A/N: Hello my lovely readers. I believe that I owe you all an apology for taking so long to get this out and to all of you. But here the next chapter it! The plot thickens, and it really isn't that much of a divergence so far, but it will get better soon. Someone mentioned that this was kind of like a Harry gets a job type of thing, and while they are right there is so much more than that. Through the job things change, but remember a flap pf a butterfly's wings can make a tornado happen somewhere on the other side of the world. Well we have not gotten far enough for the tornado to appear, but it will slowly come about!

Ah, my riddle was rumors! Thank you all who reviewed and answered that, as well as the follows and favorites that I got as well.

I hope that you like this chapter, and remember, the only thing that I own is Xevera!

Chapter 6: Black's Shadow

"He's been sighted, he's been sighted!" Seamus yelled as he ran over to the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall waving a newspaper around as he did. It was early in breakfast, meaning that the hall was only about half full.

Hermione had rushed over as Seamus said that and was looking at the newspaper as if the answers to life's questions were written in it. Harry had followed her over there, and was finding it hard to not show just how confused he was about what was going on. Before going to Egypt with Ron and his family, he had heard about the serial killer, Sirius Black that was on the loose, but that was from the muggle television and he wasn't sure how it related to the man in the photograph that was screaming at the camera in the newspaper.

"That's not far from here!" She gasped when she got to where the man had been sighted.

Mumbling in her ear so that only she could hear him, Harry asked "Who is Sirius Black?"

Hermione whipped around to see him with her eyes blown wide and her mouth slightly a jar. As with what usually happened when she was stressed or feeling some form of negative emotion, her hair was puffed up like her new cat that had been terrifying Ron's rat since they had gotten back. "You mean you don't know?" She hissed quietly as she shoved the paper back over to Seamus.

When Harry shook his head she looked around briefly before grabbing his arm ordering "Walk with me," as she began to pull him from the hall.

Ron, in all of this, was still eating as much as he could as Seamus and Dean began to talk about the paper and other things. As with the usual when it involved him eating, he hardly noticed that his two friends had left the hall, and he would notice until he looked up after saying a joke on quiditch before looking up to see Harry's expression to find that he wasn't there.

Meanwhile, Hermione had dragged Harry into an empty room with Xevera on their heels. She then began to pace back and forth, trying to figure out just how to tell her friend what it was that he didn't know and why it looked like his gossiping roommate had expected him to act out in some way to what he had shouted. It didn't help that she wasn't really up to date on all of the nitty gritty details of the case.

"I don't really know how to say this," she confessed, worrying her lip between her teeth.

"Hermione, just tell me, it can't be too bad." Harry said as he placed his hands on her shoulders to stop her from wearing a hole in the floor.

Taking a deep breath she said "Sirius Black was arrested and sent to Azkaban the day after your parents were murdered. It is said that he was the one who betrayed them to V-Voldemort. And, from what I read, he was one of your father's friends before he turned to the other side. It is also being said in the paper that he escaped to try and finish what he started. People think that he's going to try and k-kill you."

Xevera hissed as she heard what the man did. How dare some hairless ape cause her cub to be without his parents! She could feel fury in her very bones at the very thought of him being anywhere close to where her little one was. If it was up to her, that man would pay if she ever saw him.

Harry, on the other hand was oddly quiet. There was a resigned slump to his shoulders as he thought about all of this. He guessed that he really should have looked up just what happened that night that he lost his parents and defeated the dark lord. People seemed to expect him to know about it at any rate. What he did know from what he had been told was that he now had another person out to kill him, and this one had somehow broken out of the worst prison the wizarding world had to offer to do so. And here he was hoping for a normal year.

He supposed that he couldn't have everything. He was silent for the most part after that as they left and Ron caught up to them. He didn't even realize when Hermione slipped away from them as Ron filled the silence with chatter in a way that only Ron could do. At least he wasn't sending Harry looks like some of the others were.

This being his third year, Harry had gotten quite good at ignoring the looks. Before he knew of Black, he hadn't really seen the looks. But now as he looked at a few of the people whispering over the newspaper, he couldn't help but hate the looks that they were sending him. It was almost as if they were expecting him to die at any minute from some sort of sneak attack that the wanted criminal had set up inside of the school. Harry doubted that he could even get into the school without at least the Headmaster knowing that he was there.

He was finally forced from his thoughts where Hermione appeared at his elbow and answered the newest defense professor on what a boggart looked like. Well, it was a good a time as any to start listening to the man. So far Professor Lupin had seemed as if he knew quite a bit about what he taught. He seemed to be a young man with graying tawny hair and a kind disposition.

"Where did you come from?" Ron demanded as he looked at her in surprised.

"Honestly I've been here the whole time!" Hermione snapped at her red haired friend.

Xevera chuckled at the girl with a glint in her eye. It seemed as if she had decided that she was going to be teasing Hermione about something or another. Ever since care of magical creatures she had been spouting riddles of a time based nature around the bushy haired girl, and Harry couldn't think of the reason why. It didn't help that Hermione blushed and scowled at the sphinx each time she did so as well.

"One by one we fall from heaven down into the depths of past,

And our world is ever upturned so that yet some time we'll last."

This one was referring to the sands in an hourglass. Harry was about to asked what she was trying to tell him when Professor Lupin called up Neville for a demonstration, and so he quieted down to see what was going to happen.

He watched as Neville stood, shaking, in front of the boggart and watched as the professor unlocked the door. A pale, familiar hand reached out of the door before it was blown open to see Snape strut out and start for Neville. Then the next second the Gryffindor boy stuttered out a 'riddikulus' and everyone watched as the thing that looked like Snape was suddenly wearing the ugliest dress imaginable complete with a huge hand bag and a hat that featured a dead vulture.

