Sirius straightened up prime and proud, forcing that good mood of Gryffindor winning the match to be the only thing they all heard. Grawp certainly had been, unexpected, but with any lucky
Umbridge would be ousted from the school before Harry even had to deal with him again. Never mind that pesky, nagging question that had been bothering him since Dumbledore's departure, if in
fact being Headmistress would negate the curse upon the DADA position. But no, she was still teaching that class, which meant she'd be leaving very soon...he hoped.
"Considering Prongs was that way for whole weeks, you got off easy," Remus smiled fondly.
"Exactly how hard were you trying?" Sirius snickered, he knew he couldn't relate the two subjects easily.
All four burst out laughing, though Harry hardly looked very chagrined.
"There really isn't a way to ease into this one," Lily grudgingly agreed, "I don't blame you for putting it off."
"Who came up with the revision of that song anyways?" Remus asked curiously.
"Lee Jordan," Harry grinned. "Even after Ron saved his first goal, the Slytherin's tried to keep going, to throw him back off, but then he said, 'he sure saved that ring,' and it just sort of spiraled out from there. Neville told me later he swears even McGonagall was singing along."
"That's fantastic," James cackled at Malfoy's dirty little trick being so flipped by that.
Sirius certainly hadn't gotten to hear this yet! He was squirming with such excitement the words weren't flowing at a normal level and no one seemed to care.
Remus rolled his eyes, finding that the perfect opening Ron had provided, but he'd feel heartless admitting right there that he had no clue what had happened and dampen Ron's marvelous
achievement.
"Good on him," James threw his shoulders back in pride. "I knew if he just held a bit more confidence he'd get it!"
"I can't believe we didn't get to hear more about it!" Sirius groaned as he glared at the pages but just couldn't bring himself to keep that look on Harry, it was more pouting. "Hagrid couldn't have waited just one more hour to finally tell you what was going on!"
Harry honestly agreed, he wished he had stayed at the game more, but it felt wrong to say so about his friend.
The four of them burst out laughing while James just looked bemused and ruffled up his own hair to further their point.
"Never thought my best mate would remind me of my dad," Harry chuckled softly, sure that was the first time in his youth he'd found some way to think better of his dad after that disastrous
memory.
The five of them smiled wider than ever, pleased beyond words Harry was finally able to look back at the lone memory he had of his father in his youth with some actual fondness.
"I really can see why you wouldn't want to put up with her if that's her response to everything," Sirius rolled his eyes.
Remus let out a low whistle. "There's a temper we haven't seen yet."
"Ron's starting to get suspicious," James said in a sing song voice.
Sirius couldn't help a surprised laugh at that description, even as he felt truly awful for Ron.
"Neither did we," James pouted, "so if you could just let him keep telling you about them-"
"James," Lily sighed, "Ron'll have pounded it into Harry's brain by this time, he can share it with us later."
The boys pouted, but didn't argue the point.
"I'd be miffed to," James huffed, even knowing the reason.
"That's a kinder reaction than anyone in here had," Harry muttered.
"That has yet to work for us, but good luck trying," Sirius muttered.
"Well at least she got the highlights," James couldn't help a little twisted smile for that.
"At some point, seeing the depth of the truth is quite awe inspiring," Remus sighed.
"He's already done that once this year," Lily grumbled with a sideways look at Remus they all ignored no matter how true it was.
"A detention really wasn't the worst thing in the world for that, even though the detention itself wasn't any fun,' James shivered in remembrance of the first time.
"Aragog was a bleeding nightmare, but at least fascinating," Remus shrugged.
"They stuck their necks out for Buckbeak," Lily said fairly, "I think that one warrants something."
"One out of five, as I count the Skrewts as no good at all as well," Sirius said deadpan. "Hagrid's not got a very good track record."
"Lucky Ron," Lily rolled her eyes while Harry got a pained look on his face no one wanted to question why.
Sirius gave a heavy sigh, but settled himself in preparation for some boredom, and honest curiosity. He wanted to hear how well Harry did even if he wasn't going to enjoy the flashbacks
of his own.
"If so, then we're likely to never find the body," Sirius said uneasily.
"I'm really hurt you two don't think I can handle him," Remus pouted.
"Oh we know you could match him in a duel-" James waved off.
"We just don't think you would," Sirius kept frowning as he pictured all the ways that conversation would go, and none of them were good.
