Chapter 6 - I'm With the In Crowd

On the way down to dinner, something on the common room notice board caught Harry's attention.

"It's a Hogsmeade weekend?" he asked, somewhere between surprised, confused, and excited.

"Oh yeah! First one of the year is always the first week of school. And it's one of the best because we usually don't have as much homework and other stuff going on, so you get to really relax and have fun," Sirius said cheerily.

"Hogsmeade is a nearby wizarding village. One Saturday every six weeks or so the third years and up are allowed to visit. It has a lot of cool shops and it's fun to just kick around," Remus added for Harry's benefit. "Though, you do technically need a permission form to go. You should ask Professor McGonagall about it, Harry. I'm sure they can make an exception given your, um, extenuating circumstances," he offered with a reassuring smile.

"Erh, right. Maybe after class tomorrow…" Harry reminded himself that this McGonagall was much more likely to say yes because, as far as she knew, he did not technically have guardians here. Here, it was not that the Dursleys were a bunch of arseholes who refused to sign his form, but rather that they blessedly did not exist to do so.

That night, Harry found himself back in the Department of Mysteries once again. He and his friends were running through strange rooms, Death Eaters hot on their trail. They came stumbling into the large, circular room filled with doors. Harry doubled over to catch his breath and when he straightened a moment later, all of his friends were gone. Desperately, he reached out for a door at random and pushed through, hoping to find his friends waiting for him on the other side. Instead, he found himself in what looked like an empty classroom with bare stone walls and floor. At the sound of heavy footsteps, Harry whirled around to face the approaching Death Eater. He scampered back, away from the looming figure, as the man reached up and pulled off his mask. It was Avery. His eyes had a maniacal glint as he bared his teeth in a wolfish grin. From behind, as if emerging from the darkness of his cloak, came another, smaller figure. His thinner face and slighter body did nothing to diminish the mirror expression on the young Avery's face. He raised his wand, stalking towards Harry, and said softly, "Crucio," and grinned.

Harry's body exploded in pain as the dream turned gray and faded out. By the time he realized his eyes were open and that he was awake, Harry was not sure how long he had been laying there like that. His body still felt as though it were on fire. It hurt to breathe. It hurt to blink. So he just closed his eyes and attempted to ride it out. Eventually, he regained some sense of control and composure and rolled over to grab his glasses and check the time. 5:30. Ehh, it was close enough to reasonable that Harry felt justified in getting up and slumping into the bathroom to get ready for the day. He took a very long and very hot shower in an attempt to ease some of the aches and pains still ravaging his body with some success. Though, when he got out, he noticed in the mirror that his skin looked rather pink.

After getting dressed and making his usual, unsuccessful, attempt at coaxing his hair into something other than its typical ratsnest, Harry reentered the dormitory and was surprised to find Remus awake.

"Morning," he whisper-greeted the other boy.

"Mor' 'ing," Remus yawned in response.

Apparently, Harry had been in the shower much longer than he thought- almost a full hour. Grabbing his Potions book in an attempt to avoid making a complete fool of himself in class that morning, Harry setted himself back into his bed and waited to see if his morning sitcom would be on again.

Harry looked up from his reading when he heard a thunk and found Peter sprawled in the middle of the dormitory floor. "Pronngss," he whined, rubbing his elbow where he had landed on it, "you can't leave your shit in the middle of the floor!" He kicked at the offending book bag, causing it to topple over and spill its contents across the floor.

"Hey! Not my fault you can't look where you're stepping." James came over to gather his things, but just as he was bending down to grab his bag, Peter stuck out his foot, tripping and toppling the other boy. James let out an undignified squeak as he met the floor and soon the two boys were wrestling.

After a couple of minutes, Sirius strode over to Jame's bed, grabbed the pillow off of it and lobbed it at the pair of them. "Oi! You two can resume your lover's quarrel after I've had breakfast."

The boys separated with a series of indignant huffs. James finished repacking his bag and Peter stood up and put on his uniform robe. With all of the boys ready, they headed out the door. Just as they had passed through, a hand caught on the doorframe and Sirius stuck his head back in. "You coming Bambi?" He arched an eyebrow towards Harry, who was still sitting on his bed.

