The Sign of the Lily
Harry was not expecting it to be so dark when they stepped out from under the Whomping Willow. It had a surreal effect on his senses, and it felt like hours since they had chased Wormtail down the hole. He was not able to make out the stars which were covered in billowing clouds driven by a brisk wind. The temperature had dropped drastically with the sinking of the sun. All along the return trip, Harry and James had said very little to one another. His father seemed deep in troubled thought, and Harry felt as if he had made his opinion clear. Sirius did enough talking for them all as he led Pettigrew along by his rope and directed unconscious Snape with the influence of his wand.
Out of the range of the ferocious tree, Professor Lupin took a careful look at Ron's leg before they attempted the trek back to the castle. "I can stop the bleeding, but it will take the expert touch of Madam Pomfrey to avoid scaring."
"A scar wouldn't hurt, would it?" Ron considered how it would look for his social life.
"Don't be ridiculous." Hermione hid a smile. "It would be ghastly."
"Harry—" James wanted a word with his son but was instantly interrupted by Sirius who handed him a levitating, stunned Professor Snape he was dragging by the ankle like a balloon on a string.
"Hold this," Black insisted. "I need to secure Wormy's bindings, and I will not be responsible if Snivelous gets carried off in this bloody wind."
James frowned but held Snape who had to be re-stunned three times during the duration of their hike through the underground tunnel to keep him docile.
"Harry," he repeated, "I assure you that I understand where you're coming from. I agree with your belief in your mother's wishes to have Peter sparred, but she misjudged him. We all did."
"So?" Harry knew all that, but what did it matter?
"Things have changed—"
"Yeah, they have," he interrupted his father with conviction, "but Mum hasn't. She can't change her mind about him, because she's not here. She's gone, but we know what she would have done, and that doesn't change." He side-stepped James as the moon peeked out from behind the clouds, shed a bright light over the school grounds, and added to the distant glow of hundreds of castle windows.
"Harry!" Hermione screamed in fear. "Ron, get back! Professor Lupin… Mr. Potter, look!"
They watched in terrified silence as the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher transformed before their eyes under the influence of the full moon.
"Get back!" James grabbed Harry and thrust him behind him out of immediate danger. He released his hold on Snape as the simultaneous spells were lifted. The potion master returned to consciousness and fell to the ground in a crumpled heap.
"Move!" Sirius darted in and pulled Hermione and Ron out of the way. Ron yelped in pain before falling next to Professor Snape. Severus gathered himself and scrambled for his wand lying in the grass where Lupin had dropped it during his transformation. Pettigrew did the same, slipping from his bindings and taking possession of his own weapon before rapidly returning to rat form.
"Stupify!" Black yelled, stunning the overgrown rat and preventing his escape. "Prongs!" he yelled to encourage the help of his lifelong mate before transforming into a black dog as James in turn transformed into a massive stag.
Harry watched in amazement. He had never seen his father transform. He only heard of it from his godfather in unbelievable stories. Prongs and Padfoot converged on the werewolf where it stood poised to strike with shrunken pupils fixed on Ron, Hermione, and Harry. Snape moved in front of his students with his wand at the ready. Padfoot knocked Mooney to the ground where Prongs pinned him with his spearing antlers. Mooney barred his fangs and lashed out with a snarl while kicking his powerful hind legs and making contact with Padfoot's muzzle. Sirius whined in pained, falling back and shaking off the stunned effect of the blow. The crazed werewolf clamped his jaw around the front foreleg of the stag, causing Prongs to release his hold and stumble.
Harry couldn't take his eyes away from the three-way scuffle. In all the excitement, he nearly forgot about Wormtail. "Professor!" he got Snape's attention as soon as he located the rat reviving in the grass nearby.
"Stay back, Potter!" Snape held him back.
Harry reached for his wand and ducked from under Snape's arm barring his way. His eyes darted from Wormtail changing back to Pettigrew to his father and Sirius in Animagus form driving Lupin the werewolf in the direction of the Black Lake. Pettigrew was going to make a run for it. Harry had to stop him before he reached the edge of the school grounds and disappeared.
"Potter!" Snaped yelled after him as Harry chased Peter into the forest along the lake. Mooney howled to his left, and Harry glanced over as he ran to see Prongs lift up his front legs and kick the werewolf sharply with his hoof. Mooney flew into a nearby tree and fell at its roots.
