A/N: Thanks to everybody who reviewed, all comments and/or suggestions are greatly appreciated. I'm trying my best to update as soon as possible, but as you know, things happen when you least expect them. Remember… R&R
Disclaimer: I don't, own any of the Harry Potter characters, all belong to J.K. Rowling, the writing genius that she is.
Chapter 6:
~Feathers and Flattery~
"Really sir, you're an Animagus? That is so cool!" Dean Thomas said, with a little too much enthusiasm.
"What do you turn into? Was it hard? When did you do it? How long did it take?" Questions came bouncing in from every direction. Professor Lehnor looked amazed at the reaction of his news. He raised a hand; a strong Silencing charm went over the room. After everyone's mouths stopped moving, he took it off.
"I will be more then happy to answer everyone's questions, but please, if you must talk, raise you hand. Then it will be a lot less confusing." Hermione raised his hand. "Yes, Miss. Granger."
"Sir, How long does it take to become an Animagus, I read that it takes months, even years to do so. How long did it take you personally?" Hermione said this all in a very business like matter, as if she was conducting an interview.
"It took me," the professor paused, thinking. "Umm, four years exactly."
Seamus raised his hand. "Yes, Mr. Finnigan, isn't it?" Seamus nodded.
"Professor, first, was it hard? And secondly, when did you decide to become an Animagus?"
"Yes, it was extremely hard, but then again, I was just a mere second year when I started. I finished at the beginning of my sixth year."
Harry raised his hand. "Yes, Harry."
"What type of animal do you turn into, professor?"
Ivan Lehnor smiled. "I was waiting for someone to ask me that."
Then, he started to change. Shrinking to become about a foot tall, feathers sprouting all over his body. Wide eyes were staring at them all, surrounded by a moon shaped face. There, perched on Professor Lehnor's desk was a barn owl, hooting mischievously, it fly above them all, coming near the Gryffindor fifth years' heads. Landing back on the desk. It winked.
***
As the Gryffindor sixth year students went up to the great hall for lunch, they were contentedly discussing the new Defense against the Dark Arts teacher. Harry followed Ron and Hermione down the table to a row of empty seats. Settling down and pouring a goblet of pumpkin juice, Harry never noticed the redhead sitting down beside him.
On the other side of Harry, an argument could be heard all through out the Gryffindor table.
"Hermione, that is not possible. It ridiculous to even think about that." Ron was arguing.
"How so? It is possible."
"No it's not. It's bloody impractical."
"It could've happened!'
"Oy, Harry, Hermione thinks that- Oww!" Whatever Ron thought was so important to say was cut off when a pair of fingers connected with his ear.
"Oww, Hermione, my ear is attached to my head you know."
Hermione stood up, and Ron had no choice but follow, of course, if he liked his ear where it was. Their shouts could be heard all the way through the Great Hall and into the entrance hall.
Harry sighed, wondering if Ron and Hermione could go a day without arguing. Knowing he was wishing the impossible, he turned to Ginny.
"Hey, Ginny."
Ginny looked up from the letter she was reading to acknowledge Harry, but then glanced down to finished reading her letter. Harry, wondering what could be so interesting, slyly tried to glance over her shoulder. Ginny, knowing what he was doing looked up and laughed at his antics.
"Harry! This is private!" Harry just looked at her, willing her to put it away and talked to him.
"Please, Ginny, read it later. Don't you want to talk to me?" Harry flashed her a false sad look, but then grinned when she did as he asked.
"You know how yesterday we were going to talk about Sirius?"
Ginny thought for a moment. "Oh, yeah.. Why?"
"Maybe we can actually finish that conversation today."
"Sure, hold on." Ginny grabbed two sandwiches and wrapped them up in a napkin. She grinned.
"Don't want to starve." She stood up, shrugging sheepishly, waiting expectantly for Harry to do the same.
Harry rose, following her out of the hall, down the entrance hall and onto the grounds. They walked to the same tree that they were at yesterday, settling down, but with no mishaps today.
They lay down with their elbows propped with their heads leaning on their hands, glancing over at the lake. Ginny took a glance at Harry, wondering if he was okay. His face was pale and his emerald eyes didn't seem as bright as usual. Maybe the stress of absorbing power was getting to him. It would be to her, if she had to deal with all that anxiety.
Harry sighed with weariness; the last few days had taken a toll on him. When and if sleep came, it was a blessing. On the rare occasions when he went into deep sleep, dreams haunted him. The guilt of what happened last year was burning him. He often woke up shivering and covered in sweat. Also, with the amulet constantly glowing and humming, Harry assumed that he was being given its power. From all the extra energy being poured into him, Harry was exhausted. All the time. Ever since his birthday. He remembered that day quite clearly, even though he was unsure of what happened. He remembered that strange parchment that he received, but still had no idea of what happened to it. It was there, but then it vanished. Where it went, Harry didn't discern.
