Chapter Twenty-Eight

The Good Die Young

Serena didn't move, even after they started to move Harry's body. As soon as they did, Slytherins began to scream. Remus looked at them, suddenly nervous. Slytherins were flying in all directions. When they would come close to a wall they would slow down and become stuck to the wall or pillar.

Remus didn't know what to make of this. When all of the students of Slytherin were attached to the walls firmly, all the other students robes turned white, while if no student was wearing a robe one appeared. The banners for the houses were also replaced by white banners with a stag, a large black dog, a white wolf with black eyes, and a panther with shocking green eyes.

Serena gasped as she saw the sign and looked back at Harry's lifeless body. She couldn't figure out what was happening. She refused to let them take his body however and laid him back on the ground holding his hand. Hermione and Ron, now clearly scared about Serena's sanity, as well as distraught by what had happened to Harry, sat beside her, eyes closed, silently praying this was a dream.

An explosion at the staff table caused everyone to turn their heads again. This time all were shocked. Hanging over the staff table was a new banner, that none had seen before. No one really even understood until words began to appear on the banner. When she saw what it said a smile formed on her face.

The good die young. Harry Potter is dead, may he rest in peace. Snuffles is alive and well. May he reign well in the stead of Sirius Black.

Harry's eyes suddenly popped open wide, and he took a deep breath. He smiled as no one had yet looked at him. Instead they were all looking around the room at all the things that had been changed. Harry looked at Serena and smiled, hoping she would be happy to see him alive and well.

"Well, Padfoot, it seems I have Sirius' blessing." Harry said happily.

"Harry!" Serena said hugging him tight.

"In the flesh, and for a while, in the spirit as well. But that's another trick." Harry said laughing. Hermione and Ron were laughing with him, ecstatic to see their best friend alive and well.

Remus stared in shock. Harry was perfectly fine. Indeed, he seemed better than he ever was. He looked at Dumbledore, an eyebrow raised in confusion. Dumbledore shook his head, still amazed at what he had seen. In five minutes since Harry had returned, the school had transformed into a madhouse, only to now have children cheering as Harry stood up.

"Harry how did you do that?" Dumbledore asked, obviously confused as well as curious.

Harry responded by taking of his robes. He was wearing a t-shirt, and on his arms were arcane symbols. "Magic." Harry said simply, showing Dumbledore his arms.

"Harry, you left Grimmauld Place for tattoos!" Hermione said shocked.

"No, Mione. Magic put them there. Its how I can talk to Sirius. Its how I did all of this. It might be how Sirius made the banner." Harry said smiling happily.

"Harry, Sirius is dead." Remus said, worried the boy had gone mad.

"So was I. Doesn't change the fact that I made the banners. Sirius quite liked them as well." Harry said, then laughing he looked at Serena. "He also said for me to tell you this. 'Break your promise kid. Make him happy.' Though I have no idea what that means."

"It means this." Serena said, then kissed him firmly on the lips. After a moment they broke apart. "I love you, Harry Potter."

"Sorry, he's dead." Harry said laughing. "Snuffles, however is very much alive. And I love you too."

"Harry, come to my office now. I believe we have something very important to discuss." Dumbledore said.

"Sure, Professor. I'm right behind you." Harry said. As he turned to follow Dumbledore, Serena grabbed his hand. "What's up, Black?"

"I'm not letting you out of my sight till I find out how you did this." Serena said smiling. "Maybe not even then."

"As you wish." Harry said and they walked to Dumbledore's office, both smiling happily.

When they reached Dumbledore's office, Harry smiled at the picture of Phineas. Phineas smiled back at him and nodded.

"It worked then I take it?" Phineas asked.

"Like a charm. Sirius said hello, by the way. Sorry I didn't tell you before, but you saw how tired I was after that." Harry said, grinning.

"Phineas, what are you talking to Harry about?" Dumbledore asked.

"I will leave that for young Potter here to tell you. I'm just glad it worked." Phineas said.

"Harry?" Dumbledore asked.

"Well shall I start at the conversation Phineas and I had, or just tell you what I did?" Harry asked calmly.

