"Post's here," Neville said at breakfast, as a hundred owls burst into the Great Hall in a flurry of feathers and shrill hooting.

At the head table, Arabella Figg was brought a thin, grubby package by a barn owl. She pulled away the brown paper to reveal a stack of notes, folded and addressed on the outside to various people. She slipped some of these letters into a plate of toast and passed it down the table wordlessly. The Headmaster and several teachers unobtrusively removed their letters from the plate and pocketed them.

When she finished eating, Professor Figg conjured a textbook and slid one letter between the pages. Then she made her way to the Gryffindor table.

"Potter," she barked, and Harry looked up, surprised. She thrust the textbook at him. "Your detention assignment. Pages 100-101. I want a 750- word essay on Paracelsus on my desk with this book at the beginning of class today." She strode away.

Harry turned to Ron and Hermione, wild with panic. "What detention assignment? I didn't do anything!"

"Not recently," Ron amended.

"You'd better start now, Harry," Hermione said worriedly. "Defence Against the Dark Arts starts in two hours."

Harry angrily opened the book to page 100 and discovered, between the pages, a folded-up letter with his name on the front. On page 101 was pencilled, "You don't have to do the essay. -A.F."

Harry read the note from Sirius quietly to Ron and Hermione:

" 'Dear Harry,

Arrange to be alone by the fireplace at eleven-forty-five on October 9th. We have a lot to catch up on. I look forward to seeing you again. -Snuffles.' "

On the specified night Harry and Hermione concocted a horrible-smelling potion and an antidote powder and poured the foul potion liberally over the Gryffindor common room at eleven-thirty. By eleven-thirty-five the common room was deserted, the students having fled from the stench and the Weasley twins having exhausted their repertoire of jokes about flatulence. Hermione and Ron neutralized the stinking spills with the antidote powder and quietly left Harry alone in front of the fireplace.

At precisely eleven-forty-five the ashes in the fireplace began to swirl by themselves and a head appeared amidst the dancing flames. Sirius Black's head beamed at Harry.

"Harry!" he said warmly. "You look so much older than in June. Have you grown?"

"About an inch," Harry said, feeling a pang as he recalled the night last June when he had last seen Sirius. "Where have you been?"

"Here and there," Sirius said vaguely. "Are you taking good care of my motorbike?"

Harry nodded. "It- er, she's being kept at Hagrid's cottage."

"She runs on magic, so she never needs petrol," Sirius said. "She's a real beauty, isn't she? Purrs like a lion, never needs fixing, vanishes with the flick of a switch. She's one of my most cherished possessions. I built her when I was fourteen, about your age. You, ah, might want to keep a low profile when you ride, the Ministry doesn't exactly know about her. But there's an invisibility switch on the right side if you want to go unnoticed."

"Fletch showed me," Harry said. "Then she's really mine?"

"Of course! Obviously I, a convicted fugitive, would attract too much attention on a flying motorcycle; but she's still in good condition and I want her to go to someone who'll take good care of her. Call it your early Christmas gift."

"Are you nearby?" Harry asked.

"As a matter of fact I am, Harry. I wish I could come see you, but I'd be taking my chances coming near Hogwarts. There's a price on my head, did you know that? Severus Snape and Lucius Malfoy have been pulling strings in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. It's up to 500 Galleons."

Harry whistled. "I should have brought you in myself to buy Ron a broom."

"Why does Ron need a broom?" Sirius enquired.

Harry explained about the Quidditch house team. Sirius was pleased.

"Finally Ron's getting some recognition! He's always being overshadowed by you and Hermione and his brothers. At last here's something he can do better than any of you. And you say Arabella Figg gave him a Nimbus Feather-Light? How interesting."

"But she won't even tell us whose it is."

"Well, do you know whose I think it might be? Might be Ig Figg's broom."

Harry jumped. "Ignacio Figg, the Montrose Magpies Chaser? Are they related?"

"Ig's her son, Harry! He was in school with me, four years ahead. Hasn't Arabella told you anything at all about herself?"

"No, nothing. Everything I know about her, I read in a book. Or on a Chocolate Frogs trading card," Harry said.

Sirius was puzzled. "Have you talked to her? I'm sure she'd be glad to tell you about her exciting life."

"Her exciting life? All I know is that she used to be an Auror, and she had three children."

