Chapter Four

 

  Severus watched as Harry looked over his schedule. Potter and his friends were laughing and pointing at it. He could hear most of their conversation, most of which included bad-mouthing all Slytherins. Lupin didn't seem to like those remarks, and neither did Evans.

  Harry just gave them all looks. "I'd like to meet them before I take your word on it or not, thanks," he said, his voice cutting through the murmurs in the Great Hall.

  Severus watched as all the students turned to look at him, several wondering why he didn't just accept the truth as they saw it. He looked over and saw that Potter was smiling at him, Black had a look as dark as his surname, Lupin was surprised. He couldn't tell what Evan and Pettigrew's reactions were, since they were seated facing away from him, along with Harry.

  As he watched, Harry turned around in his seat and looked at the Slytherin table. Their eyes met, and Severus saw the green eyes widen slightly before the other boy hurriedly turned back around to look at his schedule. It wasn't until a minute later that he realized he had seen a faint tinge on Harry's cheeks as he had turned away.

  He'd have to think on that later, away from the rest of the Slytherins.

  Fifteen minutes later, Severus seated himself at his usual table in Transfigurations. He was glad that they didn't share this class with the Gryffindors, instead of the Ravenclaws. Pulling out his parchment, quill and inkpot, and book, he nearly jumped out of his seat at the soft voice to his right.

  "Is it all right if I sit here?"

  It was the mystery boy. 'Harry.' The boy with the voice that sent shivers down his spine. Good shivers. Ones that made him think things he shouldn't.

  Severus shot him a blank look, to which the other boy smiled. "Thanks," he said in that voice.

  Harry had just gotten his supplies organized when Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle walked through the door. Severus kept an eye on them without them noticing, watching as they approached his table.

  "Ah, Harry," Malfoy said in a snobbish voice. "Is that your real name?"

  Harry gave him a steady look, but didn't answer.

  Malfoy smirked, obviously under the impression that the boy sitting next to Severus was properly scared by the blond boy. Severus, though, could read tension in the body next to his.

  "I see you haven't quite learned who you should sit by, Harry. Snape, here, isn't worth it, and neither is that Muggle-lover Potter," Malfoy sneered. The blond held out his hand. "I can introduce you to the right kind of people around here."

  Severus noticed that the classroom was silent, including McGonagall, who sat in her animagus form at the corner of her desk. All of them wanted to see what Harry would say.

  Harry looked from the hand to the face that belonged to it, and Severus could see him weighing his options.

  "I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks," Harry replied, his voice slightly cooler than it had been.

  Malfoy's face darkened at the refusal. "You'll regret that, Harry. I'd be careful if I were you." He leaned over the desk threateningly.

  "Mr Malfoy, is there a problem?" McGonagall's voice came from behind the blond boy.

  The sneer turned into the facetious look Malfoy reserved for all the professors but Handel. "No, Professor."

  Severus looked at Harry, who seemed to have forgotten the incident already. As he did, he noticed that the scar he had seen yesterday afternoon had been covered up, now that he thought about what Dumbledore had been talking about.

  That would bear thinking about later, as well.

 

******

  James smiled as he saw Harry walk into the potions classroom. In the hallway he had been stopped by one of the Ravenclaw seventh years, who had been all too happy to tell about Harry's refusal of Malfoy's friendship. He was glad. The blond Slytherin was practically evil incarnate, second only to Voldemort.

  That made him frown as he wondered if anybody had bothered to tell Harry about the war going on outside of the school.

  "Hi, Harry," he said as the other boy stopped by his counter.

  "Hi, James. Can I talk to you after class?"

  James smiled at the question. Nodding, he asked, "did you want to sit with me?"

  Harry shook his head. "Severus asked me if I would sit by him and I said I would."

  "Severus?" James twisted in his seat to find Snape scowling at him before the look turned to one of confusion when his gaze landed on Harry. Now that was interesting. He wondered what Remus would make of this, since he'd been watching the Slytherin for quite a while.

  Harry nodded. "I don't think I'll feel comfortable sitting at the Slytherin table, either, so can I join you for lunch?"

  "Sure," James answered. He watched as Harry went and sat next to Snape, ignoring the childish taunts that were flying fast and furious from Malfoy and his gang.

  Professor Montrose strode in, throwing a silencing glance at the class. Hufflepuff's Head of House took nonsense from no one, even from his own house. James wondered if he learned that from McGonagall, or if the Transfiguration instructor had learned at the potions master's feet, although in the last couple of years he had gotten.... James didn't want to say 'mean,' but it certainly fit. Especially when he really had it in for himself and the other Marauders.

  "Today we are making a truth serum. Claritiserum, while not as powerful as Veritaserum, stops the creative process in the brain that allows lying to make it to the mouth. Claritiserum will not force the correct answer out of a person, but it will not allow them to be untruthful about it either. Please turn to page 577 for the correct recipe, and follow the instructions I have written on the board."