Lily wondered if his two friends underestimated Remus too much, he had just as much fury at these circumstances at Snape if Remus really thought Harry should be doing these.
They all decided to let the matter go uneasily though, clearly nothing was going to be done about it anytime soon.
"Hallelujah!" Sirius cheered.
"You and Hermione finally agree on something, and you still can't agree," Harry shook his head, trying to laugh instead of letting that headache rise again.
"I don't know what's crawled up my arse to think you should be spending extra time with Snape," Sirius shrugged without remorse. "So until I actually get a long over due explanation, I'm on your
side pup."
Harry beamed at him, knowing he'd never get tired of hearing that, feeling such a thing flowing through him that would never just be a simple emotion to him.
"You know, I've just thought, how was she paying for those?" Lily asked, wondering if her parents were really sending her extra knitting supplies.
"I think she used whatever money she pulled together from that SPEW campaign last year," Harry shrugged. "After that ran out, yeah I imagine she used her own money."
"Fascinating," James said in surprise.
"I'd have decked him," Sirius rolled his eyes at once at the idea.
"Then you'd have gotten detention and still had to do more studying," Remus pleasantly reminded.
"I'm sure it would be worth it," Sirius shrugged.
"Least he wasn't in your house," Harry said sadly, imagining Ernie's doormates had it far worse.
"I would be to," Lily said with a slight grin, she knew she'd been frantic during her exams, now with the added stress of not speaking to her best friend on a permanent basis. She'd been as likely to murder someone as a Death Eater if she'd been crossed wrong at that time.
"There's something deeply wrong with the lad when he's memorizing literally how much he's memorizing," Remus said with a touch of concern.
"Of course he has," James said in disgust.
"From all we've heard about, I can't even say I'm surprised," Sirius with a crinkled nose.
"I'll pay whatever Malfoy gives them double just to flunk him in everything," James snapped.
"Don't waste your money Prongs," Remus scolded, "he'll do that all on his own, and if someone does pass him otherwise, get them fired instead."
James happily accepted this alternative with a wicked grin while Harry started snickering at the lot of them.
"Guess it is some relief half of what that ferret turd says is a lie," Sirius grinned.
"That was not encouraging," Lily blanched a bit at remembering that woman's few appearances and mentionings.
"Glory that woman!" James spat in outrage. Clearly Neville needed his own Sirius around to remind him he didn't have to be like his parents for them to be proud!
"Someone needs to tell that woman in detail what she's doing to Neville," Lily said in disgust, more than happy to volunteer if so given the chance.
"Wait, that was it," Remus yelped in surprise, his pale face having lost an extra few shades at the reminder.
"Yep," Sirius muttered, trying not to glance at Harry, but curiosity won out.
He sighed and admitted, "yeah, we just kind of awkwardly stood there until he went into Potions. Apologizing just dosen't feel right, it sounds empty when people say it to me anyways, but, you
know, couldn't think up anything else to say."
There was an awkward silence as they all agreed there wasn't anything to be said after something like that, so Sirius kept going loudly for this meanwhile change of subject.
"I remember this!" James bounced eagerly onto chatting loudly even if his voice did sound a bit too high pitched.
"Weren't you the ones who spread that story sleeping with black dog hair would give you luck?" Lily demanded with a raised brow.
James no longer bothered to deny this as he had back then, "yeah, even got Padfoot to 'try some' for a day and he answered every question any teacher threw at him the next day. We made a killing in profits for a few hours before this Hufflepuff Prefect Gabriel Truman got us in detention with McGonagall for spreading the story."
"Be thankful she didn't ask where you were getting all the dog hair," Remus rolled his eyes.
"How'd you fake getting all the answers right?" Harry asked curiously.
Sirius looked affronted as he said, "I actually knew them!"
While Remus rebutted, "we all took turns whispering the answers he didn't know. Between all of us, he got there."
"See if I ever do your Potions homework again," Sirius grumbled.
"I'll take you up on that," Remus rolled his eyes, while Sirius winced at his own stupid comment.
"Oh Harry," Lily sighed. "Didn't you learn your lesson in second year with this nonsense."
"I really didn't want to fail all my exams," Harry said without remorse.
"I'd want to see that paper myself before I believed that," Remus sniffed.
"Oh is that all," James chuckled. "We only demanded a galleon a bag."
"It was my fur," Sirius frowned, "I think I should have decided how to charge when Remus tried to shave me bald."
