A/N- Sorry this wasn't done quicker, I had a bad case of procrastination. That and I got a Ps3, so that's taking up some of my time. Enjoy.
Disclaimer-J.K. Rowling is not me, so I don't own anything that involves Harry Potter
Zoë Potter: Year Four
If you see Zoë Black and ask her if she has leaded a normal life and she says "yes," call her an out and out liar.
At the age of one her parents were murdered by the Dark Lord known as Voldemort.
At the age of five she learned that she was a witch after almost blowing up the family library after getting frustrated enough at not being able to reach a book that she wanted to read to cause a bout of accidental magic.
At the age of seven she learned that she was a partial metamorphmagus. At first she was stricken with the jealousy bug. You see her older sister, a one Nymphadora Tonks, was a full blown metamorphmagus. She could only change the color of her eyes to Hazel, Green, Gray, and Brown. In short the colors she had seen from her parents and friends in her first year of life. Not enough for her liking after watching old Nymphadora change everything about her over the years. But she eventually got over it by thinking that it was better than nothing.
She has always been brighter than most kids. When she was in primary school she was always at the top of her class. Usually the little kiddies would get jealous of the little smarty pants in the class. But not Zoë. She had a way of getting everyone to like her, something that her adoptive mummy Andromeda Tonks said she inherited from her real mummy.
After a heart felt goodbye from practically everyone in the school, a crying Zoë was moved to a more exclusive school to challenge her mind even further. She didn't really like it. Not for the fact that she was learning more and more, she loved looking over the books in the school's library and her own textbooks. It was for the fact that all the kids in this new school were stuck up rich snobs. She hated them; she couldn't make a single friend because the kids based their friends on how much money the kid had. Since they thought that Zoë got in on her brain power with a scholarship they treated her like crap. Of course this was not the case, Zoë had a vault full of gold that probably made her one of the richest people in the school, but being the humble being she was, she never flaunted her money. For one thing was certain, she never wanted to end up being like this little rich snobs, ever.
Her time at this school, while furthering her mind, wasn't as productive for her social aspects. She tried and tried to make friends with her new classmates, but they would have nothing of it. They still looked at her like she was a commoner just because she looked like she didn't have the best of everything.
She was glad when she got her letter from Hogwarts just before she reached the age of 11, she could finally get away from the place she tolerated just because she was gaining more knowledge.
Her trip to Diagon Alley on her birthday wasn't all that eventful. She ended up meeting her mum's sister, Narcissa Malfoy. Andy had a few choice words after she left which she told Zoë not to repeat. She also said not to get involved with her son; nothing good could come from it. On the brighter side of things, Zoë had a great time going through Flourish and Blott's picking out a variety of different books for some "light" reading. Of course ol' Nymphadora came too for some extra "protection" as she put it; she was just out of Hogwarts and was going to start training to become an auror. And by coming with Andy and Zoë, it gave her more experience escorting people around. Andy found it extremely funny, while Zoë found it extremely annoying.
Finally on their way out of the Leaky Cauldron they spotted a Rubeus Hagrid, keeper of the keys and grounds at Hogwarts. But that's all Nymph and Andy saw as they were on their way out. Only Zoë saw that there was a little boy following the half-giant around, though she was intrigued she was ushered out before she could ask any question.
September 1st, the big day for Zoë, she was finally going to Hogwarts. Ever since she had seen Nymphadora on the train, she had been dreaming of it. But of course everything has to go extremely wrong when you are expecting to do something for so long. In fact she almost missed the train because of the various things she forgot to pack the night before. A story that everyone will laugh at because of its inert silliness.
While looking for a compartment, she found a boy who looked like he was an incoming first year like her. He was just staring out the window, just looking and from the look on his face thinking, about what she didn't know, but he did look lonely.
"Hi can I sit here? Don't really want to look anywhere else for a seat, kind of tired of lugging my trunk around." Zoë asked.
"Go ahead." He murmured distantly, still looking out the window.
So Zoë went ahead and got comfortable by taking the seat across from him mimicking his movements and stared out the window just thinking. After about a half hour of companionable silence Zoë decided to strike up a conversation.
"Zoë Black," she announced, "Who are you?"
The boy just started at her for a while before saying "Harry, Harry Potter."
She was surprised by this answer, though she didn't think that Harry would be this knight in shining armor looking character, she didn't expect him to look so thin and decrepit.
"How's it going Harry? Do you wanna be friends?"
