A Change of Scenery

8/14/2019 A Change of Scenery

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A Change of Scenery by living-is-easy-with-eyes-closed

Fiction Rated: T - English - General - Harry P. & Sirius B. - Reviews: 118 -

Published: 06-04-06 - Updated: 08-17-06 - Complete - id:2974008

1. Reflections

The sun began to set on the English suburb. The park started to empty out as the

sky grew darker. With each passing moment the laughter in the park died down

before becoming completely silent. There was still enough light to see. The boy

with the messy black hair decided to stay a while longer.

He sat down on one of the swings, making it move slightly. Making sure there

were no children around, the boy took out a lighter and a pack of cigarettes. After

a puff of smoke escaped from his lips the boy sighed. He really needed this. It

had been a while since he was able to come across a pack; however, recently he

had become friends with the right people and was now able to get thingswhenever he wanted.

Brock. Thank goodness for Brock. Brock was the neighborhood go-to-guy. If you

were looking for something he could get it. If you wanted drugs, he’d have it the

next day; a pack of cigarettes, no problem.

The boy wasn’t into the heavy stuff, not yet anyway. For now a few packs of

cigarettes would be just fine. He was only twelve, almost thirteen. He knew that

he shouldn’t be smoking, but at the same time he really didn’t care. They helped

him relax.

One thing this boy desperately needed was relaxation. His life wasn’t exactly

care free and happy go lucky. When you’re famous, there is always pressure on

you.

He was supposed to be their savior or something like that. He laughed when he

thought about it. Him, a savior; now that was truly funny. How on earth was a

scrawny thirteen-year-old with glasses and messy hair going to save the world

from its most feared villain?

It just wasn’t practical. Honestly, were these people crazy? How on earth could he

actually save anyone when he couldn’t even get his own life under control?

Okay, there was that time when he was eleven, but that was just a fluke, right? I

mean, He never actually had to do anything to save that stupid stone; the whole

thing wasn’t really his problem. He just sort of got caught in the moment. Plus, he

thought the whole thing had to do with the teacher he hated, he would have

done anything to get Snape fired; too bad Snape hadn’t been the bad guy.

And there was that time when he was twelve and helped his friend Ron save his

sister. I mean, anyone would have done that. Ron was Harry’s friend. He just

thought he should help Ron out because Ron had helped him with the whole

stone thing. He was just paying him back, right?



He was a loner for the most part. He wasn’t really unfriendly or anything like that,

he just wasn’t really interested in other people’s crap lately. Ron and Hermione

were the closets friends he had; only he had not been a very good friend to them

lately.

He met them when they were eleven. He was much friendlier back then, mucheasier to approach and start a conversation with. But recently he had become

cold and distant. He hadn’t written back to any of their letter at all this summer.

He assumed that they were probably worried.

If Ron or Hermione had ever found out about the smoking they would probably

have killed him. He could just imagine it now. Hermione yelling how smoking

causes lung cancer and what it does to the rest of your body.

He didn’t really care. Can’t magic fix cancer anyhow? That’s right, magic. Harry

Potter wasn’t just a regular boy with messy hair and glasses. He was a wizard,

and one of the most famous ones to be exact and he went to one of the bestwizarding schools around, Hogwarts. Unfortunately the reason Harry was famous

doesn’t exactly make for the happiest story.

When Harry was a baby his parents were killed by the most powerful wizard of

the time, Voldemort. He tried to kill Harry too, only Voldemort’s plan backfired.

Instead of killing Harry with a nasty curse the tables turned and Voldemort lost

most of his powers. Voldemort disappeared from the wizarding world after that

day. Many believed him to be dead, but the wise knew he was somewhere out

there, somewhere, trying to get back his strength so he could try to come back to

power one day.

Harry had two encounters with Voldemort. Once, when he was eleven and he had

tried to steal the philosopher’s stone so he could come back to power. Harry was

able to stop him, though Voldemort still escaped. Then, in Harry’s second year

Voldemort tried coming back to power through his old journal, luckily for

everyone, his attempt was a failure.

School would be starting again for Harry in a few weeks. The only reason he was

eager to go back was because it meant he’d be able to get away from his aunt

and uncle. After Harry’s parents died Harry was sent to live with his mother’s

sister. Harry’s aunt and uncle weren’t the nicest of people. They made Harrysleep in a cupboard under the stairs until he was eleven and started Hogwarts.

They hated Harry because they hated magic and magic ran through every fiber

of Harry’s body.

Harry never told anyone about what his life at the Dursleys was like. He would

just tell them that they weren’t very nice people if anyone every asked about

them. Harry kept everything bottled up inside, not wanting anyone to know about

his past. The beatings and the mistreatment weren’t exactly the nicest thing to

bring up in conversation.

Oh yes, there were beatings. Could you expect a family who made their nephewsleep under the stairs be capable of any type of kindness towards him? The



beatings had died down quite a bit since Harry started Hogwarts. Maybe it was

out of fear because Harry could do magic or maybe it was from fear of someone

finding out what as really going on, the Dursleys rarely touched Harry at this

point…well, except for last night anyway.

The shirt on Harry’s back covered the large bruise. Harry’s cousin, Dudley, hadgotten mad at him and pushed him into the kitchen counter. The edges of the

counter are rather pointy so safe to say, when Harry’s thin body smashed into

the counter, the result wasn’t very nice. Then uncle Vernon punched him in the

stomach for making Dudley upset.

Harry sighed as he shifted on the swing uncomfortable. His back was bothering

him a little. He felt very stiff. He took another drag of the cigarette and closed his

eyes, feeling the tension release from his body.

For a long time, Harry wished he could leave the Dursleys and go someplace else.

He’d thought about running away for a long time now, but he knew if he did he’dhave no place to go. Harry ran away one time when he was six. He was hiding out

in the park when a cop found him and brought him home. Uncle Vernon wasn’t

very happy with him when the cop brought him back. To this day Harry still has

scars on his back from his uncle’s belt.

Harry always wondered what it would have been like if he hadn’t grown up with

the Dursleys. He’d always dreamed of someone showing up one day and just

taking him out of there. Before Harry could dwell on his pathetic life any longer a

man sat down next to him on the swing and asked, “Aren’t you too young to

smoke?”

Harry gave the man a strange look that said ‘I’ll do whatever the fuck I want you

crazy bastard’. Harry just shrugged at the man and said, “Doesn’t matter.”

“I think it does.” The man replied

“How nice for you.” Harry responded coldly

Who the hell was this guy? Harry had never seen him around the park before. He

had black, shoulder-length hair. His face was sort of pale, as though he hadn’t

been out in the sun for a while. His grey eyes were fixed on Harry. Every time

Harry took a drag from the cigarette the man looked like he wanted to rip it rightout of Harry’s mouth.

The man was wearing a really nice brown leather jacket and leather boots. He

had on a white tee-shirt and a pair of jeans. On top of his head was a pair of

sunglasses. Harry thought to himself ‘What type of person needs sunglasses

when it’s almost night?”“So, Harry,” The man said, “Are we going to do this the

easy way or are you going to be difficult?”

“What are you talking about I-wait; how the hell do you know who I am?” Harry

asked as he quickly got off the swing and stepped away from the man, pulling his

wand out of his pocket.



The man raised and eyebrow at Harry and said in an amused tone, “Is that really

necessary?”

“Who the hell are you and how do you know who I am?”

“Put the wand down, I’m Sirius.” The man said, slowly standing up

“Stay where you are, now I’m serious.” Harry replied

“No,” The man said, “Not serious, Sirius. S-I-R-I-U-S. Sirius Black, I’m here to get

you.”

“Get me? What the hell does that mean?”

“I’m your godfather. I came to get you, bring you back to my place for the rest of

the summer.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you, I don’t even know who you are.” Harryprotested

Sirius sighed, “Okay, it was just an offer. I’ll just leave you be then. I assumed

this would happen. You don’t have to come; you can stay with your relatives, its

fine. But, if you change your mind, send a letter to Dumbledore; he’ll know where

to reach me. Well, see you around then, Harry.” Sirius said and then walked away

leaving Harry to reflect in his own thoughts.

“What the hell just happened?” Harry asked himself when he was alone again.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

“So, I’m taking it that it didn’t go so well.”

“Not quite.” Sirius sighed as he took a sip of the beer in his hand, “Naturally he

was suspicious and I don’t think he really believed what I had told him. I just hope

that I sparked his interest enough to try and find me.”

“Maybe you should have waited a while before you approached him like

Dumbledore had suggested, you know, waited till things quieted down for you.”

Said the other man. He had brown hair that was speckled gray and honey colored

eyes.

“I didn’t want to wait. I want him to come live with me. I want him to trust me. I

haven’t been part of his life for a long time, Remus; I have to make it up to him.

Maybe I should have Dumbledore talk to him or something.” Sirius said

“You already know how Dumbledore feels about you taking Harry. He’s safest

with the Dursleys.” Remus said, “Dumbledore only agreed that Harry could live

with you if you gained his trust that way the wards around your place would be

safe.”

“I know Remus; I was in the room when the three of us talked about this.” Siriussaid bitterly



Remus gave him a small smile, “What’s he like?”

“Well, he’s stubborn, just like Lily and he looks exactly like James but with Lily’s

eyes. But he has the attitude of his godfather.” Sirius said with a half smiled

which turned to a frown, “He was smoking.”

“Was he now?”

“I wanted to yank the cigarette right out of his hand.” Sirius grinned

“If I remember correctly, you smoked at his age.” Remus said

“Yeah, but I quit.”

“Not on your own.”

“I know, but I can’t exactly help him stop like you and James helped me if he

won’t even come near me.”

“Harry will need to earn your trust before you can help him.”

“I know. I think I’m going to have to tell him about everything.” Sirius said

“Everything?” Remus asked

“Everything. Everything from what happened when James and Lily died to now.”

Sirius said, looking towards the floor, “I want him to understand that I wasn’t able

to be there for him then, but I want to be part of his life now.”

“It’s a start.” Remus said, “What do you think he’s doing right now?”

“Probably having dinner with his aunt and uncle, telling them about the creep in

the leather jacket he met in the park.”


“Uncle Vernon?”

“What boy?”

“Do-er-do I have a godfather?”

“Not that I know of, now clear the table.”

“Right.” Harry said and started to clear the table. For the rest of the night,

Harry’s thoughts were on Sirius, and whether or not he should try and contact

him.

Chapter 2: Meetings




The park was a huge place. Besides its typical playground it also had a wooded

area with many different paths. One path led to a shallow duck pond where

parents and children often went to feed the birds. Other paths were just trails for

walking and bike riding. During the day they were normally busy with people

walking among the trees and shrubs. But at night, the park took on a different

persona.

The playground was completely empty once it got dark. You’d see the occasional

night jogger or a few couples walking around the pond. But if a person was to

step off of the paths, they might meet a rather unexpected group lingering.

Off route from one particular path led to their hangout. It was secluded and you

could easily get lost in the woods if you didn’t know where you were heading. If

you had been successful in your journey there you’d be greeted by three large

sitting rocks. That is were they hung out. Where deals were made. Not even the

cops went into that part of the woods at night.

It was sort of an unwritten code not to go into those woods at night. The kids who

hung around there weren’t the type of kids you’d take home to mom and dad.

They were liars, trash. Idiots, all of them were idiots. Well, all except Brock.

At first glimpse you’d see an average kid. Handsome face, muscular physic. He

was tall, six foot one to be exact. Brock was young, only eighteen, and his face

was clean shaven. His dirty blond hair was long, not too long though. He wore

nice fitting jeans and brand name shirts and his usual black leather jacket. His

outer appearance would never make you think twice about his motives.

But his eyes could rattle the mind. Those baby-blues pulled you in with some kind

of force that just took over. The gleam in his eyes just made you want to trust

him, although something you should never do was trust Brock. Behind the beauty

was a monster, a real mixer. A manipulative, cunning kid with a hidden agenda.

His eyes alone could tell the mischief that was in store, only, most people

realized this about him when it was too late.

Brock was the leader of the little gang. They all flocked to him, following him

around like a herd of love sick puppies. He could treat them like dirt and they

would still come back to him. Brock got into their minds and made them do

things for him and made it seem like it was all for a good reason. Brock wasclever. You’d need to be clever to be in the field of work he was in.

Drugs. He could get almost anything. All you had to do was ask, all he asked for

was the money to buy it and for your word. Your word was everything in the deal.

A person’s word created a bond. It sealed the deal. It’s how he kept them coming

back, binding themselves to his every wish and every want. Brock could get

anything out of them. And he was smart about it, often twisting words around

making it seem like things were the other persons idea. Brock was no idiot.

His friends, or should I say cronies, were another story. They weren’t anywhere

near Brock’s level. They weren’t as intelligent as he was, but each of them had apurpose.



If there was a second in command it would have been Ben. Ben and Brock came

across as best friends, but Brock was just using Ben, only Ben couldn’t see that

for himself. He treated Ben better then the rest of them though. Maybe Brock did

see Ben as the closest thing he had to a friend, its hard to tell what Brock was

thinking most of the time.

Ben was a nice kid. No matter what you can say about Ben, he was a damn nice

kid. Just a year younger that Brock, Ben was easily just as beautiful. His dark

brown hair was kept short, but still long enough to spike it. He normally wore nice

hooded sweaters and jeans with sandals. He looked like a model out of a

magazine.

If any of them had a chance at a future it was Ben. He had very good grades, any

university would have taken. He was school smart, but not so people smart

otherwise he would have seen how much of a hold Brock kept on him. But either

way, Ben was a good guy. He really was. He had a warming smile that just made

you feel good and he never treated the rest of the group like shit like Brock did.

Brock’s mission in finding friends was to benefit himself mainly. Ben was there to

back up Brock when things got tough. Ben’s father was a policeman. Being

friends with Ben gave Brock a cover story. If he ever got into trouble Ben would

be able to tell his father that Brock had actually been with him. And it worked.

Ben had gotten Brock out of some pretty sticky situations before, just by

providing an alibi.

That’s all Ben really was to Brock. A cover. He couldn’t give two shits about what

really happened to the people in his little group.

Then there were the half-brothers, John and Max. Just by looking at them, you

could tell that there was no way for them to be related by blood. The reason

Max’s mother married John’s dad was actually because of Brock, in a way.

John and Max had become friends through Brock; both of them came to Brock for

pot, that’s how they met him. One night, Max was at John house when Max’s

mom came to pick him up. She started talking to John’s dad and then from there

they fell in love. John had short brown hair that was shaved closely to his head. His usual outfit

consisted of light jeans and a white tee-shirt. John was loud. That is one thing you

could say about John, he was loud. He always spoke loudly, as though he was

bragging about something he had done, like he wanted you to know what was

going on in his life so he could get credit for it. John loved the attention he got

from people.

Max on the other hand was quiet. While John would be the center of attention,

Max would be to the side, watching the scene. He was shorter then John and

didn’t have a personality even similar to that of his half-brother. No one reallyknew how they had come to be such good friends. Maybe they become friends



out of the “opposite attract” rule. Max was only five foot eight while John was five

eleven. Max had reddish dark brown Mohawk and wore cargo paints with an

opened button up shirt with a band shirt underneath.

Brock’s main interest in the half-brothers was drugs. Max’s mother owned a

pharmacy and John’s father was a doctor. Both were Brock’s ticket to certaindrugs. Brock, within time, was able to have John and Max bring him whatever he

needed, and Brock would sell it to his other “clients”, giving both boys a share of

his profit, though not even a good share at that. What the sixteen year olds didn’t

know didn’t hurt them, right?

Then there was Taylor. Taylor was Brock’s girlfriend, so you can just assume how

she must have been, after all, what kind of girl would want to be with a guy like

Brock?

Like her boyfriend, she carried the normal good looks one might see at a first

glance. She was five foot five and thin. Her hair was dyed black and went justbelow her shoulders. Her hazel eyes, like her boyfriends, told the real tale about

who she was. She was a heroin addict, that’s why she was with Brock. She

wanted her drugs. What Brock wanted out of her was plain and simple; sex. And

remember, Brock always gets what he wants. Everyone knew though, within time

the drugs would weather Taylor. Her tan face would become pale and look older.

Then Brock wouldn’t need her anymore. He move on to the next girl he could find

without a second glance at Taylor.

The other girl in the group was Candy. Words couldn’t describe the way Candy

acted. She was poison. Candy had a harsh voice and a harsh vocabulary to goalong with it. Normally when you her candy you think of sweet. The only thing

sweet about Candy was her name, and maybe the pink hair. Candy was a trashy.

She wore mini skirts and midriff bearing tops that revealed a belly button ring.

She also had many tattoos. They were all over her arms and her legs.

What Brock got out of her, no one was really sure. All they knew is that Candy

wanted ecstasy, and ecstasy is what Candy would get. One could assume though,

what Brock was doing with Taylor, he was probably doing with Candy on the side.

Harry wasn’t sure how he had become friends with them. All he knew was that

one day he was at the park talking to Brock and the next he was making his own

deals with the con man.

As of right now, all Harry wanted out of Brock was cigarettes. And Brock would

get them for him; all he asked for was a simple exchange.

Vicodin. A pain reliever. That’s what Brock wanted from Harry. They were almost

impossible to get unless they were prescribed. That’s were Harry came into the

deal. Uncle Vernon had been prescribed Vicodin because of his back. Once in a

while Harry’s uncle would need one for his back, but the rest of the time, the



bottle just sat in the bathroom medicine cabinet. Now one ever noticed that

Harry had been taking them. Good thing it was a large bottle.

Harry would bring the pills to Brock and in exchange Brock would bring him some

cigarettes. It seemed a fair deal to Harry.


The usual gang was at the rock sight. They had a fire going and music playing.

Brock and Taylor were sitting on a rock, furiously snogging. Candy was flirting

with John who couldn’t stop laughing. He must have been on something. Max was

sitting against a tree talking to Ben.

As Harry walked into the meeting spot Max looked up and acknowledged Harry

with a nod. Harry nodded back.

Ben looked up and smiled, “Hey.”

“Hey.” Harry replied back, “What’s up?”

“Not much, you?” Ben replied

Harry shrugged, “Can’t complain.”

Harry was the youngest member of the group and the shortest. If you compared

Harry to Brock it would be almost funny. Harry was short and skinny while Brock

was tall and muscular. Brock could have easily killed Harry if he had tried hard

enough.

“So, whatcha got today?” Brock asked as Harry walked over to him, his eyes

never leaving Harry.

“Here. I got you ten.”

“Nice job, Potter.” Brock said as he took the pills from Harry’s hand and looked

over them quickly. He then smiled and said, “This stuff is crazy if you mix it with

alcohol. Good work. Oh, and these are for you.”

Brock handed Harry the fresh pack of cigarettes. Harry put the pack in his pocket

and turned to walk away.

“Where are you going exactly?” Taylor asked as she snuggled closer to Brock

who didn’t seem interested in her what so ever.

“Home.” Harry replied. Brock narrowed his eyes. The rest of the group looked

interested. No one normally left that quickly.

“It’s not even dark yet.” Candy said as she held out a beer to Harry, “Stay awhile

longer and have a drink.”



“Cant.” Harry said, “I’ve got to get home before my aunt and uncle get back from

dinner.”

“That sucks, you’re missing the fun.” John said, spitting while he spoke.

“Potter.” Brock said and Harry turned back towards him, “I need double next

time.”

“Are you joking?” Harry asked, “That’s a lot to take in one go.”

“No. Double.” Brock repeated and then stared at Harry viciously, “You bring me

double next time.”

Harry just looked back at him for a moment as though he was trying to resist,

then dropped his eyes and nodding, “Right, double. See you later.”

Harry walked back onto the path and headed back out of the park. The sun had

not quite set yet. Truthfully speaking, Harry didn’t actually have to go home rightaway. His aunt, uncle and cousin were spending the night at some friends they

were visiting. Harry just wasn’t really in the mood to hang around the gang

today. He had a fair bit on his mind.

As he walked out of the park he noticed a man sitting on the stone wall fence. It

was Sirius. Harry walked over to him, not really knowing why he was doing so.

Sirius smiled as Harry approached. It was time to start getting to know him.

“What are you doing here?” Harry asked

“I came for a walk. I was visiting a friend near by.” Sirius replied

“Oh.” Harry said

“Doing anything right now?” Sirius asked

“I was going home.” Harry said

“I was just about to go into town and get a cup of coffee. Want to come?”

Harry stared at Sirius for a minute. He felt like he shouldn’t go with this guy. He

didn’t even know him; all he knew was that this guy claimed to be his godfather.

For all he knew, this guy could be some crazy murder that was waiting to kill

Harry when he let his guard down. Finally Harry asked, “Are you paying?”

Sirius let out a bark like laugh, “Sure.”


Chapter three: Chats in the Café




Harry had never been much of a coffee drinker. Sirius had found that rather

amusing considering Harry was already smoking, he figured Harry would have

been the type who drank coffee on a regular basis, acting much older than he

was. Sirius suppressed a laugh when Harry ordered a hot chocolate. Sirius got a

cappuccino; he often enjoyed them in the evening.

Inside the shop was busy so Harry and Sirius sat outside the shop at one of its

many tables. The gun-metal colored chairs matched the inside of the café nicely.

They sat in silence for a while, not sure what to say to one another.

Remus had suggested that Sirius make light conversation. Get to know the boy. It

would make everything much easier in the long run. It would take time and even

though Sirius wasn’t always patient, he gave Remus’ approach a try.

“So, you don’t like coffee?” Sirius asked

Harry shrugged, “Not really, it’s too bitter.”

“Maybe you just haven’t had the right type of coffee.”

“Coffee is bad for you, it stains your teeth.” Harry said seriously

Sirius smiled, revealing his unstained, pearly whites, “So does smoking.”

“Touché.” Harry said, taking a sip of his hot chocolate.

“Why do you smoke?” Sirius asked curiously

“Why do you drink coffee?” Harry asked back. Sirius could tell that this was goingto be a little more of a challenge then he had expected.

Sirius sighed and said, “I like coffee. Coffee might not be great for you, but it

won’t kill you like those cigarettes will.”

“I like smoking, and besides, we all die someday anyway.” Harry said

Sirius just nodded, “I guess that’s one way to look at it.”