"You should have let Prongs offer some then," Remus smirked.
"It was my idea, I wanted the credit," Sirius huffed.
"There's no pleasing him," James informed the other two.
"Hermione really is handy to have around some of the time," Lily chuckled while the boys stopped their bickering.
"Oh, now there's something really worth buying," Remus grinned.
"You couldn't pay me to eat that for any reason," Sirius crinkled his nose in disgust.
"I'll bet it was doxy dung or something mixed with water," James smirked. "People try to pass off a ton of things like that, a little color changing charm, bam. You've got those fifth years fooled."
"Thank you so much," Harry muttered, agreeing with his mum and thankful Hermione had stopped them if that was the case.
"Some things never change," Sirius said nostalgically.
The four laughed at Harry's relieved look, though they had full confidence he wouldn't really need them.
"We got this speech every year," James groaned.
"Clearly it was needed, as someone tried something every year," Lily rolled her eyes.
"Those are banned from the school," Remus reminded.
"Doesn't stop people from using them," Sirius shrugged.
"Those wouldn't even be helpful in an exam," James rolled his eyes.
"Those are new," Lily couldn't help her eyes lighting with interest, for the magic for the magic of course, not because she'd ever tried to use one just to beat out Potter in just one
Transfiguration test...
"I wonder how badly she hurt her tongue spitting that one out," Remus said in sympathy.
Harry watched Sirius' disgusted face and found it a close proximity.
"Normally I'd shame you comparing the two," James shook his head, "but McGonagall deserves whatever look she has for this."
"Don't tell them that!" Lily spluttered in concern. "We don't need students failing out of spite!"
"We already got them doing that in Potions, no need for the whole school to suffer," Sirius agreed.
"Ha!" Sirius barked, all of them smiling just a bit for McGonagall's cheek.
"Just what I always wanted for my birthday," Harry sighed.
Lily blanched in frustration, thinking surely he wouldn't spend nearly a whole summer there again! Sirius or someone would fight back, get Harry out of there!
"Thank you for that lovely reminder," Sirius sighed, not exactly grateful for remembering that, but it had still been better than Harry living under that webbed thumb and everything else that had
occurred.
"That'll train you not to be as fast as her," James chuckled weakly, his mind still on his son's upcoming holidays and how not fun that was going to be again.
"Never worked on Sirius, so don't hold your breath," Remus shrugged.
"How did he turn the page?" Sirius asked innocently.
"You're an idiot," Lily pleasantly informed him.
"Good of them to have some fun with it," James smiled, remembering that's how they'd spent their nights before exams, trying to make up as many games as possible with the spells needed. They'd been kicked out of the common room several times for this.
"That's never a good sign," Sirius shivered a bit, wondering what new atrocity could be occurring just before this.
"I really wish I could see how much Umbridge has been sending to the Ministry about her improvements to the castle," Lily said blandly.
"I really want them to take a peek at the twins swamp!" James smirked.
"Oh I remember her now," Lily snapped her fingers. "Yes, she was a sweet thing, told me even before I walked out I was guaranteed an O in my Charms."
"Lucky you," Sirius made a face at her, "I turned my pumpkin the wrong color and the man wouldn't stop laughing the whole time. The one time I wasn't trying to make someone laugh!"
"What color did you turn it?" Harry asked in surprise.
"It was supposed to be blue," he began grudgingly, "and yet somehow I turned it black," he finished still fighting back a smile years later at his unintentional joke, and Harry was so surprised he burst out laughing as well.
"Neither have we," Remus rolled his eyes.
"Does she not keep up with the news?" James asked in surprise.
"Ah, okay, now I really like her," Sirius smirked when he realized this Marchbanks was actually just rubbing it in.
Lily felt her mouth go dry with shock as she realized the same person who'd marked her had also done Dumbledore! It really put into perspective how old their headmaster was, how old this
woman was!
The boys were just laughing raucously for what they considered a very good return.
"Not with you in the room, I doubt I could breath through your fumes," Remus snipped.
"McGonagall hasn't seemed to be living up to that one yet," Sirius said conversationally.
"She didn't have any doubts he'd pass Charms," Lily reminded. "Mostly it was just Potions."
"Then it's a good thing Snape's not allowed to set the exams," James huffed, "otherwise Harry would have to beg Merlin himself to get a pass."
