Teeth

by hathanhate

Harry messes up the animagus process and begins a new journey. New friends and old share his discovery of life. What is in store for The-Boy-Who-Lived? What dangers will he face? Find out inside! WARNINGS: Begins entirely in HP world, crossover starts later. Harry is bisexual. Rated M to be safe.

6. Part One, Chapter Five

Thank you to everyone who reviewed!

Ok. First off. Let's get this straight right now. If you have a question about a pairing, go back and look at the author notes for the previous chapters, and my responses to the reviews. Harry will be single until otherwise specified. Then it will be up to a vote as to who he is paired with. The selection at such a time will contain male and female characters, and majority wins. End of story. Don't ask again. I won't acknowledge your review.

Speaking of voting. I salute those of you who have voted on the meeting thus far. There's already someone far in the lead. Anyone else who wants to, do it while you can, because there will be NO warning before I close the poll. It'll just happen. Suddenly. Spontaneously. With no warning… Cough. If, for whatever reason, you cannot access the poll, or just feel it would be easier, then leave your vote in a review. If you leave your vote in this manner, you can only vote once, and I will not count any votes made by an anonymous reviewer. I will count up the review votes and add them to the poll votes when I close it. When I have closed the poll, I will do so by deleting it. As a result, you must read the author's notes to find when the winner has been determined, as the result will not be available on my page. Thank you for your help.

…Now, about the chapter. Today, we discover secrets about the mysterious room, and learn that Mr. Hate is terrible at attempting to write Old English. Aside from that, I drop a bomb on you guys at the end and then leave you hanging. Just warning you now.

There is a reason we are waiting for the Avengers. I need all the shit happening here not only to explain backstory but to help with character development. Just making that clear for any of you who were wondering. This story is too massive to just explain in flashbacks without making Harry look overpowered and overdone. The bomb at the end is a little cliché, as far as fanfics go, but I still put my own twist on it, and I want you all to keep reading a few chapters after this before you tell me I suck. Don't stop after the end of this chapter just because you don't like it. I have, until now, given no warning that I would do this, but it was something I planned from the beginning. I'm sorry to anyone who doesn't like it, but, this is my story, and you are free to write your own stories that go the way you want them to. All the same, at least give it till the end of Part One, okay. It's eight chapters, that's all I'm asking you for. If you want to quit, then wait till then.

Just give it a chance, that's all I'm saying. Pretty please, with sugar on top?

Two more things. First, you may have noticed we now have a cover picture. The pic is a small cropped piece of a much larger picture I drew for this fic on a whim. It's a little sloppy and not quite how I wanted it to be, but if you want to see the whole thing, there's a link on my page. There's some things in it that hint at things that haven't happened just yet, but most of what it gives away is small and things you'll learn by about mid-Part Two. Second, the early update is just a by-product of my particularly good mood today. Don't expect it to happen all the time. Now, onto the fic!

Hope you enjoy.

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Harry sighed to himself as he stood outside Snape's office. He'd been warring with this decision since the first group meeting a few days prior. It was Thursday again, time for his occlumency lesson, and he was no closer to reaching a decision than he had been the moment the question first popped into his mind. He leaned his forehead against the cool door and shut his eyes tightly, fighting with himself. He never even heard the footsteps.

"Mr. Potter?" His eyes snapped open, his head jerking up to affix his vision upon his potions professor. The man's face betrayed nothing, appearing to him to be as grumpy and git-like as ever. But the bicorn, the ghostly representation of the man and his inner thoughts itself, made a sound that, to Harry's ears, was concerned in nature. That, more than anything, seemed to make his decision for him.

"Can I trust you?" He was proud that his voice did not waver, and that his words were firm and strong. Snape's eyebrows raised in surprise before his expression fell blank, and Harry waited. The man stared at him a moment, and then brushed past him to unlock and open the office door. He left it open as he strided in, and Harry shut and locked it behind him as he followed. The man turned as he reached his desk, leaning his lower back against it and placing both palms flat against the top of it at each side of him. Harry stopped a few paces in front of him, and they stared at each other; eyes unwavering. Finally the man spoke.

"Unless I felt it was the only way to keep you from harm, I would never betray you." And Harry believed him, for the truth of it shone in his dark eyes. He nodded, and sat. Snape remained where he was, and Harry began to speak.

"Umbridge's class is useless. The things she teaches aren't going to help anyone." He thought it best to get straight to the point, and Snape appeared to be listening closely. "Because of that, some of us decided to form a group in which to learn defense together. I know a lot more than the others, so I'm in charge of teaching them right now. Since defense has always been hectic I figured we'd start small and work our way up." Snape nodded, and seemed to keep his voice carefully controlled when he responded.

