A/N: In honor of JKR posting on her official website that we'll know when HBP is coming out in under twenty four hours, it seemed only fitting to… well, to post again. 24 hours and we'll know! AH! I'm so excited! But you know what scares me? What on earth and I going to do with myself once book seven is done? Yikes—time to find a non-Harry Potter related hobby…

Chapter 5

Into the Fire

Sirius couldn't wait to see Harry again—even if Sirius's face was going to be stuffed in a fireplace. It was the one thing he was really looking forward to, and he kept bugging Belle to hurry up and go to Diagon Alley to pick up the floo powder.

"I'm getting to it!" Belle would snap. "I know you need it by the 22nd, for crying out loud."

Sirius would then get frustrated and go out back to pet Buckbeak.

But when roughly two weeks had past since he mailed his letters to Dumbledore and Harry, he found something quite interesting in the Daily Prophet. Actually, it really wasn't hard to miss, as it was spread over the front page, the second, and sixth and seventh pages.

It was pretty much the most hilarious thing that the newspaper had every printed. Mostly because it was the most inaccurate life-story of Harry Potter that Sirius had ever seen.

Harry Potter. The boy who lived. He's a legend—a hero. The one who defeated the Dark Lord all those many years ago. But Harry Potter is no longer that young boy, writes Rita Skeeter, special correspondent.

An ugly scar, souvenir of a tragic past, disfigures the otherwise charming face of Harry Potter, whose eyes are a vivid and enchanting green. His jet-black hair is stunningly handsome.

It was incredibly amusing to think of Harry's scar as being disfiguring, or his hair that stuck up all over to be "stunningly handsome". And Sirius had no doubts that the sick reporter, Rita Skeeter, had invented half of the things that were in that article. But the nail in the coffin had appeared on page six.

Harry has at last found love at Hogwarts. His close friend, Colin Creevey says that Harry is rarely seen out of the company of one Hermione Granger, a stunningly pretty Muggle-born girl who, like Harry, is one of the top students in the school.

"Since when has Harry been one of the top of his class?" Remus pondered with a laugh, as Sirius read the article aloud to him and Belle.

"I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm cutting that article out," Belle sniggered, pulling out her wand and motioning to Sirius for the newspaper. "It's not every day our young man appears in the Prophet, after all."

"And you never know when one of Harry's future dates will need to hear about his—what was it? Oh, his 'tragic past'…" Sirius chuckled, handing the paper over to Belle.

Finally, the 22nd rolled around, and Sirius watched the clock anxiously as it blinked closer to one. He had asked as politely as he could to talk to Harry alone, as both Remus and Belle had wanted to listen into the conversation. So, Sirius was by himself in Belle's room, staring at the digital alarm clock on her bedside table.

When it was at last one, Sirius picked up a small handful of the floo powder, and tossed it into the crackling fire. Sirius took a deep breath, stuck his head inside, and muttered "Gryffindor Tower, Hogwarts."

The first thing Sirius saw was flame. He coughed ashes out of this throat, and looking up, he could see the Gryffindor common room. Glancing around, he could see no one in the room, except…

Harry was sitting in the chair in front of the fireplace, panting slightly. He was holding what looked like a badge of some sort, and he look sincerely frustrated. Harry's eyes passed over the fire, and they grew wide when he spotted Sirius grinning at him.

"Sirius—how're you doing?" Harry asked, scrambling out of his chair to kneel before his godfather.

Harry looked older than he remembered him. His glasses were shining with the glare of the fire, but Sirius could see Lily's green eyes happily gleaming back at him.

"Never mind me, how are you?" Sirius asked him, looking him in the eyes.

"I'm—" Harry began. But he breathed deeply and launched into a huge story. "I didn't enter myself into the tournament, Sirius—and nobody will believe me. When I got back from the feast, all anyone wanted to hear was how I snuck past the age line, and tricked the goblet to pull out my name. But I didn't, Sirius.

"And then Rita Skeeter's article came out—I never said those things she wrote about me. She kept on asking me all these questions… and she lied about the answers. Now every Slytherin in Hogwarts is quoting it, and sneering at me in the halls, asking if I need a tissue to go cry about my mum…

"And Ron. He won't talk to me. He thinks I entered myself into the tournament, and that I only did it for the spotlight. He thinks I actually enjoy the attention. Hermione says it's because he's only jealous, but I can't stand it.

"And now Hagrid's just shown me what's coming in the first task, and it's dragons, Sirius," Harry sighed deeply, "and I'm a goner."

Sirius just stared at him, unsure of what to say. Harry had been through so much in the past few weeks.

"Dragons we can deal with, Harry, but we'll get to that in a minute—" Sirius braced himself. He was about to lie to Harry, but only because he had to avoid questions. "I haven't got long here… I've broken into a wizarding house to use the fire, but they could be back any time. There are things I need to warn you about."

