A week into October, due to all the inter-house unity going on between half the school, the house tables in the Great Hall were replaced by smaller tables. Students from different houses could sit together. The largest one was taken by Unity, who was quite happy to be able to sit together at mealtimes. Dumbledore announced that he was very happy that the four houses were getting along so well and the Founders would approve if they were here. In fact, the portraits of them had already expressed their approval. Dumbledore went on to add that the seating arrangements would stay this way in the foreseeable future, except at the beginning- and end-of-term feasts, which would revert to the house tables.

A week after that, Unity found out precisely why the third-floor corridor was out-of-bounds. The group had been working on Stunners and Disarming one evening in the Room of Requirement and completely forgot about the time. As a result, it was past curfew by the time they realized that they needed to head back to their dorm rooms. They could have asked the Room to provide beds and spent the night there, but none of them were quite comfortable with the idea of both genders sharing a large room together to sleep. So Unity split up and nervously made their way back to their respective common rooms, praying that they wouldn't be caught.

Unfortunately, the Ravenclaws ran into some back luck when they spotted Mrs. Norris. Knowing that Filch would soon appear if his cat was around to spot trouble making, they had quickly fled. However, Filch could be heard searching for them minutes later. Finally they found themselves in front of a locked door. Hoping that it would be a shortcut, or at least provide a hiding place from Filch, Padma whipped out her wand and said, "Alohomora!" The door clicked open and they quickly piled in. The Ravenclaws were just in time, for a minute later, Filch was heard walking past, muttering to Mrs. Norris about troublesome students walking around after curfew.

James heaved a sigh of relief, but whirled around when Mandy let out a stifled shriek. "Mandy, what's the -" His voice trailed off as he saw the cause for her shriek, a gigantic three-headed dog that was looming above them. The only reason it hadn't attacked was because their appearance had surprised it, but it looked as if it was recovering. Anthony and Terry were pale, and Su looked as if she was about to faint. "Get out!" hissed Padma to the others furiously. They hastily backed out the room, James dragging Su by the arm since she appeared too frozen with fright to really move. Lisa kept her head long enough to make sure the door was shut and locked behind them.

Terry shook Su on the shoulder and she snapped out of her fright to join the others in their run to the Ravenclaw common room. Thankfully they didn't run into Filch or a teacher. They skidded to a stop in front of the entrance, gasping for breath, and could hardly think when the knocker asked, "What is round and deep as a cup, but all the oceans can't fill it up?"

Finally Morag managed to recover enough to gasp, "A s-sieve!" They were allowed to enter and the eight of them collapsed on sofas and armchairs, trying to recover from their fright.

Morag was the first to speak. "Did you notice that the three-headed dog was standing on a trapdoor? It's obviously guarding something."

The others just stared at her. Ravenclaws were supposed to be more observant, but this was going too far in their opinion.

"How did you notice that?" Anthony demanded acidly. "I think the rest of us were too busy being occupied with the three heads, Morag."

Morag winced. "I happened to glance at the floor when we were backing out," she replied. "And I thought I asked to be called by my middle name of Isabel, since I hate my first name."

"Oh, sorry, Isabel, I forgot," apologized Anthony. "Well, if it's guarding something, what is it?"

The others shrugged, having no idea, and eventually they all went to bed, not having enjoyed the experience they had been through. The next day, they had told the rest of Unity about it. All they could come up with was whatever that was being guarded would have to be really valuable, very dangerous, or both.

Three days later, on Saturday, a very angry Sirius Black showed up at Hogwarts, followed by Remus Lupin, who was trying futilely to calm him. He marched into Dumbledore's office and shouted, "What were you thinking when you left my godson at the Dursleys like that, Dumbledore? They hate magic! And then not being aware that they wouldn't want Harry and would leave him at an orphanage! Now nobody can find out where he is! Granted, he's probably having a better life than he would at his relatives, but no wonder Remus wouldn't tell me anything about Harry until now, when he thought I'd fully recovered from my stint in Azkaban!"

"Sirius, calm down," said Dumbledore calmly. "The search for Harry Potter is still going on and he'll be found eventually."

"How?" demanded Sirius. "All the orphanages in Britain and Ireland have been searched and there is sign of Harry ever being at one of them!"

"Not all the orphanages have been searched," said Dumbledore. "Sunnybrook Orphanage hasn't been searched."

"WHAT!" roared Sirius. "WHY HAVEN'T THEY GONE-"

"Because I told the searchers that there was no need to go there," interrupted Dumbledore. "Four children from that orphanage are attending Hogwarts and would know if anyone matching Harry Potter's description was at the school. Two of them are twins, boy and girl, who are in their fourth year, and the other two are their younger brother and his best friend, who are in first year."