"Would I be right in assuming this group consists primarily of Gryffindors?" Harry held back a smile.

"Right now there are ten Gryffindors, six Ravenclaws, five Hufflepuffs, and five Slytherins." That seemed to catch the man's attention. He looked shocked, and then pleased; a tiny smile appearing on his face. Harry grinned, and then tried to be serious. "Right now, I think we'll be fine because we're working on the basics, but when we get to more dangerous spells..." He paused. "I was hoping you might be willing to supervise the group, and be there in case anyone gets hurt." There was silence after his request, and Snape appeared to think it over. Then the man smirked.

"When and where does this group of yours meet?" And Harry grinned.

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Harry stumbled as someone slammed into him while he was walking in the halls. He looked to see who it had been, and watched their back as the other walked away.

"What the hell, Ron?!" The redhead turned to sneer at him, his eyes angry. Harry sighed to himself. He knew the other boy well enough by now to realize how nasty his temper was. He was surprised though, when he just turned and walked away without a word. He had expected some sort of insult or proper confrontation. It seemed Ron had decided to give him the cold shoulder. He watched him walk away in silence, and closed his eyes painfully as he turned out of sight. He took a deep, steadying breath; refusing to acknowledge the ache in his chest.

"I'm sorry." He started, and turned around. Malfoy stood behind him, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle as per the usual. He looked truly apologetic, and Harry realized his own expression must have shown his confusion when the blonde explained. "It's because of us, right? That he's mad at you?" He nodded his head towards the direction Ron had gone and Harry shrugged.

"Ron's never liked you. Or any Slytherins for that matter. I've started learning not to judge a book by its' cover, but I don't really think he ever will. It's not your fault, it's his." Malfoy nodded, accepting his explanation, and suddenly held out a hand. Harry blinked, and looked carefully at the extended limb. He didn't need to be told to understand the significance of this moment, and was surprised at himself when he saw he had begun reaching his hand out without conscious thought.

They both smiled bitterly when their hands shook, and Harry wondered for a moment how different his life could have been if he had accepted that hand years before. Not that he regretted not having done so, given how much of a prat Malfoy had been then.

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Harry lay awake in bed, finding that the sound of Ron's snores, which had at one time been very comforting to him, now made something in him ache. He closed his eyes tightly and tried to sleep, but it eluded him. He lay in bed for nearly half an hour before accepting that sleep would not be coming this night, then sitting up and sliding silently out of bed.

He gathered up his cloak and map, and left his shoes and fake glasses behind as he slipped out of the room and down the stairs. He wasn't sure of the time, but there was no one in the common room as he entered, and he took a moment to stand by the fire and suck in the warmth of it. Memories of sitting around the fire with his friends, be it to study, plan, joke about, or play chess, drifted behind his eyes, and he walked away. He didn't want to remember such things at the moment.

Just as that first night, he ran through the halls in near-silence, his feet creating only the barest of taps across the stone of the castle. Where before, he had gone down, tonight he went up, leaping expertly from moving staircase to moving staircase and avoiding the trick steps through familiarity. It wasn't long before he was running through the corridors of the seventh floor, passing the room of requirement by and letting his arms be swept behind him as speed pushed him forwards until he began to slow. He stopped before the tapestry of the sleeping dragon, scratching its' chin and whispering the twins' password. He would change it all once the twins had gone, but not until then.

The redheads had made plans to sleep in their room in Gryffindor tower for the next few weeks to spend time with Lee and be closer to himself. He suspected that they planned to leave very soon, but the secret tower was empty and silent as he entered it, all the same. He took off his cloak, throwing it over the back of a couch, and walked into the bedroom. He slipped out of his clothes, leaving him only in the armor, and tossed them onto the bed, throwing the metal band about his wrist to land atop them. He was hardly surprised when the armor adjusted to his glamourless form, the under armour twisting to halfway down his tail while the darker toppiece covered the topside of his tail over that same length. The plate was flexible, and when Harry had studied the armor carefully he had found it to be made of many large, hard, scales; making him recall Luna's mention of basilisks from the train.

He paid it no mind at the moment however, and was soon setting the map atop the rest of it and sneaking into the secret room through the disguised door. He wouldn't need the map after all, since he knew where he was going. He lifted the trap door open and leapt down, not bothering with the ladder, and landed with a soft thump below, the door above making a clattering noise as it fell closed. He followed his memory, slipping through the passages and tunnels past now-silent classrooms. There were magical torches throughout it all, but the light they gave was subpar at best, and he knew he would likely have much more trouble if not for his powerful vision.

