A/N: Thanks for visiting, I hope you enjoy my story. No flames please! (
Summary- (Pre-OotP) Harrry' summer before his fifth year is different than he expects it to be. With Dursleys, Moony and Padfoot, Snape, new powers and a new teacher, Harry's learns that change is good thing.
It was night in a dark forest. Normally all sorts of night sounds filled the air, but this night was different. All forest life had seemed to cease to exist in the area. A cold, high-pitched voice broke the dead silence.
"Wormtail. How nice of you to join me here."
"Lumos," A bright light suddenly illuminated the area, revealing a short, pudgy man and a tall, thin cloaked figure. The unmistakable body of the newly risen Dark Lord Voldemort. The figure turned toward the other man and could see he was shaking badly. as usual. Wormtail was not a very useful death eater, not being too bright, but he was loyal.
"Severus should be joining us any minute," Voldemort told Wormtail. Once more there was dead silence in the grove of trees. This time it was broken by a small pop as someone apparated. Severus Snape had felt the mark on his arm burn and recognized it as Voldemort summoning him. It had happened several times since the end of the Triwizard Tournament. This time it led him to a place where he was alone with the Dark Lord, except for that rat.
"Severus." The cruel voice spoke. "Come here." Severus knelt before the tall figure and kissed the hem of his robes.
"Master I have come to do your bidding." Severus recited the well- known greeting - one of Voldemort's favorites.
"Yes," Voldemort said. "I want to know, what has happened at Hogwarts since the last time I spoke to you?"
"Nothing new my lord," Severus spoke with difficulty, knowing that one slip and he was toast. "Dumbledore is still trying to get the ministry to believe him that you are a threat."
"You're hiding something from me Severus, Crucio!"
A boy of fourteen sat up in bed, pale and shaking. Harry Potter looked at the clock on his bedside table as he pulled on his glasses. 3:28 a.m. Putting a hand to his forehead, he realized what had woken him up so abruptly. The thin lightning bolt scar on his forehead was burning with intense pain. Grimacing, he stood up and immediately swayed on his feet and grabbed his chair. After resting for a few moments, Harry grabbed parchment and quill and began writing.
Dear Professor Dumbledore, Sorry to bother you but you told me to owl you if my scar hurt. I think Voldemort was somewhere close last night. I had a dream about him interrogating Snape and I woke up with my scar burning. I hope you're having a good summer. -Harry There, that'll have to do for now, Harry thought, as he put the note aside. He yawned. Suddenly Harry felt extremely tired, as if he had just run a marathon. Falling into bed, he was asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow. He didn't even bother to take off his glasses.
"Boy!" Aunt Petunia rapped the door to Harry's small bedroom. "Get up. Now!" Harry groaned and rolled out of bed. Seeing the letter he had written earlier that morning, he snatched it and quickly tied it to Hedwig's leg.
"Take this to Dumbledore for me, will you Hedwig?" Hedwig hooted and nibbled Harry's ear affectionately. He opened the window quietly and watched her soar out of sight.
"Are you up yet?" Petunia screeched from downstairs.
"I'm coming," Harry yelled back. When he got to the kitchen he was surprised to find everyone all ready there, even his immensely overweight cousin Dudley. Usually Dudley slept in to at least ten a.m. during summer vacation, but today he was up and about at seven thirty. Harry groaned again. Today was the day his Aunt Marge was coming to stay for the rest of the summer.
"Good morning," he said dully, helping himself to a piece of toast. The Dursleys ignored him, as usual. Finally Uncle Vernon broke the silence. "Marge is coming at three. You need to stay in your room once she arrives. And I'm warning you, any funny business goes on while she's here or you are going to get the daylights knocked out of you for the rest of your life," Vernon growled at Harry.
"Okay, I get it," Harry muttered. He planned on staying away from Marge as much as possible. Although the Dursleys and Marge had had their memories modified from the time he blew her up like a balloon, Harry knew he could get in huge trouble with the Ministry if it happened again. After breakfast Harry went upstairs to his room and sat on his bed. This year his uncle had felt the need to increase security in the small room, and there were now bolts on his door and a cage of bars over the outside of his window. This was slightly better than the time when he was twelve, because he could keep his window closed and the room stayed quite a bit warmer.
