Thank you all for the support and the great comments on the last chapter. I got several well thought out critiques and plenty of well wishes. I am determined more than ever to break the mold that seems to exist for these stories. I will finish it, and I'm trying to take it in a slightly new direction. Thanks again to everyone who responded, it really helps me improve my writing, and every review is added inspiration to get on with the next chapter. Here we go again.

Chapter 13: Letting Loose, and Dressing-Down

(Wit Beyond Measure)

The Moony Nights swarmed with people. Sirius stood behind the bar, serving guests with a smile on his face. His New Year's Eve grand opening was in full swing. Sirius was loving life, and Harry knew this was exactly what his godfather wanted. The man lived for attention, and this grand opening was one for the record books. Harry knew most of the crowd that had shown up. Both Cedric and Tracey had convinced their families to come. Rebecca Davies currently sat front and center at the bar basking in Sirius' praise, and the Diggory's were off mingling with Professor McGonagall in one corner. Tonks, as in Nymphadora, had brought a swarm of friends from her time at school and the DMLE Academy, most of whom could be found out on the small dance floor Sirius had set up. There were recognizable faces in every corner of the pub. Harry had even convinced Lyall Lupin to come and relax for the evening. He seemed a bit on edge around Remus and a few other werewolves that had been invited, but Harry felt that it was good for Lyall to interact with his son.

"Harry this place is awesome!" Artemis shouted, dragging both Cedric and Tracey into the quiet corner where Harry had been hiding.

"I'm glad you like it. Sirius has put a lot of work into it." Harry said in a rather flat tone of voice.

"Harry, now is not the time to be brooding." Cedric said. By now they all knew about Lily's change in status. In fact, most of England knew due to a short piece in The Prophet. Waking from a decade long coma was big news. Though the article had not been the cheeriest of the year. Lily may have woken up, but the healers had been forced to sedate her. Her body may have recovered, but her sanity remained shattered. According to the Prophet, the healers were all baffled by Lily's sudden change in status, but Tracey, Artemis, and Cedric all knew that Harry was desperate to cure his mother. The fact that the change had come on had been less than social since Lily had woken up, and been subsequently sedated. "Have some fun Harry." Cedric pleaded.

Harry grumbled noncommittally "Come on grumpy pants lighten up" Artemis whipped out a small flask. "Look, I even swiped some firewhiskey from Sirius. It's New Year's Eve, let's try some." Tracey and Cedric looked sceptical. None of them had any experience with anything other than butterbeer, but when Harry grunted and grabbed the flask, tore it open and took a big gulp they resigned themselves to joining. Each of them sputtered, coughed, and gasped as they took their turn with the flask.

"Ugh, why does anyone drink that stuff?" Tracey spat, desperate to get the taste off her tongue.

"Yeah, that was horrible." Artemis agreed.

"I didn't think it was so bad." Cedric shrugged. "A little rough on the way down, but I feel kinda light and tingly now."

"I kinda liked it." Harry said. "Why don't we try something else. Maybe some champagne." getting a round of shrugs from his friends, Harry summoned Louie, and convinced him to get the quartet a bottle of the champagne Sirius had purchased for the night. Careful not to send the cork sailing into anyone nearby, they popped open the bottle and passed it between themselves.

"Oh, this is much better." Tracey said after her turn with the bottle. Artemis nodded his agreement, but Cedric and Harry were indifferent to the change in taste.

"Hmm… Whasnext?" Cedric asked, his words blurring together slightly.

"I don know." Harry replied. "Lesh raid the bar. Get sometin new." the group wobbled their way over to the edge of the bar, and stared at the assorted bottles Sirius had out on display. Knowing Sirius would catch them if they took something too notable, Harry searched for something his Godfather had bought in larger quantities. Spying a rack full of bottles of mead, Harry smirked and pointed towards the bottles. When the others nodded, Harry drew and swished his wand. Four bottles silently left their racks and deposited themselves into the awaiting teens hands. Cedric, Artemis, and Tracey all looked at him in shock, but Harry just shook his head. "It's fine." Harry murmured. "Now come on." He said, spurring his friends to retreat back to their corner.

"Well now, what do we have here Gred?"

"I don't know Forge, but it looks like our favorite Ravenclaws are up to no good."

