A/N: Hello my dear readers, this is MrOakzzz, back with yet another chapter of Hidden Prodigy. I don't really have much to say before or after this chapter, other than that I hope you enjoy it and are still staying tuned for this story! Oh, and thanks to all those who reviews my chapters of course! =)

Disclaimer: Don't own this stuff. Never have, never will.

Chapter Sixteen: Confrontations

Sirius felt his heart beat faster and faster the closer he got to the Hospital wing. What would Harry look like? Would he look like James? Would he resemble Lily in any way? From what Sirius remembered, Harry had his mother's eyes and his father's haircolor, but at the age he had been when Sirius was imprisonned, it had been impossible to make out any lasting facial features. And how would he behave? Would he take after his mother's calm and collected personality or his father's stubborn, adventurous and reckless persona? They had been polar opposites ever since they had first met, what would that make their son? A studious prankster? A calm and collected git? No, none of those would go together. Harry would probably take after either of them. It just wasn't possbile to combine their two personalities into one. They had been too different, even though James had gotten calmer with the years and Lily had gotten more adventurous after spending too much time with the Marauders.

What about his upbringing? Perhaps that would also affect how he turned out as a person? Albus hadn't mentioned anything about his upbringing. Who had taken care of him? Sirius knew that after himself, the Longbottoms had been a close contender for godparents, due to Alice being close friends with Lily and Frank and James being at least somewhat close. But they couldn't have done it either. He knew that his cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange, had been thrown in Azkaban for torturing them to insanity. So who would have been next? Dumbledore? He had, after all, been the one the Potters trusted with their lives, enough to blindly rely on his judgement of the situation and take his word that hiding under the Fidelius Charm had been their best option. But that didn't make sense either. If Albus had been the one to raise Harry, then surely he would have told Sirius so during the carriage-ride to the castle.

Realizing that he was just about to enter the corridor that led to the Hospital wing, Sirius stopped for a moment and took a deep breath. He would get his answers soon. He would just need to ask Harry about it. Why was he feeling so nervous? It was just Harry! It was just his best friend's son and his own godson that he hadn't seen for 10 years and who probably didn't even remember him! Why would that make him nervous?

Swallowing harshly to try and still his nerves, he stepped out from behind the corner and faced towards the doors of the Hospital Wing. And was surprised to find that the corridor was occupied by a group of students. They didn't seem to have noticed him though, as they were deeply involved in a conversation between each other. Could they be Harry's friends?

Realizing that he had froze in place, Sirius shook his head to clear it of his not-so-well-organized thoughts and began walking down the corridor, towards the chatting group. As he got closer, one of them perked up and looked straight at him. The girl in question was without a doubt the shortest of the bunch and had a long mane of red hair. Strange, he was pretty sure someone else had managed to make that exact same first impression on him many years ago...

The girl settled her gaze on him and didn't move it from there as he got closer. One after one, the others noticed that the girl's attention had been caught by something and turned to see what it was. By the time Sirius had moved all the way down the corridor to stand just a few feet away from them, all of the students had turned to look at him. While Sirius had never found himself nervous in front of crowds, he couldn't help but feel a little awkward. It had been a decade since he had been stared at by so many people after all.

"Who are you?" one of them, a red haired boy, blurted out as soon as Sirius had come to a stop in front of them.

"Ron!"

Sirius couldn't help but grin at the boy's rude way of starting a conversation. It somehow reminded him of himself when he was their age. He had never been one for formalities and had rarely cared for manners. To be completely honest, he rarely did even to this day. Wait, since when did he tend to get sentimental? Damn, Azkaban really hadn't been good on him... well, at least he knew that the damned prison worked.

"I'm sorry to interrupt you, but you don't happen to be friends of Harry Potter's?" he asked as he did his best to put on a smile. He knew he probably still looked terrible. He had made sure to try and freshen up a little and change out of his prison clothes before he got here but 10 years of malnutricion and imprisonment wouldn't just disappear with a shower.

As the red haired boy who had spoken up earlier was in the middle of being reprimanded by one of the girls, a bushy haired young witch, it was the red haired girl who had reminded Sirius so much of Lily when he had first met her who took a step forward and answered his question.

"So what if we are?"

Hearing the suspiscious tone of her voice, Sirius couldn't help but grin a little. Yup, just like Lily. She had been the same when they had first been introduced and James had asked if she was a friend of Snivellus.

"I heard that he had been put in the Hospital Wing and came to see him." Sirius answered simply.

This apparently did not suit as a good answer. The girl in front of him didn't move to let him through. He noticed that one of the boys had begun looking at him with a frowned expression, almost as if he tried to remember if he had seen him somewhere before. Well, he probably had seen Sirius face somewhere if the Daily Prophet had ever posted a list of Azkaban's current prisoners...

"Why do you want to see him? What are your connection to him?" the girl asked.

Why was she being so suspicious? It wasn't like he had done anything to put her at unease, right? He looked over at the rest of the group in front of him and noticed that aside from the redhead, none of the others seemed to be suspicious. Well, except the darker boy who still studied him with a calculating look on his face.

"Ginny... Why are you being so suspicious?" one of the girls, a light blonde one, asked.

The redhead, Ginny, didn't answer, but kept staring suspiciously at Sirius. By now, the bushy-haired girl was done reprimanding the red-haired boy who had spoken up first and the two had joined the group of friends standing in front of Sirius. The bushy-haired witch was giving him a curious look while the boy, probably the girl's older brother, walked of to Ginny and laid an arm around her. The girl almost jumped at the sudden contact, not having expected it, and looked up at her brother's face.

"I can see why you are a little jumpy, Ginny, but I don't think this man means any harm." he said with a smile. "If he did, I doubt Dumbledore would have let him into the castle."

All the currently attendant witches and wizards, Sirius included, stared at the boy with surprise. Where did this come from? Just a moment ago, this boy had been just as suspicious as Ginny! Now he suddenly had completely changed his mind?

"I'm sorry about my sister. She isn't usually this jumpy. I'm Ron by the way. Ron Weasley."

