Chapter 13: End of Term.
The next morning everyone made their way down into the hallway outside of the Great Hall where they saw Sirius, Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, Professor Lupin and Cornelius Fudge.
"What's going on?" Hermione asked curiously as they moved closer.
"The Minister has something to tell you," Professor McGonagall told them with a reassuring smile. Fudge turned to face Sirius and gave him a big yet insincere smile.
"I'm pleased to tell you, Sirius Orion Black, that each charge against you has been dropped," Fudge told him officiously. Mia squealed as she hugged her dad, who just stood there shocked at what was happening.
Hermione let out a happy laugh before she threw herself into Harry's arms and joined him in jumping up and down with joy. McGonagall smiled down at her students before moving over to Sirius and enveloping him in a hug.
"I hope to see you here more often now Mr. Black," McGonagall told Sirius before she pulled away. "You did a good job raising Harry and Mia."
"Thank you," Sirius told her and McGonagall smiled as she stepped back. She then headed towards the Great Hall to prepare for the end of year feast and Dumbledore escorted Fudge towards the apparition point outside Hogwarts' grounds.
"There you go!" Lupin clapped Sirius on the back. "You can now walk back into Hogwarts as a free man." Sirius' eyes lit up before he rushed out of the school onto the grounds and then casually strolled back in while Lupin rolled his eyes. "Bloody hell, he's driving me nuts and we've just met back up."
"Yep, it's nice to walk back into the school as a free man," Sirius told them, causing the kids to start laughing.
Mia turned to see the twins making their way down the stairs and an idea came to her suddenly.
"Oh!" Mia exclaimed as she hurried over to the twins, grabbed their hands and dragged them over towards her dad. "Dad, meet Fred and George Weasley - the same people who stole the map back from Filch and created havoc all over the school. Twins, meet my Dad - Sirius Black - also known as Padfoot of the Marauders."
"All right!" Fred cheered as he moved closer to Sirius.
"And Professor Lupin here is also known as Moony," Harry jumped in, causing George to look at their professor in astonishment before they cheered and yanked the two men over to the Great Hall so that they could pump them for information.
Hermione turned to Harry and smiled when she saw how happy he looked. She slipped her hand onto his arm.
"You look happy," she told him when he looked down.
"Yeah, I'm happy that Uncle Sirius is now free and no one will think I'm a dark lord in the making," He half-joked with her. She laughed as she leaned her head onto his shoulder. They both happily watched the others interact in silence for a moment.
"Come on, we gotta get to the Great Hall for breakfast and for anything Dumbledore is going to tell us," Hermione told him as she tugged on his arm.
Most everyone was already settled in the Great Hall as they made their way in and sat at their usual spot. Once a few last stragglers entered the Hall, Dumbledore stood and gazed down at his students, glad to see that they all had survived another year.
"We have come to an end of another year. And what an eventful year we had," there were chuckles from the students. "For those who do not yet know, I wish to let you all know that Sirius Black has been cleared of all charges brought against him all those years ago." As everyone raised their goblets and cheered for Sirius, Mia just rolled her eyes when Sirius stood up from where he was sitting at the teacher's table and waved before sitting down. "The house cup this year has, not to my surprise, been once again won by Gryffindor - for the third year in a row!"
Everyone in Gryffindor cheered at that. McGonagall smiled to herself as she clapped for her house while Snape sulked at losing yet again. Sirius was cheering louder than most, forcing Lupin to shake his head at his antics. Once everyone settled down, Dumbledore let out a small chuckle and continued.
"Yes, I'm sure we are all pleased. I just have one thing left to say you all. I hope you have a very good summer - take the time to relax and enjoy your time, because I'm sure it will fly past much faster than you realise," Dumbledore told them before he sat down, signifying the end of the announcements. Everyone turned back to their food, enjoying their breakfast.
Harry found himself relaxing in the Gryffindor common room with Mia after they had finally finished eating. Both of them were chatting about what they were going to do over the summer when a voice interrupted them.
"Oi, Harry, did you hear?" Dean demanded as he walked over to Harry, anger lining his face. Harry looked up at him curiously and a little concerned.
"Hear what?" Harry asked as he stood up with Mia.
"Professor Lupin is leaving - apparently Dumbledore got a lot of mail about having a werewolf working here," Dean informed Harry furiously. All the listening Gryffindors weren't happy with the news - Lupin was the best teacher they had and they didn't want to lose him.