"So," Ginny's voice broke the silence. "What exactly is this, erm, Snuffle about."
"Snuffles' real name is Sirius Black. He was convicted of murder 13 years ago. Oh, and he's my godfather."
Ginny just stared at him.
"It all started in my third year. I was seeing this big black dog everywhere; everybody thought it was the Grim. Well, not everybody- just the bat-eyed Divination teacher, Professor Trelawney. But still, she made people believe I was going to die. It was very entertaining, well for the first 20 times, then it just got repetitive. The Ron had this nightmare, where he saw Black above his head with a knife, except it wasn't a dream. Black was really there. You remember this right?"
Harry paused, waiting for input from Ginny. What she said was very unexpected.
"I knew it! I knew he must have had something to do with you. If he's your godfather, why don't you live with him?"
Harry stared at her, amazed at her acceptance at his news. It had taken a lot of explaining to Hermione, Ron and even himself before he believed Black.
"Shall I continue?" Ginny nodded.
"Well, you know Ron's rat, Scabbers? Well, he is an Animagus, and he goes by the name of Peter Pettigrew." He paused again, because Ginny's face. It turned from amazement to inquiry.
"Peter Pettigrew… wasn't that the guy that was killed?"
"He made everyone believe that he was killed, by Sirius. But really, he chopped off his finger and turned into a rat. He did this because-" Harry's voice broke. Memories came flashing back to him. His parents, green lights and a high cackling laugh, flashed through his brain.
"-Because he sold my parents out to Voldemort. He didn't want people to turn against him, even though he was on Voldemort's side. He was afraid of Sirius, and you know Professor Lupin? Well they were both friends with my dad, and well, when Pettigrew was disloyal to him, they wanted revenge. But the one time it counted-" His voice broke again. 'Why is this so hard to tell her?'
"- The one time it counted, Pettigrew got the best of them."
Ginny looked at Harry, she laid her hand on his arm willing him to continue.
"Pettigrew was my parents' Secret Keeper. Everybody thought it was Sirius, so when Pettigrew told Voldemort, everybody turned on Sirius. Sirius went to confront Black, and he ended up in Azkaban. Then, since Sirius is an Animagus, he turned himself into a dog; he was able to escape from Azkaban. So he ended up looking for Peter, and since Peter was here, he came to Hogwarts. Pettigrew ended up getting away. Now Sirius is free, but still on the run."
Harry finished this all with a sigh, but still, in a way, felt slightly more relaxed. Perhaps the reason he was feeling more relaxed was the fact of Ginny's hand resting softly on his arm. But as he thought about it that was probably doing the opposite of relaxing him. As she subconsciously brushed her hand over his arm, shivers appeared at the back of his neck.
Ginny only realized her hand was still on his arm when his hand clasped down on top of hers. A shiver ran through her. He leaned in, as her face was tilting towards his, came in closer.
A squawk rang through the air as Hedwig dropped a letter down on Harry. A silken piece of parchment tumbled down into Harry's lap. It had a royal blue wax seal on it. Engraved in it was a flower, a rose. Surrounding the rose was a banner. On the banner were tiny carven signs, ancient signs by the look of them. Whatever they said, Harry could not decipher. Perhaps they were from an ancient magical race, or maybe it was somebody's idea of a practical joke. Harry, remembering the parchment he received on his birthday, carefully opened it in full view of Ginny, just to prove he wasn't going crazy. As the wax seal was broken, it started to crumble, into dust, until it was gone. Harry and Ginny both sneezed.
'Huh?'
***
After dinner, Ron, Ginny, Harry and Hermione all walked up to the common room. They talked animatedly of the Quidditch games yet to come. They all wanted to know who would be the new Keeper, for both Ron and Ginny were trying out for various parts of the team this year.
As they went through the portrait hole, they were brutally assaulted with loud noises. It seemed that there was a party going on, well, party was the sane world for it. George and Fred Weasley seemed to be the main makers of the noise. The seemed to have enhanced their vocal capacities by at least 50 percent, and even without magic, their volume was a force to be reckoned with.
"What is this all about?" Harry asked. There was no reason to celebrate, except for getting through the first day back and still being alive, but then again, he didn't have Potions until Wednesday.
"Well, Harry old boy, we have some very first-rate news for you. You see, we are celebrating the promotion of our new Quidditch captain, and that's you, Mate…" Fred said this all in a very fake, very serious, posh accent.