A Weasley? Of course! That explains the red hair! And the tendency to become suspicious... These must be the children of Arthur and Molly Weasley! They had been part of the Order of the Phoenix during the last war. Not very active members, since they had been in the middle of building a very big family, but at least supportive of their cause.

"Don't worry about it. I take it you are children of Molly and Arthur?" Sirius asked, more to try and postpone the moment he had to reveal his name. He might have been released on trial, but that didn't mean that people knew of his innocence just yet.

And it seemed to have worked, because both Weasley children's eyes widened in surprise. Even Ginny seemed to have forgotten that he might "mean harm" to Harry. Sirius had to swallow to hold back a snort at the thought. He try to kill Harry? That just sounded wrong and ridiculus in so many way in his ears. But then, he was reminded that the entire wizarding world believed him to be a murderous maniac and suddenly the idea of him wanting to kill Harry didn't seem so farfetched... at least not from outside perspective.

"You know our parents?" Ginny asked, completely taken aback by the sudden change of topic.

"As a matter of fact, I do. Well, at least I did before I was thrown in prison." Sirius mumbled the last part grumpily.

Too late, he realized that he had said it a little higher than he had intended. Nine pairs of eyes widened in shock and horror and the darker boy, who had been studying him, suddenly pulled out his wand and pointed it at Sirius with an expression of shock.

"I knew I had seen you somewhere before! You're Sirius Black, the mass murderer!" he exclaimed.

Then a lot of things happened in quick succession. Two of the girls screamed in shock, Ron pulled his sister protectively to his side and Sirius suddenly found himself at the receiving end of no less than 8 wands. Stumbling back in shock and instinctively twitching his hand towards the pocket that usually held his wand, Sirius felt a cold fear spread throughout his chest as he realized something. He hadn't gotten a new wand since he was released yet! And no matter how basic a spell... multiply it with 9 and even the impact of the weakest tickling charm or whatever kids learned these days would hurt badly. And too bad for Sirius, these kids together knew a greater variety of spells than just the tickling charm. 'Oh crap...'

"Flipendo!"

"Rictusempra!"

"Locomortor Mortis!"

"Algacapillos!"

"Incendio!"

"Diffindo!"

"Expelliarmus!"

"Aculeus!"

-Z-Z-Z-

Harry's eyes grew wide as he effortlessly cast the Disarming Charm to make Severus' wand fly out of his hand. The man smiled at him and walked over to pick up his wand where it had landed. While he was doing that, Harry turned his wand in his hand in shock and amazement to try and figure out what the heck was going on. Normally when he cast a spell that required less energy, he had to give the task his undivided focus in order not to lose control of the magic. He had never even been able to use the Levitation Charm, yet it worked fine now all of a sudden. What could this mean?

"This is of course just theoretically, but we, Albus and I that is, believe that when Voldemort's wand reacted against Voldemort's magic within you, it triggeredsome kind of change in the way your magic is channeled. As you already know, you have somehow drawn upon your magic from two sources before this point, but that seems to have changed now." Severus explained his hypothetis.

No, Harry thought. That wasn't entierly true. His magic had come from two scources, yes, but it hadn't been channeled from two cores. The soulpiece had told him that while his second core leaked magic to the first one, it didn't actually channel his magic when he cast a spell. The only times when that core was actively channeling magical energy was when Harry drew upon... his dark sides and emotions. Bloody hell! He better learn some self control!

"I see." he said simply. For now, it was probably better not to worry anyone with the information that he had a part of Voldemort stuck in his head. That would just lead to trouble. Yeah, it was definetely better not to worry anyone.

Severus had just picked up his wand and went back to the bed when they heard a commotion outside the room. Harry, who now felt a lot better after the "Old Socks Draught" as he had come to call it in his mind, had began to take effect, sat up straight and swung his feet over the bedside. Both of them frowned as they heard a lot of voices shouting something, all different, before a loud crash echoed through the Hospital wing from the door. Both Harry and Severus frowned at this. After casting a glance at each other, Harry rose from the bed and both of them made their way over to the door to see what was going on.

As they opened the door, they found all of Harry's friends staring at a point furhter down the corridor, which was covered in smoke. Hermione seemed to be in a state of shock, Susan and Hannah looked straight down terryfied, Daphne and Tracey just stared at the smoking point, Blaise and Neville had their wands pointed towards something in the smoke and Ron had his arm protectively wrapped around Ginny, with his free arm holding his wand at the ready.

"What the devil's going on here?" Harry breathed in shock.

Upon hearing his voice, all of them spun around. Ginny's eyes widened and she quickly untangled herself from Ron's grip and ran over to Harry. Harry gave Ron an apologetic look, but his friend just shook his head. He knew that Harry probably instilled more safety than he did. Blaise turned to face Harry briefly, before looking back down the corridor.

"We got another criminal in the castle." he growled, still not moving his wand.

Harry raised an eyebrow in disbelief. Another one? First a troll, then a criminal and now another one? So, the troll could have just been an accident, and Pettigrew... well, he had been brought into the castle by them so that one was kind of their fault in a way, but now yet another criminal? This was getting ridiculus. Just what kind of security system did this school have?!

Severus however, quickly put two and two together and couldn't help but chuckle. His snort of amusement drew the attention of everyone present, including Harry, who didn't quite understand what was so funny. When Harry gave him a questioning look, all Severus did was pull out his wand and wave it towards the spot that was still covered in smoke, causing the smoke to disappear. In its wake, a middle aged man laid with his arms lying limp by his side. His legs had been locked together by what Harry assumed was a basic Leg-Locking curse. The man's hair had been turned to seaweed by what Harry recognized as the Seaweed-Hair Jinx that he had shown Ron in his book of Simple but Unnescesary Spells. He had a cut on his right shoulder and appeared to have been hit by a Stinging hex, if the swollen left cheek was any indication. To top it off, his robes had been singed by an Incendio, courtesy of Hermione.

Shaking his head in amusement at seeing his old school bully in such a state, Severus walked up to the man, who appeared to have been knocked half way to the afterlife by the barrage of spells that must have hit him.

