AN:

Oni: Oh look, another chapter.

Eridan: Oh look, plot buildin.

Oni: Oh look, Eridan has a new parental figure.

Eridan: Oh look, Sirius has competition.

Oni: This is going to be hilarious.

Eridan: Indeed.

Oni: Also, thank you all for reviewing, I've taken in your arguments for all sides, and have decided that having Eridan in a human disguise would make for a rather interesting plot device.

Eridan: Howw long could I keep it up before they get suspicious?

Oni: Let's see how the story will unfold!

Oni: Also-

"English"

"Alternian"

Eridan: Oni does not owwn Harry Potter or Homestuck. She does owwn this story idea, howwevver.

Oni: That's seems to have everything covered, now ONWARDS!

"So let me surmise wwhat wwe havve gathered here:

Your human custodians wwill not let you fight, evven though this is more your Wwar than it is theirs. Furthermore, they havve been wwithholdin information from you to make sure you aren't able to fight. In sense, they are still treatin you like little wwrigglers that can't fend for themselvves. Wwhich leads us to this.

I havve reason to believve that none of you need to rely on these adults if all they are goin to do is hold you back, and that you already havve all the clues to figure out certain thins that they're tryin to hade from you."

After hearing all their adventures, Eridan's visage had turned into one of a General. Every bit of information they told him seemed to be relevant to some other thing that was happening, and honestly Harry was becoming a little confused. Instead of explaining his thought process, the troll was having them think of all the 'evidence' they had 'gathered' throughout their years at Hogwarts to piece together what the Order was trying to withhold from them.

It wasn't going so well.

Eridan rubbed his temples and sighed at the rest of the inhabitants of the room. They were stuck here for quite a while, and Harry was beginning to wonder when they would give up looking for the troll. Once again, Eridan repeated the evidence, this time stressing certain parts.

"Look, Ginny had Tom Riddle's diary, wwhich claimed to be a memory. Howwevver, it is knowwn that memories can't possess people, wwhich it did. Fast forwward to noww, Harry has a Parasite livvin in his scar, wwhich he got from Tome Riddle attackin him all those swweeps ago."

At this, Neville raised his hand.

"You said that term a couple of times already, but something tells me that you trolls have a different meaning for the word 'Parasite'."

Eridan seemed to blink slowly at this, before his face contorted, like he didn't want to talk about it. He seemed to have an inner battle with himself, a few seconds passing until he slumped against the wall tiredly, sighing.

"A vvery long time ago on Alternia, in a time that my ancestor's ancestor wwas livvin, there wwas a wwar between the lowwbloods and that time's Empress. Wwith their superior psychic abilities some lowwbloods, fearing their short lifespans, split parts of their soul, their vvery livvin essence, and placed them in vvessels. Most of the time, these vvessels wwere nonlivvin objects, but some of the lowwbloods latched their soul shards onto highbloods. These shards wwould start to absorb the essence of the highblood, until they died and the shard wwas returned to the lowwblood it belonged to, their lifespan now as long as the highblood they stole it from. My ancestor's ancestor called them Parasites."

"So then, you think that Tom Riddle made Parasites to prolong his own lifespan?" Ron questioned.

"It would make sense, the diary did try to kill me by absorbing all my magic and creating his own body." Ginny pointed out.

"Usually lowwbloods wwere smart enough to stop at one Parasite, howwevver I havve reason to believve that Tom Riddle has made more than that." Eridan added, staring pointedly at Harry.

Harry's hand went straight to his scar, and recalled what Eridan had said when the little troll first laid eyes on it, not to mention he called Harry a 'Parasite Vessel'. Slowly his mind started to put the pieces into place. The connection with Voldemort. How he could sense his presence. How he could see what Voldemort was doing through his dreams. The message in the Department of Mysteries. Why Dumbledore was avoiding him. It all made sense. A shard of Voldemort's soul was in his scar.

