Disclaimer: I wish I owned Harry Potter; he'd be so much easier to toy with if I did :D But I don't, so there. :(

Harry managed to get through the week with only a little bewilderment, although he had admittedly been expecting a more hostile welcome from the Marauders rather than the somewhat chilly and distant one he was given. Deciding to give this little thought at the moment, determined as he was to defeat Voldemort before his loved ones could die again, Harry outwardly focused on his studies and inwardly tackled the problem of Voldemort. The diadem was pretty straight forward, and he supposed the ring possibly was as well, but Harry still found himself wishing he had Ron and Hermione there to help him strategize.

Then, of course, came Defense, Harry's area of expertise. Which, for some reason in this timeline, the Slytherins shared with Gryffindors. Apparently, the idea of these "mortal enemies" sharing a class that required frequent wandwork (offensive and defensive, he might add), was not deemed a foolhardy one. Even in this time of war. Where a good bit of the Dark side was comprised of past Slytherins. Not a bad idea at all. Harry barely managed not to roll his eyes as he entered his third and last such class of the week. Every other Defense session had ended with at least one minor hospitalization and, on one memorable occasion, a brief visit to St. Mungo's for one (un)lucky bastard in Hufflepuff robes that came by only to give a message from the Headmaster to Professor Kilhern. His timing had been rather spectacular considering the veritable barrage of spells that managed to hit him. Still, his unexpected appearance had managed to stop the mini war before it really started. Harry thought cynically to himself that if such results could be managed in a real battle, he'd volunteer the delightful Rita Skeeter for the job. Hell, he even had a plan he was reasonably sure would lure her to the precise spot. Promise of glory and the best story in Prophet history, Harry would just have to make sure her animagus form wasn't viable at the moment of promised impact.

In any case, Harry somehow knew that this particular lesson promised to be spectacular in some form or fashion and was therefore suitably wary. It didn't help that the Marauders had managed to convene with Lily earlier that week and the looks now coming his way seemed to portend a rather drastic omen. Of what, he wasn't sure, but it certainly didn't look as though Lily was hanging with the Marauders out of any sense of friendly camaraderie and Harry didn't trust the intense gazes often flittering his way. Call him paranoid, but Harry was on edge that Friday.

The lesson started amicably enough. Books away, wands out, listen to Kilhern as he round-aboutedly got to his point for the day. That's when it all went haywire and Harry knew he should have used one of his few Weasley Wheezes to get out of class. Because on that day, Kilhern had decided to make them practice the Patronus Charm. This, Harry decided, this was hell.

In any other class, in any other time, Harry would simply have faked the lesson. It'd have been easy, too, the Patronus was a notoriously difficult charm, hardly something a barely grown wizard should be capable of. Unfortunately, however, Kilhern had the rather enviable talent of being able to tell exactly when somebody was bullshitting, and exactly how much. Nevertheless, Harry decided he would try. To bullshit that is.

"Alright everybody, wands out" rustling as his orders were followed, "stance steady, and expecto patronum," Kilhern cast and from his wand lumbered a bear. The bear glanced around, found nothing to defend against and snuffled in Kilhern's direction before fading away in a shimmer of light.

"What are you all looking at?" Kilhern yelled. "Dementors would've Kissed your soul away by now. This isn't a lightshow, get casting!"

Looking at each other in vague alarm, the students all started casting. Cries of "Expecto patronum!" rang everywhere, however, little to nothing actually happened.

"Ye've got to think happy thoughts," Kilhern roared. "This can't be your average, run-o'-the-mill, see-a-pretty-face-and-smile sort of happy! Ye've got to really mean it! This is you're so happy, you can damn near fly like Peter Pan! And for all you pureblood lot, that damn well means to pick up a book and read on occasion. Doesn't make no never mind if a muggle wrote it or not." He glared at them all. "Well?" He roared. "Why aren't you all happy?" They all hurried again to cast the spell and think happy. Rather surprisingly, a few did manage to produce a few silver vapors, much to the pleasure of the rest of the class as this small success would mean Kilhern would lesson his somewhat intrusive roaring, allowing the rest to concentrate.

