Here is chapter 13.
This one is sort of an important chapter and you'll know why. I don't own anything. They all belong to J.K. Rowling. Please let me know what you think so leave a
review. Happy reading!
Chapter 13
***********
The Gryffindors celebrated their victory all day and night.
When they went up to the dormitory, Hedwig was sitting at his pillow on his
bed. On her leg, a piece of parchment
was tied. Harry approached her and
untied her leg. She nipped his fingers
affectionately and flew out the window.
Harry opened the letter, which was very short, and read:
Harry,
Be at the
Hogsmeade Inn on next Saturday.
Sirius
"What's that? Is that from Sirius?" asked Ron. He had been
reading the letter too. Harry
nodded. He was looking forward to
seeing his godfather next week.
"Do you reckon we
need to get him food?" asked Ron.
"No, I don't think
so. I mean he's with Professor Lupin,
right? I'm sure he's healthy," replied Hermione.
"It's Remus,
Hermione. Call him Remus," said
Harry. They were in the common room on
a beautiful Saturday morning. It was a
Hogsmeade weekend and they were getting ready to go down to visit Sirius and
Remus at the village.
"He told you to go
down at the Inn?" asked Hermione, thinking.
"That's not very inconspicuous, isn't it?"
"I don't know,"
said Harry, who was starting to feel anxious.
"Er, let's just go there. Maybe he knows what's he's doing."
"Maybe?" repeated
Ron. They made their way down to
Hogsmeade. They passed Honeydukes and
went in front of the Hogsmeade Inn.
They went inside. It wasn't
filled with people. On the contrary, it
was half empty except with a few employees.
Hermione went to the desk. An
old, short lady greeted her.
"Hello, dears, may
I help you?" asked the lady.
"Er, do you have a
Remus Lupin staying here?" asked Hermione uncomfortably.
"Yes, he's the one
with a big black dog. He's staying in room
3. Here, let me show you the way, my
dears," said the old lady. She showed
the way down the hall. "Here you are,
dears. Just knock on the door."
At that she left them on the hallway. Ron knocked on the door. They waited for someone to answer. The door opened.
"Oh, hello. Didn't Sirius told you to wait outside?"
smiled the tall, light-brown haired man who was Remus Lupin.
"Er, no one was
outside, so we just thought we should come in," said Hermione quietly.
Remus laughed, "It's
all right. I was going to come to get
you, but I reckon it's better this way.
Come on in."
They went inside.
They entered a small room with a window. On the corner were desk and a chair. On the chair was Sirius Black.
He looked fuller and younger than the last time Harry saw him. His usual
gaunt and unshaven face was now a handsome and full face. He looked up from the newspaper he was
reading and saw Harry. He smiled and approached
Harry.
"How are you? Are you all right?" he asked Harry. Harry smiled and nodded. "Good.
Come here."
For the first time in Harry's life, he was given a sort of
fatherly hug. He felt wonderful and
special. Sirius let go of him and
ruffled his hair.
"So I see you're a
prefect, Hermione," said Remus, looking at Hermione. "And you're the new Gryffindor keeper, right, Ron?"
Hermione and Ron beamed.
Hermione blushed and said, "Er, yes, professor-er-I mean Remus."
"What are you two
been up to?" asked Harry tentatively.
Before anyone can answer, there was a knock on the
door. Remus glanced at Sirius who then
turned into a huge black dog. Harry,
Hermione, and Ron settled themselves on the bed and the desk chair. Remus took a deep breath and opened the
door. The person on the door made
Harry's jaw drop.
"Briana," said
Remus. She was standing there with a
basket on her hands. She was smiling at
him brightly.
"Remus J. Lupin,"
she said. Then she laughed a laugh that Harry swore was similar to the one that
haunted his dreams when he was child, his mother's laugh. "Has it been a long time?"
"Well, I don't
know," Remus chuckled. He approached
her to give her a brotherly hug. Ron
and Harry looked at each other. "But
you look exactly the same as the last time I saw you. Well, more beautiful, of course."
"Hmm…thank you and
you look," she surveyed him for a moment and then said, "older than the last
time I saw you."
"Er, thank you I
guess."
"Oh, well, no
problem," she looked around and saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "Oh, hello. I see you have visitors. So I'll just, er, give you your-" She gave
Remus an uneasy look.
