Stirring the Castle's Pot

The Weasleys were at the castle gate talking with Remus, the 'new' rules meant this was as far as Bill could go. Their conversation was loudly interrupted by one Harry Potter.

"Hey Moony, how are you? Padfoot wants to know if you managed to liberate a certain piece of parchment from Filch's office yet?"

Remus was laughing, "Morning Harry and Hermione, give me a break. I've not had time."

"But Moony, Padfoot said you guys were the best. Surely you don't need the son of Prongs and his wife to show you how it's done?" Harry's voice changed down a few octaves, "My father worked on that and I want it, there is so little left to remind me of him."

Hermione's entire attention was on a pair of twins who were currently trying to give the impression of not hanging on every word spoken and failing miserably. Both of them were staring at each other with expressions that were easy to read, having been caught completely off guard.

The twin's position had left the Potters in a quandary. As far as they were concerned Molly, Percy and Ron were all black and white cases while the rest of the family were cloaked in varying shades of grey, in their original timeline Fred had already been dead before the Weasley betrayal took place. George had been in the courtroom and, while he didn't speak in their defence, he certainly didn't say anything against them either. For all they knew, George could quite possibly never have spoken another word since his twin died fighting that night.

This was an opportunity for them to make the first move, they'd dangled the 'marauder's' carrot in front of them to see if they would offer up the map. They'd given it to Harry in his third year before they knew the marauders identities, it was now up to them whether they approached the couple or not.

Harry added some sweetener, "I assume you are Bill Weasley, I would like to offer our apologies on you losing your job over this. It really isn't fair considering you weren't even in the country at the time, I offered the same apology to your father before we left the Leaky Cauldron."

Ron just couldn't resist, "I'll bet you did Potter, arrange for them to lose their jobs so you can buy our house out from under us!"

Harry did well to resist killing the bastard there and then, the only thing stopping him was that it would be too quick. He didn't need a masters in divination to see that there was going to be suffering in Ronald Weasley's future. "That would be a very Slytherin thing to do, wouldn't it? Since my wife and I are both Gryffindors it would appear the hat sorted you into the correct house after all."

Ron looked ready to explode at Harry's comment but Bill's glare held him in check before the eldest Weasley brother accepted Harry's apology.

"See you later Moony, tell Hagrid we'll be down some time this week for a visit." The couple headed off leaving Ron and Percy furious while the other three redheads were deep in thought, though for different reasons.

....

All noise stopped as the Potters entered the great hall and headed straight for Neville, they had discussed what might happen on their return and were pretty confident of their predictions.

Dumbledore would act all serene, as if a couple of first years returning to school was not something a man of his importance needed to concern himself with. They were also pretty sure 'turban Tom' was going to sit back and allow them to do as much damage as they could, it was all good in his book. The doppelganger though was unaware that the Potters had already read the book and were changing its ending. The chances of Snape being serene or sitting back were so low you would need an electron microscope to catch a glimpse of them, the Potters weren't wrong about any of the trio.

Dumbledore and Quirrell were still at the staff table while Snape was hurriedly making his way toward them, his cloak action was impressive.

Emma had asked why they were going after Snape if he was on their side, it didn't take any thought on Harry's part to provide an answer. "His last act led directly to me walking alone into the forest to die, part of me wonders if he died happy knowing that. He may have been on our side but that doesn't change the fact that he was and is an unmitigated bastard who revelled in his role of punishing us just a bit too much for keeping up appearances sake. While we don't necessarily want him dead, we certainly don't want him as part of our lives in any way, shape or form. Dumbledore falls into the same category, he's an obstacle that will try to block our path so needs to be removed."

Snape was now standing directly behind the boy, "Potter, I really don't appreciate the lies you spread about me in the newspaper. I demand an apology, with a full retraction to be printed before the week is out."

Harry stood slowly and turned to face the professor, comforted by the knowledge that Hermione had his back covered. "Professor, I don't appreciate the fact that a marked death eater not only escaped Azkaban, but is now working in an educational establishment. The headmaster said he trusted you and that was all it took for your freedom while my godfather languished in that awful place without even a trial. Just what is your 'special relationship' with the headmaster that drove him to save your arse? Did you know Gellert Grindelwald was also a 'special friend' of his? It would appear our headmaster has a taste for the dark side."

Severus was calling on all his years of experience not to strike this little bastard down where he stood, only McGonagall appearing at his side tilted the balance. He was well aware she wanted him out the castle, without Dumbledore's protection and Slughorn coming to Hogwarts, one more mistake would see him kicked out. He stormed out the hall, nearly bowling over the returning Weasleys. One sight of the youngest redhead wearing Slytherin robes almost pushed him over the edge, "Detention with me tonight Weasley, we set a higher standard in Slytherin house, and wearing our breakfast on our robes is unacceptable."

Albus was stunned by the knowledge Harry possessed, he was sure the number of people who knew that particular piece of information about him and Gellert could be counted on the fingers of one hand. He was pleased to see Minerva ask the boy some questions as he, like the rest of the hall, participated in the latest form of Hogwarts entertainment, Potter watching.

.....

Can't wait to read more exciting chapters then what are you waiting for Join my patreon right now.

Get 30+ Premium chapters.

2+ FREE ADVANCED CHAPTERS FOR ALL FREE MEMBERS.

Link: p*atreon.com/Earthly_Writer (Remove the *)