Thank you for your patience. Time seems to have flown by and life seems to get busier. I hope to have the next chapter up soon. For those of you waiting for Soul Guardian I am working on the next chapter.
See Chapter one for disclaimers and warnings.
For those asking for the titles to be read out I'm maintaining my stance on not putting in any of the book but if you look at my chapter titles its the chapter of the book they are reading.
Thanks to my beta TrueAisu for her terrific work.
Emmeline was holding the book loosely in her hands as she looked around the room. "Perhaps we should stop for dinner," She suggested hopefully. Her reluctance to read was clearly written on her face.
To her surprise the always ready to eat Weasleys were shaking their heads. "Don't get me wrong, I could eat," Ron told her. "But I want to get through this book as soon as possible."
Bill nodded. "If we read one more chapter before eating and then at least two after, we could possibly finish tomorrow."
Kingsley was looking at his seat mate in concern. "You don't have to read if you don't want to," he offered, holding out his hand to take back the book.
She shook her head as she felt Snape's simmering glare. "No, it's okay." She gave the dark skinned man an appreciative smile as she opened the book and read out the chapter title.
Harry's sudden coughing fit had her looking up to find the trio grinning and looking pointedly at Sirius. The dog animagus was looking a bit flushed as he avoided their gazes.
"We are definitely not taking a break now." Kingsley murmured, his voice a mixture of amusement and anticipation. He tilted his head towards McGonagall whose face had gone very pinched.
Emmeline quickly turned back to the book before the woman could start lecturing, telling the group how Defense against the Dark Arts was now a favorite class.
Tonks gave the man beside her a light shove. "See? The students loved you. You were their favorite professor."
"Not just Harry's group either. Students from all the years enjoyed his class," Fred pointed out.
George nodded. "We didn't even mind that we couldn't get away with any pranks in his class."
"Of course, if we'd known he was a Marauder we would have tried a lot harder," the first twin considered. He sent a grin at the werewolf.
Remus smirked back at them. "You still wouldn't have gotten anything past me." He chuckled when their eyes lit up.
Emmeline was looking thoughtful. "How do you feel about teaching history?" She asked.
Bill gave her a confused look. "Why would he teach history when he's so good at defense?"
"Well the defense position has a jinx, doesn't it?" She pointed out. "So if we had two professors who were really good, they could switch subjects every year and we'd have two classes with consistent and good teaching."
Remus was already shaking his head. "I couldn't possibly return to teaching." His hard look stopped anyone from protesting. "It's too dangerous."
Sirius bit his tongue to keep from speaking. He'd had this argument with the man before with no success. He still maintained that it hadn't been completely Remus's fault. Dumbledore had hired a werewolf knowing the dangers. He should have had someone maintaining the situation and making sure Remus had either taken the potion or was locked up. Sirius sighed, knowing it wouldn't do any good to point it out now, not when his biggest supporters in his fight against Dumbledore had no idea what was going to happen.
Emmeline too had put the subject on the back burner for now, figuring the current book would explain the problem and they could reason with Remus a bit better once it did.
No one was surprised when Malfoy's Slytherin group was the exception to Remus's popularity, though there were noises of dissent at hearing how the blonde mocked the man anytime they passed.
Remus shrugged away the sounds of protest. "He wanted attention. The best response to that was to ignore him," he said simply.
"That still doesn't make it okay," Molly muttered. She knew the man couldn't have possibly retaliated in the proper way but if anyone needed to have their bum lit on fire it was that child.
Emmeline had an angry look on her face as she continued, the expression easing into a smile as a short description of Remus's next few classes was given.
Charlie looked excited. "That sounds brilliant. Did you bring actual specimens to class?"
Bill laughed at his brother's antics. "Should we enroll you back in school? Maybe this time you'll get better grades."
"Ha, ha. You know you wouldn't have minded being in his class, especially compared to the professors we had to put up with." He turned back to the amused ex-professor. "So did you?"
Remus shrugged. "I had a kappa, but the red caps were a little too violent. Instead I conjured little doll versions and animated them." He smiled at the surprised looks he received. "They still got to experience the things with none of the danger."
"By the end of the year we had a whole collection of figurines." Harry said, happy that everyone looked suitably impressed
Tonks was grinning proudly. "Just imagine what you could do with the goblin wars, "she said pointedly to the man beside her, smirking at the faint gleam in his eyes.
Snape gritted his teeth a moment later when the direction of the book changed to Potter's dissatisfaction with the rest of his classes, particularly Potions. "It must have been hard to leave playtime with your little dolls and actually have to do some work."
