The party was going great. Everyone seemed to be having a good time and it made Harry happy to see the smiles. Sure, what happened with Sirius was still fresh to Harry, but that didn't mean the teenager hated the man. And while Remus's reaction to the news of Harry and Severus being bonded was not what Harry expected; the boy loved his unofficial uncle too. The adults spent their time talking about whatever as the teenagers were all hanging in the ballroom with the music going to sing, dance, and chat. It really was amazing and Harry wished it could always be this peaceful.
The highlight of Harry's evening was the fact Severus had mentioned how impressed he was by Harry's ability to produce the Patronus Charm and had learned it three years prior from Remus to protect himself from Dementors, who at the time, were trying to find escapee from Azkaban, Sirius Black. Harry knew it wasn't an easy charm to learn; he managed to learn and pass the knowledge onto others in the army. Harry did feel a bit bad that his fellow Slytherins weren't involved in the Defense Club, but Harry told them why; they were siding with Umbridge. It seemed they understood why they weren't included and Harry was thankful they didn't just get angry at him.
Right now, it was about 11:00 pm and still an hour to go until they entered 1997. The teenagers were taking a break from being with the music, but it still played while they all grabbed drinks and sat down among the adults.
"Need a break?" Arthur chuckled.
"It's getting late anyway." Narcissa smiled.
"So Harry…" Pansy started. "We were wondering…"
"Cause you love us so much…" Blaise grinned.
"Can you restart that defense club and show us what you showed everyone else?" Draco hoped.
"Well, I'm not sure what the point would be to that…" Hermione informed. "We started it to deal with Umbridge not teaching anyone proper defense…She's gone now."
"But you still learned stuff we didn't, and things that were above fifth year." Theodore countered. "We get why you didn't have us included before, but…She's gone and if all of it was to learn how to fight the dark lord, we want in."
"Now hang on…It wasn't to learn how to fight the dark lord. Nobody said that." Harry remarked. "I was not training the army for an all-out battle. I was just showing them how to defend themselves with things I've used that work. It was defense, not battle tactics." He explained. "Besides, I feel like we'd need permission to reactivate the club."
"You didn't have permission before." Severus reminded.
"Extenuating circumstances." Harry told him.
"But come on, Harry…We understand why you didn't tell us, and that it was just because Umbridge didn't teach anyone anything," Draco tried. "But shouldn't we get a chance to learn what the others did?"
"Professor? Can we?" Hermione asked Severus.
"It's not up to me, Miss. Granger." Severus stated. "You would need Professor Dumbledore's say so to allow the club to resume. Did anyone know about it?"
"No one knew it was an army of students practicing how to defend against dark magic except Dumbledore, who took the fall for us when Umbridge found out. She knew of an army, so did Kingsley, and former Minister Cornelius Fudge. I think Percy knew about it too. Umbridge didn't know what the group was for, just that we called it Dumbledore's Army. To her, it was students rising in revolt against her and her stupid rules. But no one knew it was an army of students being taught by a student to defend against dark arts. And Dumbledore left to avoid being arrested by aurors, we didn't see him again until the ministry battle." Harry explained.
"But didn't Dumbledore tell you that it was smart work, do what Umbridge would not, Harry?" Ron asked. "You were a really good teacher, mate."
"I think Professor Dumbledore would allow it again. But this time, with it being supervised…And open to all students." Severus suggested. "But surely you don't think that I'm not capable of properly teaching you defense?"
"Of course not, Professor. You and Remus have been two of the best we ever had." Hermione smiled.
"But Professor Snape is right, guys and girls. We started that club because Umbridge was awful. So was Quirrell and Lockhart. Moody wasn't bad, but that also…Wasn't Moody. It was Barty Crouch Jr. While I know he's a death eater…He did, surprisingly, teach us what we needed to know that year." Harry remarked. "We don't need to be taught defense by me, we have Professor Snape and he's doing a great job of teaching us what we need to know at NEWT-level."
"But there were spells you taught us that the curriculum doesn't touch, Harry." Ginny said.
