AN: Unfortunately, this chapter is so late because I was deathly ill for three weeks in December (great thing to get for Christmas, let me tell you). My schedule is pushed waay back and I have learned my lesson about trying to guess when I'll be done. I'm throwing this chapter up to keep interest, and hopefully I'll be able to start posting the rest of this arc soon. I'm still a couple chapters from where I want to be. But those are the same chapters I needed the last time I posted. Bad times all around.
I also intend to go back and fix syntax errors from previous chapters over the next week while I work. I don't know if that will send notifications to people or not, but I will only upload new chapters on Wednesdays. Also, this chapter's title is still basically placeholder, if I come up with a better title I'll change it.
Interference
"It's a shame that we weren't able to get any kind of wandless magic to work over the break." Padma lamented as she watched Hermione gesture for a book to come to her from across the table with her bare hand. She and her sister had tried to get their wands to trigger the feeling of magic while they were staying at Hermione's, but it hadn't worked. The Ravenclaw twin was still convinced that they just hadn't spent enough time away from magic. After all, they had visited Potter Isle a couple times at the start of the week.
"At least everything is fair." Ron offered, "Mrs. Dursley didn't have room at their muggle house for all of us to stay, so Neville and I didn't get a chance to try anything."
"That's not all you guys missed out on!" Parvati said, "Harrods was awesome! So much better than Diagon Alley."
"A bunch of clothes and girly stuff? No thanks." Ron retorted, earning a raspberry from all three girls.
"Did Uncle Moony ever explain the real reason why he didn't want to teach anyone else the sand castle spell?" Harry asked as he fingered the gift he'd received from Sirius Black.
It was a mirror, about a foot in diameter and with an ornate bronze frame, that was magically linked to two other mirrors. His aunt had one, and Uncle Sirius had the other. Harry had used the mirror to talk to his aunt for a little bit the first night they'd returned to Hogwarts, but he was waiting now because Sirius was supposed to be calling him today. After how stressed the man had been last week when Harry visited him, the healers had pushed for more time for him to recover before he began interacting with one of the primary triggers for his stress on a regular basis.
"He did not." Hermione confirmed, "I have no idea why, but he forbade me to ask again after the first couple of times. He seemed frustrated about something."
"What do you mean 'sand castle spell'?" Padma asked at the same time that Ron groaned and asked, "Why would we want to do extra homework on our break?"
"It's a spell that he taught us on Christmas Day that lets you make things out of sand or loose dirt." Hermione answered with a glare at Ron, "Wandless magic is one thing, but actually learning spell is too much for break huh?" While Ron gaped like a fish she went on, "Harry and Dudley were making sand castles with it and it looked pretty fun, but I didn't get time to work at it long enough to get it down. It was hard."
"Yeah right." Ron muttered, recovering from his shock with a disbelieving hand wave.
"Do you think I'm lying?" Hermione asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Could you really Harry?" Neville asked, his skepticism evident by his tone "That sounds like an elemental spell."
"Yeah," the black-haired boy answered, "I wasn't as good as Dudley though. He made a little model of Hogwarts. I could only get the towers to look okay, so I ended up switching and making a Quidditch pitch with no hoops. We never went back down to the beach while you were over so I totally forgot about it until Hermione asked about teaching you guys."
Neville and Ron stared at Harry like he'd suddenly grown two more heads and started barking like a Cerberus. Padma was glancing back and forth between Harry and Hermione, waiting for one of them to crack and start laughing.
"You're kidding right?" Parvati bravely asked, "There is just no way a first year can do earth manipulation magic… right?"
"What do you mean?" Hermione inquired, "It was hard but not that hard."
"Hermione," Padma explained in a voice that made it seem like she was talking to a child, "elemental magic is very hard."
"Ron mentioned that a while ago, too." Harry said as he thought back to that, "What do you mean, though? I mean, we learned to summon water in our very first charms class didn't we?"
