When Dumbledore gave us our O.W.L results, I felt the pit in my stomach deepen in anticipation as I searched for the twins, Lee, Katie, Alicia and Angelina, so we could open them together. I was fairly certain at least a few of them would have worse results than me, anyway.

Sure enough, I collided with Lee, who was running through the halls. "Kal, I was looking for you! We need to find-"

"-the others! Yes I know, let's go!" We went off around the school, searching the faces for Weasley red hair. It wasn't until I saw them above everyone else, being as tall as they were, that I ran over to them followed by Lee and found Katie, Alicia, and Angelina.

"You ready for this, girls?" Angelina nervously looked at us. We all nodded.

"Born ready!" George added with a wink.

"One, two three…. GO!" I hollered, and we all went into a rampage to unfold the paper and look at it. Written on mine was this.

Ordinary Wizarding Level Results

Pass Grades: Fail Grades:

Outstanding (O) Poor (P)

Exceeds Expectations (E) Dreadful (D)

Acceptable (A) Troll (T)

Astronomy: P

Charms: E

Herbology: P

Muggle Studies: O

Transfiguration: A

Care of Magical Creatures: O

Divination: P

History of Magic: D

Potions: E

D.A.D.A: O

All breath was forced out of me. Six O. That was better than I had ever hoped! Of course i had failed Divination, and Potions, and Astronomy, and History of Magic… but SIX! That was completely amazing for someone like me! A miracle really… even if lots of them were A's.

Everyone else had looks of shock, satisfaction, and horror on their faces. It didn't take long to launch into discussion.

"I got five O. !" Angelina said proudly, I looked forwards to upstaging her just this once.

"That isn't bad, Ange! I got six!" Katie replied, and Angelina pouted. Alicia shyly looked up.

"I got -um- eight." We all squealed our approval, but it wasn't a big surprise that Alicia was the smartest of us all. Not a surprise at all.

"I got three O. !" Lee stated as if proud of the fact.

"We got-"

"-six between the two of us!" George finished for Fred, beaming.

"Though we should get them just for being good looking and for showing up, but professors have no sense of justice." laughed Fred. "What'd you get, Kal?"

I suddenly didn't want to say, afraid they would make fun of me for getting a pretty good mark, or worse, not believe me. That would be humiliating to have your own friends not believe you could pass so many classes.

"Well?" Alicia demanded, trying to grab my paper.

"She obviously got a bad score, or she would tell you!" said Lee, to which I glared.

"No I didn't! I got six O. !" I blurted out, slapping my hands over my face too late.

There was a moment of shocked silence, and then it began. Alicia was on top of me first, pinning me and shrieking, Katie and Angelina examined my sheet in awe that I could do so well, Lee was shaking his head and muttering about "Kalmine going to the dark side" and Fred and George just grinned at me. Such a friendly grin, too. I was yanked to my feet by two strong beater's arms encircling my waist and pulling me straight up like I was nothing: Fred was grinning down into my face, too close for comfort but too far for satisfaction. Danger thought hounded in the corners of mind as I felt his breath chill my neck, his hands brush my arm, sending goosebumps up and down my skin…

"Congratulations! We have a regular nerd here!"

"You're forgetting Alicia got more than me!"

"But that was expected," he pointed out. "This calls for celebratory cake in the kitchens! Wouldn't you say, George?"

"Oh certainly, Fred." The two silly boys led us all down to the kitchen, my line of thinking full of laughter and relief. Oh, Fred did not just use me as an excuse to get cake.

OoOoOoOoOo

The Hogwarts Express had long since chugged out of the station, all of us Lion's still on the adrenaline of winning the House Cup for the third consecutive year in a row, giving Slytherin the beatdown. Nothing lifted my spirits after exams like having the school up in red and gold, and having Steven Goyle with his head bowed in shame whenever I used it against him. Life, once again, was good. Not only good: the best.

It was truly amazing watching Fred and George eat. They would eat so much that I thought they would explode, then belch and ask for more. Without ever getting fat. Some people, who weren't unusually skinny like I was, would kill to have a metabolism like that of the Weasley children. I was watching this phenomenon in action in our compartment as they downed Chocolate Frogs and Cauldron Cakes by the dozen, when Fred looked up and caught my eye. Grinning his chocolatey grin (it was quite disgusting), he got up and sat next to me, reclining in the seat so his head was in my lap.

"Sad that this year's actually over, right?" he said, looking up into my eyes from where his head lay. I just nodded my response.

"Can you imagine how this'll feel in a couple years when we leave for real? I want to cry just thinking about it!" Katie answered. George shrugged his sympathies and dug into another Pumpkin Pastry.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it," he said, mouth full of lemon candy. "What's that outside our window?"

