'We both know that's just an excuse to get me in so I can teach you all the Patronus Charm,' Harry grinned. 'How long did Hermione bug you about it before you gave in and decided to just get me to teach everyone instead of learning it from me and passing it on.'
'She might have mentioned it a few times,' Neville admitted.
'Thought so,' Harry smirked.
'You're not coming to many of the meetings are you,' Neville realised.
'Of course not,' Harry responded bluntly. 'I don't have any reason to help them. I can barely tolerate most of them while they're quiet, let alone when they're effusing nonsense about me. I'll join and teach the Patronus because Dementors are horrible creatures and you can't use that charm against me, but I'm not coming to as many meetings as I can get away with.'
'I'm not going to force you,' Neville decided, 'though I think some of the older students might be disappointed.'
'They want to see what I can do,' Harry smiled, 'but I have no intention of showing them. If they want to learn something, try asking Cedric Diggory to help you, he was a Triwizard Champion too.'
'Will you at least come to the first meeting?'
'I'll come to the first one, and whichever one you want to learn the Patronus in, but that's all,' Harry told him firmly. 'I don't have time to waste, Nev, Voldemort's not going to wait for me to get stronger.'
'I understand,' Neville answered, splitting off towards the common room before his Herbology class began. 'I'll see you at dinner.'
Harry nodded and continued off towards Myrtle's bathroom. Salazar would be pleased, he'd taken a big step towards improving his legilimency, and he hoped to have a plan in place for when he could do something about that prophecy.
'Myrtle?' Harry called quietly.
'Harry,' she cried, zipping out of her cubicle and across the flooded bathroom floor to hover in front of him.
'How have you been?' He asked gently. 'You haven't been here the last few times I've come.'
'I don't spend all my time here, Harry,' she giggled, 'there's all sort of interesting places to go. I saw that red-headed boy you came here with in the second year in the prefect's bathroom a few days ago. He has freckles everywhere.' She giggled again and winked.
That is a truly horrific image.
Harry shook his head to try and get rid of it. 'I'm glad you've been having fun, Myrtle.'
'Nobody has come looking around here,' she told him in a whisper, 'but nobody ever comes in here except you anyway.'
'Thanks, Myrtle,' he flashed her a smile, opening the entrance to the chamber.
'What is down there?' She asked, curiously.
'Nothing anywhere near as interesting as the Prefect's Bathroom I assure you,' Harry grinned. 'Just what's left of a very big, dead snake and some space to think.' He gingerly made his way across the puddle that permanently covered the floor of the bathroom, picking up his robes so they didn't get wet around the bottom, and with a wave to Myrtle disappeared down the stairs towards the chamber.
'I'm back,' he called out to Slytherin's portrait.
'So it would seem,' the reply came as Harry crossed the bridge into Salazar's study.
'I need to speak to Sirius,' he told the founder, 'but afterwards I have a few questions. I've been a bit lazy since escaping the fate that should come with having been Riddle's horcrux.'
'Yes you have,' the portrait agreed, 'but you've deserved it, after everything that's happened.'
Harry shot him a grateful look and deposited the invisibility cloak on the back of the chair, it's normal home. He'd brought Sirius' mirror down here as soon as he could sneak it out of the dormitory unnoticed, it was much easier to hold a private conversation down here.
As long as I remember to go outside and shut the door to the study, that is.
'Sirius,' he breathed onto the mirror, walking back over the bridge and sitting down in the dark of one of the alcoves where he couldn't see Harry's surroundings.
It flared white for a long minute, then his godfather's face appeared in the mirror.
'Harry,' he smiled, displaying a mouthful of sparkling white teeth. He was looking a lot healthier than last time they'd talked. His cheeks were no longer sunken and his hair and regained some lustre. The shadows under his eyes remained, but they were no longer as thick or dark.
'How have you been?' Harry asked. 'Cleaned out the whole house yet?'
'No,' Sirius grumbled. 'Gave up a few days back when I discovered that Kreacher was just keeping every single artefact we tried to throw away.'
'Kreacher?'
'House-elf,' Sirius explained. 'He comes with the house, he knows too much for us to free him now.'
'So what are you doing if you aren't tidying?'
'I'm organising the members of the Order who help out down at the Department of Mysteries,' he answered carelessly, then winced at his slip.
