ghost stories - h. potter

Twenty-Four

Harry and Belle left the book store not long after she had purchased the copy of Fantastic Beasts -  though she had plenty of them lying around the house at home.

"Is it true that you managed to produce a fully-fledged patronus in our third year?" Belle asked curiously as she fell into step beside Harry, their arms brushing unconsciously as they walked through the snow-ridden streets of Hogsmeade. 

"I - yes," Harry replied, slightly stumped by her question. 

"Wow," Belle said quietly.

"That's impressive. May I ask what form it took?" Harry looked over at her, only to see her watching him curiously. 

"A stag," he replied, a small smile on his face.

"It was the same as my Dad's animagus form."

"Animagus form?" She questioned, though she didn't need to. Belle knew that James Potter was an animagus, the very same way she knew that Sirius was and their previous friend, Peter. 

"Yeah. Him and his best friends, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew all became animagi so they could help Remus with his monthly transformations - he was a werewolf," Harry added, in case she had forgotten about what Snape had revealed at the end of their third year.

"What forms did Sirius and Peter take?" Belle asked, seeing the familiar glint sparkle in Harry's eye. It was clear to Belle that he enjoyed talking about his father - what he knew about him, at least - and his father's friends. He never got the chance to hold a proper conversation with his parents so talking about them made him feel as though it was the closest he'd get with them. It was a bittersweet feeling, but it didn't feel bitter when it came to Belle. Harry wanted to tell her all about his father and his mother and how Sirius was innocent. He wanted to tell her about how Peter Pettigrew hadn't died on the night of October, but had rather framed Sirius for the murders of his parents, leaving Remus very much alone in the world. He figured, now that they were alone together and near the Shrieking Shack where he had learnt all about Sirius' innocent, that there was no better time than then.

"Sirius was a black dog, Padfoot they called him. Peter was a rat. Ron's rat, Scabbers, actually." He laughed at the expression on Belle's face.

"Come on, I want to show you something," he said. Gently taking her hand, Harry lead the girl through the snow up the tracks to the Shrieking Shack. 

"You're not afraid, are you?" Harry asked when he noticed the look she was giving him.

"No... I just want to make sure that it's safe."

"There were never any violent ghosts in the shack," Harry started, but Belle only cut him off with a chuckle.

"Oh, I figured the talk about the shack being haunted was nonsense seeing as the school is home to about twenty ghosts," she stated. Harry grinned at her response and held the wire up on the fence so she could climb through. 

"The only particularly violent one I've ever encountered was Peeves after Fred and George left the school in our fifth year, and I've visited the Shack before," Harry said, causing Belle to laugh openly.

"Plus, I'm pretty sure Nearly Headless Nick hosts Deathday parties for himself every year, too," she added.

"He does. The Headless Hunt crash it every year," Harry replied knowingly and Belle only shook her head.

"Why does it not surprise me that you've been invited?" She asked and Harry chuckled.

"It was in our second year, too."

"I think it's safe to say that there will never be a day when you can look back on your time at Hogwarts and say that it was relatively normal or easy-going," Belle stated.