"Don't worry,
Briana. They already know," answered
Remus casually.
"That you're a
werewolf?" she said, looking rather surprised. "W-why? H-how-?"
"It's a long story,
Briana," said Remus slowly. "The
important thing is that you have my Wolfsbane Potion."
"Oh," said
Briana. She seemed be out of sorts.
"Er, that's right, here." She handed him the basket that she was holding. Remus opened it, and a smoky cauldron was
inside it. "So, I guess I better be
going. I don't want to intrude on
whatever it is you are talking about."
"Huh? Oh, no,
please stay. I have only seen you now
for so long. That's all right with you
three, right?" said Remus. Harry, Ron, and Hermione nodded and started assuring
her that she wasn't interrupting something.
Just then, the enormous black that was Sirius barked. Everyone looked at him. Harry's stomach dropped. Oh no, he thought, what was Sirius trying to
pull? He looked at Professor Sullivan. Her face became pale, and her look was hard
to describe. It was a look of anger and
shock. The dog transformed himself back
to Sirius. He was staring right at
Professor Sullivan. She was staring determinedly back at him. Remus shifted uncomfortably. Harry was looking at Sirius, to Professor
Sullivan, and to Ron and Hermione (who both looked like they were about to
faint). Somebody say something,
Harry thought, please…
"You!" Professor
Sullivan exclaimed, "and you!"-She pointed at Remus-"All along you two
are-well, of course you would be I mean of your history-" She stopped suddenly
and looked at them for a long time. She
took a deep breath and said very firmly, "Well, I guess I know what to do. In the name of the Ministry of Magic and the
Department of Magical Law-"
Harry, as if knowing what will happen next, said, "Please, Professor, he's innocent. Please-"
"Stay out of this,
Harry," snapped Professor Sullivan.
"This is a Ministry matter and, anyway, I place you two under-"
"Are you going to
place me under arrest, Briana?" asked Sirius coolly.
She took a deep breath again and said, "Yes."
"Please, Briana, you
don't understand. At least let us
explain," stammered Remus.
"Yeah, Professor,
you have to let us explain," piped up Ron.
"You have always
said, 'guilty till proven innocent,' right?" said Remus. Professor Sullivan thought for a moment and
said,
"All right, go
ahead, tell me." Then Remus, with the
help from Harry (he was determined to tell her the truth) and Sirius, told her
all about how Peter was the secret keeper of the Potters and how Sirius was
innocent. It took a while for
everything to settle inside Professor Sullivan's head. There was a moment of silence.
"So…let me get this
straight. That night, you made James
switch to Peter at the last minute?" said Professor Sullivan slowly at
Sirius. "But why didn't you tell
me? You know I wasn't the spy. That
would be ridiculous."
"There wasn't much
time, Briana. I had to get to him that
day," sighed Sirius.
"And you tried to tell me that-oh, Sirius-"
she ran to him and threw her arms around his neck. Hermione gasped in surprised. "I'm so sorry that I didn't
believed you, Sirius. Everyone just
kept telling me that you were and, well, I never believed them but-"
"It's all right,
Annie," smiled Sirius. Remus cleared
his throat and said,
"Well, if that's
all cleared there's one more thing that needs to be mended. And that is you two. Would you care to explain this to Harry,
because he looks like his eyes about to fall off."
Sirius and Professor Sullivan looked at each other and then
at Harry. It was Professor Sullivan who
spoke, "Well, I did tell you I knew
Remus, your father and mother, and Sirius.
No surprises there. But, I
haven't told you the full story to it." She looked at Sirius. "Harry, do you remember when I told you that
I knew your mother?" Harry nodded.
"Well, the full story to that is, er, I'm your mother's best friend."
Harry looked at her, shocked. His mum? It can't be. But then again, he never actually knew all
about her, but the fact that he lives with her sister.
"We met at the train going to Hogwarts on our first
year. We didn't know that we were going
to be in different houses. But that
didn't really stop us from being friends, not at all. On the contrary, we had our best years together trying to figure
out where we would meet during our free times."
