Hello readers. It's been a long time. I'm sorry for that. Real life and all. But I'm doing my best to continue this story, and now that I've got myself up to speed, I've got this nice little chapter out for you. We're getting very soon to the meat of the story, as the Tri-Wizard Tournament is coming up within the next chapter or two. It will all be very exciting. Let me know if you have any questions or confusion. It may be intentional or I may have messed up, as I'm still going over my notes. But as far as I can tell, I've got everything reconciled, and I'm excited to be back. But I'll stop grabbing your attention and let the chapter do that. Enjoy! And Happy Friday the 13th! And happy 4-year anniversary to this story, which I published 4 years ago today!

Chapter 27: Mad-Eye Moody

"Hello, Harry."

"Hi, Harry,"Future-Harry replied with a grin.

"I've got a problem..."

"You've got more than one."

"What are we going to do about the tournament? I'm going to enter for the fun of it. It'd be good practice, see if I can get past the age line."

Future-Harry snorted. "Whatever. Listen, we have some more important things to worry about. Most importantly, we haven't heard a thing from Wormtail. We don't know what Voldemort is up to. Nor Riddle for that matter. And Rookwood, Dolohov, and Bellatrix are still all on the loose. I have no idea if the real Mad-Eye Moody will even be the one to show up at Hogwarts, or if it will in fact be Barty Crouch, Jr. Although, I guess we could break into Moody's office and check his trunk… So much has changed, though."

"I know, I know. Look can we just work on Occlumency for right now. And we should buy a Firebolt. I could really use one, what with the Nimbus no longer working."

"There's something else too, Harry."

"What?"

"Remus," Future-Harry said quietly.

"What about him?"

"Well, you haven't reacted at all to him being, you know, dead."

"Well he was dead in your time too wasn't he?" Harry snapped.

"Yeah, but that's not the point."

Harry remained silent.

"Snape killed him," Future-Harry pressed.

"Yup, and Fudge declared it self-defense, and no one can credibly challenge him on it. The laws on werewolf killings are both archaic and basically say if there's a werewolf attacking and you kill it, good on you. Who knows what Dumbledore did to Snape, I certainly don't, but the fact of the matter is, for all intents and purposes, Snape got away with it. And there's not a damn thing we can do about it. So, I've ignored it to the best of my ability. And I feel like I've done a good job. So don't tear down that wall. Not yet anyway. I'm sure there will come a time when Sirius will talk to me about it," ended Harry. He had talked with Hermione and Blaise over the summer about what happened with Snape and Lupin and the conclusion he had come to was pretty much useless. Snape was completely free of illegal activity, although his moral points were reprehensible. He certainly wasn't earning points in Dumbledore's book.

"Why do you think Snape did it?"

"Well, I dunno. He was attacked during your year by Lupin and managed not to kill him. Has me being sorted into Slytherin made Snape that much more unhinged and dangerous?"

"Well, whatever happened with the Chamber of Secrets was different from my year too. I mean, we stopped Riddle in my timeline. Not in yours."

"You think that has something to do with it?"

"Who knows?

"Not a terrible idea. I'm practicing Occlumency now." Harry ignored his future counterpart and instead focused his energy on sorting his mind. He began to try and make traps and such to protect his memories. All of the various people walking around in his mental version of Hogwarts needed someone to protect them. He was able to slowly conjure up some patronuses to keep watch, although they generally weren't able to last an extremely long time due to mental fatigue. Harry decided he needed to figure out how to fix that. He fell asleep debating the subject.

The first week of classes began, and Harry couldn't decide how happy he was that that was the case. He had a very boring Ancient Runes class, with Professor Ancomah merely reminding them of theory before they would go into trying to actually develop runes.

Care of Magical Creatures that afternoon was much more–well– dangerous, to say the least. "Blast-ended Skrewts!" Hagrid said excitedly when Harry, Blaise, Lily, and Daphne walked up. Harry glanced at them warily, as did the rest of his house. They looked like deformed, shell-less lobsters, horribly pale and slimy-looking, with legs sticking out in very odd places and no visible heads. They smelt strongly of rotting fish, and sparks occasionally flew out of the ends of them and they would shoot forward several inches.

"Yeh'll be raising them yerselves," Hagrid continued. "They've on'y jus' hatched!"