"Hasn't anyone questioned the best friend?" snapped Sirius. "He could be Harry-"

"Considering that she's a girl, it would be highly unlikely for her to be Harry Potter," said Dumbledore. "The best thing you can do now is join the search for your godson, Sirius. And I sincerely apologize for the mistake I've made. I should have made sure that his relatives kept him and would treat him well, or seen to it that he was safe elsewhere."

Remus leaned over to whisper in Sirius's ear, who then nodded and said grudgingly, "I'm sorry for yelling at you. We all make mistakes. Remus and I will immediately join the search for Harry. And you may tell Snivellus, I mean Snape, that I am - I am- "

"Grateful," inserted Remus, understanding that his best friend was having some difficulty over thanking Snape.

"Yes, that word, for turning Wormtail in to you when his house discovered him. I-I am in his-his-his debt," he choked out. With that, he fled the room, face red.

Remus bid Dumbledore a hasty good-by and hurried after his friend. Sirius was asking how to go about on the search when they bumped into three students who were clearly first years and two more that looked to be in fourth or fifth year and were twins. "Oh, sorry," said Sirius distractedly.

"Sirius Black!" exclaimed the first-year girl. "Mr. Black, what are you doing at Hogwarts?"

"I came to see Dumbledore regarding my godson, Harry Potter," answered Sirius. "And please call me Sirius. Mr. Black makes me feel old."

One of the first-year boys, the redheaded one, seemed to make up his mind about something. "Sirius, Mr. Lupin, could we talk privately to you? It has to do with Harry Potter."

James was rather nervous as the group entered an empty classroom and sat down. Stuart shut the door and Stella put a Silencing Charm on the room so nobody could overhear the conversation. "James, are you sure you want to do this?" she asked.

"Yes, Stella, I think they can be trusted to keep my secret," James replied. "Besides, they deserve to know the truth. Sirius, Mr. Lupin, I'm a Metamorphmagus. How I look right now is not my real appearance. This is." He concentrated and his hair turned black, his scar moved back to his forehead, and his features changed back to its usual look. "Please don't tell anyone about this. My foster siblings, Stella and Stuart Lydell, and my best friends Mari Kishi and Kyle Melling, are the only ones that know the truth about me."

"You mean you're really Harry Potter?" gasped Sirius, staring down at James. "But- why do all this?"

"I don't want to be the Boy-Who-Lived, with everyone being nice to me just because I'm famous. I'd rather have people like me for me and not because of a stupid event that I hardly remember and resulted in my parents' deaths. I was found on the doorstep of Sunnybrook Orphanage without a note and so the director, Mrs. Draper, named me James Evan Lydell. Odd, considering that my real middle name is James, and Evan is almost the same as my mother's maiden name. Anyway, Mrs. Draper couldn't come up with a last name right away, and Stuart and Stella, who were five at the time, decided that they wanted me to be their little brother and had my last name be the same as theirs. They realized whom I really was when they went to Hogwarts and told me and Mari. I decided to just remain as James Lydell, their younger brother, and discovered that I was a Metamorphmagus. Kyle, who was at the orphanage, but then got adopted, was told the truth after Mari and I were certain that he was magical too, which was when he got his Hogwarts letter."

"Don't worry, James, we won't tell anyone your secret," said Remus. "And please call me Remus. I'm your honorary godfather after all." Actually, what James Potter had said was that Remus was 'god-wolf', but he could hardly say so without having to reveal that he was a werewolf.

Sirius swept James into a hug. "I'm so glad to finally see you again! Your secret is safe with me. I'll go through the motions of joining the search for Harry Potter."

"Thanks, Sirius. Could you and Remus write to me and tell me stories about my parents? All I know is that my dad was pureblood, great at Quidditch when he was at Hogwarts, and his Animagus form was a stag, and that my mum was Muggleborn, was a smart and talented witch, and was Head Girl with my dad being Head Boy."

"We would be happy to," said Remus, smiling. James grinned and turned his appearance back to looking like the Lydell twins' younger brother.

"When your first-year is over, do you want me to adopt you, Har-I mean James?" asked Sirius anxiously. "Your parents said that I was to look after you if anything happened to them."

"I would like that, Sirius. The orphanage was a decent place, but it's not the same as a proper home with loving parents or guardians. But could you adopt Mari as well? I'm not leaving my best friend behind at Sunnybrook. It was bad enough when Kyle got adopted and had to leave me and Mari behind. And could you also adopt Stella and Stuart? The wizarding world thinks that they're really my brother and sister and it would look odd if they didn't come with me."

