Lily accepted the paper from the owl, dropping two knuts in its pouch and returned to the table where they were all eating breakfast, Dawn and Evie involved in some game where they attempted to distract each other and eat bites of the other's food.

James flicked his finger, the syrup slid across the table towards him and he caught it in his right hand.

"My porridge is too cold," Flora muttered and snapped her fingers, heating it up.

Lily and James exchanged smug looks, knowing their plot to make wandless magic seem normal was working beautifully.

The floo flared to life and Sirius leapt out. "Have you read the paper?!" he exclaimed excitedly, dancing from one foot to the other.

"And good morning to you too, Sirius," Lily gently scolded him.

"Nah, we were going to wait until after breakfast to see what Harry was up to," James replied with a grin.

"You think Harry obliviated the... heck out of Fenrir and tossed him to the aurors?" Sirius asked, confused.

"What?" The Potter parents chorused.

"It's on the front page, someone wiped Fenrir's mind and used him to knock an auror over," Sirius explained. "Why would you think Harry did that?"

"It was a joke," James said. "Harry snuck off with his broom to do a little night flying so we were joking we'd find out what he was up to when we read the morning paper."

Sirius laughed. "That makes a lot more sense than thinking Harry did it."

The floo flared green and Peter stepped out with a copy of the Daily Prophet in his hand. "Hey, guess what."

"Oh, we already know," Sirius said with a lazy shrug, "Harry tracked down and obliviated Fenrir last night before bed."

"What?!" Peter asked, staring in shock.

"It's old news," Lily played along. "Would you like to stay for breakfast?"

"I... sure," Peter said slowly. "Shouldn't you two be at least a little concerned? Or is this just a prank," he realized, causing a burst of laughter.

"Yeah, they got me too," Sirius said as they all sat down.

Peter shook his head. "Can't believe I almost fell for that one. Well, since we're all here, shall we go play that prank on Remus?"

"How in the world are you going to convince Remus that Harry took out Fenrir?" Ginny asked.

"We'll tell him it's a present for his favorite uncle," Sirius said. "He did help Remus out recently with some brilliant idea that we still aren't allowed to know about and haven't been able to guess, so he won't be as quick to dismiss it as he should be. We can keep it going for at least a little while before his common sense kicks in."

"I don't think he'll buy it," James said, "Remus has too much common sense."

Peter turned to Lily. "You're the most reasonable one among us, if you act upset while we celebrate Harry taking out Fenrir, he'll have to believe it!"

Lily rolled her eyes, but the Marauders gave her pleading looks and she sighed. "Fine, but don't let it drag on too long, alright?"

"We promise," James said, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

The floo flared green and Remus stumbled out, looking much better dressed and fed than he had been in recent years, a copy of the Daily Prophet in his grasp and a huge smile on his face. "Guys, Fenrir has been captured!"

"I know," James said with a huge smile, "my son is awesome!"

"Harry said to tell you this counts as both your birthday and Christmas present this year," Peter added.

"I can't believe my son was so irresponsible," Lily complained, feigning anger.

"What?" Remus asked, confused as he tried to parse what he was being told.

"Okay, I'm man enough to admit it," Sirius said with a heavy sigh, "you are Harry's favorite uncle."

"What?" Remus repeated, wide eyed.

"He gets it from you," Lily told James.

"I'm sure he was perfectly safe while he took out Fenrir," James argued. "I mean, he didn't have a scratch on him."

"What?" Remus repeated, completely out of it.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Harry and the rest of the first year Gryffindors settled in for breakfast and Harry noted with a touch of amusement that the first years from all the other houses were also being led in by their 'first year lead'. He really loved this world.

The owls arrived delivering the morning mail and somehow not getting dander and feathers in his food. Harry was pretty sure there was some kind of ward keeping their food safe, though it could just have been a couple of house elves.

The thought of owls tickled something in his brain and his eyes widened as he realized he'd completely forgotten Hedwig! To be fair he'd spent quite a bit of time trying not to think about her, since losing her had hurt more than the death of some humans he'd known. He smiled as he realized he could get her back. She was a really picky owl and it had taken Hagrid's gentle touch to gain her approval last time, something he wasn't worried about since he knew her so well, so she'd still be in the store where Hagrid had purchased her.