"My my Black. And here I thought you used to say that I was the ugly one." Severus sneered down at the man, who was just starting to regain conciousness.

Sirius Black groaned as his blurry vision began to clear and he began to actually feel the terrible headache that had come when he hit the wall. He could see a man standing over him, but he couldn't make out any of his features. The voice sounded familiar, but he couldn't quite place it.

"Don't move." Severus sighed as he aimed his wand towards the man on the floor. "Finite Incantatem!"

With that simple spell, Sirius' hair turned back to its usual long, black color and his legs came apart. The Swollen cheek began to return to its normal size and the remaining flames from the Incendio faded.

"Vulnera Sanentur!" Severus whispered as he pointed his wand at Sirius' shoulder, which still had a small gash in it from the Cutting Curse, but now quickly healed itself.

Sirius drew a few breaths, trying to clear his vision, before he sat up and leaned against the wall. His head was throbbing painfully after that hit. No wonder, he had been thrown backwards straight into a wall of rocks from the power of all those spells. If he had just had his wand... But well, he hadn't had. And apparently even a group of kids could get the better of him if he was unprepared and on top of that was unarmed.

"Thanks for that." Sirius groaned as he looked up at the man who had helped him. And froze. He recognized that man! Well... not entirerly, but he definetely knew who this was! His hair was cleaner than he had ever seen it during their school years, his face had gained a little more color than it used to have and his eyes didn't hold the same, repulsive look in them that they always did when he looked at Sirius or his friends, but that nose... THAT NOSE!

His eyes widening in shock, Sirius jumped to his feet and took a step away from the man, who followed him with his gaze without saying a word.

"SNIVELLUS?!"

Severus had to grit his teeth to not give an angry response. Up until now, he had hidden his emotions behind a facial mask but upon hearing Sirius use that blasted nickname, he felt his already strained patience for the man become thinner. Swallowing to keep from growling angrily, Severus put away his wand in one of his pockets to try and show that he had no intention of fighting here.

"I would appreciate it if you did not use that nickname in front of Harry." he said and stepped aside so that Sirius could see the boy in question.

Over by his friends, Harry was staring in confusion at the scene in front of him. From the looks of it, Uncle Sev knew this guy. But it didn't look like they were the best of friends. And what was that the strange man had said? Snivellus? What was a Snivellus?

As Severus took a step to the side, Harry looked straight into the man's eyes. They looked... familiar somehow. It was as if he had met this man somewhere, sometime a very long time ago. When their eyes met, the man's eyes widened and he took a swift step forward.

"Harry!" he exclaimed.

Harry swallowed as he felt Ginny stiffen in his arms. Around him, he found that his friends all lifted their wands and pointed them towards the man in question, who had made an attempt to walk back up to them. Seeing the wands pointed his way again, Sirius froze and tentaviely took a step back again, not really too eager to get hit with another barrage of spells. Harry frowned at his friends' behaviour. It wasn't like them to just point their wands at anyone who came too close. Ron... well, ok maybe Ron would do something like that and he had a feeling that maybe Blaise wouldn't be above hexing someone who he felt threatened by, but the others definetely didn't strike him as people who would just draw their wand at someone without really good reason.

"Uhm... guys? What's going on?" he asked, trying to make any sense of this.

Blaise took a step forward and kept his wand pointly aimed at the man who looked from Harry, to his friends, to Severus and then back again.

"That man over there, Harry, is a feared Mass Murderer. His name is Sirius Black." Blaise said and Harry heard a collective, assent mumbling from around him.

"How did a mass murderer get into the castle?" Harry frowned. It didn't make any sense. If this man was so well known, then how come none of the teachers or Dumbledore himself had stopped him from entering the castle? And if that really was the case, then why had Severus helped the man regain conciousness and healed his wounds? They didn't seem to be the best of friends, but if Severus had thought that this man meant any kind of harm towards Harry, he doubted that the man would still be standing there.

Sirius looked over at Harry and bit his lip in frustration. He wanted to just walk over to his godson and embrace him in a hug, but he wasn't too keen on taking the risk with Harry's friends still on edge. But well, at least he couldn't complain that Harry had gotten the wrong kind of friends.

"Did Albus explain to you the circumstances under which Pettigrew was caught?" Severus walked up beside him.

Sirius turned to look at him with a strained look. Yeah, there was that one too. What was Snivellus doing here anyway? Why had he arrived here at the same time as Harry? Sirius had known that Snivellus had taken up a position of teaching here at Hogwarts just a few months before the end of the last war, but he had never expected him to still be here.

"No, we didn't talk much at all. I was kind of set on meeting Harry again." Sirius growled. "What's your deal anyway? From what I remember you never was this civil towards me and I'm pretty sure the dementors didn't mess up my memory that bad."

Severus gave a low growl at Sirius rudeness.

"For your information, Black, I am trying to remain civil with you for Harry's sake. I would appreciate it if you do the same."

Sirius turned around to look at Severus with a doubtful look on his face. Had he missed something? Since when did Severus cared what happened to Harry? What did Harry have to do with this anyway? That... that man hadn't even cared if Harry had been killed as a baby! He had been the one to sell out the Potter Family in the first place by telling Voldemort about the prophecy!

"Don't make me laugh, Snivellus!"

That was the last straw. Swallowing to keep himself from drawing his wand again, Severus grabbed Sirius' shirt and began to drag him down the corridor. Sirius yelped in surprise and once more he instinctively twitched with his hand towards his pocket before he remembered that he still didn't have a wand.

"Hey! Let go of me! Snivellus, I'm warning you!"

However, Severus ignored him and simply tugged harder on his shirt. They were going to Dumbledore's office. They had some differences to settle and he would prefer if they did not do so in front of Harry.

Harry saw Severus drag the man down the corridor and frowned, now more confused than ever. Beside, him. Blaise kept is wand trailed at Sirius for as long as he was still in sight, but finally let it drop when the man was dragged behind the corner by Severus. For a moment, no one said anything and all attention was left on the corner. Harry swallowed as he tried to make sense of what had just happened. He still couldn't shake the feeling that he had met that man somewhere before...

