(Bittersweet) Memories

After the whole emotional upheaval, Sirius and Harry were led to the Room of Requirement, where Maxima had spent the previous week.

The room had changed. Two beds on one side of the room and one on the other. The side with two beds had one table and the other side had one table as well. The room wasn't divided in red and green but melded together with shades of green, gold, blue and black that fit well together. There were four banners of each house hanging from the centre of each wall and a common banner of the Hogwarts crest hanging from the centre. There was a door on the left which led to the bathrooms. On a different side, there were chairs, pillows and bean bags to relax.

Sirus and Harry moved to their side of the room to get their things and to get ready for the night.

Maxima moved forward to her bed and jumped onto it. Snuggling into the soft sheets, grabbing her pencil and sketchbook(encased in a plastic cover), she settled to start sketching when Poseidon leapt as well and set his upper body on Maxima's, "Poseidon! Off!!" laughed Maxima. She tussled around trying to get Poseidon off. Poseidon grabbed her sketchbook and leapt off. Maxima sat up, "Poseidon!"

He dropped low and wagged his tail, "Oh no you don't!" Poseidon barked and ran across the room. Sirius, who was on his bed twirling his new wand(when he got that, Maxima has no idea), laughed and transformed into his animagus form. Poseidon barked and tossed the sketchbook to Sirius (Padfoot?) who caught it and ran to the other side of the room and jumped onto her bed. Before transforming and opening it to see what it was.

Maxima gasped, "Sirius?! That's my sketchbook!"

Sirius flipped through a few pages, "These are pretty good. Hey! Is that me?!"

Maxima's eyes widened. That was her fandom work! Maxima ran over, "Sirius! DROP IT!" While it was embarrassing, she wasn't that scared they saw it. She liked it when people saw her work, but not her work OF them! Besides, having a little fun is all well and good.

Harry entered the room and Sirius smirked. No! Maxima thought as Sirius yelled, "Harry! Heads up!" He threw the sketchbook and Harry being Harry caught it. He looked at Maxima who looked a little embarrassed but smiling all the same. She came closer to try and grab the book and Harry raised the hand that held the sketchbook. Maxima leapt, trying to grab the sketchbook but failing to do. Harry laughed and started to run backwards. Maxima gave chase but Poseidon intercepted her. Wherever she moved, Poseidon mirrored her. She jumped over him and ran towards Harry who was standing on his bed, flipping casually through the pages.

"These are really detailed. Oh, wow! Is that..."

Maxima tacked him and they landed on his bed. They tousled for a bit before Sirius intervened and grabbed the sketchbook to see the drawing Harry had paused at. He looked at it. Maxima's smile turned into a concerned look as she peeked over his shoulder to see which one he paused at.

It was a pencil sketch of a stag, a wolf, a black dog and a rat running around in the moonlight with a baby fawn while a doe stood watching them. It was one of her best pieces, simply because of the detailing. In the corner of the drawing was her signature. Maxima grabbed her wand and pressed it to the paper, softly speaking, "Animare."

The drawing came to life, The fawn wobbled and fell down. The wolf and dog shook their fur. The stag and doe came to their fawn and helped it while the rat climbed onto a tree nearby. The wolf, dog, stag ran around in circles as if chasing each other. The rat sat climbed down the tree and climbed onto the stag's antlers. The animals gave chase and ran around each other. Enjoying each other's presence.

Maxima watched Sirius's face as he looked on. It must be a bittersweet memory, looking back on Hogwarts. Maxima took the sketchbook and Sirius was broken out of his reverie. She went to her table, grabbing the ruler and pencil. She drew a line (while making sure she didn't ruin the drawing) and using the scissors, she cut it. She used the pencil to hide her name further into the grass so it wasn't as obvious. After she was done, she pointed her wand at the paper she spoke, "Lamina."

It laminated it and the drawing was still flawless, in her opinion. She turned around to Sirius and Harry looking over her shoulder. She glanced at Harry before uttering another spell, "Geminio."

The laminated drawing duplicated and she handed one to each. "Here. It should be with you guys anyway."

Harry smiled, "Thanks! This is brilliant!"

