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Chapter Seven: Wolfie

Harry was in the Hospital Wing recovering from his fall, he was pretty devastated having lost the game and his broom. Hermione had told me how attached he was to it, that he'd had it since first year, I could see the worry in her eyes about the whole thing as well. Sure, Harry was what I'd class as a friend now, but Ron, Hermione and Harry had gone through unimaginable things together. Hermione had told me one night about the adventures they had gotten into, and I shared with her some of the stuff the Flock had done (I had left out the Erasers, I didn't want to talk about them). I knew the type of adventures the trio had experienced could make people extremely close, and the three of them were.

The night Hermione and I had talked, I hadn't been able to sleep. I had told her I was just worried about catching up (which wasn't technically a lie) but the truth was I was having strange dreams. They weren't scary, I wouldn't call them that. But I was seeing faces, flashes of red hair, grey eyes and blonde guy that I didn't know the name of, sometimes I'd even hear laughter. Tonight however, the dream was much more vivid.

I knew I was in the Gryffindor common, but it was different. As in the people were different, I didn't recognise any of them. I walked to the couch, sitting on it was the blonde guy I had been having strange dreams about. He had a mop of curly blonde hair, he was running his hands through it, messing it up even more, making it stick up at odd angles. He had the same blue eyes as Cass, which was extremely odd to look at. He was thin, scrawny is a good word to use, and his ears seemed far too big for his head. He was rolling his eyes at the girl across from him. She was small, maybe about the same height I was. She had choppy ginger hair, like she'd done a terrible job at cutting it herself. Her golden brown eyes were glaring at him, her arms crossing, he'd clearly done something that she didn't approve of.

"So, tell me again how this girl's lips ended up on your mouth?" The girl asked,

"Well, she was crying, I was panicking, it just…happened," the boy supplied, "She felt a lot better after it though." The girl put her face in her hand.

"Are you going to go on a date with her?" The girl asked.

"I'm fourteen! I'm in third year! I don't want to date! he exclaimed.

"You seemed okay snogging," she replied.

"Shut it, Wilde," he continued,

"Make me, Grayson." That caught me off guard…Grayson? I looked at him more, he did have some of Cass' features, although her OCDness didn't seem to come from him. His uniform was a mess, his tie looked like it had been mauled by a rabid animal, and he seemed to lack the ability to tuck in his shirt. The girl, Wilde, seemed to have a better presentation, ignoring the hair-do of course.

"Look, she's nice and all, but I don't ever want to date," Grayson added, crossing his arms, "I don't want to be involved with girls, they're too much hassle." He stated. That earnt him a smack up the head from Wilde. "Okay, ow, abuse much?"

"You deserved it," she stated, "If you don't want to be involved with girls, don't go around snogging random ones."

"Trust me, I won't. I'll never snog another girl again!" He declares. I don't know why girls would want to snog him personally, he wasn't exactly a looker. I mean, the kid was, for lack of a better phrase, ugly. Everything seemed so awkward, nothing seemed to look right on his face and the more I analysed him the more I noticed it wasn't just his ears that were out of proportion with the rest of him, his mouth was in the running too.

"You won't get another snog, so no need to panic. You caught her on an emotionally traumatic day, and you were the only one around," Wilde added, she seemed to be insulting him more than comforting him. She wasn't exactly drop dead gorgeous but she wasn't ugly either, she just seemed average. The most noticeable thing about her was her eyes, which seemed a little bit too big for her face. She was pretty skinny herself, maybe a little bit too skinny in a sense.

"Hey! I don't see anyone lining up to snog you? You look like an eight-year-old boy." Grayson snapped. That just got him another smack up the head, "OW!"

"You're an arsehole," Wilde stated.

"I'm your arsehole," he smiled sweetly, which seemed odd.

"I'm the only one that'll put up with you, that's why," The girl stood up.

"Hey! Grayson! Come check this out!" I heard a boy call from the other end of the common room, I frowned and looked a cross. He had longish dark hair, and his grey eyes looked at the girl up and down. "Don't bring, Wilde," The boy added.

