Chapter summary: Harry's last week of vacation.

Word count: About 4800.

Author's note: It's not an action heavy chapter, mostly because all of the action is focused elsewhere and on other people. Nevertheless it contains certain aspects which addressing couldn't be avoided. And Harry being a little shit, well a tiny shit to be exact.

The conclusion of Entropy is getting near like I already promised. Next chapter will focus on Hermione and after that there will be the grand finale. Of this part. The story itself isn't ending and will return in the sequel which name I'm still trying to settle on. Quite important bulk of the opening is done, at the very least of the ever expanding 'something isn't right' crowd. Not necessarily Harry or Hermione's part. I mean I know what they're up to but I hadn't exactly devoted a lot of time to writing that down.

Dedicated to all of my readers who stuck with me for so long in spite of my shortcomings. Thank You, I hope that You will find this story enjoyable. I adore seeing your reactions because not only they're thought provoking but also can be so inspiring that I will go out of my way to write a nearly 100k words spin-off. Not that I'm seeking validation but I do enjoy dialogue.

Beta read by nexandvinny.


[…] Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me […]

Psalm 23

Secrets & Keepers – Entropy

Chapter twenty-one: Making Haste

Harry Potter, 27th August 1993, Spinner's End, Cokeworth

He was aware and for some time on that that his return to Hogwarts would be different from that of his friends. That was one of the subjects on which the adults unanimously agreed. He even went as far as to conceding that they had a point. But that didn't mean that he wasn't a bit put out about not experiencing another train ride or last minute shopping.

But his safety during the capture of Pettigrew was paramount and although Sirius conceded that having him there would make the process easier he was extremely unwilling to put Harry's safety at risk of becoming a collateral damage.

"You saw what happened the last time he had been cornered," he said grimly. "And you have another important job to do."

The job of higher importance to Sirius, other than helping to secure him his freedom, was ensuring that Dumbledore would continue to believe in Harry's unfortunate summer with Snape. In the past couple of days Harry had heard Snape and Sirius discussing his living accommodations and he heard from Regulus and Lupin that Sirius walked the place in Snape's memories. But apparently nothing would be more convincing in creating false flashes of memories of the place to throw Dumbledore off than having Harry do the same thing himself.

Another point which the adults agreed on was that having the entire party arriving at the same time would be extremely suspicious. Not because such a thing wouldn't happen naturally. According to Babbling, things like that used to happen in the past and no one really made a big deal out of it but this was different.

Babbling really had to sell the story of traumatised by the demise of his mother little nephew and his service dog to Dumbledore and McGonagall and having Harry underfoot (and potentially risking the reveal by being uncomfortable with the scrutiny – according to Snape) was not going to help with that.

Lupin for his part received his own marching orders from Dumbledore on Monday and quite eagerly shared them with others with mild levels of indignation. He was going to ride the train along with students as the only teacher in recent history to ensure their safety. Few scant hours after moonset and on the full moon on that.

"I'm flabbergasted that he believes that you would have the audacity of jumping on the train along with the students," said Snape with a undignified snort as he looked at Sirius.

"Well, he's a Gryffindor," replied Sirius. "And I was quite good at selling Gryffindor bravado during the school years but he's definitely forgetting that after leaving it I spied on other people on his orders and made a decent living out of using information I acquired by putting most of the subjects behind bars."

"You know that doesn't mean that the school won't be watched, do you?" pointed out Lupin.

"Oh, I know that it will," said Sirius with a shrug. "But by then I will be already inside and I will be selling the act of a devoted service dog. And it's not as if I have plans to leave it before the guards would be pulled away."

"And how are you feeling about that?" asked Tonks sourly.

Sirius instead of answering gestured at Kreacher who was cleaning away the table after breakfast.

"Kreacher will be stocking up on chocolate as soon as he would marinate the meat for dinner. Would Masters and Mistresses like chicken in herbs or curry?"

"I know what Remus would like," said Sirius with a smirk.

"Oh bugger off," Lupin replied with an indignant snort. "Everybody knows how much pasta of any sort you're capable of putting away."

