Don't be a silent reader
Madam Pomfrey insisted on keeping Aishi in the hospital wing for the rest of the weekend. She didn't argue or complain, but she wouldn't let her throw away the shattered remnants of her and harry's Nimbus Two Thousand. She knew she was being stupid, knew that the Nimbus was beyond repair, but Aishi couldn't help it; she felt as though she had lost one of harry's best friends.
Harry had spend alot in his mom office in her training room destroying dummies in anger till his mom stopped him and they just talked.
After a while of silence, Percy spoke " Harry.....why do you play Quidditch?" She asked "Because I am good at this game, being seeker is fun..."
"And you feel closer to your dad right?"
"Ye....yeah" Harry said
" how would you react when you got knocked out mid game and woke up after the game?"
"I will ask did we win?"
"Aishi too asked that cause it was her very first game and she know how much you love to play cause it makes you feel close to your dad sweetheart. " Percy said
"I know but she almost died....I don't want last year to be repeated." Harry said
"Nothing will happen to her....she is your soulmate and you are her soulmate. Now I think you both should talk.....and I will buy you your new broom before Christmas. "
"Huh? New broom?"
"Don't you know? They flew into the Whomping Willow and broke.....I think Aishi was told when she was awake."
"Oh no.....she must be feeling worse" Harry said. "What should I do, mom? "" Easy, Make amends son."Percy said " Now get out of my office."
~~~~~~~
Aisha was playing her flute under a tree near the black lake. She stopped and sighed sadly, suddenly Orion appeared next to her and boop his nose on her cheek. "Hey, Orion "she said as she pets his fur. "I messed up" she said "first match and I got knocked out by dementors, that is something new in Hogwarts but not the craziest. Also the fact I heard my dad's voice for the first time and the man who murdered him."
Orion looked her curiously and she sighed. "I don't know if I should tell harry....if he ever talks to me. But I can tell you....do you want to know?"
Orion barks and Aishi whispered in large dog ear "Dumbledore.....my very own headmaster murdered my mom and dad" she said. She could not see his expression as Orion perked up and run off which confused her till she heard someone running to her. She turned around and saw harry panting a bit as he had run all over school looking for her.
"Harry?" Aishi stood up "what.... " Suddenly, he hugs her and repeatedly said sorry "...forgive me Aishi, I was just too worry and terrified when you fell and..." "Harry, it's fine you got scared and I.. I should be sorry your broom its ""No its fine Mom promised to buy A new broom for me anyway did you get enough rest? That was alot of dementors "
"Yeah just I learn something and I heard my dad for the first time" " what is it love?" "I heard my dad yelled the man's name... The man who actually killed my parents."
"Who is it love?"
"Dumbledore"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was a relief to return to the noise and bustle of the main school on Monday, where he was forced to think about other things, eve', if they had to endure kris Puecy taunting. He had finally taken off his bandages, and celebrated having the full use of both arms again by doing spirited imitations of Aishi falling off her broom. Puecy spent much of their next Potions class doing dementor imitations across the dungeon; Ron and Malfoy finally cracked and flung a large, slippery crocodile heart at Pucey, which hit him in the face and caused Snape to take twenty points from Gryffindor and Slytherin.
Professor Lupin was back at work. It certainly looked as though he had been ill. His old robes were hanging more loosely on him and there were dark shadows beneath his eyes; nevertheless, he smiled at the class as they took their seats.
They had a very enjoyable lesson. Professor Lupin had brought along a glass box containing a hinkypunk, a little one-legged creature who looked as though he were made of wisps of smoke, rather frail and harmless looking. "Lures travelers into bogs," said Professor Lupin as they took notes. "You notice the lantern dangling from his hand? Hops ahead -people follow the light -- then --"
The hinkypunk made a horrible squelching noise against the glass. When the bell rang, everyone gathered up their things and headed for the door,Aishi among them, but --
"Wait a moment, Aishi," Lupin called. "I'd like a word."
Harry doubled back and watched Professor Lupin covering the hinkypunk's box with a cloth as Aishi went to him."Sir?"
"I heard about the match," said Lupin, turning back to his desk and starting to pile books into his briefcase, "and I'm sorry about your broomstick. Is there any chance of fixing it?" "No," said Aishi. "The tree smashed it to bits."
Lupin sighed."They planted the Whomping Willow the same year that I arrived at Hogwarts. People used to play a game, trying to get near enough to touch the trunk. In the end, a boy called Davey Gudgeon nearly lost an eye if a fellow hufflepuff had not saved him, and we were forbidden to go near it. No broomstick would have a chance.""Did you hear about the dementors too?" said Aishi with difficulty. Lupin looked at her quickly.
"Yes, I did. I don't think any of us have seen Percy Jackson that angry......pretty sure he will be mad too if he was alive. They have been growing restless for some time -- furious at her refusal to let them inside the grounds.... I suppose they were the reason you fell?"
