The Unforgiveable Curses

The next two days passed without great incident, unless you counted Neville melting his sixth cauldron in Potions. Snape gave him detention, which he returned from in a state of nervous collapse, having been made to disembowel a barrelful of horned toads. John tracked down Trevor for him to make him feel better, and Dolly too found her way to him while Hermione taught him a Scouring Charm to remove the guts from under his fingernails.

By Thursday lunchtime, the fourth-year Gryffindors were all quite excited to have their first lesson with Mad-Eye Moody. John was convinced, however, when Sherlock came from his own Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson, quiet and pale.

'What's wrong?' John asked, alarmed.

Sherlock said nothing.

'What's going on? Where's Cas?'

'He left.'

'He left? As in walked out?'

'Yes.'

'Why would he do that?'

Sherlock didn't answer, only shaking his head.

John scanned the room for Gabriel to ask him instead, but couldn't see him anywhere. 'Isn't the Head Boy supposed to be in here for meals?'

Sherlock still didn't say anything, so John called down the table to Dean. 'Have you seen Cas?'

'No, why?'

'Just wondering. He's probably just in the hospital wing.'

'He isn't, I was just there.'

'Oh. What were you doing in the hospital wing?'

'Venomous Tentacula got me. Again.'

John rolled his eyes and turned back to Sherlock. 'Come on, tell me what happened.'

'I'd rather not,' Sherlock muttered.

'Why?'

All the Gryffindor fourth-years began gathering up their things.

'I suppose I'd better go…' John went slowly, giving Sherlock one last chance, but tutted when he still wouldn't say. He swung his bag onto his shoulder, but Sherlock caught his wrist before he could leave.

'Be careful,' he mumbled.

'Yeah, thanks,' said John, taking back his hand. He left with Harry and Ron, trying to ignore both the fluttering sensation in his stomach and the tingling where Sherlock's skin had met his.

They queued up outside the classroom, where Hermione joined them right at the last minute, after having been in the library. When they entered, they took seats at the front of the classroom and pulled out their copies of The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection. They waited in silence, John now more apprehensive than excited, and soon they heard Moody's distinctive clunking footsteps.

'You can put those away,' he said, stumping over to his desk and sitting down, 'those books. You won't need them.' He then took out a register and began calling out names, his normal eye moving steadily down the list, while the magical eye swivelled around, fixing on each student as they answered their names. 'Right then,' he said once he was finished with the register. 'I've had a letter from Professor Lupin about this class. Seems you've had a pretty thorough grounding in tackling Dark creatures – you've covered Boggarts, Red Caps, Hinkypunks, Grindylows, Kappas and werewolves, is that right?'

There was a general murmur of agreement.

'But you're behind – very behind – on dealing with Dark curses. So I'm here to bring you up to scratch on what wizards can do to each other. I've got one year to teach you how to deal with Dark-'

'What, aren't you staying?' Ron blurted out.

Moody's magical eye spun to stare at Ron, and after a moment, he smiled. 'You'll be Arthur Weasley's son, eh?' Moody said. 'Your father got me out of a very tight corner a few days ago… yeah, I'm just staying the one year. Special favour to Dumbledore… one year, and then back to my quiet retirement.' He gave a harsh laugh and clapped his hands together. 'So – straight into it. Curses. They come in many strengths and forms. Now, according to the Ministry, I'm supposed to teach you counter-curses and leave it at that. I'm not supposed to show you what illegal Dark curses look like until you're in the sixth year. You're not supposed to be old enough to deal with it 'til then. But Professor Dumbledore's got a higher opinion of your nerves. He reckons you can cope, and I say, the sooner you know what you're up against, the better. How are you supposed to defend yourself against something you've never seen? A wizard who's about to put an illegal curse on you isn't going to tell you what he's about to do. He's not going to do it nice and polite to your face. You need to be prepared. You need to be alert and watchful. You need to put that away, Miss Brown, while I'm talking.'

Lavender jumped and blushed. She had been showing Parvati her completed horoscope under the desk, which Moody's magical eye could apparently see through.

'So… do any of you know which curses are most heavily punished by wizarding law?'

Several hands rose tentatively into the air, including Ron's and Hermione's.

John's heart began to race.

Moody pointed at Ron.

'Er,' Ron said tentatively, 'my dad told me about one… is it the Imperius Curse, or something?'

John shuddered involuntarily and Moody's magical eye swivelled to stare at him.