"Harry, this is plenty achievable," Remus wouldn't let his spirits fall if this was something he really wanted. "I can already tell you've shown an aptitude for it."
Harry smiled appreciatively for the praise, something warm inside him saying he agreed with Remus.
"I'm sure that wasn't encouraging," Lily winced.
"So he was practicing the Evanesce charm," Sirius offered.
"Why isn't the teacher of the lesson there?" Harry asked, recalling wanting to ask this last time, but he'd been a little distracted.
"Takes pressure off I suppose if the regularly teacher isn't there," James shrugged.
"I thought it was another method of anti-cheating," Remus offered. "Teacher of the class couldn't show favoritism and possibly slip an answer if they aren't even there."
They all released a very surprised burst of laughter as they recalled a club knocking a troll out, nothing more memorable about that spell.
"I hope that's a good marker for the rest of these," Sirius kept chuckling. He never would have believed he could look back on that as a fond memory, but considering everything that had
happened in the meantime, it was almost hilarious they'd once been afraid of a troll around Harry.
"This coming from the girl who once got a perfect score on Charms," Lily sighed. Charms had come naturally to her and even she'd never achieved that.
"What exam was Hermione taking?" Harry shook his head in disbelief. Even after five years, he still felt exasperated at her over achieving ways no matter how many times they saved his life.
"I don't know, I'd probably let her," Remus said fairly. "I'd instantly be getting my results back on what I put down."
"Not worth it," James agreed with Ron, "I'd smother her from stress after the third answer I didn't put down as detailed as her."
"I can see why they were allowed inside for these though," Remus kept explaining without a prompt from Harry. "They get to see your work in class be put to the test."
Harry smiled at his eager tone, the way his eyes shone with just a hint of what they would if he'd been in the back of a DADA hall like he should.
James let out a surprised snort of laughter, saying, "how slow was he going? He was three letters off and still in there!"
"I always said these should be timed, students can't stall and make themselves feel worse for not being able to think," Remus said with just a touch of sympathy.
"If there was more than one, Harry wouldn't have nearly as many problems as he did," Sirius said in disgust.
All of them got a righteous giggle out of that considering the prats own earlier boosting and knowing it wouldn't help Harry at all even if he'd needed it.
"There you go Sirius," Harry said swiftly, as just the mention of the little animal had set his teeth back on edge. "At least you stayed in the right spell!"
Sirius put up a smile for Harry's attempts.
Then they all got a genuine laugh for that one, fondly remembering Ron's broken wand in second year and wondering if the poor kid had been thinking the same during some spell.
Harry frowned sadly, still wishing more than anything he'd taken a liking to one of his parents old subjects, but still smiled pleasantly as both kept beaming fondly at him at all of his progress being so heavily described it was worth whatever grade he got for the attempt.
Sirius frowned in genuine concern for this poor girl still being in there so long! He'd have honestly passed her just out of pity for clearly freezing up for so long.
"Oh, were you in there for that?" Sirius asked in surprise as he fixed his thoughts.
"No, she just told us what happened while crying," Harry winced for the poor girl who hadn't even wanted to go back in and finish until Neville had took her aside and calmed her down.
Sirius kept reading very loudly before his friends could have another go at him for that subject.
All five of them winced hard for the last time this had come up, but thankfully Harry had very clearly put that in his past where it would stay this time, even Lily didn't go as pale as usual upon thinking of this day in light of watching her son relive it.
"Always good to have your target in sight," James said with relish as he pictured a variety of things he'd cast at her too.
"Happiest memory I'd conjured in ages," Harry's smirk only widened in here what it had been at the time.
James was in such a giddy mood for Harry's clear overwhelming happiness at this he didn't even care what was running through her rotted mind!
"I have no doubts whatsoever," they all reassured him, Harry never having felt such pride in his life.
"Sirius, you pronounced those exactly the same," Lily corrected, grasping what words he'd meant by their translations. "Ehwaz is-"
"Prongs, stop your wife before I do," Sirius grumbled, though continued reading loudly before the threat could be carried out and Lily just huffed at him.
"Ooh, snappy," Remus chuckled, Sirius did a rather good impersonation of that.
"I honestly can't imagine her failing any class," James said lightheartedly.
"She could still take Divination and pass it," Harry agreed.
"What kind of jewelry has she got-" Remus blinked in surprise, before they all blanched in disgust and did not want to ask further.
"Not really," Lily sighed, remembering the last time this was mentioned.