"So…how do you get rid of these…Parasites?" the Boy Who Lived asked, slightly shaken at the revelation he just had.

The way Eridan smiled made Harry realize that the alien had been waiting for Harry to finally come to that particular conclusion. His smile dropped when he started to explain.

"My ancestor's ancestor wwas my namesake, Eridanus the Purifier. He studied the Parasites wwhen they became wwidely used in the rebellion. Because of his extensive research, he wwas able to formulate a number wways, and wwas appointed by the Empress to purify those wwith Parasites, as wwell as inanimate Parasite Vvessels. One wway was by the vvenom of a noww extinct giant slitherbeast species, another wwas by sentient fires. Obivviously this lead to a feww problems, because the only wway he wwas able to find to free a highblood from a Parasite wwas death."

Death.

In order for Voldemort to be destroyed, Harry had to die. It wasn't a coincidence, was it? The way he was treated at the Dursley's, the Order's inaction with training them for the next war, the trials he had to go through every year. Dumbledore had lined Harry up to be killed by Voldemort like…like a pig for slaughter!

"Is…is there any other way to destroy a Parasite without killing the Vessel?" His voice was quivering.

"For humans? No. There wwas another wway described, but it had to do wwith those from an old lineage, and somethin about harvvestin the powwer of 'the descendants of wwrathful angels'. I wwould need to…read the book the Purifier wwrote again. I didn't get that far wwhen I last came across it."

"Do you think you could check it again? I'll help!" Hermione perked up, wanting to help and also curious about the book Eridan had mentioned.

"I wwould havve to teach you Alternian for that, considerin that it's written in my first language."

"Please? I want to help! I was wondering how you were so fluent, so Alternian must be what was on the Veil before it changed, right? Maybe we can work together, to try and find out how to get the Parasite out of Harry's scar!" Eridan regarded her carefully, and then slowly nodded.

"If you are wwillin to learn, I'll attempt to teach you, alright?" Hermione squealed and hugged the small troll, almost knocking his large glasses down.

"Thank you Eridan! I won't let you down, I promise!" Cautiously he circled his arms around her.

"I…don't doubt it."

When they broke apart, Eridan turned to Harry, purposefully looking into his eyes and not his scar.

"You knoww… back on Alternia, only the Jadebloods had that particular shade of green. They're kind is a vversatile one, considerin they are destined to reside underground carin for the Mother Grub wwhen they come of age. Adaptable in many a circumstance, hardy, sticks to their blood push- hearts, evven wwhen they knoww their fates. I don't doubt that you are the same." Harry smiled..

Suddenly Eridan's earfin twitched, like a rabbit's when they hear something.

"Someone is comin, they must havve givven up on their search."

All of the room's occupants turned to the locked door, and soon they heard the sound of footsteps thumping their way upstairs. Eridan calmly walked over to one of the beds and sat behind it, out of sight. Harry rolled his eyes at that, like that was going to hide him from Mad Eye's…. mad eye. The air around them pulsed ever so slightly as the wards at the door were being undone, and they all waited with a baited breath as the locked clicked open, and the doorknob turned…

Sirius was very confused. While he knew Eridan had the capability to be elusive even without Harry's Invisibility Cloak, nobody could be this elusive. He checked the kitchen area again, sometimes whispering the alien's name under his breath to no avail. Molly had ushered the teens (non-members of the Order, really, they were old enough to take care of themselves by now, considering all they've been through) up the stairs and into one of their shared rooms. Sirius rolled his eyes at that, but he knew better than to go against a Molly in 'Mother Mode'. Although, the Azkaban-addled wizard wondered if there ever was a time that he hadn't seen Molly in that mindset.

He was tired, he was hungry, but most of all he was frustrated. Why?

They had been searching for around five hours.

It was almost time for dinner, and the rest of the Order was going to be arriving for another meeting after that. If Eridan wasn't found until then, they were going to have to explain that there was an invisible troll loose inside the Headquarters, and that would cause more panic than there was now. Mundungus practically fled the place when he finally wrapped his head around Harry's little speech, and made for the Floo only to be grabbed by a ticked off Alastor.