"What you did will be fine." Dumbledore said anxiously.

"Ok that's easy. These marks on my arm keep my soul tied to my body unless I die. Not what you saw today. The spell is actually older than any I've ever seen. Phineas said the book it came from dated back to before the first Black." Harry said smiling. "And that is quite old from what I was told. Anyway you have to brew a potion, which Dobby was happy to steal the ingredients from the potions dungeon for me. It takes a few days to brew. Once it is done you take it and say the spell in the book. Phineas had to coach me for the two days it took to brew the potion so I would say the words right. Horrid language, makes parseltongue sound nice. Before the spell I had to magic these tattoos on me so I would stay safe. So I did, followed the book to perfection if I do say so myself."

"Only because I translated. At one time you were going to put one on your foot." Phineas said.

"Anyway." Harry said ignoring Phineas. "After I did that I drank the potion said the spell, and I was off. I couldn't talk to those long dead, so obviously my parents were out of the question, but Sirius was there. He was happy as ever to see me after he found out I wasn't really dead. I told him of this year. Most times he'd just laugh about things.

"He was rather interested in knowing he had a daughter, till I explained that. He laughed and gave me a message for Serena. He told me to forgive and forget, as Moony and Ginny meant well. So I said I would, but I had a prank for Moony. He loved the idea, thinking it was hilarious and even offered to help. He made the banner over the staff table and helped with the Slytherins. I made the other banners, as well as the robes. Also had my part in the Slytherin move." Harry finished, his smile never escaping his lips. "Good enough, Professor?"

"Phineas, was this dark magic?" Dumbledore asked sternly.

"Oh course, Albus. The boy knew this as well. But not all dark magic is bad." Phineas said snippily.

"Phineas, you cannot teach children dark magic!" Dumbledore yelled.

"Albus, I did not teach. He did that on his own. I only told him it was possible and kept him from killing himself with the spell." Phineas said. "He's very powerful. Last wizard I know of that did that spell died just from the attempt, and he knew the language better than I."

"Harry, did you know this?" Dumbledore asked, shocked.

"Of course Professor." Harry said with ease. "But I figured since I could cast a shield spell only the creator was able to do, and do it without a wand, that I could do this so long as I had a translator."

"Why would you do this?" Dumbledore asked calmly.

"I missed him sir. I don't miss him anymore." Harry said softly. "Also from what Phineas said, the text says your body cannot be killed while you spirit is outside of the body. Also, as you can tell, the spirit can cast magic. I'm learning to use all the power I can to defeat him, Professor. I will learn any spell that can help me do it, be it dark or not."

"Harry, I urge you not to tell anyone else of what you have done. It could cause you a great deal of problems if the wrong people heard this." Dumbledore said.

"Yes sir." Harry said.

"I am glad you are back, Harry. Now go and have fun. Apologize to those who deserve it and let the others be forgiven." Dumbledore said.

Harry and Serena were talking with Ron and Hermione, who were catching Harry up on the recent events at Hogwarts. It seemed that they agreed to become Marauders, and were following in his not so humble tradition of fun and mayhem. Hermione tended only to be the planner, being as she did not want to get into trouble.

They told Harry all of the pranks they pulled in his honor. Most took long to tell because as they were telling the stories all four were doubling with laughter. Harry liked these new pranks as much as he liked the old ones. These had more thought attached to them, rather than Harry, Serena, and Ginny's plans which were normally almost spontaneous.

When Harry asked about Ginny, he found that she was being given the brush off by them. This caused him a great deal of trouble because he wanted to talk to her. He felt a need to apologize. Sirius had shown him that people shouldn't be treated badly because of a mistake. He told him a very wise tale about something like this that happened to Sirius and his father.

Harry found out that Ginny was hiding in her dorm. Without caring whether people saw him, he transformed into the panther and walked up the stairs lazily. Luckily no one saw him change. He entered the room cautiously, with his head down in case any of the girls were dressing. He walked to Ginny's bed and saw her reading one of her schoolbooks.

She didn't look up as he stood next to the bed, so he decided he needed to get her attention. He jumped up on the bed, sat across from her and looked at her with his head tilted to the side. Ginny looked at him with her eyes wide for a moment, then threw her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly.

