Merry Christmas! :D
Peter Petigrew, a man everyone had assumed, and had known dead for as long as Harry was the boy who lived, was Black's target. "Wha...what?" Ness stammered as Black opened a window and prepared to jump outside, "Peter somehow faked his death or something?"
"You catch on pretty quick for a goodie two shoes." Was all Black said as he disappeared into the night. Ness could only look at the spot the known 'serial' killer had been, still trying to truly process what was going on as the fact that he had been right sunk in.
"Wait… that means he was wrongly convicted…" Ness realized, "And he's probably going to get the death sentence if he gets caught again." Then he frowned and folded his arms realizing something. "If Peter's alive, then does that mean the attacks on Gryffindor tower was to search for Peter, who is probably hiding right under our noses… But how? And what would he even look like now?"
Ness sighed and turned around to start the long walk back to the common room, "Well… at least I don't have to worry about him being guilty anymore." He muttered.
Sadly, that dreaded thought came right back to haunting him as the entire school was in terrified uproar. The next day, Professor Flitwick could be seen teaching the paintings how to recognize Sirius Black while the caretaker boarded up every crack, mouse hole and entry way that wasn't a window or the front door to ensure that he couldn't get back in.
Even the common room had extra measures to keep Black out, as security trolls had been stationed by the Fat Lady, who took her place back after Sir Cadogen had foolishly let Black in since he had all the passwords, all thanks to Neville who was forced to wait outside and be told the password by a fellow Gryffindor for the rest of the school year.
The only good news seemed to come from Ron who was happily retelling the story of his close encounter with Black claiming that he was about to be killed by the 'serial killer'. This made Ness doubt his actions for a brief moment but then realized that Ron was probably involved with Peter Petigrew, most likely unaware that he could have helped out the real killer disappear under the radar.
"Oy! Ness!" he jumped and looked up from his breakfast which was a measly piece of toast and an egg. "Hagrid wants us to visit." Ron explained handing him a letter that Harry's snow white owl had delivered, "Want to come?"
Ness stared at him, dumbfounded for a bit before he realized the question, "Sure, I don't mind meeting the giant." Ness shakily joked, "I'll come. What time?"
"Around six." Harry explained, "He's meeting us by the entrance hall."
"Cool, see you at six then." Ness said, suddenly feeling the urge to be alone with just his thoughts, so, he headed to the library in hopes of finding some method of magically faking death. "Magical charms to impress your friends… Nope, the wonderful joke spells you can cast on friends… nope." Ness murmured idly scanning the rows upon rows of books.
"Nothing here to really show how to fake your death."
"Faking your death?" Ness jumped a foot in air as Selvis snaked around the corner, a coy smirk on his face, "Sounds like a secret~" he whisper sang, Ness glanced around and frowned, "What are you doing here?" Ness questioned, "Studying for a test?"
"Well, I was, but then I remembered how spacey you were acting," Selvis said, casually leaning against the bookcase, "You didn't even flinch at Longbottom's Howler."
"What's a howler?"
"See! Distracted, and it has something to do with Black." Selvis accused, his smirk growing wider by the second as Ness sighed and adjusted his hat, "Geez… you weren't kidding about finding things out. Alright, what do you want to know."
"What happened last night," Selvis said bluntly, "Send it to me by owl mail or else." Before Ness could question the what else Selvis disappeared, probably to resume studying. Or, spying that was probably the real reason.
"No prob Professor Karma." Ness grumbled as he left the library empty handed, "I'll get on that essay right now."
"Essay?" a dreamy voice mused, causing Ness to jump once more as Luna passed him, "I didn't know you had an essay to write."
"It's a joke." Ness yelled after her before he headed to the common room to write Selvis's letter and hopefully find something to distract himself with. Maybe he could read Crookshanks mind, after all, Black must have received the list of passwords from someone, or rather, the only cat in the building.
But of course, Crookshanks was nowhere to be seen, "Hogwarts, the school for training young witches and wizards." Ness grumbled as he sat down in the far corner of the common room to start writing, "More like the school for puzzles and headaches."
It wasn't too long before six rolled around causing Harry and Ron to drag him outside. "I bet he wants to hear about the attack on my life." Ron boasted earning a half nod from Harry and an annoyed "Dude, you shouldn't be so happy about nearly getting KILLED." From Ness.
"Look! There's Hagrid!" Harry said, before Ron could argue with Ness, "Hagrid! Bet'cha want to hear about Saturday night!" Ron said, Ness bit back a smile of relief as Haridg grunted, "I've already heard all abou' it." And looked at Ness who waved hello and introduce himself, "I'm Ness Earthbound, the Second year whose really a First Year."
"Heard abou' you too Earthbound," Hardig said as he turned to leave, "Didn' know you were friends with Harry and Ron though'." Ness shrugged and shoved his hands in his red parka, preparing for the winter cold as they stepped outside and headed toward Hagrid's house.
Which Ness soon realized was the random house near the end of school property. He had seen it from a distance, but thought it was a magical garden shed. He was about to make a joke about Hagrid having such a huge backyard when the small giant opened the door, revealing a cabin like design and a giant, grey winged bird-horse like creature resting on a patchwork quilt while eating a large plate of dead ferrets.
Ness stiffened as his PSI went off, warning of an attack, "Right," Harry said, noticing the nervous smile on Ness's face, "You haven't meet Buckbeck yet."
"Buckbeck…? Nice name." Ness mumbled, resisting the urge to reach for his baseball bat which was back home. "He's a Hippogriff," Hadgrig said sounding pleased with the giant bird/horse creature, "A marvelously and prideful beast he is." Ness nodded and flinched as Buckbeck looked up his fierce orange eyes locking onto Ness as fast as lighting. Ness jumped but somehow kept eye contact, although he felt that this was a dumb idea since animals hated eye contact, it usually ended in a battle of dominance when there was eye contact.
"Try not ter blink Ness!" Hagrid said sounding a bit worried, "Keep eye contact and give a short bow before you back away."
Back away, easier said than done. Ness's brain had already switched over to Fight mode, and the closest thing to backing away as Running away, which wasn't going to help. Taking as small a deep breath as he could, Ness bowed and resumed eye contact with a determent glint in his eyes as Buckbeck stood up and studied him.
"And what are you…?" a low, elegant voice rumbled, bouncing around his head for a bit, it took Ness a moment to realize that Buckbeck was speaking to him, somehow perceiving his telepathy ability.
"Well, I'm Ness Earthbound and I'm a PSI user, who is somehow a wizard."
"Ness…" Harry warned as Buckbeck's eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared slightly, "PSI… User…? I was told of such a being but I never knew that they allowed such annoyingly powerful children into a school of divided idiots." Buckbeck mused.
"Oh, the house system? Yea, sort of dumb if you ask me. Why not just have a normal school set-up instead of angry snakes' vs equally angry lions?" Ness thought. Buckbeck tilted his head then hmpfed, "So, which side are you?"
"Depends on the topic, house wise or something else?"
"idiotic and naïve." Buckbeck decided, "I'm about to go to trail, for attacking a moronic snake. Which, by the way, brought upon himself for insulting me."
"Lesson learned, don't insult ab all powerful hippogrief."
"I'm a hippogriff." Buckbeck corrected, a small flame of anger appearing in his eyes, "Hey, I was close!" Ness joked, "At least I didn't call you a Bolt of fire thingy."
"A what now?" Buckbeck questioned, the flame of anger slowly vanishing, "Well, Harry got a Firebolt and all my friends were going crazy over it." Ness explained, "I didn't really see what so great about it, I mean, brooms are for sweeping, and sure, some brands are better at trapping dirt but, why have a scream feast over a broom? I'd rather get a new bat."
Buckbeck stared at Ness for a couple minutes before he lied back down and started to laugh, causing Ness to throw his hands up and look at Harry, "Okay, seriously! Why does everyone say that the Firebolt is the greatest broom in the world?! It's a broom!"
