My Godfather is an Innocent Convict (Rewrite)

August Ideas: Part 2

It was way to warm outside. Harriet was lounging on the balcony in denim shorts and a t-shit with the words "Where's the food?" written on it. She was waiting for Dave to walk into the parking lot and see Dudley and her handiwork. They had mixed together a rather large amount of paint with the occasional magical ingredient here or there.

Small enough to not be noticeable by the ministry but annoying enough to get the message across. If Professor Snape was any less strict, he might have been proud (provided there was any chance of him finding out of course).

"What the-" she heard Dave shriek from the parking lot.

She rapped against the door leading to inside to let Dudley know the prankee had seen the pranksters work. He hurried out to watch aswell.

There stood Dave in the parking lot, cursing loudly and trying to scrub pink off of his car, only to have it spread. The more viciously he tried to remove it, the more it seemed to spread.

A soft clink was heard as the cousins tapped their glasses of juice together in a toast to their art.

They'd be told off by Petunia later. It was definitely worth it.

They only had one week of the holidays left so it wasn't too bad to be grounded.
Dudley at least had enough time to quickly cram his summer homework in.

Harriet, on the other hand, was bored out of her mind and spent most of her time lounging around on the balcony. She took a breath and closed her eyes, thinking back to her trip to Diagon Alley for school shopping.

She had gone with the Malfoys and Parkinsons.

They had somehow ended up meeting the Weasleys anyway. Ronald Weasley had mercifully chosen to stay home so there were no douchebags to see that day.

It had been Percy Weasley's suggestion to have a meal together at the leaky cauldron.

Harriet stared at him. She couldn't believe her ears.

"An Azkaban breakout?" She repeated.

"Yes! This man named Sirius Black broke out while we were in Egypt.  I thought you read the paper!" He said flailing his arms dramatically.

"I do read the paper! I just haven't read this week's." She rolled her eyes.

"That explains why you didn't know until now! Anyway, turns out everyone thinks he's after you." Percy exclaimed.

"Why would they think that?"

"Rumour has it he's your Godfather."

"What?" Harriet gasped.

"Your Godfather!"

"Mordred's blade Percy! How in the name of Helena did you find that out? Is there even proof?"

Percy shrugged. "I asked my parents. They were friends with yours at school. They say it's true. They say they were there when they asked him to be."

She raised an eyebrow. "That's dissapointing. I thought you did something highly illegal and stumbled across that information by accident."

"As if." Fred Weasley butted in, grinning from ear to ear.

"Yeah, that's more our playing field." George added, joining them.

"OK." Pansy sounded faint. "So you've got a Godfather who just broke out of Azkaban and You've just been told he might be out to get you. Any other things we should know about?"

"Never got to ask, remember!" Harriet lightly kicked a chair. "Can we change the subject though? I don't want to think about this now."

Harriet sighed and leaned on the railing. Across the parking lot, she noticed a giant black dog staring at her. It was kind of cute. It was also getting dark.

She turned to go back inside and find her aunt.

The living room was lit by some old-ish looking lamps with blue shades. The sofa was worn and the coffee table had been salvaged from being thrown away. Petunia was sitting on one of the armchairs watching the news.

"Can I talk to you?" Harriet asked quietly.

"Of course." Petunia turned off the television. "What about?"

"My parents." Harriet tugged on her hoodie strings.

Petunia nodded in a resigned manner. "Ask away."

"Did they ever mention a Sirius Black?"

Petunia frowned. "I'm not sure. I think they did - hang on a minute!"

She got up and walked across the room to the small bookshelf. She returned with a photo album, flipping through the pages. "Here we go!" she said passing it to Harriet. "This used to be your mother's. It's one of the only things I kept."

The admission tasted of guilt.

"Thank you!" Harriet said. Studying the pictures she asked, "Which one is he?"

"That one." her aunt pointed to the man shown to be holding what Harriet could only assume was herself as a baby. He was dressed like he belonged in a Biker gang and listened only to classic rock bands like Black Sabbath or Led Zepplin. The smile on his face was ten miles wide and he looked like he was trying not to cry.

Next to him stood another man who was dressed as the near opposite to Sirius Black. The leather was replaced by by tweed, elbow patches and a button up shirt. He looked like a cliché university professor.

Underneath the picture were the scribbled words 'Prongslet and her godparents!' with a couple of drawn hearts. It must have been her father's handwriting. She already knew her mother's.

Next to the picture there were two messages. The handwriting was easily sortable.

The loopy script had to belong to Sirius. Judging by the picture alone, it was the only handwriting on the page with enough confidence to fit the rock n' roll personality and put Victoria's Secret to shame.

It read:
One year old already! I don't believe it! You're so cute, please don't ever change! Do Uncle Paddy a favour, okay?

The other handwriting she recognised from somewhere else. It was neat and tidy and entirely to familiar.

It read:
Happy Birthday Harriet! Only one year old and causing more trouble than your father! Best wishes and lots of hugs, Moony.

"Son of a-" Harriet exclaimed before catching herself. This guy! THIS GUY! He had sent her the invisibility cloak! Seriously? Couldn't he just have told her he was her godparent instead of sounding like a serial killer?

Harriet had spent weeks, WEEKS, trying to figure out the cloak mystery only to have it resolved by a photo album?

"Everything alright?" Petunia asked gently.

"Uh, yeah." Harriet was a little out of it. "Can I keep this?"

"Of course. I had been planning to give it to you at some point anyway."

Later, Harriet sat in her room, still fuming about the all to obvious solution to a two year old mystery.

She almost forgot about the escaped prisoner of Azkaban.

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Thank you to all my readers!

XOXO, Drachma