All of the characters except for my own handful of originals, as well as locations, names, titles etc. are and remain the property of JKR and I hope you like it.

Principles such as Splicing are mine as well as all unique books, histories, titles, traditions and spells. I give users permission to use them, but only if you reference me in your work.

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Chapter 26: Hidden in Plain Sight

Harry didn't plan on lingering long in the clubhouse, but his entrance was greeted by woops of congratulations and applause.

The room was smoky and hot with many mingled smells. Different colours floated in the smoke as one of the Twins Weasley appeared and shook Harry vigorously by the hand.

'And welcome to the new Marauder!' he said, lifting Harry's hand in the air as if he were the champion of a boxing match.

Cheers went up around the room again, louder this time and other faces appeared from the smoke, most of whom he didn't know. He was pulled deeper into the class and a smoking goblet thrust into his hand.

'Drink this Harry,' It was Boris Karterion, a third year Slytherin all bone and sinewy muscle.

'What is it?' Harry asked sniffing.

'It's brilliant, Boris makes it himself.' The other twin said. Harry realised that they were fortunately wearing different colour t-shirts; the first in green and the other purple.

Harry took a tentative sip from the goblet and almost choked as a thick, blueberry flavoured liquid coated his mouth and rushed down his throat. The heat faded in seconds and he was left with a warm, fuzzy feeling of contentment that he could almost feel seeping through his veins as slow as tree sap.

'Look at his hair!' someone shouted. Harry couldn't discern who was speaking. He felt light as a cloud, as if he would float out of his chair at any moment.

Suddenly Fay was kneeling in front of him holding a huge hand mirror and grinning widely, her teeth were the pale blue of a tropical sea which somehow made her large blue eyes even more striking. She's so pretty. He thought.

Voices around him whistled and whooped again, all sounding distant and hazy as someone shook him by the shoulder with a hand that felt like it was made of cotton wool. Fay blushed violently and Harry grimaced as he realised he'd spoken aloud.

Harry felt a grin spread over his own face as looked from Fay to the mirror. His mouth fell open as he saw that his jet black hair had turned an incredible shade of bubblegum blue.

'Wha…?' He reached up and touch his hair, it felt absolutely normal. A chuckle emerged from his mouth and he looked at the twin; something said that it was George.

'What's in that drink?' He said, still giggling.

The twin shrugged, falling onto a couch next to him. 'It's just a home-made version of butterbeer that Boris came up with, tastes great doesn't it?'

'Mmm.' Harry had no idea what butterbeer was, but he liked this homebrew. 'Why is my hair blue?'

George held up his hands palms-down, his fingernails were the blue of a summers evening. 'No idea, he can't figure it out either. Whoever takes a drink of it has some part of them turn blue for a while. It doesn't last long but it's always the same part; very weird, but interesting. Totally against the rules, of course and if you tell any of the teachers we'll transfigure you into a dormouse and give you to Mrs Norris.'

Harry laughed along with George, but wondered deep down inside how serious the threat was. His mind was becoming clearer again, but he felt like a great weight had been lifted off his shoulders. 'What're you doing here, surely the teachers know that you're using an out-of-bounds corridor?'

'Dumbledore definitely does, he said as much a couple of days ago when we "ran into him" while we were looting confiscated stuff from Filch's office. McGonagall seems to know everything that goes on around here, too. As for the others, they either don't know or don't care. Most of them have given up trying to control me, Fred and Lee as well as Boris and a couple of others. Lukas and Sabrina – they're not here today – are nearly as notorious as us but I think old Flitwick encourages them to be honest. It all comes down to the fact that this place isn't being used and we're going to get up to mischief,' He emphasised the word by sketching air quotes with his fingers, 'and this way we're well away from any collateral damage or exposing any innocents who we might corrupt.' He chortled and took a long swig from one of the smoking goblets.

Harry smiled and looked in the mirror again, wondering absently where Fay had gone; he was aware he'd said something embarrassing but couldn't quite recall.

'So, I hear you saw something big and scary up here yesterday?' said Fred who was leaning over the back of Harry's chair, his face only inches away.

Harry jumped, 'How long have you been there?'

'Always…' Fred said in a misty voice then grinned. 'Did you see… a giant dog?'

Harry's mouth fell open. 'H-how did you know?'

Fred rolled off the chair and sat on the arm. 'We're in the business of knowing as much as humanly possible about what goes on in this castle, that way we can get all the good things in from outside that are banned, recover whatever that idiot Filch confiscates and of course only get in trouble for the things that don't really matter.'