"Er… yes, but it's the latest model." Harry explained looking at Buckbeck who was shaking with laughter, "Wh… what just happened?" Ron asked, "Apparently, me calling the Firebolt a bolt of fire and explaining my lack of interest amuses him." Ness said with a shrug.
"Hee-hee! A wizard's broom being used for sweeping! Ironic!"
"Wait, he's laughing since I said that the firebolt could be used as an everyday broom." Ness corrected, "You wer' talking to him?!" Hagrid spluttered, Ness jumped and hastily said, "Sure! It's uh, a special ability that runs in my family. We can understand the thoughts of animals." Before he quickly changed the topic, "By the way, what did Buckbeck mean by a trial? He said that attacked someone for dishonoring him, but who sues a magically bird horse of… uh… awesomeness?"
Thankfully, Buckbeck didn't hear his rushed comment about being a magical bird horse but Harry and Ron did, and their faces darkened with guilt while Hagrid gave lowered his eyes, "He did indeed' attac' someone, Draco Malfoy." Hagrid explained, "It wasn' to bad, just a simple scratch-,"
"I was hoping that I could claw his mouth off. But I settled for a simple shoulder wound" Buckbeck added as Hagrid continued "And Draco told is' father whose very high' up in the school board and well..."
"The nasty little git." Ron grumbled, "It was his own fault that Buckbeck attacked!" Buckbeck nodded in agreement while Harry dropped his head in shame, "I'm sorry Hagrid, we were supposed to be helping with Buckbeck's trail but we-,"
"Don't worr' abou' it." Hagrid said, "You have Quidditch Practice and Black to worry abou' it's natural that this slipp' ya mind."
"It… is?" Harry questioned as Ron blinked in surprise, "What I really called ya down here is because of Hermione." Sensing that this would be a serious talk Ness inched closer to Buckbeck, "Well, while you three talk about Hermione, I'm going to chat with Buckbeck." Ness said.
"And just what, are we going to 'chat' about?" Buckbeck questioned as Ness sat down in front of him, "Whatever you want, I honestly want to get my mind off about something I found out."
"Oh? And just what was this 'something?'" Buckbeck probed, looking interested, "Well… You know about Sirius Black, famous killer whose been scaring everyone half to death, right?"
"Of course, Hagrid mutters about him almost every night."
"Well, When he tried to 'attack' Ron, I chased after him and found out that he didn't murder Harry's parents. Another friend of his did it."
"Not seeing the problem here."
"This friend, is dead, and has been since Voldmort fell." Ness jumped in surprise as Buckbeck entire body twitched with anger and oddly enough, fear.
"Sorry! I forget that magical creatures are weirded out by his name."
"Don't be. I thought I wasn't afraid of him anymore."
"Anymore? I uh, thought he terrorized Muggle born people only."
"He did, but he had a lot of followers, not all of them being wizards, some were vampires or werewolves and they were always searching for power."
"Did he come after your species?"
"Of course he did, we're prideful creatures with the power to make any wizard shake in his pathetic little boots." Buckbeck sniffed, "So he did everything in his power to make us his personal slaves. Even though we weren't too badly harmed by his magic, his aura however…"
"What about his aura?"
"It wasn't… human…. I sensed death, as if he had died and lost his souls to the gods of the dead, yet he still moved, threatened and acted like a living wizard."
"Sooo... 'undead yet living monster?" Ness deadpanned, Buckbeck nodded and started to groom his wings, "That's one way to put it, even though my people knew he was gone for good, we couldn't help but wonder if he truly was gone, maybe he was waiting in the shadows, to take revenge, or maybe he truly was dead. Who knew?"
"Man… That must have been awful, hearing the news of Volde- You know who's death only to have his shadow loom over your kind.
"I hated that shadow." Buckbeck grumbled, "Still do."
Ness could only nod in agreement, not exactly sure what to say next. He glanced at Harry and Ron who were still talking with Hagrid about Hermione, Ron was getting upset about something but Ness wasn't sure what. And he didn't really want to know.
"So how's life with Hagrid?" Ness asked.
"Oddly satisfying." Buckbeck admitted, glancing at Hagrid who seemed to be finishing up the conversation, "I never expected a human like creature to take such good care of my brethren and I."
"Well, he seems a bit monster crazed." Ness joked, Buckbeck nodded in agreement and closed his eyes as Hagrid scratched his head saying, "Now come on, I have to walk you three back to the castle'."
"See ya later Buckbeck!" Ness yelled as Hagrid herded them back toward the castle. After they bid goodbye and goodnight Harry and Ron quickly started to question Ness about his ability to speak with animals.
"Have you had it long?" Ron questioned.
"For as long as I can remember." Ness replied while hopping over a trick step, "Can you talk to any animal? Or just certain ones?" Harry asked.
"Not sure, I just started talking to owls and Hippogriefs."
"Hippogriff." Harry corrected before he asked, "Maybe you could ask if Crookshanks really did eat Scabbers."
"Of course he did." Ron grumbled, "He's a bloody maniac."
"Or maybe he knows something about Peter…" Ness thought, his omen from the beginning of the year coming back to haunt him as the pieces slowly clicked together. Harry just nodded and resumed asking questions, dumb things like what animals have you talked to so far, and what they had to say.
Ness skirted around his conversation with Kir and lied, claiming that he just had a brief argument with the owl who brought him his enrollment letter.
"I honestly can't remember what it was about." Ness lied managing a cheerful smile as he turned the corner and headed up to the Owlery, "Where are you going?" Ron questioned, "Owlery, need to mail something." Ness said, "Go on without me!"
They hesitated for a moment, prompting Ness to turn around and say, "Chill! I'm the all-powerful wizard, remember? I can handle myself if anything happens."
"Alright." Harry said slowly, "If you say so." Ron nodded in agreement and continued walking toward the portrait hole.
"Man…." Ness sighed, "I didn't mean to let that slip."
"Let what slip?" Kir sleepily questioned, "Are we talking mice or slices of toast?"
Ness jumped and glared at Kir who was yawning and blinking his eyes, "Well? Which is it?" Kir prompted, "None, I just let Harry, Ron and Hagrid know a valuable secret." Ness replied as he tied the letter to Kir's leg.
"Oh? What kind of secret?"
Ness gave Kir a weary look before he turned around and said, "Good night!"
"Hey wait! The secret! This is a very important thing we need to talk about!" Kir protested as Ness speed walked toward the common room, needing a nice long nap before more bad news popped up. Of course, even before he could ignore the large crowd of people hovering around the bulletin board he spotted Hermione peering through a small window in a wall of books.
"Hermione?" Ness questioned, causing her to jump in surprise, "Nice fortress."
"Oh… Thank you…" she mumbled before she resumed looking through the window, "Soooo, who ya spying on?" Ness questioned, happily joining Hermione on the couch, she squirmed and looked through the wall, where Harry and Ron where whispering about something slowly approaching a couch in front of Hermione's book fort.
"What are they whispering about…" Ness asked, Hermione jerked her head toward the bulletin board and said, "There's a Hogsmeade trip coming up this weekend. Ron's probably talking about going to it with Harry."
Ness slowly nodded as he caught a snippet of "Well, Flich hasn't done anything about that passage into Hogsmeade…." From Harry which made Hermione tremble slightly.
Maybe it was fear of Harry and Ron's life being put at risk or because she felt the need to warn them of going, Ness wasn't sure. But before he could offer to talk them out of going she poked her head up and hissed in Harry's ear, startling him as she tried her best to persuade him, "Harry, if you go into Hogsmeade I'll… I'll tell Professor McGonagall about the map!" Correction, threaten some sense into Harry.
Ness gave Hermione a look of pity as Ron merely growled, "Harry, did you hear something? It sounded like someone talking to us." Prompting Hermione to change tactics and scold him, "Ron how can you encourage him to go to Hogsmeade? Sirius nearly killed you! I mean it! I'll tell-" before she could finish Ron angry snapped, "So now you're trying to get Harry expelled! Haven't you done enough damage this year?"