"Fred, George?" Harry questioned looking at the two of them. "I though ou couldn't," hic, "make it? He asked, his normally crisp vocabulary blurring with the alcohol.

"Mum said we couldn't come, but we decided to anyway." Fred offered with a shrug. "Nicked some flu powder and escaped when we could.

"Yeah, wouldn't want to miss out on the party of the year." George commented. "Besides." He wiggled his eyebrows and looked at the bottles. "There's no mead at The Burrow."

"Could we,"

"Perhaps,"

"Partake,"

"In your,"

"Party,"

"Shenannigans?"

The Twins asked in their infamous twin speak.

Harry, and the others cringed with pain as their inebriated minds struggled to decipher the dysfunctional speech. "Yur welcome to join, jus don talk like that." Harry shoved two bottles towards the twins. "Here, catch up."

With the Twins along for the ride, the teens only got rowdier as they sneakily and not so sneakily continued to steal various bottles of Alcohol from Sirius. During one attempt, Harry and the others had been blatantly caught out by the newly arrived Dumbledore, but the Headmaster simply smiled and brought a finger to his lips. Harry could not begin to fathom the complexity of the ancient wizard's character, but in their drunken stupor, they all toasted to him for being a silent aid to their mischief.

By the time midnight had rolled around, Harry and his band of merry miscreants had graduated from drinking to drinking and pranking. The Twins had started it when they had forcibly fed Artemis a piece of candy that caused his tongue to grow and spill wildly out of his mouth. Artemis being the clutz that he was, mistook his ever growing tongue for a snake. In a wild panic, he stomped on his tongue several times before the others got their laughter under control and forced him to stop. Harry sloppily twirled his wand and managed a passable finite incantatem. He reversed the growth, but accidentally forked Artemis' tongue and changed its color in the process. Let it never be said that what one pictures in their mind has no effect on the outcome of their spells.

"Shey! Sur… susing smagic soutside sof school." Artemis shouted, "Sur, sgoing sto sget sin strouble."

"An ur tryin to spea parsleton…" Harry shot back. "Fix ur own probems befor ur orry bou mine." Harry then pointed at himself with a flourish. "Besidesss, I'm an adult now. I'm emanc….. Emanshi…"

"Emancipated?" Tracey offered.

"Yup, I can do majik whenever I wan." Harry sputtered. "Wach." He jabbed his wand towards the dance floor, specifically at the pink haired form of Nymphadora, and grinned. Tonks' shoelaces tied themselves together and she toppled into her dancing partner. "See." Harry slurred, quick to move out of Tonks' line of sight.

"Wic-ked" Fred hiccuped

"Bril-liant" George added.

"Sho's next?" Cedric asked.

(Wit Beyond Measure)

Remus leaned over the bar, still weary from his transformation earlier in the week. "Well Harry seems to be having fun."

Sirius smirked. "Yes, he does. They're all going to regret it in the morning, but they seems to be handling themselves well enough." He pointed towards the dance floor where Tonks was struggling with her shoe laces. "They're even getting in a few laughs."

"Is Arty's tongue blue? And forked?" Rebecca Davis asked.

"It appears so." Remus muttered. "Should be easy enough to fix. I'll set it right before you go. I hope you're not too upset about the boys and Tracey."

"It was bound to happen sometime. At least here I can feign ignorance and keep watch. Besides, if you remember, I was no angel at Hogwarts. I did my share of rule breaking." Rebecca replied. "Nothing on the scale of you boys" She added nodding to Sirius and Remus. "But we all had our fun. It would be wrong of me to keep that from my children."

"You make it sound like our fun is over and done." Sirius said as he topped off her champagne flute. "We're all still young, why should it end now?"

Rebecca smiled devilishly. "Is that a proposition Lord Black? You have been awfully friendly tonight."

"Well one aims to be a grateful and humble host." Sirius offered with a dashing smile.

"Don't mind him. It's a desperate attempt to mend his pride. After all, you did shut him down while we were at school." Remus interjected. "He's never forgotten the ones that," Remus raised his fingers and made air quotes, "Got away."

