The Final Battle

Insomnia

Harry very reluctantly wrote the essay about the ways to kill a werewolf. He knew that Remus would treat him like any other student if he didn't hand in his homework, and what Harry really didn't want was starting his new term with a detention.

So on Thursday afternoon, he sat down in the library with Ron, and both started filing through the huge and dusty volumes on werewolves and other dark creatures.

They worked in silence until after an hour Ron sighed and raised his head.

"Those books are weird if you ask me. So far, I've found two ways to kill a werewolf - Avada Kedavra it, or get silver into its blood system somehow. And I've found those after five minutes. The rest they write about appear to be rather ways to torture a werewolf before you finally kill it. I don't think that Professor Lupin would want to know about that."

Harry sighed, he had been facing the same problem.

"Yes, but you can't come up with two rolls of parchment if you only write about silver and Avada Kedavra. How about searching for some more information on what effects them in their human form?"

Ron nodded.

"Sounds like a good idea. We could write about the effect of silver on a werewolf in his human form and then a paragraph or two on why it is more difficult to kill them than to kill other human beings."

Harry nodded and with this new plan they went back to work, until they were once again interrupted. This time by a well-known drawling voice.

"Well, well. I wouldn't have thought that especially you would search for ways to defend yourself against that werewolf. I always thought that your godfather kind of kept him as a pet."

Normally Ron was the hot-tempered of the two, but this time it was Harry's family that was made fun of. Without thinking he jumped off his chair and grabbed the collar of Malfoy's robes.

"Now listen very carefully, Malfoy. Though I know exactly what role you played during my rescue, I also have not forgotten that I got into this situation due to you in the first place. So don't expect me to restrain myself towards you in any way. And believe me, if you say one more word against Sirius or Remus, you'll regret it."

He let go of Malfoy's robes and turned away from the Slytherin. Of course, Malfoy didn't give up that easily.

"Nice speech Potter. Really touching. Developed a liking for our poor cursed Professor during the holidays, didn't you? Well, I didn't expect something else in a household where The Boy Who Just Doesn't Die, the monster-scum and that half-blood of a convict fret their existence. If the right people were in charge at the Ministry, your holiday arrangements would look a little different, believe me. Azkaban is supposed to be nice in the summer, so I've heard. But surely your precious godfather has already told you that, he ought to know. And believe me, the next time that he meets the Dementors, they'll surely have a little kiss for him. Maybe for the werewolf too, though I doubt that there is much human soul left in him anyway.

Nice guardians your parents have chosen. But I bet that if your mother had known what would become of you, she'd have thought twice before she sacrificed herself for you. But you can't really expect a straight line of thought like that from a mudblood bi..."

Malfoy didn't even see the blow coming. All he heard was the cracking sound with which Harry's fist connected with his jaw, then flames of pain shot through his head. Malfoy sank to his knees, his hands pressed firmly at his face, his breathing laboured by the pain. He tried to tell Potter that he would pay for doing this but found that it was too painful to even move his jaw.

Harry bent over Malfoy, his green eyes flaming with a fury that made even Ron step back from his friend.

"You will never, never ever, say something like this about my family again, understand that Malfoy? Both Sirius and Remus are better wizards and better men than you can ever expect to become, and don't you dare to lose another word about my mother, do you get that?

I know all about you Malfoy, keep that in mind. I know your dirty little secret and if you know what is good for you, you stop bothering me or my friends. Just because you helped me in a moment of teenage rebellion, I will not tolerate you saying something like this."

"Mr. Potter! What in Merlin's name has happened here?"

Harry and Ron looked up and saw a furious Madam Pince standing in front of them, her hands in her hips. When Harry stepped aside a little and she got a free look on Draco Malfoy, who still knelt on the floor and held his jaw, she let out a cry.

"Mr. Malfoy, what has happened to you? Oh my, that could be a broken jaw! I'll immediately bring you to Madam Pomfrey."

The librarian put a supporting arm around Malfoy's shoulders and guided him towards the door. On her way, she turned around once more towards Harry and Ron.

"I don't know which one of you did this, but believe me that I will inform Professor McGonagall about it."

With this, she left the library and shut the door behind her. Ron turned towards his friend, his brown eyes full with disbelief.

"Harry, what's gotten into you? We'll be in so much trouble."

Harry raised a hand to calm his friend.

"Ron, I'll tell McGonagall that you had nothing to do with this."

"I am not worried whether I could get into trouble, I am worried about you. I have never seen you so furious before, you really scared me."

Harry shook his head.

"I'm sorry Ron. He just shouldn't have said that. He can say about me whatever he wants, not that I care. But he has no right to talk about Remus and Sirius like that, not after all they've been through. And I don't even mention that it was his father who caused all that. And then he has the nerves to say something like this about my mother! He's earned far more than just that one hit."

Ron stared at the wall, his eyes focussed on nothing in particular.

"You will be in so much trouble for this, Malfoy will pretend that his jaw is hurt far worse than it actually is."

"Well, if it makes him shut up, I'll live with that."

Ron couldn't answer this, for at that moment Professor McGonagall literally stormed into the library. The amount of anger on her face matched Harry's expression from some minutes ago.

"Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley! Could you please inform me why I just met Madam Pince in the hall, who was guiding Draco Malfoy to the hospital wing? Especially I would be interested in the reasons why Mr. Malfoy obviously suffers from a broken jaw. What can you tell me about this?"

Harry sighed and made one step towards the head of his house.

"Ron had nothing to do with it, Professor. Malfoy came here and wanted to provoke me. He said something he should not have said and got what he deserved."

McGonagall angrily shook her head.

"And what did he say? I can't imagine anything that would justify something like what you've done, Mr. Potter."

"With all due respect Professor, but I'd rather not repeat what Malfoy said. That's something between him and me."

McGonagall obviously wasn't satisfied with that explanation and turned towards Ron.

"Mr. Weasley? Can you tell me something more about this?"

Ron shook his head.

"No Professor, I'm afraid not."

McGonagall nodded.