"That is different." Padma answered, "Conjuring a little of an element isn't the same as controlling that element, especially when it is naturally occurring." When she realized that Hermione wasn't getting it she asked the question she wasn't sure she wanted to know, "Could you really get the spell to work after only practicing for one day?"
"Try five or ten minutes." Hermione muttered as she thought about what she was hearing, "I totally forgot to go back and try again until you were there. Then when I asked if he would show you all as well he said that teaching other people's children spells without asking would be rude."
Padma and Neville shuddered, "I think he was just trying to save our feelings there, Hermione." Neville finally said, "I don't think I could do something like that…"
"Hermione?" Padma asked, "If I ask my father for a book about elemental magic could we try and figure out why you and Harry and Dudley don't seem to have any of the rules apply to you?"
"I… guess so?" Hermione sighed, she should be used to things around her and her first friends being bizarre.
"Oh, it's vibrating!" Harry said excitedly as he held up the mirror to show everyone before stepping over to a window alcove to activate the device.
"Hey Uncle Padfoot. How are you feeling?" Harry asked as soon as his godfather's face replaced his own in the mirror's reflection.
"Not gonna lie pup," He answered with a laugh, "I'm pretty tired." He smiled broadly before he continued, "It's really good to see you again Harry. I'm sorry, Moony tells me I fell asleep on you when you came to visit. Uh… wasn't your cousin going to be with you?"
"It's alright, Dudley's in detention. He and his friend Justin made Mister Filch mad." Harry said, "Do you think you'll be allowed to leave the hospital by the middle of March? We play Hufflepuff around then and I was thinking how cool it would be for you and Uncle Moony to be there."
"Play… play Hufflepuff?" Sirius' face scrunched in confusion, and Harry saw him wave away someone who wasn't visible. Probably the healer that was observing their conversation.
"I made the Quidditch team, first year." Harry said without missing a beat, "I'm the Gryffindor Seeker." Adding his house and position so that his godfather could remember that without needing to ask.
Recognition dawned on Sirius' face as he remembered that from last time, "Right…" He seemed to wilt right in front of Harry as he realized that he should have already known.
"It's okay Uncle Padfoot." Harry consoled him, "You're gonna get better, I'm sure of it."
"Yeah." the other man responded, though still down on himself before perking up a little, "Healer Denning just said that if I do well I might actually be able to go." He looked away from Harry again, though he was listening to something this time, "He says I just need to work on my triggers and finish getting my strength back and I can get out of here."
Harry nodded in understanding with a bright smile, the healers had been working with him for about two weeks now on helping him to keep from having panic attacks. Rats, the sound of metal on metal, the sound of wind through a stone window; little things would send his mind back to Azkaban and the dementors and he would basically collapse in on himself and shut down. Thankfully, Harry had not seen that when he visited, despite his screw up in mentioning Wormtail; but he had heard Uncle Moony crying in the bathroom one afternoon after returning from St. Mungos.
The pair talked about Quidditch for a few minutes before Sirius yawned. Dinner was about to start in the Great Hall, Sirius went to sleep early at night because he still tired pretty easily, so this was as good a time as any to stop for the night.
"Uncle Padfoot, could I ask you to do me a favour before I go down for dinner?" Harry asked.
"I can try, pup."
"When Uncle Moony comes by tomorrow could you ask him to send a football back with Hedwig? She's still at my aunt's house."
Sirius hesitated before answering, "Are you sure you want to leave that up to me? Doesn't your aunt have a mirror too?"
"Its fine, It isn't really important." Harry said, "But if you remember, then it would be awesome."
Harry knew that his godfather's memory wasn't working very reliably, but this wasn't time sensitive at all; they could always just ask an upper year to transfigure one for them until the real one arrived if the snow melted and they wanted to play. Harry hoped that giving the man a way to help him, however minor, would speed along his recovery a little.
"No promises pup." Sirius answered sadly, "But you need to go to dinner, mirror call me whenever you want. The healers shouldn't…" he looked away, to Healer Denning, momentarily, "okay, only call before seven in the evening, and I'm supposed to have a healer in the room while we chat."
