Harry spent most of the afternoon, after giving all of his friends a play by play of what happened, helping the Greengrasses set up for the party. Morgan was pleasantly surprised to see that Harry had his mother's knack for cooking. Harry learned more about his mother from talking with Morgan. He learned that his mother received the necklace he brought from the main vault was given to her by a childhood friend. Aside from a few weeks in their fifth year, she almost never took it off.
Around seven o'clock, Amelia arrived, bringing along a rather shabby looking man with short grey hair. "Harry, I thought that you might want to meet one of your father's closest friends, Remus Lupin." Lupin looked at Harry, smiled and said, "It's wonderful to finally meet you. I had hoped to meet before now; however, Professor Dumbledore feared that it might put you in danger." Harry shook his hand, "It's nice to meet you, sir." Remus laughed, "Please call me Remus. 'Sir' makes me feel like an old man. I'm sure that you have some questions, so feel free to ask them and I will answer them to the best of my ability." Cyrus walked into the room, carrying the memory from this afternoon.
Harry was quiet for a minute, before finally asking, "Do you know why You-Know-Who killed by family?" Remus answered with a tear in his eye, "I don't know why Voldemort- "everyone in the room but harry shuddered at the name, "attacked your parents, however, I do know that the only reason that they were killed was because your father's best friend betrayed him." Harry was shocked, how could his father's friend do that? Cyrus spoke up at that moment, "Sirius Black never betrayed them! An innocent man has been in Azkaban for over ten years." Amelia turned to Cyrus, "Please explain, Cyrus." He handed her the memory, "This is Lily potter's memory of the day that the cast the Fidelius charm. Black convinced them to make Pettigrew the secret-keeper, in order to throw off You-Know-Who. Since the charm was broken, that can only mean that Pettigrew was the traitor, not Sirius. Sirius never even got a trial because of Crouch." Cyrus snapped his fingers and a house elf popped next to him. "Mooky, please bring me the pensieve from my office." A second later, the pensieve popped in on the table, "you're more than welcome to see for yourself."
Amelia poured the memory into the pensieve, and bent into the pensieve. A few minutes later, Amelia straightens up, and turns to harry, "Sorry harry, but you know what the original plan was, right?" Harry nodded and she continued, "If you are questioned, just say that is what happened. I can't let Sirius black spend one more day in prison." And with that she turned to leave, only for Remus to stop her, "When Sirius is released, please ask him to meet me here. Morgan was kind enough to lend me her spare bedroom." Amelia nodded and left the house.
They spent the entire night waiting for some news from Amelia, which finally arrived around midnight. The message was short and read;
Cyrus,
I've had Sirius Black moved to a holding cell at the ministry, I have also filed the paperwork to have Harry removed from that muggle hell. Harry may be required to testify, but that will at the trial next month. I have listed his temporary residence as your house.
I'll keep you updated,
Amelia
Harry went to his room, but was unable get to sleep for a while. By morning, Harry had gotten about two hours sleep. When he woke up, he saw that the bed was surrounded with presents. There were more in this room than Harry had gotten in his entire life before now. He opened a small package at the foot of his bed. Inside was a cloak, which seemed to change color as he moved it. Putting it on, Harry looked in the mirror and saw that his entire body was gone. All that he saw was a floating head.
Daphne chooses that moment to walk into his room, "Harry, are you awake yet? Mum says that breakfast is- AHHH!" Remus appeared a few seconds later, wand drawn "Daphne, what's wrong?" As she pointed into Harry's room, he saw Harry's head floating in front of the door. "Harry, are you alright?" harry looked at him and said, "Yah I'm fine. I put on this cloak and suddenly my body was gone." He took off the cloak and handed it to Remus. Cyrus and Morgan showed up, wands out, "What happened?" Morgan asked. Remus started laughing, "Someone has a sense of humor. They sent Harry James' cloak. Daphne walked in and only saw his head. I did the same thing when James showed it to me." This caused both parents to laugh, while Daphne pouted.
Harry continued unwrapping his presents. Fred gave Harry a bag of sweets. George had given him a prank pass, which is good for a prank on anyone after they returned to school. Snape had sent him his old copy of the book, 'Advanced Potion Making' with handwritten notes on potions and spells. Daphne gave him a book called, 'An introduction into Pureblood Society'. Tori gave him an assortment of owl treats for Hedwig. Susan's gift was a pair of dragonhide gloves with matching boots, enchanted to keep warm no matter how cold it was outside. Cyrus gave him a silver dragonhide wand holster. Morgan made him a book, filled with old photos of his parents. Harry thought that it was the best present of all.
