog predicting your death, and a spike from a dragon tail knocking out multiple teeth, and then seeing your crush fly away on a broom with another guy, both of them laughing at you. So, even though he didn't feel rested when he woke, he got himself out of bed and took his guitar to meet who he now thought was Sirius. It felt weird to think about that, and there was excitement mixed with anxiety at not knowing how the introductions would go. He had already decided he would reveal the Harry Potter identity at some point. It could be the only way to keep the dog from running away.

He got out to the regular spot, and his scraggly looking friend was waiting for him. He played a lot of the regular songs, then paused for a moment to talk to the dog.

'So, I've got a new song for you. Ever heard of the Alan Parsons Project?' Cody asked. The dog shook his head.

'This was one of my guitar teacher's favorites but there are no words, and it would be better if I had more people, cause it sounds better with all the parts. It's from the album Eye in the Sky, I think it's referencing stars or something. The song is called Sirius.' The dog froze for a split second before nodding to Cody to play. It was a fairly slow song and Cody messed up a couple times before finishing.

'So, what did you think of Sirius?' The dog nodded politely, it obviously wasn't his favorite. 'Yeah, I really need some others to blend the parts better. You should hear it when they do the introductions for the Chicago Bulls, puts goosebumps on your skin. Anyway, I think he named the song after the star, brightest star in the sky they say. Do you think that's a cool name. . . Sirius?' The dog nodded aggressively.

'Can I call you that? Sir-Sing-Alot is kind of a mouthful, and Sirius just sounds cooler.' Now the dog was giving him a suspicious look with his hesitant nod.

'Ok, Sirius it is. Sirius the black dog—' the dog took off for the forest before Cody could even finish the sentence. 'Hey, come back,' Cody called out as he jogged over to the edge of the forest where Sirius had disappeared.

'Sirius, I know who you are, and I know that you are innocent. I know Peter did it, and got away with it. Come out, Padfoot, I just want to talk to you,' he pleaded.

'How do you know that stuff?' Sirius asked from somewhere amongst the shadows.

'Dumbledore told me.'

'Why would he tell you?' Sirius asked with an accusatory tone.

'Cause you're my godfather,' Cody said deliberately, and while waiting to see if Sirius would respond he nixed the color charm on his contacts so his true eye color would show through. He also took off the sticking charm on his hair so he could reveal the scar if Sirius asked about it, those were the only identifiers he could think of.

'Harry?' Sirius breathed the question.

'Do you have other godchildren? Though, I actually do prefer Cody. That's the name my adoptive parents gave me. If you come out I can tell you the whole story.'

'How about you step in here a little, you'll be fine, and then I don't risk someone seeing me,' Sirius reasoned. 'How do I know you're really Harry?'

'They say I have my mother's eyes,' Cody prompted.

'I've seen your eyes—'

'Those weren't my real eyes, those were colored contacts,' Cody explained, stepping into the forest.

'Those are Lil's eyes, but that could just be good glamour. The scar too, if you even still have it.' Cody pulled back his hair to reveal, but Sirius didn't really react. He had already convinced himself it could be a fake.

'Ok, nobody should know this. I got the Marauder's Journal from my dad's trunk. Peter was the first to know his Animagus form, a rat. And Remus never found his animal.' A large smile spread on Sirius' face and he approached and rested his hands on Cody's shoulders taking a good look at the kid. Then he wrapped him up in a big hug, pinning Cody's arms to his sides.

'I didn't think I was ever gonna see you again,' Sirius said, tears welling up in his eyes. 'You have James' features, that's for sure, but the hair really changes the look. And to say Moony never found his animal, well, technically I guess that's true. Dumbledore didn't quite tell you everything, did he?' Sirius said playfully, now convinced Cody was also Harry.

'I'm guessing there's a truckload of things he hasn't told me, there's never been enough time, apparently,' Cody said, disgruntled.

'You know, there's probably some truth to that. It could take a long time to sift through all the details about what happened to you and your family, honestly. So, tell me your story, the story of Harry turned Cody.' And they both sat, facing each other, backs against trees a few feet apart.

Cody told him all the important parts; from the adoption and accidental magic all the way up to the Goblet of Fire and dragons, and the latest developments with Daphne.

'Wow, now that's a story. Well, first and most importantly, that's just a minor setback with Daphne, don't fret too much.' Sirius said in a nonchalant tone.