Sirius seemed to be resentful of the healers insistence on being present, "This summer we can talk at home and have some privacy." Harry said as he prepared to put the mirror away, "You just do what the healers tell you and get better."
o0-0oo0-0oo0-0oo0-0o
"Are you ready Tina?" Remus asked as they finished their tea and prepared to head for Potter Isle. It was unimaginably convenient that her parents had allowed a storage room in their house to be set up as a regular portkey location to and from both the island and the lodge. They had the option to go to Mrs. Figg's home and use the floo, but once you stepped in there it became almost impossible to get the smell of cat off of you.
"Okay!" She said as she jumped up and ran up the stairs to grab her wand.
"Would you mind if I came along?" Timothy asked hesitantly, "With Angela and Piers at the cafe today I don't have anything else to do. I could just leave a note taped to the refrigerator."
"Honestly that will be up to Tina, sir." Remus answered, "But if you want my opinion, she could use the support. She has been dealing with an odd hangup in her magic."
"What do you mean?" Timothy asked, not realizing that his daughter was having problems besides the normal 'learning a new skill' kind.
"Do you remember when she set the table on Christmas Eve?" after the girl's father nodded Remus held his hand out to the table and, with a moment's effort, incanted "Wingardium Leviosa."
Before he began tutoring Tina, Remus was only capable of casting a weak Lumos or apparating wandlessly unless he spent a good while preparing himself beforehand. Now levitation came fairly easily and he had even wandlessly, though accidentally, cast a Finite spell once when Tina had somehow extended an exceptionally bright Lumos to the exterior wall of the Dursley's home and caused it to begin shining. That had been quite a shock, though no obliviations were necessary.
"I don't get it." Timothy said as Remus returned their tea cups to the table without spilling any of them, "Wait… she set every fork and knife separately. The boys said that she was faster than them if I recall correctly, but that wouldn't explain why she didn't at least set the silverware a seat at a time instead of a piece at a time."
"Exactly. After the first week or so she started having difficulty extending her magic to more than one thing at a time, and now it seems that she can't. She's given herself a nosebleed trying, though I made sure to stop her before that happened again." Remus grimaced as he stood up, "It is hers and my hope that that is what Mister Ollivander was referring to when he spoke of her wand being able to spread her energy."
"Do you think it will work Uncle Moony?" Tina asked, having been at the bottom of the stairs as he explained her problem.
"I think so Tina." He replied, "It never occurred to me to wonder just why wands are how people have started out since the formalization of magical tutelage. I think it is to limit the amount of variation between individuals. I've exchanged letters with Harry and the others to ask about their own experiences with wandless magic and it seems like they weren't all the same; even more different than the idiosyncrasies of wanded learning. I was writing those differences off as power, but then Hermione was just barely able to get the Figura Terra spell to work…"
"The what?" Tina perked up at the mention of a new spell, particularly one that Hermione was 'barely able to get to work.'
"I'll show you when we're there." He replied, damn, "Your father wanted to come and observe, would that be alright?"
"Oh yes yes yes!" Tina squealed as she hugged her father, "Please come!"
"I would love to," he replied, "I want to know all about your gifts, Tina."
Remus regretted mentioning Hermione in conjunction with the Figura Terra spell almost immediately after walking down the stone path to the beach at Potter Isle.
"Can you show me that spell that you showed the others?" She asked.
"I will, but I want to make sure that I see you cast with your wand today, so we can't let you tire yourself out." Remus replied, "I want to know that you can use it properly. I know that some people who go from a mismatched wand to one that actually chose them can have difficulty keeping control. I'm not sure if you would fall into a similar category here because we are breaking new ground."
"I've heard snippets about it. But is it really so strange that Tina could use magic without a wand?" Timothy asked, "I mean, both of Vernon's boys can do it, and so can Hermione; and they apparently did that more or less by themselves."