"Settle in, Harry, let me tell you her tale," Sirius said with a grin. "Arabella Figg is very famous, I'm surprised you never came across her name in a book. She comes from a long lineage of great wizards. She was born Arabella Neale to an pureblood wizarding family, so ancient that the Neales are said to have been some of the first students of Hogwarts when it opened."

"Her ancestor Tobias Neale invented the Patronus Charm," Harry said.

"Yes, her family name is sprinkled all over the history books. There's a lot in the name that new generations must live up to."

"Pressure," said Harry. He felt that way sometimes about his parents, who had been so famous in their time that it was certainly impossible to match their achievements.

"Exactly, lots of pressure on Bella Neale. At first she thought she wanted to be an alchemist, and she studied Potions profitably for many years. Indeed, she published her first paper on the uses of dragon horn in modern alchemy when she was ten. She's most famous for her work in specializing Potions for antidotes to curses. Her research was published in medical journals worldwide when she was just fifteen at Hogwarts, and St. Mungo's Hospital even adopted several of her suggestions for their patients.

"But eventually she realized that though her passion was Potions, she would do the world more good by actively defending it against evil. So she became an Auror like many of her relatives, and forged a name for herself in the magical community. For many years she was Britain's champion, nabbing Grindelwald's Dark wizards.

"And what amazed me when I started out as an Auror was that Bella never got tempted by the Dark side to let anyone slip through. She caught every Death Eater she was assigned. Bella always got her villain in the end; you could count on that if nothing else.

"Then suddenly she changed her mind about her career. She didn't want to hunt down Dark Wizards anymore, she wanted to teach at Hogwarts. Defence Against the Dark Arts is the first subject that comes to mind, but that position was already filled by Professor Morlane. So she reverted to her old passion, Potions, and became the Potions mistress when your dad and I were in sixth year."

"And all the while she led her private life, getting married to Dr. Faustus Figg and raising three children. Dr. Figg, Bella's husband, was the head of St. Mungo's Hospital. The Figgs are also an old British wizarding family, and there's a fair bit to live up to there as well."

"But Derrick and Maldora Lestrange killed Dr. Figg," Harry said.

"You know about that, do you? I think he was a bit mad myself, to go after them-"

"What?"

"Didn't Bella say? For some unknown reason Dr. Figg decided to hunt them down himself. He actually caught up to them out in Germany, and the Lestranges unceremoniously killed him and mailed his body to Bella in England."

Harry was taken aback. "Professor Figg told us they hunted him down and murdered him."

"The fact that they murdered him is undisputable, certainly: Maldora Lestrange told Bella that herself afterwards. But maybe Bella doesn't want you to know that her husband went after dangerous felons like a madman. Not many people know that he was the one who sought them out. I only know because Lily told me. She and Bella used to be quite close, since Lily's own parents didn't understand her. You must know what that's like."

"Dr. Figg sounds mad."

"Yes. yet he was always quite sane, until a Lethifold was smuggled into the Figg's house and attempted to smother Arabella."

"A Lethifold," repeated Harry. "The 'living shroud', that cloak-type beast that suffocates humans in their beds and eats them?"

"Exactly. Normally found in the tropics, but somehow the Death Eaters brought one into England, illegally of course. Both of them escaped, and Bella took it lightly, having survived worse situations; but Dr. Figg was incensed and said he wouldn't take any more of this senseless brutality. He simply up and left without telling anyone, and the next time I saw him was at his funeral.

"Later of course you were born and that whole affair happened. Arabella testified at the trials of the Death Eaters, the ones who were accorded that favour; and then she retired from teaching to move into Magnolia Crescent with her cats and look after you."

"Was she a good teacher?" Harry asked.

"The best! I can't imagine you know what a good Potions teacher is, having Snape as Potions master. but imagine, Remus Lupin's teaching methods applied to Potions. Why, Bella taught you Potions this summer, didn't she? I'd forgotten. But that whole summer, she never said a word about her family? Odd."

"I never knew her son was the famous Ignacio Figg from the British Quidditch League," Harry said in wonderment.

"She also had two daughters, Phyllida and Solange. Phyllida left Hogwarts before my time, but I knew she always loved Herbology. I think she was friends with your Professor Sprout. Anyways, she became an Herbology expert of great repute, and married a wizard botanist named Spore. Phyllida Spore wrote your Herbology textbook. I saw her name on the cover when I was shipping you your school supplies."

Harry shook his head disbelievingly. "I seem to always be the last to know anything. What about her last daughter then, Solange? I've only seen a picture of her. Blonde and blue-eyed, isn't she?"

