Chapter 25: Creatures - September 1993

Hagrid was all smiles as Ron and Harry walked over to him. They always said hello whenever he was at their Care of Magical Creatures class.

When Professor Kettleburn was too far away to hear, Hagrid said, "These crups are a bit simple, o' course. But in your later classes, I got some real impressive creatures for ye'."

Ron and Harry smiled, both thinking about how much less stressful the old Professor Kettleburn's classes were. He also had better classroom management skills, so Malfoy hadn't caused trouble yet.

The day's class was about feeding and walking crups, which were basically just dogs. They were about to begin the practical portion, when Malfoy muscled over to stand by Ron. Kettleburn assigned Ron and Malfoy as partners for the day. Harry was paired with Pansy Parkinson as a result, and he didn't look pleased either.

Ron shot Malfoy a dirty look. "What's this about, then? Trying to make me fail."

"I just wanted to stand in the shade, which you were hogging."

They completed their assignment in strained silence, mostly.

Ron could hear Parkinson sniping at Harry, "You're holding the leash wrong!"

Harry offered it to her calmly. "You're welcome to take it."

"You think you're so cool, Potter."

"Why are you being difficult?"

Ron tuned them out. He'd find out from Harry later if she did or said anything interesting.

At the end of the class, Malfoy said, "Bye, Weasley."

As Ron and Harry walked back up to the class, Harry asked him, "What did Malfoy want from you?"

Ron shrugged. "He said something about shade. We didn't talk much."

"Pansy needled me the whole time, but kept looking over at Malfoy. Do you reckon they're up to something?"

Ron internally groaned, hoping that this didn't re-ignite Harry's Malfoy obsession. "I don't."

Once the pair had made their way back to their dorms to clean up a bit, Ron said, "About your aunt and uncle." Then, he waited for Harry to acknowledge the topic.

Harry's shoulders drew up around his neck and stayed there. "It'll be fine."

"Do you remember how last year, you learned to share more about your life — with everyone, not just me and Hermione?"

"I do."

"That doesn't have to be just for the good stuff. You can share the bad stuff, too."

Harry's voice was quiet. "Hiding is just, like, reflexive for me."

Ron gave an expression that said, I know, but waited for Harry to keep talking.

"I also wasn't sure if that information was strategic to share."

"With Sirius' letter, I think you're in the clear. But it's hard to be completely sure. We can try to strike a balance."

"I'll be happy when this is all done." I'll be happy when Voldemort is gone, and we don't have to be so secretive.

"Me, too," Ron agreed wholeheartedly.

Hermione was delighted that Harry had gotten a signed Hogsmeade permission slip from his aunt. The trio as well as Neville and Susan Bones all walked to the village together arm-in-arm.

They meandered through Scrivenshafts, the post office, and Zonko's. Hermione had done it all before, but it was easy to get caught up in her friends' excitement.

With a few shopping bags amongst them, they made their way to the Three Broomsticks. Outside the warm and welcoming pub was a warm and welcoming face.

Harry called to him, "Sirius! I didn't know that you were going to be here. These are my friends: Neville Longbottom, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, and Susan Bones."

They each gave a wave and a greeting as they were introduced. He insisted they all call him Sirius.

Sirius told Neville, "I knew your parents. Great people, and Harry tells me great things about you as well." He turned to Susan, "Your aunt and I dated briefly. I hope she's well?"

Susan said, "Yes, although auntie is at the office a lot, especially after the Crouch mess."

"I hear she does great work. The DMLE is lucky to have her."

Harry asked, "Can you stay for lunch?"

"I was hoping to! Let's go in."

Sirius was warm with all of his friends, asking questions and cracking jokes.

He made his excuses after forty-five minutes, but asked to talk to Harry privately before he left.

Harry asked Sirius, "How've you been, really?"

"Honestly," he put a hand to his chin, "I miss seeing you every few days. Might have to get a job or hobby or something." Sirius smiled thinly.

