A/N: Hello again everyone! Just a note before we get started. This is a sequel, to a Lily and James story called The Last Laugh, you could probably read this without having read the first one, however. At first things won't make sense to you, but trust me, everything will be pretty well explained. OK, anyway, on to a lot of business.

I'm sorry it's been so long since I finished The Last Laugh. With school I've become unbelievably busy. I cannot say how long it's going to be until I post again, I'll make it as soon as possible, rest assured. Really the only time I have now is the weekends which are quite taken up by football games, which I'm required to attend as part of the color-guard, Saturday competitions or babysitting my sisters, and church which takes a while since I have to go out of state.don't ask, it's not as far as it sounds. So, I'm apologizing ahead of time for the late update, OK?

Anyway, onto your reviews for the last chapter of the previous story. I cannot BELIEVE the awesome response I got for that last chapter. I had a feeling some of you would have that kind of reaction. And by the way, all of you who left me that sarcastic question about the title of this story: May the lord of all that is good damn you to the fiery depths of DISNEY!! Lol, don't ask, at least one person should be laughing.

I do want to thank everyone to who reviewed the last chapter. I really appreciate it. I had more fun reading those reviews, you have no idea.

About this story: I'm not really sure how long it's going to be. I know that there are a lot of major events that have to happen, but that doesn't mean a whole lot. Unless you consider Angie and Sirius a plot, which they kind of are, the plot does not start coming in to major play until towards the end of the year. Some strange things will probably happen around Christmas and Halloween will be extremely confusing, but don't worry, it will all gradually start to get clearer as time goes on.

You won't BELIEVE what happens Valentine's Day, and as for the rest, well, you probably won't believe that either.

This particular chapter is quite long, but I definitely do not plan to make them this long, they won't need to be.hopefully, I think this story will probably be a little shorter than The Last Laugh, but like I said before, I'm not entirely sure.

So, just a little re-cap since it's been quite a while.

Lily and James just died! *Sniff* Harry went to live with his Aunt and Uncle. You know what happened to Sirius from the real books and .yeah. What happened to Angie? & Kirsten? Right now, we're in seventh year, actually summer before hand, everything from books 1-4 has happened. Now it's time to bring back the old characters and find out what has been going on.

Basically, that's what's happening, don't worry if you're a little confused after this prologue, I introduce several new things all at once, but like I said don't worry, I'll explain it all soon enough.

Anyway, I've talked and talked way more than necessary, so I'll say one more thing and then I'll let you get to the story. OK, so I lied, I'll say two more things. First of all, if you reviewed for the last chapter of The Last Laugh, check after the end of this chapter, I might have said something to you.

Secondly, this is very important, my friend Harmony Slytherin, (who you'll remember from The Last Laugh, and also know that she helped with this story too) has fairly recently posted one of her latest stories called Never Turn Back. I consider this to be the best of the best and that's not because she's my friend. This is the most unique, most awesome plot, and she's done with it so she can update at fairly regular times. It's a Ron fic, but this is not a normal situation. It features two awesome new characters. I promise this is quality writing. You'll absolutely LOVE it, and get emotionally attached!! Lol, maybe not. Please go check it out!

Thank you very much and here's the story. Enjoy and don't forget to review, I might be encouraged to put off my homework and write if you do. Lol.

Thanks! (Again.)

Awakening Chapter One: It has Begun By Star*dust

What a boring life Ginny Weasley led. Extremely boring. So boring in fact, that she was forced to make up ridiculous parodies up about her brothers.

*If only they would pay attention to me.* She thought. But no, they were all leaving her out again. Right now they were all outside (Well, Ron was in the bathroom at the moment, but that was not the point,) admiring Charlie's baby dragon that he brought home, he had to get a special license.

No one cared that Ginny was at this moment all alone in her house sipping tea. No one cared that she had no one to talk to.

Last year, her fifth year, she had desperately tried to make her life more interesting, but she could hardly talk to her boyfriend, Draco, over the summer.

Yes, life was boring, and it definitely needed some spicing up. Of course, Ginny had absolutely no idea that it would indeed come true the way it had.

It was funny how sometimes being bored can make you do strange things. One of these strange things that popped into Ginny's head at that moment was a song. To pass time she started making up parodies about her family.

"Some street near Ottery St. Catchpole Fred and George drive I feel sorry for those who watch with unprotected eyes

One day I'll wish upon a star, and wake up where the twins can drive no more Where streets are safe from my dad's car Along with Bill's out of tune guitar That's where you'll find me." Ginny sighed, that was strange. But, on second thought maybe she should sing that at Christmas and give the family a laugh.

After a minute or so of just staring Ginny got an idea for another song after glancing at the front page of The Daily Prophet on the kitchen table next to her. It screamed "SIRIUS BLACK SPOTTED IN FRANCE!"

"Some where across the channel Sirius Black hides Maybe the ministry will finally find out where he resides

Some day I'll wish upon a star and wake up where. HE'S ON MY KITCHEN FLOOR!!!!!!"

And, at that moment, Sirius Black opened the back kitchen door and fell onto the floor!

He was bloody and his leg was broken and he was in terrible pain, but even in this state he scared Ginny almost to the point of fainting.

Instead, she stood up and screamed bloody murder, which would be the normal thing to do when a mass-murderer suddenly appears inside your house.

In an instant Ron came sliding into the kitchen, his wand out, and then he saw Sirius bleeding on the floor. Ginny stopped screaming but she sort of whimpered as she backed away towards Ron.

"Sirius!" Ron shouted. "What the hell happened to you?"

"I'll explain later. Get your mother!" He said in an obvious amount of pain. He suddenly got violently sick on the floor which caused Ginny to think that she really was going to faint.

Suddenly, Ron's eyes fell on Sirius' broken leg and a grin spread across his face.

Sirius stared at him as if he was absolutely insane. "What the hell is wrong with you? Get your mother!" Sirius shouted but Ron was still grinning eerily.

"I do believe one would call this a cruel irony," He said looking at the broken leg, and suddenly Sirius understood.

* * *

"When are they supposed to be here, honey?" Angela Star asked her seventeen year old daughter Kirsten Star.

"Six o'clock, Mom," The bouncing young blonde came into the kitchen to join her mother. Tonight, Kirsten's best friends Kerrie Evangelista and Julianne Dow were coming over to have a 'girl party'.

Angie glanced at the clock. "Your father asked if he could come over today," Kirsten stiffened.

"What did you tell him?" She asked in horror.

"I thought it would be nice if-"

"MOTHER!" She shouted. "I don't want him to ruin my day! I don't want to see that horrible excuse for a father!"

"Kirsten Elizabeth!" Angie shouted. "Don't talk about your father that way!"

"Why should you care? You divorced him almost ten years ago!"

"He's still your father!" Angie said. "And he has something important to discuss with you,"

"If he's not too busy!" Kirsten snapped. Josh was known for not keeping his promises.

"Kirsten just listen! I got a letter today from a very old friend-" The doorbell suddenly sounded.

"I don't want to talk to you OR dad!" Angie gave her daughter a look and then quickly answered the door.

"Tell him I'll be back in a couple of minutes!" Josh Thompson was yelling at a very small scared looking wizard. Angie raised an eyebrow at her ex- husband who finally noticed her and dismissed the wizard.