“I suppose.” Harry aid before the awkward silence fell on them again. By now the

sun had finally set and stars were visible in the sky. The lights from the café

supplied Harry and Sirius with ample light. Harry watched as a couples walked in

and out of the store with various beverages.

“Yesterday, you said that you were here to get me.” Harry brought up out of no

where.

Sirius nodded, “That’s what I said.”

“What does that mean exactly?” Harry asked, “I mean, I don’t even know you

and then you just come out of no where and ask me to live with you. What the

hell is this all about?”



Sirius wasn’t really sure how to explain. Harry was his godson, of course he

wanted Harry to live with him, but convincing the boy was going to be harder

then just saying that.

“What do you know about your parents, Harry?”

“Bits and pieces of stories. Not that much. Why?”

“Did you know that your dad was my best friend when we went to Hogwarts?”

“No.” Harry replied

Sirius smiled, “We were friends. Best friends. When your parents got married, I

was the best man at the wedding.”

Harry thought of the old picture album that had been given to him back in first

year. There was a picture in it of James and Lily’s wedding. Harry had never given

the picture a second thought before. There was another man in the picture too. Ithad only registered to Harry at just that moment that the man was Sirius. Sirius

looked much older now then he did in the picture.

Sirius continued, “When you were born James and Lily made me your godfather.

Your father trusted me more than anyone in the world and he knew that if

anything ever happened to him and Lily they wanted me to raise you.”

“Then where the hell have you been all this time, cause incase you having

realized I live with the Dursleys.” Harry replied indignantly

“There were some complications with that.” Sirius said and Harry just looked athim with a face that read, ‘What the fuck are you talking about you psycho?’

“Harry, what do you know about your parents going into hiding from Voldemort?”

“Just that he found out where they were and tried to kill me.”

Sirius took a deep breath, as though dreading what he was about to tell Harry,

“Harry, have you ever heard of the Fidelius Charm?”

“No.” Harry shook his head

“I didn’t think so.” Sirius said and the continued, “It’s a spell involving the

magical concealment of a secret inside a single person. The information is hidden

inside the person, or Secret-Keeper, and the secret is impossible to find out

unless the Secret-Keeper chooses to tell the secret. Do you understand?”

“I think so.” Harry said

Sirius nodded, “When James and Lily found out that Voldemort was looking for

them they went into hiding under the Fidelius. The only person who could tell the

secret to where James and Lily were hiding would be the Secret-Keeper. Your

parents wanted someone they could trust to be their Secret-Keeper, someonethey knew would keep the secret safe.”



“They wanted you.” Harry confirmed

“They did. Only, I told them that I wouldn’t do it. It would have been too obvious.

Voldemort would have known it was me. But we told everyone that I was their

Secret-Keeper anyway, just to throw them off. We thought it was a brilliant idea.

Only we were wrong.”

“Who was their Secret-Keeper if it wasn’t you?” Harry asked

“Another friend of ours, Peter Pettigrew, he went to school with us. No one would

think that they’d ever make him Secret-Keeper. He wasn’t the toughest thing, so

it was the perfect trick. Everyone would think it was me, when it was really Peter.

Are you still with me?”

“Yeah.” Harry replied, “So what happened? Voldemort still found them.”

Sirius sighed, “He did. We thought Pettigrew was our friend. He was a spy for

Voldemort. We never knew. We thought that there might have been a spy in the

group, but we never thought it was Peter. Peter told Voldemort where your

parents were hiding.”

“He betrayed them.” Harry said and Sirius nodded sadly.

Sirius took a breath and continued, “The night Voldemort attack your parents I

was supposed to check on Peter, make sure he was still safe. When I got to his

house, he wasn’t there. I didn’t feel right about him not being home so I went to

your parent’s place to check on them.” Sirius paused for a moment and looked

away from Harry and turned his gaze to a young couple sitting at a nearby table,

“Only, when I got there, Voldemort had beaten me to the place.”

Sirius’ voice was very quiet now, barely above a whisper, “I’ll never forget what

the house looked like, I walked in and James was-” Sirius stopped, rubbed his

forehead and then continued, turning back towards Harry, “I found you in your

room. You weren’t hurt too bad, besides the scar. You where crying so I picked

you up and cleaned you off a bit; got you to calm down. That’s when Hagrid

showed up. I wanted to take you with me, I really did, but Hagrid had orders. He

was supposed to bring you to Dumbledore, so I gave you to Hagrid and I wentafter Peter myself.”

“You knew that he had told Voldemort about their hiding place.” Harry said

“Yeah, “Sirius said quietly, “I eventually caught up with Peter. I was going to kill

him myself. I cornered him in an alley, it was full of muggles. He started shouting

at me how I killed James and Lily and how I was their Secret-Keeper, which was

complete bullshit. Then before I could kill him he blew up the street. Killed

thirteen muggles. Then he escaped, completely unnoticed.”

“He set you up so it looked like you killed my parents.” Harry said and Siriusnodded. Then Harry asked, “How did he escape?”



“Do you know what an animagus is?” Sirius asked and smiled a bit from the

puzzled look on his godsons face. “An animagus is a person who can transform

into an animal. Normally, when a person becomes and animagus they are

supposed to register themselves at the ministry of magic. Peter wasn’t

registered, he was an illegal animagus.”

“Why wasn’t he registered?” Harry questioned

“None of us were.” Sirius said, “Your father, Peter and myself all became

animagus when we were underage so we never registered, we kept that bit of

information to ourselves.”

“What made you all decide to become animagus’? What type of animal was my

dad?”

“Your father was a stag, I was a dog and Pettigrew was a rat. The reason we

became animagus’ is-well, it’s not really important right now. But the point is thatPettigrew was an animagus. After he destroyed the street he transformed into a

rat and ran down the gutter. He even cut his own finger off before he transform

so everyone thought he was dead and that I killed him.”

“So everyone thought that everything was your fault when it really wasn’t.”

“Yes. I was arrested the next day for murder, although, I never actually killed

anyone. It couldn’t have worked out better for Peter. Not even Dumbledore

believed me when I told him I was innocent because he, like everyone else, he

still thought I was Secret-Keeper. I was sent to Azkaban after that.”

“Where?”

Sirius’ face grew darker then Harry had seen it before, “It’s a jail. It’s in the

middle of no where on this island. Highly guarded. It’s a dark place, Harry. People

lose their minds there. The guards are creatures called dementors. They are

these cloaked figures. They suck the happiness right out of you, leaving you

completely void of any emotions.”

“How come you’re not crazy if they are as bad as you say?” Harry asked

suspiciously

“Since I was an animagus I was able to transform and keep my mind. The mind of

an animal is less complex then a human so they aren’t affected by dementors.

They are blind, dementors. They couldn’t tell I was a dog but they could sense

that I wasn’t so human. They assumed that I was losing my mind like everyone

else so they just left me alone.”

“How did you get out of jail if everyone thought you were a murderer?” Harry

inquired

“Pettigrew was exposed. He had been hiding as a rat with some wizarding family.

Apparently the story was, the twin sons of the family were fighting and a wandwas thrown and hit their pet rat. The rat turned back into Pettigrew right in the



middle of their living room. Naturally the mother of the family was shocked at the

sight and stunned the mysterious man and called the ministry of magic’s Auror

department. They came over and identified the man as Peter Pettigrew. From

there they realized that it was a huge mistake and twenty-four hours later, I was

out of Azkaban. That was two weeks ago. You obviously haven’t been reading the

Daily Prophet; it was all over the wizard news.”

“So all this time, you’ve been in jail.” Harry said to no one in particular

Sirius nodded and a strange look appeared on Harry’s face that made Sirius

laugh.

“What?” Harry asked

“You still don’t fully believe my story. I think that’s kind of funny, that’s all.”

“Well, it’s a lot to take in.” Harry defended

“You’re right.” Sirius said and looked up towards the sky, “It’s getting late; you

should probably be heading back home anyway.”

Harry gave him a confused look, “So that’s it then?”

“What do you mean?” Sirius questioned

“I don’t know. You said that you’re my rightful guardian so why aren’t you

making me come and live with you?”

“I really would like you to come live with me, don’t get me wrong. But if you don’twant to come live with me then I’m not going to make you do something you

don’t want to do. That wouldn’t be any good.” Sirius said as he stood up

What Sirius was really thinking was ‘Because bloody Remus told me that it should

be your decision to come live with me. You have two weeks to decide before I

drag your sorry ass home with me whether you like it or not.’

Harry just nodded and stood up also. For a second, Sirius looked like he was

about to reach over and pull Harry into a hug, but he resisted temptation. Instead

he extended his hand and Harry took it.

“I guess I’ll be seeing you then.” Sirius said

“What do I do if I want to reach you?” Harry asked, dropping his hand.

This was good for Sirius. Harry seemed interested in the idea of moving in with

Sirius. “I’ll be around for the next few days. I’m sure we’ll see each other at the

park or in town sometime soon.”

“Right.” Harry said as he turned away, “I’ll see you then.”

“Bye, Harry.”



Sirius watched Harry walk away from the café. He waited till Harry was out of

sight before he actually headed home for himself.


It was only a little after nine when Harry reached his aunt and uncle’s house.

Something wasn’t right. The lights in the house where on and the car was in the

drive way. This wasn’t good. The Dursley’s didn’t stay at their friends after all,

they were home early.

“Shit.” Harry said as he opened the front door to the house and stepped inside.

Dudley gave Harry an evil smirk as he walked into the kitchen. Harry just stood

where he was, raising an eyebrow.

“Where have you been boy?” Uncle Vernon asked from the top of the stairs.

“I was-er-talking a walk.” Harry replied

“None of your chores are done.” Uncle Vernon said as he walked down the stairs,

“Why aren’t your chores done?”

Harry looked nervously at his uncle as he descended the stair case. Vernon was

twisting a belt in his hands and he was glaring at Harry viciously. Harry

swallowed hard and sighed.

“Close the door.” His uncle instructed. Harry looked at the door, and for a second

he wanted to run, but he realized he had no where to go. Harry slowly closed the

door, watching the stars disappear as the door clicked shut.


Chapter four: Decisions


Sounds of laughter filled Harry’s ears as he sat quietly on a large rock on the

opposite side of the pond, watching the families walking around and feeding the

ducks. Harry was watching a family of four near the edge of the pond.

There was a mother, father, daughter and a son. The mother was down at thelittle boy’s level and they were throwing pieces of bread into the water for the

birds. The little girl was on her father’s shoulders, watching the ducks swimming

around and pointing to one every so often. Harry smiled sadly at the family.

Since Harry was far away from the main area of the pond, he took out a cigarette

and his lighter. Harry sighed as the smoked escaped from his mouth and nose.

He shifted uncomfortably on the rock and stretched his back very slowly; it had

been a rough night.

“Hey.” A voice from behind Harry said about ten minutes later.

Harry, not looking up at the person replied, “Hey.”



It was Ben, Harry could tell by the voice. Ben had a very soothing, deep voice. His

voice almost made you feel relaxed and calm, like you didn’t have a care in the

world. Harry moved over a little to make room for Ben to sit down, still keeping

his gaze at the family. As Ben settled down on the right side of Harry he said,

“Thanks.”

“No problem.” Harry said and offered Ben a cigarette.

“No thanks.” Ben said, “I’ve started running again so smoking won’t really help

improve my timing, it will just slow me down, thanks anyway though.”

“Suit yourself.” Harry said as he pulled out another one for himself and then put

the pack of cigarettes back in his pocket.

“So,” Ben asked, “What are you doing out here so early? It’s only ten in the

morning.”

Harry just shrugged, “Don’t know, what about you?”

“I was going for a run.” Ben replied and Harry just nodded. Ben asked, “Are you

alright?”

“I’m fine.” Harry replied. Ben just nodded and the two sat quietly for a little while,

watching the people around the pond.

“I think I was afraid of ducks when I was little.” Harry said out of no where

“What?” Ben asked with a smile

Harry shrugged and murmured, “Just a memory I think, or maybe it was a dream,

I’m not really sure. Some reason, I just remember being afraid of the ducks when

I was little.”

“Well you aren’t anymore so I guess that is the important thing.” Ben said, not

really sure how to reply to shut a strange outburst.

Ben looked at Harry strangely and asked, “You sure you’re alright? You seem a

bit off today.”

Harry turned his head and looked at Ben. Ben grimaced as he saw a large bruiseon the left side of Harry’s face, along his jaw line. Harry just nodded and said,

“I’m fine.”

“Where did you get that?” Ben asked, pointing to the mark

Harry just shrugged and looked back across the pond. The family he was

watching had moved away from the pond and had settled themselves on the

grass.

Ben asked, “Was it your uncle again?”



Harry didn’t answer. He never actually answered when Ben would ask him this

question, and Ben had asked him many times before. Ben just sort of figured

everything out for himself after a while. It wasn’t uncommon for Harry to show up

places with strange bruises and false stories on how he had gotten them.

Ben looked down to the ground and picked up a small rock. He threw it into thewater and watched it ripple out in the pond, “Harry, if things at home aren’t great

I could always talk to my dad for you. He could help get you out of there if you

want.”

“It’s alright. I don’t need help.” Harry said

“He’s helped other kids before, you know, its his job. He could find you another

family. I mean, you’d only have to be with them a short time since you go away

to that prep school most of the year. It would be safe than your uncle’s house.”

Harry had told the gang that he went to a prep school most of the year whenthey asked him about why they had only seen him around the area unless it was

summer.

“I’m fine, really, I am.” Harry reassured

“I mean, I know you don’t have another relative you can really go with, so I just

though that, well, you know, if you ever need anything, you don’t have to be

afraid to ask.”

“I know.” Harry said, “Thanks, but I’m really alright. It doesn’t happen very

often.”

Ben just nodded and silence fell between them for a moment. Harry looked up at

Ben and said, “I have a godfather.”

“You do?” Ben asked with a raised eyebrow, “I didn’t know that.”

“He wants me to move in with him.” Harry said, not really knowing why he was

telling all of this to Ben. Maybe it was because he trusted Ben or even looked up

to him. Harry wasn’t really sure.

“Are you going to?”

“I don’t know. I only met him a few days ago. I don’t know him that well. He was

my dad’s best friend, apparently. They went to school together when they were

younger.” Harry said

“What is he like? Is he nice?”

“So far. He bought be hot chocolate the other day and we talked for a bit.” Harry

said and then asked, “What would you do?”

Ben shrugged, “Truthfully I don’t know what I would do. But you know what I

think you should do? I think you should test him out. Maybe spend a weekend



with him or something. Get to know him a little better. See if it works out for

you.”

“That’s always an option. I’m sure he’d agree to it and everything.” Harry agreed

“I think anyone is better then your uncle and that you really have nothing to lose

by getting to know him better. It certainly gives you more living options.”

“True.”

Ben sighed, “I would really think about it, Harry. I should probably get back to

running; I’m not going to get any faster by just sitting around all day.”

Ben stood up and it had just occurred to Harry that Ben was dressed in track

pants and running shoes. “See you later, Harry.”

Ben walked away and Harry called out, “Hey, Ben?”

Ben turned around, “Yeah?”

“Thanks.”


“Hey kiddo, how’d you get that beauty?” Sirius asked as Harry came into view

and he saw the mark on Harry’s face.

“Oh,” Harry smirked, “I slipped on the kitchen floor and hit my face into the

counter. It hurt like a bitch.”

“I can imagine.”

‘Good.’ Harry thought, ‘He bought it.’

Harry, by this time, had been pretty good and making up lies on how he acquired

strange bruises. Normally everyone believed his stories. The key was looking

them in they eye when you told them, that way they knew that he wasn’t lying.

The only on who actually saw past his charade was Ben.

“So, what are your plans for today?” Sirius asked as he looked around the park.

“I have to meet some friends later tonight, but I’m not doing anything right now.”

Harry responded

“Brilliant, do you feel like doing something then?”

“Okay.” Harry said, “What do you have in mind?”

“Well,” Sirius began, “We could go into town and walk around for a bit or-”

“Do you live near here?” Harry cut Sirius off, “I mean, I’ve seen you here a lot for

the past few days so are you here because of me or do you actually live close

by?”



Sirius smiled, “I don’t live too far from here, but I guess I’m really not that close.

I’ve been staying nearby for the week just so I could see you. I’ve to go back

home at the end of the week. It’s part of the deal.”

“What deal?”

“The deal I made with Dumbledore about you possibly living with me?”

Harry gave Sirius this look of utter confusion. Sirius sighed, “Do you know the

main reason you live with your aunt and uncle?”

Harry shook his head. Sirius said, “I didn’t think so. Since your aunt shares the

same blood as your mother, the blood of your mother protects you. It keeps you

safe. You’re safest with you aunt because she has your mother’s blood as well.

Does that make any sense to you?”

“Sort of.” Harry said

“When your parents died, your mother sacrificed herself for you. She wanted to

protect you. It’s very, very old magic, Harry. By doing so, she created this sort of

bond to you, a bond that Voldemort can’t touch. Since your aunt and your mother

are from the same blood line, your aunt’s blood holds a protection to you as well.

That’s why you are safe with the Dursleys, Voldemort can’t touch you their

because of the blood bond. Get it?”

“Yeah.” Harry said, “But if I’m so safe with them, how would I be able to live with

you? We aren’t related by blood. You wouldn’t have that level of protection,

right? Why would Dumbledore ever consider me living with you?”

Sirius snorted, “Oh, trust me, he is dead against it. Technically, since I am your

legal guardian, I have every right to make you come and live with me right now

and Dumbledore wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.”

“So why don’t you just make me come with you?” Harry questioned

“Well, it was part of the deal.” Sirius said, “I didn’t want to force you to come live

with me because you didn’t even know me and I’m sure the whole idea would

have freaked you out. I also have to consider your safety. And for you to be safe

with me Dumbledore would need to place a special protective ward on my house.So Dumbledore and I made a deal that I would have about a week or so to get to

know you and if you felt comfortable with me then you could move in with me.”

Harry thought about this for a moment, “What if I still didn’t feel comfortable with

you by the end of the week?”

“Then you wouldn’t live with me. I’d still be able to see you if I wanted to, but you

wouldn’t live with me. Dumbledore really wants to keep your living situation as

is.” Sirius said sadly

Harry nodded as he and Sirius started walking around the park in silence. Every

so often Sirius would glance at Harry when he thought that Harry wasn’t looking.



Harry saw that Sirius was going to put a hand on Harry’s shoulder at one point,

but he thought against it and pretended to scratch his head instead.

As they were walking past the playground area of the park, Harry saw the little

girl and boy from the pond. Their father was pushing them on the swings. They

were smiling and laughing, it made Harry feel a little sad that he’d never gottento share an experience like that with his parents.

“Sirius?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you know anything about ducks?”

“Ducks?” Sirius though out loud and made a strange face, as though he was

thinking really hard.

Sirius face then lit up with a huge smiled, “I don’t know much about ducks Harry,but, I can’t believe I even remember this, when you were little, your parents and I

took you to this little park that had a pond. There were ducks in it and James kept

trying to get you to pet one of the baby ducks, but you wouldn’t go near it. You

were afraid of it, you were only a year old or so, but it was so funny. The baby

duck took one step near you and you screamed right in James’ ear, it was great.

Lily was afraid that you were going to have a duck phobia because of it. She kept

yelling at me because it was my idea to take you there in the first place. She kept

going on about how I had traumatized you for life.”

Harry gave a smile at the story. Sirius asked, “Why an interest in ducks anyway?”

Harry shrugged, “Just wondering really.”

“Oh.”

“So you knew me well when I was little.”

“I did.” Sirius replied, “I’d watch you when James and Lily would go out for dinner

sometimes. I’d see you at least once a week. I remember when you started

talking. Your first word was daddy; only, you said it to the wrong person. I

thought James was going to kill me. He spent the entire week trying to get you to

call him daddy.”

“I assume that I eventually did.” Harry comment

“Yeah,” Sirius smirked, “Your father actually bribed you at one point with cookies.

He was so frustrated about you not calling him daddy. I think you might have

even pointed to him one time and said ‘man’. Your mom thought that was really

funny. He even thought that you were doing it on purpose and that you hated

him. He was literally jumping for joy when you called him daddy.”

“That’s the first time I ever heard storied about when I was a baby.” Harry said



“I can imagine that. Your mom and your aunt weren’t ever really close so I don’t

think your aunt ever saw you after you were born. I think the only time I ever met

your aunt was at your mom’s wedding. She wasn’t even married to your uncle at

that point.”

“I’m surprised she even went.” Harry admitted, “She hates magic. They all do.”

Sirius nodded, “I actually think your grandparents forced her to go. She and Lily

never really got along once Lily started Hogwarts. My guess is that she was

probably jealous of Lily. Your grandparents were really proud of your mom. They

thought that it was really cool to have a witch in the family.”

“They sounded like nice people.” Harry said

“Oh they were. I always liked your mom’s parents, they were always really nice.

Harry, you would have loved your dad’s parents. They died before you were born,

but you would have loved them. Frank told the best stories. Your father got hissense of humor from Frank. Your grandmother was the best cook in the entire

world in my opinion. Ella always had a warm smile; she always made you feel

welcome in her home.”

“You knew them well, then?” Harry asked

“I lived with you dad for a while, so yeah, I knew them well. I was sort of like their

second son. After I graduated Hogwarts I got my own apartment, but I always

was invited to your grandparents whenever I wanted.”

“Why did you live with my dad? Did you get kicked out of your house orsomething?”

“Not exactly. My parents were total bastards. I come from a long line of pure-

blooded wizards. I’m sure you’ve met a good amount of them at Hogwarts. They

think that they are better then most just because of their family name. My

parents were pure-blooded maniacs and after a while I just couldn’t deal with

them so I left home when I was sixteen. Your grandparent let me stay with them.

They didn’t mind at all, they loved having me there.”

“You really hated your family enough to want to leave forever?”

“Yeah.”

“Why, did they beat you or something?”

The question startled Sirius a little, he hadn’t expected it. “No, they weren’t very

physical like that, I mean, they’d slap me once in a while I guess, I can’t really

remember. Verbal abuse was more common with them. They weren’t the nicest

folks. James gave me credit for leaving; he thought it was a brave thing to do.

They disowned me after that, not that I really cared. I was just glad that I had a

friend like James who helped me out of a crappy situation.”



