Andromeda followed her cousin to his living room and watched as he sank onto the couch, head in his hands. She sighed.
"Cousin," she said, taking a seat next to him, "do not be so hard on yourself."
"How can I not? You heard what I did."
"Yes, and, while impulsive and foolish, you had a reason for being so. You were in Azkaban for twelve years. Innocent, surviving as a dog. Then you escape and go on the run, before ending up living in the Forbidden Forest, again with dementors fairly nearby. You had no chance to recover, to deal with what happened to you. Was it good, what you did? Of course not. Is it understandable? Yes."
"That was a portrait. What if…what if, next time, I hurt someone living? What if I hurt Harry? Or Remus?" He whispered. She frowned at him.
"Do you truly think yourself capable of that?"
"Not on purpose." He thought back to the shack. It had all been a bit of a blur at the time, but more details kept coming back to haunt him. His hand around Harry's throat. "But…" He trailed off, looking ill.
Andromeda considered him. Clearly something had happened to make him feel this way because the cousin she knew would die before hurting those he cared about. She had always doubted that he would betray James, but the longer time went on, the less she doubted and the more she wrongly believed he had done it. Knowing he was innocent meant she had not judged him incorrectly. He would die before hurting those he loved, he was not a traitor.
"You have already recovered well since we've been here. Not completely, of course, that will likely take years, but whatever you were capable of a week ago, I think you have enough control now not to hurt anyone you care about," she said slowly. He looked at her then. Guilt and hope shone brightly in his eyes.
"Do you really think..?"
"I do. You're not the person your wrongful imprisonment made you. You are not defined by your actions in such circumstances." He nodded, though there was still doubt in his eyes. "Come on, let us hear what your troublesome godson gets into next." Sirius gave a wry chuckle before standing and following her from the room.
By the time they arrived, everyone else was already seated. Sirius glanced around the room. Nobody seemed to be overly angry still, though Molly Weasley was eyeing him warily.
"Are you ok?" Remus asked him quietly as he took his seat between Remus and Harry.
"Not entirely, but I will be," he answered truthfully. Remus nodded and squeezed his arm comfortingly.
Emmeline picked up the book, once she was sure everyone was ready, and found the correct page.
Grim Defeat
"What?" Several people asked, confused.
Harry grimaced. "The stupid Quidditch game," he muttered.
"It wasn't your fault," Fred told him sternly.
"Nobody blamed you Harry, not even Wood," George added.
Professor Dumbledore sent all the Gryffindors back to the Great Hall, where they were joined ten minutes later by the students from Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin, who all looked extremely confused.
"We were. Nobody explained anything, just that we had to be escorted back to the Great Hall," said Draco. "There was no mention of Black, or an attack on the Gryffindor portrait."
"Honestly, plenty of Gryffindors were confused too," Percy said. "There were several who weren't outside the Portrait hole right then. The prefects had to track them all down."
"The Halloween feast usually goes on until curfew, so they should all have stuck together," Molly stated.
"There's always a few that don't go straight to bed. The older years have a later curfew, so some go to the library to get more studying done," Bill explained.
"After a feast?" Ron looked at his brother like he was insane.
"Yes. When you're in your OWL and NEWT years, you'll understand," Bill chuckled.
Dumbledore explained he needed to conduct a thorough search of the castle as Professors McGonagall and Flitwick closed all doors into the hall. They would all need to spend the night in the Great Hall with prefects and the Head Boy and Girl to watch over them.
"Why not leave them all in their common rooms?" Emmeline wondered.
"Because with the Fat Lady having fled, there was no guardian for the Gryffindor common room and rather than just having the Gryffindors in the hall, I thought it best to increase the numbers," Dumbledore explained. Several people nodded at that.
Sirius scowled. One of the only times Dumbledore bothered to implement proper security measures, and it was from him. Who wouldn't ever harm Harry. Unlike pretty much everything else that had gotten into Hogwarts over the last three years. He knew they didn't know that at the time, but it still stung.
He stated to Percy that any disturbance should be reported to him immediately, who was looking immensely proud and important. Dumbledore added that he could send word via the ghosts. As he was about to leave the hall he stopped and, with one casual wave of his wand, the long tables flew to the edges of the hall and stood themselves against the walls. Another wave, and the floor was covered with hundreds of squashy purple sleeping bags.
"They were very nice. I wish we could have kept them," Luna said. As she said it, the room provided a squashy, purple sleeping bag. She smiled delightedly and immediately slid from her seat to snuggle inside it on the floor. She sat up, leaning against the sofa she had been sharing with Neville and Emmeline.
Professor Dumbledore left, closing the door behind him. The hall immediately began to buzz excitedly; the Gryffindors were telling the rest of the school what had just happened. Percy shouted for everyone to get into their sleeping bags and for no more talking and lights out would be in ten minutes.
"Good luck with that," Tonks snorted.
"Yeah, sorry, Perce, but everyone is going to be talking after that," Charlie told him.
"I know, but I had to at least try."
"You should have just given them fifteen minutes or so to chat and then called for no more talking and lights out. Yes, plenty will probably still ignore you, but at least they'll have gotten some of it out of their systems," Bill said. Percy shrugged. There was nothing he could do about it now.
Ron said to the others to come on, so they seized three sleeping bags and dragged them into a corner. Hermione wondered if Black was still in the castle.
"Nope," Sirius shook his head. "I left immediately after the, uh, after the Fat Lady fled. I knew people would be coming back shortly."
Ron pointed out that clearly Dumbledore thought so. As they got into their sleeping bags, Hermione said it was lucky he picked tonight.
"Did you even have Scabbers in the dormitory or was he with you at the feast?" Sirius wondered quietly. He'd tried to smell him in his dog form, but even his dog nose couldn't pick it out. Not over the general scent of him in the castle.
"He was with me. Hermione had left Crookshanks in the common room and I didn't want to risk it," Ron admitted. Sirius groaned softly. Even if he'd gotten inside, it would have been completely pointless.
Ron suggested he'd lost track of time, or he would have come bursting into the hall.
"If he was insane enough to do that, he wouldn't have fled after attacking the Fat Lady, he would have just gone to the hall afterwards," Ted pointed out.
"Or tried again the next night or while Harry was outside for his classes," Bill added.
