Harry walked to his last class of the day and waited silently outside the classroom wishing Weasley and Granger would shut up for two minutes. Scabbers had raced through the common room this morning, followed closely by Crookshanks. It had taken five minutes to catch them, and as soon as Ron had Scabbers he started yelling at Hermione. Since then they had been fighting on and off all day.

"Would you two shut up!" To everyone's surprise, it was Neville who spoke, and Harry decided that Neville was now his new best friend. They all stayed in silence, most still staring at Neville in shock, until the door to the potions lab opened, and they all walked in. Harry paused on his way to his workbench, something felt off, he couldn't quite place it, but something was wrong. He scanned the room, until his eyes settled on the professor standing at the front of the classroom. It was then that he noticed what had put him on edge. The corners of Snape's mouth were turned up ever so slightly. The potions master was scheming and he didn't know if he wanted to find out what it was. He slowly sat down in his seat, not moving his eyes away from snape. Soon enough the man stepped forward and addressed the class in his usual slow drawl.

"You will be moving on to more complex potions this year, as a result you will be working in pairs." Ron elbowed him, a smirk plastered on his face, and Harry had to bite his tongue to stop a scream. The prat had hit his right arm, the one still healing from Buckbeak. Creature injuries couldnt be properly healed with magic, so mostly had to heal on its own. "I will be assigning the pairs." that made Ron frown, and he was pleased to see the redhead unhappy, his arm was still throbbing with pain.

In the end Ron and Hermione were paired with Crabbe and Goyle, Harry was having a hard time suppressing his giggles, until it was announced he would be working with Malfoy and he let out a grone. He slung his bag over his shoulder, feeling it protest with a sharp sting, as he walked over to the blonde, knowing there was no way Malfoy would move to him, and sat down. Surprisingly the other teen was just picking up his bag and moving to stand as he sat down. . Was he really about to move to him? Pulling his bag off he bit his lip to stop a whimper. His shoulder was really starting to hurt.

Snape sent him a look of smug satisfaction and Harry realized this was the solution the potions master came up with to help him. Sitting with Malfoy kept him away from the idiots so he didn't have to visibly underachieve, it also gave Snape a reason to mark him fairly, he would never risk downgrading Malfoy and lastly it keeps the cover of most hated professor and student. He just hoped the blond would be alright to work with.

Harry had just started cutting a particularly hard root when his arm twinged at the sharp pressure, he dropped the knife, and it fell to the floor with a clatter. He had tried to ignore it but his shoulder and arm were burning. He breathed through his teeth and slapped away a hand that tried to touch him. He shrugged off his outer robe and saw the red staining his shirt. The idiot must have reopened the wound when he nudged him.

"Sir! Potter needs to go to the hospital wing." He looked over to see worried silver eyes, other students had looked over at the call, and Snape strode towards them.

"What has Mr Potter done this time? So incapable he can't even cut ingredients without causing injury." He finally got to them, and Harry saw his eyes fill with concern as he took in the scene. "Mr Potter go to the hospital wing. I will expect you back as soon as Madam Pomfrey is finished with you. You will be staying after class to catch up on the work you will miss." Harry winced and nodded, he knew the potions master would be interrogating him over this. He went to leave and caught sight of the incredulous expressions directed toward the professor from both Gryffindors and Slytherins, before heading out the door.

He walked into the infirmary and found Madam Pompfrey sitting behind her desk. She was currently scratching the head of a tabby cat that was curled on top of her paperwork. It was purring so loud Harry could hear it from where he stood just inside the door. Wait, is that. The door made a loud bang as it closed and both occupants looked at who came in. Harry was still standing, staring in shock, because yes, that was McGonigal. Deciding to ignore that and pretend he just thought it was a normal cat, he spoke.

"Um, I think the scratch reopened." he shrugged off the robe again and the mediwitch bustled over to take care of it. By the time she was done slathering it in ointment, before bandaging it, and handing him a pain potion, he had five minutes of class left. When he reached the potions lab, the other students were coming out, a few cast him pitying looks as they walked by. Before he could cross the threshold, Snape's voice rang out.

"I will see you in potions lab three, Mr Potter." with a sigh he turned and made his way there with the professor not far behind him. Once in the room Snape dropped his deep scowl, eyes tracing over the shoulder he knew was injured, and spoke. "Lupin is waiting on the seventh floor." Harry nodded, walking over to open the passageway that led to Slytherins chambers, making a detour to the seventh floor on their way. They all took the same seats as they did last time and Lupin's posture went rigid. He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths through his nose. His eyes snapped open and bright amber stared into emerald green.

