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Chapter 41 - CH41

Harry shot a look towards Sirius who just shrugged.

"Evans" he clarified. "She hates James but he loves her" he finished in a swooning tone. "Ouch" he yelped as James kicked him from under the cloak. "Come on" he sighed, rubbing the back of his leg. The trio managed to find an empty compartment a little further on and took their seats to wait for the other two boys.

"How long do you think it will take for them to work it out?" James asked excitedly.

"About ten seconds if you don't shut up" Sirius retorted.

"They won't get here yet" James replied dismissively. "Remus and Peter's mum's dote on them ridiculously" he explained to Harry.

Harry nodded his understanding.

"Here they come" Sirius whispered a few moments later leaning casually against the wall of the compartment.

The door opened and Harry immediately recognized the two boys.

Remus looked as he ever did just much younger whereas Peter looked rather different, less rodent like. 'Maybe spending so long as a rat made him look more like one' he mused to himself.

"Your mum finished wiping your nose then Moony" Sirius stated questioningly as they entered.

"Oh shut up Padfoot" Remus grumbled, taking a seat opposite Harry.

"She actually did wipe his nose" Peter snickered.

Remus shot him a dirty look.

"At least my Mum didn't leave lipstick on my cheek" he pointed out with a smug grin.

Peter frowned and began attempting to remove the red gunk from his face, only managing to make it more pink than red.

"How's it going Prongs?" Remus questioned looking towards the boy for the first time and frowning. "Can't complain" Harry shrugged casually. "You look different" Remus returned, looking at him calculatingly.

"What do you mean?" Harry questioned irritably.

"You look more refined and less scruffy" Remus answered after a moment.

Harry just shook his head at the boy.

"You are different" Peter cut in, shaking his head.

"You don't have a scent" Remus exclaimed loudly, getting to his feet.

"I told you we shouldn't have used scent charms" Harry sighed.

"What do you mean?" Remus asked worriedly. "It's you fault" James grumbled, removing the cloak and pointed at Sirius. "All I said was he might smell the difference" Sirius pointed out.

"What the hell is going on" Remus questioned clearly shocked, looking between James and Harry.

"This is my brother Harry" James introduced the boy. "This is Remus and Peter" he added to the other boy.

"Brother?" Remus asked weakly. "You never mentioned a brother" he hissed, shooting a glance toward Harry.

"Even I didn't know about Harry until a couple of weeks ago" Sirius chimed in, attempting to placate the werewolf. "Family secret" he shrugged.

"Where the bloody hell has he been?" Remus questioned with a frown.

"Privately tutored" James replied dismissively.

"You're twins?" Peter piped up wide eyed. "We are" James confirmed with a grin.

Remus just shook his head.

"You could've just introduced him" he growled irritably.

"You got off easy, believe me" Sirius muttered grumpily.

"I'm sorry" Remus sighed. "As he said, I'm Remus" he introduced himself and offered Harry his hand.

"It's nice to meet you Moony" Harry replied, taking the boy's hand and smiling warmly. Remus's eyes went wide and a look of fear came over him.

"You know?" he asked weakly.

"We had to tell him" James interjected. "He would have worked it out straight away" he explained.

Remus swallowed deeply and began to shake. "And it doesn't bother you?" he questioned Harry, looking down at the floor.

"Not at all" Harry answered sincerely. "Your secret is safe with me" he promised.

Remus breathed a sigh of relief and nodded gratefully.

"Thank you" he whispered emotionally.

"One of the greatest men I knew was a werewolf" Harry mused. "I learnt some of my most powerful magic from him" he added with a smile.

"Really?" Remus questioned.

"Really" Harry confirmed with a firm nod. "I'm Peter" the other boy cut in, also offering Harry his hand.

Harry sighed inwardly, but remembered what Charlus had said. "It's nice to meet you Peter" he replied shaking the boy's hand.

Peter smiled and nodded.

"So why are you here now?" Remus asked.

"Mum and Dad wanted me home because of the war" Harry shrugged.

"Why were you privately tutored?" Peter inquired.

"Because he's gifted" Sirius answered dismissively. "We have things to plan" he stated. "You have all year to grill him" he finished with a shake of his head.

Both Harry and James sighed inwardly with relief as the group settled in and spent the rest of the journey talking and planning some pranks they wanted to pull off over the year.

(BREAK) The group departed the train after it had pulled in to Hogsmeade and Harry split away, reminding James and Sirius that he had to go with the first years.

"You better be in Gryffindor" Sirius grumbled. "I couldn't stand it if you were a snake, you would bring shame on us all" he warned with a smirk.

"I might ask the hat to put me in Slytherin just to piss you off" Harry replied casually. "Mum would love it" he shrugged.

Sirius looked affronted as James pulled him away, shaking his head at the boy.

With that Harry made his way towards the large silhouette that was Hagrid on the other end of the platform.

"'ello there 'arry" the half giant greeted him with a smile.

"Hey Hagrid" he responded happily. "Professor Dumbledore tol' me yeh'd be 'ere, yeh got it worked ou' then?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm sorry I didn't tell you my real name, family secret and all" he explained.

"No worries" Hagrid said dismissively. "I understan' tha'" he added.

Harry just smiled and got into a boat by himself noting that it seemed much smaller than when he had used them in his first year, but then again the small children around him were tiny.

'I couldn't have been that small' he thought to himself with a shake of his head.

He immediately noticed that there was at the very least triple the amount of first years now compared to when he started, and the problem that Croaker had explained to him was immediately apparent.

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