So this is Dumbledore and some other people at Hogwarts. I'm doing a maximum of two chapters of reactions, including this one. It's also a pretty long chapter, focusing on too much details and too much people because it's only half a day and it takes 7 pages. Hope I didn't overdo it too much. Please R&R.
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Hermione woke up early that day. It was their fourth day at Hogwarts in the new year but the first days went by too fast. The usually organized Hogwarts program was very messed up and confusing this week. The older students seemed to only have classes for the sole purpose of filling up the time; they weren't really doing anything in them. Supposedly, they were to start learning properly next week, once the younger students got more or less used to the surroundings and they didn't need as much attention; that was the official excuse anyway. Most of the teachers gave them meaningless work to do in class that nobody even checked and Ron, Hermione and Harry usually just talked through the classes. Well, Ron and Hermione did anyway. Harry spoke once in a while but most of the time he was actually doing to work or just sitting there, thinking about something. If anyone mentioned that strange mirror, Sirius, Voldemort, or something relative, he changed the subject, but at least then he joined into the conversation for a while.
Things had, in fact, been so disorganized these days that the students didn't even know who was this year's DADA teacher. First week's schedules were temporary timetables which were to be changed next week and DADA wasn't one of the classes this week, which was strange. Instead, it seemed, they had many extra Potion lessons, much to everyone's, except the Slytherins, dismay. Snape had, of course, been horrible to them. He was also the only teacher who gave assignments that counted this week. Harry was working harder than ever, perhaps because it took his mind off of other things and his potions were every bit as good as Hermione. This apparently upset Snape and he always found ways to ruin everything. Yesterday, Harry made a perfect Waking Potion and Snape said it was too strong. So Harry, perfectly calm, had walked up to the professor and spilled the potion onto him. It cost Gryffindor 50 points, but nobody minded since Snape was running around as if on a caffeine rush the whole day. No one bothered to find an antidote, or something to help him.
Hermione sighed and got up, dressed and went down to the common room. They had Care of Magical Creatures, then Divination, and Magical Creatures again before lunch. It was the first time they ever two Magical Creatures classes in the same day… But the trio wasn't complaining; they didn't mind spending extra time in Hagrid's class. After lunch, though, they were in hell. They had triple Potions.
Hermione was looking through the Potions book for the fifth time when Ron came in the common room.
"Good morning Ron." Hermione greeted him without looking up.
"Hey Hermy—I mean Hermione." Since Grawp, the two guys had gotten quite fond of calling Hermione, Hermy, but she hadn't warmed up to the name yet.
"Wait… Where's Harry?" She asked suddenly, looking up. He, of course, wasn't there.
"What, d'you mean… he's not down here?" Ron asked, slightly alarmed.
"No…"
"Well he wasn't up in the dormitories… I figured he'd woken up and come down here."
"Oh no, what do we do?" Hermione asked in a panicked tone.
Right then, though, people started filling into the common room grumpily.
"Make up an excuse if anyone asks. He'll probably show up by breakfast." Ron whispered.
But he didn't.
It was time to get to Hagrid's class and Harry still had not come back. In the rush of the morning, no one had really noticed but they were bound to during class and Hermione and Ron were getting really worried.
"D'you think something happened?" Ron asked Hermione nervously while the two were rushing to Care of Magical Creatures. They needed to ask Hagrid if he knew anything before the rest showed up.
"I don't kno— Hagrid!" The half-giant met them beside his hut where he was setting up for the class. They were doing review work.
"What are yeh doin' here so early?" Hagrid asked surprised. Hermione and Ron quickly told Hagrid about Harry's disappearance. "Third nigh' from the beginning of the year ain't it?"
Hermione and Ron were taken aback at the question, but Hermione answered slowly, "Yes, but what does that have to do with anything?"
To their surprise, he smiled. "Gone off, he had. Well, don' yeh worry, he'll be back, he will." Humming, Hagrid turned back to finish setting everything up, as if that had solved everything. Hermione and Ron exchanged looks.
"But, Hagrid, how do you know he'll come back?" Ron tried again. "Something could've happened to him. Someone…"
"He's fine, he isn' in trouble." Hagrid replied, almost exasperated. "He'll be back soon, just yeh wait." Though they were still confused, the two helped Hagrid until the rest of the class showed up.
During the break they were given after the first class, Hermione and Ron tried to question Hagrid again.
"Look, I'm tellin' yeh, he's all right. I can' explain now, he'll tell yeh when he comes back. Jus' wait a bit." They didn't have to wait long at all.
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Remus Lupin, Harry Potter and a large fluffy black dog that went by the name of Snuffles for the time being walked up the Hogwarts corridors and stopped in front of the gargoyles guarding Dumbledore's office.
"Marauder's Map" Remus said, smiling. Dumbledore had told the members of the Order the password in case anything urgent came up and they needed to get into his office. They were let inside. Snuffles looked up curiously, looking as close as a dog can get to laughing and looking proud at the same time. Remus went through the door first, closely followed by Harry, surprising Dumbledore.
