Disclaimer 1: This is fanfic. That means I do not own any of it. I just borrow it to play with for a little while and let people see the pathetic results if they really want to.

Disclaimer 2: I'm not making any money from it. It's just for fun.

Disclaimer 3: What isn't borrowed is all made up. None of this is real or most likely at all realistic. Please don't trust any of the information in here. Most likely you know more about whatever I'm writing about than I do.

Disclaimer 4: Attitudes, views and opinions expressed by the characters or in the story are not necessarily those of the author. Even when writing Science Fiction or Fantasy I do not tend to attempt to create perfect/better worlds in which everybody gets a happy end ... or whatever is best for them. Please accept that some characters will have a bad ending or be unhappy.

Disclaimer 5: I intend no insult to anyone. If I offend anyone I'm very sorry. Please understand that it was an accident as I tend to be very clumsy in these things.

Notes: I wonder whether this letter will reassure Sirius.

Chapter 2: A Peck of Owls

"There you are!" Ron welcomed Harry the moment he stepped through the portrait hole into the common room "Where did you go? We thought that was Auror Black's answer that Hedwig brought you?"

"Sssshhh!" Harry hissed at him. "Not so loud!"

Ron nodded and continued at a whisper. "So was it? There's hardly anyone here anyway. They've all gone outside except for the seventh years and they've got more important things on their minds."

Harry pulled Ron past the small group of studying seventh years and towards the stairs anyway.

"Is anyone in the dorm?" he demanded.

Ron shook his head. "No, but was it Auror ..."

"Shhh!" Harry hissed again now getting funny glances from some of the older students after all. "Then we can talk up there."

They went upstairs and the moment Harry had closed the door behind them Ron started up again.

"So was it ..."

"Yes, it was," Harry admitted. "And I have to reply to him right away. I forgot to say all the important stuff in my last letter and now Uncle Sirius is all worried."

"So he said you should keep writing to him?" Ron asked.

"Yes, and it's urgent, but I have to do it in a way that nobody gets curious what I'm doing. It has to look like I'm doing homework, but we haven't got any homework now."

Ron scoffed. "Oh nonsense. Nobody will care what you're writing. It could be ... a message to Draco, or a letter to Percy, or an order for chocolate frogs, or a letter to the editor of the Daily Prophet. That paper has reported enough nonsense about you this week to merit a correction."

"But then they might want to see what I'm writing!" Harry protested.

"Fine, then say it's a private letter to Percy. Or make it Oliver. The only ones of our friends that knew Oliver well enough to want to see that are the twins and you can tell them about your secret uncle. They’d think it's a cool secret and never tell on you."

"Alright," Harry agreed after a moment. "But I'll take along my Divination book as well just to be sure."

In fact he took his whole school bag down to the common room and squeezed into the most out of sight place that wasn't already occupied by a seventh year. Ron followed and placed himself right beside Harry in full view of everybody so he could watch what Harry was writing.

'Dear Uncle Sirius,' Harry began anyway since he realised that he'd never get rid of Ron without drawing even more attention. 'I am very sorry I forgot to answer your questions in my last letter. No, I was not hurt at all in the third task. I walked into some strange field that turned the world upside down and didn't know how to get out of it. So I had to signal for help and Professor Hagrid came and rescued me. He said it was alright because I wasn't supposed to have learned about it yet. Fleur had already given up as well, though, so I didn't even do worst in the tournament. But Mr. Barty Crouch Junior later said that he had helped me all along and removed obstacles in the maze for me, so I don't know how good I really was.

Anyway, then I fell asleep and had a vision of how Victor arrived at that graveyard and You-Know-Who took his blood to revive himself. That was horrible! I have nightmares of how Victor just stood there and let it happen. When I woke up I went and told the headmaster and he said he knew where that place was and all the best fighters among the Professors and all the Aurors that were supposed to protect us went to rescue Victor, but they were too late.

But talking about Aurors, Uncle Sirius! Guess who was among them! Your partner Auror Potter who isn't allowed on Hogwarts grounds either! I know the Ministry would never have sent him. Unless he has a twin brother? Does he? The other Aurors didn't seem to think it at all strange, but maybe they don't know about the ban? They weren't there when the Minister decided it after all.

At first I thought that Auror Potter must be the Death Eater that the headmaster had said must be at Hogwarts, but that turned out to be Mr. Barty Crouch, so I am not sure why You-Know-Who sent Auror Potter to watch the third task, but maybe he was supposed to help Mr. Crouch.

So please be careful around Auror Potter, Uncle Sirius. I'm sure he is a Death Eater and now that You-Know-Who has returned he might become very dangerous to you. Maybe you can arrest him? Or if you can't prove that he is a Death Eater, you could try to get another partner so he can't hurt you. I’d feel terribly sad and guilty if you were killed by him, so please be careful!

Where was I? Oh right! The rescue party came too late and they brought Victor back on a stretcher all dead. They had put a cloth over his head, but it came off when I pushed the stretcher. His eyes were wide open and didn't move at all! I have nightmares of that, too. You-Know-Who is terrible! Well, of course I already knew that. Professor Hagrid said so when he first told me about him, but he is even worse than I imagined. Can you please arrest him soon so that he can't kill any more people? But please don't get killed yourself while you do it!

Well, then Mr. Barty Crouch Junior took me away, except that I thought he was Professor Moody, of course, or I would never have gone with him. He promised me a calming drought and we went to his office. There he told me that he was a Death Eater and wanted to kill me, but don't worry, Uncle Sirius, because Professor Dumbledore came and rescued me. And then Mr. Crouch told us a lot of horrible things that he'd done, so I am not at all sorry that the dementor kissed him even though the headmaster and Professor McGonagall were really angry about it. But by then I was all safe in the hospital wing, even though I wasn't hurt at all!

Love,

your Harry number 5