Harry just nodded. So Sirius had not had the best home life either. They had

something in common beside James and Lily. They walked around for a little

while longer before Harry spoke again, “Sirius?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you really want me to live with you?”

“More than anything.” Sirius said truthfully

“What if I did move in with you and things didn’t work out?”

Sirius looked confused, “What do you mean?”

“I don’t know. What if we got on each other’s nerves? Then what? We’d be stuck

with each other and that would fucking suck.”

Sirius thought about this for a moment before replying, “Well, what we could dois, you could come stay with me for the weekend. Sort of test things out. See how

the situation will work. If you want to go back your aunt and uncle, that’s fine. I

mean, I’m sure you’d miss them a lot if you were gone, so moving in with me

would be something you’d need to really think about. I’m sure they’d miss you

terribly too.”

Harry snorted at that last comment. Sirius had no idea about what the Dursley’s

thought about him. Harry said, “I think we should give things a try. I could be

good for me, you know, give me a change of scenery or something.”

“I think it’s a great idea. I mean, we’d have to speak to your aunt and uncleabout it first and make sure it would be okay with them.”

“Trust me; they’d be glad to get rid of me.”

Sirius gave Harry a questioning look and Harry quickly said, “I mean it would give

them one less person to worry about. Having two teenagers in the house can be

kind of demanding.”

Sirius just raised and eyebrow, “Right. Well, we can talk to them tomorrow. I’m

sure they’ll want to meet me. I mean, you’ve told them about me, haven’t you?”

“Yeah, of course I have.” Harry lied

“Okay then, that’s settled. I’ll come and talk to them tomorrow.”

“Right, tomorrow.”


When Harry reached the little rock sight something was different. Everyone

seemed very tense. Brock and Ben kept sending each other looks. The entire

group seemed like they had just had an argument about something.



Candy and Taylor were glaring at each other. Candy was sitting next to Brock, so

whatever they were fighting about; Taylor obviously hadn’t agreed with Brock

and thus was pushed to the side to make way for a more obedient girl.

Max and John seemed a bit off as well. Max was sitting next to Taylor and John

was against a tree by himself.

“Hey Potter.” Brock greeted, “Where have you been? You’re late.”

“Yeah, sorry bout that. I fell asleep.” Harry lied. Ben was looking at Harry

nervously and Harry just sent him a confused look back.

“Harry,” Brock said with a grin. Harry was startled, Brock never called him by his

first name before, “how would you like to do me a small favor?”

“How small?” Harry asked suspicious.

“Brock don’t-” Ben began but Brock cut him off

“Shut the fuck up, Ben.” Ben went quiet and looked towards the floor with a

furious look on his face. Taylor looked between the two guys and for the first

time, Harry had thought that he saw fear in her eyes.

Brock turned back to Harry and smiled, “What are you doing this weekend,

Harry?”

Harry looked at Ben who shook his head behind Brock’s back. Harry said, “I’m

staying with my godfather for the weekend. I’m not going to be here.”

Ben let out a sigh of relief and Brock narrowed his eyes at Harry, “What time are

you expected back?”

“After ten at night.” Harry lied, he wasn’t really sure when he’d be home

Brock clapped his hands, “This works out great, I don’t need you till midnight.”

Ben, Max and Taylor all looked worried again. Candy and Brock smiled and John

just looked back and fourth between the group.

“So Harry? Can you do me a favor?” Brock asked

“What’s in it for me?” Harry asked and Brock’s smiled dropped. Harry had

realized he asked the wrong question. Brock got a strange look on his face, as

though he was trying to decide whether he wanted to kill Harry or just laugh the

comment off.

When he had finally come to a conclusion he reached into his pocket and pulled

out a bag and threw it to Harry, “That’s what you get. And maybe I’ll throw in a

few bucks your way too.”

Harry looked at the contents of the little bag. It was pot. Harry looked confused.

Brock never gave away free pot and he never offered money as well. Whatever



he wanted Harry to do must have been big and it must have been bringing in a

lot of money for Brock.

The group looked at Harry with intense interest, waiting for his reply. Ben’s face

was worried but at the same time he was furious. He looked as though he wanted

to beat the crap out of Brock.

Harry looked at Ben and saw the look on his face. He knew that Ben wasn’t

happy, but at the same time, he couldn’t avoid Brock’s eyes, talking him into this

deal without a single word. After a moment Harry finally spoke, “What do you

want me to do?”


Chapter Five: The Weekend Begins


On Thursday, Sirius came to the Dursleys around noon to talk to the Dursleys

about Harry coming to spend the weekend with him. To say the least, Uncle

Vernon and Aunt Petunia were not pleased with the unexpected visit. However,

they were glad to get rid of Harry for the weekend. A little too happy for Sirius’

liking. He kept that bit of information in the back of his mind for a later time.

Sirius was due to pick Harry up around noon on Friday and Harry was going to

stay with Sirius until Sunday evening. Naturally, Uncle Vernon had talked to, or

rather threatened Harry to keep his mouth shut about the things that went on in

the Dursleys household. Vernon had a feeling that Sirius wouldn’t have been tokeen to hear that his godson was being mistreated. The idea of a full grown

wizard blowing him into pieces wasn’t exactly a comforting thought, so he made

sure that Harry kept quiet.

When Friday had arrived Harry was eager to go. Over the week Sirius had taken

Harry out to lunch a few times and they spent a good deal of time together. Harry

had found it relatively easy to get along with Sirius.

Harry wasn’t sure how he was getting to Sirius’ house. When Sirius had came on

Thursday he had apparated to Dursley’s street and walked to their house from

their. You couldn’t apparate into their house due to the protection barriers.

Harry got the answer he was looking for ten minutes after noon when a black

motorcycle came roaring down the street, came to a stop in front of the house

and Sirius got off the bike. He took off his helmet and proceeded to the house.

Uncle Vernon made a face at the sight. He wasn’t fond of motorcycles. He

thought they were for hooligans and gang members. Harry found the whole

situation sort of funny. Sirius didn’t look like a hooligan, he looked cool.

Before Harry went to open the door Uncle Vernon growled, “Remember boy, keep

your mouth shut.”



Harry just nodded and opened the door and let Sirius in. He was wearing a black

leather jacket with a pair of faded jeans and a grey tee-shirt. He was also wearing

a pair of black sunglasses which he moved to the top of his head as he entered

the house.

“Hey.” Harry said, “I’ll just go get my stuff.”

“Okay, I’ll wait here.” Sirius replied as Harry went up the stairs. Uncle Vernon

watched Sirius like a hawk the entire time he was in the house.

“So,” Sirius said to Uncle Vernon, “I’ll bring Harry back here on Sunday around

dinner time I guess.”

“And don’t be late; we eat at dinner at six-o-clock, I don’t want our meal to be

interrupted because of lateness.” Uncle Vernon said angrily

Sirius used all the strength he had to keep himself from punching Vernon right in

the face. No one tells Sirius Black what to do. Sirius just sent a glare Vernon’s

way that made the large man back away from Sirius a little.

Luckily, Harry had not spent much time getting his stuff together and came

downstairs with a small overnight bag, “I’m ready.”

“Great.” Sirius said as he took the bag from Harry. He turned back to Vernon and

said, “See you on Sunday.”

Sirius and Harry left the house and Vernon quickly locked the door behind them.

Sirius just shook his head, muggles. They walked over to the motorcycle and

Harry smiled, “Awesome.”

“Isn’t she a beauty? I bought her when I was eighteen. It has your normal

motorcycle capabilities, but I might have played around with mechanism a bit. I

bewitched it, I can fly on it, but I normally on fly it at night. I would draw too

much attention to myself if I rode it in the middle of the day.”

“This is so cool.” Harry asked with a grin, “Can I drive it?”

“Yeah.” Sirius said

“Really?” Harry asked excitedly

“Sure, when you turn sixteen, that is.” Sirius smiled and handed Harry a helmet.

Sirius put his own helmet on and got on the bike.

Harry just watched him for a minute before Sirius said, “Well, are you coming or

not?”

Harry nodded and climbed on behind Sirius. Sirius said, “Hold on.” And with that,

they were off.



From the opposite corner of the block, Brock watched as Sirius and Harry drove

away. With a frown on his face he threw the cigarette he was smoking to the

ground and turned towards the park.


Sirius lived about an hour away from the Dursleys. One the way to his house,

they passed a small town with many little shops and restaurants. It seemed like a

really mellow town. It surprised Harry that Sirius would live in such a quiet town.

He pictured Sirius as the city type.

Sirius’ house was even move unexpected than the town. It was an old, light stone

house with a brown roof. It wasn’t a large house, but it seemed big enough for

two people from the outside. There were only two other houses on the block. The

land around Sirius’ house was filled with numerous plants and flowers. There

were large trees surrounding the block. It reminded Harry of the type of house

you’d seen in a fairy tale book.

Sirius pulled into the driveway and he and Harry got off the motorcycle. Sirius’

hair looked perfect when he took the helmet off while Harry’s looked like he had

lost a fight to a lawnmower.

“We’re here.” Sirius said as he put his helmet on his bike and picked up Harry’s

bag.

“I’m a bit surprised. I never really pictured you as the small town sort.” Harry said

as he looked around

“I’m not really.” Sirius confessed, “I waned to live in a quiet area for a while. You

know, wait till things calm down in the wizarding world before I make an

appearance again. I just wanted some quiet for now, I get recognized to easily in

the wizarding world. Once I get back on my feet and things die down I’m going to

get a place in London.”

Harry followed Sirius into the house and Sirius started to show him around.

Automatically, Harry liked it. It wasn’t perfect like the Dursleys house, which

looked like no one even lived there because it was so clean.

The front door led to a white entry hall with a staircase leading to the secondfloor. There were two doors in the entry way, one led to a closet and the other to

a small bathroom.

To the right of the hall was a living room with comfy looking couches and a

fireplace. The living room walls were painted a soft green color. Over one of the

arms of the couch was a messily folded blanket. The curtains in the living room

matched the walls nicely. The wood floor was a light tan color. There were a few

cardboard boxes in that were piled in the corner.

Next to the living room was a large cream colored kitchen. The kitchen had a

dining room off of it that contained a small table and four chairs. There wasamble counterpace in the kitchen and a large window above the sink let the



sunlight into the room. There was a bar-bench eating area with stools on the right

side of the kitchen.

The kitchen had a sliding glass door that led to the backyard. Through the glass,

Harry could tell that the back yard was enormous and filled with many gardens.

Sirius had explained to Harry that Dumbledore had already placed certain

security measures on the house so it was definitely safe.

“Sorry it’s a bit messy,” Sirius said as they left the living room and went back into

the entry hall, “I still have some unpacking and painting to do upstairs. Let me

show you were your room is. I’m sure you want to get settled in.”

Sirius and Harry climbed the staircase which led to a hall that smelled distinctly

of fresh paint. On the right side of the hall was Sirius’ room. Next to Sirius’ room

was a bathroom. On the left side of the hall was Harry’s room.

Sirius opened the door and Harry followed him inside the room. Sirius cleared his

throat, “I know it’s a bit plain, so if you want to change it, I won’t mind.”

The room was small, but still bigger than the room he had at the Dursleys. The

walls were a light blue color that matched the plaid blanket on the double bed

that was against the wall. There was a small desk and a dresser in the room as

well. Harry really liked the room. It was comfortable.

“This is great.” Harry said as he went and sat down on the bed.

Sirius put Harry’s bag down on the bed and said, “I’m glad you like it. I’ve got

some painting to do so why don’t you unpack and get settled a bit.”

“Okay.” Harry said

Sirius went to leave the room and said, “If you need anything, just ask.”

“I will.” Harry said

Sirius smiled and then walked out the door. He came back half a second later and

said, “Harry?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m really glad you decided to come and stay for the weekend.” Sirius said

truthfully and then walked back out of the room.

“Me too.” Harry whispered once Sirius was out of sight.


Once Harry finished packing he left his room and went to find Sirius. It wasn’t

hard finding him, all Harry had to do was follow the smell of went paint. Harry’s

nose led him to Sirius bedroom.



The furniture in Sirius’ room was draped in white cloth to protect it from any paint

spills. Sirius was painting on one of the walls with a cool green colored paint. He

was wearing a pair of paint stained jeans and a paint stained shirt.

Harry leaned against the door frame to the room and asked, “Why don’t you just

use magic to paint the room?”

Sirius turned around and replied, “Where is the fun in that?”

“It’s easier.” Harry said

“Just because something is easy doesn’t mean you should do it.” Sirius said and

then threw a paintbrush to Harry, “Come on, give me a hand, it’s more fun than it

seems.”

Harry sighed and walked into the room and started to help Sirius paint the walls.

It didn’t seem like it was much fun.

“Did you paint the entire house?” Harry asked as he dipped the brush in the

paint.

Sirius nodded, “I did.”

“All by yourself?” Harry questioned

“Yup.”

“Why didn’t you want to use magic?”

“Don’t know, I just thought it would be a good experience really.”

“Oh.”

“So,” Sirius said, “you’re all unpacked and everything?”

“Yea.” Harry replied

“Very good.” Sirius smiled. He moved towards the direction of the other wall but

collided with Harry who had moved to get some more paint. Sirius’ paintbrush

went across Harry’s face, covering his glasses with the green paint.

“ARG!” Harry exclaimed which caused Sirius to laugh.

Harry looked angry at first but then his face broke into an evil grin, “You think

that’s funny?”

Sirius nodded, still laughing. Harry ran his brush across Sirius face, causing Sirius

to stop laughing.

“I’ll get you for that one.” Sirius smiled

He took a step towards Harry and before they knew it they were involved in a

furious paint war. There was more paint on them then there was on the walls.

Sirius’s hair was mostly green and Harry’s entire face was covered in the paint.



Once Sirius and Harry had finally stopped attacking each other with paint, Sirius

spoke, “You’ve got some paint on you.”

“Thanks. I hadn’t noticed.” Harry grinned as he tried to clean off his glasses.

“I think I’m going to need more paint.”

“I told you that you should have used magic.”

Sirius sighed, “Probably. You hungry?”

“Yeah, a bit.” Harry replied

“How about we go and clean up a bit and then we can go into town and have

some dinner.”

“Sounds good to me.”


Chapter Six- Saturday


Sunlight poured into the room from the window facing the backyard. Harry turned

over in his bed and slowly opened his eyes. It took him a second to remember

that he wasn’t in his aunt and uncle’s house. The bed was too comfortable to be

the one on Privet Drive. He was at Sirius’ place.

Harry reached to the night stand and put on his glasses. He glanced at the clock;

it was twelve-thirty. Harry couldn’t remember sleeping that late, ever. Normally

his aunt would wake him up early to help make breakfast.

Harry thought about staying in the warm bed all day long, but then thought

against it and pulled the covers off himself and rolled out of bed. He put on a pair

of hand-me-down jeans and a baggy red tee-shirt before heading downstairs.

On his way downstairs, Harry noticed a few empty paint cans outside of Sirius’

bedroom. ‘He must have gotten more paint and finished his room.’ Harry thought

as he descended the staircase.

Harry walked into the kitchen to get something to eat. Sirius was sitting at the

bench with a cup of coffee and was reading the Daily Prophet. He looked up as

Harry entered and said, “Hey, did you sleep well?”

“Yeah.” Harry said and then asked, “Have you been up long?”



Sirius nodded, “Yeah, I normally wake up around eight. I used to be able to sleep

way past noon but Azkaban has really warped my sleeping patterns. Are you

hungry?”

“Why didn’t you wake me up? You didn’t have to let me sleep so late.” Harry said

“Well, I wasn’t sure if you would be mad if I woke you up. If you want I can in the

future, but I just figured you could use the sleep. You looked a bit tired last

night.”

“I normally don’t sleep that late, that’s all.” Harry said, “You don’t have to wake

me up or anything, I was just surprised.”

Sirius just nodded and then asked again, “Want some breakfast? Well, lunch

actually.”

“Sure.” Harry said

Sirius got up and walked to the fridge, “What are you in the mood for?”

Harry was a bit baffled. Normally his aunt and uncle made him do all of the

cooking in the house, and they never would let him choose the meals. Harry was

just happy with whatever they placed in front of him.

“You don’t have to make it or anything, I can do it.” Harry said, feeling a little

guilty to take advantage of Sirius’ hospitality.

“Its not a problem, I was going to make something to eat anyway. Are you in the

mood for anything in particular? I can make whatever you want, really.Surprisingly, I’m a halfway decent cook.” Sirius replied

“Um, I’ll just have whatever your having.” Harry responded

“I was going to have a sandwich; does that sound good to you?”

“Yeah, that’s fine.” Harry said as he sat down at the bench. Sirius began pulling

some deli meat out of the fridge and started preparing their lunch.

As he took out a knife from one of the drawers he asked, “So, did you sleep

well?”

“I slept great.” Harry said

“That’s good, I finished painting my room while you were sleeping, I had to run

and pick up some new paint, but at least its all finally done.”

“Did it come out nice?”

“Yeah, I like it.”

“That’s good.”

As Sirius pulled out a few bread rolls he asked, “Harry?”



“Yeah?”

“Don’t smoke while you’re here.”

“What?”

“Last night, after you thought I went to bed, you went outside for a smoke.”Sirius said as he turned around and looked at Harry. Harry looked nervous, not

really sure what to expect from Sirius. Normally when his uncle was mad at him,

well, it wasn’t normally a pretty sight.

Sirius saw the quick change in Harry and continued to speak in a calm voice, “I’m

not angry, but while you’re with me I’m responsible for you. When you’re here I

would prefer if you didn’t smoke. What you do when you’re not here, well, there

isn’t anything I can do about that. But I would just really appreciate it if you didn’t

smoke while you’re here.”

Harry just nodded, glad that Sirius wasn’t too mad. He reached into his pocket

and pulled out the open pack of cigarettes and put them on the table. He didn’t

want Sirius to be disappointed with him. This was the first time an adult was ever

really nice to Harry and he didn’t want to mess it up. Harry avoided Sirius’ eyes

and said, “Sorry.”

“It’s alright.” Sirius said as he handed Harry a plate and took the cigarettes and

placed them in his pocket, “Smoking is a nasty habit. It’s hard to quit, trust me, I

know, but if you ever do decide to quit I’d be glad to help you.”

“You smoked?” Harry asked as Sirius sat down at the bench with his ownsandwich.

Sirius nodded, “In did. I started when I was about your age actually. I quit when I

was about fourteen. Not on my own, but with some help from my friends.”

“What did they do that made you stop?” Harry asked as he took a bite from his

sandwich

“Well, they tried a few methods. They tried telling me how bad they were for me,

but I didn’t really care at the time. Like you said to me a few days back, I was

young and we all die someday anyway. They tried hiding them from me, whichdidn’t work out. I normally found them and then we’d all end up fighting about it

afterwards because I would be pissed that they took my stuff. They tried tearing

them up, but I would just use magic to put them back together. They tried

burning them when I wasn’t around but I’d smell them and come running into the

room. What actually got me to quit was your dad.”

“My dad?”

“Yup. After a while James couldn’t take it anymore. He hated the smell of smoke.

Especially when I would smoke in the dorm. It really ticked him off. He eventually

told me that every time I would smoke a cigarette he would smoke one too, that



way I would have to deal with the guilt of killing not only myself but my best

friend from lung cancer.”

“And that really worked?”

“Oh yeah. At first I thought he was kidding so I lit one up and blew the smoke

right in his face. He didn’t even get mad. He just took the pack and pulled one

out and lit up as well. I thought it was a one time thing so I just kept going, but

every one I had, James would have one too. I tried being clever about it, you

know, smoking when he wasn’t around. He got the rest of the guys to watch me

so that they could tell him how many I had smoked. Then he’d sit right in front of

me later and smoke the same amount that I had right then and there.”

“How long did it last before you quit?”

Sirius took a bite of his lunch before replying, “About a month. Your dad was very

stubborn about it and so was I. I thought that James wouldn’t last a week since hehated it so much. Boy was I wrong. Your poor dad must have gone through so

many packs. I had tons with me. I would buy boatloads of them before the school

year started. Eventually the whole thing just sort of got to me. I couldn’t even

look at your dad without feeling a huge pain of guilt. So, I remember one day I

went to grab a pack and your dad got up to grab one and I just couldn’t do it. I

got rid of all of them after that. I never smoked again after that day. Fighting off

the nicotine addiction was a pain in the ass but it was well worth it in the end.”

“My dad really did that just to get you to stop?” Harry said

“He did. Your father was a very persistent guy. When he had his heart set onsomething he’d go for it until he got his way.” Sirius said and then went back to

eating his lunch. Harry watched Sirius for a while before he spoke again.

“Do you think my dad would have been upset with me if he found out that I was

smoking?”

“He wouldn’t be pleased, I can safely say that.”

“Would he have done the thing to me that he did to you to get me to stop?”

Sirius snorted, “He wouldn’t have needed to.”

“Whys that?”

“Your mother would have slaughtered you if she knew you were smoking. You

dad wouldn’t have needed to do anything. Your mother would have gotten to you

first, trust me, she would have ripped you limb from limb. You wouldn’t have ever

started smoking in the first place if you had grown up with them. I’d put money

on that.”

“Do you think I should stop?” Harry asked



“Of course I do, but that really isn’t my choice to make, is it? It’s your body, not

mine. I’m just glad that I stopped. Every cigarette that you smoke takes eight

minutes from your life, did you know that?”

Harry nodded, “I’ve read the statistics.”

“Then why do you smoke if you know it’s so bad for you?” Sirius asked

“Well, why did you smoke?” Harry asked, counteracting the argument

Sirius thought for a moment, “Well, I don’t really know. It was just something I

sort of picked up. Maybe it was my way of saying screw you world, I’ll do what I

want. Sort of a teen rebellion maybe or maybe to look cool. Or maybe it was

because I liked the idea of doing something that wasn’t good for me, you know,

sort of like showing everyone that it’s a part of life that I had control of,

something someone couldn’t take away from me.”

Harry sighed, “I don’t know why I do it. I guess, because I can, and I can get away

with it too.”

Sirius nodded, “Well, like I said, it’s your body so do what you want with it. I just

wish you wouldn’t, but I’m not going to make that decision for you. I’m sure that

if I told you to stop you’d just do it more to spite me anyhow. I just don’t want

you smoking while you are staying with me.”