Harry just rolled his eyes, scooped up his bag, and followed.

It was much to his dismay that Harry discovered that- not even through time travel- could he escape the horror that was double potions with the Slytherins. He made a point of sitting in the far back corner of the classroom, putting as much distance as possible between himself and them. Harry kept his eyes on Avery as he entered and felt himself breakout in a light sweat as images from his dream flashed through his mind and he tensed as the ghost of the crucio whispered across his skin.

It seemed as though the rest of the Gryffindors had not forgotten the events of yesterday's duel quite yet either. They appeared to swell slightly, sitting up straighter and almost closing ranks as the haughty boy walked by. Harry could have sworn he saw, for just an instant, that same maniacal glint in Avery's eye as he threw a look his way while walking past.

But it also seemed that Fate did her best not to give Harry more than he could handle. Though she did often walk right up to the line. The professor, Horace Slughorn, was nothing like Snape. Harry had only met him briefly in his own time and had not yet had a lesson with him before he was whisked away. This Slughorn was still a rather rotund, balding man with eyes such a pale green that they looked like they belonged to a fairy and he just had them on loan. He was rather boisterous, even during class, speaking animatedly, and had a tendency to laugh at his own poor jokes.

They were learning about Golpalott's Third Law and complex antidotes which turned out to be a rather interesting topic.

Slughorn also had a tendency to ramble and get lost on tangents. At one point he was going on about synergy- the whole being more than merely the sum of its parts- and somehow ended up in a rather confusing analogy about quidditch. Looking around, Harry could see he was not the only one the professor had lost with this. But it was no matter. Harry would gladly listen to the man blather on all day about quidditch or synergy or whatever tickled his fancy then suffer through another lesson with the greasy dungeon bat swooping down to criticize and ridicule him. Even if he had to do it in unwelcome company.

Luckily, the class passed without major incident and Harry was relieved to later find out that they shared Transfiguration with the Hufflepuffs. Professor McGonagall was just as strict as Harry remembered and the class got straight to business learning about Conjuring spells. She broke them up into pairs to practice conjuring a quill. Harry ended up working with a nice Hufflepuff girl named Henriaria. They were both a little quiet as they set to work, but she offered a helpful correction to Harry of his wand movement after the first few minutes. Then she burst out laughing when, in a flurry of feathers, Harry accidentally conjured an entire pheasant instead of just the quill. It squawked indignantly and flapped around their heads, quickly drawing the attention of the entire class.

"Well, Mr. Doe, you seem to have jumped ahead to next week's lesson. But perhaps you wouldn't mind attempting to adhere to the task I assigned?" McGonagall said reproachfully.

"I'm sorry professor. It was an accident. I guess I just thought a little too hard about what kind of quill I wanted." As he spoke, the pheasant seemed to have found a suitable perch- right atop Harry's head. He flushed deeply as the bird settled itself, seemingly quite content.

With a slightly cross sigh, the professor banished the bird. "Please do try and exercise a little more concentration and control, Mr. Doe," she said with an edge of exasperation. Harry nodded quickly and asked Henriaria to have a go instead of him.

At the end of class, Harry hung back and waited for everyone else to filter out of the classroom. Once it was just him and the professor that remained, he slowly approached her where she sat, bent over her desk.

"Um, Professor?" He began tentatively.

She looked up sharply when he spoke. "Yes, Mr. Doe, can I help you?"

"Yes, um, well, I was wondering- it was just that Sirius and Remus were telling me about Hogsmeade and, well, Remus mentioned something about needing a permission slip. And I was just wondering if I would maybe be able to go, you know, even though I don't really have a parent or guardian?" His voice tilted up with hope at the end of his rambling speech.

"Technically, I, as your current Head of House, am your acting guardian while you are residing here at Hogwarts, Mr. Doe. So it is I who would have the authority to sign your form." She paused, looking evenly at him. "I see no reason why you should not be able to go. I will make sure the proper paperwork is on file for Saturday."

Harry breathed a sigh of relief and beamed at her. "Thank you so much Professor!"

"Is there anything else I can help you with? Have you been settling in okay?" She asked, a little more kindly.

