My Godfather

Chapter L: Expecto Patronum

Sirius stared long and hard at the wall in his office, like it had personally offended him. His mind was a hundred miles away. He had received reports from the aurors about a possible sighting of Bellatrix Lestrange in a remote muggle town not far from Hogsmeade.

This wasn't the first time. Bella was rumoured to have been spotted in and around that area many times now.

What could she possibly want?

Was there something valuable in Hogsmeade? Or did she want to go somewhere else?

There could be another possibility, one that Sirius absolutely disliked.

Hogwarts.

The mere thought of his deranged cousin breaking into Hogwarts made him shudder.

Besides, how did she plan on getting in? The place was warded heavily. As far as he knew, she wasn't an Animagus.

Was she not interested in the locket anymore or had she given up trying to find it, wanting to chase after something else instead?

Was there anything at Hogwarts that he wasn't aware of?

He had sent Kingsley and a couple of other Aurors to investigate but they were yet to return with any news.

"If you don't like the wall, you can always change it. Don't glare at the poor thing, Sirius."

Sirius looked to see Regulus leaning against the door, arms crossed.

"You think she's after something in the castle? Merlin knows all the kinds of artefacts and antiques tucked away in remote corners of the castle." The younger Black sauntered inside and sat down.

"That could be possible. With Bella, there's no telling what she'll do next."

Sirius rested his elbows on the desk and laced his fingers. "If Bella is going to target Hogwarts, it's best to station aurors at the school."

Although his tone was normal, he was way tense. Hogwarts was the last place where a crazed mass murderer should go. The place was full of children and after the basilisk fiasco last year, quite a few parents had been hesitant to send their kids back.

The term wouldn't begin for another two weeks and Sirius didn't want any trouble, considering that he had his own teenager back at home with a rather distinguished penchant for trouble.

******

It was late, well after ten and normally Harry would be curled up in bed with a comic or grudgingly working on his holiday homework.

He'd thankfully finished his blasted homework and turned his mind to something that had been egging on him for a while now.

The whole fiasco with the Dementors had really left him shaken. Although he'd gotten over it, he had promised himself that he'd never again be at the mercy of those horrible monsters.

He flipped through the book, reading through this spell called the 'Patronus'. From what he had gathered so far, it was an insanely complicated spell and even many fully qualified wizards and witches were unable to produce a corporeal Patronus.

The sad part was that this wasn't taught at Hogwarts.

He went outside with the book in his hand and saw Sirius sitting in the living room with a small stack of files in front of him.

Harry knew that the man had been working really hard ever since Christmas. His dad was clearly busy and Harry couldn't help but feel guilty for bothering him.