'What?' Cody replied in surprise.

'Well, this is where me and your father might have disagreed, I was always more of a "there's other fish in the sea kinda guy." ' Sirius said with a shrug.

'I see, you don't think anyone is that special,' Cody said cynically.

'That is exactly not what I'm saying. I'm saying that though you might feel some jealousy towards this other guy, you need to get over that, and the sooner the better. If you let that consume you, you'll mess up more than just one relationship,' Sirius said sincerely.

'That does actually make sense,' Cody agreed.

'Now that we got that out of the way, the next most important and possibly more lethal problem—dragons. Got any plans for that?' Sirius asked a little less jovially.

'Plans? I don't even know what facing a dragon means,' Cody said, exasperated.

'You won't have to kill it, if that's what you're worried about. They are too valuable. No, you probably just have to get around it or something,' Sirius speculated.

'Oh, American Gladiator style. That'll be a cake walk then,' he said with dripping sarcasm.

'No idea what that is, kid. But if it helps, sure. There's gotta be some spells, or ways to distract it. We've got some time to figure it out,' Sirius said, trying to help Cody keep calm.

'Hang on, I've got an idea.'

'Oh, yeah?'

§Key, are you out here?§ A few moments passed.

§I'm here.§

'Is this your Familiar?' Sirius asked.

'I don't know what kind of shit wizards are into, but most humans don't have relations with animals,' Cody said with a hint of revulsion.

'No, not like that, you weirdo. A Familiar is a magical pet. I don't know how it works but some bonds can be real strong and it's like the animal gets some of the wizard's magic.'

'So, me being able to talk to Key is cause we've bonded?'

'No, being able to talk to snakes is just a magical ability. The fact that Key actually responds to your calls is more of an indication of the bond. I myself never was much into snakes. My crazy family on the other hand, loved them.'

§Key, have you seen any dragons around here?§ Cody asked.

§I know not of these dragons.§

§They are these huge lizard things that can breath fire. If you see them you won't be able to miss them. Can you do some exploring for me?§

§I can do this.§

§Great, come visit me if you find anything.§

'What did you tell her?' Sirius asked.

'Just to see what she can find out about the dragons.'

'Any information is good. But the other thing I'm thinking is about how your name got in there in the first place,' Sirius said pensively.

'Yeah, Dumbledore didn't claim to have a clue either. I thought most people thought I was dead by now.'

'Yeah, well this was an easy way to try and disprove that, which they did.'

'I still don't agree with that theory, but I don't really have a better one. Who would even care that much?' he asked in slight confusion.

'Death Eaters, those people that still hold you responsible for killing their master. And they aren't exactly the reasonable type.'

'Wait, Death Eaters? That's just what you call them, right?' Cody asked, in minor disbelief.

'No, that's what they call themselves.'

'That is hilarious. I can see it; "Hey, come join my gang." "Maybe, what do you call yourselves?" "Death Eaters." "Sweet, I'm in." Ok, so how many of these crazies have access to Hogwarts? I thought this was like the safest place on earth,' Cody said with skepticism.

'I can think of two right away, Snape and Karkaroff—'

'Snape is a Death Eater?' he asked in shock. 'I shouldn't be that surprised, that actually explains a lot. Dude definitely has some screws loose.'

'Yup, Dumbledore trusts him for some reason. Karkaroff too, but I think that's mainly because all the other Death Eaters hate him. I'm wary of both, and they both could do it,' Sirius said with suspicion.

'Ok, I'll keep my eye out for those two. Any others out there that could pull something like this off?' Cody asked.

'Honestly, this type of thing is right up Peter's alley. He could sneak into anywhere. And he couldn't duel for dragon dung, but he was a borderline expert at anything to do with deception.'

'He beat you in a duel, didn't he?' Cody asked with a raised eyebrow.

'Damn it! You're right. We always underestimated him —and that got me thrown in prison— I thought he wouldn't stand a chance against me. You know, we used to joke, "a table can stand with three legs, but it's just more stable with four." That's why we kept Peter around,' Sirius said with realization hitting him.

'You said that in front of him?' Cody asked in disbelief.

'Yeah, even worse stuff behind his back. Looking back, we weren't the nicest of guys. We were right gits sometimes.'

'I know, I've read some of your pranks in the journal. I would've beat your ass, you know that?' Cody said playfully.

'You think you could take me? I'm quite a bit bigger than you,' he answered leadingly.

