Author's Note:
First of all, I feel this chapter may need a trigger warning. There is a mention of suicide. It's not discussed in detail, only noted, but I wanted to be respectful of anyone who might want to skip it. It occurs during the Order meeting on March 20.
Second, no, your eyes aren't tricking you. I did manage 2 updates in 4 days, and I can share the secret to my success.
All you have to do is cut down an old, thorny lemon tree the previous owner of your farm planted and didn't take care of, not check thoroughly to make sure you have ALL the extremely thorny branches cleared before walking through the area with soft soled shoes, and end up with a thorn embedded in your foot. Then, you have to pretend it's not THAT painful and avoid going to the doctor until you have an infection, at which time your doctor will tell you to stay off your feet, and you can write a lot. Easy peasy.
Anyway, my misfortune is your good fortune…or bad fortune for those of you that are still reading a 190,000+ word story even though you don't like it and feel the need to review to tell me so each and every chapter.
So enjoy…or don't, if that's your thing.
March 20, 1995
"Ok, so I guess we should start with what we found out from Barty Crouch, Jr," Amelia began, looking around the room.
"I'd really like to know how he managed to escape from Azkaban," Arthur Weasley answered.
Amelia nodded. "Well, while Barty Crouch Sr. seemed to have no problem with sending his own son to Azkaban, his wife was a different story. If you remember, she died not long after he was put in charge of the Department of International Magical Cooperation. She was ill, and the stress of having a child in that horrible place made her deteriorate rather quickly. When she knew she wasn't going to survive much longer, she asked Barty to rescue their son."
"How did they do that?" Molly Weasley asked.
"Just before her death, they went to visit Junior. They brought Polyjuice potion with them. They took a hair from him and a hair from her, mixed it into the potion, and the two of them switched places. She died in Azkaban, and he escaped with his father."
"Wouldn't that have been years ago?" Molly asked. "Where has he been all this time?"
"Good question," Amelia answered. "Imprisoned, but in a different way."
"It seems Bartemius the elder was controlling his son with the Imperius Curse, along with a number of other things, and using their house elf Winky to care for him. But as you all very well know, the Imperius Curse can be fought off, and eventually Bartemius the son was able to fight back against his father," Dumbledore explained.
There was a moment of silence as everyone in the room took in the information. Sirius was the first to speak.
"I have so many questions. How did he go from being imprisoned by his father to assisting Voldemort?"
"That would have been excellent information to have if I had been able to interview him and find out," Amelia answered, the annoyance over Fudge's foolish actions apparent in her voice. "I do have some theories though, and I was able to get some information from Barty Sr. before…well."
Harry grew confused. "Before what?"
Amelia looked at Sirius, who had cringed. He had forgotten…or possibly avoided…filling in Harry on that small detail.
"Crouch died two days ago," Sirius told him gently.
"I thought his condition was improving," Remus questioned.
"It was," Amelia confirmed. "I went to the hospital to question him a few days ago. The healers wouldn't allow me to use Veritaserum, said he was too weak, but he was pretty forthcoming with information without it when he was cognizant. There were still times he would sort of disassociate and begin mumbling incoherently. Anyway, I think he knew his career, his entire life really, was over." She took a deep breath. "He took his own life Thursday morning."
"How horrible," Molly Weasley commented, looking particularly upset as she eyed Harry, most likely thinking a young boy should not be privy to such information. Sirius had intentionally written to Arthur ahead of time letting him know of Harry's presence in the Order meetings for the foreseeable future so he could warn his wife. Even though Molly was not happy about this information at all, and had sent Sirius a rather stern note telling him so the day before, she didn't mention anything in front of Harry. Sirius was, after all, Harry's father.
"What did you find out from Barty before that, Amelia?" Sirius asked.
