A/N So... yeah, sorry about the massive wait *hides under a rock* the only excuse I've got is school... so I'll take that one. So.. as promised, we've got Sirius in this one! *grins*. This might not be what you're expecting so please don't kill me! Thank you for your opinions on Luna, it's definately helped me write this chapter :) I don't really care if you don't like the plot, but any other reviews (critical or encouraging) are always very well recieved on this end! I might not be able to PM all of you back, but don't mistake that for me not being grateful!

Disclaimer: As always, the Potterverse remains the creation and belonging of the great JKR, anything that you don't recognise from the books (or films) belongs to me though...

~Parseltongue~

'Mind speak'

5. Tidings of Comfort and Joy

The weeks leading up to the Yule Ball had been hectic to say the least, Harry had been so busy perfecting and learning new spells that he had barely had time to laugh at Weasley's increasingly pathetic attempts to ask girls to attend the ball with him. He had barely suppressed his grin as he watched the boy's face turn as red as his hair as he asked, no, screamed for Fleur to accompany him.

Sirius and Pettigrew had yet to surface and Harry's companions were getting noticeably fed up with his 'obsession' with the both of them. They had taken to wandering off whenever he thought about them.

"Harry?" Luna's inquisitive voice swept through Harry's mind. He looked up slightly nervously, and was taken aback by how beautiful the blonde haired witch actually was. To his relief she hadn't worn some crazy dress with lots of little oddments that she usually carried around. The dress was pale blue with silver and white hemming and hints, her delicate hands were wrapped in equally delicate white leather gloves, coming up to her elbow. Her ears were adorned with tiny silver eagles, matching the one in her hair and around her waist.

"Luna." It was said half as a question. She smiled in response, eyes sparkling merrily.

"Do you like it?" she said airily, twirling around for Harry's benefit.

"You look beautiful," he said back truthfully. Luna smiled knowingly back at Harry, subtly moving her arm, reminding Harry to offer his own. He did so, and they both walked into the hall, last in a procession of champions and their partners.

"Harry, are you feeling alright?"

Harry glanced sideways to the nymph on his arm, lifting the corner of his mouth, "just fine."

The first dance was a spectacle, Harry had made sure his alter ego had been seen practicing enough to warrant a decent, if not excellent, performance, and with Luna being Luna, they were very well received.

"Where did Potty learn how to dance?" Harry and Luna were still slightly breathless from their dancing when they heard Weasley's voice behind them. A thousand retorts sprang to his mind, but he didn't get to say a single one of them.

"At least he's not dragging his date around and refusing to do anything, unlike someone I'm ashamed to say that I know." Harry blinked as he recognised the voice from his left, this was... unexpected. He looked back towards Weasley, who was fast turning red.

"Well, I have enough good taste at least to leave those slu-"

"Do you really want to finish that sentence?" This time it was Draco's turn to blink, surprised. To be honest, Harry was getting irritated by Draco and Weasley's constant bickering, he just couldn't be asked to hear it again tonight.

Weasley turned on Harry, glaring angrily, and Harry matched the stare, wanting Weasley to cower away. He felt a slight pressure on his arm, "Harry," it was Luna's voice, whispering in his ear, "don't lose it now, not after four years."

It took him less than a second to hear the reason in her words, but he still held the stare just a bit longer, not able to resist a last little evil smile as he turned away and let himself be led back to the dance floor by Luna. When he next caught Draco's eye, he made sure to give him a little imperceptible nod, which the blonde haired boy judiciously returned.

The dancing carried on until midnight, many couples escaped into the gardens to enjoy each other away from prying eyes. Most came back red faced with embarrassment with a sour Professor Snape guiding them in. There were no other confrontations between him and Weasley, or Dumbledore either, for which he was grateful. He was just about able to keep himself together without any extra hassle.

x ~ x ~ x

"Don't wander off now Harry," Luna's voice, soft as the wind, gently caressed Harry's ear. He wearily opened his eyelids.

"How long?" he asked, his true voice was confident, sharp. Luna returned him a confused look, "how long have you been hiding? Like me?" he elaborated.

They were alone in their journey back to the Ravenclaw dormitory, and this corridor wasn't as brightly lit as in other parts of the castle. Luna halted and grabbed Harry's arm, pulling them both into a dark alcove. She looked down and back up again, but when she did, her eyes had changed, whereas before they had been airy and bright, they were now focused, sharp and intelligent, "You won't tell anyone."

