Disclaimer: I don't own anything, none of this is mine. All of the credit
goes to J.K. Rowling.
(A/N: I absolutely HATE writers block.. HATE IT, HATE IT, HATE IT! Okay, I know that a lot of things sound similar. shoot me! At least I have a second chapter! Oh, thanks to all my happy reviewers, you're the greatest! It's been so long since I've posted on this. ((So are you Happy now Lauren!?)) Anyway.. yeah happy reading.)
C H A P T E R T W O
The Unexpected Visitor
"Harry! Yes, it's me!" said Sirius's muffled voice.
Harry put his glasses back on, sat up, and looked around the room for his godfather, but he was nowhere to be seen.
"Sirius, where are you?" said Harry, puzzled at the site of the empty room.
"Well, I'm not exactly sure."
To Harry, it seemed as though Sirius's voice was coming from somewhere underneath his bed. Although the idea of that seemed impossible, he had to remember that almost anything could happen in the wizarding world.
He picked his flashlight up off the bedside table and flicked it on. Slowly, he got up and bent down shining the flashlight under his bed looking for Sirius, but he wasn't there.
"Sirius, where are you?" Harry asked again.
"Harry, I've already told you, I don't have the slightest idea, all I know is that I'm in your room, and it's very dark." Said Sirius, with a slight annoyance in his voice.
Harry stared, wide eyed, at the loose floorboard under his bed. Sirius's voice had just come from the place where Harry kept his books. Slowly, Harry lifted the floorboard and found none other than his godfather sitting on top of one of his schoolbooks. Sirius wasn't much taller than the miniature figure of Victor Krum that Ron had bought at the Quidditch World Cup last year.
"Sirius," said Harry, very confused, "why are you so, tiny?"
"They'll be plenty of time to explain that in a second, now help me out of here will you?"
Harry put his hand down on top of the book, and Sirius climbed onto his hand. Very carefully, Harry got up and set Sirius down on his bedside table.
"So, Harry how are you?"
"Fine." Said Harry automatically, as he sat down still staring perplexed at the site of his tiny godfather. "I don't mean to be rude, but Sirius--"
Harry stopped mid sentence as his godfather suddenly returned to his normal height. He starred at Sirius for a moment still lost for words, but soon regained his senses, got up, and gave his godfather a hug.
For Harry, it had felt like ages since he had seen Sirius last, but it had only been about a month. Sirius looked a lot better than the last time Harry saw him. His hair was now clean and cut again, and he no longer had on the shabby gray robes from Azkaban.
"Harry, how are you?" Sirius asked again, with a look of great concern on his face.
"I'm.okay I guess. I just want to know what's going on out there." He said, gesturing somewhere outside the window.
"Harry, I understand your concern, but I can't tell you everything. even I don't know everything." Said Sirius, as he sat down on Harry's bed. He patted the spot next to him indicating that Harry should sit down also.
"Well could you at least tell me what you know?" he asked as he too sat down on the bed.
Sirius closed his eyes for a moment and then looked directly at Harry, and said, "I'll tell you what I can, but I can't tell you everything. a lot of it you just have to find out for yourself. Do you understand?"
Even though he wasn't exactly sure, Harry nodded his head anyway to allow Sirius to continue.
"Well, a lot has happened since the last time I saw you, Harry." He sighed to collect his thoughts, and said, "As you know, Dumbledore has sent people out on missions to help work against Voldemort. I was assigned the job of alerting all the people who had worked against Voldemort in the past; the "old crowd" as Dumbledore put it. Arthur Weasley has been informing the people in the ministry about Voldemort, as for the others, I don't really know what they are doing. There hasn't-"
"So, you don't know about Hagrid or Snape?" asked Harry cutting him off.
"I have theories on what they may be doing," he said thoughtfully, "but I really don't know."
"Okay," said Harry looking a bit disappointed, "keep going."
"Well, there hasn't been much dark activity in the wizarding world, it's almost been a bit too quiet lately, as if Voldemort is trying to set us up. Dumbledore thinks he's planning something Harry. So, we all have to be ready for it when he does do something, so keep an eye out. The only thing that's happened so far is that a couple of people have gone missing, but they've all returned now, other than that nothing."
