AN: Sorry this took so long to get up! It was already written but I kinda forgot about this fic. Please review!
Chapter Two:
Mrs. Figg
Standing there were Harry's godfather Sirius Black and past Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Remus Lupin.
"Sirius, Professor Lupin what are you doing here?" Harry asked.
"Hello Harry, long time no see." Professor Lupin said to Harry cheerfully. Lupin looked very tired as he normally did, but still had a smile on his face. Professor Lupin had been their Defense Against the Dark Arts professor in Harry's third year. Lupin was an old school friend of Harry's father. He had taught Harry to fend off a dementor in his third year. He was a werewolf, but the best professor that Harry's ever had.
"Hi Harry," Sirius said with a grin on his face.
"What are you two doing here. . . how did you get here - Mrs. Figg - not supposed to know about magic - Mrs. Figg - here - does she know who you two are. . . Harry said frantically, but Mrs. Figg cut him off.
"Harry, calm down. Yes, I know who Remus and Sirius are."
"But. . . but you're not a witch - are you? Harry stammered out. "How could you know them?
"Yes, I am a witch and I've known them for quite a while."
"But how?"
"When you're parents died I was, well - how should I say this?. . . I was your protector in a way."
"Protector? What do you mean?"
"Well, I guess I'll start at the beginning. Your parents knew that Voldemort was after them, so they went into hiding. They used the Fidelious Charm, and that scum Pettigrew as their secret keeper. As you may already know."
"Yeah, I knew that."
"Harry, please don't interrupt me when I'm speaking."
"Sorry Mrs. Figg."
"It's all right dear. Now back to the story. Right, well they went into hiding and so did Sirius, Remus, several others who knew the Potters, and I. Well, Voldemort. . . well he. . . he. . . he came and. . . and. . ." and Mrs. Figg became all choked up and didn't continue. Professor Lupin pulled a handkerchief out of the pocket of his shabby robes and gave it to Mrs. Figg who looked like she was on the verge of crying. "Thank you, Remus."
"Welcome, Arabella"
Mrs. Figg paused to blow her nose and then continued. "Well, you know what he did. Once Dumbledore figured out what happened and that you lived, he thought you would need protection. So he stationed me on Durpick Drive, just a few blocks away from where you would be staying with the Dursley's. So if Voldemort was to come to try to cause harm, I would be able to protect you."
"Arabella is a very powerful witch," Sirius added. "She's the best witch in the country, as far as I know."
"Very good with spells and charms, Arabella is," Lupin chimed in.
"Thank you boys."
"Then if I needed so much protection how come I couldn't come and live with you, Sirius? How come I had to stay with the Dursleys? I mean you are my godfather after all."
"I'm getting there Harry. I'm getting there," Mrs. Figg said. "Now, Dumbledore gave the Dursleys a letter when he brought you to them. It explained that they would have to be your guardians because of your parents death."
"That still doesn't explain why I couldn't stay with Sirius."
"The letter said that the Dursleys should be in contact with me and to leave you with me whenever they had an outing," Mrs. Figg said as if she hadn't hear Harry.
"Did the Dursleys know that you were a witch? The Dursleys hate anything to do with magic," Harry added.
"No, the Dursleys didn't know that I was a witch and they still don't know. Now stop interrupting me."
"Sorry."
"It's all right, dear. I know you have lots of questions that you want answered. . ." Mrs. Figg stopped talking because of a loud popping noise. She looked around to see where the noise had come from. There were four glasses in front of Sirius that hadn't been there before. Harry recognized the smell of it right way. Only one drink he knew of had a smell like butterscotch and honey.
"Sorry," Sirius said as he put his wand back in the pocket of his robes and passed everyone a glass of warm butterbeer.
"Thanks Sirius," Lupin said as Sirius passed him a glass of butterbeer.
"Thank you," Mrs. Figg said.
"Thanks. I love this stuff." Harry said licking his lips as he was passed his warm steaming glass.
"You couldn't go and stay with Sirius even though that he is your godfather because you would always be safer if you were staying with blood relatives."
"And the fact that the I was shortly going to be put into Azkaban," Sirius added with a grimace.
"Why would I be safer?"
"You would be safer because it's a very powerful charm when your guardians are blood relatives. Somewhat like the charm that took place when your mother sacrificed her life for you. It's one of those very powerful spells that happen without an incantation. One that just happens with your actions. So anyway, I put protection charms on the Dursleys house so you would be even safer than you already were. Of course it's very hard to keep Voldemort away."
"Did the Dursley's know that you were putting charms on their house?"
"No, they didn't. I put the spells on the house while they were out shopping, getting that brat of a son Dudley tons of toys and sweets. That boy's already as wide as a yard stick. A couple of years ago he ran me over with his ruddy bicycle. I nearly pulled out my wand and cursed him. Rotten child." Harry tried to stop from grinning but it was impossible, he grinned almost as wide as when he found out he'd be leaving the Dursley's to go to Hogwarts.
"Arabella, calm yourself," Sirius said. "Excuse me everyone. I have to go to the restroom. Where is it Harry?"
"Up the stairs. First door on your left," Harry said still grinning. Sirius nodded and got up from his chair and went up the stairs.