"It would be so much fun to reactivate the army. You still have the coin, don't you, Harry?" Luna mentioned.
"Of course I do." Harry pulled it from his pocket. "Never leaves my person for emergency needs of reconvening the army in case Lord Snakeface decides to show his scaly, cowardly hide."
"Same for us." The others in the room who had them pulled them out.
"Potter…What have I told you about calling out the dark lord? We don't need a fight tonight." Severus sighed.
"I'd love a good fight, Professor. Get the bastard out of the way so maybe I can start the new year without him in it." Harry informed and Severus sighed.
"Is that a galleon?" Pansy inquired.
"Yeah," Harry nodded, flipping it once in his hand and letting it levitate above his palm.
"I'm lost on what a galleon has to do with the army?" Lucius questioned.
"It's not just a coin, it's how we contacted all the members of the army on meeting times and location." Hermione said.
"How?" Remus inquired.
"You knew about the army. So did Sirius," Harry reminded.
"Not the coins!" Sirius and Remus said together.
"You knew about the army?" Severus looked at them.
"Of course we did." Remus nodded. "We supported it fully."
"How does the coin work, Harry?" Blaise wondered.
"They're enchanted by the master coin, which belongs to Harry. He sends out the messages and they'll appear around the outer edge of the coin." Hermione explained. "Members would feel the coin heat up in their pockets, or wherever they kept it on them." She informed.
"It was Hermione's idea. I just cast the charm." Harry shrugged.
"You're the only one strong enough to perform it, Harry," Hermione stated. "Take the credit, Harry," She smiled. "It was not an easy charm to cast."
"Merlin no…It was not. I was exhausted afterward." Harry muttered.
"Okay, okay…But even though Uncle Sev is amazing at teaching us in class, we want to be part of the army. You just said you keep the coins as an emergency form of reconvening everyone for battle with the dark lord." Draco stated. "Please, Harry?"
"I'll talk to Dumbledore about it…" Harry muttered.
"Does that mean we get our own coins if he says yes?" Theodore hoped.
"Only if Dumbledore says it's okay to start up the classes again." Harry replied.
"Can you show us that one you taught the others. The dementor barrier one?" Pansy pleaded.
"I can't use my wand outside of Hogwarts or Grimmauld." Harry reminded.
"You can't do this one wandless?" Vincent tilted his head.
"Vin, I'm good…But I'm not that good." Harry rolled his eyes. "At least, not yet. This one takes a lot more energy and it's one of the harder charms to produce."
"You can use my wand, pup?" Sirius offered.
"I can't just use someone else's wand either. Not all wands respond to another wielder. Your wand and Remus's don't let me wield them for anything other than basic use." Harry informed.
"I really wanna see what your corporeal is," Remus grinned. "You've never told us."
"And we never saw it with the army. You just explained how it was done." Ron informed with a smile.
"I've seen it." Hermione grinned. "When he used it to save Sirius in third year. Brilliant spectacle. It wasn't just the corporeal that kept him safe during the cast, but the incredible barrier that went over the area and kept pulsating until the dementors were gone."
"Okay, shields and corporeal are hard on their own, did you really manage the barrier for a couple dementors?" Sirius blinked.
"It wasn't a couple. This was about a hundred…" Hermione beamed. "I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't been standing right there."
"Hold up…" Ron paused as he looked at the girl. "How were you with Harry when he cast this if we were still up by the tree with Snape after Harry ran off? Snape took us to the castle, then he left again to get Sirius and Harry by the lake."
"O-Oh right…No one knows about that whole second time around thing." Hermione quickly covered her mouth.
"About what?" Severus asked. "What second time around?"
"Hermione!" Harry quickly looked at her. "Sssh…"
"Oops." Hermione looked down. "I'm sorry, I forgot."
"Yeah, well…Cat is outta the bag now." Harry muttered.
"Miss. Granger…Explain?" Severus pushed.
