Chapter 4: Philosopher's stone part 2
James and Lily stood in each other's arms in the kitchen. Finally Lily moved away and started fixing some food for the hungry boys that waited in the front room.
Hermione was sitting in an armchair grinning as Sirius and Remus played exploding snap. It had already blown up in Sirius' face twice, but the silencing charm around the room meant that the cards didn't wake the sleeping Harry.
"So what house did you sorted into Minny?" Sirius asked.
"Gryffindor. Although the hat did consider putting my in Ravenclaw." Remus smiled at her.
"No surprises there." Sirius grinned. Hermione blushed. It was strange seeing him this carefree and lively. He also didn't have the gaunt, unkempt look that Azkaban had given him. "Have I got something on my face?" Sirius added. Hermione realised she had been staring.
"Yep." She said to cover the moment. "A giant spot, right…" She tapped his face with her wand. "There." Sirius jerked backwards, knocking over the cards which exploded and Remus fell off his chair, laughing.
"What are you buffoons doing?" Asked James as he came into the room. He saw Sirius on the floor with a huge spot on his nose, in a pile of exploded cards, Hermione and Remus laughing their heads off. He burst out laughing and sat down on the spot Remus had just vacated. "That's a good look Padfoot." He grinned.
"Shut up Prongs." Sirius growled trying to remove the spot. He had no luck. "Minny, get this off me." He complained.
"But you so look good." She giggled. Sirius watched her giggling in the chair for a second and started chuckling himself. Finally Hermione calmed down enough to use the Counter charm and get rid of it. Sirius dashed to the mirror to check that she had really got rid of it. While he was gone, Lily came in with the food. James and Remus made straight for her.
"Ladies first." She said, offering the plate of sandwiches to Hermione. "If you want anything take it now, those three don't ever stop eating." Hermione laughed, reminded of Ron, and took a sandwich. Lily took one herself and left the plate to the boys. By the time Sirius came back most of it was gone.
"You started without me." He griped.
"Well we wouldn't have done if you weren't so vain." James grinned.
"Hypocrite." Lily muttered.
When everyone had finished, they sat back down and looked expectantly at Hermione.
"So, we had just arrived at Hogwarts. Professor McGonagall gave us the speech about our houses being like family and told us about each house. Ron was being stupid and telling Harry that his brother had said there was a test. Wrestling a troll I think Fred told him."
The marauders burst out laughing. "Don't tell me Ron believed him?" Remus said, shaking his head.
"I think he did."
"Wow. Even I knew that wouldn't happen." Lily said with a smile.
"Yeah Snivellus told you what happened." Sirius sighed.
"He didn't know either." Lily snapped.
"The ghosts gave us a bit of a fright when they first came through the wall." Hermione started again to avoid argument. "McGonagall came back to take us to the sorting. The hat did it's song and we got sorted. I got put in Gryffindor." Hermione smiled. Everyone cheered. "Then it was Harry's turn. The hat told him he would do well in Slytherin."
"What?" Yelped James. "My son would not do well in that bunch of scumbags."
"James!" Lily said. "They aren't all bad." She said. Or they weren't always bad, she added in her head sadly. Sirius snorted.
"Anyway, in the end Harry said he didn't want to be in Slytherin and the hat put him in Gryffindor."
They boys all cheered.
"The hat let him choose?" Lily asked, wide-eyed.
"Our little Prongslet is special." Sirius grinned.
"Of course he is." James beamed proudly.
"Then Ron got put in Gryffindor too. He wasn't too happy that I was because he thought I was bossy and a know it all." Hermione grinned.
"And were you?" Remus asked with a grin.
"Maybe a little bit." Hermione confessed, blushing slightly. "Anyway, Dumbledore's start of term speech was 'Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!' So we all thought he was mental."
The boy and Lily all laughed at this.
"He is off his rocker. A genius but mental." James chuckled.
"The food was amazing, and we met Nearly Headless Nick. That was fun. During dinner Harry had been looking at the teachers and when he looked at Professor Snape."
James and Sirius spluttered and looked horrified. "That it became a teacher." James managed to say.
"No need to call him a git." Lily sighed.
"But he is." Sirius said.
