AN:/ Thank you all for your support with comments and reads. I for one am also extremely happy that FFN has fixed their notification issues. As usual i own nothing but the plot bunnies and of course Larry. Thank you once again to AlphaFlash for his help.
Harry was on the train to Hogwarts with all his friends by his side except for Andie. While Arcturus had given his blessing to spend time with him, she figured it wouldn't be good to just start hanging out with him. Instead, she would start meeting him in the library and even talk to him outside of class along with their private meetings. If asked, she could then tell people that her head of the house wished for her to talk to him. It would give her an out if her father threw a fit. It was unlikely that anyone in Slytherin would say much to her face given that he was the lord of a most ancient and most noble house.
He was dragged from his thoughts by the compartment door opening and James, Sirius, and Pettigrew walking in. James looked around and sneered hard at Snape, who sneered back. He also gave Harry a hard sneer but was ignored once more. When his eyes landed on Remus, his face grew angry. "So now you're hanging out with the dark wizards, Lupin." He spat. "I should have figured you would go running to them."
"James enough," Sirius said, trying to stick up for his friend just a bit.
James just shrugged. "Whatever." He then turned to Lily with a large smile on his face. "Hiya Lils, how was your summer? Why don't you come to our compartment where the air is a lot more... clean?"
Lily scrunched up her nose. "I think I would much rather remain where I am, thanks. I can't believe that you have the gall to come in here and talk to my friends like that just to ask me to come with you. You're disgusting, Potter, and don't call me Lils; only my friends can call me that."
James' face turned angry as she spoke. How dare she? Couldn't she see he was trying to protect her from these dark wizards? He had talked to his father over the summer, and he had told him that the Pendragon line was not a light family. He claimed them in the grey faction since the dawn of their line. In his and his father's eyes, though, that meant that they were dark. If they didn't follow the light and Dumbledore, then they were just as bad as the dark faction.
"Can't you see that they are tricking you?" He asked heatedly. "They are all dark wizards, you know? One of these days they will get you killed! You need to be hanging out with us. You know if you ask me nicely, I bet I can even get Dumbledore to let you get resorted so that you can be in Gryffindor. It's the house of the light, you know?"
Harry had to will himself not to laugh. "I would rather not, thank you very much. I rather like the house that I am in. Now please leave before I make you," Lily threatened.
"See, Lily, can't you see what you are saying? That's something a dark wizard would say rather than just talking," James called as Sirius pulled him from the compartment.
"Oh honestly, can't he just take a hint and leave me alone," Lily huffed.
"That would be too easy, Lily. He is obsessed with you. You're all he can talk about in the common room," Alice told her.
"He needs to leave you alone just like Pendragon," Snape growled under his breath so that only Lily could hear. She gave him a strange look at his words and a small frown.
Harry just shook his head and went on to start reading his book on runes. "Well, just remember, Lils, you just need to tell me and I will help you if you need me to."
Lily gave him a bright smile. "Thanks, Harry."
"So what classes did you guys sign up for?" Alice asked.
"I signed up for Ancient Runes, Care, and Muggle Studies," Amelia said. "I thought it would be good to know a little in all three if I want to be an Auror."
"I signed up for Care, Ancient Runes, and Arithmancy," Remus said with a small smile.
"Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, and Muggle Studies for me?" Lily said excitedly.
The others all looked at her a bit oddly, and Snape sneered a bit. "Why would you take Muggle Studies, Lily? You were raised by Muggles; wouldn't that be a bit redundant?" Marline asked.
Lily blushed a bit. "Well, it's just I don't really have a desire to learn about creatures, and I wanted a full roster. Plus, I figured it would be a good way to see how the wizarding community sees Muggles."
Harry shook his head with a fond smile. Lily reminded him somewhat of Hermione, just not as die-hard in the learning. She didn't NEED to know everything, and she didn't badger everyone about homework. "Well, as long as you are happy with it, then that's all that matters, Lily. Just remember that you can always drop the subject if you find it not what you want. With your grades, Flitwick may just allow you to switch into Care if you change before the end of term."
Lily beamed over at him for his support once more. "Thanks, Harry. So what are you taking?"
"Well, I went ahead and am taking the same classes as Remus, actually. I thought it would be a good idea to get a well-balanced understanding under all three of those classes to cover most anything I would want to take." The others nodded at his words. The rest of the train ride consisted of what they thought the next year would be like.
