A/N So, it's been a while right? I even had to re-read it so I knew where I'd gotten up to! Oops... Thank you to everybody who stuck with me, I do always enjoy reading your reviews. As I said in the description, this fic is eventualy slash... so just stay patient a little longer! I'm hoping to get our favourite dark lord back within the next couple of chapters. I had a lot of writer's block when typing this one up, so forgive me for the times when it might not flow properly! Also un-beta'd.

Disclaimer I own the plot only, I suppose I can't really change the fact that JKR already owns the Potterverse...

~Parseltongue~

7. Doubled Efforts

Harry's eyes opened and swiftly landed upon the relaxed form of Rasp and Chiana at the foot of his bed. Said eyes brightened with anticipation.

~Today's the day.~

~That it is young one, now get up and stop wasting it,~ Rasp hissed back at him. Though Harry could tell the snake was excited. This had been the day that his magical life had been building up towards.

Today was the day that the traitor Peter Pettigrew would pay.

Looking out of the window Harry noticed that it was looking to be a beautiful day, it was almost a shame he would be stuck indoors for most of it. He got up quickly, showering and getting dressed and ready for the day in ten minutes. Everybody else he shared his dorm with were still lying in bed, their relaxed breathing calmed Harry to some extent. He sat calmly back on his bed, smiling at his two familiars now by his pillow. He pulled his holly wand out of his robe pocket, with a flick, the drapes surrounding his bed closed, a few more flicks and Harry's usual charms were in place; no one would be able to hear him, or feel the change in magical energy around him. He took a deep breath to steady himself.

He was ready.

"Creare duplicata corpus!" Harry uttered the spell barely at a whisper and watched, enraptured, as slowly, a small stream of silvery mist floated from the tip of his wand, forming a miniature hydra with too many heads for him to count. They all seemed to quarrel with themselves for a moment, before two of them surged forwards eagerly whilst the rest faded away. Harry made sure to stay very still as they drew nearer, not even flinching as they bit him; one on his wrist, the other in the crook of his neck. Rasp and Chiana both hissed and bared their fangs, but Harry put up his other hand to tell them not to interfere.

The fangs had pierced his skin for less than a second before they withdrew. Harry held his breath as both heads distorted and lost their form, becoming an ethereal mist that started swirling faster and faster in a sphere about the size of Harry's head. As it gained speed, it became more solid, bigger and blotches of colour started appearing on the surface. Harry and his familiars observed silently as Harry's copy was made. It took about a minute before Harry's doppelganger's body was fully formed. The snakes remained silent as the two Harry's examined each other, and both did well to hide their discomfort when Harry and... Harry Two simultaneously broke out into grins.

"You'll need a wand, luckily I collected a –"

"Spare from Filch's store, currently in your left inside pocket." Two held out his hand expectantly. Harry gave him the wand, then cast a disillusionment charm on himself with his own wand. Two cancelled the charms around the bed.

Harry held out his arm for both of the snakes. Chiana gratefully slithered into a pocket that was bigger on the inside, Harry had had to install it when Chiana began to double, then quadruple in size, while Rasp still fitted in his original place under his robes near the crook of his neck. The two Harry's locked eyes again before abruptly turning aside. Two continued to sleep in Harry's bed, while Harry stealthily snuck out the door and stalked out into the corridors.

~What is your plan?~ Harry felt his ears perk at the sudden sound. He smiled as he turned another corner, map in hand.

~To hide,~ he said simply, laughing inwardly when he heard a cross between a hiss and a cough from within his robes. If a snake could snort, that would be it.

~I should have known, why do all of this now? Why not just before the challenge starts?~ Rasp hissed in Harry's ear.

There was no answer from the teen, as Harry let the question hang heavy in the air. Instead, he set about storing the Marauder's map in his top left hand pocket, adjusting his cuffs, turning over a collar and smoothing out imaginary wrinkles in his clothing. He was standing before the room of requirement before he finally answered, sweeping a hand across his head to make sure that not even a hair was out of place.