'I'm going to do you the service of letting you think you'd stand a chance,' Cody retorted, and Sirius howled with laughter.

'So you've been reading the journals? Are you studying the Animagus stuff?'

'I've been reading the Animagus stuff, I still don't know what my animal is,' Cody said, a little dejected.

'Well, you read it already, me and James didn't find out until we transformed,' Sirius consoled. 'I can't wait til you can transform,' he added with excitement.

'And Moony, did he ever find his animal?' Cody asked.

'Oh, let me tell you about Moony. . .' That led to a whole bunch of stories, which led to other questions. Topics about the Marauders and their time at school; his mom and dad, and how they met and their little time as a married couple. Now that he felt he knew them better, Cody felt a bigger desire to read his parent's journals more. So, many things to do and learn, if only he could find the time. Then Sirius talked a little about the war that changed all their lives, and the topic of Peter came back up. This prompted a thought and Cody turned to Key.

§Key, Have you been eating good?§

§Yes.§

§Lots of rats?§

§Mostly rabbits and squirrels. I'm saving rats for the winter when I'll have to live inside.§

§Ok, good. I need you to check all your rats for missing fingers. If you catch one missing this finger, don't kill it. We need him alive.§ He said, indicating an index finger.

'You think Peter still comes around here?' Cody asked. 'I just told Key to keep an eye out for him, and to not kill him if he finds him.'

'That's good, and one reason I hang around. That, and food is pretty easy to come by. The scary part about that thought is that Peter wouldn't ever do something like this by himself. If it was him, he was doing it on the suggestion or orders of somebody else,' he said pensively.

'Food. I've hardly eaten since lunch yesterday.' Time had been lost, it was already late afternoon. 'I really need to go eat, I'm starving.'

'Alright, kid. Go eat, we'll talk more later. I know where I can find you. I just don't know what to call you. Your dad started calling you Prongslet—'

'No!' Cody declared.

'Ok, what about pup—'

'No! I don't care if you are a dog, my name is Cody, anything else and I'll snap your mouth shut again.' Sirius' laughs were silenced as the light went on in his head.

'You did that? That wasn't very nice,' Sirius said in mock accusation.

'I know, but your singing was—is—horrible. And I needed to practice on someone.'

'Alright, you're getting irritable, you're not yourself when you're hungry, go eat. I'll see you around, Cody.'

'Later, Sirius.' Cody walked away back to the castle, getting lost in thoughts about everything he had just been talking about.

'Cody, where have you been?' Daphne asked a little out of breath, catching him in the courtyard outside the castle entrance.

'Just relaxing.'

'Relaxing? We've been looking all over for you. We checked the hospital wing. Tori, Susan, Michael, Neville, none of them had even seen you. Neville even went back up to check your bed for us. After the way you left last night, we were worried,' Daphne said with some concern.

'No offense, but you don't exactly look great,' Tracey added with some apprehension.

'Yeah, well my appetite hadn't quite returned this morning so I thought some fresh air would do me well. It has, but now I'm starving and my appetite has finally returned,' he said with a smile.

'Ok, glad you're feeling better, see ya,' Daphne said, returning the smile.

'Thanks for checking up on me, TouchDown. See ya.'

He entered the Great Hall and scanned the room, no mates at his house table, Michael was eating with Hannah; way to go, he thought. Then Celine caught his attention with a wave, so he went and sat across from her and Fleur. A quick "Hello" and he began to eat, he truly was famished.

'You're eating like a starved Chimera,' Celine softly laughed.

'I kinda forgot to eat today,' he admitted.

'And how does one forget to eat?' she asked playfully.

'Long story, but I had a lot of stuff to catch up on.'

'Anything interesting?'

'I think so, if you haven't already made other plans, I could tell you about it at Hogsmeade sometime,' he added a small grin.

'Oh, you've already —how did you put it— figured some things out?' she asked coyly.

'Well, sometimes when you do something stupid, the universe slaps you in the face. Safe to say that happened to me yesterday. So, can I accompany you?' he asked with a bright smile. 'Are you free the first weekend of December?'

'Let me check my schedule.' She lightly tapped her chin with a single finger while shifting her pensive gaze to the ceiling. She did not succeed in keeping the smirk off her face.

'Are you consulting an imaginary calendar or is yours somehow on the ceiling?' he asked teasingly. She held up a silencing finger, then she looked at him in faux sternness.

