Hermione was clearly reluctant to hand over the book to anyone, and though Remus couldn't help but laugh at such a flashback to his own childhood and how much he'd loved every book as well, he still offered, "would you like to get your breath back? Give someone else a turn," while holding out his hand.

Hermione unwillingly passed it over.

Remus read out the chapter title, and for once everyone in here completely understood what that would be referring to, and no one was looking forward to it. Remus instantly regretted his decision and even considered for a moment handing the book back to Hermione he was so agitated having to hear about this guy again, but finally pushed past that and pressed on.

Ron looked like he wasn't sure whether to be affronted or not, that being his only comparison, as there was no doubt in mind what this was all about.

Harry groaned, making sure his hair was lying as flat as it could. He didn't care no one in here was trying to look at it now, he still squirmed with displeasure any time it was mentioned.

"They really should invent a map for that place," Tonks sighed.

"That would ruin the point of exploring," Charlie reminded her.

"Some of us don't want to explore when we're late," she grouched right back, "some of us want to make it to our classrooms without ending up on the wrong side of the castle the first few times."

"Why would you know that?" Arthur laughed in surprise.

"Hermione," all three younger boys said at once, while the girl blushed but didn't deny that she fully believed she'd be running around telling anyone that fact when she learned it.

Despite Harry's nerves of all the attention at that place, he was still listening to these vivid descriptions eagerly. This place sounded like pure magic, so no matter how many doors he had to get through, he couldn't wait to find them all.

While no one in here had ever actually seen this for themselves, no one denied the claim either which means they'd all thought that at least once. Some looked to Dumbledore like they thought he'd answer, but he was merely humming in absent pleasure.

"He's so house biased," Tonks groaned, "once he realized I was a Hufflpuff, he shooed me along."

"All the ghosts are except the Fat Friar," Charlie shrugged.

Despite his anxiety to come when Remus got to the bad part of this chapter, he couldn't stop a little fondness creeping into his tone for this. That Poltergeist had been a wreck their whole school lives, something the Marauders had greatly admired right up till their last year. Then his mind flickered, and he realized how sour he was thinking of this in past tense.

Harry wasn't sure if he was supposed to be terrified, or amused at the prospect of this. Judging by those around him, a combination of both.

"Congratulations," Tonks actually began applauding them.

Arthur sighed, feeling the exact opposite, but didn't see the point in scolding his son, yet.

"Are you sure that was an accident?" Charlie grinned. "I wouldn't be surprised if the twins had tried to help you along and pointed you there."

"Don't know," Ron shrugged, though he too admitted he wouldn't be surprised.

"Typical of him," Tonks agreed.

"Well lookie there, he's not going to be nearly as annoying as I thought if he's already helping you out," Charlie grinned.

Dumbledore kept the opinion to himself how odd he found it Quirinus was up there at all. Perhaps it was just a coincidence, or perhaps not.

Sirius felt a very old, not exactly kind smile creep across his face at the mention of her. A sudden memory actually returning of all the times he'd changed into Padfoot and barked at that mangy old cat just to scare it. He clung to the way he remembered Prongs laughing when he told him, even if the memory was so old and vague, had Prongs nose been shorter or longer? It was still the first good thing he clearly remembered.

"Those two are creepy how they do that," Charlie sighed in agreement.

"I'm surprised that it never turned into a seventh year, last day of school tradition," Tonks grinned.

"No," Charlie said back instantly, "don't you dare suggest such a thing. I don't like her either, but I don't want her hurt."

Hermione straightened in her seat, prepared to take that challenge and do whatever she had to to fit in.

Neville gave a small smile, he liked astrology and loved to look up at all the stars he could see from his bedroom window.

Neville's interest went up even more, he loved finding all the plants he could around his place and always took them back to his Gran to ask what they were. If she didn't know, she'd actually find him books to figure it out, it was the one thing they always had fun doing together.