"Hello, Remus, Harry, what brings you-" Dumbledore trailed off when he saw Sirius, still in his dog form, run in, barking happily. He turned to Albus Dumbledore, who was staring at him, transfixed.
"Love the new password. Keep the Marauders' Pride alive, that's what I say." Sirius smirked after quickly transforming back to his human form.
"Sirius? How-" Dumbledore began.
"You mean, you don't know?" Sirius asked, amused. "Albus, I thought you were all-knowing" He looked at the Headmaster, talking in a mockingly accusatory and amused tone.
"I do not…I am unable to understand how…" Dumbledore seemed in shock from the image in front of him.
"Great, now we have to explain this again." Sirius sighed, and with the help of Remus and Harry, he explained everything to Dumbledore, who was listening intently. Sirius had barely finished when he was silenced by a constricting hug from his former headmaster. He laughed and embraced him back.
"Sirius," Dumbledore said quietly, "I believe I owe you an apology." His voice wavered a bit, which was unusual for the almost-constantly calm man. "I should not have kept you locked up all that time…and I should have told Harry everything sooner…can you possibly forgive me?" Dumbledore looked at Sirius, who wasn't showing any signs of holding a grudge.
"I have never blamed you, Albus. Though, I admit, I hated being stuck in that house… you won't make me stay there again will you?" Sirius asked cautiously. He was in a generous mood, having spent the whole way here convincing Harry and Remus that he was all right and nothing was their fault.
"Of course not," Dumbledore said immediately, apparently understanding. "I can arrange you to stay at Hogwarts as Snuffles, if you are extremely careful. Things will be much easier once we clear your name." He said the last sentence so casually that it sounded like a statement, as if there was no doubt it wasn't going to happen.
"Harry, would you mind?" Sirius began asking but he needn't finish.
"Mind??" Harry looked at him like he was out of his mind. "I'd love for you to stay here! Are you kidding? Thank you, Professor Dumbledore." He turned to the Headmaster.
" You're welcome, Harry." Dumbledore smiled. " Ah, well, I realize I should penalize you… Leaving the school grounds without permission is a punishable offense." He looked at Harry strictly but could not hide his smile. "However, under the circumstances, I think I'll award Gryffindor 50 points instead. You showed the key points of a true Gryffindor: bravery, selflessness, conviction, resourcefulness… I am extremely impressed." He smiled warmly at Harry, who was beaming more than before, though that had not seemed possible earlier. "Now, there is something I have to talk to all three of you about after you get acquainted with the school grounds again. Sirius and Harry, would you please come to my office during lunch? Remus, could you please stay now?"
"Of course, Professor," Remus said. "I'll see you two later, all right? Say 'Hello' to Hermione and Ron for me, would you?" he told Harry warmly, who nodded, still smiling.
"Now, Harry, Snuffles may accompany you to your classes today. But please do be careful. We cannot risk anyone recognizing you yet," Dumbledore said to Harry, and the last part to Sirius.
"Thank you, Headmaster." Sirius grinned. "I'll behave." He added but didn't sound like he really meant it.
"Very well." Dumbledore was smiling again. "Now you may leave. Harry, your class should be finishing Divination now." Harry and Sirius headed towards the door, Sirius about to transform, when they heard a voice from the wall.
"Dumbledore, sir, there was no one—" The voice was coming from one of the portraits and broke off when the man inside saw the visitors. Phineas Nigellus's mouth fell open. Then he blinked and closed it. And it fell open again. Open. Blink. Closed. This repeated quite a few times before the former headmaster could get out coherent words. "Sirius, is that you?" Sirius nodded, staring at his great-great-grandfather with interest. By now, Phineas regained his self-control. "You stupid, selfish git. Don't you know how much pain you caused everyone? The boy there," he pointed to Harry, "he turned the place upside down last time he was here. And Dumbledore… and everyone else… you… you…" He sounded just like one would when lecturing a misbehaving child.
"Hey, I didn't die on purpose you know! Well not die per se, but I didn't disappear in that damned Veil for months out of my own accord." Sirius defended himself.
"Well, as long as you're back. Tell Trixie to play nice, we can't have the last of the Blacks die before he makes us some descendants now, can we?" Sirius looked embarrassed and amused at the same time.
"Trixie's gone, Phineas." Sirius replied.
"Oh ok then." He didn't seem to care much. "Well just get us some descendants then." Sirius looked embarrassed again, so he just transformed into the dog, barking what's interpreted as a 'Goodbye' to Remus, Dumbledore and Phineas.
Finally, the two left into the corridor and Dumbledore turned back to the remaining Marauder. "So, Remus, I need a few minutes, if you would care to sit down."
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Today in Divination, Professor Trelawney decided to review the Grim.
"So, the distinctive features of a Grim is that it looks like a large dog, black and furry and…" She stopped summarizing the lesson abruptly in mid-sentence and shrieked, covering her mouth with her hand and going pale. She was staring at the two figures in the door that had just opened. Naturally, students turned around to see what happened; some shrieked like Trelawney had; some stared; Hermione and Ron, however, smiled, looking at each other in relief and surprise and waved to the newcomers. Of course, Harry and Sirius had just entered the classroom.
