5th year at Hogwarts

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It was 10:00, Harry couldn't understand how the time had passed so quickly, when Severus grabbed his arm and flinched slightly. "We need to go," he said suddenly to Harry.

Harry stood up and began crossing the room when Dumbledore said, "Your wand, Harry."

"Oh, right," said Harry placing his wand into Dumbledore's hand.

"And here's the locator," Dumbledore said handing him a small black sphere. "It will stay in your pocket." Harry nodded and then followed Snape out of the room and across the grounds. After walking for almost twenty minutes Snape quickened his pace he could feel the anti-apparition just ahead.

He stopped abruptly when he was just outside of it, and Harry gave him a quizzical look, "We can Apparate from here," Severus said. "I will carry you as you will look more like you jut woke from a stunning spell. Harry just nodded and allowed Snape to pick him up. Snape also grabbed his wand pointed at himself and Disapparated with Harry in his arms.

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When Snape's feet hit the hard rocky ground he dropped Harry, none to gently, onto the ground next to him. Harry felt rather then saw Snape kneel to the ground next to him and murmur to his master. Harry lay curled in a ball clenching his scar, which had exploded in pain, but now pushed himself so that he was sitting up. He took in the scene around him, the Death Eaters stood in a circle with Voldemort at one end flanked by Wormtail. He and Snape were in the middle of the circle. Outside of the circle Lavender was tied up and gagged, he assumed she was knocked out but he was too far away to tell. Harry had to bite his lower lip hard to keep from shouting out.

"Severus, you have done well. Please take your spot in the circle," Voldemort hissed. "Harry Potter, the boy who refused to die." Harry sat alone in the center of the circle staring into Voldemort cold red snake-like eyes. "But now without a wand," he was obviously remembering the graveyard, "you WILL die. But first - bring the girl," he said and two Death Eaters left the circle and brought back Lavender. They thrust her into the circle; she hadn't been unconscious after all. Voldemort slipped out his wand and flicked it so that the ropes binding Lavender disappeared and she scrambled back quickly. Harry caught her hand and she saw him for the first time her eyes were filled with fear.

"Crucio," Voldemort whispered and then he laughed when Lavender began screaming. Harry was screaming too, but more from seeing Lavender in pain then the pain from his own scar. Voldemort flicked his wand and the pain stopped. "Well, Harry, your little friend here has caused me much trouble. But I will get revenge on both you and her, by hurting her; what a fine way to kill two birds with one stone. Don't you think, Harry?" Â

Suddenly the air was full of small pops as people began Apparating in grabbing Death Eaters and leaving quickly. Voldemort did nothing until Dumbledore Apparated into the middle of the circle flanked by Sirius on the left and McGonagall on the right. Voldemort's eyes widened when he saw them and he quickly disappeared in a cloud of black smoke. Other Death Eaters were Disapparating as fast as they could, while some tried to fight off the attackers. Curses were flying through the air most were meant to disarm or stun, although the Death Eaters were using more harmful ones. Harry saw McGonagall bend down and Disapparate with Lavender. Sirius had bounded, very dog-like, forward and tackled Pettigrew, who had frozen in fear when he had seen Sirius. Sirius managed to tackle the little rat before he could do anything then they too Disapparated. Dumbledore glanced around the area quickly before he reached down and grabbed Harry by the arm before Disapparating.

If Harry had been paying attention when he was laid gently on the ground, he would have noticed that he was just outside the Hogwarts grounds. And he would have seen a large golden cage where the Death Eaters were being put; it had an anti-apparition spell on it. He also would have seen Hagrid and Prof. Flitwick guarding this cage. But Harry wasn't paying attention and before he could start he was placed on a stretcher by Madame Pomfrey and was taken into a small tent.

"Drink this, it will numb the pain," she said thrusting a small goblet into his hands. Harry slowly drank it down and felt a little better. "And this, dreamless sleep potion." Harry took the goblet and drank the potion and felt his eyelids becoming increasingly heavy before he fell asleep.

Almost ten minutes later everyone was back and they were looking in at the eight Death Eaters they had caught.

"We're not birds, you know, you can stop staring," Lucius Malfoy said rudely from behind the bars. No one paid him any attention.

"For a prisoner of war you aren't very respectful," Lupin commented dryly. Â

Lucius said, "You don't deserve my respect, werewolf. You don't even deserve the wand you're holding.

"Neither do you!" Lupin replied his anger rising.

"Well it's seems that I don't even have my wand now as it has been taken from me."

"I must go get the Minister; Remus, why don't you accompany me," Dumbledore said before Remus could reply. Lupin growled but followed the headmaster across the grounds. Sirius was smiling; even though he had cut shoulder and a broken rib from fighting he was smiling, because in that cage along with Malfoy, Avery, Nott, Rockwood, Macnair, Crabbe, and Goyle sat Peter Pettigrew. And since Peter Pettigrew was there it meant he would be freed.

"Well friend," he spat the word as if it were a curse, "I hope you'll spend years rotting in Azkaban for this. Maybe the dementors will have a kiss for you."