"Well, for one we learned what happened to Bertha Jorkins. Crouch said she came by his home once when he wasn't there to have him sign some paperwork. She discovered his son. Barty wanted to use a memory charm on her, but his son had other plans. He had Winky steal her wand and give it to him. Junior ended up overpowering her and his father. Crouch managed to say that Junior needed her, but he didn't know why. That was when he sort of checked out. He did say over and over 'dead now, poor girl.'"
Harry gasped. Everyone looked at him. "Amelia, do you have a picture of Bertha Jorkins?" he asked.
Amelia nodded and pulled a photo from her files. She slid it over to Harry.
Harry took the photo and looked at it for a few seconds, rubbing the scar on his forehead. Finally he nodded. "Yeah, I think that's her. I think she helped care for Voldemort," Harry told them.
"What do you mean, Harry?" Sirius asked.
"She was in my dream, remember?" Harry told him before looking at Amelia. "Remember, I told you about it right before school started. The man in it, I guess it was Crouch Jr, said he was afraid to leave Voldemort in his current state, and Voldemort said," he paused and scrunched up his face in thought, "something about how she could care for him."
"If that's the case, then they likely didn't need her anymore when Pettigrew escaped, so they killed her," Mad-Eye offered. He looked back at Harry. "Do you remember anything more about that dream, son?"
Harry twisted his mouth. "He, Voldemort I mean, I remember he said something about needing someone to complete a task. That was right before he killed the man, and I woke up."
"That task was probably putting your name in the Goblet," Arthur suggested.
Harry shook his head. "No, I mean, he said that he needed to kill the man in order to do something. Like killing him accomplished something."
"You think Harry's dream might have been real?" Amelia asked Dumbledore.
Dumbledore frowned. "I believe it's entirely possible. Probable even." He took a deep breath, his eyes darkening as he spoke again. "A murder is required in order to create a horcrux. That may have been the task he wanted to complete."
Another dark cloud of silence fell over the group. Molly Weasley was nearly in tears. Sirius's leg was bouncing nervously. Harry was beginning to regret ever pushing to be in these meetings.
"So, who did he kill?" Amelia asked after a long while.
"If I had to guess, it was likely Frank Bryce," Dumbledore answered.
"Who?" Sirius asked.
"A muggle," Dumbledore answered. He waved his hand, producing a muggle newspaper. He flipped through a few of the pages before folding it back and passing it around the group. On it was a short story of an old man that had gone missing. "Frank Bryce lived in the village where Tom Riddle's father grew up, and he hasn't been seen since last August."
"Albus, you never cease to amaze me," Amelia marveled as she scanned the page. Once she placed it down, she looked back at Harry. "Do you remember anything about the location in your dream, Harry? Anything at all?"
Harry shook his head. "Not really. There was a fireplace and chairs. That's all I really remember. Sorry."
Amelia smiled at him. "That's ok. What you remembered is extremely helpful."
"Did you find anything of interest at Crouch's house?" Remus asked.
Amelia shook her head. "Not really. Crouch was restrained and unconscious. Whoever had been holding him there had left in a hurry it appeared, but that was about it. Junior must have tipped them off before he tried to get away." She sighed. "If anybody has any ideas or theories, I'd love to hear them."
After a moment, Dumbledore said, "I think we need to go back to Little Hangleton."
"Ok," Amelia answered slowly, "But it'll have to be an Order mission. I'm not the most popular person with Fudge right now. If he hears I sent aurors to look for Voldemort again, I could lose my job."
"I will go on my next day off," Kingsley Shacklebolt volunteered.
"I'll go too," Tonks added.
Remus looked at her worriedly. "Then I'll go too."
Tonks gave him a half smile before reaching out and taking his hand.
Amelia nodded. "And I will join you. I'll look at the calendar tomorrow and see if I can assign all three of us a day off together."
"And if it's during the week, I'll cover your classes," Sirius told Remus.
"Actually," Dumbledore said, "I'd like Alastor to cover Remus's classes for the day. I'd like to join you all in Little Hangleton. We don't know how strong Tom is right now. The more wands we have on our side, the better." He looked back at Sirius. "I'll ask Minerva to cover the headmaster duties for the day, and you can substitute in Transfigurations."
