General Warning: Includes some mental trauma, and spanking, don't like it don't read it
Disclaimer: Don't own it
Boarding the train for his Third Year at Hogwarts, Harry overheard the hushed whispers that had echoed on the platform. Even Hermione and Ron seemed rather off with this new situation. After all the first escaped convict from Azkaban, extraordinarily terrifying to anyone with common sense which, of course, was what impressed Harry.
"What about this one?" Hermione suggested as they opened a compartment door.
Inside rested a rather worn-out looking man. At first they hesitated but when Harry sat down, all of them settled down.
"So," Ron started, "Who do you think this bloke is?"
Hermione sniffed. "He might be a new professor or perhaps Filch lost his job."
"I don't think Filch would ever lose his job, Hermione. He's probably a professor." Harry insisted.
"Well I suppose so," She shrugged before looking back at Ron. "So, what classes are you taking this year?"
Ron groaned. "We're not even at Hogwarts yet, the term hasn't started yet, and you're talking about classes?"
"Well why not! Classes are important you know!" Hermione huffed.
Pinpricks encased Harry as the air grew sharper and heavier. He rubbed his arms feeling the chill in the air. Both Hermione and Ron had also felt the icy draft as well as they both wrapped their arms around themselves. The door, thrown open wide, clattered violently as a ethereal dark being entered the room.
Harry couldn't stop staring at it. Nothing in his memories helped him recall what this was in fact if anything it darkened his vision.
"You're a freak! Bloody freak of nature, brat!" Uncle Vernon slapped his hand away from covering his bottom. "You turned your teacher's hair blue! Ha! You're a freak! A stupid, pathetic brat!" He spanked Harry's bottom as Harry's eyes pricked heatedly.
...
The dark haired man scoffed. "And you believe you're magical? You realize what happens to those with magic in our lands, do you not, Salazar?"
"Yes, Father," He nodded, "I'm well aware of the consequences."
"Then get out!" He yelled.
Salazar backed up at the sudden roar of his father. "Wh-what?"
"No child of Slytherin dares to be of that hideous monstrosities!" His father thundered, scowling at him. "You are no longer a son of mine! LEAVE!"
...
A woman screamed, the green lightning cutting off the noise almost instantaneously. The green blast grew larger and larger until
"Harry!" Hermione breathed out frazzled. "Are you all right?"
"Of course he's not okay, that thing did something to him!" Ron argued.
Harry started to sit up and only succeeded in leaning against the wall. The sleeping man from before had stood up while he was out of it, proceeding to fish something out of his pockets.
"Here." He pushed a wrapped candy into Harry's clammy hands.
Harry blinked, looking curiously at the man.
"It's chocolate," The raggedy man opened it and took a piece of it. "Totally safe."
"Thanks..." Harry nodded, taking a bite of the chocolate.
Hermione questioned with a slight shake, "What was that thing?"
"A Dementor," He answered, "A guard from Azkaban I'll be back, I need to speak to someone upfront about this." Then the stranger left the compartment and entered the hallway, leaving the three children behind.
"Harry, how are you feeling now? Better?" Hermione inquired gently, sitting down next to him.
He nodded. "I'm all right. This chocolate actually is helping right now."
"You sure, mate?" Ron questioned, "You still look awfully pale."
"I'm fine," He gritted. The bad feelings never left instead the horde of horrid, haunting memories stayed tight. Harry couldn't stop thinking about his father, or rather Salazar's father and his reaction to magic. He had been disowned. From what he recalled as Salazar being disowned was one of the worst things that could happen to anyone. And of course 'Ric didn't have to worry about being disowned, being the third son in the Gryffindor line.
They arrived at the castle a little later than normal but it made sense for them to. Both of his friends stuck to him like glue through out the majority of the feast. Finally they were able to figure out who that man was, Remus Lupin, their new DADA professor.
"Due to Sirius Black being spotted around Hogwarts and Hogsmeade, Dementors will protect us inside of Hogwarts." Dumbledore announced.
Excited whispers surged about, chatter sparking incessantly. Wide-eyed Ron stuttered before staring at Harry. "Sirius Black has been spotted around here? Why?"
