A/N: I have gotten many comments recently about my story being slow moving. I can't disagree so I suppose I'll just apologize? My focus has been on making this story believable more than moving quickly. I also like the fact that I can read reviews and adjust the furthering of my plot as it goes on that way.

And for those who wish I'd be less confusing about the truth of the Fidelius, all I can ask is for your continued patience. I've heard quite a bit for and against Sirius being guilty at the moment, and I take each review into consideration. At the end of the day, the 'who is guilty' is going to be based on 'what makes a more interesting story to write and read and is plausible'. That's about all I can tell you.

I will, however, see what I can do about picking up the pace of the story.

As always, reviews are love! And thank you for reading. And remember, anything you recognize is not mine.

Also, I do at one point reference a quote that can be heard from Rifftrax's take on Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Ten points to the house of whoever spots it. I also include the first version of the Wizard's Oath.

As a by the way, sorry this is so late. Things got in the way.

You are more than just a werewolf.

You are more than just a man.

You are going to be somebody's hero.

You've got to try the best you can.

TM Riddle

Chapter 13

The conversation began rather blunt and to the point, with Remus asking what this was about. Harry had been a bit apprehensive at first, seeing as Peter was not technically in on the secret. Uncle Remus' assurance went a long way though and eventually, and after a moment Harry accepted the decision.

Setting down his school bag, he unzipped one of the compartments and fished out a particular library book he was not entirely sure he ever wanted to return.

"Why don't I have anything like this?"

Curiousity scrawled across his expression, Remus picked up the book, flicking through a few pages before returning his gaze to Harry.

"A fiction book?"

Harry sighed. "No, Uncle Remus. Why isn't there some way to teach me or guidelines to follow? What is the point of having power if it is completely random?"

Remus and Peter exchanged glances, and surprisingly it was Peter who spoke first.

"Harry, I know you must be confused right now. What you need to understand, is that… this gift of ours, is just that – a gift. There isn't the sort of structure you might be looking for because we cannot control who has magic. Witches and wizards, we're human, just like muggles. And that's a dangerous as well as a humbling thing."

Harry raised an eyebrow, looking from Peter to Remus shrewdly.

"What's a muggle?"

Remus sighed at this, taking it as his turn to field the question.

"Nonmagic folk, Harry. I really would have rather not brought up that term until absolutely necessary, but it's out in the open now."

Harry's expression turned puzzled. "Why call them a muggle? Really, of all things?"

"You see Harry," Remus began distantly, as if talking with experience from the other side of this phenomenon, "when a group of people is different, it helps to come up with a funny sounding word or slur to describe them. It allows the naming group a certain sense of power, betterment, and therefore entitlement."

Harry frowned slightly, but nodded, deciding to discuss this with Dudley later.

"So you are saying that there isn't any type of training?"

Remus gave him a steady look, silencing Peter with a steady hand.

"Not quite yet, Prongslet."

Sighing, Harry backed out of the room after thanking them for their time and repacking the book. So much for that idea.

Harry's focus on finding any real world applications to what he and Dudley had read in So You Want to be a Wizard was about to be shunted to the side for a time. Petunia had taken the boys in for their regular check ups, and this year had asked to include an eye exam for both boys. She had noticed that they tended to huddle close to their books when they were studying, and she wanted to make sure that it was not from vision problems.

For Dudley, it turned out to just be force of habit. Harry's vision was bad enough to need glasses though. Petunia had talked to Vernon about possibly investing in some contacts for the boy. The optometrist and Vernon both wanted to see if Harry could handle the responsibility of taking care of his glasses first though, so that idea fell to the sidelines so like so many others.

However many ideas that were occasionally tossed away for further ideas not withstanding, a good amount were picked back up and continued. One of these was Harry and Dudley's puzzlement over the Oath. They happened to start discussing it one day when Peter had brought them to the library. After Harry had slipped and called him 'Uncle', the shorter man had started to hang around more often. This included taking the two cousins on trips as well as being a friendly listening ear whenever they needed it. Peter was also the only adult they had confided their pranking escapades to, and he had surprised them with not only his acceptance but his inventiveness. He had seemed a little withdrawn on the idea at first until the cousins had made it clear they were not bullying others, merely defending themselves in amusing ways. No lasting harm other than perhaps a memory of being soaked with water or sitting on something prickly was ever meant or given by the group.

But pranks were not the object on the table today. Instead, Harry and Dudley debating the oath found inside the book.

In Life's name and for Life's sake, I say that I will use the Art for nothing but the service of that Life. I will guard growth and ease pain. I will fight to preserve what grows and lives well in its own way; and I will change no object or creature unless its growth and life, or that of the system of which it is part, are threatened. To these ends, in the practice of my Art, I will put aside fear for courage, and death for life, when it is right to do so - till Universe's end.

