The Box!
The Horror Returns
Disclaimer: once again, anything you see doesn't belong to us!
AN: (this chapter written by Ms. Prongs, 1st by Ms. Padfoot) yes I took the two songs she used..well 2 of the 3..it was our way to connect our stories. Hope nobody minds. And PS. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE review...we must know what you think of our story..thanx!
It was December 24th and Christmas cheer was rather high within the walls of Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, it was Harry and companies 5th year, and for the first time since his stay there, nothing, too out of the ordinary had been happening-save for the fact that Professor Lupin had returned as Defense against the Dark arts teacher and a shaggy black dog could be seen around the school often.
"Oy, Harry! Wake up, come on its Christmas eve, come on." a persistent Ron awoke Harry from a rather interesting dream involving the Marauders, Snape, and a singing box...
"Wha? Why are you so excited about Christmas Eve Ron? Come on lemme sleep..." Harry muttered and pulled the sheets back over his head.
"No, get up." and with that the sheets were ripped off him so fast that he toppled out of bed with a yell.
"Oops. Sorry." came a sheepish Ron who helped him up and then soon he was dressed and ready to go downstairs to see what was exciting his friend so much.
Looking at the mirror he once again tried to flatten his hair a little. ("You really need to stop that, it's defiantly a losing battle") "Oh shush up." he said to the mirror and then hurried downstairs to find Hermione, Ron, Ginny, the twins, and Neville talking excitedly to one another in the Common Room. "Really now what's going on?" he asked and they all looked at him smiling.
"Come here Harry, we've got something for you that just couldn't wait till tomorrow." said Neville and soon Harry found himself being dragged towards a seat, where there was a strange version of a Television sitting on the table.
"What's going on?" he asked again blankly.
"Well, it's a wizarding Television." Hermione said matter-of-factly. "And it only works with Wizarding tapes, and such." she said obviously annoyed at something.
"Well, alright but what's your point?" he asked and then yawned.
"Fred and George here were searching one of their many secret passageways, when they found this." Ron said pulling out a small tape from his pocket no bigger than the memory cards that muggles used for Video games. "Hidden somewhere, though they won't tell where and well, it apparently belonged to somebody from school about 20 years ago." he said smiling.
"That's about the time my parents went to school." Harry added.
"Exactly, well after reviewing it, they saw something that not only made them laugh, but that they were sure you'd love to see." Ginny added smiling.
"What is it?" he asked now rather interested in the small tape.
"Just this… see if you can recognize the people… Happy Christmas Harry." Fred said and then snatched the tape away from Ron and popped it in.
It was very blurry, as if
somebody wasn't focused or was new to this. "Look! Look mum, it's
Santa." a voice could be heard from off camera.
"I know sweety." said the person working the camera, soon everything
came into focus and Harry about choked on the Pumpkin juice he was drinking to
wake him up. "Is that--"
"Yup." Ron said sniggering slightly.
"Oh my word." Hermione said who was also viewing this for the first time.
After a few minutes of talking to students varying from Arabella Figg, Arthur and Molly Weasley, (then were still just friends..) and a few others, soon people could hear laughter coming from one side of the street of Hogsmeade and the camera unfocused again then focused in on 6 people, one looked particularly snide..
"Oh." Harry said putting down the juice and staring intently at the television as his father came into view, at about 15 years old, his messy black hair sticking up everywhere, only now it wasn't really recognizable at the fact that he was in a reindeer costume.
But soon after they saw him look around at the other marauders, Sirius as an Elf, Remus as the Grinch, and Peter as Frosty with a wicked grin.
("All right you Marauders! Ready to sing our song?" said James grinning.
"I'll say we are" said Sirius grumbling.
"Yeah!" said Peter who was being pulled on by two kids on either side of him.
"Let's sing it now!" yelled Remus as a little girl kept looking up at him and refused to let go of his legs so he could move.
"Okay, Moony?"
"Okay!"
"Okay, Wormtail?"
"Okay!"
"Okay, Sirius? Sirius? SIRIUS!"
"OKAY!!!")
James-"Christmas, Christmas time is near
Time for pranks and butterbeer!"
Peter-"We've been bad, but we can dream
Hurry Christmas, hurry fast"
Remus-"Want a Snape that can be cleaned"
Sirius-"Me, I want a grease hair to scream"
Santa said something that Mrs. Santa (Arabella in disguise) muffled with her hand
All-"We can hardly stand the wait
Please Christmas,
don't be late."
