Disclaimer: I don't own any characters, things, or places you recognize from the Potter-verse.
CHAPTER FOUR: Meetings
Harry woke up and it was already 9:15! He had overslept. Harry hurriedly got dressed and went to Ron's room. "Sorry, I'm late. I just—"
"Ssh!" Ron waved his hand to get Harry to come sit down. He whispered, "Hermione is making sure their gone."
"Who's gone?"
"Delano and her daughter."
"I don't get it. What does it matter if they're here?"
"Just be quiet and wait!" hissed Ron. About five minutes later Hermione walked in and plopped down on Ron's bed.
"They're gone and I think we've got plenty of time," she told them.
"Sorry, but why does it matter whether or not the Delanos are gone? They sounded like they were telling the truth last night."
"Oh please!" Ron said. "Last night was just an act."
Hermione rolled her eyes at Harry. "Professor Delano may have had the facts but she could have gotten them from other places. Pettigrew could have given her the story about Sirius. Lupin was the only Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher who hasn't tried to kill you. We're not risking it this time. Harry, go get your Sneakoscope out of your trunk and put it in the Delanos' room."
"What if she put spells on the room before she left?"
"That's a risk we have to take. We're not supposed to use magic so your Sneakoscope is the best we can do. At least we'll be able to find out if she's trustworthy. We can put it in her room now and if when they go back tonight we hear it making noise we'll know we can trust them."
"Wait—what are we basing this on?" asked Harry.
"I'll do it myself!" snapped Ron. Ron marched out of the room. He came back looking angry. "There are spells on the door and I couldn't get in their room. Now what do we do?"
"I guess trusting them is out of the question?"
"Harry, Ron and I have learned caution just from being around you. After all you been through why haven't you learned it?"
"I have. But I thought—"
"Harry! You're not thinking. I do have an idea. Ron, get me some parchment and a quill. Harry, go get Hedwig. I'll open Pigwideon's cage." As soon as she had parchment and a quill with an inkbottle, Hermione began to write the letter.
Dear Professor Dumbledore,
We met two people yesterday who claim to be former students of yours and say you sent them. They claim to be Jennifer Delano and her daughter is named Renata. She says she knows you. She also says that you sent her. We decided it was safest to ask you. Is she really the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor? Thank you for your time, Professor.
Hermione Granger,
Harry Potter, and Ron Weasley
She tied the letter to Hedwig's leg. "Please take this letter to Professor Dumbledore." She walked Hedwig to the window and Hedwig flew out of it. Then, Hermione sat down to write the second letter.
Dear Sirius and Prof. Lupin,
Someone here is saying she knows you. She claims to be Jennifer Delano. She says the two of are visiting tonight at the Leaky Cauldron. We're writing because we want to know if we can trust her. Please reply immediately.
Hermione Granger, Harry, Potter and Ron Weasley
Hermione tied the letter to Pigwideon's leg and took him to the window. "Pig, see if you can find Sirius Black and Remus Lupin." Hermione thrust him out the window and the little owl took off. "We've sent the letters, what else can we do? Following them is too suspicious."
"I know you guys are just being cautious but we don't really have any reason to suspect them."
"Using a spell to keep people out of your room isn't suspicious? Even if there is supposed to be a Jennifer Delano here what if this lady isn't her. It could be Polyjuice Potion we know how well that works."
"Ron," said Harry. "We talked to her for over two hours last night. The Polyjuice Potion wears off after exactly one hour and we didn't see her slip anything into her drink. Think again. She might have other reasons for locking the door maybe she thinks Death Eaters are after her."
"Harry this is not a joke! What else can we do to figure out if there is anything suspicious about the two of them?"
"Let's just send Hedwig after her," Harry suggested sarcastically.
"Too suspicious, besides she's delivering a letter. But…but…we could send Crookshanks."
Hermione ran off. She came back carrying a ginger cat with a squashed looking face in her arms. "Why are you two just standing there? Get your wands, we're going to Diagon Alley. Just because we're not supposed to do magic doesn't mean we should be unarmed." Harry went to his room to get his wand and he began thinking. Was he being stupid, refusing to believe that the woman and her daughter who were staying in the room next his posed no threat? Were Ron and Hermione being cautious or scared? He couldn't deny that there were quite a few times when he had almost been killed. All right there were more than a few. Most of those times, because they were with him, Ron and Hermione had been in real danger. Okay, so their caution was justified. Hadn't Cedric Diggory died last year because he was with Harry when Voldemort found him? Lupin was right; being with Harry could be deadly. Harry found his wand and went back to Ron and Hermione.
