Chapter 45 - The Freedom of Sirius Black
When we got out of the Whomping Willow we took a few minutes to rest because Ron's leg was still hurting a bit. Ron sat on a rock with Hermione by his side. Wormtail and Moony weren't far from them while Sirius and Harry were stood looking at the castle. I had my wand pointed at Wormtail staring him in the eye.
"If I get an inkling that you even think about changing and running, I'll kill you myself." I warned him. "You'll be dead faster than you can say Voldemort." He flinched again. "Oh for god's sake stop flinching you pathetic rat. As I was saying, although it's more Sirius and Remus's right to kill you, I still will. I know the spell, I will use it. I may not want them two to become killers but I'm not bothered if I do. And if you even speak, you arse will be crucio'd. Get it. Got it. Good."
"She's a little spitfire, my little chaser." I heard Sirius say proudly to Harry. They'd obviously just heard my threat.
"That's Ash." Harry replied. "She's loyal. If anyone ever says anything wrong about her friends and family, they're in for a beating. You should see some of the fights she's been in. It's never mattered to her if they're older or bigger or if there are more of them. She's been in the hospital wing a fair few times and twice as many have been put in by her." Harry chuckled. "And she's ruthless on the pitch. We rarely lose a match."
"I've seen. I watched your first game of the year. You fly a lot like your father, Harry." Sirius told him.
"The dementors only went after her because she protected me on the train." Harry growled. "The only match we've ever lost. Ash staked her claim on me on the train in first year. She told me I was her god brother and has protected me ever since. She's my big sister." I looked over at Harry and smiled at him, he smiled back.
"I don't know if anyone ever told you but... I'm your godfather." Sirius said hesitantly.
"Yeah, I knew that." Harry replied.
"Well... your parent's appointed me your guardian... if anything happened to them... I'll understand if you want to stay with your aunt and uncle... but... well... think about it. Once my name's cleared... if you wanted a... a different home..." Sirius stuttered through. I rolled my eyes.
"What... live with you?" Harry asked. "Leave the Dursley's?"
"Of course, I thought you wouldn't want to." Sirius said quickly. "I understand. I just thought I..."
"Are you mad?" Harry exclaimed. "Of course I want to leave the Dursley's! Have you got a house? When can I move in?"
"You want to? You mean it?" Sirius asked him.
"Yeah I mean it!" Harry exclaimed again. "If you got Professor Lupin to move in, too, Ash would live with us as well. She spends most of every summer there. She's not been getting on with her family recently."
"Why?" Sirius asked.
"Her brother, Adair's a Slytherin. She's a Gryffindor. They're constantly fighting and her dad always seems to take his side." Harry sighed. I felt some light suddenly go across my cheek. I looked up into the sky to see the full moon. Shit. I looked back at Uncle Moony and he'd gone rigid.
"SIRIUS!" I screamed as I pointed my wand at the chain between Moony and Wormtail. "Bombarda!" I yelled and the chains exploded freeing Ron and Wormtail. I dived at Moony and tried to pull him away from the others while he was changing.
"Run! Run!" Sirius suddenly yelled at the others. Uncle Moony started changing and I backed off a little.
"He hasn't had his potion." I whispered. Sirius nodded at me gravely.
"We'll have to control him." Sirius replied and I nodded as Uncle Moony started screaming in agony.
"Sirius! Pettigrew transformed!" Harry yelled at us. I looked back and glared at the spot Wormtail was just in venomously.
"Get out of here!" I growled at them before turning back to Moony who was almost fully changed so I put my wand away. "When I get my hands on that little rat."
"Ready?" Sirius asked me and I nodded before we both changed. Moony's yellow eyes stared at the both of us for a minute, recognizing us and I thought maybe it would be fine. That was until he looked over our shoulder and saw the other three, he growled violently so we both growled back. He lunged at me, trying to get past me so I pounced at him at the same time as Sirius. I snapped at his shoulder while Sirius concentrated on his legs however one of his arms got free and he swiped at my face cutting my and pushing me off of him before he grabbed Sirius and threw him into the field. I jumped back on him and his teeth started snapping at my own shoulder while I was fiercely biting his causing him a lot of pain.