  James dug diligently into the potion, knowing that having Lily for a partner was a good thing. Every once in a while he threw a grin at her when he was sure Montrose wasn't looking. The professor tended to think such things as hormones were a sufficient enough distraction from potions to warrant points off and a suitably horrible detention to go with the loss.

  "Mr. No-last-name," Montrose said as James threw in the last ingredient.

  "Sir, it's just Harry," came the reply. James felt a chill run across his neck at the power in the voice. This was an implicit instruction to not say such a thing again.

  Montrose hummed, and James sincerely wished that he would overlook Harry's response.

  "I was hoping that one of the students would be willing to test the potion, and I think that person should be you."

  James quickly looked at Lily, a concerned frown on his lips. His girlfriend wore the same expression on her face. Looking over at his friends, he found the same looks. Whenever Montrose picked on a student to test a potion, it usually didn't turn out good. If he hadn't been sorted into Hufflepuff and then made their Head of House, James thought he should have been a Slytherin for the sadistic satisfaction the man seemed to get out of his job.

  "Very well, sir." Again the instruction in the voice was there.

  Montrose went to the front of the classroom, Harry right behind him. As they did, sympathetic looks from the Gryffindors in the room quickly left their faces as the professor turned to face the class.

  "One drop will last an hour. Today, though, I believe I will give you two."

  James narrowed his eyes. He didn't like this. At all.

  "What is he doing?" Lily asked under her breath, a worried note in her voice.

  "I don't know."

  After a minute's waiting for the potion to take affect, Montrose asked the first question.

  "What is your name?"

  "Harry." The voice was monotone, and James knew it should never sound like that.

  "And your last name?"

  "I don't know." Harry's face was pained, but Montrose wasn't looking.

  "Are you sure?"

  Harry didn't answer.

  "Are you sure, Mr. No-last-name?"

  Again Harry didn't answer the question. However, he did speak. "It is just Harry, sir. Do not call me that name again."

  "Is that a threat?"

  "No. It is a warning."

  Montrose smiled thinly. "A warning could be considered a threat, Mr. No-last-name."

  There was a soft pop from the front of the classroom, followed by a blinding light. When James could see again, he found Harry there, but not Professor Montrose.

  Ten seconds after that Professor Dumbledore was standing in the door of the classroom. "What happened?"

  "Professor Montrose..." Remus answered.

  Malfoy cut him off. "Harry here blew up the professor," he said in a loud voice, a malicious look of glee on his pointed face.

  "Harry? Is this true?" Dumbledore asked. James saw that he was torn between anger and amusement, which made him feel a little bit better about the trouble his new friend was sure to be in.

  "No. I did not blow up Professor Montrose," Harry answered.

  James was quite irritated by the monotonous voice. Shaking his head, he threw a swift glance around the room and found Snape's eyes glued to the front.

  "What did you do, Harry?"

  "I sent him back to his rooms."

  Dumbledore blinked, as did most of the other students.

  "Why?"

  "Because he was being rude to me. If he wants to act like a child, I will treat him thusly."

  A snicker escaped James, who brought up his hand as Dumbledore turned to face him as he avoided looking at the other Marauders. As he looked at James, he could see the twinkle in the headmaster's light blue eyes.

  "Very well, Harry. Would you please follow me and tell me how you did that?"

  Harry nodded. "Do I need to bring my bag?"

  "Yes," Dumbledore said.

  As the potion-influenced boy walked back to the counter he was sharing with Snape, James noticed that Harry's wand had been lying next to his quill the entire time. He also noticed that those watching the boy - everybody but Malfoy and his gang, who were snickering at the trouble Harry seemed to be in - saw that what Harry had done was wandless magic.

  Harry gave an apologetic smile to Severus, then turned to face James fully and gave him one as well. 'Talk to you later?' he mouthed at James.

  Nodding, James' eyes followed the other boy and the headmaster's forms out the door.

  "How'd he do that?" Sirius asked as the bell rang.

  No one had an answer.

 

******

  Harry felt a jolt as the staircase shifted and began to move up. While it didn't feel very good, it was better than climbing another set of stairs, at least more than the five they'd taken to get to the strange gargoyle that had been at the entrance of this staircase.

  He wasn't sure why the headmaster had called him up here. It may have something to do with the potions professor, but not entirely.

  Harry thought the man was rather rude, much like that Malfoy boy. At least the blond had chosen to do his insulting in an indirect form, which could be ignored; speaking as they were in such general terms it wasn't worth the bother. Professor Montrose, on the other hand, hadn't listened to the request Harry had about his name.

  Dumbledore opened the door to reveal a fuming Montrose.

  "I won't have him here, Albus! He obviously doesn't know that I am to be given respect!" The professor had stood up at their entrance, his face red against his white hair.