"Let's go to Diagon Alley, Harry, come on."
"What about breakfast? Its already ten."
"You can have two breakfasts tomorrow." Ron shoved him from behind. The three of them went down to the back alley and when Hermione tapped the right brick with her wand and the wall opened to admit the three of them into Diagon Alley. Hermione moved to the side and opened Crookshanks' basket. He climbed out and sat down in front of her.
"Are you ready to listen? Okay I want you to look around Diagon Alley and see if you can find two people. Jennifer Delano and Renata Delano. Jennifer has shoulder length blonde hair, hazel eyes, and she's about five and a half feet tall. Renata has blonde hair almost to her waist, blue eyes, light complexion with a little bit of tan, and she's about the same height as her mum. When you find them follow them, if they are still not back here by about five o' clock I want you to come back anyway. We'll be here then. When we see you, could you let me know if Jennifer and Renata ever left Diagon Alley, okay? Bye Crookshanks." As soon as Hermione had finished talking Crookshanks moved off down the street, twitching his tail. "We've done everything we can think of as a precaution. So what do we do now?"
"Let's go pick-up your owl." Since there was nothing else to do the three of them walked to the Magical Menagerie to go get Hermione's owl. She had paid for Merlin and his cage when she picked him out all she had to do now was pick him up. Merlin was quite handsome. Hermione thanked the woman at the register and walked out clutching Merlin's cage in one arm and Crookshanks empty basket in the other hand.
They had the whole rest of the day left and nothing to do. For a while they just walked around each leading in turn. Finally Ron said, "This is pointless. What should we do?"
"We might as well go back and do our homework, I guess."
"You two aren't done with it yet?" asked Hermione with disapproval.
"No, we're not, let's go." They went back to the Leaky Cauldron and up to their rooms. Ron went to finish his essay for Professor. Snape. It was that one about sleeping drafts and their antidotes Hermione was checking over her homework for the fourth time. Harry meanwhile was writing his history of magic essay, "Discuss the Wizards' Council's First Three Attempts to Issue a Classifying of Beasts and Beings." Harry wrote aimlessly about Burdock Muldoon (an early Chief of the Wizards' Council) who first tried to classify the "Beasts" and "Beings"; and then he went on to write about Madame Elfrida Clagg, from there it was on to discussing Grogan Stump. Just after Harry was finished he saw something fuzzy and about the size of a tennis ball come whirling in the window. Pig had come back. He was sitting on Harry's bed. Harry picked him up and when to Ron's room and then Hermione's. "I've got the letter. Let's go open it." Harry led them back to his room he untied the letter from Pig's leg and opened it. Pig began flying around Ron's head hooting very noisily until Ron caught him and put him in Hedwig's empty cage. Harry began reading the letter out loud.
Dear Harry, Ron, and Hermione,
We're glad to know that you're cautious but we are meeting you and the Delanos at the Leaky Cauldron tonight. You can trust them. Everything they said is true. Jenny's our friend. If you have time before the two of us get to the Leaky Cauldron could you stop by Ollivanders? Ask for "My friend's wand." He'll know it's for Sirius. Its all ready paid for. When Sirius was taken away ministry officials broke his wand. If you can get it great if not, we'll pick it up another time.
"I knew we could trust them."
"You did not. You were only hoping that we could trust them. Lupin and Sirius even said that it was good that we were cautious."
"Why are we arguing? We need to go get the wand for Sirius and its not too long until we need to meet with Crookshanks."
"Right," replied the other two. Hermione got Crookshanks's basket together and they all went downstairs and out the back way to Diagon Ally. They walked down the street until they came to Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands Since 382 BC. They went inside. There was a spindly-legged chair on one wall and everywhere else was lined with long narrow boxes containing wands. Mr. Ollivander was they only person in the shop when Ron, Hermione, and Harry entered. Mr. Ollivander looked at them with his creepy gray eyes that never seemed to blink. "I hadn't expected the three of you to come back so soon," he told them in his soft voice. "Did one you need a new wand?"