"What!?" Mia demanded. "They can't do that!"
"Dumbledore was going to ignore them but Lupin said that he should leave," Seamus told them and Harry sighed.
"Great, he thinks he's a danger," Harry muttered.
"We need to see him," Mia told him and Harry nodded.
"Where are Ron and Hermione?" Harry asked, looking around for the two of them. Mia rolled her eyes.
"Ron is hanging out with the twins - they're still on high after meeting up with dad. Hermione is with McGonagall - something about a promise she had to keep," Mia explained and Harry nodded.
"That's good! I'll explain it later," he promised her as he took her wrist and hurried out of the common room, intent on catching up with Lupin.
They rushed into the Defence against the Dark Art classroom and made their way over to the teacher's quarters. To their relief, Lupin was still inside packing. He looked up in surprise when he heard Mia and Harry make their way into his office.
"Good morning kids! Why are you here? We don't have any more classes," Lupin asked. Mia shot him a look of disbelief.
"What? You thought we would just get on with our lives knowing that you were leaving?" she demanded. "I can't believe that you didn't tell us!"
"It's for the best," Lupin told her. Mia just glared at him in return, leaving Harry to take up the questioning.
"So, why are you leaving?" Harry asked.
"Parents are not going to be too happy that there is a werewolf working here," Lupin reminded him but Harry shook his head.
"Who cares about them?" Harry demanded. "You're the best teacher any of us has ever had for this class and it's not fair that you should give up your future because of some closed-minded idiots!"
"Yes, but I'm also a dangerous one to be around - I forgot to take my potion and I could have attacked any of you. In fact, I tried to attack you both," Lupin reminded.
"But you didn't!" Mia exclaimed, causing Lupin to look at her, startled. "You didn't attack any of us. Sure, you had a slip but you didn't do anything under the influence of the wolf so there is no reason to leave. You will be extra cautious from now on."
"I can't risk the chance," Lupin told them. "Besides, the Minister has already revoked my rights to work at school 'since I am a danger to the children.'" Mia threw her hands up.
"They want me to bring them down - I can't believe they are making it so easy! I like a challenge!" Mia complained to Harry before she crossed her arms and sulked, leaving Harry stifling a smile as he turned to face Lupin once more.
"I'll explain once we're away from the eyes and ears of the walls," Harry told the confused man, who nodded before flicking his wand. His trunks packed themselves up and settled neatly on the floor next to the door.
"Are you sure there's nothing we can do to change your mind?" Mia asked. Lupin smiled softly at the young female before shaking his head.
"No, I'm sure. Besides, it's not like you'll never see me again," Lupin told her. "You know I will be coming up over the summer." Mia and Harry shared a look before they turned to face Lupin once more.
"Why don't you live at the house?" Mia asked. Lupin looked dumbstruck at her and she smiled. "Hey, you can't deprive us of spending time with our Uncle Lupin can you?" she asked.
"Yeah, come on - you and Uncle Sirius can teach us how to do more pranks next year, and we would love to hear about our parents from another point of view," Harry told him.
"And we can get you caught up on everything you missed out," Mia agreed and Lupin smiled.
"I would like that very much," Lupin told them. Both Mia and Harry were much happier and started to leave before Harry thought of something.
"Once question, did my mum turn Uncle Sirius different colours? I vaguely remember something about that but he won't tell me," Harry told him and Lupin let out a huge laugh.
"Oh boy, you have no idea of what your mother did to Sirius," Lupin promised him as they walked out of the DADA class. "Just you wait until you hear what I have to tell you."
~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~
Harry was sitting in the train compartment. They were all going home for the summer and none of them could wait because Sirius was finally free. They looked forward to being allowed to do what they wanted out in public. Harry, Hermione and Mia wished that everyone knew about Draco too so that he could be with them as well, but they knew his time would come.
Harry was sitting next to the window with Ron across from him. Mia was sitting next to Ron, next to the door, while Hermione was sitting next to Harry, across from Mia. Hermione was resting her chin on Harry's shoulder as they both looked out of the window, with Crookshanks laying comfortably on Harry's lap.