'That and Fay told us.' Said Lee Jordan, Fred and George's best friend who's eyes were currently iris and pupil-less blue orbs. He was spread out on the hearth a few feet from Harry, which had definitely been unoccupied a few seconds before.

Harry rubbed his face, That drink is fun but dangerous. He'd spent almost all his life honing his instincts and attentiveness in order to evade or escape Dudley's schemes and to suddenly be so suddenly oblivious to his surroundings was unnerving.

'That's not strictly the whole truth now, is it?' George asked reeling in his seat. His fingernails were so blue they were almost glowing now. 'We knew that there was something big up here and that it was almost certainly canine from the barking we hear from time to time. Between that and all the teacher-traffic we have up here we know they're hiding something.'

'It's just nice to have it confirmed. Never dreamed it'd be a Cerberus though…' Fred finished his brother's sentence for him. 'You were bloody lucky to get away in one piece, you know.'

Harry nodded. 'If the teachers are always coming up here, how do you keep this place a secret?'

Lee's happy face broke into an absurdly smug grin. 'That's all me, baby! Fidelius charm.'

'What's that?'

'Oh god, I keep forgetting you're not familiar with all this stuff.' Fred said. 'A Fidelius charm is this really complicated thing for keeping secrets. When you cast it you say what you want kept secret and nominate a secret-keeper and from then on the target of the spell can't be seen, heard, felt or anything by anyone who hasn't been told about it by either the caster or the secret-keeper. It's an immensely difficult spell, way past even NEWT level I'd say – took Lee the last two years to get it right.'

'He's a bit obsessive is our Lee.' George said in a mock whisper loud enough to be heard by the whole room.

'Yeah, well you're bloody-well glad I am now, ain't ya?' Lee asked, still grinning.

'Amen.' Said Fred and George together.

'So let me get this right,' Said Harry, trying to work out how the spell worked. 'Because no one has told the teachers where and what this place is, they can't find it?'

'Correct.' Said Lee.

'And new people can only see it if someone already in the know shows them?'

'Affirmative.' Nodded George.

'So what happens if, say, Filch was to walk in here right now?'

'He'd see an abandoned classroom on an abandoned floor covered in dust and cobwebs.' Fred said. 'We've cast loads of spells on the room so that things that were here before Lee cast the Fidelius still appear to be in place to anyone not in-the-know. Clever, eh?'

'It's genius.' Harry was genuinely impressed. He was hearing of and reading new spells every day. Fidelius could come in especially useful for Nidhogg if Harry could create some kind of carrier for him to the rest of the world was a normal bag. 'You'll have to teach me that one day.'

'Dream on kiddo, just because you're the boy-who-lived doesn't mean I'm going to give away the secrets of something as powerful as the Fideilus charm. It took me years to learn it and it's going to make me a lot of gold in this school.' Dean's face was still happy but a little more serious.

Harry was taken aback by the sudden change in the normally smiley boy with the dark brown skin and fly away tightly curled hair. A cold shiver ran through him despite the heat of the room. 'Right, okay then.' He said, 'I'll just learn it myself.'

Lee laughed, 'Good luck, it's stupidly complicated.' He stood and wandered off toward another group.

Harry could feel that his face was flushed. He realised how absurd he was being and how used he was to getting his way just by being famous Harry Potter. From Diagaon Alley to Hagrid's invitation to lunch and even Dumbledore letting him off lightly for rule-breaking, maybe Snape was right. Maybe I do have too high an opinion of myself. He wondered, brooding.

'Don't you worry about Lee, Harry, he's very protective of his secrets; he wasn't happy when we started showing other people where this place was, believe me.' Fred said as he munched on a chocolate frog.

'I'm not worried; I guess it was a bit of a reality-check.' Harry replied, brooding. 'Ever since I found out that I was a wizard, people have been giving me special treatment because of who I am. It's actually kind of…' insulting, galling, offensive '… refreshing that someone's not just going to give me what I want.' I'll have it though, I'll show smirking Lee Jordan, I'll have that spell working by this time next year.

'Cheer up, you moody git.' George said, throwing a cushion which hit Harry in the face and somehow dislodged the downward turn his mood had taken.

Harry grabbed another cushion and threw it back at George, groaning as it went wide. Before he could react, Fred had swung the first cushion back into his face, sending him reeling backward.

The chair they shared rocked and Harry kicked out, laughing and pulled Fred, overbalancing the chair and sending them both crashing to the floor.

