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Chapter Text

“Evans, Edward.”

James lifted his head, eyebrows shot up to his forehead, his eyes focusing on what was happening a few meters from him.

A small kid with black hair and streaks of pink walked nervously towards the chair in the middle of the Great Hall. The Sorting ceremony had been dull until then, James had hardly taken any interest into it. He applauded when any Gryffindor was added to their house, but for the rest of the time he was too busy planning the first prank that would celebrate the Marauders' fifth year in Hogwarts.

Sirius had been laughing at Peter's idea – turning all the Slytherins robes pink – and Remus was watching them exasperated but fond when the kid's name snatched their attention away.

Just as Edward's eyes disappeared under the hat, James heard Sirius's raspy voice behind him. “So, another Evans? Lily dear, I thought you were a muggle-born! Who knew a little army of Evans would storm Hogwarts! Do we have to worry?”

Sirius's dramatic tone made Peter snicker. James turned his head in time to watch Lily's smile drop into a frown. Even in her anger, James couldn't believe someone so beautiful blessed the earth. Her red hair had been cut to her shoulder, the green eyes James dreamed so much had such a fire in them it made him shudder and her pouty lips were shining from the pumpkin juice she had been drinking. This was the woman of James's life. He had known since the day he had met her. So beautiful, brave and smart. He only had to convince Lily he was the man of her life, but James was working on it.

(Though the results were slow to show.)

He was so busy ogling her that he almost missed her answer.

“You know, Black, Evans is a rather common name in the muggle world. You would have known it if you had taken Muggle Studies.” Lily took a long breath to calm herself down. “And don't call me Lily dear. I'm a prefect this year, I won't let your jokes go unpunished.”

Sirius snickered. “Remus is a prefect too. And I'm sure you don't want those snakes to take the cup this year. Last year they have been insufferable when they won.”

“That's because you and your friends have cost us hundreds of points!”

And that was true. Last year the Marauders had tested the teachers patience with their jokes – maybe making all the toilets explode in a furry of green hadn't been their greatest idea – and the only reason they hadn't been expelled was because of Remus had a silver tongue and the teachers loved him. Poor Remus, James was afraid he would soon start to grow white hair.

“It wasn't our fault if Professor Pinkie had it out for us!” Peter grumbled crossing his arms under his chest.

James sighed. Another truth. Professor Alicia Pinkie had been their Defence Against the Dark Arts professor during their fourth year. She was an older woman who uncomfortably resembled Sirius's grandmother and spent most of her lesson talking about the old glory days of Hogwarts instead of actually teaching anything useful. She had a clear stigma against muggle-borns and immediately took a dislike to the Marauders. She had costed them hundreds of points and hours in detention. James still shuddered when she had forced them to clean the bathrooms without magic. That had been a foul play.

“Maybe you shouldn't have made her wig disappear in her first lesson!” Lily shot back, anger dripping from her tone.

Sirius's eyes thinned dangerously, his mouth parting in a sharp retort. James felt Remus stiff beside him and knew it was time to intervene before things took a bad turn.

“Sirius–”

“RAVENCLAW!”

The Sorting Hat's scream cut out their words. The hat on the Evan kid's face was pulled off and the kid rose with shaky legs. He shot an uncertain look towards the teacher's table. Then, seemed reassured, he skipped towards the applauding table that was welcoming him with huge smiles.

“He was under the hat for more than five minutes, wasn't he?” Peter hummed, his eyes glistening in academic interest. Hatstalls were rare, James had only seen Peter himself being subject to one in the years he had been in Hogwarts. And now there was Edward Evans.

“Well, look at that, another bookworm. Are you sure he isn't your distant cousin?” Sirius huffed irritated, but the anger that had been present before had disappeared. He was watching the kid sitting down with his new housemates and start what looked like an awkward conversation.

“Good for him. We need more people who actually enjoy learning.” Lily snapped.

Sirius looked like he wanted to retort but was stopped when he noticed the glare that Remus's was sending to his way. Sirius's jaw snapped shut and decided that it wasn't a fight he wanted to continue. Instead he grabbed his glass full of pumpkin juice and dawned it in a mouthful.

“At least he isn't another snake...” He muttered under his breath. If Lily heard him, she didn't show any sign of it.

The Sorting ceremony continued without much trouble after that. James recognised a few pureblood names, but there wasn't anyone he actually knew so he didn't really care about which house they were put in.

After the last name was called – a small boy called Theo Zayn who was sorted into Hufflepuff – the hall broke into an applause as Headmaster Dumbledore rose from his chair. The man hadn't changed a bit from when James had met him. The same silver hair and long beard, that twinkle in his eyes that never disappeared no matter how much troubles the Marauders made and that aura of calm that floated around him like a cloak.

Dumbledore let the applause go for a few seconds before he lifted a hand. The sound immediately stopped and every person in the room waited patiently before the Headmaster spoke.

“Congratulations to all the new first-years, I hope you will feel welcome here in Hogwarts. If you have any doubt or problem, please go to your prefects, they will be able to help you.”

James sent a smile towards Remus whose cheeks had turned of a bright pink. James remembered fondly the letter Remus had sent him when he had discovered he had been appointed as a prefect. His fears were mostly born from his furry little problem, but James knew Remus would do a good job – James was already subjected to Remus's mother-hen tendencies. He was only jealous that he got to do it with Lily.

“Of course, I need to remind that the students are forbidden to enter the Forbidden Forest,” Dumbledore's eyes fell towards the Marauders, “since we don't want any unpleasant encounters to happen.”

James smiled at the Headmaster faintly. Three years had passed, but Dumbledore still remembered how in Second Year him and Sirius had sneaked into the Forest to try and ride an unicorn. They almost got trampled to death and were only saved because Peter had gone to Hagrid in tears and begged the man to go save his stupid friends. James had never seen Professor McGonagall angrier or Remus more disappointed. He still hadn't figured which look had hurt the most.

“–And last, let me introduce you our new staff member!” Dumbledore continued with an encouraging tone.

James heard Peter moan behind him. “Here we go again.”

Hogwarts was a strange school for wizards and witches. Many weird things happened that were difficult to explain – though most of them were elaborated pranks from the Marauders – and James never stopped to be amazed by the miracles happening in this school. But the greatest mystery of all was the position of the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. There was a rumour that the profession was cursed, no professor could hold it for more than a year. At first, James hadn't believed it, but after four professors in four years, one couldn't ignore the evidences anymore. No matter how good or bad the teachers were, towards the end of the year, something always happened that made them retire and every year the Hogwarts student were forced to have whoever Dumbledore managed to hire, hoping that they would at least learn something.

(No body talked about how last year professor Pinkie had an unfortunate incident that had her wheeled to St Mungo's. And no one spoke how it had happened during one of her detention with the Marauders. She had been a dreadful professor, hated by students and teachers alike. She wasn't going to be missed.)

“Please, welcome Professor Harry Evans!”

Sirius choked on his juice. He coughed loudly and Peter clapped his back until he stopped. Sirius sent a look towards Lily. “Just how many relatives do you have?”

Lily's cheeks turned pink. “They're not my relatives!”

James opened his mouth to speak – he didn't want to miss an opportunity to talk to Lily – but his words caught in his throat when a man at the end of the teacher's table rose.

He was thin, short, with black robes that were a little too big for him. Streaks of gray coloured parts of his messy black hair making him look older than he was. Despite it, his face was youthful if not a little gaunt, and a gentle smile rested on his lips. But his most shocking feature were his green eyes. They were the colour of a forest, calm but daunting. The same as Lily's.

For a moment, James thought that the new professor looked straight at him, but once he blinked the sensation was gone and James found himself clapping with the rest of the students.

Once professor Evans was seated back in his chair, the food appeared on the table and all the youths began to dig in. All except for Sirius, who was looking at Lily with a wolfish grin.

“Are you sure he's not related to you?”

“Yes, Black. I'm pretty sure Professor Evans and I aren't related. I would remember another wizard in my family.” Despite her words, James heard a small hesitance in Lily's tone. She too had noticed Professor Evans' eyes and seemed lost in thought as she dug in her curry.

Sirius didn't seem to want to let it go, but Remus put his foot down. “Enough, Sirius.”

Sirius huffed before he sent a small grin towards Remus, blinking his eyes in that flirtatious manner James had only seen his mate do when he wanted to shag a pretty girl or annoy Remus.

“Or what? Will prefect Lupin give me detention? You tempt me. Shall I be bad for you?”

A few girls around Sirius chuckled, but Remus didn't even bat an eye.

“You can be bad with Filch, if you want. I heard he is single.”

James had to laugh at the affronted look on Sirius's face. He was glad to be back. He had missed his friends. Of course, they had seen each other during the summer, but since Sirius's mother was a bitch, it had become much more difficult to meet without her breathing down his neck and the few times they managed to sneak in Diagon Alley for butterbeer had been too short for James's liking.

But now they were here again, they had nine months to be together, to be brothers again. They would make up for the lost time.

The feast quickly ended after they had eaten seconds of everything. Remus and Lily stood from their seats, helping the new first-years make their way towards the dorms without getting lost. They were so small, looking nervous in their new Gryffindor robes. They reminded James of small little duckings.

He was ready to follow them when he heard his name being called.

“Hey, James, wait a minute.” Sirius waved at him, beckoning him with his fingers.

James looked behind him and saw how Sirius and Peter were standing a few feet from the others. Peter had an inquisitive look in his eyes, while Sirius looked like a cat who got the cream.

“What's wrong, Sirius?” James walked towards them but Sirius was quick to shush him. He watched mournfully Lily and Remus disappearing at top of the stairs, but his mate was already pulling him to the side.

They took advantage of all the students going to their dorms and hid into an empty classroom. Sirius made sure to lock the door with a spell and cast a silencing charm before turning towards James with a huge grin on his face.

“I've got it, James, Peter.”

James furrowed his eyebrows. He shared a look with Peter, but he was as clueless as him. James returned to look at Sirius. “I'm not following.”

Sirius laughed and placed a hand under his robes. He took out a old book with yellow pages, so worn that James could hardly make out the title.

Just as read the letters, he heard Peter take a sharp breath behind him. James was inclined to agree with the sentiment.

Animagus by Artemis Black

“Oh.” That was the only intelligent thing that James managed to say.

“Oh indeed,” Sirius smirked at his two friends, showing his sharp canines. “I've managed to sneak this out from the Black's library. It took me all summer to find. This is the years, boys. We're going to finally become Animagi.”

Chapter Text

The first day of school wasn't going so bad, if Sirius said so himself.

He had woken up, threw James down from him bed, ran away before James could catch him, heard Peter laugh behind them and chuckled when Remus sighed fondly before he followed them. It felt like home.

Sirius had waited all summer to return to Hogwarts, his mother hadn't stopped breathing down his neck all summer, his father didn't care and Regulus–

Nope, he wasn't going to think about his brother. Not when his mood was so good.

After eating a generous breakfast, the four of them had gone to do two hours of Herbology. Professor Sprout had only started teaching two years ago, but she was one of the best. She knew her stuff and was passionate of her plants, she explained everything without sounding boring and wasn't shy in giving more details when asked. Sirius had spent his last two years loving the little plants – not that he would ever admit that to anyone else – and found out he was actually pretty good at that particular class. If only he bothered to do the essays the professor gave them he was sure he could do better than what he was doing now, but Sirius had a reputation to uphold, he couldn't start being a teacher's pet, not even for someone as gentle as Professor Sprout.

“–this is an aconite, it has most power during the night of full moon,” Sprout showed an ugly purple plant that looked ready to die at any moment with a proud smile.

“Well, it's not the only thing that has most power during the full moon.” Sirius elbowed Remus in the ribs and was rewarded by a stomp on his foot. Peter and James chuckled as Sirius moaned in pain and only stopped when Sprout glared at them before she resumed her explanation.

The lesson came to a close without troubles, with only a small essay to do for homework. After that, they were forced to listen to two hours of History of Magic. Binns was as boring as always and Sirius was quick to doze off.

He was woken up at the end by Remus and the four Marauders walked down the stairs to eat their deserved lunch while thinking about how their first class for Defence was going to be. They had two hours of it in the afternoon and Evans was the new talk of the school.

“Do you think he's going to be good? He looked rather thin and young...” Peter muttered as he chewed a piece of stew.

Sirius darted a glance towards the teachers' table. Evans' chair was empty and didn't look like it was going to be filled any time soon. Was he one of those pompous teachers who didn't want to eat with the students? Or was he preparing his lesson for the afternoon? Sirius didn't want to be too hopeful, but he wouldn't mind a professor who actually knew what he was teaching.

“Can't be worse than Pinkie,” Sirius shrugged at last.

The other boys nodded at his words and turned to dig in their food.

After lunch, they walked to the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom and took seats in the last rows. Sirius sat beside James while Remus and Peter took seats in front of them. The other Griffyndors didn't bother them and Sirius was pleased to see they shared this class with Hufflepuffs – which meant they didn't need to worry about hexes throw towards them. Professor Evans hadn't come yet and the room was rather empty, except for the huge blackboard beside the teacher's desk. There didn't seem anything special prepared for the lesson. Sirius felt his hope diminish a little.

Sirius was talking about Quidditch with James – the last World Cup had been rather bloody with more broken noses registered in the history of a final – when Evans finally entered the room.

The class remained silent as they took in their professor's appearance. He had black robes draped around his thin frame, but this time they seemed to fit him properly. A pair of rounded glasses were looped around his neck, yet Evans didn't seem to need them when he began to call out their names for attendance. His messy hair covered his forehead, it was like a tornado had decided to run wild on his head with streaks of gray going everywhere. He had a little more colour on his cheeks than yesterday, but his skin still looked paper-white and the bags under his eyes were too big to be missed. Not once did he raise his eyes when he called the names, but Sirius had the feeling that his piercing green eyes didn't miss a movement in the class.

Evans waved away the attendance paper (oh Merlin was that wandless magic–) and Sirius noticed the tight black glove on his left hand. It was a curious sight since he only wore one. Based from James furrowed eyebrows, he wasn't the only one who noticed.

“Alright,” Evans clapped his hands and finally looked up. Vaguely, Sirius thought he resembled James a little, but his features were softer, gentler, “I heard that your previous year Defence was rather... theoretical.”

Sirius snorted. Theoretical was an understatement. They hardly did anything in that class. The students got so desperate to learn something that they had begged Remus to give them extra lessons.

(Remus had been beyond pleased by the request – even more when his students actually paid him for it.)

Evans's eyes flickered to Sirius for a moment. Sirius straightened his back, the hairs on his arms stood. He couldn't read the professor's face, it was a blank state except for his eyes. Various feelings crossed them, but they were so quick Sirius couldn't catch the meaning of one. It lasted only a second before the professor resumed his talk.

“My lessons are going to be more practical than theoretical. We will use the book for learning about the creatures and some interesting backgrounds on spells, but I want you to leave this year actually knowing how to defend yourself if you end up in an unfortunate situation.”

Sirius raised an eyebrow. Evans was quickly gaining points in his mind. And, based on how Remus had straightened his back, he was not the only Marauder impressed.

“For the first two weeks we will revisit the fourth year curriculum to see where your previous teacher left off,” from the way Evans' mouth curled down he didn't seem to have nice thoughts about Pinkie (other points in Sirius' mind if you asked him), “Then we will move on the O.W.L.s curriculum, I know it's going to be a stressing year for you, so I will try not to push too much homework on you.”

James and Sirius shared a smirk. Oh, he liked the sound of that. One class less for Remus to breathe down their necks to finish their homework.

“Any questions before we start?”

Sirius immediately lifted his hand.

Evans cocked his head to a side. “Yes, Mr. Black?”

Sirius shuddered. “Sirius. I'm not my father.” If Evans noticed the harsh tone he used he didn't show it, “I was wondering if you and our dearest prefect Evans are cousins or something? Same eyes, same surname, one does wonder.”

“Black!” Lily had turned her head – of course she had sat in the first row – and glared daggers at him, her cheeks flushed in anger.

Evans, on the other hand, didn't miss a beat.

“I only have one cousin and he is male last time I checked and certainly not a wizard,” he spoke calmly, without blinking. His voice was a little high-pitched, a little raspy, but not unpleasant, “The surname Evans is pretty common among muggles.”

“I told you,” Lily glared daggers at him. Sirius completely ignored her, his attention already moving on what Evans had said.

“So you're muggle-born since your cousin is a muggle?” He didn't ask it with malice, he was genuinely curious, but by the way Remus sent him warning glance from his shoulders, Sirius was made aware of how much of an ass he was being. He couldn't help it though, Professor Evans had become the most interesting thing in the classroom and Sirius couldn't soothe his morbid curiosity no matter how much he tried.

The professor didn't seem to take his question to heart. Instead, he answered pretty quickly without emotion.

“My mother was.” Ouch. Remus was looking at him with an “I told you so” look and yeah, Sirius felt pretty much an ass in that moment.

Way to go Sirius Black, you managed to bring up your new professor's dead mom in the first lesson.

“Now,” Evans clapped his hands to reclaim the attention, “if we're finished with the questions on my personal life, we can move on.”

“Professor,” Lily lifted a hand before Evans could continue (damn Sirius was getting a headache thinking about their surnames in the same sentence), “Is there a way to get extra points? Defence Against the Dark Arts O.W.L. is requested in many Ministry curriculums.”

Sirius snorted again. Of course the bookworm would ask for extra points in the first lesson.

Sirius didn't notice James' elbow slamming against his ribcage until his breath was knocked out from his lugs. Whizzing, he sent a glare to James, but the other boy only struggled.

“Only I can make fun of my Lily-flower.”

Mine my ass, Sirius had watched James being a fool for four years trying to woo Lily and never once she spared him a glance if not to glare daggers at him. Yet, James' crush continued to remain strong, no matter how much it bruised his ego to be turned down at every day.

At least there was Snape to prank to take the edge off.

“If any of you would like extra credits I can assign you essays. But we will talk in the next lessons if you're still interested.” By the way Remus and Lily vibrated in their seats, Sirius knew at least two people would be interested in them.

Evans took out his wand from a holster in his arm and waved it in the air. The white chalk began to move on the blackboard behind him.

“Let's talk about the protective enchantment Salvio hexia.”

Much to Sirius' – and everyone else's surprise – the lesson was actually quite insightful. As promised at the start of the lesson, Evans explained the spell in simple but effective words the shield that could cover a small patch of land from hexes and then demonstrated it by asking the students to send hexes towards him after he had moved the desks and chairs away from harm.

The Marauders took that as a challenge. They send every type of curse they knew towards Evans, but every single one hit the invisible screen around him and disappeared into it. The others were trying their best too, even Lily had her face scrunched up to conjure the strongest hex she knew, yet the barrier held firmly.

Sirius found himself laughing, adrenaline running in his veins. Was this how an Auror felt when he was fighting a Dark Wizard? Was this what it meant to enjoy school?

He threw another curse – one that was borderline dark, one of those that could be found only in the Black library – towards the professor, but that too didn't have any effect on him.

Evans' eyes flickered to him thoughtful, but before Sirius could feel the fear ran up his throat – it was impossible for anyone to know about that dark hex – the professor lifted one hand.

“That's enough, I think you get it,” Humour coloured Evans' tone, “Let's practice salvio hexia now, shall we?”

Everyone was quick to nod. They tried the hand movements and shouted the incantation, focusing their magic on their wands. For the first time since starting Hogwarts, Sirius felt that he was actually learning something in Defence and put an effort in his tries.

At the end of the class, only Lupin managed to conjure a small shield, but it was a shaky, wobbly thing that one simple hex from Peter was enough to destroy it. Remus frowned dejected, but Evans' eyes were shining with pride.

“You did good on your first try, mr Lupin. Five points to Gryffindor.” Evans turned towards the class with a small smile on his face. It was the first time Sirius saw him smile and thought he should do it more often. Evans had a nice, reassuring smile. He looked better like that than with a frown.

“Stop ogling the professor,” James whispered in his ear. Sirius didn't bother to answer and simply sent him a light stinging hex on his thigh.

Evans ignored how James was suddenly clutching his leg and tapped his wand on the table.

“Good work everyone. Please practice the spell for the next lesson, I will award points to whoever manages to make one that can hold against one of my hexes,” Evans waved his hand and the desks and chairs returned to their rightful place, “Class dismissed.”

Immediately all the students began to gush over the lesson. Sirius could hear Lily's enthusiastic chatter with Alice and even Remus couldn't stop a few words of praise for the next professor.

“That's an advanced protective spell, I bet Professor Evans could conjure it to cover more than what he showed us-”

It looked like this year the Headmaster had chosen their teacher wisely. Sirius wasn't fully convinced of Evans – the Pinkie experience was still raw on him – but the man had certainly started with the right foot. He would keep an eye on him though, better safe than sorry.

“Sirius?”

Sirius stopped from reaching his friends that had just stepped out the classroom and looked back to Evans. The professor was hunched down on a book, skimming through the pages lazily. He didn't look up, but his words sent a cold shiver down Sirius' back.

“Please refrain from throwing dark hexes in my classroom.”

Sirius' tongue felt heavy in his throat. “O-Oh... a-alright then. I'm sorry about that.”

Before Evans had the chance to say anything more, Sirius was quick to flee from the room. He joined his friends and plastered a smile on his face as he half-listened to them praising the lesson they just had.

In the back of his mind, he wondered how Evans had recognised a hex that only a member of the Black family could have known.

Chapter Text

Gilderoy was trying to understand what the Hogwarts hype was.

When his letter came, his mother was overjoyed. Neither of his older sisters had any magic abilities whatsoever and his mother was scared Gilderoy had too little magic to be enrolled into Hogwarts. Despite her fears, the morning of his eleventh birthday a beautiful grey owl knocked against the window of their kitchen, a letter wrapped around his bony leg. His mother shrieked in joy and hugged Gilderoy close, kissing his head and praising her “good boy”.

Gilderoy hummed and managed a smile, but deep down his stomach felt like ice.

He was going away. From his sisters, from his father, from his home, from his books. It didn't sit right to him. Yet, he couldn't complain, not when his mother was the one with a wand who could make thing explode when she was angry.

“You're going to learn so much, my sweet boy, you're going to make mama proud,” His mother had whispered before pushing him towards the train in King's Cross. Her words weren't as comforting as she hoped.

Gilderoy spent the entire train ride looking out the window, a book opened in his lap. The boys who sat with him pretended that he didn't exist and Gilderoy didn't make an effort to conversation. His mind kept going to his home, to his father who was surely helping his sisters getting ready for school and a small part of him was jealous they could stay together.

The Sorting turned out to be another difficult step.

Gilderoy couldn't believe he found himself arguing telepathically with a Hat, but life seemed to have it out for him these days.

“You could do great in Slytherin, you could reach your full potential there.”

“I don't care,” Gilderoy snapped back, “I want to find what I'm good at, how can I do it with a bunch of stuck-ups? Put me in Ravenclaw!”

The Hat spent four minutes arguing with him, but in the end it relented after Gilderoy promised it he would spend the next months in the library to find a spell to set it on fire if he wasn't placed in Ravenclaw.

And so, Gilderoy found himself in a blue dorm with other three boys, all of them too overwhelmed by the change to actually talk to each other. Gilderoy remembered they had exchanged names the first night, but now he couldn't remember any of them, except maybe a shallow echo.

Strolling into the dorm after their second day – Herbology at the end of their day left him smelling like dirt and he had spent more than he would have liked to admit in the shower – Gilderoy looked at his dorm mates with critical eyes.

Sitting on a stool, a serious boy with bushy eyebrows was reading a book called Aurors through the ages. He hadn't said a word to any of them except for the first day before he disappeared under a pile of books and didn't look like he wanted to be bothered. On the floor beside a crumpled sheets bed, a small boy was fidgeting with his wand trying to imitate Professor McGonagall's movements early that day but the pin in front of him didn't look like it wanted to turn into anything. If you asked Gilderoy, it was probably because the stutter, but even him wasn't so cruel to point it out.

Glancing to the bed beside him, Gilderoy's eyes stopped on the last person in his dorm. It was a kid a bit taller for his age with messy black hair and streaks of pink between them. He had soft features and the brightest amber eyes Gilderoy had ever seen. Between his three dorm mates, he was the most friendly looking and never failed to greet him in the mornings with a smile.

Gilderoy remembered him best between the others since the Hat took longer than five minutes to make a decision and the other Ravenclaws had looked positively elated when it shouted their House. If his memory didn't fail him, the boy was called Edward or something

Dropping his gaze, Gilderoy glanced at the book Edward was reading between his legs. His eyebrows shot up in surprise.

“Isn't that The Picture of Dorian Gray?”

Edward lifted his head, his eyes sparkling. “Oh! You know about it? My uncle gifted it to me on my last birthday. It's a really fascinating read.”

“My sister read it for school last year,” Gilderoy muttered and took a few steps towards Edward's bed. The boy smiled gently and motioned him to sit. Gilderoy plopped down. What he failed to mention was that he had snuck in his sister's bedroom and read it all in one night. It was one of his favourite books of all time.

(If his mother knew he enjoyed muggle authors more than wizard ones, she would throw a fit. But what she didn't know wouldn't hurt her.)

“So you haven't read it?” Edward smiled, his eyes twinkling like he knew Gilderoy wasn't telling him the truth.

