"Why would the Fat Lady flee?" Bill frowned. Sirius shifted in his seat guiltily. Several people turned to stare at him, and he grimaced. He recognised now, that some of his choices weren't… the best choices he could have made, but he'd been desperate.
"You'll see?" He offered weakly. Now he got why Harry had used that blasted phrase so much in the first couple of books. Remus put a supportive hand on his arm, and he gave him friend a grateful smile.
In no time at all, Defence Against the Dark Arts had become most people's favourite class. Only Draco Malfoy and his gang of Slytherins had anything bad to say about Professor Lupin.
"Of course you didn't like him. You must have preferred Lockhart. You are related after all," Fred smirked. Draco glared at him, but the twins were basically immune to such glares having grown up with Molly Weasley for a mother.
"Don't be silly Fred, he doesn't like Remus because he doesn't want to learn to defend himself. If he does that, he won't have an excuse to get injured and milk it for months," George told his twin.
"Oh, of course, silly me," Fred agreed. Several people chuckled.
Malfoy sneered at the state of his robes, saying he dressed like their old house-elf.
"Might want to get your eyes tested, Malfoy. Those robes don't look anything like a pillowcase," Hermione told him haughtily, the mention of Dobby irritating her.
"Honestly, his hearing, his eyesight, his arm…not a good year for ickle Malfoy's health, was it," George sneered.
"Besides, who cares how he dresses. Lockhart's robes were immaculate, and he was a tosser," Ron pointed out.
"Ronald!" Molly scolded.
"Yeah, if anything, I think being the opposite of Lockhart is something to aspire to," Harry agreed.
But no one else cared that Professor Lupin's robes were patched and frayed. His next few lessons were just as interesting as the first.
Remus smiled slightly.
After boggarts, they studied Red Caps, nasty little goblin-like creatures that lurked wherever there had been bloodshed: in the dungeons of castles and the potholes of deserted battlefields, waiting to bludgeon those who had gotten lost.
"Hate those things," Kingsley muttered.
"At least they are relatively easy to deal with," Tonks commiserated. She'd only come across Red Caps once, and it hadn't been a fun experience, but she'd definitely dealt with worse.
From Red Caps they moved on to kappas, creepy, water-dwellers that looked like scaly monkeys, with webbed hands itching to strangle unwitting waders in their ponds. Harry only wished he was as happy with some of his other classes. Worst of all was Potions.
"Of course it was," Charlie scowled.
Snape was in a particularly vindictive mood these days, and no one was in any doubt why. The story of the boggart assuming Snape's shape, and the way that Neville had dressed it in his grandmother's clothes, had travelled through the school like wildfire. Snape didn't seem to find it funny.
"You don't say?" Ted said, amused.
"Can't think why, it sounds hilarious," Fred smirked.
His eyes flashed menacingly at the every mention of Professor Lupin's name, and he was bullying Neville worse than ever.
Severus sighed. The last chapter had forced him to confront some very uncomfortable truths about what he had become. Truthfully, he was still reeling from them. Particularly the ones Minerva had shoved down his throat. Even when he'd heard about Harry's home life, he'd been horrified, not to mention furious with Albus, but still felt his own behaviour had been justified. So, he'd told the boy a few truths about his father, but he hadn't locked him in a cupboard or attacked him. And the slow realisation that his justification for his actions, even over the last few days, was that he was at least better than Petunia Dursley was a sickening one.
And that was without even touching on his behaviour towards Longbottom, which stemmed from his own guilt. Guilt had never been an emotion he dealt with particularly well, and the self-loathing that had gnawed at him ever since he'd told the Dark Lord about the prophecy and realised that Lily would be the target had had twelve years to eat at him. He hated Longbottom for the Dark Lord's choice, a choice he only made because of Severus.
Blast it all! He hated these books. These realisations. He hated himself.
"My…apologies, Longbottom," he said through gritted teeth. "My behaviour was…unacceptable." Longbottom looked stunned. So did most people in the room, though Dumbledore had that blasted twinkle in his eyes. He looked proud. Severus looked away. He didn't want Albus' pride. He studiously avoided everyone's gaze until Kingsley took pity on him and began reading on once more.
Harry was also growing to dread the hours he spent in Professor Trelawney's stifling tower room, deciphering lopsided shapes and symbols, trying to ignore the way Professor Trelawney's enormous eyes filled with tears every time she looked at him.
"It got really old, really fast," Harry grumbled.
He couldn't like Professor Trelawney, even though she was treated with respect bordering on reverence by many of the class. Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown had taken to haunting Professor Trelawney's tower room at lunch times, and always returned with annoyingly superior looks on their faces, as though they knew things the others didn't.
"The Patil's often produce seers of varying abilities," Luna said airily.
"Yeah, but somehow, most of the things she 'saw' seemed to revolve around me," Harry said dryly. "Probably dying in various, horrible ways." Several people winced at that.
"She might not necessarily have been wrong there," Sirius muttered. "Considering how many times you should have died in the last three years."
They had also started using hushed voices whenever they spoke to Harry, as though he were on his deathbed.
Hermione and Harry both rolled their eyes.
Nobody really liked Care of Magical Creatures, which, after the action-packed first class, had become extremely dull.
"Thanks for that, Malfoy," Neville grumbled.
"It could have been really cool. But other than the first lesson, and like one other lesson at Christmas time, it was incredibly boring," Harry sighed.
Hagrid seemed to have lost his confidence. They were now spending lesson after lesson learning how to look after flobberworms, which had to be some of the most boring creatures in existence.
Charlie winced. "Really? More than one lesson on flobberworms?"
"We spent most of the year on them," Harry confirmed.
"Oh dear," Minerva sighed.
"I don't think even the older years studied anything more difficult than knarls," George admitted. Neither he nor Fred had taken Care of Magical Creatures, but Lee had.
