The next morning, I overslept due to the previous night when Harry, Ron, Hermione, and I encountered Sirius Black, watched Lupin turn into a werewolf, being just inches away from death, supposedly saw our parents, and went back in time and had to repeat those events. Sounded fun, right?
Well, I almost got killed.
Hermione overslept as well and I didn't blame her. We went through some tough shit last night. We were the only ones in the dorms, so everyone else was probably down in the Great Hall for breakfast. We woke up at the same time and I gave her a smile and we just started laughing.
"Rough night?" I asked her.
She started laughing again. "I'm pretty sure Lupin had it worse than we did."
I almost forgot about that. We didn't see him last night after he tried to kill us twice. I was pretty sure he did have a rough night. I felt sorry for him, to be honest. He couldn't control it and that was what made it worse for him.
We both got dressed and headed down to the Gryffindor Common Room. Usually, Harry and Ron would both be down there. But due to Ron's leg being broken, he had to stay in the Hospital Wing overnight. So it was just Harry.
Hermione went down for breakfast, while Harry and I were going to visit Lupin to see how he was doing after last night. We went to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom and up to his office.
"Hello, Harry. Max," he said before we even knocked on the door. He was listening to some jazz music and dancing when we came in. We looked at him weird, but then he pointed at the map. "I saw you two coming." He waved his wand at a chest behind it, closing and locking itself. "I've looked worse, believe me." He let a grin fall on his face.
We looked around and saw that he was packing up. "You've been sacked," I stated sadly.
"No. I resigned, actually," he replied while ripping up old papers.
"Resigned? Why?" Harry asked him. He seemed mad about this.
"Well, it seems that somebody let slip the nature of my condition. Tomorrow, the owls will start arriving and parents will not want someone like me teaching their children."
"But Dumbledore--" I started.
"Dumbledore has already risked enough on my behalf. Besides, people like me are...Well, let's just say that I'm used to it by now."
He waved his wand again and all of his things packed up and locked tightly. Harry and I watched it all, looking sad as the song ended. Lupin took notice of this. "Why do you two look so miserable?"
"None of it made a difference," Harry started. "Pettigrew escaped."
"Didn't make any difference? Harry, it made all the difference in the world. You two uncovered the truth. You saved an innocent man from a terrible fate. It made a great deal of difference." He chuckled at the last sentence. He picked up his bag and started walking towards the door. "If I am proud of anything, it is of how much you two have learned this year. Now, since I am no longer your teacher, I feel no guilt whatsoever about giving this back to you." He handed us the map back. I almost forgot about that. "So, now I'll say goodbye, Harry, Max. I feel sure we'll meet again sometime." We both nodded. "Until then, Mischief managed." He waved his wand at the map and everything on it disappeared. Lupin left his office, leaving us there to watch him exit the classroom.
"Is he right? Did it really make a difference?" I asked Harry.
"Think about it. We almost got killed last night by a werewolf and Dementors and we went back in time to save Sirius. What do you think?"
"I think we were crazy enough to do that," I replied.
"Well, I don't know anyone else who would've done it. And it doesn't make us crazy."
"Then what are we?"
Harry paused for a moment, then looked at me. "We're awesome."
I looked at him for a moment, confused, but then I busted out laughing. Soon, he started laughing with me. Then I shook my head at him. "You're an idiot, you know that?"
Harry sighed. "We're both idiots."
"I don't disagree." Harry chuckled at this.
"I wish we could've gone with Sirius. Things would've gotten much better with our lives," Harry changed the subject.
"Besides the fact that Voldemort is after us?"
"Other than that, I think we could've been happier with him. He's the only family we have left."
"I know, but what if he managed to find us? He would kill Sirius in a heartbeat." It was a horrible thought to think about, but it was true. Harry and I would go mad if anything ever happened to Sirius. And I bet Sirius would go mad as well if anything ever happened to us.
"I try not to think about the possibility of that happening," Harry said. "It's bad enough we lost our parents. I don't want to lose him either."
"You really think we'll see him again?" I asked him after a moment of silence from the both of us.
"Someday. But who knows when that day will be."
"What about Lupin?"
"You know, I never thought you'd ask so many questions," Harry told me. "But I'm sure we'll see him again soon as well, Max."
I grinned at him after he said that. "I'm a curious person, Harry. We both are. You, out of all people, should know that by now!" I laughed.
"Yeah. I guess it's a twin thing."
I rolled my eyes at him. Duh, it was a twin thing. Like he didn't already know that. He looked at me, gave me a grin, and grabbed the map. "Come on, I'm starving." I smiled and followed him down to the Great Hall.
He gave me the map to keep for now. He told me that I needed it more than he did. So I gladly took it from him and put it in my pocket. We headed to the Great Hall, where everyone was crowded by the Gryffindor table. Ron was trying to get everyone to move.
