Chapter 3 - A Harmless Prank?

Severus Snape was in a foul mood. Not that he was ever in a good mood, but his temperament today was of a particularly vile variety.

The thought of being able to watch as Black was kissed by a dementor left Severus relieved he was wearing a robe, his physical reaction brought on by the anticipation of witnessing this wondrous event would certainly have been noticeable in anything less 'roomy'. To somehow have that delectable pleasure snatched away from him at the last minute was a right kick to the plums.

For Potter to then speak to him in that derogatory manner, before point blank denying any involvement in Black's escape, was the straw that broke the camel's back - and Severus' resolve to at least maintain a pretence of being a law-abiding wizard. His wand was coming out and the brat was going to feel pain - excruciating pain.

Now that he had calmed down slightly, Severus realised that Poppy had actually done him a massive favour. Casting the torture curse on their precious 'Boy who Lived' - in front of the Minister of Magic and the Chief Warlock - was probably not a good idea. Severus couldn't see even Albus being able to save him after casting that curse on Potter.

His anger had lasted all night though, and was still looking for a very specific outlet to erupt all over. Watching as the youngest Weasley boy sat eating his breakfast alone didn't help his temperament any either. Although he was now somewhat grateful to Poppy, Severus certainly wasn't going anywhere near the infirmary to look for Potter. Having the business end of her wand mere inches from his face once was more than enough for the potions professor, he had no wish to offer Pomfrey the opportunity for a repeat performance.

That Albus appeared to be simply ignoring all that had unfolded last night was also strange behaviour for the old wizard, behaviour that Severus was struggling to understand. The brat had stood there facing a professor down, staring straight into Severus' eyes in challenge, yet the only read he could get from Potter's spawn was anger - no thoughts whatsoever. The brat was normal like an open book, waiting to be read with the merest glance. Surely if the boy had learned to shield his thoughts then Albus would be concerned...

Severus' own thoughts were interrupted by the epicentre of his ire entering the great hall for lunch. With a cry of 'Potter' so powerful that it could almost be measured on the Richter Scale, Severus headed straight for his prey - determined that the Potter boy would be quaking in his shoes by the time he was finished with the brat.

Seeing the bat swoop towards them, Harry tried to release Hermione's hand in case he had to fight. Hermione wasn't having any of that, and she told him so over their bond. 'We can't fight him - yet. Let him make an arse of himself in front of everyone. If he tries anything, we'll just say no - let them expel us.'

Harry finding humour in the situation confirmed to Hermione her betrothed was still in control. 'What happened to the girl who thought death was preferable to being expelled?'

Hermione joked right back. 'I got me this kick-arse boyfriend who showed me different...'

Snape was on them before they could continue their mental conversation, both also noticed Dumbledore and McGonagall heading in their direction too.

"Potter, detention with me until the end of term - starting right now." Grabbing Harry's sleeve, Severus started dragging the boy out of there.

Harry was well used to getting dragged about by his uncle but this time he could do something about it. Snape had forcefully dragged him about six feet, pulling Harry's left hand from Hermione's. Placing that now free hand on his right shoulder, Harry used his ring to cast a very low powered cutting curse. There was no flash of magic though the entire hall heard the ripping sound that resulted in a bemused Snape standing there with the now detached sleeve of Harry's robe in his hands.

Knowing this could quickly get out of hand, and the entire school was watching, Albus had to intervene. "Severus, what seems to be the problem here?"

Harry got his complaint in first. "The problem, Headmaster, is that a Hogwarts professor just manhandled me - using enough force to rip right through my robes."

"Nonsense Harry, I'm sure we can soon have this misunderstanding sorted out. We'll have your robe fixed in a jiffy..."

Since his complaint was being ignored, Harry simply returned the favour by ignoring the Headmaster. He turned and very deliberately addressed his Head of House. "Professor McGonagall, I would like to lodge an official complaint about an unprovoked physically assaulted on a student by a professor. Everyone saw we just walked in here and Snape attacked me, without warning or reason..."

Severus couldn't believe the cheek of this whelp. Since every pair of eyes in the hall were now focused on this confrontation, the potions professor knew he couldn't lose his temper here. "I did not physically assault you, I was merely escorting you to the detention I assigned."

"Escorting and being dragged so hard my robes ripped are two entirely different things. Since you're standing there with part of my robe in your hand, it's not difficult to work out which version is correct. You also didn't mention which rules I broke that allowed you to try and punish me for the rest of this term, something Professors are obliged to do."

