Disclaimer – Everything you recognise belongs to JKR. All the rest is simply me playing in her sandbox.

-oOoOo-

The Cupboard Under the Stairs

Chapter 14

The round table in the very back of the library was littered with books. But these weren't ordinary books, these were Hogwarts Yearbooks. Each one was covered in a velvety black leather, the Hogwarts crest centred on the front with the year embossed in gold underneath.

It'd taken Harry and Hermione a long time before they were able to find the first of the seven that they were looking for. Every page had to be studied carefully, for, while captions and text filled more than half of each book, it was the photos that needed the most attention.

Wizarding photos differed from their muggle counterparts in one main respect – wizarding photos moved as though five to ten seconds of time had been plucked from the essence of those who were photographed. And of course, sometimes, the person who was photographed walked out of their picture entirely.

Hermione was the first to find what they were looking for – a girl, maybe in fourth or fifth year with dark red hair and striking green eyes that Hermione'd only ever seen on one other person.

"Harry! Is this your mum?" she breathed.

The yearbook was yanked out of her hands so quickly that Hermione was nearly pulled across the table. She watched her friend's eyes light up and he nodded vigorously.

"Yeah, it is! That's my mum. She looks just like the photo that Hagrid showed me," he replied.

Hesitantly, Harry reached out and stroked one finger along his mother's cheeks, his eyes glistening with the tears that Hermione was certain that he'd refuse to shed. After blinking furiously for a couple of minutes, he began to turn pages, staring intently at every photo that he could see.

Suddenly, he gasped and thrust the book under Hermione's nose.

"Hagrid showed me this photo, too," Harry said eagerly pointing to a group of four boys, arms wrapped around each other's shoulders as they laughed at some long forgotten joke.

"This was in my parent's fifth year," Harry continued, his green eyes sparkling. "Hagrid said that it was taken right after a breakfast where somehow all of the Slytherin's robes were turned a horrid pink with tiny black snakes slithering all around them. No one ever found out how it was done and even though none of the teachers could ever prove it, the whole school knew that my dad and his friends had done it.

"Apparently it took Professor Slughorn, who was the potions master and Head of Slytherin House back then, the whole morning to turn all of the robes black again. Hagrid said that my dad and his friends were always pulling pranks like that. By the way that he was talking, I think that they were even bigger pranksters than Fred and George."

"What were their names?" Hermione asked.

"Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew," Harry replied, pointing to each one as they were named.

Hermione nodded, "we'll look for their names as well, then."

As she sorted through the yearbooks to find the other six that corresponded to Harry's parent's time at Hogwarts, she stole a glance at her friend. Harry's eyes were fixed on the boy who looked almost like a slightly older carbon copy of himself – the same messy black hair, the same round glasses, the same mischievous grin. Only the colour of their eyes was different – brown for James and green for Harry.

Emotions flittered across his face faster than she could identify and she tried to imagine what it must be like to know nothing about your own parents. With a shake of her head, she admitted defeat.

"Has Hagrid told you many stories about your parents?" she asked.

"A few. Recon he knows a lot more, though. I think I'll need to go and have tea with him again soon and get him to tell me some more."

After putting the unneeded yearbooks back where they belonged, Hermione gathered up the remaining ones and stood.

"Come on, Harry, it's nearly curfew. We'll look at these in the common room."

With a nod, he stood, the yearbook he was carrying carefully held with one finger marking the page where the photo of his father was and another where he could find his mum.

"Harry, could I borrow Hedwig to send a letter to my mum and dad?" Hermione asked on their walk back to Gryffindor Tower.

"Sure, Hermione. Any time. I'm sure that Hedwig'd love the chance to fly. I don't really ever have any work for her to do," he replied.

-oOoOo-

"Kindly turn in your homework to the ends of the rows and pass them to the front," Professor McGonagall instructed.

After a fair bit of paper rustling, two piles were sent flying across the room to land neatly on top of the Professor's desk.

"Now, books away, it's time to see how much you've all forgotten over the Christmas break," Professor McGonagall stated as she flicked her wand at a second pile, sending a sheet to land neatly in front of each student.

A loud groan caught her attention.

"Is there a problem, Mister Weasley?"

"A test on our first day back?" Ron questioned, causing Professor McGonagall's lips to thin in disapproval and for him to instantly change his mind. "Sounds like a good idea to me."

"I'm glad to hear that. You have thirty minutes. Begin."