'Lucky you, I'm free that day,' she said pleasantly.

'Great!'

'But why not next weekend?' she asked.

'I'm going to be gone, but the weekend after that. . . I could sneak away for a bit in the afternoon, if you want,' he said with a mischievous smile. She nodded her head in response.

'Oh, Fleur, look, he is willing to break the rules for me,' she exclaimed with intentional overexcitement. Fleur gave a small roll of the eyes.

'I am not going to be able to handle you two, am I?' Fleur said with an air of playfulness.

'Not if I have anything to do about it,' Celine declared, adding a wink to Cody, and he returned it with a smile.

'Do you have something against breaking the rules, Fleur?' he asked.

'Oui, I believe rules are established to provide fairness and safety for all,' she said in a dignified tone.

'Oh, then you wouldn't be interested in any information regarding, oh say. . . the first task?' he asked, almost taunting her. Her eyes shot wide open, as did Celine's.

'You don't have anything,' she declared.

'Do you have any paper?' he asked.

'Non, just parchment,' she replied.

'That'll do, pass it over.' She complied. He quickly wrote down a single word, folded it in half and passed the note back across the table. Fleur unfolded it and looked down, Celine leaned over and glanced down. This time, it wasn't just their eyes that opened wide, their mouths also gaped as they read the word "dragons."

'How do you know this?' Fleur breathed intensely.

'Guy in my dorm has a brother that works at a dragon reserve in Romania. For some weird reason he is here for the month. You do the math,' he replied casually.

'Dragons? Are they crazy?' Fleur said rhetorically.

'The answer is yes. And, you're welcome,' Celine said to her friend in a leading manner.

'Huh, oh, oui. Thank you, Cody.' Then she looked at Celine with a slight roll of her eyes and said, 'thank you.'

'Now you can't say I didn't do anything to help you win the tournament,' Celine declared.

'I never would've said that,' Fleur contended.

'But you would have thought it,' Celine replied. Fleur "Hmphed" and Cody excused himself for the evening after promising to come eat with them regularly.

The week passed quickly, always something to do. Charms came easily to him with Astoria's help, and he was done with all first year material. Astoria's wandless light was coming along nicely, and she was beginning to do other small inconspicuous things wandlessly. Cody encouraged her to do as much as she could, but she was hesitant to do anything that might get noticed by other people.

His Transfiguration lessons were more discussions than practical, Michael was adamant that he understand the fundamentals perfectly before moving on. And he assured Cody that once they started progressing, things would move much quicker.

His extra potions sessions were almost too easy, without the distractions that other students provided, he was able to produce excellent potions without Astoria hardly giving any suggestions. Professor Snape had even sat in on his session this time to make sure Astoria wasn't doing the work for him, she wasn't, much to his dismay. He even occasionally found himself remembering things Neville had told him about the plants during their time in the greenhouses.

Defence class was still rather boring, Moody kept saying something about not allowing stupid kids throwing around spells until they completely understood what they were doing. He heard regular complaints from students about having another professor that focused more on theory than practical. Moody assured them they would have their opportunity to prove their competence with a wand in due time.

He made sure to catch up with Daphne and Tracey after defence and let them know he would be gone over the weekend. They teased him about it, and he was glad they all seemed to be acting normal around each other. It was as if nothing had changed, and in reality, nothing had, at least not between them.

Friday Susan destroyed him multiple times during their duels again. He had stopped using his shield almost entirely during their sessions and it resulted in him losing quicker, and ending up more exhausted. She convinced him that his spells were increasing in strength and accuracy, even if the results weren't showing it. He had to admit that it was this training that made him not as antsy to throw around spells in defence class, he at least had an outlet. Susan sat down across from him as he was recovering from their final duel.

'You didn't listen to me,' she playfully accused him.

'I'm sure you're right, but which one are you referring to?' he cheekily asked.

'Daphne. I told you not to wait too long.'

'Oh, you heard about that?' the dejection filled his question.

'Who hasn't? And sorry to bring it up. It played out funnier in my head,' she apologized.

'No, it's ok. I'm coming to terms with it, and Celine seems like a lot of fun.'

'The French girl?'

'Yeah.'

'So that's why you and Michael have been sitting over there a bit more,' she acknowledged.

'Yeah, and before you say anything, Michael is barely affected by Fleur's allure. Which is actually a good thing for Hannah. Fleur says that someone is less affected by the allure if they feel attached to another person, in the simplest of terms.'

