CHAPTER SIX

TALONS AND TEA LEAVES

"Chapter six. Talons and Tea Leaves." Hermione read.

"That doesn't sound so bad." Charlie mused.

"How much danger are you in?" Sirius asked his godson.

"You tell me. You're the grim I kept seeing." Harry told him.

"I think Sirius is referring to the Talons part." Tonks pointed out.

"There WAS an injury, but…well…let Hermione read."

"How bad was it?" Sirius asked frantically.

"Not as bad as it was made out to be." Harry stated.

"And for once it wasn't one of us." Ron added.

Sirius relaxed.

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"Git." Sirius muttered. "OW!"

Remus had whacked him upside the head with a look.

"Hermione. Please continue." Sirius pouted hating it when Remus had a point.

When he was 13, if Snape had fainted, Sirius would have jumped at the chance to tease the Slytherin.

He hated having something in common with his cousin's son.

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"Ignore him." Moody said.

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Everyone laughed at that as Snape rolled his eyes.

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Sirius nodded knowingly. If it hadn't been for his form, he would have as well.

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"Are you going to tell us how she did it now?" Flitwick asked McGonagall.

"I'm sure it'll be mentioned later on." Dumbledore answered for her.

Harry and Hermione exchanged nervous looks. If Snape was murderous at the knowledge of just who set him on fire during that first game their first year, that would pale in comparison when he learned that it WAS Harry and Hermione who freed Sirius and cost the Potions Master an Order of Merlin.

But then again, it WAS Dumbledore's idea.

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"I don't think I'd ever seen Hagrid so happy." Bill said.

"I have." Remus said with an eyeroll. "When he learned I was a werewolf. You know Hagrid and his dangerous animal"

"I'm amazed he never tried to make you a pet." Sirius laughed.

"He was just happy he could get information first hand." Remus said.

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"That's a very valid question." Molly stated with as much anxiety as Ron had had that day.

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Fred and George exchanged a look and nodded.

A certain Slytherin was going to be a tester for one of their Skiving Snackboxes…the one that causes fainting.

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"Sir Cadogan!" Sirius exclaimed excitedly.

"You know him?" Harry asked with his eyebrows raised.

"Yeah. A riot." Sirius said. "The best way to get on his side is to talk like him."

"Though it did get annoying as this git and James would continue the speech even AFTER we were away from him." Remus added.

Fred and George exchanged a smirk knowing what they were doing this year.

Remus then winked at Harry before adding.

"In fact, it was Sir Cadogan who gave the Marauders their group name."

"WHAT?!" the twins exchanged.

"Yep." Sirius confirmed. "Caught them setting up a prank and called them Marauders. The name stuck."

Hermione, knowing that Molly and McGonagall wanted to put off the twins knowing that Sirius and Remus were half of the Marauders for as long as possible, continued.

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"Doesn't do too well with new people, does he?" Ginny asked.

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"Looking back, I think I would have preferred to perish." Ron stated.

"Ron!" Molly scolded.

"I keep telling you that you should have dropped out like I did." Hermione stated knowingly.

"No way!" Ron said. "It's the one class I don't have to think."

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Ron leaned over Sirius' lap towards Harry who also leaned.

"I don't think 'gentle' is a good word." Ron whispered.

Hermione, having overheard, whacked him. He winced as it proved his point.

Harry chuckled at his friend's actions.

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"Boy did we." Ginny said remembering when Sir Cadogan volunteered to take over the Fat Lady's post while she was recovering from Sirius' attack.

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McGonagall, Hermione, and Molly rolled their eyes at that

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"Good one Mate!" the twins chorused as everyone from the Mauraders younger laughed.

The older people just smiled in good humor.

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"Perhaps a course description for the seconds years." McGonagall muttered under her breath.

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"I wasn't a MAN at the time. I was a teenage boy." Ron argued.

"You still are." Molly said.

"Besides, she warned the wrong Patil." Harry teased. "It was her sister you went to the ball with."

"Only because we were too slow to ask the two girls we could legitimately go with as friends."

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"Uh…wasn't that the time Hermione dropped out?" Ron asked.

"Coincidence!" Hermione argued.

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"That was freaky." Tonks said.

"If she had kept her mouth shut, Neville wouldn't have broken it." Hermione argued.

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"Good one!" the Weasley boys chorused.

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Ron sat up straighter.

"What?" Bill asked his brother.

"I lost Scabbers, my first pet…but I got Pig and my best mate got a godfather."

"Oh Ron. It's all perspective." Hermione argued.

"Hindsight's always 20/20." Tonks pointed out.

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"HA!" Everyone laughed.

"Though…" Harry admitted. "I would like to be an auror…but under a different minister."

"Maybe you can work at another Ministry. Like the French or American….once the war is over." Bill pointed out.

"Only if Sirius can come with me and I can visit you guys." Harry stated.

"We'll come visit you." Hermione said. "Australia and America are two places I'd like to go see. I hear that the American west is stunning."

"Just read before you give us the History of America." Ron stated.

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"Ron!" Molly scolded.

"I was joking!" Ron defended as Harry sat up straight.

"The tri-wizard tournament winnings!" Harry blurted out. "Ron, I think you have an inner eye after all."

"Don't be ridiculous Harry." Hermione said.

"The troll first year." Harry pointed out. "Ron told me at the sorting that he was told we'd have to wrestle a troll…look at how we became friends."

"That was actually Fred." Ron admitted.

