Chapter -38 : Track

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Harry laughed. He laughed and laughed and laughed.

"Harry!" Hermione squawked as Harry collapsed onto the bench next to her. "This is serious!"

"No! He's Sirius!" Harry gasped the tired old joke even as he wiped tears – they were from laughing so hard, damn it, and nothing else – and gasped for breath.

Hermione frowned. "Harry! He's an incredibly powerful and possibly evil wizard!" She waved the newspaper under Harry's nose. "They think he's coming after you Harry!"

Harry was still laughing because, thank God, Sirius was really alive and actually okay and that was completely different from just sort of academically knowing that Sirius existed somewhere. He was going to see Sirius soon! How much different would it be to actually see Sirius again?

"See? It says here that Sirius Black got a mailer from an unknown party then started talking in his sleep about you being at Hogwarts!"

"A troll, the best prank war ever, and an escape from Azkaban!" Ron enthused messily around a mouthful of eggs to Hermione. "Hogwarts is so much more exciting than the Burrow!"

"Mmmm, can I see the paper?" Harry asked Ron as he plopped into a seat next to the redhead.

Ron ignored him.

Harry sighed. As he helped his plate, he directed his attention to an anxious-looking Hermione.

"Hermione did Rita Skeeter print my interview?"

"In the morning and evening editions!" she said, her expression obviously brightening. She straightened her shoulders and leaned across the table toward Harry. "She said that since he wasn't supposed to still be waiting for a trial, who could blame him for getting impatient and escaping?"

"He's lucky he got out when he did" Harry said darkly as he swallowed a mouthful of cereal. "Fudge would've had him Kissed rather than suffering any sort of scandal."

His three friends gasped. Ron's ears reddened and he ducked behind his newspaper again. Neville and Hermione just stared at Harry, horrified.

"He wouldn't!" Hermione gasped. "That's wrong!"

"Why not? If you don't care about how wrong it is to deny a man a trial that he's entitled to by law then why would you care about breaking a few laws and having that same man Kissed before he can say anything embarrassing about you?"

Neville shivered. He looked completely willing to believe Harry about Fudge.

'He knows the Wizarding World can be senselessly cruel' Harry thought as he watched Hermione's eyes narrow. 'Then again his relatives tossed him out of a window just to see if he had any magic.'

"It isn't right. People just don't do things like that."

"Believe what you will, Hermione."

From that moment on like everyone else Harry's attention was split between the numerous Sirius Black sightings and looking forward to the beginning of the quidditch season. Harry was nearly vibrating with his anticipation. Maybe Sirius would make it for his first game!

Harry took out a subscription in the Daily Prophet purely to keep track of the Sirius Black sightings. He religiously read it cover to cover. Of course there were the strange crackpot sightings but Harry knew his godfather well enough to spot some of the true sightings for what they were. Slowly but steadily Sirius Black was making his way towards Hogwarts!

Unfortunately, Harry was not the only one to arrive at that conclusion. Just like in the original timeline, Fudge sent the Dementors to guard the school. Harry tried to avoid the edges of the school grounds and tried to force himself to believe that Sirius was too clever to be caught by them. His subconscious, however, was not so easily persuaded. Harry's regular nightmares began to melt into new ones of a Kissed Barty Crouch Jr. who then turned into a Kissed Sirius Black.

It was the Tuesday before Harry's second run at his first quidditch game when Ron next spoke with Harry. He was frowning at yet another picture of a crying Peter Pettigrew on the cover of the Daily Prophet.

"The next time I'm sharing a bed with a murderous animagus, I expect you to tell me before you drag him off to the Aurors."

Harry blinked. "Alright."

Ron lowered the paper to glare at Harry. "I'm serious Harry. I expect to know what's going on during our next adventure – especially if it involves my smalls or my bed sheets or my pets or my anything."

Harry grinned. "'Course."

Sadly, Tuesday was also the day that Dumbledore delivered a stern warning over lunch to the unknown ink pranksters about tampering with Mr. Filch's cleaning supplies. Fred and George looked by turns impressed and wicked. After that it was only a matter of days before everyone's ink marks started fading. Everyone was still covered in fading ink marks the afternoon that the house elves served suspiciously familiar crème pies.

At the Gryffindor table Harry grinned and took a huge bite like everyone else in the hall. And like everyone else in the hall, he promptly turned into a canary.

He made a couple of circuits of the room before changing back into Harry just over the Slytherin table. Harry dropped onto a bench next to Theodore Nott who was spitting out feathers. Harry laughed and slung an arm around his Slytherin – whatever.

"That was brilliant!"

The canary crème had undone Harry's charm work on Theodore. Now all of his ink marks were fully visible in all of their fading glory. Once again, Harry wondered if maybe Theo had gotten into an ink smearing war of some sort with someone like Harry and Draco had.

Theodore grinned brightly at Harry. "Not one of yours I take it?"

"No! This is bloody brilliant! Gonna take another bite?"

"No. Once was enough. Why?"

Harry gestured at Theo's face. "It undid my charm work. Want a touch up?"

"Please."

A few charms later, Harry blinked at LeStrange. The fifth year scowled at Harry. It pulled at his fading red mustache.

"Haven't you worked it out yet?"

"Obviously not."

Harry shrugged and fished his wand out again. "Should've just asked then."

A few more charms then Harry reached for a spoon that Theodore swore was unused.

"Tell Draco and the others that I'll wait for them by the main staircase after lunch until I have to go to Care of Magical Creatures."

"You mean tell Draco and Daphne."

Harry flashed Theo a grin but said nothing either way.

"Harry" purred Pansy as she leaned in close to him. "Harry would you charm me too?"

"No."

Pansy drew back, insulted. "Why not?"

"You've made it clear that we're not friends."

And with that Harry took a second bite of canary crème pie. That time, he managed to turn back into himself right next to a much younger Cedric Diggory.

"Hello!" Cedric grinned.

"Harry Potter" Harry said while offering Cedric his right hand and plucking a cookie up with the other.

"Cedric Diggory."

Harry grinned. Cedric did not know it yet but that was going to be the beginning of a long lasting friendship. Hufflepuffs were supposed to be loyal friends after all. And Harry had a proven track record for being loyal to his friends.

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Want to know what happens next? 100+ advanced chapters await you on Patreon! Be the first to read what others will have to wait for. Join the community and read ahead today!

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

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