Harry Potter and the Students of the School of the Sphinx

Harry Potter and the Students of the School of the Sphinx

By Angelina Johnson

Chapter 4

Veritaserum

    Ron refused to talk to either Ginny or Harry after that. Hermione told them not to worry about it, and that Ron would get over it. Then she went off to talk to Ron. Harry, who had already know that Ron wasn't really mad and that he would come around soon, decided that there was no use in trying to talk to him yet, so instead he and Ginny decided to go back downstairs to talk to Sirius before Dumbledore arrived.

    "Sirius... We were just wondering what happened to Kreacher," Ginny said softly.

    "Yeah, I mean, he knew too much to be set free, and you wouldn't have killed him..... Would you have?" Harry asked. Sirius looked dazed. He was the only one in the kitchen at the moment. Harry had no idea where the other two had gone.

    "What? Oh, no, of course I wouldn't have killed him," Sirius said.

    "Then what happened to him?" Harry asked.

    "Oh, Dumbledore performed a very powerful memory charm on him, and then we set him free. He remembers nothing. He doesn't even remember the family that he served. We also changed his appearance quite a bit, so that none of Voldemort's supporters could track him down and try to break the charm," Sirius said.

    "So he was spared his life? Hermione'll be glad to hear that," Harry said with a laugh.

    "Yes, I suppose she will be, won't she? I can't believe she's still on about the house-elves being mistreated. They like to serve people. Most of them are unhappy when they are set free," Sirius said.

    "Yeah, I know that, and Ron knows that, but no matter how hard we try to convince Hermione, she refuses to believe it," Harry said.

    "Yes, well, at least she thinks for herself. I know so many people who were dependent on their friends to make all of their decisions for them. There's one in particular that never made her mind up about anything until either your mum, Melissa or Julie told her that it was right," Sirius said.

    "Who's Julie?" Harry interrupted.

    "Oh, another of our old friends. She was the third member of your mum and Melissa's little circle. Melissa, Julie and Lily were just like Remus, James and I. Too bad that Julie refuses to speak to or be anywhere near Remus. We could sure use her in the Order," Sirius said glumly.

    "Why won't she go anywhere near Lupin?" Ginny asked.

    "They hurt each other too badly. They couldn't bear it after a while. It almost tore all of us apart, them being apart. It's not important now-Remus has put it behind him and I just wish that Julie would do the same. She's a very powerful witch, she's just very stubborn," Sirius said.

    "Must be talking about Julie Montgomery, then," Melissa said as she and Lupin reentered the room.

    "Yeah, that's exactly who we're talking about," Sirius said.

    "I was just sending an owl to her, to be honest. I have managed to keep in touch with her, at least a little bit. Dumbledore wants me to try and persuade her to join the Order," Melissa said.

    "That would be fun. Almost like old times," Remus said sadly.

    "She's wrong, Remus. She can't possibly still have any hard feelings. She knows that it's silly for her to hold a grudge this long over something so stupid," Melissa said.

    "I hurt her," Lupin muttered darkly.

    "And she hurt you, too. You both hurt each other. It wasn't one sided, and it's silly of her to blame everything on you," Melissa said.

    "She's right too," Lupin said.

    "Don't be silly!" Melissa protested, but it was to no avail. Obviously Lupin's position was set. Harry found that this conversation was rather depressing, and he didn't even understand all of the circumstances. He had just caught Ginny's attention, and he could tell that she, too, was trying to come up with a way to change the subject. However, at that very moment Dumbledore chose to Apparate into the middle of the room.

    "Well, it's all settled. Fudge believes Lucius Malfoy. Though I hate to see a Death Eater out of Azkaban, but it's not like he'd have been in there for long, anyway, with the Dementors joining Voldemort left and right. It seems as though you're home free, Sirius. Fudge believes Lucius may be correct, because his story seems to match exactly with the one that Harry and I told him two years ago. All that is left is for you to come to London. The Veritaserum will only confirm your innocence to Fudge," Dumbledore said. He had glanced at Harry and Ginny, and Harry had been afraid that Dumbledore was going to force them to leave, but instead he said nothing to them.

    "It seems too easy, though. After fifteen years Fudge is going to finally believe that I am innocent just because a Death Eater tells him that I am? Do either of them even know that I am alive? And what if this goes wrong, and the potion backfires or something? I know that you trust Snape, Albus, but I have reason to think that he would do anything in his power to get me out of the way," Sirius said.