Hermione's hand once more slipped into Harry's. Provoking Snape, even with Dumbledore and McGonagall standing there, was a dangerous game.

Snape's anger was bubbling just under the surface as he tried to answer the public charges the Potter brat was making here. "You know exactly what these detentions are for, the disrespect you showed me in the infirmary after Black escaped..."

Just to wind him up even more, Harry deliberately interrupted in the middle of his rant. "I'm sorry sir, we didn't speak to anyone after Madam Pomfrey ordered us to bed. I might be able to face down a swarm of dementors but there's no way I would cross Madam Pomfrey in her own infirmary. She's brilliant, but scary too!"

This was winding Snape up even more, as he was sure Potter was deliberately mocking him about having that scary healer's wand in his face. Minerva cut in before the potions professor had a chance to reply.

"Mister Potter, are you claiming to have driven off the dementors last night?"

Harry could see no one inside the great hall believed him either so, withdrawing his wand, he asked his Head of House for permission to cast. There was no point in giving Snape the slightest excuse to try and assign even more detentions to him. Holding Hermione's hand, memories of the best night of Harry's life easily powered his patronus. You could have heard a pin drop as Prongs pranced around the great hall. The stag eventually approached and bowed to the couple before disappearing. It was left to Harry to break the silence Prongs appearance had caused.

"Professor Lupin taught me that. Easily the best defence professor we've had..."

Ron's sorrowful voice cut across Harry's praise for their favourite professor. "Harry mate, Professor Lupin resigned this morning. Someone let slip all over Hogwarts about his condition. He's packing right now." Ron's glare at Snape's back left them in no doubt where that slip had come from.

Seeing the shock on Potter's face, Severus grasped the opportunity to rub some salt into this open emotional wound. Pleasure first, then he would sort out the detentions issue. "Quite right too. A werewolf teaching students in Hogwarts, the parents would never stand for it. The complaints will soon be flooding in."

Even with Hermione almost painfully squeezing his hand, and talking to him via their rings, there was no way for Harry to control his temper here. Like last night though, she was so proud of him for using that anger constructively.

"They don't seem to complain about a Death Eater teaching their children, or does Professor Dumbledore treat their complaints the same way he's treating mine here? 'Professor Snape has my full trust' - hundreds of witnesses, including himself - doesn't matter - case closed and forgotten about. That neatly sums up my three years at Hogwarts."

Instead of silence, this time there were whispered conversations happening all around the hall. The words 'Snape' and 'Death Eater' were clearly discernible however, probably because everyone was using them.

Snape's anger gauge was in danger of exploding. He held his head high though and looked to Albus to pass judgement in this matter. Once he had Potter down in his dungeon though, all bets were off. "Headmaster, you were there last night and witnessed Potter's extreme insolence and continued disrespect toward me. Do you think my punishment here is justified?"

Even knowing of the animosity between these two, Albus was shocked at the amount of venom in Harry's retort. He was then stunned at Severus' question, a baffled Albus couldn't help his potions professor. "Severus, I have no idea what you are talking about. I can ask Poppy if she knows anything, but that's the best I can do."

Still trying to help Harry keep a lid on his temper, Hermione then introduced their solution into the mix. "Professor McGonagall, last night Professor Snape claimed that Harry, Ron and I had all been confounded by Sirius Black. Since Professor Snape was unconscious for most of last night's events, and the enmity between these two wizards is hardly a secret, wouldn't it have been possible for Black to use the same curse on an unconscious professor? I also believe Black was a renowned prankster. Having Professor Snape think Harry was extremely rude to him seems to be, however irresponsible, like something Black would do."

Both Harry and Hermione were certain Sirius would forgive them for blaming him. If they pulled this off, Sirius would probably be rolling on the floor with laughter after hearing about it.

Nodding her head as she easily pictured such an event happening, Minerva had to agree. "That certainly sounds like something Sirius Black would pull. Do you have any notion of what Professor Snape is talking about, Miss Granger?"

They could both feel Snape and/or Dumbledore trying to read Hermione's thoughts. Without either of them removing their wands and actually casting the spell, their rings easily dealt with the problem. Hermione would also like to think she lied a lot more convincingly that after the troll incident in her first year. "Professor, Harry never left my side all night. If what Professor Snape claims happened then I would have had to have witnessed it, I didn't."

Albus wanted this wrapped up quickly, before any more revelations came out. "Severus, looking at the evidence I can't support your detentions of Mister Potter..."

"And my complaint against Professor Snape?" Harry's anger at hearing Remus Lupin had been forced into resigning was still mighty.

