Magic At Its Deepest

Chapter Five

Harry's screams echoed through the Gryffindor boys' dormitory, jerking Remus and Sirius out of their far more pleasant dreams. Sirius sprang out of Ron's bed and rushed over to his side, followed shortly by Remus, who had been sleeping in Seamus Finnegan's bed. "Harry! Harry, wake up!" Sirius said urgently.

Harry's eyes flew open, and he gasped softly for breath. "Oh, bugger," he swore violently, clasping his head to his forehead.

"Harry? Does your scar hurt?" Sirius whispered softly, worried.

"Yeah. It burns," Harry said. "I have to tell Dumbledore." He looked up at Sirius, white-faced. "It's Professor Snape. Voldemort knows he's a spy."

Sirius and Remus stared at him in shock for a moment, and then Remus stood up, his expression grim. "Are you sure, Harry?"

"He tortured him. Crucio. Three times. I'm sure." Harry grabbed his glasses and slid off the bed. "I have to tell Dumbledore."

"Yes, of course," said Remus softly. "I'll go wake your mum..."

"No. Don't. Let her sleep." Harry smiled wryly. "This is old hat by now, I'm afraid." He slid his feet into the slippers just to the side of his bed, then stood. "I'm sorry I woke you. You can go back to sleep now. I'll be fine on my..." Harry trailed off, eyebrows raised, at the look on Sirius' face. "What?"

"Sometimes you're even weirder than your father, you know that?" Sirius stood up, shaking his head. "We're coming."

Remus nodded agreement. "We're coming, Harry, and your mother will skin me alive if I don't wake her up," he said quietly.

Harry blinked a few times, surprised. "Why? I'm fine now, the pain's already fading..."

"Harry? Stop being such a Gryffindor." Sirius smiled fondly at his startled godson. "We're coming, and that's the end of it."

Harry blinked, then bit his lip. "Alright," he said quietly.

Sirius smiled and wrapped an arm around Harry's shoulders. "You sure you're OK, now, Harry?"

"I'm fine," said Harry. "Really. I'm used to it by now." He smiled back faintly, pushing his glasses up onto the bridge of his nose. "Let's go."

Thirty minutes later, Harry, Sirius, Remus and Lily were seated in Dumbledore's office, Harry quietly recounting the details of his dream to them while they listened attentively. About two minutes into the retelling, Lily reached out and slipped her arm around Harry's shoulder; Harry froze for a moment, startled, before relaxing into the embrace, leaning very slightly against his mother's side.

When he'd finished the story, the room was silent for a long time. At length, Dumbledore spoke, his tones unusually grave. "Thank you for coming to me with this, Harry," he said softly. "I trust you will continue to do so if you have any more dreams of this nature?"

"Yes, Headmaster," Harry replied quietly.

"Thank you, Harry." Dumbledore sighed. "And now I have to find a new Potions teacher...somebody to teach the children. On such short notice, it will be difficult..."

"Headmaster, if I may," said Lily quietly. "Do you remember the only class Sirius did better than James, Remus and myself in, every year we were in school?"

"Potions," said Remus, raising his eyebrows. "Tied with Snape every single year." He grinned at Sirius, who flushed slightly. "Drove Snape insane."

Dumbledore studied Sirius thoughtfully. "Yes, now that you mention it, I do seem to recall that. Sirius? Would you mind very much assuming Severus' duties as Potions Professor? You'd have to be in disguise, of course, but I'm sure we can manage something."

"Oh...no, Headmaster, I wouldn't mind at all," said Sirius. "I would be honored." He looked over at Harry, smiling. "That is, if Harry doesn't object to having his godfather as a teacher."

"Object? Why would I do that?" Harry grinned so widely it looked as if his face might split. "I'd be thrilled to have you for a teacher, Sirius."

Sirius grinned back, reaching across the table to ruffle his godson's hair. "That's all the motivation I need. I accept, Headmaster. Thank you."

"Not at all, Sirius," said Dumbledore, looking pleased. "We'll just have to decide on the perfect disguise."

"Make him a woman."

All eyes turned to Lily, who was sitting, looking very pleased with herself. "Beg pardon?" Sirius said incredulously.

"A woman. It's perfect." Lily grinned. "It's the last thing anybody would expect, Sirius Black posing as a woman."

"She's got a point," said Harry thoughtfully. "I mean, really, Sirius, who would expect the big, bad Azkaban escapee to be hiding at Hogwarts, walking around with breasts?"

