Chapter 12: Boggarts, Blowups, and Brooms

"Alright, class, in honor of the holiday today we will be going over how to deal with a boggart. After all, it is rather appropriate to be frightened on Halloween is it not?" Remus Lupin said with a soft chuckle as he stood in front of his classroom of Third Year students. Filch had discovered a boggart in one of the wardrobes the other day and rather than getting rid of it Remus had decided to use the opportunity for a teaching exercise. It did fit ever so nicely into the spirit of things after all.

Harry for his part just sighed and shook his head standing with his friends. Of them the group's reactions were mixed. Tracey seemed rather indifferent while Neville was exceedingly pale. Hermione rubbed a quick circle on Harry's back, knowing exactly what her best friend thought of on this day every year. Daphne also stood beside Harry flashing him a small smile of reassurance when no one was looking and leaning in. "Hey, at the very least you'll be able to laugh up a storm when we get to my turn."

Harry peered at her with interest but before he could ask anything Neville had his hand in the air. "Professor, when the boggart shifts…it doesn't umm, have the exact same powers as its new form does it?"

Remus shook his head in response. "The abilities are an echo at best. For example, if you were to fear a specific wizard," he paused and his eyes flicked towards Harry, "the boggart would not be able to launch actual spells at you, merely a fancy light show. If you were to fear a nundu, it's possible the breath would make you ill but it would not kill the entire population of the school." The classroom filled with the nervous laughter of the students at that. "A boggart does not aim to kill people who stumble across it. It merely wishes to frighten them into running for the hills, so to speak. Now if everyone will get in line please, we can get started. Remember, the incantation is riddikulus."

The class queued up and Harry's group slotted in. Neville got in line first followed by Tracey, Daphne, Hermione and finally Harry. Harry was still scowling slightly as the students started cycling through. He hoped that Professor Lupin would actually let him have his turn instead of cutting him off for fear that Voldemort would pop up in class. Voldy was frightening sure, but he was most certainly not Harry's deepest fear. Harry was honestly a little curious just how the boggart would choose to personify empty, abandoned, loneliness.

Busy trying to puzzle out how his fears might manifest, Harry almost missed Ron Weasley's gigantic spider; though when said spider started tap dancing he did finally start to pay attention. Ron moved off looking rather green as Neville stepped forward already pale. The tap dancing spider disappeared and was replaced by a basilisk filling up half the classroom. Neville has already brought his wand forward before the boggart had even finished forming and shouted, "Riddikulus!" The faux-basilisk hadn't even been able to start opening its eyes before it became a weaving paper construct of the type seen in parades with people walking underneath. Breathing a sigh of relief Neville stepped back. Harry slapped him on the back as he walked past giving him a thumbs up as well.

Tracey moved up and the parade basilisk twisted itself into a small ratty looking diary. Most of the class murmured, obviously curious, but her friends narrowed their eyes and watched her with concern. Tracey took a deep breath, gave out the incantation and the old, brown diary was suddenly bedazzled in addition to being covered in ribbons and hearts and pink paint. A smirk lit up the girl's face and she moved to the back of the classroom, Daphne giving her hand a soft squeeze on the way.

Harry was initially somewhat confused by Daphne's boggart. Why was Arnold Schwarzenegger her worst fear? Harry cocked his head as the muscle bound man took out his sunglasses and dropped them into place. Suddenly understanding Harry grinned and muttered, "Somebody didn't enjoy Terminator apparently." Hermione swatted his shoulder for that. Daphne shouted out her spell and in place of leather the T-800 was instead clothed in a frilly, pink ballerina outfit. Bursting out in laughter Harry found himself in complete agreement with Daphne's earlier statement about him enjoying her turn immensely.

Moving back with a satisfied smirk, Daphne made room for Hermione to step up. His friend was already moving very slowly and with a great sigh. Harry's laughter quieted and he eyed Hermione, ready to support her if she needed it. The boggart noticed Hermione and shifted. Laying in front of the ground crumpled into an unmoving heap, was a broken, bloody form. A body so beaten it wasn't even recognizable beyond having short, messy black hair and Hogwarts robes. Harry tried to see the face but Hermione, with tears streaming down her cheeks, shouted, "Riddikulus!" The dead body vanished before Harry could figure out just who it had been and was replaced by a blow up doll. He blushed looking at the – at least somewhat – anatomically correct plastic doll before Hermione shuffled back wiping at her eyes. Harry tried to catch her hand but she moved too fast for him to do anything beyond smile softly at her.

As Harry started to move forward he noticed the Defense teacher also start to jump forward. Surprisingly enough the older man stumbled and Harry caught a brief nod from Daphne as he walked close enough for the boggart to focus on him. Lupin regained his balance but before he could stop it, the boggart had shifted. As the form resolved into Shiva, Lupin frowned and held his place. Harry peered at his guardian curiously wondering just how this…was…

Shiva was laughing at him. "You thought I cared? Idiot, Freak!" Harry froze, shaking his wand only half raised. "It's called a long con, Boy! Doesn't it just hurt soo much more this way? Vernon and I are getting together tonight to share a drink over it. I've been waiting so long for this," the apparition cooed.

"Harry!" A dim shout penetrated the fog that had descended over Harry's brain. He ground his teeth. He'd faced the murderer of his parents twice and killed a 60 foot basilisk with a sword! He could beat a single boggart! Harry cast the riddikulus…

And Hermione was suddenly looking at him, smirking. "Did you really think I'd stick around, Harry? After I nearly died three times? Did you think that I – " Harry dropped to the floor like a puppet with cut strings. Four riddikulus spells crashed into the faux-Hermione and the boggart vanished in a puff of smoke. Professor Lupin and the rest of the class were left staring dumbfounded between the traces of the boggart and Harry.