He spoke loudly, so that his hisses echoed down the corridor, ~to see if the dog wants to play cat and mouse.~

Harry could sense the slight bafflement with his melodrama, snakes tended to think that such displays were quite pointless, unless it was to intimidate an opponent. They humoured him nevertheless.

Harry opened the door as he would have done any other day despite his previous words. No grand entrance, no sweeping elegance, blinding light or grandeur; he just turned the handle and walked in. His face was a mask, one he sometimes wore for a split second before leaving Dumbledore's office, just long enough to see the annoyance pass through the old man's eyes. It was the cold Slytherin mask with amused, laughing eyes and the barest of smirks, full of arrogance and satisfaction; a mask that Harry had created as a mockery of Dumbledore's own.

However, when his eyes fell upon the sleeping form of his godfather, slumped in a chair and open book in his lap, his face softened slightly. He considered the man, falsely accused, wrongly imprisoned and loyal friend of his father.

~You are beginning to care for him~ hissed Rasp sharply, disapprovingly, sensing Harry's hesitation.

~And why should he not?!~ replied Chiana forcefully before Harry could think to answer. Her silver-white head poked out of his robes and turned to glare at Rasp. Rasp shifted so that he could eye the female from high above.

~He is the very same one that abandoned Harry. He should not be so quick to trust him!~

~If you had your way he would not trust at all!~

~As it should be. Trust makes him weak!~ And if a snake could shout, that would be it. Harry stood still, uneasy as his two familiars glared menacingly at each other, heads mere millimetres apart. It was only the second time that they had ever disagreed with such ferocity, and this time it was different. They weren't quarrelling about Harry's safety; it wasn't something he could compromise on either, like the Chamber of Secrets had been. They were arguing about his feelings. And this time, Harry didn't agree with either of them.

~I am still here you know,~ he said icily ~and whatever is decided about Black, it shall be me who decides it!~ Harry's tone of voice was commanding, and both snakes could only hold the stare a few seconds longer before they succumbed to the expectation of silence, if not peace, between them. Harry threw his irritation to the back of his mind, he wasn't going to allow anything to spoil his mood, and felt them withdraw into their usual places.

Silently deciding to ignore his familiars, he slammed the door shut behind him, hoping the loud noise would wake up Black for him. The man woke with a start, but impressively, he managed to catch the book that had been on his lap before it hit the floor. Harry noted this and waited a short while for the man to recover himself.

"You have good reflexes," he said, matching his voice to his face. Black didn't move his head, but Harry caught his eyes frantically searching the room before zoning in on Harry. Harry smiled as he watched Black visibly relax, he then smoothly walked over to his customary chair and sat.

"Worryingly, you are very good at sneaking up on me," said Black, a hint of humour in his voice.

Harry resisted the barb that was on the tip of his tongue, opting for something a bit more endearing, he had planned to make an effort with Black: "If you were tired, you should have slept on the bed. You are no doubt suffering from an aching back and a sore neck from your nap," he chided softly.

Black smiled absently before groaning as he stretched his back, "I hadn't noticed until you mentioned it." Harry smiled wryly in response.

"What were you reading? Something interesting?" he asked, nodding towards the book in the older man's hand.

Black glanced down at the front cover of the book, and Harry couldn't help but follow his gaze and raise an eyebrow when he caught the title.

"7 Moste Famous Wizards: Bright or Barmy?" he said, slightly surprised. Black seemed to shift guiltily in his chair, "Dumbledore?" he queried gently.

Black nodded slowly, Harry felt a thrill – was that happiness? – pass through him. A step away from Dumbledore was a step towards Harry, no matter how small.

"I wanted a different view and..." he trailed off uncomfortably.

"That is one of the very few books that can give it to you," Harry supplied. Black lifted his head, "although, personally, I have found it to be largely inaccurate."

Black put the book on the table.

"Then what is accurate?"

Harry smiled smugly at the man, "Me, of course." The smiled faded, "but, I understand that you wouldn't want to base your opinions of the man through me. I am a biased source after all. Just remember that he was the one who should have demanded you have a trial, he was the one who let you rot in that disgusting place for thirteen years, and that it was he who gained your trust, your loyalty. And that it was mostly for him that your lives were ruined."

