CHAPTER 63: THE 9TH OF SEPTEMBER

Facts:

A Boggart was an amortal shape-shifting non-being that took on the form of its observer's worst fear. Because of their shape-shifting ability, no one knew what a Boggart looked like when it was alone, as it changed shape instantly upon encountering someone.

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9th of September 1993. Ed and Hermione was just finishing some elective classes in the afternoon. Then it was time for lunch, both of them were walking towards the great hall, they were hungry right now, as they technically have studied more than they supposed to.

"I'll drop Divination when you'll drop it…" Ed grumbled, "Probably Care of Magical Creature too, I don't really need the class. It's bloody tiring."

"When will I drop it?" Hermione asked curiously, "You mean when Trelawney would say that my soul is old?"

"Yep…" Ed said, "Speaking of which, your soul do feel like it's really old." Ed joked, earning a glare from the girl.

"My soul is not old!" she refuted roughly.

"Hey, I'm just saying the truth right here Herm." Ed defended himself, "Your thinking sense is like a fanatic old man, you forced your ideology about the house elves stuff next year, first year you enforced the rules too hard, only in fifth year you will start to soften up."

"Don't call me Herm!" she hissed, "But if you put it like that… I do feel like an old lady, but those stuff technically didn't happen yet right? So, I won't really do it."

Ed raised his eyebrow, surprised at her words, "Really? Even the spew thing?"

"It's not spew, it's Society-.…" Hermione said, but instantly remembered that in the books she said that a lot, and blushed.

Ed chuckled as he also realized this, "Well, what did you say about 'won't really do it?'"

"Shut up." She mumbled in embarrassment, "But I think house elves are still treated unfairly, they need to at least have sick leaves… or some kind of payment."

"Seriously Hermione? you fast forward this a year earlier? I shouldn't have given you the books…" Ed joked, making the girl smacked Ed's shoulder.

"It's not funny, I'm serious." Hermione said sternly.

"Hermione… think of it like this all right?" Ed said as both of them entered the great hall and sat on long table with Ron and Harry, who was looking at them weirdly. "Think that you and someone is married now and living in a suburban home…"

Hermione nodded weakly as she blushed a bit, thinking about something. "Then, you heard that one of your neighbours screaming in their home one day." Ed continued, making Hermione stared at him confusedly and the other two boys even more confused at Ed's words.

"What's that got to do with House elves rights?" Hermione questioned.

"Patience my dear…" Ed said quickly, "Now, you're curious and afraid of the noises now, as it continues every night since you moved into the house… so you two decided to confront them."

"Oookayyy… I don't know where this is going…" Hermione commented.

"Now, you confronted them, and saw that your neighbour is a family of two, who is also a husband and a wife…" Ed continued. "You asked them what's going on, why all the noises? Is there something wrong? Are they a kidnapper? or are they a serial rapists or some kind…"

"Okay, this is getting weird Ed…" Hermione said worriedly.

"Wait a minute will you…" Ed said, "Now, they said that everything's fine, they didn't know where the noises came from, but then you noticed that the wife has bruises in her neck and hands."

Hermione just hummed this time, she didn't really know what the conclusions will be.

"Now you confronted them, grabbing the wife's hands and demanding an answer to the husband, you threatened him that if he doesn't have a good explanation, you will call the police for domestic abuse."

"Can we just get to the conclusion Ed? I don't really know what you're trying to say here." Hermione whined.

"I'm getting to it." Ed pushed, "Now, at the threat, both of them suddenly started to speak up… and turns out, the bruises didn't come out from domestic abuse, instead, the husband-and-wife pair were into hardcore BDSM…."

Hermione instantly blushed profusely at the mention of it and smacked Ed repeatedly on his shoulder with a book, "Are you serious?! That is really inappropriate Ed!"

"W-wait!" Ed held of the laughter, "I'm now asking you Hermione. what would you do if you were in that position, would you tried to talk them out to abandon the BDSM habits… or are you willing to forget about it?"

"What's that got to do with house elves rights?!" Hermione argued, annoyed at Ed's antiques.

"Well, I admit that I could have a better metaphor for it-"

"Yeah, no kidding." Hermione snorted, her face still red from the joke.

"The point is Hermione, the couple liked it, or in this case, it's the house elves, so why would you strip that 'happiness' away from them? you don't got to decide what they're into, or how they're supposed to be living their lives, while there may have some house elves that didn't like the system, then sure, you can help them, but if they are actually comfortable and like it, why forced them to abandon it?"

Hermione stared at Ed's silver eyes for a while, then mumbled, "Well, you don't have to use a sexual joke to make a point…" she looked away to her food and ate quietly with a flushed face.