"This just looks like a very badly planned cross-breed, quite possibly illegal," Blaise muttered. Harry felt inclined to agree. They didn't look like anything that should be able to exist naturally, and Harry had to wonder what they actually did. Malfoy voiced his thoughts.

"Why would we ever want to do that?"

Hagrid looked at Malfoy in confusion.

"What do they do? What is the point?" Malfoy asked.

After a very long pause, Hagrid finally settled on an answer: "Tha's nex' lesson. Yer jus' feedin' 'em today. There's a lot of diff'rent foods, 'cause I've never raised 'em before meself, and I wasn't quite sure what they'd like. So try a bit of everything."

Blaise, Lily, and Daphne all looked at Harry expectantly. Harry grimaced and grabbed some liver to toss into one of the crates full of skrewts, but he felt the whole thing was in vain anyway. They didn't even look like they had mouths. Harry heard some of the Gryffindors shrieking from random skrewt explosions as they shot from one end of the crate to the other, and Hagrid explained how some of them had suckers or stingers, possibly depending on the gender. Harry was not really sure why Hagrid bothered teaching them about a magical creature he didn't know anything about. It made it hard to actually teach. But Harry didn't voice that aloud out of respect.

Thankfully, no one had to go to the Hospital Wing, and the group headed off to Herbology with the Ravenclaws after, being treated to collecting bubotuber pus.

"They're great for very stubborn acne," Professor Sprout said referencing the ugly looking slugs residing in greenhouse three. "Wear your dragon-hide gloves, and collect the pus in these bottles. Be careful not to waste any or get it on your skin, undiluted bubotuber pus can do funny things to you. Squeeze them until the swelling pops and capture the liquid. Madam Pomfrey said she still needed a few more bottles, so this should finally get her off my back for awhile."

Harry had to admit, it was rather satisfying to feel the pus pop and squeeze it into the bottle. But he was busy thinking about other things, and Blaise had to twice catch Harry from getting the pus on his skin. A questioning look from his friend was all it prompted, but Harry merely shook his head.

"Harry Potter?" called a timid looking third year. Harry stared at him. It was Colin Creevey, a boy who loved trying to take Harry's picture a couple of years ago. He had since stopped bothering Harry, but he was back for some reason, and interrupting Herbology no less. Professor Sprout looked none too pleased either.

"Is there a reason you are interrupting my class, Mr. Creevey?" she asked delicately, her eyes flashing her annoyance.

"Professor Dumbledore wanted to see Harry, Professor," squeaked Creevey in an unnaturally high-pitched voice.

Harry stared at her. "Well, go on then, Mr. Potter. Best not to keep the Headmaster waiting."

Harry shrugged and collected his things before heading with Creevey. Harry made a point to not respond to Creevey's attempts at conversation. After a pointed look, the mousy haired boy faltered and fell silent, before leaving Harry to head to who knew where.

The rest of the trek to the Headmaster's office was uneventful, and when he reached the gargoyle it opened solemnly for him. He entered the office to see Professor Dumbledore seated, sucking on a lemon drop while attempting to coax Fawkes to do the same.

"Ah, Harry, so good of you to come," Dumbledore murmured. "Please, sit down."

Harry complied. "What can I do for you Professor?"

"I believe we have the need for a conversation that has long been overdue."

"Which is?"

"I wished to talk to you about the events that unfolded last year, culminating in the death of Professor Lupin. That's now the third year in a row that a Professor has perished here at Hogwarts, and it is something that should not be happening. I don't blame you, of course, but it is starting to come as a shock to me. But, I digress. I wished to talk to you about Professor Lupin and Professor Snape, as well as Sirius."

Harry steeled himself for a long conversation, and sat back in his chair.

"Well, let's see," Harry began, "Sirius escaped and isn't really a traitor," Harry said, counting with his fingers, "Snape killed Remus," he continued, ticking another finger off, "Sirius whisked me from the castle to have a chat about good old Snape, and that's about it. He's taking Remus's death pretty hard."

"I've spoken to Professor Snape in regards to his actions that night. He seems to have not been doing well lately, for various reasons, and when placed in a life or death situation, didn't react as well as I would've hoped."

"He killed a fellow Professor, sir," Harry pointed out needlessly.

"Yes, and there's nothing I can do about that. Cornelius Fudge believes Professor Snape to be a hero, and anything I wish to say about the matter is ignored. So I try to understand what caused these events to happen. I still trust Severus. His judgment is generally sound, although lately he appears to have too much to deal with. I believe he still is dealing with many different events that have had a profound impact on him, but they are not my place to discuss. You said Sirius wished to speak to you about Professor Snape?"

