The morning of their first Defense lesson with Professor Lupin found Harry fidgeting impatiently in Ancient Runes, which was the class right before Defense. He didn't mind Ancient Runes, they had already had the class once before, and since he sat with Hermione and studied with her afterward, he thought he would do fairly well. Today though, he just wanted Professor Babbling to tell them class was over so that he could have lunch before he finally got to go to Defense and talk to Lupin.
After several dirty looks from Hermione, as he kept glancing at his watch and was obviously paying very little attention, class was finally dismissed. They both stood up, and Harry followed Hermione out of the room as she tucked her notes away.
"Harry," she said, still digging through her bag, "Hold these for me, would you?"
She then proceeded to hand him several thick tomes. Harry examined them for a moment. "Do you even have all these classes today?" he asked, shifting the Charms text in order to look at a thick book titled 'Home Life and Social Habits of British Muggles'.
Hermione appeared not to have heard his question. "Here it is," she said, pulling out a few pieces of parchment. These she handed to Harry as well, taking back the books and stuffing them into her bag again. Harry glanced down at the parchment. They appeared to be a couple of copies of the Daily Prophet and some parchment with Hermione's writing all over them. Hermione took them back and they resumed walking down to the Great Hall for lunch.
"What're those for?" Harry asked. Hermione handed him the newspaper, and he looked at it curiously.
Hermione glanced over at the paper. "Oh, that's today's paper, sorry. I meant to give you this one." She handed Harry the other, more yellowed newspaper. "Although you should probably read that as well, there's an article in there about Sirius Black, apparently he's been sighted nearby."
"He has?" Harry asked, flipping it over to look at the front page. Sure enough, there was the familiar picture and a heading proclaiming that a muggle had spotted Black in a town that wasn't very far at all from Hogwarts. Harry frowned as he read through it. It seemed like maybe the dementors were going to have some use, after all.
"Anyway," Hermione continued, "I asked about checking Azkaban's records, like you suggested, but Madam Pince told me it'd be much easier just to look into back issues of the Prophet." She gestured to the yellowed newspaper Harry was holding, and he put aside his worries about Black for the moment to look at it instead. "Apparently they always have an article when someone gets sent to Azkaban, no matter who."
"So you found Riddle?" Harry asked, pursuing the small article she pointed out to him. Harry noted that the paper itself was from the twenties. "But you said he went to school here in the forties. This would have been from before he was born."
"I know," Hermione said. "I didn't actually find his name anywhere. I did find someone by the name of Marvolo Gaunt though."
By this time, they had reached the Great Hall. Harry pulled Hermione over to the Slytherin table, intent on continuing this conversation.
"So how do you think they're related, if they even are?" Harry asked, sitting down next to Draco, who nodded a greeting as he ate his sandwich. Harry flapped the parchments at him in greeting before straightening them out and reading the article through. Morfin and Marvolo Gaunt had been arrested for hexing a muggle and attacking Ministry personnel respectively, and Marvolo Gaunt had been sentenced to six months in Azkaban.
"I'm not sure, but here's the really interesting bit," Hermione said, pulling the parchment with her handwriting on it out of the stack in his hands and putting it on the table. "I copied this out of a genealogy from the library."
Harry read through it. She had basically just copied down names. The one at the very bottom made his eyebrows shoot up.
"Salazar Slytherin?" he asked, intrigued. "So they're the descendants of Salazar Slytherin, what does that tell us?"
Draco looked up, suddenly interested. "Who're the descendants of Slytherin?" he asked, looking down at the parchment and skimming down the list. "But what about the Dark Lord?"
Hermione beamed at him.
"What about the Dark Lord?" Harry asked, nonplussed.
"Exactly," Hermione said, looking rather excited now. "Most of his followers believed that he was the last descendant of Salazar Slytherin."
Draco frowned. "Are you saying he wasn't, then?"
"No, no!" Hermione shook her head. "I'm saying I think he was. Marvolo had a son named Morfin, but he also had a daughter named Merope, look."
Harry glanced down at the list of names and saw that there was in fact a Merope Gaunt on the list.