Outside the window, an owl bobbed, holding a letter that it dropped into my lap (hitting Fred in the face.) I picked it up and examined it carefully. It was addressed with my name and everything, no return besides a name… Sirius!

"Does that say it's from Sirius Black?" Lee piped, looking at it with awe. "Supercool! Read it out loud!"

I cleared my throat, scared he would mention something bad, what I wasn't sure. "Dear Kalmine, I hope you get this letter before you reach the Dursley's, as I am not sure if they are familiar with owl post. I am in hiding with Buckbeak, who is surprisingly good company, and I cannot tell you where for fear my letter gets intercepted, for I believe the dementors are still looking for me. I am planning on letting some muggles see me so they'll spread word and throw them off the Hogwarts trail, and it will be safer, hopefully. At least get rid of the dementors.

I never did get around to informing you or your brother that it was I who sent Harry that firebolt. I suppose I did, in fact, fulfill my duty as a Godfather and deliver gifts where they were needed. As a last gift to Harry, I have signed his Hogsmeade permission slip. When I get back to you, I expect you to demand a gift too after all your brother has gotten. I know, I'm horrible.

If you ever need to write me, send a letter and the owl should find me. I'll try to write again sometime soon,

Sirius

There was a low silence before Lee broke out in a rampage of words. "See? See? Everything good happens to you! Where's MY cool godfather to buy me things, all I have is my mothers weird uncle who smells like rotten pumpkin-"

We all tuned him out for a while. "I'm going to miss you all this summer." I sighed drearily, envisioning myself trapped for months in my room at the Dursleys, only my wizarding trinkets to keep me going, and hopefully, letters.

"Like you don't every summer!" scoffed Fred from my lap.

"We'll miss you too, Kal," Angelina said sympathetically. "Hey, maybe I can kidnap you and bring you to my house!"

"Harry."

"He could come too!"

"I don't think so, Ange, but thanks for the offer," I joked.

"Oi! The Quidditch World Cup is in England this year, dad was talking about getting tickets from the Ministry! You could probably come with us, you and Harry! Though I'm sure Ron's already invited him." Fred cried in a stroke of genius.

"Oh! The Cup! That'd be amazing! I hope I get to go, I'm sure they'll let me after… well… what happened when we last parted ways."

With this prospect in mind to fuel me through the months, I turned and faced the approaching station.

OoOoOoOoOo

"Goodbye Kal! I'll try to call about the Cup, yeah?" Fred hollered after me when I reached the Dursleys. "Manage mischief, okay?"

"OKAY BYE FRED! BYE GEORGE! BYE LEE! BYE ANGE, AND KATIE, AND ALICIA!" I shouted after them, ignoring the looks of horror on my relatives faces as we made a scene at the station, waving and shouting like the idiots we were. Harry approached us with a sheet clutched in his hands. The permission slip from Sirius, I realized.

"What's that?" Vernon snarled, staring at the envelope Harry was still clutching in his hand. "If it's another form for me to sign, you've got another-"

"It's not," said Harry cheerfully. "It's a letter from my godfather."

"Godfather?" sputtered Uncle Vernon. "You haven't got a godfather!"

"Yes we have! He's real nice!" I said.

"He was my mum and dad's best friend. He's a convicted murderer, but he's broken out of wizard prison and he's on the run. He likes to keep in touch with me, though ... keep up with my news ... check if I'm happy ..."

"Really quick temper though. I can't imagine what would happen if he heard something he didn't like…" I said mischievously.

And, grinning broadly at the look of horror on Uncle Vernon's face, we both set off in promise of a better summer, hopefully no more of the life-or-death drama, the only future to worry about the Quidditch World Cup.

A/N: AAAAAAND here it is, the last chapter of the Prisoners of Azkaban! I am so excited to get started on the next year. But sadly, daily updates stop here. Thank you to all my amazing followers, reviewers, and favourites who have stuck by this for so long and who insist it isn't absolute crap when I know it is. Thanks, you're all awesome.

A small change you might have noticed: I'm editing out Fionina and Abigail, the OC friends I made up for Kalmine. She has too many friends to keep track of as it is, and they're sort of pointless. So sorry, but not sorry, and I'm sure they won't be missed.

How have you been pronouncing her full name? Could ya comment? I think it is supposed to be KAL- MINE, but I have been pronouncing it KAL- MEAN. Whoopsie. Anyway, see you in the Goblet of Fire! (A much more action-packed one, I can promise you that! And I'll be sticking to the Canon way more.)

Stay awesome,

Forever Maria 3