Chapter 6: Eggs, Vermin, and the Dubious Ronald Weasley

Harry piled some scrambled eggs on to his plate and proceeded to inhale his breakfast. The girls watched wide-eyed.

"Good Morning everyone!" Professor Dumbledore rose to face the school. "This evening you will be meeting your new, hopefully permanent, Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. I expect that the person who is taking this job will stun many of you and will lead to some questions. On that note, I am postponing classes for today so as to have you listen to the Wizard Wireless. I think my choice will become clear to you before the end of the day. One more thing, but this will be quick and meant for only one person. Mr. Potter, I need to speak with you as I have some wonderful news about a vermin problem." Dumbledore chuckled at his own little joke. The rest of the school chatted fervently about the postponing of classes.

Harry thought for a moment, and then proceeded to spit a whole mouthful of eggs across the table onto Ron.

"You bloody jerk. What the hell is your problem?"

"If he means what I think he means, than - I tell you when I get back," he blurted as he jumped out of his seat. Harry ran to the head table, his bright green eyes glinting with delight, bouncing softly on the balls of his feet with excitement.

"Yes Mr. Potter, what I said was true. They finally found Scabbers and he confessed to everything. Do you want to go tell him, or should I?" Dumbledore's blue eyes twinkled.

"YES! I mean, no, I mean I'll go right now!" Harry tore out of the Great Hall back to Gryffindor Tower.

"Now what was that all about?" Ginny wondered out loud. Everyone else shrugged, until Hermione let out a squeak.

"What's up Mione?"

"Well, Ron, think. Vermin. The Wizard Wireless. A new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher that Dumbledore thinks we'll find weird." Ron looked blankly at Hermione. "Jeez, Ron!"

"OH!" Ginny gasped, as she finally understood. Ginny giggled with delight. "You think he means it?"

"Means what? Guys, C'mon!" Ron looked at them helplessly. Hermione kissed him on the cheek and ruffled his hair.

"Wormtail, Ron! They must have found him, and he must have confessed everything."

"And that means that Snuffles is clear, right?" The girls nodded. "That must mean - Snuffles is going to be our new DADA teacher!" The whole Great Hall looked at Ron with surprise. Ron blushed furiously under everyone's gaze. Dumbledore laughed out loud at this outburst and rose.

"Alright ladies and gentlemen. To your common rooms," Dumbledore announced. The students got up and walked to their common rooms, shooting glances at a very embarrassed Ron Weasley.

*~*~*

A very excited Harry Potter ran through the wet hallways to the secret passageway. He banged hard on the entrance to the passageway.

"Sirius! Siiiiiirrrrrriiiiiuuussssssss!" Harry literally pounded on the door with all his might.

Sirius' head lifted from his hands quickly as he heard his godson pounding on the door. He got up slowly, wiped away the remaining tears in his eyes, and opened the door.

Harry launched himself onto Sirius.

"Theyfoundpeterandheconfessedanddumbledorewantsyoutoteachdefenseagainsttheda rkarts!"

"Harry, slow down. What was that?"

"Sirius, they found Peter! And he confessed everything, from being the secret-keeper to killing all those muggles and helping Voldemort. And now, Dumbledore wants you to be our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher!"

"What?! You're kidding me. Oh Harry, this is spectacular!" Sirius enveloped Harry in a bone-crushing hug and tears ran from both of their faces.

*~*

Hermione looked at Ginny.

"What is it with Potters and redheads?" Hermione giggled at her own question. "I mean Harry's mother was one, and his grandmother, and great- grandmother, and -"

"Alright, Hermione dear, we get it. And we don't know any better than you do," Ron answered.

The three friends walked into the 7th year boys' dorm. Ginny hopped onto Harry's bed and snuggled under the covers, taking in the Harry-ness of it all. She reached over to his desk and picked up a framed picture of his parents. Harry's parents waved furiously at her, huge smiles on their faces, as if they knew exactly who she was. Ginny giggled lightly.

"What's so funny Gin?" Ron asked.

"Oh nothing. Just looking at this picture of Harry's parents. If they were alive, I wonder if they would like me. Like as Harry's girlfriend and such."

The others shrugged.

Ginny decided to pilfer through Harry's drawers for a while, leaving Ron and Hermione some time to talk. The first drawer held nothing but parchment. The second drawer, though, held a worn, leather-bound journal. Ginny was wary to touch it, as she had learned in her first year the dangers of journals. But then she noticed the name on the front, embossed in flaking, gold cursive. Sirius S. Black. She picked up the journal, noticing all the stains on the front. Something that looked like hair bleach, something really deep green, 4 or 5 hexmarks, and quite a number of fist shaped dents. She picked the book up, figuring Harry wouldn't mind if she read it, and started toward the door.

"Guys, I'm leaving. Going back to my room." There was no answer from the bed that held Ron and Hermione, so Ginny figured it really didn't matter much where she was. She made a retching noise and walked out to her room.

She cuddled into her bed covers and opened to the first page. It was blank, but writing started to appear in Sirius' messy scroll.

**Ginny, what did you learn last time you opened a journal?**

This one was so different. It knew who she was, and what had happened. She reached for a quill. Writing began to appear again.