Sirius paused for a moment.
"There's not a whole lot more I can tell you than that." He said.
"Okay, that helps some," Said Harry, "but I do have another question. Why were you so small when you first got here?"
"Ah, speaking of small things." said Sirius, beginning to rummage through his pockets, "Well, it's just a form of apparition. Apparating when you're small makes you less likely to be seen when you appear."
"Why did you try it here though?" said Harry.
"I just thought it would be a good way to test it, it was just recently thought of." Said Sirius distractedly.
"Sirius, what are you doing?" Harry asked as he watched his godfather still searching through his pockets.
"I'm looking for-Aha! I've found them!" he said while pulling out two very small wrapped packages out of one his pockets. He whispered something and one of the packages got considerably larger.
"What's this?" said Harry, as Sirius placed the small package in Harry's hand, he placed the other one on the bed.
"Your birthday present," Sirius replied, a look of confusion on his face, "Didn't you think it was odd I hadn't sent you one?"
"Yeah. well, thanks." Said Harry, opening the gift.
Inside the box there was a necklace and a wristwatch. The necklace had a gold chain and a charm that looked like nothing Harry had ever seen before. The charm was a bright green, see through crystal, cut in a diamond shape. In the center of it, Harry could make out what looked like a small golden phoenix, and at the bottom was a strange gold engraving that looked much like a star.
He looked at the necklace for a while and then put it on. Harry wondered why Sirius had decided to give him a necklace, but didn't think much of it.
"Thanks" Harry said again, "it's really nice."
"I know this seems like a strange gift Harry," Said Sirius, almost as if he had been reading his mind, "but trust me it'll come in handy, and you'll understand soon."
Harry pondered over this for a moment, but then just left it alone. If Sirius had said he would find out soon, he was going to find out sooner than he probably wanted to.
He then pulled out the wristwatch, and put it on. Harry had broken his last watch in the second task last year, and had never gotten around to replacing it. Ron had gotten quite annoyed with him last year, because he was always asking for the time every five minutes.
The watch looked quite ordinary, it had black leather straps, and a gold clasp, but what was interesting about it was the face. There were so many hands on the watch he had no idea how to read it.
"Sirius, how am I suppose to tell the time on this?" Harry asked. He knew that there was some trick to it, but he had no idea what it was.
"That Harry, is a standard wizard watch, just think about what you want to know and it will tell you." Said Sirius.
Harry looked down at the watch, and thought to himself, 'What time is it?' Instantly many of the hands disappeared leaving only three showing the hour, minutes, and seconds.
"Wicked," said Harry in awe, "what else can it do?"
Sirius laughed at his godson's amazement in the watch. He pointed to the watch and said, "Well look back down at the watch and you'll see."
Harry looked again, but it was no longer showing the time, it now had a list of everything it could do: Time, Date, Weather, Navigate, and Alarm.
"Thank you!" Harry said, as he took off the watch, and set it aside on his bedside table.
He picked up the package sitting next to him and began to unwrap it. He found an envelope and a wood box with the word Memories written on top of it in blue lettering. Harry picked up the envelope, and tore it open, inside was a short letter from Remus Lupin.
Harry, Happy Birthday! I hope you're having a nice holiday with your relatives. Sirius and I found these items in my house and thought you might like to have them. Let's just say this is a happy birthday gift from both Sirius and I. Cheers, Remus
Harry turned his attention to the box on his lap. He carefully opened it, and found a large bundle of pictures, all of them showed his parents from their school days. The first picture he picked up was of his parents standing together as head boy and head girl. They seemed so happy together, he wiped a tear from his eye as he put the picture away and set the box aside. He tried to tell Sirius that he was glad to have the pictures, but he was lost for words.
"There's no need to say anything Harry." Said Sirius quietly, "I understand."
They sat in complete silence, except for the snores coming from the next rooms, neither knowing exactly what to say to the other. Then suddenly Harry remembered his vision.
"Sirius. do you believe that people can have real visions, tell the future, like in divination?" asked Harry hesitantly.
"Yes, Harry I believe that there are a few true seers out there," he said slowly, a bit surprised by the question, "Why do you ask?"