"Yeah but it was kind of pointless. He just said to watch out for him because he killed Remus. It was weird, really, but I figure he's not exactly well-equipped to deal with emotion. Azkaban drives you crazy from what I've heard of the place."

"The effects of Azkaban vary from one person to the next, but you certainly leave it different than how you entered, whether as a prisoner or even a visitor," Dumbledore replied.

Harry nodded solemnly. "Well, off you go, Harry. Unless there is something else you wished to tell me?"

Harry thought about quite a few different things he might tell the headmaster, but with all of his facts unfounded and unverified, there was really nothing to say.

"No, sir."

"Have a good evening, Harry."

"You too, Professor."

And with that, Harry left, headed back towards the Great Hall to meet up with his friends, as Herbology was now over.

Harry walked into an argument between Malfoy and Ron Weasley, which was always entertaining. Ron looked about ready to launch himself at Malfoy. But then Malfoy just laughed it off and walked away. The two Gryffindors holding Ron relaxed, letting him go, which was the wrong move. Harry knew it too. Ron went after Malfoy, and the Slytherin had no way to know what was coming. So Harry decided to help. He fired a tripping jinx at Ron, trying to slow him up.

"OH NO YOU DON'T, LADDIE!"

It was the strangest sensation. It was like the world had multiplied fifty-fold in size. People's legs were Hagrid-size, and Harry was immediately confused. He now saw Malfoy staring down at him, a mixture of confusion, annoyance, and gratefulness.

"You don't hex people when their backs are turned! You do it properly and respectfully. I hate cowards like that. I will not have them as students while I'm in this school."

Harry felt himself bouncing up and down and moving every which way. It reminded him of being on an out of control broom; he never knew which way he was going to be dragged.

"Professor Moody!" cried a shocked voice. Harry thought it might be Professor McGonagall. Harry turned his eyes that way as best he could and looked at his Transfiguration professor as she grew shorter and taller as his height rose and fell.

"What are you doing?" she asked, transfixed by Harry's progress in the hallway.

"Teaching," said Moody matter-of-factly.

"Teach– Moody, is that a student?" she shrieked, dropping what looked to be a stack of books in her hand.

"Yep," he replied, and Harry continued to rise and fall at Moody's whim.

Professor McGonagall pulled out her wand and cancelled the transfiguration. Harry suddenly began to feel a lot more like himself, less compressed, and wondered if the feeling was similar to an animagus transformation. He resolved to talk to Sirius.

Harry slowly stood up, and McGonagall appeared shocked to see that Harry was the person who had been transfigured. Harry stood up and winced, feeling a little bit sore.

"Moody, we never use transfiguration as a punishment," Professor McGonagall said weakly. "Surely Professor Dumbledore told you that?"

"He might've mentioned it, yeah," said Moody thoughtfully, scratching his chin in an unconcerned manner. "I figured the lesson would stick more from a good shock–"

"We give detentions or speak to their Head of House!"

"Head of House, eh? Been looking forward to a chat with Snape. Come on, then." Moody grabbed Harry's arm and dragged him to Professor Snape's office.

Harry felt a little disoriented and Moody neglected to say anything, so it was a long and ominous silence that took him into the dungeons.

"Snape! Open up!" Moody yelled, banging on the door. Snape opened the door, looking very unhappy.

"What do you want?" Snape looked down and saw Harry. He glared. Harry glared right back.

"Potter here tried to hex Weasley when his back was turned. I'm supposed to speak to his Head of House apparently, because my methods aren't approved of. Deal with him as you see fit."

"I will see to it," Snape said silkily.

Moody walked into Snape's office, Harry dutifully following behind, although annoyed at finding himself in his current predicament. No good deed goes unpunished, Harry thought morosely. He reasoned he could argue that he was trying to help Malfoy, Snape would probably like that.

Moody stared at Snape curiously. Snape stared back, not blinking. Moody took a swig from his flask. Snape's tongue flicked out and licked his lips.

"Been correcting a lot of essays already Snape? Your hands look covered in ink. Unless that's some strange potion you're working on," Moody said, continuing to stare at Snape.

"It's no business of yours. You don't see me asking what you're drinking for example. It's none of my business either," Snape shot back. Moody blinked.

