Harry looked up at me, startled. "You really think it's an act?"

"At least a little bit of it," I amended. "I think he's on our side, but he's testing us."

"For what?"

"I don't know." And that was the scary part. Dumbledore was testing us for something big, something he knew about and we didn't.

After a stony silence, Harry broke the tension again. "How was your Arithmancy Exam?"

"I'm expecting fourth," I told him with a wry smile. "Pansy's getting first, then Draco and Hermione are battling it out for second and third."

Harry's face suddenly contorted in disgust. "What's up with that? I'd have asked yesterday if we weren't on such short time. You're on first name basis now?"

"We're friends," I said evenly, much to Harry's deepening disdain.

"You know how I feel about that," Harry replied with a grimace. "You know how he is, Lila. He's going to hurt you. He's an outright prat."

"I've Seen, Harry," I showed him both of my hands to indicate what I meant. "He has it harder than us, and it's taken him some time to come around, but he's trying." I lowered my voice. "He literally Confunded the minister so I had time to rescue Buckbeak! He wants to fix things!"

"I dunno, Lila, I'll believe it when I see it," Harry shook his head. "I'm not going to make myself like him for your sake."

"That's fair," I nodded, feeling a little hopeful. "I wouldn't ask so much of you."

By Sunday morning, Hermione had finally dropped Muggle Studies and was retuning her Time-Turner. Our class in particular was rather upset about Professor Lupin's departure. The tabloids and students alike were scheming with rumors revolving Sirius Black's escape and Buckbeak's disappearance, though none of them were close to the truth.

Before we knew it, I sat with Harry, Ron, and Hermione on the Hogwarts Express on the way back home. After commiserating, Harry and Ron both seemed to have a few things they wanted to say to us.

"No more keeping secrets," Ron said crossly. "Either of you."

"In Hermione's defense, I think conspiring with an escaped convict and being related to the most evil wizard of all time might be a little more worth your scorn," I said bashfully. "All she did was have a device that turns back time."

"Yeah, exactly. If I'd had that I could've retaken my Charms exam!" Ron exclaimed. He still didn't exactly know how it worked, but I didn't correct him. He was trying to lighten the mood.

"You're right, Lila. I probably wouldn't have believed you if you tried to tell me the truth about Sirius," Harry said, looking sorrowful, "but I do wish you'd at least tried. He had a lot to say about my dad."

"I know," I took Harry's hand in my own and squeezed it. Sirius had a lot to say about my mum, too. It didn't feel right that I'd gotten to hear what I wanted and Harry hadn't. "I'm very sorry."

"I'm sorry too, Ron," Hermione said after a little bit, a teasing smile on her face. "Terribly sorry that I didn't let you cheat on your Charms exam."

Still, Harry seemed rather doleful even an hour later. He stared at the window thoughtfully, lips tilted into a frown.

"What's wrong?" Hermione asked eventually, though I'm sure she knew.

"I'm okay," said Harry quickly. "Just thinking about the holidays."

"Yeah, I've been thinking about them too," said Ron excitedly. "Harry, you've got to come and stay with us. I'll fix it up with Mum and Dad, then I'll call you. I know how to use a fellytone now —"

"A telephone, you mean?" I interrupted.

"Honestly, you should take Muggle Studies next year," Hermione remarked. He chose to ignore us.

"It's the Quidditch World Cup this summer! How about it, Harry? Come and stay, and we'll go and see it! Dad can usually get tickets from work."

This seemed to cheer Harry up greatly.

"Yeah . . .  I bet the Dursleys'd be pleased to let me come — especially after what I did to Aunt Marge."

A little later in the afternoon, I noticed something small and grey bobbing in and out of view outside the window.

"What's that?" I pointed.

Harry rolled the window down and let whatever it was in. It bounced clumsily off of the wall behind Harry's head with its momentum. After it landed on the table and hopped back up, I realized it was a very small owl. Crookshanks, on Hermione's lap, was staring up at it predatorily. Both Willow and Hedwig were chittering their disapproval, and Brutus burrowed further into my hair. In the little owls beak was a letter. Harry picked it up and opened it, his face splitting into a grin.

"It's from Sirius!" He exclaimed. He began to read it aloud, the letter detailing several apologies, vague references to Sirius' whereabouts, and filling in a few blanks that we'd missed. He said that I reminded him of my mother, and the words brought tears to my eyes.

Harry then proceeded to pick another piece of parchment out from the envelope and read it aloud as well — it was a Hogsmeade permission slip (good enough for Dumbledore) and a note telling Ron to keep the owl.

"Keep him?" Ron's eyes widened. Much to our surprise, he picked up the owl and held him out to Crookshanks. "What do you reckon?" He asked. "Definitely an owl?"

Crookshanks purred in response.

"That's good enough for me," said Ron contentedly. "He's mine."

We let Harry read and reread the letter all the way back to Kings Cross.

I met Angela and my father when we arrived, giving each of them a hug. Angela seemed slightly surprised by this, but she returned the embrace warmly.

"This is where she tells us all about the interesting and terribly dangerous year she's had," my father told her after we'd let go. He was beaming excitedly, but he leaned down and spoke quietly. "We heard about what happened with Sirius Black. We can't wait to hear what sort of miracle you and your friends have pulled off this time."