By: Sailoranime
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Disclaimer: See the disclaimers for the last five chapters.
AN: Inspiration struck. I quite feel I shouldn't be writing author notes. It seems after almost three years of writing fanfiction, I've run out of things to say.
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Sirius wasn't quite sure what time it was when he woke up, but judging from the sunlight streaming in through the windows, he though it must have been around mid-day. Had he been asleep for almost a whole day? He sat up straight, not paying attention to how sore he was. Why in god's name was he sore?
He looked over to the bed where Remus had lain, to find it empty. All the other beds where empty too, except for the one holding the red-headed boy whose leg he had broken only days before. His musings were interrupted by someone clearing her throat. He looked up to find the nurse standing by the curtains. That's what had woken him up, the noise from the curtains.
"About time you woke up. Normally I'd encourage resting, but you've been asleep a while, and you need to take a few potions."
Sirius nodded, not sure he could have spoken even if he had tried. She walked quickly to her office and came back with a tray of food and some water. She set the tray down on his lap, and Sirius was forced to eat. He was hungry, certainly, but he felt reluctant to eat. He raised the spoon to his mouth slowly, eyeing the soup withs something like distaste. His hopes of just pretending to eat until she left were dashed as he realized she was going to stay until he fiinished or, at the very least, ate a decent amount.
He took a few spoonfuls of the soup and a few chunks of bread. The food had tasted much better than he had expected, and it was easier to eat once he had started. He turned to the nurse, dunking a piece of bread into the soup in hopes of softening it.
"Where's Remus?"
"Left last night. I told him to get more rest, but he said he needed to talk to Dumbledore." she interpreted Sirius's expression correctly, because she pursed her lips. "Don't you think about getting up! We have a long way to go before you can even get out of here for anything other than showers."
Sirius took another piece of bread and looked at it thoughtfully. "When am I due for my next bath, then?"
"Don't even think about it! I will stand guard outside the bathroom myself, I assure you, if you decide to take a little detour."
Sirius scowled, and took a bite out of his bread. She sat in the chair next to his bed, her expression suggesting he finish his food.
He wasn't able to eat the whole thing, however, but he managed to eat more than the day before. The only thing that he managed to finish was the water. He drank it quickly, and Madame Pomfrey instantly poured him out some more, looking at him approvingly for the first time.
She took the tray away after he had eaten as much as his stomach would allow. He'd been afraid she would try to spoon-feed him, but she hadn't. She then strode to her office and came back holding several potions. She handed him two, and he drank them down, absently remembering something about Snape being the potions master. She handed him another one that tasted slightly better than the previous two.
"What are those for?" he asked after the fourth potion. She sighed and handed him a fifth bottle.
"The first four are for the malnutrition," she handed him a sixth and seventh bottle. "The next three are vitamins. These two," she handed him a couple more, "are to cleanse your system and to get you back to normal."
Sirius drank the potions, hoping Snape had not brewed them especially for him. There were still three potions left on the small table. He picked up the smallest one and drank it in one gulp. "And these?"
One is the dreamless sleep potion, the other is to prevent certain side effects two of the other potions have when taken together."
"What about the one I just took?" he asked, a small frown on his face.
She glanced at him, but did not meet his eyes. His idea that she had merely given it to him to make it a round dozen disappeared, and was replaced with suspicions. He was quite sure the potion was too keep him mentally stable or something of the sort. He drank the second to last bottle slowly, not really eager to go back to sleep. After finishing it, he picked up the dreamlees sleep potion and swirled it around in the bottle for a bit.
Resigning himself to more sleep, he raised to his lips to drink it, but was interrupted by a small shriek. "I had forgotten! Wait here." Madame Pomfrey walked back to her office and came back with a bit of parchment. He closed the curtains around his bed again, and handed his the letter.
"This arrived earlier today. It's for you. Drink your potion after you read it." Sirius nodded. Madame Pomfrey looked him over, fluffed up his pillow and tucked the blankets around him so tightly he was quite sure he wouldn't be able to move. She looked him up and down again and shook her head, muttering something under her breath as she moved the curtains aside to step outside.