"Very well. Mr. Potter, for this enormous disrespect of the school rules, I'll deduct fifty points from Gryffindor. You'll serve detention, every night for the next two weeks, starting tomorrow. I'd have expected better from you. Mr. Weasley, I will talk to Mr. Malfoy about your involvement. If he confirms that you have not been involved in this incident, then I'll let you go unpunished. If not, we'll have to talk about this again."

With this, she turned around and left the library without another furious glance at her students. Harry stared at the empty space where his professor had stood moments ago.

"Malfoy better tells her that you really didn't do anything."

And without another word, Harry packed his things together and left the library. Ron stared after his friend, still not knowing exactly what he had just witnessed.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Harry stormed back into Gryffindor Tower. To be honest, he didn't know himself what had driven him to hit Malfoy like that. Normally he had far better self-restraint and he was the one who had to hold Ron back before he did something stupid. But Malfoy had simply made him so angry, more furious than ever before. Not only had this slimy little bastard insulted the only two people who had ever been close to resemble parental figures for him, no, he had also dared to make fun of his mother! That had simply been too much.

Without even realizing it, Harry had now arrived in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady. He quickly gave the password to her, walked through the Common Room without stopping once and ran up the stairs into his dormitory.

It was only past seven in the evening, but as he lay down on his bed, he thought that maybe going to sleep sounded like a very good idea. He ha not slept well ever since he had arrived back at the castle, every morning he seemed to be even more tired than the evening before. So far, he had blamed it on the amount of sleep he had gotten, because he had gone to bed truly late every evening.

Maybe it would be a good idea to go to sleep earlier than usual, and so Harry quickly moved into his pyjamas and climbed onto his four-poster.

He would worry about his punishment and what Remus and Sirius would have to say about this when he woke up in the morning.

He extinguished the lights and fell back into the comfortable January-evening darkness that surrounded the dormitory. Within minutes, his eyes were closed and he had fallen asleep.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

The darkness of his dormitory vanished as soon as Harry closed his eyes. He relaxed into the mattress and allowed himself to drift into a light slumber, then into sleep.

Soon he felt as if he was walking on a very foggy field, instead of the comfortable darkness of his dormitory he was surrounded by a cloudy greyness. For a moment he thought that something had moved within the shadows around him, but when he looked at the spot where he had seen the movement, he could detect nothing at all.

Harry tried to relax once more, but as soon as he started drifting again, he heard a voice call his name. He knew the voice, but he couldn't place it at the moment. The voice called his name, but he didn't want to listen. He had just lain down, he wanted to sleep. The voice would have to wait until tomorrow.

"Harry."

Harry moaned and turned away from the source of the voice. He wanted to sleep, couldn't the other see that?

"Harry, you have to wake up. Harry!"

It was Ron's voice. Harry realized that he was drifting more and more into consciousness again. Now that he was nearly awake, he might as well have a look to what Ron wanted.

"HARRY!"

"Mmmphh. M'awake."

Slowly, Harry opened one eye and was startled when he found the dormitory alight with what appeared to be daylight. Quickly he opened another eye and sat up. Ron sighed.

"Finally. I already thought that I needed to bring a bucket of water to wake you up. You have to hurry, otherwise you'll miss breakfast and be late for DADA."

Harry shook his head.

"What? But Ron, I've just lain down, and it was only seven o'clock then!"

Ron raised an eyebrow, confusion showing clearly on his face.

"Harry, that was nearly thirteen hours ago. Are you alright?"

Harry got up and quickly changed into his robes.

"I guess I am. Don't get enough sleep lately, I suppose."

"If you say so. You're sure it's got nothing to do with You-Know-Who?"

Harry laughed.

"Ron, relax. I'm just tired, my scar didn't do a thing lately. Really, I only need some sleep, but I'll try to catch up this weekend."

He gave his friend another reassuring smile and together they left Gryffindor Tower to get themselves some breakfast. Hermione already waited for them at the Gryffindor table and she gave Harry a very concerned look when he sat down next to her.

"Where have you been? You're late."

"I slept in and it took Ron some time to wake me up. That's all."

Hermione merely raised an eyebrow.

"You sure there's nothing else you want to tell me? Like why Pansy Parkinson tells everybody that you nearly killed Draco Malfoy yesterday evening, for example?"
Harry sighed.

"I didn't 'nearly kill' him, I only hit him once. And that had been his own fault, he should have kept his mouth shut, then nothing would have happened. And spare me the lecture, I've already received one from McGonagall and I'm sure Remus and Sirius will have their share of words with me as well as soon as they get to know this."

With this, he stuffed some toast into his mouth and the three went on their way towards the DADA classroom.

They sat down on their usual desks in front of the class and pulled out their essays. Harry had intentionally wanted to look at his essay once again, maybe even add a paragraph in which he explained why stunning a werewolf was better than killing it right away, but his early retirement had not allowed it. He wasn't really satisfied with his essay, but he'd hand it in anyway.

Next to him, Hermione wondered whether her four rolls of parchment were enough and Ron mouthed something that looked astonishingly like 'she's at it again' towards Harry.

The next moment, Remus entered the classroom and went straight behind his desk.

"Good morning. The fact that nobody came to my office and asked for help with the essay tells me that you've all finished it? Yes? Good. Please hand it in at the end of the lesson. If I get the feeling that there are still some things you didn't understand, we'll hold another double lesson on werewolves next week, but today I wanted to start on something new.

I know that you were unfortunate enough to have a different Defence teacher every year, and during your second year - how should I say - received no qualified instructions at all. But nevertheless, you've had lessons on all the subjects required.

You've learned the basic duelling and disarming spells, have learned about magical creatures, about curses and counter curses, you know about the Unforgivables and last term you've learned about Dark Creatures and ways to defend against them. Now we'll come to something completely different, but nevertheless important.

In case that you are engaged in a wizard's duel, or whatever fight or brawl else, you'll hopefully remember what you have learned to defend yourselves. However, in case that none of your defence techniques will not work, or in case that you receive a physical or magical injury, you'll need knowledge in first aid to help yourself. Until the end of the year I'll try to teach you how to treat physical injuries with healing charms and potions.