"Well, because." Harry paused for a moment, "this is going to sound stupid, but I think I might have had a vision of the future. I'm the last person to believe in divination, because Trelawny is such a fake, but what I saw seemed so, real."
Sirius sat there for a moment, not showing any type of disbelief, and asked, "What exactly did you see Harry?"
Harry began to tell Sirius all about his vision, giving him a very detailed description of what he saw. He told him about everything, the castle being dark, how no one was there, how it was Draco Malfoy that needed his help, and about how he had seen a leather bound book on the desk.
Sirius didn't say anything for a bit, as he took everything Harry had said into consideration. He had let Harry tell him everything of his vision without interruption and now asked, "Harry, do you know that visions that you see don't always mean that they are going to happen?"
"What do you mean?" asked Harry confusedly.
"Well, sometimes visions, are similar to dreams, meaning you have to read them" Said Sirius, "Sometimes things aren't always what they seem, sometimes some things represent something completely different."
"How do you know all this? I mean we haven't learned that in Divination." Said Harry; surprised by the answer he had just been given.
"I learned it from a very old friend of mine, Arabella. She was a great seer in her time, but the future became too much of a worrisome for her and she left the wizarding world." said Sirius, reminiscing. "She is however reluctantly coming back, now that Voldemort has returned. Dumbledore greatly needed her impute on some important matters."
"Who is she exactly?" Harry asked with mild curiosity.
"Ah, I can't tell you that Harry, but trust me, you'll find out very soon. In fact, you already know her. You've even been to her house a few times." Said Sirius, a small grin appearing on his face from seeing Harry's confused expression.
Harry couldn't remember a person named Arabella. He figured he had probably been to her house as a baby when his parents were still alive.
Silence fell between the two as Sirius got up and picked the great mahogany box up off the floor. Harry didn't know what to do, Dumbledore had specifically told him not to show the box to anyone.
"Umm, Sirius." Harry began to say, but his Godfather quickly but him off.
"Don't worry Harry, I already know about this box. Your father had accidentally let me see this when he had it, and he wouldn't say a word about it. Eventually, Dumbledore told a few of us. James was so relieved." Said Sirius; he let out a small laugh at the memory of his old friend.
Sirius looked over the box for a bit, and then handed it to Harry.
"Keep it safe Harry," he said, "and whatever you do, don't let anyone see it."
"Okay." Said Harry.
He had a feeling that whatever was inside the box must be very important, but why was it his responsibility to keep track of it? Harry knew it was pointless to ask Sirius because he knew it was one of things he couldn't be told. Setting the box back down, he thought of something Sirius had mentioned in his letter.
"Sirius, have you heard anything more about getting your name cleared, have you?" he asked.
"No, I haven't." Sirius said with a sigh, as he lazily gazed out the window to the beautiful starry night. "Dumbledore hasn't had much luck. People still think Pettigrew is dead, and that I killed him. Besides, Dumbledore is just trying to prove I'm innocent, he can't just say he's been in contact with me for the last year. I'm hoping however that I'll be free soon, for now I get to stay at Lupin's."
"Well, that's not bad then." Said Harry brightly trying to cheer his Godfather up a bit. "At least you're with an old friend."
Sirius looked over at Harry and smiled.
"Sometimes it still surprises me how very much you sound like James." He said with a laugh, "I bet he would have said the same thing."
"What was my dad like?" he asked. It had been a question he had thought about many times before but he had never asked it.
"Well, he was smart, funny, and quick witted, and he always did seem to have a disliking for school rules." Said Sirius with a grin on his face, "the things we did." He shook his head.
"Well you were the makers of the Marauder's Map." Said Harry, "You had to have done a lot to find all those places."
"Yes, well anyway," said Sirius changing the subject, "He was one of the best quidditch players Hogwarts has ever seen. He was a chaser, a bloody brilliant one. Snape used to get so jealous."
"I didn't know my dad was a chaser." Said Harry, "I knew he played quidditch, but I always assumed he was a seeker."
"No, James was most definitely a chaser. I think he set a record for the most goals scored in a season." Said Sirius, "I remember the look on Snape's face when they announced that. priceless."
Harry smiled at his godfather, and then let out a huge yawn. He glanced over it his clock; it was two thirty in the morning.