'I'll have to pass that along. I might have to string her along a bit first, I owe her for teasing me about Theo,' she said with a sly grin.

'Uh oh, I'm rubbing off on you. Your mischievous side is coming out.'

'Yes, I'm afraid you are. I can't deny how fun it is though. So, do you fancy Celine?'

'Yeah, you know what, she is kinda fancy. Or maybe it's just her being French that feels fancy,' he pondered aloud.

'No, you dolt. Do you fancy her? Have feelings for her?' Susan asked again in mock exasperation.

'Oh, yeah, I like her,' he confirmed.

'And you still fancy Daphne? Sorry, "like" sounds weird to me,' Susan laughed.

'Of course, I can't just stop liking her. But all we've ever been is friends, so nothing really has to change. I still like being her friend, but for now it seems we are going to date other people. Hopefully, we don't start acting weird around each other, I wouldn't like that.'

'I guess at this point you don't really have a choice,' she said.

'Nope. Well I gotta get going. Thanks again for whoopin me, one of these days I'll get you, you know,' he smirked.

'Yeah, when nifflers fly,' she laughed in response.

Cody cleaned up before he used the floo and got home to an empty apartment, he knew his mom would probably be at work and his friends likely at wrestling practice. He settled into the couch for a nap. He was jolted awake by a shriek when his mom entered the room not expecting anyone to be on her couch. The start caused him to roll off the furniture and land with a thud on the floor, knocking his head on the way down.

'That's what you get for sneaking into my home without a warning,' Jennifer said playfully.

'It's my home too, you know,' he replied, rubbing the back of his head.

'Yeah, and we also have a phone, and you could've called my work to let me know you were here.'

'Where's the fun in that?' he intoned.

'You're right. Then you never would've rolled off the couch and hit your head,' she chuckled. 'So, why are you here? Not that I don't mind seeing you,' she added while giving her son a big hug.

'Sit down.'

'Oh! That good, huh?' she said with a surprised look on her face.

'Yeah, that good. Remember that tournament I told you about?' She nodded. 'Well, guess whose name came out?'

'What did you go entering a wizard tournament for?' she laughed.

'That's the thing, I didn't enter. And it wasn't my name that came out, it was Harry Potter,' he said deliberately.

'Oh, now that is interesting.'

'Yeah, Dumbledore says he has no idea how it got in there but by my name coming out, I am magically bound to compete. No big deal, go do my best, probably lose, but whatever, right?' he explained trying to sound casual.

'And try to have some fun while you're at it,' she elaborated calmly.

'Well, I'll guess we'll see how much fun I can have when I'm face to face with a dragon.'

'You mean like those dragons from your books?' she clarified.

'Yup.'

'Hey, at least you know you've beaten one before. Well, Harry Potter has.'

'And you say my jokes are bad.'

'Well, what are you going to do about it now? Nothing, right? So, no need to feel all "woe is me." Just like you said, do your best, and don't be stupid.' Her confidence that he could handle it was surprisingly soothing.

'I think I'm ready to tell my friends everything,' he said thoughtfully.

'Are you sure?'

'I think so. I need help coming up with ideas for this stupid dragon, and Victor is the best at coming up with ideas. Not to mention, I think they could come and watch. They'd never forgive me if I didn't let them come see real dragons.'

They talked more about the tournament and he told her about discovering Sirius' dog form and meeting him. When it was late enough to assume his friends would be home they made their way over to their apartment. Victor was home, and was super excited to see his friend. They quickly went over to find Jamal who was also home and enthused at the surprise visit.

'So what did you come for, just a surprise visit?' Victor asked.

'Yeah, kinda, the school has some things planned on the next weekend I was going to come, so I switched my weekend. The surprise was just kinda fun, then it hurt,' he said, rubbing the bump on the back of his head.

'So, what's new. You're alive at least,' Jamal teased.

'Why wouldn't you be alive?' Jennifer asked

'You didn't tell her? Now you're busted,' Victor smirked. Jennifer gave her son an expectant look, and he related the story of his forgetting to tell his tutors he would be gone for the weekend. He then told the rest, all up to finding out he had inadvertently set this girl up with a famous sports star.

'Oh, I like her,' his mom said.

'What? How can you like that she hung me out to dry for a whole week?' Cody asked.

