Archie's Mother

The great hall grew silent as Neville Longbottom's name was called to be sorted. Unsurprisingly, however, the second the hat touched the confident boy's head, it boomed out the house of the Lions to the collection of staff and students listening with bated breath. There was a mere three seconds of silence following the proclamation until the hall erupted in cheers, mainly from the Gryffindor table who ,as a whole, were ecstatic that they had received 'Longbottom'.

During the sorting ceremony, Harry was barely paying attention to any of the names being called out, opting to reflect upon what happened back on the train and Archades's unusual behaviour following the Malfoy brat's taunt.

Archie had been taunted before, but never had there been a reaction like that. The boy would usually just shrug it off and continue on with his day which normally consisted with his face buried in a Quidditch or Potions text, joking around, or making passes at Stephanie. The thought that something also happened to his mother in the past that caused irreparable damage to the brown haired boy's psyche, disgustingly enough, brought a sense of happiness to the ebony haired youth. Not for the tragedy that must have befallen her, he would wish that on nobody, but this meant that the two of them shared something in common that not many people would and though the two of them were usually completely different people; it was nice to know they had the same problems…

He was snapped out of his thoughts when Blaise was sorted into Slytherin, much like his older sister, and the headmaster stood from his table.

"I know you must all be very hungry and wish to begin with the feast" he joked, eyes twinkling merrily as there was a collective groan in the hall "but announcements must be made when you are most attentive; first of all, as usual, the Forbidden Forest is strictly out of bounds to anyone not wishing to face the most severe punishments or death at the hands of those which lurk within" to the shock of Harry and Archie, they both could have sworn the aged headmaster's eyes flickered towards the two.

"Mister Filch, our caretaker, has also asked me to remind you that no spells or feats of magic are to be performed between classes in the corridors.

Also, those who wish to try out for their Quidditch House teams need to contact Madam Hooch before the second week of term to see about gaining permission to do so.

Finally, I must stress that the third floor corridor on the right-hand side is strictly out of bounds to those who do not wish to die a very horrible and painful death."

There were a few scattered laughs around the hall but the majority of the students had simply paled at the implications.

Harry zoned out when Dumbledore introduced their new Defence against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Quirrel, a man wearing a violet turban who looked to be scared of his own shadow, especially if the fact that he stuttered during every word was any sign of that.

One thing was for sure, Hogwarts promised to be interesting this year.

Classes, Quidditch practise and individual study resumed as normal for Harry and Archie, with the exception of their two new electives that they had taken up this year.

In his opinion, Ancient Runes was by far the most humorous yet interesting class he had at Hogwarts. He wasn't as adept at Runes like he was in Charms, Transfiguration and pretty much every other class to some extent, which served to give him some sort of challenge in his learning. Runes, taught by Professor Sinistra (the astronomy teacher), began in the early years with working on identifying ancient and difficult to translate Runic languages, some examples of this were ancient Egyptian, Celtic, Atlantian, Aztec and the list went on. Being quite the linguist himself, having mastered speaking in three non-English languages (French, Japanese and Parseltongue), he could appreciate and enjoy the effort involved in learning more.

As expected, Archie was all over Sinistra in their classes. His eyes would remain glued to the gorgeous professor's impressive bust and shapely rear with a spaced out expression – he wasn't the only one either. It seemed to Harry like he was the only male in the class that actually took it to learn the subject instead of having free perv sessions. Of course, Sinistra hadn't exactly discouraged this behaviour judging by the clothes she wore, one would think she lavished in the attention.

"Okay class" came the voice of their Professor from the door as she strolled in carrying several books under her breasts with both hands, pushing her bust up further creating an effect Archie definitely appreciated "open your books to page three seventy-two, we will be reviewing last week's work on identifying Celtic runes" as she slapped her books down on her desk, one fell to the floor. With a disappointed groan, she bent over to pick it up, her back facing the class. It was at that moment that he heard Archie blessing the muggles and their ingenious clothing inventions, as Sinistra had been wearing a knee length skirt split down the side that when she bent over rode fairly high up, going as far to reveal the top of her pantyhose.