("Okay fellas get ready." said James grinning
"That was very good, Moony."
"Naturally."
"Very good Wormtail"
"Ahhh."
"Ah, Sirius, you were a little flat, watch it."
"Ah, Sirius. Sirius. SIRIUS!"
"OKAY.")
Remus-Want a Snape that can be cleaned
Sirius-I still want a grease hair to scream
Peter-We can hardly stand the wait
Please Christmas, don't be late.
James-We can hardly stand the wait
Please Christmas,
don't be late.
("Very good, guys!" yelled James grinning.
"Let's sing it again!" yelled Sirius.
"Yeah, lets sing it again!" yelled Remus.
"No, That's enough, lets not overdo it." Lily said from the corner of the screen.
"What do you mean overdo it?" yelled Peter.
"We want to sing it again!" said James.
"Now wait a minute, guys." said Lily backing up.
"Why can't we sing it again?" yelled Sirius.
[Marauder chatter]
"Padfoot, cut that out… Prongs, just a minute.
Wormtail, will you cut that out? Guys..." Lily trailed off and started running.)
Suddenly the camera shook a little and then moved to where they could see the four teenage boys tickling a poor Lily Evans and then it cut out with somebody saying. "And that's about it for the Christmas of 76 at Hogsmeade" and then fuzz.
Harry sat there dumbstruck as everybody was laughing, even Hermione; she however stopped at looked at him quizzically. "You alright Harry?" she asked moving over to his side.
"Yeah..I'm fine--it's just-wow." he said still shocked at seeing his parents, his age, then he started chuckling. "I almost pity Snape." he said suddenly and she grinned.
"So, whattid you think Harry ol' chap?" Fred
asked as he and George both made the TV and tape disappear quickly.
"Guys, that was brilliant! I can't believe you found that, I can't believe
I--my parents…" he said grinning. "And Snape as Santa… oh wow."
he said and laughed again.
Since it was a Saturday, and for some certain reasons, quite a few of the students had stayed in school for the holidays at the request of parents, or by choice, nearly every table was full, except for Slytherin. Snape was sitting at the Teachers table scowling quite noticeably at Remus who seemed to have an evil glint in his eyes.
Harry soon spotted 'Snuffles' wandering down the isles and heading towards the Gryffindor table, stopping next to Harry he looked up expectantly and wagged his tail. "Alright, coming…" came the reply from his godson who got up and, after talking to Ron and Hermione quickly followed the dog out flicking his wand at Draco Malfoy who had stayed in school for some reason or another and had his back turned to him. Suddenly the blonde had Crimson Hair, Gold and white stripped clothes, and a Santa Hat.
Snickering slightly he walked out of the hall and then followed Snuffles down to the Gryffindor Common room and once they were alone he transformed back to his human self and chuckled. "Well good morning Harry." he said and plopped down on the couch his now groomed Blackish Brown hair falling just above his shoulders, as it had been cut a few days before and his eyes sparkling with mischief. "Very nice spell Harry, I dare-say that Malfoy brat'll be humiliated for days." he said and this looked around.
"Yeah well, he'd done the same thing to me only in Slytherin colors, so I owed him." Harry replied smiling and sitting down next to Sirius who then draped his hand over his godsons shoulder lazily.
"Whattid you get me for Christmas?" Harry asked curiously.
"Oh? You were expecting me to get you something?" Sirius replied with a serious face.
"No, I was just wondering." Harry trailed off with a feigned hurt statement.
"I was just teasing, of course I got you something, but I'm not going to tell you what. Who do you think I am? Remus?" he asked and then chuckled.
"I was teasing too, and it's alright, I didn't get you anything." Harry replied laughingly.
"Yeah right… hey, how about we go and… I dunno… fix up Snape's office and room." said a very sly looking Sirius. "Remus of course is in on this as well." he said slowly then got up and dragged Harry out of the room and towards the dungeons.
"Are you sure it's ok for you to be out like this in human form?" Harry asked looking around nervously.
"Sure I'm sure, besides--everybody's either gone
or eating, so we'll be fine as long as I'm back in my dog form by what…10? As
it's 8:30 now we have an hour and a half to leave Snape a little Christmas
cheer." he said and then dragged Harry back down the dungeon steps
quickly, wand in hand, and joined Remus who had left the Great hall not minutes
before.
"I take it Harry here has decided to join in our little-er-present?"
Remus said and smiled before slowly opening the door to the Potions class
room.
"What are we going to do here?" Harry asked looking around the dark
room.