"Thanks, Black, so kind of you," Wilde rolled her eyes, crossing her arms and glaring at the other boy. That's when I froze, wait…Black?

I woke up, flailing a little and landed with a thud on the dorm floor. "Ow," I stated sitting up and glaring at the bed.

"Do you mind!" Lavender snapped, before turning her back on me. I looked at Cass, who seemed pretty dead to the world, mind you so did Hermione and Parvati, so I must not have made that much of a noise.

"Sorry," I muttered and Lavender just huffed. I sat on my bed and looked at the clock, it was 2 am and I needed to get to the flock. Max was easy enough to access, I just needed to figure out how to get to the others. After about half an hour of internal debate I finally decided to go wake Max. I left the dorm as quietly as possible, I didn't want to face Lavender's wrath again. I made my way up to the fifth year dorms. I peered inside, thanking my enhanced vision for letting me find Max without the need of a light.

I felt like a little kid sneaking into their parent's room after a nightmare. For some reason, my master plan to not wake the other members of the dorm was to get on my hands and knees and crawl to Max's bed. It was going swimmingly, until that enhanced vision let me down and I butted head first into a bed, a bed that wasn't Max's.

"What the-" I was now sitting on the floor, looking up at one Angelina Johnston. The girl didn't look pleased, mind you I'd be grumpy too if I had been woken up by a kid head butting my bed. "Who are you?" she asked, she then seemed to click, "MAX!" Angelina hollered. That successfully woke up everyone else in the dorm. The lights were turned on and I had to blink at the sudden harshness, looking at Max who had an eyebrow raised. "What is your sister doing in here?" Angelina asked, rather grumpily. The girl was normally quite pleasant, but I suppose I had woken her up.

"I have no idea," Max said getting out of bed. It then dawned on me that I was still sitting on the floor and I jumped up quickly.

"I just..I umm…needed to talk to you," I said quietly, rubbing the back of my neck nervously. Max nodded, and took my arm.

"Just go back to sleep," She told the other girls. Angelina muttered something, but I couldn't quite make it out as Max and I left the dorm. "What is it? It's half two in the morning?" Max added.

"I know, but I..I've been having these odd dreams and I just..I need to tell you and Iggy about them. We can't get the others just now." Max raised an eyebrow, but nodded, leading me down the stairs. I then realised I was going to have to perform the whole act again, and drag Iggy's blind butt out of bed. Max and I walked up to the fifth year boy's dorm, and I peered inside. I could hear Iggy's light snoring, and he looked to be in the furthest away bed…typical. "It smells like teenage boy," I whispered to Max as we tip toed our way over to Iggy.

"You mean BO," Max added and rolled her eyes. I jumped a little as I noted one of the Weasley twins muttered something…pudding seemed to be the word. It was a relief to see they were still all asleep, all so peaceful. I shook Iggy awake and he sat up right away, he looked like he was about to punch Max out of instinct.

"Iggy, it's just us," I whispered and he relaxed, "Do you think an attacker would shake you awake?" I added. Iggy cursed and turned to look in my general direction.

"What are you guys doing in here?" Iggy added, not to quietly. I heard another boy snore, man these guys could sleep through anything.

"I'll explain out of ear shot of other people, just come on," I added, tugging his arm. Iggy grumbled and Max just sighed, shaking her head and following us out.

Once I got Max and Iggy into the common room, I explained everything. They were quiet for a moment, before Iggy broke the silence.

"Holy shit!" he exclaimed, "You've got a power?!" The three of us looked each other. Did I? We used to think I only had one power but after coming here we worked out it wasn't that special. So everyone else in the flock had one except Iggy and I: Nudge was a technocpath, Angel was a mind reader, Max was super speedy, Fang had his weird camouflage thing and Gazzy could imitate voices. So, Iggy and I were the ones with no special abilities except the flocks shared ones, until now.

"What even is it though?" I asked, "All I've been seeing is a ginger girl and a big eared boy?"

"Well, you said the common room was different and you said you saw Black?" Max stated, "So maybe you are seeing the past?" That caused another paused between us.