'Ah, yes,' Moody said appreciatively. 'Your father would know that one. Gave the Ministry a lot of trouble at one time, the Imperius Curse.'

Moody got to his feet, opened his desk drawer, and took out a glass jar. Three large, black spiders were scuttling around inside it. He reached inside the jar, caught one of the spiders and held it in the palm of his hand so that they could all see it. He then pointed his wand at it and muttered, 'Imperio!'

The spider leapt from Moody's hand on a fine thread of silk, and began to swing backwards and forwards. It stretched out its legs, then did a backflip, breaking the thread and landing on the desk, where it began to cartwheel in circles. John watched it, feeling quite queasy. Everyone else was laughing at, but John didn't find it remotely funny.

'Think it's funny, do you?' Moody growled. 'You'd like it if I did it to you, would you?'

The laughter died away almost instantly.

'Total control,' Moody said quietly. 'I could make it jump out of the window, drown itself, throw itself down one of your throats… Years back, there were a lot of witches and wizards being controlled by the Imperius Curse. Some job for the Ministry, trying to sort out who was being forced to act, and who was acting of free will.

'The Imperius Curse can be fought, and I'll be teaching you how, but it takes real strength of character, and not everyone's got it. Better avoid being hit with it if you can. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!' he barked, making everyone jump. He picked up the somersaulting spider and threw it back into the jar. 'Anyone else know one? Another illegal curse?'

Hermione's hand flew into the air and so did Neville's. Neville looked surprised at his own daring.

'Yes?' said Moody.

'There's one – the Cruciatus curse,' said Neville, in a small, but distinct voice.

Moody was looking at him very intently, with both eyes. Meanwhile, John was wracked with shivers and his bones began to ache. His eyes flicked around for a feasible means of escape. He could just leave, like Castiel had. Get up, he told himself, but Moody's eye rested on him again, freezing him in place.

'You're name's Longbottom?' Moody said to Neville.

Neville nodded nervously. Moody then reached into his jar for another spider, which he placed on the desk.

No matter how hard he willed himself to leave, John couldn't move from the spot, and silently begged Moody not to do what he was about to do.

'The Cruciatus Curse,' said Moody. 'Needs to be a bit bigger for you to get the idea.' He pointed his wand at the spider. 'Engorgio!'

The spider swelled until it was bigger than a tarantula, and Ron pushed his chair backwards, away from Moody's desk. Moody pointed his wand again, and muttered, 'Crucio!'

A similar sensation to when he'd seen the Dark Mark hit John like a freight train, only with more pain than fear. His mouth opened but he was in too much pain for any sound to come out. His fists clenched on the desk and all his muscles tightened. Then he heard Hermione's voice, as if she was speaking from a great distance.

'Stop it!' she said shrilly.

Moody lowered his wand, and the pain John was feeling faded away. He slumped against his desk, quietly gasping for breath.

'Reducio,' Moody muttered. The spider shrank and Moody put it back in the jar. 'Pain,' he said softly. 'You don't need thumbscrews or knives to torture someone if you can perform the Cruciatus Curse… that one was very popular once, too… Right… anyone know any others?'

John groaned. No more, he thought, both sweating and shivering. Please.

Hermione's hand shook slightly as, for the third time, she raised it into the air.

'Yes?' said Moody.

'Avada Kedavra,' Hermione whispered.

'Ah,' said Moody. 'Yes, the last and worst. Avada Kedavra… the killing curse.' He put his hand back in the jar and pulled out the last, frantic spider. He put it on the desk, raised his wand and roared, 'Avada Kedavra!'

There was a flash of blinding green light and a rushing sound, then John blacked out, slipping sideways out of his chair. His head hit the leg of Neville's desk next to him and he fell to the ground with a thump.

A few people stifled cries and Hermione leapt to her feet. Others were still looking at the spider on the desk that was unmistakeably dead.

Hermione stepped over to John and lifted up his head to get a look at the injury. A small cut on his forehead was bleeding slightly, but it didn't seem too bad.

Moody swept the dead spider off the desk onto the floor, then stumped over to John and pointed his wand. 'Rennervate,' he said.

John's eyes flickered open and he groaned, putting a hand to his head. 'What happened?' he asked.

'You passed out,' Hermione said, as Harry and Ron helped John back into his seat.

'You hit your head on my desk,' said Neville.

