A Life More Ordinary

Madame Malkin's--July 1992

"I think you must've grown at least nine centimeters in the last year," Remus said as he tugged at the hem of Harry's new robes. Harry waited impatiently for Remus' final nod to indicate to Madame Malkin that the new robes would do. "Hold still please," Remus said as he straightened. Harry obeyed, forcing himself not to roll his eyes.

"That should do," Remus finally said, nodding to the shopkeeper. Madame Malkin smiled. She waved her wand in an intricate pattern up and down Harry's body. She flicked her wrist and a set of numbers appeared on the parchment with Harry's name on it.

"A cloak as well?" she asked.

"Two."

"Very good," Madame Malkin approved. "Everything will be ready in two days. I'll take that one, Harry."

Remus thanked her and Harry shrugged out of the black robes, handed them over to the dressmaker and then followed Remus out of the shop. Sirius was just coming toward them, holding a bag full of parchments and quills.

"How was it?" Sirius asked. "Not too torturous, I hope?" he added, winking at Harry.

"I hate getting fitted for robes," Harry said, pulling a face. "Madame Malkin is so fussy." Remus was as well, but Harry wasn't going to add that. Sirius smirked at him and Harry had to duck his head to hide a smile.

"I am not fussy," Remus objected anyway as he looked between them.

"Sure you're not," Sirius said with a grin. "You were in there for nearly an hour."

"There was a queue, thank you very much. And Harry wouldn't hold still."

"Oh sure, Moony, blame the kid."

Remus smiled; the lines around his brown eyes crinkling with amusement. Sirius kissed him over Harry's head.

"Do you have to do that in middle of the street?" Harry grumbled when they pulled apart. "Anyone might see you."

"And?" Sirius said with a smirk. "There's no law against kissing in a street."

Harry rolled his eyes. "What does that mean anyway?"

"What does what mean?" Remus asked while Sirius took all of the bags and shrunk them.

"Moony."

Sirius paused in his spell work and Remus frowned slightly.

"I mean I know it's a nickname," Harry went on, "but how did you get it?"

Remus glanced down the street and Harry followed his gaze, but he didn't see anything interesting.

"I started calling him that when I was about fifteen," Sirius answered, drawing Harry's attention. "And I've been using it ever since." He smiled a little. "Silly, I suppose."

"Padfoot's weirder," Harry said, smirking. "Hermione told me it's the name of a spirit--a dog ghost that supposedly haunts a small town."

"We're a weird lot, Remus and me," Sirius agreed with a smile.

Harry snorted and Sirius put an arm round his shoulders as they started down the street again. "Did my dad have a nickname for my mum?" he asked after a minute.

"Hmm," Sirius mused. "He called her Lils sometimes; she liked that."

"What about Dad?" Harry asked through his smile. "Did Mum have a nickname for him?"

Remus and Sirius shared an amused glance, but both of them shook their heads. Harry was about to ask what was so funny, but Draco and his father were just coming up the stairs leading from Knockturn Alley; Harry grinned.

"Hi Draco!"

"Hi!"

"Good afternoon," Mr. Malfoy greeted them with a slight nod; he was frowning but not at anyone in particular. Sirius and Remus murmured their own greeting and then no one said anything.

"We're going to Flourish and Blotts to get our books," Harry said to Draco. "Want to come?"

Draco's grin didn't quite make it to the surface as he turned to Mr. Malfoy. "May we, Father?"

Mr. Malfoy nodded distractedly and led the way. Draco fell in step beside Harry with Sirius and Remus close behind them.

"Have you read your supply list yet?" Harry asked. "We have loads of books for D.A.D.A."

"All of them written by the professor."

"I know; he has the same publisher as Remus."

"Yeah? Have you met him?"

"No, but Remus said he'll be at Flourish and Blotts." Harry lowered his voice, not wanting his parents to know he'd overheard them talking last night when he was supposed to have been sleeping. "He writes about all sorts of adventures he's had--battling dark creatures, but Remus says half the stuff in his books can't be true," he whispered with a grin. "And Sirius said the headmaster must be losing his mind to have given him the D.A.D.A. job."

