A New Life

Chapter Six: Gryffindor Grudges

'Remus, are you sure you're not over-exaggerating?' Severus asked when he and his husband retired to their quarters after the sorting ceremony.

Remus shook his head and sat down on the small sofa near the fireplace. 'I know what I heard, Severus. My hearing as you know --'

'Is quite exceptional, yes, I know, I know,' Severus said irritably. Unbuttoning his robes, he sat down next to Remus with a small sigh. 'Still, are you positive he said the name "Harry Potter"? Is it at all possible that you misheard him somehow?'

'I wish I had, Severus,' Remus said wearily. 'The hat said something to him, I don't know what of course, but whatever it was it had Harry quite concerned. I could smell the agitation on him when he took that blasted hat off.'

'Well, what do you suggest we do? We can't exactly go to Harry and ask him what it was the hat said now, can we,' Severus replied just as wearily. 'I say we just keep an eye on him for now and see where things go. Hopefully, he won't think about whatever was said again.'

'And if he does, then what?' Remus asked worriedly.

Severus sighed and reached over to take his husband's hand in his own. Looking him deep into the eyes, he said in a soft voice, 'If he does, we shall deal with it, Remus.'

'I don't want to lose him, Severus, not like this,' Remus said in a choked voice.

'We will not lose him, Remus. He is our son in every sense of the word, we have cared for and raised him the best we could under the circumstances, and no one can deny that. Whatever happens now happens, we can't hold onto him forever even though we would like to,' Severus said.

'Oh why did I ever agree to do this?' Remus said angrily then got up and stood in front of the fireplace, staring into the flames with unseeing eyes. Despite the warmth of the fire, Remus shivered. 'I never should have agreed to this, Severus. Harry and I should have stayed in Notting Hill where it was safe. Where there was no chance of him or anyone else possibly figuring things out.'

'Would you really have denied him the right to be what he is meant to be?' Severus asked.

'He's meant to be our son, Severus, nothing else,' Remus argued. 'He's ours now; we saved him from a life that would have been miserable. We --'

'We have done all we could to keep him safe,' Severus cut in whilst getting up from the sofa and walking over to Remus. Putting his hands on his husband's shoulders he turned Remus round and said in a softer voice, 'It does not matter where he is, Remus, be it here at Hogwarts or back home in Notting Hill, at some point we still would have had to let him go. He's growing up; he needs to learn to take care of himself at some point. It's time he went out into the world to see it with his own eyes and make his own judgements.'

Remus uttered a sad, wistful sigh. 'I know, it's just that it's so hard to see him growing up, Severus. He's changing and I'm not even sure if it is for the better. Look at who he's already chosen to become friends with, a Malfoy of all people!' he said bitterly.

'I am not thrilled about that either, yet the boy was sorted into Gryffindor so perhaps there is more to him than meets the eye,' Severus said thoughtfully.

'He's a Malfoy, Severus. You know what Lucius Malfoy is like and what he is capable of,' Remus said darkly, his eyes blazing a dark yellowish-amber.

'And that is Lucius, not his son. We have no right to judge the boy for Lucius indiscretions, Remus. Have you forgotten what type of families we come from and how our fathers raised us? Have you forgotten what we have done in our lives?' Severus asked.

'No, I haven't forgetting, Severus, as if I ever could,' Remus said in a hard, bitter voice then seeing Severus' expression he sighed heavily. 'You're right, we can't judge the boy for being Lucius' son. If things had been different Harry would have been raised the same way.'

'Look, we don't know Draco Malfoy yet, it's far too soon to say what he is like. I know it hurts to remember our past, but now that Harry's here, we're going to have to play things carefully. Even if it means telling Harry the truth,' Severus said quietly and drew Remus into his arms.

Remus sighed in contentment with the warmth of Severus arms wrapped round him. 'You realise that by being friends with Malfoy that Harry may very well find out the truth before we get the chance to tell him ourselves?' he said hesitantly, and looked up at Severus in concern.

Severus nodded. 'His friendship with Malfoy non-withstanding, I dare say Harry may already have heard things he may soon question us on.'

'What do we tell him?' Remus asked thoughtfully.