"Well, Grayson just said Black," I frowned, "But Cass' second name is also Grayson and they did seem similar.

"Look, let's just go to bed and try not to dwell on it. If you have another one, then we will work out what it is," Max looked at Iggy and I. It was easy for her to say that; she wasn't having these so called 'visions'. I was tired though, too tired to argue.

"Okay, deal." I said.

-o-O-o-

It was a Hogsmeade weekend that weekend. Max, Iggy and I had filled Nudge and Fang in on the whole 'vision' thing that morning. They were equally as shocked and had also agreed to Max's 'ignore it, until we can't' plan.

However, now I found myself in the Three Broomsticks with Harry, Ron and Hermione. Harry wasn't supposed to be here though, seeing as no one signed his permission slip. The three of us were talking, just enjoying being around one another. I had discovered I liked hanging out with the trio, and was grateful they had accepted me into their group since I didn't really have any other friends outside the Flock. Hermione had been extremely helpful in getting me caught up and showing me around and the boys had been just as helpful in making sure I didn't get lost. I was laughing at something Ron had said, when I almost choked on air.

Professors McGonagall and Flitwick had just entered the pub with a flurry of snowflakes, shortly followed by Hagrid, who was deep in conversation with a portly man in a lime-green bowler hat and a pinstriped cloak.

"It's Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic!" Ron whispered

"Oh who cares! Professor MaGonagall's here and Harry is not supposed to be here!" Hermione snapped pushing Harry's head under the table.

We watched as the teachers and Fudge moved toward the bar, paused, then turned and walked right toward us. Hermione subtly pulled out her wand and whispered, "Mobiliarbus!"

The Christmas tree beside our table rose a few inches off the ground, drifted sideways, and landed with a soft thump right in front of our table, hiding Harry from view. I watched as the group sat at the table right next to ours, biting my lip nervously.

Next I saw a women walking to the table, I recognized her as Madam Rosmerta. I turned my head to look at Hermione who was across from me.

"A small gillywater —"

"Mine," said Professor McGonagall's voice.

"Four pints of mulled mead —"

"Ta, Rosmerta," said Hagrid.

"A cherry syrup and soda with ice and umbrella —"

"Mmm!" said Professor Flitwick, smacking his lips.

"So you'll be the red currant rum, Minister."

"Thank you, Rosmerta, m'dear," said Fudge's voice. "Lovely to see you again, I must say. Have one yourself, won't you? Come and join us…"

"Well, thank you very much, Minister."

I heard the glittering heels march away and back again. Why hadn't it occurred to us that this was the last weekend of term for the teachers too? How long were they going to sit there? I was starting to fidget nervously but a stern look from Hermione made me stop.

"So, what brings you to this neck of the woods, Minister?" came Madam Rosmerta's voice.

I looked out the corner of my eye, Fudge was fidgeting nervously, like he was looking for people listening in. Then he said in a quiet voice, "What else, m'dear, but Sirius and Alohomora Black? I daresay you heard what happened up at the school at Halloween?" I did remember, the Fat lady was still traumatized. We now had Sir Cadogan guarding Gyrffindor Tower, which wasn't enjoyable. Was Fudge still worried about the Black's entering the school?

"I did hear a rumor," admitted Madam Rosmerta.

"Did you tell the whole pub, Hagrid?" said Professor McGonagall exasperatedly.

"Do you think the Blacks are still in the area, Minister?" whispered Madam Rosmerta.

"I'm sure of it," said Fudge shortly.

"You know that the Dementors have searched the whole village twice?" said Madam Rosmerta, a slight edge to her voice. "Scared all my customers away… It's very bad for business, Minister."

"Rosmerta, dear, I don't like them any more than you do," said Fudge uncomfortably. "Necessary precaution… unfortunate, but there you are… I've just met some of them. They're in a fury against Dumbledore — he won't let them inside the castle grounds."

"I should think not," said Professor McGonagall sharply. "How are we supposed to teach with those horrors floating around?"

"Hear, hear!" squeaked tiny Professor Flitwick, whose feet were dangling a foot from the ground.

