7 Making Time for Friends

Day: Four

Harry considered going into the Hospital Wing, but it wasn't where he wanted to be. He was sure that Madam Pomfrey would be able to fix Morgan up with no problem and the girl had her sister and dorm mates beside her.

Instead he found himself leaning against the wall outside. The halls were quiet, it was a beautiful day and most students were outside. Or maybe they were eating lunch, Harry wasn't certain what time it was. Quidditch had a way of dulling your sense of time.

"You're an amazing flyer," a girl said, sidling up beside him.

Harry turned to look over, Hortense had joined him leaning against the wall. "Thanks," he answered simply.

She turned a bit, leaning on her shoulder so that she could look at him, "Maybe you have a future in professional Quidditch," she suggested.

Harry shook his head, "There are other things I have to do."

She nodded, "I can't believe you saved her," she said with a bit of wonder in her tone.

It was odd but Harry didn't feel that uncomfortable around Hortense just now. He had a phobia about fan girls, and she certainly fit the description, but maybe it was everything else that was happening around him that made him worry less.

"Harry would you go to Hogsmede with me," the girl suddenly said.

Harry turned, "What?"

Hortense took a breath, "Next weekend is a Hogsmeade trip...Would you maybe want to go with me."

Harry paused and looked at her, the girl shifted nervously under his gaze, "Look Hortense," Harry said kindly, "You seem nice and all..."

Hortense slipped against the wall, "But," she asked with a downhearted expression.

"I'm just not looking for a relationship, the timing isn't right." About twenty years off truth be told, Harry thought.

"Oh," Hortense said thoughtfully. "Will the timing be better in a few months? We have another weekend in December, before we leave for break."

She was relentless. "Um, we'll see," he said quickly.

Hortense nodded, "Alright," she walked into the Hospital Wing with a little extra sway of her hips. It might have been more alluring had Harry not been certain that she was probably the mother of someone he knew. He was starting to think that there was something familiar about her face, but he couldn't place it.

Harry looked towards the Hospital Wing, but he didn't feel like he belonged in there either. He nodded towards it before turning on his heel. For a moment he just allowed his feet to move without any plan or reason. But he wasn't surprised when he found himself at one of his favorite spots. The covered bridge that overlooked the lake was a sort of hideaway for him. Ron and Hermione knew it was one of his places and would come here and drag him away after a little while, but they wouldn't be doing that this time. Leaning against the old wood he continued to gaze out as the sun began to lower in the sky.

Harry wasn't certain what time it was, but he was starting to get hungry and so he decided to head to the Great Hall. His stomach proved to be a good clock, when he entered the food had just appeared on the table and people were tucking in. Most had spent the day outside, enjoying the good weather before the fall and winter came and took away the sunshine. Thus, with everyone having good appetites, a great deal of movement and chatter erupted when the food appeared.

Harry found himself having trouble finding a seat, the benches were crowded tonight. But he managed to find an empty space around people he didn't really know. Which was oddly a little bit of relief. He'd come to a decision about why people like Hortense didn't bother him. In the end, they didn't really mean anything. After he left this place he would have no connection with them, while being with his parents brought up a bunch of issues that sane people left alone.

"What you sitting down here for," someone asked, budging people over to sit next to him.

Harry looked over, James Potter in the flesh. Now what had he just said about sane people? "Just finding a spot," Harry said dismissively, noticing that James seemed to have settled in for the meal.

"So you're a pretty good flyer," James remarked cooly.

Harry shrugged, "Yeah," he helped himself to some pudding, reaching across to also grab some vegetables, proof that he wasn't only eating sweets.

James coughed, he seemed to have been waiting for a different reaction, "Okay can't hide it from you, you're a great flyer, amazing. That roll and flip catching the snitch, not to mention the dive you made to get Morgan."

Harry shrugged again, his shoulders were getting tired of this, "Yeah I really like Quidditch." He thought they had covered this on the first day.

"Yeah, I mean everybody likes Quidditch, but not everyone can be good at it. What would you think about going out for the House Team?" James asked, he leaned towards Harry as he gnawed on a roll.

"I thought you already had Crane as a Seeker," Harry said, remembering the dark haired boy he'd played against in the game today.

James waved the issue away, "He's a fourth year, He can always play after you leave. And you beat him to the snitch. And that wasn't a lucky catch, you've got some impressive skills. Have you played on a team before?"

It would have been tempting to say that he had made his House Team in his first year, the youngest player in a century. It would have been great to say that the only time he had failed to catch the snitch had been when a squadron of Dementors had entered the pitch. It would be nice to say that he had followed in his father's footsteps and become Quidditch captain.

Those were the things he'd love to share with his father. If only to see the man's reaction. He knew he'd be proud, but it was one thing to know it, and another thing to see it on his face.

"No, they didn't have Quidditch at Spellwicks," he said, looking away as he spoke.

"You must be one hell of a natural," James said with a whistle. "But that is no problem. I'm Quidditch Captain this year, so I don't really care about past experience, not when you've got talent."

Harry nodded, "I'll think about, but it sounds good. When do practices start?"

"In a few weeks," James didn't seem too concerned about it.

Harry knew he'd probably be gone by then, the forgetting potion being brewed would make him a distant memory to those present. He smiled, it would probably be a relief for Crane, no newcomer usurping his position.

"Okay," he agreed.

"Excellent, we'll be unstoppable for the cup this year. We've won it the last two, but Ravenclaw has a really good team this year. You saw O'Neil and Fletcher, the two Ravenclaw chasers at the game, imagine them working together. And their seeker is no slouch. Last year I think he caught every snitch, we only won because we'd run up the score past 150...but with good chasers..."

James was really into Quidditch, Harry found he liked him this way. When James was alone, and not worried about impressing Lily, he could be an alright bloke.

James stayed and chatted with him through dinner, and when he left, Harry had a feeling that he was starting to know him better. His father was still immature, still a little foolish, but there were traces of the brave man he would become.

