Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Meddling with Darkness	By : zoy_grey Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 32786 -:- Recommendations : 4 -:- Currently Reading : 11
Disclaimer: I do not own nor make profit off of JK Rowling's world of Harry Potter, the characters or the timeline. Though I do own the plot that I came up with in this story.

Chapter List
- 13
- 14
- 15
A/N: So here goes chapter 14...took a bit longer to write, but it's finally done ;) Also I want to apologize in advance for finishing this chapter with an ending like this...I know you're gonna hate me for this (and I can't blame you for it tbh ^^'), but I need to take a few days break to finish next chapter. Hopefully next update will be around weekend ;) But don't worry I promise some major father and son moments in the next installment, so please look forward to it ;)

And again, thank you for the reviews. It always makes me smile to read those, as well as brings great satisfaction whenever you write that you liked the chapter, or that it made you smile or laugh, or that you bookmarked the story. Those comments really make my day ^__^

Chapter 14

When Harry arrived at Grimmauld Place with Mr Weasley, the house was already as crowded as it usually was. Mrs Weasley came back from shopping with the rest of the teens; Remus was back from his mission of spying on Wormtail and Sirius was waiting at the headquarters as usual.

“How did it go?” asked Mrs Weasley as soon as she saw the black haired teen and her husband enter the kitchen. However her smile quickly vanished as she saw fury in Harry’s eyes. “Was it that bad? They couldn’t have suspended Harry, right?”

“No, they didn’t. Harry was lifted of charges,” said quickly Mr Weasley. “I need to go back to work, so I’m going to leave you here.”

Just moments after Arthur left them, Sirius and Remus entered the kitchen. Both men were absorbed by their conversation, but when their gazes landed on Harry, they hurriedly walked over to him.

“We just saw Arthur leaving. He was in good spirits, so I assume everything went well at the Ministry?” asked Remus sitting by the table next to the twins.

“What happened there, mate?” asked Ron feeling uneasy because of Harry’s foul mood. “You look like you’re about to kill someone.”

“Yes,” agreed Sirius stopping by his son’s side and taking Hedwig’s cage from him. “What’s wrong, pup? You have Hedwig back…that’s good.”

“She’s all I was allowed to get back,” the dark haired teen snarled furiously.

“What do you mean? And how did you even get your owl back?” this time it was Hermione, who asked the questions. “Did the Ministry do something?”

“No, the Ministry was perfectly fine about everything. They just needed my testimony and that was it,” Harry started explaining, but the anger in his voice never faded away.

While the teen began his story everyone in the kitchen stopped whatever they were doing to listen to him. Sirius did the same, although truth to be told, he already got the most important part – his son wasn’t suspended. He watched his son pulling off his jumper and tossing it on one of the chairs. When Sirius’ eyes landed on the familiar birth mark on Harry’s right arm, he was reminded of Regulus’ words earlier today – he should make it known to the Order that something was not right about Harry Potter. Right now might not be the perfect moment, because not all of the Order’s members were there, but he was sure even the ones that were here would inform Dumbledore about any unusual situations.

‘Voldemort wants me to make a scene? I will give them a nice, dramatic act,’ Sirius smiled inwardly about what he was about to do. He suddenly became unusually calm, but with a shocked expression showing on his face. Slowly he sat down on a chair next to his son. He made sure he looked like he wasn’t listening to what the boy was saying and his eyes were fixed on the birth mark.

“So let me get this straight…Fudge admitted it was someone from the Ministry who send those dementors after you?” asked completely shocked Ginny, after Harry told them about the hearing.

“Yes,” confirmed the teen and continued with his rant. “So after this ridiculous spectacle was over, the Malfoys gave me my trunk and Hedwig back. However Fudge insisted on having a little chat with me and the Daily Prophet.”

“Did he threaten you?” asked worried Mrs Weasley. She wouldn’t be surprised if the Minister would go to such lengths.

“No. They just asked me some general questions and I told them only the truth. They seemed pleased with that. When that was over too, I went to meet with Mr Weasley, happy that I will finally get my clothes and books back, but those were gone.”

