The second article is pretty much taken from my other story, Transfiguration. I didn't feel like writing another one. --. It has a couple of slight alterations. Anyway…
WE DID IT! WE REACHED A HUNDRED REVIEWS! YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST! And this is my longest chapter yet. The hundreth reviewer was AnnF. And dweem-angel, you guessed right!
hands reviewers lollipops-
Anyway...
The Escape of Sirius Black
Lily walked down the hallway, a stack of student's essays in one of her hands. It was only the first Friday since the start of the term and Lily already felt tired. Who knew teaching could take so much out of you? And she still had to grade the seventh year essays, which was annoying, for some of them still couldn't write legibly with a quill. Maybe she should stop assigning them homework. It was a pretty much win-win situation, apart from the fact that the less motivated students wouldn't learn much.
Travelling down the staircase, Lily had to tell herself out loud to skip the trick step. On her second day, she had forgotten, and stepped right on it. Luckily, Harry had come five minutes later, and had helped her out. Having to ask a student would have been very, very, embarrassing.
She heard voices down the end of the staircase.
"No-one asked for your opinion, you filthy little Mudblood."
"Ron, no!"
"What's wrong Weasley? Scared of me? Or…are you scared of the Mudblood?" Lily heard a snicker.
"Come on Ron, he's not worth our time." The speaking people came into view, and like she had assumed, it was Harry, Ron, Hermione and Draco Malfoy. Draco was standing halfway down the staircase, looking down at Harry, Hermione and Ron. Standing next to Draco were his two friends, Gregory Goyle and Vincent Crabbe.
"See you around, Mudblood." Malfoy nodded at Hermione. Crabbe and Goyle tried to imitate Draco. "Muggle-lover." He nodded to Ron. Ron's face darkened.
"Excuse me, Mr. Malfoy?" Lily had arrived at the top of the staircase. "Would you like to repeat what you just said? Lily asked with her hands on her hips as well as she could, considering she still had fifteen essays under an arm. (History of Magic wasn't a very popular NEWT subject)
"I said, 'I'll see you in potions tomorrow'" Malfoy said immediately, no trace of a lie on his face.
Lily raised an eyebrow. Draco Malfoy was a good liar. Must run in the family. Lily scowled at the thought of Lucius Malfoy. He had slipped through the Auror's fingers five times during Voldemort's rise. Snakes were very slippery.
"Don't lie to a teacher, Mr. Malfoy. If I catch you insulting another student again, I will not hesitate to issue you a detention."
Malfoy did nothing but put his nose in the air and walk off, his friends following him.
Lily approached Harry. "I've been looking everywhere for you!"
"Sorry, Mum," Harry started, wiping his glasses with the sleeve of his hand, "Oliver Wood organised another training session, but the Slytherins turned up-"
"-to train their new Seeker" Ron interrupted.
"Seeker?" Lily asked blankly.
"Quidditch, Professor." Ron answered.
"Oh!" Lily exclaimed in realisation. "Don't you tell me you're involved in that silly sport too!" Lily began twirling her hair around her right index finger.
Harry nodded, while Ron exclaimed, outraged, "Silly! What are you calling silly!"
"You could get seriously hurt! What happens if in the next game you take a bludger to the head or something? You could die!"
"Professor, no one has died in Quidditch before! A referee disappeared and was found in the Sahara desert a year later, but that's the worst that's ever happened. You can't stop him from playing! He's the youngest Seeker in a century! You can't stop him from playing!" Ron finished frantically, then taking a few deep breaths.
"I never said I was going to stop him from playing. What's the point?" Lily ruffled Harry's hair. "You're just like your father, you know."
Harry smiled a small smile. "I know, you tell me every day."
"Sorry."
"It's alright. I kind of like it. Every time you talk about Dad, it makes me feel like I know him better. It's like he's becoming a real person. Not that he wasn't a real person or anything, but…more real to me. I feel like he's a part of me now." Harry glanced at his watch, and stepped back in alarm.
"I'm late for my detention with Lockhart!"
"What's he going to make you do?" Ron asked.
"Answer his fan mail." Harry sighed.
Lily groaned sympathetically. "Bye, Harry."
"Bye, Mum."
"Wait!"
Harry tripped over at the sudden shout. The portraits on the walls snickered, the man with the steak the loudest.
Lily glared at them. They shut up immediately. "I need you to come with me to the Ministry tomorrow. We're going again." Lily told Harry.
"That should be fine, I don't think I'm doing anything. I'll meet you at your room at nine." Harry pushed his glasses up his nose as he left, Ron and Hermione following closely behind.
"Bye." Lily said, and quietly added while picking up an essay which had fallen out of her hands, "And this time we're taking a portkey."