Soon he had hit the water again, and was swimming into the cavern from before. The runes pulsed with blue light as he entered, as though saying hello, and for a while he swam lazily, studying them with awe. The armor didn't seem to hinder his swimming any, and he was thankful for it. If it had made it difficult to swim then he would have refused to wear it, Luna and her guilt-tripping be damned. He looked carefully at some of the runes, taking internal note of the ones he recognized and the ones he didn't, and getting a clearer idea of how it all worked. He knew how some of these runes worked together, and what they did, and it started to paint an incomplete picture within his mind.

Eventually his head began to hurt, frustrated as he was with how much he didn't yet know in regards to this subject, and then he was flipping beneath the water, swimming down until his belly brushed the muddy bottom. He reached a hand into the soil, and barely an inch or two in his fingers brushed against stone. He pulled away, swimming along towards where the underwater doorway was, and occasionally sliding against and reaching out to touch the various plants. He slipped through the door unhurriedly, old magic touching his core as though to ask who he was before pulling back and buzzing against his skin with power.

He swam above the steps, finding they went up quite a ways, and wondering how it was that he was still below ground. The water ended above him, and he could see light above it. He peeked carefully out of the water, doing his best to make as little noise as possible while his ears twitched; taking in sound and searching. He heard nothing but the water, and its' movement. The light above him was green in color, and he moved silently until he was walking up the steps and out of the water, eventually finding himself at the top of them, and in a new room. Unlike the rune-room, he could see the ceiling here, though, unlike the walls, it was not man-made, and looked like the ceiling of a cavern or cave, with stalactites pointing down at him threateningly. The walls themselves were simple stone, made perfectly flat and smooth by magic, though a great deal of it was covered in softly glowing green moss. The floor under his bare feet was much the same, and the moss covered it completely in thick patches; barely any of the floor could be seen at all. Directly across him was a door, untouched by time, and uncovered by the moss.

He approached it slowly, reveling in the feeling of his feet and toes squishing into the moist plant, and finding that it pushed back up to make itself entirely unmarred by his footprints. It must be magical, then. The door was made, surprisingly, of stone, the large handle seeming to grow seamlessly out of it. He put a hand on it, and pulled, startled to find that it opened with relative ease. The door was light as a feather, and took almost no effort to open it, and light spilled out of the room beyond, blinding him for a moment with its' brightness.

When his eyes had adjusted, he found himself looking around with awe. The room was not much larger than the moss-covered room, and the ceiling glowed with golden light, filling the room up with brightness. It was a library, much smaller than the Hogwarts one, with every wall covered in shelves filled with old, leather-bound books and scrolls. He entered carefully, closing the door behind him. There was nice, patterned reddish brown carpet beneath his feet, and a large, dark wood desk and chair in the center of the room, a single book upon it. His eyes moved over everything, and, cautiously, he found himself at the desk. He touched the chair hesitantly, before sitting in it, and finding his eyes drawn to the book.

It was hand-bound with old leather, and relatively small, maybe a hundred or so pages only. He touched it gently, not even surprised that the leather was still soft, and ran a hand across it. There were no markings, and he opened the cover, and found the firstmost page had only a name: Chronus Black. He stared at the name a moment, then turned to the next page, and began to read.

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I am not long to live. I know it. I can feel it deep inside myself, in my bones, my magic, my very soul. I've a few years left perhaps, but no longer. Thus I write this, so that should any other enter this place once I am gone, they might find this. I wonder now, as to thy identity, my dear reader. Are thou man, or woman? What be thy name? But it matters not. For we will never meet, and I will never speak to ye. I shall introduce myself to ye, all the same. I am Chronus, son of Uranus, heir to the most noble house of Black. I was born only sixteen winters past, and I shall not see many more. A marriage has been arranged for me. I am to marry Perdita, of the most noble house of Slytherin, so that I might produce an heir before my passing, as I am my father's only son, and my mother passed upon the eve of my birth, so there shall be no more children come to be sired by him.

I grieve for my wife-to-be. What sadness she shall face, to marry a man soon to die, whom she loves not, and to never be able to marry again. I mourn for the life that I take from her, by claiming her as my bride. She is a lovely thing, with locks darker than my own, and eyes like the sky. She has no brothers, only a sister, who has married already, to the son of the Lord Gaunt. He is not a kind man, and I fear the line of Slytherin shall die with these sisters. But that is not what I mean to write here, and so I shall abandon the subject.

I am the keeper of this place, as it was tasked to me by my late master, his master before him, and her master before her. I was to train one to take my place as keeper, but I will die before I am able, and so shall be the last. I hope ye who finds this might take up my mantle, but I shall not ask it of ye, as that would be only too cruel. Still, I shall teach ye of this place with my written words, so that, if thou so choose it, thou might take my place.

