Chapter 22

Disclaimer: Harry Potter etc still belongs to JK Rowling, plot still belongs to me.

Author's Note: This chapter is going to be a bit of a mixed bag.

----

Harry did not know what to say. He stood up, still looking at Sirius in amazement. They both looked awkward for a moment, then they hugged each other.

"You've grown," Sirius remarked. It was true. Harry was now almost as tall as him, which was no mean feat. "What the hell's going on?"

"Um… You do know you died, right?" Harry asked delicately.

"Yes, or at least I thought I died…"

"Well, you did, but Dumbledore went back in time and I guess he must have saved you…"

Harry's explanation was interrupted by another piece of parchment appearing.

'Harry, I assume Sirius may have reached you by now. I managed to save him, obviously, and no one noticed my future self. I will be back soon to sort things out. Until then, keep Sirius well hidden.'

Harry finished reading the letter, and handed it to Sirius.

"So I'm not dead. This is quite confusing," Sirius remarked flippantly. "Is there a bathroom around here?"

"What?"

"Is there a bathroom around here? Harry, I haven't been to the lavatory all summer…"

Harry pointed wordlessly to a door on their left. As soon as Sirius had exited, he, Ron and Hermione burst into hysterical laughter at the sheer weirdness of the situation.

As their laughter began to fade, the door opened again and a new person entered: Lupin.

"Hello, Professor," Harry said, trying to stop his laughter.

"Oh, hello, Harry," Lupin replied distractedly. Then he did a massive, rather funny double-take. "What are you doing here? Where's Dumbledore?"

"Um, he had to go and deal with something," Harry answered. "Why are you here?"

Lupin held up a piece of parchment. "I just got an owl from Dumbledore, asking me to come up here."

"Dumbledore can't have sent that," Harry said. "He's been in the Space-Time Continuum for the last ten minutes!"

Lupin was starting to look very confused. "He's what?"

"Um, he went back in time to June…"

"June?" Lupin repeated. Harry suddenly noticed that like Hermione had said, he did smell faintly of Firewhisky. "You mean…"

At this exact moment, Sirius came back into the room. He took one look at Lupin and swore. "! Remus, what are you doing here?"

"I'm teaching again," Lupin replied, looking extremely bemused. "What are you doing here?"

"Ah, yes, I'm supposed to be dead, aren't I? Dumbledore came back in time and stopped me dying." Sirius grinned. "That's the brief edit."

To Harry's utter confusion, Lupin moved forward and hugged Sirius. He looked at Ron and Hermione, whose faces looked just like his own.

This had been a very confusing day.

Shortly before dinner, Harry, Ron and Hermione left Sirius and Lupin in Dumbledore's office and went down to the Great Hall. Fortunately, there was not a full moon that night.

They ate in silence, choosing not to talk. They knew that talking would inevitably result in picking over the day's events, which would probably make them even more confusing.

On the way out, Harry dropped a piece of parchment by the Slytherin table. 'Coincidentally', it was right by Draco. As he bent to pick it up, he whispered in Draco's ear: "Meet me at nine, same place."

Harry took great care in leaving Gryffindor tower that night. He wore the Invisibility Cloak, but it still took him a while to escape Ron and Hermione, and get up to his dormitory to put it on.

It was just after he climbed out into the corridor that he remembered he had left the Marauder's Map on his bed. This was not good, but it would make no end of problems if he tried to go back for it.

He walked quickly, and soon he was with Draco again. He recounted what had happened that day, including that Sirius was back.

"You DO trust me," Draco said in amazement when Harry finished. "Wow. I always knew Dumbledore was a good wizard, but that's really advanced."

Back in Gryffindor tower, Ron and Hermione were beginning to wonder where Harry had got to. They went up to the boys' dormitory to look for him, but all they found was the Marauder's Map.

"It doesn't feel right to look at this," Ron said as he picked up the map.

"What if he's done something stupid?" Hermione countered. "We need to find out where he is!"

Ron grimaced. Why did he agree to go out with such a bossy girl? "I solemnly swear I am up to no good," he said reluctantly, and ink lines blossomed out across the parchment. "What now?" He asked Hermione. "It's a big place, it could take us all night to find out where he is!"

Hermione sighed. "This map can help us you know, I mean it's pretty special." She took it from him and muttered: "Show me where Harry is, please."

The map showed an arrow snaking from Gryffindor tower along several corridors and to…

"That's the old DA room," Hermione frowned, but she and Ron could both see Harry's dot in the Room of Requirement. "Hang on! That other dot says…"

"Draco Malfoy!" Ron finished in stunned surprise. "Wait, they're getting closer together – Merlin, Hermione, they must be having a fight!"

The two of them jumped up and ran to the door like a couple of non-masked avengers.

"Hang on," Hermione said suddenly. "We're a bit too visible." She waved her wand and they both disappeared.

"Hermione," said Invisible Ron, "where did you learn that?"

"I read. Let's go!"

The two of them ran along the corridors at speed. At last, they entered the Room of Requirement to find that Harry and Malfoy were not having a fight at all. Far from it. They were kissing.

----

Author's Note: See? Mixed bag. Hope you like it.

A/N2: I can't believe how bad my writing is! I hope you guys are getting some enjoyment out of reading this, as it just makes me cringe. My writing has come a long way since... god, it was 2004 when I started this. Wow.