"No, Mr. Ollivander." Harry told him. "We're here to pick up My Friend's wand. He is visiting soon and he wanted me to bring it."
"Of course I shall go retrieve it at once."
He went to a room in the back and came out a few minutes later carrying a wand box. "May it be well used." He nodded and they all left. Only Harry saw the red and gold bird sitting on the rooftop across, but he didn't mention it because it was gone as soon as he saw it; he didn't see the figure the bird flew to, standing in the shadows.
They went to the wall that led them into the Leaky Cauldron to see if Crookshanks had returned yet and sure enough, he had. Hermione put him in his basket and they all went up to Hermione's room. "Crookshanks, I'm going to ask you a few questions. When the answer is yes put your left paw up when the answer is no put your right paw up." Crookshanks sat back on his haunches. "Did you find the Delanos?" His left paw went up. "Did they leave Diagon Ally?" The cat's right paw went up. "Did they say see you?" The cat's right paw went up again. "Thank you." She stroked him and rubbed his chin. Crookshanks purred appreciatively until Hermione stopped and turned to Ron and Harry. "I think this, along with the wand Mr. Ollivander gave us, and the letter confirm that we can trust the Delanos."
"Okay but what do we do now? We still have ten minutes before we're supposed to meet the Delanos for dinner."
"Let's go give the wand to Professor Delano for safekeeping, since our discussion will be in her room." The three of them went to room 6 and knocked on the door.
Renata answered, "Who is it?"
"Us," called Ron.
"Oh, come in."
"We picked up something today that one of tonight's visitors wants. Since the meeting will be here can we leave it here?"
"Sure. My mom will be up in a minute then we can all go downstairs."
Hermione stepped forward holding the wand box. "Where can I put this?"
"Oh, just anywhere. On top of the wardrobe will be fine." Hermione put the box down and no one knew what to say.
Renata looked hesitant a moment before speaking again. "I'm a little nervous about all the people we'll meet tonight. Do any of you know them? I know one but—"
"Yes!" They all answered at once. Ron said, "My parents, brothers and sister are coming."
"Bill and Charlie, too?" asked Harry.
"Probably. Bill was there when you woke up in the hospital wing."
"Even though most people think Sirius Black is a crazy, double-crossing murderer, he's not. He's my godfather. I would definitely rather be with him in the summer and not my aunt's house."
"Lupin is really good, too. He was the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher we ever had."
"Its good to know. I was a little nervous about meeting everybody tonight." Just after Renata made the comment her mother came up.
"Come down to eat, everyone." They all followed Jennifer downstairs. The five of them sat down and after their order was taken they had some small talk. When they're food was before them and they knew that they were less likely to be interrupted they began to discuss more openly. "What have you three been up to today?"
Harry, Ron, and Hermione all looked at each other thinking should we say that we spent most of the day trying to figure out if they were working for the Dark Side? Harry nodded and so did Hermione. After a second or two Ron shrugged and nodded. "We spent a good part of the day trying to figure out whether or not the two of you were in league with You-Know-Who."
"I wouldn't have expected anything less considering the reputation the three of you have at school."
"Harry was the only one not suspicious of you."
Jennifer smiled, "So what was your conclusion and how did you reach it?"
"Last night when you left the table we decided that we needed our own meeting this morning. We started it by having Hermione make sure you were gone this morning before we did or discussed anything. When we knew you were gone we got Harry's Sneakoscope and we meant to put it in your room but you put some spell on it so we couldn't get in."
Hermione took it from there. "Then we sent owls to Sirius and Dumbledore asking if they knew you. We got a letter from Sirius back this afternoon. After we sent the letter we briefly thought that you had used Polyjuice Potion. Then Harry reminded us that we knew it wears off after exactly one hour—"
"Unless you mix animal hair with it," muttered Ron.
Hermione ignored him, "—and we had been with you longer than that last night. And again it was Harry who had the next idea. Sirius told us in our third year that my cat, Crookshanks, was extremely smart. We brought Crookshanks to Diagon Alley, described what you and Renata look like, and we told him to follow you and when to meet us back at the entrance to Diagon Alley. We went to pick up my owl and then after that we walked around the rest of Diagon Alley for a while we decided to go finish our summer homework. I was already done so I was just rechecking mine."
"For the 20th time," muttered Ron.
