Chapter 14
• Secret Room •
"Virginia let's get moving, this potion isn't going to last for too much longer." Harry watched as she finished up the note and read over it quickly.
She handed it to Ron. "Give this to Blaise, she'll need it for homework and I promised I would help her with it. Understand?" Ron nodded and grunted something indistinguishable, taking the parchment. Harry shook his head, he probably wouldn't remember that Virginia had even given him it – he got so involved playing chess with Neville he didn't see anything else happening. Neville however was aware and would remember when Blaise came in, he played well but was also able to stay aware of everything else that was going on.
"Alright Harry, let's go." Quickly the left the common room, it was just getting dark and so soon Filch would be about patrolling the halls.
Harry wished that he had the invisibility cloak, or even the marauders map, either would make things so much easier. He had given the map back to the twins about week ago after getting tired of their constant pestering, the last task he had use it for was to knick some stuff from Snape. He wanted to return it to them earlier but it was so hard to let it go, it was so useful. Besides he had tried to memorize it as best as possible while he had it (he already knew half the passages anyway) and he had learned most of those that he didn't know.
"Remember, this is our secret – it's a hidden room and absolutely no one at school knows about it, the map that the twins have doesn't even have it. Sirius and father found the room in their second year and sealed it up, it had been cordoned off because of some horrible accident that happened a very long time ago, something to do with a beast that was roaming the school the barely found any information about it. The only thing they found out was that the school headmaster thought it was for the best to close it up, not even the ghosts. After they found it Sirius made it his own personal project to revamp it, he worked on it through most of his spare time during school."
Harry stopped as they reached the mirror that allowed them entrance. "Entry into the den is humbly requested."
A face, a shadow of a face appeared in the mirror. "James! It's been so long and you're so young! An spell gone awry? And who is you're guest, she's quite young, you two aren't..."
"No Padfoot, I'm not James, my name is Harry, I'm..."
The shadow gasped. "So James did have a son? Wow, you know, the resemblance is uncanny. I remember when he and I talked about what we would name our sons. You know your name originated from..."
"Padfoot!"
"Huh?"
"Just let us in alright, it's getting dark and Filch'll be around soon enough."
Padfoot apparently felt insulted. "You don't have to be short with me, I just haven't talked to anyone in years. Alright, alright... I'm sorry. I know you need to come in, so you're welcome to enter. I suppose you know how to get in?"
Harry nodded and motioned for Virginia to come over. "Touch the mirror here with your hand and stare straight into your eyes."
Just before doing the same Harry looked both ways down the hall to see if anyone was around, no one was. He reached out and stared directly into his eyes for several moments until his eyes disappeared and he was staring at an empty hallway. Beside him Virginia looked confused. "How did...?"
"It's a bit like a Portkey, but because it's only a few feet through the mirror and wall you don't feel the jerking. It's much simpler magic than a full Portkey. Only Padfoot can activate it, that's why he's there, you have to convince him to let you in."
Harry glanced around, he hadn't come to this room yet, it had been his fathers and Sirius' place so he just hadn't felt like coming at all. When Virginia needed a place to do this he finally told himself he would come here, see their secrets. "Harry, let's do this." Her mind was obviously set on one thing now, she wanted to become one, an animagus, just like Harry.
From the inner pocket of his cloak Harry pulled the vial, for all the ingredients he had put into it it didn't turn out to be very much liquid but it was concentrated. "You remember what I told you right? Don't spill any of it. You know what I had to go through to get this ingredients past Snape last week. I know it won't taste good but if you want this to work you have to drink all of it. I'm not about to go still more fereth extract from his stock."
Without saying anything Virginia took the vial, uncorked it, plugged her nose and swallowed it as quickly as possible. Harry shivered remembering the horrible taste of it, the feeling of it slipping down his throat. She choked and tried to stop herself from spitting it back out. Harry watched as she almost wretched but was able to stop herself. A full minute or two passed before she was able to hold it down.
"Good, there will be a funny feeling in you stomach, like butterflies. Tell me when it goes away." She nodded and Harry looked around.
While the potion dissolved, and it would take several minutes, Harry walked around the room. It was a large room, before it had been sealed off it had been a classroom. The sealing had happened a long time before, before even Dumbledore was a student at the school and everyone had forgotten it by the time his parents were in school. After doing some research and going through some of the schools history (the one that was not reserved for students and most of the staff) They had found out little, but enough. Some creature, something that no one had ever seen had once lived in the castle and its residence was within the classroom they were in now, from the description it seemed like a mix between a Dementor and a Lethenfold, after the room was sealed it just sort of disappeared and became one of the castle tales... even the ghosts had forgotten about it.
