Chapter eleven

Harry and his friends walked down through the castle together ready for breakfast. When they got to the doors of the great hall Harry saw Daphne standing there. His friends made a lot of comments, all in fun before they headed inside to eat. Harry stepped over to Daphne, kissed her cheek.

'Good morning,' Daphne smiled.

'Morning.'

'I got a letter from dad last night, he explained about,' Daphne glanced around to make sure they were alone, 'your godfather,' she whispered, 'He asked me to pass on a message.'

'I told him not to write to me as my mail has gone missing before.'

'Yes, he explained, that's why he sent it to me. He said its all set for today.'

'Today, blimey, let's hope nothing makes the old man go to the ministry.'

'I doubt it, it's early on in the school year, I'm sure he is busy. Since we know what else dad is working on, I wanted to ask if you're want to upset that class?'

'Sure, but how?'

'You and I sit together to do our work, then he either takes points from his own house or ignores you.'

'You have a devious mind Daphne, I like it,' Harry grinned cheekily making Daphne laugh as she slapped his arm.

'Behave Mr Potter, now we should head to breakfast, let me know if you hear about what happened.'

'I will,' Harry smiled then they stepped into the great hall together. Harry kissed her on the cheek then watched as she walked over to sit beside Tracy. Harry grinned again then headed to his friends.

'Did your girl want a morning snog?' Seamus asked.

'Maybe she did,' Harry smirked then dished himself up some breakfast. He turned to Ron, 'Even though we usually sit together in potions, Daphne came up with a good idea, so you wouldn't mind if we don't sit together this time?'

'Sure, but why?'

'A Slytherin and a Gryffindor are going to sit together. He will either take points from me which means he will need to take points from his own house or he ignores me.'

'Daphne is truly a Slytherin, which is a very cunning way to deal with him. It won't stop him from taking points from us, but it's more you than anyone else, so go for it.'

'Thanks mate,' Harry grinned then began eating.

'So has Hermione still be annoying you?'

'Not in the library but she still tries to talk to me in ancient runes, but I sit beside Tracy.'

'Why don't you sit with Daphne?'

'She was never interested in runes, Tracy would like to work as a warding witch when she leaves so she'll need to know runes.'

'Bill was good at that class, he is a curse breaker so he needs to know about that stuff.'

'Then I hope I get to meet him sometime.'

'I know Bill and Charlie are planning to visit during the summer holidays, so if you come to the Burrow you'll get to meet them.'

'Great, then I can learn about runes and dragons. Your family really has a vast variety of skills, must keep life interesting.'

'It does, more than you know.'

Everyone began to head to their classes, the Gryffindor's and Slytherin's headed to the dungeons. They only waited a minute before Snape opened the door. The look on his face when Harry sat with Daphne made Harry want to laugh. He didn't, some of the Gryffindor's did. But what surprised everyone was Tracy, who sat beside Ron who blushed brightly.

It was the first potions class that Snape didn't have anything to say to Harry. He still picked on the other Gryffindor's, but not Ron or Harry.

'It seems your plan worked,' Harry smiled at his girlfriend who smirked before going back to her potion. They got a few words from Malfoy and a few others, but Harry and Daphne ignored them as if they weren't even there.

Everyone bottled their potions, Harry and Daphne put theirs on Snape's desk at the same time before leaving the classroom. They got a few feet from the door before the hugged, but most of the Gryffindor's chuckled.

'It might not work after today, he may assign us seats or partners,' Tracy said.

'If he does he should realise that it will make our dislike for him and the other's worse. But if he does then we can't do much,' Daphne said.

'Let's get to our next classes, I'm sure you love birds can see each other later,' Seamus said.

Harry kissed Daphne but this time he gave her a quick kiss on the lips before hurrying away. He missed Ron kissing Tracy on the cheek making the other Gryffindor boys groan. Two of their age now had girlfriends, it was putting pressure on the rest of them.

During dinner Harry could hardly eat, he was waiting. He kept glancing at Daphne who would nod and smile. He knew there was nothing to worry about but Harry just couldn't help worrying. He hoped nothing went wrong to prevent Sirius from being cleared.

Right at the end of dinner, everyone noticed the large eagle owl fly down to Harry. Some even noticed that it was the same owl that often flew down to Daphne Greengrass.

