Disclaimer: All recognizable characters and settings belong to J.K. Rowling.
Harry and Draco sat silently on the sofa in their quarters as Severus paced back and forth in front of them, throwing the boys a glare every now and then. Sirius stood by the door and watched, he'd been quiet after bringing the boys to tell their father what they had done. Severus hadn't spoken but his eyes had darkened, his lips had thinned as he had stared at Harry and Draco. And now he still said nothing, just paced and glared, paced and glared...
Sirius cleared his throat. "Well, I best go keep Moony company," he said as he backed out of the room. He threw the boys a sympathetic look. "Good luck, pups. Hopefully I'll see you tomorrow, if you're still alive." He grinned and let the door shut behind him.
Severus glared at the door for a moment before turning that glare to his sons. "What were you two thinking?" He suddenly yelled. "First, you know you are not to leave the castle with my supervision!"
"But that was when everyone thought Sirius was out to get Harry," Draco protested. "And Sirius is innocent so..."
"Your Aunt Bellatrix is not," Severus snapped. "And we do not know if she will be coming for you or your mother. Narcissa is taking the proper precautions and I expect the both of you to do the same. And besides leaving the castle, you followed someone who you believed to be a werewolf on the night of the full moon!"
Harry and Draco winced.
"Detention for the two of you and you will each lose twenty-five points for your sheer recklessness." Severus said sternly. He eyed the cloak folded on Harry's lap and held out his hand. "Give me the cloak, Harry."
Harry held it out, feeling ashamed.
"I will be locking this up until you are older," Severus said, steeling himself against the despondent look in Harry's eyes. The boy was not old enough for such a cloak, he had not been pleased when Albus had given it to him. "You knew you were not to bring this to school, young man. I am very disappointed in you."
Harry looked down, hiding the tears that were forming in his eyes. "I'm sorry," he whispered.
"I'm sorry, too," Draco added.
Severus nodded. "Who else knows about Remus being a werewolf?"
"Ron and Hermione, though they don't know if it's true." Harry said, still not looking at his father. "Hermione was the one who suspected it."
"Of course she was," Severus sighed. "No one else can know, do you understand? This is important. There are some people who are prejudiced against werewolves and would demand he resign. So not a word to anyone."
"We won't tell," Draco promised as Harry nodded his agreement.
"Good. Now, your detention will be in my classroom tomorrow night. Be ready to clean a lot of cauldrons. The floor could do with some polish as well. In addition, I want an essay on werewolves and how to recognize them, as well as what Wolfsbane potion is and how it helps those afflicted."
Draco's mouth dropped open. "That's like homework. Will we get graded at least?"
Severus raised an eyebrow. "No. The essay is part of your punishment. However, it will aid you for when you are a little older and learn about Wolfsbane potion in class. You'll be far ahead of the other students. You have the weekend to work on it."
"Yes sir," Harry said resignedly while Draco nodded glumly.
"And do not forget your detention tomorrow night after dinner," Severus reminded them.
"Yes sir."
"Stop with the sir's, Harry," Severus said with a sigh. He held out his arms. "Come here, both of you."
Harry and Draco jumped up and into their dad's arms.
"You know how much I love you both, right?" Severus asked after a moment.
"We know," Draco said.
"Yes sir, we know," Harry looked up with a mischievous grin.
"Cheeky brat," Severus mumbled affectionately.
HP
When Harry returned to the Tower, he was met by Ron and Hermione in the common room. They pounced on him as soon as he entered.
"What happened?"
"We know you got caught, we saw!"
"You used that cloak, didn't you?"
Harry held up his hands. "Geez, let me answer." He flopped down onto one of the chairs by the fireplace. "Wait, what do you mean you saw that I got caught?"
Ron triumphantly held out a piece of parchment.
Harry looked at it curiously. "Is that...but there's nothing on it!"
Ron cleared his throat and pointed at the parchment with his wand. "I solemnly swear I am up to no good." Words suddenly appeared and the parchment filled out, showing a map of the school as well as the location of everyone in the castle.
"Whoa," Harry breathed. "The twins actually lent it to you?"
"No," Hermione shot Ron a disapproving look. "Ron stole it from them!"
"They wouldn't lend it to me," Ron defended himself. "Not unless I told them why I wanted it and I didn't want to share our suspicions on Professor Lupin. So I waited until they were distracted and took it. I'll need to return it soon, though. If they find out it's gone, I'm toast."
"We were able to watch your and Draco's names on the map," Hermione said. "You followed Professor Lupin to the Whomping Willow, then Mr. Black showed up and then were in your dad's quarters."
Harry told them everything that happened, including how they couldn't tell anyone about Remus and about the punishment his dad had given him and Draco. He scowled slightly when he saw the approving look on Hermione's face. "You don't have to be happy that I got caught," he said irritably.
"I'm not happy about it but well, it was deserved," Hermione said, her voice soft. "I'd rather you have detention than something happen to you because you were sneaking around. But I'm sorry your cloak was confiscated."