Speaking of which…

Going into the living room, he met with Arthur and Kingsley, both of whom were being interrogated by Alastor on the troll's behavioral habits. The way he spoke, Sirius thought he was talking about an Earth Troll…oh. That must have been what the others were trying to find this entire time. Considering that an Earth Troll wasn't hard to find (it was like misplacing Hagrid, it just didn't happen) as one merely had to follow the trail of destruction and the horrid stench that their kind was notorious of, using those methods to find Eridan were…laughable.

Although the follow the trail of destruction did have its merits if Eridan decided to use the Black Family Heirlooms as target practice for his insanely powerful alien rifle.

Sirius gave the two stricken men an apologetic glance, which didn't go unnoticed by Paranoid Auror Master Alastor. Dear Merlin he wasn't a wet-behind-the-ears Auror trainee anymore, but somehow Moody always made him feel that way. Now he was cornered by his old mentor, but before the barrage of questions could form out of the grizzled man's mouth, the Floo flared.

Out stepped Minerva McGonagall, Albus Dumbledore, Dedalus Diggle, Elphias Doge, Emmeline Vance, and Hestia Jones, all talking about something in hushed tones. When they saw Sirius, they walked over and gave their congratulations for surviving the Veil. Albus lingered for a little with Minerva, giving the dog animagus a proud smile, as if to say that he was proud of Sirius for braving the unknown. He glanced up at the clock that stood on the far end of the living room, and sighed. It was seven, time for the unofficial meeting to begin, as well as dinner. The Floo flared again, and his little metamorphmagus cousin Nymphadora Tonks stepped into the room with a large grin on her face, before subsequently tripping on her own foot and falling on the floor in an ungraceful thud. Sirius chuckled a little before giving his hand to help hoist her up.

The newly arrived members of the Order scanned the room confused, as Molly was frantically glancing upwards at intervals, Remus was doing similar and seemed to jump at every odd noise, sniffing the air, Moody's eye was whizzing in its eye more than usual, Mundungus appeared to have soiled his pants, and Arthur and Kingsley were as white as ghosts.

"Did we miss something?" Dumbledore asked genially with a twinkle in his eye.

"Black," Moody started, snarling and pointing at the sheepish Sirius, "has led a troll into the Headquarters. Currently its invisible and we are still trying to locate it."

"We should have kept a better eye on him," Arthur muttered, still pale faced, "I saw that thing kill twenty Dementors and I…I didn't question how dangerous it could be until Harry said so-"

"Hold on…" Tonks interrupted, "Did you say the troll killed twenty Dementors?"

The other members of the Order had started to mutter amongst themselves, and McGonagall had her lips pressed in a thin line.

"Saw it with my own eyes. Never before had I seen a Dementor feel fear, scream, and blasted into a pile of ash all in a few seconds. It was truly a horrifying experience." Kingsley replied slowly.

Panic started to spread through the room, like Sirius predicted, but before it could turn into full blown chaos, Dumbledore emitted a few sparks from his wand. Immediately everyone stopped what they were doing, and stared at him in silence, waiting at attention.

"So let us summarize what we have learned," he started, eyes twinkling, "Mr. Black is back from the Veil, and has brought a friend with him. A troll friend that can destroy Dementors, but a friend nonetheless. He is…invisible at the moment? Yes, however, Sirius, can you assure us that he is not a direct threat at the moment?"

"Well, he won't attack you unless you attack him first, so no…"

"Then we have nothing to worry about." Dumbledore answered, "We will find him in time. For now, I believe dinner is in order."

"I'll go get the children then," Molly pipped up with from the back room.

They all nodded in agreement and turned to walk into the kitchen, having their own little conversations. Remus jogged up to Sirius and looked at him questioningly.

"So…your partner from the Veil is…vaguely harmless?"