"No ma'am, that was all. Everything has been going well. Classes have been fun so far and I am just glad to no longer be stuck in the hospital wing," he said politely.

"I am glad to hear it," she said, then turned back to the papers on her desk, dismissing him.

Harry hurried out of the classroom to find Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter all waiting for him in the hall.

"So, did she say yes?" Sirius eagerly asked.

Harry smiled as they set off down the hallway, "Yeah, she did! Apparently she is my 'acting guardian' so it wasn't an issue." Sirius whooped in response and gave him a firm clap on the back, jostling him and causing a rather strange noise.

"Um, Harry?" James began tentatively, "Did you just hoot?" He gave a small boy a searching, inquisitive look.

Harry flushed once again and ducked his head. "Uh- no," he said, rustling around the inside of his robes. "But he did," and from within he pulled out a small, red, screech owl. It puffed up its feathers at the manhandling, but then settled down into Harry's hand. "I may or may not have accidentally conjured him too. But I didn't want McGonagall to see and get mad, so I kind of just- hid him." He cupped his other hand around the little owl protectively, adding, "Plus, I didn't want her to banish him- who knows where he would have ended up!"

James looked at him a bit incredulously. Sirius just chuckled, "Well, I guess you have a bird now." A second later his face split into a wide grin, "Bambi and his Friend Owl. It's perfect!"

Harry made a disgusted face pulling the little owl in close to his chest as if to protect him from Sirius, "Oh god- you are not allowed to call him that."

"Well, we have to call him something. What do you propose we call him?"

Harry wracked his brain for a good name for his tiny new friend. He was a vibrant red with brownish accents and white speckles and his eyes nearly glowed, a shade of green just a little lighter than Harry's own. "Pyrrhus," he said firmly and the little owl gave a slight nod of consent. "I think it means red or firey in Latin or Greek or something. Seems to fit him." Harry shrugged as the bird hooted in assent and nestled even further into his hands.

Sirius barely contained the 'Awwwe' that tried to escape at the sight of the small boy cuddling his tiny owl. It was the kind of cloyingly sickening sight that could melt even the most hardened of hearts.

On Friday afternoon, Harry found it quite the task to ditch his dormmates in order to sneak off to the library to do a little research. They seemed very reluctant to let him wander off alone. While Harry appreciated the sentiment, it was a little annoying to not have a moment to himself unless it was before the other boys were awake in the morning. They even joined him in the loo- traveling in a pack like a gaggle of girls! And it made for a rather difficult time in his pursuit of step 3, subsection A of his master plan… He was finally able to convince them to let him go when he mentioned that he wanted to do a little research for the Protean charm project, which absolutely none of them had any interest in.

Once he made it to the library though, Harry realized that shaking his dormmates was only the beginning of his struggles. It turns out that there is no conveniently labeled 'time travel' section with thick reference tomes and handy quickguides. Never before had he missed Hermione so much for non-emotional reasons. After three hours of going spine by spine down the shelf, pulling out and skimming anything vaguely referencing 'time', Harry felt rather discouraged. How suspicious would it look to ask a professor about time travel? He wondered, feeling less and less confident in finding any real answers on his own by the second. Giving it up as a bad job for now, Harry slunked out of the library and made his way down to dinner.

Saturday morning dawned early as Harry's internal alarm went off just before 6am once again. He was happy to be waking up of his own accord, though, rather than jolting out of a nightmare. He opted to laze about in bed for a while knowing that no one else was likely to be awake for many hours yet, given that it was the weekend. Around 7 he decided to finally get up and was greeted by a very lively Pyrrhus twittering around his head. Harry tried to shush him so that he did not wake up the other boys and eventually the little bird settled happily on his shoulder. It appeared that he had made himself a roost atop Harry's four-poster.

"You know you can go to the owlery if you want, little buddy. You might be more comfortable up there," he told the little owl. Pyrrhus just snuggled into his neck, ignoring Harry's words.

He stayed with Harry all morning, only leaving his shoulder when Harry got in the shower where he patiently waited on the towel rack for him to finish. Harry didn't mind the company and the little owl was pleasantly warm against his neck as he sat on his bed reading his Transfiguration textbook.

