"She's really brilliant, isn't she?" Hermione asked. She was almost bouncing in her seat at the Gryffindor table. They'd just had their second lesson with Tonks, and Harry had to smile at her.
"Yeah, she is," Harry agreed, but his thoughts were elsewhere. He'd reached down to touch the crinkle of parchment in his robe pocket again for the seventh time that day. At least.
"Are you all right, mate?" Ron asked, leaning near enough that his voice sort of slid under Hermione's excited chatter. "You've acted weird about that letter all day."
"I'm all right," Harry said, and smiled at his best friend. From the look on Ron's face, he wasn't really convincing. Harry shook his head and sat up. "I'm all right," he repeated, more firmly.
And he was. The letter hadn't upset him. It had just surprised him.
It was from his mother, and Harry had written to her about why she'd picked Tonks and why she hadn't told him about it. The answer to the second question was just that it was a pleasant surprise she'd tried to arrange for him, Mrs. Malfoy had written.
But part of her answer to the first question kept lingering in Harry's mind.
"I want you to feel that you have a bigger and more connected family than just us, Henry. I can do nothing about most of the Black and Malfoy families being dead or in prison, and nothing about how much of an enemy Cousin Sirius is. But I can give you back another cousin. I am working to try and make sure I can give you back your uncle and aunt, as well."
Harry had grown up thinking he had only an aunt and uncle and cousin, and then he'd adapted to thinking he didn't have them, but he did have a mother and a father and a twin brother. And now he might really have both.
He hadn't known Mother cared about that.
"Okay," Ron said, and nodded, and then took out Scabbers from his pocket. He tried to feed the rat, who was draped over his hand, a bit of cheese, but Scabbers just turned his head.
"He still isn't any better?" Harry asked, trying to turn his mind away from his own problems.
"No." Ron sighed and dropped Scabbers back into his pocket. "I thought it was just Hermione's beast of a cat trying to hurt him, but he's like this even when Crookshanks isn't around."
"Crookshanks was only—"
"You saw him yourself, Hermione, the way he went after him yesterday—"
"Students, I must ask you to pay attention for a moment."
Harry started and looked away from Ron and Hermione. Professor Dumbledore's announcement had put an end to his friends' argument, anyway. The Headmaster was standing up at the Head Table, waiting for chatter at the student tables to die down. He looked sad and old, the way he had when he told Harry about the prophecy.
Harry glanced at the Slytherin table for a second. Draco stopped pretending to ignore him and just shrugged. He didn't know what this was about either, then.
"This evening," Professor Dumbledore said quietly, "two of our professors intercepted Sirius Black trying to break into the castle. He unfortunately escaped without being captured, and before the professors in question could summon the Dementors. I will ask you to be extremely cautious when you venture outside the castle, and next weekend's Hogsmeade trip will be under heavy escort. The Dementors are likely to be on hand when Quidditch games are played, as well." He held up his hand at the way everyone half-shouted. "I know this is distressing, and I wish I did not have to be the bearer of bad news. But we cannot forget that Sirius Black is a dangerous man, and the Dementors are here as part of the effort to protect us from him."
He glanced at Harry for a moment, and a second later, a little note fluttered away from the professors' table and landed in front of Harry. Harry unfolded it. It said simply, Please come see me after dinner, Mr. Malfoy. I am fond of Ice Mice.
Harry sat back and blinked. He hadn't had any private visits with Professor Dumbledore this year, but then, that wasn't surprising, since he hadn't got in trouble and Dumbledore didn't really have a reason to speak with him. But now…
Maybe there was someone Harry could speak to about how Sirius hadn't been the traitor to the Potters, after all.
....
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