"Fourth time. But before our homework I questioned Crookshanks. If the answer was yes he held up his left paw and if it was no he held up the right one. From the answers we got to our questions we discovered that you hadn't left Diagon Alley."
"I was finishing my history of magic essay when Ron's owl came in with Sirius and Lupin's reply. When we all read it we decided it was time to decide whether or not to trust you. We were a little suspicious that you had sealed your room with a spell. But we knew you hadn't used Polyjuice; and we knew you hadn't left Diagon Alley. And since the letter we got back claimed you to be a friend not a foe. So we trust you. The letter asked us to take care of a favor too, which we did."
"Mr. Ollivander did say you stopped by. I presume that was the favor?"
In a lowered tone Ron said, "Yes, Sirius will be needing a wand. We've seen for ourselves that he can still use magic; he was fortunate not to lose his mind or powers after being in Azkaban all those years." Bringing his voice back to normal he asked, "and what were you doing there?"
"It's none of your business but for your information I wanted to have my wand checked to make sure it was alright and to get Renata a new one. Olivander's are better quality than the wands in the U.S. The Garamonds make excellent wands but no one can beat the wands made by the Ollivanders. Mr. Ollivander asked if I had met any of my future students and when I mentioned the three of you he told me that you had been in just a short while before."
"Did you ever found out whether or not the Diggorys are coming?"
"Yes, Harry was quite right about them wanting to take revenge on Voldemort, but they have promised not do anything rash. Actually we should go upstairs. Everyone should begin arriving soon. Go upstairs, I must talk with the bartender." The four of them went upstairs while Jennifer went to talk to Tom.
The four students were in Hermione's room when Jennifer came back. "I've taken the liberty of informing Tom where to send everyone when they arrive," Jennifer told them. "The Weasleys will be sent to Ron's room and a note there will direct them to the room Renata and I share since the meeting will be there. Remus will be directed to our meeting room and Sirius will be with him in his dog form. I told Tom that Remus was going to come give me some advice about teaching at Hogwarts, but didn't inform him that Remus would have a dog with him. I also mentioned that the Diggorys might stop by and if they did that I would like them to come up and say hello."
"Good plan. I'll write the note if you'd like."
"Thank you, Hermione." Jennifer left the room. Hermione got out a quill and some parchment. Hermione went to go put the note on Ron's bed where the Weasleys were sure to see it. When she went back to her room Ron and Harry told her it was time to go to Professor Delano's room. They all went and sat on the chairs. It was not long before Mr. Weasley, Mrs. Weasley, Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred, George, and Ginny entered the room. Mrs. Weasley came right over to give Ron, Harry and Hermione each a big hug. The Delanos' room now contained 17 chairs that somehow all fit without seeming squashed.
When Bill, Charlie, Fred, and George came over to Harry, Ron, and Hermione, Ron grinned. "Harry's aunt and uncle seemed to remember me be. Your toffee last year made a quite lasting impression." They all broke into a roaring laugh. Renata saw them and came over to find out what was so funny.
When Hermione saw her she took a few breaths and was able to stop laughing. "This is Renata Delano. Her mom is this year's Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. These are Ron's brothers Charlie, Bill, Fred and George. Percy is over there and so is Ron's sister Ginny." Hermione then went on to explain about the hole blasted in the living room wall and how the toffees were "accidentally" dropped.
Renata beamed. "Nice to meet you all." Still grinning Renata shook her head at Fred and George, who were wearing their customary mischievous grins. "From what my mom has said I thought these three," she jerked her head at Harry, Ron and Hermione, "were troublemakers but the two of you are absolutely wicked!"
"Thank you that is the best compliment we've received in weeks."
"Besides, Ron learned from the best."
Renata commented, "It sounds like Hermione and Harry cause more than their share. I suppose they learned from you as well?"
"No they're just naturally troublesome."
Ginny came over. She blushed a little when she saw Harry. "But a lot of what they did was helpful. They saved my life once." She blushed harder; she usually did when she was around Harry.
"What's Hogwarts like? We're going in less than a month and I've never even seen it."
"Its a little confusing at first. But it's pretty standard. The portraits talk and go visit each other..."
"This one portrait, Sir Cadogan is pretty crazy. We've also got one hundred forty-two staircases. Some have trick a step in the middle or they lead somewhere different depending on the day of the week."
