14 years (part-2)

" In the summer between second and third year Sirius Black escaped azkaban. Everyone thought he was going after Harry." Matt said while passing another paper which read

  'Mass Panic as Sirius Black Escapes Azkaban; Ministry Launches Manhunt for Notorious Fugitive

In a shocking turn of events, the wizarding world is left in a state of disbelief and fear as Sirius Black, one of the most feared and dangerous criminals in magical history, has managed to escape from the supposedly impenetrable Azkaban prison. The escape has sent shockwaves throughout the Ministry of Magic, prompting a frantic search and heightening security measures across the entire magical community.

Sirius Black, convicted twelve years ago for his involvement in the betrayal of Lily and James Potter, as well as the killing of twelve Muggles and his former friend, Peter Pettigrew, had been serving a life sentence in Azkaban. Black, known for his association with the dark wizard Voldemort and his ruthless nature, had become a symbol of fear and loathing within the wizarding world.'

James was once again filled with anger and regret that one of his best friends had to suffer so much. Lily also didn't say anything.

"To capture Sirius dementors were sent out and as everyone thought he was coming after Harry they were stationed around Hogwarts and hogsmede. And as it turns out he was indeed coming to Hogwarts but for someone else. Another thing your Other friend became professor of DADA for third year, Professor Lupin." This got a little smile back on James' face as he asked

"How's Remus doing? Is he still teaching at school"

"No he taught only for a year. He was doing good in school but I don't think he is doing well financially as you know werewolves are not treated well in society yes I know he is a werewolf everyone in school knows. Professor Snape let it out towards the end of year"

"He did WHAT?" Said James furiously.

"Sev's a professor too?" Asked Lily curiously.

"Yes, he is although quite biased towards Slytherin he is still a competent potions teacher and amazing potion master"

Replied Matt.

"Yeah he was always great at potions when he got his head out the dark arts that dunce." Lily muttered.

"So yes as I was saying there were Three marauders prowling on there old playground once again. yes I know about marauders and I also said three not two because Pettigrew is still alive. He was leaving as pet rat of Harry's friend Ron for 13 years hiding from both the order and deatheaters and when Sirius found out about it he escaped from azkaban he couldn't let that rat be near Harry any longer."

Lily and James were listening wide eyed to the the explanation, they felt immense gratitude towards their friend.

"Throughout the course of year Harry learnt a lot of things, Professor Lupin was your friend, he learnt patronus charm to defeat dementors from him, then came the shock that Sirius black was also your friend and his godfather who betrayed and got you killed. Harry wanted to kill him. Then came the realization that Sirius was framed and real culprit was Peter. I don't know what exactly happened that night, apparently They had captured Peter in Shrieking shack and were escorting him back to the castle but due to it being full moon Lupin started changing and Sirius trying to stop him in this chaos Peter escaped and dementors showed up almost sucking out Sirius' soul then Harry had epic showdown with dementors and repelled them before losing consciousness. When  he woke he heard that Sirius was locked up in the castle waiting for ministry officials and dementor to perform the kiss."

Lily gasped and James was tearing up at this point.

"Harry tried explaining Sirius is not the culprit but without proof no one believed him, an hour letter everyone found out that Sirius had once again escaped how? when? no one knows. Professor Snape was furious about it and that's when he let out that Professor Lupin is a Werewolf. So he had to hand in his resignation. So that sums up the first three years of Harry's hogwarts journey do you have any questions or should I continue?" asked Matt.

"Do you know where Sirius is at the moment?" asked James he wanted to meet his friend as soon as possible to thank him and to apologize for all the suffering. 

"I don't know where he currently is as  he is still a fugitive, but according to father he will be at school tomorrow. So I'll try to get hold of him." said Matt.

James nodded and Lily asked "Why would Sirius be at school tomorrow?"

"Ooh I was getting to that but your son is participating in great event and tomorrow is the grand finale, So I guess Sirius want to be there for his godson." Matt said pausing for a moment

"Let's start with start of the year Harry and his friends went Quidditch world cup which was hosted in England this year. During the post match celebrations some drunk deatheaters attacked the campsite trying live up to their old glory days."