Arthur raised an eyebrow at the man. "Careful there, Severus. Your words sound an awful like jealousy." Harry and Hermione at least tried to hide their smirks while the Weasley children laughed outright.
Snape sneered at the man, a faint blush highlighting his cheeks. "Why should I be jealous? I'm not the one resorting to cheap tricks in order to teach."
"No, but then again, everyone hates your class," Sirius sniped back. "And only a handful go on to NEWTS."
Emmeline didn't give anyone time to respond, reading about the decline in the Potion professor's mood after the news of Neville's boggart spread throughout the school.
"You have only yourself to blame," she stopped to point out. "If you weren't so nasty the students wouldn't have been so happy to pass on the story.
Remus was looking abashed. "It certainly wasn't my intention to malign a fellow professor and I am sorry that it only made the situation worse for Neville."
The round faced boy waved the words away. "It was worth it. The rest of the students were treating me like a hero, which was a bit odd but great too, and I always had that image of him to refer to during class."
McGonagall pursed her lips. "Indeed. I believe my third years lost a record number of points in the month following that incident due to inappropriate laughter." The Gryffindors exchanged glances, deciding not to mention the portrait of Boggart Snape that Dean had drawn and hung in the common room.
Harry grimaced as Divination was brought up with Emmeline describing how Trelawney's eyes filled with tears every time she looked at him.
Sirius snorted. "You should have put on some big production faking your death in her class. That would have made her leave you alone."
"Or get so mad that she'd become even worse," Bill cut in dryly. "I can just see her saying how you had seen your own death and was mimicking it for the class."
Harry made a face. "I'm actually hoping that I could take Padfoot to a class. I'm sure she would appreciate having an actual Grim to show the class." He grinned when his godfather perked up.
"No," Remus said firmly, looking at his friend. "You are not going to the school and putting yourself in danger just to scare Trelawney."
"But if I was in the school for another reason I could take a little side trip," he hedged. The woman deserved some kind of payback for all the drama she had put his godson through.
Emmeline simply shook her head as she continued to read, telling how most of the class treated the divination teacher with reverence.
Ron made a gagging sound. "I think you need to clarify that in you thoughts mate. The girls might 've liked her, but most of us guys knew what a crackpot she was. Right, Neville?"
"Absolutely," the round-faced boy was quick to agree.
"And certainly not all the girls either," Hermione added with a glare.
Fred grinned at her. "I don't think that was ever in doubt." He chuckled at hearing how Hermione's dorm mates had taken to imitating their professor, treating Harry as if he was on his deathbed.
Neville grimaced. "That was a bit annoying. They would squeal or gasp at the littlest things you did."
Harry snorted. "Like the time Ron said something and I choked on the pumpkin juice I was drinking. I swear they spent the rest of the night planning my funeral."
Hermione smirked at him. "They did have the perfect outfits chosen for the event when it did happen."
Sirius ignored the leap his heart gave at the mention of the kid's funeral, choosing instead to grin at the teen. "You had two girls watching your every move and you think it was a bad thing?" His grin widened at his godson's blush.
Emmeline shook her head at the man before telling the group how Care of Magical Creatures was the third class Harry dreaded, on par with History after Hagrid lost his confidence.
Charlie and Tonks exchanged looks knowing they had no way of defending the big man. The dragon tamer went so far as to grimace at hearing about the flobberworms.
"I can understand him not wanting to do anything to injure any other students, but he has to realize that he can't spend the whole year on one creature. How are they supposed to pass their owls if he doesn't actually teach them anything?" Bill asked. "And is he having the NEWT students looking after the flobberworms too?"
Moody was eyeing the professors. "You would think someone would step in and give him a little push to follow some form of curriculum instead of letting him ruin the education of so many students."
"I do not presume to tell my professors how to do their jobs." Dumbledore started.
"That's obvious," Bill muttered. His look urged Emmeline to continue reading.
Molly nodded at hearing her son question why anyone would bother looking after the flobberworms. "They do fine on their own. More than fine," she added, thinking of how the pests ruined her garden. "He should be teaching them how to get rid of the things."
Charlie visibly brightened as the start of the quidditch season was brought up while Harry, Fred and George exchanged chagrined looks as they remembered the fevered passion they'd had at the beginning of the year. Around the room the rest of the adults were relieved that the subject was off the school curriculum and its professors.
Emmeline quickly read through the brief description of Quidditch, its positions and the balls used before describing the desperation of the Gryffindor Quidditch captain as he gave his team a preseason talk.
"For someone who's going into a professional Quidditch career he really needs a good season to impress the scouts," Tonks realized.
