Disclaimer: this story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoat Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Chapter seven: Marauder's Heir

It was two days after the best Christmas ever that Severus approached Harry about visiting Sirius at St. Mungo's. Harry was a bit hesitant, since the memory of the attack and Sirius' delusion that he was James Potter was still fresh in his mind. But in the end, his desire to see his godfather won out.

After taking the Floo to St. Mungo's, Harry and Severus made their way to the fifth floor, where Sirius had been given a private room. Severus had warned Harry that Sirius was still having delusional episodes, but Harry hadn't realized what that truly meant until he was standing by his godfather's bedside. The man had turned vacant eyes towards Harry.

"James, man, am I glad to see you," Sirius whispered. "You've gotta get me out of here before they come back."

Harry swallowed harshly, trying to dispel the lump in his throat from hearing Sirius address him as if he was his father. Severus, accompanied Harry into the room, squeezed Harry's shoulder.

"I'm Harry. Remember, Sirius?" Harry asked.

"Yes, yes, James' son, little Harry," Sirius said with a bright smile.

Harry felt some hope at Sirius' words, but it was soon dashed as the man continued.

"How's little Harry? Is he teething yet?"

It was then that Harry realized Sirius was still stuck in the period before he was sent to Azkaban. He turned to Severus, tears in his eyes.

"I thought they were supposed to make him better," he said. "He's worse than he was before!"

Severus looked at him with sympathy and drew him a bit away from the bed.

"Actually, he's not," Severus said. "He was able to hide it pretty well before, but the Healers have him on a mild truth serum, which means he's more likely to tell them exactly what he's thinking. I know it looks bad, but it's actually a good thing. Now that they are aware of the problem, they can help him."

Harry looked back at the bed, where Sirius was mumbling something to himself. It was scarily similar to the behavior of some of the victims of the Cruciatus curse. During the escalation of the war, a great many people had been left in this kind of condition, their minds broken but not yet withdrawn inside themselves like Neville's parents. With that image in his mind, Harry turned back to Severus.

"Can they fix him?" he asked plaintively.

"Yes, they can," Severus said. "It will take time, but he will get better, Harry."

Harry wondered if Severus believed his own words or if he was just trying to comfort him. Either way, Harry didn't really believe him. Sirius' mind was damaged. He'd been damaged in the original timeline as well, but he'd hidden it well from others because he'd been on the run. After that, he'd spent most of his time alone at Grimmauld Place, which hadn't helped him at all. In the end, before Belatrix killed him, he'd shown just how damaged he was, calling Harry James, just like he was doing now. The fact that even after his stay at St. Mungo's, both the first time and now, he was still not showing any signs of improvement, made Harry think Sirius would never recover.

"What will happen if he doesn't get better?" Harry asked.

'He will," Severus repeated.

"But what if he doesn't? Harry pressed.

Severus heaved a sigh and then smiled slightly.

"Then you get to stay with me," he answered.

Harry thought he could live with that. He cast a last glance at Sirius and turned back to Severus.

"Let's go home," he said.

HPHPHPHPHPHP

The day before Harry would be traveling back to Hogwarts, Severus sat him down at the kitchen table. Harry was immediately on edge as the man sat across from him with a serious look on his face.

"I want to talk to you," Severus began.

Oh, oh, Harry thought. He'd never had a conversation that began with those words turn out good for him. He steeled himself for whatever Severus wanted to tell him.

"I've noticed several times throughout the term that you and your friends seem to be planning something," Severus said.

Harry sighed. He should've known his Head of House would pick up on that. The man was just too damn observant.

"Now, I am talking to you as your guardian, not as your professor," Severus said. "If there's anything I need to know to keep you safe, now would be the time to tell me. I won't punish you for it. Consider it a one-time free pass for whatever it is the four of you have been doing."

At once, Harry understood what the man was getting at. Considering that in the First War many of Voldemort's followers had joined him while they were still at school, Harry could only imagine what the man was thinking they were doing. Dark magic, dangerous magics, illegal things—there were a lot of ways to get yourself into serious trouble in the Wizarding World, and many of these things were addictive in some way or another.