"It took Harry and I our whole first week to be able to make it down to breakfast without getting lost on at least once on the way. The doors don't always like to open just by force," Ron said.
"Some doors only open if you tickle them in the right place or need passwords. Others are only walls pretending. Some only open if you ask politely."
"Don't worry you'll get the hang of it."
"It sounds pretty standard with the stuff we had at The Angels Academy back home.
They had all been discussing things while Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were off in the corner having a discussion with Professor Delano. Percy looked as though he wished to join them but they appeared to be excluding anyone else so he just stood in the middle of the room. Harry saw him and got up. "Hi Percy."
"Hello, Harry. Nice to see you again." He shook Harry's hand as if he had never met him before. Harry tried not to laugh.
"This will be Renata's first year at Hogwarts. Do you want to go give her any advice? Otherwise I'm sure the only thing she'll hear is your brothers telling her the best way to cause trouble."
"Of course, but I should like a word with you first."
"Okay."
"So You-Know-Who has really come back? And the Minister of Magic refuses to take notice?"
"Yes, I've seen him myself. Fudge won't listen to Dumbledore. He refuses to believe that everyone's in danger."
Percy got a worried look on his face.
Harry walked back over to where the group was talking and after a minute in which Percy regained composure he followed. They all kept the chatter up until ten minutes later Remus Lupin walked in with a big black dog. Remus said, "Nobody scream." Then before their very eyes the dog changed into Sirius Black. He ran to Harry and greeted him.
"Hi, Sirius."
"Hello, Harry. Hi Ron, Hermione." Turing the other way, he said, "Hello Jenny, Molly, Arthur."
All the people he had just greeted replied, "Hello, Sirius."
Harry, Ron, Hermione, Percy, Fred, George, and Ginny all said, "Hello Professor Lupin," and the three adults in the corner all added, "Good evening Remus."
"Sirius," Harry smiled. "We picked something up for you."
Ron took the wand box off the wardrobe and handed it to Sirius. "You got it! Thank you!" He had a wand of his own again.
Percy pulled Harry aside, "Who is the woman my parents were talking to? I know her name is Delano but I don't know anything else."
"Professor Delano is the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. The girl who is here, Renata, she's Delano's daughter. Delano went to Hogwarts with Lupin, Sirius, my dad, and Pettigrew. She's spent most of the time since then teaching in America at the Angels Magical Academy of California."
"Why is it that I never know anything?" Percy was almost beside him self.
Charlie came over. "Because you are too stiff, Perce. You've got to learn to relax. There is nothing wrong with breaking a few rules now and then. Or, in Harry's case lots of rules."
"Sometimes it helps, Percy. No one listens to you without proof and if you need to bend rules a little to get that proof then you actually did a good thing." Harry told them. He thought he heard Percy mutter something "about going too far" and "crossing to many lines." He headed over to where Sirius and Professor Lupin were talking to Professor Delano and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley; they were all huddled in a corner. Harry caught a few words of what was being said.
"Are you sure the children are up to it?" asked Mrs. Weasley.
"The three who have been here seem perfectly able. They didn't trust me, but they didn't tell me they that. They took proper precaution. The morning after I met them they took no action until they knew I was gone. Then they tried putting a Sneakoscope in my room, but I had spells guarding it. Then they sent letters to Sirius and Dumbledore. They even sent Hermione's cat to spy on me." Professor Delano said in an approving tone.
"They can take care of themselves exceedingly well, but their problems were bad enough when the Death Eaters were scattered and You-Know-Who barely existed, can they handle it now? I don't want them to get hurt."
"Now Molly, they can take care of themselves. They've done it time and time again. We know that nothing we say or do will help them stay out of trouble. We've tried."
"They can all stun, disarm, and use the leg-locker curse, the full body bind...and so many other spells. They all seem to be able to think on their feet. I'm not sure that there is anything else we can do to prepare those three...but I still feel that something terrible is going to happen," Professor Lupin said.
"Yes, I have no doubt that Ron, Harry, and Hermione can take care of themselves but what about the others? Why are the others here?" Professor Delano probed.
"Ginny had a very close brush with You-Know-Who, Fred and George are still at school and could easily wind up in something, they are a bit mischievous. They the three of them are still at school and need to watch out. Besides Bill, Charlie, and Percy are adults, they can handle this," Mr. Weasley told her.