Wearing his best grandfatherly smile, Albus thought he had a rather elegant solution to this tricky problem. "Harry, my boy, Miss Granger just built a very convincing case for Professor Snape being confounded into believing something awful happened between you both."

Albus' wand had Harry's sleeve slipping from Severus' grasp and sliding up Harry's arm before flawlessly reattaching itself. "I can't punish someone who wasn't in complete control of their actions. The other matter mentioned was settled by trial many years ago." He may have thought this would end the matter but Albus was wrong, way wrong.

"Was my godfather the only person who was denied a trial after I defeated Voldemort? That smells something awful." Turning to his head of house, Harry had made a decision. "Professor McGonagall, I know part of the Hogwarts charter allows students to bring in their own tutor if they believe it would be beneficial. Myself, my girlfriend, Hermione, Luna here, Neville and Ron will no longer be taught potions by Professor Snape."

Hermione was in his head, asking how he knew that. Harry just showed her the pages of some book Tom must have read. 'The knowledge just feeds into my thoughts, pity our exams are over.' This revelation shocked Hermione into silence, it seemed too much like cheating before her sensible side kicked in and asserted itself. They needed every advantage they could get.

Trying to prevent Severus exploding, Albus attempted to be the voice of reason. "Harry, that would cost rather a lot of gold. Whatever money your parents left you, I'm sure they wouldn't want you to waste it like this. Won't you reconsider?"

Thinking for a few seconds, Harry again spoke with his head of house. "Professor McGonagall, I've reconsidered. It wouldn't be fair to the rest of my Gryffindor yearmates to have Professor Snape take his anger out on them. They are welcome to join me too."

The cheering from the Gryffindor table was almost enough to set the powder keg that was Severus Snape off. A quick glance confirmed neither teen was were wearing the rings Severus was sure were on their fingers last night, he also had no problem believing Black would curse him while he was unconscious. While lending credence to him being confounded, not being able to get a read on either of these two concerned Severus a lot more. He needed to get to the bottom of this so Severus made one last desperate attempt to get Potter into detention.

"Headmaster, it's undeniable that Potter and his two friends were out after curfew last night. Aren't they going to receive any punishment, or is Potter exempt from the same rules that govern everyone else?"

This was just too good of an opportunity to tweak Snape's hooked nose for Harry to resist. Sirius would be pissing himself with laughter at this one. "But Professor Snape, you yourself said - in front of the Minister of Magic - that all three of us had been confounded by Black. Professor Dumbledore just ruled that people who aren't in complete control cannot be punished for their actions. I really think you should get Madam Pomfrey to check you out, there's no telling what else Sirius Black might have cast when you were unconscious..."

Seeing the writing was already on the wall, Severus swung around and marched out of the great hall - his customary cool cape action being somewhat unusually accompanied by the sound of sniggering Gryffindors.

"Was that really necessary Harry?"

Harry's jaw almost hit the floor at hearing the headmaster's rebuke. "I just walked in here to have my lunch, what did I do wrong? I'm not prepared to put up with Snape's bullying anymore, and you won't do anything about it, so what other choice do I have?"

"Forgiveness is a wonderful thing to learn and practice..."

Harry cut right across the headmaster. "My mother and father put me down for Hogwarts so I could study for my O.W.L.'s and N.E.W.T.'s, I didn't know Forgiveness was a course here - it certainly wasn't during my parents' time."

No one missed that a certain potions professor attended Hogwarts then too. "I'm having to find a tutor because one of your professors has never heard of the word you seem so fond of. James Potter being my father is all the reason he's ever needed to pick on me since my very first potions class, no more. We also have another professor who's been dead for centuries, spending his afterlife boring us all to sleep. How can I possibly forget the professor who publicly predicts my death on a weekly basis and, considering two out of your last three defence professors have tried to kill me, we'll probably need to look at a defence tutor in September too. If I end up needing tutors for half of my subjects, what does that say about Hogwarts? The Prophet would have a field day with that information."

As they walked to the Gryffindor table, Luna was heard to mumble "Might as well open your own school".

Hermione couldn't resist a dig at a stunned Dumbledore and McGonagall. "That's a great idea, Luna. Harry, we need to look into that."

Sitting in his usual place, next to Ron, with Hermione on his other side. Luna was invited to slot in right beside Hermione. Harry's hand patted a slack-jawed Ron's shoulder. Their friend must have been really rocked by what just happened, Ron had stopped eating.