"Nobody. Myself included." Sirius made a face. "You're right. I don't like it, but you're right."

"Your name is Margaret," said Remus suddenly. He was staring at the wall, his expression thoughtful. "Margaret Keating. You're forty-seven, graduate of Hollinsworth Academy. A very small, obscure wizarding school in the northeastern part of America which merged with the Salem Academy of Witches ten years ago," he explained at the blank looks of the others. "They won't have records of students from that long ago."

"You wear your hair short," Harry put in. "Long hair's too dangerous around potions. Maybe a flip like in those old shows Aunt Petunia likes. Blonde hair, but dark blonde, not platinum. And brown eyes." He thought for a second, tapping his chin.

"Is he married?" Remus asked of Harry, ignoring Sirius altogether.

Harry shook his head. "Hmm. Was, once."

Remus raised his eyebrows. "Divorced?"

"Yeah." Harry's face assumed a mock-sympathetic expression. "He cheated."

"Oh!" Remus gasped, feigning indignation. "The swine!"

Lily and Sirius stared at them, wide-eyed. It was as if time had suddenly stood still and then gone into reverse, and it was James and Remus, staging an entire conversation to drive Lily up the wall as the Marauders had all done with one another so many times in the past. Remus was laughing and Harry's grin was so very like James that Lily very nearly burst into tears.

Sirius fumed. "What does that aunt of yours watch?" he demanded of Harry.

"You don't want to know. Just be glad he didn't run off with your sister."

Remus buried his face in his hands, shaking with laughter, and Lily giggled madly at Sirius' indignant expression. Dumbledore's moustache quivered. "Yes," he said, "I believe that will be a very effective cover story."

Sirius leaned back in his chair and sulked.

Hermione Granger and the Weasley family arrived at Hogwarts two days later. Harry was in the boys' dorm when they arrived, putting the finishing touches on his Potions essay. Now that Sirius was going to be teaching, he wanted to know what he was doing, at least enough so he wouldn't blow up the classroom.

He was so intent on his homework that he didn't hear the portrait door open, but he couldn't miss Ron's incredulous voice. "Oi! He's doing homework! You corrupted him, Hermione!"

"Ronald Weasley, I did not corrupt him," Hermione replied in crisp, agitated tones. "He's probably just started."

"Actually, this is the last thing I have to do," Harry replied, not looking up as he wrote the last sentence. "I finished everything else two days ago." He looked up, grinning at Ron and Hermione's startled faces. "Hey, I'm living in a school. What else am I gonna do?"

"You might consider practicing a little thing called Quidditch," said Ron.

"I've done that too," Harry retorted. "We'll be great next year, you'll see." He stood up and strode over to them, grinning. "It's good to see you, mate," he said, and slapped Ron's shoulder in a friendly manner before turning to hug Hermione, who kissed his cheek. "And you too, Hermione. I've missed you both."

"We've missed you too, Harry," Hermione said quietly. "Was it very bad at the Dursleys' this year?"

"Not really," Harry said mendaciously. "And anyway, I got to come here, and I got to see Snuffles. Oh, by the way, Ron, where's your family? I need to tell you all something in private, and it's kind of big."

Ron's eyebrows went up. "They're downstairs, waiting. Should I go get them?"

"No," he said. "We'll go down and tell them there. Go on down, I'll be along in a second, there's something I have to do first. Go on," he added, making shooing motions as they looked at him dubiously. "I'll be right down."

They went, somewhat reluctantly, and Harry watched them go, then grabbed his father's Invisibility Cloak and snuck out of the room.

His mother was in the girls' dorm waiting when he slipped in. "They're here," he said quietly. "Come down the stairs and I'll open the door when I've told them."

"All right." Lily stood, nervous, and smoothed down her robes. "Do I look all right?"

Harry grinned as he surveyed his mother's neat attire. She'd gone down to the kitchen to ask the House Elves to help her, and when Dobby had enthusiastically offered his assistance, Lily had been horrified. She'd covered it quite well, but others had been less skillful. In fact, to Harry's surprise, it had been Winky who conjured the clothes, claiming that females of all species understood fashion better than the males. This was probably true, actually, considering what Harry had seen of Dobby's taste in clothing. Winky seemed to be much more in tune with such things; she'd conjured up several skirts and blouses for Lily to wear, along with robes in various shades. Today Lily was wearing a wool skirt in her family's plaid, which consisted of black, and several shades of red and blue in what Harry supposed was a nice pattern - he was probably even more ignorant about fashion than Dobby. She was also wearing a white blouse tucked into the skirt, black dress robes thrown over her Muggle clothes and left open, black leather dress shoes with no heel, and black dress socks. "You look good, Mum," he said. "Aren't you glad you didn't let Dobby dress you?"