Peter eyes opened wide as he stared out at Sirius, he managed to stutter, "B-but y-you wouldn't. Not after coming so close to it yourself, you-you wouldn't wish tha-that on anyone."

"Get some self-respect you little rat," Lucius spat at him, "control yourself." Lucius's face was completely devoid of any emotions he was feeling, although he might just not be able to have feelings anymore.

"Not on anyone but you Peter," Sirius said before walking into the Hospital tent so that Madame Pomfrey could heal his wounds.Â

Inside the small unused classroom sat Harry, Lavender, Snape, McGonagall, Charlie, and Lupin, they were waiting for Sirius and/or Dumbledore to tell them Fudge had said.

A large black dog came barreling in and quickly resumed the form of Sirius, "That idiot Fudge! Who voted for him to get into office?"

 "Calm down, what happened?" Minerva said.

"Fudge let all the Death Eaters go except Pettigrew. He said we had no evidence that anything had happened except that we had gone and captured these people out of their houses."

"What? And I suppose we just dreamed that Voldemort was there?" screeched McGonagall indignantly.

"And Lavender being gone and all! He just won't admit he was wrong!" Sirius said.

"That man should not be in office," Snape said his voice full of malice.

"Well I didn't vote for him," Sirius said.

"Where's Dumbledore?" asked Lupin.

"He was so mad he locked himself in his office so as not to be a bad example to me," Sirius said.

"But Sirius," said Harry softly, "If they kept Pettigrew that means you're going to be cleared."

Sirius smiled in spite of himself and nodded, "I know." Lupin smiled too and so did Harry.

Harry stood and Lavender followed suit, "I have to go talk with Ron and Hermione."

"Aren't you supposed to go back to the Hospital wing?" Sirius said to Lavender.

"That's exactly where I'm going," she said.

"C'mon then," Harry said grabbing her hand. They left the room together hand in hand. Once out of the room Harry turned to her and said, "Lavender, listen, I really like you, but we need to break-up."

"What?"

"No, hear me out," Harry said putting up a hand to stop her from speaking further, "It's entirely my fault that Voldemort targeted you; I can't put you in that kind of danger again."

"No, it's not Harry. I'm a Muggle-born; I would have been targeted anyway. And Harry James Potter, if you think I would stop going out with you just because it puts me in danger then you don't know me very well. I love you, Harry; it'll all work out, just wait," when she finished she reached her hand behind his head and pulled him into a long kiss. Then she walked off towards the hospital wing there was a slight limp in her step now and Harry wondered how long it would be before that was gone.Â

Harry walked into the common room and he scanned it quickly before seeing Ron and Hermione in the corner. They were obviously trying to do homework but were to preoccupied with Harry's safety to get very far.

Harry walked up behind Hermione's chair and said softly, "Hey."

"Harry," Hermione squealed, "You're okay!" She jumped up and hugged him and planted a kiss on his cheek.

"Glad to see you're okay, mate," said Ron giving Harry a slap on back.

"Harry, can you tell us what happened now?" Hermione asked, "I understand if you can't, but..."

"Not here," said Harry quickly.

"Where-?"

"Follow me," Harry said cutting Hermione off. They walked out of the common room and down the corridor. They walked for almost five minutes in silence before Harry found the room he was looking for. "This room has a silencing charm on it," Harry told them once they were inside. "We can talk freely."

"What's been going on?" Hermione said.

"Well-," Harry proceeded to tell them the whole story, leaving out the fact that Sirius and Narcissa were in love. He thought that was too personal and Sirius could tell them when he wanted, ending with the fact that Sirius was going to be released.

"Oh, but Harry, that was so dangerous!" Hermione pouted. "Without you're wand and everything."

"It had to be done," Harry said firmly.

"Yes, but what if something had gone wrong, he could have killed you immediately before anyone could help you."

"Yeah, well, we played the odds. Nothing went wrong," his tone clearly told them he wanted to get off the subject.

"Well Sirius is going to be released, that's good!" said Ron catching the hint in Harry's tone.

"Yeah, but that stupid idiot Fudge let the rest of those slimy Death Eaters go," Harry complained. "You guys, I think you need to stop being my friends; it puts you in to much danger!"

"Harry James Potter we refuse to stop being you're friends just because of a little danger. We love you Harry, you're one of our best friends," Hermione said sternly.

"Yeah," agreed Ron quickly.

"You know Lavender said almost exactly the same thing," Harry said cracking a smile.

"Well, I wouldn't expect any less," huffed Hermione.

"Okay, I still want to be friend's, it's just you guys are in so much danger..."

"Harry, we want to be your friends!" Ron said firmly. Harry smiled and nodded. Â

Harry walked hand-in-hand with Lavender around the lake. She was telling him what had happened while she was with Voldemort. He had told her she didn't have to and she had said she knew she didn't have to but she wanted to. So he let her talk without interrupting.

She finished her sad tale and turned to Harry, "Did anything happen here?"

