Harry Potter : In the shadow of divinity42.86%

Chapter - 36 : The Associates' Whisperings part - 2

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(P).(A).(T).(R).(E).(O).(N)

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"I reckon you didn't know Sirius Black was your godfather, did you?"

Harry shook his head impatiently.

"Yes, apparently he and your father were the best of friends while in Hogwarts, along with two other men by the name of Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. When you were born he was granted the title of godfather," Draco explained. "As everyone knows, a few months after your birth, You-Know-Who suddenly got it into his head that your parents were his next target, so they packed up and all three of you went into hiding under the Fidelius; an extremely difficult spell that hides the secret of a person's location in a single person, a Secret Keeper. Basically that means that You-Know-Who could have had his nose pressed against your window, but he wouldn't have even seen it unless the Secret Keeper told him where it was. Black was made the Secret Keeper, at least that's what everybody thought.

"According to my father and company, Peter Pettigrew, somehow ended up as Secret Keeper and gave your parents' location to You-Know-Who. Not even a day after their murder, Black was arrested for murdering thirteen people, twelve muggles and one wizard. That one wizard being Peter Pettigrew. But the odd thing is, all the bodies were accounted for except Pettigrew's; all that could be found of him was a small smattering of blood and an index finger. Of course, no one found that strange, they figured Pettigrew took the full force of Black's blast and was blasted into little specks of dust because of it," the blonde snorted, showing just how ridiculous he found the notion to be. "Black was arrested for the murders and carted off to Azkaban without a trial."

"Is that legal?" Hermione asked.

Draco shrugged. "Probably not, but at the time the wizarding world was at war, laws didn't apply to Death Eater's."

"Why is it I'm always the last to know these sort of things?" Harry exclaimed. "It would have been nice to know that the supposed mass murder roaming the streets was my godfather. Honestly." He sighed in exasperation. "Say what you heard is correct and Black really is innocent, what does that mean for us?"

Ron was the one to respond with a tone that conveyed that he thought the answer should be obvious. "Well we're going to help the poor bloke out, obviously."

Unfortunately, the chance to help the maybe innocent convict was not as forthcoming as the group of friends had hoped. Months passed and no one saw neither hide nor hair of Sirius Black. The first sighting of him wasn't until Halloween.

It was after the Halloween feast, Harry, Blaise, and Draco had only just settled down in the common room when Snape came sweeping in and herded everyone back to the hall without a single explanation.

"The teachers and I need to conduct a thorough search of the castle," Professor Dumbledore told the confused students as Professors McGonagall and Flitwick closed all doors into the hall. "I'm afraid that, for your own safety, you will have to spend the night here. I want the prefects to stand guard over the entrances to the hall and I am leaving the Head Boy and Girl in charge. Any disturbance should be reported to me immediately," he added to Percy, who was looking immensely proud and important. "Send word with one of the ghosts."

Professor Dumbledore paused, about to leave the hall, and said, "Oh, yes, you'll be needing…"

One casual wave of his wand and the long tables flew to the edges of the hall and stood themselves against the walls; another wave, and the floor was covered with hundreds of squashy purple sleeping bags. "Sleep well."

Immediately, Harry, Blaise, and Draco hunted down their Ravenclaw and Gryffindor friends and quickly pulled six sleeping bags into a fairly secluded corner. As it turned out, Hermione, like the three Slytherins, had no idea what was going on, it was Ron and Neville who had all of the information.

"It was Black," Neville told them. "Apparently he tried to get into the Gryffindor common room, but when the Fat Lady, the woman who guards the entrance, wouldn't let him in he went berserk and just started hacking away at her with a knife. We weren't there when it happened, but Peeves saw everything and told Dumbledore what he saw."

"This doesn't make any sense," Hermione said. "Why would Black be going to Gryffindor tower when Harry's a Slytherin?"

"Maybe he didn't know," Ron suggested. "Maybe he figured he'd be Gryffindor, like his mum and dad."

"Any sane person would know to do some research on their target before just barreling in," the Ravenclaw refuted.

"Well, maybe that just it," Harry said, "Black's spent twelve years in Azkaban, chances are he's not very sane."

"Scabbers is missing." Ron moaned, squeezing in between Neville and Hermione at the Slytherin table.

Everyone but the redhead's fellow Gryffindor looked at him with confusion. "Who?" Harry asked.

"His rat," Neville said, sympathetically patting Ron on the shoulder. "Had him since first year."

Harry vaguely recalled being introduced to the fat gray rat on his first ever ride on the Hogwart's Express, the memory also reminded him of the other Gryffindor's toad. "Hey Neville, whatever happened to your toad, Trevor? I haven't seen him around in a while."

"He escaped into the lake," Neville shrugged, he didn't look too upset about that.

"You had a toad, Longbottom?" Draco laughed.

"He was a gift, from my uncle."

"That was how we met him." Harry nudged his friends shoulder "He came into Ron and my compartment looking for his lost toad,"

"Harry found him under the seat and mistook him for his wayward chocolate frog."

"Oi!" Ron cried indignantly. "We were talkingabout Scabbers, we should be lamenting his loss, putting together search parties, not reminiscing on the good old days."

"Big words, Ron," Hermione teased, which earned her a scathing look from the redhead.

"I don't see why you're so worked up about it," Neville said. "All you ever did was complain about how fat and useless he was."

"He's been in the family for a long time," Ron said petulantly.

"Maybe, like Trevor, it was his time to go," Harry said mock solemnly.

"You make it sound like they're dead!"