'Oh.' John squinted at him, his head swimming and his body still aching. 'Sorry.'

Moody went back to his desk and looked around at them all. 'Not nice,' he said calmly. 'Not pleasant. And there's no counter-curse. There's no blocking it. Only one known person has ever survived it, and he's sitting right in front of me.'

Most of the class turned to look at Harry, whose face reddened.

'Avada Kedavra's a curse that needs a powerful bit of magic behind it – you could all get your wands out now, say the words and point them at me, and I doubt I'd get more than a nosebleed. But that doesn't matter, I'm not here to teach you how to do it.

'Now, if there's no counter-curse, then why am I showing you? Because you've got to know. You've got to appreciate what the worst is. You don't want to find yourself in a situation where you're facing it. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!' he roared. The whole class jumped again and John's head throbbed.

'Now, these three curses – Avada Kedavra, Imperius and Cruciatus – are known as the Unforgiveable Curses. The use of any one of them on a fellow human being is enough to earn a life sentence in Azkaban. That's what you're up against. That's what I've got to teach you to fight. You need preparing. You need arming. But most of all, you need to practice constant, never-ceasing vigilance. Get out your quills… copy this down…'

They spent the rest of the lesson taking notes on the Unforgiveable Curses. John found himself to be particularly lethargic after his episode, so Hermione helped him once she had finished her own. They were silent until the bell rang and Moody dismissed them.

'Not you, Watson,' he growled as the others left. 'A word.'

John was already on his feet, a little wobbly, but no worse for wear.

'You'll be the Seer, then?' Moody said.

'Yep, that's me,' said John, leaning against the desk.

'Dumbledore told me about you. He reckons you're quite powerful. More powerful than any he's ever seen.'

'Well, that's very nice of him, but I wouldn't know. I've never met any other Seers.'

'Yeah, well I have and, as far as I can tell, he's right.'

John rubbed his head. 'What makes you say that?'

Moody came around the desk and stood in front of him. 'Of all the Seers I've met, none of them have had quite the reaction the Unforgiveable Curses as you did. Just my way of gauging it.'

John narrowed his eyes. 'All of them saw some of the curses?'

'Maybe you know this already, but Seers are few and far between. They're valuable, and devastating in the wrong hands. That's why I've been personally assigned to protect them in the past.'

'That's not very encouraging.'

Moody uttered a barking laugh. 'Don't worry, Watson, you've got me for the time being. Anyway, I wanted to apologise for today. I should have warned you what I was going to do, and given you the option to leave.'

'It's fine,' John shrugged. 'I never know what'll trigger it anyway.'

'Is that right?' Moody considered him for a moment. 'Did you see anything?'

'Oh, no. With stuff like – where there are stronger feelings – it's really hard to tell what's going on.'

Moody nodded, then looked at the cut on John's head. 'You should get Madam Pomfrey to look at that.'

'It's fine, I have a friend who'll fix it.'

'You do?'

'Yeah, Castiel.'

'Edlund? He ran out of my lesson earlier.'

'He's not in trouble, is he?'

'No, he's not. The curses can be a lot for people to handle.'

'Good,' John nodded. 'I once saw his sister use the Cruciatus Curse on their brother Gabriel. I'm not sure she'd hesitate in using it on Cas, so you can imagine it wouldn't be easy for him to see a demonstration of it.'

'His sister?'

'Yeah, Lucy.'

'Lucy Edlund, yeah, I know about her. Last I heard, she was setting up some sort of group in America.'

'She's doing what now?'

'That'll be for MACUSA to deal with. Come on. Dinner.'

Moody escorted him from the room, and found Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville and Sherlock waiting outside. Hermione had her hand on Neville's shoulder, who was looking at her, wide-eyed and horrified.

'It's all right, sonny,' Moody said to Neville. 'Why don't you come up to my office? Come on… we can have a cup of tea…'

Neville looked even more frightened at the prospect of tea with Moody. He neither moved nor spoke.

'You all right, are you, Potter? Holmes?' he said, magical eye moving over both of them

'Yes,' said Harry.

Sherlock nodded.

'You've got to know,' Moody said. 'It seems harsh, maybe, but you've got to know. No point in pretending… well… come on, Longbottom, I've got some books that might interest you.'

Neville looked terrified, but since none of them said anything, he had no choice but to go with Moody.

Once they were gone, Sherlock went over to John and placed a hand on his head. 'Hermione told me what happened,' he said.