"Yes, we're working on something," Harry said. "But it's not dangerous, I promise. It's just an idea we're working on. But we don't think Draco and Theo's parents would be really happy with them working with Hermione."

"I understand that," Severus said, relaxing a bit. "But I am not their parents, and although I was a Death Eater, I do not hold to the Pureblood prejudice they do. So it is safe to tell me about it."

Harry sighed. It figured Severus wouldn't be happy with the simple explanation. And although it was true, it wasn't the whole story, and Severus seemed to sense that. Harry knew that avoiding the issue or lying would just make matters worse. Severus would get suspicious and would start to investigate, leading to the discovery of things Harry wanted to keep under wraps for now. So, he gambled on the man's understanding and trust, hoping he had both enough that the man would take him at his word.

"I know you're worried," Harry said. "But I promise, we're not doing anything illegal or dangerous. I'm just not comfortable sharing yet. Could you let it go? For now?"

Severus stared at him for a long moment, and Harry was never as glad that he had brushed up on his Occlumency skills during his time at the Dursleys before Hagrid had come, so he could keep information hidden that was not protected by the ritual that had sent him back in time. He hid all things pertaining to S.I.M. behind the same wall he kept his knowledge about the Horcruxes behind. He didn't know for sure if Severus was taking a peek inside his mind, or if he was just using his skills at reading people, but he didn't want to take any chances. After several long moments, Severus sighed and nodded his head.

"Very well," he said. "I'll let it go, for now. But I will not let you keep this from me forever."

Harry nodded his understanding and then fled the room, relieved Severus hadn't pressed. He resolved to push up the timetable on the first plan on their agenda, just in case. Perhaps if he could show Severus some results when he pressed for answers, the man wouldn't completely blow his top.

HPHPHPHPHPHP

It was early Saturday morning and the library was deserted except for Harry. He was sitting at one of the tables with a huge stack of books in front of him, and he was going through the books one by one. Somewhere, in one of these books, had to be the answer he was looking for. Surely there was some kind of spell that could tell him where the diary was. Someone had taken it, probably someone in Slytherin, and then either kept it or given it to someone else so they could get possessed. So it should still be in the castle. Now all he had to do was find a spell that would lead him to the diary, and he could steal if back.

An hour later, Harry had worked his way through all of the books, ending up with a list of six spells he hadn't tried yet. He wanted nothing more than to try them right away, but one look at his watch told him it was almost time to meet with his friends. When they'd found out that Harry was going to have extra Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons once a week from Remus, they'd insisted on Harry teaching them what he was learning. Or, to be more honest, Hermione had insisted on Harry teaching her, and Harry had convinced Draco and Theo to join their lessons as well. They hadn't taken much convincing, thankfully, especially when Harry pointed out that with them running S.I.M., they were potentially painting a target on their back.

Of course, the real reason Harry wanted them to learn how to defend themselves had more to do with Voldemort's return than anything else. But he couldn't exactly tell them, so he'd resigned himself to waiting until after the Triwizard Tournament to start training them, like in the original timeline. But when Severus had pitched the idea of extra Defense lessons, he'd eagerly taken them, figuring every little bit of training would help. That his friends wanted him to teach them was a big bonus and something that might one day save their lives.

With a sigh, he looked back at the list of spells. They were pretty complicated, and he'd have to practice them a few times, so there really wasn't time to do it now. Harry placed the books back on their shelves and tucked the list securely in his bag. He'd try the spells out later.

That evening, while the other boys in Harry's dorm were deep asleep, Harry methodically went through the list of spells. One by one he tried them, all without result. Either the diary was no longer at Hogwarts, or the spells just couldn't detect a Horcrux. Harry suspected it was the latter. With a defeated sigh, he threw his wand on his nightstand and sank back under the covers. There had to be a way to find the diary. The only thing that was going according to plan was that the basilisk was dead, so whomever got possessed and opened the Chamber wouldn't be able to kill anyone with it.