The boy in question was sitting on the floor with his knees to his chest and arms wrapped around them, his head buried firmly between them. Anyone asked later would swear they never even saw Hermione move but suddenly she was wrapping Harry in her arms instead of standing on the back wall. "It's okay Harry. She would never say that and I would never leave you either. It's okay. It's okay. We're not leaving you." Daphne, Tracey and Neville came behind the two and put their hands on Harry's back as well murmuring their own reassurances.

"Class dismissed," Remus said finally jerking into motion. "Nothing to see here, people. Boggarts are dangerous for a reason after all. Out with you." He managed to wrangle the majority of the class outside leaving just the small group of five still clustered in the middle of the floor. "Harry," Remus said softly as pulled out a calming potion from his robe pocket. "Harry," Remus froze as four sets of eyes turned on him with venom and promised pain held in each gaze. His inner wolf gave a soft whimper meeting the eyes of the bushy haired girl still curled around Harry.

"What is that potion, Professor?" Daphne asked taking charge.

"A calming draught. I had several prepared just in case anyone had a strong reaction to the boggart," he said trailing off. "I…hadn't quite expected something this strong though…"

"Yes, well, Harry Potter is never quite able to have a normal experience in practically anything now is he?" The question was far more of a statement of fact and dismissal than anything else. Daphne plucked the potion from his hands and handed it off to Hermione. The brunette subtly coaxed Harry to lift his head and poured the potion into his throat.

A few moments later, Harry gave a shuddering gasp and his eyes cleared somewhat. He shook his head then gazed back at the ground. "Bugger. Sorry guys…"

"Language, Harry," Hermione chastised without any actual rebuke in her voice. She was rewarded with an ever so slight upturn at the corners of her friend's lips. "You have nothing to apologize for. As Professor Lupin told the rest of the class: boggarts are somewhat dangerous for a reason. They are evolved to do exactly what they did to you."

"I faced Voldemort," Harry said. Beyond Hermione he dimly registered Professor Lupin flinch at the word. "I ran right at a basilisk. I shouldn't collapse at…a boggart." He sighed.

"Harry, you weren't afraid of the boggart," Remus said softly. "You were afraid of something far worse and it used that against you, as is its nature. It is very good at what it does."

"Riddle is someone you fight against," Neville commented. "A basilisk is something you can kill. You can't really fight against an idea. I would've crumbled to that too if it had become my parents."

"Some things you can't make funny," Tracey said with a shrug.

"Come on, Harry." Hermione stood and levered him to his feet. "Let's get you some food. The Feast will be starting soon. You'll feel better afterwards." Harry nodded and let her maneuver him towards the door.

Remus stopped Neville as he started to follow the others. "If Harry needs anything further have him stop by Madam Pomfrey." Neville nodded and headed off after his friends.

Shiva was concerned. It was Halloween Feast so by the simple law of probability she'd be a little on edge throughout the day. Harry wasn't the only one who had noticed that things tended to fall apart on that day. Plus the fact that Harry was usually a little grim – for good reason yes, but still – on this day and she'd of course be watching out for him. To make her even more worried, Harry was...off...at the moment. He may be laughing and smiling but the smile didn't reach his eyes. And he was sticking very close to his friends and them to him. Not even a minute had gone by when one of them wasn't in physical contact with him which by itself was more than strange enough. Usually only she or Hermione could get away with that level of contact. He was even letting Luna bump up against him without flinching.

Shiva finally managed to catch his eye and raised her eyebrows a bit shooting him a questioning glance. Harry smiled gave a small shrug and turned back to chatting with his group. He did seem to perk up slightly though and it was at least enough for her to stop feeling like she needed to rush over there and interrogate him.

Remus Lupin leaned over from the seat beside her and spoke softly, "Good evening, Bathsheda."

"Evening, Remus," she replied.

"You seem a little on edge. Expecting trouble?" he asked with a bit of a half chuckle.

"It's Halloween. Two of the three years I've been teaching there's been a disaster today. I'm just staying on my toes in case it's three out of four," she said sighing.

"Ah. Yes, I can understand that sentiment then." He paused seeming to consider before coming to a decision. "If I may...You are more to young Harry Potter than a simple mentor, are you not?"

Shiva very deliberately took a bite of her food before fixing him with piercing glare. "Whatever I am to that boy is none of your concern, Professor Lupin."

"My apologies. I did not mean to accuse you of anything," Remus said shaking his head. "I just wished to inform you that there was...an incident in my class earlier."

Her mind ran a mile a minute. Harry hadn't been looking bad at breakfast or lunch and Defense was right before the Feast...'Shite.' She took a deep breath and centered herself before replying out loud, "What sort of incident?"

"A boggart was discovered the other day. I had decided it would make an excellent lesson for the holiday so many of my classes were working on dispelling the boggart," Remus explained as Shiva's stomach dropped. This was not going to be good at all. "Harry's class was doing fine with relatively normal fears until his group. I had heard some rumors about the past two years but I hadn't truly believed them until that point I think. One of his friends' boggart was a basilisk – thankfully the boy in question was able to hit it with a riddikulus quickly enough for it to change. Boggarts don't take on many of their form's abilities, but I do worry about what could have happened had it managed to gaze at someone. Another was a simple diary though judging by the looks on those five it was anything but simple. Hermione Granger's fear was someone close to her dead. I don't know who. The body was nearly unrecognizable for the abuse her fears had had it suffer. Harry's..." Remus paused. Had he been paying attention he would have noticed her hands clenched around the silverware and her teeth grinding together.

"Harry's boggart was you initially, Bathsheda," he said. That threw Shiva for a loop. Why would Harry be afraid of her? "It said several rather awful things to him. Mostly centered on you only having pretended to care for him and being in league with his uncle to make his suffering worse." Shiva was suddenly very thankful that the silverware was metal and not something weaker. There was far less likelihood of metal breaking under her grip. "He managed to cast the spell after Hermione shouted to him but...the boggart then switched into a version of her which also proceeded to verbally attack him. Harry collapsed right about the same time that each of his friends let loose an extremely powerful riddikulus. I admit, I have never seen a boggart simply...disintegrated before."