"Ehm... So, anyone know what's for lunch?" Ron's voice broke the silence.

-Z-Z-Z-

"So let me get this straight." Sirius rubbed his eyes, trying to take it all in." Harry have been living with the Dursleys of all people, and Snape here have been making visits to make sure that they don't treat him TOO BADLY?!"

With Sirius struggling it had taken Severus almost 40 minutes to get him to Dumbledore's office, despite it only being a 15 minute walk from the Hospital wing. Judging by the look on Albus face when Severus had knocked on the door and come in without waiting for an answer, dragging Sirius behind him, he hadn't been too surprised that the two of them had gotten off to a rough restart. They had now spent 2 hours retelling that story, from beginning to end, and put together the pieces from all their point of views. Not too surprising, Sirius point of view hadn't been too flattering when it came to Severus role in how the Potters had died.

"That about sums it up." Albus said as he leaned back in his armchair and watched the two men in front of him. While he hadn't expected the two of them to be best friends after all that happened between them during their school years, he had hoped that at least their hate of one another would have died down a bit over the yeras. Obviously, that had been a fool's hope.

Severus looked over at Sirius, silently judging the man's expression. In the last week, he had come face to face with the two worst school bullies he had ever met and had thought he would have never have to face again. But James had apologized to him and that was something Severus had never thought he would do, even if he was alive. If James could apologize, then why couldn't Sirius?

"Why was Harry sent there in the first place? From what I remember, Lily made it VERY clear in her will that she did not want Harry to be placed with the Dursleys!" Sirius wondered. He had been the witness to both the Potters' last wills that had been written shortly before their deaths. And Lily had made it clear that she did not want Harry to fall into the Dursleys care.

Albus sighed. He had had this discussion several times with Severus over the years, and he hadn't been the only one to question it. Minerva, Remus, even the Longbottoms before they had been attacked... the list could be made long. He looked over at Severus, silently hoping that the man would explain it to Sirius, but the potions master didn't even twitch his mouth to answer.

"Bloodwards. At the time, Harry was still a target for the Death Eaters and he needed the best protection we could provide. When Lily sacrificed her life to protect him, she gave him the ultimate protection from Dark Forces, but in order for that protection to last, Harry needed to grow up under the same roof as someone with the same blood as Lily. And, as you know, Petunia Dursley and her son are the only living people who in any way are blood related to Lily." Albus explained.

Sirius looked almost murderous and for a moment, Severus wondered if maybe Sirius would have been locked up in Azkaban for a right reason if Wormtail hadn't beaten him to the draw. Gritting his teeth in anger, the former Prisoner of Azkaban leaned forward and put his hands on each edge of Dumbledore's desk and glared at the man sitting behind the desk.

"So you decided to place Harry with his relatives for the sake of some bloody wards? Are you kidding me?!"

"Sirius, if you would just please calm down. Harry have been fine. Severus have kept an eye on them constantly and made sure they didn't abuse him in any way." Albus tried to assure the worked up godfather.

The Black Hier had to bite his jaws tightly together to not give a snappy reply to the headmaster. Bloodwards? Ok, so that was a pretty solid defense, but surely Harry could have gotten a decent defense at other places too? Like Hogwarts? The castle had nearly 10 centruries worth of the best wards and barriers that the Wizarding Britain could offer. Surely taking Harry to Hogwarts for protection would have been a better solution? Not to mention that IF someone had broken through the wards on Privet Drive, there would have been no second line of defense whilst there at Hogwarts would have been a handful of teachers and then Dumbledore himself to get past before they could get to Harry. Wouldn't that have served for an at least as good defense as the bloodwards at Privet Drive?

Severus studied Sirius from the side. It didn't take a master legilimens to see that Sirius did not agree with the way Dumbledore had handled the situation. It took everything he had for Severus not to chuckle. For once, they agreed on something. He wasn't too happy with Dumbledore's solution either, but at least he had gotten the Dursleys to behave somewhat acceptable towards Harry. Well, except Vernon but he hadn't expected a miracle.

"And why do you care so much for Harry, Sniv... Snape. You if someone really hated James and you even set Voldemort after him. Why would you care for Harry at all?" Sirius asked, turning to eye the man in question suspiciously.

For a moment, the two old classmates' eyes met. The former Slytherin's black eyes pierced the former Gryffindor's grey, almost as if the man was trying to burn a hole straight through the other man's head. It wasn't hard for Sirius to see the difference in Snape from how he had been before he had been thrown in Azkaban. That Snape had been sneaky, but overly impressive head on, but this Snape ravingly radiated power. Sirius almost found himself taking a step back. Almost.

"Do you remember when we first came to Hogwarts, Black? Lily and I used to be best friends."

He didn't get any further, because Sirius snorted at this and interrupted.

"Oh please. You're not telling me that you're caring about Harry because of a dead friendship are you? The two of you barely even talked after 3rd year and Lily didn't want anything to do with you after 5th. You're not saying you care for Harry because of that, do you?"

At this, Severus felt his blood boil and his hand was itching ever so closer to his pocket where he kept his wand. How tempting it was to just throw all caution to the side and hex Black into oblivion. He had learned quite a few nasty curses over the last 10 years that he would gladly introduce to the Black Hier! But he took one deep breath and forced down this reckless impulse.

"You're right, Lily and I weren't really friends after 3rd year and I got only myself to blame for my own stupidity regarding our friendship. But that is exactly the reason why I decided to watch over Harry."

The tention between the two grown up wizards was almost tangible. Their scowling faces were now only inches away from each other and both looked ready to pounce at the other at any given moment. Severus felt his hand twitch in anticipation of hexing the man who had caused him so much pain during his childhood, but forcibly swallowed down his instincts, while Sirius wasn't even trying to hide hi dispise of the man in front of him.

"And you expect me to believe that?" he growled.

"Frankly I don't care whether you believe me or not, but if you intend to befriend Harry you better remain at least civil with me." Severus retorted.