Sirius nodded. "Ok."
"Ok," Amelia announced. "Hopefully we are moving in the right direction. I'm sick and tired of these guys being two steps ahead of us."
"Amelia, what are the plans moving forward with the tournament? Surely the death of Crouch changes things, right?" Sirius asked.
Amelia shrugged. "To be honest, I have no idea. We're supposed to have a department heads meeting on Monday to discuss it, and to nominate someone to replace Crouch, but don't be surprised if Fudge wants to continue on as if nothing has happened." Amelia looked at Molly and Arthur. "How is Percy handling Crouch's death?"
Molly frowned as Arthur shook his head. "Not well," the seasoned father responded.
Harry didn't particularly care about Percy at the moment. "So you think I'll still have to compete?"
"I'm afraid so," Amelia told him. "Crouch's position will have to be replaced, but keep in mind Fudge sees all of this as an isolated incident. In fact, he probably will argue the tournament is now safer because we have captured Crouch."
"Hang on, there's something I still don't understand," Harry said. "Did you ask Crouch if he put my name in the Goblet of Fire?"
"I did, and he confirmed it was him," Dumbledore answered.
"Did you ask him why?" Harry questioned.
"Yes," Dumbledore told him. "He said," he paused and looked worriedly at Sirius before continuing gently, "He said he was delivering you to the Dark Lord."
Sirius looked like he was going to be sick. Remus was equally as green. Molly Weasley squeaked in horror. But Harry was unfazed.
"To deliver me to Voldemort, not to kill me?" Harry asked for confirmation.
"Right," Amelia confirmed, shooting a sympathetic glance at Sirius who had gone unusually pale as Harry casually mentioned his own death.
"We've been assuming I'd be attacked during a task, but so far the only things that have tried to attack me are dragons and grindylows," Harry continued.
Amelia nodded while Sirius scowled. Everyone else looked on with interest.
"What if…I'm not supposed to be hurt during a task. What if he intended for me to win it?" Harry asked them.
Everyone in the room thought over his words.
"Oh Merlin," Amelia said quietly, the implications of that statement hitting her.
Sirius cursed quietly, then slightly louder, then loudly. He placed a hand on Harry's shoulder that was almost painful to Harry, but he didn't protest. He knew Sirius was terrified. He was pretty scared himself.
"But why though?" Harry asked. "Crouch could have killed me any number of times this year, or kidnapped me, but he didn't. If Voldemort wanted me, why wait?"
Sirius shivered.
"That's an excellent question, and one I unfortunately do not have an answer to," Dumbledore told him. "But I do think you're right, Harry. There must be something about the final task that is designed specifically for that purpose." He looked at Snape. "Severus," he said as if he regretted the words before he spoke them.
Snape sighed. "I will find out what I can, but most of the Dark Lord's followers are as cowardly as Karkaroff. It is likely they know nothing."
"Please be careful," Dumbledore pleaded.
Snape nodded but otherwise didn't respond.
Dumbledore cleared his throat and addressed the group again. "We need to find out everything we can about the third task. Fortunately time is on our side right now. The task isn't set to take place until June."
"Bagman is our best bet for that," Amelia said. "That man has a big mouth and a total disregard for rules."
"I could talk to him," Harry offered. "He's tried to help me with the last two tasks. Says he's taken a liking to me. Maybe I can convince him to tell me about the final task."
"No," Sirius said firmly.
Harry looked at him, a mixture of anger and confusion on his face. "Why not?"
"Because Bagman was accused of being a death eater," Sirius explained. "I don't want you alone with him."
"But I thought you said he was innocent," Harry argued, looking between Dumbledore and Sirius.
"I do believe he was," Dumbledore confirmed, but he quickly held up a hand at Sirius's angered glare. "But your father is right. It is not wise for you to be alone with him, just to be safe. It is not wise for you to be alone at all, actually Harry. For that reason, I would recommend you and Sirius both speak to Ludovic together. Perhaps you could arrange a private dinner with him, Sirius. Tell him Harry's a big fan. I think he will go for that."