"Extremely vaguely." Sirius said with a certainty that made the werewolf facepalm.

"This is going to be a long night…"

Sirius could only give his old friend a lopsided grin.

Then the Floo fared once more, and out stepped the last person that Sirius wanted to see in a million years, besides the Ministry sods that tried to kill him hours ago.

"Well, it looks like the Mutt is back from the dead." drawled a familiar voice.

"Hello to you too, Snivillus." Sirius sneered back at the newcomer.

"I may have overheard something from the other side of the Floo, something about you letting loose a troll inside the headquarters? Tsk, tsk, Mr. Black, and I thought you would have learned not to do such things since our Hogwarts days." Sirius's eye twitched, but not because of Snape's words.

It was because that tone and infliction was too bloody familiar for his liking.

"Now, now you two. Remember, old hatchets must be buried for us to work together." Remus sang out, mimicking Dumbledore's words.

"I don't have a chainsaw Moony, that's why I brought a cleaver." Sirius proclaimed proudly.

"I brought a chainsaw." Snape drawled sarcastically.

"Well I brought a…what's a chainsaw?"

Snivillus opened his mouth to reply, but was silenced by the deafening scream that penetrated the air. A scream that without a doubt came from Molly Weasley. Within a split second everyone had their wands at the ready, and was standing at attention at the foot of the stairs.

"Molly!" Arthur shouted, "Are you alright?"

There was thumping of someone descending the stairs, and without knowing, everyone was holding their breath, until Mrs. Weasley's voice rang out in the dusty air.

"SIRIUS ORION BLACK, HOW DARE YOU WITHOLD INFORMATION FROM US!"

"I…wha?" was all Sirius could manage.

"Molly?" Arthur sputtered.

"I THOUGHT WE WERE LOOKING FOR A GIANT, SMELLY MONSTER! I WAS NOT AWARE THAT THE TROLL HARRY HAD MENTIONED…" Molly descended the steps with something distinctly violet colored cradled in her arms, "WAS AN ADORABLE UNDERWEIGHT LITTLE CREATURE!"

Molly Weasley was holding Eridan in her arms like one would a puppy or a baby, and the poor kid had a deer-in-the-headlights expression of confusion plastered on his face, making his eyes wider and more childlike than they usually were. More thumping resounded from upstairs as the teens made their way down, and their faces betrayed their amusement at Eridan's current predicament, barely holding in their laughter as Molly went to nuzzle him like a baby.

"Wwhat are you doin. Matriarch of the hivvehold I implore you to please put me dowwn. I'm six, I can vvery wwell take care of myself."

Without even attempting to let the troll down, Molly carried him all the way to the kitchen, before setting him down on a 'free' chair to be examined by the rest of the Order, much to the alien's chagrin. The Order members all took their seats around the dinner table as Mrs. Weasley started to dish out her large-portioned meals. Snape sat on Eridan's left, while Harry sat next to Sirius, on Eridan's right. The latter was still snickering to Eridan's expense as the pink haired Auror leaned over to where the grey-skinned seadweller sat.

"Aaaaw look at him. He's just a wittle baby!" Tonks cooed.

"Wwhy is everyone usin that vvoice? Do human females become mentally impaired as soon as they lay eyes on me or somethin? Wwhat is wwith that strange emotion they're puttin out?"

Sirius tried and failed to hold back his laughter, before a thought sobered him. Leaning on his hands while his elbows were propped on the table, the dog animagus came to an upsetting conclusion. Some of the Order glanced at him worriedly as they filled their plates up with Molly's rich food. As soon as Mrs. Weasley herself sat at the table, McGonagall decided to break his brooding.

"Mr. Black, care to share why you are in such a somber mood?"

"It's nothing really, I just came to a conclusion that I find depressing." McGonagall raised an eyebrow at this.

"And what conclusion is that, Mr. Black?"