Ed just chuckled at her behaviour and picked up some food, leaving the girl alone. Then, Ron, who is looking at them with confusion with Harry, suddenly asked to the two.

"What's 'hardcore BDSM'?" he asked, making Ed spilled his drink and Hermione choked in her food.

Ed laughed at this and tried to explain to the redhead. "Well Ron, BDSM stands for Bond-"

Before Ed could continue, Hermione quickly shut him up by sealing his mouth with her hands, "Ignore him Ronald, he's a bad influence to you, you too Harry, don't ask him about the term again, you hear me?" she said sternly, glaring at Ed intensely, as if she was praying that Ed's head would explode if she glared enough.

Ron and Harry just nodded blankly, while Ed removed Hermione's hand and continued to laugh. "Sorry- Sorry Hermione…" Ed said while still can't contain his laughter.

After lunch, all of them went to their first Defence of the Dark arts lesson, Ed was now walking to it with Hermione, who was still complaining about the joke earlier.

"Honestly, how do you even know that sorts of things Ed?" Hermione grumbled in annoyance.

"Well, I read it in a book once…" Ed answered, "It was in the library, I forgot about the title though."

Hermione just snorted at it, but then Ed realized something and stopped in his tracks, "Hold on, how do YOU know that sort of thing Hermione?" Ed smirked, asking the girl.

Hermione blushed profusely again, instantly looking away from Ed, she didn't know what to say as she don't want to tell him how she knows.

"What's wrong? Cat got your tongue?" Ed teased.

"Shut up…" she mumbled, "I also read it in a book…"

"What's the title?" Ed asked, pushing further, enjoying Hermione's embarrassment.

"I-I don't know okay!" she snapped, her face flushed because of the questions, "Fleur read it for me, it was French, so she translated it…"

"Bloody hell…" Ed sighed, "I shouldn't asked Fleur to guide you last summer…"

The two then continued to the DADA class, Ed was kind of nervous now, as he didn't know what his boggart is, he took a seat with Hermione and waited for Lupin to come.

After a couple of minutes of waiting and hearing the ramblings of Hermione, the professor finally came, he looked ragged, making some Slytherins snickered at the sight of him.

"Right then." He said, "You can put your books in the bag now, we're doing a practical lesson today, so you only need your wand."

The students were a bit confused, but they complied either way, they put their books to their bag, and followed Professor Lupin to another place outside. On the way, they met Peeves, which Lupin easily kicked out with a Waddiwasi spell. Then they entered an old empty room, well, it wasn't really empty, as Professor Snape was in there.

Snape then made a comment about Neville that made the Gryffindor grimaced. But then, a wardrobe in the middle of the room is suddenly wobbling as Lupin got closer.

"Nothing to worry about." He said, "It's just a boggart."

Lupin then continued to explain what a boggart is, Ed of course already knows what it is, so he didn't really listen to it. After that, the whole class were taught how to use the 'Riddikulus' spell, which the class quickly learned as it is a fairly easy spell.

After that the class were instructed to use it on the boggart. The first was Neville, his boggart is Professor Snape and when he used the spell, the boggart turned into Snape wearing Neville's grandmother's clothes. The class instantly roared into laughter, then Parvati was next, her boggart turned into a mummy, which she changed into a stripped version of it.

After that it goes on for a while, Ron with spiders, Seamus with Banshees, Dean with a severed hand, but then something a bit unexpected happened, Hermione was called, which didn't happened in the books.

"Hermione, come one." Lupin instructed. Hermione was a bit confused at this as she didn't expect to participate, but she was also curious about what her boggart would be.

Ed narrowed his eyes, 'is it because Dumbledore wants to know?' Ed asked himself. "Come on Hermione." Ed whispered to the girl, lightly pushing her to the front.

Hermione quickly snapped out of her thinking and walked in front, she then faced the boggart, and it slowly morphed.

It wasn't Professor McGonagall's failing her, no, instead the boggart morphed into something else, it turned into graves, Ed recognized some of the names, he saw Mr. and Mrs. Granger. He saw Harry and Ron. And he saw himself. The class instantly was silenced, glancing at the tombstones in front of them.

"R-R-Riddikulus!" she stuttered, the graves quickly turned into a box of clown, making the class laughing again.

Ed sighed in relief, he quickly walked to the girl and asked if she was okay.

"I'm okay…" she whispered, "Just shocked is all."

Lupin also sighed in relief as he didn't want to show tombstones in the room, he then quickly wanted to stop the demonstration, but suddenly, Harry was pushed by his dorm mates to the front of the boggart, making Lupin panicked.