"Yes," said Aishi. She hesitated, and then the question she had to ask burst from her before she could stop herself." Why? Why do they affect me like that? Am I just --?" "It has nothing to do with weakness," said Professor Lupin sharply, as though he had read Aishi's mind. "The dementors affect you worse than the others because there are horrors in your past that the others don't have."
A ray of wintery sunlight fell across the classroom, illuminating Lupin's gray hairs and the lines on his young face. "Dementors are among the foulest creatures that walk this earth. They infest the darkest, filthiest places, they glory in decay and despair, they drain peace, hope, and happiness out of the air around them. Even Muggles feel their presence, though they can't see them. Get too near a dementor and every good feeling, every happy memory will be sucked out of you. If it can, the dementor will feed on you long enough to reduce you to something like itself... soul-less and evil. You'll be left with nothing but the worst experiences of your life. And the worst that happened to you, Aishi, is enough to make anyone fall off their broom. You have nothing to feel ashamed of."
"When they get near me --" Aishi stared at Lupin's desk, her throat tight. "I can hear my dad....i never heard his voice before."
"You heard karan's voice " he said shocked "how you know my dad's name?" Aishi looked at him. Lupin smiled sadly and pulls out a photo of him and a boy from hufflepuff who was making young lupin sit on his shoulder and they were laughing, there were two other black hair Gryffindor each hanging from an arm of the hufflepuff ,one of the Gryffindor was wearing glasses.
"That.....that's my dad" Aishi said with tears filling her eyes as Harry comes closer and looked at the photo " Yes that is Karan and with me on his shoulder, James potter....the one with glasses hanging of one of his arm and......Sirius Black on the other Arm."
"I have seen him" Harry said " he was in mom and dad's wedding album with a woman" " That was Priya merha...they were married in a private small wedding two months before James and lily's.....they did small cause it was the war and your father was an unspeakable while your mom was a Auror" "woah....." Aishi said "You look like Priya but your eyes and hair.....I see Karan in you plus the way you are....its like Karan is here"
"Our parents knew each other" Aishi said "pretty sure he is beating my dad" Harry said as she gave back the photo. "Why did they have to come to the match?" said Harry bitterly."They're getting hungry," said Lupin coolly, shutting his briefcase with a snap. "Percywon't let them into the school, so their supply of human prey has dried up.... I don't think they could resist the large crowd around the Quidditch field. All that excitement ... emotions running high... it was their idea of a feast."
"Azkaban must be terrible," Aishi muttered. Lupin nodded grimly. "The fortress is set on a tiny island, way out to sea, but they don't need walls and water to keep the prisoners in, not when they're all trapped inside their own heads, incapable of a single cheery thought. Most of them go mad within weeks0." "But Sirius Black escaped from them," Harry said slowly. "He got away..."
Lupin's briefcase slipped from the desk; he had to stoop quickly to catch it. "Yes," he said, straightening up, "Black must have found a way to fight them. I wouldn't have believed it possible.... Dementors are supposed to drain a wizard of his powers if he is left with them too long...." "You made that dementor on the train back off," said Harry suddenly. "There are -- certain defenses one can use," said Lupin. "But there was only one dementor on the train. The more there are, the more difficult it becomes to resist."
"What defenses?" said Aishi and Harry at once. "Can you teach me?" "I don't pretend to be an expert at fighting dementors, quite the contrary..." "But if the dementors come to another Quidditch match, I need to be able to fight them --" Aishi said. Lupin looked into Aishi' determined face, hesitated, then said,
"Well... all right. I'll try and help. But it'll have to wait until next term, I'm afraid. I have a lot to do before the holidays. I chose a very inconvenient time to fall ill."
Harry nodded and went ahead as Aishi stood back for a while " Professor.....is it alright if I meet you later....I want to hear stories of my parents when they were in Hogwarts"
"Of course, Aishi ....just owl me a time and date" That made her smile and she ran off to join Harry "She got your smile too Karan"
What with the promise of anti-dementor lessons from Lupin, the thought that she might never have to hear his father's death again,Diggory became repossessed of his manic energy, and worked his team as hard as ever in the chilly haze of rain that persisted into December.
Meanwhile Harry saw no hint of a dementor within the grounds.His mom anger seemed to be keeping them at their stations at the entrances and even his anger after he personally threatened them as legacy of hades and thantos
Two weeks before the end of the term, the sky lightened suddenly to a dazzling, opaline white and the muddy grounds were revealed one morning covered in glittering frost. Inside the castle, there was a buzz of Christmas in the air. Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher, had
already decorated his classroom with shimmering lights that turned out to be real, fluttering fairies. The students were all happily discussing their plans for the holidays.
The whole golden group had decided to remain at Hogwarts,Aishi wasn't fooled; they were doing it to keep him company, and she was very grateful. She had simple chats with lupin learning more about her parents and made Orion wear a warm sweater and hat.
