Author's note: Sorry if my making Dudley redeem himself isn't popular but I honestly think nearly having your soul sucked out might just change your outlook on life and make you appreciate who or what saved you. Oh, and before I forget to mention her again like I did last chapter, thanks to my beta and friend Laurenke1 for reading through this as I type and giving me her opinion of it. Also, sorry if Sirius seemed a bit odd last chapter, he makes up for it.
Late June 1997
Harry Potter and his two best friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley are sitting in a compartment on the Hogwarts Express with their friend, and Ron's sister, Ginny Weasley, as they discuss the school year. Their sixth year at Hogwarts had actually been Harry's least normal and most boring year to date. Unlike during his previous years, Voldemort hadn't tried to kill Harry or come after him in any way, shape, or form. On a happier subject, Harry had been in contact with his cousin all year. Even Harry had to admit that it was odd to write letters to Dudley that usually resulted in Hermione adding a postscript to said letters that scolded both of them. Although those scolding postscripts had been rather harsh, Hermione and eventually Ron had both come to terms with the fact Harry was gay.
Dudley, after attending Smeltings for five years, had gotten over his initial homophobia and had asked Hermione what she thought about Harry in a letter. Dudley had heard the rumors around school about a few of the other guys and had gotten used to it. Upon reflecting about his talks with Harry during the summer about Hogwarts, Dudley had grown suspicious and dropped a hint to Hermione.
Hermione had already had her suspicions about her pseudo-brother's sexuality thanks to a few of Ginny Weasley's comments about her then boyfriend. Actually, it was more like Ginny had dragged a near confession out of Harry, agreed to be his alibi, and asked Hermione if she knew anything about it. Hermione had then cornered Harry and asked him directly about it after having read Dudley's letter that morning. Harry had apologized for not saying anything and practically begged her to still be his friend. Hermione had just hugged him and called him an idiot for thinking that.
Ron, on the other hand, hadn't taken it so well. He had stared at Harry like a deer in the headlights, a muggle reference he needed to be explained to him of course, for a few minutes before passing out. Harry, Hermione, and Ginny had agreed to let Ron wake up on his own. Thank Merlin that it had been a Saturday and there hadn't been any classes. Ron had woken up, said he had dreamt that Harry had gone gay, and declared he needed vast amounts of cake and ice cream from the kitchen when told that it hadn't been a dream. By dinner that evening, Ron had had a horrible stomach ache but he had also accepted Harry's 'condition' as he called it after throwing a fit about how Harry was just pretending to date Ginny.
Ginny had spent the better part of an hour reasoning with her brother; it took her threatening to tell their mother about Ron being a prat to bring him back to reality. Mainly, it was the memory of Molly Weasley quite literally dragging the twins back to Hogwarts by their ears the previous year that did the trick. To this day, Fred and George still have bruises on their ears and on their butts from when their mother literally threw them into the Entrance Hall of Hogwarts.
On the subject of Harry's studies, even Harry himself had to admit that his grades have improved without Voldemort trying to come after him. Headmaster Dumbledore had gotten an Auror to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts. No one in the school complained even once about having Sirius Black as a professor. The Ministry didn't complain either; they had given Sirius the job of protecting Hogwarts and Harry and what better way to do that than to be in the same place where the boy-who-lived went to school. Undoubtedly more surprising was that Harry's grades in Potion class improved somewhat. The first day Professor Snape had actually not given Harry a scathing remark about his potion had nearly made half the class take heart attacks and nearly made the other half burst out laughing at the scowl of disappointment on the man's face.
Life for Albus Dumbledore and his Order of the Phoenix hadn't been as wonderfully peaceful though. Albus had spent most of the year in meetings discussing why Tom Riddle had been so quiet since his little setback at the Ministry. No one thought he was just licking his wounds, merely biding his time and planning his next move more completely. Despite Minister Fudge's demands for proof of this, Albus knew the man was just being difficult for difficulty's sake. Albus needed no proof other than his worry for Severus Snape and Harry Potter. He considered the two of them to be like sons to him. Harry had come to him complaining about his scar burning at least once a month, sometimes as often as once a week. Severus had been summoned by Tom to every meeting but thankfully had only needed medical attention after two or three of them. Severus had informed Albus that the Dark Lord was looking into ways to rid himself of Harry but had yet to decide on an acceptable method.
The Order members and Aurors had captured a few low level Death Eaters but they hadn't gotten any information out of them. The Wizards and Witch were new recruits under the influence of the Imperious Curse. After that little incident, the Minister decided to send an Auror to Hogwarts just in case. Sirius Black, second in command of the Auror Core and a member of the Order of the Phoenix, was the best choice. That decision saved Albus the trouble of interviewing candidates for the Defense Against the Dark Arts post for the Merlin-only-knows-how-manyith year in a row.