"Just--pep things up. Now hold your wand up and point at a wall… come on now it'll be fun." Sirius said. "And say ' Pingo Rutilus Infucatus"
Harry looked at him suspiciously before doing as told. "Pingo..Rutilus Infucatus!" and with that a burst of red exploded from his wand. And hit with a big blot in front of him. "No way!" he grinned.
"Yes way, I do believe you have the idea… Virilus is green, White is Niveus, gold is Aurum… incidentally… niveus if you accent the Ve to say niVEus… will be snow… hint hint… now just stick to coloring the walls and maybe adding a few decorations here and there..you know, cheer up the place and me and Moony have a little experiment of our own going in Snape's Bedroom... have at it." he said and the door shut behind him, leaving Harry to the dark dungeon room.
A few minutes later Sirius and Remus appeared in Snape's room. "Do you think it wise to leave the lad alone?" Remus asked.
"Of course, he'll be fine, besides he knows some really good spells; I wanna see what he comes up with on his own." Sirius replied chuckling and setting to work on Snape's desk, chairs, and bed. All the while the two muttered "We wish you a merry Christmas" to themselves.
~*~
About 15 minutes later the two adults decided to check up on Harry, and when
they opened the door they heard something that made Sirius stop and shake with
laughter, it was the ending to "Santa Claus is coming to town" and
incidentally the décor of the room matched, as the young Potter had taken the
"add a few decorations here and there" about 2 steps too far, with a
sleigh making it's way around the room, elf's scuttling around, which were actually
pencils to begin with, but he'd concentrated most of the imagination he had to
turn them into elves, and the desks and chairs had turned into work shops… it
was a mini north pole, with jingle bells and all, the motif of the walls was
basically red, white and gold (that were switching every 2 seconds or so
courtesy of the spell Hermione had taught him), with of course a few Gryffindor
Lions on the ceiling to make it look good, and snow was falling. There was a
good 2 inches on the ground and it was actually rather chilly in the room.
"Harry m'boy, I do say--I'm… wow, that's ruddy brilliant!" Remus said when he realized Sirius just wasn't in the state of mind to be talking. "Where'd you learn to Transfigure like that?" he asked.
"It wasn't hard, I've been getting better in Transfiguration each year, and if you think about the right thing, then get the right spell it works… I think? Some of them look like really small trolls but still." Harry trailed off smiling and humming to the song that was playing.
"I dare say, you may just have out decorated us... wouldn't that be the day Moony?" Sirius said chuckling and draping his arm around Harry's neck and sighing fitfully.
"It most certainly would, very good job Harry, the blinking colors and lights, well they just give a whole new meaning to a Gryffindor Christmas, but now, I do think you should take a peek at what us old goofs came up with." said Remus chuckling.
"Who you calling old, I happen to be 35, I'm in my prime." Sirius said running a hand through his hair and smiling.
Harry and Remus both snorted and then stifled laughter
as Sirius got a hurt statement. "What? You don't believe me?"
"Well, it's just that, the normal dog's so called, prime is about 6 or
7..so I'd say you're a good 24 or 25 years out of your league my friend."
said Remus through a straight face which caused Harry to laugh a bit more.
"Tell that to--" suddenly a snow ball hit him in the face causing him to back step and fall into a snow pile and he looked up to see Remus with a stern statement and Harry leaning against the wall in silent laughter. "Alright alright… I get the point…" at which point he magicked 2 pails of slushy snow to fall on both his godson and friend and they both cried out and then looked at him. "That'll teach you." he said and then slipped out of the room narrowly avoiding two very slushy snowballs aimed at his face. "HAH" and with that he waited outside the door for them to come out, at which time he grabbed Harry's shoulders and pushed him, quickly down another flight of stairs towards Snape's room.
"Now, to show you exactly what we professionals can do." he said and Remus shook his head as Sirius opened the door and then Harry looked in and gasped then closed his eyes in shock and laughter.
The room, dark as it may have been, now was decorated with...red and gold silk--he had a very hard time not laughing aloud, but he was gasping by now.
"Thought we'd go with something a little… edgy?" said Remus smiling slightly.
"Hell, we tried for outright sexy but this is Sevey's room, even magic can only go so far." Sirius added with an evil smile and then started to examine a wall ignoring the furious stare of Remus.
"Wow… Victoria's Secret huh? I didn't think you'd take it that far..." Harry said once he got his breath back.
Sirius muttered something about female models refusing to come into the room but chuckled and just smiled.
