Sirius was still staring vacantly down at the book in his hands as if fearing it was going to leap up and rip his face off any second, so taking pity on him Harry got to his feet and offered his hand out for the book. When he still didn't respond to that, Harry leaned over and gently tugged the book out of his slack grip, but before he could head back to his spot to read James voiced, "It's getting pretty late into the night. How about we take a break for food?"
Lily nodded in agreement and Harry was happy to follow her into the kitchen and help again, leaving the three stunned boys in place.
Finding out James was dead was one of the most heart-wrenching things his friends had ever considered. Of course they weren't naive, they recognized they would all die eventually, but the manner in which it was to come, and so soon, had terrified them from the very beginning. Now here they were, yet again, to find another of theirs lost too soon for this life, and for what? Because Peter had panicked and tried to confront Sirius, only for the matter to be blown into historical proportions? Where was the justice in that? The bloodlust it ensued in the friends to find out who'd done this to their friend was hardly contained even now as they sat in a stewing silence.
In the kitchen, Harry was having a more pleasant chat with his mother. "I didn't know Sirius was my Godfather. How come you guys haven't mentioned it?"
Lily thought back for a moment to realize they hadn't outright told him this before nodding and saying, "guess it just hadn't crossed our mind to tell you dear. There are plenty of little things like that, just passing comments we hardly realize you wouldn't get. Sorry love, but now you know."
Harry chuckled for a moment, passing her something and inspecting this bubbling warmth that this seemed to cause him. He had a Godfather? He obviously knew now why Sirius hadn't been there for him through the years, but something about realizing this made him smile. Of course his thirteen-year-old self had been devastated at the news, but right now all he could think of was, what if Sirius' name really did get cleared? His family seemed very sure this was going to happen, and he had no reasons to doubt them. If that did happen, then that could very possibly mean he would leave the Dursleys? He may actually regain memories of a home life he was only getting a glimpse of now?
His gut wanted to argue the point, there was no settling feeling saying his thoughts now had any concrete to them, but the mood of this book had been so low for so long now, he refused to let himself ruin this fantasy and would cling to it for as long as possible.
Dinner was mostly a silent affair, the shock still weighing heavily on all of them as Harry went to pick the book back up. Now that he at least partially knew what had been bothering him about that trip into Hogsmeade Harry's mind had settled down some, though that lingering prickle that he was still missing something left him with an anxious feeling as he began to read.
Sirius winced at his remembered light joke of before, hating how this book seemed to continue twisting and mocking his very being.
'Because the one who should have wasn't around' Remus bitterly thought, wanting to curse himself nearly as much as anyone else the more this dragged on.
"Arthur might not have known," Lily said fairly "I'm fairly sure he doesn't even know you two, and as Fudge did say, this didn't really seem that widely known."
Harry nodded in understanding, knowing he hadn't held this against the Weasley's, though feeling rather certain he had wanted to demand this from someone.
Both James and Remus gave Sirius a very careful look, noticing at once how his hands twisted up in his lap at the implication, but he seemed to have taken Remus' words to heart at least somewhat. Sirius just had to know he'd never do anything like this, accidentally or not, so Harry didn't let that horrid question linger.
Lily crinkled up her nose in disgust, not really understanding how stinking up the common room would make them feel better, but knowing this behavior all too well from her own boys. If given half the chance, the present Marauders would cause mayhem in the school right now to get rid of some built up tension; but they weren't in school anymore, and they were having to learn to cope with this in other ways.
All three boys gave a horrible jerk at that, disgusted that something like Harry's first trip into Hogsmeade, and the use of the map at all, would be ruined by this. It just didn't seem fair they couldn't stay happy for one whole chapter anymore.
This happy little reminder did spike up the mood at least a bit. Of course none of them had forgotten this treasured gift, and it was warming beyond belief to know Harry clearly valued it so much.
"Ah," Sirius murmured, nodding in understanding now. Harry had once mentioned he thought he knew him back when Hagrid had given him this book, at the time Harry had simply settled on the idea he must have seen a picture of him. Now they understood it was wrong, but it was still interesting to know which picture Harry had latched onto.
Sirius wanted to mock pout at that, but just couldn't raise up the energy at yet another reminder of how little Harry knew about him, and the manner that he continued learning about him hurt like a scalding knife tearing chunks out of his soul.
James and Remus couldn't even imagine it. Sirius so unrecognizable to his boisterous nature as to not be recognized like this! It was something they refused to linger on any longer than was possible.
Harry wanted to stop and give him a sorry look for ever thinking that, in his defense he hadn't actually known him at the time, but he knew it was only going to get worse so forced himself to keep going. The words would have jammed up in his throat anyways, because of that terrible spot he couldn't fix. He was convinced now more than ever Sirius had a reason for being at school, a murderous reason. It couldn't really be Harry though...right? The fact that he couldn't answer himself gave him chills as much as anything he'd been hearing.
"I sincerely doubt he actually knew that," Lily muttered sarcastically under her breath, grimacing right along with everyone else at these implausible questions.
"Maybe not while I'm a dog," Sirius sighed, still vacantly wondering why he had acted so normal around Fudge. Surely it was just because he was starved for attention.
