The Great Hall of Hogwarts was usually a lively place where hundreds of students buzzed around, enjoying their meals or chatted with friends from other houses. Some visited late in the evenings to admire the spellwork of the enchanted ceiling which showed the stars far better than any Astronomy lesson could hope to do. Others met there to do some school work without Madam Prince breathing down their necks about the tiniest bit of noise. But on the last morning of the year, the huge room was deserted. Only a few students were up already since most preferred to sleep in and feast on sweets brought from the Lunch Trolley aboard the Hogwarts Express.

"I knew that I'd find you down here."

"Am I that obvious?" Harry asked as Katie Bell sat down next to him and helped herself to a bowl of oatmeal.

"You didn't have the best year..."

"It was shite. First Ron and Hermione fight over that rat, then there's that fuck-up with Sirius. I get attacked by dementors, fall two hundred feet and next thing I know, Hermione gets my Christmas present confiscated by McGonagall and even though she was right that Sirius sent it, it still hurt. Then Ron tries to pull me into their stupid argument while Hermione overworks herself to the point where she'd snap at everyone. But it gets even better, when we learn that the man who supposedly betrayed my parents had spent a decade in Azkaban while the real traitor was sleeping in my dorm for three years and we happen to walk into their confrontation because we were out to pass the quaffle around above the Black Lake. Then..."

Harry's ramblings were cut short when Katie leaned in and gave him a sideways hug. He tensed at first, but quickly deflated and let his head hang low.

"Why can't things be easy for once?"

The chaser knew no answer to that question but only squeezed him again. "You know, I can just visit you over the summer. And if things really get bad just tell your relatives that the crazy mass murderer broke out to avenge your parents and now that he's done, he might just drop by one evening and off them if things aren't good."

"You know," Harry began, a smile tugging on his lips for the first time that morning. "The funny part is that Sirius probably would love to do just that. He didn't say much, but his childhood didn't sound nice at all, probably far worse than what I have to endure."

"Shame that he didn't find any place where you could live together. Even a hovel sounds better than Privet Drive..."

"Shame that the dementors decided to gatecrash our party and kiss Pettigrew."

"Touche."

"Well, at least Leanne thought of using our brooms to get away."

"I was about to suggest the same thing, you were the one who tried to outrun them on foot."

"I had Patronus lessons from Professor Lupin," Harry pointed out, but Katie's retort made that protest die a quick death.

"And how often have you successfully cast that spell?"

"Well, there was the one time where I hit Malfoy and Flint..."

"But that was without the dementors sucking all happiness from you."

"Fair point."

"You know, I could always dress up as mad witch, show up at your place and scare your relatives with a couple of Zonko products."

"Katie, please don't take this the wrong way, but you don't look intimidating at all."

"Trust me, you haven't seen me mad yet," the witch pouted in an adorable way, unconsciously proving herself wrong.

"Sorry, not all of us can be, how did Miller call it, an ice cold bitch whenever they want."

"Oi, I turn that jerk down once and suddenly I have that nickname. Honestly, I can't wait till I am a prefect next year so that he can spend his free time scrubbing toilets with Filch's toothbrush instead of giving me the creeps. Besides, you are the boy-who-lived so you better shut up about stupid nicknames," she retorted with mock anger.

"You are awfully confident that you get the badge."

"Being the only girl in Gryffindor's fourth year has its advantages."

"Maybe Leanne will get it."

"Well, technically she is still a badger even though she spends more time with us than with her own house."

"I mean, if even the house elves put a bed for her in your dorm, maybe that will be enough for McGonagall to give her the position."

"Oh come on, we only have sleepovers on the weekends. Oh, and on Thursdays after our astronomy practicals," she objected with another feigned glare.

"Still, I don't see your bed in the Hufflepuff cellar."

"That's because they still have that stupid no visitor rule. You know the one that made Leanne spent most of her time in our tower in the first place."

"And McGonagall only allows her because she is earning points for Gryffindor," Harry joked.

"Actually, that only happens if she's wearing one of my ties. Somehow they are linked to your house affinity and colour your robes. And since they are keyed to me, she earns us a lot of points. Of course, she could simply remember to bring her own tie."

"But where's the fun in that?" a new voice asked cheerfully, making Katie jump and nearly fall off the bench.

"Honestly Lea, sometimes I think that you are doing that on purpose."

"What, messing with the house points? Of course I do that on purpose. Stupid Badgers, have to keep our common room hidden from everyone else," Leanne pouted. Looking at her, Harry noticed that she had straightened her curly black hair again so that it nicely framed her face.

"Harry here think that McGonagall will make you the new Gryffindor girl prefect."

"How did you find out?" Leanne asked conspiratorially and Harry had to applaud her acting skill. There was no hint of surprise or mischief in her expression. Katie could only gape at her friend open-mouthed. Her surprised expression only lasted a few seconds because a small fluffy ball slammed into her face before bouncing back towards the table where it came to a halt in front of Harry. The wizard then realised that it was, in fact, a tiny grey owl with a note attached to its leg and not a mould-covered meatball someone banished through the Great Hall.

After a bit of fumbling, he held a small, blank note in his hand. It took a moment for the Knut to drop but then Harry drew his wand and looked around the Gryffindor table. Besides the two girls who eyed him with curiosity and no small amount of suspicion, no one else was nearby.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," Harry intoned, tapping the parchment with the wand. As expected thin lines appeared as the blank note unfolded itself.

"Well, what does it say?"