The class burst into laughter at that. Even though no one wanted to see Snape in a dress ever again, and no one was going to tell it to the man either. Even the Slytherins were snickering softly. He might be their head of house, but if McGonagall or Flitwick had been in the same situation, you could bet that the Ravens and Lions would have been laughing as well.

They were placed into lines next, so that each would have a turn at the boggart. Everyone was laughing and having a good time. It was nice to air the fears in a way that everyone could make fun of together. It was as if they were conquering their fears and getting better because of it. He watched as a snake was changed into a Jack in the Box, and Ron changed his spider so that it was slipping and sliding on roller skates.

That was a bit of a surprise. Seeing how the wizarding world was so different from the muggle one Harry wasn't sure if they did have roller skates. But if Ron knew about them, then either his dad did something to one of them, or they really did have them here to.

Finally, it was Harry's turn. And as he stood in front of the boggart he began to think real hard about what he feared. At first it was Voldemort, but then he really thought about it. He wasn't afraid of the man. No, he was more afraid of that thing that was on train. The Dementor. It had made him feel more fear than he had in the entire time he had been down in the chamber with Tom Riddle or in the room with the mirror as he had been almost killed the first year he had come to Hogwarts.

The swirling creature finally picked up on his fear and turned into a dementor that went to swoop at Harry. But before Harry could do anything, Lupin had lunged in front of him and the thing had snapped into some sort of pearlescent ball that he turned into a balloon than zipped across the room and back into the wardrobe.

Harry didn't know whether to be thankful or to feel cheated that he didn't get to face the boggart. He didn't really appreciate the fact that Lupin had stepped in front of him as he had. But he shrugged it off as they all left to get to their next class. But still in the back of his head he thought on why the dementors scared him so much.

He didn't think much on it as he walked away.

It was not long after that when the first Hogsmead visit was scheduled. Harry had asked McGonagall about that the permeation slip, telling her just what his relatives thought of him, but she wouldn't listen. It also wasn't like Xevera's signature would work. While she thought of Harry as hers, she was still considered a creature by law.

So he had said goodbye to his friends and had taken to exploring the castle. Xevera wasn't with him this time. She had decided that it was a nice day and she was going for a run in the woods. He still had Hedwig with him though. She was being nice and affectionate as he was on one of the outer bridges of the castle.

Actually, he was really there because Professor Lupin wanted to talk to him.

"You look so like your father," the man started with a nostalgic edge to his voice, "except for your…"

"I have my mother's eyes, yes." Harry interrupted, slightly tired of hearing everyone say the same thing. He was told that quite a bit. That seemed to open the flood gates as they started to talk. Until finally Harry tried to ask about the boggart.

"I would have thought it was obvious. One would think your greatest fear shown to the class would have been Lord Voldemort." He stated as if it was almost a fact.

"I did think of him at first, but then I remembered that dementor on the train." Harry admitted to the teacher.

"Yes, I believe I heard your sphinx describe it as Fear itself. A wise fear if you ask me." The man replied with an easy smile. The smile made his face seem younger than it had before, taking away some of the sadness that seemed to cloud it to the outside world.

They continued to talk until Ron and Hermione came back from Hogsmead. Then Harry said his goodbye and went over to his friends. Hermione apparently had tried to bore Ron to death with the history of the village as Ron had made sure to get Harry a bag of sweets from Huneydukes and a few pranking products from Zonkos Joke Shop.

Even if Harry was sad that he didn't get to go, he was glad for the presents. He made sure to thank both of them as they headed to dinner. Everyone that he knew was buzzing about Hogsmead, and Harry was still more than miffed that he couldn't go. The only good thing was that Xevera popped back up and sat next to him during dinner as she made a few comments about the stupidity of cats and rats. Harry wondered just what Scabbers and Crookshaks did to grate on her nerves to the point where she was complained, but knew not to question it.

After dinner was complete, the three were headed up to the common room when they were stopped by a large crowd that seemed to be almost all of Gryffindor standing outside on the stairs.

"What's going on?" Ron asked loudly, trying to drown out the others who were asking that same question.

Ginny was the one that came running up to them. "The Fat Lady, she's gone!" She answered. And sure enough as Percy pushed his way through ordering people about with his title of head boy that the three saw the tatters that were the portrait of the Fat Lady. It looked as if someone had taken claws or a knife to the painting, and the woman was nowhere in sight.

The headmaster pushed his way through the crowd along with Filch as they too looked at the damage. "Have all the portraits and ghosts on the lookout for her, we have to know what happened!" Dumbledore said as he looked around.

"We won't be needing to." Filch said as he pointed towards a painting that held a safari. Inside one could clearly see the pink dress that the woman wore as she was hiding behind a rhinoceros whimpering in fear.

"My dear lady, what happened here?" Dumbledore asked. All of the lions were listening in as well.

"He's here, in the castle, the one they all talk about!" She muttered with fear.

"Who is here?" the headmaster pushed, and Harry couldn't help but feel a shiver of dread creep up his spine.

"Sirius Black!"

A/N: And that's a wrap! I hope that you all liked that and will review, favorite, and follow the story if you are so inclined! Next time, if I can, I will be making it so that there is some unexpected Slytherin interaction. Should be fun.

And here is a riddle or two for you before I leave, let's see what you think it is!

1) How far can a fox run into a grove?

2) The cost of making only the maker knows,
Valueless if bought, but sometimes traded.
A poor man may give one as easily as a king.
When one is broken pain and deceit are assured.
What am I?

Until next time!