Gilderoy's cheeks coloured red and he hoped they weren't as red as they felt. “Maybe I skimmed a few pages...”

“The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde?” They were interrupted by a low voice. The serious kid who had his nose deep into his Auror book had looked up. He had dark eye and his long hair fell on his shoulders elegantly brushing against his dark skin. He was watching the book with a gentle expression, a nostalgic look that made him look their age.

“Yup! I'm loving it! I read it two times alreadt! Have you read it?” Edward raised the book to show it to his dorm-mates.

“I-It's one o-of the most i-important books o-of all t-time... who h-hasn't r-read i-it?” Even the stuttering boy had lowered his wand and was looking at them with piercing blue eyes. Gilderoy tried not to shudder. They were so light they were almost white, too big for such a small face and the fact that the boy had a buzz-cut didn't help hide them.

Weirdly, Edward threw his head back and laughed. He didn't seem to mind the oddities of his dorm-mates, instead he was positively amused by them.

“What's so funny?” Serious-face asked defensive, his thick eyebrow furrowing.

“I just... we really ended up in the right House, haven't we? The four of us here, loving the same book, what kind of odds are those?” Edward gave them all a smile, “I apologise, I don't think I remember your names. What do you think? Shall we pretend this is the first day? I'm Edward Evans, but please call me Teddy.”

Gilderoy felt a little offended Edward– no, Teddy, couldn't remember his name, but it wasn't a bad idea to start over. The four of them had kind of ignored each other for the first days, but they would spend the whole year together, they should at least try to be friendly. And he really wanted to talk about the book.

The other two boys seemed to have his same thoughts. They stayed silent for a moment and, surprisingly, it was the stuttering boy who spoke first.

“I-I'm Q-Quirinus Q-Quirell. It's n-nice to meet y-you,” Quirinus turned his eyes towards Serious-face with a hopeful expression. Gilderoy thought his eyes made it look frightening instead of adorable.

“Rufus Scrimgeour. I'm planning to become an Auror after Hogwarts.” Rufus' eyes had such a fire in them like he was daring them to laugh. No one did and Rufus relaxed his shoulders.

“Wicked,” Teddy smirked before turning towards Gilderoy, “And you?”

Gilderoy puffed his chest out and raised his head proudly, “Gilderoy Lockhart.”

It was the most bizarre situation Gilderoy had ever found himself to be part of. The four boys were chatting among themselves, citing their favourite characters and plot points, each trying to convince the others they were right. None of them was malicious, they were simply losing themselves in their shared love for the book. Gilderoy's heart had never felt lighter.

“–and that's why I think the ending is bullshit.” Teddy finished listening his arguments and waited for someone to disagree.

Rufus opened his mouth to do so – he had clear opinions of what was right and what was wrong in the world – but then the oddest thing happened.

Teddy sneezed. It was so light, he barely made any sound at all, he sounded like a little kitten. But that wasn't what made the whole room freeze.

Gilderoy watched with a gaping mouth how Teddy's hair colour went from black with pink streaks to a neon green in a matter of seconds.

“Sorry about that– what's wrong?” Teddy inclined his head confused when he noticed the three boys staring at him in shock. A few seconds passed before he noticed the change in his hair. He cursed under his breath. “Oh no, not again!”

“H-How did you do that?” Gilderoy asked, his eyes going from Teddy's face to his hair, trying to remember if he had seen the other boy mutter a spell under his breath while he was explaining why The Picture of Dorian Gray's ending was bullshit.

Teddy struggled like his hair changing for a sneeze was something that happened every day. “It happens sometimes. I don't know how to control it yet. At least it's only the hair colour, you should have seen my uncle's face when my nose became a snout.”

Gilderoy was more lost than before. He shared a glance with Rufus, but the other boy looked as confused as he felt.

“M-Metamorphmagus...” It was Quirinus who spoke. His face had gone slack in amazement as he stared at Teddy.

“A... what?” Gilderoy hated how dumb he sounded.

Seeing as no one knew what he was talking about and Teddy didn't look like he wanted to give his opinion, Quirinus took the courage to speak.

“A M-Metamorphmagus is a rare type of w-wizard. They can c-change their appearance at will without p-potions or spells. I-It's an ancient p-power, there are only a h-hundred Metamorphmagus k-known in the w-world.”

Gilderoy understood why Quirinus was so amazed. One of the rarest types of wizards was their dorm-mate? It felt like fate.

“I'm still practising the 'at will' part,” Teddy chuckled embarrassed.

“Still being able to change your appearance at will? That's amazing, you would make an excellent Auror,” Rufus said that as a compliment but Teddy looked down uncomfortable. Rufus didn't seem to notice.

“Still if it's an ancient power... it means you are from from an old House...” His eyes tightened, his tone turned harsher like being pure-blood was the worst thing someone could be.

“I'm a half-blood!” Teddy said through his teeth, his face was getting impossibly pale.

Rufus' eyes settled on him for a few seconds, distrust clear on his face. Still, he accepted the answer with a court nod even if his eyes held a little more distrust than before.

The air had become so cold and tense, gone was the moment of shared warmth. Gilderoy couldn't take it and forced a chuckle to alleviate the frost.

“Oh come on, Rufus! I don't think anyone here is a pure-blood from an old House, but better that than being a werewolf, no?”

Quirinus laughed without mirth. Rufus' mouth thinned in a straight line. He seemed to prefer the thought of a werewolf than a pure-blood in his dorm. Teddy on the other hand went even paler. His face contorted into one of pain, like he had been attacked by a stinging hex. His hair colour changed too, from the neon green that hurt the eyes to a dull gray.

Before Gilderoy could ask him what was wrong, Teddy curled into himself on the bed and closed the book harshly.

“I think I'll go to sleep. I'm tired.”

“But-” Gilderoy wanted to press, but one pleading look from Teddy made him swallow his tongue. The other boy looked ready to cry, his eyes flickering of a thousand of colours one after the other. Amber, orange, blue, green, purple...

“A-Alright...” Gilderoy stood from Teddy's bed and returned to his. “Goodnight, then.”

Teddy's blinds closed around him, hiding his figure from sight. Yet thanks to the moon, Gilderoy could still see his shadow curling into a ball on the top of the bed.

Gilderoy refused to look at Quirinus or Rufus and pressed his face in his pillow. He didn't know why, but he knew it was his fault even if he didn't know what he had said wrong. They were having fun before, right? What changed? Gilderoy replayed their conversation in his head but he couldn't figure it out.

Maybe he should have let the Hat put him in Slytherin after all. He managed to fuck up one of the few people who had tried to befriend him. He suddenly felt so, so alone.

Guilt weighted so much on his shoulders that Gilderoy didn't manage to close an eye except at the first lights of the day.

Chapter Text

Professor Harry Evans was a mystery.

No one knew where he came from and he was able to dodge private questions like a champ, yet he had quickly become one of the most beloved teachers in the whole school in less than a week.

Severus didn't know what to think about him. Yes, he was the most decent Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher they had since he stepped into the school – not that it was difficult, Dumbledore had a way to find the worst people for the job, this time it seemed he made the right call – but something about Evans rubbed Severus the wrong way.

(And it was so, so confusing to have a professor with the same surname as his best friend.)

Evans knew his stuff though, the first lesson on protective hexes was the most interesting Defence lesson Severus had ever attended. Even the other Slytherins stopped muttering about how the professor's name sounded too muggle-born for their likings and actually took notes for once. It seemed that the professor had a way to make miracles happen.

“It's because of the lights around his head,” Pandora Black whispered to him – and why was she sharing a table with him was beyond his knowledge, but she had always been an odd one too, “They are so bright it hurts the eyes. I don't think he's from here.”

“And is that a bad thing?” Severus couldn't help but ask, the question slipping from his lips before he could stop it.

She giggled. “No. It just means he comes from far, far away.”

He liked Pandora, she was one of the few Ravenclaws that weren't a fully fledged bookworm, but the way she talked always made Severus' head hurt. Not that he could ask her to explain herself better. He had done that once and she had just stared at him unblinking like he had murdered her owl.

Even Lily didn't have anything to say about the new teacher – which was a record itself.

“I think he is more powerful than he lets on,” She told him one evening during one of their walks around the Hogwarts gardens, “I don't think he likes to show off, though.”

“There's something weird about him though. I mean, it feels like he has appeared out of thin air. How could no one know a thing about him?” Severus muttered.

Lily sighed and slapped his shoulder playfully. “Sev, you sound like Black, you know?” She giggled at Severus' affronted face. “I heard him ask the same questions to Potter and Lupin. Maybe you two could form a team in cracking Professor Evans' mystery.”

She was teasing him, but the thought of doing anything with Sirius Black made Severus want to vomit all over the floor.

“Never say that again.”

“Well he could be a Dalek for all I care if he keeps doing lectures like that, I swear I learned more in two lessons from him that four years here.” Lily gave Severus a conspirational smile.

Severus arched an eyebrow. “Have you been rewatching Doctor Who?”

“Well, it's not like there's anything better to do in the summer with Petunia screaming at me all the time.”

They walked how the garden when suddenly Lily froze. Before Severus could ask her what was wrong she grabbed his robes and hauled him behind a tree.

“What the hell Lils-” Lily slapped one hand on his mouth. Severus glared at her but swallowed the curses he wanted to send her way.

Once she was sure he wouldn't start screaming, Lily relaxed her grip and peered behind the tree. Curious, Severus followed her.

There in the clearing there was the figure of Professor Evans talking with a student. The boy was a first or second year, a Ravenclaw based from his robes, with black hair and pink streaks among them. They were speaking in low tones, but Severus could still pick up some pieces of conversation.

“-I just don't understand the prejudice-”

“-you know it's not their fault-”

“-speaking like it is a joke-”

“-they're kids who don't know any better-”

“-but why would they say those things?!” The kid's voice rose up in clear distress. Severus had to double take when he saw his hair turn gray.

Evans sighed and dropped into one knee, not caring if his robes met with wet grass. He circled the kid's shoulders with an arm and spoke so low Severus couldn't pick up any word but he saw the kid relax slightly and his hair returned to its original colour.

It wasn't long before Evans rose up and took the kid's hand in his and pulled him gently towards the castle. The air around them had cleared and there was a sense of familiarity between them that was almost shooting. Severus and Lily waited until they couldn't see them anymore before they look at each other with wide eyes.

“Did you see that?!” Lily exclaimed a grin spreading on her face.

“The kid is a Metamorphmagus?” Lily hit Severus on his shoulder rather painfully.

“No! I mean, yes, that too, but did you see how kind he was at comforting that kid? Screw a Dalek, he could be The Master and I wouldn't care!” Lily looked positively excited about that.

“Please stop with the Doctor Who analogies,” Severus could already feel a headache coming, “A teacher caring for a student in distress isn't so shocking, Lils.”

“Well, it's not like we had many DADA professors who cared? Remember Pinkie?”

Severus shuddered. Of course he remembered that pure-blood, nasty muggle-born hater professor who had graced them last year. She had it out for Lily, clearly disgusted that a muggle-born could be as clever as she was. Severus had almost hexed her multiple times during her lectures.

(The incident was the only time he had worked willingly with James Potter – and both of them had promised to never mention that day again until they lived.)

“I wonder who that kid was, I don't remember seeing him around, maybe a first year?” Lily stroked her chin in thought, “I mean, I would have remembered a Metamorphmagus...”

Severus snorted. “With all the time you spent turning down Potter? I don't know, Lils, you looked rather busy to me.”

Lily hit him once again. “Shut up, Sev.”

Still, Severus' curiosity was piqued. He walked Lily to the Gryffindor tower and exchanged their goodbyes. There was still some time before curfew and maybe he could sneak into the library to see if there were any records about Harry Evans somewhere – if he had attended Hogwarts of course. He briefly pondered if he should write to his mom to ask her if she remembered someone with that name during her years here, but he quickly pushed out that thought. His father wouldn't appreciate an owl tapping against their window and Severus didn't want his mom to get in trouble because of him.

He was so focused on his thoughts that he didn't notice the hex coming towards him.

The spell hit him on the legs and Severus found his face on the ground. He hit his chin harshly and he almost bit his tongue. He couldn't feel his legs, but he had enough clear mind to grab his wand as he turned towards his aggressors.

He wasn't surprised to find Sirius Black looking down at him with a malevolent grin pulling his mouth up.

“Well, look who's here. Hello, Snivellus. I was just thinking I needed to let off some steam.” Sirius looked like a cat who got the cream, his wand pointing towards Severus ready to throw the next hex. Severus hated that grin, he felt the need to smash that face on the floor. But since his legs weren't working, he could only sneer from where he was laying.

“You are as unpleasant as ever, Black. I feel like throwing up every time I see your face.” Severus' eyes caught the boys behind Sirius. Lupin was looking everywhere but him, Pettigrew had a small, cruel smile on his face and his eyes were cold. Potter wasn't with them which was surprisingly enough for Severus to point out.

“Your little boyfriend isn't with you today? I thought you were bonded to the hip.”

Sirius barked a laugh. “Where James is doesn't concern you, Snivellius.”

It would have been infuriating if Pettigrew didn't say “detention with Filch” at the same time. Sirius looked behind him annoyed and Pettigrew gave him a weak smile.

“Detention the first week? That's some Gryffindor's pride there, I'm sure Lils would be delighted to hear that,” Severus muttered sarcastically. He could feel his legs again, but they were still too weak. He needed more time and without knowing what type of hex Sirius had sent his way, he could only hope the spell would vanish quickly.

“It's a Marauder's pride.” Sirius bared his teeth before he grinned again. “Not that you know what it means. Only Evans and that bunch of Death Eaters in the making are your friends. Must be lonely.”

Severus gritted his teeth and raised his wand, but Sirius was expecting it.

“Expelliarmus!” Severus' wand was snapped from his hand. He watched helplessly his wand rolling on the floor while Sirius smiled with a malicious glint in his eyes.

“Well, well, now you can't do anything, Snivellus, you can't use any dark spells your little Dark Eater friends have taught you,” Sirius' eyes tightened dangerously.

Lupin shifted nervously. “Sirius, maybe it's not-”

But Severus didn't want Lupin to defend him. He showed his teeth at Sirius and held his head high. “What? Are you going to show me what your dear mother taught you?”

It was the wrong thing to say. Sirius' face turned murderous, a fire full of hatred filled his eyes as he moved his wand towards Severus. Sensing the danger, Lupin took a step forward and Severus knew he was in trouble when even Pettigrew looked worried-

“Sirius-”

It was too late. The hex was already falling from Sirius' wand. A red light was coming towards Severus, it was so bright that he was forced to close his eyes. He wondered if when he opened them, he was going to be a cockroach – if the spell didn't turn him blind.

“Protego.”

Severus's eyes snapped open. A beautiful, strong shield made of light was standing between him and Sirius. Severus could taste the power radiating from it, Sirius' spell didn't bounce it simply disappeared against it without making a crack. Severus doubted that any spell light or dark could shatter a Protego as powerful as this one.

Professor Evans calmly walked from behind a corner, his wand resting on his side as he assessed the situation. His eyes went to Severus lying on the ground to the three other boys in front of him, with Sirius who still had his wand raised. They had all frozen upon the professor's arrival. None of them even dared to breathe too loudly.

Evans' eyes hardened and his lips thinned. He shook his head disappointed.

“Fifty points from Gryffindor. Lower your wand, Sirius.”

“But-” Sirius' protest died on his tongue at Evans' glare. At least, he lowered his wand enough for it to not be pointed at Severus anymore.

“No excuses.” Evans' eyes moved on Lupin. “I was expecting more from a prefect. They may be your friends, but you have to reign them in. Otherwise that badge is useless on you.”

Lupin lowered his gaze ashamed. Sirius was turning purple in anger and even Pettigrew was shuffling his feet uncomfortable. Severus would forever burn this image in his mind, a victorious feeling running in his chest as finally someone was putting those three in their places.

(It would have been more glorious if Potter was here too, but Severus wasn't picky today.)

“Detention. All three of you tomorrow evening after dinner.” Evans said. He lifted his wand once and the shield in front of Severus disappeared before he put the wand back under his robes.

“I haven't done anything!” Pettigrew cried in protest.

Evans' gaze turned icier. “Not doing anything is being guilty too, mr Pettigrew. Ten points from Gryffindor.”

Sirius opened his mouth and Severus would have enjoyed seeing Evans take away even more points, but Lupin held his friend back. He whispered something in his friend's ear and looked at him pleadingly. Sirius' face turned a darker shade of purple. He sent a glare to Evans and Severus, then he turned on his heels and walked away. Pettigrew was quick to follow him seemingly to blend in the shadows to not let anyone notice him. Lupin was the last one to leave. He muttered a goodbye to Evans and was quick to follow his friends.

None of them apologised. Not that Severus expected them to do it.

Evans sighed loudly and finally cast a glance towards him.

“Can you walk to your dorm? Or do you want me to help you? The hex's effects should have disappeared now.”

“I can do it myself.” Severus stood up. His legs still hurt and felt really weak, but he wasn't going to allow any professor to lead him to his dorms. He didn't want any of his dorm mates to ridicule him. His pride had already been hurt today.

Surprisingly, Evans didn't fight him on it. “Alright. But be careful.”

Severus nodded stiffly. He moved to the side slowly, dragging his left leg that still felt asleep. His heart was tumultuous. He couldn't believe someone had actually stepped between him and Sirius. The pain in his leg was worth the face of pure anger on the Black heir's face. He couldn't wait to tell this to Lily and Regulus, they would be overjoyed to know a teacher was actually being useful.

He hadn't taken three steps away when Evans called him back. Severus stilled and looked back. Evans was watching him carefully, his green eyes looked so much like Lily's he would have believed the rumours that they were secretly related if he hadn't know his best friends since childhood. He was sure there was no Harry Evans in that blasted family.

“I don't condone any type of bullying. If you want to talk sometimes, my office is always open.”

Severus' mouth suddenly felt dry. “I'll keep that in mind.”

Severus limped towards the dungeons without turning around. He could feel Evans' piercing eyes on the back of his skull following him until he was out of sight.

Severus' heart felt strangely heavy. He was glad – not that he would ever admit it aloud – Professor Evans had helped him, but he was still an adult who knew nothing about him, who had no reason to care. Severus had learned never to get his hopes up.

He was sure that sooner or later this man would turn out to be a disappointment too.

Chapter Text

“I can't believe that fucking professor gave us detention-”

“Sirius-”

“-he must have been a Slytherin if he is so fond of snakes-”

“Sirius.”

Remus' tone was harsh enough to shut Sirius up. Sirius closed his mouth, his face red in anger. A vein was pulsing in his forehead and Remus suddenly remember the only time he had the unfortunate pleasure to met Walburga Black. Sirius looked so much like his mother now it was scary.

“It's not like he was wrong to punish us. You have attacked Snape without a reason,” Remus said slowly, shifting on his bed as he watched Sirius through his eyelashes. They had just finished the lessons of the day and were waiting for dinner while recounting to James for the tenth time what had happened the previous day.

It wasn't going well. Remus wasn't surprised when Sirius exploded in anger.

“So now you're defending Snape and Evans?! You're on their side?” Sirius' face had contorted in an angry scowl. He was leaning forward from his bed ready to pounce. The only thing that was stopping him was James' hand on his shoulder. That and attacking a werewolf wasn't a good idea, even if said werewolf wasn't transformed.

“There's no sides, Sirius,” Remus sighed exasperated pitching the bridge of his nose, “and it's Professor Evans. You won't score any points if you disrespect him.”

It was the wrong thing to say.

“There are always sides!” Sirius' voice was so loud Peter actually flinched. “It's us against the others. You know it is. Us Marauders against the world.”

Remus could feel a headache coming. He knew that talking to Sirius when he was so angry was pointless, but he too was feeling a certain irritation raising in his chest. Why couldn't Sirius understand that he was saying these things for his sake? Why did it have to be so complicated? Remus deeply cared for Sirius, but sometimes he felt like the other didn't understand it under all of his anger.

Before Remus had the chance to continue the argument, Peter cut in. He was sitting on a chair trying and failing to bandage the scratches he got in Herbology. His hands were covered in little cuts that looked painful, some redder than others. No matter how good professor Sprout was, even her thought Peter was hopeless in Herbology. Sirius had told him he could heal them, but Peter had waved him away saying they were just a few scratches and he was man enough to take that kind of pain.

“What do you think James?”

James had remained silent the whole time. He had listened to what had happened with a neutral expression, his eyes shifting from Remus to Sirius behind the lenses.

“I can't believe I missed all of this while in detention with Filch,” James sighed, the corner of his mouth pulling up into a shadow of a smile, “I'm almost regretting hexing Rosier. Almost.”

Despite his anger, Sirius managed a small smile. Remus looked at James exasperated, but James only laughed in response.

“He called Lily the m-word, I couldn't let it go!” James shrugged, “Anyway about Professor Evans... I think Sirius is right.”

“Of course you do,” Remus muttered. He was promptly ignored.

“Still, he has been here for what, a week? I think he just doesn't know us. I mean, we are the famous Hogwarts pranksters! Remember how Pinkie treated us like little kids at first? We just need to show him who we are.” James shared a grin with Sirius.

Remus opened his mouth to object but surprisingly it was Peter who spoke.

“That Protego was powerful. I don't think it will be easy to prank Professor Evans. He sort of resembles Professor McGonagall, you know? The same scary aura.” Remus could have kissed him.

“We need to gather some information before we do anything,” Remus sent a pointed look towards Sirius.

Sirius scoffed and crossed his arms under his chest. “You just say that only because you enjoy his lessons.”

Remus threw his hands in the air. “Well excuse me if we finally have a decent Defence professor!”

“Okay, okay. Remus' words have some merit.” James interjected before Sirius could say a nasty retort. “You have detention with him after dinner, right? Why don't you use that to know him better? And no hexes.”

Sirius' smirk dropped and turned to sulk like a child. Remus wasn't a fan of this plan, but he knew it was the better outcome he could have gotten. He nodded absently and Peter muttered his agreement too.

“Perfect!” James clapped his hands, “Talking about dinner, I'm starving, why don't we go down the Hall? It's almost time anyway.”

After they ate – they all noticed how Professor Evans was absent once again – James said his goodbye and walked towards the Gryffindor Tower with a stupid grin plastered on his face – Remus had the suspicion he was going to make a fool of himself with Lily without them making fun of him. So Remus, Sirius and Peter slowly walked to Evans' classroom wondering what kind of punishment they were getting tonight. That man was a mystery, he could make them do anything.

Remus knocked two times before he opened the classroom. The room was as they had left it the previous lesson. It was tidy but oddly bare of any personal furniture, just a large room full of desks and chairs. The was a vague smell of cinnamon in the air, one that annoyed Remus' sensitive sense of smell. In the middle of it stood Evans, his messy hair was down on his shoulders and heavy bags sat under his eyes. He looked like he had aged a few years in a day. He was glaring down at the text book opened in front of him like it had personally offended him. When he heard them enter, Evans lifted his eyes and waited until the door behind them was closed before he addressed them.

“Good evening. Please, take out your wands. You're going to help me catch a few pixies. A second year has smuggled them inside from the forest and they have started to make troubles for my colleagues. I volunteered to catch them.”

Remus, Sirius and Peter exchanged a glance. This wasn't the detention they were expecting. He remembered how Filch made them clean the toilets without magic or the lines McGonagall made them write thousands of time. They had figured Evans would do something similar, they weren't expecting a pixie hunt.

Evans didn't seem to notice their surprised or he simply didn't care. “I have to prepare the lesson for the N.E.W.T.s class. There should be twenty pixies in total. Use whatever spell you know to catch them.”

Having said so, Evans returned to glare at the text book. Remus was totally baffled. He had never met someone as weird as this professor and he turned into a human-meat hungry beat once per month.

“Wait, that's it?” To no one's surprise, it was Sirius who snapped out his shock first. He looked around like he thought a pixie was going to come out to set his hair on fire. Remus didn't miss the way Sirius was already clutching his wand in his hand.

“If you want another punishment I can send you to Mr. Filch.” Evans answered calmly without sparing them a glance. He flipped through the book pages, his frown deepening the more he read.

“I'll take the pixies,” Peter mumbled and took out his wand.

“They're devious things, pixies. Don't be fooled. I'm sure you can handle yourselves.” Evans said. Wow, that wasn't terrifying at all.

Remus took out his own wand before he addressed the professor, doubt swirling in his chest. “Why can't you capture them?”

“I'm not a fraud if you are thinking that,” Evans' smirk was amused like he was saying a private joke, “Pixies don't like me. I can catch them if I really wanted to, but it's more trouble than worth and I'm really busy. I've lured all of them in this classroom for you. It will make your job easier.”

Remus lifted an eyebrow impressed. “How have you lured them?”

Evans smirked again and sent him an approving look. “If you capture them all, I'll tell you.”

The Marauders never backed down from a challenge. They were wary at first, but soon they moved in the classroom liked predators, wands raised. Remus was the first to catch a pixie. His sharpened hearing caught the brief sound of flapping wings. He didn't think, he shot a Pietrificus Totalus and watched as the pixie fell on the floor.

Seeing that there were really pixies around, Sirius and Peter got to work.