It was just the sort of information Draco appreciated; he snorted softly. "He can't be worse than Emmettweller though; he was stupider even than Hagrid."

"Hey," Harry objected, giving his friend a nudge in the ribs, "Hagrid isn't stupid."

Draco rolled his eyes. "Well, even so, Emmettweller was an idiot; Lockhart has to be better than him."

Emmettweller, Quirrel's replacement, had turned out to know very little except that children should be as quiet as possible and that class should end only when he was ready--even if it meant all of the students missed half their lunch period. No one had been particularly sad when he'd decided not to return. Especially not the twins, who'd probably been the reason for his departure. They'd spent almost all of their spare time pranking the hapless professor.

"At least his books will be interesting," Draco went on with a shrug. "Battles with dark creatures."

"If they're even true."

"Even if they aren't, they can't be as dull as our first year text. Hermione was the only one who didn't fall asleep when we had to read it. Even you thought it was boring," Draco added with a smirk.

"That's because Emmettweller read it out loud in class to us; I don't know why he assigned the chapters at all."

"Didn't I just say he was an idiot?" Smiling at his own cleverness, Draco ducked into Flourish and Blotts behind his father, but Harry immediately lost sight of both of them; he'd never seen the shop so crowded. Harry yelped as someone trod on his foot on their way past.

"Watch where you're going, young man!" a lady cried as she continued past, using an elbow to crowd into a very loud clutch of witches.

"Are you all right?" Remus asked while Harry glared at the woman's back.

The trampled foot quickly forgotten, Harry stood on tiptoes and tried to see around the crowd. "Why are there so many people here?"

"To meet Gilderoy Lockhart, I imagine," Sirius said; he nudged Remus and Remus chuckled. Harry had no idea why his parents had to be so weird. He turned back to scanning for Lockhart.

"He's just standing there, talking about himself, though," he said, finally catching a break through the hordes of women; and a few scattered men. "Hey, look, it's Mrs. Weasley. She's staring at him and smiling; she looks sort of goofy. She must really like his books."

"Oi Harry! Up here!"

Harry twisted and found Ron leaning over the stairs to the upper level.

"Didn't know you'd be here," Harry said, grinning.

"Mum had to see the new professor." Ron rolled his eyes. "She thinks he's handsome."

Harry glanced up at Lockhart again, cocking his head. But he couldn't see anything special about the new professor. He had a really big smile, with loads of teeth, but that seemed more creepy than handsome.

"Ronnie, come down from there."

Harry turned to see Mr. Weasley coming in with Ginny.

"Oh, hello, Harry," he said, smiling brightly and then greeted Sirius and Remus before turning back to Ron. "Where are your brothers?"

"Dunno," Ron said with a shrug as he leaned against the banister and inched down slowly. "Percy went to look for... something; not sure what. And the twins went upstairs."

Mr. Weasley sighed and gestured for Ron to hurry along; Ron rolled his eyes and did, stopping to give Harry's shoulder a shove. "The twins are poring over some secret parchment," he whispered.

"Yeah?" Harry asked with some interest. Whatever the secret was, the twins were bound to get in trouble over it. "What sort?"

"They won't let me see it," Ron said with a huff. "Fred practically tossed me down the stairs when I tried to get a look. Wankers."

"You could wait until after they go to sleep and steal it," Harry suggested with a smirk, only half-serious but Ron brightened considerably.

"They've probably booby-trapped their room," Harry warned him, not really wanting his best mate to end up with flashing green and silver hair after breaking into the twins' room.

"Yeah, they would do that," Ron grumbled and added another insult under his breath.

"What are you so cross about?" Ginny wondered, sidling away from her father and leaving the three adults to their chatting.

"None of your business," Ron retorted grumpily.