"It was Mr. Black's idea." Remus said somewhat annoyed.
"I like it."
Harry said suddenly and laughed again at the sickened look on Remus's face.
"You sure you aren't his father and not just Godfather Padfoot?" he
asked and Sirius merely shrugged.
"You'll never know now will you?"
Looking around the room Sirius grinned. "It is some pretty good handy work… we should honestly get some pictures of this." he added and then turned to Harry. "What do you think?"
"Knock yourself out." he replied chuckling.
"Please do." Remus muttered.
Waving his wand slightly a camera appeared in his hand. "Its party time." he murmured and started clicking.
The room in its own was a change from the stone walls and floor, black sheets and white pillows, empty desk and shadows. It was now Fluffy Crimson carpet, Golden walls that flashed with lions that were red and gold, the bed was now a canopy and looked over stuffed with silk sheets and pillows red and gold as well. Somehow Sirius had managed as well to get all his robes and clothes to turn from Green and black, to Crimson, or white, or gold… and when he pulled Harry to a table he held up something that made Harry burst into laughter. Red boxers with golden hearts that flashed 'Victoria Secrets forever' in really small letters every so often. And as he looked around little white daisy's started to appear on the walls and the strawberry smell mixed with that of flowers… it was quite humorous.
"Merlin's beard Sirius! How'd you do that?" Remus asked in surprised interest as a few candles floated over head nearly dripping hot wax on him. "And... is that a hint of Strawberry I smell Padfoot?" he asked looking around.
"Maybe, Hey, a master has to have some secrets don't he, now… for the finishing touches…" he added and flicked his wand again, on the back of the door left the message:
Merry Christmas Sevey, and a Happy New year
From Moony, Padfoot and Prongs II..
Flashing in Golden and Red letters.
"Perfect! This is just perfect!" Harry laughed and noticed the 'Prongs II' but disregarded it.
Sirius smirked and leaned against the wall. "I had originally thought about a rose garden motif, or--McGonagall's room, but then I thought about what she'd say, and I don't feel like being told off." he said shrugging. "She may know I'm innocent, but I doubt she'd keep the secret I'm here if we did this."
"True… wait what time is it?" Remus suddenly asked.
"Umm." Harry looked at the watch he'd gotten from Sirius for his birthday. "Oh, it's about--10:20… ten minutes, come on we should get back… I've got to tell this to Ron and Hermione." he finished and the three left hurriedly.
~*~
Once back at breakfast Harry ignored a cursing Draco Malfoy who had finally
realized exactly why everybody had been laughing for nearly an hour.
"Watch your step Potty… I'm warning you." he had said heatedly and
Harry merely waved him off.
"That was great Harry! He was clueless as to why everybody had been laughing at him, till he caught his reflection in the glass of one of the windows and he cried out." Ron said as he sat down.
"Harry, ol' buddy, you really have to tell us that one, it's great." Fred added and George nodded as the others continued to eat and talk.
"It's not hard, and I learned a few new tricks earlier too." he added and waved everybody to follow him to the common room, Snuffles following as well.
Once he told them about everything that had been done, (let's say earlier in the year something happened and the Weasley twins just happened to find out about Sirius being Harry's godfather, and being innocent… alright? please? lol.) Sirius assured them that he'd make doubles of everything so they could see for themselves and then went on to tell them a little bit more, but soon they could here the footsteps of the others and he quickly transformed and bounded down the stairs for some reason.
"Harry, you have the coolest person in the world
as a godfather you know that?" Fred said and then George chuckled and
pulled him off down the stairs.
"Wonder what they're up to?" Ron said suspiciously.
"Who knows." Harry said absently and looked around. "But, come on, let's play a game of chess, I'm bound to beat you yet." he said and leaving Hermione to talk to Ginny they started playing.
~*~
It was that same night, and most everybody was in bed, but Harry had stayed up to exchange gifts with Sirius.
"Oh wow Sirius! A Pensieve, I've been wanting one of these for a while now." Harry said happily looking it over.
"Well… I knew you needed it so, the same way I got your Firebolt… I got you this… I'm glad you like it." he said smiling and then opening his gift, or two of them.
"One's from the twins who--said they wouldn't be around most of the day so they wanted me to give it to you, and the other one… well… I think you should come with me to Dumbledore's office, he told me that he had a surprise for the both of us." he said and then got up.