Hermione shuddered. All around them, people were asking how he got in. One Ravenclaw suggested he knows how to apparate.
Filius shook his head. "Most adult wizards know how to apparate. And one cannot apparate within Hogwarts."
A Hufflepuff suggested he disguised himself and Dean Thomas said he could have flown in.
"Most of the windows wouldn't be open, especially at the end of October. And there are charms to prevent entry into the dorms by flying," Minerva stated.
"Well, disguise is definitely closest," Sirius said with a slight grin.
Hermione asked if she was the only person to read Hogwarts: A History. Ron said probably, but asked why. She explained that the castle was protected by more than simply walls. Nobody could just apparate in, and she would like to see a disguise that would fool the dementors.
Sirius transformed into Padfoot and ran over to Hermione. She chuckled slightly as he then ran back to Harry and dropped his head in Harry's lap. Harry scratched him behind the ears before Sirius turned back to himself and retook his seat.
She continued that they would have seen him fly in.
"Not necessarily. Everyone was at the feast," pointed out Tonks.
"Unless she means the dementors. They are blind so wouldn't have 'seen' him but would probably have sensed if he had flown in," Kingsley said.
Hermione added that Filch knew all the secret passages and would have had those covered.
"No, he doesn't," Fred snorted.
"He knows about, maybe half," George agreed.
"And you two knew of secret passages Filch did not know about and failed to inform the staff of these so they could be protected?" Minerva fixed them both with a stern look. They both exchanged looks.
"Er, well, we didn't think Sirius would use them," Fred admitted.
Percy called that the lights were going out and everyone should be in their sleeping bags. The candles all went out at once. The only light now came from the silvery ghosts, who were drifting about talking seriously to the prefects, and the enchanted ceiling, which, like the sky outside, was scattered with stars. What with that, and the whispering that still filled the hall, Harry felt as though he were sleeping outdoors in a light wind.
"I don't think anyone got much sleep that night," Draco said.
"No. Most people stayed awake, waiting for news and gossiping about what happened as soon as the prefects were far enough away," Fred agreed.
"Or they fell asleep and woke up when the teachers came back in to check on us," Neville added.
Once every hour, a teacher would reappear in the hall to check that everything was quiet. Around three in the morning, when many students had finally fallen asleep, Professor Dumbledore came in. Harry watched him looking around for Percy, who had been prowling between the sleeping bags, telling people off for talking. Percy was only a short way away from Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who quickly pretended to be asleep as Dumbledore's footsteps drew nearer.
Percy rolled his eyes, annoyed he hadn't noticed they were faking.
"Convenient you were nearby so Harry could overhear this conversation," Ted noted, amused.
"I was keeping an eye on my siblings," Percy admitted. "So, I was patrolling near them more often than not."
"Good," Molly nodded approvingly.
Percy quietly asked if there was any sign of him. Dumbledore said no and asked if everything was ok. Percy agreed. The headmaster said there was no point in moving them all now, but he'd found a temporary guardian for Gryffindor tower, so they'd be able to move back in.
All the Gryffindors scowled.
Percy asked about the Fat Lady. Dumbledore said she was hiding in a map of Argyllshire on the second floor. She had refused to let Black in without the password, so he attacked.
"All for nothing. The damn rat wasn't even in there," Sirius grumbled to himself.
He added that she was still very distressed, but once she's calmed down, he would have Mr. Filch restore her.
Sirius winced. Andromeda stared at him, wanting him to remember their earlier conversation.
Harry heard the door of the hall creak open again, and more footsteps. Snape arrived and said the third floor had been searched while Filch had done the dungeons. Dumbledore asked about other locations which Snape confirmed had been searched. The headmaster said he hadn't really expected Black to linger.
"But if he was truly after Harry, and bold enough to sneak into Hogwarts and attack the Fat Lady, why would you think he wouldn't linger?" Bill wondered.
"Sirius has always been highly intelligent. While I assumed he had confused the date, I did not think he was so far gone as to wish to remain given the likelihood of getting caught once the Fat Lady raised the alarm," Dumbledore explained.
Snape asked if he had any theories as to how Black got in. Harry raised his head very slightly off his arms to free his other ear. Dumbledore said he had many, each as unlikely as the next. Harry opened his eyes slightly and saw Dumbledore's back to him, Percy's face, rapt with attention, and Snape's profile, which looked angry.
"Doesn't he always," Charlie muttered grumpily. Snape was really getting on his nerves in this book.
Snape, who was barely opening his lips, as though trying to block Percy out of the conversation, asked if Dumbledore recalled their conversation from the start of term. Dumbledore agreed that he did, and there was something like warning in his voice. Snape continued that it seemed almost impossible Black could have entered the school without inside help and he had expressed concern when he appointed. Dumbledore cut him off, saying he didn't think anyone inside the school would help Black enter.
"Three guesses who he is accusing," Fred rolled his eyes.
"Well, given the school's luck with Defence teachers, Remus' friendship with Sirius and the unlikelihood of someone breaking into Hogwarts completely alone, I can see why Severus would have concerns," Amelia pointed out fairly.
"Except Snape isn't pointing this out because he has concerns, he's pointing it out because he hates Remus," Emmeline stated angrily. Amelia sighed. That was unfortunately true.
Dumbledore's tone made it so clear that the subject was closed that Snape didn't reply. Dumbledore then said he had to go and inform the Dementors the search was complete. Percy asked if they had wanted to help and Dumbledore replied that they did but no Dementor would enter his school while he was headmaster.
Harry grimaced. If only that had been true.
Percy looked slightly abashed. Dumbledore left the hall, walking quickly and quietly. Snape stood for a moment, watching the headmaster with an expression of deep resentment on his face; then he too left.
"Resentful because the headmaster pays no attention to your prejudices?" Bill asked.
"Given the other prejudices of Snape that the headmaster completely ignores, he should be grateful on balance," Fred pointed out angrily.
Harry glanced sideways at Ron and Hermione. Both of them had their eyes open too, reflecting the starry ceiling. Ron silently asked what that was about. The school talked of nothing but Sirius Black for the next few days. The theories about how he had entered the castle became wilder and wilder; Hannah Abbott, from Hufflepuff, spent much of their next Herbology class telling anyone who'd listen that Black could turn into a flowering shrub.