"So, thanks to one stupid third-year, literally nobody learnt anything useful in Care of Magical Creatures for an entire year?" Tonks whistled. "Even those in OWL or NEWT year?"
"Pretty much," Percy nodded.
"I don't entirely blame him. With Lucius Malfoy on the warpath, if there was a single other incident, he would have probably made sure Hagrid lost his job," Charlie said with a frown.
Ron wondered why anyone would bother looking after them as they spent another lesson poking lettuce down the flobberworms' throats. At the start of October, however, Harry had something else to occupy him, something so enjoyable it more than made up for his unsatisfactory classes. The Quidditch season was approaching, and Oliver Wood, Captain of the Gryffindor team, called a meeting on Thursday evening to discuss tactics for the new season.
Harry grinned. So did Fred and George.
"He waited until October to start? Didn't he get you up at the crack of dawn on the first weekend back in second year?" Ted recalled.
"Yes, but Oliver was in his final year, and had NEWTs to think about. It kept him pretty busy," Percy said. While he'd spent more time in the Head Boy dormitory than the 7th year Gryffindor boys one that year, he'd seen enough. Oliver had been pretty shell-shocked in the beginning by his work load. Not that it had lasted long.
There was a recap of the different positions and balls used in Quidditch.
Kingsley read through the recap as quickly as possible.
Oliver Wood was a burly seventeen-year-old, now in his seventh and final year at Hogwarts. There was a quiet sort of desperation in his voice as he addressed his six fellow team members in the chilly locker rooms on the edge of the darkening Quidditch field. He stated it was his last chance to win the Quidditch cup.
"I mean, we should have won it the year before. We would have slaughtered Hufflepuff," Fred stated.
"You can't know that. Anything could have happened," Ted pointed out, defending his and his daughter's former house.
"Yeah, we can. It was the same Hufflepuff team that we beat in first year, nobody had changed. They were rubbish until Diggory became captain," George said. Harry winced. He still hated that he'd lost that game, even if it wasn't his fault.
He reminded them that Gryffindor hadn't won for seven years, although they'd had the worst luck in the world, but they had the best team in the school.
"We did," Fred nodded happily.
"I wonder who'll end up replacing Oliver," Harry mused. "And be captain."
"Angelina will probably be captain. She's been on the team for the longest and is a good strategist," George said.
"It's going to be tough when you lot graduate. That's both beaters and two chasers graduating in one year," Harry realised.
"Yeah, I think I'll suggest to Angie, if she is captain, to hold tryouts for backup players too," George agreed.
He went on that they had three superb Chasers and two unbeatable Beaters. The twins told him he was embarrassing them, feigning a blush.
They both grinned.
He added that they had a Seeker who had never failed to win them a match.
Harry winced.
"It wasn't your fault," Ron muttered to him. "And you made up for it beating Slytherin in the final."
As an afterthought, he also added that they had him. The twins told him he was very good too.
"He was a great keeper," Charlie nodded. "Could easily go pro, and I assume he only got better with age. I last saw him in his fourth year, and he was already one of the best keepers in the school."
"He planned to go pro," Harry stated.
"There were some scouts at the final, so hopefully he'll get his wish," Fred told him.
"There were?" Harry asked, startled.
"Yeah. They often come to the final," George said. "But they don't just look at the winning team, they look at all the stats from the whole season."
Wood continued that the cup should have had their name on it the last two years but now this was his last chance to get their name on the thing. Wood spoke so dejectedly that even Fred and George looked sympathetic.
"Wow, he must have looked bad," Bill laughed.
"He really did," Harry nodded.
"It was both pathetic and sad," Fred stated.
The team told him that, that year was their year. Full of determination, the team started training sessions, three evenings a week.
"Ah, those were the days," George sighed longingly. "Only three nights a week."
The weather was getting colder and wetter, the nights darker, but no amount of mud, wind, or rain could tarnish Harry's wonderful vision of finally winning the huge, silver Quidditch Cup.
"You really are a mini Wood," Fred told him. Harry grinned.
Harry returned to the Gryffindor common room one evening after training, cold and stiff but pleased with the way practice had gone, to find the room buzzing excitedly. He asked Ron and Hermione what it was about, his good mood evaporating when it was revealed to be the date of the first Hogsmeade weekend.
Harry grimaced.
Several people shot him sympathetic looks while Sirius looked guilty.
Harry threw himself into a chair beside Ron, his high spirits ebbing away. Hermione seemed to read his mind. She said she was sure Harry would be able to go next time as they were bound to catch Black soon.
"Even if they did, I figured the Dursleys would never sign the form. Not after the Marge incident," Harry pointed out.
"Well, now you can go. I'm innocent and I can give you permission," Sirius promised.
"Good enough for me," Minerva smiled slightly. Harry smiled in return.
Ron stated Black wasn't fool enough to try anything in Hogsmeade. He suggested Harry ask McGonagall if he could go. Hermione said Harry was supposed to stay in school.
"That's true, but there's no harm in Harry asking. The answer will be no, but there's no real problem with asking the question," Tonks said.
Ron encouraged him to ask, and Harry agreed. Hermione was about to argue when Crookshanks appeared with a large, dead spider in his mouth.
"Wow, it's like he really has got it out for Ron. First his pet, now coming over with a spider," Charlie grimaced.
"At least it was dead," Bill said.
Ron asked if he had to eat it in front of them while Hermione praised the cat. Crookshanks; slowly chewed up the spider, his yellow eyes fixed insolently on Ron.
A few people chuckled.
"Definitely out to get Ron," Fred frowned.
"Stupid cat," Ron muttered.
"He is likely part kneazle, smarter than most cats, but I'm not sure why he hates Ron so much," Charlie said thoughtfully. "Or Scabbers."