Earlier that week Harry had examined them closely and found one was loose. If he wiggled it back an d forth enough, he was pretty sure it would pop out. Harry had yet to try it though, because he hadn't been locked in and didn't know when any of his relatives would barge in. The last thing he needed was for his uncle to catch him removing the bars on his window. Harry knew he would be locked in his cupboard for the whole summer before you could say 'busted'. Uncle Vernon had, however somehow forgotten to snatch Harry's trunk from him as soon as he got through the door and locked it up in the cupboard as it had in previous years, and Harry was very glad he would have his wizarding things with him. Maybe I'll even get all my homework done before Hermione, I'll be so bored, Harry thought wryly to himself.
At two thirty, Uncle Vernon left to pick up Marge from the train station. Dudley went up to his room to make himself 'handsome' for his 'favorite' aunt, as Petunia so charmingly put it. Harry figured this was kind of a waste of time because Marge Dursley would adore Dudley if he looked like a chimney sweep. Not that Harry's enormous cousin could even cram his enormous leg into a chimney. Too soon, Harry heard the car pull out of the driveway. He sighed. It was going to be a long summer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The headmaster of Hogwarts School paced his study. The letter he had received from Harry disturbed him. Severus had come back shaking and unsteady to Albus the night before Hedwig arrived, and was promptly ordered to the hospital wing, where Madam Pomfrey had still not released him yet. Albus figured the stern potions master was giving Poppy quite a headache, when he was awake, that is. These days he was extremely busy and hoped Arabella would not be much later. Sure enough, with a small pop a young woman appeared, stumbling slightly, clutching a small slip of parchment.
"Ah, Arabella. I'm glad you could make it." Albus examined the woman carefully. She appeared to be in good health, the last time he had spoken to her she was very tired, pale, and lacked her usual energetic personality.
"Albus! It's good to see you after all this time!" Arabella Figg smiled at her old headmaster. "Thanks for giving me the portkey," she waved the parchment in her hand.
"Arabella, I believe you are aware that your mother lives just down the street from Harry Potter, am I correct?"
"Er, yes, in Little Whinging," The young woman replied, looking curiously at Dumbledore. She wondered if this had something to do with the Potter boy. Arabella was four years younger than Lily Evans at Hogwarts, but in the same house. At that time the Ravenclaws had been on very friendly terms with the Gryffindors and she remembered numerous pranks James Potter and his friends had played on the Slytherins. A mental picture of Severus Snape glaring at James and Sirius as he stood there with a mountain of pink shampoo suds on his head entered her head. I suppose it was probably good for him, Arabella thought. Must have been the only time in his life he ever gave his hair a decent wash, because the young trouble making Gryffindors had made sure the shampoo smelled strongly of flowers. The thought of Sirius also brought back the memory of Dumbledore showing up on the porch of her flat in England, and when he told her about Sirius's innocence and the situation with the Dark Lord. At first she was surprised, but as she thought about she realized that the best friend of James Potter would never sell him to Voldemort and turn to the dark side. All she had to do was remember his grin after he did something outrageous, like the time he... Wait, did Albus just say something?
"Arabella?"
"What? Oh, I guess I just drifted off for a minute. Sorry Albus."
"That's quite all right, Ms. Figg," Albus's electric blue eyes were twinkling at her. "We all have our memories." Arabella couldn't agree more.
"I would like you to do something for me, Arabella. I believe you were an auror for the ministry for several years?" Arabella nodded. Dumbledore continued on, "I was wondering if you would be willing to live with your mother and give Harry dueling lessons this summer." Arabella stared at him, processing what was going on. Dumbledore wanted her, her, to teach Harry Potter for a summer.
"But, but, Albus... why me? Surely you can find more erm, experienced people to teach the Boy who Lived..."
"I have received many comments from several people that you have a specialty in dueling. You have excellent reflexes, and it made you a wonderful auror before they lost you. Not to mention you seem to have a knack for teaching," Dumbledore smiled at her. Arabella remembered teaching a few of her fellow aurors some rare spells that she had found useful. She had quit working for the ministry three years ago, when Fudge attempted to do a memory charm on her when she found him in a rather. awkward (not to mention quite inappropriate for the minister of magic!) position. He was unsuccessful at clearing Arabella's memory, as Arabella ducked the spell and left hurriedly. She hadn't spoken with the minister since then, and didn't intend to let him get anywhere near her.