The exact question that Harry wanted answered had been asked. Why would a convicted criminal hang around a children's school? With a grimace, he peeked over at where Luna sat and she gave him a slight wave and a smile.
Even with Hermione around with her nose ever in books, Harry'd have to take a chance and speak to his old colleague.
-Thisisalinebreaker-
"Hey mate, you got your paper signed for Hogsmeade weekends?" Ron asked the very next morning at breakfast.
Silently, Harry thanked him for acting oblivious for once. "'Fraid not, my uncle wouldn't sign it."
"Wahd!" Ron choked on a sausage. Swallowing it down after violently hitting his chest, he gasped. "But-but it's Hogsmeade, he has to let you go!"
"Look, I'm sure I'll be able to go next year or something." Harry shrugged, a half-hearted smile taking the place of a frown.
Ron shook his head. "But Harry..."
"It's okay, Ron, you just tell me all about it, kay?" Harry suggested. Nibbling away at an egg, he smiled as a rather lethargic Hermione slipped down right next to Ron. "Morning, Hermione."
She blinked before smiling at them both, "Good morning! Sorry I'm late, I stopped off at Professor McGonagall's for a bit."
"What our Hermione in trouble?" Ron laughed light-heartedly.
"I wasn't in trouble, Ronald!" She gritted her teeth before huffing an exhale and placing food on her plate. "Besides it was only about classes."
Harry blinked, "Classes? How many are you taking?"
"Oh besides the required, I'm taking Arithmancy, Divination, Muggle Studies, and Care for Magical Creatures."
"Bloody hell," Ron squeaked. "That's the whole of the extra classes!"
Hermione nodded, "I know that, besides think about how much I'll learn!"
"But you're a Muggleborn, why would you want to take Muggle Studies?" Harry questioned after swallowing a bit of sausage.
"But to learn about it from a Wizarding perspective, Harry? Just imagine it!" Hermione grinned, lifting her fork full of egg to her face.
Harry shook his head at his bushy-hair friend. Even back in Salazar's day taking so many classes was extremely irresponsible and the idea was positively absurd. Curiously, he pondered what Luna would think of Hermione's dilemma. In fact, he felt for certain she would at least drop one before the end of the week.
-Thisisalinebreaker-
Luna and he met at the Quidditch pitch that night, clear from wandering eyes and easily accessible to escape routes back to their dorm rooms. When he had arrived at the arranged time of twenty-hundred, Harry found Luna lying on a stands bench in the Hufflepuff section, third row up. Upon seeing him, she smiled, pointing at the constellations.
"Helga believed that late nights were ridiculous and more often than not the minute Venus rose up in the sky as it closed, she lay in bed." Luna tilted her head to look at the scrawny young teenager in the dark.
"You made it." He stated, resting on the bench above her.
Luna nodded. "When that many Wrackspurts swarm around than of course I did."
"I'm sorry it had to be at night, but I felt that Ron and Hermione would suspect even more if we continued in the daylight."
"You wish to ask about the prisoner." She whispered softly. As Harry watched her, her eyes glazed over, a look often used when she, or anyone of them, was far off.
Harry nodded. "Yes."
"Actually a basket covers a candle, leaving things in the dark. But this basket has bricks on top of it, 'Zar." Luna faintly hushed.
"I did not come for a riddle," Harry gently grasped her shoulders, "I came for the ancient knowledge of Ravenclaw, my dear."
Luna somberly spun around and frowned at him. "I gave you your answer, now what will you exchange for it?"
"Perhaps a little something," Harry admitted lamely after careful consideration.
"Do you even know who you are?" Luna inquired, her lips drawing a thin line. "Who are you? Answer me that and I'll help you more."
Suddenly his mouth went dry and when he tried to swallow, his throat clenched. No words would form in his mouth. Harry groaned inwardly. Did he not deal with this after the Basilisk incident last year. After all with memories of Salazar and the life of Harry, was he not Salazar living Harry's life under his name? Oh-or...Outwardly Harry's face ashened and cold sweat dabbled at the roots of his messy, black hair.