Suddenly, Harry sat upright as he was hit with an idea. Whoever was now in possession of the diary didn't know the basilisk was dead, and the person wouldn't until he or she opened the chamber. And last time, it had taken two or three months before Ginny was possessed enough to open the chamber for the first time. Since the diary had vanished at the beginning of November, whoever had it now probably hadn't tried to open the Chamber yet. But the person soon would. All Harry had to do was keep watch. Of course, he couldn't do that in person. It would be too difficult to explain why he was always there, and Severus would probably catch him if he was out of bed at night. Harry wasn't stupid; after last time, he'd figured out that Severus probably had wards up that alerted him if students left the common room at night.

So that left only one solution: the Marauder's Map, which was currently in the possession of the Weasley twins. There was no way they'd give it to him, even if he could think of a plausible way of asking them for it. So that left one option. He was going to have to steal it. And with Severus' wards up, he was going to have to do it in broad daylight. That meant using his cloak. Harry felt kind of bad that he was breaking his promise to Severus only days after he'd gotten the cloak back from him, but he figured this was kind of a life or death situation. And Severus was never going to find out—not if he could help it.

The opportunity to go after the Map came the next Monday. Harry begged off lunch and started walking toward the Slytherin common room. He ducked into a side hallway, where he pulled his Invisibility Cloak out of his bag and put it on. He then made his way towards Gryffindor Tower.

When he got there, Harry settled in to wait. It took about ten minutes before a group of giggling third year girls walked up to the Fat Lady and gave her the password. The painting swung open, and Harry scrambled inside after the girls, just before the painting swung shut again. The Gryffindor common room, with its red and gold and comfy couches by the fireplace, felt a bit like coming home. It was the last place he'd been truly happy in the original timeline, before Voldemort came back and his friends started dying. But things were different now, and Harry didn't have the time to start remembering.

He snuck up the stairs to the dorm rooms, entering the fourth year boys' dormitory, hoping nobody would be there. Luck was with him, and the dorm room was empty. Harry spelled the door locked, hoping that would give him enough of a warning if someone tried to enter. He kept his Invisibility Cloak close by as he carefully opened Fred's trunk. He wouldn't be surprised if the twins had booby trapped their trunks; but once again, that didn't seem to be the case. He dug through the stuff, but he didn't find anything. The same went for George's trunk. Harry was getting a bit desperate by now, as he knew lunch would soon be over, and he needed to be in class.

He checked the nightstands next and breathed a sigh of relief as he spotted the Map. He grabbed it and held his wand against it.

"I solemnly swear I am up to no good," he whispered.

The Map came to life, lines moving across the parchment to depict Hogwarts, dots with labels moving around. Relieved to have found it, Harry deactivated it and stuck it in his bag. He looked around one more time to make sure everything was where it belonged, except for the Map, and nothing betrayed his presence in the dorm room. Finding everything as it should be, Harry slipped his Cloak back on and unlocked the door.

In the common room, he had to wait for several tense minutes before someone opened the portrait. His heart nearly stopped when it was Ron who came through, shouting at someone in the hall that he'd be just a minute. Harry could imagine only too well what had happened. Ron had forgotten a book, like he'd done a thousand times in the original timeline. Usually it had been Harry and Hermione waiting in the hallway until Ron had joined them again. This time it was Dean and Seamus, Harry saw as he climbed through the portrait hole.

