Sacred is the Windswept Time

Four: Adjusting to Slytherin and Making New Acquaintances

As he took the hat off of his head, he handed it to Professor McGonagall and hazarded a look toward the Gryffindor table, where he noticed both Lily and Remus' stunned expressions. Taking a deep breath he began to walk toward the cheering Slytherin table, noticing how Lucius was leaning toward Snape and whispering something to him. Harry raised an eyebrow, and then shrugging and figuring that despite how nasty they had always been to him, they were the only Slytherins that he knew and headed in their direction. With a quick glare at the girl sitting beside him, Lucius cleared a space for the newcomer and smirked up at Harry as the boy took a seat beside him.

"Welcome to Slytherin," Lucius said, his eyes roving over Harry in a calculating way.

Harry returned the smirk. "Go get stuffed Malfoy."

Lucius looked positively scandalized and a snort came from the other side of Lucius as the black haired, dark eyed boy that was Snape looked around Lucius and raised a sardonic eyebrow at Harry. "Well, Granger, aren't you just brilliant at making friends?"

"Only as good as you, Snape," Harry returned sarcastically, and then he noticed something flicker in Snape's black eyes.

"How do you know our names?"

Harry snorted. "You can't get my secrets out of me that easy. Now Luci, care to pass me the mince pie?"

Lucius turned a dark look to the boy, as he grabbed the pie and shoved it at Harry. "I don't know who the bloody hell you think you are, Granger, but no one calls me Luci. You either call me Lucius or Malfoy, but never refer to me so disrespectfully again. Stupid git, don't you have any idea who I am?"

"A very rich prat who has had everything handed to him on a silver tea server, now if you don't mind, I'm starving," Harry replied before he reached for some mashed potatoes, and various other items of food.

Lucius was infuriated and Snape was trembling from his suppressed chuckles. Granger might have looked like Potter, but he was no Potter, and he had balls. To talk to Lucius Malfoy like that? It was enough to brighten even Severus Snape's sour mood.

When the meal came to an end and they were headed back toward the dungeons, Snape fell into step with Lucius who was sulking and walking directly behind Granger. A dark glint suddenly flickered within the depths of Lucius' grey eyes as he raised his wand at the new boy, prepared to teach the boy why no one messed with a Malfoy, but before Lucius could even come up with a good hex, Harry had stiffened, turned around, his wand at the ready and muttered something. Suddenly a bang filled the corridor and Lucius Malfoy was nowhere to be seen. Instead, where Lucius had been standing was a bewildered snow-white ferret, chittering angrily.

Snape's eyes widened as he looked from the ferret to Granger and said, "Bloody hell! What did you do to him?"

Several other Slytherins stopped and their interest was peaked as they noticed the action that was going on around the newcomer and Snape. They also noted Lucius' absence and the appearance of a white ferret.

Harry ignored Snape, and gingerly picked up the ferret, and the ferret gave him a frightened look as it trembled in the boy's hand and tried to squirm, but Harry held it firmly in his hand as he looked it straight into it's very human grey eyes. "Now Lucius, this is a warning. If you draw your wand on me again, I will leave you in this form. And if you even think of biting me I'll let you stay like this until morning. Is that clear?"

The ferret gave a quick little nod, and Harry put him down gently on the floor and stepping back, pointed his wand at the animal and said, "Finite Incantatum."

Within a moment a very stunned Lucius was standing next to Severus, looking around in bewilderment, and then his eyes fell on Harry and he swallowed reflexively. "How in the bloody hell did you do that?" the blond demanded.

Harry gave a snort of laughter as he shook his head. "I've known that spell since my fourth year. Never thought I'd put it to practical use though. And you might want to think twice before drawing on me behind my back ever again. I have more than simple transfiguration spells up my sleeve."

Lucius seeing in this strange boy a very powerful ally, decided to swallow his dignity for once and extend a hand of friendship, actually intending it as a gesture of impending loyalty and honesty. "Very well Granger. You've bested me, and seeing as to how you look as though you need a friend or two..." here Lucius faltered, not sure how to continue.

Harry nearly burst out laughing as he realized what Lucius was offering him. "Fine, friends then. Seeing as to how the Gryffindors will be shunning me I may as well take friends where I can find them."

"You actually want to be friends with those silly moral idiots?" Lucius said with a wrinkle of his nose. "You have absolutely no taste in friends at all."

