CHAPTER ELEVEN

THE FIREBOLT

McGonagall rolled her eyes before reading, "Chapter 11. The Firebolt"

The Weasley kids, Sirius, Harry, and Tonks all smiled excitedly.

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"Understandable that you would be in shock." Tonks mused.

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"'Ignorance is bliss' as they say." Flitwick answered.

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"For future reference, you should know that I hate it when you do that." Harry told his friends.

"But if we tried talking to you, you might bite our heads off." Ron said giving his friend a pointed look.

"The worst I can do is yell at you."

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Sirius opened his mouth, but Remus nudged him in the rib with his elbow hard. Sirius turned to Remus who shook his head knowing that Harry was going to be on edge until the chapter when the truth came out.

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"The good ol' days." Sirius sighed jokingly.

"You are starting to look better than you did when you escaped." Tonks admitted.

Remus picked up the album that was left behind from when Harry and the two Marauders went through it and turned to the page to the wedding picture and showed it to the younger crowd.

"Merlin Sirius! You WERE good looking!" Ginny exclaimed.

"Was there any doubt?" Sirius teased.

"Considering your blood relatives…" Hermione stated.

"We've seen your mother." George added with a smirk.

"Luckily, I didn't get my looks from that side of the family." Sirius said before turning to Harry who still wouldn't meet his eyes.

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"Nope. No way. Knew there was a chance if my animagus ability was caught, but didn't know it would destroy my good looks." Sirius answered the rhetorical questions.

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"I knew you were awake, but didn't want to be bothered."

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"Neville looks nothing like him!" Hermione exclaimed.

"I know that now, but I didn't have any pictures of him or Remus at the time."

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"coughyeahrightcough" Ron and Hermione coughed.

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"That obvious huh?" Hermione asked.

"This conversation BETTER have went well." Ginny stated with a playful pout. "I was stuck being you, Harry. Not easy not knowing the reason."

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Sirius nodded in agreement.

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"I didn't know the truth at the time!" Hermione defended her statement.

"Hermione. I understand." Sirius said. "I'm not mad at you kids for thinking that. Yes there's a bit of hurt, but it's my own fault for talking them into changing secret keepers without anyone else knowing and then not going to Dumbledore when things went wrong."

"It was also Peter's fault for switching sides on us." Remus added.

"Nothing you three, or anyone else in this room, will say in the book will make me think any less of you…with the exception of CERTAIN people." Sirius said before throwing Snape a look.

Snape rolled his eyes before turning to McGonagall. Sensing another argument between the two rivals, she went back to the book.

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"He'd be in for a shock." Sirius whispered to Remus.

Remus chuckled knowing what Sirius was going for. Sirius wouldn't hurt Harry on purpose and DEFINITELY wouldn't go for the kill.

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For a brief second, Harry's eyes met Remus' and the boy blushed a bit as he remembered that Remus had said practically the same thing that night he had confiscated the map. And Remus DID know James and Lily Potter.

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"Nice try Ron." Charlie chuckled.

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"We need to get you lifting weights." Bill told Harry.

"Good idea Bill" Fred said.

"Add muscles to get rid of the scrawny git image he's worked up for himself." George said.

"That plus his fame…"

"…Gin-Gin, you'll have competition."

Ginny grabbed a throw pillow and swung it hitting her brothers before Molly could scold the twins for teasing their sister.

"Whatever it takes to put meat on those bones." Molly said agreeing with the idea of building Harry's muscles.

"I think I might have some muggle weights in my shed." Arthur suggested.

"And we can really clean out a room and make it into an exercise room." Sirius added.

"When will Pick-On-Harry-Day be over?" Harry asked.

"Considering Time's standing still, not until we finish reading these books." Ginny said smartly.

Remus and Sirius blinked at the girl while everyone laughed. Even Snape created a small coughing fit to hide the small laugh at the statement Lily would have said.

"Ten points to Gryffindor." Snape whispered under his fake coughs.

Remus and Sirius looked at each other.

"They say you marry your mother." Sirius said.

"Meaning?" Harry said

"That was something Lily would have said." Remus said pointing to Ginny.

Both Harry and Ginny blushed.

"Professor. Read. Please." Harry begged.

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"WHAT?!" Charlie exclaimed. "The Hippogriff was provoked!"

"And with Malfoy behind this issue, there's no way Buckbeak's getting a FAIR hearing."

"Since when has the Ministry ever been fair when it comes to hearings?" Harry asked sharply, not having forgotten his own just a few days ago.

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"The only thing is Hagrid, your definition of 'interesting' is what most people consider 'dangerous'." Sprout stated.

"Though I do have to agree with him." Remus said. "They'd sooner kill than study."

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Sirius nodded in agreement.

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Molly smiled at her son.

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"First McGonagall and now Hagrid?" Fred asked.

"Hermione? What is it with you lying to teachers?" George added.

"They've been a bad influence." Hermione said pointing to Ron and Harry.

"And who's idea was it to brew Polyjuice in the girl's lavatory?" Ron asked.

"Can you two not argue when I'm sitting between you?" Harry asked "I'd like to keep my hearing for books 5 through 7."