Day: Five

Sunday came and went in a peaceful manner. Harry was starting to think that maybe Sunday should be his new Tuesday. Obviously, considering this whole time travel incident, Tuesdays weren't as uneventful as he may like. Thursdays were holding true, being just as disastrous as they could be. But perhaps Sundays weren't bad. This one certainly wasn't.

Harry enjoyed spending most of his time in the Gryffindor Common Room or the Hogwarts grounds. While not an unknown entity, he was by no means as famous in this time as he was at home. In his time he'd gotten used to the idea that complete stranger seemed to get some joy out of staring at him. It was sort of something he had to deal with at the start of every school year. For the new first years, who had gone to sleep hearing the story of Harry Potter, he seemed a legend made real, sprung to life from their parents' stories.

But here he was just the new kid Harry Tempus. Certainly the new kid who could break the Imperius Curse and who could battle a fully grown Acromantula. How had that story gotten out of hand? But he was still just a normal student.

So as a normal student, Harry spent his normal Sunday walking around the lake and napping under some willow trees. After that short excursion he lost a game of chess to Remus, fought off Lily's attempts for him to do his homework, and chatted seeker strategy with Tobias Crane, who turned out to not be such a bad guy. In other words it was the best day he'd had in a long time. Yep, Sundays were really starting to grow on him.

Perhaps he should have known that it would come to an end when he went to his bed that night and found a hastily scrawled note lying on his pillow.

Another lesson. Tomorrow after dinner.

Sirius.

Day: Six (How many more days can this thing last? Really?)

Monday was met by much grumbling, as all Mondays are. Harry still wasn't sleeping as restfully as he should, but he hadn't had any more disturbing visions since the one that awoken him, so he was quite content. The young time traveler seemed to be a continuing source of pride for Remus, considering he was the only dorm mate that the prefect didn't have to wake from a comatose state. Harry waved at him cheerily, heading for the Great Hall, as Remus once again prodded James with his pillow.

Sitting at the Gryffindor table, Harry was soon greeted by Frank Longbottom, who was also awake, despite the tired look in his eyes. Neville's Dad also drank copious amounts of tea while scratching out a few more sentences for a Defense essay that was due today.

"What does Barten have you writing on?" Harry questioned. He leaned over to try and read but Frank's handwriting was more eligible than Ron's.

"Dark Wizards," Frank said. "I was hoping to draw Grindlewald, something semi recent, ended up with Endend the Strange. As far as evil dark lords go...not the most interesting bloke."

"Yeah," Harry asked. He really hadn't focused on the dead dark wizards, the live ones were giving him enough trouble. "What did he do?"

"Tried to take over the world, or at the very least Surrey," Frank answered.

"He was willing to settle for Surrey?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I guess so," Frank said shrugging. "Aside from that he had all the other dark lord qualifications, minions, lots of destruction, started the Great Fire in London 1666, though there is some dispute that he didn't set it so much as knocked over a candelabra, anyway, Parselmouth– "

Harry choked.

"You alright?" Frank leaned over.

"Yeah just a little, er, juice got caught in my throat. But, what does being a parselmouth have to being a dark lord."

Frank looked pensive, "Don't know, just seems a few of them were. Slytherin, Endend here, and You-know-who as well."

"Yeah but there must have been more paselmouths than just those three. I mean isn't including parselmouth on the list the same as saying that they all had brown hair, and thus brown haired people are evil?" Harry knew the argument was purely self-defensive, if he weren't a parselmouth he probably wouldn't give a hang about how everyone thought they were evil. He might even jump on the bandwagon considering his own altercations with the poster boy of the snake tongued.

Frank seemed thoughtful, "That's a good point," he grinned wolfishly, "I think I'll add that to my essay. Should give me enough to finish this off, thanks."

Harry nodded.

"But I'd be careful, only the dark families seem to like parselmouth, it's a mark of pride to some of the pureblood nutters."

"Really?" Harry asked.

Frank nodded, "You may be right, it may be just a skill, but the old families are really happy if one of their children is one. Of course no one has been in...don't know how long."

"What are you talking about," Lily asked. She and Alice and joined them, both girls quickly looking over the food and piling some on their plates.

"Parselmouths," Frank answered before Harry could steer the conversation elsewhere.

"What's that?" Lily asked. She chewed on a piece of toast as she spoke, she turned to Alice but the other girl seemed just as puzzled.

"It's someone who can talk to snakes," Harry answered simply.

Lily tilted her head, "I didn't know wizards could speak to animals. Is it like a language you can learn?"

Harry shook his head, pulling some of the eggs onto his plate, "No it's a skill that you're usually born with. And parselmouths don't even really notice. It's like you see and snake and the snake is speaking English as far as you're concerned."

Lily hummed, "That sounds great, can other people speak to other animals?"

"Not that I know of," Harry answered.

Frank nodded toward Harry, "But we were talking about how most people think that it is a sign of darkness."

"That's stupid," Lily said. "If you're born with it, that makes it sound like people can be born bad, I don't believe that."

"I don't know," Alice said, "I mean it can't all be based on what happened to you. Look at some of the people who came from good homes and families and did terrible things. My grandmother told me that Grindlewald's family was a good one but he went bad anyway."

"But because of choices he made," Lily pressed on. "He choose to get into dark magic– "

"Exactly," Alice argued, "Why would he choose to become a dark lord if it wasn't already in him to begin with."

Lily huffed, "Well it just sounds stupid to me to think someone is bad just because of a skill they have."

Harry couldn't hide the small grin that lit his features. He quickly tried to pull himself together, "So what classes do we have today?"

"Transfiguration and Herbology for you," Lily answered.

"I'm looking forward to Herbology," Harry said with a grin.

Alice snickered.

Lily seemed somewhat affronted, "Professor Pod really is a very intelligent wizard," she argued.

Harry nodded, "I'm sure."

"He is," she added.

"I agree," Harry said with a grin. He took another bite of some toast while she looked at him through suspicious slitted eyes.

"Did you do the Transfiguration homework," Lily asked.