"Comfort food that was always easy to make, just as it was easy to put away," replied Sirius.

Thursday morning was spent on packing and repacking and to his surprise Harry discovered that in a span of over two weeks the number of his possessions had significantly expanded. Enough for him to realise that there was no way to fit all of his stuff into the trunk. Curiously enough a lion portion of the stuff were books that kept appearing every now and then on his desk. Some were new, some old and dog-eared.

His mother's potions textbooks along with his photo album were his most prized possessions. He also had grown very fond of Sirius's transfiguration textbooks and a very dog-eared 'Tiny Compendium of Charms and Spells for Revising Students – OWL' which was anything but tiny. It somehow ended on his desk while Sirius was recovering and when he leafed through it he found it filled with his mother's handwriting. No one outright admitted to previously owning it or holding onto it for extended period of time but seeing Harry with it earned Lupin an increased amount of long looks and eventually a 'thank you' from Harry.

Books on Ancient Runes as well as Arithmancy for beginners were there as well. Sirius incorporated runic alphabet into Harry's training in clearing his mind and daily repetitions of thereof was just starting to pay off. Arithmancy was far more complex and harder to grasp but between Regulus (usually) and Babbling (when she found time for it amongst everything that she was doing) Harry was learning about practical application of theory which made the latter less daunting.

He still resolved to use the exemption month to gauge which elective subject suited him best. Divination hadn't been supported by anyone and discussion of thereof always came back to the notion that the most valuable parts of the subject which were Occlumency and Legilimency weren't strictly speaking divination itself, happened to be presented in advanced classes and in theory only because Professor Trelawney was totally inept in both.

Muggle studies also had no support whatsoever. Professor Burbage was supposed to be really nice and going out of her way for the students but the curriculum she was obliged to use was ancient and useless. The only perk of taking it and a long term one on that were driving lessons.

Since he learned that Hagrid was going to teach Care of Magical Creatures class Harry was even more set on attending it than he had been when he first settled on it. At the very least until he tried to get out of Snape and Babbling a hint how to open the textbook without losing his fingers. Instead of that he received a comment about the importance of judging books by their covers. That prompted him into explaining that the book was his birthday gift from Hagrid. That in turn got him a comment about judging received gifts by the character and intentions of gift givers.

As shitty as it sounded when he first heard it Snape indeed had a point but it had taken Harry a long couple minutes to contemplate. It was Hagrid, warm, kind and loyal man and the first friendly acquaintance that Harry ever made. The same man also couldn't keep a secret if his life depended on it, not out of ill will naturally but still. And then there was his fascination with dangerous creatures. Raising a dragon in a tiny wooden hut? Keeping an acromantula in school? The subject of basilisk hadn't come out during the trio's visits to Hagrid's before the summer. Most likely because Hagrid was still rattled about his stay in Azkaban and probably believed that Harry had been traumatised by the ordeal. But given enough time and distance it still could.

That man was going to teach Care of Magical Creatures. And while no one denied him the knowledge he acquired on the subject none of the adults appeared to be convinced that the class would be a major success.

"A lot would hinge on his ability to maintain discipline during the class," commented Sirius. "What are the odds in his favour?" he asked turning to Snape.

"Considering that Care of Magical Creatures is widely seen as soft option?" asked Snape with a sour expression. "Coupling that with a nosedive of intelligence levels between generations? Don't frown Potter because you know that I'm right. There are average students, there always will be average students but back when we were students average students used to have some minimal standards of applying the best they could do into their studies."

"Neville sucks at Potions but he's the best in Herbology," Harry pointed out.

"I know that," admitted Snape grudgingly. "I also know that Herbology is the only class in which his marks are higher than Acceptable. Another thing that I happen to know is how much magical output from students that class requires. Which is naught for students your age to minimal amongst advanced ones."

"Does he make an effort?" asked Lupin pensively.

"Endeavours to do so," replied Snape with a sour look on his face. "He shows significant levels of understanding magical properties in plant based potions in his homework and one that at times he can go beyond what Miss Granger presents. Come to think about it he's a lot like you in Potions."