"Why?" Sirius asked curiously as he transformed
"Just come on!" he said quickly and ran nearly the whole way there. "Oh great… what's the password… umm. Blood Pops, Lemon Drops, Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans (sp?)...Chocolate Frogs, Ton-Tongue Toffee." he said by accident but the Gargoyle moved and Harry wondered how Dumbledore could have known about those.
After making their way up the stairs Harry about knocked when the door opened. "Oh, er, hello professor." he trailed off looking around the office to find an unlikely crew. Remus, Dumbledore, Cornelius Fudge, Arthur Weasley and--Alastor Moody?!?
"Who let that mangy mutt in here?" was the first thing out of the minister's mouth as he looked darkly at Snuffles, who growled at him. "Has he had his rabies shots?" he asked softly to nobody imparticular.
Suddenly another witch, looking about the same age as Remus walked in holding a jar in her hands. "Now Minister Fudge… remember why you're here…" she said sternly.
"Yes, yes, of course Mrs. Figg." he replied and Harry about fell over in shock.
"Mrs. Figg?" he said in surprise.
"Well hello Harry dear." she said kindly smiling at him mystically.
"B-but you--you're… and younger... I..." he fell silent suddenly and she laughed softly.
"You'll understand later dear." she replied then moved her hand away, revealing something nobody really recognized. "Snuffles... come here." she said to the dog by Harry's side who looked up at him, then to her and made his way towards her slowly, nipping at Minister Fudge's leg as he went causing him to fall into the chair behind him.
But as soon as Snuffles got close enough to the jar and noticed what… or who was in it he growled again and detransformed into his human form lunging for the jar. "Wormtail!" he cried only to have Mrs. Figg step out of the way and he collided with the desk that she was standing near.
Harry, who had watched this in silence struggled to keep from laughing at the pained statement of his godfather who stayed in a sitting position rubbing his head, and noticed Fudge with a horrified statement, Mr. Weasley with a shocked one and both Remus and Dumbledore with amused looks, though Remus also looked annoyed.
"What is he doing here? How'd you find him, where was he?!" Sirius started asking as he pushed some of his hair out of his face and standing up glaring at Arabella darkly.
"Well, the Weasley twins, as I recall were out in one of their secret passages…" she said smiling slightly. "When they found a rat scurrying down one of the passages leading from Honeydukes I believe." she said thoughtfully, "well they decided to take it probably for experiments or something, but it escaped, and that's when Professor Lupin here recognized him and brought him to Headmaster Dumbledore and we got Minister Fudge here--because we now have the proof we need to, prove you innocent Sirius." she said smiling at his dumbstruck face.
"I knew they're scheming would do good someday." Harry muttered but the smile was fake as he glared at the rat who was now running around in circles madly in the jar.
Minister Fudge finally found his voice again and sputtered. "W--what is that MURDERER doing here!?!?"
Sirius stood up and stared menacingly at Cornelius who backed down slightly but still stared at him.
"Mr. Fudge, Mr. Black please don't do this now." Mr. Weasley said stepping in between them so they couldn't see each other and Sirius walked back over to Harry still glaring at Fudge.
"What are you doing?" he suddenly asked.
"What does it look like-" Sirius sad sarcastically. "I'm walking across the room towards my godson."
"Don't give me lip Black." Fudge said angrily and watched him closely, "remember, you do anything wrong, put one--paw out of line, and I'll have the Dementors here faster than you can say Quidditch."
"Hey! You keep them away from Sirius!" Harry said defensively stepping in front of his godfather protectively causing the older man to chuckle.
"I think I can protect myself Harry." he said softly but was still glaring at Fudge narrowly.
"Honestly Mr. Potter I would think you of all people would have a little bit more of a better judgment when picking out your allies." Fudge said pointedly.
"Now see here!" Remus said suddenly annoyed. "How dare you-"
"I do believe I said something like this to Draco Malfoy the first day we met...but I do believe I can judge the right sort of people for myself thank you very much." Harry said darkly staring at the Minister defiantly. "And I will ask you to stop insulting my godfather in front of me." he finished.
"B-but he's a convicted murderer!"
"He IS NOT! Stop saying that!"
"How dare you tell me what to do." the older man was paling slightly
Sirius on the other hand was attempting to keep himself from laughing and said with a straight face. "I'd watch what you said to the boy Cornelius."
"Like I'm going to take a threat from the likes of you." he said derisively.
"It wasn't a threat, it was a suggestion."
