Chapter 16: A LETTER FROM SIRIUS
"My dear, you have only done two of the required five clouds," came Professor Trelawney's voice as Harry ascended the ladder to the lightly scented Divination classroom on Tuesday.
Harry guessed that she might have predicted this but didn't expect her to bug him about it before he even sat down. Ron had gotten up first and Harry sat down at the same round table. His mind drifted off to Cho for a fleeting moment but was quickly brought down to Earth with an unpleasant thump as Professor Trelawney walked slowly over to him, peering at him like he had an explanation to give her other than the one he was certain that she already knew.
"Yes," he said, unable to think of anything else, "I only did two."
Harry pulled out his unfinished homework from his bag as everyone else pulled out their finished homework.
"I foresaw this coming, my dear," said Professor Trelawney, giving Harry a tragic look, "and forgive me if I already took the one point from Gryffindor when I assigned this."
"I was wondering why Gryffindor was one point higher before we went into Divination last than when we came out," Ron whispered quietly to Harry.
Harry had come used to Professor Trelawney's famous tragic look as it was a look that she wore every time she looked at him. The entirety of Hogwarts had had good practice at it last year when it was thought Wormtail was going to come around the next corner Harry turned and kill him. Fortunately, or rather unfortunately seeing as Wormtail became a traitor to Voldemort that very year, Wormtail died, having had no intention to kill Harry whatsoever. Harry had long wondered when the time would come when his decision to not have Wormtail killed would come back and make him glad. He was just rather upset it took three years...
"Yeah, yeah," said Harry bitterly, watching Professor Trelawney write what must have been a big fat fourty out of one hundred on his paper. When she told him at the end of class that it was really a twenty, he was doubly bitter that he hadn't even done the two that he did do correctly.
Care of Magical Creatures was no picnic either, Harry thought, as Hagrid pulled him aside from the group of very unhappy students tending to giant oxen with golden hides Hagrid said were called re'em. He had said at the beginning of class that drinking their blood gives the drinker immense strength and demonstrated by drinking a sip from a goblet and throwing one of them twenty feet in the air and then catching it. Before Harry could even explain what was bothering him this time, Hagrid had come right out with the story that Dumbledore had told him that morning at breakfast.
"Oh, so he's telling the entire staff then, is he?" said Harry, feeling slightly annoyed.
"No, Harry, nothing like that," Hagrid assured him, smiling broadly. "He knows I talk ter yeh a lot and probably just wanted ter mention it. Mind their charging, Malfoy!" Hagrid called out, noticing that one was chasing Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson around Hagrid's cabin.
He took another sip from the goblet of re'em blood, chased the re'em chasing Malfoy and Parkinson, picked it up and tethered it with a rope thicker than Harry's arm.
"Very strong, these re'em," said Hagrid, beaming. "Why d'yeh think their blood makes yeh so strong? It must be because they're, too," he said knowledgeably.
"Yeah," Harry muttered, watching Malfoy pull a small knife out of his pocket, clearly wanting to drink re'em blood, "right. So did he say when I'm getting the cloak back?" Harry asked a little louder.
"I don't think he's keen on yeh gettin' it back, Harry, and that's why he's taking his time," said Hagrid, still beaming. Harry glared at him. Hagrid coughed nervously. "But I -- er -- he said that he was going ter be speaking with Dudley and Malfoy after classes today since they don't have any breaks until then. And don' worry about them destroying it. If they do, I assure yeh they'll be thoroughly kicked out of Hogwarts fer it. Good old Lucius Malfoy won' be too happy ter hear that his son has been kicked outta school, mind, but ah, who cares about him."
Harry agreed but had a nasty feeling, however dumb it might be, that if Malfoy was to do one last thing, it would be to destroy one of Harry's most prized possessions.
"Anyway," Hagrid went on, "onto better subjects. I think yeh're goin' ter like our next lesson." Hagrid went out the front door of his cabin to watch the class.
Hermione had managed to tether them all up so they couldn't chase anyone around anymore and by the looks of her smoking wand, it took quite a few charms.
"Next week we'll be doin' demiguises," Hagrid told the entire class -- and then they squirmed at this name. Harry and Ron, of course, knew it was coming.
"But Hagrid," Hermione said at once and Harry could immediately tell she had something to say about demiguises, "they can turn invisible. How are we supposed to see them if they can hide? And exactly how did you manage to catch one?"
To answer her questions, Hagrid, if possible, simply smiled more broadly. The class' continued stare forced him to cough up that he was going to use a potion of True Seeing and also said that --
"If yeh were really tryin' hard, yeh don' need a potion ter see 'em. Professor Dumbledore can see right through something such as an Invisibility Cloak," Hagrid mentioned, with a half glance at Harry. "The fur of a demiguise is -- well how about I save this fer that lesson, eh?" he said jovially, getting ahead of himself.
Hagrid was now smiling so broadly that Harry thought his face was going to stick like that. It wasn't until during lunch that Hermione suggested he might have been under the influence of a Cheering Charm.
"Do you like Hagrid's lessons these days?" said Harry, taking another serving of sausages.
"They're all right," said Ron, shrugging. "He's certainly gotten better since our first year with him."
"D'you think he'll tell us how Dumbledore can see through Invisibility Cloaks without that potion?" Harry asked, unable to stop his face from breaking into the smallest of smiles.
"Harry, I think you have a better chance at Professor Trelawney saying that you're not going to die this year," said Ron flatly.
"But what was up with Hagrid today?" said Harry, changing the subject.
"Professor Flitwick joined the Committee on Experimental Charms," said Hermione indifferently. "He told me after class on our first day. Hagrid volunteered to help him out and must have gotten a blast of a charm gone wrong or something. It is very dangerous, though. You could get hit by a charm gone very wrong. Professor Flitwick said the first charm they had him working on over the summer gave him a leech under his skin," she said, the thought making the skin on all three of them crawl. "Had to try another experimental charm to cure it. Good thing the countercurse was farther along!"
"So how're you doing in your other classes?" asked Harry, wanting to get off the topic of stomach-turning curses.
"I'd tell you what we were doing today in Ancient Runes but I'd have to give you a three hour lecture on everything we did in our previous two years," said Hermione. She sighed, then added, "When we were doing a form of Divination today, the stupid Fehu and Wunjo rune kept popping up for me. I was working with Padma Patil, you know, Parvati's sister in Ravenclaw, and she kept getting some Rune about her cat dying. When we were supposed to think of someone else, she thought of you and got -- at least I think I remember -- Gebo. Weird."
