END OF ANOTHER YEAR
After freeing dobby, Natasha ran back to the Gryffindor common room. She decided to give the Weasleys some family time in the hospital, and wanted to take some rest. Natasha reached the common room really fast, and ran into the dormitories immediately. Just when she reached the second-year dormitory, a voice shouted, "NATASHA!"
It was Parvati Patil. She was seeing Natasha with wide eyes. She then came running towards Natasha and hugged her. The other girls in the dormitory also woke up, and was looking at her with same expression as Parvati. "How? We had heard that, you were also inside the chamber along with Simran!", Lavender asked.
"Is Simran Ok?", Fay Dunbar asked. "and what happened to Ron?"
"All of them are fine.", Natasha said with a smile. All the girls let out sighs of relief.
"How? How did you three escape the chamber?", Parvati asked. Natasha went on to narrate all that, what had happened inside the chamber. All the girls listened to her with open mouths. Natasha could not tell, whether they had believed the whole story or not, but it will be better than some kind of wild rumours spreading around. Natasha left out the part in which Riddle told that he processed Ron, and told the girls that, she had no idea how he managed to open the chamber. But When the story ended, the girls looked at Natasha as if, they were checking if she was actually alive. All the girls hugged Natasha and hugged her. They decided to keep a big party for the four of them, when they all returned.
Just then, a voice came from the common room instructing all the students to wake up. It was Professor McGonagall. Natasha and the other girls, went to the dormitories of the other year girls, and woke the girls who were not already awake. When all the students assembled in the common room, they all looked at Natasha with wide eyes, and came near her to ask questions, but the Professor stopped them by making a gesture to make them silent.
Professor McGonagall went on to explain to the students that, the entrance to the chamber has been found and the monster was killed. She did not explain the situation any more, and announced that, there will be celebratory feast coming up shortly. She told the students to assemble at the great hall in twenty minutes. The whole common room burst into excited chattering as soon as the professor left, and many of the students came to Natasha and asked what had actually happened in the chamber as they had already come to know that Natasha and Simran had gone there. Natasha told the same thing that she had told Parvati and the other girls. All the people in the common room cheered for them when they got to that part. She did not mention the part about Riddle being Voldemort too, as she knew that it may create some kind of panic. Natasha had been to several Hogwarts feasts, but never one quite like this. Everybody was in their pyjamas, and the celebration lasted all night. Ron and Simran joined the party just after it had started, with the other Weasley children and Percy told that Ron will visit a mind healer in the holidays to calm his nerves after the incident. Natasha was really happy for this.
Just 20 minutes into the feast, all the students and the ghost who were petrified entered into the room. Hermione ran to the three of them crying 'You did it!'. She hugged all three of them and sat on the chair. Just then Natasha heard someone calling her name, and saw Justin waving at her.
"I am really sorry, Natasha! I am really sorry!", Justin apologized with pleading look.
Natasha did not know what to say to Justin. But Simran was giving Justin really angry look and looked as though she wanted to shout at him. But Natasha said, "It's OK Justin. But please don't repeat this again."
Simran gave Natasha a loom that said 'Are you serious?". Natasha gave her a look that said, please let's not start an argument now. Simran just nodded and continued the feast. Justin happily left the Gryffindor table and joined his house. At the end of the feast, Professor McGonagall stood up to tell them all that the exams had been cancelled as a school treat. Natasha was a bit relieved at this, as because of the whole chamber mess, she had very little time to study. Hermione looked really disappointed at this, even though she had not attended many of the classes at the end. Dumbledore even announced that, Professor Lockhart will not be attending to teach the students next year. The whole school cheered at this. Hermione was looking clueless as to why this was happening, as she was not informed as to what exactly happened.
After the treat was over, the students were instructed to return to the dorms. They now had a whole 2 weeks, where they did not have to worry about exams and studies. When Hermione was told the full story of what happened at the chamber, including what had happened to Ron, she was really horrified and hugged Ron. She had tears in her eyes, and was glad that he returned safely. She was just horrified when she heard that Professor Lockhart was a fraud all along and could not believe that, she had trusted a fraud all along.