"I can't believe he's still there," Arthur sighed, "honestly Dumbledore, isn't there some way you could replace him."

"Considering all the trouble I've had keeping hold of one DA teacher, a replacement for Professor Binns has not been a top priority," Dumbledore said simply. "Also, I have yet to find a way to remove the man from his position even if I could, he came back to teach it after all, it would not be a kindness to his memory to say so otherwise."

"It would be a kindness to our grades if you tried," Tonks grumbled back. "Has anyone ever passed that class? The guy sounds like what a pillow would if it could talk."

Dumbledore did not respond to that.

Harry sat up a little straighter in his seat, remembering how it had been told his mother's wand was so good at Charms. He hadn't been told what his wand would be good for, but he had his fingers crossed in all the hopes that it could possibly be this class or one other.

All of the adults scowled at that. Nobody had ever actually disliked Flitwick before, he was too fun and enthusiastic, but they still wished he'd act better as Harry had enough problems without the teachers adding to it.

"Why wouldn't she be?" Ron laughed, "did you expect all teachers to be the same?"

"In my primary school, we just had one teacher for all our lessons," Harry shrugged back.

Ron looked astounded as he asked, "like, for what?"

"Maths, and reading, and history, and," Harry trailed off with a suggestive shrug.

"You mean you've been to a school already?" This had been mentioned before sure, but the idea hadn't really clicked in Ron's head right until now when the two were being compared.

"Err, you haven't?" Harry returned, just as surprised.

"No," Ron explained, "my mum taught me how to do maths and reading and such, she taught all of us. I thought everyone just learned that stuff at home until you got to Hogwarts."

The two boys clearly could have carried on for ages comparing these things, and Remus looked likely to let them as he was enjoying seeing Harry interacting so much, but Arthur cleared his throat and got the two to fall silent.

Harry straightened up with even more excitement, this had been the other class, the one his dad was good in. He hadn't a hint yet if he was actually good at charms, but hopefully he'd do something in here?

Remus gave a soft chuff of laughter under his breath. James and Sirius had been the top problem in every class, and as regularly as they were kicked out, no one ever seemed to stop them coming back in next class.

"Show off," Charlie laughed.

Harry sank back in his seat in disappointment, deciding he was asking too much by wanting to emulate his parents in this way.

Hermione looked as pleased as could be, unable to put into words how happy she was she'd clearly done something right, not that she wouldn't have tried if given the chance.

"Oh bugger," Tonks pouted, "don't tell me you get some of the same rotten teachers I did, where you had to wonder why they even bothered showing up to class they were so pointless while there."

She was giving Dumbledore some very obvious looks which he didn't really deserve. She knew that curse on the subject wasn't really his fault, nor had he found a way to break it yet, but it didn't make their learning feel better.

"That's encouraging to have near students," Charlie mumbled.

"Oh yeah, that was a pure lie then," Tonks nodded along.

"The details make it," Charlie agreed, "if you can't even give a vague account, there's no way that's true."

Remus looked on at the pair with unabashed amusement, the more time went on, the more they reminded him of his own friends.

"I actually believe that," Tonks nodded along, if the vampire thing was true then that was at least smart.

Dumbledore on the other hand wasn't so sure, and honestly wanted a closer look at that turban when Quirrell began wearing it.

"Though it seems we're all behind Hermione," Neville muttered.

"Certainly not if he was getting advice from the twins," Charlie agreed.

Everyone laughed affectionately at how pleased the boys looked at that accomplishment.

Remus' good mood sank at once, he really hadn't been looking forward to this part.

"Ooh, it is," Tonks shook her head in disgust.

"And it never will," Charlie said with false happiness.

Remus couldn't get that out without a tight wobble in his voice, his mind trying to forcibly rearrange that sentence to what it should have been, Lily sending messages of love and concern in how he was doing in his studies and how many friends he'd made, James demanding to know how many secret passages his son had found.

Everyone had been pretty depressed at the sharp reminder Harry was so alone in the outside world, that they all torqued up with interest for what this could be.