She pulled her Study of Ancient Runes textbook out, Runes As Limns by Lucy Rucid (the same book Harry had, he realized) and plopped it in front of her. Curious to find out what those Runes were, Harry opened the book while Hermione busied herself with finding her quill and a bottle of ink.
"Harry, can I borrow your quill?" she asked, checking her bag for a third time.
Ron, seeing Harry turn pages, took out his quill and handed it to Hermione. When Harry finally reached the Rune list, he had already forgotten the Rune names.
"Hermione, what was that Rune Padma got?" he asked.
Hermione thought for a second while staring into space and then said, "Kano?"
"No, no," said Ron, looking at the book too, "you said something else."
"Give me a break," Hermione snapped. "I only glanced at it."
"No need to get pushy --" Ron snapped back.
"Will you two ever stop?" said Harry, sliding the book back to Hermione. "And watch it, Hermione. You're about to spill pumpkin juice all over your homework."
"What a crying shame that would be," said an irritated Ron in a quiet voice.
Hermione glared at the pair of them, particularly hard at Ron, collected her books and stalked off.
"What's eating her?" said Ron, disbelieving Hermione would get so upset about something so small.
"I don't know," said Harry, disbelieving Ron would say something like that. "She might still be upset over Dudley."
"Which one of us isn't?" Ron asked, going back to his lunch. "I mean, he starts consorting with the Slytherins then your dad's cloak turns up -- er -- missing. What else can go wrong?"
Harry, having had his fork halfway between his plate and mouth, his mouth open wide, glanced sidelong at Ron, said firmly, "I don't want to know the answer to that one until I've got my cloak back," and stuffed the chicken in his mouth.
Ron turned to Ginny, who had been silently listening with a look of deep concern on her face that Harry didn't notice, and sighed.
"Half the school probably knows by now that you have an Invisibility Cloak if it was them," said Ginny which made Harry turn very quickly to her because he didn't know she'd been listening. "Besides, what's the matter?" she said, abandoning her food, more interested in Harry's issues. "You heard Professor Dumbledore. If they do anything to it they're going to get expelled and he's going to get it back from them after dinner."
Harry now thought he was being silly but couldn't stop himself from saying, "It's that they have it, not really that they might do something to it (though that's bothering me, too)."
Breaking the first smile since his dad's cloak had been stolen, Harry went off to do homework feeling nothing but the slight awkwardness that his good mood had resulted from Ginny and only being slightly reminded of Cho this time. The misfortune for the day was waiting to present itself and it was going to come during dinner.
Harry had been intently watching Dudley, Malfoy, Parkinson, Crabbe and Goyle while Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny and Seamus tried to tell him that Dumbledore, Hagrid, Professor McGonagall, Professor Figg and -- oddly enough -- Percy Weasley were staring at Harry.
Harry wasn't listening. Then he looked up at the staff table and saw Percy.
"What's he doing here?" Harry asked.
"He's here for the Triwizard Tournament, Harry," Ron replied. "And just WHY -- are you staring at them?" he said forcefully.
"They keep looking at me and laughing," said Harry, staring at them again.
"Harry, anyone would look at you and laugh and that's probably because you look like an idiot with ketchup on your nose," Ginny informed him, giggling.
Harry, wishing he wasn't turning red, quickly took a napkin to wipe it off and then ceased his staring.
"Anyway, Percy said Dumbledore's going to make the announcement about that thing Hogwarts is doing around Christmas time," said Ron. "He wouldn't give me details but I think it's going to be for over the vacation."
"When are the students from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons coming, again?" asked Harry, helping himself to more bread and trying to keep his mind off his dad's cloak.
"October. And then the Goblet of Fire is going to give the names on Halloween," said Ron, reading Harry's mind. "I can't wait. This one's going to be great."
"Yes," Harry agreed, "especially for me since this time I won't be forced to compete."
Harry recalled the absolute horror he had experienced the same second the Goblet of Fire had spit his name out. The only person out of very few who believed he hadn't hoodwinked the Goblet was Hermione -- even Ron didn't believe him. There was no way he was going to put himself through that again if he had anything to do with it. For the first task, collecting an egg from a really big, fire breathing dragon, he'd only had one day of practice of the Summoning Charm to get his Firebolt to help him. The second task, retrieve Ron from under the lake at Hogwarts, if it wasn't for Dobby overhearing Barty Crouch talking about Gillyweed, Harry would have looked like a fool in front of the entire school. Harry, compete? No way. How good it would have been to go to Hogsmeade that year with all the rest of his friends and joke about how dangerous the coming tasks were going to be! Except that he was the one whose stomach squirmed every time someone joked about it...
He put his fork down, sighed and looked up at Malfoy, Dudley, Crabbe and Goyle at the Slytherin table, looking past the Ravenclaw table (and partly wishing Cho was there to look at him and then annoy him by turning to her friends and giggling). Malfoy got Dudley's attention, pointed at Harry and Dudley sniggered far louder this time.
"I'm not hungry anymore," said Harry, now staring at his plate full of bread and a half eaten piece of lamb chops.
"Come off it," said Ron dismissively as the four people Harry took one last look at all got up and exited the Great Hall. "Why?"
Harry didn't answer. Ginny tutted loudly at the side of Ron's head.
"Isn't it obvious?" she said, sounding too much like Hermione for Ron's liking.
"And what do you know?"
"How upset would you be if Malfoy took all those posters you have of the Chudley Cannons?"
"And what do you care?" Harry snapped, not caring at all that a few first years were staring. "You're just trying to be nice to me so I'll forget about Cho and go on a date with you, too."
Ginny rolled her eyes.
"Harry, I don't care about Cho anymore," said Ginny flatly, and looking so serious that Harry had no choice but to believe her. "It's not about winning you over -- okay, fine, it used to be but it isn't anymore," she added quickly, noting Harry starting to scowl. "I'm bothering now solely because I care about you. Even if nothing happens this year, it's not exactly starting out like roses, is it, now? Stop goggling at me, Ron," she said, rounding on him, "and answer my question. How would you feel if Malfoy did that?"
"Well I --" Ron started, taking a quick glance at Harry who had pushed his plate to the middle of the table and rested his head on his arms, the sight of which made Ron stop dead. "What's eating you?" Ron asked him.
There was a very distressing pause. After a minute of Hermione, Ron and Ginny looking at Harry with bated breath for an answer, he picked his head up, opened his mouth as if to say something, closed it and put his head back down.