"Well our dear friend is mistaken then. I never got away." Sirius' eyes lit up with the glimmer of hope. Rebecca smirked. "I never fell for the act in the first place. Your "wiley charm" as many called it, never did anything for me." The hope vanished from Sirius' eyes and he slumped to the counter, whining about crushed dreams and evil witches. Laughing, Rebecca turned to Remus. "Shall we leave him to lick his wounds?"

Remus stood and smiled, and offered her his hand. "Care for a dance?"

Rebecca smiled and graciously accepted the hand. "That sounds splendid."

Remus helped her to her feet, and escorted Rebecca towards the dance floor. As they left the bar, Remus looked over his shoulder and winked at Sirius. Sirius groaned, slumping further into the bar.

"I saw that." Rebecca admonished. "Do I have to worry about your intentions too?"

Remus smiled. "Not at all. I am simply rubbing salt in Sirius' wounds."

Rebecca smirked, and planted a chaste kiss on Remus' cheek. "Then by all means carry on."

(Wit Beyond Measure)

"Wakey, wakey." Sirius shouted, slamming open the door to Harry's room. A rainbow of bright colors assaulted Sirius' eyes. Chunks of the floor were missing, a desk was overturned and transfigured into makeshift cover, the hidden door to Harry's lab hung at a precarious angle, and the partially animate magical residue of sloppy spellwork littered the room. It was as good a definition of a warzone as Sirius had ever seen. The only normal entity left in the room was the unconscious tangle that was Harry and Artemis. The two sported some nice looking bruises that Sirius guessed were from a fight over the bed. In the end they had either decided to share, or they had simply passed out in their struggle to claim the piece of furniture.

Sirius prodded the pile of teenager and said, "Come on boys, time to wake up." It took a second, rougher prod to get any sort of reaction.

"Oh, god, what happened?" Harry moaned.

"Why does everything hurt? And where the hell am I?" Artemis groaned.

"You two crotch stains make a nice couple. It's adorable how you've wrapped yourselves around each other in your sleep." Simon cackled atop Sirius' head. The two teens opened their eyes just in time for the the room to go blindingly white. Both boys groaned, drowning out the light whir of a polaroid camera printing its latest masterpiece.

Sirius waved the small photo in front of the raggedy form of the Sorting Hat. "What do you think Simon, should we send out a late Christmas card for the new couple?"

Harry instinctively rubbed at his eyes trying to get the spots in his vision to disappear. Not realizing Artemis' proximity, Harry's elbow caught the other teen in the face.

Artemis recoiled in a grunt of pain. "Ow, what was that for? Watch where you're swinging those things."

"Artemis, why are you in my bed? And more importantly, why are you on top of me?" Harry groaned.

"Because you two poofters finally proclaimed your love for each other to the world. Though with the screeches we heard coming from in here last night, one would guess you two have been at it for a while now. Who would have guessed that all it took was a little firewhiskey and you two would sing like canaries." Simon cackled.

"Too loud," Harry groaned. He shoved Artemis off himself, sending the brown haired teen sprawling to the floor, and sat up. Harry ignored Artemis' protests and glared at Sirius and Simon. The ragged hole in the fabric that functioned as Simon's mouth was stretched into the vague form of a smile, and when combined with Sirius' cheshire grin, cut a fairly frightening image to anyone who knew the two. "Before you keep going, just stop. It will save you both a lot of pain in the long run. Give me that photo and any copies you've made. And someone please explain what in the name of Merlin happened last night. Everything's foggy." Harry looked around his room, noticing the carnage he and his friends had caused. "There's no way I did all of this either. How many counts of underage magic are we looking at?"

"Potter! I fucking hate you." Tracey shrieked from within his Lab. "When I figure out how move, and pull what feels like an ice pick out of my head, you're a dead man."

"Tracey, you're too loud. Go back to sleep." Artemis moaned from his new spot on the floor.

"Artemis, shut the hell up before I ram my foot so far up your ass you'll taste nothing but my sock for weeks."