Sirius heard what she said, but he kept his eyes fixated on the subject of his thoughts, who was questioning Harry on each dish being presented to him. The small troll was towered on both ends by his godson and childhood enemy, and it just brought to mind how bloody young he was, and yet he acted rather mature in human standards, but that was the point. Eridan was an alien, and the circumstances of his upbringing orbited around that fact, including around a rather somber thought.

It started with what Eridan had told him about having a Lusus instead of actual parents, and Sirius realized something very sad. Having a Lusus filled the job of a caretaker, but having an actual parent was completely different. Trolls, Sirius realized, lived a very lonely life. They were always an only child, raised by barely sentient animals, and were born to be soldiers for a crusade that they didn't truly understand. A troll never experienced what a father figure was like, someone to support them and to look up to. All they had were their ancestors, but not only are they deceased, they have been so for thousands of years. While Harry grew up as an orphan, even he had Sirius, Remus, Mr. Weasley or even Dumbledore and Hagrid to act like a father (no matter how terrible Hagrid was at parenthood, it was still evident that Harry did look up to Hagrid, both physically and metaphorically) and Sirius had both Dumbledore and James's own father. Eridan only had his Skyhorse (which to be honest, was just like a smarter seahorse Buckbeak) and his ancestor (someone he only read about and knew through his journals, he doesn't even know what Dualscar looked like). And then there was the complete lack of motherly affection, something Sirius himself only had from James's wonderful mother and even McGonagall to some extent, and Harry was practically one of Molly's own brood in her eyes. But Eridan? Eridan had nothing like that, and because it was just an accepted part of his society, they wouldn't be able to comprehend that type of affection if faced with it.

Sirius had realized that the strange emotion that Eridan was talking about was Motherly Affection, something completely foreign and unheard of for the violet blooded troll. Of course he didn't understand what was going when Molly held him like a baby, he'd never experienced anything like it! Of course he would be weirded out by people cooing over him, as a troll he lived alone on an enormous empty warship with nothing but books and a giant floating white seahorse for company! Without any semblance of an actual parent or sibling, and sporadic friends and a Spartan upbringing, it had led Sirius to come to a single, disheartening conclusion.

Trolls had no actual concept of what a 'family' was.

"Sirius?"

He saw that Eridan was staring at him curiously now, as well as everyone around the table. Something wet rolled down his cheek, and Sirius raised a tentative hand to his face, and realized that he was honest to Merlin crying.

"It's nothing…nothing…" Remus gave him a look that meant 'spill the beans or so help me I will rip the bag open myself' and Sirius gulped, "Again it was just a realization I had…"

His silvery blue eyes bored into the glowing purple that were staring at him confused. Making a quick decision, Sirius cleared his throat.

"Before anything else, I would like to make a toast." Everyone at the table was staring at him like he had grown a second head, but he ignored them as he stood up with his glass of pumpkin juice, raising it high, "I would like a toast in honor of being on this wonderful planet we called home, even if we are driven into war, even if we are fighting for our lives, even if some of us fall, the bonds between us will let us go in the fight strong. To the Order, to the family we have made for each other."

Smiles broke out among the group along with the clinking of glasses and murmurs of 'to family', and Sirius even caught an upward twitch on Snape's regular scowl as Dumbledore tapped his goblet of pumpkin juice with his own glass of water. The only one not smiling was Eridan, whose face was screwed up as if he were trying to figure out a particularly difficult puzzle.

"Come on, Eridan, raise your glass, we consider you family too, you know!" Harry laughed as he offered his own glass to the small troll.

Said troll blinked slowly a few times, his face becoming blanker than it was before yet still holding the same confusion. He put both his hands together, steepling his fingers, glaring at them as the cogs almost seemed to visibly turn in his head. Everyone had turned to him in confusion, but some of them were brushing it off, probably because they had only just met him and thought that he just didn't consider himself a part of them yet.

It was Eridan's turn to look up at Sirius, his eyes boring into the man, as if looking for an answer that he knows he'll never understand.

"Wwhat in the Empress's name is a 'family'?"

