Chapter 13

With the larger number of students at Hogwarts during his parents' time many of professors had assistants or some even split teaching responsibilities such as in Defense. While Professor Balaz was physically tough on them in class, out of class they rarely had essays; usually they just had to read up on spell theories.

Professor Mutton however taught the fourth through seventh years the majority of the time and more than on one occasion Harry caught Frank groaning about the work load the professor assigned. Some of the other teachers however refused to have a second person teaching their students so they usually just had an assistant to help grade homework or to help with lagging students.

McGonagall was one of the teachers who insisted on teaching all of her own classes, but her assistant was a young blond haired woman named Lisa Turner. Harry could see why many of the older boys found her attractive, but her annoying habit of chewing on her bottom lip drove him up the wall, he wasn't sure why but it was aggravating. Her ability to drive McGonagall mad with just a few words however gave her some value in Harry's eyes. Besides Turner, he had yet to meet any of the other teachers' assistances owing to the fact that they usually helped only during the older years.

It wasn't long before Harry fell into a comfortable routine at Hogwarts, he could even say that he was happy within his new house. His roommates had become tentative friends, or as Regulus referred to them in private 'political allies'. Yaxley in particular Harry enjoyed for his interesting comments and sharp tongue. Every day he'd get up eat breakfast with Regulus and Abigail, say hello to a few people, ignore some people, and then head off to classes. After classes were finished for the day he'd meet the marauders out by the lake and fool around for a bit before returning to the castle for supper. Then he and Regulus would head to the library to finish their homework, on occasion with Remus or Lily. The youngest Black had instantly taken a liking to the two third years.

He still couldn't stand Peter. In all honesty the boy wasn't as bad as he figured he would have been. True he was clingy and he practically worshiped the ground Sirius and James walked on, but he had not changed into the rat Harry knew in the future. Perhaps you could say that the boy was still innocent or Pettigrew simply felt protected at Hogwarts, but whatever it was Harry could not totally hate the boy. Dislike him enough to think about injuring him…yes, but actually killing him…no. Afternoons with the Marauders were both enjoyable and torturous. Each day tested his restrain, but luckily for the small mousey boy Harry was making extreme strides in keeping his brutal thoughts in check.

The Sirius and James might have thought his behavior towards the fourth Marauder a tad bit odd but they never questioned him about it, and as for Peter the boy seemed to like Harry perfectly well. The fact that those three hadn't questioned his behavior drew him into a sense of comfort that was broken when Remus cornered him in the library one afternoon.

&Flashback&

"Harry you seem a bit jumpy around Peter. Did you happen to have a run in with him or something?"

Harry paused as he reached for a book on the shelf and turned to the werewolf.

"No…why do you ask?"

Remus' eyes narrowed significantly in disbelief, "Don't lie to me Harry, I can tell that you have something against Peter. I'm just curious as to what."

Green eyes narrowed in frustration, "Do I have to have a reason to dislike a person? Haven't you ever simply just disliked someone simply because they rubbed you the wrong way?"

"Peter rubs you the wrong way?" eyebrows rose in surprise.

"Yes. I can't put my finger on it, but all my instincts are screaming for me to not trust him. He hasn't done anything for me to be wary of him…yet, but my instincts have saved my skin more than a few times."

Remus looked slightly uncomfortable, "Peter is decent, a bit on the shy side, but I've known him for two years now and he is practically a brother to me. Just…" he paused and stared directly into Harry's eyes, "don't judge him too harshly until you give him a chance to show his worth."

Harry quickly looked away not being able to stand the look in Remus' eyes. Remus in the future had practically been his surrogate father after Sirius died, and having his eyes bore into him with that pleading look tore him to his soul.

"I can't promise anything Remus, but I'll try to give Peter a chance."

The slightly tired face brightened and gave a wide smile.

&END&

Since that day he had made an immense effort to get to know the nervous boy, and he came to find something important. He did not like Peter Pettigrew at all. Even without his prejudice from the future Pettigrew still grated on his nerves; Harry wouldn't trust him as far as he could physically throw the rat. He was relieved to find that Regulus shared his view on Pettigrew, actually most of the third year Slytherins and some of the Ravenclaws absolutely despised him. If it wasn't for the fact that he hung around the Marauders he would be pushed around savagely not with out mirth of course. There was more than a few times that Harry caught Snape glaring at the Marauders, and Peter in particular. What Pettigrew could have done was beyond him…he hadn't really shown any value when it came to magic or wits, but Peter did like to sit around and mock the Marauders' victims.

Shockingly Snape had even said a civil word, actually two words to Harry after the third week of school. Ok, maybe 'excuse me' isn't impressive, but coming from Snape it was simply amazing. Actually Harry hadn't caught the pallid boy glaring at him in about a week's time also, something which was beginning to make him uncomfortable.

Harry walked into the library and made his way over to the table where they usually sat. With a frown he took a seat and started to unpack his books while looking around. Regulus had decided to stay in the common room and play gob stones with the Lestrange brothers so Harry had headed to the library alone. He had expected to find Lily and Remus already there, but they were nowhere in sight.

Sighing he pulled out his transfiguration essay and began to finish up the small amount he had left.

"Hello Harry."

The green eyed boy looked up quickly and pasted a pleasant smile on his face.

"Hey Lily! Where's Remus?"

The red head frowned suddenly in a bit of worry before speaking, "hospital wing, something about a stomach virus. I just took him his homework."