"He will," Amelia confirmed. She looked at Harry. "I believe Bagman is helping you because he's bet a very large sum of money on you winning. With the right amount of flattery and alcohol, he will likely give you every detail he knows."
Sirius looked at Harry with an apologetic smile. He still hated all the restrictions he had to put on his son, even if he thought they were necessary for his safety, and he knew Harry certainly didn't like them any more than he did. He also knew in the coming days there would be plenty more discussions about safety, perhaps even more rules than Harry was currently living under, and he wasn't particularly looking forward to those conversations. He was relieved when Harry smiled back at him.
"Well look at that, our first Order mission together."
March 22, 1995
Hermione had had quite enough.
At first the hate mail didn't really bother her. Petty girls would send silly messages calling her names or threatening to curse her, but nothing terribly concerning.
Once she had learned to stop opening them, she still was bombarded with howlers. Now that Harry and Ginny had broken up, Skeeter had somehow managed to get word of that information and had taken to reporting that Harry had broken up with Ginny and was now throwing himself at Hermione. It was getting ridiculous.
But then they started to get out of control. The sheer volume of them was insane, but then one of them had been filled with undiluted bubotuber pus, causing her hands to break out with terribly painful boils that took days to heal.
"Oh I hate that Skeeter woman!" Hermione had shouted over breakfast one morning when another owl had dropped off a letter and knocked over her pumpkin juice. "I want to know how she heard me talking to Viktor!"
"Maybe she had you bugged," said Harry.
"Bugged?" said Ron blankly. "What…put fleas on her or something?"
Harry started explaining about hidden microphones and recording equipment. Ron was fascinated, but Hermione interrupted them.
"Aren't you two ever going to read Hogwarts: A History?"
"What's the point?" said Ron. "You know it by heart, we can just ask you."
"All those substitutes for magic Muggles use-electricity, computers, and radar, and all those things-they all go haywire around Hogwarts, there's too much magic in the air. No Rita's using magic to eavesdrop, she must be…" she paused as something caught her eye behind the boys. "Umm, Harry, why is Sirius walking around as Padfoot today?"
Harry turned around and saw his furry father prancing around merrily. Many of the students were squealing at the "cute puppy," even though Padfoot was the size of a small bear. Harry rolled his eyes as he turned back to his friends. "He got cleared by the healers yesterday to transform again. He said he was going to spend all day as Padfoot, he was so happy."
Ron laughed. "Your dad is a bit of a nutter, Harry."
"You're not wrong," Harry replied laughing too, but he and Ron were both shocked when Hermione stood abruptly.
"I have an idea. I have to go to the library," she said, and she ran off before Harry and Ron could ask what was going on.
….
"I've got it!" Hermione exclaimed as she joined them for lunch.
Harry, Ron, and Neville all looked up, intrigued.
"Got what?" Neville asked.
"I know how that Skeeter woman is getting her information, but we have to catch her at it. Harry, I'm going to need your help."
Harry swallowed the bite of potatoes he'd just taken. "Ok."
"Do you think you could agree to an interview with her in Hogsmeade this weekend?" Hermione asked him.
Harry almost choked. "With Rita Skeeter?"
Hermione nodded. "Of course," she said impatiently.
"Oh sure," Harry answered sarcastically. "Just make sure my funeral is nice when Sirius inevitably kills me for that."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "I have a plan. We'll need the map and the invisibility cloak."
Harry eyed her skeptically. "Why don't you tell me your plan before I decide if it's worth dying for?"
Hermione let out an exasperated sigh, but she quickly and quietly told them every detail of her plan for taking down Rita Skeeter.
"So what do you think, Harry?" she asked anxiously.
Harry looked at her in wide-eyed amazement. "Hermione, I don't think Sirius will just let me do that…"
"Oh come on, Harry!" she interrupted.
