Chapter 20 A Final Prank

Dumbledore was worried.

First, he'd been rebuffed from making his apologies to Sirius. He was just now coming to grips with the repercussions of his mistake regarding the wizard. He knew that Sirius was named Harry's godfather and now that he had been exonerated it was only a matter of time before he petitioned for guardianship of the boy.

To make matters worse, the wards around Privet Drive had suddenly and inexplicably fallen. Shattered more like. As if they had never been.

Yes, he was worried.

He had apparated to Privet Drive and inspected the wards or in this case the lack of wards. Magic always leaves a trace, and he realized that Harry no longer considered Privet Drive his home. He sighed and worried his long fingers along his beard smoothed his outlandish robes, knowing some of the damage he would find went to the door and rang the bell.

A smiling Petunia answered the door, took a look at the oddly dressed man on her doorstep, and politely asked, "Yes? May I help you?" She glanced up and down the street to see if any of her neighbors were noticing the odd stranger.

Dumbledore bowed a bit to the tall skinny woman and said, "So sorry to disturb you, Mrs. Dursley. I'm here to inquire about your nephew. Harry Potter."

Petunia looked shocked then angry. "My nephew is dead, sir, along with my sister and her lovely husband. A tragedy that I still grieve over. I do not appreciate you coming by to open old wounds!"

Albus stared at the woman, meeting her angry gaze with an intensity that frightened her. She took a defensive step back. Dumbledore sighed heavily. "I see. I must have been misinformed. I'm sorry to disturb you, ma'am."

Albus took his leave and walked away. Petunia Dursley slammed the door shut forcefully behind her. "Too late then." Petunia had been obliviated by none other than Allister Moody. The Ministry was meddling.

Albus frowned and began walking down the street toward Arabella's home. Perhaps she knew what had happened. But Dumbledore was quite sure that Sirius Black was behind it all.

Twenty minutes later he was back in Hogwarts looking pale and shaken.

Harry had disappeared shortly after his visit to the alley with Hagrid. Petunia had told Arabella, when she had asked if Harry was available to do some lawn work for her, that the boy had been sent to a summer camp for juvenile delinquents, then he would be going to St. Brutus's, a boarding school for troubled teens.

Dudley had gone to summer camp too, though that had been a bit earlier in the year. Her report would show that the Dursleys seemed to be including Harry in more activities, Arabella informed him. They even took him to the zoo. It was that time of year when muggles seemed willing to turn over their precious children to strangers who would take them out into the woods and teach them things like how to start fires and eat something called smores.

He didn't know enough about muggles and their child-rearing customs to know whether this was true. For a moment he distracted himself with the possibility of a summer program and then shook himself out of his daydreaming. Harry Potter was missing. The wards on Privet Drive were irrevocably broken, and Sirius Black was most certainly behind it.

He could see the problem but not a solution.

His gaze went to a cluttered shelf and several whizzing and whirling instruments. Harry Potter was alive. He pulled parchment and ink toward him and began another letter to Sirius Black.

Fawks sensing his disquiet and concern trilled a soothing song and flew to the arm of his chair. "Yes, my friend. You are right. I'm a meddling old fool. But please deliver this to Lord Black."

Professor McGonagall was the first to arrive for the reading of the will and was led into a large Gringotts conference room. A pair of Goblin guards verified her identity before she was allowed into the room. She was dressed smartly in a tartan overcoat with a matching hat.

Madam Bones of the DMLE and one of her assistants were huddled together looking over some documents. A goblin accountant, she assumed, was also in the room watching the proceedings with an intimidating sneer.

Amelia Bones looked up from the stack of parchment before her and smiled at the Deputy Headmistress. "Ah, good morning Minerva." She greeted the woman. "I'm glad you could pull yourself away from Hogwarts with such short notice. I know it's a busy time of year."

Minerva nodded and the two women shook hands. "It is. But I must confess to some measure of curiosity Amelia. The letter didn't mention whose will we would be reading."

Amelia nodded. "I'm afraid you'll have to be patient just a bit longer. I apologize for the cloak and dagger but I promise everything will be made clear."

Minerva nodded and took a seat in one of the chairs set in neat rows.

She didn't have to wait long for the rest of the beneficiaries to begin filing in.

First came Snape who, seeing her, took the seat next to her and nodded respectfully, "Minerva." He greeted, then asked, "Any idea whose will we are here for?" The potions master asked.