"You're acting like you have the stupid Mark of Ancients again," Hermione scoffed, "and are trying to fight off another permanent Imperius."
"And what if I do?" said Harry thickly, his faced buried in his arms.
"You don't," she said firmly, "because they removed it, remember?"
Raides, who had been quiet so far, casually picked up the biggest goblet full of water on the table with her tail and innocently splashed it in Harry's face, saying, "Snap out of it." Ginny, Ron and Hermione couldn't help but break out laughing. Harry pushed his sopping hair out of his eyes and Hermione handed him a few napkins to wipe his face. Raides had still managed to soak the front of his robes quite well -- but the water cooled him down so he didn't mind so much.
He then succumbed to the idea that he had better stop getting so upset and clutched the Order of Merlin plaque in a fashion so no one would notice, feeling slightly guilty like he always did when he grabbed it. It had it's usual effect of spreading a small wave of calmness throughout his body and dropping his shoulders half an inch.
"Holding that plaque reminds you nothing you have done is a waste and it is that feeling of self-confidence that you have been hanging over since you moved into Privet Drive," went Dumbledore's voice in his head and he wished he could forget that Dumbledore had ever said it.
"Now come on," said Raides. "Eat. I know you're still hungry."
Harry picked the bread up off his plate and stood up.
"I think I'll go and finish Professor Trelawney's homework," he said. "Maybe I can get that twenty changed into at least a thirty."
"Nothing happening," said Ron at once. "She told me that she really gave you a twenty five -- the extra five points being for the fact that she knew that you would want to go and do the other three. And she didn't tell you because she also knew you would ask me," Ron added hastily, watching Harry's mouth open.
"Load of crap," said Hermione, leaving her mouth open in disgust as she finished, looking up at Harry. "If she made one correct prediction in our first year, I'll eat Crookshanks!"
"Ketchup or barbecue?" Raides asked Hermione casually, munching on her troll meat, now flame-broiled while wrapped in salamander skin. Harry, Ron and Hermione wished Raides hadn't ever told them this ("Hey, it gives it that extra kick and some bits of the skin melt on," she had said excitedly).
"Don't believe anything that foul woman says, Harry," said Hermione. "She can only predict small things."
Hermione seemed to forget one thing that Professor Trelawney said that wasn't small and turned out to be correct. Harry reminded her that Professor Trelawney went into a trance and had predicted Wormtail's escape from the clutches of Harry, Ron, Hermione, Professor Lupin and Sirius to revive Lord Voldemort. Hermione bit her lip and said she was sorry.
"She may be old," said Harry gloomily, "but she's made real predictions." He rolled his eyes, then said, "You remember what she said to me in our first class?"
"Something about whatever happening become hard to bear, then you won't have to experience it for a while then you'll wake up or whatever," said Ron. "Then it'll get worse and when it's over, your life's going to change completely. Whatever, Harry," he said dismissively. "She's a fraud. How can you expect her to predict that much? And accurately?"
Harry stared. He didn't know what to think. The mood had turned very dim in a very short amount of time.
"See you," he said, then squeezed the water out of his hair and exited the Great Hall.
He climbed the marble staircase, walked through a few fake walls, gave the password to the Fat Lady ("Light of Faith") and was greeted by a bunch of Gryffindors asking him --
"Harry! Are you going to put your name in the Goblet of Fire in October?"
"No," he replied so quickly it sounded rude and walked towards the spiral staircase, hearing but not paying attention to the "Harry, you have to!" and the "If you enter, Hogwarts is sure to win!" He knew that wasn't the last time he would be hearing people urging him to enter.
He was just about to go back downstairs into the common room with his Charms homework ("Write two sheets of parchment on why wizards and witches don't Disapparate and Apparate instead of walking when traveling short distances") when he got a pleasant surprise.
"Hedwig!" he shouted as she came in through the window and landed on his bed, skidding two feet before flipping over. "I was wondering when you were coming back," he said, hurrying over to her.
There was a brown envelope attached to her leg. He tore it off and pulled out several pieces of parchment, some pieces carrying Cho's writing and the others, Sirius'. He didn't know which one he wanted to read more and so the last one he was looking at was Cho's.
Dear Harry,
I just want to say that I'm sorry for anything that didn't exactly make your day while I was over your house but there's a few things I want to get out of the way. If you can tell me why your body went so stiff it was like you were Petrified when I, well, I won't write it because you'll probably do it again, it would make me feel a lot better.
Three little words echoed in the back of Harry's mind but it was far worse hearing them than just thinking about them, especially the way she said it. The problem was, he couldn't answer this question. Modest and shy Harry. Someone telling him they -- that? It was a flood of emotion he just wasn't ready to handle... yet. Or was it? Trying not to mull over it too much because it made his head hurt, he continued reading.
I'm sorry for all that time when I wasn't talking to you. It was just too weird, I didn't know what to do but you saw that I didn't completely ignore you because I made your breakfast until we were talking again. I also wanted to say that I had a great time and I hope you did too, except, of course, for that day when we came back from the mall. It was weird how he just walked away, wasn't it?
Yeah, thought Harry, weird... He didn't think he really wanted to know what happened.
As for me, my dad's getting along much better these days, I don't know why. I think he sort of trusts you now but don't ask me why he didn't before. Maybe after seeing you in person, he's gotten over himself. But anyway...
So, I hope you're doing well in your classes and everything's going all right for a change. I know you, you won't want to hear this but I'm sitting here biting my lip, worried that you're all right! Take care of yourself, Harry, and stay out of trouble. I'll write again and you can always write to me if you want.
Sincerely,
Cho
While he didn't like her telling him to stay out of trouble because it made her sound too much like a -- like she was right. He didn't want to hear it but now that he did, he didn't mind it so much. He just liked the idea that someone cared enough about him to bother. Harry had a sudden vision of Cho and Mrs. Weasley sitting in a corner of a room, crying, so worried about him that their nerves were on fire and holding each other because they couldn't stand it.
But enough of that, Cho's timing couldn't have been better, he thought. Just a few moments ago, Harry was in one of the worst moods he'd been in in a while and now, now there was plenty reason to keep that smile on his face even if it was small. He crossed his fingers while picking up Sirius' letter, hoping that whatever his godfather had to tell him, it was only good news (or at least more good than bad). Considering Harry had only spoken to Sirius for two days in the past two months, he was quite keen on reading what he had to say.