It felt like a game, shooting spells and aiming them carefully. Pixies were small, blue creatures that could disappear in seconds, if they didn't hit them at first strike they needed to start from scratch. Sirius was doing well, but he was too harsh in some spells and he didn't quite hit them allowing them to disperse. Peter wasn't doing good. His hand trembled around his wand because of all the scratches and the only pixie he managed to hit was a lucky shot. The rest of the time he tried to duck to avoid the pixies to pull his ears and hair.

Remus on the other hand looked he was born for it. His mind was sharp, his movements were minimal and quick never missing a target. He was pleased to use a vast array of spells he had learned through the years, it brought him joy to finally let free a part of him that he usually hid. He felt like dancing as he moved, twirling his wand between his fingers. Peter and Sirius had stopped trying to catch the pixies to stare at him in amazement, their mouths left agape.

When the last pixie fell, Remus lowered his wand. He could feel a smile pulling at his lips. He turned towards his friends, victory dancing in his eyes. He was sure his robes were dishevelled and his cheeks were flushed, but for once he didn't care he wasn't the perfect prefect he tried so hard to be.

Sirius' eyes were huge. He stared at him like he was seeing Remus for the first time, his wand resting uselessly at his side. Remus felt a strange knot in his stomach at the sight, nervousness leaking from him the more Sirius stared wordlessly. Sirius only snapped out of it when Peter elbowed him on the ribs.

“Wow, good job Remus!” Sirius cleared his throat, his voice sounded raspy like he hadn't drunk for ages.

Remus ignored how weird Sirius behaved and smiled at him. “It was fun, wasn't it?”

Peter didn't seem to think so. On the other hand Sirius was eager to nod. He opened his mouth to say something, but Evans' voice cut him off.

“You all did a good job,” Evans had placed the pixies in a cage he had transfigured. His eyes dropped on Remus and allowed himself a small smile. “Cinnamon cookies.”

Remus blinked. “What?”

“Cinnamon cookies. Pixies are gluttons of them. It's how I lured them here,” Evans pointed towards an empty plate full of crumbs Remus hadn't noticed before, “You won't find this information in any text book. There are some things only experience will teach you. Most of the times the easiest, weirdest solution is the most correct one.”

It was then Remus was reminded the Evans knew his stuff. He wanted badly to ask Evans about his previous works, the things he had seen, all the knowledge that was hidden in his mind. This was a man who knew what it meant to get his hands dirty, to march into the battlefield and fight.

“Maybe one day I'll tell you,” Evans cut him off before Remus could speak, seemingly to know what he had wanted to ask, “But it's already late, if you linger too long you'll be in trouble. Let me ask you this: was it good to let off some steam on dark creatures instead of another student?”

Remus' smile dropped. A wave of shame hit him suddenly and he could feel his face heating up. He had almost forgotten why they were there. The excitement of the pixie hunt had overwritten all reason, but now that reality had come crushing down on him he could only stare at his shoes, not having the strength to meet Evans' eyes.

Even Peter and Sirius looked chastised, each pretending to find the walls suddenly interesting. None of them spoke and the silence grew heavy. With a loud sigh, Evans tilted his head towards Peter.

“Show me your hands. I saw you could barely keep your wand in your hands.”

Peter took a nervous step forward. He pulled the bandage free and raised his palms. Sirius sucked in a breath and even Remus had to double take. The cuts on his hands had grown purple and swollen. They looked painful, infected. Remus couldn't believe Peter had been walking around hiding those.

Evans didn't bat an eye. “You should go in the infirmary. I'm sure Madam Pomfrey will heal those in seconds. You shouldn't force yourself to be in pain if you can avoid it.”

“There wasn't the time...” Peter muttered embarrassed and tried to hide his hands behind his back. Sirius was quicker. Gently but firmly he took hold of Peter's wrist with a frown on his face.

“You're an idiot. Why didn't you say anything? I told you I can heal you easily!” Sirius sounded exasperated but raised his wand. He muttered something under his breathe that Remus didn't catch but his attention was quickly snatched by the yellow light that shone from Sirius' wand.

Remus had seen Sirius healing a thousand of times, but it was still amazing to watch the cuts on Peter's hands get smaller until they disappeared. Even the swelling receded, leaving Peter's skin smooth and soft to the touch. The spell had barely needed a minute to work.

“That's impressing,” Evans said with a twinkle in his eyes, “Healing spells are some of the most complicated spells to learn. I didn't know they were in Hogwarts curriculum. Has Madam Pomfrey taught you?”

“Learned it myself,” Sirius' answer sounded harsh. He clearly distrusted Evans, yet Remus could see the pride latched in his words. It was rare for people to acknowledge Sirius without hinting to his family and Sirius basked in those little moments. Even if they were said by people he didn't particularly like.

“That's even more impressive.” Evans' tone bled in sincerity. He looked like he wanted to say more but he thought better of it. “It's late though. Go, before you end up in another detention.”

Evans was turning his attention to the book before he raised his eyes again. “Next time I won't let you off this easily. Reflect on your mistakes please. Don't make a habit to shoot hexes unprovoked.”

Remus pushed Sirius out of the door before he could say something stupid. Sirius glared at him but didn't hurry back to give a piece of mind to Evans. Instead they waited until Peter joined them before they began to walk towards the Gryffindor Tower.

Sirius and Peter talked quietly beside him, but Remus was silent. He couldn't stop thinking about Professor Evans and the mystery that surrounded him. He wondered if he could find something in the library about him and promised himself he would check it out.

Chapter Text

Gilderoy had no idea what to make of Teddy Evans.

After the disastrous night where Gilderoy managed to offend him – though he was still unsure how he had done that – he thought that Teddy would hate him forever. He dreamed about the boy pointing a wand towards him, a tongue-tie hex on his way to shut Gilderoy up forever. Gilderoy woke up in cold sweat, placing a hand on his mouth and was immensely relieved when he realised everything was still in place.

He wouldn't have blamed Teddy for holding a grudge. Gilderoy would have done that.

So he was immensely surprised when the next morning Teddy greeted him the same as always. No, that wasn't right. His smile was a little tense on the corners and he hurried down the Hall faster than usual, but he pretended that the conversation hadn't happened. It suited Gilderoy just fine.

Like his mother always said, it wasn't Gilderoy's place to apologise. He just had to sweep things under the rug if he really felt bad. But an apology was a weakness. And Gilderoy wasn't weak. Still, Teddy was an interesting boy, one that Gilderoy wouldn't mind to be friends with and he really, really wanted to be close to him.

So Gilderoy did just that. He began to greet Teddy in the mornings enthusiastically, he laughed loudly at his jokes and tried to sit at his side at every lesson. Teddy took the attention gracefully, sending Gilderoy tight smiles while his shoulders tensed like a scared cat. It was fine, people always behaved like that when they became Gilderoy's friends, skittish at first but then they slowly began to appreciate his presence. Gilderoy thought he was doing a good job.

“What's your problem?” Or not.

Teddy had grabbed Gilderoy's arm and pushed him into an empty classroom. They were supposed to get to lunch after Charms, but Teddy had other ideas. He was staring down at Gilderoy with his piercing amber eyes, cheeks flushed while the pink streaks in his hair took a more reddish colour.

“My problem?” Gilderoy blinked confused, “What do you mean?”

“What do I-” Teddy took a deep breath. He rubbed a hand in his hair before sending Gilderoy a suspicious glare, “You have been acting weird. It's like you're trying hard to be my friend for no reason.”

Gilderoy still didn't understand. “Aren't we friends?”

Now it was Teddy's turn to be confused. “What made you think that?”

Gilderoy laughed. Seriously, had Teddy never got a friend? “Well we spend all time together, no? So we are friends.”

“I'm not sure it works like that...” Teddy scratched his chin, the streaks in his hair returned to pink. “You're steam-rolling your presence in my life. I wouldn't exactly call that friendly.”

“And what do you call it?”

“You invading my space until I accept your presence?”

Gilderoy scoffed. “That's absurd. I always make friends this way. Don't worry, you'll start enjoy my presence soon enough! They always do in the end. Relax.”

Teddy's eyes loosened their sharpness and stared at him unblinking. An uncomfortable feeling began to raise in Gilderoy's chest as Teddy's expression turned from confusion to pity. Gilderoy didn't understand why Teddy was looking at him like that. Why would Teddy pity him?

“You really believe that.” Teddy said after a few tense seconds. His voice had grown tight like he was trying to swallow a lemon, “You're not joking.”

Now it was Gilderoy's turn to be uncomfortable. He didn't like the way Teddy was talking to him like he was a child. “Why would I be joking?”

Teddy buried his face in his hand. Gilderoy watched in fascination his hair turning shades of green, blue, purple before they settled to sand with light blue tips. Teddy cast a glance to him, his expression unreadable. Gilderoy wanted to ask him what was wrong, but the other beat him to it.

“I don't like when people talk badly of werewolves,” Teddy said suddenly his voice strangely hard, “I can't be friends with someone who is prejudiced of them.”

Gilderoy had no idea why Teddy was telling him that. He dug in his mind trying to find the reason. He came up with Flitwick's lesson on the wand movements, how Professor McGonagall expected they knew how to turn a needle into a rat on the first lesson, the way Slugthorn laughed at Gilderoy's jokes... then a memory pushed against the back of Gilderoy's mind.

That night where everything had gone badly, Gilderoy faintly remembered how he had tried to diffuse the situation by making a really good joke about werewolves and how Teddy had paled when he had heard it. He hadn't thought too much about it, but now it all clicked together.

“Oh, that's why you got angry?” Gilderoy said as Teddy stared at him with an unimpressed look.

“What do you think?”

Gilderoy followed that advice and fell deep in thought. He actually didn't care about werewolves, he hadn't spared many thoughts on them. He only knew what the others did: they transformed under the full moon, they hated humans, they were dark creatures and there was no cure for their affliction. But if not talking badly about them would make Teddy his friend faster, Gilderoy promised himself to become the best werewolf fan in the world. Maybe he could consult the library. There must be something on them.

“Okay.” Gilderoy shrugged.

“Okay?” Teddy sounded so surprised it almost offended him, “That's it? You're not going to ask more? Why I'm asking you not to be judgemental?”

“Well, I could,” Gilderoy wanted to slap himself, he could have asked! “Are you going to tell me?”

Teddy shuffled his feet nervously, “No... I don't really want to talk about it.”

Gilderoy tried not to let his disappointment show. “Will you? Later?”

“Maybe,” Teddy conceded, his voice still sounded unsure. “I don't really like to talk about it. Many don't understand. Give me some time.”

Gilderoy wanted to push but he realised that was the best compromise he was going to get. And Teddy hadn't said “no”. He nodded resolutely and held out his hand.

“So, friends?”

Teddy gave him a small smile and returned the hand-shake after a moment of hesitation. “Friends.”

“Good, I'm starving, we're missing lunch.” Gilderoy held Teddy's hand tightly and pulled him towards the Great Hall. Teddy didn't fight him, instead he looked pretty amused by it. They ignored the students turning towards them as they were the last to join the table and shared a smile at the feast in front of their eyes.

Pandora Black, their Ravenclaw prefect with the most piercing black eyes he had ever met, sent them a smile from her seat. She was an odd one, she never seemed to stay with the same people through the meals with the exception of her boyfriend Xenophilius who was as strange as she was. Today Pandora had chosen to sit with the first years part of the table. She was so tall she towered over everyone and her blond, short hair curled on her shoulders that strangely matched Xenophilius' at her side.

“Everything good between the two of you?” Pandora asked kindly, her eyes twinkling as she watched Teddy take a spoonful of stew. Teddy's hair had returned black with pink streaks which was a pity in Gilderoy's opinion as he thought that sand suited him better.

“Yeah, we're friends now!” Gilderoy said proudly, slapping a hand against Teddy's back. Teddy almost choked on his stew. He sent a glare towards Gilderoy but it lacked any maliciousness.

“That's wonderful! Friends are great!” Pandora clapped her hands happily. Satisfied, she returned to a conversation she was having with an embarrassed first-year about Astronomy.

“She's a weird one, isn't she?” Gilderoy whispered to Teddy as he watched Pandora moving her hands around like a madwoman to explain the stars position.

“She is okay, I guess? She looks like she cares,” Teddy shrugged and took a large gulp of pumpkin juice, “I think her boyfriend is weirder.”

Teddy watched as Xenophilius didn't say a word and was content to stare at his girlfriend as she talked enthusiastically. He had a dreamy expression on his face and only spoke in riddles when he was asked a question. No one seemed to understand what Xenophilius was saying, but Pandora laughed happily like he had told the greatest joke of the century.

“I don't understand love I fear.” Teddy chuckled as he stuffed his mouth with stew.

Gilderoy thought they were cute together, but decided against voicing that thought. Instead he took a piece of sweet bread and spread cheese on it, his eyes never leaving Pandora and Xenophilius.

After lunch Gilderoy and Teddy went down the Quiddich fields for their first flying lesson. It wasn't so bad, Gilderoy quite liked the feeling of air pushing against his face as he flew in circles. Teddy on the other hand was terrified. Despite the broom getting in his hand at his first try, when it was time to take his feet off the ground Teddy had looked pale and sweaty. He gripped the handle tightly and refused to move from his position even if Madam Hooch had said it was alright to fly without doing anything reckless, Teddy refused to move from his spot.

Gilderoy turned his broom around when he noticed. He avoided Rufus who didn't look too happy about staying off the ground but stubbornly wanted to excel in everything, and Quirinus, who wasn't so bad at flying but it was clearly the first time he sat on a broom. When Gilderoy reached Teddy, he placed a comforting hand on his shoulder and squeezed gently.

Teddy flinched but relaxed once he noticed it was Gilderoy.

“Not a fan of flying?” Gilderoy asked with surprisingly gentleness. He guided Teddy's broom down until they were a one feet from the ground making sure the other wouldn't slip. Teddy breathed in relief and gave Gilderoy a small grateful smile.

“I love Quidditch but I hate heights. It broke my uncle's heart when he realised he wouldn't be able to teach me all the secret Seeker techniques he knows,” Teddy laughed but it was a hallow sound. His fingers were trembling on the handle and he had a face of someone who wished to be anywhere than there.

“Hope your uncle wasn't an asshole about that,” Gilderoy said slowly. His mother would have been insufferable if he had been in Teddy's shoes.

“Oh no, nothing like that!” Teddy chuckled, “We both love Quidditch, we went to a game after, it was lovely. My uncle really, really likes to fly, I think he was a little disappointed that he couldn't share this hobby with me, but we did a tons of other stuff so it's okay. He had hoped to pass me his old Fire- I mean, his old broom, but he gave it to his niece instead. He bought me tons of books to make up for it.”

“He sounds like a good man,” Gilderoy said and was surprised to learn he actually meant it. Teddy always spoke highly of this uncle, he never talked about his parents but Gilderoy didn't want to pry. He didn't want Teddy to ask about his parents either.

“He is, you'll like him I'm sure.” Teddy giggled like he was telling a private joke. Gilderoy didn't understand but he smiled anyway.

It wasn't long after that Madam Hooch told everyone to return with their feet on the ground. Teddy let out a relieved sigh and gracefully landed – indeed it was such a pity he wasn't fan of flying – Gilderoy following him close. Despite his love for flying, he hadn't minded spending that time with Teddy. Sure, he could have gone making circles in the sky, but Teddy's presence had been almost as good. Besides, Gilderoy could go flying any time he wanted – Madam Hooch had said so.

They gave the brooms back and Gilderoy looked back at Teddy who seemed to have calmed down.

“We don't have anything else this afternoon, right?”

Teddy shook his head. “Thankfully no, I want to take a shower.”

Gilderoy blinked confused. “You barely broke a sweat.”

Teddy slapped him on the shoulder. “Shut up, Roy!”

Gilderoy's step faltered. “Roy?”

“Well... Gilderoy is mouthful? And long? Can I call you Roy?” Teddy was suddenly very shy, looking at the ground like it was the most interesting thing he had ever seen. Gilderoy thought about it for a moment. He liked his name and his mother hated when they butchered it, saying she had given him a great name and they should call him that. But his mother wasn't here, right?

“Sure, call me that.” Gilderoy nodded seriously like they have just signed a path.

“Cool!” Teddy grinned and grabbed Gilderoy's hand to thug him towards the Ravenclaw Tower. “Come on, after today lesson I think we deserve some chocolate!”

Chapter Text

If there was something Rufus had learned in the first week of Hogwarts was that having a decent Defence Against the Dark Arts professor was worth a thousand galleons.

Since entering in Hogwarts, Defence was the only class he actually cared about – it was the one required class for Aurors after all – and the knowledge that the previous professors were actually bad stumped him. He had listened to the horror stories the older students told, how last year they basically learned nothing and had to ask another student to please teach them something to pass the exams – from what Rufus gathered it was a Gryffindor student names Lupin or something – but the other years weren't better.

“We didn't get to use our wands most of the time,” Xenophilius told him when Rufus asked. He was one of the two fifth year prefects, a boy with blond hair that were almost white and clear eyes that got dreamy most of the times. He was easy to approach, but he had a habit to speak in riddles and talk no sense. Yet Rufus found him strangely relaxing to have around. There were no wrong questions to ask him.

“Why do you think is that? That you got bad Defence professors?” Rufus asked in a hushed voice. They were in the library and he didn't want Madam Pince to kick them out. He had wanted to search for a more advanced Defence book when he spotted Xenophilius and he wasn't able to contain his curiosity.

“Maybe Dumbledore has gotten an infestation of Nargles, I should warn him,” Rufus had no idea what Xenophilius was talking about but found wise not to interrupt, “Professor Evans is however pretty skilled. My Pandora says so too. He has those lights around him, so bright and powerful.”

“What kind of lights?” Rufus wanted to tell Xenophilius he actually thought Evans would probably cast a darkening spell instead of sending lights around if his tired face was any indication.

“I don't know, I don't see them, but Pandora does and I believe her,” Xenophilius smiled happily. Then he leaned forward until he got in Rufus' personal space. Rufus tried not to flinch at the closeness and kept his eyes on Xenophilius' – even if something inside of him was clawing at him to drop his gaze.

“Tell me, are you perhaps a vampire? I won't tell, I promise,” Xenophilius whispered, his eyes twinkling as his eyes travelled up and down Rufus, “We already have a werewolf, you two can match.”

Rufus tried really hard not to laugh. A werewolf? In Hogwarts? What next, a basilisk in the bathroom? He tried to keep his face neutral, but it was getting difficult not to smile.

“No, I don't believe I am,” Rufus bit his inner cheek and count until ten. He didn't know how he was managing to keep a straight face.

Xenophilius stared at him for a few more seconds – just enough to get him nervous – before he leaned back on his seat with a disappointed expression. “Pity. Will you tell me if you become one? I would love a vampire friend.”

“Of course. You can count on me.” Rufus' cheeks were getting red for how much he was restraining himself.

“Wonderful.” Xenophilius said happily. He returned to his book on magical creatures, humming lowly under his breath. It was clear the conversation was closed for him. Madam Pince raised her eyes from her desk and a frown was making its way on her face. Rufus took that as a clue to get away from the library.

He returned the book to its place before he hurried away. Madam Pince's eyes followed him like a hawk but Rufus refused to be intimidated by her as he passed her scrutinizing gaze. He kept his bag full of books close and thought about what Xenophilius had said.

Professor Evans was an enigma. Rufus had read books on Aurors since he was little, but he didn't remember a man called Harry Evans in any of them. It was possible that he hadn't done anything worth notice – not all could be placed in a book after all – or he hadn't been an Auror at all, but that seemed more unlikely. Rufus knew how Aurors moved, both his parents had been ones, and Evans tickled all the boxes. He walked silently, always with his wand to an easy access, and was aware were everyone was all the time. Rufus had noticed that during his lessons Evans remained against the wall, watching them closely and never showing them his back. He was always expecting an attack and was preparing a counter. Rufus could respect that. He knew people died for less.

But it was the lessons that sold Evans to Rufus completely.

“The Expelliarmus is one of the most basic spells but one of the most powerful. I want you to be able to cast a perfect one,” When he noticed the unhappy faces in his class Evans gave them a sardonic smile, “Remember, if you manage to disarm your opponent, you've likely won. I know very few wizards who can continue a fight without a wand.”

Rufus had never thought about it in such terms. If he had any doubts about Evans, they completely disappeared after that lesson. Rufus doubted he would look at an Expelliarmus spell the same way again after Evans had explained it in details.

Rufus was so deep in his thoughts that he didn't notice someone calling him until a hand grabbed his shoulder. He flinched and moved to get hold of his wand before he noticed who was talking to him.

“Sorry, did I scare you?” Teddy – his Metamorphmagus dorm-mate – raised his hands and took a step back. His cheeks were a little flushed from running and his tie looked like a owl had decided to nest in it. Behind him there was Gilderoy who in contrast didn't have a single strand of hair out of place.

“No. But don't come up to me so suddenly. And don't grab my so casually.” Rufus dropped his hand from under his robes and tried to take control of his thunderous heart.

“I was calling you but you weren't answering,” Teddy smiled sheepishly, “Are you going back to the Tower? We were thinking of doing the Transfiguration essay, do you want to do it together?”

Rufus was used to do his homework on his own, but it was true he was going back to the Tower ad despite his desire of loneliness he found it difficult to tell Teddy no when he was looking at him like a small puppy in search of a treat.

Rufus sighed in defeat. “Fine, let's go-”

A ruckus from the corridor cut his words short. Rufus heard the sounds of students – ten more or less – running towards them. They seemed in a hurry, elbowing each other and coming exactly where they three boys were standing.

Rufus didn't think twice. He grabbed both Teddy and Gilderoy's robes and pushed them against the wall. Gilderoy made a surprised noise while Teddy allowed to be manhandled without missing a beat.

A few seconds later the students flowed the space where they had been standing. They were older than them, fourth or fifth years, and by the green of their robes Rufus figured they were all Slytherins. Many were covering their faces, others were sputtering in anger while some – mostly girls – had tears in their eyes as they were quickly running down towards their dorms. It was easy to see why.

Without fail all of their noses had turned into a pig snout, it was large and took hold of most of their faces. Rufus thought of a transfiguration spell gone wrong or a failed potion, but the laugher they heard after the students had all disappeared told him a different story.

“Wow, James, you certainly did wonders with that transfiguration spell!” A boyish, suave voice laughed from the end of the corridor. It was amused, an edge of cruelty lingering under his words like he had just witnessed the funniest of the shows. Rufus felt a shudder run down his spine.

“It's all because of Peter's sneakiness that we managed to spread it so far. I can't believe your lock-down spells have gotten this good, Peter!” Another spoke in a merry tone like they were talking about the weather.

“Thank you, I try my best.” The last voice stuttered a little and Rufus didn't have the time to think about hiding when the three voices turned the angle of the corridor.

The first boy wasn't too tall but he was handsome with shiny hair brushing against his shoulders and a wide grin pulling his lips up. The other was a slightly taller boy with the messiest hair Rufus had ever seen, his circular glasses crooked on his nose. He could be called good-looking but beside the first one he was quite normal. The last one who came was a tiny, pudgy boy with a tiny nose and big eyes. His steps were a little unsure and the contrast between the other two was clear. All three of them were wearing Gryffindor robes, they looked friendly, but Rufus had seen what they were capable of and he didn't trust them a bit.

Teddy took a sharp breath at his side and Rufus risked a glance towards him. The other way had grown pale, his eyes were stuck to the three boys but they kept going behind them like he was expecting to see someone else appear. Gilderoy on the other hand was nothing but confused, he was barely understanding what was going on let alone who those three were.

Rufus' face turned into a scowl as the three boys approached. He immediately didn't like them. He didn't know if it was their air of arrogance or how Teddy was responding to them, still there was something about them that was tickling Rufus off.

It was their luck of course when the three boys noticed them. It was the pudgy boy who saw them first. He narrowed his small eyes and took a step forward. Alarm bells rang in Rufus' head and he placed a hand under his robes to grab his wand.

“It seems we have missed someone...” Peter – or the one Rufus thought was Peter – said, one hand on his wand, his eyes trailed to the three of them. Unconsciously, Rufus put himself in front of Gilderoy and Teddy, he returned Peter's stare with his own glare and stood his ground despite the clear difference in skills.

Peter didn't look impressed. He raised his wand and was starting to move it when a hand clamped around his wrist to stop him.

“Wait, Peter, those aren't Slytherins.” The handsome one was looking at their robes and gently pushed Peter's hand down.

“Sirius is right,” James peered over them, staring down with his impressive height at them, “And they look like what? First-years? Remus will have our asses if we do something to them.”

Teddy flinched slightly at the mention of Remus' name. Rufus noticed it with the corner of his eyes and planned to ask him about it later, but he wasn't the only one. The handsome boy – the one James called Sirius – immediately turned his attention on him like a hunt with its prey.

“Do you have a problem with Remus?” Sirius' tone was light but his eyes had a coldness Rufus didn't like. “Has our sweet prefect docked you some points maybe?”

Teddy spluttered, but it was Gilderoy that broke out in a laugh. He laughed loudly for much more seconds that Rufus thought possible and was he crying too-

“I haven't seen Teddy break one rule since coming here! Yes, maybe his tie could get some work but I doubt it's enough to take away points,” Gilderoy grinned at the three older boys like they had been friends forever, “Trust me, I have been with him all the time since we've come here. Remus, was it? I don't think we ever met anyone with a name like him. The only prefects we know are ours. Rufus, do you know this Remus?”