From next week on, Madam Pomfrey will support me with this and we'll hold classes in the infirmary. After Easter we'll cover advanced Healing Potions which you'll prepare yourselves in your Potions lessons. I can already announce that at the end of the year, we won't have a written exam, but a practical test. Each one of you will be confronted with one of the situations we'll cover during the next months, and it'll be your task to examine the situation and use the appropriate healing spell or prepare the correct potion.

But - it's far too early for the details now. As today is a single lesson, we can't start on anything really complicated. Besides, I would like to have Madam Pomfrey at my side when we cover the care of the more dangerous injuries. So for today, how about some basic healing charms?
Anybody who volunteers as my first victim?"

Lavender's and Parvati's hands immediately shot into the air. Harry looked at Ron and both had a hard time to suppress their laughter. Ron bent over to Harry and whispered: 'I bet they are hoping on a mouth-to-mouth-respiration.'

Harry quickly looked away before he would snort out loud.

Remus meanwhile stared somewhat puzzled at the two girls, but then nodded towards Lavender.

"Ms. Brown, would you please come up here?"

Giving Parvati a victorious grin, Lavender quickly rose from her seat and stepped next to Remus, batting her eyelashes. Though Remus obviously still didn't know what to think of this, he did his best to ignore Lavender's weird behaviour and spent the rest of the lesson with putting various little curses on her to demonstrate the basic healing spells.

Harry did his best to try and pay attention, but either he was fighting hard not to fall asleep on the spot, or he had to look out of the window in order not to laugh out loud. Lavender was bathing in Remus' attention and Parvati watched every single of their moves with an expression that would have made a mountain troll back away. She was obviously jealous above all else.

Soon the single DADA lesson was over and Harry hurried to make his way out of the classroom. He was not sure, but he could guessed that Remus until now knew what had happened the previous night.

"Harry, could you wait for a moment please?"

Harry sighed and turned around again, putting his bag onto the nearest desk. Ron gave him a sympathizing look as he passed him, but Harry only shrugged. Remus closed the door behind Ron and turned towards Harry, his face bearing an very stern expression. He sat down on the desk opposing Harry.

"So Harry, is there something you want to tell me?"

Harry laughed harshly.

"I guess you already know what has happened yesterday. Malfoy couldn't keep his big mouth shut and I lost control. I didn't realize that I had hit him as hard as I obviously did."

Remus shook his head.

"Harry, Malfoy had a broken jaw!"

"Oh come on Remus, Madam Pomfrey can mend broken bones with a flick of her wand."

"That doesn't matter Harry. A broken jaw is a broken jaw. And though Madam Pomfrey has mended it, it still remains a serious injury, and not an injury he received during a Quidditch match, but an injury you inflicted on him. You are lucky that Professor McGonagall only took points from Gryffindor and gave you detention, she could just as well have expelled you. And I'd really like to know what made you do this."

"Remus, that's really not important. He said something he should not have said, but what it was is not important."

Remus shook his head.

"Well, don't tell me if you don't want to. But Sirius won't let you get away so easily, believe me."

Harry shrugged his shoulders.

"I could extinguish the fire."

Harry grinned at his small joke, but was startled when Remus gave him a somewhat sympathizing look.

"Well, you see, it's like this. Sirius called me this morning to tell me that he changed his plans. The Ministry thinks they got a hint that the remaining Death Eaters try to assemble in the north of Scotland, and some units are sent there to investigate. He doesn't know how long he'll be away, so he wanted to come here to say good bye tomorrow."

Harry's face fell.

"And you had nothing better to do than telling him what happened yesterday, had you?"

Remus sighed.

"Harry, he would have gotten to know anyway. Better get through with it as soon as possible. But, as I said, I don't expect him to accept your story as easily as I did. He'll want to know your reasons, you better prepare for that."

"You know Remus, it's really great that you are teaching here again. That way, everything I do automatically finds its way to Sirius. I couldn't imagine something better than that!"

With this, Harry turned around and stormed out of the classroom without as much as another glance at Remus.

Remus sighed and for some long moments stared at the door. Ever since Minerva had told him about the incident in the library, he had tried to find an explanation for Harry' behaviour. But no way he could imagine Harry to lose control just like that. The boy had always seemed rather shy and withdrawn, normally Ron was the one of them who easily lost control. It was just so unlike Harry.

With another shake of his head, Remus collected the essays from his desk and made his way to his office. He didn't have another lesson until late in the afternoon, so he'd use that time to mark the werewolf papers.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

"And Harry, what did Professor Lupin want?"

Ron had waited for Harry on their way to Herbology, but Harry only waved his hand at his friend.

"Don't even ask. That was part one of the 'why-on-earth-did-you-hit-poor-Draco-Malfoy' lecture. And part two will follow soon, because Sirius has decided to make an appearance tomorrow."

"Wow, do you think it will really be that bad?"

Harry shook his head.

"I don't know. But knowing Sirius, he won't let go until I tell him why I hit Malfoy."

Ron's brow furrowed.

"And, why don't you just tell him? I mean, that rat insulted him, Remus and your mother, he'll surely understand what you did."

Harry shook his head.

"Sirius doesn't need to know everything, Ron. But with Remus teaching here, there's no way to keep anything from him. Let's not talk about this now, I'll try not to think about Sirius until he comes here tomorrow."

Ron stifled a laugh.

"Harry Potter finally discovers the fine details of family life. Believe me, it's rather difficult to have secrets from your family anyway."

"Yeah, but my godfather's best friend is my teacher, that's something else than having elder brothers at the same school. Especially since your elder brothers had nothing but mischief in their heads themselves. But Remus somehow thinks that it is his job to mother me while I'm here. Really, to think that he complained about Sirius' over protectiveness only a couple of days ago!"

Harry shook his head.

"Really, let's not talk about this anymore. Let's get over with Herbology, get over with detention for me, then have a nice and comfortable evening in the Common Room and a good night's sleep."