"A combination of that and the age that she can do it, though Professor Flitwick's theory about magical tolerance has a lot of merit in explaining how Tina was able to feel the ward acutely enough to translate into wandless magic." Remus explained, "Harry and the others started with their wands, and as far as I know they haven't tried learning any spell by performing it wandlessly first."
"Really?" Tina exclaimed, "Then I want to try casting the err… Figa Terra spell first. No wand yet."
Remus sighed deeply, "Oh dear. Tina, I have to warn you that this spell is rather hard. It is okay if you find it too difficult or taxing, if you get any reaction at all. Basic elemental manipulation spells are generally taught in fifth year." He chuckled, "I remember Sirius earned extra points on his Defense O.W.L. by showing off a Flame Whip spell. But he didn't earn as many as he would have if he hadn't almost lost control."
"But they all could." She whined.
"Harry I almost expected, the troll incident showed that he is a very powerful wizard capable of brute forcing most spells." Her tutor answered, "Dudley is apparently up there in power as well, but measurements outside of comparisons are hard to take so I wasn't sure what to expect with him. Hermione was a complete surprise, and she tired very quickly when she did get the spell to sort-of work for her."
Remus knelt down to make sure he could gauge Tina's reaction, "Understand that Hermione was trying to create a sand castle of her home and all she got was a vaguely house-shaped box. She was able to do that twice before we were called away, and though she didn't say anything I could tell that she probably couldn't have done it twice more."
When he noticed the glimmer of challenge in her eyes his face turned stern, "Tina, that isn't a target to reach. If you aren't able to cast the spell then we need to move on to what we were actually planning to do. In addition, I'm quite confident that I cannot cast this spell without my wand, so I won't be able to help you beyond describing it. Will that be okay?"
Tina frowned before nodding, "Okay…"
"Alright, now the incantation is 'Figura Saluta Terra,' it is a spell that allows the caster to shape loose or soft earth into other shapes. It is a rather basic version of the spell, and the sand loses its form if you release the magic." He released his wand into his hand, "The wand motion is thus, I think I would suggest trying to replicate it with your hand to start with if you insist on starting wandlessly. You repeat the rotation until the sand is in the shape you want; then you hold the spell, keeping it active until you are done showing off. That is more or less the only use for this spell because it takes your complete magical attention to maintain. Now, let me demonstrate once."
Tina didn't get any results as she wove her hand through a facsimile of the loose circles that comprised the wand motions for the spell, but both her father and Remus could tell that it was having an effect on her. After five minutes of waving, incanting, and straining the girl was sweating and her breathing was coming faster.
"That's enough," Remus called when she went to try again, "rest Tina. Please."
"But I can do it!" She shouted back as she restarted the hand motion.
"Tina!" Her father shouted, "That was rude. If he says to stop and rest, do it dear. You look like you've been working out for half an hour and it's only been a few minutes, just sit down for a little while."
"Sorry daddy. Sorry Uncle Moony." She mumbled.
"It's alright Tina, rest for a moment while I conjure some things to levitate. After you've mastered wanded levitation and lighting then we can come back to Figura Terra."
o0-0oo0-0oo0-0oo0-0o
"I'm sorry Harry, but I heard it myself." Ron said even as the other boy shook his head in disbelief.
Ron had apparently overheard Professors Snape and Quirrell arguing in Snape's office last night while he was sneaking back from the kitchens before the Slytherin Head of House did his nightly bed check. According to Ron, Snape had been grilling Quirrell about the cerberus on the third floor and if he had come up with a way past it. As far as they could tell, that meant that one of the teachers was probably going after the Philosopher's Stone; and one of them was, unfortunately, way more likely than the other.
"But it just doesn't make sense." Harry said, "Why would Snape be after the Stone? Is he secretly a Death Eater or something? I mean really?"
"Professor Snape," Hermione interjected, "and I should think almost any wizard even slightly into the dark arts would be interested in having the Philosopher's Stone. I know he's been nicer to us when we aren't in class, but you don't have to be mean all the time to be dark. It may not even be that, though, the Philosopher's Stone is the final goal of alchemy. Maybe Professor Snape wants to study it to make his own?"
