13

"Harry, I'm sorry about my dad, he was really rude back there," Cedric had hung back as they made their way across the fields and was currently walking next to Harry with a sheepish look on his face.

"Don't worry about it, mate, he said it, not you so you don't need to apologise," Harry replied, smiling crookedly up at the older boy, "Besides, everyone knows you asked for a rematch for that game, so no hard feelings, yeah?"

"Cheers, Harry," Cedric was visibly relieved and a smile crept onto his face as he looked down at Harry, "Anyway, you've changed since I last saw you." Harry laughed at that, knowing that it was the understatement of the century.

"Yeah, thought it was about time I shed the 'Golden Boy' image. Besides, Pads is a really bad influence."

"Pads?"

"Oh, yeah, Sirius. Pads is just a nickname," Harry backpedalled quickly, realising his mistake.

"You know what?" Cedric asked, grinning disarmingly, "I'm not even going to ask." Harry chuckled, slightly taken aback by the dazzle of the older boy's smile. Now he knew why almost all the girls he knew (along with a few of the boys) fancied Cedric.

"Good idea," ahead, the rest of the group had reached a cottage and Cedric's father was saying goodbye to Mr Weasley and a still annoyed Sirius, "I'll see you around then, yeah? You'll have to drop by the tent later on if you have a minute," Harry said as they caught up to everyone else.

"Sure thing, mate," Cedric called, jogging the last few metres towards his father, "See you later!" Harry saluted in his vague direction, already being distracted by Mr Weasley's attempt to use muggle money.

"Arthur, why don't you go and get us some water and stuff while I put up the tents?" Sirius suggested kindly, after they had watched the man struggle for at least half an hour. The redheaded father had taken so long in his attempt to act like a muggle that Percy, Charlie and Bill had already arrived expecting to find a fully completed campsite, but instead arriving to a mess of tent pegs and poles.

"Yes, yes, perhaps Harry and Hermione could help you," a flustered Arthur said, oblivious to the amusement his children and guests had been getting from his efforts. Arthur carefully stepped out of the circle of tent parts that he had built around himself and headed off in the direction of the water pump, mumbling to himself about the ingenuity of muggles. Sirius and Harry waited until he had wandered out of sight before turning to each other with identical grins on their faces.

"Magic?" Harry asked, a slight pleading not to his voice the only indication that he had no idea how to put up a tent, despite his muggle upbringing.

"Hell yes," Sirius replied, snapping his wand from the holster on his arm into his hand and beginning to brandish it about like a conductor's baton. Within minutes the tents were up and the fire was lit with sausages and bacon cooking on a grill above it. Neville and Ginny sat nearby buttering bread and looking after the meat. Around the fire, Sirius had conjured a ring of armchairs and sofas, which everyone immediately took seats on, exhausted as most of them were after such an early morning.

"Shouldn't we have deckchairs or something?" Hermione asked as sunk into an armchair, "I mean most muggles don't bring sofas with them when they go camping," she clarified when all of the purebloods looked at her questioningly. Percy pursed his lips for a second and opened his mouth to speak, but Harry sensed a lecture and cut the older boy off before he could even start.

"Yeah, but deckchairs are shit, Hermione. Besides the only muggles around here have been obliviated so many times that it's a miracle they can still remember their own names," he said, frowning as he thought of the last part, "is obliviating muggles just so we can play a sport even legal, Pads? It's not very fucking ethical, is it?"

"Since when was anything the ministry did ethical?" Sirius countered bitterly from where he was lounging across a sofa. Percy puffed up, offended.

"I assure you that everything the ministry does is-" he began in an irritated tone.

"Innocent man thrown into prison for thirteen years with no trial. 'Nuff said, mate," Sirius said with a slight grin as the pompous look fell from Percy's face.

"Anyway," Harry said after a lengthy pause in which everyone quietly ate their food and tried not to laugh at the crestfallen expression Percy was sporting, though both Bill and Charlie couldn't help but let a hastily smothered snigger through, "Chuck us a beer, Pads."

"Get it yourself, you lazy bitch," was the reply, which had most everyone laughing, though Neville, Hermione and Percy donned, in order, shocked, disapproving and disgusted expressions.

"I'll get them," Bill said, fending off the battle of wills that he knew would ensue if it was left to Harry and Sirius- both of them was as stubborn as the other, and so nobody would end up getting a beer at all.

"It's in my backpack," Harry called to Bill who was disappearing into one of the tents just as Mr Weasley came into view precariously carrying several buckets and pans of water.

