Chapter 4

The next day, the girls both woke up in the infirmary. Daphne was the second to awaken and she heard soft sobbing coming from the bed next to her. She looked over and saw Pansy, curled up into the foetal-position, softly sobbing. "Pansy?" she asked. The other girl did not respond, but her body started shaking more.

"You're awake, then?" the voice of her Head of House asked.

"Professor Snape?" Daphne asked. That's when her last memory came back to her. "What… what happened?" she asked, afraid of what the answer might be.

"You were assaulted." Severus said seriously. "Fortunately someone had the forethought to cast monitoring charms on you two, mere minutes before you were attacked and came to the rescue when you were attacked."

"Who?" Daphne asked. The only people that were around were herself, Pansy… and Hermione and Harry! "Was it Harry?" she asked.

"Indeed." Snape said. He was not in a good mood. He thought he had weeded out the last of the boys who liked to play with little girls. "The boy has been taken into custody. Somehow he had ingested some Veritaserum and was telling any and all who would listen about what he had been up to."

"Did… did he do anything…" Daphne tried. Pansy started crying audibly. 'Oh Merlin, no!' Daphne thought as her own tears came.

"He was unable to do anything besides vanish your clothing." Snape assured her. "This does mean that Mister Black found you in a state of undress. Fortunately the debris missed both of you, but the boy wasn't so fortunate."

"Debris?" Daphne asked.

"Mister Black didn't know the password to the common room, so he decided to use a bombardment hex to gain entry." Snape said.

Daphne sighed a sigh of relief. "The boy…"

"Will be punished. Unfortunately I am not in charge of sentencing, otherwise he'd be castrated by a blunt instrument." Snape swore. "Mister Black was not able to explain how the Veritaserum was introduced to his system, or how both his arms and legs were broken, while you two remained safe, but I suspect the Aurors will take full advantage of the situation, with him unable to lie, since it is illegal to dose a criminal, but not to use the opportunity once it has been presented." Snape had a victorious, predatory smile on his face, which set the girl's mind to rest.

"Why is Pansy crying?" Daphne asked. If they were rescued in time, she should be relieved, right?

"I don't know." Snape said. "When she first awoke, she was relieved like you, but since, she has fallen into some sort of depression."

"I told you to let me know the moment she woke up!" Madam Pomfrey stated angrily as she moved past the professor to check on the girl. "How are you feeling, dear?" she asked Daphne.

"I think I'm alright, Madam Pomfrey." she said. She was still worried for her friend.

"That's good." The matron decided. "I'll be keeping you here for the rest of the day, to make sure there aren't any… emotional issues." she said, glancing behind her at the crying Pansy. "Poor dear is in shock." she explained.

"But nothing happened, right?" Daphne asked.

"But something could have!" Pansy suddenly wailed. "If it hadn't been for Harry…" she trailed off with a soft whimper, before she started crying all over again.

Daphne suddenly found her own emotions brimming and soon, she too was crying as she realised what had been about to happen to them.

Harry was in a foul mood and was not speaking to anyone. Had this been going on before and he was just too stupid to realise?! He had spotted the people going in and out of the Slytherin common room and had thought it was just a couple of teens taking the opportunity for some friendly playtime in a convenient private location. When he noticed that the girls that he had noted weren't ever on speaking terms with the boys in question, he started wondering. When he noticed the same boys with other girls, who they also weren't talking to, he had taken his findings to Snape, assuming he would be able to intercede. It was his bloody job after all!

When they left Daphne and Pansy, he had placed monitoring charms on them on a whim, only for them to send him an update that worried him when Harry was only a couple of hallways away. He had had to explain some things to Hermione as he ran back. Things he'd have preferred to keep to himself, but he had little choice. When he had blasted through a wall to gain entry into the Slytherin common room, considering the door was more protected, he saw the bigger boy looking up at him in shock, wand still in hand.

Harry's magic had erupted from him with a vengeance. He hadn't even directed it voluntarily. The boy suddenly screamed in pain as both his arms and legs bent the wrong way, with a sick crunching sound. Hermione, who had been following him, had screamed, but Harry directed her to go cover up the girls. She understood instantly what had happened, though, and pulled herself together and did as instructed, when Harry handed her two blankets he had just conjured. She didn't even question it.

Now he was wondering what to do about the rest of the school. Not all evildoers wore a green tie, after all. The others around him had noted his mood and had given him space, especially when Hermione warned them off. There were many concerned looks and rumours of what had happened were already spreading. The professors didn't know what to tell the children, since the Headmaster didn't want this leaked. If it got out that the school was not secure, parents would lose faith in not just it, but him too.

By the end of the day, Harry had finally decided on a course of action. When he disappeared, the girls were all worried, and Harry wasn't seen until the next day, when he walked into the Great Hall during breakfast. He marched up to the professor's table and spoke to them quietly, before turning on his heal and walking out again, with the Heads of House and Dumbledore following along.

When Harry led them into an empty classroom, Harry stopped Professor Dumbledore. "I'm sorry Professor, but this is for the Heads of the House only."