If ye know not the nature of this place, I shall tell ye. Ye have seen the hall of runes, so made by the founders of this place, the great Lords Slytherin and Gryffindor, and the great Ladies Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. They created it so as to build the great school of Hogwarts, to teach. They were teachers, indeed, and so none could take their places neither as headmaster or headmistress, nor as keeper of secrets. Thus they tasked a man whose name I know not, as headmaster, and a woman whose name is just as lost unto me as keeper of secrets. These titles have been passed from one to another, and while the title of headmaster or headmistress shall go on, the role of keeper shall die with me.

I have attended, and still attend, this great institution since the time upon which I had lived only eleven winters, and I shall leave this place before completing my last year so as to marry. I was chosen by my master at the age of thirteen, and he has since passed some months ago. The chamber within which I leave this book was the founder's library, wherein they guarded all great knowledge. I have learned much from these tomes, and, should thou wish no harm, I hope ye learns as I have. I have lived the past three years within the silent tower, and have roamed the hidden corridors often. I hope ye, too, will take up home there, as it shall likely serve you as well as it has I.

I shall, herein, list those duties and responsibilities of keeper, and the secrets of being such. I hope ye are a good soul, as I would never wish this knowledge unto a cruel being.

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Harry found himself lost in the makeshift manual/journal of Chronus Black, and had read the whole thing in earnest, forgetting about the world around him entirely. At the back, on the last page, was the magical vow one had to make in order to become the keeper, and though he didn't say it, he found himself almost wanting to. With a sigh, he set the book down where it had been when he'd come in, and rubbed his eyes. He needed to think about this before he jumped in. This was not the sort of thing he could be a Gryffindor about.

He stood up, stretching to crack his back, and turned to the shelves of books. He wandered over to them, perusing the titles and running a hand across the old leather. His fingers ran over something soft, which he discovered to be a book bound with white rabbit fur, rather than leather. His curiosity had him pulling the titleless book from the shelf to page through it. It was a journal of some sort, written by what appeared to have been a traveler with a penchant for staying in areas outside civilization. He closed it, but carried it with him as he continued looking, his eyes eventually falling upon a large, dark brown tome titled: The Nature of Runes. It was huge, larger than his torso, and he expected it to be heavy. It wasn't, as lightening charms of some sort made it no heavier than the furry journal beneath his arms, though the size was a bit awkward.

There was a couch for reading not too far from the desk, and he carried the books over to it. He set the journal aside, and began reading the larger book, his eyes devouring the knowledge within as he became lost in a world of symbols and power.

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Harry groaned, rolling over and stretching. His foot pushed against something, making it fall away and a loud thump fill his ears. He opened his eyes to investigate and realized it was the rune book. With a hum he picked it up and set it up on the couch. He yawned, revealing viciously sharp teeth and a black tongue. He looked around, realizing for the first time that there was no way to tell time in this place. He pulled his arm from the armor holster and cast a quick tempus, groaning again when it showed him the time. It was already lunchtime. He cursed and ran a hand over his face. It was Wednesday, so he had already missed Care of Magical Creatures and Ancient Runes, and Charms. He had double Potions after lunch, and upon realizing that, he leapt to his feet.

The books were left behind on the couch as he rushed to the door, glancing back only once before leaving. He ran quickly over the moss and was in the water in no time at all. He didn't bother to come up at all as he swam straight to and through the passageway and chamber; pushing his body like a bullet in the water. Then he was running through passageway after passageway and practically leaping up the ladder when he got to it. The tower was still empty when he arrived, the twins likely in the Great Hall, and he was quick to get dressed and cast drying and cleaning charms on himself. He nearly ran out the door without his glamour, remembering to slip on the metal band only at the last moment. He pushed himself to reach Gryffindor tower, and was forced to slow down once he got there, lest those few in the common room notice his unusual speed. He waved to a few people as he jogged up the stairs to snap up his book bag.

Then it was a race against time again as he left the red and gold tower and moved as fast as he could towards the dungeons without arousing suspicion. A mantra of come on come on come on pounded through his head, and he had only just made it into the room when the bell rang and the door slammed closed behind him. Snape sent him a dark look as he slipped into place beside Neville and he ducked his head. The man didn't say a word to him though, and simply began with the lesson, standing from his desk and glowering at them all threateningly.

"Today we shall begin brewing the Sanguinem Patrispotion. When it is complete, I shall place your cauldrons under stasis, as this will require you to finish it on Monday. You will be wearing dragonhide gloves as you work today, as the potion requires the usage of both wartcap powder, and a leaf from the venomous tentacula. We shall go over the instructions twice, and then you may gather your ingredients and begin." A hand raised into the air. "Yes, Mr. Malfoy?"

"Will we be using this potion ourselves?" Snape nodded.