"Hey dad," Charlie said, standing up from his armchair and taking one of the buckets of water from his father, "I'll make you some tea, you grab something to eat before Ron has it all." Ron at least had the grace to look offended for a second before he turned his attention back to his bacon sandwich. Hermione grinned slightly at her hopeless friend and slipped another couple of sausages onto his plate.

"Thanks, son," Arthur said, falling into one end of an empty sofa. Bill chose that moment to come out of the tent with a crate of muggle beer, causing a frown to form on his father's forehead as the older man thought of what his wife would say.

"Now, boys," he started before Harry cut in.

"It's a muggle camping tradition," he said, grabbing the can that Bill held out for him and taking a large gulp.

"Yes, but even still-" this time it was Sirius who cut him off, and Arthur had to wonder if he would ever get a proper sentence out, with the two of them ganging up on him.

"Oh, let them have one, Arthur. Most of them are old enough, and I'm sure Neville's gran wouldn't mind," actually, Sirius was fairly sure that Augusta would mind very much, but as she would never find out it hardly mattered, "And we won't tell Molly, promise." The ex-convict grinned roguishly and Arthur conceded, hoping that his wife would indeed stay in the dark.

"Only one though, boys," he warned the twins and Ron, chuckling as Ginny took a sip of the muggle alcohol and promptly spat it back out again.

"People drink this?"

The afternoon passed quickly in a flurry of visitors. Lee Jordan stopped by to see Fred and George, and Cedric was good to his promise and came by, though he left his father behind much to everyone's relief. Several ministry employers stopped by to see Arthur, but they all seemed to have other places to be when they saw that the now innocent Sirius Black was nearby. Sirius was getting a lot of attention from everyone, which confused him no end until late afternoon, when Hermione finally explained.

"Honestly, you're on the front cover of every magazine and newspaper out there, and you wonder why everyone wants to catch a glimpse of you?" she had asked, exasperated. How somebody who had done so well in school could be so dumb sometimes always amazed her.

"Wait, I'm... what? I'm on all the magazines and shit?" Sirius had asked, dumfounded.

"Well, yeah," Charlie had answered, "I mean a few have Harry on them as well, but you're always there with him. How do you not know this? Did you not wonder why your sudden innocence had not caused a bigger fuss?" Sirius had scratched his head, looking sheepish.

"I guess I didn't really think about it. Me and Harry have pretty much spent all our time either at Grimmauld or in muggle pubs, so nobody recognised me anyway," he had said, "talking of being recognised, I still have no idea how Malfoy managed to know I was with you, Harry." His godson took a drag of his cigarette (causing Hermione to wrinkle up her nose in distaste) before answering.

"Malfoy," Harry said in a matter of fact way.

"Yes, how did Malfoy find out," Sirius repeated, glaring over at Harry, "honestly, are you really as dumb as you look?"

"No, you sod, Malfoy junior. Fucking Draco," Harry had said with obvious distaste for the boy, "he saw us that day at the butchers, remember? You were Padfoot, of course, but he must have known somehow. Why is it that he always manages to find a way to try and fuck things up for me?"

"Cos he's a git, of course," Ron replied, just as Ginny said:

"Wait, Malfoy was at the butchers?"

The rest of the evening, match included, passed as a blur. Harry had gotten a kick out of finding out that he and Sirius had taken Lucius Malfoy and family's Top Box seats from them, owing to the fact that the ministry were still terrified that Sirius would sue them for his false incarceration. The match itself had been amazing, and Harry had found himself coming out of it with a new determination to play against Krum one day. It didn't matter if he lost, he just wanted the experience. When they got back to their tents Arthur had told them all to go to sleep, but Harry had protested and Sirius had agreed with him. They were all far too worked up to go to sleep, and so a mini after-Quidditch party ensued.

It was halfway through this party that shouts and screams could be heard from outside. Most of the kids assumed it was just drunks, but the two adults who had been in the first war knew differently. Arthur and Sirius exchanged glances and dashed out of the tent, only to reappear a minute later with shocked expressions on their faces.

"There's a riot, Death Eaters are here. Boys, get to the woods, look after Ginny," Arthur snapped. Fred and George immediately stepped forward to flank Ginny whilst Bill, Charlie and Percy looked towards their father.

"We're coming with you, dad," Charlie said, pulling his wand out of his pocket as though to prove that he was serious.

"Fine, but the rest of you, go! And stay together!" Arthur said, frantically trying to get his younger children to safety. Fred grabbed Ginny's hand and dragged her from the tent, George following. Ron, Hermione and Neville left a second later, but Harry stayed behind, a wild look on his face and his wand in his hand.

"Let's go then. I haven't had a good fight in a while," he said, before running out of the door, following the screams and disappearing into the night.