Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter

...

Penelope Clearwater sat in the Headmaster's office, both Professor Dumbledore and Professor Flitwick on the other side of the desk that separated them. Albus had his fingers placed on the desk while Filius stood just to his side with his arms across his chest and a scowl plastered across his face.

"You have no idea how disappointed I am in you Penelope," declared Flitwick sternly.

"I'm sorry Professor," Penelope responded.

"I'm afraid that in these circumstances, saying that you are sorry simply won't be enough," said Dumbledore. "You deliberately put your fellow students in danger, something which is truly unforgivable."

"But Professor..."

"We have heard your reasons Miss Clearwater and it is truly a disappointment to hear that you didn't enjoy your time at Beauxbatons," stated Dumbledore. "There is however, one fact regarding your trip that you, as well as many of the people within this castle, are aware of."

"What's that Professor?" asked Penelope.

"That I never wrote to Madame Maxine over the school break," said Albus with a sly smile starting to spread across his face.

"Headmaster, am I hearing this correctly?" asked Filius.

"Indeed Professor Flitwick, it seems that even I was subject to a prank from Potter Club and had been none the wiser," said Albus with a light chuckle.

"I still don't understand," said Penelope, feeling as if she had missed some tidbit of information there. "Are you saying that someone sent Madame Maxine a letter under your name?"

"Indeed they did."

"Surely that is a crime!" exclaimed Penelope.

"Had the original letter contained something that would have painted myself or Hogwarts in a poor light, it would have been well within my capacity to prove that it hadn't been brought upon by my hand. However when I received a letter from Madame Maxine stating that she was thrilled with the idea, I saw no need to intervene and simply allow things to play out. I must say that they turned out for the better."

Penelope found herself gripping at her robes as steady realization settled in. While she may not have enjoyed the fact that all the students in Beauxbatons wished to discuss was Potter Club, had Potter Club not done as they had then there would have been no chance for her to study in France.

"What you wish to do with this information I will leave in your hands," said Dumbledore as he adjusted his glasses. Behind him, Fawkes the phoenix gave a small chirp as it rustled it's feathers. "Now, I believe that it is time that we discuss your punishment."

Penelope swallowed a lump that had formed in her throat. "Yes Professor Dumbledore."

"While Professor Snape did strongly recommend that you be expelled from Hogwarts, a separate party made it known how they wished for you to be properly punished."

"A separate party," repeated Penelope before her face widened in realization. "Potter Club!"

"Precisely," said Professor Flitwick.

"In their own words, Potter Club did not wish for your future endeavours to be jeopardized because of you, and I am quoting here, 'for you being such an idiot.'" It was clear that Professor Dumbledore didn't particular approve of Potter Club's choice of words but had said them begrudgingly. "You will retain your Prefect status but will have no chance of becoming Head Girl in your final year. In exchange, your name will not be made public regarding your actions."

Penelope found herself at a loss for words. "I...I don't know what to say."

"There was...one, other condition that would need to be met," said Flitwick before coughing into his hand. His actions caused Penelope to raise an eyebrow in confusion.

"Potter Club made mention that sometime before the end of the year that they intended to host an art exhibit," said Dumbledore. "Said art exhibit would have yourself as it's centrepiece. I wish that they had gifted me with some more information however they did not tell me a time or what would be expected of you. Truthfully, I believe that whatever they have planned will not put you in harms way and will continue to proceed with their intent to entertain. I assume that, considering the alternatives, you will partake in this event."

Penelope, loathe as she was to admit it, knew that their was only one answer. "Yes Professor Dumbledore."

"Good, in which case I believe they will get in contact with you sometime in the near future," said Albus. "Was there anything else you wished to add Professor Flitwick?"

"No Headmaster," replied the Charms Professor.

"In which case Miss Clearwater, you are dismissed," said Albus who watched as the Ravenclaw Prefect stood up and gave a light bow before leaving the office.

"I can honestly say Professor Dumbledore, that I had not expected a Prefect, let alone one of my own, to be responsible for such horrible actions," said Filius as he circled to the other side of the desk.

"Her role gave her ample opportunity to walk around without suspicion, utilizing Prefect Weasley as her accomplice," stated Albus. "Had Potter Club not made this discovery, I doubt that we would have ever suspected that two of our school leaders were responsible for this event."

"Do you think it was too generous of Potter Club to have only punished them in the way they chose?" asked Filius.

"Perhaps, but they were the wronged party so it was fitting that they had a say in how both Miss Clearwater and Mister Weasley were punished."

"Indeed."

"On a separate topic Professor Flitiwick, I need to ask you something of a different matter," said Albus.