He was completely dumbfounded; someone actually wanted to be friends with him? Of course he wasn't one to jump on a chance to have a friend, now that he was finally going to be away from the influence of Dudley.
Of course he also felt a weird attraction to this girl, almost like he should know her from somewhere, but he didn't, did he?
When she finally got a good look at Harry, she was having the exact same thoughts that he was having. A sense of familiarity that she thought shouldn't be there.
The rest of the trip they talked about themselves a little bit, but it was mostly Zoë talking to Harry telling him about herself, her life, her family, and other things that made the trip seem like it went faster than it should have.
Along the way, they met up with someone that Zoë didn't want to here from. Draco Malfoy, upon hearing from the Weasley twins that Harry Potter was aboard decided he'd like to make friends with the famous boy. But after he insulted Zoë, Harry decided he should decline his invitation.
There was one more thing that happened on that first train trip that was interesting. While Zoë and Harry were discussing what house they wanted to be in, a discussion that mainly involved Zoë telling Harry about the various houses and inputting her on thoughts on them. ("Don't go into Slytherin, though not all of the people aren't evil from that house, it has produced the most dark wizards. Besides you don't want to be bed buddies with Malfoy do you?" And "I definitely want to be in Gryffindor, from what my mummy says both my real mom and dad were in the house.") A young girl, looking to be a first year also, with bushy hair decided to open up the door and inform them that they would be reaching Hogwarts soon and advised it would probably be a good time to put on their robes. Though upon hearing the topic they were discussing she had to put her two cents in. ("I definitely wouldn't mind Gryffindor; I haven't heard a bad thing about that house, I want to be a Gryffindor. Though I wouldn't mind it if I was in Ravenclaw, but Gryffindor is my first choice.") After they got her name, Hermione, they promised to meet later.
After the train stopped, they proceeded to the lake following Hagrid where they took the traditional boat trip that all first years take with Harry, Zoë, and Hermione getting their own boat. The rest of the night when without a hitch, with Zoë, Hermione, and Harry all getting into Gryffindor house.
The three quickly became great friends with a reputation with being the smartest three in their year. They each had their preferences (i.e. best classes). Zoë was the best at potions, Hermione was the best at charms, and Harry was the best at Transfiguration. The other classes they did adequately in. There was a certain amount of jealousy directed at them with some hurtful words thrown at them, but they didn't care, as long as they had each other they'd be fine.
They did get into a fair amount of trouble. What with trying to take on a troll on Halloween after finding out that someone (looking at you Zoë) was taking too long in the bathroom. Also helping their friend Hagrid take care of a dragon he illegally won in a card game when he wanted a drink at the local pub. Getting caught while taking said dragon to a place where some friends of some really cool red-heads' brother could take it and live with its kind. Traipsing around the forbidden forest looking for an injured unicorn. Finding the unicorn dead with somebody bending over it drinking its blood. Being saved from the being by a friendly centaur who then gets berated by his kind for giving Harry a ride out of the place. Fun year if I say so myself.
Finally the day had come; someone had sent off Dumbledore and went off after the Sorcerer's Stone. Of course the three of them couldn't let the person get away with that. So they followed him down thru the door that Fluffy was guarding, past the Devil's Snare, using some tremendous broom work caught the key for the next room, combining their minds to get past a giant chess set, walking past an already dead troll, and past a logic puzzle to get around two fires.
What happened next was unexpected with Quirrel ending up being possessed by Voldemort, using Harry to get the Sorcerer's stone out of the mirror and than dieing from grabbing a hold of Harry. Yep, it was as weird as could be.
The end of the year feast found them with a Gryffindor victory in the house cup from some last minute points added by the venerable Albus Dumbledore. They got on the train with a last minute present from Hagrid to Harry, which was a photo album that was full of pictures of his parents.
The summer before second year didn't go so well for Harry. He was punished for using magic by the ministry when the real culprit was a house-elf named Dobby. What the worst thing about it, though, is that it happened during one of Vernon's dinner parties where he was playing up to someone to get a fat paycheck. Of course when the dessert explodes all over the kitchen and you're standing over it staring stupidly, you tend to get blamed for it (though he still probably would've gotten blamed for it anyway.) The night was almost saved by a bucket of ice cream, but the fools at the ministry with their no way of finding out who did the magic, just knowing the magic happened, decided to give their warning to Harry James Potter in the form of an owl gram. The wife of the man who's ass Vernon was kissing was deftly afraid of birds and ran screaming out of the house. Needless to say, with Vernon's dream of a vacation house in Majorca and them knowing that he couldn't do magic outside of school, Harry was locked in his room with barely anything to eat and bars all over his window.
