Remembering Sirius

Chapter Two--Finding Sirius

Thanks SO much to Mage Ren and Salior Song! This is my first time posting something on so there may be a few problems... (like no extra spacing between separated paragraphs) I haven't really figured out how to edit the story if it's already posted...please bear with me!

Mage Ren--My first ever reviewer on FF>net! Thanks, I loved that part, too. ;-)

Sailor Song--I totally agree.

Harry hadn't thought about where he would go once he was in Dumbledore's memory. It wasn't like finding Snape in his memory--he had to look for Sirius.

He was closest to the Great Hall, and it was around lunchtime, so he headed there first. He didn't pay much attention to anyone else--they couldn't see him anyway. Walking into the Great Hall, he scanned the long Gryffindor table. He saw a girl with curly brown hair, a tall lanky boy, and a girl who looked like Parvati Patil, but no Sirius.

He couldn't really imagine Sirius studying--or being quiet--in the library, so he could cross that off his list of places to go. The Gryffindor common room seemed like a good place to look, so he hurled off in the direction of the Fat Lady. When he reached her, he realized that he didn't know the password. He would just have to wait there until someone came along. The Fat Lady yawned.

"Password?"

Harry looked behind him--there was no one there. His eyes widened. Was the Fat Lady talking to him? She had to be; there was no one there! But that meant that she could see him, and this was just a memory!

"Really, are you just going to stand there all day? I could be elsewhere, you know, you're wasting my time!"

Just then, Harry was spared from answering by the Fat Lady opening and a girl his age coming out.

"Oh, hey James," she said, "What happened to your forehead?"

Harry reacted quicker this time.

"Oh, I, uh...fell," he said.

Quick, but lame, thought Harry. He didn't understand this, but he'd have to go along with it.

"Okay..." said the girl, a trace of a smile on her face. "I thought you went home for Christmas?"

"Oh, yes, that...I, uh, came back early."

"I can see that--well, I have to go, so...see you around."

"Yeah..."said Harry vaguely. He was using a Pensieve, not a time turner, so why was this memory acting like the past in its present...or the present in the past...oh, this was confusing him. Dumbledore had told him this Pensieve was different, but he had used it before and this had never happened. He must have put some kind of charm on it. Thanks for the heads-up, headmaster, thought Harry.

"REALLY! Am I just going to hang open all day? I--"

Harry stepped inside the common room and closed the Fat Lady. It looked the same, except for the people--it was break, so there were only a few there. If he looked straight in the middle of the room, he couldn't see anyone. For a second, he pretended that he was in his own time, and that if he turned his head, he would see Dean, or Colin, or someone familiar. He might even be happy to see Malfoy--no, scratch that, he thought, no Malfoy was one of the perks of this...thing. When he turned his head, all he saw was a brown-haired boy he didn't recognize.

Suddenly, Harry remembered Sirius. The shock of what had happened made him temporarily forget what he was doing. Right, the dormitory, he thought, and headed for the stairs. He couldn't help thinking about what he had been doing in these places earlier . . . or was it later? He reached the sixth year boys dormitory and looked inside. A boy with dark hair was sitting on the bed closest to the entrance. For a split second, he thought it was Dean--then disregarded the thought when he saw how short the boy was.

Might as well do this the right way, he thought.

"Hey," said Harry.

The dark-haired boy didn't respond. He raised his eyebrows and gave Harry a disdainful look.

Stupid, he thought, keep your mouth shut unless it's Sirius. Wait...Sirius! Of course--he would be able to talk to him now! He hadn't felt this excited since Umbridge was sacked--but even then, he couldn't enjoy it as much in the aftermath of Sirius dying.

Don't think about that, he told himself sternly as he sat on his bed. He's alive now--or, rather, here.

"Uh, James?" said the boy amusedly. "That would be Lupin's bed--you sleep next to it, remember?" He pointed to the bed closest to the window. Smirking, he got up and walked out. Git.

Sirius obviously wasn't here, so he decided to look at the Quidditch pitch. Wait...that was his dad's bed--he found his legs moving toward it and his arms opening the trunk.

Inside was An Advanced Guide to Defense Against the Dark Arts, The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 6, more books, a quill...the invisibility cloak! Harry picked it up and set it aside. Something fell out--it had been concealing a piece of paper. Turning it over, Harry smiled as he saw the initials L.E. and a picture of a 16-year-old Snape hanging upside down. The size of his nose was probably exaggerated, as well as the acne. He set it aside and looked back into the trunk. If the two-way mirror was here, it would be a lot easier to find Sirius. He found something better--a piece of parchment! He wasn't sure if this would work, but--

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," recited Harry. A map of Hogwarts, complete with moving labeled dots, appeared--he had been right! He saw the dot of Sirius lounging beneath the oak by the lake. Putting the invisibility cloak back in the trunk, he dashed out of the dormitory.

Down in the common room, he saw the sandy-haired boy sitting by himself, doing his homework. Git, he thought again. Hope he's alone because he has no friends.

Harry stepped out of the castle, barely able to contain his excitement. He had never been so happy to see that tree. He resisted the urge to break into a run when he saw a 16-year-old Sirius leaning against it, looking much better then he had when Harry last saw him. The girl Harry had talked to at the Gryffindor Tower entrance was over at the lake with some other girls. She kept throwing glances over at Sirius, who wasn't looking back. Harry could tell he was interested, though. Flattening his hair over his forehead, he reached him, filled with elation that made him wonder if he had a cheering charm on him.

"Prongs! Why are you back early, mate?" said Sirius.

Harry was in his element--talking to Sirius like this came so naturally that he slipped into the role of his teenage father without thinking.

"Just got bored, I guess," he said, unable to keep a grin from spreading on his face.

"Well, good--I've been bored out of my mind, being the only Marauder at Hogwarts. Time for some action!"