Sirius snorted. "Why would I want to do that?"
"A disguise?" Ron suggested.
"Unless I wanted to invade the greenhouses, it would be an entirely pointless disguise."
"You think a random flowering shrub in the middle of a corridor would be suspicious? Never," Tonks said, a little sarcastically.
The Fat Lady's ripped canvas had been taken off the wall and replaced with the portrait of Sir Cadogan and his fat grey pony. Nobody was very happy about this.
"Understatement," George muttered.
Sir Cadogan spent half his time challenging people to duels, and the rest thinking up ridiculously complicated passwords, which he changed at least twice a day.
"A day?" Draco asked, astonished.
"If we were lucky it was only twice a day," Harry told him.
"How did anybody remember the password?" Ted wondered.
"He could usually be convinced to tell you in advance what he planned to change the password to," Fred explained.
"Thereby making the whole process pointless," Moody grunted.
"Not really. It made it much harder than before to get in, and you had to give the password before he'd tell you the other passwords in advance, so if you weren't a Gryffindor it was virtually impossible. Nobody would have ever guessed those passwords," Harry said.
Seamus Finnigan angrily told Percy he was a lunatic and asked if they could get anyone else. Percy stated that no other portrait wanted the job, being frightened of what had happened to the Fat Lady. Sir Cadogan was the only one brave enough to volunteer.
"The only one stupid enough, more like," Ron muttered.
"He's both," Harry said fairly.
Sir Cadogan, however, was the least of Harry's worries. He was now being closely watched. Teachers found excuses to walk along corridors with him, and Percy Weasley (acting, Harry suspected, on his mother's orders) was tailing him everywhere like an extremely pompous guard dog.
Percy flushed slightly at how obvious he had been while Molly nodded approvingly.
"Thanks, Percy," Harry said. It had been highly annoying at the time, but now he thought about it, tailing him around like that must have taken a great deal of Percy's time when it had been his NEWT year. He'd even come to several Quidditch practises before Madam Hooch took over.
To cap it all, Professor McGonagall summoned Harry into her office, with such a sombre expression on her face Harry thought someone must have died. She finally confessed about Sirius, to which Harry surprised her by revealing he already knew.
"Well, at least someone finally told him why everyone was behaving so oddly around him," Fred muttered.
She stared at Harry for a moment or two, then said that she didn't think it was a good idea for him to be practising Quidditch. He would be very exposed out on the field with only his teammates.
"You really only thought about that now?" Sirius asked.
"Well, once it was proven you could break into Hogwarts itself, yes. Before that, I considered it safe enough and did not want to essentially be punishing Harry by stopping him from practising," Minerva explained.
Harry pointed out their first match was on Saturday and he had to train. Professor McGonagall considered him intently. Harry knew she was deeply interested in the Gryffindor team's prospects; it had been she, after all, who'd suggested him as Seeker in the first Place.
"A love of Quidditch shouldn't come above your safety," Remus told him. Harry shrugged.
He waited, holding his breath. McGonagall said she'd like to see them win the cup at last but would be happier if a teacher was present. She would ask Madam Hooch to oversee his training.
"That makes sense," Kingsley nodded.
"Although she has hardly proven to be that reliable," Emmeline said with concern, thinking about Harry and Neville's first flying lesson.
The weather worsened steadily as the first Quidditch match drew nearer. Undaunted, the Gryffindor team was training harder than ever under the eye of Madam Hooch. Then, at their final training session before Saturday's match, Oliver Wood gave his team some unwelcome news. They were playing Hufflepuff instead of Slytherin.
"What? They never swap the matches around?" Charlie frowned.
"They do for the spoilt little faker with a rich daddy," Fred glared at Draco.
The team all asked why, and he told them Flint's excuse was their seeker's arm was still injured.
"Still injured?" Andromeda looked at her nephew with disdain. "Hardly."
Wood continued it was obvious why they were doing it, they didn't want to play in the horrific weather. There had been strong winds and heavy rain all day, and as Wood spoke, they heard a distant rumble of thunder.
"I mean, ickle Lockhart Junior couldn't catch it in the perfect Quidditch conditions against Harry, no wonder they thought that would damage their chances," Fred said spitefully. Draco pulled a face.
"Maybe Harry wasn't the only one Lockhart offered seeking advice too. Maybe Malfoy actually listened to him," Ron said with a smirk.
"That would explain a lot," George agreed.
Harry furiously stated there was nothing wrong with Malfoy's arm. He was faking. Wood said he knew but they can't prove it.
"Why was it allowed though? Gryffindor had to play without a Seeker in Harry's first year against Ravenclaw because he was in the hospital wing. Why were Slytherin allowed to get out of their game rather than field no seeker, or play a backup?" Tonks wondered.
"Two reasons, one, that was the last game of the season, there was no one to swap matches with. It was also played later than most finals meaning there was no chance to delay the game. Secondly, it was down to Hufflepuff. If their captain had refused to swap then the game would have been played anyway, but their captain agreed to the change, so it was allowed," Minerva explained unhappily.
"Bloody Hufflepuffs," Charlie grumbled.
"Hey!" Tonks protested.
"No other team would have agreed to swap. Nobody would want to play in those rubbish conditions just because some idiot was faking an injury. Only a Hufflepuff would ever fall for it," Fred pointed out. Tonks made another noise of protest but couldn't argue. Neither Gryffindor nor Ravenclaw would have swapped for that.
Wood said they had been practising all their moves assuming they were playing Slytherin, and instead, it's Hufflepuff who had a different style. They also had a new Captain and Seeker, Cedric Diggory. Angelina, Alicia, and Katie suddenly giggled. Wood asked 'what', frowning at this light-hearted behaviour.
Several people chuckled at Wood.
"Heaven forbid they giggle," Tonks said sarcastically.
"If you couldn't tell, Wood takes his Quidditch very seriously. It isn't the time for laughing, fun, joking around or anything other than intense training," Charlie told her with a grin. "Even when he first made it on the team as a third year and the youngest player, he would glare at any of the players who didn't take it as seriously as he did."
Angelina asked if he was the tall, good-looking one.
George rolled his eyes.
Katie said he was strong and silent. Fred impatiently stated he was only silent because he was too thick to string two words together.
