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Sirius is jarred from his room by yelling and confusion downstairs. He’s not sure what it could possibly be but doesn’t hesitate to head down there.
In the kitchen he finds Dumbledore, Kingsley, Snape, and Moody all yelling back and forth in front of Bill, Tonks and Remus about something that Kingsley had to do and how Kingsley hadn’t warned him about what was happening that night.
“What’s going on?” Sirius questions, suddenly worried about his earlier bad feeling.
“Potter once again did something selfish and stupid and now the headmaster is on the run,” Snape states, obviously eager to insult Harry.
Sirius rolls his eyes, “What are you talking about?”
“Someone from Harry’s DA group told Umbridge about the DA. She used her ‘squad’ of students to storm the room while Dumbledore and Fudge awaited them in Dumbledore’s office,” Remus states. “They wanted to and planned to expel Harry.”
“Harry’s been expelled?” Sirius asks, extremely upset and worried. He had to go get him – he had to make sure that he was okay – he had to bring him home – he had to…
“No, he hasn’t,” Remus states, firmly. “They did catch him, they did bring him to Dumbledore and Fudge, but as you know, the named the group ‘Dumbledore’s Army’ and when they found the list of members with that heading…”
“Dumbledore took the fall,” Sirius says, breathing unevenly. He’s still worried about Harry, especially if Umbridge takes complete control of the school. “So, what exactly happened?”
“Umbridge dragged Harry into the office where we were all waiting,” Kingsley states, “And there was an argument given that the plan had been to get rid of Harry, but Dumbledore wanted me to modify Marietta’s memory so that there wasn’t any record of the last six months of meetings so there was no proof that Harry had been breaking the rules that Umbridge set in store with the educational decree.”
Marietta? That sounds familiar, Sirius thinks, but he’s not sure why.
“As a result, Dumbledore was able to take the blame – claim that he was actually in charge of the ‘child army’ and tonight was the first meeting,” Kingsley finishes.
“It worked – they went after Dumbledore instead.”
“Yeah, he had to flee when they tried to arrest him, apparently,” Remus offers.
Sirius looks at him, then Kingsley, then Dumbledore as if expecting someone to say ‘gotcha’ and when no one does, “You’re kidding right? They tried to arrest you?”
“Yes, and now, the headmaster is a fugitive just like you, Black,” Snape sneers. “All because Potter can’t follow a rule to save his life.”
Before Sirius can start an argument with Snape about Harry and how he does follow the rules, Dumbledore says, “We discussed this back in October, and if I hadn’t felt that the DA was beneficial and outweighed the risks of Umbridge finding out, I wouldn’t have okayed it. As it is, I knew that it might come to this, I just expected that I would’ve been warned when it was going to happen.”
“I would’ve lost my job and my in with the Ministry,” Kingsley counters. “I didn’t have time to warn you.”
This sparks another fight amongst them, but Sirius doesn’t care. All he cares about is checking on his kid, so he takes off back up the stairs, pulling his mirror out as he does.
“Pads!” Harry yells, relieved. He looks quite upset, but that’s unexpected.
“Harry, are you alright? Fudge and Umbridge didn’t hurt you after Dumbledore escaped, did they?”
Harry shakes his head. “I’m fine. Does that mean that you – you heard what happened?”
“I heard that someone – a Marietta – told Umbridge about the DA, that they caught you and the list of participants, and that Kingsley had to modify her memory to cover for the DA meetings for the last six months. It allowed Dumbledore to take the blame and escape – he’s here.”
Harry nods, “Yeah, that’s pretty much what happened. I went to the DA meeting like I said, contemplating if it should be the last. Things started normal; I didn’t even realize that Marietta – who happens to be Cho’s best friend – wasn’t there. Not until I saw her in Dumbledore’s office. Dobby came in and announced Umbridge and some students were coming to break it up, so everyone ran. Obviously, running probably made things obvious, but it was all we had. I didn’t get very far. Malfoy got me and Umbridge took me to Dumbledore’s office, gloating the whole way.”
“I bet she was, go on.”