"Wormtail!" Harry shouted at Pettigrew to get him to stop. It was a poor move. The traitor turned with a hungry sneer and pointed his wand at Harry who stopped abruptly in his tracks less than ten feet away.
"Coming with me, Harry?" Peter squeaked a noxious laugh. "Yes, that would please the Dark Lord. A gift from his faithful servant…" He moved to strike with a debilitating hex and was knocked to the forest floor as Padfoot collided with his side. With a low growl, the great black dog stood over Pettigrew and dared him to move.
Peter grinned like a maniac. "You can't stop it," he spoke to Padfoot with the purpose of letting Harry overhear. "He's too powerful, too great. The Dark Lord…he's invincible."
"Tell that to my scar," Harry said. Where was Voldemort at that moment? Hiding? Broken and alone after Harry defeated him over and over? No one was invincible. Not even the darkest wizard of all time.
Staring down at the sniveling monster who betrayed his mother, Harry understood his father's desire to see Pettigrew subdued once and for all. What was a soul compared to a life?
The sound of his mother's screams filled Harry's ears. The temperature plummeted, and his chest constricted with fear. No, he looked up in a panic. Not now, not then. "Sirius," he muttered with frozen, wispy breath on his lips. "Sirius, the dementors." Dropping to his knees, Harry struggled to remain conscious, watching as Padfoot retreated from his guard over Pettigrew to protect his godson. "Don't transform," Harry muttered as he began to fade, knowing the dementors had less of an effect on Sirius in dog form than in human. He raised his wand and made a poor attempt at producing a Patronus shield but failed. He was slipping, and there was no one to save him. Padfoot seemed stunned and unable to transform even if he tried. Pettigrew was gone, turning into rat form the instant the dementors arrived and fleeing into the night in desperation.
Harry lay on the ground with his wand limp in his hand. Padfoot rolled onto his side with his heavy, canine head resting on Harry's arm. In the dog's eyes was a pool of fear and sorrow Harry didn't know existed. If he recalled the sound of his mother dying, what did Sirius remember under the chilling oppression of the haunting prison guards?
"Dad…" Harry tried to call for James but managed only a whisper. The draping shadows of dementors cloaks obscured his vision. He shivered with despair and repulsion at the sight of a slimy hand reaching to tilt back his head. Then, out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw the form of his father, Prongs the stag, charging through the breaks in the trees to save him.
"Dad?" Harry opened his eyes to a bright light overhead. It was warm and he was comfortable and dry. He was in the hospital wing. How had he gotten to the hospital wing?
"Harry!" Hermione was by his side in an instant. "Ron, he's awake!"
Harry looked around and found his best friend stretched out in the bed next to his with his leg wrapped and elevated.
"Alright, mate?" Ron nodded in greeting. "Still got your soul, then?"
"Shut up, Ron! Oh Harry, it's horrible," Hermione lamented and looked anxious with upsetting news.
"What?" he asked, sitting straighter on the bed and looking around for his father. "Where's my dad? Where's…where's Sirius?"
"Harry," Hermione glanced warily at Ron before continuing. "It's awful, just awful."
"What, Hermione," Harry insisted.
"The dementors, they had you cornered and…and something scared them off—"
"Yeah, I know—"
"Well, they left and then Professor Lupin, or the werewolf, he…it found you. It tried to bite you, but Sirius, he stood in the way and he got…he got bit, Harry."
Harry stared at Hermione in disbelief, unable to register what it was she was telling him. She watched him warily and looked to Ron again for help.
"He might be alright tho," Ron informed him. "No one knows if he was Animagus or human at the time. Dumbledore says it makes a difference. Do you know?"
Harry fought to recall the last minutes by the lake before the stag, his father, saved him from the dementors. Sirius had been Padfoot up until the end, he was sure of it. But what about after, when the dementors fled and Mooney returned? "My dad," he looked at them both with assurance. "He was there, he knows. He ran off the dementors."
"Harry—" Hermione shook her head but was unable to finished her response as a noise in the hallway outside the closed door of the hospital wing drew their attention.
The door opened by the hand of Dumbledore who entered the room at a brisk walk with Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge and Professor Snape following close behind.
"What's the sense in it, Dumbledore?" Fudge was arguing. "What difference does it make either way? The creature is a danger and a menace. You have testimony here that Remus Lupin carelessly neglected to take his prescribed antidote for his abnormality which would have prevented this fiasco. He deliberately put lives in danger, the lives of children, Dumbledore!"