Rufus shook his head. He had no idea what Gilderoy had in mind, but no hexes had been thrown for now at least.

Sirius didn't look convinced. He pursued his lips, the frown on his face deepened. Surprisingly, it was James who came to their rescue.

“Come on, Sirius, let it go. They're just first-years, don't scare them off,” James laughed merrily and patted his friends' shoulder. He turned towards them with a small apologetic grin, “Sorry about that, he is an asshole these days.”

“Hey!”

“We're much better usually,” James ignored Sirius and sent a nervous look towards the corridor where they had arrived, “Enjoy Hogwarts, okay? If the Slytherins bother you, the Marauders will be at your service. Now I think it's time to go, Minnie will surely-”

“Potter! Black! Pettigrew! Come here this instant!”

“-Yeah, we better run.” James shared a grin with Sirius and the two of them sprinted down the stairs without looking back even once. Peter lagged behind them, he didn't have the same athletic body but he was quicker than Rufus gave him credit for.

“What nice fellows.” Gilderoy said happily after the trio had disappeared.

Rufus turned towards him with shocked eyes. “Nice?!”

“Well, they didn't hex us. So yeah, nice. I think it's all because of me, my charm surely got to them.” Gildeoy ruffled his hair with a pleased expression on his face.

Rufus and Teddy shared a doubtful glance. Neither of them believed that, but Gilderoy was lost in his small little world where he was the protagonist and Rufus didn't want to deal with all of that. He could already feel a headache coming, he didn't want to add fuel to the fire.

“I think we should go,” Teddy said suddenly grabbing both Rufus and Gilderoy' hands. “I don't want to be here when the teachers come. Last we need is them thinking we have something to do with that... prank.”

Rufus pretended not to notice the bitter tone Teddy used. He nodded slowly and allowed to be pulled towards the Ravenclaw Tower by his distressed dorm-mate. They had an essay to work on and Rufus hated to be behind work. He could think of who James, Sirius, Peter and Remus were another time.

Chapter Text

“I can't believe you three, I've taken my eyes off you for one hour and you did that?!”

It was fascinating seeing Remus pacing around the room, arms crossed under his chest and a deep frown drawn on his scarred face. Sirius should be intimidated or at least angry for being scolded like a child, but the only thing in his mind was how good Remus looked when he was in his 'prefect' mode. Seriously, he understood why the girls swooned when Remus talked in that thick, firm voice of his. Sirius felt like swooning right now.

“Do you have any idea how angry Professor McGonagall was? I thought she was going to transfigure you in ferrets or something!” Remus rubbed a hand through his hair. He looked tired, deep lines crossed his forehead and around his eyes like he had suddenly aged ten years. Not once he had stopped glaring at the three of them, who had found wise to remain silent on their beds as Remus raged.

“I would have paid to have Minnie transfigure us, honestly,” James grinned and nudged Sirius on the ribs. Sirius nodded absently, his attention still snatched by the muscle in Remus' jaw that had tensed considerably since the start of his scowling.

“One week,” Remus lifted his finger, “One week and you already almost got suspended. You're lucky Professor McGonagall managed to turn all the students' faces back to normal. Otherwise they would have asked for a suspension or an expulsion! You got us hundred-fifty points docked and a week of detention. You're so lucky she didn't do anything worse.”

“You know they would never expel us,” Sirius said slowly but it was clearly the wrong thing to say as Remus turned his heated glare towards him. Sirius' stomach made a weird flip.

“I think you're not understanding just how illegal permanent human transfiguration is.” Remus almost growled. His eyes had turned a light amber, signal that Moony was dangerously close to the surface and was tired of their shit.

Sirius leaned back. He tilted his head to the side to show his neck and dropped his gaze. Noticing the sign of submission, the amber in Remus' eyes grew dimmer and his human side regained some control. Remus coughed embarrassed shattering the image of the perfect prefect that was scowling his unruly friends.

“Sorry about that...” He ran a hand over his face and risked a glance towards Sirius, “But seriously, why did you do that? I don't remember you planning that prank.”

Sirius shrugged. “It was a spur in the moment thing. Slytherins were being assholes with the first-years. Thought they would love a reality check.”

Remus sighed tiredly. He grabbed a chair and sat down. His shoulders were curled inside and his chin was resting on his hands. He kept looking at them like a parent who had no idea what to do with them anymore.

(Sirius was painfully used to that kind of look.)

“Sirius, we have O.W.L.s this year. I know you don't care too much about your academic career because you seem to flawlessly pass everything without trying-”

“Wow thank you, I do my best-”

“-But we're still talking about your future. And I'm pretty sure not all of us can pass everything without studying.” Remus sent a pointed look towards Peter who tried to make himself look smaller. Remus sighed tiredly, spreading his hands in front of him. “Can you please take this seriously? Just a little?”

Sirius huffed but he was already nodding before he could stop himself. “Fine... we can try. Can't let you lose your beauty sleep, Remus. We can't risk you wolf out on us.”

Remus looked like he was contemplating murder at that joke. James had a totally different mindset. He laughed loudly and patted Sirius' shoulder muttering a “good joke” between chuckles. Even Peter managed a small smile.

Just when Sirius thought that everything was good – Moony was calm, his friends were smiling – he heard the door of their dorm slam open. Instinctively, he put a hand under his robes to grab his wand, a stunning hex on the tip of his tongue. But instead of his mother's angered face, he was greeted by Lily's furious scowl.

James made a strangled sound from the back of his throat. His face got red as he stared at Lily, his usual wit forgotten as his mouth was left agape like a fish. He tried to cover his ugly red pajamas with little ducks drawn on them with a blanket, but he only ended up tangled in it like a fool. Usually, Sirius would have made a joke about it, but his ears were still ringing, his fingers still clutched around his wand.

For a second Remus' eyes flickered on him. Despite the tension in his body, Sirius forced a small smile and let his hand drop on his lap. Remus was clearly still worried, but he chose to turn his attention to Lily who was still fuming on their door step.

“Evans you know you can't enter in the boys dorm,” Remus spoke slowly taking a step towards her. Because of an ancient Hogwarts rule, no boy could go in the girls dorms, yet the girls could do as they pleased. Sirius had taken advantage of that a few times during the years before he got bored at chasing skirts – or at least Gryffindor's skirts – and he had forgotten about that little detail.

One thing for sure, it was the first time Lily Evans graced them with her presence in their dorms. The only one pleased about that was James – but he was pleased with anything Lily did so he didn't really count.

Lily's face was contorted by her fury, her cheeks were as red as her hair and she was tightening her fists so much her knuckles had turned an alarming white. If Sirius didn't know it was her, this is how he pictured a banshee.

“Two hundred points! You have lost us two hundred points already! It's our first week here!” She marched into the room like she owed it glaring daggers at each one of them. “What are you thinking?! We have three points now! Three! How?!”

Finally, James' mouth began to work again. “Relax Lily-flower, I admit we... let ourselves go a little wild for our return, but Remus here,” and he dramatically pointed to a disgruntled Remus who looked like he wanted to be anywhere but there, “has already scowled us plenty today. Whatever points we have lost, we're going to get it back in Quidditch.”

“That's no excuse for all your pranks!” Lily waved a finger in the air, her face was taking a purple shape that would have been concerning if Sirius hadn't known she could get a shade darker. “I'm starting to hope Professor McGonagall will come to her senses and push for your expulsion! You're dragging all of us down!”

Sirius bit his tongue to not lash out. He knew that if he began to scream against Lily, James would never let him hear the end of it. Still, they way she was talking to them in that patronising way like she knew everything made his blood boil.

(How dare she speak to them like that? She, who had a lovely home, lovely parents and no blood-feuds to think about while she slept in her normal, muggle bed?)

(Toujours Pur, a traitorous part of Sirius' brain whispered to him, no mudblood muggle-born can understand what it feels like to be a Black.)

“Expelling us will turn this place into a boring mess and you know that,” James said lightly smiling at Lily like the hopeless fool in love he was. “And we get it, we've let ourselves go a little this week. We will tone it down, I promise.”

James winked at her, but Lily merely huffed. She crossed her arms under her chest still clearly angry but at least her face had lost the purple hue.

“A little... you know that Slytherins are now at the top, right? They have almost three hundreds points.”

That managed to make James drop his smile. “What?! How did they get so many points?!”

“Because they actually do as they're told and don't get caught breaking rules?” Lily bit back. Sirius was surprised not to see fire coming out her ears. James opened his mouth to retort – with something stupid based from his expression – but Peter had the right mind to elbow him in the ribs to shut him up.

Lily glared daggers at the three of them for a few more seconds before she turned towards Remus.

“We have rounds tonight, are you coming?”

“Right...” Remus sighed. Sirius knew he had totally forgotten about that. He didn't envy Remus being a prefect. Staying up one night every two weeks until midnight to make sure students were in bed sounded extremely boring.

“I'm coming. You three behave.” Remus patted Sirius' shoulder absently and waved at Peter and James before he joined Lily.

She huffed but decided she had scowled them enough. She began to walk towards the door followed by Remus before she paused. She turned around and met James' gaze. He peered at her hopefully, but she merely snorted.

“Nice pyjamas, Potter.”

Sirius couldn't help it. He laughed. His irritation was forgotten as he rolled on the bed clutching his stomach as Remus and Lily exited the room – Remus was trying really hard not to smile – and Peter was snickering against his hand. James remained petrified on the bed, his face turning a shade of pink as Lily's words finally sank in.

“Well... that went well. Sirius, please stop laughing.”

Sirius wiped a tear from the corner of his eye and gave James a wolfish grin. “She's gotten her fire back during this summer. It seems she's not falling for you like you had planned.”

James grabbed a pillow and his his face against it to scream. “Don't remind me please.”

Sirius chuckled again. It was so fun to tease James, especially when the other had been so sure Lily would feel his absence during the summer break. He had taken length of time to explain how he wouldn't send Lily any letter, to let her feel what it feels like being ignored. “To create a yearning” were his words. Clearly whatever hopes he had conjured weren't working. Lily was as cold as ever and Sirius had the suspicion she had liked being left alone for the whole summer without the Potter's owl bringing her letters almost every day.

“Talking about our plans...” James took his face off his cushion and peered at Sirius, “Have you found anything interesting in that pretty book of yours?”

Sirius grinned. He threw himself on the side of the bed and reached under it. He took out the book Animagus and blew off the dust that had settled on it.

“You really like taking care of your family's things.” Peter suffocated a cough when the dust hit him in the face.

Sirius began to skimmer through the pages, his voice growing enthusiastic the more he spoke. “It's mostly a diary about my great-aunt doing experiments to find a way to become an Animagus. It's mostly rubbish and dangerous stuff. She wanted a way to elevate the family even more. Trust me, they don't need the morale boost.”

James snickered. Both him and Peter slowly moved on Sirius' bed, each pressing themselves on his sides as Sirius tried to find the page he was frenetically searching.

“Did she manage to find another way to transform?” Peter asked curious, his eyes gleaming in a poor concealed greed.

Sirius shook his head. “Not exactly. But she had managed to convince a few wizards to join in her experiments. Yes, I know, highly illegal, but thanks to them we're having cheat codes on the Animagus transformation! So thank you aunt Artemis, thanks to being such a horrible person who condones human experimentation!”

Peter snorted at his words and looked down from Sirius' shoulder to try understand Artemis' messy hand-writing. “She definitely has a Black hand-writing.”

Sirius punched him on the shoulder. “My writing is fine!”

“No, it's not and you know it.” James easily avoided the pillow throw towards him by ducking to the side.

“Traitor...” Sirius huffed before he finally reached the page he was searching for. “Here we go! Look, she explains how the Mandrake leaf can be stuck on a cheek with a sticky charm. It will hold for the entire month and we can talk without problems. No one will suspect a thing.”

“Interesting...” James stroked his chin, “But the rest of the process is still long and tedious and the potion ingredients...”

“What do you think I've done this summer?” Sirius cocked his head to the side and he grinned when he noticed their shocked faces. “Father didn't bat an eye when I asked money to buy them. I have everything we need right in my trunk!” His smile faltered slightly, “Well... almost everything. Mandrake leaves are much more difficult to find than I thought... but! I saw Professor Sprout has some in her little private garden.”

James' straightened his back. “We're going to steal them, aren't we?”

“I love how you're following my train of thought!” Sirius slapped the book in his hands and watched Peter jump startled at his side. “The full-moon is next week, so better hurry up if we want to start from the first-step, keeping the leaf inside the mouth from full-moon to full-moon.”

James grinned brightly. “Yes, so Remus won't be alone for the rest of the year during his time of the month.”

Peter looked unsure but he nodded resolutely after his friends turned their eyes on him. “Yes! We're going to help our friend!”

Sirius felt a smile thug his lips. He had fantastic friends. He still remembered when, the previous year, they spent their time in the library to search a way to become close to Remus during the full-moon. Despite their pranks, Quidditch and exams, they managed to find out that werewolves didn't attack animals so if they found a way to become ones they could join their friend during his painful transformations.

They didn't tell Remus anything, they knew he would be against it. Becoming Animagi was long, dangerous, Remus wouldn't be Remus if he let them do that without a fight. So they all chose to hide their plan from him. It was painful for Sirius, much more than he had expected. He wanted to tell Remus everything. He couldn't wait to run at his side when he completed the transformation, but for the moment he had to remain patient and silent. Two things that Sirius Black didn't exactly excel at.

“So...” Peter started after a moment of silence, folding his legs under him as he gathered his thoughts. He took out paper and quill and calmly began to draw a bad replica of the gardens and their surroundings by memory. “How are we going to steal the Mandrake leaves from Professor Sprout?”

Chapter Text

James was pretty sure Lily was going to kill him before the school year ended – screw that, he probably wasn't going to survive until the end of the month.

He knew she was still angry about the whole losing two hundred points the first week, if she knew what they had planned she was going to pull a killing curse on them. Well, maybe not that drastic, but James wouldn't blame her if she hexed them until they were blobs of nothing.

Not only that, but they also had to watch out from Remus too. Their werewolf friend had the ability to sniff out when they had something planned, James had to pretend he didn't see Remus' suspicious gaze following them, ready to intervene in case they decided to hex someone while walking around.

(Which was totally possible but it was not what they were planning.)

Remus still hadn't forgiven them for the pig-nose prank and hovered over them like a protective mother. Which made the whole 'we need to get in Professor Sprout private garden and steal some Mandrake leaves' really difficult.

Still, they wouldn't be Marauders if they let something like that stop them. They didn't do pranks as they had promised for five whole days (which made the teachers also suspicious), whispering to each other the few times Remus went to the bathroom to finalise the plan. The full-moon was getting closer, Sirius was restless and impatient afraid they would miss the day, but James was optimistic. No matter what, they were going to get those leaves.

They got lucky the day before the full-moon. Remus was starting to grow sick and his hovering had grown dimmer. His sleep was getting worse and fever was breaking into his body shake. It was getting difficult for him to attend class, but Remus was nothing but stubborn and refused to skip a lesson. James hated watching Remus withering away around the full-moon, but it came in handy for what they had to do.

The perfect time to set everything in motion came during lunch. Remus' face had grown pale, he was barely staying awake as he wobbled from right to left trying to keep standing. Swallowing his worry, James shared a glance with Sirius and Peter and nodded mutely.

Sirius took a step forward and placed a hand around Remus' waist. Remus' whole body tensed before he realised it was Sirius and completely melted against him.

“Remus you look really bad. Let's go to Madam Pomfrey to get something for your headache, okay? I'll help you there.” Sirius spoke in such a kind tone James could barely recognise him.

“I... don't want to skip Transfiguration...” Remus mumbled against Sirius' neck trying to stand straighter on his wobbly knees.

“You won't. I promise. You just need some rest, okay? We can ask the elves to bring us something in the hospital wing and when you feel better we will go to classes. How does that sound?” Sirius smiled gently and patted Remus on the cheek with such a soft expression James felt the need to drop his gaze.

Remus hesitated for another moment before he nodded. Sirius smiled before glancing at James with the corner of his eye. James tilted his head in understanding. Him and Peter watched their friends go, Sirius' hand still placed on Remus' waist to guide him towards the hospital wing.

“Wow, Remus barely noticed we were here. Full-moon is taking a toll... or maybe it's Sirius.” Peter snorted without malice as he watched them turn the corridor and disappearing from sight. He ducked just in time to avoid James' hand trying to swat his head.

“Let's go, Peter, we have some leaves to steal.” Boy, didn't James feel stupid saying that aloud.

Peter and him walked along the corridors smiling at the other students who were going towards the Great Hall before they found a secluded place. There James took out the Invisibly Cloak that was passed down into his family for ages. James had lost count of all the pranks the Marauders have done thanks to his family heirloom.

They were cramped under it, more often than not Peter stomped on James' feet and they took the wrong turn a few times.

“Damn Peter stop kicking my heels,” James whispered harshly. His feet felt swollen for all the times Peter had stomped on them.

“I can't exactly see them with you pressed so tightly against me!”

They bickered a lot more as they moved. Thankfully no students or ghosts were walking around – last thing they needed was another haunting story running around. In the first three years using the invisibility cloak was a breeze, they had managed to cramp him, Peter and Sirius under it without problems (Remus had always been stupidly tall and couldn't stay under the invisibility cloak with more than a person) but since last year after they all hit their grown sprout it had become difficult to use it to hide more than a person. James couldn't believe he would find a day where he blamed his body for growing but here he was.

After another round of stomping and cursing, the greenhouses finally came in sight. James almost burst into tears when he saw them. If he stayed another minute with Peter he might murder him.

“Fucking finally,” Peter muttered, saying exactly what James had in mind.

They entered in the greenhouse and were hit by the strong smell of plants and fertilizer before the sight in front of them made the two falter. From top to bottom the greenhouse, numerous plants of every size and colour covered the place. Some plants had funny leaves that looked like pears others had teeth that opened and closed when a fly was dumb enough to come too near. James had never took the time to appreciate the greenhouse in his integrity, but now he could understood why Professor Sprout was so passionate of her job.

(It didn't change the fact that James had apparently a black thumb and every green plant he touched died.)

“Come on, Sprout's private garden should be at the end.” Peter grasped James' arm with urgency. James snapped out his thoughts embarrassed and was quick to follow Peter. The lunch break wasn't going to last forever and he was pretty sure Sprout would come earlier here to make sure everything was okay for her next lesson. Which meant Peter and James had less time than they hoped.

Once they reached the end of the greenhouse without stomping on any plant that might eat them, James pulled the cloak away from their heads and placed it back under his robes. Peter immediately took a step away, his robes clamming on his body and even his face was looking a little flustered. James couldn't blame him, the heat in this place was so hot to keep the plants warm, and staying under and invisibility cloak together surely didn't help.

He brushed the sweat from his forehead before he took out his wand and pointed it to the small door that would lead to Sprout's private little garden. Between the Marauders, the one who was more adept to wards was Sirius, but when they had planned this stealth they had agreed that it was better if Sirius took care of Remus and distracted him accordingly (they all knew Remus had a particular soft spot for Sirius).

So everything fell on James' shoulder. He hoped that Sprout didn't use complicated wards otherwise they might be in trouble, James was good with ward magic but not that good.

He moved his wand in circles, muttering spells under his breath to unlock whatever wards were placed on the door. Yet he quickly realised that something wasn't right.

“This is strange,” James whispered without lowering his wand, frowning at the closed door.

Peter who was on the lookout briefly turned towards him. “What is?”

“There are no wards placed on this door or if there were they were taken down,” James didn't like the sound of that and neither did Peter.

“Maybe Professor Sprout doesn't place wards...?”

“On her private garden where for sure there are rare and poisonous plants? Yeah, I can totally believe that.”

Peter hesitated for a moment, “Should we call the whole thing off?”

James shook his head, “We're not going to have another chance soon and then we'll have to wait another month before starting the process. No, we will do this today,” His eyes locked with Peter's and he smirked, “You stay here and be sure no one enters. If they do, set something on fire, that will buy us time to escape if we need it.”

Peter looked like he wanted to protest the plan – they had agreed to go inside together – but closed his mouth when he saw how resolute James looked.

“Be careful,” Peter said in a tiny voice.

James smiled gently. “Aren't I ever?”

With his wand firmly in his hand, he slowly pushed the door open. Tentatively he took a step forward like he thought a spell was going to hit him once he crossed an invisible line, but when that didn't happen he walked more resolutely inside. The door closed with a click behind him and James' breath caught in his throat.

Beautiful plants were carefully placed in colourful vases in rows. Some looked dangerous and had cages placed around them, others had a cooling spell around them to keep them in their preferred temperature and some were actually chained. James couldn't name half of them but even him knew enough to say that this place had the same value of his Gringotts vault.

Passing a plant that coughed fire, James moved towards the far end of the garden. He knew mandrake needed big vases and he had spent enough time reading about them to have their leaves memorised. So if his logic wasn't going to fail him, he would find them in the bigger vases. Just as he reached the end, he stopped suddenly.

James blinked.

There was a kid right in front of him.

He blinked again.

Nope, the kid wasn't going away. Not a hallucination.

He was busy cutting leaves from a plant – the mandrake James had been searching – with small scissors in his hands that refused to shake. His face was contorted in concentration while a bag dangled from his shoulder already filled with other parts of plants James was sure the kid didn't have permission to grab.

Worst of all, James recognised the kid.

“You're the cool Ravenclaw boy!” He blurred out without thinking. The scissors in the kid's hands slipped and the boy turned towards James, amber eyes open wide in fear. James didn't usually remember first-years, but this one had pink streaks in his hair so James filed him in his mind without meaning to.

They stared at each other for a few tense seconds, neither of them knowing what to do.

The boy's hand twitched towards his robes, going for his wand but James raised an eyebrow unimpressed.

“Are you sure you want to do that?” He waved his wand in front of him. The kid may have cool hair, but if he threw a hex towards James he needed to be prepared to receive one back.

The kid hesitated before he wisely let his hand drop but still regarded James wary. “Why are you here?”

“I could ask you the same, kid.” James' eyes kept darting from the kid to the mandrake. The leaves were calling him, begging him to cut them up. James was so close to them he could almost taste them in his mouth.

“It's Teddy, not 'kid'.” The kid – no, Teddy had such a fire in his eyes that James would have been impressed if he wasn't running out of time.

“Okay, I'm James, a pleasure.” James pointed his wand towards the mandrake. “Listen, Teddy, I don't care why you're here or how you managed to take down the wards around this place – which is pretty wicked if you ask me – but I really, really need those leaves. Like, right now. Can you let me take them without kicking a fuss?”

Teddy's eyes moved on the plant beside him before they returned to James. “Well... I won't tell if you don't.”

“I like how you think.” James took a step forward and watched as Teddy retreated wary. He made his way towards the Mandrake and ignored the kid beside him as he took out his own scissors. Slowly he cut out six leaves – despite their resolve he wanted to have a spare just in case – and placed them in a conjured jar that he reduced until it slipped easily under his robes.

Teddy watched him without breathing, his eyes never leaving his wand as he worked. If James had wanted to stun him he would have already done it and he doubted Teddy had the reflexes or the strength to protect himself, but he could appreciate a kid who didn't trust people blindly – or maybe he saw what James could do and was afraid. Smart kid.

“Alright,” James patted his robes pleased, “I'm done here. What about you? My friend is on the look-out, but I'm sure Professor Sprout will come at any minute. We better bolt if we don't want to end in detention and lose what we came here for.”

Teddy looked at the plants around him. It was clear he wanted to take more stuff, but James' words had their merit. Slowly like it physically pained him to do so, he nodded.

“Great! Let's get out of here!” James hurried towards the exit without turning around. If Teddy followed him or not that was on him. He had what he came in here for.

Peter was waiting just beside the door of the greenhouse. He had a nervous expression on his face, his eyes darting around like he thought Professor Sprout was going to come out from behind a tree. When he saw James he nearly cried.

“Oh thank Merlin- who's that?”

James raised one hand to stop Peter from grabbing his wand. “Relax, it's just Teddy. A little Ravenclaw who has more Marauder blood than any Gryffindor. We've helped each other out. I've gotten everything I need.”

“But-”

“Now it's not the time, Peter. I would really like not to have Professor Sprout catching us after stealing from her.”

Peter's eyes darted accusingly on Teddy who was trying to make himself look smaller. James had planned to use the invisibility cloak to get out too, but he couldn't risk a first-year to see his precious prank tool. A Ravenclaw was still a Ravenclaw, he couldn't have him tattle on the teachers. It was bad already that he saw him steal.

James turned towards Teddy and waited until the kid had safely hid his little bag filled with stolen parts of plants before he spoke.

“Okay, listen here. If anyone ask, we're helping you around the castle 'cause you got lost.” James smiled when Teddy nodded slowly without asking any type of stupid question, “Alright, Peter?”

Peter clearly didn't like that a first-year had messed up their plan, but couldn't find the words to argue. James was immensely grateful that Sirius wasn't there. His friend would have hexed the kid first and asked questions later.

“Perfect, let's go!” James grabbed Teddy's shoulder and dragged towards the exit. The kid, thankfully, didn't seem to mind.

“S-Shouldn't we put back the wards?” Teddy asked when the humid air of Hogwarts hit them in the face.