Albus watched the two men argue back and forth with a less than amused look on his face. By now, even Fawkes had found that it was impossible to sleep with this ruckus going on, and had come down from his spot on the perch to rest in Dumbledore's lap. The headmaster stroked the phoenix's feathers gently as he watched Sirius angrily reply that Severus was an arrogant git for "trying to poison Harry's mind" and keep him from his rightful godfather, to which Severus retorted that he was not interested in being Harry's godfather but merely cared for the boy's well being. Albus shook his head. They both behaved as if they had never left school. Apparently, so thought the portraits because Albus' could hear a lot of mumbling along the walls.

"I don't get what's your problem, Black! You're even worse than James!" Severus growled.

This caused Sirius to give a humorless laugh.

"Worse than James? In what way?! And since when do you find the decency to refer to him by first name?"

"At least he had the decency to face that he had done something wrong and apologize for it!"

Sirius had just opened his mouth to give a nasty retort when he suddenly froze. James had apologized to Snape? TO SNAPE? When had that happened? That was impossible! James had still hated Snape for all that Sirius knew before he had been thrown in Azkaban! Snape had to be lying! But why in the world would Snape defend James' honor?

"I think this is a good time to give you some information about what happened when Peter was caught." Dumbledore said.

Looking up at the headmaster with a confused look, Sirius noticed that the great wizard had rose from his seat. All eyes in the room, including portraits, were glued to Dumbledore as the man went over to his cupboard and opened it. Knowing what was to come, Severus took a step back from Sirius and tried to calm himself. He had lost count of how many times he had had to do that since meeting Black again, but it was probably more times than what was healthy for any human in such a short amount of time. Before Sirius could ask what was going on, Dumbledore returned to the master's desk with his pensieve. When he had placed it on the table, he looked up expectantly at Severus, who took a deep breath and pulled out his wand to give his own rememberance of the incident with Pettigrew, while Dumbledore himself began to extract his own memories of what had happened.

"During Harry's confrontation with Pettigrew, their wands locked together. Sirius, what do you know about Priori Incantatem?" Dumbledore asked while he placed his own memories in the pensieve.

Sirius frowned. What did that have to do with... anything?

"Not much, but I know it only works between two brother wands and that it can force one of them to show what spell it have cast and then the spell before that."

Severus couldn't help but sneer a little as he went over to empty his own memories in the pensieve. It amused him greatly to know that Black wasn't as smart as he wanted to believe, at least not in all cases. While Severus himself would never claim to be an expert at this particular phenomenon, that was more because the phenomenon itself was a largely unknown area.

"Then imagine what would happen when Harry's wand began to push Wormtail's wand back. Wormtail was using Voldemort's wand." Severus said, doing his best to sound too cocky.

Realizing what the two others were getting at, Sirius eyebrows shot up in shock and disappeared in his unruled, untidied hair. Pettigrew had been using Voldemort's wand? But if Peter had had Voldemort's wand for 10 years while he was hiding as a rat, then he wouldn't have used any spells, or at least not too many. And if no spells had been used since Voldemort had it, then...

"I see you are catching on." Albus noted, silently feeling relieved that Sirius and Severus no longer tried to rip each other to shreds. "Now, you will need to see this to believe it. Shall we?"

Shaking his head to try and clear it of the disturbing thoughts, Sirius slowly walked over to the pensieve. Upon receiving an encouraging nod from Dumbledore, he took a deep breath and bent forward and dived right into the memory. Not too long after he had landed, Dumbledore and Severus followed. When all three of them had landed, the memory began to play.

The scene started in the Gryffindor First Year Boys' Dormitory, when Severus and Minerva entered. Sirius gaped when he noticed the Marauders' Map in Severus hand and turned to glare at the man, but Severus quickly explained that the map itself belonged to Harry and that the boy in question simply had come to Severus for help when he had noticed a name in their dorm that shouldn't be there. That put Sirius at ease. Slightly.

They watched as the two professors disclosed Pettigrew and how the Memory-Severus grabbed the man and dragged him to Dumbledore's office. Seeing the fierce expression in the Memory-Severus' face, Sirius slowly began to realize that perhaps Snape really had cared for Lily after all. But despite the seriousness of the situation, Sirius didn't fail to notice that the insults Severus mubmled towards Pettigrew were also less than pleasant. He couldn't blame McGonagall for wrinkling her nose in disgust at Severus way of treating Pettigrew, even though Sirius himself proabbly would have done something similar or worse. Out of the corner of his eye, the man in question had his gaze locked on his memory-self. His expression was unreadable.

As the scene went on, they watched as the memory-Severus dragged Pettigrew into Dumbledore's Office and the ensuing discussion. None of them said a word, but seeing Severus' rage against Pettigrew for what he had done to Lily and James, Sirius began to realize that Snape really was different. He still wasn't completely convinced that Severus was a good guy, but at least he could see that he had changed.

"Better cover your ears." Severus suddenly warned as Pettigrew performed his Gale Curse and sent his memory counterpart and his companions flying.

Albus instinctively put their hands over their ears. Sirius frowned in confusion when he heard an almost animalistic growl from somewhere behind him and turned around just in time to see Memory-Severus point his wand at Pettigrew.

"Fulmenicos Extremos!"

A second later, the room was engulfed in a blinding white light that shook the entire tower. The roar of lightning caused Sirius to yell out in shock and try to cover his ears, but he was too late as the sound was already echoing through his head. His eyes widened as the realization of exactly how powerful Severus had become over the years sunk in. Suddenly, the power that had been radiating off the man when they had been face to face earlier made much more sense. He turned to look at the man in question, the back at the destruction the Bolt Curse had caused, and back again. Severus felt his gaze and turned towards his old nemesis.

"I told you to cover your ears." he said.

Normally, Sirius would have retorted with a snappy remark, but right there and then, he was too shocked to even think about it. Seeing Severus perform a spell like that, even if it was just a memory, made him realized just how much things had changed since he was imprisoned in Azkaban. Back then, Snape wouldn't even have dreamt of performing a curse like that. But that was then. The Snape that stood in front of him now was not the same that he had went to school with and bullied.