"And Harry's scar hurt." Hermione continued.
"What did he do to him?" James scowled.
"His scar hurt?" Asked Remus at the same time.
"Yes, Harry's scar hurt when Voldemort was close by or feeling strong emotion." Hermione explained.
"But Voldemort was supposed to have gone." Sirius said, looking confused.
"He came back you moron." Lily said in exasperation.
"Oh."
"Why when he looked at Severus?" Asked Remus.
"That is explained later."
"Minny!" Groaned Sirius.
"Once we finished eating Dumbledore gave his warnings. No Forbidden Forest and such like. Then he said the third floor corridor was out of bounds."
Everyone looked at her in surprise.
"We sang the Hogwarts song, and went off to bed. The next day, Harry was haunted by people staring and whispering. The famous Potter finally in the wizarding world. Our lessons were really interesting. Until we got to potions. Snape hated Harry with a passion."
"That slimy git." Sirius growled. James was furious that Snape took out his hatred of James, on his son.
"How dare he. Our argument is between us, my son is not involved." James spat. Hermione looked at him sadly. She couldn't explain that it was also the fact that Harry was James' son with Lily.
Lily just stared sadly at the ground. She had hoped her friendship with Severus meant more than that. Harry was her son too.
"Hagrid invited Harry to come down to his hut for tea that day, so he did have something to look forward too. But when we arrived Snape started talking about 'Our new celebrity.' And asked him questions that we didn't learn until second and third year."
"Talk about abusing his power." Remus said in disgust. "Trying to show Harry up."
"I'm going to have a few words with dear old Snivellus." James scowled.
"No James, he hasn't done anything yet." Lily said.
"Later that lesson, our friend Neville managed to melt his cauldron and Snape took a point off Harry for not telling Neville to add porcupine quills."
"But that's not Harry's fault." Sirius growled again, sounding more like a dog than ever.
"So after that lesson the boys went down to Hagrid's. They met his boarhound Fang, who is one of the softest dogs ever. Though he has a very loud bark. They had Hagrid's rock cakes."
All the boys winced.
"They learnt the hard way not to eat at Hagrid's then." Chuckled Remus.
"Yes, we do avoid eating where possible." Hermione grinned.
"We did too." Sirius smiled at her.
"Ron was talking to Hagrid about his older brother Charlie who works with dragons in Romania, while Harry read a news article that was on the table. It was about a Gringotts break-in."
Everyone gasped.
"How is that even possible?" Lily whispered.
"Dark magic." Hermione said.
"But even so, that has to be nearly impossible." James was gazing at her, wide-eyed.
"Yes, the person wasn't even caught." Hermione carried on. "But nothing was stolen, the vault had been emptied earlier that day."
"The package that Hagrid picked up." Sirius suddenly said.
"What?" James asked.
"Hagrid emptied a vault with Harry, a small package. That is probably what they were after." He explained. Hermione beamed at him and he knew he had it right. Not that it seemed important when she smiled like that. He shook his head and motioned for her to carry on.
"Harry questioned Hagrid but got nothing out of him. Although Hagrid's suspicious behaviour tipped Harry off that it was indeed what Sirius said, stolen from the vault he had been to."
Sirius smirked. "See, I am smart."
"It's a miracle." Lily grinned.
"Hey!"
"Padfoot, she didn't deny you were smart. From Lily that's the best compliment you are going to get." James laughed.
"Next, was our flying lesson, with the Slytherins." Hermione said.
"Flying? Awesome." James grinned.
"Everyone was talking about flying, and, well, I tried to learn how to fly by reading." Hermione blushed.
They boys all laughed but Lily gave her a sympathetic smile, having tried to do something similar herself.
"At breakfast our friend Neville Longbottom got sent a remembrall, but Malfoy came over and nicked it."
"Slimy, little…" Sirius scowled.
"But Professor McGonagall came over and he gave it back. Then we went to flying. She made us hold our hand over the broom and say 'up'. Harry's jumped straight into his hand."
"That's my boy." Beamed James.
