Chapter 24: To St. Mango's again!

A/N: Hey guys. Most of you are probably wondering why I've re-uploaded this chapter twice now. Well, first, one of my reviewers was having trouble reaching this, then I realised with some shock horror that I had forgotten to place in a VITAL piece of information. I could have re-placed it into the next chapter, but with all the things going on there, it didn't fit. So, I've decided to re-upload the chapter again.

A/N (From before): Hi all! How are you? I'm a very happy person today! Wanna know why? Two reasons: 1) My Science teacher is now making Science wordsearches for a bunch of 14 year olds to do because my class can't be bothered to listen to her for an hour- bonus! And 2) One of my favourite authors has read this story (and the prequel) and it makes me fuzzy inside! To be honest, her stories partly inspired the original version of this! Yay!

1. What was your favourite part?

Uh… When… Uh… I didn't read the chapter… *Sheep face* Sophia yelling at Voldy, I suppose. That's one of the only times I'm ever going to write yelling at him for a while…

2. Did you like the bonus segment?

No.

3. Was Sophia a bit harsh on Voldy?

Of course. I love angst! It's fun to write and gets out pent-up frustration… I mean aggression. Fustration is the NEXT chapter… Ooh lets type that up next for everyone else!

4. What exactly happened to Sirius?

Um… I didn't go and shoot him in the head for leaving Harry alone for 12 years…

5. What will happen next?

Won't say. Although I can give you a little hint. Next is the 25 chapter. During the Prequel, Christmas was on the 12th chapter. What do you think is on the 25th?

We got to St. Mungo's not half an hour later.

"Dad found him," Ginny was telling us, "He said it was horrible- blood everywhere. He had to cut Sirius' hair and temporarily dyed his hair blonde so mediwizards and witches didn't recognise him." She was referring to the fact that Sirius was still on the run. "Reckon he'll have a fit when he wakes up!"

"He's unconscious?" Harry asked, a worried expression on his face.

"Yeah. Healers say he'll wake soon, though." Ginny answered. The 'Front Desk' finished dealing with a witch who had some sort of plant attached to her ear, and we were next.

"Simon Grey, please?" Ginny asked.

"Fourth floor. Hurry, I'm afraid you don't have much time left." The 'Front Desk' told us sadly.

"What?" Harry shrieked, looking stricken. "Ginny, you said he was fine! You said he'd wake up, you said-"

"Oh, Simon Grey!" The 'Front Desk' laughed awkwardly, "Sorry, mate, thought you meant Simone Grey. Yeah, he's just about to wake up. First floor, Charles Bodwin ward."

"Thank you." I nodded as Harry shot off, as if he'd seen a snitch. Me and Ginny ran after him. He didn't change his speed until he arrived at Sirius' bedside, where he stopped abruptly. Me and Ginny almost ran him over. I would have laughed, if it hadn't been for what Harry was looking at- Sirius. He was lain in bed, looking sort of peaceful. His hair was, as Ginny said, cut harshly and his hair dyed a dirty blonde. Half of his body was in a white cast, and the other half purple with bruises.

"No snake did that." I thought out loud, steaming at horror at a particularly huge bruise stretching from his wrist to his arm.

"Venom tests and bite marks prove otherwise, ma'am." Said a Healer on her way out.

"That's one angry snake, then." Ginny frowned.

"What's everyone staring at?" Sirius' light-hearted voice broke the serious tone in the room. I hadn't realised he'd woken up. I blinked. "What, am I dead? Don't feel dead," His grey eyes flitted down to his body, "Don't look too dead neither. Besides, the bruises, I think I look pretty good!" He chuckled, "What happened?"
"You don't know?" Ginny asked, as we all sat down on the chairs near his bed. "You were bitten by a snake. Can't you remember?" Sirius frowned, then his eyes narrowed. He reached his hand to his forehead.

"Harry, get me a mirror." Harry hurriedly got Sirius a mirror. Sirius picked it up and held it up. He was horrified at what he saw. "What in Merlin happened to my HAIR!" He screeched, and I winced. "It's all blonde and short and UGLY! Give me back my hair- my black and long and perfect hair!"

"I personally think it looks better that way. Better than you've looked since I met you!" Chuckled Remus as he strolled in from outside.

"Shut it Moony. And bring my hair back."

"Aw, but Padfoot, it's either black hair and Azkaban or blond hair and freedom." Remus ultimated.

"My hair…" He whimpered, but said no more of it.

"Trust you, though, to get bitten by a venomous snake and worry about your hair." Remus snorted.

"As I said before, shut up Moony." Sirius mumbled and we laughed.

"When will you get out?" Harry asked eagerly. I could tell he still wanted to live with Sirius, even though he wasn't the… uh… safest of influences.

"By the time school starts up again." Replied Remus, ever the voice of reason. "It's more of a safety check then a nessessity, but still."

