The Marauders' Sons

Part I

Tom didn't like this idea at all. He had just been freed of the burden of seeking an education for what he thought was the rest of his life. But Dumbledore needed him for the war. As much as he hated school, he hated Voldemort more. Murder did that to you. Tom's father had been killed by the Death Eaters, and he felt honor-bound to help the cause. He didn't know his father; he knew he was murdered and was out of his life forever. He never was in his life, but it wasn't his dad's fault. So he grudgingly, bitterly, angrily agreed.

Tom was an American, from Boston, educated in Salem, MA, which he always thought was very ironic, because he had Muggle family that would have been hunting the "witches" of the area during the Salem Witch Trials. Tom was the obvious choice for Dumbledore's "favor" because American schools started 2 years before those in Europe, and Dumbledore was not about to trumpet an obscure piece of information like that. Being a fully qualified wizard and just 16, he was an excellent choice for bodyguard of the Boy Who Lived. He knew that Dumbledore was not using his father as a guilt trip, but it still had that effect, and he knew that Harry Potter needed someone--anyone really, to be there, other than the wonder trio. As Tom wanted to be an investigator in the States, he did his research on Dumbledore's Army. Evidently, the army's namesake thought that he, Tom, would be a good choice: being Harry's age, lost a father to Voldemort as well, half-blood on his mother's side, and a bit of a loner himself.

His story goes like this: he was in a new "exchange program" with Neville Longbottom. He met him when he came across the pond, and told him he would be studying under a private tutor, and Tom would be in his seat at Hogwarts. They barely spoke, Tom wasn't what you would call a "social butterfly" and Neville was a little intimidated with his stare. Tom's eyes were a particularly sharp blue, but had a certain quality to them that made them eerie to look into. When the situation called for it, according to him, he could give you a look that would have impressed Lord Voldemort. It was one of his inherited traits from his father.

He was to fly the Muggle way to London from his beloved city and meet someone named "Remus Lupin." Once again Tom disagreed with Dumbledore, though raised in the Muggle world, he had never taken a red-eye flight, and he had wanted to keep it that way, but duty calls, so his plane landed in London at 7:30 AM, he was less than pleased. He was thinking of how he could keep up with his equally beloved Red Sox, when he heard his name.

"Tom O'Malley?" said the werewolf, eyeing the young man curiously. Remus knew there was something about this boy that stuck him, but he could not tell what.

"Remus Lupin?" Tom responded, thinking that this was the person he was looking for. Tom was new to the Order, and had only met Dumbledore once in person, though he corresponded with him that way he could arrange his meeting with Lupin. He was supposed to say, "I parked my car in Harvard Yard;" an annoying take on his thick Boston accent that had made its way to England. The thought had left him at the moment though, as he thought to himself that Lupin looked vaguely familiar...

"I parked my car in Harvard Yard," he said after the initial shock of their meeting.

"I thought it was you too, but try and remember the password next time. I understand that you are new, but so does Voldemort," Remus reminded him, noting the "I don't like being reminded of my mistakes" look that was etched all over the teen's face. Once again Remus felt it was familiar. He knew that look.

"Well. Anyways, let's go see Dumbledore," Tom stammered as calmly as he could, desperately trying not to lose his temper with a superior on his first official day of being in the Order. The son of Sirius Black timidly followed Lupin towards the portkey that would take the two of them to Hogwarts.

Part II

Harry woke up early as usual, though today particularly early. The term had ended three weeks ago, yet here he was, 4 Privet Drive, yet again. Today would be different, however. He was to see Ron and Hermione today for the first time since school, as they had a meeting with Dumbledore regarding the next year and the summer. They were to meet at 12 Grimmauld Place at noon. Harry looked over to his clock and sighed. It was 6:37.

His guard was to escort him to Arabella Figg's and from there he would portkey to London. That would be about a ten minute trip all together, so Harry had a lot of time to reflect, this was not such a great thing, however, because the first thing to permeate his thoughts was, It's all my fault, my goddamn, bloody, fault!

He still blamed himself for Sirius's death. If he had listened to Hermione... It could be a trap... he would be waiting to see the closest thing to a family he had ever had. The death of Sirius Black had cleared his name, post-humously, but Harry still felt that no good could come from close contact with him. He loved Sirius, and now he would never contact him again. No way to ever thank him for all he meant to him. Harry hated himself sometimes.

"It's not fair!!!!" he yelled, however a bad idea it was to try and tempt fate with waking the Dursleys. Why did he have to soldier on when he had no one to soldier on for...then he thought of Luna. Not Looney Lovegood, mind you, Luna. He realized he had feelings for her at the worst possible moment, right before he would not see her for two months "which sucks," he muttered to himself. The worst part was that he thought he had a chance, because though they were apart for 21 days, he got about 15 owls. When he thought about it, he talked to her more than Ron and Hermione.

