Harry Potter is not mine, the original story is from Maritza chan and I have help translating/editing it from ArwenFairTinuviel. I'm just making this for fun.

Hello! A new chapter is finally here! Enjoy.

As soon Neville had returned home, he told everything that had happened on the night he had helped Arneb White escape from Hogwarts to his grandmother. Sure he missed some details, such as there were other illegal Animagi besides White, Potter's invisibility cloak, and the mysterious map he had never seen. But that did not stop his grandmother from being more than proud of her grandson, a true Gryffindor, a real Longbottom.

Although he had encountered a no less dangerous dark wizard twice before and won, she felt that her grandson had been very lucky both times. But now he could cast a perfect Patronus before her eyes! He, her chubby grandson, had certainly changed. Neville managed to make his disastrous room more organized and indeed the whole house seemed to be alive, with the life that had been stolen from them years back. She had promised her grandson that she would arrange a meeting with White when he contacted her again. If her grandson said White was not to blame for the death of her beloved son and daughter-in-law, then it was true. As even more confirmation, Dumbledore also believed him. She decided she would give shelter to the poor man who had wrongfully spent twelve years in Azkaban.

Of course, the Ministry searched the house shortly after White's escape from Hogwarts, but that was before some muggles reported seeing him in a distant place. Twice White contacted Neville before a meeting was arranged with his grandmother. On both occasions a tropical bird had brought the mail.

One night in the middle of nowhere near Neville's birthday, Augusta Longbottom met with Arneb White to help him in his escape from the Ministry.

xXxXx

"Then Leslie would be the traitor?" Charles asked.

"She would never do that," Richard firmly defended the girl in question.

"We don't need to be exactly four," Harry replied, "especially since she doesn't even attend school with us."

"Let's not forget that she is a disaster – you can't deny it," Charles added. Richard did not argue.

"I don't understand how you two became confidants."

"Well, I must admit she is very good at spells..." Charles said with a sheepish smile.

The other two left the conversation to check the screen that displayed information regarding whether or not the flights were on time. It was a few days before Harry's birthday and Harry, Charles and Richard were at Heathrow Airport waiting for Leslie, who was going to spend the rest of the summer with them. Harry had always wondered why his cousin never traveled by the International Floo Network or using portkeys, but assumed that for someone with such a poor sense of direction as her, it would do no good to be spinning in a fireplace or experiencing the sickening sensation of a portkey.

Finally, passengers from Leslie's flight began to appear at the exit door. They had made a sign saying "Welcome Leslie Potter!" and each of them was holding a piece of the banner. There they waited and waited.

"Hey guys!" a slender figure in front of them greeted them with her usual marked Australian accent. "You made me a banner! You are the best! What's wrong?"

The three of them was frozen as if a spell had petrified them to the spot, and they were unable to make a single sound. Leslie, the girl who might well have passed as a boy a few years ago - nay, even last summer - was now much taller than them, and although her hair was still too short for female standards, it was definitely longer. She was wearing cool muggles clothes and had several rings on her right ear.

"Who are you and what did you do to my cousin?" Harry exclaimed, almost pulling out his wand to defend himself from this stranger.

"Hey Harry, don't be a git. It's me! Can we go now? I'm hungry."

They only felt comfortable again when they found that she was still having problems orienting herself.

"Does she..." Charles was all red and sniggered like Richard.

"What are you talking about?" asked Harry.

"Well, you know," and then Charles pointed at Leslie's chest.

"If that's why you two are being so silly, many of the girls at Hogwarts have much bigger ones," Harry replied back annoyed.

"Yes, but she is Leslie."

"Don't think that I can't hear you, guys," Leslie complained as they loaded her bags into a taxi. The boys had come on their own to pick her up.

Harry didn't mind the fact that Leslie had some bust, but what bothered him was that she was taller than all three of them and that he was the shortest. It didn't help that she was wearing boots with heels. Charles was the eldest, born on 25th May, and he always complained that he had to celebrate his birthday in the middle of the term. Richard was a full month older than Harry since he was born on 30th June. Leslie was the youngest, with her birthday on 1st September. It was unfair that she was the tallest…

After Leslie had received a warm welcome at the Blacks' house, the boys told her their adventures so far, including that two of them were working to become Animagi - Richard already was one. Charles had discovered that he had a knack for Transfiguration. Certainly he was a good student, and he could be the best if he was not so lazy and naughty, but he had never felt inclined to one subject or another until last year. His grades were only surpassed by Richard, since Charles had only one point more than Granger, and that had got him even more excited. Richard was not taking as many subjects as his rival and that was probably why he got better grades.