At that point Harry stepped in. "We can manage. But I have a question. Has anyone told the Diggorys about Sirius, that way they don't attack when they see him?"
"He has a good point."
"I didn't think of it." Professor Delano began to frown.
"I can go to Harry's room and then once you've explained things then come back in." Sirius suggested.
"It sounds like a good idea."
"I'll keep you company." Harry followed Sirius out of the room. As soon as they were outside the doorway they couldn't hear anything from the room they had just left. They entered Harry's room and sat on the bed. "It's good to see you, again."
"Harry, I have half a mind to keep Dumbledore from ever letting you set foot out of the castle."
"I have Quidditch practice outside and my Magical Creatures class is outside too and I like visiting Hagrid. Besides what about Hogsmeadee?"
"Frankly Harry, I'm not sure that it would be safe for you to go to Hogsmeadee this year and you seem to have had plenty of accidents playing Quidditch."
"I love playing Quidditch! And there is no way I'm going to skip the Hogsmeadee trips. I'll use my invisibility cloak to sneak there and I'll use the Marauders Map. I'll—"
"Harry, I know I'd never be able to stop you. Whenever a Hogsmeadee visit gets posted I want you to send me an owl saying the day and when I can, I'll figure out how to meet you. I'd be injuring Gryffindor's chances for the house cup and the Quidditch Cup if I stopped you from playing. You play as well as your father. But I will be keeping an eye on you, so will Dumbledore. Between you and me, you all did a very good job checking up on Jenny."
"I trusted her, the idea of checking up on her was Hermione and Ron," admitted Harry.
"As I'm sure you heard earlier it seems no amount of spells we could try would keep you safe. You'd find away around anything that restrained you or Voldemort would discover the spells and break them to get you. Now I've had a few chats with Dumbledore. I'm not exactly sure how but he's got some protection spells on you. Voldemort can't harm you at the Dursleys and he won't harm you at Hogwarts. That's why I'm worried about Hogsmeadee and you staying with the Weasleys. Hopefully I'll see you during the visits to Hogsmeadee, but at Ron's you must be careful. Voldemort got you at the Tri-Wizard Tournament because you were transported out of Hogwarts. Once you get there don't leave. At Ron's don't go far from the house and don't go out alone. Be careful this year."
"I will, but could you tell me why Voldemort wanted to kill me fourteen years ago? It seems to be the million Galleon question that only Dumbledore can answer, and he's not telling."
"No, Harry I can't. I think your parents knew but they never told me," he sighed.
"What if I come up against Voldemort again? If I do fight Voldemort the wands will act the same again. The reverse spell thing happened last time could happen again. Should I get a new wand? Having the brother wand to the one Voldemort has shouldn't be coincidence, there has to be a reason."
"I'd love to tell you, Harry but I don't know. Bring it up when you talk to Dumbledore." Just then there was a knock at the door it opened.
Renata came in. "The Diggorys are here and my mom explained that you are here and that you are on our side. She told them that you'd tell the whole story later. Its time for both of you to come in." She led them back to room six.
Everyone was now assembled in the chairs. Harry and Sirius went and sat down together with Ron next to Harry and Professor Lupin next to Sirius. The chairs had been assembled into a circle. Across from Harry, Professor Delano rose. "I have put a privacy spell on the room to keep anyone from overhearing us. We know that our worst enemy has returned in flesh and blood. He has cost us loved ones and done much harm. We must review what we know about him recently and then decide if there is anything for us to do. We will start with his return. Harry will you tell us?"
Harry stood up and she sat down. "Professor, I think Sirius needs to tell his story first. There is a person in it who many people think is dead but in truth was one of the key people in Voldemort's return."
She stood, "Quite right. Sirius?"
As he stood both she and Harry sat down. Sirius glanced briefly at Professor Lupin, who nodded. Then Sirius began to speak. "James Potter and Remus Lupin were my best friends. Peter Pettigrew was our little tag-along. Remus is a were-wolf. But since he had magic he was eligible to come to Hogwarts. Dumbledore found a way of keeping him safe during the full moon. James and I noticed that he disappeared and soon enough we figured it out. We decided that we wanted to keep him company, if not as humans as animals. James and I became animagi and so did Peter. James was a stag, I'm a black dog, and Peter is a rat." He momentarily changed to his dog form and back. "Now here is where it gets more involved. Not many people know this but the Potters did know Voldemort was after them. A Fidelius charm was used to hide the Potters. It's when a secret is hidden inside a single person. As long as the secret keeper kept the secret and didn't reveal the Potters' hiding place Voldemort wouldn't be able to find them. I was going to be the secret keeper, but to put Voldemort off the trail I gave the job to Peter. He was a double-crossing spy! He told Voldemort where the Potters were. And Voldemort came for them. Just as Peter had shown his true colors Voldemort was destroyed.