"I wonder if Stephanie wears those…or Bianca…" he trailed off, eyes dazed with a whimsical expression.

Harry looked to his friend in disgust "I thought you said Bianca was like a mother to you."

"Like, my good man, is quite far from being one, therefore I will feel no moral or ethical dilemmas when I add those images to my frequent and quite erotic daydreams – look, she's bending over again!" he whispered with excitement as Professor Sinistra bent over to pick up a loose piece of parchment.

Harry had put that memory away in a Pensieve, eager to use it as blackmail material in the future by threatening to show that to any member of the Zabini family – he hadn't forgotten about the Parseltongue 'mix-up'.

His other elective, Arithmancy, proved to also be a challenge. Equations upon equations, algorithms upon algorithms, and studying upon studying were what was expected on a daily basis from Professor Vector in her class. The only other person taking the class with him that he knew on a personal level was Stephanie so he often paired up with her to do work. The class was by far one of the more complex branches of magic he had ever studied, and that was at simply third year level, he was comparing it to NEWT level Transfiguration!

Every class, they were expected to work through sheets of practise equations that involved some faux magical situation such as why a certain potion needed to be stirred a specific number of times, or why a wand needed to be twirled by this specific degree to achieve the desired effect. A master at the subject, she had told them, would find having a respectable career as a curse-breaker was a definite possibility for Arithmancy and the ability to break down wards numerically was common practise and almost required to pull apart the most complex of wards.

Though professor Vector was also very beautiful in an 'I'll crush your balls if you even glance in my behind's general direction' kind of way, no one thought it was worth the effort to take the class just to perv – it was that difficult.

Archie, as his second elective, has chosen to take Care of Magical creatures saying that if he ever wanted to obtain rare potions ingredients from them in the future, he would need to know how to fight or care for them.

For Stephanie's second elective, she chose to take Muggle Studies. She was the eldest Zabini child, even though not a male; it would be most likely that she would be in charge of the finances even though she wasn't the heir. The Zabini family dealt in both the Muggle and Magical world with their businesses, and thus, she would have to have a firm grasp of both worlds to be effective in such a venture.

The Ravenclaw Quidditch team had to hold another round of tryouts this year, this time to fill the position of seeker. Allison Spencer had, much to their captain's joy, gotten herself pregnant. Suffice to say, Ellwood had to replace her, and he did so with the second year Cho Chang – the girl Archie and Harry had met after the forest fiasco in their first year. They also had to replace their keeper due to Worthington graduating last year and they did so with a fairly good fourth year. Their team may not have been as experienced as last year's but they weren't facing the likes of Charley Weasley so it really didn't matter.

Speaking of Quidditch, in a bizarre turn of events that began with a verbal spar between Malfoy and Longbottom and ended with Longbottom rescuing someone's book bag from the lake, Longbottom had been named seeker of the Gryffindor Quidditch team – the youngest player in over a century. The rumour was that he was a good flyer, Harry wasn't deterred though; he knew that the Ravenclaw chasers were more then enough to win the game should he prove to be better then Chang.

Malfoy had also proven to be quite the menace, well, as menacing as annoying little 'firsties' could be with nothing but words to back them up. Harry conceded though that when the brat grew somewhat older and his family name inevitably gave him some form of political sway in the Slytherin house, Stephanie wouldn't be so safe. She had her friends in the Slytherin house, no doubt, but not many of them would chose to fight Malfoy for her, they were superficial like that. Archie had proposed to put the 'scare' on Malfoy before that could happen, Harry pretended to agree but he had other plans to combat such a nuisance.

Third year students and above were permitted to venture into Hogsmeade once a month in third year with the permission of their parents or guardians. This, unfortunately, marked the beginning of 'dates' as previously, had there been couples, being at school all year really offered no place to go on dates except for broom closets (not the most romantic of places). This of course, coupled with Harry's new found popularity as a Quidditch star (his Parseltongue abilities all but forgotten) meant that girls were asking him left right and centre to go on dates with them. He never accepted any, of course, opting to ignore them instead of dignifying them with a response, but that just proved to be detrimental, as they just tried harder to obtain his attention.

