Sam and Padfoot

Arthur was the first to wake up in his dormitory the next morning on Saturday.

He first lay there in his bed for a moment, watching the dust swirl in the ray of sunlight that came through the gap in his four poster's hangings, savouring the fact that today's first of the weekend. That first week of term just dragged on forever, like one overlong History of Magic lesson.

Based on the sleepy silence and the fresh look of the beam of sunlight, it's just after daybreak. Arthur opened the curtains around his bed and got dressed.

The only sound other than the distant twittering of birds was the slow, deep breathing of his fellow Gryffindors in the dormitory they shared.

He then opened his school bag carefully and pulled out both a piece of parchment and quill before heading out for the common room.

He went straight to the couch in front of the now extinct fire and looked around the room and saw that the detritus of crumpled up bits of parchment, old Gobstones, empty ingredient jars and sweet wrappers that were common at the end of each day were all gone, making Arthur think of how many how many house elves that work at Hogwarts were up here to clean up.

Arthur then uncorked his ink bottle and dipped his quill into it, thinking about what to write to Sirius for a minute or so.

Now Arthur was able to understand how hard it must've been for David, Chrys and Mike to write letters to him during the summer. How could he tell Sirius what had happened over the past week and ask the questions he wanted answered at the moment without giving away information he didn't want others to know if anyone intercepted the letter.

He sat there looking at the empty grate for a while until he knew what to write. So he proceeded to write it all down on the piece of parchment.

Dear Snuffles,

I hope you're doing okay, our first week back at Hogwarts has been awful in many different ways. I'm just glad it's the weekend right now.

We have a new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher named Umbridge. She can give your mother a run for her money. I'm writing because a certain something happened last night during Keeper tryouts.

We're all missing our biggest friend and hope he gets back soon.

Write back as soon as you can.

Best,

Arthur

He reread the letter to see how it looked from someone who didn't know what he and Sirius knew and would easily interpret it in many different ways.

He knew that Sirius would be smart to pick up on the hint about Hagrid since he didn't want it to be obvious.

And considering how it was a very short letter, it took a long time to write it since sunlight now crept halfway across the room as he worked on it and he could now hear the sounds of movement from the dormitories above.

After carefully sealing the parchment, he climbed through the portrait hole and headed straight for the Owlery.

"I would not go that way if I were you." Nearly Headless Nick said, drifting disconcertingly through a wall just ahead of Arthur as he walked down the passage. "Peeves is planning an amusing joke on the next person to pass the bust of Paracelsus halfway down the corridor."

"Does it involve it falling on top of the person's head?" Arthur asked.

"Funnily enough, it does." Nearly Headless Nick said in a bored voice. "Subtlety has never been Peeves' strong point. I'm off to try and find the Bloody Baron… he might be able to put a stop to it… see you, Arthur…."

"See you…." Arthur said before he turned left instead of right, taking a longer but safer route to the Owlery.

His spirits rose when walking past one window after another seeing the blue sky. And he'd be training later with the Quidditch team.

He felt something brush his ankles and looked to see the caretaker's skeletal grey cat, Mrs Norris, slinking past him. She turned her red eyes on him for a moment before disappearing behind a statue of Wilfred the Wistful.

"I'm not even doing anything wrong." Arthur called after her angrily. She came across as someone or something that would go report to her boss no matter what, even though he was perfectly entitled to walk to the Owlery on a Saturday morning, but he knew that Filch would make any excuse to punish anyone, no matter how ridiculous.

The sun was high in the sky now when Arthur entered the Owlery, where the glassless windows dazzled his eyes; thick silvery beams of sunlight crisscrossed the circular room where hundreds of owls nestled on rafters, a little restless in the early morning light, some having just returned from hunting. The straw coloured floor crunched a bit as he stepped on tiny animal bones as he craned his neck to find Athane among the other barn owls like her.

"There you are." He said upon spotting her near the very top of the vaulted ceiling. "I've got a letter for you to send."

With a low and soft hoot, she stretched her wings and soared down onto his shoulder.