Harry, attempting to stay unobtrusively out of Kilhern's notice, failed to realize that he had placed himself in close proximity to the Marauders and their recent companions. He was so intent on faking happiness and casting, that he completely missed the look Sirius gave James, who in turn elbowed Remus, who gave a discreet nod to Lily. Said red head rolled her eyes, before strolling casually to a spot near Harry, all the while giving off an air of preoccupied indifference. Harry still failed to realize that he was the subject of discreet scrutiny, instead focusing on well, not focusing. He was so intent on his plan of action that he even failed to notice Kilhern sneaking up on him.

"I DON'T THINK YOU'RE VERY HAPPY, BOY!" Harry jumped, landing in a crouch with his wand pointed at his professor, before he realized just what had happened and stood sheepishly, dropping his wand to his side. He barely resisted the urge to duck his head and stammer out an apology.

"So, Potter Deux, mind telling me why you're avoiding happy thoughts and faking this lesson? Hmm, boy? Gonna answer me, or do you want to just go ahead and give it real go? Eh? I'M TALKING TO YOU, POTTER, ARE YOU GOING TO SHOW ME THAT YOU'RE LISTENING OR DO I HAVE TO KEEP THE WHOLE CLASS HERE WHILE WE WAIT FOR YOU TO STOP BULLSHITTING AND START WORKING?"

Now avoiding the strong urge to snap back, "Sir, yes, sir!" Harry instead chose to go with plan B (Bullshit No-More) and focused on his happiest memory, more of a feeling than memory really, as he cast the spell for real. Images of his parents and friends, happy and alive, and out bounded Prongs, glowing and silvery solid.

He pretty much expected the gasps of utter surprise and amazement that came from his classmates, as well as the startlingly close ones of the Marauders. As if their unexpected presence so close to him wasn't enough to make his heart skip a beat, seeing Prongs prance proudly to James did have the effect of stopping it momentarily.

Sirius and Peter, the only ones to ever get a clear-minded view of Prongs in all his glory (it's a bit difficult to find somewhere where a stag can change and not get noticed, so Remus had never been in any particular hurry to study James' form when not under the influence of the wolf), were the most astounded. While Peter was obviously amazed, and seemingly a bit terrified, Sirius had less the look of amazement that Harry would have expected, and looked more deep in thought, giving James and Remus a serious, excuse the pun, nod. He turned his brooding stare towards the source, Harry Potter himself.

Kilhern studied the form quietly. Slowly, at the insistent head butting of the stag, James raised a wary hand and placed it on the nose, clearly expecting him to disappear on contact or at least to meet no resistance. Neither of which happened.

Upon the moment of impact, both James and the stag froze, giving off an incandescent light that set the room in shadow for a long moment. Then, just as suddenly as it began, it ended, leaving everyone blinking, and the stag nowhere to be seen.

Kilhern gave an appreciative nod before clapping once, startling everyone out of their daze.

"Alright, everybody," He snapped, "You've seen your classmate manage it, now it's your turn. I expect to see everybody trying, d'you hear me? Even if all you manage is vapor, vapor is the beginning of a form. And a full-fledged form has the ability to protect your soul from Dementors, provide warmth and comfort, and send voice messages to the person of your choosing. So this may be one of the most important spells you practice this year, do you understand? With this war, and with the so-called 'Dark Lord'," Kilhern's voice was brusquely derisive, "on the loose, this particular method of defense is more important than ever." Kilhern glared them all down, taking satisfaction in the way most of them seemed to cower away from him. "Well," he raised his voice expectantly, "what're ye all waiting for then? GET HAPPY AND CAST THA' DAMN SPELL!"

When class finished, there was a flurry of movement as the students rushed out of the classroom. Harry moving quicker than most in an effort to avoid questioning stares and invasive comments, fairly flying from the room and making his way to Transfiguration. Seeing as he had never been particularly outstanding in the class before, Harry had figured he might as well make a better effort at it now, especially considering his somewhat daring plan to defeat Voldemort. Again. He was only a little bitter. Honest.