Harry frowned in reproach, wishing he'd quit forgetting to avoid Hermione right after an exam.
They all burst out with laughter at that one, not at all blaming him for waiting until the echo faded before he'd said this.
"Now where's McGonagall when I need her," Harry sighed.
"You'll do fine," Lily insisted. "I've seen proof already you can do this if you're not under pressure, and Snape can't do anything to you in there."
"It doesn't mean I'll be getting that O though," he said morosely, not feeling remotely better at how true he felt that was, but it was of some comfort it didn't make the vision in his head of this job dim any less.
"That's a sixth year potion!" Sirius protested this.
"It was a bonus question," Harry shrugged. He got a much more forced laugh from that experience, they remembered this too vividly being a problem last year.
"Thank you for the pleasant call back," James shook his head, still having the urge to be sick at mention of that Basilisk for too long and grateful Sirius didn't linger.
Lily gave a pitiful sigh, having wished more times than she could count her son wouldn't suffer in that class, that he may even have been able to flourish in it if not for that arse hole treating him the way he did.
"So you lot do have a sense of life," Remus chuckled.
"Hermione's a real peach, don't let me ever say otherwise," Lily shook her head for the poor girl so stressed.
"I didn't get a single one, but thanks for asking," Sirius grinned at Harry, who gave his obligatory laugh as he watched his godfather, but hated how strained it sounded for his gut tightening inside him every second. He could feel something approaching him, some mark that left him as unhappy as Hermione at the thought of the end of the OWLs...
The others were just hoping the joke was finally wearing off of him.
"It's good to know Hermione's tutoring had some lingering affects," James snickered in remembrance.
Harry twitched hard at that, and they gave him sympathetic looks for his exams starting to get to him by this time, he'd lasted longer than others.
"How?" Sirius demanded as a boyish laugh erupted. "You've had loads of practice by now just to make it up."
"Trelawney's not even the one there, you can reuse old ones," James agreed.
Harry felt a shot of relief as everyone laughed around him for this display, forcing himself to relax as well and convince himself nothing worse could happen during an examination than that.
'Or even that,' he mentally conceded as the laughter doubled.
Sirius slumped in his seat he was laughing so hard by now, and Harry watched him affectionately trying to force this feeling of nausea to recede rather than increase like it was. It took his godfather a moment to collect himself and brush his hair back out of his face before he could continue, and Harry had gotten nowhere.
Harry wrapped his arm around his torso in pain, smothering a groan as the pressure kept building in his head and his gut. What about an exam would cause such a feeling of panic to rile him up?
The others finally noticed what Harry was trying to repress, but Sirius didn't hesitate in going on very loudly now. Surely it was just exam nerves scaring the boy senseless...
"Don't be ridiculous Harry," Sirius rolled his eyes. "It's June, you won't find that one unless you've found a way to look through the sun."
Harry did indeed look chagrined, but didn't have very high hopes for passing this class anyways.
Harry shivered deep in his seat, fighting back the urge to close his eyes in pain and instead they were watering up. He just knew he did not like this, it was going to cause something so terrible to happen...
Lily hummed at this, no one in any delusion this was what was causing Harry such a stir. It was beyond odd though, what was going on in the grounds at that hour, and why would it cause Harry to look as if in fear for someone's life?
"Oh boy," James broke the heavy silence with dread.
"Got turned around?" Remus offered, a proper joke failing him as they all watched Harry's twitching frame.
"Oh dear," Lily managed a soft whisper of unease as now they were all as tense as Harry. This couldn't be good...
"No, no, no, not again!" Sirius burst in frustration.
"They're, they're not really trying to arrest Hagrid!" James bellowed in protest.
Harry's mouth was cotton dry, he couldn't find air to breathe. He was worried for Hagrid, but there was something more, something that wasn't having him question Hagrid's safety, but some member of the Order's...
"Oh I've long since forgotten about this," Remus snarled in frustration, he knew he'd have marched down there and said something about this.
"Excuse him!" Lily spluttered. "After that kind of noise, I'd be dismissing the lot and seeing what was going on!"
Sirius' foot was tapping in agitation, his eyes peeling words away so fast he wasn't sure what he was actually saying until he felt the reactions of the others and he had to pause for breath and take it in, he couldn't imagine Hagrid going back to that place anymore than him!
"That should really be saying something," James tried to say obstinately, but it fell flat, even poking fun at Hermione held nothing for anyone right now.