"This may say Snuffles, but it's for Sirius, understand?" Arthur whispered to her as he gave her the letter, which she clasped in her beak. She blinked her dark eyes once and nuzzled against his cheek, meaning she understood.

"Be careful." he said before carrying her to one of the windows and she took off into the blindingly bright sky.

He watched her until she was just a tiny black dot and vanished before he looked down at Hagrid's hut, which was still uninhabited with a smokeless chimney and the curtains drawn.

The treetops of the Forbidden Forest swayed in a light breeze and Arthur watched, savouring the fresh air on his face, excited for Quidditch practice later.

He then saw one of the Thestrals rise up out of the trees like a hauntingly beautiful giant bird.

The Owlery door then opened behind him and he leapt in shock, turning quickly to see that it was just Cho Chang, who was holding a letter and a parcel in her hands.

"Hello." Arthur greeted her, surprised to see her here.

"Oh… hi." She said breathlessly. "I didn't think anyone would be up here this early… I only remembered five minutes ago, it's my mum's birthday." She held up the parcel.

"Oh, right." Arthur said.

"About time the weather turned nice." He then said, gesturing to the windows to spark conversation.

"Yeah." Cho said, looking around for a suitable owl. "Good Quidditch conditions. I haven't been out all week, have you?"

"Not really." Arthur shook his head.

Cho had selected one of the school barn owls, coaxing it down onto her arm where it held out an obliging leg for her to attach the parcel.

"Hey, has Gryffindor got a new Keeper yet?" She then asked.

"David." Arthur replied with a proud grin.

"The Chudley Cannons fan?" Cho said. "Is he any good?"

"Very, especially with that Nimbus Two Thousand and One he got just before we got back to Hogwarts."

Cho looked up, the parcel only half attached to the owl's legs.

"That Umbrdige woman's foul." She then said with a low voice.

"Tell me about it. The way she treats us as little children alone is insulting." Arthur nodded grimly.

The Owlery door suddenly opened just as Arthur finished his sentence and Filch, the caretaker, came in wheezing. There were purple patches on his sunken, veined cheeks, his jowls were aquiver and his thin grey hair was dishevelled; meaning he had run his way here.

Mrs Norris came trotting at his heels, gazing up at the owls overhead and mewing hungrily. This caused a restless shifting of wings from above and a large brown owl snapped his beak in a menacing fashion.

"Aha!" Filch said, taking a flat footed step towards Arthur, his pouchy cheeks with anger. "I've had a tip off that you are intending to place a massive order for Dungbombs!"

"And who told you this completely false accusation?" Arthur said as he folded his arms and glared at him.

Cho looked from Arthur to Filch, frowning; the barn owl on her arm, tired of standing on one leg, gave an admonitory hoot which she ignored.

"I have my sources." Filch said with a satisfied smile. "Now hand over whatever it is you're sending."

"I've already sent my letter, so you're too late." Arthur told him.

"Gone?" Filch's face contorted with rage.

"Yep." Arthur said with a pop on the 'p'.

Filch opened his mouth furiously, mouthing for a few seconds before his eyes raked Arthur's robes.

"How do I know you haven't got it in your pocket?"

"Because -"

"I saw him send it." Cho said angrily, making Filch round on her.

"You saw him -?"

"That's right, I saw him." She said fiercely.

There was a moment's pause where Filch glared at Cho, who glared back before he turned and shuffled back towards the door. He stopped with his hand on the handle and looked back at Arthur.

"If I get so much as a whiff of a Dungbomb…."

He then stumped off down the stairs with Mrs Norris casting one last longing look at the owls before following Filch.

Arthur and Cho then looked at each other.

"Thanks for that." Arthur said gratefully.

"No problem." Cho said, finally fixing the parcel to the barn owl's other leg, her face slightly pink. "You weren't ordering Dungbombs, were you?"

"No, I was just sending a letter." Arthur said.

"I wonder why he thought you were here, then?" She said as she carried the owl to the window.

"I have no idea." Arthur shrugged, very perplexed, though it didn't really bother him at the moment.