Sirius expected this, he really did, but that didn't stop the tears from flowing down his cheeks.

Eridan didn't understand why Sirius was crying, or why Harry had a look of dawning understanding and horror written on his face. He would have been more worried if it weren't for the fact that the troll was still trying to understand that single, and apparently very powerful and important, word that they were uttering over and over. So he asked Sirius, and now he was watching an adult break down into tears.

"Of course." Hermione breathed out, eyes widening before turning to Eridan, "Trolls wouldn't have any concept of what a family is. Even if we explained it to you… You wouldn't… Oh Merlin…"

Now Eridan was really confused. Was this 'family' thing that important? He believed that he got along quite well without this strange concept that Sirius, Hermione, and even some of the other teens were tearing over. He huffed and rolled his eyes.

"I highly doubt me not graspin this 'family' concept is that big of a deal."

"Eri…Eridan…" Sirius said as he tried to compose himself, "That strange emotion that you couldn't pinpoint, that's a mother's love…but you wouldn't…you wouldn't know that…"

"Trolls don't have parents…not even parent figures…no father, no mother, no siblings, they wouldn't understand…" Harry whispered.

His eye twitched as he heard a gasp from the oldest red haired woman (Molly, right?) and a rush as she began to hug him, the emotion he now knew as 'mother's love' rolling out of her in waves. Stiffening, he pushed her away.

"Please let go of me."

For some reason that made her cry too.

Well then, a few hours into it and he was already making humans cry without knowing why. Turning to the other side of the room, (purposefully ignoring the living, breathing fashion disaster that was at the end of the table past the man sitting next to the troll) Eridan scrutinized the man sitting next to him.

For one thing, he was rather tall, towering over Eridan a little more than Sirius did. If he were a troll, he would probably have black blood (which didn't really exist, but still) because of the sheer amount of the color he was cloaked with. Obsidian eyes below obsidian hair, and cloaked with an obsidian robe, this man cut to be an imposing figure. His figures were steepled in front of him as he watched the emotional cryfest on the other side of the room. Eridan jerked a thumb over to where he was looking.

"Are they alwways like that?"

Thankfully, the dark clothed man just smirked.

"More or less."

Oh thank the Empress, he was doing something right. Offering a hand to the man, Eridan grinned slightly.

"Eridan Ampora. I'm a troll from the planet Alternia, to wwhich your Vveil led to. I followwed him out to learn about humans, Earth, and Magic, wwhich Alternia doesn't have."

The tall man raised an eyebrow and regarded Eridan carefully, before slowly shaking his hand.

"Severus Snape. Perhaps you are the saving grace with the horror of Black coming back through the Veil. I am the Potions Professor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, which you will be attending to learn magic."

For once since he was here, Eridan felt a sense of familiarity at the fact that out of all the humans seated here, he was the one most similar to an Alternian troll. Raven black hair, eyes that matched the color of his clothing, and the callousness that Eridan had been accustomed to for all those sweeps from his own self-reflection.

"So it's official then? I wwill be attendin your Hogwwarts?" Severus gave a curt nod as an answer.

"Indeed. Headmaster Dumbledore," the living fashion disaster (Kanaya would have had an aneurysm) waved back from his seat jovially, his bright blue eyes twinkling behind half-moon shaped glasses, "Has allowed for you to come, however going as you are may not be a good idea."

"So wwhat wwould I havve to do then?"

"You would have to attend under the guise of a human. Unfortunately, the Ministry is poking its nose into the school's affairs, and their appointed Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor does not particularly like anything that is not human. Already Hagrid, our resident half-giant, and Professor Flitwick, who is the Charms Professor and has Goblin blood, have been singled by her in our first Staff Meeting."

"I see… So howw wwould you manage to make me look human? Wwe may havve similarities but…" Eridan motioned to his horns.

"A potion should suffice, it will give you the guise of a human, but unfortunately it is only in appearance. Any…inhuman abilities you may have will not be compromised."

