Disclaimer: The rights of Harry Potter belong to JK Rowling and Warner Bros. I am making no financial gain from this story whatsoever.

A/N: I'm sorry. It's been months since an update, and I broke my own guidelines. Apologies. I have been quite busy, but I'll try to get chapters coming. I've got the winter holidays, and I hope to write furiously.

Chapter 16
Deeper Underground

Harry sat in the grass outside Hogwarts. He was alone, apart from Remus beside him, due to the summer holidays. He watched the lake ahead of him, reflecting the bright sun above them. The trees swayed around him with the same breeze that blew his robes softly, that moved through his hair. He shut his eyes, enjoying the lovely feeling of the sun's heat on his face.

"What are you thinking about?" asked Remus.

"Sirius."

Remus remained quiet, giving Harry the silence he wanted.

"I keep thinking about the scene in Snape's pensieve," Harry said after a while.

"I would think you of all people," said Remus, "would understand never to pass judgement on someone based on a single event. The way people prejudge you, Boy Who Lived and all."

"I'm not judging my father," Harry said, but relented under the raised eyebrow from Remus. "Okay, maybe I am. But Snape was mistreated, and Dad told Mum it was just because he existed."

"Snape also attacked James, and any other Marauder, when he was in the stronger side," Remus said. "I never thought I'd say this, but do not think that Snape was innocent."

"I don't," Harry assured him. "But I always thought that my parents were people above the use of humiliation. Everyone told me they were so great."

"You are limited by your lack of experience with them," Remus said. "You never saw them, so you made them in your head what you saw them as.

"Tell me," he continued, "what if you had seen me or Sirius do that to Snape?"

"I don't know," said Harry. "Maybe that he did something to you previously, or you had lost your tempers..."

"Exactly, Harry!" Remus said. "You know us, and one incident wouldn't destroy your relationship with me, and especially with Sirius. But you know nothing about your parents. That lone scene was able to shatter your whole illiusion of what he was to you. You doubted everything you thought of him."

"It's not my fault," Harry said softly.

"No it's not," Remus agreed. "You were separated from those who knew your parents, and loved them."

"I wish someone could tell me who James and Lily Potter were," Harry sighed.

"I'll tell you," Remus offered. "Ask what you wish."

Harry didn't know what to ask. Remus probably detected that, as he spoke instead.

"First thing you should be aware of, despite it's apparent obviousness," he said, " is that they were normal people, which means they were flawed. James had his ego, Lily for a time, her insecurity as a muggle-born. Times were rough then, with Voldemort's rise, and being a muggle-born made Lily quite a shy person for her first few years as a student. In her fourth year, however, she became that strong witch we later knew her to be. That very same one that James fell for.

"James, Sirius, Peter and I all did things that, in hindsight, should never have been done," Remus admitted. "The four of us were arrogant in that regard, as if rules were beneath us, and for me, an added desperation to be accepted."

Harry said nothing, listening to his former teacher with rapt attention.

"But don't take this to mean they were bad people," Remus said, uncharacteristically fierce. "James embraced me, a werewolf, with no questions. In this world, that's amazing. He would take my secret to the grave, and would defend me to that extent, too. Me, a boy who was unacceptable to everyone I knew after the bite, was immediately befriended by your father and Sirius.

"I'll admit," he continued, "that James was somewhat arrogant, and would curse other students for the heck of it, but they were usually harmless, and mostly pranks. I will not defend him in that respect, nor myself and Sirius, who helped him, whether by actually assisting him, or by remaining silent.

"But troubles started in Hogwarts, with students attacking one another. Alot of it were first or second year muggleborns being attacked by purebloods years older than them. The teachers were unable to find out who the culprits were, and the muggle-borns grew quite scared. James stood up to help them. Whenever they accused a pureblood of attacking them, and the pureblood got away due to lack of witnesses, strange 'accidents' happened to them," Remus laughed. "It became personal to James. You should've seen him. His determination to exact revenge, and a more lethal punishment than the initial attack. I always suspected Dumbledore knew it was us, but he never stopped us."

"I never knew," Harry said. "What about Mum?"

"What about her?" asked Remus rhetorically. "She was a great witch. She defended me to the death. I gather you remember me tell Sirius in the Shrieking Shack in your third year that he and James suspected me as the spy?" at Harry's nod, he continued, "Sirius later told me that Lily refused to believe that. He told me that he never saw her fight James like that before. I don't know if he was serious or joking, but he said he feared that they might've have caused a severing of their relationship."