Severus looked at Remus with a determined glitter in his coal black eyes. 'We tell him as much of the truth as we can, without saying too much, which makes me think that it may now be time to make some moves of our own and call upon certain people.'

Remus looked at Severus puzzled for a moment then a look of comprehension came across his face. 'Are you sure that's a wise idea, Severus? Things could backfire on us if we do that,' he said.

Severus nodded. 'It could, but I don't believe it will. I have been giving this some thought for a few weeks actually and I think this is the best course of action for us now. Ollivander only confirmed my suspicious that time is running out. If we can convince them that Harry is our rightful son and heir, then not even Dumbledore would question to the different.'

'Dumbledore won't be fooled for long though, you know he's already suspicious how we managed to keep Harry hidden from everyone all these years,' Remus said.

'He has his suspicions yes, proof no. We will tell him and everyone else only what we think they need to know and nothing more until they have had a chance to see Harry and make their decisions,' Severus said determinedly. 'Tomorrow morning we shall send them owls asking them to see us.'

'And then?' Remus asked.

'Then we wait. If they acknowledge us we go from there,' Severus replied.

'You realise they may want us back as well,' Remus said.

'We aren't the children we were when we last saw them, Remus; we know how high the stakes are now. We will do whatever we have to do to keep our family safe. If my suspicions are right and he rises again, I will not sacrifice my family to his whims,' Severus said firmly.

'Nor shall I of course,' Remus agreed, 'but what about Harry? What do we do with him in the meantime?'

'We watch him and the Malfoy boy as well. We shall see what develops and if we need to field questions or not. In addition, owl Black tomorrow and tell him that we need him here immediately. Tell him the plans have changed and that we have to act sooner than we thought,' Severus said.

'That won't be a problem for Sirius, he probably expected something to happen knowing him. Besides, I'm sure he's already quite lonely without us round, even though it's only been a day,' Remus chuckled.

'If he is lonely that's his own fault, he knows he's welcomed here. It's not our fault if he chooses to only accept what we offer him unless he's desperate,' Severus snorted.

'I don't think we can ever give him what he really needs, Severus,' Remus said with a shake of his head. 'He loved and was betrayed, that's a bitter pill to take.'

'I shan't argue that, only add on how lucky I am that I am not in the same predicament when I very easily could have been,' Severus said softly, and seeing that Remus was about to reply to that he stopped his husband's words by putting his finger against Remus' lips. 'Now let's stop worrying about all of this for now because there isn't much more we can do anyway, and let's go to bed,' Severus said drawing his lover away from the fireplace.

'Go to bed? But it's early yet, I'm not even tired!' Remus said petulantly.

Severus chuckled. 'Funny, I don't recall saying anything about sleeping yet,' he replied coyly.

Remus gazed up at Severus with a smouldering look of lust mixed with love in his amber eyes, and he put his hand out to caress his lover's cheek tenderly. 'I really don't deserve you,' he said.

'No, I'm the one that will spend the rest of my life making up to you for my faults. I dragged you down into the darkness because of my foolish needs, yet you still agreed to life-bond to me, joining our souls as one. I just wish I could express in words what that day meant to me; what it will always mean to me, Remus,' Severus said quietly.

'I was more than a willing life mate, Severus; I needed and loved you back then just as I still do and always will. At any rate, you didn't drag me down into the darkness I was there to begin with, you just made it bearable,' Remus said then gazed at his husband with a heated expression. 'Now, I believed you mentioned something about going to bed?'

Severus chuckled. 'You know, I do enjoy the week of the full moon. You are truly at your worst my voracious wolf, which is just the way I like you,' he grinned then he leaned in and kissed his husband passionately whilst at the same time picking him up into his arms. He didn't even stop his kisses as he carried Remus off towards their large four-poster bed, all other thoughts of the evening long gone from their minds.

****

'Harry? Harry! Harry, wake up, we're going to be late for breakfast!' Draco said trying to pull the duvet off a very unwilling, sleepy Harry.

'G'way, D'co,' Harry mumbled, trying desperately to pull the duvet back over him.

'Harry Lupin-Snape, get your arse up this second or I'll --' Draco threatened, then grinned as he finally succeeded in pulling the duvet all the way off the other boy.