"If you so wish, you may use the potion upon completion, however, doing so will require the addition of three drops of blood, and as such, it is optional. Does anyone else here, aside from Mr. Malfoy, or Ms. Granger," Hermione put down her hand with a huff. "know the purpose of this potion?" It was, surprisingly, Neville who raised his hand. "Longbottom?" He swallowed nervously, but didn't stutter when he answered.

"When applied to a piece of parchment covered in charcoal, it creates a pedigree type family tree of the person whose blood has been added, but only through the paternal sides. It goes back more generations depending on the quality. If it's brewed perfectly, then it can go back as far as sixteen generations, including the user's."

"Correct. You will, in fact, be graded based upon how many generations are shown on your parchment post-completion after it has been tested, either by yourself, or me. Now, moving on..." He turned to the board to begin writing the instructions and Harry found he wasn't even annoyed that the man would have awarded points for that answer had Neville been a Slytherin. He looked over the instructions as they were written in excitement. He knew nothing of his family beyond his parent's names and random facts about them. It would be nice to at least learn who his grandparents had been, even if only the ones on his father's side. He smiled, and made a note to himself to be careful with this one.

He wanted it to be as good as possible.

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Harry had discovered fairly quickly, that the majority of Neville's troubles in potions class, or his other studies, stemmed from a mild case of dyslexia. He would often get the ingredients or instructions wrong, yet, he was a master in the art of ingredient preparation. When cutting something up, he understood the difference between chopped, sliced, shredded, and so forth perfectly, and his pieces were often of perfect and matching sizes. He was likewise good at measuring out, so long as Harry supplied the numbers and whatnot verbally. As such, so long as Harry was the one to collect the ingredients, and put them in the cauldron, their potions generally turned out well. Most of Harry's troubles had, it seemed, stemmed from his partnership in this class with Ron, coupled with the stress of Snape's hatred. Lately however, the man had been civil, and so, without that added stress, and while working with Neville, Harry found that making potions was not as difficult as it had once seemed. He would never be a master at it, certainly, and his potions, while above-average, would never be perfect; but now he was more likely to get an Exceeds Expectations in the class rather than the Acceptable he had once only just barely achieved.

At the end of the double period, their potion was only slightly off-tone from the blue depicted in the book, and Harry found himself smiling. Snape hadn't banished their potion or taken points, and the bicorn had even made a pleased sort of noise when he had passed by their workstation. As Harry wandered off to arithmancy, he found himself wondering when potions had stopped being his most favorite class. Arithmancy was relatively boring, if stressful, and Harry was flooded with relief when they were allowed to leave for dinner. He was walking to it when someone called out to him.

"Boy!" He was surprised to see that it was the same portrait from before, as he was sure this wasn't where he had passed it the first time, and when he looked around he was even more surprised to discover himself alone in the hall. He could have sworn he had just been walking with a number of others, but there was no one to be seen. Confusion filled him, but he brushed it off, and turned his attentions to the portrait. Frode, his mind whispered.

"Hello sir." The old man smiled.

"Hello there young man, how are you this fine evening? No longer angry, it would seem." Harry nodded.

"No. Just hungry." Frode chuckled.

"I suppose you would be, it is dinner time at the moment. I don't mean to keep you from your food, however, it seemed to me that something was troubling you. You may not be angry, but you do appear a bit down." His face had turned more serious as he spoke, and Harry wondered a moment on if the man simply liked to help people, as both now and the only other time they had spoken was while he was troubled. He thought about what to say, and eventually chose to share his troubles. He had a feeling the man wouldn't tell anyone, and while he considered the twins to be excellent confidants, he didn't like to burden them with his problems when he could help it.

"I... I think I may have lost a good friend." It was the first time he had admitted it aloud. He had tried telling himself that he and Ron could patch things up, but something in him knew this was it. His throat tightened around a painful knot. The portrait's eyes softened.

"And how is it this occurred, little one?" Something in him clenched painfully at the man's address, and he didn't know why. It took him a moment to speak, his voice cracking just slightly at first.

"He... He refuses to see people for who they are and not what house they're in, or to believe that they don't have a good reason for acting a certain way. I'm willing to look past all that, but he isn't, and I think..." He swallowed. "I know, that I won't ever be able to change his mind." Frode nodded.

"An insincere friend is more to be feared than a wild beast; a wild beast may wound your body, but an evil friend will wound your mind. I am sorry for your predicament, but for all that you are hurt now, it will heal with time. I doubt you shall ever forget this broken friendship of yours, but you will move on. Besides, you are young yet, and there are many more friends to be made." Harry smiled bitterly. He didn't feel much better, but he knew he would, and the portrait's words had helped. He looked down and took a deep breath, opening his mouth to speak as he looked back up. Yet the portrait no longer moved. It had reverted once more to looking much like a muggle painting again. Footsteps caught his ears, and he looked to see a group of young Hufflepuff girls walking down the end of the hall and giggling. He shrugged to himself, and whispered his thanks before heading off to dinner, though he doubted that Frode could hear him now.