Ron laughed.

"Yes, and the way you looked this morning you could really do with some sleep."

At that moment, they reached the greenhouses and stepped inside to get through with the lesson.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Herbology stretched endlessly as it seemed, and more than once Harry had to stifle a yawn. It was difficult for him to pay attention to what Professor Sprout was saying, the urge to sleep was nearly overwhelming by now.

Ron watched his friend with increasing concern, ready to shake him awake should he really fall asleep on the spot.

When Professor Sprout closed the lesson, Ron and Harry walked back to the castle to get themselves some lunch.

"And Harry, does the fresh air help to get you awake? You looked as if you would fall asleep any moment in there."

"Not really. I don't know why, but I'm getting more and more tired."

"Maybe you should go and see Madam Pomfrey."

Both boys turned around when they heard Hermione's voice. Their friend had finished her conversation with Lavender and had quickly caught up with them.

"I don't know Hermione. It's only a lack of sleep, nothing to be bothered about."

Hermione shook her head.

"But you don't have a reason for a lack of sleep as far as I know. Not like me, I swear if Parvati and Lavender don't keep quiet tonight, I'll turn them into slugs. Whoever they are fawning about, it's slowly going on my nerves.

'Don't you think he's sooooo cute...'

'Have you seen the way he looked at me today?'

I swear, if I ever find out who this ominous object of their desire is, I'll go and tell him, only to get my peaceful sleep back."

Ron and Harry immediately began to snort.

"What? Don't you think I would do that? Or do you know something I don't?"

Ron fought hard with himself and Harry grinned malevolently.

"Really Hermione, you don't know half of it."

Leaving her friend with that unsatisfying statement, they went into the Great Hall and sat down for dinner.

Hermione kept eying Lavender, Parvati, Ron and Harry during the meal, searching for any hint to solve what Harry had said when they had come into the castle, but eventually gave it up with a shrug. She'd get to know it sooner or later, she could wait.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

The evening passed rather quickly and at half past seven Harry left the Common Room to meet with Filch in the entrance hall. The Hogwarts caretaker obviously had had one or his rare better days, and let Harry off after only four hours of cleaning up the Trophy Room. Back in his dormitory at quarter to eleven, Harry could finally give in to his desire for sleep and sank into his bed. His eyes were closed even before his head hit the pillow.

The last thing he thought before sleep claimed him was that maybe this night he'd be able to sleep as much as he needed.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Again, the moment he was sucked into a deep slumber, he found himself surrounded by a grey fog that wavered around him. Harry desperately tried to find something he could focus on, but as soon as his gaze centred on a certain shape, it seemed to vanish into thin air. But the more Harry tried to make his way through this fog, the lighter it seemed to become. He could now easily make out the path underneath his feet, even if he could not see anything to his right or left.

Suddenly, sounds filled the air. Whispers, as if hundreds or even more people were trying to murmur at once. Harry could not understand a single word they said, but somehow it was clear to him that it were indeed voices that filled the air.

And abruptly, the grey fog turned a blinding shade of green and Harry woke with a start.

Panting, he sat up in his bed and tried desperately to make out the reason for his sudden awakening. He found it in the figure of Ron who stood beside his bed, and empty cauldron in his hand. Ron looked rather sheepishly. That was the moment when Harry realized that he was dripping wet.

"Sorry mate, but I've been trying to wake you up for nearly twenty minutes now. It was either the water or calling Madam Pomfrey, and I didn't think that you would want to have her fretting over you."

Harry shook his head and desperately tried to get his thoughts into a straight order.

"I didn't wake up? But, I've only gone to bed some minutes ago, haven't I?"

Ron now looked very concerned.

"Erm, no. Actually, you've slept for more than twelve hours, I guess. It's nearly eleven, and I thought that you might want some food before you go and see Sirius this afternoon."

"What time is it?"

"Nearly eleven, as I said."

Harry shook his head in disbelief. How could he have slept so long without even realizing? He had gone to bed, then he had had this weird dream with the fog and the voices, and then - then Ron had woken him up. It could not be, could it?

With one last desperate glance at his pillows, he slowly climbed out of bed and made his way towards the showers, Ron still at his heels.

"Don't you think you should go to the Hospital Wing anyway? That's not normal Harry, maybe it really has something to do with You-Know-Who!"

"Ron, once and for all: I'm just tired. My scar has not hurt ever since I've Avada-Kedavrad him. And for fuck's sake Ron, call him Voldemort. All this you-know-who whispering is really going on my nerves. He's got a name and it won't hurt anybody to say it!"

With this, Harry vanished in the showers and left a very dazzled looking Ron behind.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Twenty minutes later, Harry made his way downstairs towards the Great Hall. He still pondered over his strange insomnia. Every night he slept at least six hours straight, but in the morning he felt as if he had not slept at all. And if Ron hadn't used more and more desperate measures to get him to wake up, he'd have slept on and on. Maybe he really should go and see the nurse, Quidditch practice would resume in a week and he could not afford to be tired then. The Gryffindors still had matches to play against Hufflepuff and Slytherin, and Harry desperately needed to develop their strategies for those games. He had not played Quidditch during the first term, due to everything that had happened since summer, but when it had become clear that Remus was alive and Sirius didn't need his attention every free minute anymore, he had been more than willing to resume his duties as the team captain again.

Harry shook his head. He'd worry about Quidditch as soon as he had gotten over with Sirius, his godfather was his more immediate concern.

When Harry sat down at his place on the Gryffindor table he found Hedwig already sitting there, a letter bound to her leg. Already guessing what it was, he untied it, gave Hedwig some bacon and started to read.

Harry,

Sirius will be here at two in the afternoon, please come to my office then.

Remus

Harry sighed. Two hours left in which he could think of a way to get over with this talk.

He quickly ate his lunch and went back into the Common Room, where he was soon surrounded by his team mates. Harry had no chance but discuss the tactics against Hufflepuff with them, and soon he felt as if this was the right decision. Ginny and Terence had watched the Hufflepuff team practice this morning and they had some very useful information on their team for him. They could use some of the moves they had done against them last year, the team obviously hadn't changed his constellation too much.