"Yeah, I really wanted to see it," Ron sighed. "What?" He asked in response to Hermione rolling her eyes.
"You're so sensitive," Hermione grumbled. She focused back on Harry. "We won't say anything about Professor Lupin being a werewolf. Not to anyone. Right, Ron?"
"Right." Ron nodded.
"Thanks guys," Harry said.
HP
Over the next few days, Harry and Draco completed their punishments and then the holiday season was upon them. While most of the students were going home, some stayed and Severus was one of the teachers that would be staying to keep an eye on them. Harry and Draco didn't mind, the castle was even more beautiful at Christmas and even though Harry had experienced it before, it would be Draco's first time. Their new house wasn't finished yet anyway and Narcissa would be spending Christmas with them as well. Their first as a family. Harry had been a little sad that Ron and Hermione went home for Christmas but was glad he had Draco. Having a brother meant always having a friend.
The day after the students departed for home, Harry and Draco wandered around the now almost deserted castle. They came across Professor Flitwick decorating a twelve foot tree in the Great Hall. "That tree is even more grand than the ones mother and I usually get," Draco said excitedly.
"We get a tree for our quarters, although it won't be twelve feet tall," Harry chuckled. They both watched in fascination as Professor Flitwick created colorful baubles as ornaments for the tree. He noticed them watching and gave a bright grin.
"Would you two like to learn how decorate a tree?" Flitwick asked jovially.
Harry and Draco nodded eagerly and soon were helping create colorful ornaments and tinsel for the humongous tree. Harry looked over to the side Draco was working on and chuckled. "Really? You're only going to decorate in green and silver?"
"Is that a problem?" Draco asked innocently.
"No. I just think the tree would look better in all different colors," Harry said as he worked, charming the ornaments the way Flitwick had shown them.
Draco snickered. "I was just seeing if you would notice. I'm going to add other colors. The one in dad's quarters will be done in all green and silver." He teased.
Harry rolled his eyes good-naturedly. After thanking the Charms professor for letting them help, Harry invited Draco up to the Tower to show the Gryffindor dorms. Draco had been in the common room once before but not the dorms. Plus Harry wanted to show him the map that Ron had left behind.
"Ugh, look at all the red and gold," Draco said as he looked around.
"What were you expecting? Orange and purple?" Harry asked sarcastically.
Draco grimaced. "Merlin, that would be even worse."
"Here it is," Harry held out the map. Ron had kept forgetting to return the map and since the twins hadn't said anything about it missing, he had kept it. Before leaving for the holiday, he told Harry that he had left it in their dorm room so that Harry could sneak it back into he twins dorm.
Harry said the incantation and they both watched as the parchment filled out.
"Wow," Draco said. "So brilliant. Hey, what are those names at the top?"
"Hmm?" Harry looked to where Draco was pointing. He had been so fascinated by the map, he had overlooked these names. "Padfoot? Moony and Wormtail? Prongs?"
"Padfoot is Sirius's name," Draco said excitedly. "And Moony is Remus...ew, so Wormtail must be Pettigrew right? They were all friends when they were in school."
"Then Prongs must be my father," Harry said in realization. "So they made the map!"
"They're the Marauder's," Draco said with a grin. "And look at all these secret passageways!"
"We should ask Sirius and Remus about it," Harry said eagerly.
"Yeah, but first let's check out the passageways," Draco grinned.
HP
"Here we go," Draco said as they stopped by the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom. It was empty and even the surrounding portraits were sleeping. He took his wand and tapped the hump of the witch. "Dissendium." He and Harry grinned when the hump opened just enough for someone to slide down.
"Wicked," Harry said. "I wonder where it goes."
"Let's find out," Still holding the map, Draco slid into the passageway.
"Wait Draco!" Harry hesitated, not sure if actually going in was a good idea. Not after they had just gotten off punishment. What if the passageway left the castle? But he couldn't let Draco go alone so with a sigh, he started to follow when he heard footsteps behind him. Probably Filch, he thought with a sigh. He turned around to see someone dressed in all black, including a dark hood that covered their face. "Who are you?"
"Diffindo!" A white light burst from the person's wand and a slash appeared on Harry's arm.
"Hey!" Harry fumbled for his wand but the person cast the spell again, this time hitting his shoulder. He winced at the deep slash and pointed his wand at his attacker. "Stupefy!"
A deep chuckle came from his assailant as the attacker moved out of the way. "Ossio Dispersimus!"
Harry fell and stared down at his legs in horror. He couldn't feel them or move them. He lifted his trousers and looked in shock. His legs looked like rubber! He had no bones in them! He lifted his gaze back to his attacker.
"It would be so easy," The attacker said in a low voice. "So easy to do away with you right now."
"Help! Portraits, help me!" Harry began screaming, waking the sleeping portraits nearby. He could hear the portraits shout out to each other and his attacker took a wary step back.
"You there! Get away from that young boy!" One of the portraits snapped.
"Don't worry dear, we've sent word to the Headmaster," A female portrait said.
Harry's attacker seemed to hesitate before running off. Harry sighed with relief, thanking the portraits. Just then, Draco came back through the passageway.