"Peter was in a real mess. Then I realized what he had done. It was partly my fault for telling the Potters to use him as the secret keeper. I got to the house and I was going to take Harry but Hagrid was there and Dumbledore wanted Harry. I lent him my flying motorcycle and I began tracking down Peter. I found him the next day; he shouted to the street that I was the one who betrayed Lilly and James. He cut off his finger, then blew up the street and changed into his rat form disappearing into the sewer. Believe it or not it's true. He took up as the pet rat for a wizard family. When the family was featured in the Daily Prophet with Peter in the picture, he panicked. Does every one understand what I'm saying? Anyone who does, please raise your hand."
Harry, Ron, and Hermione raised their hands, as did Professors Delano and Lupin. To everyone's surprise so did Percy. "Scabbers wasn't really a rat! I kept him as a pet, before giving him to Ron. He was Pettigrew!"
"Yes. By staying with a wizard family Peter was able to keep up with the news in the wizarding world. Harry I think its time for your story."
Harry shook his head, "Almost."
"You're right. It was the summer before Ron's third year at Hogwarts when the Weasleys appeared in the Daily Prophet and when word got around that I was out of Azkaban Peter panicked. That year I came to Hogwarts looking for him, I found him, too. Everyone thought I was after Harry. When I found Pettigrew we were in the Shrieking Shack. Peter was there, and so were we. Remus, Ron, Harry, Hermione, Peter, and me were there, and we forced Peter to his human form. Harry was the only one with the right to decide what to do with Peter. He decided that we chain Peter up and take him to the school. On the way back to the school Peter escaped. He ran back to Voldemort searching for his old master. Then the Dementors came for me. Ron had a broken leg and became unconscious. Hermione passed out too. So did I. Harry managed to perform a Patronus causing the Dementors to retreat, someone came down from the school and found us. The children were taken up to the hospital wing and I was locked in a room and I confessed becoming an animagi to Dumbledore and told him about Peter. Some how or other after he left, the children helped me escape on a Hippogriff named Buckbeak. I kept in touch with them and Dumbledore. Last year, I came when Harry was transported back to Hogwarts after Voldemort had attacked him. Dumbledore tried to explain the attack to the Minister of Magic but he couldn't be reasoned with. I was sent to Remus to explain what had happened and to get help from some old friends. That's when we came in contact with Jenny again. But I think its Harry's turn now."
Sirius sat down and Harry stood. "Last year was the year that Alastor Moody, also known as 'Mad-Eye' came out of retirement to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts. Most of us thought he was the best teacher we'd had for that class other than Professor Lupin left. We didn't know that it wasn't really Moody. When Bartius Crouch sent his son to Azkaban he didn't keep him there. Crouch's wife sensed she was dying and asked that she be sent in her son's place, using Polyjuice Potion Mr. Crouch got his son out of there and left his wife in his place. All those years Mr. Crouch's son, Barty, was kept hidden under an invisibility cloak and the house-elf, Winky, took care of him. He was under the Imperius curse to keep him from causing trouble. Bertha Jorkins came in one day and discovered him. Mr. Crouch used a memory charm on her, to make her forget. Then she went to visit relatives in Albania. Pettigrew found her and brought her to Voldemort. Voldemort broke the memory charm and after getting all the information he needed, he killed her. They learned Mr. Crouch's son was still alive and willing to help, they also learned that Moody was coming out of retirement. They went to go find Barty. They positioned him at Hogwarts in place of Moody, so that someone from the Dark Side could keep an eye on me. I wasn't supposed get hurt until Voldemort could do it himself. The third event of the Tri-Wizard Tournament was the maze. The last thing in it was the giant spider. Cedric got there about the same time I did and we beat it together. My leg had been broke by it. Cedric would have reached the cup first; he could still run. He said it wasn't fair and for him to win since I helped him. I told him it wasn't fair for me to win because he helped me too. In the end we decided to grab the Cup at the same time because either way it was a Hogwarts victory." Harry's voice was close to breaking so he took a breath and a few seconds to calm himself, "Barty had bewitched the Tri-Wizard Cup and turned it into a port-key. Cedric and I were transported to a Muggle cemetery. Pettigrew appeared carrying a wizard's robe and some sort of creature. Voldemort was inside the creature and . . .he killed Cedric. Pettigrew tied me to a tombstone. He put the creature in a cauldron with a liquid in it. He recited a spell and cut off one of his arms from the elbow down; from the ground grounded bone was raised and it went in the cauldron. I think Voldemort told me it was from his father. Flesh, bone, and blood. The 'blood of his enemy' was last part in the potion that renewed Voldemort."