"Where's Hyde?" I suddenly heard Snape growl at Harry behind. Great. Four fucking people to protect. And one of them don't even fucking know there's a werewolf that will try and kill him. Moony was clawing at my stomach while I was doing the same, holding onto him for as long as I could until he wrenched me off him again throwing me towards Snape, Harry, Ron and Hermione.
"She's battling a werewolf trying to save your life." Harry growled back as I landed in front of them. I stood up again and started pacing in front of the four of them, refusing to let Moony near them. Moony lunged at Snape, as he was the closest so I lunged at Moony and dragged him backwards with one of his arms. Sirius raced out of the field and jumped on Moony, fighting him again while I went back to pace in front of the other's protectively. Moony threw Sirius off again and he lunged at me so I clawed at him and bit him as hard as I could and he did the same back which fucking hurt like hell until he threw me back at the others again. I got up painfully and lunged at him again at the same time as Sirius keeping him distracted and he just kept biting and clawing at the both of us before throwing me off again and chasing away after Sirius. I stood back up gingerly before chasing after them both again worried about Sirius. I reckon I got their just in time because Moony was just launching Sirius in a direction before he decided to come back and straight into me. I was tired and in a lot of pain but I still raced up to him and jumped on him, clawing and biting with the last of my energy and he did the same back then just threw me into the bushes. I looked up to see Harry standing a few feet away from the werewolf with a look of fierce determination on his face and all my energy seemed to come back to me. I was on my feet and in front of Harry growling at Moony in seconds with him coming at us until there was a howl. It sounded like another werewolf. Moony looked at us again before racing off towards the howl. I breathed a sigh of relief before changing back. Harry gasped. I looked at my arms to see loads of cuts and gashes that might turn into scars before I lifted my shirt to see a nasty gash across my stomach. That was gonna scar for definite. I felt a long cut on my neck and a few cuts on my face. I looked back at Harry who was staring at me with wide eyes. "Are you okay?" Harry asked me.
"I think so." I replied slowly. "I'm going to find Uncle Moony and make sure he is safe, go find Sirius." Harry nodded and ran in the direction Harry was last in before I changed again and chased in the direction Moony had just ran in as fast as I could. And what do I find but Harry and Hermione cornered again by Moony. I was beyond confused and slightly annoyed. It was going to be a long night. I sailed over Harry and Hermione's head's and onto Moony. We scrapped again for a minute before he threw me to in front of Harry and Hermione again, I stood up quickly and started growling warningly and that's when Buckbeak appeared. He flapped his wings in front of the three of us violently and kicked at Moony making him run away. I was now even more confused. Buckbeak died a few hours ago. I changed back and faced Harry and Hermione.
"Poor Professor Lupin's having a really tough night." Harry commented.
"HAVING A REALLY TOUGH NIGHT?" I screeched at Harry and Hermione. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING OUT HERE? WHERE THE FUCK IS RON? AND SIRIUS? AND HOW IS BUCKBEAK STILL ALIVE?"
"Calm down, Ash. We'll explain, we just have to get to Sirius, now." Harry said before he started to run closely followed by Hermione.
"That boy is gonna be the death of me." I murmured to myself before I pulled out my wand and pointed it at the gash in my stomach. "Torpeo!" A cold wash slapped into my stomach then spread all over my body, numbing the pain. I was glad I learnt that spell, at least I could run, now. I chased after Harry as fast as I could and reached them as they were peering around a tree. "Fascia." I murmured, my wand pointed at my stomach again and a roll of bandage spurted out of my wand and wrapped tightly around my stomach. I pulled up the sleeve on my right arm to see a long gash down it so I repeated the spell covering my wand arm in a bandage. I then pointed my wand at the cut on my neck and decided to heal it. "Episkey!" My skin burned as it closed itself. "Fuck!" I hissed in pain before Harry and Hermione shushed at me. I decided that I didn't really want my blood on my face so I pointed my wand at it and said, "Tergeo." My face felt immediately clean. I peered over at what they were looking at to see Sirius laying down in human form looking all bloody and battered at the other side of the lake. "Sirius." I whispered. Harry and Hermione pushed me back. "What's going on?" I hissed at them. Hermione pulled out her necklace and showed it to me. It was her time turner. "You used the time turner?"