"Angela!" He said brightly. "How are you darling?"

"Fine." She replied flatly, without a smile.

"Where's Kirsten?" He asked with the same tone she had. He had dropped the happy-act quick this time since Angie hadn't even tried.

"Right here," Kirsten said coldly.

"Kirsti!" He said, in the same tone one would use to talk to an eight year old. He went to give her a hug but she turned coldly away. Josh ignored it, like always.

That was one of the reasons why Kirsten could not stand her father. He was never there for her, and when he was he pretended nothing was wrong and ignored all the hints Kirsten dropped.

"You wanted to see me about something?" She asked formally and to the point, as if she were speaking to her boss and not her father.

"Yes, but can't I say hello and chat a bit with my daughter first?"

"Why? You never showed interest before," Kirsten snapped, ignoring the look from her mother. She was being unusually cruel to him today, usually she at least tried to be civil until he did something to piss her off, but today his mere presence was enough. Her mother obviously didn't want him here either, judging by the look of extreme distaste on her face when she looked at him.

He looked pressed and businesslike, like a business man, bland and generic. He had gotten rid of the natural blonde highlights and went all brown just to make himself look even blander. He thought he had a better chance of people not judging him until they got to know him. To bad for him that people hated him when they got to know him.

Her father was a politician, so to speak. He actually worked for the government, in the law enforcement general area. But, it was all a race to get to the top. Power was everything, not his family, his wife, or daughter, power

"Now, Kirsti, you know that's not true," Josh said. "I might be a little busy sometimes, but if I eventually want a top spot in magical law than I have to-"

"OK! I understand!" Kirsten said hurriedly. She hated always being right about these things. Josh decided to change the subject.

"Now Kirsten, I don't want you to get upset," *There he goes assuming again. Hasn't he ever heard the saying if you assume you make a bad word out of 'u' and 'me'?* She thought.

"But, like I said before, if I'm aiming for a top position I've got to put in loads of work-"

"Skip to the point," Kirsten said impatiently. She had two hours before her friends were to arrive and she still had some things to do.

"I've been offered a job in the ministry of magic.in London."

"OK." Kirsten said. She was a little surprised; this was not at all what she had expected.

Angie frowned. Joshua Thompson going back to the old stomping ground? She couldn't picture it, especially not with Fudge now minister and everything that had changed since they had left over fifteen years ago. Somehow she didn't think the now-American-citizen would fit in.

"I'm going to be moving in two weeks," He finished.

"Congratulations. Good luck." Kirsten told her father offhandedly. This was probably the most unexpected strangest things she had ever discussed with her father. And Angie was just staring at him, her mouth slightly open, a scowl on her face.

*At least he'll finally be away from me where I won't have to think about it anymore,* Kirsten thought. *He was never around for me in the first place.*

"Wow Josh," Angie said. "I didn't know you were." *What was it she was looking for ".that skilled."* "Well good luck! That ought to be a wonderful opportunity for you,"

Josh turned to his daughter who was still unsure about how to react. "Kirsten, I know that I haven't been the best over the years-" *You can say that again* Kirsten thought sarcastically. "Well, what I'm trying to say is that I've been thinking you could come live with me in London. We could get to know each other and maybe it could make-up for-"

"How dare you even suggest that?" Angie cried. "How dare you even BRING IT UP!!" This was going way too far for Angie. She might try and pretend that Josh was a good parent, but this was too much. He had crossed the line.

"A girl needs a father," Josh argued, but this further enraged both of the women's tempers.

"Funny you never thought of that before when you were 'working'." Angie shot at him angrily. "Nor did you think of your wife when you were busy committing adultery!" Angie screamed.

Kirsten raised her eyebrows; she was surprised at how much emotion her mother displayed just now, it had never happened before, and she was torn between being slightly amused and slightly upset.

"Angela!" Josh said jumping to his feet. "How can you say something like that?"

*Denying everything, like usual,* Angie thought bitterly.

"I was merely suggesting that I take her and expose her to a different, better environment. Think of what I can offer her-" But once again Angie cut Josh off, totally ignoring her usual rule of being civil to her ex in front of Kirsten.

"Are you saying that I'm not providing enough for her? That I'm not capable because I lack all the money you've piled up? Well, don't forget i dear /i that I get plenty in alimony!" Her every word was trembling with a rage she hadn't felt for years, of course, that time had been on account of Josh too.

"I wasn't questioning your maternal abilities-" Josh began.

"No you were saying that you could do better-"

"STOP!!!" Kirsten cut in. She was angry and near tears.

"Oh, Kirsten I-" Josh began.

"I don't care! I can't believe you want me to stop my life and move in with you, who I don't even know. And that's not my fault! I can't stand you!" She shouted.

"Kirsti, honey," Josh started again.

"Josh." Angie said sharply. "I think you should leave now," He opened his mouth to say something, but changed his mind and left without a single word.

Both women stood staring silently, only moving to blink when the door slammed loudly. Angie broke the silence.

"You should apologize to him," She said delicately.

"I'm not apologizing to him. I see no reason to. You said yourself how dare he even suggest taking me and moving me across the ocean."

Angie decided to drop the subject, since she too had stirred up bad memories just now. She was dreading what she had to say next, but knew it would come sometime. "About moving." Kirsten narrowed her eyes suspiciously, she didn't like where this conversation was headed.

"I got this letter from a very important person I used to know very well. He sent it to me a week or so ago and I've been giving great in depth thought to this situation-"

"Spit it out!" Kirsten said dreading what was coming next.

"He sounded very desperate and.well. don't freak on me, OK? He's offered me a job. in Scotland," She shuddered as Kirsten's cries echoed off the walls.

"WHAT!?!?!"

"I told you not to freak on me!" Angie cried.

"I'm not freaking! I'm going BALLISTIC!"

"Listen to me, Dumbledore, my old headmaster wants me to come be a professor at his school of witchcraft and wizardry. It's a very nice school and I've told you loads about it.

"But I really think that this will be a great opportunity for you, and it will be the best career option I have right now."

Kirsten was breathing quickly, her emotions were going crazy and crashing inside of her, causing what one might consider a bad case of PMS.

"You just think you can move me wherever you please?" She roared. "You never even asked what I thought!"

"Kirsten, just hold on a minute," Angie said desperately, but Kirsten was rambling on very quickly and rather descriptively in French.

"NO! I don't want to talk to you! I can't believe this!" Kirsten shouted in English at her mother.

She turned and ran up the stairs. Angie flinched slightly as her door slammed and the lock clicked loudly as if Angie couldn't magically open the door if she wanted to; instead she decided Kirsten needed some time alone to calm down, especially before her friends came over.

Angie shuddered slightly at the thought.

* * *

Sirius looked down at his leg, with a grimace of pain. "OK, we're even. Now help me!" He shouted, but at that moment Fred and George Weasley rushed inside.

"What's going on? We heard Ginny scream-" But George was cut short by his twin.

"Bloody hell!" He shouted. "It's Sirius Black!"

"Thanks for the obvious," Ron said sarcastically. "Now where is--?"