It hurt to think of Ron with them, instead of with Hermione and himself, and he quickly walked away, not wanting to be in the hallway when Ron came back. When he was in the more general area of the castle, Harry once again ducked into a side corridor where he removed his Invisibility Cloak and stuffed it deep down in his bag. He joined his year mates in Charms class, secure in the knowledge he now had the Map and could easily monitor it for anyone entering the Chamber of Secrets. He focused on that, trying to forget about Ron. It was easier than Harry had thought it would be.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHP

It was cold. Very, very cold. Not for the first time since the game started, Harry was thankful he had cast a warming charm on his Quidditch robes. Even with the warming charm, his teeth were still clattering. Cho Chang, Ravenclaw's Seeker, was shadowing him rather closely. He'd tried several Wronski Feints, and she'd followed every one of them, but she always pulled out too soon for her to crash into the ground and be taken out of the game. And she was copying every move Harry made. In the end, he just let her and focused his energy on finding the Snitch. He wanted to get off the Pitch before he froze to his broom.

Slytherin was ahead in points, with Draco, Marcus, and Adrian playing well together. They were so much better than Davies, Bradley, and Chambers that they even managed to play without having to resort to any of the dirty tricks Slytherin had used during the original timeline. They hadn't used any dirty tricks against Gryffindor either, but Harry had caught the Snitch inside of five minutes that time, so there hadn't really been much time for it.

Suddenly, Cho raced off. Harry followed her immediately, seeing the Snitch a split second later than Cho did. He gained on her fast because his broom was much better than hers. For a moment, they were neck on neck, but then Harry pulled ahead. The Snitch pulled up sharply, and Harry followed. Moments later, his hand closed around the little golden ball. The crowd cheered as Madam Hooch blew her whistle, signaling the end of the game. It was then that Harry saw a flash of black out of the corner of his eye.

He pulled his broom sidewards, but he wasn't fast enough to completely avoid the Bludger. The ball hit him in the arm, and Harry could feel the bone breaking. The sharp flash of pain made Harry nearly black out, and he shakily guided his broom down to the ground. He was immediately set upon by his teammates who asked him if he was all right.

"I think I broke my arm," Harry said.

"Merlin, Harry, sit down," Draco said. "You look like you're about to pass out."

Harry did as Draco suggested after handing the Snitch to Flint, who seemed amused by Harry's priorities. Draco fluttered around Harry, asking him if he was all right and if he could do anything, which amused Harry. Draco seemed more panicked about his broken arm than he was himself. Harry was just relieved he didn't have to deal with Lockhart removing all of the bones in his arm this time.

It wasn't long before Severus arrived from his place in the bleachers, and he took Harry with him to the infirmary. There, Madam Pomfrey gave Harry a potion for the pain and fixed his arm. He was right as rain within five minutes, but Severus didn't want to let him go. The man tried to make Madam Pomfrey keep him in the infirmary for awhile at first; but to Harry's relief, she was having none of that.

In the end, Severus resorted to taking Harry with him to his quarters and making him lie on the couch. Harry would've been disgruntled at the treatment if the man hadn't provided him with drinks, snacks and books all afternoon. Basically, Severus Snape was motherhenning him worse than Molly Weasley ever had. And this time, it wasn't someone else's parent worrying over him: it was his own guardian. And childish though it might be, Harry was taking full advantage. The warm feeling he got from Severus' worry over him was worth a simple broken arm.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

"What time was the meeting going to end again?" Harry asked Draco under his breath, so as not to attract McGonagall's attention.

"Will you relax," Draco hissed back. "Dad'll make sure it won't finish before we get out of class, and he'll make sure they'll exit on foot instead of using the Floo. Now pay attention, before McGonagall gives you a detention."

Harry did what Draco said, because his friend was right. He couldn't afford to be held back by McGonagall today. The first plan of the Society for the Integration of Muggleborns was going to be implemented today, and Harry wanted everything to go off without a hitch. The lesson dragged on for him, but eventually it ended. Harry threw his things in his bag and took off for the entrance hall. He arrived first, but a few minutes later Hermione hurried up to his side.

"Did I miss them?" she asked anxiously.

"I haven't seen them yet," Harry answered.

The two of them settled in to wait. In the end, they needn't have hurried, for it was another fifteen minutes before they heard voices coming their way. Before long, the group they were waiting for came into view. The Headmaster was there, as was Lucius Malfoy, together with six other wizards and witches that together made up the Governing Board of Hogwarts. Harry didn't know how Lucius had done it, but he'd managed to draw the meeting out until after their classes ended and prevented any of the Board from leaving by Floo — exactly as requested by Draco, even though Draco hadn't told his father why.