Remus looked away, and Harry pretended to rub his eyes.

"Your parents were great people, by all standards," Remus said. "They weren't the greatest people I ever met, but they were very close to that person."

"Dumbledore?" asked Harry.

"No," Remus shook his head. "You."

"Wha-," Harry couldn't form the words. "But I was never as good as you described Mum and Dad."

"Sorry, Harry, but I must disagree," Remus said firmly, his eyes alight. "Your life has been, for a lack of a better word, hell. Yet look who've you become, a man who'd do anything for what he believes is right."

"We all do that," Harry said. "You did, Dumbledore, Mum, Dad..."

"Yet none of us faced what you've faced in your school years," Remus argued. "Even Dumbldore had far more quiet school years, despite losing his entire family, bar Aberforth, when he was in his fifth year. But you, you faced the Dark Lord in your first year! A basilisk, on your own, in your second. And that was just the tip of the iceberg.

"The most impressive thing is," Remus said, "is that while you've been devoid of love for so long, you still show it to others. You love Ron and Hermione, Hagrid, and even accepted me and Sirius! People with a fraction of your problems have become dark, or bitter on life, but you? You endure."

Harry felt his face warm up, and observed the grass, not looking at Remus' eyes.

"Perhaps in comparison to your high standards, your parents weren't that great," mused Remus. "But under those same standards, most humans, magical or muggle, would fail miserably."

"You're exaggerating," Harry said.

"I assure you, I'm not," Remus said. "I wish I raised you as a guardian, raise you with the love you deserved. But we can't change the past. All in all, though, I think we can all be very pleased with how you turned out. People like you are far beyond rare."

Harry's eyes opened, and he saw the dark room around him. For an extremley short time, he didn't know where he was. He rolled around in his bed, and shuddered as the tears streamed down his face.

How he missed Remus. Sirius. Dumbledore. Once again, he fell into the wishful desire to have known his parents, or at least remember them.

He rolled around again, trying to forget what he dreamt about.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Harry sat in his office, Ron and Hermione seated in front of him. They had a few things to discuss. Ron still had that haunted look in his face, but he insisted that he join the conversation.

"So I told them this nonsense about magical potential," Ron said, smiling grimly, "and told them to search for Polanar and Sutherland, instead of you."

"Who's Sutherland?" asked Harry, with a grin on his face.

"Your close friend," Ron chuckled darkly. "They'll be searching for someone who doesn't exist."

"Seriously, to believe that we can tell how powerful all the magical people are," Hermione said, laughing softly, "I'm impressed you could blend in, Ron. It's difficult enough for muggles to go undercover, but I can't imagine how long you had to study muggle means."

"Quite a long time," Ron said. "I had to act like a normal muggle, which took months of intense study. Then I had to go undercover in MI5, and report to the Ministry what they were doing. But I also had to go undercover for MI5 and report to them, what I found out. Double-crossing everyone, it seemed."

Harry returned them to what the meeting was supposed to be about.

"So, how do we deal with the stolen chemicals?" he asked.

"What can we do?" Ron remarked. "If wizards had stolen them, it could be anywhere in the world right now."

"But there's a danger to the muggles if used as a weapon," said Harry.

"We have our own problems," Ron stressed. "What can we offer?"

"Perhaps we should keep an ear on the ground?" Hermione suggested. "Should we find out about anything, we'll deal with it, then. Agreed?"

Harry and Ron nodded their heads.

"To the next ..." Harry was interrupted by knocking on the door. He called out permission for entry. Draco walked in quickly.

"There's been a kidnapping," he said.

"Of whom?" Hermione asked.

"A group of wizards being held by the government," answered Draco. "Some muggle criminal is now demanding we give him what he wants, or he kills them."

"Know who he is?" asked Harry.

"He called himself the leader of the Freshners, but I've never heard of them," Draco said.

Ron sucked in a breath.

"I know who he is," he said. "Micheal Richardson. A head of a gangster group. I've dealt with him, going undercover in his group. He's trouble."

"How dangerous is he?" Harry asked.

"Quite," replied Ron. "He's unpredicatble, and while he isn't the smartest criminal I've seen, he has alot of firepower."