John swatted his hand away. 'Yeah, well, you could have told me what he was going to do.'

'I confess, I was quite shaken myself. The effects of the Imperius Curse are frightening. Of course, I knew about it already, but knowing and seeing are two different things.'

'You're okay now, though?'

'Yes.'

'Good. I'm starving, let's go.'

'Some lesson though, eh?' said Ron, as they set off for the Great Hall. 'Fred and George were right, weren't they? He really knows his stuff, doesn't he? When he did that Avada Kedavra, the way the spider just died, just snuffed it right-'

But Ron fell silent at the look on Harry's face.

'Tact isn't really your strong suit, is it?' said Sherlock.

'Oh yeah, like it's yours,' Ron snapped.

John was very glad to finally get some food, and sat heavily down at the Gryffindor table.

'You should get Cas to look at that,' Sherlock said, eyeing John's cut.

'He's not here,' said John, shoving some chips into his mouth. 'Gabriel's over there, though, you could ask him. He pointed his thumb over his shoulder at Gabriel.

Sherlock looked up.

Dean had also been looking around the room for Cas, so Sherlock waved him over and they went up to Gabriel together.

'What's up, guys?' he said, smiling brightly.

'We're just looking for Cas, have you seen him?' said Dean.

'Uh, nope. Haven't seen him. Have you tried the hospital wing?'

'We know you were with him earlier. We noticed you weren't here at lunch,' Sherlock said.

Gabriel shook his head, chuckling. 'I shoulda known I couldn't get one over on you, Sherlock. Yeah, I was with him earlier.'

'What's going on?' said Dean.

Gabriel's smile slid away. 'Listen, guys, he's been having a really tough time lately, and it's all a little much for him. You don't need to worry about him, he's somewhere safe and quiet.'

'How long will he be?' Dean asked.

'Just for the weekend for now. Dumbledore says he can take as much time as he needs, but I think he'll probably be back in time for lessons on Monday.'

'I don't get it, what's the problem?'

'The Cruciatus Curse,' Sherlock said softly.

'What about it?'

'Professor Moody has been demonstrating the Unforgiveable Curses on spiders,' Sherlock told him.

'Look, Sherlock, I know you could probably find him if you wanted, but I'm asking you, please don't. Sometimes not even I can calm him down, and when that happens, he just needs space, otherwise…'

'Otherwise what?' said Sherlock.

'It doesn't matter, just, please?'

Sherlock reluctantly agreed.

'Oh, great, thank you,' Gabriel said, his smile returning. 'By the way, Dean, Sam's been doing really well.'

'Awesome,' Dean grinned.

'Yeah, Professor Flitwick told me the other day that he wants Sam to take more advanced Charms lessons, so we're looking for someone to tutor him…'

Sherlock rolled his eyes and went back to John, who was looking exceptionally tired.

'Time to go upstairs, I think,' Sherlock said. 'Though, a visit to Madam Pomfrey first might not be remiss.'

'Just leave it,' John grumbled, suddenly quite grouchy.

'Why?' Sherlock said, surprised.

'You know, sometimes I just want to feel like a normal human being, okay?' he snapped. 'It's not life-threatening, it'll heal on its own. Goodnight.' He stalked off alone. Once in the common room, he remembered the Divination work he had to do, so went up to the dormitory to get his copy of Unfogging the Future. He found Neville already up there, sitting on his own bed, reading a book.

'Oh, hello, Neville,' he said.

'Hey,' said Neville. He was looking a great deal calmer than he had earlier, though his were a little red.

'Are you all right?'

'Oh, yes, I'm fine. Just reading this book Professor Moody gave me.' He held up a copy of Magical Mediterranean Water-Plants and their Properties. 'Professor Sprout told Professor Moody I'm really good at Herbology.' There was a faint note of pride in his voice. 'He thought I'd like this.'

'Well, it does seem like your kind of thing,' John smiled. 'You are really good at Herbology.'

'Wait,' Neville said as John made to leave. 'You didn't happen to – see anything today, did you? About me?'

'Oh, no, I didn't. Why?'

'No reason… If you do ever see something, you won't tell anyone, will you?'

'No, of course not.' John sat down on his own bed. 'Neville, I can't really control it, but if something does come up, I promise I'll try my hardest not to look and, well, I'm sorry if I do.'

'You don't need to apologise,' said Neville, looking up from his book. 'We all know you can't help it.'