Before Hermione could argue or look to Ness who was surprised at how bad this really was, Crookshanks hopped on her lap with a soft hiss and glared at Ron, daring him to say something while Hermione muffled a frightful gasp at Ron's furious expression at and scurried to her dormitory with Crookshanks in her arms.
"So, how about it?" Ron questioned, the angry tension vanishing as quickly as it appeared, "You haven't even checked out Zonko's!" Harry thought about it for a brief moment, but it didn't take a genius to see that he planned on going.
"Oh brother…" Ness mentally groaned, sure, Siruis Black wasn't after them, but they still had a 'dead' manic on the lose who was probably going to try and avenge his dead master.
"Hey guys, maybe you should skip this Hogsmeade." Ness suggested, propping his elbows on the table and giving Ron and Harry a worried look, "What the—how long were you there?" Harry questioned.
"Long enough to hear the argument." Ness bluntly replied before he continued speaking, "Black is still on the loose and judging by his last attack he's gunning for both of you."
"And?" Ron questioned, "You'll be coming along to keep watch."
"Under a invisible cloak where I'll be forced to secretly cast my magic in order to defend us if Black shows up in public." Ness deadpanned, "Even if nothing bad happens, I feel safer knowing that there were two visible people instead of one."
Ron threw his hands up and snapped, "Don't tell me your siding with Hermione!"
"I'm just trying to be a good protector, and as much as I would love to see some magical prank store, I'd like to see it without having to worry about getting in trouble." Ness gave Harry a hard look and said, "Which means that we should stay in the castle and just fool around until the next Hogsmeade weekend."
"And what if there isn't another Hogsmeade weekend?" Harry argued sounding a little worried, Ron nodded in agreement, "He's right, after all with all the attacks going on we should reap the rewards while we can."
Ness looked at Ron in disbelief, before he focused on Harry again, "Please, don't do anything dumb." Ness pleaded before he headed for bed.
Of course, when Hogsmeade weekend rolled around, Ness couldn't find Harry anywhere, "I now know how my mom feels when she discovers I went behind her back and did something stupid." Ness grumbled, after finding no trace of Harry he had headed up to the classroom where Selvis and Luna were waiting, Ginny was in the library doing some quick studying before she could join them.
"It can't be that bad." Luna mused, happily drawing on a dusty desk, "I bet he's just exploring the castle." Selvis snorted and closed his Potions book, "As if, Potter's drawn to trouble, knowing him, he and Weasly are off partying while Black—I mean, the other party hunts them down."
"Other party?" Luna questioned, Selvis nodded and glared at Ness who held his hands up, "Hey! I sent the letter like you asked! I just couldn't find the time to tell Luna and Ginny about what really happened."
"What really happened?" they jumped as Ginny climbed into the classroom with her book-bag, "Are you talking about the reason why Hermione's crying?"
"Granger's crying?" Selvis questioned, his eyes glowing with mischief, "Yes, and now I'm not sure if I should ask." Ginny retorted.
"She's probably worried about Harry and Ron." Ness guessed, "They had another argument last night, one which I was a part of."
Luna frowned and murmured "Oh dear…" while Selvis leaned forward, intrigued, "What happened? Are they still battling it out over that dead rat?"
"Yes and no." Ness started, "Ron was trying to egg Harry into doing something dangerous and Hermione threatened to report them to the teachers."
"Should've blackmailed them." Selvis tsked, "It gets better results than empty threats." Ginny glared at him while Ness continued, "I tried to make them change their minds but judging by the fact that I can't find Harry anywhere, they did whatever they were planning."
"Harry would make a perfect Slytherin." Selvis mused, "Breaking the rules just to have fun at others expense."
"You don't break the rules." Ness reminded him, "I do to!" Selvis retorted, "I'll have you know that I managed to bug the teachers' lounge with this!" he shoved a dull green stone into his face and smirked, "I call it a listening gem, I place the copies around the place, wait for students and or teachers to find it and listen in when someone's talking."
Luna and Ness oohed in awe while Ginny grudgingly said, "Impressive." Selvis nodded and tossed the stone in the air, bragging, "It was pretty easy, since all I needed to do was water down a All Hearing potion to mask the magic and place a couple long lasting and connection charms."
"Maybe I should plant one on Harry." Ness wondered, then he frowned and shook his head when he realized that Selvis would happily tell his housemates about Harry's problems.
"Anyway, you guys remember when Black attacked Ron?" Ness started, they nodded while Selvis just smirked, "Well, I woke up and headed downstairs just in time to see Black running out of the common room. I gave chase, caught him and tried to get some answers out of him."
"And?" Ginny questioned, looking hopeful, "I didn't get anything but a name." Ness said, "Peter Petigrew."
"Peter… Petigrew." Luna frowned then brightened, "Oh! You mean that guy who died."
"What does Peter have to do with anything?" Ginny asked, "He died confronting Black."
"Or did he?" Ness said, "According to Black, Peter was the person who murdered Harry's parents. Not him."
"And you believe him?" Ginny asked in disbelief. Ness nodded, "I let him go, after barricading him behind a wall of desks and paralyzing him. He could have just fled, but he chose to tell me about his real target."
"Which suddenly makes him a good guy." Selvis said with a sigh, "Well, do you have any other reason as to why the famed serial killer let a boy, with unnatural powers run free to tell his classmates?" Ness challenged. Ginny and Selvis shared a brief look while Luna shook her head no, "So Peter faked his death…" Luna mused, "I wonder how."
"He could have apparated." Ginny suggested, "I mean, no one knew which spell he used, right? So he could have delayed it for a bit so he could apparate."
"But they found one of his fingers." Selvis reminded her, "And it's impossible for a wizard who was described as a terrible duelist to pull that off."
"I think he used normal explosives." Ness said.
"Also impossible." Selvis countered, "Magic and electronics don't work."
"Really? Dang…" Ness glanced out the window while Luna suggested that Peter Petigrew was really a were-creature who had triggered a fake full moon to escape his 'death'."
"During the day?" Selvis deadpanned. "Impossible."
"Maybe Luna's right." Ginny mused, "But instead of him being a were-creature, maybe he was a trained Animagus."
"Oh! I should see if anyone has any known records!" Selvis exclaimed, looking excited, "You can check?" Ness questioned.
"Of course! Animagus wizards are extremely hard to come by, so the ones that can transfigurate themselves into an animal have to register to ensure that they don't abuse their powers." Selvis explained.
"But… What if Peter Petigrew never registered?" Ness questioned.
"Then, we have no hopes of proving that theory true." Selvis answered.
"So back to square one." Ginny sighed.
"We're always back to square one." Ness groaned, "As usual."
"When did school become so hard?" Selvis whined, "I liked it better when I could easily find anything about anyone!"
"Like?" Ginny questioned,
"Well, you know Professor Lupin?" Selvis said, "Apparently he has to take a special potion made by Professor Snape and only him every full moon."
"Do you know what potion it is?" Luna questioned, Selvis shook his head no, "They've kept it hush-hush. All I know is that Snape's been doing it ever since Lupin's been here."
"Odd…" Ness mused, Ginny nodded in agreement then perked up, "Hold on! Maybe Professor Lupin knows something about Peter!"
"What makes you say that?" Ness questioned, "Well, James and Sirius were in the same year as Gryffindors, as well as Peter Petigrew." Ginny explained, "I remember my Mum and Dad muttering about they hoped that James last friend wasn't getting hunted down either."
"Last friend?" Selvis mused, "So there was a group of four not three…"
"Hopefully he's still alive." Luna murmered, Ness and Ginny nodded in agreement while Selvis sneered, prepared to make a cocky comment when he flinched and pulled out his Listening stone with glee, "Yesss!" he hissed, taping the surface with his wand.
"What's going on?" Ness asked only to get a loud, "Shush!" from Selvis as Snape's cold voice echoed from the stone, it was muffled, but Ness could still make out Snape saying, "Mr. Malfoy has just told me a very interesting story, Potter."