“What do you mean, they were gone?” Remus thought he missed something in the story, because it didn’t make any sense why someone would take the teen’s things.

“It seems professor Dumbledore told Shacklebolt and Tonks to take my belongings and check if the Malfoys put some curse on those,” the teen said exasperated and looked around his friends’ faces, who seemed to say they did see a point in Dumbledore’s concern. “No one has the right to take my trunk and go through my things like that! This is just insane!”

Most of the witches and wizards in the room weren’t quite used to Harry’s angry outbursts yet, but they all tried to calm him down. Hermione and Ginny reasoned that the aurors will probably bring him his belongings soon and everything will be alright. The only person who seemed awfully quiet was Sirius. Lupin observed his friend for a while now, but even he didn’t know what has happened to get Black in such a stupor.

“You ok, Sirius?” asked finally Harry, who was a bit worried by his father’s behaviour as well.

“Harry…that mark on your arm,” Black pointed to the crook of the teen’s elbow. Immediately everyone in the room looked at Harry’s arm, but no one saw anything unusual about it. “When did you get that?”

“What do you mean?” the teen was taken aback by the question; especially that Sirius knew very well about this birth mark. Nonetheless, seeing how theatrical the wizard behaved, Harry decided to play along. “I’ve had it all my life.”

“It’s very…unusual,” muttered Black and looked the teen in the eyes; the man looked somewhat pale and on the verge of collapsing. “I’ve seen someone with a similar birth mark before.”

“Yes, I guess it is kind of…unique,” answered Harry.

“Indeed…very unique,” Sirius smiled at the teen, but he still seemed shocked. He patted the boy on the shoulder and stood up. “I’m glad your hearing went well…and we can ask Kingsley about your trunk when he gets here for the meeting.”

“Where are you going?” asked Remus; his eyes following his school friend. Lately Sirius was acting strange, but that was understandable with the man being imprisoned in his house; this time however, Black’s sudden change of mood was absolutely incomprehensible.

“I’ll be in my room if anyone needs me,” was all Sirius said before he left kitchen.

Severus was in the dungeons. It has been a month since the Dark Lord has requested the male pregnancy potion and the liquid was far from finished, but so far everything was going according to the plan. In a month the potion would be ready. Also in a month the students will be back to Hogwarts.

For the first time in his life, Severus was looking forward to the beginning of the school year. The reason was simple – he’d be able to see his son every day. The potions master was aware that his own child didn’t want to have anything to do with him, but he would enjoy seeing the teen even if they couldn’t talk with each other.

Thinking about his son brought up another matter. Yesterday was Harry Potter’s hearing at the Ministry. He was glad everything worked out fine for his son, but he was sure Lucius has used his influence over Fudge to get such a verdict. He was also certain that the interview with the Golden Boy in the Daily Prophet this morning was also Lucius’ doing. Severus couldn’t help but smirk whenever he thought of how furious Dumbledore must have been when he saw in the newspaper that not only the Saviour was openly denying to have witnessed Voldemort’s revival, but also seeing the Golden Boy being friendly with the Ministry.

Unexpectedly the potions master was interrupted by a knock on the door. Moments later, his private chambers were entered by the Headmaster. The older wizard was smiling as always, but that utterly annoying twinkle in his eyes has vanished, which only confirmed Severus’ suspicions that the wizard has read the Daily Prophet that morning.

“What brings you all the way down to the dungeons, Albus?” asked Severus.

“I have one more task for you,” Dumbledore answered, unconsciously squeezing today’s newspaper in his hands. “I need you to find out what are the Malfoys doing. What are their intentions? We need to know whether they are pushing Harry towards the Ministry on Voldemort’s orders or was that their own initiative.”

“From what I’ve noticed they seem to be genuinely concerned about Potter’s well-being, but I’ll keep my eyes on them,” agreed Severus.

The headmaster was just about to leave the potions master’s private quarters, but his gaze landed on the cauldron and then Severus’ notebook on the table. Seeing how the older wizard seemed to be too interested in his private notes, the potions master casually closed the notebook and put it away.

