The Marauders' Sons

Harry wasn't expecting much, maybe a little cake and ice cream, a few friends, and some the usual allotment of gifts from his closest friends. So he walked down the stairs to the ground floor of the Burrow and was shocked when the kitchen erupted in a boom of "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!"

The entire house was full to the brim with almost all the people he knew, Snape being an obvious exception and Neville was also missing, being in America at the time. All the Weasleys were present, Percy surprisingly included, and Bill brought Fleur, all the Order members that Harry knew personally, and the DA. Harry looked around at all the smiling faces and he almost cried. All theses people had come to see him, to show how much they cared about him. It was almost too much for him to take. There was enough food to feed an army, and by the looks of the crowd before him, they were going to need all of it. At the bottom of the staircase, waiting for him with smiles on their faces, was Remus, Ron, Luna, Hermione, and Ginny. Luna went up to the last step and gave him a deep kiss before he got to the bottom, much to the hilarity of those in attendance and equally as much to Harry's chagrin. Tom was conspicuous only by his absence, as was Dumbledore.

They were having a meeting in the attic; having snuck up there while everyone else was laying in wait for the birthday boy. The ghoul who lived up there was not about to give them any trouble, as even he knew Dumbledore's reputation. After the usual pleasantries were made, they got down to business.

"Harry is going to have a lot of responsibility this year, and you need to guide him through it, he is strong boy, but he has way too much to think about for an adult, le alone a teenager. I have some plans for the DA as an actual student body, though under a different name," Dumbledore said, twinkle firmly placed in his eye, "they are still going to be a secret organization, designed to keep an ear to the ground within the student body. I need you to make sure that they can defend the castle as well; God forbid it is ever necessary. There are plenty of teachers and there will be some Aurors around the castle as well, but I am not about to take any risks. There may very well be a time when the students have to fend for themselves. I daresay you have some experience in these issues, as yesterday can attest to. Harry will still be in charge, but I need him to know that you know what you are doing."

"I see what you are saying about keeping the castle safe, because if Voldemort is going to hit the castle, he is gonna send the women and children, so to speak," Tom chose to ignore the comment about having some experience. Those were memories bets left unexamined at the moment, "The only problem I have with all of this is that it sounds like you want to spy on the students. Sir, I am not going to allow myself to be a part of turning a group of students into the Hogwarts secret police," Tom was not one to let anyone make him be a part of something he had no interest in. He knew enough about history to know that these ideas had never led to anything good, even if it was "for the best."

"I do not want to create a secret police inside my school," Dumbledore expected something like this, but he didn't like being accused of being a dictator, and it was showing, "All I wish to do is create a group of students that can give me some accurate feedback on the attitudes of the students. The staff can only do so much to keep me up to speed. We need student cooperation in this endeavor, and we conveniently already have a group of students in place. This war could last a long time, and we need to have people lined up to take the place of those who either fall or get too old and weak to fight. Place a few Slytherins inside the DA and we will have a valuable tool at our disposal."

Tom knew that Dumbledore was right about this, but he still felt uneasy. So he decided that he needed to help, but still...

"Alright, I'll do it, but only if you give me the right to pull the plug if I feel that this has gone too far. I know you wont make me do it, no matter what you say otherwise."

I know that's why I enlisted him after our meeting, Dumbledore thought, but his ability to cut through anyone so easily without magic is still annoying at times.

"You have a deal," Dumbledore had to allow him that, "but I suggest we go downstairs to the party, you will notice that the DA is all present. Take the opportunity to get to know these people."

Tom cracked a smile. Never passes an opportunity to get what he wants does he? He then went downstairs to join the celebration and get to know the people who he was going to entrust with the safety of the student body, and possibly more.

Meanwhile, Harry was having the time of his life. He talked with everyone who had come, and he loved every minute of it. He caught up with Dean and Seamus, who were talking in the corner with Ginny, Lavender, and the Patil twins, Parvati and Padma. He through Dean a quick smile and nodded at Ginny, teasing him, but at the same time happy that Ron was talking to Remus and Mad-Eye across the room.