"Dumbledore wants me to–" he began.

"Dumbledore happens to trust me. I refuse to believe he would have you keep tabs on me. You've already searched my office under a rather unbelievable claim that Dumbledore ordered you to, which I still don't happen to believe. You'll keep out of my business. You came to tell me about Potter. That's done. You may leave." Snape pointed theatrically towards the door. Moody glared.

"I've got my eye on you, Snape," he replied, tapping his magical eye meaningfully. He turned around and walked out, his cane echoing in the dungeons behind him.

Snape sat back at his desk, the argument looking to have been very draining on him. Harry continued to stand, not making a sound. The silence stretched on for another ten minutes. Harry began to fidget nervously. Finally, Snape acknowledged Harry.

"Sit, Potter."

Harry complied.

"You are not to repeat that conversation to anyone, or I will have you in detention until you graduate." Harry shook his head enthusiastically.

"So you tried to hex Weasley?"

Harry shrugged. "He was about to pummel Malfoy, who wasn't looking, so I shot a tripping jinx at him."

"Would getting Malfoy's attention by say, calling his name, for example, not have been more prudent?"

Harry hadn't thought of that. He said nothing.

"Ten points from Slytherin for being a dunderhead," Snape said wearily, his tone annoyed and his eyes bored. "Don't let it happen again."

Harry nodded jerkily, his mind racing. Harry glanced at Snape's desk and again was reminded of when Harry saw him talking into a cell phone, because he found himself staring at the large device, sitting innocuously on the table's surface. It was such a contradiction that Harry was still struck dumb by it. Suddenly, the device started moving, and Harry looked at it, awestruck. Snape suddenly looked at the phone with interest as well.

"Get out," Snape said. "Now!" he repeated, as Harry was lingering, curious to see who was calling his Head of House.

Harry walked out the door and it was quickly sealed behind him. He put his ear to the door and only heard an incessant buzzing; Snape had already charmed against eavesdropping. It would be a mystery for another day, apparently.

Harry took advantage of the lack of detention to head back to his friends at the Great Hall, where dinner was concluding.

"All right, Harry?" Blaise asked curiously, once Harry took a seat. Lily pushed him a plate of food they'd prepared for him while he was out. Harry looked at her curiously, but she just shrugged and returned to her conversation with Tracey.

"Well, I'm not really in trouble. I think. I don't know. It was weird."

"What made you help Malfoy, anyway? Not exactly your best mate is he? Or did something happen over the summer when I wasn't talking to you? You two didn't go elope did you?" Blaise asked, grinning.

Harry punched him. "Sod off, prat," Harry said with a laugh. Lily cuffed him on his opposite side. "Language," she chided absently, then continued talking.

"How does she do that?" Harry wondered.

"Right, so Malfoy? Why? Really?"

"Well, it was Weasley," Blaise muttered something unintelligible.

"Oh come on, they aren't all that bad. The twins have actually been starting to turn a profit. I managed to buy a few nice things too even. That map is helpful."

Harry stared at Blaise. The Marauder's Map, of course, was what he was referencing. Harry had completely forgotten about it. That would answer the question of whether or not Moody was Moody. And he could also get to work on trying to make the Map show what had previously been shown on the parchment.

"Do you have it?" Harry asked.

"Errrr–" Blaise began, before drank some juice.

Harry glared.

"I lent it to the twins."

Harry sighed. "Well, I'll just have to get it from them, then. Is there anything you need me to do for that by the way?" Harry asked.

"Not right now, we have the cabinets set and all, and I don't really need you to do anything else. You already set up our contacts in Gryffindor. If you know a Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw you want to bring in you can do that though; I haven't really talked to anyone, and I don't know if the twins have."

"Okay then," Harry replied. "When did I lend you the map, by the way? I don't remember."

"Well, I asked and you just muttered something. I took that for a yes. But I guess, thinking about it, you did look kind of out of it," Blaise said with a shrug. To Harry, it sounded like his thoughts were beginning to get too distracting.

Harry shook his head. "Must have been lost in my thoughts."

Blaise nodded. "So, how was life as a ferret?" Harry punched him.

The next couple days went very quickly for Harry, which he was hoping would not be the case, because he was not looking forward to his first Defense Against the Dark Arts class with Professor Moody. He had as of yet been unable to corner the Weasley twins to get the map back, so Harry was currently flying in the dark, as it were.