"It's not that bad," Charlie was quick to point out. "Scouts understand that it takes a team to win games and they aren't scouting the whole team. They'll look at his leadership skills and he was a captain for four years, more than most Hogwarts students, and they'll look at his keeper skills."
"Which were spot on," Fred was quick to point out. "He had the record for the lowest number of balls let in."
Kingsley looked impressed. "He'd do a lot better to stop stressing and enjoy his last year."
George snorted. "That isn't in Oliver's vocabulary. Besides he would have felt like he'd failed if he left without a championship."
"He really has had rotten luck," Arthur pointed out. "If it wasn't for circumstances he could have had three championships under his belt when he left school."
"I don't care if he gets any or not as long as he's not putting pressure on Harry to risk his life anymore," Sirius reminded them.
Emmeline was nodding as she continued reading. In the book Oliver was pumping up his team by naming each of their attributes.
"I think it's nice that he appreciates the team he has," Tonks pointed out. She noticed that Ron was hanging on every word. She really hoped that he had given up his dream of being a captain himself - even if he did make the team at some point, the amount of seniority would mean that he wouldn't make captain during his Hogwarts years. She could see it causing some jealously down the line.
Sirius listened impressed as the team rallied around their captain, practicing with determination. "That was the mark of a good captain that he could inspire his team in such a manner. James was like that." He couldn't help smiling at hearing his godson's own dreams of winning the quidditch cup.
The mood in the room took a nosedive as Harry returned from practice to find that the first Hogsmeade trip had been posted.
McGonagall threw the redheaded twin a look at the mention of dungbombs. "And just what have you been doing that you needed more?" She asked.
Fred ignored her in favor of apologizing to his silent partner. "Sorry Harry. If we'd known then that you couldn't go, we would have given the map to you earlier."
George nodded earnestly. "We didn't know anything about it until we saw Ron and Hermione in the village without you."
Harry gave them an appreciative smile. "Thanks, but it really wasn't that bad."
Sirius squeezed his godson's knee, mentally making plans to take the kid somewhere fun at the first opportunity. Charlie and Bill exchanged looks, unknowingly echoing the man's thoughts.
Emmeline continued to read as Hermione tried to console her friend by pointing out that the escaped prisoner was sure to be caught soon.
McGonagall shook her head. "Even if Mr. Black had not been a threat, Mr. Potter would not have been able to go."
"But it was nice of you to try to cheer him up," Tonks added.
Sirius was pretending to look outraged. "Everyone is missing the most important part of that statement!" He rolled his eyes at the confused looks. "I was not going to get caught."
Harry gave him a sad look. "Even if it meant I never got to go to Hogsmeade?"
"Don't try to guilt trip me, mister." Sirius couldn't keep the smile off his face. "Don't forget that I know you made it into town that year."
"Busted," Charlie called out.
The teen shrugged, his own grin lighting up his face. "Had to see if it would work."
Bill frowned as he listened to his youngest brother berate Harry into approaching McGonagall. "I know you want your friend to go with you, but you shouldn't push him to ask. He might not have wanted to make a big deal out of it and you shouldn't get his hopes up."
Ron shrugged. "Harry would have told me if he didn't want to, right?" He asked looking at his friend.
"In this instance I wanted to," Harry answered diplomatically.
Emmeline was thankful the conversation in the book was soon derailed by the arrival of Crookshanks, bringing out Ron's antagonism towards the animal.
Charlie was looking disappointed. "I really don't know why you have such a dislike of that cat."
George chuckled. "Maybe because he gets to sleep with….." He yelped as Fred kicked him hard.
Ron scowled at the the twin. "That cat disliked me, well I thought it was me, and was always watching me and following me around. It was a bit creepy." He nodded his head as Emmeline read about the cat chewing on the spider in front of him. "I swear he did that on purpose. Why else would he choose a spider of all things?"
Tonks raised an eyebrow when Hermione praised her cat for its catch while ignoring Ron's discomfort, but refrained from saying anything for the moment. She had a feeling that another opportunity would arise very soon.
Emmeline continued reading, her voice turning frosty as Harry pulled out his homework, only to have his friend offer his completed parchment to copy from. Beside her, Kingsley noticed Molly Weasley opening her mouth to start one of her loud rants. He quickly nudged Emmeline to continue reading.
She did, telling the group how Crookshanks choose that moment to pounce, tearing into Ron's bag.
Bill's eyes widened. "That cat really has it in for Scabbers," he said, remembering how Ron had mentioned that his rat was sleeping in the bag a few lines previously.