Dear Harry,
You probably read Cho's letter first so first thing I want you to do is calm yourself because I don't exactly have all good news. Slow down and read carefully because you need to pay attention.
That wasn't exactly the grand start that Harry had in mind. Feeling half-rotten again, he pulled his cloak off, threw it on his pillow and sat down on his four-post bed.
As you already know, Severus Snape was sent to go spy on Voldemort for us. He wasn't greeted with a warm welcome but rather, the first thing our slippery friend saw fit to do was torture Snape with the Cruciatus Curse. Now, while I don't like either of them very much, Snape and I are seeing the beginnings of what, if you look far enough away, may look like the start of a friendship... While we're still not buddy-buddy, I've seen the Cruciatus Curse and I wouldn't wish it on anyone except maybe Voldemort.
Feeling Sirius had said everything exactly as he was thinking it, Harry had to agree except for one thing. He might be slightly more willing to wish it on Snape because he had felt the curse several unpleasant times, each time far less enjoyable than the last...
"You don't know the half of it, Sirius," he muttered darkly to himself and then continued reading.
Voldemort's playing around with the Mark of Ancients on Thantanos Quirrel but Snape couldn't exactly find out what. We managed to slip Michelle to safety and confirmed her loyalty against Voldemort with a Truth Potion before Thantanos could get to her. So in a word, she's safe but she nearly died crying when we told her that you didn't die from the Killing Curse again.
Harry giggled grimly.
It's just not funny how worried sick she is over you and frankly none of us can see why. She said that when you're, in her words, forced to do something so mean, rotten, dirty, disgusting, terrible, nasty, low-down, despicable, horrid and feel free to insert more adjectives at will, you feel nothing but guilty. We have a feeling she won't get over it until this is all over and Voldemort's dead.
Harry now added Michelle Quirrel to the scene with Cho and Mrs. Weasley. Now it was rather amusing.
And don't you worry, Voldemort will die as this is where the good news is. While he'll be extremely hard to kill because he's rivaling Dumbledore's power, he's no longer invincible. The idiot made himself mortal when he took blood from you! You probably still don't get it so I'll explain it just a little.
You already know that wizards and witches live longer than Muggles. Basically, the more powerfully magical you are, more or less, the more your body can withstand so you'll live to a ripe old age. That's not it, of course. There's a branch of magic dealing with natural immunities and resistances and there's no doubt in anyone's mind from the Order of the Phoenix that Voldemort had played with this in his attempts to make himself immortal. Now, remember that the Killing Curse, Avada Kedavra requires quite a bit of magic behind it. Usually, there's just enough skill in the caster to kill but if you've been playing with magical immunities and resistances, you might be able to resist being killed from it.
And before you start thinking that, no, we're one hundred percent sure you don't have this kind of natural immunity to the Killing Curse. You wouldn't have been knocked out when you got hit with it again and you wouldn't even have that scar on your forehead. No one really has ever bothered with this branch of magic because it requires a ridiculous amount of skill behind the potions to administer them. You can end up killing yourself in the process. This is all part of the Dark arts that Voldemort had been dabbling in after he left Hogwarts. Besides, in most cases where someone has tried this stuff, they've asked their friends to try the curse on them and it left them in such a bad state, they ended up finishing themselves off.
Now, enough of the bad stuff. The bottom line is, is that Voldemort's not going to survive another backlash from the Killing Curse. Snape managed to get to us that Voldemort managed to survive the more recent on one you because he Disapparated the moment he let the spell off and therefore was never exposed to the rebounded curse but part of it did get to him and that's why he was stripped again. It was just luck that saved him that time. Yes, I know: "damn, why couldn't he have just stayed." That's exactly how we all feel.
Harry didn't know whether to feel glad or upset at this point. He supposed glad, because it was all going to end one way or another and if Voldemort didn't pull any one-ups on them by experimenting with resistances and immunities, they were in the clear. Then quite suddenly, Harry realized Voldemort might have done exactly that. On he read...
While it's possible that Voldemort might have tried playing with this again, we're not entirely sure that he even knows he's mortal. We only know this because Dumbledore knows this. You probably saw him smiling to himself very briefly after you told him that Voldemort took blood from you three years ago. Don't ask how he knows, but he's one hundred percent sure. He told us and I'm not sure I even understand it. So yeah.
Let's recap. Voldemort's possibly no longer immortal. We can kill him and you can bet your life we're going to try as hard as possible. We're not sure what or where he is because Snape told us they have them Disapparating to a secluded area that he doesn't recognize at all and he puts Memory Charms on them that we've been trying to break for the longest time. If we try any harder, it's going to damage Snape's memory and as much as I'd like to damage certain parts of it, we can't have that.
Harry really wished they could damage the part about Snape hating him.
Our biggest worry is that one of his Death Eaters, Thantanos, has the Mark of Ancients. Dumbledore has been playing with the anti-Disapparation enchantments at Hogwarts and said that you will have to help him with Raides so they can't Apparate inside the castle. This means that you won't be able to either but I'm sure you'll agree to make that sacrifice if it means no repeat of last year. Dumbledore's going to talk to you about this after your next Paladism class.
Harry didn't have any objections.
Now onto you. Cho already told you this and I know you don't want to hear it so I won't say that we're concerned about you (ha, I said it). Keep your grades up, don't worry about me, study hard for your N.E.W.T.s, stay out of trouble and I hope you have fun with what's going on at Hogwarts besides the Triwizard Tournament!
Keep in touch,
Sirius
PS: Remus Lupin says hi!
PPS: Sorry about Hedwig. Dumbledore used her to write to me and then I sent her to Cho first, suggesting she say hi, too. She wrote to me first, slightly insulted that I asked her to write to you. She said she was going to anyway and that she just wanted to "wait a day." Naturally you can see right through it; she really hadn't planned on it and didn't want either of us to think she hadn't thought of that. Girls... You picked a good one though, she has her heart in the right place.
Sirius did it perfectly. While the beginning of it was nothing to be happy about, he made it go from bad to good. Now positively grinning and feeling only slightly awkward about Sirius talking to him about his -- his girlfriend, Harry wanted to show Ron, Hermione, Raides -- and possibly Ginny -- Sirius' letter. He would have to be held at wand point, though, to show them Cho's letter. That one was entirely personal. Well, maybe he'd snip the second postscript off of Sirius'...
He was just slightly bitter that Sirius didn't want to spill the beans on what was going on besides the tournament, though...