As for goings on within the school, Albus was both delighted and dismayed by the cooperation Severus and Sirius had. As colleges, they behaved themselves and more or less just avoided one another like the plague. As co-conspirators, though, poor Albus had finally met his match at scheming. His plans for a Yule ball had been thwarted by Severus injecting a poison into the trees that made all the needles fall off, the Halloween ball hadn't gotten past being mentioned in a staff meeting before Sirius had started yelling that it wasn't right to celebrate on the night Lily and James Potter died, and the Valentine's ball had been a disaster waiting to happen. Severus had objected to it and threatened to spike the food and drink with an emotion suppressant to ruin the holiday where as Sirius had said that it would too much of a risk that someone who had Death Eater parents could lure Harry away from the ball and past the wards so that he could be portkeyed to Voldemort.
Currently though, Albus is sitting in his office with Sirius, Minister Fudge, and their most trusted Order members and Aurors while waiting for Severus to return from a meeting of Tom's inner circle. Albus had made it a point to have the resident medi-witch, Madam Pomfrey, delay her return home. The motherly woman is waiting at the entrance to the school so she can drag Severus up the Hospital Wing to be given a routine medical exam at the least before he'll be allowed to report to Albus.
Sirius Black had had one of the worst years of his life. Last July he had threatened his godson's uncle that it Harry wasn't treated properly there would be hell to pay. And quite simply, there was. The bars hadn't been removed from the window fast enough and the Hippogriff Buckbeak ripped said bars from said window the moment the street was shrouded in darkness. That wasn't too bad. It got worse from there though.
Sirius had returned to Number Four Pivet Drive on July 31st to visit his godson on his birthday. Both luckily and unluckily, Remus Lupin had insisted upon accompanying Sirius. When they arrived, they had found that the bars on the window had not only been replaced but also had a layer of what Remus had called barbed wire on either side of them. Sirius and Remus had barely kept one another for going after Dursley's throat and Remus had nearly gone feral. Remus had gone upstairs to search for Harry while Sirius had entered the kitchen to corner Dursley and his horse-faced wife. Rest assured, Sirius made good on his promise to question them using a truth serum, he picked the best one he knew of, Veritaserum. Had it not been for Remus and Dudley arriving downstairs at that precise moment with a bruised and bloody Harry, Sirius would've killed the man on the spot in the most painful way he could think of.
Dursley and his wife, still under the influence of Veritaserum, had unwillingly repeated to Remus that Dursley had taken to beating Harry for working on his homework and for whatever reason he felt like using at the moment. The wounds on the boy's body had said more than enough to Remus and it had taken all his willpower and Sirius' persuasion to not go feral and rip Dursley apart for hurting the boy he had taken as a son and Dursley's wife apart for not doing anything about it. At least Dudley had been helping Harry clean and bandage the wounds. Once Sirius was sure Remus still had the wolf under control, he had sent the werewolf back to the Order meeting they knew was taking place with Harry and Dudley, saying that he would follow when he was finished with the Dursleys. Vernon Dursley was hit with a few choice curses, one of which would make everyone around him think he is insane and hopefully lock him in a nut house. As if the monster didn't deserve to have to hit himself violently at every impulse of anger he felt towards anything or anyone other than himself. And as for his wife, Petunia Dursley was now condemned to shriek loudly at every single thing that could be considered wrong or unfair in any way, shape, or form. But of course, Sirius would've felt horrible if he didn't do one little thing before leaving, and in retrospect, he has to admit, it had been a very gentle punch that had broken Vernon Dursley's jaw.
On other notes, Harry had recovered wonderfully and it had been through the physical strength of Dudley that Ron and Hermione, after finally meeting for the first time, had been kept from storming off to the Dursley's to do worse than Sirius had done. The pair had had murder in their eyes, no one doubted that, but their concern for Harry's well being had helped Dudley to stay their hands. Sirius had chosen that moment to ask Albus if he could teach Defense Against the Dark Arts since he needed to remain at Hogwarts anyway as a way to redirect the conversation before someone went and got themselves thrown into Azkaban. Albus had agreed and Remus had offered to help Sirius design his lesson plans, having previously taught the subject himself. That was where Sirius' biggest trouble began.
Sirius had developed feelings for Remus back when they were at Hogwarts. He had figured that the werewolf just didn't do relationships because he never showed interest in anyone. Sirius had dated a lot back then in an attempt to make Remus jealous and get some kind of response from him but it never worked. The only people Remus might've told about any romantic feelings he might've had for someone are both gone. Either way, Sirius was now stuck spending the time he wanted to spend with his heart's desire but the circumstances were not the ones he wanted. Remus had come to Hogwarts every weekend to visit Harry and Sirius and every weekend Sirius had danced around having to be in the werewolf's company longer than normal for fear of saying something that would jeopardize their friendship. And this coming summer, Harry would be moving into the finally renovated and refurbished Number Twelve Grimmauld Place after his seventeenth birthday. No matter how thrilled Sirius is about this, he can't help but feel that he's hit a brick wall with Remus.