"And where were you during this episode, Professor Lupin?" she managed to growl.

Remus' eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared. For the first time he focused fully on Shiva and noticed just how enraged she had become. He shifted back slightly before responding, "I was unprepared for such an episode especially from one so young. I've heard of existential boggarts from adults far older but never realized one could result from a child. I was fully expecting to see You-Know-Who – "

"Voldemort," she cut in, lip twitching.

Remus flinched but continued, "Yes. Him. When the boggart turned into you I was stunned and did not move to act until after his friends reacted."

"No wonder why the kid is freaking out. Do you have any idea how bad that could've been?"

"I was prepared for You-Know – "

"I don't give a rat's arse about Voldy you arsehole," she hissed. "I care about Harry. You have no idea the shite that boy has been through and to have him faced with a version of me telling him something like that? After the summer he just had? Do you even have a clue about the potential psychological damage you have done to my ward?"

Remus' mouth narrowed into a line. Ward? He hadn't been around much yet at Albus' suggestion but he was here now and he had a duty to James and Lily to watch out for Harry. "What do you mean your ward?"

Shiva full on snarled at him then. "What the bloody hell does it sound like?"

"You have no relation to him whatsoever. What possible reason do you have for attempting to claim custody of – "

"I may not be related by blood but that boy over there is as much my family as my mother and father are. I have been there far more than you, you sonofabitch!" Remus flinched back at the venom in her voice. "You were his parents' friend and you never did anything to contact him. No phone call. No letter. No visit. Nothing! You left him with his relatives – with those horrible excuses for human beings! How dare you say I have no reason for looking out for him when you so obviously didn't give a wiff yourself! I have been working my arse off since I first met that kid to help him out. Where were you for the past 12 years Remus Lupin?"

"How could you possibly know that?" Remus asked his eyes wide.

"The past two Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers have tried to kill Harry," she sneered. "Sirius Black just escaped recently. As I just said; I watch out for the kid. As soon as I found out who Dumbledore had hired to teach DADA this year I did my homework. I know all about you, Professor Lupin."

Remus could only stare into his plate of mostly untouched food. "Why did you not say anything earlier in that case?"

"I was curious to see how long it would take you before you approached him on your own. Obviously that isn't going to happen anytime soon!" She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "If you want to talk about Harry more then do it in my office later where I can scream at you as loud as I want first." Shiva turned back to her plate and speared the little potato resolving to ignore Remus Lupin for the rest of meal.

Remus for his part closed his eyes and sighed. He had a lot of apologizing to do it seemed.

By the time the Gryffindors made their way back up to the tower Harry was feeling much better. He would talk to Shiva in the morning after this day was over and done with but his friends had perked him quite a lot. He was mostly just frustrated with himself at this point.

And annoyed, that yet again, the universe had decided to call his bluff for tempting fate. Harry really had to start watching how he thought since Fate apparently liked to have a bit of fun with him.

No sooner had he finished that thought, he turned the corner to see a gaggle of his fellow Housemates staring in shock up at the portrait of the Fat Lady. Groaning and slapping a hand over his face, Harry started muttering about Fate being an evil little prankster.

"Who would do this…?" Lavender quietly asked. The Fat Lady's portrait had three large slashes down the center and the frame behind her canvas had marks of spellfire.

"Someone who wanted in," Neville said glaring at the portrait.

"Sirius Black! It was Sirius Black! Sirius Black tried to kiiiillllll meeeeee!" The Fat Lady gave a keening wail from one of the portraits a ways down the corridor. With a hitched sob the painted woman took off, leaping from portrait to portrait retreating from the slashed canvas.

"Err…" Ginny said looking around in confusion. "How do we get into the Common Room now?"

This Quidditch game was miserable. The rain was awful, his Reflector Lenses had the unfortunate side effect of repelling water-wicking charms so he could barely see, it was cold, and the stupid Dementors were making things even worse as they got closer.

'Wait. Dementors? Closer?'

Harry's broom careened to a halt as his conscious thoughts finally caught up to his unconscious grumblings. The storm had blanketed the grounds and masked the fog and cold of the Dementors. Harry had only seen them massing thanks to his height and continued circling for the Snitch. Flipping around, Harry peered into the darkness a short ways away only to see it moving. The horrible creatures were assembled and pushing towards the pitch in the middle of the game. Harry's eyes widened and he turned his Nimbus seeking out the box with McGonagall. He had…to…tell…

Not Harry! Please, not Harry!

"Well, bugger…" Harry muttered as the screams filled his head and he slid off the broom's side. As the wind whipped past his ears, Harry heard a dim roar of panic rise from the crowd. Harry slipped into unconsciousness thanking god that at least the people had noticed the Dementors.

Harry woke to a bland white ceiling hanging over him. A very familiar bland white ceiling. And a weight pressed against his side, trapping his arm.

Turning, Harry squinted and could make out brown hair splayed over the bed next to him. He smiled slightly and said, "Hey, Hermione. Any idea where my glasses are?"

The head leaning beside him shifted slightly. A dull murmur of protest rose before she twisted towards him. Hermione's blurry face centered on Harry's and suddenly she was a lot clearer as she jerked upright and leaned over him. "Harry! You're awake! Hang on, I have your glasses right here." Reaching off to the side, Hermione grabbed his glasses from the table and slipped them onto his face.

"Jeez, Harry, can't you even play a game like normal people?" Daphne snarked from the other side of his bed.

"I don't think 'normal' really means the same thing in Harry's personal dictionary, Daph," Tracey commented with a smirk.

"Perhaps 'normal' is another synonym for 'danger' or 'risking death' for Harry?" Luna asked in an airy voice, a faint smile on her lips.