"Harry… what did you do?" Ness questioned as Harry said nothing.
"He tells me that he was up by the Shrieking Shack when he ran into Weasly—who was alone."
Ginny frowned and looked at Luna, then Ness who was adjusting his hat, trying to ignore the growing knot in his stomach, "Mr. Malfoy states that while he was talking to Weasly, a large amount of mud hit him in the back of the head." Snape paused then asked, "How do you think that could have possibly happened?"
"I don't know Professor." Harry said, sounding mildly surprised. Snape said nothing for what felt like a million years before he coolly continued, "Mr. Malfoy then saw an extraordinary apparition. Could you guess what it was, Potter?"
"No." Harry replied, his voice faintly full of curiosity, Selvis smothered a gleeful giggle as Snape finished, "It was your head Potter, floating. In midair."
"How…?" Ginny whispered as Selvis snickered, "He's in troubleeee~"
"Shush." Ness ordered as Harry tried to say something, something about Malfoy heading to the school nurse when Snape softly cut him off, asking, "What would your head be doing in Hogsmeade, Potter? Your head is not allowed in Hogsmeade. No part of your body has permission to be in Hogsmeade."
"I know that." Harry replied, "It sounds like Malfoy's having hallucinations-," they jumped back in surprise as Snape suddenly snarled, "Malfoy is not having hallucinations. If your head was in Hogsmeade then so was the rest of you."
"Seems like Snape reaaally has it out for Potter." Selvis gleefully mused as Harry tried to lie about his whereabouts, only to be cut off by Snape once again who quickly asked, "Can anyone confirm that?"
"Ness can." Harry answered, almost as quickly as Snape had asked him, "No he can't." Luna murmured, "He's been up here with us all day."
"Yes, but Ness was the only other person to know what they were doing." Ginny reminded them as Ness felt his stomach drop. He hated lying, and he was terrible it, it was bad enough that he had lied about how he and Harry had found a cloak of invisibility claiming that he accidentally used his PSI powers to create one.
"I see… And where is Mr. Earthbound now?" Snape questioned.
"He's dead. He is bloody dead!" Selvis exclaimed as Harry said, "Still in the common room, we were studying for Lupin's essay."
"I see… Stay right here Potter." Snape instructed, getting up to fetch Ness, who was up in the East Wing, far, far away from the Gryffindor common room.
"What are you going to do!?" Ginny exclaimed as they heard the door to Snape's office open and close, "You can't run all the way there!" while Selvis happily cackled at Harry's fate. "Potter's a goner! He'll be expelled before he can say Sirius Black!"
"Not unless I can safely teleport to the common room." Ness said, hoping that the room would be half empty, Selvis stopped laughing and sulked, "Bugger… forgot you could do that." Ness smiled and backed up, "Oh! Wait!" Selvis shoved a pearl white rock into Ness's hand and smirked, "Just in case you need more 'witnesses.'" Selvis explained.
"Riiighhht." Ness said before he sprinted forward and pictured himself in the closet hallway to the Common Room. He landed with a stumble but managed to turn around and make it seem like he was leaving as he spotted Snape, practically flying up the stairwell to reach him.
"Professor Snape?" Ness questioned, trying his best to look surprised, "Is something wrong sir?"
"It depends." Snape said, sounding a bit breathless, "Follow me Mr. Earthbound." Ness nodded and followed him to his office, which was in the lowest part of the castle. He couldn't help but wonder if all the teachers who taught Potions hid down here since it was so gloomy and mysterious.
"Hey Harry!" Ness chirped as Snape pointed to a chair which Harry was oddly not sitting in before he resumed his position behind his desk. "So why am I here, sir?" Ness asked, sitting down and trying his best to look formal, "I just have a simple question." Snape started, "Were you with Harry this afternoon?"
"Yes sir," Ness answered, "We were studying for Defense Against Dark Arts."
"And he didn't leave by himself, correct?"
"Nope, we left a couple times to check out some books at the library, but other than that we stayed holed up in the common room."
"I see…" Snape mused, looking unfazed by how Ness's (hopefully) rock solid alibi. "And you aren't lying to me, are you Mr. Earthbound?"
"What would I gain by lying?" Ness questioned, "Besides getting out trouble, sure, but if I broke a rule then I'd rather come clean then create a bigger mess."
"Is that so?" Snape questioned, a glint forming, Ness nodded and suppressed the urge look away from Snape's cold black eyes. "Si Senor." Ness said, a small smiling forming as Snape gave him a small, blank look then straightened focusing on Harry once more. "So everyone from the Minister of Magic to Headmaster Dumbledore has been trying to keep famous Harry Potter safe from Sirius Black and yet here he is, throwing himself and his American bodyguard into danger since the Famous Harry Potter can do whatever he please."
Harry stiffened, but didn't say anything as Ness asked, "You know why I'm here?" only to be ignored, "It's almost uncanny how you act just like your father, he was exceedingly arrogant, a small amount of talent on the Qudditch field made him think he was the best of the best, untouchable even." Snape continued, a cruel yet bitter smirk forming as he spoke, "Strutting around the place with friends and admirers… The resemblance is, once again, uncanny."
"My dad didn't strut." Harry blurted, his hands shaking in anger, "And neither do I."
"Yea, you mostly sneak around peoples backs." Ness bitterly thought, a bit upset at having to be a false witness to Harry's claims. The moment they were out of Snape's office was the moment he… do something. He wasn't very good at coming up with good punishments… Maybe he should ask his mom for help…
He jumped as Harry suddenly roared, "SHUT UP!" and had his wand half out and probably burning a hole in Harry's robe as he angrily looked at Snape, who had gone ridged with anger and surprise. "Annnd I miss something important. Lovely."
He flinched as Snape coldly hissed, "What did you say to me, Potter?"
"I told you to shut up about my dad!" Harry snapped, "I know the truth, all right? He saved your life! Dumbledore told me! You wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for him!"
"Snape was saved by James? Daaannnng." Was all Ness could think as Snape's sallow skin turned the color of sour milk, for a couple moments, Ness was afraid that Snape might start shooting lasers out of his eyes as he whispered, "And did the headmaster tell you the circumstances in which your father saved my life? Or did he consider the details to unpleasant for precious Potter's ears?"
Harry bit his lip while Ness shakily raised his hand, guessing the answer, "Um… Potter's dad pulled a prank on you which nearly killed you?"
"Correct!" Snape said before he focused on Harry once more, "Your heroic father and his friends played a highly amusing joke on me that would have killed me if your father didn't get cold feet at the last moment." Ness warily studied Harry as Snape finished with, "There was nothing brave about what he did! He was saving his own skin as much as mine, if the joke had succeeded he would have been expelled from Hogwarts!"
"Oh…gosh…" was all Ness could manage as Snape bared his uneven yellow coated teeth and ordered "Turn out your pockets! Both of you!" Ness jumped and clumsily rummaged around his robe pockets to pull out various items while wondering if he should do the same with his jeans when Snape snapped, "Turn out your pockets or we go straight to the headmaster! Pull them out Potter!"
Harry slowly did as told as Ness showed his wand, a broken quill and Selvis's magic rock, hoping that Selvis wouldn't get to mad if Snape decided to confiscated it.
"Ron gave it to me." Harry said, holding a Zonko's bag and the Marauder's map, "He—brought them back from Hogsmeade last time—"
"Indeed? And you've been carrying them around ever since?" Snape questioned before his cold eyes focused on the map, then the stone, "And, what are these?"
"Well, that's a random rock I found around the lake bed after Christamas break." Ness lied, "Lame, but it's really pretty." Snape nodded and looked at Harry who shrugged and said, "Spare bit of parchment." Causing Snape to turn the map over, his eyes still on Harry, "Surely, you don't need this very old piece of parchment, or…" he looked at Ness and played with Selvis's listening stone, "This bejeweled rock… do you?"
