'Is there anything else you or Miss Daphne needs, Master Harry?'
'No, thank you Dobby, go back to what you were doing before.'
'He looks familiar,' Daphne said as Dobby popped away.
'Used to belong to the Malfoy's until I tricked old man Malfoy into freeing him. It pissed him right off, then he tried to kill me, Dobby saved me. The moment I saw the way that blond peacock was treating Dobby, I knew I had to do something.'
'I used to see it when they had parties, but there was nothing I could do.'
'No, I was just lucky. Anyway, last night was good, I had a great time.'
'So did I, more than I believed I would. To be honest Harry, even though I am not like Malfoy or Parkinson, so I do not have anything against you or anyone else, not unless they do something to me or my friends. You see, I thought if we went together it would upset Malfoy more than if I went with someone else. So even though I did want to get to know you, I knew he would be pissed off.'
'So you weren't just using me?'
'No, I would never do that. I spoke with Tracy last year about how we might get a chance to talk to you. At the time you were always with Granger and Weasley, who we can't stand. We all used to wonder why you hang around them? This had nothing to do with how you are thought of, we both believed you looked like an interesting person.'
'It's a long story how Hermione, Ron and I became friends, which I can tell you later if you want. But why would who you went to the ball with upset Malfoy when he has his little bitch, Parkinson?'
'Malfoy keeps hinting that one day I would be his, even if he has to force me. There are a lot of old traditions that can force two people together. My parent's would never agree to that but for all we know there could be some old type of debt that my family owes the Malfoy's. I explained to my father, so he has been speaking with portraits and going through old documents. So far he hasn't found anything that could force me to be with him. We all believe he's bluffing, but we're also worried as we know Lucius Malfoy was a death eater and death eaters used to rape and torture young girls, for fun. I make sure to stay right away from Malfoy and his goons. I also figured if I could become friends with you, or maybe more, it would help. But only halfway through last night I realised that I liked you and was having a good time.'
Harry cautiously took Daphne's hand, 'Well, in that case, would you be my girlfriend?'
'Yes,' Daphne smiled then she was being kissed. Both didn't have any experience, so they were learning as they snogged.
Harry and Daphne decided to leave the room and find their friends. They wanted Neville, Luna, Tracy and Blaise to hear about their newly formed relationship before rumours started.
They just got to the fourth floor when the two Slytherin's, one Gryffindor and one Ravenclaw was hurrying towards them. Tracy was holding a copy of the Daily Prophet, she shoved it at Harry who looked confused.
'Read it mate, it's good news,' Neville said with a huge smile.
'Sirius Black, cleared of all charges,' Harry read, then went on to read the rest of the story, 'Finally, I get rid of the blasted muggles and get to live with my godfather. No one can make me return to them now, Sirius has the backing of the ministry, including Fudge. But I wouldn't let anyone keep us apart anyone and I know Sirius would do the same.'
'So one of the Blacks is your godfather,' Daphne said.
'Yeah, but my great grandmother was born a Black, Dorea Black. She married Charlus Potter. Sirius told me. Sirius was my father's best friend and best man at their wedding.'
'Master Harry sir,' Winky popped in.
'What's wrong Winky?'
'Good news Master Harry, Tilly and Dobin caught the rat, they took him to Mister Sirius who contacted the auror lady. Mister Sirius said to tell you that the rat was kissed straight away.'
Harry dropped to his knees and hugged the little elf, 'That is good news Winky. But I didn't even know Dobin and Tilly were looking for Peter.'
'They wanted to surprise you, but they also didn't want to disappoint you if they failed to find him. But there is more Master Harry, the auror lady questioned the rat first, found out that he was helping the dark lord Voldemort return to a body. The auror lady took all the aurors to a graveyard where they found him, found him with a big snake. The unspeakables now have the dark lord Voldemort and the snake is dead.'
'Bloody hell,' Harry said as he sat down on the cold floor, 'I knew Peter went to him, but I had no idea he was trying to get a body.'
'Are you telling us that…he is still around? That he isn't dead?' Blaise asked.