"Hey, I've said it before and I'll say it again: worst good luck ever," Neville pronounced with a laugh from near Hermione.

"Nobody got hurt from the Dementors did they?" Harry asked looking between his five friends. He saw Shiva slumped across a bed across the way. "And is Shiva okay?"

Hermione smiled. "You're the one waking up in the hospital wing. Again. And the first thing you ask is if everyone else is okay." She shook her head. "What are we going to do with you, Harry."

"Technically, Hermione, the first thing he asked was where his glasses were. The nobility actually came second this time," Daphne said. "I think we're making progress even if it is incremental."

"Nah," Neville waved of her judgment. "He's got to be able to see to run off and save everyone. Doesn't really count."

"Is anyone going to answer my question?" Harry grumbled.

"No, no one was hurt besides you, Harry," Tracey said shaking her head. "Shiva is over there sleeping because she and a lot of the other Professors were busy casting Patroni to get the Dementors to back off. Hers was…a little more powerful than most of the others. Madam Pomfrey told her to rest to recover some of her stamina."

"Why was hers…"

Hermione shook her head. "We all saw you fall, Harry. You were very lucky. Professor Flitwick was close to you as you slipped off the broom and his quick relaxes let him hit you with an arresto momentum before you had picked up enough speed to receive more than bruises." Harry nodded and she continued, "Shiva was quite perturbed at the Dementors for nearly causing your death. Again. She was very enthusiastic with pushing them back. Professor Dumbledore told us all afterwards that they were likely drawn by the large crowd at the game."

"Oh," Harry said. "So is it rescheduled then?"

The group sadly shook their heads. "Sorry, Harry," Neville said mournfully. "Just before you fell, Cedric caught the Snitch. He didn't even realize something was wrong until the Professors starting jumping over the stands to get at the Dementors. He's been apologizing to everyone he could find about it. Even Oliver told him to shut up and that he doesn't blame him. You might want to talk to him later."

"Yeah. Guess I should." Harry sighed. While it sucked losing, he really couldn't complain considering how miserable the game had been anyway.

"Harry…" Hermione said. Harry turned back to her and saw her expression pinched and she was wringing her hands. His insides clenched. "Everybody was so focused on the Dementors that…well nobody really thought about your broom." His eyes widened and his breath hitched. "We tried to save it but…the winds pushed it into the Whomping Willow and by the time we realized it…I'm sorry Harry…"

Harry flopped back down into the bed. 'Bugger.' Careful to make sure his voice was steady, he asked, "Does anyone think I could sue the Ministry to pay for a new broom?" His friends gave the sad little laughs he had been hoping for. It may not be much, but it was something.

"Professor Lupin?" Harry asked knocking on the door to Remus' office. The man waved him inside and Harry sat down in the chair across from him.

"How can I help you, Harry?"

"Well, I could use some help, Sir…Also, I talked with Shiva about Halloween the other day. She…mentioned that you two got into a bit of a fight and that I should ask you about it first."

Remus sighed and pulled out a tea set. "Would you like some?" Harry shook his head. Remus poured a bit for himself and leaned back into the chair. "Did Bathsheda tell you the general subject of our disagreement?"

"No, but it's not too hard to figure out that it was about me."

"It was, but probably not in the way you are thinking, Harry. I…have not made the best of choices in the past decade. Your guardian drilled that into me rather effectively the other night. First allow me to apologize for the boggart incident. I should not have frozen like that. I simply never expected to see a student's boggart manifest as a teacher. Especially not one they are known to like."

"It's fine, Professor," Harry said waving that off. "I wanted to face the boggart. One of my friends actually tripped you up to make sure I could."

Remus' eyebrows rose. "Really?" he chuckled. "No wonder I tripped. Well whoever it was, congratulate them for me would you? That was a delightfully subtle little prank."

"I will. Anyway, it wasn't your fault. I figured my boggart would be weird and I'm a little embarrassed about how poorly I handled it. I do think I'm going to let others stick to dealing with them in the future though."

"There is certainly no shame in that, Harry," Remus said nodding to the boy. "Now, as to what Bathsheda and I argued about….I knew your parents, Harry." Harry's gaze jerked up and a lot of the humor in his expression visibly drained away. "I was quite close to your father actually. We were best friends during the majority of our schooling."

"Like with Sirius Black?" Harry asked.

Remus flinched. "I deserved that. Yes. While James and Sirius were always exceptionally close, I was almost as good of friends with them. I have a…problem…a disease. It has caused many complications in my life. Your father and Sirius discovered my little problem but instead of shying away from me it instead drew them both closer. A fourth joined our little group – "

"Peter Pettigrew."

"Yes, poor Peter," Remus sighed. "The four of us grew quite close and when James started to date your mother, Lily, she shortly became a fifth member of our circle. After we graduated we all remained somewhat close though I drifted apart. Again largely due to my shame. After James' and Lily's deaths I blamed myself. I realize that was foolish, but I did. I felt that if I had let them in more than perhaps I could have helped. Or at least died with them."

"While this is interesting, Professor, I don't see what this has to do with why Shiva would yell at you and as she put it 'come within a hair's breadth of beating the stuffing out of you'. It takes a lot to rile her up like that. Generally I'm the only one who can do it and that's just because I tend to almost die on her a lot." Harry shrugged. People knowing his parents was no longer as interesting as it used to be.

"It relates because the context is important." Remus sipped his tea and grimaced. "After I sobered up I attempted to find you. I felt it was my duty as the last remaining Marauder to at least look in on you from time to time. Albus however, informed me that you were safe with your relatives and I took his word for it. He was Albus Dumbledore, the greatest wizard since Merlin himself. Who was I to question what he said?" Remus sighed again and closed his eyes. "I never bothered to consider that your relatives were Petunia and her family. Lily had…complained about her sister often enough that I should have taken action. Bathsheda would not tell me what Petunia did and I don't expect nor ask you tell me yourself. But, I know it was not pleasant and I know that it was persistent. I can only imagine what you endured because I was a fool more interested in my own self pity than in you."