"So Merope was Riddle's mother?" Harry asked.
"She must have married a muggle," Hermione said, nodding. "Which is why I can't find any wizards by the name of Riddle. And Tom Riddle grew up to be Voldemort."
"But that's impossible," Draco said, frowning at the use of the name. "The Dark Lord is a pureblood, this can't be right."
"Who says he's a pureblood?" Hermione asked challengingly. "If he was a pureblood, he would have no reason to go by a fake name. But if he was named after his muggle father…"
"But you've got no proof," Draco argued. He sounded annoyed. "This is all wild guesswork. You have no idea if this Riddle character is actually Merope Gaunt's child."
"You agree that she's likely Voldemort's mother, though?" Hermione asked. Draco gave her a look for using the name again, but agreed.
"Then I'll keep looking and find some more proof," Hermione said, taking the parchments back and packing them into her bag. "But I really think I'm right about this."
Harry and Draco watched her as she walked back to the Gryffindor table and sat down next to Dudley.
"You realize she usually is right about most things, right Draco?" Harry asked.
Draco didn't look at all happy, although he did nod. Harry left him to himself and ate a quick lunch, having moved on from Riddle and now contemplating much more important thoughts about what he would say to Professor Lupin. He decided to just keep his list of questions in mind and otherwise wing it.
Pansy and Blaise arrived after a bit, and Harry sat impatiently through their conversation about the Sirius Black sighting. It wasn't that he wasn't worried, because he was. He was just preoccupied by his upcoming conversation with Lupin, and that tended to take precedence over a mere sighting. Harry responded when he was spoken to, and otherwise kept his eye on the time until finally, his watch showed that class was starting soon.
"Let's go, time for Defense," Harry said, standing up. Draco checked his watch.
"Harry, there's still ten minutes left," he said. Harry bit his lip and gave them all his best doe eyes.
Pansy suppressed a smile and stood up, pulling Blaise with her. Blaise shook his head at Harry, although he looked as amused as Pansy did. Draco sighed and followed as well. Harry beamed.
"Don't think you can do that and get your way all the time," Blaise told him as they left the Hall. "We'll all become immune eventually."
They reached the classroom quickly, but unfortunately it was still empty. Harry picked out a seat in the second row where he would have a good view of the teacher's desk, and sat down. His friends sat around him, looking amused.
Professor Lupin didn't arrive until moments before class was due to start. He looked better than he had on the train; his robes were nicer and he looked much less exhausted. He was levitating a large trunk in front of him. Harry remembered Neville's story about the boggart they had fought for their first class, and eyed the trunk with interest.
It turned out that they were, in fact, going to be fighting the boggart. Professor Lupin explained what to do and asked a few questions before having them line up facing the trunk. Harry followed Pansy and Draco and they ended up toward the end of the line as Professor Lupin gave them a few last minute instructions.
"…think of the thing that scares you the most, and imagine how you might force it to appear comical."
Harry furrowed his brow. What scared him the most? He thought of several things, but nothing really terrified him. Sirius Black? Voldemort? They were distant fears, similar to the idea of falling off of his broom and breaking his neck. He knew it was a distinct possibility, and he knew that one day, something horrible might happen, but at the moment, he was safe. So what scared him the most?
"Everyone ready?" Professor Lupin asked.
No, Harry thought, panicking slightly. I don't even know what I'm going up against yet.
It was at this point that Professor Lupin opened the trunk and the practical aspect of the lesson began.
Harry paid close attention to other people's boggarts, hoping for inspiration. The class learned quickly, each observing their respective fear before casting the spell and moving to the side for the next student. There were spiders, vampires, even a rabid dog. The boggart even managed Theo's fear of heights, causing the small area of floor that he was standing on to appear to rush high into the air. Theo closed his eyes for a moment before shouting the spell and causing the boggart to produce fluffy pink clouds that hid the illusion and allowed him to step to the side.