In the same accent George continued where his brother left off. "… Sadly, yes terribly sad it is," He made a dramatic sweep of his arm, brushing phony tears from his eyes. "We well not be here no longer once thou year is gone. What you'll do without us, is too sad to think about…" Again went the dramatic sweep.
Fred sustained the conversation, his arm going around Harry's shoulders.
"You are the best suited for this job, you play like the devil himself, and you'll be here for more then one year. So whether you like it or not, you're the new captain…. Now, to get onto more serious matters, has anyone seen my fireworks?"
Harry, who had remained quiet throughout this exchange, was completely speechless. Ginny ran up to his giving him a hug.
"I'm so happy for you!" Harry, surprised by the hug, went into an even more speechless state, if possible. He hugged her back, willing himself to just doing that, nothing more, for the present Weasley brothers were giving him looks he really didn't want to deal with. It was still a very strange feeling, Harry wasn't used to the traditional acts of love, for Harry had grown up in a life void of it. The Dursley's thought public acts of display quite shameful. Sure he saw what happy families and a couple did, but was never on the receiving end of it. Except from the bone-crushing hugs from Mrs. Weasley, and the shy, but friendly hugs from Hermione, Harry was very new to this concept.
As he unhappily let go of Ginny, he thought about being the new Quidditch captain. Suddenly a question formed in his mind.
"Umm, who's going to be our new Keeper?"
***
It was settled. Tryouts were to be held on the following Saturday. Since all the team except Harry was going to leave the following year, he was having tryouts for every position on the team, not just Keepers. So in case of an accident, or that somebody was unable to play, there would be no problem finding a replacement.
When Saturday arrived, a group of anxious Gryffindors awaited Harry as he walked down to the pitch. Seeing two redheads in the midst, he grinned. He could now see what his friends were made of.
"Oy, Harry!" Over here!" Ron overeager face greeted him.
"Hey, Ron, Ginny." Ginny blushed, his gaze, stared deep into her eyes.
"Harry, dear friend of mine. You're looking rather pleasant this morning-"
"Yes, and your odor isn't nearly as eye watering as someone once mentioned."
Harry turned to look at the Weasley twins.
"Fred, George, when are you going to learn that flattery is not going to get you anywhere."
"Yes, but see here Harry dear, Mon cherie, Mein herr, I am not trying to go anywhere, I am trying to go somewhere." Fred grinned, then took off into the air, followed closely by George.
Setting up a scrimmage, Harry put Ron as a Keeper, but Ginny as a Chaser. Also, there was Seamus, trying out for Chaser too. There were two third years, Sarah MacDonald, and Dennis Creevey, who were, like Ginny, trying out for a Chaser position as well. Dennis's brother on the other hand was down on the grass mastering the sport of clicking his very favourite, very faithful camera. Dean was trying out his luck with a club, and Ginny's friend Jen was joining him. And a newly transferred student from Ireland, Ciaran Corrigan, who was a fourth year, trying out for Seeker. At first Harry had doubts of letting a person try out for his position, but the more he thought about the amount of accidents he has on average per year, Harry decided to let him try out. Thinking, maybe, in a way, it would be good to have a back-up Seeker. As the regular stood with Harry on the sidelines, they judged the players on their flying abilities, the confidence of their flying abilities and the way they preformed in each of their given positions.
Harry noticed at once that Ciaran was indeed a very good Seeker. The way he kept a eye on the game, but still have the majority of his attention on finding the Snitch. Also, almost surprisingly, Dennis Creevey was a very good Chaser. He was fast and limber. The only person able to keep up with him and the Quaffle was Ginny. She was on the opposing team. Dennis had scored on Ron, only once out of the countless tries he had.
Harry raised himself up onto his Firebolt. He did a complete circle above the pitch watching each player's personal style. Glancing back to the castle to see if there were any latecomers. Harry saw somebody sitting on the hill watching the practice. Harry, recognizing him at once flew over.
"Ahh, Professor. Do you play Quidditch?"
Professor Lehnor grinned at Harry. "Yes, as a matter of fact, I was on the Gryffindor House team when I went here. I was a Chaser."
Harry glanced at him in surprise. Certainly when he first saw Professor Lehnor, he assumed he was an athlete, but he never thought he was on a House team at Hogwarts. Harry out of the blue, was struck with a question.
"Professor, did you know my father?"
Ivan grinned at him yet again. "Yes, I most certainly did, for I was very good friends with your father." His expression changed from one of happiness to one of the contradictory emotion. "Your father was a very good friend of mine, it was a terrible day when him and Lily died."
