I Solemnly Swear...
"Hey, Harry," Sirius greeted as his face appeared in the two-way mirror.
"Sirius? Why do you have Mom's mirror?" Harry asked, looking at his godfather on the other side. Percy leaned in as well, looking at Sirius's face in the mirror. "Where is she?"
After visiting Hagrid's hut, the two of them had left Tyson there. He wanted to stay behind and help Hagrid clean up the carnivorous slug plants, which should have been dead by now from the poison they'd poured on them the first day.
Of course, everyone had been invited to help.
But watching dead slugs wasn't exactly fun.
So everyone said they had other things to do, though they weren't lying.
Harry had to report for his first detention, while Percy tagged along simply because he felt like it.
Hermione seemed to have something to do with some supposed book fan club.
Though it was probably a fan club for the Masked Hero, considering most of its members seemed to be the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor's admirers.
Meanwhile, Ron had been kidnapped by Fred and George.
So the two brothers were left alone when the sound of someone tapping on the two-way mirror Harry always carried reached them.
"Oh, someone pretty famous showed up around here, so that Mark fellow, Remus, and your mother all seemed pretty excited to go see him. They left me here by myself," Sirius added casually.
"Were you going through our mother's bag because you were bored?" Harry couldn't help asking in a very flat tone.
"Uh... no?" Sirius replied, though he looked incredibly suspicious, avoiding the stares both boys were giving him through the mirror.
"I'll tell Mom when she gets back," Harry said immediately.
"Wait, wait. Since when did you become such a tattletale?" Sirius said quickly, sounding offended. "Besides, technically, you owe me one," he added.
"I've said it plenty of times already. He's a total mama's boy," Percy chimed in.
Harry only shot Percy a sidelong glance.
"What do you mean I owe you one?" Harry asked.
Sirius didn't answer.
Instead, he flashed him a mischievous grin as he held up a letter.
The Hogwarts crest was clearly visible, along with the sender:
Professor Minerva McGonagall.
Subject: Harry Potter's Violent Behavior.
And from the look of it, the letter had already been opened.
"That..."
"Wow, looks like our good Harry hasn't been behaving very well in class. I'm sure our dear Madam Sally won't be too happy when she gets a letter from Professor McGonagall saying Harry took on seven members of the Slytherin team by himself and left them completely wrecked," Sirius added. Though he said it with a hint of sarcasm, the pride in his voice was impossible to miss. "Besides, I think you're still being punished for your little adventure in America, aren't you?" Sirius added with amusement.
Harry's expression changed several times.
"What do you want?" he asked in an annoyed tone.
"Wow, you gave in pretty fast," Percy said in an amused tone as he looked at his brother.
"Shut up," Harry shot back, glaring at him before turning his attention back to Sirius.
Sirius looked thoroughly entertained by the annoyed expression on his godson's face.
"Don't worry, it was just a joke. I won't tell your mother anything," Sirius said, finally giving his beloved godson a break as the letter in his hand suddenly caught fire, disappearing into crimson flames.
"Though I actually do need a favor from both of you," Sirius continued, his tone becoming a little more serious. "I need you to come up with an excuse that lets me get into the castle."
Both brothers frowned at the seriousness in Sirius's voice.
"Why?" they asked together.
"For now, it's a secret. But it has to do with a mission for the Order. Normally I could just use my disguise and get in that way, but Professor McGonagall won't let me anywhere near the castle unless I have a valid reason. Let's just say she doesn't have much faith in one of the most chaotic students she ever had showing up at Hogwarts just because he feels like it," Sirius added with a grin.
"And what do we get in return?" Percy asked immediately, before Harry had the chance to answer.
"What do you want? I can even come up with alibis for you two," Sirius offered with an amused smile.
"We don't need anything like that yet, but... did you know Malfoy's father sponsors the Slytherin Quidditch team? He even bought every single one of them a Nimbus 2001," Percy said with a smile.
"Lucius Malfoy?"
The moment Sirius heard that name, a cold expression crossed his face for an instant, making both boys stare at him closely.
But Sirius quickly returned to normal.
"You know him?" Harry asked.
"Yeah, pretty well. After all, he married one of my cousins, Narcissa Black. Though I guess she'd be Narcissa Malfoy now. Besides..."
But Sirius didn't continue.
"Never mind. It's fine. Don't worry about it."
Sirius turned away for a moment, as though he'd heard someone approaching.
"Remember, come up with an excuse so I can get into the castle. Oh, right. Do you remember the words I taught you before?" Sirius asked Harry quickly.
"The ones about not planning anything good?" Harry asked.
"It's, 'I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.' Remember them well. If you find it, you're in for quite a surprise," Sirius said hurriedly. "I've got to go now. Looks like the others are back. Oh, and don't tell your mother about any of this, or she'll really get mad at me. And we both know your mother is terrifying... when it has anything to do with you two," Sirius added.
"Sure," Harry and Percy answered at the same time.
"See you. Oh, and Harry... well done. Next time, give them one for me too," Sirius said proudly, making Harry unable to stop a small smile from forming as he watched Sirius slip the two-way mirror back into his mother's bag.
"Yeah, Harry. As your older brother, I'm proud of you," Percy said in a tone that was genuinely irritating as he placed a hand on Harry's shoulder in a brotherly manner.
Harry smacked his hand away in annoyance.
"Shut up, Seaweed Brain," he said before turning around and walking toward the place where his detention was about to begin.