"Gentlemen, all of you, please I must ask you to calm yourselves." said Dumbledore the familiar twinkle in his eyes as he cast a glance to Sirius and Harry. "Because we are here to set the records straight and prove once and for all that Sirius Black is indeed innocent and that in all actually Peter Pettigrew is alive." he said in a tone which quieted everybody.
"I seriously doubt that little Peter Pettigrew is alive after we saw what that maniac did to him 15 years ago." Fudge said furiously, the color returning to his face finally.
"And I seriously doubt you know what you're talking about old man." Sirius said as he sat down next to Harry across the room from Fudge.
"If you want proof--Minister, here..." Arabella interfered before anything else could happen she pulled the rat out of the jar, put a full body bind on it and then forced him to transform back to his true self causing actually a few reactions, Cornelius Fudge about passed out, Sirius and Harry both jumped up with rather angry glares on their faces at the man before them, and Remus was using all will power not to tackle the 'rat' himself. Soon after Arabella removed the muting charm and he began to stutter.
"M-m-minister F-fudge, p-p-please h-help m-me.." he begged and the older man almost got up to help but then stopped and stared at him.
"You're supposed to be dead."
"He's also supposed to be innocent but he's as guilty as they go."
Sirius said through gritted teeth.
"Shut your trap Black."
"Don't tell him to shut up." Harry said defensively.
Dumbledore watched, waiting for one thing to happen, and soon after getting exactly the response he expected.
"You little traitor!" Sirius spat and, dodging the arms of Arabella to stop him, picked Peter up by the collar of his shirt and just stared at him for a second. "You were lucky last time Wormtail, lucky that Harry has a merciful heart otherwise I wouldn't have wasted another second before killing you." he seethed and if possible Peter shrank back and paled even worse.
"Sirius, put him down." Arabella said softly.
"Mrs. Figg... I think you should concentrate on Fudge for now... he's kind of… er, passed out." said Harry before making his way over to Remus's side as he joined Sirius.
"You filthy scoundrel, give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you here and now." Sirius muttered darkly.
"Because--umm… you'll really go to Azkaban." Harry said looking at him semi-seriously.
"True, but it'd be worth it after everything he's done."
"Sirius, please, calm down, we're going to get justice here." Arabella said as she attempted to get the Minister to wake up.
"Sirius, don't get yourself in trouble, please… remember what I said two years ago? About not becoming a murderer just for him?" and when Peter looked at him gratefully his statement hardened and he said through angry eyes. "I'm not doing this for you, murderer… I'm doing this for my godfather, you--you can suffer, suffer without a soul... after the Dementers get a hold of you." he said a new found emotion in his eyes, pure hatred.
"Well said Harry, well said." Remus added
unsure of what else to say.
"Again, you are the only one-" Sirius stopped when he saw Fudge
staring at them. "Have a staring problem? Do I have something on my
face?" he said sarcastically then turned away then threw Peter to the
ground with a thud.
"Arabella… do you have the Veratiserum?" Dumbledore said suddenly.
"Yes, I do sir, enough for all 4 of them." she said softly.
"All 4 of us?" Harry said looking around.
"What Fudge has to take some too?" Sirius asked without thinking and Harry chuckled.
"No, you, Remus, Harry, and Peter." Dumbledore said in an amused tone.
"Oh… I knew that." he said waving off any looks he was receiving.
"Now we'll commence this… without further interruption." and with that Fudge got up, dusted off his robes and looked on in pure suspicion, but before he could say anything Dumbledore said. "I will be asking the questions, and you will be hearing with your own two ears the truth from each and every one of them."
Glaring at him Fudge sighed with resignation. "Let's just get this over with so I can get home to my wife."
"You have one? I pity the woman." Sirius muttered so that only Harry and Remus could hear and Harry chuckled while Remus cast him a stern look.
"Sirius you first, sit here please."
Dumbledore directed and soon after. "You understand everything involved in
taking Veratiserium I assume."
"Well… I would if I would have gotten a trial in the first place… but I'm
not one to hold a grudge for another's stupidly and urgent need to accuse
somebody and get it over with… and yes I do." he said sarcastically and
Fudge bristled.
"Alright then… one drop should suffice..." he said and with that the questioning commenced.
"Name?"
"Sirius Black"
"Age?"
"35"
"Were you friends with Lily and James Potter at the time of July 31st 1981?"
"Yes I was."
"Did they or did they not name you their sons godfather and legal
guardian?"
"Yes, they did, it was Lily's choice actually." he said a hint of amusement in his otherwise emotionless voice.
Fudge muttered something about a waste of time but looked on.