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The next meeting was just after dinner, and Harry showed up early to meet with Snape, who had told him he would like to supervise every meeting, rather than just the ones that Harry felt needed supervision. He nodded at the man, who stood in the hallway, and began walking back and forth before the wall. Snape watched him curiously, and raised an eyebrow once the door had appeared. The room was exactly the same as it had been, at least on the surface, and he stood by while the professor looked around and even wandered over to eye the various texts.

"This is an acceptable space." It was the only comment the man offered, though, coming from him, it was like the highest of praise. Harry smiled. "From where shall I observe?" Harry walked over to the mirrors and slid his hand against one. The mirror slid open to reveal a doorway, and Harry led Snape in. The room was only a couple meters wide, but ran in length of the entire wall. There was a few comfortable sitting areas, with chairs, couches, and tables, and it revealed that the mirrors were see-through on this side. He turned back to his professor.

"Not all of them trust you, so I thought it might be better if they didn't know you were here until they need to." Snape didn't appear insulted by this, and simply nodded.

"I shall remain back here then." His voice was neutral, accepting; perhaps resigned. Harry paused.

"Professor?" The man hummed and turned to look at him. "Thank you." His voice was sincere, and Snape looked genuinely startled at it. Harry felt guilty when he realized that his professor had never expected to be thanked. His face fell blank and his dark eyes scrutinized Harry carefully.

"You are welcome." Harry smiled, and after a moment nodded, feeling awkward, and moved to leave the back room and shut the mirror door. "Mr. Potter." He started, and looked up into the man's black eyes, noting the strange, unreadable expression on his face. "When outside the hearing of others, you may call me Severus." His heart jumped into his throat, unable to fully comprehend the tone of the man's voice or all the various and possible reasons behind that one statement. It took him a moment to respond.

"Only if you'll call me Harry." The professor nodded sharply and turned away to move towards one of the armchairs, and Harry knew he had been dismissed. He shut the door and waited; sitting on the platform.

The others came, one by one and in small groups; with the Slytherins being the last to arrive once more. He waited until they were all there, and then asked the room to vanish the door. He stood, clearing his throat, and began to call out their names one at a time. If anyone was surprised by the roll-call, they didn't show it, and after ensuring that no one was missing, Harry moved on.

"Last week Malfoy brought it to my attention that we might benefit from learning things aside from what we had initially planned." Several pairs of eyes landed on the blonde. "He mentioned survival spells, things for camping and looking after yourself and the like, which I thought was an excellent idea. I'd like those of you who are in Ravenclaw to do some research in the library over the next week. Hermione, you too. You lot are in there often enough that a little extra research will likely go unnoticed. If any of you already know some spells I'd like to speak with you after today's meeting. Mind magics and the animagus transformation were also mentioned." Several people looked excited at the prospect. "We will discuss the animagus bit at a later date, but in regards to mind magics, I think that's something we can work on. I myself am currently in the process of learning Occlumency. We won't be learning the advanced bits here, but I think we can cover the basics. From here on out, the last half hour of our meetings will be devoted to meditation. You'll need to continue it on your own at least once a day, but it should help with focus, and emotional control. Meditation is also the first step towards becoming an animagus, so if we decide to go into that later, then this is where we'll start. Anyone have a problem with this?" No one spoke out. "Any questions?" There were none, so he continued. "Very well. Today we'll be covering the spell Anapneo, which is used to clear blocked airways, and is a relatively simple spell, as well as the spells Protrudit and Murmurationis Lineam. These are also known as the banishing spell, and the caterwauling charm, respectively. The banishing charm will banish objects away from you, and can be useful in a fight because you can use it to fling your opponent away. The caterwauling charm is a simple perimeter spell that will create loud, screeching noises when crossed, and as such, is an excellent alarm spell. We'll be using golems for the airway spell, and then you will practice the other two on objects. Let's begin."

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"Breath in deep, but don't hold it. Let it out gently. Focus on your breath. The in and the out. Don't think about it. Don't think about anything. Just think only of your breath..." Harry cast a tempus, and then nodded to himself. "Alright. That's enough." People began opening their eyes, some yawning or stretching, many looking very relaxed; even the Slytherins. "You all did excellently today. We'll be meeting at the same time next week, and we'll discuss a name for our group then." Most of them began gathering their things and leaving, and he realized after a moment just how similar this was to a real class. A few people came up to talk to him about the survival spells they knew, and he wrote down their names and began coming up with a schedule in his mind for when they could teach. Seamus, surprisingly, knew a great number of survival spells, which he had apparently learned from an Uncle he often went camping with during the summer.