This was said more as a statement, but Harry nodded his head in agreement anyway, "and before you ask: since I first met you. I knew you were different, so don't think that I can't keep a secret."

She looked into his eyes and nodded, satisfied, "and I already know about you. Since my mother died," her voice then softened, "everybody will tell you that it was a potions accident, but really, it was Dumbledore's Order of the Phoenix."

Harry creased his eyebrows, confused, "the group he brought together to fight Voldemort?"

Luna nodded, eyes as cold as ice in a glare that would do any Malfoy proud, "that's all you need to know. I have my own reasons to fight Dumbledore, and it's so much simpler as strange little Loony Lovegood, though I suppose you already knew that, being Potty and all?"

Harry smiled at her, revelling in the knowledge that he wasn't alone. He bowed his head, bringing his forehead into contact with Luna's, "and how, exactly, did you know that I have a grudge against Dumbles?"

Luna blew in his face, "I wasn't placed in Ravenclaw for no reason, when you know what you're looking for, people like us are quite easy to spot." It was then that Harry heard a footstep, and then another, and another. He placed a finger on Luna's lips to silence her as he waited for the footfalls to pass them both by, his heartbeat increased as his mind went into overdrive. Who in their right minds would be out here now, all alone? What if it was Pettigrew? The very man that he had been trying to corner for months! He wouldn't miss this chance. He drew his wand and pointed it straight at the intruder's back.

He knew it was a mistake as soon as he saw the silhouette. The figure was tall and lanky and, from what he had heard of Pettigrew, completely the wrong figure. The air thickened as Harry paused in the moment, and he watched the figure tense in slow motion. The silhouette span around with incredible speed and hit a pressure point in his wrist with nearly excessive force. His wand flew out of his hand and rebounded off the far wall and Harry noticed that the man had trapped his wrist in the hand that had knocked away his wand. Luna was beside him in a flash. Wand out, eyes dangerous.

"Sirius Black, release him."

As Harry recognised the name heat seemed to travel from his heart and smoulder in his eyes. His eyes turned a dark forest green as he narrowed them at the traitor. He opened his trapped hand and sent a pulse of energy directly at the fugitive. It was something he had been developing for a while, it took a lot more energy, but the result was tremendous.

Sirius was thrown down the corridor, releasing Harry in shock. He landed with a heavy thump on his back. Harry felt a spark of pleasure as he heard the older man groan in pain. He had wanted to wait for at least another two years before coming face to face with the traitor, it wasn't that he didn't know how to deal with the man right now, just that he could deal him a lot more pain and anguish with two years more of studying the dark arts.

But this could happen now. Looking down at the crumpled man, Harry wanted this to happen now.

He summoned his wand back to his hand with barely a thought, he then realised that the corridor directly outside the Ravenclaw common room was hardly the best place for such events to take place, exposed as it was. He quickly fired a stunner at the man, binding him and then levitating him. He looked hard into Luna's eyes for a mere second, telling her that he didn't want her with him, and walked away with an unconscious Sirius Black gliding along behind him. If Luna wasn't watching carefully, she would have seen the two figures disappear under a strong disillusionment charm.

Harry didn't know where he was going, but sneaking out of the castle with the ball going on was difficult enough without having a limp body floating along behind you, so, instead of going down, he was climbing a set of disused stairs on the east side of the castle. His mind was wandering, he was in no fit state to be making decisions like this, he was on the brink of physical and mental exhaustion and his conscious state was only thanks to the great magical reserves he held within him. So he let the magic guide him.

He listened to the magic of Hogwarts in a way he had never thought possible before, many witches and wizards before had said that Hogwarts was a sentient building, but Harry now had the feeling he was experiencing more than most of them had even imagined. The castle was guiding him, recognising the purpose in his mind and telling him the right path to take. Some dim thought in the back of Harry's mind realised that he could feel the castle working only because his logical mind was quiet, resting... recovering.

Harry trusted the castle enough, it may be sentient, but it had no motive other than to aid its inhabitants, to let it lead him through the school and so he turned his thoughts to what he would do to Sirius Black. He fantasised about breaking bones, tearing skin from flesh and flesh from bone, of ripping, crushing and slicing various components of his traitor's body.

