"Snape is Batty?!" Fred demanded in disbelief.
"This has to be a dream," George decided and reached over to pinch his twin who smacked him. "I felt that," he said while rubbing the side of his head, "so I must be awake."
"B-but his ongoing feud with the Marauders was legendary!" Fred exclaimed.
Harry grinned. "And thus, he couldn't possibly be one. In fact, if he was caught near the scene of a prank it's obvious it was either targeted at him or he was trying to spring it before it got anyone."
The twins turned to each other; eyes wide.
"That's-" Fred began.
"Brilliant!" George finished.
"Wait," Fred said with a frown. "During the whole Dark Lord kerfuffle it was well known they were on opposite sides."
"Was that an act too?" George asked.
"One he's still carrying on to this day," Fred added.
Harry sighed. "We're going to have to add one to your oath sheet."
"Oath sheet?" the twins chorused in confusion.
"You know, the secret document you keep all the oaths you've made on, so you don't accidently break one," Harry said. "You both should have one for oaths and another for obliviations."
"Obliviations?!"
"Is there an echo in here?" Harry joked. "Yes, obliviations. There are times when you find out things you want to forget, either because they are horrifying, or someone bribed you. Having a secret document only you two could access to give you a clue will keep you from stumbling across it later and getting paranoid. Also, it's useful for finding out if someone did obliviate you against your will."
"We don't have anything like that," Fred admitted, "though it seems like a really good idea."
"But back to our original subject," Harry said, "you are going to need a specially charmed piece of parchment to keep track of oaths because we are definitely going to be adding one today."
The twins exchanged glances.
"And you'll tell us who the Marauders were?" George bargained.
"And I'll tell you who the Marauders are," Harry agreed with a grin.
"Deal!" the twins chorused.
"And I'll teach you occlumency," Harry added, thinking it was a bit strange how he was having to teach so many people a supposedly rare art and wondering if he should simply give in and hold classes for it.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Harry frowned a little as he noticed Crabbe was having trouble in class and even with help, he'd barely gotten the assignment completed to Professor McGonagall's satisfaction.
In fact, now that he was paying attention, he could see that Crabbe was looking tired and stressed. Was making him keep up with Hogwarts' minimum standards that stressful?
No, Harry decided, he recalled Crabbe from the last timeline had managed the work without too much trouble, so it had to be something else.
He didn't get a chance to find out what until after they all got together to discuss ongoing projects later that night.
"I noticed Crabbe is having trouble in class," Granger volunteered. "If he needs assistance, I'm willing to have him join Gryffindor's study group so he gets personal instruction."
"I appreciate that Granger," Malfoy replied, knowing she was just behind Harry in grades and not at all surprised she would welcome a Slytherin, regardless of the upper year's opinions. "It's not a scholastic problem, he's under stress because of trouble at home."
Hermione winced. "If there's anything I can do, let me know," she said and changed the topic. "Anyone making an expansion staff should talk to the groundskeeper Hagrid. He keeps a selection of staff quality wood available for elective classes."
"And that should be everything for now, unless anyone has anything they'd like to bring up?" Harry asked. "Alright then, good job everyone. Malfoy, hang back for a second, I want to ask you something."
Draco forced himself not to wince as everyone departed, Daphne giving him a curious glance as she left.
Crabbe and Goyle stood nervously in the back of the room and slowly approached when Harry waved them forward.
"Alright, let's not dance around the subject," Harry told them, "what is the problem and how can we resolve it so Crabbe can relax and focus on his work?"
"Crabbe has an older sister, a squib," Draco said slowly, "and since she's going to turn sixteen soon... There is an agreement with Greyback..."
Harry frowned. This was an actual problem if true. "How sure are you?" he asked. "Fenris isn't the type to sign a contract or politely knock on a door."
"Very sure," Draco said. He gestured to Crabbe who took a stoppered vial out of his pocket that contained some fur and set it on the table. "Last full moon one of their sheep was slaughtered and there was fur found scattered about. Greyback likes to twist the knife by announcing his intentions that way."
"Felicia sent it to me to test, just to be sure," Crabbe said in a small voice. "It's werewolf fur."
"God bless idiots," Harry said, pulling a random handful of things out of his pocket before rifling through his bag for a fresh sheet of parchment and a quill.
The three boys watched in disbelief as Harry transfigured a compass out of odds and ends, set it in the center of a magic circle he drew freehand on the parchment before tapping the side of the vial, the werewolf fur melting into what appeared to be blood that he then poured on the compass while chanting something in Welsh under his breath. The compass glowed a dark red as the parchment crumbled into ash.