Remus spread his hands in supplication. "Even now, I have been a fool. We have seen each other for over two months and I never once mentioned that I knew you as a baby or that I knew your parents. I have failed you in many ways, Harry. I humbly request the chance to attempt to rebuild the bridge I burned so many years ago."

Harry frowned at the teacher and considered. On the one hand, here was a man who was at least partially responsible for his neglect at the hands of the Dursleys. On the other, like McGonagall he did seem to be genuinely sorry for the past. "What did Shiva say to this?" Harry eventually asked.

"She said," Remus gave a small, sad smile, "that she did not have the right to do anything more than berate and threaten me. That the decision of how to proceed in the future would be left completely up to you. Though she did threaten to remove my bits should I do anything untoward in the future. That is quite a fiery young woman you've chosen as a protector."

"I think she kinda chose me, more than the other way around," Harry muttered. He sat thinking for a few minutes. "Will you tell me what your problem was that didn't scare my dad away?" It would be a good test to see just how far Professor Lupin was willing to go for his forgiveness.

"…Will you agree in turn to keep this between us?"

"And Shiva. That's non-negotiable." Harry countered.

Remus gave a slow nod. "Very well. As a young child I was bitten by Fenrir Greyback during a full moon. I…am a werewolf." Remus closed his eyes and braced for the explosion. For the look of disgust in the eyes of his best friends' son.

"Seriously? That's it?" Remus' eyes snapped open and instead of disgust or pity in Harry's eyes he instead saw confusion. "I thought you were going to say you'd killed someone or something. A werewolf, that's the secret? That's nothing."

"Harry…I don't think you quite understand the stigma associated with my…condition…"

Harry snorted. "So you're a super big wolf that likes to rip things apart one or two days a month. Hell Shiva is worse than that for longer." Remus opened his mouth to protest again completely confused at this reaction but Harry waved him quiet. "Whatever, I'm not going to argue about this. Look you want another chance? Okay, fine. But we start over from square one. Professor McGonagall has proven that she's pretty cool and I avoided her like the plague for a while. I can at least give you the same chance. But I don't give out third chances."

"Fair enough." Remus nodded at the boy. "I truly appreciate this, Harry."

"Okay. Now that that's out of the way. I need help."

"With what?"

Harry sighed. "I got to thinking about Dementors the other day. It's hard not to what with them surrounding the school and all," he said and growled. "Especially after falling off my broom thanks to them. Things like that and the train incident can't happen again. I can't afford to collapse like that in a bad situation. I need to be able to defend myself."

"Well," Remus said rubbing his chin, "I could attempt to teach you the Patronus charm. However it is quite complicated. And I am certainly not willing to bring you out to the grounds to practice in on an actual Dementor. There is quite a large difference between performing it in the middle of a classroom and against the creatures themselves."

Harry shrugged. "Being taught the charm is all I'm looking for, Sir. Once I know the basic underlying principles of it I can try to make a rune cluster to replicate the effects. Whether I can perform the charm under pressure would be moot at that point."

Remus' eyebrows rose into his hairline. "A rune stone to reproduce a Patronus? That…I don't believe that is possible, Harry…"

Harry laughed. "I've invented at least five different clusters that are supposedly impossible and I'm pretty close to figuring out another three. Hell this should be simple really. I'm not making anything new, just a rune to perform a spell. Three of my primary combat runes do exactly that with reducto, confringo, and diffindo. I'll probably try to supercharge it or something in case I'm ever swarmed and I should be able to do the spell itself at least somewhat proficiently to make sure that I get credit for it when it comes time for OWLs and NEWTs but the rune itself shouldn't be too hard."

Remus's jaw snapped closed. He started laughing. "You have your father's confidence and your mother's brilliance, Harry. Let's get started then, shall we?"

Breakfast the next morning was…unusual. Harry and company had just laid into their food when a bevy of owls showed up carrying a long, rectangular, paper-wrapped package. Immediately after dropping it in front of Harry, the owls all left.

"That's new." Harry blinked at the bow. Hedwig swooped into the Hall and landed on his shoulder with an indignant hoot glaring at the package. "Hey, don't look at me, girl. I didn't order anything." She hooted again and twisted towards him. "Yes, of course if I had ordered something I would have told you so you could pick it up yourself." She hooted again and ruffled her feathers apparently satisfied. Harry reached over to his plate and held a slice up bacon up for her. "Peace offering?" Hedwig happily gobbled the snack and flew back out of the hall. "What?" he asked looking at his friends who all had varying degrees on incredulity on their faces.

All except for Luna at least who merely looked amused. "I think they are surprised that you were told off by your owl, Harry."

"Not the giant package somebody sent to me then?" Harry asked with a smirk at the blonde.

"That probably has something to do with it as well though I think Hedwig was the larger part." She tapped her finger on her chin and asked nonchalantly, "You don't suppose she might actually be a Mayan Wind Chatterer do you?"

"I admit, Luna, while I'm not familiar with the Mayan Wind Chatterer I really don't think Hedwig is anything more than a really smart owl," he said laughing.

"Shame. I've always been curious whether the Mayan Wind Chatterer truly existed or not." Luna shrugged and went back to her food.

Hermione ground her teeth and was about to say something before Ron cut in. "Well? Are you going to open the thing or what?!"

Harry rolled his eyes and shrugged. "Why not. Might as well see what it is." He opened the card that had come with it. " 'Sorry about your last match. Consider this a repayment for missing so many birthdays and Christmases.' Huh." Tearing the wrappings off Harry was presented with a brand new, mint-in-box Firebolt. The fastest, most maneuverable, best broom currently on the market. A broom worth a thousand galleons. "Urg," Harry couldn't do anything more than croak upon seeing it.