That being said, he didn't necessarily have to make a great show of being utterly consumed with the lesson as he had been striving to pay avid attention all week. Had McGonagall been her future self, she would have been gratified and amazed. As it was, she simply took it as a matter of course for the son of Lily Evans and James Potter, the one being studious, and the other naturally brilliant in the subject and therefore assumed that Harry had always been this attentive in her class. Harry wasn't in any great hurry to disabuse her of this notion, and so the two got along fairly well. She also was rather pleased to find that he didn't seem to care a great deal about pranks and the sort.

Of course, now that he was actually paying attention in the class and knowing that he couldn't rely on Hermione to explain the more difficult (i.e. boring) concepts to him later, Harry found that he had actually developed something of a knack for transfiguring. Before, Harry had approached the subject in much the same manner that he approached Defense and Charms. Which is, to cast the spell in the prescribed manner, and focus upon the meaning of the spell, not necessarily the result. Transfiguration involved much the same principle, with a small added element. Besides casting the spell with intent and focus, one must also have a clear vision of what you are going to end up with. If you wish to turn a rabbit into a hat, you must know what sort of hat you are wanting, the size and shape of it, and color and texture. The fewer details you have in your mind, the less likely you are to come up with what you were going for. The whole process became so simple to Harry that he wondered why no one had explained it to him in this manner before. It made sense that Hermione was so good at it; her eye for detail was simply astounding. And his dad and Sirius? Harry had already figured out that they were the ones that generally came up with their cover stories, read: lies, so obviously, very good imaginations. Harry, finally understanding, found that he enjoyed the class a great deal more now, even though he did have only Snape as company. And given that Snape had been in the Hospital Wing getting an elephant's trunk, courtesy of the Marauders, removed, Harry didn't really look forward to his reaction upon hearing about his patronus. Although now that Harry thought about it, maybe he hadn't imagined that almost smug look on Severus's face as he was led to the Infirmary after all. The sneaky snake; he'd probably remembered what was on the lesson plan for today and let himself be taken out of action. Anything not to have to flaunt his doe around class. Harry could only imagine the rumors that might have caused, especially alongside his stag. He shuddered.

Speak of the devil… with a long-suffering sigh, Snape sat down next to Harry.

"Honestly, Pot- Harry. You're asked to survive by yourself for one class period, and this is the chaos I come back to?" Severus shook his head mock-sadly. "Honestly, is it so very difficult to manage mist instead of a full-fledged form? Now the Minions of Evil are never going to leave us alone. Or should I say, you." With a disdainful sniff, Snape opened his textbook the page written on the board and prepared to take notes, all the while ignoring the glare he was receiving from the technically younger Potter.

"Greasy dungeon bat. Greasy old dungeon bat. Hmph," Harry muttered under his breath, pulling his own textbook open and towards him.

"Impudent brat."

"Snarky snake-bait."

"Oooh, good one. I'm afraid to say that I'm failing to come up with a good one-liner that references Tommy's almost pedophilic obsession with you. Ah, well."

"Oh, you bastard. I'm never going to be able to face him again without vomiting in my mouth now."

"And fearing for your chastity, of course."

"I repeat: you utter bastard."

"Should not have used my death against me. You should have known you would not appreciate the concequences."

"You know, he did seem rather fond of you, too, Sevvy-Sev. All the chances to kill you, just in case you were a spy, offering to spare Mum at your request..."

"I might kill you. I mean, I might actually kill you."

"You know you love to hate me."

"I'm planning your demise as we speak, Potter. Would you like to see the graph?"

"Don't tease me now."

The two spent the rest of the class taking notes and sniping at each other underneath their breath although the insults given were more amusing than rude to tell the truth. It did serve to distract Harry from the animated conversation the Marauders were having with Lily and her friends, despite frequent reminders from McGonagall to "kindly shut up and pay attention!"