"Dumbledore sent me and Harry back in about an hour to free Sirius, he believes us. Ron's in the hospital wing with his broken leg." Hermione told me quickly.
"What do you mean 'free Sirius'?" I asked her just as it went cold. Dementors.
"These come and try to kill me and Sirius but someone saves us, they stand over there." Harry replied pointing at a spot not far from us. "I think it was my dad."
"If one of the marauders can come from the dead, why can't two?" I murmured to myself. "Tonight's been crazy enough for it to happen." I watched as Harry appeared over the hill and ran to Sirius. "At least you did as you were told." I murmured.
"Don't I always?" Harry replied quietly, grinning. Then dementors appeared and started swarming towards them both making Harry cast his patronus trying to keep them both safe as they sucked the life out of them.
"Harry." I whispered urgently getting really worried for them both.
"He will come... my dad will come." Harry said firmly. We waited for a few minutes watching the dementors actually killing them. I was close to tears.
"Harry, no one's coming." Hermione whispered. Harry looked around before darting to stand closer where he said he had seen his dad.
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Harry yelled and his silver stag burst from his wand and raced towards them making the dementors flee. I ran to stand next to Harry.
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" I screamed while chanting in my head, 'Sirius was innocent! He was going to be free! I was going to live with him and Harry and get away from dad and Addy!' over and over again as my Coyote patronus raced to help the stag. My patronus was nowhere near as powerful as Harry's but it helped. When all the dementors had gone and Harry lost consciousness on the other side we both stopped.
"I never saw your coyote." Harry grinned at me.
"Come on you two." Hermione said and we raced back to Buckbeak. I bowed low to him and he bowed back so I carefully made my way to his side stroking his feathers softly before I climbed onto his back carefully. I was exhausted. The whole night had drained me. I leaned forward on Buckbeak and rested my head, closing my eyes while Harry pulled him to a walk.
"So, where's Sirius locked up?" I asked them, not moving and still with my eyes closed after about ten minutes.
"He's in the topmost cell of the dark tower." Hermione replied.
"What happens in the future?" I asked them curiously.
"Well, I woke up in the hospital wing to hear the minister talking to Snape. He reckons that the three of us had a confundus charm put on us while you were under the imperius curse. Dumbledore is trying to say that Professor Lupin was pretending so he could save the four of us, I reckon we'll get off." Harry said thoughtfully.
"Well, at least I won't have to go to Azkaban." I murmured slowly getting more tired.
"I can't believe that git threatened you with a Dementors Kiss." Harry growled.
"Snivellus." I chuckled to myself.
"Ash?" Hermione asked me. I made a grunting noise. "Do you want me to wake you up?" I nodded. "Capulus." I felt the exhaustion wash away and I felt awake, more alert. I groaned and lifted my head.
"Thanks." I replied. "I'll have to remember that spell." Hermione nodded.
"Sirius should be in the cell, now." Harry said another ten minutes later. "We can fly up there." I pulled Harry up to sit behind me and he then did the same with Hermione.
"Up to the dark tower please, Buckbeak. I promise you'll get a treat afterwards." I said to Buckbeak before I gently kicked under his wings.
"You'd better hold on, Hermione." Harry said just before Buckbeak started racing forward and soaring into the air.
"Oh, no. I don't like this! I really don't like this!" Hermione was muttering behind Harry and I just couldn't not giggle. We landed on top of the Dark Tower and climbed off as quickly as we could. Hermione stayed with Buckbeak while me and Harry went to get Sirius.
