Ethereal

♦ 043 ♦

The Order of The Phoenix

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It was now past midnight and the common room was deserted but for the four of them and Crookshanks. The only sound was that of Hermione's quill scratching out sentences here and there on their essays and the ruffle of pages as she checked various facts in the reference books strewn across the table. Sadie was exhausted. She also felt an odd, sick, empty feeling in her stomach that had nothing to do with tiredness and everything to do with the letter now curling blackly in the heart of the fire.

There was something about seeing it written down like that in Percy's writing, about knowing that Percy was advising Ron to drop her and even to tell tales about her to Umbridge, that made her situation real to her as nothing else had. She had known Percy for four years, had stayed in his house during the summer holidays, asked him for school advice, and asked him about becoming an Auror and now Percy thought her dangerous and possibly violent.

"Okay, write that down," Hermione said to Ron, pushing his essay and a sheet covered in her own writing back to Ron, "then add this conclusion I've written for you."

"Hermione, you are honestly the most wonderful person I've ever met," said Ron weakly as Harper smiled at them, "and if I'm ever rude to you again. . . ."

". . . .I'll know you're back to normal," said Hermione. "Harry, yours is okay except for this bit at the end, I think you must have misheard Professor Sinistra, Europa's covered in ice, not mice, Harry?"

Harry had slid off his chair on to his knees and was now crouching on the singed and threadbare hearthrug, gazing into the flames.

"Er, Harry?" Sadie asked confused, "whatcha doing?"

"I've just seen Sirius's head in the fire," said Harry quite calmly.

"His head?" Sadie asked, "you mean like when he wanted to talk to you during the Triwizard Tournament? Bloody hell, hello Sirius!"

Ron dropped his quill. There in the middle of the dancing flames sat Sirius's head, long dark hair failing around his grinning face.

"I was starting to think you'd go to bed before everyone else had disappeared," he said. "I've been checking every hour."

"You've been popping into the fire every hour?" Harry said, half-laughing.

"Just for a few seconds to check if the coast was clear."

"But what if you'd been seen?" said Hermione anxiously.

"Well, I think a girl, first-year, by the look of her, might've get a glimpse of me earlier, but don't worry," Sirius said hastily, as Hermione clapped a hand to her mouth, "I was gone the moment she looked back at me and I'll bet she just thought I was an oddly-shaped log or something."

"But, Sirius, this is taking an awful risk. . . ." Hermione began.

"You sound like Molly," said Sirius. "This was the only way I could come up with of answering Harry's letter without resorting to a code, and codes are breakable."

At the mention of Harry's letter, Sadie, Hermione and Ron both turned to stare at him.

"You didn't say you'd written to Sirius!" said Hermione accusingly.

"I forgot," said Harry. "Don't look at me like that, Hermione, there was no way anyone would have got secret information out of it, was there, Sirius?"

"No, it was very good," said Sirius, smiling. "Anyway, we'd better be quick, just in case we're disturbed, your scar."