Harry picked up the compass, banishing the ash with an absent snap of his fingers. "Point me Fenris," he commanded and smirked when the needle pointed back towards England.
He looked up and found the three Slytherins boys staring at him wide eyed.
"The meaning of the word subtle completely escapes you, doesn't it?" Tiny Voldemort asked dryly as he appeared on Harry's shoulder.
"Along with so many other words," Tiny Snape agreed as he appeared on the opposing shoulder.
"Crabbe, I'm sure you are worrying over nothing," Harry said cheerfully. "The next full moon isn't for a while and Fenrir Greyback has made a lot of enemies. Why, I bet some of them will stumble over him soon. So, you just concentrate on your schoolwork and let others worry about things."
"Yes, sir," Crabbe said reflexively.
"Good, now if you'll excuse me, I have to have words with someone. Well, one word anyway, repeated a lot," Harry said before leaving.
The three were silent for a moment before Goyle asked, "Do you think he can do it?"
"He's a first year," Draco said slowly, "one who uses a rune encrusted giant's finger bone as a wand and none of the adults complain."
"One who is so far ahead of us in magic he uses spells I've never even heard of," Goyle added.
"And not only disposed of at least one person before he even started Hogwarts but is also completely confident he can take care of Greyback," Draco said.
"So, my sister is safe," Crabbe said with a slowly growing smile before frowning. "But why? What does he get out of it?"
"He doesn't want us as servants," Goyle said. "He's pushing for us to be the best at everything, not just what's useful."
"I don't know," Draco admitted. "None of it makes any sense. All I know is he wants us to be the best wizards we possibly can. He talks like it's already a fact. Water is wet, fire is hot, our class is going to be the best Hogwarts has ever seen."
"Aren't we?" Crabbe asked, surprised. "The first years in the other houses work with us if we need help and never do anything nasty like I've heard happens to the upper years."
"All our teachers seem excited to see us," Goyle noted, "and they all keep saying we've been the best class they've had."
"McGonagall seems amazed at how well we're doing," Draco admitted as he thought about the warnings he'd been given by the upper years about her not being fond of Slytherins and how she'd given him points and complimented him.
"Did the Founders start like this?" Crabbe asked, causing the other two to give him a confused look. "I mean, the Founders worked together to make Hogwarts and all their artifacts were made with them working together."
"And Potter is having us work on projects already," Goyle added.
"Yeah," Draco said softly. "Potter is having us work together, making us all stronger somehow."
"If four witches and wizards can build Hogwarts... What can an entire class build?" Crabbe asked.
Draco found himself smiling and wasn't sure why. "I guess we'll find out," he said. "In the meantime, we've got some homework to do and occlumency lessons to go over."
A relieved Crabbe, no longer worried about his sister, just nodded and followed Draco out of the room.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Harry snuck through the cabinet into his room, finding that Flora and Ginny were already asleep in his bed and from their position on top of the covers had probably been doing their occlumency exercises.
He grabbed his broom from beside the cabinet and climbed on, wrapping his invisibility cloak around himself before climbing on and flying out the window, carefully shutting it behind him so the girls wouldn't get cold and wake up before he returned.
"Usually you plan things out in advance," Tiny Snape said as he appeared on Harry's shoulder as he followed the compass towards London.
"I'm surprised he's actually taking precautions considering how impulsive he's been acting," Tiny Voldemort said with a frown.
"I feel like we've seriously underestimated how his age is affecting his thinking," Tiny Snape decided.
"Eleven years old... but he didn't act this way when he was eleven the first time," Tiny Voldemort argued.
"The first time he was eleven he'd been starved and abused... which isn't too dissimilar from our own backgrounds," Tiny Snape admitted. "Regardless, being much healthier and happier has seriously affected his mental state."
"Yes, it's made him reckless and much more likely to die taking us with him," Tiny Voldemort complained.
"We're not really here, we're a manifestation of his fractured psyche," Tiny Snape reminded him.
"I don't care if I'm a bit of undigested potato, I wanna live!" Tiny Voldemort declared.
"Really?" Tiny Snape asked dryly. "Dickens?"
"A classic even in my day," Tiny Voldemort replied. "I appreciate great literature even if it was written by a muggle."
"Can you two can the comedy routine, I need to concentrate," Harry replied absently, focusing on the compass as he flew through the night sky.
"Might as well have some fun before you get us killed again," Tiny Snape grumbled.
"I'm not going to get us killed," Harry replied, adjusting his heading slightly.