'Oi!' Harry grumbled and blinking back his sleepiness, he yawned and sat up. 'What did you do that for, Draco?'

'Because you're being a right pain in the arse, that's why,' Draco muttered. 'Now come on, we're late.'

Harry yawned again then stretched and reached over to get his silver-rimmed glasses. 'Cripes, what time is it?' he asked putting his glasses on.

'Almost eight o'clock,' Draco said making some last minute adjustments to his robe.

'Eight o'clock?' Harry said quickly jumping out of bed in a panic. 'Why didn't you wake me sooner?' he yelled over his shoulder as he headed off towards the loo.

Draco rolled his eyes. 'Not for lack of trying, y'know!' he yelled back.

Harry walked back into the room a few minutes later looking more refreshed. 'Was I really that bad?' he asked as he started to get out of his pyjamas.

Draco snorted and shook his head. 'Bad? I think a stampede of musical pink elephants could have run through here this morning and you'd have slept through it, Harry. Are you always this difficult to wake up?'

Harry shook his head. 'No, not really,' he said getting on his shirt and trousers. 'I was having this really odd dream though, maybe that's why,' he said putting on his school robe and tidying it best he could.

'Dream? What about?' Draco asked curiously.

Harry shook his head puzzled. 'That's just it; I don't know what it was about. All I remember is this really odd green light and hearing this strange high-pitched laugh, and nothing else,' he shrugged.

'Are you going to tie your hair back or leave it down?' Draco asked looking at Harry's still messed up morning hair.

Harry thought on that a moment and went over to the mirror. 'Tie it back I suppose, otherwise it'll be flying all over the place,' he sighed. 'I wish my hair was more like my father's.'

'What oily looking?' a sneering voice said from the doorway.

'Or limp and greasy looking?' a second voice spoke up, also with a sneer to it.

'Weasleys, what do you want?' Draco asked coldly.

'We just wanted to welcome you to Gryffindor is all,' one of the redheaded boys smirked.

'Ah, well, thanks but we're in a hurry as you can see,' Harry said in a controlled voice, suddenly getting a bad feeling.

'You know you don't belong here,' the first boy said rudely. 'You and Malfoy belong in Slytherin with the other snakes.'

'Well obviously the Sorting Hat doesn't agree with you, Weasley. Now if you don't mind leave, we've got better things to do then to sit round chatting with a bunch of imbeciles like you two,' Draco said icily.

'We know you're to blame for Ron going to Slytherin since you were talking to him right before the sorting,' the second boy said glaring at Draco threateningly.

'Draco had nothing to do with Ron going to Slytherin,' Harry said angrily, his hand suddenly going for his wand. 'Now leave us alone.'

'You're just as guilty, you'll get yours, Snape. You'll see,' the first boy said coldly.

'So will you, Malfoy,' the second boy said.

'My name is Lupin-Snape, not just Snape,' Harry said through gritted teeth. 'Now leave or I'll --'

'Or you'll what? What's the itty-bitty ickle firsty going to do to us eh? Curse us? Hex us? Oh, I'm just shaking with fear!' the first boy smirked.

Harry didn't even know what happened next but all of a sudden, he seemed to snap as one of the redheads made a grab for him. Taking his wand out he seemed to separate himself into two parts, one going along as if on auto-pilot, and the other part of him watching with a strange detachment as the scene unfolded before him in slow motion. He watched himself point his wand at the boy who was coming for him and heard himself shout out 'Crucio!' before he even knew what he was doing to stop himself.

He then watched as the first red-haired boy went down to his knees, a strangled cry of pain coming from his lips. The second boy made an unexpected dash for Harry's wand, only to be stopped by a very large glistening black object. It was Kaiba that much Harry was able to register, and Kaiba was clearly ready to defend. It then felt as if a giant hand thrust Harry's body back into one piece, and once again, he was in control of himself.

'Kaiba, no, don't attack!' Harry yelled out quickly as everything began speeding back up to normal.

The snake turned to look at Harry. 'He wasss going to hurt yyyou, massster.'