When you first looked around the room there was one feature, one thing that stood out above the rest. It was obvious that the room had been the object of lots of hard work and magic. The outer wall, directly across from the mirror entrance, was a forest. It wasn't just a painting, it was almost real, everything about it was real – the smell of pine drifted through the room, small animals scurried about in the wall. Harry knew that it was all magic, that the forest wasn't real, it was a memory of Sirius', when he was young he had visited the states, gone to a manor that the Black family owned there, he had seen this, this beautiful forest and it had stuck in his mind. He had never returned, but always wished he had, "perhaps someday" was all that he ever said.
Against the wall were chairs, each camouflaged in a distinctly different way, some made of ivy some of rock but they each fit perfectly in with the scene and were all comfortable. Harry walked along the wall, finding were the chairs were hidden, touching the painting. It had taken a very long time to do this, and though it wasn't perfect it was very life like. The wall stopped at the back of the classroom but somehow the forest continued on, a mountain in the distance topped with snow, Harry had never seen such a beautiful landscape and he also decided should Sirius ever visit the states he would like to go as well.
The back of the classroom was almost a potions area, several cauldrons of different sizes were stored in shelves. Cabinets with glass doors contained a wide variety of items for making potions. The next contained beakers and vials, each carefully labeled, potions and concoctions some for personal use, some for pranks. Some he imagined had not even been tested yet. Here they had created new pranks, tried new potions. The room was sealed, reinforced and continued a very strong sound barrier around it so that should anything explode no one outside the room would notice it.
The counter was made of green marble (Sirius had traded at Hogsmeade for it, sold some of the pranks they had developed), the edges were carved with intricate designs, all different but fitting well with the natural atmosphere of the room. Within drawers were multiple items, each with their own purpose. Some were for measuring, some for mixing, some for dicing. Between Sirius and his own father they had brought things from home and gotten their parents to supply them with tools or money to purchase them, this room was an all purpose room, it had a little of everything.
A bed, the only thing that did not fit in well was in the very corner. Harry remembered Sirius telling him about it. "My 6th year I got angry at another student and did something foolish, something that would have got me into a lot of trouble had James not stopped it from happening. The headmaster, Professor Dumbledore, decided that I should be suspended from school for a week and sent home. Had my parents found out I've no doubt I would have been punished worse than I ever had before. James helped me insure that no letters reached my parents and I hid out in the room for a solid week while they snuck in food for me. It worked, I came back to school when the time was right and no one knew any different. Fooled them all we did, the only time I was able to pull the wool over Dumbledore's eyes." As for what the foolish thing had been Harry never found out, it was one of the secrets Sirius guarded closely.
"Harry, it's just gone."
All thoughts were gone and Harry's attention immediately turned to Virginia. He moved towards her but kept his distance, the process that followed could get extremely aggressive. Harry's hadn't been, but, according to Sirius his fathers first transformation had caused him to loose control and he bucked around the room for several minutes destroying all sorts of things and nearly bringing the chandelier above them down on his head.
Closing his eyes for a minute he focused, he would do it exactly as Sirius had, and he remembered the process well. "You have to remember one thing, focus so that you don't loose control. Find one thing to think about, something that you couldn't easily forget it is the best way to stay yourself. If you don't gain control... you will stay as what you change into Virginia... Don't do that, it's almost impossible to bring you back from it. Understand Virginia?" There was a nod of acknowledgment.
Harry, knowing what the pain was going to be like flinched, remembering it at the same time Virginia grabbed her stomach and her face contorted. Harry stepped back, balancing himself, the pain was so vivid it was hard to think it was just a memory. Harry had recalled how he had once described the feeling to Sirius, it was what he thought a animal would feel like if it were gutted alive, Sirius had told him that it was much more like the Cruciatus curse, except it ended. Harry suspected that Sirius had felt the curse before but was never able to find out if it was true.
Harry felt the pain increase ten fold, it was the second step, two more and she would be an animagus. Virginia felt the pain increase as well, it seemed at exactly the same time, she however fell to her knees with tears coming out of her eyes. He had warned her, told her it would hurt more than anything she had or would ever feel but she still wanted to do it, she wanted to become an animagus. At last the pain increased for the third time and Harry knew it wasn't a memory, it was happening again. He too dropped to his knees and closed his eyes tight, unable to bear the pain.
A wild half-scream and the pain faded, Harry opened them to see Virginia no longer as Virginia but as some large bird, nearly the size of Paka. She must be an eagle because she was so large at so young of an age. Harry shook away the thought, he concentrated on what he had to do. "Keep thinking about that one think, don't let the animal take over." Sirius had done the same to him, coaxed him, spoke softly, made sure that he remembered he was still human.
Her wings spread and Harry stepped back and pulled out his wand, those talons were sharp and the beak just as dangerous, if need be he would have to restrain her. She lifted off the ground a few feet and Harry stepped back again, stumbling. This caught her attention and she turned to him, beating her wings and trying to move towards him but after only a foot she lost height and landed on the floor.
"Remember me Virginia, remember playing hide-n-seek in the woods? Remember the time I let you ride the broom and you almost killed yourself? If Sirius ever found out he'd punish me for not telling him and then for letting you ride it without supervision and then for letting you get hurt." Harry laughed. "He'd wake me up every morning before the cock crowed and then toss me in a lake or throw a mongoose in my bed."
Virginia opened her beak and a gurgled caw came from it. Harry smiled, she still remembered, she responded to him. It took her a moment but she balanced herself taking a wobbling step forward. Another, then another she soon got the hang of walking. One thing to another slowly she got the hang of being a bird. "Now change back, think of being yourself again, think about moving your hands, having arms and hands..."
Another screech came, this one sounded much more like Paka, a real piercing cry that echoed through the room and Virginia balled up. Slowly she changed shape again, back to normal. The pain Harry was feeling slowly ebbed away and he moved over to Virginia, helping her up. "You did it Virginia, you have a form, your own form."
Remembering what Sirius had done to him, how his first time he had been he continued. "You're some sort of hawk or eagle, I think an eagle because you were so large. Your transformations are relevant to your age, the older you get the older your animagus form gets. I'm still a cub, Sirius wasn't sure exactly what I was when I changed because I was so young so he guessed, I think he guessed right. But your form, I don't think eagles even get that large even full grown. Maybe you're something else, I don't know if there are any birds bigger than an eagle though."
The words were heard but Harry knew it wasn't something she would be thinking about right away, she would remember it later. Virginia smiled weakly then groaned, "that hurt."
That was an understatement, the first time he had experience it was just like this time but it didn't hurt as much this time. Still, the pain was the same, the extreme pain, the ripping from the inside. To Harry it felt like what he thought an animal must go through if it were gutted alive. Sirius had a different opinion, with all his experiences and age he could only relate it to one thing. "It hurts like the Cruciatus curse except it goes away." He had only said it once and never mentioned it again, Harry thought that he might have had a bad experience with it; maybe he was tortured with the Cruciatus curse.
Harry knew why it hurt, everything was changing – everything was being prepared for being able to make the transformation. It may not have hurt so much because in some ways she already had that ability, she had taken it from Harry when the friendship spell had been performed. It took a lot of courage to even think about doing it. Harry had told Virginia about what sort of pain was involved but she still wanted to do it. The process was the most difficult physically, it stripped away everything human about you and left you with your only true animal form. It was dangerous to even try, to make the potion wrong would mean death or impairment, deformation possibly. If you weren't mentally healthy enough you would loose all grasp of life and just become and animal.
Now that it was done Harry was relieved, when Virginia had talked him into doing it he was reluctant at the very least, he had spent a lot of time thinking it over before he decided it was alright. He remembered years before when he had asked Sirius, how he had almost begged before Sirius would think about it, but now he knew how it felt for both sides.
Talking with her about it, explaining it had made her even more exited. Finally they had decided it was alright and so Harry had started the potion. It took nearly three weeks to prepare it and all the time he tried to convince Virginia not to do it. He knew it would not matter, she was just like him, she wouldn't give up as long as it had been done before. He recalled each step, everything he and Sirius had done. Sirius had talked him through it at each step of the preparation, made sure he knew what he was doing and how dangerous it was. Harry didn't do that with Virginia because he didn't want her to try doing it with someone else, he only did it because he remembered it perfectly. When it was done it was obvious if it had been done right, the brownish color of the liquid and the sulfuric smell. Harry had brewed it in one of the hidden passages in the Gryffindor tower.
"You'll need to rest for a few hours Virginia, you probably won't be able to walk until tomorrow." He laid her down on the bed in the corner and watched her until she closed her eyes. Hopefully she would fall asleep soon, that was she wouldn't remember the pain of her body as it adapted to the shape that she had taken.
Quietly Harry left the bedside. There were things to take care of and he wanted to make a quick potion, he was going to be up all night. First he took the used vial and cleaned it out in the sink in the back, placing it near a few other empty beakers in the shelf. He opened the next cabinet, checking the supplies that had been left, seeing what he could use. Each of the containers were sealed and enclosed in their own time charm, none should have gone bad. He riffled through the bags and jars making note of what he could refill immediately and what he would have to go to Hogsmeade for. A large glass at the end held a maroon liquid, dragons blood. Harry examined it quietly wondering why Sirius had never told him of it, blood like that was kept under careful restriction from the ministry, to have it you must have signed forms allowing for it, Harry wondered how they had obtained it.
"Harry, my stomach isn't feeling so well." Virginia murmured from the bed.
Harry knew the feeling but it couldn't be helped, she would feel horribly sick for another day or two. "It'll be alright, just try and get some sleep."
Virginia closed her eyes again and Harry continued around the room, he needed to see what was her, what was available for use. Schedules, lists of pranks, they had kept everything here. A wardrobe still held full sets of clothing, including shoes which were out of style and a few pair of dress robes. Harry riffled through them, checking there pockets for what might have been left behind but they were all empty. Candles of various scents were organized on one desk and Harry opened a chest to find several little trinkets. One thing caught his eye and he pulled it out, a wand holster, made of what looked like dragons hide. After a moments examination he found the initials J.P. carved into the back.
•
Harry sat in one of the chairs, just across from Virginia, trying as best as best as possible to stay awake, it was so hard. But he couldn't let her change again at this time, if she did change it wouldn't be good at all. The potion he had brewed had been basic, something simple but it was all that he could make based on the tools he had on hand.
"Shouldn't you be asleep Harry?" She had awoken, and far earlier than Harry had expected.
He turned to look at her. "Should I? You're the one that went through that painful experience last night."
"You did as well, I saw you on you knees before I changed. You experience it just like I experienced your dream the other day." Virginia grimaced as she sat up, Harry knew she could still feel the pain, he still could. "It still hurts but I think I can walk now." She stood carefully and made her way over to where Harry sat. "I'm hungry and breakfast has just started, shall we?" She offered her hand to Harry.
"Alright, we'll only be a little late." Harry stood and they left the room. It was much easier to leave than to enter, you simply had to walk through the mirror and into the hallway again. They walked through the hallways slowly, being passed by several people who ignored them and continued past them walking much faster. Harry felt his strength build once he started moving again but walked slow for Virginia, helping her along.
"Harry were have you been?" Neville asked. "Professor McGonagall has been looking for you and Virginia since last night, you should have told us you wouldn't be back so we could have helped you out and told McGonagall something."
"Yeah Ginny, where did you and Harry go last night? And why do you both look like you didn't get any sleep?" Blaise sat down at the table. "I was worried even after that note, you could have waited and told me in person."
"Mum'll be angry when she finds out that you two ran off last night." Ron added.
Virginia turned to him first. "You're not going to dare say anything or I'll tell everyone about that note I found under your bed last week."
Ron's eyes widened. "How did you...? You were in my room?"
"Harry and I were talking privately." Virginia folded her arms stubbornly. "Do you have a problem with that?" Ron shook his head and turned quietly to his food.
Hermione came into the room and immediately rushed over to Harry. "Harry get out of here now. McGonagall's on a war path and she'll be here in a few moments. She's been up all night looking for you two and I think she's lost it. Ginny you too, you'd better leave."
Harry stood but when Virginia pulled herself to her feet she was unable to stand and fell again. Harry bent over to help her up but was shoved under the table with Virginia close behind.
"Where is he?!" McGonagall demanded, her voice harsher than Harry had ever heard it.
Ron spoke first. "We haven't seen him yet. Maybe he just fell asleep in the library and hasn't woken up yet."
"He was just there." Came a voice from the Slytherin table, Malfoy. "I saw Weasley and Harry come in a few minutes ago, they were just there in front of you."
Harry could see McGonagall's feet approaching the table, she seemed to believe Malfoy over Ron. "Whose plates are these, they've just been used – the food's still warm."
"Ours." Fred and George said simultaneously, appearing from behind. "Afraid we had to take care of something. They saved our spots until we returned. We think we might've found Harry and our sister professor."
"And where did you find them?" McGonagall demanded, moving a step closer to them and away from the table.
One of the two walked to the table then turned. "Fred why don't you take her, I'm still terribly hungry. I'll see you in a bit."
"But they were just there Professor, I'm telling you they're in this room they haven't left yet." Malfoy's voice came again, he sounded calm but angry.
"Malfoy I'll take care of it, go back to eating your breakfast those two will get what's coming to them." And with that she and Fred walked out of the room.
George's head appeared under the table. "You know how to get to the infirmary through the secret passage right?"
Harry nodded. "But what about Madam Pomfrey, she can't see us enter into there. She'll tell McGonagall that we weren't there last night even if she doesn't see us come in."
George grinned. "It's already being taken care of. Here," he shoved Harry a white gauze patch, "just put this on your head and if McGonagall asks tell her Ginny fell asleep and you were looking for books about dragon lore for the history of magic essay and you slipped and hit your head. You do have an essay on dragon lore due soon right? Hermione told us that." Again Harry nodded. "Remember, when you got up this morning you went directly to Madam Pomfrey. Put the patch on only as soon as you reach the infirmary it'll take a few seconds to work but the newer it is the more realistic it looks. Madam Pomfrey won't be there, Lee's distracting her right now. You only have a few minutes to get moving."
Harry and Virginia crawled out from under the table and left the room hidden within a group of Gryffindor's that decided to leave breakfast early. Once outside they moved down the hallways quickly, Harry carrying Virginia a good part of the way. When Harry finally got to the entrance of the secret passage. It took longer than was expected because Virginia ended up half riding Harry in his animagus form so that she didn't have to walk the whole way. It was not comfortable for either but Harry was surprised it worked alright, he seemed to be getting larger than he had been.
"Crawl through first, you'll be next to a bed so if anyone is there you can crawl under it." After a moment Harry placed the patch on the side of his head, feeling a tingling and the feeling of a thick liquid starting to run down his head. He followed Virginia in, she was standing so Harry stood as well, no one was in the room. "I'll lay down, get a rag and wipe away some of the blood on my head, make it look like you've just tried to patch me up."
Virginia did exactly as Harry had asked, and leaned against the bed just as McGonagall and Fred walked into the door. Fred (who was talking loudly to alert Harry) quieted down. "Harry... what happened?" He covered his mouth and looked aghast, then winked.
Professor McGonagall looked around suspiciously. "Where is Madam Pomfrey?"
"She wasn't here when we got here," Virginia offered, "so I cleaned Harry's cut and put a bandage on it like mum taught me to do. Though he's still got a bit of blood." And she patted the side of head again with the rag. George had stepped back and was making faces, as if he were praising there acting skills. Harry stifled a laugh as best as possible but couldn't help but smile.
"I'm alr..."
Madam Pomfrey and Lee burst into the door in a hurry. "Where is he, is he alright?"
"As I was saying. I'm feeling much better right now and my head only hurts a bit. Not like when I woke up. Virginia bandaged it up, I think that it'll be alright."
"Shh!" Harry quieted. "I'll need to check that myself." And Madam Pomfrey started towards Harry.
McGonagall held out her hand. "First I'll need to speak with him, I'm sure his injury isn't terribly pressing, you can wait a moment to examine him. There was an incident last night involving he and Mr. Malfoy. Draco seems to believe that Mr. Potter just disappeared in the hallways."
Malfoy had seen him entering the room the night before... but he hadn't seen Virginia so he must have just barely caught the end of the process to enter the room, the movement from the hallway to the room. He had disappeared in front of Malfoy and he didn't know how to take it so he went to a professor and told.
"Uh professor, I was with Virginia all night, Malfoy didn't see her did he? Maybe he was just seeing things. You can't just disappear in the hallways can you?"
"No, he didn't mention her." McGonagall thought things through for a minute. "Perhaps someone was playing an elaborate prank on him last night. That does not however excuse the fact that you were out late last night."
"There's an essay due Monday about the dragons' part in magical history, the difference between in lore and truth. We were working on it because we haven't gotten it done yet. I suggested we go to the library and things just sort of happened. Virginia was reading and fell asleep, I went to get more books and I slipped. The next thing I remember was I woke up this morning."
