If In The Future

July 9

At about five in the morning, we arrived at Hogwarts by Floo powder. Dumbledore met us in the Great Hall.

"The protection spells on the school have not been performed in about a year," he said, handing me the Marauder's Map and a list of passwords, "and I expect that their potency has faded somewhat. All entrances to the school should be protected especially. Sirius, I have something for you."

He handed Sirius an oblong package wrapped in brown paper and tied with red string. Sirius opened it - it was a new wand.

"Fifteen inches, birch, dragon heartstrings," said Dumbledore. "I tried to get it as close to your old wand as possible, but I believe you'll find that this one has a bit more power."

"Thank you, sir," said Sirius, examining the wand.

"And now I'll leave you two to your work...it should take most of the day. If you need me I'll be in my study." He turned and left, his azure cloak trailing behind him.

The second the door closed behind him, we heard a cackling from overhead. "Criminals in the school," said a taunting voice. We looked up and saw Peeves sitting on the chandelier. "Ought to tell the Ministry, I should...maybe you've cast a spell on Dumbledore into thinking you're innocent...ought to tell, for everyone's own good..."

"Shut up, Peeves," Sirius yawned.

"And werewolves too...that could make a bit of a scandal..."

"Oh, leave them alone, Peeves," said another voice from behind us. We turned around to see the Fat Friar floating above the Hufflepuff table. "Do you want me to get the Bloody Baron?"

Peeves turned even more pale than his typical ghostly shade. "Just having a bit of fun, Friar...no need to disturb His Bloodiness...I'll be off now..." And he exited out the window, cursing under his breath.

"Thanks," I said to the Friar.

"You're welcome. You two were always some of my favorite students in your time, even if you were Gryffindors."

"Why Dumbledore lets that thing stay is beyond me," said Sirius.

"Well, you know how he is, always wanted to give second chances. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be off...we're celebrating the Grey Lady's deathday today."

Putting protection spells on a school the size of Hogwarts is more grueling work than you'd think. Every little crevice has to be perfectly safe. It took us an hour to complete the Great Hall.

After that we did more work on the first floor. After finishing Professor Binns's classroom, there was only one room left. Sirius groaned.

"What?"

"We've got to do Moaning Myrtle's bathroom."

"Come on, she isn't so bad."

"Remember when she had one of her crying fits over the Map? It took us a week to repair it."

"And then she started crying again when you told her off..."

Hesitantly, we entered the bathroom. Myrtle was sitting on one of the sinks, looking gloomy. "Hello, you two," she said. "Come to yell at me again?"

"Hello Myrtle," I said. "Why aren't you at the Grey Lady's deathday party?"

Myrtle let out a terrible wail and buried her head in her arms. Sirius and I glanced at each other nervously.

"I actually was invited, surprisingly," she sobbed, "but then Peeves convinced her I shouldn't be allowed to come."

"And why is that?" asked Sirius gently.

"Because at the Fat Friar's deathday party last winter, I made a lot of the guests so uncomfortable with all my wailing that they left early. It wasn't my fault...the Bloody Baron said some horrible things to me...and now you've come to yell at me again!"

"No we haven't," I said, "we've come to put protection spells on the school. Come on, Myrtle, it's all right, stop crying."

"Darling, asking her to stop crying is like asking Snape to wash his hair," said Sirius. "We can all hope, but it'll never happen."

Myrtle had looked up at the word "darling". "You two...you wouldn't happen to be...lovers, would you?"

"Yes, actually, we are," said Sirius.

Myrtle actually smiled. "Nearly Headless Nick owes me twenty Galleons...excuse me..." And she practically skipped out of the bathroom.

~~*~~

After the first floor was finished, we decided to do the House towers next and then break for lunch. Gryffindor was first. Unfortunately, the Fat Lady screamed at the sight of Sirius.

"It's all right, he's not going to hurt you!" I said.

"No, I'm not," said Sirius. "I'm terribly sorry that I had to threaten you before, but you wouldn't let me in, and it was urgent..."

"So you decided to traumatize me for life?!"

A head popped into the picture from the left side of the frame. "It's all right, he's here on Dumbledore's orders!" said the head, which belonged to a young woman.

"Are you sure, Violet?"

"Yes, I'm sure, it's all right, you can trust him."

"I've got the password this time too," said Sirius. "Aslan."

Reluctantly, the Fat Lady let us in.

The Gryffindor common room is surprisingly unchanged. They got new carpeting (ours was gold and now it's red) and some new banners, but the couch where I snogged with Amoria Wist is still there, as is the table the Marauders and Lily claimed as theirs. I walked over to it slowly and looked on the top. "JP+LE" read the graffiti. "Snape is a tosser." "Montrose Magpies Rule" "No they don't, Sirius, Puddlemere United does." "Shut up James" "Lucius Malfoy waxes his eyebrows."

Sirius came up from behind me and read over my shoulder. "I'm going to do something I've wanted to do for years," he said. He took a knife out of his pocket and carved "RL+SB" next to the "JP+LE".

After we had performed all the necessary spells on the Common Room, we headed up to the dormitories. "Hey, here's our old one," said Sirius of the door that read "Fifth Years" on it.

"This is Harry's now too," I said, noting the sign. Hesitantly, I opened the door.

The wardrobes are new and there's one additional bed, but it's almost as unchanged as the common room. The beds are the same, and the window still looks like it does that day where Sirius hovered outside of it on the flying motorcycle.

I walked over to my old bed by the window and sat down on it. The familiar feel of it made me feel like I was a boy again for a moment. "I wonder who's got this bed now," I thought out loud.

"Neville Longbottom," said Sirius, pointing to a small "Neville" carved into the headboard.

From the Chudley Cannons pennant above Sirius's old bed, we could tell that it now belonged to Ron Weasley. Peter's bed is now Dean Thomas's, and Harry has the bed that used to belong to James. "We'll have to tell him that," I said. Seamus Finnigan has the new bed.

Sirius flopped down on his old bed. "God, this brings back so many memories," he said. "Do you remember our first night here, when your bed broke and you shared with me?"

"Yes," I said, lying down next to him and placing my head on his heartbeat.

We lay there for about an hour, eyes closed, breathing slowly and remembering.