“Oh shit, you're right.” James slapped a hand on his face, his voice dropping in sarcasm “But well, someone has destroyed them before I could look at them. I have no idea what type they were. Do you?”

Teddy blushed. “No... I just took them down...”

Peter made an unhappy sound from the back of his throat but James ignored him.

“Well, we can't change that. Sprout will surely notice someone has gotten in her little garden, but won't know it was us if you don't tattle.” James smiled coldly, “And I'll know if you do. So if you want to have a nice first year here, you better keep that mouth closed.”

Teddy's face paled slightly, yet he was brave enough to speak – something James could appreciate. “It's not like I want anyone to know I was there either.”

“Then we're even.” James said lightly as they started to walk back into the castle like he was taking a stroll.

Peter was nervous at their side and Teddy's eyes danced around every corner. They really had no idea how to be subtle, James wanted to scream. Thank Merlin they didn't meet anyone except a couple of Hufflepuff who were wise enough to scramble when they saw them and they reached the castle without any problem.

“We should go see if Remus is okay,” James said to Peter casually, like they hadn't just stolen from a teacher.

“Sounds about right. He'll get pissed if he misses Transfiguration, but Sirius will let him sleep if we leave them alone,” Peter rubbed a hand over his face. Remus could get pretty scary if someone messed with his academic record.

“We better hurry then, lunch break is almost over,” James turned towards Teddy, “Be good, okay? And remember what we said!”

James didn't stay around to hear Teddy's answer. He grabbed Peter's arm and pulled him towards the hospital wing while half-listening to his complains. He briefly wondered why Teddy needed all those plants for. It must have been important if he was willing to steal for it. And he was only a first-year! James felt like a proud parent.

He filed the name Teddy for later. He would make sure to watch out for the little Ravenclaw boy. This year, it seemed, was already proving far more interesting than James had hoped.

Chapter Text

The morning after the full moon was always rough. Remus had been doing this since he was five years old, yet they didn't get any better. He was tired, his bones ached, his head hurt. In his mouth he could still taste the dirt and the wood he had chewed on while transformed. It was not a pretty taste.

With the last of his strength he got out the Shack despite his vision getting blurry towards the end. He had somehow limped towards the hospital wing and allowed Madam Pomfrey to take care of him despite all he wanted was a shower and a bed.

“You must take your usual energizing potions, but you don't have any wounds,” Madam Pomfrey said after she scanned him with a light spell. Her voice was calm but Remus could detect her surprise underneath. Honestly, he was too.

Usually he would come to her battered and bruised, his wolf – or Moony as the other Marauders had started to call him – never allowed him a full moon of rest. Moony wanted to haunt, to bite, he didn't like being stuck in the Shrieking Shack. There was no prey there, no one Moony could use as a chew toy, and when the anger became too much, Moony turned towards himself using his claws and teeth to hurt his own body, to punish him.

Remus was covered in all kind of scars, his own face hadn't been spared and despite Sirius telling him it added to his charms, Remus would have preferred if Moony kept his claws to himself.

Yet yesterday night was different.

“There was a crow...” Remus shrugged, forcing himself to piece together what had happened the other night, “Moon- the wolf was quite taken by it. I think he wanted to play, or maybe eat it? He was entertained for sure.”

Animals didn't come in the Shrieking Shack, they knew it was Moony's territory. Something screamed in their instincts to stay clear of that cursed house. Remus was sure Moony was only interested in mauling humans but he couldn't blame the animals to be wary. He would be too if he saw a huge wolf with foam at the mouth staring down at him. So when Moony had noticed the crow flying around he had started howling and barking, wanting to understand the strange creature that had come in his territory. Before Remus had known it, the night had passed and he had found himself laying on the floor, the crow gone.

“I see,” Madam Pomfrey wrote something on a piece of parchment before she waved it away with a tap of her wand, “Well, we must thank it then. You don't have any injuries, you can go back to your dorms. I must advise you to stay in bed all day, but tomorrow you can return to classes like usual.”

Remus' eyes lightened up in joy. “Really? I can go?”

“After you drink your potion.”

For once Remus didn't mind the bitter taste of the potion running down his throat. He waited a few minutes before he felt strong enough to stand and slowly made his way out of the hospital wing after thanking Madam Pomfrey.

Usually he had to spend the entire day – if not two – in the infirmary, the wounds on his body aching too much for him to move and had to wait for one of his friends to help him up to the Gryffindor tower. Today instead he could go with his own legs without having to ask for anyone's help. Of course, his knees hurt and his body felt like he had gone under a steamroller, but it was worth the feeling of walking on his own, of not relying on his friends' kindness.

He told the password to the Fat Lady and entered in the common room. It was empty like he thought it would be, it was a hour after dawn and Remus knew no one would be up at his hour. Well, no one except for Lily Evans of course.

She had her nose buried into a book, her fingers tightened around a quill as she wrote without looking. Her hair was pulled into a loose ponytail with only a few red locks falling on her face. A stain of black ink was smudged on her cheek but Lily was so focused on what she was writing that she didn't seem to notice it. When she heard the painting open, she briefly looked up and blinked surprised.

“Remus,” her quill froze in her hand as her eyes trailed over his body. “Are you okay?”

Remus shifted nervously, his body went rigid. He knew that she was asking only out of concern, she had spent years watching him falling sick every month, each time he gave her a new excuse. For someone as bright as Lily, he was surprised she hadn't caught up on what he was. A small mercy, he reasoned.

“A stray hex. Madam Pomfrey told me I could come back in the dorms but I should rest.” Remus lied smoothly, leaning against the wall as his knees began to throb.

Lily pursued her lips. She didn't look convinced, but worry overwrote curiosity. “I hope whoever has done that to you has been caught. And you took away points.”

Remus chuckled. “Don't worry, I'm sure James has taken care of everything.”

Lily's expression darkened a little. “I'm sure he did...”

Remus fought the need to sight. He was really sorry for James, Lily's opinion of him was getting lower and lower by the day. From Remus' prospective, his crush was hopeless. But he wasn't going to be the one to break the news to him.

“Well,” Remus cleared his throat, “I should go then.”

Lily waved her hand at him before she returned her attention to the book. A frown had made its way on her face but it eased the more she wrote. Remus climbed the stairs with some difficulties, the muscles in his legs screaming at him for the strain. He refused to give up, no matter how much he trembled or how cold his sweat was getting on his back.

He sighed in relief when he finally reached his room. He tried to force his lips to be pulled into a smile but the most he could do was a grimace. Knowing it was a loss Remus gave up immediately.

With a small push he opened the door and stepped inside. The familiar smell of his mates filled his nose and he felt calmer, more grounded. He heard Peter's snores, James' loud breathing and Sirius' quiet puffs of air as he wobbled into the room. He could do a shower later when he didn't feel the muscles in his leg want to rip apart like used strings.

Just as he managed to lower himself on the bed, Remus was startled at the sound of Sirius' scream.

“Oh my god, who dares to come here- Remus?” Sirius had jumped on the bed, his hair in disarray while his fingers were tightly clenched around his wand. There was a crazed look on his face as he stared at Remus like he couldn't believe he was there.

“What's wrong? What's happening?” James had fallen down from his bed and was squinting his eyes as he tried to look around without glasses. Peter was muttering something and had sat up but he clearly wasn't aware of what was going on.

“It's me, guys,” Remus smiled tiredly at them before his eyes settled on Sirius, “Do you sleep with that under your pillow?”

A flush made its way on Sirius' cheeks. He muttered something under his breath before he placed his wand back under his pillow – so yes, he slept like that. After a few seconds of silence passed Sirius was aware that Remus being there wasn't normal after a full, he immediately scrambled forward and before Remus could blink he was in front of Remus. From this close, Remus could see the bags under Sirius' eyes and the tiredness that reeked from him. There was also a faint smell of herbs lingering, one that Remus' sensitive nose didn't appreciate after a full moon.

“Why are you here? Has something happened?” The worry in Sirius' voice was real and he kept checking Remus from head to toes in search of an injury. Fondness blossomed in Remus' heart.

“More like nothing happened. Moony was rather... distracted tonight, he didn't feel the need to chew me.” Remus said. wanting nothing to place his head on the pillow.

“Distracted?” James had found his glasses and had come to stand beside Sirius. He looked tired – no, all of them did. Peter hadn't moved from his bed, but Remus could see from where he was he was tired too from the way he could barely keep one eye open at the time.

“A crow entered the Shack, Moony liked it,” Remus shrugged. He could smell that herbal scent from James' too and he scrunched his nose. “Did you change toothpaste? You smell weird.”

James laughed nervously. “Something like that.”

“We had some fun yesterday,” Sirius smirked and took a step back releasing Remus' nose from that nasty scent.

Remus didn't believe a word they were saying, but he wasn't in the mood to push for answers they clearly didn't want to give him. Whatever. He knew Sirius wouldn't be able to keep a secret for long.

“So what did you do while I was gone?”

“Oh no, you look like you need to rest, dear Mr. Lupin,” Sirius pushed Remus on the bed, “Stop trying to stay awake.”

“It's not my fault you're being so weird,” Remus muttered but he allowed Sirius to help him change into more comfortable pyjamas. He sighed in relief when his throbbing head finally collided with his pillow. He opened one eye and watched his friends staring at him with concern.

A smile pulled his lips up and he made a victory sign.

“I've won against the wolf once again. I'm still me.”

James huffed a laugh and sat beside him. “That you did, Moony, that you did,” Then his smile became more teasing, “So, a crow? Must have been a fancy one to have Moony so excited.”

Remus shrugged. He tried to think back at the previous night, but it was difficult to piece his memory together. It wasn't like he forgot everything that happened when he transformed, but the strain from wolf to human sometimes got a little too much and he tended to forget the details.

“Not really,” Remus said after a moment, a flash of black wings appearing in his mind, “I can't remember well. I think it was gray or black. Moony didn't really care of its colour.”

“I bet he didn't,” Sirius snorted, patting Remus on the arm. “At least it didn't become your midnight snack.”

“Thankfully it looked smart enough to not come too near.” Remus chuckled. He could feel his eyes desperately want to close, his body was still aching for all the excitement he had the previous night.

“Do you think you will come to the afternoon lessons? Seeing as you aren't hurt...” James asked slowly knowing the day after the full was a sore subject for Remus.

Remus shook his head. “Madam Pomfrey will have my head if she sees me out the bed. It's a miracle she has allowed me out the Hospital wing, I don't want to push it.”

“Such a pity, we have Defence today.” James sighed and looked down. Sirius took that as a chance to elbow him in the ribs and make his friend fall with a yelp.

“Sirius! You traitor!”

“Sorry James, it was just too good to pass up.” Sirius said innocently.

“Alright children, back to bed. There's still some time before you have to wake up. I want notes of all the lessons.” Remus ignored the groans of protest and sent a pointed look towards Sirius. “Yes, Sirius, History too.”

“You're too cruel after the full, Moony, it's unfair.” Sirius clutched his heart dramatically and pretended to fall down the floor. “But for you, Mr. Lupin, we will do as you ask. We are your faithful servants.”

“You better be, I won't ask Evans her notes again because you fell asleep during class.”

“Fine, fine, we promise we will take notes,” Sirius stood and helped James up. He sent Remus a blinding smile, one that made Remus' guts clench painfully. “Have your beauty sleep. You deserve it.”

Remus watched his friends walk towards their bed – Peter had already gone back to sleep – before he called them again.

“Guys? Please change toothpaste. The one you're using is foul.”

Chapter Text

When Rufus first entered Hogwarts he had no intention of being friendly with anyone. He had a goal, one that burned his heart with passion, and he wasn't going to let anyone stop him from reaching it, even if he had to spend seven years in loneliness.

He threw himself head-first into studying, devouring books after books until his head hurt and he wasn't going to stop. He needed to be the best, to pass all of his classes with flying colours, he couldn't slack off just because it was the first-year and O.W.L.s were in the fifth, Rufus planned for his school career to be brilliant without a smudge of falling a single class.

It didn't surprise him to be placed in Ravenclaw, he welcomed it with open arms. It was fate, Rufus reminded himself, even the hat had noticed his burning passion, he wasn't going to let it down.

He hadn't taken in consideration his dorm-mates. He thought they would be boys he only greeted in the morning and the evening, people he would only know the name of. Studying students who buried their noses in books like he was planning to do. Rufus quickly found out it wasn't like that.

For reasons unknown to him, more often than not he found himself in the company of his dorm-mates. Be it in class, lunch or a break, Rufus often discovered that his personal space was invaded by not one, not two, but three people who didn't leave him alone no matter where he hid. He had thought that after their disastrous night neither of them would talk to each other again, yet everything had been swiped under the rug before Rufus could blink.

Teddy and Gilderoy had begun to hang out together, their cherry personalities mixing perfectly, and they somehow pulled Rufus with them without asking for his opinion.

(Rufus still had no idea how that happened. One day he was studying alone in the library, the next Teddy was asking him questions on ward magic while Gilderoy was staring at his reflection in the window.)

(He didn't fight their presence too much though – or rather not at all if he was honest... but he never was, not with himself.)

Quirinus was added in the mix when Rufus wasn't looking. The boy was so quiet Rufus almost didn't notice him there half of the time, yet he never failed to show up and often he got paired with Rufus himself during class. At least Quirinus knew what he was doing. Not like Gilderoy, who tended to make things explode with a flick of his wrist and had Teddy clean up his mess.

They were an odd bunch, Rufus realised one day as they were walking out the Great Hall after lunch. Teddy was a Metamorphmagus with no clear blood relation to any pure-blood family, Gilderoy spent half of his time to tell others how good he was and the other half to braid his hair, Quirinus was the quiet kid everyone forgot about. And Rufus? Well, he didn't have many thoughts about himself, but he had noticed that except for his dorm-mates... no one had approached him.

“They think we are weird,” Teddy told him as he watched Gilderoy try to change the colour of Quirinus' tie without much success, “I try to keep my abilities in check but half the school has seen my hair change at least once. Gilderoy is self-centred. Quirinus is quiet. And you... well, you're really stoic. People are intimidated by you.”

It made so much sense Rufus felt a pang of hurt in his chest.

“Is this your way to say we're the losers of the first-years?”

“No, we're the weird kids.” Teddy sent Rufus a mischievous smile. “But don't tell Roy that. He thinks we're too cool to have others approaching us. Don't pop his bubble. Or do it anyway if you want, I doubt he'll believe you.”

Rufus thought about it. Yes, he had wanted to be left alone at first, to focus on his studies, but did he really mind his dorm-mates presence?

“I did it!” Gilderoy shout excited as Quirinus' tie had turned from blue to an obnoxious pink. Teddy clapped his hands in cheer while Quirinus stared silently at his new tie. He didn't seem to mind the colour too much even if its colour was starting to hurt Rufus' eyes.

Rufus hummed under his breath. He didn't know if he liked that people thought at him 'weird' and 'stoic' but at least he wasn't alone. It would have been lonely to be the only one pushed aside, but he had company, didn't he? Who knew, maybe it would prove to be beneficial to him. The only way to find that out was to stay a little more with them.

“So you made friends?” Xenophilius asked him when they met, a serene smile pulling his lips up in that dreamy way of his.

“They're my research project,” Rufus said defensively before excusing himself after Teddy loudly called him.

He didn't miss the way Xenophilius' smile grew fonder.

Despite the fact that most Hogwarts population ignored them, Rufus began to notice a few quirks from his friends. No one was particularly happy to talk about their families, even Gilderoy who overshared everything was tight lipped about it. Teddy avoided the Gryffindor pranksters like the plague – every time they met in the corridors he turned to the other way or changed his face to not be recognised. Teddy had assured Rufus they hadn't done anything to him, but Rufus had his doubts. Why would he need to hide if everything was good? Whatever the reason was, Rufus was more than happy to follow Teddy's example and steer clear from the older Gryffindors.

(He had done his research, Potter and Black were pure-bloods. Experience had taught him that they weren't to be trusted. Xenophilius and Pandora were the only exception.)

However, no matter how much they stayed out of trouble and tried to not to antagonise anyone, trouble had its way to find them.

One day at the beginning of October after a particular boring History lesson – Rufus was the top of his classes but even him had to admit Professor Binns could work on his teaching. The four of them were walking around the corridors, talking about the Transfiguration homework McGonagall had given them early in the morning when they pumped in a bunch of older Slytherins.

Rufus didn't have an opinion on them. Yes, he knew most of them had out-dated beliefs on muggle-born and the darkest wizards had come out from there, but he had shared more than a few classes with them and they weren't that bad. They kept mostly to themselves and didn't interact much with the other Houses (especially Gryffindor), but Rufus had had quite the interesting conversations regarding their classes with more than one Slytherin, so he tried to keep his judgemental side in check.

(It was difficult when most of them were pure-bloods.)

Still, everyone knew that if you were different in any kind, there was a large possibility for a Slytherin to mock you or worse. Rufus had heard it happened, but never witnessed to it. He couldn't wrap his head around it. Why would someone mock another for any reason?

He had been too naïve.

When asked later, Rufus couldn't remember exactly what happened. It was just past lunch, of that he was sure. The chocolate pudding he had eaten for dessert was swimming in his stomach, Rufus could still taste it on his tongue as he walked. The sun was high in the sky, but the air had turned a little chilly, the leaves had started to colour in brown and reds.

Gilderoy was chattering their ears off about a new hair product that had just hit the market and made his hair shiner – Rufus honestly didn't see any difference – while Teddy politely nodded at his side. Quirinus was a step behind them, his eyes going from Gilderoy to Teddy like he was following another kind of conversation.

Rufus had noticed the group of Slytherins on the other side of the open corridor. They were a group of three girls and a boy, whispering among themselves without giving the impression they acknowledged the quartet's presence.

It wasn't until they got closer that their attention shifted to them. Rufus felt the air turn chiller, a prickle on the back of his neck that was warning him of the danger that lurked ahead. The urge to place his hand under his robes, to clutch his wand between his fingers was getting too strong to ignore.

“Hem-hem, it seems Hogwarts keeps taking in half-breeds. How low it has fallen.”

The one who had spoken was a short, chubby girl with a face that resembled a frog. She was dressed in Slytherin robes except for the obnoxius pink earrings falling from her ear. She had a cruel smile pulling her lips up, her small eyes were tightened in disdain as they stared at Quirinus. The other Slytherins giggled at her words. They whispered to each other, pointing and laughing. Quirinus' face had turned pale, a flush spreading on his cheeks. Rufus' heart stuttered in anger. None of them had ever said anything about Quirinus' strange eyes. It was clear they were not human, but Quirinus never said anything about it and none of them asked. It was his secret to share, and he clearly didn't want to. Rufus could respect that and he was mad someone mocked it.

His fingers grasped his wand tightly and he stepped forward to give her a piece of his mind – he didn't care if she was older, no one could say that and be excused. He could not forgive such disrespect.

“You-”

“You talk so much about half-breeds, yet you look like a frog yourself or have you not looked in a mirror?” Surprisingly, it was Teddy who spoke. Teddy, who never had anything bad to say of anyone, who was always kind and understanding, had just showed his claws for the first time Rufus had known him.

An embarrassed silence fell amongst them. Quirinus looked at Teddy shocked while the Slytherin girl's face turned of an angry red. She started to tremble, her thin lips opening and closing as she found herself unable to utter a world.

And of course, when Teddy spoke, Gilderoy couldn't help himself from adding his own thoughts.

“Pink earrings are so old-fashioned too. It's pink ties now, how can you not know that?” It was the most stupid and brilliant thing Rufus had ever heard.

Yet those words seemed to hurt the girl deeply. She touched her earrings and heard a snicker from one of her 'friends' behind her back. Her eyes widened in shock and shame. Rufus watched as her hand moved under her robes, but he was ready.

Just as she took out her wand, Rufus was already pointing his on her face. She stared at him surprised but Rufus' hand was firm.

The girl chuckled, her voice grating and unpleasant. “What do you think you can do, first-year?”

“I know a hex or two,” Rufus answered without batting an eye.

The girl's face turned unsure, but her pride didn't make her back down. With the corner of his eye, Rufus saw how the other Slytherins were reaching for their own wands. It was bad, very very bad. Rufus could hold his own against a prideful Slytherin (maybe), but against four of them? He wasn't sure his Protego was strong enough.

“What's going on here, Umbridge? Picking a fight against first-years?”

Rufus jumped. From the end of the corridor a petite figure with red hair was walking towards them. She had a kind, pretty face hidden behind a deep frown. She had a thick book under one arm and the other was clutching her wand. Her robes were Gryffindor colour and Rufus was relieved to see a prefect badge shining on her chest.

He recognised her at once. She was Lily Evans.

(He only remembered her because she shared the surname with Teddy – not that he would ever admit that.)

The girl – Umbridge – faltered at the sight of a prefect. Her face contorted in a scowl but it seemed like she knew better than picking a fight with a prefect. Slowly, like it pained her to do so, she lowered her wand and scowled at Rufus and the other three boys.

“You're lucky mudblood Evans has saved you,” Umbridge whispered lowly, venom in her voice. It wasn't low enough though as Lily picked it up. She lifted an eyebrow unimpressed.

“The boy is right, you are old-fashioned. Is this the most you can do with your insults?” Lily cocked her head to a side. “Fifty points from Slytherin.”

Umbridge's face coloured of purple. “You-”

“Do you really want to keep this going, Umbridge? We can stay here all day. I can take more points if you want.”

Umbridge clicked her teeth together. She looked ready for a fight, but she only needed to glance back at her house-mates to hesitate. The other Slytherins didn't look happy at such a large sum of points being deduced from them.

She turned her nose up into the air and was quick to stalk away with an angry scowl on her face. The other Slytherins followed her close, sending furious glances to Lily. The Gryffindor prefect on the other hand didn't look all that bothered. She waited until they were out of her sight before she turned towards them, an apologetic smile on her face.

“Don't mind what she says, she's an unpleasant girl. Hates muggles and creatures alike. I'm sorry you ran into her.”

“She talks too much with that big mouth of hers,” Teddy grumbled, fury dripping from his voice. It was almost refreshing hearing him talk like that.

Lily laughed. “She has, hasn't she?”

Rufus moved slowly to the side and touched Quirinus' arm. He had stayed silent the entire time and jumped when Rufus reached out to him.

“Are you okay?” Rufus asked slowly.

Quirinus blinked his eyes and nodded. “Yes... thank you,” He stayed quiet for a moment, “Aren't you going to ask anything more?”

Rufus shrugged. “I don't really care. Teddy and Gilderoy don't either. You don't have to tell anyone anything if you don't want to. I doubt Headmaster Dumbledore would have made you come here if you were dangerous. I would have been more worried if you were a pure-blood.”

Quirinus blinked again. He didn't say anything, but the small smile on his face was enough to settle Rufus' heart.

To his side, Lily and Teddy had kept talking while Gilderoy had quickly lost interest in the conversation and was staring at his reflection in the pocket mirror he always carried with him.

“If you are bothered by anyone again, please find me. I'm not in Ravenclaw but I hate bullying.” Lily was telling Teddy who looked calmer than before.

“You sound like my uncle,” Teddy laughed, “Thank you.”

“Your uncle sounds like a wise man.” Lily said, stroking the back of her book absently.

Teddy smiled amused like all the time the topic fell on his mysterious uncle of his. “He truly is. He took that from his mother.”

Chapter Text

Severus couldn't believe how having a teacher who actually cared about his students could change his life in Hogwarts, yet here he was, staring shocked and a little smug as Professor Evans dealt a long, tedious scowling to the Marauders.

“-expanding and shrinking a head is a serious health hazard. Do you know what happens when the blood goes too fast or too slow to the brain? Would you like me to tell you?” Evans was going on and on, his face grave as he stared at Sirius Black and James Potter with nothing but disappointment.

Oh, how much Severus was enjoying that. To see the smug looks on those idiots' faces taken off, to finally have a teacher take seriously their bullying.

(Because those were not pranks. Severus had never felt like laughing.)

He felt sorry for the Hufflepuff girl who had her head transfigured to expand and shrink because a stray hex had hit her, but he thanked her in his heart as he enjoyed the sight in front of him. Professor Evans had been a fury when he was told what had happened. He waved his wand and released the girl from the hex before he whispered kind words to her and asked a classmate to bring her to the Hospital wing. Then he had turned towards the culprits and began his long scowling.

Severus could feel satisfaction settle in his bones as more and more students began to crow the corridor, watching as Evans was tearing Sirius and James' heads off. The two Gryffindors were silent, a pinkish hue colouring their cheeks as more attention was focused on them. They weren't used to face the consequences of their actions. It was such a nice look on their faces.

“What's going on?” Severus jumped when Lily appeared to his side. A curse was on his tongue but he held it back. He moved his head down and explained quickly what had happened. Predictably, Lily smiled satisfied.

“He's becoming my favourite Professor,” She snickered as she caught James' mortified stare. It seemed that being humiliated in front of his crush wasn't good for his poor ego.

“A hundred of points from Gryffindor. Detention all the weekends. And I will talk with Professor McGonagall about your Hogsmade privilege being revoked.”

That seemed to catch Sirius' attention. “What? You can't do that!”

Evans clicked his tongue. “I can and I will. Like I said, no bullying will be swept under the rug with me here.”