"What homework," Harry asked, he turned to Frank, "Do you know about any homework."

The seventh year only cocked an eyebrow.

"Why are you being sarcastic today," Lily asked, she spread some strawberry jelly on her own toast.

"Seemed a good day for it," Harry thought reflectively. He'd been doing the math and he couldn't possibly be here much longer. All he had to do was avoid trouble and everything would work out fine. Right?

Harry stared into space for a moment. He had to admit that this was getting somewhat easier. Only a few days ago it seemed as if every sight of his parents sent his heart beating faster. He had been worried that he'd inadvertently say something to excite suspicion. But now he was becoming more comfortable. Lily was a friend, not his mother. James also seemed more like a dorm mate than the teenage version of his father.

A bell rang.

"Let's get to class," Lily said rising to her feet. Harry nodded. Alice kissed Frank before both headed to their own classes, Divination for Alice, Defense for Frank.

When the pair were exiting, they were quickly joined by two others. "Morning Lily," James greeted, falling into step beside her.

Lily suppressed a groan, "Morning."

"Looking forward to Transfiguration?" he asked.

"I suppose so, human transfiguration might be useful."

"What did you think of how the text described it, I thought it seemed more confusing than it is," James pressed on.

"Well, I suppose you're right. When it mentioned the focal factor I was kind of confused, I had to look it up somewhere else." Lily seemed to be checking her bag for her books, forgetting exactly who she was speaking to.

Harry shared a glance with Remus, what exactly was happening? He'd never witnessed James and Lily share more than one sentence before the conversation devolved into an argument.

"My Mom loves Transfiguration so I have some of her texts," James replied, "One is all about focal importance and how to improve," James mentioned.

Lily seemed to pause slightly, "Really, you think maybe I can barrow it. I found one in the library but it must have weighed twenty pounds, and it was middle English I believe."

James nodded, a slight smile on his face, "Yeah sure, Remind me when we're in the Common Room and I'll get it for you."

Lily found herself in an unusual position, "Thanks."

"No problem."

They had reached the Transfiguration classroom, before entering James turned back and gave Harry a smirk and wink.

"It seems he is taking your advice to heart," Remus added.

Harry wasn't exactly certain how he felt about this, he decided the best thing to do was ignore it. He distracted himself by finding a seat and paging through the reading he was supposed to have done the other night. Once again the few months he was ahead of his classmates gave him the advantage. He was fairly familiar with the concepts.

Surprisingly enough James had managed to snag a seat just behind and to the right of Lily. This was quite the achievement considering that in the past Lily had stated that a two-row-thick bubble was required between her and James. Sirius didn't seem very impressed by his friend's progress and stared out the window in a bored way. The young pureblood's mind was focused on something else. Harry wondered if he was thinking about the Imperius lesson that was coming this night after dinner. Their last lesson hadn't shown much progress.

Harry found his mind drifting to thoughts of Sirius more and more as the lesson continued. Mcgonagall was lecturing on human object transfiguration, this included transfiguring whole people into objects and transfiguring parts into objects. Once again the strict professor was focusing on the dangers involved, and such repetition made it easy for his mind to wander.

Why did Sirius need to learn to beat and unforgivable? It was a question that nagged at him no matter how much he tried to put it at rest. He was confidant that teaching Sirius would only be good, as beneath the troublesome prankster lay the heart of a good man. But he still found himself curious. And, why would Sirius have a desire to keep this information hidden from James and Remus? Surely those two could also be in need of such lessons. Whatever the reason, it must have been desperate, Sirius wasn't fond of Harry, to actually ask him for help implied a dire need.

"Could you please demonstrate, Mr. Tempus," Mcgonagall asked, easily piking out the most distracted student and calling on him.

"Er...excuse me professor?" Harry asked.

Mcgonagall drummed her fingers across her arms in an annoyed fashion, "Please demonstrate the spell on page 215, regarding changing the structure of the arm."

Harry nodded, he recalled that spell. "Armenous Tranfigato," he said. He smiled when his flesh stretched and flexed, changing texture and shape, leaving him with an arm that greatly resembled a Beater's Bat.

"That's handy," James said with a grin. He nudged Sirius, "You think someone would be better at playing beater if their hand..."

Up in the front Mcgongall looked like she had swallowed a lemon, "Um, very good Mr. Tempus. Five points to Gryffindor, Now class as you can see the pronunciation and wave movements are very precise, but what is even more important in the focus of mind– "

Harry once again fell into a daze.

It was double Transfiguration and soon the class was broken up and told to work on the spell. Harry had already achieved it so he spent most of class period either staring blankly at his desk or assisting people who asked him. Sirius and James, once again, had no difficulty, Remus and Lily however were a little frustrated.

Despite most of the class's difficulty Mcgongall still seemed very impressed by the successes the class had seen. She was smiling fondly at the class as they left, Harry in particular. The students were also pretty happy, considering she had only assigned homework for those who hadn't achieved the spell, and that had only been to practice.

"Harry you're very good at Transfiguration," Lily said falling into step beside him.

Harry felt a little uncomfortable with taking the credit, his real first attempt hadn't been very impressive, he'd simply already been taught this spell, "Uh, thanks, but it really isn't my best subject," he said looking straight-ahead.

"You have to work on your sense of self worth," James encouraged. He joined the conversation with a bit more confidence himself, feeling slightly rewarded when Lily didn't frown in his direction.

"Herbology later right?," Harry asked, redirecting the conversation.

"Yes," Lily agreed.

"I'm glad I dropped that class," James added. He was surprisingly good at jumping into conversations.

"Why is that," Lily asked archly.

James swallowed, "Because it wasn't my best subject," he said cautiously.

This new James really seemed to be throwing Lily off, "Oh," she was left to say blankly, "Let's get to class Harry," she said rushing forward.

"We have lunch," the time traveler stated.

"Oh...lunch."

