potts-I'm glad you like it, and I am continuing. J Now, about your story… when are you going to do that?!

roxygurl25-Thanks for keeping it a secret, and I promise I will keep yours about Lily. –thinks- Wait, do you have a secret about Lily? Hmm… Anyway, you-know-who says thank you about keeping their secret.

CaliDuchess- No, no, ask me the question about Adrienne! I want to know what it is! (Curiosity always got the better of me…) And I promise I won't Avada Kedavra you, or even try to hex you! Sirius isn't at St. Mungo's because… well, because naturally Dumbledore would like to keep him close to him, and so would Harry, and there's nothing they can do at St. Mungo's that they can't do at Hogwarts for Sirius. Also, I imagine most of the wizarding population in England are still trying to get over the fact that Sirius is innocent… I mean, thinking someone's a convict for fourteen years doesn't disappear in a second. Good question, though… got me thinking.

Chapter 3: Remembering

"Padfoot," Harry whispered, clutching a small stack of parchment in his fist, and the door opened. This time, Sirius was sitting on the cushions by the bookshelf, his head in his hands.

"Sirius?" Harry asked tentatively. "What… what happened?"

"I've… just remembered."

Harry broke into a grin, despite Sirius' current mood. Maybe he'll heal quicker than we suspected, Harry hoped, doing exactly what Dumbledore had advised him against.

"What did you remember?"

"A… a dark place… a prison, a cell… people in the corners… muttering to themselves… tall, hooded things… cold, dark atmosphere… sadness, despair… and I was there," he sobbed miserably and quietly, still lost in the memory.

Harry immediately stopped grinning. "Azkaban," he said quietly.

"Is that what it's called? Horrific name…"

'It's the wizard prison. The hooded creatures are called dementors. They live by feeding off our emotions, sucking out all our happy memories, so all we're left with are our worst memories and feelings.

"You were there, Sirius, for twelve years. But you were innocent. It was the one thing that kept you sane in the prison. Don't you remember? Peter Pettigrew… the rat… my parents?"

Sirius shook his head sadly.

"Well, sixteen years ago, when I was a baby, Voldemort, the greatest Dark wizard, was after my parents, so…"

-

"Harry?" Hermione asked discreetly, touching his shoulder. "Harry, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," Harry snapped. "Nothing."

"Harry, come on, mate. You can tell us," Ron chimed in.

"Fine, just gang up on me, will you? Everyone just gang up on me!" he shouted, flinching away from Hermione's hand.

"Harry, we are not 'ganging up' on you," Hermione said gently yet firmly. "You're really tense and we're your best friends. Just tell us—what's going on?"

Harry visibly softened. "I went to visit Sirius today. He… had just remembered Azkaban. But he didn't remember the story behind why he was there. So I told him. About Pettigrew, my parents… everything."

"Well, that's good, isn't it?" Ron asked. "You introduced him to a new memory."

"That's not it!" Harry yelled. "He had no recollection whatsoever of the largest part of his life! I lost my temper after that and stormed out!"

"Wh-what did you say to him?" Hermione asked.

"That's just it! I didn't say anything! I just got up and walked out! I came there originally to introduce him to all the Death Eaters and Dark wizards, but we got carried away with Azkaban!"

"Harry," Hermione said slowly, "didn't you share with him the story about your parents just two days ago?"

"Yeah. So?"

"And today you were going to introduce him to all the Death Eaters, including his family, who was responsible for his state in the first place?"

"Yeah. So?" Harry repeated.

"I've got to go to the library," she gasped, and dashed away.

"Fine, Hermione! Fine! Just run away right when I need you, dammit! Some friend you are!"

Hermione turned around abruptly. "This is for the best of all of us," she said before running again.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Harry called after her, but Hermione didn't look back.

"Honestly. Women," Harry sighed.

"Don't I know it," Ron nodded. "I date her."

"I suppose I should go send that list of ingredients to Harper," Harry said. "I don't want to know what would happen if I wasn't on time. You got anything to do?"

Ron shook his head. "Nah. I'll come with."

-

Harry sent the list of ingredients to Adrienne with Hedwig, and when he didn't get a reply, decided he might as well go to the Great Hall for breakfast.

Hermione wasn't at their usual spot at the Gryffindor table, so Harry figured she was still at the library. I wonder what she's doing? Harry fathomed.

Hermione was in Transfiguration class next, however. She kept making gestures to Harry and mouthing things to him, but since Harry was incapable of lip-reading, he couldn't make out her message.

"Settle down, settle down," came McGonagall's curt voice.

"As you all know, this year you will be facing the biggest exams of your life: your N.E.W.T. level exams. I'm sure you all remember your fifth-year O.W.L.s?"

The groaning that rippled throughout the classroom indicated that yes, they did remember.

"Well, I can assure you that N.E.W.T.s will be five times as exhausting and difficult, and will be much more important to your career."

Dean Thomas looked like he was ready to vomit, and many other students weren't looking much better.

By the end of class, the students had rehearsed turning a small potted plant into a loose-leaf notebook, and were assigned a foot-long essay, with McGonagall's promise that it was only the very beginning.

At lunch, Hermione brought up what she had been trying to get across to Harry. She put it rather bluntly.

"Harry, I don't think you should visit Sirius for at least a couple of days."

"What?" Harry hissed venomously.

"Well, visit him all you want, I'm sure he loves the company, but I don't think you should feed him memories for a little while."

"Excuse me?" Harry said in a deadly whisper. "Are you telling me that you don't want Sirius to heal? That you want his mind to be blank forever?"

"Of course not, Harry, you know I want him to heal just as you do, but I've been reading up on this, and if you keep this pattern up, you'll be overloading his brain! It could destroy him!"