"Stand back, I said! Or I'll take it upstairs if you don't settle." I heard Ron tell the others.
"Harry! Max!" Neville came running up to us. "Wherever did you get them?"
"Can I have a go, Harry? After you, of course," Seamus said.
We were both confused at what they were talking about. "What are you guys talking about?"
"Quiet. Let them through," Ron said to Seamus before turning to us. "I didn't mean to open it, guys. It was badly wrapped. They made me do it," he said, pointing at Fred and George.
"Did not," they said at the same time.
Harry and I opened the package and saw two brooms. "It's a Firebolt. It's the fastest broom in the world."
Everyone around us was murmuring about how lucky we were and looking at the two brooms in awe. We were shocked at what we got, but who would spend so much on them for us?
"For us? But who sent it?" Harry asked.
"No one knows," Ron answered for us.
Hermione held up something in front of us that looked like a quill. "This came with it." She grinned at us.
Harry and I looked at each other and smiled. We both knew what it was, and so did Hermione as well. It was one of Buckbeak's feathers. Sirius sent the brooms. I needed to thank him for it. He must have spent a lot on them. I felt so bad that he had to get two of them, but then again, it was pretty cool that I had my own Firebolt.
"Well? You two gonna give it a go?" Seamus asked us.
Harry and I grabbed our brooms and headed outside with everyone behind us. Malfoy and his Slytherin gang saw us and looked beyond pissed off at our gifts. Everyone surrounded us as we were mounting our brooms, getting ready to take off.
"I'm not sure if I can do this." I laughed nervously.
Everyone was yelling at me, saying I could do it and trying to motivate me.
But Harry had other ideas. "Oh, come on, Max. I know you can fly this. Unless you're too scared."
A chorus of laughter came from everyone. I raised my eyebrows at him. "Are you insulting my flying skills?"
He shrugged, "I'm just saying that you're probably scared, because you're afraid that I'm gonna beat you."
Another chorus of laughter came from the Gryffindors surrounding us. I shook my head at him and he raised his eyebrows at me. "Loser buys candy from the trolley."
"You're on." I grinned and mounted my broom.
"I'm so gonna win."
"Don't kid yourself."
"We'll see about that."
And suddenly, we took off in a flash, heading straight for the sky. We were screaming at the top of our lungs as we were racing each other in the blue sky. We went downward towards the water and went right over it with our brooms. My feet were gliding across the water, getting Harry wet.
"Hey, that's cheating!" he yelled at me.
"Deal with it!" I yelled back.
"You're crazy, you know that?"
I laughed at him, and then went straight back up in the sky. He was following right beside me and we were smiling and laughing as we looked down at everyone else who were yelling and watching us. They would follow us in every direction if they could see us. We yelled again so that they could hear us.
Finally, we went back down and landed at the same time. Everyone was cheering and clapping while Harry and I were looking at each other, grinning.
"So, who pays for the trolley?" I asked Harry.
"We'll get Ron to do it," Harry replied. We both looked at Ron.
"What?!" Ron asked in a confused tone and had a confused look on his face.
We just looked at each other and started laughing at him being clueless.
*******
I realized that for quite some time, Malfoy stopped bothering me ever since what happened in Divination. He didn't tease me in the hallways or threaten me like he always did. In fact, he started keeping a distance from me. Of course, I had no problem with that. It was nice not having him around everywhere I went. Especially since I was with Harry most of the time.
But that all changed when Malfoy himself grabbed me by the arm and pinned me against the wall.
"So, you got a Firebolt, huh?
"Why do you care?"
"Well, who the hell would waste their money on you and your brother?" He raised his eyebrows at me.
"Someone who cares a lot about me and Harry. Unlike you, I don't need to ask anyone just to get what I want." I glared at him.
"I highly doubt my father will approve of you bringing home a Firebolt. He'll surely make you give it to me. I need to work on my Quidditch skills, and this broom is perfect for flying." He smirked.
"You know what, yeah, I got a Firebolt, so suck it up!" I turned around to walk away, but then turned back around to face him. "Oh, and you were right about one thing." I paused for a minute, then spoke again. "You really do need to work on your Quidditch skills, because they're horrible."
Malfoy raised his eyebrows at me and just stood there in shock. I turned back around and started walking away in the other direction. At that moment, I felt good. Actually, not good, but brilliant.
A/N: Another chapter!
I can't believe this story is ending soon. It's gonna feel weird not working on this story anymore. I don't even remember when I started this story. November maybe? I don't know lol I can't remember.
But I'm ready for the sequel. I really am. Like I don't even know how I feel right now. I didn't think I would finish this story at all when I first started. But I was wrong.
Well, vote, comment, and stay awesome.
-A