After about two weeks of no replies from their birthday notes, Zoë and Hermione were getting a little worried. They would've thought that he would've written at least one note to someone. Upon expressing their fears to Andy, they decided to go to number 4 and see what was happening with their friend.
The meeting with Vernon Dursley didn't go down to well. Zoë and Hermione wanted to curse his guts out, but they weren't fast enough. Andy decided to take matters in her own hands and stunned Vernon, gave a verbal lashing to Petunia about what would her sister say to her actions against her son, and brought Harry back to her house.
The last two weeks were heaven as far as Harry was concerned. He'd had a wonderful time over at his Aunt Andy's place with Zoë and Hermione. They did what normal twelve year old kids do, ran around like idiots playing in the sun, swimming at the local swimming hole, going to the library, things like that. Though that time was cut short because Harry had to get his homework done because all his books were in his old bedroom. Nothing wrong happened in Diagon Alley.
On September 1st, the barrier to get on the platform wouldn't work for Harry, Zoë, or Hermione. Of course the fact that they got there a little later than they wanted to wasn't lost on them. In fact, they were in full blown panic mode as they watched the clock chime 11 o'clock. Thank heavens that Andy was still there. She decided that since they couldn't get on the platform and take the train, she'd take them there herself.
With a few shrinking spells on their trunks and a cage (which had already been Hedwig less) they apparated to Hogsmeade where they decided to explore a little. They ended up going to Honeydukes, Zonko's, the bookstore, and wherever else they could go. The last stop on the tour was the Three Broomsticks. After a decent snack and a very warm greeting from Madam Rosmerta with Harry (she remembered his father) and Andy. They decided it was time to get up to the castle.
Of course Snape had to be their when they walked in. After a few snide comments about being too good for the train, Andy took the three kids to the headmaster's office where they explained the situation. No punishments were handed out and they absolutely loved the food at the feast.
After one lesson with an absolutely horrid defense teacher named Lockhart. The three of them decided they'd teach themselves. Of course they still got around to going to Lockhart's classes, but instead of really paying attention to him, they did other homework, or took notes on some good spells they could work out.
Halloween brought a new threat to them and the whole school when they found Mrs. Norris hanging from a bracket next to a flooded bathroom with the message "The Chamber of Secrets has been opened, Enemies of the Heir beware". Of course with Murphy's Law in full effect our fabulous trio had to end up right next to the cat as practically the whole school decided to walk down the corridor. After a quick chat and with the teachers about Mrs. Norris being petrified and not knowing anything other than that Harry heard a disembodied voice, not that he'd tell the teachers though.
Throughout the year Harry would hear the disembodied voice. Not knowing where it was coming from was disconcerting, but he was determined to find out what it was because he knew he wasn't going crazy.
One of his secrets that even he didn't know about was revealed when their incompetent teacher decided to hold a dueling club. After being thoroughly thrashed by Snape, and saying that he allowed it to happen, he brought groups together so that they could practice expelliarmus. Of course being the vindictive guy he was, Snape decided to pair up Malfoy with Harry and brought them center stage. Instead of using the required spell, Malfoy created a snake out of his wand. Wander 'tard decided to get rid of the snake, but it only ended up getting agitated and turned on a student. Harry, being the selfless person he is, yells at the snake to stop. Surprisingly it did and Harry was stared at like he had grown a few extra heads, maybe even an extra appendage.
With their quick thinking, Zoë and Hermione rushed forward and dragged Harry out of the hall. After the dragging was done they explained to him that he was a parselmouth, i.e. he could talk to snakes. At first he was surprised, but then he remembered before his first year with the boa at the zoo and it all made sense to him.
After a few months of no attacks and with his mind on the disembodied voice that no one seemed to hear, he voiced his opinions that the disembodied voice could be some form of snake, which the two reasoned could be a good idea. So they did what they always did, took off for the library to research the things that it could be. The problem was that it was only a few days before their second quidditch game with Hufflepuff.
The day of the game, after a quick search thru the library, Harry and Zoë left for the field with Hermione lagging a bit behind. Before the game even started, McGonagall called it off and took Zoë and Harry to see that Hermione had been petrified.