“I won’t.” Harry said and he truly meant it too. Sirius nodded. This was good.

Some progress. Harry wouldn’t smoke while he was staying with Sirius. That’s

was one barrier to tear down and a million more to go.


After lunch, Sirius took Harry into town and they walked around for a while. They

went and had some ice-cream and did a little shopping. Sirius bought Harry some

new shirts and a new pair of jeans. It made Sirius sick that the bloody Dursleys

never bought Harry new clothes and only gave him hand-me-downs from Dudley.

At first, Harry was really uncomfortable with Sirius buying him such nice things

but Harry was secretly thrilled, he never got new clothes or new anything for that

matter.

They got back to the house around five. Harry brought his new things up to the

bedroom while Sirius went into the kitchen to get a drink. When Harry came back

downstairs he went into the kitchen and sat across from Sirius with his own drink.

“I hope you don’t mind, “Sirius said, “I invited a friend of mine over for dinner

tonight.”

“No, that’s fine. So does that mean you want me to go out for a while or stay

upstairs or what?”

Sirius gave Harry an extremely puzzled look, “No, I want you to eat with us. My

friend, Remus, he was a friend of your parents as well. He really wants to meet



you. Why would I make you go-is that what your aunt and uncle make you do

when they have people over? They make you go away and pretend you aren’t

there?”

Harry avoided Sirius’ eyes.

‘Shit.’ Harry thought, ‘Shit, I shouldn’t have said that, Uncle Vernon will…oh, shit.’

Sirius felt his temperature rise. How could the Dursleys treat Harry like that?

Sirius suspected that Harry wasn’t particularly favored due to his relatives hate of

magic but he didn’t realize how bad things might have really been. Sirius wanted

to know what else was going on right then and there, but he didn’t want to force

Harry into telling him. Remus said that forcing Harry into doing something

probably wouldn’t be a good idea.

Sirius wasn’t stupid, he had his own ideas about what he thought was taking

place at the Dursleys; he just wanted Harry to confirm his theories, though hehad a feeling that he wasn’t going to get a word out of Harry.

“Harry, what is it like living with your relatives?” Sirius asked as gently as

possible

“It’s fine.” Harry said and then quickly changed the subject, “So, what time is

Remus coming over?”

Sirius sighed and suppressed the urge to apparate back to Privet Dive and kill the

Dursleys, “He’s coming around sixish.”

“Right.” Harry said, “I think I’m going to go upstairs for a bit. I’m kind of tired.”

Before Sirius could protest or ask Harry anymore questions that Harry wasn’t

ready to answer, he left the kitchen and headed upstairs, closing his bedroom

door behind him.

Harry paced around the room for a while. This wasn’t good. Sirius was starting to

pick up on some things. Harry needed to be more careful. If Sirius found out

anything Uncle Vernon would kill him. Then he remembered all the times that

Candy talked about living in foster families.

Candy had a really messed up home life, even worse than Harry’s. She switched

foster families more than she changed her socks. She always told storied about

what crappy situations they were and about the crazy people she was placed

with. Her parents were alcoholics and Candy was removed from their care when

she was ten. She’d been shipped around from family to family since that time.

Some of the stories Candy told Harry were pretty horrible. Harry didn’t want to

fall under that situation. He didn’t want to go with a foster family because the

Dursleys slapped him around ever so often. After all, it wasn’t that bad, right? He

could handle it.

Harry was determined to be as cautious as possible when talking about theDursleys. He would spend the rest of the weekend being really calm about



everything and not acting too fishy in any way. Avoiding the topic all together

was his best bet. He’d talk about other things. Keep everything really light.

‘Everything will be fine.’ Harry reassured himself, ‘I’ve got nothing to worry

about. I can do this. I won’t give anyone any reason to think something weird is

going on. I can do this.’


Like Sirius had said, Remus arrived a little after six. Remus’ reaction to meeting

Harry wasn’t anything new. Remus started off as they all did by telling Harry how

much he looked like James, except for his eyes. He had his mother’s eyes.

Harry didn’t mind though. Remus proved to be a nice person. Their dinner

conversation was light and casual. Remus and Sirius told Harry storied about

their days at Hogwarts and about the pranks of the Marauders. Harry had never

realized what a joker his father was until then.

“So then McGonagall goes, “Mr. Potter, do you actually want me to believe that a

dog ate your essay, on school grounds, where no dogs are permitted? Really Mr.

Potter, this is the worst lie I have ever heard from a student in my entire life.”

Sirius grinned

He and Remus were telling a story about one time when James and Sirius had

gotten extremely drunk and how Sirius, in his animagus form, had eaten James’

essay because it was covered with firewhiskey.

“Professor McGonagall was so angry. She hated it when students lied and fromher point of view, it looked like James was lying about his homework, when he

was actually telling the truth. How was she supposed to know that Sirius was an

animagus?” Remus said with a smirk

“Then James says with a completely straight face “Professor, I’m serious, a dog

really did eat my homework.” Then she say, “Okay Potter, if a dog did indeed eat

your homework, where is this supposed dog?” Sirius continued

Remus picked up the story, “James then looked over his shoulder to where Sirius

and I were sitting and gives him a look saying ‘I am going to kill you’ then he

turns back to McGonagall and says ‘Professor, a dog didn’t eat my homework,Sirius did.’”

“Then I let out this loud bark that made the entire class start laughing and

McGonagall was furious. Then I said to her ‘I couldn’t help it professor, I was

starving and James’ homework was the only thing in sight at the time, and it was

a very good essay too, extremely delicious on the way down’. She gave us both

detentions for the whole thing. It was worth it though. It was always fun causing

chaos in Transfiguration.” Sirius smiled

“It sounded really funny.” Harry said with a smile, “I can’t imagine what

McGonagall would do if someone in our class acted like that. I don’t think she’dtolerate it.”



“Yeah, well, that was a long time ago. She probably had more patience for

nonsense back then.” Remus said

“When I got out of Azkaban and McGonagall found out that we had become

animagi, she was really impressed. She knew that we were top students, but she

never realized that we had accomplished something so difficult at such a youngage.” Sirius said

Harry thought a minute and then said, “You never told me why you had become

animagi in the first place.”

Sirius looked over at Remus, as though he was searching for some type of

approval to tell the tale. Remus just stared back at him for a moment before

nodding okay.

“Well,” Sirius began, “The reason we became animagi in the first place was

actually because of Remus.”

“Really?” Harry asked, his attention turned to Remus. “Why?”

“I’m a werewolf.” Remus said carefully, not sure how Harry would take this bit of

information.

Harry didn’t look angry or scared, like others before him from learning Remus’

little secret. Instead, Harry just looked a little confused. “What does that have to

do with becoming an animagus?”

“Everything.” Sirius said

“Well, I’m sure that you know that werewolves are extremely dangerous on a full

moon.” Remus said to Harry, who nodded. Remus continued, “Now there is a

potion that a werewolf can take before a full moon to make them safe. The potion

helps a werewolf keeps its mind in human form. But when I was younger, the

potion didn’t exist. I would turn into a vicious werewolf every full moon. I would

be dangerous to any human. It was my biggest secret. I feared anyone finding

out that I was a werewolf.”

“Why? I mean, I’ve been here the entire night and you aren’t dangerous at all.

Why were you afraid of people finding out? It doesn’t seem that bad.” Harry said

Remus and Sirius couldn’t help but smile at how naive Harry was. Although he

sometimes did things that were much more mature than he was, he still had the

innocence of a child.

Sirius said, “Harry, not everyone is as understanding as we are. Most people think

of werewolves as horrible beasts-”

“And some are, but like anyone, the way a person acts depends on the person.

There are good werewolves and bad ones. It just depends on the person who gets

bitten.” Remus cut in



“Anyway, Remus would disappear monthly to go and transform in a safer place

on school grounds. Your father and I started to get suspicious about where

Remus was going. He would tell us that his mother was sick and that he was

visiting her, but after a while, we figured it out. And when we did, we weren’t

upset, we just felt bad that there wasn’t anything we could do that could help

Remus when he transformed.”

“My transformations in those days were terrible. I’d have to spend the next day in

the hospital wing just so I could recover. I would scratch and bite myself because

I wouldn’t have anyone else around to harm.” Remus added.

“But what does that have to do with becoming an animagus?” Harry asked

“Werewolves are only dangerous to humans, not animals. James and Sirius

decided to become animagi so they could keep me company as animals during

my transformations.”

“Did that help you a lot?”

“Oh yes. Very much so.” Remus said

“It took us the better half of three years but we eventually managed it in our fifth

year. We were able to accompany Remus on his transformations after that.”

Sirius explained

“Since they were with me as animals it gave me something to occupy myself with

so I would hurt myself so much. It made me more human; it helped keep me from

the scratching and the biting.”

“You guys really did that?” Harry asked, impressed.

“We did.” Sirius said, “We would have done anything to help a friend in need.

Besides, Remus would have done the same for us. Right, Moony?”

“Moony?” Harry asked

Remus smirked, “Our nicknames for each other. I was Moony, Sirius was Padfoot,

your father was Prongs and Peter-”

“-The filthy traitor.” Sirius mumbled

“-was Wormtail.” Remus said, giving Sirius a look that said ‘Please do not even

start on Peter Pettigrew, it would ruin the evening’

Sirius took Remus’ hint and changed the subject, “So, what about your friends,

Harry. What are they like?”

“Friends?” Harry was startled by the question

“Yeah.” Sirius said, “The other day when I saw you, you told me that you were

meeting friends later in the day. Do they go to school with you?”



“Oh,” Harry said, “No, they don’t go to school with me. They live near the

Dursleys, most of them anyway. Yeah, I just met them at the park and we hang

out some times.”

“What are they like?” Sirius asked

“You know, just normal muggles, nothing special.” Harry replied quickly

“How about in Hogwarts?” Remus asked

“Oh, my friends in Hogwarts, yeah, they’re good. I haven’t really heard from

them too much this summer. I haven’t been great at writing to them or anything.

I will eventually, I’ve just been busy.” Harry said. He didn’t like this discussion. He

didn’t feel like talking about his friends right now.

Sirius, once again, saw Harry become tense from the topic. He looked up at the

clock and said, “Wow, it’s already eleven. Time flies, doesn’t it?”

“I think I’m going to go to bed.” Harry said, feeling that it was a good time to

leave before anymore “fun” topics of conversation were brought up, “I’m a bit

tired. It was nice to meet you, Remus.”

“Nice to meet you too, Harry.” Remus said as Harry got up from the couch and

started to leave the room.

“Night, Harry.” Sirius said

“Night.” Harry replied, exiting the room. Sirius and Remus listened to Harry’s

footsteps going up the stairs. They waited until they heard the door to his roomclick shut before speaking again.

“So, what do you think?” Sirius asked

“I’m not sure what to think. He seems great though. He’s Prongs’ son, he has to

be great.”

“Something isn’t right.”

“What do you mean?” Remus asked

“Just the way he answered certain questions or the way he’s really dismissive of

things. It’s not normal.”

“What are you saying exactly?”

“I think that there is more going on in Harry’s life then he’s telling. I think his

relatives are abusing him, and I don’t like the sound of the kids he’s hanging out

with either. He’s mentioned this one kid a few times, Brock. I don’t know, I just

don’t like the sound of everything.”

“Those are huge accusations, Sirius, maybe you’re just reading too much into

things. He’s becoming a teenager. That’s just how they are.”



“This is different.”

“How so?” Remus asked

“Do you remember when I would come back from summer holiday and home

from Christmas break and you and James would ask me about the bruises and

you’d start bugging me about the smoking and crap and I just act all weird on

you like nothing was going on?”

“Yeah.”

“He’s acting like that, a toned down version at that, like he is trying to hide it, but

he’s acting like that. And he had a bruise on the side of his face a few days back.

He said it was from him slipping in the kitchen or something like that. But if

looked like someone punched him.”

Remus asked, “Have you tried talking about it with him?”

“When I do he changes the subject.”

“Maybe give him some more time to get comfortable with you and then he’ll tell

you what’s going on.”

“I only have one day left with him, and its not even a full day, how the hell do you

expect me to get him to open up when I only have twelve hours, Remus?”

Remus shook his head, “I don’t know. Have you talked to Dumbledore about it?”

“I have. He thinks I’m reading into it too much and that it’s just a phase. He’drather believe anything as long as it meant that Harry didn’t have to leave the

Dursleys. I just don’t know what to do. If everything I expect is going on then I

definitely don’t want him going back there.”

“Have him stay with you a little longer. Offer him to stay with you again next

week, but this time make it for an entire week, not just a few nights. You need to

get his trust before anything can happen, Sirius. You just need to be patient with

him.”

“I know, I know. That’s a good idea though. I could have him stay a bit longer

next time.”

“It’s the only option you have really.”

“True. I just want to help him, you know.”

“I know, Padfoot. I know.”


Chapter 7: The beginning of all things




The next morning, Harry walked into the kitchen to find it empty. The door

leading to the backyard was open, allowing a cool breeze to drift into the room.

Harry fixed himself a bowl of cereal before heading out to the backyard.

The backyard had a small deck looking over the large gardens filled with

sunflowers and other wild flowers. White roses were growing wild up the side of

the house. The grass was getting long and needed to be cut. In the middle of the

yard was a stone sundial surrounded by hostas and lilies. Sirius had told Harry

that the lady who had owned the house before him had loved gardening and had

planted all the flowers that were around the yard and in the front of the house.

The wood deck had a circular, glass table set up with four chairs. Sirius was

sitting back in one of the chairs with his bare feet up on the table. He was eating

a bowl of cereal and watching a bird fly around from tree to tree, still in his dark

grey pajama pants and a white tee-shirt.

Harry came onto the deck and made his presence known, “Morning.”

Sirius turned his head towards Harry and replied, “Morning, you’re up early.”

Harry nodded and came and sat at a chair across from Sirius. Sirius removed his

feet from the table and sat up straight.

“Yeah, I couldn’t sleep any longer.” Harry said as he ate a bite of cereal.

“So,” Sirius began, putting his empty bowl down on the table, “this is our last day

together.”

“Yeah, it is.” Harry replied, having another bite. “Too bad it was such a sort stay,

you know; I had a really good time here and everything. It’s nice to get away

sometimes.”



“I’m glad you said that, actually.” Sirius smiled. “I really enjoyed having you stay

with me. If you want, we can do it again. Maybe for longer next time. Maybe for a

whole week.”

“I thought Dumbledore wanted it to be a one time thing and then I had to

decided if I was going to live with you or not.” Harry said

Sirius rubbed the back of his neck and replied, “He did say that, but, things are

different now. I think we should give it another week before anything becomes

definite. Give us a chance to get to know each other better.”

“Sounds good to me.” Harry said. “Its not that I don’t like you or anything, it’s just, I don’t know, weird I guess to think about me not living with the Dursleys

and I just met you and everything...”

“I understand. It’s a big change for both of us. I think that another week would be

a good indicator for if you want to live here or not.” Sirius said

“When should I come stay with you again?” Harry asked

“Well, today is Sunday. Uh…I have a few things that I need to take care of on

Monday. And on Wednesday Remus has asked me to help him out with

something, so how about on Thursday?”

“This Thursday to next Thursday?” Harry clarified

Sirius nodded, “Yup. A whole week. Then you can decide what you want to do.”

Harry thought about this for a minute and then replied, “Alright. That sounds

fair.”

Sirius smiled, “Great, there are still so many things we have to do. I haven’t

taken you to all the great places to eat around here yet. And there is a really nice



park that I could show you too. We could also take a trip into London, if you’d

like. We could look in some muggle stores-”

“-Or get some tattoos.” Harry added with a smile

“Sure.” Sirius said

“Really?” Harry asked hopefully

“Sure, I’ve always wanted a tattoo.” Sirius replied with a grin, “I could get a

tattoo and you could watch from a safe distance where you are not near any

needles what-so-ever.”

Harry just shook his head and with a smile on his face he said, “Okay, maybe not

the tattoo thing, but everything else sounds good. Thursday then, I can’t wait.”

“Thursday.” Sirius repeated with a smile.


Sirius drove Harry back to the Dursleys around five thirty. He didn’t want Harry to

be late for dinner and then get him in trouble since he wasn’t sure exactly what

happened to Harry when he was in trouble with his relatives. Harry got off Sirius

motorcycle and picked up his bag and then turned back to Sirius.

“I’ll see you on Thursday, Harry.” Sirius said

“Right. Are you going to pick me up around the same time?” Harry asked

“Most likely. I’ll owl you if something changes.” Sirius replied



“Right.” Harry sighed and then looked over at the Dursleys house with a frown. “I

should probably go in.”

“Yeah, you probably should.” Sirius said with a sad smile, glancing over at the

Dursleys house.

For a second, Harry thought that Sirius was going to pull him into a hug, but for

what ever reason, he decided against it. He held out his hand instead. Harry took

it and shook his hand good-bye.

“I almost forgot.” Sirius said as he reached into his back pocket. “These are

yours.”

Harry looked at Sirius, confused. Sirius held out the pack of cigarettes he had

taken from Harry a few days earlier.

Harry looked at Sirius, totally confused, and Sirius just replied, “Like I said, you

can do what you want when you aren’t with me; it’s not really my right to take

these from you. It’s your choice after all.”

Harry looked at the cigarettes and after a second he took them, hesitantly, and

placed them in his pocket, “Truthfully, I don’t think I’ll need them. I think I’ll just

give them to one of my friends or something.”

“Wise choice.” Sirius said with a smile. Harry had obviously been thinking about

what they had talked about a few days earlier.

Sirius smiled dropped and a serious look appeared on his face. He put a hand on

Harry’s shoulder. Harry jumped a little from the contact and looked up at Sirius

questioningly. “See you on Thursday, Harry. Take care of yourself, alright. If you

need me just owl me. Even if you just want to talk or something. I can’t help it,

it’s just a feeling I guess, but I’m worried about you. Are you positive that you’re

alright and that you’re ready go back to your relatives?”

“I’m fine.” Harry said. “You have nothing to worry about.”



Sirius looked into Harry’s eyes for a few minutes before removed his hand from

Harry’s shoulder and just nodded, “See you Thursday, Harry.”

And with that, Sirius drove off, glancing back quickly to watch Harry walk into the

Dursleys house. Little did Sirius know, that letting Harry go was one of the worst

decisions he could have ever made.


“This wasn’t part of our arrangement.”

“I know it wasn’t.”

“Then why did you promise him more time? We had a deal, Sirius. You clearly

said that you’d only need a few days and then if nothing happened, you’d leave

the situation alone.”

“I know I said that, but things are different now. The situation is more

complicated than I had thought it would be. I need more time with him.”

“The situation is no different from the way it was last week, Sirius.” Albus

Dumbledore said as he paced his office. Albus Dumbledore was one of the oldest

and wisest wizards of his time. Normally, people trusted his decisions; Sirius

however, was beginning to question Albus’ decision of Harry’s living

arrangement.

Sirius was leaning against Dumbledore’s desk with his arms crossed over his

chest and a frown on his face. Remus was standing over by the window, watching

everything take place. Sirius had asked Remus to come with him for moral

support for when he went to tell Dumbledore about the new deal he had made

with his godson.



“Things are very different, Albus. The situation is bad. I can tell. There is

something wrong with Harry. He isn’t telling us something. I need more time with

him to find out what’s wrong.”

“What proof do you have that anything is actually wrong at all?”

“I just know.” Sirius insisted. “He’s acting strange.”

“Strange, you’ve only just met him, how can you be sure that he doesn’t always

act like this?”

“Listen, I’m trusting my instincts on this one. There is something going on at the

Dursleys. I think- I think his relatives are abusing him. They way he talks about

certain things and the way he tries to avoid talking about others, it’s just, it isn’t

normal. It’s not normal for a kid to be so dismissive and secretive. The answer is

right in front of our faces. We just need Harry to tell us and for him to tell us

anything would require me to spend more time with him.”

“He is safe with his relatives.” Dumbledore stated

“Not if they are the ones making the situation unsafe. I’m his godfather and I will

be damned if I let him stay there if they are going to treat him like shit. You even

said yourself; they made him sleep in a cupboard until he was eleven. It’s all right

in front of you. Don’t you see it, Dumbledore?”

Albus stopped pacing and turned to Remus, “Remus, what do you think?”

Remus thought a moment before he replied. Harry had seemed a little strange

when the topic of his friends was brought up. The he thought about Sirius telling

him how Harry smoked too. Maybe the Dursleys weren’t the best guardians but

they were all Harry really had. At the same time, Harry didn’t seem to care about

them whatsoever.



“I think we should give Sirius more time. If Sirius is right then it’s best to get

Harry out of that situation, if he’s wrong, then there is no harm done. Give him

another week with Harry. Nothing bad can come of it.”

Dumbledore looked back at Sirius, “Sirius, Harry is safest with his aunt and uncle.

I know that the thought of James’ son living with them rather than you-”

Sirius cut him off, “-This has nothing to do with the fact that Harry is James’ son.

I’m Harry’s godfather. He should be with me, not these muggles. If I wanted to, I

could just take Harry away from there. I don’t need your permission, Albus. I have

the papers. I’m his legal guardian.”

“Then why are you here, Sirius?” Dumbledore asked, looking at Sirius curiously

with his sparkling blue eyes. “You’re right; you don’t need my permission to take

Harry away. So, why are you here seeking it? If you are trying to change my mind

it isn’t going to happen. Taking Harry away from the Dursleys is a mistake-”

“The only mistake was leaving him there in the first place-” Sirius fought

“Taking him out of there will not help him, Sirius-”

“Leaving him there isn’t helping either-”

“Hold it.” Remus broke in, “This shouldn’t be about what Sirius wants for Harry or

what you want for Harry, Albus, this is a matter of Harry’s best interest. If Harry is

being abused then getting him out of there is the best thing for Harry.”

“I couldn’t agree further.” Sirius said

“But,” Remus continued, “If nothing is going on, what are you going to do,

Sirius?”

“What do you mean?” Sirius asked



Remus sighed, “Albus is right, Harry is truly safest at the Dursleys, so if nothing is

going on, are you willing to jeopardize his safety just to satisfy your own wants?

This has to be about Harry.”

“It is about Harry.” Sirius said, a hint of anger in his voice, “Its always been about

Harry.”

“Is it?” Dumbledore asked, “Or is this about James?”