Harry, unable to do anything other than sit there, did just that. He sat for a moment letting her hug him. Then he pulled back slightly, causing her to move and look at him again, sadness filling her eyes. Harry leapt off the bed lightly and began to tug on her shirt with his teeth, pulling her along. She laughed and walked beside him.

When they reached the bottom of the stairs he noticed that there were more than a few people looking at him. Harry, knowing he hadn't been seen, as no one screamed when he changed, walked toward his friends still in panther form. When he looked, he saw that Ginny was no longer beside him.

He walked back to her and began pulling her toward them. When he got to the sofa, he pushed her down next to Serena. Then he jumped onto the sofa himself and laid across both girls. As they started to pet him he purred loudly, causing all four of his friends to laugh.

After a while, Harry decided he needed to be able to talk, so he ran to his dorm, changed quickly and walked back downstairs. People were staring at him weirdly, and he just smiled and nodded at them. Many started waiting for the panther to come back down the steps. Soon people forgot about this and went back to whatever they were doing. Harry sat between Serena and Ginny, threw an arm around both girls.

"Well now, time to kiss and make up, you two." Harry said smiling. Serena smiled at him, then reached over him and hugged Ginny.

"Sorry, Gin. Forgive me?" Serena said smiling again.

"Well, you stole my boyfriend after you gave him too me. You ignored me for a week." Ginny said looking like she was in serious thought, then grinned. "Guess I got to huh?"

"Definitely." Serena said.

"No other option really." Harry said smiling.

"I forgive you." Ginny said.

"Agreed!" Harry and Serena said smiling at her.

"Guess we are up to five marauders now, huh?" Harry said laughing.

"You just forgive her? After you were so bloody angry you left school?" Ron said.

"If she can forgive me and Serena, and we can forgive her, why can't you two?" Harry asked, grinning. "Everyone makes mistakes mate. Look at what I said to her in that letter. Think I would have said that if I wasn't angry? She did what she did for a good reason. She didn't deserve to be punished for trying to help."

"You sure mate?" Ron asked.

"Of course." Harry said, his grin turning to a smile. "Now who wants to see all of these tattoos?" He said ending the feud between the five. He whispered to Serena jokingly "I might have some in more interesting places if you want to check."

"Definitely." Serena said pulling Harry up. "You coming Gin?"

"Next time, definitely." Ginny said laughing, with a hint of sadness in her eyes as Serena pulled Harry away.

"You did a really good thing you know Ginny." Hermione said smiling warmly at her friend.

"I know. I'll be fine." Ginny said, then smiled again. "Besides I'm on the market now!" She added laughing.

The Marauders were now even stronger. Adding Hermione and Ron only caused them to double their efforts. Harry quickly apologized to Remus for his attitude toward what he did, and was as quickly forgiven. Harry said he still had a surprise for him that summer. Remus just smiled and said he was ready for anything.

With Harry around again, the pranks were getting easier, as Harry had almost complete control over his new powers now. Also Harry had this strange tendency of 'fainting' to get him and his friends out of the boring classes. Every time it happened, Serena, Ginny, Hermione, and Ron would have to carry him out cause no one could levitate a stretcher with him on it.

They began reviewing constantly, only stopping for training and DA meetings, both of which were going extremely well. Fifth through Seventh year students were now fighting in simulations strongly, almost never being hit by spells, and hitting almost all of their targets immediately.

The younger students could successfully dodge and shield themselves well, though still only the three could cast their now famous shield charm. Remus and Dumbledore began teaching the students at every meeting helping all students learn spells and helped them practice.

Serena and Harry started spending more time with the group of Marauders than alone, but neither cared. They had a plan for the summer and all would be well. If everything worked out well they would be together again, with very little coaxing of Dumbledore or Remus. But they knew everything couldn't always work well.

Harry would talk with Sirius once a week, while Serena watched over Harry's body. Even though he did this in his trunk he was afraid someone would come down and take his body. He was constantly afraid someone would quickly bury him to avoid the pain of all the students having to go to a funeral.

