Miss Moony would like to dedicate this chapter to Nightwing 509 for being the first reviewer.
Miss Moony would also like to thank siarah, magicgirl45852, EvenstaroftheEast, plutosbaby494, RT, Matamorphmagusgirl, hpottersgirl, siarah, YumiFukushima, pandas rule the world, Rox n Sox, person, girlknight, shazia Born confused, Fk306 animelover, amrawo, Crydwyn, moonypadfoot and Xandria Nirvana for reviewing.
To Crydwyn: No, actually… it was the younger Sirius that the boggart turned into. I'll kind of explain that in this chapter. Sorry if it confused you, though.
To RT: Umm… it was longer than that (evenifitwasreallyreallyshortI'mtryingpleasedon'tkillme).
To hpottersgirl: Er… that was… random. But I also like green, and no, I haven't ever really wondered why potatoes are called potatoes. Maybe they were named after someone called Something Potato.
To Metamorphmagusgirl: Read on. I explain that in this chapter, kind of.
To person: Actually, it is possible. But that's only because Harry's back in time now, and he's just found Sirius again, so it would be natural that he would fear changing time, so that Sirius would die much earlier and would be wiped out of his life completely.
------- I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good -------
Chapter 12
Listening at the door, James frowned, as Remus and Peter looked around nervously, acting as lookouts.
'You've probably heard by now about the boggart incident, Sirius,' Patterson was saying, strangely informal now that class was over. 'And I assume that you want an explanation?'
James could only assume that Sirius had nodded, because Patterson sighed, and then began to speak again. 'You'd best take a seat, then. I'll write you a note to give to Professor McGonagall.'
It was at that point that James became aware of Peter tapping on his shoulder. He drew away from the door. 'You're going to be late for Transfiguration, Prongs,' he said. Of course, Peter was going to be late for Care of Magical Creatures, but that didn't make much difference in the long run.
It all came to the same, anyway: Sirius would have to tell them what had happened at lunchtime.
And so they all sped off to their respective classes, and lived happily ever after. Except for, well, all of them, really, if Professor Medley of the North Tower was to be trusted. Not that James actually believed that Peter was going to betray him to his death, or anything.
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Sirius took a seat cautiously, as Harry began to gather his thoughts, trying to remember what he was supposed to say now. Being that he couldn't exactly say, "Oh, my real name's Harry Potter and I'm your godson from the future. I watched your approximately thirty-five-year-old self die last June, and my greatest fear is seeing it again", he, Luna and Hermione had spent a good hour of his recuperation time in Madam Pomfrey's hands, coming up with a decent, reasonable-sounding excuse for what had happened in Luna and Ginny's dementor-theory class.
He'd had the speech memorised, but seeing Sirius sitting there, very much alive, it promptly fled his brain, leaving him to blurt out the first thing that came into his head, that being, 'I was watching you at breakfast, when Dumbledore introduced us.'
Great, he thought, seeing Sirius' slightly disturbed expression. Now he's going to think I'm stalking him, or something. Trying to salvage the situation, he continued, 'You seemed so… I don't know… carefree, I guess.
'I'm not exactly sure what happened with the boggart, but the only explanation I've been able to come up with is this: When I saw you that morning, added to what I've heard about "The Marauders" and all their great pranks, must've changed something in me.'
Oh God, that sounded cheesy. 'I'm so used to my boggarts being dementors, that I guess I'm not so scared of them any more. The boggart needed to find a new fear, and so it latched onto that something.
'I don't think that the boggart was meant to be you, Sirius.'
Looking bewildered, Sirius said, 'It was me, though.'
Harry shook his head. 'I mean, I don't think that it was you-you.'
'Well, obviously,' Sirius said, still not getting it. 'I'm not dead. It was just a boggart.'
Sighing, Harry ran a hand through his hair in frustration. This isn't working, he thought tiredly. 'I mean that, I think it meant that my greatest fear wasn't the death of you, so much as the death of what you stand for, Sirius.'
Realisation dawning on his face, Sirius' mouth formed an 'o'-shape. 'Oh,' he said. 'What's that?'
'Innocence, rebelliousness, I guess, and the ability to laugh. I've been fighting in the war: I lost my innocence a long time ago, and rebelliousness can cost lives. And even with Ron and Ginny's brothers around, laughter wasn't something that was heard nearly as often as it should have been.'
Looking around, he concluded his speech with, 'It's nice to know that Hogwarts remains untouched-' he looked at Sirius, and paused before saying, 'For now, at least.'
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That lunchtime, as Ginny passed the Gryffindor table, she overheard a strange conversation between two of the four Marauders. 'It sounds a little suspicious, if you ask me.'
'I think he's kind of cool,' Sirius said to James. 'He fought in the war, you know.'
Knowing all that she needed to, she continued on her way to the high table. Harry needed to be told the good news.