Far too soon it was ten to two and Harry made himself onto his way to Remus' office. He knocked and was called in immediately.

Remus was sitting behind his desk, his head bent over a stack of parchments. Without looking up, he gestured Harry to take a seat.

"Hullo Harry. Sirius isn't here yet, it would be a miracle if he ever turned up in time. Just give me a minute, I want to finish reading this essay."

"Okay."
Harry sat down on one of the chairs in front of Remus' desk and looked around the office. It looked a lot like it had in his third year when Remus had first taught DADA. There was a tank in the corner, covered with a piece of fabric. Obviously some creature for one of his lower classes. Furthermore, the shelf in the corner was stacked with a huge variety of books that made Harry immediately think about how delighted Hermione would be if she had a private library like this one. There were no pictures on the wall, only two framed photographs stood on the mantelpiece above the fireplace. Harry didn't need to take a closer look to know what they were, he had seen them quite often during the holidays.

One was a picture from the day of Remus' and Sirius' graduation form Hogwarts. The four Marauders were standing in front of the castle and waved into the camera, Harry's father had his arm draped around his mother's waist and beamed. In the background, a younger version of Severus Snape was storming angrily towards them, his robes and hair turned into a bright shade of green, his face covered in purple dots.

The other picture had been taken at the beginning of the previous summer, it showed Remus and Sirius in the garden of Black Cottage. It had been the day of Harry's birthday, when they had had a barbeque in the evening. Sirius had been wearing an apron with 'Kiss the Cook' printed in large red letters which Remus had enchanted to read 'Kick the Cook' without Sirius realizing it. Ron had taken the picture the moment Sirius had realized why he had been kicked by everybody for nearly half an hour now, and it showed a very red-faced Sirius who threw the huge grilling fork after Remus. Harry was standing in the background and laughed his head off.

A smile crossed Harry's face when he thought back to that day. It had been long before the Death Eaters had started to attack again and their only concern this day had been that Sirius could possibly blow up the grill. Which he had.

"Merlin, Harry! What have you done, you look awful!"

Remus' exclamation pulled Harry back into Remus' office and he turned around. Remus was watching him with a very concerned expression.

"Haven't you slept last night? You look as if you'd fall asleep any minute now. What's wrong Harry?"

Harry shook his head. 'Great', he thought, 'now I'll have the same conversation I've had with Ron this morning.'

"It's really nothing Remus. I've not slept very well the last nights, but it's nothing serious, honestly. I'll go to bed early tonight and take it low tomorrow, and on Monday I'll be back to my old self. You'll see."

Remus didn't look as if he was convinced, but had no chance to contradict because at that moment the flames in the fireplace turned green and Sirius stepped out. He brushed the dust from his robes and muttered something under his breath that would have gotten him a month's worth of detention if Professor McGonagall had heard him. Graduated or not.

"Hello Sirius, it's good to see you, too."

Remus got up and gave his friend a mischievous grin before he gave him a short greeting hug. Sirius still looked as if he was ready to kill.

"You do this to annoy me, don't you? First you tell Molly about my crashes with the motorcycle, and now you use a French password for your fireplace, fully well knowing that I could not pronounce it properly if my life depended on it. Is it your life task to embarrass me as much as possible?"

Remus grinned widely.

"I guess that's why you are so late? What did you do, buy a French dictionary?"

Sirius shook his head.

"No, called your father through the fireplace and asked him how to pronounce that. I don't want to imagine where I would have landed if I had tried it without help. Ah, and by the way: while I was already talking to him, I promised that you would visit your aunt Estelle during the Easter holidays."

Remus' face fell immediately.

"No, you didn't."

"Yes, I did."

Sirius leaned onto the desk with a smug grin on his face.

"Never mess with the master, Remus, you can only lose."

Harry had watched the banter between the two friends with a very amused expression, but now he found it time to interrupt.

"Hello Sirius."

Sirius immediately turned around and broke into a wide grin.

"Hello Harry."

Before Harry had the chance to do anything, he found himself in a bone crashing bear hug from his godfather.

"Well kiddo, how are you doing? Remus told me that you got into a little spot of trouble lately?"
He ruffled Harry's hair and let go off him. Harry sat down and contemplated the meaning behind this. Sirius didn't seem to be angry at all. That could only mean that Remus hadn't told him everything so far. This was his chance to tell his godfather his version of the events. But he had to be careful.

"Well, what has Remus told you?"

Sirius now had sat down next to him and Remus had taken his seat on the other side of the desk. Sirius shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, he told me that you got yourself into trouble worth two weeks of detention. That's it. What have you done?"

"I brawled with Malfoy."

Relief spread across Sirius' face. Though that was unusual for Harry, it wasn't a tragedy. But Remus quickly interrupted.

"Broke his jaw would be the more appropriate expression."
"What?"

Sirius spun around and gave Harry a very stern look.

"Is that true, Harry?"

Harry nodded hesitantly.

"Well yes, but really, I didn't intend to do it. I just hit him, I didn't even realize how hard the blow really was."

"Harry, if you've broken his jaw you must have punched him like a heavyweight boxing champion. Why did you do that? Hitting somebody doesn't sound like you at all. What happened?"

Harry sighed.

"I really don't want to talk about it."
But, just like Remus had predicted, Sirius didn't let him get away so easily. He turned around to Remus and raised his eyebrows. Remus merely shrugged.

"He didn't tell me why he did it either. Nor does Minerva know."

"Harry, I want you to tell me why you hit Draco Malfoy."

Harry rolled his eyes.

"It's really not that important."

"Harry James Potter, don't roll your eyes like that. And please let me decide what is important and what not. So?"

"If you really want to know it - Malfoy couldn't keep his big mouth shut. He said something he shouldn't have said and he got what he deserved. That's it."

"No Harry, that's not it. I had already guessed that you didn't ambush him and then knocked him out without a reason. So, what did he say?"