To everyone's delight except Harry's and Aishi's, there was to be another Hogsmeade trip on the very last weekend of the term. "We can do all our Christmas shopping there!" said Hermione. "Mum and Dad would really love those Toothflossing Stringmints from Honeydukes!"
Resigned to the fact that they would be the only third year staying behind again, Harry borrowed a copy of Which Broomstick from Diggory, and decided to spend the day reading up on the different makes. He and Aishi had been riding one of the school brooms at team practice, an ancient Shooting Star, which was very slow and jerky; They needed a new broom of their own.
On the Saturday morning of the Hogsmeade trip, Harry and Aishibid good-bye to the gang , who were wrapped in cloaks and scarves, then turned up the marble staircase alone, and headed back toward Hufflepuff dorms with a promise of cuddles and hot chocolate. Snow had started to fall outside the windows, and the castle was very still and quiet.
"Psst -- Harry!" Harry turned, halfway along the first-floor corridor, to see Fred and George peering out at him from behind a statue of a humpbacked, one-eyed witch.
"What are you doing?" said Aishi curiously. "How come you're not going to Hogsmeade?"
"We've come to give you a bit of festive cheer before we go," said Fred, with a mysterious wink. "Come in here...." He nodded toward an empty classroom to the left of the one-eyed statue. Harry and Aishi followed Fred and George inside. George closed the door quietly and then turned, beaming, to look at the couple.
"Early Christmas present for you, Harry think you will like this more " he said. Fred pulled something from inside his cloak with a flourish and laid it on one of the desks. It was a large, square, very worn piece of parchment with nothing written on it. Harry, suspecting one of Fred and George's jokes, stared at it.
"What's that supposed to be?"
"This, Harry, is the secret of our success," said George, patting the
parchment fondly. "It's a wrench, giving it to you," said Fred, "but we decided last night, your need's greater than ours."
"Anyway, we know it by heart," said George. "We bequeath it to you. We don't really need it anymore." "And what do I need with a bit of old parchment?" said Harry."A bit of old parchment!" said Fred, closing his eyes with a grimace as though Harry had mortally offended him."Explain, George."
"Well... when we were in our first year, Harry -- young, carefree, and innocent --" Harry snorted and Aishi giggled. He doubted whether Fred and George had ever been innocent.
"Well, more innocent than we are now -- we got into a spot of bother with Filch." "We let off a Dungbomb in the corridor and it upset him for some reason --" "So he hauled us off to his office and started threatening us with the usual --" detention disembowelment and we couldn't help noticing a drawer in one of his filing cabinets marked Confiscated and Highly Dangerous. "
"Don't tell me --" said Harry, starting to grin as he took wants to explore that drawer but one look from Aishi made him think otherwise. "Well, what would you've done?" said Fred. "George caused a diversion by dropping another Dungbomb, I whipped the drawer open, and grabbed -- this."
"It's not as bad as it sounds, you know," said George. "We don't reckon Filch ever found out how to work it. He probably suspected what it was, though, or he wouldn't have confiscated it." "And you know how to work it?"
"Oh yes," said Fred, smirking. "This little beauty's taught us more than all the teachers in this school." "You're winding me up," said Harry, looking at the ragged old bit of parchment.
"Oh, are we?" said George.He took out his wand, touched the parchment lightly, and said, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." And at once, thin ink lines began to spread like a spider's web from the point that George's wand had touched. They joined each other, they crisscrossed, they fanned into every corner of the parchment; then words began to blossom across the top, great, curly green words, that proclaimed:
Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, Hunter and Prongs Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers and Adventure-seekers are proud to present
THE MARAUDER'S MAP
It was a map showing every detail of the Hogwarts castle and grounds.But the truly remarkable thing were the tiny ink dots moving around it, each labeled with a name in minuscule writing.
Astounded, Aishi bent over it. A labeled dot in the top left corner showed that Professor Dumbledore was pacing his study; the caretaker's cat, Mrs. Norris, was prowling the second floor; and Peeves the Poltergeist was currently bouncing around the trophy room. And as Aishi's eyes traveled up and down the familiar corridors, she noticed something else.
This map showed a set of passages he had never entered. And many of them seemed to lead - "Right into Hogsmeade," said Fred, tracing one of them with his finger. "There are seven in all. Now, Filch knows about these four" -- he pointed them out -- "but we're sure we're the only ones who know about these. Don't bother with the one behind the mirror on the fourth floor. We used it until last winter, but it's caved in -- completely blocked. And we don't reckon anyone's ever used this one, because the Whomping Willow's planted right over the entrance. But this one here, this one leads right into the cellar of Honeydukes. We've used it loads of times. And as you might've noticed, the entrance is right outside this room, through that one-eyed old crone's hump."
"Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, Hunter and Prongs," sighed George, patting the heading of the map. "We owe them so much.""Noble men, working tirelessly to help a new generation of lawbreakers and adventure seekers," said Fred solemnly.