Soon everyone was gone, and Harry had nearly forgotten about Snape until the sound of the mirror sliding open hit his ears. The man looked relatively more relaxed than was usual, and he smiled nervously at him, only now realizing that he very much concerned as to what the professor thought of his teaching. There was approval in those dark eyes when he met them, and he tried not to let the pride he felt swelling up inside show on his face.

"You did well." The man smirked. "Five points to Gryffindor." Harry's jaw dropped, and the other slipped past him and out of the room without a word. Snape had never, not once in the time he had attended Hogwarts, awarded points to Gryffindor. He let out a whoosh of breath and then headed to the cushions.

He needed to sit down.

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The next few days passed Harry by almost without notice. He was kept so busy by classes and the like that he barely noticed when potions class arrived again. He signed his name on the list and added blood to his potion, which he had received a decent grade upon. Yet the potion and charcoal-covered paper found themselves left in his trunk, as he never seemed to have a moment of free time. The stress of it all began to mount little by little as he was kept from the lake and its' inhabitants, from the secret library, and even from spending time with his friends.

He didn't realise how bad the stress had gotten until just over two weeks had passed, and he sat in DADA on Friday after lunch. He had done well since that first class on ensuring he didn't speak out or piss her off, and as such had avoided any further detentions. But the more that Umbridge spoke now, the more and more it grated on him. Her voice was like nails on a chalkboard disguised into sounding like something sweet enough to make you puke. But the disguise wasn't quite good enough, and so the more she spoke, the more and more irritated he found himself. He wasn't sure when that irritation had spilled over into rage, but he was hardly aware of it when his claws had broken through the glamour and sliced into the table, digging deeply into it without effort and threatening to break it apart with much more pressure. Murderous intent poured off him in waves and he growled unendingly in a tone too low for human years to catch and glared downwards at his desk; shoulders hunched.

"Professor Umbridge?" The woman started, and turned an annoyed glance towards the class at being interrupted. Her expression changed when she realized it was Malfoy who had spoken, but Harry was barely of all of this, no longer paying attention to the world around him.

"Yes, my dear? Did you have a question?" The blonde nodded.

"Of a sort, madam. My friend Harry isn't feeling too well. I was wondering if I might escort him to the nurse?" Her eyes flicked from him to Harry's hunched over form while the Gryffindors all looked at Malfoy with narrowed eyes; those not part of the D.A. (the Defense Association as they had decided to call it) immediately thinking he was up to no good. Those who were in the D.A. were aware of the friendly terms between he and Harry and instead turned their eyes to the green-eyed teen. Hunched over as he was, they couldn't see his face, but his skin was pale and he shook. Umbridge, too, seemed to see this, and while she might never have let him off to the nurse had he been the one to ask, Malfoy tended to suck up to her and so had earned a place in her favor.

"Very well. Try to hurry back when you're done." She turned to her desk to write him a note, and he carefully pulled Harry up and led him from the room. He waited to speak until they were a ways away from the classroom.

"Harry." He had never before addressed him by his first name, and that fact had his eyes, still dark with anger, snapping up to meet his face immediately. The blonde pulled a light blue potion from his robes, pulled the stopper and held it out to him. "Drink this." He did so at once, recognizing the color as belonging to a calming potion, and sighed as it took effect right away. His anger drained out of him and left a calm, coolness in his limbs. He groaned. "Better?"

"Much. Thanks Draco." A blonde eyebrow raised in a manner so much like Snape that Harry would have laughed if not for the dulling effects of the potion.

"Since when did I give you permission to use my name?" He smirked.

"You gave me permission the moment you called me Harry." Draco snorted.

"I suppose I did then." They smiled at each other for a moment, and then the lighter haired teen's face grew grim. "You wear a glamour." Harry tensed, in spite of the potion. Draco's words were a statement, not a question or an accusation. He knew it as fact. "I saw the claws. You were digging them into your desk and then they just wavered and vanished when you pulled away." Harry looked away from him, body tense, mind running through options. "I won't tell." The words were whispered, and when he looked back he met honest grey eyes. It surprised him how child-like Draco looked at that moment, with his Slytherin pureblood mask pulled away. He stared at him for several seconds, then nodded once, sharply. He received a small smile as a result. Then the mask was back in place and Mal- Draco, was once again the picture of all things a pureblood heir was meant to be. "Go do whatever you need to to not kill Umbridge. I'll see you later." He clapped a hand on Harry's shoulder and began walking away.