Harry smirked. "Well I would have to agree with you there."

Snape, picking up on what Harry was hinting at, grinned slyly at Lucius who was turning a faint tint of pink in his growing anger. Before Lucius could make himself out as even more of a fool, Snape spoke up, "Granger, I'd be willing to extend the hand of friendship, on the grounds that you are intelligent enough to hold your own in a decent conversation, more so than these innumerous bunch of dunderheads surrounding us, and under the condition that you call me Severus."

"Done," Harry said, and extended his hand to shake Snape's hand and then Lucius Malfoy's. He couldn't resist chuckling at the fact that he'd just befriended the father of one of his biggest school rivals and his most hated professor.

----------

A sigh escaped her parted rosy lips as she looked at one of her best friends. She smiled at the boy with his light brown wavy hair and golden eyes, and then shook her head, going over the events of the day in her mind.

Harry Granger was a strange boy, and she'd never met anyone like him. He didn't really act like a boy at all, but a weathered man, who'd only known trouble all of his life. What really struck her as odd was that while he seemed to be a closed off person he'd talked with her so openly, in perfect trust, as though he knew he could confess all of his secrets to her, and while she wouldn't understand or even agree with his actions, she would listen and would never tell anyone else. The other odd thing was, that she felt protective of him, though he was obviously capable of protecting himself as she'd learned earlier, still he was so sad.

She was startled from her reverie by a soft deep voice, and she looked up, her green eyes meeting gold. "Sorry, Remus, what was that?"

"That Granger bloke, you and him seemed to be getting on pretty well as I recall, when I found you two in the library. What were you two doing?"

"Well," Lily began and cleared her throat. "He wanted to know about the Sleeping Draught of Prophetic Dreams. He mentioned something about Thyme and I told him that Thyme wasn't an ingredient in the potion. He then mentioned something about a time traveling potion. He's rather odd, if you ask me, but he's not bad. I didn't expect him to get sorted into Slytherin. I was actually hoping he got into Gryffindor."

"You don't fancy him, do you?" Remus asked.

Lily snorted. "It wouldn't matter if I did Remmy, he couldn't fancy me. He likes boys."

Remus' gold eyes widened. "That explains how he knew about me then."

"I feel so strange when I'm around him. I only just met him, but I swear it feels like I've known him for ages. I don't know why, but I feel like I should care for him, love him. He's so full of sadness, and all I can think about is giving him a hug and comforting him. I want to protect him," Lily said.

"Who are you talking about?" James Potter cut into the conversation.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Haven't you ever heard of minding your own business?"

"You said we should talk..." James replied, and Lily looked up and noticed Sirius standing behind James, and she took careful note of his blue eyes, and saw pain there. Her throat tightened as she realized that Harry might have been right about Sirius' feelings toward James.

"So," Sirius piped up, feeling that he should start the ball rolling again. "Who were you talking about, before we joined the conversation?"

"Harry Granger..." Lily replied and was cut off by a snort from James.

"Oh come on Lily! The git just showed up today, and he got sorted into Slytherin! You see him for the first time and go all moony-eyed for him?" James snapped.

"It isn't like that at all, James Potter. That boy has sadness buried so deep in him that I bet he's scarcely known any kind of happiness. He's so twisted and alone inside himself. And he's afraid to allow himself to feel. He knows darkness, and he's had to face it so many times that an unexpected touch is enough to make him throw you against a wall, his arm at your throat and his wand at the ready. I want to know what happened to him, and I want to make it up to him," she whispered and a sob broke from her throat, and something caused the blood in James Potter's veins to grow cold.

"Oh, Merlin," he said as he knelt before her and wrapped his arms around her, she buried her head in his shoulder, and he gently rubbed up and down her back.

"Why do I feel responsible for the way he is, James? Why do I feel like I failed him when I only just met him? Please, can you answer me?" she whispered shakily.

James swallowed thickly, wondering where this flood of emotions was coming from. "I wish I knew, but all I see when I look at him, is pieces of myself, and..."

"And?" she prompted quietly her red-rimmed emerald eyes looking up at him.

"He has your eyes," James replied in awe, before he tilted his head toward the girl and captured her lips in a gentle kiss. Remus and Sirius simply exchanged a look, Remus noticing a pained look in his friend's eyes, before they left James and Lily to discover what had been a long time in coming.