"I had better be going." Said Sirius motioning towards the clock, "It's getting late."
"No, don't go yet!" Said Harry, louder than he had meant to. There was a loud grunt from the next room, but then house was peaceful again.
"Harry, be reasonable, it's getting late. We'll see each other again sooner than you think." Said Sirius.
Harry finally nodded his approval and gave his godfather a hug. He whispered good bye, and then there was a small pop, and Sirius was gone.
He went and sat on his bed just taking in the events of the night. Everything was beginning to get so confusing. Why were there so many things Sirius couldn't tell him, and how on earth would a necklace come in handy? Harry picked of the mahogany box once again, and walked over to put it someplace safe. He was so tired he barely noticed the sounds of a phoenix singing when he bent down to place the box neatly inside of his trunk.
His vision was getting starting to get foggy as he took of his glasses and slipped into bed.
As confused as he was, he fell asleep extremely happy, because he knew that he still had people who really did care about him.
* * *
The next morning Harry woke with a start to the sound of extremely loud screaming. He jumped out of bed, threw on some jeans and an oversized sweatshirt and raced down the stairs. Harry found all three Dursleys sitting around the kitchen table looking very happy about something.
"What's happened?" asked Harry, "I heard screaming."
Harry knew instantly he had said the wrong thing, as his Aunt Pentunia's lips became very thin, and she glared at him. The Durselys had always hated questions, especially from Harry.
"If you must know," Aunt Petunia snapped, "we're going on a vacation."
"Oh," said Harry trying not to sound too excited, "where are we going?"
"We?" asked Uncle Vernon with a harsh laugh, "We are going to Majorca, you, boy, are going to be staying here, with Mrs. Figg."
"Oh, okay." Said Harry again as he sat down at the table and began to nibble on a piece of toast.
"You didn't really think we take you, boy?" Said Uncle Vernon with a smirk, "After all Marge is the one that sent us the tickets to go."
Harry sat there silently, not saying anything. He had known it had been too good to be true, and if Aunt Marge had been the one to send them the tickets, she would most definitely make sure not to get a ticket for Harry. Aunt Marge had always hated Harry, and always comparing him to Dudley.
Harry looked over at his gigantic cousin whose diet hadn't seemed to work very well. Dudley hadn't seemed to gain any weight, but it was hard to tell since he was already roughly the size of a baby whale. Dudley sat eating his one piece of unbuttered toast looking very smug indeed.
Uncle Vernon got up from the table and knew that this was his chance to ask about going to the Weasleys.
"What do you want?" Uncle Vernon snapped when he realized that Harry was following him, "If it's that you want to go to Majorca, forget it because-- "
"It's not that." Said Harry, "I want to know if I can go to my friend, Ron's house for the last two weeks before I have to go back to my school."
"No," said Uncle Vernon sharply, "you will be staying at Mrs. Figg's house."
"Fine," said Harry walking away, "I'll just tell my godfather that you're mistreating me, and that.."
"Fine, Fine you can go." Said Uncle Vernon quickly.
Harry turned around and gave him a huge grin. He noticed that his Uncle looked rather pale and green.
"Thanks!" said Harry as he ran up to his room.
Harry rummaged around for a clean piece of parchment, sat down at his desk, and began to write a letter to Ron. He was so happy; he had one more week of the Dursleys, a week with Mrs. Figg, and then back to the Burrow.
The Burrow was one of the most wonderful places Harry had ever been. It wasn't that it was something amazing to look at, it was that he felt like he belonged when he was there. Ron's house was the best place to be, next to Hogwarts.
Harry finished his letter and rolled it up. He gently poked Hedwig awake.
"Can you send a letter for me?" Harry asked her.
She slowly stuck out her leg and rustled her feathers a bit, as he tied the letter to her.
"Take this to Ron for me, okay?" he said.
She nibbled on his fingers affectionately and then took flight out the window. He watched her go until he could no longer see her. Then turned back to his room and slowly began to gather all the items he would need to go to Mrs. Figg's house.
