If you Want to Destroy my Sweater....
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part seven

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Christmas came and no sign of Voldemort had been found. Wherever he was, IF he was, he was keeping an abnormally low profile. Hagrid was busy laying out the decorations for the halls.

Harry was sitting on his bed, watching the snow fall outside the window. He was drying off from a class A snowball fight outside. Later on that day, as it was the last day of term, was the Teacher's Quidditch Match. Harry was lending Professor Lupin his Firebolt, and was as anxious to watch his father's friends up in the air as he was on hearing Sirius' commentary.

As the bell rang out, he disappeared down the steps to find Hermione and Ron.
****


Sirius pointed his wand at his throat. "Sonorus." He grinned at Harry sitting next to him,
"Welcome Welcome Welcome to this fine. er... snowed in day for the match we've all been waiting for... the Hogwarts Staff's Quidditch match!" He stopped to let the crowd cheer.
"On team Phoenix we have... Keeper... LUPIN!! (go go go my friend!) Chasers McGonagall, Vector and Trelaaaaaaaawney!!!, WE have the two wonderful beaters, DuCruet and Hagrid... ohoho lets see team unicorn get through THAT defence and The seeker our very own muggle studies teacher... FENNEY! And on Team Unicorn we have Keeper Sinistra, Chasers Hooch, Flitwick and Pomfrey, Beaters Sprout and Filch, and the Seeker... oh... Snape." He said the last name with a hint of disdain... "We're waiting for Dumbledore's whistle.. and they're off! Hooch takes the quaffle, no surprises there then, she's heading towards the Phoenix defence, and its... what the hell was that? Remus? you're supposed to NOT LET THEM IN!!!" Sirius shook his head, "ten zero to the unicorns, Snape, stop loking so smug.. oh its Hagrid.. he's hit that bludger straight at Sprout, and .... he misses by aeons... damn... whats that? nono i'm not being biased, of course not.. oh that's very nice teamship from vector and mcgonagall there, trelawney... YES!!! we have scored, and its the divination teacher no less, i'm sure she foresaw that!! Snape, watch your language, i could hear that... and Hooch has the quaff... no its vector.. streaking towards the hoops, only to be set off course by that RUDDY BLUDGER...."

Harry was looking out for the snitch whilst Sirius babbled on to the crowd in his own charming fashion. He already had caught the attention of some Ravenclaw seveth year girls.

"geez, will you take a look at Snape..." Ron pointed at their potions teacher who was hovering above the game, looking round for the quick flash of gold. He was looking more determined than ever, until....


"And DuCruet sends a bludger straight up! Thats my girl! Has Snape realised what's heading for him....." Sirius said gleefully.

Snape, hearing his name in the commentary looked down and saw a black ball hurtling towards him and he sped off quickly, hearing the rip as the bludger caught the edge of his cloak. he shook his fist angrily at Edea, who just winked at him, before whacking another bludger across the pitch.

"Is that what i think it is?" Sirius shouted, pointing at a glinting tiny ball in the air.

"You've just alerted the wrong team..." Hermione screeched at him.

"Sorry, sorry, my mistake, no i didn't see a thing." Sirius said quickly as Snape hurtled towards the Snitch. "FENNEY WHERE ARE YOU!!"

Edea was hitting as many bludgers at Snape as possible. Hagrid was sitting uneasily on his school broom, hoping it wouldnt crack under the weight. Too late, Snape had the Snitch, okay he'd fallen off his broom in the process and landed in the snow, but he still caught the snitch.

"REPLAY!" Sirius was screeching, "I, as commentator demand a replay! And.. i wanna play!"

"Sirius!" Harry laughed, "You whining?"

"Long time since i've played on a quidditch team." Sirius muttered quietly, "I cant believe he won, did his team like... hex the snitch or something?"

Snape gave Sirius a wry, definitely smarmy smile before leaving the pitch.
****



"That was a failure." Sirius gave Remus a mug of warm pumpkin juice, "Nevertheless, a very spectacular failure."

"As per usual, brimming with compliments." Remus grinned at his old friend. "It wasn't really our fault, if you hadnt got so carried away and blurted out that you could see the snitch, when Snape wasn't even looking in that direction, then maybe he wouldn't have seen it and caught it."

"Blame the dog." Sirius rolled his eyes, "As always."

"Of course." Remus nodded, "Perfect excuse to put you in a great deal of trouble."

