A Different Story

Chapter 46

10th Of November, 1993

The next day, while the kids were sitting in the great hall, just talking, nothing interesting was happening. That was until the daily prophet was delivered. One look at the headline, and they knew their parents had something to do with it.

SIRIUS BLACK INNOCENT? PETER PETTIGREW ALIVE?

That's correct, you read that correctly: Peter Pettigrew was found alive after an emergency Wizengamot meeting yesterday. He had framed Sirius Black. That means that an innocent man has been sitting in Azkaban for 12 years. How many other wrongfully accused people are in Azkaban without a trail?

After reading the whole news, Harry didn't know how to react because growing up he hated Sirius Black with a passion, but now it was proven that he was innocent all along and the man that he always considered a hero was the betrayer.

Harry was not the only one who didn't know how to react. Arcturus thought about only one thing: how many times he had changed in the dormitories in the presence of scabbers.

But more than those two, Ronald Weasley was more shocked because he practically slept with scabbers and how many times he had kissed scabbers in random places. He felt disgusted.

This story became out of date over time, and many people forgot about it. Harry wakes up on Christmas morning to find a pile of presents at the foot of his bed. Among them is a long, thin box with a note attached which says, "Merry Christmas, Harry and Arcturus by Sirius." When Harry opens it, Two brand new Firebolts roll out of the wrappings. One for Harry and one for Arcturus. Sirius wanted to bring one for Damian also, but he was not much into Quidditch, so instead he brought him a set of books.

The Potter kids spend most of the Christmas holidays with Sirius. Playing with him, talking with him, and even Sirius enjoyed it.

After a wonderful Christmas, they returned to Hogwarts, where Professor Lupin taught them how to cast a Patronus in case they encountered a dementor again.

It was very hard, but after a lot of practice, they all learned to cast it. Harry's Patronus was like his father's Patronus, a stag, while Arcturus's was like his father, a wolf. Strangely, Hermione's was a female wolf , Damian had an eagle as a patronus, while Daphne had a doe, which was strange because they all, including Daphne herself, thought that her patronus would be a snake, but nonetheless, she was happy. Luna and Iris also wanted to learn it, but Lupin said they were too young to learn it.

Over the months, Harry and Daphne, Arcturus, and Hermione went on many dates. Unfortunately, at the end of the year, Snape accidentally told almost everyone that Lupin was a werewolf, so he had to leave. The ministry gave him a warning that if he didn't leave the castle as soon as possible, he would be To sent Azkaban. The majority of the students were sad, but Snape, Malfoy, and very few others were happy.

The exam results came out on the last day of term. All of them had passed every subject. Harry was amazed that he had gotten through Potions. Snape’s behavior towards Harry over the past week has been quite alarming. Harry wouldn’t have thought it possible that Snape’s dislike for him could increase, but it certainly had. A muscle twitched unpleasantly at the corner of Snape’s thin mouth every time he looked at Harry, and he was constantly flexing his fingers, as though itching to place them around Harry’s throat. Meanwhile, Gryffindor House had won the House championship for the third year in a row, thanks largely to their outstanding performance in the Quidditch Cup.This meant that the end of term feast took place amid decorations of scarlet and gold, and that the Gryffindor table was the noisiest of the lot, as everybody celebrated. They ate, drank, talked, and laughed with the rest.