Time for Me

The last day and a half before the students arrived was full of study for Aries. After the OWLs, he had dropped Divination and taken Arithmancy. He had stayed in Care of Magical Creatures only because Hagrid was the teacher - it wasn't a subject that particularly interested him anymore - so now, with Professor Kettleburn teaching instead, he had decided to drop that as well and go into Ancient Runes. However, he'd only taken one year of beginning Arithmancy and had never taken Ancient Runes, so he studied desperately to catch up to the NEWT level so he could take the tests for both. In order to make things easier for himself, he'd also dropped all other classes that didn't have to do with Auror study, leaving him with only Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Charms, Transfiguration, Defense, and Potions, all NEWT level.

He felt like Hermione as he tried to stuff several years of learning into a couple days. But at least it kept his mind off the upcoming Welcoming Feast. Whenever he accidentally thought ahead to the inevitable meeting with his parents, godfather, their friend and the traitor a surge of panic rose in him that would take several minutes to dissipate.

An unfortunate side effect of this lack of thought, however, was that he felt completely blindsided when the doors to the Great Hall swung open and a hoard of chattering students entered, lead by the year's Heads Boy and Girl. The noise paused a moment, as the returning students caught a glimpse of Aries and Charles already seated at the Gryffindor table, then returned with fervor. Neither boy had any doubt what the new subject of gossip was.

Aries kept his eyes firmly on the Arithmancy book in his lap, but he could tell without even looking that all the people he was most anxious about seeing had seated themselves around him and Charles. Sure enough, halfway through the sorting, Harry felt a sharp jab to his side, bringing his attention to his 17-year-old dead godfather.

"Oi, who're you then?" Sirius asked in a rather loud whisper. Remus, sitting next to him, smacked him on the head. "Whassat for?"

"How tactless can you get, Sirius?" Remus asked with teasing exasperation. He leaned forward so he had a better line of sight to where Harry sat. "My name is Remus Lupin, and this gormless prat is Sirius Black, what's your name?"

"Ha-Aries, Aries Hesuchazo," Harry stammered.

"You'll have to excuse him," Charles put in from across the table, between James and Lily, "he was home-schooled, not much in the way of social skills. My name is Charles Higgins III."

"Oooh, an American," James said, raising an eyebrow. "Interesting."

"Not really," Aries said, under his breath but loud enough to be heard. Charles shot him a rather peeved look, but Aries just quirked an eyebrow at him, indicating that he was just getting back for the social skills comment.

"Very nice to meet you both, I'm sure," Lily said shortly, "but please, it is time for the sorting. Shush."

"S-sorry," Harry whispered, not wanting to get on his mother's bad side before he was even born. Lily graced him with a small smile, then pointedly turned her attention back to the first year on the stool.

Sirius made faces at her behind her back; someone on Harry's other side laughed - a horribly, high pitched, squeaky snicker - and he turned to see who it was. There, sitting just inches from his left elbow, was Peter Pettigrew. Harry felt his lip draw upwards in the beginnings of a sneer, but a sift kick to his shin stopped him short. Across the table, Charles glared at him. Harry glared back, but turned his attention to the sorting and away from the horrid, traitorous rat sitting next to him.

After the last student was sorted, Dumbledore stood up and called everyone's attention to him.

"I know you are all eager to fill your bellies, but first I know you are also eager to fill your curiosity," he said. "Let me introduce our other two new students, Aries Hesuchazo and Charles Higgins III. Boys, stand up and let everyone see you." Harry and Charles stood, bowed, and sat back down. "As you can see, both have already been sorted into Gryffindor. Aries was schooled by his parents at his home in London, and Charles comes to us from America, where he studied at the Salem Institute. Please make them feel welcome as they spend their last year of schooling here at Hogwarts. Now, there is only one thing to say: Tuck in!"

Food suddenly appeared on the tables and a delighted murmur rose up from the student body. Aries piled his plate with all his favorite Hogwarts dishes and proceeded stuffing himself silly.

"Hungry?" Sirius asked mildly, an amused twist to his lips.

"A bit," Aries admitted, smiling self-deprecatingly.

"So you two are both seventh years?" Peter asked. Harry's jaw clenched around his bite of chicken.

"Yep, are you guys seventh years too?" Charles answered for him.