“What are you brewing, Severus?”

“I always brew to stock up before the school year.”

“I thought you usually do it earlier and not two weeks before beginning of term,” Dumbledore was still smiling, but there was suspicion in his voice.

“With the constant meetings of the Order and Voldemort I’m short on time with my regular duties,” the younger wizard lied smoothly.

“I see,” Albus didn’t seem to be convinced, but he dropped the subject for the time being and left the dungeons.

A week has passed uneventfully since Harry’s hearing. Only a few more days were left before the teens would have to go back to Hogwarts and Harry still didn’t get his trunk back. At the beginning he tried to confront the aurors about it every time they showed up at Grimmauld Place, but he already lost hope to get his things back before school starts. He only hoped that whatever Draco gave him as his birthday gift, would remain untouched by the Order.

On the good note, Ron and Hermione seemed to have gotten to terms with Harry and Malfoy being friends; or at least they preferred not to bring up that subject; which actually worked for the dark haired teen perfectly. Recently they were spending more time together and their main entertainment was eavesdropping on the Order’s meetings. True, they have done it before too, but only a few days ago, the twins decided to improve the extendable ears, which allowed them to catch every single detail of the adults’ conversations.

By now, they knew there was some prophecy about Harry and Voldemort, which the dark wizard would probably try to get in his hands; and since only Harry was capable to retrieve it from the Ministry, Dumbledore decided the Order needed to guard the Hall of Prophecies. The Weasley kids seemed to be really worried about that matter, but the black haired teen couldn’t care less about some stupid prophecy. He already knew about its existence and that he wasn’t the boy it was about; at least not as long as the Dark Lord refused to believe and act upon it.

“Come on, kids, go help your mum,” said cheerfully Mr Weasley, when the meeting was finally over and he saw the group of teens sitting on the stairs.

“Today we’re eating in a bigger group,” Mrs Weasley rushed to the kitchen with a wide smile on her face. “We’re going to eat in the formal dining room.”

As soon as the dinner was ready and served in the dining room, they understood what was the reason for the official dinner. It looked like today was the last Order’s meeting before the school term starts and Dumbledore wanted to keep an eye on both Harry and Sirius. Of course no one really said it out loud, but ever since Sirius pulled off that scene with birth mark, the Weasleys informed Albus about it and the headmaster was keeping close watch over Black. Harry had the feeling Dumbledore might be suspecting that Sirius knows Harry is in fact his son and now the meddling fool was panicking.

When dinner was over, no one wanted to leave really; there weren’t many Order members there – for instance, Severus left to keep up appearances about his dislike for Sirius, Remus and Harry. The only ones left were the Weasleys, Dumbledore, McGonagall, Moody, Kingsley, Tonks, and of course Lupin and Sirius.

“Oh Harry,” Tonks suddenly reminded herself of something; took out something from her pocket and enlarged it. “I nearly forgot to give you this. I thought you might like to have those back.”

The objects reached their original size and Harry saw his trunk and the gift from Draco. He nearly jumped from his chair out of joy when his saw his things finally returned to him.

“Finally I’ll have something normal to wear,” the teen quickly looked at his dad apologetically and said, “Sorry Sirius, but you have to admit the clothes you gave me are a bit too big for me.”

Black wanted to grin and agree wholeheartedly with his son, but he kept to his act of a still shocked wizard with lots of doubts and questions; and he simply smiled weakly as an answer to Harry’s words.

The teen opened the trunk to check if everything was there; even the paper wrapping of his birthday present seemed to be intact. He then closed the trunk and with a smirk said in the aurors’ direction, “I suppose the Malfoys didn’t feel like cursing my underwear after all.”

Fred and George couldn’t help but snicker hearing Harry’s comment; but Mrs Weasley quickly made them stop by gently smacking them on their arms.

“Is that your birthday present?” asked Lupin looking at the huge colourfully wrapped box.

“We didn’t even try to unpack it,” assured him Tonks with a sweet smile.