Ron told her to keep him over with her as Scabbers was in his bag. Harry yawned. He really wanted to go to bed, but he still had his own star chart to complete. He pulled his bag toward him, took out parchment, ink, and quill, and started work. Ron finished his and said Harry could copy it.
All of the professors, and Ron's parents, glared at Ron disapprovingly.
"I didn't copy it anyway," Harry assured them.
Hermione, who disapproved of copying, pursed her lips but didn't say anything. Crookshanks was still staring unblinkingly at Ron, flicking the end of his bushy tail. Then, without warning, he pounced.
"Oh no," Ted grimaced.
Ron yelled angrily, seizing his bag as Crookshanks sank four sets of claws deep inside it and began tearing ferociously. Ron yelled for him to get off as tried to pull the bag away from Crookshanks, but Crookshanks clung on, spitting and slashing.
"Damn. Something isn't right. There is no way a cat would spend that much energy just to get a rat, would it?" Bill wondered. "Crookshanks couldn't even see Scabbers, he could maybe smell him but there must be hundreds of other targets."
Hermione squealed for Ron not to hurt him.
"I mean, he's trying to murder Ron's pet, maybe focus on helping get Crookshanks away rather than just yelling at Ron?" Ginny pointed out.
Ron whirled the bag around, Crookshanks still clinging to it, and Scabbers came flying out of the top. Ron yelled for someone to catch the cat as Crookshanks freed himself from the bag and began chasing Scabbers.
"Poor Scabbers," Neville winced.
"That cat is a menace," Tonks frowned.
"No, he's not," Hermione defended her cat. He had been right, after all. Scabbers had been a danger to them all.
"He really is," Tonks stated.
George Weasley made a lunge for Crookshanks but missed; Scabbers streaked through twenty pairs of legs and shot beneath an old chest of drawers. Crookshanks skidded to a halt, crouched low on his bandy legs, and started making furious swipes beneath it with his front paw.
"Scabbers wasn't hurt, was he?" Molly asked, worriedly.
"No," Ron assured his mother. "Not that time, at least," he added in an undertone. Well, Scabbers had never truly been hurt by Crookshanks, but there was the time he'd faked his death and disappeared to Hagrid's.
Ron and Hermione hurried over; Hermione grabbed Crookshanks around the middle and heaved him away; Ron threw himself onto his stomach and, with great difficulty, pulled Scabbers out by the tail.
"Well, at least neither of them was hurt," Kingsley said.
Ron furiously told Hermione to keep the cat away from Scabbers. Hermione said he didn't understand it was wrong and that all cats chase rats.
"That might be true, but that makes it up to you, as his owner, to train him properly. And to take proper measures to keep him from causing harm to other people's pets until he is trained," Andromeda told her.
"Ron has some responsibility as well, as he knows Crookshanks constantly tries to attack his pet, but in this case, Scabbers was just sleeping in his bag. Out of sight. The best he could have done was take him up to the dormitory as soon as Crookshanks came over. As Hermione could have taken Crookshanks away to hers," Arthur put in.
"Yeah, but Hermione is the one that bought an animalafter it had already tried to attack her friend's pet. I'd say that definitely puts more responsibility on her to make sure it doesn't happen again," Tonks pointed out.
"Not to mention, Crookshanks is hardly the only cat in Hogwarts. He's not even the only cat in Gryffindor tower and Scabbers has never had a problem with one before," Percy put in with a frown.
Ron said there was something funny about the cat and it must have heard him say Scabbers was in his bag. Hermione said it was rubbish, Crookshanks could smell the rat.
"Not if he's a part kneazle. They are highly intelligent. But it's also likely he could just smell him," Charlie said.
"Although he made no move to attack the bag until Ron said Scabbers was in there," Neville pointed out, thoughtfully.
Ron stated that the cat had it in for his pet.
"That's definitely true," Fred stated. He knew Scabbers was Pettigrew, and that the rat deserved every bit of torment he'd gotten that year, but neither Ron nor Hermione had known at the time and their behaviour had been pretty terrible.
Ron marched through the common room and out of sight up the stairs to the boys' dormitories. Ron was still in a bad mood with Hermione next day. He barely talked to her all through Herbology, even though he, Harry, and Hermione were working together on the same puffapod. She asked how Scabbers was.
"At least you enquired about him," Emmeline nodded.
"Of course I did, I didn't want my friend's pet to be hurt or killed," Hermione frowned.
Bill privately thought she had a funny way of showing it, considering she'd been far more concerned for her cat than Scabbers the night before. And had seemingly made no effort at all to train her cat not to attack Scabbers. It didn't seem liked she'd apologised at all, just defended Crookshanks' behaviour. Which was sort of understandable because catsdid chase rats and mice, except she'd made no effort to prevent it.
Ron told her he was hiding at the bottom of his bed, shaking.
Sirius smirked vindictively.
He was so angry, he missed the pail and scattered beans all over the greenhouse floor. Professor Sprout warned him to he careful as the beans burst into bloom. They had Transfiguration next. Harry had resolved to ask Professor McGonagall after the lesson whether he could go into Hogsmeade with the rest.
Minerva sighed regretfully. She'd hated saying no to him. If it hadn't been for Sirius' escape she would have let him get away with it as soon as he'd brought up his muggle relatives.
He joined the line outside the class trying to decide how he was going to argue his case. He was distracted, however, by a disturbance at the front of the line. Lavender Brown seemed to be crying. Parvati had her arm around her and was explaining something to Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas, who were looking very serious.
"Oh no, was she alright?" Tonks asked.
"Lavender herself was fine, it'll tell you the problem in a second," Harry assured her.
Hermione asked what the problem was as they joined the group. Parvati explained she'd gotten a letter from home saying her rabbit had been killed by a fox.
"Poor Lavender," Luna said sympathetically.