Lunch was a rather calm affair, which surprised everyone considering that Lily Evans and James Potter were within hearing distance of the other. Both were still surrounded why their own cadre of friends, but they were still closer then they had ever sat. And to the shock of everyone there wasn't a fight. James seemed content to act largely as if Lily wasn't there, only speaking out to her on issues of homework or interesting books.

Lily seemed very confused about the entire thing, but managed to ignore it as well. She ate her lunch, chatted with Alice. When it was time for her to leave for Herbology, she rose to her feet, Harry, and Alice following her.

As she passed him by James called, "Bye, have a nice class."

Lily stopped, "Bye," she responded dumbly. Not really knowing what else to do.

James gave Harry a wink and a smile as he passed, which Harry wasn't certain how to feel about. He supposed it would be better if his parents got along...but this was too strange. He wanted a nice normal family, he didn't want to be the secret driving force that had gotten his parents together. It was paradoxical and unhealthy. He'd give anything to know that his conception had been the result of one too many firewhiskey. At least that would be normal.

As soon as the redhead left, Harry noticed James turn and begin speaking very animatedly to a rather bored Sirius. Remus gave his friend a nod before following after Harry and Lily.

The young werewolf caught up, "Have we gotten around to any assignments yet in Herbology," he tried to remember.

Lily looked pensive, "I don't think so."

"No one found the list," Harry added.

"Ah yes," Remus nodded.

The greenhouse was rather full of students when the three gryffindors arrived. Alice, who had hurried on ahead, was chatting with someone from Hufflepuff, a girl with brown hair who seemed rather excited about something.

"What's going on," Lily asked once they were close enough.

"Apparently Professor Pod is arranging a field trip for later in the year," Alice answered.

The Hufflepuff girl seemed rather disappointed at the lack of energy, "Not just any trip," she said, "We're going to magical plant and creature preserve on the Isle of Man."

"Are you certain it is a safe idea to travel with Professor Pod," Harry asked.

The girl blinked, "Why ever not?" she asked.

"Never mind," Harry muttered.

It was at that moment that the professor in question entered, his arms full of two rather lurid purple flowers who seemed to talking to each other.

"A ugly bugger of a human you see has six children, them are like seedlings" one the plants said to the other with a deep voice, "And he figures he's got the brightest petals in the row, so he calls his wife "Mother of Six" And she doesn't like it,"

"What's with the human jokes," the other flower complained in a squeaky voice.

"I'm getting to the funny bit," the other flowered complained.

"This is a excellent one," Professor Pod added, nodding his head as he spoke.

"At least someone appreciates me," the flower said.

"Don't get your leaves in a twist," the other squeaked.

"Well one night they go to a party. The male got bored and he wants to know if the female wants to go home."

"How do you tell the males and females apart again," the flower squeaked.

The other flower seemed determined to reach the punch line, "So he shouts at the top of his voice, "Shall we go home, Mother of Six?"" the flower paused for a moment, "And she calls back "Anytime you're ready, Father of Four." You get it?"

Professor Pod chuckled appropriately.

The other flower swayed slightly, "No."

"Not all the seedlings were pollinated by the same bee, understand."

"What is unusual about that?"

"You're hopeless," the one flower decreed.

"I think I'll set you apart for a little bit," Professor Pod decided. He put one of the flower pots beside something that resembled a small palm tree and the other was placed on an overturned bucket. The one on the bucket began to sing,

"There once was a girl from Nantucket

Who crossed the sea in a bucket,

And when she got there

They asked for a fare

So she pulled up her dress and said– "

"Silencio," Professor Pod cast. He smiled warmly at the class, most of whom were snickering as they had managed to complete the rhyme on their own.

"Hello class, All here, excellent, I've taken a pair of Chatty Chrysanthemums from a friend of mine, aren't they lovely." He pointed at the pair of purple flowers, "Unfortunately they've spent too much time exposed to...television." Professor Pod clicked his tongue sadly.

Some of the class looked concerned about the pronouncement but the muggleborns smiled.

"I'm hoping to adapt them back to a more natural environment, normally they sing such," he looked sadly at the one plant, "Such lovely songs...oh well. I happened to find my list the other day when I was repotting the sniggerits, excellent, so we can all choose our projects today."

This was met with much muttering. Ah, the mythical list, spoken of but never seen. Most of the students were happy to once again achieve some focus in the lesson, but there were a few rather disappointed. Their previous class, while pointless, had been somewhat fun. Harry, since he would be leaving in a week or so and abandoning any project he was given, didn't really care. Instead he wondered how long the silencing charm would last on the profane pansy, or whatever it was called, he'd rather enjoyed the joke.

The list was placed on a table that was probably used for potting, there was much dirt on both table and list. However Pod had managed to find a rather cheerful looking inkwell and a poisonous looking green quill.

The eager students quickly hurried to the table, scanning the list and writing their names next to plant they desired to tend during this year of Herbology. Harry wasn't egar and found himself drifting behind the others, indeed finding the last place in line. Lily had, of course, been one of the first to snag a plant. She had chosen something called a Lacy Feral Fern. She had spent the last few moments with Harry, speculating what it would look like.

Once Harry finally reached the list, there wasn't much to pick from. Killing Poisonous Ivy was still an option, but Harry was of a mind that perhaps that was one plant that deserved to go extinct. Flopping Floraids, were also an option, but Harry envisioned some sort of flapping flower that couldn't be nearly as amusing as the perverted posy, what was that thing's name again?

But then he stumbled upon a plant name that sounded quite simple and perhaps interesting without being dull, as almost all plants are. Boa Vine. Harry couldn't understand why no one had chosen it already, it seemed like an interesting plant, and vines couldn't be nearly as difficult to tend as flowers. He printed his name next plant, hastily turning the P for Potter into a T for Tempus.

Professor Pod took the list and began going over it.

He called on students, seemingly at random to discuss their plant and to give them whatever seeds or cuttings were required to get started.

Harry rejoined Remus, Alice and Lily as the Gryffindors chatted about the project.

"What did you choose Remus?" Alice asked.