Beside him Charlie quickly shook his head. "I think there is more to it that just cat/rat rivalries. I think that rat is more than we thought it was," he murmured causing his older brother to look grim.
Across the room Ron was muttering angrily under his breath. "Should have let Crookshanks have him."
Neville and Ginny were both chuckling as they listened to Ron's fight with the cat. "It was a bit ridiculous to watch," Neville explained. "Ron was yelling and cursing, spinning in circles and swinging this huge orange cat."
The ginger-haired girl nodded. "At first I thought it was one of the twins' pranks until Scabbers ran out."
"Then of course the whole common room tried to catch the two animals, but everyone missed," Harry added. He shrugged as his two friends sent him looks. "It was funny. "
He grimaced a moment later. "Until you two started fighting and I got put in the middle."
"Why are pets even allowed at school?" Emmeline asked. "I mean, I can see owls, but they stay up in the owlery. Cats are natural predators and are not meant to be caged or confined which means they frequently get into other peoples' things."
Kingsley nodded. "And not everyone has a owl, cat, or toad. It should be an all or nothing policy. Not that I want every student to bring their pets; I think the point of this discussion is that students shouldn't have pets at school."
"Pets are an unnecessary distraction," Moody grunted. "Students are there to learn."
"So you want them to leave all of their comforts at home?" McGonagall asked stiffly. "Why don't we just make it a prison?"
"There is a big difference to having a plushy with them and a live animal that causes problems with other students," Remus pointed out gently. "But this isn't a discussion we need to have today. Why don't we continue?"
Emmeline complied, reading out how the fight between the two teenagers continued the next day through their Herbology lesson where Hermione tried to bridge the gap by asking after Scabbers.
"I'm glad that you're trying," Tonks started, biting her lip as she searched for words. "I think the fight itself could have been avoided if you had admitted fault and apologized."
Hermione gave her a shocked look. "But I wasn't wrong. He was blaming Crookshanks when my cat was just following his instincts."
"Regardless of why Crookshanks acted, he did attack another person's pet," Remus pointed out gently. "You insisted that all cats chase rats but knowing that your friend had a pet rat you should have taken precautions to prevent this from happening."
'Yeah, Ron could have taken precautions too," Tonks continued quickly, seeing the mutinous look on the teen's face. "But the fact of the matter was that it was your pet attacking his, and thus your responsibility. How much easier would this have all been if you had apologized for Crookshanks and promised to keep him away from Ron from then on?"
The redheaded teen nodded. "That would have helped a lot." He shrugged away the looks he was getting from Sirius and Harry. "By the end of the year I didn't care, but right then I felt like you were saying that your cat was better than my secondhand rat, that you were better than me and that I didn't matter to you."
Hermione nodded, her face a study in concentration as she thought about what they had said. Unfortunately she didn't get much time to contemplate it as Emmeline read about the crowd of Gryffindors gathered around a crying Lavender Brown.
The blonde woman paused in her reading as she looked up in concern. "That doesn't sound good," she worried. She quickly resumed reading as the girl's roommate explained about a pet rabbit dying.
Fred tried hard to stifle his laughter. It didn't help that George was hiding behind him, shaking from his own mirth. "She had a bunny named Binky?" He managed to get out.
His mother frowned at him. "She's probably had the thing for years and named him when she was small. There's no reason to make it into a joke. I could tell tales of some to the things you gave particular names to when you were younger. " She suggested effectively shutting them up.
Emmeline's voice was incredulous as Lavender reminded the class of Trelawney's words of a dreaded event in the middle of October. "Utterly ridiculous," she muttered.
"This is what happens when people are determined to believe charlatans. They make circumstances fit the prediction."
Across the room Sirius was having much the same thoughts, only his glare was directed at the headmaster.
Moody snorted when Lavender said she must have been dreading the event since it proved the prediction true. "No brains and no common sense. Girl doesn't even know what she was thinking."
Tonks winced when Hermione probed the wound. "I understand your logic but you really need to learn when to let things go. She's obviously distraught and not ready to listen to reasoning."
Hermione nodded. "Looking back I can see that it only made the situation worse, but at the time it just frustrated me so much," she explained in a low voice. She was horrified that her quest to always be right came at the cost of other people's feelings.
Fred shot a look at his mother when the rabbit was confirmed as only being a baby. "She was crazy for naming the thing that," he muttered to his twin. He grimaced as Hermione tried to force the group to see reason until Ron finally shut her up.
Emmeline continued reading as the Transfiguration class ended with McGonagall asking for their hogsmeade permission slips.
"I know that this is a normal part of the school year and that the book is just showing it to put emphasis on Harry not being able to go to Hogsmeade, but it's almost rubbing his face in it." Tonks observed.