“Well, there was some back and forth about whether or not I’d been breaking the rules. I’m half convinced with the Aurors there that they weren’t just going to expel me. I was terrified, but when Marietta couldn’t explain about any of the meetings – guessing that was what Kingsley did – and the list had ‘Dumbledore’s Army’ written at the top, Dumbledore took the fall. I thought they were going to take him to Azkaban, but somehow, he escaped.”
“What happened then?”
“Marietta and I were both dismissed. They couldn’t prove I’d been doing anything wrong without Marietta’s ‘evidence’ and she wasn’t willing to speak because her face is covered in pimples that read ‘SNEAK’ across her face. Hermione hexed the parchment – kind of forgot about it – but if someone outed us, we’d know.”
“That’s actually very clever, if a bit cruel,” Sirius states, thinking it’s definitely something he’d do.
“Yeah, well, it does feel good to know that everyone’s going to know what she did, but I am a little worried about what this is going to do to my relationship with Cho,” Harry admits. “I mean, I could’ve lost my only weapon against Voldemort. And yeah, it’s my fault, too, but her using me for six months and then turns on me? I mean, I just don’t get it, honestly.”
Sirius shrugs. He sure didn’t understand it himself, either. He wishes that he could understand why the Rat had done what he did to them and what sparks someone to betray people. “I won’t tell you what to do, kid, but it’s definitely going to be hard discussion.”
“Yeah, and those are the worst.”
“And how’re you feeling about everything?”
“Honestly, I’m a mess. This is just an awful feeling being betrayed like this. I mean, I didn’t exactly like her, but...”
“There’s nothing easy about being betrayed. Even if you don’t like the person, even if you barely know them, even if you grow to hate them, it’s impossible for you to not feel hurt by what could’ve happened. I’d be surprised if you weren’t a mess.”
“Really? It’s okay to be all confused? I mean, I know that I should be angry, and I am furious, but I also wonder why? Why would she use me? Why would she risk everything? I mean, even if she hated me, Cho is her best friend – why wouldn’t she warn her? And why now? Things are ramping up – people are starting to believe; everyone was a lot more focused on getting things done and preparing for everything – the Death Eater breakout quite fired everyone up, so why… why now?”
Sirius sighs. “I doubt that she’ll give you a straight answer, she’ll probably rationalize with it’s okay because Umbridge is the Ministry or she’s saving her own skin or whatever the reason – I’m sure she has one. But whatever it is, you’ll probably find it lacking.”
“Projecting a little there, Padfoot.”
Sirius looks in his doorway to find Remus leaning against it. Obviously, he’d been listening.
“I can’t be anything other than bias about this – a rat is the reason that James and Lily are gone. That Harry grew up with them and that I’m hiding in this house right now,” Sirius states. “You don’t understand that?”
“I’m not saying I don’t, I’m saying that Harry might not be so unforgiving or lacking understanding,” Remus counters.
Sirius opens his mouth to say something about how he isn’t unforgiving, and he can be understanding when he thinks about how harsh he is with the people who have hurt him, even the one standing in his doorway – even though he knows he’s forgiven him in the last few months. “Yeah, you’re right about that.” He looks down at the mirror. “And my kid hasn’t taken after me in that regard considering that he’s forgiven things that I never would’ve.”
“No, it’s just another thing that he’s gotten from Lily…”
“Uh no,” Sirius laughs. “He gets that from James. Lily is a lot like me. Burn her once and she never give you another chance.”
“Yes, I suppose that makes sense.”
It’s quiet for a second before…
“So… what am I supposed to do? Should I talk to her?”
“I don’t know that it would give you what you want,” Sirius offers.
“I think you should,” Remus offers. Sirius sends him a look, and he amends, “Not that I want to step on Padfoot’s toes, but I think that there’s definitely something to at least knowing.”
“What makes you say that?” Harry asks, curiously.
“Because I wondered for years and I wanted to know why,” Remus offers, avoiding Sirius’ eyes since he’d been the one that he had been wanting to question.