"We are," said James. "My name's James Potter, I'm Head Boy, this is Lily Evans, she's Head Girl, as well as one of the most fabulous people you'll ever meet." Lily blinked in surprise, but James pretended not to notice. "You've already met Remus and Sirius, and the great lump on your left is Peter Pettigrew."

"Nice to meet you," Aries murmured, fixing his gaze on his plate alone.

Charles chatted amiable with the Marauders throughout the meal, even making eyes at Lily, then laughing uproariously when James elbowed him for it. Aries didn't speak at all, beyond a polite "Fine, thanks" when Remus asked him if he was alright. The werewolf didn't look like he believed him, but was prevented from asking further questions by Sirius hooting loudly at some joke Charles had made. Soon after, Aries excused himself and slipped, unnoticed, from the Great Hall. At times like this he fervently thanked his time with the Dursleys for giving him the ability to slip into the background.

He'd spent the last week practically locked in Gryffindor tower, and didn't particularly feel like running there now. Instead, he took the deserted corridors to the library. At the far corner was a darkened section he wasn't sure Madam Pince even knew about. Mostly it was wizarding novels, but, if you knew what to look for, there were also obscure books on the Dark Arts, especially Parseltongue. They were denoted with a green dot on the top of the spine that, if one looked close enough, turned out to be a coiled up snake.

Aries was glad the books were still there and quickly settled down in the corner with his favorite - a book where all the characters but one were snakes, and the human was a young Parselmouth. It reminded him rather of himself, as the villain was a basilisk. It wasn't written by a Parselmouth, so there were a few minor errors, but Aries was quite willing to overlook them and simply enjoy the story.

He was halfway through the fifth chapter when a shadow fell over the pages, obscuring the words. Aries looked up to see one Severus Snape glaring at him.

"What are you doing in Salazar's Corner, Gryffindor?" the Slytherin sneered.

"Reading," Aries deadpanned. When Snape simply continued to glare at him he sighed. "Honestly, does everything with you people have to do with house rivalries?" he muttered, before responding, "My father was a Slytherin, I'll have you know, and he told me that this corner of the library has a few...interesting books in it. He was quite correct; I'm truly enjoying Forked Tongue of Silver."

Snape's eyebrows had shot up in shock when Aries mentioned his 'father's house and he sat down heavily in the closest armchair upon hearing the title of the book.

"That...is my favorite," he admitted.

"Really?" Aries asked, intrigued. He wouldn't have expected the younger version of Mr. Slimy-Greasy-Potions-Master-Git to like something as simple as a novel. Perhaps the fact that it was all about Parseltongue intrigued him. "I think it might be mine as well, though it's not entirely accurate."

"Indeed," Severus agreed eagerly. "I read The Art of the Serpent by Anne Konta, who actually was a Parselmouth, and she says that snakes care nothing for the affairs of humans and very little for the affairs of other snakes; the notion of one snake trying to rule all others is perfectly ridiculous."

"True, but she also talks about how Basilisks are recognized by all snakes as perversions, perhaps the only intrinsically evil serpent," Aries added, becoming thoroughly engrossed in the conversation. "It is that mention that leads me to believe Barnum Adder, the author of Forked Tongue of Silver, actually read Konta's book and simply disregarded those facts which didn't fit, trusting his informed readers to suspend disbelief."

"Or perhaps trusting that the majority of his audience wouldn't be 'informed'," Severus added slyly, smirking lightly.

They continued to talk for three more hours, until Aries thought to glance at his watch and realized it was nearly curfew. Cursing he stood up.

"It's been really great talking with you, Severus," he admitted as he returned the book to its proper place. "See you in classes?"

"Indeed," Severus answered genially, tipping his head in farewell.

Aries walked up to Gryffindor tower with a bounce in his step. He was thoroughly shocked to find that he had honestly enjoyed his time talking with his future professor. He even felt like he could face his dorm mates without breaking down, now. Odd, really, considering he had broken down more in front of Professor Snape than anyone else, during his Occlumency lessons. He decided he would note it in his journal to look into later, as he felt far too tired to do any soul-searching at the moment. At least he knew better, now, than to simply push all his feelings away unexamined. That was the most valuable lesson he had garnered from Occlumency; unexamined feelings mean you can be caught unawares by your own reactions and betray yourself.

