Death Threat
A/N. Boo!!!!:}
Chapter Eight: Priority
'Someone help me wake this lump!' came Ron's voice, fuzzily in Harry's head, 'Harry, geruup! Oh, Jen, hey, help me wake him, will you? Come to mention it, you look tired too…what did you two do last night?!'
That woke Harry up properly and he opened his eyes to see everyone, fully dressed, staring at him.
'What time is it?' he mumbled sleepily.
'Half nine,' said Jenny, sitting on the edge of his bed, 'But luckily it's Saturday.'
'Good,' replied Harry, 'Now would everyone mind if they could stop gawking at me while I get dressed?'
They went down to breakfast quite late and there were only a few people scattered around the hall. The teachers were still there, keeping an eye on the last minute stragglers.
The post had already arrived but one, rather small, late, post owl flew in and deposited a letter in Snape's lap. Harry got the other's attention and they watched. They were too far away to see Snape clearly but they watched him get up and go over to Professor Dumbledore. Snape pushed the letter in front of him, muttered something, and stalked off. Dumbledore was quick to follow, the letter in his hand.
'Look's like Dumbledore's got it sorted,' said Ron, going back to his toast.
But Harry was still searching the teacher's table.
'Where's Sirius?' he asked, after a while, not able to spot his godfather.
'Dunno,' said Ron, also looking round the Great Hall.
'Perhaps we should go ask Remus?' said Jenny, her eyes shining.
'Good idea, not now though, after breakfast,' said Hermione.
When Lupin finally left the hall they followed him.
'Professor Lupin!' yelled Harry down the corridor.
Lupin stopped and spun round, smiling when he saw who it was. They caught up to him quickly.
'Professor, d'you know where Sirius is?' asked Harry.
Lupin was a while before answering.
'I'm not a hundred per cent sure. He's been a little cut up about what happened yesterday…you know, with Faith and the letter and everything. He's been all over the country on that motor bike of his.'
'So is he OK' asked Jenny, sounding worried for she was very fond of Sirius.
'Give him time and he will be. But I don't think he's ever going to recover properly…you know what I mean,' replied Lupin, looking sad.
'Because of Azkaban and everything?' said Ron.
'Exactly. I don't know what it's going to take to drum it into his head that it wasn't his fault.' Lupin sounded distant, almost as though he'd forgotten they were there.
'Sorry,' he said after a while, 'Just thinking out loud. Anyway, I've got to go. Bye.'
He turned and walked back down the corridor.
During the next few weeks they saw more and more of Sirius and he seemed to be happier each time they saw him.
It was coming up to Easter and the next Hogsmeade visit so they were planning to go and see Faith again. They had seen a lot of her around school and all of them at one time or another had commented on how Faith and Snape were such a strange couple. They had become good friends with her and she had even hinted that the four of them might be invited to the wedding during Easter.
'I bet Snape'll fight with her all the way down the isle about inviting us!' Ron had said.
They hadn't noticed any more threatening letters arrive for Snape but they had noticed that he seemed to be more weary than usual and nearly as tired as Lupin with bags under his eyes.
On the Friday morning before they went to Hogsmeade, the papers arrived for Hermione as usual. When the paper had been deposited on her plate, she caught sight of the headline and gasped.
'Oh no, please don't tell me Rita Skeeter hasn't been able to kick the habit of poison pen writing!' said Harry, catching the look of horror on his friends face.
'No, much worse than that,' she said, her voice trembling as she handed Harry the paper. A cold feeling of dread arose in his stomach and looked down, prepared for the worst:
Azkaban Broken Open!
Screamed the headline.
'Oh no,' he muttered as he began to read the article with his friends reading over his shoulder.
Last night, witnesses say at around midnight, the Dark Lord reclaimed some of his most dangerous followers.
The Dementors of Azkaban seemed to have finally turned back to their dark ways. Despite Cornelius Fudge's denial of the Dark Lord's uprising, many witches and wizards around the country say that the Azkaban break out was the final straw.
Azkaban, the authorities say, is now completely empty. No one knows where the convicted Death Eaters or the Dementors have gone, though many fell they have already found their master.
Cornelius Fudge and Albus Dumbledore will both be attending a conference today and will hopefully be telling the people the truth.
Rumours will be fully confirmed or unconfirmed and the Daily Prophet will exclusively be able to reveal the truth behind these rumours.
We asked Agatha Zink, the owner of Gladrags Wizard Wear, what she feels about the matter:
'If Fudge has been lying to us he should be kicked out of office. We need someone to give us direction not to cover up the truth.'
Many people are feeling this way and we have to ask ourselves; is Cornelius Fudge really able to be the Minister for Magic or should we, the people, decide.
'I've got to see my grandfather!' said Jenny quickly, as she left them and hurried up to the staff table.
'But that means Pettigrew's out too!' said Harry, 'This is going to kill Sirius.'
They didn't see Jenny for the rest of that day, and she turned up to none of her lessons.
She came into the common room around eight o'clock, looking tired. She sat down with Harry, Ron and Hermione, and, in a low voice, began to tell them where she had been all day.
'I've been in the office mostly. I went to the meeting with Fudge and Dumbledore too. Fudge finally agreed to tell the public about Voldemort's return. It's going to be in the papers tomorrow, I can tell you!'
'So, do you have to go back in tomorrow?' asked Harry.
'No, my priority's taking care of you. There's only going to be a few days where I'll have to go into the office.'
'Exactly how long are you "taking care of " me for?' asked Harry angrily.
She must have missed the warning tone because she replied, slightly irritably and tiredly, 'Oh, I don't know, do I? Your whole life I suppose!'
With an angry growl he got up suddenly and stormed up to his dormitory, leaving his bemused friends behind.
A/N. I'm no good a newspaper articles….I've just done a dram exam and I passed!!!!!:}
Disclaimer: I own Jen and Faith!!!!:}