It's My Life
The party was going great, Harry loved how peaceful everything was. How peaceful he felt, no stress. Just fun. Yes, Harry missed Sirius like crazy, but he knew the man was there in spirit. So were his parents. That put Harry at ease, made the pain of losing them better. Harry was actually having a good time and it was only 7:00 pm. Harry was sitting down with Draco, and his friends outside of Slytherin had started singing along to the music. Harry was just waiting for someone, probably Hermione, to grab him and make him join them. Sure enough, when Harry heard a familiar tune playing as he watched his friends group up to sing it.
"Come on, Harry," Luna invited gently.
"No, no. I'm good. You have fun." Harry smiled.
"Harry Potter, and I know you have more names than that, but it's just too many to use in full, get over here and have fun with us!" Hermione demanded with a smile. "It's your song…"
"I'm well aware, Hermione." Harry rolled his eyes.
"Come on, mate. Like the old days of our fun in Gryffindor Tower." Ron reminded.
"Old days? Wow, Ron…Make it seem like I've been out of the tower for years. It's been one year, man…" Harry chuckled as he got up, letting go of Draco's hand to join the others.
"Oh, yay. I get to hear my boyfriend sing again." Draco smiled.
"You act like it's the greatest thing you've ever heard," Harry said to Draco.
"You sing pretty good, Harry," Pansy agreed.
"Sing, Harry. This one is all you and we'll join in." Hannah stated.
"Fine, but remember my voice isn't what it was two or three years ago." Harry muttered.
"You don't lose a talent like that, Harry," Fred and George said together.
Harry shook his head, but kept his smile. "Scared. Oh, I thought I knew scared. But I'm so filled with fear, I can barely move. Doubt, I've had my share of doubt. But never more than right now. I'm wondering where are you?" Harry started. It was a very light tune that played and Harry's voice sounded on the higher side. "Here on the edge of fall apart…Somehow your promises find my troubled heart…"
The music picked up slightly. "This is the truth I'm standing on. Even when all my strength is gone. You are faithful forever and I know you'll never let me fall..." Harry took a breath. "Right now, I'm choosing to believe…Someday soon, I'll look back and see. All the pain had a purpose. Your plan was perfect all along…This is the truth I'm standing on."
There was a slight pause as the girls started swaying behind Harry to the music. "Good. I believe you're still good. Even when life's not good. I will not lose this hope. That the God who parts the sea, promises he's gonna make a way for me."
"This is the truth I'm standing on. Even when all my strength is gone. You are faithful forever and I know you'll never let me fall! Right now, I'm choosing to believe…Someday soon, I'll look back and see…All the pain had a purpose, your plan was perfect all along. This is the truth I'm standing on!…" Harry paused. "My rock, my shield, my firm foundation. I know I will not be shaken. You remind me where my help comes from!"
"This is the truth I'm standing on, even when all my strength is gone…" Harry began again.
"You are faithful forever and I know you'll never let me fall! Right now, I'm choosing to believe, someday soon, I'll look back and see. All the pain had a purpose, 'cause your plan was perfect all along…And this is the truth I'm standing on." The rest of the friends joined in. (The song is Leanna Crawford, Truth I'm Standing On.)
The reaction to the song was almost immediate. All the adults were clapping and the women of the group were all excited and whispering to themselves about how lovely it had been.
Harry smiled, his eyes falling on his father, who was clapping too and giving Harry the look to ask if he was okay and Harry used his eyes to say he was. The song was meaningful, a way for people to reach out and put their faith in a higher power. This seemed more personal, though, Severus had watched his son's body language throughout the performance and Harry never looked at the audience.
His head was always facing upward towards the ceiling, more perhaps, the sky as if he were looking for this higher power or letting it know that he believed in it to be there for him. Or it could also be interpreted he was looking for help to get him through the suffering he was going through with Sirius gone, the stresses in his life. Either way, Severus might talk to Harry later about it.
"Harry, that was lovely." Pansy told him.