"However, Neville took off too early and fell off his broom. Madam Hooch had to take him to the hospital wing. So naturally, Malfoy stared making fun of him and picked up the remembrall Neville had dropped. Harry jumped in and told Malfoy to give it to him. Obviously Malfoy didn't and he flew off with it."
"Oh no." Sighed Lily, guessing what happened next.
"So Harry jumps on his broom and flies off after Malfoy."
"But, that was his first time on a broom." Gasped Remus. Hermione nodded.
"Anyway, he told Malfoy to give it to him but Malfoy threw it into the air. Harry dived fifty feet, pulled up a few feet from the ground, unhurt, and caught the remembrall."
James and Sirius looked astounded.
"My son is a genius." Whispered James.
"Seeker material for sure." Sirius grinned. "He has to try out in second year." Hermione just grinned.
"So Professor McGonagall came out and yelled at Harry to follow her."
"He can't be in trouble for that. Malfoy was being a git." James moaned.
"He did break the rules." Lily said with a sigh.
"McGonagall took him to Oliver Wood, the Gryffindor quidditch captain, and told him she had found him a new seeker."
"What?" Gasped James. "First year?"
"Yep, Harry became the youngest seeker in a century." Hermione beamed. Everyone stared at her.
"Atta boy." Roared Sirius.
"Brilliant son." Yelled James. The two did a kind of dance round the middle of the room. When they had finally calmed down, Hermione continued.
"So Harry was telling Ron at dinner, his brothers came to congratulate Harry. The Weasley twins were the team beaters. Anyway, Malfoy came over, annoyed that Harry had got the better of him, offered him a wizards duel. Which Ron accepted for him, saying he was Harry's second."
"Stupid Weasley." Remus groaned.
"I came over and told them they shouldn't go."
"Good." Lily said.
"If they are anything like James, they will go anyway." Remus sighed.
"Yep." Said Hermione. "I caught them trying to sneak out that night. I tried to make them come back but when we were out of the portrait hole, The Fat Lady had run off.I was stuck outside with the boys."
"Like father, like son." Lily rolled her eyes. "I can't believe Harry was stupid enough to do this."
"We can't believe you were stupid enough to marry Prongs." Sirius grinned, Lily looked over at James.
"Me either." She agreed with a grin.
"Hey!" James pouted.
"As we went down the corridor we ran into Neville who had forgotten the password, so he was stuck as well. All four of us snuck up to where the duel was supposed to be. Nobody was there."
"A setup." Sirius groaned.
"Yes." Hermione sighed. "Soon we heard Filch coming. The caretaker." She added. "So we ran, no idea where we were going. Just as far away from Filch as possible. Ron and Neville fell into a suit of armour, so we ran some more. Until we met Peeves."
"Oh no!" James and Lily gasped together.
"So Ron was rude to him."
"Idiot!" They all exclaimed.
"Peeves yelled that where we were. So we ran again, coming to a locked door. The boys were all gasping and talking about doom, so I magically opened the door."
"Good for you Minny." Lily said.
"Unfortunately, the door was locked for a reason."
"The third floor corridor?" Groaned Remus. Hermione nodded.
"There was a giant three headed dog there."
"Cool." Grinned Sirius.
"Not cool Black, my son is there." Lily glowered at him.
"Well if he has another six years at Hogwarts, I guessed he survives this. I want to know why there is a three headed dog in Hogwarts."
"Guarding that package." Remus said, thoughtfully.
"Anyway, needless to say, we got out of there sharpish. Thankfully we made it back to Gryffindor tower and the Fat Lady was back. We all got in and the boys were asking why it was in the school. So I told them it had been standing on a trapdoor and was guarding something. Then I said 'We could all have been killed - or worse, expelled.'"
"Really Minny?" James asked, eyebrows raised. Hermione blushed.
"Yeah, Ron said I needed to sort out my priorities."
"He wasn't wrong." Chuckled Sirius. Even Lily was shaking her head, amused.
Suddenly there was a faint 'pop' and Dumbledore stepped out of the fireplace.
"Have I missed much?" He asked, taking a seat.
"Harry got made youngest Hogwarts seeker in a century." James said immediately.
"In his first year? Impressive. I wonder how Professor McGonagall got me to agree." Dumbledore smiled.