Harry for his part preferred DADA. That was definitely his field of expertise, but he was very upset because in his childhood dreams he had always imagined himself as a Mediwizard and for achieving that goal he needed to improve further in the subject in which three of the four present got no more than an "acceptable" – Potions. Richard had achieved EE, but he was more interested in Care of Magical Creatures and complained about how terrible it was with Hagrid as a teacher.

But they were not alone in their quest to become Animagi, Sirius was giving them "classes" and also had a special diary written by Harry's father which contained juicy details about the process. Leslie didn't know whether or not to join them, but eventually agreed because she thought that if she was able to do so maybe she would overcome her orientation problem. Richard, now with his secret exposed, spent much of the time with wolf ears and tail; Leslie considered this very cute and kept stroking his hair.

When she did this, Harry joked to Charles that Leslie had left him for Richard, until Charles also managed to get a triangular, pointed set of furry ears. Unfortunately their parents had to take him to St. Mungo's because they could not turn his ears back to their original form and Clarisse was very upset. Harry found the whole affair hilarious.

Charles, to save everyone, said he did it only because Richard was taking all the attention and had challenged him. Clarisse did not believe the whole story, but said nothing more. It was fortunate that they didn't need wands to become Animagi. Taking advantage of being already at the hospital, Harry went to visit his parents and told them about his mischief during the year and Charles's failure, showing his father his former notes to see if something out of the ordinary would happen, but it didn't. Sirius came to fetch him and they both went home.

That night Harry performed his ritual before going to sleep, which was to write a note in response to the latest letter from Ginny and read the notebook of his father. It turned out that Harry had a whole house to himself, but for the moment it was being rented. After his parents were hospitalized in St Mungo's, Sirius had considered that renting the property would be more beneficial for Harry, since it was going to be maintained and generate income, and so he had it rented for twenty years. Harry had never been there, but that book and other belongings from his parents were kept under strong spells in an area of the house that stood as a deposit. Maybe he would have a chance to visit the house before returning to Hogwarts this year.

But after sending the owl, he realized that his book of notes was not with him. For some reason it made him very concerned. Charles was asleep because of the mediwizard's potions. Richard and Leslie, free of Charles, were locked in an endless conversation about the muggle world and its technologies, a muggle object that Leslie had brought and enchanted herself, and their respective collections of magical creatures collectibles. They were so engrossed that they didn't notice Harry traipsing back and forth through the house, looking for the book. He had left it in St. Mungo's! Harry feared the consequences what he had done, for if anyone saw it, not only would Prongs be in trouble, but the rest of the Marauders would be too.

Clarisse was with Sirius in their room and so, while the others were sufficiently distracted, Harry took a handful of Floo powder and returned to the hospital. As soon as he arrived, he put on the invisibility cloak and walked down the deserted corridors. He was surprised to find that his parents' wing still had the doorway open. To his shock, a very confused Gilderoy Lockhart came running out naked! It was not a pretty sight. Surely with that as a distraction, no one would pay him any attention. Harry went straight to his parents' room. There he found more surprises, for the door was ajar. Harry was upset - not that he wanted his parents locked in all the time - but that he did not want to see them wandering about like his former teacher. He made a mental note to complain to the ward's head Mediwizard later.

He took off his cloak, only to come face to face with his least favorite teacher: Severus Snape. Both were very surprised to see the other to say the least.

"Out of bed as usual, Potter?" Snape snarled, wishing he was back in Hogwarts so that he would have the power to properly scold the infuriating boy.

"Why are you here?" Harry said stubbornly, wand in hand. "How dare you come here?" Snape was also brandishing his wand, but before he could say anything about Potter's insolence Lily pulled his tunic and gazed at him with wide eyes, capturing his attention.

Harry was sure that he had fallen asleep on his desk and was having the most bizarre dream of his life, because this couldn't possibly be true! He pinched himself several times until he was sure he was not asleep, but Snape had lost his signature vengeful gaze and was following his mother like a lapdog. Snape sighed sadly as she looked at him expectantly, as if waiting for a routine. Then he murmured a spell and some leaves were spinning in the air, bringing admiration into her eyes.

"You haven't answered me," Harry challenged his teacher. Snape jumped and was brought back to the moment. He seemed to have even forgotten his archenemy, who was also watching the leaves as if spellbound and trying to catch them. "Why are you here?" Harry demanded again.

Snape looked Harry straight in the eyes.

"We used to do that when we were little…" He spoke with the most miserable and forlorn tone of voice that Harry had ever heard. Strangely Snape seemed to have no interest in hiding the truth.