Remus and Sirius found themselves in the seventh year boy's dormitory, they were alone, as James and Lily were off in a dark corner of the common room, coming to terms with something that had been building for ages, and Peter Pettigrew and Frank Longbottom were downstairs in the common room playing a round of Wizard Chess. Sirius flopped back on his bed and wondered when he'd fallen for his best friend, hardly believing that seeing James and Lily finally coming together could rip him apart.

"Padfoot?" Remus began hesitantly, and this was enough to distract Sirius from his own inner musings.

"Yes, Moony?" Sirius replied.

"There's something I need to tell you, and you're probably not going to like it," Remus said.

Sirius sat up and looked over at his friend, noticing the weary expression his friend wore, but this expression wasn't one from the cycle of the full moon, this was from some sort of inner struggle. "What is it Remus? You could tell me anything."

"Can I?"

"Of course."

"Very well," Remus stated and deciding to go with the blunt approach he took a deep breath, and then let it out as he said, "I like boys, Sirius. I always have."

Sirius' mouth fell open as he looked at his best friend, waiting for the punch line, but it never came. Finally Sirius closed his mouth, and ran this new bit of information through his mind and then shook his head a moment. "Funny, I've only just started liking boys," Sirius replied, and this time it was Remus' turn to look gob smacked.

----------

"So tell us Harry, how did you know that spell? And what other spells do you know? You do know that as our friend, you are obligated to share your knowledge with us," Lucius said, his rich, deep, aristocratic voice teasing with just a hint of seriousness.

"I know a lot of spells. I've had to learn a lot over the years. My specialty is Defense Against the Dark Arts, but to defend yourself properly you have to know about the Dark Magic as well, so I've dabbled. I could cast a full Patronus since my third year, and I'm lucky as hell. I'm fairly knowledgeable with hexes, and I can cast the Unforgivables with ease. What more do you want to know?" Harry said, but his voice held no boasting air, he was merely stating facts.

Severus narrowed his eyes as he looked down his hooked nose at the boy. "Why do you know so much, and who taught you all of it? Why are you so bloody skittish? You're more paranoid than I am, and I have Black and Potter always trying to have a go at me."

"One day Potter and Black will regret all they've ever done to you, Severus. I promise. As for me being skittish, let's just say that having someone try to kill you since you were a year old is enough to make anyone more wary and alert. I can just sense when a wand is pointed at my back. Except... Well today someone snuck up on me, my m... Lily Evans. I nearly hexed her. I know I scared her out of her wits."

"Who would want to kill you?" Lucius asked, his curiosity evident in his expressive grey eyes.

"You're better off not knowing, trust me," Harry answered.

"I think we should know, as we're your friends and have probably become likely targets because of our association with you," Severus said.

"He won't know me here. Trust me. And he wouldn't harm either of you, in fact he's more likely to recruit you," Harry replied with a snort.

"Recruit us for what?" Lucius asked as he glanced at his perfectly manicured nails.

"Nothing, it's not important. Why don't we quit talking about me? I'm really not all that interesting, and I'd rather hear about the two of you. Oh and Severus, about that thing that happened last week. Remus had nothing to do with them hanging you upside down from that tree," Harry said.

Severus' sable eyes widened as Lucius' eyes narrowed and Lucius spoke in clipped tones, "Quite the contrary Harry, I find you very interesting, and how could you have possibly known what those stupid Gryffindor prats did to Severus?"

"Some secrets are better left unknown. Besides haven't you ever heard that a secret is only kept when one person knows it?" Harry retorted.

"Touché," Lucius replied, and Snape just looked at Harry in indignation and with marginal respect, wanting to know how Granger knew about his humiliation of only a week ago.

"Now Severus, tell me what's been going on between you and Remus," Harry suggested, and this caught Lucius off guard as he looked at the dark haired, dark eyed boy in mild shock.

Severus swallowed thickly and tugged at his collar with his long nimble fingers, before he closed his eyes and spoke, "We've been meeting in the back gardens just across from the Quidditch Pitch at around two in the morning for the past few weeks. We thought that the chances of getting caught in the garden was less than getting caught in the Transfiguration classroom, now how in the bloody hell do you know about that?"

Harry simply smirked and Lucius couldn't help himself as he said, "Bloody hell, Severus! He's a Gryffindor, and...and...a...boy!"