“What?” Sirius asked with a completely puzzled look on his face

Dumbledore continued, “Sirius, if this is about you feeling as though you owe

something to James, that you feel obligated to take Harry because he is James’

son, then don’t take Harry. If this is all about James, then leave Harry alone.

James would have wanted-”

Sirius cut him off, “James would have wanted Harry to stay with me. That’s why

I’m his godfather in the first place. Because James and Lily wanted Harry to be

with me, not Petunia. Because James and Lily decided that if anything ever

happened to them they wanted me to raise their son!”

“James and Lily would have wanted Harry to be safe, Sirius. How safe is Harry

really going to be in your care?” Albus asked.

“I’ll do anything possible to keep Harry safe. I already have the special protectionspell on my house. We could make then even stronger. Look, this isn’t about

James, this has never been about James and it never will be about James. Harry is

my godson and I care about him more than those muggles ever could. He needs

me right now. He might not have grown up with his parents but I’m the closets

thing he has to them. James was like a brother to me and I know that James and

Lily would have rather seen Harry happy with me than miserable with his aunt. I

know that I’m not perfect and I know that I can’t offer the same level of

protection that Petunia can, but I care about Harry more than you could ever

know. I couldn’t live with the fact that something is going on-and there is

something going on-and I didn’t do anything to stop it. We need to get Harry outof there and fast. Who knows what damage his relatives have already done? ”



Dumbledore turned around and walked towards one of the windows in the room.

He placed his hands on the window and stared out it. “So then, what do we do

now? You’ll have another week with him. What will that do, Sirius? What if a week

is not enough? What if you don’t find the answers you are looking for after theweek is over?”

Remus looked at Sirius who was looked towards the floor. Sirius sighed and in a

quiet voice said, “Then I’ll leave him alone. I don’t want to, and you know that.

But, I’ll leave him alone. He can write to me all he wants and maybe I can take

him out now and then. But I’ll leave him alone, he won’t live with me.”

Remus could see the hurt in Sirius’ eyes. He could tell that this wasn’t about

James or Lily. This was about Harry, Sirius’ godson. If only Dumbldore could see it

that way too.

“I think that is the only option right now, but you’ll only have a week, Sirius.

That’s the best we can do for Harry at this point.”

“Something is going on.” Sirius said, his grey eyes piecing Dumbledore’s, “I’msure of it. I’m not wrong. When I look in his eyes, it just-” Sirius stopped speaking

and walked towards on of the book cases in the room.

“It’s just what?” Albus asked

Sirius sighed and shook his head. In a quiet voice he replied, “Its just, when I look

at him, I get this sort of twisted feeling in the pit of my stomach. His eyes, youlook at them and you think Lily, but at the same time, they are really different

than Lily’s eyes.”

Remus was intrigued by this, “What do you mean, Sirius?”

Sirius turned back towards his friend, “When you look into his eyes, they sort of,

show what he’s feeling. Like, all the things he’s feeling, you just see them in his

eyes. All the pain and all the emotion. They sort of, look out at you, it’s like he’sreaching for help, like he wants you to do something, but you feel like you can’t.



It’s a terrible feeling. When you talk to him, he tries to act like everything’s okay,

but at the same time he gives you this feeling like something’s wrong, but you

can’t see it.”

Albus and Remus watched Sirius with great interest. After a moment, Sirius spoke

again, “Harry needs help and he’s not going to come out and ask for it unless we

can show him that we are there for him. I need to help him. I need to know

what’s going on.”


When the Dursleys household had finally gone to sleep that night, Harry exitedthe house and headed towards the park. Everything was quiet that night. A little

too quiet for Harry’s liking. Even when he got was walking to the hang out spot in

the park, he heard nothing. No owls, not birds, no cars driving, no wind, nothing.

The town was silent.

When Harry had arrived at the sight the usual gang was there, minus Ben and

Taylor. Candy was sitting on a rock, smoking a joint; John and Max were playing

poker by flashlight. Brock walked over to Harry with a smile.

“I was afraid you wouldn’t show up, Potter.” Brock said and then looked at his

watch. “Five more minutes and I was going to have to send someone else as a

replacement.”

“Well, I’m here.” Harry said and then asked, “Where are Ben and Taylor?”

Brock’s smile dropped and, “We had a difference of opinion.”

Candy laughed, “Difference of opinion. Ben will certainly be feeling that

difference of opinion tomorrow.”

John snickered at the remark and Max just looked around a little worried.



“What does that mean?” Harry asked Brock.

“Nothing, nothing.” Brock replied as he put his arm around Harry’s shoulder. The

contacted made Harry jump. “The important thing is that you’re here and we are

right on schedule.”

“What are we doing tonight exactly?” Harry asked, “I mean, you never actually

told me what I need to do for you.”

“I just need you to meet a friend of mine, that’s all.”

“A friend?” Harry asked

“Yeah, a friend. Is that alright with you?” Brock asked, smiling viciously at Harry,

watching his caustically with his fiery eyes.

“I guess.” Harry replied, shrugging his shoulders

“Good, good.” Brock looked back at his watch and smiled, “Come on, its time to

go.”

“Where are we going?”

“To meet my friend, Potter.”

“We aren’t meeting you’re friend here?”

“Nah, we’re going to him.”

“Brock,” Max called out, “Maybe this isn’t a –”

Brock lashed out, “HEY! If you have a problem then we can sort it out like I did

with Ben, alright. Is that what you want? I can easily arrange it.”



Max quieted down and turned his eyes away from Brock. Harry felt worried.

Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.

“Come on Potter, let’s go.”

Harry let Brock lead him into another part of the woods, not realizing that what

Brock had in store for him was going to change his life forever.



Chapter 8-Troubles

“Boy, get in here now.”

Harry sighed as he walked into the living room. Uncle Vernon was standing next

to the couch with a bucket of water in his hand and displeased look on his fatface.

“What?” Harry asked

“Don’t use that tone with me.” Uncle Vernon said as he placed the bucket on the

floor next to the couch.

“Okay, what can I help you with uncle Vernon? Is that better?” Harry asked

monotonously

Vernon narrowed his eyes at Harry before turning towards the couch and pointing

to the couch. “What is that, boy?”

“What is what?” Harry asked

Uncle Vernon walked over to Harry and grabbed him by the hair, making Harry

gasp in pain. Vernon led Harry towards the couch, still holding onto Harry’s head

and pointed to one of the cushions that had a large stain and said, “That, what is

that?”

“It looks like a stain.” Harry said through gritted teeth

“And why is there a stain on my couch?” Vernon asked calmly, tightening his gripon Harry’s hair

“I don’t know. I didn’t make it. It wasn’t my job to clean…oh.” Harry stopped

speaking, mentally kicking himself. Aunt Petunia asked him to clean up a mess in

the living room earlier in the day. Harry needed a smoke so he went to the park

and figured he’d clean the mess when he got back. Only, he forgot.

“Didn’t your aunt tell you to clean this up?” Vernon snarled

“Yes.” Harry said hesitantly

“Then why didn’t you?”



“I-I forgot.”

“You forgot. You forgot.” Vernon said and he let go of Harry’s hair and walked

towards the window, mumbling to himself about incompetence. Harry stood up

straight and rubbed his sore head.

Vernon’s face was red when he turned back toward Harry, frowning and glaring

at Harry. He stormed towards his nephew and grabbed him by the hair again,

repeatedly slapping him in the face with his other hand, “I’LL TEACH YOU TO

FORGET DOING SOMETHING YOU’RE TOLD TO DO!”

When he finally released Harry he shouted, “I WANT THIS MESS CLEANED UP

RIGHT NOW AND THEN I WANT YOU IN YOUR ROOM FOR THE REST OF THE

NIGHT! NO DINNER! AM I CLEAR BOY?”

“Yes, uncle Vernon.” Harry whispered, looking toward the floor.

Vernon stormed out of the room and headed into the kitchen for dinner, leaving

Harry alone in the empty living room. Harry walked over to the couch and picked

up the sponge from the bucket of soapy water on the floor.

As he rung out the extra water in the sponge and moved towards the couch. With

tears welling up in his eyes Harry whispered, “I hate Mondays.”


“Hey. Mind if I sit down?”

“I guess not. You look like shit by the way.”

“I know. My stomach looks worse than my face though. Trust me. I’ve got a

cracked rib.” Ben said as he sat down next to Harry on the rock. They were sitting

on the same rock near the pond where they had talked a few days earlier.

Ben looking like “shit” was an understatement. He looked like he lost a fight with

a lawn-mower or was attacked by a vicious guard dog. Ben had a black eye and a

small bandage over his right eyebrow. The side of his face was covered in

numerous bruises and his lip was swollen looking with a cut that looked painful in

its shade of deep purple.

Ben looked at Harry and gave him a sad smile as Harry lit up a cigarette.

“So, where have you been, Harry? I haven’t seen you at all this week. I went to

hang out with everyone on Wednesday, but you weren’t there.”

“I was busy. I haven’t had much time to hang out.” Harry replied

“So…how have you been?” Ben asked

“Just peachy.” Harry said sarcastically, smoke escaping his mouth. Harry offered

Ben a cigarette.“Not thanks, I stopped, remember.”



“I forgot. I’ve been doing that a lot lately.” Harry said dryly as he put the pack of

cigarettes back in his pocket.

Ben took a wobbly breath and swallowed. He looked as though he was trying to

build up the courage to ask Harry something. They sat silently for a moment

before Ben let out a deep sigh and began to speak in a quiet voice.

“Look Harry, about what happened a few days ago; I just want you to know that I

didn’t agree with it. Brock never should have made you do that and I tried to get

him to change his mind. I tried to stop him.”

“Bull shit.” Harry spat, glaring at Ben. “You didn’t even tell me what the fuck

going to on. You haven’t done shit for me.”

“I tried to talk Brock out of it.”

“Well thanks for nothing because Brock still went through with it. It would have

been nice if someone told me what they were getting me into for fucks sake!”

Harry said, throwing his cigarette butt to the ground.

“I’m sorry-”

“Save it, I don’t even care anymore. You haven’t done crap for me, Ben. Don’t try

and act like you’ve helped me in some great way. If you really had the balls to

stop Brock you would have told your dad. He’s a fucking cop for Christ’s sake. But

you didn’t tell him because you were coving your own ass, you don’t give a shit

about me, don’t try and act like you do.”

“What?” Ben said in a hurt tone. “No Harry, it wasn’t as simple as that-”

“Oh don’t even give me that. You could have easily told someone what was going

on. You were looking out for yourself. You didn’t want your father knowing you

were smoking pot or anything like that. You were saving yourself, not me. Don’t

try and act like a hero, I know more about heroes than any one and trust me,

you’re no fucking hero. So what if Brock knocked you around a bit, big deal, it

didn’t change shit. You’re as bad as them so don’t try and act like my friend

because I don’t give a fuck about you guys either.” Harry said angrily as he got

up from the rock and started to walk away.

Ben sighed and got up, talking off after Harry. He grabbed Harry by the arm,

“Wait a minute-”

Harry turned around, pulling out of his grip, “Don’t fucking touch me!”

“Sorry, I just wanted to get your attention.” Ben said, slightly confused by the

outburst.

“Well, what?”

Ben sighed, “Listen, please don’t be mad at me. I tried to stop it. I really did. It’s

not always as easy as it seems. Just please; don’t be mad at me for what Brockgot you into. I’m not the one who-”



“Just shut up, alright. God, I’m sick of hearing about it. Look, I’ve got to go.”

Harry cut him off. “I’ve got to get home; I’m going away for the week, I’m staying

with me godfather. See you around.”

Harry said as he stalked away. Ben watched Harry leave, wondering if Harry was

really going to be okay.


When Harry arrived back at the Dursleys, Sirius’ motorcycle was already in the

driveway. Harry walked into the house to find Sirius sitting in the kitchen with his

aunt, glaring at one another. If Harry’s uncle was home when Harry came in late

he’d have hell to pay later. Luckily uncle Vernon wasn’t home to yell at him for

leaving his dear aunt alone with a freak like Sirius.

“Hey, kiddo.” Sirius said with a smile. “Ready to go?”

“I’ll just go get my stuff.” Harry said and headed upstairs.

Harry walked into his tiny bedroom and pulled out a small black duffle bag and

started cramming it with clothes (and a few packs of cigarettes). He hadn’t

actually gotten around to packing yet. He had a few more important things on his

mind than what type of shirt he should pack for Saturday.

It hadn’t been a good week for Harry to say the least. After Sunday, Harry had to

deal with Dudley using him for a punching bag almost daily, aunt Petunia yelling

at him for not cleaning the kitchen the right way and uncle Vernon punishing him

for mowing the backyard incorrectly. Harry’s back was still feeling thepunishment several days later.

He opened the top drawer to his dresser and pulled out a pair of pants. As he

pulled them out the contents from its pocket fell to the floor.

‘Shit.’ Harry thought to himself, looking at the bag of pot on the ground. ‘I forgot

about that.’

The pot, along with a large amount of cigarettes and a good deal of money, had

been Harry’s compensation for the job he had done for Brock.

“Harry? Ready?” Sirius shouted from downstairs.

“Yeah. Coming.” Harry shouted back. He bent down and picked up the pot and

threw it into the duffle. He’d deal with it later, but for now, he had to get going.

He zipped up the bag and headed downstairs.

Sirius was standing next to the front door. “Got everything?”

Harry nodded and he and Sirius walked out to the driveway and climbed onto the

motorcycle. This was going to be a long week.




When they arrived at Sirius’ house, Harry went upstairs and put his things in his

bedroom and started to unpack. He carefully hid the items he didn’t want Sirius

to see amongst the clothing in the dresser. When he finished unpacking he threw

the duffle bag to the floor and laid down on the bed.

He closed his eyes for a moment, listening to the peaceful breeze coming into theroom through the open window. Harry sighed quietly and kicked his shoes off

revealing a pair of socks that had a hole in the right toe. The bed was so

comfortable; Harry felt like he could stay there for hours. He hadn’t slept that

well in the past few days. Harry yawned and listened to the soft breeze outside

his window, drifting off to the calming noise.

Harry didn’t know where he was going, but he followed as Brock led the way

amongst the trees. Harry had never been in this part of the park before. It was all

new to him.

The trees in this part of the park were different from the ones he was use to. These ones seemed older, more decrepit, like maybe they had been in a fire a

long time ago and were only recently starting to recover. The branches on these

trees were much barer and the colors weren’t as vibrant.

They walked for a little longer before they came to a clear opening. Park next to a

tree was a black car with tinted windows. Harry looked up at Brock and asked,

“Where are we?”

“Harry?”

Harry jolted up and rubbed his eyes with his palms. He looked around the roomand took a deep breath. It was just a dream.

“Harry?” Sirius’ said from behind the door, “Can I come in?”

“Yeah.” Harry croaked, calming himself down. Sirius opened the door and walked

into the room.

Are you okay?” Sirius asked

“Yeah, I’m fine, I just dozed off.”

“So, you’re all settled in then?”

“Yeah.” Harry replied

“Are you sure that you’re feeling alright?” Sirius asked. “You look sort of pale.”

“I’m fine.” Harry replied

“You sure? You look-”

“I’m fine.” Harry snapped, defensively. Sirius raised an eyebrow and Harry looked

away.



“Right…” Sirius said. “So, I was thinking, how about we order something in for

dinner tonight? Does that sound good?”

“Yeah. Yeah, that’s fine.” Harry said. “What ever you want to do is fine with me.”

Sirius nodded and turned to leave the room. He stopped at the door and turned

back toward Harry, “You’re sure that you’re feeling alright? You’ve been really

quiet since you got here.”

“I’m fine. Really. Just a little tired from the trip. Actually, I think I’ll just go to bed

early. I’m not really hungry.” Harry said

“You sure? You’re really not hungry? Not even a little?” Sirius asked

“Nah, I’m just going to get some sleep.” Harry said

Sirius looked concerned but thought that it was best to just let Harry be for a little

while. “Well, if that’s what you really want to do then that’s fine. I guess I’ll seeyou in the morning then. Night, Harry.” Sirius said, closing the door behind him as

he left the room.

Harry wasn’t really going to sleep. Even if he wanted to sleep, he couldn’t. Every

time he closed his eyes he saw bad images replay in his mind. They sent chills

down his back just thinking about it.

‘I need to relax.” Harry thought to himself. He walked over to the door to his

bedroom and locked it, quietly. Harry then walked to his dresser and took out a

new pack of cigarettes and opened it. He went to the window, opened it wider

and sat on the edge. He lit up a cigarette and rested his head against the window

frame, watching the smoke escape through the window, wishing the thoughts in

his mind would flow out the window just like the smoke.


Chapter 9-Similar life


They walked for a little longer before they came to a clear opening. Parked next

to a tree was a black car with tinted windows. Harry looked up at Brock and asked, “Where are we?”

“Just a spot in the park. Not many people come around here anymore.” Brock

said.

“So, why are we here exactly?”

“I already told you, Potter. To meet my friend.” Brock replied, nudging his head

towards the car across the clearing.

“Who is he?” Harry asked.

“My friend?”



“Yeah?”

“Just a guy really.”

“What’s his name?”

“Mauricio.”

“How’d you meet him?” Harry asked, looking at the dark car.

Brock reached into his pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter.

He lit the cigarette and took a drag from it. Brock made his lips form an O shape

then blew a smoke ring.

He chuckled, “I love making those...I met Mauricio while ago. He’s been a real

help at getting me the shit I need to sell. He knows the right people and gets me

the things that I need to get for other people.”

“So, he’s like a business partner?”

“In a way, yeah, I guess you could say that.” Brock said with a grin.

“So, what does this have to do with me?” Harry asked.

Harry shot up in a cold sweat, breathing heavily. He looked around the room and

took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. It was just a dream. Another

stupid dream.

Harry flopped back down onto the comfortable bed, resting his head on the soft

pillows as he rubbed the sleepiness from his eyes. He reached for the nightstand,

picked up his glasses and put them on.

Harry looked towards the window; morning sunlight was poking through the

curtains. He turned over to glance at the clock on the nightstand. It was seven-

thirty.

Knowing that there was no way he could get back to sleep, Harry pulled the

covers off himself and rolled out of bed. He opened the door to his room and

walked out into the hallway, still in his pajamas.

As Harry exited his room, the bathroom door opened, letting steam escape into

the cool hallway, followed by Sirius who had a towel wrapped around his waist

and water dripping down his neck from his wet hair.

Harry hadn’t noticed how thin Sirius actually was until that moment. Sirius ribs

were outlined, easily seen through his skin and is stomach was flat and had very

little definition. Azkaban must really do a number on a person’s body.

Sirius was startled, not expecting to see Harry up so early. Sirius smiled and said

cheerfully, “Morning. You’re up early.”

“Yeah. I was going to go have breakfast.” Harry replied.



“I’ll join you. First let me go get dressed.” Sirius said before walking off to his

room.

As Sirius turned towards his room, Harry’s eyes grew wide as he saw Sirius’ back.

Sirius spine stood out easily because he was so thin, but that was not what

Harry’s eyes were drawn to.

Starting from Sirius’ right shoulder blade, down to his lower back was a line of

raised skin. A scar; and a nasty looking one at that. Although it looked old and

painless, Harry couldn’t help but hold his breath when looking at it. Just the mere

sight of it made Harry imagine how much that must have hurt.

Sirius opened the door to his room then turned back to Harry who was just

staring at him. Sirius raised and eyebrow at his godson. “Harry, you okay?”

“What?” Harry said, moving his eyes to meet Sirius’. “Oh, yeah, I’m fine. I’ll meet

you downstairs.”

Sirius just nodded and went into his room, closing the door behind him. Harry

sighed and headed downstairs, still thinking about what he had just seen.


Sirius came into the kitchen, now wearing a navy tee-shirt and jeans, and walked

over to the counter to prepare a cup of coffee for himself.

“Did you sleep well?” Sirius asked, pouring the hot coffee into a mug.

“Yeah, I slept great.” Harry lied

“That’s good. What do you say to pancakes for breakfast?”

“That’s fine, fine.” Harry said, staring at Sirius’ back as he walked over to the

refrigerator and started taking out some eggs, still picturing the scar through his

shirt.

As Sirius began mixing the batter, Harry asked, “Sirius?”

“Yeah?”

“Where did you get that scar?”

“What scar?” Sirius asked, confused.

“The one on your back.”

Sirius stopped mixing and rested his hands on the counter and gave a small

chuckle. “Oh, that. That scar would be compliments from my loving father.”

“You dad did that to you?” Harry said, in disbelief.

Sirius turned to face Harry and nodded his head. “Yup.”

Harry looked stunned. “I though you said that your parents didn’t beat you.”



Sirius rubbed the back of his neck, “Well, I had just met you when you asked me

and I didn’t really think it was appropriate for me to just come right out and tell

you about how my father use to hit me. I thought it might creep you out or

something. Plus, it isn’t great conversation starter.”

“It looks like shit.” Harry said, referring to the mark on his godfather’s back.

Sirius nodded, “That it does, but it could be a lot worse.”

“How’d it happen?”

Sirius looked a little uncomfortable and Harry quickly said, “That’s alright, you

don’t have to tell me, it’s not my business.”

“A belt.”

“Huh?”

“He, uh, he hit me with a leather belt.”

“Why?”

Sirius gave Harry a sad smile, “I don’t know why, kiddo. Why would any adult

want to hurt a child? My father was an asshole. There isn’t much to the story

really. He got mad at me one night, he probably had been drinking too, and he

came into my room and just…”

“How old were you?”

“Older than you. I was sixteen.”

“And he just lashed you with a belt for no reason?”

“Pretty much. My parents and I never got along. We’d fight a lot and then my dad

would get really pissed at me and he’d start blaming me for things and he’d tell

me that I was a worthless waste of life. My parents always favored my brother

because in their eyes, he was the perfect son. He would do whatever they told

him to do, no questions asked. But with me, I never agreed with them. They were

bastards, always thought they were better than everyone else, that purebloods

were like gods and everyone else was scum. I disagreed with them and it alwaysmade my father angry. He saw it as defying the family or his authority I think. So,

if my father couldn’t make me act like a proper pureblood by using words, he’d

hit me to prove a point. I guess he thought that knocking me a round a bit would

make me become something I wasn’t.” Sirius explained quietly.