The boggart then slowly turned into a dementor, making the room cold and depressing. Lupin quickly reacted, but he wasn't fast enough. Instead, it was Ed, he was now standing in front of the boggart, and the thing quickly morphed into something else.

Again, it was himself on the ground. Bleeding. The boggart shows that Ed was still alive in the scenario, but he saw that the boggart was clutching his stomach. The boggart's face looked like he was in despair, already given up from life. Ed heard a couple of people gasped at the display of blood and gore, especially Hermione, she gasped the loudest.

"Riddikulus!" Ed shouted decisively, pointing his wand at the boggart, who quickly turned into himself in a woman's clothing, which made a couple of Slytherins snickered, but the rest? Not so much. The room turned depressed at the display of gore, so Lupin quickly dismissed the class and told them to rest. The man glanced at Ed one last time, signalling that the meeting was supposed to be today. Ed noticed the gaze and just nodded, he then exited the room with a worried Hermione guiding him.

"Are you all right?" she asked, "Isn't that…"

"It is." Ed said, "Last year, my condition is probably like that there…"

Hermione then just grabbed Ed's hand tightly and walked to the common room to rest.

In the evening, Ed was walking in an unknown small hall that was filled with covered portrait. The place was dusty and looked abandoned. Ed then walked upstairs, where he saw some noise. He then entered a living room upstairs and saw a man and a woman bickering to no ends.

"I hid you for a month now and this is how you thank me?!" the woman shouted.

"I don't thank death eaters, besides, this is my home! Not yours!" the man shouted back.

Ed grew annoyed at the bickering and shouted, "The fuck is going on?!"

The room suddenly turned quiet and the two adults were now looking at Ed.

"Well, hello nephew." Narcissa said while glaring at Sirius, "This fugitive right here dared to insult me, while I was trying to help him!"

"I only tell the truth, that you're a wife of a death eater that deserved to be thrown in Azkaban!" Sirius refuted.

Ed ruffled his hair in frustration as he two keep bickering in front of him, "Can we not right now?" Ed said sternly, "Just stop acting like a child for a minute Sirius, and let people help you…"

Sirius turned quiet at this, "Fine, let's go." He spoke.

"Wearing that?" Ed asked as he looked at Sirius's pajamas, "You're meeting your old lover right now and you're wearing that?"

"How do you know that?!" Sirius was surprised, while Narcissa just snickered, "Fine, wait for me." He grumbled as he walked to his room, changing his clothes.

"How's Draco by the way?" Narcissa suddenly asked, "He didn't owl me since the start of the term."

"Bad." Ed answered truthfully, "He just mostly kept to himself, always frowning, he's probably getting bullied."

Narcissa frowned, "And you didn't help him?"

"He didn't want help." Ed said, "He called Hermione a mudblood in front of me when I talked to him on the train, after that, I didn't talk to him again."

Narcissa just went quiet after that and sighed tiredly, "Lucius and his stupidity…" she whispered to herself, but Ed had heard it.

Then Sirius gets out of the room, fully dressed like a wizard gentleman. "I'm ready." He simply said.

"Right, walked closer to me." Ed instructed, the two was confused at the instruction but followed nonetheless, before they can even stopped walking to Ed, they had already arrived in Dumbledore's room, making them surprised.

"H-How did you do that?" Sirius asked in amazement. "Teleporting to Hogwarts… it didn't feel like apparating too."

"Magic Sirius, magic." Ed said with a serious tone, then Dumbledore walked up to them, greeting Sirius and Narcissa. The three of them exchanged pleasantries, while leaving Ed alone. Ed then just walked to the exit of the office to get out of the room, but Dumbledore stopped him.

"Where are you going Ed?"

"Dorm room of course, I'm tired." Ed said while yawning, "I really need to drop some electives… Bloody McGonagall and her hopes in me…"

"What? you won't joined in in the meeting?" Narcissa asked, surprised by the statement.

"Of course, I hate trials and courtrooms, they bring me bad luck. And I told Dumbledore I'd like to lay low, I don't want someone to make the same mistake as Lucius…" Ed said coldly, which Narcissa nodded.

"But you're the one who start all this Ed, you should join in." Dumbledore tried to persuade him.

"They keyword being 'start all this'. I don't have to end it Dumbledore, so, good evening." Ed said as he continued to walk and waved his hand lazily to them. After that he went back to the common room and sat in front of the fireplace. The common room looks quite crowded right now, but Ed didn't mind as he casted a Muffliato spell around him, making it quiet.