"Right," said George briskly. "Don't forget to wipe it after you've used it or anyone can read it," Fred said warningly.
"Just tap it again and say, 'Mischief managed!' And it'll go blank." "So, young Harry," said Fred. "What do you think?"
Harry smirked and picked it up "Fred and George thank you to return my map"
"What?" The twins looked confused " Messer Prongs is my dear father James potter. I am Prongs Jr....this map is my birthright as a son of a maraduer."Harry said " Dad and his friends are smart"
This made the twins gasped and bowed "We are not worthy!" "Guys get up"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Harry and Aishi were staring the statue of the one-eyed witch. "Harry I don't know we promise to be safe"
"Darling some rules are made to be broken plus you and I had our slips sighed but we were forced to stay in this castle like a prisoner. Now thanks to two valient pranking knights, your Prince can take his princess on the well deserved day out"
"You will still do it even if I say No?" " yes sorry love"He said
He holds out the map again and saw that two new ink figure had appeared upon it, labeled Harry Potter and Aishi Merha. This figure was standing exactly where the real couple was standing, about halfway down the first floor corridor.
Harry watched carefully. His little Ink self appeared to be tapping the witch with his minute wand. Harry quickly took out his real wand and tapped the statue. Nothing happened. He looked back at the map. The tiniest speech bubble had appeared next to his figure. The word inside said, "Dissendium."
"Dissendium!" Harry whispered, tapping the stone witch again. At once, the statue's hump opened wide enough to admit a person. Harry glanced quickly up and down the corridor, then tucked the map away again, hoisted himself into the hole headfirst, and pushed himself forward. Aishi hesitate but followed.
She was caught by harry breaking her fall and gently placed down as they both using a light charm to light up the place.. Harry raised the map, tapped it with the tip of his wand, and muttered, "Mischief managed!" The map went blank at once.
"Ready?" Harry asked "I guess" Aishi said as he grabbed her hand....both excited and apprehensive as they set off. The passage twisted and turned, more like the burrow of a giant rabbit than anything else. Harry hurried along it, almost stumbling now and then on the uneven floor, holding his wand out in front of him. It took ages, but Harry had the thought of Honeydukes to sustain him.
After what felt like an hour, the passage began to rise. Panting, Harry and Aishi sped up, faces hot andfeet very cold. Ten minutes later, they came to the foot of some worn stone steps, which rose out of sight above him. Careful not to make any noise, Harry and Aishi began to climb. A hundred steps, two hundred steps, he lost count as he climbed, watching his feet.... Then, without warning, his head hit something hard.
"Harry you OK?" Aishi said "Yeah fine just hit something.It seemed to be a trapdoor." Harry stood there, massaging the top of his head, listening. He couldn't hear any sounds above him. Very slowly, he pushed the trapdoor open and peered over the edge.
They were in a cellar, which was full of wooden crates and boxes. Harry climbed out of the trapdoor and closed it after Aishi came out -- it blended so perfectly with the dusty floor that it was impossible to tell it was there. The couple crept slowly toward the wooden staircase that led upstairs. Now they could definitely hear voices, not to mention the tinkle of a bell and the opening and shutting of a door.
Wondering what he ought to do, he suddenly heard a door open much closer at hand; somebody was about to come downstairs. "And get another box of Jelly Slugs, dear, they've nearly cleaned us out --" said a woman's voice. A pair of feet was coming down the staircase. Harry and Aishi leapt behind an enormous crate and waited for the footsteps to pass. They heard the man shifting boxes against the opposite wall. They might not get another chance -- Quickly and silently, Harry and Aishi dodged out from thier hiding place and climbed the stairs; looking back, he saw an enormous backside and shiny bald head, buried in a box.
Harry reached the door at the top of the stairs, slipped through it, and found themselves behind the counter of Honeydukes -- he ducked, crept sideways, and then straightened up. Honeydukes was so crowded with Hogwarts students that no one looked twice at Harry and Aishi. They edged among them, looking around amazed.
There were shelves upon shelves of the most succulent-looking sweets imaginable. Creamy chunks of nougat, shimmering pink squares of coconut ice, fat, honey-colored toffees; hundreds of different kinds of chocolate in neat rows; there was a large barrel of Every Flavor Beans,and another of Fizzing Whizbees, the levitating sherbert balls that Ron had mentioned; along yet another wall were "Special Effects" -- sweets: Droobles Best Blowing Gum (which filled a room with bluebell-colored bubbles that refused to pop for days), the strange, splintery Toothflossing Stringmints, tiny black Pepper Imps ("breathe fire for
your friends!"), Ice Mice ("hear your teeth chatter and squeak!"), peppermint creams shaped like toads ("hop realistically in the stomach!"), fragile sugar-spun quills, and exploding bonbons.