Harry furiously shook his head.

"Why do you want to know that? Really, if I say it's not important, then it is not important."

"If it wasn't important, you wouldn't have hit him!"

Sirius now evidently was angry, and Remus didn't make one move to help Harry. It was clear that he wouldn't get out of this office without telling them what had transpired.

"Fine, if you want to know it so bad, he called Remus a monster and you a half-blood, he made fun about Azkaban and said that you ought to get your soul sucked out. Remus, he said, didn't even have one anyway. And then, then he had the nerves to make fun of Mom and called her a mudblood, amongst other things. I got angry, lost control and hit him. That's what you wanted to hear?"

For a moment there was silence in Remus' office. Sirius was about to start speaking when Remus interrupted him.

"Harry, you know what Draco Malfoy is like. Whatever he says, you shouldn't even pay attention to it. Let alone give him the satisfaction to react to his taunts. That's exactly what he wants, and you stepped right into his trap."

Harry jumped out of his chair in his anger, the sudden movement making Remus and Sirius flinch in surprise.

"Great! Really great! Maybe you two think that he has a right to say such things, but I don't. He can make fun of me as much as he wants, but he has no right to say anything about my family. He of all people! He crossed the line, and somebody had to show him that this was too much!"

Sirius got up and stepped towards Harry. He tried to lay his hands on his godson's shoulders, but Harry pushed them away.

"Harry, whatever Malfoy has said, he only wanted you to react like this. You should have gone to a teacher, not take the matter into your own hands."

Harry let out a disgusted snort.

"Sirius, I can't let the teachers settle my fights. This had nothing to do with school or the teachers, this was a thing between Malfoy and me. And if that baby hadn't made such a fuss about it, then it would have stayed between him and me.

It's got nothing to do with you, so why don't you just leave me alone with it?"

"Because I'm responsible for you, that's why. Because I'm worried about you. If Malfoy had gone to Snape, he would not have hesitated to expel you, do you understand that?"

Harry shrugged his shoulders.

"If Remus hadn't felt the urge to tell it to you, then it wouldn't have been such an affair at all. I'm nearly an adult now, so why don't you let me settle my fights alone? I don't need Remus spying on me, telling every little problem straight to you! Just leave me alone, alright?"
With this, Harry turned around and stormed out of the office. Sirius stared at the door and Remus looked flabbergasted as well. This had been the most untypical reaction both had ever witnessed from Harry. Sirius slowly turned around and let himself fall into one of the chairs. Remus sat down as well.

"That did go quite well, don't you think Remus?"

Remus raised his eyebrows.

"Well? Sirius, I sometimes really doubt your sanity. You have seen it, haven't you? That boy was more angry than I've ever seen him, except maybe from the night when he wanted to kill you."

Sirius slowly nodded.

"I know Remus, I know. But what can we do about it? Maybe Harry was right, maybe we should allow him some space to settle his fights for himself."

"Sirius, he has broken the jaw of one of his classmates. That's not a typical student fight."

"Yes, but neither Draco Malfoy nor Harry Potter are typical students. I'm sure Harry will have a better self-restraint when it comes to another fight, I'll tell him that he needs to have. We both know how sensitive he is when it comes to his parents. I'll talk to him before I leave, okay? But maybe he is right and I don't need to know everything that goes on here. Let's pretend that he is a normal student, at least let's try it."

Remus nodded.

"I guess you're right. I'd have never thought that it was so difficult to treat him like any other student. It was easier as long as he didn't know who I was, but now I catch myself in watching him closely, whatever he does."

He laughed.

"I'm becoming a carbon copy of you, Sirius. Really, I'd be fretting over him twenty four hours a day if I didn't remember how embarrassing that can be."

He gave Sirius a warm smile while his friend watched him closely.

"It's difficult not to be concerned about Harry, after all he's been through. Even here, he's never been entirely safe and we all know it.

But how about you? How are you doing? And don't lie to me, I can always tell when you try to. Are you still tiring easily?"

Remus suddenly remembered the way Harry had looked when he had come into his office. One of the reasons why he had not entirely believed Harry's story about the lack of sleep was that he had indeed been having a close eye on him during the last week. Harry had appeared to grow more tired the longer he had stayed at the castle.

"I'm fine Sirius. Really. The first days here have been quite taxing, but I think I know now what to expect. And most of the students have been quite happy to have me back here. Though some of them act weird."
"Weird?"

"I don't know how to describe it. It's some of Harry's classmates. Ever since we've completed our lessons on werewolves and have started with first aid, they act not like themselves."
He shrugged his shoulders. But Sirius hadn't even heard the last sentence.

"You gave them lessons on werewolves?"

"Well, yes. They were on the curriculum and Arabella hadn't finished them yet."

"What did you teach them?"
"How to recognize them, the distinction between wolves and werewolves, how to kill them."

"Remus?"
Sirius' eyes had the size of dinner plates now. Remus sighed, he had a strong feeling of déjà vu.

"Sirius, don't even start it, I've already had that discussion with Harry. They needed to be taught that, and it was my job to do it. Really, there's nothing about it. Let's stop talking about this, I'd rather hear what you'll be doing during the next couple of days."

Sirius merely shrugged his shoulders.

"If I only knew. The Ministry got hints that some of the remaining Death Eaters try to assemble again, and as you can imagine, all the alarm bells went off at that information. I don't know what to make of it.

Nobody knows where the information originally came from, that makes me suspicious. I talked to Arabella and Moody, and they feel the same about it."

"Do you think it's an ambush?"

"I don't know. Could be. But what strikes me most is that I can hardly imagine the Death Eaters to be able to do something right now. Malfoy has given so many of them away, from what we know most of the Inner Circle has been arrested so far and many of the not so important members as well. And I don't think that Voldemort would act without fully trusting the people around him.

He just has too few people to plan something big."

He shrugged his shoulders and stared out of the window.

"I guess it will become a boring observation mission with no result at all. Most of the squads are already there, and so far they've had nothing to report at all."