"Why do I smell blood on you?" his eyes lowered, scanning his body for any visible signs of injury.

"A question I would also like the answer to. How in Merlin's name did you get that injured, not even a week into the school year? I know Poppy just wrapped it, but I would like to take a look." Snape gestured to the shoulder, Harry sighed, and shrugged off his robe and pulled his sleeve up. The potions master stepped forward and took his arm and gently started removing the bandages. Mooney hovered close watching him work with a worried expression until the bandages were off and he stepped forward with a scowl.

"That's a creature injury. It came from claws or talons, large ones, a magical creature, but one that does not possess magic, otherwise it would look much worse." his muttering became unintelligible after that. Harry turned back to Snape who rolled his eyes in fond exasperation, and went back to looking over the cut. He opened a black leather bag he had brought with him, and pulled out salves and bandages, rewrapping Harry's arm, he spoke.

"How did you get this?" Lupin immediately stopped his chatter, and focused on their conversation. Harry turned away and glared at a point on the wall.

"Your idiot of a godson, thought it would be a great idea to insult a hippogriff, despite being told of the consequences for doing so only moments before." Snape took a deep breath then pinched the bridge of his nose while muttering about idiot godsons and their lack of any common sense.

"Cub, that doesn't explain how you got injured." Harry sighed and rubbed at his face.

"I pulled him out of the way and Buckbeak nicked my arm. It could have been a lot worse, Malfoy would have been a lot closer when he was hit, and would have gotten a much more severe injury than this." The two professors shared a look and Snape spoke.

"You pulled Draco out of the way of a hippogriff attack?" Harry nodded. "How bad do you think he would have gotten hurt if you hadn't." he thought back to last time. Hagrid had said it was just a scratch, but he had asked Madam Pomfrey, because he felt slightly responsible, and she had told him there were three deep lacerations, two grazed the bone, one went half way through Malfoys ulna. If he hadn't used his arm to shield the talons would have got his face or torso, so in answer it would have been bad.

"If he had used an arm to shield from the blow, he probably would have had his arm sliced halfway through. If he hadn't shielded… it would have been bad." Snape's eyes widened.

"Harry, you do realize how serious that is, right? That could warrant a life debt." he shook his head, he didn't want a life debt. He also doubted it would warrant one, Malfoy had been fine in his previous timeline, so it wasn't that bad.

"It wasn't that serious, he would have been fine."

"Having one Heir protect another at the risk of their own safety is a serious thing Harry, even if it isn't life threatening, which, in the right conditions, this could have been, but we will ignore that for now, they at the very least owe you a formal recognition of thanks. If Lucius hears about this he won't let it go, he will create a meeting with you to carry out the formalities." Harry groaned and put his head in his hands. Why did they have to be so extra about everything?

"I'm sure the headmaster will deal with it." Harry and Snape's head spun towards the werewolf both having the same thought. Did the cleansing not work? Was the potion re-administered? "If we can count on him for one thing, it would be keeping Harry in the dark, and having Malfoy give a formal thanks would bring up too many questions." both of them let out a sigh of relief, Lupin was right, Dumbles would never allow it.

Harry looked down at the robe, which was still bundled on his lap, and placed it on the coffee table in front of him. A loud pop sounded through the room and the robe was replaced with the usual tea service with the addition of a large plate of mini sweet and savory pastries. He moved forward to grab one, but noticed the blood staining his shirt sleeve and grimaced. "I'll be right back." he flooed to his trunk and changed, deciding to remove the glamor as well. he put the ring on a simple chain and put it around his neck, so it was easily accessible if he needed it.

He flooed back, and raised an eyebrow at the two men who were standing in front of one of the doors that led off the room, both men looked like guilty children caught doing something they weren't supposed to. Remus looked down at the floor, and Snape wouldn't make eye contact either.

"I'm sorry. We've been curious since the last time we came down here." They stood in front of the door that led to the office and Hadrian hoped they weren't able to get in. He was not letting them in there without Salazar's express permission.

"Please tell me you weren't able to get in there." Snape was the one to answer.

"No, the door was locked. what's in there?"