"The twins have a secret parchment," Harry told her, earning a frown from Ron. "Oh, don't be a twat," he grumbled to his friend.

Ginny's brown eyes sparked their interest and Harry knew she's have the secret out of the twins before the night was out. They shared a grin while Ron continued to frown.

They all became sober though as Mr. Malfoy pushed his way through Lockhart's fans. "Simpletons," he muttered to himself; his eyes narrowed as soon as he saw Mr. Weasley; his fingers tightened on a tattered book he was holding close to his side. "Well, well, Arthur," he drawled. "I wouldn't have expected you to be here today; after your late night last night."

Mr. Weasley's jaw tightened and his smile was strained. "Lucius."

"Buying supplies for your children?" Lucius asked with a sneer. His eyes raked over Ginny and Ron. "Ah; your youngest. Second hand books, I see." He slid Ginny's books from where they were stacked in her cauldron and fingered them distastefully. "The ministry doesn't pay you enough to terrorize Pureblood families, Arthur?"

Sirius stepped around Mr. Weasley as the older man's hands clenched at his sides. "I don't think this is really the place, Lucius," he said, smiling in a way that didn't hide his irritation very well--at least not from Harry. Mr. Malfoy seemed to have no response to that and with very little fuss, Sirius took the stack of books from him and tucked them back into Ginny's cauldron.

"Molly's trying to get your attention, Arthur," Remus spoke quietly. His features still tense, Mr. Weasley turned. Mrs. Weasley was making her way through the crowd, smiling and waving.

Sirius patted his shoulder and said Ginny and Ron, "Run along to your mum."

Ginny took her father's hand and Mr. Weasley's face finally relaxed a little. With Ron beside him, Ginny led the way to her mother.

"Have you seen my son?" Mr. Malfoy asked as they walked away.

Harry shook his head. Mr. Malfoy, smiling slightly now, nodded curtly. He ordered several people to move as he went off in search of Draco.

"That would not have ended well," Sirius said in low voice--mostly to Remus but Harry nodded anyway. He'd never seen Mr. Weasley angry before. Shaking his head as if to clear it, Sirius turned to Harry. "We'd best get your books and be on our way."

"Upstairs," Remus said, nodding toward the giant sign indicating where they could find Hogwarts' textbooks.

"Lockhart's books are through there though," Harry said, pointing at the crowd. Remus sighed.

"I'll fetch those. You and Sirius go upstairs for the rest."

Remus disappeared into the fray just as the Weasleys found their way out. Mrs. Weasley was beaming. "Hello there, Harry," she said cheerfully. "Did you see the new professor? Quite charming; he'll be an excellent teacher."

Harry couldn't really see how someone needed to be charming to teach D.A.D.A., but he nodded anyway.

"Where are the twins?" Mrs. Weasley asked the air in general as she looked round the bustling shop. "And Percy?" Not waiting for an answer, she took Ron's arm and dragged him away, presumably in pursuit of her missing offspring.

Sirius leaned in close to Mr. Weasley and Mr. Weasley frowned as he nodded.

"Did your mum get all of Lockhart's books?" Harry asked Ginny. She nodded, prodding her cauldron forward a bit to show how full it was.

"There were nine of them! And every one is written by him."

"Bit much, yeah," Harry agreed. "Hey," he said, reaching down to pull a tattered book from the pile.

"That isn't mine," Ginny said, leaning over to squint at the book.

"Draco's father had one like this. He was holding it when he stopped to talk to your dad. He must have put it in here accidentally. We'd better give it back to him."

Ginny wrinkled her nose. "Not me," she said as she shook her head.

"I'll ask Sirius to send it to Mr. Malfoy," Harry said with a shrug as he pocketed the book.

"I really hate Draco's father," Ginny said as she brought the cauldron close to her chest. "If Draco's anything like him-"

"He's not," Harry said hastily. At least he tries not to be, he almost added but decided it wouldn't help. Ginny shook her head.

"Well, he'd better not be. The twins have been showing me some hexes; don't tell my mum. I'll hex him if he's an arse too."