"You'd be great at lots of things."

"I've been in touch with Petunia, and she's decided to become a novelist. I gave her a bit of money to get her going."

Harry was surprised. "I thought she would be a secretary again, like she was fresh out of school."

Sirius shook his head. "Couldn't get hired. I offered to help her find something, and she pitched me a book. She also showed me some of her short stories. I thought they were quite good, and the family won't miss the money either way."

Harry blinked. "That's very generous of you. Is this just to help her keep custody of me?"

"And make a case for custody of Dudley. Vernon is not a suitable parent, in my opinion."

He didn't expect Sirius to help Petunia so much, but it seems to have resolved the situation quickly. Harry was now a lot less worried.

Harry told Sirius, "Well, thanks from both me and him. I honestly don't know what I would do, what would happen to us, without you."

Sirius looked uncomfortable.

"What's wrong?"

"Well. I. Hmm. I've been looking for a rat."

"Ah." Harry understood. "For revenge?"

"Mostly," Sirius admitted.

"I won't tell you not to do that. But I would be very, very sad if something happened to you."

Sirius shifted from one foot to the other. "I see that now. I'm not used to… being needed."

Harry asked, "Where are you looking for him?"

"I have reason to believe that he's in the country, possibly back from somewhere else."

Harry grimaced. That could be a big problem.

Ron had gotten the twins onboard with Harry quitting the quidditch team over the summer. However, Oliver Wood and the three Gryffindor Chasers gave Harry the cold shoulder.

The redhead knew that Harry could be sensitive to that sort of thing, and he thought their expectations of him were unfair. Ron would give them a week to get over it before he'd tell them to knock it off.

As planned, Ginny tried out for the team. She was almost as good as Harry and easily secured the seeker spot. Ron was still reserve goalkeeper.

At the first practice, Ginny asked if she could join the chaser drills, since that was the position she preferred. They agreed so long as she didn't neglect her seeker-specfic training too much.

The youngest Weasley had a blast with the older girls. By the end of the first practice, Ron felt like Ginny fit better into the team than Harry ever had.

Wood apologized to Harry a few days later. "I'm sorry for reacting poorly. I think it's going to work out. The Weasleys are really a superstar quidditch family." Wood had stars in his eyes.

"Er. I'm happy to hear that."

"If you ever want to come to practices, or sub for a game, we'd be happy to have you."

Harry gave a real smile then. "Sounds great." He grumbled later to Ron about probably not having time to even attend practices, given his heavy course load. "Why did I sign up for three electives again?"

"Because you're making the most of yourself," Ron supplied.

"Because you're a swot!" George came from around the corner. "Hey, can I talk to you both?"

They moved from the crowded and bustling Gryffindor common room to the fifth year boy's dorm. Fred was already there. Ron threw up a quick, student-level secrecy spell around the four of them.

"So, we have a bit of a secret. This is the Marauder's Map."

Harry's eyes lit up. "Sirius told me about this! He's Padfoot."

"You know Padfoot?"

"Wicked."

"But we need to tell you— ."

"We saw Pettigrew on it last night!"

Ron groaned while Harry said, "Sirius told me he's back in the country. I wonder what he's doing here."

"He was down in the dungeons, but disappeared quickly."

"We're reluctant to tell a teacher —."

"Because they never believe us."

"And then they'd take the Map."

Harry told them that he'd include a hint to Sirius in his next letter. He didn't think Snape would believe him or any lie he could think of to cover the existence of the Map.

"Telling Sirius is good," Ron said, "but we probably want to plan for ourselves as well."

George agreed, "We definitely don't want him to attack any students, especially us."

Harry added, "He might be working for a certain someone." For the twin's benefit, he clarified, "We avoid saying significant words or phrases because there might be magical listening within the school."

Fred and George exchanged looks. "That's creepy," they said in sync.