Minerva shook her head and muttered, "Unfortunately no."

Snape was followed soon after by Hagrid and Filch who arrived together. Minerva and Snape gave each other equally confused glances. Augusta Longbottom and her grandson Neville arrived after them and found seats across the aisle.

The mystery deepened when the Tonks family arrived followed closely by Remus Lupin.

"Quite the eclectic gathering" Her younger colleague snarled towards the wizard. Remus for his part simply smiled at the professors and took a seat in the back corner. The potion master was sitting ramrod straight now fingering his wand.

The door opened one last time and a young Harry Potter escorted by the recently exonerated Sirius Black entered the conference room after greeting Amelia Bones they headed to the front to take the reserved seats directly in front of him.

Both Harry and Sirius were dressed in fine robes, the boy in forest green, beneath his robes a starched collar and simple black tie peeked through. The Potter crest was prominently displayed in red and gold silk embroidery, but one didn't need to recognize that he was a potter by his crest, it was stamped into the young wizard's features, and his messy black hair. But his eyes, those were all Lily.

Sirius in contrast was dressed in black. Form-fitting sleeveless dueling robes hugged his upper body and flared at his hips falling to his knees. A black silk shirt and dark leather pants tucked into dragon hide boots completed the ensemble and projected the image of a powerful and dangerous wizard. Sirius guided Harry to a seat in the front row, reserved for the Heir, and the Heirs guardian. His gray-eyed gaze scanned the room before landing on Snape and a frisson of pure hate passed between the pair.

McGonagall saw it and hissed, "Behave yourself, Severus. You're not a child anymore." Snape cast her an outraged look but settled back crossing his arms with a scowl towards the back of Sirius Black's head.

There were soft murmurs throughout the room but it hushed fairly quickly when Amelia Bones looked up and seemed to take a headcount. She gathered a small stack of papers, walked towards the front of the room, and stood within a runic circle etched upon the floor. As they were Goblin runes none save the Goblin observer knew what their full purpose was. They flared to life however as she began to speak and everyone could hear her clearly.

"Thank you all for coming. I apologize for the clandestine nature of these proceedings but before we begin I will need a magical oath that what you learn today will not be discussed with anyone outside of this room until the details are released to the public." Amelia let a hard gaze pass over each person. Seeing no one shifting uncomfortably over the restrictions she continued. "You are free to discuss the details amongst yourselves and some of you may be excused early from the reading. If you have a wand can you please raise them, if not raise your left hand?"

There was a flurry of movement as everyone took the oath, even Harry and Neville, who each stood ramrod straight, serious expressions upon their faces as they took magical vows, for each it would be the first bit of magic they had performed with their wands. Though technically it wasn't a spell.

Amelia took a moment letting her gaze travel over this odd collection of witches and wizards. She nodded to her assistant, a quiet and unassuming witch dressed in simple blue ministry robes who walked over to a back room and soon returned with what looked like a veiled painting.

"We are here to read the wills of James Charlus Potter and Lily Jean Potter nee Evans." Amelia took a long look around letting the gasps and mutters settle down.

"We will begin with the last will and testament of James Charlus Potter." Amelia took a breath and looked pained for a moment. "James Potter and his friends from school left behind their portrait in Lord Potter's trust vault and according to his last wishes, I am to let him address you and make his final wishes for each of you known in his own voice." She cleared her throat at the blank-faced witches and wizards in the room. She gave a stern nod and stepped aside as her assistant unveiled the painting, revealing a portrait of three young men captured on the canvas. A golden plaque at the bottom of the frame read 'The Marauders'.

Harry could scarcely believe when he saw that Peter was missing from the frame. Sirius leaned over and whispered, "Remus was able to get the artist to come and erase Peter today while we were talking with the Dursleys." Sirius whispered to him.

There were gasps and sniffles now as everyone became transfixed by the image of James Potter, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin captured within the canvas. James Potter stepped forward while the other two settled in the background.

"Good morning." He smiled and scanned the room pausing on each face for a moment then grinned. "You all look so old!" There was a moment of shock followed by several chuckles.

"So I guess I'm dead and I get my last words and you get my stuff." He smiled. "From what I understand I've been dead quite a while. Well better late than never I suppose." He cleared his throat and nervously pushed his glasses up on his nose. "Now… Let's see." James glanced at Madam Bones. "If it's alright with you I'm going to dispense with all the legalese and just do this my way."