Seven o'clock the next morning, Lily was spreading her jam on her toast at the head table, when the owls flew in. There weren't many students awake this early on a Saturday morning; so most owls flew off in the direction of the owlery when they failed to locate their masters.
The ceiling displayed a cloudless spring day, and there was a pleasant draft entering from outside.
Lily's Daily Prophet owl had dead straight accuracy, and today he was aiming for her toast. The paper landed directly in the middle of her plate. Peeling the newspaper from the toast, Lily caught the headline.
SIRIUS BLACK ESCAPED!
"Sirius escaped? From where?" Lily muttered under her breath. Wiping the jam off the article with her sleeve, she proceeded to read it.
"Azkaban's most infamous criminal was found missing from his high security cell when the guards didn't find him when delivering his breakfast. People are scared that an incident like what happened eleven years ago, where Black murdered thirteen people with one curse, after the death of the family he was Secret Keeping for, the Potters.
Black was sent to Azkaban on thirteen charges of homicide and one charge of treason.
You can read the original article, printed on the day of the attack, on page five.
Article Continued on page three.
Article by Amy Lythdan.
Lily was scared her jaw was going to hit the floor. Sirius was in Azkaban? And one charge of treason? Sirius wasn't even their secret keeper!
Lily flicked through to page five. At least this page was devoid of jam. But that didn't matter much to Lily.
Thirteen People Dead: Twelve Muggles and a Wizard: The Work of Sirius Black!
An attack in Muggle London today saw the death of thirteen people, twelve of them Muggles. The one wizard who died has been identified as Peter Pettigrew, the department of Magical Law Enforcement, are trying to find his body, to find out what spell could have caused his death, but the discovery of any remains are low.
Muggle witnesses say that Mr. Pettigrew shouted out, "Sirius! You betrayed them! Lily and James!" before Mr. Black blasted the street apart with his wand, killing everyone unfortunate enough to have been in the way.
Lily and James Potter died two nights ago in a tragic attack on their house by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Their only son, Harry, survived.
Sirius Black has been moved to a holding cell in the Ministry while awaiting deportation to Azkaban.
Witnesses' memories have been wiped, and the department of Muggle Relations have told Muggle emergency services of a gas explosion.
"No." Lily whispered. "I don't believe it. Sirius killed Peter? They were best friends! Sirius wasn't our secret keeper…Peter was…Peter…betrayed us to Voldemort. Why would Sirius kill Peter? Maybe he was so angry, he couldn't help but attack him. The only people who knew we switched were Sirius and Peter."
Lily glanced at her watch. It was only seven thirty. "I need to talk to Remus." She whispered, before standing up, leaving her toast uneaten. The paper under one arm, she went to her room. The spring morning did not reflect how Lily was feeling. It was serene and peaceful.
Lily saw her reflection in the mirror. She looked like something out of a Muggle horror movie. Her face was paler than usual, and her hair was messy where she had clutched at it while reading the articles.
She grabbed some Floo Powder off the mantelpiece, nearly knocking down a Wizard photo of her, James and Harry, and through the powder it in the fireplace. Giant green flames erupted.
"Remus Lupin!" She shouted into the emerald green flames.
Remus's face immediately appeared in the fire, and by the look of him he had just woken up.
"What?" he asked disgruntedly.
"Remus! Come in!" Lily yelled, brandishing her copy of the Daily Prophet.
"What are you waving around, Lily?"
"I'll tell you when you come in."
"The last time I heard those words, Peter had set a bucket of water on the top of the door. It's the oldest prank in the book, but I fell for it straight away."
"Funny you mention Peter. I want to discuss something with you concerning him."
"Lily, Peter died eleven years ago." Remus said sadly, his eyes facing the floor.
"Did he?" Lily asked cryptically.
"Yes." Remus sighed.
"Look, just come in, please?"
"Alright, but this better be worth my time." Remus clambered through the fireplace. He was wearing a pair of blue undersized pyjamas, and a matching blue sleeping cap. He sat down on a chair at the coffee table, and accidentally kicked one of the legs, causing the table to roar loudly. Remus shifted his chair back from the table.
Lily sat down at the table. Remus looked at her like she was insane, staring from the table and up to her. Lily put her head in her hands. "Remus, it's only a table. Its roar is worse than it's bite."
Remus sat up straight in his chair in alarm. "It bites?" he asked.
"REMUS!" Lily bellowed. "It's a table. It won't eat you." The table roared at the noise, causing Remus to back away even further.
"Are you sure?" he asked with trepidation.
Lily shrugged her shoulders, while untying her hair. "I'm still here, aren't I? Why do you have a phobia of tables, anyway? "
"It's a long story, filled with wandering through mystical countries and battling beasts of great size…" Remus trailed off, then burst into laughter.