"Hey mate, great to see you back on your feet. Sorry you found out about Hermione and me like that. It wasn't our fault though, we intended that you'd be the first to know."

Having been initially angry at his two best friends getting together, Ron's Weasley temper was tempered somewhat by the chance of getting out of Snape's potions' class. There was a question he just had to ask though. "Harry, what about us?"

Harry's hand returned to Ron's shoulder, giving it a comforting squeeze as he laced his reply with obvious false sincerity. "Ron, I know we're close - but I just don't think of you that way. I asked Hermione to be my girlfriend, she said yes."

With his eyes as wide as saucers, a horrified Ron knocked Harry's hand away as he slid along the bench to open a gap between them. Hermione's loud laughter was soon joined by Luna's, and then everyone else at the table. Ron eventually play punched a grinning Harry's shoulder as he got the joke.

"You can go off some people you know..."

"Never gonna happen, Ron. This is Luna, Luna Lovegood. I just found out she's my godsister and hope Gryffindor will make her welcome - Ravenclaw certainly don't."

As Harry and Hermione quickly put some lunch together, they wanted to get to Lupin before he could leave the castle, they were interrupted by a grateful Neville.

"Harry, thank you so much for including me in the people who wouldn't have to get taught potions by Snape."

Reaching over the table, Harry held his hand out to shake Neville's. "I just found out we're godbrothers, of course I was going to include you. Did you know?"

Shaking Harry's offered hand, Neville reluctantly nodded. "My mother is your godmother. She's... She and my dad have been in St Mungo's for years."

"Why didn't you ever say anything?"

Hearing nothing but genuine interest in Harry's question, Neville told the truth. "I thought you knew, and didn't want anything to do with me."

Harry didn't know how to answer that, and thankfully Luna saved him from having to. "Three best friends, all godmothers to the three of us. Alice is your godmother, Harry. Lily is mine, and my mother was Neville's. That makes you my godbrother too, Neville, if you want?"

The two boys still had their hands clasped from shaking, Harry applied a slight pressure - encouraging Neville to say yes. With a smile at Luna, the shy boy said he would love to have a godsister too. Luna's smile in return practically lit up the entire Gryffindor table.

"Luna, Hermione and I really need to get to Professor Lupin before he leaves. He was, is, a family friend. It might take us some time to sort out the things we need to talk about but Ron and Neville will take care of you. You could trust either of them with your life."

Both boys sat up that little bit straighter as Harry addressed the rest of the people sitting around them. "As I said, her housemates are giving Luna a hard time in Ravenclaw - she will be welcome here. That means Dean, no hitting on my sister. Lavender and Parvatti, no pumping her for gossip. Gred and Feorge - no pranks."

"Hey Harrykins"

"Our mum can't stop us pranking"

"What makes you think..."

Both suddenly drew in a deep breath before looking at each other and communicating with just a glance.

"Yes, you were just pranked. It was harmless though, I just swapped your underwear with each other. A cruel prank would have been to swap yours with McGonagall's. Knowing your mum hand stitches your names onto your unmentionables, McGonagall would soon find out who to blame."

Ignoring the laughter all around them, a white-faced Fred managed to get a sentence out. "Harrykins - that would be unbelievably cruel."

"No, unbelievably cruel would be swapping your underwear with Snape's."

Both twins immediately pushed their lunch away, their previously pale parlour had now taken on a rather green hue. Professional curiosity finally won out though, George just had to know. "How did you do that? I never even seen your wand used. Where did you learn to do that?"

"It's in my blood, guys. My patronus is named Prongs, after my father."

It was now the twins turn to have eyes the size of saucers. "Oh son of Prongs..."

"Eh, did I mention a certain Padfoot is my godfather?"

"Pranking royalty here, Fred. I knew we liked him for a reason."

"Your godsister will not be pranked by us, Harrykins."

"Or my godbrother?"

Laughing at Harry's cheek, both nodded. "Or your godbrother."

Wearing a wide smile, Harry stood with the sandwich he'd yet to take a bite of wrapped in a napkin. "Thanks everyone, but we gotta go." Hermione was instantly at his side, her own napkin wrapped sandwich in her hand.

Neville couldn't believe how much his life had just been changed - no potions classes with Snape and no pranks by Fred or George. All Harry wanted in return was for him to keep an eye on Luna, who was his godsister too. That was something Neville had every intention of doing. Yes Neville was well aware he was excruciatingly shy but for Harry, he'd make the extra effort to get to know this girl.

"Luna, what can you tell me about my godmother?"