“So, is that why you left your house, because your parents were beating you?”

Sirius nodded, “Pretty much. I mean, it used to be a lot worse when I was

younger. By the time I was sixteen they basically stopped hitting me except for a

few rare occasions like the belt incident. We normally just argued a lot and I just

didn’t want to deal with it anymore. The night that I got this beauty,” Sirius



pointed to his back, “was the night I left my house and went to stay with your

dad.”

“Did my dad know what was going on in your house before you went to live with

him?”

“He did. So did Remus. They sort of figured it out after a while. When we would

have school breaks, my family would make me come home to spend time with

them, trying to turn me into a pureblood maniac, which normally resulted in a

huge fight, leaving me with a bunch of bruises to deal with when I returned to

school. James and Remus eventually confronted me about it in our fourth year

when I came back to Hogwarts with a broken rib.”

Harry looked upset, “Why didn’t my dad say anything? Why didn’t you guys tell

an adult or something?”

“I made them promise not to say anything. I told them that it wasn’t really a bigdeal and I made them think that I could handle it. They hated that I wouldn’t let

them help me but I didn’t want anyone else to know what was going on. I was

embarrassed enough that my friends knew about it.”

“Why were you embarrassed?” Harry asked

“Well, I had sort of a macho attitude about everything then and the thought of

people thinking that I was weak and was getting beaten by my own father made

me feel stupid.”

“That’s really dumb. He could have fucking killed you. You should have saidsomething to someone or my dad should have told someone. You needed help.”

“Well, eventually I realized that. After the belt incident, I knew that things were

getting out of hand and that I needed to get away from my family before they did

any permanent damage. I went to James’ place, knowing that I’d be safe there

and I stayed with him until I was old enough to get a place of my own.”

Harry still wasn’t happy. “I just can’t believe you waited so long to actually get

yourself out of there.”

“Sometimes, when people need help, they don’t know how to go and ask for it. Iwas young. I didn’t really know what to do. I’m just glad that you can understand

the severity of the situation. No child should have to feel threaten in their own

home. Just make sure that if you know someone who is getting hurt that you tell

someone. If you don’t, well, they could end up with worse than a nasty scar on

their back. No kid should ever have to deal with what I went through. If that ever

happened to you I’d…”

“You’d what?” Harry asked.

“I’d do everything in my power to keep you safe, let you come live with me.

Either that or kill the bastard who was hurting you.” Sirius said but then smiled,“But hey, it’s not like this is happening to you, because if it was, I know that



you’d tell someone right away. As you said before if someone is getting abused

they should ask for help and drop the macho act, right?”

Sirius turned back to his pancake batter and waited for Harry to say something.

Harry looked at his hands folded in his lap. Sirius’ home life was sort of like his.

The beatings, the verbal abuse, Sirius had been through all of it. It was almostlike looking in a mirror for Harry.

Harry looked up at Sirius. “Sirius.”

“Yeah?” Sirius said, turning around to face his godson.

“I, uh, I-I’m going to go take a quick shower.”

Sirius face dropped a little. Harry thought that he even looked disappointed.

Sirius gave Harry a small smile, “Okay, breakfast will be finished by the time

you’re done.”

Harry nodded then left the kitchen and headed upstairs. For a second, Harry

thought about tell Sirius everything. But for some reason, even after hearing

Sirius’ story, he just couldn’t.

Once Sirius’ heard the bathroom to door close, he ran a hand through his hair

and rubbed the back of his neck, shaking his head.

‘Damn.’ He thought. ‘I was close.’


Chapter Ten- The Calm before the Storm


“So, what does this have to do with me?” Harry asked.

“What do you mean, Potter?” Brock questioned, lighting up another cigarette.

“Well, why do I have to meet your friend?”

“He wanted to meet some of my customers, you know, see how I’ve been

treating you guys, if I’ve been doing a good job for all of you. So I just decided that you would be the person that Mauricio would want to meet most out of the

rest of the group.”

“Why? Why me, I mean, what about John or Ben-”

“-What’s with all the questions? I chose you, there is nothing to it. Don’t be so

fucking paranoid.” Brock spat.

Harry backed away from Brock a little. “Okay, okay, sorry, I was just asking.”

The car across the clearing turned on its head light and quickly turned them off.Brock threw his cigarette to the ground. “Okay, that’s our cue. Let’s go.”



Harry and Brock crossed the clearing and made there way over to the car, their

footsteps echoing in the silent night. Brock opened the door to the back seat and

poked his head in, whispering quietly.

He turned back to Harry and said, “Wait here a minute.” then climbed into the

car, closing the door behind him. Harry shrugged and went to lean against dead tree nearby. He looked around the dark clearing, taking in his new surroundings.

This part of the park was much darker than Harry had imagined and although it

was a little intimidating, Harry could only see beauty amongst the half dead

trees. The sky was a mix of deep purple and black. The vibrant moon glistened in

the clear sky, illuminating the trees, giving them an eerie glow. The sky was a

sea of stars, shining brightly in the depths of night, looking down at the world.

Looking up towards the sky, Harry couldn’t help feeling a little lost in the vast

universe.

The sound of the car door opening turned Harry’s attention away from the sky.Brock stepped out of the car with a smile on his face.

“Well?” Brock asked.

“Well what?” Harry replied.

“Well are you going to stand there all night or are you going to get in?”


Harry bolted up awake, yet again. It had been three days since Harry had arrived

at Sirius’ house and he still hadn’t had a peaceful night sleep. Harry reached for

his glasses and put them on, wiping beads of sweat off his forehead. He turned

his attention to the clock. It was three in the morning.

Harry groaned in frustration and climbed out of bed, turning on the small lamp on

his nightstand. He walked over to the dresser and opened it, taking out a pack of

cigarettes and a lighter then went to sit by the open window.

In the past few days, Harry had already gone through two packs of cigarettes.

Although Harry had previously promised that he wouldn’t smoke while he was

staying with his godfather, he was having difficultly keeping true to his word. Thelack of sleep caused great tension for Harry. Smoking was his only way to calm

down and relax his tired body.

Harry suspected that Sirius knew that he was smoking again. When Harry would

go outside in the backyard for short periods of time, he would come back into the

house with the fresh sent of smoke lingering on his clothes, hands and breath.

Sirius was also probably able to smell the smoke from Harry’s bedroom, which

was staring to smell like a cigar shop. Sirius, however, hadn’t said anything about

it yet to Harry.

At this point, Harry didn’t really care if Sirius was bothered by what he was doing.Sirius had been getting on Harry’s nerves for the past few days. Every time Harry



would walk into a room Sirius would ask him if he was okay or ask how he was

doing. And when Sirius wasn’t asking him annoying questions about his well

being, he would watch Harry out of the corner of his eye, like he was some sort of

experiment.

Harry wasn’t use to being watched so closely. It made him feel uncomfortable forsome reason. The Dursleys never looked at him the way Sirius did, the Dursleys

never showed any interest in their nephew. They hardly even noticed Harry half

of the time. They couldn’t care less about him. Even though Harry should have

been happy that Sirius seemed to actually care about him, he couldn’t help but

feel like he was being suffocated, like he had no free space to himself. Harry

hated feeling as though he needed someone watching him all the time. He had

been fine all by himself up to this point, he hadn’t needed anyone before. Sirius’

constant watching made Harry feel like a child, as if couldn’t take care of himself.

But Harry wasn’t a child; he hadn’t felt like a child in a long time.

Harry lit up another cigarette and rested his head on the cool window frame,

closing his eyes. Harry rubbed his tired face and listened to the trees blowing in

the wind. He sighed, letting the smoke escape from his nose and drift out the

window. Once he had finished his cigarette, he put it out, then wrapped the

cigarette butt in a tissue and threw it into the trashcan next to his dresser, hiding

the evidence. Harry then pulled out another cigarette and placed it in his mouth,

lighting it as he sat down on the window frame.


Sirius listened to the sound of the lighter flicker on. A moment after, he heardHarry exhale softly as the smell of smoke leaking into the hallway. Sirius sighed

quietly as he pulled his ear away from Harry’s door, looking disappointed.

Sirius gently walked away from the door, not wanting Harry to realize that he was

also awake at this unruly hour of the night. The past few nights had been just like

this one.

Sirius would be asleep in his room and, being a light sleeper thanks to Azkaban,

would be woken to the sound of Harry opening his dresser drawer and closing it

loudly. Sirius would then tip-toe to Harry’s room and lean against the door,

listening to his godson smoking by the window.

Every time Sirius heard Harry light up a cigarette he felt a pain jolt into the pit of

his stomach, feeling like he was failing in his duties of being a responsible

godfather. James and Lily would have been so disappointed. All Sirius wanted to

do was to run into Harry’s room and grab the cigarette out of Harry’s mouth. Only

he couldn’t. Harry had been so distant for the past few days, Sirius was afraid to

do anything that could possibly hurt their already fragile relationship.

Sirius walked towards his room, his bare feet padding on the wood floor, gently

closing the door behind him as he slipped inside. Sirius sighed and then loudly

opened his door, walked into the hallway and noisily went downstairs to get a



drink of water. Sirius hoped that his loud presence would scare Harry into going

back to bed.

By the time Sirius returned upstairs, Harry’s room was silent and the smell of

smoke had greatly faded from the hallway. Sirius thought about going to check

on Harry, but thought against it and went back to bed, hoping that things wouldbe better in the morning.


The morning and the afternoon passed rather quickly. Harry tried avoiding Sirius

by going in the backyard and resting under the trees and by staying out of the

rooms his godfather was occupying. During breakfast and lunch, Harry stayed

silent, brushing off Sirius’s conversations with nods or shrugs. When Sirius

started to ask him questions Harry would get defensive and exit the room,

leaving both Sirius and Harry feeling frustrated.

Harry was in his room, resting on his bed. Harry’s back was propped up against a

pillow as he read Quidditch Through the Ages. A knock on the bedroom door

made Harry look up from his book.

“Come in.” Harry said monotonously.

Sirius came into the room, a half smile on his face. “Hey, what are you doing?”

“Reading.” Harry replied boringly, turning his attention back to his book.

“Feel like doing something?” Sirius asked hopefully.

“No.” Harry replied.

Sirius raised and eyebrow. “No? Well, I want to go into town-”

“-Have fun.”

“-and I wanted you to come with me.”

Harry looked back up at Sirius with an expression that read ‘You’ve got to be

kidding me; there is no way in hell that you are getting me to leave this room.’

“I’ll pass.” Harry growled.

Sirius continued, “There are a lot of great shops in town that you still haven’t

seen yet.”

“I don’t feel like it.” Harry said, turning a page in his book.

“It will be fun.” Sirius insisted. “Come on, let’s get out the house for a little and

get some fresh air. You’ll have a good time. I promise.”

Harry sighed. “For how long?”



“I don’t know. An hour or so. Trust me; it will be good to get out of the house for

a bit. You get dressed and then we’ll go into town and walk around. Okay? It will

be fun, Harry.”

Harry sighed and closed his book, knowing that Sirius wasn’t going to let Harry

get out of going into town. “Fine.”

“Great.” Sirius said, smiling. He walked out of the room and closed the door

behind him so Harry could get changed out of the pajamas he had been wearing

all day.

Harry got up from the bed and went to the dresser then pulled out the pair of

jeans that Sirius had gotten him last time he came to visit and a green tee shirt.

He got dressed quickly then searched through the drawers for his black jumper.

Once he found it, Harry pulled the jumper out of the dresser and pulled it on over

his head. As he did, the contents of the jumper pocket fell to the floor.

The bag of pot. Harry had forgotten all about it. He looked at the untouched bag

on the floor, wondering what he should do with it. He bent down and picked it up,

looking at it uncertainly. Harry didn’t know what to do with it. He definitely wasn’t

going to smoke it anytime soon. Drugs weren’t his thing.

‘I could give this to John or Max or someone.’ Harry thought but then

remembered, ‘Wait, I’m not going back there anymore.’

A knock at the door made Harry jump and he shoved the bag into jumper his

pocket.

“Yeah?” Harry croaked.

Sirius opened the door. He was dressed in a pair of dark jeans and a navy blue

button up shirt with the top few buttons undone, revealing a white tee-shirt

underneath. “Ready?” He asked.

“Yeah.” Harry said.

“Good. Let’s go.” Sirius said and exited the room then went downstairs. Harry

reached into his pocket a pulled the pot out. He needed to hide this.

“Come on, Harry.” Sirius called impatiently from the foot of the stairs.

Harry shoved the pot back in the jumper pocket. He’d hide it when he got back

home. “Coming.” Harry shouted down to Sirius, and then left his room, closing

the door behind him.


Sirius’ house was only a five minute drive from the little town. As Harry and Sirius

drove into town, Harry couldn’t help but feel like the town looked like it came out

of a picture book. The sidewalk was neatly paved and kept clean. The parking lot

was lined with trees and plants. Near the parking lot was a small, shaded parkwith a swing set and slide for smaller children to play at. The shops were close



together and dressed in pastel shades of blue, cream and peach. They had little

awnings and benches outside some of the shops. People were walking up and

down the street, shopping and enjoying themselves.

Sirius parked his motorcycle in the parking lot then he and Harry made their way

towards the shops. Sirius and Harry walked along the streets, silently window-shopping for a while before Sirius broke spoke.

“I have to go into the tea shop here. I told Remus that I would pick up some weird

type of herbal tea for him. If you want, you can go look in another store while I do

this. Buying tea isn’t exactly exciting.”

“Whatever.” Harry mumbled.

Sirius sighed. “Why don’t you check out the art shop. They have some cool

paintings done by local artist. You’ll like it.”

“Fine.” Harry said as he started to walk away from Sirius.

“Wait in there for me. Okay, Harry?” Sirius said and Harry just nodded, then

turned in the opposite direction of his godfather and rolled his eyes. Harry

needed a smoke.


Harry walked down the street, back towards the parking lot. Harry located a little

pub, and wandered to the back of it, knowing he could smoke privately there. He

leaned against the cool brick walls as he lit up a cigarette.

The back door to the pub sung open and out came a tall, thin woman with curly

blonde hair and bright red lipstick. Her fingernails were long done in a French

manicure style. She was dressed in black paints and a white shirt with a matching

apron with many pockets. She searched her pockets frantically. She reached into

her shirt pocket that had a nametag on it that said ‘Charlotte’.

After a moment she sighed in exasperation. She turned to Harry, who she had

just noticed, and nudged her head towards him. “You wouldn’t happen to have

another one would you, Cutie?”

Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigarette and gave it to the

woman. She took the cigarette and asked, “And a light?”

Harry nodded at her and handed her the lighter. She smiled gratefully at him and

took the lighter. She placed the cigarette in her mouth and lit it before handing

the lighter back to Harry.

She took a drag of the cigarette and sighed before turning back to Harry. “I

probably should be telling you off for smoking at your age, but then again, I

guess that would make me a hypocrite since I’m the one who asked you for a

smoke.”

“I guess so.” Harry replied, slightly amused.



“How old are you anyhow? Ten?” She asked, examining Harry warily.

Harry looked offended. “I’m almost thirteen.”

“Oh, almost thirteen, I should have known, after all, all almost thirteen year olds

stand behind pubs and smoke, right?” Charlotte said, giving him a disapproving

look before smiling.

Harry just shrugged and took another drag of his cigarette. “This one does.”

Charlotte asked, “So, Cutie, you don’t have anything better to do than stand

around smoking? I was under the impression that ten-”

“-Thirteen.”

“-thirteen year olds go to the park and play video games for fun, not stand

around smoking behind pubs in the middle of the after noon, all alone. Are you

here all alone?”

“I’m not here alone. I’m with my godfather.” Harry clarified.

“And he just lets you go off on your own. How responsible.” Charlotte said,

sarcastically.

“He doesn’t let me.” Harry said, “I just…”

“You just do what you want when ever you feel like it and ignore what he says?”

Charlotte asked.

“Sort of, well, no, not really. It’s complicated.” Harry mumbled.

“Try me. I’m sure it’s not that complex.” She said.

“He’s just been bugging me a lot lately.” Harry said. “So I just thought…”

“You just thought you’d go off and have a few cigarettes and let him get all

worried about you to teach him a lesson? Trying to act rebellious, Cutie?”

Charlotte smirked. “It hardly ever works.”

“No.” Harry said, looking offended again. “It’s just, I don’t know.”

“Are you mad at him?”

“Not exactly mad. He’s just, he bugs me. I feel like I have no space. Like he cares

too much and it’s annoying. I’m not a baby; I don’t need him around me all the

time.”

“Well, have you ever thought about it from his perspective?” Charlotte asked.

“What do you mean?” Harry questioned, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, I’m a Mum, I’ve got two kids, one is nineteen and the other is seventeen,

and I know that when they were your age, I used to worry about them all the

time.”



“Why?”

“Well, it’s a big world out there. There are a lot of things that adults try to protect

there kids from. I suppose it could seem annoying at times but your godfather is

probably so protective of you because he loves you very much.”

Harry didn’t say anything but he turned his gaze to the floor, letting Charlotte

continue.

“And I can tell, just by the way you reacted to what I just said; that you care

about him too and you probably already know how much he cares about you.

He’s probably worried about you, about your safety and your well being. All

parents want to keep there kids safe, Cutie, that’s just life. For instance, does he

know that you smoke?”

Harry nodded. “Yeah, he does.”

“I’m sure he’s worried about that too. I’m sure he isn’t happy that you smoke. I

assume he has been keeping a close eye on you lately, am I right?”

“Yeah.” Harry replied.

“Have you guys been fighting a lot?”

“Not fighting. We haven’t talked much. I’ve just been kind of ignoring him.” Harry

said, quietly.

“Well Cutie, there’s your answer. I bet that he feels like a horrible godfather

because you aren’t talking to him. Maybe he feels like there is somethingbothering you and that you are afraid to talk to him. It’s a scary feeling to know

something going on with your kids that you can’t help with. He’s looking out for

you by the sound of it. And he probably feels like he’s failing as a godfather.”

Harry sighed. “He isn’t a horrible godfather or anything. I just, let’s say,

hypothetically of course-”

“-Of course.” Charlotte grinned.

“-what if there is something bothering me, and I just don’t want to talk about it.

How do I explain that to him and get him off my back, err, hypothetically.”

“Well, is this hypothetical thing dangerous to you in anyway?” Charlotte asked.

Harry thought a moment. “I don’t know.”

“Well, this hypothetical thing, maybe you should talk to your godfather about it,

because it sounds like it’s a pretty complicated hypothetical situation.”

“But I can’t talk to him about this hypothetically thing.”

“Why not?”



“I don’t know. I don’t want him to know, I guess. He’s been really great to me and

I don’t want to make him worry.”

“Well, this situation seems to have created some tension between you and him,

Cutie.”

“Hypothetically, of course.”

“Naturally. Well, if I were you, I’d talk to him about it. Maybe if you aren’t ready

to talk about it with your godfather just yet, then maybe you could tell him that

there is something bothering you and you just aren’t ready to talk to him about it

yet, but when you are, you’ll let him know.”

“I could, I guess.”

“It would probably put his mind at ease a bit. Make him worry a little less, help

him know that you don’t hate him and that he hasn’t done anything wrong.”

“I guess.”

“Where is he right now?”

“In one of the stores up the street.”

“And where are you supposed to be right now?”

“In one of the other stores waiting for him.” Harry said guiltily. “He’d probably be

worried if I wasn’t there when he came to get me.”

“I would imagine so.” Charlotte said, giving Harry a small smile.

“I should get back.” Harry said. He turned to leave but before he did he turned to

Charlotte. “Hey, um, thanks for the advice.”

“No problem, Cutie. I hope everything works out for you. You’re a nice kid and

your godfather sounds like he’s just looking out for you. Don’t be afraid to talk to

him. I’m sure it would help you both to get some things off your chest. Carrying

around worries isn’t good for your health.”

“Neither is smoking.” Harry pointed out.

Charlotte laughed, “No, no it isn’t. You’d better get going, Cutie. You’ve got a

godfather to meet and I’ve got some tables to get back to. See you around.”

Charlotte gave Harry a final wave before going back inside. Talking to Charlotte

had actually helped Harry. It gave Harry some comfort that maybe talking to

Sirius could make things a little better. He had to get back to the store. Harry

threw his cigarette to the ground before heading off back to the shop.


When Harry got back to the art shop, Sirius was standing outside, with a plasticbag from the teas shop on one hand, and a worried look on his face.



Harry approached him, ready to tell Sirius that he really needed to talk to him

about a few important matters. “Sirius, I need to talk-”

“-Where the hell were you?” Sirius asked, cutting Harry off, anger taking place of

the fear.

“I was just-”

Sirius grabbed onto Harry’s shoulders and pierced his godson with his grey eyes.

“Do you have any idea how worried I was just now? I told you not to wander off!”

Sirius said firmly.

“But, Sirius, I need to-”

“No, you need to listen to me Harry James Potter, when I tell you to do something

I expect you to listen! What the hell were you thinking?” Sirius said, furiously.

Harry’s face grew red. Why was Sirius being such a jerk about this? Harry wasonly gone for a few minutes. “Relax, okay. The-Boy-Who-Freaking-Lived is still in

one piece.”

“What if something happened to you?” Sirius lowered his voice so he couldn’t be

overheard. “What if a Death Eater showed up and saw you wandering around and

hurt you? You can’t just wander around, it isn’t safe for you! I need to know

where you are at all times! I’m not going to take you anywhere if I have to worry

about you walking off like a child! You understand me?”

Harry shook out of Sirius’ grip. Harry pierced Sirius with a look of pure hatred that

made Sirius’ heart painfully clench. Sirius ran a hand through his hair, aggravated

with himself as he realized that he over reacted, disconnecting himself further

from his godson.

Sirius took a deep breath and put a hand on Harry’s shoulder. “Come on, we’re

going home.”

Harry pushed Sirius’ hand off his shoulder and glared at him. “I don’t need you to

lead me to the car park. I can get there just fine. Thanks.” Harry replied

sarcastically and began walking towards the parking lot, leaving Sirius behind

him, glad that he hadn’t told Sirius anything; he would have just overreacted tothe situation.



Chapter Eleven-Breaking Point

When Harry and Sirius pulled into the driveway, fury ran through Harry’s veins.