Harry laid there on his bed for quite a while, just thinking, when all of the sudden he decided to check his clock. It was 7:42. He had been awake for more than an hour and not moved. Not sleeping was nothing new to him, courtesy of his constant nightmares. He always remained alone in his room, however, because he severely doubted that Uncle Vernon would be very happy that Harry was wondering around his house when he didn't know about it. To combat this, Harry had taken to running through his neighborhood in the early morning, which served a dual purpose, to stay in shape for Quidditch, (assuming his ban would be lifted after Umbridge was gone) and pissing off Dumbledore.

Harry certainly viewed Dumbledore with higher regard than he did over the last year, but all the same, he was not too chuffed with being imprisoned and kept in the dark. So Harry decided to make it as hard as possible on the Headmaster, and he was doing a decent job. Moody thought it necessary to teach him how to shake a tail, if a Death Eater was following him, but Harry had a more practical use for it. He decided to use his new skills to shake his Order guard, hidden in a nearby invisibility cloak. He ran all around Little Whining, never on the same route. He took sudden sharp turns in an unpredictable pattern because although his guard could Apparate, he also knew that he, Harry, knew this area a lot better. This was all the excitement he got for a long time.

When he came home, he was surprised to see that the usual invisible guard was not around, because Bill Weasley was standing on his front porch.

"Having your usual fun with Dung, I see," laughed the older brother of Ron and pretty much Harry too.

"What are you talking about?"

"Moody told me he taught you how to shake someone who is following you," he said, and then added with a smile, "don't worry, though, your secret is safe with me. I'm here to tell you that your meeting was compromised so we are leaving now. I have already informed your aunt."

Harry was about to ask how his fang earring went down with Aunt Petunia, when he noticed that it wasn't there.

"Your mother won the argument, I suppose," Harry quipped, pointing to the now-vacant ear.

"Between you and me, I told her Fleur made me take it off, because when they met, Dad took to her better than Mum. I thought she would appreciate the Mum points if I gave her credit for it."

"Good move."

So Harry changed into some less sweaty clothes and walked to Mrs. Figg's.

"By the way Harry, we aren't going to London, we are going to Hogwarts."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Tom's first reaction to Hogwarts was, "Europeans..." The huge castle before him impressed him against his will, but all this medieval nonsense bothered him. He liked the modern building of his own school, though not as magical, it had its uses. This isn't your old school, deal. What Tom assumed was his common sense was speaking to him again. He hated that. He was forced to return to his senses because while the grounds were enormous, the paled in comparison to the enormous grounds-keeper that was approaching him.

"Hagrid, I suppose?" Tom asked, silently thanking Lupin for forewarning him of Hagrid's uniqueness.

"That I am, you must be Tom den? Mornin' Remus."

"Good morning, Hagrid. Are the others here yet?"

"No, but I 'spect they're about 15 minutes behind you. Arthur and Bill went to pick 'em up."

Tom had enough of being talked over. He wasn't an attention seeker by any means, but he absolutely hated to be talked over like this. "Who are 'they'?" he asked, with a slight tone of frustration, nit enough to be disrespectful, but enough to be noticed by Lupin, at least.

"You shall see. Now, to Dumbledore's office."

This by no means placated the teen. A stubborn Irishman born in America was still a stubborn Irishman, after all, and Tom wanted to know exactly what he took a wizard's oath to do. It was at this point however that he decided to wait and see, because he knew that if he were to let his temper get the best of him, he might start something at this very moment, which, in the presence of a werewolf and giant, he deemed a bad idea. So he followed Lupin to Dumbledore's office, where he stopped, said "Puking Pastille," gestured Tom into the escalator of sorts, and told the young man that he would see him another day.

"Dumbledore," he acknowledged more than greeted, due to his previously mentioned frustration.

"Ah, Tom, how nice to see you again," Albus Dumbledore had the uncanny ability to calm people down rather quickly, and this was one of those instances.

"I suppose that you want to know exactly what role you will play?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact I would, sir," he added the last part to balance off the edge in his voice, he calmed down, but he was still a little testy.

"As I have said, you are here to protect Harry. You must know that he is an extremely powerful wizard, but all the same, he needs protecting. Ron and Hermione are talented and brave themselves, but they don not dare tempt fate with a furious Harry. His godfather died recently, and he is sure to have a even quicker fuse than before. That is the problem. He is danger to himself and the people closest to him. If he finally lost control, the people around him would be in grave danger. If the hurt any of them, his consistency in blaming himself for everything will drive him mad. I want you to be his friend and protector, he is not to know that I have sent you. I'm afraid that he no longer trusts me, though I cannot blame him." At this last part Dumbledore sighed, He really must have pissed him off, Tom thought to himself, and he appears to have deserved this lack of trust, if it bothers Dumbledore so much.

