This chapter I finished in one 24 hour period, I think that's pretty good,
don't you? Seeing as I just put up chapter 22 yesterday I don't have many
reviews yet, but I have a few, thank you very much : ) This chapter kind
of takes it back to the plot, thank God I managed to do it! I hated
writing the last two chapters, but this one wasn't bad at all, it flowed
right out of me! Enjoy!
AprilSkrutin: Thank you! And you're welcome for not stopping, I feel so bad for doing that whole thing. I hope you will keep reading and reviewing!
Kimmy: I didn't originally want to make Sirius the DADA teacher, its really generic I think, but I thought I did it in an okay way, making him not the first choice, just the back up. You're right about the Harry Potter world. I'm 17 and my sister's 12 and she picks on me because of all this HP stuff I do. The other day she tore a pic of Daniel Radcliff out of a magazine and handed it to me. I wanted to smack her. Anyway, good luck with your college stuff, its so stressful! I've been accepted to 5 schools so far and have 4 more to here from and then its crunch time!
Jocelyn: Thanks for the review, I'm glad you like my little story!
Electricity-of-the-phoenix: I'm continuing, as you can see. That was the hardest thing to get through. I didn't really have writers block, I was just sick of writing, but I'm fine again, it took less than a week. I feel really stupid! Thanks for the offer to help, I may take you up on it sometime, but as for now I know exactly what I want to do. That could change any minute, however.
Lady Arwen of Rivendell: "Next Chappie" is here! LOL. I don't think the problem is with you, its with my indecisiveness. I have had so many reviews after that little change of my mind saying, "What am I going to do with you?" Makes me laugh. Sorry for the little scare there. And I know the story isn't really boring, to read, but some of it seriously is to write, and just so you know I first spelled that Siriusly. I did that in a school paper once, can you guess how embarrassing that was? Yeah, so anyway thank you for reviewing and I promise right now that I will finish the story, I promise : )
The Serious Padfoot: I'm not giving up, I've changed my mind! Don't be sad!
Chaser: Thanks for the review, I updated very soon, wouldn't you say?
MysticWolf56: I'm glad that my finishing makes you so happy : ) Thanks for thinking it's great!!!
Kacey Rat: Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! Here's your more!
Petrifia: I'm glad I'm on your favorites, I am continuing, so leave me there!
Harry ran straight to the Gryffindor common room and was thoroughly out of breath by the time he got there. The whole team was sitting around a table as he ran up to them. They looked at him like he just lost the last quidditch game of the year.
"Harry, where the Hell have you been?" Fred yelled. Both he and George looked pissed.
"I-I was talking to Sirius, it was really important and I lost track of time. I'm so sorry, what did I miss."
"Well Harry, since you didn't care to show up we went ahead and picked team captain with out you. I'm sure you would have liked to be a part of that decision. You can only blame yourself."
"Who'd you pick?" Harry asked, not really caring who the captain was.
"Do you really think you deserve to know?"
"Yeah," Harry replied getting slightly annoyed. They had all missed team meetings before.
"Well Harry, the new team captain is the new seeker."
Harry was pissed. "What?!?! You gave my position away. Just because I was late for a meeting?! Do you realize I ran back here as fast as I could just so I could to make the meeting on time? I can't believe you're canning me for that! I'm the most devoted Quidditch player on this team and you know it!"
"Yeah, Harry, we do," Katie said. "And that's why we picked you to be our captain."
Harry was dumbfounded. "What?"
Fred and George laughed at him and both put arms over his shoulders. "Harry, we have picked you to be captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Do you understand?"
"No, I don't...you just-you just told me that there was a new seeker."
"Yeah," Fred said. "We were trying to scare you, worked pretty good."
Harry finally let it all sink in and a broad grin spread over his face. "Thanks guys."
"No problem," they all said, patting Harry's back.
"And it's our fault you missed the meeting by the way."
"Huh?"
"Well," said George. "We talked to Mr. Marauder. We knew he was going to want to talk to you, but we decided to talk him into distracting you long enough to make you late for the meeting, so we could do this to you. Man it was fun!"
Harry shook his head in awe. "I'm going to have to yell at Sirius for that one."
"You do that," said Fred laughing. "It'll make it even funnier."
George then added wistfully. "I can't wait until we have Defense Against the Dark Arts class."
Fred nodded in agreement.
Harry looked around the room and saw Ron and Hermione working on homework together. He said, "If this meeting's over I'm going to go get started on homework."
The others waved and he walked over to Ron and Hermione's table.
"Congratulations Harry, the team told us their plan."
"And you didn't tell me? They scared the wits out of me!"
"Figured they would."
"What are you guys working on?" Harry asked.
"McGonagall's loads of homework," Ron muttered
Harry nodded. "She heard me complaining about it to Sirius in the hall. She got really mad."
"What did she say."
"Homework is 'Very necessary'."
"Well it is," Hermione said in a superior voice that sounded similar to McGonagall's own.
They worked together for nearly two hours before saying goodnight and going their separate ways.
The next day, Harry and Ron woke early and went down to breakfast. Harry looked at the teachers table but found that Sirius wasn't there yet. He groggily picked at some eggs and toast when a shadow fell over his plate.
"Congratulations Mr. Quidditch Captain. Your father would be very proud."
"No help to you. I can't believe you let them do that to me."
"Trust me Harry, that was the best way you could have possibly found out."