"Just an office, and if you were curious you could have just asked." Both men looked a little sheepish at that but it was clear to hadrian that curiosity was overriding everything else. He sighed knowing they would be distracted the whole time if he didnt show them some of the rooms. "I will show you one room of your choosing, then I want to hear what happened at gringotts on monday. Deal?" their eyes lit with unholy glee as they nodded their heads, and looked at the doors, deciding which to choose. He knew they wouldn't pick the office as they now knew roughly what was in there, they also wouldn't pick one of the smaller doors deeming them to be less important than the others. That left a fifty fifty chance for either the bedroom or the library. He moved closer to the library door bringing their attention to it. It would make them think he wanted them to open that one making them more likely to pick the other, he really hoped they chose the bedroom, it would be easier to pull them away. to his immense satisfaction they did. Gleefully he opened the door and went back to take his seat, fixing himself a cup of tea while he waited.

It didn't take long for them to come back with matching scowls on their faces. "It was just a bedroom." Lupin said petulantly as he flopped back into his seat and Hadrian chuckled.

"You can't blame me, you picked the room, if you hadn't discounted the smaller doors as less important, you might have found something more interesting." their eyes gleamed as they looked between the smaller doors, good, they were now ignoring the library completely. He knew after seeing it he would get nothing out of them, so if he had to bribe them with another door he would be safe. "So who wants to go first?" Lupin sat up straighter and begun

"It wasn't too bad, about what we expected." He laid the parchment on the table and Hadrian picked it up.

Remus John Lupin.

Core level: Grand Sorcerer.

Traces of foreign magic : Indissolubili Fide (Potion) Magical trace belonging to Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore.

: Neglectus Relationes (Curse) Magical trace belonging to Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore.

: lupum ab homine separare (Curse) Magical trace belonging to Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore.

Hadrian nodded, he was right, it wasn't that bad. the only thing Snape hadn't already found was the potion, which they had guessed he was under anyway. Next Snape slid his across the table.

Severus Tobias Snape-Prince.

Core level: Apprentice Warlock, Inhibited.

Core inhibitors: paulo infirmitas (binding) Magical trace belonging to Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore.

Traces of foreign magic: Augendae Odium (Curse) Magical trace belonging to Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore.

"The binding isn't the same as either of the ones from my results, and what is Augendae Odium?" He looked up to the two men and Snape spoke.

"The binding isn't as severe as the two you had, it decreases the amount of magic you have by one ranking, it's more of an inconvenience than anything harmful and as a potions master I don't use a lot of my magic so it didn't affect me at all. Augendae Odium, or Increasing hatred, increased my feelings of hate towards things I dislike." Idly, Hadrian thought how much the potions master would hate dumbles right now if the curse was still on him. "That's not all either." he slid a second piece of parchment across the table and Hadrian raised an eyebrow.

Severus Tobias Snape-Prince

Sire: Tobias Robert Snape Muggle

Bearer: Eileen Berenice Snape nee Prince pureblood

Titles Maternal

Lord of the Noble House of Prince, Baron of Aralicia. Wizengamot seat holder

He looked at the potions master. "This is what the goblins were trying to contact you about?" Snape nodded.

"My grandfather passed away almost a year ago. Before he died, he reinstated me into the family, and made me his Heir. They looked into why I wasn't getting the letters, it turns out I have an owl redirection ward on me, placed by none other than our illustrious headmaster. The goblins assured me that if he had tried to open any of the letters it would have incinerated itself, since they keyed the letter to my magical signature.

"They can do that?" Hadrian was intrigued.

"Yes they can, only because they have records of every magical signature in britain. If you take any kind of blood test, which you have to do to prove your identity for almost anything, they register the signature. It's why their magic scans show who cast the magic. It will run through the archive and match the signature with the name it's registered under." Hadrian had never thought about it like that before.

"So Dumbledore definitely won't know you're the lord?" he was a little concerned Dumbles would try to finesse his way into holding the proxy, but he guessed if he did know he would probably already hold the proxy.

"No my mother was disowned, that removes you from family records, and strippes you of your last name. Unless he has access to blood tests, like this one, there would be no proof that I was related to the prince family." Hadrian nodded.

"May I suggest you give the proxy to Lucius? Having you hold it would be stupid for obvious reasons, and in Lord Malfoys last letter there were rumors that Dumbledore was trying to gain another proxy so he could fight the chief warlock seat away from him. I know it wouldn't work anyway but it doesn't hurt to be one step ahead. It might also be beneficial for him not to know you're the new lord." Snape raised an eyebrow. "Plausible deniability." Snape looked contemplative for a minute, then nodded, before realization lit in his eyes, and a grin took over his face.