"You're rushing off to face one of the most infamous of mass murderers and werewolves of the wizarding world on a whim, death is quite likely," Tiny Voldemort said cheerfully, completely at odds with his earlier behavior.
"I have a plan," Harry assured him, slowing down as he entered London.
"He's a monster that has slaughtered dozens of aurors that 'had a plan," Tiny Snape pointed out. "Stunners won't work, cutting curses barely phase him, and I'd even go so far as to say the killing curse isn't guaranteed when he's in human form, considering how much he's embraced the curse."
"And if I was trying to kill him that would be something to consider," Harry replied. "Listen, I'm simply going to have a word with him."
"We are so dead," Tiny Voldemort told Tiny Snape.
"We are not, we simply have to get Harry to listen to reason for a moment," Tiny Snape replied before frowning. "Yeah, I realized how stupid that was the moment I said it."
"Do you think we'll get our own afterlife?" Tiny Voldemort asked. "By that I mean, do we count as our own person or do we just count as Harry for the purposes of afterlife inhabiting?"
"I... I have no idea," Tiny Snape said with a frown. "I think therefore I am, but really its Harry thinking..." he rubbed his temples. "Can a split personality caused by a psychotic break have an aneurism, cause I feel one coming on."
"Drama queens," Harry muttered and pushed the pair of comedians down into his subconscious so they wouldn't distract him.
He quickly recognized that he was headed for Diagon Alley and frowned. He'd really hoped for some place with a lot fewer potential witnesses even if that meant he'd have to clue the aurors into Fenrir's location himself.
The fact that he couldn't simply fly into Diagon Alley from London was also a factor but not much of one. He flew down to the alley behind the Leaky Cauldron and tapped the appropriate brick, quickly pulling his arm back under the cloak before it could be seen as the bricks peeled away to reveal a nearly empty shopping district.
Diagon had few businesses open this late, so no one was around to notice the entryway to the alley open for no one.
Harry flew through the opening and then rose a dozen feet before consulting his compass. Naturally it pointed towards Knockturn Alley which did most of its business at night, or at least portions of it did.
The compass led to a bar that Death Eaters and the like were known to frequent.
"Hope he gets good and drunk," Harry muttered as he hovered in the air two stories up but with a good view of the front door of the bar.
Tiny Voldemort pushed his way up from the depths of Harry's mind. "Don't assume invisibility is enough, Fenris has advanced senses even in human form. Cast silencing, scent dampening, and a heat dispersal charm on yourself when you have the chance."
Tiny Snape popped back up. "Heat dispersal?"
"Nocturnal animals often have the ability to see in the infrared," Tiny Voldemort explained, "for instance cats can see heat."
"That bitch!" Tiny Snape growled.
Harry and Tiny Voldemort turned to stare at him.
"McGonagall always criticized my invisibility charms without revealing that little fact," Tiny Snape grumbled, causing the two to snicker.
Tiny Voldemort walked Harry through casting the heat dispersal charm several times until he felt Harry'd gotten it right and they waited silently for their prey to depart the bar.
Taking out Greyback was almost too easy as the werewolf stepped out of the bar and Harry hit him with an obliviate... and then another, followed by a dozen more causing Fenris to fall over, eyes open, staring at nothing. Harry cheerfully added another series of obliviates in what was clearly overkill.
"Obliviate?" Tiny Snape asked in surprise.
"Being a werewolf makes it hard to stab him, but it doesn't make his brain any more immune to obliviate than a normal wizard," Harry replied smugly.
Tiny Voldemort frowned. "But you suck at obliviate."
"No, I suck at trying to use the charm to target a specific memory, wiping an entire mind is easy," Harry replied as he levitated Greyback and flew down the alley, chucking him at the first Auror he spotted.
The braindead werewolf took the Auror's legs out from under him, but the bald black Auror turned the tumble into a roll coming back to his feet almost instantly, wand in hand, and nailing Fenris with two stunners and an incarcerous, binding him in conjured rope.
Harry quickly departed before the Auror could scan the area, satisfied with a job well done, but didn't drop his guard until he'd snuck back to his room and crawled into bed, waking his two sisters who quickly scrambled under the covers as well.
He loved when one of his plans went off without a hitch!
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Harry's back," James noted as he and Lily worked on figuring out a particularly difficult Peruvian charm that they only had partial notes on.
"I wonder what he was up to," Lily muttered.
James snorted. "Unless it makes the paper, I doubt we'll know."
Lily grinned. "I'll keep an eye on the Daily Prophet and let you know."
Typing By: Abyssal Angel
Beta By: Abyssal Angel and Mist of Shadows