XVII - The Man with Two Faces

"We were kind of expecting it to be him, what with your reaction," Remus said trying to stay calm.

It wasn't working.

"But it must have been quite a shock for you – because you were so sure it would be Severus," Remus continued. Harry nodded uncomfortably. He didn't know how to apologize to his Potions professor for doubting him. Of course, Snape didn't make it any easier on him by being a git throughout his first year.

"Damn that faker," Sirius growled angrily.

"Language, Sirius," Tonks said with a frown. She was nervous enough as it was and she did her best not to cuss like an old sailor – as she was used to. She was around kids after all and she didn't want them to hear her potty mouth.

"You're still on about that?" Remus asked, shaking his head.

"He does," Sirius agreed, earning himself a Snape scowl #31 – the one that said 'I don't find what you just said amusing at all. Desist. Now.'

"Swooping around like an overgrown bat," Sirius gave out a short bark-like laugh, though there wasn't a speck of amusement in it. It was dark and concerned. "Shame that he's a bad guy, I would quite like him if he wasn't… Wait, no I wouldn't."

"When you put it like that," Tonks murmured.

"At least he's honest about it," Harry murmured.

"Always with the tone of surprise," Snape murmured darkly. He might act like a git to his students, but that didn't mean he didn't care about their welfare.

"I don't think I ever said thank you for saving my life before, professor," Harry said quietly, bringing the professor's attention onto him. Snape had to agree – it was his godfather that thanked him when they were reading the Quidditch chapter.

"Don't mention it," he grumped, feeling a bit embarrassed about having all the eyes in the room on him.

No, I needn't have, Snape thought with a small scowl. Because Dumbledore showed up.

McGonagall looked apologetic. She was one of the people that harped on the young professor about it non-stop.

"No you won't," Sirius growled again. He was growling a lot in this chapter, Harry noted.

"Wandless and wordless magic," Tonks breathed anxiously. She didn't know how Harry came out of that fight alive and yet there he was, sitting in his godfather's embrace and trying to look as if it wasn't a big deal.

"I agree with the fact that you're nosy, but I wouldn't want you dead because of it," Ron tried to joke.

"Now he figures it out," Hermione muttered to herself.

"We did," Harry grimaced at the memory of the dead troll.

"Mirror?" said a suspicious Tonks with a hard look towards Dumbledore. Sirius frowned at the mention of the mirror.

"I wouldn't count on it," Tonks murmured.

"Good idea," said Moody seriously. "Keep him talking and distracted."

McGonagall flinched a little and clenched her hands that were sitting on her lap.

"Of course I didn't," Snape snarled suddenly.

"Ah, now we'll find out what really happened then," Remus muttered apprehensively. He didn't like what they were reading so far.

"He's possessing him?" asked Remus sharply with a quick look at Harry who wouldn't meet his eyes.

"And Dumbledore, probably knowing that Voldemort was possessing Quirrell, allowed it," Tonks said with a snarl of her own. Remus felt a pang in his stomach. He had always looked up to Dumbledore and felt grateful for the education the Headmaster had allowed him to have. But the more he was hearing about his plans for Harry (and he was sure that the man was planning something with his cub) the less he felt he could trust him.

"They're not ridiculous ideas," Ron argued.

"Wrong," Harry countered. "There is good and evil and those too weak to fight against the darkness in them."

He got surprised looks from most of the adults.

"Everyone has darkness inside them," he continued. "But they also have some good as well. It's their choices that make them who they are. Some choose to be on the Dark Side because it's easier, or because they're too frightened to fight back. Or because they were raised in circumstances that didn't allow them to see all sides of a coin."

"I could have easily turned to the Dark Side with the childhood I had," Harry admitted quietly.

Snape started to feel guilty. Harry had a worse childhood than he did and he was determined to be good. And what did he, Snape, do? He betrayed the only friend he had and caused her to be killed. He admitted to himself that Harry was a better person than he was.

It was painful to admit it to himself.

"Is that when he possessed him?" McGonagall asked fretfully.

"I don't think he was powerful enough to possess his whole body," Harry rationalized. "He had to drink unicorn's blood to become stronger."

"It's because of this instance that I don't believe that he was possessed yet," Harry continued. "And my scar didn't hurt then."

"That would probably have been for the best," Remus said. "That way no one could get to the Stone."

"You can't, he'll know," Sirius said while crushing Harry even closer to himself.

"I bit my tongue," Harry remembered with a grimace.

Neville shuddered at having to read about Voldemort. He would have preferred a different chapter.

"Does he have to repeat himself?" Tonks asked trying to lighten the mood. It didn't work, however. She could see that Sirius' hackles were raised at the mere mention of Voldemort using the boy in his arms.