Everyone watched closely how the teen unwrapped his gift. They didn’t know what to expect. They knew it was from the youngest Malfoy, but then again, what kind of a present from a teenage could be this big? Harry didn’t have a clue either, so he just unpacked it and stood there speechless when he realised his cousin gifted him a Forget Me Not mirror; the one standing in front of him was actually very similar looking to the one they saw in Paris.

“Malfoy gave you a mirror? What for?” Ron had mixed feelings seeing the object; on one hand he absolutely didn’t see the point in giving something like that to Harry, but on the other hand he was jealous he couldn’t afford such expensive, antique gifts.

Immediately Harry realised something. He wasn’t exactly sure how did this mirror work. He could already see his real reflection in it, but he couldn’t remember if just anyone could see it too; after all, Draco was able to see his real appearance in the mirror.

“This looks expensive…and rare,” said Mad-Eye Moody walking closer to the object. It was clear that the ex-auror didn’t see anything unusual about the teen’s reflection, so Harry deducted not everyone could see what he did.

“When we were in Paris I’ve seen such a mirror and liked it a lot. I might have mentioned that to Draco, but I never expected him to gift me one of those,” answered nervously Harry as Sirius walked over and stood next to him. It took only one glance in the mirror and Black froze, letting out a shocked gasp. That reaction told Harry that his dad could see his real appearance too. “You see it too, Sirius? I don’t know what this does actually, but it’s kind of fun.”

“What are you talking about? Is there something unusual about this mirror?” Hermione was immediately interested, but she couldn’t see anything strange about the object.

“I thought that maybe it works like the Erised mirror. Maybe it’s showing me what I would like to see,” Harry quickly lied, because he couldn’t reveal them the truth. From the corner of his eye he also noticed that Dumbledore became extremely fidgety in his spot; the older wizard must have realised what the mirror was, but refused to tell anyone; he was probably too scared that Sirius found out about his son.

“I…I don’t think that’s how it works…Harry,” said Sirius, but he hesitated before saying the boy’s name. This time, the teen knew his dad was not only making another scene for the Order and Albus, but he was also genuinely shocked to have seen his teenage son’s real looks for the very first time. Black stood close to him and placed one arm around the teen’s shoulder, looking proudly into the mirror. “It’s a very valuable gift…I’ll tell Kreacher to place it in your room…the room that will be yours once we start living together.”

Without another word Black called Kreacher, who immediately took the mirror away, ignoring Dumbledore and Moody’s protests. Sirius however, left the room full of dumbstruck witches and wizards and locked himself in his room for the rest of the day.

“Albus, he’s really taking this imprisonment here badly,” Remus tried to convince the headmaster to give Sirius a bit more freedom, “He’s been locking himself in his room for over a week now and going through his family photographs and heirlooms even. I’ve never seen him in such a state.”

“This is all for his own good. We need to destroy Voldemort first,” said Dumbledore, ending the discussion.

There were only two days left before school starts and Draco didn’t get any letter from his cousin. He couldn’t blame him though, since he knew from the potions master that the Order and Dumbledore kept very close watch on the black haired teen. Recently he has also made a decision. His family told him that there were big changes and dangerous times coming for their entire family, so Draco naturally wanted to help. He of course wouldn’t be able to protect his parents when he was in Hogwarts, but he could protect his cousin and try to find as many supporters of the Dark Lord among his schoolmates as possible. He told his father and grandfather about those plans and they’ve arranged a meeting with Voldemort.

Today was finally the day when he was supposed to face the world’s most feared dark wizard and in all honesty Draco was stressing out a lot. However he has made a decision and he would not change it. He apparated with Lucius to an old castle where Voldemort was hiding from the wizarding world. The teen was impressed by the size of the place; it could accommodate hundreds of people if necessary.

“My lord,” Lucius addressed Voldemort with respect when they entered one of the smaller drawing chambers. “My son is here with me, just like you requested.”

“Yes, young Draco,” hissed the wizard and gestured for them to take seats next to Severus, who was already there. “Tell me Draco, why would you want to help us with our cause.”