"As to the question of why Harry needs tutoring this summer," Dumbledore continued, "I believe you are not aware of the happenings at the Triwizard Tournament, and I need to fill you in a bit." Albus then proceeded to explain how Voldemort regained his body during the third task, and how Harry invoked Priori Incantatem, and escaped. "So that is why I would like to have Harry a bit more prepared for anything Voldemort throws in his path. He is already an exceptional student, Remus Lupin managed to teach him how to conjure a patronus in his third year. But a patronus won't drive off humans, or Dark Lords. And I'm hoping you, Arabella, will teach him what he needs to know." Before Albus explained this to Arabella, she had her doubts about teaching a fifteen year old, but once she realize what the young celebrity had gone through, her heart melted. It just wasn't fair for a person of that age to endure that much. She knew she could never turn down this offer.
"I'll do it, Headmaster." Arabella said, raising her head to look Dumbledore in the eye. He immediately smiled at her, his eyes twinkling merrily.
"I thank you. Lupin may be stopping in every now and then, he and Harry know each other quite well. There is another slight thing..." he trailed off, a thoughtful expression etched on his face.
"Sir?" Arabella questioned.
"Well, you see, how can I put this nicely... Harry's relatives have a very medieval attitude toward magic, wizards, etc." He paused. "Before Harry got his letter for Hogwarts I believe the Dursleys tried there best to keep him from learning about magic and Hogwarts. Fortunately for us, they did not succeed. I'm quite sure they would object to Harry spending so much time practicing magic. But, then again, if they don't know, that could make things much easier."
"So what are we going to tell them, won't they suspect something about what he's doing for a couple of hours each day?"
"I think we could talk to Harry about that, I'm sure we'll come up with a plausible excuse," Dumbledore smiled at his former student. Arabella grinned back. "Now all we have to do is talk to your mother about this!"
"Oh dear. . ." Arabella groaned.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Remus Lupin reread the letter in his hands for the sixth time. Professor Dumbledore had asked him to 'watch out for any stray black dogs roaming around', and sure enough, the night before Sirius had knocked on his door, was invited in by Remus, and he promptly fell asleep on the couch. Remus couldn't blame him, he looked dead tired. Being on the run from Azkaban had taken a lot out of him, not to mention the presence of enough dementors to drive almost anyone insane in a year. He felt bad for his old friend. No one deserved the kind of torment he put himself through. Sirius still blamed himself for Lily and James' death, and even in school he showed loyalty to his friends that could put a Hufflepuff to shame. Remus went back to the letter. It explained Harry's predicament very vaguely, though he was sure Sirius would give him the details once he woke up. He remembered Arabella Figg, a Ravenclaw several years younger than the marauders. He had only spoken to her a few times, but Dumbledore asked him to visit Privet Drive with 'Snuffles' once or twice this summer. Remus was sure Padfoot wouldn't miss it for the world. He and his godson really hadn't gotten to know each other yet, as the few times they had spoken was mostly on the topic of Voldemort's insane plot of world domination, plus a few other minor life threatening situations. He figured Harry could probably use some cheering up after the triwizard tournament. From the small amount of information he'd heard, it seemed it was a pretty grueling experience for Harry. A noise from the couch broke Remus's train of thought. Sirius had finally woken up. "Remus?" Sirius croaked. He cleared his throat and tried again. "How long have I been out?" "Only about thirteen hours. I must say, it's good to see you awake." The werewolf smiled at his friend. They made their way to the table and Sirius immediately began eating ravenously. When he was finished he leaned back in his chair. "Ahh, Remus, you never fail to amaze me. When did you find time to learn how to cook so well?" Remus shrugged and took a sip of his coffee. "Probably after living off rats in Hogsmeade, anything would taste good to you, Sirius," He changed the subject. "So, have you heard from Dumbledore lately?" "No, he hasn't contacted me since I visited Mundungus Fletcher. Did he give you any news?" "Well, there is something concerning a certain godson of yours," Lupin said. "Albus asked Arabella Figg to give Harry private dueling tutoring over the summer. I believe they are going to use Arabella's mother's house, just down the street from where Harry lives." Has Harry been told this yet?" Sirius inquired. "And does she know, well, about me?" "I don't know if Albus has owled Harry about this yet, and yes, Arabella knows about your situation. I'm sure she won't mind having a few visitors every once in a while. Actually when Dumbledore owled me he said I might be able to help teach Harry, as I have experience." "You have experience!" Sirius grinned. "I'm his godfather after all, I should be the person who gets to spend time with my godson!"