~I know I have like ten million problems in this. I don't feel like being critiqued. You can if you want. I guess. just do whatever. flame it. for all I care, at this point I'm just glad I got the chapter done.~ *~Emeraldwitch~*
(A/N: I absolutely HATE writers block.. HATE IT, HATE IT, HATE IT! Okay, I know that a lot of things sound similar. shoot me! At least I have a second chapter! Oh, thanks to all my happy reviewers, you're the greatest! It's been so long since I've posted on this. ((So are you Happy now Lauren!?)) Anyway.. yeah happy reading.)
C H A P T E R T W O
The Unexpected Visitor
"Harry! Yes, it's me!" said Sirius's muffled voice.
Harry put his glasses back on, sat up, and looked around the room for his godfather, but he was nowhere to be seen.
"Sirius, where are you?" said Harry, puzzled at the site of the empty room.
"Well, I'm not exactly sure."
To Harry, it seemed as though Sirius's voice was coming from somewhere underneath his bed. Although the idea of that seemed impossible, he had to remember that almost anything could happen in the wizarding world.
He picked his flashlight up off the bedside table and flicked it on. Slowly, he got up and bent down shining the flashlight under his bed looking for Sirius, but he wasn't there.
"Sirius, where are you?" Harry asked again.
"Harry, I've already told you, I don't have the slightest idea, all I know is that I'm in your room, and it's very dark." Said Sirius, with a slight annoyance in his voice.
Harry stared, wide eyed, at the loose floorboard under his bed. Sirius's voice had just come from the place where Harry kept his books. Slowly, Harry lifted the floorboard and found none other than his godfather sitting on top of one of his schoolbooks. Sirius wasn't much taller than the miniature figure of Victor Krum that Ron had bought at the Quidditch World Cup last year.
"Sirius," said Harry, very confused, "why are you so, tiny?"
"They'll be plenty of time to explain that in a second, now help me out of here will you?"
Harry put his hand down on top of the book, and Sirius climbed onto his hand. Very carefully, Harry got up and set Sirius down on his bedside table.
"So, Harry how are you?"
"Fine." Said Harry automatically, as he sat down still staring perplexed at the site of his tiny godfather. "I don't mean to be rude, but Sirius--"
Harry stopped mid sentence as his godfather suddenly returned to his normal height. He starred at Sirius for a moment still lost for words, but soon regained his senses, got up, and gave his godfather a hug.
For Harry, it had felt like ages since he had seen Sirius last, but it had only been about a month. Sirius looked a lot better than the last time Harry saw him. His hair was now clean and cut again, and he no longer had on the shabby gray robes from Azkaban.
"Harry, how are you?" Sirius asked again, with a look of great concern on his face.
"I'm.okay I guess. I just want to know what's going on out there." He said, gesturing somewhere outside the window.
"Harry, I understand your concern, but I can't tell you everything. even I don't know everything." Said Sirius, as he sat down on Harry's bed. He patted the spot next to him indicating that Harry should sit down also.
"Well could you at least tell me what you know?" he asked as he too sat down on the bed.
Sirius closed his eyes for a moment and then looked directly at Harry, and said, "I'll tell you what I can, but I can't tell you everything. a lot of it you just have to find out for yourself. Do you understand?"
Even though he wasn't exactly sure, Harry nodded his head anyway to allow Sirius to continue.
"Well, a lot has happened since the last time I saw you, Harry." He sighed to collect his thoughts, and said, "As you know, Dumbledore has sent people out on missions to help work against Voldemort. I was assigned the job of alerting all the people who had worked against Voldemort in the past; the "old crowd" as Dumbledore put it. Arthur Weasley has been informing the people in the ministry about Voldemort, as for the others, I don't really know what they are doing. There hasn't-"
"So, you don't know about Hagrid or Snape?" asked Harry cutting him off.
"I have theories on what they may be doing," he said thoughtfully, "but I really don't know."
"Okay," said Harry looking a bit disappointed, "keep going."
"Well, there hasn't been much dark activity in the wizarding world, it's almost been a bit too quiet lately, as if Voldemort is trying to set us up. Dumbledore thinks he's planning something Harry. So, we all have to be ready for it when he does do something, so keep an eye out. The only thing that's happened so far is that a couple of people have gone missing, but they've all returned now, other than that nothing."
Sirius paused for a moment.