"So, Hogsmeade huh?" Stephanie commented as they worked on their equation sheet in Arithmancy. Harry resisted the urge to groan, she was not seriously contemplating with he thought she was contemplating.

"Hogsmeade?" Harry imitated with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, you know how…people go and stuff" she commented in a most undignified manner.

"Hmm" Harry made no outward sign of approval or disapproval.

"Well" she commented, undeterred "I was wondering if…if you're not busy of course…if we can…you know…go…together?"

Harry, not even batting an eye, answered her.

"Nope" man this equation was a doozey, was what was going on inside his head at that moment.

"Why…why not?" the girl sounded crushed and Harry, unlike the others, actually felt a small amount of sympathy for her. Unlike the other girls, this one actually knew him and was probably asking him because she liked him. Regardless, he wouldn't do that to his best friend.

"Do you really need to ask Stephanie?" he asked, amusement laced in his words.

"Oh come on! He's not going to ask me and what makes you think I want to go with him anyway!"

"He's not going to ask you because you've done a mighty fine job of discouraging any advances he may want to make in the future, despite how much he really does like you…" he could, of course, put his friend on a pedestal, all the more reason for him to owe him one later "those 'Love Taps' of yours are quite powerful, a lesser man would have probably given up completely by now."

Flushing in embarrassment at how her groin slams on Archie had developed a name, she turned to him, her work forgotten, and took in his appearance.

"You're not going with someone else are you?"

"Negative."

"Why not? You could probably take anyone in school, as disturbing as that may be…" she said with a cringe "You're not…you know…" she made some Archie worthy hand gestures to try and 'charade' him homosexuality.

Harry's quill stopped abruptly from completing the equations and analytical problems he had been given and was dunked in the ink pot. Looking to Stephanie with a slight smirk, he got up from his chair and walked over to the teacher's desk where Professor Vector was marking some upper class's work. Before she could realize he was there, he put his hand under her chin, raised the shocked professor's head up and planted a soft yet chaste kiss on her lips before pulling away and walking out of the classroom as the bell rang.

No one ever questioned his sexuality again and Harry Potter was forever known as a god amongst men, despite the fact that he had to serve a week's worth of attention for the stunt he pulled.

All too soon, Halloween rolled around and the feast that accompanied it. Not feeling as 'festive' as his friends, he had informed them that he would be in the library should they need him and would meet them later in the evening.

Having completed all his homework assignments that he had been given for Potions, Runes and Arithmancy, Harry thought it time to head back to the dorms. By his watch, the other students should still be at the feast so he could kick back and read a book of his choosing when he got back to the dorms in complete silence.

Just when the thought of complete silence started to sound good, the corridor he was walking down thundered loudly, causing the suits of armour he was surrounded by to rumble and clatter.

Silence followed the initial booming sound so he just played it off as a Weasley twins' prank – that was until the thundering noise came back, only to be followed by another, and another and another.

Following the source of the noise, too curious for his own good (he would later admonish), he noticed that he was being led to the fourth floor girl's bathroom. As he rounded the corner he met with something he most certainly didn't expect to see walking into the girl's bathroom.

A fully grown mountain troll.

The stench was horrid, probably only matched in disgustingness by its looks. It had a rather large wooden club and was dressed in large and ragged clothes. It had grey and lumpy skin with wickedly horned feet.

Harry just stared at the space the troll had occupied before ducking into the bathroom, not sure how much time had passed, until he heard a scream.

A girl's scream…

Someone was in that bathroom!

Taking only a split second to groan in annoyance, he leapt forwards, already prepared to land on all fours as he changes into his cat Animagus form for extra speed. As fast as he can, Harry covered the space between the beginning of the corridor and the bathroom itself only to see the form of Hermione Granger huddled, rather stupidly he had the time to assess, under a sink as the troll systematically crushed each one, looking for her.

Sighing in annoyance, Harry admonished himself for not attending the feast like the rest of the students before whipping out his wand and firing three successive and silent blasting hexes at the beast.

To his surprise, the spells were virtually absorbed by the beast's skin, causing it to stagger slightly forwards before whipping around, club held high and ready to smash something, and roaring in fury.