Harry stopped her. "What I mean is, he won't just let me, he'll want to help."
…..
Sirius paused outside the door to his quarters as he heard noises inside. He pulled out his wand cautiously, but the more he listened, the more he realized it was just his loud son and his even louder friends. He opened the door to see what was causing such a commotion.
"Hermione, this is a ridiculous waste of time!" Ron said annoyedly.
"Oh shut up," Hermione snapped. "We are not relying on forced slave labor for the entire meal!"
"They fixed all of this food because they were happy we got Winky out of the kitchen," Harry defended.
Hermione shot him a glare. "That poor elf was probably forced into aiding their criminal activity, and now she's being punished for it," she huffed. "Now will you two make yourselves useful like Neville and set the table?"
Neville looked up from his stirring and stuck his tongue out at the two of them. Harry laughed as he grabbed the plates while Ron made a rude gesture, though he jumped when he heard Sirius's voice.
"If your mother saw you doing that, Ron, she'd hex your hands off," Sirius remarked with amusement as he made his way to the kitchen. Ron turned pink but Sirius just winked at him. He eyed the food the teenagers were preparing…and the mess. "Would somebody like to fill me in on what's going on?" he asked as he hugged his son.
Harry set the plates down. "We're making dinner. All your favorites."
"Oh?" Sirius asked. "You or the house elves?"
"We went to the kitchen to request some food, but the elves were so happy that Winky was gone, they gave us a whole feast. But Hermione didn't want to take all of it, so we brought the main dishes and vegetables, and we're making dessert," Harry continued.
"Oh treacle tart?" Sirius asked as he watched Hermione carefully pull it out of their magical oven.
"Yes, sir," Hermione replied politely. "Harry told us it was your favorite."
Sirius turned around and raised an eyebrow at his son. Harry snickered before his father hit him with a tickling charm before turning back to Hermione. "I appreciate the thought, Hermione, but I must tell you that treacle tart is Harry's favorite dessert, not mine."
Hermione stopped cutting the dessert and glared at Harry, who was too busy giggling uncontrollably on the floor.
"Sirius…please…make…it…stop," Harry pleaded between peals of laughter.
"What do you think, Hermione? Should we let him off the hook?" Sirius asked.
Hermione watched with amusement as Harry struggled for a few more seconds before she finally relented. "Alright, I think he's learned his lesson."
Sirius lifted the charm and a red-faced Harry stood up again. Once he had caught his breath, he smiled triumphantly at his father. "It may have been wrong, but I got a treacle tart out of it."
Sirius snorted and began to look at all the foods that Hermione was now placing on the table. There was a large roast beef with Yorkshire pudding and several vegetables. "Wow," he marveled, then he stopped and raised a skeptical eyebrow at his son. "What do you want?"
"What do you mean?" Harry asked innocently as he and friends began to sit at the table.
Sirius took the seat at the head of the table and began filling his plate. "You made…or arranged…my favorite meal. You must be buttering me up for something."
Ron, Neville, and Hermione all looked worriedly at Harry. Harry sighed and began to explain. "We need your help with something."
Sirius smiled in amusement. "Well, typically when you need help with something, you should see your Head of House," he teased.
Harry smirked. "Well, she can't really help us with this."
"You have my attention," Sirius told his son, waiting for him to explain further.
"Hermione has a theory about Rita Skeeter, and we'd like your help in proving her right."
Sirius looked at the young witch. "What's your theory?"
Hermione cleared her throat. "I think she's an unregistered animagus."
Sirius set his fork down and gave her his full attention. "And what makes you think that?"
Hermione began to explain how Rita had known intimate details of conversations she'd had with Viktor Krum and that she knew no one else was around to hear. She also knew that Harry and Ginny had broken up even though Dumbledore had banned her from the castle. She then explained how Harry mentioning "bugging" led her to theorize that Rita may be an animagus.