**You can just talk to me. You don't need to write. But it's ok. You don't have to respond to that last question. Since it's me, I figure you can trust me. So what's up?**

"Um, not much. Why does Harry have your journal?" Ginny felt rather stupid talking to the book. If you asked her, Tom Riddle's was much less embarrassing. But than again, it was 10 times as bad.

**I gave it to him. I figured he could read about me and his father and mother while we were at school. James always wanted to see my journal, so I figured I'd spite him and only let his son read it.**

"Sirius Black, you are such a hell raiser," Ginny laughed.

**Ginny Weasley, you have no idea.**

"Sirius, I was wondering. Do you think Harry's parents would have liked me? Like, would it have been cool with them that we were seeing each other?" Ginny figured she mine as well find out.

**Ginny if you could hear me right now, I'd be laughing. Of course they would have. You're so much like Lily, it's uncanny. Except for the temper. And you never hated Harry like Lily hated James in the beginning. But that boy, he never gave up. Worked that Potter charm til it just about killed her. He was such a ladies man, James. But never wanted anything to do with a single one but Lils.**

Ginny giggled at the thought of Lily hating James Potter. From what she had heard, their love was infamous. Not a single Professor here hadn't known about the two of them.

"Hey Sirius. Feel like telling a story? About when you were in school?"

**Um, sure, I guess so. Let's see. Well there was that time we all snuck out of school at like midnight for James' 17th birthday. We ran Hogsmeade into the ground that night. James got so plastered that night that Remus Lupin and I had to drag the boy home. But the six of us, Remus, James, Lily, Peter Pettigrew, Arabella Figg and I, were at the Three Broomsticks treating James to his first Ogdeon's Firewhiskey, and in walks Dumbledore, McGonegall, and Flitwick. We dove under that table so fast I think the entire bar shook. So there we were, hiding under this table, and Madame Rosemerta is all like trying to keep the teachers away from the table so they don't find us, when all of a sudden, Lils sneezes.

The teachers were the only ones in the bar so they didn't know what the hell was going on. So Rosemerta sits them down as fast as possible and begins moving tables around in front of our table and says she's just cleaning up. Little did the rest of us sober people know, James had drunken the whole bottle of Firewhiskey while we hiding there. So we were under the table for about an hour and the teachers got up to leave. We were almost home free, but as they were walking out the door, Jamesy Boy jumps up from under the table singing "Happy Birthday" to himself.

So Lils goes to pull him back under the table again until the professors get out the door, yanks too hard, and down come James' pants. So James was standing there, in his boxers and a shirt singing "Happy Birthday" to himself. Well, Dumbledore, being the nice, kind and crazy old man that he is, pushes McGonegall and Flitwick out the door, into the carriage they took over there and tells them that he needs to talk to Rosemerta for a little while and he'll be back later.

So, Albus walks back in, just as James is coming to his big finale, pulls up a chair, puts his head in his hands and starts laughing. The rest of us poke our heads out and watch Dumbledore laughing. So to make a long story short, Dumbledore sat down and joined us for a while, getting a bit tipsy himself, and then left without so much as a threat of detention.**

Ginny was dying. She clutched her sides, tears streaming from her face. She looked back at the book but saw the words still writing.

**Well hello there Harry. I just was telling Ginny a story. A very good one at that.**

Ginny spun around and saw her boyfriend with a half smile on his face. "I see that Sirius. Enjoying yourself?"

"Very much so," she sputtered, trying to control her laughing.

"Alright, Sirius, I'm closing this now. I have to give my girlfriend here a stern talking to."

**Don't be too hard on her Harry. She was just curious. I was just talking about your dad and mum. She asked if they would like her, so I figured I'd let her in on one of the Marauders little secrets. **

Harry slammed the book closed and threw it. Ginny looked at Harry as if she expected him to yell at her. But instead, he climbed into her bed and pulled her on his lap, giving her an excited kiss.

"Mmm, maybe I should break the rules more often," Ginny teased, somewhat breathless from the kiss.

"Oh, Ginny, silly, what's mine is yours too. No need to worry about that at all. But, Ginny, I'm so excited. They found -"

"Peter, I figured. I saw you bouncing like a first year up there in front of Dumbledore. That's so amazing. Now you can see Sirius all the time, and he's going to teach here."

"Oh Ginny, I knew you'd be as excited as I am. You're so perfect, you know that?"

"Perfect? Bah! I'm as flawed as a Bubotuber!" Ginny laughed

"What are you talking about, Ginny Weasley? You are Beautiful. Practically Perfect in everyway, just like Mary Poppins."

"Who?" Ginny looked at Harry with wonderment.

"It's a Muggle movie. Aunt Petunia made Dudley and I watch it last summer. And the nanny, Mary Poppins, always says she's "Practically Perfect in everyway"."

"Comparing me to a nanny are we, Mister Potter?" Ginny asked with mock anger.

"Only if you wear one of those sexy little French maid costumes for me." Harry grinned mischievously, put his arms around Ginny's neck and kissed her deeply. They only stopped when they heard a knock on the door.