Ed closed his eyes for a second to rests his head, forgetting everything that just happened. but then Ed felt someone was leaning on him, Ed opened his eyes and saw Hermione sitting beside him, her head on his shoulder, she looks tired just like Ed, he sighed at the sudden physical contact, but didn't mind it. Instead, he wrapped his arm around her, making her more comfortable.

"Hi…" she mumbled tiredly. "How was the meeting?"

"I didn't joined in…" Ed answered truthfully, "Too tired."

"I feel bad now…" she said as she buried her head on his neck. "I shouldn't take a lot of lessons, I bet Professor McGonagall gave you all those lessons because she wants you to take my lessons as well, seeing that she already has permission on the time turner."

"It's fine. But I really need to talk to McGonagall though, I need to drop some classes…"

"You should." Hermione muttered, "Your eyebags are getting larger and larger everyday… not to mention the nightmares…"

"You should drop some too Hermione, and give up the time turner too, that thing is too dangerous, I don't like it."

Hermione hummed to Ed's neck, "I'll think about it."

"Oh yeah, I need to tell Harry that his godfather's here…" Ed said as he unwrapped his hand from Hermione, "Coming?"

Hermione hummed tiredly and stood up with Ed, but then she noticed that everyone's staring at them, and they realized that this is the common room, not the Aldrich living room.

"I forgot that it's not the living room…" Hermione muttered in embarrassment, she then just grabbed Ed's hand and dragged him to where Harry was, leaving the snickering crowd aside.

The two then arrived at Ed's dorm room where they saw Harry chatting with Ron, the two then noticed the pair's presence and looked at them.

"Your godfather's here Harry." Ed tiredly said, "He's in Dumbledore's office, the password is raspberry jam."

"Really?" Harry's eyes lit up, "Okay, thanks for telling me Ed." he then rushed to Dumbledore's office, leaving Ron alone.

"Black is really here?" Ron nervously ask.

"Yeah, no need to worry Ron, he's innocent." Ed said as he lay down on his bed. "I hope I don't get nightmares tonight…"

Ed then turned to Hermione, who changed her position to chatting with Ron, "Good night Hermione, Ron, be sure to let Harry in once he's finished."

The two just nodded, and Ed drifted to sleep, and hope that he won't get a nightmare again.

Meanwhile at the Headmaster's office, Sirius was anxiously waiting for Lupin to bring the traitor to the office.

"Are you sure he didn't escape Dumbledore?" he asked worriedly.

"Don't worry Sirius, he was locked in an unbreakable charm…" Dumbledore answered, and before he knew it, Lupin had come with the rat inside a cage, "Sirius!" Lupin exclaimed.

"Remus!" Sirius greeted the werewolf with a warm hug, "My old friend…"

The two then separated, then Sirius looked at the cage on Lupin's hand with hatred, "Is that him?"

"Yeah, we can end this Sirius…" said Lupin, "I'm sorry that I didn-"

"It's fine Remus, you have no way of knowing." Sirius said, then he looked at Dumbledore and Narcissa, "Where's Amelia now?"

"She's coming now." Dumbledore said, "I believe it's better if you hide yourself first Sirius, we don't want to scare the lady do we?"

Sirius nodded weakly and used a Disillusionment charm on himself, hiding in the corner. He then patiently waiting for Amelia to come, and a couple minutes later, McGonagall arrived with her, wearing a rather formal clothes.

"Why have you called me Albus?" she asked the old man, but then she was surprised that Narcissa Malfoy was in the room, "Mrs. Malfoy, I didn't know you were called too… is this about Susan? Is she in any trouble?"

"It's not like that Amelia." Dumbledore assured, "I assure you Miss Bones is not in any sort of trouble, and technically, Narcissa was the one who called you here…"

Narcissa looked at Dumbledore like he was some sort of a madman, she didn't call her, Ed suggested it!

Amelia is also looked at Dumbledore in confusion, "Then why did you call me?"

Dumbledore sighed, "I believe it's a rather serious matter…" he said as he took out Pettigrew, who was struggling to break free. "You see, I've come to discover something that shocked me, that Sirius Black is actually innocent."

Amelia was surprised at this, "What do you mean Albus?! Don't joke around in the matter of Sirius Black in front of me!"

Dumbledore shot a sympathetic look at her, "I understand that he is your old love, perhaps this matter will reunite you with him."

"How do you know-" but then she noticed that Lupin is also here and smiling at her, "Right… and I suppose you have proof of this Albus? And why is a rat in your hand?"

Dumbledore just smiled at her and casted an Animagus cancelation spell to the rat, revealing it to be Peter Pettigrew, "I believe we have caught the real traitor that night Amelia. Peter Pettigrew."

