A Halliwell at Hogwarts: The Prisoner of Azkaban

You Can't Take Him

Persephone felt like a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders. They were going to prove her uncle's innocence. Finally uncle Sirius was going to be free; finally Harry was going to have a real paternal figure in his life (that was if he actually wanted uncle Sirius in his life); finally after more than twelve years, her mother was going to meet her brother Sirius again.

It was with these cheerful thoughts that Persephone was walking in front Snape's unconscious body, voluntarily ignoring the fact that she had contributed to his concussion. But, if for a moment she stopped to think about it, she couldn't help but giggle at the absurdity of the little group she was now part of. First, leading the way down the stairs was Persephone's favorite Prima Donna: Crookshanks; Lupin, Pettigrew, and Ron went next, looking like entrants in a six-legged race. Next came the same Persephone, followed by the the floating body of Professor Snape, his toes hitting each stair as they descended, held up by his own wand, which was being pointed at him by uncle Sirius. Harry and Hermione brought up the rear.

Getting back into the tunnel was difficult. Lupin, Pettigrew, and Ron had to turn sideways to manage it; Lupin still had Pettigrew covered with his wand. Persephone watched them edging awkwardly along the tunnel in single file. Crookshanks was still in the lead. Harry went right after uncle Sirius, who was still making Snape drift along ahead of them; he kept bumping his lolling head on the low ceiling. Persephone had the impression her uncle was making no effort to prevent this.

"You know what this means?" Persephone heard uncle Sirius say abruptly to Harry as they made their slow progress along the tunnel. "Turning Pettigrew in?"

"You're free," said Harry.

"Yes..." said uncle Sirius. "But I'm also — I don't know if anyone ever told you — I'm your godfather."

"Yeah, I knew that," said Harry.

"Well... your parents appointed me your guardian," said uncle Sirius stiffly. "If anything happened to them..."

Persephone smiled widely hearing his words, silently cheering for him. They both needed a family. Uncle Sirius had decided to leave his birth family in his sixth year — which, sadly included Persephone's mother — but he had found another one in the Potters. Voldemort had taken away that family from him, but not Harry. He was still alive and Persephone thought that it would've been perfect if the two went to live together. Finally Harry had the possibility to leave those horrible Dursleys and live with somebody that sincerely cared for him.

"I'll understand, of course, if you want to stay with your aunt and uncle," she heard her uncle say. "But... well... think about it. Once my name's cleared... if you wanted a... a different home..."

"What — live with you?" Harry said, accidentally cracking his head on a bit of rock protruding from the ceiling. "Leave the Dursleys?"

"Of course, I thought you wouldn't want to," said uncle Sirius quickly. "I understand, I just thought I'd —"

"Are you insane?" said Harry, his voice easily as croaky as uncle Sirius'. "Of course I want to leave the Dursleys! Have you got a house? When can I move in?"

Persephone felt like jumping in joy — of course she contained herself, since, for starters, it was rude to eavesdrop like she was actually doing and, secondly, she would've bumped her head against the ceiling.

Persephone discretely took a peek behind her shoulder and saw uncle Sirius turning right around to look at Harry; Snape's head was scraping the ceiling but uncle Sirius didn't seem to care.

"You want to?" he said. "You mean it?"

"Yeah, I mean it!" said Harry.

Persephone looked again in front of her, her cheeks hurt for how much she was smiling, but she couldn't stop herself. At last, something good had happened that dreadful and tiring day.