"Still a scary sword," Harry muttered. Hermione patted his arm in commiseration.
The door to the Room opened again and Sirius and Shiva walked in. Shiva frowned at the couches surrounding the table but moved to sit beside Harry and kicked her feet up. Sirius was wearing a grin large enough to split his face in half and handed the Daily Prophet to Harry before claiming his own armchair.
The front page story was: Sirius Black proven innocent! Mass murderer and master manipulator Peter Pettigrew still at large!
" 'Master manipulator'?" Harry commented raising his eyebrow. "Yeah he pulled one good trick, but I hardly think that counts as a master manipulator. He wouldn't have had to hide as a rat for 12 years if that was true."
"That's Rita Skeeter for you," Neville said shaking his head. "The woman's a menace but she sells papers well."
"I really don't care what they say, I'm just happy to be free," Sirius said not dropping his grin.
"Lord Black, may I get an interview with you for the Quibbler?" Luna asked him flashing him with puppy dog eyes even better than Sirius' actual dog eyes when he was Snuffles.
"Well…" Sirius tapped his chin, "I don't know…I make it a policy not to talk to reporters after all…" the gleam in his eye belied his teasing.
"Ah, then there is no problem," Luna smiled at him and made a grand flourish. "I am no reporter, Lord Black. I am an explorer!"
Sirius burst out laughing. "Good for you, girl! Reporters are evil, explorers are fun. I'll answer almost anything you want in a little bit. And no more of this Lord Black thing everyone. It's Sirius. Or Padfoot if you want. I'll answer to Snuffles in dog form too I suppose. But no more Lord Black. Before I was tossed onto that tropical island I was sure my parents had disinherited anyway so I'm just as uncomfortable with the title as you are."
"Tropical island?" Tracey asked wide eyed. "Wouldn't it make more sense to have Azkaban on a cold, miserable spot not the tropics?"
"Nope, I was never in Azkaban. According to the Ministry I was 'unlawfully detained'. They never specified where," Sirius said still holding his grin. "So since they didn't bother to specify I can go along thinking I was having a prolonged vacation on a deserted tropical island!"
"Ugh…" a few of the teens stared at the man blankly.
Sirius just sighed and shook his head. "You kids need to loosen up. It's a joke guys, I know I was on Azkaban I just prefer not to remember that horrible little hell-hole."
"Were there snorkacks on the island?" Everyone turned to look at Luna who just stared back with her head slightly sideways and a dreamy smile on her face. Laughter flowed out of everyone and she just smiled back at them all far more lucid than her comment would have made it seem.
"Sirius, you said Padfoot earlier and mentioned a map last night," Harry said as he calmed down. He pulled out the Marauder's Map and held it up. "You wouldn't have happened to be talking about this would you?"
"Hey so you do have it! I was worried that you didn't actually have it and never figured out my message."
"What message?" Harry asked.
"My response when you sent the letter with Hedwig a few days ago," Sirius shrugged.
"It was a paw print, Sirius. A paw print. Do you know how annoying that was?" Harry deadpanned. Hermione nodded along beside him and Daphne huffed her agreement.
"Well yeah, but the paw print wasn't all, pup. 'I solemnly swear' like with map? That's why I signed Padfoot…you didn't figure that out?"
"I only got the damn map yesterday morning," Harry glowered at the man. "High marks for security, but failing marks for assumptions."
"Oh. My bad. It was still pretty funny though yeah?" the former fugitive smiled at Harry utterly ignoring the death stare from the teen.
"What map are we talking about?" Shiva asked holding up a hand. "Anyone care to share with the class?"
"Yes, please do tell, Harry," Daphne said taking the blank paper.
"I solemnly swear I am up to no good," Sirius said reached over the girl and tapping the parchment. The Map sprang to life and everyone crowded around to look at it.
"Wow," Shiva murmured. "That is impressive. Harry, this is how you found out about Pettigrew I assume?"
Harry nodded. "Yeah, I was checking on everyone to make sure nobody was getting back for the thing with Luna and I saw him with Ron. That's when I remember that Scabbers looked like how Remus described Pettigrew and put two and two together. I take it he was Wormtail, Sirius?"
"Yup, and Remus was Moony with your father rounding it out as Prongs." Sirius paused and looked fondly at the Map. "It was a lot of fun running around and filling this thing in. We thought we had found every room in the castle, but obviously we missed a few. Look, this room apparently doesn't show."
"Neither does the Chamber," Daphne said nodding. "Harry, I think we should try to improve on this next year."
Harry shrugged. "Sure, assuming no one tries to kill us again I'm all for improving it."
Hermione's eyes lit up and Harry could hear her breathing quicken slightly. "Mr. Black – "
"Sirius," he corrected.
"Sirius," Hermione quickly said, "can you tell us some of the charms you used to enchant it? It seems quite advanced to be able to track people even in an animagus form."
"Well," he scratched his chin again, "I didn't really do much of the charm work. Remus did some but Lily was really the genius when it came to charms. She was the one who ended up doing most of the enchanting. I can pass along a few notes though to get you guys started. You might want to start fresh though so you don't risk messing up this one."
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