Chapter Twenty

A/N: I do not own anything form the Lion King or from Harry Potter. Ducks any projectiles Oi! It's called not having any free time…and little to no muse. A new chapter ready and waiting for reviews.

The next day, Simba trotted down to the Great Hall where, upon arriving, he helped himself to one of the pieces of chicken his brother was pushing around his plate.

"What's wrong with you?" Simba asked, a little concerned when Harry didn't try to fight for his food.

"Malfoy," Harry replied. "He's holding court with the other Slytherins."

Simba looked over to see Malfoy pretending to swoon and then looked back at Harry. "If you asked me, he's acting like a big prat."

"Took the words right out of my mouth," George said as he climbed in the seat across from the Trio. "Don't worry Harry. You'll show him up on the Pitch."

Harry seemed to smile and actually seemed happier after that. Breakfast ended soon after and Simba made his way to McGonagall's while the Trio went to their first class. Apparently, the teacher thought animals brought bad luck.

"Ah Simba," McGonagall gave a warm smile. "How was your summer?"

"Not bad, professor," Simba said. "Well, it was until those things showed up on the train."

"Yes," McGonagall frowned. "Dementors. They guard Azkaban Prison."

"Professor," Simba asked after a moment of silence. "If Sirius Black got past the Dementors, then what's the point of having them to guard?"

McGonagall didn't answer his question, so Simba shrugged and stretched out in front of the window by the side of the classroom. He hadn't been sleeping well since the train ride, and took every opportunity he could to just stretch out and relax.

"Professor McGonagall, why is there a lion in the classroom?" one of the first years asked in alarm, causing Simba to pick his head up and groan. Perfect.

000

At least the third years came after the first years, allowing Simba the opportunity for the chance to spend time in class with Harry for a change. First year, he mainly spent it with McGonagall and second year he was petrified. Though, it didn't seem like the class realized who was there with them. Heck, they didn't even notice McGonagall do her Animagus transformation.

"Please Professor," Hermione said after McGonagall pointed that out, "we just had our first Divination lesson and—"

"Say no more Miss. Granger," McGonagall said with a wave of her hand. She looked out across the classroom and then said, "Which one of you will be dying this year?"

Simba perked his head up in interest. Who would he have to protect? No member of his pride would die!

"Me," Harry said after a few minutes and Simba felt his heart drop into his stomach. What with Black being out and now this….

This was not going to end well this year. Simba was sure of it.

000

If there was one class Simba didn't trust, it was DADA. What with his brother already been attacked by two defense professors, a third time wouldn't have been a surprise.

Which was why he was a little shocked to be allowed to watch the lesson, though when Simba found out what said lesson was, he promptly made his way to the back of the room.

"Scared?" he heard Malfoy mutter as he stalked past.

"Not as scared as you're going to be," Simba muttered back with a low growl audible in his voice. With no witty comeback from Malfoy, Simba sat back with a smirk obvious on his features.

"Begin," he heard the professor command and Simba couldn't hold in his laughter. For right before him was a Professor Snape in female clothing, and not just any female clothing. A green dress covered in lace, a red handbag and a hat with a huge bird on it. Apparently, this exercise was one in laughter, because it kept Simba in stitches. So much so that he didn't realize that the class was over.

"Simba?" Harry said as they waited ten minutes after class.

"What?" Simba asked as he came to his paws.

"Class ended ten minutes ago," Ron said, giving Harry a look afterwards. "We've been waiting for you to settle down before we could go to lunch."

"Oh," Simba said and they trotted down to the Great Hall. "Oh, by the way. How was Hagrid's first day?"

That brought on a firestorm of complaints from Ron and Harry about a certain blond Slytherin that they all knew and hated. Simba narrowed his eyes and trotted over to the twins.

"Fred, George," he said with a not so innocent smile on his face. "How'd you like to pull a prank?"

"You need to ask?" Fred raised an eyebrow.

000

The prank, it turned out, was the same one Fred wanted to pull on Lockhart last year; with a few Weasley modifications. Simba allowed it this time as Malfoy wasn't going to be scared of him as much as Lockhart was.

"Ready?" he muttered to Fred, who was making sure the cauldron of Butterbeer was secure.

"You asked me that five minutes ago," Fred muttered back to him but gave Simba a smirk to show he wasn't upset. "Hey, George has most of the ingredients so the potion should be ready by the time Harry's in fifth year."

"It really takes two years to make?" Simba raised an eyebrow.

"Sure we could rush it but that might kill you…"

"Take your time," Simba said quickly, not wanting to end up dead or worse, a tester for the Weasley twins. The line holding the Butterbeer became taut, meaning that Malfoy had tripped the first set of the trap.

"MY FATHER WILL HEAR ABOUT THIS!" they heard Malfoy scream as the liquid came rushing down onto him followed by hundreds of feathers from some of the older pillows that never survived the first year pillow fights.

"That'll teach him," Fred smirked as they arrived in the safety of Gryffindor tower. "There's no way they can prove it was us."

Just then Hermione, Ron and Harry came walking into the Common Room to take their seats by the fire. Taking that as his cue to leave the Twins, Simba plopped down by Harry's feet.

"Harry, you shouldn't have done that," Hermione was telling him. "Hagrid was right; there's no way of knowing if Black could have gotten at you."

"Next time we'll take Simba," Harry said. "I don't care if Black is as mad as he claims; he's not going to force me to hide away for a year."

Simba mentally groaned but then reasoned that it'd be better if he were with them instead of wondering what the blazes were they doing. Besides, the potion wouldn't be done for another two years.