"Well, I don't need it per say, but I'd rather keep it to show my parents when I get back home." Ness said with a small shrug as Snape slowly leaned toward the fireplace, "I see…" was all Snape said as he posed himself to drop both the rock and map into the fireplace.
"No!" Harry said, abruptly moving forward before he cringed, "So! Is this another treasured gift from Mr. Weasly? Or is it—something else? A letter, perhaps, written in invisible ink? Or instructions to get into Hogsmeade without passing the dementors?"
Harry merely blinked while Ness joked, "Well, if is instructions to sneak past dementors then I'm sure that every teacher would like one." This earned him a cold glare from Harry and Snape. "What? It's true." He muttered, slumping in his seat while Snape took out his wand, smoothed the map out and pointed the slender stick at it, saying "Reveal your secret!" nothing happened. Ness and Harry glanced at each other as Snape tried again, "Show yourself!" still, nothing happened.
With a frustrated growl Snape smacked the map with his wand saying, "Professor Severus Snape, master of this school commands you to yield the information you conceal!"
That, got Snape results, although it wasn't the results Snape wanted since an invisible hand wrote in swoopy handwriting, "Mr. Moony presents his compliments to Professor Snape, and begs him to keep his abnormally large nose out of other people's business."
Snape froze, Harry looked at it dumbfounded and Ness managed a whistle and said, "Surprisingly, the piece of paper has manners." Then he stifled a sharp gasp of laughter as more writing appeared, "Mr. Progs agrees with Mr. Moony, and would like to add that Professor Snape is a big ugly git."
Ness covered his mouth and bit his tongue in a poor attempt to muffle the shock laughter trying to escape as a third message appeared, "Mr. Padfoot would like to register his astonishment that an idiot like that ever became a professor."
"I don't think you're an idiot sir." Ness offered, once his laughing fit had subsided, Snape ignored him as a fourth and final message appeared, "Mr. Wormtails bids Professor Snape good day, and advises him to wash his hair out, the slimeball."
Ness looked up from the map to check Snape's hair when Snape stood up, grabbed a fistful of glittering powder and headed for the fireplace muttering something under his breath. He threw the powder into the flames and yelled, "Lupin! I want a word!"
Dumbfounded, Ness watched, then stifled a yelp of terror as Professor Lupin climbed out of the fireplace, brushing ashes off his shabbier than usual robes and mildly looking up at Snape as he got to his feet, "You called, Severus?" Lupin questioned.
"I certainly did," Snape retorted, his voice wavering with little self-control and his face contorted in anger "I have just asked Potter to empty his pockets, and he was carrying THIS." Snape pointed to the parchment which now had only the names of the creators on it. Shining in mocking black ink.
Lupin stared at it with a half-closed expression and maybe… nostalgia?
"Well?" Snape questioned, waiting as Lupin said nothing, his eyes closing slightly as he collected his thoughts, "Well?" Snape repeated, "This parchment is plainly full of Dark magic."
"I thought it was a rude joke parchment." Ness admitted earning a glare from Snape before he continued, "This is supposed to be your area of expertise, Lupin. Where do you imagine Potter got such a thing?" Lupin looked up, gave them a half glance full of warning and said, "Dark magic? This just looks like a piece of parchment that insults anyone who reads it, childish? Yes. Dangerous? No, not really. I imagine Harry got it from a joke shop-,"
"Really?" Snape interrupted, "You think that Potter got it from a joke shop? You don't think that it may have come directly from the manufacturers?"
Harry looked at Ness for help, but Ness could only give him a blank look, equally confused by what Snape meant. "You mean, by Wormtail or one of these people?" Lupin questioned before he looked at them, Harry, Ness, do you know any of these men?"
"No." Harry said while Ness shrugged, "Unless Wormtail is that rope snake that likes to sunbath in my front yard, then I doubt I know him, or his friends."
"See Severus," Lupin said, turning back to Snape, "It looks like a Zonko-" his statement was quickly interrupted by Ron who burst into the office with a stitch in his side and out of breath, "I gave Harry that stuff ages ago, bought it from Zonko's…" before he doubled over to catch his breath.
"Well, that solves that." Lupin said cheerfully, "I'll be taking back." He said, folding the map and putting it in his pocket. "Now, Harry, Ron, come with me I want to have a word about my vampire essay." Harry and Ron quickly nodded and stood up, "Ness, you can come too, I would like to see how that Flipinedo spell is coming along."
"Sure." Ness said getting up and quickly following Lupin out of the Dragon den and back into freedom. The moment they were safely in the hallway Harry turned to Lupin to say something when he waved it away saying "I don't want to hear explanations." As he glanced around the empty hallway, "And yes, I know that the map was confiscated by Mr. Flich years ago, and yes, I know it's a map."
"I'm guessing you knew the manufacturers?" Ness questioned, Lupin hesitated for a fraction of a second before saying, "Vaguely, we were in the same year, and they often tried to convince me to fool around with them."
Ness nodded and opened to his mouth to ask another question when Lupin swiftly cut him off, or rather, Harry off, "And no Harry, you cannot have this back."
Harry slowly nodded in agreement then asked, "Why did Snape think I'd got the map from the manufacturers?"
"Because, they would have wanted to lure you out of the school for a prank, probably find it extremely entertaining." Lupin gave Harry a final look and said, "Don't expect me to cover up for you again, Harry. I can't make you take Sirius Black seriously, but I would a have thought that what you heard when the dementors draw near you would have had more of an effect on you."
Ness bit his lip to suppress his burning question about what Harry heard when those cloaked monsters drew and watched as Lupin walked off and Harry practically melted into the floor with shame. They walked to the marble staircase in silence, as they made their way toward the Gryffindor common room.
After a long, awkward silence Ron abruptly started to say, "It's my fault, I persuaded you to go. Lupin's right, it was stupid and we shouldn't've done it-," before he cut off and resumed looking at the ground, sensing Ness's "I told you so" glare. Which quickly disappeared when he noticed a grim looking Hermione walking toward them, a piece of parchment in her hands.
Ness slowed down then picked up the pace to ask her what was wrong when Ron noticed her and snapped, "Come to have a good gloat? Or have you just been to tell us."
"Shut up Ron." Ness ordered, startling the red haired Weasly, "If she did come to gloat then she earned it, but I don't think that gloating makes someone quietly cry in the library." He turned to Hermione and gently asked, "What's wrong Hermione?"
"It's Buckbeck." Hermione said, stifling a loud sniffle, "Hagrid lost the case… He's going to be executed." She held out the letter which Ron and Harry practically snatched out her hands in shock, slowly reading the damp letter before they looked up at Hermione. "They can't do this." Harry finally said, "They can't. Buckbeck isn't dangerous."
"Malfoy's dad frightened the Committee into it." Hermione sniffled, wiping her red eyes with her sleeve, "You know what he's like. They're a bunch of doddery old fools, and they were scared. There'll be an appeal though, there always is. Only I can't see any hope… Nothing will have changed."
"Yeah it will." Ron said, a burning fire in his eyes as he continued, "You won't have to do it all the work alone this time, Hermione, I'll help." Ness smiled as he sensed the uneasy and angry tension between the two disappear as Hermione tackled Ron in a hug and broke down in loud sobs.
"Hey! I'll help too!" Ness offered, "Well, try to help, I'm not very good at researching, but I can provide a testimony."
Harry and Ron—who was looking terrified at the sobbing girl hugging him like a teddy bear, gave Ness a baffled look, "Ness, you weren't there when Malfoy was attacked." Harry said.
"No, but I can provide Buckbeck's side." Ness said, giving them a huge grin as he tapped his hat, "After all, I can hear animals, and I know how to make other people hear them."
"Y-you can do that?" Hermione asked, slowly recovering, "Yup! I had a conversation with him last Friday." Ness explained, "As long as I can convince him not to outright murder Malfoy's father then he should be able to defend himself."