"Lumos." I whispered and a little light came out of my wand while Harry did the same. We ran up a staircase that lead to a cell. "Oi, Sirius." I whisper-shouted.
"Ash?" Sirius asked back approaching the bars. "Harry? What are you doing up here?"
"We're saving our god father from the dementors. Again. Now, move back." I ordered and he did. I pointed my wand at the lock. "Bombarda!" The lock smashed and the cell door swung open leaving Sirius to rush out.
"How?" Sirius asked us.
"There's not much time, we have to move." Harry ordered and we sprinted back to Hermione and Buckbeak. The four of us climbed on quickly and we flew Buckbeak to an empty courtyard.
"Have you been to the hospital wing, yet?" Sirius asked me.
"I'll go in the morning." I replied with a dismissive hand. "If I go now they'll definitely know I helped you escape besides, I numbed myself from the pain."
"You definitely are my brave little chaser." Sirius smiled at me proudly so I just rolled my eyes. "I'll never be able to thank you enough, both of you." He pulled us both into a hug. He still smelled really bad.
"You stink, Sirius." I murmured to him before I pulled out my wand. "Nidor Divello. Tersus Dentibus." Two blue flashes left my wand and he smelled clean again plus his teeth were white. I pointed my wand at his ripped up clothes. "Reparo. Lend me your cloak." I ordered and he slipped off his cloak and handed it to me. "Reparo. Scourgify. Geminio." The cloak repaired itself, cleaned itself and then copied itself so I could give it to Uncle Moony in the morning. "Be safe, Sirius." I said while giving him back his cloak.
"We don't want to have to break you out again." Harry grinned at him. "And stay in touch, with both of us." I nodded.
"I will." Sirius replied.
"And find a shower." I finished so he mock-saluted. I glared at him.
"Now that look I do remember, from a lot of woman. Including both of your mum's." Sirius grinned at us.
"Harry!" Hermione shouted at us. "We have to go."
"Thank you, Hermione. You really are the brightest witch of your age." Sirius complimented making her blush.
"I'll see you both in the morning." I smiled and hugged them both.
"And, Harry?" Sirius asked and Harry looked up. "We'll see each other again. You truly are your Fathers, son." Harry smiled up at him before he and Hermione raced off.
"Give us a lift to the Forbidden Forest, please. I have a werewolf to find." I grinned up at Sirius and he nodded before pulling me onto Buckbeak and we sailed off. We dropped down close to Hagrid's Hut where I carefully climbed off. "The three of us, we'll live together one day." I stroked Buckbeak's feathers lightly.
"Will you and Remus be okay with the ministry?" Sirius asked concerned.
"I think so. Dumbledore's putting it out that you had me under imperius and Moony was pretending to help us." I replied and Sirius looked satisfied.
"Be careful, Ash." Sirius said seriously so I mock-saluted him with a grin.
"It'll be fine. I'm just going to stun him." I replied before I hugged Sirius again and stepped away while Buckbeak started trotting off.
"Oh, and Ash. Liam is your father but you'll always be my little chaser." Sirius grinned at me so I chuckled while he raced off and into the sky. I sighed as I put my wand away and changed before running into the forest, following the werewolf's scent. It took at least twenty minutes before I found him so I climbed up into a tree and changed back.
"Stupefy." I whispered, my wand pointed at Moony and he fell to the floor unconscious. I changed again and made myself comfortable on the branch of the tree, which wasn't that bad, and settled myself off to sleep.
-.-
I woke up as soon as sunlight hit my face the next morning. I was confused as to where I was and fell out of the tree. I changed back and stood up stretching my back. The numbing spell had worn off so I felt a lot of pain. I whipped my wand out and put the spell on me again. I looked at Uncle Moony, he was in human form and completely naked but he looked horrible. He was paler than usual and their where long cuts all over his body. I felt incredibly guilty that I'd given him some of them. I pulled off the cloak for Uncle Moony along with my wand.