"Yes Headmaster?"

"What's this I hear about you challenging your Mister Potter to a duel?"

...

"I was unaware such a room existed," said Luna as she stepped inside the Room of Requirement, Harry having arranged to meet her in the hidden location.

"Very few people do know that it exists," stated Harry. "As a result it should serve as perfect training grounds, wouldn't you say?"

"I believe it shall," said Luna as Harry took several steps into the middle of the room. Silently, she pulled out her wand and aimed at his back. "Rictumsempra," she cast without remorse.

As soon as her first syllable had been uttered however, Harry was already on the move, twisting in place with wand in hand. By the time that Luna had finished her incantation, Harry was already in the process of casting his shield. It all resulted with Luna's charm bouncing helplessly off of the defence that Harry had created.

"I must say that was quite impressive," said Luna as she lowered her wand.

"I'm more surprised that you'd try to curse at my back," said Harry, flashing her a cheeky grin.

"If you'd wanted to fight against somebody who would give you a challenge in practical terms, you would have requested assistance from somebody in a higher year level. By asking me, I assumed that you wished to battle against someone who would fight you in an unconventional manner," explained Luna. "Was I wrong in my assumptions?"

"I believe you broke that down perfectly," said Harry.

"Now I should warn you Harry. My mother taught me a lot of spells to protect me from boys who may have had unsavoury intentions towards me," said Luna.

"I will consider myself warned," said Harry moments before the tip of Luna's wand shone incredibly brightly, leaving Harry no choice but to raise his hand up to block his eyesight. Noticing it for what it was, he shuffled several steps to the side in rapid succession in order to avoid Luna's follow up attack.

Turned out that with a spell maker as a mother, Luna had quite the arsenal of tricks up her sleeve. Harry had indeed found a worthwhile opponent.

...

"For the last time Tracy, it's obvious that whoever was framing Potter Club was caught," said Daphne as she sat at the breakfast table with her friend. Being a Sunday, there were very few people in the dining hall at this time of the morning. Without any fear of running late to classes, a vast number of students opted to get a little extra rest.

A select few didn't even surface until lunch was being served.

"I just don't understand your reasoning," said Tracy as she spread butter across her toast.

"The curfew that Professor Dumbledore created was removed last night Tracy. They wouldn't have done that if they feared that another attack was going to happen," said Daphne with a sigh, feeling as if she had broken this down for her friend for the twelfth time.

An elongated 'Oh' was Daphne's initial response. She assumed that she would have to clarify it again at a later hour. "Have you got anything planned for the rest of the day Daph? Do you want to work on that Herbology paper together?"

"I've already finished it," said Daphne. "I was actually planning on doing my Potions assignment at Triple M if you're willing to join me."

"Even though it's not due until the end of the week...wait...you said you're going to go do it at Triple M? As in the Muggle Music Members?"

"Unless you know of a different Triple M in the school," said Daphne, rolling her eyes. "It's not like I'm getting up to sing or anything. I just wouldn't mind listening to some music while I do my assignment. Surely you can't fault me for that."

"I just didn't think it was your thing," said Tracy before reaching for another bit of toast.

"Tracy, given how Hogwarts has changed since we first walked through those doors last year, I think it's safe to say that anything goes at this point. Now, are you going to come listen to some Muggle Music with me this afternoon or not?"

"Yes, yes, I'll come, sheesh," said Tracy having felt excess pressure for such a simple suggestion. "On a side note, do you have any idea when we'll be meeting again?"

"I think if they were smart they'll be quiet for a while. By the sounds of it most of the faculty is used to the antics of Potter Club but Professor Lipler is an auror. Given what recently happened she's going to be on high alert for a while."

"True, true," said Tracy before the sound of an owl made itself known in the dining hall. Both girls watch as the owl descended before it delivered the Sunday Paper down in front of Daphne. Before either girl could say anything they both took notice of the bold headline plastered across the top of the paper. Daphne found herself unable to keep the pumpkin juice she was currently drinking in her mouth, spraying the orange liquid across the table in a highly undignified manner.

"Are you..."

"Shut up Tracy, I'm fine," said Daphne as she composed herself, unfolding the paper to gaze upon the man whom the article was speaking of. Never did she ever expect to see the infamous criminal Sirius Black looking back at her.

...

"Can you believe this, Mum'll have a fit," said Ron as he looked at the paper in disbelief.

"Surely this has to be some sort of joke, Black was one of You Know Who's biggest followers wasn't he," said Seamus as he looked around the room for support.

"Of course he was, everyone knows that," agreed Dean.

"What are your thoughts on this Harry?" asked Neville.