Sirius just laughed. "Drag yourselves downstairs and I'll help you piece together the night over breakfast. But, none of you are getting a hangover cure. Since you stole your liquor like children you can deal with the consequences on your own." Sirius turned and left before any of them could complain any further. He took even more pictures as they stumbled down to the common area in a desperate attempt to put food in their stomachs. The trio drug themselves into seats at the table Sirius had set, and tore into the breakfast spread splayed in front of them. Sirius knew from experience that stuffing one's face after a night of heavy drinking was not always the best course of action. He tried to warn the teens, "I'd take it easy if I were…." But it was too late. Artemis was the first to go. His face went momentarily green, a brief struggle of the mind versus the body ensued. When he lost, Artemis emptied his stomach all over the floor. Seeing and hearing their friend lose his stomach sent the other two over the edge. Harry and Tracey relieved their stomachs of any contents they may have had, adding to the sick, slippery, mess on the floor. "I tried to warn you." Sirius sighed, vanishing the vomit with a few flicks of his wand. "Slow down and take your time. Your bodies need to recover, and believe me, it won't happen instantaneously." The group nodded and started breakfast over, at a more sedate pace.

"Oh good, you got them up." Rebecca Davis said cheerily as she entered the room. With an overwhelming sense of cheerfulness, Rebecca ruffles the hair of both her children. "And how are my darling children feeling this morning?"

"Mum… Go away." Tracey moaned. Artemis, who had given up and simply planted his face on the table grunted in agreement.

"Nonsense, it's a beautiful new year's day. We should go out and enjoy it after breakfast." Rebecca said, giggling at the groans she earned from her children.

Remus joined them soon after Rebecca. Still stiff and sore from his transformation, he looked quite ragged, and did not join in on the teasing. This seemed to pull the wind from Sirius and Rebecca's sails, so the group settled into a relaxing breakfast. After they were done eating, and at least partially coherent, the teens got a mild dressing down and some stern words of caution about performing magic while intoxicated. They lazed about in relaxation and recovery for another hour or so before the Davis girls and Artemis made their way home. Of course, Rebecca could not resist the urge to give Remus a seductive peck on the cheek before they left. This earned her groans of disgust from her children and a whimper of desire from Sirius.

Harry laughed halfheartedly as his friends and their mother finally disappeared. "What happened to Fred, George and Cedric? Do any of them need to worry about underage magic?" Harry asked. "I remember them all being here."

"I cleaned Fred and George up and sent them home late last night. I didn't feel like dealing with a Molly Weasley explosion, so they probably got off the hook for the most part." Sirius explained. "Amos was not quite as understanding as Remus, Rebecca, and I. He dragged Cedric out of your room around one A.M. He didn't give me much lip about it, but I doubt Ced will be allowed to visit again any time soon. As for the underage magic, your friends should be fine. Hopkirk gets so many notices on New Year's that she just ignores them and gives everyone a pass."

Harry stood and started towards the stairs. "Hmm, well I'm headed back upstairs. Send Louie up if you need me."

"Hold on a minute Harry." Sirius said, halting the teen in his tracks. "We have some other things to discuss before you can scamper off and hide."

Sirius' tone held no hope of escape, and Remus had moved to block the stairs. Harry sighed, rarely did either of the two of them truly act the part of the parent. Harry's independence and maturity usually let them off the hook from day to day parenting. Their respect for Harry, and trust in him, left them free to act the part of uncles, or even older friends, trying to corrupt his nonexistent innocence. However the few times that he had truly gone and cocked things up, Remus, and Sirius, had both laid into him. This was going to be one of those talks.

"Do you know the penalties for sneaking potions into St. Mungo's and administering them to patients?" Sirius asked. "Regardless, of your relation to the patient." He added, shutting down Harry's easiest avenue of escape. "Since you are technically an adult it you could get time in Azkaban. What were you thinking!?"

Harry tried to answer, but Remus cut him off before he could start. "We knew there was more to your Christmas visit to the hospital than you let on, and we were trying to find a way to confront you about it peacefully, but after last night you forced our hand. Not only did you admit to slipping Lily something, which you told the healers you did not, but you also have the attention of a rather notable French wizard. Despite him not introducing himself as such, I can recognize Nicolas Flamel when I see him. Care to explain why he left a letter for you? Why he would be looking for you at all? Nicolas Flamel does not leave his home often, let alone France."

