3

Harry, Ron, Hemione and Ginny went over to the teachers' table. Sirius saw them coming and grinned.

'How's my favorite Godson?'

'Ah, don't call me that! It's so good to see you.' Harry said, enveloping Sirius in a bearhug, his eyes slightly moist. 'I'm so happy for you.'

'Still remember the offer I extended to you to come and live with me?'

'Yeah…Why?'

'Guess what? It's still on! After this year, you can come and live with me.'

The other three stood beside, looking at the joyful reunion between Godfather and Godson.

They chatted for a while, and then procceeded up to the Gryffindor common room while Sirius went to his room. When the four students got to the entrance to the common room, they were surprised. The previous year, it had been the fat lady guarding the hole. However, this year, it was someone else. It was none other than… A portrait of Dumbledore.

'Is that a picture of Dumbledore?' Ginny asked, wrinkling her nose at the portrait.

The Dumbledore in the portrait smiled at them.

'What's the password?' Asked Hermione.

With shock, the four of them realized that they had no inkling at all what the password was. Were they going to have to spend then night out here in the corridor? Fortunately, they were saved the comfort of a night in the hall when Argus Filch, the caretaker, came along and found them staring at the portrait in dismay.

'Well, well, well. Lucky for you I know the password. 'Ice Storm!' He said, and the portrait swung forward.

'Thank you!' The four said gratefully, and climbed into the hole. They were exhausted, and decided to talk the next day. Harry went up to bed gratefully. The second his head hit the pillow, he fell asleep.

Harry woke up the next day, stomach growling. Ron was still asleep, so he washed up first. Meeting Ginny in the common room, the two of them decided to go down for breakfast first. On the way, Ginny kept on opening her mouth and then closing it.

'Is there something you want to say to me?'

'Well, yes, if you don't mind…'

'Ginny, we've known each other for so long. You should know that I don't mind.'

'Well…'

'Just shoot.'

'Sirius Black is your godfather?' Ginny burst out. 'Why didn't you ever tell me?'

'Well, It didn't come up, and I didn't feel it was suitable to tell you.'

'Is he… is he…'

'Is he what?'

'Is he…alright?' Ginny asked worriedly, pointing to her head.

'Haha, so you were worried about whether he was insane?' Amusing, Harry thought. 'No, he's perfectly all right. If he had been crazy, I'm sure he would have tried to kill me a long time ago. Anyway, Dumbledore's cleared him, so it's definitely ok.'

'Heh, that's a relief.'

Harry put his arm over Ginny's shoulders and they arrived at the great hall. As they were going in, they saw Hermione coming out of the hall with twenty or so books slung over her shoulder.

'Let me guess, the Library?' Harry teased mischeviously.

'Hermione grinned in answer and hurried off.

Breakfast was delicious as usual. This morning, the hall was only three-quarters full. Harry supposed it was the late night before. He and Ginny finished their breakfast quickly as they had lessons after that. Harry had Advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts (ADADA) with none other than Sirius. He was full of anticipation and wondered what the lesson would be like that day.

As he waked into class, he noted with displeasure that the Slytherins were already there.

As he sat down with Ron at his desk, Sirius walked in. He flashed Harry a quick smile, then told the class to sit down and gave them a quick prep talk.

'Alright, this year, you'll be starting on Advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts. You've all done quite a bit of stuff on dark arts before. Now, I must tell you that you will now be moving on to a very advanced area of the dark arts. I want you all to pay attention, as what you learn here will be applied in the future. Today, we'll be doing curses. There are many different curses, and most of them can be blocked. It's important that you know how to block every curse. First, the Phoenix Head Charm. This charm deflects medium level curses, and is one of the most basic curses. Simply wave your wand around yourself and say Phoenaxis. That will activate the charm.'

            He demonstrated. Waving the wand around himself, he muttered and a golden phoenix erupted from his wand. With a burst of phoenix song, the phoenix rose into the air, finally swooping down and swirling around him.

            'That is the Phoenix Head Charm.' He said to mild applause.

            'Excuse me?' Hermione raised her hand.

            'Yes?'

            'What happens if I curse someone under the protection of the Charm with a medium curse?'

            'Ah,' growled Sirius. 'The curse will ricochet off and hit the owner. That's another little advantage of the charm. It acts as a mirror.'

            He soon had the class trying to cast their own shield charms. Harry succeeded on his first try, much to his own surprise. Suddenly, a bolt of white light flew at him. Harry had no time to duck. The phoenix around him swooped to deflect the bolt. The bolt flew back toward its source, which was… Malfoy. Thought Harry.  

            Draco Malfoy's face was quickly becoming unrecognizable. Large boils were springing up on it.

            'Wow.' Came Ron's breathless voice. 'I'm beginning to like DADA classes. Something always happens to Malfoy!'

            'What happened?' Came Hermione's mildly curious voice.

            'Gee, I don't know. I saw a bolt of light fly toward me, then my phoenix knocked it away.'

            'Well, it doesn't take a genius to see that Malfoy must have launched it,' said Ron. 'The Curse returned to him.'

            Sirius had, by this time, noticed what had happened, and was questioning Draco about what had happened.

            'I… I… Was only testing to see if his shield charm was working properly…' said Draco, apparently unable to think of a more credible excuse.

            'Go to the hospital wing, then report back here to me for your punishment.' said Sirius, a vein on his forehead standing out.

            Malfoy trooped off, looking downcast.

            'You OK, Harry?' He said, rushing over to Harry.

            'Yeah… The Charm protected me.'

            'Lucky for you… Keep it up!' said Sirius, adding the last part under his breath.

            'Wow! Your charm actually worked?' Hermione was in awe. 'I haven't been able to get anything to happen at all!'

            'Erm…' Harry couldn't think of anything to say.

            'Could you show me how you do that?'

            'Sure!'

            Harry spent the rest of the lesson showing Hermione how to do the charm.

            At the end of the lesson, they went for lunch.

            They were walking down to lunch when they were stopped by someone.

WHO was it?

A/n: Thanks For reading this far! Sorry this chapter was so long! Just leave a short note, please! Next Chapter up soon.