"Awwwe!" This time, Sirius could not keep it in. When he awoke and sat up to see who else was up, he caught sight of Harry and his little owl curled up together in his bed. They were just too cute! At the sound, Harry looked up and his big, round doe eyes were just the complete picture of innocence. Then his eyebrows contracted and he glared at him, but it did little to combat the general cuteness that was happening. "Sorry Bambi, but you and that owl are quite the pair."

Harry huffed at this and Pyrrhus ruffled up his feathers imitating Harry's indignance. Sirius had to bite his lip to keep from laughing. Deciding that since he was up, that meant that everybody else should be too, Sirius began making the rounds, whistling a merry tune, and ripping back bed hangings much to the dismay of sed beds' current occupants.

"Rise and shine, you layabouts!" Sirius sang, much too chipper for anyone's liking.

James just rolled over, burying his head under his pillow. Peter whined, "Paads!" And Remus actually let out a low, threatening growl.

Sirius just laughed. "Oh, don't give me that, Moony. It's a Hogsmeade day! Zonko's… Honeydukes… And it's Bambi's first visit! It'll be so fun! Up you get." He was literally bouncing on the edge of Remus' bed, shaking the boy awake.

After a few more seconds of this treatment Remus' voice was heard, "I'm up, I'm up," he protested. Sirius moved on to James who he bodily dragged out of bed and onto the floor by his ankles. As he turned towards his last target, Peter made the wise choice of hopping out of bed of his own accord.

Looking around at the disgruntled faces and at the gleam in Sirius' eye, Harry muttered, "Never been so glad to be the first one up." It was a good thing Sirius was typically the last one to wake during the school week because otherwise his friends might just kill him.

The boys slowly got dressed, Sirius cheerleading them along the whole time, then they headed down to breakfast. The Great Hall crackled with excitement and chatter as students rushed through their meal in order to head out to the magical village. There was a sizable traffic jam in the entrance hall as Filch stood at the doors, checking names off of a comically large list, one at a time, in order for each student to leave the castle. As they reached the front of the line, Harry could hear Filch muttering under his breath, "Ah, yes, the miscreants. Let them lose, they say. Just so they can buy things to ruin my halls and give Mrs. Norris a headache. If I had my way…" Harry was happy to be checked off and then move as far away from the old curmudgeon as possible.

As they made their way down the long, winding path towards the village, Remus was explaining some about the history and significance of Hogsmeade while James, Peter, and Sirius took turns butting in with comments about the shops or stories about their previous trips and adventures there. Apparently Peter technically had a lifetime ban from Honeydukes for a particularly heated and- colorful- argument he had with the owner in his fourth year. And James had once spelled the sign for the Hog's Head to read "Frog's Head" and transfigured the hanging mascot into a frog who latched onto unsuspecting passersby with its overly long tongue and pulled them into the pub. Allegedly, it had been the highest grossing day in the pub's entire history.

When they finally arrived in Hogsmeade, Harry found that, like most of the wizarding world, it seemed to be a place frozen in time. It was nearly identical to how he remembered it with the only notable differences being a different font on a sign here or there, the fact that Zonko's Jokeshop was only one story instead of two, and Dervish and Banges was just called Dervish. Harry assumed that they had not yet formed the partnership with Banges.

Their first stop, by Sirius' demand, was Zonko's. Harry was fascinated by the products they sold. Many of them were of course the same- there is a reason they are called 'classics' after all- but some of them seemed to be the precursors to what Harry was used to. Like Dung Spray instead of Dungbombs. He found something similar to be true in Honeydukes as well. He could see why Cartwheeling Sherbert Balls were traded in for Levitating Sherbet Balls as the former seemed like a real choking hazard. Peter had sent them in with a list of what he wanted as Mr. Flume was glaring at him through the front window when they approached his shop. Harry lost himself in the shelves upon shelves of marvelous sweets and only realized how long he had been wandering when James came and pulled on his robe to see if he was ready to head out. They met back up with Peter in the street and Remus handed off the bounty he had acquired per the shopping list.