Well shit, he had to just go and make it mad.

Seeing the girl still huddled under the sink made him slightly peeved "What are you an Idiot Granger?! Run!"

Not needing to be told twice, the girl rushed out of her hiding spot and towards the door, but the troll wasn't going to give up on its prey that easily as it swung its club sideways to crush the girl into the wall. Betting that its club wasn't spell resistant, Harry fired another blasting hex, however, this one was aimed at the club which promptly exploded into thousands of splinters. The troll looked dumbly at the stump where his club used to be and made a grunting noise that sounded like he was asking 'what the hell happened?'

Not letting his advantage go to waste and satisfied that the girl had fled the bathrooms, Harry cast a freezing charm on the water at the troll's feet, water that had been spraying out for some time. Glad that the troll hadn't noticed yet and that he had limited its manoeuvrability by a great amount, Harry looked around the room to devise a plan.

The troll, finally realizing what had happened, roared in fury and charged at Harry, only to start slipping and sliding in his direction. Harry summoned large pieces of debris from around him until it was right in front of him and systematically banished piece after piece at the troll's head. Few actually hit but the ones that did caused it to fall backwards yet continue to slide in his direction, rolling out of the way, Harry cast a blasting hex at section of the ceiling the troll would be under when it slammed into the wall – the results were impressive to say the least.

Large chunks of stone and wood beams fell from the ceiling and onto the troll, knocking it out and encasing it in a prison that would take some effort to escape given that it was still probably lying on a sheet of ice.

The doors suddenly burst open revealing Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, Quirrel, Flitwick and Sprout staring at him in shock.

Who wouldn't stare at a third year student in shock that had his wand out and was breathing in pants as he stood beside an unconscious and half buried mountain troll?

"Your timing is impeccable Professors" he said sarcastically "Would anyone care to explain how a Mountain Troll was able to waltz on up to the fourth floor unnoticed and attack a student in the process?" he asked, glaring slightly at Dumbledore.

"Arrogant as ever you little piece of shi…" Snape started.

"Severus" Dumbledore cut off, a hint of warning in his tone "Mister Potter, would you care to enlighten us to the reason why you are not in your common room where it would have been safe as instructed by myself earlier during the feast?" he asked, he too looking between the troll and the student before him in shock and awe.

"You mean other then the fact that I wasn't at said feast?" he asked, amusement laced with his words "You still haven't answered my question Headmaster, and could you please stop glaring at me Professor Snape, it is rather annoying…"

"Twenty points from Ravenclaw for…"

"What exactly?" Flitwick interjected "I see no rule breaking here, mister Potter cannot have disobeyed any orders if he had not been given them himself, if anything I do believe fifty points to Ravenclaw are in order for the rather convincing defeat of a mountain troll, wouldn't you say headmaster?"

"Indeed Filius" the headmaster agreed, a twinkle in his eye.

"Did you learn anything from this experience Mister Potter?" asked his humoured head of house.

"Yeah, troll hide is quite spell resistant…"

The little professor chuckled in his high pitched voice, later joined by Dumbledore and Sprout while McGonagall and Snape were glaring at him, the former as if she knew something and the latter as if hoping his glare would make him drop dead on the spot. Quirrel had his hand on his chest to calm his breathing, seemingly in shock as he collapsed to the ground, staring at the troll in fear.

Aside from the professors present, only one other person knew what actually happened that night…

"It's really not that hard, you just need to make sure you take into account oomph what the f…"

Stephanie burst out laughing as Harry's lecture was interrupted when a small lump of bushy brown hair ambushed him outside the Arithmancy classroom and tackled him in a hug.

"You're fan girls are getting braver Potter, soon they'll be throwing their panties at you as you walk by" she said, smirking at the scowling youth.

"Granger?" asked Harry "Granger!" Harry tried again only to realize that the girl was sobbing as latched onto him, refusing to let go. Harry looked to Stephanie with a pleading look only to be smirked at again and be greeted with the girl's back.