The two left the Owlery together and at the entrance of a corridor that led towards the west wing of the castle, Cho said "I'm going this way. Well, I'll… I'll see you around, Arthur."

"See you…." Arthur said, making her smile before departing.

Arthur walked on, thinking about how if he wasn't gay, he would've liked Cho. She seemed nice and the two liked Qudditch. Plus, the fact that she clearly believes his word about what happened to Cedric meant a lot since she had every right to turn against him.

"Morning." He greeted David and Chrys when he joined them at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall.

"Where were you?" David asked.

"I sent a letter to Snuffles." Arthur replied, pulling a large platter of bacon, sausages and scrambled eggs.

The morning post arrived shortly after and as usual, the Daily Prophet soared towards Chrys in the beak of a screech owl, which landed perilously close to the sugar bowl, holding out a leg. Chrys placed a Knut in its leather pouch and took the newspaper, scanning the front page as the owl took off.

"Anything of interest?" David asked.

"No." She sighed. "Just some celebrity trash about the bass player from the Weird Sisters getting married."

She then opened the paper and disappeared behind it. Arthur helped himself to a sausage when Chrys then gasped.

"Oh no. Sirius!" She said.

"What's wrong?" Arthur asked, now worried.

"'The Ministry of Magic has received a tip off from a reliable source that Sirius Black… blah blah blah… is currently hiding in London.'" Chrys read aloud in an anguished whisper.

"Lucius." Arthur hissed and clenched his fists tight.

"Then Sirius can't leave the house again. Dumbledore may have been right to force him there." David said grimly.

Chrys put the Prophet on the table and Arthur grabbed it to read it himself, reading a page where most of it was an advertisement for Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. But then he looked down at the bottom of a column and found an article that was only an inch long that read:

TRESPASS AT THE MINISTRY

Sturgis Podmore, 38, of Number Two, Laburnum Gardens, Clapham, has appeared in front of the Wizengamot charged with trespass and attempted robbery at the Ministry of Magic on 31st August. Podmore was arrested by Ministry of Magic watchwizard Eric Munch, who found him attempting to force his way through a top security door at one o'clock in the morning. Podmore, who refused to speak in his own defence, was convicted on both charges and sentenced to six months in Azkaban.

His eyes widened in shock. This explained why Sturgis didn't show up to escort Arthur and the others to King's Cross station, but also why Sturgis borrowed Moody's best Invisibility Cloak.

Then he remembered his scar hurting that day. It was all starting to connect. He must've been put under the Imperius Curse by Voldemort or a Death Eater and tried to break into the Department of Mysteries, which had to be the top security door the article mentioned. But he got caught and failed, resulting in Voldemort being furious and for Arthur to feel pain in his scar.

"Guys, look." He said, showing David and Chrys the article. Once finished, they were shocked.

"No wonder he wasn't there to see us off." Chrys said in shock.

"And it obviously ain't a job for the Order since Moody was annoyed he didn't show up." David whispered.

"And I think I know what he was doing…." Arthur said, starting to explain his recent conclusion, how it connected to his scar hurting that day and how it had to the Department of Mysteries, revealing that he sometimes sees it in his dreams, and how the Order is protecting what is there that Voldemort's after.

This left the two a bit concerned with what this meant.

But they ultimately decided to focus on finishing off the essay from Sprout on self fertilising shrubs and start on McGonagall's Inanimatus Conjurus Spell before lunch comes.

After that, Arthur and David walked down the sloping lawns to the Quidditch pitch with their broomsticks on their shoulders for the training session and found Angelina in the changing room as they all changed into their Quidditch uniforms.

"You'll be a grear Keeper, David." Kevin said, patting his younger brother's shoulder encouragingly.

"Okay, everyone." Angelina said as she entered from the captain's office. "Let's get to it; Alicia and Jack, if you can just bring out the ball crate for us. Oh, and there are a couple of people out there watching but I want you to just ignore them, alright?"