"Thank you, i express my gratitude at your concern of my scapegoat plight."

Remus just shook his head resignedly.
****


"Well, master?" one of the few remaining death eaters ventured to ask.

"We shall be patient, they are all too inquisitive for their own good, i am still weak and need her blood to come back to my former glory. As long as i stay hidden, they shall come searching soon enough."

"What about the Figg lady?"

"She is in charge of the ministry now, yes?" Voldemort asked.

"I believe so." Rosier nodded.

"Once i have the blood, we shall attack. The blood shall separate my body from Wormtail's and i shall be free again."
****



Edea collapsed in one of the overstuffed staffroom chairs. She dumped a big pile of books on the small coffee table and ran a tired hand through her hair.

"Tea?" Severus asked.

"Please." Edea nodded weakly, mildly surprised at how Snape was acting.

"Still bitter about the match?" Snape smirked as Edea scowled at him. "Or maybe there's sometihng else."

"My head's spinning." Edea admitted, "On how you could do that. You never struck us as the sporty type."

"Everybody keeps secrets DuCruet, even you." Severus said with a slight accusatory tone. "Pity that that egotistical fiance of yours has no idea on what i know about you."

"Its just as much your fault as it is mine, and what can he say?"

"We'll have to see about that during the sorting next september won't we." Snape smiled shrewdly, "He looks remarkably like his mother..."

"We made a deal on this." Edea snapped. "You made it impossibly clear that you wanted me to have nothing to do with the boy, and i've upheld that."

"You have indeed." Snape let out a sharp laugh, "Still, I'd just love to see Black's face."

"Not gonna happen." Edea snorted, "And who'd believe it anyway."

"I can be very convincing, as you know."

Outside the staffroom door, Remus had stopped to listen to their conversation. He knew he shouldnt have, but he'd finally been able to place some loose ends he'd never been able to clear up. "Oh, Eds." He shook his head pitifully, "You've really gone and done it this time."
****



"Sirius?" Harry looked across the commonroom to his godfather.

"Mmm?"

"What happened to your yellow bath duck?"

"huh?" Sirius went an attractive shade of pink at this comment. "I never had any bath duck."

"Thats' not what my dad said."

"Its.... a very long complicated story." Sirius hid himself behind the daily prophet's broadsheet pages.

"You weren't spying with it, were you?" Harry grinned, he knew he'd hit home.

"Where did you here something like that."

"Like i said before..."

"Alright." Sirius conceded. "I had a duck, it was called Derek. And a great asset he was too."

"You charmed it!" Hermione sounded affronted.

"Of course i did." Sirius laughed, "I wanted to know waht certain peoploe thought of me, so i placed a hearing charm on the duck, left it in the prefect's bathroom on a shelf out of the way, and the things i got to hear... so funny. people tend to talk to themselves when they're alone in the bath. It was highly amusing. And of coruse all the girls congregated in there to have their feminist chats."

"I can't believe you did that." Harry laughed, "What happened after that."

"It disappeared." Sirius shrugged, "One day it just vanished and i never saw or heard from it again. I have my suspicions on where it went."

Harry grinned and turned back to the diary.

-Final ride on the Hogwarts express this evening. Feeling slightly nostalgic, asked Lils to marry me, she cried, infront of everbody. I'm not sure how to take that, a yes probably, i've already booked Sirius as best man. Sirius in a formal suit, that should be a sight to behold. Well, that was the best year of my life so far... i cant quite believe it... no more Hogwarts, i actually have to get a job now, as Remus so helpfully reminded me this morning. Maybe i'll be an auror. I know he's convinced Eds to train for the Auror lifestyle. Sirius wants to go set up some weird shop dealing in muggle artifacts. No doubt that's where his passion for disassembling motorbike parts on the floor has come from...-

Harry looked across at his godfather again, who was busy doing the crossword on the back page, he was sucking the end of his quill thoughtfully.

"Sirius?" Harry grinned, looking at the state of the quill. "You'll chew your quill to bits."

"Not my quill." Sirius grinned back, "Found it lying in the potions dungeon."

"Nasty."

"Not really, it tastes a bit funny, but never mind, i do it subconsciously apparently." Sirius olded up the newspaper. "Feel peckish?"

"Yes actually." Harry got up after Sirius as they headed out of the portrait hole towards the kitchens.

TBC.

hehehe. guess what edea and snape are hiding...