Chapter Eighteen

A/N: I do not own anything from the Lion King or from Harry Potter. Again, I am not fabulously wealthy so it's safe to say I own neither of these.

At least in the Leaky Cauldron, Simba got his own room. The bad news was that he got his own room. He was used to being with the Twins or Ron.

"Hello Simba," Fred smirked from the doorway. Speak of the Devil.

"Hey Fred," Simba smirked back. "What are you up to?"

"Gonna torment Percy, want to come?"

Simba grinned and nodded. Sure beat lying around in his room all day.

000

After a bit of Percy tormenting, Simba was bored again. It wasn't the same without Harry there to shake his head in amusement.

"What do you think they're talking about?" Fred shook his head towards his parents' direction, where they were whispering hurriedly to one another.

"I'll go and check it out," Simba told him and snuck over. He'd been getting better at sneaking since he had started hanging out with the twins. It was the only way he could get any information.

"Harry's safe," Mr. Weasley whispered. "Fudge just informed the ministry that he's here in the Ally."

"Oh thank Merlin," Mrs. Weasley exclaimed but she was careful to keep her voice down. "Do you think Black got at him?"

"Fudge said that Harry was perfectly fine when he arrived. A little cut on his hand and his pants were torn but nothing to show that he'd encountered Black."

"Should we tell Ron?"

"We'd better," Mr. Weasley nodded. "Harry is his best friend and he knows Harry better than we do. He'd know where to find him."

Simba slunk back to Fred as the adults were getting up.

"So," Fred looked at him, "what's up?"

Simba couldn't keep the grin off his face. His brother was in the Ally. He was safe! But one thing sure was bugging him though. Safe from what? What was the deal with this Black fellow?

"Hey Fred," he asked, ignoring the question, "what's the deal with this Black fellow everyone's talking about?"

Fred paused, and looked at the lion in shock. "You mean you don't know? Even the Muggle borns know! It's been all over the Daily Prophet!"

"I can't exactly read, Fred," Simba told him in a dry voice. Fred looked sheepish.

"Oh yeah," he chuckled. Just as Fred opened his mouth to tell the story, Ron barged in.

"Simba! Hermione's here, want to go see if we can't find Harry?"

Simba looked over at Fred, who shrugged.

"Sure!" Simba grinned and chased after the other red-head. The trio searched all over Diagon Ally, buying supplies along the way.

"Finally," Simba sighed in relief when Ron bought a new wand. That old one scared him constantly and that was when he was sleeping.

"Shut it you," Ron rolled his eyes. "Where could Harry be?"

Suddenly, a whiff of a familiar scent caught Simba's attention. Without waiting to inform Hermione or Ron, he quickly followed it leaving the others in his wake. He walked around people, who thankfully were no longer frightened of seeing him. It was common knowledge by now that a lion could be see wherever Harry Potter was.

"HARRY!" Simba shouted with joy upon finally seeing his brother.

"Hey Simba," Harry grinned. Ron and Hermione finally caught up with them. "Hey Ron, Hermione. Uh…why are you panting?"

"Because…your brother…failed to let us know…he found you," Hermione panted, clutching a stitch in her side.

"Not my fault if you didn't catch his scent," Simba said with a shrug. "Besides, it got me out of playing pack mule for Hermione."

Harry looked to see Hermione's three bulging bags of books compared to Ron's one.

"Er…Hermione? Why do you have so many—"

"Well, I'm taking more subjects than you aren't I?" Hermione cut Harry off. "Ancient Runes, Care of Magical Creatures, Divination, Muggle Studies—"

"Why on earth are you taking Muggle Studies?" Ron asked as they walked around. "You're Muggle Born!"

"But it'll be so interesting to see how wizards view Muggles!" Hermione said with a smile. Ron was showing off his new wand to Harry, and explained about Scabbers.

"I don't think Egypt agreed with him," Ron said with a shrug.

"I didn't know Scabbers wasn't well," Simba frowned as they walked to the Magical Menagerie.