Harry's speech was met with a moment of silence.

"You have a very low opinion of him, and I disagree with you, what we did during the war we did of our own accord. We weren't innocent little lambs being led to slaughter."

Harry's insides turned cold, angry that even now, Black wouldn't see Dumbledore for what he really was. That he couldn't see that Dumbledore had made them all exactly what he wanted them to be.

"He befriended you; my parents, you and Lupin. Ever since you were all sorted into Gryffindor he looked upon you with kind eyes, approving eyes. Don't you see?" Harry looked imploringly at Black, "He gave you all you ever wanted from an adult: approval, kindness, and to recognise you for who you were. He knew what you wanted, and he gave you all of it."

Black remained unconvinced. Harry resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. Though he did sigh heavily and lounge back against his chair. He did note that Black was now looking doubtfully at the book on the table. Harry felt an ounce of satisfaction; perhaps he was getting through to the man.

"Anyway, I didn't come here to discuss Dumbledore," Harry said after a moment's silence, it would be better to let the man stew over his words when Harry had left the room, "I was curious to hear about your views on pest control."

Black looked confused for a few seconds before his eyes lit up with a menacing fire, "You know where he is."

Harry smiled darkly, "I know where he is."

x ~ x ~ x

It had been... little more than blind luck that had led Harry to Pettigrew. Well, if you didn't count the cheating. It wasn't his fault really, he kept telling himself, that he had seen Pettigrew morph into his animagus form in Bla- Sirius' memories. He could feel Chiana's exasperation through their bond. To her, it didn't matter how Harry had got the information. It didn't matter than Harry had used legilimency on Bl-Sirius; the man should have protected his mind better if he didn't want anybody seeing into it.

Harry felt guilty though, he had used legilimency on other students, the ones he didn't care about, which was all of them. But he could help but feel a profound sense of wrongness when he thought about using it on Black. His father's friend, his godfather, his... follower? Ridiculous, he wasn't going to be like Voldemort. But what did that make Sirius, a friend? He could help but sneer at the word, after countless years of thinking on the stupidity of the word. Harry mentally pinched himself, it wasn't as if it was important, how he thought of Sirius.

No, focus on the task at hand.

It was early afternoon, and the second task was just about to begin. The castle was empty (if one discounted the house elves labouring in the kitchens) apart from two males making their way towards Gryffindor tower. Harry had brewed a polyjuice potion in the past month; Harry was in the small body of Colin Creevey, with Sirius as his 'younger brother'. They had both taken just enough to disguise them until they got into the tower, Harry had no intention of staying in someone else's body for any longer than absolutely necessary. He would have preferred to use glamours, but they we so much more easily detected. He had told Sirius his plan for the day, which basically involved Sirius staying quiet until they got to Pettigrew, and staying quiet after his capture until they got back to the safety of the room of requirement. Later tonight, when everybody would be curled up warm in their beds, Harry and Sirius would move him to the Shrieking Shack. That had been Sirius' idea, outside Hogwart's wards (so they could use decidedly less-than-light spells), abandoned, and a place where screams were expected to be heard. Time to make the 'shrieking shack' earn its name.

Harry felt a tug on the hem of his sleeve, oh right. He looked up at the portrait of the Fat Lady, putting on a bashful, innocent and slightly embarrassed look on his face when the portrait looked down her nose at him.

"Isn't there a tournament or something that you should be watching going on out there?" she said scathingly. Harry hid his smirk, looking down at the floor and forcing a blush to stain his cheeks. So the lady was jealous because she couldn't see the show?

Harry gently held the camera that was hanging around his neck, the one that Creevey was almost as famous as him for carrying around, "I – I forgot the lens you see, f-for my camera. I was in such as rush to get there on time that I simply forgot to p-pick it up." He did his best not to overdo the act.

"And I suppose you want to go in and get it now, do you?" The lady really wasn't very good at hiding her jealousy. Harry had faked a hopeful smile and was partway through opening his mouth to speak again when the lady continued on, "Well, you won't get in without a password, do you think I'm so easily moved? Oh no! I will continue to do my job with the highest degree of professionalism whilst all you brats get to go out and have fun watching a tournament. Albus will not find fault with me!" she huffed, turning her head aside in an affronted manner.

