Marauders' Godson Book 3: Prisoner of Azkaban

Chapter Twenty-Three

They all walked back through the tunnel. Crookshanks and Sunny were padding at the head of the group; Remus, Pettigrew, and Onyx, who were chained together, walked after them; Topaz and Hermione were behind them, their wands pointed at Pettigrew; Ruby, Harry, and Sirius followed, talking animatedly about Quidditch; Draco, Ron, and Edward took the rear, the Malfoy boy looking bewildered.

"This is bizzare," Draco whispered to Edward.

"This is mad," Ron agreed as Edward helped him along.

"You know that this means?" Sirius asked abruptly to Ruby and Harry. "Turning Pettigrew in?"

"You're free!" Ruby responded happily. "We're so playing two-a-side Quidditch-"

"Just two-a-side Quidditch?" Topaz demanded over his shoulder. "That's all you can think about? We could finally get a home other than that horrid orphanage-"

"Has that hag not been treating you well?" Sirius demanded, sounding furious.

"That's the problem," said Onyx bitterly, farther ahead in the tunnel. "She is treating us well. She's treating us like were You-Know-Who and she was one of his fawning servants. Well, she treats me and Topaz like that -- Ruby makes her furious."

Ruby grinned. "You'd be surprised how many pranks you can play on someone without magic. It's just so much funnier and easier if you have a wand."

"She pranked nearly the entire school last year," Draco told Sirius. "Only the teachers, Ed and his friends -- I wasn't friends with them last year, so I got hit -- and Fred and George Weasley, her partners in crime, were spared."

"Then she pranked the whole of Slytherin House on September second, except me, Ed, and Draco," said Onyx.

"You're in Slytherin?" Sirius demanded.

"What is it with people and stereotyping Slytherins as evil and Dark?" Edward demanded. "Andromeda Tonks!"

"Right," said Sirius with embarrassment. "Forgot she was in Slytherin."

"Professor Sev-"

"Don't say any more names or we'll be here all night," Remus laughed.

After another pause, Sirius turned to Harry. "I don't know if you know, but I'm your godfather as well as Ed's."

"I know," said Harry.

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

"Does that mean you want Harry to be our foster brother?" Onyx asked excitedly, almost knocking Remus and Pettigrew to the ground. Harry grinned.

"I'll understand, of course, if you want to stay with your aunt and uncle," said Sirius with embarrassment.

"Those Muggles are the worst," Edward said fiercely. "I stayed with them this summer and I was the only reason they didn't starve Harry, ignore him, or lock all his school things in the closet under the stairs."

"What?" Sirius said furiously.

"Of course I'll come live with you," Harry said happily. "Have you got a house? When can I move in?"

Sirius turned back to him, startled. "You want to? You mean it?"

"Yeah, I mean it!" Harry grinned.

"You and I are sharing a room," Onyx ordered. Topaz laughed.

They emerged from the tunnel, after giving Sunny a moment to press the knot. It was so dark that the only lights came from the castle in the distance, as the clouds were covering the stars and the moon.