Harry sighed, he thought he had been careful enough and covered his tracks. Apparently not, but there was no hiding it now. At least Sirius and Remus would understand where he was coming from. "Well, I guess I should tell you that I came into possession of something rather significant this last semester." Harry explained. "I don't know why it was there, but the Philosopher's Stone was hidden at the school this year."

Both Remus and Sirius looked at him in horror. "And you stole it!" They shouted in unison.

"Not exactly. More of an unintentional borrowing." Harry answered with a shrug. "Simon…" the adults ground their teeth at the mention of the Sorting Hat, but Harry ignored them. "Simon told me that something that might have the power to help mum was in the castle. He couldn't tell me what it was, or how to get it, but he nudged me in the right direction." Harry explained. Thinking it safer to omit a few details, Harry skipped the first few obstacles and went straight to the Mirror. "There was this mirror. It was hidden in a far corner of the castle. It showed me things, not real things, but things I wanted. It showed me what I wanted most in the world. My mum, happy, alive, healthy, and I almost destroyed the damn thing for doing so, but then mum, in the mirror that is, waved her fingers at me. Like she was telling me not to do it, and then she slipped something into my reflection's pocket and when she did, a weight appeared in my actual pocket. When I checked the stone was there."

Remus rubbed his temples and groaned in frustration. "This has Albus written all over it. Honestly, what is he thinking hiding something that valuable in a school where hundreds of students are tromping around and looking for trouble. I guess this explains why he has been so distracted as of late. He's looking for it."

"It also explains what you did to Lily." Sirius grunted, glaring at Harry. "And how you got away with it. I'm guessing you gave her the elixir of life." Harry nodded "No healer would know what it was, what it looked like, or anything about it really. Hell, it might even evade modern diagnostic charms." Sirius continued. "But more importantly, Harry, you are not a six hundred year old alchemist. Despite your gifts with magic you do not have the skills or experience to be messing around with things this old or this powerful." Sirius was careful not to accuse Harry of injuring Lily further. "Flamel's stone is comes from a different time, as does he. Magic was nastier back then, dirtier, and people cared less about the consequences. Trust me, I've studied my family's history. As bad as things may have been ten or twenty years ago, it was much worse back then."

Remus jumped back in at this point. "Remember what happened last year Harry. If you keep sticking your nose in dark places you will get bitten." Remus' words sent a flash of phantom pain through Harry's body. "Nicolas seems to approve your possession of his stone to some extent, otherwise he would have razed the building last night, killed everyone in it and left no evidence of his visit. Sirius and I both agree that you need some time away from your lab, and your projects until you know where the figurative line in the sand is." Remus looked at Harry and sighed with remorse. "While neither of us would ever accuse you of doing anything to intentionally harm Lily, slipping her potions of unknown quality, without knowing the effects of the potion, or how it may interact with the others concoctions in her system was possibly the worst decision you have ever made. You should have brought it to us. Contrary to what you seem to think Harry you do not have to do this alone, and we do want to help."

Harry slumped, he wanted to snap back at them, yell about how much time he had put into figuring out exactly what went into the elixir, how the stone worked, everything, but in the end he could not argue with their reasoning. He still was not sure if he had helped or harmed his mother. "I understand."

"Good, now, why don't we sit down and see what Mr. Flamel has to say to you?" Remus offered, his tone lightening significantly.

Sirius still looked pensive, and his tone remained hard and unforgiving."I just need to know one thing. With all the time you spent exploring, poking and prodding the stone. Did you at least at least figure out how to make shit loads of gold?" Sirius' face cracked, he couldn't contain his grin any longer. "I mean none of us are hurting for money at this point, but you'd have to be bloody stupid to pass up unlimited quantities of free gold."

Harry smiled, leave it to Sirius to lighten the mood immediately after a rather adult conversation. "I did, and you're right it would be stupid to pass up free gold."

Sirius smiled ruefully "So, how much did you make?"

"Guess." Harry prodded.

Remus coughed, and held out a plain white envelope, waving it in front of them to grab their attention. "You two can have your guessing game later. Let's take a look at this letter." Remus tore open the paper casing and handed the neatly folded parchment to Harry. "I'll let you have the honor of reading it aloud."

Harry took the letter, and briefly considered charming it to read itself. But, he did not feel like showing off would be appropriate, so he simply read the letter aloud.