Lavender exclaimed she should have known as it was the sixteenth of October on which Trelawney had predicted the thing she was dreading would happen.
Tonks whistled.
"That's...quite a coincidence if she's faking," Emmeline said.
"She is a true seer, no matter how much of a fraud she seems," Filius stated.
The whole class was gathered around Lavender now. Seamus shook his head seriously. Hermione hesitated; then she asked if Lavender was dreading the rabbit being killed by a fox.
"Oh, you're not?" Charlie groaned. "It's so not the time to try and prove your point about Divination."
Lavender looked up and said she was dreading him dying, even if not necessarily by a fox. Hermione asked if it was an old rabbit.
"Not the point. People can fear for their pets even without them being old," Luna told her sternly.
"Or maybe it's had a mad cat trying to murder it," Ron muttered.
"Crookshanks isn't mad," Sirius defended the cat quietly.
Lavender sobbed that he was only a baby. Parvati tightened her arm around Lavender's shoulders. Hermione asked why she would dread him dying.
"Maybe it's something that has happened before, foxes attacking their animals. Could be a pet with a medical condition. Or maybe it's a newborn that had trouble during the birth. There are any number of reasons someone could dread their pet dying," Charlie said.
Hermione asked why she would dread him dying if he was only a baby.
Several people face-palmed.
Parvati glared at her. Hermione, turned to the rest of the group, telling them to look at it logically. The rabbit hadn't even died that day, Lavender had just gotten the news that day.
"It could have happened that day. Many people rise early and depending how far they live from Hogwarts, it could have happened early the same morning," Charlie pointed out.
She continued that Lavender couldn't have dreaded him dying because it came as a shock.
"Hermione, you can dread something happening, and still be shocked and devastated when it does," Arthur pointed out gently, thinking of his wife and her brothers.
Molly was thinking of the same thing. She had dreaded their deaths, knowing they were high priority targets for the Death Eaters, being members of the Order and skilled duelists. But when the news had come through...it had been a shock. Some part of her had always felt like her big brothers were invincible.
Ron loudly cut in, telling Lavender not to mind Hermione as she didn't think other people's pets mattered very much.
"That's not true," Hermione frowned.
"Maybe not, but it could easily been seen that way. Her pet died and you're turning it into a lecture on why a prophecy given by a professor is a load of rubbish," Emmeline pointed out.
"Whether you believed you have a valid point or not, it was not the time to be having that discussion. It was insensitive of you," Remus said gently. Hermione nodded slowly.
Professor McGonagall opened the classroom door at that moment, which was perhaps lucky; Hermione and Ron were looking daggers at each other, and when they got into class, they seated themselves on either side of Harry and didn't talk to each other for the whole class.
"Theme for the whole year, right there," Harry sighed.
Ron and Hermione exchanged glances. It hadn't been a great year for them.
Harry still hadn't decided what he was going to say to Professor McGonagall when the bell rang at the end of the lesson, but it was she who brought up the subject of Hogsmeade first. She called for them to wait a moment as the class made to leave. She reminded them to hand their forms into her and there would be no visit without one. Neville put up his hand and said he thought he'd lost his. McGonagall said his grandmother had sent it directly to her as she thought it was safer.
"She could have at least let Neville know she was doing that," Emmeline frowned.
"Yeah, I mean that is a safer way of doing it, in general, but at least the person know you've sent it," Ted agreed.
"What would happen if thay was the case, if Nevillehadlost the form? Would he not be allowed to go either?" Harry wondered.
"No, he would not have been allowed to go. But I would have sent another form to his grandmother to be signed," said Minerva.
Ron hissed at Harry to ask now. Hermione tried to argue but Ron encouraged Harry to do it.
"See, now you're both just using Harry in your argument with each other. It should be up to Harry whether he asks or not, knowing its likely to be futile," Fred pointed out.
Harry waited for the rest of the class to disappear, then headed nervously for Professor McGonagall's desk. He told her his aunt and uncle had forgotten to sign his form. McGonagall didn't reply so he pressed on, asking if it would be alright of he went to Hogsmeade.
"Unfortunately, that's probably not going to work, even without Sirius' escape," George said, shaking his head.
"Yeah, if they had simply forgotten, you'd have sent an owl back to have it signed. Or asked about it sooner," George agreed.
Professor McGonagall looked down and began shuffling papers on her desk. She refused, saying rules were rules and he had no form. Harry tried to say that his relatives were muggles who didn't understand Hogwarts forms. If she said he could go, but she cut him off, pointing out she didn't say he could.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Potter, in this I truly did wish to help you," Minerva sighed.
"It's alright, Professor. I understand," Harry assured her.
"I don't. Considering what happened later, it proves it was hardly any safer for Harry, staying in a mostly empty castle," Ron muttered.
Several people looked at him, wondering what had happened, and assuming it had something to do with the Fat Lady fleeing. Which put them all on edge.
She continued that the form clearly states the parent of guardian must give permission. She apologised, but said it was her final word on the subject. They left the classroom. Ron called Professor McGonagall a lot of names.
"Indeed?" Minerva said, looking at Ron with pursed lips. Molly also was scowling at her son.
"Would you care to enlighten us on exactly what it was you said?" She asked.
"Er... no," Ron winced.
This greatly annoyed Hermione who assumed an "all-for-the-best" expression that made Ron even angrier.
"Honestly, the pair of you are as bad as each other. Ron, being angry at Professor McGonagall for trying to protect Harry is ridiculous. You were upset because Hermione was right. Hermione, perhaps being smug Ron was wrong and thinking it's all for the best one of your best friends has to suffer being left out for something completely beyond his control is very tactless of you. Both of you are so focused on one-upping each other, that you forgot who suffered the most out of it. Harry," Bill stated.