"Well, it started that last week we were there," Ron shrugged. "Looks crowded in there. One of us should wait out here."

"I'll do it," Simba said. Other magical creatures didn't like him in particular. Oh well. As he waited, he thought about Black some more. What had he done that was so bad? Well, breaking out of prison obviously but what—"

"SCABBERS!" Ron shouted after the grey blur that was running past the young lion. Quick as lightning, Simba pounced on the annoyance, allowing his brother and Ron to catch their wind.

"What was that thing?" Ron asked.

"Either a very large cat or a very small tiger," Harry replied, scooping up Scabbers. "Where's Hermione?"

"Probably buying her owl," Ron said but both boys paused upon seeing the creature in Hermione's arms. It was an orange cat with a squished face. Simba didn't really mind. Another feline was fine by him.

"You bought that monster?" Ron gasped. "Hermione, that thing nearly scalped me!"

"Poor Crookshanks," Hermione cooed. "He didn't mean to. That lady said that he's been in there for years. No one wanted him."

"I can't imagine why," Harry muttered to Ron, who stifled a laugh. Simba bumped Harry with his head in a sort of a silent shut it.

Back at the Cauldron, Harry met up with the Weasleys while Simba curled up under a chair and tried to sleep before the train ride the next day.

Hello, an unfamiliar voice greeted him and Simba looked right into the yellow eyes of Hermione's new cat.

It's Feline, Crookshanks explained. Only cats should be able to understand us.

Simba shook his head. This was officially weird.

How is this possible? I'm a lion!

But you're a member of the cat family, Crookshanks stated. As I am only part Kneezle, I am able to communicate with Muggle felines.

Oh.

I want you to watch out for that rat. There is something about him that is unsavory. I was close to investigating when that red haired demon got in the way.

Scabbers? He's just a boring rat!

Looks can be misleading, Crookshanks said and slunk back to Hermione. Simba officially needed more sleep. He just had a conversation with another cat.

"Oi, Simba," Fred whispered. "You want that lesson on Black now?"

"Sure," Simba got up.

"Meet me in my room," Fred whispered. "I'm getting George."

Simba shot up the stairs and waited patiently for the twins to arrive.

"Bloody hell, you got here fast," George exclaimed. Fred rolled his eyes at this twin.

"He's a lion! The two extra legs would be a bonus no?"

"Oh yeah!"

"Are you two going to tell me what I want to know or are you just going to be idiotic until dinner?"

Fred looked offended while George gasped. "Idiotic? Did you hear that Gred?"

"I did, Forge."

"Such a shame," George shook his head. Simba smirked and couldn't help the chuckle that emerged from his lips.

"Okay," Fred looked serious for one. "Now first thing to understand Simba is not all wizards are good."

"Like Malfoys. They're evil," Simba nodded.

"Exactly," George agreed with the lion. "But there was one traitor that was the worst." George spat out the word traitor as if it was poison.

"Sirius Black?"

"Got it in one," Fred nodded solemnly.

"But what did he do that was so bad?" Simba asked, dying to know more. If Mr. Weasley thought Black could get to Harry, then Simba needed to know more in order to protect his brother.

"He betrayed the Potters," George said with a dark look on his face. "To You-Know-Who. Then killed thirteen people with a single curse the next day. Probably to celebrate or something."

Simba gasped. He knew about Voldemort from Harry's tails. But never would he have thought about someone betraying his brother?

"Thanks for the lesson," Simba said, a hard look on his face. He looked ready to walk out of there.

"Oi!" Fred blocked the doorway. "You've got to promise us one thing Simba."

"What?"

"Promise us you won't go looking for Black," George said. "We like you. The only body part found was a finger."

"I promise," Simba growled. "But if Black finds me, I won't be held responsible for my actions."

Then, he walked out of the room and made a silent vow to stick to Harry like glue. No way was Black going to harm a single hair on his brother's head without going through him.