"Yeah, but I would have preferred an easier way."
"Too bad!"
Harry rolled his eyes.
"I'm going to go eat Harry. I'll talk to you later."
"Okay bye."
Fred then snuck up behind Harry and whined, "I thought you said you'd yell!"
Harry grinned, "I can't stay mad at him."
Fred sighed and went down the table to sit with his twin.
The rest of the day was similar to the first, as were the many days that followed. Sirius and Harry spent ample time together around the castle. Harry was so happy that Sirius had taken up the Defense Against the Dark Arts position. He was now doing great in that class.
As for potion's, however, Harry was doing very poorly. Snape just barely had him passing, and it wasn't for credible reasons. Every day Sirius was ready to curse him, and Harry was ready to give up on the class all together. Snape always found something wrong with what Harry did, even if the rest of the class did the same thing. An example was always made out of Harry's work.
One day the class was making a blood replenishing potion, it was supposed to come out blood red. Harry's came out pink. Snape was being extra cruel that day and orally giving out grades. First he went to Malfoy, whose potion was also pink, and gave him an A. He then went to Seamus, another pink potion, and gave him a B. Then he went to Harry's made a big deal out of the pink hue and failed him. That was the last straw for Harry. He got right up and walked directly out of the classroom.
"Mr. Potter, where do you think you are going?" Snape called behind him, but he didn't care. Harry walked straight to the staircase that lead to Dumbledore's office and began to guess the password. He had no trouble that day, his third guess opened it up, chocolate frogs. Harry was actually slightly disappointed that it had been so easy. He ignored that fact though, and stormed up the spiral staircase and knocked on Dumbledore's door.
"Come in," Dumbledore called.
Harry turned the handle and entered the room. He was surprised to see that Sirius was inside.
"Harry, what are you doing here?"
He ignored his godfather and turned to Dumbledore. "I've had enough!"
"What do you mean Mr. Potter?" Dumbledore asked, completely bewildered.
"Snape! I've had enough of Snape! I never did anything to him, but he won't leave me alone. I'm almost failing his class although all but one potion I've ever made worked fine! This isn't right and I can't take it anymore!"
"Harry calm down, yelling isn't going to help any. What did he do this time?"
"We're making this blood replenishing potion and it's supposed to be blood red. But the entire class ended up with pink potion! There was probably something wrong with the ingredients. The point it he was giving out A's and B's to potion that looked identical to mine, and do you know what he gave me? An F! He failed me!"
"Mr. Potter, are you sure you didn't do anything wrong in making the potion, something Professor Snape may have seen?"
"He wasn't even watching us make it, Professor. And he told me that the reason I failed was because the potion was pink and not red. He didn't even test it!"
Sirius was surprised to see Harry so angry. He was angrier than he had been when Sirius had told him he couldn't go to Azkaban, angrier than when he thought he had been betrayed by Remus. It was clear that Harry was much more serious about his school work than he let on.
"Harry, you know how Snape is with you. It's not your fault, it's your fathers and mine. But you're right, it's not fair. Dumbledore, are you going to do something about this?"
"I'll talk to Severus, yes."
"I think I'd like to talk to Severus as well," Sirius said in a dark tone.
"Very well, we'll have a meeting tonight before dinner the three of us. Harry, I think it best that you aren't present for this meeting."
Harry nodded, but his fists were still clenched in anger.
"Did we cover all that you wanted to talk to me about Dumbledore?"
Dumbledore nodded. "Harry, you'll be excused from Potions until we get this all worked out."
"Thank you professor," Harry said shortly and headed toward the door, followed by Sirius.
"My room, now please Harry."
Harry nodded and they headed there. Harry was now very familiar with the route to Sirius's room, as he often went there on the weekends. He went inside and flopped himself down on the couch next to J, who rested his head on Harry's knee.
Sirius brought a table chair directly in front of Harry and sat in it.
"Harry, I know what happened today pissed you off immensely, but you can't handle situations like that. Dumbledore deserves more respect than that from you. He's going to help you out, and you should be happy about that. Next time something like that happens come to me first, and then we'll address it to Dumbledore, calmly and rationally. What happened today was neither calm nor rational."
"I know, I'm sorry. I was just so mad! I still am. I can't handle anger well, you know that. Just think back to when I tried to kill you in the shrieking shack."
Sirius smiled slightly. "You really knew how to pack a punch, that was for sure. You have the same temper as James though, you know. It took a lot to get him mad, but when you did, watch out. But eventually he learned to control it, and you need to too."
Harry nodded. "I know."
"So, how's quidditch practice going?"
"Awesome! Ron's a better keeper than Wood ever was. I think we could go all the way again this year. First match is Saturday against Ravenclaw, you going to come cheer us on?"
"I wouldn't miss it for the world."
"Good, I'm going to go meet Ron and Hermione for lunch now. They're probably wondering where I ran off to."
"Okay, Harry. Why don't you meet me here after dinner, and I'll tell you about tonight's meeting with Snapey-poo."
Harry nodded and then left Sirius's quarters.
The rest of the day went very smoothly for Harry, though he often had to avoid Snape in the hallway. Truth was that Harry was a little bit afraid of Snape, ever since he had found out that he had once been a deatheater. He knew that Dumbledore trusted Snape, but Harry just couldn't bring himself to trust him as well. For all he knew, Snape was really a spy for Voldemort about what Dumbledore did. Snape could easily be playing both sides of the field.
