That was cool! Can you do it again? This chapter, according to KCB, is "monotonously (sp?) boring." Hope you do think so. Anyway, we still don't own it. And by the way, this is explaining how the secrets were explained, not, as KCB thought, asking how many of them were explained.
Chapter 22
How many of the Assorted Secrets were Explained
Heather awoke sometime later to a pair of low voices murmuring around her.
"Do you think she's okay?"
"Yeah, all she did was pass out."
"But she could have hit her head!"
"Sirius, you worry too much."
"I do not!"
"You do too!"
"Be quiet or you'll wake her up!"
"Isn't that the intention?"
"No! I mean yes! I mean…I don't know!"
"I think you're losing it."
"I am not!"
"Yes you are!"
"No I'm not!"
"Yes you are!"
"Do you two mind?" Heather had finally opened her eyes to show she was awake.
"Harry, you were being too loud!!"
"Look who's talking!"
"Shut it!"
"Really, it's okay, I've been awake for a couple of minutes anyway."
"Why didn't you say so?!?! We've been worried sick!!!"
"Actually Sirius, you've been worried sick."
"Wouldn't you be worried if you thought your fiancée was dead and now you find out she's alive and then she fainted?"
"I never thought about it that way…"
"Of course you didn't."
"Oh be quiet."
"You two argue a lot."
"You've noticed?" Harry replied dryly. Sirius ignored both of them.
"Alright Heather, you've got some explaining to do. Like, how the heck you're alive!"
"The Death Eaters never killed me."
"We figured that much," Sirius interrupted.
"Do you want to hear this or not?! I escaped, but the Death Eaters think they killed me, thanks to a nice memory-modifying spell. They wanted me dead for some reason, I don't know why."
"Because you're a Muggleborn, duh!" Sirius exclaimed.
"Oh, you be quiet. Anyway, I Disapparated to America and stayed there for a while. I studied Defense, among other things, in the hopes of becoming a teacher, but I couldn't find any openings. When I heard you'd escaped, I moved back here, under a different name and appearance. And then this year Dumbledore had an opening, so I applied for the job."
"Does he know who you are?" Harry questioned.
"Yes, but he's the only one, other than you two. And now for your explanation, Sirius. I'm afraid Harry's account wasn't very…useful."
"Well…let's see. What do you want to know?"
"Everything!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"Okay then. I escaped from Azkaban when I realized that Wormtail was at Hogwarts with Harry. After some rather interesting episodes…"
"Like what?"
"Like slashing the fat lady and scaring Ron half to death!" Harry put in.
"Nobody asked you. Anyway, at the end of the year I caught up with Harry and Remus-"
"How is he?"
"Fine, for what I know. He's staying at my house and taking care of Buckbeak."
"Who?!?!"
"I'll get to that in a second. So I caught up with Harry and Remus, who at first wanted to kill me, but then learned the whole story. Of course, at about this point, Snivellus came in and had to mess things up a bit."
Heather let out a string of swearwords Harry knew certain people like McGonagall and Dumbledore wouldn't have approved of. "I always hated that little freak. Do you know how much willpower I'm using not to go up there and smack him in the face each time I see him?"
"Tell me about it. He obviously got in the way a bit, but Harry, Ron, and Hermione took care of that. Then, as Moony forgot it was the full moon, Wormtail got away and the Dementors closed in on me. From what I've heard, as I was unconscious at the time, Harry used a Patronus to get rid of them. Then he flew Buckbeak the hippogriff up to the tower where I was kept and got me out."
"And you managed this how?!?"
"My turn Sirius."
"Be my guest."
"Hermione and I collapsed by the Dementors too. I didn't actually conjure a Patronus powerful enough to get rid of all of them. We both woke up sometime later in the hospital wing, where no one would believe our story. You should have seen the look on Snape's face."
"I can imagine," she growled.
"But, Hermione and I went back in time to stop Buckbeak from being executed, I conjured the Patronus that actually stopped the Dementors, then we flew up to the tower. And I really don't know much after that."
"That's okay, I can take over from here. After that whole ordeal, I high-tailed it south and stayed in Africa for awhile."
"Oh, that's where you were?"
"Yes, that's where I was. Can I get on with the story?"
"Sorry."
"You should be. Now where was I? Ah, yes. When Harry told me in a letter that his scar was hurting, Buckbeak and I went north, back into England. Don't worry Heather, nobody saw us. Then there was the Triwizard tournament. In that short amount of time, I used more paper sending letters to Harry and Dumbledore than I used in my entire life before that. Naturally, I was here at the end of it, when Voldemort rose and almost killed my godson."
"Hey! He didn't almost kill me! We did that Priori Incatatum thing!"
"Close enough! Dumbledore asked me and Remus to restart the Order of the Phoenix. We used my parents' house for Headquarters…"
"I thought you hated that place!"