"I'm quite sure you will get to spend plenty of time with Harry, but you do realize they are going to be lessons, not parties," Remus reprimanded his friend.
"Awww, you take all the fun out everything, Remus, I mean. . . Professor!"
Remus was glad Sirius was sounding a bit more like the friend he once knew. He had missed the humorous and joking side of Padfoot. "Have you spoken with Harry much since the time in the Shrieking Shack Sirius?" Remus was curious to know exactly how well Harry and his godfather knew each other. He knew Sirius would love to spend more time with him, and suspected that Harry felt much the same. "Well, we've only spoken face to face three times since then, and they weren't exactly wonderful conditions either. We met in Hogsmeade with Ron and Hermione once and discussed things, like the strange behavior of Crouch Sr. and Karkarov. That wasn't really one on one or anything. The second was when he met me through the Gryffindor fireplace before the third task. He had just found out that the first task was dragons and seemed pretty panicked. Course, anyone would be, dragons aren't exactly known for their tameness... Anyway, the only other time was right after the third task, in Dumbledore's office." Sirius broke off and shuddered. When he didn't continue, Remus changed the subject. "Have you been in touch with the latest Quidditch news?" Once Sirius got involved in a Quiddich conversation, he had a hard time stopping. Remus smiled to himself as he realized that the younger version of Sirius reminded him slightly of Ron Weasley. Hot tempers, faithful friends, Quidditch obsessions, and a knack for getting into trouble, both shared similar characteristics. Returning to the present, Remus found Sirius rambling on about how Harry flies so much like James. The two old friends continued chatting well into the afternoon, pausing only to occasionally conjure some food and tea.
A/N: So, how do you like it? I know it's kinda late to be putting up a brand new fifth year story, but I wrote all this before JK's OotP came out and I was just too lazy to post it. Besides, the real fifth book disappointed me, especially the ending. In my story, He is definitely not going to die though. Please review, this is my first fanfic and I'm anxious to see if anyone likes it. Ta for now ~Panthercub
Summary- (Pre-OotP) Harrry' summer before his fifth year is different than he expects it to be. With Dursleys, Moony and Padfoot, Snape, new powers and a new teacher, Harry's learns that change is good thing.
It was night in a dark forest. Normally all sorts of night sounds filled the air, but this night was different. All forest life had seemed to cease to exist in the area. A cold, high-pitched voice broke the dead silence.
"Wormtail. How nice of you to join me here."
"Lumos," A bright light suddenly illuminated the area, revealing a short, pudgy man and a tall, thin cloaked figure. The unmistakable body of the newly risen Dark Lord Voldemort. The figure turned toward the other man and could see he was shaking badly. as usual. Wormtail was not a very useful death eater, not being too bright, but he was loyal.
"Severus should be joining us any minute," Voldemort told Wormtail. Once more there was dead silence in the grove of trees. This time it was broken by a small pop as someone apparated. Severus Snape had felt the mark on his arm burn and recognized it as Voldemort summoning him. It had happened several times since the end of the Triwizard Tournament. This time it led him to a place where he was alone with the Dark Lord, except for that rat.
"Severus." The cruel voice spoke. "Come here." Severus knelt before the tall figure and kissed the hem of his robes.
"Master I have come to do your bidding." Severus recited the well- known greeting - one of Voldemort's favorites.
"Yes," Voldemort said. "I want to know, what has happened at Hogwarts since the last time I spoke to you?"
"Nothing new my lord," Severus spoke with difficulty, knowing that one slip and he was toast. "Dumbledore is still trying to get the ministry to believe him that you are a threat."
"You're hiding something from me Severus, Crucio!"
A boy of fourteen sat up in bed, pale and shaking. Harry Potter looked at the clock on his bedside table as he pulled on his glasses. 3:28 a.m. Putting a hand to his forehead, he realized what had woken him up so abruptly. The thin lightning bolt scar on his forehead was burning with intense pain. Grimacing, he stood up and immediately swayed on his feet and grabbed his chair. After resting for a few moments, Harry grabbed parchment and quill and began writing.