"You really are the brightest witch of your age, Hermione," Sirius told her, picking up his fork again. "But I don't know how I can help you."
That was when Hermione began to explain her plan. "Well, I thought that Harry and I could agree to meet with her this weekend in Hogsmeade for an interview. We can pretend to be a couple again or some other rubbish. Then we could stage an argument. You, Neville, and Ron could wait around, maybe under the invisibility cloak. I'll pretend to be upset and storm out of the room, then Harry could excuse himself to go speak to me, at which time you three could watch Rita and see what she does. I'm guessing she will attempt to follow us, and if you can witness her transformation, we've got her."
Sirius nodded as he took in the information. "It's a good plan, Hermione. A really good plan. In fact, I think my friend Amelia Bones would be quite interested in knowing if Miss Skeeter is an unregistered animagus, but we won't be able to do it this weekend."
"Why not?" Harry asked.
"Well, because it's not a Hogsmeade weekend," Sirius said simply.
"But you said you could take me anytime."
"I can take you, Harry, but not Hermione, Ron, and Neville. I'm only allowed to sign you out because you're my kid," Sirius told him. "I think your plan could definitely work, but you'll just have to wait for the next Hogsmeade weekend."
Harry bit his lip nervously. "Could you request special permission?"
Sirius's eyes narrowed on him. "Why are you so eager to do it this weekend?"
Harry almost lied and said it was because Hermione was getting so much hate mail, but he knew Sirius could always tell when he was lying. "I may have already arranged the interview."
Sirius dropped his fork. "Come again?"
Harry sighed. "I already arranged to meet her this weekend at The Three Broomsticks."
Sirius groaned and rubbed a hand over his face. He should have absolutely forbidden it. Harry knew he was not supposed to have any contact with Rita Skeeter whatsoever, but as Sirius looked at the four anxious faces looking back at him, he couldn't bring himself to say no. "Alright, I'll have Amelia sign the other three out. She's the director of the DMLE. She can do whatever she bloody pleases. But you four will follow my directions perfectly, understood? Rita Skeeter is not a woman to be taken lightly."
All four teenagers were beaming as they gave a firm "yes, sir."
March 27, 1995
Rita Skeeter was already waiting in a private room for Harry and Hermione when they arrived at The Three Broomsticks. Sirius, Amelia, Ron, and Neville had arrived about an hour before and taken a booth in the corner to watch. Amelia shared Moody's invisibility cloak with Sirius while Ron and Neville shared Harry's. When Rita, Harry, and Hermione began their private interview, they all moved to wait invisibly right outside the door.
Rita looked over her rhinestone-studded glasses as Harry and Hermione beamed at one another, pretending to be madly in love. She pulled her Quick-Quote Quill out of her crocodile skin bag and smiled at the happy couple.
"Now just ignore my quill. So tell me, what led you two to ask for an interview."
Harry didn't answer at first. He strained his eyes to see what her quill could possibly be writing already after only one question. Hermione kicked him under the table.
"Right well, we wanted to thank you. Without your article in Witch Weekly, I don't think we would have realized how madly in love with each other we actually were. So we were kind of hoping you would declare our love to the world for us," he explained.
"Oh how wonderful," Rita replied in a voice that showed she rather didn't care. "Tell me, Harry, I've been dying to know, how is life with an ex-convict?"
Harry's eyes narrowed on her. "You mean Sirius?"
"Yes, of course," she said sweetly. "Your godfather."
"He's my father, actually," Harry said defensively, growing angry. Hermione gave him another kick under the table, causing him to remember why they were there. "I uh…I would appreciate it if you didn't mention this interview to him. You know he doesn't like me speaking to you."
Rita smiled at him, venom in her eyes. "Of course. Your secret is safe with me. Now tell me, what would Sirius do if he found out about this interview?"
Harry was panicking. Rita hadn't wanted to interview him about Hermione at all; she wanted dirt on Sirius. This wasn't at all how they planned it, and if this wasn't successful, or if Hermione was wrong, Rita could end up publishing horrible things about Sirius.