"My dear, you have only done two of the required five clouds," came Professor Trelawney's voice as Harry ascended the ladder to the lightly scented Divination classroom on Tuesday.
Harry guessed that she might have predicted this but didn't expect her to bug him about it before he even sat down. Ron had gotten up first and Harry sat down at the same round table. His mind drifted off to Cho for a fleeting moment but was quickly brought down to Earth with an unpleasant thump as Professor Trelawney walked slowly over to him, peering at him like he had an explanation to give her other than the one he was certain that she already knew.
"Yes," he said, unable to think of anything else, "I only did two."
Harry pulled out his unfinished homework from his bag as everyone else pulled out their finished homework.
"I foresaw this coming, my dear," said Professor Trelawney, giving Harry a tragic look, "and forgive me if I already took the one point from Gryffindor when I assigned this."
"I was wondering why Gryffindor was one point higher before we went into Divination last than when we came out," Ron whispered quietly to Harry.
Harry had come used to Professor Trelawney's famous tragic look as it was a look that she wore every time she looked at him. The entirety of Hogwarts had had good practice at it last year when it was thought Wormtail was going to come around the next corner Harry turned and kill him. Fortunately, or rather unfortunately seeing as Wormtail became a traitor to Voldemort that very year, Wormtail died, having had no intention to kill Harry whatsoever. Harry had long wondered when the time would come when his decision to not have Wormtail killed would come back and make him glad. He was just rather upset it took three years...
"Yeah, yeah," said Harry bitterly, watching Professor Trelawney write what must have been a big fat fourty out of one hundred on his paper. When she told him at the end of class that it was really a twenty, he was doubly bitter that he hadn't even done the two that he did do correctly.
Care of Magical Creatures was no picnic either, Harry thought, as Hagrid pulled him aside from the group of very unhappy students tending to giant oxen with golden hides Hagrid said were called re'em. He had said at the beginning of class that drinking their blood gives the drinker immense strength and demonstrated by drinking a sip from a goblet and throwing one of them twenty feet in the air and then catching it. Before Harry could even explain what was bothering him this time, Hagrid had come right out with the story that Dumbledore had told him that morning at breakfast.
"Oh, so he's telling the entire staff then, is he?" said Harry, feeling slightly annoyed.
"No, Harry, nothing like that," Hagrid assured him, smiling broadly. "He knows I talk ter yeh a lot and probably just wanted ter mention it. Mind their charging, Malfoy!" Hagrid called out, noticing that one was chasing Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson around Hagrid's cabin.
He took another sip from the goblet of re'em blood, chased the re'em chasing Malfoy and Parkinson, picked it up and tethered it with a rope thicker than Harry's arm.
"Very strong, these re'em," said Hagrid, beaming. "Why d'yeh think their blood makes yeh so strong? It must be because they're, too," he said knowledgeably.
"Yeah," Harry muttered, watching Malfoy pull a small knife out of his pocket, clearly wanting to drink re'em blood, "right. So did he say when I'm getting the cloak back?" Harry asked a little louder.
"I don't think he's keen on yeh gettin' it back, Harry, and that's why he's taking his time," said Hagrid, still beaming. Harry glared at him. Hagrid coughed nervously. "But I -- er -- he said that he was going ter be speaking with Dudley and Malfoy after classes today since they don't have any breaks until then. And don' worry about them destroying it. If they do, I assure yeh they'll be thoroughly kicked out of Hogwarts fer it. Good old Lucius Malfoy won' be too happy ter hear that his son has been kicked outta school, mind, but ah, who cares about him."
Harry agreed but had a nasty feeling, however dumb it might be, that if Malfoy was to do one last thing, it would be to destroy one of Harry's most prized possessions.
"Anyway," Hagrid went on, "onto better subjects. I think yeh're goin' ter like our next lesson." Hagrid went out the front door of his cabin to watch the class.
Hermione had managed to tether them all up so they couldn't chase anyone around anymore and by the looks of her smoking wand, it took quite a few charms.
"Next week we'll be doin' demiguises," Hagrid told the entire class -- and then they squirmed at this name. Harry and Ron, of course, knew it was coming.
"But Hagrid," Hermione said at once and Harry could immediately tell she had something to say about demiguises, "they can turn invisible. How are we supposed to see them if they can hide? And exactly how did you manage to catch one?"
To answer her questions, Hagrid, if possible, simply smiled more broadly. The class' continued stare forced him to cough up that he was going to use a potion of True Seeing and also said that --
"If yeh were really tryin' hard, yeh don' need a potion ter see 'em. Professor Dumbledore can see right through something such as an Invisibility Cloak," Hagrid mentioned, with a half glance at Harry. "The fur of a demiguise is -- well how about I save this fer that lesson, eh?" he said jovially, getting ahead of himself.
Hagrid was now smiling so broadly that Harry thought his face was going to stick like that. It wasn't until during lunch that Hermione suggested he might have been under the influence of a Cheering Charm.
"Do you like Hagrid's lessons these days?" said Harry, taking another serving of sausages.
"They're all right," said Ron, shrugging. "He's certainly gotten better since our first year with him."
"D'you think he'll tell us how Dumbledore can see through Invisibility Cloaks without that potion?" Harry asked, unable to stop his face from breaking into the smallest of smiles.
"Harry, I think you have a better chance at Professor Trelawney saying that you're not going to die this year," said Ron flatly.
"But what was up with Hagrid today?" said Harry, changing the subject.
"Professor Flitwick joined the Committee on Experimental Charms," said Hermione indifferently. "He told me after class on our first day. Hagrid volunteered to help him out and must have gotten a blast of a charm gone wrong or something. It is very dangerous, though. You could get hit by a charm gone very wrong. Professor Flitwick said the first charm they had him working on over the summer gave him a leech under his skin," she said, the thought making the skin on all three of them crawl. "Had to try another experimental charm to cure it. Good thing the countercurse was farther along!"
"So how're you doing in your other classes?" asked Harry, wanting to get off the topic of stomach-turning curses.
"I'd tell you what we were doing today in Ancient Runes but I'd have to give you a three hour lecture on everything we did in our previous two years," said Hermione. She sighed, then added, "When we were doing a form of Divination today, the stupid Fehu and Wunjo rune kept popping up for me. I was working with Padma Patil, you know, Parvati's sister in Ravenclaw, and she kept getting some Rune about her cat dying. When we were supposed to think of someone else, she thought of you and got -- at least I think I remember -- Gebo. Weird."
