Harry Potter 05 - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

of an idiot!’ said Sirius bracingly, ‘we were all idiots! Well – not Moony so much,’ he said fairly, looking at Lupin.
    But Lupin shook his head. ‘Did I ever tell you to lay off Snape?’ he said. ‘Did I ever have the guts to tell you I thought you were out of order?’
    ‘Yeah, well,’ said Sirius, ‘you made us feel ashamed of ourselves sometimes … that was something …’
    ‘And,’ said Harry doggedly, determined to say everything that was on his mind now he was here, ‘he kept looking over at the girls by the lake, hoping they were watching him!’
    ‘Oh, well, he always made a fool of himself whenever Lily was around,’ said Sirius, shrugging, ‘he couldn’t stop himself showing off whenever he got near her.’
    ‘How come she married him?’ Harry asked miserably. ‘She hated him!’
    ‘Nah, she didn’t,’ said Sirius.
    ‘ She started going out with him in seventh year,’ said Lupin.
    ‘Once James had deflated his head a bit,’ said Sirius.
    ‘And stopped hexing people just for the fun of it,’ said Lupin.
    ‘Even Snape?’ said Harry.
    ‘Well,’ said Lupin slowly, ‘Snape was a special case. I mean, he never lost an opportunity to curse James so you couldn’t really expect James to take that lying down, could you?’
    ‘And my mum was OK with that?’
    ‘She didn’t know too much about it, to tell you the truth,’ said Sirius. ‘I mean, James didn’t take Snape on dates with her and jinx him in front of her, did he?’
    Sirius frowned at Harry, who was still looking unconvinced.
    ‘Look,’ he said, ‘your father was the best friend I ever had and he was a good person. A lot of people are idiots at the age of fifteen. He grew out of it.’
    ‘Yeah, OK,’ said Harry heavily. ‘I just never thought I’d feel sorry for Snape.’
    ‘Now you mention it,’ said Lupin, a faint crease between his eyebrows, ‘how did Snape react when he found you’d seen all this?’
    ‘He told me he’d never teach me Occlumency again,’ said Harry indifferently, ‘like that’s a big disappoint––’
    ‘He WHAT?’ shouted Sirius, causing Harry to jump and inhale a mouthful of ashes.
    ‘Are you serious, Harry?’ said Lupin quickly. ‘He’s stopped giving you lessons?’
    ‘Yeah,’ said Harry, surprised at what he considered a great overreaction. ‘But it’s OK, I don’t care, it’s a bit of a relief to tell you the –’
    ‘I’m coming up there to have a word with Snape!’ said Sirius forcefully, and he actually made to stand up, but Lupin wrenched him back down again.
    ‘If anyone’s going to tell Snape it will be me!’ he said firmly. ‘But Harry, first of all, you’re to go back to Snape and tell him that on no account is he to stop giving you lessons – when Dumbledore hears –’
    ‘I can’t tell him that, he’d kill me!’ said Harry, outraged. ‘You didn’t see him when we got out of the Pensieve.’
    ‘Harry, there is nothing so important as you learning Occlumency!’ said Lupin sternly. ‘Do you understand me? Nothing!’
    ‘OK, OK,’ said Harry, thoroughly discomposed, not to mention annoyed. ‘I’ll … I’ll try and say something to him … but it won’t be –’
    He fell silent. He could hear distant footsteps.
    ‘Is that Kreacher coming downstairs?’
    ‘No,’ said Sirius, glancing behind him. ‘It must be somebody your end.’
    Harry’s heart skipped several beats.
    ‘I’d better go!’ he said hastily and pulled his head backwards out of the Grimmauld Place fire. For a moment his head seemed to be revolving on his shoulders, then he found himself kneeling in front of Umbridge’s fire with it firmly back on and watching the emerald flames flicker and die.
    ‘Quickly, quickly!’ he heard a wheezy voice mutter right outside the office door. ‘Ah, she’s left it open –’
    Harry dived for the Invisibility Cloak and had just managed to pull it back over himself when Filch burst into the office. He looked absolutely delighted about something and was talking to himself feverishly as he crossed the room, pulled open a drawer in Umbridge’s desk and began rifling through the papers inside it.
    ‘Approval for Whipping … Approval for Whipping … I can do it at last … they’ve had it coming to them for years …’
    He pulled out a piece of parchment, kissed it, then shuffled rapidly back out of the door, clutching it to his chest.
    Harry leapt to his feet and, making sure he had his bag and that the