"Clothe." I ordered with my wand pointed at the cloak and then Uncle Moony. The cloak wrapped itself around him. "Funis." A long piece of rope flew out of my wand and I tied it across Moony's stomach to keep the cloak in place like a belt. I then checked the time. "Tempus Temporis." A white cloud appeared in front of me with the number; 4.38, on it. It was dawn. I needed to wake Moony up for a few minutes to get him back to the castle. "Uncle Moony? Uncle Moony? Come on, Uncle Moony, you need to wake up for a minute." He groaned at me. "Come on, Moony. Just two minutes while I get you on my back so I can run you back to the castle then Madam Pomfrey can flirt with you. Okay, Moony? Just two minutes." He made a noise of approval so I changed and laid down on my stomach next to him so he could roll over onto me which he did groaning in pain. I took a slow walk back through the forest so it wouldn't hurt him so much. There was no one around so I just stayed in my panther form as I left the protection of the forest and just continued up to the castle. I climbed the stairs up to Uncle Moony's private quarters. Thankfully, his bedroom door was open so I walked straight in and jumped quickly onto his bed before rolling him off of me. I climbed off of the bed before walking over to his fireplace and floo-called Professor Dumbledore's office.
"Yes?" I heard Professor Dumbledore ask on the other side.
"Morning, Sir," I yawned.
"Ash?" Dumbledore asked sounding mildly surprised.
"Yeah. Could you ask Madam Pomfrey to come down here? For Uncle, I mean, Professor Lupin and well... for me, too." I replied slowly.
"Are you hurt?" Dumbledore asked sounding worried.
"Well... I put a numbing charm on myself so I can't feel anything at the moment but I've got a nasty gash on my stomach which I've bandaged up and there's one on my arm, too." I replied calmly. "I wouldn't recommend fighting Werewolves as a day job."
"Of course, I'll send her down for you both." Dumbledore smiled kindly.
"Thanks, Sir." I replied, ending the floo-call. I stood up and walked into Moony's office to grab the Marauder's Map which was still open. I looked at it as I returned to Moony's bedroom and laid on the spare bed he had for me. I watched from my bed as I saw Dumbledore in his office and then suddenly Madam Pomfrey head over here. I then noticed Snape entering the DADA classroom. "Mischief Managed." I whispered and the map closed itself as I stood up and walked out of the room to meet Snape. "Good Morning, Professor."
"Miss Hyde." Snape greeted. "Is Professor Lupin here?"
"Yes." I replied. "Madam Pomfrey is on her way to look at him and me, I've just brought him back."
"You stayed with him all night?" Snape asked incredulously.
"Yes. I always do. Though generally not in the middle of the forbidden forest." I said calmly.
"Okay." Snape replied. "Are you alright?"
"A few cuts, here and there. Not that much." I said smiling.
"You... you saved my life." Snape said quietly.
"Yes. I suppose I did." I replied.
"Thank you. Although you created a wizards bond between us. I will save your life, one day." Snape said looking at me.
"That wasn't my intention although it might come in handy, one day. I'm sure when Voldemort comes back and comes after me, I'll need it." I smiled at Snape lightly.
"You believe the Dark Lord will return?" Snape asked me confused.
"Without a doubt, Sir." I replied. "There was a prophecy made to me in my second year saying that he'll return on his third attempt. So far me and Harry have stopped him twice. We won't be lucky the third time. I have to go and check on my uncle and get some sleep." I turned away from him and walked back into the bedroom. I was laid down for about ten minutes before Madam Pomfrey appeared and tended to us in silence before disappearing again, letting me get a few more hours asleep. I was woken up a few hours later by my Uncle Moony. "Hey old man. You feeling better?" I croaked at him.
"I'm fine thank you, Ash. And so are the others thanks to you and Sirius." Uncle Moony smiled at me.
"It's the marauder's job. And Sirius is fine. Snape owes me a life debt apparently." I grinned at him while sitting up and rubbing the sleep from my eyes. Uncle Moony scowled at Snape's name. "What's he done?"