"Oh, well, never mind then." James hardly more than mouthed the joke, his every attention focused on Sirius to find what had happened to Hagrid.
"No!" Lily cried in frustration, her arms automatically curling to shield her infant from the outrage around him before she gratefully remembered he wasn't down here.
"They can't do this to him!" Sirius howled with fury.
"As if that's ever stopped them before," Remus said in disgust.
"Hagrid's fighting back this time though," James grimly reminded as the scene was put together in his mind.
"Nobody cares," Harry said through gritted teeth, his thudding heart promising this still wasn't the worst to come.
"A fearsome sight in itself," Sirius said grimly, even if Fang never attacked a single one of them.
Remus made a blistering noise of outrage, that was more than uncalled for.
"I'm wondering if he ever will again," Lily said through numb lips as that kept replaying in her head.
"Wish we never had," James whispered, never wanting to have been there more for a friend than when he was being attacked on all sides.
Harry felt it, that ratcheting fear reaching a crescendo, this was not going to make things better!
"No one cares!" Sirius burst in outrage, hurriedly trying to skip past that interruption.
"Oh now they're in for it," Remus said with a predatory smile. Even without raising a wand, suddenly they were all confident McGonagall would somehow find a way to set this right.
Sirius' heart thudded, and actually came to a stop for several moments. He only kept reading the results of this with the last of his air,
before his tightly drawn face went slack in shock.
"Oh my gosh! Oh, my goodness! No, she, she can't have," Lily was a babbling mess, suddenly on her feet and running forward to snatch the book away from Sirius' numb fingers. Her eyes nearly
burned a hole through the pages, all she could see was red and their head of house-
James hadn't realized he was doing it until the spell burst from his lips, and apparently his aim was quite off as he set a bit of the wall on fire. While the flash of heat went quite unnoticed considering how incensed they all were, James was also forced to extinguish it just as fast before his shaking limbs didn't allow another spell.
Their outrage was ceased by Harry, and for once not the baby. That he was angry was as clear as the rest of them, his face was an eerie calm of a storm the likes of they'd last seen on Privet Drive when he'd thought he was being attacked by Death Eaters, but now it was much more personal. The truly scary part though came from his trembling lip, that fear leaving his pupils blown so wide. They just couldn't believe it, McGonagall was going to live through this, right? Yet that look on his face left the haunting expression someone wouldn't, and they could only hope it was the fools who'd done this to her, what Hagrid had just done would be like Grawp playing with a twig.
Sirius couldn't swallow for several moments, feeling as if his own tongue had been jammed down his throat and he had to fight hard to force his eyes to go back to recognizing mere words rather than the tirade of curses he wanted to rain down on someone. No one was going to live after what had just been done to his favorite teacher! The first authority figure he'd ever respected in his life because she'd earned it rather than making him fear her! Harry needed him though, his pup needed to get through this first to know she was going to be okay and give them a list of names.
"Finally," Remus said faintly, casting his wand vaguely to at least stop the hole smoking. Neither him nor Lily could sit back down, too frantic and needing something to do and listening to Sirius talk wasn't helping!
James made an unsatisfied noise even as he put a tight hold on Harry's shoulder as a reminder he was here, it was all going to be okay.
"How, could, she," Lily was nearly hyperventilating she was so beyond words to express this.
Sirius blinked sluggishly for a moment, unable to grasp back the fact that something as mundane as an exam was going on. He wanted to hear someone checking on Minerva!
Harry noticed in a detached way the students almost excitement for this, like they'd just watched a show.
"She's going to be fine though!" James said hastily as Harry shivered harder than ever. "McGonagall's tough as they come, I'm half surprised they didn't bounce off her like Hagrid."
Lily's eyes burned, he could have showed a little more worry for two of the staff!
Sirius felt his skin crawl hatefully at the reminder, knowing that was still a horrid outcome, but somehow a worse one had happened!
All four of them were surprised at just one passing comment for McGonagall. They'd been worried for Hagrid sure, but McGonagall was their real outrage, and they weren't likely to settle
until they heard of someone taking care of her, though they'd never admit aloud she needed any such thing. Those kids were still young enough though, they were not as caught up in DA as they should have been, perhaps did not even realize four stunners was four times worse than just the single spell. It would knock you back and leave you as injured as any hex with the blow of so
much magic.