Arthur already had an idea who these spectators be and as they left the changing room for the bright sunlight of the pitch, his suspicions were confirmed with the catcalls and jeers of the Slytherin Quidditch team and some assorted hangers on, who all grouped halfway up the empty stands and whose voices echoed around the stadium.

"Just ignore them David, you have the same broom as them, and they don't know how good you are." Arthur said before they all mounted their brooms and kicked off the ground.

"Exactly the attitude I want, Arthur." Angelina said approvingly, soaring around them with the Quaffle under arm, slowing to hover on the spot in front of her airborne team. "Okay, everyone we're going to start with some passes just to warm up, the whole team please -"

"Hey, Johnson, what's with that hairstyle, anyway?" Pansy Parkinson shrieked from below. "Why would anyone want to look like they've got worms coming out of their head?"

"She's much better looking than you, pug spawn!" Jack shouted back at her, defending both his captain and his girlfriend.

Angelina swept her long braided hair out of her face, smiling at her boyfriend's defence before continuing. "Spread out, then, and let's see what we can do…."

Arthur reversed away from the team to the far side of the pitch as David fell back towards the opposite goal.

Angelina raised the Quaffle with one hand and threw it hard to Jack, who then passed it to Kevin, who passed it to Arthur, who then passed it to David, catching it with ease, ignoring the Slytherins like they weren't even there.

He then passed it over to Alicia, who passed it back to Arthur, who passed it to Kevin. He then passed to Angelina, who reversed passed to Arthur, surprised by it and catching the Quaffle by the tips of his fingers before passing it quickly to David, who lunged for it and caught it with one arm.

Eventually, they progressed to training the Beaters, Keeper and Seeker roles. The twins and Arthur went to get the crate containing the various balls and the Beaters bats and opened the crate to release the Bludgers and Snitch.

Upon returning to the air, Angelina blew the whistle and Arthur released the Snitch while the twins let a Bludger fly,

From that point on, Arthur's sole focus was on catching the Snitch, barely aware of what the others were doing. He had to recapture that tiny fluttering golden ball that was worth one hundred and fifty points to the Seeker's team, something that requires nothing but speed and skill, which he had in spades. He accelerated, rolling and swerving in and out of the Chasers, feeling that warm Autumn air hitting his face and hearing the distant yells from the Slytherins, which were nothing but meaningless roaring in his ears.

Arthur was able to catch the Snitch within a short amount of time and David was able to save every single goal this time.

By the end of training, Angelina said that they were a great team and that they'll have a great chance to win the Quidditch Cup, ignoring the Slytherins, who went the desperate tactic of chanting "Gryffindor are losers, Gryffindor are losers".

"How was practice?" Chrys asked half an hour later when Arthur and David climbed through the portrait hole into the Gryffindor common room.

"It was good, the Slytherins, naturally, tried to sabotage it with their cheap mockery." David replied, sinking into the couch next to Chrys.

The whole of Sunday was spent in the common room, buried in their books as the room around them filled up and then emptied.

They were able to finish up McGonagall's essay on the Inanimatus Conjurus Spell and now focused on Sinestra's long and difficult essay about Jupiter's many moons, which was the only essay to date to rattle Arthur's brain.

Chrys was over by a corner chatting with Mary with Crookshanks in her lap and Mike was doing his homework with Arthur to spend some time with him.

"That was smart, to not push Umbridge." Mike whispered.

"I couldn't, she doesn't deserve the satisfaction of punishing me." Arthur replied.

"Of course, it still doesn't help that she's refusing to have us use magic." Mike noted.

"Tell me about it. No doubt for some ridiculous reason that is too stupid for people to believe." Arthur growled.

"Hey, calm down… we don't want you to let that anger get the better of you in front of Umbridge, don't we?" Mike said soothingly, rubbing Arthur's back, unknowingly sending goosebumps up Arthur's body.

"I think I'm gonna have to have you to calm me down from now on." Arthur suggested, already feeling calm, mainly because it's Mike.