"Alright, that sounds fair…" Eridan said, letting out a breath when he was assured that he would still be able to keep his heightened senses, even if everyone else (including himself) wouldn't be able to see it.

Conversation with Severus was, unlike Sirius, rather enlightening. After confirming what Sirius had told Eridan about Hogwarts, Severus explained the way the school worked in more detail in between intervals of identifying what the troll was eating (Eridan was really confused at what 'Lasagna' and 'Pasta' was). This included the subjects taught, the House system, and Eridan's summer study expectations.

"Since you will be starting third year, you will have to learn the units taught in the previous two first. I have been elected to remedy you on Potions, hopefully you're not a dunderheads like the other students I teach." Severus sneered when he said the last part.

"If I could grasp your language wwithin a feww hours, somethin as similar to chemistry shouldn't be too difficult to grasp."

"We shall see."

Dinner progressed as normal, considering that there was a small, albeit deadly, alien sitting at the table with them. He was having conversation on the other side of the table as Hermione and Sirius started to debate on how they could introduce the concept of family to Eridan. Harry, on the other hand, was discussing the pros and cons of having an honest to Merlin alien at the school (because let's face it, Harry knew when to let go of a subject, Eridan doesn't know about family? Fine with him) with Luna, Neville, Ron, Ginny and the Twins. At intervals McGonagall would jump in with certain precautionary measures they were taking and how Eridan would be disguised as a human, so the topic switched to the old reliable.

House Betting.

"Slytherin. I'm positive he's going into Slytherin." Ginny put in, "He's cunning and ambitious and a bit too much like *cough*Dungeon Bat*cough* to not be in Slytherin."

"True..." started George.

"But…" picked up Fred.

"He's..."

"Kind of…"

"Obsessed…"

"With…"

"Learning."

"So Ravenclaw then?" Harry thought aloud.

"Maybe Gryffindor, because coming on your own to a different planet is really brave." Ron pointed out.

"Maybe, but he's not the type to value it, bravery is probably a survival trait back on Alternia." Neville pointed out.

"Technically, you could say that about all the Houses though. To survive on Alternia, one would need the bravery of a Gryffindor to face the dangers that just come from living there, the cunning and ambition of a Slytherin to live another day, the hard working mentality, the loyalty, and the dedication of a Hufflepuff to make sure your friends or Lusus doesn't die, and the wit and intelligence of a Ravenclaw to outsmart your enemies. In a sense, it's a necessity to embody all those traits." Ginny piped up, and the group fell silent.

"She's got…" muttered Fred, before taking another bite of lasagna.

"A point there." finished George, who took another forkful from Hermione's plate as she was too engrossed in her own conversation with Sirius to notice that her dinner was slowly being stolen by the Weasley Twins.

"But think about it, everyone holds at least some aspect from each House, we are multi-faceted people, but it's always the trait that stands out the most." Harry said, and silence enveloped the group for a while.

"Then we know where he will go." Luna said dreamily, "I wonder if there are nargles where he's from."

Speaking of Eridan, the group turned around to see what he was doing, only to find him talking to Snape of all people, discussing the subjects at Hogwarts with the man as if they were long lost cousins. The strangest part of the sight was the fact that the Potions Professor had a faint upturned corner of his mouth as he conversed with the bright little troll, which is the closest thing Harry had seen on the man resembling a genuine smile.

On the other side of Snape sat Dumbledore, who refused to meet his eyes. While he knew why the man was doing so, it still brought a pang of sadness in Harry's heart. Hopefully after the Parasite was removed Dumbledore will go back to the way he was. Sighing to himself he contemplated something that was slightly disturbing. Trolls (even if they were 'lowbloods') were only able to make one Parasite, but already they have confirmed that Voldemort has made at least two. It was the 'at least' part that worried him. A man who literally named himself 'Flight From Death' would take his pursuit of immortality seriously, so he could have made more. If Harry could see Voldemort through the Dark Wizard's eyes because he had a piece of his soul inside his scar, could it also be said that he could look through the eyes of other soul pieces? If so, then Harry was certain that the snake that bit Mr. Weasley was a Parasite as well.

