Earlier, Harry's POV
After Sirius and Harry returned from romping around London, they came back to the Shack. Remus told them what happened at the Ministry, which made Harry thoughtful. They talked for a bit and then the teen went to find his friends.
He found them doing their studying in the Great Hall. So, he took out a book on magical theory and joined them. Other than giving him inquiring looks, they didn't ask, instead they worked on their own papers. He reread the passages in Gryffindor's book that were more like a telling of a story than classwork.
The rest of the gang were finishing their homework. Like Neville, they had fallen behind due to all the excitement of learning new and wonderful magic. They now understood why Harry didn't go to class. However, they didn't have the amnesia as an excuse to stop, which was why they were scribbling away on parchment. Well, not Hermione, she was caught up, but felt that she needed to revise.
A few hours later of silent studying, and the gang completed all they were going to. It was now near dinner, so they just put their books in their bags and waited for the meal. Harry grinned at the part he just read, and when the sound of shutting books filled his ears, he looked up. Seeing his friends putting away their stuff, he followed suit.
"So, Harry, what did you do today?" Hermione asked, but not in a bossy way. Now that she wasn't quite as demanding, she found that she actually learned more from her friends. They talked more around her, without fear of being reprimanded. It was a more comfortable atmosphere. She had to say, she liked it.
"Me and Sirius went to London. He wanted to flirt with women. It was great, we even played hide-and-seek with the bobbies. They were trying to get us back to school. That would've been fun to explain," the dark-haired teen answered with a huge smile. He bounced a bit at the retelling, because it had been fun running from the coppers. They had swerved through alleys, jumped fences, and dodged cars. Harry had to say that the police were very out of shape. He wondered how they caught criminals when a couple of teens could out run them. Oh well, it wasn't his problem.
His bushy-haired friend bit her lip so she didn't scold him. Even though she had gotten over her worship of authority, playing with the constabularies was dangerous. They could have been locked up, or somehow exposed the Wizarding World trying to escape. It was just too risky. Still, she held her piece.
"Did you find anything interesting?" Luna asked, seeing her only female friend fighting with herself. She too was worried that the two pranksters were playing a dangerous game. She didn't know much about Muggle Aurors, but it couldn't be healthy to tease them.
"Not really. We didn't get to do much shopping," Harry said with a wave of his hand. "Sirius was more interested in watching the girls. I swear that man is trying to make up for years of going without, in just the few weeks he's been free. I keep telling him to pace himself, but he doesn't listen." He shook his head and then smiled as dinner appeared on the table.
Everyone grabbed what they liked best, while continuing their conversation.
"I know if I were locked up for that long, I would do the same," Fred stated firmly, sharing a look with his twin. The mere thought of not being around women for that long made them shiver.
"Too right, brother of mine. I'd have to try and bag at least five women a day just to catch up," George said with a very serious nod.
"Can we please talk about something else?" Hermione all but demanded. She really didn't like the way they were discussing women. She knew it was the hormones talking, but really. "Something that doesn't have to do with treating women like sex objects," she huffed, giving them each the evil eye.
"Right," Neville said, searching his mind for something that wasn't as volatile. He wasn't comfortable with the current topic either, and it wasn't polite in mixed company. He may not know much about girls, but his gran did teach him manners.
"Sorry," came from the other three teen males.
"Harry, did you find a way for the diadem to be used?" the little blonde asked quietly as she leaned against her 'friend'. While Harry thought they were too young to be anything more than friends, she was at the budding stages of puberty and wanted him to notice her. She wasn't worried about him regaining his memories, she was of the firm belief that he wasn't going to change much.
The dark-haired teen did notice her, but his reasons were still the same. He gave her a soft smile, kissed her on the top of the head, and then gently sat her up. He wanted to keep his arm over her shoulders like he used to, but that might lead her on, and he didn't want to do that.
"I did, but it needs to be adjusted more. Right now, it'll answer what you ask, but it still tries to give way too much information on the question. That and most of the information is outdated, or irrelevant. So, while it is a great tool, it really can't help much. I'm attempting to add a bit more knowledge and filters to its… well, brain isn't right, database maybe. Like the computers in Star Trek," he said remembering that she had watched the show. He chuckled at the confused looks of the males of their group. "I'll explain later," he told them.
"Okay, Harry. Let me know when it's done, alright? I want to be with you when you give it back to the school," the disappointed girl stated with an overly cheerful smile. Yeah, she understood his reasons for being standoffish, but it still hurt that they weren't as close as they had been.
"I will. I was thinking…" Harry said, only to be interrupted by a large owl landing in front of him. He gave the official looking bird an evil eye and carefully took the letter. After reading the missive, he got contemplative. Noticing the questioning looks on his friends' faces, he just shook his head. "Anyway, I was thinking about giving the school the key to the vault that Sirius set up at the same time. This would help his reputation a lot, and hopefully he can resume his true identity," he finished as he tucked the letter in his TARDIS pocket.
"That sounds like a wonderful idea," Hermione stated, clapping her hands and bouncing in excitement. She was so very happy that the school would be getting funds that she was sure they needed. She had had doubts about Mr. Black handling the funds, but he did a great job. From what he had told them, the vault was up to over twenty thousand galleons. That was more than enough to fund a scholarship for a few years, and if they invested then it would never run out.
Everyone agreed that that was a great idea, and with that they settled in to talking about schoolwork and other unimportant things. A few glances were thrown around; Harry was making sure they knew to go to the Room when dinner was done. So, that's where they went and after settling in chairs, the gang looked at Harry, making him sigh and take out the letter, which he held in his hands. He twirled it around thinking on how he was going to say what he needed to say. He wanted to disclose more information to them, because if they needed to protect themselves then they needed all the information he had.
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