"Couldn't it have been any witch or wizard that was against Him?" asked Mrs. Diggory.
"Yes, it could have been the blood from any witch or wizard who hated him, but if he was to gain back all his lost power it had to be mine," Harry said.
"This could be important, so think carefully: What were the words of the spell? What happened?"
"Pettigrew dropped Voldemort into the cauldron he'd set up, it had some stuff in it already, I don't know what. I was tied to a tombstone. He raised some bones from the ground that he said belonged to Voldemort's father. He said something about them being given unknowingly. Next he cut off part of his arm and something about it being given by a servant. Then Pettigrew took a knife and cut my arm putting the blood in the liquid. 'Blood of an enemy forcibly taken you will'…something or other I can't remember the words. It was complete. He returned. Voldemort summoned the Death Eaters.
"To prove to the Death Eaters there that Voldemort was a greater wizard than me he had me untied and Pettigrew gave back my wand. We were going to duel. There was something he hadn't counted on. The Phoenix feather in my wand came from the same Phoenix as the one in Voldemort's. If brother wands are forced to fight against one another they don't work properly. Something strange happened and we were encased together in a golden orb thing and a sort of golden thread connected our wands with little I don't know, beads on the thread. The wands began to vibrate. Both of us were pushing the beads toward the other. For a while he was winning then I got a bead to touch the tip of his wand and he the spells he did came out of his wand, in reverse order.
"An echo or sort of shadow came out of the end of his wand, it was Cedric. Next came Bertha, and a Muggle he had killed. Last came my parents. They all talked to me and hissed at Voldemort circling around us inside globe. My parents told me that…and then Cedric asked me to take his body back. They also said that the shadows or ghosts or whatever they were wouldn't last long after I broke the connection. When they told me to I broke the thread and while the shadows crowded around Voldemort I ran. He was shrieking for someone to kill me. I got Cedric and the Cup and we're transported back to Hogwarts.
"Dumbledore told me to stay while he was talking to someone but the man we thought was Moody took me up to the school. He wanted to know what happened and he was very upset when I told him that Voldemort forgave the Death Eaters. He wanted to kill me but then Dumbledore, Snape, and McGonagall came in and knocked him out. We found the real Moody hidden in his trunk. When the Polyjuice Potion wore off we saw who it really was. Under the influence of truth potion Barty told his story. I told mine to Dumbledore in his office where Sirius was waiting for us. Moody was brought to the hospital wing and Fudge came for Barty. He came with Dementors and they performed the Kiss on Barty. When Dumbledore brought Sirius—as a dog—and me to the hospital wing Mrs. Weasley, Bill, Ron, and Hermione were waiting. McGonagall and the minister came in. Dumbledore was quite upset that Barty's story was lost and the Minister wouldn't believe Dumbledore or me. Fudge wouldn't believe me because Rita Skeeter wrote that I was mentally unstable and since it was in the paper he believed it. He didn't listen to Dumbledore because he just couldn't accept it; it was just too awful to be true. After that Fudge just left and Dumbledore began figuring out whom to call. Bill contacted his dad. Sirius went to see Lupin. And Professor Snape went somewhere. I think Hagrid went to act as ambassador to the giants so we could get them before Voldemort did. That's about where my story ends. This summer Ron, Hermione, and I came here to stay a few days and buy our new school things. We met Professor Delano and now we're all here."
Professor Delano stood up. "We know our problem is to get rid of Voldemort; hopefully for good. We have reviewed all the facts. Now we know what our goal is there is just one question left: How?"