Madam Bones nodded in bemusement. "That is fine."

James nodded ok. "So first on the list. To Minerva McGonagall, I leave my broom collection as well as ten thousand galleons to be used in any way she sees fit." He paused and flashed a smile towards his former Professor. "I just want to say Aunt Minnie you were my favorite teacher and a wonderful head of house. You were always fair. I'm also aware that my son is going to be at Hogwarts this year and want to thank you in advance for looking out for him. Not that you should consider this a bribe in any way for preferential treatment."

James smiled towards the stern witch who was dabbing at her eyes with a conjured handkerchief. Minerva shook her head. "I don't really deserve it." She sniffed.

"Nonsense. You deserve the world. But all I thought to leave you are 25 brooms in my collection, though they are over ten years old, and likely considered antiques by today's standards," James sighed sadly, "they are all top-notch brooms and well taken care of. Also if you are looking for a team mascot or assistant coach don't hesitate to ask!" James shamelessly plugged and portrait Moony cleared his throat reminding James to keep on task. Though his comments had given the transfiguration teacher a contemplative almost Slytherin expression.

Snape glanced over at her and he sneered. "What?" She asked innocently.

Snape huffed and crossed his arms, wishing he was anywhere but trapped in this room. He felt acid roil in his gut. The crucio at the Dark Lord's hand would be preferable to the humiliation he knew was coming.

"Right. Who's next? His eyes went immediately to Snapes and his smile faltered. "To Severus Snape, I leave an apology." Snape looked murderous and Prongs smirked. "Yeah I would prefer hexing you too, but I made a promise to be…" He glanced at Harry and his expression softened, "good."

Snape growled, "For the love of Merlin just get on with it."

James nodded. "Fine. I'm sorry I bullied you in school. I was immature, mean, jealous, and a complete ass. You were Lily's best friend. I did everything I could to turn her against you and to humiliate you. So for what it's worth, I'm sorry."

The apology sounded contrite but Snape knew his childhood nemesis had plotted to humiliate him one last time. An elaborate prank from the bloody grave! He crossed his arms across his chest defensively and sneered at all the curious looks cast his way. He missed Harry's look of understanding and empathy.

Harry hated being the center of attention and knew in Snape's place he'd be embarrassed.

Then James rubbed his hands together in anticipation, "Now for the good shit." Snape's brow lowered in warning, as he contemplated setting the blasted portrait ablaze. The spell for fiendfyre rose to his mind almost unbidden. He'd never use it. He was much too disciplined to cast such a reckless spell. But oh it would be so satisfying. He turned back to Potter's words.

"I'm leaving you my memories of every single detention I ever got and every single time Lily yelled at me for pranking you. The memory of Lily punching me and breaking my nose, the memory of Lily stealing my broom and she never did tell me what she did with it."

Moony again cleared his throat a bit more forcefully and loudly,

"Right." James pushed his glasses up again, "And I'm leaving you several secret family potion recipes and some rare potion books from the Potter library. I'm pretty sure nothing I can do is going to make up for the terrible way I treated you in school, but perhaps you can not blame my son for my horrible mistreatment of you."

Snape was willing a hole to open up and swallow him. God, he hated that man. He wished he could bring him back to life and hex him dead again. Minerva was watching him with some concern.

"Am I forgiven? If you hold a grudge I won't be able to move on. I'll have to wander Hogwarts as a lost and lonely spirit. Who knows, maybe my spirit can take over for Binns in History. I couldn't possibly do a worse job."

"Forgiven Potter." Severus hissed angrily, desperate to have the spotlight removed from him.

James nodded, "Excellent." Finally, taking his attention from the fuming Slytherin to the Tonks family with a warm smile.

"So hello Andy." He gave the older woman a deferential nod. "I'm really glad to see you looking so well, and you too Ted. You two don't know this, but I always admired that you gave up everything for love. I was inspired by both of you. His eyes drifted to Nymphadora who was sitting between her parents, hair cycling between bubblegum pink and blue.