Sirius winced anew that his face had at any time caused such a horrible reaction to Harry, but the boy sounded so miserable in that moment he didn't want to say anything for fear of making it worse.
'Can't hardly blame him' Remus thought sadly, 'everyone wants to be alone sometimes.'
"I'm sorry Sirius," Harry couldn't stop himself this time, his wide green eyes looking the opposite of hatred in that moment. He clearly felt guilt ridden about ever thinking something like this when now he instinctively knew just how wrong he was. He was forcefully ignoring that other part of him, Sirius must have a reason for this, no man who looked as guilt stricken upon hearing of all this could really have done these things.
"S'alright Harry," Sirius sighed, trying to put some feeling into his voice even as he rubbed at his face, trying to force this stiff almost frozen expression of a scowl away. "Not like I can really do anything to fix it, least you're not thinking it for the rest of your life, that's all that really matters."
James couldn't help but give Sirius a reassuring pat on the shoulder all the same, like he was trying to reward him for the attempt even if it did come out a little hollow anyways.
All three of them made a horrible choking noise at that horrible sentence, like it wasn't bad enough hearing it the first time, but now realizing Harry was going to sit around and think about it nearly as much as thinking about his Mother gave each of them a deep desire to blast their own memories of this particular pain. Maybe if Harry didn't feel so wretched for what he was currently putting Sirius through he would have focused a little more on how odd and just plain wrong that sentence was for him to say, his gut giving an absent nudge of pain going unnoticed.
"Not a bad comparison really," James said a little too loudly, looking for anything to take his mind off of this topic. "Wish you could get to know Neville a little better all the same."
Harry nodded in agreement, having a fairly good feeling his friendship with his fellow Gryffindor only gets stronger through the years.
Sirius had a fairly good idea that type of reminder would never not feel like a stab to the heart.
"Oh thank you, because I'm sure that made him feel so much better," Remus rolled his eyes.
Lily had to bite at her lip to stop herself from voicing the opinion if this continued he really should go and visit Madam Pomphrey for some sort of dreamless potion to help with this restlessness. The only thing restraining her was the reminder of how rarely Harry actually sought out help, and she doubted this time would really be different.
"Probably had one to many of those," James muttered randomly.
Sirius was more than happily distracted by letting out a low whistle and admitting, "almost forgot how many classes she was in, Merlin it's a bloody miracle she even takes the chance to go to Hogsmeade. You'd think she'd have to be doing homework twenty-four seven to keep up."
"Can't rightly blame them," Lily said with some forced cheerfulness, more than happy Harry's friends were at least looking out for him, or trying to, with staying behind.
"I'm sure that made him feel just as swell the second time," Remus snorted in real amusement.
"Stupid like what?" James demanded in disbelief. "What exactly do they think you're going to do with this new information, except to rightly sulk a bit."
Harry just shrugged, he remembered that poisonous hatred hadn't exactly worn off, but he'd no real idea what or how he was supposed to channel it at that time, so what Hermione actually thought he was going to do he didn't know.
"That would be a sight," Remus rolled his eyes at that mental image.
"I still insist Harry might really win that fight," Sirius joked lightly, half wishing Harry would do this anyways. It was high time someone gave Harry some real facts, which he was sure he could deliver, rather than all of this tosh he kept getting.
"You're friends never cease to amuse me," Lily chuckled. "Who rehearses this type of conversation?" Privately she was warmed that Harry had such caring friends they were so worried about Harry like this, despite how misguided it was, as Harry really should be allowed to be as angry as he wanted about this mess.
'Guess it's a good thing he tells someone' James mentally sighed, bracing himself to hear this living nightmare all over again.
'I probably will be a real murderer when Harry really does get that name' Sirius mentally snarled, but kept that one to himself for fear of the retribution his friends would give him.
'Gotta love Hermione's faith in him' Remus frowned without any real heat, knowing Hermione was speaking without all the facts, but detesting anyone saying this about his friend.
"Can't even say that's harsh, I'm thinking something similar about the person who did do this," James scowled.
Harry didn't offer an opinion now anymore than he did then. At the time he really couldn't claim he would have batted an eye if that did happen, now the very thought of it caused a horrible twist inside of him. He lacked commenting this though, because he didn't think Sirius would appreciate the first answer anymore then his memory would appreciate him poking at an echo of pain he didn't know how to dwell on.
"I'm honestly curious what you really will do," Sirius couldn't help but chuckle, knowing Harry was doing it for all the wrong reasons, but willing to encourage anything that would get the two of them in the same room alone.
"What's this?" Remus asked curiously, trying to cast his mind around for the last time Harry had spoken to Malfoy.
"Oh," they all muttered, frowning all over again. None of them really wanted to consider Malfoy a credible source for anything, but the fact that a Death Eater would know about this instance really struck a nerve. It even crossed James mind that, what if it had been a Death Eater to orchestrate this whole thing? He found this the most likely scenario yet, but he wanted to think on it a while more before he offered it to the others.
"Harry's hardly 'taking his advice', he's just noting something from before," Remus frowned, rather as annoyed by this as Ron that Malfoy would have any involvement.