Harry heart pounded as he glanced down the test paper. A combination of short essay type questions, multiple choice questions and complete the statement questions. He hated pop quizzes. He'd never completely worked out how to ensure that he would only end up with an average score.

With a deep sigh, he set to work. Three questions in, a slight movement to his right caught his attention. Looking up, he found Hermione purposefully not looking in his direction, not that he knew how that he knew that that was what she was doing. Her bottom lip was caught between her teeth as though she was either thinking deeply about her test paper or was fighting the urge to say something important.

A second movement, this time from the front of the class, turned his eyes that way. Professor McGonagall paced backwards and forwards the width of the room as she waited for the test to be completed. Harry could only imagine that she was curious as to how well her students remembered all that she had taught them first term.

The two sights together, Hermione and Professor McGonagall, caused Harry's breath to catch in his throat. As though it was only yesterday, he remembered the three of them in Professor McGonagall's office just before the holidays started. He remembered Hermione's anger and Professor McGonagall's indignation at the way that he purposefully dumbed down his work in class.

And then he remembered the 'O' that Professor McGonagall had given him for his very last homework and the bet that Hermione had made with him.

Deliberately, Harry picked up his test paper and ripped it in half.

The sound caused gasps from those around him and snapped Professor McGonagall's head around the instant before he'd raised his hand.

"May I have another paper so that I can start again?" Harry asked the instant that Professor McGonagall leant over his desk. "I'm not happy with the answers that I was putting down."

A pleased expression flittered across the usually stern face of his teacher as she materialised a new test for him. "You won't be given any extra time, Mister Potter," she warned.

"I understand," he replied. "Thank you."

Instantly, his head went down and his quill began scratching out answers as fast as possible.

-oOoOo-

"Mister Potter, may I see you for a moment?" Professor McGonagall asked as the class was packing up to head to lunch.

Harry sat back down trying his hardest not to worry.

Before long, the shuffling around the door disappeared and Professor McGonagall approached. He saw her look up past him and sigh slightly.

"Yes, Miss Granger, if Mister Potter allows, you may remain as well."

Harry looked around into the inquisitive eyes of the girl lingering beside the door. At his nod, she rushed over and into the seat beside him.

"Mister Potter … Harry, may I ask why you tore up your test paper and asked for another?"

Harry looked nervously to Hermione sitting beside him and then back to his teacher.

"I wasn't doing my best work," he finally replied in a near whisper.

Professor McGonagall nodded once as though she expected this answer.

"Five points to Gryffindor, Mister Potter, for finally understanding that," she said. "Now, shall we see exactly how well you did?"

Harry wasn't too sure about this idea, but with both Hermione and Professor McGonagall looking expectantly at him, he was forced to nod his assent. Within seconds, the pile of test papers was in Professor McGonagall's hands and she was rifling through them to find his.

His head lowered and his eyes traced out the pattern in the old wooden desk as a quill scratched away at his paper. In a far shorter time than he was expecting, the quill was placed on the desk in front of him.

"Mister Potter," Professor McGonagall stated firmly causing his eyes to drag themselves upwards in near fear. "Despite the fact that you did not have a full thirty minutes to complete your test, I see that you managed an answer to every question. And I am very pleased to tell you that, despite not all of your answers being as detailed as I would have liked, you have easily earned yourself an Outstanding."

Harry looked back up in shock from where his eyes had dropped once more to the desk in front of him. Blinking rapidly, he stared at Professor McGonagall, then at a beaming Hermione, and then back to Professor McGonagall again.

"Are you sure?" he finally managed.

"Quite sure, Mister Potter. Ninety-seven percent is indeed an Outstanding result," she smiled.

"Could … could you mark Hermione's too?" he asked.

Professor McGonagall's eyes narrowed slightly before she nodded and reached for the papers once more. A short time later, her quill was laid down and she smiled at Hermione.

"Outstanding as usual, Miss Granger," Professor McGonagall smiled, "although, you only scored ninety-six percent. I take it you were a little preoccupied this morning?"

Hermione blushed furiously. "Yes, Professor. I was worried about how Harry would go with the test."

"Understandable. But now that we've seen what he's capable of, I expect you to fully concentrate on your own work. Well done, the pair of you. Now, off to lunch with you," Professor McGonagall smiled.

Harry grinned at Hermione as they walked from the room.

"So, does this count as my first subject where I've beaten you in test?" Harry grinned. "I guess I better start thinking about how I'm going to teach you how to fly."

The look of panic that crossed Hermione's face caused him to break out in peals of laughter.