"We understand neither of you is perfect, and you both have your reasons to be upset with each other, but from the few things we've heard, it sounds like this became a common pattern over the year. We just want you to understand so it doesn't continue going forward, or it might hurt your friendships. Both with each other and with Harry," Arthur added gently.
"Sorry, Harry," Hermione mumbled.
"Yeah, sorry mate," Ron nodded.
"It's fine," Harry told them.
Harry had to endure everyone in the class talking loudly and happily about what they were going to do first, once they got into Hogsmeade.
"Sorry, Harry. I didn't even realise you weren't allowed to go to Hogsmeade," Neville said, looking sheepish.
"It's ok, Nev. Don't worry about it. You had no reason to know," Harry smiled at his friend.
Ron tried to cheer Harry up by reminding him of the feast.
"It was good of you to try," Percy told his brother.
Harry was still gloomy as he thought that the feast, while always good, would taste better having spent the day in Hogsmeade. Dean Thomas, who was good with a quill, had offered to forge Uncle Vernon's signature on the form, but as Harry had already told Professor McGonagall he hadn't had it signed, that was no good.
"You could have told her you owled them to get it signed," Tonks pointed out.
"But I had already told her it was because they didn't understand Hogwarts forms and things," Harry shrugged.
"And it wouldn't have mattered. The real problem was Sirius, not an unsigned form," Remus reminded them. Sirius grimaced. He hated the thought that he'd accidentally forced his godson to miss out of such good experiences with his friends.
Ron halfheartedly suggested the Invisibility Cloak, but Hermione stamped on that one, reminding Ron what Dumbledore had told them about the dementors being able to see through them. Percy had what were possibly the least helpful words of comfort.
Percy frowned.
He tried to tell him he wasn't missing much, calling Zonko's dangerous.
"Honestly, Percy, I can't believe you thought that would help," Fred shook his head in disappointment.
"Thanks for at least trying, Percy," Harry smiled gratefully. It's not like he'd been close with Percy, but he'd offered him advice on choosing new subjects for third year, tried, miserably, to help him with chess in first year and then tried to cheer him up about this. It might be difficult to see sometimes, but Percy did care.
Percy smiled at him in return, glad someone at least appreciated the attempt, although, hearing it back he could see how it wouldn't be all that helpful to someone who had never seen the village before.
On Halloween morning, Harry awoke with the rest and went down to breakfast, feeling thoroughly depressed, though doing his best to act normally. Hermione promised they would bring him back loads of sweets and Ron agreed. He and Hermione had finally forgotten their squabble about Crookshanks in the face of Harry's difficulties.
Several people smiled.
"Good for you two," Bill said proudly.
Harry told them not to worry about him and he would see them at the feast. He accompanied them to the entrance hall, where Filch, the caretaker, was standing inside the front doors, checking off names against a long list, peering suspiciously into every face, and making sure that no one was sneaking out who shouldn't be going. Malfoy taunted him about being scared to pass the dementors.
"Lockhart Junior needs some new material," Fred rolled his eyes.
"I amnot Lockhart Junior,"Draco protested. Several people, namely Weasleys, smirked making Draco pout.
Harry ignored him and made his solitary way up the marble staircase, through the deserted corridors, and back to Gryffindor Tower. The Fat Lady woke up and asked for the password. Harry gave it and climbed into the common room. It was full of chattering first and second years, and a few older students, who had obviously visited Hogsmeade so often the novelty had worn off.
"Is that common?" Harry wondered.
"Not particularly on the first visit. A lot of people still go on dates or just want to get away from the castle. Much more common later in the year when exams are approaching," Percy told him.
Colin Creevey greeted him and offered to let him join them which he declined.
"Didn't want to sit with your fan club?" Draco teased.
"That's more your area than mine," Harry replied dryly. Severus hated how true that actually was.
He said he had to go to the library and get some work done.
"I'm going to assume that's not what actually happens," Fred laughed.
"No," Harry grinned over at Remus who smiled in return.
Harry's smile faded as he thought about the conversation he'd had with Remus then. He wondered, now, why Remus had kept it so secret that he'd known Harry's dad. He could sort of understand not mentioning Sirius, it was obviously painful, but he could have shared memories of James Potter with him. He seemed to have no issue doing so here, and he wondered if, somehow, being a professor had made him hold his tongue. Or if it was something else. But then, all the stories he'd heard had involved James and Sirius. Remus featured frequently and Pettigrew as little as possible, but he hadn't yet heard a single story without his dad and Sirius being mentioned. Maybe Remus just couldn't find any good memories of his dad without Sirius being there too. Or at least none he was willing to share at the time. He'd ask him later.
After that, he had no choice but to turn right around and head back out of the portrait hole again. The Fat Lady was upset about being woken up.Harry wandered dispiritedly toward the library, but halfway there he changed his mind; he didn't feel like working.
"Really? Half-way there? You felt like doing work at all?" Fred asked him. Several people chuckled.
"Yeah, I had a few bits I did need to do."
"So do them on a different day. Not one everyone else is enjoying properly," George said.
"I didn't do any work."
"Good," the twins said in unison.
He turned around and came face-to-face with Filch, who had obviously just seen off the last of the Hogsmeade visitors. Filch was suspicious as he asked what Harry was doing.
"He's always suspicious," Fred snorted.
"He has reason to be with you menaces around," Minerva said, though she was smiling slightly.
Harry said nothing but Filch didn't believe him. He asked Harry why he wasn't in Hogsmeade buying pranks like his nasty friends.
"You'd think he'd be pleased one less student was buying pranks to play on him," Fred muttered.
"Filch isn't pleased about anything," Sirius pointed out.
"That's true," agreed George.
Harry shrugged. Filch told him to go back to his common room.
"He doesn't have to be in his common room. It's not a rule," Emmeline said.
"Since when has Filch actually cared about the rules?" asked Sirius scornfully.