"I do, trust me. But it's a big house, and my parents are both dead, so, it works."
"What about that house-elf of yours, Kreacher?"
"Please, if you know any way of killing a house-elf, tell me. Anyway, what Voldemort wanted was a Prophecy, which told about him and Harry. Since he couldn't very well waltz into the Ministry to get it, he made Harry get it for him."
"Ummmmmmmm…"
"Sometimes I have dreams of what's happening," Harry explained. "He tricked me and I thought he had Sirius in the Department of Mysteries. So I went there to go save him, along with some of my friends."
"Well that explains a lot."
"Yes it does. Well, Voldemort obviously sent a bunch of his Death Eaters after Harry, and the Order went after them. I was dueling with Bellatrix, and she caught me off guard and I fell into the Veil."
"Please, do tell me how you happen to be here at the moment."
"The veil was a fake. It worked sort of like a Portkey; it threw me into the Sahara but took about a month to activate and took away some of my magic. I couldn't Disapparate."
"That reminds me, how'd you fix that?"
"I had to learn all over again, which wasn't fun, believe me. And after asking Dumbledore if I could stay at Hogwarts for the year, he made up that story about me being a stray, and here I am. Any questions?"
"Yes, one. WHY DID YOU NEVER TELL ME THAT YOU WERE AN ANIMAGUS?!?!?!"
"I wanted to, I really did. But James didn't think I should, and Remus and Wormtail agreed."
"But James told Lily he was an Animagus!"
"He did?! That little prat, he said he'd never told anyone! Oh well. But how come you didn't tell me you were alive?!?"
"I don't know, something just told me to stay hidden, I can't explain it."
"Well, now that this is all settled, you ought to get back to your Common Room Harry, seeing as it's past curfew."
"We'll walk you there in case you happen to run into Filch."
"Thanks."
"Don't mention it. It's my fault you're here anyway; I can just say that our session was longer than planned. And Sirius, you might want to change form before you walk out of my office."
"Oh, right. Oops." He transformed and slipped out of the office, Heather and Harry following him.
"How come you didn't tell me about this before??"
"You never asked."
"Do you realize how annoying that saying is?"
"Of course, what did you expect? I learned from the best!"
"What??"
"I was such a trouble-maker that a certain group of young Gryffindor men named me an honorary Marauder."
"What house were you in?"
"Gryffindor, of course. All pranksters end up in Gryffindor." Sirius let out a bark of agreement. "Shhhhhh! You don't want to get Filch angry! We had enough of him during our schooldays, remember?"
"I'd like to hear those stories sometime."
"We can talk about them in the next 'lesson'. Monday, same time, same place."
"Cool," Harry replied as they reached the Gryffindor Tower.
"This is where we leave you. Goodnight!"
"Goodnight Professor! Goodnight Sam!" Harry walked through the portrait hole, his head swimming. His mother's twin sister, Sirius's fiancée, was alive, and, what's more, was his Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.
"Hi Harry, what took you so long?" Hermione asked as he walked past, staring at the wall.
"Harry, hello? Helloooooooo! Harry? What's wrong with him?"
"I don't know, maybe learning Occlumency does that. I don't think it says anything in Occlumency for the Progressing Wizard about Harry's symptoms, but I'll go check." She raced off into her own dormitory, leaving a very confused Ron.
Meanwhile, Heather and Sirius were back in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, catching up on the fifteen years they had been apart.
"Petunia's going to be horrible, she hated me as much as she hated Lily."
"Don't worry about her, she won't say anything as long as I'm around."
"Why not?"
"Because she's terrified of me, that's why not."
"That's a good reason."
"Isn't it?"
"What do you think Remus is going to say?"
"Probably something like, 'Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!', which is what I would have said if I could've spoken at the time."
"Very funny. What do you really think he'll say?"
"'What happened?? What's going on?! Heather?!?!?!?!?!?'"
"You're not mad at me, are you?" Heather asked suddenly.
"Of course not, why would I be mad at you?"
"Well, I've been living in secret for this whole time when you thought I was dead."
"And I've been living in secret this whole time while everyone thinks I'm a mass murderer. So?"
"I was just afraid you'd be upset that I never showed myself to you."
"It's okay Heather, really. I'm not angry."
"Harry won't tell anyone, will he?"
"Well, he's kept me a secret for a while, hasn't he? He'll probably tell Ron and Hermione, but that'll be it."
"Good."
"Heather?"
"Yeah?"
"Are we still engaged?"
"Of course we are."
"I hoped so." He took Heather into his arms and she laid her head on his shoulder. Unfortunately, Dumbledore chose this time to walk into the office. Seeing the two of them, he chuckled quietly and tiptoed out. The students' progress reports could wait.
So yeah, that was just telling you a whole bunch of stuff you already knew and then throwing in some fluff. Don't worry, we won't get farther than kissing. -Shudder- How about four reviews?
