fatal love

Chapter 43

They had officially been back at Hogwarts a week when Salville's departure was reported in the Prophet, in a short article on page eight.

The recently appointed Head of Communications is leaving after only a month in her post. She has been admitted to St Mungo's for unknown reasons, and a statement from the Ministry claims they do not expect her to return soon. This is a blow to Minister Jenkins, who will now need to find her third Head of Communications in less than a year.

Sirius breathed a sigh of relief - Dumbledore had listened to him, then, and done something. What had happened wasn't clear, but at least Salville wasn't still in the Ministry. He glanced up to see Regulus staring at him, a copy of the Prophet in front of him too.

Sirius jutted his chin out, daring Regulus to come over and say something, but he backed down, turning to talk Crouch. He'd have to keep an eye on him as well now, Sirius thought in annoyance. Having Regulus get suspicious and go blabbing to Walburga would not be good.

"Did you see the paper?" Lily asked him, pulling his gaze away from Regulus. "What do you think happened to her?"

Sirius shrugged. "No clue. PR is hardly the Ministry's biggest problem at the moment though, right?"

"Yeah, I guess," she said, "it's fishy though."

"Wait a moment!" Remus exclaimed, eyes swivelling between the two of them. "You two! You're talking again!"

"We are," Sirius grinned, "Evans realised how unreasonable she had been, and gave me a very nice apology, so I forgave her."

Lily laughed, elbowing him. "Try the other way around. But yeah, we're friends again."

Remus was beaming, and seeing that made Sirius' heart soar just a little. "I knew you two would work it out. I told you both, didn't I tell you?"

"Yeah, Re, you did," Sirius chuckled, smiling at him. "You were right."

The next couple of weeks passed quickly. James had made a list of every girl on a Quidditch team between Third and Fifth Year, crossed off all the Slytherins, and now deciding which girl he was going to 'woo' next.

"You're acting like you'll have your pick," Remus sighed one day when James was weighing the merits of Florence versus Abigail.

"And why wouldn't I?" James asked, offended. "I'm a catch!"

"Yes you are, Jamie," Sirius grinned, patting his head condescendingly, making Remus laugh. "Our very own Romeo."

"Gerroff," James grumbled, swatting Sirius away. "Seriously, what do you think?"

"Well, Siriusly, I think you should go for Florence. Hufflepuffs are nice, she's pretty, she's a Chaser too. Perfect match."

James nodded. "You're right. I'll ask her out in November though, after we've done the Mandrake leaves. I don't want to have to kiss her with that thing in my mouth."

"Probably a smart choice," Remus smirked.

His first month back, Sirius also learnt that this year would probably be his worst year in Defence Against the Dark Arts ever. Yes, they had to deal with the Slytherins, but their teacher was also some old codger who Dumbledore had dragged out of retirement, who didn't seem to be all there anymore. Not only was Professor Bradford almost entirely deaf, but he even fell asleep at his desk in his Thursday lesson when he assigned them reading. Everyone left early, which was fun, but it looked like their education might take a hit.

Coming back to school also meant they got to re-establish themselves as the reigning pranksters of Hogwarts. In response to being forced to go to the Slug Club, or in the case of the other three, not being invited, they modified some stink pellets to make them slow release, and hid them all over the Potions classrooms.