"Since it suits him," Fred pointed out. "He loves the rules when they benefit him."
"Most people do," Amelia said, slightly amused.
He stood glaring until Harry had passed out of sight. But Harry didn't go back to the common room; he climbed a staircase, thinking vaguely of visiting the Owlery to see Hedwig.
"That would be nice. She deserves a visit," said Luna.
"She does," Harry agreed with a smile. He loved his owl.
He was walking along another corridor When his name was called and Harry doubled back to see who had spoken. He met Professor Lupin, looking around his office door. Professor Lupin asked what he was doing and where Ron and Hermione were. Harry answered they were in Hogsmeade.
"Sorry, Harry. It hadn't occurred to me either that Sirius might be a problem in that regard," Remus winced. Harry waved away the apology. He hadn't really thought about it either.
Lupin asked if he wanted to come in, and he'd just taken delivery of a grindylow for their next lesson.
"Ugh. Annoying little buggers," Tonks muttered.
"Nymphadora!" Andromeda scolded, much to Charlie's amusement.
He followed Lupin into his office. In the corner stood a very large tank of water. A sickly green creature with sharp little horns had its face pressed against the glass, pulling faces and flexing its long, spindly fingers.
"I can't believe you actually got one just to show the class," Charlie said, a little jealously. None of their Defense teachers had been that cool.
"Well, they live in the lake so it wasn't too difficult to obtain a grindylow. I didn't have demonstrations for most other creatures. Boggart excepted, of course," Remus smirked at that last bit.
Severus glared but most others all snickered at the reminder.
Lupin explained it was a water demon but shouldn't be too difficult after the kappas. The trick was to break his grip as his fingers were strong but brittle.
"Giving him a headstart are we?" Filius asked with a chuckle.
"Hardly. One little bit of information will hardly ruin the whole lesson," Remus shrugged. "And everyone knew grindylows were up next."
The grindylow bared its green teeth and then buried itself in a tangle of weeds in a corner. Lupin offered him a cup of tea. Harry awkwardly agreed.
"It was a bit strange, randomly having tea with a teacher," Harry said.
"Especially with the Defense teacher, given your record with them," Fred added.
"I wasn't even thinking of that at the time, but yeah."
Lupin tapped the kettle with his wand and a blast of steam issued suddenly from the spout. Lupin offered him a sear and said he only had teabags, but he was sure Harry had had enough of tea leaves.
Everyone chuckled atthat.
"You know, without any context, it was kind of weird and suspicious that you knew about that," Harry said with a grin. Remus chuckled.
Lupin's eyes were twinkling. Harry asked how he knew and Lupin said McGonagall had informed him as he handed Harry his tea.
"Do teachers often sit around and gossip about us, or is that just because Remus knew Harry's dad?" Neville wondered.
"Oh, we have all sorts of gossip about our students," Pomona admitted with a smile. "Minerva is one of the worst." Minerva glared at her friend.
"They put bets on us too," Fred put in.
"And how, exactly, do you know about that?" Minerva spluttered.
"A prankster never tells," George grinned.
"What sort of bets?" Ron demanded.
"Oh, you know, about who will end up with who, who will ask who to the Hogsmeade weekends, that sort of thing," Fred told him. Everyone turned to stare at the teachers. Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling while Minerva glared at the twins. Severus looked bored and Pomona and Filius were both chuckling.
Lupin asked if Harry was worried about it which he denied. He thought for a moment of telling Lupin about the dog he'd seen in Magnolia Crescent but decided not to. He didn't want Lupin to think he was a coward, especially since Lupin already seemed to think he couldn't cope with a boggart.
Remus sighed. Although, it was probably for the best. He didnt know how he would have reacted to the news that Sirius had found Harry so soon.
Something of Harry's thoughts seemed to have shown on his face, because Lupin asked if anything was worrying him. He lied and denied it. After he took a sip of tea, he changed his mind and brought up the day they fought the boggart.
"Well, at least you told him eventually, so it didn't keep bothering you," Fred smiled.
"Yeah. I was just glad it was that reason and not he thought I was weak."
Lupin agrred he remembered and Harry asked why he didnt let him fight the boggart. Lupin said he thought it was obvious. Harry was taken aback, having expected the professor to deny doing such a thing.
Remus sighed once more. He didn't know if Harry's thoughts were because of his previous experience with adults or because he had done something wrong. He'd been a selfish coward all year, keeping Harry at arms length. Giving in to little moments like the butterbeer before the Quidditch game, but it hadn't been enough. Harry deserved more.
He needed a stable adult in his life who would fight for him. Help him through whatever crap life would likely continue to throw at him. And Remus didn't know if Sirius could be that without some serious help himself, and he didn't trust himself either. It was so easy to make promises, to make plans while they read...following through would be the difficult bit.
Harry asked why again and Lupin explained it was because he assumed Harry's fear would be Voldemort.
Several people around the room shivered slightly. They were growing more used to hearing the name, a result of reading Harry's thoughts, but it was still ingrained in them to be afraid of it.
Harry stared. Not only was this the last answer he'd expected, but Lupin had said Voldemort's name. The only person Harry had ever heard say the name aloud (apart from himself) was Professor Dumbledore. Lupin said that clearly he was wrong, but he hadn't thought it a good idea for Voldemort to materialize in the staff room as people would panic.
"That's definitely true," Kingsley nodded.
Harry admitted he had thought of Voldemort at first, but then recalled the dementors.
"For good reason. They pretty much are literally fear," Charlie said.
"Yeah, it's a very legitimate fear, even without taking Harry's reaction to them into account," Kingsley agreed.
Lupin said he was impressed as what Harry feared most, was fear itself.
Charlie nodded.
"See, Lockhart spawn? Harry is smart to fear dementors," Fred smirked.