"You sure weren't joking about covering my ears." Sirius said. After the roar of thunder, his voice sounded strangely hollow and barely audible.

As they followed the memory when Pettigrew escaped the office, Sirius couldn't help but notice how embarrassed both Dumbledore and Severus seemed about this part of the memory.

"If I had just used a less draining Curse back then..." Severus growled.

"Don't blame Peter's escape on yourself Severus. I and Minerva could have been more careful as well. We all underestimated Peter's abilities." Dumbledore said as they followed the chase through the corridors of Hogwarts.

-Z-Z-Z-

During lunch, Harry found himself sitting at the Gryffindor table along with their entire group of friends. It was a nice change from the usual division between the houses. The Weasley twins had joined them shortly after Uncle Sev had dragged that supposed "mass murderer" away and even Percy had come to sit with them during lunch. The large group had attracted some attention from the other almost empty tables, but no one had commented on it. Apparently, Trace and Daph had both taken to spending more time with Susan and Hannah and even Blaise had been seen around the castle, though with Ron. Apprently, being a fellow supporter of the Chudley Cannons meant unity against all others. It was nice to see that they all got along, even though Blaise still seemed to be a little distant towards the others.

Harry found himself sitting between Ginny and Neville. It was good to see that Ginny seemed to get along with the others as well. Especially Hermione had been very friendly with Harry's best friend, but that might be because she had heard so much about her from Harry beforehand. And Ron... well, he actually did like he had promised. He tried to be a good big brother. Harry hadn't failed to notice that before he had come out in the corridor, Ron had been the one with the arm wrapped protectively around Ginny. It might not have been much, but at least he was trying.

"Oh, and before I forget Harry. I asked my grandma about Nicholas Flamel." Neville spoke up, about half way through the meal.

This caught Harry's interest. They still hadn't been able to find information about Flamel, at least not the information they sought. All they really knew was that he was a friend of Dumbledore's, a world famour alchemist and that he somehow was part of the reason why Dumbledore had seen it fit to keep a giant, three headed dog locked up in the third floor corridor. And that was technically the same things they had known about since before they began their research on the man.

"And, what did she say?"

Looking around to check who was listening, Neville leaned towards Harry so that only he would be able to hear. The others were all engrossed in their own conversations. Susan, Hannah, Daphne and Hermione were talking about something girlish while Tracey were engulfed in a discussion with Ron and Blaise, regarding their different taste in quidditch teams. Only Ginny seemed to be listening in on Harry and Neville, but she already knew about their search, so that didn't really do anything.

"She told me that Flamel's most famous work of alchemy is that of the Philosopher's Stone. Apparently, he is the only one ever to have been able to create such an object and is the only living person to own one to this very day!"

Harry frowned. The Philosopher's Stone? Hadn't Severus mentioned that thing once? If Harry remembered correctly, the Philosopher's Stone was a magical substance, said to be able to turn any kind of metal into pure gold and also be used to produce the Elixir of Life, which was said to make the drinker immortal. Well, immortal wasn't really the right word, because the person would need to keep drinking it in order to remain so. That, in Harry's mind, didn't make him immortal. It would simply prolong the drinker's life.

"I see... then do you think that could be what the dog is guarding?"

At the mention of the dog, Harry felt Ginny shift by his side and he turned to look down at her. She was giving him a very stern look and Harry had a pretty good idea what she was thinking. He was just glad that she remained silent. At least for now. They didn't need to attract unnescesary attention that they were figuring out the mystery of Fluffy.

"It would make sense, wouldn't it? If there is something in Flamel's possession that is important enough for him to come to Dumbledore and ask for protection, it would be the stone. If it's true that it can make any metal into gold, then he could probably buy the best possible wards and protection if it was just a simple case of someone trying to steal a normal thing from him."

Harry felt Ginny tug at his sleeve, but tried to pretend he didn't feel it.

"Indeed it does. So if we assume that it is indeed the stone that Fluffy is guarding, then what could be the reason why Professor Quirell is trying to... yaouch!"

Harry was broken off mid sentence when Ginny angrily stomped him on his toes. Sympathy for the boy who had just been released from the Hospital wing apparently did not exist in her world. Neville looked between the two best friends with a confused look on his face, wondering if it had been something he had said. Harry however, just shook his head and stood up before Ginny could assault his poor feet again. The others looked up questioning from their respective conversations when Harry rose, but he just said he wanted to have some time alone with Ginny before she had to go back home again. They seemed to accept that and went back to minding their own business, even though Ron took a little longer to leave Harry and Ginny with his eyes.

When they had made it out into the hall, Harry turned to look at the little redhead that had followed him out. Ginny's eyes were filled with worry and anger. For the first time since he had met her, Ginny looked really downright scared.

"Ginny, what's the matter? We were just talking."

When Harry spoke up, Ginny swallowed to try and find the words she wanted to say. But they seemed to get stuck in her throat. Harry studied her for a moment, then motioned for her to follow him.

"Let's go for a little walk then. Just talk when you're ready." he said.

Ginny gave him a grateful smile and the two best friends began to walk down the corridors of Hogwarts. After having spent half a year studying the Marauders' Map, Harry knew the castle better than any other first year student and probably better than most older students as well, possibly with the exception of Fred and George. They walked in silence, both thinking about what was soon to come; Ginny trying to figure out how she should say it without sounding too much like her mother and Harry, knowing all too well what Ginny was afraid off. He could see it in her eyes.

"What are you planning?" she finally asked.

Harry made a turn around a corner so that they were on course towards the astronomy tower. He had half a mind to show Ginny the beautiful view from the highest tower in the castle. If she didn't knock him unconcious and sent him back to the Hospital wing before that, that was.

"I'm not planning anything." Harry said, trying to sound innocent. He really did not plan on doing anything, but if worst came to worst, he couldn't just sit by and do nothing, regardless of what Ginny said. She was his best friend and the thought of going against her was one that pained Harry, but if he suspected that Quirell was about to steal the stone, then he wouldn't just be able to sit on the sidelines and let him take it.