"Harry, my boy-" Dumbledore started.

"This is not negotiable, sir. It is a matter of security and I'm afraid I have to claim the right of keeping family secrets, private." Harry interrupted him.

"But surely, if you're sharing something with the Heads, you could share it with me?" Dumbledore tried.

"I have the right to choose who I share this with, and for now, I am already reluctant to tell the Professors I have here. If you'd prefer, I could rather not give them this at all?" Harry asked. He didn't care that he wasn't talking like a small boy should. This was more important.

"Albus!" McGonagall interjected. "You know full well that you are not allowed to ask for this!" she exclaimed. "It's not done!" she insisted.

Dumbledore looked at her and an inner debate seemed to take place. He didn't like not knowing what was going on. He also didn't like what had been happening at his school. If Harry had an idea of how to keep the children safe, he would not deny him the opportunity to help them. "Very well." he finally said. "But I will need a report on it." he tried. When McGonagall made to object again, he clarified, "No specifics of course. I just need to know that what was discussed isn't dark or potentially harmful."

Harry interjected, this time. "That should be fine." he agreed. Then he shut the door in Dumbledore's face.

"That is not how you are supposed to treat the headmaster of the school, young man!" Pomona Sprout, Head of Hufflepuff, insisted.

"Until the Headmaster stops hiding the facts of what has been happening to young witches in this castle, I'm not inclined to treat him with respect. The parents have a right to know." Harry said. To his surprise, all the heads seemed to agree with him. Even Snape nodded along. Harry took that as a good sign.

"Okay." Harry continued. "So you all know about what has been happening in Slytherin house, right?"

"Sexual assault." Filius Flitwick stated irrevocably. "I was pleased to hear that Professor Snape put an end to it, but I had hoped he'd be more thorough."

Snape was about to defend himself, when Harry interrupted. "Professor Snape is not to blame for that. The students he intervened with were interested in witches their own age. This one was interested in prepubescent teens. Once the other predators were taken away, it allowed him to come out of hiding."

Snape was shocked that the boy defended him so readily. What he knew of the boy seemed to indicate that while he respected him as a teacher, he didn't like him as a person. Perhaps he was trying to work his way into his favour? "Mister Black is right. The others knew of each other and confessed under Veritaserum." He turned to Harry. "You are the one that administered it, if anyone asks, understand?"

"Completely sir." Harry said, knowing he couldn't be held accountable as a minor, though Snape could be punished by law. "I have a large stash of the stuff in a hidden location. Just let me know if you want someone's pumpkin juice spiked, again." He looked him dead in the eye, "But only in cases like these, right?"

"Of course." Snape said. He knew the boy wouldn't be party to casual use of such restricted substances if it wasn't for a good reason. At least he had volunteered to be his alibi. It could prove useful. "Now why are we here?" he insisted.

Harry nodded allowing the change of subject. The other heads were shocked by the by-play. When had Severus and young Harry become so used to each other. They wouldn't use the word 'close', but it was like they understood each other to a degree. "The reason I wanted you all here is for this." Harry said, bringing out four pieces of parchment. He placed them on four tables around him and tapped them each once. An illusionary image appeared above all four papers.

"These are all your houses." Harry said. "Common rooms and dormitories. It will show you the location of your students, when they are there. I will leave it to you to keep track of who is there and who is not."

"Where did you find these?" Flitwick asked. This was a masterwork of charms!

"I made them." Harry said. When all four Heads of House looked at him in astonishment, Harry held a hand up, "Don't ask how. It's a family secret, so you'll have to keep their existence a secret. You'll also find that the magic is protected by a charm for such things. If you try and tamper with it, the magic will be destroyed and I'll not make you another."

McGonagall looked at Harry in pride again. "This is a wonderful gift, Harry. Did Remus show you how to make this?" she asked.

"Yes, Aunty Min." Harry said with a smile, even as the others looked at her in shock at the casual use of his first name and his familiar response. "He made the original, which shows the whole school."

"You've got one that shows the whole school?!" Filius asked. This was amazing! He couldn't believe he had missed that the boy was such a prodigy! "Why not give us all the ability to watch the entire school?"

"Because I need you all focussed on your own houses." Harry said. "With a whole school, you'd be tempted to intervene in other people's business. I will make sure Aunty Poppy has one that shows the whole school as well, for medical purposes." Harry then took out five books. "These books are all linked. There's one for each of you and Aunty Poppy. You may coordinate with each other using them, but this is also a family secret, so you may use them, but not tell anyone, nor try to unveil the magic."

"What do you mean they are linked?" Snape asked.

Instead of telling them, Harry handed one to each of them. They were charmed before Harry bound them in the appropriate colour leather. Poppy's was White. He had them open the books on the first page and took out his fountain pen. He wrote the word 'Hello' on the first page and the others watched as Harry's scrawl appeared on their pages.

"See?" Harry asked. "Now, if one of your students is missing, you can write a message to the other heads and they can tell you if someone from their house is missing or Poppy could inform you if she has a patient. You'll also be able to see if someone that shouldn't be, is in your house."