"Dear Mr. Potter,

I would like to congratulate you for outwitting one of the smartest men that I know. Whether it was intentional or not, you bypassed some of the finest charm work I have ever seen. Not to mention you bypassed the other obstacles without leaving a trace. All are commendable achievements. Naturally, I have my own protections on the stone. I may have allowed Albus to hide my greatest creation inside my favorite mirror, but I would be remiss to let something so powerful out of my sight without a few safeguards of my own. Needless to say this has led me to you. I had hoped to visit and ask you a few questions regarding both yourself, and the stone, but you were quite indisposed during your holiday celebrations. I kindly request that we meet some time in the near future. I have take the liberty to apply the portus charm to this letter. It would be rude of me to interrupt your studies, so perhaps you should visit for the Easter Holiday. I will be sure to let Perenelle know you will be coming. Bring the stone of course, and it is not too much trouble bring several pairs of shoes. They will be important in our discussion.

Sincerely,

Nicolas Flamel"

"The activation code for the portkey is listed at the bottom." Harry muttered as he stared at the paper for a while longer. Finally he looked up to Sirius and Remus and asked, "Why does he need me to bring several pairs of shoes?" Neither seemed to have an answer.

(Wit Beyond Measure)

Remus had made good on his promise take away Harry's books. He even took the new codex he had gotten Harry for Christmas. Remus had sealed them all away in Harry's lab. Harry had tried to forcefully open his private study, desperate to sneak out a few of his precious books, but Remus in true marauder fashion, had enchanted the door to insult anyone, or anything that tried to get through it. Harry's howls of frustration had earned him a constant ribbing from Sirius, Remus, and Simon. "Typical Ravenclaw, take away his books and he's useless." or "The way he's complaining, you'd think we took away his porn collection." Which was of course immediately followed by, "Probably just anatomy books anyway. The bookworm wouldn't know what a real naked witch looked like if she landed on him." Simon would then interject with something like, "Ah, but you forget our young broom fiddler plays for the other team. It's not naked witches that he wants, but a wizard or two." Harry found his own ways to get back at the trio, but for the most part he just let them have their brief glimpse of victory. Instead Harry focused on how best to utilize his time without his personal research library. The Hogwarts library would suffice in most situations, but Harry would miss the obscure texts he had been gifted by Sirius. Regulus' diary in particular would be sorely missed. However, having taken over the Potter lordship, there would be certain things expected of him. Perhaps he could make the most of his punishment by brushing up on the demands of the position. Not to mention there was still quidditch to work on. The Ravenclaw Slytherin match scheduled for the end of January would be vicious. After their embarrassing defeat at the hands of Gryffindor, and their boy wonder, the snakes would be out for blood.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Cedric asked.

Harry felt the sorting hat squirming atop his head, no doubt trying to use its crass vocabulary to its fullest, and provide some sort of insult to either his or Cedric's person. "What was that Simon? I can't hear you through that gag I made from Huey, Duey, and Louie's dirty underwear."

"Do I even want to know why you gagged him with house elf underwear?"

"He chose the wrong insult about the wrong person. Maybe by the time we get back to the school. I will let him free." Harry answered. "As for your first question, I trying to plan ahead for the coming semester. A little of this and a little of that, have to brush up on what's expected of me as Lord Potter. Stupid archaic title, but it could come in handy." Harry offered. "But I was also thinking about quidditch. Maybe getting in some physical training to help my broom work. You interested in joining if I do?"

"Physical training?"

"Yeah, ever seen Wood out running round the lake. Part of what makes him such a good keeper is that he's strong enough to hang off the broom." Harry explained. "I'm sure he does other exercises too."

"I don't know, looks kinda painful."

Harry shrugged. "Suite yourself, but if you get slaughtered by Higgins in the next match, don't blame me." He hoped he could convince Cedric to join him. That way he would have someone to commiserate with.

"When were you planning on doing this Harry?" Artemis asked. "Sounds like fun to me." Harry arched an eyebrow at the word fun. "Oh, don't give me that look. Didn't you ever like running around when you were younger?"

