Like Father, Like Son

Seventh Chapter

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The Morning After

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The morning found the Ravenclaw Tower quiet, but well awake. For a moment the starry sky of the ceilings was replaced by a bright sunrise that woke all occupants of the Tower.

Remy squirted his eyes half-open as the bright light woke him. Stretching himself, he glanced around the dormitory - his bed curtains, as well as those of the other beds, had opened themselves. Everybody was still sitting on their beds - except Julian Watson, a first-year and the youngest of their dormitory, who'd the previous night seemed rather hyperactive by Remy's mind. Now the young wizard was proving him right, digging through his trunk and obviously doing his best not to bounce up and down. Yawning at the mere thought of being so energetic, Remy slid off his bed.

The boys all got washed and clothed in a morning-sleepy silence. Only once James Kilroy, a tall and well-muscled seventh-year, glanced murderously at Julian, who was at the moment whistling cheerfully, and muttered something like "bloody Pepper-Up junkie" and "ought to be killed" under his breath. Remy would have smirked, if he only hadn't been so tired. As he was, however, very tired, he just yawned slightly.

Seemingly he had inherited his Dad's morning-sleepiness, which he'd well come to know when he'd spent half of the summer - as Harry Potter, of course - with Sirius and Remus. It had been really irritating to drag the Animagus out of his bed every morning, true, but even more irritating it had been to put up with Remus, who'd always woken up at five o'clock, cheery, bright, and expecting everybody else to be just the same. Much like young Julian, in fact. Remy was rather sure that it was only for the better to be sleepy in the morning, since morning people were bound to be brutally murdered at one point of their life.

Some of his sleepiness had already shaken away as he was wholly clothed. "Do you know what you will have today?" asked Benjamin then.

"No, I don't," replied Remy. "I'd figure I'll find out eventually."

"Well, at least you'll have DADA at first," said Tom Watson, Julian's big brother on the fifth year, who thankfully wasn't as much a morning person as his younger brother. "After that, we all have double Potions, but after that it's the time for Arithmancy and such."

"Well, I still have time to figure that out," said Remy, shrugging. "Although I do hope I don't have to go by Potter's choices. He had Divination, for Merlin's sake!"

At this, the boys all laughed. Seemingly they all shared Remy's feelings about the subject in question.

After gathering their things, the boys made their way to the Common Room, where they met Hermione and the other girls in her dormitory. Samantha was busy explaining something to the older witch.

"...And when everybody has left the dormitories, the ceilings will go back to normal," she ended the explanation. "Rest of the time, it's just stars."

"Very interesting," said Remy dryly. To his great satisfaction, the tiny girl spun around in surprise and blushed slightly. "Would you accompany us to the breakfast, miladies?"

"Brat," snorted Hermione, while Samantha's blush deepened and the other girls giggled, flushing as well. "I should have known that your behaviour yesterday was too good to be true."

"You're insulting me, milady," replied Remy calmly, raising his eyebrow. "I'm horrified, I truly am. Is it truly so bad to be polite?"

"Polite, no, that's just fine," Hermione said dryly. "An insufferable brat, yes, that's bad. You could be like either of your fathers. But no, that's not enough for Mister Snape - you just have to take the worst of them both and twist it all together, don't you?"

"You see right through me, milady," said the boy with a smirk. "Now, shall we go to nourish ourselves?"

"Okay," replied his friend, rolling her eyes towards the ceiling. "And if you say 'milady' once more, I swear I will slap you."

They went in one large group through the statue of a witch guarding their tower, chattering all the way to the Great Hall. Hermione was greatly enjoying herself. At last she could say anything she thought of, and not be afraid of the others not understanding! And Remy - well, he was right in his natural element, witty, sarcastic, and still polite. As Hermione watched her friend on their way to the breakfast, she noticed that the boy walked a lot like Draco Malfoy did most of the time; he looked like he owned the whole school. Obviously he wasn't afraid of anything, an attitude that was an interesting combination of his Father's well-controlled mask and his Dad's self-confident Gryffindor spirit.

As they entered the Great Hall, Hermione caught rather many girls' eyes flickering towards them. At first, she didn't understand the reason, but then she noticed where these glances were directed. At Remy, to be exact. Well, maybe he was kind of good-looking with his long, black hair - now on a ponytail, just like the previous day - tall form (at least for his age) and sparkling blue eyes. But, it was no reason to almost drool over one's plate. Like some girls seemed to be doing.

They had hardly even got to their seats in the Ravenclaw table as Professor Flitwick, who was now their Head of House, hurried to them. "Here are your timetables, Mister Snape, Miss Granger," he said happily, handing them the pieces of parchment. "As we weren't quite sure what classes you would be taking, Mister Snape, your parents picked what they thought would be fitting. Of course you can still change those choices. Oh, and I believe you'll go to purchase the needed text books this afternoon," the tiny wizard added then.

"Thank you," Remy said politely, glancing down at the timetable. He had Arithmancy instead of Divination now, and Ancient Runes was also one of his classes now. Care of Magical Creatures had disappeared, however. The Duelling Club was still on its previous place, though - very good, since it had become really interesting when Dumbledore had decided to start it again, making Sirius, Severus, and Remus take turns in teaching. "I don't think I have to change anything," he said then to Professor Flitwick, who nodded happily and returned to the Staff Table.

"What do you have?" asked Hermione, glancing over his shoulder. "Oh, we have all the same lessons! Neither of us is in Care of Magical Creatures, even."