"What'd you get, Harry?" Sirius asked around the toffee in his mouth.

"Oh, nothing. I was just looking around," he said dismissively.

Sirius looked at him like he was crazy, "Who goes to Honeydukes and doesn't get anything?! Hell, even Peter got something and he didn't even go into Honeydukes!"

Harry flushed, "Um, well, I haven't exactly got any money, so… It's really fine. It's fun just to look around!" He tried his best to sound convincingly enthusiastic.

It was Sirius' turn to look embarrassed. "Sorry- I didn't think…"

James jumped in to save him, "Never does, this one. It's a miracle he's made it to 6th year!"

"It's not a miracle, it's Remus," Peter corrected, "I honestly think McGonagall made him a prefect so that he was duty-bound to not let us all fail," he said with a cheeky smile.

"Heavy is the chest that bears the badge," Remus let out an exaggerated sigh.

They decided to make their way to the Three Broomsticks next for a bit of a rest before more exploring and show and tell with Harry. "You ever had Butterbeer, Harry?" James asked.

"Hmm, I'm not sure. Is it good?" Harry responded, absentmindedly. Grabbing a Butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks was honestly his favorite part of Hogsmeade trips. The drink just had a magical way of warming him up and making his soul happy. And good company while he enjoyed it was always a plus.

"The best. We'll get you some to try," James said, slinging his arm around Harry.

Harry felt the rush of magic before he even consciously heard the muttered curse. He slipped out from under Jame's arm, pivoting around so he was behind him and directly in the path of the spell as he threw up a shield. Luckily, the curse bounced off and hit the building next to them harmlessly. At the sudden movement, the rest of the group had stopped walking and whirled around to find Harry with his wand drawn. Through his shimmering shield they saw a group of Slytherins, also with their wands out. Harry recognized Snape and Avery immediately and soon realized the other two were Mulciber and that scary, red-head girl- Neith.

"Really Potter? You need your midget to protect you?" Snape drawled. This caused James to look down and take note of exactly where Harry was standing. Then it clicked- the curse had been meant for him and he definitely would have been hit if not for Harry.

Harry was fuming. Not at the insult- those were two a penny coming from Snape- but the fact that they had been so cocky, so brazen as to attack them when their backs were turned in the middle of a crowded street in broad daylight. They were either idiots or had something up their sleeves that Harry did not know about. Both were potentially very dangerous options.

"What do you want?" Sirius spat, drawing his own wand.

"Oh, nothing," the girl said with mock innocence. "Just wanted to say hi."

"Hello," Remus said calmly. "Now, goodbye."

There was a long moment where the two groups stood stock still, staring down one another through the shimmering shield charm Harry had yet to lower. Then with a scoff, like they were not worth her time, Neith turned around, tossing her hair dramatically over her shoulder, and walked away. After a moment's hesitation, the three boys followed her. Only once they had turned the corner on High Street did Harry let his shield fade away.

"Thanks for that, mate. I reckon I would be splattered on the cobblestones if it weren't for you," James said, letting out a slightly shaky breath. Harry just nodded in acknowledgement.

"Those… bloody… miserable excuse…" Sirius looked as angry as Harry felt. Peter just looked spooked and Harry could see the slight fear peaking through the cracks in Remus' calm facade. "Death Tasters! That's what they are- bloody Death Tasters!"

James reached over to put a calming hand on his shoulder, "Calm down Pads. Nothing happened. We are all okay. Come on." And he started walking towards the Three Broomsticks once again. The group was forced to follow. Once they entered, they settled themselves in a booth in the back corner of the pub, as far away from the hubbub as possible.

"I'll get drinks," offered Remus, and he slipped away through the crowd.

Sirius still looked pissed and James was muttering quietly in his ear. Harry leaned over to Peter and hesitantly asked, "Um, what are Death Tasters?"

Peter gave him a small smile that did not reach his eyes. "Oh, that's just what Sirius has taken to calling the pre-followers of You-Know-Who. You know, those that are not old enough to take the mark, but are eager to join the cause. You-Know-Who calls his followers Death Eaters, so Sirius started calling the pre-Death Eaters 'Death Tasters' as they are sampling the evil before taking the dark mark and buying the meal, so to say," he explained.