"How would you feel about writing the change of proxy form for me?" he felt a matching grin spread across his face.

"You want him to think it's the same person."

"He was having a slight melt down at the thought of someone holding four titles. I want to see what happens when he thinks it's five." Hadrian couldn't help but chuckle.

"I can do better. I haven't replied to his letter yet. What if we sent the form with it, saying that it was the solution to the Dumbledore problem. He'll think this person casually gave out another proxy just because he can." In that moment, the potion master's grin reminded Hadrian of a certain entity with monochrome hair, and a shiver went down his spine. It didn't take long before the form was written out, along with the letter, and they went back to their tea. He noticed Lupin and Snape exchanging looks and raised eyebrows. It was clear to Hadrian that the potions master was trying to get Mooney to say something to him.

"What is it?" The two men startled and looked at him with wide eyes. Did they think they were being subtle? "You're not subtle. Now, out with it." he stared at Remus waiting for him to speak. It took a minute but eventually he spoke.

"It's about your heritage test, on it, it said you had a second father." The wolf bit his lip and Hadrian looked away. He had been wanting to ignore that and hoped they wouldn't bring it up. Sirius was a sore topic for him. When he had seen it the first time his brain was too scrambled to fully understand, and once the mental fog was gone he was too overwhelmed with everything else. A few days later he had gone back to it and had a small breakdown at the fact he was counted as one of his parents meaning he still had a family, as small as it was. When he went back to Goruk the next weekend, he had asked about it, and the explanation had made it worse. A blood adoption was some serious magic, it rewrote your genetic code to give you three, or more, biological parents. Harry had completely broken at the thought of having been present for all three of his parents' deaths. He had immediately wanted to go find Sirius and keep him safe, but quickly realized the importance of keeping this year the same. Without him he would have no clue when, where, or how voldemort would show up. He needed Pettigrew to escape and find his lord; that would only happen if Sirius caught him. He hated it. He felt like he was using him or worse abandoning his own father. What if the dementors got him this time.

Hadrian startled at the feeling of hands on his face and tried to focus on the person in front of him, but his vision was blurry, he realized now that he was crying. Thumbs rubbed under his eyes, wiping away the tears, as his vision cleared a very distressed Mooney came into focus.

"I'm guessing you know about what happened." Hadrian nodded. "Alright cub, we won't talk about it anymore. We just needed to make sure you knew, no matter how tempting it may be, you can't go looking for him." he looked him in the eyes conveying how serious this was and Hadrian nodded. Mooney gave a cheshire grin. "So you said the smaller doors were more interesting?" Hadrian couldn't help the wet chuckle that came out of him, Remus was trying to lighten the mood, and he appreciated it. He scrubbed the remaining tears out of his eyes and focused back on the men. He saw both of them were now looking at the doors with the same manic curiosity he saw last time. Thinking for a minute he concluded there was nothing else that they needed to go over so he stood.

"Which one do you want me to open next?" Next was the infirmary. They were intrigued but not overly so. For the next one he pushed open the door and walked in before them, turning so he could see Snape's reaction. The man stopped in the doorway as his eyes roamed over everything, before he bounced on his heels, and ran to the shelves that held the most expensive cauldrons. Chattering about all the things he could do if he had access to this equipment. Hadrian didn't miss the indulgent smile on Mooney's face, as he stared at the potions master acting like a kid. He raised an eyebrow at the wolf, who blushed violently and turned away. Interesting, he had already noticed how close they were this time around. They would do little things without conscious effort that indicated an intimate relationship of some kind, so this was just a little more proof. He wondered if the spells on them both had kept them apart last time. Lupin neglecting their relationship and with Snape being upset and angry it would have increased his hatred for the other man. Hadrian wouldn't bring it up with them though, instead he grabbed their attention and dragged them out of the room.

"Now before I open this last door I have some things to say. First the only way you can get out of here is by the floo." he pointed at the fireplace. "Second, do not go down the two corridors either side. You will get lost. They are an endless maze of secret passageways. Third is, all the other doors will be locked. The only place you will have access to is this room and the one through those doors. Lastly, no books can be removed from the chambers." He didn't give them time to process that before he opened the doors to the library. Standing in front of them he waved his arms around to make sure he had their attention. "Remember, the only way out is through the floo. Have fun. I'm going to dinner." with that he left the two gaping professors behind.