Harry snorted. "You can't go around hexing other students, Gin. You'll get in trouble."

"So?" Ginny retorted.

"So, don't be silly," Harry said with a frown. "Hexing Draco isn't worth a detention and anyway, he hasn't done anything; you're as bad as Ron."

Ginny scowled. "I am not."

"Are too, if you want to hex someone just because their father is an arse."

"Harry."

Harry's eyes flew up; their parents had stopped talking and though Mr. Weasley looked a bit surprised, Sirius was frowning.

"Sorry," he said quietly, feeling his cheeks warming at Sirius' soft rebuke; he'd forgotten he could be overheard.

Sirius held his gaze for a moment and then said, "Remus should be finished soon and we still have to go upstairs for your other books."

Harry nodded and answered Ginny's sympathetic look with a half-smile. He went up the stairs alongside Sirius, glancing up when his godfather tousled his hair. "I think you'll have more D.A.D.A. books than all of your other books combined," Sirius said with a smile.

Harry smirked and led the way to the Charms section. He grinned when he found the proper book. "Hermione's excited to read this one. She told me in her last letter."

"Has there ever been a book that Hermione hasn't been excited to read?" Sirius asked, his grey eyes dancing with amusement.

"Probably not."

Harry spotted Draco's blond head behind a tall stack of books as he searched for McGonagall's assigned book next. "There's Draco," he said, pointing for Sirius' benefit. "I'll tell him his father is looking for him."

Sirius nodded and Harry went over and tapped his friend's shoulder.

Draco smiled as he turned, not startled in the least at the unexpected interruption. "Hi, Harry. Look at this; it's a Quidditch book, but it's told with photographs instead of words."

"Yeah?" Harry crowded in to see and Draco shifted to accommodate.

"See?" he said, pointing. "They're just releasing the Snitch; it goes through the whole game like this."

"There must be hundreds of pictures," Harry marveled, transfixed as he watched the game unfolding through the pictures. "Look how fast the Seeker is going--and you can even see the wings of the Snitch; brilliant."

It took a few minutes before Harry remembered he was supposed to be telling Draco about his father. And when he did, Draco sighed.

"He's probably still downstairs."

"Yeah," Draco said as he put the book back on the shelf.

"You aren't going to buy it?"

Draco's eyebrows furrowed and he looked back at the spine, considering but finally he shrugged. "I'd better go; Father won't like waiting. He'll send Dobby if I take too long."

"All right. Oh," Harry said as he remembered the book in his pocket. He took it out and Draco's nose wrinkled in distaste.

"Where did you get that? It's as old as Merlin."

"Your father accidentally gave it to Ginny; we saw him downstairs."

Draco's blond eyebrows rose. "My father? But it's disgusting."

Harry shrugged. "It's his; he must not have realized he'd given it to her. Just give it back to him," he said impatiently.

"Ugh. Oh all right," Draco said dramatically. Harry rolled his eyes as his friend took the book between two unwilling fingers and dropped it in a pocket without a second glance. "Sirius is fighting with a book," he said, already distracted; he pointed and Harry grinned. Sirius was struggling to close a book that kept shouting at him to keep reading.

"What is that?" Harry asked as he Draco moved over to him.

"Stupid book won't let me close it," Sirius muttered. "Hi Draco," he murmured even as he tried to squash the covers together.

"Maybe if you tell it to belt up?" Draco suggested; his lips were twitching as he tried not to laugh.

"Already tried that. Oi, you daft book! I'm not interested in how many zipheraries there are in a muskel!"

"You will be!" The book screeched. "Once you read it! Open the pages immediately!"

"Why don't you just put it down?" Harry asked, a breath of laughter escaping; Sirius frowned at him, but Harry's lips wouldn't be still.

"I tried that and it stung me. Ow!"

"Throw it or something," Draco said, backing away from the book as a spark made Sirius jump. The book sailed through the air in the next second and it screamed so loudly that patrons scrambled from around the stacks of books to see what the commotion was about.