He next became aware of himself, or rather, the lack of Hogwart's guiding presence, in the middle of a massive, bare and dingy room. He could vaguely remember being on the seventh floor and a hideous painting of a dancing troll. In the centre of the room was what looked like a clear glass box, small enough that a man would be able to spread his arms and touch all four walls from the same spot. Harry looked dubiously at the box, and then turned around to eye Black's still unconscious form. All this seemed a little too... perfect.

"Dobby," he hissed into the air, calling the little creature. The house elf had once belonged to the Malfoy's, but had been gifted to the school as a peace offering when Draco had nearly destroyed a whole greenhouse in second year. Dobby was by far the most approachable house elf, even if he did believe that everything he did deserved punishment. The elf appeared without a sound, as every house elf did since Harry had discovered that they only made a loud crack to scare and annoy their masters; their singular act of defiance in a life of slavery. But Harry was not their master, nor had any intention of being such, and his saying so seemed to have given him immunity to their small prank.

"Yes Harry Potter?" Dobby's voice was respectful, but not outright subservient.

"What is this room, and where is it?" There was no need to bother with flowery language with house elves, they were efficient creatures and most of the time preferred bluntness.

Dobby paused, looking around the room, "This is being the come and go room, what wizards calling the Room of Requirement, it's on the seventh floor, and to get in one paces back and forth three times outside the entrance whilst thinking on the purposes of the room."

Oh, and house elves were also a lot cleverer than wizards ever gave them credit for. Really, the similarities between Harry and these creatures almost sickened Harry. But at least Harry didn't put up with slavery. He had read about the Room of Requirement, mostly thought of as a myth, and knew that it could be trusted. "Thank you," he replied to Dobby in dismissal. The elf disappeared soundlessly.

He looked back towards the box, thinking of a door to get in. Almost instantaneously one appeared, Harry willed it open and flung Black inside, lips twitching as he heard two successive thuds as the man first hit a wall, and then the floor. He wished for a lock on the door after it slammed shut and then cast heavy wards and alarms over the glass. If Black attempted an escape, Harry would know about it. With one last look, he considered making it so that Black couldn't see out and, with a shrug, cast a spell that would turn the glass into a mirror on the inside of the cell whilst still allowing anyone outside to see in. He then turned around and left the room, wanting nothing more than to curl up and sleep on his bed.

x ~ x ~ x

~Child, wake up,~

~Leave me be.~

Harry heard the thud of snakeflesh hitting his head before he registered the pain of the impact. His eyelids fluttered for a second before sleep won out once again. The next thing he felt was a sharp pain in his shoulder, he sat bolt upright at once and one of his hands flew to his shoulder. He could already smell the blood.

~You have things to do. Get up.~

Harry glared at Rasp, one of whose fangs was stained a bright red from Harry's blood. His body ached and his mind was still a bit groggy but he had reached full consciousness and knew that falling back asleep would be both a waste of time and a bad idea. So he reached for his glasses and got out of bed.

Harry looked outside as he walked across to the showers; it seemed that Rasp had given him an extra hour in bed than he usually would have done. Harry cursed bad naturedly, wishing that Rasp had just let him sleep the whole day away.

There was a sharp rap at the door which had Harry freezing in place and Rasp diving under the covers of his bed.

"Hell-"

"The Wrackspurts said that you would probably want some of this," said Luna brightly, inclining her head towards a tray of food and potions that she was carrying with frightful grace. Harry could only blink stupidly at her, only shifting his gaze when the tray had been placed directly in front of him. He analysed the assortment.

"This one is for magical regeneration, the one next to it for physical," she started, pointing out two green bottled potions in the top left corner of the tray, "this one to deter bad wrackspurts, fix your eyesight-"

"Luna," started Harry carefully, mainly stalling so he could wrap his head around what she was doing for him, "there isn't a potion to cure eyesight."

To which Luna smiled brilliantly, "There is now," she said with only a hint of glee. Harry shook his head in mock disbelief and somewhere, his real personality noted that he was automatically creating yet another mask he could wear around Luna. So he had trust issues, they would probably help keep him alive.

"And this one?" Harry asked, not wanting to draw attention to his thoughts, pointing towards an amber coloured liquid in a sizable clear bottle.

"Whiskey," she said matter-of-factly, "you seem as if you need a boost."

"Luna, I'm fourteen, you're thirteen, where on earth did you get whiskey from?"

Luna looked sharply at him, "and where on earth did you learn to throw pure magic at a man?"

Harry held her gaze.

"Just drink the potions, they'll make you feel a lot better."