"Wow…" The sentiment was expressed by many of the surrounding people. Ron looked like he was going to faint and Oliver Wood looked torn between joining the redhead and drooling.

Harry reached out a hand to caress the broom but found his arm locked in place by Hermione's iron grip. "Harry, you can't touch that. You can't use that. Not yet!"

"But – but it's a Firebolt, Hermione!" Harry whined.

"Yes and you have at least one person out for your blood. Plus whatever the heck is going on with the Sirius Black situation. There is no indication of who sent you that broom beyond a vague reference to the problems from the match meaning they had to have heard yours was destroyed and have enough money to get you a new broom in very short order. That implies power which implies dangerous. You are going to have that broom thoroughly checked for traps or sabotage before laying a hand on it."

Harry's expression fell and he looked with longing at the broom. He turned back to Hermione's stormy expression. He glanced at Shiva who just looked pained. Harry turned back to the beautiful broom sitting before him and drew his hand back sighing. "I hate when you make sense like that."

This was too much for Ron apparently. "You can't be serious! That's a FIREBOLT! What if they dismantle it?! What if they break it?! What if they can't put it back together?! Do you know how expensive those are?! Who cares who sent it?! It's a Firebolt!"

"We prefer Harry alive, Ronald," Luna commented not even bothering to look up from her pudding. "This is very good. You should have some pudding."

"Nobody asked you what you think Loo – " Ron was hit by a silencing spell before he could finish the sentence.

Ginny lowered her wand, stood up and cuffed her brother on the back of the head. "Do you ever learn? Sorry about that, Harry, Luna. I'll take the git upstairs so you don't have to hurt him."

McGonagall and Flitwick who had wandered up behind during Ron's episode nodded approvingly. "Miss Weasley," McGonagall said, "very good foresight. Five points to Gryffindor."

"I assure you, Mr. Potter," Flitwick said, "we will be exceedingly careful not to damage or degrade your gift in any fashion. I would expect you to have it back in a week assuming no complications. Two tops."

Harry just nodded glumly. The professors levitated the box with the broom out of the room with Harry staring after it. Shiva clapped him on the shoulder. "Cheer up, kid. Best case scenario, you get it back in a week and can lord your epic broom over your rivals. Worst case scenario, it's trapped meaning you can properly thank Hermione for saving your life. I can point you to a few unused broom closets on the fourth floor or if you need more light for the expressions of gratitude there are some excellent empty classrooms up on the sixth." Shiva smirked down at her ward as she walked back to the staff table.

Harry and Hermione on the other hand were both blazing red. Luna happily hummed away, glad that Professor Babbling had managed to firmly get Harry's mind off the broom.

The Firebolt examination was completed in five days. Flitwick had apparently fallen in love with the broom and between him and McGonagall's efforts, they worked round the clock to lovingly check over every inch of the beautiful thing. No unsavory charms, runes, traps, enchants or potions were found. It was entirely mundane.

If a thousand galleon present from a mysterious benefactor could be considered mundane.

Harry and his friends had gathered to discuss this and the Sirius Black problem. There had been frustratingly little actual progress on that front. So far the only thing that they had confirmed was that literally everyone was amazed that Sirius Black had betrayed the Potters. Hagrid, McGonagall, Flitwick, Tonks, Andromeda Tonks, Amelia Bones, Augusta Longbottom, Xenophilius Lovegood, the late Pandora Lovegood (according to Xenophilius), Celeste Greengrass (Daphne's mother), Madam Rosemerta, the owner of Zonko's Joke Shop…Even Filch had admitted to being surprised when the news had first broken.

"And we're sure he couldn't have been under an Imperius curse?" Harry asked after they had checked everything again.

Daphne shook her head. "The Blacks specialized in mind magics. There is no way any child of House Black would fall to Imperius."

"And even if he had," Tracey said banging her head on the table, "laughing afterward wouldn't have happened."

"We're going around in circles." Neville shook his head and leaned back staring at the ceiling of the library.

"Let's focus on something else," Hermione said. "Instead of looking at why, let's look at how and backtrack. Does anyone know of any charms or curses that could cause an explosion like was described?"

"I could make a feedback cluster that could do that. It'd be really dangerous though," Harry commented with a shrug. The group ignored him.

"I…" Daphne tapped the table for a bit before shaking her head. "Father has knowledge of many borderline spells but as far as I know there is nothing that could do quite the amount of damage all at once as was discovered. At least, nothing that would still leave Black and the rest of the street alive and somewhat intact."

"Why was Peter Pettigrew's finger recovered?" Luna asked her eyes narrowing in what Harry was quickly coming to find meant the girl was following an idea down the rabbit hole. She might reach different conclusions than the rest of them but she was startlingly insightful when her threads panned out.

"Well obviously if the street exploded centered on him there wouldn't be much left," Tracey said with a snort.

"But there should be something." Luna twisted her gaze from Tracey onto Hermione.

"There was. There was a finger," Tracey replied. Hermione's eyes though had narrowed in thought and she nodded at Luna.

The little blonde continued, "Was the finger mangled? Bloody? Was the base clean or ragged?"

Harry perked up starting to see where his friend was going with this line and not at all liking the conclusions that were starting to form in his head. He shuffled through their notes until he found the initial report from one of the first Auror responders. "According to this, Peter Pettigrew's finger was nearly entirely unmarred with a clean cut at the base…"

Hermione slowly nodded. "Which shouldn't be possible. Not in an explosion. And even if by some miraculous coincidence it had happened, where were more pieces of his body? I think you're right Luna…god, do you know what this means?"

"You guys have lost me," Neville glanced over at Tracey and Daphne who were looking just as confused. "Help a friend out?"