"Hm, since you'll be here for Christmas I suppose we should give you your perked up.

"Presents? Where?" He asked, eyed gleaming. "Gimme!" Harry went first, handing Sirius a rectangular box wrapped in red paper with golden lions on them. Siriustore through it. "Aw a book?" Then his eyes gleamed, "'201 Things To Do When You're An Ex-Convict Hiding In A House Not Allowed To Go Out'" He read aloud. "Sweet!" I smirked and handed Sirius two presents, one really big.

"Show off." Harry grumbled. I laughed loudly.

"'How To Train Your Werewolf'," Sirius read with a grin. "That'll be fun, won't it Remmy!"

"My name isn't-"

"I know, I know. Now what's the big one?"

"Why don't you open it and see?" I smiled, glad to see a smile on his hospitalised face. He nodded and opened it. His face literally broke into a wide grin.

"It's a TV, Moony! Look at this- It's a bloomin' TV! And it comes with those things- Duvduhs!"

"DVDs, and it all runs on magic." I added as his features filled up with childish glee.

"Exactly- Duvduhs!" He squealed. Remus turned to me.

"Are you trying to turn me crazy?" He gasped. "The last time I let the Marauders watch a film… Wormtail was peeing himself, James was screaming about how we were invading privacy of other people- never did get the whole 'people aren't inside' concept, Prongs didn't. Lily was covered in popcorn thrown by Sirius, and him-" He glared at Sirius, who was grinning goofily. "Tried nonstop to be like a particular character in the film for a week."

"That's bad how?"

"We were watching Jaws. Fill in the blanks." Me and Harry looked at each other and burst out laughing, Sirius joining in.

"Good times." He chuckled, wiping his eyes with his free arm.

"I came as soon as I could." We all turned to see Dumbledore at the doorway. "Are you okay, Sirius?"

"I'm awesome, Dumbledore- Sophia bought me a TV! And some Duvduhs!" Sirius laughed joyfuly.

"I suppose Dad told you." Ginny said.

"No, actually it was your father, Sophia, Harry." Dumbledore turned to us. "He is particularly distraught over what happened, and asked me to ask you to come back."

"He should be distraught, and we're not going back. Ever." Harry replied.

"I thought you might say that." Dumbledore nodded knowingly. "I took the liberty of telling the House Elves to set you both up beds. And Miss Riddle, Mr. Truman asked me to give you this." Dumbledore reached into his blue robes and pulled out a letter. He handed it to me and I enthusiastically read it.

Dear Sophia,

How are you? You left so suddenly I didn't get to wish you a Merry Christmas- what was up with that? Anyway, when I heard you were coming back to Hogwarts, I was ecstatic. My condolences about your friends almost fatal attack, but still! You better hurry up, because I have the PERFECT present for you!

Gabe!

We spent another few hours with Sirius, helping him figure out how to control the TV, before returning to Hogwarts with Dumbledore. The first thing Mr. Harvey did was drag me off to the Black Lake. There, he frolicked in the freezing water for half an hour, completely soaking me. We trudged up to the castle, dripping wet. I cast a spell to dry us off, grabbed some lunch from the happy to help House Elves, then used Helga's passage to go to the Hufflepuff Common Room. Only Cedric was there.

"Hey Cedric!" He looked up at me and nodded in recognition. "Where's Gabe?"
"Didn't he write to tell you?" wondered Cedric. "He had to go home- seemed pretty weird though, like he was keeping secrets." But Gabe had said he was waiting for me here- why would he lie? Keep secrets from me? That didn't seem very Gabeish at all…

Unknown POV

"Hello Bella," He asked, looking around to make sure nobody could see them talking. Of course, I could, but he would never be able to even guess I was there. "What's up?"

"I've figured out how it is we can never kill her." Bella said, her face serious.

"What?" He hissed, pulling her into a side alley of Knocturn Alley. I followed stealthily.

"There's always been a Hufflepuff around to protect her," explained Bella, "First it was that Finch-Fletchly boy, now it's Truman."

"We have to get rid of the Hufflepuff to get to her." He realised, and a dash of shock came onto my face. Didn't see that one coming…

"Yes. Start simply- don't kill him unless necessary. We don't want there to be two Hufflepuff murders in the space of the year, it would cause unwanted attention. Just… separate them a bit. Be creative. Leave her undefended." Bella clarified, before leaving him and I alone. I turned to him, slits replacing my eyes temporarily.

"She will never be undefended, never alone, do you hear me?" I growled, "Never alone." But he didn't notice me. Nobody ever did.

A/N: Considering there's new content, I'm going to give you all some new questions:

1. What was your favourite part?

2. Who is the unknown POV? It isn't the unknown that I've normally done, it's somebody else, but that's all I'll tell you.

3. Where's Gabe?

4. What did Gabe get Sophia for Christmas, before he disappeared?

Please review!

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