"Yes!" someone cheered, breaking Harry from his thoughts as he noted excited and wide smiles spreading through the hall, even among the teachers from those reading the latest edition of the Daily Prophet.

"Fenrir is gone!" someone called out and actually got up and started dancing on the Hufflepuff's table.

"Oh yeah," Harry muttered, realizing that sort of thing would have made the paper. Thankfully no one knew it was him so he wouldn't have to deal with people staring and whispering about him this time.

A large brown owl swooped down carrying a smoking red letter and dropping it in front of him before swiftly fleeing.

Harry tapped the howler and Remus' voice blared out, "Harry James Potter, how could you be so reckless as to-"

He flicked his wrist hard as he snapped his fingers and the voice was cut off as the howler disintegrated into a small fireball. There was absolutely no way Remus could have connected what had happened to Fenrir to Harry, and he hadn't done anything particularly dangerous lately so how had he known? Could he have known? No, Harry decided, it was probably his Da or Sirius pranking Remus, since it was front page news.

"Harry?" Hermione asked, concerned.

"Just a prank from my godfather or father, possibly both," Harry told her. "May I borrow a piece of parchment and a quill please?"

"Sure, give me a second," Hermione replied, grabbing her bookbag.

"Harry, buddy, pal, strangely powerful firsty," Fred and George said, switching off between words, "please tell us how you did that, we beg of you!"

"Our mother is way too free with the howlers," Ron explained.

"Incendio destroys howlers," Harry told the pair.

"We owe you one," the twins chorused with wide smiles.

"Is anyone going to ask how he did it wandlessly?" Neville asked, looking around the table and seeing that no one in Gryffindor cared, and simply nodded. "Alright then."

"Here you go," Hermione said, laying out a piece of parchment and an inkpot with a quill sticking out of it.

"Thanks Hermione," Harry said, shooting her a smile and picking up the quill, tapping off the excess ink before writing, "Dear Remus, my favorite uncle, this counts as both your birthday and Christmas present and in the future please don't send me howlers that will see me targeted by packs of murderous killers.

All my love and some of my annoyance,

Harry

PS. My Christmas present better be legendary!"

"I don't think people are that upset when someone gets a howler at breakfast, unless they are hungover," Ron offered, reading over his shoulder.

"Better safe than sorry," Harry told him with a grin before whipping out his wand, ignoring the way everyone instinctively flinched away from it and muttered the howler spell under his breath, causing the parchment to fold itself into a glowing red envelope.

His magic reached out for one of the school owls who had just delivered a letter to someone at Ravenclaw, and it swooped over, snatching the howler from his hand as he raised it up without looking.

"How about that?" Neville asked. "Anyone? Just me then I guess."

"I'm a very strange first year," Harry offered.

Neville nodded. "You really are," he agreed.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"He could have been killed!" Remus exclaimed, pacing back and forth worriedly. "Fenrir is a dangerous monster!"

"He had my invisibility cloak and Lily's brains," James said cheerfully, "he was fine."

"He's too reckless!" Lily moaned out, helping wind up Remus so he didn't realize he was being pranked. "He's only eleven!"

"A very mature eleven," Sirius argued. "Certainly more mature than we are."

"That doesn't really help," Remus groaned.

An owl swooped in and dropped a howler on the table before it fled as fast as it could go.

"Who could be sending me a howler this early?" James questioned, "I haven't even gone out yet."

"It could be for Lily," Sirius suggested, trying not to snicker.

The five Potter daughters simply ate their breakfast trying not to giggle... too much, while the adults entertained them.

The howler unfolded itself and Harry's voice blared out, just loud enough to drown out the adult's argument as it delivered its message before exploding into confetti and vanishing.

James and Sirius immediately lost it, falling about laughing while Lily tried to muffle hers in her hands.

Remus facepalmed. "Okay, you got me. So, I'm guessing the paper was a fake and Fenrir wasn't caught?"

"No, that was real," James told Remus, patting him on the back, "it just had nothing to do with Harry."

Remus found his smile once more. "Yes, that bast- cough- large mouthed bass is gone!" he changed what he was going to say since the girls were present.

"He had a point though, sending a howler that could point the packs at him may have been a bit much," Sirius admitted.

Remus waved it off. "The packs hate him more than anyone, they'd send him gifts if they were daft enough to believe it. I mean, he's eleven, who'd be crazy enough to believe that he took out Fenrir?"