"What the--?" Bill asked as he stepped inside. "Sirius?" Bill asked aghast. "What happened? I'll go and get-"

But the remaining two Weasley's (Percy and Charlie, plus Molly) now entered.

"Good heavens!" Molly cried, clutching her chest.

"Mum! He has a broken leg and some nasty cuts. I can handle the cuts, but you're going to have to take the leg." Bill was stooped down to Sirius's level surveying the damage as he and Mrs. Weasley, helped him sit up against the wall.

Bill pulled out a peculiar looking plant and began to make it smoke slightly with his wand. Taking it to the cuts, it healed them, but it looked as if this were causing Sirius more pain. He kept his eyes closed and his teeth gritted.

Mrs. Weasley was busy with her wand, though she still seemed flustered, and every couple of moments she would look nervously up at Sirius and continue tapping and muttering.

Everyone just sort of stared, their minds not fully functioning yet, just staring in complete shock, except for Ron, of course, who was nervously watching the progress and itching to find out what had happened, and why Bill hadn't freaked out when he saw this escaped convict in the kitchen.

Percy, who seemed to be in a trance or a state of shock like the rest of them, seemed to come to his senses.

"I'll get the minister right away," He said.

"NO!!" Ron, Bill, Sirius, and Mrs. Weasley cried at once.

"No," Mrs. Weasley repeated more calmly. "Just wait one moment and let us explain," She stood up as Bill and Ron helped a still shaken Sirius into a chair.

"Thank you ever so kindly Mrs. Weasley," Sirius said. "I'm terribly sorry," Mrs. Weasley laughed.

"Just call me Molly, and no trouble. Just a little scare. Are you feeling better? Here I'll get some chocolate. Ginny, dear, would you fetch me a piece of chocolate from the pantry? Thank you," Ginny, who was still in shock did the only logical thing she could think of, which was to monotonously turn around and get some chocolate from the pantry.

The rest just stared. They were now getting over the shock of seeing a man bleeding on their kitchen floor, one of whom is wanted in every place in the world, but now a new thing baffled them beyond words. What was happening, and why were Bill, Ron, and Mrs. Weasley, helping and being nice to Sirius Black?

"Sirius, tell us what happened," Bill said, as Sirius took the piece of chocolate Mrs. Weasley offered to him.

"Did anyone see you?" Ron inquired, anxiously.

"I don't think so," Sirius said. "I should curse myself for being so stupid. I was having a pleasant conversation with Remus Lupin when-" Ginny gave out a frightened little squeak and the rest of the Weasleys who had known Professor Lupin all showed obvious shock, which proved to further baffle their poor confused minds.

"But it's a full moon!" Ron croaked, looking out the window. Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Like I said, the brains haven't been working properly, or something. I ought to know by now after being friends with him for all these years, hell, he ought to know by now to be careful about full moons!"

"You weren't-bitten, were you?" Mrs. Weasley asked uncertainly.

"No, fortunately enough, I was able to escape that disaster. I did get scraped up pretty heavily, which is probably what made me sick. And to add to my utter stupidity I fell down a hill and broke my confounded leg!"

"Here, have some tea," Mrs. Weasley said kindly pouring some steaming liquid into a cup for Sirius.

"What the bloody hell is going on?!?!" Percy roared.

"Such language," Mrs. Weasley said looking reproachfully at her son. "Now, don't get worked up. There is a perfectly sensible explanation, if Mr. Black would be willing, I'm not exactly straight on my facts,"

"Sirius please," He told her. "But how to start, I don't usually have to tell this story."

"Basically Peter Pettigrew is still alive and he set Sirius up," Ron said as if this would simply clear everything up. Everyone kind of blinked and Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Thanks for that," Sirius said sarcastically with a look at Ron who shrugged. "I'm not going to sit here and deny anything, but I will ask you to prove that I murdered fifteen,.or sixteen people before you go running to the ministry of magic."

"A whole street full of people saw you!" Percy said, quite sure of himself. Sirius just raised his eyebrows. "Well?" Percy pushed. "What's your explanation for that?"

"Peter Pettigrew blasted the street apart. Believe me or not, I have no evidence to tell to you except that of my word,"

"Peter Pettigrew is dead, you ought to get your story straight," Ron could have hit his brother for being so ignorant, but he had to keep reminding himself of the outrageous circumstances that had to transpire before he himself believed Sirius. "They found his finger, that was all that was left."

"The other people that died, how much was left of them?" Sirius asked. Ginny made a sound and for a second everyone thought she was going to faint. "Forgive me, Miss Weasley for being so blunt, but it is a viable question. They were whole, or mostly." Sirius said. "Do forgive me," He added.

"You hit Pettigrew at close range."

"Or he cut his finger off and escaped," Ron blurted out, and Sirius rolled his eyes again.

"What rubbish is that?" Percy spat. "Someone would have seen him! And why on Earth are you defending him?"

"His name is Sirius, and he is innocent, and Harry's godfather," Ron said positioning himself so he was standing next to Sirius. Mrs. Weasley silently did the same, and Bill stood behind him. Ginny gasped and really did faint. Charlie, who had remained silent and thoughtful caught his sister.

"For heaven's sake!" Mrs. Weasley cried. "Percy you're upsetting you sister!"

"I!" He cried. "You are the ones who-"

"That is quite enough!" Mrs. Weasley said with such a tone of finality that they all stood still, except for Charlie who was now bringing Ginny a glass of water, who was coming back into consciousness. "Sirius, I think it is time that we told them the whole story, without interruptions, I am afraid it is the only way,"

Sirius sighed. "You are right." He said. "I suppose I shall start from the beginning." He told the story is great detail, as was really the only way, since he had no evidence to support him, he had to make sure they knew the entire story. Mrs. Weasley made sure there was a minimal amount of interruptions, but some were still quite unavoidable.

"I am not sure how much of this you knew, Molly," Sirius said. "I cannot recall whether Mr. Weasley was present at any of the meetings I am about to discuss. At any rate. I shall have to take you back a good deal of years. About eighteen, I think it is.

"Times were becoming darker than ever. Vol.er, that is, you-know-who was in the height of his power, as you all well know," Those who did not yet know of his innocence had quite the time controlling their outbursts. "Lily and James Potter, Harry's parents, and two of my closest friends were making the quite the reputation for themselves. Both in their own ways they brought in more death eaters then most of the aurors of the day. As you can imagine this did not please our enemies. Threats and such started to surround them. One by one, over the course of about two years most of the people close to them, and other powerful people of the age were being killed off.

"When the situation was growing ever dangerous Dumbledore called a council of war, so to speak, and we discussed the threats and formulated the plan that Lily and James should use this secret-keeper charm.

"We discussed it, and being their closest friend they asked me to be their secret-keeper. I was honored, and willingly accepted. However, another one of our friends brought us around to realizing how devastatingly obvious it was that I would be made secret-keeper.

"It was no secret of James's and my friendship, and I wanted to make sure they were absolutely safe. We came up with an ingenious plan, and please try not to interrupt, this is very important.

"We decided it would be utterly unthought-of to make Peter Pettigrew the secret-keeper, no one would expect it. Of course, if I had known.Curse it!" Sirius said angrily. "Forgive me, but. well anyway, so it was done, about two weeks before their murder.