"How can we get in?" Hermione asked.

"I have someone working on the inside," offered Ron. "A witch."

"Excellent," Harry said. "We'll go in, then."

"What about the stolen chemicals?" Hermione asked.

"You have contacts still around the country?" asked Harry.

"Yes."

"Get in contact with them," he said. "Ask them to keep an ear out."

"So, you and I will go alone?" Ron asked, puzzled.

"No," said Harry. "I'm going to ask Dean and Seamus to come with us. They've gotten muggle experience, too."

"Good idea," Ron said.

"Malfoy," Harry continued. "Can you make sure things don't go wrong in our absence?"

"Sure," Draco replied.

Hermione and Ron left the room, leaving Harry with Draco. Draco remained standing, and didn't seem to be leaving.

"Was there something else you wanted to say?" Harry asked.

"No," Draco said. "I mean - yes. Why can't I come with you and Ron?"

"I need someone here, in case something happens," Harry replied.

"Is that it?" Draco asked.

Harry's eyes narrowed. "If you want to say something, then say it."

"You don't trust me," Draco said, in a rush.

"And if I don't?" Harry said calmly, but he watched Draco closely.

"Why?" Draco spluttered. "I can help..."

"No doubt you can," Harry said. "Right now, however, Dean and Seamus are coming along, and it is meant to be a stealth mission, so adding you might be too much. It's a muggle environment, too, so they'll be more handy than you would."

"You don't trust me," accused Draco.

"Whether or not I do isn't important right now," Harry said.

"Ron will vouch for me," Draco argued.

"And so will Hermione, I'm sure," agreed Harry. He sighed, and removed his glasses to rub his eyes.

"Look," he said. "I don't like you."

"But I switched from being a Death Eater," Draco said.

"So did Snape."

"How dare you?" seethed Draco. "I stood against him in the darkest of days."

"I wasn't questioning your loyalty," Harry replied, still with that calm in his voice. "I was merely pointing the fact, for a time, Snape was with us, and I still didn't get along with him."

"But I'm trying," Draco insisted.

"Yes, you are. But do you honestly think you could wipe out our history? What went on in this very school?" asked Harry.

"I regret that," said Draco softly.

"Perhaps you do," Harry said. "But do you know what I see whenever I look at you?"

"What?"

"The bastard who gave me hell," Harry said, his voice breaking. "The twat who helped Umbridge, who helped Snape, who did his utmost effort to make my life difficult, in addition to the shite that went on in my life."

"I was young, and foolish," Draco said. "It took a long time for me to remove myself from what my father taught me."

"You might've changed," Harry said, "but, likewise, it will take a long time for me to change my perception of you, what you showed yourself to be. So will Hermione, it seems. I fear..."

"Fear what?"

"That you are putting yourself in an uneviable postion," Harry said, "trying to get me and Hermione to like you."

"Why?"

"I don't think you and I will ever be friends," Harry stressed. "Perhaps we will be trusted colleagues, but throw out any illusions of us being buddy-buddy with each other. How you became close with Ron's a shocker. Be happy you could've turned one of us. The odds in that were quite long."

Draco turned on his heel and left the room. Harry sat back on his seat as the door closed with a quiet 'click', and then sighed, staring out of the window.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The four of them stood in front of the club. The sign outside showed a drawing of a naked woman, with the main areas covered with stars. Despite it being the middle of the afternoon, music blared out of it.

"Don't worry," Ron said. "It's empty now. The workers keep playing this disgusting excuse called music for their own enjoyment."

"Looks like the seedy places you see in movies," Harry noted. "Didn't know they actually existed."

"Oh they do," Ron said. "And there are worse, believe me."

"What were you doing here?" Harry asked.

"Working undercover," Ron said. "I had to get to know him, report him to the top level people if I saw anything off."

"And?"

"This guy's not that bad," Ron said. "He's small-time. Only interested in money, not power like the more dangerous ones. But it was hell. You can't imagine how much I had to drink or women I had to shag. Thankfully, I found a way to avoid the drugs. Don't think I could handle that."

"Hell?" Dean asked, bemused. "Okay, the drinks might've been too much, and I don't evny you taking the drugs, but I don't know why you're complaining about the..."