When Harry finally made it down to breakfast, almost everyone was done. After giving and receiving thanks for the presents, Harry sat down and Morgan reheated his food with a wave of her wand. Remus said to Harry, "I'm sorry that I couldn't get you anything, I was planning on going to get you something today if that's alright." Harry swallowed his food, and answered, "You really don't have to, it's fin-"An owl screech cut him off, flying in through the open window. Landing in front of Remus, it lifted its leg and Remus took the letter. Opening it, he read through quickly before breaking into a smile and handing Cyrus the letter. Cyrus likewise started to smile. "What is going on? Care to share with the kids?"Tori asked, trying to look over her father's shoulder, but he quickly moved the letter. "You'll find out soon enough. Fred, George, it looks like you'll get to meet two of the marauders." As Fred and George cheered, Harry turned to George, "About this prank pass, can I only use it at school?" The twins looked at each other, and then answered, "Depends on what you mean." Harry rephrased the question, "Could I use it to prank the Dursleys?" Fred thought for a minutes, "No." he answered before smiling. George continued, "We'll do that for free." The whole table started to laugh.
After lunch, Remus and twins went out. Remus insisted on getting a present for Harry and the twins wanted to get Harry another Christmas present. Harry spent most of the day running around and hanging out with his new friends. He gave Tori lessons with her new broom, where he learned that she aspired o be a chaser. Harry played the role of keeper and helped her practice her shooting. Afterwards, he, Susan, and Daphne started to learn some of the new types of magic in Susan books. Daphne grew quite fond of alchemy, while Susan was more interested in spell creation. To the surprise of no one, Harry proved to be quite accomplished at martial magic.
Fred and George returned just before dinner, bringing with them a muggle video camera. They handed it to Harry, who watched the video with a smile. "We replaced your cousin's shoes with a pair that had tripping hex imbued in them. He was tripping over his own feet all day. We also cursed their food so that they will wake up with green skin for Boxing Day. His sweet stash was also replaced with a large assortment of our new trick candies. Should be fun watching what happens tomorrow." Everyone laughed, including three new voices from the doorway.
They saw that Remus was at the doorway, with Amelia and a man with long black hair and a wide grin on his face. "Not bad, reminds me of the good old days, right Moony?" the man said. Lupin laughed and replied, "And they'll only get better over time. They might surpass us, Padfoot." Fred gaped, "Moony?" at the same time as George gaped, "Padfoot?" Cyrus made the introductions, everyone, this is Sirius Black, recently exonerated mass murder. Sirius, my Daughters Daphne and Astoria. Amelia's niece Susan. Fred and George Weasley, next generation Marauders. And, of course, your godson Harry Potter."
Sirius knelt down next to Harry, "I'm sorry that I wasn't there for you. Until we find that no good rat, I won't really be free, but Amelia was kind enough to get me released on home confinement until then." Harry's answer was cut off by Morgan, "We'll have time for that later, we still have all of the food we made yesterday, and how about we have a party to celebrate your release." Over dinner, Fred asked Sirius, "How did you get the nickname 'Padfoot'?" Sirius stopped eating, and said, "because of this…" and Sirius disappeared. He was replaced with a large shaggy black dog. After he changed back, Morgan hit him on the head with a spoon. "The rules are the same as always, no changing in the kitchen."
Sirius explained to the twins, "The marauders were animagus, I'm a dog, and James was a stag, Hence Prongs. Peter was a rat, very fitting description of that back stabbing piece of-"Morgan hit him again, "Language." Amelia turned to Sirius, "can you give me a memory of Pettigrew's rat form? Chances are that he's hiding out in it." After Sirius nodded, she placed her wand to his temple and withdrew, taking a memory along with it. She put the memory in the pensieve and watched it. After she was done, she wrote an owl to the department of animagus registration and updated Pettigrew's information. While she did that George watched the memory and Fred continued his chat with Sirius.
"No way! You pranked Dumbledore?" George exclaimed. Sirius laughed, "Yah, took about a month to plan, but we pulled it off. The best prank we ever-""Fred!" George shouted from behind him, causing everyone to jump and Remus to pull his wand. Fred turned and was stunned by the serious look on his twin's face. "What? What's wrong?" George pointed to the pensieve, "Look at the memory now. I've seen that rat before." George bolted to the pensieve while Sirius looked thunderstruck. Remus and Amelia started to interrogate George for details. Before he was able to answer, Fred had returned, "No doubt about it. That is scabbers. He's been our brother's rat since before Percy started school. Only difference is that scabbers lost a toe before we got him." Amelia nodded, "The only piece of Pettigrew that was found was his left index finger. Where is this rat now?"