"You knew- my, um, mother as well."
"Everyone knew Lily, she was the most generous person. She thought nothing but giving."
Harry now with the knowledge, that Professor Lehnor was in the same year as his dad, that he must have known Remus and Sirius as well. He must have spoken his thought aloud for Professor Lehnor answered his question.
"Yes, I knew them and I still know them. They were and are very good friends of mine. Do you keep in contact with them as well?"
"Weekly. Sirius likes to know what I'm up to, or as he puts it '…. What rules I've broken…' he seems to be happy when I do." Harry pondered this thought as Ivan broke out in laughter.
"That sounds very must like Sirius, he tried to break a rule everyday. I think that was his goal. Wait, no. His goal was to get Snape in trouble everyday. It usually ended up with him cleaning up frog brains in the dungeon though. I am sad to say that I have to go now, think of something to do with your class on Monday. I'd like to talk to you again Harry."
"Me too Professor." Happy to finally, have someone else to talk to about his father, Harry left the conversation in a good mood.
He flew back over the pitch, making final arrangements for the reverse team, and this years' Keeper. Flying down to his friends, Harry never noticed to changing shape of the medallion underneath his shirt.
***
When the team walked into the Great Hall, Malfoy, and his two lackeys bombarded Harry. Sighing because he did not feel like facing Malfoy's arrogance, he kept walking. He stopped when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Turning around he was, again, faced with the pale faced, blond twit.
"What do you want Malfoy?" He snapped. His tiredness overcoming the emotion he tried to keep covered.
"Nothing much Potter, I hear that you're the captain of your Quidditch, and I was wondering who died in your family now, so that people felt sorry enough to give you the promotion. But then as I thought-"
"You actually thought, I hope you didn't hurt yourself in the process."
Malfoy sneered. "Clever Potter, but incredibly cliché." Malfoy's eyes flashed a bright red before turning back to his original colour.
Harry, startled by the change of Malfoy's eyes, was a second behind Draco when reaching for his wand. Before he even had a chance to mutter a curse, he was thrown back, crashing into a table sitting by the Great Hall's entrance.
He muttered a curse under his breath.
Malfoy, started losing focus on the surrounding world, and began to sway. Words became jumbled thoughts, nothing, made sense. Suddenly, he was hit with a force that could only be described as a wave crashing into the side of him. That side of him went completely numb. Again the pain crashed into his other side, now he was completely numb. Oblivious to his surroundings, he never felt himself being hauled to the Hospital wing.
***
Harry told the tale of his little adventure, to the Gryffindor table, providing them with sidesplitting laughter and free entertainment. He told them of Malfoy's look of astonishment when Harry's curse hit him. Hermione was torn between scalding Harry about the way he was acting, for that was no way for a Prefect to act, and the admiring of somebody finally making Malfoy shut up, even though it was just for a short period of time. Ginny on the other hand was wondering about what curse Harry could have learned to numb all of Malfoy's body. Ron was too busy heaping his plate with seconds to wonder about anything.
***
Ivan Lehnor, who to his students, was known as the most normal DADA that they ever had, was waiting patiently for his letter to come. He sat by his window in his office, preparing Monday's lesson for his fifth years. The letter he was expecting was from Sirius. A tapping at the window came to his attention. He opened it, and a small owl flew in. It landed on his desk, dropped the letter and promptly flew out.
Professor Lehnor turned to the letter. He quickly opened it.
Ivan,
Remus and I are expecting you to keep an eye on Harry when we can't. For we fear something bad is going to happen. We haven't told Harry anything about you. That is your job. Please refrain from telling him anything about James though, for that history is coming into play later, and we need him ready.
Sirius
TBC..
Special Thanks to:
Blue Eyes: Oh, I'm sure that's going to happen in the future, but it is only a matter of when.
Irina Black: Thank-you for reviewing!
Angie Morse: Ta Da! Magic- As you can see, chapter 6! Thanks for reviewing!
TigerLily: The teacher, as you can see, knows James from school. But how? You'll see. The powder that Harry received on his birthday will come into play later on. If I tell you, it'll ruin the surprise and suspense, do you really want that?
Dani L. Servo: Thank-you for reviewing!
A/N: I was about to upload this chapter when I decided to add one more thing. I need a beta! Anyone willing? I'm getting a little busy, so re-reading is getting a little in the way and is taking up extra time. In the position I'm in, time is essential. So if you're willing, please review and specify whether or not you'd like to be my beta! Thanks.
Chapter 7 will be up on Tuesday or Wednesday! Danke!