"He told the Slytherin's I am a werewolf." Uncle Moony sighed.
"He did WHAT?" I growled angrily. "That life debt won't be needed because I'll fucking kill him."
"It doesn't matter, Ash. I resigned. I could have hurt one of you. I did hurt one of you." Uncle Moony looked sad so I pulled him into a hug.
"I'm fine, Uncle Moony. Just tried. I had to sleep in a forest, the sun woke me up." I muttered to him.
"I wanted to wake you up before I left." Moony stated.
"You're leaving today? You need looking after." I stated fiercely.
"I'll be fine. I've just got to finish, do you want to come join me?" Uncle Moony asked and I nodded then followed him to his office and sat on one of the small cupboards.
"Where's Harry and them?" I asked him as I noticed the map back on his desk.
"Hermione and Ron are with Hagrid and it seems that Harry is on his way here." Uncle Moony said thoughtfully.
"Probably heard about you resigning. He won't be happy, you're the best DADA Professor we've ever had." I replied. "One had Voldemort on the back of his head and the other was a fake, not hard to be better, really."
"Oi!" Uncle Moony grinned at him.
"I speak the truth." I grinned at him. "Are you sure you have to go today? Just a few more days, you need it."
"I'm sorry, Ash, I think it's for the best." Moony replied. I crossed my arms stubbornly. "You won't change my mind."
"I can force you to stay, I'm a lot stronger than you and I could just lock you in your room without your wand." I said smiling.
"But you love me too much to do that." Moony grinned at me while I pouted at him. "Harry's here." Moony looked at the door just as Harry was going to knock. "I saw you coming."
"I just saw Hagrid." Harry said not noticing me. "And he said you'd resigned. It's not true, is it?"
"I'm afraid it is." Uncle Moony replied.
"Why?" Harry asked. "The Ministry don't think you were helping Sirius, do they?" Uncle Moony walked towards the door and closed it.
"No. Professor Dumbledore managed to convince Fudge that I was trying to save your lives." Moony sighed. "That was the final straw for Severus. I think the loss of the Order of Merlin hit him hard. So he... accidentally let slip that I am a werewolf this morning at breakfast."
"You're not leaving just because of that!" Harry exclaimed.
"This time tomorrow, the owls will start arriving from parents... they will not want a werewolf teaching their children, Harry..." Moony said but I cut in with my muttering.
"Stupid no good prejudice wankers." I muttered and Harry finally noticed me.
"And after last night, I see their point. I could have bitten any of you... that must never happen again. And I hurt both Ash and Sirius, I wouldn't have ever forgiven myself if they'd been badly hurt." Moony sighed.
"You know for a fact that both me and Sirius are fine and I know you don't truly believe them bigoted twats. You've had one slip out of god knows how many with me and you didn't even hurt anyone." I finished scowling.
"You can't go." Harry said. "You're the best Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher we've ever had! Don't go!"
"Told you." I sang grinning and walking up to the map. "Hey, the twins are outside. I've got a little job for them." I grabbed the map and dashed out of the room and onto the corridor where Fred and George where pranking someone. "WHAT? Are you doing?" I grinned as they jumped out of their skins.
"Jesus, Ash!" Fred exclaimed.
"Don't do that, Ash." George exclaimed, too.
"We could have had a heart attack." Fred scolded.
"And what does it look like we're doing?" George asked me.
"Pranking Filch, of course." Fred finished.
"Well, you'll just have to hold that off, for now." I stated.
"Why?" They asked together.
"Because I've got a job for you." I replied. "I need you to get Snape for me and Lupin."
"Lupin's a werewolf, right?" George asked me.
"Yeah, he is, I've known since I was seven. But he's also the best DADA Professor we've ever had and he's a marauder. Moony to be exact." I grinned at their shocked faces as I showed them the front of the map with his name on it. "You two are the best since them, Uncle Moony agrees, it's up to you now."
"Where is he?" They asked together.
"The dungeons." I replied. "Don't let me down."
