Harry Potter and the Time of Shadows

- Chapter Ten-

Division

Harry had never mentioned to Ron and Hermione that he had overheard their conversation the next day, and did not plan to ever tell them.

They were both being quite distant with each other, only speaking when it was necessary.

Harry and Ron walked into the common room after a particularly gruelling Quidditch practice, Fred and George behind them, and saw a few people looking at a note pinned on the notice board.

"First Hogsmeade visit," Dean said to them. "Tomorrow."

"Great," Ron said monotonously.

"Yeah, great," Harry agreed, worried that his best friend had had his heart broken.

Just then, Hermione walked in from the girl's dormitory.

Ron looked up at her, then looked away, sighing. Harry would have rather had Malfoy as his brother, than admit to Ron that he had been there when he had told Hermione he loved her.

Not knowing what to say, Harry walked away.

He noticed Ginny sitting by herself, and decided to talk to her about Ron.

"Hi Harry," she said shyly as Harry sat down next to her.

"Ginny, I think you should talk to Ron," Harry said straight away.

"Why should I talk to him?" she said, her voice becoming grumpy. "He stole my place as Keeper."

"I was the one that made Ron Keeper," said Harry. "You should be mad at me, not him."

Ginny stared into Harry's eyes.

"I'm not mad at you Harry," she said, her voice now soft and feminine.

"Er, good," Harry could not think of a good way to tell her that he was not interested in her, so decided to say nothing.

"I mean I think I'm a good Keeper," she continued, becoming more serious, as if she not just spoken to Harry in what could be classed as a seductive voice.

"Yes, well you are a good Keeper, but I'm sorry, Ron is a better one."

"Thanks a lot," she said, becoming moody again.

"Just talk to him, for me, please." Harry thought he would try and use Ginny's feelings for him to get her to forgive Ron.

"I'll think about it," she said, and walked up the stairs to the girl's dormitories, looking back at Harry on her way, as if hoping he would join her.

*

Their next Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson was a lot of fun. They spent the entire class trying, one by one, to attack Professor Fudge. Nobody seemed to get anywhere close to doing any harm to him.

His Shield Charms were excellent, and on the very rare occasions when he was Disarmed, he could stop the curse and get his wand back before anyone could bat an eyelid.

"Good Hermione," Professor Fudge said as she came very close to hitting him with a Stunning Spell. "Harry, your turn."

Harry stepped forward, hoping he would do well.

"Expelliarmus!" Harry tried, but Professor Fudge dodged out of the way much too quickly.

"Impedimenta!" he said.

"Durus," said Fudge lazily.

The Shield Charm deflected the Impediment Jinx, and Harry thought quickly for another curse.

"Stupefy!" Fudge deflected the spell, but Harry was ready.

"Expelliarmus!" he yelled, before Fudge had a chance to recover.

Professor Fudge was Disarmed, and he was knocked back a little. His wand left his hand and sailed to Harry, who caught it.

"Petrificus Totalus!" Harry said, before Fudge had a chance to get his wand back.

Professor Fudge flung out his hand, and contracted it into fist, the curse slowed, and stopped. He opened his fist, and it shot back at Harry, who held out his own hand, and eventually the curse stopped moving.

"Harry!" Professor Fudge said in amazement, as Harry opened his hand.

Professor Fudge was hit by the Full Body-Bind. Harry quickly performed the counter-curse, and Fudge looked at Harry with a new respect.

"Very good. Did you see that everyone? Harry's done it! Finally someone's done it!"

Harry gave his Professor a smile, which he returned.

At the end of class, Professor Fudge talked to everyone.

"You've all performed well," he said. "You should all be proud of yourselves. Class dismissed."

Everyone filed out of the door, and Professor Fudge called:

"Harry, could I have a word?"

Harry stayed back, wondering if it was about his hex deflection. Surely enough--

"That was great Harry, you should be really proud. Don't tell anyone I said this, but I had a feeling that you would do it first," he said, smiling like a child.