Harry snorted to himself. What a stupid name. But then again, 'Death Eater' was pretty stupid too. At least Sirius' brought a little creativity and humor. Voldy's just makes them sound murderous and hungry. Though, Uncle Vernon had proved that to be a rather threatening combination often enough.

Remus returned with the drinks, and they all sipped their Butterbeers in relative silence. James, fortunately, seemed to have talked Sirius off of his ledge and who had switched over to brooding instead. Harry just savored his Butterbeer as the warmth spread through him and made his toes curl in satisfaction.

"How about we head back to the castle and go flying?" James said suddenly. "We can see if Bambi here knows how to stay on a broom or not." He asked the table, but his eyes remained trained on Sirius.

"Yeah, sure," he shrugged and looked over at Harry. "Should be fun," and a small, genuine smile curved on Sirius' lips.

Peter was kind enough to let Harry borrow his broom. It had been decided that since they 'didn't know' if Harry actually knew how to fly or not that they would have the two boys from the quidditch team, and therefore the most experienced flyers, in the air with Harry while the other two remained on the ground, ready to assist if anything were to go wrong. Harry felt a little ridiculous having minders, given that he was one of the best flyers at his Hogwarts, and was a natural on a broom, but for the sake of his cover, he plastered a nervous expression on his face and patiently listened to James explain broom basics to him. It was vaguely reminiscent of his first flying lesson with Madam Hooch. At first they summoned the brooms into their hands, then they went over mounting and proper grips. Then they kicked off and hovered just a few feet in the air- all three of them in a row with Harry sandwiched in the middle.

"How does it feel, Harry? Do you want to go higher or we can land back on the ground?" James asked, a little tense.

"Actually," Harry turned to face him, "I think I do remember this." And he shot off like a rocket across the pitch. He could hear James' yell and turned around to grin at him only to find Sirius splayed out on the grass below having fallen off his broom. Harry zoomed back over, extremely worried he had hurt the other boy. Coming to a sharp stop next to the Peter and Remus who were gathered around the downed Sirius, Harry jumped off his broom, already apologizing before his feet touched the ground. "Oh Merlin, Sirius, I'm so sorry! Are you okay? I didn't mean to knock into you. I'm so sorry! Are you hurt?" Harry knelt down next to him, hands hovering, concern and guilt written all over his face.

Sirius barked out a laugh, "Am I hurt? Bloody hell Bambi- you damn near gave me a heart attack! You didn't knock into me- I toppled over in shock! Thought you'd lost control of your broom. I thought you were gonna break your neck!" Sirius was breathing a little fast.

James chose that moment to land and double over laughing. "Sirius- Merlin- your face!" He clapped Harry on the back, "Bloody brilliant man. It's hard to get Sirius that good. Ahh…" He continued to chuckle to himself.

Harry just blinked for a second, "So, you're okay then?" He looked down at Sirius.

"Yeah. Once I get my heart back into my chest, I think I'll be fine," he said, sitting up and laying a hand across his chest.

"So I take it, you do know how to ride a broom then?" James asked with a raised eyebrow.

Harry cocked a grin, "I guess Peter was right- it is like riding a bike."

They pulled Sirius back to his feet, all remounted their brooms and took off. Harry had the best time. Flying was one of his absolute favorite things about being a wizard- the wind, the freedom, getting to leave all of your problems back on the ground. He swooped, looped, zigzagged, rolled and dove, losing himself in the sensations. When Harry heard his name being called, he circled back and landed by the others.

Now that they had confirmed that Harry knew how to fly- and fly very well at that- they decided to grab one of the school brooms so that Peter could join them and play a little mock-quidditch. Remus was a firm believer in keeping both of his feet firmly on the ground, but he insisted that he did not mind watching them play for a bit. Harry insisted on taking the school broom even though Peter offered to let him keep using his.

"Given the way you fly, I have to assume that you've played quidditch before?" James asked Harry when they were all four in the air.

"I think so… But don't be mad if I drop the quaffle. Maybe I'm not a chaser like you."

"The way you're built, I'd bet you were a seeker," Sirius chipped in.