"Is that—" Hermione mouthed and Harry nodded his head triumphantly. Snuffles noticed them and ran up to them, licking their welcoming hands and wagging his tail energetically.
"Professor Trelawney, Dumbledore had allowed me to bring Snuffles to class for the time being." Harry said loudly to the teacher who was still pale as a ghost.
"Snuffles?"
"Si—I mean my dog. He's not a Grim or anything" Harry seemed to just have noticed that everyone was staring at the dog in horror and he chuckled slightly.
"Of course, of course." She said hurriedly. "Now…" And then the bell rang, dismissing the class. "Um, no homework!" With that, the teacher sat down at her desk, looking horrified. The students, learning the dog wasn't an omen of death, gathered up to pet him as they were walking back to Magical Creatures. He did tricks for them and walked around everyone, wagging his tail energetically.
"He sure likes being the center of attention." Harry smirked.
"Harry… how did—" Hermione started to ask.
"Oh please not again. Ok, to make it short, I saw this stuff about people behind the Veil in a book, and there was a way to provide them with a choice, to either go to heaven, or back here. People who are meant to go to hell aren't given an option in the first place. I went at night and Sirius chose to come up here; Bellatrix and some Death Eaters tried to kill us;" Hermione and Ron gasped but Harry paid no attention to it, "Sirius sent Bellatrix into the Veil; then we met this guy Allen who works there and worked out a plan to get Sirius's name cleared and then we went to see Remus and tell him; then we came to Dumbledore and here." He said all this very quickly, in one breath. "There."
"How come you didn't tell us anything before?" Ron asked accusingly.
"I didn't want to disturb you guys. Besides, there was no point anyway so it doesn't matter. It was more of a one-person thing. I had to go or nobody.
The trio went back down to Hagrid's hut beaming and was followed closely by the dog and his admirers (he had quite a lot). The Slytherins, who accompanied them for this class, were already there and Hagrid was waiting with them when they saw the class approach. Sirius broke away from the crowd and ran to the friendly half-giant right away. Hagrid, of course, recognized him right away and petted him vigorously for a while, and Sirius wagged his tail just as actively. Their day got even better when the trio saw Draco Malfoy's astonished face.
"But… how did you… what…" Draco mumbled, watching the dog bask in the attention he was getting. "You can't bring that… that filthy thing to class!" Unfortunately, he regained the ability to speak again.
"Funny, then how come you're allowed?" Harry retorted.
Malfoy, with Crabbe and Goyle behind him, moved in on Harry but Snuffles suddenly appeared in front of him, growling and baring his teeth. With the size of him and the dangerously low growling, the three decided to back off.
The rest of the class, everyone from Gryffindor marveled over the dog. Some Slytherins tried to get in too but Malfoy gave them such a look that they didn't dare, so everyone from Slytherin was standing aside and watching. Hagrid, Hermione, Harry and Ron were standing aside and talking about what happened this day.
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Lil Lupin, thanks and yeah, you were the first person. Again. I posted the chapter at night so that's probably why it seemed like the next day… I posted it at like 10 or something I think. Kaitlyn thanks. Padfoot's Bone, yeah it is time, and aah, shh don't say anything about that. I said, the first clue is in the dream but you weren't really supposed to notice it! Ok, I've said too much. You'll find out if you keep reading the story, I think it'll be in the next maybe 3 or so chapters. :). Kandice, lol well she not so much took it away as bought me too little and I finished it in one day and she wouldn't buy more. Which is like the same thing lol. Thanks, and I'll try to get him out of prison for you, sure. Silver, yeah, that's JKR's powers, to make us love fictional characters! (and then she kills them off *scowl *) Ice, yeah… funny… *shifty eyes *. Evil-fluffy-twins… err review? Thanks, I guess… if I understand you right. BuffyHalliwell, updated, updated, updated! : D and yeah I do like your story, please update it. Sarah, thank you so much! Yeah, it's weird… Dumbledore DOESN'T know everything… seems strange.
Now for all the people who helped (or offered to help) me out with the Dumbledore scene: first of all, thank you, without you I would be stuck writing that damned scene still. I hope you all liked the outcome. First, thanks to Sarah who combined my versions into one so nicely. I LOVE MWPP stories! When you start yours, please tell me, all right? Then, thank you to Lil Lupin for revising that version and perfecting it. You're right; it does sound more like Dumbledore in full form. Then to all the other people who offered to help: Hels, Kandice (MSN said your email address doesn't exist so it wouldn't send), and Joanna. You guys are all great.
I hope everyone liked this chapter. Next chapter is going to be the continuation of this day, with such things as what Dumbledore wanted to talk to Remus, Sirius and Harry about; triple Potions; a surprise meeting (the happy kind); something about the book unfolds really slowly. Really slowly. Really. Allen is back; Sirius meets some old friends; etc. This chapter, the next one and maybe the one after that are the happy chapters, more or less. And then, well they're less so. Please review, and hey, tell me, should I have any romance in here? I think I'm trying to do too much things in one and adding romance in this would be too much… maybe just a tiny bit… Well anyway, please click that little Go button besides Submit Review. All right? Thanks.