Amelia was gobsmacked, "How- he's supposed to be dead! We found his finger-"

"Only his finger Amelia," Lupin interrupted as he showed Pettigrew's hand, who was missing his finger, he also shown the dark mark that resides on Pettigrew's wrist. "Did you know that Sirius didn't get a proper trial Amelia? I believe it's time to fix that…"

Amelia was paled at the sight of the dark mark, "But you told me it was Sirius who was their secret keeper?! How?!"

"I can explain that…" Sirius suddenly shown himself, surprising Amelia even more, who pointed her wand at him, "Hello Amelia…" he smiled softly.

"What is he doing here Albus!" Amelia shouted, "It's a crime to hide a fugitive!"

"I hid him Amelia, not Dumbledore." Narcissa said, "And you should lower you wand, he's the heir of the Black family, even though I didn't really like it…"

"I'm not the secret keeper Amelia, it was Peter, we switched it in the last minute so Voldemort won't know it, but it turned out to be the greatest mistake of my life… believe me Amelia…" Sirius pleaded.

"He's lying Madam Bones! He's the traitor!" shouted Pettigrew.

"There's no point in lying Peter, we already used a Veritaserum on you." Dumbledore said.

"You used the serum!? That's another crime Albus!" Yelled Amelia again.

"But you must know the seriousness on the matter right Amelia? We simply need to confirm it." Dumbledore smiled.

Amelia is now wavering, she didn't know what to believe anymore, but before she could say anything, a boy suddenly entered the room, this time surprising everyone.

"Potter?!" Amelia shrieked, panicking as Sirius was in the room, "What are you doing here!? Go back to your tower right now! It's dangerous here!"

Harry was confused right now, "Er… He told me that Sirius is here…"

"He? Who is he?" Amelia asked rather loudly.

"Enough Amelia, you need to calm down…" Dumbledore said, stepping in, "Harry, would you wait for a minute to talk to your godfather, we have an important discussion right now."

Harry nodded blankly as he's eyeing Sirius in the corner of the room, who was smiling at him. Harry then stepped out of the room, not disturbing the Adults, after a couple of minutes, he then heard shouting from the room, he was curious now, what are they talking about, so he sneakily snuck in to listen to the conversation.

He then saw Amelia Bones interrogating Peter Pettigrew. She asks the question that Dumbledore asked when they first interrogated the traitor, she looked paled with every questions the rat answers.

"So, it's true…" she said weakly, "You were locked in that god awful place for nothing Sirius…"

Sirius just smiled at him, "I-I'm sorry I didn't investigate it further— I thought—"

"It's fine Amelia…" he said as he tried to hug her, which she reluctantly accepted, "You didn't know, and the ministry was desperate back then."

Both of them then talked for a while, the adults leave them alone, giving them space to sort out their problems.

Dumbledore then saw that Harry was peeking at them and walked to them. "It's fairly rude Harry to eavesdrop a conversation of another." He said.

"S-Sorry Professor…"

Dumbledore didn't say anything, instead he stared at the talking Sirius and Amelia, who was now looking at each other with love in their eyes. "What a great thing Love is." Dumbledore commented, which made Harry nods, "Do remember to always find love at any place Harry, it will certainly help you in your life that is to come." The old man continued, but Harry now was now confused.

Sirius then walked to Harry, he's still smiling right now, happy that his justice will come at last. He was now standing in front of Harry, nervously standing, confused at what will he says to the boy.

"I know Sirius, you're my godfather…" he said, which made Sirius smile and hugged him, "It's good to finally meet you Harry, you're just like your father… I-I'm sorry…"

Harry just stood there in silence, enjoying the warmth of the hug. And after a while, they separated, "Now, we will talk more once this mess has been sorted, for now, you should go back Harry…" he said.

Harry nodded and just said goodbye to him, leaving the room.

"Now, I believe it's time to discuss tactics…" Narcissa interrupted, which everyone paid attention to.

"What are you suggesting? Surely we can hand the evidence to the ministry?" Amelia said.

Narcissa shook her head, "No, Fudge will probably do something stupid like making Pettigrew take the kiss." She speaks.

Amelia grimaced at this, "Yes… he will certainly do that."

"So," Narcissa continued, "We need you to make a sudden announcement of a trial, so he won't have time to do anything."

Amelia pondered for a while before nodding her head, "It is certainly possible to hold a sudden trial… all right, I will do it."

Narcissa nodded, all of the adults were smiling in that room, especially Sirius, he was longing for his freedom for a long time, and now he's about to get it.