"I don't know if you remember this but Sirius brought me and Moony over to meet you when you were born and I was your favorite." He grinned, "We babysat you and you are the reason that Lily first saw me as boyfriend material I guess. Sirius had invited her along as well and she saw how good I was with you and next thing you know…"

Moony interrupted. "James…"

"Right. To Andromeda Tonks nee Black, I bequeath 100,000 galleons. The amount of money you should have received in your dowry. I know that it is unheard of, but my mother was a Black and she was very upset at your expulsion from the family. So I'm just following my mother's wishes."

Andromeda looked shell-shocked and surreptitiously wiped a tear from her eye. Ted handed her a handkerchief and she smiled at him gratefully.

James grinned at her and then said, "Nymphadora…"

"Tonks. Call me Tonks please." Her hair turned bright red again.

Prongs smirked, "Tonks then." James's smirk was contagious and he continued without missing a beat. "I leave 25,000 galleons. I hope you use it to further your education in whatever mastery you choose. Also, I leave you a rare book called, Metamorph Magic. I think you'll find it useful."

Tonks beamed and said, "Thanks cousin James." with a cheeky grin that earned a bit of an eye-roll from her more reserved mother.

James gave her a playful wink and then looked over toward where Filch and Hagrid sat together. "Hagrid. It's very good to see you, big guy. Harry tells me you took him to the Alley and introduced him to the magical world."

Minerva McGonagall straightened at that piece of news her eyes moving towards Harry and then wincing. Dumbledore had told her that he was seeing to Harry's Hogwarts introduction personally so she needn't worry about it. The old coot had sent Hagrid!? She was going to kill him.

Hagrid nodded and smiled, "It was a great honor."

James nodded and smiled, "Well in honor of the friendship you showed us Marauders while we were at school and the friendship I hope you will continue to show to the students of Hogwarts I am bequeathing you a letter of introduction to Newt Scamandor. He owes my family a life debt." James explained. "I know you don't value money or the like, but I can't help but think that you should at least be valued. So I'm donating 20,000 galleons to the Hogwarts groundkeeping fund. I've also taken the liberty of asking Newt Scamandor, a particularly favorite student of yours I think, to come to Hogwarts and help you make an assessment of the grounds and its creatures."

Hagrid smiled and pulled an oversized hanky out of his pocket and blew his nose. It sounded like a foghorn echoing off the walls. "I don't know what to say.' He nodded to the portrait when he had regained his composure somewhat. "Thank you."

James grinned and said, "Well I also thought that my son might enjoy meeting him and so if it's okay with you Minerva, I might have suggested he might want to teach Care of Magical Creatures as a visiting teacher. He has access to quite the menagerie and Hogwarts students would have an opportunity to meet him."

Everyone in the room had some inkling about the wizard. Even Harry had been reading Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Neville and Harry shared an excited look between them.

James cleared his throat and then his gaze moved to Filch. "To Mr. Filch." James looked embarrassed. I wanted to give also a formal apology. Many of the Marauder's pranks were aimed at you and Mrs. Norris and you posed a worthy challenge." He bowed towards the caretaker as did the other two Marauders who had taken the proverbial backseat during the entire exchange.

"We are truly sorry for causing so many problems for you during our time at Hogwarts. Mrs. Norris too. And we therefore have decided to give you a gift that should make up for it. We were the ones that got you banned from the Hogwarts kitchens and have written out a full confession to the house elves about what happened during our first Halloween feast. It should be enough to lift the ban. Also, we have a list of secret passages that we discovered during our time, and have decided to turn them over to you. It's not a good idea to have secret ways into and out of the castle, especially when I think of Harry's safety."

James glanced over to Minerva who was staring at James's portrait with an expression that could not look any more scandalized. Sirius and Remus were staring at James's portrait in shock. Neither had ever even considered the security risk that the passages presented. Neither Harry nor Neville seemed particularly chuffed that they wouldn't be able to sneak out of the castle as neither were rulebreakers and couldn't imagine a scenario where they would be trying to sneak in or out of the castle, and in fact, were somewhat relieved that it would be harder for someone to do so.

Mr. Filch for his part was rubbing his hands together with glee at the boons the Potter lad had left him. He smiled happily and every single person wished that he hadn't. It was an unnatural expression on the dour man's face and the state of his teeth was atrocious.

James then moved on to the Longbottoms. He bowed elegantly to Augusta and then another bow to Neville. "As you and I both know, Neville's mother Alice was named Harry's godmother, and Lily and I were named Nevilles. If we had lived and Alice and Frank had not been attacked our sons would have been raised like brothers."