Millicent was next, and her boggart turned into a thin black cloak that rippled menacingly at the class. Pansy said it was a lethifold, but the closest thing Harry had ever seen to such a creature was the dementor on the train. A chill went through him as he pictured the cloaked figure in the doorway, remembered the rotting hand that had protruded from it's cloak, how helpless he had been. In front of him, Millicent considered the lethifold for a moment before raising her wand and casting in a strong voice. The lethifold was attacked by scissors and needles and in moments all that remained was a black pair of pants, which caused most of the class to snicker with laughter. Professor Lupin nodded approvingly, and Harry realized with a slight shudder that he knew what his boggart was going to be. The question now, was how he was going to make it funny…
Pansy and Blaise were next, and Harry was right behind them. He raised his eyebrows when Pansy's boggart turned into a large, mismatched creature with a lion's head and a dragon's tail. Draco whispered that it was a chimaera, and they watched with interest as Pansy shouted the spell and it turned into a goat with scales and a lion's tail.
It was Blaise's turn, and as he was right in front of Harry in line, Harry began casting about desperately in his mind for a way to make a dementor funny. As Blaise stepped forward the goat turned to face him, stumbled, and with several cracks, shrank first into a snake, then a large, angry looking bird, before finally ending up as an overgrown ferret. Harry took a moment to wonder what was so scary about ferrets, and resolved to ask later.
"It's confused," Professor Lupin called. "Finish it, Mr. Zabini."
Harry blinked. Problem solved, apparently. He wouldn't have to face the boggart, although now that he knew he wasn't going to, he kind of wanted the chance.
Blaise raised his wand as the ferret rose up on it's hind legs and began insulting him. He flashed his teeth at the creature as it jabbered on and shouted, "Riddikulus!"
The boggart shrank until it was the size of a mouse, and the smaller it got, the squeakier it's voice became until it was just a high pitched squealing. Blaise grinned at it as the class laughed, and watched it explode a second later into a thousand wisps of smoke.
Professor Lupin stepped forward with a smile as the class clapped. "Excellent," he said warmly. "Five points to Slytherin for everyone who tackled the boggart, five points more to Tracy for answering my questions at the beginning of class. An excellent lesson, everyone. Homework, read the chapter on boggarts and summarize it for me, to be turned in on Monday. That will be all."
Harry still felt slightly disappointed that he hadn't been able to have a go at the boggart, but his thoughts quickly returned to speaking with Professor Lupin. Harry waved his friends on as the rest of the Slytherins trailed out of the classroom, still discussing all the different shapes the boggart had taken. Harry waited quietly as Professor Lupin gathered his things. After a moment, Lupin looked up and asked, "Yes, Harry?"
"Er," Harry said uncertainly. "I just wanted to ask you a few questions, sir."
Professor Lupin set his things down on the desk and gave Harry his full attention.
Harry shifted in place. "About, er…about my parents," he said quickly. "Hagrid told me you were friends with my father and I just thought that maybe you wouldn't mind telling me a bit about him, if you don't mind, and-"
"Harry," Professor Lupin interrupted. "I would be delighted to talk with you about your father. How about we go into my office instead?"
Harry nodded, and Professor Lupin gathered his things back up and led him through a door in the corner of the room. There were a lot of books and parchments piled on the shelves and desk. Professor Lupin moved a pile of books off of a chair in front of his desk and offered it to Harry apologetically.
"Still putting everything away," he explained, "Although the teapot is all sorted out, if you'd like some."
Harry nodded, and Lupin put the teapot up to boil and sat down across from Harry at the desk.
"Now, do you have any specific questions, Harry?"
Harry did. He thought for a moment about which to ask first.
"Was my father a good person?" he finally asked, knowing that he shouldn't have been so blunt but not really caring. This was something he'd been wondering since Hagrid had mentioned that his father had bullied Harry's house.
Lupin appeared to be mildly surprised at the question. His eyes trailed down to the Slytherin crest on Harry's robes and lingered there a moment before answering.
"Don't let Professor Snape colour your opinion of your father too much, Harry," Lupin said slowly. Harry blinked.
"What do you mean, sir?"