He could feel Sirius shaking with laughter, thankfully hidden from the Fat Lady's view behind him, at her display.

"Err.. Babbity?"

The Fat Lady looked sharply round at Harry, who hoped that he had picked out the right password out of Ginny Weasley's head earlier in the day.

"Oh very well, then! Go in if you must!" she declared in a dramatic voice, swinging open to reveal the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. Harry did his best not to physically shield his eyes from the sickly rich colour scheme of the room. Sirius let out a small sigh of contentment. It was all Harry could do not to glare outright at him. The cushy sofas surrounding the fireplace, the chessboard over to one side, the numerous Quidditch memorabilia which took up a whole wall, all of it disgusted Harry. It was exactly how he expected Gryffindors to be: garish, boastful, rowdy and lazy.

"Where do the fourth year boys dorm then?" He asked impatiently, not wanting to spend much more time in the brightly coloured common room.

Sirius didn't answer in favour of walking straight past Harry and disappearing up a spiralling flight of stairs. Harry hesitated for the briefest moment before following the older man. The appeared in a circular room with beds placed around it, headboards against the wall, nearly none of them had their drapes closed, which left Harry free to scrunch his nose slightly at the state of the unmade bed. He made sure that his always looked as if he had never slept there, using magic of course, just in case anybody happened to open his drapes, repelling ward or no. It paid to be cautious.

The map, irritatingly, didn't show the actual layout of any if the school's house areas, Harry wondered whether that was because the Marauders didn't know the others well enough to plot (and they didn't need one for Gryffindor tower) , or if Hogwarts had intervened somehow, or maybe they had left them out because of some sort of misplaced fairness. Logically, it would be easier to just ask Sirius, but he hadn't told his godfather that he was in possession of the map lest Sirius get the idea that he was the same as his father.

Sirius was looking at him, from his own body once again.

Oh, Harry hasn't given him a wand. He swiftly drew his own and ignored Sirius' amused half-smirk in his direction. He laid the familiar holly on the palm of his hand and whispered, "Point me Peter Pettigrew."

The wand span around on his hand and he could have sworn that he had heard a little terrified squeak from the area around a particularly scruffy bed.

Three things happened at once. Harry's wand stopped spinning, Sirius morphed into a giant black dog, and a rather large rat made a dash for the staircase.

Harry gave a small sigh before grasping his wand, using magic to slam the door shut before the rat could get out. Sirius leapt down the middle of the room, snarling and with flecks of spittle dropping from the corner of his mouth. The rat froze with fear at the sight of the enraged dog bounding towards him, giving Harry just enough time to wordlessly shoot a stunner at him and yell, "FINITE INCANTATEM," at the dog.

Harry had caught Sirius mid-leap and the man found himself unable to stop himself crashing to the ground in an inelegant heap. He let out a small groan once the dust had settled. Harry scowled at the form of the slumped man before turning to the rat.

"Mobilicorpus," he said quietly, the form floated gently in the air. Harry wasn't very well going to touch the thing, "get up," he said, not kindly, to Sirius, not waiting to see if Sirius was standing before heading back down the stairs.

Sirius' eyes flashed briefly with anger at having been forced out of his animagus form and then ordered to do something, by a teenager no less! His heartbeat calmed when he remembered that this teenager was special. This teenager was his godson, whom he would do anything for; including not ripping that damned traitor, currently floating behind Harry, into small pieces and feeding him to real rats.

He took a calming breath and strode after Harry, emptying the sickly sweet contents of a vial in the pocket of his robe. He shuddered uncomfortably as his body shrank. When he appeared in the common room he found Harry waiting for him in a similar state. He couldn't help the growl that escaped his lips when his eyes alighted on the rat once again.

The look Harry shot him made sure he didn't do it again.

x ~ x ~ x

"Let me kill him," Sirius asked for the third time in the past twenty minutes.