Maxima smiled, grabbed her sketchbook holding it close to her chest before she turned to Poseidon, "No more tattling about my work!" She scolded in faux anger before she sat on a bean bag and started a new sketch. She took a peek at Poseidon who was contently sleeping.

Harry sat on the side doing his Potions work, he looked annoyed. Maxima spoke up while keeping her eyes on her sketch and Harry looked to her, "You're focusing on the wrong thing. Forget the fact that a teacher who used to hate you teaches the subject and focus on the fact that you like it. That and stop slacking. You're smarter than you know, besides," she dropped her voice to a whisper and her face had gained a far-away look, "no Dursley's here."

Harry looked away, thinking over what Maxima said. She was right, hadn't he enjoyed the idea of potions before he met Snape? He looked to her, she was smirking as she sketched. Maybe he should stop slacking, Voldemort was almost gone, but to defeat him, he needed to step up his game. And didn't he used to get good grades until he realized that the Dursley's didn't like it? Harry continued his work thinking hard. He looked at Maxima who had started smiling as she continued to draw, "Thanks."

Maxima and Harry sat in comfortable silence until they completed what they were doing and asked Sirius to tell stories about their pranks.

They laughed and enjoyed the stories. It was a bit like the Weasley's pranks but as they moved from first year to fifth year, they seemed to get...more humiliating.

At one of the pranks, Harry furrowed his brows, "Who did you perform this on?"

"Snape, Harry keep up," Sirius said.

Maxima spoke up, "That was mean though. You said only pranked for laughs, that was humiliating."

Sirius seemed uncomfortable, "Listen, we were 15 okay? We were kids! We, your father, we were all immature okay?"

Harry stood up and spoke hotly, "I'm almost fifteen! And I know you shouldn't do that!"

Maxima pulled Harry's arm and made him sit, "While you are right Harry that your father, Sirius, Pettigrew and Remus shouldn't have done that you should realise, not everyone has a perfect moral send when they're 15. You have a rivalry with Draco Malfoy don't you?"

Harry sunk lower into his beanbag, "Yeah and now that I think about it, what I did was wrong and I'm gonna send an apology letter."

Maxima tilted her head, "Apologise once in public too, preferably the way he tried to befriend you. Don't insult him, just hold out a hand to shake. If he rejects it, don't get put out. Slytherins don't trust easy. Ever wonder why the hat considered you for Slytherin?"

"Because I had a part of Voldemort in me?"/"Because he had a part of Voldemort in him?"

Maxima laughed, "No." She rolled her eyes, " It's because you had ambition and were cunning. You had to be cunning after all," Maxima looked at Poseidon who was dozing on her bed, "Kids with less than stellar houses have to be."

She looked to Harry and smirked, "You're still an honorary snake!"

Harry smiled, "Thanks, I guess?"

Sirius looked contemplative, "So that's why the hat insisted I be in Slytherin..."

Maxima leaned forward, "What did you say?"

Sirius leaned back with a jaunty smirk, "Well, I said and I quote, 'Don't you fucking dare.' The hat immediately put me in Gryffindor after that."

Harry started laughing and Maxima smiled, "That was awfully brave and bold of you."

Sirius turned to Harry, "Any stories for us? Talk to your Dogfather and...uh?" Sirius looked to Maxima, who shrugged and replied, "Friend?"

Sirius moved his head in a way that said, 'Fair enough'. He looked to Harry, "Any girls? or boys? I don't judge."

Harry looked to Sirius squinting, "Girls. Definitely girls. Not boys, thanks. Also, there's this girl, Her name's Chow Chang."

Maxima blinked, "What?"

Harry looked to her, "Chow Chang. Although, I've heard she prefers Cho because she likes Autumn and 'Cho' means Autumn."

Maxima blinked and nodded, appeared interested while Harry talked about his crush albeit he had to be probed by Sirius. J.K Rowling's racist mistakes couldn't take place because obviously, these people had brains and it wasn't culturally possible. So Maxima supposed, she'd have to take things in stride whenever she saw something new. She was quite good at that. For now, though, Maxima thought as she got comfortable as Harry and Sirius talked, she'll enjoy the memories.