“…I just want to protect my family…and I want the Half-bloods and Muggleborns to accept our own, wizarding way instead of trampling our traditions in favour of Muggle traditions and way of thinking,” explained the blond teen glancing at his father and Head of house.

“Yes, that’s the right motivation,” agreed Voldemort and continued. “I heard you have quite a bit of influence among your housemates and I want you to use it.”

“As you wish…my lord,” said Draco. “What do you want me to do?”

“Your task will consist of two stages. First I want you to guard Harry Potter from everyone, especially if the Order of the Phoenix starts to control his actions too much. At the same time I want you to divide your housemates in smaller groups. Those groups need to be based on their skill in defensive and offensive magic. At that stage of the plan that’s all you have to do; keep in contact with Severus for any information as well as gathering each and every piece of information from other students regarding the teachers, Gryffindors and Dumbledore.”

“Of course,” agreed the teen. “And how much time do I have for this first stage, my lord?”

“That’s something none of us knows yet, but when the time comes you’ll be informed by Severus immediately. However I’d say you have time no longer than till early December,” explained Voldemort and cast a warning look towards Lucius who looked like he was about to protest. The Dark Lord knew this was a difficult task he was giving to the teen, but if the boy took after his parents then he was certain Draco could pull the plan off. “The second stage of the plan is more difficult and dangerous…although by then you should be getting help from your Gryffindor friend. He doesn’t know about it yet, but I’m sure he’ll be willing to show us support later this year. Am I right, Severus?”

“I hope so, my lord,” admitted the potions master.

“Very well then, let us continue. I believe that around winter the situation in the wizarding world and around Dumbledore especially might change drastically. Because of that the children of my supporters might become targets for the Light side, especially if Mad-Eye Moody will be teaching in Hogwarts again. That’s why I want you and your cousin to come up with a schedule for training sessions for other students. Those need to stay secret from the teachers, that’s why I want you to arrange your housemates in smaller groups. During those trainings I expect you all to practice duelling...the more…talented and promising ones should try dark magic and legilimency. Also every student connected with Death Eaters and our cause must learn occlumency…especially you and your cousin.”

“Narcissa and I already taught our son both legilimency and occlumency, my lord,” Lucius hurried with explanation.

“I can start practising with Orion as soon as we get to school,” started the blond teen, but Voldemort interrupted him.

“No! This task is for Severus alone,” the Dark Lord looked intently at the potions master. “You’re his father…and I believe it will be beneficial for both of you to get to know each other during those lessons.”

“Thank you, my lord,” said Severus, lightly bowing his head. “I will definitely take that opportunity.”

Draco sat silently for the rest of the meeting, listening to the Dark Lord’s plans of taking over the Ministry and reorganising the wizarding community. From what he has heard about Voldemort from the time of the First Wizarding War, he expected the man to be absolutely terrifying, but he was pleasantly surprised. Of course the snake-like face was sending shivers down the teen’s spine, but the older wizard actually sounded very sensible – he had a solid plan, made good preparations and he even arranged protection for as many of his followers as possible. He couldn’t help but have the feeling there was a catch in this entire situation, because the feared Dark Lord from the stories just didn’t seem like someone who helped others, but for the time being Draco decided to trust his family’s judgement of the man.

When 1^st September has finally come the original plans of the Order had to change. Only few days ago the Ministry revealed the results of the investigation regarding the incident with the dementors and declared Dolores Umbridge guilty of overstepping her duties. The witch tried to lie that it wasn’t her to send dementors after Harry Potter, but it seemed Cornelius Fudge was dead set on sending the woman to Azkaban. The problem for Dumbledore was that earlier the Ministry insisted on Umbridge being the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts and now the post was free. Once more, Albus refused to give it to Severus Snape, explaining that he wouldn’t have a replacement for the potions classes. In the end, the headmaster offered the job to Alastor Moody. To say the Ministry was against the idea would be a huge understatement – the Ministry was outraged.