Harry smiled so wide he thought his face would crack. It meant a lot to him that though he probably saw Hagrid every morning and evening at meals and he could have just asked him then, Hagrid had sent him a note. Like he'd somehow know how upset Harry would be at not having received mail like a normal person, so Hagrid had actually gone out of his way to do this for him!

Remus tried very hard not to have an 'I told you so' tone to his voice as he kept going and forcibly not looking at his old headmaster. There was no other explanation other than Snape treating Harry like hell for that sentence to be true.

Sirius did a double take in confusion, sure he'd heard that wrong, but Remus had the same look of disbelief in place until he finished reading out.

"But, why?" Tonks struggled in confusion to even get that out. "I mean, he hates everyone who isn't a Slytherin, but why Harry in particular?"

She looked to Remus, who'd been so vocally adamant about the bad of Snape being there, and so far he'd been fairly reliable as far as she could tell. He didn't seem up to elaborating though, still shooting nasty looks at Dumbledore from time to time while angrily reading out.

"I always wanted to applaud his aesthetics," Charlie sighed, "he hit just the right amount of creep factor."

Sirius was suddenly eleven years old again, hearing Snivilius call out James' last name for the first time with hatred, and Sirius wanted nothing more than to punch that git in his large nose all over again.

Harry flushed in embarrassment, as that's the last thing in the world he'd ever been expected to be called, and it still surprised him.

"Dark, empty tunnels," Tonks emphasized.

Remus scoffed quietly under his breath, thinking back to all the times he'd seen this little slimeball and Slughorn having conversations about how Potions was just the best subject. At least he did it quietly enough Dumbledore didn't notice.

Charlie and Tonks were giggling like mad by the end of this, the impact of Snape's oh so important speech as lost on them now as their first day, all they heard was a big posturing idiot.

While that made at least Tonks laugh harder, Arthur looked either annoyed at the book or Dumbledore for that. Did he really just call those kids idiots straight away, like he was expecting them to fail? What kind of teaching method was that?

Only Hermione flushed for a different reason, sitting up straighter in her chair and clearly begging to prove she wasn't any kind of dunderhead.

The three boys chuckled at getting to see a real life moment of that.

Harry was flushed with embarrassment that he'd been called out when he more than likely hadn't his hand raised, but this was nothing new from his primary school where the teachers loved to pick on him as well, always taking the Dursleys truth that Harry was a troublesome kid who needed to be kept an eye on.

"Wasn't that a potion we did last year?" Charlie's face quickly slipped into a scowl in confusion. "It was some kind of killing draught."

"Can't be though," Tonks was frowning as well, "there's no way he'd ask for a sixth year potion."

"Oh, maybe we were wrong," Charlie looked almost relieved, since as many books as Hermione had pre-read before coming, he doubted she'd run across that.

Sirius made a sharp noise that could only be described as a warning bark, now glaring so fiercely at Dumbledore it was a wonder the man didn't run for cover. Sirius may have cleaned up his appearance slightly, but he still looked every bit the madman ready to kill at a moment's notice, and his attention had just been set.

Dumbledore was feigning no reaction to what he was hearing, but inside he was disappointed. Severus had made it perfectly clear that while he'd do everything in his life to protect Lily's son, he was not happy about having a Potter in his classroom. Dumbledore had brushed aside the concern, and simply told Severus to treat Harry like he would any other student. Clearly that wasn't going to be the case, but what could he do? He was not going to provide Harry special treatment by allowing him out of the class, nor could he really do anything to stop Severus doing whatever he pleased in his own classroom. He supposed he'd just have to let the situation resolve itself.

Remus was just sitting there, alternately staring at Sirius with a touch of concern, like he wanted to say something to comfort him but no words were coming, and gaping at Dumbledore like he really expected the man to say something. Apologize on behalf of his teacher for that horrid crack to the boy about something he had no control over, or at least a promise he wasn't going to let Snape get away with it again, or anything! When clearly nothing was coming, Remus forced himself to go on.

