AN: Italics= thoughts and spells, you'll know which is which.
Disclaimer: I am not making any money from this story. Harry Potter and various characters do not belong to me, but that of J.K. Rowling. I'm just playing with her characters. Things you recognize as belonging to her, do. The only thing that belongs to me is the plot and previously unknown characters and spells, unless stated otherwise. This disclaimer applies to the entire story
Chapter Seven
Dear Remus,
Hello old friend, I've lost track of the amount of letters that I've sent to you since I've been here in Azkaban. I'm hoping that this one finds you better than the others. I don't know if you've gotten my other ones or not, but I have to keep trying. I didn't betray Lily and James to Voldemort! James was like a brother to me. The Potter's took me in when my family kicked me out. I love-… loved James, I loved Lily, and Harry was and still is the world to me! I would never betray them like that! Dumbledore wanted everyone to think that I was the secret keeper to protect the real one, Peter. He told James that it would be safer that way. That nobody would suspect Peter of being the secret keeper because everyone knew how close James and I were. I need you to know that I didn't kill those people! I certainly didn't kill Peter! Don't get me wrong, I wanted to kill him for what he did, but I didn't get the chance. The little rodent slipped away. You know me Remus, I'm not capable of murdering innocent people! I was set up. Peter stunned me, killed those people, then cut off his finger and turned into Wormtail, then he ran away from the scene. The stunner had only just worn off when the Ministry showed up to investigate. I'm innocent Remus, you have to believe me! Please Remus, at least write back so I know that my letters are reaching you, even if it is to tell me to bugger off.
With love,
Sirius
Sirius set the quill aside, and looked over the letter to make sure that he didn't forget to include anything.
"Alright Black, times up. It's time to go back to your cell." The prison guard informed him in a brusque tone of voice. He reminded Sirius of one of those Muggle bouncers that were outside the night clubs that he and James used to go to before James and Lily got married. The guard was buff, and brutish in build, had brown hair, a similar skin tone to him, and a very no nonsense attitude about him. Pretty fitting considering he chose a career as a human guard at Azkaban.
"If possible can I have one more minute to attach the letter to the owl?" Sirius asked in his politest and meekest tone of voice possible.
Sirius had long since learned that it was in his best interest to address the guards with reverence, and respect, or they would arrange it so that the Dementor's got an extra feeding from him. It was bad enough that in order to send letters to people the inmates had to agree to an extra feeding, and Sirius wasn't equipped to handle three in one day anymore. Two is the most that his body can handle before he loses consciousness for the next twenty four hours after the feeding happens.
"Make it quick." The guard commanded him.
Sirius hastily rolled the parchment up, and tied it with a string. He walked over to where the owls were housed, and chose a brown owl this time. The owl fluttered down onto Sirius's arm and hooted his consent to deliver the letter for him. Sirius then walked back over to the table where he wrote the letter to Remus at, and the owl fluttered onto the table and extended its leg. Sirius grabbed another small length of string and attached his letter to the owl's leg. Sirius pet the head of the owl, and told the owl to find Remus Lupin. The owl hooted in response and took off out the open window.
"Let's go Black. It's lunchtime for the Dementor's and you're on the menu." The guard said in a haughty tone of voice.
Sirius assented and followed the guard back to his cell, hoping that this time the letter would be worth the torment that he was about to endure.
HP-HP-HP-HP-Scene Break-HP-HP-HP-HP
The fallout from the fight that Dudley got in, in the Dursley house was priceless and amusing to Harry. Apparently it was perfectly okay for Dudley to pick fights and use his gang to bully Harry, but the moment that his anger was turned onto somebody else, Aunt Petunia was upset. Uncle Vernon saw no problem with what happened, but Petunia insisted that Dudley be punished for his behavior. Vernon and Petunia came to a compromise, and Dudley's punishment was restricted television privileges. Meaning Dudley was limited to two hours of television per day. Dudley threw a tantrum behind having his television privileges restricted, and Petunia reminded him that Harry wasn't able to watch any television, so he was lucky to still be able to watch what little that he could. That punishment was in place all of four hours because Petunia became annoyed with Dudley's ranting and raving, so she eventually relented and reinstated his television privileges.
Ever since that day, Harry had attempted to recreate his success within the Dursley household. He tried to use the imperious curse to control Dudley, the cruciatus on Uncle Vernon, and he had even tried to imperious Aunt Petunia into letting him off of his chores, but he was unsuccessful. It was maddening knowing that he couldn't access his magic. Something was blocking him, and he was going to figure out what it was.
Harry spent the free time that he had replaying the events of that day at school over and over again in his mind. He came to realize that his magic was tied linked to his emotional state-at least while he was this young. He was overcome with pain and rage when he was being attacked by Dudley and his gang, and that's what had triggered his magic. Now the only thing that was left for Harry to do was to test if he could trick his magic into thinking he was experiencing those emotions when he really wasn't.
HP-HP-HP-HP-Scene Break-HP-HP-HP-HP
"Severus, please explain to me why you saw fit to dock Gryffindor a total of three hundred points, Hufflepuff one hundred points, and Ravenclaw fifty points today?" Minerva huffed out exasperatedly.
"Do I question you when you dock points from Slytherin, Minerva?" Severus drawled out.
"No, but" — Minerva started.
"Then why are you questioning me? Filius and Pomona aren't interrogating me about the points I docked from their houses. I assume that if they had an issue that they would speak up. Do you have an issue with the points I took from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, Filius and Pomona?" Severus interjected before looking towards them while he waited for a response.
Filius and Pomona locked eyes before answering at the same time a collective "No".
"See Minerva, they don't care. So why do you?" Severus asked his patience wearing thin.
"Because it's demoralizing. The points system is in place to motivate the students, Severus, not to…" Minerva answered him before starting in on her lecture.
Albus Dumbledore liked to think of himself as a very patient man. Whenever there was a staff meeting- although he was Headmaster and therefore not obligated to present himself- he made sure to attend. He found it amusing to listen to his colleagues squabble amongst themselves over grievances that were at best, petty. It reminded him of his days being head of Gryffindor house back when Gellert was rising to power, and Horace was the head of Slytherin, and the friendly debates that they engaged in during their staff meetings. To his great relief, he was interrupted from his thoughts by Fawkes flaming in with a missive attached to his leg. He removed the missive and read it.
"I'm terribly sorry to interrupt Minerva, but I have urgent business that I must attend to. So for now, I must beg the forgiveness of my staff as I leave early. Good luck with the rest of the meeting." Albus said as he stood up to leave the conference room.
Minerva just waived him on. Not sparing a moment to acknowledge his departure.
End Note: This is just a little something to whet your appetite. Expect more in the coming weeks. I do have finals coming up, but I plan to be writing and therefore updating more frequently within the coming months. We shall see if I can live up to that or not. Once again, I apologize for the long wait, I've had a lot of stuff to work through emotionally before I could even think about writing, but I'm in a more stable place now, so I should be able to update more. Feel free to message/follow me on Tumblr to remind me if my absence is so prolonged again. I can be absentminded sometimes, but I'm getting better at that too xD. As always, thank you for reading and please review to let me know what you think!