"Is this why you missed classes yesterday?" Snape asked. He now knew how Harry knew what was going on in his house.

"Sorry, but this was more important than taking classes I've already completed." Harry said.

"How many subjects have you completed to newt level?" Snape asked.

"All of the core subjects." Harry said easily. "And some of the other ones I'm still working on."

"How? When?" Filius asked. It was unbelievable to think the boy had both the magical power and the mental capacity to do what he was claiming.

"I don't know when, but I tested the boy myself." Snape informed. "He's at least at Newt level with his potions knowledge. He even caught a couple of higher grade questions I added, as a curiosity."

"That was luck, then." Harry said. "I really didn't go much further with my potions studies. I did help make Uncle Remus' potion for a while, though. Had to do a little extra reading for that one."

"And Charms?" Filius insisted. Instead of answering, Harry produced his Patronus. "By Merlin's beard!" Filius swore. "How do you even possess the power for such a feat? No eleven-year old should be able to do that!"

"I have secrets I cannot tell anyone." Harry admitted. "I promise you, though, I'm only trying to help."

"We can see that, Mister Potter." Pomona said. "Your actions in giving us these are very Hufflepuff of you."

"Thank you, Professor Sprout." Harry said with a smile. "Just remember, please, that I'm trying to keep my advanced status a secret." He turned to Snape, "Besides a certain Potions professor, who told the entire class I was ahead of them, so that they'd bother me with questions, instead of him, while I was studying other things, I'd prefer to keep a low profile, while I work on my own studies, without constantly being bombarded with questions."

"It's your own fault for answering the questions." Snape said with a victorious smirk. "You could have ignored them. Now, you don't have much of a choice and I have one class that isn't as much trouble as the rest."

"How are you so advanced though?" Filius pressed. The boy was an enigma he needed to solve.

"Trade secret." Harry said.

"I like to just consider him an enigma." Snape said. "He doesn't even boast, like his father would have done."

"You do realise that, while I don't bear their name, I don't like it when people insults their memory in my presence, right?" Harry asked with just a little bit of the prankster creeping onto his face.

"Deal with it." Snape said easily. "You know I hated your father and you ensured that I heard you while you discussed it with Granger." At that Harry's face showed only a moment of shock. "Thought I wouldn't realise, did you?"

"I had hoped." Harry admitted. "The fact is, you knew my mother best, and I would like to learn about her, but I knew you didn't see her in me at the time." Harry looked him dead in the eyes, then. "Admit it, since then you've been able to see I'm not my parents." he dared.

Snape didn't answer, though he had to admit to himself, neither James, not Lily would have been so upfront about it. Try as he might, he couldn't see the boy's father in him anymore and he reminded him much more of his beloved Lily these days. "Either way, we cannot allow you to skip classes without punishment. If you wish to remain unnoticed, you'll need to be punished."

"It is unfortunately as Professor Snape says." Flitwick allowed. "Detention with me for the next week and fifty points to Gryffindor for the book and map." He'd find out more about the boy during their time as he tested his skills.

"Same here." McGonagall and Sprout said at the same time. "Me first." Sprout quickly added, with a victorious grin as Minerva responded a second later than her.

"Fine." McGonagall said. She intended to use the time to advance his transfiguration skills. She already knew his secret after all.

"I'd rather just give him detention, but I suppose the magic he has given us access to will help us protect our students better. One hundred and fifty points to Gryffindor for the items and the rescue of the two ladies. One hundred points from Gryffindor for the destruction of school property and fifty points for every person you helped stop so far."

"So two-hundred points?" Filius asked, calculating in his head.

Snape shrugged. He was looking at the Slytherin common room, where he saw someone who wasn't in the Great Hall. "How do I deactivate the map?" he asked Harry. If he was supposed to keep it a secret, he couldn't very well expect to walk through the halls with it active.

"Current passwords are set to the words 'Open' and 'Close' accompanied with a touch from your wands. You can reset them using the same way the common room passwords are changed." Harry said.

"Close." Snape said, doing as instructed and then picked up the map and folded it before stowing it in a pocket along with the book, which he shrunk. "Thank you, Black." he said as he walked out.

"You're welcome, Professor." Harry said.

"You and he are on much better terms that I'd have thought." McGonagall said. "Did you charm him?" she asked suspiciously.

"Not with magic." Harry replied. Then he got another look in his eyes she didn't like.

"Why do you look like you're planning mischief?" McGonagall asked. She'd seen that look one too many times in her life. And a lot since she started visiting Grimmauld Place. Harry had been learning from the remaining Marauders after all.

"Well, I do have 350 points to lose, now." Harry explained.

"Or you could keep them?" McGonagall insisted. She knew he didn't care about the point system, but it was how people knew that someone did exemplary work. If people noticed the points going up they would ask how it happened and then they'd know who to emulate. "It's been years since we've won the house cup!"

"But that's not something I care about, Aunty Min." Harry said reasonably. "It would also be unfair to the other houses if I pulled in that load of points on my own!"