"Harry, why didn't you follow? Guess where it leads? To Honeydukes!" Draco said gleefully. "We can get candy anytime we want! Hey, what's wrong with you?" His eyes widened in shock when he saw the cuts on Harry. "What in Merlin's name happened to you?"
"Someone attacked me," Harry said, wincing.
"What? Who?" Draco looked around, his wand at the ready.
"I don't know," Harry said, holding his hand against his shoulder to try and stop the bleeding. "Draco, the bones in my legs are gone."
Draco stared in horror.
They heard footsteps running and Dumbledore was hurrying towards them.
"Boys, what happened? The portraits said there has been an attack," Dumbledore gasped when he saw Harry. "My boy, who did this to you?"
"I don't know, he was wearing a hood," Harry said as Dumbledore knelt down next to him.
"Professor, the bones in his legs are gone!" Draco said.
"What?" Dumbledore sucked in his breath when he saw the rubbery legs. "Ah, Harry. I'm so sorry this happened to you." He sent a Patronus to Severus and then lifted Harry up into his arms. "Let's go to the infirmary."
Poppy shook her head as she ran a diagnostic. "How could something like this happen? Most of the students and professors are gone!"
"I don't know," Dumbledore said grimly. "Draco, you did not see anything?"
"No, I came upon Harry after it happened," Draco said with guilty look.
Severus rushed in. "Harry?" His eyes darkened when he saw the injuries his son had. "Who did this?" he hissed.
"We don't know," Dumbledore said.
Poppy ran her wand over the cuts on Harry's arm and shoulder.
"What about my legs?" Harry asked.
Poppy shook her head. "I'm afraid you are in for a painful evening. Growing bones is nasty business."
Harry's eyes widened. "How painful?" The sympathetic look Poppy gave him didn't make him feel better.
"Harry will recover in our quarters," Severus said, trying to stay calm. Someone had hurt his son and wanted to tear their throat out.
Sirius and Remus walked in. "Albus, we heard a student was attacked...Harry?"
"What happened?" Sirius demanded.
With a sigh, Harry told them what happened. He left out the part of Draco being in the secret passageway.
"And then Draco found me," Harry finished.
Severus frowned. "You are not to be alone in the hallways, Harry. You should have waited for Draco."
Draco watched with guilt as Harry didn't say anything. He sighed. "He was with me." He admitted.
"He was?" Severus asked in surprise.
"Yeah, we were sort of exploring and I went into a secret passageway," Draco held out the map.
"The Marauder's Map!" Sirius exclaimed, taking it from Draco. "I wondered what became of it."
"How did you get it, Draco?" Remus asked curiously.
"Um," Draco hedged.
"Ron sort of borrowed it from the Weasley twins," Harry spoke up. "I don't know where they got it."
"Probably nicked it from Filch's office," Sirius said in amusement.
Severus rubbed his temples. "So you two decided to play in unknown passageways? You really thought that would be okay?" He asked in exasperation.
"Harry didn't go into the passageway, only I did," Draco admitted.
"Which one?" Sirius asked.
"The one by the Defence classroom."
Severus huffed. "How many are there?"
"Seven, I believe," Remus said thoughtfully.
"It leads right into Honeydukes," Draco said enthusiastically.
"Oh?" Severus asked dangerously. "So instead of staying with your brother, you snuck out of the castle?"
"I didn't technically leave the castle," Draco muttered. "I didn't have any money with me so I didn't step into Honeydukes. I just looked in."
"Oh, come one Severus. They were just exploring the castle," Sirius shrugged. "Remus, James and I did it in school, that's why we made the map." He purposefully left out Pettigrew.
"Well gee, as long as you think it is okay," Severus said sarcastically.
"I'm sorry," Draco spoke up. "I thought Harry would be right behind me...I didn't think someone would hurt him!"
"It's not your fault, Draco," Dumbledore said. "Right Severus?"
"Of course it's not, but I don't want either of you doing anymore exploring," Severus said. "Especially while we do not know who attacked Harry."
"Here is your Skele-Gro, Mr. Potter," Poppy said as she poured yellow liquid into a cup. Smoke came out of the cup and Harry wrinkled his nose. "Go on, drink it all up."
Harry nearly spat it out, it tasted disgusting. And it burned as it went down her throat. "Yuck! It's awful!"
"Well, what did you expect? Pumpkin juice?" Poppy took the cup. "He's all yours now," She told Severus.
"And I'll take him," Severus lifted Harry into his arms. "Albus, what about the attacker?"
"I will question the remaining students," Dumbledore said. "And we will search the castle. At least we can use that very interesting map." He raised an eyebrow at Remus and Sirius. "Which I'm sure has a very interesting story." He held his hand out to Sirius who reluctantly handed it over.
"We're too old to be given detention, right?" Sirius whispered loudly to Remus, who laughed in response.
"I have cauldrons that need scrubbing, just so you know Albus," Severus called over his shoulder as he carried Harry out of the infirmary, with Draco following.
TBC: