Chapter 16

• Mrs. Norris •

"You heard what I said. Dementors."

Dumbledore was heated, which was unusual, even in the worst of circumstances Dumbledore was well composed. "Absolutely not! I forbid those beasts to come onto the premises. I don't want to ever see those things... those creatures, in my castle. I understand that you have been in a great deal of pain for a long time because of what happened. But I will not allow for anything as vile as those creatures to enter into this castle. Have you thought about the things Harry might experience?"

"Yes, I understand what he might see. I see things I don't ever want to remember when I'm around them. But they are necessary. What's to happen if we catch him, what shall we do then?"

For a moment Dumbledore's face hinted at a smile. "Catch him? You've been chasing this ghost for the past 10 years and now you don't even know what you'll do if you catch him. He's a man, just like everyone else, you'll do what you're required to do and nothing else."

"He's not a ghost, he's real, and we'll catch him. We have before-" Remus paused for a moment. "But he got out of it somehow, it's impossible, but he did. He took Harry and left, I almost saved Harry from him. We had him locked in there so tight not even the dark lord could have escaped without help." He paused again and understood what was happening. "But that's not the point. I want to search this castle through and through. I know he's here."

"As I said before, you're welcome to do any searching you'd like. You may bring other Auror's to do it. I will not, however, allow for a single Dementor to enter these grounds. If you catch him take him away from here and do what you like."

Remus's face bunched up. "Bloody hell Dumbledore, why can't you just tell me where he is and we can get this over with. He's a criminal. He's murdered and ravaged. He is just as bad as the dark lord. He stole Harry away from you and reared him to do what he wanted. Why do you protect him like you do, you know where he is."

Dumbledore sat back down, the Dementor subject having been decided. "I have not seen Sirius Black in this castle in quite some time. Please do not insist otherwise."

For a long moment nothing else was said. Remus finally nodded and stood. "I'll begin the search as soon as it is approved by the order." Then he began to leave.

"Yes, the order. They've regrouped, reformed because of what's happened lately?"

Remus stopped and nodded. "You know this of course. What I do not understand is why you have declined the invitation to join."

"I have not declined. I have simply chosen not to participate at the moment. I don't feel confident that my services are needed at this time. When the time comes perhaps I will be of service. If something happens and I am needed rest assured, I will be available. There are other issues as well, I have a few concerns about some of the newly recruited members."

Remus started to walk away shaking his head. "You know that's not what I meant. Before, when we had the order... you were the order. Without you it was nothing, it is nothing." He waited for Dumbledore to say something, but nothing was said. "I'll just take my leave then."

For the third time Remus turned to leave and stopped. He turned, his face scrunched for a moment, thinking. "Dumbledore. The ministry, they wanted me to check through Mr. Filch's and Professor Vector's things. I'll do that before I return." It was an obvious excuse to merely get at Filch's things.

Dumbledore nodded. "Of course, you must do as you are asked. I expect you know where there rooms are?"

Remus didn't even bother to answer the questions and before Dumbledore could say another word he was no longer in the room.

There was a long few minutes were the only sounds heard where the scratching of a quill and a soft hum, coming from Fawkes. Dumbledore finished the parchment, signing it with a sweeping signature and then sat upright, staring ahead at nothing. "You may come out now Harry."

Silence.

"I do not plan on leaving this room anytime soon, nor do I plan on exposing you myself."

Silence.

"I could call Lupin back in, I'm sure he has a few questions he'd like to ask you."

Behind Dumbledore a door creaked open and Harry tumbled out of the awkward position he had been stuck in for the past hour. "How did you know?" He asked as he pulled himself up off the floor, stretching. "I never made a sound."

Dumbledore turned to him, smiling. "There are more things than noise that gives a person away. This chair..." he pointed to the one across from his desk. "was moved further back, as if someone had been waiting for me with their feet on the desk. And a coin," Dumbledore pointed to a golden coin that had fallen from Harry's hand when he had hurried to hide himself, "a queer habit."

Harry picked up the coin and pocketed it. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hear all that."

"And all is forgiven. I would have made sure you didn't hear if I thought it was necessary."

"How is he?"

"Healing, slowly, but with Poppy's help he's doing better. The curse he was struck with was a very powerful one, and should have killed him by now. I do not understand exactly what happened but it seems something prevented it from happening, Poppy's not sure exactly what it was to start with."

"Where is he?" asked Harry, wanting to see him.

"Truthfully, I am not aware. I sent him to a concealed room that only Poppy knows of."

Harry had already found that out. He had scoured the castle twice looking and then resorted to borrowing the Marauders Map yet again and trying to find Sirius on it, even then he was unable to. "Were you telling Lupin the truth, when you said that if they caught him they could do as they liked?"

Dumbledore nodded. "It was not as it seemed. I would allow them to do what was required if and only if they were somehow able to keep him. I do not want him to be caught, nor do I have any intention of allowing it to happen. Sirius is a crafty person, he is very capable of getting himself out of most situations should the need arise. If he is caught and cannot escape himself I would insure he was given the chance. But then, that is if he is caught. I trust Poppy to have him hidden well enough to keep even the most resourceful of people at bay."

"Why did you lie?"

Dumbledore looked at Harry and shook his head. "Not a lie, a deception. I told him I had not seen Sirius in some time, which is very much true, I have not. Though I could see him if need be, I have not seen him. You've done as much." Harry had, of course he had, to save Sirius, to stay out of trouble. But for Dumbledore to lie... it just didn't feel right.

"Can I see him?" Harry asked, hopeful.

"No."

Harry faltered. There was of course good reason for him not to see Sirius but he needed to Sirius. A thunderous knock on the door surprised Harry, nearly causing him to fall to the floor. For a moment the thoughts of Sirius disappeared.

"My messenger. I do hope he's brought good news." Dumbledore said to himself. Then he spoke much louder. "You may come in Hagrid."

The door opened and the largest man Harry had ever seen, so large that he couldn't have been a normal man, walked in.

"S'rry about not comin' sooner Dumbledore sir. I had a time gettin' 'em ter talk. They'll need ter have more ter convince them, I'm afraid only a few..." Hagrid noticed Harry for the first time. For a long awkward moment, Harry stared at the man. His huge beard taking up a great deal of his face, bits of food still stuck in it. His coat looked as though it were made from a deer, without much actual work put into sewing or cleaning it. Harry could even smell his breath, some odd and bitter stench, from several feet away. His first thoughts were how revolting the man seemed, how lacking his mannerism was. Harry pushed away the thought, he couldn't judge others that way. People judged Sirius by what they read and there was no way he would do anything similar.

Tears started to fill the man's eyes. Before Harry could do anything the man took a huge step across the room and grasped Harry in a hug, completely enveloping him. "It's you." Harry could barely hear from within the confines of the embrace. He squeezed harder, as if he had once lost Harry and now didn't ever want to let him go again. Harry tried to say something, tell the man that being hurt, but no air would come out of his lungs. His whole body hurt, like when he had done the animagus transformation. Dumbledore said something. But Harry couldn't hear it. Another wave of pain, this one much worse then the last and then there was no more. It felt enlightening and he breathed, the huge man let go and Harry slumped of the floor.

"Are you alright Harry?" Asked Dumbledore. Harry didn't know, he hurt- sort of, it was hard to explain. He tried to turn over and get up but for some reason nothing worked. Hagrid started to sob and say he was sorry but Dumbledore smiled calmly and pulled his wand out. "He's fine Hagrid, he wasn't feeling well when he got here and you've just knocked the wind out of him. If you don't mind I'll just take him to the infirmary, I'll be right back."

Hagrid nodded and found a seat on the floor, as none of Dumbledore's chairs were quite big enough. Harry had an odd feeling as he was rose into the air, upright, his legs dragging behind him. The moment the door closed Harry's body moved into a flat position and Dumbledore apologized. "Hagrid has been living with giants for the past several months as an emissary, I'm afraid in that time he forgot how much he needed to control his strength around normal people. I'm truly sorry he hurt you, let's get you to the infirmary and fix you up."

Harry tried to move again, but still felt nothing. It wasn't as if something was holding him back... he just felt nothing, he couldn't move at all. "Dumbledore. I can't move. I can't feel anything." He suppressed the urge to start crying and looked up. The hallways looked different from this perspective, they were the similar, but each had a unique ceiling. He tried to move again, but couldn't he knew his arms were there, that they were supposed to work. But they didn't seem to be there... it was the oddest feeling he had ever had. It was like a ghost, while they were there, they weren't.

"I know Harry. Hagrid broke at least one of the bones in your back." Dumbledore answered a few minutes later. He seemed to not want to say that it had happened.

Harry heard her, but didn't see her. She must have come looking for him to find out what Dumbledore had said about Sirius. "Harry?" Virginia asked. "What happened?"

Harry didn't feel like telling her. Dumbledore didn't mind taking explaining things though. "An unfortunate accident Ms. Weasley. Would you be so kind as to follow us to the infirmary. I suspect the repairs will take some time and be painful. Ms. Granger, you may come as well."

Harry almost laughed, but didn't feel like doing so at the moment. Hermione must have been following Virginia because he could hear Virginia draw a breath when Dumbledore said it, she hadn't known Hermione was there. "I know Poppy will not be happy with me when I bring in two strays, but it is for the best. You two don't mind do you?" Apparently they both were ok with it. "Good, then let's get Harry to the infirmary."

They headed on their way again but Virginia and Hermione dropped back several feet and whispered between themselves. Harry could barely make out pieces of the conversation, but it sounded like an argument.

"Madam Pomfrey?" Virginia asked as they entered the infirmary.

"She's not here at the moment, she's taking care of some business but will be back shortly." Dumbledore said before Virginia could call out again. Please prepare a bed in the corner, I want to perform a spell before Poppy returns." Dumbledore instructed Virginia.

Reality set in for Harry. If it was the truth, if he had broken his back, which was what most likely had happened, then the only way to fix him properly was regrowth. It wouldn't be one vertebrae either, because the bone was more than just a normal bone a great deal of work would have to be done. Each vertebrae would have to be grown from the top down, and Harry wouldn't be able to do anything until the process was complete, he would simply be laying on his stomach for weeks. It was also extremely painful because the process reformed connections to nerves, and each time it did there was pain. Harry shivered, he had been in pain already this month, but this was going to hurt a lot more.

With his limited field of vision Harry was still the first one to notice Madam Pomfrey's return. She walked out of her office and brushed some dust off of her shoulder. The entrance to the secret room Dumbledore had mentioned must have been in the office. Somewhere in that room was the doorway to Sirius.

"Ah, Poppy. I'm afraid we've had an accident. Hagrid's just returned and was a little to eager to greet Harry. Because of how he's been living for the past while he wasn't gentle enough. At the moment Harry seems to be paralyzed. I brought him directly here, but Hagrid's still in my office, I must get back to him and find out what happened."

From his viewpoint he could no longer see Madam Pomfrey but heard her huff under her breath, something about giving Hagrid a potion. Dumbledore walked towards the door but before getting there stopped. "Ah yes, I've brought two stowaway's along, I suspect that Harry will need someone with him while this is happening. It's very painful. Oh, and Poppy, this must be kept a secret. This sort of thing, leaked to the wrong people could be used for the worse and no one would ever trust the giants again. Right now what little relations we have between them now is skewed, I don't want anything happening that might make it worse. That means you too girls, not one word about Harry if you leave. Or about this accident, ever."

"Albus, these girls... if Harry's hurt like you and I think, it will take a great deal of time to repair him."

Dumbledore smiled, his eyes glittering. "Yes I know, but I suspect either of them would be willing to sit through the whole thing if need be." For some reason Harry felt better, like he was warm inside.

"Alright. I suppose I can accommodate them, the new room that was added, we'll move him into it after the initial diagnosis."

And so it started.

For the next week Harry went through the most excruciating pain in his life. Far worse than changing into an animagus. He slowly was able to feel more and more, but each time came more and more pain. He screamed for what seemed like hours. After a part of the process had been completed.

Virginia and Hermione took turns going to class, Hermione was the one that was almost always with him when it hurt the most. When Virginia was there it was almost like she couldn't stand to see Harry hurting, like it was hurting her. When it didn't hurt Virginia would bring pranks to think about, she would show him things her brothers had thought up. Together they would make changes, sometimes to make the prank more intriguing or sometimes more subtle. Harry enjoyed it very much, and so did her older brothers. More and more ideas came while he was there. Many he knew he would never have though of by himself.

While Virginia brought pranks Hermione brought books, schoolwork and papers. Harry couldn't write, but he could think about it and discuss things with Hermione and on occasion Virginia (when she was there). Every time he astounded Hermione with something he already knew, she seemed to think a lot of it shouldn't have been known unless it was read from a book. Harry had already learned a lot of it from living with Sirius, living on the run.

When something happened Hermione would sneak an article in from Daily Prophet. Since the Death Eater attack at Hogsmeade everything had gone bad. There seemed to be no stopping the Death Eaters now that they had started major movements again everyone was scared. They were tricky and devious and above all evil. In two weeks more people died in attacks than had died in the past 5 years claimed the papers. Some articles said Voldemort had been replaced, that someone had fallen into his footsteps. And then there was the article Harry would have burned had he been able to, Sirius Black it read, The New Dark Lord?

The magical community was in a panic and Harry was worried, about everything. He knew that even though the ministry was strong they were already infested by Death Eaters. No matter how hard the ministry tried it would not be able to get rid of the Death Eaters. One particular reporter, Jasper O. Torrance, seemed to have a clear mind about everything. He gave suggestions that Harry thought Sirius might have, things that would help protect against the Death Eaters.

The whole time he was disabled no one was allowed to visit except Hermione and Virginia. He had been moved into a separate room so that no one could see him. Harry understood. He didn't hate Hagrid for hurting him, he knew it was an accident. He knew that before... when Voldemort had reigned, that the giants had almost all been bad. So he decided he would keep it a secret, if Dumbledore sought out the giants for help he knew what he was doing, and Harry would keep out of his way.

When his back was repaired he was still confined to the room. Madam Pomfrey insisted that he stay so she could make sure nothing had gone wrong. So for nearly another week Harry paced around the room. Anytime Madam Pomfrey would enter he would question her about Sirius but she would say nothing.

The night he was released no one was with him. There was some sort of school meeting and neither Hermione nor Virginia could miss it. He pulled on the clothing that had been provided for him and left the infirmary.

As Harry walked down the halls he noticed something different. The castle seemed to be depressing, a silent, sullen feeling reigned. No one had told him anything had happened here, but Harry wondered if maybe Death Eaters had come. The first person he met in the hallways was one of the last people that he felt like dealing with.

Harry knew he was coming, he could hear his hurried footsteps behind. The drawling voice was what confirmed who it was. "Sick for two weeks Potter? Were you just skiving classes or did a potion blow up in your face? Or perhaps.... perhaps you were worried about that mongrel of a godfather who's been seen running about with Death Eaters. You don't think he was really good do you? I mean, he did kill your parents."

"Malfoy," snapped Harry, unable to keep himself silent. "If you don't want to get hurt then you had better leave me be. I don't feel like getting in an argument right now, especially with you.

The reaction was what Malfoy wanted. "Magic in the hallways? You'll not get two feet before you get caught."

Harry just shook his head, continuing towards the Gryffindor common room, Malfoy close behind. Harry rounded a corner and was surprised to find a man standing across from one of the secret tunnels. He didn't move at all and Harry thought he seemed disturbing. "Scared if an Auror Potter? Perhaps you're afraid that you can't use dark magic in the corridors now. Or perhaps you're afraid that your precious Sirius Black might be caught.

For a moment, the Aurors eyes darted to Harry and Malfoy. Harry noticed, but Malfoy didn't. "They're posted though the castle, for our protection. Apparently someone thinks that Black may try to sneak into Hogwarts. They know he's come before and they won't let him go again."

Malfoy smirked and then turned down a different path as they continued past the Auror. Harry just ignored him, it was so difficult to think about Sirius being in the castle while the Aurors were waiting for him. He past more guards, each standing back out of view and he almost missed some of them. When he finally came to the entrance to the Gryffindor tower he found that it too had an Auror posted in front of the entrance. None of them made the slightest indication of Harry's presence even though it was late and for a student to be walking down the halls it was odd.

When Harry opened the portrait he didn't even step through the door before he had people in front of him asking questions. There was more than a dozen questions asked before he made it to one of the chairs to sit. "I was sick. No, nothing life threatening. Yes, everything's going back to normal. No, no one was allowed to see me. Yes I've already talked to Dumbledore about the missing class. Yes, I've seen the Aurors. And yes... I know why they're here."

Harry plopped down on the couch and sighed. It was relaxing just to get out of the Infirmary and into the common room. "I'm tired guys, and bored. Tell me something fun you did while I was gone."

No one spoke. "You did do something didn't you?" Still nothing. "You didn't. You didn't pull a single prank in the whole two weeks I was gone? Virginia?" Harry hadn't even thought to ask Virginia if she was actually pulling any of the pranks that she had spoken about.

Virginia looked down, as if she had been chastised. "No."

"Well, let's fix that problem. I want to pull a prank on at least one of those Aurors it's such a perfect setup, and they look so bored. Let's just cheer them up, what do you say?"

"But we can't pull a prank on them we were told specifically to leave them alone." Pointed our Ron immediately.

Harry laughed, as soon as he went away everyone went back to following the rules. "No one ever told me that, and besides you know, rules are made to be broken. You can't just do everything they tell you or life wouldn't be any fun."

Everyone seemed to take the words to heart and no one said anything. "Alright, so someone think of something we can do to them. We don't have to do anything bad, just something to get on their nerves."

"We could color their hair."

"Or change their clothing."

"Why don't we don't we make them see muggles running about."

"I have an idea." Blaise's voice was so soft Harry could barely hear her.

Harry held up his hand. "Quiet. Blaise, what's your idea?"

"Well Mrs. Norris... Filch is gone now and so she's just sort of wandering the castle now. What if we gave her something... life a love potion and made her pester the Aurors. I know it's sort of dumb but...'

"No." Harry said. "It's perfect, but we'll have to wait, I don't have all the ingredients for a love potion that animals can use."

Blaise smiled brightly and so did Harry. Everyone seemed to agree that it was a good idea. Harry tried to get them to let him go. He had to go to the library and research love potions. Sirius knew a good deal about love potions, but he had told Harry that those were things he shouldn't learn until later on and Sirius wasn't one to teach them.

As Harry maneuvered away while everyone was discussing it Hermione whispered in his ear. "I know some Love potions, I saw some in the library. Just something mild that would work fine for Mrs. Norris. Harry nodded, his Saturday was already taken up. "I'll be back guys, I have to check what we have and need." Everyone nodded except for Virginia who followed Harry out.

"You do have the right stuff don't you, you just don't know how to make it right?" She asked once they had gotten out of the range of the Auror. Harry nodded and Virginia nodded to herself. Harry just kept walking, thinking, fearing what might happen if Sirius got out, what they might do to him. Behind him the two girls walked behind, chatting about something that Harry really didn't feel like listening to.

The reached the library and Hermione found the book right away. After only a few minutes of reading about it Harry felt confident he could do it. Virginia suggested they write it down and Hermione jotted notes down quickly. Harry decided to make it right away, even if he had told everyone tomorrow, there would be no harm in getting it done tonight. He could tell them that he did have the ingredients and just didn't know. If they decided to use it tonight then all the better.

"You're sure this will work on Mrs. Norris right?" Harry asked as they walked down the hallway.

Hermione nodded. "Where are we going anyway?"

"That place. The one you don't know about yet. You'll find out soon enough." Harry skipped ahead a bit and turned around, walking backwards. "You do want to see it don't you?"

Hermione nodded. Of course she wanted to see it, everyone wanted in on secrets. "Good, then just make sure you get this potion right. The book said if we don't then it may not be good."

"It's only a simple potion, any first year could do it."

Virginia laughed. "I don't think Ron those two thugs that follow Malfoy around could, they seem to have a tendency to blow things up."

"Sirius told me once that even the simplest of things can go wrong, and when they do, they're not always simple anymore."

Harry could see that just down the hallway was Birdie, talking to an Auror. "I'll be right back Virginia, you know where it is, wait for me if I'm not already there when you get there. I wont be long I promise."

The girls nodded and Harry walked down the hallway to talk with Birdie. She wasn't in a very good mood when he got there. She was lecturing the Auror who was standing there. Harry caught the tale end of the conversation and it wasn't pretty. The guy, obviously much older than Birdie must have made a pass at her.

When she was finished she smiled politely at Harry and put her arm around him. "You haven't been around for a while, I've been waiting for you. I wanted to ask you something about Sirius."

"He's not here."

She winked. "Oh, of course he's not, but that's not what I was going to ask. From what I understand he was injured in the fight at Hogsmeade. Is he still hurt from that fight?"

Harry shrugged, he didn't know. "I don't know. I don't know what's happening with him, no one will tell me."

"I see. He was injured though, wasn't he?"

Harry nodded. "It was worse than anything I've ever seen. Someone was trying to kill him. Why do you want to know?"

"Innocence. I'm trying to find some proof that he is innocent. I believe you, really I do, it's just some people aren't as easy to convince as I am. If I can convince some of them I might be able to get more help."

At least she was trying. "Like Remus?"

"Oh, I've tried. If I can convince him I can convince anyone. I think hates Sirius more than he loves anything in this world. It's bad to have more hate than love."

Harry, remembering he had to get back to Virginia and Hermione just laughed inwardly. "You know, you should tell him you care for him."

"But I..."

"Don't? If you can truthfully tell me you don't love him – why I'd... I'd try and wrestle a dragon if it weren't true."

"You couldn't wrestle a dragon."

"And you're in love with him. Don't say you aren't. Every time you say something about him you get into a dreamy state. It's strange that love can do that to you isn't it." Why don't you just tell him and get it over with."

"Just tell him? Have you ever tried to tell Remus something that he doesn't want to hear? He doesn't hear it, no matter how loud you are."

Harry nodded, he understood. He had tried to tell him that Sirius was innocent. Sirius was the same way, if it wasn't something he wanted to hear it wasn't said, and he never heard it. "I tried to tell him that Sirius was innocent."

"Oh yes, well you understand what I'm trying to say. I don't know if it's me he doesn't like, or if he can't accept someone being in love with him. No matter how hard I try he wont listen, and you can't tell someone that you love them if they wont even listen to it, it's not easy at all."

"So you've never actually said it?" Harry grinned.

"No. If anything in a conversation leads that direction he just ignores it all or leaves."

"Then tell him when he is listening, when he doesn't expect it. He'll be listening then." Harry wasn't sure exactly what he was saying, it was like asking a muggle how to play Quidditch. He didn't know, he had never experienced love, he was only 11. "I don't know if it will work, but it's worth a try isn't it?"

Birdie was trying to talk herself into it. "But what if he doesn't like me, what if he hates me for it?"

"Do you always think so negatively?"

Birdie threw up her hands. "Do you always have to know the answer to everything?" Then she turned around and marched off in the other direction.

Harry hoped she would tell him, more for his own reasons. If She did Remus might get caught up in something other than Sirius. When Harry finally came to the mirror Virginia and Hermione were not there. Padfoots shadow appeared and Harry asked if they were inside. Reluctantly he nodded. "She's feisty, that girl. She's even worse than Lilly. It's no wonder you like her."

"She's my friend. Will you let me in now?"

"Just go on in, it's not like it's going to matter now..." and then he disappeared. Harry wondered what he had meant but placed his hand on the mirror and disappeared through it.

When he reached the other side Virginia clamped her hand over his mouth before he could say anything. "Shhh!" she whispered fiercely. "Someone's here."

Harry looked over at the bed and sure enough, someone was lying there, resting. "Who?"

Hermione shrugged her shoulders. "We were waiting to see if maybe someone else knew how to get in here. Ginny said that you told here she was the only one to know at school."

"I thought she was." Harry got a little angry. She was supposed to be the only person that knew. This place had been Sirius's and he had told Harry that it was his once he went to Hogwarts. So, it was his, and he was the one that was supposed to let people know about it if he thought the deserved to come in. Harry pulled out his wand and walked over to the bed, Hermione and Virginia following close behind.

At the edge of the bed he faltered, the person in the bed couldn't be a student. He moved in his sleep and Harry saw part of his face. No, it wasn't a student and it wasn't a teacher. "Sirius?" he whispered.

For a long moment, he felt himself get ready to cry. Sirius was right in front of him, alive. Then he thought about it, Sirius wasn't awake (which he should have been the moment Virginia or Hermione entered) He didn't look too well, his face was still slightly pale.

"It's alright, it's just Sirius." He turned to the two girls. "Let's get on with this, he must be tired, and I don't want to wake him. Alright?"

Virginia nodded but Hermione didn't, she just stared at Sirius. It must have been a shock for her to see the man that everyone talked about. It was the first time she had ever seen the normal Sirius. Harry put his mind to other things and pulled down all the ingredients for the potion. He didn't want to think about why Sirius was there and why he hadn't woken up while they were in the room. It was not something Sirius ever did.

"Hermione, I need to know what goes next."

Hermione had not been paying very much attention to Harry or the potion. Virginia had been watching but seemed tired and so she did it from a nearby chair. "Is it Raccine or Ma Hung? I'm not sure which, I've never made it before."

Hermione thought for a moment, but didn't pull out the list. "Ma Hung. It's poisonous and the process filters it out before the Raccine is added."

Harry nodded and added the chopped Ma Hung. For some reason what Hermione had said didn't sound quite right, but he also trusted Hermione's memory more than his own at the moment. Within the hour the potion was finished. Sirius was still asleep and Harry decided against his better judgment to stay. He need to talk to Sirius, he needed to know that everything was alright, that Sirius knew about the Aurors.

"Are you sure?" Virginia asked when Harry told her.

"Yes, go on, tell everyone to go ahead without me. I need to stay here. You can tell me all about it when I get back, Alright?"

Hermione nodded. Virginia glanced at the bed. "Tell him I hope he gets better, I don't like seeing you sad."

Harry smiled. "I'm happy now."

"You're not, I can feel it."

Of course she was right, but Harry would never admit it, even to her. It was difficult, always worrying about others."

For a very long hour Harry sat, just thinking about things. He thought about choices that could have been better made. He thought about friends he might have had. He thought about his parents, something he hadn't done in a long time. When he was younger he had spoken to them in his imagination. His father had always encouraged him to keep on going, no matter how hard life had gotten. It was his mother who had sung songs to him while he was little.

"You didn't leave with them?" Harry looked up to find Sirius now staring at him across the room. "You didn't stay here for the food did you, I have precious little left."

"You're always too playful Sirius. I can get you more food. I could have gotten you more if you would have let me know. It wouldn't have been difficult at all."

Sirius sat up, obviously still in pain. "I didn't want to worry you or any of the others. I didn't tell anyone I was leaving, I snuck out and left a note saying it was not safe for me to stay."

Of course, that was why no one had mentioned Sirius, they hadn't known. "How did you know about Virginia and Hermione?"

Sirius nodded towards the mirror that was the entrance. "He told me you have brought Ginny. When I saw Hermione come in I knew you must be close behind. I had told him not to let anyone in but James was always able to convince him otherwise. He was the only one that could do it, he could talk himself into or out of anywhere."

"Virginia talked her way in, I wasn't even around. I was talking to Birdie down the next hall."

A sly grin lit his face. "I always did like strong woman. Oh well, you trust her, I trust her and now I guess she gets in even without you. I always assumed you could get in because you were so much like James. Though," Sirius grinned even brighter, "his love life didn't start until 3rd year." Slowly Sirius crawled out of bed, going to a nearby cabinet and pulling out some food. "I never told you this, but the way you acted when you were younger, you acted so much different from James... I thought, I hoped you might be different."

"Why?" Harry inquired. "You always told such fantastic stories about you and my father, even before Hogwarts."

"Yes, but to think back now about what might have happened if something had gone wrong. It frightens me to think what might go wrong in the future, when you try to do something that gets out of hand. We did have some close calls." Sirius sighed and sat back down. "I tried to keep your father out of you. I even thought I had until the incident at the cabin. When I saw you that day at the Weasley's for a moment I saw your father, in a costume. You have his looks, though the scar is different and the hair is a bit off, but there's something more. You've got his ego, his brains, his whit, if it were 15 years ago you might very well pass for James. Anyway... what were you in here for anyway, making a potion for something?"

Time was still for a moment, Sirius never spoke like he just had. Harry was spooked, maybe he was dying. "You're going to live right Sirius?" Harry asked quickly.

"No, no, I'm just a little influenced. I made myself some potions, they cloud my head a bit. So?"

"Prank. Yes, Blaise came up with this fantastic idea to play games with the..." Harry faltered for a second, wondering if Sirius knew about the Aurors.

"Blaise? The quiet girl, the one who stays paired with Neville?" Sirius looked as though he were struggling to remember.

"And Ron too, they're all my friends."

"Yes, you already have a little crowd. So, anyway, what's this prank and who are you planning on teasing?"

Harry looked away, but knew he had already given Sirius too much by just doing that. When he looked back at Sirius he could tell.

"You know what happened to Filch?" Sirius nodded gravely as he ate a piece of a cookie. "Well Mrs. Norris is still around. So Blaise thought up a good use for her. Now that she isn't catching students out of line Blaise suggested we make a Love potion, give it to her and then send her off to bug one of the Aurors in the castle."

"Aurors?" Sirius' eyes opened and looked about for a moment. "Remus is here too isn't he? I knew it! Remus followed me. I thought he would. You need to get out of here, you can't be around if he gets in, It'll be difficult."

"No!" Harry got angry. "You're in no shape to protect yourself. It if comes to that I'll protect you, I've done it before."

It was Sirius's turn to look away. "Yes, I remember. You've saved me more than once. I know you're strong, that you could duel with most wizards and win. I think you would be able to stop him if it wasn't just magic. But they don't duel, and they don't fight fair. I don't think you could win with Remus."

"Then teach me, show me how to win, I can learn." Harry wondered what Sirius was keeping from him, he didn't do it often.

"Harry, you're not physically mature enough. You'd have to fight physically as well as magically, and you're not disciplined enough."

But it was possible. "I can train, I can work on it, I can become disciplined."

"No, Harry I'll do what I can, you don't need to be here."

Harry didn't hear what Sirius has said very well because he was distracted. Something had darted by the outside mirror far quicker than a person could run. Just moments later Ron and Blaise ran past as well, chasing whatever it was that had passed by. Harry laughed and walked over to the mirror, they seemed to be trying to capture Mrs. Norris. But whatever had passed by was far to big to be a cat, it easily took up a good portion of the hallway.

"What is it Harry?" Sirius asked.

"I think Mrs. Norris might be a handful, and more than they can handle. She might be hungry but everyone's been teasing her since Filch's been gone. Hermione told me earlier, I think she feels sorry for her."

"Why don't you go help them, you did brew the potion."

Harry watched as Virginia and Hermione scrambled past the mirror and then stopped, waiving and yelling. "Sirius, I think something's gone wrong, they're trying to get me to come out."

"What love potion did you use?"

Harry thought for a moment. "I think Hermione called it crea amor."

"With Raccine right?" Harry nodded. "Did you make sure to chop the Ma Hung to the correct size? Yes, you would have... let's see. You mix... and then you... hmm. Did you put the Ma Hung in before the Raccine or after?"

"Before. Hermione said the Ma Hung was poisonous and needed to be filtered out."

"Well there's your problem. Raccine is poisonous, not Ma Hung. The potion might be deadly, or it might be really strong with different ending qualities. It might have done something to hurt Mrs. Norris. You'd better go, I'd go but I'm not in the shape to. Go, now!"

Harry nodded and exited quickly. Hermione wasn't anywhere near the mirror anymore, she was way down the hallway, helping Blaise who was laying on the floor.

"Harry something went wrong, when we gave the potion to the cat she changed." Virginia said. Harry could see she wasn't in the best of shape, her cloak torn in several spots and she was bleeding from a wound on her arm.

"What happened exactly? What did Mrs. Norris do?"

"She drank the potion and I picked her up. I was taking her down to the nearest Auror and she started to get bigger, so I put her down. The next thing I know she pounced on me and slashed at me. Neville tried to stop her, but it didn't work bery well. He's all cut up. Mrs. Norris attacked the Auror down the hall too. I... he got hurt bad. I don't know what happened. I just... Ron's after her and he's going to get hurt too."

Harry sat her down. "Just sit for a minute, let yourself rest. I'll catch up with Ron." Harry hurried down the hall and checked on Blaise who was unconscious. Hermione explained that Mrs. Norris had attacked her from the side and knocked her against the wall. She also said that Mrs. Norris was now the size of a very large dog." Harry ran as fast as he could down the hallway to were Ron and Mrs. Norris had done. Mrs. Norris was headed right towards the entrance of the Hufflepuffs common room.

Down the hallway Harry found Ron, unconscious as well, A nasty cut ran down the side of his face. Harry woke him up and sent him back down the hallway towards Hermione and Virginia.

Knowing the hallway ended just around the corner. Harry slowed, preparing himself. Yes, just in front of the Hufflepuff night that protected the entrance Mrs. Norris stood. She seemed to be waiting for the curtain to open. Before Harry could distract her the door did open and two young Hufflepuffs walked out, right towards Mrs. Norris. Harry did the only thing he could, yelling at the top of his lungs and sending Mrs. Norris flying. Mrs. Norris recovered in mid-air and the moment she touched the ground pounced back towards the two confused Hufflepuffs who still stood in the doorway.