"Neither fact has escaped my knowledge Lucius. I'm fully aware of what Lupin is," Snape retorted.

"But... Then that means you fancy b...blokes," Lucius stuttered out rather gracelessly.

Here Harry chuckled and added, "He's not the only one Luci."

"I told you not to call me that..." Lucius snapped and then his grey eyes widened as he realized what Harry was implying, and wondered what the limits were concerning how many times a Malfoy could be shocked in a single day. Sometimes things were too overwhelming, even for him.

"You know it's not all that uncommon. There are a lot of homosexuals in the world. Some are more blatant than others. In fact a lot of heterosexuals sometimes have homosexual urges, but that doesn't mean they always follow through on them," Harry said with a shrug.

Lucius shuddered as he couldn't resist the urge to ask, "But doesn't it hurt, not to mention the issues with pride, to take it up the arse?"

Both Harry and Severus choked at the question before Harry was roaring with laughter, and suddenly stopped when he heard a sharp bark of deep rumbling laughter erupting from Severus Snape. Harry was surprised by the pleasant sound coming from Severus and had to do a double take as he saw the dark haired boy quivering with laughter. Severus didn't look so horrible with a smile on his face and laughter on his lips. He actually looked kind of handsome in the throws of good humor. Within a few moments Lucius was adding his aristocratic chuckle to Snape's deep rumble, and Harry couldn't resist joining them, as laughter really is a highly contagious thing. Harry was honestly shocked to be confronted with the fact that Severus Snape and Lucius Malfoy were indeed human after all and then Lucius had to brighten the moment even more...

"You know, Granger, just because we're friends and have shared a laugh or two, still doesn't mean you can change me into a ferret any time you want! I simply couldn't stand for it. As a Malfoy, I have a reputation to maintain, and being transfigured into furry little rodents is certainly something lacking in decorum."

"And again I say, Malfoy, get stuffed," and with that they continued to laugh as they began to dress for bed, and Harry noticed a trunk with the initials "H.G." monogrammed on it, at the foot of the bed between Lucius and Severus' four-posters. Harry opened the trunk and found an assortment of school supplies, textbooks, and a school bag, all rather small due to a shrinking charm. He took them out and changed them back to their normal size and then he noticed the array of clothes in his trunk. He pulled out seven sets of school robes with the Slytherin crest on them, seven green and silver ties, as well as ten pairs of black trousers, eight white oxford shirts, a couple of green t-shirts, seven grey vests with green trim around the neck line, nine pairs of black socks, one pair of green socks, a couple of pairs of silky green pajamas, a pair of nice new black leather boots, and a folded piece of parchment.

Harry quickly opened the parchment and read the note written upon it in a round hand:

Harry,

I hope you find these clothes fitting, and your time here well spent. Remember that to alter anything here is to greatly alter the things to come. Follow your heart, and whatever your decisions, remember that free will is the most powerful thing anyone, wizard and muggle alike, can possess. Be wise and choose always with your heart.

Albus Dumbledore

Harry laid out a pair of the pajamas on the bed, and put all of his things back into his trunk with the exception of his school things, which he packed into his new schoolbag and set next to his trunk. He then pulled off his school robes and unbuttoned his shirt, before he took of his shoes, his socks, and his trousers, then he put on the pajama bottoms, not once feeling a bit self conscious, until he heard the gasp as he began to pull on the silky pajama top.

"Bloody hell, what happened to your back?" Lucius asked as he stepped closer to the boy for a good look. Harry sucked in a deep breath, before he slipped his arm through the other sleeve of the pajama top and hastily buttoned it up.

"Last year I was abducted. I was held captive for two weeks. Obviously my abductors were not friendly, as they left me with a reminder of my time spent with them. Not only were they fond of the Cruciatus curse, but they also enjoyed brandishing a whip among other things. I'd really rather not talk about it," Harry answered stiffly.

"Well at least tell us how you got away," Severus asked, his own curiosity peaked.

Harry smirked. "Well, one of my abductors made the mistake of casting the Imperius curse on me and untied me. I guess he didn't know I could throw that curse off. It gave me just enough time to take his wand and get away. I don't remember much afterward, only that I woke up in the infirmary with Hermione and Ron worried sick."

"Hermione and Ron?" Lucius questioned.

"Yeah," Harry said, a far off look in his eyes. "They're the friends, no, the family, I left behind."