As Arthur continued working, the sky outside the windows became steadily darker. Slowly, the crowd in the common room emptied up and all that remained were Arthur, David, Chrys and Mike by half past eleven.

They took a break from doing their homework and all sat playing some Exploding Snap.

"Hey, look!" Chrys said, pointing at the nearest window where a handsome screech owl stood on the window sill, gazing right at David.

"Apollo." Chrys said, referring to Sam's owl.

"It is!" David said, crossing to the window. "Why would Sam write to me?"

He opened the window and Apollo flew in, landing by everyone else and held out a leg that a letter was attached to. David took the letter off and the owl departed immediately.

David then opened up the letter and all four read it:

Dear David,

I've learned of Umbridge being hired as the Defence Against the Dark Arts Teacher this year at Hogwarts.

You're probably wondering why she was even hired, well, it was because of a new Educational Decree made without Dumbledore's knowing, that if he doesn't find a new teacher, then the Ministry will appoint one for him.

And there's news about Umbridge at Hogwarts that I can't say but it is not good. It'll be in the Daily Prophet tomorrow.

And furthermore, I've learned some rather 'interesting' stuff about her, making sure no one noticed I was looking into her.

She keeps telling people that she's a pure-blood, when she's actually a half-blood with a Muggle mother and a Squib brother. Her father worked at the Ministry in the Department of Magical Maintenance, which would be embarrassing for someone like her.

She also despises half-breeds, Muggle-Borns and Muggles as a whole. I talked to people who've heard her speak drunkenly about what she'd do to Muggles and such, and even the most anti-Muggle were disturbed by her beliefs and suggestions.

Trust me, she's nothing but a sadistic and power hungry woman. So be careful and try not to oppose her.

Wish you and the others luck,

Sam

All four looked at each with, shocked by what they've just learned.

"She's worse than I ever expected her to be." Chrys said, now scared of what Umbridge will do to her since she's a Muggle-Born.

"And this is even more proof to not get on her bad side." Mike said, looking over to Arthur, who grimly nodded, now needing to be careful.

With this grave letter, which David threw in the fire, just so that Umbridge won't find it, the four continued doing their homework all the way past midnight.

After Arthur was able to finally finish Sinestra's homework, he took a break by staring at the fire.

Suddenly, something formed there, flashing into sight and vanishing immediately.

"Here, write this down." Chrys said to David, pushing a book to him and pointing out a certain paragraph. "Then you'll be able to write down your conclusion."

"Thanks." David said as he wrote it down, but then he noticed that Arthur was now on his knees in front of the fire. "Uh, Arthur, what are you doing?"

"I could've sworn I saw Sirius' head in the fire." Arthur said.

"His head?" Mike asked in confusion. "Like when he talked to you during the Triwizard Tournament? But why would he - Sirius!"

Mike, David and Chrys all gasped (David dropping his quill) as they saw Sirius' head in the middle of the flames, his long hair falling around his grinning face.

"I was starting to think you'd go to bed before everyone else had disappeared." He said. "I've been checking every hour."

"You actually popped your head in the fire every hour?" Arthur asked, partly amused.

"Just a few seconds to check if the coast was clear."

"But what if you were seen?" Chrys said anxiously.

"Well, I think a girl - first year, by the look of her - might've got a glimpse of me earlier, but don't worry." He said hastily when Chrys clapped a hand to her mouth. "I was gone the moment she looked back at me and I'll bet she just thought I was an oddly shaped log or something."

"But this is a huge risk -" Chrys began.

"You sound like Molly." Sirius said, "This was the only way I could come up with of answering Arthur's letter without resorting to a code, and codes are breakable. Anyway, your scar?"

"Yeah, it hurt during Keeper tryouts, and since it's linked with Voldemort feeling any strong surge of emotion, do you have any idea what happened that could've made him happy or angry?"

"I don't know, but now that he's back, it's bound to hurt more often." Sirius replied. "And you have Umbridge as your new teacher?"

"Yeah, she's so foul. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if she'd be a Death Eater." Arthur said.

"Well, she is a nasty piece of work, you should hear Remus talk about her."