Everyone went quiet for a moment except for Mrs. Figg who was mumbling under her breath phrases like "Rotten child. . . Idiot boy. . . Nearly ran me over. . . Large as an elephant." Harry took a sip of his Butterbeer. It had seemed like ages since he had felt the warm, butterscotch beverage slide down his throat.
Finally Lupin broke the silence. "So Harry how have you been? I read about your win of the Triwizard Tournament in the Daily Prophet. You would make James proud."
"Thanks. I've been okay I guess. I still feel awful about what happened to Cedric though. I told him to take the cup with me. It's all my fault," Harry sighed.
"It's not all your fault. Don't blame yourself, Harry. If it's anyone's fault, it's Voldemort's. All those people he's killed. All those people. . ." and Lupin broke off in mid-sentence.
"Remus is right Harry. It really wasn't your fault. Don't blame yourself for what that foul, evil, son of a serpent did to Cedric. It wasn't your fault. I believe your father would of done the same as you."
"I still feel terrible though. He never even did anything. He didn't deserve to die."
"The innocent were always the first ones to die," Mrs. Figg sighed. "Now that Voldemort is getting stronger the past seems like it will relive itself. I just hope we can stop it this time." Mrs. Figg shuddered.
"It was dark times. Dark, dark times. He took over nearly everything. The ministry couldn't stop him. No one thought anyone could. There were over 100 killings a week both wizard and muggle. There was torturing every minute. It was either side with him or die trying to fight him. Many people went into hiding, but it was nearly impossible to hide from him. Almost everyone you knew either joined him, was in hiding, being controlled, or dead." Lupin gave a shudder as he said the last word.
"But . . . you all lived. Some people lived. Didn't they?" Harry asked.
"Of course some people lived Harry. But just going through that experience, even if nothing happened to you. Just knowing how terrible of a thing had happened. How scared everyone was. You couldn't even sleep at night. Afraid that if you did, when you woke up you would find a hooded figure standing over you, giving you the killing curse," Mrs. Figg said trembling.
"Why does everyone look like someone died?" Sirius had just came back into the kitchen with a confused look on his face.
"We were just telling Harry how things were when Voldemort was powerful," Mrs. Figg said with a deep sigh.
Sirius' face immediately sunk into a frown. "Oh. Who would have thought that what stopped him was a baby boy barely even one years old?" Sirius said with a very weak smile on his face.
"But a one year old boy did. The killing curse bounced off you and on to him, because of the fact that you're mother died to save you." Lupin said.
"But, why didn't he die?" Harry asked despretly.
"Well Harry, no one really knows for sure. Some people think it's because he didn't have enough human in him to die. His ambition was to become immortal. To defeat death. He never really became immortal, but with all of his failed attempts I guess it was enough to keep the killing curse from defeating him," Mrs. Figg said with a grimace. "It's a pity it didn't though. If anyone deserves that death, it's him."
There was a sound of a car's rumbling engine from the street. Then the engine stopped rumbling and then there was a sound of a door slamming shut.
"The Dursleys! Their back! You all have to leave, now!" Harry said in a panic.
"Bye Harry," Sirius said quickly, then a slight pop and he was gone.
"Bye Harry. I'll be seeing you soon," Lupin said and with another slight pop he was gone also.
"Better get rid of these glasses," Mrs. Figg said. "Ridsapearo!" and with a flick of her wand they were gone. Mrs. Figg quickly put her wand in her pocket.
"Better get on your hands and knees and pretend to be cleaning the floor." Harry nodded and got on the floor and started to pretend to be picking up crumbs off the kitchen floor while Mrs. Figg began barking out orders. "Harry there are more crumbs over there. You missed a spot. Come on, faster, I don't have all day."
"Oh, hullo Mr. Dursley, Mrs. Dursley, Dudley. I was just making Harry clean the floor. How was the movie?" Mrs. Figg asked as the Dursleys just walked through the front door.
"It was - really - stupid," Dudley said through the heaps of leftover popcorn he was shoving down his mouth.
"What was it about?" Mrs. Figg asked kindly.
"Some stupid movie about this kid who had to battle this evil guy."
"Sounds interesting," Harry said sadly. Sounding like he missed out, always put the Dursleys in a better mood.
"It was rubbish. But I got loads of popcorn and candy and you didn't. Instead you had to do the gardening all day." Dudley said as he took a huge bite out of a Snickers bar.
"You better of done a good job too," Uncle Vernon said in his usual growl.
"I did."
"Good."
"Thank you Mrs. Figg for watching the boy," Aunt Petunia said.
"Welcome, dear. Well, good bye. Best get home and start on dinner."
"Good bye Mrs. Figg," Uncle Vernon said as he closed the door behind her. "You have to get started on dinner too boy. Get to. . ."
"I wonder what my godfather Sirius would say about you ordering me to cook dinner. I bet he wouldn't like it," Harry said in a threatening voice. Most people, muggle and wizard, thought that Sirius Black was a very dangerous man (even though it wasn't true, but a good way to scare the Dursleys). The muggle news just said that he was armed, but really he was a wizard. Something the Dusley's had found out two years ago.
"Did I say cook dinner? Oh no, I meant to say that I would cook dinner and you just eat as much as you want," Uncle Vernon said carefully.