"But Hagrid specifically talked about Voldemort still being alive when we were in Gringotts back in August, and that was when the stone was almost stolen." Harry returned, "That couldn't have been a coincidence."
"I love Hagrid," Dudley offered, "but sometimes he's not all there. He could have just been talking, Harry. You are the one who beat Voldemort before, he might have just been talking about that."
"What if it's Quirrell?" Hermione posited. When the others looked at her strangely she explained, "Well I mean, I've told you I think it's odd that he brings up the dangers of the non magical world every now and then. Doing a class or two on it at the beginning of the year for the purebloods was actually a great idea now that I've thought about it… But at this point it seems like he has a problem with non magical people."
"I don't know Hermione," Padma said, "he seems more like he's scared of muggles, not that he hates them."
"He seems like he's scared of his own shadow. Sorry guys, we'll see you later." Parvati added as she and her sister got up to send letters to their father; her about their upcoming birthday in February, and her sister about their new interest in elemental magic.
"I could ask Uncle Moony about Snape, Professor Snape," Harry offered, glancing at Hermione and getting a chuckle out of her, "today when I mirror call Uncle Padfoot, he's gonna be there tonight. I think that my parents and Uncle Moony and Padfoot went to school around the same time as him. If he's like a reformed dark wizard or something that might explain why Uncle Moony doesn't really like him."
"Do you guys really think that Voldemort is still alive?" Ron asked after Harry and Dudley had stepped away to speak to the Marauders.
"Hagrid told Harry that Dumbledore doesn't believe that Voldemort had enough humanity left to die for real." Hermione offered, "If the headmaster believes that then I will at least consider it. I don't know what exactly to believe, except that I agree with Harry that he didn't do anything special."
But there was a chance, a small chance that Hermione didn't really believe in, that that wasn't true. Hermione had been reading a little about divination in her spare time since Harry told her that he was apparently the subject of a prophecy. She hadn't been able to learn anything important except that prophecies were impossible to escape once they became active.
That being said, the most famous "true prophecies" that had been declassified and included in the books she'd found were laughable. Of them, there were two self-inflicting prophecies, and one that was clearly self-fulfilling. That Oedipus Rex and the story of the founders of Rome were based on true events was shocking, that the prophecy in those stories were apparently real ones that were somehow enforced by magic was ridiculous. From her perspective the characters in those stories, even the magical versions of them, were almost completely responsible for what happened to themselves. The only hand fate had in that was the telling of the prophecy itself, without which nothing would have happened at all.
Self-fulfilling and self-inflicting; divination is too wooly to be real magic, Hermione had decided, especially since you can't verify it.
"Am I the only one who thinks it's strange that Snape checks to make sure every student in his House is safe in bed every night, but Professor Mcgonagall doesn't?" Neville asked, ignoring Hermione's indignant huff at the lack of title for the potions professor, "Hufflepuff's prefects can all contact Professor Sprout with those notebooks and now this? I want to ask Padma about Ravenclaw when she gets back now."
"No need," Dudley replied, having rejoined the conversation after introducing himself to Sirius. Talking to Harry's godfather like that had felt intrusive somehow, "she told me that Professor Flitwick has a box that questions or concerns can be placed in that he checks a few times a week in case people can't see him during his office hours. She said that people can even put things in anonymously and the professor will follow up on them."
"You're right Neville, the next time I get a chance I'm going to ask Professor Mcgonagall why she isn't more available." Hermione huffed, "I think I'm still invited to watch Harry's special lessons with her and Dumbledore, so I can do it then. I can't believe it's only now occured to me that the only other way I could meet with her would be to skip lunch, since her office hours are all during my class time except those reserved for upper years."
"He was a Death Eater." Harry hissed as he slammed back into his seat with the others, "Uncle Moony said that Snape was a Death Eater that supposedly changed sides at the end. Dumbledore vouched for him to keep him out of Azkaban."
"And he's here?" Hermione asked incredulously, "Even if the headmaster trusts him, why risk it with the Stone here?"
