Jokesters In Love

Chapter Twenty Five

Aries's P.O.V
It was the next day and I was in the Great Hall eating breakfast as I began to wonder where Fred and George were and hoping that everything was alright before Hermione brought me out of my thoughts, "are you alright Aries?" she asked me and I sighed, "I'm fine, I'm just wondering where Fred and George are. They're usually here by now." I told her, "I'm sure they're fine. Don't there be anything to worry about." she told me and I nodded before my owl had flown to me as she dropped something before landing in front of me and I saw that it was a letter from dad and I quickly opened it only to read that something had happened to Mr. Weasley.

Dear Aries

I have written to you because I thought you should know the reason why George and the rest of his siblings left in the middle of the night last night. That reason being is that something terrible has happened to Mr. Weasley and Harry had dreamt about it as well. He will be alright and that he is recovering at St. Mungos for the time being and will be released before the Holidays. I hope that you are doing well pup and that you are sticking close to Hermione and the others that you trust as well and I will see you soon.

Love, Padfoot

After reading the letter, I froze in place processing what dad had just told me before I heard Hermione calling my name and I looked up from the letter to face Hermione, "what's wrong Aries. Who's the letter from?" she asked me and I stuttered for a short while before answering, "it's Mr. Weasley, something's happened to him and is at St. Mungos Hospital. Dad just told me so in the letter" I told her by giving her the letter dad sent me and she had a shocked look on her face, "I'm just glad that he's alright at least." she said and I began thinking about George hoping that he's doing alright as well considering what happened to Mr. Weasley last night not wanting to finish the rest of my Breakfast. As the Holidays finally arrived, I planned on going to dads and Uncle Moony was eventually going to come by as well sometime when he is able since the full moon was close so he decided to stay behind for now and most of us were in the kitchen as I stood between Fred and George before Mr. Weasley sat down, "here we go. Daddy's back." Mrs. Wealsey said to us and I smiled seeing that he was ok before we all sat down and Mrs. Weasley handed out the presents and I opened the resent she had given me and saw that it was a sweater with a watching hat and scarf and I smiled, "thank you Mrs. Weasley, I love it." I told her and she smiled at me before she noticed Harry in the room as she went over to him before Mr. Weasley had started a toast, "a Christmas toast. To Mr. Harry Potter without whom I would not be here. Harry." he said and we all raised a glass to that, "Harry" we all said and we continued doing what we were doing as we eventually started to eat and had a few laughs talking about stories about past Christmases that we had the entire time.

Later on, I was talking with dad as we eventually left the Kitchen only to hear Kreacher speaking and noticed he was talking to Harry, "Kreacher. That's enough of your bile. Away with you." Dad said to him, "If I hear you talking like that again, you won't hear the end of it from me." I told him, "of course Master and Mistress. Kreacher lives to serve the Noble House of Black." Kreacher said before he walked away and both dad and I walked over to Harry, "sorry about that. He never was very pleasant, even when I was a boy. Not to me anyways" Dad said as I looked at the family tree, "can't imagine why." I said to him before I saw dads name next to mine and began to wonder why his picture was burnt out but I never really thought about asking him about it since I started coming in here since the summer and not really paying attention to them until Harry talked about dads life here, "you grew up here?" Harry asked him, "this is my parents house. I offered it to Dumbledore as Headquarters for the order. About the only useful thing I've been able to do. This is the Black Family Tree. my deranged cousin. I hated the lot of them. My parents with their Pureblood mania. My mother did that after I ran away. Charming woman. I was 16. She had done the same to Aries' before she died, from what I've heard she never considered her as a granddaughter because of her mother as she was a Halfblood." dad said as he pointed mine out as well, "where did you go?" Harry asked him, "your dads. I was always welcome at the Potter's. I see him so much in you, Harry. You are so very much alike." Dad told Harry and I smiled a bit before Harry said otherwise, "I'm not so sure. Sirius, when I was- When I saw Mr. Weasley attacked, I wasn't just watching. I was the snake and afterwards, in Dumbledore's office there was a moment when I wanted to- this connection between me and Voldemort. What if the reason for it is that I am becoming more like him? I just feel so angry all the time. And what if, after everything that I've been through, something has gone wrong inside me? What if I'm becoming bad?" Harry said and I felt bad for him and dad and I just looked at each other before he spoke up, "I want you to listen to me very carefully, Harry. You're not a bad person. You're a very good person who bad things have happened to. You understand?" Dad told him and Harry nodded before dad continued, "besides, the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters. We've all got both light and dark inside us. What matters is the part we choose to act on. That's who we really are." Dad told him before we heard someone knock and saw that it was Hermione, "Harry, time to go." she said to him before we walked over to the door, "when all of this is over, we'll be a proper family. The both of you will see" Dad said and I smiled a little before he hugged Harry and motioned me to do the same and I had done so before Harry had walked away with Hermione. Later on that day, I planned on staying at dads for the rest of the Holidays and Uncle Moony had come around and I finally got to give both him and dad their presents in hopes that they like it and when they opened them, when they had finally finished opening them, Uncle Moony had gotten a few chocolate bars, a journal and a few books and I had given dad a picture of myself and Harry when we were in our first year as we had both made it on the Gryffindor Quidditch Team together and I noticed him smile a little before he looked up at me before getting up and hugging me, "thank you pup. I love it." he said as I hugged back, "I'm glad you like it dad. I thought you'd want it." I said to him before I noticed Uncle Moony smiling at us before we moved away from the hug as we continued to hang out throughout the rest of the Holidays.