"Anyways," Ron continued. "No drinking, or anything else (sorry Dean), today. We could end up in a fight, and we have a better chance sober, and with our trousers up."

"Speaking of fighting," Harry said, "are we all armed?"

They all removed their wands to show they were.

"Who's familiar with a gun?" Ron said. Only Seamus said he was (practiced in a shooting gallery), and Ron passed a pistol to him. "Right," Ron said, "you lot are working for me, remember. Keep as silent as you can. Harry, I want you to find Lisa Turpin. She's working undercover for MI5, just like I was. Tell her everything, and make sure she knows that she is to leave to Hogwarts immediately. No need for her to stay here. Also, give her this. It's her wand. We don't normally carry it undercover. It's a risk, but one we have to take, unfortunately."

"Very well," Harry said. "If there are no further questions, shall we?"

With that, they entered the building.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They walked into a large room, with fifty or so tables. The place consisted of black walls, black ceiling and black floor, littered with colourful glitter. A large stage stood in one end.

The chairs were placed upside down on the tables. Walking by them were people, armed with mops, brooms and cloths.

At the end of the room, only one table was set. Drinks lay on it, and it was surrounded by seven or eight large men. One person was seated.

"It's like this in real life?" Harry whispered, humour in his voice. "The guy desperately wants to be in a movie."

"Shh," Ron hissed, but couldn't prevent the smile from appearing on his face.

It was true, though, about the cliché of the whole thing. The man was seated, with his chair in front of a wall, and a window (concealed by curtains) to his right. The door to the kitchens was to his left. The overhead lamps, numerous around the room, were deliberately missing above the table, allowing the man's face to be slightly concealed in darkness. You could see his face, still, so Harry guessed it was to elicit fear from the one seated across. A woman stood beside him.

Ron nudged Harry with his elbow. 'Follow her' he mouthed, nodding at the woman.

Harry had little time to argue, as she walked out the room. Harry followed her as they went through a few corridors. She made no acknowledgement of his presence. She went into the men's room, and he walked in after her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Harry stood with Lisa in the middle of the men's toilet. He told her of the fact that there were wizards kidnapped by Richardson. She assured him that she had no idea about that.

"How do you know that they're here?" she asked. "Richardson owns many safehouses."

"Ron thinks so," he replied.

"Ron knows him far better than I do," she admitted. "He does have an underground floor in this pub, and it holds alot of his valuables."

The door of the toilet opened, and Lisa suddenly jumped on Harry. She kissed him forcefully, and he, not knowing what was happening, remained as he was.

Lisa wrapped her legs around Harry's waist and removed her lips from his, and sucked on his left ear.

"Play along," she whispered into it.

Harry saw no other alternative (didn't look for one, really), and gladly went along. He pulled her closer on him, and kissed down her neck, making her moan. Her lips returned to his, and he opened his mouth, deepening it which she quickly returned. He heard the door shut, but did not stop. After a further minute had passed, Lisa drew back, and noticed that they were alone.

"Oh," she said as she got off him. "Didn't know he left."

"I did," Harry admitted.

"Why didn't you say something?" she asked.

"And end that?" Harry asked incredulously.

She slapped his arm, but was grinning, too.

"Back to the discussion," she said. "What do we do?"

"Our first option's negotiations," Harry said. "We're only five against their numbers. Oh before I forgot, Ron told me to give you this," he passed a wand to her. "Second option's to fight them."

"So it's talk," she said, "and if that fails, we blow things up?"

"Yep."

"Typical men," she sniffed.

"Have you been talking to Hermione recently?" Harry asked, eyes narrowing.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Harry returned to the table, and immediately could feel the tense air. Seamus was glaring at Richardson, who was returning it. Dean just looked disgusted at both, and Ron looked bemused to say the least.

"Remind me to kill those two," Ron said when Harry reached him.

"Dean and Seamus?" Harry asked.

"Richardson's a fan of the local football team," Ron whispered. "He laughed at Dean being a West Ham fan, to which Seamus insulted the local fan song. Richardson's furious. Look, even the bodyguards got pissed."

Ron wasn't exagerrating. Harry noticed that each bodyguard were fingering their guns, and one even removed it.

"Shame it ended like this," Harry said. "Shall we?"

Ron and him took out their wands, slowly. Ron stunned a body guard, while Harry physically lifted the table and upended it.