Sirius nods. He, too, had wondered why things happened the way that they did. He had also been extremely dissatisfied by the answer. “I guess that makes sense. I wouldn’t confront her while you’re furious about everything because you won’t be willing to listen.” He glances at Remus. “Sometimes, you need to calm down and sort through the what ifs, but also, what didn’t happen before you can really deal with it and forgive someone.” Remus looks down and Sirius looks back at Harry, “And even if things had been dire – and no, I’m not saying that Dumbledore fleeing isn’t dire or that I wouldn’t want to see to her had you been expelled – you still might find it in your heart to forgive her someday.”
Harry shrugs. “I feel like if we were friends, it might hurt more, but I already feel like as furious as I am, that she didn’t really owe me anything and since she can’t use anything I taught her since Kingsley erased the memories of the various meetings, she lost more than I did. I mean, I guess that sort of punishes her, right?”
“And so does the SNEAK hex. That was clever of Hermione,” Sirius offers. “But just because she’s been punished doesn’t mean that you don’t have the right to be angry.”
“I know and I am furious, for sure. I feel used. Icky. Like – like everything I was worried about when Hermione mentioned the DA at the very start came true. She was using me to better her marks and now that we’re closing in at the end of the year… time to give Umbridge what she wants.”
“And that’s why it’s okay to be angry and it’s okay to never forgive her if you want. It also depends on her response. She might not be sorry about it.”
Harry nods. “Yeah, I just – honestly – don’t really care about her all that much. It’s more – more that I worry about the effect of this on mine and Cho’s relationship. She’s Cho’s best friend and she turned on both of us – if Cho forgives her… I don’t think that I could really get passed this. I don’t – I wouldn’t be able to – to trust Marietta even if I did forgive her and – and …”
“And Cho would have an issue with that,” Sirius offers, sighing. “Look, kid, there’s something that you should realize, and that’s that you’re fifteen and the odds of you falling in love and it working out at fifteen are astronomical. Something was bound to break you up, eventually, so if this is it –”
“I don’t want it to be.”
“I’m not saying that this is it, just that it could happen, that’s all,” Sirius offers, sadly.
Harry frowns. He’s clearly upset about Sirius suggesting that this was it for him and Cho.
“It’s been a long night, kid. Why don’t you just get some rest, and we’ll discuss things tomorrow, okay?”
Harry shrugs. “Yeah, sure.”
“And I’d avoid talking to either Cho or Marietta and talking about anything that happened tonight where anyone can hear you, okay? It’s better to let things rest for a few days and approach things when you’re not as angry about things.”
Harry sighs and says, “Alright, then.”
“Good night, kid. Love you.”
“Night, love you, too.”
Harry disappears and Sirius sighs.
“It’s tough being a Pads, isn’t it?” Remus asks, still from the doorway.
Sirius laughs. “Harry’s a great kid, but I was terrified when I heard that situation in the kitchen.”
“I was worried, too. When they came in arguing, I was quite worried about Harry, about what it meant.”
“Yeah?” Sirius questions. “Well, now with Dumbledore gone, there’s no telling what’s going to happen to him. He’s lucky he didn’t get expelled anyway. Or put in more torturous detentions.”
Remus nods. “We just have to hope that Harry gets through the next couple of months and hope that things start turning around.”
“Yeah, the thing is, I don’t like hoping,” Sirius states. “I’m not a sit around and hope person. I’m just so worried about him. About what’s going to happen. I mean, if one of his own classmates can use him and turn on him like that – especially one that is best friends with his girlfriend…”
“We know better than anyone else what it means to be betrayed. At least this one worked out.”
“Yeah. He wasn’t expelled. He wasn’t tortured. He wasn’t punished. He wasn’t taken to Azkaban. His wand wasn’t snapped,” Sirius says, reminding himself that Harry was more or less unharmed or in worse condition than he’d been a few hours earlier. “Those things could’ve happened and didn’t. At least that’s something.”
“That’s right,” Remus says, encouragingly. “He’s okay and not much has changed since Dumbledore wasn’t exactly helpful before. He just has to keep his head down and focus on O.W.L.s and then, we’ll figure something out.”
Sirius nods. “Yeah, you’re right. Are things calmed down, downstairs?”
“Yup. Everyone’s gone. No one left very happy, but they’re all gone for now.”
“Good.”