Asking Luna to talk about her mum was exactly the right thing to do. She chatted away until long after lunch had finished.

-oOoOo-

They found Lupin in his office, packing his personal possessions away. There was an awkward silence for a minute until Lupin handed Harry back the Marauders' Map. "Now that I am no longer a professor, I have no reason to confiscate this from you. There are rather conflicting reports going around about exactly what happened last night. Care to share what you've been up to?"

A loud sigh of relief came from Harry. "Professor, you have no idea how much we need to tell you everything that happened last night."

Seeing the sandwiches both were carrying, Remus offered to make a pot of tea while they told their tale.

Harry started their story as Hermione ate her lunch. When she was finished eating, she seamlessly took over the narrative as Harry tucked into his first bite since Pomfrey forced chocolate into them last night. It appeared this was their day for inducing wide-eyed shock, that was Remus' reaction to hearing Dumbledore obliviated the Minister of Magic - before trying to illegally force his way into Harry's mind.

Seeing the Potter ring on Harry's finger was enough proof for Remus but watching as he then wandlessly, and silently, floated the now empty teapot off the table sealed it. Hermione then levitated the cups and saucers too.

"Using our rings to perform magic is getting easier all the time, and you don't need to say the spell - or use any wand movements. Anything one of us learns, the other can do too - and low level magic seems to be invisible..." Hermione stopped as she clearly had an idea. "Harry, do you think I could cast a patronus?"

Harry was in her head, showing Hermione exactly what she needed to do. His mere presence and support was enough for Hermione to generate the positive thoughts necessary to power the spell. Taking out her wand for this, a silver doe was soon prancing around a shocked Remus' office. As Harry hugged and kissed Hermione in congratulations, Remus used the familiar actions of making another pot of tea to try and get his thoughts in some sort of order.

He couldn't help but think that Harry being prophesied to face Voldemort was as bad as things could get, that was until you factored in Dumbledore obviously had a whole secret agenda that included using Harry to get what he wanted too. Remus liked the idea of Harry and Hermione becoming betrothed, and could already see these two were good for one another. He figured it would be up to him and Padfoot to sit Harry down and give him the talk about witches, though that was for the future - they had more pressing matters to deal with here.

He sat back down and faced the teens. "That is, without doubt, the most unbelievable story I've ever heard. That every word is true scares me more than you can know. Having taught you both for a year, I can honestly say I would want to help you anyway. Then there's Sirius, James and Lily to consider, this is not a difficult decision for me. Since I now find myself with time on my hands, what do you need from me?"

Remus watched on in surprise as the veneer these two had been showing the outside world shattered into pieces, revealing two terrified teens. Hermione was in tears, burrowing into her betrothed who wasn't much better.

"Professor, I understand my mum was short of time last night but I feel as if we had a mountain of shit dumped on us, and neither of us have a clue what to do next. I have Voldemort's memories in my head..." Harry struggled to go on, until a tearful Hermione gave him a kiss of encouragement.

"There's a part of me that wishes Dumbledore had obliviated me last night, and taken away these horrors. Death Eaters are monsters, sick monsters who believe their breeding and wealth allows them to do whatever they want. They need to be put down, none of Dumbledore's forgiveness shite - these fucking monsters don't deserve to live for the things they've done. Torture, rape, arson, murder - these evil bastards took great delight in all of those. Why though should it be left to a couple of teenagers to deal with this? I don't want Hermione even seeing these terrible things, far less having to deal with the people who carried them out..."

Getting her emotions back under control, Hermione stated the obvious. "Harry, you need me."

"Yes, I need you - but this is too much to ask of anyone."

"I'm not anyone, though. I'm your Hermione, your betrothed who's not going to leave your side. With Professor Lupin helping, we can start making lists of what needs done right now."

Handing them another calming cup of tea each, Remus was more determined than ever to help. "First of, I am no longer your professor, Remus or Moony works for me. Secondly, let's get started on that list - in order of priority." He soon discovered they had different priorities.

"We need to let Hermione's parents know we're betrothed, and what that means."

"We need to get Harry away from the Dursleys, and without Dumbledore knowing."

Getting out some parchment, ink and a quill, Remus tried to combine both of their objectives. "If push comes to shove, Harry - as Head of House Potter - will be emancipated in the magical community. He needs a legal guardian in the muggle world however. Asking Hermione's parents could easily solve that problem..." Both teens immediately began shaking their heads.

"What about you, Remus? You could be my guardian."