"And, after they were put under the Fidelius
Charm Sirius…" this question made Fudge sit up. "Were you made their
secret keeper?"
Silence ensued for a good 30 seconds before he said bluntly. "No."
"WHAT?!" an enraged Minister of Magic cried out. "That's preposterous!"
"You heard it straight from him... and why is it Mr. Black were you not their chosen secret keeper, and who was?"
"I convinced them just before we performed the charm, to switch over to somebody else who was less obvious, because it was apparent that I was their best friend, and of course I would be the first person they went looking for… so I convinced them to switch to Peter Pettigrew because he was so unobvious that I thought nobody would think to go to him… but I was wrong, the night of July 31st I had an uneasy feeling and went to check on him in his hide out, but found him gone with no sign of a struggle, something was amiss, by the time I reached Lily and James' house... it was too late." he trailed off and another moment of silence followed.
"Did you kill 13 people soon after?"
"No, I was planning on killing Pettigrew though, I was so furious with him--with myself for letting him fool me, and James into believe that he was a friend, that I just wanted him dead, but he ran to me and said in a begging voice. 'Why Lily and James Sirius, why' and behind his back cast a spell to kill anybody within a good 30 feet of where we were, and then transformed into his Anamagi form and ran to the sewers with the other rats." he said blatantly.
"H-he l-lies, I-I d-d-did n-no s-such t-thing" Peter pleaded
"Oh shut your mouth Wormtail! We know you're an anamagi, and you're here alive so just shut up!" Harry snapped and he backed down again.
Soon after Sirius was finished being questioned he returned to normal, with the one side-effect, nausea and was led to the bathroom by Arabella as Remus went up for questioning.
About 15 minutes after he had confirmed everything Sirius had said, including the events from 2 years ago in the shrieking shack.
Next came Harry, who told his side of the story, and for some strange reason still had the accusing look in his eyes when he looked straight at Peter and said. "He was the murderer."
Finally, came the moment of reckoning, it was Peter's turn, with surprisingly little struggle the truth potion was given, and also told his side of the story, being interrupted by Sirius.
"You betrayed Lily and James; now with the truth serum do you deny it!"
"No."
"Did you kill the 13 people 15 years ago and stage your death to frame
Sirius Black."
"Yes." it was such a simple reply that it brought evil expressions from everybody and a stunned look from Fudge, and a triumphant one from Arthur Weasley.
It was all that was needed, and reluctant Fudge, with much depression pronounced Sirius Black innocent and muttered something about getting a Dementor and walked out of the room.
Peter was still under the influence of the serum at the time but Sirus walked up, undid the bindings much to the surprise of Remus and Harry (this of course when Dumbledore left the room with Fudge) and then just as the shaky man came out of the trance he punched him with all his might knocking him back out.
"That, is for betraying Lily and James, and for all the Hell you put my godson through you lying scum." he said looking down at the unconscious Peter and walking towards the door.
"Sirius Black! Watch your language!" Arabella chided furious.
"Yeah, and why'd you have to knock him out? I wanted a go." Remus said raising an eyebrow in disappointment.
"I could wake him up for you." Sirius
offered but Remus waved it off chuckling. "How's it feel to be free?"
"Like I'm free" he chuckled and draped his arm over Harry's shoulder
and led him towards the door. "Well now that it's 1:30 in the morning, I
do say it's time we get this one to bed, then the marauders can prowl, hey… I
haven't heard a thing from Snape yet." he paused.
"That's because he's not even in the school, won't be till tomorrow morning." Arabella said matter-of-factly.
"What? Why?"
"Mission for Dumbledore… that's all you need to know... now go." she
whisked them off and picked Peter up and put him on a chair and awaited the
arrival of Fudge and the Dementor..
~*~
Later on that night, after saying goodnight to Remus and Sirius, Harry stayed
up a little later looking out the window at the snow falling, and then just as
he dozed he slipped and felt found some sort of handle… pulling it he found a
box, rather dusty...raising an eyebrow he read the note, warning not to open
the box until Christmas day. (and something about giving it to Severus..)
"If you've found this, you'll understand exactly what we mean when we
say, don't open this box; give it directly to Severus Snape if he's still
around... the slimy git."
Harry chuckled and shut the drawer, and quickly went to bed hardly standing the wait till breakfast that morning; hopefully the professor would be back by then.
~*~
Luckily he was… because when Harry walked into the great hall Severus was
talking to one of the teachers… he grinned devilishly, added one final touch to
the box hoping it still worked… and as quickly and quietly as he could made he
way to the teachers table, set it down and ran to the Gryffindor table pulling
everybody to the farthest end.