Hermione could sense Harry was faltering. She also knew exactly what Rita was trying to do, so she thought quickly to try and get the interview back on course.
"Sirius is strict but fair," she said. She shot puppy dog eyes at Harry. "Remember how upset he was on Christmas when you missed curfew with she-who-must-not-be-named?"
It worked. Rita's interest was piqued. "Is that Miss Weasley?"
"Yes," Hermione said. "She's a bit of a sore subject with us."
"Oh?" Rita raised her eyebrows, desperate for more. "What did Sirius do?"
"Well, we try not to speak of her, but…" Hermione began, and Harry finally caught on.
"No, I meant..." Rita began.
"I thought we agreed not to talk about her…love," Harry interrupted, looking at Hermione.
Hermione rolled her eyes and looked back at Rita. "He's very sensitive about Ginny," she whispered loudly.
"I'm not sensitive, Hermione, I just don't want to hurt her." They were almost completely back on script. This part was easy, because Harry really did not want anything bad said about Ginny, not that Hermione would ever actually speak poorly of her good friend.
"But you're ok with hurting me?" Hermione snapped.
"I didn't say that," Harry pleaded.
"Just forget it!" Hermione yelled standing up. She looked back at Rita apologetically. "I'm very sorry to have wasted your time Miss Skeeter, but it appears I was wrong about Harry's feelings for me. I think I will just go have a conversation with Sirius now. Good day." She turned and marched angrily out of the room.
Harry stood up and called after her, but after she left he looked back at Rita. "Could you excuse me for a moment? I just need to go apologize and I'm sure she'll be ok. We'll be back in ten minutes." He hurried out of the room, intentionally leaving the door open so she could see which way he turned.
Rita fell for it like a mouse falls for cheese in a trap. She smiled at Harry before he left, but within seconds she was following him. She walked to the door frame and watched as Harry disappeared out of the side door to the restaurant. She looked both ways to make sure there were no witnesses before taking a step back into the private room and promptly transforming into a beetle. Amelia's jaw dropped. This was just too easy.
Beetle-Rita flew through the dining room and landed on the windowsill. Amelia and Sirius followed closely behind. The Beetle spotted Harry and Hermione pretending to argue in the street, but the window was closed, so she raised her wings and hovered around the door. Sirius leaned over and whispered to Ron. Ducking behind a wall so Beetle-Rita couldn't see, Neville and Ron slipped the cloak off and made to walk out of the restaurant, chatting casually as if nothing was happening. As soon as they opened the door, the Beetle seized her opportunity, so anxious to witness the argument that she didn't even notice a hand and jar appear seemingly out of nowhere.
Amelia scooped the Beetle into the jar and closed the lid down firmly. She smiled triumphantly as Sirius appeared too, the cloak falling to the ground. Raising the jar so she could look at Rita trapped inside, she said, "Rita Skeeter, you are under arrest. I'd tell you you have the right to remain silent, but I don't think you're going to be saying much."
Harry and his friends came back in and gawked at the imprisoned journalist.
Amelia squeezed Hermione's shoulder. "Miss Granger, when you graduate Hogwarts, please consider applying to the auror academy. You'd be a valuable member of our team."
When Amelia left to take the Beetle to the ministry, Sirius bought all the kids dinner and butterbeers to celebrate.
March 30, 1995
Sirius looked up as the door opened to their quarters. Harry stalked in, his shoulders slumped over and eyes downcast. He closed the door quietly and walked over to their couch, where he threw himself down beside his father.
"Hi," Sirius said, trying to give his son a smile he obviously needed.
Harry waved a hand. "Hi. Can I stay here tonight?"
"You know you're always welcome to stay here," Sirius confirmed, "But may I ask, why?"
Harry looked up at his father's eyes for a long moment before he finally said simply, "Ginny."
"Ah," Sirius said in understanding. He leaned back against the couch and smiled sadly at his son. "Must be hard to see her right now."