"McGonagall gave her a time turner start of that year to make all her classes she was taking. After we were in the hospital, Dumbledore basically told us to use it and go back three hours before to save innocent lives." Harry sat down. "So we went back to save Buckbeak from execution, and then ended up down by the lake across from my other self and Sirius being attacked."
He continued explaining, "The first time around, I hadn't been strong enough with just a shield to stop all those dementors. Across the way had been someone who cast the charm and drove the dementors off. I passed out and woke up in the hospital, this was the time when Dumbledore told us to go back in time."
"So the second time, when you were technically back in time…You actually cast the charm to save yourself and Sirius." Remus realized. Harry nodded.
"I kept saying my dad would come, that's who I thought it was across the way. But he didn't when Hermione and I were watching. When she said we were both dying, I just reacted and cast the charm myself…" Harry informed.
"Did all this messing with the timeline be the reason why Sirius got out of prison a second time?" Severus inquired. "I want the truth, Potter…"
"And then we grabbed Buckbeak, went to Azkaban and set Sirius free ourselves. Hermione blew the cell open with Bombarda and we all got away on Buckbeak. We returned to Hogwarts, Sirius and I talked for a few minutes and he left to go into hiding. Hermione and I hurried back to the castle to intertwine the timelines back to normal." Harry told him.
"Merlin above!" Molly gasped.
"Wicked." Ron laughed with his twin brothers. "Now I get why you were in one place one moment, and a different next."
"It's not funny!" Molly scolded. "Both of them could have ended up in very serious trouble, as in Azkaban themselves."
"It was incredibly foolish…" Severus said.
"But necessary," Harry added. "Buckbeak didn't do anything wrong if Draco had been respectful to him like Hagrid told us to do. Love you, Dray, seriously, but you kind'a deserved what you got and it wasn't even that bad…" He stated as Draco just shrugged and nodded. "And Sirius…He was innocent and was going to end up with the Dementor's Kiss. Why send and innocent man to death?" He told his husband. "I would do it again if need be."
"I wasn't calling what you did foolish, though it was incredibly stupid and risky…You had merit behind your reasons." Severus told him. "What was foolish was Dumbledore allowing two thirteen year old students to meddle with time." The man sighed.
"You risked prison for me?" Sirius asked softly.
"You risked Azkaban again with Remus to protect me from Pettigrew…" Harry countered.
"Harry, it's not the same thing. We were ready to face the consequences of killing Pettigrew for betraying your parents to Voldemort…" Remus stated.
"If ya had let us kill him, he wouldn't have been around to help revive Voldemort." Sirius sighed.
"And ya both would have been in prison and I'd still be stuck at the Dursley's." Harry told them. "Sirius, you served twelve years for something you didn't even do. Twelve years that you could have had with me. Raising me after mum and dad died…Why would I allow you to risk being put there for murder? I wouldn't, so I didn't let you or Remus go through with it."
"The coward might have gotten away, but guess what…The rat owes me his life for sparing him and I'll call in that life debt eventually. I told you before…You're my father's best friends, and I know that despite what Pettigrew did; he wouldn't have wanted you both to become murderers." He informed calmly.
"Yes, I risked prison for you, Sirius. You were innocent. Believe me…If I could go back and do it again, I wouldn't change a thing. I'd still take the same risk. I'd have fought every dementor around…You're my godfather, my unofficial uncle. So is Remus…I love you both. Come on…We know what I'm all about. I take risks to protect the people I care for. I'd do it for anyone and I have plenty of times. That's the Gryffindor in me. How I go about it all is definitely the Slytherin though," He shrugged with a smile.
"As cool as all this is…Harry, show us your patronus!" Pansy asked.
"I told you…I need a wand to use that will let me use it. I can't use mine because of the trace." Harry told her.
"You can give it a go with mine, Potter." Severus drew his wand and turned it around to offer it, handle out, to Harry. "If it works for you." He added, but Harry already knew that Severus's wand let him wield it. The Malfoy family saw it the day of the wedding. It was one more thing to their list of why Harry and Severus were compatible and meant to be in each other's lives.