Vowing to get revenge against the sadistic girl, he pried the hysterical girl off of him, only to be met with an interesting amount of resistance.

"Unhand me Granger!" he hissed, he was starting to make out what she was saying through her sobs. Apologies for putting him in such a situation as she did during Halloween, thanks for saving her, apologies if he had been in trouble because of her…

Not liking that they were drawing other people's attention, he hissed at her in Parseltongue which promptly caused her to let go of him with a shriek.

Satisfied that she had finally let go, he began to straighten his robes only to be faced with another problem.

"You're a Parselmouth?!" the loud declaration came from Ron Weasley, who was stalking up to the two with Longbottom by his side.

Not even choosing to dignify that question with a response, Harry just moved past the chubby boy and his red headed sidekick only to meet resistance as Longbottom grabbed his arm, rather roughly he noted.

"You just did some dark and evil magic on her!" he accused "Undo it or else!" the boy-who-lived threatened. Students who knew of Harry's magical prowess were looking at Longbottom as if he'd grown a second head and Harry, well, he was just pissed off.

"Hey Potter what's the hold up…what in Merlin's name…" Archie had come looking for his friend who was supposed to meet up with him before Potions only to be met with this spectacle. Grinning like a Cheshire cat, Archie made everyone back away.

"Wait, wait, wait…okay continue!" he urged with a grin, only serving to fuel Harry's annoyance.

"You have three seconds to unhand me Longbottom" he warned.

"Not until you tell me what evil spell you used on Hermione you dark wizard!"

"One…"

"Listen here you git, you don't scare me, I demand to know what you…"

"Two…"

"If you think you can so casually dismiss someone like me, you're sorely…"

"Three!"

Everyone watching winced in sympathy as Harry flicked out his wand and with a few wand movements had Neville hanging upside down without his pants on and attached to a portrait.

"My grandmother will hear of this!" the boy fumed, his face flushed with embarrassment as the students started to laugh at his 'Boy-who-lived' boxers were shown to the world "I'll have you expelled!"

Harry ignored the crowd of students and, grabbing Archie by his elbow, stalked off to Potions leaving a fuming Hermione lecturing a half naked Neville behind. It was only as he was leaving did he realize that Neville never asked what he said.

Harry sat in his mother's room on Christmas day, playing his guitar as per usual while reflecting on his last couple of months in school.

Time had flown by rather quickly as he had been keeping himself busy with his homework, Quidditch practise and independent studies.

Neville had done as promised and aside from a slap on the wrist for using magic in the corridors, nothing was done as it was proven by several eye witness accounts that the boy-who-lived had been the one to instigate the argument; Neville was ordered to serve detention with Hagrid in the forbidden forest for a week.

Their first Quidditch match against Gryffindor and Longbottom's debut ended in a landslide victory to the blue and bronze as Chang caught the snitch and Harry, along with Ellwood and Davis, tore up the pitch and put twelve goals past Wood – it would have been more had Wood, the Gryffindor captain, not been so skilled. Surprisingly though, Longbottom's broom bucked wildly for half a minute during the game only to stop when some commotion in the audience caught everyone's attention – this was information he had been given after the match of course as he was focused on other matters at the time.

Archie had also, at his insistence, puckered up the courage to ask Stephanie to Hogsmeade, however whatever romantic ideas the boy had were completely thrown at the window when all she did was take him book shopping. Cedric and Harry, who had been sharing a Butterbear at the 'Three Broomsticks' while flirting with its owner, Madam Rosmerta (a rather attractive woman who enjoyed the students company, especially the 'charmers' as she had dubbed Cedric and Harry) were amused to see Archie come in with Stephanie later that day with an armful of rather heavy looking tomes. Cedric had earned one of said tomes to the head when he made a comment about the boy already being whipped. Stephanie just smirked at the joke, knowing it was quite true.

Harry suddenly stopped playing his mother's guitar when he sensed someone enter the room. Looking through one of the mirrors on the other side of his mother's bed, he was surprised to see Archie standing there with a melancholy expression and a bouquet of flowers, red tulips, his mother's favourites – somebody did their homework…

"What are you doing here Archades?" Harry asked, sounding slightly irritated that the one day he had alone with his mother every year had been imposed upon and interrupted.

