Give Me a Break
Brimming with joy while recounting last night's heavily successful DA meeting for the thousandth time, Harry Potter thought that everything was going to be just fine that day. Until a group of people appeared without a noise in the middle of the Grand Hall.
There stood the most strange group of people; Professor Lupin, in an extreme state of shabbiness and confusion, Amelia Bones, Nymphadora Tonks, and finally, a criminal on the run, Sirius Black. Almost immediately wands were pointed at the man, curses shooting towards him.
Yet the all seemed to sink into a shield, the caster of it standing a few feet away with a distraught expression.
"Mr. Potter! What do you think you're doing, shielding a wanted criminal like that!?" a ghastly shriek carried throughout the hall, everyone hearing it wincing.
The entire hall's perplexed eyes were transfixed on Harry, to the point where the boy in question felt like running away from them. For one, everybody had seen or had a friend that saw his fierce expression whenever Sirius Black was mentioned back in third year, to the point where no one would dare to utter his name in front of him to be spared of his terrifying glare. And they knew that, at some degree, Sirius Black had betrayed the Potters; rumour had spread quick when the prisoner had escaped that he was once James Potter's best friend.
Yet here the son of said ex-best friend was, using powerful magic to block so many hexes that it ought to have shattered the shield. Although, the DA supposed, you did not just choose anyone to lead an army.
"Now now, Professor Umbridge, I believe the question of how and why these people have apparently apparated into the castle, as we all know that is completely impossible," Dumbledore said, bringing his hand up into the air.
"He is right, we must investigate this at once," McGonagall said coldly, voice carrying no love for the toad.
"But Headmaster! You must know that under Educational Degree number-"
"It would be wise to put people trespassing ancient Hogwarts magic in front of some criminal, do you not think?" Snape drawled.
At that moment, a piece of paper appeared and fluttered down upon Dumbledore's desk, the entire student body's eyes trained on it. Dumbledore carefully took it with one hand, his wand in the other casting various spells to remove harmful curses. His eyes skimmed over the paper before reading it aloud in a booming voice.
"Dear Hogwarts Students, as you may see from the Great Hall's roof,"
People looked up in shock at the sky of rain that seemed to be frozen in place, "time has stopped outside Hogwarts, and will remain like that until the task that will be given shortly is completed. The task is to read aloud certain passages, as they will be crucial in success for the future if you do not want hundreds of innocent lives to be lost at the hands of Voldemort."
There were many audible gasps at that, and Umbridge's face promptly turned the shade of a rotting strawberry, yet Dumbledore continued reading,
"These will cover events from past, present, and future years, so that the bright minds of future wizards and witches will be able to prevent anymore loss. Couches and chairs, as well as food will be provided, and you can take as much time as you want in between chapters if you desire. These texts will be from the viewpoint of Harry Potter,"
The boy's face lost some colour at that, while Snape sneered at the new attention he was obtaining, as if his ego could use anymore swelling.
"Because these events will mainly feature him. I am personally sorry about this, but there were drawbacks to doing this. Also, Sirius Black is innocent, so it would be wise to treat him as such. Now, I believe Professor Flitwick knows a spell to charm a book to read itself aloud, and I hope he will be generous to use it on these texts. With that, happy reading."
The Great Hall was silent for about two milliseconds after Dumbledore's voice came to a halt and a book with 6 index tabs sticking out of it plopped itself on his table, before whispers went through the student body like a wave.
"Well, I believe we should get on with it. We will give you a minute to organise yourselves, and we shall start." Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling.
Conversation exploded like one of Fred and George's fireworks as students scrambled to find their friends and discuss these events. Some were excited, some were nervous, and some were apprehensive, continuously glancing at their school's celebrity student. Yet they all had one thing in common; a flaming desire to know exactly what was in those books.
Sirius Black on the other hand, was ecstatic to see Harry, yet terrified of what the books held. Surely, if his dearest godson was so afraid of these, as one of the bravest young boys he knew, then it would hold terrible news, right? However, all his fears melted when said godson came running to him, for once not caring about everyone in Hogwarts watching. He practically threw himself into Sirius's outstretched arms, looking up to him as if he was looking up to a parent and Sirius's heart almost burst with joy at the sight of his always anxious and reserved Harry looking so happy, and he was not the only shocked person.
For the second, and certainly not last time for the day, the entirety of Hogwarts had their eyes glued on the teen. He was always walking around with a somewhat dejected mood, which at the time was confirmation to them that Harry was faking everything for attention, and that he was now upset that his plans had failed. Yet now, staring at a grinning green-eyed boy, they were so close to believing him. But the faith left as soon as it arrived, replaced by old disdain and jealousy, and they turned away.
Lupin approached not far behind, smiling gently. He hadn't seen either of the hugging boys smile like that for so long, it was amazing to see that they haven't lost the capability to.
A pop indicated that the benches had turned into comfortable couches, now that everyone was off their seats, and Dumbledore took that as a sign to move on.
"Shall we begin reading?" Dumbledore asked the Great Hall, not really asking.
Just then, two figures appeared with a 'pop!' in the middle of the room, and everyone craned their necks to see what happened. Their curiousity grew when Harry stood up, the blanket that was once drawn across him, Ron and Hermione now strewn on the floor, his eyes wide.
He whispered, "...mum? Dad?"
The two he was talking to smiled, a gentle, loving expression, and held their arms out for Harry to immediately jump into, hot tears pricking the corners of his eyes.
"How are you here?" he mumbled, "aren't you, y'know..." he trailed off.
"That's a story for another time, Prongslet, look how much you've grown!" James exclaimed, "we have too much to catch up on."
"Shush James, you know that we have been watching over Harry every Hogwarts year, you just want to hear everything again," Lily turned to Harry with a soft smile, "my ears were ringing for days after your father found out that you made the Quidditch team, and I didn't know that the dead's ears could ring."
All the emptiness of not having parents, all the misery, it almost completely washed away, replaced by an overwhelming tide of love and the feeling of being right where you needed to be.
"James?" Sirius and Remus whispered, unable to believe that their dead best friend was right there, in the flesh, hugging who they considered to basically be their child.
"Lily?" Minerva muttered, eyes wide and brimming with tears.
"Lily..." Snape mumbled, emotion wracking his facial features, something that Hogwarts had never seen before from such a calloused man.