"Florescent Moss," he said. "I've seen it growing in the woods near my house, it really is nice to look at in the evening."

Alice looked thoughtful, "I don't think I've seen it, but it does sound nice. Much better than mine," she said scrunching her face into one of disapproval. "Tickling Trellis," she pronounced, "I don't know why I choose it, who wants a plant to tickle them?"

Lily laughed, "I like mine, I'm curious what it will look like. We don't have a lot of magical plants growing in the areas around my house."

Alice frowned, "You're lucky, my mother is always having me degnome the garden to protect her precious singing snapdragons."

"What about you Harry?" Remus asked.

"A Boa Vine," Harry answered.

The other three looked at him blankly, "What?" Lily asked.

"A Boa Vine," Harry repeated. He wished they wouldn't start looking at him like that. It was making him worry that he'd chosen something very difficult, it was a bloody vine...how hard could it be?

"I don't remember that one," Remus mentioned with a puzzled expression.

"Me either," Lily agreed. "Are you sure that is what it is?"

Harry nodded, he could understand simple English. "Yeah, I'm surprised no one else took it," he added.

"It does sound interesting," Remus agreed.

"Much better than Tickling Trellis," Alice added.

Lily continued looking pensive.

Eventually as the class dragged on, people began to drift apart. Remus got a small amount of florecent moss, which during the day looking just like regular moss as far as Harry was concerned. Lily was pleased to no end when she managed to see a picture of the fern she was going to grow, and a little more disappointed when she received her spore and was told that through mitosis it would become a gametophyte, which would be an amazing accomplishment. Apparently it took fifty years for Lacy Feral Fern to reach adulthood. Alice was coming around to her Tickling Trellis, which turned out to be blue and fluffy.

When Harry's turn came, Professor Pod called him forward with a bit of excitement.

"So you chose this plant did you, Excellent excellent" the friendly professor said. He was digging through a trunk of sorts, turning and looking at Harry periodically and gesturing with his eyebrows.

"Er, yeah," Harry said, "Sir is there something odd about a Boa Vine?"

"Oh, you know what it is, excellent. Then you may very well be the best person for it. A friend of mine, very accomplished botanist, managed to raise a specimen to this level, but I'm afraid he didn't have the particular talent needed to really make it grow." Professor Pod reached deep into the trunk and pulled out a small terra cotta pot, with what looked like a short stick emerging from the dirt.

Harry was less than impressed, "That's it."

"Yes," Professor Pod said excitedly, "He did an excellent job didn't he. Took him two years of constant attention to get it to this level."

Harry looked at the stick again.

"But I daresay you'll have much more luck," Professor Pod smiled and winked in his direction.

"Umm, why is that?" Harry wondered. The batty professor couldn't imagine that Harry had a green thumb? Sure he did his share of gardening for the Durselys but it wasn't exactly his best skill.

"Well because you're a parselmouth my dear boy," Pod said excitedly.

Harry felt a wild urge to clamp his hand over the man's mouth. Hadn't he just been discussing parselmouths this morning. Had word spread that he was defending snake speakers.

"I'm not," he argued hastily.

"Of course you are," Professor Pod said with a negligent wave of his hand, "If you weren't you wouldn't be able to read the name of the plant."

Harry paused, "What are you talking about it is written in plain English."

"No my dear boy it is written in plain Parselspeak, a written form of snake language. Not invented by snakes my dear boy, I imagine it would be very difficult for them to hold a quill." Pod paused for a moment and giggled, as if he really were imagining snakes writing letters, he snapped out of it with a jerk, " No invented by other parselmouths as a way to communicate only to each other. I dutifully copied down this plant's parselspeak name and you managed to read it."

Harry grew still, "Don't tell anyone about this," he said harshly.

Professor Pod seemed to break out of his chipper attitude for a moment, "It is nothing to be ashamed of my boy."

"Tell that to the school of people who will demonize me if they find out," Harry muttered.

Pod reached out an patted the boy's shoulder, "I have no wish to out your secret my boy. I'm only excited that I have the chance to grow this plant in a proper environment. You see you need to speak to it, or with it I suppose. Excellent eh?"

Harry thought if the man said the word excellent one more time he was going to bash in his skull with this excellent little plant. Harry looked down at the grubby little stick, "Talk to it?"

"Yes, my chum kept it in a cage with snakes, that is how it grew as well as it did. But I'm afraid that on their own snakes aren't the most conversational bunch, apparently. Oh but then you'd know more than I."

"Keep it down," Harry directed.

Pod flashed a grin that wasn't comforting, "Well, either way Mr. Tempus, I've provided a book about this plant with some suggestions on how to take care of it. I'll have to ask that you keep it with you nearby, it seems to do better when it has a connection to the witch or wizard tending it."

Harry nodded, taking the book and the stick from the Herbology professor with a curt nod.

"Good luck," the man called as Harry turned around. "This is excellent, just excellent."

Once Harry returned to his peers, he shoved the pot into his bag, paying the stick no attention.

The others seemed to read his disappointment and chose to stay silent.

Their remaining classmates came up and discussed things with the batty professor, and the other Gryffindors chatted about classes and gossip, but Harry couldn't get up the energy to worry about it. The little twig in his bag seemed to be an unwelcome weight. It wasn't that he was ashamed of what he was. At home his parselmouth status was well known and he really didn't care what people had to say about it. As far as he was concerned it was just a somewhat useful skill, and hey, snakes were pretty agreeable once you knew the language.

Yet, somehow the idea of public vilification seemed to be a little much. Wasn't he already under enough pressure? Now he had to rely on the circumspection of a...Harry glanced over at Professor Pod, the man was leaping about demonstrating the correct procedure for dancing with a Leaping Lily. Yes...he had nothing to worry about at all.

After class was over Lily and Remus left for Ancient Runes, or was it Arithmancy? Either way Harry wasn't taking it and had the rest of the afternoon free. Feeling a little tired he decided hide away in his dorm until dinner and then his lesson with Sirius.