"Don't you tell me what I can and cannot do, Hermione," Harry said dangerously. "I'm not going to stop helping Sirius remember his past."

"I'm not telling you what to do, Harry! It's like medicine. If you don't use any at all, you're not going to get well for a long time, so I'm not stopping you from doing that. But if you take the whole bottle at once, it could really damage you. You've got to do it in small doses, Harry. Give Sirius time to digest all the information, maybe recollect some of it."

"I don't need you telling me how to take care of my own godfather, Granger."

Hermione looked wounded. There was hurt in her brown eyes, which now sparkled with tears. She turned on her heel and ran, determined not to let Harry see her cry.

Harry sighed and shrugged, turning back to his meal. Then he noticed Ron.

"What? Don't you agree with me?"

Ron looked apologetic.

"Sorry, mate, but I'm going to have to agree with Hermione on this one. I really do think she's right, you know. Maybe you should take her advice."

Great, Harry thought bitterly. It's just because they're going out, that's all. I guess I'll have to get used to being on my own a little more from now.

-

Next was Potions class. Just what I need to bring my spirits up, Harry thought sarcastically.

The room was already arranged so the tables would seat two people each. Harry sat down at the nearest table, not seeing Adrienne anywhere.

Snape swished into the dungeon, slamming the door behind him. It involuntarily creaked open again. He appeared to be in a very foul mood.

"Alright you lot, break into your partners and work on your potion. I don't want to hear a single word out of you, understand?" he sneered. The class was intimidated and immediately shut their mouths.

Adrienne suddenly appeared, and sat down across from Harry.

"So where's the list?" she whispered.

Harry looked astounded. "I sent it to you!"

Adrienne snorted. "Nice try, Harry. I never got the list. Therefore you must have it. Where is it? Unless you haven't done your share, and are trying to cover up for it."

Harry was outraged. "I sent it to you this morning, Harper! With my own owl!"

"Call me Adrienne, Harry. We're partners, after all. And if you say you did send it, fine, but I still haven't received it, so until I do, we have nothing to work on for three hours."

Just then, as if waiting for the right moment, Hedwig swooped in through the crack in the door. She dropped a rolled-up sheet of parchment in Adrienne's lap, and then went to sit on Harry's shoulder, pleased with herself and waiting for a treat.

"Get out of here, Hedwig," Harry hissed. "I haven't got anything for you, okay? I'm in Potions. Snape'll kill me if he sees you. Get out."

Hedwig hooted, offended, looked at Harry with reproachful amber eyes, and then cuffed Harry's shoulder as she took off, knocking over things as she flew.

To Harry's disappointment, Snape saw, and Harry's stomach churned. Snape caught Hedwig by the leg.

"Whose. Owl. Is. This?" he seethed, his voice a dangerous tone.

No one spoke for a moment.

"I said, who does this owl belong to?"

Harry raised a shaky hand.

"Mine, Professor."

Snape's eyes swooped down like a hawk's.

"You," he said. "Well, you and your partner may have detention tonight. My office at eight."

"But Professor-"

"Make it seven."

Harry kept his mouth shut after that. Adrienne sent him a disdainful, scornful look. She clearly had better things to do than spend detention with Snape that night.

Hedwig was finally allowed to clear off, cuffing Harry's head as she went.

"Hedwig, please," Harry whispered desperately, but she didn't look back at him.

Great. Sirius doesn't remember a thing about me. I don't have Ron, I don't have Hermione, and now I don't have Hedwig.

All I have left is Adrienne.

-

That night, at seven o'clock, Harry was found waiting outside the dungeons by Adrienne.

"Ready?" she asked.

Harry sighed. "Even after all my experience, I'll never be ready for detention. Come on."

The pair walked into the classroom, where Snape instructed them to scrub every inch of the dungeons: floors, walls, everything. He soon left, taken away by an 'urgent call', telling the two teenagers that he would return soon and they'd better not try anything funny.

Harry picked up a sponge and began scrubbing the stone floor. Adrienne mimicked him. Harry tried to strike up light conversation.

"Boy, detention is really the pits." She didn't agree with him, only asked another question.

"You hang out with Weasley and Granger, don't you?" she asked, her voice slightly monotonous.

"Yeah."

"Well, I couldn't help but notice you and Granger shooting each other death looks. Why's that?"

Harry normally would have told someone to go jump in the lake rather than divulge to them personal information, but he found himself relaying his feelings to Adrienne.

"We had a disagreement about something. Ron sided with her, and my owl hates me, so… I'm all alone. You know that feeling? I'm just kind of… alone right now, and on top of it, I have detention and N.E.W.T.s. I just… Even though I'm seventeen, I think I'm in another transitional phase, but it has nothing to do with hormones."

"I know that feeling," she said quietly, sounding human for a moment.

"Why?"

"I… it's my father," she said quietly. "I… he doesn't treat me… like a person, more like… a puppet. A marionette. And I can't really talk to anyone, and as you may have noticed, I don't have friends to confide in. I…" she was suddenly cut off as she started whimpering.

"I'm sorry…" Harry heard her murmur softly. "Sorry… I won't again…"

Harry looked at her in concern, not knowing what to do, but caught off-guard with Adrienne opening up like that.

"Are you okay?"

Adrienne's head snapped up. "I'm fine," she said coldly, reverberating back to her old self. "Never mind what I just said. It's just the cold. I kind of lost my head for a minute. Let's finish this so I can get back to what I was doing."

That was the end of their conversation for the night.

A/N: I'm still not sure what I'm going to put in the next chapter, so it'll probably be a while before I update Chapter 4. Try not to forget me before that!

Leave me a long review!

Much love,

OutofAzkaban