A few weeks went by for Harry and his friends as they went through the beginning of their third year. Andie had started spending time with them now in the library but made sure that she sat next to Amelia and Harry so that people saw her making more effort to talk to the two purebloods. She had explained it in full to Lily before she did it and explained why she needed to. The Snake den was not a kind environment for non-Purebloods.
Lily had asked why Snape didn't seem to have a problem talking to her, and Andie just said that he had special permission vaguely. Somehow Harry doubted that's what it was. He was currently walking to lunch along the second floor corridor. He was by himself as Lily had to ask Flitwick something.
"Pendragon, Perhaps I could have a word with you," he heard an oily voice say from up ahead. He looked up from his notes to see Lucius Malfoy standing by a door to an unused classroom. His eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly at the sight of the greasy-haired fifth year. "Perhaps here in private," he drawled.
Harry's eyes narrowed more, and he subtly drew his wand and cast the human revealing charm. He then nodded as he didn't see anyone else around. He followed the older boy into the classroom, his wand still in his hand. When he got into the classroom, he acted like he was completely relaxed and in control of the situation. He subtly looked around as Malfoy closed the door behind them.
"Well, what is it I can help you with, Mr. Malfoy?" He asked coolly.
The other blond gave him a sickly-sweet smile as he approached slowly. "Well, it would seem that you are interfering with one of my snake's possessions, Mr. Pendragon. A possession that has already been claimed by this individual, you see."
Harry lifted his eyebrow in curiosity. "Oh, and what, per se, is this possession that I have seemed to have come into possession of, Mr. Malfoy?"
Malfoy started to walk around the room, running his finger over the dusty desk and inspecting it. "Well, that little Mudblood you have been friendly with." Harry gritted his teeth, barely holding himself back from ripping the slimy bastard limb from limb. "She has already been claimed by my good friend Severus, you see. Now personally I don't see much in her, I'm more of a blond man myself. However, he has his eyes set on the little whore…"
Harry snapped at his words, and his magic lashed out of his control, slamming the pompous git against the wall and holding him there, his arms splayed out. Harry slowly walked toward him, his eyes glowing an ethereal electric blue. Malfoy couldn't take his wide eyes off of him, fear showing behind them. He couldn't scream or even whimper; he was now so scared. He didn't understand what was going on. Pendragon was just some puny third year. How was he so powerful?
Larry lifted all seven of his heads, his body having grown to its full length and eyes glowing with the excess magic coming from Harry over the link. Lucius could have sworn he saw the visage of a huge Hibernian black staring down at him, its fangs bared in a snarl. The wind in the room seemed to pick up the closer Harry got to him, and desks and chairs began to float in the air and were picked up by the wind. Lucius couldn't breathe; there was so much magic floating off the other blond.
Pendragon growled in a way that reminded Lucius of the beast at his back. "I shall give you one warning, Lucius Malfoy. You tell your snakes that if they come anywhere near anyone that I call friend, and that includes Amelia, Andromeda, and Lily, I shall tear your whole house apart piece by piece with my bare hands. I will make each of you beg for death if anything happens to those three girls, and I shall start with you. The only reason that Snape is getting a pass at the moment is because Lily still calls him a friend. But the moment he hurts her, he is through, Malfoy. Perhaps you should keep in mind that a dragon will kill anything in a hundred-mile radius to protect their loved ones." He snarled.
With that said, Harry turned from the frightened blonde and stormed from the room, his robes billowing behind him. He tore open the door and slammed it shut behind him. As the door slammed with a resounding boom, everything, including Malfoy, fell to the cold stone floor. Lucius rolled himself over to his back painfully and lay there looking up to the ceiling above. He could feel the wet spot that had grown in the front of his robes and grimaced in embarrassment.
He had made a mistake he realized much too late. He had thought Pendragon was nothing but a weak little boy who could be cajoled into doing what he wanted him to. Someone who would bow before the Malfoy name like so many others had before. After all, Snape had told him he was nothing but a spoiled brat that thought himself god or something. However, he now knew he was anything but that. He shuddered a bit at the mere thought of the power that boy held at bay on a daily basis. Those cold blue glowing eyes burned into his retina.
After some time, he got up on sore legs and waved his wand to clean himself of his own mess. He looked around at all the overturned desks and shuddered again before he did his best to straighten up before leaving the room. He made his way down to the dungeons and to the Slytherin common room.
"Snakes are power," he said the password, thinking to himself how wrong that was.