Harry hopped off the motorcycle and went into the house before Sirius could try

to say a word to him.



Harry slammed the front door behind him, trying to release the anger he felt. He

kicked his shoes off; making them hit the front door with a loud thud. He grabbed

his hair in frustration, ashamed of himself for ever trusting Sirius to be different

than his relatives. Sirius was a jerk, just like all the other adults he had

encountered. It would only be a matter of time before Sirius’ starting using more

physical means of punishment when Harry angered him.

Harry punched the wall, feeling humiliated. How could have let his guard down so

easily? He quickly pulled off his jumper and threw it onto the couch, kicking the

back of the sofa as he did so. Harry heading upstairs, slamming his bedroom door

behind him then locked it shut.

Sirius entered the house just in time to hear Harry slam his door shut. Sirius

rubbed his face in exasperation, knowing that Harry was going to be even harder

to talk to after this.

He walked over to the couch and flopped down, exhausted, rubbing his face withhis hands again, wondering how he was going to fix his mistake and make things

right between him and his godson.


Harry stormed over to his bed and threw Quidditch Through the Ages across the

room, hitting into the wall, making pages from the book rip out. Harry flopped

onto his bed, burying his face into the pillow. He lay like that for a while, letting

the rest of his anger pour out of his body as exhaustion took over.

“Well?” Brock asked.

“Well what?” Harry replied.

“Well are you going to stand there all night or are you going to get in?”

Harry just stared at Brock, unsure how he should answer. “Get in?”

“Yeah, that’s what I said, wasn’t it?” Brock said, walking over to where Harry was

standing. He pulled something out of his pocket and handed it to Harry. Harry

looked down at the contents in Brock’s hand before looking back up at Brock,

questioningly.

In Brock’s hand was a small bag of pot and several packs of cigarettes.

“Take it.” Brock said simply. “It’s yours; it’s the least I can give you for coming

out here so late.”

“But I-I don’t do pot.” Harry said, his eyes fixed on the bag in Brock’s hand.

“You will after this.” Brock muttered under his breath.

“What?” Harry said, looking up at Brock. “I didn’t catch that.”

Brock smiled. “Nothing, nothing, not a thing, Potter. Just take it. Trust me.”



Harry watched him warily before reaching out and taking the contents in Brocks

hand. He placed them in his own pockets, still unsure of why Brock was being so

generous. Brock grinned at Harry and placed a hand on Harry’s shoulder, making

Harry tense up.

“Well, he’s waiting for you.” Brock said as he led Harry to the car door. Brock opened the door for Harry and smiled. Harry looked at Brock uncertainly before

getting into the car, expecting Brock to get in after him.

Only, Brock didn’t get into the car, he just closed the door behind Harry and

starting walking off. Harry went to reach for the door handle so he could ask

Brock why he wasn’t getting in, but a deep voice caught Harry’s attention.

“Leaving so soon?”

Harry looked towards the voice. This must have been Mauricio. He was a man in

his mid-forties with long, dark brown hair that fell to his shoulders. His long facetan and had a waxy look to it. Mauricio’s lips were pale pink and thin. His eyes

were hidden behind dark sunglasses and his wrists were covered in expensive

gold chains. He was dressed nicely, wearing a blue button up shirt with short

sleeves and khaki pants.

Harry felt his heart drop to his stomach as Mauricio moved closer to him. “How

are you, Harry?” Mauricio asked gingerly.

“Fine.” Harry said quietly, watching Mauricio nervously.

“That’s good.” Mauricio said has he put and arm around Harry’s shoulders. Harry tensed from the contact, but Mauricio didn’t seem to notice.

“How old are you, Harry?”

“Almost thirteen.” Harry said hesitantly.

“Hmm…that is young.” Mauricio said as he smiled at Harry, revealing his

crooked, yellow, stained teeth.

“So, you know Brock well, Harry?”

“I, uh, I guess.” Harry replied, his eyes watching Mauricio’s free hand move to hisknee, making Harry’s heart pound faster. Harry tried to move away from Mauricio

without him noticing, but the attempt was a failure.

“Are you scared, Harry?” Mauricio asked, an amused smile creeping onto his

face. “There is nothing to be afraid of. It’s just me.”

“I don’t even know you.” Harry said blatantly.

Mauricio lifted his sunglasses and looked into Harry’s eyes with his own. In the

dark of the car, Mauricio’s eyes chocolate brown eyes glowed out of their

sockets, giving his face an unreadable look, causing Harry to feel even moreuncomfortable.



Mauricio smiled at the look on Harry’s innocent face. “Perhaps you and I should

get to know each other better, huh?”

Harry didn’t answer, he just watched as Mauricio’s hand started moving slowly

and his leg, coming to a resting position on his thigh. Harry inhaled shapely, fear

manifesting his entire body.

“What can I do to make you feel more comfortable, Harry? What can I tell you?

Hmm…” Mauricio smiled as he removed his arm from Harry’s shoulders and

started running it slowly down his back, making the hair on Harry’s neck stand on

end.

“I, I, I, um…” Harry babbled, too scared to come up with anything to say. Harry

was breathing heavily as Mauricio’s hand made its way to the waist of his jeans.

His heart was beating franticly, making the blood rush to his head. His ears

pounded with the beat from his heart, his entire face was flushed. Harry was

scared. More scared than he had felt in his entire life. More scared then when hisuncle would hit him, more scared than he was when he saved the Sorcerer’s

Stone. Scared for what was going to happen. Scared for his life.

“Still scared, Harry?” Mauricio asked, his dark and lustful eyes looking into

Harry’s green orbs. Mauricio moved his hand towards the front of Harry’s jeans-

“NOOOOOOOO!” Harry bolted awake, sweat pouring down his face mingling with

the tears running down his cheeks.

He was breathing heavily and it took several minutes to calm himself down. He

looked toward the clock, it was ten. Harry got off the bed and went to his dresser,pulling out a fresh pack of cigarettes and a lighter. After shoving them in his

pocket he opened his bedroom door and went downstairs.

He spotted Sirius, who was asleep on the couch. Harry quietly slipped passed him

and went out the front door, feeling the need for a long walk and a smoke.

Grateful that Sirius had fallen asleep, making his escape easier.

Sirius stirred as the front door closed softly. He sat up and rubbed his eyes,

looking over at the wall, seeing what time it was. A little after ten. He must have

dozed off. Sirius got up from the couch and stretched. Deciding that he needed to

talk to Harry about what had happened earlier in the day; he went upstairs,heading to Harry’s room.

When Sirius reached Harry’s door he knocked on it and received no response. He

opened the door to find Harry’s room empty.

“Harry?” Sirius asked, but received no reply. He walked out of Harry’s room and

headed towards the bathroom. Maybe Harry was in there. The bathroom was

empty. He checked his own room, the living room and the kitchen, getting the

same result. Harry wasn’t in the house.



Sirius walked onto the back porch, thinking that Harry might have gone outside

to smoke. He called Harry’s name from the porch and waited for a reply. Nothing

came. Sirius’ heart dropped into his stomach. Where the hell was Harry?

He went back inside and checked the house for a second time, finding that Harry

was still missing. Sirius looked back at the clock again. It was quarter after ten. That’s when the panic started to set in.

Sirius ran over to the fireplace, pulled off a jar from the mantle piece filled with

powder then threw a handful of the powder into the flames, calling out, “Remus

Lupin.”

Within a few minutes a face appeared in the flames of the fireplace. It was

Remus. He looked at Sirius, confusion evident in his face. “Sirius, is everything

alright, your face is pale.”

“Harry’s gone.” Sirius replied quickly.

“What?”

“He isn’t here. I-I fell asleep and when I woke up he was gone.”

“He isn’t anywhere in the house or outside?” Remus questioned, trying to remain

calm.

“No! Don’t you think I’ve already checked into that? Give me some credit please,

Remus.”

“Okay, well, just don’t panic. Maybe he went for a walk.”

“A walk? At this time of the night? He should be asleep, not walking around!”

“It’s possible.” Remus said, trying to be logical.

“What should I do? Should I go out looking for him? Should I call Dumbledore or

what? I mean, what if some hurt him or worse?”

“Does the house look like someone tried to enter it?”

“No, no one came in. The alarms would have gone off if someone tried to break

in. Plus, you can’t apparate into the house because of the spells Dumbledore has

on it.” Sirius said. He rubbed his eyes with his hand and said quietly, “Harry must

have left.”

“Why would he just leave without telling you?” Remus asked.

“Because he hates me.” Sirius said, hurt evident in his eyes.

“He doesn’t hate you, Sirius. What are you talking about? How could Harry hate

you?”



“He’s mad at me. Earlier he wandered off when we went into town and I sort of

freaked out on him. I was just so worried-and now he hates me enough to want to

leave.”

“I’m sure he doesn’t hate you, Padfoot.” Remus said encouragingly.

“Why else would he leave if he didn’t hate me?”

“Maybe he just needed some fresh air and some time to cool off. I’m sure he’s

fine, Sirius. He’s James’ son after all.”

Sirius remained quiet for a moment before replying. “I can’t do this.”

“What do you mean?” Remus asked, surprised that Sirius would even come up

with such a comment.

“I can’t do this. Act like a parent. I mean, what am I supposed to do? Harry isn’t

opening up to me. He’s just becoming more distant. He won’t talk to me. I’mtrying but I feel like I’m getting nowhere.”

“Sirius, don’t say that-”

“I can’t turn back time, you know. If I could, don’t you think I would and prevent

any of this from ever happening? Lily and James should be here dealing with this.

Harry needs parents. I can’t be James. Even if I try, I just can’t Remus.”

“So, that’s it then?” Remus asked in disbelief. “You’re just going to give up on

Harry, just like that? That isn’t like you at all, Sirius.”

Sirius didn’t reply, he just sighed, turning his gaze to the floor. “Harry isn’t happy

here.”

“Harry isn’t going to be happy anywhere!” Remus snapped. “He’s twelve years

old, he’s difficult and I’m sure it makes you feel like a failure as a godfather

because Harry isn’t pouring his heart out to you, but if you give up on him now-

you’ll never ever get him to open up.”

“But-”

“No buts. I know you aren’t James. Harry knows you aren’t James and I’m surethat he doesn’t expect you to ever take the place of his father. No one could ever

do that. But you made a promise to Prongs, that if anything ever happened to

him and Lily, that you’d be there for Harry.-”

“-James never should have made me godfather in the first place! I don’t know

how to be a parent, Remus. What was James thinking? Harry needs someone who

can help him; you know what James would say to me if he saw me right now?

He’d call me a failure. He’d be so ashamed, I can’t even imagine it. Prongs was

my best friend, and I can’t even keep a simple promise to keep his son safe when

he went and risked his whole life for his family. What kind of person would want

me to look after their kid? I’m pathetic as a parent.” Sirius said, looking awayfrom Remus, blinking furiously.



Remus gave Sirius a sad smile. “Sirius, when a parent dies, picking someone to

take care of their kid is the hardest thing to do. They know that their places can

never be taken. So you know what they do then? They pick someone who is most

like them. James and you were practically brothers. You were so similar-it’s

obvious why you were made godfather. James knew that if he couldn’t be there

for Harry that he’d want Harry to be raised by the closest thing to him. That’swhy he chose you. He knew you’d love Harry as if he was your own son. You’d

teach him everything about James, all the pranks, everything. James knew that

you weren’t perfect. James wasn’t perfect. No one is. But he knew that if there

was anyone who could attempt to fill James’ shoes that you’d be it. Harry needs

you now, more than ever. The only way James would be ashamed of you would

be if you stopped caring. And I know that it is impossible for you to give up on

Harry. That’s why you’re his godfather. Because James knew that you’d never

give up on his son; that you’d be there for him no matter what. James would be

proud of you for trying to help Harry, even if his son was acting like a little prat.”

Sirius smiled at the last comment. “You really think so?”

“I know so.” Remus smiled and then looked serious. “Harry is going to be difficult.

That’s obvious. So you know what you need to do? You need to sit him down and

talk to him. You need Harry to realize that he isn’t as alone as he thinks he is.

That no matter what, you’ll be there. You might get mad at him sometimes, but

you’ll always be there for him and you’ll always care.”

Sirius nodded. “You’re right. Harry needs me. I care about him too much to just

give up on him.”

Remus agreed. “I think Harry just needed some space. I bet he’ll be back within

the hour.”

“I hope so.” Sirius looked to the clock. It was ten thirty. “If he isn’t back by eleven

thirty I’m calling Dumbledore.”

Remus nodded. “Good idea, though I doubt you’ll need to. I’m sure he’ll be back

soon. I have a feeling that Harry will mosey on in eventually.”

Sirius sighed, running a hand through his hair. Remus gave Sirius a small smile.

“You okay?”“Yeah.” Sirius replied. He looked up at Remus, piercing him with his grey eyes.

“Thanks, Remus.”

“No problem. Sometimes you just need to be reminded of why you’re putting

yourself through all the stress of raising a teenager in the first place. I’d better

go. What are you going to do until Harry gets back?” Remus said.

Sirius looked around the living room, his eyes landing on a few blankets lying

messily on the couch. “I guess I could clean up the living room a bit.”



Remus chuckled. “Never thought I’d hear you say that. I’m going to head out. I’m

sure everything will be fine. The three of us will get together again sometime

next week once things settle down. Good night, Sirius. Good luck.”

With a small pop, Remus’ face disappeared from the flames. Sirius walked over to

the couch and starting neatening the blankets, still thinking about what Remushad said.

He went to pick up Harry’s jumper so he could hang it in the closet and get it out

of the living room. As he picked it up, its contents flew out of the pocket and

landed on the ground with a soft thump. Sirius looked at the floor; his eyes grew

wide at the sight that greeted him.


From the kitchen, Sirius could hear the front door open and then close, quietly.

Harry had obviously arrived home and was trying to sneak back into the houseunnoticed. Sirius looked at the clock, it was ten after eleven.

‘Enough is enough.’ Sirius thought to himself as he walked into the living room to

find Harry trying to go up the stairs without making a sound.

“Where have you been?” Sirius asked, his arms were crossed over his chest and

a frown was upon his face. Harry jumped, startled by Sirius and turned around to

face his godfather.

“I was out.” Harry replied and turned to go back up the stairs.

“Obviously you were out. Where the hell were you, Harry? Do you have any idea

what time it is?”

“I told you I was out.” Harry spat.

Sirius couldn’t take it anymore. The attitude, the sneaking out, the smell of

smoke all through the house, there is only so much abuse a person can take.

Sirius was on the brink of snapping.

“Come on,” Sirius said slowly, “we’re going to go sit in the living room and talk

about this.”

“I don’t feel like talking.” Harry snapped.

“Go sit down in the living room, we’re going to talk.” Sirius said as calmly as

possible.

“Well, I don’t want to talk, unless you didn’t hear me the first time.”

“Get in the living room!” Sirius said commandingly, but Harry just stood where he

was, glaring at Sirius, trying to make the taller man back down.

“NOW HARRY!” Sirius shouted. Harry’s glare drop and a look of apprehensiontook over. He stared at Sirius with wide eyes. This was the first time that Sirius



had ever actually yelled at Harry. It reminded Harry of when his uncle would yell.

Fearing that the situation would develop into one similar to the fights he had at

Privet Drive, Harry meekly walked to the couch, avoiding Sirius’ eyes as he

passed.

Harry sat down and looked towards the floor. Sirius took a deep breath beforesitting down on the coffee table across from Harry.

“What’s going on, Harry?” Sirius asked calmly, trying to regain composure.

“Nothing.” Harry mumbled.

“Nothing?” Sirius repeated.

“Nothing.”

“Are you doing drugs?” Sirius asked blatantly.

“What?” Harry replied, looking at Sirius in confusion.

“Are you doing drugs?” Sirius repeated.

“No.”

“Don’t lie to me, Harry.” Sirius said, looking disappointed.

“I’m not!” Harry protested.

“Then what’s this?” Sirius asked, pulling out the bag of pot that had fallen out of

Harry’s jumper pocket. Harry looked at Sirius in shock. His godfather thought hewas doing drugs, great; the night couldn’t get any better. Harry should have

calmly explained about how Brock had given the pot to him and how Harry had

no desire to do drugs whatsoever, but he couldn’t. Anger took over his body,

leaving no room for rationality.

“You were looking through my stuff! Who the hell gave you the right to look

through my stuff?”

“I wasn’t looking through your stuff; this fell out of your pocket when I went to

hang your sweater up!”

“What I have in pockets is none of your fucking business!” Harry shouted,

standing up and walking towards the wall, back turned towards Sirius.

“Everything about you is my business! What you smoke, what you eat,

everything. I’m your godfather and everything about you is my business, Harry!”

“Give it back to me!” Harry said, turning back towards his godfather.

Sirius shook his head, “No. Of course I’m not going to give this back to you. Are

you crazy, Harry? Do you have any idea how bad this stuff is for you? Not to

mention the fact that it is illegal!”



“You know what; I don’t give a shit about what you say. I’ll just get more if I want

to. You’re a fucking hypocrite, you know that! I can do all this shit when I’m at

the Dursleys and you don’t care then because when I’m with them, I’m not your

responsibility. All the smoking and crap, you only care if I do it here because that

makes you responsible! Don’t even fucking try to tell me what to do because

you’re a fucking hypocrite and I don’t have to listen to a word you say! You didn'tgive a shit about anything I did until you became responsible for the-boy-who-

fucking-lived! You couldn’t care less three weeks ago if I was smoking pot or

not!”

“Don’t even pull that, Harry! I care more about you than you could ever fucking

realize! You areN’T EVEN THIRTEEN years old! my twelve-year-old godson is not

going to smoke pot or smoke anything else for that matter ever again! I gave you

the benefit of the doubt that if I gave you a chance to stop doing all this crap by

yourself that I wouldn’t need to be on your case about it! I thought that you could

handle the situation like an adult. Apparently I was wrong and if you’re going toact like a child then you’ll be treated like one! I can be your worst nightmare if

you make me, Harry. I’ll be on your case every three seconds if I feel like it! I can

search your room if I want! You can hate me for it! I don’t care if you hate me! I

care about you, and don’t you ever accuse me of not caring! I care more than

you could ever know! You’re stopping all this shit today!”

“It’s too fucking late for you to tell me what I can and CAN’T do!” Harry shouted,

his face was red. Sirius got up and walked towards Harry and said, “Come on, go

sit down, calm down.” Sirius placed his hands on Harry’s shoulders.

“No! Get off me!”

“Harry, calm down.” Sirius said as Harry tried to struggle out of his grip.

“GET OFF OF ME!” Harry shouted.

“HARRY, SIT DOWN, Just calm down!”

“I don’t have to listen to you! YOU’RE NOT MY DAD OR MY MUM. YOU CAN’T TELL

ME WHAT TO DO.”

“I’m your godfather and I have every right to tell you what you can and can’t do.”

“You don’t even want me here!”

“What?” Sirius asked, loosening his grip on Harry as he stared at his godson,

totally baffled.

“The only reason you want me here is because of my parents! You think it’s your

fault that they’re dead! That’s the only reason you care about me, because of

your own fucking guilt, not because of me!” Harry screamed as he pulled out of

Sirius’ grasp, talking a few steps away from the long haired man.

“That isn’t true. Harry, that isn’t true at all.” Sirius said delicately, taking a steptoward his godson.



“It’s true, it’s all fucking true, you feel guilty, and I don’t need your fucking pity. I

CAN TAKE CARE OF MYSELF! I’VE BEEN TAKING CARE OF MYSELF FOREVER!”

Harry turned to walk away but Sirius grabbed hold of his shoulders again.

“GET OFF ME!” Harry yelled.

But Sirius wouldn’t let go. Sirius struggled with Harry, trying to get him to sit back

down and trying to calm Harry down. Sirius eventually pushed Harry back onto

the couch, careful, not to hurt him.

“DON’T YOU EVER FUCKING TOUCH ME!”

“Harry-”

“NO! DON’T YOU EVER FUCKING TOUCH ME! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO TOUCH ME!

THAT WAS CHILD ABUSE WHAT YOU JUST DID; I COULD HAVE YOU ARRESTED

FOR THAT!” Harry said, breathing heavy and tears welling up in his eyes.

Sirius’ face looked horrified. He looked to the floor and then looked back at Harry

who was huddled into the corner of the couch. Sirius sighed and walked over to

Harry, kneeling down to his level.

Sirius reached out slowly and took Harry’s hands in his own. Harry looked up at

Sirius, piercing him with teary, emerald eyes and a frightened look on his face.

Sirius spoke quietly, not wanting to scare Harry further. “Remember the story I

told you about when I was younger? How my father would hit me and make me

feel like shit all the time? He use to do that so he could show me that I was

worthless compared to him, that I was weak. I swore to myself that I would never

be like my father and I would never hurt a child just because I was stronger.

Harry, I will never hurt you. I will never ever hit you, beat you or abuse you.

Never. I don’t want to hurt you. I want to help you. You’re not happy. I can see it

in your face, in your eyes. You aren’t happy with your aunt and uncle, not here

with me, not anywhere. I can see it in your answer to everything, it’s like you’re

barely alive, Harry. Like you’re just drifting through life in misery. That’s no way

to live. And, I don’t know what to do kiddo. How can I help you if you wont tell me

what’s wrong?”

“You can’t help me.” Harry said quietly, tears streaming down his face. “No onecan help me.”

“I can try.”

Harry shook his head and said quickly, “No, no, you can’t. It’s too late for that.”

“Why can’t I help you, Harry?” Sirius asked softly, looking into Harry’s eyes.

“It wouldn’t change anything. Too much has happened.”

“What does that mean? Harry, what does that mean: Too much has happened?

What happened, Harry? Did your uncle do something to you, or one of yourfriends?” Sirius asked gently.



“Telling you-it, it can’t change what happened.”

“Maybe it can’t change what happened in the past but maybe we can prevent

what ever happened to you from happening again in the future. I don’t like

seeing you upset, Harry. I care about you too much to let you grow up being

unhappy and upset all the time. If you tell me what’s wrong, Harry, I promise Iwill do everything in my power to make things right again. But you need to tell

me what’s going on kiddo. I can’t read minds. I can’t help you unless I know what

happened.”

Harry swallowed and took a wobbly breath and said in a broken voice, “A lot has

happened, Sirius. A lot has happened.”