Sirius was pleasantly surprised to see that the letter wasn't from the ministry as he'd expected, but from Harry. He slowly unfolded it, his stomach gave a lurch as he realized even Harry's writing was a little like James'. 'Sirius Black' was written neatly and carefully at the top.
'I heard Professor Lupin didn't show up to teach his class, so Hermione was wondering if he's alright. She said Madame Pomfrey isn't letting anyone into the hospital wing. We just got released this morning, but she wouldn't tell us anything. McGonagall told us we could miss class today, but she wouldn't let me go see Dumbledore. She assured me that you were still alive and unsoul-less, though, so I assume the thing with Fudge went okay. It did, didn't it? They're not just waiting a while to suck your soul, are they?
I'm going to give this to Hedwig to deliver, so I hope Madame Pomfrey won't kill me. I don't think she's fond of having animals in the hospital wing. I'd try to deliver it myself, but I know it's no use. I have to visit Hagrid, anyway. The ministry executed one of his hippogriffs yesterday. He's probably feeling very down. Hope you're okay and Madame Pomfrey isn't keeping you asleep 24/7. She tries to do that to me alot.'
Sirius read over the last part of the first paragraph, feeling as if a great weight had been lifted off his shoulders. At the same time, he felt guilty. He'd been reading between the lines, considering Harry's choice of wording.
'I heard Professor Lupin didn't show up to teach his class, so Hermione was wondering if he's alright.' That line alone spoke volumes to him. He didn't know Harry very well, but his meaning was too clear. He didn't particularly care what happened to him. Sirius knew it was just a phase. Harry had been shocked at Remus's actions, he was angry. Sirius just hoped he could talk to Harry before Remus did. He'd have to be careful, though, because Harry might turn on him too if he acted like he was on Remus's side.
'Hope you're okay and Madame Pomfrey isn't keeping you asleep 24/7. She tries to do that alot.' He almost felt guilty reading that line. It seemed pretty clear what Harry was doing. Whenever he wrote anything that revealed his emotions in the least, a change of subject would immediately follow. He tried to straighten up to call Madame Pomfrey, but noticed some parchment and a quill on the table at the last minute. He grinned, unsurprised at how prepared she seemed to be. He cleared his dishes off the food tray and used it as a table so he could write on the parchment neatly.
It was only after writing the first sentence or so that he realized it would probably be easier to write if he used the side of the tray that had no fancy patterns and carvings. He turned it around and kept writing. Halfway through the letter, he heard Madame Pomfrey calling from her office.
"After you're done, just set it on the table and I'll send it back with the owl."
The letter, considering its length, took a long time to write. He'd been working on it for more than an hour when he finally re-read it and rolled it up, satisfied. He set it down on the table as she had intructed him, and then got himself comfortable. With one last look at the letter, he drank the dreamless sleep potion and drifted off to sleep.
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Harry chased his bread around his plate with his fork, no longer hungry. Hermione was sitting in front of him, reading the daily prophet and eating at the same time. She gave a small gasp and dropped her spoon.
"What is it?" Harry asked curiously. Hermione folded the newspaper and handed it to Harry, pointing at a small paragraph in the middle of the page.
The press was shocked yesterday when the Minister of Magic announced that the search for Sirius Black had been ended. He claims that Black is no longer considered a priority. He refuses to answer any questions about it for the time being, but assures the public that more information will be released at a later date. His claims that Sirius Black is no longer on the loose have started rumors that the ministry has already caught him, but are keeping it a secret.
Harry stared at Hermione. "They can't have him, can they? McGonagall said-"
"Don't worry, Harry." Hermione answered, shaking her head. "Sirius is probably fine. What would be the point of searching for Sirius if they already know where he is?"
"I don't know," began Harry, "what if they took him back to Azkaban instead of giving him the kiss?"
"McGonagall said he was fine, and I doubt she lied to us, Harry. Besides, you already sent him a letter. Hedwig would have come back with your letter by now if she hadn't found Sirius. It's been more than five hours."
"What if she did? We haven't been in the common room all day, and I sent that letter after breakfast. Besides," Harry continued, "If we sneak into the hospital wing with the invisibility cloak we can find out what happened and check on Ron."
"Don't you think we should check if Hedwig's back first?"