"One moment, Neville," Hermione said waving him off. "Daphne, Tracey, you two conducted many of the interviews. Did anyone mention anything about Peter Pettigrew's character? Specifically their reactions to finding out he had gone after Sirius."

"Yeah, to a man they were incredibly surprised by it," Daphne said. "Everyone said he was generally the squirrely one. The first to run or cower if things got tough. The first to look for help. The last to agree to the insane schemes of his friends. They were extraordinarily impressed that he had…gone after…oh Merlin…you don't think…?" Daphne's face morphed into a horrified grimace.

"Why do I get the feeling we're the only two not invited to the party, Nev?" Tracey asked glaring between her other friends. Neville just nodded along with her.

"Sirius Black did not kill anybody that day, Tracey, Neville," Luna said, all traces of airiness and levity having dissolved from her voice. "The facts do not fit. One of the two wizards present fired some curse that damaged the street – "

"Probably a blasting or incendiary curse that hit a gas main," Hermione cut in.

Luna nodded and continued, "Then in the confusion, Peter Pettigrew used a severing charm on his finger and escaped. Sirius Black was likely surprised at the deviousness of his former friend or the resulting carnage and was not fully lucid when the Aurors arrived so shortly after the event. By the time he would have been coherent he was already in custody."

Neville frowned. "Okay but why would Pettigrew keep hiding then? If he was alive and Black had been caught then shouldn't he have come forward?"

Harry shook his head. "Not if he had been the traitor…" Neville and Tracey fixed him with a wide eyed stare but Hermione, Daphne and Luna just nodded in agreement.

"Everyone says that Black was basically my father's brother and a good friend to my mother. On the other hand, everyone also says that Pettigrew was more or less an outsider hanging out on the fringes of the group." Harry looked from face to face. "Of the two, who would you put money on betraying my parents and who would you guess would hunt that traitor down for revenge?"

"Merlin's balls…" Neville whispered. "Why wouldn't anyone else have thought of this though?"

"It was right as the war ended," Daphne said sadly. "Don't underestimate people's desire to just want horrible things to be over and done with. They probably just accepted the easiest explanation and didn't bother to look too closely. There was a lot of secrecy at that point too and secrets are double edged swords."

"So then why would Sirius Black be hunting you, Harry?" Tracey asked. "That part still doesn't fit."

Luna cocked her head at the older girl. "What makes you so certain that he is hunting Harry? Or even if he is hunting, who says he is hunting Harry?"

The others turned to her wide eyed. "You think he found out Pettigrew's here?"

Luna shrugged. "It is possible I suppose. It also possible that someone finally mentioned that you were at Hogwarts to him and he thought to protect the last Potter as he could not do with your parents. Either way, we need to find and speak to the man himself to ascertain his true intentions."

"I agree," Hermione said nodding. "This entire investigation was bungled. The means makes no sense and the motive makes even less sense. I find it highly likely that Sirius Black was framed for this but I don't think running off to find the man to ask him personally is the best plan. Not just yet at least. Let's get the trial records first and then perhaps we could ask Susan's aunt to reopen the original investigation and have him come to us."

"I'll just ask, Tonks," Harry said shrugging. "Give me a second."

Harry walked a bit away from the group to have a modicum of privacy before activating his Comm Stone. "Comm on, contact Tonks. Tonks? Are you busy, do you have a minute to talk?"

"Harry?" the metamorphmagus' voice came through from the stone. "Is there an emergency? Are you alright? Is anyone hurt?"

"We're fine, Tonks. If this isn't a good time I can call back later."

"No it's fine, I'm on break." There was a short pause where Harry heard muffled scuffling sounds as well as a dull bang and soft curse. "They move these desks on purpose, I swear…alright I can talk. Have I mentioned how awesome these things are by the way? I mean really, if you can mass produce this, Harry, you're going to be richer than Merlin."

"I don't know about richer than Merlin...but definitely richer than the Queen," Harry said smiling.

"Nah, she's got her crown jewels and all. Merlin had crown jewels but his were dangly instead of shiny." Harry gagged as he caught the pun. Before he could say anything Tonks kept going just making it worse, "Though I suppose his crown jewels were shiny at times. I mean it's only natural and you've got to keep things fun and – "

"Seriously woman stop! I give, I give! You win!" Harry hurriedly babbled wishing he could clamp his hands over his ears. It would just make it worse though by bringing the rune stone closer to his ear.

Tonks laughed over the line. "And that's what you get for using my name, Harry. Don't forget it. Next time I won't be so niiiccceee," she taunted. "Now, seriously, what's going on?"

Harry sighed. "My friends and I have been investigating the Sirius Black case – "

"Harry, that is really dangerous! You guys are just kids, you can't – "

"Tonks, stop," Harry cut her off. "For one thing we weren't going out looking for him or anything, we were just interviewing people mostly. Secondly, we are not kids. Tracey was basically mind raped for months. Neville's been grown up since he was told what happened to his parents when he was eight. I'm half convinced Hermione was born an adult. Luna watched her mother die two years ago right in front of her. Daphne faced down a thousand year old basilisk with me. And I not only faced the basilisk but my parent's murderer the year before that. We may be young, Tonks, but we're not kids."

Harry could practically see his friend rubbing her forehead. "Fine. I'm sorry for calling you kids. Shiva does it you know. I've noticed."

"Shiva is a special case. And she only calls me kid," Harry shrugged. "I think it's her term of endearment or something. Better than Freak or Boy and she doesn't mean it in a demeaning way or anything so I don't mind. And we're getting sidetracked!"

Tonks laughed. "Yes, we are. I'm guessing you think you guys found something?"

"We think," Harry paused and then rushed ahead, "we think that Sirius Black was actually innocent. We think he was hunting Peter Pettigrew down instead of the other way around. We think that Pettigrew was the real traitor and that he escaped in the confusion, using the opportunity to frame Black. We're not entirely sure why he's here now but this makes a lot more sense because none of the facts seem to fit the official story. Can you get us copies of the trial records? If we knew what he said at the trial then maybe we can get the case reopened and instead of a manhunt for a murdering psycho we can get justice for an innocent."