"Oh thank you Ness!" Hermione said, tackling Ness in a brief hug before she turned back to Ron with a distraught look on her face, "And Ron, I'm really, really sorry about Scabbers."
"Oh—well-," Ron stammered, causing Ness to bite back a smile and turned around to inform his friends what had happened. When the reached the tower, he found Ginny, sitting on top of Selvis and pinning his arm behind his back, "Now then, what are you going to do?" Ginny questioned as Selvis squirmed and bucked the best he could, "Ness! Get her off of me!" Selvis yelped as Ness slowly edged into the room, "She's gone mad! Positively mad!"
"Luna… what happened?" Ness asked, Luna yawned and replied, "Well, while we were listening to what happened to Beckbuck Selvis made a vulgar comment about how the bird should die, which caused Ginny to attack Selvis and make him swear that he was going to help protect it."
"I don't want to walk around the school grounds knowing that thing is somewhere!" Selvis complained, "It's a beast! A monster!"
"No it is not!" Ginny snapped, twisting his wrist, "Buckbeck is a proud Hippogriff! And we aren't going to let Malfoy have his way!"
"Ack! Ness! She's breaking my wrist! She's breaking it!"
"Okay, let's not break each others wrists." Ness advised gently tapping Ginny's shoulder until she lessened the pressure. "Where did you learn to do that?" Selvis whimpered, "I have six older brothers." Ginny said with a small huff, "I learned how to defend myself with or without magic."
"Dully noted."
Ness stifled a laugh and sat down, "Ginny, Selvis doesn't have to help us, after all, it's Slytherin's word against Gryffindor. He shouldn't have to betray his house over a proud Hippogriff."
"What about a five horned Zebro?" Luna asked, "That doesn't even exist!" Selvis snapped.
"It does to." Was all Luna said before Ness continued, "Besides, I plan on taking down that coward with or without help."
"What coward?" Ginny questioned while Selvis sullenly muttered, "I'm not a coward, I'm just forced to hang out with nut jobs."
"Draco Malfoy." Ness said, his voice wavering slightly with anger, "It's bad enough that he got Buckbeck in trouble for now owning up to his mistake, but now he's using someone's power to get revenge."
"Well, can you blame him?" Selvis slowly started, "No one's going to listen to a child's complaints. I don't know how you Americans handle law stuff, but your family background means everything."
"It does?" Ness questioned, "Of course! Status is everything! Selvis explained, "Why else do you think Draco, a third year has 6th and 7th years flocking to him like lost puppies? They want to get on his good side, they want to be part of the Malfoy domain just to get a small foothold into the true realm of power."
"So why aren't you like that?" Ness asked, recalling how Selvis seemed to be always be alone even before Ness persuaded him to become friends with him, "Because I have much better things to do!" Selvis snapped, "I thought it was because your family made medical potions."
"And your loony of a father writes the Qubbiler!" Selvis retorted, his tan face flushing a bright red, "Wait… your parents own Med-Potions?" Ginny questioned.
"We also have a small publishing company." Selvis gloomily admitted causing the smug aura that always hovered over Selvis to quickly vanish, "It's not that big, but it allows us to have a more than modern home."
"So that's why your almost always by yourself." Ness realized, "Actually, I'm always by myself since I'm a snitch." Selvis corrected, "Now can we please focus on something else!? Something that isn't me?!"
"Sure, what should we talk about?" Ness asked as Ginny recently got off Selvis who huffed and rubbed his left arm, "Lupin knew the manufactures of Harry's map." Sevlis said, "And Black was a huge trouble maker back in the day."
"Oh yea! James was the ring leader and Peter was the lackey." Luna recalled, "But… that's only three people accounted for."
Ginny nodded in agreement, "Meaning that there's one last person who may have ties with Peter."
"It's Lupin," Selvis smugly announced, "Has to be, he hesitated when Ness asked him about his relationship with those troublemakers."
"So Lupin knew Black when they were growing up," Ness said, slowly trying to make the new puzzle pieces fit, "Meaning that he probably knows the truth about who really killed James and Lily, and there's a chance that Lupin's letting him into the castle to exact revenge on their old friend."
"Lupin, Crookshanks and Black, what a lovely trio." Selvis mused.
"Hold on…" Luna started, "If Lupin really was working with Black then why does he sound so… pained when he spoke about the creators of the map?"
"I just heard a bad cover up." Selvis sniffed while Ginny thought back, "Maybe he doesn't know who really did it." Ginny finally said, "Maybe he suspects Black the same way everyone else does, but wants to believe that he's innocent, like Ness does."
"If that's true, then we should tell him what Black told me." Ness started, "And what if we're wrong?" Selvis questioned, "Then a teacher would suspect you as an helper to Black's schemes and get you expelled!"
Ness opened his mouth to argue then closed it, "Right, keep forgetting about the secret agent mission." Ness muttered.
"Let's think about it later." Ginny sighed, "It's getting late, and I don't want to get in trouble."
"I also keep forgetting that we're supposed to go to school." Ness muttered, as they bid each other good night and hurried to their dorm rooms, "Speaking of school." Ginny said, lowering her voice to a whisper as they scurried toward the eight floor hallway, "How are your headaches?"
"Dunno, I've been so busy focusing on protecting Harry and Black that I stopped faking magic." Ness admitted, slowing down as they approached the pacing trolls, "Can't tell if that's a good or a bad thing." Ginny muttered, "Probably a good thing since we have something else to worry about." Ness replied as he started to form ideas on how to defend a prideful Hippogriff.
The next few weeks leading up to the Qudditch finals, something Ness had contently forgotten about. Were very, very interesting. Now that they all knew about Selvis's magic rocks, Selvis had taken it upon himself to share any useful bit of information he heard, like the fact that Draco had gotten slapped by Granger after the Golden trio had overheard him laughing at Hadrig's grief induced class.
Or that Hermione had some sort of teleportation power that rendered her to miss certain classes, he even dug something up on a Luna's housemate, grudgingly telling her that a girl named Ramona Bean was hiding her shoes, socks and sometimes school books in a hidden passage way near the kitchen.
Luna had been overjoyed to learn about that, but everything else proved to be useless as Ness tried his best to visit Hadrig to convince Buckbeck to be on his best behavior and truthfully answer the judges answers when his appeal came. But thanks to the strict curfew and upgraded defenses, it was near impossible to visit him.
And, also because he had been forced to tail Harry every now and again as the upcoming battle between Gryffindor and Slytherin loomed closer, like all sports fan, they were desperate for their team to win, and Ness had seen some pretty bad fights against fans. Or, he thought he had as he noticed the jinxes, hexes and overall petty pranks that bloomed over the school as the bad blood between the two houses turned a simple school match into a battle to the death.
"This, is dumb." Ness grumbled as he and a group of other Gryffindors walked with Harry to his next class, protecting him from any serious attacks from their rival team, "Tell me about it." Ginny whispered, although, she seemed to be busy peering around the older kids as she searched for any rouge Slytherin's, "It's utterly ridiculous."
"And yet you're still looking around like a worried hen." Ness teased, earning a cold glare from Ginny.
The only good thing that came out of the roaring death match was how little sleep he was getting, normally this was a bad thing, but on the day of the big game Ness had woken up after dreaming of Selvis somehow making his threat of 'breaking Potter's legs with a dragon' come true and then turned the dragon onto Ginny for pinning him onto the ground for a good 20 minutes.
"Okay… I've gone insane." Ness deiced after he woke up in a panic and then realized that even if Selvis did find a dragon, he would be too chicken to ride it since he was terrified of magical beasts. "Heh… Selvis probably would have run screaming to the hills with the dragon chasing him the entire time…" Ness muttered as he climbed out of bed and checked the window to see what ridiculous time it was.
It wasn't too bad, since it was just five AM and the weather was remarkable clear, no clouds and no overhead, just the thin layer of snow that was melting away in the slow Spring heat. He was about to turn away and head back to bed when he spotted Crookshanks making his way toward the Whomping Willow.