"She was," Sirius corrected. "She died, Harry, a long time ago." Harry was bereft of speech. Sirius went on without noticing, "But Merlin's beard! That girl was something."

"A friend of yours?" Harry asked.

Sirius grimaced. "No! Never a friend. Rather the opposite. Solange was cruel, with little esteem for anyone but herself."

"Solange, Professor Figg's daughter?" Harry said, puzzled.

"Harry, imagine if you will, a girl with Draco Malfoy's malice, Hermione's smarts, and your resourcefulness. Now put all of that into the most beautiful girl in the world."

"I thought you said my mother was the prettiest girl at Hogwarts."

"Lily Evans was a sweet girl, Harry, but it was her innocent sort of beauty that made her attractive. Solange Figg had a seductive air about her that made her. enthralling. Icy blue eyes, fair skin like china, and long blonde hair that sometimes looked silvery, like a Veela's. The Neales, I think, have some old Veela blood in them.

"The only reason I could resist throwing myself at her feet was because of her mean streak. Solange put on an angelic face for teachers and adults, but among her fellow students she was utterly wicked. She was a Slytherin, you know, and friends with the worst kind: MacNair, Avery, Rosier, Derrick Lestrange, Severus Snape. Have you ever heard of the game we played with the Whomping Willow?"

"Lupin said people were dared to run up and touch it," Harry said, "until someone nearly lost an eye."

Sirius nodded. "Well, Solange invented that game. She never did it herself, only taunted others to do it. Usually she targeted boys, because she knew boys wanted to impress her. The boy who nearly lost his eye was Davy Gudgeon, that poor sot. He was in first year and rather weak-minded. The weak ones fell first to Solange." Sirius frowned. "Peter Pettigrew was weak. He got us in deep trouble more than once, trying to get us to help him impress her.

"Yet I never knew Solange to attach herself to anyone. She only wanted the amusement of persecuting boys. I suppose she was leaving the falling in love bit for when she was older, but she never got that chance. When she was in seventh year, Ignacio Figg was already playing on the Caerphilly Catapults team, and he'd made friends with the famous 'Dangerous' Dai Llewellyn, to whom he'd introduced his family. Dai, from what I hear, fell head over heels for Solange Figg and took her on holiday in Greece."

Harry started. "But Dangerous Dai was eaten by a Chimaera in Greece!"

"And Solange with him. Dai didn't deserve such a gory end, but Solange did."

"Good riddance to bad rubbish?" Harry said.

Sirius grinned. "Exactly. And after her daughter's death Professor Figg had her career change, possibly because she wanted to be with children again. I don't believe Bella ever knew of Solange's nastiness. Obviously no one mentioned it to her. She never spoke of Solange after her death."

Harry sat silently for a moment, digesting this. "Poor Mrs. Figg. No wonder she never told me anything about it."

"Actually, I'm surprised she didn't tell you, Harry. After all, you being closely tied, she should have taken you as a confidant like I have."

"Closely tied?" asked Harry.

Sirius looked confused. "Well, yes, you're her godson."

"Her godson? Arabella Figg is my godmother? Why wouldn't she tell me straight out?"

"I have no idea," said Sirius. "I remember thinking that it was odd that Lily didn't ask her own sister, but then I met Petunia once and understood." Sirius grinned. "But Lily asked Bella Figg because they were quite close and Lily trusted her more than any other woman she knew. And of course Lily was right. Bella's had to take the entire responsibility of protecting you, as I was in Azkaban for thirteen years. She arranged for your house to be Unplottable, she diverted your fan mail, she kept admirers and enemies both at bay for years."

Harry groaned. "My godmother! I don't believe it, I'm the last to know everything!"

"But Harry, you must never say anything about this to Bella, not a word. I think she'd be angry with me if she knew I told you. But also Harry, I don't want you to trouble her. She's under a lot of pressure all the time. Everything is on her shoulders."

"But she's only a teacher," said Harry.

"More than a teacher, she's still an Auror, Harry, and a Phoenix. That's the only reason Fudge lets the Order of the Phoenix continue. Remember her spotless record? She's the last one of us that Fudge respects anymore-even more than Dumbledore. Only with her assurance that the Order of the Phoenix is valuable to the Ministry can Fudge keep from meddling. But it may not last forever." Sirius was grave. "Watch out for her, Harry, will you? She takes a lot of risks. If we lose her we may lose everything."