"There's not a whole lot more I can tell you than that." He said.
"Okay, that helps some," Said Harry, "but I do have another question. Why were you so small when you first got here?"
"Ah, speaking of small things." said Sirius, beginning to rummage through his pockets, "Well, it's just a form of apparition. Apparating when you're small makes you less likely to be seen when you appear."
"Why did you try it here though?" said Harry.
"I just thought it would be a good way to test it, it was just recently thought of." Said Sirius distractedly.
"Sirius, what are you doing?" Harry asked as he watched his godfather still searching through his pockets.
"I'm looking for-Aha! I've found them!" he said while pulling out two very small wrapped packages out of one his pockets. He whispered something and one of the packages got considerably larger.
"What's this?" said Harry, as Sirius placed the small package in Harry's hand, he placed the other one on the bed.
"Your birthday present," Sirius replied, a look of confusion on his face, "Didn't you think it was odd I hadn't sent you one?"
"Yeah. well, thanks." Said Harry, opening the gift.
Inside the box there was a necklace and a wristwatch. The necklace had a gold chain and a charm that looked like nothing Harry had ever seen before. The charm was a bright green, see through crystal, cut in a diamond shape. In the center of it, Harry could make out what looked like a small golden phoenix, and at the bottom was a strange gold engraving that looked much like a star.
He looked at the necklace for a while and then put it on. Harry wondered why Sirius had decided to give him a necklace, but didn't think much of it.
"Thanks" Harry said again, "it's really nice."
"I know this seems like a strange gift Harry," Said Sirius, almost as if he had been reading his mind, "but trust me it'll come in handy, and you'll understand soon."
Harry pondered over this for a moment, but then just left it alone. If Sirius had said he would find out soon, he was going to find out sooner than he probably wanted to.
He then pulled out the wristwatch, and put it on. Harry had broken his last watch in the second task last year, and had never gotten around to replacing it. Ron had gotten quite annoyed with him last year, because he was always asking for the time every five minutes.
The watch looked quite ordinary, it had black leather straps, and a gold clasp, but what was interesting about it was the face. There were so many hands on the watch he had no idea how to read it.
"Sirius, how am I suppose to tell the time on this?" Harry asked. He knew that there was some trick to it, but he had no idea what it was.
"That Harry, is a standard wizard watch, just think about what you want to know and it will tell you." Said Sirius.
Harry looked down at the watch, and thought to himself, 'What time is it?' Instantly many of the hands disappeared leaving only three showing the hour, minutes, and seconds.
"Wicked," said Harry in awe, "what else can it do?"
Sirius laughed at his godson's amazement in the watch. He pointed to the watch and said, "Well look back down at the watch and you'll see."
Harry looked again, but it was no longer showing the time, it now had a list of everything it could do: Time, Date, Weather, Navigate, and Alarm.
"Thank you!" Harry said, as he took off the watch, and set it aside on his bedside table.
He picked up the package sitting next to him and began to unwrap it. He found an envelope and a wood box with the word Memories written on top of it in blue lettering. Harry picked up the envelope, and tore it open, inside was a short letter from Remus Lupin.
Harry, Happy Birthday! I hope you're having a nice holiday with your relatives. Sirius and I found these items in my house and thought you might like to have them. Let's just say this is a happy birthday gift from both Sirius and I. Cheers, Remus
Harry turned his attention to the box on his lap. He carefully opened it, and found a large bundle of pictures, all of them showed his parents from their school days. The first picture he picked up was of his parents standing together as head boy and head girl. They seemed so happy together, he wiped a tear from his eye as he put the picture away and set the box aside. He tried to tell Sirius that he was glad to have the pictures, but he was lost for words.
"There's no need to say anything Harry." Said Sirius quietly, "I understand."
They sat in complete silence, except for the snores coming from the next rooms, neither knowing exactly what to say to the other. Then suddenly Harry remembered his vision.
"Sirius. do you believe that people can have real visions, tell the future, like in divination?" asked Harry hesitantly.
"Yes, Harry I believe that there are a few true seers out there," he said slowly, a bit surprised by the question, "Why do you ask?"