Harry was never really sure what went through Artemis' head, but maybe this would help with his friends' seemingly endless amount of energy. The teen practically vibrated from excessive nervous energy. "I figured sunrise would be a good time." Harry offered, waiting for the expression of dread that he knew would be coming. He smiled when Artemis' face spasmed into a look of horror. Harry chuckled, Artemis' hatred of all things morning was well known. It took a few hours for the Artemis train to get rolling, but Merlin help you if you were in its way once it got started. "If you're actually willing to do it with me, I could be convinced to wait until sunset." Harry amended.

Artemis breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, that sounds much better."

Both of them turned to look at Cedric expectantly. "Oh fine! But you're both nutters" He relented.

Hours later when the train pulled into Hogsmeade Station Harry once again found himself enthralled by the appearance of the Thestrals. The leathery winged horses responsible for pulling the Hogwarts Carriages looked so alien to him, like some sort of ancient creature that time forgot. Harry walked up to the ones pulling the carriage that Artemis and Cedric had started to climb into. Reaching out, he gently stroked the side of its head.

"Can you see them?" A voice asked from behind him.

Harry gently pat the creature on the side of its head and turned to look to see who had interrupted him. The short bushy haired girl from that incident with the troll stood beside him, looking up at him in awe. Harry smiled at her, trying to remember her name. Something Granger, He thought. "Yes I can see them. They're morbidly beautiful creatures." Despite racking his brain he could not remember her full name.

"I read about them in Hogwarts a History." She said. "I'd love to be able to see them, but I don't think I want to at the same time."

A flash of why he could see the creatures passed through Harry's mind, but he did not let his mind wander down that road. "How was your holiday Miss Granger?"

"Harry, stop flirting with the firsty. I want to eat!" Artemis shouted from within the carriage.

Harry rolled his eyes, thankful that he had locked Simon in his trunk. The Sorting Hat would have obliterated any sort of figurative line in the sand with the door Artemis had just opened. "Sorry, my friends can be a bit rude. Was there anything you needed from me?"

The girl blushed. "No, I just wanted to thank you again for saving me from the troll, so I got you a Christmas present." She handed him a thick parcel wrapped in cute lacey paper. "Okaybye!" She squeaked before disappearing towards another carriage.

Harry shrugged, pet the thresteral on the head one last time, and climbed into the carriage. "Looks like you've got yourself a little admirer Harry." Cedric said, as they began their ride up to the castle.

Harry gave a pensive shrug. "She'll get over it soon enough. Don't witches grow out of their knight in shining armor faze by third year or so?"

"Not likely, but you can think that." Cedric answered. "Not that it will matter, if your quidditch matches stay as entertaining as our last match, you will have both the shining armor of a knight and the sex appeal of a star athlete. There will be hordes of women after you."

"You could have a harem." Artemis injected.

Harry stared at Cedric. "What do you know about sex appeal? You're only fourteen." Then he turned to Artemis. "And I don't even want to know what goes through your head, but no."

"But what about the belt?" Artemis asked.

Harry arched an eyebrow. "What belt?"

Artemis just shook his head sadly. Looking at Cedric, he said, "He's hopeless. Every man's hopes and dream will have to rest with you."

Cedric's face went stone serious. "I won't fail you my friend.

Harry sighed. Perhaps being the youngest by several months he simply had not hit that marker in his life where the opposite sex suddenly became a major focus. Hormones were temperamental little buggers after all, and unlike so many other things, Harry held little to no sway over their influence. In a few months he might be just as amped up as either of his friends, or it was possible that his life had just skewed his outlook in such a way that it really was not a big a deal for him.

(Wit Beyond Measure)

Settling back into school after the holidays was never too difficult for Harry. He enjoyed most of his classes, enjoy was not description he would use for History of Magic, but everyone liked Care of Magical Creatures. It was easily the most attended elective course at the school. Attendance dropped off in later years as the creatures got bigger, scarier, and tended to have more teeth, but the O.W.L. level creatures for the course were quite benign. The malformed Professor Kettleburn, who had lost all but one and a half of his original limbs, led the course. The man was a daredevil through and through, and held the record for most probations of any Hogwarts staff member in recorded history. Supposedly he had calmed down after his most recent accident, but none of them really knew.