Aishi excitedly picked some candy as she looks at it more closely. Harry smiled at her excited expression as they squeezed through a crowd of sixth years and saw a sign hanging in the farthest corner of the shop (UNUSUAL TASTES). Ron ,Draco ,Blaise , Theo , Sanjivand Hermione were standing underneath it, examining a tray of blood-flavored lollipops. Harry sneaked up behind them with Aishi shaking her head.
"Ugh, no, Harry won't want one of those, they're for vampires and he not one ," Draco was saying annoyed."How about these?" said Ron, shoving a jar of Cockroach Clusters under
Hermione's nose. "Definitely not," said Harry. Ron nearly dropped the jar and Blaise jumped into sanjiv arms.
"Harry!Aishi!" squealed Hermione. "What are you doing here? How -- how did you
--?" "Wow!" said Ron, looking very impressed, "you've learned to Apparate!" "'Course I haven't," said Harry. He dropped his voice so that none of the sixth years could hear him and told them all about the Marauder's Map.
"How come Fred and George never gave it to me!" said Ron, outraged. "I'm their brother!" "But Harry isn't going to keep it!" said Hermione, as though the idea were ludicrous. "He's going to hand it in to Professor McGonagall, aren't you, Harry?""No, I'm not!" said Harry.
"Are you mad?" said Ron, goggling at Hermione. "Hand in something that good?"
"If I hand it in, I'll have to say where I got it! Filch would know Fred and George had nicked it!" "Plus it's originally hari's cause it belongs to him dad" Aishi said
But what about Sirius Black?" Hermione hissed. "He could be using one of the passages on that map to get into the castle! The teachers have got to know!" "He can't be getting in through a passage," said Harry quickly. "There are seven secret tunnels on the map, right? Fred and George reckon Filch already knows about four of them. And of the other three -- one of them's caved in, so no one can get through it. one of them's got the Whomping Willow planted over the entrance, so you can't get out of it. And the one I just came through -well - - it's really hard to see the entrance to it down in the cellar, so unless he knew it was there..."
Harry hesistated. What if Black did know the passage was there? Theo, however, cleared his throat significantly, and pointed to a notice pasted on the inside of the sweetshop door.
--------BY ORDER OF --------
THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC
Customers are reminded that until further notice, dementors will be
patrolling the streets of Hogsmeade every night after sundown. This
measure as been put in place for the safety of Hogsmeade residents and
will be lifted upon the recapture of Sirius Black. It is therefore
advisable that you complete your shopping well before nightfall.
Merry Christmas!
"See?" said Ron quietly. "I'd like to see Black try and break into Honeydukes with dementors swarming all over the village. Anyway, Hermione, the Honeydukes owners would hear a break-in, wouldn't they? They live over the shop!""Yes, but but --" Hermoine seemed to be struggling to find another problem. "Look, Harry and Aishi still shouldn't be coming into Hogsmeade. -- what if Sirius Black turns up today? Now?"
"He'd have a job spotting Harry in this," said Draco, nodding through the mullioned windows at the thick, swirling snow. "Come on, Hermione, it's Christmas. Harry and Aishi deserves a break."
Hermione bit her lip, looking extremely worried. "Are you going to report me?" Harry asked her, grinning like a Cheshire Cat.
"Oh -- of course not -- but honestly, Harry --" "Seen the Fizzing Whizbees, Harry?" said Ron, grabbing him and leading him over to their barrel. "And the Jelly Slugs? And the Acid Pops? Fred gave me one of those when I was seven -- it burnt a hole right through my tongue. I remember Mum walloping him with her broomstick." Ron stared broodingly into the Acid Pop box. "Reckon Fred'd take a bit of Cockroach Cluster if I told him they were peanuts?"
When the group had paid for all their sweets ( the Slytherins guards paid for Aishi) they left Honeydukes for the blizzard outside. Hogsmeade looked like a Christmas card; the little thatched cottages and shops were all covered in a layer of crisp snow; there were holly
wreaths on the doors and strings of enchanted candles hanging in the trees.
Aishi shivered; unlike the others she didn't have her cloak so harry wrapped her with his coat. They headed up the street, heads bowed against the wind, the group shouting through their scarves. "That's the post office" "Zonko's is up there --" "We could go up to the Shrieking Shack" "Tell you what," said blaise, his teeth chattering, "shall we go for a butterbeer in the Three Broomsticks?"
In a few minutes were entering the tiny inn. It was extremely crowded, noisy, warm, and smoky. A curvy sort of woman with a pretty face was serving a bunch of rowdy warlock' up at the bar. "That's Madam Rosmerta," said Ron. "I'll get the drinks, shall I?" he
added, going slightly red. Theo followed to help.
The others made their way to the back of the room, there was a small, vacant table between the window and a handsome Christmas tree, which stood next to the fireplace. Ron and theo came back five minutes later, carrying foaming tankards of hot butterbeer.
"Merry Christmas!" Ron said happily, raising his tankard. Harry drank deeply. It was the most delicious thing he'd ever tasted and seemed to heat every bit of him from the inside. A sudden breeze ruffled his hair. The door of the Three Broomsticks had opened again. Harry looked over the rim of his tankard and choked.