"When we were curious about why Voldemort got the award, you suggested he murdered Myrtle. He set the Basilisk on her." Harry added.

"I had been joking!" Ron said

"Let us see how the series ends." Dumbledore suggested. "Miss. Granger?"

"Thank you professor."

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"She has a point." Sprout admitted.

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"You don't think she meant the dementor attack do you?" Harry asked Ron nervously.

"Let us hope that if it is true, it's past." Sirius said overhearing the two.

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Everyone nodded knowing that the war was not going to be pretty for Harry.

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"Wonder if she saw that coming hence why she told him to pick the blue rather than the pink." Harry mused.

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"I thought she said…" Fred started.

"…Not to ask her?" George finished.

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"Or an omen that my dog-animagus godfather is coming back into my life." Harry argued as he leaned on Sirius' shoulder.

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"It was a nice try to lighten the mood." Bill said with a shrug.

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"You should have seen James' face when he saw it." Sirius chuckled. "It was like a light bulb turned on in his head. That was when he got the idea to become an animagus to help Remus."

"I think it was one of the few times I held his full attention." McGonagall added.

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"Casual enough?" Snape asked.

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The adults laughed at that.

"Good one Minerva." Flitwick said.

Harry nodded.

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"He saw one when he was one week old." Sirius said.

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"Poor old Uncle Bilius." Fred sighed dramatically.

"He was a riot at parties." George added.

"Besides, he was drunk when he claimed to have seen it." Arthur added. "Decided to 'live out the rest of his short life' in happiness and got drunk again the next night. Apparated from the bar onto an interstate and…didn't see the truck. Due to the drunkenness, his magic didn't help."

Molly gently placed a hand on her husband's shoulder knowing that he missed his brother as much as she missed hers.

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"And thus starts another Ron vs. Hermione argument." Ginny sighed.

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"Why?" Harry asked. "Why couldn't we have it with Ravenclaws or Hufflepuffs?"

"There would be less chance of 'potential accidents'" Sirius added. "And with Hagrid's creatures, those are bound to happen."

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"Should have had the bookstore attendants inform the students." Flitwick mused.

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"Well, the book does seem to be a creature and stroking does calm them down." Remus said smirking at his friend.

"Shut up." Sirius pouted.

"What happened?" Harry asked eager for another story.

"Only way to calm a hyper Snuffles is to stroke his fur." Remus said. "Though it only works in animagus form."

"Good to know." Harry said.

Sirius sighed with relief as Harry didn't ask.

However,

"How did you figure that out?" Ginny asked

Sirius groaned and buried his face in his hand to hide the blush.

"James tried it in human form after Sirius had a bit too much sugar that day." Remus chuckled. "It was Christmas and Sirius had eaten all his candy and was bouncing off the walls. We were…your age actually Harry."

"Okay. Enough embarrassing me before I tell them of the pillow fight you started in the common room." Sirius said

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"No respect for the instructor" Sprout stated looking very disappointed.

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"Hippogriffs." Sirius stated. "Not tremendously dangerous providing you know how to handle them."

"Personally, I'd wait for fourth or fifth year for those rather than the first lesson." Remus added.

The other professors agreed.

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"It's the Gryffindor bravery left over from the trapdoor and the chamber." Bill stated.

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Hermione read that deliberately as if trying to get a point across.

"I guess some idiot decided to insult one." Charlie said.

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Snape wrote down on his list of things to bring up against Draco.

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"Chickens." Charlie said.

"They're third years!" Molly argued.

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"Of course you" McGonagall sighed.

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"At least it proved them wrong." Hermione sighed.

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"Oh come on Hagrid!" Arthur exclaimed. "At least let Harry handle one that's semi-controlled!"

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Harry and Sirius both smiled as they thought of the hippogriff upstairs.

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"Uh…that's a bit much, don't you think?" Sprout asked.

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"Not to mention that with brooms, you are in full control." Sirius added.

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Hermione rolled her eyes as she, once again, read deliberately.

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"Idiot!" the Marauders and younger plus Moody and Arthur chorused.

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"Why wasn't Hagrid sacked?" Harry asked. "Not that I want him in trouble, especially what he went through at school, but I'm amazed Mr. Malfoy didn't do something more."

"There was a petition signed by most Slytherins." Dumbledore confirmed. "However, there was a counter petition signed by the rest of the school asking to keep Hagrid."

"And the governors didn't step in?" Tonks asked stunned.

"If Malfoy was still one then they would have." Moody answered.

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"You know…I wonder if Malfoy DID hear what Hagrid said about insulting hippogriffs, but insulted Buckbeak on purpose." Tonks mused.

"Wouldn't put it past him." Ron and Harry chorused.

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"Leave it to you to find the loophole." Flitwick sighed.

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"Probably wished he hadn't by the end of the year though." Ron chuckled.

Harry smirked. He had to admit that it would have been MUCH worse on his pride if he had lost his first game to MALFOY of all people.

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"Sounds like he's sobering up." Sirius chuckled.

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"Yes you are." Harry muttered under his breath as Hermione closed the book and held it out.

"That's the end of that chapter. Who's next?"

"I'll read." Remus offered.

The book was handed down the couch to him. The werewolf turned to the correct page and smiled.

"You'll like this one Sirius."

"Quidditch?"

"No. My first lesson with these kids." Remus stated.

Snape groaned. The LAST thing he wanted was for Black to hear about THAT.