'Even still,' said John. He popped open the top of Dolly's tank next to his bed, pulled her out and held her in his lap. 'A person shouldn't have so much power. Seeing into other people's lives feels… wrong.'

Neville put his book down completely, and got up to sit next to John, bringing Trevor with him. 'When I think about the powers you have, I can't really think of someone better to have them,' Neville said, plopping Trevor next to Dolly, where they both warbled happily. 'There are lots of people that would use it for bad things, like spying, or cheating, but I couldn't imagine you doing any of those things. I could only imagine you doing good with it.'

'That's – that's really nice of you, Neville.'

Neville shrugged. 'It's just the truth. Most of us feel the same way – well most of us that know about it anyway – so I don't think anyone really minds if you see something a bit private.'

John nodded and felt his chin wobble. Before he knew it, tears were pricking at his eyes and he was biting back quiet sobs. 'I'm sorry,' he said, wiping his eyes. 'It's just hard, and it hurts sometimes, and knowing that it'll be this way forever…'

'Not forever, surely?' Neville said kindly. 'You'll get better once you can control it. And you've got Sherlock to help you.'

John snorted weakly. 'Yeah. Sherlock'll be there.'

'You like him, don't you?'

John's head snapped up, heart in his throat.

'Don't worry, I won't tell anyone.'

John opened his mouth, but clamped it shut again when Harry and Ron entered the room. Neville smiled at him, picked up Trevor and went back to his own bed.

'You all right?' Ron asked, noticing John's wet cheeks.

John cleared his throat and stood up, placing Dolly on his shoulder. 'Yeah, I'm okay.' He went into his trunk for some extra parchment and saw the tie boxes he and Sherlock had bought in Diagon Alley. Made to match. He shook the thought out of his head and went downstairs with Harry and Ron. They found a table and set to work on their predictions for the coming month. An hour later, John had finished. His predictions mostly involved the weather, and what little information he could get from small snippets he saw of himself in the future.

Harry and Ron, however, had made little progress. Ron threw down his quill and sighed in frustration.

'John, you don't think you could…?'

'Give myself a headache doing your homework for you? No thanks.'

'I haven't got a clue what any of this is supposed to mean,' Ron groaned.

John stretched and yawned. 'Just make it up,' he said, stacking his notes.

'What?'

'Yeah, make it up. It's not like she'll know. Throw in a bit of misery and she'll love it.'

A grin slowly spread over Ron's face and he cleared the table of his crumpled notes and equations. 'Next Monday,' he said, scribbling on fresh parchment, 'I am likely to develop a cough, owing to the unlucky conjunction of Mars and Jupiter.'

'Right,' said Harry, crumpling up his first attempt and lobbing it over the heads of a group of chattering first-years into the fire. 'Okay… on Monday, I will be in danger of – er – burns.'

'Yeah, you will be,' said Ron, 'we're seeing the Skrewts again on Monday. Okay, Tuesday, I'll… erm…'

'Lose a treasured possession,' said Harry, flicking through Unfogging the Future for ideas.

'Good one,' said Ron, copying it down. 'Because of… erm… Mercury. Why don't you get stabbed in the back by someone you thought was a friend?'

'Yeah… cool…' said Harry, 'because Venus is in the twelfth house.'

'And on Wednesday, I think I'll come off worse in a fight.'

'Aaah, I was going to lose a fight. Okay, I'll lose a bet.'

'Yeah, you'll be betting I'll win my fight…'

John laughed at them as they continued to make up increasingly tragic predictions for the next hour, and even contributing a few suggestions himself. The common room began to empty, then the portrait hole opened and Hermione climbed in. She was carrying a sheaf of parchment in one hand and a box, whose contents rattled as she walked, in the other hand. 'Hello!' she said. 'I've just finished!'

'So have I! said Ron, triumphantly, throwing down his quill.

Hermione sat down, laid the things she was carrying in an empty armchair and pulled Ron's predictions towards her. 'Not going to have a very good month, are you?' she said as Crookshanks curled up in her lap.

'Ah well, at least I'm forewarned,' Ron yawned.

'You seem to be drowning twice.'

'Oh, am I?' Ron peered down at his predictions. 'I'd better change that to being trampled by a rampaging Hippogriff.'

John laughed loudly, almost dislodging Dolly from his shoulder. She croaked indignantly in his ear.

'Well, I'm glad you think it's funny,' Hermione said to him, rolling her eyes.