Professors McGonagall and Flitwick had just entered the pub with a flurry of snowflakes, shortly followed by Hagrid, who was deep in conversation with a portly man in a lime-green bowler hat and a pinstriped cloak -- Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic. In an instant, Ron had placed hands on the top of Harry's head and forced him off his stool and under the table. Aishi quickly followed as well.
Dripping with butterbeer and crouching out of sight, Harry clutched his girlfriend hand and watched the teachers' and Fudge's feet move toward the bar, pause, then turn and walk right toward him.
Somewhere above him, Sanjiv whispered, "Mobiliarbus!"The Christmas tree beside their table rose a few inches off the ground, drifted sideways, and landed with a soft thump right in front of their table, hiding them from view. Staring through the dense lower branches, Harry saw four sets of chair legs move back from the table right beside theirs, then heard the grunts and sighs If the teachers and minister as they sat down.
Next he saw another pair of feet, wearing sparkly turquoise high heels, and heard a woman's voice. "A small gillywater --" "Mine," said Professor McGonagall's voice. "Four pints of mulled mead --" "Ta, Rosmerta," said Hagrid. "A cherry syrup and soda with ice and umbrella --" "Mmm!" said Professor Flitwick, smacking his lips. "So you'll be the red currant rum, Minister."
"Thank you, Rosmerta, m'dear," said Fudge's voice. "Lovely to see you again, I must say. Have one yourself, won't you? Come and join us...." "Well, thank you very much, Minister."
Harry watched the glittering heels march away and back again. His heart was pounding uncomfortably in his throat. Why hadn't it occurred to him that this was the last weekend of term for the teachers .
how long were they going to sit there? He needed time to sneak back into Honeydukes with Aishi if he wanted them both to return to school tonight.... Hermione's leg gave a nervous twitch next to him. "So, what brings you to this neck of the woods, Minister?" came Madam
Rosmerta's voice.
Harry saw the lower part of Fudge's thick body twist in his chair as though he were checking for eavesdroppers. Then he said in a quiet voice, "What else, m'dear, but Sirius Black? I daresay you heard whathappened up at the school at Halloween?" "I did hear a rumor," admitted Madam Rosmerta. "Did you tell the whole pub, Hagrid?" said Professor McGonagall exasperatedly.
"Do you think Blacks still in the area, Minister?" whispered Madam Rosmerta. "I'm sure of it," said Fudge shortly. "You know that the dementors have searched the whole village twjce?" said Madam Rosmerta, a slight edge to her voice. "Scared all my customers away... It's very bad for business, Minister."
"Rosmerta, dear, I don't like them any more than you do," said Fudge uncomfortably. "Necessary precaution... unfortunate, but there YOU are.... I've just met some of them. They're in a fury against Lady Jackson -- she won't let them inside the castle grounds."
"I should think not," said Professor McGonagall sharply. "How are we supposed to teach with those horrors floating around?" "Hear, hear!" squeaked tiny Professor Flitwick, whose feet were dangling a foot from the ground. "All the same," demurred Fudge, "they are here to protect you all from something much worse.... We all know what Black's capable of..."
"Do you know, I still have trouble believing it," said Madam Rosmerta thoughtfully. "Of all the people to go over to the Dark Side, Sirius Black was the last I'd have thought... I mean, I remember him when he was a boy at Hogwarts. If you'd told me then what he was going to
become, I'd have said you'd had too much mead." "You don't know the half of it, Rosmerta," said Fudge gruffly. "The worst he did isn't widely known."
"The worst?" said Madam Rosmerta, her voice alive with curiosity, "Worse than murdering all those poor people, you mean?" "I certainly do," said Fudge.
"I ca'A believe that. What could possibly be worse?" "You say you remember him at Hogwarts, Rosmerta," murmured Professor McGonagall. "Do you remember who his-best friend was?"
"Naturally," said Madam Rosmerta, with a small laugh. "Never saw one without the other, did you? The number of times I had them in here -- ooh, they used to make me laugh. Quite the double act, Sirius Black and James Potter!"
Aishi looked at harry in worry but his expression is calm like he already knew. "Precisely," said Professor McGonagall. "Black and Potter. Ringleaders of their little gang. Both very bright, of course -- exceptionally bright, in fact -- but I don't think we've ever had such a pair of troublemakers --"
"I dunno," chuckled Hagrid. "Fred and George Weasley could give 'em a run fer their money." "You'd have thought Black and Potter were brothers!" chimed in Professor
Flitwick. "Inseparable! Only one person kept them straight like a adult figure in a kids body"
"Ah yes Karan Mehra.....the sweet boy....yet he too was a prankster but he was never caught and he pranks certain people...even prank those two when they were being too mean" Professor McGonagall "Marry a beautiful ravenclaw girl....when I saw young Aishi after I believed for 11 years the merha family was dead I thought I was seeing karan's ghost later I learned that his daughter survived and living with her muggle uncle who was karan's little brother."