"Headmaster, he must be kept from endangering anymore," Snape added condescendingly. "He'll commit murder next if he isn't controlled."
Harry glared at Snape from the bed with clear memory of the events that took place in the Shrieking Shack.
"I hear your arguments and take them into consideration," Dumbledore assured both wizards calmly but with his mind on more important details. "But as you well know, Minister, the hiring and firing of my staff is of my concern only, and the circumstances surrounding the incident are, as of yet, still unclear. Harry," the headmaster turned to him in haste. "Was Sirius or was he not transformed when last you saw him? It is vital that we know in order to treat him for the best possible outcome. The future freedom of your Defense Against the Dark Arts professor also depends on it heavily."
"We shall see about that," Fudge huffed indignantly. "That is of my concern, Headmaster!"
Dumbledore ignored this retort and waited on Harry.
"I…I don't know, Professor," Harry stammered. "I think he was Padfoot, but I blacked out. I didn't see Lupin attack him. He couldn't have. My dad, he was there, Professor. He would have stopped him."
Snape sneered where he stood behind the headmaster. "Perhaps he would have," he conjectured, "had he remained long enough to do so. Potter fled. I saw him myself, Minister. He took one look at the dementors and transformed to human form before running into the forest. He's still hiding. It was I who stunned the dangerous werewolf and managed to get us out alive."
"Yes, yes, fine work, Severus," Fudge praised him. "Order of Merlin First Class, no doubt deserved…"
"That's a lie!" Harry stood from the bed in anger. "I saw him, I saw my dad get rid of the dementors. He did not run away!"
"He's not thinking right, Minister." Snape looked triumphant. "The effects of the dementors…"
"I know what I saw!" Harry shouted.
Dumbledore ended the argument as Fudge appeared shocked at Harry's outburst. "We will discuss this further in my office, Minister. For now, please allow my students the rest they so desperately need."
Harry did not need rest. He was wide awake and charged with adrenaline fueled by his fury. He followed Dumbledore as the headmaster directed Snape and Fudge out the door into the hall.
"Professor, what will they do? Where's Sirius? Where's my dad?"
"Go on ahead," Dumbledore instructed Fudge. "I'll be right behind you." Waiting until the minister was out of earshot, he turned halfway in the door before closing it behind him and stopped Harry from further questioning. "There's no time," he told him and included Hermione in his steady gaze as she moved behind Harry. "I'm afraid your godfather is in grave danger, Harry, unless we can find out more about the nature of the attack. As of now he is with Hagrid, safely tucked away in the groundskeeper hut being monitored closely. Lupin is also secured out of harm's way, but not for long if our esteemed minister has his way. The dementors are restless and deprived of their meal. They will take werewolf just as easily as human if given the opportunity. I'm afraid there will be no stopping them if he is removed from the castle grounds and my jurisdiction to protect him. Understood?"
Harry didn't, but Hermione was beginning to.
"But what about my dad?" Harry insisted.
"Precisely," Dumbledore nodded. "You are right in believing he has the key to this whole misunderstanding, Harry. But the word of a teenage wizard is not easily believed. We need the word of a well-respected, grown wizard. You must find him and impress upon your father the importance of returning to the castle in good time. If done right, more than one life can be saved tonight."
"But how—?"
"I'm going to lock you in." the headmaster ignored Harry's last question and prepared to leave. "It is five minutes to midnight. Miss Granger, three turns should do it. Good luck."
"What was that?" Harry stood in disbelief.
"Don't look at me, mate." Ron looked just as mystified. "He's mental."
"He's not," Hermione insisted sharply while pulling something shiny on a chain around her neck from beneath her robes. "He's absolutely brilliant. Come here, Harry. Stay put, Ronald, and keep that leg up. See you in a bit."
Mooney had Prongs pinned with a vice-like grip of his fangs sunk deep in the Animagus' muscular neck. Padfoot sank his teeth into the werewolf to try and get it to release its hold, but the sound of Harry's voice calling Pettigrew's name drew both the canine's and the stag's attention. With pleading eyes, Prongs begged his friend to go after Harry; he would handle Moony on his own.
Padfoot sprinted on all fours through the trees in the direction of Harry's and Pettigrew's voice. Hiding in the shadows, trying to catch a glimpse of the scene playing out in real time, Harry and Hermione kept out of sight with a tight hold on Buckbeak's tether as they waited for their second life-saving opportunity of the night.