Just as Sirius had asked, Harry went straight to his room after dinner, but found Sirius wasn't there. He had noticed that neither Sirius nor Snape had been at dinner either. Harry was a little worried, but figured the meeting had gone much longer than anticipated. Harry flopped on the couch and began flipping through a copy of the Daily Profit that was lying on Sirius's coffee table.
Fifteen minutes later Sirius strode in, looking as angry as Harry had been earlier.
"God I hate that bastard!" he yelled, slamming himself hard onto the couch next to Harry.
Harry wasn't quite sure what to do, so he just sat there staring at Sirius, who finally turned to him. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed deeply. "Sorry I'm late Harry," he muttered.
"It's okay, what happened?" Harry asked quietly.
Sirius sighed again. "Snape believes he treats you no different than any other student. He says if he's too hard on you it's because he 'wants to make sure the other students realize that fame isn't everything.'"
"That's a laugh."
"I know, Dumbledore knows it too. He has asked that Snape doesn't make an example out of you anymore. I explained that you don't like your fame anyways, and if anything he brings more attention to it than you do. That left him pretty speechless for a bit and then he went on about how it's his class and he should be able to teach it anyway he wants. So I told Dumbledore that if he was going to allow you to be treated like that I would no longer allow you to have potions with him."
"But if I don't have potions with him than who will I have it with?"
"I talked to McGonagall today, and she said she'd be happy to teach it to you, kind of like an independent study of potions. It's up to you Harry, though. I think Snape will change a bit after tonight, but it won't be that much of a change."
"I'll stick it out another week or so, if it doesn't change, I guess I'll take you up on the McGonagall thing. Maybe she'd be able to help me learn how to do the Wolfsbane."
Sirius was surprised that Harry remembered about that but agreed with the statement. "That would be awesome for Remus when he comes back. The first few transformations after that are going to be killer."
Harry nodded and then asked, "Is that all you talked about? You were gone an awfully long time."
"No, that's not all. First we had to go through Dumbledore calling a truce again. That's never going to happen, I can tell you that. Then Snape tried to give you a detention for walking out of his class. Both Dumbledore and I ranted for at least 20 minutes to get you out of it."
"Did you?"
Sirius nodded with a small smile. "There's no way I'm going to let you beat my record!"
"Don't worry Sirius, I'm not even going to try, especially not with Snape detentions."
"Sorry I couldn't do more to help you out with the potions thing, Snape is more stubborn than a mule."
Harry laughed lightly and the subject again turned to the upcoming quidditch game. Harry left Sirius's room late that night, everyone in his dorm was already asleep. Luckily Harry had done all of his homework before dinner, so he was able to go straight to sleep when got back.
The quidditch game that Saturday was a huge success. It went on for about an hour with Gryffindor scoring 130 points and Ravenclaw only 20 before Harry caught the snitch and ended the game. Ravenclaw really didn't stand a chance against the front Harry had going. Next game wasn't until after Christmas, and Harry thought that maybe it was possible that Remus would be able to come and watch. He didn't get his hopes up, however.
After the game they threw a marvelous party in the common room and Sirius joined in the festivities, but Harry wasn't having the best time. Sirius pulled Harry aside and asked, "What's the matter, bud? You just won the game, you should be happy!"
Harry shrugged. "I don't really know what's wrong, I just don't feel so good."
"Are you sick?" Sirius asked in a concerned voice, putting his hand against Harry's forehead.
Harry shook his head, "No, I'm not sick, I just feel like something- something isn't right. I don't feel like partying either. But I can never escape these things. It always follows me straight to my bed."
"Lets go to my rooms, you can have the couch for the night and get some peace and quiet. How's that sound?"
Harry nodded and went to find Ron to tell him what he was doing. Ron looked disappointed but didn't say anything. Harry then went through the portrait hole with Sirius. When they got there Sirius found some spare blankets and pillows and made a makeshift bed for Harry there on the couch, and then they both sat down to talk.
"So what's the problem, Harry?"
"It's just...I don't really know, something just doesn't feel right. I don't know what the problem is, but something's going on. I don't really want to talk about it, can I just go to sleep?"
Sirius squeezed the back of Harry's neck and said, "Of course you can." He let Harry crawl under the blankets and then pulled them up to his chin. He then sat back in his chair and watched Harry drift into sleep.
Sirius sat there like that for two straight hours, contemplating what could be wrong with Harry. No matter how hard he thought about it he couldn't figure out what the problem could be. He was about to make his way to his bedroom when he saw Harry begin to thrash. One hand reached up and grabbed his scar tightly while the rest of his body began to convulse like he was having a seizure. Harry was muttering things incoherently and Sirius was sufficiently freaked out. He pointed his wand quickly at Harry and said, "Enervate!" Harry immediately stopped thrashing, but his hand still held tight to his scar. He was pinching it like he was trying to remove it from his body.
When he realized he was awake he nearly fell off the couch. Sirius saw that there were tears in his eyes, tears of fear and pain.
"Harry, what happened?!"
Harry didn't say a word, he just began to fiercely rub his scar. Rubbing soon turned to scratching. He was scratching the scar so hard that it was turning bright red and Sirius feared that Harry would hurt himself. Thus, Sirius grabbed both of Harry's hands and held them tightly in his own.
He again asked, more firmly this time, "What happened."
