Chapter 7

As the large doors of the Room of Requirement swung open, Tracey entered to find Harry waiting for her. She smiled as she saw him and greeted him with a warm hug. Ever since he'd told her about his argument with Hermione and Ron over his friendship with her their closeness had only grown. While it hadn't surprised her, it had still touched her hearing about how he had defended her to his best friends. What had come as a surprise though was hearing about how he had received support from Ginny Weasley. The girl's crush on Harry for her first handful of years at Hogwarts had been well known and Tracey had been certain Ginny would view her as an unwelcome presence when her friendship with Harry became known, however, this couldn't have been further from the truth.

At the first DA meeting following the golden trio's argument, Ginny had approached Tracey and asked if she'd wanted to pair up for the night. Between duels, the two struck up friendly conversation and Ginny had been more than a little suggestive about the nature of their relationship. This behavior had both surprised Tracey and caused her to blush furiously; while she'd remained adamant that the two were friends it had prompted her to ask Ginny about her feelings for Harry.

"He's a sweet guy and someday he's going to make the right woman very happy but I don't think he's quite as…. forward enough for my taste. I loved the idea of the bold outgoing hero and that's just not who Harry is." She had said, emphasizing the phrase 'right woman' while giving Tracey a knowing look. The admission had caused a subconscious feeling of relief to flood throughout Tracey and she and Ginny subsequently became friends.

Ron and Hermione also seemed to have eased up as of late, something else Ginny had been the catalyst of. While she wouldn't say she was friends with either yet, the glares and suspicious looks had ceased and the two had more or less started to treat her as any other DA member they only knew in passing. Tracey had asked Ginny what she had said to them, she had simply replied 'What they needed to hear.'

"I'm so glad to be done with today." Harry said with a relieved sigh as they separated.

Tracey frowned and asked. "Everything alright?"

"Fine, just that Umbridge was trying harder than usual to get a rise out of me in class. I nearly cracked but just barely managed to keep my cool." Tracey had been all over Harry about his detentions with Umbridge when he missed one of their meetups due to detention. At their next meet up he'd explained what happened and shown her the scars from the blood quill. At first she swatted him with a rolled up sheet of parchment and berated him for being a foolish, brash Gryffindor with no sense of self care for letting the bitch get to him. She had made him promise to read up on rudimentary occlumency techniques to better control his emotions so he wouldn't have more outbursts. Once he'd given in she had then promised to help him kill her later, he was only fifty percent sure she was joking.

"I'm proud of you Harry, you've made remarkable progress in such a short time." She praised.

Harry grinned and rubbed the back of his neck with one hand. "Yes, well. We couldn't have me making you upset with me again could we?"

Tracey jokingly patted his cheek. "Good boy, you're learning."

The two laughed for a minute before releasing contented sighs.

"Are you going home for the holidays this year?" Harry asked her.

Tracey looked down. "Not this year, I wrote my dad and told him I'm staying here. Roger agreed to stay with me so I have company but….." She stopped, unsure of what to say.

"But?" Harry prompted.

"It's just going to feel lonely is all, we always spend the holidays with Daphne and her family but I declined this year for…. obvious reasons." She said.

Harry looked guilty, he hated that she and Daphne still hadn't worked things out because he could tell it was breaking Tracey's heart. He said nothing though, when he last expressed his guilt over being the reason the two were fighting, Tracey had firmly told him that this was Daphne's fault and had nothing to do with him. Instead he took her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

"I'm sorry." He finally said. "I hope she comes round soon."

"I hope so too." She said quietly.

The two were silent for a few moments before Harry broke it.

"What about your dad, don't you want to see him?" Harry asked.

Tracey thought for a moment before answering. "I love my father, truly. It's just that he's been distant ever since mum died. He gets absorbed in work and barely ever spends time at home, even during the holidays. It's a coin flip each year on whether he even attends the Christmas celebrations."

"I…… I was wondering, and if you don't want to answer you don't have to, you don't talk much about your mum. What happened to her? if you feel up to sharing that is." Harry asked nervously.

Tracey felt a tear make its way down her cheek. "She died when I was 9. She owned a specialty quill shop in Diagon Alley that she'd opened at the end of the last war. It was highly successful, so much so that it put a similar shop out of business." Tracey said this with a hint of pride in her voice as she continued. "Unfortunately a patron of the other shop was Carlyle Selwyn, a death eater who got off claiming imperious. He threatened my mother several times over the years as he thought it was preposterous that a 'simple mudblood' could manage to outperform a 'respectable pure blood establishment'. After years of failing to intimidate her into closing up shop he finally cracked and attacked her store just as she was closing up one night."

Tracey sniffed and wiped her eyes as the memory of that day came to her. "Selwyn came dressed in death eater regalia, not expecting to be caught or run into trouble but my mom fought back after curses started flying. She held him off for a time and injured him pretty badly but he hit her with a killing curse just as the aurora arrived and arrested him."