"Mr. Weasley!" Pomona scolded. Fred shrugged.
Fred continued that he didn't know why Oliver was worried, the last time they played Hufflepuff Harry had caught the snitch in five minutes.
"That was two years ago. A team can change a lot in two years," Charlie warned.
"And it was perfect Quidditch conditions, not whatever we played in," George agreed.
Wood shouted that they were playing in different conditions and Diggory had put a strong side together. He had been afraid they would take the news like that and said Slytherin were trying to wrong-foot them and they had to stay focused. Fred looked mildly alarmed as he told Oliver to calm down and that they were taking Hufflepuff seriously.
"He did look quite insane," George said casually.
"I thought he was going to burst a blood vessel," Fred muttered.
The day before the match, the winds reached howling point and the rain fell harder than ever. It was so dark inside the corridors and classrooms that extra torches and lanterns were lit. The Slytherin team was looking very smug indeed, and none more so than Malfoy.
"Well, at least it all worked out well for you," Ron said sarcastically. Draco glared.
He sighed, saying if only his arm were better as the gale outside pounded the windows.
"You mean 'if only my arm were better at catching the snitch'," corrected Fred. Several people snorted.
Harry had no room in his head to worry about anything except the match tomorrow. Oliver Wood kept hurrying up to him between classes and giving him tips. The third time this happened, Wood talked for so long that Harry suddenly realized he was ten minutes late for Defence Against the Dark Arts.
"That boy," Minerva sighed.
Remus winced as he realised which lesson this was, and who had taken it in his place.
He set off at a run with Wood shouting after him about Diggory having a fast swerve. Harry skidded to a halt outside the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, pulled the door open, and dashed inside apologising for being late. But it wasn't Professor Lupin who looked up at him from the teacher's desk; it was Snape.
"Really? Out of every member of staff in the school, you let Snape take over Remus' lessons?" Sirius looked at Dumbledore like he'd lost his mind.
"Severus was the only member of staff with a free period," Dumbledore stated.
"How convenient," Sirius sneered.
"Honestly, they could have just had a self-study period, it's not like they haven't had practice with those," Emmeline added.
Snape stated the lesson began ten minutes ago so he would take ten points from Gryffindor and told him to sit down. But Harry didn't move.
"Of course he didn't," Tonks chuckled.
"I was concerned about Remus," Harry shrugged. "Especially after Halloween."
"Good instincts," Moody grunted, eyeing Snape with his magical eye.
He asked where Lupin was and Snape said he was feeling too ill to teach and told him to sit down.
"Of course, you were smiling about Remus being too ill to teach," Sirius growled.
"Sirius, let it go," Remus rolled his eyes.
But Harry stayed where he was.
"Really, even if hehad done something to Remus, he was hardly going to admit it in front of an entire class, was he?" Andromeda shook her head in Harry's direction. "All you're doing is giving Severus more reason to deduct points."
Harry asked what was wrong with him and Snape replied it was nothing life-threatening, while looking like he wished it was.
Several people rolled their eyes but nobody bothered to comment.
He took five more points and said if he had to ask Harry to sit down once more it would be fifty. Harry walked slowly to his seat and sat down. Snape looked around at the class. Snape stated that Lupin had left no record of topics they had covered so far.
"Really, Severus?" Remus drawled. "I must have dreamed of leaving a list of topics covered on my desk for you." Severus gave no reply.
"It wouldn't have mattered either way, he had his agenda and he wasn't changing it," Harry said darkly, glaring at Snape.
Hermione interrupted to list off the creatures they had covered.
"Hermione, bad idea," George said shaking his head.
"He's not saying it because he doesn't know, he's saying it because he likes having petty little digs at people not there to defend themselves. Like a coward," Sirius sneered.
"I am no coward," Severus declared angrily.
"Oh, yes, it's the height of bravery to bully your students and poison their pets," Emmeline scoffed.
"I believe enough has been said about Severus' behaviour," Dumbledore interjected. "He has seen the error of his ways."
"One apology is hardly 'seeing the error of his ways'," Moody pointed out. Dumbledore shot him a look which he completely ignored.
Snape told her to be quiet, he hadn't asked for information, he was simply commenting on Lupin's lack of organisation.
There were several more eye rolls.
"You know, sometimes I think people should lay off Snape a bit, but then he just keeps getting worse," Bill muttered to Charlie.
Dean Thomas spoke up, saying he was the best Defense teacher they've had. There was a murmur of agreement from the class.
Remus smiled slightly.
Snape looked more menacing than ever. He told them they were easily satisfied, he would expect first years to deal with Red Caps and Grindylows.
"Would you indeed?" Kingsley asked, interestedly.
"No, of course, he wouldn't. He's just being Snape," Emmeline rolled her eyes.
"It's Snape, he expected a first-year on their very first day to know sixth-year material," Fred pointed out.
"He didn't expect that either. He was being a git," Charlie corrected.
He stated that they would discuss, before pausing and flicking to the back of the textbook.
"So, obviously a chapter they wouldn't be covering next," Charlie muttered.
He stated they would cover werewolves.
"You really are an arse, aren't you?" Emmeline said, glaring furiously at Severus.
"It is a third-year topic," Severus said, carelessly.
"A topic they were not due to cover," Ted pointed out.
Hermione, seemingly unable to restrain herself said they weren't supposed to do werewolves yet, they were due to start hinkypunks. Snape said he was under the impression he was teaching the class, not her. He wanted them to turn to page 394. With many bitter sidelong looks and some sullen muttering, the class opened their books. Snape asked how to distinguish between the werewolf and the true wolf. Everyone sat in motionless silence; everyone except Hermione, whose hand, as it so often did, had shot straight into the air. He ignored Hermione.
"Of course he did," George scowled.
His twisted smile was back. He asked if Lupin really hadn't taught them the basic distinction between, but Parvati cut him off, saying they had already told him they hadn't got as far as werewolves yet.
"Brave of her," muttered Kingsley.
"But not a good idea. He's already being unreasonable, interrupting him with criticism won't help. He knows full well what he's doing," Amelia said.
Snape snarled for silence. Then said he never thought he'd meet a third-year class who wouldn't recognise a werewolf when they saw one.