"Ew," Lily muttered, trying to force that mental image out of her mind rather than bursting into tears that this was a fate of someone she considered a friend. Her reaction was mild compared to Peter's friends, who had gone a pasty color and looked more likely to vomit the longer this was talked about.
Harry was blinking spastically down at the page, like his Mum trying his very hardest to push something away, in his case a feeling of significance. Something about this, a single finger… then a headache began forming again and he forced himself to keep reading.
"Half wish you'd actually ignored all of what he'd said," Sirius muttered, thinking he'd have been more than happy if they'd never learned that bit of trivia.
"And that still hasn't gotten old," Remus muttered for his own amusement, at this point fairly certain Harry never was going to start doing that and the reactions from others would continue. Which mostly caused pride in him, finding Harry's resistance against this a very good parallel to his father.
"I want to curse Ron into a million pieces," Lily snarled, somehow managing to find Ron's crude humor in even more poor a taste then Sirius' of late.
"Harry can beat him with one arm behind his back," James chirped, causing bursts of still dulled amusement from all of them. The mantra of 'they could fix this' was pretty much the only thing sustaining them at this point, as the fate of their friend now seemed as hot a topic as Sirius, and they all wanted to vomit or murder someone for the continuing reminder. It seemed to hurt all the worse because Peter wasn't here now, they couldn't just glance over at their friend whenever they needed the reminder. Now they really wished they'd convinced Peter to stick around.
"Going to have to agree with Hermione on that one, under a different context anyways," Sirius huffed.
Lily said "no" at the same time as James said "yes."
The parents gave each other the stank eye for a moment before James cracked and smiled over at her, responding, "I think we technically answered a different half of her question."
Lily couldn't help but return the smile and laughed at the exchange.
"Merlin, can't have one decent moment anymore can they," Remus sighed low enough only Sirius heard him as James and Lily turned away from each other, faces dropping and biting at their lips at such a reminder, while Harry's smile dropped right out as well.
"Inquisitive little thing," Sirius grumbled, really not looking forward to another fight breaking out right now and hoping that cat would stay put.
"Not without good reason," Harry sighed in reminder, since the moment he'd read that he had an inkling of a feeling what Ron's words were fixing to cause in him then, and it wasn't good.
Maybe it was all the pent up frustration at this particular book, but the room gave a collective groan and grumble of annoyance for Hermione still trying to enforce that rule.
James sucked in air backwards through his teeth, creating a sound effect that made it obvious he very dearly didn't want to sit in on this conversation.
"Curse irony," Sirius scowled, still not really over the fact that he normally loved the full attention being on him, and the way it kept getting thrown in his face like this. Remus gave him a gentle nudge in pity, having a pretty good idea what Sirius' little comment meant and both agreeing with him and unable to think of anything to make him feel better.
Lily had to do a double take before reminding herself of the current portrait, then frowned when she realized why hadn't the Fat Lady come back yet? Exactly how badly had Sirius hurt her painting? The boys looked so miserable over there though, she wondered if they even registered this, and she wasn't going to be the one to bring it up.
"Wouldn't put it past him," Remus shrugged, "I'm sure the holidays leave him rather busy with both of his jobs."
"Is-is that Fang crying?" Sirius frowned, thinking that wasn't really how a dog would be described to cry, but really unsure as to why it would be Hagrid.
James thumped Sirius on the ear for what he considered a stupid comment.
"Oh no," Lily cooed at once, wanting to wrap Hagrid in a hug even if her arms wouldn't reach all the way around. They'd all felt some pretty mild annoyance at Hagrid's part in the story in the last chapter, but they could hardly sit there and blame him more than anyone else when it was clear McGonagall and every other person in the world believed Sirius had done all of that as well. So their first reaction to hearing Hagrid was upset was an equal amount of concern as Harry, all of them deciding they really couldn't hold a grudge against someone who had done so much for Harry.
"Heard what?" Remus muttered, getting jittery at once for what other possible bad thing could happen.
It was a good thing Hagrid still seemed to have some sense of himself, as they were all sure Ron and Hermione's combined strength really couldn't have done this if he hadn't wanted to.
"The poor dear," Lily began fretting, her first instinct to get to her feet and make him a nice hot cup of tea so that he could tell her what the problem was. She only hoped Hermione or one of the boys would think to do something like this as well.
"Oh crap," they all muttered, having nearly forgotten the whole incident. It hadn't happened that long ago, but considering the things they learned since then it may as well have been a life time. The whole thing had pretty much lost its impact, but clearly there had been further repercussions then what they'd been expecting.
"Well there's that," Lily let out a breath of relief.
"So what's wrong with Hagrid?" James frowned, leaning forward in concern.
Sirius proceeded to call Mr. Malfoy quite a few colorful terms, and Lily felt so upset on Hagrid's part she couldn't even find it in her to scold him for it.
"They want him to take a hippogriff into London?" Harry reread his mind scattering around for something that didn't make him squirm in displeasure. This was very clearly what had Hagrid so upset, and the thought of one of his friends in this state truly did cause him to want to pursue action. The random question was just to give him time to think, though at the time he'd been more shell shocked at the events and knew he hadn't said anything.
