Redemption For A Monster (Marauder fanfic) Book Three

37- Good Or Bad People?

Without anyone else in the house, to make life more exciting, each week felt like a month, and each month felt like a year for Sara and Sirius.
The two of them could hardly remember a time when they hadn't been stuck inside Grimmauld Place.
Since the owls and fireplaces were being policed, her and Sirius had no way of communicating with Harry, which made their lives even more miserable.
However, it wasn't long into the new year that Harry's defense group was discovered by Umbridge. Luckily Dumbledore took the fall for Harry, but because of this, he had been forced to flee the school, meaning that Umbridge was now the headmistress.
Dumbledore had visited Grimmauld Place after leaving Hogwarts, but he had decided not to stay there, in hiding, with Sara and Sirius. And despite their questions, he refused to tell them where he would be staying.

On one boring day during Easter, Sara and Sirius were searching the house for Kreacher, who had disappeared again, when they suddenly heard Remus calling for them, from the ground floor.
Remus usually visited them once a week, and they relied on his visits to help keep them sane. And they were also usually a lot happy on that day as well.
"What's wrong?" Asked Sirius, when him and Sara reached Remus.
"It's Harry, he's in the fireplace, and he wants to talk with you both" revealed Remus.
Sara and Sirius took off after him, towards the kitchen, where they saw Harry's head sticking out of the fireplace.
"What is it?" Questioned Sirius urgently, as he knelt down on the floor, in front of the fireplace.
"Are you all right? Do you need any help?" Asked Sara, as her and Remus joined Sirius on the floor.

"No. It's nothing like that... I just wanted to talk, about my dad" revealed Harry.
He then quickly explained that he had seen a memory of them all as teenagers, through one of Snape's memories, in a Pensieve.
"I wouldn't like you to judge your father on what you saw there, Harry. He was only 15-" started Remus.
"I'm 15" interupted Harry.
"What Remus means is, that you saw one moment from your father's life, when he was still a teenager. So you shouldn't judge his whole character, based on that one event" explained Sara.
"Look, Harry, James and Snape hated each other from the moment they met. James was everything Snape wanted to be. He was popular, and good at everything, whereas Snape was an oddball obssessed with the Dark Arts. And James hated the Dark Arts" revealed Sirius.

"Yeah, but he just attacked Snape for no good reason, because you said you were bored" admitted Harry awkwardly.
"I'm not proud of what we did" Sirius said quickly.
"Sirius and your dad, were the coolest kids in school, so sometimes they got carried away with pleasing the crowds, no matter how much I tried to stop them" sighed Sara.
"We were arrogent little berks sometimes, I admit" replied Sirius, making Remus and Sara grin.
"He kept messing up his hair" Harry said quietly.
Sara and the boys laughed.
"I'd forgotten he used to do that" smiled Sirius.
"Was he playing with a Snitch?" Asked Remus.
"Yeah... And... Well, I thought he was a bit of an idiot" revealed Harry.

"Of course he was, we all were. Well, not these two as much" teased Sirius, as he ruffled Sara and Remus' hair.
"I could have done more to stop you though. Instead of just sitting there, watching you bully Snape" admitted Remus.
"We all wish we could go back and change the bad things we did. But everyone has done something in their youth that they regret" sighed Sara.
"And he kept looking over at the lake, at the girls, hoping that they were watching him" Harry revealed.
"Well, he always made a fool of himself whenever Lily was around. He couldn't stop himself showing off in front of her" shrugged Sirius.

"How come she married him then, when she seemed to hate him?" Asked Harry curiously.
"No she didn't" answered Remus.
"Actually, she did. We'd get into fights all the time over her hatred of James. She didn't start to like him until our 7th year" countered Sara.
"Yeah, once he'd deflated his head a bit" added Sirius.
"And stopped hexing people for the fun of it" replied Remus.
"Even Snape?" Quizzed Harry.
"Well, Snape was a special case. He never turned down an opportunity to hex James, so you couldn't expect James not to attack back" answered Remus.
"And my mum was O.K with that?"
"She didn't know too much about it, to tell you the truth. I mean, James didn't take Snape on dates with her, and jinx him in front of her, did he?".