"Thanks Professor," Harry said.

"Harry," Fudge continued. "Please come with me to my office."

Harry nodded, and followed Fudge out of the door.

When they entered the office, Harry saw that it was very different than it had looked when it was owned by Moody (or Crouch really). It was very different from any of its previous occupants.

It looked so normal. It could have easily had belonged to a Muggle businessman. There were paintings hanging on the walls, as well as a few photographs. The window behind the desk was fitted with a white blind, and there were a few ferns hanging around the place, and a bookshelf beside the door. If it had contained a computer, I would be indistinguishable from the office from an accountant, or a lawyer.

"Harry," Professor Fudge's voice jolted Harry to his senses, and he took his eyes away from the room to look at Fudge. He was holding something -- the Marauder's Map!

"Do I even need to tell you what I wanted to talk to you about?" he asked.

Harry did not say anything, not know what he was talking about.

"Obviously I do," he said. "You and Malfoy, last night, Charms classroom."

"Oh," said Harry. Of course, he thought, Fudge would have seen him on the Map.

"So? What happened?"

Harry explained, Fudge clearly trying to hide his amusement.

"That was wrong Harry," he said finally. "One point from Gryffindor, and one from Slytherin. That's all I wanted to know, you can go Harry."

Harry went for the door, but decided to summon up his courage, and ask a question he had been burning to ask:

"Professor, can I have my Map back?"

"Sorry Harry, but no. I will not tell anyone about it, but I cannot allow you to have it."

Disappointed, Harry left the office.

*

The next day at breakfast, six post owls delivered a large package to the Gryffindor table. It landed in front of Ron, along with a letter. Ron opened the letter first and read it aloud.

Ron,

Congratulations on being made Keeper! It is so great to have three Weasleys on the team! Well, here is your brand new broomstick. As we agreed, your mother and I paid for half of it, and we took the other half from Harry's Gringotts vault. Please thank Harry, he did not have to be so kind. It's not quite a Firebolt Evolution, but I think you'll like it.

I want to hear that you're practising hard, I hope you and Harry and the twins get the Cup this year!

Love Dad.

"Wow Ron," Harry said. "Come on, open it. I want to see what I bought you."

Ron smiled, and tore the paper off of the package. The broomstick fell onto the table, and Ron stared at it.

It was a Nimbus Two-Thousand-and-One. Ron picked it up and inspected every inch of it. Harry saw Ginny a few seats away looking at the broomstick as if it had personally insulted her.

"Pretty nice," Harry commented, and Ron nodded.

"Yeah, very nice," he agreed.

"Want to try it out quickly before we go to Hogsmeade?" Harry suggested.

"Let's do it," said Ron, smiling.

They both quickly ate their breakfast, and Harry rushed back to get his Firebolt, meeting Ron at the Quidditch pitch.

They flew around for at least half an hour, Harry shot a few Quaffles at the goal, but it turned out he was not a very good Chaser. Ron's new Nimbus turned out to be a superb broom. As he dived to save the goals, Harry was reminded of Krum at the Quidditch World Cup, so graceful it looked as though he was not even using a broomstick, and that he was just floating by his own means. The new broomstick and the prospect of playing Quidditch for Gryffindor in less than a month seemed to give Ron something to take his mind off of Hermione.

"Come on Harry," Ron joked. "Can't you do any better than that?"

"Watch it Weasley," Harry laughed. "Or I just might kick you off this team."

"Oo, stressed," Ron chuckled as he saved another of Harry's feeble shots.

"Oh, damn," said Harry, checking his watch. "Time to go to Hogsmeade."

"Yeah, you're just mad that I'm kickin' your butt," said Ron, flying back to the ground.

"Get a Snitch out here and see who kicks whose butt then!" Harry said, going into a fast dive to the ground.

"Show off," Ron said, playfully hitting Harry on the shoulder.