Harry quickly took the letter, gave the owl some meat off his plate then with shaky hands he unfolded the letter.

'Yes, yes,' Harry jumped up, punching the air then ran to the staff table where he held the letter to Lupin.

'He's free, thank merlin,' Remus walked around the table then hugged Harry, 'I will send him a letter later, we can work on a visit during the first Hogsmeade weekend.'

'He's anxious to see you.'

'I'm anxious to see him, I'll write as soon as I get back to my room.'

'I'm planning too as well, so if you want to send yours with mine Hedwig will take them.'

'Deal, I will come up to Gryffindor tower when I'm done.'

'Care to share why you two are so happy?' Minerva asked.

Remus nodded at Harry to answer, 'Sirius was finally cleared of all charges, he's free. My lawyer has been working on it for a few weeks, the trial was today. Peter Pettigrew was convicted at the same time for the murders of twelve muggles and for being a death eater. He was sent straight to Azkaban where he was kissed.'

'You mean Peter never died, Sirius didn't kill him?'

'No, Peter was hiding using his animagus ability. Sirius, James and Peter all learned to change to keep me company,' Remus said, 'Sirius is only in his right mind thanks to his animagus. Even though Harry is now emancipated, Sirius will be living with Harry so he can resume his role as godfather.'

'Yes,' Harry punched the air again making Remus laugh then he was hugged again before he ran down to Daphne and kissed her right on the lips in front of everyone, 'Your dad is a miracle worker, I have to buy him something to say thanks, something expensive.'

Daphne and Astoria laughed, 'Dad doesn't expect anything, he was doing his job but he was also righting some wrongs. But we might get you and your godfather to join us during the holidays, you can thank dad then.'

'I will, and I'm sure Sirius will want to. I need to explain to Ron about that, so I'll see you tomorrow morning.'

'You will.'

Harry grinned, kissed her again then ran over to the Gryffindor table. He grabbed Ron's arm then pulled him out of the great hall with the other boys following. They were laughing at Harry's exuberance, but they still had no idea what was going on.

'Okay, we're here, not what was that all about?'

'Okay, Sirius is free, he was cleared of all charges. We had to keep it a secret mainly so certain people didn't interfere.'

'So he really didn't betray your parent's?' Neville asked.

'No, Peter Pettigrew did and faked his death when he set Sirius up for those murders,' Harry stared at Ron, 'He was an animagus, he's been hiding in that form since it happened. Do you know much about Pettigrew Ron?'

'No, only that he was killed by Sirius after your parent's died.'

'The only thing they found was a finger.'

'Okay, shouldn't there be more body part's if the whole street blew up?' Neville asked.

'Yes, he cut his finger off, killed the muggles as he blew up the street then changed, he escaped down into the storm drains.'

'He must have been a small animal to fit down a drain.' Ron said.

'He was, I'm sorry I didn't tell you this before but we didn't want anyone to overhear us. But Peter Pettigrew changed into an ordinary brown garden rat, with a missing toe, or finger.'

'Scabbers.'

'Yeah, sorry Ron, but I showed Sirius my memory of Scabbers. I took him to my lawyer who took him to Madam Bones. They made him reveal himself, he's been in the holding cells since the night he went missing. I really wanted to tell you, but,' Harry pointed at the portraits, 'they hear things.'

'I get it, but blimey, wait until mum and dad find out we had a death eater living in our house all these years.'

'Do you think he meant to stay with Ron's family Harry, to be close to you?' Neville asked.

'I'm not sure, but I doubt it. He belonged to Percy before Ron, I didn't know the Weasley's then.'

'Unless he found a family with kids around the same age as you,' Seamus said.

'You could be right. He just turned up one day, Percy was sitting outside doing his school work when the rat sort of begged for food. Percy couldn't say no, gave him some food then asked mum if he could keep the rat. Blimey, Scabbers, a death eater.'

'I know, it seems so farfetched. If we tried to tell anyone I doubt anyone would believe us.'

'No, so having proof always works. Let's have some fun, get some Butterbeers from the kitchen,' Dean said.

'You do that, I need to write to Sirius, but I'll join you soon,' Harry hugged the other four boys, making them laugh before he went to his trunk. He pulled out a quill, parchment and ink, sat on his bed and began his letter to his godfather.