Harry looked right into Sirius's eyes and shook his head. His eyes looked so scared, more scared than Sirius had ever seen them. He pulled Harry into a hug and rocked him slowly, back and forth trying to get the fear out of him. He noticed that Harry had begun shaking, so he pulled a blanket around him as well. Harry eventually stopped shaking and Sirius pulled back a little to look at him. He hadn't lost the scared look in his eyes.
"Harry, please tell me what's going on," Harry whispered.
Harry sighed like an old man and replied quietly. "I-I've been having those dreams again."
"Which dreams? The ones about Remus?"
Harry shook his head, "No, the ones where I see what Voldemort's doing. It's not pretty Sirius. And it hurts so much."
"Your scar?"
Harry nodded and without realizing began to scratch it again.
"Don't scratch Harry, hold on." Sirius got up and went to find a bottle of lotion that he had somewhere. He brought it back and put a bit on the tips of his fingers and began to gently massage it into Harry's scar. The second he touched it, however, visions appeared in his head. He saw men in dark robes torturing people in there homes. Quick little snippets of different people and different torturers. Sirius pulled his fingers away from Harry's forehead and the visions stopped. He looked at Harry in awe.
"What?" Harry asked, slightly disturbed by the look Sirius was giving me. The look of awe turned to a look of pure pity.
"Do you always have those visions? Do they ever go away?"
Harry looked down, ashamed. Sirius cupped his chin and made him look at him. Harry then nodded and whispered, "They're always there...but, how did you know?"
"When I touched your scar, I could see them too."
Harry looked down again in shame.
"Bud, how long have you been having these for?"
"Since before Remus was sent to Azkaban..." Harry whispered.
Sirius sat up straight, "What?! How come you never told me?"
Harry looked scared, like he had just done something that would cause Sirius to forever disown him. "I-I didn't think it was that big of a deal. They weren't this bad or frequent until recently. I didn't want to be a burden. And...it's like I'm insane or something. I hear voices Sirius and I see things, there's a word for that you know, schizophrenia!"
Sirius put his hands firmly on Harry's shoulders. "Harry, you're not schizophrenic. What you see and hear are things that are really happening. Schizophrenics have visions that are completely from their mind. No one else can see them. I just saw yours. Your not crazy Harry! And you're not a burden either. This is a big deal, and when things like this happen I need you to tell me. You promised me that if anything was wrong you'd tell me and you didn't."
"I'm sorry," Harry mumbled almost inaudibly.
"It's okay Harry, just please, please, please tell me when something like this is going on. It's not safe for you to go on like that. When were you planning on telling me?"
"When I couldn't deal with it anymore."
Sirius let out a long breath, and wrapped Harry in his arms again. Slowly rocking him back and forth. "We're going to talk to Dumbledore about this in the morning, okay bud?"
Harry nodded.
"Go back to sleep," Sirius whispered as he continued to rock Harry like he was a baby. Soon, Harry did fall back to sleep, and Sirius eased him back down onto the couch and covered him with the blankets. Sirius sat back down in his chair and stayed up all night watching to make sure Harry didn't panic again.
Harry awoke with the sun the next morning to see Sirius just starting to doze off.
"Sirius, how come you didn't go to bed?"
"I wanted to make sure you were okay."
Harry sighed and shook his head. "You didn't have to do that."
"No, but I wanted to. Are you hungry?"
"A little," Harry said, yawning and stretching his arms up high in the air.
"You want breakfast in here or do you want to go eat with your friends?"
"My friends are probably still asleep. So if we can, I'd like to eat in here."
"Of course we can eat in here, house elves take care of it."
Sirius went to his little kitchen and rang a bell. In seconds food enough for ten appeared and Sirius brought some of it over to the couch.
"So...last night," Sirius began.
Harry immediately apologized.
"No, Harry I'm not upset about it, I just want to talk to you about it."
"Okay," Harry said quietly.
"Is it always THAT bad?"
Harry shook his head. "No, last night was really bad. Probably the worst it's ever been. It seemed so much more real last night."
Sirius nodded pensively, "I wonder what could make them stop."
Harry shrugged. It was something he thought about often, and the only solution he could think of was to die, and he definitely wasn't ready for that. He also knew that Sirius would flip his lid if he heard Harry even mention it as a solution.
"Is this what made you feel so off yesterday?"
"I really don't know, I still don't know what my problem was yesterday. I just had this feeling that something really bad was happening somewhere...I don't know where or what...I just could tell."
Sirius nodded and sighed, running his hands through his hair. "You done with your breakfast?"
Harry nodded.
"Lets go see Dumbledore then."
They both stood up and walked to the door. Sirius turned as an owl came through his window and dropped a copy of the Daily Profit on the table.
"Wait a sec, Harry, this could hold the answers to whatever you felt was wrong yesterday."
He walked to the table and unfolded the paper. He gasped when he saw the front page headline, "Azkaban Fortress Dismantled by Dark Forces."
"What is it Sirius?" Harry asked seeing that Sirius's face turned ghostly pale.
"They got into Azkaban...Moony..." was all he said before rushing to the door and through the corridors until he reached Dumbledore's office, Harry following close behind. Dumbledore was just stepping out of his office when they approached. He looked grimly at the two and said, "So you've heard?"