'No he won't,' Harry hissed back firmly. 'Now go back to your cage.'

Kaiba wasn't too happy about the command but he complied. With a final angry hiss at the two redheaded boys, he slithered back to his cage, the wire lid closing on its own. Kaiba then curled up on his branch, watching and waiting to see if he would be needed to defend his master again.

'Honestly, Kaiba,' Harry hissed, though the tone of his voice told the snake that Harry wasn't angry with him, not really. Turning back to the others, Harry saw a look of astonishment on Draco's face, pure fury on the second boy's face, the third boy still unconscious on the floor, and suddenly Harry felt very guilty about what had just taken place.

'Umm ... sorry?' he said hesitantly.

'Sorry?' the conscious redheaded boy said in a low, angry voice. 'You're bloody sorry?' he screamed, his face turning as red as his hair. 'You ... you're ... I'm getting McGonagall! You're going to be the one that's sorry, Snape!'

Before Harry could say another word, the second redheaded boy grabbed up his unconscious brother and fled the room. With a heavy sigh, Harry put his wand in his robe pocket and sat down on the edge of his bed, Kaiba wrapping himself round his neck and shoulders.

'Oh, Kaiba, what've I done?' he hissed.

'H-Harry?' Draco said hesitantly.

Harry looked up at Draco, tears in his eyes. 'Oh, Draco, what's going to happen to me?' he asked in a small voice, sniffing back his tears.

'Well ... err ... where ... how ... you're a Parselmouth?' Draco asked nervously.

Harry nodded and sniffed back some more tears then held Kaiba close to him. 'Yeah, I am,' he said sighing. 'I wasn't supposed to tell anyone. My parents warned me not to.'

'Somehow, Harry, I think that's the least of your problems now,' Draco said with a sigh. 'You just cast an Unforgivable on that Weasley boy. I think that is going to be your biggest problem now I'd reckon.'

'I know; I can't believe I did it again!' Harry groaned.

'You ... you've cast that spell before?' Draco asked in shock and a bit of disbelief.

Harry nodded his head reluctantly. 'Yeah, on my uncle once, I think it was only once anyway, and it was purely by accident. I still don't know how or why I can cast it,' he sighed. 'My uncle warned me not to tell my parents. He said they'd really be upset, but now they're going to find out anyway and ... and they're going to kill me, I just know it, Draco!'

'Massster, you are frighteneddd,' Kaiba said in concern.

'Of course I am, Kaiba, I hurt somebody!' Harry hissed back automatically, a tone of exasperation in his voice.

'What are you saying, Harry?' Draco asked curiously.

'Kaiba said I was frightened,' Harry replied as he held the snake closely to him. 'And he's right, I am. Why me? Why can I do this, and why can't I control it when it happens? All I could do was watch what was happening, as if it wasn't even me doing it!' he said angrily.

'Harry ...' Draco said hesitantly. 'Maybe ... err ... that is ... maybe it's something to do with your parents?'

'Draco ...' Harry said warningly. 'Do you know something about my parents that I don't? If you do you better tell me!'

Draco sighed, with an odd look at both Harry and the snake took the risk, walked over, and sat down on the bed next to his friend, concern on his face. 'All right, Harry I'll tell you what I know, if you tell me how come that snake --'

'Kaiba,' Harry said automatically.

'Err ... right ... Kaiba. How come it --' Draco began again.

'He. He's a he, Draco,' Harry said.

'Will you stop interrupting me already?' Draco muttered. 'All right, how come you can talk to him?'

Harry thought about that for a moment then shrugged. 'I don't know why I can talk to Kaiba, but I found out when I was really young that I could talk to the snakes and lizards in Dad's garden. We used to have the grandest conversations, but then the snakes got boring because they only wanted to talk about how Dad wanted to get rid of them because Father hates snakes. After that, I went to visit the snakes at the pet shop but it got to risky because I was getting odd looks from the Muggles so I had to stop going. My parents found out about me being a Parselmouth on a trip to the London Zoo this past summer. I was talking to this boa constrictor at the Reptile House because these bullies were bothering him. Now all I'm allowed to do is talk to Kaiba only when no one was supposed to be round,' he sighed and hugged his beloved snake then looked back up at Draco. 'Now, tell me what you know about my parents.'