Dear Professor Dumbledore, Sorry to bother you but you told me to owl you if my scar hurt. I think Voldemort was somewhere close last night. I had a dream about him interrogating Snape and I woke up with my scar burning. I hope you're having a good summer. -Harry There, that'll have to do for now, Harry thought, as he put the note aside. He yawned. Suddenly Harry felt extremely tired, as if he had just run a marathon. Falling into bed, he was asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow. He didn't even bother to take off his glasses.
"Boy!" Aunt Petunia rapped the door to Harry's small bedroom. "Get up. Now!" Harry groaned and rolled out of bed. Seeing the letter he had written earlier that morning, he snatched it and quickly tied it to Hedwig's leg.
"Take this to Dumbledore for me, will you Hedwig?" Hedwig hooted and nibbled Harry's ear affectionately. He opened the window quietly and watched her soar out of sight.
"Are you up yet?" Petunia screeched from downstairs.
"I'm coming," Harry yelled back. When he got to the kitchen he was surprised to find everyone all ready there, even his immensely overweight cousin Dudley. Usually Dudley slept in to at least ten a.m. during summer vacation, but today he was up and about at seven thirty. Harry groaned again. Today was the day his Aunt Marge was coming to stay for the rest of the summer.
"Good morning," he said dully, helping himself to a piece of toast. The Dursleys ignored him, as usual. Finally Uncle Vernon broke the silence. "Marge is coming at three. You need to stay in your room once she arrives. And I'm warning you, any funny business goes on while she's here or you are going to get the daylights knocked out of you for the rest of your life," Vernon growled at Harry.
"Okay, I get it," Harry muttered. He planned on staying away from Marge as much as possible. Although the Dursleys and Marge had had their memories modified from the time he blew her up like a balloon, Harry knew he could get in huge trouble with the Ministry if it happened again. After breakfast Harry went upstairs to his room and sat on his bed. This year his uncle had felt the need to increase security in the small room, and there were now bolts on his door and a cage of bars over the outside of his window. This was slightly better than the time when he was twelve, because he could keep his window closed and the room stayed quite a bit warmer.
Earlier that week Harry had examined them closely and found one was loose. If he wiggled it back an d forth enough, he was pretty sure it would pop out. Harry had yet to try it though, because he hadn't been locked in and didn't know when any of his relatives would barge in. The last thing he needed was for his uncle to catch him removing the bars on his window. Harry knew he would be locked in his cupboard for the whole summer before you could say 'busted'. Uncle Vernon had, however somehow forgotten to snatch Harry's trunk from him as soon as he got through the door and locked it up in the cupboard as it had in previous years, and Harry was very glad he would have his wizarding things with him. Maybe I'll even get all my homework done before Hermione, I'll be so bored, Harry thought wryly to himself.
At two thirty, Uncle Vernon left to pick up Marge from the train station. Dudley went up to his room to make himself 'handsome' for his 'favorite' aunt, as Petunia so charmingly put it. Harry figured this was kind of a waste of time because Marge Dursley would adore Dudley if he looked like a chimney sweep. Not that Harry's enormous cousin could even cram his enormous leg into a chimney. Too soon, Harry heard the car pull out of the driveway. He sighed. It was going to be a long summer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The headmaster of Hogwarts School paced his study. The letter he had received from Harry disturbed him. Severus had come back shaking and unsteady to Albus the night before Hedwig arrived, and was promptly ordered to the hospital wing, where Madam Pomfrey had still not released him yet. Albus figured the stern potions master was giving Poppy quite a headache, when he was awake, that is. These days he was extremely busy and hoped Arabella would not be much later. Sure enough, with a small pop a young woman appeared, stumbling slightly, clutching a small slip of parchment.
"Ah, Arabella. I'm glad you could make it." Albus examined the woman carefully. She appeared to be in good health, the last time he had spoken to her she was very tired, pale, and lacked her usual energetic personality.
"Albus! It's good to see you after all this time!" Arabella Figg smiled at her old headmaster. "Thanks for giving me the portkey," she waved the parchment in her hand.
"Arabella, I believe you are aware that your mother lives just down the street from Harry Potter, am I correct?"