"We won't." They replied as I went back into Moony's office.
"Here, I brought you this from the Shrieking Shack this morning." Uncle Moony said while passing Harry his cloak while I sat back down where I was earlier. "And I am no longer your teacher, so I don't feel guilty about giving you both the map back as well. I daresay you two, Ron and Hermione will find uses for it." I pulled out my wand and tapped the map.
"Mischief Managed." I said and the map disappeared changing it into a blank parchment as I slipped it into my pocket. "Like I would have let you leave with it."
"I'm sure Sirius would have been disappointed if you didn't demanded to keep it." Uncle Moony replied.
"Are you going to make him come to your house this summer? Just for a few days." I asked him with a pout.
"I'll owl him, I'm sure he'll love to." Uncle Moony smiled at me as there was a knock at the door and Professor Dumbledore.
"Morning, Sir." I greeted.
"Good Morning, Ash. I trust you are feeling better." Professor Dumbledore smiled at me.
"Last year and the year before were worse, Professor." I grinned at him.
"Ah, yes. Your carriage is at the gates, Remus." Dumbledore said to Moony.
"Thank you, Headmaster." Moony replied, shaking the headmaster's hand as he picked up his suitcase.
"I'll get your tank." I said and slipped the Grindylows Tank into my hands. "There's something you might want to see." I had an evil glint in my eyes.
"Well... goodbye, Harry. It's been a pleasure teaching you. I feel sure we'll meet again some time." Uncle Moony smiled at him.
"Old man's getting emotional." I said quietly although everyone in the room still heard.
"Goodbye, then, Remus." Dumbledore said soberly. Moony smiled then nodded at Harry before leaving the room.
"I'll see you at dinner." I smiled at Harry before I rushed off after Moony.
"I am not old." Moony stated as we left the classroom.
"Older than me." I replied.
"So, what do you want me to see?" Moony asked as Fred and George appeared.
"We did it." Fred grinned at me.
"He's following us!" George exclaimed.
"AURORA-SHAW HYDE!" We heard Snape bellow somewhere below us.
"Why am I getting blamed?" I asked the twins.
"You'll see." They said together as Snape appeared from the staircases. I choked on laughter as I saw him. He was covered head to toe in red and gold paint.
"Paint bomb?" I asked.
"Hell, yeah." Fred replied.
"Your own design." George added. He also had huge sparkly red letters floating over his head saying;
The Marauder's Rule!
"You've made me proud." I grinned at them and bumped their fists.
"It'll wear off at the end of the day." Fred sighed.
"I wish it wouldn't." Uncle Moony said choking on laughter which made me burst out laughing.
"HYDE!" Snape bellowed again upon seeing me.
"I believe you have a carriage to get to, Sir." I said to Uncle Moony.
"I believe I do." Moony replied before we started running out of the school and to Moony's carriage.
"I wish you didn't have to go. It's been brilliantly, like actually living with you." I said sadly and Uncle Moony pulled me into a hug.
"Now who's getting emotional?" Moony said softly.
"At least I'm not old." I muttered.
"You'll probably be at my house this summer anyway." Moony chuckled.
"I will be." I replied. "And I wish at least one DADA teacher would stay for more than one year."
"Maybe next year." Moony grinned at me.
"I'll see you in the summer, Uncle Moony." I smiled at him as I pushed his tank into the carriage. "And don't forget to owl him."
"I promise I will, Ash." Moony smiled at me before hugging me one last time and kissing the top of my head. "See you in a few weeks." Moony climbed into the carriage after putting his suitcase in the back. "And behave, Nine Lives."
"Yeah, right." I scoffed.
"At least don't get caught." Moony pleaded with me.
"Do I ever?" I asked him lightly. And he laughed and waved back as he set off with me waving back. When he was out of sight I walked back into the castle, contemplating if I'd ever have a quiet year at Hogwarts but at least we hadn't had any problems with Voldemort this year. I went to hide in the hospital wing until Snape got bored of chasing me.