"Sorry, mate, but we are just friends now, so you cant use that as blackmail against me. No Chocolate Frogs," Harry wished that he had thought of that before, but at the same time he was happy that he would not have to restrain Ron in the dorms so that he didn't throttle Dean in his sleep. Ron was still a lot bigger than he was.

He then caught up with some of the others from the DA, when he noticed that there were two people in the corner who were looking a little uneasy with what was going on around them, Cho and Marietta. He planned on talking to them when they got on the Hogwarts Express, but this was even better, because the usual gaggle of giggling girls would be in absence.

Harry was still a little angry that Marietta had betrayed him so blatantly, and he had not forgotten about the relationship he had had with Cho, but he felt that this had to be put aside. They had shown up, so they were at least willing to talk. He gathered up all the Gryffindor courage that he could muster, and walked over to his ex and the traitor.

"Hi, glad you could make it," he greeted them, and he was about to say more when Marietta broke into hysterics.

"I am so, so sorry! I don't know what the Hell I was thinking! I was such a foolish bitch! I know that I don't deserve your forgiveness, but I have to try! I am so sorry, I am so fucking sorry!" Marietta almost screamed all of this to the room, and then drifted off into sobs. Cho and Harry were very happy that most of the room was deep in conversation.

"It's OK, I forgive you, really. I know that you had your family in mind when you did what you did. I'm over it," he really wasn't, but felt that this was for the best. He needed to keep the peace within the ranks if he was going to try and convince Dumbledore to allow him to maintain the DA. Marietta went off to the bathroom to clean herself up, and then the hard part began.

"That was nice of you," Cho began, the anxiety still present in her voice, "I wasn't sure if either of us were welcome, but here we are." She tried to sound cheery, but the operative word would be tried.

"Look, Cho," it had to be done, Harry knew, but it didn't make talking to her any easier, especially when he didn't want Luna to be privy to this conversation, "I know that it has been a little weird, but I want us to be a least friendly, if not actual friends. I want to continue the DA, and we will need to fill a few spots. The Slytherins will listen to a Ravenclaw more than anyone else who is not a Slytherin, and I would like you to be the one to recruit. If we want to be effective at all next year, we will need a few Slytherins. I really care about Luna, but I don't think this is the job for her," There I did it. I cant fucking believe that I am asking my ex girlfriend to be a recruiter as apposed to my current one. If Luna fins out...

"I'll be honored to help you, and I do hope that we can be friends, good luck with Luna by the way, she is nice, but a little..." she let that thought trail off, knowing full well that she had made a mistake starting the thought in the first place. Cursing herself for being such a bitch, she looked down at her feet.

"Don't feel bad, I know how she is, personally it is a little endearing." She's pushing it...

"Sorry" He is too good to be true, he should have been pissed!

With that unpleasantness out of the way, he moved on to the next order of business that he had to attend to--Percy. This meeting Harry had planned on having before the summer had ended, though he was sure it was not going to be that easy. There had been some bad blood between the two for a while, and he felt that this had to stop if the Weasley family was ever going to fully heal. They were speaking, and Percy had even admitted that he was wrong, though he did not apologize for the insults he threw at Mr. Weasley when they had their falling out. Harry sought him out and found him talking with Minerva McGonagall and Mrs. Weasley.

"Percy, could I have a word?"

Professor McGonagall and Percy appeared to be expecting this, but Mrs. Weasley looked nervous. She didn't want there to a confrontation between the two, when they were all just getting over the last family row, and especially on Harry's birthday.

"Of course"

They went upstairs and after running into Dean and Padma in Harry/Percy's room, Lavender and Seamus in Ron's room, and since they had enough sense to avoid Ginny's room, they settled on the twins' former room, currently occupied by Tom. Harry planned on starting the conversation, but Percy beat him to it.

"I know that I was wrong in not believing you and listening to Fudge, and I wish that I could tell you that I didn't believe what I was saying, but you deserve the truth. I also wish that you would never hear me make public comments like that, but I plan on going along with whatever the Minister says, I do have a future to think of," Percy tried to say the last part without showing any emotion, but all Weasleys, except for the twins and Ginny, were bad liars.