"Be careful Sirius. If it is an ambush, I don't even want to think about it."
Sirius nodded.

"I will. But I think it really is just a distraction. Whatever Voldemort is planning, he wants to direct our attention to something completely different. But there's nothing we can do about it at the moment."

He got up from his chair and ran a hand through his hair.

"I think I better look where Harry is and talk to him before I leave."

He turned towards the door but stopped once more when Remus called him.

"Sirius, wait. I know that we just agreed on treating Harry like any other student, but there is one more thing about which I am concerned."

"What? Is something wrong?"

Remus shook his head and searched for the right words.

"I don't really know. I think if it was something serious he would have mentioned it when I asked him, but still I'm quite uneasy about it.

I've had an eye on him during the last week, and he doesn't appear to be entirely himself. Aside from those pieces of violence, I mean.

It's just as if he didn't get enough sleep at all. I know this sounds over-zealous, but I got the feeling that it's getting worse. On Wednesday during the lesson he simply appeared to be tired, as if he had gone to bed too late, but on Friday it was worse. He nearly fell asleep a couple of times. And when he came to my office this afternoon, I took a closer look while he was distracted. He looked awful, as if he hadn't slept for days. I don't know what to make of it."

Sirius nodded.
"I'll ask him about it. Remus, please still keep an eye on him. I don't need to know everything that happens here, but I'd be more at ease if I knew that somebody is there for him in case that he needs it."

Remus nodded.

"Sure. Take care Sirius. Good Bye."

Sirius smiled.
"Take care yourself. Bye."

And he left Remus' office in search of his godson.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

He found Harry in the otherwise deserted Gryffindor Common Room where he was bent over a miniature model of a Quidditch Pitch.

"I'd set one of the beaters higher. That way it's easier for them to get the chasers if the other team tries to vary the height they fly in."
Harry spun around in shock and stared into the grinning face of his godfather.

"Sirius! How on earth did you get in here? Did Remus give you the password?"

"Never needed the password after my fifth year. The Fat Lady has been...a little taken by me, to say it cautiously."

"Didn't show it three years ago when she refused to let you in."
"Well, she didn't know Padfoot. And if she ever knew that it was I who scratched her, she'd never forgive me. So - my luck with her is at your mercy."

Harry sat down on one of the couches in front of the fire.

"I guess that your strange love-life is not the reason why you came here."

Sirius laughed and sat down beside him.

"No, you're right, that's not the reason why I came here. I have to leave for Scotland tonight and I didn't want to leave like that.

Harry, Remus and I have talked about it, and maybe you're right. You've done something wrong, but you've received your punishment for it and there really is no reason to worry about it furthermore. As long as something like that doesn't happen again, no matter what Malfoy says. I know that your family is your sensitive spot Harry, but you have to learn to control your reaction onto such provocations. I want you to promise me that something like that won't happen again."

Harry sighed.

"Harry, please. This is really important."

"Okay, okay. I promise that it won't happen again."

"Fine. As a countermove, Remus and I promise that he'll try to treat you like any other student. Which means that he won't tell me what happens here until Dumbledore or McGonagall decide that I should know."

Harry nodded.

"Sounds like we got a deal."

Sirius smiled.

"Good, because there are some more things I wanted to talk to you about."
Harry raised an eyebrow.

"Like what?"
"Like the, and I quote Remus, 'weird behaviour' of some of your classmates."

Whatever Sirius had expected, it had not been seeing his godson double over with laughter. Sirius shook his head.

"Harry? This looks as if there was a good story to tell, so what do you know?"

It took some moments until Harry had himself under control again, then he gave his godfather a mischievous grin.

"You'll never let Remus live this down."
"What? Harry, come on. Don't tease me!"

Harry quickly scanned the Common Room to make sure that they were alone, then he began to tell.

"Well, I guess that Remus was talking about Lavender and Parvati when he said 'weird behaviour'. You see, ever since Remus came back here to teach again, they - well, the did behave weird indeed. They stare open-mouthed at him, they blush when he calls on them in class, they battle to be his guinea-pig to demonstrate the healing charms on and - they giggle. And Hermione says that the two of them don't let her sleep because every night they talk about somebody who is so 'cute' and 'handsome'."

Sirius threw his head back and started to laugh loud and long. He laughed so hard that he had to hold his sides after some moments and there were tears streaming down his face. Finally, he was able to speak again.

"You...you don't want to tell me that...that good old Moony has two sixteen year old girls - fawning over him? And he doesn't realize what is going on?"

Harry grinned.

"Exactly!"

"That is simply great! Wait till I come back from Scotland. You're right, he'll never live it down."

The tension in the room was finally lifted and for the next twenty minutes, Harry presented impersonations of Parvati's and Lavender's behaviour to his godfather, much to Sirius' entertainment.

"And Hermione really doesn't have a clue who that ominous object of their desire is?"

Harry shook his head and grinned.

"No, not at all. And neither Ron nor I intend to tell her, it's way to much fun to see her clueless. On the other hand however - she once said that if she knew who it was, she'd go to that person and tell him, just to get her sleep back."

Sirius once more broke into roaring laughter.

"I'd love to see that. Just imagine it. >Erm, excuse me Professor Lupin, but there is something I need to tell you...< Great, simply great."

Harry grinned, but the next moment he had to stifle a yawn. Though Sirius' visit had distracted him, now the tiredness came back with a vengeance. Sirius remembered what Remus had told him and watched his godson with increasing concern.

"Harry? Are you alright? You look as if you could do with some sleep."

Harry sighed.

"Let me guess, Remus has told you that I don't get enough sleep. Right?"

"Well, he told me that you looked like it, yes."
Harry wanted to say something in return, but Sirius just raised his hand and gestured him to stop.

"You can't forbid him to worry about you, Harry. If you say that nothing's wrong, then I'll believe you. But if something is wrong, please tell me. You know that it could be important. Do you have those nightmares again?"

Harry shook his head.

"No, no nightmares. Actually no dreams at all. It's weird, I go to bed in the evening, and then I wake up and feel as if I had not slept at all. If Ron had not woken me up this morning, I'd still be asleep."