"Alright, you've had your answer now leave. I've got a wound to tend to." McGonagall finally dropped her hand and nodded, taking her leave.
Lee and Fred where shooed out and Madam Pomfrey finally made it over to Harry to check his 'wound'. She seemed to think it was real telling Harry that it would heal in a day or two by itself and there was no need for magic. She pulled some chocolate bars out and gave them to both Harry and Virginia because they looked "as if you'd not slept in a week."
When they were finally excused Harry was forcing himself to keep his eyes open so that she would let them go. Virginia had gained more strength from the chocolate while Harry had lost it, she ended up helping Harry most of the way to the common room.
As they entered Fred and George attacked. "Did she think they were real, the scratches?"
"Did you get away with it?"
Harry nodded. "She believed they were real, she told me they were minor and would heal themselves."
Both grinned. "We've been trying to find a way to use those with Madam Pomfrey for weeks, we just couldn't find a good reason to go in there." Said Fred.
"So," continued George. "When we saw Malfoy come running into detention last night with this fantastic story about how you had just disappeared in the halls we had some thoughts. Snape sent us to fetch McGonagall. We happened to have the map with us at the time so we checked it, you weren't on it."
"When we got McGonagall Hermione mentioned that Ginny was with you, she wasn't on the map either. When Malfoy told his story again we of course were minding our own business." Fred grinned. "She was furious when she found out you were wandering in the halls, didn't say a word about Malfoy though. So after we were excused, while McGonagall was searching for you, we devised a plan."
"Because McGonagall wouldn't find you we decided that you would have to be somewhere in school for a good reason so that you wouldn't get into trouble. Mum would be furious if she found out Ginny was running around at night. Lee went and locked up the library for us while we made plans for what would happen. This morning, just before breakfast before Madam Pince opened up, we put a little blood on a bookshelf and made one of the seats look like it had been used to sleep in. After that we came straight to breakfast, everything seemed to work out perfects." George finished up.
Harry felt awkward. "Well thank you." He said, unsure of what else there was to say.
Fred looked confused for a second. "This morning you just appeared on the map again, near the great hall. It was almost like you just apparated into the school, you can't do that can you?"
"They can't do that on Hogwarts grounds. No one can, it's protected against by all sorts of charms. This school is protected by a lot of things." Hermione insisted from behind them. She, along with Blaise, Ron and Neville seemed as interested in the answers as the twins did.
"We didn't leave the castle at all." Virginia said quietly from next to Harry.
"Yes, then where were you?" Said Ron, "Fred and George said you weren't on their map thingy so you must not have been here."
"Yeah, you weren't on the map at all, how did you just disappear off the map, it shows everyone, it's never failed." Fred said while George agreed.
"We were in a hidden classroom. It's not on the map because it was my fathers and Padfoots', they didn't want it on the map because they only wanted special people to know about it, only a person knowing where it is can pass it on. It's a secret that I cannot tell you, I promised I wouldn't. Now why don't you just leave me alone?" Harry went up to the room and closed the door gently behind him, leaving it open just enough so that he could see and hear what was going on.
"He didn't get any sleep last night, he's just a little crabby." Virginia offered as an excuse. "Once he's gotten some he'll be fine."I'm a bit knackered as well, we can talk about this later. I promise we didn't do anything wrong, we were just trying some new magic and if we got caught we might've been in trouble." Then Virginia left the six trying to figure out exactly what had gone on.
"You don't think that she and he..." Fred looked at George "They wouldn't would they?"
George punched Fred. "You dolt, they're not like you they don't go around thinking those sorts of thoughts. Besides, Harry hasn't been looked at Blake's magazines like you do.
"I don't look at..."
"You do to. Did you hear what he said, about his father and Padfoot? Do you think that his father was one of them?"
"He did say that one of them was dead didn't he, that it was Prongs. He also said one of them betrayed prongs, and he's a Death Eater..."
"But Ginny and Ron said that Sirius wasn't a Death Eater... it doesn't make sense. Ron?"
Ron looked at them for a second, unsure what to say. "No... he's not, the one that betrayed Harry's father was Peter Pettigrew."
"Him?" Fred asked, "but he's an Auror."
"and a Death Eater. He's evil... I've seen it." Said Ron, looking ashamed.
"Who are these people you're talking about?" The twins seemed surprised when Neville asked, they just noticed that the rest of the group was still there.
"Oh well they're this group of..."