"Halloween night I was supposed to check on Peter at his hide-out. I got slightly side-tracked." He coughed uncomfortably before continuing, but it did not go unnoticed and Ron made it a point to remember to ask him about it. "Shortly after midnight I left.I flew as fast as I could to Peter's hide-out, I will not explain what all made me reach certain conclusions because sometimes I even wonder whether it happened that way or not.but the point is I immediately knew all was not well.

"Indeed, I nearly expected the dark mark that I saw over the ruins of the house I once lived at.." He fell silent for a moment before clearing his throat and continuing, it was absolutely impossible to read his expression.

"I'm not sure how long I was there, but it was quickly made apparent to me that not all had died. I took Harry into my arms, and I admit I wept. But all was becoming clear to me.

"Hagrid came on Dumbledore's orders around dawn. Harry was my godson, naturally I argued that I should take care of him, but I knew that I had to take care of something else first. Hagrid insisted that Dumbledore wanted Harry. I thought it would be good for him.

"To make the journey safer I told Hagrid to take my motorcycle. I didn't need it anymore. I'm not sure how I knew where Peter would be, but he almost wanted me to find him anyway, he had nothing left, his master was ruined, and I knew what he had done.

"I didn't want to believe it, Peter was almost as close to me as James, but seeing him pushed all thoughts of mercy from my mind. Stupidly I questioned him; we argued, not for long, but long enough for him to get the better of me.

"He shouted about Lily and James and cut off his finger. I thought he was raving mad, but with his wand behind his back he blasted the street apart. When I realized what was happening the man had disappeared, turned into a rat and escaped into the sewers!" He finished sourly.

Everyone just stared. Ron thought of the story, running the information through his mind, analyzing this new telling of the story.

"YOU EXPECT US TO BELIEVE THAT LOAD OF-" But Bill cut Percy off with an equally foul phrase. "You expect us to believe Peter Pettigrew is an unregistered animagus!?!?" Percy shouted, this time a little less forcefully, but with the same mad gleam in his eyes.

"Why not?" Sirius asked calmly. "I am," He added. And with that he stood and transformed into the giant dog he so often became. Percy stared horrified as Sirius trotted up to him and licked his hand before transforming back.

"Disgusting!" Percy declared. Sirius looked slightly amused as he took his seat again and Ron was laughing aloud.

"Take it as you will, young sir, but those are the facts. I can say no more."

Ron, feeling that he needed to change the subject and break the silence, spoke. "Bill, when did you two.?" He asked looking from Sirius to his brother.

"Well, that's kind of a long story. Really, after I discovered him he had no choice but to convince me of his innocence."

"I thought I was going to have to come over there!" Mrs. Weasley said.

"It all worked out, and Sirius stayed with me for a while," Bill said.

"When?" Ron asked.

"About.a year ago," Sirius replied.

"A YEAR? And you haven't told me? Does Harry know?"

"No, I don't see how it's exactly relevant to him, or to you, for that matter," Sirius said.

"Me! I'm his brother!" Ron cried.

"Well, you never said anything to me," Bill countered.

"I thought you didn't know!" Ron said exasperated. It was at about this time that they realized everyone else was just staring at them.

"Yes well," Mrs. Weasley said. "Ron, why don't you take Sirius to the bathroom, and let him freshen up a bit, and I'll owl Harry, shall I?" She added. Sirius nodded and followed Ron out of the room with a slight limp. He let out an audible sigh.

"That was not good," He said to Ron. "Too many people know too much,"

Ron nodded in agreement. "But you were right in coming here," He said.

"We'll see about that," Sirius muttered under his breath.

"Dad isn't going to like this so much," Ron said thoughtfully as Sirius studied the can of shaving cream.

"Perhaps, I should get away from here. I think I've shocked enough of your family members for one night, and I daresay it's exactly safe to stay here. No, I think I better hasten to leave," Sirius said as he lathered up his face.

"Come on, Dad will get over it. You might as well fill him in; it would save us a lot of trouble. We could talk about it freely if you told him, otherwise we'd have to shut up every time he walked into a room. He'll have no choice but to believe you will all the rest of us backing you up, not to mention Dumbledore, and Harry, and Hermione, and Snape."

Sirius still looked unconvinced as he started shaving.

"How can you leave before Harry gets here? And don't tell me you can resist my mum's home-cooked meal," Ron added with a grin.

"Home-cooked, eh? Isn't it a bit late for eating?"

"We've leftovers, loads of them. For once, mum made more than the family could scarf down."

"I suppose, I can't pass up a meal," Sirius admitted.

"Good, I'll go set the table," Ron disappeared down the stairs.

* * *

*This is so unfair!* Kirsten thought angrily, once in the safety of her room. Her parents were just packing her up on like a one month's notice and moving her halfway across the freaking planet! What kind of justice was that?

All her friends were here, at her school, in her country! They couldn't just move her to Europe. I mean, it might be fun for the first month or so, but why should she want to live there?

She took several deep shaky breaths. *You can't cry Kirsten.* She told herself. *You can't cry! You're make-up will run everywhere! Stop crying, dammit!* Now she was not only angry at her mother and father but angry at herself!

She threw her pillow in frustration and her hand immediately went underneath her robes where she pulled out her glittering diamond 'K'. She touched it and instantly seemed to calm down. Her eyes dried and she sighed.

Life wasn't the best but her friends were still coming over soon. She should be happy.

She watched herself play with her necklace in the mirror for a moment, studying it and wondering what all the spells were that were on it. The only two she knew about were the one linking herself to her mother and the one allowing her to hear whatever song she wanted.

But Angie purposefully didn't let Kirsten know the other enchantments, she wanted her to figure them out herself. Kirsten never took her necklace off, in fact it hadn't come off since the day it had been put on her. She now touched it whenever her emotions flared up and she felt connected with it. It comforted her.

But apparently it wasn't working so well at the moment because she continued to fume.

Why the hell did her parents always had to mess everything up? She was 17 years old, why should she have to do what they wanted anymore? Why couldn't she just stay here, with her friends? Was it a crime to be happy?

The doorbell rang and Kirsten gripped the edge of her dresser and took a deep breath as it rang again.

"Kirsti!" Angie yelled. "Are you going to get that?!" Kirsten took another deep breath as she heard her mother's boots click quickly across the floor. She was still trying to get a hold of herself.

Angie answered the door and recognized the two girls standing on her front door step.

There was Kerrie Evangelista. She was a very pretty girl, as were all of Kirsten's friends, Kirsten included. Her parents were good friends of hers, and had been since she had been married to Josh, as far she knew they still kept in touch with both her and Josh.

Kerrie had jet black hair, with dark eyes that looked black, her olive skin fit her well. She was the shortest of the group but always wore tall shoes, of course they all did. She smiled happily showing perfectly straight, dazzling white teeth, and Angie noted the professional look of both girl's make-up.

The other girl, who was about Kirsten's height, had gorgeous red hair that reached down her back to her waist. It was full of large thick curls, and her blue eyes shown brightly, accented perfectly by her eye liner. She had a fair, as was common with red heads, she also had a light dusting of freckles. Her name was Julianne Dow.

"Hi girls!" Angie said with a smile.

"Hey Miss Star!" Kerrie said.