He unpacked his books, leaving the boa vine sitting unhappily on his bedside table.

"So, you like parselmouths," he addressed the plant. "You're probably the only one."

There wasn't any response, was he speaking in parseltongue.

"Hello," he tried again, this time thinking of a serpent. There was no response from the little plant.

"I tried," he declared. With a yawn he allowed himself to settle back on his bed, the late afternoon sun blocked by his curtains. It wasn't long before he was asleep.

In a few hours time when Harry stirred, he felt an odd scratchy feeling around his wrist.

He pulled his arm roughly, jerking away from whatever was wrapping around him.

"You're moving," something seemed to say.

"Yeah..." Harry was rather disoriented. Most of the sun had set it seemed and his tower dorm room was murky with shadow.

"A speaker," the voice said with some excitement.

Harry had heard that sort of phrase before. Like when he walked into pet shops, the reptile section to be precise.

"Lumos," he cast, allowing his wand to lite the gloom.

A rather vibrant green vine seemed to be twining from his bed side table, curling up and around his bed and settling near where his arm had been.

Harry gazed at the plant in shock.

"You can talk," he found himself saying.

"Yes," the vine replied.

"How did you get so big," he asked the plant.

"You spoke to me," the vine stated.

Harry noted that while sentient, the plant didn't seem to have much emotion. Which was perhaps a good thing. He really didn't want a temper tantrum from his Herbology assignment.

"So you can grow when I speak to you? Why is that?" He looked at the vine in some amazement, as he spoke to it the plant did seem to be growing, moving smoothly along his bedcovers as if it really were a snake.

"I do not know," the vine said. "I want to grow."

Harry remembered the book that Professor Pod had provided. He leaned over the bed, fumbling in his bag to try and find the slender little notebook. He finally fished it out, it was small black book with the word Boa Vine written in a curling script. Harry opened the first page with some curiosity.

That curiosity quickly died. The book was written like some herbologist's diary, it was filled with inane details about fertilizer, pruning and magical pests. It didn't seem to offer any reason why the Boa Vine seemed to like growing around parselmouths. Harry tossed to book aside, looking at the plant with narrowed eyes.

"You couldn't grow away from my bed could you?"The creeping vine was spreading across his mattress at an alarming rate.

"Yes," the vine said. But 'said' was perhaps the wrong word to use, Harry couldn't see a mouth, the noise itself seemed to come from the sliding of the vine against itself, it must have produced a slight hissing sound that for a parselmouth mimicked speech. But then how could it hear?

Yet the vine could listen, at Harry's words the plant had moved from his bed and was now slowly twining up the sides and resting contentedly along his canopy.

Great, Harry thought to himself, now I'm living in a greenhouse.

In his annoyance Harry glanced at the clock.

"Bollox," he cursed in English. At least he hoped it was English. It was already past six-thirty and he had promised to met up with Sirius and Professor Barten after dinner. Which should be about now. He jumped from his bed.

"Where are you going," the vine seemed to ask.

"I..I have class, I'll be back," he responded.

Harry ran out of the empty tower and decided to head straight for the Defense professor's office. He only passed a few students in the halls, most it seemed were at dinner. Which was really where he would rather be. His stomach seemed to grumble in complaint. Well, it couldn't be helped. He'd promised to help Sirius and that was what he was going to do.

If only he knew how.

Professor Barten was once again grading essays when Harry arrived. The Defense Professor certainly seemed fond of assigning homework. He had also shed his robes and was dressed as a muggle. It was unusual to see a professor dressed as such, perhaps that was what made Harry feel more comfortable in his presence. Maybe it had just been the previous lesson that had eased some of the tension. Maybe it was simply because it had been a few days since Harry had thrown the man across a room. Either way he felt better about this than he had before.

Sirius was close on his heels tonight, if Harry felt better, Sirius definitely seemed to feel worse. He entered the class room with his face set in a tight line. He took a seat not bothering to speak to Harry or look at him.

"Evening Professor," Sirius said moodily to Barten.

"Both here," the professor said looking up. The man's dark hair had been pulled back some, allowing them to see his angular face a little better. Two slender scars marred his cheek, they weren't noticeable when the man's chin length hair blocked the sides of his face.

"Shall we get right to it?" He rose from his feet a little stiffly.

Sirius also rose, his own steps looking more like he was on his way to an execution, "Can we not be asking about pranks tonight," he questioned with a stern expression.

"I think, as evidenced from last time that you do better when threatened with something unpleasant," Barten said, eyeing the young man with those annoyingly observant eyes.

"Just to start out," Sirius argued.

Barten nodded, he turned to Harry, "Any other advice Mr. Tempus?"

Harry was left without much to say, "Just fight against the voice in your head and remember that the spell isn't real. I mean it doesn't have any more control over you than you let it have."

"Well put Mr. Tempus," Barten said before turning back to Sirius. "Imperio."

Tonight's lesson seemed to be an exercise in futility. Sirius's ability to withstand the curse hadn't improved at all since their last lesson. Nor did he seem to be improving at all tonight. Each time it seemed to take only a moment before the pureblood succumbed to whatever the Professor wanted him to do. And Sirius was obviously growing more and more upset with each failed attempt. His hair, usually rather polished, seemed to have grown disheveled. His face was red and he wiped his sweaty forehead angrily. He refused to look Harry in the eye, despite asking for the young time traveler's help, he didn't seem to want to hear any of the advice Harry was giving. After each failed attempt, Sirius would merely move back to a fighting stance and say, "Again."

Eventually Professor Barten seemed to be eying Sirius with more and more trepidation. After the tenth or so attempt, he seemed hesitant to continue.

"Again," Sirius repeated. His eyes seemed to glow with some sort of obsession.

"One more time," Barten allowed, speaking as if his actions were done without his better judgement.

"Imperio."

Harry watched as once again Sirius fought vainly to stop the curse, but as before his actions were futile. He seemed to stutter for a moment before listing off a litany of successful pranks.

Harry sighed. Once the spell was lifted Sirius seemed to stare ahead stonily, his feeling of failure almost palpable.