She pulled her Study of Ancient Runes textbook out, Runes As Limns by Lucy Rucid (the same book Harry had, he realized) and plopped it in front of her. Curious to find out what those Runes were, Harry opened the book while Hermione busied herself with finding her quill and a bottle of ink.
"Harry, can I borrow your quill?" she asked, checking her bag for a third time.
Ron, seeing Harry turn pages, took out his quill and handed it to Hermione. When Harry finally reached the Rune list, he had already forgotten the Rune names.
"Hermione, what was that Rune Padma got?" he asked.
Hermione thought for a second while staring into space and then said, "Kano?"
"No, no," said Ron, looking at the book too, "you said something else."
"Give me a break," Hermione snapped. "I only glanced at it."
"No need to get pushy --" Ron snapped back.
"Will you two ever stop?" said Harry, sliding the book back to Hermione. "And watch it, Hermione. You're about to spill pumpkin juice all over your homework."
"What a crying shame that would be," said an irritated Ron in a quiet voice.
Hermione glared at the pair of them, particularly hard at Ron, collected her books and stalked off.
"What's eating her?" said Ron, disbelieving Hermione would get so upset about something so small.
"I don't know," said Harry, disbelieving Ron would say something like that. "She might still be upset over Dudley."
"Which one of us isn't?" Ron asked, going back to his lunch. "I mean, he starts consorting with the Slytherins then your dad's cloak turns up -- er -- missing. What else can go wrong?"
Harry, having had his fork halfway between his plate and mouth, his mouth open wide, glanced sidelong at Ron, said firmly, "I don't want to know the answer to that one until I've got my cloak back," and stuffed the chicken in his mouth.
Ron turned to Ginny, who had been silently listening with a look of deep concern on her face that Harry didn't notice, and sighed.
"Half the school probably knows by now that you have an Invisibility Cloak if it was them," said Ginny which made Harry turn very quickly to her because he didn't know she'd been listening. "Besides, what's the matter?" she said, abandoning her food, more interested in Harry's issues. "You heard Professor Dumbledore. If they do anything to it they're going to get expelled and he's going to get it back from them after dinner."
Harry now thought he was being silly but couldn't stop himself from saying, "It's that they have it, not really that they might do something to it (though that's bothering me, too)."
Breaking the first smile since his dad's cloak had been stolen, Harry went off to do homework feeling nothing but the slight awkwardness that his good mood had resulted from Ginny and only being slightly reminded of Cho this time. The misfortune for the day was waiting to present itself and it was going to come during dinner.
Harry had been intently watching Dudley, Malfoy, Parkinson, Crabbe and Goyle while Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny and Seamus tried to tell him that Dumbledore, Hagrid, Professor McGonagall, Professor Figg and -- oddly enough -- Percy Weasley were staring at Harry.
Harry wasn't listening. Then he looked up at the staff table and saw Percy.
"What's he doing here?" Harry asked.
"He's here for the Triwizard Tournament, Harry," Ron replied. "And just WHY -- are you staring at them?" he said forcefully.
"They keep looking at me and laughing," said Harry, staring at them again.
"Harry, anyone would look at you and laugh and that's probably because you look like an idiot with ketchup on your nose," Ginny informed him, giggling.
Harry, wishing he wasn't turning red, quickly took a napkin to wipe it off and then ceased his staring.
"Anyway, Percy said Dumbledore's going to make the announcement about that thing Hogwarts is doing around Christmas time," said Ron. "He wouldn't give me details but I think it's going to be for over the vacation."
"When are the students from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons coming, again?" asked Harry, helping himself to more bread and trying to keep his mind off his dad's cloak.
"October. And then the Goblet of Fire is going to give the names on Halloween," said Ron, reading Harry's mind. "I can't wait. This one's going to be great."
"Yes," Harry agreed, "especially for me since this time I won't be forced to compete."
Harry recalled the absolute horror he had experienced the same second the Goblet of Fire had spit his name out. The only person out of very few who believed he hadn't hoodwinked the Goblet was Hermione -- even Ron didn't believe him. There was no way he was going to put himself through that again if he had anything to do with it. For the first task, collecting an egg from a really big, fire breathing dragon, he'd only had one day of practice of the Summoning Charm to get his Firebolt to help him. The second task, retrieve Ron from under the lake at Hogwarts, if it wasn't for Dobby overhearing Barty Crouch talking about Gillyweed, Harry would have looked like a fool in front of the entire school. Harry, compete? No way. How good it would have been to go to Hogsmeade that year with all the rest of his friends and joke about how dangerous the coming tasks were going to be! Except that he was the one whose stomach squirmed every time someone joked about it...
He put his fork down, sighed and looked up at Malfoy, Dudley, Crabbe and Goyle at the Slytherin table, looking past the Ravenclaw table (and partly wishing Cho was there to look at him and then annoy him by turning to her friends and giggling). Malfoy got Dudley's attention, pointed at Harry and Dudley sniggered far louder this time.
"I'm not hungry anymore," said Harry, now staring at his plate full of bread and a half eaten piece of lamb chops.
"Come off it," said Ron dismissively as the four people Harry took one last look at all got up and exited the Great Hall. "Why?"
Harry didn't answer. Ginny tutted loudly at the side of Ron's head.
"Isn't it obvious?" she said, sounding too much like Hermione for Ron's liking.
"And what do you know?"
"How upset would you be if Malfoy took all those posters you have of the Chudley Cannons?"
"And what do you care?" Harry snapped, not caring at all that a few first years were staring. "You're just trying to be nice to me so I'll forget about Cho and go on a date with you, too."
Ginny rolled her eyes.
"Harry, I don't care about Cho anymore," said Ginny flatly, and looking so serious that Harry had no choice but to believe her. "It's not about winning you over -- okay, fine, it used to be but it isn't anymore," she added quickly, noting Harry starting to scowl. "I'm bothering now solely because I care about you. Even if nothing happens this year, it's not exactly starting out like roses, is it, now? Stop goggling at me, Ron," she said, rounding on him, "and answer my question. How would you feel if Malfoy did that?"
"Well I --" Ron started, taking a quick glance at Harry who had pushed his plate to the middle of the table and rested his head on his arms, the sight of which made Ron stop dead. "What's eating you?" Ron asked him.
There was a very distressing pause. After a minute of Hermione, Ron and Ginny looking at Harry with bated breath for an answer, he picked his head up, opened his mouth as if to say something, closed it and put his head back down.