"It's not impossible," James answered with a heavy sigh. "I'm sure someone will cast a spell on him, disguise him as a regular horse until he gets inside or something."
"Why do they want Buckbeak to be there at all? They can hardly ask him what happened," Sirius added on his own question.
This wasn't Lily's particular department, but she took a swing anyways and offered, "most likely they might try and gauge his attitude, try and see for themselves how dangerous he truly is. Test him a bit before they give a proper ruling."
Harry found the subject rather fascinating, but knew better than to try and linger on the subject when he really wanted his answers from the book on what was going to happen.
"They really should," Remus agreed, rubbing the back of his neck in thought. "Honestly the whole instance was Malfoy's fault, so if Lucius didn't have so much 'influence' it might not have even gotten this far."
"This is actually pretty similar to what happens when a muggles dog bites someone," Lily shrugged, "so I might disagree with you on that, but I've never dealt with anything like this personally so I don't know all the details."
"I want to call a biased opinion on that," James muttered, "but in this case, Hagrid's right. Buckbeak really wasn't at full fault."
"Actually I'm in full agreement with Hagrid," Sirius shrugged, "that Committee really is too analytical when it comes to a very broad topic. They think they can make rules to cover every instance, and it's just not possible when dealing with live animals."
Harry watched curiously when it looked like Remus was about to jump in, and the boys looked like they were going to start a whole debate on the matter, but then Lily cleared her throat with a warm smile and said, "we can pick this up later boys, I'd like to get this chapter done before midnight."
They all rolled their eyes but backed down all the same.
"Lovely," Remus crinkled up his nose at the thought, but couldn't really blame Hagrid for this either.
"Aw," Lily smiled brightly, she thought this was adorable and wouldn't put it past herself to think the same of her own pet.
"I'll give Harry full points for that spot on comparison," James nodded with amusement.
Sirius scowled and muttered a few things about how the system worked, which no one really argued him on at this point.
"Not really sure Dumbledore could do anything in this instance," Remus frowned thoughtfully, "he wasn't there. Sure he could vouch for Hagrid's opinion on the matter; maybe his presence would hold as much weight as Malfoy's."
"Let's hope then," Lily nodded in agreement.
"Well now I just feel awful, taking time away from a very important matter," Sirius said sincerely. James and Remus couldn't tell how sarcastic he was being, but at least he hadn't flinched when his name was mentioned this time, so that was progress.
"Oh yeah," they muttered, that having been the original reason for this visit, and really hoping Harry wouldn't turn this back. While the case of Buckbeak wasn't a happy topic, it was still loads better then what Harry wanted.
"You are such a sweet boy," Lily smiled at her son, taking a moment to brush her hand through his hair at this bout of thoughtfulness.
Harry couldn't help but blush but couldn't deny that he did appreciate the affection all the same.
"Why am I not surprised Hermione has read a book on this," Remus chuckled.
"I think her life's goal is to read every book in the world," Sirius smirked.
"Thank you Ron," Lily beamed.
The boys were too busy laughing at such a random input.
"Must be a girl thing," Sirius snickered, ignoring the haughty look from said woman.
"Turns out to be a rather good thing you came down there," James beamed. "I'd feel wretched if Hagrid had been down there by himself like this all through the holidays."
"Good things can come from the most unexpected places," Remus smirked.
"Enough fortune cookies from you," Sirius rolled his eyes at him.
"Can you blame us," Harry sighed, then he added on, "course I can't hardly blame Hagrid, it's not actually his fault."
The boys couldn't help but snicker at this, finding Ron's reaction adorable to the many lies they'd pulled off by this time in their life.
"How on earth will the class live with themselves?" Sirius smirked, not bothering one bit to pretend like that was a real question.
Sirius blinked spastically, for the first time coming back to that random connection. While he'd yet to ever go to Azkaban himself, and here's praying he never would, he was pretty sure it was a big place and the odds he'd been around Hagrid during that time were slim. Mostly it reminded him of Lily's snippy little threat from back during the beginning of the second book, and how not funny that was anymore.
"Just can't stay off this topic for more than five minutes lately," James scowled, wanting to block Sirius' ears from having to continually hear about this. He figured that would only result in a wrestling match that neither of them would win, which would only annoy Lily, so he restrained himself.
"That's one of his worst memories," Remus couldn't help but blurt out.
"Wow, think we underestimated how much he liked that dragon," Sirius shuddered in renewed disgust. As if mentioning all of this wasn't bad enough, now he had that dragon reminder to deal with on top of everything.
Sirius was leaning so far into the couch he seemed to be trying to merge with it, his vacant hands kept patting his knees or twisting in his lap as he continued trying very forcibly to not think about himself in this situation, plenty of his worst memories already coming to mind, more clearly to come…
James and Remus exchanged heart wrenched looks, but what could they really say? There were only so many times they could help him and try to convince him they weren't going to let this happen to him, but it was disturbing them far more than anything to see how much this affected him. Sirius wasn't known for letting things get to him, so the severe reaction he continued to have to this, something he must know they refused to allow, was scaring them more than anything.