Harry's heart went out to her, he didn't remember his parents so even though he missed them in a way it seemed more cruel in Tracey's case to have memories of a living, dedicated, loving mother taken from you too soon.

Harry gave her hand another squeeze in an attempt to comfort her.

"I'm sorry Tracey, she sounds like a wonderful woman. I've no doubt she'd be proud of you." He said sympathetically.

"Thank you Harry, I certainly hope that's true." She smiled at him.

The two then sat quietly for a while, just enjoying the warmth of the fire. Eventually Tracey broke the silence.

"What about you, are you staying here over the holidays?" Tracey asked hopefully.

Harry shook his head. "No, I'm going to be spending Christmas with my godfather."

Tracey's face adopted a look of confusion. "Godfather?" she questioned. While Harry hadn't said much about his life before Hogwarts, Tracey knew he lived with muggle relatives and had gathered he didn't like them much.

"Yeah, I only met him for the first time a couple years ago. We don't get to see each other much but we try to make it work when we can." He said vaguely.

Tracey, still being confused, followed with another question. "Can I ask why he didn't take you in after…… you know? I thought that was the whole purpose behind having godparents."

"He couldn't." Harry said quietly as he looked down sadly.

Tracey bit her lower lip gently. There was obviously more to this than she was aware of but didn't want to push further. Harry had vented more than once about Hermione's pushiness in getting him to share when she suspected he wasn't feeling well mentally and Tracey had resolved to let him share in his own time. Given how much he'd already shared it was clear he'd been receptive to her method but he still hadn't opened up to her about everything.

"I'm sorry Tracey, it's just…… this is a massive secret and it could be problematic if the wrong person heard it." He apologized.

"I get it Harry, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to." She replied reassuringly.

"That's the thing, I do want to, it's just…… this would be a burden for you to carry too if you know it and could get you in trouble if others found out." Harry warned.

"Harry, you're my friend, friends make sacrifices for each other. I swear if you share this with me I can handle it and I will keep your confidence." Tracey said with conviction.

Harry smiled at this. "I trust you, I just wouldn't want you to get in trouble."

"I'm a big girl Harry, I can look out for myself. As I said, if you don't want to share right now you don't have to but if your only hangup is concern over me I'm telling you not to worry, I can handle whatever it is."

Harry took a deep breath and looked her directly in the eyes. "My godfather couldn't take me in because he was arrested and thrown into Azkaban, without a trial, and held there for 12 years until he escaped."

Tracey took in what he said and then her eyes widened, only two men had ever escaped Azkaban and one, Barty Crouch Jr., had been given the Dementor's kiss upon his capture last year.

"You mean…" Tracey began but Harry cut in.

"Sirius Black is my godfather and he is innocent of everything he's been accused of." Harry said

"What really happened then? The story of Sirius Black as your parent's secret keeper is as famous as your survival of the killing curse." She said, still in awe about this new information.

"The reason everyone believes he was the secret keeper is because he and my parents wanted everyone to believe that. It was well known Sirius was my father's best friend and, as such, was the obvious choice to be their secret keeper. However, he was a decoy, he and my parents had hoped the facade would prevent Voldemort from finding the actual secret keeper, Peter Pettigrew." Tracey's eyes widened in shock.

Seeing the questions racing through her head Harry clarified further. "Sirius never killed Pettigrew, he confronted Pettigrew in a muggle residential area about what he'd done but Pettigrew cut off his own finger and fired the blasting curse at a gas line which caused the explosion that killed the 13 muggles in the area. Pettigrew is an animagus who takes the form of a rat, that night he transformed and escaped, letting Sirius take the fall. Since no one else knew who the true secret keeper was, Sirius was assumed guilty and thrown in Azkaban."

"Pettigrew's alive then? How do you know?" She asked.

"Do you remember the memory of Voldemort's resurrection?" Tracey nodded. "That man who killed Cedric, the one Voldemort called Wormtail. That's him, that's Peter Pettigrew."

To further prove the point Harry pulled out the marauders map. "This is a keepsake I have of my father's. He and his best friends created this while they were at Hogwarts."

"I solemnly swear I am up to no good." Harry stated the passphrase for the map.

Ink started to fill onto the map and right on the front page the phrase 'Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs are proud to present the marauders map.'

"Prongs was my dad and Sirius Black is Padfoot, they were nicknames for their animagus forms during school." Harry told her. "Professor Lupin was Moony." He added, deciding not to mention his lycanthropy as it was not his place to tell her that.

Tracey just stood there gobsmacked. All this information flew in the face of everything that everyone in Magical Britain had ever been told about the night of Voldemort's fall. It was a lot to process but one question stuck out above all else.

"Why hasn't this been brought before the Wizengamot, an innocent man being sent to Azkaban is a travesty of justice?" She asked.

