Oh God Not Again!

Chapter Eleven

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

"Gone?" Sirius repeated hollowly later that night when Harry snuck out to meet him. "Gone? What do you mean he's gone?"

Harry sighed. "I suppose it was too much to hope for that you had completely ignored my explicit instructions and taken them early."

"Why would I have? You said you were going to take care of it," Sirius pointed out. "I still can't believe he's gone. I mean, I was so close…so close...and now he's gone."

"Not he," Harry corrected. "They. The Diary Horcrux is gone, too."

Sirius groaned. "You know, I may have been rotting away in Azkaban at this point the last time you were a second year, but given that Wormtail was with the Weasley's in Egypt, I can still be fairly certain that this didn't happen."

"You're right," Harry agreed. "The only question is, why did it happen? Why would Pettigrew have taken off with the diary?"

Sirius shot Harry a look. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe it was when you announced that I was your pet Padfoot. Maybe even though Wormtail managed to not spook when I escaped Azkaban because I didn't really show any inclination to make your life harder by showing a vested interest in getting into Hogwarts, he heard my name and decided that it was either the most incredible coincidence, or I was here and out to get him. As to why he took the diary…I don't know. Maybe he recognized it from when Voldemort gave it to Lucius."

Harry glared at Sirius, completely ignoring the last part of his statement. "Well maybe that wasn't the best idea to call you that, but I don't recall you coming up with any better suggestions."

"Sure I did," Sirius argued.

"What, Snuffles? Sorry Sirius, no pet of mine will ever go by such a cutesy name. Seriously, if you want me to come up with a more badass way to have survived Voldemort than the Power of Love, then you've got to come up with a more badass alias than 'Snuffles.' Seriously, that sounds like something Ginny would have picked out."

Sirius started laughing. "Really? She can't have been that bad."

"Wanna bet? We got a rabbit last year and guess what Ginny named it. Flopsy."

"W-what did you want to call it?" Sirius managed to ask between his laughter.

"Mega Ultra Flame Deathsman. Hey, that's a perfectly respectable name for a rabbit!" Harry insisted, crossing his arms as Sirius literally fell to the ground howling. "You know, if you're not going to take this seriously, I'm going back to bed."

After a few moments, Sirius composed himself. "But Harry, I'm ALWAYS Siri-"

"One serious pun and I'm going back to bed," Harry warned.

"Fine…" Sirius pouted. "So what are we going to do? We know that Pettigrew is off somewhere with the diary, but we don't know if he knows it's a Horcrux or not."

"Probably not. After all, if the likes of Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange, who, by all accounts, were two of Voldemort's favorites, never knew, I can't imagine why a spy would be told. No one ever trusts a spy. After all, if they can be a double agent, they can be a triple agent just as easily."

"Speaking of-" Sirius began.

Harry rolled his eyes. "YES, Sirius, I'm positive Snape really is on our side. You really should let this go. It's not healthy to carry a grudge for twenty years or so."

"Try telling that to him…" Sirius muttered.

"Well, to be fair, you did try to kill him when he was sixteen and that was probably very traumatic," Harry said diplomatically. "I mean, I know I was traumatized when Remus transformed that night at the Shrieking Shack, and he didn't even get a chance to try and kill me. Thanks for that, by the way."