How was that? I had no problems at all with that chapter. I'm sorry I didn't go into detail with the Quidditch scene, but I hate quidditch, I really hate it. I've changed my plans slightly, but the stories pretty much going to have the same ending, I'm thinking about eight more chapters, I want to keep it under 30 but I'll go further if I must. Please Review!
AprilSkrutin: Thank you! And you're welcome for not stopping, I feel so bad for doing that whole thing. I hope you will keep reading and reviewing!
Kimmy: I didn't originally want to make Sirius the DADA teacher, its really generic I think, but I thought I did it in an okay way, making him not the first choice, just the back up. You're right about the Harry Potter world. I'm 17 and my sister's 12 and she picks on me because of all this HP stuff I do. The other day she tore a pic of Daniel Radcliff out of a magazine and handed it to me. I wanted to smack her. Anyway, good luck with your college stuff, its so stressful! I've been accepted to 5 schools so far and have 4 more to here from and then its crunch time!
Jocelyn: Thanks for the review, I'm glad you like my little story!
Electricity-of-the-phoenix: I'm continuing, as you can see. That was the hardest thing to get through. I didn't really have writers block, I was just sick of writing, but I'm fine again, it took less than a week. I feel really stupid! Thanks for the offer to help, I may take you up on it sometime, but as for now I know exactly what I want to do. That could change any minute, however.
Lady Arwen of Rivendell: "Next Chappie" is here! LOL. I don't think the problem is with you, its with my indecisiveness. I have had so many reviews after that little change of my mind saying, "What am I going to do with you?" Makes me laugh. Sorry for the little scare there. And I know the story isn't really boring, to read, but some of it seriously is to write, and just so you know I first spelled that Siriusly. I did that in a school paper once, can you guess how embarrassing that was? Yeah, so anyway thank you for reviewing and I promise right now that I will finish the story, I promise : )
The Serious Padfoot: I'm not giving up, I've changed my mind! Don't be sad!
Chaser: Thanks for the review, I updated very soon, wouldn't you say?
MysticWolf56: I'm glad that my finishing makes you so happy : ) Thanks for thinking it's great!!!
Kacey Rat: Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! Here's your more!
Petrifia: I'm glad I'm on your favorites, I am continuing, so leave me there!
Harry ran straight to the Gryffindor common room and was thoroughly out of breath by the time he got there. The whole team was sitting around a table as he ran up to them. They looked at him like he just lost the last quidditch game of the year.
"Harry, where the Hell have you been?" Fred yelled. Both he and George looked pissed.
"I-I was talking to Sirius, it was really important and I lost track of time. I'm so sorry, what did I miss."
"Well Harry, since you didn't care to show up we went ahead and picked team captain with out you. I'm sure you would have liked to be a part of that decision. You can only blame yourself."
"Who'd you pick?" Harry asked, not really caring who the captain was.
"Do you really think you deserve to know?"
"Yeah," Harry replied getting slightly annoyed. They had all missed team meetings before.
"Well Harry, the new team captain is the new seeker."
Harry was pissed. "What?!?! You gave my position away. Just because I was late for a meeting?! Do you realize I ran back here as fast as I could just so I could to make the meeting on time? I can't believe you're canning me for that! I'm the most devoted Quidditch player on this team and you know it!"
"Yeah, Harry, we do," Katie said. "And that's why we picked you to be our captain."
Harry was dumbfounded. "What?"
Fred and George laughed at him and both put arms over his shoulders. "Harry, we have picked you to be captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Do you understand?"
"No, I don't...you just-you just told me that there was a new seeker."
"Yeah," Fred said. "We were trying to scare you, worked pretty good."
Harry finally let it all sink in and a broad grin spread over his face. "Thanks guys."
"No problem," they all said, patting Harry's back.
"And it's our fault you missed the meeting by the way."
"Huh?"
"Well," said George. "We talked to Mr. Marauder. We knew he was going to want to talk to you, but we decided to talk him into distracting you long enough to make you late for the meeting, so we could do this to you. Man it was fun!"
Harry shook his head in awe. "I'm going to have to yell at Sirius for that one."
"You do that," said Fred laughing. "It'll make it even funnier."
George then added wistfully. "I can't wait until we have Defense Against the Dark Arts class."
Fred nodded in agreement.
Harry looked around the room and saw Ron and Hermione working on homework together. He said, "If this meeting's over I'm going to go get started on homework."
The others waved and he walked over to Ron and Hermione's table.
"Congratulations Harry, the team told us their plan."
"And you didn't tell me? They scared the wits out of me!"
"Figured they would."
"What are you guys working on?" Harry asked.
"McGonagall's loads of homework," Ron muttered
Harry nodded. "She heard me complaining about it to Sirius in the hall. She got really mad."
"What did she say."
"Homework is 'Very necessary'."
"Well it is," Hermione said in a superior voice that sounded similar to McGonagall's own.
They worked together for nearly two hours before saying goodnight and going their separate ways.
The next day, Harry and Ron woke early and went down to breakfast. Harry looked at the teachers table but found that Sirius wasn't there yet. He groggily picked at some eggs and toast when a shadow fell over his plate.
"Congratulations Mr. Quidditch Captain. Your father would be very proud."
"No help to you. I can't believe you let them do that to me."
"Trust me Harry, that was the best way you could have possibly found out."
"Yeah, but I would have preferred an easier way."
"Too bad!"
Harry rolled his eyes.
"I'm going to go eat Harry. I'll talk to you later."
"Okay bye."