'Err ... well honestly, I don't know that much,' Draco said hesitantly then changed the subject. 'Snape hates snakes? Isn't that a bit odd for a Slytherin, especially for someone that's Head of Slytherin House?' Draco asked puzzled.

Harry chuckled weakly. 'Yeah, Father hates all reptiles, even lizards bother him. He went batty on me the first time I brought a small snake into the house when I was little. It had a cold and I wanted to take care of it so Father said all right, but after that snakes and lizards of any kind were forbidden inside the house.'

'But he let you get err ... Kaiba ... anyway?' Draco said puzzled.

'Yeah, but only because I begged my parents to let me have him. I didn't need to bring an owl since we have Hedwig, the family owl, and I don't like frogs and cats much,' Harry said wrinkling his nose. 'You won't tell anyone that Father hates snakes, will you?'

Draco chuckled and shook his head. 'I doubt anyone would believe me on that one, Harry. Right now though we've got bigger problems then your father hating snakes, not that I want to bring it up but you're going to be a heap of trouble for casting that spell on the Weasley kid,' Draco said.

'Cripes I nearly forgot; he's off to get McGonagall isn't he. My parents ... they're going to really kill me for this! Oh heck, Draco, I've got to get out of here!' Harry said in a panic. Jumping up he quickly put Kaiba back in his tank, and getting his trainers on he dashed towards the door. 'Come on!' he said and grabbed Draco by the hand.

'Harry ... Harry slow down! Where are we going?' Draco asked breathlessly as they got to the portrait hole now. Harry didn't stop, however, and headed out the portrait, Draco quickly following him. 'Harry! Harry, wait up!' he called out.

'Come on!' Harry repeated. However, before either of them could get more than ten feet past the entrance, a very angry looking roadblock in the form of Professor McGonagall blocked their path.

'Mr Lupin-Snape, Mr Malfoy, you will both come with me,' she said in a tone of voice that spoke volumes.

Harry and Draco looked at each other then lowered their heads guiltily. 'Yes, Professor McGonagall,' they said at the same time then followed her away from the Gryffindor dorms.

They didn't know the castle yet so they weren't sure exactly where they were heading, however, it seemed as if they were going deep into the bottom of the castle. Stopping at a doorway she knocked on it, then a moment later a voice from inside answered with a single word.

'Enter!'

Harry didn't have to guess now where they were, there was no mistaking the sharp, cold, angry voice Harry heard. They had to be in the dungeons. If he had wished last night to be swallowed up during the sorting ceremony, right now he wished he were just plain on another planet.

'Professor McGonagall? Can't you just kill us now and get it over with instead of us going in there?' Harry asked weakly.

Professor McGonagall was not amused by Harry's request, and glaring at both the boys, she opened the door with a bang. Nearly dragging the two boys inside what was apparently someone's private chamber, she stopped and said in a clipped voice, 'They're all yours, as you asked. Let me know what's been decided and arrangements will be made.' With saying that she turned on her heel and left the room, slamming the door behind her.

Harry didn't dare look up just yet; he wasn't sure that he could or even wanted to. After five minutes of silence, however, he risked it, and nearly fainted on the spot. Sitting in the room was both of his parents, not just one of them as he first thought, and both of them looked ready to murder him. He'd seen his parents angry with him before of course, but never, not once had they been remotely this furious looking.

'Umm ... hi?' Harry said weakly, ready to faint any second.

'Is that all you have to say to us?' Severus said in a voice laced with such cold fury that Harry thought it would be less painful to be stabbed, shot, and boiled in hot oil.

'Umm ... no ...' Harry replied.

'Harry, explain,' Remus said in a tightly controlled voice.

'I ... can't ... exactly,' Harry said in a small voice.

'You can't or you won't?' Severus asked sharply.

'He can't, Sir,' Draco said, trying to defend his friend.

'Silence! I do not recall asking your opinion in this matter, Mr Malfoy. You will keep quiet,' Severus said coldly.

'It's not his fault, Father; don't yell at him, he had nothing to do with this. It's my entire fault,' Harry said finally picking up some courage.