Sirius snorted loudly in derision. "Bold statement for someone who went looking for one on a full moon and then played victim." Severus snarled. "Honestly, if third-years should be expected to know all about werewolves, a fifth-year should definitely know about the dangers of going after one on a full moon."
"I did not know..."
"Yes, you did," Sirius scoffed. "Of course, you did. And if you somehow, truly, didn't know, after all the time you spent stalking us, then you're dumber than you accused those third-years of being."
"Enough," Dumbledore said sternly.
He said he would make a point of informing Professor Dumbledore how very behind they were.
"No you wouldn't, because you'd then have to tell him all about how you conducted the lesson," Charlie pointed out.
Hermione spoke up and gave the answer.
"Hermione!" Several people groaned.
"He did not call on you, Miss Granger. While Severus is being, well, Severus, you still should not just shout out the answer without being called upon," Filius said with a sigh and an eye roll at his colleague.
"Not to mention, it's Snape. Even if most teachers would have called on you or not mind if you call out the answer, you know Snape will be a git," George pointed out.
Snape stated it was the second time she'd spoken out of turn and deducted five points for being an insufferable know-it-all.
"Severus!" Several people shouted, glaring at him.
Hermione went very red, put down her hand, and stared at the floor with her eyes full of tears. It was a mark of how much the class loathed Snape that they were all glaring at him, because every one of them had called Hermione a know-it-all at least once, and Ron, who told Hermione she was a know-it-all at least twice a week, said loudly that he'd asked a question and she knew the answer. He asked why Snape would ask the question if he didn't want to be told.
"Ron!" Molly scolded. "You don't talk to your professors like that. Even if they might deserve it," she added with a glare in Severus' direction.
The class knew instantly he'd gone too far. Snape advanced on Ron slowly, and the room held its breath. He gave Ron detention and said if he ever heard him criticize the way he taught he would be very sorry indeed.
"Well, that's unfortunate, seeing as your teaching ability is zero," Charlie said angrily.
No one made a sound throughout the rest of the lesson. They sat and made notes on werewolves from the textbook, while Snape prowled up and down the rows of desks, examining the work they had been doing with Professor Lupin. He said one was poorly explained and another was incorrect as kappas were more commonly found in Mongolia.
"Wrong," Kingsley drawled. "Honestly Severus, you don't want them to criticize your teaching but you teach them the wrong information?"
"It's like Lockhart all over again," Fred snorted.
"What did you say?" Severus demanded furiously.
"Well, someone supposedly teaching Defense is overly cocky, thinks themselves better than everyone else and yet is teaching students absolute rubbish. Exactly what happened in Lockhart's lessons," Charlie told him.
"Although, I am curious, were you saying that just to contradict Remus, and therefore deliberately giving them wrong information, or are you just below the level of a third-year in your own knowledge?" Emmeline asked. Severus snarled.
"Especially considering you were just giving them a load of crap for not knowing about werewolves and how even first-years should easily be able to deal with red caps and grindylows," added Bill.
"It is a concern that a member of staff would deliberately give students wrong information just to undermine another member of staff," Amelia said.
He scoffed that Professor Lupin gave a piece of work eight out of ten as he wouldn't have given it three. When the bell rang at last, Snape held them back. He gave them homework, an essay on how to recognise and kill werewolves.
"You bastard!" Sirius snarled.
"Sirius!"
"Mr. Black!" Several other adults shouted.
He wanted two rolls of parchment by Monday. He told Ron to stay behind to organise his detention. Harry and Hermione left the room with the rest of the class, who waited until they were well out of earshot, then burst into a furious tirade about Snape. Harry wondered why Snape had it in for Lupin, thinking it might be because of the boggart. Hermione didn't know, but said she hoped Lupin got better soon. Ron caught up with them five minutes later, in a towering rage. Ron called Snape something that made Hermione say 'Ron!'.
"Do you care to repeat whatever that may have been" Severus asked dangerously.
"No thanks," Ron denied.
He revealed his detention was to scrub the bedpans in the hospital wing without magic.
"Really?" Remus asked with a sigh.
"You're such a... whatever Ron called you," Fred stated, having figured out immediately what Snape was hoping to achieve.
"Severus," Dumbledore said, disappointment in his voice.
"Why is that detention so bad?" Neville wondered. It was pretty gross, but not particularly worse than most detentions assigned by Snape.
"Because Snape just told the whole class that Remus was too ill to teach. Now he's giving Ron detention in the hospital wing so he'll see Remus wasn't there, despite supposedly being ill. Combined with his lesson and homework, he's trying incredibly hard to reveal that Remus is a werewolf. In particular to Harry, probably in the hopes that he'd reject Remus for it, as Remus and James were close in school and James' son rejecting him for being a werewolf would hurt Remus," Emmeline explained. Neville frowned at that.
Ron asked why Black couldn't have hidden in Snape's office and finished him off for them.
Severus frowned at that. Did his students truly wish him dead? His recent realisation about the terrible nature of his behaviour was still grating at him, but in the case of Remus, he had been proven right that the werewolf was a danger given that he transformed and almost bit three students, not to mention himself.
"Ron, don't say such things like that," Molly told her son. "You shouldn't be wishing for anybody to be killed."
"I didn't mean it," Ron muttered. "I was just angry."
"It's still not something to be thrown about lightly. Wishing death on someone is a terrible thing," Arthur said quietly.
Draco frowned, watching the proceedings. When he'd said something like that about Granger, they'd jumped all over him for it. Weasel got off with a light scolding? It was hardly fair.
Narcissa eyed her son, spotting the expression of discontent on his face. She sighed at his inability to understand the difference in the circumstances. Part of it was, of course, bias. Ronald was a 'good' child and therefore his actions were not judged as harshly as her son's. They were more willing to see his actions in the best light and accept his excuses. However, Draco had wished another child, a yearmate, dead. One who had done absolutely nothing to him except get better grades than him. Ron had wished an abusive adult dead. Many of those in the room had felt something similar in regard to Harry's relatives. She would have to explain the difference to her son during the next break.
Harry woke extremely early the next morning; so early that it was till dark. For a moment he thought the roaring of the wind had woken him. Then he felt a cold breeze on the back of his neck and sat bolt upright - Peeves the Poltergeist had been floating next to him, blowing hard in his ear.