Which is how he found himself at the start of his first Defense class of the year; confidence shaken, and unsure of whom and what he was dealing with at the moment.

"You can put those away," Moody growled. "The books. You won't be needing them."

Moody sat at his desk and pulled out the register before he began to call roll of Harry and his Slytherins.

Harry watched with interest as Moody said each of their names, pausing delicately after their last name, scanning the room with his magical eye, and waiting for the person to declare themselves present. Each of the Slytherins were quiet. Moody had been the auror to put some of their relatives in Azkaban. The silence was tense and uncomfortable.

"I can see you have tackled Dark creatures fairly thoroughly, according to the report I received from your headmaster regarding last years' instructions. However, you haven't a clue when it comes to dealing with curses, at least, the majority of your fellow fourth years haven't. I have the task of teaching you about the things wizards are capable of doing to each other. There's a wide variety of curses, hexes, spells, and other magic that can damage, disfigure, and destroy. I'm living proof of that. I've got one year to bring you up to speed on these things, so you're prepared for what's out there. Constant vigilance!" Moody roared.

The yell caused quite a few people to jump or twitch in their seats.

Moody clapped his hands. "Well, let's get straight into it, eh? Now I'm not supposed to show you what illegal curses look like. The Ministry of Magic says I should tech you countercurses and leave it at that. But that's rubbish. You need to know what you're up against to know what you need to use. You also need to know what can happen to you so you do not take this course lightly. You aren't supposed to be old enough to handle this. But Dumbledore has a pretty high opinion of you lot, and I'm inclined to agree. The sooner you know what you're up against, the better. You aren't likely to be warned about what you are going to be cursed by, and if you are, odds are it's because the person is so much more powerful than you are, you probably don't stand any chance in the first place. Which is why running is always a valid option. But that's for another day. Today, we are going to jump right into the worst of the worst."

"So, there are three curses in Wizarding Law that are punishable with a trip to Azkaban for using them. The use of one of these curses on a fellow wizard is considered so horrendous, that you will relive your worst nightmares in Azkaban prison for using them. That won't stop people though. Now, who can name them? One at a time."

A few hands rose in the air, including Malfoy, Nott, and Daphne.

Moody pointed at Malfoy.

"Well, there's the Imperius Curse," Malfoy said hesitantly.

Moody stared at Malfoy with both his normal and magical eye. The blond squirmed underneath the gaze.

"That's correct. The Imperius Curse."

Moody reached into his desk and pulled out a jar of spiders. Three of them were inside, scurrying around. Moody reached in, grabbed one, and held it in the palm of his hand. He then pointed his wand at the spider and muttered, "Imperio!"

The spider leapt from Moody's hand, leaving a string of silk for it to hang from, and began to swing back and forth, as if it were a trapeze artist, before doing a back flip, landing on the string and breaking it. It fell to the desk and continued to cartwheel in circles. It then began an extravagant tap dance on two legs.

The class began to laugh. Moody stared at them.

"Is it funny? You'd like to be next?" Silence fell across the room instantaneously.

"Complete and total control," Moody said, lost in his thoughts. His normal eye had a faraway look in it, while the magical one spun randomly.

"You lose your ability to decide what to do, and instead obey the castor's commands. I could make you kill friends, family, yourself. While you are forced to watch yourself do things you would never want to do, your body would perform the task anyway, leaving you trembling impotently, a prisoner of your own mind, unable to do what you want, stop yourself from doing something you could never dream yourself capable of doing."

The class listened silently. Moody had a way to control an audience, his voice effectively its own imperious curse to an extent.

"It was quite a job for the ministry, years back, sorting out who had acted of their own will, and who had been under the curse. The curse can be fought, however, and I will be teaching you how to do that. It takes real strength of character; not everyone can do it. Best defense from it is to avoid being hit by it. CONSTANT VIGILANCE1" he barked again, and everyone jumped, again.

Moody put the spider back in the jar looked around.

"Another curse? Anyone?"

This time Blaise and Daphne both had their hands up. Moody nodded at Daphne.

"The Cruciatus Curse," Daphne said quietly.

"Yes, the Cruciatus Curse." Again, Moody appeared to be reminiscing. The second spider was pulled from the jar. "Needs to be a bit bigger for you to truly understand," he muttered, trailing off. "Engorgio!" Moody mumbled, his wand pointed at the spider. The spider grew large, as big as Moody's hand.