Peter Pettigrew, Peter Pettigrew, in his actual body was currently lying curled up in a terrified ball in a box similar to the one that Harry had created for Sirius.

Harry had made a few alterations to it though.

Harry snorted maliciously, "Really," he sighed, "you have no imagination."

Sirius gritted his teeth. Pettigrew whimpered in his position, though not from Harry's words. The box had a silencing charm on it. The inner walls still acted as mirrors, though they could both see in.

Harry's eyes were fixed on Pettigrew as he peeked through the fingers in front of his own eyes, there was a sadistic twist to his lips. He would make Pettigrew suffer: firstly, for daring to betray his family, his supposed friends, and secondly, for framing Sirius. Though he would let Sirius get his own revenge.

The most notable difference to the prison, Harry supposed, was the darkness within it. It was a perpetual night-time, but with just enough light to allow Pettigrew anything that the boggart in there with him became. The second difference was, well, the boggart. Harry would have preferred a dementor, but where was he meant to get one of those? The boggart was good enough for such a weak minded individual.

Harry would have clapped his hands like a small child as Pettigrew let out a terrified shriek, backing up and attempting to claw his way out of the box, tears streaming down his face.

"Avis," he said, as if caressing the word. Numerous tiny crows leapt from his wand, passing through the sides of the box as if they weren't there, "Pugna."

The birds turned violent very quickly, screeching and turned on Pettigrew, who just wailed even harder, hopelessly trying to swat away the little black birds in the darkness that pecked and clawed. Soon there was blood covering every inch of visible skin of the thing.

"STOP IT! I'LL DO ANYTHING!" screamed the victim.

Harry grinned terrifyingly and vanished the birds. Pettigrew drew a sharp breath, hoping desperately that that was the end. Foolish little man.

Another quick flick of his wand took care of the silencing charm. Then Harry cocked his head towards Sirius.

"Here, Black," he said, smirking as Pettigrew flinched back at the sound of the name, "you have however long you want to play with your friend, just don't kill him." His eyes remained on the cowering form on Pettigrew until the last bit, where he looked directly, pointedly, at Sirius, throwing him a wand.

Harry then transfigured a sorry example of a stool into a high backed cushioned chair. When he sat on it he was thrown into a deep shadow. He crossed one leg over the other, steepled his arms and waited for the fun to begin.

He watched as Sirius looked at the wand in happiness, and then in awe as it accepted him as its new master. Harry quirked an eyebrow, he'd stolen that wand from an unsuspecting wizard during a Hogsmeade weekend. The chances of it being even a decent wand for Sirius were slim, for it to actually accept him were a million to one.

He let Sirius get used to the weight and feel of the wand for a moment, wondering idly whether his other self had finished the second task yet. Another part wondered what the second task actually was.

Harry looked up when he heard a definitive hissing coming from the rafters, his eyes locked onto the muddy brown scales that flashed in and out of view between the beams. He glanced at Sirius again, confirming that the man was absorbed enough in the wand and the things he could do to Pettigrew with it before speaking.

~Rasp, I did not expect you here. The dog doesn't know that I am a Speaker, I would prefer it to remain that way,~ his hisses were barely whispers, but he knew full well that Rasp would hear every word as if he had been shouting, just as Harry heard the reply.

~I have been waiting to see this for a very long time hatchling, I would not miss it! Chiana will mind-speak with you once your other self returns to your bed. Show me what you've learnt.~

The snake positioned itself as to get the best view directly above Harry's head, also in shadow and so well camouflaged that he may as well not have been there. Harry knew he wasn't expected to reply. One more look at Sirius and he knew the man was prepared for what came next. He stifled a laugh when he saw that Pettigrew seemed to be suffocating on the tension in the room.

Harry released the magic that had fabricated the box.

A/N hmm... hope you liked it! The real violence will start in the next chapter... heheheh. In case you were wondering, Harry's double will be able to carry out normal everyday tasks. Also, they don't share a mind link, they functon as two separate people, but with the same personalities and ultimate goals if that makes sense? One particular set of reviews made me very happy recently... despite being threatened with a pillow to the head! ;) which is what drove me to finish this chapter off! So THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

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