"Except I was a werewolf with oversensitive sense of smell and he most likely is not," pointed out Lupin with a grimace.

"Did you have performance issues when your Potions Master was standing behind your back?" asked Harry innocently.

Lupin for his part went as red as the wine in his goblet, as did Tonks a moment later which prompted bouts of sniggers and snorts from the remaining adults.

"That's an atrocious technique Mr Longbottom," said Regulus when he calmed down a bit, his voice dropping to the much lower than usual register that eerily sounded like Snape's. "This is not how one should disrobe a lady and one shouldn't endeavour to do so in such plebeian setting of a closet everyone can walk into at any time. Are you so inept that you failed to grasp such a simple concept as locking charms?"

"I wouldn't have said that," muttered Snape, barely audible between another bout of snorts and sniggers and he grew very interested in the contents of his own goblet.

"Not to Longbottom," commented Babbling, still with mirth in her voice. "But I distinctly remember hearing you giving an eerily similar dressing down to a couple of Hufflepuffs a couple years ago when you discovered them in your supposedly locked dry storage room."

"And I can only guess why it wasn't properly closed," said Sirius pointedly as he looked from Babbling to Snape. "Were you on your way to inspect the stores together?"

Snape snorted and replied sourly, "She has a certain weakness for ladders," he gestured at Babbling, "and prior to that and afterwards we were swamped with meetings. I sat on enough expenses overseeing committees to know that the only way of getting through them without murdering someone is either getting stupidly drunk or too relaxed to give a fuck."

"At the very least we locked the bloody door," said Babbling simply.

"Coming back to your earlier question," continued Snape. "Hagrid is going to have a plethora of students in his class from all houses. All Gryffindors, couple of Ravenclaws, couple Hufflepuffs and quite a significant number of Slytherins. Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs are from the mellow variety but the first and the last?" he grimaced. "Malfoy with his entourage plus Gryffindors? He will be lucky if he goes through one class without an incident."

"Then there's Hagrid himself," added Babbling. "He's from the same kind of clay as Kettleburn had been but he lacks Kettleburn's teaching experience and risk assessment levels."

"And that cost Kettleburn a couple of limbs," agreed Regulus.

"Then there's the fact that Dumbledore is an idiot that decided to cut expenses by not keeping Kettleburn for another year or at the very least semester to act as an aid," said Babbling.

"Well, he got lucky enough that Kettleburn agreed to stay, pro bono most likely, during the summer to help Hagrid with lesson plans," added Snape.

On remaining two the adults couldn't settle for one and either championed both or one over the other. The only thing they could agree on was whichever he decided to pick up they could help him to learn the other if he wanted.

But eventually there was nothing left to pack and after saying their goodbyes (in private and not) everybody departed from 12 Grimmauld Place.

Snape's place to the contrary of the house they just vacated had an air of tiny, cramped space and from the chair Harry sank into as soon as Snape side-apparated him inside he had a clear view at what appeared to be entirety of the ground floor as he was getting his breathing and stomach into working order.

Snape for his part didn't appear to be affected by apparating at all and almost immediately set off after a pair of rabbits that were hopping around the room. He successfully captured the smaller black one and thrust it into Harry's lap before rushed after the other into the kitchen muttering threats about turning it into today's dinner.

He came back a moment later with the runaway rabbit in his grasp before he conjured a cage and placed one and then the other inside it. Then he pointed his wand at one of them but instead of doing something nasty to it as Harry feared he would do he did something that made the rabbit glow with a gold light. After that he waved his wand at the rabbit again and then he repeated the process with the other before he sat in the armchair by the empty fireplace.

Harry stared at the man curiously.

"Tracking spell," said Snape simply. "And speaking of which," he added as he waved his wand at Harry who shuddered slightly as something slid over his skin. "Necessary precaution in order to convince Headmaster that you hadn't left the premises."

"And today's dinner," added Harry with a slight grimace.