"He's not supposed to be in the dormitories," Percy frowned.
"He doesn't get in often, but it happens every once in a while," George grinned.
Harry furiously asked what he did that for.
"He did it because he's Peeves and he finds it funny," Fred told him with a grin.
"Stupid Poltergeist," Harry grumbled.
"I'm just glad it wasn't me he picked on for a change," Neville laughed.
Peeves puffed out his cheeks, blew hard, and zoomed backward out of the room, cackling. Harry fumbled for his alarm clock and looked at it. It was half past four. Cursing Peeves, he rolled over and tried to get back to sleep, but it was very difficult, now that he was awake, to ignore the sounds of the thunder rumbling overhead, the pounding of the wind against the castle walls, and the distant creaking of the trees in the Forbidden Forest.
All the Quidditch players in the room winced at the conditions.
In a few hours he would be out on the Quidditch field, battling through that gale. Finally, he gave up any thought of more sleep, got up, dressed, picked up his Nimbus Two Thousand, and walked quietly out of the dormitory. As Harry opened the door, something brushed against his leg. He bent down just in time to grab Crookshanks by the end of his bushy tail and drag him outside.
Ron scowled.
"That cat... he should not be that determined to catch one rat," Charlie shook his head.
Harry told Crookshanks suspiciously that Ron might be right about him. He told him to go chase some mice and leave Scabbers alone. The noise of the storm was even louder in the common room. Harry knew better than to think the match would be cancelled; Quidditch matches weren't called off for trifles like thunderstorms. Nevertheless, he was starting to feel very apprehensive. Wood had pointed out Cedric Diggory to him in the corridor; Diggory was a fifth year and a lot bigger than Harry.
"Who isn't?" George asked with a grin.
"Shut it," Harry grumbled.
Seekers were usually light and speedy, but Diggory's weight would be an advantage in this weather because he was less likely to be blown off course.
"I'm surprised you weren't," Fred winked. Harry glared.
Harry whiled away the hours until dawn in front of the fire, getting up every now and then to stop Crookshanks from sneaking up the boys, staircase again. At long last Harry thought it must be time for breakfast, so he headed through the portrait hole alone. Cadogan yelled at him to stand and fight but Harry told him to shut up. He revived a bit over a large bowl of porridge, and by the time he'd started on toast, the rest of the team had turned up. Wood didn't eat anything, just stated it was going to be a tough one.
Everyone who had played that day nodded.
"It was horrible, even without... what happened," George said.
Alicia soothingly told him to stop worrying, they didn't mind a bit of rain.
"If only that's all it was," Fred muttered.
But it was considerably more than a bit of rain. Such was the popularity of Quidditch that the whole school turned out to watch the match as usual, but they ran down the lawns toward the Quidditch field, heads bowed against the ferocious wind, umbrellas being whipped out of their hands as they went.
"The umbrellas were kind of pointless," Hermione sighed.
"Yeah, they were either blown away or turned inside out pretty much instantly," Neville agreed.
Just before he entered the locker room, Harry saw Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, laughing and pointing at him from under an enormous umbrella on their way to the stadium. The team changed into their scarlet robes and waited for Wood's usual pre-match pep talk, but it didn't come. He tried to speak several times, made an odd gulping noise, then shook his head hopelessly and beckoned them to follow him.
"Wow," Charlie whistled. "I think that's a first."
"It is," Harry nodded.
The wind was so strong that they staggered sideways as they walked out onto the field. If the crowd was cheering, they couldn't hear it over the fresh rolls of thunder. Rain was splattering over Harry's glasses. How on earth was he going to see the Snitch in this?
"Sorry, Harry, we really should have thought of that," Fred apologised.
"It's fine. Hermione sorted it in the end," Harry grinned.
"Of course she did," George smiled. Hermione turned slightly pink.
The Hufflepuffs were approaching from the opposite side of the field, wearing canary-yellow robes. The Captains walked up to each other and shook hands; Diggory smiled at Wood but Wood now looked as though he had lockjaw and merely nodded.
There were a few chuckles.
Harry saw Madam Hooch's mouth form the words, 'mount your brooms'. He pulled his right foot out of the mud with a squelch and swung it over his Nimbus Two Thousand. Madam Hooch put her whistle to her lips and gave it a blast that sounded shrill and distant they were off Harry rose fast, but his Nimbus was swerving slightly with the wind. He held it as steady as he could and turned, squinting into the rain. Within five minutes Harry was soaked to his skin and frozen, hardly able to see his teammates, let alone the tiny Snitch.
Sirius wrapped a blanket around Harry once more, who rolled his eyes but didn't protest. It was pretty comfortable.
He flew backward and forward across the field past blurred red and yellow shapes, with no idea of what was happening in the rest of the game. He couldn't hear the commentary over the wind. The crowd was hidden beneath a sea of cloaks and battered umbrellas. Twice Harry came very close to being unseated by a Bludger; his vision was so clouded by the rain on his glasses he hadn't seen them coming.
"At least they missed," Charlie said bracingly.
"Yeah. Good job Dobby didn't mess with this game," Bill muttered. Everyone winced at the idea of a rogue bludger going on in that weather.
He lost track of time. It was getting harder and harder to hold his broom straight. The sky was getting darker, as though night had decided to come early. Twice Harry nearly hit another player, without knowing whether it was a teammate or opponent; everyone was now so wet, and the rain so thick, he could hardly tell them apart.
"Well, you nearly hit me at least once and I'm pretty sure you tried to flatten Appleby one time," Fred chuckled.
"Not on purpose," Harry protested.
"No, but it actually worked out pretty well for Angelina," George told him with a grin.
With the first flash of lightning came the sound of Madam Hooch's whistle; Harry could just see the outline of Wood through the thick rain, gesturing him to the ground. The whole team splashed down into the mud. Wood explained he'd called for a time-out. They huddled at the edge of the field under a large umbrella; Harry took off his glasses and wiped them hurriedly on his robes. He asked what the score was and Wood said they were fifty points up, but unless they caught the snitch soon they'd be playing into the night.
"Hardly, the match had only been going on for an hour when he called for the time-out," Minerva said.
"Which is a long time in those conditions. And the darker it gets, the harder it would be to spot the snitch. Especially through the rain," Charlie pointed out.