They reached the gates just in time to catch the carriages that would take them to the village. Harry and Ron shared a carriage with Seamus and Dean, and Harry saw Hermione getting into one with Lavender and Parvati.

As they left the school grounds, Harry saw two Dementors guarding the gates, and felt the terrible coldness sweep over him. He closed his eyes and sank back in his seat. When the wave of misery had passed, Harry opened his eyes again and saw Hogsmeade coming into view.

The village was as magical as ever. People roamed the streets, and there were plenty of strange looking people, like hags.

All of the shops were packed with Hogwarts students, especially Honeydukes, the sweet shop.

"Look! They've got a new kind of sweet!" said Ron as soon as they walked though the door. "A Drumstick."

"Ron those aren't new," Harry said. "Muggles have had those for ages."

Ron went up to where a lady was giving out free samples and tried one.

"Mmm, they're really chewy. I like them!"

Harry laughed, and took one of the lollipops for himself.

They went into the Three Broomsticks for a Butterbeer, and saw Hermione sitting at a table with Parvati and Lavender. Harry thought she was not staying true to her word about staying friends with Ron.

"What's Hermione doing over there?" Harry asked, putting on a casual voice, sitting at a table.

Ron sighed again. "I don't know."

"Do you think we should talk to her?" he suggested.

"You can," Ron huffed.

"Oh come on! I thought you said that you would still be friends!" As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Harry realised what he had said. He was so frustrated that his two best friends would not work things out, he had not thought about what he was saying.

"You heard us! You were spying on us!" Ron roared, and it suddenly struck Harry how much bigger Ron was.

"It was a accident," he defended, feeling he should tell his best friend everything. "I was sneaking out to duel with Malfoy, and when I came back you were there. I didn't mean to hear you, and as soon as I heard you say... you know, I went upstairs."

"I don't believe you Harry! You heard!" Ron did not seem to have taken in a word Harry had said.

"It was an accident," Harry repeated. "But I hope you two will be OK."

"Oh how thoughtful of you!" Ron thundered.

"Look Ron, I know what it's like to--"

"To what? To fall in love and be rejected? You think this is the same thing as you and Cho?"

"No I'm not saying that, but I want you two to be happy."

"Well I'm sorry Harry, but that won't happen. She's happy with Krum, and I'm broken up inside," Ron put his head down on the table, and Harry did not know what to do.

"I'm sorry Ron," Harry whispered.

"Everyone says they're sorry. But no one really cares."

"I do care," Harry said, looking over at Hermione, who did not look like she was having fun at her table.

"Yeah right. How can I trust you? You weren't even going to tell me you heard us last night, were you?"

"No, I thought it was best. I thought you would be embarrassed."

"Really," was all Ron said.

"I want to help Ron," Harry said, placing his hand on Ron's shoulder.

"You can't help me. No one can help me. I love her, she doesn't love me. That's all there is to it."

"I wish I could just --"

"Just what? Make her feel the same way. It doesn't work like that." He knocked Harry's hand off of his shoulder.

Harry looked at his best friend, his head on the table. He looked so alone.

"Just go Harry," he said. Harry did not move.

"I said go!"

Harry got up, with a last look at Ron. He went up to Hermione to apologise, feeling it was better to admit he had heard than go through what had just happened with Ron again.

"Hi Harry," she said cheerfully when she saw him, as though she were glad that he had rescued her from Parvati and Lavender.

"Hi," Harry said solemnly.

"What's wrong?" she asked, and the other girls looked at him curiously.

"Can I talk to you in private?" he asked.

"Sure." They both got up and sat at a table far in the corner, and Harry was careful not to choose a table that had a clear view of Ron's pathetic form.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"It's Ron," he said at Hermione's eyes went wide and darted to the sides.

"What about him?"

"He's not speaking to me. He's angry with me because of something that happened last night."

"He told you about that?" she asked, looking around for him.