"How much of a coincidence is it that the day Harry gets up the nerve to ask McGonagall to sign his form is the same day she asks for them to be handed in?" Bill pointed out. "Does that make it easier or harder for him to ask?"
"Easier I think," the dark haired teen answered. "I was able to get right to the point instead of trying to find a way to bring the subject up."
"Not that it helped," Ron muttered. He listened as Neville panicked about his form only to hear that his grandmother had already sent it in.
"How does she expect you to learn responsibility if she doesn't give you any?" Kingsley muttered angrily.
"And to not even tell you so that you panic thinking you'd lost it when you never even had it in the first place," Emmeline said, exasperated.
Neville shrugged away their concern. "I probably would have lost it anyway."
"You don't know that, Neville, and the fact that everyone assumed you would only undermines your confidence," the dark-skinned man pointed out. He turned back to the book as Harry approached his head of house.
The twins began humming a funeral march.
"Brave lad, approaching the dragon lady," Sirius joked in an attempt to keep things as light hearted as possible. He figured this next bit might bring up bad memories for his godson, the forced restriction while everyone else in his year had fun sure to have given him a few bad moments. Not that it would be a picnic for him either. He hated hearing about the hardships the kid had to endure.
.Across the room McGonagall had puffed up. "Excuse me, Mr. Black? Dragon lady?"
"You're more likely to spit fire at times than one of my nesting mothers," Charlie pointed out with a grin. He smiled innocently as her glare hardened.
Emmeline shook her head at him as she continued reading, telling of Harry's request and his professor's response.
"You could have been a bit more sympathetic to him," Tonks grumbled. "It would have taken a lot of courage to approach you."
"Not to mention embarrassing to have to ask your professor for something that his family should have taken care of," Bill added.
"Besides, shouldn't you have taken the time to find out why?" Arthur asked. He ducked his head when her glare transferred to him. "I just mean you are aware that they are muggles. Maybe they didn't understand the form or really did forget. Couldn't you have paid them a visit?"
"Sprout would have. She would have considered it one of her duties as head of house," Tonks offered.
McGonagall's frown deepened. "If a student can't be responsible enough to get a simple form signed then they don't need to be going to the village anyway," she answered stiffly.
No one told Ron off when Emmeline read about him calling McGonagall some choice words; they were all feeling the same way about the woman themselves.
The reading continued with Harry's fellow year mates offering support, from reminders that the Halloween feast would be that night to Dean offering to forge Vernon's signature.
Charlie groaned. "That's bad luck. You really should have scouted out a solution before approaching McGonagall."
Fred nodded his mind full of ideas for the younger Gryffindor's skills. "He probably would have done a good job of it. Not that it would have mattered. I doubt any of the professors have seen Dursley's signature."
"Even if Harry had a signed form, they would have found a reason to not let him go," Bill argued. "They clearly felt that the best way to keep him safe was to keep him miserable."
Sirius perked up at the mention of the invisibility cloak before being reminded of the dementors. "Still, if you were in a large enough crowd there's no reason for them to single you out. It's not like they would know you didn't have a form. It's only if you were walking by them alone that they would come and investigate."
"There's still his reaction to them," Remus reminded his friend. "At that time Harry couldn't come within a few feet of them without becoming ill."
Emmeline continued, causing the Weasleys to hang their heads when Percy's attempts to cheer Harry up amounted to him listing all the good things the teen would be missing out on.
"I suppose we should be grateful that he even tried," Bill finally said . He nodded approvingly at hearing that Ron and Hermione had put aside their squabble to support their friend.
"The sweets just don't taste the same if you don't get to pick them out yourself," Tonks pointed out when the two offered to bring some back. "It's the atmosphere of the shop as much as the actual sweet."
Emmeline had to agree with her. Being in Honeydukes was her favorite part of visiting the village. She grimaced at reading that Harry had accompanied his friends to the front doors.
"Are you a glutton for punishment?" Charlie asked in disbelief. "If it had been me I would have stayed in bed as long as possible. If you sleep the day away it doesn't seem so bad."
Harry shrugged. "I didn't want my friends to worry about me and ruin their own day. Plus there was a very small chance that McGonagall or Dumbledore would come and tell me I could go."
"Instead you get Malfoy taunting you," Fred pointed out, annoyed with himself that he hadn't noticed and helped the kid out.
The reading continued as Harry made his way back to the tower alone.
"Its really not that bad not going to Hogsmeade." Luna pointed out, her voice lower than her usual chipper tone. "It's nice to be able to use the library when it's practically empty."