Aishi looked in shock no wonder they were weird to her when she first came to Hogwarts...they saw her father in her eye and features.
"Well" said Fudge. "Potter trusted Black and Merha beyond all his other friends. Nothing changed when they left school. Black was best man when James married Lily cause Merha was an unspeakable and thus always on a move on dangerous mission in the war. Then they named Black and Merha both godfathers to Harry and Karan also named James and Black to be magical godfathers to Young Aishi if something had happened to him and his wife and while his brother with be the muggle godfather. The two has no idea, of course. You can imagine how the idea would torment them"
"Because Black turned out to be in league with You-Know-Who?" whispered Madam Rosmerta. "Worse even than that, rn'dear...." Fudge dropped his voice and proceeded in a sort of low rumble. "Not many people are aware that the Potters knew You-Know-Who was after them. Dumbledore, who was of course working tirelessly against You-Know-Who, had a number of useful spies. One of them tipped him off, and he alerted James and Lily at once. He advised them to go into hiding. Well, of course, You-Know-Who wasn't aneasy person to hide from. Dumbledore told them that their best chance was the Fidelius Charm."
"How does that work?" said Madam Rosmerta, breathless with interest. Professor Flitwick cleared his throat. "An immensely complex spell," he said squeakily, "involving the magical concealment of a secret inside a single, living soul. The information is hidden inside the chosen person, or Secret-Keeper, and is henceforth impossible to find -- unless, of course, the Secret-Keeper chooses to divulge it. As long as the Secret-Keeper refused to speak, You-Know-Who could search the village where Lily and James were staying for years and
never find them, not even if he had his nose pressed against their sitting room window!"
"So Black was the Potters' Secret-Keeper?" whispered Madam Rosmerta. "Naturally," said Professor McGonagall. "James Potter told Dumbledore that Black would die rather than tell where they were, that Black was planning to go into hiding himself... and yet, Dumbledore remained worried. I remember him offering to be the Potters' Secret-Keeper
himself."
"He suspected Black?" gasped Madam Rosmerta. "He was sure that somebody close to the Potters had been keeping You-Know-Who informed of their movements," said Professor McGonagall darkly. "Indeed, he had suspected for some time that someone on our side
had turned traitor and was passing a lot of information to You-Know-Who."
"But James Potter insisted on using Black?" "He did," said Fudge heavily. "And then, barely a week after the Fidelius Charm had been performed --" "Black betrayed them?" breathed
Madam Rosmerta. "He did indeed. Black was tired of his double-agent role, he was ready to declare his support openly for You-Know-Who, and he seems to have planned this for the moment of the Potters' death. But, as we all know,You-Know-Who met his downfall in little Harry Potter. Powers gone, horribly weakened, he fled. And this left Black in a very nasty position indeed. His master had fallen at the very moment when he, Black, had
shown his true colors as a traitor. He had no choice but to run for it --"
"Filthy, stinkin' turncoat!" Hagrid said, so loudly that half the bar went quiet.
"Shh!" said Professor McGonagall. "I met him!" growled Hagrid. "I musta bin the last ter see him before he killed all them people! It was me what rescued Harry from Lily an' James's house after they was killed! jus' got him outta the ruins, poor little thing, with a great slash across his forehead, an' his parents dead... an' Sirius Black turns up, on that flyin' motorbike he used ter ride. Never occurred ter me what he was doin' there. I didn' know he'd bin Lily an' James's Secret-Keeper. Thought he'd jus' heard the news o' You-Know-Who's attack an' come ter see what he could do. White an' shakin', he was. An' yeh know what I did? I COMFORTED THE MURDERIN' TRAITOR!" Hagrid roared.
"Hagrid, please!" said Professor McGonagall. "Keep your voice down!" "How was I ter know he wasn' upset abou' Lily an' James? It was You-Know-Who he cared abou'! An' then he says, 'Give Harry ter me, Hagrid, I'm his godfather, I'll look after him --' Ha! But I'd had me
orders from Dumbledore, an' I told Black no, Dumbledore said Harry was ter go ter his aunt . Black argued, but in the end he gave in. Told me ter take his motorbike ter get Harry there. 'I won't need it anymore,' he says.
"I shoulda known there was somethin' fishy goin' on then. He loved that motorbike, what was he givin' it ter me for? Why wouldn' he need it anymore? Fact was, it was too easy ter trace. Dumbledore knew he'd bin the Potters' Secret-Keeper. Black knew he was goin' ter have ter run fer it that night, knew it was a matter o' hours before the Ministry was after him. "
"But what if I'd given Harry to him, eh? I bet he'd 've pitched him offthe bike halfway out ter sea. His bes' friends' son! But when a wizard goes over ter the Dark Side, there's nothin' and no one that matters to em anymore...."