"All the same," demurred Fudge, "they are here to protect you all from something much worse… We all know what the Blacks are capable of…"

"Do you know, I still have trouble believing it," said Madam Rosmerta thoughtfully. "Of all the people to go over to the Dark Side, Sirius and Alohomora Black were the last I'd have thought… I mean, I remember them when they were at Hogwarts. If you'd told me then what they were going to become, I'd have said you'd had too much mead."

"You don't know the half of it, Rosmerta," said Fudge gruffly. "Alohomora's story is known, among the adults anyway." He paused then continued, "But the worst of what Sirius did isn't widely known."

"The worst?" said Madam Rosmerta, her voice alive with curiosity. "Worse than murdering all those poor people, you mean?"

"I certainly do," said Fudge.

"I can't believe that. What could possibly be worse?"

"You say you remember him at Hogwarts, Rosmerta," murmured Professor McGonagall. "Do you remember who his best friends were?"

"Naturally," said Madam Rosmerta, with a small laugh. "Sirius was hardly ever seen without James Potter, and of course Lupin and Pettigrew," Harry dropped his glass with a loud clunck which caused Ron to kick him, my eyes widened a little.

"Precisely," said Professor McGonagall. "Sirius and Potter. Ringleaders of their little gang. All very bright, of course — exceptionally bright, in fact — but I don't think we've ever had such a load of troublemakers —"

"I dunno," chuckled Hagrid. "Fred and George Weasley could give 'em a run fer their money."

"You'd have thought Black and Potter were brothers!" chimed in Professor Flitwick. "Inseparable!"

"Of course they were," said Fudge. "Potter trusted Sirius beyond all his other friends, nothing changed when they left school. Black was best man when James married Lily. Then they named him godfather to Harry and Alohomora was the godmother. Harry has no idea, of course. You can imagine how the idea would torment him," There was a pause among the adults, I could see Hermione still holding Harry's head.

"But it gets worse even than that, m'dear…" Fudge dropped his voice and proceeded in a sort of low rumble. "Not many people are aware that the Potters knew You-Know-Who was after them. Dumbledore, who was of course working tirelessly against You-Know-Who, had a number of useful spies. One of them tipped him off, and he alerted James and Lily at once. He advised them to go into hiding. Well, of course, You-Know-Who wasn't an easy person to hide from. Dumbledore told them that their best chance was the Fidelius Charm."

"How does that work?" said Madam Rosmerta, breathless with interest. Professor Flitwick cleared his throat.

"An immensely complex spell," he said squeakily, "involving the magical concealment of a secret inside a single, living soul. The information is hidden inside the chosen person, or Secret-Keeper, and is henceforth impossible to find — unless, of course, the Secret-Keeper chooses to divulge it. As long as the Secret-Keeper refused to speak, You-Know-Who could search the village where Lily and James were staying for years and never find them, not even if he had his nose pressed against their sitting room window!"

"So Black was the Potters' Secret-Keeper?" whispered Madam Rosmerta.

"Naturally," said Professor McGonagall. "James Potter told Dumbledore that Black would die rather than tell where they were, that Black was planning to go into hiding himself… and yet, Dumbledore remained worried. I remember him offering to be the Potters' Secret-Keeper himself."

"He suspected Black?" gasped Madam Rosmerta.

"He was sure that somebody close to the Potters had been keeping You-Know-Who informed of their movements," said Professor McGonagall darkly. "Indeed, he had suspected for some time that someone on our side had turned traitor and was passing a lot of information to You-Know-Who."

"But James Potter insisted on using Black?"

"He did," said Fudge heavily. "And then, barely a week after the Fidelius Charm had been performed —"

"Black betrayed them?" breathed Madam Rosmerta.

"He did indeed. Black was tired of his double-agent role, he was ready to declare his support openly for You-Know-Who, and he seemed to have planned this for the moment of the Potters' death. But, as we all know, You-Know-Who met his downfall in little Harry Potter. Powers gone, horribly weakened, he fled. And this left Black in a very nasty position indeed. His master had fallen at the very moment when he, Black, had shown his true colors as a traitor. He had no choice but to run for it —"

"Filthy, stinkin' turncoat!" Hagrid said, so loudly that half the bar went quiet.