Due to the fact that Mad-Eye was a teacher at Hogwarts now, the group escorting the teens to the King’s Cross Station had to change. Of course Mr and Mrs Weasley were included in the group, but also Tonks, Lupin, Bill Weasley, who just came back from France with Fleur, and surprisingly Sirius. The last week, Black has spent in his room, not talking much with anyone, not even with Remus or Harry. Everyone started to think he might be getting depressed or going barmy locked inside the house all the time. However that morning, just when the group was about to leave Grimmauld Place, Sirius showed up in the hallway, embraced his son and changed into his animagus form.

The party got to the train station rather quickly and thankfully without any trouble. All the way there Harry was smiling seeing the big black dog running around, wiggling his tail happily and jumping on him every now and then. The teen felt bad about leaving Sirius at London again, only with the Order’s members; he’d do anything to help his dad and see him enjoying his freedom, but from what he knew, they shouldn’t be doing anything on their own. They had to wait for Voldemort’s move first.

Platform 9 ¾ was crowded as always, which worked in their advantage, but they also had to be extremely careful so that no one recognized Sirius. When they started helping the teens get their trunks inside their compartment, Mr Weasley spotted Lucius Malfoy standing not far from them. The man was staring at them, closely observing the big black dog. Arthur Weasley had a bad feeling about this, especially when Lucius leaned towards his wife and whispered something to her; shortly after that the witch looked in their direction and stared suspiciously at the black dog as well.

“Padftoot, you have to leave,” whispered Remus. “You’re bringing too much attention. Tonks will go with you back to the headquarters.”

“Please, just five more minutes,” pleaded Harry, not wanting to part with his dad like that. Sirius seemed to agree and quickly ran towards an empty waiting room not far from the platform. Harry ran after him and said, “I’ll be back in a moment.”

The teen saw Tonks following him to the waiting room, but the witch didn’t enter; she waited patiently outside, giving Sirius and the teen some privacy and time to say goodbye. When Harry closed the door to the room behind him, he saw his dad standing before him in his human form. The wizard looked handsome as always and for the first time in two weeks now, he’s been smiling; genuinely smiling.

“I don’t want to let you go, but I have to,” said Sirius and moved forward to embrace his son. “This will be a tough year for all of us, son.”

“I know, dad. I’m just worried to leave you here…I don’t want to think what else the headmaster will think of to torment you.”

“He’s just losing ground under his feet. He suspects I’ve found out you’re my son…which is actually exactly what we wanted him to think,” smirked Black. “Don’t worry about me. I survived worse. What I want you to do is to promise me you’ll watch out…especially on Dumbledore and Moody. They will no doubt go crazy this year and they might try to make things work their way…they will be desperate. I know Ron and Hermione are your good friends, but I can’t tell what stand will they take when the truth about our family comes out. However I know you can rely on your cousin and father. Inform them about anything that worries you. And remember, when you’re with Albus or Moody, never, absolutely never look straight in their eyes. They will use Legilimency on you and then they’ll find out all our secrets.”

“Isn’t there anything I can do about it?” asked Harry, realising that Dumbledore might have used that type of magic on him before. “Simply not looking in their eyes seems not enough.”

“Of course there is something you can do and I advise you to do that, but I’m also aware you might not be too happy to do it. Severus is very talented in terms of both Legilimency and Occlumency. I’m sure he’ll do anything he can to teach you those.”

“Harry. The train will leave in a few minutes,” informed them Tonks through the door.

“Just a moment,” told her the teen. “I’m not sure, dad.”

“Don’t worry. You might also ask Draco. I’m sure Narcissa and Lucius taught him at least Occlumency.”

“Can I spend Christmas with you?” asked Harry.

“Of course, pup,” said Sirius and hugged his son tightly. “Before you go there is one more thing. This will be a dangerous year, I’m not going to lie to you about this, but we have a plan. Voldemort has a plan and we all have to stick to it…trust me on this. There might be awful things happening, but I need you to promise me you won’t do anything rash. If you feel the need to act on your own, please tell your cousin or Severus about it, but don’t do anything on your own. I know it’s going to be hard for you since you take that wild nature after me, but remember what awful consequences my own actions caused during the last war. So please, promise me you won’t do anything rash no matter what horrible news you’ll be hearing.”