"Just wait.."
Within minutes Harry noticed Sirius and Remus walk in, still uneasy looks but Dumbledore told them about Sirius being innocent.
Suddenly they noticed the box in front of Snape and both looked around to see Harry, Hermione, Fred, George, Ginny, and Neville at the opposite end of the table laughing.
Soon Snape turned around and found the box, he eyed the message 'To Severus Snape, and a very merry Christmas to you' but he shrugged and opened it up.
A huge shot went off and fireworks came out of the box which caught every ones attention. A few seconds later the magically magnified voices of the Marauders came from the box.
"Merry Christmas from the Marauders!"
His eyes widened and he closed his eyes.
Peter-You're
a mean one, Mr. Snape
You really are a heel,
You're as cuddly as a cactus, you're as charming as an eel, Mr. Snape,
You're a bad banana with a greasy black peel!
You're a monster, Mr. Snape,
Snape stared in surprise at the box. His jaw was slack and his eyes were huge.
James-Your heart's
an empty hole,
Your brain is full of spiders, you have garlic in your soul, Mr. Snape,
I wouldn't touch you with a thirty-nine-and-a-half foot pole!
You're a foul one, Mr. Snape,
As if feeling Dejavouh he slammed the top over the box, but like before the music only got louder and kids were staring in shock, some laughing, some surprised.......Arabella was struggling between Horror and Humor..
Remus-You
have termites in your smile,
You have all the tender sweetness of a seasick crocodile, Mr. Snape,
Given a choice between the two of you I'd take the seasick crocodile!
You're a rotter, Mr. Snape,
He'd stopped and stared at the box then around the room.
Sirius-You're
the king of sinful sots,
Your heart's a dead tomato splotched with moldy purple spots, Mr. Snape,
You're a three decker sauerkraut and toadstool sandwich with arsenic sauce!
You nauseate me, Mr. Snape,
By this time every body in the hall was laughing and Sirius and Remus were laughing in the back of the room by the Gryffindors... shocked and loving every second of Snape's humiliation.
Arabella -With a nauseous super "naus"!,
You're a crooked
dirty jockey and you drive a crooked hoss, Mr. Snape,
Your soul is an appalling dump heap overflowing with the most disgraceful
assortment of rubbish imaginable mangled up in tangled up knots!
Snape glared their way and silently cursed them. But soon everybody knew what was to come so everybody in Harry's group joined in the end.
All-You're a
foul one, Mr. Snape,
You're a nasty wasty skunk,
Your heart is full of unwashed socks, your soul is full of gunk, Mr. Snape,
The three words that best describe you are as follows, and I quote,
"Stink, stank, stunk"!
~*~
But that wasn't where it ended...just when he thought it was over, there was one more explosion, and he stood frozen to the spot. He was suddenly outfitted in Red silk pajamas with fluffy golden slippers and a red and gold night cap, with a card saying. "Sleep tight."
He looked around the room furiously, and stomped down the isle, as he passed Sirius and Remus who flashed him identical smiles he slammed the doors open and trod down the hallways..
After about 20 minutes when everybody was piling out
of the great hall still laughing a voice echoed rather loudly..
"POTTER!!!!!!!"
"Uh oh… I think he found his office..." Harry muttered and quickly bolted out of the great hall towards the Gryffindor Common room followed by Sirius and the others.
"Why the PJ's?" Fred asked then remembered and started laughing.
Soon the same voice came rather loudly after them a rather long line of swear words drowned out by loud laughter.
"We wish you a merry
Christmas..." Remus muttered
"And a happy new year..." Sirius and Harry added chuckling
~*~
That same night, nobody had seen hide-nor-hair of Professor Snape and Sirius
was getting ready for bed, in his new room down near the Gryffindor Room.
As he walked in there was a loud splash. "What the bloody devil?!" he cried out and fell to the ground when he saw his room decorated with dog toys, dog food, a doggie bed in place of his bed, grooming supplies and a flea bath.
"......." he stared blankly around the room... and found a card.
Have a very Merry Christmas...Flea Bag...
While outside, a sneering Severus Snape snuck back to his room. "That'll teach you Sirius... that will teach you..."
~*~
This has been...a really wierd fic by yours truely Ms. Padfoot and Ms. Prongs,
we sincerely hope you enjoyed this.. cause boy was it a blast to write *grins*