Flitwick and Sprout seemed to agree, though they worried about the consequences of a boy with so much magic, on the lookout for things to do that would lose him points.

After their impromptu meeting, Harry went to the infirmary, where he presented Madam Pomfrey with her map and book. She was very grateful for the useful items and promised to keep the map safely locked up in her office. She did have a special storage space which only the matron could access. It was set up that way from the days of the founders as she understood it.

Before she put the map away, she noticed something and mentioned it. "Is there any specific reason why you aren't showing up on the map?" she asked.

"Why would I give anyone the power to track me?" Harry said with a smile. "I get up to way too much that I don't want people catching on to."

"Harry." she said dangerously. "This will only be a useful tool for me if I know for a fact everyone is on it."

Harry considered it, then offered, "Do I have your healer/patient confidentiality on it, to only use it to look for me when there is an actual emergency that needs my assistance?"

"No, you don't." she said instantly. "But, I can promise not to report you if I see you being out and about doing Merlin knows what. I can't betray your confidence in me that way, after all. I know you have priorities that are more important than following the rules here."

Harry considered it some more. There were times that he'd rather not be known to disappear, like when he went to the Room of Requirement. That was an asset he wasn't sharing anytime soon. "I tell you what," he decided, "I will make it so you can see me, whenever I'm specifically not on my personal mission or projects that require secrecy."

"Would you ever be on the map, then?" she asked.

"Most of the time actually." Harry said. "I've not started with some of the things I'm planning, but there are areas of the castle, where I intend to spend time, that don't appear on the map, due to the magics of said areas, or because they are specifically hidden." he said evasively.

She sighed then. "I suppose it's better than nothing." she said. "One day, you'll have to update the map to include those areas, though, so that I can be certain that I know exactly what is going on. At least I know that I'll be able to look for any strange behaviour, like people being out of bed after curfew. The things that have been happening in Slytherin house worries me."

"You and me both." Harry said as he started working on the magic in the map. "I never knew about all that the first time around, so I suspect they got away with it then and probably carried on after school, and I wonder if Slytherin is the only house where hormonal teens let their power get the better of them. Somehow, I doubt it. These children probably learned it somewhere, too."

"Heavens forbid!" Madam Pomfrey exclaimed. "I don't want to think about it!"

"I hope I'm wrong, Aunty Poppy." Harry said. "But I intend to keep a watchful eye as well. I can't very well leave all the pretty girls that might otherwise find a way into my harem to the wolves, now can I?" he said with a smirk.

"Sirius should leave his fantasies in his bedroom." Poppy groused. "If you do intend to start something stupid like a harem, even if the girls are willing, I expect you to treat them right and not do anything that would sully their names. Do you understand me, Harry?" she insisted. "I still don't see how you could even consider these things. They are all rather young for your mental age, after all."

"That they are, Poppy, but as Sirius always says: they won't stay young forever." Harry joked. "Honestly, though, the idea doesn't appeal to me as much as it does to him. I don't mind the idea, but hormonally, I've not yet reached the age where I seek the company of women for anything other than friendship. If you'll remember the plan, though, you'll realise that I'll end up needing quite a few wives."

"Bloody Lordships." Poppy mumbled. "It's a stupid law."

"Written by stupid purebloods." Harry added with a nod. "But if I can use it to my advantage, I'll do it. It'll also give some added protections to the ladies in my circle, even if the lines end up being bequeathed unto others later on."

"Fine, fine." Poppy finally gave in. "I'm not against protecting people, and if you can pull it off, I say go for it. I can't believe Sirius found actual reasons to start a Harem, though. Leave it to the womanizing layabout to find logical reasons to see this happen."

"Got to love a man that knows his priorities." Harry laughed as he finished with the map. "There. That should do it." He said as he watched his name appear and disappear with a thought, only to appear again. "There you go."

"And you can just switch it off that easily." she asked, having watched him disappear and reappear so quickly.

"Well, it is my magic in the map." Harry said. "The process may look simple to you, but I can feel when it can see me and not, with a little concentration, and I need to manually choose whether it shows me. Technically, the map will always know, just not show you. If for any reason you really need to know where I am and it doesn't show me, Remus should be able to activate it again."

"That's at least good to know." she said.

"Just don't tell the Heads that." Harry said. "I'm expecting Aunty Min to ask about it soon and I don't intend to change her map. If she knows you can see me, she'll come up with a reason or blackmail me. At least you have a good reason. Aunty Min will use it to know when I did something."

"On the other hand, if they don't see you and mischief happens, they'll automatically assume it was you." Poppy countered. "What do you mean blackmail?"

"They'll still have to prove it." Harry said with a smile. "And, trade secret."

That's when Harry decided to leave. Poppy was nice and curious, which meant she was going to bother his Aunty Min with questions. He smirked as he started walking off to class.

One day after his first detention with Flitwick, where he was questioned and asked to demonstrate some of his spells, Harry decided to let him in on his side-project, considering the man's potential usefulness as a source for information. The diminutive Professor was amazed at Harry's plans and signed up immediately, going as far as to request a seat on the inaugural flight. Harry didn't want that though. This would be his feat. The history books would speak of other people's involvement, of course, but it would say he took the first flight solo. He insisted on it.