The teen was silent, not convinced he could make such a promise. However he finally took deep breath and said, “I promise.”

“Thank you,” Sirius looked the boy in the eyes and smiled. “I’m happy and proud that I have a son like you.”

“I’m proud to have you as my dad too,” admitted the boy.

“Orion…if anything goes wrong…I want you to give Severus a chance. He’s your father and loves you just as much as I do…and he’d rather die than let any harm happen to you.”

Before Harry could say anything else, he was pushed towards the exit and the wizard behind him turned into his animagus form.

Hermione and Ron were given a special mission from the Headmaster – keep Harry away from the Malfoys. They didn’t tell anyone about it, because Dumbledore gave them strict order to keep it a secret and the two of them were absolutely certain the old wizard had only their friend’s good in mind. Since the moment the Hogwarts Express left London Ron kept Harry distracted, talking all the way about Quidditch and the new jokes of Fred and George. Hermione on the other hand, kept an eye on who was passing by their compartment.

“Are you listening to me, mate?” asked Ron a bit hurt by Harry being distracted.

“I am listening to you,” the black haired teen tried protesting.

“Then what was I saying?” provoked Ron; normally he wouldn’t give it much thought if Harry didn’t pay all that much attention, but he suspected his friend might want to meet with Malfoy and they couldn’t allow it to happen; it was for Harry’s own safety.

“Ok, I wasn’t paying attention to what you were saying, but it’s just that I’m worried,” excused himself the teen.

“Voldemort?” asked Hermione observing her friend closely. “Did you have those dreams about him again?”

“No. Come to think of it, I didn’t have those in a really long time,” explained Harry. “I’m worried about Sirius. He’s not taking it well, this passiveness is killing him.”

“Yes, that’s madness. I’d go barmy if someone locked me in the house for so long,” said Ron.

“But it’s all a part of a plan. I’m sure it’s going to turn out for the best,” Hermione tried to convince Harry, but it only irked the boy even more.

“That’s the thing I don’t understand, ‘Mione,” retorted the black haired teen. “What’s the use of letting Wormtail run around free? The only reason for keeping him alive is to use him to prove Padfoot innocent! Then why delay it?”

Harry knew exactly why Dumbledore dragged it for so long. The answer was that as long as Sirius was a criminal the longer Albus had control over him. Black has openly opposed the headmaster many times now and the old fool knows that Sirius would slip from his reach once more. This was especially dangerous to Dumbledore’s plans now that he suspected Sirius recognized his son in Harry Potter. If it came out that Albus knew about the Black heir hiding with the Potters and deliberately put a strong glamour on the boy to conceal his identity, not only Sirius could push charges against him, but he’d have half of the wizarding world attacking him.

“What was that?” he asked when, unexpectedly and with the speed of light, Hermione pulled down the blinds in the compartment and locked the door.

“Very mature, Granger,” came a sarcastic comment when the door got opened and they were joined by Draco Malfoy.

“Draco, I asked you to be nice, didn’t I?” said Harry rolling his eyes at his cousin’s haughty behaviour. He knew the blond was doing that just to keep up appearance of an arrogant pureblood, but in all honesty, he had to admit Draco did seem to keep his attitude down a bit.

“I’m just stating the facts. It wasn’t me who closed the door on purpose,” smirked Draco and snatched one of the books lying next to Harry. He quickly ran through the book and gave it back to his cousin. The blond leaned over the doorframe and said, “I just thought I’ll remind Granger and Weasley of their duties. The meeting for the prefects will be starting shortly.”

“You shouldn’t be slacking off either,” retorted Ron. “Run along, Malfoy. Go to your snake friends.”

“Just don’t tell me later that I was the mean one,” huffed Draco addressing his cousin and left with a small smirk.

“You didn’t have to be rude to him,” said Harry when his friends got up to go to the meeting.

“You never know what he’s up to. It’s better Ron told him to leave,” answered Hermione and smiled seeing Ginny in the corridor.