Harry saw his father struggle with the werewolf and wanted desperately to go to him to help free Prongs from the beast holding him down. Hermione refused to let him go, reminding Harry that they must not be seen.
"Then how are we supposed to tell my dad to hurry back to the castle in time to save Lupin?" he demanded in a harsh whisper.
"I don't know." Hermione appeared just as conflicted. "But we can't, Harry. We can't be seen!"
"He won't know it's not me, me saving him," Harry argued and confused her further. "He'll just think I got away and ran to his aide, you know?"
She didn't know, and shook her head in refusal. "No way, forget it. So you save him, and then what? Disappear so he can find you passed out next to Sirius the next minute. It doesn't make sense and it doesn't work!"
"Then how—?" Harry's question was lost as the sight of Prongs throwing Moony off his back got his attention, and Hermione pulled him further into the shadows out of harm's way as the fight between beasts continued in bloody turmoil.
The air grew cold as the dementors arrived. Harry moved in to watch what he had been waiting for. He silently cheered his father on in anticipation of Prongs breaking free from the werewolf to charge down the soul-sucking wraiths and save him. "Come on, dad…" He waited, barely breathing with his heart beating loudly in his chest.
James didn't come, not in stag form or in human.
Harry searched the trees in the direction they had come. The sound of continued thrashing in the brush as werewolf collided with Animagus met his ears. James was preoccupied, and Harry was dying.
Looking back at where he lay with Padfoot at his side, Harry realized the truth just in time. Raising his wand, he spoke the incantation without effort or doubt in his ability to produce the copreal Patronus. The silver stag erupted from the tip of his wand, and Harry watched it with a silent thrill as it charged down the gathering of dementors and sent them racing away into the night.
Hermione, though in awe of what he had just done, had enough sense to pull him out of sight as James finally appeared in the clearing. Stopping in his tracks, Potter watched the dementors fly and took in the scene with the galloping stag in one glance. Believing Harry to be the conjurer of the Patronus, he trusted his son was okay. Lupin had run off from their fight, Harry was okay, Padfoot was with him. The massive dog was curled up around Harry acting like a protective shield. Now to find Pettigrew. James wouldn't allow him to get away again.
Moving quickly across the forest floor, he jogged in the direction of the lake, believing that to be the way Pettigrew would flee so as not to get lost in the forest on his way off the school grounds.
Harry and Hermione were standing in the way, and they once again had to scrambled to hide unseen.
"Buckbeak?" Hermione glanced around with a desperate whisper. "Harry, where did he go?"
Harry didn't know, but he soon found out. Under the light of the moon, he watched his father come upon the winged fugitive with a squirming, squeaking rat hanging from his beak by the tail. James' surprise lasted long enough for him to watch the hippogriff toss the rodent in the air to catch it with a desire to swallow it whole. In the few seconds Wormtail was in the air, James made a quick decision, grabbed his wand, and hit the rat with a spell which sent it flying out of reach and out of danger of being eaten. Wormtail landed with a thud in the tall grass. James heard him squeak, but could not find the rat in the dark to take aim and stun him. The reeds shifted followed by a light splash as Wormtail escaped into the lake and disappeared. Buckbeak, deprived of his snack, regarded James with a steely gaze before stalking through the trees to return to Hermione's side.
James was left with a feeling of emptiness and defeat. He had spared Peter's life, but at what cost. "Is that what you wanted, Lily?" he spoke out loud to the full moon misted by clouds. "Mercy for the merciless. He would sell us out again if he could. What harm have I done now by letting him go free? What good am I as a father if I can't protect him from a cowardly rat like Peter?"
In anguish, James dropped to his knees on the lake shore with a heavy heart and tears in his eyes. He hated himself for so many years of bad decisions, of poor choices which led to more and more heartache. He wanted to stop, but James didn't know how. "He despises me for it," he said of Harry. "I wish I knew what you would do as easily and assuredly as Harry does. He barely knew you, yet he understands you better than I. You gave him the strongest kind of protection, the greatest magic ever created, and I took it all away. I'm sorry, Lily…I'm so sorry…"
James hung his head in a silent sob. The picture of his beautiful Lily swam before his mind's eye, and he wept for her as he hadn't done in some time. "You would be proud of your son," he said when he found his voice again. "Every day he makes you proud, but tonight he showed true bravery. I don't doubt now that he can handle anything that tries to destroy him." Maybe Dumbledore was wrong. Maybe Lily's sacrifice covered Harry still even without the blood connection. James didn't know. All he knew was that there was something very special about his son. Something different that could have only come from Lily. Attributes which James had never possessed. He was not that good. He was a disappointment to his son. And yet…Harry's Patronus was a stag.