Harry nodded his acceptance before turning back to his essay in apparent concentration.

"You know…if it wasn't for the fact that you look so much like Potter I would think that you were Remus' cousin instead."

Grinning he gave her a cheeky wink and then ran his hand through his hair in a very familiar way.

Lily gave a slight laugh rolling her eyes, "Never mind."

"What about you Lily, do you have any cousins?"

Harry leaned forward in interest and stared at the girl.

In a very swift and matter-of-fact voice she answered the proposed question.

"No, my mother was an only child and my father's siblings died before they had children. I think my father has some distant cousins, but I am not so sure about my mother."

"That's interesting. What's your mother's maiden name?"

"Shostak." Lily pushed her red locks behind her ears before slowly twirling her pointer finger through its mass clearly thinking.

She gave a small smile before looking at the younger boy.

"What about you Harry? What are your parents like?"

Harry gave a small smile, "I really don't know…from what I've heard however they must have been simply amazing. Supposedly I look like my dad and received my quidditch skills from him also. My mum however was absolutely beautiful…I've always been told that I am more like them than I'll ever know."

At his wistful voice Lily gave a small frown.

"You've been told? Oh." She quickly diverted her gaze back to her homework.

"Yes, they died before I ever knew them."

"I…I'm sorry to hear that." Lily finally stuttered out, paling slightly.

"It's fine. While I can never replace the real thing, my family has been good to me."

"The Potters?"

"Yeah. Mary and Harold are great! They're a really nice couple. Getting to know them and James this summer was great. I don't have any siblings of my own, so meeting James was odd, but nice. I quite like the idea of having an older brother. Do you have any siblings?" Harry said sincerely looking over at Lily in curiosity. While he knew that Lily did have, well Petunia, he was curious about how she felt about her.

Lily sat up straighter and her lips tightened in a remarkable impression of McGonagall.

"One. Petunia is older." She said stiffly turning away slightly.

Harry gave a small smile while raising his eyebrows, "Ah."

Lily looked at him in return, "Ah?"

"You two don't get along?"

Instantly she stopped fiddling with her hair and cupped her chin in thought, "Not particularly."

Harry wrote a few more lines on his essay before asking, "Is she a muggle?"

Guarded green eyes turned to regard him uneasily.

"Yes she is," she paused for a moment, "why?"

"Idle curiosity," he said smoothly before looking up, "She must be jealous of you."

Lily looked at the boy sharply in surprise, "What?"

"She. Is. Jealous." He said slowed and clearly as if he was speaking to a person hard of hearing.

"I heard you!" she said in annoyance, "But why would you say that?"

"Obvious isn't it? The only people here who don't like you are the bigoted blood purists, and some jealous Ravenclaws. Obviously she has the same blood as you, so therefore she must be jealous of you."

"That's very odd reasoning you have there Harry, besides why would anyone be jealous of me?" Lily asked with a bit of a blush.

Harry pushed his essay away and leaned back in his chair to stare at the young teenager.

"Well besides the obvious…I've heard that you are the most brilliant witch of your generation. Something of a charms genius from what I've heard, or was Flitwick having delusions?"

The girl's blush immediately deepened and she became absorbed in her book, occasionally shooting Harry glances.

"Yes…well Petunia," She began quietly but was cut off by a cheerful shout.

"Harry there you are! Oh, hello Lily!" Abigail happily took a seat next to the young Slytherin ignoring the fact that he had a slight scowl plastered to his face.

"Where's Regulus?" Abigail asked looking around the library. Harry with a vague curiosity wondered if she was about to check under the table when Lily spoke again, "Hello Abigail, how are you?"

"Very fine thanks and you?" The Hufflepuff asked still looking around.

The red head looked back to her homework before answering, "Excellent."

"Well where is he?"

Harry gave a mental sigh before turning to the brown haired girl, "He's playing a game in the common room."

Two honey brown eyes immediately narrowed in on his face, "Why didn't you join him?"

He gave a swift smile before answering, "The Lestrange brothers."

"I take it you aren't fond of them then." Lily stated in a neutral voice.

"Something like that."

Luckily neither girl noticed that his smile had turned a bit vicious.

Abigail looked curious, "Why don't you associate with them?"

Harry shrugged and picked up his quill twirling it between his fingers, "Slytherin politics. First off I do not like either of them, and fortunately we're not closely related. Therefore I have no need to socialize with them, well unless I wanted them as allies, which I definitely don't."

The brown haired girl jumped as if something had finally occurred to her, "That reminds me…about socializing. Why is it that I've only seen Regulus and you actually talking to members of the other houses?"

"Now that's not true…we socialize with the Ravenclaws all the time!" Harry said with some amusement which was quickly squashed when he realized he had actually referred to himself as a Slytherin.

"Besides the Ravenclaws then!"

"Most Slytherins are highly discouraged from socializing with Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs. As to me…I really don't care what they think."

"And they leave you alone?" Abigail asked amazed.

Harry gave her a bemused smile, "Oddly enough they have…actually that's something that puzzles me. I am a Potter, which means I am automatically hated, but they have yet to do anything to me."

Lily looked slightly worried at his statement, "Why would they hate a Potter?"

Abigail looked uncertain as well.

"Pureblood politics and family feuds, naturally."

"Feuds?! Honestly the wizarding world is so old fashioned!" Lily said with a huff which caused him to grin widely in amusement.

"I agree. I had a very good friend who used to say the same thing."