Harry quickly checked that the potions he was familiar with were the right colour and thickness before swallowing them with a grimace, but he made a point of leaving the others alone.

Sighing, Luna drank half of each of the other potions before looking at Harry again, who still didn't make a move to take either of them.

"As you wish, great Lord Potter," Luna sighed as she left the room.

She had left the tray on his bed. Harry ruffled his hair in an uncharacteristic show of irritation. Shower first, then think about everything else.

Harry sighed gratefully when he felt individual droplets of water spraying him from above, he stood motionless for a good five minutes letting the water cleanse his skin and work its way through his hair. The action of washing himself reminded him of the filthy man currently residing on the seventh floor.

Good mood shattered, Harry angrily turned off the water and slammed his fist into the wall, eyes lit as he savoured the pain in his hand. He rested his head against the wall and closed his eyes, remembering to breathe deeply. Too soon, two years too soon. He thought mournfully to himself. He wasn't mentally prepared for a confrontation with his parent's betrayer.

~Child...~ Rasp's quiet hiss knocked Harry out of his reverie, who then glared shortly at the snake before casting a drying charm on himself and getting dressed. The snake followed him out of the bathroom.

~Child!~ the hiss was a little more impatient this time.

~Let me be! I need to think about some things before we can speak about them.~ Harry had closed the door to the dorm before his serpentine companion could reply, he managed a calm and slightly tired facade as he walked through the common room and out the door. He controlled his gait to appear languid as he made his way to the library, it being his favourite place to think. He walked to the furthest but one alcove from the entrance and settled at one of the desks there, after a second's thought, he picked a book up at random from the shelf behind him and flipped it open to a page relatively close to the beginning in case anybody walked by.

With an ease that came only with years of practice, he called forth his mindscape and reacquainted himself with his private sanctuary. He grinned as he found himself in something akin to the forbidden forest, but much wilder. The forest was in an eternal twilight and Harry's store of memories and knowledge was only visible if you knew exactly where to look. He stood there for a moment to congratulate himself on his masterpiece; his mind didn't need something as mundane as walls to stop intruders, the eeriness of the forest at the transition of night and day did that all by itself, not to mention the many creatures lurking in every shadow. Anybody who entered Harry's mind without permission would not leave unscathed.

Harry shifted his eyes in a way that only he knew how and the jungle around him morphed into a near perfect copy of the Chamber of Secrets. While Harry knew that it was completely unimaginative he seriously doubted anyone would make it past the jungle, although that hadn't stopped him from adding the basilisk to guard it. What Chiana had described as empty space to him in the original chamber was now filled with with shelves upon shelves of books, each containing a piece of knowledge or important thought. The massive pool of water contained thousands and thousands of swirling memories and acted very much as a pensieve.

Inside Salazar's head was a space Harry had morphed into a study, a high table on the left side supported a miniature model of the forest that guarded Harry's inner mind, Harry could observe and create events in that mind space from this tableau, the rest of the room was based solely upon luxury and comfort. It was here Harry collapsed in a high backed chair and began mulling over his thoughts.

He decided to tackle something a bit simpler to start off with. The Granger girl was still willing to stick up for him, despite being close friends with the Weasley and Harry himself ignoring her for the past few years. She still might be won over, but Harry considered again, what was the real advantage in having Hermione on his side? She was startlingly clever, and excellent at research, but her duelling and practical skills were not above average.

She could make an excellent spy though, she was, after all, close friends with Weasley, whose parents were undoubtedly members of the Order of the Bird, and she would surely have Dumbledore's trust later on, when it became important. So she would provide a link to the old manipulative fool and a very helpful source of information.

Feeling better for having sorted something out, Harry allowed himself a small smile as he resolved to seduce her to his side, before turning his mind to the escapee on the seventh floor.

He didn't know what to do with Black, he knew he wasn't exactly in the right frame of mind when he captured Black and tossed him into his cell, and thinking back to that night he cursed himself for his haste. He remembered how quickly and easily Black had bested him and felt no small sense of gratitude to Luna for distracting the man. He didn't feel that the time was right to be punishing Black, he wanted Black to truly wish he was dead so he could deny him the mercy, wanted to watch as the man's sanity snapped, as his soul destroyed itself with regret, remorse and guilt. But Harry wanted to enjoy it, and that kind of magic couldn't be performed within Hogwarts, and he had to wait until he was seventeen before the ministry stopped tracking his magic outside of the castle walls.

He would talk to Rasp and Chiana about it.