By the end of class, Harry had determined not to stress out about his patronus, as the only ones who could guess its significance were few and the rest were simply amazed that he was capable of the spell at all. So it was with a lighter heart that Harry followed Snape to the Room of Requirement after classes end where they were putting themselves through a strict training regimen. For Severus, he was mostly honing his young body in the skills he had acquired in later years, but for Harry, he was leading him through the exercises he should have received before ever going after the darkest wizard to grace their kind in decades. Severus was a bit put out to find that most of Harry's miraculous escapes had been essentially that: miraculous. Sure, Harry was a skilled amateur at dueling, mostly due to his ability to react well in a heated environment, but he'd gotten lucky a number of times and any one of those moments might very well have ended his life otherwise. Snape sometimes paled when he allowed himself to think about it. Severus consoled himself with the fact that the boy was shaping up well now.

While Harry and Snape were putting themselves through their paces, the dastardly schemers were meeting in the boys' dormitory, much to the indignation of the girls.

Lily studied the room with a touch of distaste adorning her features. Her emerald eyes lingered on Peter's bed in particular, where several candy wrappers could be seen on, around, and below. She grimaced at the evidence of crumbs in the messy sheets before turning steadfastly away. She noticed Remus' bed was tidy, much as she had assumed, but, rather surprisingly, so were James' and Sirius'. True, theirs were a touch less neat; a Quidditch magazine thrown haphazardly there, a rumpled shirt sticking slightly out of a drawer, but nowhere was it dirty. Lily was mature enough to admit that she was slightly disappointed not to have more to disapprove of in their corners, and resolved within in herself to try and not be so hasty in her assumptions.

"Alright, alright, alright," she said briskly. "I've got the hair. He didn't seem to notice anything odd when I stumbled near the end of class." She frowned slightly. "He was a bit eager to get away from me, though, so even though he was very kind helping me up, he didn't try to chat or anything."

"So?" James snapped, for all his good intentions not caring for the way she spoke of a guy that, let's face it, looked exactly like him.

Lily bristled. "It's nice to find a guy who isn't interested in harassing you every chance they get," she hissed. They glared at each other. Sirius and Remus looked at each other in vague alarm. Alice, Lily's friend, merely rolled her eyes.

"If you two are done making goo-goo eyes at each other," she said sardonically, "I thought we were here for a reason."

Sirius and Remus smirked when this caused both Lily and James to blush, even though Peter looked at Alice as though she had lost her mind.

"Right," Lily said apologetically, pulling something out of her bag. "I put the hair I managed to swipe off of his robe in this envelope. I looked at it in class, and we have two that still have the roots. So if I mess up the first potion, we've at least got a second chance."

Sirius breathed a sigh of relief. "Great," he said happily, only a little forced. "Well, since we're all shite at potions, I guess all you need from us at this stage is galleons and ingredients, right?"

Lily looked at him in astonishment before nodding.

"Alright then," he said merrily, "in that case, if you'll make a list of what you need, we'll see to acquiring it for you, ok? When we've got it, you'll be the first to know." As he said this, he was unsubtly herding the girls to the door, obviously eager to discuss something, minus their presence. With puzzled looks, the girls left, leaving Sirius to shut the door once again and spell it against eavesdropping and interrupting.

"Dude," he said to James, "that was Prongs."

Dudes! I'm alive! Anyways, sorry for the obscenely long wait :( One benefit of me updating different stories though, was that it helped me write slightly longer chapters, so, yay! :)

Alright, *Random*, *MaeSilverpaws1*, *Sheankelor*,*Cookiefan57*, aannndd, *Tianna M.V.A*, y'all are awesome and have my true appreciation! Thanks to everyone that reviewed ^ alerted/favorited! Y'all are simply fantastic!

Now, given that it has been so long, I do hope that you enjoy this installment and I hope to never have you wait this long again. I've been trying to get in the mode of updating more frequently, and so far it's been working. Now that my sister has decided to read my stories (she got tired of waiting for me to work on my original novels...) she's going to be badgering my into writing even more *sweatdrops* Anywho, hope y'all like it!