"You said 'we used to'…?"

"We were neighbors; she was my friend…"

Harry stared at his teacher incredulously "You and my mother?" He felt dizzy and nauseous by the revelation.

"Sirius knows only part of the story," Severus added with a grimace of disgust after pronouncing the name of his other nemesis.

"But you hate my father!" Harry exclaimed.

"Yes, I hate him," he said simply, watching James trying to catch the leaves and fail every attempt.

"But I've never seen your name in the visitors book," Harry said – and then suddenly everything clicked together. "It's your fault that Lockhart's let out, isn't it?!" he gasped. Snape did not reply, but Harry was convinced he had hit the nail on the head. He slowly sat down next to his mother. Suddenly Snape did not seem like such a bad person. If one of his friends had been sentenced to be in St. Mungo's for life, he would visit them too.

They were all silent for a while. Everyone was lost in their own thoughts when Harry was struck by - at least to him - the best idea in the world.

"You know a lot about potions –" he started.

"Have you discovered dragons breath fire, Potter? The answer is no. I can't help her, I have being unable to do anything for the last thirteen years." Severus let out a sigh.

"Nothing at all?" The little hope that Harry had accumulated in the previous minute vanished, causing him to painfully crash again into the sad reality.

"There has been an occasional flash of recognition, but only fleeting…"

"After Hogwarts, I'll become a Mediwizard and find them a solution," Harry announced boldly, confessing his childhood dream. But Snape snorted, wounding Harry's hopes. "Don't you think I can?" he asked, with a touch of defiance.

"Potter, I regret to inform you that you need to pass Potions with flying marks in your OWLs and NEWTs just to get onto the training course required for such an esteemed profession. Currently, you are only 'acceptable' due to a certain helping hand, otherwise you most certainly would have failed the year!" Snape had returned to his usual foul mood.

"What if you help me? – I mean, I could be your apprentice or something…" Harry let out these words in a rush, without thinking too much before voicing them aloud.

"Potter..." Severus growled, visibly annoyed.

"How often do you come here? How often do you try to do something? I'm sure the Mediwizards..."

"Potter!" Severus barked, and Harry fell silent. "Why in Merlin's name would I do something like that?"

By now the leaves had fallen and Lily was looking sad.

"You liked her," Harry said with disgust. "You liked her, didn't you?" Snape regarded him with hatred. "That's why you hate my father, and why you hate me, isn't it? I know you don't like me - and believe me, I'm not fond of you either - but maybe we could somehow get them back, get something back, if we try together..." Harry had never before begged anything of Snape – he had always accepted his punishment and loss of house points as part of normality. But this time he would not give in. "I would make an unbreakable vow…" he murmured somberly.

Snape looked directly into Harry Potter's eyes and knew that his intentions were true, that he had set his hopes on this ever since he had met his real parents. He could not deny that he had carried similar, desperate hopes too – how many times had he himself not tried to find the cure?! Dumbledore had him imprisoned in the castle like slave, teaching brats for what seemed an eternity, yet he had always managed to take time from his duties to devote himself to studying new potential cures and visiting Lily. He never paid attention to that idiot Potter next to her, who each time he arrived looked as if the sight of his enemy brought back all the memories of his life - but that enlightenment never lasted more than a millisecond - a momentary glare and then his mind went blank once more.

Somehow Lily had seemed to recognize him ever since he had enchanted the room to become a forest. Severus liked to think there was a chance that she was able to remember glimpses of her childhood, and since that first time he had always performed the same trick with the leaves, only to see her admiration as if she was seeing the magical spectacle for the first time. He could not bear seeing her ill, but he could not stop himself from coming back, and he knew that this was his punishment for leaving her so that he could join the ranks of the dark side. Now, if he could make Harry learn something, if he could make James Potter's son useful, it would be a small victory over his enemies from school, a little revenge… Yes, perhaps the idea was not so bad after all…

"Well, we shall see if something can penetrate through your thick skull to that slow brain of yours," Severus pronounced after mulling over the matter.

Harry's face brightened. "Really? Do you swear it? You swear it by my mother?"

"Yes - but you must tell no one, absolutely no one, Potter! And I will know whether you're lying." By now Snape was on his feet and had reached the door.

Just as he was about to leave, Harry blurted out, "Whatever we accomplish would be also for my father, right?"

Harry could only see Snape's back and how the man turned his head sideways to look at him. He could see the disgust in Snape's face, but the professor gave the smallest nod before disappearing.

xXxXx

If Harry thought it would be an adventure to become an Animagus, becoming a master of potions would be something from another world.

Thanks for reading.