    "Don't be ridiculous, Sirius. I realize that you and Severus have some, er, differences, but I trust that he would not sink so low as to turn an innocent man over to the Dementors just because of a silly school boy grudge. And even if he would sink to that level, I supervised him when he was making the potion. I wanted to make sure that it was perfect. As for either of them knowing that you are alive, well, Lucius Malfoy is unaware. I doubt that he would have given Cornelius his information had he known, or even suspected, that you were alive. However, I myself told the Minister that you are alive and well, and I also told him that I know you're whereabouts and I will bring you to a hearing in the Ministry shortly. And, should anything go wrong, which I assure you it won't, I will personally make sure that you escape with no harm. I find that I am very good at escaping from Ministry officials," Dumbledore said with a smile.

    "That's reassuring," Melissa said.

    "When do we leave?" Sirius asked.

    "Immediately. Cornelius says that an innocent man has been punished for long enough. I trust that Severus left the Veritaserum with you?" Sirius nodded, and handed him the potion.

    "Very good. Shall we Apparate? Or travel by Floo Powder?" Dumbledore asked.

    "May I come?" Harry asked eagerly.

    "Er, no, Harry, I'm sorry, but I don't think that that would be wise. However, I assure you that I will bring Sirius back in one piece. Melissa, I want you and Remus to stay here as well," Dumbledore said. Harry wanted to argue, and Melissa looked as though she was about to, but Lupin put a hand on both of their shoulders. Melissa frowned, and then turned to Sirius.

    "Don't say anything stupid," she muttered as she gave him a hug, "and I'll see you later." She and Sirius parted, and then he and Dumbledore both disappeared with a Pop!

    "This is so exciting!" Ginny said happily.

    "Yeah, it is, isn't it?" Harry said. He was still in shock. There was no way now that Sirius couldn't be cleared.

    Harry and Ginny sat down at the kitchen table and played a few games of Wizarding Chess while they waited for Sirius to return. It all did seem too easy, but then, easy was the way things should be for Sirius. He had been punished so long, and he had been hurt so much. He deserved to have something good come to him. And it hadn't been that easy, not really. After all, it had taken fifteen years to get anyone to believe that he was innocent.

    Several hours later, Ginny and Harry were both growing bored and impatient. They had both been wondering for a while what had been taking so long.

    "You don't suppose that something's gone wrong, do you?" Ginny asked.

    "No, of course not. Nothing could possibly go wrong," Harry said, more to reassure himself than to reassure Ginny.

    Everyone had just come into the kitchen to eat dinner when Sirius and Dumbledore reappeared. Dumbledore had a copy of the Evening Prophet in his hand.

    "I hope you have quite a feast prepared, because I'd say that this calls for a celebration," Dumbledore said, and he laid the newspaper down on the table. Harry picked it up and looked at the headline, "The Ministry's Mistake-Sirius Black was Innocent." Harry quickly read through he article, which explained that one of You-Know-Who's Death Eaters had given the Ministry the information about Black's innocence, and it explained how instead Peter Pettigrew was the one who had committed those crimes. The whole newspaper seemed to go on the same way, explaining the circumstances of Sirius' arrest, and how under Veritaserum he had confirmed the story that the Death Eater had told. The article also talked about how dangerous Pettigrew was.

    "Marvelous! I've just heard the good news!" Tonks said cheerily as she, too, appeared in the room.

    Mrs. Weasley cooked an excellent dinner, and as the night wore on many more visitors appeared. All of them seemed just as happy about Sirius being cleared as Harry was.

    The party seemed to go on and on forever, and things were just winding down at around midnight when one last visitor appeared.

    Harry had never seen her before. She was short, with curly auburn hair and brown-green eyes. She looked to be rather pretty, but at the moment her face was set in a stubborn frown. She smiled slightly at Sirius and Melissa when she arrived, but otherwise there seemed to be no cheeriness to her, at least not here. Even without being told, Harry had an idea of who she must have been. He looked at Ginny, and she met his eyes. She nodded. Apparently she must have thought the same thing as he did.

    "Who do you reckon that is?" Ron said, but Mrs. Weasley had just come over to the spot where Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione were standing.

    "I think it's time for you to go up to bed," she said to the four. All four began to protest.

    "You four are too nosy for your own good! Up to bed, now!" she insisted. Ron trudged up the stairs, as did Hermione, but Ginny did not give in so easily. True to what she had said last night, she truly was like Fred and George, and she was going to stand up to her mother.

    "I said bed, Ginny," Mrs. Weasley said.

