Chapter 3: (1830 words)

Minerva McGonagall, the Transfiguration professor and Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, sat deep in thought in her office, when a brown owl tapped on the window. She sighed with relief, that was the owl she had sent to deliver the Hogwarts letter to Sirius Black's adopted son, and she was wondering if perhaps he wasn't coming, she didn't even know where Dumbledore put him, or Harry too.

She wasn't sure if she was looking forward to seeing the two charming boys causing terror at the school that could rival the Marauders, or if she was dreading to deal with all of the pranks. Dumbledore always insisted that they grew up well, but that they had never met each other (What she didn't know was that the wards of the Dursley and Murphey households had disappeared around when the boys were three or four, but Dumbledore didn't care much. They were still alive, and that's all that mattered to him). They were very much spoiled according to him, and Minerva sighed once more, being reminded of James, who was also spoiled by his parents.

She opened the window and took the letter from the owl, which flew away afterwards. As she read through it, she gasped multiple times, before muttering, "Caelum Black didn't know about magic until today? I can't believe it."

She then called for Severus, knowing that he definitely dreaded the following seven years of his life, but she thought that he deserved to know this. She threw some floo powder into her fireplace and sounded, "Severus Snape's office, Hogwarts," before stepping into the fire.

"Minerva, what are you doing here?" he questioned from his desk chair, when he noticed the Transfiguration professor's presence in his office.

"Severus, it's Caelum Black's eleventh birthday today, and I received the reply just now," she explained, and he hid his confusion of why she was telling him this behind a mask of indifference and annoyance.

"And why, pray tell, did you come to inform me of this?"

"Because, Severus, he didn't even know that magic existed until he read his Hogwarts letter. I always thought that he knew about magic, but apparently not. I know that you despised Sirius, but this isn't him, it's his son, and the same goes for Harry, you know that," Minerva told him, and Severus let out a long, exasperated sigh.

"What is it you want me to do?" he asked.

"He asked for a professor to be sent to inform him of magic and Hogwarts, and I believe that you should be the one to do so," she told him of her plan, and prepared to wince at his explosion of protests, but he merely sighed once more.

"Very well, but if I shout a little bit, I really cannot be blamed. And what about Potter, do you think that he hasn't been informed of magic as well?" he replied, and she nodded at the question.

"Yes, but I might be wrong, so do you mind taking them both to Diagon Alley tomorrow?"

He gaped at her, "But Potter's not even eleven, Minerva, he hasn't received his Hogwarts letter yet. Why should I take him along with Black, they'll be insufferable?"

"I thought it would be good for them to meet each other, their fathers were legends and the best of friends, even if Sirius ended up betraying the Potters," Minerva replied, and Severus could only nod at the formidable woman.

"Fine, if I must. What about Lupin's offspring?"

"You should take all of the Marauder's children to Diagon Alley," the stern witch replied.

He sighed. "Very well. I see that I have no choice. However, I may only go tomorrow," he told her, and she nodded.

"That's fine, thank you Severus. Should we ask Albus where he lives so that you may go and collect them all?" she pondered out loud.

"He'd never tell us, you know that. We should just send them a letter and set up a place and time to meet," he solved, and she nodded in agreement. After the two had finished speaking, Minerva walked once more through the fireplace to her office and hoped that Severus wouldn't be harsh on the two boys when he realised that they weren't their fathers, though a part of her hoped that they were at least a little bit like them, almost a memory of them, since she hadn't seen either of them in almost a decade.

(-Line break!-)

"Harry, look!" Connor grinned at his best and only friend at approximately seven in the evening. "I got another letter, but I think that the owl likes you better than me!" he whined.

"Re-really?" Harry giggled, "Of course it- it does! I'm obviously the, uh, the best!"

Connor rolled his eyes at Harry, "Just get your butt over here, Agni!"

"Okay, okay, I'm here," Harry grinned and tugged the two letters off of the owl, before passing the one addressed to Caelum Black to Connor and reading his own.

Dear Harry Potter,

I am Professor Severus Snape, the Potions Master of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and
Wizardry. It is a school of magic and you should be receiving your letter on your eleventh
birthday. There is also some history of yours that I shall be explaining once I see you. I shall be
collecting you and three other students to take to Diagon Alley to purchase all of your supplies
while answering any questions you may all have. Your father and the students' fathers were
the best of friends here at Hogwarts, so that is why me and Professor Minerva McGonagall
have decided to introduce the four of you to each other. If you agree to this, please be present
at the Leaky Cauldron in London at 9:00AM tomorrow morning.

Sincerely,
Severus Snape, Potions Professor of Hogwarts

"Does yours say the same as mine?" Connor asked.

"If yours says that this, this Severus Snape will be collecting you and some other students since your fathers were best friends to get school supplies, then yes, mine is the same," Harry responded, and Connor nodded.

"Yup, mine's the same," Connor bit his lip in thought and Harry stroked the owl absentmindedly.

"It also tells me about the existence of magic, but they've already told you." Connor nodded in understanding. "Well, thank you for delivering this to us, owl. Do we need to send a reply?" Harry questioned, ignoring the muffled laughter of Connor, and listened to the owl hoot and stick a leg out. "Guess that answers that question."