"Merlin preserve," replied Snape. "Not that the meat is bad, it's quite good and delicate but the amount of work required to prepare it is not worth the hassle. No, I'm going to unload them on the unsuspecting parents of the neighbourhood urchins."

"And they surely will be insanely grateful for that," said Harry pointedly.

Secrets & Keepers – Entropy

Ultimately his stay at Snape's place was just as boring as it was short. From early lunch, graciously provided by Kreacher aside from the tomato salad from tomatoes that came from Snape's garden to early breakfast after which they were set to depart.

Harry's main activity during the stay was wandering around the house, quite an awful lot and changing clothes upon clothes upon clothes. He made a tomato salad for lunch and cleaned after dinner, dutifully took his potions and fell asleep on the rickety, narrow bed as soon as his head hit the pillow.

Breakfast was quite plain and consisted from sandwiches with cheese and very strong tea (Harry) and acridly smelling coffee (Snape). Like after dinner Harry cleaned up after breakfast allowing Snape to remain at the table smoking one cigarette after another while he was finishing the current issue of the Daily Prophet and pretending not to stare through the window.

Harry finished putting away the dishes and stepped into the tiny living room just as silvery mist soared through the window and Babbling's voice filled the room.

"Leave now. He's coming your way."

He probably meant Dumbledore but Harry didn't have time to ponder on it before Snape was summoning and simultaneously shrinking their trunks, catching them mid-air and stuffing them into his pocket as he was striding towards Harry.

This time Harry's feet instead of solid floor hit uneven grassy ground and he collapsed on his arse instantly. Side along apparation when one was prepared for it sucked in spite of prior warnings that it would be probably an unpleasant experience. But a surprise one sucked even more.

Nevertheless he tried to control gaging on breakfast but while he managed to keep it down he started shivering.

"We can't linger here, Potter," said Snape as he attempted to pull him up. "Do you feel the chill in the air?"

Harry nodded, not risking opening mouth because his teeth started to chatter.

Dementors. They were nearby and in a higher number higher than one. And sure enough as he narrowed his eyes in the distance by the gates he could see two shadowy figures and then about three ripples by the tree line.

There was five of them. At the minimum, he realised as he shuddered even harder. Five dementors, five real dementors, not a one boggart imitation but five or more. How he was going to pass by five or more of them if couldn't retain consciousness around one.

And then suddenly there was nothing. Literally nothing. The chill had dissipated into nothing but a gentle and warm breeze on his skin. The sounds of the world around him had muted and even his own breaths sounded calmer in his ears.

Snape waited until Harry pushed himself from the ground and made a couple of slightly wobbly steps before the strength returned to his limbs too.

"Let's go, Professor," said Harry quietly.

Snape nodded and they set off, in silence, side by side. Not in hurry enough to break into a run but neither dallying or drifting away from the direct path to the gates.

As the gates grew nearer the chill hadn't returned nor did the fear that the presence or proximity of the dementors had caused but the uneasiness in Harry's gut spiked slightly with every step.

Absentmindedly at some point he reached out to straighten up the back of his probably rumpled shirt and his fingers had brushed over the lowest dots on his back and slowly the uneasiness started to dissipate to be replaced with almost tangible presence of calmness and warmth that hadn't gone away until they were deep into Hogwarts grounds.

They had passed through entrance hall with minimal levels of grumbling (for appearances sake) and headed down to the dungeons. And no sooner than it took Snape to resize Harry's trunk a loud knock could be heard. Weirdly enough it hadn't been coming from the direction of the door but one of the bookcases.

"Headmaster?" mumbled Harry nervously, he wasn't very keen on finding himself under Dumbledore's scrutiny.

"Secret passage," said Snape with a frown as he swiped his hand through the air.

The bookcase opposite to the fireplace, next to a narrow door slid open revealing Sirius standing at the mouth of a narrow passage.

"Why I'm not surprised," Snape muttered. "Make yourself at home."

Instead of answering Sirius strode to where Harry was standing and pulled him into a fierce hug. Harry without objections hugged the older man back.