"You need to sing more." Draco hugged Harry gently. "I find it quite enjoyable."
"I'll bear that in mind next time you're bored," Harry chuckled as he leaned in to give his boyfriend a light kiss.
"I'm never bored with you," Draco quirked his brows. "Especially when we're alone."
"You're insatiable, Draco Malfoy. Insatiable, I say." Harry teased.
"Least you know I won't leave you for it being bad." Draco smirked.
"I suppose that's an upside." Harry agreed as he linked his fingers to Draco's. "Maybe you'll join me in my room tonight, private birthday celebration?" Harry kissed the back of the man's hand, causing Draco to flush slightly.
"I think that can be arranged." Draco nodded. "Time?"
"Let's make it 11?" Harry suggested.
"See you then." Draco winked.
"What are you two whispering about so quietly?" Ginny asked.
"For starters, none of your business, Gin. Secondly, Draco was just asking if I'd sing more for him at random." Harry stated.
It wasn't to be hostile, but Ginny still attempted to flirt and insert herself when she found a moment to try. It was getting kind of annoying, and he had preferred not to invite her, but that was unfair to Molly and Arthur to make one of them miss the party because their daughter needed to be watched. Harry saw Ginny like a sister, just an annoying one who liked to interfere in an older brother's affairs. Ron had told Harry all about Ginny behaving like a little sister who liked to know everything going on.
"You kids must do another." Narcissa insisted. "If you're so amendable to the idea?"
"I suppose one more wouldn't hurt." Luna smiled.
"Let's do Home. Harry, you have that, right?" Hermione asked.
"Hermione, I'm deeply hurt by the fact you think I don't have it. Madam, you know I love my music." Harry put a hand to his chest, faking his pain. "Merlin, I might die if you don't know that by now." Hermione giggled some. "How you wound me, big sister."
"I'm teasing you, Harry." Hermione joked.
"As am I." Harry replied. He located the song and let it play.
"I'm sitting in a railway station. Got a ticket for my destination. O-Oh…" Angelina began.
"On a tour of one night stands. My suitcase and guitar in hand…" Dean started up.
"And every stop is neatly planned for a poet and a one man band." The two sang together.
"This way…" Neville joined next.
"Way…" Hannah held the note with Neville.
"They're stringing us along." Neville went.
"Along…" Hannah continued.
"Just know you're not alone…" Ron and Hermione joined in.
'Cause I'm gonna make this place your home." Harry sang.
The music picked up as they all got into position. "Every day is an endless stream of cigarettes and magazines." Alicia picked up the next line.
"And each town looks the same to me, the moves and the factories…" Luna started.
"And every stranger's face I see reminds me that I long to be home!" The rest of the teenagers, minus the Slytherin group, sang together. "The trouble, it might drag you down. If you get lost, you can always be found. Just know you're not alone…"
"Know you're not alone…" Ginny smiled.
"'Cause I'm gonna make this place your home." Seamus voiced.
The groups began vocalizing the music between lyrics. "Where my thoughts escape me." A pause after Harry sang that."Where my music's playing…" He went again. "Where my love life is silently waiting for me…"
"Settle down! It'll all be clear…The trouble, it might drag you down. If you get lost, you can always be found. Just know you're not alone…" The group sang out.
"Know you're not alone." Hermione harmonized.
"'Cause I'm gonna make this place your home." The entire group sang.
They all began to sing the bit in the middle again. It sounded like an ah-ah-ah, but at different tones throughout the people singing it while sounding great together.
"Where my music's playing…" Luna smiled gently.
"I'm gonna make, I'm gonna make…Make this place your home! No, you're not alone. I'm gonna make. I'm gonna make. Make this place our home…No, you're not alone." They finished together. (This was the Glee version, called Home.)
"Oh, you kids would be lovely as a choir full time." Molly beamed.
"It's just for fun, Mum." Ginny told her.
"How'd you all get so good at it?" Narcissa wondered.