Flitwick understood. If he was on the ship, people would start assuming he did the lion's share of the work. He did barter a concession though. If his first trip was successful, he'd take the professor along, for the first trip to the moon. He didn't even need to be put on the roster, nor was he interested in being mentioned as present. He was after the experience. He was very excited, which was actually quite normal for the Professor.

Too soon, Harry had to leave. It was almost dinner time and he was scheduled to meet up with the girls again and Daphne and Pansy were going to join them again, for the first time since being released from the infirmary. Madam Pomfrey had managed to talk them through their troubles. Not many people knew that she had studied some psychology.

It was mostly done after Harry had become her away-from-work patient. She had been worried about what drove a seventeen-year old boy to doing something as stupid as allowing himself to be killed. Sure he had no choice in the matter, but the blasé way he mentioned it, bothered her. Since they wouldn't allow mind healers near Harry, for the possibility of them finding something in Harry's mind that they didn't want known, she had done the effort to try and help.

Daphne and Pansy were welcomed back into the group with open arms and, while everyone was sensitive to what had almost happened to the girls, they were shocked when they both insisted on being seated next to Harry.

"He saved us. If we're seen as close friends with the future Lord Potter and Black, any future assailants would think twice before trying something similar." Daphne said.

"I'm not opposed to you using me as a way to protect yourselves, but you should know that I would have done the same for any lady in trouble." Harry said.

"We understand that you hold no real affection for us." Pansy said. "But we'd like to encourage people to see it that way."

"You don't know Harry very well, then." Neville said with a smile.

"What do you mean?" Pansy asked, wondering if there really was alternate reasons for their being allowed into the group.

"Harry likes pretty girls and ones that show potential." Hermione said. She hoped she had potential, at least. "He says that it makes him happy to be surrounded by beauty and would like to make as many girl friends as he can."

"Girlfriends?" Daphne asked, with a bit of a blush.

"No." Harry corrected. "Girl 'space' friends. Two words."

"Not that he'd mind having many girls on his arm one day, I suspect." Susan Bones joked.

"What's wrong with that?" Harry smiled back. "A man can dream, can't he?"

"Boy." Hermione corrected, but she was smiling along. She suspected that was a direct quote from Sirius. She liked the fact that she was the only one that knew him well enough to suspect such things.

"For now." Harry allowed. He looked at the two girls next to him and the chairs and their occupants moved with a little push from his magic, all one seat up, to make space on either side of him. "Sit down, dear ladies." he said as two chairs moved to the space from an adjacent table.

"How did you do that?" Daphne asked, in shock.

"The same way he did it on the Great Hall, I suspect." Susan added again. She was a sharp one. "But I suspect he'll just say-"

"Trade secret." the other girls and Neville all chorused.

"I'll never admit to it." Harry said to Susan. "They're not wrong, though. It's definitely a trade secret."

"Is this another one of your mysterious family magics?" Pansy asked. She'd heard a rumour that he had many of those. Apparently Professor Snape had been heard telling Dumbledore that something Harry had done was protected by the family magic laws.

"Maybe." Harry said. "If it were, I couldn't very well tell you, could I?"

"You could, if you freely offered it, or in trade. Perhaps in exchange for a marriage contract?" Pansy said easily, but with a wink. She wanted to be his friend and if she could play along with the rest, she'd do so.

"Oh, that's right!" Daphne said. "He's going to need two wives for his two Lordships, right?"

"Hey, Sirius might still find a nice girl." Harry objected.

"As I understand it he's 'found' many nice girls." Hermione joked.

"That is the downside of being known as a womanizer, I suppose." Harry allowed. "Sure, you meet many people, but none of them think that you're serious about it." he said. "Remus keeps on telling him he needs to start friendships first. That way, if things don't work out, you still have friendship to fall back on. I'm glad I got that memo early. No matter what happens I'll always have friends."

The ladies smiled and shook their heads at his obvious joke and got down to work, when Fay joined them. "Sorry for being late." she said softly.

"Not a problem Fay." Harry said. "We were just about to get started."

And that was that. Harry started in on his own work and the girls started working on their homework. Whenever Slytherins were close by, Daphne and Pansy would smile and engage Harry in some conversation. They'd shove him playfully when he made a joke or reprimand him when he swore, with exasperated expressions on their faces, like they did it all the time.

Hermione had finally stopped telling him to watch his language, but he suspected she knew he was doing it on purpose, when their eyes met one too many times after he swore. At this point it was a game of wills. He wanted to get her to swear, and she refused to get pulled into his delinquent behaviour.

In all, their strategy of becoming closer to him, served his purpose as well, since they were getting used to being in each other's personal space. When he escorted them to their dormitory, they asked the other girls to stay back, while Harry walked them to the entrance. They gave the password, while he could hear and when he looked at them with a question on his face, Pansy said, "Professor Snape doesn't want you destroying the walls again, so he asked us to make sure you know how to enter properly."