Fred landed on top of Harry, knocking the wind out of him but they were both laughing. Whirling faces, several of whom he barely even recognised, put hands on him and lifted him to his feet. Apparently, persons' eyes could adjust to this magical foggy smoke and Harry saw for the first time that the massive room held at least a dozen people. They were from all years in the school and of all the houses, though there were notably few Ravenclaws, the majority were Gryffindors and Slytherins, their gold and red and silver and green scarves, pins, jackets and badges contrasted sharply but Harry saw them intermingling.

'So not everyone hates the Slytherins?' Harry asked dreamily.

'Nah.' It was Boris, perched cross-legged on a poof. 'Problem with most of my fellow snakes is that they're too concerned with living up to old Salazar's legacy of pure-blood perfection. I'm pureblood, but who cares? There're kids in my year who can blast me halfway along the great hall and that's with me using a shielding charm. Way I figure it, you've either got it or you don't, simple.'

'He's a bit of a philosopher, our Boris, aren't you mate?' Fred said, offering Harry another sip of the drink.

Harry shook his head as Boris grinned widely, showing off teeth as blue as sapphires. 'Way I figure it,' sniffed the lean fourteen year old, 'is that halfbloods have the best of it, and by halfbloods I mean people with one long-line magic parent and another muggleborn. They have the learning and experience of the long-line and that… explosiveness that muggleborns have, probably from having magic fresh from the well, if you know what I mean?'

Harry wasn't certain he did understand, but nodded to avoid seeming dull. 'That's me, my dad was pureblood and my mom muggleborn.'

'Well everyone knows that, don't they?' Laughed Boris, 'Lily and James Potter, famous enemies of You-Know-Who and their famous dark-lord-slaying nipper 'Arry.'

Harry smiled sheepishly.

'Don't tease him, Boris,' said Fay, appearing at Harry's side.

Boris feigned the surprise that Harry felt and sketched a mocking bow aimed at Fay, 'Well I am sorry my lady, I never meant to offend the greatest should-have-been-Slytherin ever born!'

'Shut up, I've asked you not to say that!' Fay said, flushing scarlet.

'What does he mean by that?' Harry said inquisitively.

'Ah, you don't know?' Fred said, dodging a slap from Fay, 'Our little miss Dunbar here was expected to be sorted into Slytherin like her dad, granddad and so on going waaaaaay back.' He cried out when Fay managed to stamp on his toes.

'Shut up!' She said, 'if anyone's going to tell Harry it's me. Yeah, my dad's and most of my family have always been Slytherins until my dad married my mom who was a muggleborn Gryffindor and shook the whole family up. I've got two older brothers both in Slytherin and everyone swore blind I'd go there too.'

Harry shrugged, 'The sorting hat didn't know whether to put me in Slytherin or Gryffindor.' He said matter-of-factly.

The effect on Fay was immediate, she darted forward and hugged him tightly, making him go rigid as he always did. 'Oh Harry, thank the gods, I thought I was the only one.'

Wolf-whistles filled the room again.

Harry managed to squirm and Fay released him. 'What's so special about that?'

'Well it's the old rivalry, isn't it? Salazar and Godric were best of friends when they founded the Hogwarts, but were torn apart by their attitudes to the future of wizarding. You hear about people stuck between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw or Slytherin and Hufflepuff all the time, but almost never the…' she leant in close and whispered in his ear, 'the big two.'

'What does the big two mean?'

Fred pulled on Harry's sleeve, 'Don't let the 'Huffs or Ravens hear you say that they'll skin you alive. Big Two is just about the fact that almost every famous witch or wizard from the last couple hundred years has been a lion or snake. The bookworms don't have the people-skills and the badgers lack… ambition, shall we say to really make it big. The snakes and lions have it all, as long as there's some brains in there.' He emphasised his point by tapping on Harry's head with his knuckles.

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Harry remained in the clubhouse until the light outside started to fade and most of the occupants wandered down to dinner. His hair had long since darkened back to normal just as Fay's teeth were their original pearly white.

They had spent most of their time together in the clubhouse talking about their lives and histories and Harry was amazed at the complexity of being a younger child in an old house. Given that he was the heir to Great House Potter and when he came of age at seventeen would be invested with all their wealth and estates.

The rest of the first year lions asked where Harry and Fay had been all day which, to Harry's relief gave him an alibi for the whole day when Fay said they'd been practicing the body-bind jinx from the previous weeks Defence Against The Dark Arts class on the fourth floor all day.

Harry ate his dinner then started working on his stacks of homework with the others. He went to bed that night hoping that Nidhogg was alright, any guilt at his theft washed clean by his friends need.

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