His gaze moved to Sirius who was staring at his friend's portrait with a mixture of unfathomable pain and amusement. The portrait of his best friend was seemingly enjoying every drama-filled moment of this. James sighed and said, "I was sorry to hear about what happened to Alice and Frank Augusta. I was to leave Alice and Frank 100,000 galleons. In addition, I am instructing the Goblins and Lady Bones to divert the cost of their care from the Potter vault. I wish there was more that I could do Augusta but if you wouldn't mind visiting with my portrait later. I'd like to discuss what more can be done."

Lady Longbottom was shell-shocked and for once at a loss for cutting words. She nodded and her grip on her grandson's hand caused the boy to wince.

James then moved his attention to Neville and he smiled, "I don't have to tell you Neville how sorry I am that I wasn't in your life. Nothing I can give you can make up for the lack of parents or godparents. However, I can try." He winked at the young man. "To Neville Longbottom, I leave 100,000 galleons to help pay for his education and mastery of his choice when he graduates Hogwarts. I also noticed you're using your dad's wand. You will need your own wand if you want to reach your magical potential." He cast a somewhat reprimanding glance towards Augusta who had drawn herself up defensively but James only needed to give her a knowing look and she deflated and whatever remark she had been about to make died on her lips.

There was a rustle of robes from Snape as he impatiently shifted in his chair. He was dying to leave and drink himself into a stupor. James was deliberately drawing the proceedings out. 'Attention seeking, egomaniac.' he thought uncharitably. Snape sneered and crossed his arms in exasperation. "Can we move things along?" He asked Madam Bones who was watching all the goings on in bemusement. This was truly the strangest will reading she had ever attended. The emotionally charged atmosphere was almost palpable.

She cleared her throat and James sighed, "Fine, fine. Moving along." Neville was reeling. He had a feeling that the windfall couldn't have come at a more fortuitous time, judging by his gran's reaction. He could feel her relief sweeping through him like honey. He would talk to her later about what this meant for them, and he felt a fissure of concern. Had things been that bad?

He gave Harry a cautious glance and his friend was staring almost unblinkingly towards the portrait. Listening to the bequests and wondering just how much money did the Potters have? He wasn't great at math but the numbers sure were racking up.

James then moved on to his best mates. His gaze swept the room and landed on Remus. "Hey Moony. So I finally get to give something to you and you have to take it." He rubbed his hands together gleefully. "For your undying friendship, loyalty, and just plain being one of the best blokes in the whole world. I'm leaving you 100,000 galleons. I'm also leaving you my half of the London Flat. Sirius still owns the other half I assume?"

Sirius shrugged. He hadn't been back there since his arrest. "I'm also leaving you the Potter library. Or at least access to it." He saw Remus practically start drooling. "You need to help teach Harry his family history." He explained.

"I have also included a sizable reward for any witch or wizard who finds a cure." He gave Remus a pointed look, "A one million galleon reward." He declared to the collective gasp of the audience. "Lily was working on a solution before she died. I'll be leaving you with her research." He smiled benignly. "She seemed pretty excited about a possible solution so… I hope it helps cause if anyone deserves a good life, it's you, Moony."

Remus wiped at his cheeks with the back of his hand and nodded. "Thanks Prongs." He whispered.

Snape blinked and swallowed back a sense of excitement and shock at the info bomb. Lily was trying to cure Lupin's lycanthropy? Why didn't she come to him? He could have helped. He could have…

Reality crashed like a ton of bricks and he scowled at the memories. Right. He had betrayed her. Shaking his head he wondered briefly if he could. He had never contemplated the issue before, at least not from the perspective of finding a cure. The thought of taking a million galleons from Potters's vaults had a certain appeal to his Slytherin nature. But seeing Lily's notes… Working from where she left off? His mind whirled in a hundred different directions.

Remus for his part was in shock. He knew that James was wealthy. He had been to the Potter Estate on several occasions, which was now under a death Fidelius. That property rivaled Longbottom Manor and even gave Malfoy Manor a run for its money in grandiosity. The Potters were renowned for good business investments and were inventors of several popular products if he remembered correctly.

Perhaps he should have been prepared for the windfall but it still blew his mind. He felt like he'd been kicked in the gut. But in a good way. The prospect of a cure being found was too good to be true, but even he had to admit it was a very tempting challenge. A million galleons was life-altering. The wolfsbane potion had been discovered by accident. Lily was working on the problem. As ill-advised as it was to let himself hope for a cure, he couldn't help it. Hope was even more contagious than the disease he was cursed with.