    "No, Mum," she said, meeting her mother's eyes.

    "This conversation has nothing to do with you, it is between old friends. Now I want you to go to bed-and no Extendable Ears," she said.

    "Lighten up, Molly. Harry can hear this, and I think Ginny should, too," Sirius said.

    "But....... Surely you will hear nothing of this, Melissa!" Mrs. Weasley protested.

    "It's not up to me. This isn't about me, not really," Melissa said.

    "Remus? Julie?" Mrs. Weasley asked as a last resort. So Harry had been right about the stranger's identity. He turned to Ginny, and she nodded again. She had been right as well.

    "I have no objection," Remus said.

    "There are a few things I'd like to settle before I sit down and talk to my friends son, but he is welcome to stay, as is his friend. What's your name, dear?" Julie asked.

    "Ginny," she stuttered.

    "Ah, yes, Ginny. Well, Molly, I have no objection to Ginny being here," Julie said.

    "The other two will have a fit! I suppose I should send them down as well?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

    "Yes, of course," Julie replied. She looked much more friendly now-she was actually smiling. A moment later they were joined by a confused Ron and Hermione.

    "Who is she?" Ron whispered.

    "Another friend of my mum's," Harry muttered.

    "Yeah, apparently she and Lupin have some grudge, though," Ginny added. They didn't say anymore, because the adults had begun to talk.

    "Well, it is nice to see you again," Julie exclaimed, hugging Melissa, then Sirius. She turned to Lupin, looking unsure of herself. Lupin was staring at his shoes. He glanced up for a moment, and caught her eyes, but she quickly looked away.

    "And how nice it is to meet you, Harry!" she said, turning to him.

    "Harry, this is Julie Montgomery, the one we were telling you about earlier. Julie, these are his other friends, Ron and Hermione," Sirius explained.

    "It's a pleasure to meet you all as well," she said.

    "I'm surprised that you came, Julie," Melissa said.

    "Well, I got your letter, telling me that the three of you were all here, working for the Order. I wasn't going to come, but then I got the Evening Prophet, and when I saw that Sirius had been cleared I felt that I had to come. Congratulations, then. I knew you never did those horrible things! I doubted it the moment that I heard it, and Melissa explained things to me shortly after your arrest," Julie said. Lupin glared at Melissa in disbelief.

    "Am I the only one that didn't know that Sirius was innocent? How many people did you tell, Melissa?" he asked.

    "Oh, don't be silly, I only told Julie and Tonks. I would have told you, but I never really got a safe chance," she said.

    "Well, that's not the only reason that I came. As I told Molly, there are a few things that I want to resolve," Julie said, pretending as though Lupin had never interrupted her.

    "Really?" Sirius said.

    "Well, yes. I've been thinking a lot lately, and I've been rather silly for a long time. I, well, I'm quite ashamed of some of the decisions I've made, and the grudges I've held, and I just wanted to say that I truly am sorry, and I understand if you don't want to forgive me," Julie said. Her full attention was turned to Lupin now. It was obvious that none of this had been addressed to Sirius and Melissa, it had been solely to him.

    "Don't be ridiculous. I'm the one that should be asking for your forgiveness," he said.

    "Oh, but I forgave you such a long time ago! It was myself that I was angry at, I just couldn't admit that I had forgiven you because it would have been admitting that I had made a mistake, and you know how stubborn I can be at times," Julie said.

    "It's not important what happened, or why we were angry. I just miss us being friends, Julie," Lupin said.

    "As do I, Remus. As do I." They locked eyes, and Harry saw that they had a look in their eyes similar to the one in Sirius and Melissa's when they looked at each other. Harry grinned. There was so much that he was learning about his parent's old friends.

    Lupin and Julie were hugging now, and Harry could see that there were tears in the woman's eyes. He felt rather embarrassed, as though this were not something that he should be seeing after all. He looked at the others, and apparently they had the same idea. Ron mouthed, 'Let's go.' Harry nodded. He turned to Sirius.

    "Perhaps we should talk in the morning," he said. Sirius grinned wickedly.

    "Yes, Melissa and I had the same idea. I believe that they may have changed their minds and would prefer to be alone," he said. The six of them left the room quietly, and they all headed towards their bedrooms.

    "Isn't it so romantic?" Ginny asked dreamily as she left Harry and headed toward her and Hermione's room. Harry couldn't help but stare after her. Once she was out of sight, he turned into his and Ron's room and closed the door behind him. Then he settled into bed, wondering what surprises tomorrow could possibly have left to hold.