The Great Hall was alive with a buzz. Though a lot of them hadn't been there, every student now knew what had happened in Hogsmeade. Harry sat at the Gryffindor table with Sirius at his side, both of them very refreshed from cleaning themselves up. Sirius had quickly cut his hair short and shaved, which made Harry recognize him as the man in his parents' wedding photo. It was a big change from what he was used to seeing.
Ron sat next to Harry with every member of the Weasley family sitting around him. Mrs. Weasley got teary-eyed at the thought of how brave her children had been against the Dark Lord and she kept blowing her nose loudly into a handkerchief.
Hermione sat with Lupin and Moody. She had gotten on the conversation of Aurors and all the training they had to go through. They were happy to tell her how difficult it would be, since becoming an Auror was very hard work. She found it fascinating, since she was not going in that field, herself.
Dumbledore sat at the staff table, talking to Professor McGonagall about something that made them both give a giggle. None of the students had seen either of them act this way and they only figured that it as because of the previus night's events.
Professor Bronte sat at the head table as well, though not speaking to anyone. She was too deep in though to say a word. Everyone was used to her not talking, but even tonight, she seemed more pale than she had ever looked. Only Harry, Dumbledore, and Sirius knew the reason why.
Then, Dumbledore stood up and the entire room silenced. "Another year has come to a close," he began. "This year has been difficult for all of us, I know, but last night, I realized that I was very proud of you all. As I'm sure you already know, Lord Voldemort had attacked the village of Hogsmeade." A few students winced at the name, but their attention was still on Dumbledore.
"But, we were able to stop him from doing too much damage to our favorite village. A group of students who call themselves my army helped to defeat the Dark Lord. They fought very bravely and I can only think how proud of them I am… These students will receive special honors from the school of Hogwarts as well as from the Ministry of Magic."
There was a loud round of applause which, Dumbledore noticed, made all of the members of the D.A. blush. "You may be wondering," he began again, "what happened to Voldemort. He was escorted by a team of highly specialized wizards to Azkaban Prison where the Dementors performed their kiss immediately… The Dark Lord is finally gone!"
There was a thunderous roar of applause as every person in the Great Hall stood up and cheered. Dumbledore waited for them to quiet down, for him to finish his speech. "I have another announcement… As many of you have noticed, we have one of many guests in our company and I ask him to please stand up." Dumbledore looked directly at Sirius who slowly stood up. There were loud gasps heard throughout the hall as those on the other side of the room stood up to see who the guest was. Sirius sat back down before the headmaster began his speech.
"Sirius Black was convicted of a murderous crime that he did not commit and he is our honored guest tonight, for I have just received a letter from the Minister of Magic. The letter states that he has cleared Sirius of all charges, due to a letter sent to him early this morning. In that letter, there was a confession from the man who framed Sirius and how he did it…" Dumbledore continued for a few more minutes, which Harry didn't pay attention to.
"Why didn't he say who framed you, Sirius?" The older man shrugged.
"Maybe Peter asked that his name be left out."
"But, why did he write the letter in the first place?" Ron asked.
"Harry saved his life, Ron and it must mean that he returned the favor by letting me off the hook." Sirius explained, turning back at the staff table. He glanced at Professor Bronte for only a second to see that she was still lost in though. She quickly looked up and her turned his attention back to Dumbledore.
"Tuck in!" The headmaster exclaimed as mountains of food appeared on the golden plates in front of them. Sirius ate so quickly that it was as if he hadn't eaten in months.
"Mm! This is so much better than rats." He said. A few other Gryffindors looked at him with a disgusted look.
"Sirius, please, I would actually like to keep this meal down." Ron spoke up.
"Sorry. I just haven't eaten this good in a year and a half."
"Being that hawk was terrible, wasn't it?" Hermione asked.
"At times, yes, but other times I kind of liked it." Only Harry noticed that Sirius glanced up at the teacher's table once again.
"Sirius?" Sirius turned his attention back to his godson. "What happened between you and Professor Bronte?"
"She told you?" He asked.
"Yeah, she did." Harry looked down at his plate, not feeling hungry anymore. "She told me that you two were going to get married. She told me that you two had this really bad fight…" He trailed off, slightly.
"She told you about that, huh?" Harry nodded. "Did she tell you what the fight was about?"
"Not exactly… What was it about?"
"You."
"Me?" Sirius nodded, taking a large bite out of a chicken thigh. "What about me?"
"It's not really important, Harry."
"I know. I just want to know."
"All right… She was afraid that I was going to be a bad influence on you as you grew up. I told her she was just being stupid…"
"You called her stupid?" Hermione asked offensively, helping herself to some rice.
"I didn't mean to. It just slipped out."
"Then, what happened?" Harry asked.
"She put a vampiric curse on me." He said, laughing slightly. "It's nothing to laugh at, really." He quickly cleared his throat.
"There's no such thing as a vampiric curse." Hermione spoke up. "They don't even use magic."
"They have their own, Hermione." Sirius said.
"That's true." Harry said.
"How do you know?" Sirius asked.
"She used this spell, last night. You were conked out at the time, though."
"Are you sure that's what it was, though?" Ron asked.
"Positive. She reflected the Avada Kadavra curse that Voldemort used on her."
"That's probably what it was. Did she speak in Romanian?" Sirius asked.
"I think so. She was muttering. But her eyes were glowing red and I was able to see her fangs." Sirius took a drink from his goblet, before taking a roll and shoving it into his mouth, whole. Hermione cringed slightly at the sight.
"I've never read anywhere that vampires use magic." Hermione said.
"Well, they don't really want people to know that, do they?" Sirius asked, wiping his mouth on his napkin.
"So, what's so funny about this curse?" Harry asked, trying to get back to the story.
"Well, nothing, really. She put a curse on me that only lasted a week… I can't remember what it did, though." He laughed again.
"Did you ever think about her while you were in Azkaban?" Hermione asked, thinking that, in some strange way, this was romantic.
"I did until the thoughts of her were sucked out of me, if that's what you mean." Hermione's eyes went wide. It slipped her mind that that was what happened when you were put into Azkaban. She even muttered an apology, which Sirius never heard.
"If you could, would you make up with her?" Sirius looked up at the staff table again, not pulling away when he saw that she was looking at him and Harry. She was the one who quickly looked away.
"I guess. That is, if she would take me back."
****
The feast ended sooner than everyone wanted it to. The students headed up to their dormitories while most of the members of the Order traveled home. Mr. And Mrs. Weasley would be at King's Cross to welcome them the next day.
Dumbledore arranged a room for Sirius who would travel home with Harry on the train, for which Sirius was grateful.
Soon the castle was quiet with the sounds of sleep.