"No, I heard. It was an accident. I was duelling with Malfoy and--"

"You were listening!" she screamed, and the people at nearby tables looked at them.

"It was an accident, and Ron found out and he got really mad and I thought I should tell you I heard so you don't feel the same way."

"So you just come up to me and say you heard Ron tell me he loved me and I told him I didn't. That's better? To be honest, I would feel better if you hadn't told me."

"What?" Harry said.

"Yes, because you thought it would make you feel better to come clean. Now you feel better, I feel worse."

"But Hermione I--"

"And you told Ron before you told me? You could have told us together. But no, you tell Ron, he's your best friend and I just tag along."

"No! I didn't mean to tell Ron first, it just slipped out. I wasn't going to tell you, really."

"You weren't even going to tell me? You were just going to stay quiet."

"But you just said--"

Hermione raised her hand, and her face was red. Harry flinched, afraid she would slap him. But she seemed to have stopped herself.

"I'm sorry Hermione," he said.

"Grr! I can't even look at you Harry Potter!"

She got up from the table and stormed out. Harry sat alone.

"What just happened here?" he said aloud.

Harry walked around Hogsmeade, watching all the Hogwarts students with their friends. He walked further than he normally went, until he reached the part of the village filled with houses, where the people lived.

He walked up a steep hill, reaching the edge of Hogsmeade. Harry looked at the mountains of Hogwarts, thinking. He was alone. Ron and Hermione had both left him. Hagrid had gone, Hedwig had gone, neither of them had been seen by anyone in months.

After staring at the mountains for a while, Harry started to walk around again. He saw Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle walk out of Honeydukes. Even a git like Malfoy had friends, Harry thought.

"Harry!" he heard a voice shout to him.

Harry spun around, it was Colin Creevey. He was standing outside Dervish and Banges, waving at him.

"Hi Colin," Harry replied gloomily.

"Where are Ron and Hermione?" Colin asked, looking around.

"Uh, nowhere," Harry said, not wanting to share the information about their falling out.

"Oh, well, would you like to come around with me?" Colin said hopefully.

"Thanks Colin, but I just want to be on my own for a while."

"OK, I'll see you around," Colin said, before walking away in the direction of the Shrieking Shack.

Harry continued his march around Hogsmeade, not sure what he was looking for. He checked his watch, they did not have to leave for the castle for another two hours.

Just then, a loud noise made Harry almost jump out of his skin. It sounded like a howl. Harry looked around for the source of the noise, and heard it again. It was fierce and very animal-like.

The howling seemed to be moving closer, much closer. Harry saw some of the crowd of people parting, and a giant creature was rushing through the gap.

"Snuffles!" Harry said, unable to keep the joy out of his voice.

The huge bear sized dog reached Harry, and put its front legs up on Harry's chest and began panting. Harry scratched him behind the ear, and the dog bounded up the rocky hill that Harry remembered.

Harry followed the dog for what seemed like half an hour. The dog was much faster than he was, not to mention a far better climber. Finally, they reached the narrow fissure in the rock face, where they both squeezed in. The dog sniffed around the cave for a while, before coming to stand in front of Harry again.

"I think it's OK Snuffles," Harry said to it.

The dog nodded its head, and transformed into a man.

"Hello Harry," said his godfather.

"Sirius," Harry replied, his excitement diminished as he thought again if his friends. "How are you?"

"Can't complain really," Sirius replied.

"Are you living in this cave again?" Harry asked momentarily distracted from his problems when he looked around the dank chamber.

"No, I've been staying with Remus, I need to lie low. I came back here a few days ago because Dumbledore called me there. He wants me to do a little job for him."

"To do with Voldemort?" Harry asked.

Sirius nodded. "Can't really tell you what it is though. I'll probably get started on it today, it's quite important."

"At least you're keeping busy," Harry sighed.

"Is something wrong Harry?" Sirius asked, parental worry in his face.