After reviewing the law Lucius had tried to pass twice already and finding nothing objectionable about it, they had started planning how to get it passed. The plan the foursome had come up with in the end was quite simple. Harry was to use his political influence to support the law, while Hermione's voice would be added to the mix to show that true Muggleborns were behind the law as well. They'd had some discussion about how to go about it, as Harry wanted his support to look natural and accidental, not like a calculated plan. It was Theo who'd come up with this plan when he'd pointed out that the Governing Board of Hogwarts contained three of Lucius' most fierce opponents on this law besides Dumbledore, namely Augusta Longbottom, Griselda Marchbanks, and Elphias Dodge.

"Mister Malfoy," Harry said with a smile as he walked up to the man, Hermione following close behind.

The entire group stopped as Harry approached. He saw a quick flash of surprise in Lucius' eyes, which he wouldn't have seen if he hadn't spent as much time with Severus, whose emotions could often only be read in a twitch of the lips and a flash of emotion in his eyes.

"Harry, how nice to see you again," Lucius said. "How are you?"

"I'm fine," Harry said. "I'm busy with school and all."

"Well, my boy, nice though this is, the governors really must be on their way," Dumbledore said.

He was smiling, but Harry knew the Headmaster well enough to see he really didn't like Harry talking to Lucius. Tough luck for him though, because talking with Lucius was exactly what Harry was here for.

"I just wanted to ask Mr. Malfoy something," Harry said. "I figured since you're here, sir, I might as well."

"I have time," Lucius said.

"I was wondering, when are you going to resubmit your law on early intervention for Muggleborns?" Harry said. "Draco mentioned something about it."

"Why, that law is never going to pass," Mrs. Longbottom said before Lucius had a chance to answer.

Harry let his face fall.

"Really? That's too bad," he said. "I wished it would've been in effect before. Maybe the Dursleys wouldn't have had a chance to abuse me then. I just can't help but wonder how many more children are in the same situation, you know?"

The governors were shocked by his words, but Lucius wasn't. Harry figured he'd already known or was just really, really good at hiding his reactions.

"Yes, Harry, I can imagine," Lucius said. "It is for children like you that I want an early intervention."

"Oh, but the law isn't just for preventing abuse, right?" Hermione asked. "I mean, I would've liked an early intervention as well, but my parents aren't abusive."

"You are Muggleborn?" Lucius asked.

"Yes, and I feel so behind all the time," Hermione said, laying it on thick. "I mean, Draco tries to help me, but there's just so much I have no idea about. Like last year, he had to explain the whole significance of Yuletide. It's just not like that in the Muggle world."

"Yes, I understand where you're coming from," Lucius said. "Although I'm afraid even if I can get the law passed this time around, it won't do either of you any good anymore."

"Oh, no," Hermione said. "But it can help everyone who's not yet going to Hogwarts. That's got to count for something, right?"

"Quite, Miss …?"

"Granger, sir," Hermione said.

"Quite, Miss Granger," Lucius said.

"So, you're planning on trying to get the law passed again?" Harry asked.

"Yes, I've been doing some minor re-writes, but I was thinking about suggesting it again at the next Wizengamot meeting," Lucius said.

"Great," Harry said with a big grin. "I really hope it passes this time. But I think we've taken up enough of your time, Mr. Malfoy. Besides, we're supposed to meet Draco in the library."

"It was nice meeting you, sir," Hermione added.

"It was my pleasure, Miss Granger, Harry," Lucius said. "Give Draco my regards."

Harry and Hermione left, but in their wake, they could hear furious mutters in the group of governors and Miss Marchbanks' voice asking some pointed questions about Lucius' law. At the very least, it had gotten them to objectively look at the law again. Harry could only hope Theo and Draco were right and this would be enough.