Sirius frowned down at her in concern. "Why don't you go to Hogsmeade, Luna?"
She shrugged. "It's not much fun to go alone and I don't have any friends. Its better to work on my school work when I'm not always being disrupted."
Harry leaned down until he was staring into her light eyes. "Luna would you go to Hogsmeade with me the next time we go? I want to show you how fun it is."
He was rewarded with a brilliant smile. "I think I would like that, Harry Potter."
"Good," he said, sitting back and basking in the proud smile Sirius gave him.
Ron leaned over to stare at his best friend. "Did you just ask Luna on a date?" He muttered incredulously.
Harry looked faintly alarmed. "I don't know. I thought it was just a friendly thing. Did I?" he murmured back.
Hermione gave a small laugh. "Boys," she said, shaking her head. She motioned for them to pay attention to the reading.
In the book Colin was inviting Harry to join him and his fellow second years in their activities.
"Just because they were a year younger than you is no reason not to spend time with them," Molly admonished with a pointed look at her daughter.
"Their age had nothing to do with it," Harry protested. "It's the fact that they were the primary members of the fan club," he finished, making a face.
"I'm surprised, Potter. I would think you would enjoy having their attention lavished on you," Snape pointed out, his trademark sneer firmly in place.
"Decidedly not. I would have thought with how smart you think you are that you would have realized that by now," the teen sniped back. He could hear his godfather's choked laughter beside him.
Emmeline was smiling as she continued reading, telling them how Harry had left the tower only to be confronted by Filch.
"He's allowed to walk the halls during the weekend," Charlie scoffed angrily. "Just because he can't go to Hogsmeade doesn't mean he's restricted to the tower." He nodded approvingly when Harry doubled back with the intention of visiting Hedwig.
Emmeline's voice brightened as the teen was given a distraction from his misery in the form of Remus.
"Really, why didn't you go looking for him before this?" She asked. "It would have been the perfect day to have some one-on-one time with him."
Remus grimaced. "It would have seemed strange to him if I had sought him out. I was just his professor," he pointed out.
"Not if you'd told him who you really were," Tonks muttered under her breath.
"And I had no idea until that moment that he hadn't gone to Hogsmeade," the werewolf continued.
"Well at least you did try to distract him once you knew," Hermione spoke up. She was eyeing the unhappy expressions on Sirius and Harry's faces as well as Bill and Charlie. "It really did take his mind off of things."
Emmeline took the cue to continue reading, giving them a description of the Grindylow Remus had in his office.
"I learned a lot from that little lesson," Harry reluctantly offered. "It helped a lot in the second task."
Remus gave him a smile. "I'm glad I was able to help. "
Neville cocked his head as Professor Lupin asked Harry to stay for a cup of tea. "That probably did seem strange, having a random teacher ask you to tea. McGonagall only does that when she has bad news to give you."
"I did have second thoughts," Harry admitted. "I mean, the previous two DADA professors had tried to either kill me or erase my memory. This one could have been trying to poison me." He forced the words to come out in a teasing manner, happy he had when Sirius chuckled.
"Poisoning's not his style. He would make it seem like an accident that in no way implicated him," he explained.
Remus rolled his eyes. "I would yes, if I had wanted to kill him..." His lips quirked up when he was reminded of teasing the teen about the tea leaves.
"That's just further proof that the professors get together and gossip about us," Fred pouted out, giving his head of house an accusing look.
"There is no need to make it sound so sinister," she snapped back. "There is nothing wrong with mentioning the incident and asking the other professors to keep an eye on Mr. Potter."
"Just what I need, more people watching my every move." Harry muttered under his breath. He looked over at Remus when his thoughts about the dog came up. "Would you have said anything then?" He asked, almost defiantly.
Remus hesitated. "To you, most likely not. To my shame I probably wouldn't have told Dumbledore either. I would have reasoned it away that Surrey was a long way from Hogwarts and you were currently safe in the castle."
"Padfoot thanks you for not giving up his secret," Sirius said quietly.
Remus shook his head. "I was foolish not to give up your animagus abilities. If you really had been a murderer it could have ended very badly."
"But he wasn't and if you had given up the secret it still could have ended very badly," Tonks pointed out. "I think subconsciously you knew you could trust your friend."
"Or he just didn't want to admit to his hero Dumbledore that he had been keeping secrets," Kingsley murmured to his seat mate.
She grimaced in agreement as she found her place in the book. She sighed as she read that Harry believed the older man thought him a coward, glad that the teen questioned him about not facing the Boggart. .