Shaking his head, Aries spoke the summer password to the Pink Lady, knowing the prefects wouldn't have a chance to change it at least until tomorrow. It swung open to an empty common room - probably the only night of the school year this would be so, as each group of dorm mates would be busy unpacking reacquainting themselves with their friends and beds. Up in the seventh year boys' dorm, he was met with an outpouring of worried greetings.

"Oi, Aries mate, where've you been?" Sirius slurred around a chocolate frog.

"Yeah, what did you go running off for?" James asked, sounding almost put out.

"I'm sorry if we offended you," Remus offered. Charles and Peter were both quiet.

"I was reading in the library," Aries answered quietly, "I didn't run off because you offended me, I'm sorry if that's what it looked like." He deliberately dodged the second question, having not come up with a better lie than having 'social issues', but unwilling to embarrass himself by claiming such.

"Told you guys not to worry," said Charles triumphantly. "I swear, only a week spent here and Aries already knows every nook and cranny of this place, while I still get lost on the way to the Great Hall."

Sirius and James shared a look that said 'Not every cranny I bet'. Aries smirked to himself with the knowledge that he knew even more than they did, if you included the Chamber of Secrets.

"What were you reading about?" Remus asked, a bookworm just like his future self.

"Nothing for school," Aries admitted casually, "just a couple novels in Salazar's Corner."

"Salazar's what?!" Sirius exclaimed, at the same time James said,

"Salazar Slytherin?!" and Remus said,

"Is that where all the Slytherins hang out?"

Aries blinked rapidly at this onslaught, though he quite expected it and had been going for shock value at the time.

"Salazar's Corner," he answered, trying to get them in order, "I would assume Salazar Slytherin, and I can only guess if those of Slytherin house hang out there. Why?"

He noticed Charles watching him intently, as though Aries were a potion that had started bubbling when he was supposed to be cooling and he, Charles, were trying to figure him out. Aries returned the gaze and winked, turning his head so only Charles could see.

Sirius sighed, a sound full of wearied exasperation.

"Look, I know you haven't been here among the students for more than a few hours," he said, in a tone that suggested he was trying to be patient while talking to a moron, "but here at Hogwarts Gryffindors don't go where Slytherins go and Slytherins don't go where Gryffindors go."

"Why not?" Aries asked obliviously, "I mean, my dad was a Slytherin, am I supposed to not go home? And some of the books there looked really interesting, it would be a shame not to read them just because I'm not in the right house."

James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter all gasped.

"Now you listen here," James said sternly, "Slytherin is in no means the 'right house'. They are evil, dark wizards the lot of them, worst of the worst. You've heard of Death Eaters, right?" Aries nodded. "Well every last Death Eater was a Slytherin. The dark lord himself was a Slytherin. I don't know what sort of 'interesting' books you thought you saw, but if they're there for the Slytherins, they must be dark magic."

Aries raised an eyebrow, but said nothing, choosing not to push it any further. There were so many ways he could shock them even more, though, and it was certainly tempting - telling them he'd been reading a book on Parseltongue, that he'd chatted about said book with Severus 'Snivellus' Snape - but he wasn't sure they could take any more without throwing him out. He didn't think they'd even registered what he'd mentioned about his 'dad' being in Slytherin.

As he got in his pajamas and started to slip into bed, he noticed writing on his sheets in a familiar, elegant scrawl.

What are you on about?

Figuring Charles was waiting for a reply, he pulled out his wand, and waved it toward the other boy's bed, making the words Testing the waters appear in his own handwriting on Charles' sheets before pulling the covers up to his chin. Soon after, he was sound asleep.

The next day dawned both rainy and sunny. The clouds moving in from the West had barely arrived, leaving plenty of Eastern sky clear for the sun to shine through, but had decided to empty their apparently weighty load on Hogwarts prematurely. The effect was rather distracting, and Aries eventually had to turn his back to the window to get dressed before another half hour passed without his notice. None of the other boys were speaking to him, and it wasn't hard for him to discern why.

Sirius and James were still sore about last nights talk.

Peter was copying James.

Charles had been wrong-footed by Aries' display and so was taking the safe route by waiting to see what happened.

Remus...Aries looked around. Remus was already at breakfast.

Aries feigned ignorance of the attitudes around him and packed his back with three notebooks, two quills, and a bottle of black ink. His wand he slipped in a wrist holster he'd ordered from the Auror supply shop - it had cost 20 galleons and, though Charles had mocked him for what the redhead considered a rip-off, Harry knew from experience it was worth every knut.

