Harry groaned as he was wakened by the noise of his roommates getting ready for the day. He rolled over and tried to go back to sleep for about ten seconds before his eyes flew open. It was a Hogsmeade weekend! It was his last chance before Christmas to get gifts for everyone, and they were due to meet with Sirius that afternoon. He grabbed his watch and cursed under his breath when he saw the time. He was supposed to meet Hermione in the common room in twenty minutes, so if he hurried he'd be able to sneak a shower.
He snuck a glance at Ron's bed, and was slightly surprised to see that the redhead was still sleeping. Yes, the boy liked sleep, but on a Hogsmeade weekend? He shook his head. It wasn't his business, and he was wasting precious time thinking on it.
Twenty-three minutes later, a slightly damp Harry slid into the common room. "Sorry I'm late, 'Mione, I overslept."
She closed her book and brushed off his apology, "It's not a problem, I was just reading."
"Just reading?" He said in a scandalized tone, "Why, I never! Young lady, it is never just reading. It is broadening your mind, your horizons-" he slung an arm over her shoulder, "-expanding the world around you by discovering new knowledge!"
She blushed furiously and rolled her eyes, but didn't push his arm off, "It's not a school book, Harry, it's just some muggle fiction."
He blinked. "You read muggle fiction?"
"I read everything." She smirked up at him.
"Ah." He grinned, and it was at that moment that Harry realized two things. One, his arm was still around Hermione's shoulder. Two, Hermione really was very pretty. Astonishingly pretty. And he was entirely too close to her. Actually, this was probably the closest he'd ever been to her face. Had her eyes always been that big? Since when did she have freckles? And had she always been that… soft?
"-ry, Harry, Earth to Harry."
"Huh?" He tuned back into reality.
"I said we need to leave now if we want to meet Luna in time."
"Oh, yeah, right." He, with some regret, pulled his arm back and retreated to a suitable distance, and then they made their way down to the gates.
Luna arrived a couple minutes after them, carrying a large picnic basket. Harry and Hermione were accustomed enough to Luna that they didn't even ask about its contents, so the three set off for the village.
"Right then. Honeydukes together, then separate to do gifts, then meet at the Three Broomsticks?" Harry asked as they turned onto Hogsmeade's main road.
"Sounds like a plan."
"I do love chocolate."
The morning went off without a hitch, and after a brief lunch at the Three Broomsticks, they set off toward the Shrieking Shack. They would have stayed longer, but there had been a bit of a scene with Professor McGonagall, Fred, and the Frog choir.
"So, er, Luna, how much do you know about Sirius Black?" Harry asked hesitantly as they arrived outside the shack.
She hummed for a moment, thinking. "Well, I know what he was charged with, and that he escaped, and that he very much enjoys biscuits."
"Right, well, the thing is he- what did you say about biscuits?" Harry started.
"Oh yes, he's quite partial to shortbread, though he likes raspberry nearly as much."
"Are you- did you help him last year?" Harry asked in astonishment.
Hermione made an odd choking sound, which Harry then realized was a strained laugh, "Luna, is your basket full of biscuits for an escaped convict?" The Gryffindor girl asked.
"Among other things, yes."
"So you- you know, then, that he's innocent?" Hermione continued, being careful.
"I know very little, 'Mione, other than what you two have told me, of course."
"But then- why would you help him?" Harry stared at Luna, feeling slightly betrayed.
There was a sudden burst of giggles, stemming from a group of third years walking up the path. No doubt they were on their way to check out the most haunted place in Britain, which meant that any privacy the group had was about to disappear. Thankfully, though, Snuffles had arrived. He barked three times in quick succession to announce his arrival as he trotted down the path from the opposite direction of the younger years.
The trio quickly turned to follow the scruffy black dog, electing to continue their conversation elsewhere. They didn't make it far, however, before Harry was tackled by a pile of pure canine delight, also known as his godfather.
"Sir- Snuffles, get off of me!" The teenager acted affronted as he was assaulted with canine kisses, but he was secretly rather pleased. He and Sirius had been exchanging letters for the last six months, and he had grown somewhat close to the man. At least, closer than he had been to any other potential father figure. Harry had been worried that it would be awkward meeting in person again, or that maybe he had misread the depth of his relationship with the other man, but he could already tell that that wouldn't be an issue with Sirius. The man, even as a dog, practically exuded warmth and friendliness.