"Oh! Did you get your hair cut?" Julie asked excitedly as they came into the entry.

"It looks so cute!" Kerrie added.

"Well, thanks girls," Angie said slightly unsure of herself.

"Yeah, it really compliments your face," Julie said while Kerrie nodded.

"I have the perfect outfit for that hair cut!" Kerrie exclaimed.

"Oh tell!" Julie squealed. Angie was already getting a headache.

"Oh, and it would look FABULOUS with those boots," She said pointing a bright red fingernail at Angie's HIGH healed, signature, boots.

"Kirsti!" Angie called again.

"Where's my girl?" Julie called; but Kirsten wasn't coming.

"I'm sorry girls, she's.um, had a bit of a bad day. She had some bad news-" Angie said.

"Her dad?" Julie asked.

"Yeah, but-" Angie stopped. "What makes you say that?"

"Kirsti talks and I mean, it's none of my business, but from one woman to another you did dump him," She said so seriously that Angie thought she might burst out laughing.

Just then Kirsten appeared at the top of the stairs, and made her way down slowly to the bouncing girls. Kerrie gasped loudly.

"Kirsten! You're mascara is running everywhere!" She said aghast.

"Oh my god! Are you, like, OK?" Julie asked concerned, as she noticed Kirsten was crying. No matter how she tried to stop herself from crying she just couldn't bear it.

* * *

Ron found Bill alone in the kitchen. "Where's everyone else?" He inquired rummaging around in the cooler.

"Outside, apparently Charlie's dragon set a tree on fire, or something." Bill grinned.

"Well, this is kind of.odd," Ron said. Bill nodded. "So, really, how did you and Sirius meet, tell me the story." Ron said excitedly.

"The whole story isn't that interesting, and kind of long,"

"Oh come on, I know you weren't anxious to say it in front of mum," Ron said. "But I'm your brother,"

"How did you deduce that, my boy?" Bill asked curiously.

"The way you kept nervously glancing at her during our argument." Bill nodded understandingly.

"She thinks we met in Egypt." Bill said. "Actually we-er-crossed paths, in the back alleys of France,"

"I gather you were doing something.illegal?"

"Mostly illegal, mum wouldn't approve anyway," Bill agreed. Ron grinned.

"Enough said," He agreed.

~*~

Twenty minutes later Sirius came downstairs, and all attention turned to him. He nervously cleared his throat and Ron looked up from the letter he was writing to Hermione. He motioned for Sirius to sit down across from him, where a plate of delicious looking food was set.

Ron could hear Percy having a discussion with Charlie and Mrs. Weasley about Sirius. "Well, I didn't really think he was guilty, of course." Ron snorted as Percy continued. Ah well, Percy would always be Percy, there was nothing he could do about that.

"You don't happen to have a Daily Prophet, do you?" Sirius asked.

"Oh sure," Ron said grabbing the newspaper and handing it to Sirius.

"I heard you've got in a spot of trouble in France," Ron said.

"Ah, oui?" Sirius asked with a grin, Ron rolled his eyes. "I suppose I've been a bit careless in my ways lately, I'll have to change that at once," Sirius unfolded the paper and started to eat, grateful for the food. "I've made the front page again," Sirius said.

"Have you?" Ron asked interested.

"Ah yes, my old friend Lizzie Hoffenmeijer is speaking on Azkaban Security,"

"Hoffenmeijer?" Ron repeated. "You mean the head of the IAA (International Auror Association), Hoffenmeijer?" Sirius nodded. "You knew her?"

"Bit of an understatement if you ask me, for a while I suspected she might get in too deep, she was dealing with..things in Germany, but it seems she's laid her path out quite nicely. Of course, I'm not particularly for that line of work at the present," Sirius said casually.

"It's perfectly safe. And I can personally guarantee no one will escape again. As for Black, he'll soon suffer the consequences."

Sirius quoted her from the paper, but something about those words sent a shiver down his back. He could hear her in his mind, see her clearly in his mind, the words echoing over and over again.

Ron snorted. "She's quite sure of herself, isn't she?"

Sirius shrugged. "She's right. Their all mental cases, they won't get out,"

"But what if You-know-who tries to break them out? I heard they were almost successful along time ago,"

"Yes," Sirius said slowly and thoughtfully, "I remember that. About 20 years ago this Christmas. The whole magical world went into lockdown. James was confined to his school and he missed Christmas and everything," Sirius said. "At the time he was attending an auror training school. But every chance he got he rushed home to Lily." Sirius explained.

"But anyway, it was just a scare. It didn't work. I reckon they could have enough force to break some people out, but they'd be of no use. Unless they make a new valuable capture she won't be proved wrong."

Ron nodded slightly agreeing, but as he did his eyes settled on the clock. Mr. Weasley's hand, which was just on traveling suddenly snapped to home. Ron swore, but they didn't have a chance to do much else.

Mr. Weasley walked slowly, in a tired sort of way into the kitchen. He was conversing with someone who had not yet entered the kitchen. Mr. Weasley saw them sitting there and stopped his conversation to greet them.

"Hi Ron, hi Sirius." Ron and Sirius exchanged looks. Sirius's mouth actually fell open.

"BLACK!?!?!" Mr. Weasley suddenly thundered, realizing who was sitting there and what he was saying. Sirius relaxed as the normal reaction set in.

"Hello Arthur, long time no see," Sirius said casually folding the newspaper, he was in a very amiable mood. Mr. Weasley stuttered and another person stepped into the kitchen by his side.

She was a fairly young looking person, tall, light brown hair, long with thick curls. She had large hazel eyes which usually danced with emotion. She had the beginnings of wrinkles around her eyes and mouth from smiling and laughing, but her face at the time was rather stern looking and somewhat shocked.

"Sirius!" She cried. "Aren't you supposed to be on the run from the ministry?" It wasn't so much seeing the face of this person Sirius recognized that shocked him as much as the tone of the question. She had used the same sort of voice one might use when asking if they were playing in the quidditch game.

"H-Holly?" Sirius croaked, hardly believing Holly Mischel, one of his friends from school, was standing here in front of him.

Luckily Mrs. Weasley and Bill rushed into the kitchen at that moment having heard Mr. Weasley's cries.

"Now Arthur, dear," Mrs. Weasley began. "Perhaps we need to have a bit of a talk,"

"TALK!?!?!" Mr. Weasley roared.

"Now.now." Mrs. Weasley was stuttering.

"It's not what it seems, Dad," Bill began.

"Not what it seems?" Mr. Weasley yelled. "It's exactly what it seems! A lunatic mass-murderer who has eluded capture for four years is having dinner at my kitchen table! It's exactly what it seems!" He was ranting now, but Sirius, his old self kicking in, wanted to have some fun.

"You're forgetting that I'm the first one to break out of Azkaban,"

"YES! And he's the only one to ever-WHAT AM I SAYING!?" Mr. Weasley started breathing very quickly now.

"Father, if I might speak," Percy said. "I'm still not sure it's true, but even Dumbledore believes Black is innocent. Now there is a story behind-"

"PERCY!" Several people shouted shutting him up. Mr. Weasley grabbed his wand and was now pointing it at Sirius, who was sitting straight and stiff.