Now that sounds interesting. 'What's down there?' Harry inquired curiously.
'Sorry, Harry,' Sirius pulled a disconsolate face, 'Dumbledore was adamant about not telling you anything. I disagreed, but I was outvoted.'
'If it involves me then I deserve to know,' Harry pointed out.
'I'm on your side,' Sirius told him earnestly, 'but I gave them my word not to talk about anything you hadn't already been briefed on.'
'Well our conversations are going to be short,' Harry responded acidly, 'since nobody wants to tell me anything. I haven't even spoken to Dumbledore all year. I nearly killed a student and he sent me a note telling me I have detention.'
'I heard about that,' Sirius grinned. 'That Malfoy kid probably deserved it, especially if he's anything like his father.'
'He's a lot like his father,' Harry ground out, still annoyed. He'd hoped to find out about Dumbledore's plans from his godfather.
'You should have finished him off then,' Sirius commented darkly. 'One less potential Death Eater. We learnt that in the first war, you spare someone you think deserves it, then they turn around and murder the wizard next to you.'
'Malfoy would make a very poor Death Eater,' Harry snorted. 'He doesn't have the guts to do anything more than run his mouth.'
'You'd be surprised,' Sirius warned. 'Lucius doesn't seem like all that much either, all pretty robes and words, but I have it on good authority that he's quite a handful in a duel, he curses first, claims the Imperius Curse made him do it later.' His godfather laughed at his slightly dark joke. 'What are you doing at Hogwarts? Carried out any nefarious plans that I'd be proud of?'
Oh yes, Harry tried not to grin, but you might not be so proud of them.
'You can't smile like that and stay silent,' Sirius told him testily, 'spill.'
'I got Umbridge again,' he told his godfather calmly. Harry was fairly sure that Sirius was a firm believer in an eye for an eye. He hadn't been particularly quick to hand Pettigrew over to the aurors.
'What did you do?'
'She had an enchanted quill that she uses to make students write lines with,' Harry began, his tone darkening. 'It used to take the blood of the user to write with.' Sirius' smile froze. 'That woman has been torturing students,' he exclaimed. 'I'm going to murder Dumbledore, he said everything is in hand.'
'She won't be doing it again, not if she's learnt her lesson.'
'What did you do to her?' demanded. 'I hope it was bad.'
His
godfather
'I changed the enchantments on the quill,' Harry smiled faintly, 'it changed its source of ink to the creator rather than the user. She's been wearing a bandage around her hand today.'
Sirius looked slightly disturbed, but eventually nodded. 'If it's stopped her using that thing on students then good, sometimes you can't always do what Dumbledore preaches and win by being nice or noble.'
'She banned me from playing quidditch for life,' Harry remarked. 'That was for cursing Malfoy.'
'I read about that, do you know if she can she actually enforce that?' Sirius asked.
'She can certainly stop me playing at school, but other than that I've no idea,' Harry replied. 'If the law is as malleable as it seems I'm sure she could just get Fudge to create another Decree stopping me from playing.'
'Molly as furious about the twins being banned,' Sirius mentioned. 'I've never seen her so angry, took me and Arthur to stop her sending howlers out to everyone involved.'
'They were banned for retaliating after Crabbe hit a bludger at Katie when she was sitting in the stands. I had to carry her to the hospital wing.'
'I heard Crabbe had to go to St Mungo's.' 'I've no idea.' Harry hadn't actually seen Crabbe since he's gone bouncing across the quidditch pitch. 'He deserved it either way.'
'Speaking of people who deserved things,' Sirius' smile grew savage, 'I heard that it's Pettigrew's body that pair of french girls found on Hogwarts' grounds.'
French girls?
Harry made a mental note to ask Fleur about that, he hadn't known that Pettigrew had been discovered by Beauxbatons' students.
'We can't prove your innocence now,' Harry reminded him.
'I don't care,' Sirius growled. 'They wouldn't have let me have a trial anyway, I should never have let Remus talk me out of just killing him when we were back in the Shrieking Shack.' 'He's dead now,' Harry responded bluntly.
'You don't remarked.
look
all
that
surprised,'
Sirius
'I already knew,' Harry told him, 'it came up at Voldemort's resurrection.' His godfather sniggered at the offhand remark.
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