A long silence followed Hagrid's story. Then Madam Rosmerta said with some satisfaction, "But he didn't manage to disappear, did he? The Ministry of Magic caught up with him next day!" "Alas, if only we had," said Fudge bitterly. "It was not we who found him. It was little Peter Pettigrew -- another of the Potters' friends. Maddened by grief, no doubt, and knowing that Black had been the Potters' Secret-Keeper, he went after Black himself." "Pettigrew... that fat little boy who was always tagging around after them at Hogwarts?" said Madam Rosmerta.
"Hero-worshipped Black and Potter," said Professor McGonagall. "Never quite in their league, talent-wise. I was often rather ,harp with him. You can imagine how I -how I regret that now..." She sounded as though she had a sudden head cold. "There, now, Minerva," said Fudge kindly, "Pettigrew died a hero's death. Eyewitnesses -- Muggles, of course, we wiped their, memories later -- told us how Pettigrew cornered Black. They say he was sobbing,
'Lily and James, Sirius! How could you?' And then he went for his wand. Well, of course, Black was quicker. Blew Pettigrew to smithereens...."
Professor McGonagall blew her nose and said thickly, "Stupid boy ... foolish boy... he was always hopeless at dueling... should have left it to the Ministry...." "I tell yeh, if I'd got ter Black before little Pettigrew did, I wouldn't 've messed around with wands -- I'd 've ripped him limb -- from -- limb," Hagrid growled.
"You don't know what you're talking about, Hagrid," said Fudge sharply. "Nobody but trained Hit Wizards from the Magical Law Enforcement Squad would have stood a chance against Black once he was cornered. I was Junior Minister in the Department of Magical Catastrophes at the time, and I was one of the first on the scene after Black murdered all those people. I -- I will never forget it. I still dream about it sometimes. A crater in the middle of the street, so deep it had cracked the sewer below. Bodies everywhere. Muggles screaming. And Black standing there laughing, with what was left of Pettigrew in front of him... a heap of
bloodstained robes and a few -- a few fragments --"
Fudge's voice stopped abruptly. There was the sound of five noses being blown. "Well, there you have it, Rosmerta," said Fudge thickly. "Black was taken away by twenty members of the Magical Law Enforcement 'Squad and Pettigrew received the Order of Merlin, First Class, which I think was some comfort to his poor mother. Blades been in Azkaban ever since."
Madam Rosmerta let out a long sigh.
"Is it true he's mad, Minister?" "I wish I could say that he was," said Fudge slowly. "I certainly believe his master's defeat unhinged him for a while. The murder of Pettigrew and all those Muggles was the action of a cornered and desperate man -- cruel... pointless. Yet I met Black on my last inspection of Azkaban. You know, most of the prisoners in there sit
muttering to themselves in the dark; there's no sense in them... but I was shocked at how normal Black seemed. He spoke quite rationally to me. It was unnerving. You'd have thought he was merely bored -- asked if I'd finished with my newspaper, cool as you please, said he missed doing the crossword. Yes, I was astounded at how little effect the dementors
seemed to be having on him -- and he was one of the most heavily guarded in the place, you know. Dementors outside his door day and night."
"But what do you think he's broken out to do?" said Madam Rosmerta. "Good gracious, Minister, he isn't trying to rejoin You-Know-Who, is he?" I daresay that is his -- er -- eventual plan," said Fudge evasively. "But we hope to catch Black long before that. I must say, You-Know-Who alone and friendless is one thing... but give him back his most devoted
servant, and I shudder to think how quickly he'll rise again.... plus he might also want young Aishi rumours has it that black was the last person they met before they were murdered and the young girl the only surviour at 8 months old barely a year she got to be with her parents...she was more unlucky that potter."
There was a small chink of glass on wood. Someone had set down their glass.
"You know, Cornelius, if you're dining with the headmaster, he'd better head back up to the castle," said Professor McGonagall. One by one, the pairs of feet in front of Harry took the weight of their owners once more; hems of cloaks swung into sight, and Madam Rosemerta's
glittering heels disappeared behind the bar. The door of the Three Broomsticks opened again, there was another flurry of snow, and the teachers had disappeared.
"Aishi?" The group's faces appeared under the table. They were both staring at her and harry, lost for words. Aishi could not say anything but silently cry as harry holds her close.
Bonus
"IT WAS NOT BLACK BUT THAT OLD FUCKING COOT!!!" Karan yelled
"Karan calm down man we are dead! We can't do anything" James said
" but we can go haunt his ass .....let me go James !" "Karan calm down man! We are underworld dead.....we are not spirit dead....we can't go up till summoned." "JAMES YOU MOTHER FUCKER LET ME GO OR I WILL STOMP YOUR FACE!"
"It like they switched from when they were kids" lily said "Karan was the one stopping James and now we are dead it's the other way around"
"True" Priya said
" I am just here for the drama" Hades said munching on popcorn. "OH foot on the nose"