"Thanks Professor," Sirius ground out through clenched teeth. Once again the young man left the room without saying a word to Harry.

"Bye," Harry called.

Once again, for no reason whatever, Harry found himself chasing after Sirius. He didn't know why he was so determined to talk to him. Perhaps it was because it seemed like this mattered so much to his godfather, and yet Sirius didn't have anyone to confide in. Perhaps it was because, that while this Sirius and his godfather weren't really the same people...well Harry had turned to Sirius when he'd really needed someone. Maybe he just couldn't back away when Sirius obviously needed a shoulder to lean on.

"Hey, wait up," Harry called.

Sirius stopped dead, turning around to face Harry, his face furious, "What do you want," he said harshly.

Harry paused, "Eh, so that was rough?"

Sirius reached out and grabbed Harry's collar, he tugged him roughly, jerking him into a wall, "I don't need to hear from you Tempus," he yelled angrily. His voice pounding down, however the way his hands were shaking, Harry wasn't certain that Sirius wasn't avoiding hitting him.

"Calm down," Harry found himself saying.

"Calm how can I be calm!" Sirius ranted. He released Harry and backed away, "Anyone can go ordering me about like a little toy solider, why should I be calm?"

Harry watched Sirius's back, "Why do you need to learn this?" he asked.

Sirius pulled away, "It's none of your business."

Harry was starting to feel angry now, "Hey you pulled me into this, You wanted my help. I'm trying to help you but if you won't tell me why..."

"Yeah, help me, sure. How would you know how to help me, you could fight this on your first try." Sirius pulled away, moving towards the Common Room.

"Hey," Harry called, he ran after Sirius, running until he stood before him, blocking his path. "I might not be able to help you, yeah, but at least I'm trying."

"Trying!" Sirius yelled. The pureblood seemed to realize that they were being loud in a popular corridor, any Gryffindor could stumble upon them when returning to the Common Room. "Come here," he turned to the left and muttered some sort of password to a portrait. Harry recognized it as the secret passage that led to the third floor.

"I am trying," Sirius said as he slammed the portrait behind Harry.

"If you were really trying you'd let me know why this is so important, then maybe I could really help you." Now that they were alone Harry felt free to let his own frustration vent.

"What does that have to do with it," Sirius said defensively.

Harry sighed, "Look, wanting to learn a spell when the pressure is really on, well it makes it even harder."

Sirius scoffed, raising his eyebrows, "Yeah and when have you ever had a spell you needed to learn and couldn't."

Suddenly Harry's impressive class record was working against him, he paused for a moment. "Look," he paused again. Harry knew that he and this Sirius weren't friends, normally he wouldn't discuss this with just any classmate, he had trouble talking to Ron and Hermione about this...but be couldn't see any other way of talking to Sirius. Because whether the pureblood wanted to be friends or not, a friend might be what he needed right now.

"Do you know what your boggart is?" Harry asked randomly.

Sirius seemed annoyed but answered anyway, "Yeah."

"Mine is a Dementor," Harry said. Sirius looked a little surprised at this revelation. "I can't stand them, whenever they get near me...well I sort of have a bad reaction. I black out, I... I hear my parents before they die. My mum screaming..."

Sirius was still, it was rather dark in the secret passage and Harry couldn't read his reaction.

"Well I wanted to learn the charm that drove them away, conjuring a Patronus. I went for lesson a couple days a week for, it must have been months. And I never seemed to get anywhere. My professor said I was making progress, but it was never good enough. It seemed like every time I went to cast my spell, a part of me would freeze up."

"What happened," Sirius asked.

Harry shrugged, "I finally figured out that the reason I couldn't cast the spell was the same reason why I wanted to cast it in the first place. A part of me really wanted to hear my parents. Even if it was something so terrible. I guess I was thinking too much on the reasons why I did or didn't want the spell to work, that I didn't focus just on the spell."

Sirius was still standing stiffly, but he hadn't interrupted.

"Maybe you're to worried about why you need to learn to break this curse, that you can't focus just on that. I can tell you've got the will, maybe you just are caught in so much other shite that it gets pushed down."

Sirius seemed unable to say anything to that.

"I know I'm not your friend, and maybe you don't want to tell me. But talk to someone about it eh? It might help you figure out why you want this so badly."

Sirius nodded.

Harry turned to leave, he began to push against the portrait back when he heard Sirius behind him.

"I..." Sirius paused, "My family. I don't want to be like them. But this spell...if I can't break it. What if they make me like them anyway?"

Harry turned back. "I don't know your family," he lied, "But if you don't want to be like them, you won't be." With a nod to the boy behind him he stepped through the portrait hole, leaving a quiet Sirius Black in the dark.

James yawned tiredly. He had stayed up later than he'd planned. Sirius seemed to have ditched them all once again. Something that had him a little nervous. Sirius tended to be a bit reckless when he was on his own. James hoped that his friend hadn't once again snuck into the Slytherin Common Room alone. That was dangerous preposition at the best of times. Look what they had done to Peter.

James found himself looking over absently at a chair that, until a few minutes ago, had housed Lily Evans. His thoughts often drifted to her. Although he didn't really know why. She was pretty, sure, but there were other pretty girls. And there were doubtlessly girls that were less work. He'd spent all day following Tempus's advice, 'talking' to Lily about 'her interests'. Truth be told he only really knew that she was interested in school, so he'd confined his topics to that. But even that hadn't seemed to work well. True Lily hadn't really yelled at him or tried to slap him but she wasn't warming up to him either. She seemed to watch him suspiciously, his every comment analyzed before she'd offer a response.

He sighed, yep that was how a guy wanted to court a girl. He should listen to Sirius and give her up, still...there was something about her. He couldn't deny it. Out of all the girls he'd ever met there was something about her that seemed to draw his attention. Any girl he met was always compared to her, and each and every one seemed somehow lacking.