Harry sighed. "Fine. We'll check first."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "I'm sure he's fine. We won't be able to visit Hagrid, though, you know?"
Harry frowned. "We can visit him tomorrow. I mean, I know what happened to Buckbeak is horrible, but this is really important. We could have gone earlier like we planned if McGonagall hadn't caught us and told us to go back to Gryffindor Tower."
Hermions sighed. "Fine, come on." She stood up and stuck the newspaper in her ever-present bookbag. They made their way to Gryffindor tower.
"I know you're worried, Harry, but I think you're over-reacting."
Harry did not answer, so Hermione kept talking. "I'm worried... Well, Harry, don't take this the wrong way, but you're getting your hopes up."
Harry stoped and turned to face her. "What do you mean?"
"Well, I know it's unfair, but don't you think it's dangerous for you to be too attached to Sirius? Assuming Fudge agreed to give him a trial, there's still the possibility he won't be cleared. If-" Hermion's voice broke slightly, "if they find him guilty..." she trailed off.
"They can't not clear him." Harry finally answered, walking again.
"Oh, Harry! That's why I didn't want to say anything! Now you're mad."
"I'm not mad." he answered, shaking his head, "But I know he'll be cleared. He's got Dumbledore on his side."
"Dumbledore isn't almighty, Harry. He can only do so much. If they did find Sirius guilty, the most he could probably do would be to help him escape somehow."
"They have to clear him, Hermione." Harry said stubbornly. "Besides," he added darkly, "they've even got Pettigrew's body to prove it."
Hermione did not answer, instead she gave the fat lady the password, and they both ran up the stairs to the boys' dormitories. Both Harry and Hermione got a feeling of dread as they saw Hedwig sitting on Harry's bed with a scroll of parchment tied to her leg. Harry took a look at the parchment, and his face lit up.
"That's not my letter!" he muttered excitedly as he moved towards Hedwig to untie the letter. "I folded mine, this is rolled up!"
He untied the letter and barely remembered to thank Hedwig before she flew off. 'Harry' was written on the outside, and it looked as if the person had had a hard time time writing it neatly. Hermione cleared her throat and opened her mouth to speak, but Harry interrupted her.
"Don't be stupid, of course you can read it too." Hermine grinned and sat down next to him on the bed.
Harry-
I'm almost afraid to ask how you are so well acquainted with Madame Pomfrey's method for healing her patients. Yes, she is making me sleep a lot, and I'm taking 12 different potions. Hagrid's hippogriff was killed? Are you sure? I'm certain Remus and I saw one yesterday. It was wandering around in the forest, and it had a rope around it's neck like it had been tied up and had broken free. It was quite a challenge keeping Moony away from it.
I don't know where Remus is, but he's probably okay. I'm told he left the hospital wing last night to talk to Dumbledore. I'm glad you two are out of here, it's really a bore. I'm really sorry about what happened that night. I should have been with you kids instead of going off with Remus, but my priority was keeping him away from you. I never thought the dementors would show up.
I'm not quite sure how Madame Pomfrey feels about animals in here, but she hates dirt. She made me take a bath and shave before ushering me into a bed. It's really a shame, because the beard was the only thing that made me look less like a corpse. I'm really sorry I scared you back in the shrieking shack. I was acting stupid. I shouldn't have broken your friend's leg or tried to strangle you, but I knew you wouldn't hear me out unless I got Peter and proved to you that I was telling the truth.
I wouldn't exactly say the 'thing with Fudge' went well, but it was okay. He had to agree to give me a trial, after all. He hasn't set a date for the trial, though. He said it'll be sometime in July. Don't be mad at Remus, Harry. Pettigrew... it's complicated. We really need to talk, Harry. Maybe Madame Pomfrey will let me out soon. Meanwhile, take care of yourself.
Harry got up and moved over to the desk, taking out some parchment and a quill. Hermione looked at him nervously.
"Harry, are you angry? What are you doing?"
"I'm writing back."
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Okay, nothing to say, really. I'm really worried about my lack of comments. Oh, I saw 'The Mummy' today. You know, now I realize who I based my mental image of Pettigrew on! The 'Beni' guy is a perfect Wormtail. Well, exceot for the non-blonde and skinny thing. Eh, that's all for today.