'I will deal with you shortly,' Severus said in an ominous voice, his coal black eyes boring holes into Harry. 'Mr Malfoy,' he said now in a dangerously, low silky voice, 'I do not need to tell you that what you saw this morning stays to yourself. Do I make myself clear?'

'Y-yes, Sir,' Draco said swallowing hard and nodding quickly.

'You will go to breakfast, and you will not say anything about what happened. If I hear one word --'

'Severus,' Remus said sharply and shook his head slightly at him. Turning to Draco with a hard expression on his face, he said coolly, 'I'm sure he realises the severity of this situation. Do you not, Draco?'

Draco nodded. 'Yes, Professor Lupin-Snape,' he said meekly.

'I trust then you know how to accord yourself appropriately about this incident. After all, you are a Malfoy, so I expect nothing less from you,' Remus said giving Draco a dark, penetrating look.

'Yes, Sir, I understand. You have my word that nothing will be said,' Draco replied.

'Good, then we understand each other. As for your behaviour towards the Weasley boys, that will cost Gryffindor fifty points each, is that clear?' Remus said. 'Now go to breakfast, Harry will join you shortly.'

'Yes, Sir,' Draco said then with a parting worried glance at Harry he quickly left the room.

'You didn't have to do that, Dad, he didn't do anything,' Harry muttered.

'Be quite,' Severus said and gave Harry one of the harshest looks Harry had ever seen from his father. 'Have you any idea what you have done?'

'Actually --' Harry began only to be cut off.

'You have put in jeopardy not only yourself, but you Dad and me as well. To blatantly cast an Unforgivable --' Severus began.

'I want to know how in the name of Merlin did you learned how to cast that spell, Harry?' Remus cut in angrily. 'You certainly didn't learn that from us. Your uncle hasn't been teaching you the Unforgivables without our consent has he?'

'No, of course not!' Harry said, shaking his head quickly. 'It wasn't Uncle Sirius, I swear it.'

'Then where did you learn that spell?' Remus asked now, his tone of voice more curious than angry.

Harry turned to him, a strange look in his eyes. 'That's what I'm trying to tell you, Dad, I don't know,' Harry said quietly. 'And it's not the first time I've done it either.'

'What?' Severus exclaimed in disbelief. 'When? Why haven't you told us about this before?'

'Because Uncle Sirius told me not to say anything! He said you'd be really upset that I could do it, and he was right, you are! Besides, I didn't mean to cast it on Uncle Sirius; I swear it just ... happened!' Harry said torn between anger and tears.

'Oh for the love of Salazar,' Severus said in exasperation. 'How typical of Black, he should have come to us right away with this,' he muttered.

'Sirius did what he thought was best, I'm sure of that, Severus, though I personally think he should have as well. We'll have a talk with him about this when he gets here,' Remus said in a clipped voice, then turned back to look at Harry. 'How many times has this happened, Harry?'

'Only once ... I think anyway,' Harry sighed. 'I don't know why it happened today though, any more than I know why it happened with Uncle Sirius. All I know is that those two kids --'

'Fred and George,' Remus said cutting in.

Harry nodded at him. 'Yeah them, anyway, they came in whilst Draco and I were getting ready; we were running late and I was trying to get ready anyway. So, they walked in and started saying this stuff about ...' he trailed off, not wanting to say what had been said.

'About?' Severus asked.

Harry sighed. 'About you, Father. The next thing I know I was getting angry and then one of them tried to grab me. Everything sort of slowed down after that, I felt as if I'd become two people. A part of me was watching the event happen at the same part of me was still moving, and I had no control over anything I was doing. The next thing I know I was sort of tossed back together and yelling at Kaiba not to attack the other red-headed boy. That's when it really hit me what had happened, that I'd not only spoke in Parseltongue in front of them, but that I'd cast the Cruciatus Curse on the first boy.'

'I see,' Severus said in an odd tone of voice. 'So what happened after you told Kaiba not to attack?'

Harry shrugged. 'I did try to apologise when I saw the boy passed out on the floor, but then the other one grabbed him up and left, yelling at me that I'd be sorry for what I did. Then I panicked and grabbed Draco and we tried to leave, but McGonagall found us and brought us here.'

