Shooting Star

Chapter Fifty-One

Harry, Ron and Hermione spent that summer alternating between our house and the Weasley's. Hermione spent a lot of time reading.
"What do your parents do, Hermione?" I asked one night at dinner.
"They're dentists. They--"
"Yes, I know." I shuddered at the thought. "I'm Muggleborn. I always hated going to the dentist." I shuddered again. Those were terrifying experiences.
She laughed, as if I was joking.
That night, we all sat around a fire in the backyard. Remus and I sat on the porch, watching them talk amongst themselves. "Those were the days." I smiled, looking up at the stars.
"Weren't they?" He sighed.
"Do you think Sirius is doing all right?" He asked quietly after a moment.
"Probably not. At least he isn't dead, I guess."
"That may not be a good thing."

The next night, Hermione and I sat at the kitchen table watching Harry and Ron wrestle through the window. "Do you not wish to see your parents?" I asked.
"I did see them. For about two weeks. It's just... Not the same."
I nodded.
"I mean, I love them." She added hastily. "But it's..."
"Awkward?"
She nodded. "Yeah."
"I understand. It's..."
"Sad?"
"Yeah." I nodded. "Do you write them, at least?"
"Yes. About once a week or so."
"Good." I nodded again, staring at the same spot on the table I'd been staring at for the past few minutes.
"Harry said your parents died before he was born?"
"Yeah. My seventh year."
"I'm sorry."
"It's all right."
"Do you wish you'd spent more time with them?"
"I spent most of my breaks with them. I didn't really have anywhere else to go."
"Weren't you friends with Lily Potter?"
"Yeah. Her sister wasn't exactly friendly towards her, or anything having to do with wizardry, though."
"What about Mr. Black?"
"I wasn't friends with them until much later. Sixth year, actually."
"Dinner is served." Remus announced, appearing before us with a box of pizza.
Hermione told the boys, and we all sat down for a nice meal of lukewarm pizza.
"Thank you for having me." Hermione would say every time she left.

The kids were taking Divination this year. I hated that class. It was such a load of shit. I believed in prophecy, of course, in any context. Isaiah prophesied Jesus, and Trelawny prophesied Harry, or Voldemort's downfall, at least.
Then Harry started telling me she was telling him he was seeing the Grim in his bloody tea leaves. I didn't remember much from that class, and I sure as hell didn't remember what the hell a Grim was. I looked it up to find that it was a 'death omen' and in the shape of a big black dog. Death omen, my ass. That dog, however...
Don't worry, Harry. It's a load of crap. The whole thing is.
But that doesn't mean you can slack, though. Keep your grades up while still ignoring everything she says, if possible.
That's all my last letter said.
Hermione and I had started up a correspondence. She was telling me about all her classes, but I had no idea how she could be taking all of those at once. She was taking even more than Lily, Remus and I had combined. There was no possible way she could make it to all of them without there being three of her. She assured me that the most she'd ever been late was five minutes.
That's going to prove too much. It'll stress you out, and your work won't be as good. Surely you can drop some. I'd said.
I could, yes. But I want to take them all. If it proves too much I'll drop some. Starting with Divination. It's absolute rubbish. She'd answered. I'd never agreed more.
She'd gotten a cat, though: Crookshanks. According to Ron, Crookshanks was out to get Scabbers. That bloody cat, though. It looked just like James' and Lily's had. It was uncanny, really.

I showed up to work Monday morning, and Ms. Strout gave me a worried look. "What? What's wrong?" I asked.
"Do you not read the papers?"
"No. It's all rubbish. What's wrong?"
She handed me the morning's paper.
On the cover was Sirius Black, with the title: Sirius Black Escapes Azkaban.
I couldn't refrain from laughing with pure relief.
"What?" She asked, regarding me worriedly.
"Nothing." I composed myself quickly. "Well, that's certainly interesting. Has that ever happened before?"
"No." She said.
"Wow."
"I thought you'd be relieved."
"I'm so relieved." I agreed. "It's amazing."
"Do you want to go talk to Harry and Remus?"
"Remus is actually the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts this year. I'll probably go when I get off work."
"Are you sure you want to wait?"
"Yeah. I'll make it." I grinned and got to work.
Professor Lockheart was a current resident here. Harry may have gotten rid of him, but now I was stuck with him. Today, though, even he couldn't piss me off.
After work, I went straight to Hogwarts.
Harry was already in Remus' office. They both looked relieved, really. Harry ran up and hugged me, even though he was fourteen and that probably wasn't cool. Remus legitimately spun me around and kissed me, which was pretty odd for Remus, Mr. Emotionless.
"How did he do it?" Remus asked, as if I should know.
I shrugged and shook my head.
"Have you seen him?" Harry asked.
I shook my head again. "No, but Harry, if you do, you might should be careful." I didn't want to say it, but I had to.
"Why?" Harry asked.
"Azkaban's a terrible place. He might not be..."
"In his right mind." Remus supplied.
"What do you mean?" Harry asked.
"He might be a bit.... Crazy." I said.
"Oh." Harry said when it clicked.
I nodded. "I'm going to go home, but if you see him, whatever you do, don't write me or tell anybody." I told Harry.
He nodded.
I kissed his cheek. "Bye, love you." I said.
"You too."
When I got home, Cornelius Fudge was waiting on my front porch. "Minister." I said. Must be pretty important for the minister to waste his time here.
He stood up when I got home and held out his hand to shake. "Good evening, Mrs. Black. I'd like to talk to you about your husband."
I shook his hand. "Of course. Would you like to come in?" Surely Sirius would have the good sense not to come around here for a while.
"That would be nice, yes."
So I took him inside, praying Sirius wasn't here. "Can I get you something to drink? Tea?"
"Just water would be nice. Thank you."
I got him a glass of water and we sat at the table. "What did you want to talk about?"
"I'm sure you know the latest updates?"
"Yes, I'm aware." I had to remind myself that he was supposedly a dangerous criminal, and I shouldn't be pleased that he's escaped that hellhole. "How exactly did that happen? I thought Azkaban was impossible to escape."
"It's supposed to be. So we were just wondering if you knew how he did it."
"How could I? It's been almost three years since I've had any contact with him."
"So you don't know?"
"I haven't a clue."
"Do you know where he is?"
"No."
"You're aware he's exceedingly dangerous, correct?"
"Yes." I said honestly. I completely believed he could be whatever he wanted to be. If he wanted to be dangerous, he could be dangerous. I'd always thought him dangerous, with all that anger...
"And you'll tell us if you see him, correct? You're probably in more danger than anybody."
"Of course." I agreed.
"What about Harry Potter?"
"What about him?"
"Does he know?"
"How would he? He's been at school."
"Do you think Remus Lupin would know?"
"He's been at school too, so no."
"Well, thank you for your time." He said as he stood.
"Of course." I stood too. "Will that be all?"
"Yes, that will be all. Thank you for your time."
"You're welcome." I said, and shut the door.
I stood on the back porch for a while, praying to see a big black dog. No such luck, of course.