The Forgotten Olympian |BOOK 1| PJO X HP | Alexandra Marine

Chapter 146 - Percy - A Talk With Sirius

"I swear, if I hear Fred retching one more time," I groaned as the twins finally shut the boys dormitories behind them, closing their business for the day. "Why can't they find something like Illness Ink? Why does it have to something that makes people vomit, for god's sake?"

Hermione frowned. "They've already made thirty Galleons from selling vomiting drugs."

"It's a pretty decent idea, though," Jason said. "But I hated that sound."

"Reminded me of the time-" Alex started, but she stopped, pale. "Nothing."

I smiled. She was just about to mention the one time Travis and Connor had cursed the boiled eggs at Ares Table. Needless to say, they never left the washrooms for the whole day.

Harry, who was making very little progress with his Potions essay, decided to give it up for the night. As he put his books away, Ron, who was dozing lightly in an armchair, gave a muffled grunt, awoke, and looked blearily into the fire.  

"Sirius!" he whispered.

Sirius's untidy dark head was sitting in the fire again.

"Hi," he said, grinning.

"Hi," chorused Harry, Ron and Hermione, all three kneeling down on the hearthrug. Crookshanks purred loudly and approached the fire, trying, despite the heat, to put his face close to Sirius's.

"How're things?" said Sirius.

"Not that good," said Harry, as Hermione pulled Crookshanks back to stop him singeing his whiskers. "The Ministry's forced through another decree, which means we're not allowed to have Quidditch teams--"

"Or secret Defence Against the Dark Arts groups?" said Sirius.

There was a short pause.

"Oh, you sick son-" Alex started, her eyes wide.

"How did you know about that?" Harry interrupted.

"You want to choose your meeting places more carefully," said Sirius, grinning still more broadly. "The Hog's Head, I ask you."

"Well, it was better than the Three Broomsticks!" said Hermione defensively. "That's always packed with people--"

"Which means you'd have been harder to overhear," said Sirius. "You've got a lot to learn, Hermione."

"Who overheard us?" Harry demanded.

"Mundungus Fletcher," Jason said seriously.

"Good observation," Sirius said. When the rest of looked puzzled, he laughed. "He was the witch under the veil."

"That was Mundungus?" Harry said, stunned. "What was he doing in the Hog's Head?"

"What do you think he was doing?" said Sirius impatiently. "Keeping an eye on you, of course."

"I'm still being followed?" asked Harry angrily.

"Yeah, you are," said Sirius, "and just as well, isn't it, if the first thing you're going to do on your weekend off is organise an illegal defence group."

But he looked neither angry nor worried. On the contrary, he was looking at Harry with distinct pride.

"Why was Dung hiding from us?" asked Ron, sounding disappointed. "We'd've liked to've seen him."

"He was banned from the Hog's Head twenty years ago," said Sirius, "and that barman's got a long memory. We lost Moody's spare Invisibility Cloak when Sturgis was arrested, so Dung's been dressing as a witch a lot lately... anyway... first of all, Ron--I've sworn to pass on a message from your mother."