"What about Book 4?" Charlie asked.

"I'd rather fight another basilisk than live through THAT year again." Harry admitted.

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"I was getting sick of flobberworms." Ron admitted.

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Sirius nodded in agreement.

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The adults relaxed at the fact that Harry was distracted from the issue of revenge.

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"Don't blame them." Arthur admitted.

"They are cool creatures." Charlie said. "Their hide can repel charms and curses and their sting is deadly."

"You, my brother, have been spending WAY too much time with Hagrid." Bill said.

"C'mon Bill. You know Hagrid has nothing to do with my love of animals." Charlie said.

"It's true." Molly admitted to everyone. "Ever since he was three, he's wanted a pet dragon of his own. It's been at the top of every birthday and Christmas wish list."

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The marauders rolled their eyes. Peter was always one for food.

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"You sleep in practically every other day except on days you get presents." Harry said whacking his friend with a pillow returning the two and a half year old favor.

"I'm amazed you don't." Ron said. "You have YEARS of catching up."

"Be grateful it was just the pillow toss Harry." Arthur said. "Because when he was younger, he would come into our room and bounce on the bed."

"After paying us a similar visit." Bill said glaring at his blushing brother.

"Ginny was just as bad!" Ron defended.

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Sirius smiled glad he was hearing about Harry opening his gift.

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"How would I sign it?" Sirius asked. "For one thing, I knew you had heard the popular story. Another, I knew Minnie would recognize my hand even if I did just sign it 'a friend'"

McGonagall glared at the name Sirius had called her.

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Everyone snorted at that.

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"Bet he wished he played during that first game." Tonks gloated. "He doesn't stand a chance."

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"Closer." Remus chuckled.

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"I wish that had been the case." Remus admitted.

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"You were so excited." Harry chuckled at the memory.

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"Not with an international broom." Charlie said.

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"The cat's lost it." George whispered.

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"So why keep them?" Tonks asked.

"Great storage for small trinkets." Harry answered.

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"Explains why he was balding when he transformed." Harry whispered to Ron.

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"But wasn't Scabbers ill before he met Crookshanks?" Flitwick asked.

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Ron pouted. Before he knew the truth about that rat, he had been upset when he thought Scabbers had died. Now, he WISHED that rat had died. At least after they used him to clear Sirius' name.

The redhead turned to Harry knowing that they were BOTH looking forward to this book being over. Ron hated hearing about his sympathies for Wormtail and Harry was hating hearing about his hatred towards Sirius.

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The boys chuckled quietly at that.

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Snape scowled at both the memory and the burst of laughter that emerged from the readers at the memory of the Boggart lesson.

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"I love your descriptions Harry" Tonks giggled.

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"Harry's going to get up first." Everyone who hadn't been there chorused.

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"No shock there." Fred said

"They say the job is jinxed." George added.

"No defense professor has lasted more than a year." Fred put in.

"It is not jinxed." Hermione said.

"I don't know Hermione." Harry mused. "First year: died. Second year: lost memory. Third year: resigned. Fourth year: the guy who actually did the teaching got kissed by a dementor and the real teacher was only supposed to teach for that year anyways. Goodness knows what years five, six, and seven hold."

"And when we were in school, we had seven defense professors." Sirius added.

"Same here." Bill stated.

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Ron glared at Hermione now knowing what she was doing.

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"Sounds like someone's guilty of something." The twins chorused teasingly.

"She knew we wouldn't like what she did." Ron explained.

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"Hermione. If you're going to play innocent, at least have the book right-side up." Remus said.

Sirius smirked at his friend knowingly.

"What's the story?" Harry asked seeing that smirk.

"When we confronted him about his problem." Sirius said. "Told us that he didn't know what we were talking about and then picked up a book and held it upside-down."

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"WHAT?!" Charlie exclaimed.

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"It's moment's like this I wish I wasn't so important." Harry pouted. "Any other kid would have been able to fly it."

"That is not true Mr. Potter." Sprout said. "Especially in these days, it's too risky."

"But what about in times of peace like we were supposedly in?" Harry challenged. "If Malfoy had gotten a new broom would it have been confiscated? If Cho Change? Justin Filch-Fletchley? Cedric?"

The teachers looked at each other.

"Thought so" Harry muttered while crossing his arms.

"Harry. It's okay." Sirius said gently. "Even though I didn't jinx it, considering the circumstances…"

"It has nothing to do with you!" Harry exclaimed. "I NEVER ASKED for this special treatment! I don't even know WHY I'm getting it! I survived the killing curse as a baby. So WHAT? It wasn't even my doing!"

Ron and Hermione each placed a comforting hand on Harry's shoulder.

"The chapter's almost done Mr. Potter." McGonagall said gently.

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"But he didn't jinx it." Ron said.

"Best to be safe than sorry." Remus said.

"CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" Moody shouted after being so quiet.

Everyone jumped.

"Merlin Mad-Eye. Don't do that!" Arthur swore as Harry got up and left the room, obviously peeved about something.

Ron and Hermione looked at each other and nodded before following Harry to, once again, listen to him rant about his fame.