"When do I meet him?"

"He, Ron and Hermione are on their way."

Tom was a little off-put by this. Dumbledore had said that this was going to be a long meeting, so he couldn't see why they would be meeting so soon. He was lost in thought over what exactly was going on, This must be how Harry feels...Then he awoke from knocking on the door.

"They're here. This is Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger. Everyone, this is Tom O'Malley. He is an American and will be at Hogwarts this year, at least, in Neville's stead. I believe I already informed you all of Neville's leaving."

Tom was stuck dumb as the Trio entered, if only for a second. He was proud to say that he had never in his life been star-struck, and now, in the presence of the Boy Who Lived, was no exception. What caused his lapse of consciousness was the bushy-haired brunette that had just walked in. She was about five foot six, in his estimation, brown hair, brown eyes, and what Tom thought to be the nicest overall body that he had ever seen. Once he came back to Earth, he noticed that his split-second reverie was duly noted by not only by Hermione, who didn't seem to mind, and Harry, who had the countenance of an older brother sizing up his sister's boyfriend. Tom made a mental note to get to know this girl, sooner preferable to later.

Then he examined Harry and Ron. Ron was a tall and lanky red-head, though, when he looked into his eyes, he saw a fiery desire to do something hidden beneath the happy-go-lucky nature. This war had obviously brought out the feistiness associated with his hair color. Red-heads...Then he turned to Harry. Harry was by far more interesting than Ron, though not as much as Hermione. He had a brooding air about him, you could tell that he had just gone through a serious loss. He also looked to be in a deep depression, though he fought to hide it. His eyes also revealed to Tom the power that Dumbledore had spoken of. He had obviously been through hell, but he still was strong, despite the pain, the suffering, and the loneliness that permeated through him, he was still fighting. In a way, Tom liked him before he knew him, though for a second he thought that the angrily defiant look Harry had was for him.

The look was for Dumbledore. He tore his eyes away from him to glance at the look between Tom and Hermione, but then bore his eyes back into Dumbledore's soul. It was the first contract he had with the wizarding world in what seemed to be an eternal three weeks. When he met up with Ron and Hermione in the entrance hall, they tried to make it feel like old times. Ron had made a comment about Harry's scrawniness, and Hermione ran over to Harry and gave him a large hug, with tears in her eyes. They knew what Harry's life must now be like, and it tore their souls apart. They wanted to help him and he knew it, he just didn't want to cooperate. He truly was happy for the first time in three weeks when he saw them, but that feeling was long gone. The closer he got to Dumbledore's office, the angrier he got. He was told he would be better informed than he was before, yet here he was completely in the dark again. He knew that he was being unreasonable, because he was out of the Dursley's, but he didn't care. He sat thusly to the far right, Ron to his left, Hermione to his, and then Tom, who had sat down on the far left when he arrived. In his huff over Dumbledore, he still managed to notice that Hermione chose her seat first.

Dumbledore continued, "Alright everyone, now that we all know each other, I have some news. You will all be living here for a while. We don't know how long, but we need to ensure your safety at the Burrow and at Miss Granger's, I also thought that Harry would like to stay here, too. You will all be living in Gryffindor Tower, as Tom has already been sorted, hence Neville's absence as apposed to a student from another house." At this Tom looked up, because he had no idea what Dumbledore was talking about. Dumbledore noticed this and gave him a look that clearly stated that he would explain later. "You will be allowed to wander the grounds as you wish, and when you can find an escort, I will permit you to go to Hogsmeade. Your meals will be in the Great Hall with the staff members that are here. I suggest that you show Tom around, as he is as new as a First Year. You will also be kept to date with the Order, don't worry, Tom knows," he added as scandalized looks crossed the faces of the Trio, thinking that he had said too much to an outsider. "Your things will arrive shortly. If you excuse us, Tom and myself have some private business to take care of."

Harry finally started to warm to his headmaster. As they left he started to recap the meeting in his mind. He would be with his friends, not Privet Drive, and he would be informed. Now to this Tom O'Malley...None of them had ever heard of any "exchange program," they thought Neville was going to be late coming back to school, not gone for the year, "at least." Harry knew the others had the same thoughts as they had an expression of concern on their faces, though Hermione also had some curiosity mixed in.

That's normal for her, he thought, though to be completely honest, he was intrigued as well by the new American that was sitting to the far left chair in Dumbledore's office. He was in between Harry and Ron as far as height, blue eyes, and an air of more independence than unfriendliness, though there was definitely some there. There was something about this boy that Harry could not wrap his mind around. There was a...familiarity. He knew he never met him before, but he could not help but wonder.