Fred then snuck up behind Harry and whined, "I thought you said you'd yell!"
Harry grinned, "I can't stay mad at him."
Fred sighed and went down the table to sit with his twin.
The rest of the day was similar to the first, as were the many days that followed. Sirius and Harry spent ample time together around the castle. Harry was so happy that Sirius had taken up the Defense Against the Dark Arts position. He was now doing great in that class.
As for potion's, however, Harry was doing very poorly. Snape just barely had him passing, and it wasn't for credible reasons. Every day Sirius was ready to curse him, and Harry was ready to give up on the class all together. Snape always found something wrong with what Harry did, even if the rest of the class did the same thing. An example was always made out of Harry's work.
One day the class was making a blood replenishing potion, it was supposed to come out blood red. Harry's came out pink. Snape was being extra cruel that day and orally giving out grades. First he went to Malfoy, whose potion was also pink, and gave him an A. He then went to Seamus, another pink potion, and gave him a B. Then he went to Harry's made a big deal out of the pink hue and failed him. That was the last straw for Harry. He got right up and walked directly out of the classroom.
"Mr. Potter, where do you think you are going?" Snape called behind him, but he didn't care. Harry walked straight to the staircase that lead to Dumbledore's office and began to guess the password. He had no trouble that day, his third guess opened it up, chocolate frogs. Harry was actually slightly disappointed that it had been so easy. He ignored that fact though, and stormed up the spiral staircase and knocked on Dumbledore's door.
"Come in," Dumbledore called.
Harry turned the handle and entered the room. He was surprised to see that Sirius was inside.
"Harry, what are you doing here?"
He ignored his godfather and turned to Dumbledore. "I've had enough!"
"What do you mean Mr. Potter?" Dumbledore asked, completely bewildered.
"Snape! I've had enough of Snape! I never did anything to him, but he won't leave me alone. I'm almost failing his class although all but one potion I've ever made worked fine! This isn't right and I can't take it anymore!"
"Harry calm down, yelling isn't going to help any. What did he do this time?"
"We're making this blood replenishing potion and it's supposed to be blood red. But the entire class ended up with pink potion! There was probably something wrong with the ingredients. The point it he was giving out A's and B's to potion that looked identical to mine, and do you know what he gave me? An F! He failed me!"
"Mr. Potter, are you sure you didn't do anything wrong in making the potion, something Professor Snape may have seen?"
"He wasn't even watching us make it, Professor. And he told me that the reason I failed was because the potion was pink and not red. He didn't even test it!"
Sirius was surprised to see Harry so angry. He was angrier than he had been when Sirius had told him he couldn't go to Azkaban, angrier than when he thought he had been betrayed by Remus. It was clear that Harry was much more serious about his school work than he let on.
"Harry, you know how Snape is with you. It's not your fault, it's your fathers and mine. But you're right, it's not fair. Dumbledore, are you going to do something about this?"
"I'll talk to Severus, yes."
"I think I'd like to talk to Severus as well," Sirius said in a dark tone.
"Very well, we'll have a meeting tonight before dinner the three of us. Harry, I think it best that you aren't present for this meeting."
Harry nodded, but his fists were still clenched in anger.
"Did we cover all that you wanted to talk to me about Dumbledore?"
Dumbledore nodded. "Harry, you'll be excused from Potions until we get this all worked out."
"Thank you professor," Harry said shortly and headed toward the door, followed by Sirius.
"My room, now please Harry."
Harry nodded and they headed there. Harry was now very familiar with the route to Sirius's room, as he often went there on the weekends. He went inside and flopped himself down on the couch next to J, who rested his head on Harry's knee.
Sirius brought a table chair directly in front of Harry and sat in it.
"Harry, I know what happened today pissed you off immensely, but you can't handle situations like that. Dumbledore deserves more respect than that from you. He's going to help you out, and you should be happy about that. Next time something like that happens come to me first, and then we'll address it to Dumbledore, calmly and rationally. What happened today was neither calm nor rational."
"I know, I'm sorry. I was just so mad! I still am. I can't handle anger well, you know that. Just think back to when I tried to kill you in the shrieking shack."
Sirius smiled slightly. "You really knew how to pack a punch, that was for sure. You have the same temper as James though, you know. It took a lot to get him mad, but when you did, watch out. But eventually he learned to control it, and you need to too."
Harry nodded. "I know."
"So, how's quidditch practice going?"
"Awesome! Ron's a better keeper than Wood ever was. I think we could go all the way again this year. First match is Saturday against Ravenclaw, you going to come cheer us on?"
"I wouldn't miss it for the world."
"Good, I'm going to go meet Ron and Hermione for lunch now. They're probably wondering where I ran off to."
"Okay, Harry. Why don't you meet me here after dinner, and I'll tell you about tonight's meeting with Snapey-poo."
Harry nodded and then left Sirius's quarters.
The rest of the day went very smoothly for Harry, though he often had to avoid Snape in the hallway. Truth was that Harry was a little bit afraid of Snape, ever since he had found out that he had once been a deatheater. He knew that Dumbledore trusted Snape, but Harry just couldn't bring himself to trust him as well. For all he knew, Snape was really a spy for Voldemort about what Dumbledore did. Snape could easily be playing both sides of the field.