"No I'm just -- yes, yes something is wrong," Harry admitted.

"What is it? Has something happened? Has your scar been hurting you again?"

"No, my scar hasn't hurt in months. It's something else. I've had a bit of a falling out with Ron and Hermione," he explained.

"Well that's nothing Harry," said Sirius, smiling. "We all go through that sometimes. I remember your dad and I got into a huge argument in the middle of the Great Hall once."

"Really? What happened?" Harry was keen to hear stories about his dad at school.

"It was just after that fiasco with Snape and Remus in the Shrieking Shack."

Harry nodded, Sirius had once sent Snape to Lupin during a full moon in their fifth year. His dad had pulled him back and saved Snape's life.

"Well your dad said that I shouldn't have done that, that I was out of line, even if it was Snape," Sirius finished.

"Yes well that was wrong Sirius," Harry said.

"You think so? Is there anyone at Hogwarts that you would consider sending to a werewolf?" he asked.

"Maybe Snape," Harry said, which got a big laugh from Sirius. "Or Draco Malfoy."

Sirius instantly stopped laughing.

"Malfoy? Lucius Malfoy's son?"

"Yeah, d'you know him?" Harry asked, interested.

"Of course I know Malfoy. You know that your dad, Remus, me and Pettigrew had our little gang?"

"Obviously," Harry said. "But that still doesn't tell me how you know Lucius Malfoy?"

"Well as you also know, none of us really liked Snape. But Snape had a little gang of his own. A group of Slytherins, every one of which I'd bet my life became a Death Eater. There was Avery, Rosier, the Lestranges, Wilkes, and the leader of them all, was none other than Mister Lucius Malfoy."

"Snape used to be friends with Malfoy? Wow," Harry said.

"Yeah, they were in the same year, shared a dormitory for seven years."

"Really? That could be why Snape favours Draco so much then," Harry said thoughtfully.

"Anyway, why are we talking about Slytherin friendships?" Sirius said in a loud voice. "We were talking about you, Ron and Hermione. What happened between you?"

"Well, apparently Ron's been in love with Hermione for ages. He finally admitted to her how he felt, and she said she didn't feel the same way. She's going out with Viktor Krum, the famous Seeker."

"Alright, I see why they're avoiding each other, but why are they mad at you?" Sirius asked.

"I accidentally overheard their conversation, and I told them and Ron thought I was eavesdropping, and Hermione thought -- I have no idea what she thought but she was angry."

After a long silence, Sirius responded only with:

"Ah."

"Ah?" Harry repeated. "Aren't you supposed to give me some godfatherly advice or something?"

"Well Harry, when you have a group of close friends, and one falls in love with another, it can be very hard for everyone concerned, especially the person caught in the middle."

"Thanks, problem solved," said Harry sarcastically.

"I'm not done," Sirius replied. "Your mum and dad were very good friends before they started going out. At first, they would not admit to anyone how they felt, even though it was painfully obvious that James had a thing for Lily. When they finally got together, we were all very happy for them. They actually broke up for a while in seventh year, and the rest of us were forced to take sides --"

"What?" Harry interrupted. "They broke up? Why?"

"Oh," Sirius laughed. "It was so stupid. James and the rest of us had been using the Invisibility Cloak and working on the Marauder's Map for years, and we kept it a secret from Lily.

"Eventually the Map was confiscated by McGonagall and handed over to Filch. Then the whole story came out. Lily was so angry with James for not telling her about any of it, and they broke up. I think they were apart for about a month."

"How did they get back together?"

Sirius laughed again.

"It was Peter's idea actually. I suppose we have to thank him for that. He told Remus and I to lock them both in the dungeon and wouldn't let them out until they spoke to each other. By the time they were out, they were a couple again."

"Great story. So you're saying I should lock up Ron and Hermione?" Harry said, laughing himself.