After getting permission from McGonagall to visit her everyday, with a teacher escort there and back, they went and had a vigil next to her bed.
Soon thereafter, while holding her hand, Harry found a piece of paper there. It looked like it was torn from a book, and it looked like it came from a creatures tome. On it, it described a form of snake called a basilisk. It was a huge snake, lived a long time, was extremely poisonous, and if you looked in its eyes you would die.
Things clicked from there. Zoë and Harry determined that this must be the thing that was attacking, and from the single word that Hermione had written on the sheet of paper, pipes, that it was getting thru the castle unseen by going through the plumbing.
The breakthrough came too late though. While heading to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, a hideout they used to brew Polyjuice Potion to infiltrate the Slytherin Common Room to try and determine the real Heir of Slytherin from Malfoy (oh did I forget to mention that Hermione turned into a cat?), to ask about her death, they found another set of letters saying that whoever was doing the attacking had taken a little girl, Ginny Weasley, to the chamber and that her bones would rot.
Deciding that Lockhart was absolutely worthless, they decided that they should have a little fun with him anyway. They brought their information to him and all he could do was stutter. After revealing that everything he did in his books (which consisted of practically the whole booklist) was done by someone else and all he did was use a memory charm on them after he got all the information out of them, he turned his wand on them, only to get two body-binds to the chest. With a quickly written note saying to hold Lockhart in the castle, they took his wand and chucked it out of the window.
Lockhart's confrontation brought a new resolve to both of them and they took off to Myrtle's bathroom. There they got her full death story and found the entrance near the line of sinks that were in front of her stall. With a quick ride down the pipes over, they walked down a tunnel until they met up with a snake skin. Of course this is where Harry's saving people thing came and his selflessness came into place and he got into a heated argument with Zoë about being the only person to go any further. Zoë brought up the point that two was better than one and turned to start walking further down the tunnel only to get hit with a full body-bind to the back. After he turned her over and with a quick apology, Harry continued down the tunnel until he got to the entrance of the chamber.
With a quick introduction to Tom Marvolo Riddle/Voldemort's 16 year old self, Ginny's body, and a near 50 foot Basilisk, Harry looked everywhere but the Basilisk's eyes trying to figure out what to do. Help came in the form of Fawkes, Dumbledore's Phoenix, and the sorting hat. Fawkes clawed the Basilisks eyes out whilst after putting the hat on; Harry drew out Gryffindor's Sword.
The battle wasn't especially pretty. Harry more swung the sword around like an idiot than a future sword master but it was pretty effective nonetheless. With the Basilisk dead and Fawkes healing a bite wound from the ginormous snake, Tommy was furious. But being the quick thinker Harry is, he grabbed the now free Basilisk fang and plunged it into the book. After a few more stabs for good measure, the memory of Tom faded away and Ginny woke up. Seeing that it was Harry that saved her made her blush furiously with Harry just saying to her that they should get out of there.
While Harry was playing with the snake, Zoë was lying on the floor of the tunnel seething. Oh Harry would pay when he got back, there was no doubt in her mind that he would. When he finally got back to her and released her from his spell, she jumped up and started to pummel him whilst screaming things like "THAT WAS THE STUPIDEST THING YOU'VE EVER DONE" and "IF YOU EVER DO THAT I'M GOING TO KILL YOU MYSELF" finally "YOU COULD'VE GOTTEN YOURSELF KILLED." You know stuff a pissed off worried girl would say.
With a confrontation with Lucius Malfoy and the freeing of Dobby behind them, Harry and Zoë went to the Great Hall where a party had started that would literally last all thru the night. Halfway thru Hermione, being given the draught that would wake her up, burst thru the great hall doors and found Zoë and Harry chatting up a storm. She rushed towards them and with a great amount of force tackled poor Harry and Zoë to the ground all the while muttering "I knew you guys would figure it out."
The year ended with Harry and Zoë receiving special services to the school and getting a combined 400 points, ensuring that Gryffindor would win the house cup for two years straight. All in all it was pretty normal.
Third year is when things really got pretty juicy. Harry decides that his Aunt Marge (who really isn't his Aunt) is better off as a balloon when her jibes get a little malicious towards his mum and dad. Following that he took care and took off into the night.
Of course running for what you assume is your school life gives you some extra incentive. After wandering in the dark for a few, he finally decided that it was probably not a good idea to just take off. He ends up getting scared by a dog and finds himself at the Leaky Cauldron for the rest of the summer because of some odd reason.