The cat had came back just after Sirius was declared free, much to Hermione's relief. It turned out that he had been hiding out over at Hagrid's hut. Hagrid had spent a lot of time feeding the cat, much to Hermione's displeasure. Crookshanks was going to go on a strict diet this summer.
Mia was reading a book that she had received from Lupin before his departure from the castle. He told her that she would find it enlightening, and she was currently enjoying it. Ron was just relaxing with his eyes closed.
All four of them were relaxing in the aura of peace that had settled over them. They had never felt like this in first two years at Hogwarts and were soaking it up as much as they could. They had a feeling that it was a brief respite from something even larger on the horizon.
Mia looked up once something caught her eye. Puzzled, she turned her head and saw what had attracted her attention.
"Oh look!" Mia exclaimed when she saw something small and brown outside the window. Harry opened the window and snatched it out of the air. When he pulled his hand back in and closed the window, he revealed a small brown owl twitching in his grasp.
It had a note on his leg, so Harry untied it, opened it and read it out loud.
"'I meant to give this to Ron at the school but it wasn't ready until now. I then planned to give the owl to him at the station, but the little one was too excited about meeting his new master, so I decided to let him go and meet you there. Tell Ron that this is my way of saying sorry that he lost his pet,'" Harry read out as the owl started flying around in a circle, hooting like mad. Finally he swooped down to rest himself on Ron's thigh, hooting up at his new master.
"You're kidding?" Ron exclaimed as he looked between Harry and the new owl.
"Nope, he wants you to have the owl," Harry promised him and Ron gave him a huge grin as he offered his arm to the owl. The owl stepped up onto his arm and Ron immediately thrust his new pet under Crookshanks' nose.
"Well, is it a normal owl?" Ron asked. Crookshanks just purred and Ron grinned. "That's good enough for me!" Harry, Hermione and Mia laughed at that for the rest of the train ride home.
When the train came to a stop, Harry helped Crookshanks into to his basket before latching it closed. He picked it up and stuck his arm out for Hedwig, who was resting on the shelf in the compartment. She swooped down and settled herself on his arm.
"Hey girl, time to head home," Harry cooed and Hedwig gave him a small hoot in response. Harry made his way of the compartment, following the others as he did.
They all made their way off the train and grabbed their trunks. Placing their burdens on the trolley, they made their way over to the wall and stopped.
"When we go through this wall, its back to reality," Ron told them. All four of them shared a small smile of sadness - they had been avoiding the topic but they knew that once they stepped through that wall that it was back home to training, lectures and over protective mothers.
"We'll make it," Hermione told them as she reached out and took Harry's hand. "We always do." Harry couldn't help but smile down at her before he looked at Ron.
"And, considering the fact that your dad has tickets for the Quidditch game this summer, we'll see each other earlier than last time," Harry told Ron, who grinned back.
"Not to mention that Dad has now been cleared, we should be in for the summer," Mia told them, causing grins from the other three.
"Yeah," Harry agreed, "and we'll have Uncle Lupin there too."
They all took a deep breath and stepped through the barrier to greet their guardians and face their summers.
As they made their way towards the families, they saw Arthur talking with Lupin and Sirius. Harry could see that Lupin looked better than he did all year at school and stifled a smile. He had a feeling that Uncle Sirius had dragged him out shopping so that he could look more respectable - and show him the ropes of the muggle world - because Lupin was wearing black jeans with a grey jumper without a cloak.
"Wow, dad must have really gone shopping for once," Mia commented before shaking her head. "I wish I was there to see that!"
"And I wish I was there to see you chew out the Minister," Sirius informed his daughter and Mia balked.
"How do you know about that?" Mia demanded before she spun around and glared at Harry, who put his hands up.
"Oh, like you didn't expect me to go around telling everyone what you did!" Harry shot back, causing Mia to roll her eyes in annoyance before she turned around and embraced her father in a hug.
"You chewed out the Minister?" Molly demanded in a disapproving tone as she bore down on the younger female. She stopped and took a half-step back when Mia took a step towards her.
"Why don't you keep that nose of yours out of my life and we won't have any problems! I don't need a bossy and overbearing replacement of a mother getting on my nerves," Mia informed her - obviously still bitter with Molly for her antics that had originally caused her father to go on the run.
"How dare you!" Molly gasped out, utterly scandalized by Mia's behaviour. "Someone should knock some manners into you, young lady."