"No, that worked for us, but your situation sounds a tad more complicated than ours. For starters, neither of them are talking to you, they're hardly going to blindly follow you into a dungeon. Secondly, Hermione has a boyfriend, Ron can't do anything as long as she's with this Krum guy."

"Oh yeah," Harry said gloomily.

"I think that you should try to make up with them before you try playing matchmaker," said Sirius, a wise note in his voice.

"Yeah, I suppose you're -- ah!"

Harry suddenly stopped speaking, a strange sensation had just happened in his throat, and his voice had turned into a crackling, gurgling noise. He tried to speak again, but he couldn't. Harry spluttered around for a good few minutes (with Sirius laughing himself silly the whole time) before he could speak again. When he did talk, he realised his voice was much lower than it was before.

"My voice has broken!" Harry said, his voice crackling and changing, making him sound very stupid.

"Yeah, I guessed that," Sirius said, still laughing a little bit. "Congratulations! Harry Potter is becoming a man! As soon as you start getting facial hair, you'll be all grown up!"

"Sirius!" Harry was suddenly reminded of how his Aunt Petunia used to fuss over Dudley, and how Dudley had usually protested (unless he was getting a reward of some kind).

"Sing a song!" Sirius suddenly declared. "Let me hear your new tenor voice."

"No way!" Harry felt himself go red.

"I remember when your dad's voice broke. He was only eleven. It was on the first day of Hogwarts as well. We were all singing the school song, and it happened. Of course, over the noise of everyone singing, I don't think anyone noticed."

Harry laughed, grateful for being able do hear stories about his dad from his dad's best friend.

"Thanks for telling me all this Sirius," he said.

Sirius started to chuckle, not as much as he was before.

"You're a good kid Harry. I mean, a good man."

"Thanks Sirius. I think I should be getting back now," said Harry, checking his watch.

"Right, I'll come with you. I want to try and nick a newspaper. I like to keep up with what's going on in the wizarding world."

He transformed back into the great black dog, and led the way out of the cave.

When they reached the village, there were a lot less people, most of them had probably made their way back to the carriages, Harry thought.

They walked past all of the houses on their way back. Harry saw what looked like a hag put her garbage out. They got back to the main part of Hogsmeade, and Harry saw the dog turn his head in the direction of an old man standing outside of a small restaurant, throwing out a copy of the Daily Prophet.

The dog ran towards him, and the old man spotted him. His eyes widened and he ran away from the dog, screaming: "Nice doggy! Nice doggy! Don't hurt me!"

An old woman appeared from the door to the restaurant, holding what looked like a bowl full of soup. She watched the man running away and yelled: "Earl! What are you doing?"

Earl stopped running, and pointed to the dog, who had not moved an inch since he had been screamed at.

"Is that it?" said the lady. "It's a dog, he's not going to kill you. He looks so loveable. Aren't you? Aren't you my little doggy woggy? Are you a little cutesy poo?"

Harry watched, thinking of how Mrs Figg would talk to her cats, is if they were toddlers. It made Harry feel genuinely sorry for the animal when it was talked to like that. Sirius on the other hand, seemed to be enjoying the attention. He was wagging his tail, and panting.

"Are you mad woman?" Earl shouted at her. "It's a huge, mangy, stray dog. He's probably carrying disease! Get it away from here!"

"Oh come on," she said. "He looks fine to me."

"Well if you won't do anything then I will!" the old man declared, taking out his wand and brandishing it in the dog's face.

The dog quickly moved out of the way, while the man sent a shower of sparks from his wand. The man aimed his wand again, but Sirius was too fast. The third time that Earl attacked the dog, he did it with much less warning, and Sirius dived in a random direction away from the curse. But he jumped straight into the old woman, who dropped her big bowl of soup, and the soup itself poured out, landing on the dog.

The dog yelped in pain while it was scolded by the boiling hot mixture. Eventually, his howling turned into a human cry, and slowly, he turned into man.

"Ahh!" screamed the woman. "It's Sirius Black!"