Lily stared at Remus. "It wasn't that funny." Remus couldn't hear her through his laughter. Finally, as a last resort, Lily kicked the table leg. It let out another loud roar, which made Remus shrink back in fear.
"Are you going to listen to me now?
Remus nodded.
"Did you read the Daily Prophet this morning?"
"I don't get the Daily Prophet. They have biased articles." Remus yawned loudly.
"Well read this." Lily passed the paper to Remus, who took it in one had, and removed his sleeping cap with the other, since it had started to fall over his eyes.
"What's this, an advertisement for jam? And you get a free sample?"
"Remus, don't make me kick the table again. Just read the headline out to me."
"Lily, I'm not really afraid of tables…it just scared me."
"I already figured that out." Lily smiled. She grabbed a jug of water of the windowsill and poured herself a glass of water. "I'm not particularly fond of roaring tables myself." She said, raising the glass to her mouth and taking a sip.
"Water?" She asked Remus.
"No, thank-you. Whose idea was it?"
"Dumbledore's."
"That explains it."
"OK, I'll read it now…Sirius Black Escaped…" It took a few moments for the information to sink in. Sirius! Escaped? Why? How? Lily…you must be feeling really upset…he betrayed you to Voldemort! So-"
Lily interrupted Remus. "Actually, Sirius wasn't my secret keeper."
Remus stared blankly at Lily than suddenly exclaimed, "WHAT?"
"Peter was."
"No." Remus whispered, shaking his head from side to side. He slipped out of the wooden chair and onto the floor of Lily's room. "No. It can't be…It just can't be…but why Sirius kill Peter then?
"Did Sirius kill Peter?"
"Lily, a street full of witnesses attested that they saw him blow up the street."
"Well, maybe they didn't see what they thought they saw!"
"But why did you switch secret keepers without telling me? Didn't you trust me to keep a secret? WELL, IT SEEMS LIKE YOUR CHOICES WEREN'T THAT GREAT, EITHER, LILY!" Remus had gone from sad to mad in a matter of seconds. Lily had never seen Remus angry before.
She guessed finding secrets out about your friends eleven years old could do that to anyone.
"Remus."
"YOU OBVIOUSLY DECIDED YOU COULDN'T TRUST ME! AND WHERE DID THAT GET YOU? DEAD, LILY, DEAD!
"REMUS!" Lily screeched as loud as she could, without causing irreversible damage to her larynx.
Remus instantly deflated. "Lily…I'm so sorry, I didn't meant to blow up like that."
"It's alright, Remus." Lily reassured him, patting him on the shoulder. "It's natrual to get angry sometimes."
There was a rapping sound coming from the door. Lily walked over to it and opened it. "Hi, Harry. You ready?"
Harry was wearing his black school robe over some muggle clothes, a blue jumper and a pair of jeans. His hair was as messy as ever.
"Where are you going?" Remus asked sleepily, yawning again.
"Ministry." Lily said, "Do you want to come?"
Remus sent Lily a bemused expression. "What, wearing this?" He asked, pointing to his sleepwear.
"Good point." Lily took a comb and tackled Harry's hair with it.
"Lily, I'm going to get home and catch a few more hours of sleep." He headed back to the fireplace and took a handful of Floo Powder. "Oh," Remus pointed to Lily and Harry; "you might as well give up. It's a lost cause." He threw the powder in and disappeared.
Lily looked through one of her cupboards. "I know I have it in here…" she muttered to her self, throwing out random hygiene products from the shelves. "Aha! Found it!
Lily held up a tub of Muggle gel.
"No Mum, please don't put that in my hair!" Harry backed away from his mother.
"Why?"
"You'll make me look like Malfoy!"
"Are you sure?"
"Very."
"Okay, are you ready to go? Just hold onto the Portkey," Lily held out a broken tennis ball, "and we'll be going when I get to three. One…Two…Three…Lily felt the familiar tug behind her navel, as she travelled to the Ministry of Magic.
She hit solid ground a minute later and swayed on the spot slightly. Harry was not so lucky; he lost his balance and fell right over.
"Oh, you must be Mrs. Potter!" A squat woman with mousy brown hair and sharp, pointy teeth said, as she walked over to them. "I am Dolores Umbridge, Senior Under Secretary to the Minister."
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So what do you think? Long chapter huh? Well for me anyway. The table thing is the perfect example of exactly why you SHOULDN'T write after midnight.
Please leave a review! I have a day off school tomorrow…well more like today…so maybe a review will motivate me to write another chapter…maybe…all right it will! So even it's three words, tell me what you think!
Til next time,
A sleepy Thoughts And Pondering.