"wait a minute weren't deatheaters captured by ministry?" asked James interrupting.

"Some were, most got off using their money, pureblood status and connections and claiming that they were under imperius or were forced to do things"

"Disgusting bastards."

"After school started a great event was announced the TRIWIZARD TOURNAMENT consisting three magic schools across Europe namely Beauxbatons, Hogwarts and Durmstrang. It was announced that no one below 16 would be allowed to participate as this was quite perilous tournament in the past even though they placed multiple safety measures in place this year they still implemented age limit." 

"wait a minute you said harry was participating in this event he Should only be fourteen at the time" said Lily.

"That's right. No one knows if Harry did it himself, had a older student do it or someone else did it to put him in danger, but according to Harry's personality and past last one is most likely. Anyways for the first time in history goblet of fire spewed out name of a fourth champion. Everyone thought he was done for but both first and second task were barely an inconvenience. First was retrieving a golden egg from a mother dragon, he simply used his broom to fly around and snatch the egg" Matt paused and looked at James and spoke "By the way he has used two of the finest brooms in this generation. He got a nimbus 2000 fastest and amazing control at that time in his first year from Professor McGonagall. It lasted till third year when dementors attacked in middle of a match and it broke, but at the end of the year he got the firebolt the fastest Broom which is also used by international teams in world cup. I suspect it was Sirius who sent it."

James was happy to hear that Harry was at least enjoying some parts of his life.

"So second task was to retrieve someone precious to contestant who was place at the bottom of black lake, Harry came in second in overall points here. So currently Harry is in second place while Cedric, the Hogwarts representative is at first place. Tomorrow is the third and final task, it seems like they are going with a maze. That's all for the recap" said Matt drinking some water after talking so much.

Lily and James were deep in thought as a lot had happened in their absence, but what they were worried about was how harry would react to seeing them back.

"When can we see Harry?" asked Lily.

"Soon. but first I think you should meet with Professor Snape first and Mr. Black after that." suggested Matt.

Before Lily could reply James argued "I understand Sirius but why should I talk with that snake."

"JAMES!" bellowed Lily " Can you not keep your stupid rivalry aside for a moment."

"As far as I can tell my father suggested Professor Snape because he was friend of both my father and Mrs. Potter and he trusts him more than Mr. Black. To be honest I would too, after all who would want to put their fate in the hands of an idiot who got convicted for a crime he didn't commit saying 'It was all my fault'. Dumbass " said Matt and he could see he had pushed some buttons as Lily had to physically stop James from attacking him. "I'm sorry but I have to be blunt because I don't have time to beat around the bush. So what do you think about this arrangement Mrs. Potter?"

"You don't have to keep calling me Mrs. Potter as we are only 7-8 years older than you, you can call me Lily. and I agree with meeting both of them but I have suggestion." said Lily.

As it was awkward calling his own friend as Mrs. potter he accepted calling her Lily "Of course Lily, what is your suggestion"

James was still fuming in the background. 

"Instead of meeting them separately why don't we meet both at same time this way we can get more ideas as how to proceed" said Lily

"We could do that but as you can see these guys are always on the verge of killing each other so you two would have to explain your situation separately and then get them to act amicably. After that we can talk together. Also I would prefer if you kept the part about my father's involvement to yourselves as it might bring trouble to me."

"Yes, of course, we'll just say we appeared in diagon alley and went to home of first friend we found" said Lily and looked at James who had considerably calmed down also nodded.

Outside first light of the day was already starting to spread.

"So since we have decided on everything I'll be going back to school now. I'll try to get both of them soon but you might have to wait until end of term which is in a week. Do not leave the house for that duration and Sweety will take care of your needs. So just rest until then" Matt said and left the room. After that he called Sweety to tell her that James and Lily would be staying here for few days and got her to apparate him back to hogwarts.