Finally, Prongs turned his attention to his best friend in life. "Hey Padfoot. I really can't tell you how sorry I am that you were blamed for Lily and me. It was more my fault than anyone's. But if any of you want to blame someone for what happened to me, to Lily. Blame that murdering bastard Voldemort!" James spat. "Blame me if you must. Sounds like I chose at least one of my friends poorly. But Sirius Orion Black was the best friend anyone could hope for. We are brothers. And he did everything he could to keep me and my family alive. Everything. And the wizarding community owes him a pretty big debt, which I'm going to help repay right now. I leave to Sirius Orion Black the care of my precious son Harry James Potter with my blessing to adopt him as his own. I'd just ask that he keep my name in some version. Harry James Potter Black has a very nice ring to it I think."

Sirius smiled down at Harry and the boy in question smiled back. I'm also leaving you Godric's Hollow. I know you loved that place and now likely hate it. This way you can either have it bulldozed or you can sell it or whatever you want. You should be the one to decide though. I am also leaving you 1 million galleons. Just do something good with it. Something fun." He demanded. Sirius nodded and pulled Harry closer to his side in a warm hug.

"And finally, the portrait James gave Harry his undivided attention. "To my son. Harry James Potter, I leave the remainder of all my assets. All that I ever was and ever hoped to be, I leave to you, son. It's a lot and thankfully I've given you people that can help you manage it all, but I have faith in you. And for now, you just have to focus on being a kid. Going to Hogwarts, making friends that will last a lifetime, meeting a girl that will take your breath away. Having fun! I wish I could leave you more than knuts and galleons and land and houses. I wanted to leave you with a safe world. I wanted you to live free from dark wizards and war. But where there is good in the world there is also bad. I'm just grateful that there is more good than bad because you are in it. So for whatever it's worth son, I leave you all my worldly possessions. And even though this isn't the real me, I know for a fact that wherever the real me is, he's proud to call you his son."

James cleared his throat after that emotional moment and except Snape, Filch, and Bones there wasn't a dry eye in the house.

James grinned. "So that's me done." Snape visibly sneered. But then paled when he said, "Now on to my beloved wife Lily."

Madam Bones quickly stepped in then. "Thank you, Lord Potter, I think I can take it from here. And on behalf of the Wizengamot, may I offer my belated condolences on your demise. It has been an honor to bear witness."

James smiled cheekily as she quickly draped the painting and it was removed from the room. Harry watched it go anxiously.

Madam Bones took center stage and said "Lily Potter nee Evans left most of her estate to her son. She left letters for each of her named beneficiaries. There were no monetary bequests, only personal mementos, letters, and pictures, books, journals, and memories. Those items were left in her vault and you may collect what she left you by presenting your letter at your convenience to the Goblins."

With that, the blond witch began passing out the letters from Lily. Remus, Sirius, Severus, Neville, Augusta Longbottom, Professor McGonagall, Petunia Dursley, Dudley Dursley, Albus Dumbledore, Filius Flitwick, and Horace Slughorn all were named beneficiaries in her will. Those present received their letter, the rest would be sent to the beneficiary by owl post.

Once Lily's letters were distributed the group broke up rather quickly. Sirius, Remus, and Harry quickly took their letters and gathered the portrait making their way out of the conference room as quickly as possible.

The news of the will would leak as soon as Lily's letters flew the coop. They had hours before the shite hit the literal fan. No one knew what was going to happen next. Harry received a massive packet from the goblin along with Lily's letter.

Sirius had pulled Madam Bones aside and asked about the letters to Petunia and Dudley and she shook her head, "Whatever she would have left them will have to be cleared through my department. Don't worry. I have to say that as far as will readings go this one stands out." She grinned at Harry. "Your dad sure had a flair for the dramatic."

Harry nodded. He had a lot of questions though. But he was hungry and tired and just wanted to curl up with Sirius and Remus and talk about everything together. "Can we go home?" He asked. Neville was waving at him goodbye as Lady Longbottom seemed to be leaving as well. It couldn't have been easy for her. She looked pale and seemed to lean on her cane and her grandson a bit more heavily than he liked.

After thanking Madam Bones they made their way to the floo and finally home.