“It was only a prank-”

“She could have died!” Evans raised his voice suddenly making everyone jump. Their DADA Professor never shouted, not even when someone made something explode or he had to repeat the hand movement for the tenth time after a thick-headed student still didn't understand how to do it. It was so shocking that even Sirius was at loss of words.

Noticing he had lost control, Evans took a deep breath to calm himself. “I don't feel like letting someone who disregards another's life like that free to do as they please. My word is final.”

Severus bit his lips to not shout in victory. Oh, how sweet those words sounded.

With the corner of his eyes, Severus watched as Lupin and Pettigrew remained on the side-lines, the first with a blank expression, the other with what Severus could only call grief. A little further from them, the quartet of first-year Ravenclaws were staring at the scene with various degrees of interest, going from utterly captivated to plain bored.

(Lily had talked lengthy about them. How those four weird Ravenclaws seemed to attract the wrong kind of attention wherever they went and she had decided to keep an eye on them. Severus only remembered them because the tall kid was a Metamorphmagus.)

Professor Evans sighed in frustration and ran a hand on his messy hair. Curiously on his forehead there was a strange scar that looked like a thunder bolt, but before Severus could investigate it more it was covered by streaks of black and gray.

“Please, return to your classes or your common-room. Sirius and Mr. Potter with me.” Evans levelled the two boy with a tired stare when he saw them start to complain, “Don't fight me on this.”

Seeing as the drama was concluding, the students around them started to scatter. They were all excited to gossip about what had happened and were forming groups with each other going in all directions. Pettigrew and Lupin were pushing against the other students to get to Sirius and Potter, while Lily remained silent at Severus' side. The Ravenclaw quartet hadn't moved either, they were talking among each other and were waiting for the other students to fade before daring to move. Severus couldn't blame them, they were so small a seventh year could trample them easily.

“Well, that was exciting.” Lily said at least as she watched Professor Evans stalk away with the four Marauders on his tail. He looked too tired to say anything about Lupin and Pettigrew presences.

“Totally deserved.” Severus muttered unable to mask the glee in his voice.

“For sure. I wish they grew up.” Lily sighed, her shoulders slumping. She sounded so much like Professor Evans it was scary. Not that Severus would tell her that, he knew how much she had hated those rumours about her being his secret relative. She didn't need them to resurface again.

“Unlikely.” Severus slug his bag across his shoulder and tilted his head to the side. “Are you coming to the library?”

Lily shook her head and sent him an apologetic smile. “I promised Marlene to help her with Charms. She's going to fail if she keeps her grades so low. Next time.”

Severus swallowed his disappointment before nodding slowly. He parted ways with his friend and went towards the library, his potion textbook safe in his bag as he thought about his research on the cutting spell he had invented. He was only at the beginning stage, there were so many aspects he had to be sure about before he tried it. He didn't want to mess up and accidentally cut his hand off.

Severus stepped into the library under Madam Pince's hawk eyes and was satisfied to find his usual place free. It was the desk on the furthest part of the library, light barely reached it and more often than not Filch forgot to clean it so it was hardly used by any student. It was perfect.

He sat down and, after a small cleaning spell, pulled out his textbooks, spreading them all over the table as he grabbed a book on cooking spells. One might think it was stupid, but the most cutting spells known to wizards were the ones used in the kitchen. Severus had all the intentions to study them thoroughly and master them before focusing in creating an attacking cutting spell to use against his enemies.

He was reading for no more than five minutes when he heard the chair in front of him scrap against the floor and a weight falling on it. On instinct, Severus placed a hand on his potion textbook and lifted his eyes while his fingers reached for his wand. He had been ambushed too many times not to be on guard.

Instead of his usual tormentors, Severus was surprised to see the first-year Metamorphmagus smiling at him on the other side of the desk. Today he rocked light blue hair that curled on his pointy elf ears and had the most striking pink eyes Severus had only seen in illustrations before. It felt like he was trying to be as bizarre as he could and was doing a good job on it.

Teddy, his mind supplied. His name was Teddy. Not that Severus cared too much, but when he had mentioned the kid to Pandora she had clapped her hands and began one of her long monologues on her house-mates. Severus had only been half-listening to her but the name had stuck.

“What do you want?” Severus asked after he forced his fingers from his wand. He kept his hand jealousy on his potion text book, not wanting the kid to read what he had written on it.

Teddy barely spared his hands a glance. His smile got a little wider and his eyes took a golden hue around his pupils.

“You're... Severus Snape, right? Lily spoke to me about you. I'm-”

“Teddy. I know. Hard to miss a Metamorphmagus walking around Hogwarts.”

Teddy chuckled a little embarrassed. “It's pretty difficult to reign in my powers. There's no manual. I didn't plan to let the whole school know.”

Severus arched an eyebrow unimpressed. “So? What that has to do with me?”

“Oh! Nothing at all! Just a simple chat you know? Well, you don't seem the chatty type.”

A flicker of annoyance burst in Severus' chest. “I repeat: what do you want? I'm busy and you're wasting my time. Be quick or go away.”

“Right, well, Lily mentioned you have an... interesting personality,” Before Severus could be offended by those words, Teddy pulled out from under his robes a small can. Severus' attention was immediately drawn on it.

“Are those-”

“Mandrake leaves. Yes. I took them myself.”

Severus felt his fingers twitch. Mandrake leaves were rare to come by and extremely expensive. They were at the base of the most complex potions in the most advanced text-books. Severus had only seen them in Slugthorn's private stash and even them for only a fraction of second. Greed was choking him, he wanted nothing more than to place his hands on the can and study them but he reined himself in. He forced his eyes to move on Teddy, suspicion growing in his chest.

“How did you get them?”

Teddy smiled a little embarrassed. “Let's say I'm really good at destroying wards.” He tapped his finger on the table his face scowled back to neutral. “I heard you're the best in potions. I want to make a deal with you.”

Severus wanted to laugh. A deal with a first-year? He felt like the punch-line of a joke. But those Mandrake leaves... well, there was nothing to lose if he heard this kid out, right?

(He swept his suspicious of theft under the rug. Severus had done a lot worse for potion ingredients. He wasn't going to be an hypocrite on it.)

“What kind of deal?”

Teddy searched in the little bag he had on his side. It was so small Severus hadn't noticed it before, made of brown leather with two silver buttons to close it. From there, Teddy pulled out a rumbled paper and pushed it towards Severus.

Severus took it between two fingers and quickly scanned the words scribed on it. He lifted an eyebrow impressed. There were the ingredients and instructions for a potion – quite the expensive ingredients too – one Severus had never heard of and he had read a lot of them. Once he reached the end of the paper he paused.

“The instructions aren't complete.” He noticed as he flipped the paper around in search of the ending process.

Teddy smiled brightly like Severus had passed a test he didn't know he was taking. “Yes! Well, I've written all I remember but no matter how hard I try, I can't seem to remember the whole process...” Teddy took a deep breath and leaned forward, his voice dropping in a whisper. “It's nothing illegal I promise. But it's really important to me. My uncle helped me remembering most of it but this is the most we managed... I thought that maybe someone who is good at potions like you could help.”

“What's in for me?” Severus placed the paper down and stared at Teddy hard. Half of his brain was excited at the prospective of brewing a potion he had never heard of, the other part of him however was suspicious as hell. “You waltzed here with a potion you won't even tell me what's it supposed to do. The ingredients are expensive, the process is difficult. I'm not so dumb to say yes without knowing the full story.”

Teddy remained silent for a few moments. He didn't blink as he stared at Severus pondering, waiting. Finally, he sighed and took out another can. Severus immediately recognised the half-moon leaves contained into it.

“Moon-bathed leaves. Take them as a show of good will.” Teddy pushed the can towards Severus. With greedy hands, Severus took the can and rolled it between his fingers. They were real, the glittering on the leaves couldn't be faked in any way. Another expensive ingredient a first-year had in his pocket like it costed nothing.

(Seriously, Severus was starting to be impressed by him. However he had obtained them, only a smart kid could have acheived that.)

“I want you to think about it. I'll tell you everything only if you agree and sign a magical contract. It's too important to me, I can't have anyone interfering, not until the potion is finished.” Teddy took a deep breath to calm himself down. “I'll pay you with expensive potion ingredients. But no one can know. Not until we know it has worked.”

Severus stared at the cans in front of him. No matter how Teddy had obtained them, he must be really smart to have stolen them without anyone noticing. Severus didn't detect any lie from him, yet one could never be too sure.

Still, greed and his wish to research on more complex potions was too much to ignore – expensive potions ingredients didn't fall in his lap easily – and curiosity on what the potion that Teddy showed him did was burnt in his veins.

“I'll think about it.”

Teddy smiled satisfied and lifted himself from the chair. His hair turned a shade of pink that matched his eyes. “Thank you, I couldn't ask for more. You won't regret it.”

Somehow, Severus highly doubted it. Still, he pocketed the can and watched as Teddy retrieved the Mandrake seeds hiding them into his leather bag.

Fifth year was starting to become the most interesting year he had spent in Hogwarts for sure.

Chapter Text

“We didn't mean to do that, Moony, I swear it was an accident!”

Remus wondered how many times he had heard those words. 'It's not our fault.' 'The hex came out from my wand without me noticing.' Remus had always pretended to believe them, always turned his head to the other side despite a voice screaming in his head that no, he was doing the wrong thing, they were lying to him and he knew. He shouldn't close his eyes, he shouldn't let these behaviours go any further.

But they were his friends, weren't they? Deep down, Remus knew they were good people.

Yet, why, why did they spread so much cruelty?

“Was it?” Remus couldn't contain the accusation in his tone, “Was it really?”

Sirius looked at him like he had been slapped. For a moment, Remus' heart melted a little, guilt blossomed in his chest as he stared at those silvery, rimmed eyes that stared at him with so much pain hidden beneath them.

“I would never lie to you.” Sirius took a step forward, trying to make himself look as small as possible. “Believe me, Moony, please.”

Remus' lips thinned. “It wasn't meant for her.” At Sirius' confused glance, Remus sighed tiredly. “The hex. It wasn't meant for her.”

Sirius' eyes widened in surprise. He opened his mouth, a retort on his tongue, but he thought better of it. His shoulders slumped and he looked away in shame.

“No. We wanted to hit Snivellus.”

Remus closed his eyes. He had figured that out long before Sirius had started to say his excuses, yet it was still difficult to hear the truth. In his mind, the Hufflepuff girl's face contorted in fear flashed behind his eyelid, the way she screamed as her head shrunk and enlarged was not something Remus would ever forget.

“That was cruel even for you, Sirius.”

Sirius made a sound from the back of his throat like a wounded animal. Remus could feel the magic around them sizzle, the smell of something burning filled Remus' nose. Immediately, he lifted his eyes to stare at Sirius who was standing with his fists tightly clenched, eyes swallowed by the pupils.

“So you're still on their side.” The words were spit with so much fury Remus was a loss of words for a brief moment.

And then all he knew was an anger so deep it almost burned him.

“Stop saying that! Do you even listen to yourself? Our side, their side, I don't care about any of that!” His sudden outburst was so shocking that Sirius jolted. Remus took a step forward and grasped Sirius' shoulders not wanting to give him the chance to run. Despite his anger, his touch was soft, gentle, so much that Sirius instinctively melted. “I'm worried about you, can you understand this at least? I don't want to see you gone, expelled because of something like this. Is this so difficult to believe?”

Sirius took a shuddering breath, a whine bubbling in his throat as Remus' fingers tightened over his shoulders. Slowly, the air around them ceased to sizzle and Remus could breath easily again.

Sirius' hand reached to grasp Remus' wrist and squeezed it hesitantly. On his face, there was a naked vulnerability that it strung something in Remus' chest. He could feel his palms sweat as he stared at Sirius and he was taken by the sudden urge of casting his head down, to escape from those silvery eyes so filled with grief.

“For what it's worth, I'm sorry I got you worried, Remus.”

Remus felt like someone had punched him. Sirius never apologised. In the five years Remus had known him, this was the first time he had heard the other boy utter those words. And they were said with such honesty Remus felt all the air in his lugs leaving his body.

Slowly like he was approaching a wounded animal, Remus wrapped his arms around Sirius, letting their bodies meet in an awkward hug. Sirius was stiff, not used to such contact but the more Remus held him, he slowly melted until his head leaned against Remus' shoulder.

Smelling Sirius' distress, Moony howled inside of him, wanting to provide, to take care of him. Remus shushed him and let himself get lost in Sirius' pine scent broken only by a faint trace of bitter herb that lately had been added to his natural smell.

They didn't talk about it anymore. Remus didn't know if Sirius would stop with his harmful behaviour, if he cared to stop. Remus hoped he did. He didn't know what else to do. Deep down, he knew Sirius was hurting, his home life wasn't one of the best, but he never said anything about it. Just bits here and there, small things that made alarm bells ring in Remus' ears but not enough to ask anyone to help.

If there was someone who would help.

Sirius didn't mention their arguing after that. He returned as he was before, laughing too loudly, smiling so brightly. A lonely star in a dark sky, a shine so beautiful it took Remus' breath away.

“So how are the detentions going?” Peter asked a week later as they were eating dinner in the Great Hall. October was getting chilling by the day and the spell on the ceiling was showing it by having a more greyish hue, giving the impression of a light fog amongst them.

“They aren't so bad,” James muttered in his plate attacking the piece of lamb on it, “They're actually quite insightful.”

“Oh?” Remus lifted an eyebrow interested, “How so?”

“Professor Evans is making us help him set his next lessons,” Sirius shrugged, “Like for the sixth-years we had to carry mirrors in his classroom all evening and put them exactly where he wanted them to stay. It was really difficult not to break any of them. They were for a training on deflecting hexes.”

“I thought he was going to... I don't know, torture you or something.” Peter said as he dawned a glass filled with pumpkin juice.

“Apparently it's not his style.” James chuckled, his eyes sparkling with glee. “But he is doing such cool things with the sixth and seventh years, I'm so jealous! I wish I could take those classes... who knows if next year-”

“If he survives the year.” Sirius' shoulders tensed when he noticed Remus looking at him with a frown and was quick to defend himself, “What? It's true! We haven't had a teacher who lasted more than a year!”

“Maybe it's because they were like, really bad? I learned more from Remus than them.” Peter snorted into his cup. “Professor Evans is actually good at his job though. It may count for something.”

Remus flushed at the praise but tried to wave it away despite the sudden heat in his chest. “You're thinking Professor Evans might beat the curse?”

“He has more chances than others.” Peter said with a shrug.

Remus nodded slowly but he didn't want to get his hopes up. It was true Professor Evans was a good teacher, one of the best if Remus was totally honest with himself, but would that be enough? Good people were the ones who left early, life had taught him that.

(Remus was not going to think about his father now. He was not going to ruin the mood by sobbing into his hands.)

“I still don't trust him.” Sirius grumbled, crossing his arms under his chest.

“You don't trust anyone, Sirius.” James snickered not unkindly.

Sirius huffed. “I trust you, Peter and Remus.” His eyes shifted on Remus for a moment and Remus felt a flush raising on the back of his neck, “I couldn't find anything on him. I've searched every where in the restricted section. I've tried to ask Uncle Alphard too but he told me he knew nothing.”

“Your Uncle Alphard isn't the most trustful source.” James said slowly, “Are you sure he wasn't drunk off his ass when he answered your letter?”

Sirius' smile faltered. “Well... hid hand writing wasn't the best... but who can I ask? My father? Dear mother?”

The four of them shuddered. Hell would freeze before Sirius asked anything to Walburga.

Just then a Gryffindor first-year stumbled as she was walking to the other side of the table and almost fell in Sirius' lap. She had the face that resembled a squirrel, with big eyes, brown messy hair and round cheeks. She flushed when Sirius helped her up. The small girl apologised profusely, her face as red as a tomato.

“Don't worry about it,” Sirius said with his usual charming self. She flushed even brighter and was quick to run away followed by Sirius' chuckle.

Remus watched her go with a frown. He had a fair good memory and he didn't remember a first-year looking like her. But maybe she had never crossed him and Remus wasn't so presumptuous to say he knew everyone in Hogwarts.

He couldn't linger too much about the interaction as the conversation was stirred once again on Professor Evans.

“So we have nothing?” Peter placed two fingers under his chin deep in thought.

“He hasn't let anything slip during lessons... and I haven't heard anything from the other students,” Remus said slowly, remembering how he had asked around for more informations on the professor after Sirius had insisted on it – or more like pestered him until he agreed.

“He is very secretive, that's for sure.” Peter sighed shaking his head slightly.

Sirius' face dropped in disappointment. He had been sharing theories on who Professor Evans might be for the whole time they had known him, yet he still hadn't figured out anything about him. Remus could smell his frustration from where he was sitting, his fingers twitched in his lap wanting to reach for comfort. He didn't move though as he reigned his feelings back safely in his heart.

(Coward.)

“I think he was an Auror.” James said suddenly. Everyone stared at him floored, various degree of shock on their faces.

“What? And when were you going to share that with the class?” Sirius looked hurt staring at James like he had hidden something vital from him. Remus could feel a tantrum brewing and was quick to addressed James.

“What makes you say that?”

“It's the way he moves,” James waved his hand in front of his face dramatically, “It feels like he has seen some pretty bad things, you know? And what's the most dangerous job? An Auror, of course!”

It was such a stupid thing to say only James Potter could have come up with it.

Sirius' eyebrow twitched in irritation. “So you're basing all of this on a gut feeling?”

“It's a good gut feeling.” James retorted but faltered at Sirius' glare.

“And we end up with nothing again, wonderful.” Sirius ignored James' offended look and took a bite from his now cold chicken.

“Aren't you unhealthy obsessed with the Professor? I get you are angry that he scowled you but-” Peter's mouth clamped shut when Sirius slammed his hand on the table. From three seats away, Lily stopped her conversation with Marlene to glare at them but Sirius didn't look like he had noticed her.

“I'm not angry about that!” Remus knew he was lying from the way Sirius' voice faltered, “I think he is hiding something and I want to find out what. Aren't you curious?”

“Honestly I just want to get a good grade,” Peter sighed and scratched his chin. At the others' incredulous looks he flushed. “What? We have O.W.L.s this year! I'm not going to disappoint my ma.”

“Peter is right.” Remus pretended not to see Sirius mouthing a 'what', “We really need to focus more on studying instead of pranking. No, James, I don't care if you pass the tests without studying. You need to actually put some work this year.”

James closed his mouth, the protest dying on his lips.

Sirius looked on the verge of saying something stupid when he froze. Remus followed his line of sight – surely James was going to say something stupid again – and felt his mouth fall open.

There were antlers on James' head. Not horns, not an hallucination. But true antlers that were growing so big Sirius had to duck to the side to avoid getting stabbed by one of them.

“What?” James turned his head confused and almost sent Frank – who unfortunately sat beside him – flying from his chair.

“On you head!” Peter shouted and his voice sounded unnaturally high even for his hysterics. Alarmed, Remus turned towards him and watched with a worried fascination how a pair of rat ears were twitching on the sides of Peter's head giving him a strangely adorable look.

“Merlin, Peter what's wrong with you?!” Sirius jumped on his feet, his face ashen.

But Peter was the one who looked surprised. “No, what's wrong with you?!”

And he was right. A black tail had appeared behind Sirius' back. It get wiggling from right to left like an overexcited dog swishing his robes around so much it almost ripped them.

The other students seemed to notice something was happening and turned towards them, each snickering as they watched the Marauders look at each other in shock at the changes that were happening on their bodies.

“Remus too!” James had his hands on his antlers and watched Remus with a face that didn't know if he should be horrified or amused.

Remus touched his backside and was relieved when he didn't feel a tail, but when he moved them on his head he felt a softness that hadn't been there before. Yes, his hair was soft, but this felt rougher, tackier more like... wool?

“Oh Merlin...” Sirius stared at him with a smile, his own shock forgotten. He leaned towards Remus and patted his head gently before he lowered his voice so that only Remus could hear him. “The wolf in sheep's clothes.”

Remus wanted to smack him so bad. Or laugh. Because the joke was hilarious but Remus was not going to give that kind of satisfaction to Sirius.

“Potter, Black, Pettigrew, Lupin!” McGonagall was marching towards them, her face livid. “What in Circe's name have you done now?!”

“Wait, Professor! It wasn't us, I swear! We have no idea what's going on!” James was trying not to move to avoid smashing his antlers against someone. On the other side of the table, Lily and Marlene were chuckling at them, but James was too busy not to drag his antlers around to notice them.

(Thank Merlin. James' ego would have not survived it.)

“Wait... it wasn't us...?” Sirius looked like he had a shocking realisation. He turned towards Remus, his tail still wagging left to right, eyes wide.

James seemed to have caught up with Sirius' thoughts and almost slipped on the floor, his mouth hung open in realisation. Peter and Remus watched confused as James jumped up, letting his head loll left to right as he waved a finger towards Sirius.

They spoke together, disbelief dripping from their voices.

“Someone is pranking us?!”

Chapter Text

“You look like you're having fun here. Have you got any problems since starting here?”

Harry's room was a mess. Teddy was trying really hard to focus on what Harry was telling him, but it was starting to get increasingly difficult when his attention was snatched by a tower of books at the end of the room that looked like a second away from falling down the floor.

It was a structure of art, with the potion textbook on the bottom and the heavy A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot on the top. Teddy was sure Harry had put it up with magic, there was no way the serpentine way it sloshed left to right could stay up on its own.

Now, if he could understand what trick he was using-

“Teddy.” Harry snapped two fingers in front of his face. Teddy blinked surprised and looked at Harry with an embarrassed smile.

“Sorry, Harry,” Teddy scrambled to take the cup of tea between his fingers to hide his flush behind it, “What were you saying?”

Harry sighed exasperated but fond, nursing his own cup of tea with his hand. When he was relaxed like that he looked like a wizard straight out from a muggle book. Tussled black and gray hair fell gently on his shoulders, parting on his forehead to show the lighting bolt scar that long ago had meant so much for him. His black robes were open to show the muggle clothes Harry liked to wear when no one knew it. A white shirt with the first two buttons undone was matched with a pair of gray slacks that ended with shiny leather boots.

Harry was toying with the glasses he had placed on the table, stroking the round lenses with a thoughtful expression. He didn't need to wear them anymore since he had paid a healer to cure his eyesight, but he didn't seem to want to part with the glasses that had been his companion for so long. Teddy didn't understand the reasons behind it, but he was wise not to ask as Harry never was in the mood to talk about his past before Hogwarts.

“You're getting along your classmates.” It was a statement more than a question, but Teddy latched on it with enthusiasm.

“Oh yes! Roy has perfectionated his colour changing charm, look here!” Teddy showed his tie that from blue had turned green, “Rufus doesn't talk much but he doesn't complain about us and actually looks like he is enjoying himself. While Quirinus is still quiet but he is always around, so yeah, I think we're getting along well. They're great friends!”

Harry chuckled in his tea. His eyes were staring at Teddy, but his attention was deep into his thoughts. It was an expression Harry wore often when he thought at the past. Harry hadn't shared much about his old adventures and the people he had met – he didn't want Teddy to be biased and risk people asking too many questions – but Teddy was able to put two and two together from the brief informations Harry had given him.

Harry knew his friends. Or at least, what they will become and they hadn't been in good terms. Teddy had understood that the first time he had talked about Gilderoy and Harry's smile had slipped from his face. The same thing happened when he mentioned Quirinus and Rufus. Of course when Teddy asked clarifications, Harry had simply shaken his head, a pensive expression on his face.

“You don't need to know. They won't be those people anymore. You don't have to worry about a future that will not happen again.”

And that was that. Teddy knew when it was time to drop a fight.

“I'm glad you're having fun. Hogwarts has been my home through the seven years I've spent there.”

“But didn't you just do six-”

“Details,” Harry snorted in his cup. His expression turned serious which made Teddy a little tense. “Have you done any progress with the potion?”

“I'm working on it. Snape is a suspicious person. He'll come around,” Teddy smiled sheepishly, “Or at least I hope so.”

Harry hummed. He placed his cup down with a small click on the plate before he leaned forward on the table. He crossed his fingers together and placed his chin on them, staring at Teddy through his long eyelashes with a proud light shining in them.

“I know how important it is to you, Teddy. It's way I've agreed to it. I know you'll convince Snape. I saw the way you've started to gain points with him.”

Teddy's smile grew a little tense around the edges. “I'm not sure what you mean.”

“Really?” Harry tilted his head to a side, “And the girl that resembled aunt Hermione who stumbled on Sirius and 'accidentally' spilled a potion on them when they weren't watching? Though I have to admit, you were really sneaky on it. If I hadn't been watching no one would have caught it.”

Teddy wanted to retort, but seeing as he had been discovered he sighed loudly and took a large gulp of tea. He had been nervous the entire time, walking around with uneasy steps before stumbling against Sirius. It only took him a moment to send the potion flying on the Marauders. Thankfully it only needed a few drops on the skin to activate so none of them had noticed anything. It was mortifying though that Harry had caught on so quickly. It had been an error to take inspiration from Hermione – or how he remembered her and his memory was fuzzy at best – but what was done was done.

Eager to change the topic, Teddy blurred out the first thing that came to mind.

“What about you, uncle? Have you done any progress on your mission?”