"Er, yes, in Little Whinging," The young woman replied, looking curiously at Dumbledore. She wondered if this had something to do with the Potter boy. Arabella was four years younger than Lily Evans at Hogwarts, but in the same house. At that time the Ravenclaws had been on very friendly terms with the Gryffindors and she remembered numerous pranks James Potter and his friends had played on the Slytherins. A mental picture of Severus Snape glaring at James and Sirius as he stood there with a mountain of pink shampoo suds on his head entered her head. I suppose it was probably good for him, Arabella thought. Must have been the only time in his life he ever gave his hair a decent wash, because the young trouble making Gryffindors had made sure the shampoo smelled strongly of flowers. The thought of Sirius also brought back the memory of Dumbledore showing up on the porch of her flat in England, and when he told her about Sirius's innocence and the situation with the Dark Lord. At first she was surprised, but as she thought about she realized that the best friend of James Potter would never sell him to Voldemort and turn to the dark side. All she had to do was remember his grin after he did something outrageous, like the time he... Wait, did Albus just say something?
"Arabella?"
"What? Oh, I guess I just drifted off for a minute. Sorry Albus."
"That's quite all right, Ms. Figg," Albus's electric blue eyes were twinkling at her. "We all have our memories." Arabella couldn't agree more.
"I would like you to do something for me, Arabella. I believe you were an auror for the ministry for several years?" Arabella nodded. Dumbledore continued on, "I was wondering if you would be willing to live with your mother and give Harry dueling lessons this summer." Arabella stared at him, processing what was going on. Dumbledore wanted her, her, to teach Harry Potter for a summer.
"But, but, Albus... why me? Surely you can find more erm, experienced people to teach the Boy who Lived..."
"I have received many comments from several people that you have a specialty in dueling. You have excellent reflexes, and it made you a wonderful auror before they lost you. Not to mention you seem to have a knack for teaching," Dumbledore smiled at her. Arabella remembered teaching a few of her fellow aurors some rare spells that she had found useful. She had quit working for the ministry three years ago, when Fudge attempted to do a memory charm on her when she found him in a rather. awkward (not to mention quite inappropriate for the minister of magic!) position. He was unsuccessful at clearing Arabella's memory, as Arabella ducked the spell and left hurriedly. She hadn't spoken with the minister since then, and didn't intend to let him get anywhere near her.
"As to the question of why Harry needs tutoring this summer," Dumbledore continued, "I believe you are not aware of the happenings at the Triwizard Tournament, and I need to fill you in a bit." Albus then proceeded to explain how Voldemort regained his body during the third task, and how Harry invoked Priori Incantatem, and escaped. "So that is why I would like to have Harry a bit more prepared for anything Voldemort throws in his path. He is already an exceptional student, Remus Lupin managed to teach him how to conjure a patronus in his third year. But a patronus won't drive off humans, or Dark Lords. And I'm hoping you, Arabella, will teach him what he needs to know." Before Albus explained this to Arabella, she had her doubts about teaching a fifteen year old, but once she realize what the young celebrity had gone through, her heart melted. It just wasn't fair for a person of that age to endure that much. She knew she could never turn down this offer.
"I'll do it, Headmaster." Arabella said, raising her head to look Dumbledore in the eye. He immediately smiled at her, his eyes twinkling merrily.
"I thank you. Lupin may be stopping in every now and then, he and Harry know each other quite well. There is another slight thing..." he trailed off, a thoughtful expression etched on his face.
"Sir?" Arabella questioned.
"Well, you see, how can I put this nicely... Harry's relatives have a very medieval attitude toward magic, wizards, etc." He paused. "Before Harry got his letter for Hogwarts I believe the Dursleys tried there best to keep him from learning about magic and Hogwarts. Fortunately for us, they did not succeed. I'm quite sure they would object to Harry spending so much time practicing magic. But, then again, if they don't know, that could make things much easier."
"So what are we going to tell them, won't they suspect something about what he's doing for a couple of hours each day?"
"I think we could talk to Harry about that, I'm sure we'll come up with a plausible excuse," Dumbledore smiled at his former student. Arabella grinned back. "Now all we have to do is talk to your mother about this!"