Sirius' forehead frowned.

"Since when do you have these problems?"

"Ever since I came back to the castle, I think. But it's been getting worse. During the first nights, I didn't go to bed that early and therefore wasn't as surprised that I was kind of tired in the morning. I only realized that it wasn't normal after it got really worse yesterday and this morning."

Sirius nodded.

"Your scar?"

"Doesn't do a thing. I haven't felt it for months. And nothing else is wrong, nothing hurts or else. I'm just tired but I don't know why."

Sirius leaned back into the couch and covered his face with his hands, thinking hard. Immediately, Harry felt that he should not have told his godfather about it. Sirius surely had enough to think about at the moment, he needn't worry about him as well.
"Look Sirius, there might be nothing wrong. Maybe it will be better tomorrow. Don't worry about me, what could be wrong about being tired?"

Sirius sighed deeply.

"I don't know, but I don't feel too well about this. Harry, promise me that you'll go to Madam Pomfrey or at least to Remus if it doesn't get better until tomorrow. There could be nothing wrong at all, but it's better to be on the safe side, okay?"

"Okay, I promise."

"Good. I'll call Remus as soon as I'm back from Scotland. If it takes longer than a week, then I'll let you know."

"Take care."

Sirius laughed.

"Why does everybody makes me promise that? As if I'd ever been careless."

"Sirius, do you want me to give you some examples?"

"No, it's okay. I promise that I'll be careful."

Sirius slowly got up and made his way to the portrait hole, Harry at his heels. Quickly they hugged each other good bye and Sirius vanished into the corridor.

Harry watched him leave and sighed deeply. He only hoped that he'd come back alright.

He spent another hour bent over the model of the Quidditch pitch and tried to establish a good tactic for the Hufflepuff game. Sirius was right, the beaters had to diverge their height more in order to cover all the Hufflepuff chasers. Well, his godfather had been a beater himself, he ought to know.

He made good progress and started looking forward to their first training session. They should be able to stand a good chance in the upcoming match, they didn't even have to train many new moves for it.

Shortly past six, Ron and Hermione came back from the library and together the three friends made their way into the Great Hall to grab some dinner.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Remus meanwhile was standing in front of the window in his office and looked out into the direction of the Forbidden Forest.

He didn't really know what bothered him, but ever since he had come back to the castle, he had an uneasy feeling he could not quite put his finger on. First, he had blamed it on weariness, but at the end of the first week he had had to admit that it had nothing to do with that.

Something was definitely wrong, something was going on out there, but he didn't know what. This feeling slowly drove him insane.

Remus shook his head and turned away from the window. There was no use in pondering on these thoughts right now, it would not lead him anywhere. He only hoped that Sirius and the other Aurors would not be ambushed in Scotland.

Distracting himself by returning to his daily routine, he fed the Grindylow he wanted to show his third years next week. Then he straightened his robes, left his office and went downstairs to eat dinner. Just as he left the DADA corridor, he met Severus Snape who had obviously been heading towards his office. Curious to why the Potions master had left his dungeons and made his way all through the castle, something he did not do without a good reason, Remus stopped and waited to hear what Snape wanted.

"Severus, were you searching for me?"

Snape came to a halt in front of Remus. He had obviously hurried to get up here, because it took him a short moment to regain his breath.

"Lupin, I was sent for you. Albus wants to see all the staff in his office immediately."

Remus' forehead frowned and the uneasiness he had felt earlier quickly formed a lump of leaden panic in his stomach.

"Has something happened?" He asked while both of them quickly made their way towards the headmaster's office.

Snape merely nodded.

"It appears to be so, Lupin."

They walked in silence until they reached the gargoyle that marked the entry to Dumbledore's office. Snape quickly gave the password and the two climbed up the wooden staircase. The door to Dumbledore's office was slightly ajar and the two men could hear arguing voices from the inside. Obviously the majority of the staff had already assembled.

"Ah, Severus, Remus, please come in. We only have to wait for Sybil, but she should be here soon."

While Remus and Severus took their seats, Professor McGonagall addressed the headmaster.

"Albus, can't we start now? Who knows if Sybil's Inner Eye tells her to leave that blasted tower at all tonight."

Normally, such a statement would have made Dumbledore laugh or at least smile in his mirth, but with quite a shock Remus realized that the stern expression on the headmaster's face didn't vanish. There was no sparkle in his eyes and he only shook his head.

"No Minerva, this is something that concerns all the staff. And though you might have your doubts about the subject Sybil teaches, she still remains one of the few fully qualified witches and wizards we have within these walls. I sent the Grey Lady for her, she'll be along shortly."

Remus swallowed hard. If Dumbledore talked like this, something truly serious must have happened.

True to Dumbledore's words, that moment the door opened and Sybil Trelawney entered the office. She quickly took a seat next to the door and looked at the headmaster.

"Albus, my Inner Eye told me that my presence was required here in your office."

Dumbledore only nodded, but Snape could not stop muttering under his breath.

"That bat would not recognize the Inner Eye if it would kick her in the butt."

Remus had to stifle a laugh. One of the few things he really liked about Snape was his ability to be ironic in nearly any given situation. Not that he showed it very often, but every now and then Severus Snape had really managed it to rise laughter in the Staff Room because of something he had said. Remus was pulled out of his thoughts when Dumbledore finally spoke.

"It's good that you all managed to come here so quickly. Tonight at dinner I received a most disturbing owl from the Ministry of Magic."

He sighed. That moment, Dumbledore really looked his age.

"We all have been very concerned as to why Voldemort took such a long time to act again. The insecurity about his next move has made us all feel uncomfortable. But, I am afraid, this time is over now. Voldemort has taken his next step, and though we yet do not know what this means for us, we have to prepare for every possibility."

Long moments of silence followed in which it seemed that none of the teachers dared to ask what precisely had occurred. Snape finally was the one to break that silence.

"What has happened?"
Again, Dumbledore sighed.

"The Dementors have left Azkaban."