"Alright gather round everyone." Kettleburn said, excitement prevalent in his accented voice. Harry couldn't place it exactly, but it sounded like Kettleburn had come from one of the colonies in the southern hemisphere. "I saved this little guy from the lake." He explained gesturing to a horse sized reptile in a small fenced area. "The Giant Squid usually doesn't let these things last more than a day or two after they wander in from other lakes, but we got lucky and I got to him before he got snapped up. Now, can anyone tell me what this is?"

The rest of the class looked unsure, and if he were completely honest Harry was uncertain himself. It looked like a miniature real life Godzilla, so Harry only had one guess as to it's identity. "Is it a leviathan?" He asked.

"Good eye Potter. Ten points to the Claws." Kettleburn praised. "This here is a juvenile leviathan." Kettleburn vaulted over the fence and into the pen. "The adults can get right nasty with their sharp teeth and powerful jaws." He explained as he walked over to the creature and opened its mouth with his odd prosthetic. "Look here, see all these teeth?" He pointed at the rows of sharp dagger like teeth. "They're great for grabbing and tearing flesh. Makes them good hunters." The leviathan growled at him, but Kettleburn paid it no mind. He withdrew his hand from the reptile's jaw, and pointed towards its nose, then its eyes. "Great sense of smell on them, and they can see like a hawk."

Harry watched as the Professor pulled on, tugged on, and jabbed at the creature in incredibly invasive ways. As he manhandled the creature, he would give various descriptions and explanations about the leviathan. How some of the bigger ones had ruffs, or manes, and how some could even emit an electrical shock from their body. When Kettleburn went and lifted up the tail, one of the Hufflepuff's voiced a question that Harry was sure was on everyone's mind. "Professor, what did you give it for it to be so docile?"

"Give it something? Like a potion?" Kettleburn asked incredulously. The Puff nodded. "You can't study magical creatures if they've been all doped up. It ain't right. Didn't you lot take notes earlier in the year. You show the animals respect, you don't show fear, and you study their body language. You do all three of those and you'll befriend even the nastiest buggers out there. Just don't forget to watch their body language. They'll let you know when they've had enough. Of course that means you should never turn your back to a creature with more teeth than you." Kettleburn explained, doing just that as he addressed the class. The truth of that statement reared its head when the leviathan turned, lunged, and snapped its jaws shut on the professor's hand. Kettleburn ripped his arm freed and shouted. "Oi! You know how hard this thing is to fix!?" He shouted waving his now handless prosthetic in the air. "Alright kiddies, when something takes a snap at you, you have to assert your presence at the top of the food chain." Kettleburn drew his wand and jabbed it at the lizard. An iron muzzle appeared around its snout and a set of manacles kept its clawed feet firmly in place. Kettleburn stared directly into the leviathan's eye. "I tried to be nice, let you have free reign of the penn, but no, you had to go snapping at hands didn't ya." He turned to face the class again, face stretched wide in a smile. "Now, form a line and get out here to inspect him for yourselves."

Harry chuckled and stepped in line behind Artemis and Cedric. Whether Kettleburn had calmed down or not, he would never know, but the professor was entertaining to say the least. "I think I now know why attendance drops off after O.W.L level." Cedric murmured as they waited their turn in the pen.

"No kidding, did you see how fast that thing moved. And it's only a baby." Artemis said with a bit of a gulp.

"We'll just remember BLARNF, and you should be fine and keep all your extremities." Harry offered.

"BLARNF?" Cedric asked.

"Body LAnguage, Respect, and No Fear. BLARNF." Harry said with a smile

"Right." Cedric chuckled. "Arty doesn't have much to worry about anyway. Magical creatures don't care for airheads. Too chewy."

"Yeah, besides, chewing on Artemis is Simon's job."

"Hey!" Artemis cried in protest. Harry and Cedric laughed at their friend's protests. Some things would never change.

(Wit Beyond Measure)

(Wit Beyond Measure)

Well here's another one. Some fluff and some setup for things to come, but overall I'm happy with this chapter. I wanted to show some pre-Hagrid Care of Magical Creatures, and when I looked into Kettleburn I was immediately reminded of the late great Steve Irwin. The Croc Hunter was fearless, and I tried to imagine a magical, perhaps less careful, version of him when I wrote Kettleburn. Let me know what you think.

Thanks for Reading.