"Dad, just hold on a minute," Ron said, his voice urgent.

"Arthur, just wait, I think you may be making a mistake," Holly said slowly.

"Have you all gone mad?" He cried looking around at his family.and Holly. "Has he got you under some kind of spell?" Everyone just stared at him with blank expressions.

Mr. Weasley now began to briskly walk towards the fireplace, his eyes still on Sirius. When he got in front of the fire he began to blindly feel on the mantle for something, he refused for any moment to take his eyes off of Sirius, who hadn't moved.

"Ron, do something," Sirius muttered out of the corner of his mouth. Ron was looking wildly around at the others.

"One false move," Mr. Weasley muttered through gritted teeth. His hand landed in the flower pot with the floo powder inside.

"Dad no!" Ron yelled.

"Arthur wait!" Mrs. Weasley pleaded.

"Good god! Listen to her dad!" Bill said desperately. But Mr. Weasley threw the powder into the fire.

Charlie and Ginny both lunged towards Mr. Weasley but Ron acted first. He pulled out his wand.

"Petrificus Totalus!" He cried at the same time that Mr. Weasley yelled "Elizabeth Hoffenmeijer," Mr. Weasley fell rigid to the ground.

The next moment was chaos seeing as Charlie and Ginny both tripped, falling on top of Ginny, and Sirius threw himself off his chair and transformed into a dog, all the while there was a great deal of shouting and in the middle of it all a very stern looking woman appeared in the fire.

"What is the meaning of this?" Elizabeth Hoffenmeijer cried sharply, surveying the room. Everyone was silent and looked guiltily around. Ron inconspicuously moved in front of Sirius, who cowered behind him in dog form.

"Molly I don't have time for jokes. I would have thought you could better control your children!" She snapped harshly, and her eyes fell on Holly Mischel, her old friend. She looked her up and down sourly, probably disapproving of Holly's chic look. "And I would have thought you would stay out of crap like this," And she disappeared from the fire.

"Well I never!" Holly announced loudly. "I can't believe she could be so rude! I used to be best friends with her!" But no one was really paying attention to Holly.

Sirius cautiously transformed back into a human Charlie silently helped his sister stand up. Mrs. Weasley moved to perform the counter-curse on her husband, whose eyes were darting around madly, but Charlie, since he was the closest, stopped her.

"Wait, it will be easier if we explain everything to him while he can't interfere," Molly sighed looking at her husband.

"Oh, I suppose," She said nervously. "But let's hurry. I am sorry dear," She added.

"OK," Bill said taking charge of the situation. Just as they were about to start Fred interrupted.

"Wait a minute, how's Dad supposed to see?" He asked.

"We need to prop him upright so he can see better,"

"Yes, that's logical," Percy agreed trying to look involved. Fred and George went to either side of their father and hoisted him off the ground.

"Set him up against the mantle," Mrs. Weasley said. "No, the other side so he can see, that's the ticket,"

"OK," George said stepping back. "All right there Dad?"

"Your back isn't getting too warm there is it?" Fred asked but Mr. Weasley's eyes darted quickly from side to side.

"I'll take this-" Fred said imitating his father's eye movements "As a no, my back is just fine, thanks son,"

"How did you get all that out of some eye movements?" Ginny asked.

"Well, I don't feel like moving him again so he's going to have to deal with it," Ron couldn't help but grin as he looked at his helpless father.

He had better enjoy it while it lasted because as soon as Mr. Weasley got out of that. Ron had the sickening feeling that he might not make it back to Hogwarts.

They explained things as best they could, but it's quite an unbelievable story. But Sirius spoke honestly and truthfully and repeatedly apologized for alarming everyone and putting them in danger and all the while Holly Mischel watched without emotion. Her face stayed a constant scowl, her eyes narrowed.

When they had finished an uncomfortable silence filled the room. Mrs. Weasley finally cleared her throat. "I think everyone has had a rather long night. Let us get some rest now and I'll deal with.this," She said with a nervous glance at Mr. Weasley.

Silently everyone started to file out of the room, Sirius followed Ron, still favoring the one leg. As they were leaving an owl swooped in through the dark window and delivered Ron a message from the improper use of magic department. Ron swore under his breath and tucked the letter away.

"Um. I don't mean to. well, you see." Holly Mischel said uncomfortably to Mrs. Weasley. "Arthur and I were discussing something and." Mrs. Weasley gave her a look. "But I can go too, I'll just go talk to Sirius.yeah," She said quickly, and walked briskly from the room.

* * *

"You can't be leaving us!" Julie wailed. All three girls were now crying since they had heard the bad news.

"When are you leaving?" Kerrie sniffed.

"Three weeks," Kirsten replied.

"Three weeks!" The others cried.

Kirsten nodded tearfully. "We have to get there before the school year starts."

~*~

Angie stomped down the stairs. She was tired of listening to the pity party upstairs that was making her out to be the bad guy.or woman.or mom.whatever! Because, if they intended to make her feel guilty they were certainly doing a very good job.

It wasn't like she had really planned on moving. it just sort of happened. And, of course, she had a much nicer way of breaking the news to Kirsten, but then Josh was usually messing things up!

OK, so that's not completely fair to Josh, but it was partially his fault, right? RIGHT!?

"I'm going crazy!" Angie exclaimed to herself.

~*~

"Do you still feel like writing our annual letter?" Kerrie asked sadly.

She was referring to the letter the girls always wrote a couple weeks before school resumed. This letter was, of course, addressed to their idol, their favorite person in the whole world, the hottest guy, the most famous person, the one person who they all prayed they could meet one day, their dream date: Harry Potter.

"Well, I don't see why we shouldn't try," Kirsten said to her friends. "I mean, that was the point of coming here tonight. Just because I'm going to move doesn't mean we have to throw away tradition."

"Yeah," Julie agreed. "And we need something to cheer us up. I just know this is going to be the year when he'll reply! It has to be!" She said happily and the other two agreed momentarily forgetting their sadness.

"Somebody grab a quill," Kirsten instructed, reaching for some parchment. Her friends had come over to have fun, and they were going to have fun, damn it!

"So, how shall we start this year?" Kerrie chirped.

"Uh, Dear Harry?" Julie rolled her eyes as she replied. Kerrie stuck her tongue out.

"Fine, dear Harry it is," She snapped. "Got that, Kirsten?"

"Uh-huh," Kirsten replied, carefully spelling out the words and then looking up to her friends for guidance on the rest of the letter.

"Okay.so.what now?" Kerrie asked, frowning.

"How about."

Just over an hour later, they were signing their names on their fifth rendition of the letter, perfectly edited with absolutely no grammatical errors or spelling mistakes. Then they flopped down (Kerrie on the bed, Kirsten into a chair and Julie into a beanbag) and sighed wistfully, gazing at Kirsten's ceiling, where a large poster of Harry smiled down at them.

"So, what do you think Harry will be doing when he gets the letter?" Julie asked thoughtfully.

"He'll probably be with Hermione," Kerrie replied, making a face.

"Do you really think she's a threat?" Kirsten frowned.

"Well, she could be quite pretty with the right make-up," Kerrie pointed out.

"And she's been his best friend for, like, years," Julie concluded.