"Sorry about all of that," said Sirius finally, gesturing wildly with his left hand. "But Bathsy wasn't convinced that you would appreciate the company."

"I wouldn't," replied Snape simply. "I'm assuming that his arrival was time sensitive?" he asked pointedly.

"Very," said Sirius and snorted. "International Confederation of Wizards summoned all of its members to a conference in Reykjavik. Attendance is obligatory, especially to Supreme Mugwump. It should be starting right about now," he explained. "Some international school business which couldn't be pushed further back."

"Had Australia been mentioned?" asked Snape pensively.

"Not by name but I heard something about the obstinacy of indigenous wizards to maintain a separate school for one student," replied Sirius.

"So it had been and that might take a while," said Snape simply. "They're not above playing dirty. With a little bit of luck he might be gone for days. And speaking of days," he gestured towards another narrow door the corner of the room, "I'm supposed to house your godson until the term starts and you're far better at Transfiguration," he added as he picked up stack of parchment from the mantle.

"What's in there?" asked Sirius curiously.

"Winter outwear," replied Snape as he waved his hand and a door appeared next to the fireplace at the gesture. "Just take it out, I will put it away later."

Harry looked at Sirius and they both shrugged.

It hadn't taken Sirius long to clear out Snape's closet and change the shelves and hangers into a bed albeit he was scowling the entire time. Harry had a pretty good idea why. The closet wasn't as cramped as Harry's cupboard under the stairs at the Dursleys seeing that he could comfortably stand in there and turn around.

"It's just for a couple of days," he told Sirius calmly. "And in recent weeks I discovered that he isn't as bad as he used to be. I will be fine."

"You will be fine when I won't have to skulk around the castle like a bloody ghost," replied Sirius sourly. "But you do have a point. One is more likely to catch flies with honey than with vinegar."

Snape appeared to be wary of Sirius's offer to help with brewing but after what had to be an intense inner debate (none of which had showed on his face curiously enough) he passed to Sirius a solitary sheet of parchment.

"Quality or quantity?" commented Sirius.

"Both," replied Snape.

"Above or just below the threshold of raising the dead?" asked Sirius.

"It's Pepper-up, not antidote to Draught of the Living Death, Black," Snape replied.

"My point stands still," countered Sirius. "And before you say that a correctly brewed potion should start taking effect within ten seconds of drinking it…"

"Five," said Snape as he started setting space on one of the tables. "Consider it a teachable moment for your godson's benefit."

It was. Sirius by no means was Snape, who minded three big cauldrons and one smaller one and fluidly moved between all of them without double checking ingredients. That said Sirius was adept enough at Potions to teach Harry the tricks of multiplying the quantity of the potion without watering it down.

Their progress had been checked by Snape, who instead of commenting simply nodded when they were done and gestured towards the battery of empty vials. In equally silent reply Sirius nodded back and what was even more fascinating he simply rolled up his sleeves and started washing every single one of them, by hand.

"Freshly cleaned and warmed up vial extends the shelf life of Pepper-Up considerably," explained Sirius before he proceed to show Harry drying charm and one meant for warming up.

The former was easy enough to master, the latter not as much and it took Harry a handful of tries to find just the right temperature which maddeningly unhelpful had been referred as warm enough.

At which point Sirius and Snape started talking Harry wasn't sure, other than it was after Sirius finished cleaning up the vials. The temperature thing had made it tricky for Harry to pay attention to both at the same time without losing his focus on warming charm. But hushed bits and pieces were making it through regardless.

There was the talk over the necessity, debatable for Harry although Snape had a point in there about Sirius's safety, to make Regulus the only Gryffindor boy. And Harry deliberately tried to tune out the suggestions how they were supposed to achieve that. Confundus had been brought up a handful of times, that much he was certain of.

Shortly before lunchtime they were joined by Regulus in his disguise and Babbling and for the sake of secrecy and maintaining complete ignorance Harry offered to work on something while the adults were supposed to discuss the issue out of his earshot. That comment earned him a pointed look from Snape and after another internal debate a sheet of parchment which instruction that he was supposed to follow to the letter.