The fact that it was said with witnesses in the common room, was the whole point. Harry bid them farewell in the usual fashion and then left. He'd placed new charms on them, just in case. Nothing happened that evening, fortunately, and life settled back into a proper rhythm.

Harry had slipped away a few times and had almost perfected his latest broom. It was made of aluminium. Harry had asked for Sirius to go buy him an aluminium baseball bat, which he had transfigured into the correct form. The stirrups were also made from aluminium and merged seamlessly into the staff, but this 'broom' had no bristles.

He could always add them later, since it wouldn't feel right without them, but until the product was complete, they'd only get in the way. For now though, he was testing a new item in conjunction with the broom. He was trying to diminish his wind resistance and, since he already knew the runes for it, he had worked out a warding scheme that would make a dome around him that 'should' negate wind resistance entirely.

He waited for lights out and then opened the window once the others had started snoring. Said window was conveniently located right behind his headboard, just as planned, for this very reason. Harry's curtains were drawn around his bed, as usual, and he'd put up a silencing charm, which he normally couldn't leave up, since he needed to know if something was going on in the room.

When he was set, he mounted and slowly took off, before slowly accelerating out the window. Once he was clear of the window, he started increasing his acceleration until he was doing laps around the castle at incredible speeds! He didn't feel the wind at all! All he felt was the acceleration, but that wasn't the point. He howled at his success and continued with his plan for the night.

A short while later Sirius was suddenly awoken by a bucket of ice-cold water being dumped on him. "What!?" he spluttered as he jumped up. "Moony, you sick…" he had finally looked up. "Harry? What are you doing home?"

"Testing the new flight systems." Harry said with a smile. "Took me under forty minutes to get here from Hogwarts."

"That fast?" Sirius asked as he pulled off his wet nightshirt. "How is that even possible? I mean, last we chatted, you had an idea about bypassing the wind or something?"

"It's called aerodynamics." Remus said from the door. He had heard the exclamation, of course, and had immediately come to check. He was surprised to see Harry, but it wasn't completely unexpected. Harry would always have come here once he'd had some success and he was testing his toys for a while now. "I'm assuming you're one step closer to completion?" he asked Harry even as Sirius finally remembered he was a Wizard and dried himself, the soaked bed and nightshirt with his wand.

"Only one step closer." Harry said with a smile. "I should probably leave before Poppy calls you to come unhide me from her map."

"How did that go over?" Sirius asked.

"Like we expected." Harry said. "Everything is protected. Flitwick decided detention was a good way to test me and the other heads all decided it was a good idea. I've got 350 points to burn and Poppy insisted on a way to see me."

"So, almost exactly as planned." Sirius allowed. He really thought Poppy would not allow Harry to hide at all, but considering it was Harry's map, he'd have the leverage on the negotiation. "She'll probably ask Remus to make you visible all the time, when she sees him again."

"Fortunately she also knows Harry made the map, so using the excuse that I can only do what he set up for me to be able to do, should work." Remus added with a smile. Then he looked at Harry who was still in his sleeping clothes. "Isn't it still cold in Scotland?" he asked.

Harry shrugged. "A single warming charm lasted the entire way here. Without wind, the trip was actually kind of boring. I suspect I could increase the speed quite a lot, once I figure out how to change the shape of the ward to be more aerodynamic. A ball still has a lot of resistance."

"You should aim for an oval shape." Remus suggested. "Don't try to make it sharp like a wing. Wards are stronger in simple forms. You don't want it to fail and then die when your skin is torn from your body."

"Good point." Harry said, shuddering. "We can look into something else when the time comes to go up."

Harry left shortly thereafter, hugging his family goodbye and shot off on his broom again, becoming invisible as he went. Disillusionment charms worked wonders at night and at high altitudes.

"Are you sure it's safe to encourage him to do these things?" Sirius asked Remus. "I mean, he's about to fly more than six hundred kilometres, on his own, at night."

"You do remember what Poppy said, right?" Remus asked. "We need to encourage his dreams. He was dangerously depressed when he came back. The potions helped, but we need to do what we can to encourage him to live. Things that give him hope for the future."

"I know, but that doesn't mean he should be doing things like this." Sirius said. "He's just eleven!"

"He's twenty-four." Remus argued. "Do you think you'd have liked being treated like a child at that age?"

Sirius had to concede the point. And while he understood intellectually, he had still just watched an excitable eleven-year old boy fly off on a broom he had made himself. "I know that, but I also don't think it's right."

"Well, then, next time get more bats!" Remus said as he slapped him on the back of the head. "You know he'd have made us some too, if you had. We could be flying next to him, right now, if you'd done that."

"Good point." Sirius said with a nod, while he rubbed the back of his head. "I've got to get to bed. I've got plans tomorrow."

"What plans?" Remus asked.

"I'm buying a hundred bats and taking them to Hogwarts." Sirius said as he walked back into the house.

Remus chuckled as he closed the door behind himself.