"I am not Lockhart Spawn!" Draco glowered
"Draco, do compose yourself," Narcissa sighed. "They want a rise out of you and you are providing them with one."
"But they..."
"Are doing exactly what you have been doing to Harry, Ron and Hermione over the last three years. Except you said far worse. Annoying, isn't it?" Charlie smirked. Draco pouted but a warning look from his mother ensured he gave no verbal response.
Harry didn't know what to say to that, so he drank some more tea. Lupin guessed that Harry had believed Lupin thought him incapable of fighting the boggart. Harry agreed, feeling happier now he knew this was not the case.
Remus smiled. At least he'd donesomething right.
He started to ask about dementors when he was interrupted by a knock at the door. Lupin called for them to enter, and th e door opened to reveal Snape. He was carrying a goblet, which was smoking faintly, and stopped at the sight of Harry, his black eyes narrowing.
"I suspect he thought there might be some reminiscing going on," Minerva said. Harry frowned. He wished there had been.
Sirius caught the look and guessed what Harry was thinking. He was sure Remus had his reasons, which were likely related to him, at least in some capacity.
Lupin thanked Snape and asked him to leave it on the desk. Snape set down the smoking goblet, his eyes wandering between Harry and Lupin. Lupin said he'd been showing Harry the grindylow. Snape said this was fascinating without even looking.
"I don't think he believes you," Fred snorted.
"Even though it is the truth," Ron muttered.
Snape told Lupin he should drink it directly and he agreed. Snape said he'd made a cauldronful if he needed more. Remus agreed he should take some again the next day.
"Honestly, given how hard he tried to give away Remus' secret, I'm surprised he didn't say more about the potion to ensure Harry found out," Hermione mused.
"He didn't just try, he literally told all the Slytherins," Ron reminded her angrily.
"Ron, what happened that night was terrible, and it was a miracle nothing went wrong. Severus was right too..." Remus said, while trying not to give away too much to those not in the know. He was cut off by Harry.
"Don't pretend Snape did it for any noble reasons. He did it as revenge because he couldn't make you suffer a worse fate and because Sirius got away, costing him his completely undeserved award."
He thanked Snape who backed out of the room, unsmiling and watchful. Harry looked curiously at the goblet. Lupin smiled. He explained that the potion was particularly complex and he wasn't a great brewer.
Sirius snorted in amusement. "Never been much of a brewer...bit of an understatement." Remus flushed.
He picked up the goblet and sniffed it. He added that it was a pity sugar made it useless, before taking a sip and shuddering. Harry asked why and Lupin said he'd been feeling off-colour and it was the only thing that helped. He was lucky to be working with Snape as there aren't many wizards up to making it.
"Hence why it's so expensive," Remus sighed.
Professor Lupin took another sip and Harry had a crazy urge to knock the goblet out of his hands.
"Why?" Ted frowned.
"I thought Snape might be trying to poison him," Harry admitted. Severus sneered, not admitting the thought had crossed his mind more than once. But Dumbledore would have known it was him.
He blurted out that Snape was very interested in the Dark Arts. L upin only looked mildly interested as he took another gulp of potion. Harry continued that people believed Snape would do anything to get the Defense job.
"I would not poison somebody for ajob," Severus sneered.
"But you would poison someone, wouldn't you, Snape?" Moody asked.
"Alastor," Dumbledore sighed.
Lupin drained the goblet and pulled a face. He announced it was disgusting and said he'd better get back to work. Harry put down his empty teacup. The empty goblet was still smoking.
"To be fair, Snape has tried to poison Neville's toad and been especially angry with Remus even before the boggart incident. Now that smoking goblet, I'm not surprised Harry thought Snape was trying to poison him," Bill muttered.
A shower of brilliantly coloured sweets fell into Harry's lap as Ron announced they had got as much as they could carry.
"That was very nice of you," Arthur smiled at his son.
"Where did you get the money for all that?" Charlie wondered. That sounded like a lot of sweets, and he assumed the pair had also brought plenty for themselves.
"Fred and George," Ron admitted.
"They heard us debating which ones to take back and said we should get the lot," Hermione added.
"Thanks, guys," Harry said, smiling gratefully at his friends and at the twins.
It was dusk, and Ron and Hermione had just turned up in the common room, pink-faced from the cold wind and looking as though they'd had the time of their lives.
"The first time is always the best," Bill said with a smile.
Harry thanked them as he picked up a packet of tiny black Pepper Imps. He asked what Hogsmeade was like and where they went. They told him about all the places they'd seen, including Dervish and Banges, the wizarding equipment shop.
"Handy place that," Percy stated.
"Yeah, they have loads of interesting things," Tonks agreed
Zonko's Joke Shop was mentioned.
The twins and Tonks all grinned.
They had also been i nto the Three Broomsticks for foaming mugs of hot butterbeer, and many places besides. Hermione spoke about the post office while Ron mentioned Honeydukes. They also thought they'd seen an ogre.
"Yeah, you get all sorts in the Three Broomsticks. Hogsmeade is the only place they can real roam around freely. Although, some turn up at the Leaky Cauldron," Percy said.
Ron said he wished they could have brought Harry some butterbeer.
"Why didn't you? Madam Rosmerta sells bottles to take away," Charlie said.
"We didn't know that," Ron told him.
Hermione asked if he'd gotten any work done and he told them about his visit with Lupin. Ron's mouth fell open as he wondered if Lupin was mad.
There were several chuckles at that.
Hermione checked her watch and said they'd better get down as the feast would start soon. They hurried through the portrait hole and into the crowd, still discussing Snape. Hermione pointed out that if Snape was trying to poison Lupin, he wouldn't have done it in front of Harry.
"Except he didn't know Harry would be there," Kingsley pointed out.
"Remus was expecting the delivery so it would look more suspicious to arrive with it and not give it to him," Tonks added.