"Don't play dumb with me, Harry! I know you!" Ginny growled as they began to climb some stairs.

It took a moment before Harry answered. By then, they had made it up the stairs and turned another corner. Ginny didn't seem to calm down at all as Harry postponed his answer. Quite the opposite. She had just opened her mouth again when Harry stopped and turned towards her. For a moment, their eyes met: emerald green against chocolate brown. As Ginny found herself lost in Harry's eyes, the boy in question grabbed her shoulders and took on a very serious look.

"Listen Ginny, I understand that you are worried after what have just happened and I promise not to get myself involved if things don't get out of hand. But surely you can understand that if worst come to worst, I can't just sit by and do nothing?"

For a moment, Ginny didn't say anything. She looked up into Harry's eyes, silently trying to come up with a way to deny him the choice of joining into whatever trouble would come if Quirell went after the stone. But she couldn't come up with any ideas. In the evening, she would be going back home with her mum and dad. And she wouldn't be able to hold Harry back if worst really came to worst. She swallowed hard as she saw for her inner eye Harry lying in the Hospital wing, knocked out from whatever Quirell could possibly do to him if he got in his way. She felt her throat constrict. Why did Harry have to be so damn noble? It was one of the qualities that made him who he was, more than anything, but right then, right there, Ginny felt that she would give almost anything to be able to keep Harry from interferring with whatever was going on around the stone.

Seeing a lone tear form in Ginny's eyes, Harry sighed and moved his arms from her shoulder so that she was engulfed in a hug. Ginny didn't hesitate to hug him back, clutching him for dear life, almost like she had on the station when the Hogwarts Express was about to leave.

"Damn you." she whispered against his shoulder. "Why do you have to be so damn noble?"

Harry couldn't help but chuckle a little at her words. It made him feel slightly bad to be the reason she was so cut up right now, but at the same time it made him warm inside, knowing that Ginny cared this much for him. It was hard to believe that this was merely the third time they actually met. Harry closed his eyes and leaned his head against the back of Ginny's head, taking in the scent of her hair. She smelled like wild flowers. Up until this point, Harry had never really been one to care about flowers, but suddenly he couldn't think of anyhting that could smell more heavenly. For a few moments, they just stood there, with Ginny having burried her face in Harry's shoulder, and Harry leaning his head against the top of Ginny's head.

"I really am not that noble. I just have a knack for getting myself into trouble." Harry whispered in Ginny's ear.

They broke away from each other and Ginny looked up at him.

"But you are Harry. Out of all the students present, you were the only one to draw you wand against Pettigrew when you recognized the danger he posed to you. And you told me yourself that you stood up against the troll because you couldn't let the house elfs suffer because you had turned your back and run. There are not many people who would do that, Harry." Ginny said, her eyes still glistening with unshed tears.

Harry felt his cheeks heat up a little at Ginny's words. To think that Ginny really thought so highly of him. He really wasn't that special. He just did what any sound person would have. Sure, none of the others had drawn their wands against Pettigrew but that could have been because they hadn't been as far ahead as Harry. If his memory wasn't messed up, then he had been a few steps ahead of the others when Pettigrew burst out of the castle. And during the troll incident, what kind of decent person would just turn their back and run when they knew other, defenseless beings would suffer because of their own cowardice?

"If you say so." he answered as he let go of Ginny and the two began walking again, down another corridor.

Ginny whined a little when Harry let go of her, but didn't say anything. Hearing the cat-like whimper, Harry smiled down towards his best friend and took her hand. Silence once more overtook them as they made their way towards the Astronomy Tower. Harry found that he felt strangely content just walking there and holding onto Ginny's hand. It felt so small and soft in his own.

"So how's Kurt doing?" he asked as he thought about the little kneazle kitten he had sent her.

By now, they stood in front of the long spiral staircase that would lead them up into the tower. Ginny frowned slightly, not recognizing this part of the castle. Well, not that she really knew the castle that well, but she couldn't figure out why Harry had led them up here of all places?

"He's doing good. It's been great having him around, I can't thank you enough for giving him to me." Ginny said as she looked over at Harry. Then, she giggled. "Though mum is still trying to figure out how to keep him from breaking into the cookie jar. No matter where she hides it, he always somehow finds a way to get to it."

This caused Harry to laughed. He vaguely remembered that being said about the little kitten in the catalogue he had used to order him for Ginny. It had been breaking into the cookie jar and chewing on people shoe laces.

"Haha, so he didn't let go of that habit then."

As they began climbing the stairs, Harry had to slow down his pace, as Ginny with her much shorter legs had trouble keeping up with him. She pouted slightly at having to be "babied", as she called it, but didn't elaborate on it. Now that she was alone with Harry, there was something else she had been wanting to talk to him about. But how could you say it? It wasn't that she was ungrateful, it was just...

"Harry? Why are you spending so much money on me? I mean, Kurt I guess I could understand but this..." she reached inside her shirt and pulled out the golden locket he had given her for christmas. "... was just a little too much."

Harry turned around to look at her. He felt himself grow a little anxious. Had he done something wrong?

"You don't like it?" he asked, swallowing to try and get rid of the lump that had formed in his throat.

"No! I-I mean yes! I love it Harry, that's not it but..." How could she say this without sounding ungrateful? That wasn't it at all. The golden locket was the nicest, most valuable gift anyone had ever given her, along with kurt. "It's just, it must have cost you a fortune. I'm not worth that much."

Harry looked down at her confused for a moment as his mind was processing what she had just said. Then, he couldn't help but smile.

"Ginny, to me you are really worth that much. You were the first person ever to become a real friend to me. You might not think much of it, but when you have grown up alone like I have, then that simple friendship becomes as precious as all the gold and jewels in the world."

Confused by her friend's declaration, Ginny stopped at the top of the stairs and just stared at him. What had he just said? It took a few moments for her to process what he had really tried to tell her, but when she did she felt herself blush red.

"You're making fun of me!" she accused and turned around to try and hide her blush, which caused Harry to chuckle.

