If you ever need me, send word. I love you, pup. I'll write again soon.
Sirius.
PS - I thought your friend Ron might like to keep this owl, as it's my fault he no longer has a rat.
Harry hesitated to show the letter to Ron and Hermione, but they were both with him when the letter was delivered, so he couldn't really say no. To his surprise, Ron held the owl up to Crookshanks f or inspection before claiming the little creature, wanting to check it wasn't hiding anything.
Harry was overjoyed by the small piece of parchment included in the envelope; signed permission from Sirius for Harry to visit Hogsmeade. That would be good enough for Dumbledore, he hoped.
"What does he mean, there's Maraudering afoot?" Hermione asked, reading the letter carefully. Harry, who hadn't shared the entire history of his father's legacy with his friends, merely shrugged.
"Who knows," he said evasively. He hoped it meant that Lupin had found Sirius, wherever he was.
"Brilliant," Ron declared, staring at his new owl. "Way better than some stupid rat."
Harry laughed, shaking his head. Ron still hadn't completely forgiven Harry and Hermione for going back in time without him. Hopefully the owl would go some way towards soothing his ruffled feathers.
.-.-.
Harry's last night in the castle found him wandering the halls past curfew, safe under his invisibility cloak, enjoying it much more now he didn't have to worry about a mass-murderer coming after him. He glanced down at the crumpled paper in his hand, checking he was in the right place, then snuck into the classroom to his left.
For once, Draco was already in there. He jumped when the door opened, and Harry shrugged the cloak off, revealing himself. The blond's eyes went wide. "You have an invisibility cloak," he realised. "Suddenly a lot of things are making sense."
"It definitely comes in handy," Harry replied, grinning.
Draco shook his head, gesturing for Harry to pull up a chair. "No wonder you're always getting into trouble. I bet you had something to do with Black's little adventure, too — I heard you were in the hospital wing that night."
Biting his lip, Harry met suspicious grey eyes. "Maybe," he admitted eventually. "Sirius Black is innocent, Draco. It's a long story, but he never worked for Voldemort. Peter Pettigrew did. He framed Sirius and faked his own death."
Draco stared at him incredulously. Eventually, he scoffed. "One day, you'll tell me that long story."
"You believe me?" Harry expected it to be that easy.
hadn't
"You have no reason to lie to me about something like that," Draco pointed out. "I'll expect an explanation in future. But for now, your word is enough."
It amazed Harry how far they'd come from the year before, where they could barely stand to look at each other without wanting to hex each other. He much preferred this. "So what are your plans for the summer?" he asked curiously, bringing the conversation round to lighter topics. Draco shrugged.
"I might go with Blaise and his mother to Italy for a while. And Mother wants to spend some time at the family home in France. Father never comes with us, there. He's got too much work to do to take a holiday." Harry imagined spending a week or two without Lucius Malfoy was the highlight of Draco's summer. "Do you… do you think we'll be able to write? Or will Dumbledore find out?"
Brow furrowed, Harry hummed thoughtfully. "I don't know. If I'm back at the Dursleys, I might not be able to write to anyone, let alone you." He'd be lucky if they let him have Hedwig out. Hell, after the way he left, he'd be lucky if they didn't lock him back in his cupboard all summer. "I wonder if I can get away with another bout of 'accidental' magic. Give me an excuse to run to Diagon for the summer again. That was nice." He doubted he'd be allowed to get away with it twice, but it was a nice thought.
"Whatever you do, just be careful," Draco replied. "I know it's hard for you, Potter, but do try and stay out of any life-or-death situations for at least two months." His tone was mocking, but the concern was real, and it warmed Harry's heart.
How far they'd come indeed, for Draco Malfoy to genuinely be worried about the safety and wellbeing of Harry Potter. .-.-.
The train ride home was a quiet one, especially when he compared it to the one that had brought them to school at the beginning of the year. Harry was surprised at how many people managed to catch him while he was walking to the bathroom at the end of the train, imploring him to keep in touch over the summer. Susan Bones; Parvati Patil; even Daphne Greengrass told him to send her an owl sometime. It felt like he'd stepped into some bizarre alternate universe.
He returned to his carriage with Ron and Hermione, where they were also joined by Neville, Ginny, and a girl with pale blonde hair that Harry didn't recognise. "This is Luna," Ginny said by way of introduction. Ravenclaw."
"She's
in
my
year,
in
The blonde girl stared at him with a somewhat dazed smile. "Hello, Harry Potter. I'm glad to see you don't have wrackspurts on you this year. They looked awfully uncomfortable last year."
Harry blinked. giggled.
"Uh.
What?"
Ginny
"Luna's a bit… interesting, but she means well," she assured. Harry, who still had absolutely no idea what was going on, merely shook his head and sat down between Ron and Neville. Whatever; if Ginny's weird friend wanted to sit with them, that was fine by him. "Cheer up, Harry," Hermione said as she watched him stare forlornly at the castle disappearing behind the mountains. "I'm sure we'll be able to see you this summer."
"Yeah, I've been thinking about that," Ron said. "You've got to come stay with us, Harry. It's the Quidditch World Cup this summer, Dad says he can get tickets from work. You can't miss it!"
Harry, who had never been to a live quidditch match but had listened to lots of them on the Wizarding Wireless he'd bought last summer, brightened up considerably at that. "That'd be brilliant. I bet the Dursleys would love to get rid of me." It all boiled down to whether Dumbledore would let him go. Surely he couldn't find an excuse not to? He didn't seem to mind Harry spending time with the Weasleys.
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