Because of the twins tendency not to take things as seriously as they should, Ron hesitantly agreed with Harry's sudden decision to loop the twins into a big secret. Ron told them, "The DL (he mouthed "Dark Lord") is not dead."

The twins were shocked. Ron and Harry carefully told them about the Quirrell incident, then returned to the thing they actually wanted to discuss.

Ron said, "So, the rodent could be here on the DL's orders. So we also want to know what he's trying to do. He's more suited towards stealth and intel than conflict."

George pointed out, "You sound like you've got experience thinking about this sort of thing."

Ron tried to play it off. "I like thinking about strategy. After the incident with the two-faced man, it's become a habit."

Harry added, "And the adults keep lots of secrets." All four of them could agree on that.

Fred flourished his wand. "You might be interested to know that we already put an anti-animagus ward on your, our, and Ginny's dorms."

"Bill taught us," George added.

"Nice," Harry complimented.

"So we don't think he'll be able to get up here." Ron was heartened.

Harry pointed out that they probably should check the map regularly, even if it wasn't practical to do it very often. "We can leave it one of our dorms most of the time, so the rodent doesn't steal it. He also helped make it."

Fred's nose wrinkled. George asked, "Do you think he could recreate it?"

Both Harry and Ron shook their heads. "He's not that smart."

Ron had a horrible thought as the twins appeared to subtly be gearing up for conflict: What if Fred or George confront Pettigrew and they get hurt? Ron was their older brother now, even if they didn't know it.

Ron told the twins, "If you guys see him, I don't want you doing anything reckless. Play dumb, run, whatever you need to do to stay safe. Maybe practice any spells you think you might need."

Fred and George reluctantly agreed.

"Stay after class, Potter," Professor Snape said in his usual bored-threatening voice.

Harry tried not to act too excited. Ron and Hermione had prepped him on how to ask the questions he needed to.

After the other students had left, Snape said, "My complements on your summer homework. Much better than your previous work."

Harry caught the implications of cheating. "I had some help, but I did do it. I can show you my earlier drafts, if you like."

"You wouldn't happen to have been helped by a well-known ex-convict, would you?"

Harry didn't think it was worth it to point out that Sirius was never convicted of a crime, before. Instead, he said, "Yes, Sirius Black helped me with my summer homework."

"I see." Snape stared at Harry. "Did you spend a lot of time with this man, then?"

Harry knew that Snape (and presumably Lily?) hated Sirius, but he still didn't know what this was about. He decided to answer honestly. "I did. I even stayed at his place for a few days because things got… tough at home."

Snape commanded, "Elaborate."

"Er, my aunt and uncle might be splitting up." At Snape's skeptical expression, he added, "My aunt told me that herself."

Snape's face went completely blank. Then, he rolled his eyes. "I don't care about the dramas of my students' lives."

Harry decided to change the subject. "Uh, could I talk to you about… what we talked about right before school got out? I had a question that I couldn't owl."

Snape led him to his office where he flicked up a few privacy wards.

"So, I first wanted to thank you for trusting me with the information you did."

Snape shot back, "Even though you didn't heed my advice about Lucius Malfoy when you saw him the very next day."

"Er, well. That was for a friend. I don't plan to poke that particular dragon again." Once the idea occurred to him, Harry couldn't have lived with himself if he hadn't taken that opportunity to free Dobby.

Snape looked unimpressed.

"Well, er. I was wondering after our meeting, sir, why didn't he die? Is what happened typical with magical bargains?"

"That is a reasonable question. The typical punishment for breaking that sort of magically enforced deal is death." Snape paused. "I have an idea as to the precise mechanic by which he survives. However, it's the kind of magic that professors have been explicitly forbidden from discussing with students."

"I see." Snape knows about horcruxes, and he knows that Dumbledore does as well.

"I hope that you do. This is not something a child your age should look into. Or be seen looking into."

"Do you think that he can be killed?"

"Yes, but it won't be by you, if I have anything to say about it."

Harry almost smiled. "Thank you, sir."