"I still don't understand why you talk to animals, it's not like they're going to talk back," Connor shook his head and rolled his eyes at his frankly adorable friend.

Harry could only shrug, "I heard a snake speak once, so I thought that maybe other animals understand and only some can talk back? Anyways, what if this owl's magical?!" Harry grinned at the idea, and Connor laughed once more, before making some paper and two pens appear out of nowhere, and handed a sheet of paper and a pen to Harry. The two spent the following minutes writing replies.

Dear Potions Master, Severus Snape,

That would be wonderful. Thank you for taking time out of your day to help me and these other
students. I'll be there.

Sincerely,
Caelum Murphy, or as you addressed me, Caelum Black

Harry nodded with approval, and showed Connor his own letter.

Dear Professor Severus Snape,

I never knew that magic existed, but it does explain many inexplicable occurrences of my childhood,
so I will believe you. Thank you for informing me of this, and I will be there at the appointed time and
place. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Harry James Potter

Connor nodded, "Very nice. And it sounds like you've never heard of magic before, so good job." Harry flushed, still not used to being complimented after all of these years. "Well, that's that. Going to tell your friend, Mr. Owl, to take these to Snape?"

Harry nodded and grinned at his best friend before turning to the owl and tying the two letters to its leg, "Here you go, owl. Thank you for working your wings off for us, it must be really difficult, but, of course, it's probably super easy for you, you're so good at it."

Connor apparently didn't muffle his howls of laughter as well as he thought as Harry kicked him in the leg, though it wasn't even strong enough to hurt, never mind bruise. "S-sorry! It's just hilarious watching you compliment random owls!"

Harry rolled his eyes and waved goodbye to the owl that was now a small brown speck in the sky. "Now, let's go back, it's almost dark."

"Sure, sure," Connor rolled his eyes and the two friends raced back to the orphanage, excited for the following day.

(-Line break!-)

"Severus?" Minerva went to visit the salty Potions Master at around nine in the evening, wanting to know if little Harry and Caelum had responded yet, "Have Harry and Caelum responded to your letters yet?"

"Yes, surprisingly quickly as well," he informed her. "They are both rather polite, though their handwriting could definitely do some work."

Minerva chuckled, "I agree with that, I've seen Caelum's handwriting. Is Harry's just as bad?"

"Very much so," Severus smirked. "I shiver in fear of marking their essays."

"I thought as much," she rolled her eyes, "Now, what have they written?"

"Just that they agree to meet up at the Leaky Cauldron at nine tomorrow morning."

Minerva nodded, "Please don't judge them, Severus. They could have gone through something horrible, or they might not even be as spoiled as Albus told us they were."

"Are you doubting Dumbledore's word, Minerva?" he chuckled, "I never thought I'd see the day."

"Yes, well," she sighed, "He lied about their knowing of magic, and they're very polite for spoiled arrogant boys, and he wont even tell us where they are. It can't be a safety problem as you swore a vow to protect Harry, and everyone knows that I'm loyal to Albus. Maybe he doesn't even know where they are!"

"You certainly put a lot of thought into this," he sighed in resignation, "Very well, I'll do my best to reserve judgement."

She nodded, "Thank you, Severus."

The two separated, with Minerva heading to her chambers to sleep, and Severus heading to his potions lab, deep in thought, wondering how the two children of his school rivals might act. A part of him wanted to make their lives miserable, to show them how their fathers made him feel, but then he admitted that Minerva was right and that they were likely to not be like their fathers. They weren't raised by the two, so how could they be like them? It was a foolish notion. He nodded in the choice to not judge them until he had met them. It was the right thing to do, anyway.

A/N: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand, that's a wrap.

I just thought I'd show you some of the teachers and their points of view. I don't know if I should make it so that on that fateful Hallowe'en night, James Potter was just stunned and he's actually alive right now, since I want to see his reaction to Harry and Connor's relationship. Actually, I still don't know if I'm doing that, but I want to, and that will probably mean that I'll end up doing that. Please tell me what you think!

Also, I made Moony have kids too. Didn't want him to feel left out! Although I'm usually all for Sirius/Remus, it won't work for this story, at least not for the backstory. So, I'm thinking that when Sirius found out that his best friend's wife was pregnant, Sirius adopted a child from the Murphy household a few days before Harry's birth, when Connor (or Caelum) was three or four months old.

Remus could have fallen in love with a woman from… say, the Longbottom line. I don't know. Let's imagine that Frank Longbottom had a sister and she and Remus fell in love and had children. Then, she finds out about him being a werewolf, and she left Remus and took the children with her. He and Sirius are totally going to be together by the end if I have any say in it... and I'm pretty sure I do, since I'm kind of the person who writes these stories.

I think that's a good enough backstory. Please review if you're alright with it, or if you want James to still be alive or not, since I want to know what you all want to read.

That's all I want to say really, so, uh, thanks for reading! And sorry about the massive author's note. Whoops…

Enjoy!