"Move!" Yelled Harry as he ran towards them. They seemed to be too stunned to hear him and Mrs. Norris jumped through the opening, knocking them to the ground Harry slipped into the closing curtain and already saw Mrs. Norris had done damage. Several Hufflepuffs were lying sprawled out on the floor, having been in the way of Mrs. Norris. Harry sent a stunning hex towards Mrs. Norris but she seemed to know what was going on and easily dodged it. More people appeared at the doorways to hear what all the fuss was about. The doors opened and the closed all around the room. Mrs. Norris continued her rampage of the room, knocking student after student down when they couldn't get out of the way quick enough. She seemed to be searching for something or someone.

Harry finally succeeded in partially striking Mrs. Norris with a stunning spell, but it only served to anger her more. While she did slow down for a moment she was nowhere near unconscious. The spell did get several of the Hufflepuffs to rally behind him. One of them, a 4th or 5th year stepped up next to Harry and sent to same stunning curse off towards Mrs. Norris. When Harry saw that he was able to do this he was somewhat startled. It was an advanced curse that Sirius had learned form the Aurors.

Before he could ask he was distracted when Mrs. Norris pounced towards one of the other students. "Get behind us!" Harry yelled. Everyone who was still standing seemed to understand he could protect them somewhat and rushed behind them.

Harry glanced over to the boy standing beside him. "Can you get to the door if I help keep that from getting to you?" The boy nodded. "Good, I want you to help get everyone out. It's hard to protect them too."

"Now?" the boy asked.

"Not yet, just wait until I can distract her." One of the doors opened and a head peaked out. When it slammed shut only a few seconds later Mrs. Norris's was distracted.

"Now." The boy dashed over to the door and Harry sent a curse towards Mrs. Norris, keeping her distracted. Once the boy had the door opened he turned back around and prepared his wand. "It's done."

"Everyone, I'm going to get that thing to chase me, you all get out that door, make sure no one gets left." Harry looked at Mrs. Norris. "This is going to hurt just a little. As soon as I run everyone go to the door."

Harry took a deep breath and concentrated. "electrica interficere."

The room sparked and crackled as the power built up. A very powerful bolt of energy shot out of his wand, several smaller bolts arching off of it. Mrs. Norris tried to dodge but the hex was far too quick and struck her full on. She stopped for a moment, but not long enough for Harry to shoot another curse. Instead he darted away from the door.

Mrs. Norris turned to him, visibly angry. Harry headed for the stairs, trying to get above her, the only upper hand he might be able to get. Over and over Harry was forced to change course, keeping away from Mrs. Norris. IT was hard, people were laying on the ground of the common room and he had to dodge them constantly. He finally made it to the stairs and promptly tripped over the first step.

Knowing Mrs. Norris must be right behind him he rolled, trying his bets to avoid the coming attack. When none came he turned, surprised. Just behind him Mrs. Norris was laying sprawled out on the ground. Behind her, halfway between the stairs and the door was the blond boy who had helped earlier. The look he gave off was off utter surprise.

"Thanks." said Harry as he tried to stand up, but failed miserably. His ankle must have been twisted, and easy fix.

"That was absolutely brilliant." Said the boy. "That attack was more powerful than anything I've ever seen. It was just... wow."

Harry touched his ankle and whispered a healing charm. It worked, and he tried to stand again. The boy rushed over and helped Harry up. "I didn't kill it did I?"

Harry shook his head. "No, it's just a very strong stun. It'll stop anything short of a dragon. But I don't understand, you mean you've never used that hex before? How did you do it?" Harry found a seat, wanting to sit and relax for a minute before he tried to explain what had happened.

"I saw you do it and it didn't look so hard so I tried it. I have a making things seem to easy. By the way, my name is Cedric."

Harry smiled. "Well hello Cedric, my name is..."

"Harry Potter. I know who you are."

Off to the side Mrs. Norris shuddered and Harry whipped out his wand and enclosed her within a cage so that if she did wake up she would not be able to escape. "Sorry about this, it wasn't suppose to happen like this at all. I mixed the potion wrong and she became... like this." Then he remembered Virginia would probably be waiting outside already. "Cedric, could you open the door, I have a friend who's probably waiting."

Sure enough, Virginia was standing just outside the door impatiently. "Good job Harry. I was hoping you would catch her."

"I didn't do... Cedric did it." He pointed to Cedric.

Cedric shook his head. "Not really, I just helped a bit, Harry did the real work."

"You knocked Mrs. Norris out?" Asked Virginia.

"Yeah but... that was Mrs. Norris!?"

Virginia nodded. "The love potion didn't seem to work, I think we did something wrong."

Harry stood up and limped slightly across the room. He looked around, the whole room was in shambles. "Virginia, did you go get help?"

Cedric was still standing disbelieving at Mrs. Norris. Virginia patted him on the back. "It's over now. Yes Harry, they'll be here shortly. I think we should go though, the Auror that..."

"Black!" Harry heard Remus on the other side of the door. "Sirius Black!" said Remus as he rushed through the door. "You?!" For just a moment he seemed confused, then understood. He bore down on Harry. "Where is he hiding. It's in that room isn't it? That blasted shadow wont let me in. I'll have to open it by force then."

• Edited 2004.09.18 •