"Maybe it had to do with the fact that we were also practicing occlumency and legilimency a lot around the same time," Hermione suggested. "I mean, we have been pretty intimate with each other's thoughts..."
"Getting intimate, eh?" Sirius nudged them.
"Sirius, will you stop with the sexual innuendo?" Hermione tried to scold him, but the man just laughed it off.
"Fine, fine, but seeing each other's animagus forms never happened to us. You two might be on to something. Don't think I've ever heard of it happening. But then again, there aren't many animagus couples, and most of them got married after becoming animagi independently," he said.
Since none of them could offer any more insight into Harry and Hermione's animagi-form search method, they spent the remaining time they had chatting about Harry's current progress in the Triwizard Tournament before turning to more practical topics like Sirius's sleeping arrangements. They decided that the Shrieking Shack would probably be the safest place for the moment. Hermione reinforced Harry's wards, which cleverly used the shack's reputation to enhance a person's fear and dread as they approached. They would sneak in more food whenever they could, hopefully every evening after class.
"I'm sorry, Harry, but that would be against the rules, would it not? It is a rather unfortunate consequence of being named an independent competitor," Dumbledore gently refused Harry's request.
"I guess so... but does that mean you're going to offer the Sword of Gryffindor to Cedric to use in the next trial?" Harry asked.
"If he doesn't make the request himself, I will not suggest it to him. After all, the champion should be the one coming up with the idea in the first place," the headmaster replied merrily.
Without access to the sword, Harry changed the subject. "You know Sirius is back, right? He's hiding out in the Shrieking Shack right now..."
"Yes, I was informed that he had left his hiding place in France and returned. Don't worry, Harry, as the aurors still believe he is making his way through India. Nobody will be searching for him here, and so long as no owls are seen flying to and from the Shrieking Shack, nobody will find him there."
"Isn't there somewhere safer than Hogsmeade? Like... maybe... the castle? There's lots of unused rooms I'm sure he could stay in..."
"There are still far too many ways for him to accidentally run into a student. I could hardly imagine what would happen if he were to cross paths with the Messrs. Fred and George Weasley. A few locked doors wouldn't keep the students out or Sirius in."
Well, maybe if we throw in a giant chess set it would help, Harry thought snidely, but didn't speak aloud. Instead, he thanked his headmaster and left his office. Hermione was waiting outside.
"So how did it go?" She didn't expect much, seeing Harry's expression.
"Denied. On all counts. At least we can still see Sirius as long as we're sneaky about it," Harry said.
"What better way to practice our disillusionment and espionage skills?" Hermione tried cheering up Harry with some optimism.
"Yeah, and I guess I shouldn't bother with the sword. Dumbledore won't be handing it over. I wonder if I could summon it, though..."
"I don't think Fawkes will steal the Sorting Hat for you if you're not actually in danger, Harry."
"Yeah, you're right. It's not like it was a good sword for me, anyway. I think Godric must have been at least six feet tall to be able to swing that sword around. I don't know the first thing about sword-fighting."
"Fencing, Harry. And you defeated a Basilisk with it! You stabbed it straight through its brain! How can you say you don't know how to handle a sword?"
"I really don't! I just got lucky, like I usually do. It tried to swallow me, I swung like crazy and the sword just ended up inside its brain. Come on down to the chamber, I'll show you exactly how it happened and how ridiculous it actually was."
"Oh, forget it, Harry. Let's just go back to the common room and brainstorm some ideas." The two of them made their way back and sat on the couch. Most of the other students were out in Hogsmeade enjoying the weekend, so they could toss ideas back and forth on the comfy couch instead of the rigid library seats.
They were discussing the idea of using enchanted clothing when Colin Creevy walked in. Seeing the two of them, he happily opened up an envelope he was holding. "I have your pictures from the ball, Harry. Sorry it took so long to get them developed, I ran out of film and I had to wait for my allowance before I could buy more..."
"It's alright. Let's see them." Colin handed the pictures over. They spent the next little while looking over the photos, bringing back beautiful memories of the night before it was ruined by Voldemort. Colin had fully embraced the wizarding method of photography and all the pictures were animated, but only for a few seconds' worth of movement. They kept all the pictures, but decided to make extra copies of five of them.
"How much will this all cost? We want three copies of each of these," Hermione said, indicating the ones they wanted more of.
"Um... all of them together... that would be about six sickles, I guess," Colin answered after a bit of mental calculation.
Harry pulled a galleon out of his mokeskin pouch. "Keep the change. You're actually a pretty good photographer, Colin."
"Wow, thanks Harry!" Colin's eyes lit up as he scurried away to make more photos.
"So, Harry, you've learned to start spending your money?" Harry turned around to see the twins behind him.
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