He made his way into the dim common room, doing his best to not show his current mental state. Various snakes of different years were spread over the room, chatting as if no one had just threatened to wipe them all from the face of the earth. Lucius envied them and their ignorance. He went over to the fire and sat down in a high back armchair with a light sigh.
His moment of peace was interrupted by a smooth voice that he honestly did not wish to hear at this time. "Well, how did it go?"
He turned to see Snape take a seat next to him, looking expectant. "Deal with it yourself, Severus; I cannot be there to handle all of your problems," Lucius said dismissively, looking back at the fire, hoping he would drop it.
"You said you would deal with it, Lucius!" He snarled.
"I said I would see what I could do, Severus, and I have. Now I am telling you to deal with it yourself and no, do not bring any other Slytherins into your little squabbles with Pendragon. Now, that is all we will say about this matter, Severus. Am I understood?" He snarled back, causing the younger boy to lean back a bit.
After a moment, Snape growled and got up. "Fine, I shall deal with the bastard myself then."
Lucius watched him walk off in a huff toward the dorms. He went back to looking at the fire. He could still see those eyes staring at him even through the flames. He didn't know much about Pendragon, admittedly, however, he could guarantee that he would never cross the boy's path again if he could ever help it.
A few days later, Harry found himself in the classroom sitting with Cyrus playing their weekly game of chess. "So I overheard an interesting conversation the other day," Cyrus said casually.
"Oh?" Harry asked.
"Oh, yes. It was quite the interesting bit too. It would seem that Snape asked old Lucius to handle something for him. However, Lucius told him that he would have to handle it himself," he said.
"Hmmm well, he should learn to be a big boy at some point," Harry made a move.
"Oh, that seemed to be what he thought. He absolutely refused to let Snape have any help with this little problem of his," Harry made a humming noise. "This problem seemed to have something to do with you, if memory serves."
"Out with it, my friend; we do not have all evening, you know," Harry told him.
Cyrus chuckled. "What the hell happened between you and Lucius? He seemed almost frightened."
"Well, we had a pleasant little chat the other day. I thought it ended quite pleasantly, if I do say so myself," he replied, making another move.
"Oh, come on Harry now who is stalling," he said, chuckling.
Harry rolled his eyes and sighed. "He called Lily a Mudblood and a whore, Cyrus."
Cyrus stopped mid-move. He looked up at Harry for a moment to see if he was joking only to see he wasn't. He finished his move and leaned back. "I see, what happened after that?"
Harry leaned back in his own chair. "I laid it out for him. I told him that if he or any other Slytherin so much as thought about touching her or any of the other people I spend time with, I would personally rip them limb from limb."
Cyrus's eyes bugged a bit at that. Harry was always such a kind and polite guy. He never saw him angry. Hell, he wasn't sure he could get angry. "You must have been rather scary if you actually cowed Malfoy."
"Let's just say that the message got across to him, Cyrus, and leave it at that," he replied.
"Well, either way you need to watch out now Harry. I don't know what the hell Snape will do," Cyrus told him.
"Thank you for your concern, Cyrus, but Snape is nothing but a petulant child. He can do what he wishes to me, but the moment that he touches one of my friends, he will be in a world of pain," he told him.
Cyrus shook his head. He had never seen his friend so serious. "Well, now I feel I should wish him luck just for posterity's sake." Harry just chuckled at him.
Harry was sitting by the lake enjoying the last few days of fall before things went chilly. He felt someone sit down next to him and could smell lavender and peaches. He smiled as he heard Andromeda sigh next to him. "Hello Andie. Tough day today?" He asked, looking over at her beautiful violet eyes.
Andie huffed a bit. "Bella is going on about Muggleborns again. Her and Rodolphus are going on a diatribe about it down in the common room. How they shouldn't be allowed in the school, or how they should all be wiped out. I just couldn't take it anymore. If I didn't leave I was going to curse them."
"They're leaving you alone right?" He said in a harder voice than she had ever heard from him.
She was shocked but also a bit giddy that he showed concern for her. "Yes, for some reason Lucius has told everyone to leave me alone about spending time with you and your friends. Bella didn't really listen until she got a letter back from grandfather telling her to back off. He gave me permission to spend time with you, so there isn't anything she can do about it."
He let out a breath. "Good, that's good."
She giggled a bit and lay her head on his shoulder. "What, getting all protective of me now?"
"Well, you are one of my precious people, Andie. So yes, I am a bit protective of you, I suppose,"