Harry shifted towards Severus and carefully wrapped his hand around the handle and felt a slight connection to it, similar to what he got with his own, but not as strong. Harry wondered if it was anything to do with their soulmate status. Questions for later. Harry moved away from the group and took a minute to find his happy memory. Harry had always used the memory of him talking to his parents, the dream ever since he found the Mirror of Erised as a first year student.
However, as that memory began to fill him up with joy, something else slipped in and took over. The memories with Severus since they'd been married, after making up from the fight. The talk, the amazing Christmas…That date to the theater and dinner. It had been one of the best nights of his life when Severus went out of his way to cheer Harry up from Remus's reaction to the marriage. Without realizing he was doing it, a smile formed on his lips.
Giving a quick flick of his wrist, Harry's eyes opened and landed right on his husband, who was trying to hide his curiosity to see Harry perform this spell. "Expecto Patronum…" The reaction was instant as the silvery-blue light erupted from the tip and flowed around to take the form of a Stag. The creature dashed around the room and let everyone see it slowly before it ended up near Severus and stopped to stare at him before it faded away into nothing.
"Every bit of James," Sirius grinned.
"Don't start, Padfoot," Remus rolled his eyes.
"I'm never letting this go, Moony! He's every bit of Prongs! He's officially Prongs Jr." Sirius clapped. "I bet you anything Harry can become an animagus and he'd take that form too. Hah. It's like James never left!"
Severus picked up on it first, though their bond. Harry's whole mood changed with what Sirius said. And Severus knew why. James Potter's animagus and patronus were that of a Stag. Sirius just compared the two, again, and it wasn't a secret to him, or the Malfoy's, why Harry's smile had faded when Sirius dubbed Harry as Prongs Jr.
This had hurt Harry and no one could do anything because it would risk outing Severus and Harry as married. Severus knew that Harry didn't want to cause a ruckus at the Malfoy home. Harry levitated Severus's wand back to him gently.
"Thank you, Professor." Harry told him.
"You're welcome. That was impressive Mr. Potter," Severus told him, asking silently with his eyes if Harry was alright and of course Harry's response was no. "Not just the patronus, but the fact my wand accepted you so easily. It's usually quite temperamental."
"Maybe it likes me," Harry said. "Or knows you don't truly hate me."
"I dislike your father, not you." Severus admitted. "Though you do have his knack for trouble and you look just like him, you are not your father, Harry. Nor your mother. You are you." It was Severus's attempt at comforting him under their hidden guise of being bonded.
"He is absolutely his father!" Sirius remarked.
"Shut it, Mutt." Severus narrowed his eyes. "He is not James Potter. Nor is he Lily Evans-Potter. Qualities of both as their son and that's just how genetics work, but Harry is not his father or his mother no matter how much he may look like James and have Lily's eyes." He stated firmly. "Grow up. Pay some respect to your friend and let him rest in peace by not trying to keep him alive through his son."
"James is gone, accept it as I have that my best friend is gone too. Just because Harry has her eyes doesn't mean he is her and I'm buddy-buddy with him to attempt to pretend she's still here." Sirius's eyes widened. "You are you, Harry, and no one can ever take who you are away from you." The potions master informed lightly.
"Why yo-," Sirius started and Remus just clapped a hand over his mouth.
"Sirius, shut up before you say something you don't mean." The wolf sighed. "Severus is right." He added.
Harry was beside himself at what Severus said. Severus actually stood up for him, to Sirius, and in front of everyone. The man didn't seem to care that he was way out of character that everyone knew for him. All Severus had cared about was making sure Harry didn't stay miserable over the comparison. Severus gave the teenager a light smile that only Draco, Lucius, and Narcissa caught. Harry couldn't keep the smile off his face at the man's words.
"Back to celebrating the new year incoming then?" Severus asked Harry. "It's only thirty minutes away now and I do believe, with strong feeling, it's going to be a good year."
"You heard him," Draco chuckled. "Party on!"