'That is Professor McGonagall to you,' Severus snapped. 'So, then you have no idea how you are able to perform this particular curse,' he said and glanced at Remus a moment. 'Have you done any of the other Unforgivables before, Harry?'

Harry shook his head. 'No, Father, at least I don't think I have,' he said with a drawn out sigh. 'Uncle Sirius might know though.'

'It looks as if we were right to send those owls post-haste and ask them to come here as soon as possible. We can't let this go on without doing something about it, Severus,' Remus said and gave Severus a knowing glance.

'We do not even know yet if they will agree to what we asked, Remus. We shall wait until we hear from them before going further with this. For now, we will just have to talk to Black and see if he knows more about this situation. Harry is too young for this to go unchecked,' Severus said.

'Have you've forgotten what we were doing at his age, Severus?' Remus said quietly and looked up at his life-mate.

'That was different,' Severus argued, though he didn't sound convinced as he should have.

'The only difference is that we were taught how to control it, he hasn't,' Remus said with a tinge of steel in his voice.

'Dad, what are you and Father talking about? What did you do at my age?' Harry asked curiously.

'Remus, the issue at hand is not what we did back then, but what we have to do now about Harry. He must be duly punished, regardless if he meant to do this or not. The Weasleys and Malfoy are now aware of things as well, however thankfully they have agreed to keep this to themselves. That is all we can do to alleviate the situation, for now at any rate,' Severus said.

'I'm going to be punished?' Harry asked with a sinking feeling now.

'Of course you are to be punished. You should be thrown into Azkaban for doing this,' Severus said harshly.

'A-Azkaban?' Harry stammered. 'I'm not going there as my punishment ... am I?'

'No, son, you aren't,' Remus said with a glance at Severus and a slight shiver. 'However, that is the usual penalty for using the Unforgivables without justification. In this case I think you shall be spared Azkaban in favour of more suitable punishment.'

Harry groaned. 'And what would that be, Dad?'

'You will spend every weekend until the winter holiday with me, in the dungeons. And believe me, I shall find plenty of nasty things for you to do,' Severus smirked.

'Aw, Father!' Harry said petulantly. 'Not that! Can't I do anything else?'

'You will do as you are told to do, and no balking about it, Harry. Do you realise that your Dad and I could have served a sentence in Azkaban for what you did? Since you are still a minor, we are held responsible for your actions.'

'What? No, is that true?' Harry said paling a bit.

'Unfortunately, it's very true, Harry. That is one of the punishments for the parents of underage magic users who step over the boundaries,' Remus said.

'Oh, Dad, I didn't know that,' Harry said with a heavy sigh. 'I'm sorry ... really, I am. I don't know why I got so angry, I don't know why I can do this ... I hate having no control over what I'm doing!'

'That may not be an issue in the future, son,' Remus said whilst giving Severus an odd glance.

'What do you mean, Dad?' Harry asked curiously.

'That's enough, Remus, I think we have said all we had to say for the moment,' Severus said. 'Now go to breakfast, Harry, and we best not find out that you are in trouble again today. Make no mistake, your Dad and I will send you back home and you will be expelled from Hogwarts if you aren't more careful. Do we make ourselves clear?'

Harry nodded. 'Yes, Father,' he said quietly, 'may I go now?'

'Go on, son,' Remus said nodding at him.

Harry nodded back and with a last saddened and frightened look round at the three adults left the room. As soon as he did, Remus turned to Severus and said heavily, 'Well, if there was ever a time we needed them now would be it eh?'

Severus nodded in agreement. 'All we can do now is hope they agree to see us, Remus. I wasn't sure I wanted them back in our lives, but if Harry is doing things like this already he will need to learn control it, and quickly before things get any further out of hand.'

Remus nodded. 'If anyone can teach him control it's them. Until we get some replies though there's no point thinking about this anymore. Let's go to breakfast, somehow I have a feeling today we're going to need all the strength we can get.'

'Somehow, Remus, I have a bad feeling you are right about that,' Severus said with a nod, and together they left their quarters, both with the feeling that this day far from over yet.