Archie didn't answer, instead he placed the bouquet by his mother's side on the bedside table and stood next to Harry who was sitting on a high stool, guitar still under his arm yet all was silent.

"My mother…" began Archie, getting Harry's attention "My mother's name was Isabella Marie Montague…she was a beautiful woman…lived for her family and children, you know?" he asked with a chuckle. Harry didn't laugh.

"She married my father young, it was an arranged marriage, see? And she was sold off at the age of seventeen, she was twenty when she gave birth to me, seventeen for my brother…" this was the first Harry had ever heard of Archie having siblings, but he continued to remain silent.

"I loved her, from what I remember, I loved her so much…she was the greatest mother one could hope for. She was always very proper, but because she was so young, she always had fun with us and would always be there for us whenever father would punish us" he said, tears were rolling down the boy's eyes as he told his story. His face never met Harry's, merely looking at Lily on the bed as he continued.

"This one time, I got into trouble for stealing father's broomstick and trying to ride around on it despite being told to never steal from others" he snorted "I was a pureblood, the best, we steal from no-one, only commoners and filth steal" he recited, as if he had been told that hundreds of times "obviously my father caught me…and punished me…it was bad…

My mother though, she just took me to my room and sung me to sleep, the next morning she made me my favourite breakfast and bought me my own training broom…she was always like that, willing to do anything to see me smile…its one of the few memories I have of her…

One night…" here Archie's voice cracked by he continued regardless "one night, when she was on an errand, she was attacked by a gang of werewolves, but before they could kill her, the Aurors arrived and saved her life. Fortunately or unfortunately, however which way you look at it, she survived but she was turned…she got her injuries treated and was sent back home, none of us expected a thing…

Things that large can never be kept a secret though, not for long…" here Archie's fists balled and he got a look of hate in his eyes "Gabriel, my brother, discovered mother's secret when he saw her sneak off to the manor's outhouse to change under the guise of silencing and obscuring charms…being the fucker that he is and the daddy's boy…he immediately went and informed father…" more tears started leaking from his eyes as he tried to control his emotions. Harry listened patiently as his friend bared his soul to him while also looking at his mother.

"As you can imagine…my father wasn't too pleased that his wife had become a 'half-breed monstrosity', he was all into the pure-blood supremacy, you know? I think he was a part of 'You-know-who's' inner circle too…I can't be sure though…" he paused, collecting his thoughts before he continued "while she was weak, he knocked her out and took her away, I had no idea where, but two days later my father took us to a room in the basement that I had never seen before and had just been recently created, I'd hazard a guess…the room had a door, a window and that was it…in the room was my mother, broken, beaten, tied up…I'll never forget how bad she looked…she was bleeding…down there, so I can only imagine that she was…several times…" his voice continued to break up as he screwed his eyes shut, probably hoping to wish away the images "he wasn't done with her though…he told us…father" he spat the name with so much hate that it caught Harry of guard "he told us that this is what happened to half-breed monstrosities like her…"

Suddenly, Archie planted his fist into the wall as hard as he could. Harry winced at the contact, those walls were charmed to be unbreakable, he definitely just broke something "He killed her as he watched…the room was charmed to turn to silver after a certain time period…so after he let all his buddies have their ways with her however they so pleased…she would die as per the room's functions…I watched my mother burn to death and all she did was smile at me and say she loved me…she couldn't even say it, her vocal cords were that damaged…but she mouthed it and I understood…she was burning and all she did was tell me how much she loved me…no tears, just that smile…I'll never forget it…"

Harry suddenly got the urge to find a certain little blonde haired brat and put his head through a wall, but he still remained silent "After that, I got the broom my mother bought for me and fled with as much of my belongings as possible…I didn't have an idea where I was going…I probably wasn't thinking straight and I was only six at the time…but I just flew…luckily for me, I ended up in the Zabini's garden passed out…lucky because Bianca knew my mother well…they were like sisters after all, they did everything together…Hogwarts…marriage... they were both betrothed you see?"