-The Wizard's Oath

Dudley still thought the idea seemed wicked, but Harry was cautious. He didn't want to accidentally set off something that they could not follow through on. So they had been talking about what was included in the oath, which led to their current debate. Harry thought this oath would prevent him from learning how to 'change' things as he had been struggling to do recently. He had only just begun to get any sort of minor change at all, and as he was not one to back down from a challenge, didn't want to stop just because of an oath from a fiction book.

Harry's blonde cousin didn't seem to understand this though, and disagreed with Harry's logic. Not that the oath would prevent him from doing so, but that 'changing' was really a good idea at all. Dudley was of the opinion that it would make the things he changed have some serious identity issues.

Their argument was kept down to just above a whisper, they had discovered whispering actually carried more, due to the fact it was being conducted in a library. It was also partially because Linda and Piers were supposed to show up to discuss a school project. Linda had warned them that Mafalda might be coming – something no one was really looking forward to, but accepted for Linda's sake. She would have pranked them something fierce if they had not, after all. Even if they thought the younger girl really was exceedingly annoying.

Piers had become one of Dudley's best friends over the years. While Harry and Dudley always had each other's backs, when it came down to it, Dudley was more likely to ask for more support in the form of Piers than Harry. This was largely because of the fact Harry didn't like even risking getting others in trouble. If forced, he accepted help with grace, and had over the years learned when he did need to ask for back up, but it was in the beginning that the foundations had been laid down. Linda never seemed to mind, but Piers and Harry would never be quite as close as Piers and Dudley, and those two were still a far cry from the closeness of the cousins.

Harry was in the middle of a ramble about all the possibilities that changing things could open up when Dudley cleared his throat and opened one of their textbooks to a random page.

"You sure we're set on our homework then, Harry?"

The raven haired boy frowned over his glasses for a moment, but played along. This was lucky for Harry, because their friends and the tag-along had just entered the library, and Linda would not have been pleased to find out they had gotten nothing done in their absence.

Currently, they were tasked with a history project, tracing a major event in history along with how it affected British society as a whole. They were dealing with basic, simplified information, given their ages, but there was still a variety to choose from.

Being kids, the gang's first impulse was to catch up on how everyone was and to gossip about school, not to go directly to the assignment. This gave Mafalda time to observe them, quietly to Linda's surprise and gratefulness. She did interrupt them before they actually started working though, softly murmuring what sounded a lot like 'I'm sorry'.

Now, Piers was not exactly sure what was going on, he had heard about Mafalda, but never met her before. Linda was in shot that the snobby brat she had been putting up with before the girl went mute actually knew how to apologize. Dudley and Harry just stared at the red haired child as she continued.

"I was rude to both of you." There was a pause as she looked to Linda. "Well, all of you. I just wanted to apologize for my behavior. You were right, Harry. I shouldn't judge."

For a moment, Harry considered telling her she didn't really have permission to use his first name, but instead gave her a slight smile. It had not gone unnoticed just how difficult the apology had been for her, and the effort was appreciated given how sincere, if painfully so, the apology was. Piers was the first to break the silence.

"Well, everyone makes mistakes, right?"

There was some slight laughter at this as the gang recalled their first impressions of one another.

Bowing like a gracious host, Dudley offered Mafalda a hand.

"Care to join us?"

She blushingly accepted and sat at the table with them as they drifted off to their own aspects of the research project. She made herself useful sorting the notes they compiled and asking questions whenever they couldn't think of something.

It was during this process that she came across Harry's penned notes on the Oath. He had copied the Oath as well as his thoughts on each part.

Life is fairly obvious, you should focus on growing things and fulfilling them, not destruction.

The Art obviously refers to magic, although it implies what is taught inside this book specifically. A specific technique anyway.

You don't change things on a whim. It has to somehow benefit what you are changing, and even then you only change it if its existence or… what it is a part of? Is threatened somehow.

I will be brave when I need to in order to accomplish this.

Glancing across the sheet, Mafalda had frozen. Harry was not the only one to note the deer-in-headlights expression, but since most of the group was happy she was being quiet and doing something constructive at all – or at least not impeding their process – no one said anything. Later, when Harry had left to find a new book to reference, Mafalda trailed him through the stacks of young adult nonfiction. Harry seemed to anticipate her wish and lead her to a somewhat out of sight location so she could ask whatever was threatening to burst out of the young girl and take her tongue along with it.