They played chasers-on-keeper for a while, all rotating through being the keeper. Harry was absolutely rubbish, saving maybe only 20% of the goals. He was fast, but he just did not have long enough arms to get the reach a good keeper needed. That's why Wood and Ron and he assumed Milli made for such good keepers. James was by far the best and Peter and Sirius both did a fair job and far better than Harry. But at least Harry did not embarrass himself too badly playing chaser. He did get to participate in passing drills sometimes during practice, so he was not a total novice.

Once they had all had their turn at keeper, they decided to switch things up and have a seeker's match. The rules were simple- first one to get the snitch, wins. James produced a practice snitch and gave it to Remus to release once they were all in the air. He gave them a countdown and then released the tiny, fluttering ball. It flitted over to them, as snitched often like to taunt the seekers, and buzzed briefly around each boy's head. But when Harry heard it whirring near his ear, he reached up and snatched it out of the air on instinct. The three other boys just looked at him in amazement. "Oops," he said and let the snitch go so that they could actually play the game.

Sirius looked intently at the other two boys, "Did he just say 'oops'?! Bloody 'oops'?!" He yelled incredulously. "And then let it go?!"

"Well, it would not be a very fun game if I caught the snitch right away, now would it?" Harry defended himself.

"Well, no. But you should have- I don't know- rubbed it in our faces- because that was a bloody brilliant catch- and then we would have started again," Sirius just could not seem to compute what had happened.

"I wonder if he was a seeker," Peter said dryly.

"Well, the snitch is good and gone now, so, suck it, I am an amazing seeker, now, shall we begin round two?" Harry said briskly.

And with that, the boys spread out, all slowly circling the pitch looking for a glint of gold. Harry made his second catch within the next 15 minutes. During round three, he took to messing with the other boys, doing faints and dives and suddenly changing direction for no reason. He even saw the snitch and let it go a couple of times because he was having so much fun mucking about. He finally put the others out of their misery when he spotted the snitch hovering just behind Peter. Even though he was the farthest away, Harry laid himself down flat on his school-issue broom and darted towards Peter and the snitch. James and Sirius jumped into the chase as soon as they saw him take off and Peter just looked terrified as the three pelted towards him. He dropped ten feet down and zoomed away from them. The other three were all neck-in-neck as they hurtled towards the snitch that was just hanging in the air. Harry's slight frame made up for the slowness of his broom, so he was keeping up with the other two just fine. As they got within a few feet of the snitch, all of them flying with an arm outstretched, it suddenly dropped down a meter and, without a thought, Harry pitched himself over so that he was riding his broom upside down and caught the snitch. As he felt the cold metal gripped tightly in his hand, he gradually slowed down and then, rather gracelessly, he pulled himself back up on the proper side of the broom. He turned and grinned at the other two boys who were once again, staring.

"Suck it, I am an amazing seeker!" He declared.

"Bloody damn right you are!" Sirius exclaimed, flying over to meet him. "You have to try out for the house team. You're even better than Jace was! We'd be unbeatable with you on the team."

James joined them, "He's right. You have to try out."

They all landed and rejoined Remus and even he was looking mildly impressed. "Sure," Harry said with a shrug. "It could be fun."

They managed to catch the very tail end of dinner and then wandered around the castle for a bit, the boys showing Harry some of their favorite spots. Like a suit of armor on the 6th floor that would tap dance if you played it the right music and a doorknob that told knock-knock jokes to anyone trying to use it and only opened if you laughed. And a broom closet in the astronomy tower that was actually the secret entrance to a rather extravagant bathroom, but only revealed itself if you walked in, closed the door, and spun around three times counterclockwise. Harry had been worried that that last one had been a joke, as all five of them were crammed into the tiny closet spinning around like a bunch of idiots, but as Harry caught his balance after the final turn, the back shelf had swung open to reveal a gilded toilet fit for Midas himself. Harry made a mental note to come back to that one when he made it back to his own time.