"Shh!" said Professor McGonagall.

"I met him!" growled Hagrid. "I musta bin the last ter see him before he killed all them people! It was me what rescued Harry from Lily an' James's house after they was killed! Jus' got him outta the ruins, poor little thing, with a great slash across his forehead, an' his parents dead… an' Sirius Black turns up, on that flyin' motorbike he used ter ride. Never occurred ter me what he was doin' there. I didn' know he'd bin Lily an' James's Secret-Keeper. Thought he'd jus' heard the news o' You-Know-Who's attack an' come ter see what he could do. White an' shakin', he was. An' yeh know what I did? I COMFORTED THE MURDERIN' TRAITOR!" Hagrid roared.

"Hagrid, please!" said Professor McGonagall. "Keep your voice down!"

"How was I ter know he wasn' upset abou' Lily an' James? It was You-Know-Who he cared abou'! An' then he says, 'Give Harry ter me, Hagrid, I'm his godfather, I'll look after him —' Ha! But I'd had me orders from Dumbledore, an' I told Black no, Dumbledore said Harry was ter go ter his aunt an' uncle's. Black argued, but in the end he gave in. Told me ter take his motorbike ter get Harry there. 'I won't need it anymore,' he said "I shoulda known there was somethin' fishy goin' on then. He loved that motorbike, what was he givin' it ter me for? Why wouldn' he need it anymore? Fact was, it was too easy ter trace. Dumbledore knew he'd bin the Potters' Secret-Keeper. Black knew he was goin' ter have ter run fer it that night, knew it was a matter o' hours before the Ministry was after him. But what if I'd given Harry to him, eh? I bet he'd've pitched him off the bike halfway out ter sea. His bes' friends' son! But when a wizard goes over ter the Dark Side, there's nothin' and no one that matters to em anymore…"

"What about Alohomora? She wasn't the Potter's keeper!"

"No, her crimes were not to against the Potters, surely you know that Rosemerta," Fudge continued, I frowned, I had wondered. I could tell Harry was itching to get out. He had just found out why his parents were dead, yet, he had to stay hidden.

"I've heard rumors, her trial was very public, after all she was caught after the war…" Rosemerta added.

"Ah well, Alohomora was just as bad as her husband." Fudge shook his head, "The fire she set killed the entire family, even the children, it was horrific." I could see Ron fidgeting nervously, clearly this was a well-known thing in the wizarding community.

"Yes, the Graysons, an influential wizarding family.." another paused, Grayson? As in Cassidy and…and the Grayson from my vision. "Alohomora was a known friend of one of the siblings." I frowned.

"Yes, I remember them. The Ministry caught up with them though, didn't they?" Rosemerta added.

"Alas, if only we had." Fudge sighed, "Alohomora was caught quickly, but her crime happened almost a year after her husband's. Sirius was another story all together," said Fudge bitterly. "It was not we who found him. It was little Peter Pettigrew — another of the Potters' friends. Maddened by grief, no doubt, and knowing that Black had been the Potters' Secret-Keeper, he went after Black himself."

"Pettigrew… that fat little boy who was always tagging around after them at Hogwarts?" said Madam Rosmerta.

"Hero-worshipped Black and Potter," said Professor McGonagall. "Never quite in their league, talent-wise. I was often rather sharp with him. You can imagine how I — how I regret that now…" She sounded as though she had a sudden head cold.

"There, now, Minerva," said Fudge kindly, "Pettigrew died a hero's death. Eyewitnesses — Muggles, of course, we wiped their memories later — told us how Pettigrew cornered Black. They say he was sobbing, 'Lily and James, Sirius! How could you?' And then he went for his wand. Well, of course, Black was quicker. Blew Pettigrew to smithereens…"

Professor McGonagall blew her nose and said thickly, "Stupid boy… foolish boy… he was always hopeless at dueling… should have left it to the Ministry…"

"I tell yeh, if I'd got ter Black before little Pettigrew did, I wouldn't've messed around with wands, I'd 've ripped him limb from limb," Hagrid growled.