"There is a three headed dog in Hogwarts." Remus said. Dumbledore stared. "It's guarding that package from Gringotts we think."
"Possible." Dumbledore thought about what was in the vault.
"So next morning, Malfoy was surprised to see Harry and Ron at breakfast."
"Git." Muttered Sirius. Hermione grinned.
"And Harry got a package at breakfast. A note telling him it was his new broomstick. Nimbus 2001."
"A Nimbus?" James looked awestruck. "They are the best."
"It was the best broom out." Hermione smiled.
"Wicked." Everyone exclaimed.
"As they went upstairs, Malfoy saw them and tried to report them to Professor Flitwick, who already knew Harry would have one so Malfoy was horrified. Later that day, Harry went out with Oliver Wood to learn the rules. They practised with golf balls and Harry didn't miss a single one."
James looked impressed. He had missed only one himself. He was beside himself thinking his son would be even better than James himself.
"One day we were having a charms lesson on levitation. Ron was doing it wrong so I corrected him. He didn't like that and said I should do it if I was so clever."
"How rude!" Lily said.
"So I did it." Hermione grinned.
"Good for you Hermione." Lily smiled.
"After the lesson I overheard Ron saying to Harry it's no wonder nobody can stand her, she's a nightmare."
"How dare he." Sirius growled.
"It's ok Sirius. Anyway, I went to the girl's bathroom and cried. Meanwhile at the Halloween feast."
"He made you so upset, you missed the Halloween feast?" Gaped Sirius, who couldn't stand the idea of missing food.
"Yes, anyway, during the feast Professor Quirrell came running in saying there was a troll in the dungeons."
"What?" Exclaimed Dumbledore sharply.
"How on Earth did a troll get in? It must have been let in." Remus said thoughtfully.
"So all the kids were sent back to their dormitories, the Slytherins went to the library. Harry and Ron were heading back when they suddenly remembered me. So, being idiotic heros, they came to find and warn me. They saw Professor Snape heading for the third floor."
"What? Why wasn't he with the other teachers looking for the troll?" Sirius asked suspiciously
"Looking for a way to get past the dog?" Suggested James. Lily looked sadly at the floor. She really hoped Severus wasn't going after that package.
"They found the troll and locked it in a room."
"It was the girls bathroom wasn't it?" Lily sighed. Hermione nodded.
"They heard me scream and so came running back. They threw stuff and shouted at it. Finally Harry jumped on it, his wand went up its nose."
"Eww." Exclaimed everyone. "That's disgusting." Added Lily.
"Ron levitated the troll's club and hit the troll on the head with it, knocking it out. Just then the teachers all came in. I was so grateful that they had saved me, I lied to get them out of trouble."
"You didn't get in trouble for running off and fighting a troll?" Lily asked in disbelief.
"No. Well I lost five points but the boys got five each, so technically we got rewarded."
"What?" James asked. "If Sirius and I had done that for Lily, we would have had detention. And he got rewarded for flying when he shouldn't. That kid is so damn lucky."
"Well, he needed all the luck he could get." Hermione said sadly. "So Harry, Ron and I became friends. One day Harry had Quidditch through the Ages outside and Professor Snape came over. He told Harry library books weren't allowed outside and confiscated it.
"What?" Yelled both Lily and James.
"That's not a rule." Sirius scowled.
"Abusing his power." Remus said in disgust.
"Later that day, Harry went to get it back and saw Snape in the staff room with Filch, bandaging Snape's leg. He had been bitten by the three headed dog.
"He was trying to get past it?" Sirius asked. Liking Snape less and less every minute.
"And now," She said looking at James and Sirius."It's time for Harry's first Quidditch match."
They erupted in cheers.
"Against Slytherin. The game was going well until Harry saw the snitch. He was beating the other seeker, until the Slytherin captain deliberately blocked him."
"That git!" Roared James.
"A little while later, Harry's broom started bucking and flying on its own."
"That's impossible." James frowned.
"It was being cursed." Remus said. "It has to have been."
"Well, I looked over at the staff and saw Snape muttering under his breath, his eyes fixed on Harry."
"No way!" Lily exclaimed. "He wouldn't."