  "Minerva seemed to have no problem this morning, Evelyn," Dumbledore said, calmly.

  "I won't tolerate him!"

  Dumbledore simply smiled at him. "Please, gentlemen, have a seat."

  Harry slipped into the first chair he saw and looked up. On a perch behind the door was a beautiful bird, its red plumage shining in the late morning sunshine. He smiled at the sight and was surprised when the bird leapt off his perch and into the air, landing on Harry's lap.

 

~*~

  "Sir?"

  The headmaster smiled at the sight. The young man was obviously startled by Fawkes' new perch in his lap, but seemed content to let him stay. Indeed, Harry began to stroke the phoenix gently. The fire bird gave soft trills that began to fill the room.

  As he looked at the potions professor in the other chair, Dumbledore could see that the notes were draining the rage Montrose felt he was entitled to.

  "Now, Evelyn," he began. "Please tell me what happened in the classroom."

  The red began to creep up the other man's face. "This - this brat thought he could order me around!"

  Dumbledore sighed and looked at Harry, who was smiling softly at Fawkes, who seemed to be making a nest to lay in out of the boy's robes.

  "Harry? What happened?"

  The boy began to speak in a monotone voice only found with one of the truth serums. "Professor Montrose told us to make Claritiserum. Severus and I made it. The professor then called me Mr. No-last-name and I told him that my name is just Harry. Professor Montrose then said that I would be the student to test the potion. Once we got to the front of the room he gave me two drops and asked me what my name is. I told him Harry, and he asked me what the rest of my name is. I told him that I didn't know it.

  "Then he asked if I was sure and I didn't answer. I'm not entirely sure, sir, if I really do know my name, so I wasn't sure how to answer it. It's confusing with the glimpses I see, so I couldn't tell if it was true or not."

  "Then the potion was wrong and he was making it up!" Montrose interjected.

  "Evelyn," Dumbledore said. "You know as well as I that the potion only works between the brain and the mouth, not within the brain itself. It blocks the path for lying to the mouth. Only Veritaserum would be able to see the truth in a person's memories."

  Montrose slumped in his chair.

  "Please continue, Harry."

  Harry nodded. "Professor Montrose asked me again if I was sure, but he called me Mr. No-last-name again. I told him that my name is Harry and not to call me Mr. No-last-name again. He asked if I was threatening him and I said no, that I was warning him. The professor said that a warning could be considered a threat. Then he called me Mr. No-last-name again."

  "Then he somehow got me back to my rooms," Montrose said very loudly.

  "How did you do that, Harry?"

  The boy was quiet for a moment. "I just wanted him to go back to his rooms. He... reminded me of someone, and whenever I thought about this person's behavior and how he acted like a child, I got the impression that he needed to be sent to his rooms. So I did."

  Dumbledore sat back in his chair. "Remarkable."

  "Sir?"

  "Did you use a spell for this, Harry?" A shake of the head. "An incantation?" Another shake. "Where was your wand?"

  "On my desk, sir."

  The headmaster thought for a moment. "Very well, Harry. Why don't you head to lunch? Do you remember the way?"

  The boy nodded and slowly moved his legs. Fawkes lifted his head and looked at Dumbledore, seeming to remonstrate him for making the phoenix move.

  "Sir?" The voice sounded more like it normally did, adding another question to the book that had popped up about the boy, for two drops of the Claritiserum was supposed to last two hours and it was wearing off after thirty minutes. "What about.... Am I in trouble?"

  Dumbledore waved a hand at him. "Never mind about that, Harry. Go eat some lunch. Also, your new room is ready and all your things have been moved there. Here's the directions," he said as he handed Harry a piece of parchment.

  As soon as the door was shut behind the boy, Montrose jumped out of the chair. "Albus! Why aren't you punishing that boy?"

  "Evelyn, you know that you are to treat the students equally and definitely not as rude as you just did. We have talked about this before." Dumbledore paused as Montrose shrunk in his chair. "Harry told you several times not to call him that name, a request you would have honored if he had not been a student. This is not the first time I have heard complaints on your ignoring student requests about their names or personalities, Evelyn, in the past couple of years. You will stop it."

  Montrose looked up at Dumbledore. "Why are you doing this, Albus? I have spent my entire life teaching here, and I've never had problems before this year! Except with those seventh year Gryffindors," he muttered under his breath.

  "Evelyn, I know that Poppy has talked to you about stress. Your health problems are affecting how you are treating your students."

  Montrose stood. "I'm not going to listen anymore to this, Albus. Maybe when you have something to say of sense I will listen."

  Dumbledore sighed as the potions professor slammed the door behind him, heavy steps stomping down the moving staircase in an effort to get away quicker than normal. He turned to Fawkes, who was wearing a 'don't look at me' face.

  "I know, old friend. We just have to be patient."

 

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