She dragged the girl into the compartment and asked her to keep Harry company while they were gone. Ron’s sister didn’t complain at all. Following Hermione’s advice she started going out with other boys – recently Dean Thomas seemed to show interest in her; that however didn’t mean she couldn’t secretly adore Harry. This last year, the teen has changed quite a bit and she had to admit she liked it even more. Harry showed a bit more interest in studies, made more mature decisions and even his appearance changed slightly. Ginny didn’t like the idea of Harry shopping with Malfoy, but she couldn’t deny the fact that the new clothes the black haired teen got from Paris suited him perfectly – they made him look more mature, handsome and his features somehow looked more refined.

Unaware of the admiration looks he was getting from Ginny, the boy started reading the Charms book he took to already prepare for this year’s OWLs. While browsing through the book his attention was caught by a piece of paper he didn’t remember leaving there. He glanced in Ginny’s direction and when she wasn’t looking, he opened the short letter which proved to be from Draco.

Harry,

I know your friends won’t let us spend much time together, so sneak out tomorrow before breakfast and meet me in the clock tower.

Draco.

After leaving the teens at the train station the members of the Order headed home. Mr and Mrs Weasley alongside with Bill went to the Burrow; for the first time after almost two months of living at Grimmauld Place. Only Lupin and Black had to go back to the headquarters, but unexpectedly Tonks decided to join them. Recently, Nymphadora seemed to have grown very fond of Lupin’s company, which made Sirius smile.

While they headed back, Remus felt bad for his friend’s difficult situation and announced they were taking a walk back home; and they took a longer route so that Black could enjoy being outside for a bit longer.

Sirius grateful for the gesture ran happily in front of them, keeping a safe distance, so that no one associated the characteristic black dog with a certain werewolf and an auror. Black stopped every now and then to check if the two of them were still following him, but then when they were only a few streets from the entrance to the Ministry of Magic, Sirius spotted someone, who looked like his most hated enemy.

‘This is it. I can’t lose such an opportunity,’ thought Black and quickly ran after Wormtail, without even thinking about informing Remus and Tonks.

At first he followed the traitorous plump wizard in a safe distance, not to scare him away, but with every step they were nearing the Ministry. This was dangerous; Sirius wanted to catch his former friend and bring him to justice, but catching him here, by the nose of the Ministry and aurors meant only one thing – he’d be caught immediately too and there were high chances they would instantly send him to Azkaban again or even order a Dementor’s Kiss. He hid in a side alley and watched Peter doing the same thing, only a few meters before him. The plump wizard took out a wand and most likely intended to change into his rat form to sneak into the Ministry. Sirius started panicking that he’ll lose his chance and turned back to his human form.

‘Maybe this is the chance Regulus told me about?’ thought Sirius, stepped out of the side alley and headed proudly in Wormtail’s direction. While he moved towards the hated wizard, other witches and wizards passing by stared at him shocked; it was clear most of them recognized who he was. ‘I need to calm down and trust my family. Regulus wouldn’t provoke me like this if he didn’t have a good plan to get me out of this mess.’

“Peter! Peter! Peter Pettigrew! You traitorous rat!” Sirius shouted at the top of his lungs bringing attention upon himself.

After that, everything happened very fast. Wormtail froze shocked to see Black and fell down on the ground moments later, when his former friend hit him strongly with a Petrificus Totalus. Sirius was so furious when facing Pettigrew that he didn’t even have to use a wand to cast the spell. He felt a rush of excitement and satisfaction rushing through him when he saw Peter lying on the ground. Sirius cast a glance behind where he saw Remus with a look of horror on his face and Tonks standing next to him completely dumbstruck. The witch wasn’t sure what to do – she was an auror and her duty was to catch the criminal Sirius Black, but she didn’t want the man to get caught either. The decision was made for her, when at least ten aurors showed up and hurried to capture both Sirius and the man he attacked. Tonks quickly ran their way to aid them and it was her who put up a great act of pretending to be utterly surprised to recognize Peter Pettigrew in the wizard Sirius attacked.

A/N: Hope you liked it and please don't hex me for ending the chapter like this :P
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Meddling with Darkness