"Uncle Moony said not to bring it up around Snape, but I am going to tell the headmaster about what you heard last night Ron." Harry wasn't sure how to process the fact that the man he'd given so much leeway and benefit of the doubt had been hiding something like that from everyone.
"How is Sirius doing?" Hermione asked to change the subject, "You didn't talk as long as you did yesterday."
"He's doing well." Harry answered, "He and Uncle Moony had been talking for a while before they called me because he finished early at Potter Isle and it caught up on Uncle Padfoot after a little bit."
"Did you ask about the ball?"
"Nope." Hermione frowned at Harry's answer. She wasn't as sure as him about Sirius ability to recover, everything she'd read about dementors made them out to be unimaginably horrible, but she also hadn't spoken with the man yet either. They were being slow to introduce new faces so that he had a chance to remember them. Harry and Dudley were enough for now.
o0-0oo0-0oo0-0oo0-0o
"No! No! No!" Tina shouted as she jabbed her wand at the three remaining rocks Remus had conjured for them. Each one exploded in turn, blasting shrapnel around the beach. She wasn't even phased when a rock cut her above the eye.
"Tina stop this!" Remus shouted, drawing his own wand and preparing to stun her if she didn't calm down.
It wasn't necessary, as the girl dropped her wand and fell to her knees, sobbing. She had wandlessly levitated a conjured rock to prove to herself that she still could after her failure with Figura Terra (both with and without her wand), but when she cast the levitation charm with her wand she frowned and cancelled the spell immediately. The second time she had performed the spell with the wand in her hand all of the rocks had wobbled and risen a couple inches, but she grimaced and all but the one that had risen the farthest dropped and the one exploded. This had led to her outburst, though Remus was completely at a loss to understand it.
Timothy was frozen in place, his wide eyes darting between his daughter and Remus' wand until the latter was returned to its holster. A shout from the top of the cliff snapped him out of his stupor and he ran forward to envelop Tina in a hug.
"What's wrong sweetie?" He asked has he kissed the crown of her head and noticed the thin line of blood, "Are you hurt?"
"It's wrong." She whispered as she looked at the wand laying in the sand, "It feels wrong, like it isn't just me."
"But Tina, that is almost the point." Remus said as he sat down a few feet from her, "Your wand is supposed to help focus and guide your magic to do what you want it to more efficiently."
"But I didn't try to lift all the rocks." She said, "I didn't try to make the light charm green that time in the wand shop either. The wand did that. I want to be the one that does it."
Remus had not expected this; he knew that the wand was just an extension of the caster's will, but apparently her mind was rejecting the feeling of the focus since she was so used to having nothing between her and the magic. At least he hoped that's what was wrong, a simple psychological wall like that should be relatively easy to talk around.
"Is everything alright?" Temperance asked as she made her way from the cliff-walk while levitating drinks, "Is anyone hurt? It sounded like you were practicing blasting charms down here."
"We are fine, sorry to startle you." Remus said, "Tina here is casting spells with her wand for the first time today."
"Oh my, so you were practicing blasting charms?"
"No! My stupid wand just didn't let me do magic right!" Tina shouted, "Something's wrong with me."
"Nothing is wrong with you Tina," Remus sighed, "If you don't want to keep practicing with it perhaps we should take a couple weeks off from casting spells. Instead, work on the wand exercises that Harry, Hermione, and Dudley did to get better at understanding their magic." He noticed Tina react to Harry and Hermione's names and went for the kill, "Hermione didn't use the ward on Privet Drive to figure out how to cast wandless magic because Harry and Dudley couldn't, but she did consider it to be more or less the easy way; why don't you see if you can do it her way?"
"I… I think I can do that." Tina sniffled, "Instead of just doing no magic class today, could we look at the plants a little before we go home?"
