I OWN NOTHING! ALL CREDIT GOES TO J. K. ROWLING! ENJOY!
It was the first day of Hogwarts in Harry's sixth year and things couldn't have been worse. He spent another agonizing summer with his relatives, reliving his godfather's death over and over in his sleep. He was exhausted, cranky, and depressed all the time. Now he was walking through the halls and was was very glad he could spend time with his friends again. He just walked into the dorm room after saying goodnight to Ron and Hermione who had prefects duty. Dean, Seamus, and Neville were already in there catching up about the summer.
"Hiya Harry!" Seamus exclaimed. He received two more hellos from Dean and Neville.
"How was your summer?" Dean asked.
"Not bad." This of course was a lie. "I was pretty bored, and I've been having some pretty nasty nightmares."
"Oh." The other three boys didn't seem to know what to say, so they sat in a rather uncomfortable silence.
Then Seamus' eyes lit up. "Oi Harry! I've just the thing to cheer you up." He said as he kneeled down at his trunk to find something. He finally found it, a slightly crumpled newspaper article, and proudly presented it to Harry. "Go on! It's one less thing you've got to worry 'bout."
Confused, Harry took the article and started reading. He didn't get as far as the Headline before he felt tears prickle in his eyes. Escaped Murderer, Sirius Black, Dead. He stared at the paper, not even reading anything before he felt a warm tear roll down his face, soon followed by many more. He had never allowed himself to mourn for Sirius after the day he destroyed the Headmaster's possessions.
"Harry?" Neville asked. "Are you alright?"
Harry's hands started shaking. "He was innocent." He whispered.
"What was that?" Dean asked.
Harry looked up with wet eyes. "He was innocent."
Seamus looked shocked, but Dean and Neville didn't know who the article was about. "He was my godfather. He was also innocent. He never betrayed my parents and he never killed those people. IT WAS ALL THAT FILTHY TRAITOR PETTIGREW'S FAULT!" By now, Harry was yelling, and tears were now flowing freely down his face. "Then Moldyshorts goes and uses him as bait. Then I get myself in big trouble and he comes to save me, and ends up getting himself murdered by his own cousin. It's all my fault. It's all my fault."
Now he had sat back down on his bed and was curled in a ball. Dean and Seamus were still shocked, but since Neville had known most of that, he sat next to Harry and comforted him the best he could.
"It's not your fault Harry. Anyone would have been tricked by that."
A few minutes later, the two other boys came to their senses.
"I'm really sorry mate. I didn't know."
"Yeah. I'm sorry Harry."
Harry looked up and smiled thinly. "Thanks guys." He wiped his eyes one more time before he gathered his things to get ready for bed. By the time he got back, Dean Seamus and Neville were already asleep, and Ron had just walked in.
"Goodnight Ron."
"Goodnight mate."
As Harry lay in bed, he realized how lucky he was to have such great friends.