The task itself was mindless and simple enough. Burn paste and potion were first year material and one in which Harry reckoned that he did very well considering the lack of acrid commentary on Snape's part way back then. And sure, Snape's version differed slightly from the original recipe from Harry's old book but not so much from that of Harry's mum.

Then lunchtime arrived. They separated their arrival again, with the Babbling contingent leaving Snape's quarters via the secret passage and Harry and Snape leaving it through the door.

The lunch was… well, lunch for the lack of a better description. Hagrid was tremendously happy to see him and at the same time suspiciously tight-lipped about his position. He also tried to wriggle himself out of Harry's visit over the weekend but invited him for tea next Friday. Dumbledore, as Sirius revealed earlier was absent and Professor McGonagall occupied his chair with a sour look on her face, speaking very little and in hushed tones, mostly to Professor Flitwick.

Harry, supposedly Snape's unwilling guest, as soon as they entered the Great Hall made a beeline to first year sized Regulus and had gone through a bit awkward introduction to Aaron Babbling and his dog, Paddy. Their introduction had to be awkward to everyone that concentrated on it but Regulus blessedly steered the conversation towards Hogwarts and Harry found himself relaxing to the familiarity of describing what he knew. Not that his offer to led Regulus around hadn't been met with a stern look from Snape, luckily Babbling muttered that she had time to chaperon them.

Regulus had no problem with questioning why they needed a chaperone and Harry watched with barely contained satisfaction how the entire staff gathered at the table squirmed under Regulus's innocent scrutiny. Finally Professor McGonagall raised to the challenge and explained that it was because it was believed that Sirius Black wanted to kill him.

Harry, the little shit in the known, had wasted very little time to needle his Head of the House why would Sirius want to do that while at the same time he continued to pat Sirius's head between sneaking him pieces of chicken. He was damn proud of himself that he didn't look down even once. Not that McGonagall was very forthcoming with details but Harry and Regulus had grand old time at speculating whatever or not Sirius Black was Harry's long lost relative, Voldemort's long lost relative or Snape's long lost relative. Their fun was cut short by Snape's comment about having a barrel of flobberworms that needed to be degutted and a question whatever or not they were volunteering, not that Regulus hadn't manage to sneak in a comment that Professor Snape seemed to protest a bit too much.

Harry's attempts to remove himself from Snape's vicinity, more as a token protest made in the vein of old, ignorant Harry, had also failed and gave him an excuse to scowl his way through the dessert.

The rest of the weekend passed in similar vein, as did Monday. Meals were taken in the Great Hall, at the staff table and mostly spent at joking with Regulus, sneaking in food to Sirius, pretending that he didn't know Hagrid's big surprise, asking McGonagall uncomfortable questions. During the day he and Regulus with Sirius and Babbling in tow spent some time loitering around the castle between helping Snape prepare ingredients for more complicate potions and preparing first and second year ones under instructions.

Harry thrived in this lessons, grateful for the reference books on metallurgy and that Snape actually took his time to explain why the same ingredient had to be prepared differently depending from the potion it was supposed to go. And the more time he spent on it the more Harry could see the appeal the subject had to his Mum, it was very nuanced and when Snape was in a particularly good mood he was keen to share stories about their botched attempts.

Naturally not everything was going Harry's way with a heavy heart he had written to Ron and Hermione that he won't be able to join them at Diagon Alley and during the train ride. Ron, as expected was greatly put out and complained about the unfairness of it, as well as Harry's temporal guardianship. Hermione on the other hand, well, was Hermione, worried about Harry's safety, sympathetic towards Harry's predicament while at the same time reminding him that he put himself in this situation by running away to find his long lost relative. Which was, well not completely okay seeing that it was a lie.

Keeping secrets from them stung and more than he expected it to. But it was how things were have to be until Pettigrew would be captured, Sirius would be free again. So he vowed himself that he will make it up to them once it was over. Hopefully soon.

TBC


Next: Hermione's last days of summer.