"Told you he would think that," Sirius muttered. He relaxed a bit when his friend explained his reasoning.
"It is a reasonable assumption," Bill pointed out. "I think we all would have thought that Voldemort would have been Harry's Boggart."
"When you think about it though, Harry had won all his encounters with the madman, so why would he be afraid of him?" Charlie pointed out. "The dementors on the other hand had soundly defeated him in their one encounter."
Harry made a face at the dragon handler. "Thanks Charlie."
He flashed a grin back. "No problem. Just doing my job of deflating your ego."
They settled back as the tea chat was interrupted by the arrival of Professor Snape with the Wolfsbane potion.
Kingsley raised his eyebrows at the expression on the other man's face at finding the teen in the office. "He probably thought Remus was regaling Harry with stories of his father and their pranks against the Slytherins."
"Would've been nice if he was," Harry muttered resentfully under his breath. He still didn't understand why the man had withheld the information.
Emmeline continued reading, stopping when Snape pointed out that he had made an entire cauldron should Lupin need more.
"Why would you need more? The wolfsbane sold in Diagon Alley is just one dose, and even that's horribly expensive," Emmeline pointed out.
Remus shrugged, looking faintly embarrassed. "That was just my anxieties talking. I felt that if I had more than one dose I could better control the wolf and be safer. Really, it didn't make a difference if I drank one or three."
She shook her head at him before reading the brief and very non descriptive explanation he gave for the potion to Harry.
"You can't drink that in front of him and not give him any more information than that," Ginny protested. "As curious as he is he's not going to rest until he knows what it is."
"Actually I had something else on my mind than why he was talking the potion," the teen corrected her. He studiously avoided looking at Snape.
Emmeline was chuckling as she told the group of Harry's suspicions of the Potions professor.
Remus too was amused. "Your attempts were very interesting if not at all subtle. Thinking back it reminded me a lot of your godfather really."
Sirius pretended to sigh. "When will you people get it through your heads that I'm creating a mini me."
"Merlin help us," the werewolf groaned dramatically as the younger set burst into laughter.
Emmeline quickly continued reading as there was a short time jump in to book to just before the Halloween feast and the arrival of Ron and Hermione from hogsmeade.
"Is it easier to hear about the fun after the fact or listen to the anticipation beforehand?" Kingsley asked curiously.
Harry cocked his head. "After I think. Before I had that stretch of alone time looming over me. But afterward I wanted to hear what they had done so I could plan for when I did get to go. And it was good seeing them so happy." He paused for a minute. "Plus I had my own mystery to share with them and that helped."
Hermione blushed at hearing her excited babble about the post office. "It was interesting seeing all those owls. There were so many different breeds and sizes. And I learned so much. It was a relief knowing I didn't have to have an owl of my own. I do wish I had known about it the summer before then I could have written to Harry."
Ron rolled his eyes at her. "Took forever to get her out of there," he mumbled before perking up at the mention of fudge samples from Honeydukes.
"It was great," Fred agreed. "Toasted chocolate pumpkin. It's a Halloween special now. Only time of the year they make it."
The mention of the butterbeer had a few of the boys looking longingly toward the kitchen. Emmeline quickly continued reading, knowing that the sooner she finished, the sooner they could eat.
In the book Harry was telling them about his suspicions about Snape.
Remus looked amused when Ron questioned his sanity for drinking anything that Snape gave him. "Had we still been in school I would have certainly been cautious, but I would hope that we've grown up enough to desist with the potentially violent pranks," he finished with a pointed look at the other man.
"Only because it would be obvious I had done it," Snape muttered under his breath earning a censorious look from the headmaster.
The reading continued as the trio entered the gaily decorated main hall for the feast where they indulged themselves despite two of the three gorging on sweets all afternoon.
There were some chuckles from the twins as Harry kept a close eye on his DADA professor, watching for signs of poor health or evidence of poisoning.
Snape sneered when the brat wondered if he was imagining the frequent looks the potion professor was sending to his potential victim. "Merlin save us from your overactive imagination. It's a wonder we aren't all flying off to Neverland." He refrained from smirking at the confused faces of the Weasleys.
"I'll explain later." Hermione assured Ron before he could open his mouth to demand an explanation. She slid a glance at Harry who was chuckling with Sirius, both of whom seemed to have gotten the reference.
Emmeline continued reading, her voice sharpening with curiosity as the trio returned to their tower only to find the entrance blocked.
The order members exchanged confused looks before Kingsley nudged Emmeline to continue.
"This is one time when he has the right to flaunt his position," Bill said as Percy pushed his way to the front declaring his title as Head Boy.