"And what's that?" Mike asked, considering the letter they read earlier from Sam.

"She drafted a bit of anti-werewolf legislation two years ago that makes it almost impossible for him to get a job."

This explained how his robes were shabbier than before, making everyone's dislike of Umbridge grow deeper.

"What else has she done against other half-breeds?" David asked darkly.

"Well, she campaigned to have mer-people rounded up and tagged last year. Imagine wasting your time and energy persecuting merpeople when there are little toerags like Kreacher on the loose."

That made everyone laugh.

"So what are Umbridge's lessons like? Is she training you to kill half-breeds?" Sirius then asked.

"No, she's just not letting us use any magic at all." Arthur shook his head.

"Yeah, all we do is read from some stupid textbook as she treats us like five year olds." David added.

"Ah, well, that figures. Our information from inside the Ministry is that Fudge doesn't want you trained in combat."

"Combat?" Arthur said incredulously. "That idiot seriously thinks we're trying to form some wizard army?"

"That's exactly what he thinks you're doing…" Sirius said. "...or, rather, that's exactly what he's afraid Dumbledore's doing, forming his own private army, with which he will be able to take on the Ministry of Magic."

There was a pause as everyone soaked in what he just said.

"That has to be the most stupid thing I've ever heard in my life." Mike said. "Even more than what Luna Lovegood says."

"We're actually being prevented from learning Defence Against the Dark Arts because Fudge is stupid to be scared of us using spells against the Ministry?" Chrys said, looking absolutely furious.

"Yep." Sirius said. "Fudge thinks Dumbledore will stop at nothing to seize power. He's getting more paranoid about Dumbledore by the day. It's a matter of time before he has Dumbledore arrested on some trumped up charge."

"Sam sent us a letter saying that news about Umbridge about Hogwarts will come, any idea if that has something to do with it?" David asked.

"I don't know." Sirius said. "I haven't seen anyone from the Order all weekend, they're all busy. It's just been Kreacher and me here…."

There was nothing but bitterness in his voice when he said that.

"So you haven't heard anything about Hagrid, then?" Arthur asked.

"Ah… well, he was supposed to be back by now, no one's sure what's happened to him." Sirius noticed their stricken faces, adding quickly "But Dumbledore's not worried, so don't you four get yourselves in a state, I'm sure Hagrid's fine."

"But if he's supposed to be back by now…." Chrys said anxiously, worried about what the giants could've done to him.

"Madame Maxime was with him, we've been in touch with her and she says they got separated on the journey home, but there's nothing to suggest he's hurt or - well, nothing to suggest he's not perfectly okay."

This left the four unconvinced as they exchanged worried looks.

"Listen, don't go asking too many questions about Hagrid…" Sirius said hastily. "...it'll just draw even more attention to the fact that he's not back and I know Dumbledore doesn't want that. Hagrid's tough, he'll be okay."

They weren't cheered up by this, so Sirius then said "When's your next Hogsmeade weekend, anyway? I was thinking, we got away with the dog disguise at the station, didn't we? I thought I could -"

"NO!" All four said very loudly.

"Didn't you read the Daily Prophet?" Chrys asked anxiously.

"Oh, that…" Sirius grinned. "...they're always guessing where I am, they haven't really got a clue -"

"They do!" Arthur cut him off. "Draco on the train hinted that he knows your Animagus form, thanks to his father, Lucius, who recognised you on the platform, thanks to Wormtail."

"Alright, alright, I've got the point." Sirius said, looking a bit disappointed. "Just an idea, thought you might like to get together."

"I do, but not at risk of you being chucked back into Azkaban!" Arthur told him.

Sirius looked at his godson with a sad fondness on his face.

"You are so much like your father, he always felt unnecessary risks were too dangerous. Anyway, I'd better get going. I'll write to tell you a time I can make it back into the fire."

There was a tiny pop and then Sirius' head was gone.

Things are about to get worse for Hogwarts the next chapter. Though there will be one bright spot in all of this, thanks to my favourite Harry Potter character.