A quiet overwhelmed the arena. Harry dropped his hands from her shoulders and turned his back towards her. Neither spoke a word nor did the two move lest the silence be disturbed. Horrendously, a chill permeated the air. The two of them cautiously vanished underneath the stands, breath held tightly.
"Quick, get under this!" He hissed into her ear as he slipped out his handy-dandy Invisible Cloak. Together they vanished under the cloth. They raced under the stands towards the end of the field, all the time, unsure if the dementor would catch them or not.
Luna lightly gripped onto Harry as he led them out of the Quidditch field and into the castle. Turning down a dark corridor towards the Ravenclaw Tower, Harry stopped behind a wall. Once the coast appeared clear, Harry pulled the cloak off of both of them.
With almost careless grace, Luna pecked his cheek. "Be wary of Blibbering Humdingers, they'll like to make you forget."
Easily, she drifted off from him before he knew it. Gone was she, the questioner, the wisest of the Hogwarts Four and with her his answers. He sighed. Somehow Luna managed to evade him once again and with a simple question that he could not answer. Fist clenched pale and a knuckles red only a moment later, Harry groaned quietly. Still no answers.
-Thisisalinebreaker-
The unsympathetic drawl of Professor Severus Snape darkened the dungeon classroom as if it wasn't dank enough. Harry scowled as he added the powdered beetle's shell to the potion, stirring clockwise twice before reading the next instruction.
"Ah yes, Mr. Potter," Snape frowned, peering at his potion. "Did you not read the recipe on the board? I do not recall beetle's shell as part of the recipe, rather instead beetle's wings. Ten points from Gryffindor!"
Wisely enough, Harry refused to talk back, yet Ron did not show this same courtesy.
"So would crushing shell instead of wings change the potion by much? " Ron sneered back.
Snape scoffed. "Fifteen points for your impudence, Mr. Weasley! I had believed I made each and everyone of you write an essay on the effects of the beetle in potions!"
"Oh yeah well-!" Ron stumbled back, glaring in every which direction at who had silenced him.
Hermione grumbled out a short, "Shut up, Ronald."
"A Weasley that needed Silencio? Well that's a new one." Malfoy snickered in the back with his cronies after Snape had walked out to deliver something.
"As if you don't need one?" Harry glared at the blond heir. "It almost seems to me that Slytherin has drifted far from the ideal of ambitious and cunning students to lowlife bullies."
Malfoy snarled, "How dare you mock the great house of Slytherin! It's far superior to Gryffindor in every way!"
Harry tightened his grip on his potion handle and narrowed his green eyes. It took everything in him to turn around and smirk without grimacing.
"And how is Slytherin better Gryffindor?" Harry barked at him. "To me the only difference is Slytherins are quieter and far more sneakier than Gryffindors who are loud and brash. So when you boil it down, what's the difference?"
With a hidden sigh, he turned from the dumbstruck class and back to his potion, eager to finish it before Snape returned. The potion sizzled and bubbled as he stirred in mashed duck lungs and started to pour in a concoction of sludge.
-thisisalinebreaker-
Boggarts, today of all things was boggarts, creatures that feed off of the fear emitted by a wizard. Harry felt the goosebumps skirt up his arms.
Now Harry liked Professor Lupin. The man was far more competent than the past professors and he made DADA far more intriguing. It almost felt as though all the students actually wanted to learn Defense for real.
But Boggarts were something he hadn't wished to tackle quite yet. Especially considering he hadn't been able to answer Luna's question.
"In this cupboard is a Boggart." Lupin explained. "Now I have had you read up on them and write an essay on them, so you should all be aware that they are extremely dangerous. Now then, the spell that allows us to beat a Boggart is Ridikulus. Repeat after me, Riddikulus!"
"Riddikulus!" The class responded back.
Lupin nodded approvingly, "Now say it one more time and remember, and when you see a Boggart, think of something funny."
Once more the class answered, "Riddikulus!"
"All right then, I'm letting the Boggart out." The cupboard door gave a slight popping noise as it unlatched and creaked open as the Boggart pushed out of it. A round white thing at first until it started to change into Snape, glowering at Neville.
"R-Riddikulus!" Neville shouted, jutting his wand out at the Boggart Snape.
