Chapter 18

Harry had sent a reply back, saying they would meet up Friday, as they knew this could take a while. So it would be best, that if they were missed it was on weekend, rather than school night. That and it would also mean they could take a nap in the afternoon, or sleep in late if they got back early enough.

Their trip out of the castle turned out not to be as easy as one would have thought. While they could all turn invisible one way or another. It turned out to be a little hard keeping track of all of them as they traveled down from the Gryffindor tower. More than once they felt like they were about to be caught. But with a little bit of luck they were finally able to slip out of the front doors.

"Oh I am going to be happy to stop sneaking around," Hermione said to Harry as they hurried across the lawn towards a willow that was standing alone in the ground.

"Agreed," Harry said, as they stopped just out of reach of the tree.

This tree, as Harry had learned a few years ago was not any normal tree. It was true that most of the trees had magic in them around Hogwarts, allowing them to grow stronger, faster, and taller than most others of their kind. But this tree was special even beyond them. For one, its name was "Whomping Willow" and it lived up to that name very well. All students knew that to go near it, was risking grievous injury. For when you came within range of its branches the tree would lash out at the person trying to smash them into dust. And thanks to its size, that was very much possible. Though most did not know why it was planted there in the first place, and those that did know where forbidden to tell the others.

Remus Lupin, their previous Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, had been a werewolf. And when he was a young boy, Dumbledore had let Remus go to school, something most others would have never allowed. But in order to keep others safe from Remus, as a werewolf could not control itself during the time of the full moon, they had a secret passage built out to an old house in Hogsmeade then placed the Whomping Willow over the top of it. Thus, this would keep kids from sneaking into the passage while Remus was dangerous, and would also keep Remus from escaping as the passage.

Now it was rather useless though, and stood alone in the grounds. For two reasons, one there were no known current kids who were werewolves that needed to go to school. And two the invention of the Wolf's Bane Potion, which was able to ease the transformation process, and allow the changing person to keep their mind. Plus it had been rather hard to get it there in the first place, so no one saw any reason to move it unless they had to. Still though, the placed served as an extent place to stay hidden, or talk with someone who did not wish to be found.

"Still as creepy as ever," Rainbow Dash said, looking about the house again, once they had slipped into the passage and into the house.

"Well it would not stay so abandoned, if it looked welcome," Twilight commented looking about, suppressing a shiver as she looked about the place.

All around them were signs of Lupin's inner darkness. The werewolf uncontrolled and without someone to bite, would attack anything even itself. As such barely one piece of furniture in the entire house remained intact. The closet chair to them, was made of very thick solid piece of oak had one of its legs torn clean off, with said leg in two pieces on the other side of the room.

"Come on, Sirius will not be here. We need to go upstairs," Harry said, leading the way, though drawing his wand as he went.

They had all agreed that the letter had more than likely come from Sirius. But they knew better than to take any chances by this point. With the tournament getting so close to ending, and Harry still very much alive, it was more than likely whoever was targeting Harry would be likely be trying to oust him rather than risk Harry pulling off another impressive or easy win.

So they slipped up the stair slowly and quietly as was possible in the old house. Harry and Hermione no longer hidden under the cloak, while the others carefully remained hidden under invisibility spells. They finally came to the master bedroom in the house, and Harry carefully pushed opened the door to it. Across from the doorway stood a man waiting for them and grinning with joy.

"It is good to see you again Harry," the man, Sirius Black said.

Sirius had changed a good deal since Harry had last seen him. But not in a bad way thankfully, as he had looked terrible last they had seen him. The color had returned to his skin, leaving it no longer the waxy white it had once been. His hair which had been an elbow length matted mess was now much shorter, trimmed and clean. And the shadows around his eyes were no longer visible. Though his eyes did not still hold the former light they had used to hold.

"Indeed it is," Harry said smiling, as he looked about the place, "It has been too long."

Sirius nodded, before his face became grim, "So mind telling me what is going on?"

"Yes, but first, we need to see to make sure you are who you say you are," Harry said, more than a slight bit apolitically.

"How about my offer of a house while we were walking out last year?" Sirius said, after a few thoughtful moments.

Harry nodded after a few moments, "Well then sit down because this is going to take a while to explain. Well explain everything."

Sirius shrugged and sat down on the nearby bed and began to listen. It took nearly four hours for Harry to tell the entire story of his life. This was because Sirius really knew only a small portion of it, as such it was better to tell him all the details, then answer questions that he may have afterwards. Then after another hour of questioning, in which Harry introduced Sirius to the ponies, Harry then explained their plans for the future.

Sirius was surprised, to say the least. He had grown up with a wizarding family, and knew most if not everything that could be done with magic. But still something like this surprised him. Sure he had known ghosts could possessed items, and that Night had been likely just that. But for her to actually be a real living creature from another world was truly weird.

But Sirius was not to unhappy with this either. For him, the prospect of leaving was not a bad thing, though he thought it might be a good idea to drag along Remus Lupin if he was willing to go. It would free them both up from a world of fear and hiding they had been forced to live through. And it would allow them both a new start, Lupin even more so than Sirius, as there were a number of spells known to the pony race that might actually be able to combat the werewolf, and remove it for good.

"So, you just need to get through the third task," Sirius said, looking thoughtful.

"Yep, and there is a good chance this will be either the hardest or easiest one yet," Night said.

"It might very well be. I remember my great Grandfather talking about the tournament once. The final task has just as much to do with luck as with skill. Something about traveling down a mine shaft to locate the cup," Sirius said, shrugging.

"Well I guess they could do that out here, though a maze would make more sense, I mean the grounds are big enough to hold a rather large one," Hermione said, thinking on what might make a good third challenge like a mine shaft search.

"Maybe, but as it is, we are going to be shown what the final task is, about a month in advance, giving us time to prepare," Harry said, before glancing at Sirius, "Will you be okay till then, or should we try and get you some food?"

"A meal would be great, but make sure to change up which owls your using so it is harder to track," Sirius replied.

They talked for several more hours before Harry and company finally headed back up the school. It was very late, and Hermione was leaning a little on Harry as they snuck through the castle. Still though, as they reached the safety of the common room, then their dorm rooms. Harry could not help but feel the night had gone rather well.

Harry thought, as such, as he began to fall asleep. Were only of one thing. Spending a day in Equestria with Night, Luna, Rainbow Dash, and the rest of his friends and family.