George answered this time, "In Romania, Ron's with our parents and Percy visiting Charlie." Amelia nodded, "We'll keep Sirius' release a secret for now. After you return to school, would you be able to capture and stun him?" seeing them nod, she smiled, "Good, if possible keep it a secret and send an owl to me. The Aurors will handle the rest." Daphne spoke up, "Rather than an owl, I'll call mom on our new watches. That should make it significantly faster." "Sound like a plan. Sirius, it looks like you'll be free and clear in just a little while longer." Sirius grinned, "Glad to hear it. Any chance that Remus and I can tag along?" Amelia thought for a moment, "I can have Remus join us as a civilian assistant, but you are still a convicted felon. If this works and Pettigrew gets sentenced to death, I'll pull some string to let you handle that part." Sirius' only response was a bloodthirsty grin.
Compared to the rest of break, New Years was a quiet celebration. He spent most of the break talking with Sirius and Remus about his father. They were both furious about what happened to Harry at the hands of the Dursleys. Cyrus and Remus had to hold Sirius back before he tried to go kill them. Harry was slowly able to perfect his occlumency. Remus tried to help test his defenses, but every time he got past, he saw what the Dursley's had done to him, and in Sirius' words, "Made him look wolfish." Cyrus volunteered to continue his training, as Harry couldn't let his emotion control him like he did during the first half of the year. Harry found, that occlumency not only helped to keep control of his emotions, he also became better at focusing his magic. Cyrus joked that he'd destroy the school if he got any stronger, but after dueling practice with Remus, he didn't think it was a joke anymore.
Fred and George returned to Hogwarts by floo powder from the leaky cauldron, while Harry and company boarded the Hogwarts express at ten-thirty. Aside from a confrontation with Ron and Draco, which ended with both of them fleeing as soon as they saw Harry's new wand, it was a relatively peaceful ride. As they disembarked, they were met at the platform by Professor Snape. "Potter, Bones, Greengrass, Might I have a word?" They followed, and rather than heading towards the school, they went into Hogsmeade Village, into the three broomsticks. He'd obviously made arrangements before hand as he walked up to the counter, and told the barmaid, "Three Butterbeers and a Firewhiskey in the private parlor." And walked into the parlor. After the barmaid brought the drinks Snape turned to the students, "The headmaster was none too pleased that you went to Gringotts. He ordered me to make a stronger batch of Loyalty potion. Unlike before, however he intends to dose all of you. He believes that if he can control you, than Harry will be easier to manipulate."
Snape pulled out three bottles of cherry red liquid, "These potions will counteract the loyalty potion, if taken within twenty four hours of being affected. If you are called to the headmaster, drink the potion and call me before hand. If a teacher is ordered to bring you to the headmaster, ask that I be present. Now, did anything happen during the break that I should be aware of?" Harry spent the next half hour give him a brief summary of what happened, from getting his new wand, to Sirius Black's innocence and Pettigrew's identity. After he was done, Snape sighed, "So, Albus concealed the real will. I always thought that Lily would never have wanted you anywhere near Petunia. I'm glad that Lily was as astute as always. I noticed that you have her necklace." pointing out the necklace that Harry'd taken from the vault. "It was in the main vault, I took it so that I could have something to remember her by" Harry answered. Snape didn't speak for a minute and when he did, it was little more than a whisper, "I can't believe she kept it. After all these years…." Speaking up, with a tear in his eye, he says, "I gave her that necklace for her twelfth birthday. After we had a fight in my fifth year, I thought that she'd thrown it out."
Regaining his composure, Snape hands each of them a vial. "You may be able to put that necklace to good use. The inside is hollow; Lily had the ingenious idea to use it to store invigoration draught to cram for her O.W.L.S and N.E.W.T.S. Remove the cap and pour the antidote. It should make it easier to drink it suddenly, if needed. Regarding the plan to capture Pettigrew, we can only hope that Dumbledore doesn't attempt to interfere." After they'd finished their drinks, Snape escorted them back to school, where the twins were waiting for them, rat in hand.