The next day, as Harry sat at the breakfast table, he was unsurprised to be approached by McGonagall. "Mister Black. I'd like to have a discussion with you, please?" she had asked nicely, but her eyes spoke of a tightly controlled temper. It was the patented strict face #5. Many would simply admit to wrongdoing at this point, but Harry was made of stronger stuff.

"Could it wait till after breakfast?" Harry asked as he reached for something to put in his already empty plate. The face changed to #6 and Harry knew he would be in trouble for trying her patience any further. "Fine." he said with a put-upon air, as he got up and followed his Head of House out of the Hall, with the twins sniggering after him, thinking he'd been caught at something. They'd seen that face before.

When they were in an empty classroom, she closed the door and produced the map. "Why haven't I seen you in the Gryffindor tower on this?" she asked.

"Because I exempted myself from the magic." Harry said easily.

"Why?" she asked, with a twitch in her eye. That was strange, it was a sign of real anger. Concern, maybe?

"I didn't think it was necessary." Harry said. "You know I'm not a child, Aunty Min. I don't need you watching when I am or aren't in the tower."

"You seem to forget that I took responsibility for you." she said. "While you are in my house, I need to protect you, and all the other students here." She carefully avoided saying the word 'children'.

"I don't need protection, Aunty Min. I can take care of myself." Harry tried. The twitch was still in her eye, though.

"And you'd prefer I never get any sleep?" she asked. "When I noticed you weren't on the map, I started looking for you. The other Heads of House didn't see you. When Poppy told me that you weren't on her map either, I was worried sick! She had to tell me that you weren't there on the map when you delivered her map to her. Now I'm worried that you're out at all hours!

"And worst of all, last night, Madam Hooch could have sworn she saw a student fly around and then away from the castle on something that looked almost like a flying broom!" she finished in an angry whisper. "We had to coordinate and confirm nobody else was missing!" she added.

Harry hadn't expected that. He knew he should have added the disillusionment earlier. He sagged, "I'm sorry for worrying you Aunty Min." he said. "I was testing out the new runes and a ward I had made for allowing more speed and went out for a test flight."

"And where did you go?" she insisted. "Surely you could have tested it around the school, as you have been for the last two weeks!"

"How did you know that?" Harry asked.

"Madam Hooch likes to fly at night." she said. "She's been testing all the miraculously repaired brooms from the shed and she spotted you a couple of times. She says thank you, by the way. I told her to keep quiet about it." she finished in a huff.

"Thank you Aunty, Min." Harry said. He was now feeling horrible. Minerva McGonagall had always been special to him. She'd always make time to explain things and she took her own time to come and visit regularly, just so he wasn't alone, when the other two wanted to get out of the house. She knew his secret, but always treated him fairly and never spoke down to him.

"Don't be sorry." She said, then. "Be careful. And you never answered my question. Where did you go?"

Harry winced, "Grimmauld Place."

"You flew to London!?" she exclaimed. "You irresponsible man-child! Taking untested magical artefacts on a trip for so many hours! How late did you get back?!"

"An hour and twenty minutes after I left?" he said/asked. "The magic worked as planned, after all…"

Minerva was dumbstruck for a moment. "How fast were you going?" she asked despite herself.

"If memory serves," Harry said, with a bit of a smile, "just under the speed of sound…"

"Merlin's beard!" she gasped. She knew a few things, after all. She took a deep breath then and handed him the map. "Fix it." she insisted.

"Aunty Min!" Harry complained. "That's hardly-"

"I said," she interrupted him dangerously, "Fix. It."

Harry didn't dare disobey her after that, so he set to work, "Doesn't mean I'm staying in the tower after curfew." he mumbled.

"But you will be telling me when and where you are going." she answered anyway. "I know you're not as young as you look, Harry, but I'm going to take care of you, whether you want me to or not. Your mother would not forgive me, otherwise. I already let the Headmaster put you with those disgusting pieces of human filth! I won't let you get yourself killed, now that I've got you where I can keep an eye on you. If you must take more test-flights, take Madam Hooch with you. She expressed a desire to try whatever contraption you were on and I'm certain she'll be more than willing to keep your secrets for the kindness you've shown her."

Harry nodded in mute acceptance and placed the map in front of her, completed. "There are places in Hogwarts that Aunt Poppy's map still won't show me, since they are protected magically, and she knows that, but you will see me when I'm in the Gryffindor tower." he said softly. "I'm sorry I worried you, Aunty."

Minerva couldn't resist the urge to pull him into a quick hug. "I know you're not used to it Harry, but this time around you've got people who know you, who care for you and who'll want to protect you. We don't want you to get hurt." She then took him by the shoulders and held him at arm's length, looking into his eyes. "This is what a family does. We don't always understand, but we'll always care, whether you want us to or not."

"I think I understand, Aunty." Harry said. He felt like a boy whenever he was around her, even while he knew he wasn't. He suspected she had that ability with everyone that had gone to Hogwarts. "I'll try and keep it in mind."

"You'll do more than try, young man!" she insisted, but Harry could tell she wasn't all that angry anymore. She had really just been worried, it seemed.