Arthur was at least comforted that it was a first year question. He, like the others, was astounded by this attitude from a teacher, when Harry hadn't done a thing wrong.

"Why's he singling you out?" Ron asked Harry like he thought he'd know.

Harry shrugged hopelessly, clearly upset he'd done something to already having a teacher hate him at this new school. It didn't say anything about any of the other teachers treating him like this, so it couldn't just be the way all teachers at his old school had, it had to be something to do with this Snape guy.

"Why do I get the feeling you want to answer these?" Ron turned his attention to her to take some of his friends for a moment.

She responded by blushing furiously and glaring at him, but putting her nose in the air and not responding.

Remus liked to think of himself as mild-mannered, he was certainly always the one to at least caution restraint before they attempted their next biggest stunt, but even he wouldn't deny in that moment he'd have cursed Snape a good one for that.

"Even if you had, I still get the feeling he wouldn't be impressed," Neville sighed.

.

At least the kids laughed at her obsessiveness, the others were all shaking their heads in disgust. Snape hadn't even taken the hint long before now and moved away from Harry.

Harry's two friends laughed appreciatively, even Charlie and Tonks got out a nice chuckle at seeing the boy put Snape back a bit.

"Are they supposed to read your mind?" Tonks demanded, "he can't snap at them for not doing something he didn't tell them to."

"Of course he can," Charlie grumbled back, "he's been doing it for how many years now, and no one's stopped him," he finished with an obvious look at the headmaster. Harry's may be starting out bad, but Charlie was positive Snape must have more teacher complaints than anyone else on staff, maybe even more than Filch, and yet they'd never seen Snape change once.

'Course he is, bet he and his dad are all sunshine and daisies talking to each other about the Death Eater business,' Sirius thought to himself.

Neville blanched in horror, clearly looking to apologize to someone, but then Ron said airly, "the twins first class, they managed to melt every cauldron in the class! Don't know if it was on purpose or not, but," he finished with a heavy laugh he hadn't managed that, and Neville relaxed.

Arthur sighed in pity as he fought the urge to get up and comfort the boy, who was looking more embarrassed by the moment at his slip up, but he restrained himself not only because he wasn't the boy's father but also because he knew how embarrassing it would be.

"Hey!" Tonks wasn't the only one to cry in outrage, but she was the one to keep going. "Why on earth can he get away with that, Neville's in pain and made a mistake during the first class!?"

Again Dumbledore said nothing, and they were all growing very frustrated and tired of his silence. Even a vague word of rebuke would have meant something at this point.

Sirius had to work furiously with his hands to remind himself that Snape wasn't here now and he couldn't go strangling him. The discolored fingers of his right hand flared painfully to reinforce this.

"I can't imagine a person on earth would think like that," Remus said with pure disgust under his breath. He knew for a one hundred percent fact that he didn't even know Harry's first name, all Snape was doing was speaking to James right then, and even that wasn't true of his friend. James would never let someone get hurt like that to make himself better, unlike what Snape had done in a crowded courtyard to Lily.

Ron shrugged for an apology, telling Harry, "you don't want to hear some of the things I've heard from my brothers about what Snape'll do if you tell him off. George tried once, and he still claims he's traumatized from that detention."

Arthur did a double take in surprise, he'd never heard that! He was furious enough this was being done to Harry, but what was this about his boys?

"That's what you were caught on?" Tonks snorted in surprise. "Not the fact that he was being a-"

"Ms. Tonks, language," Dumbledore finally spoke up, in rebuke of the wrong person! So many people turned flashing eyes on him that it seemed impossible he could be so dense as to not continue saying something against one of his teachers he'd just said in the previous chapter he wouldn't hear a word against. Now they all saw how Snape treated these kids, and still the man wasn't going to do a thing!