"You've turned spy, haven't you?"

"No...I...alright, I have, but you don't know that!"

"Course I don't," Harry responded with a smile, as they went back downstairs. Wow, this diplomacy stuff aint as hard as I thought.

"Wait," Harry said, "why do we need a spy in the Ministry? If Fudge is on our side, I figured he would be in the Order or at least know about it."

"It's a tricky situation, Harry. The Minister is no longer in the way of the war, and he is actually cooperating, but he still is a politician. He cannot be totally trusted, and we have caught him in more than one lie already. He still wont acknowledge that he treated you badly and stands by most of his decisions. Needless to say, he is not very popular at the moment and there might be a new Minister of Magic before long. Dumbledore wants to make sure that he knows what Fudge is up to."

The party passed like this for a while, Harry maneuvering around the room, trying to talk to everyone who had come to his first real birthday party, while Tom made a point of introducing himself to everyone who was in the DA. It wasn't hard, because they were all the students, but he wasn't the best at small talk. He usually just talked to them for about five minutes, though he managed to talk to Zacharias Smith for about forty-five seconds. What a dick! I'm not even that bad! He also met with some of the other Order members, but didn't mention any business around them, as his status was more a secret than Snape's. Only the Order was to know that he was in, if Ron or Hermione knew, they would almost certainly tell Harry. He then found himself next to Bill and Fleur, who were talking with Charlie.

"So, how are things you two?" Charlie asked, but Tom detected something in his voice that didn't seem to sound right, so he turned his attention to the three of them.

"They are good, right Fleur?" Bill asked, faking worry in his voice as he glanced at his girlfriend.

"Oh wee, we are very 'appy, though I still worry about some of hees activitees..." she didn't elaborate, but they all knew what she was talking about.

"By the way, Bill, I found something you might be interested in, come on I'll show you. Tom, you don't mind watching her for a minute, do you?" As Fleur looked around to see who Tom was, he noticed Bill and Charlie nodding to him, to accept. Well I was already looking at her, might as well.

"Sure, why not?"

"We'll be right back," Bill responded, and right before he left, he mouthed "Thank you" and walked away with his brother. Thoroughly confused, he started talking to Fleur.

"Look at it this way, now you are not the only foreign born in this sea of tea," he decided to be sociable, since it would only be for a minute. Besides, now he could make fun of the Brits with a fellow outsider, he had always liked his little tea joke, though he had to admit he liked tea too.

"I mees my family, but the Weasleys are very nice to me, so I am not very lonely. What about you, do you mees America and your family," she answered, though his relief at his joke going down well went away at the mention of his family.

"Sometimes I do miss my home, yeah. I don't want to be rude, but I rather not discuss my family," Tom knew he would have to tell the Trio eventually, especially Hermione, but he was glad to put it off. This meant that Fleur was not getting any answers. He was saved from further explanation when the two redheaded brothers returned and Charlie tapped Fleur shoulder as Bill took a knee. She turned.

"Fleur Delacour, will you marry me?"

She was so excited that it took a few minutes of her babbling in French for anyone to realize she said yes. The rest of the night was devoted to how lucky they were, how cute they were together, wedding details, basically everything that made every man in the place, Bill included, cringe and every woman in the place giddy as a schoolgirl, especially the schoolgirls.

Tom was of the opinion that mothers were unbearable to begin with. He loved his mother, but she annoyed him to no end whenever he accomplished something, though he long ago swore to never complain about that ever again. He did, however, feel that he had the right to complain about how things were going now. Mrs. Weasley was annoyingly happy and giddy all the night before, when Bill and Fleur got engaged, and the end was nowhere in sight. A few more hours and I'll be back at the castle where it's safe. All the happiness in the house was getting to him and he wished that he could escape her. If not for the fact that he was a guest in her home, he would have done a Silencing Charm on her a long time ago. The other girls were bad, but he would kill anyone who left him alone with Mother Weasley. Thankfully, Hermione was with him for most of the day, so even when he had to be in a room with her, Hermione would keep her distracted and him out of the conversation.