Harry shook his head, 'Somehow his soul survived, only his body was destroyed. He possessed Quirrell in our first year, he died when he touched me, Voldemort's soul left. At the end of the school year, last year I mean, I heard a prophecy, it was about Peter joining his master and would help Voldemort come back and be greater and more dangerous than he was before. I don't remember the exact wording, but that's basically it. Dumbledore told me at the end of our first year that he wasn't dead,' Harry turned to Winky, 'Pop over to see Sirius, tell him to meet us at Hogsmeade next weekend.'
'Winky tell Mister Sirius Master Harry. But all the house elves are happy for you and your Paddy.'
'Thanks Winky, I'm happy as well.'
Neville helped Harry back to his feet, 'I wonder if the unspeakables will be able to figure out how his soul survived. They might even be able to figure out how I survived.'
'Now they have him, they will study him until they get the answers. So Peter Pettigrew set up your godfather but he was a death eater,' Daphne said.
'Yeah, we never found out when he joined, only that he got Voldemort passed the fidelius charm into my home. Sirius was originally the secret keeper, they switched in the hope it would keep us safe.'
'If you don't mind me asking, but why did it take years before he escaped?' Tracy asked.
'The dementors made it difficult for Sirius to think of anything. After a few months he just tried to keep his mind,' Harry smiled, 'He's an animagus, like my dad and Peter. They learned when they were students to help Remus Lupin on the wolf nights. When the war began to heat up they figured they could use their animagus forms to spy so they didn't bother to register. Sirius said it took him a while to work on using his animagus without a wand and while near the dementors, but that's why he was able to stay sane. Whenever they went near his cell he could change then just curl up as a dog. He said time just didn't mean anything when he was just trying to live through his nightmares. One day Fudge did an inspection of Azkaban, Sirius was having a good day so he asked Fudge if he could have the Daily Prophet he was carrying,' Harry grinned, 'Sirius said he missed doing the crossword puzzles. Anyway, he saw the picture of the Weasley's who won that contest and they were going to use the money to visit Charlie in Romania. But Sirius noticed straight away that Ron's rat had a missing toe.'
'The only part they found of Peter Pettigrew was a toe,' Neville said.
'So he cut his own toe off to help set up Sirius Black for the murders of those muggles,' Blaise said.
'Exactly. But Sirius realised after reading the article that Ron would be here at Hogwarts, where I was, which meant Peter was here. He wanted to protect me so he waited until the right time to use his animagus to slip passed the dementors. He swam to shore as a dog, rested then made his way to where I was living.'
'But I heard that no one could find out where you were living, it was to keep the-boy-who-lived safe from the remaining death eaters,' Tracy said.
'There were wards, but I went to primary school, and everyone around the neighbourhood knew my name, so it wouldn't have been difficult to find me. Dumbledore said the wards were linked to my mother's blood, so it would keep out Voldemort and he hoped that would keep out anyone with a dark mark. The trouble with that is I wasn't always in the house, they made me walk to school, I also had to go to the local shops for my aunt, so I wasn't within the wards. Anyway, my uncle's sister pissed me off, she ended up expanding until she floated away. I somehow used wandless magic to unlock the cupboard where my trunk and wand was kept. I left, fell over which accidentally called the night-bus. But why I fell over was I spotted this huge dog, staring at me. I didn't like dogs because Marge, my uncle's sister breeds dogs and she always let one of her dogs bite me. They thought it was amusing to watch me run away from the dog. That was before our third year. Fudge found me when I got off the night bus, he worked it for me to remain in Diagon alley. I had no idea the dog was my godfather. When we found out the truth, the first thing he asked me was did I want to live with him or stay with my aunt? I hate those people so I instantly wanted to live with Sirius, which I can finally do. But the dementors turned up. A lot happened, but I ended up driving away the dementors with my patronus, Sirius almost lost his soul. But Snape got involved and told the Minister we were confunded by Sirius, so they refuse to believe me, or Hermione and Ron about Sirius and Peter. I had stunned Snape so he didn't see Peter or heard the full story, he just lied to Fudge. Sirius had to leave, which we helped, and I got stuck with those people again.'
Daphne could tell that Harry didn't like his relatives, he might not have said why, but they knew it must be something serious by the way Harry spoke about them.