Harry said exasperatedly that he had no chance with his glasses on. At that very moment, Hermione appeared at his shoulder; she was holding her cloak over her head and was, inexplicably, beaming. She said she'd had an idea and to give her his glasses. He handed them to her, and as the team watched in amazement, Hermione tapped them with her wand and said, "Impervius!"
"Well done, Miss Granger," Filius smiled approvingly.
"Lifesaver," Harry told her.
"Unfortunately not," Hermione muttered to herself.
"I'm glad it helped. I'll teach you to do it yourself if you like?"
"Yes please," Harry agreed.
She handed them back saying they would now repel water. Wood looked as though he could have kissed her.
Hermione wrinkled her nose.
He called hoarsely after her that she was brilliant as she disappeared into the crowd. They took off once more. Hermione's spell had done the trick. Harry was still numb with cold, still wetter than he'd ever been in his life, but he could see.
"Always helpful," Remus smiled.
"Just a bit," Harry agreed.
Full of fresh determination, he urged his broom through the turbulent air, staring in every direction for the Snitch, avoiding a Bludger, ducking beneath Diggory, who was streaking in the opposite direction. There was another clap of thunder, followed immediately by forked lightning. This was getting more and more dangerous. Harry needed to get the Snitch quickly - He turned, intending to head back toward the middle of the field, but at that moment, another flash of lightning illuminated the stands, and Harry saw something that distracted him completely , the silhouette of an enormous shaggy black dog, clearly imprinted against the sky, motionless in the topmost, empty row of seats.
"You actually went to a match?" Amelia asked Sirius in surprise.
"I wanted to see my godson fly. I'd seen him at practice so I knew he was on the team, but I couldn't see well enough from the forest in those conditions," Sirius admitted. "I missed out on twelve years of his life, I didn't want to miss that too. Sorry for distracting you though," he added, looking guiltily at Harry.
"It wasn't your fault," Harry assured him. "I shouldn't have gotten so distracted, but having seen you on Magnolia Cresent and then the whole Divination Grim thing, I was a bit thrown." Sirius grimaced.
Harry's numb hands slipped on the broom handle and his Nimbus dropped a few feet. Shaking his sodden bangs out of his eyes, he squinted back into the stands. The dog had vanished.
"I knew they were coming," Sirius said quietly. Harry hugged his godfather, knowing the next bit would be difficult for both of them.
Wood's anguished yell of Harry's name came from the Gryffindor goalposts. He yelled again for Harry to look behind him. Harry looked wildly around. Cedric Diggory was pelting up the field, and a tiny speck of gold was shimmering in the rain-filled air between them - With a jolt of panic, Harry threw himself flat to the broom handle and zoomed toward the Snitch.
"I can't believe Wood saw the snitch before Harry," Fred muttered.
"He probably didn't, he just saw Diggory making a dash for it," George shrugged.
He growled at his Nimbus as the rain whipped his face, urging it to go faster. But something odd was happening. An eerie silence was falling across the stadium. The wind, though as strong as ever, was forgetting to roar. It was as though someone had turned off the sound, as though Harry had gone suddenly deaf. He wondered what was going on.
"Oh no. They didn't?" Kingsley groaned.
"They did," Harry grimaced.
"But they weren't allowed on the grounds. They had strict instructions," Amelia frowned.
"Like that mattered," Harry snorted disdainfully.
And then a horribly familiar wave of cold swept over him, inside him, just as he became aware of something moving on the field below. Before he'd had time to think, Harry had taken his eyes off the Snitch and looked down. At least a hundred dementors, their hidden faces pointing up at him, were standing beneath him.
"What? A whole crowd of people and every single dementor is focused completely on Harry?" Kingsley frowned. "That makes no sense. He wouldn't even really be feeling positive emotions, he's completely focused on the snitch. Surely the people in the crowd would be more appetising to them?"
"Obviously, it's not a good thing for Harry if they are all focused completely on him, but if they had started randomly attacking the crowd it would have been utter chaos," Tonks pointed out anxiously.
"But why would a hundred dementors focus on a single person?" Amelia wondered. "If it were Black, maybe I could understand it, their job was to get him back, but Harry wasn't under their jurisdiction."
"I don't think dementors really care about jurisdiction," Sirius told her coolly. She shot him an apologetic look.
"Either way, let's just get this over with," Ron said loudly. Harry offered his friend a grateful smile.
It was as though freezing water were rising in his chest, cutting at his insides. And then he heard it again... Someone was screaming, screaming inside his head... a woman... she was saying 'not Harry!'. Another voice told her to stand aside. The woman's voice pleaded for them to kill her instead.
Severus went rigid while Sirius, Remus, Minerva and Emmeline all went stark white.
"Lily," Sirius whispered.
"His worst memory... heremembers Lily's murder," Minerva murmured to herself, desperately wishing it wasn't true.
"Dear Merlin," Filius whispered, closing his eyes.
Severus realised the Dark Lord had kept his word. He'd been willing to spare Lily, to let her stand aside and live. But she hadn't. She'd chosen to die in an effort to save Potter's spawn. And he knew, as much as he hated it, he knew deep down that if she had made any other choice, she wouldn't have been the Lily Evans he knew.
"So, the Ministry allowed the dementors to surround Hogwarts, in a failed attempt to catch, or at least deter, Sirius Black and all they achieved was to make the person they were supposed to help protect listen to the murder of his mother?" Amelia asked in a strained voice so only Kinglsey could hear her.
"Seems that way, yes," Kingsley agreed softly.
"Harry..." Sirius croaked.
"Can we just... keep reading?" Harry asked.
"Of course."
Numbing, swirling white mist was filling Harry's brain... He wondered what he was doing, why he was flying. He needed to help her... She was going to die... She was going to be murdered... He was falling, falling through the icy mist. She pleaded once more for them to have mercy. A shrill voice was laughing, the woman was screaming, and Harry knew no more.
Everyone was silent for several seconds.
Someone said it was lucky the ground was so soft. Another said they thought he was dead for sure.
"The ground? Nobody stopped him before he hit the ground?" Andromeda demanded.
"His fall was slowed, but it was still an awful landing," Fred told her, looking slightly haunted.