"I'm curious," he spoke slowly, "what exactly has you looking so panicked over a sheet of paper?"

The question was apparent enough to let down the flood gates, for the fiery younger girl turned on him.

"You need to be careful! Oaths aren't something you just… you just do for fun. Besides, it isn't like you need it to do mag –"

Mafalda was cut off at this point by Harry cupping her mouth as, in her enthusiasm, she had begun speaking louder and louder until others were able to hear.

"So it will do something then?"

"Will what?"

One pair of green eyes and one pair of brown turned to meet Dudley's. The blonde had come to investigate after hearing a voice raised from the area Harry and Mafalda had disappeared into.

"Saying the Oath," Harry explained. He, like Dudley, was not sure how to feel about this confirmation. "What will happen, Mafalda?"

The redhead gave him an incredulous look but answered anyway.

"Oaths are magically binding. I don't know how it would work with that one… usually they've all been phrased differently. But you have to be careful! You could end up in a lot of trouble."

Piers and Linda showed up at the end of Mafalda's proclamation, with Peter just behind.

"There you are!" The older, partially balding man smiled nervously to the three children who had 'plotting' written all over their faces.

Piers mock punched Dudley's arm lightly.

"We were afraid the books had eaten you man. Let's go to my house for tea, shall we?"

Harry murmured an apology to 'Uncle Peter' before shelving unneeded library books he was holding and following them out. This had the added benefit of allowing him to linger before following the group out.

Coming up behind Mafalda, he touched her shoulder quietly.

"Thank you for telling me."

The young girl stared up into bright green eyes that were actually smiling down at her for a few heartbeats, and then the moment was over, the sound of a car engine revving breaking the silence. Harry rejoined Dudley and Piers in conversation, leaving Mafalda to tag after Linda so she would not get left behind.

A few hours later, while Petunia and Vernon were preoccupied with the telly and Harry had managed to drag his cousin away (helped by the fact it was only the news), the two found themselves sitting cross-legged in Dudley's room.

"I'm telling you, Dudley, she knows things!"

The blonde was understandably unimpressed by this stance.

"So do I, Harry. That doesn't mean we're going to be right about everything."

The smaller boy refused to back down though, getting up off the bed and pacing across the room.

"No, I think she actually knows about magic. I bet we could get her to tell us about it. Things Uncle Remus can't."

"Why don't you think mum will tell us?"

Harry bit the inside of his lip and shrugged.

"Dunno, Dud'. We'll find out eventually. Okay, so here is what we will do. We'll give your mum until my birthday to tell us. After that – we ask Mafalda what she knows. And if she does tell us – then we have her and our uncles help fill in the blanks."

Dudley nodded slowly, thinking for a few moments before speaking himself.

"What about the vow?" His tone was slightly petulant, but mostly disappointed. "I really wanted to try it. What are we going to do, just make our own?"

Harry, who had begun pacing again at Dudley's first question, froze mid-step. Starting to laugh, he met Dudley's gaze.

"You know what? Maybe we should."

Two equally devious smiles formed on the cousins' faces. Sure, this would be a big deal, and incredibly serious. At the same time though… a magic vow completely topped any secret handshake they had ever come up with.

"Besides," Harry added soberly after the initial glee had worn off, "I'm going to have to deal with whatever psycho that tried to kill me back when we were little. Maybe if we set standards for ourselves and for others, it'll make a little difference. Like ripples, right?"

Dudley gave him a weird look.

"You pay way too much attention to Miss Horner's metafroms."

"They're called metaphors, D."

The blonde nodded his head sagely. "My point exactly. Now, show me the new dancing trick you managed."

Smiling wryly, the younger complied, sitting next to his cousin companionably.

The resident Potions Master at Hogwarts was a fairly young and an incredibly bitter man. Sallow skinned with greasy hair and an acerbic tongue that he rarely saw the need to temper, Severus Snape was many things, but rarely was he ever surprised. This morning had started out normally for him. He had woken up early and immediately went for a strong pot of tea. He always found it best to wake up all at once and not let any sort of tiredness linger. There was always something to work on, so the arrangement worked out fairly well.

Breakfast was the time he generally tried to enjoy for the simple lull it provided him. It was nice not to have to focus on anything other than looking out for pranks and major outbursts, and even then he was not the only one. The only other thing that ever required his attention was the choosing and eating of his breakfast.

And that was where this morning and most others diverged. He had received a letter from an owl he did not recognize. After subtly checking for jinxes or any sort of trap or trace on the parchment, Severus had given into his curiousity and read the letter.

All that managed to do though was lead to more questions. Why was Petunia Dursley, nee Evans, writing him of all people? Particularly for help?