If They Were Alive . . .
Sirius Black
If He Was Alive . . .
He'd Be Talking to Harry
"Harry!" Sirius growled, "What were you thinking?"
"Er-Sorry-" Harry muttered awkwardly.
Luna, Ginny, Ron, Harry, Hermione, and Neville were going home on broomsticks they found in the Ministry. Sirius was accompanying them to Hogwarts. They didn't want to think about what had happened that night.
"You know, Harry just wanted to help you…" Luna said earnestly.
Sirius looked at Harry, and, his voice calm, he said, "I know, but next time when he comes to save anyone, he should check with someone first."
"Well-Yes-" Hermione started to say.
"Or check if that person is missing." Sirius said, ignoring Hermione.
"Well-Yes-" Hermione stammered, looking at Harry, "He did check if you were at home. Did you, Harry?"
"Well, of course!" Harry said, realizing something.
"He did," Ron put in smartly.
"Of course I did!" Harry fumed abruptly. "But Kreacher said that you had disappeared to who-knows-where! Kreacher said you were gone, and he was alone in the house!" Sirius stared at Harry blankly. "Kreacher did it! Kreacher!"
"Kreacher?" Sirius repeated stupidly.
"Yes, Kreacher!" Harry said angrily. "It was his fault, all his fault, his faul-"
"Well it wasn't his fault entirely!" Hermione said. "He probably did think that Sirius disappeared, you know-"
"Still going strong on spew," Ron snorted.
"It's not spew!" Hermione said, whirling around to face Ron. "It's the S.P.E.W. – the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare."
"Oh, whatever." Ron said, rolling his eyes.
"We are not talking about the Society of the Protecting of Whatever!" Sirius said loudly.
"I think you meant the Society for the Promotion if Elfish Welfare." Hermione corrected.
"I don't care!" Sirius said. "We are talking about WHAT HAPPENED TONIGHT!"
Harry looked surprised at Sirius' sudden outburst.
"Sorry," said Sirius. Harry shrugged.
"I don't feel like talking about it." Neville suddenly said. Everyone's attention turned to Neville.
"Neville," Ron said weakly, "What happened to you?"
"Nothing." Neville shrugged. "Just a few cuts, that's all."
"Just a few cuts?" Ron said. "Look at you."
There were several deep scratches and a deep gash on his forehead. His clothes were blood-stained, and his eyes were puffy and red.
Neville looked down at himself. "What?"
"Look at yourself!" Harry gaped.
"Don't try to be brave, Neville." Ron said, patting Neville's shoulder.
"I'm not trying to be brave." Neville said.
Sirius coughed loudly. "Hem hem."
Luna laughed. "You sound like Professor Umbridge!"
Sirius looked at Luna quizzically. "Who's Professor Umbridge?"
"Er-Never mind." Luna stammered.
"I see the castle." Ginny said.
"I know." Luna blinked mysteriously. "I see it too."
As Sirius approached Hogwarts, memories flooded him. He remembered the time when James caught the Snitch and the Gryffindor Quidditch Team won the Quidditch Cup. Well, that happened a lot but he only remembered one specifically. He remembered when a pretty girl from Ravenclaw asked him out. Then the time when-
"Sirius?" Harry said, interrupting Sirius' thoughts. "We're here."
"Oh, perhaps the Nargles got him." Luna said, looking at Sirius. "I think they got you too, Neville, you had a weird look on your face."
Sirius looked at Harry, confused.
"She's always like that." Harry whispered to him.
"Harry?" Hermione asked, pointing to Sirius, then at the castle.
"Yeah." Harry answered, catching on to what Hermione meant. "He's coming in."
Good old Hogwarts, Sirius thought.
He'd Be Meeting Old 'Friends'
"Hagrid!" Harry yelled.
"All righ', yeh lot?" Hagrid said, walking towards them. "An' who's tha' by yeh, Harry?"
"Hi Hagrid!" Hermione yelled before Harry could answer. "This is-"
"Sirius Black!" Hagrid hollered. "Quick, Harry, yer not safe! We gotta call Dumbledore! C'mon-"
"Hagrid!" Harry bellowed. "Sirius Black is my Godfather! "
"Oh." Hagrid said blankly. "S'rry. I didn' know tha'. "
"Yeah, you do," Harry told him. "I told you two years ago." Hagrid shrugged.
"Erm- What's Black doin' here?" Hagrid asked uncomfortably. "I didn' knew he was yer Godfather, Harry."
"Oh, we were- Er- just, you know, coming back from the Department of Mysteries."
