Mischief Not Managed Yet

Chapter 13: A Sirius Ghost

When James, Harry and Ginny returned to the Gryffindor common room, Remus, Andromeda and the rest of the Weasleys hadn't returned yet, so that left all of them with some time to spare.

Time for Sirius to spend with Harry.

Although he was smiling and happy, Harry clutched Ginny's hand tighter when his eyes fell on his godfather. "Hi Sirius."

Like so often in the last 24 hours, Harry didn't know how to feel. Finally meeting his father had distracted him from everything else, but now all the emotions concerning Sirius' death came splashing back. He remembered talking to Nearly Headless Nick after Sirius had died. He had felt nothing but emptyness and sadness. Now it was as if he was catching up on all these emotions he hadn't been able to feel back then. Happiness. Love. Relief. Luck. Hope. Although Harry was a little sad because he really wanted to hug Sirius but couldn't, he was still over the moon to see him again. How Harry's life had changed over the span of only a few hours was unbelievable.

Sirius waved at Harry. "It's great to see you again."

Harry's eyes started to prickle with emotion. "And you! How are you?"

James tensed at that, and Harry bit his lip, scared to have said something wrong.

But Sirius shrugged his shoulders. "I dare say, I'm probably the one with the least problems here."

James tilted his head. "That's probably true. He said he was glad to be single."

Harry's smile widened. Sirius' death had certainly not affected his personality.
"It's true," Sirius shrugged. "I don't have to miss my terrible family or a significant other. I only miss my food- but we're working on something, aren't we, Hermione?"

He nudged her side, but since he was a ghost, his elbow just disappeared in the girl's side. Hermione flinched, feeling as if she'd been splashed with a bucket of ice cold water.

"Oh, sorry," Sirius mumbled and quickly regained his posture. "Forgot about that."

Harry snickered. Hermione rolled her eyes with a playful expression. "I figured. But yes, we have a plan."

"We do?" James straightened. "How?"

"Yes, we do, James." Sirius said proudly. "Hermione and I've had a chat, and we've decided that we," he pointed at James and himself, "should have a chat with Luna Lovegood."

"Luna?" Harry and Ginny exclaimed simultaneously. Though both Harry and Ginny adored the girl, they were a little confused as to why the young ghosts should talk to her, of all people.

"Yes, Luna," Hermione insisted. "I figured that she'd be able to help them the most. Just remember how she's told you to talk to the Grey Lady, Harry. Luna was the only one who's really talked to her before, so I'm sure she knows more about ghosts than we do."

"Sounds right," Ginny shrugged and looked at Harry. "If anyone can help, it's Luna."

Harry furrowed his brows. He agreed with the fact that Luna was the most qualified for this, but it didn't answer his other question. "Help with what, exactly?"

Hermione bit her lip awkwardly. So they hadn't told Harry about the list, and she didn't think it was her place to tell.

Sirius exchanged a look with James, who then looked at the floor and cleared his throat. "Well, we're not absolutely happy with the situation and looking for a way to avoid the... Uhm... Ghost laws, I suppose you could say. Yeah. Like... Touching stuff... Eating, drinking et cetera..."

Harry was a little confused, wondering why his father wasn't meeting his eyes. He couldn't help but feel hurt. They'd finally gotten to meet one another, and yet James didn't trust Harry enough to tell him everything?

Harry took a deep breath and tried to forget about it. He was reading too much into things, of course his father trusted him.

Sirius and Hermione noticed that James didn't mention the fact that they were trying to contact Lily and Tonks. They didn't want to pressure him, though. Sirius knew that it couldn't be easy for James to be without Lily, and Hermione supposed that James didn't want to set Harry's hopes too high. She definitely understood that.

Ginny felt uncomfortable in the silence. "So... Had any plans for some pranks yet?"

Sirius' face immediately lit up. "Of course! But we don't want to spoil the surprise, do we James?"

To Sirius' relief, a small smile spread across James face, too. "That's right, Padfoot. A Marauder always keeps their secrets."

Sirius' face fell at the poor choice of words, and it didn't take long for James to realise what he'd said as well.
Peter apparently hadn't only ruined his real life, but would continue to haunt him in his afterlife as well. Just great, wasn't it?

"When do you think Remus and Fred will be back?" Hermione desperately tried to change the topic.

"Oh, it shouldn't take long," James replied, eager to forget about what he'd said. "I've managed to find out how to communicate with Harry and told him all about how his mother agreed to date me. Which is a very long story. So they should be done soon, too."

"How will we communicate?" Sirius' asked exitedly. "Hermione and I already figured that letters won't work, but what have you found out?"

"Patroni," Harry answered with a proud grin. "We tested it, and they worked."

James nodded in confirmation. "And when we - pardon me, if we - bribe the Ministry of Magic, we can also visit them, so we're as good as free to communicate however, whenever and wherever we want!"

Harry grinned, looking forward to it, but Ginny caught on to his choice of words.
James didn't miss the amused and excited glint in her brown eyes. "You want to bribe the Ministry?"

Sirius shrugged amusedly. "I don't see the problem. The worst they could do is kill us, right? But the Death Eaters and Voldemort sort of took that opportunity first."

Whereas Hermione, Ginny and Harry widened their eyes at that exclamation, James face palmed and shook his head. "Your sense of humor is getting darker every year. I'm starting to get worried."

"Nah, don't," Sirius waved his hand dismissively. "I have to honour my last name, don't I?"

"Merlin, it's getting worse," Jame said with raised eyebrows. "Someone stop him."

"Stop who?"

All of them turned around to see Remus, Andromeda and all of the Weasleys stand in front of the portrait hole.

"Noone!" Sirius quickly said and pointed at Remus and Fred. "But we're meeting Luna Lovegood now. We're about to become the coolest ghosts of all time."

James snorted. "Oh please. We already are."