This detail had hit James from the first time he saw it. The spell had been so quick, like lightning, he wondered if he had been seeing things. A full-grown stag Patronus. The thing in which Harry drew strength, courage, and help from was the form of his father at his best.
James wondered at this revelation with a full heart. "I'll do better, Lily, I promise."
Hermione reappeared at Harry's side after checking the progress of the others in the clearing behind them. "Snape's taken you to the castle," she informed him. "Any minute now you'll wake up and Dumbledore will arrive in the hospital wing. We have to hurry. Any idea how to do it?"
Harry continued to stare at his grieving father kneeling near the water's edge. The bright moon reflected off the shimmering lake like a reflection in a mirror. It was hard to make out what James was saying over the rustle of the leaves in the trees under the influence of the wind, but every so often Harry had picked up the distinct sound of his mother's name. Looking down, he got an idea.
"Hermione," he beseeched her while plucking the stem of a mushroom the size of his hand. "I need you to transfigure this for me. Can you?"
James slowly got to his feet and turned away from the water as the intimidating sight of the hippogriff returned out of the trees. "Hello," he stepped back and gave the beast respectful distance. "I'm sorry I lost you your dinner, but I haven't anything else for you." James Potter's knowledge of magical beasts led him to believe the hippogriff wasn't there for him. His keen eye noticed the lead around the feathered neck which caused him to recall the execution said to have taken place on the grounds that evening. "So you escaped your bloody fate then have you?"
Bowing low, James waited for the hippogriff to bow in return with permission for him to step forward. Walking cautiously to the beast's side, he picked up the trailing tether made of linked chain and stopped in surprise. There, tucked securely in one of the links, was the stem of a single, gigantic lily flower in full bloom.
James slowly reached up and pulled the long stem from its place and stared at the flower in amazement. "Alright," he said, resigned to the leading of the apparent sign now in his hand. "Take me where you want me to go." With that, he climbed on the back of the majestic animal and held on tight as it rose into the air and flew toward the castle.
Harry and Hermione did not wait around to see if James Potter understood their message of the lily. It was a fine piece of transfiguration on Hermione's part, far advanced for a third year, and in record time too. However, she was doubtful whether Harry's father would make the connection between the flower and the need to return to the castle in time to save Sirius and Lupin. Harry was sure that James would understand and make it in time. He had to, there was no other option.
"Come on," he urged Hermione to run faster up the stairs to the hospital wing with only seconds to spare. They were out of breath and ready to collapse, but they made it. Hanging back until they were sure Fudge was gone and Dumbledore was finished with his instructions by the door, they listened with strained ears before moving forward.
"We did it," Harry informed the headmaster in a rush while catching his breath. "He should be here any minute."
"Who should be here?" Dumbledore asked with a twinkle in his eye before walking away to meet the minister in his office.
Hermione and Harry exchanged smiles before slipping inside the hospital room as the door closed and magically locked in place.
Ron sat exactly as they left him, staring at the place where Harry and Hermione originally disappeared. He immediately noticed their prompt re-entrance and did a double take. "What the bloody hell just happened?" he demanded as his friends, sweat-drenched and streaked with layers of earth from their adventures, slumped on nearby beds while overcome with laughter and relief.
Madam Pomfrey soon appeared before they could even begin to explain the recent turn of events to Ron. Harry was grateful to see that she brought a tray of sandwiches and large bowls of steaming, vegetable soup. He was starving.
"Eat up and then it's off to bed for you three. You'll all remain here tonight, Dumbledore's orders. What in Merlin's beard is that!" She exclaimed at the sudden racket coming from the hall. "Don't they know this is a hospital wing?" She rushed to open the door and was nearly run over by Sirius Black as he shoved his way into the room in front of James who followed at a more reserved pace.
"So you get the royal treatment while they stitch me up on Hagrid's table with Spellotape and slug sludge and nothing to eat but bloody rock cakes, is that it?"
"Sirius!" Harry was ecstatic to see his godfather looking well despite the slight limp in the leg wrapped up in protective bandages. Jumping off his bed, he met Sirius for a tight embrace before Madam Pomfrey took over and insisted she have a look at the bite.