Hogwarts was back to normal with only a few, small differences - Defence Against the Dark Arts classes were now continued by a new Professor named Remus Lupin. From the few classes, she had attended of his, she learned more than the whole year with Lockhart. But something about Professor Lupin seemed really strange to Natasha as she saw that, every now and then he would take a few glances at her and that too in near fashion of how Professor Snape looked at her in the beginning weeks of her first year. But she could not ask him anything as she did not get time to meet up with him properly. Then on the day before she was to leave to Private Drive, she was just returning from a stroll near the lake, to the common room. Just then she came face to face with a person she wanted to see the least. It was Draco Malfoy.
"Hey Potter!", Draco called. "I want to have a word with you!"
"What is it, Draco?", Natasha asked impatiently.
"I just wanted to ask you what has happened to you?", Draco asked. "You have been avoiding for nearly the whole year!"
"Well, Draco. I am sure you know the reason why. If you don't, find it out yourself!", Natasha said angrily.
"Is it because, I called Granger a mu- ", Draco started.
"Don't say that word!", Natasha shouted with her face full of anger. "I really can't believe you, Draco! I thought you had some good in you last year! But this year you proved me totally wrong!"
"Potter! I really can't stop doing that! I was bought up, by a family who told that exact same thing nearly every day of my life! I am supposed to tell like that, in front of others to keep up with my family name.", Draco said.
"Does that mean that, you actually don't believe in that yourself?", Natasha asked curiously.
"I- I never s-said that.", Draco stammered. But it was nearly good enough for Natasha, as she could actually hear hesitance in his voice.
"I- I need to go.", Draco said and left in a hurry. Natasha smiled inwardly. She knew that, she could give him another chance. His behaviour suggested that, he might not be believing such nonsense completely. Smiling to herself, she returned back to the common room. She decided not to tell her other friends about what had happened as, she was sure that an argument will break out in this matter. Too soon, it was time for the journey home on the Hogwarts Express. Natasha, Ron, Hermione, Simran, Fred, George, and Ginny got a compartment to themselves. They made the most of the last few hours in which they were allowed to do magic before the holidays. They played Exploding Snap, set off the very last of Fred and George's Filibuster fireworks, and practiced disarming each other by magic. Natasha was getting very good at it.
At the near end of the journey, they were joined by Cedric Diggory. He had come to the compartment to properly say a thanks to the four of them, and informed Natasha that he never believed that Natasha was the heir of Slytherin though most of his housemates believed so. Natasha was really happy at this, and throughout the time, he was in the compartments for some unknown reason, she was getting butterflies in her stomach. Natasha immediately rejected the idea that, she was hungry as she had already eaten just an hour ago. Natasha was getting totally confused about this, and sometimes even found herself staring at him. He went back, just before they reached London. Just when they reached London, Natasha remembered something:
"Ginny - what did you see Percy doing, that he didn't want you to tell anyone?"
"Oh, that," said Ginny, giggling. "Well - Percy's got a girlfriend." Fred dropped a stack of books on George's head. The three girls giggled at this.
"What?", Ron asked with an open mouth.
"It's that Ravenclaw prefect, Penelope Clearwater," said Ginny. "That's who he was writing to all last summer. He's been meeting her all over the school in secret. I walked in on them kissing in an empty classroom one day. He was so upset when she was - you know - attacked. You won't tease him, will you?" she added anxiously.
"Wouldn't dream of it," said Fred, who was looking like his birthday had come early.
"Definitely not," said George, sniggering.
Just after they went through the barrier, the four friends looked at each other. Simran looked close to crying as she was most definitely going to be not in touch for more than a month, as owl post from England to India was definitely impossible. So, it was near impossible to keep in touch with her for the holidays. But then Natasha and Hermione gave her their telephone numbers, of their houses. Natasha did not know, whether her aunt and uncle would let her use it but considering their behaviour towards her last summer, she did have hopes. She had mostly given the number so that, she could feel better. She even gave Ron her number, and told him that his father might know how to make a call.