Harry was not so lucky. As it turned out, Luna was just as disinterested in the engagement as Harry was, making her useless for distraction purposes. Mrs. Weasley was determined to make sure that the topics of wedding dresses, who would be there, etc. were the only things discussed in her presence. Any attempt at a change of topic was rebutted, so Harry made the best of it, and tried to at least pretend to care. There was one thing that he was curious of, however.

"I was wondering, Bill's wedding would involve a lot of Order members and Ministry officials, wouldn't it? I mean, where can we be that we would be safe from attack?"

"You worry too much, dear. I'm sure Dumbledore will be able to find us a place that we can all be and be safe," Mrs. Weasley took the question in stride, but she definitively had not yet taken the state of the world into account yet.

Later that day, Harry, having kissed Luna goodbye, and Luna having grabbed his ass goodbye, told her that we would make sure to write, left along with Ron, Hermione, and Tom. They all were still tired from the eventful happenings of their excursion to the Burrow, and they were all sound asleep by 9:30.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The month of August was a fairly uneventful time for the only four teenagers in Hogwarts. They received weekly owls from Ginny, though Harry got an owl a day from Luna, and there was very little news as far as Voldemort was concerned. This complete lack of activity soothed Ron and Hermione, but the two with the most experience with these sorts of matters, Tom and Harry, were actually unnerved by this. If he hadn't done anything yet, that meant that he was up to something big at the moment. The two of them never discussed this with anyone, so neither of them knew why the other was in Dumbledore's office when they had asked for an appointment with him to volunteer to help securing the Hogwarts Express.

"I have noticed that the two of you are very alike, certainly more than either of you will admit," Dumbledore began, with the ever-present twinkle in his eye. Is that twinkle mandatory? ran through Tom's mind, as I am really sick of the damn look he gets sounded in Harry's head. "You have both volunteered to help secure the safety of the school train, though I doubt you shared this thought with anyone," Damn him for always being right, "so I will ask you to keep it that way. As prefects, Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley have enough patrolling to do, and I do not wish to ask any more of them." Besides, this is a chance to see if the two of you can act as a unit. "On the same token, they will undoubtedly volunteer, if asked. I want you two to stay in the corridor of the train, in your invisibility cloaks, yes Harry, Tom has one too, and to see that Voldemort and the Death Eaters are unable to take the train, if they attack. The more protection the better, and you two have proved that you are up to the task. The Aurors and Remus will be informed, as they will also be aboard for security, and Alastor will be able to see you anyway. Furthermore, I want you two to remain in my office for the next hour, you need to talk about the DA, which I am asking you to continue, and also some personal issues that may exist."

He really does know everything, doesn't he? Harry still had zero trust in Tom as far as Hermione went. Trusting someone and trusting someone with your best friend were two very different things. He didn't have any reason to suspect him of not be honest when it came to everything else, but just that same, this was Hermione. The fact that Dumbledore knew this troubled him, because after realizing that the idea of keeping the two of them apart was not a popular one, he tried to hide his dismay. He had obviously failed.

Tom, on the other hand, knew that Dumbledore wanted him to talk with Harry; he just didn't think that the Headmaster would be so proactive. In retrospect, he should have anticipated this, but it still didn't make him feel any better about a forced conversation with someone who wanted his hands, among other things, away from his friend.

"I will take my leave, you will be in here for an hour, at which time I will collect you," and with that Dumbledore left.

Several minutes of silence passed, as each was feeling out the other, finally, Tom broke the silence.

"It kills me to say it, but he is right, we do need to talk. I know that you are not thrilled with Hermione's decision to be with me, and I almost can relate, but I wont let you come between us. I care about her."

"Do you love her?"

Truth be told, Tom had no idea. He knew that they cared about each other, but they still only had met less than two months ago. He didn't have much experience with getting involved emotionally with the opposite sex, and the events of the last year or so only led him to treat life with even less value. Besides, even if he did know, he would not have told Harry before her. Nosy little shit.

"I don't know, but I'll make sure to ask for your permission first," he bit back, and Harry was getting as offended as he had been.