"No no, I swear. I'm not mad enough to try that and risk getting Bat-Bogeyed." he said in his defense as he once again grabbed her hand and tried to pull her over to the window to show the view.

Ginny was about protest against his accusation that she would even consider shooting her Bat-Bogey Hex at him, but didn't get a chance as she was dragged over to the window, where she looked out and found herself unable to speak. They were up so high! In front of her eyes, the Hogwarts, grounds stretched out, covered in a thick layer of white snow. The Black Lake was no longer black, but white as it had frozen and been covered with the white powder.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Harry grinned as he saw Ginny's expression.

The red-haired girl couldn't do more than nod in agreement. She had never seen anything like this before. Sure, she had once dared herself to rise pretty high up in the air once when she was sneak training with her brothers' brooms, but this was something different. Back then, she had been tense and almost scared, but now she could just look out over the grounds and relax.

Harry watched his best friend while he thought about what she had said. She thought that the locket was a "bit too much"? To Harry, it hadn't seemed like much, but then again, he had to remember her family was a little worse off than he was when it came to money. But he really did value her that much, but perhaps he should tone it down a little from now on?

For a little while, they just stood there, looking out over the grounds, each in their own thoughts.

"I'm sorry if I made you think I didn't like your gift, Harry. I loved it. But the chain alone to that locket is probably worth more than all my other belongings together." Ginny said after a while.

Harry lifted his gaze from the grounds and looked over at his best friend. She had also turned to look at him. Once again, they looked straight into each others eyes. Seeing the softness in her gaze, Harry couldn't help but feel a little better about it.

"Don't worry. I'll try to think about what I buy in the future."

Ginny smiled at him and Harry grinned sheepishly. Thinking that what they had told as an excuse to leave the table wasn't really a bad idea, Harry reached over and pulled Ginny into a one-armed hug. Ginny leaned her head against his shoulder and sighed happily. She could worry about Harry's wellbeing and tendency to get into trouble later. Right now, she just wanted to enjoy the time she could spend with her best friend before she went back to the Burrow.

-Z-Z-Z-

Sirius sighed and rubbed his eyes. As soon as they had returned to reality after their little trip into Dumbledore's Pensieve, he had felt his knees buckle under him and had gratefully accepted the armchair that Severus had transfigured. What he had seen in the Pensieve was just oo unbelievable to be true, but he knew that it was. Those memories had been taken directly from Severus' and Albus' heads and even Albus could not temper with a memory in such short notice without anyone noticing. It had to be the truth. Peter had actually cast the Killing Curse towards Harry... the thought made Sirius sick to his stomach. How could Peter sink so low? And then there was that strange thing that had happened when Priori Incantatem had been activated... There was only supposed to be echoes, but to Sirius those had projections had looked more like ghosts. It had been a shock for Sirius to see his best friend and his wife again, but even more shocking had been the words that James had said to Severus, or the way Severus had acted when Lily had appeared.

From the side, Severus studied Sirius critically. He really hoped that the man could understand that he really wasn't the same, dark arts freak he had been while in school. He was different now and barely even touched the dark arts nowadays if he could help it. The dark arts had been the reason he had lost Lily. If he had just spent more time with Lily and less time craving the power the Dark arts offered, he might not have lost their friendship. Now, he wanted to stay in the light. He wanted to honor her memory and make sure her son lived a happy life.

Albus was also studying the two old nemesises with warry. These next moments could make or break their acceptance of each other, depending on what Sirius said next. The tention in the office as almost tangible, even the portraits didn't make a sound. After a few moments of deep thought, Sirius turned to look at Severus. The two old classmates locked eyes for a moment before Sirius finally spoke up.

"Well, I still can't say I am particularly fond of you, Severus, but I can see that you have changed from how you used to be. If James can find it in his heart to apologize to you, then I guess so can I. I'm sorry for bullying you in school."

Severus took a moment to consider his words. At least he wasn't hostile anymore. Severus had honestly not hoped for any better than getting rid of the hostility. After years and years of hate between them, it wouldn't just disappear overnight. But he hadn't failed to notice that, like James, Sirius had actually used his real name for the first time when he apologized.

"Back then, perhaps I did deserve it. I wasn't the most kind student either. We were both responsible for letting the situation become what it became." Severus answered, referring to the fact that he himself had rarely allowed James or Sirius to just walk past him without trying to hex them.

As he said this, Severus held out his hand towards Sirius. The former Prisoner of Azkaban stared at the hand, almost as if he thought it was some kind of joke. However, Severus was dead serious.

"But for Harry's sake, I am willing to let the past be just that, the past, and move on. So what do you say, Padfoot?"

Sirius was about to reprimand Severus for using his marauder name, something that he usually only allowed his friends to use, but then realized that Severus was trying to make an effort to make him feel more at home. By using his marauder name, he tried to show that he intended for them to from here on out meet at friendly terms and not as enemies.

"For Harry's sake." Sirius replied simply and took the hand to shake it.

It felt strange for both of them to shake hand over something. As far back as they could remember, they had never agreed on anything. Over by his desk, Albus was smiling as he saw two old enemies finally lay burry the battle axe and accept the other.

"Now, let's go get you properly introduced to Harry. I think he deserves to really meet his godfather." Severus said, though the lack of emotion in his voice hinted that he wasn't too eager to introduce the man to Harry.

However, this caused Sirius to perk up and grin.

"I couldn't have said it better myself." he said.

The two of them excused themselves from the headmaster, with Sirius promising to return later on so that they could discuss the details around how his trial was supposed to take place. And with that, Severus and Sirius left Dumbledore's office to go find Harry, so that the boy could finally be introduced to the godfather he never knew.

A/N: And there we got chapter 16 of Hidden Prodigy done! As always I hope I did good and that you readers still like me and my story after reading this. Now, I want to warn you that I got quite a load of school stuff to do so it might take a little time before the next update comes, but just know that I am not abandonning this! And once again, thanks for reading and don't be shy to leave your thoughts on the chapter in a review! Cya!