"Oh, yes," Lily agreed, laughing. "Now go on, tell your friends."

"Yes, Mum." Harry grinned at her again, then turned around, put the Cloak back on, snuck back to the boys' dorm, put the Cloak up, and went down to the common room.

"Blimey, Harry, it's about time," said Ron as he walked in. "What'd you have to do, write an essay for Trelawney?"

"Funny, said Harry as he walked past his best friend, smiling at his parents. "Hullo, Mr. Weasley, Mrs. Weasley."

"Hello, Harry, dear," said Molly Weasley, and hugged him. "How are you?"

"I'm doing good," said Harry. "Real good. How are you?"

"We're doing well," said Molly, releasing him.

"Hello, Harry," said Arthur, and shook his hand.

"Hullo, Mr. Weasley."

"Have you been eating, dear?" Molly asked worriedly.

"Yes, ma'am," Harry said.

"You really think the House Elves would let him starve, mum?" said one of the twins, grinning. Both twins stepped forward, pounding Harry on the back. "Harry, mate, good to see you."

"Absolutely corking. Been practicing?"

"Of course," said Harry. "We'll steamroller Slytherin next year, just wait." He looked over the twins' shoulders at Ginny, who was smiling shyly at him. "Hullo, Ginny."

"Hi, Harry. You said you wanted to tell us something big?"

"Oh, yeah." He bit his lip. "It's really, really important, and you have to promise you won't tell anybody else. Not even Lee, you two, or Angelina or Katie," he added, looking over at the twins. "I have the Headmaster's permission to tell you lot, but it can't leave this room. The only other person who knows is Professor Lupin."

The Weasleys and Hermione stared back at him, wide-eyed. "All right, Harry," Percy said at length. "We promise."

"Yeah," said Ron, and they all nodded somberly. "You can trust us."

"I know," said Harry. "I do. That's why I'm telling you." He paused to collect his thoughts, then said, "I'm really not sure how to say this...it's still a shock to me. See, a few days ago, around half-eleven at night, somebody started pounding on the Dursleys' door. I woke up and went downstairs, and when I opened the door...my mum was standing on the stoop."

Jaws dropped. Hermione and the Weasleys stared at him in shock, unable to speak. "Your mum?" Hermione whispered at length. "Harry..."

"I know." Harry smiled. "I freaked out completely. Understandable, I guess, all things considered. Petunia was worse, though. She came down the stairs to see who was knocking, saw my mum and started screaming at the top of her lungs. Grabbed me and dragged me away from her, and Vernon slammed the door in her face and called the police. I ran upstairs to owl Remus to warn him; I thought it was a Death Eater in disguise. And then, two days later, Dumbledore showed up on Privet Drive to take me to Hogwarts. Remus was there too, and so was the person I'd thought was a Death Eater. They told me that they'd interrogated her with Veritaserum, and she told them who she was." Harry looked up from his hands and smiled at the shocked expressions of Hermione and the Weasleys. "We don't know how it happened, but somehow, my mum came back from the dead."
There was a ringing silence. "Oh...oh, Harry!" Hermione gasped softly at length. "That's...that's amazing! That's never happened before. Has it?"

"Never," Arthur croaked softly, white-faced. "My God, Harry."

"Yeah, do that for about a week and you'll be about where I am right now," Harry said dryly.
"Harry," Ron said. "That...that's brilliant!" He leapt out of his seat, dragged Harry out of his and pounded his back. "Your mum's alive! That's so bloody brilliant!"

This broke the floodgates, and the next thing Harry knew he was surrounded by redheads, embracing him, shaking his hand, and pounding him on the back. Even Ginny mustered the courage to embrace him, which surprised him, but not so much that he didn't return the hug.

"Harry," said Hermione when the Weasleys had all separated from him, and flung her arms around his neck, embracing him tightly. "Harry, I'm so happy for you! It's so wonderful!"

"I know," said Harry, grinning. "You want to meet her?"

Hermione squeaked in surprise and looked up at him, startled. "Meet her?"