'Nothing wrong with a good laugh, Hermione,' John grinned.

'Don't you think it's a bit obvious you've made these up?'

'How dare you!' Ron said in mock outrage. 'We've been working like house-elves here!'

Hermione raised her eyebrows.

'It's just an expression,' Ron said hastily.

Harry laid down his quill too. 'What's in the box?' he asked Hermione, pointing at it.

'Funny you should ask,' said Hermione, with a nasty look at Ron. She took off the lid and showed them the contents.

Inside were about fifty badges, all of different colours, but all bearing the same letters: S.P.E.W.

'"Spew"?' said Harry, picking up a badge and looking at it. 'What's this about?'

'Not spew,' Hermione said impatiently. 'It's S-P-E-W. Stands for the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare.'

'Never heard of it,' said Ron.

'Of course you haven't, I've only just started it.'

'Yeah?' said Ron. 'How many members have you got?'

'Well – if you three join – four.'

John looked up at her, but she had changed. She was older and her hair was escaping an attempt at a bun. She had a clipboard and a quill, and she was dressed in Ministry robes.

'John?'

He blinked and she was her present self again.

'What? I'm fine. Sorry. Carry on.'

'You don't think we want to walk around wearing badges that say "spew", do you?' said Ron.

'S-P-E-W!' Hermione said hotly. 'I was going to put Stop the Outrageous Abuse of Our Fellow Magical Creatures and Campaign for a Change in Their Legal Status – but it wouldn't fit. So that's the heading of our manifesto.'

'I'll join,' said John.

'Really?'

'Yeah, why not?'

She smiled at him, and brandished the sheaf of parchment. 'I've been researching it thoroughly in the library. Elf enslavement goes back centuries. I can't believe no one's done anything about it before now.'

'Hermione, open your ears,' said Ron. 'They. Like. It. They like being enslaved!'

'Our short-term aims,' said Hermione, speaking over Ron, 'are to secure house-elves fair wages and working conditions. Our long-term aims include changing the laws about non-wand-use, and trying to get an elf into the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, because they're shockingly underrepresented.'

'And how do we do all this?' Harry asked.

'We start by recruiting members,' Hermione said happily. 'I thought two Sickles to join – that buys a badge – and the proceeds can fund our leaflet campaign. You're treasurer, Ron – I've got you a collecting tin upstairs – and Harry, you're secretary, so you might want to write down everything I'm saying now, as a record of our first meeting.'

John dug through his pockets and found the Sickles needed. Hermione beamed at him as she wrote his name down on another piece of parchment, and gave him a badge, which he pinned to the front of his robes.

Just then, there was a soft tap tap on the window. They looked across the now empty common room and, illuminated by the moonlight, was a snowy owl perched on the window-sill.

'Hedwig!' Harry shouted, launching himself out of his chair and across the room. He yanked the window open, letting Hedwig soar in and land on his predictions. 'About time!' said Harry, hurrying after her.

'She's got an answer!' Ron said, pointing at a grubby piece of parchment tied to her leg.

Harry hastily untied it and sat down to read it.

The letter was very short, and looked as though it had been scrawled in a hurry. Harry read it aloud:

Harry-

I'm flying north immediately. This news about your scar is the latest in a series of strange rumours that have reached me here. If it hurts again, go straight to Dumbledore – they're saying he's got Mad-Eye Moody out of retirement, which means he's reading the signs, even if no one else is.

I'll be in touch soon. My best to your friends. Keep your eyes open, Harry.

Sirius.

'He's flying north?' Hermione whispered. 'He's coming back?'

'Dumbledore's reading what signs?' said Ron, looking perplexed.

'Let me see that,' said John, pointing at the letter, which Ron handed him.

'I shouldn't have told him!' Harry said furiously. 'I've made him think he's got to come back, because he thinks I'm in trouble! And there's nothing wrong with me!'

'Harry,' Hermione began in a pacifying voice.

'I'm going to bed,' Harry said shortly. 'See you in the morning.'

John watched Harry go, the tension clear in his hunched shoulders. He understood Harry's concern, but the warmth in his fingers coming from the parchment gave him the feeling that Sirius would be just fine.

Welcome back everyone! Thanks to TimedragonD, King Simin the Warrior, Tacosaurus, DaughterofMagic3 and Sherlock Harry Winchester for the reviews :D See you again in two weeks!