'Cause you deserved it,' Victor declared.

'You said you only have two classes together, it's not like she put that much effort into avoiding you. And she taught you a good lesson, did you forget to tell anyone that you were leaving this weekend?' Jennifer added.

'No, I told everyone that would have any worry,' Cody replied.

'So, when do we get to meet this girl?' Jamal asked.

'I told you, she's going to be going with that other guy, Viktor,' Cody said.

'You set her up a guy named Viktor. You really don't stand a chance,' Victor said with a laugh.

'He spells it with a 'k', not the same as you,' Cody retorted.

'Same name, but all hope is not all lost,' Victor said.

'Oh yeah?'

'Yeah, he is seventeen and world famous. No way he is looking to settle down. Move on for now, then when they break up see where things go,' Victor explained assuredly.

'When did my son get so wise?' Elisa asked.

'Chelsea is rubbing off on him,' Jamal smirked.

'He is right, son. You need to have fun, not too much fun, but don't get too hung up on one person,' Jennifer added.

'I know,' he said. Then he went into details about Celine and their already planned date.

'You idiot!' Victor cried. 'Making us feel all bad for you when you already have a date set up with a hot French chick'

'And I don't want to hear you complain again about the trick Daphne played on you, cause you just did the same thing.'

'On a lesser scale,' he defended.

'Hypocrites always justify their actions,' she replied.

'Alright, alright, I see your point.'

'So, does this mean you aren't coming home for Thanksgiving?' Jamal asked.

'Oh, yeah, about that. How would you guys like to come to England for Thanksgiving weekend?'

He then went on to tell his story, the Harry Potter story. Maybe, he didn't share every little detail, for times sake, but he was spent by the end of it.

'Dragons are real,' Jamal said in awe. 'And you are Harry Potter.'

'I think almost every magical story we've ever heard is based is some bit of truth,' Cody explained, trying to gloss over the Harry Potter comment.

'Remember those books we saw. Oh man, that was you!' Victor said with a laugh, and Jamal joined him.

'Yeah yeah, laugh it up fuzzball,' Cody sneered.

'Who you calling fuzzball? You're the one with the Harry name,' Victor retorted.

'I knew I couldn't live that down. Oh well, but I need help. I need to figure out how I can get around a dragon, or that is what I think I have to do.'

'That's easy!' Victor declared. Everyone shot him curious looks. 'Oh, come on. All you gotta do. . .'

'You know, that is so stupid it might just work. And the best part is, your chance of dying doing that isn't all that high,' Jennifer said.

'Do you really think we can come watch?' Jamal asked.

'Yeah, you'll basically have to hide the whole time, but with a few arrangements I think we can pull it off,' Cody said.

'So, we aren't going to be able to meet any of your friends there, are we?' Jamal asked with a hint of disappointment.

'I don't think so, you guys will stand out no matter how much disguise we use. And I'm still trying to keep Harry a private identity, that'd be hard to pull off,' Cody said, a little sad himself. There were some people that he really would like to introduce, maybe eventually things could work out that way.

'I don't care what I have to do, as long as I get to see dragons. Especially if you go with our plan,' Victor added.

'It's definitely the best thing I've got so far,' Cody said. 'And I need to pick up a few more Spanish phrases.' And he related the story of the reporter lady and what she wrote in the paper the next day. This had the whole room laughing and they gave him a few easy phrases he could use if the appropriate situation arose.

'So now that we've got that settled, Disneyland tomorrow?' Victor asked. 'And if you try to say no, we'll just go get Chelsea to come ask you, so you might as well save your breath.'

'I wasn't going to say no, but make sure she comes,' Cody added.

'Duh, of course. We don't want to get killed,' Victor smirked.

They had a great day at Disneyland. His friends were relentless with the hairy jokes, but he allowed them their fun. Honestly, it felt like he had never left and he was glad for that. He knew the more they were apart, the more life experiences would become different, and that could potentially cause them to grow apart. After revealing that he was Potter, he realized that had actually been weighing on him quite heavily. This made him determined to not let anything, not even magic, come between him and his brothers. He would do all in his power to involve them in all aspects of his life, even the crazy stuff.

He again made it back to Hogwarts at a reasonable hour and was greeted by a very pleased Professor McGonagall. They visited for a short while before Cody excused himself, even though it was fairly early, he was exhausted and wanted to catch up on some sleep in preparation for the week to come.