"Draco!" He looked back at him. "Thank you." The blonde nodded and returned to the class. Harry ran for the doors, invisibility cloak already out of his pocket and wrapped around him. He wouldn't have very long to calm himself in the lake, but it would be enough.

He passed a couple people in the halls, and Hagrid once he was outside, but no one noticed him, and soon he was in a spot near the lake well hidden enough to leave his things. He took off everything but the armor, and was shifting into the Mishipeshu without even thinking about it. The armor contorted to his form as he changed, and soon the under armour covered his entire torso and neck, with holes along his spine for the spikes. The darker pieces covered his back, sides, neck, top of his head, and the top parts of the beginning of all his limbs; tail included. It covered enough to still work as armor, but left enough bare to not impede his movement.

He sighed happily as he made his way into the lake, and swam to the merpeople's village quickly. Many called out greetings to him as he arrived, the words making sense to him now though they still retained their musical quality. The kids were already in the middle of a game when he arrived at their usual place for playing, and he laid upon the lakebed to watch them; his stress draining away through the sounds of their laughter.

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He departed the lake in time for his evening classes, and during lunch it was announced that Astronomy class had been cancelled that night due to cloudy weather. He suddenly found himself with a bit of free time. He remembered the potion then, and decided to go ahead with it. He had a little studying he needed to do, but it wouldn't take too long. He found himself nearly dancing his way up to Gryffindor tower, despite the fact this particular potion only went up through the paternal sides of the family. It would reveal his parent's names, then his father's parents, his paternal grandfather's parents, and so on. Because of that, he would only learn the names of his grandparents on his father's side of the family, but he was excited all the same.

He knew so little about his parents as it was, and treasured everything he learned. Yet he knew nothing beyond that. He'd never heard anything about his grandparents, or any member of the Potter family aside from his father, so while his potion wasn't going to show him as much as he wanted it too, he would take what he could get. He bounced up the last set of stairs and said the password cheerfully once he had reached the fat lady's portrait, sliding through right away. The twins were in a corner, bent close to each other and scheming, and he waved at them as he passed.

The dorm room was empty, and he hummed a tune as he gathered the paper and bottle from his trunk. He settled comfortably onto his bed and popped the container open. It only had a couple teaspoons worth of potion mixed with his blood in it, and he poured all of it into the center of the paper. It was sucked up like a sponge into the parchment, the charcoal disappearing along with it, and then words began to appear in black. They etched themselves into the paper in an elegant script. His name appeared at the bottom, though it was odd, then two names above that, and two above that, until there were eleven lines of text including his own. Had he noticed how many generations were shown, he would have been proud of himself, and the quality of potion he had created. But as it was, his eyes had not yet left the two names listed above his own.

He stared at them, starkly black against the off-white page, his face pale and his eyes wide. Shock filled him, chilling his bones to ice, as something not unlike dread pooled in the pit of his stomach and his hands began to tremble. For on the page were not the names James Potter and Lily Evans, though he imagined the Lily on the paper and Lily Evans were one and the same. Instead it said, in neat, beautifully devastating calligraphy:

Lily Malfoy and Sirius Black.

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Sanguinem Patris- Father's blood (a potion which traces the magical blood through the paternal side of the family)

Anapneo- To breath (a spell used to clear blocked airways)

Protrudit- Propel (a spell to banish items or people away from the caster)

Murmurationis Lineam- Screaming Line (a spell to create a magical line around an area or object that creates a loud, scream-like noise when crossed)

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I did warn you. Just saying. Looking forward to the reviews on this one.

Also. Don't ask about Lily. Not explaining. Nope. No way. No how. You guys have to wait a while for that one. If you're going to speculate though, keep in mind that Malfoy is her MAIDEN name, meaning her father was a Malfoy. And she's too close in age to Lucius for that to be a father-daughter thing, so don't even go there. She's not his sister either, though the ages would allow for that. This is just one of those things you have to wait for, Harry won't be figuring everything out right away, since that's completely unrealistic, and you're not either.

I did warn you though. Extensively. You can never say that I didn't.

Also, as far as the translations at the bottom go, some are from the HP wiki, and anything original is translated and made with Google, so, it sometimes ends up butchered horribly. Not gonna change that, because I only speak English and a handful of various words in Spanish and Japanese, and some curses in Tagalog [because of my dad (step-dad) and his family]. As such, without Google translate, or money, I can do nothing.

I hope you lot all continue on from here, and I look forward to your reviews. Thank you all so much for the support you've given me up till this point. It's truly inspiring for me as a writer to see so many people enjoying the things I come up with. I send you my gratitude and love and a digital hug no matter where you are. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Mr. Hate

P.S. On a completely unrelated note, the Energize W.I.P. Awards are coming up. Nominations are happening right now, and I look forward to seeing who makes the list.