"That could work," Sirius said loudly, anything to keep the conversation away from that prison. "Just say he got loose and flew away, they really couldn't say otherwise."
"I suppose it depends on how loyal Buckbeak is to Hagrid," Remus shrugged, more than happy to play along for as long as possible. "Because if Buckbeak ever decided to come back, and Malfoy noticed, it would cause more harm than good."
Lily's heart broke into tiny little pieces upon hearing that. It was bad enough watching Sirius being forced to listen to this ordeal, now Hagrid was having just as many issues and she couldn't help either of them. It made her feel helpless, not a feeling Lily Potter ever enjoyed. There must be some way to fix all of this, make it so that such a place as Azkaban couldn't even be an option. While she'd heard of some gruesome stories of people who she had considered did deserve that place, now that she'd heard of two separate instances of people wrongly being in there, she was beginning to question the place as a whole.
"There's the bright side," James rolled his eyes with forced laughter, happy for any brief change in the mood.
"You three have got to be the only students who use the library so frequently," Remus chuckled. "All three years now, and you lot have had a reason to go in and grab seemingly random books. Most students just use it for homework."
"I'll take that as a compliment," Harry chuckled.
"I do not want to know," Lily frowned, more than happy when Harry continued on without the added comment of what did happen.
"That's a great idea," Sirius snorted, "let's make Buckbeak so scary no one wants to go near him, I'm sure he'll live a long and happy life."
"The worst part is, I still can't tell if you're kidding," Remus frowned at him, which Sirius ignored.
="They'd put those up if no students stayed," James shrugged, "I think the teachers enjoy doing it for themselves honestly."
"Poor little thing," James snickered.
"Hope Ron slips him something nice," Remus agreed.
"Well that was pleasant," Lily snickered.
"Sincerely doubt Harry would mind," Sirius pointed out.
"Please tell me he actually thanks his mother for that, no matter the color," Lily rolled her eyes.
"I'm getting the sense of no," Remus smirked.
"Now see, why couldn't she have just done that for Ron, I'm sure he would have found that much cooler," Sirius rolled his eyes.
Lily relished this gift while it lasted, trying to brace herself as much as possible for the horrid gift she was now expecting from the Dursleys.
"A broomstick?" James repeated so loudly, Sirius started to rub his ear in annoyance before his eyes lit up like Christmas as well.
"What kind?" Sirius demanded at once nearly as loud as James just had.
"Who sent it?" Remus demanded, nearly bouncing in place in excitement.
Lily had started by giggling, she couldn't help it at their childlike delight of something like this, though even her son looked nearly as deliriously happy at this prospect, but at Remus' question it gave them all a brief pause to turn that over.
"Must have been me," Sirius shrugged, "I really can't think up anyone else."
"I'll buy that," James nodded eagerly. "No think about it," he persisted when Lily didn't look convinced, "Remus most likely told Sirius that Harry had lost his broom after Sirius had left, and do you really think Sirius wouldn't buy Harry anything less than another broomstick?"
"How would he pay for it though," Lily countered, this being the only thing she was really stuck on. "I doubt he's carrying around that kind of gold on him."
"There are ways to access your account without withdrawing in person," Remus reminded. "Personally I agree, I can see Sirius doing this easily."
Harry was laughing with giddy excitement, feeling very sure indeed they were right on the spot with this one. He decided to risk it and told them as much aloud, causing the brightest smile in hours to appear on all of them, more than making up for the sharp spike of pain Harry received for that memory returning early. He didn't care though, he'd do it again in a heartbeat his family looked so happy for something like this to have happened to him.
James and Sirius nearly passed out from overloaded excitement. Harry had just gotten an international broomstick! The very one they'd been drooling over during his summer holidays! It was too good to be true.
Then Remus burst out laughing watching Sirius, and only continuing when he demanded to know what was so funny. "You-" he finally choked out in between chuckles "-you would catch up on the latest model of brooms. I'm just sitting here imagining you grabbing hold of the nearest paper and checking all the Quidditch League Status' and-" he trailed off again, causing everyone else to laugh along. Sirius wasn't even going to try and deny he was obsessed enough with his sport he would have gone out of his way to update himself like this as soon as possible. Merlin, he wouldn't have put it past himself to go and buy two of those things, one for Harry and one for himself.
James and Sirius were shivering in place, looking like at any second they were going to get to their feet and run to the nearest Quidditch store to get their own. Lily was still giggling from before, doubling up now at how enthusiastic they were being. Remus restrained himself from reminding them this hadn't actually come out yet.
"The best Godfather in the world," James hooted, clutching Sirius up and hugging him tightly. Sirius made no point of denying it, he was still laughing to hard.
Harry couldn't help but laugh at his own joke now, pleased to see that even the mention of them hadn't brought his family's mood back down.
"I don't see that happening," Lily disagreed, "or any of the teachers, like McGonagall; otherwise they would have done it not long after you lost your broom. Sirius would have waited until now, less publicly so there's not as much scrutiny of it."
"That's not the same thing," James shook his head, "that was yours by birthright."
"There's that too," Remus nodded, "can't be showing favoritism like this."