Molly grasped her husbands hand as her fellow Order member read about the sudden silence before stating Percy's order to get the headmaster.
"Okay, this sounds bad," Charlie murmured, shifting in his seat. "You don't think a dementor got into the school, do you?"
His older brother shook his head, his gaze on the pale animagus. "No, I think Sirius might have been close to getting caught or something." He shushed Charlie so he could listen to the rest of the story.
He blinked in shock at hearing about the Gryffindor guardian's portrait being slashed to ribbons.
Emmeline and Molly were looking concerned while the three aurors were staring at Sirius with concerned suspicion. Remus had shifted over, disapproval plain on his face. Luna took the opportunity to squeeze in between the two, joining Harry in forming a shield in front of Sirius. They glared back at the three grim faced professors.
Neville had watched all this with wide eyes but a poke from Ginny kept him from naming Sirius as the culprit.
"I think it would be best if we finished out the chapter," Hermione suggested quietly. She was torn between protecting Harry's godfather and wanting to know what had made the man lose control like that.
Emmeline nodded. She picked up from where she had left off though she couldn't help the quick glances she shot at her former classmate as she told of Dumbledore's arrival and his request to his deputy to have Filch search for the Fat Lady.
"Why take the time to do a manual search, especially by a squib who's so cranky he'll amble along? Why not ask the other portraits down the stairs, have them spread the word to their fellow portraits and to any students and professors near them. And alert the ghosts. They could surely search faster than Filch." Moody grumbled.
"Thankfully none of that was necessary," Dumbledore answered pleasantly. "Peeves already had our answers."
Emmeline gasped as the poltergeist named Sirius as the perpetrator. "Sirius Black," she exclaimed. "Just when I thought that you had put your rash, impulsive behavior behind you, you do something horrible."
"You don't know why he did it yet." Harry spoke up. "He probably has a good reason - just like he's had a good reason for everything else he's done so far." Charlie, Fred and George nodded in agreement, clearly on Sirius's side even though they didn't understand. Bill looked undecided but was wise enough to keep his mouth shut.
Sirius smiled at the teen before shifting in his seat. "It wasn't my intention to cause harm." He started to explain. "There was someone..something in the tower that I desperately needed in order to protect Harry, and to avenge James and Lily. I figured the feast was the best time to get it. No one would be there. I hadn't anticipated what being inside Hogwarts for the first time would do to me." He swallowed thickly, grateful for the comforting presence of Harry and Luna, though Remus' distance was like a knife to the heart.
"That doesn't excuse you from attacking her," McGonagall pointed out.
Sirius frowned. "It doesn't, no. But when you combine that with the way she acted," He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "That stupid portrait has never liked me. She wouldn't even let me explain. And it wasn't to yell for help. Nope, as soon as she saw me she started going on about how she knew I was a bad seed and never should have been in her house. It reminded me of my mad mum and it was just all a bit too much."
"I probably would have gone off on her too," Tonks offered, deciding the explanation was sufficient enough for the moment. "I just have one question? Why can't you do that to the portrait of your mum upstairs?"
Sirius forced a laugh, though around the room he could see doubt and distrust on most faces. He didn't blame them. He'd often had the same thought. How could he be safe around Harry, how could he parent him if he was prone to bursts of anger like he had shown in that moment?
He looked up when he heard his godson calling his name.
"Aren't you going to come eat?" Harry asked, staring at the man in worry.
He shook his head. "I'm not very hungry. But you go, you shouldn't be missing meals." He stayed in his slumped over position as the kid gave him a long look before leaving the room.
"You shouldn't be too hard on yourself." Molly spoke up from her own seat, startling him.
He gave her a considering look. "I would think you most of all would want to keep Harry away from me after hearing that."
She shook her head at him. "You've never seen how I get when someone is threatening one of my chicks. We both know that Pettigrew was in that dorm room, and while revenge might have been part of your reasoning I know that a large part of your actions were geared towards protecting Harry. The Fat lady was refusing to let you do that."
"You say that now, but what if I turn that anger on Harry?" He asked in a hoarse voice.
"All parents worry about that," she told him. "I've seen you with Harry. I might not have approved at first, but you're really good for him. And if you let your doubts, needless doubts, plague you now you're going to undo all the good you've done."
Sirius nodded. "Thank you," he said sincerely, his heart a bit lighter than it had been a moment before.
"It's nothing, dear. And you'll soon see that no one other than the professors care. It's just a portrait after all. And a bad one at that. The number of times that thing got me in trouble at school…" She smiled as he laughed. "Now then we should get to dinner. No doubt that child is picking at his food as he worries about you."