Archie wiped his tears away furiously as he composed himself "Suffice to say Antonio and Bianca weren't too happy when they discovered what happened but what could they do? My mother's body was burned in that room so there was no evidence and even if they had a trial, my father's influence would buy his way out of any trouble… they decided to keep me and let me live with them after that… Antonio has some good connections so my father had no chance of getting me back…though he only tried once and that wasn't very hard…"

Archie paused, collecting his thoughts "When I was old enough to understand what happened, I vowed…I vowed to myself that I'd spend the rest of my life discovering a way for werewolves to live happier and easier lives…it's why I love Potions so much…therein lies the answer to all my problems… I intend to make a Potion someday that will allow anybody inflicted with the Lycanthropy disease full control over their inner wolf and transformations… it would be just like having an Animagus…"

Harry finally spoke after several minutes of silence "Is that why you went into the forbidden forest second year? You need that plant?"

Archie nodded "Moon Thistle, it's a plant that has several calming properties that is strongest during a full moon; it's under stasis at the moment so it remains fully potent until I need to use it…"

Harry nodded, admitting that he would have done the same thing under the same circumstances.

"My story isn't as…dark" he admitted "but I figure you have a right to know anyway…" Harry began "during the end of the last war with Voldemort" Archie shivered at the name "my parents were attacked, not long after Voldemort fell at the Longbottom manor. Bellatrix, Rodolphus, Rabastan Lestrange and Barty Crouch junior all attacked my family's home wanting to find out information about their lord, ready to torture if need be… they obviously weren't expecting my father to be so powerful in this plan of theirs… when they attacked, my mother took me upstairs to protect me while my father duelled and defeated the three males of the group, however just as he bound the last of the three, Barty Crouch junior got a killing curse off and killed him. Bellatrix Lestrange snuck behind the fight and up to my mother and after a furious duel, one which my mother won; she sent an unknown dark curse at me, one which my mother took in my place… Fortunately, my mother sent a powerful stunner before she jumped in the way of the course, one which hit Bellatrix and knocked her out, however, the curse which Bellatrix sent…well, this is the result" he said, motioning to his mother "she has been in a coma for twelve years, not quite alive and not quite dead. No healer has been able to fix her and any attempts to get any information from Bellatrix herself on the curse she used have turned up hopeless…"

Harry looked at his mother's prone form as his voice took on a hard edge "That should be me lying in that bed, not her…she didn't deserve this… every second I live my life is a second she should be living, happy, not stuck in some magical coma while being forced to live like a vegetable… Bellatrix will pay, Azkaban or not…she will pay and I will cure my mother…it's the least I owe to her… It's why I study so hard…every bit of knowledge I obtain makes me that much more powerful and every bit of power I obtain will help me in curing her…"

Archie smiled at Harry before his eyes turned cold and uncaring "I intend to kill my father…he will be begging for death before I'll be merciful enough to finally grant it…"

Harry nodded yet didn't comment, what could he say? He completely agreed with his friend, though he honestly thought death was too good for him.

"Visiting time is ending in fifteen minutes please finish your business and make your way home, I repeat "Visiting time is ending in fifteen minutes please finish your business and make your way home" a voice called out to the permanent injuries ward. It was only then that Harry realized how late it was. Packing away his guitar, he kissed his mother's warm forehead before heading out of the room.

Archie and Harry walked in silence, a new level of respect and depth added to their friendship.

"You know, you were pretty good with that guitar…chicks dig guys that can play instruments…"

"Archades?"

"Mhmm?"

"Shut up"

There were a few more moments of silence until...

"You know, your dad was a lucky man, your mum is fucking hot…"

"Archades…" Harry warned the slight quirking of his lips and the mirth in his eyes didn't really dissuade Archie all that much.

"I mean, I'm not one for red heads usually, but damn…"

Taking a page out of Stephanie's book, Harry kneed his friend right in the balls, wincing himself as he made contact…good contact…he could probably kick a lot harder than Stephanie could.

Harry continued to walk away, whistling a tune and a swing in his step as Archie whimpered pitifully on the floor; then again, perhaps their friendship hadn't evolved at all…