The inside was made of softest thestrals skin, nearly indestructible despite it's flimsy appearance and near weightlessness, and on the back, covering the bony part of his forearm, was a guard made from a single dragon scale. The whole holster was charmed with a powerful protection spell that, since it was absorbed by the skins, was nearly undetectable. Other spells could be added, and it could even be steeped in certain types of potions to make it stronger, according to the wishes of the user. His old one, in the future, was already magicked to his preferences and felt like a second skin, but he had left it in his dormitory during his nighttime stroll to the Astronomy Tower, in order to fool Ron into thinking he was only at the loo if the other boy woke up and he wasn't there.

Unable to think of anything else he might need on the first day, Aries slung his bag over his shoulder and headed off to the Great Hall with a plastered smile on his face.

Despite it already being past 8:00, Aries was still one of the first to breakfast. Most of the students probably wouldn't be up and ready for breakfast until it was almost time for class, still used to sleeping in over the summer. Remus and Lily were two of only five Gryffindors already there, and Severus made up half the Slytherin table, the other half being a distracted-looking fourth year. Making a decision, Aries walked cheerfully up to the seat next to Remus, turned, and smiled at Severus, calling out, "Good morning!"

Severus got a distinct deer-in-headlights look for a moment, then glanced around him rather frantically before waving jerkily back. Aries smiled brighter and sat.

"And a good morning to you, Remus, and the dear Head Girl," he said, spearing a sausage link off the nearest platter with his fork.

"Umm, yeah, same to you," said Remus, looking at him like he'd grown two heads. Lily, who had her back to the Slytherin table and so had missed the whole seen, smiled and nodded politely, then returned to her book. Remus leaned in closer and lowered his voice. "Did you completely forget what James and Sirius told you last night? Or do you just have a death wish?"

"No, no, nothing like that," Aries assured him. "I just don't understand this silly 'all Slytherins are evil' mentality, and I refuse to adhere to what I don't understand. If no one can be bothered to explain it, I won't be bothered to obey it."

Lily, despite not being nosy or a busybody, was sitting right across from them and consequently heard the four loudest words either of them spoke, which, quite unfortunately, happened to be Aries' 'All Slytherins are evil' comment. She set down her book and leveled him with an icy stare.

"I don't believe it," she sneered, "one night with those four and you're already prejudiced and bigoted against a quarter of the school. 'All Slytherins are evil' indeed; how is that any different from saying 'all muggleborns are worthless'? I'm disappointed, I thought maybe you were different. I can see I was wrong."

And without sparing him another glance, she slung her bag over her shoulder and stormed out.

"I budda...I wudda...but...huh?" Aries stammered, completely confused by this very misdirected speech. "What's her problem?" he finally forced out.

Remus smiled in amusement, but hid it and said nothing as the doors opened and the rest of the Marauders and Charles all walked in. They seated themselves next to or across from their friend, ignoring Aries for the most part. The silence was broken by Sirius.

"So, Slytherin-Lover, had a chance to think over what we said last night?" he asked casually, buttering a muffin.

Aries slammed his fork down, grabbed his bag and stalked off without responding; for fear that if he did it would end up as a shouting match. He nearly ran into Professor McGonagall as he stormed through the entryway, but they both stopped short just in time.

"Ah, Mr. Hesuchazo, prefect timing," she exclaimed, rifling through a pile of small papers. She handed him one with his name on it. "Your schedule. If you need any help finding your way, just ask a fellow Gryffindor."

"Right," Aries replied, masking his sarcasm well, "I'll be sure to do that."

She smiled obliviously at him and left, entering the Great Hall to disperse the rest of the schedules.

Aries looked at his curiously. It was a typical NEWT level schedule, with no more than two classes per day, but each class double.

Monday was Potions, lunch, Ancient Runes; Tuesday, Transfiguration, lunch, free period; Wednesday, a free period, lunch, Arithmancy; Thursday was all free; Friday, Charms, lunch, and finally Defense.

At least he already knew where the potions classroom was. Running back up to Gryffindor Tower to get his cauldron, he found another note on his sheets.

Stop trying to make waves, you bloody git.

Aries smirked. Charles had no idea what he was doing.

Not making waves, he replied. Getting thrown overboard.