While going to the bank to pick up some extra galleons, he was asked to go to an account manager's off. Complying, he learned two things, first the vault that he's been accessing for the past few years was only a trust vault, and his real wealth was hidden in a few family vaults. When asked why he wasn't informed with this, he was just answered that he was to be informed of these things the first time he entered the bank after he reached the age of 13. The second thing was that his sister was still alive. After some comical faces directed towards the goblin he made sure it was true. Sure enough, the goblins have stones made that show if and how many members of an old family exists, and there were still two stones left. This gave Harry a new goal for the year, find his sister.
After meeting Hermione and Zoë in the Alley, they decided to just stay with Harry for the night as the next day they would just have to come back into London again anyway. With a few jokes being thrown around, and a discussion on the new subjects that they would be taking, mainly Arithmancy and Ancient Runes.
This year they got to the platform with more than enough time to lose. While on the train they met a professor by the name of R. J. Lupin and found that since they couldn't find anywhere else they might as well sit with some protection, even if it would only keep Malfoy off their back.
Even the train trip was anything but normal for the three of them. The ministry seems to think that Dementors are needed to protect the school because a man named Sirius Black had escaped from their previously inescapable prison. Of course they decide it would be vital to search the train looking for the murderer. Unfortunately they decide to stop at Zoë, Harry, and Hermione's carriage and have a jolly good time. At this time, whilst reliving their darkest memories, both Zoë and Harry collapse and Lupin drives the dementor away.
For the rest of the train trip there was absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. At the end of the line they took the customary carriages up to the entrance hall only to be grabbed by McGonagall and asked to go to her office. There they had a nice chat about how they felt after the whole train ordeal. Of course with no lingering effects they left and trouped up to Gryffindor tower.
Quidditch practice was upped when Oliver decided that this would finally be the year that they won the cup. With a lot of practices in a lot of different weather conditions, they were still thrown a curve after Malfoy decided that after he stupidly decided to insult and then get attacked by a Hippogriff which supposedly lost his ability to use his arm. So of course Slytherin can't play in the first game of the year. Which is lost by Gryffindor after the dementors left their posts and Harry fell off his broom. Of course the most interesting thing for Harry, though, was that right before the dementors showed up, he saw the same black dog that he saw whilst escaping Privet Drive.
Halloween was as eventful as the previous two. Sirius Black decided to make his presence known to everyone in Hogwarts when he tried to break into Gryffindor Tower during the feast. This caused a sort of uproar with the whole school sleeping in the Great Hall for the night, with the students all whispering their own theories on how Black got into the castle. The next day McGonagall dropped the news that Black was after Harry.
Throughout the year all three of them found that they enjoyed Lupin's classes immensely, though they still thought it was a good idea to continue doing what they were doing the previous year, learning spells out of their books and applying them in practical (practice dueling). But with Lupin there and ready to help, it made everything that much better.
As they found out during the year it ended up that Lupin was one of Harry's mum and dad's friends while they were in school. This brought forth a pretty close relationship between the two of them. Harry told him about his time at Hogwarts so far, and Lupin would tell him stories about his father and friends. During these meetings Harry started to inquire about his sister. At first this surprised Lupin that Harry didn't even know he had a sister. He told him that she died when he was attacked when he was a baby but nobody could find a body. Ever the bright kid, Harry brought up that since there was no body; wouldn't that make you at least hope that she was alive? He then explained what happened when he went to Gringotts during the summer, about how he was told about his full inheritance, and how the goblins have stones for old families that show how many members they have left. Lupin's face lit up like a Christmas tree. He couldn't believe that that could be possible. With a promise to Harry that if he didn't find out before the year was out whom his sister was, than he'd go forward and actively search for her, possibly with Harry, they'd have to talk to the headmaster about that. These meetings also held another meaning for Harry; it's where he started learning how to defend himself from dementors with the Patronus charm.
Being a third year does have its perks, mainly being able to go to Hogsmeade. Though his Aunt and Uncle are stupid, they didn't sign his permission slip, Harry still found a way into Hogsmeade by using a tool given to him by the twins called the Marauder's Map and his invisibility cloak. The trip was alright, he was freezing because he wasn't wearing anything really heavy, but it was satisfying to be out of the castle. At first Hermione was all against it, but she relented and they went into the Three Broomsticks to enjoy some warmed butterbeer. Murphy's Law decided to rear its head again and 3 teachers and the minister decided to show up at the same time they did. There they chatted up about what was happening with Black and explained within earshot of the three of them that Black was Harry's Godfather and that he was also the person who led his parents to their deaths.