"Harry, I'm a werewolf..."

"Not to the muggles you're not."

"I don't have a job..."

"You're Steward of House Potter - as of about two minutes ago - advisor and mentor to the new young Lord. Steward of House Black works too, it would allow you to do things for Sirius that he can't while a fugitive. The pay for House Potter side of things is double what you've been getting at Hogwarts, more if Dumbledore got you in here on a reduced salary. I'm sure Sirius will match that."

As Remus tried to protest, he was being ignored by the two teens. Watching though as they regained some control over themselves, and hopefully the situation they fond themselves in, meant Remus didn't protest too hard.

"The Dursleys will sign my guardianship over to you in a second..."

Hermione burst in with an idea. "Tell them Dumbledore sent you, and that he's discovered how they treated Harry. Give them some money and advise them to move, move somewhere the magical authorities can't find them."

"Why should we give them any money?"

Hermione's smile at Harry's question was predatory in nature. "We don't want Dumbledore finding them, and they'll spend years looking over their shoulders - waiting on the magical authorities showing up."

Now happy with that solution, Harry faced their next problem. "We need a bolt hole. One outside Britain, so Sirius will be safer. It needs to be big enough for all of us, possibly the Grangers, Lovegoods, Longbottoms and perhaps even the Weasleys too."

While writing this down, Remus was looking for an explanation. His hand stopped writing as he heard it.

"We need you to arrange an appointment at Gringotts. We have a method of stripping the wealthiest death eaters of their gold, all their gold. Depending on how they react to being robbed blind, we might then need to offer a safe haven to our friends and family. Hermione, you'll be their number one target. Will your mum and dad take our warning seriously?"

Her head was down though both Harry and Remus recognised the hurt in Hermione's voice. "I think they'll let me go with you, gets me out from under their feet. Call it summer school and there won't be a problem. Asking them to break their routines though, never gonna happen. Mum and dad are very set in their ways, with everything else having to fit around them."

"Oh, now I'm really looking forward to telling them you're betrothed to me."

Hermione attempted to change the subject, bringing up her own specifications for this bolt hole too. "This place will really have to be a fair size. We could all end up living and being home tutored there too. It's not that we don't want to leave Hogwarts for good, it's just that we could see ourselves fighting against the Death Eaters, Dumbledore and the Ministry all at the same time. As bad as the last two are, finishing off Voldemort and his Death Eaters has to be the top priority."

Remus then dropped his quill at hearing what Harry said next.

"We know how to kill him, Remus, kill him for good. One of his soul anchors - and the means to destroy it - are actually inside Hogwarts. We'll deal with it before we leave for the summer, preferably before McGonagall asks for Hermione's time turner back. With the map, my dad's cloak and a time turner - we should easily manage to pull this off and have an alibi if questions are ever asked."

Trying to get his thoughts organised, Remus needed a few answers. "Today is Saturday, the express leaves next Saturday, giving us seven days to get what you need done. Sneaking you out of school could cause problems, Dumbledore might be monitoring both of you - almost certainly Harry. We could have you both portkey to London on the last day, instead of taking the express. That shouldn't raise any alarms, and give us time to meet with the goblins - and Hermione's parents. I should be able to manage most of what you're looking for before then."

Harry called for Dobby, introducing the elf to Remus. "Call for Dobby to pass any messages between us. Dobby is also in contact with Sirius, you might want to let him know what's happening too. As soon as we have a bolt hole organised, get Sirius there. We'll all feel better knowing he's safe."

Remus then tried to thank Harry for giving him a job, but found himself being thanked instead.

"When we came in here, both of us were hanging on to our sanity by a thread. Just knowing we now have help is a massive relief. Getting Sirius involved too means the four of us can hopefully sit down next weekend and try to figure out what we do next. We could easily end up with enraged Death Eaters, Dumbledore and possibly the Ministry too all trying to track us down. Wherever we end up has to be secure, and preferably a country not too friendly with the people who will be looking for us. It also gives us a week to figure out how we'd get our friends there, without them knowing where 'there' actually is."

Remus promised to put all this onto parchment, and send it via Dobby to Sirius tonight. The new Steward of House Potter wondering out loud whether Sirius would believe him - or think his fellow Marauder was pulling a prank - had the young couple laughing out loud. Explaining to Remus the 'prank' they had just pulled on Snape saw Moony struggling to control his own laughter. He would certainly include that little episode in his letter to Sirius. The old dog could probably use a good laugh, and nothing made Sirius laugh harder than a successful prank on Snivilus.

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