"Exactly," Kirsten countered. "If she wanted him, she would've made her move already. And besides, they haven't seen each other all summer."

"Yeah, Harry will be at Hogwarts when the letter arrives," Kerrie said, answering Julie's question.

"Hogwarts.isn't that in Scotland?" Julie said slowly.

"Yeah.?" The other two replied questioningly.

"Kirsten, aren't you moving to Scotland?" Julie pressed, starting to sound excited.

"Yeah.?"

"What school are you going to?" She asked, her eyes alight. There was a moment of silence before Kirsten's eyes widened with realization.

"Oh my GOD!" She screamed, jumping up. "I'm going to Hogwarts! I'm going to school with HARRY POTTER!"

* * *

"Sirius, I think you can sleep on the couch, since we're pretty full everywhere else. and I think I better go to bed now," Ron said quickly seeing the looks from Holly and Sirius. Quickly Ron rushed from the room and up the stairs.

"So. surprise?" Sirius said hopefully.

"Surprise?" Holly asked sarcastically, her face had lost that cheerful look. "Surprise? That's all you can say to me is surprise?" She was angry, very angry, but she spoke with the annoying calmness that just added to the rage.

When Sirius didn't reply she continued. "That is so like you. You think you can just come in here after. how many years has it been. sixteen.seventeen.eighteen? You think you can just come in here and automatically make things better? You think everyone is going to adjust just because of you? Is that what you think?"

"Look, Holly, I never intended for any of this to happen the way it did. Trust me. I don't expect anyone to change for me, in fact I'm rather shocked at the amazing hospitality these people have shown for me. I'm overwhelmed, because I can't say that if the situations were reversed I'd do the same. I'm not trying to offend anyone, I don't mean to endanger anyone. Look, let's just forget about it. What happened, happened-"

"You really have no idea do you? While you were in jail, the rest of us were living our lives. or trying to end them!" She added with a shout. Sirius frowned. He was lost, clearly this was going emotionally a lot deeper than he understood. He hadn't seen the girl in more than a decade and she was assuming he knew her as well as he did back then.

"What are you talking about?"

"Do you know who Elizabeth is now? Do you know? She's the head of the IAA, she's gone through hell to get where she is," Holly said.

"Ah, enemy number one," Sirius interrupted. Holly was momentarily dumbfounded, but only momentarily.

"Angie--"

"Got married," Sirius finished for her bitterly. Holly frowned, she wasn't exactly sure what that meant.

"She tried to kill herself," A momentary look of worry flashed across his face, but he gritted his teeth and was determined not to give the wrong impression.

"Don't care," He finally said. Holly stared for a moment.

"Sierra's made a life for herself. She's a top psychiatric consultant for the ministry of magic and dueling mistress at the school and-"

"She also adopted a teenage girl who she was treating because the girl went through traumatic experiences when her parents were murdered. I know all about it,"

"How do you know?" If Ron had been there Sirius might have made an attempt to try but he just shook his head.

"I don't want to get into it," He said. Holly frowned, studying him. She had no clue as to what he was thinking. For once in her life she didn't know what to think, for once in her life she couldn't judge him. "Look, I get the picture, OK?" He asked. "I understand, I see your point, and trust me, I don't expect to walk back into anyone's lives, in fact, by tomorrow I plan to be somewhere far from here so let's not talk about it.

"There is just one question that I have to ask.why didn't you have the same freakishly dramatic reaction when you saw me earlier?"

"Sirius." Holly said slowly, wondering exactly what she should say. "I know who the secret-keeper was, I was there,"

"Then why the hell-"

"Before you say anything, I want to justify my reasoning, OK? I told Dumbledore, I told Elizabeth, who didn't believe me. She thought I was still in love with you or something. But without evidence who would believe us.and furthermore, we thought you really did murder a street full of people, including Pettigrew, who was, I consider, completely justifiable. I didn't know the whole story, but if I had I would have fought harder.

"The truth is, it was easier for me to put it behind me and not think about it. It was easier for me to bury it, instead of emotionally breaking down. I'm sorry, but it has not been easy for me either,"

Sirius kind of nodded and drew in a large breath. "You were right," She said, after a moment or so of silence. "It's better if we don't talk about it,"

"I-" Sirius began.

"It's OK, whatever you're going to say. I don't want to talk about it.maybe someday, but not now,"

"I just want to say that I'm sorry I put you in danger.by being here,"

Holly rolled her eyes. "At least life won't be so boring." She said. Holly turned to leave.

"Remus knows," Sirius said suddenly.

"He knows.and he.you.I can't believe it,"

"Don't be angr--"

"Bye Black," She said, and left without another word.

~*~

Sirius had a fitful night gaining very little sleep. He couldn't sleep, just thinking about what had happened was keeping him awake. He shuddered to think of the disaster that could have resulted earlier that night.

A little before six o'clock in the morning Ron came creeping down the stairs something clutched in his hand. Sirius immediately sat up.

"Why are you awake?" Ron asked quietly.

"I've got a lot on my mind," Sirius replied.

"I just got the reply from Harry," Ron said holding up the slip of parchment. "He says he got into a bit of a fight with his Uncle about leaving, but he's coming whether his uncle likes it or not. Someone will have to go back and get his trunk later. He's coming by broomstick but he can't bring everything he needs. Bill can probably go and get it for him later," Sirius nodded.

"Have you talked to Hermione?" Sirius asked.

"No, but I don't imagine she'll be able to make it. And it's probably best if she doesn't mention it to her.mother.it wouldn't be so good if she wanted to come along with Hermione for a visit," Sirius nodded.

"Have you seen or talked to your father since last night?" Sirius asked kind of nervously.

"No, but we didn't hear any echoing shouts so I think it will be all right, especially since people like Dumbledore are on your side. You'll see, my Dad will be just like the rest of them, I expect, you won't be able to get away from his questions," Ron said.

"I seriously doubt that," Sirius said.

"At any rate I expect Harry sometime soon, assuming he left when he said he would and didn't experience any trouble." Just then Mrs. Weasley appeared at the foot of the stairs.

"Well good morning." She said slightly surprised. "I didn't expect such early risers. I've just come down to make some breakfast."

"Mum," Ron said following her into the kitchen. "I got a letter from Harry, he's coming by broomstick, should be here soon,"

"Gracious, we do have a full house don't we?" She asked with a little smile. She was in a rather good mood, though Ron wasn't exactly sure why. "Ron, won't you do your brother a favor and go mix up the food for the dragon?"

"I don't come within five yards of that thing," Ron said flatly. Mrs. Weasley was about to insist but Charlie, looking rather bedraggled, followed by Bill, came down the stairs.

"It's all right, I've got it Mum," Charlie said yawning as he walked out the door.

"My goodness, I've finally found what it takes to get you up before noon," Mrs. Weasley said to her eldest son Bill.

"Don't get your hopes up, I wouldn't exactly call myself awake," Bill said sleepily, his eyes only half open.

"Well, you're certainly up the earliest I've ever seen you,"

Sirius sat in silence, not sure what his place was in the house, but soon Mrs. Weasley was asking all sorts of questions and everyone was involved in quite a discussion. But Mr. Weasley came down the stairs and immediately silenced everyone.