"I could tell you... If you actually give me time to read it."

Dear Harry,

I arranged that my niece Nymphadora Tonks will pick you up at King's Cross. Funnily enough, she's actually an Auror, so you have an Auror helping you to break the law so that the law is upheld. Funny how that works out sometimes. And I guarantee you that you will see quite a lot of her over the summer.

In case someone intercepts this and tries to set you up ask her who sent her. The correct answer is my Marauder name. There's a lot more going on but I wouldn't trust a letter to keep secrets. Some things just don't add up.

Snuffles

PS: Say Hi to the girls from me.

Harry read the note and then read it again. He wasn't exactly certain what to make out of this. On the one hand, any place had to be better than Privet Drive and his godfather kept his word about getting him away from Privet Drive, which was a first. But he wanted to spend time with Sirius, not just some relatives he had not even heard of before. And the letter almost sounded like his godfather was trying to set him up with that Nymphadora woman.

"So?"

"Seriously Lea, how can you be this impatient and still ace potions?"

"Potions does not require patience. You have no idle time unless you brew something like Polyjuice or Wolfsbane. What we do is nothing but cooking with disgusting ingredients which lead to magical results, pun not intended," Leanne replied to Katie's question. She couldn't understand why anyone would have a problem with Potions. To the Muggleborn the subject came naturally, the same way Harry was able to pull death-defying stunts on his broom without breaking a sweat. Yet the playful banter painfully reminded him that over the last term, Ron, Hermione and he had grown apart when the seeker had decided to stay out of their fights. Well, maybe all they needed was some time to realise what they were missing and things would go back to normal in September.

"Snape would kill you for that comment."

"But he's not here right now."

"Girls please," Harry interrupted before the two friends could continue their antics. "A certain Padfoot sends his regards."

"What else does he say?" Katie wanted to know.

"Someone will pick me up at King's Cross. He also says that more than one thing does not add up and that I should be careful."

"You mean like the fact that he spent the last decade in Azkaban without even as much as a trial and when we point that out we are ignored?"

"He didn't go into details but I guess that is part of the issue."

"I am still surprised that no one bothered with that," Leanne threw in.

"Remember, we are just a bunch of scared, confunded kids who just had a traumatizing experience," he quoted what the Minister and Snape had come up with when the teachers decided to humour their story about Pettigrew and the dementors.

"Yes, because the word of a confessed murderer is much better," the Hufflepuff said with dripping sarcasm. Of all people whom Harry told about Snape's past, the muggle-born witch took it the worst. She had already loathed the Head of Slytherin for what he did to her favourite class, but after finding out that he willingly joined the pureblood cause, her disdain reached new levels. Reading about all his crimes in the archived Daily Prophet certainly didn't help. If anything, knowing that their Professor used to be part of a terrorist group working to kill people like her gave her another reason to hate him.

"You know, technically all Death Eaters are committing treason because they try to usurp the Queen. So we could go back to having them hanged, drawn and quartered," she only half-joked.

"It would be poetic justice," Harry sighed. "Snape always says that he would render us dunderheads into potion ingredients so having him publicly disembowelled sounds good."

"I don't want to stop your fun but don't you think that we have more pressing issues? Besides, you can always throw the greasy git into the Acromantula colony in the forest. Would be much cleaner that way," Katie suggested. Upon seeing the gleam in their eyes she shuddered and felt the need to clarify. "That was a joke."

"A girl can dream," Leanne replied, sounding deep in thought as she once more fantasised about Severus Snape, or at least his very painful death.

"So, what pressing matters do we have to discuss?" Harry wanted to know.

"Well, there's the Quidditch World Cup this summer and they are drawing the groups next weekend. Also, now that we know that you will not be imprisoned this summer we could do something together. Like watching a movie, or teaching you everything you need to know about the World Cup."

"Well, I'd love. But I don't know in which part of Britain I will end up so it might be tricky to get to Manchester."

"Harry, you are a wizard. There's the Floo network and you already used the Knights Bus. Getting from A to B is not difficult with magic. Worst case my parents can apparate you."

"I haven't thought about that," Harry admitted sheepishly.

"That much is obvious. You're usually not the one who thinks," Leanne quipped.

"Oi, I resent that. I am better at Charms than you."

"Waving a wand around and making stuff happen does not make you are smart."

"Someone sounds bitter," Katie pointed out.

"He is a year behind us and still beats me in Charms and both of us in Defence. That's not fair," the black haired girl hissed.

"Don't worry, you will always beat me in Potions. Me and everyone else in our years," Harry replied. Hermione might have the better memory, but she lacked the instinctive understanding of how ingredients reacted with each other that went beyond recalling facts. At least in Potions.

"The Express leaves in two hours and forty-seven minutes. How about we go for a last fly across the grounds?" Katie suggested after glancing at her watch.

"But breakfast is served and I am not done yet!"

"You can still eat while we get our brooms. Your dorm is way closer than ours. Besides, it's the last time we can fly for the next two months."

"You said the same thing yesterday evening. And two days ago too," Leanne pointed out.

"And you did not complain either time. Besides, if you are hungry on the train Harry will be happy to buy you a snack," Katie said while doing her best to give him a seductive look. Harry only shook his head at this overly dramatic exaggeration, but he had to agree that flying was not a bad idea. The seeker had been surprised that he was not the only one who enjoyed simply flying over Quidditch, with its countless rules and the moving obstacles called other players. With that in mind, he did not protest when Katie took his arm and dragged him off towards the Gryffindor tower.