Boggart Snape looked around him as his clothes changed into something an old lady would wear, complete with the large hat and the carpet bag. Laughter bellowed in the classroom, as all the students found it amusing on some level.
Snarling, it locked eyes with another student, Hermione. it's shape morphed into Professor McGonagal.
"You received all Trolls on your OWLs, Ms. Granger." Professor McGonagal chided with her finger shaking at her.
Hermione cowered while the others laughed. With a growl, Harry got in front of her and watched with a morbid fascination as it transformed into his father. The green-eyed man glowered disapprovingly at him. The silver streaks that marked his sleaked down black hair only added to the intimidation of age that shook Harry to the marrow.
"You dare mar the family name! You are a fool if you believe that I would allow you and that miscreant roam around with some foolhardy idea." He barked. "I can and I shall ruin you, S-"
"Riddikulus!" Harry shouted, as the image of his father donned his Aunt Marge's large dress. Instantly, the boggart tranfigured itself into an image of Godric. The giant man, with beard and all, snorted roughly at him. Godric began to shout, his volume raising all the while for everyone to hear.
'Ric grimaced at Harry. "You and your ideals left me to rot! And oh no that's not all but you, the one we all thought was the one to know who he was has no idea who he is! YOU! You're WORTHLESS! YOU DONT EVEN HAVE A PROPER NAME! YOU ABANDONED ME!"
"Ri-Ridiku-" Harry stuttered out, chills dragging him down in waves.
"Ridikulus!" The image of Godric shrieked as it began to sprout flowers in its beard and all where hair meet skin. Harry widened his eyes at the sight of a pale Malfoy pointing his shaky wand at the Boggart.
Shrieking, it started for Malfoy, melting away into another form. What truly surprised him was...Oh sweet Circe, Harry openly gaped at the form of another red-head, with only slight stubble this time and deep brown eyes, a color only rivaled in...
"Hullo," The form smirked. "I see you haven't changed at all. You're still the same lion as yesteryear."
"I am no Lion!" Malfoy snapped at the ghost from the past.
"Riddikulus!" Professor Lupin shouted, moving the boggart into the cupboard.
Instantly the class erupted into conversation as the locked-in boggart couldn't hurt anyone anymore. Harry slumped down into his seat and stared listlessly at the wall, ignoring most of his peers. With glazed-over eyes, he continued to look at the wall as his heart pounded relentlessly inside him.
"-Ry?" He blinked at the sudden images of Hermione and Ron watching him concernedly.
Hermione continued, "Are you all right? That Boggart said some nasty stuff."
"I-I'm fine, Hermione, just tired." Harry wearily smiled at her.
Ron snorted. "Mate, you're tired but not sleepy-tired."
"I'll be fine by Quidditch practice, trust me." Harry eased patiently.
"Just remember, Harry," Hermione frowned. "We're here for you no matter what."
Harry nodded. "I know."
"Class! Class!" Professor Lupin shot a small spark from his wand and the class quieted down immediately. "I would like a seven-inch essay on the effects of the Riddikulus spell and bonus if you come up with ideas for dealing with Boggarts. Class dismissed."
The class began to filter out of the room when he called out, "Except for you Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Potter."
The Gryffindor and the Slytherin glared at one another before waiting in front of the DADA Professor's desk. Professor Lupin in turn circled the desk around front and leaned against its frame. Harry shifted his weight before he even dared to look into Professor Lupin's eyes.
"Are you two all right?" He asked quietly.
"I'm fine, Professor, but I assure you, my father will be hearing about this!" Malfoy hissed. "Teaching a practical lesson on boggarts, endangering students."
Harry snorted. "And since when have you cared about students being endangered? Seems as though you almost preferred the risk and the danger."
"As though you're one to talk, Potter." Malfoy rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "And what's with your boggart? You afraid of disappointing someone? Of abandoning someone?"
"Yet you helped out, Malfoy! What's with that?" Harry shot back.
Malfoy narrowed his eyes. "You obviously couldn't do it yourself and someone had to do it."
"Why are you afraid of being a lion?" Harry questioned. "You're all ready a slimy snake."