"Um, we spent a lot of nights in the Gryffindor common room. After dinner, but before curfew. It was just to pass the time that we got on music." Hermione explained. "Harry, somehow, got a CD player to work and we just listened to CD's or the radio. It was odd as usually muggle things like this don't work inside Hogwarts walls."
"Indeed they don't. How did you manage, son?" Severus asked.
"Dunno. I just touched it." Harry shrugged.
"As for all of us getting together for things, we did a lot of study groups and used the music as background noise. We just have fun singing." Angelina remarked. "Well, did. Alicia and I graduated this year."
"Yes, but someone would have surely seen you on the grounds and singing. Were you…Under concealments and silencing charms?" Minerva asked.
"No…Well, kind of. Just not the way you think, Headmistress." Hannah said.
"Harry has a map of the entire school and we used it to find the hidden passages and rooms." Luna revealed.
"SSSH!" Hermione, Ron, and Harry panicked.
"What was that?" Severus demanded. No one spoke. "Harry Potter-Snape…" He warned. "Don't make me have to use your full name young man…Speak. Now."
Harry sighed. "I…Have a map of the school's layout, hidden rooms, and secret passages out of the castle…" He confessed.
"And where did you acquire such?" Minerva asked.
"We gave it to him in his third year, but we'd had it since our own first. Nicked it from Filch's office." Fred and George came up beside Harry. "We decided his needs were greater for the map's usage. We gave it to him so he could sneak out of Hogwarts and go to Hogsmead because his uncle never signed his slip."
"I was wondering where you got that map from…" Remus muttered. "Harry, I told you that map was not something you should have. It's a map right to you in the wrong hands."
"Yeah, well you also gave it back to me, Uncle Remy. End of third year, said you weren't my teacher anymore so you felt no guilt whatsoever about returning it to me…" Harry reminded.
"Remus, you what?" Minerva gasped. "What do you know of the map?"
"Oh, Merlin…I suppose it couldn't have been kept a secret forever. I knew what it was when I confiscated it from Harry in third year…I am one of its creators." Remus said.
"This…Is the map Sirius referred to in his letter to you?" Lucius wondered.
Remus nodded. "Harry, show them, cub…"
"Do I have to…?" Harry really hoped not, but luck wasn't on his side.
"Yes, right now, young man." Severus folded his arms over one another.
"Fine…" Harry sighed. "Accio The Marauder's Map." He held up his hand as some parchment flew to him. Harry set it down on the table in front of his father.
"This is blank, where's the map?" Minerva stated.
"It's there, if you know how to open it." Fred and George grinned.
"Reveal your secrets, map," Severus said. "Mr. Moony presents his compliments to Professor Snape and begs him to keep his abnormally large nose out of other people's business…" He read. "Lupin!" The man glared at the werewolf, who was actually hiding a snicker. "Revelio," Severus tried again. "Mr. Prongs agrees with Mr. Moony and adds that Professor Snape is an ugly git."
"Do you give up yet?" Harry asked.
"I will not be beaten by a piece of charmed paper!" Severus glared. "Aparecium…"
"What does it say now, my friend?" Lucius wondered.
"Mr. Wormtail bids Professor Snape a good day and advises him to wash his hair, the slime-ball." Severus read as he had glanced over. "Wormtail? But how…He's with Voldemort, is he not? No matter. Finite Incantatem." Severus tapped the map.
"Mr. Padfoot would like to register his astonishment that an idiot like you would ever become a professor." Spoke Remus's voice clearly.
"Damn it, Black! And I don't need your input, wolf!" Severus remarked.
"That's what it says, though, doesn't it? You think I don't know a map's insults that I helped make?" Remus chuckled. "Come Severus, you know the Marauders would never make it easy for you. These were set up in our school days, in case you ever got hold of it. We made sure you and no one else could break the charms on it."
"I'm not amused, Lupin…" Severus grumbled.
"It's kind of amusing, Severus." Filius said. "I'm impressed."