Harry hummed. Without answering, he lifted from his chair and moved around the room. Except the books that were scattered around everywhere, Harry's room didn't have much furniture. A bed with grey sheets sat into a corner, a small table to have tea in the middle, a large wardrobe that Teddy knew was filled only a quarter at the far end. It was there that Harry went.

He opened the wooden doors and pulled the dark clothes to a side, reaching down to pick up a small object before returning to the table.

Teddy stared at the object curiously. It must have been beautiful before, made of silver with words engraved on it that were now illegible. It was charred all over with parts of it clearly melted and the smell of burnt metal made Teddy scrunch his nose.

“So this is a Horcrux? It doesn't look that mighty.” He tried to keep the disappointment from his voice, but from Harry's laugh he wasn't that successful.

“Nothing looks mighty after a round of Fiendfyre,” Harry placed a finger on it, a fond expression crossing his face, “There are four left. I'm working on the Gaunt ring and the Slytherin locket, I should be able to take care of them before Christmas. The other two will be more tricky, but I won't worry about them for the moment.”

It was one of the things Teddy liked about Harry, his complete honesty on everything he was doing and why.

“People have lied to me too much when they should have told me the truth. I will not let you feel the same pain and anger I've felt.”

It was one of the first things Harry said to him when they had arrived here. Despite years passing, Teddy could still hear the pain lingering under his words and didn't dare to ask more.

“Will Headmaster Dumbledore give you problems?” Teddy asked slowly, lifting his gaze from the diadem to Harry.

The older man's lip twitched into a smile. “If he knows what's best for him, he won't interfere.”

“And if he does?”

A dangerous glint shone in Harry's eyes. “That's for me to know and him to find out.”

Teddy nodded slowly. Nervously, he drummed his fingers against his cup. “Do you need any help?”

“You already have your potion to take care of. And I won't let you slack off from studying.” Harry told him kindly, “I can take care of myself. But I will ask if I need help.”

“My grades are fine,” Teddy mumbled without much heat.

Harry arched an eyebrow. “Even History of Magic?”

“Maybe not that,” Teddy said with a flush raising on his cheeks, “But Professor Binns is so boring! Why couldn't you take his place?”

“I think it's better that the students here know how to defend themselves rather than know some history facts.” Harry took the charred diadem and toyed with it absently. Teddy's eyes were drawn to the white scars that crossed to form words shone on the back of the hand that he usually kept hidden under a glove, “If things turn for the worse, at least they will have a chance to survive, not like-” Harry's voice fell off, his eyes turned vacant, unseeing. It was the expression he wore when he was remembering a painful part of his past. Teddy had always hated seeing it.

He reached out slowly not to spook Harry, placing his hand on his wrist to squeeze it gently. “It won't end up badly, uncle Harry. It will be a different story from what you remember.”

Harry blinked, the mist in his eyes disappeared. “Y-Yeah... you're right. I won't let anyone die.”

Teddy smiled gently before he pulled his hand back to fold it in his lap. Seconds tickled by, the only sound in the room were the slow gulps Harry made when he swallowed the last of his tea.

It was not long before Harry broke the silence again, but when he did Teddy wished he had stayed silent.

“You know you can talk to Remus, right? The world will not fall if you learn more about him.”

The words were spoken softly, gently yet Teddy could feel his body stiffen when his father Remus' name was mentioned. “I know that.”

“Then why don't you? You always run when he speaks to you or stay silent.” Harry didn't mean to attack him, Teddy knew it, but he felt it was one anyway.

“I don't want to!” Teddy's voice raised suddenly, irritation spiking in his veins. He jumped when the tower of books suddenly collapsed, spreading books everywhere on the floor. Harry was the only one who didn't seem surprised, he kept staring at him without blinking while his other hand brushed over the charred diadem.

Seeing Harry so calm made Teddy realise just how childish he was behaving and he faltered slightly, leaning his back against the chair behind him.

“I don't want to get attached to him. I've heard so much about him, I'm afraid to be disappointed. Yet I just-” His voice faded, a lump in his throat.

Harry smiled sadly. He placed the diadem to the side beside his glasses before he lifted a hand to place it gently against Teddy's cheek in comfort. “He will never be your father, that's true... it doesn't mean he can't be your friend, Teddy. Give him and you a chance. Or not. It's all up to you.”

Teddy felt a tear escape from the corner of his eye. Harry didn't comment on it and retreated his hand. He gave Teddy a few minutes to compose himself before he called for his attention again.

“Be careful of the Marauders. Knowing them, they will search for who has pranked them.”

Happy that the topic had changed, Teddy eagerly latched on it like his life was on the line. “I know, I'll lay low for the moment. Can't have them sniff around too much, right?”

Harry snorted at the joke, a crack in his serious expression. “They're more smart than you give them credit for. But I trust you, Teddy. I know you're just as smart. Another wouldn't have been able to steal from Pomona's greenhouse.”

Teddy's cheeks turned red in embarrassment. “You also know about that?”

“You're very lucky I was the one she asked to help investigate who has broken into her wards. Destroying them like that leaves a magical signature, you know?” Harry sighed loudly and brought his fingers to his temple. “Just tell me next time you're planning to do something so reckless.”

“I thought it was a good idea at the time.” Teddy muttered under his breath, deciding it was wise not to mention that James Potter had also been there. He didn't want Harry to worry about him getting too much attention.

“Don't do it again,” Harry leaned back into his seat, “You have to dissolve the wards, not destroy them.”

Teddy laughed, “Are you giving me tips on how to make trouble, Professor?”

“I'm telling you as your godfather,” Harry didn't even pretend to hide his amusement, “And don't get caught.”

“I wouldn't worry about that.” Teddy said. He willed his face to rearrange itself, changing its shape, skin tone, hair and eyes until he matched with the man in front of him, “I'm pretty used to hide myself in plain sight.”

Chapter Text

Teddy was hiding something from them, Gilderoy was sure of it.

Despite sharing almost every waking minute together, it didn't escape Gilderoy's notice how Teddy was a master to slip away undetected the moment he turned his back. Sure, Rufus told him that his Metamorphmagus abilities were a great help, but it still irked him when he wanted to tell Teddy the latest gossip and the boy was no where to be found.

“Stop pouting like that, you look like your girlfriend left you,” Rufus chided him from where he was reading his book. They had decided to study in the library in their free period, but Gilderoy had found his mind stray when he read the seventh goblin king that had the same name as the last three.

“Teddy isn't my girlfriend,” Gilderoy mumbled before he thought about it a little more, “Well he can be a girl when he wants and he is my friend, does that count?”

It was still a strange concept, being 'friends' with someone without gaining anything back. If it was up to his mother, Gilderoy was sure she would have preferred if he had more important names around him, but Gilderoy couldn't have asked for better. Other students turned their heads when Gilderoy began to talk about the best hair-care products and the best muggle authors out there, but his dorm-mates waited patiently until he finished and gave him some tips too. Truly, Gilderoy liked them the best out of anyone.

“I-I think it's s-sweet,” Quirinus said with a light tremble in his voice. Since he had started hanging around with them, his stuttering had improved. Gilderoy thought it was all because of his awesome aura.

“See? Quirinus gets it,” Gilderoy's smile faltered a little when he noticed the piercing glare Madam Pince sent his way. He coughed in his hand and turned towards the other three, this time speaking in a quieter tone, “I can't be the only one who thinks it's weird.”

“It's called being worried, bet you haven't heard of it.” Rufus snorted as he turned another page of the impressive A History of Magic book. Gilderoy had no idea how he enjoyed reading that without falling asleep at least twice. Gilderoy had already read it once, he knew what he was talking about.

“What if he has found better friends than us? What will we do then?” Gilderoy tried to keep the panic from his voice but from Rufus' unimpressed gaze he wasn't all that successful.

Quirinus now looked positively worried, but Rufus waved away his concerns. “Don't be stupid. Nobody talks to us except to ask Teddy to show his abilities.”

Gilderoy frowned. It was true, students came to ask Teddy to turn into this or that and Teddy always tried to run away when they get too insistent. Still, Teddy disappearing for a hour was concerning enough for him.

Just when he was about to voice his worries again a voice behind him made his thoughts alt.

“What are you talking about that got you worked up so much, Roy?”

Gilderoy felt a smile pull his lips up when he turned to look at Teddy. His friend had dark blue hair in a wolf cut with amber eyes flickering left to right. His tie was still coloured of red so Gilderoy took out his wand and tapped it against it to make it blue again.

Gilderoy thanked him with a smile while Rufus spoke with the most deadpanned voice he could muster.

“Gilderoy was asking himself where you disappear in our free period. He has been worried about you.”

Teddy turned towards Gilderoy with sparkling eyes. “You were worried? Really?”

Gilderoy stared at him like he was stupid. “Of course I was?”

Everyone ignored Rufus' muttering. “You're really shameless.”

“That's sweet, Roy but you don't need to worry. I was perfectly safe.” Teddy said with a flush on his cheeks. He sat down beside Gilderoy and peeked on his text book. A flash of sympathy crossed his face. “So what can you tell me about the seventh goblin war?”

Gilderoy tilted his head back and groaned before he launched in a speech of all the reasons he did not like that war. Teddy had a small smile on his face, Quirinus had lifted his head and stared at him in surprise and even Rufus had stopped reading to listen. Gilderoy had no idea why they looked so shocked, not when he was in the middle of explaining how one goblin king was killed by his daughter and then the daughter was killed by her own daughter. Seriously, why were they so obsessed with killing each other?

He would have wanted to ask more about Teddy's absence, but just when the questions were on the tip of his tongue, either Quirinus or Teddy or even Rufus asked him some clarification on the war and Gilderoy lost himself once more.

He didn't think about Teddy's disappearances too much – not that they didn't happen, Teddy just became sneakier – until Rufus pointed it out with a grave face one evening.

“You may had a point in being concerned about Teddy. He has started to disappear after dinner and comes back just a little before curfew.” Rufus spoke lowly not to get Madam Pince breathing down their necks while Quirinus nodded at his side.

Gilderoy felt a rush of satisfaction in his chest at being proved right, but his concern about his friend left a sour taste in his mouth. He lifted his eyes from the book he was pretending to read to stare at window behind Rufus and Quirinus. The moon shone bright in the cloudless sky surrounded by sparkling stars. In a few days it would turn full as Teddy reminded them with off-hands comments, like he had the moon phases memorised in his brain.

“I thought he went in the library to study after dinner?” Gilderoy said, shifting his attention to his friends once again.

Rufus looked at him like he was stupid. “Do you see him here?”

That was a good point. Gilderoy moved his eyes right to left, searching around him for Teddy. There were a few students in the tables around them – mostly Ravenclaws, but he saw Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors too and a few Slytherins on the edges – however none of them were his friend. Gilderoy hadn't known Teddy for long, two months at most, but he knew him enough to find him even when he used his Metamorphmagus abilities. Teddy loved to be as flashy as possible with the most unusual hair and eyes colour. He didn't change his skin tone or height often not wanting to reshape his robes and while he preferred to stay as a boy he sometimes donned a look that was ambiguous at best.

Seeing as most of the people around them were girls with the most boring hair colour Gilderoy had ever seen, he highly doubted Teddy was hiding amongst them. And there was no way Teddy stepped into the library without going to their table.

“Glad you're seeing I'm right, but where is he then?” Gilderoy crossed his arms under his chest staring at Rufus like it was all his fault if they were in that situation.

“P-Potions...” Quirinus' quiet voice broke their attention and they both turned towards him. Quirinus shifted nervously when their eyes landed on him, but that didn't deterred him from continuing, “H-He always s-smells like potions when h-he comes b-back...”

Gilderoy blanched. “Why didn't you tell us before?”

Quirinus merely shrugged. “You didn't ask.”

That was fair. Gilderoy didn't even try to ask how Quirinus knew that, but from Rufus' face he desperately wanted to. Wisely though he kept his mouth shut as they had more pressing matters to talk about.

“Alright, but why does he smell like potions?” Gilderoy mumbled under his breath, racking his brain for an answer and found none. Quirinus shook his head, not knowing it either.

“I think I have an idea.” Rufus said suddenly, lifting his fingers to pinch the bridge of his nose. “I'm not sure though.”

“That's good enough for me,” Gilderoy hummed happily and clapped his hands together, “So we're going to confront him tonight when he comes back?”

Quirinus looked like he wanted to do anything else except that, but he ended up nodding when Rufus agreed without batting an eye.

After that they didn't get much studying done and decided to retreat to their dorms. Gilderoy was dozing off on his bed when Teddy came back. He looked tired, his green hair tussled that went all over the place and there was a strange smell coming from his robes that made Quirinus wrinkle his nose.

“Hello guys,” Teddy smiled with a strain on the edge of his lips, “What's up?”

Gilderoy wanted to ease their friend into a small chat first, but Rufus was none the wiser. He straightened up on his bed, his serious eyes falling on Teddy with such intensity it made him squirm.

“Mind telling us what you've been working on? You smell like potions from a mile away,” That wasn't true, but Quirinus nodded mutely.

Teddy flushed and sniffed his robes. “Sorry... it's just, uh...”

“We haven't said anything but you've been disappearing more and more. We barely see you in classes!” That was a slight exaggeration. Gilderoy wisely kept his mouth shut.

“Sorry about that...” Teddy mumbled, ducking his head down in guilt. Gilderoy's heart clenched a little at the sight. Rufus however didn't seem to know the meaning of pity.

“Does it have to do with the prank you pulled on those Gryffindors a few weeks ago?”

Now, that was news to Gilderoy. For Quirinus too from the way his eyebrows lifted high on his forehead.

Teddy was flabbergasted. “How does everyone know about that?! I thought I was being sneaky!”

“Please,” Rufus rolled his eyes, “You asked Gilderoy to change the colour of your tie to Gryffindor clothes and in a total coincidence you disappeared for almost all of dinner and then reappeared with the most victorious smile I've seen on you? And you kept looking at the Gryffindor table until they started to change? Have a little more respect of my intelligence.”

Gilderoy had noticed none of that. He shared a glance with Quirinus who looked as lost as he was. On the other bed, Rufus groaned.

“Seriously? You haven't noticed?”

“No,” Came easily from Gilderoy's lips.

“N-Not really...” Quirinus mumbled looking like he was a moment away from hiding under the sheetx.

Teddy giggled lightly before he plopped down on his bed, his hair changing to take a shade lighter. “I couldn't ask for better friends.”

The compliment made the three boys flush. Teddy was always so sincere in what he said, it was borderline embarrassing. Not that Gilderoy didn't appreciate Teddy telling him how awesome of a friend he was, he could listen to that all day. Rufus and Quirinus were just a little more prude.

“Well, I guess I owe you an explanation.” Teddy said with a drop of nervousness.

Gilderoy leaned forward, his eyes sparkling in curiosity. Rufus had tilted his head to a side, his gaze never shifting away from Teddy. Quirinus hadn't moved, but his inhumane eyes didn't blink as he waited for Teddy to explain himself.

“This is going to sound crazy,” Teddy warned with all the seriousness he could muster, “I'm planning a prank war.”

That wasn't what Gilderoy was expecting. From the shocked looks on Rufus and Quirinus' faces, they hadn't either.

“So you know those four Gryffindors who always cause trouble? I think it's unfair no one is stopping them, so I thought... to make them taste their own medicine.” Teddy took a deep breath. “That's why I've asked another student to help.”

“Who?” Gilderoy couldn't help the jealousy that dripped from his words. So there was another student involved.

Teddy didn't look like he wanted to answer that question, but seeing as the others wouldn't let him go without answers, he resigned himself at his fate. “Severus Snape. He is a Slytherin in fifth year. One of the best in potions.”

“I've heard of him. He is close with Pandora.” Rufus scratched his chin wary. “He is in the Slug Club, isn't he?”

“Yes,” Teddy nodded slowly, “he is helping me with a certain potion, but when I mentioned what I planned to do to those Gryffindors... let's say he was very enthusiastic in lending a hand. He is the one who gave me the potion that gave them those animal traits. Completely free of charge.”

There was something Teddy wasn't saying. He had glossed over why he had approached Snape in the first place way too easily. Gilderoy opened his mouth to ask a question, but like Teddy had read his mind, he turned towards him with an imploring face.

It was clear he didn't want to answer questions about it. Gilderoy burned in curiosity. He wanted to ask. He desperately wanted to push for answers until Teddy gave them.

He wanted.

He wanted-

He couldn't do it. The him two months ago would have asked without thinking twice, but the Gilderoy that he had become today couldn't. The words were on the tip of his tongue, but the more Teddy looked at him with those imploring eyes, the more Gilderoy found himself with his mouth tasting like ash, gulping down the burning questions that threatened to make him go crazy.

Thankfully, Rufus was the one who broke the tension.

“So, how are we going to help?”

The question seemed to floor Teddy. (And Gilderoy too for that matter.)

“What?” Teddy croaked out, his eyes widening in disbelief.

Rufus snorted. “You're saying you're putting yourself against four fifth-years who are known for causing troubles and you expect us not to help you? Have little faith in us.”

Gilderoy finally found his voice again. “Y-Yeah! We aren't letting you do everything on your own!”

Teddy shifted nervously. “I don't want to involve you in this, I don't know how they'll take this-”

“Technically,” Gilderoy stopped Teddy before he continue, “you already asked me to help you change the colour of your tie. I'm already an accomplice. I'm in.”

“That doesn't make any sense-”

“Let us help.” Quirinus' voice rang so clear it stopped any other noise. His words didn't stumble once and his eyes were set in determination. “Please. We are Ravenclaws too. We are your friends.”

Maybe it was because Quirinus spoke so honestly or it was because they were all stubborn – Gilderoy liked to think he was just too persuasive to be turned away – but Teddy finally relented.

“Alright,” Teddy said with a small smile playing on his lips, his eyes strangely moist, “I have an idea for the next prank.”

Chapter Text

“Gentlemen, today is the day.” James grinned sharply, his voice low and ominous. They all stared at the full moon raising behind their backs, its light falling on their profiles and extended their shadows on the ground.

“You mean the night,” Peter snickered.

“Stop fixating on the details.” James pouted. A cold wind blew between the trees and James hugged himself in his robes when a shiver rocked his body, “How are things going, Sirius?”

Sirius was watching them with the corner of his eye but his attention was all on the book in his hands. Artemis Black could have worked on her handwriting, it took Sirius reading a line twice before he made out what the words were saying. She looked like she was in hurry while writing those pages, pity they were the most important parts of the whole process.

His fingers brushed against the faded ink, his eyes shifted to the vials on the ground where they had collected the mixture of Mandrake leaves and the other ingredients for the transparent potion that swam now in them. Sirius read the next passages once more to make sure he had understood, then he nodded.

“We're set.” Sirius took out his wand. Peter and James took a step back as Sirius got ready to chant the spell written on the book.

They had gone over the plan time and time again over the past month. It was too important to let lady luck take care of everything like usual. It had to be perfect. For their safety, for Moony.

They waited until Remus had gone out for his furry little problem, then they quickly scrambled to get their robes before they used James' cloak to sneak out the castle without anyone's noticing. They ran into the Forbidden Forest in a clearing they knew no one would disturb them and let James erect wards around them to be sure nobody walked on them. They spat the Mandrake leaves they had kept in the mouths – Merlin it had been a horrible month for his tongue – before Sirius began to add the other ingredients for the potion in the vials.

The normal procedure would have made wait again for a thunderstorm, but none of the Marauders had the patience, not when one of theirs was hurting alone. Thankfully, auntie Artemis and her hobby of human experimentation came in handy.

As she had written in her book, 'No one says you can't create your own thunder.'

Sirius took those words to his heart. Weather changing spells were one of the most difficult charms to achieve, but Sirius had spent the whole month training it until it was perfect and felt fairly confident in it.

He lifted his wand up in the air pointing it to the sky. He traced a wide arch that ended on the vials. Sirius closed his eyes, concentrating his magical power on the tip of his wand.

“Fulmen.”

The air fizzed around him, cracking in power as the smell of ozone filled the clearing. Peter and James stilled nervously but neither of them moved.

From the tip of his wand, three lines of electricity came out and pointed straight to the vials. Sirius forced his hand still as the spell hit the potions. He couldn't let his concentration slip, if he let even just a tip more of magic in his spell he could risk breaking the vials and that was just something he couldn't allow to happen.

Sirius counted to five in his head then slowly he let his magic retreat until it disappeared in his wand again. The smell of hair burnt and ozone filled Sirius' nose as he opened his eyes and stared at the vials in front of him.

A smile appeared on his face.

“It's done.”

He heard James and Peter let out a relieved sigh before they came closer once more. Each vial had changed colour, Sirius took his between two fingers and stared at the black turbulent colour in it with mildly interest. Peter let his auburn one roll between two fingers while James snickered at the flashy red of his.

“Looks like Lily's hair,” He said with a laugh. From Peter's face, Sirius figured he wasn't the only one who was holding back a groan.

“Goddamn insufferable lovesick fool,” Sirius grumbled. He brought the vial towards him and sniffed the potion. Yuck, the smell was even worse. “Well, gentlemen, this is it. Are you ready?”

Peter shifted nervously but held a strong determination in his gaze. James sent Sirius a smile all teeth and lifted his vial.

“Cheers. Let's see each other soon. Hopefully with our own furry problem.”

Sirius placed the vial against his lips before he downed the potion in one go. It took all of his self-control not to puke it all over the forest floor. The taste was disgusting, like swallowing a towel soaked in sweat after a rough Quidditch match. The liquid was too dense, too dry, it felt like acid running down in his throat sending his nerves on fire.

Sirius closed his eyes as the potion settled in his stomach. He said the enchantment of the Animagus spell clearly, not stumbling on his words even once. Distantly, he heard Peter and James say the same words, but it felt like they were far away, like plugs had been stuffed into his ears.

Forcing himself to not be distracted, Sirius brought his wand towards himself and tapped it on his chest.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then, the air suddenly felt warmer, Sirius' skin began to burn. His mind broke in a million of pieces, his thoughts flew right to left like a broken mirror, before it was brought together again. His body trembled as his bones moved and rearranged themselves to take different shapes. Suddenly like his nose had been unplugged, Sirius could smell everything.

The sweat from Peter's armpits, James' mint perfume that made him wrinkle his nose, the scent of the earth all around him. If he concentrated, he could even pick up the scent of a group of unicorns that were hiding a few meters from them while small pixies flew over their heads giggling among themselves.

Sirius' eyes snapped open.

The first thing he noticed was that the ground was closer than before. Sirius tilted his head to the side and curiously took a step forward. He was on four-legs and a quick check on his hands – paws – he realised they were covered in black fur. With shaky legs, Sirius moved towards a dirty puddle of water hidden under an oak tree.

When he looked inside, a big black dog stared back at him. Sirius wanted to laugh. Him? A dog? He had bet on a hawk or maybe an exotic animal like a lion, a dog sounded so lame. But the more he stared at himself, the more he realised there wouldn't be a form more fitting than this. How could he play with Moony if he was a bird? Though he wouldn't have minded the lion.

Moony.

The thought of his friend snapped Sirius out his contemplations. He turned his head towards the side and felt his maw fall open at the sight in front of him.

An enormous, brown stag was standing in the middle of the clearing. He had two black circles around his eyes that looked almost like glasses and fur so messy it tangled together. He moved his head left to right with a grin that could be called almost human on his face. On top of his head right between his antlers, a chonky rat was squeaking in indignation moving his small paws against the stag's forehead.

'James? Peter?' Sirius barked at them and quickly made his way towards them. His body felt strangely light, his steps were so quick he was hardly brushing his pawns against the ground. He ended up in front of the stag and smirked at him, his tail swishing left to right.

James tilted his head down. Their muzzles brushed together and Sirius stifled a giggle. James smelled like home and friend. Sirius was fighting the desire to run around him and bark to his heart content.

Concentrate.

He barked loudly and tilted his head to his left. James seemed to understand and nodded slowly while Peter gave a nervous squeak between James' antlers.

There was no need for words, not between them, not when an action spoke ten times louder.

Finding their way to the Shrieking Shack turned out to be easier than they thought. With his new enchanted senses, Sirius could hear the water falling from a leaf, the snap of a butterfly wings among the trees. And he could definitely pick up the sound of a growling werewolf.

With Peter's help, they managed to pass the Whomping Willow without much difficulties before entering the secret passage under it. It was a little tricky for James to fit into it, but with some prodding he managed to enter in the tunnel despite his massive form.

Once out, Sirius took a moment to look around the Shack. It wasn't the first time they entered into it – the curiosity to check the place Remus disappeared every month had been just too strong in their third year – yet this time it was different with Sirius' new canine senses. The heavy smell of dust and rotten furniture filled his nose while his eyes caught signs of destruction all around the place. Sirius could distinguish the forms of claws on the walls and floor and it took him a moment too long to realise they were fresh.

The three of them were met with a loud growl from the corner of the Shack. Sirius could feel a whine in his throat threatening to escape, the smell of mold and Moony almost knocked his breath away. Sirius wanted to spring forward, bark and play with his dear friend but he held back.

He heard James and Peter move behind him yet he didn't turn around. Slowly Sirius lowered his head, his ears twitching as the snarl grew louder and heavy steps came closer.

It was the first time Sirius saw Remus fully turned into a werewolf. The wolf was massive, his fur a sand colour just like Remus' hair and patches of it was missing because of all the scars that littered his body. Razor teeth shone in his dripping mouth, a guarded expression on his face.