It was time to tell Harry about some of the things he had learned in Azkaban. He just hoped Harry could understand. But he was fourteen after all.

"What?"

"Karkaroff," Sirius replied. Karkaroff was the Durmstrang headmaster, and ever since Remus had mentioned that Durmstrang was competing in the tournament, he knew he would have to tell Harry this. "Harry, he was a Death Eater. You know what Death Eaters are, don't you?"

"Yes—he—what?" Harry spluttered, trying to get this straight.

"He was caught, he was in Azkaban with me, but he got released. I'd bet everything that's why Dumbledore wanted an Auror at Hogwarts this year—to keep an eye on him." Sirius held back a small chuckle at the thought of Moody and Karkaroff reuinited, "Moody caught Karkaroff. Put him into Azkaban in the first place."

"Karkaroff got released?" Harry asked slowly. "Why did they release him?"

Good question, Sirius thought irritably. "He had a deal with the Ministry of Magic. He said he'd seen the error of his ways, and then he named names… he put a load of other people into Azkaban in his place… He's not very popular in there, I can tell you. And since he got out, from what I can tell, he's been teaching the Dark Arts to every student who passes through that school of his. So watch out for the Durmstrang champion as well."

"Okay," Harry said at a snail's pace. "But… are you saying Karkaroff put my name in the goblet? Because if he did, he's a really good actor. He seemed furious about it. He wanted to stop me from competing,"

"We know he's a good actor, because he convinced the Ministry of Magic to see him free didn't he?" Sirius said angrily, frustrated that Karkaroff actually did something wrong, and was set free, when Sirius was innocent and had to stay in there for twelve years.

He took a deep breath before continuing. He remembered the article Belle had mailed him while he was on the island, and decided to bring it up. "Now I've been keeping an eye on the Daily Prophet, Harry—"

"—you and the rest of the world." Harry interjected cynically.

Sirius smirked at him, "—and reading between the lines of that Skeeter woman's article last month, Moody was attacked the night before he started at Hogwarts." Harry was about to speak, but Sirius quickly continued, "Yes, I know she said it was another false alarm, but I don't think so, somehow I think someone knew their job would be a lot more difficult with him around. And no one's going to look into it too closely; Mad-Eye's heard intruders a little too often. But that doesn't mean he can't still spot the real thing. Moody was the best Auror the Minstry ever had." And best the Order ever worked with…

"So… what are you saying? Karkaroff's trying to kill me? But—why?"

Come on, Harry, think. "I've been hearing some very strange things. The Death Eaters seem to be a bit more active than usual lately. They showed themselves at the Quidditch World Cup, didn't they?" Sirius said, recalling another full-page article on the mess they caused. "Someone set off the Dark Mark… and then—did you hear about that Ministry of Magic witch who's gone missing?"

"Bertha Jorkins?"

Sirius nodded, "Exactly… she disappeared in Albania, and that's definitely where Voldemort was rumored to be last… and she would have known the Triwizard Tournament was coming up, wouldn't she?"

"Yeah, but… it's not very likely she'd have walked straight into Voldemort, is it?" Harry reasoned.

"Listen, I knew Bertha Jorkins," Sirius said. Actually, he had dated her when he was in third year… He had been such a loser, what was I thinking? "She was at Hogwarts a few years above your dad and me. And she was an idiot. Very nosey, but no brains, none at all. It's not a good combination, Harry. I'd say she'd be very easy to lure into a trap."

"So… so Voldemort could have found out about the tournament? Is that what you mean? You think Karkaroff might be here on his orders?" Harry asked, his voice determined.

"I don't know. I just don't know…" Sirius said slowly. "Karkaroff doesn't strike me as the type who'd go back to Voldemort unless he knew Voldemort was powerful enough to protect him," Sirius seethed, thinking of Peter. "But whoever put your name in that goblet did it for a reason, and I can't help thinking that the tournament would be a very good way to attack you and make it look like an accident," he said bluntly.

"Looks like a really good plan from where I'm standing," Harry sighed. "They'll just have to stand back and let the dragons do their stuff."

Sirius chuckled, "Right—these dragons." Sirius lowered his voice, "There's a way, Harry. Don't be tempted to try a Stunning Spell—dragons are strong and too powerfully magical to be knocked out be a single Stunner, you need about half a dozen wizards at a time to overcome a dragon—"

"Yeah, I know, I just saw."

"But you can do it alone. There is a way, and a simple spell's all you need. Just--"

But Harry put up a hand, and he looked behind him.

"Wha-?"

"Go!" Harry whispered hastily, "Go! There's someone coming!"

Confused, Sirius craned his neck to see what was going on, but Harry stood up, and tried to conceal the fire with his body. Sirius pulled his head out of the fire, coughing and dizzy and wondering who walked in on Harry and himself.