"Huh… Never knew a cat liked murderous trees." Ness said as the cat suddenly stopped and allowed a giant, shaggy black dog to join him before he resumed walking toward the tree. Which was slowly coming to life, angrily swishing its thick branches in warning as Crookshanks easily slipped through and placed his paw on a small knot.
Causing the tree to grow still and limp. Satisfied the two animals crawled down a small hole, disappearing from sight as the tree stirred back to life.
"No way…" Ness gasped, all plans for watching the final Qudditch match flying out of his head as he tried to figure out how to mimic Crookshanks actions.
"Aw man… Now I can't sleep." Ness grumbled, "Oh well…" he opened his trunk and started to look around, trying to find a long object to use on the Whomping Willow.
Of course, the longest object he had in his possession was his wand, which Ness had already deemed useless and ignored for almost the entire school year. Before he make up his mind to raid Harry's broom closet, his fellow third years stirred awake and started to get ready for the big game, forcing Ness to hurriedly do the same and head for breakfast, which was bursting to the brim with sports pride. Every house except Slytherin was wearing scarlet rosettes, carrying scarlet flags with lions on them or had banners sporting cheesy lines of, "Go Gryffindor!" and "Lions For the Win!".
"Ow." Was all Ness could say as he looked at the Slytherin house, which were showing their support by hissing at the other houses and proudly brandishing green clothing and banners of their own. Ness even spotted Selvis happily whispering secrets to his housemates and offering homemade banners.
"This… is a bit crazy." Ness said as he sat down beside Ginny who was also sporting a rosette and eating breakfast as quickly as she could. She nodded her head in slight agreement as Ness made a small plate of toast and eggs. Sensing that there wasn't going to be much talking between them, Ness decided to focus on figuring out a way to get over to the Whomping Willow, now would be the perfect time since everyone was focused on the match.
But what if Harry needed him? Or if Dementors stormed the grounds and attacked the crowd for the last game of the season? Ness suppressed a sigh and shook his head, figuring out Crookshanks and that black dog's relationship should be his first priority, they were still a huge mystery, one that kept evading Ness as more and more problems appeared and demanded his attention.
So the moment he and the other Gryffindors headed for the stadium, Ness stepped to the side, pretending to tie his shoes as he dove behind a tree. Watching the oblivious crowd pass by him in an army march formation.
Once the path had cleared, Ness made a run for it, sprinting for the Whomping Willow as the stadium came to life with a loud roar of cheers, "Please let there be a stick to help me." Ness prayed as he approached the giant tree.
He jumped as a dreamy voice questioned, "Why on earth would you need a stick?"
"Gah! Luna!" Ness yelped as he spun around to see Luna wearing all red, looking like a crimson statue. "Hello Ness." Luna greeted, unfazed by his surprise, "Why are you out here? Did you lose something?"
"No, I saw Crookshanks and the black dog go underneath the tree, so I'm trying to figure out where they went." Ness explained, "You wouldn't happen to have a long stick to push that knot over there, would you?"
"Nope." Luna replied earning a small groan from Ness, "But, I do have good aim." To prove her point Luna took off a bright red shoe and hurled it at the knot Ness had pointed out.
With a shudder, the tree froze and resumed acting like a tree, "Dang! You could give Pat Willison a run for his money!" Ness whistled as Luna retrieved her shoe and sent him a baffled smile, "Baseball player." Ness deadpanned, before he pushed away a couple tree roots and slid into a small hole, "Ceiling's low Luna, so watch your step." Ness warned, knowing that Luna wouldn't back down from a new discovery.
"Odd… why is there a tunnel under a tree?" Luna mused as she joined him underground, "Don't know, I saw it on Harry's map, but now that I'm here…" Ness trailed off as the tunnel darkened, forcing him to pause and hold a hand up, "Fire Alpha." He muttered, summoning a small ball of fire in his hands so they could see a little bit, "Oh! Don't do that!" Luna warned, "You'll summon the Oxy pixies!"
"The what now?"
"Oxy pixies, they came and steal oxygen from miners so they can't breath." Luna explained, Ness slowly nodded then realized what Luna probably meant, "Right, flame off." Ness said, not wanting to burn out their low supple of air.
"So, what were you saying before?"
"Well, there was a tunnel that lead into Hogsmeade, but then they put a tree over it." Ness started.
"Ohhh… You're wondering if the tree has another purpose than to block it off since we're able to get inside." Luna realized, "Interesting."
"I wonder how long the tree's been here." Ness mused, "Oh! I see some light. And just in time." They crawled into a dusty room with smashed furniture and boarded up windows, the old walls were covered in stains while its wallpaper peeled away.
"Where are we…?" Ness whispered, feeling like he had just stepped inside a haunted house, "I think this is that 'Shrieking Shack' my housemates keep theorizing about." Luna replied, looking around the small room in awe.
They jumped as they heard someone move above them, causing the wooden boards to groan and creak in protest as they shuffled about, "Oh goodie… someone's here." Ness mumbled, he glanced at Luna who had here wand out and nodded at Ness before they started to make their way toward a rickety stairwell.
They slowly climbed it, the only sound being their pounding hearts the occasionally wooden groan from the shack, soon, after what felt like hours, they made it to the second-floor landing which was even more destroyed and dust covered than the room they had just been in.
Ness frowned as he noticed two sets of foot prints in front of them, a cat and a dog, which slowly morphed into two boot prints. Ness tapped Luna's shoulder and pointed to the floor, alerting her to the footprints, she studied them then mouthed, "Animagus." Before they continued inching along the hallway.
They jumped as a voice growled, "Where is he… he couldn't have gotten far." Which was answered by a low meow. Ness edged to the end of the hallway and peered inside another room full of destroyed furniture, inside, he could see a man dressed in all black with matted black hair. His back was turned to the two as he paced back and forth through the room.
Silently thinking about something. It wasn't long before the man finally stopped and banged his hands on a wobbly table, cursing loudly. It was then that Ness realized who the man was, "Sirius Black…" Ness whispered.
"So this is where he's been hiding out…" Luna murmured, they jumped Black froze, then suddenly turned toward the doorway, holding a broken wand in his hand, he roared, "Impedimenta!" hitting them both in the face.
"Ow…" Ness groaned as a message flashed through his blurred eyes, "Paralyzed." It read, Ness tried to move his arms but they wouldn't respond, "A very strong paralyzing attack too…" he realized as he was forced to look up at the rotting ceiling.
"You again?" Black rasped, "With a girl…" Ness mentally shivered as Black appeared in his line of sight, "How did you find me?" Black demanded.
"Cat. And you." Ness managed, before he deiced to try and heal himself from the status effect with Healing V. He bit back a sigh of relief as he felt his fingers respond and watched as Black disappeared from view, "So… How are you?" Ness asked, trying his best to look at Luna so he could free her as well. "Why do you care?" Black questioned, "In fact, what are you doing here?"
"Well, I care since we're sort of going after the same thing, you want Peter and I want to protect Harry, Luna's here since she didn't want to watch the final match between Slytherin and Gryffindor."
"Hello." Luna stiffly chirped. Black said nothing for a moment, prompting Ness to sigh and sit up, figuring the best way to get answers and more clues was to stop playing dumb. "What the—How did you escape?!" Black spluttered, backing up as Ness looked at Luna and performed Healing V once more.
"So that's what PSI feels like." Luna mused, wiggling her fingers and examining the back of her dirtied robe. "PSI?" Black questioned, now looking like a cornered animal, "Yup, I'm a PSI user, not a wizard." Ness explained, "I'm here to protect Harry or something."
Black studied him before he looked at Crookshanks and grumbled, "That's why you wanted me to talk to him." Crookshanks meowed in agreement and gave a low purr.
"So… If you're an Animagus. Is Peter one too?" Ness asked, Black hesitated briefly, prompting Luna to add, "If could tell us what animal Ness is supposed to be looking for, we could get this over with a lot faster."