"It's fine woman, leave it alone," Sirius growled, though he sat when she ordered and showed off the mangled flesh to Ron with pride. "We'll be scar buddies now, mate. What do you think of that?"
"It won't…you know?" Harry asked uncertainly.
"Not a bit," Sirius shook his head. "Ol' Moony's got me much worse than this back in our school days."
"He got all of us more than once," James confirmed. Father and son shared a prolonged look full of silent meaning, breaking away only when Minister Fudge and Snape abruptly interrupted the reunion.
"Merciful stars, is there no end to the interruptions!" Madam Pomfrey exclaimed in consternation. "Headmaster, I cannot abide this commotion in my hospital!"
Dumbledore arrived last as the minister confronted James and Sirius with a ruffled constitution.
"Don't think for one moment that your reckless gallivanting across Hogwart's grounds in your school days eases my reservations. No harm does not equal no foul in this case! Justice must be administered here, gentlemen, and I am responsible—"
"Oh lay off, Minister," Black had enough of Fudge's puffed up ranting. "Lupin's harmless."
Harry was surprised. This response coming from Sirius who usually had nothing good to say in Lupin's defense?
"Harmless!" Fudge sputtered.
"Insubordinate remark from one of your employees, Minister," Snape pointed out.
"Shut your grease hole, Snivillus."
"I say now, Black, that's completely uncalled for. Perhaps a disciplinary meeting is in order here."
"No need," Sirius assured him. "I'm taking a leave of absence from work. Paid holiday or sick leave if you will. I need my rest to heal this leg after being wounded on duty for your fine administration."
Fudge swelled indignantly but seemed unable to form a response. "Dumbledore, I see we are at odds in this case. I trust that you will do the right thing in regards to your employee, as I will assuredly do in the case of mine." He gave Sirius one last lingering look of disappointment which was returned with a confident sneer on Black's part. "Goodnight to you all." Fudge turned on his heel, donned his lime green bowler hat, and left the room.
"With that, I bid you goodnight," Dumbledore bowed. "I leave you in the experienced care of Madam Pomfrey and extend school hospitality to you gentlemen if you wish to spend the remainder of the night here to recuperate." He thanked James and Sirius for their part in assuring the safety of his students and bringing the truth to light.
"I'm just sorry Pettigew got away again," James told him.
"Yes," Dumbledore understood his frustrations. "But that will not be the last we hear from him, I assure you. Let us contemplate such complexities at an earlier hour. Sleep well." He took his leave and closed the door behind him as Madam Pomfrey disappeared inside her office.
Snape seemed disinclined to stick around with the minister and the headmaster gone. The fact that Sirius had survived virtually unscathed caused him to further despise his old schoolmates and deepen his grudge. It did not help that James had returned in time to testify to the werewolf bite having occurred during Black's Animagus state. Or to the sighting of Pettigrew as well as the part James played as witness to Orin Kane's statements against the Malfoy's involvement in Pettigrew's schemes. All in all, it added to the reasons Severus Snape loathed every one of them, and he reserved a particularly nasty scowl for Harry on his way out of the hospital ward.
Not that he cared. Not even Snape could put a damper on his mood as Sirius called for more food to be brought from the kitchens and James found a seat on the end of Harry's bed where he sat by his son and exchanged embellished details on the events of an intensely eventful evening.
"Is this what all your years at Hogwarts are going to be like?" he asked Harry with an uncharacteristic grin.
"Why, do you want them to be?" Harry had a strange feeling James did hope for such excitement.
"Oh no," his father shook his head adamantly. "Well…perhaps one or two adventures here and there. But maybe keep it to the Quidditch field, eh?"
"I'll try." Harry reached out and caught one of many grapes Sirius continuously tossed him from the other side of the room.
"Nice one, Harry!" Sirius cheered.
"Would you be quiet?" Madam Pomfrey stuck her head in the room again. "Honestly, you're worse than the children, Mr. Black."
"Mr. Black's my father," Sirius told her. "And you know you love it, Poppy," he gave her his finest grin. "Admit it."
"Go to sleep, all of you, or I'll call the headmaster."
"Good idea! Dumbledore loves a good party."
Madam Pomfrey scowled. "Well if that doesn't scare you, I'll bring in McGonagall."
"Uh oh," Sirius straightened. "Time to move out, Prongs."
"Forget it," James said as he found a free bed and lay down with his eyes closed. "I'm staying right here. Goodnight, Harry."
"Goodnight, dad."