Remus' amber eyes were trailed on Sirius' form, distrustful yet curious. He moved around him slowly, but ready to spring forward at the first show of aggression.

Beautiful. Despite the clear danger that Moony posed to them, Sirius couldn't help but be amazed at how pretty Remus looked in this form. He had pictured him many times in his werewolf form, yet nothing was as good as the truth. Sirius could hardly keep his tail from wagging.

Moony's muzzle came closer until his nose bumped against Sirius' own. There was a spark of curiosity in his eyes, one that made the giant wolf retreat his teeth and sniff the air. Sirius waited with a barely held breath what Moony would think about him, them.

Finally Moony wagged his tail once and lifted his head towards the sky. A howl pierced the Shack, one that entered deep into Sirius' bones. Immediately, he sprung up and began to jump around Moony who looked delighted to have new friends there.

Seeing how Moony was not in the mood to attack them, James and Peter slowly made their way towards them, each excited to play in their new forms. It felt like coming home. The Marauders were together once more.

It was a blur after that. Sirius remembered everything, but it felt like a far away dream. He had rolled together with Moony on the floor, each playfully biting the other without any viciousness while James and Peter watched fondly over them. After he had grown tired of rolling on the floor, Moony had found himself biting James' antlers despite their friend's annoyance and even allowed Peter to nap against his sandy fur when they all got tired to play around. Sirius even managed to lick his face once and would forever remind Remus of this.

It was just when the first light of dawn that Moony began to whine, a broken sound so heartbreaking it made Sirius lift his head alarmed. The sound of bones snapping and rearranging filled the Shack and Remus' tired body appeared curled around Sirius' canine form.

Remus blinked slowly and stared at Sirius, his hands tightening on the black fur. His eyes followed the curve of Sirius' muzzle before they shifted to James and Peter who laid on his other side. All of them watched Remus through their lashes, holding their breathes as they waited for Remus to speak.

Finally, he opened his mouth.

“You're idiots,” Remus said breathlessly, a tired smile pulling his lips up. “I love you.”

Sirius' heart leaped in his chest. If he was a human, he was sure a flush would be spread on his cheeks. Instead, Sirius lowered his head and opened his mouth to press his tongue on Remus' cheek.

“Stop that!” Remus laughed. His hand remained firmly on the sides of Sirius' head, a fond smile spreading on his face. “I want to scold you three so much for doing something so reckless and dangerous... Animagi... Professor McGonagall would have a heart-attack if she knew,” Remus bit his lower lip, “but I'm too happy to care. This is the best day of my life. It's the first time I'm not hurting after a full moon. So... thank you. It was a dumb idea though and I'm so going to scowl you when I feel better. The Mandrake leaves were nasty to smell, I can't believe I didn't realise what they were.”

Sirius huffed and tried to lick Remus again. Didn't Remus realise how important he was to them? Of course they had to do everything they could. Stupid Remus. They would turn into Animagi ten times more for him.

“Enough, enough, I think I know what you want to say,” Remus chuckled. His fingers kept brushing Sirius' fur absently and Sirius was trying really hard not to melt in a puddle of goo. Remus' hands were so wicked Sirius almost missed his next words. “I should find a name for you. 'Sirius' doesn't sound right when you're like this.”

Sirius blinked, his tail wagging behind him as he waited for Remus to finish thinking. A new name? Whatever Remus chose Sirius knew he would love it, even if it was dumb or embarrassing. If it was Remus who chose it, Sirius would wear it with pride.

“Oh,” A witty smile appeared on Remus' face, his fingers stilling on Sirius' fur that made him almost whine, “what do you think about Padfoot?”

Chapter Text

“This is a blood quill, a Dark artifact that's illegal to own and especially to use. I was permitted to show this to you as a special favour. Remember, the only way to distinguish it between this and a normal quill is that it doesn't need any type of ink as it will draw blood from the writer. Do not attempt to use it in any way.”

James should probably listen more closely to Professor Evans' lesson. It sounded interesting, filled with many details and warnings that someone who planned to become Auror should listen to. But every time he tried to focus, James' mind went back to the night of the full moon, when he transformed into an Animagus and felt truly free for the first time in his life.

There were no rules, no people who told him what to do. Only the forest and his friends and the smell of the earth, the caress of the wind.

From the way Sirius and Peter were shifting in their seats with a thoughtful expression, they were thinking the same.

“You three should focus on the lesson,” Remus chided them absently, his hand writing on the paper in front of him. His eyes moved from the scroll to Evans' hands, a small smile playing on his lips as he added more details to the simple sketch he had made of the blood quill. Since that night Remus had changed just a little. His shoulders were relaxed, his jaw was less tense. His expression was lighter, gentler, like a weight had been lifted from him. It was the first time James had seen him truly happy.

Of course, Remus had spent the day after the full scolding them and listing all the dangers they had gone through to turn into Animagi – James' ears were still ringing because of it – but even Remus couldn't hide how relieved he had been after passing the night playing instead of tearing his face apart.

The lesson ended with the professor assigning them homework on blood quills – James had to go to the library and read everything on them since he didn't catch a word – and left them off a bit early than usual.

“Professor Evans looks distracted lately, isn't he?” James was gathering his book when he heard Lily whisper to Alice. Since becoming an Animagus, he had noticed his hearing and sense of smell had gotten better and found himself listening more and more when others spoke.

“Maybe it's the weather? I haven't really noticed, today's lesson was good.” Alice shrugged as she pulled her bag over he shoulders.

James could almost picture the pout Lily was wearing even if he wasn't looking at her. “If you say so...”

James snickered. Nothing pissed Lily more than people not noticing what she did. It drove her crazy. James loved to watch her suppress her anger, to bite her lips and stretch them into a forced smile before she changed subject. He wouldn't mind listening to her, but he doubted she would give him a piece of her mind without screaming or insulting him. Yet, he would take that over nothing.

(Maybe Sirius was right to call him a lovesick fool.)

The other students had already left and the Marauders were starting to walk out the classroom when Evans stopped them.

“I hope whatever is distracting you four is a good thing. If not, you're free to talk to me.”

A sarcastic answer was on the tip of James' tongue, but when he turned he saw that there was no malice in Evans' eyes. James had the uneasy feeling that Evans knew more than he let on, his unmoving gaze went from him to the others, his lips pulled into a tiny smile like he knew all of their secrets but was willing to keep them. James felt naked under his gaze and he did not like that feeling at all.

“It's the weather.” James said in the end, much more meek than he intended. “I'm sure you're feeling the change too. You look paler than usual, Professor.”

Evans hummed. His face was more gaunt, his eyes more sunken. He didn't look too worried though.

“Maybe so,” He conceded in the end, lifting those green eyes that made James shift nervously, “however, if you need any kind of help do not be ashamed to ask it.”

James had no idea why Evans was telling him that, but Remus was quick to cut him off. “We'll keep that in mind. Thank you, have a good day, Professor.”

Evans nodded and returned his attention on the desk, dismissing them wordlessly. Despite the anger he had shown after the whole shrinking head fiasco, he didn't seem to hold a grudge on either Sirius or James. He had kept their detentions running and James always felt exhausted after them, but Evans wasn't cruel to them and didn't assign them more homework or sent them jabs during his lessons. It was like he was trusting them to have learnt from their mistakes. Neither James or Sirius knew what to feel about that. They didn't feel much in the mood for pranks lately, so maybe Evans' methods were working? James shuddered at the mere thought.

They stepped out of the classroom and just as the door shut behind them, Sirius couldn't contain himself anymore.

“That was so weird!” He shouted.

“Do you think he knows...?” Peter spoke lowly, his eyes darting nervously from left to right. It reminded James of a little mouse. He didn't know how he hadn't made the connection before.

Sirius snorted. “And how could he know? He is not a seer. He doesn't seem to hold Divination high in his mind either.”

That was true. The few times someone had tried to talk about Divination in Evans' class were met with a dismissal. “I dislike prophecies,” the Professor had said, waving a hand in the air when he had been questioned and that had been the end of the discussion.

Remus pinched the bridge of his nose. “What if he is just a good person?”

Sirius looked at him like he was crazy. “No grown up is entirely good.”

Remus threw his hands up in the air. He looked ready to argue when he froze suddenly. James stilled when he noticed the amber surrounding Remus' pupils.

“What's wrong?” James asked in alarm, his hand flew on the wand hidden beneath his robes. Both Sirius and Peter closed around them, each of them expecting an attack. There was no one suspicious around them, just a few Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws who looked at them weirdly and Lily and Alice who pretended not to know them.

Remus ignored all of them. “Do you smell that?”

“What?” Peter squealed nervously, one hand on his wand the other clutching James' robes.

“The flowers-” Remus didn't finish his sentence before an explosion of scents hit them full force.

Suddenly all around them blossomed flowers of any type. Roses, hyacinthus, violets, crocus, lilies and much more than James could name. The scents were so heavy they gave him a headache and Sirius even began to sneeze at his side. James raised his wand to wave the spell away when he noticed a flurry of robes with the corner of his eye.

He saw four shadows running away and was able to only catch a glimpse of pink before they were gone around the corner.

“There-” James tried to follow them, but he stumbled over a bush of white roses and his face almost met the floor. He scrambled up when he heard Lily giggling, a flush on his cheeks as he tried to be composed and failed it spectacularly.

“What the hell is this?!” Sirius scandalised voice made James snap his attention towards him. He almost fell down laughing.

All over Sirius' precious, dark long hair white narcissus had blossomed. They tangled between his locks like he was a girl in those muggle magazines Remus had once brought to show them. As his gaze strayed, he noticed Peter kneeled in the corner, a violet crown on iris on the top of his head that he tried to rip out but every time he managed to take one out, another was already replacing it. Remus was the only one who was taking it with a smile. He had lowered his wand and was touching the cherry blossoms between his sand hair with academic interest.

“Fascinating... this is a combination of three charms. One to create the flowers, another to duplicate them and the last one to make them stick on our heads.” He was talking with a too impressed tone for James' liking.

“Not the time, Moony!” James shouted at him, rubbing a hand between his hair. He stilled when his fingers touched something on it. Slowly, he brought his hand back and stared accusingly at the white lily between his fingers. He didn't need to look into a mirror to know he was in the same situation as his friends. He must look ridiculous.

“They're not dangerous spells, Prongs. Padfoot and Wormtail should calm down too. They'll disappear in a few hours.” Remus chuckled. He waved his wand and muttered a spell under his breath. The flowers around them retreated between the cracks in the walls until they disappeared, the only flowers that remained were the ones on their heads. James tried really hard not to be impressed by that show of magic but from Remus' victorious smile he wasn't all that successful.

“Close your mouth, Prongs.” Remus snickered as James flipped him off.

Prongs, Padfoot, Wormtail. They were the names Remus had chosen for them the night after the full moon. They were a little corny, but they all loved them. They fit so well James didn't want to remember the days they didn't have them. And because they were nothing more than menaces, they started to use them to call each other much to everyone's confusion.

A giggle reached James' ear. He turned around, his face red in embarrassment and ready to fight whoever was laughing at him but he stopped when he saw Lily in front of him.

She watched him through her long eyelashes – if James concentrated long enough he could count them – a hand in front of her lips as she stared at flowers placed on James' hair.

“You have my name on your head,” Lily giggled, lifting one hand to brush her fingers on the white lilies on James' hair. In that moment, James would face the embarrassment of being pranked again if it meant Lily continued to look at him like that.

(Because this was a prank directed at them. James had no doubt about it.)

With the corner of his eye, James noticed how Remus, Sirius and Peter had scooted a little farther from them to give him and Lily a little privacy, but James was sure they were listening to every word.

“It feels strange seeing the pranksters getting pranked,” Lily hummed as she pulled her hand back, one of the lilies in James' hand between her fingers, “It is a good prank though.”

James felt a little offended. “Ours are better.”

Lily watched him through her lashes, an unreadable expression on her face.

“Your pranks are cruel,” she said, her words sending a bucket of ice on James' heart, “this doesn't hurt anyone. Just your pride, but I think you can take it.”

James was thorn between getting embarrassed and letting Lily continue to talk. It was the first time in years she wasn't shouting at him, James wanted to keep the conversation going, just for a little more. It didn't matter if her words hurt him.

“Our pranks aren't meant to be cruel.” James said but as he thought at the last ones they pulled, his words sounded weak to his own ears.

“They are though.” Lily pursued her lips. She looked like she wanted to say more, but Alice called her to remind her they had to go to their next class. Lily's fingers tightened around the lily and she tucked it between her robes.

(James tried not to be too thrilled about it.)

“See you, hope you'll manage to get the flowers off.” From the way her mouth curled up, she didn't mean that at all.

James watched her go, his heart warm from speaking to Lily in a civil way for once, but his stomach clenched uncomfortably at the words she had spoken to him. Turning around, he was met with the wolfish faces of his friends and the conversation they just had was tucked away in James' mind.

“So what you needed to get Evans to talk to you was putting flowers on your hair? I would have transfigured your head if I knew.” Sirius snickered. Despite his warm words, his eyes were cold. He didn't seem to like Lily's words but was somehow keeping himself in check.

“This is embarrassing! This is the second time we've been pranked!” Peter whined from the corner he was hiding himself. His face went slack in shock as a realisation hit him suddenly, “Are we getting old?”

“Don't be so dramatic, Wormtail,” Remus lifted one hand to calm him down while his other rested on Sirius's back – and maybe that was why Sirius wasn't lashing out.

“I haven't heard of any prank done to others. We can assume we're the targets,” James said slowly as he scratched his head. One of his lilies fell on the floor and James found himself watch it mournfully.

“We need to prank them back then!” Peter said and Sirius hummed his approval.

“We can't fight back if we don't know who we are against.” James pointed out which made them deflate. James looked at Remus who was deep in thought. “Do you have any ideas, Moony?”

“It could be anyone, I couldn't pick up a scent because of the flowers. They're sneaky.” Remus' lips were pulled up into a smile. He was enjoying this riddle much more than he was letting on. Remus enjoyed a good mystery.

“That reminds me,” James snapped his fingers as a sudden memory made its way in his head, “I've seen someone running away. I couldn't see who they were, but I'm sure they were short?”

“Definitely younger then.” Remus muttered, “maybe a fourth year? The potion that hit us isn't something a first or a second year can do in their free time.”

“That or they're really smart.” James tapped his head to think at anyone that might want to prank them but found too many people who had a grudge on them.

“So we have nothing?” Peter sighed, his shoulders slumping in defeat.

“For now,” Remus conceded. His lips were pulled into a small smile and an amused light shone in his eyes, reminding James that Remus despite his calm demeanour was a Marauder just as much as they were. “However, they will make a mistake sooner or later. We will catch them then.”

Chapter Text

Gilderoy had never felt such a thrill. Not when he had sneaked with his sisters in muggle London and tried a three piece suit for the first time and completely fell in love with the style. Not when his father bought him his first muggle novel and told him to keep it a secret from his mom. Not even when he had managed to do his first spell successful and his mother had praised him with a sincere smile instead of her usual show of teeth.

This was different. He felt more free than anyone, more light hearted. Gilderoy, for the first time, was enjoying his life and he wouldn't change it for anything. If he had known he would have needed some flowers, he would have cared more about his house's garden.

“Stop smiling like that, it makes it obvious we've done something.” Rufus said. He was a hypocrite since he was smiling too, but Gilderoy was in such a good mood he didn't point it out.

“That spell was a-amazing, I can't believe it w-worked so well,” Quirinus mumbled as he took the cup of milk that had just appeared in front of him. They were having breakfast in a lazy sunday morning, sleep was still clinging to their faces and most students had decided to stay in bed instead of coming down to have something to eat. It was one of the reasons they felt safe to talk about the flower prank they had done a few days ago. Still, despite not having anyone around them – the other Ravenclaws avoided them like the plague like always – they kept their voices low, not wishing for anyone to pick up anything of what they were saying.

“It's a good thing Rufus stumbled on it when working on his Herbology essay. It was so easy to learn!” Teddy smiled, his eyes sparkling in mischief.

Rufus, Gilderoy and Quirinus shared a look. In truth, it wasn't easy at all. They had practised for many nights in their room, but they had all failed spectacularly – Gilderoy didn't want to admit defeat, but the single rose that had appeared on the tip of his wand had been mortifying – while Teddy had only needed a few hours to get it right.

(Gilderoy had started to suspect Teddy was a genius but that couldn't be possible, right? If there was a genius then that was going to be Gilderoy. Anyone else he would pretend not to see them, not even if they were his friends.)

“I think we should lay low for a while,” Rufus blurred out suddenly. Teddy's smile froze on his face while Gilderoy felt a wash of confusion hit him. Quirinus on the other hand merely nodded his assent like he knew from the beginning what Rufus was going to say.

“Why? We were so good!” Gilderoy moved the spoon in the air and almost hit Teddy's cheek with it.

“Exactly, which means they'll be searching for us. Sadly they're far from stupid. We need better plans to hide ourselves. We can't all change our appearances at will. We were lucky not to be found out since Gilderoy almost fell on me.” Ouch, Gilderoy didn't want to remember that but Rufus had a memory of steel and hadn't appreciated Gilderoy planting himself on his back.

“I only stumbled over me feet for a second, nothing happened!” Gilderoy said a little louder than he meant to, feeling a flush raise on his cheeks.

“Yes and it could have cost us,” Gilderoy hated that Rufus was right. Still, he didn't want him to know he agreed and opened his mouth to argue more but was placated by Teddy placing a hand on his arm.

“He is right. If we had been caught who knows what they could have done to us. You can't hide like I do and the Polyjuice potion is a little above our skill level,” Teddy chuckled without mirth. To affirm his words, his hair went from light blue to a monotone black. He had seen Teddy using his powers so many times Gilderoy didn't feel too much impressed anymore, yet he forgot that many hadn't and felt his lips quirk up into a smile when he heard a Hufflepuff choke behind them.

“N-Not above S-Snape l-level though...” Quirinus said. Gilderoy's eyes flickered over the Slytherin table, but there were hardly any students there and most were girls. He doubted any of them was called Severus Snape.

Just like every time Snape's name was said aloud, Teddy went rigid. “I would prefer if we kept Snape's involvement at minimum. I have to pay him, you know? His help doesn't come for free.”

“I still want to meet him. Make sure he is alright.” Rufus crossed his arms under his chest with a huff while Quirinus and Gilderoy nodded. Teddy was pretty transparent with everything, but he kept a tight grip on Severus Snape, which in turn only made Gilderoy more curious.

Teddy hesitated for a second. “Soon. I promise. He's not the most friendly guy around. I'll talk to him.”

“I could figure that,” Rufus huffed but didn't press the issue.

Teddy was saved from another grilling session from his friends when the owls entered in the Great Hall. It was a sight to see, so many owls flying over their heads with various trinkets and letters wrapped around their legs. Gilderoy wasn't surprised to see he hadn't received any letter – they usually came during the week, mostly from his mother that he didn't even bother to open – and it wasn't a weird sight to see Teddy hadn't either (he never got any). He lifted one eyebrow when one fell in front of Quirinus, it was probably the first time Gilderoy had seen him receive one.

“It's from my m-mom,” Quirinus said at their inquisitive glances. He took it between two fingers and placed it beneath his robes without opening it. There was a pensive expression on his face and Gilderoy wondered what kind of relationship Quirinus had with his parents.

Another owl flew on their table. Rufus took out a knut and paid it before taking his copy of the Daily Prophet from his claws. Every morning without fail, Rufus would buy a copy of the Prophet to 'keep up with what happened in the Wizarding World'. Gilderoy only cared about his copy of Witch Weekly every thursday. Besides Rufus never failed to relay any interesting information he stumbled on, so one could say Gilderoy read it in some way.

“This is not good.” Rufus said suddenly as he scanned the front page. His bushy eyebrows furrowed in concern the more he read, a frown making its way on his face. Gilderoy felt Teddy tense beside him and he noticed how quiet the hall was getting the more people read their copy of the Prophet.

“What's wrong?” Teddy leaned forward, his voice thick in nervousness. Quirinus was spying over Rufus' shoulders, his eyes running over the words much more quickly than Gilderoy could follow.

Rufus pursued his lips then, without saying a word, he pushed the newspaper towards Gilderoy and Teddy.

The two friends leaned down, their faces almost smashed against each other as they scanned the article that took over the front page.

Shocking news: Minister for Magic Eugenia Jenkins is replaced by Harold Minchum after being found inadequate for the job!

After another attack on muggles by Death Eaters, former Minister Jenkins has been unable to face the consequences. Yesterday on October 26^th an unanimous vote has been held to kick Jenkins out. The new Minister Harold Minchum has been chosen this very night. Will he be better than his predecessor? More on page 3!

Under the article there was a photo of a tired witch who looked like she hadn't slept in weeks but still kept her head high as paparazzi assaulted her with photos from every side. Beside her picture there was another of a black man with a serious face and thick eyebrows talking while barely moving his lips. It was one of those faces that looked handsome when they smiled, but Gilderoy doubted that man did it often. Neither of them had much sense for fashion, those robes were quite ugly in Gilderoy's opinion, but both looked smart and serious just like every politician seemed from afar.

Teddy sucked a breath. With the corner of his eye, Gilderoy watched as his friend's face paled and turned his head towards the professors table. There Flitwick and McGonagall talked in hushed tones, their faces a mask of worry as they kept pointing towards the newspaper. The headmaster was missing like many other teachers, but Sprout was seated on the end of the table her lips pursued in a thin line while Slugthorn monologued at her side with his chest puffed up. On the other side of the table Gilderoy was greeted of a sight that made him double-take.

There, far from his colleagues, sat professor Evans, which was a surprised sight on its own as he never showed his face during meals. He was the calmest out of all of them, sipping his tea slowly as the Prophet laid on his side forgotten. His face was mostly obscured by the mop of black and gray hair but Gilderoy could see how tight he was gripping his cup of tea. Teddy watched him with concern and the professor must have sensed his gaze on him as he lifted his eyes to set them on his friend.

Gilderoy's body went rigid when Evans' eyes stopped on Teddy – being scrutinised by a teacher was never good – yet Teddy didn't seem worried at all. Instead, his friend's shoulders relaxed immediately and his hair took a pinkish hue on the tips. Teddy seemed to share a silent conversation with Evans, one that ended up with a sigh full of fondness.

(Gilderoy was definitely not jealous of that.)

“I heard that Munchum is planning to put more Dementors in Azkaban,” Rufus said having completely missed Teddy's momentary panic, “he wants to arrest all the Death Eaters he can get his hands on.”

“I don't like Dementors,” Teddy said as he returned his attention to his friends, “I don't think it's ethic or right to use them to torment criminals.”

Rufus looked speechless. “But they've done crimes to end up there.”

“They're still human, while Dementors...” Teddy's eyes narrowed slightly, “I don't think it's a good idea to use dark creatures to punish dark wizards.”

Rufus opened his mouth to retort but he closed it again. Gilderoy had never thought about Azkaban until then, but Teddy's words had some merit. It was weird to use dark creatures to torment others and from what he knew Dementors couldn't even be killed, only banished with a certain spell. Gilderoy wondered what it felt to have happiness sucked out of him every hour of the day and found that he didn't want to find out the answer to that.

“Things are going to change for sure...” Quirinus muttered mournfully, his eyes cast down on the paper. On a small corner on the front page there was an article that described what had happened to the muggles that had been caught by the Death Eaters, but it was so small that Gilderoy had barely noticed it before.

Seeing where Quirinus was looking Teddy scanned the small article with a frown. “Seems like it's all Voldemort's fault. Like always.”

Gilderoy sucked a breath. Quirinus' eyebrows went up to his forehead and Rufus dropped the bread he was going to eat on his lap, the jam spreading on his robes. A pin could drop between them and it would sound like an explosion for how quiet they were.

Teddy looked around lost. “What's wrong?”

“You... said his name...” Rufus spoke in a tone that dripped with awe. Gilderoy would have laughed at his expression if he didn't feel the same.

Everyone knew that behind the Death Eaters there was Lord Voldermort. A man no one had seen and the few who did didn't live long to tell the tale. His name was whispered in the shadows of the households, afraid of being heard by him. Very few dared to say that name aloud, not waiting him to turn his gaze towards them. Who knew who would be the next one to see the Dark Mark appearing on top of their home, his Death Eaters torturing and killing the offending family. It was the first time Gilderoy had heard the name said aloud without fear. He couldn't help but be impressed under the sudden jolt of fear that went through him.

A flash of understanding crossed Teddy's face. He rubbed the tip of his nose and sighed. “Saying his name or not won't change anything. He is going to do what he wants anyway. I have no intention of feeding his fear on others.”

Gilderoy felt a flicker of respect growing in his chest. At the same time he felt the urge to wrap his arms around Teddy and hug him tightly, telling him to stop court death in such a way. From Quirinus and Rufus' faces, they were thinking the same thing. This boy was going to be the death of them.

“Anyway,” Teddy scooped a large spoon of strawberry jam on his knife and placed it generously on a piece of bread that had materialised in the plate in front of him, like he hadn't just rocked their entire world with a single word. It was clear that the conversation was over for him and the look in his eyes was hard enough to stop even Gilderoy from asking any question. “Are we still going to watch the Quidditch practice? Pandora and Xenophilius have promised us to bring snacks if we join them on the stands.”