"You're acting like you have the stupid Mark of Ancients again," Hermione scoffed, "and are trying to fight off another permanent Imperius."
"And what if I do?" said Harry thickly, his faced buried in his arms.
"You don't," she said firmly, "because they removed it, remember?"
Raides, who had been quiet so far, casually picked up the biggest goblet full of water on the table with her tail and innocently splashed it in Harry's face, saying, "Snap out of it." Ginny, Ron and Hermione couldn't help but break out laughing. Harry pushed his sopping hair out of his eyes and Hermione handed him a few napkins to wipe his face. Raides had still managed to soak the front of his robes quite well -- but the water cooled him down so he didn't mind so much.
He then succumbed to the idea that he had better stop getting so upset and clutched the Order of Merlin plaque in a fashion so no one would notice, feeling slightly guilty like he always did when he grabbed it. It had it's usual effect of spreading a small wave of calmness throughout his body and dropping his shoulders half an inch.
"Holding that plaque reminds you nothing you have done is a waste and it is that feeling of self-confidence that you have been hanging over since you moved into Privet Drive," went Dumbledore's voice in his head and he wished he could forget that Dumbledore had ever said it.
"Now come on," said Raides. "Eat. I know you're still hungry."
Harry picked the bread up off his plate and stood up.
"I think I'll go and finish Professor Trelawney's homework," he said. "Maybe I can get that twenty changed into at least a thirty."
"Nothing happening," said Ron at once. "She told me that she really gave you a twenty five -- the extra five points being for the fact that she knew that you would want to go and do the other three. And she didn't tell you because she also knew you would ask me," Ron added hastily, watching Harry's mouth open.
"Load of crap," said Hermione, leaving her mouth open in disgust as she finished, looking up at Harry. "If she made one correct prediction in our first year, I'll eat Crookshanks!"
"Ketchup or barbecue?" Raides asked Hermione casually, munching on her troll meat, now flame-broiled while wrapped in salamander skin. Harry, Ron and Hermione wished Raides hadn't ever told them this ("Hey, it gives it that extra kick and some bits of the skin melt on," she had said excitedly).
"Don't believe anything that foul woman says, Harry," said Hermione. "She can only predict small things."
Hermione seemed to forget one thing that Professor Trelawney said that wasn't small and turned out to be correct. Harry reminded her that Professor Trelawney went into a trance and had predicted Wormtail's escape from the clutches of Harry, Ron, Hermione, Professor Lupin and Sirius to revive Lord Voldemort. Hermione bit her lip and said she was sorry.
"She may be old," said Harry gloomily, "but she's made real predictions." He rolled his eyes, then said, "You remember what she said to me in our first class?"
"Something about whatever happening become hard to bear, then you won't have to experience it for a while then you'll wake up or whatever," said Ron. "Then it'll get worse and when it's over, your life's going to change completely. Whatever, Harry," he said dismissively. "She's a fraud. How can you expect her to predict that much? And accurately?"
Harry stared. He didn't know what to think. The mood had turned very dim in a very short amount of time.
"See you," he said, then squeezed the water out of his hair and exited the Great Hall.
He climbed the marble staircase, walked through a few fake walls, gave the password to the Fat Lady ("Light of Faith") and was greeted by a bunch of Gryffindors asking him --
"Harry! Are you going to put your name in the Goblet of Fire in October?"
"No," he replied so quickly it sounded rude and walked towards the spiral staircase, hearing but not paying attention to the "Harry, you have to!" and the "If you enter, Hogwarts is sure to win!" He knew that wasn't the last time he would be hearing people urging him to enter.
He was just about to go back downstairs into the common room with his Charms homework ("Write two sheets of parchment on why wizards and witches don't Disapparate and Apparate instead of walking when traveling short distances") when he got a pleasant surprise.
"Hedwig!" he shouted as she came in through the window and landed on his bed, skidding two feet before flipping over. "I was wondering when you were coming back," he said, hurrying over to her.
There was a brown envelope attached to her leg. He tore it off and pulled out several pieces of parchment, some pieces carrying Cho's writing and the others, Sirius'. He didn't know which one he wanted to read more and so the last one he was looking at was Cho's.
Dear Harry,
I just want to say that I'm sorry for anything that didn't exactly make your day while I was over your house but there's a few things I want to get out of the way. If you can tell me why your body went so stiff it was like you were Petrified when I, well, I won't write it because you'll probably do it again, it would make me feel a lot better.
Three little words echoed in the back of Harry's mind but it was far worse hearing them than just thinking about them, especially the way she said it. The problem was, he couldn't answer this question. Modest and shy Harry. Someone telling him they -- that? It was a flood of emotion he just wasn't ready to handle... yet. Or was it? Trying not to mull over it too much because it made his head hurt, he continued reading.
I'm sorry for all that time when I wasn't talking to you. It was just too weird, I didn't know what to do but you saw that I didn't completely ignore you because I made your breakfast until we were talking again. I also wanted to say that I had a great time and I hope you did too, except, of course, for that day when we came back from the mall. It was weird how he just walked away, wasn't it?
Yeah, thought Harry, weird... He didn't think he really wanted to know what happened.
As for me, my dad's getting along much better these days, I don't know why. I think he sort of trusts you now but don't ask me why he didn't before. Maybe after seeing you in person, he's gotten over himself. But anyway...
So, I hope you're doing well in your classes and everything's going all right for a change. I know you, you won't want to hear this but I'm sitting here biting my lip, worried that you're all right! Take care of yourself, Harry, and stay out of trouble. I'll write again and you can always write to me if you want.
Sincerely,
Cho
While he didn't like her telling him to stay out of trouble because it made her sound too much like a -- like she was right. He didn't want to hear it but now that he did, he didn't mind it so much. He just liked the idea that someone cared enough about him to bother. Harry had a sudden vision of Cho and Mrs. Weasley sitting in a corner of a room, crying, so worried about him that their nerves were on fire and holding each other because they couldn't stand it.
But enough of that, Cho's timing couldn't have been better, he thought. Just a few moments ago, Harry was in one of the worst moods he'd been in in a while and now, now there was plenty reason to keep that smile on his face even if it was small. He crossed his fingers while picking up Sirius' letter, hoping that whatever his godfather had to tell him, it was only good news (or at least more good than bad). Considering Harry had only spoken to Sirius for two days in the past two months, he was quite keen on reading what he had to say.