Harry frowned, still looking unconvinced that James was not a bad person.
"Look, your father was the best friend I ever had, he was a good person. A lot of people are idiots at the age of 15, and he grew out of it" insisted Sirius.
"He's right. James was a great person, who took me and Sirius in, when we had nowhere else to go. And he would always risk his own life to save his friends. I wouldn't be here today, without him" added Sara.
"O.K... I just never thought I'd feel sorry for Snape" admitted Harry.
"Well Snape was no angel either. Look what he did to Sara, he scarred her for life that day" reminded Sirius, pointing to the mark on Sara's cheek.
"I saw. You stepped in front of my dad, and kept him from harm" said Harry, looking gratefully at Sara.

"Yeah, well I wasn't about to let my best friend get hurt. And Snape did apologise to me later, and thank me for saving his ass, when James wanted to remove his underpants in front of everyone" admitted Sara.
"I never saw the end of the scene. Did my dad not take Snape's pants off then?" Asked Harry.
"No, I managed to persuade him not to do it. So James threw him into the Black lake instead"
"Ah".
"Speaking of the flashback you saw, what did Snape do, when he found out you'd seen all this?" Asked Remus.
"He threw me out of his office, and told me that he'd never teach me Occlumency again. Like that's a big disappointment" replied Harry.
"He what!" Shouted Sirius, looking furious.
"Are you serious Harry. He's stopped giving you lessons?" Questioned Sara.
"Yeah, but I don't care. It's actually a bit of a relief to tell you the-"
"I'm coming up there to have a word with Snape" interupted Sirius, as he suddenly jumped to his feet.

Sara placed her hand onto his arm, and shook her head.
"We're wanted criminals remember, darling, we can't leave Grimmauld Place".
"She's right, and if anyone's going to tell Snape, it is going to be me. But Harry, first of all, you're going to go back to Snape, and tell him that on no account is he to stop giving you lessons. When Dumbledore hears-" started Remus.
"I can't tell him that. He'd kill me. You didn't see him when I got out of the Pensieve" interupted Harry, with a scared look on his face.
"Harry, there is nothing more important, than you learning Occlumency! Do you understand me? Nothing!" Announced Remus firmly.
"O.K, O.K, I'll try and say something to him, but it won't be... Is that Kreacher coming downstairs?" Questioned Harry, frowing.
"No. It must be someone your end" answered Sirius.
"Quick Harry, get out, now!" Instructed Sara.

A second later, Harry's head disappeared, leaving the three of them alone on the kitchen floor.
"Do you think he'll be alright? Do you think someone caught him contacting us? Are they going to expell him?" Asked Sara nervously.
"I'm sure he's fine. No one actually dragged him out of the fireplace, which should mean that he's O.K, and wasn't caught speaking to us" reassured Remus.
"Yeah, I'm more worried about what is going to happen to him, now that he is no longer studying Occlumency" admitted Sirius, as they all stood to their feet.
"Hopefully Severus will reconsider not teaching Harry, once he's had a chance to cool down" sighed Remus.
"This is Snape we're talking about, right? I can't see him carrying on with Harry's lessons, any time soon. He hates Harry, and was probably glad to have a chance not to teach him anymore" replied Sirius coldly.

"But if Harry doesn't learn to close his mind, Voldemort might start giving him visions again" said Sara quietly.
"Well, we'll just have to hope that Voldemort doesn't try anything. Because if he does, we will all be in danger" admitted Sirius.
"I hope that Harry has learned enough from his lessons, that he can keep Voldemort out. Because if he reads Harry's mind, then he might find something to use against him, or against us"
"And if he does, it will be Snape's fault, for stopping Harry's lessons".
"Well, I expect he was angry that Harry was spying on his own private life".

"I can't believe Harry saw what we like as teens. How embarrassing" continued Sara, as her face turned red.
"Yeah, I just wish that he had seen us and James, in a better light" replied Sirius awkwardly.
"I think we managed to convince him that James was not a bad person though"
"I hope so. I would hate for him to think bad things about such a great man"
"It's not his fault he never got to know James, like we did"
"I know, which is why it is up to us, to keep James' memory alive... Come on, let's go and entertain ourselves by feeding Buckbeak".
Sirius threw his arms around Sara and Remus' shoulders, as the group headed out of the kitchen, with their happy memories of James, at the forefront of all their minds.