"Yes, Professor McGonagall." Harry said with a cheeky smile. Her eyes narrowed at him one last time, before she stashed the map away again and walked out of the classroom.

"That will be fifty points from Gryffindor for your breaking of the rules, Mister Black." she said as they walked back into the Great Hall.

'Huh, she must be feeling better.' Harry thought. "Thank you, Professor!" Harry called after her in his usual cocky manner.

McGonagall knew it was coming, so she just kept her face impassive and continued on her way to the staff table.

"What did you do?" George asked.

"Did you blow down more walls?" Fred continued.

"Did you two switch just for me?" Harry asked, looking at them, before smiling when their expressions clearly showed that he had seen through their attempt to change things up and ignoring their question as he moved on to his seat, where Hermione was staring daggers at him for losing points. "What? I have another three hundred to burn before we're back where we were." He told her as he sat down.

"Why can't you, just for once, do things the normal way?" Hermione asked.

"I support the points system wholeheartedly, since it allows people to get away with stuff with no real consequences." Harry denied. "What I don't support is for points to be given, when there should be a real reward, like when you study hard and can answer questions in class, you should be given a higher grade or extra credit, for your diligence, not points that someone like me can lose, when I don't pay attention or care enough for your perspective."

Hermione was about to argue, but then shut her mouth as his words sank in. It was true, while she worked hard and answered questions, the Head of House got the reward at the end of the day and the trophy was only ever seen once a year, according to what she'd heard, when it was presented to the winning house. Where was the reward for the children that did the effort?

"That being said, house rivalry could be considered a team-building exercise, which is good. The downside being that people have different levels of commitment and it could potentially drive people in the same house apart. Then there's the fighting over fairness and the Professor's tendency to have favourites or to give other students chances, rather than supplying one student who actually studied with the opportunity to answer everything, which has a whole other series of points for and against it." Harry finished with the last of his breath and took a deep inhale and breathed hard for a bit.

"So, you're for it, only for the ability to lose points instead of being punished in any real way?" Hermione asked.

When Harry caught his breath, he smiled and said, "Yup." Then he took a roll of bread off the table and threw it at Professor Dumbledore's head. The professor had been listening to the discussion, much as most of the professors and a large portion of the student body, and caught the roll with reflexes that one wouldn't expect from the centenarian, even as most of the students showed shock at his action.

"That's ten points, Mister Black." Dumbledore said. Then he smirked, "To Gryffindor."

"NO!" Harry yelled. "That's not fair! I racked up those points so that I could lose them!"

"Well, then wouldn't the correct punishment, for you, be to award points?" Dumbledore asked.

Harry smirked. "Fred, George, would you care to be my proxy in this?" Harry asked.

"Oh, most definitely!" Fred said with an unholy smile. Then he and his brother started throwing food at the most volatile students they knew of. Suffice it to say, a food fight broke out.

Harry just stood there as he was pelted with eggs, rolls and, in some cases, porridge. All the while he was laughing like an evil overlord. "Dance my puppets! Dance! Mwahahahaha!"

"Enough!" Dumbledore exclaimed when 'someone' levitated a whole tray of porridge over him and upturned it. "I can see I have made an error in judgement." he admitted. "Three hundred and ten points from Gryffindor, for the mastermind of this morning's distraction."

"Well done, Harry!" Fred and George chorused. "That must be a new record!"

"And twenty more for each of the Weasley Twins." Dumbledore said. "For initiating the fracas."

"Thank you, sir!" the twins chorused. They turned to Harry, "We hope you don't mind our contribution." Fred said.

"It wasn't clean, but it seems everyone had fun." George said, looking around at the smiling faces.

"I don't envy the House Elves the job of cleaning this mess, though." Fred finished.

"That's a very astute observation." Dumbledore, who was suddenly pristine again, said. "I think it was very nice of you three to volunteer cleaning this up."

"What about everyone that participated?" Harry asked.

"I think you said it best." Dumbledore said. "You want real rewards for your actions? Then you should have real punishments too, don't you think?"

"You decide to become fair at the worst of times." Harry said. "Still, it's a step in the right direction, I suppose. I can take one for the team. You can let the twins off the hook, though. They weren't, as you put it, the mastermind."

"They were happy to enact your subversion of the proposed punishment." Dumbledore said. "I wouldn't want to encourage such behaviour."

Harry turned to them. "Sorry guys." he said.

"Oh, I fully blame George for this." George said.

"But you're George." Harry said.

"Seriously, how do you know that?!" Fred exclaimed as he brushed some bacon bits off his shoulder.

"Trade secret." A chorus of voices around the hall said.

"You heard them." Harry said with a smile.

The clean-up was over rather quickly. Harry had the twins go fetch the implements to start the clean-up and when he was alone, he used his magic to summon and vanish every last scrap of food in the place. When the twins returned with the mops, buckets and a shovel, the hall was sparkling clean and Harry was nowhere to be seen. "You don't suppose we could join his team, do you?" Fred asked.

"We'd have to change gender, I suspect." George said. "The only male in his group is Longbottom, and he's harmless."