Poison Pen

Chapter 13: Part of the Problem

Harry was thumbing through the book on Occlumency that Lord Peter had sent him along with a letter. He must be doing something right if Professor Snape hadn't picked up anything about Oliver Twist during their so-called lessons.

The dark haired teen smiled. Of course both barrister and teen agreed on one thing, for some reason Dumbledore seemed to want Harry to fail a Occlumency. Why else would he, a master occlumens himself, allow Snape to use such a brutal and ineffective method? Not to mention the fact he was having Harry taught by someone that hated him when he knew full well the level of trust needed between teacher and student.

~~

Harry was having a hard time deciding what to write about in his next article. He had been hitting them pretty hard and fast lately and was pleased with the results. From what Dobby told him, the headmaster's desk was buried under a mountain of mail.

The day after his last column, the Great Hall was inundated with post and howlers directed to Snape and Trelawney. Students as well as staff members were forced to flee from the assault of owls and the general mayhem caused by the exploding howlers. Dumbledore had no choice but to declare a free day as the house elves were desperately trying to keep up with the mess. Many of the staff decided to hide in their offices.

The following day Harry learned from Dobby that Hogwarts wards had always directed all post for the Headmaster to his office as not to disturb him at mealtimes. The howlers had driven him as well as Fawkes, and all of the paintings of past headmasters from the office. Harry giggled and wished he had witnessed the spectacle. He could not imagine the devastation after the howlers had exploded.

Amidst of all of the howlers directed to the Great Hall, several owls with angry red letters flew around in confusion until they exploded mid-air. The howlers had to go off undelivered causing many of the poor owls to lose precious tail feathers in the process.

Most notable among them was the one sent by Molly Weasley. Her voice easily out-shouted everyone else's. Seems those were howlers sent to Oliver Twist and the owls knew that Twist was in the Great Hall but could not find him. Molly's piercing, vindicative language lasted a good half hour by which time the Great Hall was empty.

Harry laughed all the way to the Gryffindor Common Room. Thank goodness for Dobby's house elf magic. It had rendered Oliver invisible to post owls. All mail was supposed to go to his postal box at Gringotts anyways...How any mail for Oliver managed to be delivered to the Great Hall was beyond Harry's understanding.

~~

Turning his attention to today's paper, Harry saw in the Prophet, that Sirius was now free. He had been cleared of all wrongdoing and freed, with monetary reparations to follow.

Madam Umbridge was facing time in Azkaban and Fudge was on his way out after a vote of no confidence. Maybe it was time to rattle ol' Snake face's cage, but how, without giving himself away? Hmm...

~~

Sirius Black looked down at his pardon. He was finally free! His name has been cleared of all wrongdoing. He didn't know what to do first, get down on his knees and thank Merlin, kiss Amelia Bones and offer his services at stud, or maybe run naked through the Ministry while painted red. Hmmm...James would have liked to see that.

In all of his wild musing on what to do about his new freedom, he didn't once think about Harry, nor did the fact he had written a letter explaining his lack of contact because he was on a 'mission' for the Order. Sirius told himself it was because he hadn't wanted to get Harry's hopes up if the pardon didn't go through.

It wasn't until a week after the notice came out in the Prophet, that he woke with a fiendish headache in a dingy room in the back of the Hogshead. He was naked as the day he was born, with two women and one man in bed with him. Empty bottles of fire whiskey littered the floor and the room stank of booze, sex, and unwashed bodies. Not until that time did his feverish mind vaguely return to thoughts of his godson. Oww! He was in serious need of a hangover potion. What was he thinking again?