"You don't know what you're talking about, Hagrid," said Fudge sharply. "Nobody but trained Hit Wizards from the Magical Law Enforcement Squad would have stood a chance against Black once he was cornered. I was Junior Minister in the Department of Magical Catastrophes at the time, and I was one of the first on the scene after Black murdered all those people. I — I will never forget it. I still dream about it sometimes. A crater in the middle of the street, so deep it had cracked the sewer below. Bodies everywhere. Muggles screaming. And Black standing there laughing, with what was left of Pettigrew in front of him… a heap of bloodstained robes and a few — a few fragments —"

Fudge's voice stopped abruptly. There was the sound of five noses being blown.

"Well, there you have it, Rosmerta," said Fudge thickly. "Black was taken away by twenty members of the Magical Law Enforcement Squad and Pettigrew received the Order of Merlin, First Class, which I think was some comfort to his poor mother. The Blacks have been in Azkaban ever since."

Madam Rosmerta let out a long sigh.

"Is it true they're mad, Minister?"

"I wish I could say that they were," said Fudge slowly. "I certainly believe their master's defeat unhinged them for a while. The murder of Pettigrew and all those Muggles was the action of a cornered and desperate man — cruel… pointless and Alohomora was truly in desperation to prove herself if she was willing to kill her best friend and his family all for You-Know-Who. Yet I met the Blacks on my last inspection of Azkaban. You know, most of the prisoners in there sit muttering to themselves in the dark; there's no sense in them… but I was shocked at how normal the Blacks seemed, although Alohomora seemed affected a little bit, she'd occasionally mutter. But, they spoke quite rationally to me. It was unnerving. You'd have thought they were merely bored — he asked if I'd finished with my newspaper, cool as you please, said he missed doing the crossword. Yes, I was astounded at how little effect the Dementors seemed to be having on them — and they were some of the most heavily guarded in the place, you know. Dementors outside their doors day and night."

"But what do you think they've broken out to do?" said Madam Rosmerta. "Good gracious, Minister, they aren't trying to rejoin You-Know-Who, are they?"

"I daresay that is their — er — eventual plan," said Fudge evasively. "But we hope to catch the Blacks long before that. I must say, You-Know-Who alone and friendless is one thing… but give him back his most devoted servants, and I shudder to think how quickly he'll rise again…"

There was a small chink of glass on wood. Someone had set down their glass.

"You know, Cornelius, if you're dining with the headmaster, we'd better head back up to the castle," said Professor McGonagall. The teachers and Fudge got to their feet and the door of the Three Broomsticks opened again, there was another flurry of snow, and the teachers had disappeared.

"Harry?" Hermione said

The three of us looked under the table. We all stared at Harry awaiting his response. He fled from under the table and raced to the door.

"Poor Harry," Hermione shook her head. The three of us stood quickly, rushing after him. There was a lot of information to process, and if I were Harry, I wouldn't know how to deal with any of it.

We followed him to a snowy path, you could see the shrieking shack in the background. I could hear him crying a little, which was the most heart breaking of all.

"He's was their friend!" Harry cried, "They trusted him! And he betrayed them! He was their friend!" he continued. Hermione sat down next to him, comforting him as best she could. As did Ron and I. We all sat, around that cold stone, I took Harry's hand, wanting him to know he wasn't as alone as he felt, and Hermione did as well.

After a while, Harry calmed down. He didn't say much, just stood up and muttered "Let's go." So, the four of us made our way back to the castle.

I frowned, and paused, I had noticed a wanted poster pinned up against a tree. I was curious, I wanted to see what the Blacks looked like. I walked over and that's when I froze. A pair of golden brown eyes were staring back at me.

"Wolfie?" Came Hermione's voice. I was speechless I couldn't answer her. I was having dreams of one Alohomora Black, the red headed girl from the Gryffindor common room. Oh god, I was having visions of Cass's dead relative.