Sirius said that would change once he shagged her. Sirius seemed to like to think that his fascination with Lily was because he couldn't have her. And indeed she was one of the few girls who didn't seem interested, James smiled at that thought. And maybe Sirius would know. He was the one with more experience. While James had a few girlfriends when he was younger, his sum total of 'sexual experiences' was comprised of a girl he'd met while he and his parents had vacationed in Spain the previous summer. And even she had been a redhead.

The Common Room was emptying and still there was no sign of Sirius. Remus, ever the early riser, was already headed to bed, Peter had followed. Tempus had returned just before curfew and played a game of chess with Frank Longbottom before also going to the dorm. He was sort of a weird bloke, smart, but you never saw him with a book. Or doing homework. Not that James really did much homework either, but he did do some. Tempus treated the idea of assignments as if they were optional.

James looked at the clock, curfew had come and gone some time ago, and still no Sirius, but that wasn't really a surprise. They could all maneuver their way through the halls well enough to not be caught. James smiled, curfew was the sort of thing that lessor mortals worried about, not the Marauders.

The portrait hole opened and James was able to relax when he spotted his best friend. His expression changed however when he noticed how Sirius was acting. James had sort of been hoping that his friend had gotten together with another girl, but Sirius's walk lacked any sort of strut. Nope, not a girl.

"Hey," James greeted.

Sirius plopped into a chair beside James, he worried his lips a bit, rubbing his hands together.

"Where were you?" James asked, worrying that his fears might well be justified.

Sirius shrugged before looking at his friend, "I...I've been asking for special lessons from Barten," he confessed.

James looked at him surprised, that had been the last thing he'd been expecting, "What?" he managed to say.

Sirius leaned back in his chair, "Yeah, lessons to try and break the Imperius Curse," he said. He looked into the fire as he spoke and James knew he shouldn't treat this lightly.

"What happened," he asked. Not knowing why he phrased it like that.

But it seemed to be the right question, "I had a bad summer," he explained.

James nodded, "I know."

Sirius looked up, "I guess they've been bad the last few years." The pureblood seemed to have stolen James's gesture, he ran a hand through his hair sending the normally tidy locks into some disarray.

"Yeah, that's an understatement," James agreed.

The Common Room was pretty empty now, still Sirius looked around uncomfortably. Only a few seventh years were present, finishing some homework for their NEWT year. Sirius seemed to watch them closely before continuing, "I sort of ran away, I left and I don't think I'm ever gonna go back" he said.

"Why didn't you tell me," James asked feeling guilty, although he didn't know why.

"I didn't want you or your Mum or Dad to feel sorry for me, I didn't want make it a big deal. I just wanted to come over like usual. I didn't want to have to tell you the horrible things my parents said. I..." Sirius trailed off.

"You're my best mate," James stated, "I wouldn't have cared. You know I think your parents are a bunch of nutters, your Mum especially."

"How could I tell you that I had to leave my home or else they would have made me join up with..." Sirius broke off, unable to finish saying what he'd started. He balled his hands into fists as he spoke, yet seemed afraid to see James's reaction.

"I don't care," James pressed on, his face had gone a little pale but his resolution hadn't changed. "My Mum and Dad are ready to adopt you right now, they always have been. I think My Mum likes you better than me."

Sirius laughed a little at that, "Well you can't blame her can you?"

"So these lessons?" James asked.

Sirius shrugged, he turned back to the fire again, "I don't know. When Barten cast the spell on us in class, I thought I'd be able to break it."

"You did better than me," James argued.

"I still did what he said," Sirius pointed out. "I can't stand the fact that my parents could just cast this on me and I'd do whatever they wanted."

"You don't seriously think they'd..."

Sirius's look was enough to send James into silence.

"Bugger," he cursed softly, "I didn't know it was that bad..."

Sirius tried to pull away, "I don't know, maybe they wouldn't...maybe they don't care enough with Regulus dancing to their tune...I just, I always knew I'd do what I wanted. The fact that this curse takes all that away. It scares the shit out of me." Sirius swallowed, almost unable to believe he'd managed to put it into words like that. He'd been trying to figure out, ever since he'd failed to break the curse in class, why he felt this gnawing sort of feeling in his gut.

"How have the lessons been going," James asked. He had leaned forward some while Sirius was speaking, now he was sitting as near to his friend as their separate chairs would allow.

"Terrible," Sirius said with a laugh. "I even got Tempus to help," Sirius added.

"Really?" James said in surprise, he knew that Sirius didn't exactly like the new transfer. He paused, "Maybe. Well, maybe next lesson I could come along eh? I mean I need the practice too."

Sirius seemed shocked at the offer, although he knew he probably shouldn't be.

"Yeah, that would be nice," he said, although he didn't know why.

James nodded.

Somehow, sitting together in the silence, Sirius felt better than he had in a long time. He found himself remembering why he and James were such good friends, found himself wondering why he'd been so ashamed to let his best mate in on the horror of his family.

"Yeah, next time I'll go and then we'll both learn how to break it and become amazing Aurors."

Sirius nodded, finding himself unable to say anything for a moment, "How'd it go tonight with Lily," he finally managed to say.

James seemed to cringe but smiled at the same time, "Well, better than usual I suppose, first..."

Sirius allowed himself to lean back while his friends lapsed into another monologue concerning the wonder known as Lily Evans. Nothing seemed to please James more than speaking about her and tonight Sirius allowed it, not really paying much attention, just smiling while his friend rambled on about their nonexistent connection and 'deepening relationship'. Sirius couldn't help the small chuckle as he listened to James excitedly provide the step-by-step account of giving Lily his mother's transfiguration book. James seemed to see it as amazing progress, sure sign that Tempus's advice was working.

James continued speaking, but Sirius found his thoughts drifting to Harry Tempus. That didn't happen often, he'd pretty much decided to dislike the boy...case closed. Still, it had to be said that on more than a few occasions, the new student had provided advice that was surprisingly good.

As Sirius enjoyed his current contentment, he found himself wondering just who Harry Tempus was.

avataravatar
Next chapter