Harry's face contorted in anger. "Because of Fudge." He said with no small amount of venom in his voice. "I tried to tell Fudge after discovering the truth at the end of third year but Fudge wouldn't hear it. When I spoke to Dumbledore about this he warned me that getting Sirius a fair trial would be exceedingly difficult. Apparently Lucius Malfoy has a rooted interest in Sirius dying as Draco is in line to inherit all the remaining wealth of the Black as Sirius's oldest living male relative. Dumbledore was trying to quietly build a base of support for a trial but then….."

"Dumbledore got removed from his position as Chief Warlock." She finished for him. "I'm so sorry Harry, that's horrible, I wish there was something I could do to help." She added solemnly.

Harry took her hand in his own and smiled softly at her. "You've already helped just by listening."

The two said nothing further and just shared a tender silence. The two were so focused on each other they never noticed the slight shimmer of a disillusionment off in the far corner of the room where a thin, blonde figure stood with a dangerously gleeful smile on her face.

The following morning, Daphne Greengrass woke early, an extra spring in her step as she got ready for the day. Finally, her nights of spying on Tracey and Potter had paid off and she couldn't have been more pleased with the information. She had been hoping to learn something she could use to simply blackmail Potter into forcing Tracey out of his defense group but with the bombshell he'd dropped last night that wasn't even necessary. If she reported to Umbridge that Potter was known to be harboring a wanted criminal in Sirius Black, innocent or not, he would likely be arrested and possibly Dumbledore as well. This would effectively end the secret defense lessons as the teacher would be gone. Daphne was gleeful at the idea of getting Potter arrested. Witnessing the conversation between him and Tracey the night before had made her furious. Seeing her confide in an arrogant sod like Potter made her realize how dire the situation was. The golden boy was surely leading her on and would break her friend's heart before long. It was good that Potter would now be out of the picture by the holidays after she spoke with Umbridge today.

'Or perhaps they just like each other' rang the voice of doubt in her mind but she banished that train of thought immediately

As she was brushing her hair she began thinking a little bit about how to deal with the inevitable fallout from what she was planning. Tracey was going to be furious, no doubt, but Daphne was determined that she could someday make her understand that it was for her protection. But even if Tracey wouldn't forgive her she could still protect her, and all of this would be worth it if Tracey was protected.

'But would it?' said the doubtful voice before Daphne quickly pushed it aside.

Of course it was worth it, she thought. Tracey's safety had always come first, no matter the cost she'd always paid it and this was no different.

'Even at the cost of an innocent man losing his life? Even at the cost of an innocent boy losing his freedom? Even at the cost of always being alone?' The doubtful voice in her mind began to speak up again and Daphne forced those thoughts aside once more.

Steeling herself, she stood from her mirror and walked towards the exit of her bedroom. As soon as she opened the door she looked across the hall to see Tracey exit her own room at the same time. The two caught each other's eye before Tracey's face contorted into a look of anger and she began to storm off.

"Trace wait." Daphne called out.

"Unless you've decided to apologize to me, Greengrass, we have nothing to say to each other." Tracey spat back. Daphne's stomach sank at the sound of her best friend calling her by her surname.

"Tracey please, I'm just trying to look out for you." She pleaded.

Tracey turned back in an instant, a look of intense rage in her eyes. "You still don't get it do you. If you actually cared about me you'd respect the decision I've made in spite of how you feel about it. You're scared for yourself because deep down, you don't think you could handle life here at Hogwarts if I wasn't here because you don't have anyone else. I know your real opinions about Pansy, Draco, Theo and the others, you're not friends with them, you only had me just as I only had you. But that's not the case for me anymore so let me make this as clear as I can." Tracey paused and her eyes became harder. "If you can't respect my choice, if you try to stop me, or you try to get Harry or anyone else in trouble to get to me then you and I will be through forever. I will go to Dumbledore and demand to be re-sorted, I will have my father pull me from Hogwarts and transfer me elsewhere, I will do whatever it takes to never have to be near you ever again. If you think you can handle that then go ahead and go through with whatever ridiculous plot you have planned next, but if you can't then I suggest you try to come to terms with what I've chosen because it's your only option if you want us to continue being friends." At that, Tracey stormed off leaving Daphne standing there in a state of shock and frustration.

Feeling the effect of Tracey's words, Daphne returned to her room to try and recollect herself before going out in public. Tracey's words had been as hurtful as intended and had Daphne spiraling. Seeing a look of such loathing in her best friend's eyes was a pain she'd never felt before and what made it worse was that Daphne truly felt she was trying to do something right. Was it wrong to want to protect the people who matter most to you?

'But is it still right if it's what she wants? Is it still what's best if she would always hate you? Is it still just if you would have to sacrifice the life of an innocent man?' The creeping doubt in her mind was saying.

Finally her frustration boiled over and for the very first time since she had been a young child, Daphne sobbed.