The dog wagged his tail and turned to continue his assault, first on Hermione, and then after a brief pause on Luna as well. He had looked at her for a moment, obviously recognizing her and making some sort of connection in his head, before attacking with the same fervor he had used on Harry and Hermione.
He nosed at her pocket with small whine, and she laughed delightedly. "Oh, you do remember! Yes, of course I brought snacks, Stubby."
Harry turned to Hermione and incredulously mouthed "Stubby?"
"Boardman." She mouthed back.
Once they had arrived at the cave, Sirius quickly morphed out of dog form and gave Harry a hug. "Harry! It's bloody fantastic to see you again." He held the boy's arms and mock inspected him. "Where are the toothmarks from that dragon?"
"Har har, very funny."
"I certainly like to think so. Now, introduce me to the cute blonde."
"Sirius, she might be just a little young for you." Harry's eye twitched.
"I wasn't looking for me! Jeez, Harry. If you're this jealous all the time, you're gonna have a rough time managing your growing harem."
"His harem?" Hermione sounded unimpressed.
Harry rolled his eyes, "The Prophet has nothing better to do than speculate on my love life. Wizard God forbid they actually report real news."
"Wizard God?" Hermione teased.
"I said what I said, woman."
"Lunchtime!" Luna's singsong voice rang out. While the others had been bickering, Luna had spread out the food from her basket on top of a nice blanket.
All four of them sat down, but Sirius was the only one who really ate. He tore into the meal with fervor, and Harry suddenly felt a pang of guilt for not thinking of it himself. The man had been living as a stray dog, all for Harry's sake, and Harry hadn't even thought about what that might mean for his food situation.
"So," The animagus said between bites of roast chicken, "What's the story with Blondie?"
Harry turned toward Sirius and raised a brow. "Shouldn't I be asking you that?"
"Well, on my end, there's not much to tell. Last year, I would hide with some of the other animals at Hogwarts. Crookshanks isn't the only creature that likes to roam at night, you know. And the other animals, most of them know her," He nodded toward Luna, "So when she was bringing some of the crups some food, she stumbled into me, named me Stubby, and fed me biscuits."
"How long did this go on?"
"Oh, she found me a few weeks into September."
"September?" Harry turned to Luna, "But you knew who he was!"
Sirius turned toward her as well, "You did?"
Luna shook her head, "Not at first, no. I knew he was magical, but I wasn't certain why. I also knew that he was good. Bad creatures and people have a sort of stink to them, different from just normal grime." She nodded at Sirius and he barked out a laugh. "It didn't take me long to realize that I only saw him at the castle around the same times that Sirius Black was spotted."
"And this didn't concern you? At all?" Hermione looked like she was about to blow an aneurysm.
"No, not really. He's harmless."
Harry put his face in his hands and groaned. He wanted to be mad so badly, but he couldn't. It was just so… Luna.
He could picture it perfectly, too. Luna, walking around at all hours in the places where students didn't normally go, finding an interesting breed of magical dog that she didn't recognize. Deciding he's a good boy, befriending him, bringing him treats and acceptance when he didn't get it elsewhere. Then, after building that trust, realizing who he was… Luna would never abandon someone or something in need, so of course she would take it in stride. And, even if she had decided to tell someone, who would she tell? The other students called her Loony Lovegood, and the professors would never believe her on that evidence.
"Okay, just, next time you decide to befriend a mass murderer before finding out that he's innocent, please consult me or Hermione."
"Alright."
Sirius grinned. "So let me see this dragon egg!"
For the next hour or so, Harry showed Sirius the egg, the group chatted about mostly inconsequential things, and Sirius teased Harry more than Harry thought humanly possible. When things began to wind down, however, Sirius asked to speak with Harry alone.
"Two big things then, Harry. One, any progress on discovering who put your name in or why?"
"No, nothing. Or at least, if there has been anything, no one will tell me anything."
"Hmm," The man thought for a moment. "And Dumbledore promised he'd keep me up to date, but it wouldn't surprise me if he conveniently forgot. Senile bastard." He shook his head. "Do you have any suspicions?"
Harry shrugged. "Probably a Death Eater? I really don't know. It wasn't Snape, or either of the headmasters from the other schools. They were all too furious for it to be fake. My next guess would usually be the DADA professor, but I get the vague impression that Moody doesn't really like Voldemort."