Black growled then said, "He's a rat, always has been, always will be. He's disappeared after once again faking his own death, but I'll find him, I'll find the bloody bas-,"
"Peter is posing as Scabbers?" Ness interrupted, a cold weight settling in in his stomach, "Meaning that he could have attacked Harry at any possible time?"
"Yes, probably wanted to stay close in case his 'master' returned." Black spat. Ness and Luna exclaimed a look before they inched forward, "So what actually happened that night?" Luna asked, "Was Peter always working for You-No-Who? Or did he flee to the 'winning' side."
"Winning side." Black grumbled, then he snapped, "And stop calling him that ridiculous nickname, his name is Voldemort! Voldemort!"
"Right." Luna said, not skipping a beat as she continued questioning the 'mad man', "So Peter switched sides, faked his death, turned into a rat to hide from…?"
"Voldemort's supporters." Black grumbled, slowly realizing what Luna was doing, "They believed that he back stabbed Voldemort at the last moment by telling him about Potter's whereabouts only for him to die. I've heard them wailing about it in their prison cells, screaming about revenge as they went mad."
"Azkaban can turn people insane?" Ness questioned. Earning a curt glare from Black, "Of course, the Dementors hovering around you, sucking out what little happiness you have and watching as you wallow in despair and madness, it's hell on earth."
"And yet you're somehow sane…" Luna mused, smiling as Black sent her an even sharper curt glare, "I have my ways." Was all he said before he continued, "I pieced together where Peter was hiding from a newspaper showing the Weasly family in Egypt and planned to get revenge."
"By killing him." Ness deadpanned as the cold weight in his stomach turned into a brick of dry ice at the idea of murder. "Of course!" Black roar, "He killed James and Lily! He turned Harry into an orphan with no memory of his birth parents! It's only fair that he suffers the same fate!"
"And it's fair that Harry's Godfather goes back to jail with an actual crime on his record?" Ness shot back feeling unreasonable angry at Black's logic, earning a surprised look from Luna and Black, "I get it, you want to avenge your best friend, but by murdering someone you're just going to prove to Harry that you are a monster!" Black blinked before his eyes narrowed into slits, "If that's the price I have to pay for justice, then so be it."
"Justice which could be achieved if we find Peter and turn him in." Ness argued, "We can prove that he's still alive, we can prove that you didn't hurt anyone! Just take a chill pill and think about what might happen to Harry if you use your escape from Azkaban for revenge when you have a chance to clear your name and become Harry's proper Godfather!"
"He has a point." Luna mused, sounding a bit surprised at Ness's sudden outburst, "I mean, I bet Harry would love to live with you instead of those muggles he lives with."
"Muggles…?" Black questioned, his anger slowly subsiding as he realized who Luna meant, "He's been staying with Lily's muggle sister?"
"Maybe." Luna shrugged, "Ginny sometimes mutters about how awful they've been to him when she thinks I'm searching for Lu-lu bugs."
"Lu-lu bugs? What are those?" Ness asked, "A type of bug that makes one's thinking utterly nutters and extremely hard to understand." Luna explained while Black blinked and muttered something under his breath.
"Huh… I wonder if Lu-lu bugs can lure out rats." Ness wondered.
"No, it only works on people."
"You sure?"
"Positive."
"Huh."
"Out." They jumped as Black gave them a cold look, "I need to think."
"About?" Luna questioned, but she stopped when she spotted his wand hand slowly twitching, "Never mind." Ness said, grabbing Luna's arm and turning around, "See ya later Sirius!" and before Black could argue that they weren't allowed to use his name Ness sprinted forward and pictured himself stepping into the library. Luna gave a short yelp as she stumbled forward and nearly collided with a bookcase, "Shush." Ness ordered, peering around a bookcase to ensure that the librarian hadn't heard them, "We're in a library."
Luna nodded and managed a queasy yet somehow still airy smile, "So that's what it feels to apperate with PSI." She managed before she slid onto the floor and steadied her breathing.
"If you saw so." Ness muttered, hoping that his small outburst was enough to sway Black's mind from murder to getting justice and watching over his best friend's son.
"You ready?" Ness asked, as Luna slowly got to her feet, "As ready as a Mirco Rat finding leese." Luna said.
"Okay then…" they casually left the library which was oddly empty and quiet and scurried to their dormitories, which was in full party mode Ness noted as he was greeted by even louder cheering and yells as the Gryffindor team happily stood in the center, shooting everyone beaming grins as Wood gave a speech about how wonderful it felt to finally beat Slytherin and reclaim the House Cup.
"I'm guessing we won?" Ness teased, stifling a laugh as Ginny jumped up and down, waving a mug in the air, "Ness! Where were you!?" Ginny demanded once she realized who was standing beside her, "You missed the best game ever!"
"Sorry, I was busy convincing someone." Ness said, looking around the packed common room, hoping that no one else had heard him.
"Who?" Ginny questioned. Ness frowned and shoved his hands into his pockets, "Oh, I dunno, just my favorite friend whose been wrongfully blamed." Ginny frowned, then realized what he meant.
She gasped and dragged him toward his dorm room, which was empty, "How did you find him?" Ginny whispered once they were safely hidden behind Ness's bed curtains, "I was following that black dog." Ness explained, careful to keep his voice low, "Turns out that Black was an Animagus, along with Peter for some unknown reason."
"Why? And was James one as well?"
"Not sure, Luna and I just tried to get what little answers we could. We know that Peter's a rat, Scabbers to be exact."
Ginny recoiled in horror and gasped, "Ron's been sleeping with a serial killer!? Merlin's beard!"
"A cowardly serial killer, turns out Peter isn't after Harry, at least not yet." Ness explained, "He seems to be hiding from Voldemort's followers, who blame him for their master's death."
"Makes sense." Ginny muttered, "If You-know-who's death was a fluke, Peter would be in prime position to get back into the higher ups."
"And if not, then Peter could simply pretend to be a rat for the rest of his life." Ness grumbled, "And no one has a clue as to where the rat's at."
"Maybe he's hiding outside the castle." Ginny suggested, "After all, if Crookshanks, a cat, couldn't sniff him out then he's probably in one of the outdoor classes."
"But which one? You know how many Herbology greenhouses there are, and we can't even check Hagrid's classroom since we're second years." Ness lamented.
"Well, look on the bright side, at least we know what animal he is." Ginny offered, "Now go to bed, you look like a mess."
"Might because I crawled through a dirt tunnel and was forced to lie on a dust covered floor." Ness teased before he shooed Ginny out of the room so he could change and get ready for bed. His mind somewhat at peace from hearing that Peter was more focused on hiding than attacking Harry.
For the next week, Ness felt a bit better about his hectic school year, even though he had exams coming up and Malfoy was back to swaggering like an idiot for some reason he didn't know. He took solace in the fact that Harry wasn't at the risk of being murdered by an old friend and tried his best to study.
And by study, he meant trying to read more than a paragraph in his books as Selvis smugly talked about how he was going to breeze through the exams thanks to his notes while everyone was struggling with their own prep work. They had tuned him out, expect Luna but that was because she had already finished her prep work and was idly poking a rock with her wand.
But of course, that bright yet still grim future shattered into pieces as Harry showed him a letter sent by Hadrig during a late night of studying at the Gryffindor common room, "Why are they bringing an executor?" Ness questioned, but his question was drowned out by the hushed whispers from the Trio. It wasn't too long until Ness realized the obvious answer. They planned to end Buckbeck's life right then and there. With or without hearing their desperate pleas.
When did school become so hard!?
Poor Ness, he can't seem to a catch break. And neither can I since I just realized I've been spelling Hagrid's name for for at least two chapters. Yaaaayyyy.
Anyway! Thanks for the review Aszolle and Random Person! And don't worry Aszolle, I'll be working on this story for a long while since I type at least 10,000 words per chapter (And yet they still seem so short to read :/) and because I plan on going up to book seven with Ness and co. figuring out his purpose and making sure Harry doesn't get himself killed.