After the Holidays were over, I was walking back into the Castle with Fred and George before Harry came up to me, "Hermione just told me that Hagrids back" he said before I turned to Fred and George, "I'll see you guys later alright." I told them and they both nodded before I rushed off with Harry, Ron and Hermione as we made our way to Hagrid's hut but by the time we had gotten there, we heard Professor Umbridge talking with him and had decided to eavesdrop on them, "I'm ordering you to tell me where you've been?" she asked him, "I told you. I've been away for me health." Hagrid told her, "your health?" she questioned him before we ducked, "yeah. A bit of fresh air, you know." Hagrid told her as we continued to listen to their conversation, "oh yes, as Gamekeeper, fresh air must be difficult to come by. If I were you, I wouldn't get too used to being back. In fact, I mightn't bother unpacking at all." Umbridge told him before we heard the door and moved out of the way so she didn't see us until she finally left and we eventually made it inside ourselves and talked with Hagrid, "this is Top-Secret. Dumbledore sent me to parley with the giants." Hagrid told us, "Giants?" Hermione said and Hagrid shushed her before she spoke again, "you found them?" she asked a little more quietly, "well, they're not that hard to find to be perfectly honest. They're so big, you see. I tried to convince them to join the cause. But I wasn't the only one that was trying to win them over." Hagrid told us, "Death Eaters?" Ron and I said to him, "yes. Trying to persuade them to join You-Know-Who." Hagrid said, "And, did they?" Harry asked, "I gave them Dumbledore's message. Suppose some of them remember he was friendly to them. I suppose." Hagrid said, "And they did this to you?" Harry asked, "not exactly, no. oh, go on you have it then, you dozy dog." Hagrid said, giving Fang the raw meat before I felt a draft at my feet and looked down to see some dust and straw move before we all stood up and walked over to the window, "it's changing out there. Just like last time. There's a storm coming, Harry. We'd all best be ready when she does." Hagrid said and I let out a light shaky sigh knowing he was right and the four of us had made it back to the Castle.

After making it back to the Castle, the four of us eventually walked into the Great Hall, "Dumbledore warned Fudge this could happen. He's gonna get us all killed just because he can't face the truth." Hermione said to us, "no kidding." I said before we heard Seamus speak up, "Harry. I uh, I wanted to apologise. Now even my mum says the Prophet's version of things don't add up. So, what I'm really trying to say is that, I believe you." Seamus told him, "finally come to your senses I see." I told him and he shrugged a bit before we eventually ate breakfast before heading to our classes for the day and when we all started practice in the Room of Requirement as we were now learning out to Conjure a Patronus Charm and since I already knew how to do it, Harry had asked me to help him with the others and I was helping Fred and George with theirs, "think of any memory that makes either of you happy." I told them and they tried until they eventually got it before we began to hear something.