Sirius caught Remus' eye for the first time in over ten years, but Sirius quickly looked away again to pile an answer up for himself. His first instinct was to look at Moony, see what he was planning on telling Harry, but the instant he realized he was doing that he forced his brain to realize that he didn't care one bit what Remus was doing about anything, he'd explain this to Harry himself.

Remus was too busy being cheered Sirius had really caught his eye that time to be thinking the same, and was more than happy to put off the conversation to Harry even if he was. He was outraged on his behalf, but he wasn't looking forward to answering whatever questions Harry managed about this and start Harry on more prejudices like Snape clearly was.

Remus forced himself to push whatever lingering tension Snape's presence caused out of himself, he'd just have to talk to Dumbledore about it later in private and hope the man responded better that way. For now he was right back to happily reading about Harry's first time out on the grounds and thought this was a planned meeting with Hagrid it was still reminiscent of their own years.

Arthur wasn't too concerned, thinking Hagrid wouldn't have invited them inside if his dog was actually vicious, but it wasn't a good start that he was restraining him.

Harry and Ron gave a happy laugh at picturing such a thing, neither had much to do with dogs and this was a funny first moment.

Sirius felt an odd pang in his chest as he realized the same, this was Harry's first moment of being around a dog at all, rather than growing up knowing what Padfoot would look like as much as Lily's cat.

Ron still couldn't help but flush a bit. His dad had made him feel better, but it still wasn't always pleasant to be noticed just because of his family.

"I'm sure Hagrid loves them though," Charlie smiled, "his massive jaw the way it is, he probably likes to eat food as cooked as possible."

"I instantly regret never having gone with you to visit Hagrid," Tonks said at once with a laugh. She knew the big guy as the gamekeeper on the grounds like everyone else, but had never gone down there whenever Charlie had just to talk to the guy.

"What was this about Fang meeting that cat?" Tonks asked innocently, "I think it sounds like a good idea."

As if he didn't know, both Remus and Sirius thought at once. Hagrid had to break up James and Snape's fights as often as any teacher, if not more so since the two would often have it out on the grounds away from teachers. They supposed Hagrid was forcing ignorance that Snape wouldn't pass that along to Harry, which was sadly wrong.

"Got that one right," Remus sighed aloud.

Harry's attention instantly went to him as he realized Remus did know the answer to this, but Dumbledore cleared his throat loudly and gave such a pointed look, Remus felt like a scolded child and instantly turned back to the book while Harry sighed in disappointment.

He momentarily caught Sirius' eye, who winked at him. Harry forced his face to remain as neutral as possible to not give away the thought that he still may yet get an answer.

Charlie beamed at once, more than flattered Hagrid would think to ask about him.

"Caught on to that did you," Ron smirked.

Everyone blinked in surprise at that, they hadn't realized Ron's passing comment had happened on Harry's birthday! Suddenly everyone was even more grateful Hagrid had been with Harry that day. Even if nothing had happened, it still wasn't sitting right.

And that didn't feel the least bit suspicious! What were the odds the vault had been searched was the vault Hagrid had taken care of on that same day! Admittedly only Sirius didn't think himself paranoid for thinking all this, the others hastily trying to brush it all off as coincidence, except Dumbledore who had his eyes narrowed shrewdly.

"Does Hagrid know who did it!" Tonks yelped in surprise.

"If he does, then Dumbledore does," Charlie agreed, giving his headmaster a sideways look.

Dumbledore gave a soft shoulder shrug, saying, "as of now, I have no knowledge of this. If perhaps Hagrid saw something suspicious that day and reported it to me, I'm sure I would have looked into it, that is most likely his behaviour."

Sirius felt a tick going off in his jaw, already frustrated with the guy who seemed to have an answer for everything that never actually felt like an answer.

"So we're not the only ones thinking it," both boys agreed on either side of Harry.

"All questions I'd love answers to," Tonks pouted as Remus lowered the book and closed it to show he was done with his chapter.