"Well, because." Harry paused for a moment, "this is going to sound stupid, but I think I might have had a vision of the future. I'm the last person to believe in divination, because Trelawny is such a fake, but what I saw seemed so, real."
Sirius sat there for a moment, not showing any type of disbelief, and asked, "What exactly did you see Harry?"
Harry began to tell Sirius all about his vision, giving him a very detailed description of what he saw. He told him about everything, the castle being dark, how no one was there, how it was Draco Malfoy that needed his help, and about how he had seen a leather bound book on the desk.
Sirius didn't say anything for a bit, as he took everything Harry had said into consideration. He had let Harry tell him everything of his vision without interruption and now asked, "Harry, do you know that visions that you see don't always mean that they are going to happen?"
"What do you mean?" asked Harry confusedly.
"Well, sometimes visions, are similar to dreams, meaning you have to read them" Said Sirius, "Sometimes things aren't always what they seem, sometimes some things represent something completely different."
"How do you know all this? I mean we haven't learned that in Divination." Said Harry; surprised by the answer he had just been given.
"I learned it from a very old friend of mine, Arabella. She was a great seer in her time, but the future became too much of a worrisome for her and she left the wizarding world." said Sirius, reminiscing. "She is however reluctantly coming back, now that Voldemort has returned. Dumbledore greatly needed her impute on some important matters."
"Who is she exactly?" Harry asked with mild curiosity.
"Ah, I can't tell you that Harry, but trust me, you'll find out very soon. In fact, you already know her. You've even been to her house a few times." Said Sirius, a small grin appearing on his face from seeing Harry's confused expression.
Harry couldn't remember a person named Arabella. He figured he had probably been to her house as a baby when his parents were still alive.
Silence fell between the two as Sirius got up and picked the great mahogany box up off the floor. Harry didn't know what to do, Dumbledore had specifically told him not to show the box to anyone.
"Umm, Sirius." Harry began to say, but his Godfather quickly but him off.
"Don't worry Harry, I already know about this box. Your father had accidentally let me see this when he had it, and he wouldn't say a word about it. Eventually, Dumbledore told a few of us. James was so relieved." Said Sirius; he let out a small laugh at the memory of his old friend.
Sirius looked over the box for a bit, and then handed it to Harry.
"Keep it safe Harry," he said, "and whatever you do, don't let anyone see it."
"Okay." Said Harry.
He had a feeling that whatever was inside the box must be very important, but why was it his responsibility to keep track of it? Harry knew it was pointless to ask Sirius because he knew it was one of things he couldn't be told. Setting the box back down, he thought of something Sirius had mentioned in his letter.
"Sirius, have you heard anything more about getting your name cleared, have you?" he asked.
"No, I haven't." Sirius said with a sigh, as he lazily gazed out the window to the beautiful starry night. "Dumbledore hasn't had much luck. People still think Pettigrew is dead, and that I killed him. Besides, Dumbledore is just trying to prove I'm innocent, he can't just say he's been in contact with me for the last year. I'm hoping however that I'll be free soon, for now I get to stay at Lupin's."
"Well, that's not bad then." Said Harry brightly trying to cheer his Godfather up a bit. "At least you're with an old friend."
Sirius looked over at Harry and smiled.
"Sometimes it still surprises me how very much you sound like James." He said with a laugh, "I bet he would have said the same thing."
"What was my dad like?" he asked. It had been a question he had thought about many times before but he had never asked it.
"Well, he was smart, funny, and quick witted, and he always did seem to have a disliking for school rules." Said Sirius with a grin on his face, "the things we did." He shook his head.
"Well you were the makers of the Marauder's Map." Said Harry, "You had to have done a lot to find all those places."
"Yes, well anyway," said Sirius changing the subject, "He was one of the best quidditch players Hogwarts has ever seen. He was a chaser, a bloody brilliant one. Snape used to get so jealous."
"I didn't know my dad was a chaser." Said Harry, "I knew he played quidditch, but I always assumed he was a seeker."
"No, James was most definitely a chaser. I think he set a record for the most goals scored in a season." Said Sirius, "I remember the look on Snape's face when they announced that. priceless."
Harry smiled at his godfather, and then let out a huge yawn. He glanced over it his clock; it was two thirty in the morning.