"That was a pretty stupid thing to do, for Quirrell," Tonks said. "Now Harry can move around again."

"I hope you think of a better lie than usual," Remus said edgily. He knew just how bad Harry was at keeping a stoic face when he was lying.

"Eww, Eau-de-You-Know-Who," Ron grimaced in disgust. Harry, Tonks, Sirius and Remus looked like they were going to be sick.

"Did you have to mention it?" Harry groaned.

"Why? What's happening," asked Remus sharply.

"No way," breathed Tonks. "You got the Philosopher's Stone out of the Mirror?"

"That's dangerous – what if Voldemort finds out? He could easily take it from you," Remus continued in the same vein. Harry stayed quiet.

"Is that what you meant by the Dark Lord reading your mind?" Snape suddenly asked with a serious expression on his face. Harry nodded in reply.

"You'd better come up with a good lie, Harry," Sirius whispered, terrified for his godson.

"You were very brave, standing up to Voldemort like this," Sirius added proudly. "Not many have that courage."

He thought of Wormtail and instead of the usual rage, felt only sadness. Where did they go wrong with their friend?

"Not a bad lie," Remus said in relief.

"He believed you?" asked a shaken Tonks. Harry only frowned in reply.

"Do it," Tonks said fretfully.

"Again, he repeats himself," Tonks said.

"He likes hearing himself talk," Harry replied with a small wink. Snorting, Neville continued to read.

"He won't like hearing this," Sirius murmured.

"Now's not the time to freeze, pup," Sirius cried out.

Hermione shuddered at the word. It was her most hated word since her second year.

Harry went still.

Everyone in the room went as still as Harry did a moment ago.

Hermione was trembling with fear for her friend and Ron put his arm around her shoulders to comfort her.

Sirius burrowed his head in Harry's hair, trying to prove to himself that his boy was here, in his arms, and that he was alright.

Remus was shaking hard, trying to keep his wolf under control. It wanted to rage and go after Voldemort for daring to even think about talking to Harry.

Tonks grabbed Remus' hand and squeezed it hard while scowling at the book half angrily and half terrified.

McGonagall and Snape went pale.

Moody and Dumbledore didn't show any reaction. Dumbledore already knew what happened and Moody just didn't want others to know what went on in his mind.

Neville took a shuddering breath and continued reading.

"If only you stayed that way," Harry muttered wistfully. He knew that Voldemort would keep trying and trying until he got his body back. He wouldn't give up until he somehow succeeded. This reminded him of Trelawney's prediction. He shuddered again. If the prediction came true… and Dumbledore made it sound like she already made one before… then it meant that Voldemort would succeed and Wormtail would help him on the way. This made Harry even more depressed that he couldn't catch the rat.

"He knew that you were lying," said Tonks nervously, re-grabbing Remus' hand. Remus ignored the tingles for now - he could re-examine them later. Now wasn't the time for it.

"Good boy, run away," Sirius mumbled into Harry's hair. He hadn't moved from his position since before.

"LIAR!" Sirius snarled suddenly.

"Hope he tripped over his feet," Tonks murmured angrily.

"No, you don't," snarled Tonks.

Snape went still at the mention of Lily. Harry noticed that from the cocoon that was Sirius' hug. He had to wonder if Snape had feelings for his mother. He noticed that Snape never mentioned his mother before, always his father. He didn't know what to think about that, so he ignored it for the time being. It wasn't really the time to be thinking about it anyway.

"See, that's why I think that he wasn't possessed in Diagon Alley," Harry said, giving voice to his previous thoughts. "If he had, my scar would have hurt then."

"That's actually a good observation, I was wondering about that," Remus said, still trying to calm himself down.

Snape blinked. They had found Quirrell's dead body on the floor of the mirror chamber. The back of his head was gruesomely missing – only a bloody mess remained. His face and hands were suffering from third-degree burns as if someone breathed fire on him. Was that Lily's protection? he wondered.

Sirius suddenly let go of Harry and went to check his neck, as if trying to find the bruises that were long gone. He had a crazed look in his eyes and Harry wasn't sure what was going on in his godfather's mind. He let his godfather check him over silently though.

When Sirius was satisfied that his godson's neck wasn't bruised and that Harry was in fact, alright, he sagged in relief.

"You deserve it, you prick," Tonks cried angry at the man who tried to strangle Harry.

"Oh, Harry," squeaked Hermione and grabbed Harry's hand as well. Now all three of them were holding hands.

"I'm fine, Hermione," Harry gently reminded her.

"Someone finally showed up," Tonks sighed in relief.

Now that it was finally over, Sirius sagged in relief even more.