All four boys lost it again, laughing raucously at the thought of such a prat like Malfoy, and the way he'd acted last year about having a superior broom, and now Harry was going to outstrip him by a mile. He hadn't even done anything like ask for it!
Lily very dearly wanted to make a comment about how Sirius was spoiling Harry just a bit, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. One, she was still giggling too much to sound too intelligibly. The foul mood from before being gone like this now left them all slightly in hysterics. Two, she honestly believed Harry did deserve it, if for no other reason than she thought this may have been Sirius' way of trying to give back a lot of missed presents on his part.
"I wouldn't put it past you to give me the idea," Sirius reminded him, still snickering away like a fool. "So I think that means it technically came from both of us."
"Can't deny that," Remus muttered, refusing to let the good mood be dampened again by this kind of comment, so saying that with as much good humor as he could muster.
"I doubt he would have been doing much traveling at the time, but I like what Ron was trying," James shrugged.
'Yet another thing to hate Snape for' Sirius finally started to frown again, more than annoyed at that pompous git. It seemed to him like he was just trying to set Harry in particular to figure this out, which made him want to punch that greasy git in the face.
Remus couldn't help but smile, glad to see Harry hadn't read into that too closely, unlike his father. Whenever he'd used the excuse that he really had felt sick, and James had gone and seen he wasn't in the hospital wing, well that had taken some explaining to do. While Harry had reacted just fine now to him, he still couldn't help the mounting fear of what Harry may have thought of him at some point.
"Makes any pet grumpy," Sirius snickered.
"And what if Seamus doesn't appreciate that?" James randomly commented.
"I swear, she is the most pessimistic kid," Remus rolled his eyes. "Who wouldn't be bouncing around in sheer joy at finding out something like this?"
"Be nice," Lily sighed without any real heat.
"Quite good indeed," Sirius wiggled in pleasure, finding that the understatement of Hermione's life.
"Fair comparison," James nodded in agreement.
"If I didn't know otherwise, I'd rightly be as suspicious as Hermione in this instance," Lily defended her when it looked like one of the boys were going to say something again.
"Harry will be the worst kind of person in the world if you say no," Sirius told him with a straight face.
Harry pretended like he was deliberating for a moment, but it didn't last when James snorted and said, "please, we're talking about the same kid who bought a cart load of candy and split it with Ron before he knew him. Have you ever actually seen him be selfish, about anything?"
Sirius hadn't really meant it anyways, but he was still snickering in amusement all the same.
"Well not in the dorms obviously," Remus rolled his eyes, knowing what Hermione had meant, and beginning to feel a pit forming when he realized this might start going in a bad direction.
"I'd have heart failure," James shuddered in disgust at the very thought.
"Uh-oh," the room muttered as one, knowing this couldn't be a good thing.
Sirius continued reading in a rather harassed tone, very concerned indeed this may not play out as well as last time.
James sighed, knowing he probably would have found that rather amusing under any other circumstances.
"Wait, what?" Remus demanded in confusion.
"Why would that be going off now?" Sirius pondered, casting his mind around for anything that could answer it.
"How long of a range has it got?" James prodded. "Did it say the twins had stayed over the holidays? Perhaps there up to something in their dorm?"
The others shrugged, they really had no further explanation.
"Stinks that it goes off so easily," Lily smiled sadly, "Ron's gift doesn't seem to be doing much good."
They all grave a breath of relief, more then pleased no one had gotten further hurt by this, though it still didn't answer the lingering question of how many more times this could happen before something irreversible did occur.
"Poor little guy," Sirius muttered in sympathy, feeling rather awful that at this rate, Scabbers might not even make it to Easter break.
James winced, having a suspicious feeling that it was more likely old age then anything and Ron was just looking for any excuse to put that aside.
"Well at least you realize that Harry," Remus sighed, "might make it an easier transition for Ron if his friend tries to make him understand that to."
Harry nodded, but he wasn't really listening. Why was it the longer Scabbers was mentioned, the more ill will he had for him? When he'd initially thought this, he'd always wondered whether Scabbers had bit him at some point and he'd just resented it, but now he wasn't so sure. There was yet another something he was missing, a piece to a huge missing puzzle that would continue to drive him crazy until he had a full answer. He tried testing his feelings on it, but all he got was a comparable feeling he'd had for Sirius at his age of thirteen. This made no sense what so ever, he must be confusing the two.
"I'm sure you're right indeed," Lily sighed in trepidation for the moment that was sure to come about.
"Really Hermione, really?" James ground out. "What on earth made her think it was even a good idea to bring him up there, when she knew full well what that cat would try."
"A worthy use of time," Sirius nodded in agreement, looking for any excuse to get the good mood back in swing. One chapter, that's all he wanted, one chapter where he could actually enjoy the whole thing.
"Everything annoys Hermione this year," James scoffed.
"Homework overload," Sirius offered in his wise old voice, causing at least Harry and Remus to chuckle.
"Now that'd be a nifty trick," Remus smirked.
While Lily agreed Hermione may have been going about her actions the wrong way this year, she still didn't really appreciate her boys' attitude towards her any better. Yet she couldn't come up with a way to tell them off for it that would actually make a difference.