"Oh. Yer all righ' than?"
"Yeah."
"Yeh go ahead an' sit down righ' there." Hagrid said, pointing to several large wooden chairs.
"Excuse me." Sirius said abruptly.
"Yeh all righ', Sirius?" Hagrid said darkly.
"Don't talk to Sirius like that." Harry retorted.
"And don't talk to Hagrid like that, either." A voice said.
"Dumbledore!" Harry said, surprised.
"I see you took Dolores somewhere," Dumbledore said, with an amused expression.
"Yes," Harry said quickly. "Er- Hermione and I were-"
"I don't need an explanation." Dumbledore said.
Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Luna and Neville were standing very still behind Harry.
"Hello, Sirius." Dumbledore said. "And may I ask what you are doing here."
Sirius looked at Dumbledore. "I thought you knew, Professor."
"I expect you to tell me." Dumbledore said sharply.
Sirius shrugged. He remembered Dumbledore, but when he was at Hogwarts with James, Dumbledore had looked a lot younger.
"Er- should we go in, Professor?" Harry asked.
"Well, why shouldn't we?" Dumbledore beamed.
He'd Be Meeting Old Enemies
They walked into the castle with Dumbledore leading. Many students turned and looked at Neville. Malfoy smirked at Harry and Pansy gaped at Hermione.
"Granger!" Pansy shrieked happily at the sight of Hermione's clothes. Hermione glared fiercly at her.
"Think you're really something now, Potter?" Malfoy called to Harry. Pansy and some other Slytherin girls sniggered. Harry ignored him.
"Who was that boy?" Sirius whispered.
"That's Malfoy. Draco Malfoy" Harry answered.
"Severus!" Dumbledore called. Snape looked up at Dumbledore.
"Yes, Headmaster?" Snape said coldly, looking at Sirius.
"I have someone I believe you have met before."
"This one?" Snape said coldly, looking at Sirius.
"Yes," Dumbledore said cheerfully.
"Snivellus?" Sirius spat. He wondered why Dumbledore was showing him Snivellus. They already knew each other well enough.
"Yes," Dumbledore smiled.
"Excuse me," Sirius said, "But why are you showing me him? I know him well already, so we shouldn't waste any time introducing. I should be going, really-"
"Sirius," Dumbledore said sharply. "I would like you men to shake hands. No more fighting."
"What?" Sirius said in disbelief. "Shake hands?" He would really not want to touch those filthy hands of Snivellus Snape. He would really prefer not to.
"Headmaster," Snape said stiffly, "I really must be going."
"Nonsense," Dumbledore beamed.
He'd Be Triumphing
After twenty minutes of trying to get Sirius and Snape to shake hands, Dumbledore finally threw up his hands in dismissal, murmuring something about enemies. . . and bananas (?). Sirius looked quite smug at the action, and Snape sneered, resembling . . . who was it? Oh, yes . . . resembling Lucius a lot.
Sirius knew Dumbledore did not want to hex him into shaking hands with Sniv, resulting in finally giving up.
"Haha," Sirius smirked, turning to Harry.
"You look like Malfoy," Harry said quickly, then, looking upon the expression on Sirius' face, quickly said, "No, um, not you you, um, you as in someone's name, like, 'You'." Sirius doubted every word Harry stammered; if 'You' truly was a name, Harry would have said, 'You looks like Malfoy." And . . . whatever. He could think of all this using his awesome brainpower later.
He'd Be Asking
After a long day at Hogwarts, explaining everything, clearing all misunderstanding, and tying up loose ends, Sirius finally managed to persuade Harry to allow him (as in Sirius) to go home.
"What?" Harry asked? "What home?"
"Um. . . my home. . ." Sirius answered, staring at Harry as if he were stupid (which he probably was . . . right now).
"Oh!" Harry exclaimed. "Yes, Grimmauld Place. Well, you'll probably need to stay in the Hog's Head, in Hogsmeade . . ." Sirius stared at Harry blankly. That filthy place? The Hog's Head?
"Oh, all right." Sirius sighed.
He'd Be Thinking
It was a lucky day. And unlucky. Sirius would have died if Tonks hadn't cast a Shield Charm (Protego!) at the last minute. But, then again, the Order of the Phoenix (the Order) and Harry and his small group hadn't really done anything; at least, they didn't kill any of the Death Eaters.
But all was well; everything working out okay. At least he didn't die. But neither did the Death Eaters.
He'd think about everything later. All the loose knots. Now, all was well.