Harry was shocked; the man that was after him was the person who had practically killed his parents. It gave him a new resolve, when he found Black; he would make him pay for what he did. So he made the two of them promise that after the break they would double their efforts in their extracurricular studies.
Christmas was nothing special, Harry ended up getting a new broomstick, a Firebolt at that, but just ended up getting it confiscated by McGonagall who brought it to Hooch and Flitwick so that they could check for anything wrong with it. Of course Harry was stunned at this new development, but as he started to round on Hermione (the person who told McGonagall about the broomstick), Zoë stepped in and yelled at him that she was only thinking about his safety, that that broom could've very well been sent by Sirius Black trying to kill him. While still miffed at Hermione, he saw the reason behind what she did, though he was still cold to her through the rest of the holidays.
The rest of the school year passed with nothing out of the ordinary. Harry helped Oliver fulfill his dream of winning the Quidditch Cup with some pretty spectacular moves on his Firebolt. Best though was that he completely humiliated Malfoy at the end of their game against Ravenclaw, then again when they faced each other in the finals.
All wasn't sunny, because Malfoy's a little ferret, the Hippogriff that attacked him, named Buckbeak, was put under trial and sentenced to death. This didn't go under well with Zoë, Hermione, or Harry and they devoted what time they could to helping Hagrid out. Of course, with the powers that be in Lucius's pocket, they decided that they were going to lop off Buckbeak's head no matter what.
Not wanting Hagrid to go thru his beloved animal's death alone, the three of them decided to sneak out of the castle and stay with Hagrid. While having a quick chat before the ministry got there, Hagrid told them that he had found a rat that he thought belonged to someone who was in Harry's dorm, that Hermione's cat, Crookshanks, had tried to eat many times throughout the year bringing forth a number of rows between her and Ron Weasley that finally erupted into this huge fight when Ron thought that Crookshanks had finally gotten a meal. To try to at least be nice to Ron, they decided to bring the rat back up to him.
Along the way though they heard the execution of Buckbeak and had to stop a few moments to compose themselves after hearing their friend's sobs. After continuing back up to the castle, a big black dog dove at them. Bowling over the three of them, he somehow grabbed the hem of Zoë's (the person who was holding Scabbers) pants and started dragging her towards the Whomping Willow. There he took her through a hidden passage that took them to the shrieking shack.
There he revealed himself to be the person on the run for the entire year, Sirius Black. With a roar of rage Harry tried to take him down only to be thrown to the side by Zoë. She had heard of the night when she had been dropped off at Andy's house. Andy, while she couldn't do anything to get him out of prison, believed that Sirius was innocent because of the grief he had shown when he described what had happened. With a heated argument going on between Hermione, Harry, and Zoë, Black just watched the by-play with an amused expression. With Scabbers stuck in a conjured cage, he had practically all night to waste, and what better way to waste it then to watch Harry and Zoë bicker.
Finally after a good 5-10 minutes of yelling back and forth the opposing sides struck a deal, they would listen to Sirius's tale, he would give some proof, then they would decide what to do with him.
All this while Remus had seen the three of them walk thru the tunnel that lead to the Shrieking Shack on a wonderful piece of parchment that he'd confiscated from Harry after a late night romp. Fearing for their safety, as he had also seen Sirius Black with them, he ran off thru the castle to the Willow that Whomps and took off through the secret passage. When he got there he heard the dulcet tones of the three kids' argument about what they were going to do with Black. This predicament surprised Remus more than most other things, if they were yelling at each other about what they were going to do, and then they would have Black incapacitated. With that thought he crept up the stairs to the room that they were in, he finally heard their decision. Deciding it would be a good time to show himself and learn just exactly what happened that night, he strode into the room. Only to be on the receiving end of three wands pointed at him. With that realization, came a horror for at least Hermione, who was babbling something about pointing her wand at a teacher could get expelled. Diffusing the situation took another 5 minutes as they finally got Hermione calmed down.