Harry agreed as they reached the entrance hall and crossed into the Great Hall. It had been decorated with hundreds and hundreds of candle-filled pumpkins, a cloud of fluttering live bats, and many flaming orange streamers, which were swimming lazily across the stormy ceiling like brilliant watersnakes.
"Sounds lovely, as always," Emmeline smiled.
The food was delicious; even Hermione and Ron, who were full to bursting with Honeydukes sweets, managed second helpings of everything.
Ron eating loads is hardly a surprise," Charlie snorted.
"Weasley boys do eat a lot," Molly smiled fondly.
Harry kept glancing at the staff table. Professor Lupin looked cheerful and as well as he ever did; he was talking animatedly to tiny little Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher. Harry moved his eyes along the table, to the place where Snape sat. He wasn't sure if he was imagining it, or if Snape's eyes flickering toward Lupin more often than was natural.
Severus rolled his eyes.
The feast finished with an entertainment provided by the Hogwarts ghosts. They popped out of the walls and tables to do a bit of formation gliding; Nearly Headless Nick, the Gryffindor ghost, had a great success with a reenactment of his own botched beheading.
"Good for him. At least he's not dwelling on not being completely Headless," Bill smiled.
"It was hilarious," Ron grinned in remembrance.
"Formation gliding?" Ted asked, confused.
"That bit was weird, and a bit boring, but the rest was good," George told him.
It had been such a pleasant evening that Harry's good mood couldn't even be spoiled by Malfoy, who shouted the dementors send their love through the crowd as they all left the hall.
Several people rolled their eyes.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione followed the rest of the Gryffindors along the usual path to Gryffindor Tower, but when they reached the corridor that ended with the portrait of the Fat Lady, they found it jammed with students. Ron asked why nobody was going in. Harry peered over the heads in front of him.
"Must have been the first years if Harry could see over them," Fred teased. Harry glared at him.
"Depends on the first year," Ron grinned. Harry shot him a betrayed look.
"I'm not that short!" Sirius ruffled his hair, hiding his own grin from his godson.
The portrait seemed to be closed. Percy asked to be let through and asked what the hold up was. He said they couldn't all have forgotten the password and that he was the Head Boy.
"I don't think announcing that is going to get you through any quicker," Bill told his brother.
And then a silence fell over the crowd, from the front first, so that a chill seemed to spread down the corridor. They heard Percy say, in a suddenly sharp voice for someone to get Dumbledore.
"Well, I'm guessing the Fat Lady had fled somewhere," Amelia said, looking over at Sirius, who winced.
"Yeah," Harry agreed. The rest of the Gryffindors who'd been there that year, grimaced, knowing who took over while the Fat Lady was out of commission.
People's heads turned; those at the back were standing on tiptoe. Ginny asked what was going on, having just arrived. A moment later, Professor Dumbledore was there, sweeping toward the portrait; the Gryffindors squeezed together to let him through, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione moved closer to see what the trouble was. Hermione grabbed Harry's arm. The Fat Lady had vanished from her portrait, which had been slashed so viciously that strips of canvas littered the floor; great chunks of it had been torn away completely.
Everyone turned to look at Sirius who was slowly sinking in his seat.
"You destroyed the Fat Lady's portrait?" Molly asked, eyeing the man with great concern. He was clearly unstable.
"Yes," he admitted with a wince. "I wanted Peter and she wouldn't let me in."
"She was doing her job," Minerva stated sternly. She looked quite angry.
"I know. I wasn't thinking straight."
"I don't believe you were thinking at all," Andromeda told him.
"I know, I know. I owe her an apology."
"And the rest of us. We had to put up with Sir Cadogan guarding the portrait hole," George said grumpily.
"Sorry," Sirius grimaced. "That must have been pretty grim."
"Oh it was," Harry assured him.
"That's a hell of a lot of damage," Charlie noted.
"I was so close...after everything, after twelve years, I was so close to finding Peter and to be denied at the last moment...I regret my actions,a" Sirius said softly.
Dumbledore took one quick look at the ruined painting and turned, his eyes somber, to see Professors McGonagall, Lupin, and Snape hurrying toward him. Dumbledore said they needed to find her. He sent McGonagall to fetch Filch to tell him to search every painting for the Fat Lady. A voice cackled, saying they would be lucky. It was Peeves, looking delighted as he always was during times of wreckage or worry.
"Of course Peeves was thrilled," Charlie rolled his eyes.
"He's a menace," Neville muttered.
"He's usually better behaved with the teachers," pointed out Percy.
Dumbledore asked what Peeves meant and the Poltergeist's grin faded slightly. He didn't dare taunt Dumbledore.
"At least, not on a matter so serious," Dumbledore smiled slightly.
"Peeves taunts you normally?" Neville asked in astonishment.
"On occasion," the headmaster smiled. "I do enjoy a good joke."
Instead, he adopted an oily voice that was no better than his cackle. He said she was ashamed, she didn't want to be seen as she was a horrible mess. He'd seen her running through the landscape of the fourth floor, crying. He added 'poor thing' unsympathetically.
"Convincing," Tonks said sarcastically.
Dumbledore asked if the Fat Lady had said who did it. Peeves said she did, stating he got very angry when the Fat Lady wouldn't let him in. Peeves flipped over and grinned at the headmaster from between his own legs before saying Sirius Black had a nasty temper.
Sirius sighed again. He'd always had a temper, and it often got the best of him, but that had been...terrible. And if he was going to look after Harry, he'd have to get a proper handle on it.
Several people eyed him. It was difficult to reconcile the man who was in the room, being so good with Harry and joking with the other, with someone who slashed the Fat Lady's portrait so badly.
"That's the chapter," Kingsley stated, breaking the tension slightly.
"Let's have five minutes and then reconvene," Minerva suggested. They all agreed and slowly got up to take care of their own business.