That made three soul pieces, but a nagging feeling made Harry believe that Voldemort wouldn't stop at three. How many he actually made, Harry wasn't sure. All he knew is that it was just more information that he didn't know, information that Dumbledore and the Order was keeping from him. He knew he shouldn't resent them, after all they were still just treating Harry and the others like children, but it was hard.

Harry never had a childhood, not since he was dropped on the doorstep of Number Four Privet Drive.

The Boy Who Lived mused at the fact that he had more similarities to the troll sitting next to him than he originally thought. In a sense, Harry could jokingly assume that Hedwig would be his 'Lusus', as she took care of him as best as an owl could and had completely white feathers.

A stifled gasp came from the side, and Harry turned to see his godfather with a horrified look on his face, staring at the interaction between Snape and Eridan.

Sirius was broken from his in-depth conversation with Hermione by Remus, who elbowed him and chuckled, pointing to the other side of the table.

"Look out Padfoot, I think you might have just lost your alien friend to the dark side."

Curious on what in Merlin's name the werewolf was talking about, Sirius turned his head.

He really shouldn't have.

There, talking calmly to Eridan, was none other than his most hated childhood enemy in his Hogwarts years and beyond, Marauder Hit List Villain Number One, the slimy, slithering, greasy dungeon bat Snivillus. Sirius almost chocked on his dinner.

"You…" he strangled out, half-glaring at Snape and successfully gaining their attention, "You…and…and him…talking…"

Their faces went blank simultaneously, and folded their arms at the same time.

"Obviously."

"Obvviously."

It was said in the same bored tone, the same infliction, the same way. Their synchronized movements almost put the Weasley Twins to shame.

At that moment, everything fell into place.

"Why does Sirius look like he's about to have a mental breakdown?"

A hand waved across his face, but the dog animagus paid it no heed.

"Should we poke him with a stick?"

"I don't know, he looks like he's about to snap."

The mannerisms, the personality, the way they both billow their capes and cloak, the sneering, the vocabulary, the braininess. They were so similar it burned, and soon only one word played in Sirius's head.

"No…"

"Uh, Sirius?"

"Nononononononononononononono after all this the one person you were reminding me of had to be Snape! How could I have been so blind?!"

"Padfoot, you're overreacting."

To prove Remus wrong, Sirius dramatically fell backwards on his chair to the ground before going into a fetal position and rolling on the floor.

"Noooooooooooooooooo…" he whispered to himself as a single tear fell to the ground.

By this point almost everyone was laughing their heads off at Sirius's reaction to something they had figured out within minutes of meeting Eridan, and even the troll in question started to smirk. Hopping from his place on the chair, he trotted over to the dramatically crying Sirius, who stared up at him. Leaning down, he gave Sirius another smirk.

"Wwell, your reaction just provves that I wwas right."

This caused a few murmurs of confusion amongst the people sitting at the table, those who weren't still laughing that is.

"What do you mean?" Remus asked curiously.

Sirius saw Eridan give him a vicious grin, before the troll opened his sharp toothed mouth.

"Suppressed Memory."

The groan of annoyance that came from the floor made almost everyone start laughing at the crying Black once more, though Sirius barely registered Harry ask Eridan one more thing.

"What do you mean by 'suppressed memory'?"

"Oh nothin. Just an inside joke betwween us, that's all."

AN:

Oni: Another chapter over and done!

Eridan: Questions for the revviewws. Wwill Sirius and Severus fight for my respect? Wwill they get rid of Harry's Horcrux?

Oni: Yes, and thank you for all of you who have Reviewed, Favorited, and Followed, it means a lot. (And please keep reviewing I love reviews like cookies)

Eridan: And wwe shall see you next time...

Oni: My pretties!