She paused to look at Harry, who looked at her curiously,
and continued, "I met your father and his friends on the same train during our
first year. Believe me, I hated
them. Well, at least your father and
Sirius, anyway. But I have grown to
like them, as you can see. Your father
and I were rivals in quidditch. People
in Hogwarts always made us look like we were enemies, but we were really
friends. Your mother and I…if there was
any people who was as close as James and Sirius, it would be us…we grew up
together, did everything together, and it was hard for me when she died. All I could do was blame Sirius for it. Well, that is it, basically, nothing more
and nothing less." There was a moment
of silence when all Harry could do was stare at Sirius and Professor
Sullivan.
"What did Remus
meant when he said you have to explain you two?" asked Harry finally. They made the oddest gestures. They seemed to be arguing silently. Finally, it was Sirius who spoke,
"Well, what he
meant was-" he glanced at Remus, who was grinning; "your Professor Sullivan and
I are, or were…" he stopped and looked at Professor Sullivan.
"Oh, for the love
of-" said Professor Sullivan, "Harry, your godfather and I were a couple before
he went to Azkaban."
"A couple? A couple
of what?" asked Ron loudly.
Hermione rolled her eyes, nudged him, and gave him a stern look. "Oh."
Harry gaped at her.
"You mean, you two were, were dating?"
"Yes," answered
Sirius. "Well, don't look at me like that.
She was my girlfriend back in Hogwarts and after your parents got
married."
Harry could not believe what he was hearing. He looked at Sirius holding Professor
Sullivan's hand. All he knew about his
godfather was that he was a prankster, but he never knew anything about him
dating. I really need that Pensieve, he
thought.
"There is one thing
you need to clear for me, Remus," said Professor Sullivan, letting go off
Sirius's hand and approached him. "I
have been your correspondent for a while now.
Why haven't you told me about Sirius living with you? And why didn't you
tell him that I was going to teach at Hogwarts?"
Remus grinned a grin that made him look years younger. Sirius gave him a curious look and he
desisted.
"Well, I have to
admit I did have a plan to get you together back again. I knew how you two would refuse to see each
other. So…let's just say that I wanted
to surprise you two."
"I don't think I
would refuse to see Sirius but at least you could have told me," said Professor
Sullivan. She gave Sirius a sweet look,
which he returned with a grin.
"Well, now I think
everything is all cleared up. Now," said Remus, turning to Ron, Harry, and
Hermione, "I have a lot of stories about your professor here."
Remus's face began to light up. Harry and Ron looked at each other and grinned. At once, Professor Sullivan said, "Oh, Remus, please don't do this."
"Oh, but I have
to," he grinned at her. "There is a lot of interesting facts about you, you
know. Now, your professor, when she was
in Hogwarts with us, half of the boys in our first year were scared of her."
"What? Why?" asked
Hermione. She too admired Professor
Sullivan but was taken aback by the sudden events.
"Well, because, er,
she wasn't what you can call lady-like," joked Sirius, who was obviously
enjoying this. Professor Sullivan sat
down on the bed with her hands on her head, very embarrassed.
"What do you mean?
Like a tomboy?" asked Harry surprised. For someone who acts so lady-like now
doesn't seem like the type, he thought.
"Hmm…you can say
that, Harry. Briana, how many times did
you give Thomas Wilkes a bloody nose, again?" teased Remus.
She glared at him and turned to the three and said, "I did not
give him a bloody nose, and, Remus, would you please stop giving these kids
ideas?"
"Come on,
Professor, how many? About three, I reckon?" asked Ron eagerly.
"Yeah, Briana,"
said Sirius, looking at her with plead in his eyes making look like a kid.
"Fine! I gave him
five bloody noses, but that was only because he was saying that I couldn't do
anything because I was girl," she added.
They all burst out laughing and continued the day reminiscing about the
past, which included a prank that Briana did on Sirius and a day when Remus
accidentally transfigured Sirius's owl into a wooden box. The day ended and the
professor walked the three back to the castle.
That night, Harry went up to the dormitory extra early and got his album
out. He looked at the pictures he saw
back at Privet Drive. As he looked back
at the picture of his mother and Professor Sullivan, he wondered what it would
have been like when they growing up. He
had often heard about his father and his friends, but what about his mother? Were they pranksters too? And Professor
Sullivan, he thought about what she said at the Inn. What had happened to her
when she heard his mum died? What did she do?
With questions forming in his head, he fell asleep.
I think that was pretty long. Longer than the others ones I wrote. Anyway, like I said this
chapter is very important and very hard to write. I had to rewrite this one for about ten times. I think it's to my liking. Well, read and review. Thank you!