James let out a low, throaty whistle in surprise as he said, "not even that many people left Hogwarts last year."
"Castle used to be this deserted some years for us," Remus shrugged in remembrance, "we personally found it entertaining." He finished with a gesture at Sirius who nodded enthusiastically.
"Urgh," Sirius muttered, "rather he just go casual then."
Remus randomly noted that it couldn't have been the twins who had made the Sneakoscope go off then, if the twins weren't there and apparently Harry, Ron and Hermione were the only ones there, but then what on earth would cause the thing to go off now? It couldn't be set off by an animal could it, had it been set off by Crookshanks' untrustworthy attempts to eat Scabbers? No one else really seemed to notice this, and he wasn't even sure if this was what really was going on, so he decided against saying anything and might have really put it down to a faulty one.
"I think it would have been more of a sight," Remus shrugged, "get to stretch out a bit more."
"Oh boy," James whispered, brows shooting up in excitement as all kinds of possibilities for that scenario played out in his mind.
The five of them lost it all over again, the abrupt reminder causing quite the laughing fit for a moment before Harry gained his breath back and kept reading with a wide stupid grin still in place.
"You lot have much more control than us," Sirius gasped, still massaging at his now abused ribs.
Sirius refused to let his sour mood be ruined then, but he couldn't help but grumble when he realized he once would have loved Dumbledore's random reaction to this, but couldn't shake the reminder that Dumbledore hadn't trusted him! He doubted that smarting would go away anytime soon.
Sirius and James perked up, having noticed one teacher in particular being absent, and more than pleased if it said Remus would take a seat near Harry.
"Rats," James sat back with a pout, this not having been the teacher he'd had in mind.
Sirius didn't bother to smother his amused chuckling at the description one bit.
"She saw herself, doing something she would decide to do?" Remus demanded, rather puzzled by the whole thing.
"I don't question her to deeply," Lily rolled her eyes.
"Wow," Harry blinked in mild surprise at such an advanced level of magic to him.
James released a surprised snort of laughter at all of the hilarity this could cause. Then again, it was a wonder those two were sitting beside each other in the first place.
"How do you softly scream?" Lily snickered.
"I'm sure it's just as dramatic as it sounds," James smirked right back.
"I've never heard that," Remus said with mild interest.
"I have," Sirius said with amusement, "it's a superstition I heard years ago, don't know how real to take it."
"About as real as her whole subject," James rolled his eyes.
Lily's shoulders started shaking with suppressed laughter, as James spoke out loud with just as much amusement, "don't know what she's so worried about. If she's that freaked, her solution is just to not rise first. I'm sure she can manage that."
Lily couldn't help but wrinkle her nose up at the thought of that particular food item, but couldn't deny she was intrigued by who at the table was eating it.
"Rude," Remus sniffed lightly.
"Aw Remus, are you her dear now?" Sirius demanded at once with unsuppressed glee at this new opportunity.
"Oh please," he scoffed with a roll of his eyes, "she called Neville that to, don't be thick."
"Hush you two, I want to hear this," James snapped at the pair.
All five of their faces fell, pity welling up in them for Remus for this to happen to him on the holidays, while Remus was simply wishing no one had mentioned it at all.
"I'll say," Sirius frowned, though personally thinking that at least he was probably around him for company now.
"Oh wow," James spluttered, going wide eyed at this prospect. He'd recognized McGonagall's opinion of Trelawny back during that first class of this year, and now watching them beside each other should only get better.
"I'm so sure that's it," Lily muttered, brushing her hand across her mouth to try and hide her twitching lips.
Sirius didn't bother one bit and even released another snort of amusement for his old teachers wit.
"Looks like we know how to push her buttons," James chirped.
"Looks like Remus cares about it as much then as he does now," Sirius countered as Remus rolled his eyes at the very thought.
Lily couldn't hide it anymore and outright laughed with the others at this continued verbal exchange.
"Oh here we go again," James immediately switched from joyed amusement, to a scowl at this still unexplained phenomenon.
"Relax James," Remus said, leaning forward eagerly, "since Dumbledore's the one who brought it up, maybe they'll explain more properly this time."
"Still thank my lucky stars he's not poisoning it in the meantime," Sirius grumbled.
"And that explained, nothing," Remus scowled, leaning right back into his seat in agitation again.
James and Sirius however couldn't help but exchange a hopeful look all over again. What on earth were the odds that this mysterious potion was being given to Remus two times in a row when it was obvious to them these were the times of his full moon. Maybe they'd been a little too quick to dismiss there original theory, maybe it did have something to do with his lycanthropy? Still neither of them spoke this to anyone, far too anxious they really might get there friends hopes up for nothing.
"Poor kid," Lily nodded in sympathy, knowing that could be quite intimidating.
"Oh boy," Sirius grinned lightly.
"As if she wasn't convinced enough you were going to die," James rolled his eyes in disdain that Harry had so happened to be the one to make this come up again.
"A double murder it is then, unless them doing this undermines the terms of her prediction," Sirius rolled his eyes good naturedly.