"Yeah. She's here," said Harry. "She's staying in the Defense against the Dark Arts teacher's quarters until term starts."

"Is she going to be teaching?" Ron asked, wide-eyed.

"No," said Harry. "Remus is coming back."

"Professor Lupin's teaching again? Really?" Hermione said, looking pleased.

"I thought they wouldn't let him," said Ron. "Not that I'm not happy, he was a great teacher, but..."

"They're taking precautions," said Harry. "A lot of spells on his quarters, and he's got Snuffles to keep him company."

"'Snuffles'?" said one of the twins, startled.

"Yeah, that's his pet dog," said Harry. "Apparently having an animal around calms him down during full moons." He grinned. "So, you want to meet my mum?" There was a loud chorus of approval, and Harry's grin widened. "Good," he said, and turned around, walking over to the door to the girls' dorm and opening it up. "Come on in, mum," he said, and opened the door wider as Lily walked into the room. "Mum, these are my best friends, Ron and Hermione, and this is Ron's family. Guys, this is my mum."

Lily smiled widely at the Weasleys and Hermione. "It's so nice to meet you all," she said quietly. "Harry's told me so much about all of you." She looked over at Hermione, and her smile widened even further. "So you're Hermione, hmm? I've heard more about you over the last couple days..."

Hermione went pink. "Oh?" she said faintly.

"Oh yes," said Lily. "I've never heard the phrase 'bloody brilliant' used that many times in that few minutes before in my life."

"Oh," Hermione said, and the pink in her cheeks deepened to crimson. "Harry's exaggerating."

"Actually, that was Remus." Harry grinned at Hermione's startled expression. "I think the phrase I used was 'Bloody near perfect.'"

"Sounds about right," Ron said.

Hermione looked as though she might expire from embarrassment on the spot, so Lily decided to come to the rescue. "And you're Ron," she said, grinning at him. "Harry has a lot to say about you, too."

Ron's ears went scarlet. "Good, I hope," he muttered.

"Stellar." Lily smiled. "Every word of it." She looked up at Molly and Arthur, and took a step in their direction. "I've heard a lot about you two as well," she said quietly. "Everything that you've done for Harry over the years....I'm very grateful."

"He's a wonderful boy," Molly said. "It's been an honor to have him in our home." She and Arthur shook Lily's hand. "It's an honor to meet you, Mrs. Potter."

"Please, call me Lily," she said, smiling. "And that goes for you all, too," she added, looking around at the children. "I suspect we're all going to get to know each other very well."

Molly opened her mouth to say something, then closed it again at the sound of footsteps outside. Harry's stomach leapt into his throat as Sirius walked in through the door, looking confused. "Lily, have you seen...oh bugger."

Ginny, who had no idea Sirius was innocent, started to scream. Ron clapped his hand over her mouth, muffling her cries, and stared at Sirius with a panicked expression.

Fred and George reacted with rather impressive speed, whipping out their wands and shouting curses in perfect unison. Fast as they were, though, Sirius had been an Auror, and his reflexes were still sharp. As Fred's Stunning Spell and George's Body-Bind flew across the room, Sirius dropped to the floor in a roll, ducking the spells.

This was rather unfortunate for Remus Lupin, who chose that moment to follow Sirius into the room. The spells that had missed Sirius hit him, right in the chest, and he barely had time to blink before hitting the ground, unconscious.

For a moment, nobody moved. Then Sirius leapt up and ran over to Remus' side, his expression deeply panicked. "Moony! Oh, bloody Hell, Moony, please be all right."

"'Moony'?" chorused the twins, but before they could say anything else, Harry rounded on them, glaring in a way that made them both very nervous.

"Do you have any idea how stupid that was?" he demanded. "For one thing, if you're going to curse somebody who used to be an Auror, you'd better be a lot more accurate than that. For another thing, you've just succeeded in cursing a teacher, and the best teacher in the school at that. And hey, just to round things out, Sirius is innocent, and he's my godfather, so if you'd hit him with those, I probably would have had to knock you both into next week for your trouble. Of course, Remus is family too, so I might still do that."

Fred and George stared at him in shock for a moment, then started backing away slowly. "We didn't mean to hit Professor Lupin--"

"You know we like him a lot--"

"And we didn't know Black was innocent--"

"He used to be an Auror?"

"Harry! Leave them alone and come over here!" Lily called. "They didn't mean to curse him."

"Yes, mum," Harry said, turning around and walking over to them. "Is he going to be OK, Sirius?"

