Bertha was beside herself with worry. She read Harry's letter again and absently pet Hedwig as she did. “That boy seems to find trouble wherever it is.” She said and Hedwig gave a soft hoot. “I am glad you stay close to observe.”

“Hoot.” Hedwig said and Bertha nodded.

“His Astronomy class will be starting soon, so you better go.” Bertha stood and picked up a small box. “Freshly caught and cleaned.” She said and opened it to reveal several mice.

Hedwig plucked one out with her beak and swallowed it whole. “Hoot hoot.”

“You're quite welcome.” Bertha said and opened her window with her wand. “I'll be checking into this in the morning.”

Hedwig gave another soft hoot and flew out the window.

“Sirius Black is innocent.” Bertha said as she sat down again and leaned back in her chair. “What a huge bit of gossip!” She laughed. “The Ministry will be all abuzz tomorrow.” She grabbed several pieces of parchment and started writing. “I guarantee it.” She said and smiled wickedly.

*

The rest of the Astronomy class passed by and they were given a blank diagram of the moon.

“I want you to write down some of the main features of the moon and you can pass it in during the week when you're done.” Professor Aurora Sinistra said.

Both Harry and Hermione quickly wrote out the main features while everyone else was packing up their telescopes. Hermione finished first and handed it back, then Harry handed his in.

“You didn't have to rush...” Aurora started to say and then saw that everything she had talked about during class was on both sheets. “Five points each to Griffindor.” She said with a smile. “Nice work, both of you.”

“Thanks.” “Thank you.” Harry and Hermione said together. Hermione went over to her telescope to start packing it up, taking her time, unlike when she set it up. Harry just tapped his with his wand and it folded back down into the box. He cast the Locomotor spell on the box and walked over to Hermione to wait. The other students gave Harry odd looks as they passed and left through the door to go down the stairs.

“What are they looking at?” Harry asked when it was just him and Hermione left.

“You cast the Locomotor spell on your telescope.” Hermione said.

“It's a bit too heavy and awkward to carry. I tried.” Harry said in his defense.

Hermione smiled. “I think it's because they wouldn't waste their time casting it on something that small.” She said and picked up hers.

“I can take that for you.” Harry said and pointed to his floating one. “Will that make it seem more believable?”

Hermione chuckled. “Mine will fall off as soon as you move.”

“Naw.” Harry cast a sticking charm to the bottom of Hermione's and placed it on top of his. “There.” He tried to move it and it stayed where it was.

“You have got to teach me that spell!” Hermione exclaimed.

Harry smiled and waved at the tower's door for Hermione to start walking. “You're in luck. It's the next spell I was going to show you in Professor Flitwick's class tomorrow.”

“Great!” Hermione said as they entered the curved stairwell together. “You're a really good teacher.”

Harry shook his head. “I'm just telling you what I did to get them to work.”

“That's just it, Harry.” Hermione said as they descended the stairs. “I find it so much easier to learn when you do that and explain why you think it works the way it does.” She said. “I mean, look at the shield spell you helped me learn! It's really strong! If you hadn't told me the secret of imagining what I was protecting, I never would have thought of protecting you and it wouldn't have worked!”

“M-me?” Harry asked, his ears a little red.

Hermione gasped at letting her reason slip out like that, then she reluctantly nodded. “Yes, I... I imagined I was protecting you from all the whispers and rumors that follow you everywhere.”

Harry felt the impulse to take her hand, so he reached over and carefully slipped his hand into hers. “Thanks, Hermione.” He said, his face almost as red as hers was becoming. “Madam Primpernelle and Bertha warned me about it, considering it's a stupid reason to be famous.”

Hermine couldn't help but smile at that reasoning and the feeling of his slightly trembling hand in hers. “People should be happy that you lived, not wondering why or trying to worship you.”

“Someone wants to worship me?” Harry asked, confused.