As it neared curfew, they headed back to Gryffindor tower. Not that Sirius, James, Peter, and Remus were all that concerned about being out of bounds, but they did not want to make Harry uncomfortable or get him in trouble. Well… At least, not in his first week. They were all in high spirits as they climbed through the portrait hole and Peter suggested a game of Gobstones. The others enthusiastically agreed, but Harry decided to pass in favor of heading to bed. He hated to come off like a killjoy old fart, but his body ached from not having had a proper night's sleep in a few days and then the hours of quidditch did not help. He just felt exhausted.

Luckily, it seemed that the others did not take his declination to heart as he left them in the common room and headed up to the dorm. Opting for a warm shower to wash away the day's sweat and help him relax a bit, Harry grabbed his night clothes and shuffled off to the bathroom. He emerged a while later in a cloud of steam, stumbling over to bed already half asleep. He barely remembered to take his glasses off and fling them on the nightstand and was out by the time his head hit the pillow.

"Oi! Don't let Sirius go first! You know he couldn't manage to be quiet and considerate for all of the gold in Gringotts," Peter hissed as the four boys climbed the stairs.

Remus stepped in front of Sirius, giving him a firm look. "You know Harry is asleep, so be quiet and go to bed."

Sirius looked quite affronted. "You lot do know that I haven't done anything yet, right? And you don't need to worry- I won't go startling Bambi. I know he needs his beauty sleep."

Neither Peter nor Remus looked very convinced by his statement and Sirius huffed in exasperation. "I will not be sentenced before my trial! Yell at me after I wake the kid up, not before. Take a chill pill, why don't ya?"

Remus pushed open the door and they crept into the silent dormitory. It was pretty late, so they all decided to forego showers in favor of crawling into bed. They donned their pajamas, Sirius making a whole pantomime show out of how carefully and silently he was getting changed. His movements were so exaggerated that the other boys could see them even in the near pitch balck room. Once he was satisfied that he had made his point, Sirius flopped himself into his bed.

"AHHH!" Sirius' scream echoed off the walls, shattering the tranquil atmosphere as the others were drifting off to sleep. There was a loud thud and a lot of rustling.

James was the first to get his wand lit. He leaned over and cast a light on Sirius' form sprawled on the floor next to his bed. "What the hell, Pads?" But Sirius did not pay him any mind, staring back up at his bed. James angled the light up and revealed a shocked looking Harry sitting up, frozen, in the bed. The wand light glinting off of his big, green eyes made him look a little terrified.

"Umm, Bambi? What are you doing in my bed?" Sirius asked from the floor.

Harry blinked, looked down at Sirius, down at the bed, and then his eyes swept around the room, taking everything in. Remus and Peter were now perched at the edges of their beds, watching. Harry scrambled to the edge of the mattress, jumping off as if it had turned to lava, rambling, "Sorry- I, uhh- Not sure- Sorry- I'll go- Uhh…"

"I just knew you'd manage to wake him up," Peter said smugly. Both Harry and Sirius turned to look at him, the former, confused and the latter, indignant.

"I hardly think this counts! He was in my bed!"

"I'm sorry Sirius- I was half asleep and must have just gotten confused and, I guess, fell asleep in the wrong bed," Harry finished, the story sounding lame to his own ears, but his embarrassment and apologetic tone seemed to do the trick for the others.

"That's not what I meant Harry- it's fine, you just scared me is all. I wasn't exactly expecting to be joining anyone when I laid down." Peter gave a district cough from his bed. "And I am sorry I woke you," he added with a glare in Peter's direction.

"Yeah, right. It's okay… Umm, I guess I'll just…" Harry trailed off, not really sure what to do or where to go from here. It was all mortally embarrassing. So he just shuffled back over to his actual bed and climbed in, if only to escape the situation and everyone's stares. He laid down and listened intently as the others all slowly settled back down into their own bed and one by one drifted off to sleep.

Harry laid awake for a long time, his brain stuck in a loop, fixating on what had just happened. How could he be so careless? Back in his time, Sirius' bed was his bed and he guessed his autopilot had just taken over from five years of routine. Sirius had found him in his bed. Merlin- just end me now. His face burned in the darkness. Harry wasn't sure how he could face anyone in that room ever again. What was that saying? Everything looks better in the morning. He just prayed that that was true.