Daphne hurried to tell her mom, while Snape left to the main gate to lead them to the school. Fifteen minutes later, he returned along with Amelia, Remus, and two Aurors. Fred handed the rat to Remus who forced Pettigrew to reveal himself. He attempted to resist, but was overpowered and restrained. The commotion in the Entrance Hall naturally drew the attention of teachers and students alike. Some teachers, like Professor Flitwick assisted the Aurors with restraining Peter, while other like McGonagall kept the students from interfering and placing themselves in danger. Ultimately, as the Aurors prepared to take Pettigrew away, Dumbledore arrived, walking right up to Remus, "Remus, my old friend, what is the meaning of this? No one called the department of magical law enforcement, so how did this happen?"
Remus smiles at Albus, "We received an anonymous tip that Peter Pettigrew was an animagus, hiding out as a rat at Hogwarts. Deciding that the tip was credible, Madam Bones asked me to join her on this assignment. As Peter's friend, I would be able determine if it was him. Upon arriving, Professor Snape met us at the gate and led us inside. We'd intended to ask you to request any rats be taken to great hall. However as soon as we entered, we saw Mr. Weasley and Mr. Weasley holding a rat in the corner. We asked to see it and it became frantic. After stunning it, we preformed the proper spells and established that it was an animagus, and reversed the transformation. The man in question seems to resemble Peter Pettigrew and is being taken to the ministry of magic for processing."
Albus' smiled faded briefly, but rebounded as he spoke to Amelia, "Surely there is no need for that. There is no evidence that he committed any crime." Amelia addressed Dumbledore seriously, "There is the charge of being an unregistered animagus. Also, his survival does raise questions regarding Sirius Black's imprisonment. Pettigrew will be questioned under veritaserum. If he committed no crimes, then the ministry might be willing to drop the charges, considering his Heroic act of bring down Sirius black. Good day professor, you might want to inform Ronald Weasley that he might not have a rat again." Without even waiting for a response, she walked out the door, followed closely by Remus and the Aurors, still transporting Pettigrew's chained form.
After dinner that night, Harry invited Fred and George to the Slytherin common room to celebrate Pettigrew's capture. The rest of the house wasn't sure why they were partying, but joined in nonetheless. Snape broke up the party at two o'clock. But it was restarted about an hour later. No one got any sleep that night, but harry didn't care. The monster that led his parents to their deaths was captured. That was all that mattered to him.
Elsewhere, Albus Dumbledore was once again pacing, unable to discern the cause of these events. How could Harry have known to go to Gringotts to claim his inheritance? I'd hidden all traces of his true wealth and status. Even worse however, was that Harry had been removed from the Dursleys. Without their constant abuse, Harry's true powers will begin to awaken. Powers that he'd subconsciously sealed away to avoid suffering would begin to reawaken. If Harry learned control them, it would be disastrous. All that work that I'd put into hiding Peter had been uncovered. If Peter talks, then Black would mean would be released. That mustn't be allowed! He must be silenced. I'll suggest it Malfoy Senior that he make it a priority. If I step up my plans to control potter, I might be able to regain control of this situation. It's earlier than I planned, but I must get Harry Potter on my side. As Dumbledore's thought turned darker, a phoenix lamented the loss of the good man that it had bonded with.
The Next morning, Harry went to breakfast early, deciding to dine in the great hall today. Harry was enjoying his pumpkin juice and talking with the other Slytherins, when owls started to fly into the hall, dropping mail to students. Harry was surprised when Hedwig flew over to him with a copy of the daily prophet. Unfolding it, Harry saw a note written in the corner. "I thought that you might want to see this for yourself. Cyrus." Harry took one look at the front page at broke out into a grin.
Sirius Black Exonerated!
Yesterday afternoon, Madam Amelia Bones, and a squad of Aurors were deployed to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, acting on an anonymous tip. This tip stated that Peter Pettigrew, former friend of the Potters, was a rat animagus hiding out at Hogwarts. Deciding that the tip was credible, Madam Bones arrived at the school. She was able to find a rat, owned by the Weasley family, which began acting strange upon her entering the room. The rat was stunned, and upon investigation, was revealed to be an animagus. Revealing that the rat was Pettigrew, he was taken into custody.
Last night, Pettigrew was questioned under veritaserum. He revealed that not only was he one that betrayed the Potters to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named; he also was responsible for the death of the twelve muggles when he made his escape, framing Black in the progress. This reporter has discovered that Lord Black never received a trial, nor was he given a chance to defend himself. Madam Bones commented, "On behalf of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, I sincerely apologize to Lord Black for this gross miscarriage of justice. We must strive to ensure that it never happens again." Lord Black was released from Azkaban last night, and is undergoing treatment for prolonged exposure to Dementors, and could not be reached at this time. Minster Fudge is expected to make an official statement regarding this, and has asked Lord Black to be present, We, at the Daily Prophet, offer our apologies to lord black for the articles that we have written about him, and wish him the best of luck at getting his life back on track.