The spider began to move on the desk, attempting to escape. "Crucio!" Moody muttered distinctly.

The spider's legs bent up against its body. It rolled around and landed on its back. It twitched horribly. Harry could only imagine the pain it was going through. If it had a voice it would have burst their eardrums. The spider was moving jerkily and began to shudder. The Slytherins were transfixed. The spider began smacking its legs against the desk, making a horrible scraping noise as it tried to stop the pain. Moody continued to hold his wand trained on the spider.

"Pain," Moody said simply. "The curse has driven people to the point of insanity. If you're under the curse for too long, you won't be the same." Moody finally ended the spell. The spider continued to twitch but its whole body fell limply. Moody looked at the spider curiously. "Also, if you suffer under the effects for too long, it can cause your brain to burst, which appears to be the case here." Moody vanished the spider, its purpose complete.

"That curse was also very popular, back in the day. A very simple and effective way to torture people endlessly. Not creative, but it certainly has the desired effect. There's no way to really fight the curse. The best you can hope for is to have them grow tired of you, or to die. The only other method is to retreat into your mind, to try and block out the pain, but then, that generally leads to insanity. Again, your best defense is to avoid it."

"Right… anyone know any others?"

Harry raised his own hand. Moody nodded at him, a much different look aimed towards Harry than the last time they had met. This one was tinged with respect. "Avada Kedavra," answered Harry, in a soft voice that nonetheless carried throughout the room.

Moody smiled slightly, the act shaping his scarred face into something hideous looking and terrifying.

"The Killing Curse." Moody grabbed the final spider from the jar, which tried to avoid him, but he succeeded and placed it on the desk.

The spider immediately tried to run, but Moody was much quicker.

"Avada Kedavra!" he roared.

There was a flash of blinding green light and a rushing sound, as though a vast, invisible something was soaring through the air- and just like that, the spider was dead. Unmarked but unmoving. Moody swept the spider onto the floor.

"It isn't pleasant. There's no way to reverse it. There's no blocking it. Only one person has ever survived the curse, and he's sitting right in front of me." Moody looked straight at Harry as he said this, as did everyone else in the class.

Harry was reminded of the night Voldemort killed his parents. A night he would always relive whenever near dementors, although he had become better at blocking the memory out. But not if the dementors were close. Harry shuddered to imagine what it would be like in Azkaban, constantly surrounded by dementors, forced to relive the worst memories of his life, drowning in the misery, powerless to end it, trapped with nothing but despair…

Moody continued speaking. "The thing with these curses, the reason they are so viewed, is they are all three powerful. You have to really mean them to make them work. You could all point your wands at me and say the words and I doubt I'd get much more than a nosebleed. You have to truly want someone dead, truly want to cause someone pain, truly want to control someone's mind. But I'm not here to teach you how to use these curses. I'm here to make you aware of them, teach you how to fight them. You do not want to find yourself in a position where you are facing the unknown. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" he roared again, and everyone jumped.

"These three curses, Avada Kedavra, Imperius, and Cruciatus, are known as the Unforgivable curses. A lifetime in Azkaban awaits you for their use on a fellow human being. You need to learn how to fight. How to prepare. You need to be armed with this information. Copy this down."

The rest of the lesson was spent taking notes on the three curses, and when the class finally let out, everyone headed quietly to the common room, no one mentioning what they had seen there. Harry had a feeling most of his class had already heard and possibly witnessed these curses before, and being reminded of those experiences wouldn't make for a fun conversation topic.

Harry sat across from Blaise, Lily, and Tracey as the four of them worked on their homework assignments. He and Blaise traded notes on Ancient Runes, trying to explain the difference between offensive and defensive runes, which was giving Harry a headache. He decided to go for a walk.

Since he hadn't seen Hedwig lately, he picked up a couple of owl treats and headed to the Owlery. When he got there, his owl flew down and cuffed him on the side of the head fondly, and Harry fed her a couple of treats. A brown owl also came down to Harry, which surprised him, and he noticed it had a letter for him. Harry took it and thanked the owl politely, offering it one of the treats he had. Hedwig glanced at the owl but decided to be unbothered, leaving Harry and going back up to the rafters.

The letter was from Sirius. It was short and to the point.

"It's done. Send date of next Hogsmeade weekend." A grin crossed Harry's face. He was about to find out if he could become an animagus.