Just as Sirius had asked, Harry went straight to his room after dinner, but found Sirius wasn't there. He had noticed that neither Sirius nor Snape had been at dinner either. Harry was a little worried, but figured the meeting had gone much longer than anticipated. Harry flopped on the couch and began flipping through a copy of the Daily Profit that was lying on Sirius's coffee table.
Fifteen minutes later Sirius strode in, looking as angry as Harry had been earlier.
"God I hate that bastard!" he yelled, slamming himself hard onto the couch next to Harry.
Harry wasn't quite sure what to do, so he just sat there staring at Sirius, who finally turned to him. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed deeply. "Sorry I'm late Harry," he muttered.
"It's okay, what happened?" Harry asked quietly.
Sirius sighed again. "Snape believes he treats you no different than any other student. He says if he's too hard on you it's because he 'wants to make sure the other students realize that fame isn't everything.'"
"That's a laugh."
"I know, Dumbledore knows it too. He has asked that Snape doesn't make an example out of you anymore. I explained that you don't like your fame anyways, and if anything he brings more attention to it than you do. That left him pretty speechless for a bit and then he went on about how it's his class and he should be able to teach it anyway he wants. So I told Dumbledore that if he was going to allow you to be treated like that I would no longer allow you to have potions with him."
"But if I don't have potions with him than who will I have it with?"
"I talked to McGonagall today, and she said she'd be happy to teach it to you, kind of like an independent study of potions. It's up to you Harry, though. I think Snape will change a bit after tonight, but it won't be that much of a change."
"I'll stick it out another week or so, if it doesn't change, I guess I'll take you up on the McGonagall thing. Maybe she'd be able to help me learn how to do the Wolfsbane."
Sirius was surprised that Harry remembered about that but agreed with the statement. "That would be awesome for Remus when he comes back. The first few transformations after that are going to be killer."
Harry nodded and then asked, "Is that all you talked about? You were gone an awfully long time."
"No, that's not all. First we had to go through Dumbledore calling a truce again. That's never going to happen, I can tell you that. Then Snape tried to give you a detention for walking out of his class. Both Dumbledore and I ranted for at least 20 minutes to get you out of it."
"Did you?"
Sirius nodded with a small smile. "There's no way I'm going to let you beat my record!"
"Don't worry Sirius, I'm not even going to try, especially not with Snape detentions."
"Sorry I couldn't do more to help you out with the potions thing, Snape is more stubborn than a mule."
Harry laughed lightly and the subject again turned to the upcoming quidditch game. Harry left Sirius's room late that night, everyone in his dorm was already asleep. Luckily Harry had done all of his homework before dinner, so he was able to go straight to sleep when got back.
The quidditch game that Saturday was a huge success. It went on for about an hour with Gryffindor scoring 130 points and Ravenclaw only 20 before Harry caught the snitch and ended the game. Ravenclaw really didn't stand a chance against the front Harry had going. Next game wasn't until after Christmas, and Harry thought that maybe it was possible that Remus would be able to come and watch. He didn't get his hopes up, however.
After the game they threw a marvelous party in the common room and Sirius joined in the festivities, but Harry wasn't having the best time. Sirius pulled Harry aside and asked, "What's the matter, bud? You just won the game, you should be happy!"
Harry shrugged. "I don't really know what's wrong, I just don't feel so good."
"Are you sick?" Sirius asked in a concerned voice, putting his hand against Harry's forehead.
Harry shook his head, "No, I'm not sick, I just feel like something- something isn't right. I don't feel like partying either. But I can never escape these things. It always follows me straight to my bed."
"Lets go to my rooms, you can have the couch for the night and get some peace and quiet. How's that sound?"
Harry nodded and went to find Ron to tell him what he was doing. Ron looked disappointed but didn't say anything. Harry then went through the portrait hole with Sirius. When they got there Sirius found some spare blankets and pillows and made a makeshift bed for Harry there on the couch, and then they both sat down to talk.
"So what's the problem, Harry?"
"It's just...I don't really know, something just doesn't feel right. I don't know what the problem is, but something's going on. I don't really want to talk about it, can I just go to sleep?"
Sirius squeezed the back of Harry's neck and said, "Of course you can." He let Harry crawl under the blankets and then pulled them up to his chin. He then sat back in his chair and watched Harry drift into sleep.
Sirius sat there like that for two straight hours, contemplating what could be wrong with Harry. No matter how hard he thought about it he couldn't figure out what the problem could be. He was about to make his way to his bedroom when he saw Harry begin to thrash. One hand reached up and grabbed his scar tightly while the rest of his body began to convulse like he was having a seizure. Harry was muttering things incoherently and Sirius was sufficiently freaked out. He pointed his wand quickly at Harry and said, "Enervate!" Harry immediately stopped thrashing, but his hand still held tight to his scar. He was pinching it like he was trying to remove it from his body.
When he realized he was awake he nearly fell off the couch. Sirius saw that there were tears in his eyes, tears of fear and pain.
"Harry, what happened?!"
Harry didn't say a word, he just began to fiercely rub his scar. Rubbing soon turned to scratching. He was scratching the scar so hard that it was turning bright red and Sirius feared that Harry would hurt himself. Thus, Sirius grabbed both of Harry's hands and held them tightly in his own.
He again asked, more firmly this time, "What happened."