"He better not have." Growled James. "Or I'm going to kill him."
"So I ran over," Continued Hermione. "And I knocked over Professor Quirrell accidentally. I finally reached Snape and set fire to his robes."
Dumbledore looked slightly disapproving, but the marauders all laughed.
"When he was distracted, I put the fire in a little jar and ran back to my seat. Just in time to see Harry on the pitch, he landed safely, and he coughed up the snitch. He caught it with his mouth." Hermione laughed.
"I love this kid." Sirius chuckled.
"So we went after the game and were talking to Hagrid. He defended Snape and told us that the three headed dog was his."
"Of course." James rolled his eyes.
"And he had called it Fluffy."
"What? Hagrid is insane." Remus looked amused and incredulous.
"Yes he is." Hermione agreed, thinking of the blast ended screwts, Grawp and Aragog. "Hagrid also mentioned Nicholas Flamel."
Dumbledore suddenly realised what must be at Hogwarts. He became incredibly worried. If Voldemort did indeed get it then he would return.
"Malfoy was back to taunting Harry, because he was staying at Hogwarts for christmas." James and Lily looked miserable again. More reminders that they would not be there for their son. "Hagrid showed the two boys the Great Hall and was horrified to find out we were researching who NIcholas Flamel was."
"Of course you were." Sighed Lily. "Can't keep out of trouble."
"We were searching the library in all our spare time. On Christmas Harry woke up to a small pile of presents. Which he was surprised to have. He had expected nothing."
"Poor kid." Sirius thought miserably. Even when he had run away, the Potter family had given his christmas presents.
"He got some though. Ron had told his mum that Harry expected nothing, and she sent him a knitted jumper and some homemade fudge."
"Aww." Lily beamed. Thinking of how she would repay Molly for taking care of her child.
"Hagrid had given him a flute that he had made himself. The Dursley's gave him a fifty pence piece." Hermione continued. Lily snorted in disgust.
"He ended up giving it to Ron, who was fascinated. Last of all, he got sent a certain cloak." Hermione looked knowingly at James.
"He got.." James began. Hermione nodded. "Awesome!" He exclaimed. "But who sent it?"
"That, I think, was Dumbledore."
"Why did you have my cloak?" James asked.
"I don't know Mr Potter." Dumbledore said calmly.
"Christmas dinner was apparently very good. I had gone home for christmas so it was just Harry and the Weasleys. Mr and Mrs Weasley had gone to visit Charlie in Romania. That evening, Harry decided to try out his new cloak. He went to the restricted section of the library."
"Really son? Anywhere you like so you pick the library?" James said in disgust. "He is clearly your child." He added, grinning at Lily.
"He is going to the library to look for Flamel, so he is going to look for trouble. That makes him your son." She grinned back.
"Anyway, the book he picked yelled and gave him away to Filch. So Harry had to run. Hiding in a classroom, he found the Mirror of Erised. The inscription on the top read 'I show you not your face, but your hearts desire."
Dumbledore gave a sad smile.
"When Harry looked in the mirror, he saw a room full of people. Who all looked like him. The two directly behind him were James and Lily Potter." Hermione said sadly. Silent tears now traced down Lily's face.
James was dumbstruck. At eleven years old he would have seen becoming a Quidditch star or something. But his son saw his family because he had never known them. Knowing his family was his son's deepest desire. James put an arm around his wife, tears now rolling down his face too.
"Harry spent a long time looking in the mirror. Finally he went back to bed and the next morning he told Ron. They decided to go back. It took them ages to find it but when they did, Ron saw himself better than his brothers. Head boy, Quidditch captain, with the Quidditch cup."
James smiled sadly. That is a normal kids dream. He was devastated for his son.
"They made some noise, fighting over whose turn it was to look and they had to leave. Ron told Harry not to go back for the mirror. But he did. And he met Dumbledore. Dumbledore explained that it was showing Harry his heart's deepest desire, warning that people have been driven mad by it. He also said it would be moved the next day. Harry asked Dumbledore what he saw and Dumbledore told him he saw himself getting a pair of socks."
Everybody looked at Dumbledore, who was chuckling to himself.