"Well, we won our first Quidditch match. There was a Halloween ball, which I went to without a partner. And other then not much; I thought about you all the time," he said turning to look at her.

"I thought about you, too, I think it was all that kept me sane," Lavender said turning to bury her head in his chest. Harry grabbed her around the waist and held her close. She began to cry and he held her the whole time, she wracked with sobs and he rubbed her back muttering soothing words.

Finally she finished and looked up at him, "I'm sorry," she said softly.

"It's alright," he said leaning down to kiss her.

When they pulled apart Lavender smiled at him and said teasingly, "You know, you're shirt's all wet."

"Well, whose fault was that?" Harry said grinning.

Lavender laughed softly and said, "It's almost 9:00. We should go back in; we might miss breakfast."

"No, let's go flying," Harry said suddenly.

"I'm a hopeless flyer, Harry."

"Well, then we'll fly together."

"You never give up, do you?" Harry shook his head and she laughed, "Oh fine."

Harry grinned and held up his hand, "Accio Firebolt." He heard it come whizzing up from behind him.

"Oh, we can only fly for a little while; I have to go to my make-up classes at ten O'clock."

"Make-up classes on a Saturday?" Harry said making a face as he mounted his Firebolt. He got on it a little farther forward then usual which gave Lavender plenty of room to sit behind him. Once she was on she wrapped her arms around him and Harry pushed off. He flew over to the Quidditch pitch and did a loop-de-loop.

As he did it Lavender screamed and yelled, "Harry Potter don't you ever do that with me on this broom again!"

"Aw, you're ruining my fun. Can I do...this?" he asked as he dropped into a steep dive and pulled out of it quickly.

"NO! And if you do anymore fancy tricks I will never ride on a broom with you again."

"Alright," he said smiling. After that they flew in circles around the pitch. They landed at 9:45 so that Lavender could go to her make-up classes.

As they walked back to the school together Malfoy walked up to them, "Potter, I need to talk to you."

Harry eyed him carefully then said to Lavender, "I'll see you in the common room later." He kissed her goodbye then turned to Malfoy, "What?"

"It's about Granger," Malfoy said.

"Why are you talking to me about this?"

"Because you and Weasel know her best, and I wouldn't dream of talking to him about her."

"Okay, what about her?"

"I want to buy her something, but I don't know what she likes."

"Have you noticed a thing about her in the past five years? Her passion is books, stupid," Harry said irritated.

"Oh, what books?"Â

"Any books. She reads Muggle literature, spell books, history books. There's a huge selection."

"Okay, Potter," and with that he walked off.

"Well, you're welcome," Harry muttered.Â

"My lord," murmured Severus as he approached Voldemort on his knees.

"You brought the boy and he was a trap!" hissed Voldemort. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

"My lord, the boy must have been wearing a locator device. Probably Dumbledore put it on him to make sure he didn't come looking for the Mudblood."

"Yes, that sounds like the thing Dumbledore would do. What news do you have of Fudge? What has he decided to do with my Death Eaters?"

"Fudge still denies that you have come back. He released them all except for Wormtail."

"What does he plan to do with Wormtail?"

"He is being used in a trial for Sirius Black. I believe he will be sentenced to the Dementor's Kiss."

Voldemort hissed softly before saying, "So be it, just another casualty of war. I will see you later Severus." Then he disappeared in a cloud of smoke, Severus then Disapparated himself. He knew that Voldemort cared more strongly about Pettigrew not being released then he showed.Â

Snuffles bounded up to Harry as he sat in the common room doing homework with Hermione and Ron. When he reached Harry he knocked over the chair and began licking his face. "Snuffles, stop. Stop it," Harry cried, trying to push the large black dog off of him. Snuffles leapt off him and ran to the boy's dormitory steps then looked back at Harry expectantly. Harry sighed and stood up followed by Hermione and Ron.

When they reached the fifth year dormitory and the door was closed behind them Snuffles quickly transformed into Sirius and said, "They're holding a trial on December 20^th."

"Why, that's wonderful," said Hermione.

"Can we come?" questioned Harry.

"Yup, you can all come, if you want, since it's during winter holidays," Sirius responded.

"That's great," said Harry grinning.

"Dumbledore's coming, too. And Harry, I need to talk to you," Sirius said. The alone was implied.

"We'll leave," said Hermione quickly.

"Thanks," Sirius responded. When they were out of the room Sirius said, "She said yes."

"What? Who said yes?"

"Narcissa, I asked her to marry me and she said yes."

"Sirius that's great," Harry wasn't sure how great it really was but he could tell Sirius was really happy so he tried to be happy, too.

"You didn't tell them did you? About me and her?"

"No, I thought you should tell them yourself."

"Oh, also once I'm proven innocent, I'm going to try to get legal guardianship of you."

"Really?" Harry said his heart was about to explode with joy.

"Yeah!" Sirius said enthusiastically.

"Urgh! That's means Malfoy and I will be step-brothers," Harry said making a face.

Sirius laughed and said, "Sorry 'bout that."Â

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