Tonks was quiet for a long time. Long enough that Harry was beginning to worry something had happened to the Comm Stone. Finally she said slowly, "You think we are hunting an innocent man? How sure are you?"

"Between 80-90%. It all fits a hell of a lot better, Tonks."

"Merlin's balls…Look I'm not exactly popular here at the moment with how I reacted to Hagrid's arrest plus later proving to be right about it. Not to mention a bunch of other little things." A note of bitterness had leaked into Tonks voice. "I doubt I'll be able to influence anything on the manhunt itself. I should be able to get you copies of the trial records though assuming they aren't sealed. If they are you might have to have Susan ask her aunt to get you a copy. Harry, I need you to write up why you guys suspect this in a letter and send me what you have. This manhunt is being personally pushed by Fudge to a scary degree. That fact alone…well it probably means someone is whispering in his ear. I'm going to need a lot of actual evidence to get the Kiss On Sight order removed from Sirius Black."

"I understand, Tonks. I'll send Hedwig off with what we have by dinner," Harry said. "Tonks…thanks."

"I want to see justice done as much as you do, Harry." She paused. "And I owe you for making me laugh with that letter. Get me that info, and don't go looking for trouble, Harry. Even if my cousin was innocent he's still been in Azkaban for 12 years. He might not be entirely sane at this point."

"We'll be careful, Tonks. Keep some color in your hair, Nymphadora."

"Why you little – "

"Disconnect," Harry said smiling.

As Harry hung up on her Tonks shook her yellow hair in exasperation. "I'm going to have to contact the Weasley twins. That boy is asking for it." She sighed as her shifted from yellow to black and back again. "I'm not sure what's worse. If Harry's right and Sirius was imprisoned over a decade for something he didn't do or if Harry's wrong and the man really was that much of a bastard to betray his surrogate family."

Casting a quick tempus Tonks saw she still had nearly an hour before her shift started again. Steeling herself she headed for the lift down to Records. She didn't think she'd managed to piss anyone off down there yet so she should be able to walk away with the trial data copies assuming they weren't sealed. Unless Norman was there. If that arse was around she'd walk back out and come in again with a different face.

Tonks' hair flashed a quick red than a longer red as she noticed the shift. Her powers were getting even more frustrating lately with the flak her coworkers were heaping on her. Her abilities were always tied with emotions – her hair in particular – but usually she was able to lock it down better than this. Maybe she should take her mother up on those Occlumency lessons. It was supposed to be able to help metamorphs lock in a form without having to keep the concentration going.

She scowled again thinking about her fellow Aurors. It wasn't bad enough that she was a rookie who had been proven right; no, she had to have a mind of her own as well. Something that apparently didn't sit well with current leadership. Scrimgeour was against her from Day 1 thanks to her powers, her attitude and her competence. He took every opportunity to pair her with Dawlish who only saw her as a piece of arse rather than someone who could do the job. Her hair turned darker as she thought about that idiot. She'd been with the Aurors barely more than a year and a half and she did the job better than he had for a decade!

The lift stopped and Tonks walked out stubbing her toe on the garbage can outside the records hall. Biting down on her tongue, Tonks ignored the typical pain and went up to the desk, breathing a sigh of relief at the lack of Norman.

"Wotcher. Auror Tonks. I'm looking for trial records," she smiled at the clerk and made sure to keep a tight leash on her yellow hair.

"Name of the defendant, Auror?" the clerk asked completely uninterested.

"Sirius Black." That got a reaction. The man dropped his quill and turned a wide eyed gaze onto her. Tonks just smiled back. "It's important so the faster the better."

"Right away, Auror. Please wait here. It should only be a moment." The clerk turned to his rolodex and started flipping cards. That never ceased to amuse her. Muggles used it for contacts and phone numbers while wizards had appropriated it to assist in filing. It wasn't too far off, but she pitied the poor fool who tried to explain the difference to a pureblood.

Ten minutes later Tonks was starting to worry she'd have to come back later when the clerk finally looked up at her with an expression of worry on his features. Tonks frowned and had to concentrate hard to prevent her hair from shifting. "Problem?"

"It's the records, Auror…"

"Well yeah, I gathered that, buddy." Tonks rolled her eyes. "Guess they are sealed then, huh?"

"No, Auror…they don't exist…"

Tonks coughed incredulously and just stared at the man. "What do you mean 'they don't exist'?"

"An index for all records, whether sealed or open, for criminal trials are kept here. The spells involved don't allow for misplacement or incorrect filing. If there was a trial conducted, the index is updated. There is no index annotation for a Sirius Black," the man was sweating now.

"Are you sure?" Tonks frowned not at all liking what this was starting to look like. A lack of trial records coupled with Harry's suspicions…she really needed his information as soon as possible. "It would have been 12 years ago. November 1981."

"I know when Sirius Black was caught, ma'am. I'm telling you there is no record of a criminal trial."

"What about a special Wizengamot session or something? Or a tribunal? Or…"

The clerk just kept shaking his head. "They are all considered criminal proceedings and so they'd all be recorded here. There is nothing for Sirius Black at all beyond the arrest record. There isn't even a transfer order."

"Merlin…" Tonks clamped down on her roiling emotions and used her powers to put on a stone cold, iron hard face. "Alright, I'll handle this. Keep this quiet for the moment, understand?" The clerk nodded. "Good. You're not in trouble by the way. Thanks for your assistance."

Turning Tonks strode from the room, her mind running a mile a minute. If her cousin had been delivered straight to Azkaban without a trial or sentencing of any kind…this case just got a whole lot more complicated.

Now the real question was whether to tell Rufus Scrimgeour or jump over him to Amelia Bones.