The next most important thing was Dumbles, he was getting far too involved in Harry's affairs than he felt comfortable with. The thing that troubled Harry most was the way the old man was now approaching things, he knew that he must be getting at least a little impatient with Harry, the instigation of the Tri-Wizard Tournament was evidence enough of that.

He sighed inwardly and wished for a firewhiskey and smiled when one appeared on the small table in front of him. He sipped it and outright grinned, it even burned in the same way!

He thought back to his last confrontation with the headmaster, he couldn't shake the feeling that the headmaster was keeping something terribly important from him. The brusque way that he had been dismissed from the office, the incredibly blunt questioning and the almost obvious jab at Harry's height as well as the very deeply hidden anxiety in the headmaster's eyes whenever he looked towards the fire all lead Harry to believe that the headmaster had heard something unsettling just before their meeting.

Harry wanted to know what. By all that was magical he wished that he had just taken a closer look at the fire! Maybe he would have found some floo powder residue, as difficult to spot as it was, or maybe just a small clue as to why the headmaster was so preoccupied.

He retreated deeper into his plush chair as he downed the rest of his glass with a small grimace, he schooled his thoughts into silence as he let himself relax and remained motionless for about a minute when a very lucid thought filled the silence.

It was the night Sirius Black escaped.

Dumbledore did not have a newspaper present with him the next morning at breakfast.

Dumbledore already knew about the escape.

What was the real purpose in their late night talk? Harry suddenly felt very unsure about his presumption that it was just another 'reveal yourself' spar. He quickly ran out to his pool of memories and called up the meeting, letting it play out on the surface of the water. He quickly skipped past what he had believed to be most important before, instead focusing right in on the end of their meeting :

Dumbledore smiled, as if finally satisfied with something, before speaking again, "It's quite alright my boy. Now, off you go, dinner will be served in half an hour."

Harry beamed at the man, turning away and heading for the door, "Oh, and Harry?" Dumbledore added softly, contemplating the fire again, a slight frown on his face. Harry inwardly groaned and turned on the spot at the same time.

"Yes, headmaster?" he said, matching Dumbledore's tone.

"I'll be watching over you, I don't want anything untoward happening to one of my champions."

Harry let the echo of the memory fade away and the image be caught in the whorls of the memory pool before giving himself a resounding slap on his forehead.

"How can I be so stupid?" he spoke out loud for the first time, the words bounced around the chamber, it was as if his own mind agreed with the statement and was mocking him.

"Watching over, not just watching," Harry's eyes were drawn to the pool where, unbidden, came the image of Sirius Black when he had hold of his wrist.

"He knew you were coming for me," he told the perfectly still image of Black, and for the first time, overwhelming hatred was not all he felt as he looked at the man, "and he never wanted us to meet," he finished off quietly.

Curiosity, hatred and uncertainty warred in Harry's mind and, being far more a Ravenclaw than a Gryffindor, curiosity won out. He made himself look at the still life in the pool without any of the prejudice he harboured before, and what he saw made him take a physical step back. For in those eyes he did not see hatred, nor evil. He saw a great sadness instead of remorse. He saw the desperation to explain himself. Most unsettlingly, he saw love.

He saw all this as he looked into the eyes of the wrongly accused.

Harry jerked himself out of his meditative state only to feel reality and the great weight of truth bearing down upon him. His mind, a complete antithesis to a few moments prior was roaring with activity, lines of reasoning being created and pathways being forged from them, leading him to only one possible conclusion:

Sirius Black, somehow, was innocent.

Harry felt his eyes darken, as he realised that Dumbledore had played no small part in it.

'Master,' called Chiana's voice, Harry was too angry to be surprised at hearing her, 'your thoughts are like thunder and your rage befits that of a hydra. Whatever has conjured up these emotions had better fear, but remember that rash decisions are often made in haste and anger.'

The fire in Harry's eyes was immediately replaced with icy hardness as his serpent's words sank into him. He resolved to find out the complete truth of this matter before coming face to face with the fugitive.

Which meant that first, Harry should start looking for the court case notes for one Sirius Orion Black.

A/N Do you like Luna, love her, hate her? I hope the turn around on Harry's opinion of Sirius isn't too unrealistic either... Please feel free to share your thoughts with me on this chapter! I really want Harry to come face to face with our favourite evil maniac, so I'm hoping to get to the third task quite quickly, if you want me to slow the pace down just say and I will try my best!

apisci