"I have a feeling I'll hate reading these books if something like this happens every year," he mumbled into Harry's ear. Harry couldn't agree more.

Dumbledore's lips twitched a bit.

"Good, you're safe and probably in the Hospital Wing now," Remus said, feeling immensely relieved.

"Has she ever thrown you out before, sir?" Ron couldn't help but ask. Now that the danger was over, almost everyone chuckled a bit hysterically at Ron's attempt at humour.

"I believe she did once before," Dumbledore replied with a small twitch of his beard.

"There's no secrets at Hogwarts," Ron agreed.

"They get found out eventually," Harry added, thinking of the Chamber of Secrets.

"I told you they did try to send me one," Harry chuckled.

"They were so disappointed when they heard that," Ron grinned.

"Of course we were," Hermione said, squeezing Harry's hand. Ron nodded from his place next to her.

"One-track mind, this one has," Hermione said, rolling her eyes.

"And you sound like Yoda," Harry replied with a chuckle.

"He shouldn't have been doing it on his own anyway," Tonks said with a frown. Dumbledore was in for one big scolding after they finished the book and put the kids to sleep. Though, she should probably stop calling them kids. They were teenagers and might take offence to being called that.

Hedwig let out an indignant hoot.

"Sorry, girl," Harry immediately apologized to his owl. "I didn't know that she had sent you."

"And why didn't you go to the Ministry by Floo? You would have been there sooner," Tonks hammered another nail on Dumbledore's coffin. Sirius and Remus looked at each other darkly and were surprised that Snape also had a dark, thoughtful look on his face. Were they thinking of the same thing? That Dumbledore deliberately flew to London, just so that Harry would go down there alone? No, not even Dumbledore was so cruel, Remus tried to convince himself.

"You think?" said Tonks sarcastically.

"I think he was concerned about you, Harry," Remus said dryly.

"And why didn't you do that in the first place?" Tonks once again asked with a frown. "It would have prevented this whole fiasco and Harry wouldn't have gotten hurt."

"That's true," Hermione agreed.

Harry, Ron and Hermione exchanged a grim look. He had tried to come back last year with the diary.

Neville shuddered at that.

Snape got a horrible feeling in his gut when he heard that part.

"Finally, some answers," Tonks burst out.

Sirius sent Dumbledore a searching look. He knew that there was a prophecy about Harry and Voldemort and wondered if Dumbledore would tell young Harry the truth, but figured he wouldn't. He didn't like the fact that James and Lily told it to Sirius. He vowed that if Dumbledore didn't tell the truth to Harry in these books, that he would tell him himself.

"Do you think I'm ready now?" Harry had to ask. Dumbledore paused in the middle of twirling his beard and sighed deeply. Harry took that as a negative answer.

"That's actually a very good question," Tonks muttered. She had a guess as to why, but she wasn't sure if her guess was right.

Sirius pulled Harry for another hug when he saw the pain in his godson's eyes.

"True," Remus said with a small smile. How many times have they sneaked off for a midnight snack.

"Good save, Harry," Ron snorted. Snape felt a small twitch to his lip by Harry's cheek.

"I have a feeling that this wasn't the whole story," said Tonks shrewdly. Remus felt dread in his stomach. She would find out that he was a werewolf in the third book and then she would hate him.

"I wondered that myself," Remus mumbled, still thinking of Tonks' reaction to the revelation in the third book.

"Yes, it is – leaving a one-and-a-half year old baby on the doorstep of his hateful relatives, bringing a dangerous artefact to school and leaving said baby to fight Voldemort alone. You really have some brilliant ideas," Tonks said sarcastically.

"Not a baby anymore," Harry piped up.

"That's not important at the moment," Tonks dismissed him with a wave of her hand as she glared at Dumbledore.

"For me it is," Harry mumbled with a pout.

"Eww," Ron cried out in disgust.

"I'm not surprised," Remus muttered.

Neville and Hermione chuckled at that, while Ron snorted.

"Wow, she actually let them stay longer," Tonks said, impressed by Harry's negotiation skills.

"Thanks for that, by the way," Harry said with a smile towards his best female friend.

"You're a really good story teller," Hermione said with a smile.

"Yeah," Ron agreed.

Sirius snorted at that. Dumbledore's beard twitched as they watched Ron's ears pink again.

"Yeah, that's what I want to know too," Tonks said with a frown.

"Don't defend his actions, Harry," Sirius warned him suddenly with a growl. Remus was also growling softly.

"I'm half a mind to transfer you to another school at the moment," Sirius admitted after he calmed himself down enough to talk. "At least there the Headmaster wouldn't put you in unnecessary danger."

"Can you actually do that?" asked a shaken Harry.

