Chapter 20: Good News and Bad News

Later that week, Hermionie sat in the Gryffindor common room beside Marcus, Ron and Harry as her copy of "The Daily Prophet" arrived via O-Mail. The cover contained the best news the group had received in a long time... A half page picture of Dumbledore and Sirius Black shaking hands covered the majority of page, with the rest occupied with the text accompanying the story. The headline read simply "Black Cleared!" and the four scrambled to read the article...
"Get off, I'll read it to you!" Hermionie demanded.
"Fine!" Harry said, as he waved back to the image of Sirius who seemed delighted next to a quietly pleased looking Dumbledore, who simply nodded to Harry as if to show some respect to him.
"Blah, blah, blah, okay here we go." Hermionie began. "Sirius Black was cleared after new evidence was brought forward by Professor Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School. The nature of this new evidence is not know, but it has been revealed that Peter Pettigrew was responsible for what has now been renamed as the Pettigrew Massacre..."
"Brilliant!" Ron said. "Finally we can talk to Sirius normally!"
"Hey Harry, you might even get to live with him!" Marcus offered.
"You'd be much safer with a Wizard than the Dursleys." Ron added.
"That's for sure!" Harry replied, excited by the idea of finally breaking free of the Dursleys.
"You're mentioned in the article Harry." Hermionie said, as she continued to read the paper. "Black made a statement earlier today stating that he was delighted to have been cleared, and that he hopes that he can carry on a quiet life from now on... Black is the Godfather of Harry Potter, Dumbledore announced, and so he will be very close to events at Hogwarts. Dumbledore even hinted that there might be a position available for him there in the future."
"I bet he said something about forgiving Hagrid, and whoever wrote the article assumed that that must mean he gets a job here..." Harry said.
"Probably." Ron said.
"It would be cool though, if he replaced Snape as potions master!" Marcus joked.
"I wish!" Harry replied quickly.
"We better get to class!" Hermionie noticed, and they left the common room.

Two days later, Dumbledore and Black returned from London.
"Harry!" Sirius shouted happily as he entered the common room.
"Sirius!" Harry shouted back, obviously happy to see him.
"How are you?" He asked.
"Not too bad, I miss Cho, I'm getting a bit desperate about the whole thing."
"I need to talk to you about that later. In private."
"Okay. Well, come and see the guys, they've been wanting to thank you for your gifts at the dance!"
"We need to talk about your fighting style as well Harry, thanks for reminding me..." Harry wished he hadn't said anything.
"Great!" He said sarcastically as Ron, Marcus and Hermionie rose to greet Sirius.
"Sirius! How are you?" Ron spoke first.
"I'm great! How are you these days?"
"Not too bad."
"It's great to see you again Sirius!" Hermionie added, giving him a huge hug.
"Thanks Hermionie!" Sirius replied before turning his attention to Marcus. "Marcus Greenstone I presume?" He said politely, shaking his hand.
"Sirius Black! It's a pleasure to finally meet you in person."
"Likewise. I knew your father for a brief time I think... There was an exchange program with Durmstrang back when I was studying here. They cancelled it in the times of you-know-who, it was seen to be dangerous to potentially reveal the location of Durmstrang. I'll have to talk to Dumbledore about starting it up again..."
"It's interesting you knew of my Dad, I'll have to ask him next time I send an O-Mail home."
"Alright then!" Harry interjected. "Shall we have something to eat?"
"That would be excellent!" Sirius smiled.
"I'll go down and see Dobby..." Hermionie offered.
"I'll go with you." Marcus added. "You three probably have stuff to talk about."
"Thanks guys." Harry said as they left.
"Harry, it's important for you to realise something about Cho and the people who disappeared." Sirius got straight to the point.
"What? And if it's to let the teachers handle it, we know already."
"I know you've been researching... And I just wanted to warn you that what they say in the books is true, no-one who has ever faced them has come back alive. They've been transported by cart, with a note to who-ever finds them to stay away from the hill where they live. That's how we get any information about them, by the notes they send out."
"It's hard, Sirius. I can't just sit back and do nothing."
"I know how you feel Harry, but don't rush into anything. I imagine you must have considered your father's old Animagnus trick? Or your cloak? There's not much good you can do."
"I know." Harry sounded resigned.
"Now..." Sirius continued... "If your father could see you fight like that he'd have a heart-attack... Obviously you need some training."
"How do you know how we fight?" Ron asked.
"I was there, though you were face down in the mud, so you couldn't see me..." Sirius replied, and Ron couldn't argue... Obviously Sirius had been going for a short walk at the time of the incident...
"Well, I'm not worried. Whenever we look like getting into a fight in the future, we'll just work a bit of the old magic, and Bob's your father's brother." Harry seemed very dismissive.
"Fine, you don't want my help, then just say so." Sirius tried his hardest to sound hurt, but ended with a little laugh as Hermionie and Marcus returned with glum looks on their faces.
"What happened?" Ron asked as they put the food down on the table.
"Three Hufflepuffs got taken from the same place as Cho and the others." Marcus announced.
"This is ridiculous." Harry said firmly. "Why are we sitting here? We have to do something."
"Harry we can't." Hermionie replied. "The teachers have to handle it. It's for the best."
"I know." Harry said, calmer now. "It's just frustrating."
"Soon enough Harry. Soon enough." Sirius paused briefly. "I'm not meant to say this, both as your Godfather, and as your elder, but we'll do something. We have to."
"What happened to your high and mighty speech?" Ron asked.
"Dumbledore said to tell you that. He said you'd probably ignore it anyway, but it was worth a try."
"So you're with us?"
"Of course. It reminds me of when I was still studying here... And besides, I can't let you go and get yourselves killed alone... We'll figure something out." He paused again as he drank. "We have to."