Chapter 7. The Unexpected Visitor.
Harry suddenly realized his scar hurt so much because he'd attempted to wear a shoe after Madam Pomfrey cured him, and the shoe's opening was far smaller than the standard pointy dunce cap he finally put on later. But who was the visitor? Harry reached over to the end table and scrabbled around until he found the lever, which caused a small light to appear above the table.
The person standing there was none other than Remus Lupin, the former Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and a resident werewolf (but only on full moons). He grinned and said, "Hi Harry! How's it going?" He, Harry, still happened to be slightly groggy, so he mumbled that he was fine, just a little exhausted. Lupin's smile slowly faded away as Harry attempted to form the correct words. "Look, Harry, you know how we went on that mission? Oh, right—I managed to convince Mundungus to join, but I couldn't talk to Alice McMillan or a couple of our other friends. Since you haven't heard about Alice…she was a really nice…and smart…and intelligent…and pretty witch who was helping us find some of Voldemort's supporters." Lupin seemed slightly distracted when talking about Alice's qualities; Harry suddenly wondered why everyone seemed to have a 'close friend' except him. Remembering something quite abruptly, Lupin straightened his back and said, in an unusually low voice, "Sirius is in danger. They…they found him."
Harry felt extremely worried; Sirius Black, his godfather, was an escaped convict guaranteed death—or a fate even worse—if found. These two short sentences served to wake him up quite suddenly. "Who caught him? Where? How's he doing?"
Lupin said, "Shut up Harry; you sound like a reporter. Let me explain…"
—Lupin explains—
"We were in a small forest near Wales trying to find what had happened to some of our older friends. Of course, Sirius was disguised as a dog; the entire magical world knows who he is, almost the way they know you—except you're famous and he's infamous. So…we heard the sound of this car, and I asked him if he would investigate quickly.
"Unfortunately, it was the local dog catchers, and since Sirius obviously wouldn't have a tag or anything, they took him away. Realizing what had happened when he started barking loudly, I ran out, but it was too late. Sirius was gone."
—Lupin finishes—
Lupin's head sunk lower and lower as he detailed each part of the story. Harry's eyes grew wider, all notions of sleep banished at this awful happening. He couldn't imagine poor Sirius curled up in a kennel, having to spend time with real dogs. "Where is he, Lupin?" Lupin looked up, suddenly seeming less depressed. Pulling out a map and his wand, he showed Harry a location extremely close to Hogwarts, in a Muggle town called –Shire. "Oh…why don't you go there and say you want to 'adopt' Sirius?"
Lupin smiled. "Brilliant plan, Harry! But…I don't have any Muggle money and I really have no idea how to talk to them. I know! I'll just knock them unconscious, take Sirius, and leave—as long as the Ministry doesn't notice. Oh, right—Dumbledore will probably want to know about this. Get some rest, then, Harry."
Harry lay silently for a couple of minutes, then noticed something white and fluttering stuck to the bedpost. He pulled it off and read (intelligently, Harry had forgotten to turn off the light), 'Quidditch practice—5 a.m. Be there!' Oops. In that case, Harry figured he'd better sleep immediately. Noting the presence of light, he brilliantly turned it off and drifted off into uneasy dreams of Sirius in a kennel with real dogs. 'Poor Snuffles,' was his last thought before he fell into a really deep and absolutely wonderful sleep.
The next morning, after exactly 3 hours, 9 minutes, and 34.3009823 seconds of sleep, Harry ran downstairs, where the rest of the team was quietly munching toast. Harry wondered why the toast didn't make much noise, but he wasn't up to thinking. Fred and George grinned upon seeing him, and pointed him towards a chair that he cautiously inspected before finally sitting upon. Suddenly, he felt odd, like he was floating, and then realised the chair really was floating. "Fred! George!" The twins laughed and Fred pressed a tiny knob on the edge of a chair, bringing it down. He actually pulled the knob out, revealing that it was an attachment. Angelina, the new captain, said, "No vending at the table!" The twins looked depressed, but returned to the delectable-looking toast.
While they ate, Harry asked, "Who's the new Keeper? I'm guessing Angelina's the captain, but we really need a Keeper." Alicia, another one of the Chasers, said, "We're actually not sure. Colin Creevey volunteered, but he's a little…er…small. Besides, they might not even have Quidditch this year!"
He, Harry was horrified (ooh…Harry…horror…they're spelled kind of the same!). "What?! No Quidditch cup?!" Alicia shrugged. "How is the author expected to come up with more ideas and characters for this? Oh, which reminds me…we're considering Seamus Finnigan for the team too. He's reasonably good, but Fred and George recommended Ron."
Harry thought it would be wonderful if Ron joined the team; what could be more entertaining? Ron loved Quidditch, after all. But for now, the dew-covered field, cleared of last year's maze—which he didn't want to think about—awaited their presence. Two hours later, the team went back in, changed, and joined everyone else for breakfast.
Hermione wasn't there. Neither was her 'twin', Myrtle. Harry ran straight to Ron and asked him what happened. Ron scowled, and said, "They're probably talking to Krum or something like that, wait—never mind. Krum's eating breakfast with the other teachers, and I don't see Hermione fawning all over him. I mean, he's just the best Quidditch player…oh look, there's Cho. Talk to you later." Harry decided to follow Ron so he could make sure they didn't kiss or anything. After all, this relationship was short-term, wasn't it?
Harry suddenly remembered Sirius's situation as he followed Ron, poked him in the back, and explained everything. Just short of the Ravenclaw table, Ron's eyes grew huge, but to Harry's astonishment, he began snickering. "Wow—never imagined…hee…something like that could bother an Animagus. Oh well, a first time for everything, isn't there?" Sobering up, Ron continued, "Don't worry…I'm sure Dumbledore can take care of everything." As if on cue (they probably were, if you think about it…) a large black dog bounded into the hall, forcing some students to jump out of the way. "Snuffles!" Harry and Ron exclaimed at the same time, then, "That was cool. I wonder if we could talk like that again?" Sirius's sudden loud barking interrupted the interesting thought. They went up to their dormitory (after Ron grabbed something to eat, of course), where Sirius changed into his normal self. He looked extremely tired, and there was a tear in his almost-clean robes. "What happened, Sirius?" Ron asked before Harry could say anything, and Sirius began explaining the situation.