At last all of them hugged each other, and went through the barrier and met their families. Mrs. Weasley greeted them happily and thanked them again for helping Ron. Then they met with Hermione's parents who were having a conversation with Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia. Simran's parents were also standing nearby smiling at them. Simran ran to them, and hugged them with tears in her eyes. She never wrote to their parents the whole year, as they were in India. She then introduced the three of them to her parents. Her father's name was Uday gupta, and mom's name was Anjali gupta. They were pleased to meet their daughter's friends, went happily. When they went towards the Dursleys and Grangers, Dan and Emma greeted the two of them happily.
"Busy year I take it.", Mr. Granger asked.
"More than you can imagine.", Natasha said with a smile.
"Your uncle has told that, you can come to our home at the same time as last year.", Dan Granger said. Natasha was really happy at this, and could not wait for her birthday to come.
"Well, come on girl. I have a bit of busy schedule!", Vernon said. They all said goodbyes to each other, and went happily to their houses.
FAST FORWARD 3 WEEKS
JULY 23rd, AZKABAN PRISON
"He is at Hogwarts. He is at Hogwarts.", Sirius Black was muttering nonstop in his breath. He was angry, and wanted to escape the hell called Azkaban for 12 years now more than any time before. After the incident with Peter, he was thrown inside the prison immediately without a trial. The last thing he remembered before waking up inside was, himself laughing maniacally. He had thrown away all the hopes of escaping the hell called Azkaban long before. Then just a few days ago, the minister of magic had visited the Azkaban prison to have a checking at the prisoners. When the minister came near his cell, Sirius had noticed a paper that the minister had brought with him. He asked the minister to give him the paper as, he had actually missed doing the crossword puzzle that, was there in the Daily Prophet. The minister first looked at him with a shocked face, but obliged his request by giving him the paper.
Sirius then happily finished the puzzle, and then went on to read the headlines that were present. In one of the pages, there was a news article about the Weasley family, who had won a large amount of money in a contest, and had decided to go to Egypt to visit their son. What had captured Sirius's attention was the rat, that was in the shoulders of the Weasley boy who seemed to be the youngest boy. Sirius immediately recognized the rat as Peter Pettigrew aka the traitor aka the person who was the reason he was in Azkaban. He was even horrified to learn that, Peter was now in Hogwarts as a student's pet. Sirius instantly knew that, Peter was just waiting for a news about his master and will return only if there was some kind of news.
But now, Sirius knew that he had to get out of this place now. That thought was the only thing in his mind now, and it was not a happy or a sad thought so dementors could not suck it away from him. Then he remembered a detail that was very useful. The dementors did not affect or sense him, when he was a dog. He knew what he had to do, and he formulated a plan. Later in the day, when the dementors opened the cell door to bring him his food, he transformed into a dog, and slipped through the doorway without getting noticed by the dementors. Thankfully the other inmates of his cell block were in such a state that, they hardly noticed a dog slipping away.
He went outside the prison without any incident, and saw real and bright sunlight after 12 years. He glanced down the rocks, and saw endless sea. He knew that, it was a bit far away from the nearest shore, but it was very much better than the prison. The dog then jumped into the water and started paddling. After nearly 2 hours of paddling, the dog was exhausted but he still was swimming. But then by good luck, he was found by a muggle fishing boat. They rescued the dog, and the fisherman was totally confused how the dog was in the middle of the sea. They assumed that, it must have fallen from a ship and decided to take it back to the shore. The fishermen gave some water, and fed the dog with some fish which they had. The dog ate the fish happily, and slept peacefully through the rest of the journey.
When the boat reached the shore, the dog just ran off the boat into the unknown. The fishermen were just baffled at this behaviour, and decided that it was a really strange dog. Sirius Black knew what he had to do now. He had to get to Hogwarts so that he could capture Peter. But before that, he wanted to take a look at his goddaughter living in surrey. He knew that, it was a long journey but he was determined to finish it somehow.