"No problem," said Sirius easily, quite relieved that his godson wanted to live with him that he was willing to agree to just about anything.

James and Mari exchanged happy smiles. Then James proceeded to tell Sirius and Remus some things about what his life at Sunnybrook Orphanage had been like, with some help from his friends and foster siblings. The two adults were relieved to hear that he had a happy childhood and other than the fact that he had never gotten anything new except on Christmas and his birthday (since the orphanage had to be careful how they spent the funding they got from the government and donations), never lacked for anything. Then the five went on to talk about how the year at Hogwarts was so far. Remus and Sirius were startled to hear about Unity, inter-house cooperation, and that there were decent Slytherins, though they were mostly limited to the younger students, since the older ones were too firmly ingrained in the views that their parents had taught them to really change now.

Finally the conversation ended as Sirius and Remus had to leave and James and his friends had to join the rest of Unity in looking up a person called Nicolas Flamel. It turned out that the three-headed dog, which was named Fluffy, belonged to Hagrid, and had been lent to Dumbledore to guard something. The five Unity members that had been visiting Hagrid yesterday pressed for more information, to which he crossly snapped was none of their business and was a matter between Dumbledore and Nicolas Flamel. Then Hagrid had looked furious with himself for accidentally revealing that name. Unity was now looking for Nicolas Flamel, since Mari was sure she had read the name someplace, but couldn't remember where. The only problem was that they had to use the library, because the Room of Requirement wasn't going to just give them the answer. According to Hermione, information, or rather answers, was one of the five things that fell under Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration regarding what couldn't be conjured.

Over the next week, James got three letters from Sirius, telling all about the Marauders and some of the things they gotten into at Hogwarts, plus a photo of a one-year Harry flying on a toy broomstick (a birthday present from Sirius) while his parents chased after him. Remus sent a letter that was mainly about Lily, since they had been prefects together, and a couple of pictures he'd dug up of the Potters' wedding. James reread the letters several times, and let his best friends and siblings look at the photos.

Halloween arrived and James enjoyed the holiday. In Charms, they finally learned the Levitation Charm. He got the hang of it after a few tries and smiled when Professor Flitwick complimented him and awarded Ravenclaw five points. James was quite pleased that he'd inherited his mother's ability in Charms and Potions, though he did wish he'd gotten his father's ability in Transfiguration, also. At least he'd inherited the Quidditch skills, even if he was a Seeker rather than Chaser like his father was.

The feast was great and the decorations wonderful. However, it was interrupted halfway through, with Quirrell running up to the staff table, his turban askew and a look of terror on his face. "Troll-in the dungeons-thought you ought to know." With that, he collapsed in a dead faint.

There was instant pandemonium, which ended only when Dumbledore let off a loud bang with his wand. He ordered for prefects to escort everyone back to their common rooms. This took awhile, since all the houses were mixed up between the many tables. During the confusion, Daphne remembered that Claire Harper had gone to the bathroom a couple of minutes before Quirrell had made the announcement. Susan sighed. "I'll go fetch her. She's in Hufflepuff, anyway."

"You can't go alone," protested Dean. "Not when there's a troll on the loose. I'll join you."

James and Mari then volunteered as well, and the four were about to set off when Claire turned up, a confused look on her face. "What's going on? Why is everyone leaving?"

"Oh, we were just about to go look for you!" exclaimed Susan. "Apparently there's a troll loose in the dungeons. Professor Quirrell reported it a few minutes after you'd left for the bathroom. The prefects are supposed to escort us all back to our common rooms. Come on, Claire. Let's go join the other Hufflepuffs."

Not long after everyone had returned to their common rooms, the rest of the feast was magically sent up to them. Half an hour later, the respective heads of house appeared and informed everyone that the troll had been taken care of. It had left the dungeons and had gone to a girls' bathroom. The noise of its ramage had alerted some of the teachers, who had then disposed of it.

The next day, Unity discussed how the troll had gotten in. Since Hogwarts had so many protective enchantments, the only logical conclusion was that someone had to have let it in. That led to the theory that perhaps it had been a distraction so someone could try to get past Fluffy, and that it possibly could have been Quirrell who let the troll in, since he was the one that had reported it. However, that was quickly dismissed, since Quirrell was scared of his own shadow and not really the type to do something like that. Since they couldn't come up with any other logical ideas, the matter was dropped.