Midnight In Hogwarts | Harry Potter FanFiction

Capitulum Sedecim

The rest of the holidays passed in a blur. There had been a few talks about Harry's confrontation with the Minister, most of them ending soon after they began because Sirius couldn't contain his laughter for long. Sirius had found the entire scene of Scrimgeour being reprimanded by a teenager positively hilarious. The only regret Sirius had was that he hadn't bitten Scrimgeour when he had the chance. Remus, on the other hand, was more reserved about his opinion, although he had commended Harry on how he had handled himself. Not many could rattle the Minister of Magic as Harry had.

Other discussions included Sirius' new mission for Dumbledore and what that meant for Harry and Remus. Harry's actual grounding had ended some time ago even though he still spent as much time in the Marauder Quarters as possible to complete his homework in peace. With Sirius gone, Harry's training would decrease to twice a week with Remus. They would be continuing with nonverbal spells but the actual dueling would be done whenever Tonks had time to spare since they didn't want to risk a stray spell affecting Remus' recovery.

For security reasons, Harry wasn't told what Sirius' mission was but Sirius assured him that it wasn't overly dangerous and promised to stay in contact. Harry fought back the uneasy feeling in his stomach and accepted Sirius' orders. With the war progressing, this was inevitable. Sirius was probably one of the most trusted and valuable Order members because he knew more. He was also one of the more dangerous. Sirius acted fast and hard, not bothering to take any risks on being proper. Harry had dueled against Sirius enough times to know that when Sirius was at the top of his game, opponents rarely stood a chance.

It had been a relief to learn that the 'werewolf talk' had occurred last year before Remus had been injured. It hadn't gone any further than a hypothetical possibility. Dumbledore had wanted nothing more than to understand what it would take to be accepted by the werewolves. Dumbledore had been optimistic that Remus could be a light of hope among werewolves who wanted a normal life. Of course that had been before Remus' silver poisoning and before Fenrir Greyback started becoming more of an active figure in Voldemort's reign.

Harry had also talked to Sirius and Remus about showing the Council his memory of the duel with Voldemort at the Ministry. Sirius and Remus were extremely supportive to what Harry was trying to do and agreed that this was what was needed to prove that the 'Ministry standards' weren't enough. If people wanted to survive this war, they had to go the extra mile...the D.A. had to go the extra mile and with the Council's help, it would be possible.

Before Harry knew it, it was time to return to Hogwarts. Harry, Sirius and Remus had traveled by prearranged portkey to the Marauder Quarters early in the morning to avoid any scene. While Harry put on some finishing touches on his homework, Sirius and Remus met with Professor Dumbledore. In the end, it didn't matter because Sirius and Remus told Harry everything they were told and handed over the scroll of parchment that contained the date and time of Harry's next lesson with Dumbledore. Percy had passed on quite a bit of information about what was happening at the Ministry. Scrimgeour's move to gain Harry's allegiance was a final attempt to increase public acclaim and guarantee Harry's silence. Harry and Dumbledore weren't the only two questioning whether the few people captured were actually Death Eaters. They were just the only ones openly vocal about it. The problem with that was the small fact that Harry and Dumbledore were respectable members of society again so they were more trustworthy than the Ministry.

When the time arrived for the rest of the students to return, Harry was waiting in the Entrance Hall, hoping against hope that nothing had happened between Ron and Hermione on the train. He had only spoken to Ron after Scrimgeour had left and it had surprisingly centered on Hermione. Ron had asked quite a few uncomfortable questions about possible relationships Hermione had been in and if she hated him for teasing her. Harry had chosen to refrain from answering as many questions as he could but made no point in hiding how hurt Hermione had been because of Ron's teasing. Hopefully that would be enough for Ron to do the rest.