"Good morning Arthur," Mrs. Weasley said cheerfully to her husband, who remained rather expressionless. "Have a bit of toast," She said handing him a plateful. He took a piece and set the plate down on the table.P

"Molly, dear, I've got to go into work,"

"So early?" She asked him.

"I've got to take care of a few things in the improper use of magic department this morning," Mr. Weasley said with a sidelong glare at Ron who blushed scarlet.

"I'll tell Harry you said hello," Mrs. Weasley said to him as he was leaving.

"No need," Mr. Weasley replied. "The boy has just arrived."

"Morning Mr. Weasley. Where are you headed at this hour?" Harry asked.

"Work," Mr. Weasley replied.

"Ah," Harry said. "Well, have a-er-nice day," Harry was greeted with a warm embrace from Mrs. Weasley and a hurried good-bye from Percy who came running down the stairs muttering about being late, barely pausing to exchange good-byes with his mother.

"Where's Ginny and the twins?" Harry asked sitting down in the already crowded kitchen.

"Having a bit of a lie-in I suppose," Bill said in a tone that clearly said he would like to be having a lie-in as well.

"You all certainly look like you were up late," Harry declared.

"That couldn't exactly be helped," Ron replied.

All this time Sirius had been looking Harry over, studying him. He'd gotten much taller since the last time he'd seen him, a couple of inches taller, and he looked more like James than ever. His voice had gotten deeper too, and he was starting to look extremely grown up, which made Sirius feel all the more old.

"Well," Harry said finally turning to his godfather. "Heard you had a bit of trouble last night,"

"A bit?" Sirius sarcastically. "Oh, and it's nice to see you too,"

"Well, yes, of course," Harry said hastily and Sirius grinned and shook hands with his godson.

Fred, George, and Ginny finally came downstairs and added to the major cramping of the kitchen.

"Let's set up outside!" Mrs. Weasley called over the ruckus and soon everyone had clambered out back and were seated around a rather large table located some distance away from the dragon pen.

Charlie was reading the front page news on the Daily Prophet Ron took the rest of it and picked through it reading little tidbits, but something caught his eye.

"Have a look at that," He said rather loudly over the noise. There was an awful lot of noise seeing as everyone was trying to talk to either Sirius or Harry. It seemed that the family was rather fascinated by Sirius, though still a little uncomfortable around him, unless of course they had already known him.

Indeed, Fred and George seemed to find the affair pretty cool.

"What is it?" Sirius asked, since he was sitting next to Ron.

"Oh nothing much, it's just talking about that new class that Harry, Hermione and I signed up for last year, and the woman who's going to be teaching it."

"What new class?" Bill asked Ron.

"It's the magical linguistics class," Ginny explained. "I'm taking it too. Basically, you learn the basics of speaking several languages in a short and rather condensed amount of time." She said rather quickly.

"Oh yes," Sirius said. "They used to offer that when I went to Hogwarts, but the teacher died in my second year and they never replaced him, until now. So, who is this teacher anyway?"

"Her name is Angela Star-" He would have continued with the description and information on this person but the effect of those words had rather a different effect than one might expect. Indeed Sirius nearly fell over in his chair and went into quite a coughing spell, and Mrs. Weasley had bit her lip.

"What's going on?" Fred asked.

"Who is Angela Star?" But Sirius was still coughing. So Ron read the description in the paper and relayed some of the basic information aloud.

"She was born in 1962, she was a Hogwarts graduate herself, though she didn't attend all her years there. She has a seventeen year old daughter who will be coming to Hogwarts this year too. That ought to be interesting, I wonder what she's like." Ron was referring to the daughter and not Angela Star.

"She's spent the last sixteen years of her life in the United States.that's interesting."

By this time Sirius had regained his composure, but Mrs. Weasley was still quite nervous.

"Sirius.if you don't mind my making this suggestion, but I should think that you should stay away from Hogwarts this year," She said. Sirius looked bitter. "I think it's safest that way, don't you? I mean, you wouldn't want anything.to happen," Everyone was listening with rapt attention, looking from Mrs. Weasley to Sirius.

Sirius said nothing, inside he was boiling. No, it was not good that Angie would be coming back to the school. He probably should stay away, but that usually couldn't be avoided. He didn't want to think about it, and he suddenly realized that everyone was staring at him.

"Carry on," He said, motioning to the food in front of them, and slowly their attention drifted.

"They've made a new capture," Charlie said, setting down the front page. "They won't identify him yet, or her.until they are to hold trial. They say this person may have important inside information on You-know-who's inner circle." He explained. Over the past years Voldemort had entered what some were calling a second reign of terror with numerous attacks, with little capturing being done by the aurors.

"Well, I suppose I better go and fetch your things before the muggles.do something to them," Bill spoke to Harry, rising from his seat.

"Don't worry, the thought that you're a wizard will be enough to scare them. They'll be rather cooperative, not necessarily nice though." Harry said.

"I'll be back," Bill said before disappearing.

Just then several owls came bearing many messages. Ron, Ginny, and Harry each received their Hogwarts letters, Charlie got a message and Ron got a letter from Hermione.

Ron read the letter, rolled his eyes (she'd made more than three remarks about homework).

Charlie announced he had to leave at once, and that he was taking 'Red' as the dragon was called, with him.

"Just as I thought, Hermione doesn't think it wise to even try to come. She says she'll see us in a week at school," Ron said tossing the letter aside. Harry picked it up and pursued it with interest. Ron picked up his package and tore it open. His eyes widened. He cursed, and stuffed the package into his robes.

"Hermione made Head Girl, no surprise," Harry said. "She doesn't know who Head Boy is though."

"Huh," Ron replied. "Harry what's that?" He asked quickly, pointing to another letter Harry had received. It was a pale pink and smelled rather like lavender. "Must be for Ginny," Ron said picking it up and handing it to her.

She snatched it rather forcefully from him and opened it. Immediately a devilish smile spread across her face.

George leaned over and read the first line and burst out laughing. "What is going on?" Harry demanded.

"Dearest Harry," Ginny read aloud. "I've waited so long to-" But she stopped as she jumped out of the way of Harry who lunged at her. By now everyone was having a good laugh.

"Oh Harry," Ginny cried dramatically. "I if I could just meet you once-" She giggled as she dodged him again.

"Give me that!" A rather red Harry demanded.

"Harry, you didn't tell me you had a fan," Sirius said very amused.

"You didn't tell your best friend either," Ron said.

"I've read all about you in every magazine I can subscribe to-"

"Ginny!" Harry said making a grab for the letter but missed.

"Oooh, Harry, she's American." Ginny said reading on silently.

"Over here Gin," Ron called. She tossed the letter to her brother around Harry.

Ron started to glance over it, but couldn't help laughing. Sirius was the next to take the letter with much amusement spread across his face, but just as Harry reached him, his expression changed from merry to grim.

Harry snatched it from him triumphantly but Sirius stood up and stomped away leaving everyone to look confusedly after him.

Harry looked down at his letter, there were three names signed on it, and one was Kirsten M. E. Star.

* * *

Ginny looked down the table. There was Harry Potter, Ron, Fred and George, her mother and in the distance Sirius Black, one escaped convict to make life a little less boring.for all of them.

* * *