Two heads of ginger hair darted up from a far corner. "What's all the noise?" Fred complained.

"We're trying to work here," George added with a harrumph.

"Just a book shouting at Sirius," Harry said, glancing at his godfather; his smile faltered as Sirius stuck his abused finger in his mouth.

"I'm all right," Sirius said with a wave of his free hand. "Draco," he said to the blond, "your father's looking for you."

"I know," Draco said on a sigh. "See you in a month, then," he said to Harry. "Bye Sirius."

Harry said goodbye reluctantly to his friend and then followed Sirius to where the twins were sequestered again. "Your parents are ready to leave," Sirius said and then frowned as Fred tried hastily to shove the parchment he was holding behind his back. He wasn't fast enough; Sirius swiped it up before either of the twins could even protest.

"Where did you get this?"

Fred and George exchanged furtive glances. "It's just a spare bit of parchment," George said and Harry could tell he was lying. George certainly did it often enough. Sirius raised a single eyebrow and George let out a gusty sigh. "Found it in Filch's office."

"Found it?"

"Well, we might have borrowed it," Fred said.

"Just to study it," George chimed in, putting on his best innocent face. "It's a joke parchment, see. Some clever blokes named Padfoot and Prongs--we expect so anyway, charmed it to insult anyone-"

"Padfoot?" Harry interrupted, glancing swiftly up at his godfather.

"Yeah," Fred said before he could say anything more. "There were these four chaps--Moony and Wormtail were the other two, but all it does is insult people. I'll show you if you like-"

"But that's what you call Remus," Harry interrupted again; his interest peaked enough that he pulled the parchment from Sirius' hand. It was folded but there wasn't any writing. "How do you know who made it?" Harry asked the twins.

"Well, if you tap it, it'll insult you, but we don't have our wands-"

Sirius withdrew his wand, touched the parchment and said quietly, "I solemnly swear I'm up to no good." Words began to bleed onto the parchment.

"Oi!" The twins scrambled up from the floor. "How did you know?"

"Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs," Harry read out loud, "purveyors of aids to magical mischief-makers, are proud to present the Marauders Map..."

"It's you?" George demanded, looking excitedly up at Sirius.

Fred beamed. "You made it?"

"Which one are you?"

Sirius smiled slightly. "Padfoot."

"Who are the others, then?" Fred asked. "One of them is Remus, yeah?"

"And Harry's dad, I'll bet."

"My dad?"

Sirius turned to Harry, still smiling in that way that he always did when he was remembering something that made him happy. "Your dad and Remus, yes," he said. "We made it. Your dad was Prongs."

Harry grinned at the parchment. "What is a Marauder's map?"

"A map of Hogwarts, of course!" Fred said, as if that should have been obvious.

"But wait," Harry said, cutting Fred off once again. "Who's Wormtail? That's an awful name-" The smile immediately left Sirius' face and Harry knew the answer. It had to be Peter Pettigrew, the man--the friend--who had betrayed Harry's parents. Sirius and Remus explained years ago, after an excited wizard had asked him for his autograph in Diagon Alley, saying that he hoped Peter Pettigrew would suffer for many long years for what he'd done.

Sirius nodded tightly, knowing that Harry had understood. Not really noticing until his fingers were curled in his godfather's robes, Harry had stepped close to Sirius. Sirius swallowed, tapped the map again and said gruffly, "Mischief Managed." The words faded away and Sirius settled his fingers over Harry's.

"Wait," George objected as Sirius put it in his pocket. "What are you doing?"

"We need that map!"

Sirius shook his head. "Sorry chaps," he said. "Your mum and dad are looking for you," he added as their faces fell. "Come along and we'll find them." He gestured for them to go ahead of him and both of them scowling, they did.

It was only when they were down the stairs and had deposited the twins with their parents that Harry realized he'd slipped his hand into Sirius'. He left it there and together, they waited for Remus.