"You will reveal to me your hidden messages, map!" Severus demanded. "Messrs Moony, Padfoot, Wormtail, and Prongs offer their compliments to Professor Snape and request that he keep his abnormally large nose out of other people's business." He paused as the teens were laughing at the man being insulted.
"Harry, you know how to get the map to reveal itself, don't you?" Minerva asked. "Without the insults?" Harry nodded. "Would you, please?" She motioned to the parchment.
"Harry, no! It was built this way to keep him out." Remus reminded.
"Sorry, Uncle Moony. Dad's orders trump your past. If I must…" Harry pulled his wand and tapped the front face of the paper in the middle. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." The images began to appear and the map unfolded itself to reveal the grounds of Hogwarts. "The Marauder's Map. Created by Remus Lupin, James Potter, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew during their time as students in Hogwarts. All done under the cover of night under my father's invisibility cloak."
"It's how I've snuck around throughout the years. How I learned Pettigrew was alive in third year despite having it on good faith he was killed by Sirius, before I knew the truth. How I knew Barty Crouch Jr was in the castle in fourth year. How I knew which halls to avoid being caught by teachers. How I snuck into Hogsmead in third year. The only rooms the map won't show are the Room of Requirement, and the Chamber of Secrets." Harry informed.
Remus sighed some. "The map also reveals who anyone is under Polyjuice potion, reveals people in their Animagus forms, and if approaching a room with a password, it will reveal that too."
"That's…That's some impressive work for students." Pamona blinked. "Your four did this while you were in Hogwarts."
"We did." Remus nodded. "I hadn't seen it until the night I found Harry in the hall with Severus, who asked about the map and got insulted. I did take it, under the guise of promising to unlock its mysterious properties. I warned Harry that the map in the hands of Sirius Black, was a map to him. Mind you, this was before I also knew of Sirius's innocence. I told Harry I'd hold onto the map, ensure he got back to his dorm. No detours, or I would know." He explained.
"I thought Pettigrew was dead too, until Harry said he saw him on the map. Mentioned the map didn't tell the truth because he couldn't find him. Peter had been in rat form, hiding in the castle, under the alias of Scabbers, who belonged to the Weasley's after he escaped the murders he caused and framed Sirius for. Sirius broke out because he saw the front page news of the Weasley's in Egypt and saw Pettigrew." Remus continued. "And yes, I gave the map back to Harry at the end of that year. I thought he'd like a piece of something his father, Sirius, and myself built."
"But I swear I haven't used it to get around the castle since third year. I've watched it to see where people are because it shows everyone, every minute, of every day…" Harry promised. "It's just been tucked away in my bag."
"It's your call, Minerva. It would be wrong to punish Harry for things in the past, and I believe he's telling the truth for not using it during fourth year. That was a rather busy school term for him with the tournament. And for fifth, he was well warned to behave in my house, doubly so, with me as his guardian." Severus remarked.
"I do not want that map on school grounds, Harry. You may keep it, as a possession of your late father and godfather's…But do not bring it back into my school. Is that clear? Remus is right, in the wrong hands…It could be very bad for anyone." Minerva stated.
"Yes, ma'am." Harry nodded. "Thank you."
"Now, put it away and let's get back to your party." Minerva smiled.
"Mischief Managed." Harry said as the map closed up and everything faded on it. Harry snapped his fingers to banish it to his room.
"Excellent use of wandless and wordless magic, Mr. Potter-Snape." Filius clapped.
"Doubled that vanishing things like that is something taught in Transfiguration the next two years…" Minerva added.
It was a hint to Harry's abilities, a callout to Severus, who caught it, that they were pointing out Harry's magical power to do things so easily. "I think we can expect great things from you, Mr. Potter-Snape, in the very near future." Pamona added.
"Funny…Ollivander said the same thing when I got my wand." Harry smiled. "And the sorting hat told me that I'd be great in Slytherin. Guess we'll just have to see what happens…" Harry shrugged. "I know I'm looking forward to it."