"And it won't be you," Mia shot back. "I do have manners - I just have the right not to use them when I don't want to."
Hermione covered her eyes as she let out a sigh while Harry and Ron snickered to themselves.
"Mia, I know you are angry with Mrs. Weasley…" she started only to get a shocked glare from Mia. She glared back at her. "But you can't keep losing your temper with everyone that annoys you - you are already in major trouble from chewing out Snape and Pansy!"
"You chewed out Snape?" Sirius demanded and Lupin laughed.
"Wait until you hear the whole story!" Lupin promised Sirius before shaking his head. "McGonagall and Snape had the biggest row over her!"
"You see!" Molly demanded. "She is out of control... she needs to be brought back under control and taught what a young lady is supposed to act like!"
"A stuck up bitch who believes that purebloods are superior to half-bloods and muggleborns? One who thinks it's perfectly alright for muggleborn girls to be raped considering it's their own fault for being muggleborns?" Mia remarked, causing Molly to look at her in shock. "Sorry, but I'm not interested and I'm gonna make sure that every single pureblood on this planet realises that they are not superior to anyone."
"You'll be lucky if you can ever get a man with your attitude," Molly informed Mia primly and Harry grinned.
"Mia already has some male attention - I heard a couple of guys wondering how wild she could be when she wanted to," Harry informed Molly slyly causing her to gasp again.
"Besides, shouldn't you be worried about your own daughter? She doesn't seem to be attracting much attention herself," Mia informed her. Molly glared down at the young female.
"It won't be long until Ginny and the man that she is in love with will finally get together," Molly informed her. Hermione crossed her arms and arched an eyebrow at Ginny before looking at Molly.
"And let me guess who this mystery man is... could it be Harry?" Hermione asked sweetly. Harry shot Hermione a look of panic when she said that and Molly beamed.
"Of course! Those two would make a perfect couple, and you and Ron are perfect too!" Molly exclaimed. Ron and Hermione looked at each other in horror before they stepped apart, putting more distance between them.
"NO WAY!" Ron exclaimed, startling everyone. "Sorry - I love Hermione - but there is no way I'm getting together with her! She's a nightmare! She likes to study and she prefers staying in the library to having fun!" he shook his head in alarm. "Sorry, but there is no way I would be able to survive that relationship!"
"Oi!" Harry exclaimed, getting angry that Ron was insulting Hermione. Ron just pointed toward Harry.
"He's the only one who can put up with her - they both compliment each other perfectly... and they will get together someday, trust me on that!" Ron promised.
"What?" Molly demanded before she laughed. "Ron, you will realise that Hermione is perfect for you while Harry and Ginny are perfect for each other. It may not look like it now but it will become clear in the future."
"Right!" Mia exclaimed. "Get me out of here before she pairs me up with Snape or, Merlin forbid, Voldemort - I don't want to stand around and listen to a stupid woman's rambles." With that, she pushed her trolley away from Molly and stalked off.
Harry just glared at Molly before he grabbed Hermione's hand, linking his fingers with hers, and walked off as well.
"We'll see you over the summer," Sirius told Arthur and Ron, who nodded.
"Yeah and tell Harry I'll owl him over the summer and that I'm sorry for mum," Ron told him. Sirius smiled.
"Don't worry. Once Mia hits the punching bags, she'll be fine - Harry will be fine too once Hermione calms him down," Sirius promised him. Ron nodded as Sirius and Lupin walked after the other three children.
Arthur turned to his wife, deeply ashamed of what she had just done.
"Molly, I will only say this once and you better listen. Harry is not and never will be your child. Leave him alone. He has the right to choose whom he wants to be with and right now, I think he made his choice very clear - he wants Hermione," Arthur informed her before he and Ron made their way over to the car.
Molly's eyes narrowed; she promised that everyone would understand that Harry and Ginny were meant to be together. And that she would place that young girl back in her place, where she belonged.
The End/ TBC
Here we are the end of third year and I hope you all enjoyed it because I enjoyed writing this story.
The first chapter of the next book will be out next Monday - Harry Potter and the Darkness, Year 4 and we'll get to see just how much trouble can the gang get into, what secrets are being revealed and certain scenes will pop up.
Thanks for all the reviews!
Sorry this was a little short - I didn't want to take the focus away from what I was trying to show.
Thanks to Janax for being my beta - you're a godsend!