"We can do that," Remus said with a smile, "and don't worry; I will look into this with some friends of mine that are better at teaching the basic theory than I."
o0-0oo0-0oo0-0oo0-0o
Harry and the others noticed Hedwig flying into the Great Hall the next morning even easier than normal, courtesy of a regulation football dangling from her leg. While they were pointing the beautiful bird out among the flock, Cedric Diggory made his way to where they sat at the Ravenclaw table that morning.
"You aren't planning to play that muggle game inside are you?" Cedric asked in a weak attempt to break the ice as he came to a stop beside them, "It's way too snowy to do it outside you know."
Harry studied Cedric for a moment before responding. It wasn't like they had went out of their way to track him down, but somehow neither he nor Dudley had been in a position to speak to him, until now.
"No, we will once it thaws, I hope." He answered carefully, "This came from Sirius though. Late Christmas present."
"Is he doing alright Harry?" Cedric asked, genuine concern in his voice.
"The healers are looking after him." Harry said as he looked back at the ball in his hands, "He's going to get better."
"Good to hear." Cedric said before backing away, "Really Harry, it is."
Most of Harry's friends didn't notice the odd way that that conversation had gone, but Ron did. He didn't want to worry Harry about it, but he would need to write his dad. Something was up. Cedric Diggory just… talked more than that, even to Slytherins; and the way he just backed away…
Cedric sighed as he sat back down at his own table. He had been agonizing over not saying anything about what his father was planning; but now he felt better, if only slightly. Sirius Black was apparently recovering, which meant that his father's worries about him were unfounded, and that meant that the motion to dismiss him from the Wizengamot would fail.
He planned to write his father as soon as he could with this news. Though he prayed he was wrong about it, somehow, deep down, Cedric knew his father wouldn't change his mind.
"There are notes tied to the ball Harry." Hermione said as she pointed to three notes in individual envelopes.
"There's one from your parents Hermione." Harry said as he handed her that one, "These are-"
Harry's voice caught as he saw that one of the two remaining letters was addressed from Sirius, "Uncle Padfoot."
"The other's from mum," Dudley offered, "I'll read that one while you read the one from him."
"Thanks Big D." Harry said as he opened the letter in question. He recognized the handwriting on it as Uncle Moony's, so he assumed it was dictation:
Harry, it's your Uncle Padfoot, Moony told me what you were really doing with the football thing and asking me to remember it. You will have to show me that sport when I get out of here, since it is what started me getting my ability to remember back. Your mother never liked sports, muggle or magical. Thank you Harry, I haven't felt so alive as when I remembered that stupid ball since (I assume) the day you visited me here that I can't remember. At least it means I get a second chance at first impressions in person, doesn't count if I don't remember it! You'd better visit me come Easter Break!
After a space there was a second message beneath the one that read:
Harry, this is Moony. The healers said that your idea to give Sirius a way to feel like he was helping you was genius, and they may ask you to do something like it again. He's beginning to talk about his own recovery in terms of being there for you, which is a good sign. Good luck in your classes, and stay safe. I have not mentioned anything about the dangerous situations you have been in this year to give him some peace of mind. Please make sure any friends you introduce to him remember that as well.
"What does he mean 'what you were really doing'?" Dudley asked, reading Sirius' letter over Harry's shoulder rather than the one from his mother.
"The dementors in Azkaban made it so he could only remember bad things." Harry answered with a shiver, "But right before he went after Pettigrew, before they threw him in there, he made sure I was safe with Hagrid. Knowing that he'd helped save me was pretty much the only good thought he could hold on to, according to the healers. So I figured if helping me kept him sane, then maybe he needed a chance to do that again."
"That is really clever Harry." Hermione said as she finished her letter, "My parents say 'hi' by the way. They were reminding me to exercise more this term or I'll be grounded over Easter break."
Harry chuckled at that as he noticed another, smaller, piece of parchment in the envelope. Pulling it out he found the real note from Uncle Padfoot. Though it was only three words, the shaky handwriting and multiple blotted out attempts stood testament to how hard he must have worked to write it with his fine muscle control as poor as it is. Hermione wrapped an arm around his shoulders as Harry fought not to cry:
Harry, I remembered!