Sirius laughed, "Doesn't really like Voldemort, he says. That's an understatement if I ever heard one. No, if there's anyone you can trust to fight dark wizards, it's Alastor Moody. He was our mentor, your dad and I's, I mean, when we were training to be aurors."
Harry gaped. "Are you serious?" The other man opened his mouth, but Harry cut him off before he got the chance. "No horrible puns. Moody trained you and my dad?"
"Yeah, he had the most charming catchphrase. I can still hear it n- CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" He bellowed. Harry didn't even flinch. "Damn, you really do have Moody. It took us two months to stop jumping at that."
"Why do you think he didn't tell me?"
"Mad Eye doesn't really do emotion. Or anything other than yell and grumble about the state of the department, really."
Harry tried to picture having a heart to heart with the wizened old auror, and suppressed a shudder. "Yeah, I don't think I'm gonna ask him." He paused. "Alright, that was one thing, what's the other?"
"Where's the Weasley?" Harry's face turned to stone, and Sirius hurried to continue. "I know that something happened between the two of you. You may have left it out of your letters, but it was pretty obvious that something was up when he went from being in almost every letter to being in none of them."
"He's a jealous prat, that's what happened to him." Harry took a breath, "When my name came out of the Goblet, he exploded. He refused to believe that I didn't do it myself, and hasn't spoken to me since."
Sirius stared at him. "Not once? He hasn't even attempted?"
Harry thought back on it. There had been a few times when the other boy had started to approach him, but the other boy had sort of gone pale and left before speaking with him. "I suppose he might've tried, a few times, but he always goes really pale and looks weird. He's probably just still mad. And really, we live together. How hard is it to say 'Oh, by the way Harry, sorry for being a git'?"
Sirius actually looked serious for once. "Harry, I spent twelve years in Azkaban." He held up a hand to stop Harry's interruption. "Let me finish. Twelve years. Twelve years just remembering my worst memories, being forced to play them in my mind over and over again. Living them. Suffice to say, I am very good at replaying memories now and picking out all the details." He took a deep breath. "I have replayed the memory of that night at the Shrieking Shack over and over again, trying to figure out where we went wrong, what we could have done differently. What would've happened if Snivellus hadn't shown up? Why didn't we petrify Peter instead of using ropes? Why didn't we just leave Remus in the Shack? Why not use the time turner to catch the rat just as he escaped? Why, why why?"
Harry flinched, but didn't interrupt.
Sirius continued "But in doing that, I also remembered all the details of you and Hermione and Ron, and do you know what I saw? I saw a boy, a barely 14-year-old kid, who stood up on a broken leg, in front of an insane mass-murderer and said 'If you want to kill Harry, you'll have to kill us too!' That kid was probably in the worst pain he'd ever been in in his life, and he got up and tried to protect you. Then, when you attacked me, he jumped on my wand hand to help. That's not the type of friendship that disappears over a little bit of jealousy. That's… that's what your dad and Remus and I had, what we thought we had with Pettigrew. That's amazing, Harry."
Harry turned away. "It was amazing, I guess. But now it's not really anything."
They went back to Hermione and Luna, much more somber than they had been before. The girls sensed the change in mood, but didn't prod, for which Harry was grateful. A few minutes later, they said their goodbyes and started back toward the village. If they were gone for too much longer, they might be missed.
As the three friends started to walk away, Sirius called out one last time. "Just think about what I said, Harry. There might be more going on there than you think."
Harry nodded once tersely. To be honest, there wasn't anything he'd like to think about less. But he had a feeling that Sirius was on to something, and a lump had begun to settle in the pit of his stomach.
A/N: I have been dying to write that Sirius scene because 1) The plot thickens. 2) I love Sirius. And... oh crap, I was going to write that scene in the Three Broomsticks with McGonagall, but I really like where the chapter ended here... I'll write it later. Something to look forward to :)
Anyway, I should be able to get quite a bit done this weekend. I am alone on campus super early because I'm helping with some orientation stuff. But no one I know is getting here until Monday or Tuesday, and it's basically dead, sooo I'm really hoping to get ahead. But we'll see. Updates will keep happening on Fridays, though I might switch to every other depending on how busy the semester gets and what I get done this weekend.
Please drop a review or send me a PM to let me know what you think! What's wrong with Ron? Will Harry figure out who put his name in the Goblet? What happened with the Frog Choir? Tell me your theories, and I'll see you next week!
PS: We already hit over 25,000 words of pure story! Yikes!