A third voice added he didn't even break his glasses. Harry could hear the voices whispering, but they made no sense whatsoever. He didn't have a clue where he was, or how he'd got there, or what he'd been doing before he got there. All he knew was that every inch of him was aching as though it had been beaten.
"Your memories weren't affected in the long term, were they?" Andromeda asked worriedly.
"No. They came back a few seconds later," he assured her.
Someone said it was the scariest thing they'd seen in their life. Scariest... the scariest thing... hooded black figures... cold ... screaming... Harry's eyes snapped open. He was lying in the hospital wing. The Gryffindor Quidditch team, spattered with mud from head to foot, was gathered around his bed. Ron and Hermione were also there, looking as though they'd just climbed out of a swimming pool.
"I think I've been dryer in a pool," Hermione said with a shaky smile.
Fred, who looked extremely white underneath, the mud noticed he was awake first, calling his name and asking how he was feeling. It was as though Harry's memory was on fast forward. The lightning - the Grim - the Snitch - and the dementors. He asked what happened, sitting up so quickly he made them all gasp.
"Wow, first he sees Sirius and almost gets run over by the bus, then he sees him and falls off his broom. That's some bad luck," Tonks whistled. Sirius winced.
Fred told him he'd fallen maybe fifty feet. Alicia said they'd thought he'd died. Hermione made a small, squeaky noise. Her eyes were extremely bloodshot.
"I was fine," Harry assured Hermione. "Barely a scratch."
"It was unbelievable. I think even Madam Pomfrey was astonished at how injury-free you were," Fred told him.
Harry asked about the match and if they were doing a replay.
"Really?That's the first thing on your mind?" Bill asked, shaking his head in disbelief.
"It was the easiest thing to focus on," Harry told him.
"And you're almost as fanatical about Quidditch as Wood," George said dryly.
No one said anything. The horrible truth sank into Harry like a stone. He asked if they lost. George told him Diggory had gotten the snitch just after he'd fallen and didn't realise what had happened. He'd tried to call for a rematch but they won fairly. Even Wood admitted it.
"But if he caught the snitchafter Harry fell, then surely that's a shout for a rematch," Charlie frowned.
"I wasn't getting the snitch anyway," Harry admitted.
"But you might have done. You stopped to notice the dementors before you fell. There was still a chance."
"I was distracted by the dementors and Diggory wasn't," Harry shrugged.
"Not your fault though," Fred told him firmly.
Harry asked where Wood was and Fred told him he was still in the showers, they thought he was trying to drown himself.
"Not the sign of a good captain," Charlie frowned. "His seeker could have died, he should be in the hospital wing with everyone else."
"He did come and see me," Harry told him.
"Not the point. I get he's upset, but your health should come before his feelings about losing a match to something beyond your control," Bill stated firmly. Several people nodded their agreement.
Harry put his face to his knees, his hands gripping his hair. Fred grabbed his shoulder and shook it roughly, pointing out he'd never missed the snitch before.
"Exactly," Fred nodded in agreement with himself.
George said there had to be one time Harry didn't get it. Fred added that it wasn't over yet. They'd lost by one hundred points. He and George then began debating what results would need to happen for them to win the cup. Harry lay there, not saying a word. They had lost... for the first time ever, he had lost a Quidditch match.
"It happens to everyone," Charlie said consolingly.
After ten minutes or so, Madam Pomfrey came over to tell the team to leave him in peace. Fred promised they could come and see him later. He also told him not to beat himself up, he was still the best seeker they'd ever had.
"Thanks, Fred," Harry smiled.
"Anytime. Someone has to get it through your skull that not everything is your fault," Fred grinned at him.
"It was good of you boys," Arthur smiled at the twins.
The team trooped out, trailing mud behind them. Madam Pomfrey shut the door behind them, looking disapproving. Ron and Hermione moved nearer to Harry's bed. Hermione told him Dumbledore was really angry. She'd never seen him like that before and he'd run onto the field as Harry fell and slowed his fall.
"Thank Merlin," Remus muttered.
Then he whirled his wand at the dementors, shooting silver stuff at them. They left the stadium right away.
"So Dumbledore was the only one to try and slow Harry's fall,and the only one to conjure a patronus to send the dementors away? What were the rest of the staff doing?" Amelia wondered.
"Understandably, not everyone would be able to conjure a patronus, especially against so many, but what is with the staff not stopping students from falling?" Emmeline asked. Minerva, Filius and Pomona all shifted guiltily.
Hermione said that he was furious they'd come onto the grounds. Ron cut in saying he'd magicked Harry onto a stretcher and walked him up to the school. Everyone had thought, he trailed off.
"It was horrible," Neville murmured.
"Even after he'd slowed down, it was one heck of a landing," George said quietly.
His voice faded, but Harry hardly noticed. He was thinking about what the dementors had done to him... about the screaming voice. He looked up and saw Ron and Hermione looking, at him so anxiously that he quickly cast around for something matter-of-fact to say. He asked if someone had retrieved his Nimbus.
Ron and Hermione both grimaced. They had hated having to tell Harry about his broom, they both knew how much it meant to him.
Ron and Hermione looked quickly at each other and hesitated. Harry asked what as he looked between the pair. Hermione hesitantly said that when he fell off, the broom got blown away. Harry prompted her to continue, and she admitted it hit the Whomping Willow.
All the Quidditch players winced.
"Oh no!" Charlie groaned.
"That's not good. Of all the places for it to get blown into," Tonks lamented.
Harry's insides lurched. The Whomping Willow was a very violent tree that stood alone in the middle of the grounds. Ron said the Whomping Willow didn't like being hit.
"Most thing don't, in all fairness," Bill said.
Hermione admitted in a very small voice that Professor Flitwick had brought it back just before Harry came around.
"Thank you for retrieving it, professor," Harry said quietly.
"You're welcome, Mr. Potter. I'm sorry I was unable to do more," Filius replied.
Then she slowly reached down for a bag at her feet, turned it upside down, and tipped a dozen bits of splintered wood and twig onto the bed, the only remains of Harry's faithful, finally beaten broomstick.
Harry sighed. He loved that broom.
"That's the end of the chapter," Emmeline stated.
"Pass it here," Moody grunted. He glanced at Harry who nodded and immediately began reading the next chapter.