Harry looked right into Sirius's eyes and shook his head. His eyes looked so scared, more scared than Sirius had ever seen them. He pulled Harry into a hug and rocked him slowly, back and forth trying to get the fear out of him. He noticed that Harry had begun shaking, so he pulled a blanket around him as well. Harry eventually stopped shaking and Sirius pulled back a little to look at him. He hadn't lost the scared look in his eyes.
"Harry, please tell me what's going on," Harry whispered.
Harry sighed like an old man and replied quietly. "I-I've been having those dreams again."
"Which dreams? The ones about Remus?"
Harry shook his head, "No, the ones where I see what Voldemort's doing. It's not pretty Sirius. And it hurts so much."
"Your scar?"
Harry nodded and without realizing began to scratch it again.
"Don't scratch Harry, hold on." Sirius got up and went to find a bottle of lotion that he had somewhere. He brought it back and put a bit on the tips of his fingers and began to gently massage it into Harry's scar. The second he touched it, however, visions appeared in his head. He saw men in dark robes torturing people in there homes. Quick little snippets of different people and different torturers. Sirius pulled his fingers away from Harry's forehead and the visions stopped. He looked at Harry in awe.
"What?" Harry asked, slightly disturbed by the look Sirius was giving me. The look of awe turned to a look of pure pity.
"Do you always have those visions? Do they ever go away?"
Harry looked down, ashamed. Sirius cupped his chin and made him look at him. Harry then nodded and whispered, "They're always there...but, how did you know?"
"When I touched your scar, I could see them too."
Harry looked down again in shame.
"Bud, how long have you been having these for?"
"Since before Remus was sent to Azkaban..." Harry whispered.
Sirius sat up straight, "What?! How come you never told me?"
Harry looked scared, like he had just done something that would cause Sirius to forever disown him. "I-I didn't think it was that big of a deal. They weren't this bad or frequent until recently. I didn't want to be a burden. And...it's like I'm insane or something. I hear voices Sirius and I see things, there's a word for that you know, schizophrenia!"
Sirius put his hands firmly on Harry's shoulders. "Harry, you're not schizophrenic. What you see and hear are things that are really happening. Schizophrenics have visions that are completely from their mind. No one else can see them. I just saw yours. Your not crazy Harry! And you're not a burden either. This is a big deal, and when things like this happen I need you to tell me. You promised me that if anything was wrong you'd tell me and you didn't."
"I'm sorry," Harry mumbled almost inaudibly.
"It's okay Harry, just please, please, please tell me when something like this is going on. It's not safe for you to go on like that. When were you planning on telling me?"
"When I couldn't deal with it anymore."
Sirius let out a long breath, and wrapped Harry in his arms again. Slowly rocking him back and forth. "We're going to talk to Dumbledore about this in the morning, okay bud?"
Harry nodded.
"Go back to sleep," Sirius whispered as he continued to rock Harry like he was a baby. Soon, Harry did fall back to sleep, and Sirius eased him back down onto the couch and covered him with the blankets. Sirius sat back down in his chair and stayed up all night watching to make sure Harry didn't panic again.
Harry awoke with the sun the next morning to see Sirius just starting to doze off.
"Sirius, how come you didn't go to bed?"
"I wanted to make sure you were okay."
Harry sighed and shook his head. "You didn't have to do that."
"No, but I wanted to. Are you hungry?"
"A little," Harry said, yawning and stretching his arms up high in the air.
"You want breakfast in here or do you want to go eat with your friends?"
"My friends are probably still asleep. So if we can, I'd like to eat in here."
"Of course we can eat in here, house elves take care of it."
Sirius went to his little kitchen and rang a bell. In seconds food enough for ten appeared and Sirius brought some of it over to the couch.
"So...last night," Sirius began.
Harry immediately apologized.
"No, Harry I'm not upset about it, I just want to talk to you about it."
"Okay," Harry said quietly.
"Is it always THAT bad?"
Harry shook his head. "No, last night was really bad. Probably the worst it's ever been. It seemed so much more real last night."
Sirius nodded pensively, "I wonder what could make them stop."
Harry shrugged. It was something he thought about often, and the only solution he could think of was to die, and he definitely wasn't ready for that. He also knew that Sirius would flip his lid if he heard Harry even mention it as a solution.
"Is this what made you feel so off yesterday?"
"I really don't know, I still don't know what my problem was yesterday. I just had this feeling that something really bad was happening somewhere...I don't know where or what...I just could tell."
Sirius nodded and sighed, running his hands through his hair. "You done with your breakfast?"
Harry nodded.
"Lets go see Dumbledore then."
They both stood up and walked to the door. Sirius turned as an owl came through his window and dropped a copy of the Daily Profit on the table.
"Wait a sec, Harry, this could hold the answers to whatever you felt was wrong yesterday."
He walked to the table and unfolded the paper. He gasped when he saw the front page headline, "Azkaban Fortress Dismantled by Dark Forces."
"What is it Sirius?" Harry asked seeing that Sirius's face turned ghostly pale.
"They got into Azkaban...Moony..." was all he said before rushing to the door and through the corridors until he reached Dumbledore's office, Harry following close behind. Dumbledore was just stepping out of his office when they approached. He looked grimly at the two and said, "So you've heard?"
How was that? I had no problems at all with that chapter. I'm sorry I didn't go into detail with the Quidditch scene, but I hate quidditch, I really hate it. I've changed my plans slightly, but the stories pretty much going to have the same ending, I'm thinking about eight more chapters, I want to keep it under 30 but I'll go further if I must. Please Review!