Chapter 15
Chapter Fourteen
A few nights after the establishment of the D.A., Sirius took the risk of sending his head into the Gryffindor fire; he said, “Andromeda didn’t have any luck persuading Fudge to sack Umbridge after what she—Umbridge—did to you.” Umbridge had forced through another decree banning all student organisations that weren’t approved by her—Harry explained, “We’re not allowed to have Quidditch teams—“ “—or secret Defence Against the Dark Arts groups?” “How did you know about that?” asked Harry. “Nymphadora told me,” Sirius explained “She thought that it was worth disguising herself—which she can do quite well—if you were doing something that you didn’t want anyone to see—not even her, Andromeda, and Ted.” But oddly enough, he was looking at Harry with distinct pride. Sirius must have read Harry’s confused look, because he said, “Both Remus and I are proud of you—I told him. Professor McGonagall came to our house recently, too, and he apologised directly to Remus for outing him as a werewolf. But it’s because Remus used to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts himself that he’s so proud of you for doing what you’re doing.”
“Professor Umbridge doesn’t want me coming,” he said to Ron, “but your mother is busy with the Order, so she wants me to pass on a message. She says on no account whatsoever are you to take part in an illegal Defence Against the Dark Arts group. She says you’ll be expelled for sure—if Umbridge finds out, that is. I would advise you to chuck anyone out of the group who it seems has any motivation to betray you.” “Then the only person we’ll be throwing out is Marietta Edgecombe,” said Harry. “I’ll have Hermione tell her. Cho says Marietta’s mum works for the Ministry, so she doesn’t want Marietta to do anything that Umbridge doesn’t approve of.”
“I say this partly because I deeply regret not being your parents’ Secret-Keeper myself, as you know—and not seeing that Peter was untrustworthy,” said Sirius. “Hermione—I, like your cat Crookshanks, should have been able to tell that Peter was untrustworthy based on Peter’s Animagus form being a rat.” “What was the Sorting Hat thinking, Sorting that guy into Gryffindor?” asked Harry. “He doesn’t deserve the distinction he has—that of being the only follower of Voldemort”—Ron shuddered—“who wasn’t in Slytherin.” “We would never have been friends with him if he wasn’t in Gryffindor,” said Sirius. “We would have been like you and Malfoy—I’m perfectly okay with you not being any more willing than he is to admit that you two are adoptive second cousins through me. I never talk about my relation to all the other prominent Slytherin families, like the Malfoys—I’m just as ashamed of my relation to them as they are of me. Hermione, will you at least follow my advice?” “Yes, I will,” said Hermione. “There’s even more at stake for us than there was for Lily and James—we’ll all be expelled if Umbridge finds out about this.” “I was amazed,” said Sirius, “when Harry wrote to me in his first year about how he’d been out of bed after hours, and you tried to talk him out of going because he might be, in your words, ‘killed—or worse, expelled.’ I see you’re still thinking that way.”
The next day, Hermione told Marietta that the latter was “no longer welcome among us—you know what I mean”; Marietta seemed perfectly okay with this. “I’d be disowned if Mum found out,” Hermione heard Marietta say to Cho as Hermione walked away.
The following Saturday, when Minerva wasn’t teaching, she went to the Lupin-Black cottage. “If this is truly going to be a safe house for you two,” she told Remus and Sirius, “then I have to put it under the Fidelius Charm. Who do you two want to be the Secret-Keeper?” “If you think it would be safest for us to stay at home,” said Sirius, “then I’ll be the Secret-Keeper myself—I can’t secret-keep myself, but I can keep the location of our house a secret. Here’s an added benefit: perhaps Harry can live in this house with both of us again, if it’s under the Fidelius Charm for my own safety—not specifically to keep our family together—so no one can see who exactly lives in this house.” “That is a good idea,” said Minerva. “I will tell Harry.” Of course, Harry couldn’t wait to see both of his dads again over the Christmas holidays.