Lupin frowned. "I would have thought Professor Snape would have mentioned this to you?" Harry shook his head. Snape had never mentioned anything about Harry's parents. He hardly spoke to Harry in the first place, although he had become much less standoffish since the basilisk incident.
Professor Lupin raised his eyebrows. "I am impressed at his restraint. Your father and Professor Snape were rather virulent enemies. James resented his ties to the Dark Arts, and especially to Lily as they grew older, and I believe Severus was always rather jealous of your father, bullying notwithstanding."
Harry considered this new information.
"Professor Snape was close with my mother?" Professor Lupin nodded. Harry marveled at the number of people so far at Hogwarts that had known his parents and never let on.
"Lily told me once that they had known each other since before Hogwarts," Lupin said. There was a faraway expression on his face, as though he was trying to remember. "They lived near each other and became friends somehow, I'm not certain of the details. I do know, though, that they virtually stopped talking to each other after an incident with your father in fifth year, when Severus said some things he probably shouldn't have. To be fair, your father had just done something horribly embarrassing to him in front of a crowd of people. He can't have been in the best of moods."
Harry frowned. If he'd had a falling out with Lily and had always hated James, Harry didn't blame Snape for never mentioning them. "So when Hagrid said that my father bullied Slytherins, did he just mean Snape?"
"Professor Snape, Harry," Lupin chided gently. "And yes, for the most part, James exclusively focused on Professor Snape, although I will admit he was an equal opportunity prankster in his day. The whole group of us were. We called ourselves the Marauders."
Harry smiled at this bit of information, before a thought occurred to him. "So was Sirius Black a Marauder too?"
Professor Lupin started slightly at the name, as though jolted out of his reminiscing.
"Yes, he was," Lupin said shortly, and Harry knew he had put his foot in his mouth by bringing up what was obviously a sore topic. "It was your father, myself, Peter, and Black."
Harry nodded and decided to leave well enough alone. "Thank you, Professor," he said, setting his now empty teacup down on the desk and standing. Professor Lupin stood as well. "I've got to be going," Harry lied. "Would you mind if I came back sometime? It was nice hearing about my parents. No one has really told me much about them."
Professor Lupin's stony expression softened slightly. "Of course, Harry," he said. "My door is always open."
"Thank you, sir," Harry said. "Oh, and class was really brilliant today. It was probably the best Defense lesson I've ever had, and I didn't even get to have a go at the boggart. Maybe next time?"
Professor Lupin looked at him oddly for this statement, but nodded. "Next time," he agreed, and Harry left.
"So what did Lupin tell you?" Blaise asked later, at dinner.
"Nuh uh," Harry said, grinning at him. "First of all, you're going to tell me why your boggart is a big talking ferret."
Blaise colored as Pansy and Draco laughed at Harry's description.
"It wasn't a big talking ferret, you daft git," he said, still somewhat red. "It was a jarvey. There was one that used to sneak onto the grounds when I was little, and my nursery was on the ground floor. It would climb in the window and scream at me until a house elf heard us and shooed it away."
Pansy sniggered as Blaise told his story, and he glared at her.
"You would hate them too if after you finally convinced your mother to move you to the first floor, the jarvey found a way to climb the terrace and hid in your wardrobe!"
Draco outright laughed at this, and Harry wasn't far behind. At the mutinous look on Blaise's face, Harry changed the subject slightly.
"So Pansy, what was yours then?" he asked.
Pansy sniffed. "It was a chimaera, I'll have you know, and I was nearly attacked by one at my uncle's estate when I was eight."
"So," Draco asked again. "What did Lupin say?"
"Apparently Snape was friends with my mum when they were little," Harry said. Astonished expressions appeared all around him and Harry smiled in satisfaction.
"Explain," Draco ordered, and Harry did.
Late September brought Quidditch tryouts. True to Draco's word, he tried out for and obtained the empty Chaser position. Harry's Gryffindor friends had tryouts as well, and while Dudley managed the reserve Beater position he'd been after along with another boy named Sloper, Ron had been told, as he grumpily informed them at the study group later, that he apparently needed more practice. The thing that really seemed to irk him was that his younger sister, Ginny, had secured the Seeker position.