"Oh dear. . ." Arabella groaned.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Remus Lupin reread the letter in his hands for the sixth time. Professor Dumbledore had asked him to 'watch out for any stray black dogs roaming around', and sure enough, the night before Sirius had knocked on his door, was invited in by Remus, and he promptly fell asleep on the couch. Remus couldn't blame him, he looked dead tired. Being on the run from Azkaban had taken a lot out of him, not to mention the presence of enough dementors to drive almost anyone insane in a year. He felt bad for his old friend. No one deserved the kind of torment he put himself through. Sirius still blamed himself for Lily and James' death, and even in school he showed loyalty to his friends that could put a Hufflepuff to shame. Remus went back to the letter. It explained Harry's predicament very vaguely, though he was sure Sirius would give him the details once he woke up. He remembered Arabella Figg, a Ravenclaw several years younger than the marauders. He had only spoken to her a few times, but Dumbledore asked him to visit Privet Drive with 'Snuffles' once or twice this summer. Remus was sure Padfoot wouldn't miss it for the world. He and his godson really hadn't gotten to know each other yet, as the few times they had spoken was mostly on the topic of Voldemort's insane plot of world domination, plus a few other minor life threatening situations. He figured Harry could probably use some cheering up after the triwizard tournament. From the small amount of information he'd heard, it seemed it was a pretty grueling experience for Harry. A noise from the couch broke Remus's train of thought. Sirius had finally woken up. "Remus?" Sirius croaked. He cleared his throat and tried again. "How long have I been out?" "Only about thirteen hours. I must say, it's good to see you awake." The werewolf smiled at his friend. They made their way to the table and Sirius immediately began eating ravenously. When he was finished he leaned back in his chair. "Ahh, Remus, you never fail to amaze me. When did you find time to learn how to cook so well?" Remus shrugged and took a sip of his coffee. "Probably after living off rats in Hogsmeade, anything would taste good to you, Sirius," He changed the subject. "So, have you heard from Dumbledore lately?" "No, he hasn't contacted me since I visited Mundungus Fletcher. Did he give you any news?" "Well, there is something concerning a certain godson of yours," Lupin said. "Albus asked Arabella Figg to give Harry private dueling tutoring over the summer. I believe they are going to use Arabella's mother's house, just down the street from where Harry lives." Has Harry been told this yet?" Sirius inquired. "And does she know, well, about me?" "I don't know if Albus has owled Harry about this yet, and yes, Arabella knows about your situation. I'm sure she won't mind having a few visitors every once in a while. Actually when Dumbledore owled me he said I might be able to help teach Harry, as I have experience." "You have experience!" Sirius grinned. "I'm his godfather after all, I should be the person who gets to spend time with my godson!"
"I'm quite sure you will get to spend plenty of time with Harry, but you do realize they are going to be lessons, not parties," Remus reprimanded his friend.
"Awww, you take all the fun out everything, Remus, I mean. . . Professor!"
Remus was glad Sirius was sounding a bit more like the friend he once knew. He had missed the humorous and joking side of Padfoot. "Have you spoken with Harry much since the time in the Shrieking Shack Sirius?" Remus was curious to know exactly how well Harry and his godfather knew each other. He knew Sirius would love to spend more time with him, and suspected that Harry felt much the same. "Well, we've only spoken face to face three times since then, and they weren't exactly wonderful conditions either. We met in Hogsmeade with Ron and Hermione once and discussed things, like the strange behavior of Crouch Sr. and Karkarov. That wasn't really one on one or anything. The second was when he met me through the Gryffindor fireplace before the third task. He had just found out that the first task was dragons and seemed pretty panicked. Course, anyone would be, dragons aren't exactly known for their tameness... Anyway, the only other time was right after the third task, in Dumbledore's office." Sirius broke off and shuddered. When he didn't continue, Remus changed the subject. "Have you been in touch with the latest Quidditch news?" Once Sirius got involved in a Quiddich conversation, he had a hard time stopping. Remus smiled to himself as he realized that the younger version of Sirius reminded him slightly of Ron Weasley. Hot tempers, faithful friends, Quidditch obsessions, and a knack for getting into trouble, both shared similar characteristics. Returning to the present, Remus found Sirius rambling on about how Harry flies so much like James. The two old friends continued chatting well into the afternoon, pausing only to occasionally conjure some food and tea.
A/N: So, how do you like it? I know it's kinda late to be putting up a brand new fifth year story, but I wrote all this before JK's OotP came out and I was just too lazy to post it. Besides, the real fifth book disappointed me, especially the ending. In my story, He is definitely not going to die though. Please review, this is my first fanfic and I'm anxious to see if anyone likes it. Ta for now ~Panthercub