"And I'm glad about that," said Remy, shuddering. "All those slimy, biting, or spiky animals - what a nightmare!" And to that, Hermione agreed wholeheartedly. Samantha, however, disagreed - it turned out that Care of Magical Creatures was one of her favourite subjects, even though she wasn't particularly fond on the teacher. This, of course, led into a heated dispute between Remy and the tiny girl, who seemed to again forget her shyness completely as she concentrated on the discussion. Hermione sometimes protected Hagrid halfheartedly with a word or two, knowing that while the half-giant was really the kindest and most friendly person one could find, his skills as a teacher were rather so-so.

So, after the breakfast, Hermione and Remy bid their goodbyes to Samantha, and walked together to the DADA classroom. Remus greeted them with a slight nod as they settled down on two free seats in the right front corner of the classroom. After all the students were in, their werewolf professor eyed them all.

"Today, we'll have a look at a more advanced defensive spell," said Remus then. "To be exact, the Patronus Charm. Does anybody know what is a Patronus?"

Opposed to what she was used to in the Gryffindor lessons, Hermione saw several hands shot up around the classroom, her and Remy's included. After glancing over the whole class, Remus nodded at one of the girls near the back of the classroom.

"The Patronus Charm produces a defensive figure, often an animal, that protects its creator," the girl replied. "This charm is commonly used only against Dementors and Lethifolds."

"Excellent. Five points to Ravenclaw," said Remus, seemingly not surprised at all that somebody knew this. "Now, can any of you cast a Patronus?"

Remy snorted slightly, then raised his hand. Of course he did; even if his appearance and character had changed, he still could very well cast a Patronus - it was a learnt skill, after all, not a natural talent. Upon receiving a nod from their DADA teacher, Remy drew his wand, seemed to concentrate for a moment, and then said, "Expecto Patronum."

In an instant, a strange, silvery mist started to spread from his wand point. After a moment the mist stopped spreading further and started to take shape instead. Hermione leant forward, expecting to see the familiar silver stag.

To her great surprise, however, the mist gathered into a smaller shape. After a moment, a wonderful bird circled around Remy's head, every now and then slightly stroking his head with the tip of its wing. 'A phoenix,' realized Hermione in amazement. Then, with one last graceful dive, the bird disappeared into thin air.

Remy looked slightly surprised as well, and so did Remus. After a moment, he just said, "I - thank you, Mister Snape. Ten points to Ravenclaw. Now, everyone, read the chapter about Patronuses from your text books, and start practising. I'll give ten House points for every successful Patronus in the end of this lesson."

So, they got to work. Hermione thankfully managed to get her own Patronus, so she didn't have to feel worse than her friend. The silvery owl pecked her cheek before vanishing. It felt like a ghost's touch.

When the lesson had ended - with half of the students actually succeeding with the Patronus, something that would have never happened with Gryffindors - Remus looked for a moment like he'd wanted to talk with them - or, more exactly, Remy. Then, however, he just nodded, sending them to their next class, which was Potions.

Severus was his own, sharp self in Potions. He didn't seem to single Hermione out as the know-it-all of the class anymore, however - half of the class was Hufflepuffs, true, but the other half was Ravenclaws - and he actually called her work excellent, something he'd never have done to a Gryffindor. Remy, of course, shone in the class. He did everything perfectly right, and with an almost superhuman accuracy and skill. There was no doubt whether he'd inherited his Father's talents. Nobody protested or talked about favouring when Severus gave Ravenclaw twenty points as he saw his son's potion, saying that it was the best batch of the particular potion he'd ever seen a student brew - they all saw that it was indeed perfect.

Unlike Remus, however, Severus did ask Remy to stay after the class. As Hermione hesitated on the door of the classroom, the Potions Master just nodded at her, then said, "Stay, Miss Granger. Please, close the door." As she'd done that, Severus turned towards his son. "I see you've settled comfortably to your new House," he said dryly.

"You could say that," said Remy, shrugging. "Professor Flitwick said we'd go to buy my new books today, is that right?"

"Exactly," the man said, nodding. "You, I, and Sirius are all excused from the rest of our classes - courtesy of the Headmaster. Yes, Miss Granger can come, too," he said, rolling his eyes towards the ceiling, before Remy even got his mouth wholly open. "Filius told us you were fine with the changes we made to your timetable."

"I am," the boy agreed. "You even had sense to drop that insufferable Divination."

Severus actually chuckled, something that Hermione had never heard from him before. "I just didn't want to give Sybil the satisfaction of telling me that my son would die in a horrible accident involving Potions classroom and a Grim," he said. "Go put your books away, both of you. We'll meet you in the Entrance Hall in half an hour, we'll then walk to Hogsmeade and Floo to the Diagon Alley."

"Fine with me." Remy nodded and turned around to walk away, but stopped as his father again called after him.

"Remy, about the money in the Potters' vault," the Potions Master started. "You're not a Potter anymore, that much is sure. However, by the time Lily and James died, you were. As you were wholly adopted and the only heir, all the money is indeed yours. As I and your Dad are taking care of your expenses, you can use it as you please - in the boundaries of common sense, of course," he then added, as a glint dangerously reminiscent of Remy's Dad appeared into the boy's eyes.

"Of course, Father," the boy replied smoothly. "I wouldn't even dream about doing otherwise."

However, as they were out of sight, he smirked slightly and raised his eyebrow at Hermione, who replied with a slight smile. Maybe he indeed had inherited some of the mischievousness of his Dad, even if he didn't have the goofiness that Sirius sported.

The day seemed to be looking up by all means. Her mind light and happy, Hermione started to walk towards the Ravenclaw Tower beside her friend.