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"You did it," Draco said in disbelief as the three Slytherins joined him in a small cloakroom off the entrance to the great hall. "You did it... in just a couple of hours!"

Crabbe swept Harry up in a hug, tears running from his eyes. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Harry awkwardly patted Crabbe on the back. "I'm glad your sister is safe. Next time let me know sooner, alright? It'll be far less stressful for you that way."

"How?" Goyle asked, looking even more stunned than Draco was. "I don't think all three of our das together could have done it and come through without a scratch."

"There were no witnesses as to what happened to Greyback," Harry told them cheerfully, making the three shudder a little as they recalled the scene on the train. "As far as I'm concerned, he got drunk and stumbled into an auror all on his own, right?"

"Yes, sir," Crabbe and Goyle snapped out while Draco nodded like a bobblehead.

"Do you want to marry my sister?" Crabbe offered, before wincing as he realized he'd just insulted a very powerful wizard, since his sister was just a squib.

"I'm sure your sister is a lovely young woman," Harry told him, "but I'm not ready for marriage yet."

"Okay," Crabbe said in relief. "If you want anything, just let me know."

"Just relax and concentrate on your schoolwork," Harry told him.

"I will," Crabbe swore.

"Don't kill yourself, just do your best," Harry told him.

"What if my best isn't good enough?" Crabbe worried.

"Trust me, I believe in you," Harry said, laying a hand on his shoulder. "I know for a fact that you have it in you to be a great wizard."

"You're glowing," Goyle noted once Harry had left.

"I'm what?" Crabbed asked.

"Glowing like a light charm," Draco noted curiously.

"He believes in us," Crabbe said proudly.

"Us?" Goyle asked. "He just said he believes in you."

"Yeah, he's probably got some special way to tell what kinda wizard we're going to be, but he didn't ever feel the need to tell you, cause he figured you'd already know or he woulda said something and he picked Draco to lead Slytherin," Crabbe explained.

Draco smiled widely.

"And now you're glowing too," Goyle said before glancing down at his own arm and realizing they were all glowing. "How do we shut this off?"

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Professor," Harry said cheerfully as he ran into the possessed DADA teacher on his way to class, the Gryffindor first years right behind him. Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out a shrunken trunk. "Stumbled onto this while wandering around a day or so ago. It's a boggart, I stuck it in a trunk and forgot about it until now."

Voldemort forced Quirrell to stay calm. "Well, this is a very magical castle, you have to expect these sorts of things." He accepted the trunk that he'd tried to murder the first year with, a forced smile on his face as he completely forgot to stutter.

"I know, but you're the DADA teacher, so I figured you were the one to pass it off to," Harry told him with a knowing grin.

"Yes indeed," Quirrell replied, "this is what you're supposed to do if you trap one on Hogwarts grounds. If it's not too personal... what did it turn into?"

Harry shrugged. "I wasn't paying attention at the time, lost in my own thoughts. I think it was still in its black mist form when I banished it into the trunk and stuck it in my pocket."

"Well... I'm glad you captured it. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have papers to grade," Quirrell said, quickly departing.

"He didn't stutter," Neville noted, "not even once."

"Don't point it out to him," Harry quickly said, "that'd just make it worse."

Ron winced. "Yeah, we don't need it getting worse, he's hard enough to understand as is."

Quirrell winced from where he was listening from around the corner as the first years hurried off to class. He'd messed up his cover enough that Potter had to cover for him. "There's something wrong with that boy," he muttered.

"I'm aware," Voldemort replied, making plans for something far more deadly before discarding it as it would attract Dumbledore's attention and ire.

"Trolls are useful," Quirrell suggested, and felt the Dark Lord's approval. They needed a good distraction so they could examine the protections guarding the stone and a troll sounded perfect.

Typing By: Abyssal Angel

Beta By: Abyssal Angel and Mist of Shadows

TN: A large brown owl swooped down carrying a smoking red letter and dropped it in front of him before swiftly fleeing.

"Oh no... please tell me Lily didn't pull a Molly... and for a prank..." Abyssal Angel muttered, wincing badly and feeling the stirrings of rage for yet another piece of infuriation from the Wizarding World.

Harry tapped the Howler and Remus' voice blared out,

"Well... that's... slightly better. At least it wasn't Lily directly... just... indirectly..." the typist muttered, taking a moment to take a few deep breaths and cool off.