"Is she actually any good?" Harry asked hopefully. "Because all these crap Seekers you lot have been pulling out in the past couple years have been rather pathetic. I've been hoping for some competition."
"She's better than McLaggen, at least," Dudley informed him, as Ron was still too disgruntled to talk Quidditch. "Better than Dean too. He's in our dorm, he says he'd rather play Chaser anyway, so he's on the reserve team with me."
Now that the Quidditch season had started, Harry was kept incredibly busy, between work and practice and classes and tea with Lupin (although, admittedly, he appeared to be doing better than Hermione, who was positively snappish sometimes). Harry had decided not to approach Snape about his parents, as it was obviously going to be a sore point and he wanted to gain favour with Snape, not lose it. He therefore stuck to visiting his Defense professor, and infrequently, Hagrid. Lupin had asked him during a recent teatime what he thought his boggart was, and had seemed surprised and strangely pleased at Harry's response, saying something about how Harry feared fear, and how wise that was. Harry did not correct him, although he privately thought that he feared the helplessness and the uncertainty that the dementor caused more than the actual fear itself.
Time flew by, and soon enough, Halloween and the first Hogsmede visit of the year arrived. Everyone Harry knew had been looking forward to the visit for ages, and Harry convinced his Gryffindor friends and his Slytherin friends to go in one big group, which he considered quite an accomplishment. Although they all got along fairly decently, especially after the events at the end of last year, they didn't interact socially very often. Despite this, Harry had even convinced Ron to come along with them with only a token complaint.
Hogsmede was fantastic, in Harry's opinion. They went to just about every shop on the main street. Hermione had had to drag both Ron and Dudley away from Honeydukes, where Harry saw a greedy look in Dudley's eyes that he hadn't witnessed since before Hogwarts. Zonkos was fantastic too, and Harry thought of his prankster father and his friends as he stocked up on a few more biting teacups than usual.
They even went to visit the Shrieking Shack, and Harry listened contentedly as Draco and Blaise debated which Gryffindor they could convince to go up and knock on the door. Hermione inadvertently created a suitable cover for this conversation by telling them every single thing she had ever read about the 'most haunted house in Britain', although their attempts were eventually thwarted by a suggestion from Neville that they go to the Three Broomsticks for a drink.
At the end of the day, they made their noisy way back to the school and parted ways in the Great Hall for the Halloween feast. Stuffed and drowsy, Harry and his Slytherins eventually trapised up to the dorms, where they fell asleep quickly and stayed that way until a strained looking prefect woke them in the early hours of the morning with bad news.
"I'm to take you all down to the Great Hall," he said as they all stumbled out of their beds, confused. "I'm not certain yet what's going on, but it's urgent. Someone get those two lumps out of bed."
Draco yawned and stumbled over to Greg and Vince, prodding them roughly and eventually rousing them. They all wandered down to the common room where the rest of the house waited, pyjama clad and looking as confused as Harry's dorm was. When everyone finally arrived, they left and followed the prefects down to the Great Hall, where most of the rest of the school had already arrived, loitering in confusion.
"The Gryffindors seem to know what's going on," Pansy noted. "Come on Harry, lets go ask them."
Harry and Pansy split off from the Slytherins and walked toward the gaggle of students surrounding the Gryffindor group. They passed Professor Dumbledore holding a conference with several professors and the Head Girl and Boy. Harry watched as Dumbledore turned to leave, paused, and waved his hand, summoning several hundred purple sleeping bags in a large pile in the middle of the Hall.
"What's happened?" Pansy asked Hermione as they approached. Hermione looked rather pale and tired, but she waved a worried hand toward Ron and answered.
"Sirius Black attacked Gryffindor Tower," she said. "Ron said Black had a knife and that he ripped his bed curtains."
"He attacked Ron?" Pansy asked incredulously, as Harry looked over at Ron, equally shocked. "What in Merlin's name does Sirius Black want with a Weasley?"
Hermione just shook her head, just as baffled as Harry and Pansy were.