"Don't give me that shit! You know that I care about her too! I will not let some horny Yankee hurt my best friend. Especially one as shady as you! Do you even have a friendly bone in your body? Me and Ron have tried to be nice to you, but you just shrug us off, then you go after the only one who you could use for sex!"

"LISTEN POTTER! Not only do I have no intention of hurting Hermione, but we have only gone to second base, though we started there," he knew it was a bad idea to say something like that right now, but it was true, and he enjoyed getting under Harry's skin. "As a matter of fact, your obvious displeasure has gotten her very upset, and I will not allow my girlfriend to be bothered by some shit-head best friend! As far as you and Ron go, I realize that I am not that friendly, but leave me the fuck alone and I'll do the same. Now that you are done with your little pissy fit, on to how you are going to run the DA this year."

Tom was fairly certain that he had won round one, but then he felt something that made him very nervous. Harry's aura, which was fairly powerful in his own right, had just tripled in power. The resulting shock to his system made him shudder, as Harry's temper got the best of him. He was livid that this person was not only making a move on Hermione, but was telling him how far they had gone and was ordering him around. Righteous anger, I presume. Power the Dark Lord knows not indeed. Knowing that he was no match for Harry at the moment, nevertheless, the fighter in Tom reached to his wand.

"WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? WHAT THE FUCK GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO TELL ME WHEN I AM DONE WITH ANYTHING? I AM NOT DONE WITH YOU YET! I'LL TALK ABOUT THE DA WHEN I AM GOOD AND FUCKING READY!"

This last statement made Harry come down from his temper, something for which Tom was eternally grateful. When he was angry, he had a habit of just yelling whatever he could think of, and it was not till now that something in Harry's mind clicked.

"Wait, what about the DA? How did you know about that?"

"You are not the only one around here that Dumbledore has trust in," Tom started, thanking God as he put away his wand, "he asked me to help you keep the DA going, as he assumed you would want to, and to ask you to if you didn't. It will still be a secret group, and he wants some Slytherins to be involved."

"I planned on both," Harry was surprised that Dumbledore was relaying this message through another, but he knew that Dumbledore did everything for a reason. It might not always be a good one, in Harry's view, but there was still always a reason. "Why are you telling me this? What does this have to do with you?"

"Glad you asked. The DA, now the Defense Association, if you don't mind, will serve a few purposes. We will keep an ear to the ground for the Headmaster, to give him a feeling of the student morale, etc., we will train the members to be fighters, should the castle ever need to be defended, if the faculty, God forbid, is not enough. We will also create a group of Aurors of a sort, to keep the peace within the castle and to take care of other sensitive matters secretly. There are after all known children of Death Eaters on the school and though I refuse to discriminate, there could be issues that arise," Tom had his whole little speech to Harry in his head since Harry's party, but he nevertheless was proud that he was so articulate after preparing himself for a duel with Harry.

"Where do you come into play here?"

"I will be the leader of our little band of semi-Aurors. My mother was one back home and she taught me a few tricks. I will answer only to you, and you to Dumbledore. We will also have to have more of an hierarchy, the rest of the Trio, and one member from each house, each house, will compromise of the board of which you will be chair. They will make most of the decisions and be in charge of the members of their house, should we need to mobilize. I will personally pick four or five people to serve under me, the rest you can do as you see fit. I don't mean to come in and tell you how to run your group, but I have been putting a lot of thought into this since Dumbledore suggested it," Tom thought that he had Harry sold on his ideas, but he thought that a little humor would help, "In the end, I am at your service, though the first time you ask me to wipe your ass, there will be problems."

They both laughed, finally breaking the tension, and Harry agreed to everything. Tom never mentioned the fact that he had the right to pull the plug on the whole thing, because he had zero intention of doing so. He knew that Harry would never agree to become an agent for Dumbledore to spy on the students. He still had no desire to ask, though. This, in Tom's mind, was more of a move to keep the castle safe, than it was to play Big Brother to the student body, because Tom made sure of it. The group of "Aurors" was all his idea, so he could make sure that the only spying being done was more than justified. If the school was to be safe, it had to be at least mostly unified. The next issue to be breached was just as critical to his job at Hogwarts, however.

"So, how is Luna these days?"