Harry meanwhile remained silent as he kept his chin cusped in his hand, deep in thought. For as well as he could remember, the last time he had spoken with the Minister of Magic, Sirius' case couldn't be looked at until such a time as evidence was procured, such evidence being Peter Pettigrew. As far as he was aware, Peter hadn't been apprehended but even if he had been it wasn't as if they'd let him know.

At this stage, there was far too little information to go on for him to make a justified guess but regardless, things were in motion. That in its own right was something worth celebrating. Sadly though nobody else here knew that Sirius was actually innocent and consequently he couldn't really celebrate with them.

Maybe he'd sneak into Hogsmeade and have himself a butterbeer.

For now though, he needed to play the naivety card.

"What's the headline say, that his case is being reopened? If that's the case then wouldn't you think that they've discovered that some sort of injustice took place and that perhaps, and I'm just going out on a limb here, something went wrong when they threw him in prison in the first place?" said Harry, doing his best to make himself sound unsure of the situation as possible.

"Yeah right, as if the Ministry is as foolish as to throw an innocent man in Azkaban for years on end," scoffed Dean.

Harry swore to make him eat those words one day.

For now though, he had to prepare himself for the day ahead. He was to combat Luna after lunch, had to meet with Hermione and ask her opinions on the art exhibit he was now set to create and Wood was determined to drag him out for some Quidditch practice despite their next game not being quite some time away. Not only that but Ron would probably want to challenge him to a chess match later on, considering that seemed to be the only thing on his mind as of the moment.

Nobody said that reliving his childhood was going to be easy.

...

Sirius found himself collapsed in his armchair, disbelief flooding his system. Only the prior day, Fudge had made his way into the safehouse to inform him that severe progress had been made towards his release. To him, that only meant one thing. Wormtail had been apprehended.

While this was stellar news in it's own right, the one drawback from such a thing was that he wouldn't be able to enact vengeance on his former friend himself. Still though, if that was the worst of it all then he would deal with it.

He had been gifted the day's paper and even though he knew that he was the centre of it all, it still felt too unreal. He also knew that while this was a step closer to his freedom, it didn't particularly mean that he would be seen in a positive light from the general populace. It had been for that reason that, despite the small size of the safe house, he had done his utmost to make himself look like an upstanding citizen.

Which, without a wand and consequently without the use of magic, had been a lot harder than he had first anticipated. Meals he had to prepare manually, basic grooming of his facial hair had resulted in more than a handful of painful cuts across his jaw line, the hair atop his head had been hacked away at instead of properly cut.

His level of fitness however had begun to climb exponentially. Without much in the way of entertainment, Sirius had taken to a physical routine three times a day, increasing both his strength and his stamina. For as far as he could tell, while Peter was out there it meant that he had been searching for something. Or, more likely, searching for some one.

And there was only one abomination of a man that the rat would grovel up to. It seemed that while the battle had been won, the war had merely been on hiatus the following decade. A terrifying, but very real possibility that he had to consider. That being said, if there was fighting to come then he needed to be as ready as possible.

"Sirius! Where are you?" called Amelia, the witch having used her portkey to arrive inside the safehouse.

"In the lounge," answered Sirius.

"You better not be drunk!" barked Amelia as she walked into view.

"Does drunk on happiness count?" joked Sirius.

"This is no time for games," stated Amelia as she stopped several feet away from where he sat.

"Alright, alright, I'll be serious," said Sirius as he pushed himself to his feet. "What's got your pa..."

"Utter another syllable and I will curse you were you stand," warned Amelia.

"Fine, to what do I owe this visit? I hope it's about Pettigrew."

"It is."

Sirius couldn't help the beaming smile that spread over his face.

"He's dead."

Sirius' smile wavered as his eyes sharpened. "Dead, then..."

"The Ministry has possession of his body, in other words, proof that you didn't kill him years ago," explained Amelia. "Just his body alone is enough to warrant your case reopened and Cornelis will try to push it forward within the week. If nothing stands in his way, you should be a free man by Christmas."

"For awfully good news you're still trying to glare daggers into my soul here," said Sirius. "What's the catch?"

"The catch, if you could call it that, regards the person who brought Peter in."

"Ah yes, who do I have to thank for..."

Not inclined to listen to whatever spiel Sirius had planned, Ameilia cut him off. "Lucius."

Sirius blinked in confusion several times over. "Lucius...as in..."

"Lucius Malfoy yes!"

"Oh," said Sirius, resisting the urge to collapse in the chair once more. That, by far, was the last person he had expected. If Malfoy had killed Wormtail, then that meant that he was making a move. A move towards what though was the next question and Sirius doubted that he would ever know of the answer.

...

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