Harry began receiving strange letters once a week that he wouldn't let anyone see. He never said what was said in them but that it was a surprise and he promised they would all know when it was time. They never had much time to question this however, because they were always back to review.

May passed quickly for them, pranking when possible but spending most of their time studying. They decided passing Sixth year was better than pranks every day. Harry was also relatively pleased that this year had been his calmest year ever. He had a few incidents and was happy there weren't more. The Daily Prophet spoke of attacks, but so far no one was seriously injured. Harry knew Voldemort was merely biding his time.

It seemed that time flew by after his suspension. One day he was coming back, the next day he was taking his last final. He knew this meant he would soon be dueling Dumbledore again. This thought actually made him quite happy as he wanted to see if he had improved enough to win. He was not too hung up on winning though. Against Dumbledore the best thing about dueling was being able to let himself free.

Everyone knew what was happening this time. It was announced a week before finals that Harry and Dumbledore would give them another duel, more for entertainment than a demonstration. Everyone was there, including all of the teachers. Hagrid sat in the stands with Hermione, Ron, Ginny, and Serena cheering for Dumbledore while those around him glared.

It seemed the school was split evenly over who they wanted to win. Slytherins were cheering for Dumbledore only because they wanted to watch Harry get beaten. Gryffindor cheered only for Harry, though he thought this was more house loyalty than anything. Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff seemed to be the only houses that chose their choices by who they felt was a better dueler. Harry didn't care. This was going to be fun.

"Ready Harry?" Dumbledore asked.

"Same rules as last time right?" Harry asked smiling.

"Yes I feel they would work best." Dumbledore said, smiling himself.

"Then I'm ready." Harry said cheerfully.

Harry and Dumbledore walked to opposite ends of the area. They chose to fight on the grounds this time, with a shield of Harry's making surrounding them so everyone could watch easily. As they stood at their end, they nodded to each other in respect. Dumbledore sent a spell, and Harry fell immediately. Everyone gasped saying that Dumbledore won. However, the shield was still being held.

Serena knew what was happening and started laughing wildly as Dumbledore started dodging spells firing from an invisible source. This proved to be quite a feat as the spells seemed to come from everywhere at once. Dumbledore, however, acted as if this were only a minor problem and dodged the spells easily.

Harry jumped back into his body and heaved himself physically into the battle, still smiling. He began with spells that caused Dumbledore to almost be hit from shock that the boy could use them. Dumbledore began doing much the same. Neither decided to talk, not because they wanted to finish this quickly, but because both were admiring the spells of the other.

Harry was hit by a spell after ten minutes of fighting. It seemed to destroy his shirt, but Harry stood there laughing. He took off the shirt quickly, revealing another tattoo on his chest that Dumbledore couldn't make out because as soon as he saw it a barrage of spells came hurtling toward him.

Dodging them quickly and throwing his own back at Harry, the battle began in full force again. Students around the shield were all watching their movements, both holding complete control over every step they took. When Students thought they were going to slow down, they only began going faster. It was amazing watching them move so easily, seeming like a dance.

Teachers were stunned as well. Harry seemed to move quicker than Dumbledore, yet Dumbledore moved with such skill that the increased speed was not a problem. All the while they dueled, they continued moving around in a circular form while dodging spells. First going one way then another, yet neither ever lost their smile.

Dumbledore began to speed up his spells, and Harry did the same. They were laughing while the spells were flying as if each sharing in a private joke that no one else knew. In this way they continued for most of the day, as Harry didn't just want to end this quickly, but have as much fun as possible.

The battle ended again in a draw. After four hours they both stunned each other. Neither intended for the draw to happen this time, however. They were only hit because they were each a second late on their dodge. When they were revived, both were laughing, talking about one spell or another. The students all cheered for them and they bowed happily, both knowing that this was done more for each other than for the students.

Harry was greeted by his friends after this. They all laughed about Harry's dying bit and were talking rapidly about the spells they were using. Harry just laughed and said all the spells were secrets between him and Dumbledore. The others groaned wanting to know. Serena threatened to seduce it out of him, which he quickly said would work.