All the while Sirius was still looking at the scene with amusement and hope, finally he would get his side of the story at least to the only friend he had left in the world. So with an apt audience that was still a little on the tense side, he told his story. He of wormtail's betrayal (at which Remus looked down at the cage sitting next to them and gasped, that was all the proof he needed), told of his going to the Potter cabin and meeting Hagrid there, where after he went through the house looking for who knows what, heard a baby crying. He took this baby to his favorite cousin's house while he finished some business he had to do. How he went to Gringott's, put some stipulations on his vault, and then went off to find Wormtail. How he found him in a bar in Knockturn Alley fought with him a bit then found his self in the middle of a street where he proceeded to be one upped by the rat, who was sitting shivering in the cage next to them. He then gets thrown into Azkaban where he's left to rot until one of Fudge's trips to inspect the prison brought to his attention that Wormtail was at Hogwarts in a prime position to take Harry to his master should he ever come back, which pretty much set off the rest of the events of the year.
One thing that didn't slip past Hermione and Remus though was the fact that Sirius had brought the baby he picked out of the wreckage to Andy's house. The fact that she was the same age as Harry furthered that line of thought. Finally, looking at her closely, he got his answer. Zoë was Harry's sister that had supposedly died that night, and it hit him like a ton of bricks. Staggering over to Sirius, he pulled him up and gave him a hug that probably should've broken a few ribs.
Harry, looking dumbfounded, tried to shake the cobwebs that were running through his head. He couldn't make two pence of anything. All he knew was that Remus (someone who could very well be something of an Uncle to him) had just hugged Sirius like long lost brothers. Zoë was trying to hold back tears for some reason he couldn't comprehend, and finally Hermione looked as if she had come to an amazing conclusion to something he didn't know. All in all, Harry was extremely confused.
With a little prodding from Remus, Sirius, and Hermione, the two of them finally figured it out, they had been friends with their brother/sister for the past few years and had no clue about it. After a myriad amount of emotions flashed thru their faces, they jumped to each other and started crying. Harry was crying because, though having two close friends is really nice, finding out that his sister was alive was a joy that was practically indescribable. Now finally finding out that one of your best friends is really your sister? He couldn't help but weep. He wept about what the future would mean for him. He had a family now, someone who was related thru blood that actually loved him, that didn't treat him like a slave. For that, he was most grateful.
After a quick talk with Sirius, Harry engulfed him in a hug. Even though he had heard a whole lot of terrible things about what Sirius had done, he just knew what he said was the truth, and he loved him for it. He saved his sister; he had enough thought to put her somewhere where she would be loved. He did everything his parents asked him to do about watching over their kids. He made sure Hagrid had a safe journey with Harry on that night. He was extremely grateful.
Not wanting to go back to the castle yet, Sirius started asking questions about their lives. While Harry was virtually silent about his younger years, he loved telling about his adventures at Hogwarts, while Zoë was talking a mile a minute trying to catch up with her godfather. No one noticed when the sun came up (though during the night Remus finally thought of putting an unbreakable charm on the cage that was holding wormtail) they were to enraptured in the tails of Harry, Hermione, and Zoë's first years along with the antics of the Marauders during their seven years at Hogwarts. They even got into the stories about how they became animagi to help Remus with his transformations (the kids figured him out when Snape put them on an essay about werewolves).
Finally, with a resigned face, Sirius said that they should go up to the school and see Dumbledore and get his story to him before the dementors decide to show up. With a quick change by Sirius, the group, exhausted by staying up all night, went back through the tunnel and back to Hogwarts.
When they got into the Entrance Hall, Remus gave the cage to Harry, and went to go get Dumbledore. With only a slight gesture, Dumbledore told them to meet up in his office. There the kids heard the story a second time. Dumbledore looked shocked. He quickly overcame that and sent for Kingsley Shacklebolt. Some quick thinking was involved and by the end of the week, Sirius had been fully pardoned and Peter was awaiting transfer to Azkaban where he would be receiving the kiss. Unfortunately he escaped whilst in route, guard "forgot" that he was an animagus and Peter was able to slip past him.
All in all it was a good year for the three of them. Harry and Zoë found each other. All three of them were at the top of the class. Hermione was loosening up even more when it came to rule-breaking. Harry helped with the Quidditch Cup. Gryffindor won the House Cup, again. Harry wouldn't have to go back to the Dursley's during the summer as long as he and Zoë lived together for a little while during the summer. Finally he had gotten two people who were family in all but blood, another who had been with him since his first look at Hogwarts, and one whom was the other half of the remaining House of Potter. All in all it was a good year.