"Yeah, he'll be fine. They just knocked him out." Sirius brushed a stray hair out of Remus' eyes. "He looks so fragile when he's out cold."

"Don't we all?" Harry said dryly, and pulled out his wand, reversing the twins' curses.

Remus moaned softly as he stirred, blinking up at them. "What happened?" he murmured softly.

"The twins tried to curse Sirius and hit you instead," Harry said softly. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," Remus said. "Thank you, Harry. Padfoot, I told you to transform before you went looking for them."

"Ta, Moony," Sirius said dryly. "I'll remember that next time."

"Somehow, I doubt it." Remus smiled wryly. "Help me up?"

"Of course." Sirius and Harry each reached down and grabbed one of Remus' hands, hauling him easily to his feet. "You sure you're all right, Moony?"

Remus smiled. "Yes, Sirius," he said. "I'm sure." He looked over at the twins, who were staring at them in surprise. "Now, what have you two to say for yourselves?"

"You wrote the Marauder's Map?"

Remus and Sirius blinked. "Oh, that's right, Harry told us you're the ones who swiped it from Filch and gave it to him," said Sirius. "How'd you figure out how it worked, anyway?"

"Mister Prongs told us," Fred said. "I think he took exception to George calling it a 'Worthless bit of parchment'."

Sirius smiled slightly. "Yes, he would certainly not appreciate that. It was his idea, after all. Always full of good ideas, was Harry's dad."

"Harry's dad was Prongs?" Fred exclaimed, shocked.

"Yeah," said Sirius.

"And you're Padfoot."

"At your service."

"And Professor Lupin...you're Moony?"

"Indeed." Remus smiled slightly. "Bet you really wish you hadn't cursed me now, don't you?"

The twins flushed violently. "We're really sorry, Professor Lupin..."

"Mister Black..."

"We thought you'd come to try and kill Harry again..."

"We thought we were helping Harry..."

Remus held up a hand to stem their chatter, and they fell silent immediately. "I understand that your intentions were good, and that you couldn't have known that Sirius was innocent, or that your curses would miss him and hit me. I trust you've learned a lesson from this."

"Yes, Professor--"

"We learned that never, under any circumstances--"

"Should we piss Harry off!"

Harry flushed slightly at that. "Er. Yeah. Sorry about that. It's just, I mean, I was worried about Remus. You'd do the same thing if somebody cursed your dad."

Remus blinked rapidly, rather startled by the insinuation that Harry regarded him in that way, but nobody else looked at all surprised. "Yes, we would," one of the twins agreed. "Sorry."

"'S OK. I won't hex you into oblivion today." Harry smiled slightly. "Just don't do it again."

"Say, Harry," Sirius said, "now that they all know I'm innocent, perhaps you should tell them about Snape."

"Snape? What's the greasy git done now?" Ron asked rudely.

"Oh, not much," Harry said dryly. "Just gotten himself captured and tortured by Death Eaters."

Hermione and the Weasleys gasped in unison, jaws dropping, eyes widening, and faces going very pale. "Professor Snape's been taken?" Hermione whispered. "When?"

"A few nights ago." Harry sighed. "I had a dream. He...they're not being kind to him."

"Oh...oh Harry," Hermione whispered, and stepped forward to embrace him tightly. Harry smiled slightly and returned the embrace. "I'm OK now, Hermione," he murmured. "Really."

"Professor Dumbledore needed somebody who knew what they were doing to stand in for Severus until he can be rescued," said Remus quietly. "And there's only one person who's as good at Potions as Severus who was available on such short notice." He looked over at Sirius, smirking. "He'll be in disguise, of course, but Sirius will be teaching you this year."

"Wow!" Ron said, grinning. "That's bloody brilliant!"

Sirius grinned back, obviously pleased. "Well, thank you. I'll try to live up to your high expectations."

"I rather think you'll surpass them," said Harry quietly. "For everyone but the Slytherins, that is."

Sirius' eyebrows went up. "Hey, that's right, I can take points now, can't I?" He smirked. "Malfoy! Ten points from Slytherin for having a silver spoon shoved up your--"

"Sirius!" Lily and Remus chorused, shocked. Hermione's jaw was open, and Mrs. Weasley looked as if she was tempted to whack his knuckles. Harry and the Male Weasleys, however, were barely managing to control their glee.

"This is going to be excellent," whispered Ron, and Harry nodded emphatic agreement.