Looking around, Harry saw that the entire Hall was stunned to silence, teachers included. The remainder of breakfast was in complete silence, everyone still trying to make sense of what they'd read.
Harry and friends went from the great hall to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, still thrilled at how well the plan had worked out. As soon as they entered the class, Professor Quirrell started to eye him nervously. Harry stared right back, until he felt a painful probe attack his mind. Instinctively, Harry locked down his mind and reflected the probe. The moment the probe left his mind, Harry felt as if his scar was on fire and began to scream. Quirrell also stumbled and had to hold himself up, but this was missed be the class.
Daphne and Susan ran to Harry, while Ron and Malfoy laughed. A minute later, Harry finally stopped screaming, and passed out from the pain. Daphne ran out of the room to get help, returning minutes later, followed by Madam Pomfrey and Professor Snape. When Snape turned to Quirrell, Quirrell was visibly disturbed and ran from the room. Madam Pomfrey conjured a stretcher and carried Harry to the hospital wing, Ron and Draco still laughing. That is until the door shut and their chairs vanished, prompting them to fall on their asses.
Harry awoke, three hours later, in the hospital wing. Looking up he saw the tear stained faces of Daphne and Susan, who hugged him until they were forcibly removed by Madam Pomfrey. Daphne was the first to talk, "Harry, we were so worried! What happened? One minute you were walking, then the next you just started screaming." She said choking back tears. Harry turned to Madam Pomfrey, "Can you get Professor Snape, please?" he asked. Before she could answer, however, the fireplace flared green, Snape stepping through. "How is he, Poppy?" turning and seeing Harry awake, "Poppy, I'm sorry, but I need to have a private conversation with my students." Madam Pomfrey was ranting as she went to her office. Snape pulled out his wand, pointed it at the door, and said, "Mufflaito!"
"What happened, Harry?" Snape asked calmly. "When I walked into the classroom, I felt something probing my mind. When I repelled it, I was overcome with an intense pain in my scar. It was so bad, I couldn't even breathe. Do you have any idea what happened?" Snape thought for a moment, "I can think of two possibilities, neither is good. Let me know if you have any problems again. I would rather not face him unless I have to. Not yet at least." Daphne and Susan Started to bombard him with answers but Harry silenced them both, "Alright. Quirrell wants whatever is on the third floor, right?" Snape nodded. "And you can't tell us what that is, right?" he nodded again. "Why does He want the-whatever-it-is?" Snape was silent for a moment, and just as Harry was about to ask another question, "I doubt that he wants it for himself. There is someone far more dangerous behind this, and I hope I'm wrong about whom." It took Harry a second to put the pieces together, 'It can't be! Not... Voldemort?" Susan screamed and Daphne paled, but Snape merely nodded grimly, "No one but the Dark Lord could have manipulated him this far. That is all the more reason that we can't get him get the stone." Harry's eyes widened, before he saw Snape place a book on his nightstand. "I don't want to see you in my classroom today, get some rest and read a book. You could become the next Nicolas Flamel." Snape removed his charm, opened Madam Pomfrey's door, "My apologies, Poppy. I will be going now. Please that good care of Mr. Potter." Walking over to the fireplace, Snape pulled some powder from his cloak, through in the fire and was gone.
Susan and Daphne gave him another hug, before leaving to go back to class. Harry picked up the book Snape left, and began reading the first chapter. Around chapter three, Harry saw something that caught his interest, "The average witch or wizard will live to be one hundred and fifty to two hundred years old, however Nicolas and Perenelle Flamel are the oldest living wizards in history, over six hundred and fifty years old each. More information in chapter seven." Harry immediately turned to chapter seven and began reading, until he found what he was looking for. "Nicolas Flamel earned his fame with his creation of the Philosopher stone. Among the most powerful magical items, this stone is capable of astonishing feats, including transforming metal to gold, and common peddles into jewels. However, its most famous ability is producing the Elixir of life. Not only will the elixir extend the life of the one who drinks it, it will also restore body parts that have been magical destroyed. Even the most powerful of spell can be undone with this Elixir. The method of creating a stone is a closely guarded secret, so much so that Nicolas never wrote down his method, to prevent it from being stolen. The whereabouts of the stone are unknown." That was the answer. Voldemort was after the Philosopher Stone.