"You think you're so smart, Potter, but you're not!" Malfoy shouted.
Professor Lupin interjected. "Boys!" They fell silent within a few seconds. "I didn't call you here to have you fight, I just wanted to make sure both of you were all right."
"I'm fine, Professor," Harry offered lamely.
Malfoy shrugged out a response.
"Come see me later if you ever need anyone to talk to for any reason." Professor Lupin smiled dimly at them both. "You may go now."
Grippin his book bag tightly, Harry strode out of there without looking back to see his Professor's sad face. Of course he wasn't alone, Malfoy walked beside him in quiet stillness. Almost as if they were getting along, or at least that would be how the outside observer would see them.
Harry glanced over at Malfoy and sighed. "What is it."
"They were brothers weren't they?" He chewed on his lip without looking at Harry.
"Who are?" He blinked in realization. "The boggarts in the class?"
Malfoy rolled his eyes. "No, I meant the two nonexistent people we just spoke to, of course the bloody boggart! Now who the hell were they!"
"...Shouldn't you at least know who yours was?" Harry flatly asked.
"Of course I do!" He growled out, before sighing. "Who's his brother?
Harry stopped and stared at Malfoy. "...Why do you want to know who the brother is, if they were brothers?"
"I don't know, Potter, just tell me!" Malfoy paused alongside him.
Neither spoke for a while. Standing there in the abandoned corridor, silence acheived an intimidating air. Malfoy failed to even glance in his direction, only gazing at the stone floor. Of course Harry, Harry shook his head and sighed. His throat clogged up but he cleared it as quietly as he could before beginning.
"That was 'Ric. He...he was my best friend, I suppose." Harry ran his clammy hand through his ever-ragged hair. "But that shouldn't matter now."
Malfoy searched him with his silver eyes. The quiet returned only it was a different sort of quiet. Those silver eyes watched him, checking the chinks in his metaphorical armor before the boy vanished down the next right corridor for his class.
Harry dropped down by the wall and hung his head between his legs. First Thane Slytherin and his accusation, then Godric practically crushing him with a few simple words, Professor Lupin and his 'staying-after-class', and the worst was having to explain or evade the conversation with Malfoy. Throwing his arms over his head, he crouched further down and narrowed his green eyes. Why would Malfoy of all people know of Varrick Gryffindor, and why would he be accused of being a lion the same as...?
His head almost collided with the stone wall as it shot up in realization. Right now he needed to pull a Hermione and a Rowena and get to the library before anything else popped up and it was too late.
-thisisalinebreaker-
The light of the moon found no shadow on the floor of the Restricted section other than that of a few books and two hands. An invisible Harry crouched over the books with a frustrated air as he threw the last book down to the ground before leaning back to expose himself. Nothing in the Restricted section helped him figure this out and there was absolutely no way that Hermione or Luna were going to find out about this notion.
He pulled the hood over his head as Harry stood up. Picking up the books, he placed them on their respective shelves and darted away.
For some reason the Restricted section always seemed easy to break into, or rather it was the easiest out of all restricted areas. So much for secret knowledge as Rowena had placed them under heavy wards so as to stay away students without permission. Harry thanked whatever luck he had that his Invisible cloak slipped clean through those wards. He shrugged off the anxiousness that settled in his chest at the display of Rowena's original wards. Over the years they had fallen to decay and the newer ones did nothing in comparison.
His heart ached and his gut churned at the thought of his old friends back when he was 'Zar. So far he knew that Rowena had followed him to this new age as Luna, still mysterious and enigmatic as before, but the possibility of either Helga or Godric or even Varrick would be something worth the loss of sleep. Far too many unknown factors, just as with Professor Lupin and this Sirius Black character, and Harry hated that.
A sigh and a chuckle escaped him as he realized that his bookish friends were rubbing off on him and he couldn't escape this time. At least this time, Godric and Varrick wouldn't tease this new development, though even that would be something akin to familiarity and a homeliness to fill the hole that even Hogwarts sentient magicks could not fill.
So things are picking up some steam. Draco, Remus, Harry, hmm...I wonder what exactly you guys think is going to happen. Well longer update next time!
R&R