"I had better be going." Said Sirius motioning towards the clock, "It's getting late."
"No, don't go yet!" Said Harry, louder than he had meant to. There was a loud grunt from the next room, but then house was peaceful again.
"Harry, be reasonable, it's getting late. We'll see each other again sooner than you think." Said Sirius.
Harry finally nodded his approval and gave his godfather a hug. He whispered good bye, and then there was a small pop, and Sirius was gone.
He went and sat on his bed just taking in the events of the night. Everything was beginning to get so confusing. Why were there so many things Sirius couldn't tell him, and how on earth would a necklace come in handy? Harry picked of the mahogany box once again, and walked over to put it someplace safe. He was so tired he barely noticed the sounds of a phoenix singing when he bent down to place the box neatly inside of his trunk.
His vision was getting starting to get foggy as he took of his glasses and slipped into bed.
As confused as he was, he fell asleep extremely happy, because he knew that he still had people who really did care about him.
* * *
The next morning Harry woke with a start to the sound of extremely loud screaming. He jumped out of bed, threw on some jeans and an oversized sweatshirt and raced down the stairs. Harry found all three Dursleys sitting around the kitchen table looking very happy about something.
"What's happened?" asked Harry, "I heard screaming."
Harry knew instantly he had said the wrong thing, as his Aunt Pentunia's lips became very thin, and she glared at him. The Durselys had always hated questions, especially from Harry.
"If you must know," Aunt Petunia snapped, "we're going on a vacation."
"Oh," said Harry trying not to sound too excited, "where are we going?"
"We?" asked Uncle Vernon with a harsh laugh, "We are going to Majorca, you, boy, are going to be staying here, with Mrs. Figg."
"Oh, okay." Said Harry again as he sat down at the table and began to nibble on a piece of toast.
"You didn't really think we take you, boy?" Said Uncle Vernon with a smirk, "After all Marge is the one that sent us the tickets to go."
Harry sat there silently, not saying anything. He had known it had been too good to be true, and if Aunt Marge had been the one to send them the tickets, she would most definitely make sure not to get a ticket for Harry. Aunt Marge had always hated Harry, and always comparing him to Dudley.
Harry looked over at his gigantic cousin whose diet hadn't seemed to work very well. Dudley hadn't seemed to gain any weight, but it was hard to tell since he was already roughly the size of a baby whale. Dudley sat eating his one piece of unbuttered toast looking very smug indeed.
Uncle Vernon got up from the table and knew that this was his chance to ask about going to the Weasleys.
"What do you want?" Uncle Vernon snapped when he realized that Harry was following him, "If it's that you want to go to Majorca, forget it because-- "
"It's not that." Said Harry, "I want to know if I can go to my friend, Ron's house for the last two weeks before I have to go back to my school."
"No," said Uncle Vernon sharply, "you will be staying at Mrs. Figg's house."
"Fine," said Harry walking away, "I'll just tell my godfather that you're mistreating me, and that.."
"Fine, Fine you can go." Said Uncle Vernon quickly.
Harry turned around and gave him a huge grin. He noticed that his Uncle looked rather pale and green.
"Thanks!" said Harry as he ran up to his room.
Harry rummaged around for a clean piece of parchment, sat down at his desk, and began to write a letter to Ron. He was so happy; he had one more week of the Dursleys, a week with Mrs. Figg, and then back to the Burrow.
The Burrow was one of the most wonderful places Harry had ever been. It wasn't that it was something amazing to look at, it was that he felt like he belonged when he was there. Ron's house was the best place to be, next to Hogwarts.
Harry finished his letter and rolled it up. He gently poked Hedwig awake.
"Can you send a letter for me?" Harry asked her.
She slowly stuck out her leg and rustled her feathers a bit, as he tied the letter to her.
"Take this to Ron for me, okay?" he said.
She nibbled on his fingers affectionately and then took flight out the window. He watched her go until he could no longer see her. Then turned back to his room and slowly began to gather all the items he would need to go to Mrs. Figg's house.
~I know I have like ten million problems in this. I don't feel like being critiqued. You can if you want. I guess. just do whatever. flame it. for all I care, at this point I'm just glad I got the chapter done.~ *~Emeraldwitch~*