"Yeah," Harry answered, "and then there's Ron."
Sirius lowered his eyebrows, immediately concerned that his son and his best friend had yet another row. "Is he giving you a hard time about it?"
Harry quickly shook his head. "No, nothing like that. He's barely mentioned it actually, but…" he bit his lip before continuing, "It's kind of hard to look at him, you know, knowing I hurt his sister so badly."
Sirius frowned. "Oh Harry," is all he could manage to say before wrapping an arm around him and pulling him close. "I'm really sorry, kid. I know you never meant to hurt her."
Harry shook his head against his father's shoulder. "Never."
Sirius sighed as they pulled away. "I really think, if you give it time, Ginny will come around."
Harry tried to smile. "I hope so. She keeps flirting with Dean." He scowled. "Let's talk about something else. Have you heard when everyone is leaving for Little Hangleton?"
Sirius nodded. "I heard today actually. The plan is to go next week."
"I wish Remus wasn't going. I mean, I wish none of them had to go, but I just really wish he wasn't," Harry told him.
Sirius patted his son's knee. "Me too, kid."
Harry looked up at him. "When he gets back, I'm grounding him for putting himself in danger."
Sirius chuckled. "You do that." He took a deep breath. "I also scheduled our meeting with Bagman."
Harry raised his eyebrows. "You did? When?"
"This Saturday," Sirius answered. "I booked us a private room at this fancy muggle restaurant in downtown London. Their food is supposed to be really good, but more importantly they serve strong liquor."
Harry smirked. "Sounds like it should be an interesting evening."
Sirius nodded. "Now happier topics. What would you like to do for the Easter holiday?"
Harry hummed before shrugging. "What do you want to do?"
Sirius thought it over. "Well, there's always the beach house."
Harry nodded. "I'd like that."
"Ok, we'll go there," Sirius told him. "I'll arrange the portkey. But once this tournament is over, we're going on a real vacation this summer."
"Isn't going to the beach house a real vacation?" Harry questioned.
"Well…yes, but I want to go somewhere far away for more than a few days."
Harry wholeheartedly agreed. "Deal. Should we invite Remus and Tonks to the beach house?"
Sirius shrugged. "Sure, if you want to."
Harry nodded. "I think I would like that. It'll be right after a full moon. He could use a getaway."
"Ok," Sirius confirmed. "We'll invite them. You want to invite your friends?"
"Yeah," he smiled sheepishly at his father. "You could invite a friend too…if you wanted."
Sirius was confused. "I thought we were inviting Remus."
"Yeah we are," Harry answered, "I meant…" he paused, "Amelia."
Sirius sat up, surprised. "You want to invite Amelia?"
Harry fidgeted with his hands. "Well, I thought you might like that."
"What made you think that?" Sirius asked curiously.
Harry sighed. He had already brought it up. He might as well say everything he was thinking now. "I guess I just never noticed before how close you two are. You're like best friends, and I never really meant to take that away from you. If you wanted to date Amelia, I wouldn't mind, really."
Sirius smiled fondly at his son. Harry was so kind and so selfless. "I do appreciate that Harry, and yes, you're right, Amelia and I are very good friends, but I'm perfectly happy right now to just be friends with her."
"But you like her," Harry told him. It was a mixture of a question and a statement.
"I do," Sirius answered. "I care very much for her, because she has come to be one of my closest friends, but I promise you, Harry, that's all we are."
Harry wasn't convinced. "For now?"
Sirius nodded reluctantly. "For now. That may change in the distant future," he admitted, "But right now we're just friends."
Harry nodded his understanding, but he worried about Sirius. Sirius sacrificed everything for him, and he didn't want to put further strain on the man that loved him beyond measure. "I just want you to be happy."
"I am happy," Sirius said firmly. "Very happy." He ran a hand over Harry's head. "Do you have much homework?"
Harry shook his head. "Not really."
Sirius smirked. "You want to go for a fly?"