Remus got a funny frown in place, wanting to protest that but hard to find the words.
Sirius felt that feeling he'd lived for in his youth, the urge to laugh at such mischief, but it did not carry through into full bloom, not with Harry clearly so worried, not until he knew McGonagall was still going to be around to be exasperated at it.
They finally felt a sigh of relief escape them, Harry's loudest of all as some of his worry tried to loosen him, but not enough. Remus and Lily sat back down uneasily as they tried not to picture such a thing happening on the grounds, but the look on Harry's face somehow warned them to keep on the edge, as he kept himself stiff at his father's side and locked in on Sirius, his heart thudding so loud they were sure they could all hear it in his still thumping adrenaline pulsing out.
That one worked, Remus felt a burst of laughter escape him that died swiftly in the room, but no one begrudged him for trying.
Harry made a keening noise louder than ever, and it was frightening. What worse thing was going to happen than their real current Headmistress being struck down like that?! James hand tightened harder than ever upon Harry's shoulder, but he couldn't even look at him, he was solely locked on the key to this problem.
"You more than deserve that, honestly I'm surprised I haven't heard of this long before now," Sirius looked up and around at Harry, forcing a smile he didn't really feel into place, and it set them all off greatly he couldn't be bothered to return it for a second. His eyes remained distant, lost somewhere none could see, but still his every attention was riveted on Sirius.
Sirius sighed heavily but decided to stop side stepping around this, Harry wasn't going to be soothed until something changed.
Lily shook her head pitifully for this, but she supposed it was the best circumstances that could be offered. At least everyone failed this class.
"I don't even remember that ever being a topic," Remus shook his head too fast, but still hoping some normal flow of conversation would be of some help.
"Now I know you're sleep deprived, it was hags, not vampires," James offered though he had no more clue than Harry, and still failed to get a response.
Lily hummed at the lucky circumstance, wishing as much as anyone this would skip already, that Harry would just get a moment of peace before he collapsed on himself like he was so clearly
fixing to do.
Remus gave a false yawn, glancing around for a pillow though really his eyes never stopped tracking Harry, looking for just a hint he was going to relax any second, realize the danger had
passed at least for one second.
Sirius gave a heavy shiver, he hated Harry seemed to use that description a lot.
Harry went cross eyed in pain, wishing his mind would crack open already and relieve this stress, why had his mind chosen now to bring that up!
"That's never helpful, she tries to remember too much," James muttered something he'd known about her since her first year hoping just for a moment to distract Harry which still didn't work.
"Oh no," James groaned deeply, his hand tightening more than ever on Harry's shoulder, refusing to let go until he knew it was going to be okay. That was getting harder to manage though, as they all finally grasped this must be what had him so on edge, they were all back to that same icy exterior as well. The last time Harry had been so set off, was when Arthur was being attacked...
Harry tried to recoil away, but James had no clue who he was trying to reach for, so he just pulled Harry back tighter to him. He wasn't going to let him go guilt tripping over this one, no matter who was in there guarding this mystery thing.
Sirius finally flipped to the last page of this, his hand as slick upon the binding as it was white knuckled. 'Don't let it be Arthur again,' his mind pleaded, 'the man had suffered enough!'
"Voldemort's, inside, the Ministry," Lily brokenly whispered, this being the first thing she could think of what to connect to. Her fear intensified, wondering how this had happened, there was no way the man could waltz in there and torture someone for this. It may not even be an Order member now, it was still the middle of Harry's afternoon!
She wanted more than anything to stop Sirius, to try and let Harry collect himself for a moment, but Sirius was fidgeting with agitation on the page and noticed nothing, like he wasn't even aware he was reading anymore, just wanting to finish this and know the latest victim already Harry was going to have to find out about in the worst way possible.
Harry wasn't breathing, of that James was now positive. He hardly registered his own fear anymore, was hardly watching Sirius. He feared for the life of whomever this was, but he had eyes only for his son.
James hand fell from Harry's shoulder.
HPHPHPHP
Forbidden Forest, 19/23, the Marauders would be so disappointed in me.
* Favorite quote of the whole series! I'm still in awe I got this far! Let me know yours!
** I know not everyone's a McGonagall fan, but this right here is my favorite moment for her, the same reason I would have Crucio'd someone if they'd spat in her face. You can say what you will
about her odd behaviour in first year, but the moments of her in this book are just pure and utter
brilliance of her very character.