Dean and Seamus jumped into combat quicker than the bodyguards, who weren't expected to be attacked by sticks. Within a few seconds, the muggle group were stunned.

Someone screamed.

They turned to see a janitor turn and run down a corridor.

"Bugger," Ron spat. "The other guards will be here quick. Run like hell. If anyone finds the prisoner, send the spell."

They split up and ran into various corridors.

Harry ran as fast as he could down his corridor, looking for the entrance to the basement. He skidded to a stop when he saw a door open. Two men rushed out.

Harry growled. Wizards?

He quickly rushed into a door to his right, and found himself in the kitchens. It was long empty by now. He ran to the other end, where another door was, but stopped suddenly upon hearing a voice.

"And where do you think you're going, Mr. Potter?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Dean stunned one more guard, and saw Ron run by. He joined him.

"So, should we look for an exit?" Dean asked.

"Not yet," Ron shook his head. "One of them might need our help."

"We can apparate, you know?" retorted Dean.

"No," Ron whispered. "We can't."

Dean tried to apparate, and the familiar barrier of anti-apparation wards clutched at him.

"Oh, bugger," Dean swore. "Wizards?"

"It seems so," Ron replied, kicking door after door open. "Which means we have to find the others."

They found Seamus later on, and he told them he'd already reached their conclusion. They continued to find Harry.

As they rushed across the corridors, they ran into a few wizards. Ron was hit in the arm before he could react, and he gasped in pain as a fierce burn sizzled above his elbow. Under the torn sleeve, he could see the skin red.

Dean threw a spell quickly, knocking down one of the enemies. He turned to send another, but had to dive to avoid a spell that was aimed at him.

Seamus and a wizard had given up on wands due to the close proximity and were busy trading punches. After getting a nasty hit to his right cheek, Seamus blocked the next punch and rammed his knee in the wizard's midsection. He dropped his elbow at the back of the head, as the wizard was hunched over, quickly stunned the wizard as he lay on the floor.

Ron had dropped his wand when hit, and had to deal with the last enemy in the group, who was busy sending a spell at Dean. Ron ran towards him, and once he reached him, he opened a door that stood beside the wizard and slammed it in the opposite direction, where the wizard was standing. The wizard was knocked off his feet, giving Dean the chance to stun him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I wish I could be surprised, Anar," Harry said, "but I can't. A muggle-born Death Eater before. Now, a wizard turncoat for the muggles."

"Survival is my goal," Polanar replied smoothly, twirling his wand about with his hand. "I'll join the strongest side around."

"Haven't you learned?" Harry said. "You cant assume who'll win. Voldemort lost, in case you've forgotten."

"I'm a man of probabilities," said Polanar. "Voldemort had a greater chance of taking over. And now the muggles do. The chances of you defeating the stronger side for a second time is even smaller."

"And you did this to me?" Harry spat.

"What?" Polanar laughed. "Your memory? How would you know?"

"I got a vision of your men manhandling me as you cast a spell on me," Harry said softly. He could feel the his standing on end, his anger rising exponentially. "You couldn't have done it on your own, coward?"

"Wasn't necessary," chuckled Polanar.

"How did you get me to come to the future?" roared Harry.

Polanar's smile fell. "What?" he asked. "How did I get you to the fut..." His smile returned. "You didn't think you time-traveled, did you?"

Upon seeing Harry's face, he let out a cruel whoop of a laugh.

"You couldn't come up with a better reason?" Polanar cackled. "It went better than I thought."

"What went?" Harry growled. He was confused, to say the least.

"Instead of going for the most outlandish nonsense," Polanar said. "Why don't you go for something far simpler, and feasible? Within the realm of known magic."

Harry was still, his mind tearing through everything he could think of. His eyes widened.

"Yes, you fool," Polanar remarked. "You arrogant fool. Six years time travel, when nobody's done it? Such arrogance from the Boy-Who-Lived."

"Avada Kedavra!" shouted Harry, without warning.

Polanar didn't expect this, and was very fortunate to be able to jump out of the way.

"I shall leave you to your thoughts," Polanar said. "Torture first then kill, I always say. And this revelation should give you enough of that." He waved his wand in a series of complex movements, and then apparated out of the room.

A/N: As for Lily disagreeing with James on Remus being a turncoat, I made that up. As far as I can remember, there's nothing in canon that discussed that.