"I am your official guardian, being your godfather," Sirius replied. "And once I get my pardon, you'll be coming to live with me."

He gave Dumbledore a challenging look.

Dumbledore sighed but didn't reply. He knew that Sirius wouldn't listen to him.

Harry's stomach filled with butterflies as he thought of Cho, the Ravenclaw Seeker. He felt a blush come to his face as he realized that they'll be reading about his crush once they started reading the third book. Hermione sent him a mischievous look as she realized why he was blushing. Harry just ignored her.

"And that always makes things better," Hermione muttered with a roll of her eyes. Ron and his food.

"Wow, fifteen minutes. Must be a record," Sirius said with a grin.

McGonagall chucked at her friend's antics.

"Poor Hagrid, he must be feeling really guilty about everything," Tonks said sympathetically.

"He didn't keep his promise," Harry said amusedly.

"No need to overreact, Hagrid," said McGonagall soothingly as if though Hagrid was in the room with them.

"You're a good friend to Hagrid," Remus said with a smile.

"And you're also good at cheering people up," Neville added, remembering how Harry cheered him up by saying that Malfoy was in stinking Slytherin.

"That was the best present I got, aside from Hedwig," Harry said with a smile at his owl. Remus remembered Hagrid's letter asking him for some photographs of Lily and James for Harry. He had copied almost his entire collection and sent them over the next day.

Snape's mood plummeted and he scowled at the reminder of the unfairness.

"I still do," Harry added to that.

"Only Dumbledore," Ron said fondly.

Tonks frowned at that. What was Dumbledore playing at? Noticing Snape's perpetual glower she figured it wasn't something that the Potions professor liked.

"Sorry, but you couldn't have awarded them points before? Harry was unconscious for a few days at least. You had to wait until the feast to do so? Isn't that a bit unfair towards Slytherins? They worked hard for their points and you just trampled all over their happiness by doing that," Tonks had to say. Harry quietly agreed with her – it was what he was thinking about a while ago.

"Harry," Ron groaned as almost everyone chuckled at the description. The chuckles faded into silence as Neville continued to read.

Ron wasn't quite as happy now as he was then after what Tonks said. He still hated Slytherins, no question about it, but he was mature enough to realize that what Dumbledore did might not be fair.

"I didn't hear him say that," said a surprised Ron. He didn't think his older brother thought about him much. Or cared about him for that matter.

"He's your brother, of course he cares," Harry hurried to tell him. "Perhaps it's you and your brothers that don't notice that."

He felt bad having said that, but even though Percy wasn't his favourite Weasley, he noticed that the Weasley brothers he knew didn't really include Percy most of the time. Fred and George were always making fun of him and stealing his Prefect or Head Boy badge. He wondered how Percy felt about that.

Hermione's blush was answer enough.

"You should have left it at that," McGonagall suddenly said, feeling ashamed of winning that year's cup for the first time.

"Which means never," Remus murmured.

"Of course you did, with Hermione nagging you," Sirius teased the green-eyed boy.

"Of course," Neville, Ron and Harry said in unison.

"Good motto," Sirius chuckled.

"He always runs from me," Neville lamented.

"Me and James hoped that too," Sirius remembered with a fond smile.

The mention of owls made the trio's face fall as they remembered Dobby the house elf. Harry wondered what happened to him after he was set free.

Harry started to feel uncomfortable again.

"Sorry about Ginny," Ron apologized embarrassedly.

"How rude," Tonks said with a scowl. She would have preferred it if the Dursleys weren't mentioned at all.

"You will?" Neville asked surprised. From what they read about the Dursleys they were a really unpleasant sort.

"Why would you be smiling?" Sirius asked perplexed.

Sirius and Remus chuckled at that. Even Snape had to smirk at that.

"That was the end of the book," Neville informed them as he closed the book.

Sirius, Remus and Tonks exchanged looks and then turned to Dumbledore. Harry caught the exchange and faked a big yawn.

"I don't know about you, but I'm spent," he said to the room in general. Hermione caught on quickly after one short look at the determined look on Sirius' face. She faked a yawn as well and stretched. Her body was all stiff after sitting for so long.

"I think I'm going to go to sleep," she said to Neville and Ron, who was about to say something but yawned instead.

"Yeah, good idea," he said, changing his mind after a kick from his friend.

Neville, Ron and Hermione stood up from their seats and went to one of the doors in the room. Harry hugged his godfather for a few seconds and then went to hug Remus too (to Remus' surprise).

"Good night," he said to Tonks and the professors in the room. "See you tomorrow morning."

"Good night, Harry," Remus, Tonks and Sirius said with a small smile as they watched their favourite boy walk from the room.