"Was, there was a group of pranksters called the marauders- they made this map."
Neville smiled. "The one that Harry had, we all know about it."
Fred scrunched his eyebrows. "They did that and more, they were really the best pranksters this school has ever seen. We worship some of the things they pulled off. We read about them in the school history. No one ever found out who they really were because they could just disappear and reappear throughout the castle at will it seemed."
Harry gently closed the door the rest of the way and walked to his bed. They were letting it go for now, maybe they would bring it up later. He knew he'd been unpleasant but Virginia was right he was tired and hadn't gotten much sleep, maybe he would feel better when he woke up.
I little chirp got him to look to the window. "Birdie?"
She transformed, standing and shaking her head. "Harry, about last week, I know I haven't said anything and I was wondering if you would consider talking to me about it again, I promise I wont run."
"alright."
"You knew about what happened with Sirius, I can admit you were there, but how?"
"I'll get into trouble for it."
Birdie looked a little surprised. "No Harry, I won't tell anyone I promise this is just between you and I."
"I had a time-turner."
That threw her for a loop. "A time... time-turner? How did you get one of those, we keep track of them."
"Yes, I know, I know about all of the legal ones and some that aren't legal. I stole one for the trip, I can't say were from but it is a legal one."
"Uh... alright." Birdie closed her eyes for a second. "You said that you had Murdock stunned, why did he die?"
Harry remembered why, he had foolishly left the cloak over him not thinking that anyone else would come. "My friend, the one that rescued us, he didn't see him because the cloak was still over him. When I was knocked unconscious he couldn't have known so it was my fault."
"No Harry, that wasn't your fault, you can't tell yourself that. – Who saved you?
Harry knew he could trust her, he felt it deep within he just had a hard time telling her everything, he never told anyone everything. "Bill Weasley, Virginia's older brother, one of his brothers from Hogwarts told him that we might need his help and he showed up just in the nick of time."
"Alright, where is Sirius now, why is he running again?"
Harry wished he knew, Sirius had just gone. "I don't know, he left because Remus knew he was here the day that I left, two days after the fire... Remus could sense him and Sirius knew he knew so he left to protect himself. He didn't tell me where he was going."
"Is there any proof that it wasn't Sirius, anything at all?"
Harry shook his head. "You could make him take a truth potion, he'd tell you then."
"But that's been done Harry, in a trial when you were young."
Harry closed his eyes, she was so close to believing. "The judge was a Death Eater, I've seen him with them."
"Barty Crouch a Death Eater, that's impossible. His father was the most rigid hater of Death Eaters that ever was in the ministry. For the short time he was minister he caught more Death Eaters than the next three."
The voice of Dumbledore echoed in his head, the night he had left the school, "Now, with what's happening to the minister and all, he's next in line I believe? Yes, and with that terrible illness that just keeps getting to the ministers in the last few years it doesn't seem we'll have long to wait. Let us hope that he lives longer than the four who came before him."
"He's going to be minister soon... the last few ministers, starting with his father have died of strange, incurable illnesses, doesn't it seem strange the way he's moved through the ministry so quickly? He was barely out of school when his father died. Dumbledore suspects him as well, I read about some of the trials he's judged, the judgments... they seemed so weighted some times. He's a Death Eater, it's why Peter got off, he was never really forced to take a truth potion."
"There is so much assumption Harry, you said you saw him once?"
Harry remembered it, he was young and Sirius had said his name when he unmasked him. Sirius had even almost gotten caught trying to hurt him for what he'd done with Peter. "Sirius ripped away his mask in a fight trying to escape them, I was young but I remember him because Sirius yelled at him, yelled his name and almost got us caught trying to get to him. He has a scar, on the left side of his chest just below his shoulder. Sirius gave it to him, with a curse."
"Alright Harry, I'll try to believe what you've told me, I'll try and help you. You should be thankful, my father convinced me to talk to you again. It's different somehow, but everything falls much better into place. I want to speak to Remus about it, maybe he'll believe me."
Remus believe her, he wouldn't, he was so angry at Sirius he wouldn't listen to anyone or anything that might prove he was innocent. "No, he won't, he'll need impervious proof, something that would prove it to the whole world. He's too angry at Sirius, he loved my father and won't stop until he's been revenged."
Birdie looked at the floor. "I can hope can't I? Maybe he'll listen to me." Once again she changed and was gone, out the window. Finally Harry could get some sleep.
• Edited 2004.09.18 •