"So you really aren't angry?" Harry asked, his voice .
Sirius was smiling as if Christmas had come early. "No, why should I be?"
"She was your mother!" Hermione pressed out.
A loud laugh was the first reply she got. "Wow, felt good to laugh without being screamed at. Hermione, that was not my mother. She's dead for a decade. That was a piece of enchanted canvas, imbued with a simulation of her, at her worst. It was a constant reminder how horrible she had become. I would rather remember the kinder person she was, occasionally. I'm not sorry, at all, that she managed to wake the dragon. Don't we all know to not tickle a sleeping one?"
"Huh? Who would tickle a sleeping dragon?" Margret asked, confused.
"That's the school motto, mum. Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus," Hermione replied. "Don't ask, no one knows the origin."
"Sounds like a story that would start with, 'You know, that night, someone had a wee bit too much ale...'," Henry chuckled behind them.