Chapter 20

"Jonathan, you do realize that we are walking in circles, right?" Granger said with doubt in her voice, not knowing that she should trust Jonathan like her. Even if they were walking in circles.

"Just give it a moment." Jonathan said with a smirk on his face as we continued walking and once more reached that ugly painting of ballet trolls. Except this time, there was a door right next to it.

"Wha… How?" Hermione said with her mouth open with shock.

"Magic." Jonathan answered while wiggling his fingers in a 'spooky' manner.

Then he opened the door and they entered to a room that had many bookshelves around a gym and a pool.

"I welcome you, to the Room of Requirement."

"Wha… but… how?" Granger finally managed to say but Violet had to admit that she was in the same position as her.

"As I said, this is the Room of Requirement. As far as I have been able to understand, it is a magical room that changes itself by responding to the desires of it's inhabitants." Jonathan said with a shrug and before their eyes, the pool disappeared and was replaced with a fireplace, surrounded by many beanbags around it and stools next to them with snacks on it.

"It is rather handy." He said with a smile as he pulled a mug out of nowhere with, from what she could smell, hot chocolate in it.

"Now then, any other questions?"

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"How bad is the situation?" Severus asked to the headmaster as he walked into the old man's office.

"Surprisingly enough, not too bad. While it definitely isn't in a good place, Sirius' mental health is more or less in a miraculous state for someone who spent a decade in Azkaban."

"Guess not even that prison could change Black." Severus said with a snort, completely unbothered by the glare he was getting from the headmaster.

Unlike Dumbledore, he was not exactly very keen on giving out second chances and even among Marauders; Severus had a special place for the hatred he held towards Sirius Black in his heart.

"Severus I know how you feel about him, but can you at least show some amount of sensitivity for a man who spent a decade in prison for a crime he did not commit?"

"Considering that he would have spent a similar amount of time in Azkaban if his so called prank against me had gone a little different or if you had not been there to save his ass, I think I'm good as I am." The potions professor snorted while Dumbledore flinched, the man wasn't lying after all. If it hadn't been for young James arriving at the last moment then that 'prank' would have ended up with a dead student and likely an order of execution for young Lupin while Sirius would have gotten a ticket for Azkaban before he had graduated.

"Will you at least help out with Remus then?" The headmaster decided to change the subject from the very uncomfortable topic for a slightly less uncomfortable topic.

"I might as well. I have a rough idea about Lupin's whereabouts, but the real question is whether he'll come back." Severus said with a raised eyebrow while Dumbledore could only sigh. The man was correct after all. The parting between Remus Lupin and the other members of the Order of Phoenix had not been exactly… a pleasant affair. As a matter of fact Dumbledore had been quite shocked that the shouting match that day hadn't ended up with Remus trying to curse them or someone trying to curse Remus.

Maybe he should have Severus take young mister Richards with him, the boy might pull off another miracle like he did with Sirius and convince Remus to come back with no fuss.

No, that would technically be child labor and the paperwork to deal with that simply wasn't worth it.

"More importantly than the Lupin thing, I guess this means we no longer have to worry about Violet going back to Dursley family home for abusing children. Great idea by the way." Severus said with a roll of eyes and Dumbledore wondered how long it would take before his potions professor would let go and work with him without comments like that.

Considering that the man still had a picture of Marauders strapped to a dartboard in his room that he occasionally sent very nasty curses to, not in the near future.

"Yes. If all goes well then Sirius should get a clear check of health within a month and become able to legally exercise his right as Violet's godfather and get custody of her." The headmaster of Hogwarts said with a smile. Finally, after so long, he felt like he was doing something good.

It was a nice feeling.

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Narcissa Malfoy would like to think herself as a proper pure blood lady who possessed all the things that made them superior, which obviously included a calm head and patience.

But she wasn't really calm at the moment. There were two reasons for that.

First of all, her cousin Sirius turned out to be actually innocent and had just became a free man. Which meant that her plans to make her daughter Libra the next lady Black was more or less thrown into garbage since the idiot had a better claim for the position and would never allow their family to get their hands on it. Still, she might be able to salvage that somehow; she just needed time to think of a proper plan.

The second reason for her not being calm was far less serious but still troubling, a letter from her beloved daughter. Normally this would not distress her, as a matter of fact getting information from her daughter was always welcome; especially since they wouldn't be seeing each other until Christmas.

It wouldn't even have been a problem that her daughter was writing to her about a boy, but a muggleborn boy? Yeah, this was bad.

She still could have just waved it off if it was merely a case of her daughter complaining about the inadequates of such a person but the things that she wrote about, the 'truly superior' and the 'worth of heritage', these were very concerning. Especially since Narcissa knew how to analyze the words of her daughter and could see that this 'Richards's words had shook her worldviews and garnered her interest. All things that she could not let Lucius know.

She loved her husband, he was a great politician and businessman but when it came to their daughter… the man was wrapped around her finger and was reduced to a fool that made Narcissa's own father look like a stern parent, of all the things her daughter could have inherited from her. If he ended up learning about this muggleborn…

No, she could not let him do something stupid right after they had lost their rights to Black fortune that they had been using to keep certain families in line. She would have to deal with this situation without involving Lucius.

It would be great mother daughter bonding anyway.

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AN

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