"Never thought I'd see the day, but I miss her," James cackled at her continued commentary of this.
"Can't rightly blame her, that was a little rude," Lily shrugged, still smiling along.
"Now what's she up to?" Remus asked curiously.
"Probably looking for a way to keep Crookshanks somewhere else, or I should hope," Lily rolled her eyes, hoping someone would step up and put better measures in place so that scene before wouldn't keep happening.
Which gave them all a little snicker of amusement all over again, only hoping Ron was just joking.
"Well thank Merlin for that," Lily nodded seriously, "that really was giving me a fright."
"Well at least no one's going to be guessing that," Remus grinned.
"Well I should hope so, you haven't even ridden it yet," Sirius beamed.
"Why not take it straight down to the pitch and try it out?" James demanded as if he found it ludicrous Harry hadn't already thought of this.
"We'd just eaten a full meal," Harry reminded, "we were going to head down there after the food had settled a bit." He trailed off with a bit of a frown in place, wondering why on earth he was getting a bad feeling about this, like he hadn't gotten the chance to do it?
"Someone needs to give that advice to Percy," Remus muttered in Sirius' ear, causing him to snort with laughter all over again.
"I'm going to turn green here soon, I'm so jealous," James sighed, already trying to count down the minutes when he could get his own hands on such a beautiful object.
"Wait what?" Remus yelped in shock.
"Why?" Sirius agreed with a frown already in place.
Harry was getting a very bad feeling about this, so he didn't let them theorize much before reading loudly.
"That's usually the only time she comes up there," James said with a sudden spike of concern. She couldn't possibly be up there to tell him that Sirius had been caught, had she? That would be newsworthy enough, but it would probably make him faint from terror.
This thought clearly hadn't crossed anyone else's mind, Harry was still reading on more in curiosity and a touch of confusion then outright fear.
"Oh no," Lily frowned in confusion.
"What did she do?" Sirius suddenly growled, narrowing his eyes in fury.
Remus licked his lips and looked ready to say something, but Harry forced himself to keep reading loudly over them to get a real answer.
"She did!" Remus groaned, placing his face in his hands.
"Don't." Lily cut in when it looked like James and Sirius were going to get truly upset at what this could imply. "Don't you lot sit around badgering on about this. Hermione did what she thought was right, s'not her fault she doesn't know any better. She did what anybody afraid for their friends life would do, and I'm sure McGonagall won't chuck it in the fireplace."
Sirius still muttered something under his breath, but James did marginally relax. Compared to what he'd thought was fixing to happen, this almost seemed mild in comparison.
"Must be a very interesting read I'm sure," Remus rolled his eyes.
"Under any other circumstances, I would have laughed at that," Sirius sighed, knowing how much of a Quidditch nut their old teacher could be, but knowing what this could imply, he'd rather hide that out of her sight for the rest of his life.
"If there had, you'd only freak out all the more," James rolled his eyes.
"Not sure what kind of note that would have been anyway," Sirius huffed in annoyance. "Merry Christmas from your long lost Godfather, here's a kind of apology for missing every other one of your holidays."
"You know I hate it when you do that," Remus snapped at him for the horrible joke, causing Sirius to at least sort of back down.
All five of them sighed in horrible disappointment, not at all pleased they'd been right. Yet with any hope, McGonagall wouldn't really do anything but test the broom to make sure Sirius hadn't done anything, surely she wasn't going to actually destroy the broom...right?
"Thank Merlin," Sirius sighed in relief.
"You'll have that thing back to you by the end of break," Remus smiled, "and they'll be all sorts of humiliated."
James laughed eagerly at that conversation, still more annoyed than anything Harry hadn't gotten to enjoy his gift long enough to even ride it, but so long as he got it back he'd forgive in the end.
"Oh it's not that bad," James reassured when Harry seemed to be getting a growing look of horror at what that could mean. "They don't do anything to the broom physically, they simply put it through a series of rigorous tests to make sure nothing more was done to it then the manufacturer's intended. They do it all the time to professionals to make sure they didn't try and enhance their brooms."
Harry let out a long sigh of relief, having been picturing something far more medieval and irreparable being done to his new treasured gift.
"Wish she would actually believe that," Sirius rolled his eyes.
"Uh-oh," Lily muttered, thinking that these two already had more than enough to fight about, this wasn't going to make it any better.
"Well I can say this for her," Remus grinned, "she stands by what she does."
"Oh the horror," James rolled his eyes.
"Never bleeding crossed our minds," Lily smirked.
"Chapter's over by the way," Harry shrugged, tossing the book back over to Remus, who fumbled a bit and accidentally had it crash into Sirius' head.
"Ouch," Sirius grumbled jerking the book away, "jeez, you klutz, can you even see straight to read."
"Yes," Remus snapped right back, snatching the book back and flipping to his chapter.
*It's never explicitly stated that Ron still has Scabbers in his pocket at this time, but assuming he did, that would actually put thirteen in attendance before Trelawny joined. Dumbledore was the first to rise from that then group of thirteen, and guess who died first at this table. It's not something that'll ever be brought up in fic, but it was fascinating to have that pointed out to me.