Dear Harry,
You probably read Cho's letter first so first thing I want you to do is calm yourself because I don't exactly have all good news. Slow down and read carefully because you need to pay attention.
That wasn't exactly the grand start that Harry had in mind. Feeling half-rotten again, he pulled his cloak off, threw it on his pillow and sat down on his four-post bed.
As you already know, Severus Snape was sent to go spy on Voldemort for us. He wasn't greeted with a warm welcome but rather, the first thing our slippery friend saw fit to do was torture Snape with the Cruciatus Curse. Now, while I don't like either of them very much, Snape and I are seeing the beginnings of what, if you look far enough away, may look like the start of a friendship... While we're still not buddy-buddy, I've seen the Cruciatus Curse and I wouldn't wish it on anyone except maybe Voldemort.
Feeling Sirius had said everything exactly as he was thinking it, Harry had to agree except for one thing. He might be slightly more willing to wish it on Snape because he had felt the curse several unpleasant times, each time far less enjoyable than the last...
"You don't know the half of it, Sirius," he muttered darkly to himself and then continued reading.
Voldemort's playing around with the Mark of Ancients on Thantanos Quirrel but Snape couldn't exactly find out what. We managed to slip Michelle to safety and confirmed her loyalty against Voldemort with a Truth Potion before Thantanos could get to her. So in a word, she's safe but she nearly died crying when we told her that you didn't die from the Killing Curse again.
Harry giggled grimly.
It's just not funny how worried sick she is over you and frankly none of us can see why. She said that when you're, in her words, forced to do something so mean, rotten, dirty, disgusting, terrible, nasty, low-down, despicable, horrid and feel free to insert more adjectives at will, you feel nothing but guilty. We have a feeling she won't get over it until this is all over and Voldemort's dead.
Harry now added Michelle Quirrel to the scene with Cho and Mrs. Weasley. Now it was rather amusing.
And don't you worry, Voldemort will die as this is where the good news is. While he'll be extremely hard to kill because he's rivaling Dumbledore's power, he's no longer invincible. The idiot made himself mortal when he took blood from you! You probably still don't get it so I'll explain it just a little.
You already know that wizards and witches live longer than Muggles. Basically, the more powerfully magical you are, more or less, the more your body can withstand so you'll live to a ripe old age. That's not it, of course. There's a branch of magic dealing with natural immunities and resistances and there's no doubt in anyone's mind from the Order of the Phoenix that Voldemort had played with this in his attempts to make himself immortal. Now, remember that the Killing Curse, Avada Kedavra requires quite a bit of magic behind it. Usually, there's just enough skill in the caster to kill but if you've been playing with magical immunities and resistances, you might be able to resist being killed from it.
And before you start thinking that, no, we're one hundred percent sure you don't have this kind of natural immunity to the Killing Curse. You wouldn't have been knocked out when you got hit with it again and you wouldn't even have that scar on your forehead. No one really has ever bothered with this branch of magic because it requires a ridiculous amount of skill behind the potions to administer them. You can end up killing yourself in the process. This is all part of the Dark arts that Voldemort had been dabbling in after he left Hogwarts. Besides, in most cases where someone has tried this stuff, they've asked their friends to try the curse on them and it left them in such a bad state, they ended up finishing themselves off.
Now, enough of the bad stuff. The bottom line is, is that Voldemort's not going to survive another backlash from the Killing Curse. Snape managed to get to us that Voldemort managed to survive the more recent on one you because he Disapparated the moment he let the spell off and therefore was never exposed to the rebounded curse but part of it did get to him and that's why he was stripped again. It was just luck that saved him that time. Yes, I know: "damn, why couldn't he have just stayed." That's exactly how we all feel.
Harry didn't know whether to feel glad or upset at this point. He supposed glad, because it was all going to end one way or another and if Voldemort didn't pull any one-ups on them by experimenting with resistances and immunities, they were in the clear. Then quite suddenly, Harry realized Voldemort might have done exactly that. On he read...
While it's possible that Voldemort might have tried playing with this again, we're not entirely sure that he even knows he's mortal. We only know this because Dumbledore knows this. You probably saw him smiling to himself very briefly after you told him that Voldemort took blood from you three years ago. Don't ask how he knows, but he's one hundred percent sure. He told us and I'm not sure I even understand it. So yeah.
Let's recap. Voldemort's possibly no longer immortal. We can kill him and you can bet your life we're going to try as hard as possible. We're not sure what or where he is because Snape told us they have them Disapparating to a secluded area that he doesn't recognize at all and he puts Memory Charms on them that we've been trying to break for the longest time. If we try any harder, it's going to damage Snape's memory and as much as I'd like to damage certain parts of it, we can't have that.
Harry really wished they could damage the part about Snape hating him.
Our biggest worry is that one of his Death Eaters, Thantanos, has the Mark of Ancients. Dumbledore has been playing with the anti-Disapparation enchantments at Hogwarts and said that you will have to help him with Raides so they can't Apparate inside the castle. This means that you won't be able to either but I'm sure you'll agree to make that sacrifice if it means no repeat of last year. Dumbledore's going to talk to you about this after your next Paladism class.
Harry didn't have any objections.
Now onto you. Cho already told you this and I know you don't want to hear it so I won't say that we're concerned about you (ha, I said it). Keep your grades up, don't worry about me, study hard for your N.E.W.T.s, stay out of trouble and I hope you have fun with what's going on at Hogwarts besides the Triwizard Tournament!
Keep in touch,
Sirius
PS: Remus Lupin says hi!
PPS: Sorry about Hedwig. Dumbledore used her to write to me and then I sent her to Cho first, suggesting she say hi, too. She wrote to me first, slightly insulted that I asked her to write to you. She said she was going to anyway and that she just wanted to "wait a day." Naturally you can see right through it; she really hadn't planned on it and didn't want either of us to think she hadn't thought of that. Girls... You picked a good one though, she has her heart in the right place.
Sirius did it perfectly. While the beginning of it was nothing to be happy about, he made it go from bad to good. Now positively grinning and feeling only slightly awkward about Sirius talking to him about his -- his girlfriend, Harry wanted to show Ron, Hermione, Raides -- and possibly Ginny -- Sirius' letter. He would have to be held at wand point, though, to show them Cho's letter. That one was entirely personal. Well, maybe he'd snip the second postscript off of Sirius'...
He was just slightly bitter that Sirius didn't want to spill the beans on what was going on besides the tournament, though...