“You stood up to the darkest wizard to have lived in the last century.” Hermione said as they continued down the stairs. “Full grown wizards are scared to speak his name, let alone stand against him, and you were just a baby.”

“I doubt I was standing.” Harry said, a little cheekily.

Hermione giggled. “Now I'm imagining you as a little baby standing up to a tall cloaked dark wizard. He curses you and you say 'gooboo goo!' back at him! Ha ha!”

Harry laughed with her, because that really would have been funny to have happen.

“Oh, that reminds me.” Hermione said and reached into her robes with her free hand and handed Harry several pieces of parchment. “This is everything I could find out about Peter Pettegrew.”

“Wow.” Harry said. “Thanks, Hermione.” He said and tried to hold them up and read the writing with only his free hand.

“I think you need to let go of my hand to read them.” Hermione said with a smile.

“Oh! Right.” Harry said as he let her hand go, his face red again. “I'm sorry I held on for so long.”

“I'm not.” Hermione said as they reached the bottom of the stairs, then her face turned red again. “Um... bye!” She exclaimed and took off running.

“What about your...” Harry tried to remind her about her telescope, then shrugged. He could give it to her later.

He used both hands and started to read what Hermione had found out about the rat wizard. It wasn't much. She had added quotes from back issues of the Daily Prophet, a wizard magazine, and it said how great the young man had been until a mass murderer named Sirius Black had killed him.

Harry frowned at that. How could he be a mass murderer if he only killed a dozen people and Peter? He shook his head. Wizards don't understand a lot of things about the normal world. He stopped walking and realized he was doing the same thing. He knew almost nothing of the wizarding world, which meant there was fault on both sides.

Harry kept walking and reading, disagreeing with a lot of the conclusions that the reporters had come up with. Of course, he was looking back on it with the knowledge that Peter had been alive and must have faked his death, which meant that whoever Sirius Black was, he didn't kill Peter. Harry flipped the next page and gasped when he saw a list of school students. Hermione had been smart and marked the three names that seemed to jump off the page.

Sirius Black, Peter Pettegrew, and James Potter. They had been at school together.

“Potter.” Mister Filch said as he came into the hallway during his nightly patrol. “Why aren't you back in Griffindor Tower yet?”

“Mister Filch!” Harry walked over to him. “I was coming from Astronomy class and I was reading this.” He said and handed the caretaker the page with the names on it. “You've been here all this time, so you must know them.”

“Aye, lad. I do.” Filch said and handed the page back. “Right bunch of troublemakers the four of them were.”

“What?” Harry looked at the page. “Four?”

“Remus Lupin.” Filch pointed to the name. “They did a lot of damage over the years they were here.”

“They were friends?” Harry asked, surprised.

“The best, even after they left school.” Filch said. “You'd be best to ask McGonagall or the headmaster about it. I only saw the bad parts, since I always had to clean up after them.”

Harry almost frowned at asking the headmaster anything, except why he took his money. He took a deep breath and let it out as he pushed that anger aside and concentrated on what was in front of him.

My father was a troublemaker. Harry thought.

“If you want to know about your mum...”

“Was she a troublemaker, too?” Harry asked, curious.

“She was smart as a whip and made the four of them calm down the last year or so. I even thanked her once.” Filch smiled, which was a rare occurrence. “She might have thought I was joking.”

“I don't think she did.” Harry said. “If she knew what they were like and the extra work you had to do because of them...” He smiled. “I'm sure she appreciated it.”

“I'd like to think so.” Filch said. “She was friends with a few professors, so ask around if you want. After class. You don't be bothering them during lessons.”

Harry nodded. “Thanks, Mister Filch.”

“You can thank me by getting to bed.” Filch said and pointed at a tapestry hanging nearby. “Now git!”

Harry laughed. “Okay. Say hi to Missus Norris for me.” He ducked behind the tapestry and ran through the secret passage that would take him to the hallway with the stairway to Griffindor Tower.