“Like what?”

Harry finally couldn’t take it anymore. All the pain and the emotion he had been

hiding for so long was finally threatening spilling out. Harry couldn’t handle itanymore. He hadn’t slept in days. Between the beatings from his uncle replaying

in his mind for years and the nightmares, Harry was physically and emotionally

exhausted. He broke down, sobbing like a child. Harry put his head in his hands

and between sobs said in muffled voice, “I want everything to go away.”

Sirius pulled himself off the floor and sat next to Harry, pulling his godson into a

hug. Harry tried to struggle out of the hug, but gave up, being too tired to fight

anymore. Harry buried his head into Sirius’ chest as he cried; attaching himself to

Sirius’ shirt like it was his lifeline. Sirius wrapped his arms tightly around Harry

and rubbed small circles into his back. Harry melted into the embrace, feeling

safer in Sirius’ arms than he had ever felt in his life, crying openly. Everything

that Harry had been holding back for so long was finally being released.

Sirius took a breath and continued to rub calming circles into Harry’s back.

Fighting back his own tears, he said softly, “Shh…its okay, Harry. Everything is

going to be alright now. I’m here kiddo. I won’t let anything bad happen to you.

I’m here; I’ll always be here for you.”



Chapter 12: Talking through the pain

Sirius placed two mugs of hot chocolate down on the table as he sat down across

from his godson. Harry gratefully took a mug, wrapping his hands around the hot

beverage, letting the warmth of the mug heat up his hands. Harry lifted the mug

and took a sip of it, instantly making him feel a little better. Surprisingly, Sirius

made a pretty decent hot chocolate. Harry and Sirius had relocated themselves

to the kitchen, feeling like it was a better place for them to talk.

Sirius took a sip from his own mug, wondering how he should start the

conversation. Luckily, Harry spoke up first.



“I don’t know what to say.” Harry chuckled softly, looking a bit embarrassed.

“That’s okay.” Sirius reassured. “Why don’t you just start with your relatives. We

can cover everything else from there.”

Harry nodded and took another sip of his hot chocolate. He placed his mug back

on the table and looked into the hot drink, avoiding Sirius’ eyes. “You know the

story you told me about your family? Living with the Dursleys is sort of like that.”

“I had a feeling that was the case.” Sirius said. “I have a sort of sixth sense when

it comes to stuff like that. Plus, you kept avoiding the topic of family and that was

a clear giveaway on its own…”

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.” Harry said quietly, looking up at Sirius.

“It’s alright, Harry. I’m just glad that you’re telling me now.” Sirius said. He

paused a moment before speaking quietly. “How bad does it get?”

Harry looked down again, his eyes focused on the mug in his hands as he spoke.

He took a deep breath before starting. “Not too bad. I mean once in a while I’ll

get punch or something, but mostly I just get slapped in the head and stuff like

that. Sometimes Dudley will punch me in the stomach if I pass him or shove me

into something. My uncle has hit me with a belt before, but it never left a mark

like the one on your back. I heal sort of quickly. Mostly he just slaps me around. It

doesn’t happen very often anymore. It used to be worse when I was younger. I

think they stopped a lot of it because they are afraid I’ll blow them up with magic

or something.”

“When was the last time your uncle hit you?” Sirius asked.

“Last week. I forgot to clean up a mess in the living room. He slapped me around

a bit for it.” Harry said softly, his eyes still downcast at the table.

Sirius could tell how much the Dursleys had affected Harry just by the way his

godson talked about them. Harry’s voice was soft and quiet, his eyes avoided

Sirius’, making Sirius understand how small the Dursleys made Harry feel.

“It’s okay to be upset and scared about this, you know. This is a tough thing for

someone your age to deal with.” Sirius spoke after a moment of silence.

“I know.” Harry said quietly. “It’s just; I don’t really like talking about this stuff.”

Sirius nodded. “Well, I can’t really imagine anyone who actually likes talking

about this stuff but it’s good to get this all off your chest.”

Harry nodded and Sirius continued speaking. “You’ll never go back to them,

Harry. I promise you that. You’re staying here with me from now on. They can’t

hurt you anymore. You don’t need to be afraid.” Harry nodded again.

The room drifted into another silence, giving Harry and Sirius both time to have

some more hot chocolate. Sirius lifted the mug to his lips, taking a long sip beforeplacing the mug back down on the table. “Harry?”



“Yeah?”

“He never-I mean, did your uncle ever…touch you?” Sirius asked, hoping the

answer would be no.

“No, he never did. Not like that.” Harry replied truthfully, looking up at his

godfather.

Sirius nodded, breathing a sigh of relief. Harry looked away from Sirius,

uncomfortably, prompting Sirius to question Harry again.

“Harry?”

“Yeah?”

“Has anyone ever touched you?” Sirius asked, carefully.

“Not exactly.” Harry said, after a delayed wait, as he rubbed the back of his neck.

“What do you mean?” Sirius asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

Harry sighed. “You know last week when I was leaving the park and then I met up

with you and we went into town and got hot chocolate?”

“Yeah.”

“Before I met you, I was hanging out with these kids. They’re not wizards or

anything, just muggles, but I started hanging out with them in the beginning of

the summer. Some of them smoke and do drugs and stuff like that. So, I started

hanging out with them because they could get me cigarettes-”

“Or other stuff?” Sirius asked, clearly indicating that he thought that Harry was

getting drugs from the kids as well.

Harry shook his head. “No, I only wanted cigarettes from them. The pot was sort

of given to me.”

Sirius eyed Harry warily. “What kids give away free pot?”

“No, I didn’t just get it for free. There was a reason it was given to me in the first

place.”

“Which was?”

Harry sighed and continued his story. “Besides the kids I was hanging out with

there was this guy, Brock. He was the one who was getting me cigarettes and the

other kids stuff. He’s the one who gave me the pot. Brock asked me to do a job

for him and he gave me the pot for doing the job for him.”

Harry looked into Sirius’ eyes, almost pleading for Sirius to believe him. “I’ve

never smoked pot. I never had any intention to. It just came to me. I wasn’t even

going to smoke it. I was going to get rid of it myself.”



Sirius nodded. “I believe you. You couldn’t blame me for thinking that you were

doing drugs though. I mean; the evidence sort of fell right in front of me. I’m

sorry I didn’t trust you.”

“It’s alright; I didn’t really give you a reason to trust me. If I was in your place I

probably would have thought the same.”

Sirius nodded then asked, getting back to Harry’s story, “What was the job Brock

wanted you to do?”

“Uh… he wanted me to…ugh, er-he…shit…I don’t know how to explain it really.”

Harry sighed in frustration. How could he describe to Sirius what Brock had tried

to get him to do? I mean, it’s wasn’t as though Brock came out and told him. He

tried to weasel him into the situation.

“It’s alright.” Sirius said, realizing how uncomfortable Harry was. “Just go slow.

Start from the beginning. It sounds like this has a story to it.”

Harry nodded and took a deep breath. “Okay. Um…the night that I left your

house, I went to meet up with Brock and the others around midnight. When I got

there, Brock asked me if I wanted to do a job from, but he never actually told me

what it was. He told me he’d get my cigarettes and stuff if I did this job for him so

I told him that I’d do it.”

“Okay.” Sirius said, indicating for Harry to continue.

Harry took another breath before continuing. “When I finally went to do the job,

Brock brought me into this part of the park that was all wooded. I hadn’t everbeen there before. There was a car there, waiting for us. He told me that we were

going to meet his friend Mauricio but that was all. So he went into the car and

told me to wait outside. Then when he came back he told me to get into the car.”

“And you got in?” Sirius asked, fearing that he already knew where Harry’s story

was going.

Harry nodded, avoiding Sirius’ eyes again. “I thought Brock was coming too, but

he didn’t get it, he just walked away. So I was left with Mauricio.”

Harry stopped talking at this point and his hands were shaking slightly on thecoffee mug. Sirius asked softly, “What happened in the car, Harry?”

It took Harry a few minutes to answer, but when he finally did; his voice was

quiet, barely above a whisper. “Mauricio, he put his arm around my shoulders

and was just asking me questions for a while. The he started to move his hands.

He tried to, he tried…”

“What did he try, Harry?” Sirius asked, a little more commanding.

“He tried to unzip my pants.” Harry said in a shaky voice. Sirius closed his eyes

and took a breath, fearing the next part of Harry’s story. He opened his eyes and

watched Harry for a moment before speaking again.



“What happened after that, Harry?” Sirius asked.

“I don’t know.” Harry said softly as he shook his head, his eyes still fixed on his

mug.

“Harry, come on, don’t say you don’t know. Something obviously happened

next.” Sirius demanded.

“I tried to pull his hands away from me.” Harry replied.

“Then what?” Sirius persisted.

“I don’t know, I felt like something surged through my body and everything got

really hot.”

“What do you mean?” Sirius asked, not expecting Harry to reply the way he did.

“When I touched him, I sort burnt him I think, because he drew his hands backand just looked at them, like when I touched him his hands were on fire or

something even though they weren’t. He started calling me a freak and threw me

out of the car then drove away really quickly. I don’t know how it happened. It

was so fast and everything. I’ve never done anything like that before. My magic,

it’s never been like fire. I think it was accidental magic or something.”

Sirius thought for a moment. “Accidental magic, eh?”

Harry nodded, looking at Sirius who was watching him with great interest.

“How were you feeling when Mauricio was near you like that?” Sirius asked,resting his chin in his hand, leaning an elbow on the table, still watching Harry

with a scrutinizing glance.

“Scared, I guess. I was really scared. I felt like I couldn’t move too, like my body

was frozen in place because I was so scared. I just wanted to stop him from doing

anything. I wanted to protect myself.” Harry said quietly, moving his eyes to

Sirius.

Sirius nodded as a look of vague recognition grew across his face.

“What?” Harry asked, concerned about Sirius’ look.

Sirius shook his head and let out a deep sigh. “Nothing, nothing, I’m just a little

impressed actually.”

“Huh?” Harry asked.

“Harry, for accidental magic to occur a person has to be feeling a really intense

emotion, like extreme anger or fear. Most of the time when someone performs

accidental magic they normal just break things or make the room shake a little.

To actually protect yourself with accidental magic is a pretty difficult thing to do.”

“So what are you trying to say?”



“I’m trying to say that I don’t think it was accidental magic that protected you.”

“What?” Harry exclaimed, totally baffled.

Sirius gave Harry a sad smile. “I think it was your mum.”

Harry gave Sirius a blank look, not understanding what Sirius was getting at.Sirius continued, “Harry, you could be right, it could have just been accidental

magic that protected you, but I think it was more than that. When your mother

died, she sacrificed herself for you. It’s very old magic, but by her doing that, it

gave you extra protection from harm. When Mauricio tried to touch you, your

mother’s protection shielded you from him. It saved you.”

Harry pondered the situation briefly before speaking. “I guess it makes sense. I

mean, in my first year, the reason Voldemort couldn’t touch me was because of

my mother’s protection. I guess it worked the same way with Mauricio.”

Sirius sighed again. “I guess so. It’s a good thing that you had that extra

protection, Harry. Do you realize what could have happened if your magic didn’t

act up at that moment? Do you realize what you got yourself into? That was

beyond dangerous.”

Harry nodded and looked away from his godfather. Sirius sighed and asked

gently, “Harry, why didn’t you tell me?”

“I don’t know. I wasn’t sure how to.”

“Still, I just, I don’t want you to feel like he have to keep things from me. Harry,

what happened to you, no one your age should ever have that happen to them.

You could have been raped or killed. Harry, people like that are sick. If you had

said something earlier maybe we could have done something about it. The sick

fuck is probably miles away by now. Promise me that you’ll never get into

anything like that ever again.”

“I promise. I don’t want to get into anything like that again.” Harry said quietly,

and then looked back up at Sirius, his green eyes still showing fear. “I was really

scared. More scared than I’ve ever been before. It was worse then getting hit by

my uncle. I can’t stop thinking about it. It keeps replaying in my mind everything

I close my eyes. I haven’t slept in days.”

“It will take away from the pain to go away, but talking really helps, Harry. Trust

me. Something like that, it will never leave you kiddo, I’m not going to lie to you

about that. You’ve already seen more than most kids your age will ever see.

You’ll carry this with you forever, it will never go away, Harry, but the pain gets

less. The fear goes away and it just becomes another part of your life. You’ll learn

not to think about it. It will take time, but things will go back to the way they

were-”

“I don’t want things to go back to the way they were. My life wasn’t exactly

peachy up till then.”



“Well, you know what you do in that case?”

“What?”

“You make a new life. A better one. You’re with me now. You have a second

chance, Harry. Your life might not have been perfect, and no, we can’t change

the past, but we can change your future. Harry, before, you were going nowhere

fast, and now, you have your whole life ahead of you. Everything will work out in

time. You’ll see, everything will get better soon.”

Harry nodded, giving Sirius a small smile, feeling a little bit better than before.

Harry yawned, rubbing his eye with the back of his hand.

Sirius smiled. “Tired?”

“A little.” Harry said.

“It’s late. You should go to bed. It’s been a rough night. You should try to getsome sleep.”

Harry hesitated before speaking. “What if I have a dream about it?”

“Try going to sleep and if you wake up because of a bad dream come wake me

and I’ll give you a dreamless sleep potion. I don’t want to give you some unless

you really need it. It isn’t good to use potions all the time when it comes to

sleeping. It can ruin your natural sleeping patterns because you come to rely on

potions.”

Harry nodded and stood up, heading to leave the kitchen. He stopped and lookedback, expecting Sirius to get up too. “You aren’t going to bed?”

“I will. I’m just going to clean up the kitchen a little before I do.”

“Okay. Night, Sirius.”

“Good night, Harry.”


Harry couldn’t sleep. There was just too much going through his mind at the

moment. At least he had tried falling asleep; no one could say he didn’t try. Harry

pulled the covers off himself and rolled out of bed. He walked to his dresser and

pulled out a navy, long sleeve shirt that matched his plaid pajama pants, and put

it on, feeling a little cold. He opened the door to his room and walked down the

hallway, wondering if Sirius was still awake.

Seeing a light poke out from the bottom of Sirius’ door, Harry timidly knocked on

the door to Sirius’ room and waited for a reply.

“Come in.” Sirius replied from behind the door, sounding as though he was wide

awake.



Harry poked his head into the room. Sirius was sitting Indian style on his bed,

wearing a pair of black pajama pants and a dark red long sleeve shirt. Obviously

the events from earlier had made Sirius’ skin feel cold like Harry’s. Spread out on

the bed was a grey shoe box with the top open and several pictures spread

around the bed.

Sirius looked up at Harry, surprised that Harry was still awake. “Hey kiddo. You

okay?”

Harry just shrugged. “Yeah, I’m fine. I just…”

Sirius gave Harry a half smile. “You couldn’t sleep either, huh?”

Harry shook his head. Sirius nodded, understanding that it was going to be one of

those nights were no one was going to be getting much sleep.

“Do you want to come in? I was just sorting through some old photos.”

“Okay.” Harry said and entered the room, closing the door behind him. Sirius

moved some of the pictures out of the way as Harry sat down on the bed. Harry

looked around at the pictures, interestingly.

Sirius picked up a picture as he said, “When I was taken to Azkaban most of my

possessions were destroyed by the Ministry, but some things were placed into

the ministry’s storage, like my wand and my bike. Dumbledore actually had

saved quite a few things that belong to me as well, not too sure why he saved

them but he did. When I saw him last week he handed me a box full of my old

stuff.”

“What was in it?” Harry asked, picking up one of the pictures on the bed of Sirius

standing in front of his motorcycle.

“Some books that I had owned, my knife,” Sirius said, reaching into his pocket

and pulling out a beautifully crafted, black marble handled buck knife. Sirius

flipped out the blade, making the metal shine from the light in the room. Harry

grinned at the knife, he had to admit; it was pretty cool.

Sirius smiled fondly. “My uncle, Alphard, gave this to me when I turned fifteen. It

was probably the best gift I ever got.”

“I thought you hated your family.” Harry pointed out.

“Not all of them. My uncle wasn’t a bad guy. We actually got along really well. I

think he looked at me as a son because he didn’t have any kids of his own. When

he died he left me a good deal of money; I used it to buy my own place when I

was seventeen.”“Can I see it?” Harry asked, pointing at the knife.

Sirius nodded and folded the blade back before handing it to Harry. “Just be

careful, it’s still really sharp.”

Harry unfolded the knife and held it in his hand, admiring it. “This is so cool. Youruncle had good taste.”



Sirius chuckled. “Yeah, he did. He wasn’t a pure-blood maniac like the rest of

them. He just kept to himself really and didn’t get involved. He also got along

well with my cousin Andromeda.”

“Who’s she?” Harry asked, still examining the knife, much to Sirius’ amusement.

“She was my favorite cousin. She wasn’t a bighead like the rest of my family.

Blood wasn’t an important trait to her. We sort of stuck together at family parties

and holiday gatherings. She was disowned by the family because she married a

muggleborn.”

“Do you still talk to her?” Harry asked.

“We spoke briefly after I got out of Azkaban. Maybe I’ll get together with her one

of these days. I’m sure she’d love to meet you.” Sirius said.

Harry extended his hand, giving the knife back to Sirius. “This is really cool.”

Sirius smiled. “Maybe I’ll give it to you when you’re older.”

“I am older.” Harry smirked.

“Nah, I don’t want to get a lecture from Remus about giving minors weapons

anytime soon.” Sirius smiled. “Maybe next year.”

“I guess I can wait.” Harry sighed then asked, “What else was in the box that

Dumbledore gave to you?”

“Well,” Sirius began, “there was something that you might be interested in, butI’m waiting for the right time to give it to you.”

“What is it?” Harry asked, highly interested.

Sirius smirked, “The only thing I’ll tell you is that it has to do with your dad.”

Harry looked exasperated. “Come on, you have to tell me now…”

Sirius grinned and ruffled Harry’s hair playfully. “You’ll just have to wait, kiddo.

Trust me; you’ll be glad you waited.”

Harry rolled his eyes and grinned. “Alright, alright, I’ll wait. What else was in thebox?”

“All these pictures.” Sirius said, picking up a picture from the bed. “One year at

school, your grandmother sent James a camera so he could take pictures of him

and his friends, that way he could look back at them when he was older and

remember the good old days.”

“What did you guys take pictures of?” Harry asked, looking at the piles of

pictures on the bed.



“Anything and everything. James took quite a few of Lily that she yelled at him

about. That’s in this pile.” Sirius said as he reached over to a pile and handed

Harry a picture of Lily trying to cover the camera with her hand.

Harry laughed at the annoyed look on Lily’s face. Her green eyes were narrowed,

she was shouting at James who was taking the picture.

“We have pictures of us all in Hogsmeade and just around Hogwarts. There are a

couple of nice ones of Remus.” Sirius indicated, picking up a picture that one of

them had taken of Remus reading a book under a tree by the lake.

“What pictures are in that pile?” Harry asked, pointing to the farthest pile. Sirius’

smile dropped. “Some of Pettigrew that were mixed in.”

Harry’s mouth formed a ‘O’ shape. He reached over to the pile and picked up one

of the pictures. “That’s him?”

“It is.” Sirius replied dryly, turning his attention to another pile of pictures.

Harry studied the picture for a moment, as though trying to figure something out.

After seeing picture of his father and his godfather, Peter just didn’t fit into the

mix. James, Sirius and Remus were all tall, each with their own good looks and

strong personalities. But Pettigrew just didn’t fit. He was short with watery eyes

and mousey blonde hair. He was a bit on the chubby side and was not as good

looking as his friends. This was the man who betrayed his parents. In a way,

Harry even felt bad for Pettigrew for seeming so out of place with his friends.

“He seems like the odd man out.” Harry said. “I mean, you guys were tall andhe’s so short. What made you guys become friends in the first place?”

“I don’t really remember. It was a long time ago.” Sirius replied. “I think he

started talking to James about Quidditch on the way to Hogwarts during our first

year and then we just all started getting along from there.”

“What are you going to do with his pictures?” Harry asked.

“Don’t know. Burn them maybe.” Sirius said grumpily.

“Like it or not, he’s part of your past. Burning his picture doesn’t erase him from

everything, Sirius.”

Sirius half smiled. “When did you become so wise?”

“Don’t know. When you’re a guy like me who’s been so open to the world at such

an early age you just pick up these things.”

Sirius snorted and ruffled Harry’s hair. “Well, ‘oh wise one’, there are a few

pictures in here that have you in them.”

“Really?” Harry asked; an excited grin spread across his face.



Sirius nodded and reached into the box and looked through some of the pictures

that were still in there. He smiled when he found the ones he was looking for. He

handed them to Harry, who took them gratefully.

Harry beamed at the picture he held in his hand. It was a picture of him as a

baby, maybe around eight months old. He was in James’ arms, giggling as hechewed on James’ glasses which he Harry had gotten hold of. James just seemed

amused as he tried to pry his glasses from Harry’s hands, with little success.

Harry moved to the next picture which was of a younger Sirius tickling his feet,

making baby Harry squeal in delight, trying to pull his tiny feet out of his

godfather’s grip. Lily was in the background of the picture, yelling at Sirius who

was ignoring her.

Sirius laughed. “Your mum was yelling at me because I was supposed to be

putting your socks on, not playing.”

The next picture was of newborn Harry, wrapped in soft blue blankets, sleeping in

Lily’s arms. James was standing next to her, placing a kiss on her check before

moving to plant a kiss on Harry’s head, which was already covered with some

messy black hair.“That was the day you came home from the hospital.” Sirius

said, smiling fondly at the photo. “Remus and I were waiting at your parents

place when they arrived. They were so happy to finally bring you home, Harry.”

“Where was Pettigrew?” Harry asked.

“He had work or something like that. He dropped by the following day.” Sirius

said then smiled as he continued telling Harry about the day he was broughthome. “You were so small. Your mum was afraid to let me hold you because she

thought I was going to drop you.”

Harry grinned. “That was a little neurotic of her.”

“Just a bit. When we were finally able to pry you from her and I held you, it was

like nothing I had ever felt before. You were so tiny. You wrapped you little

fingers around my thumb and I remember that I just couldn’t stop smiling. And

then when James asked me to be your godfather later that night-it was one of

them best days of my life that I’ll never forget.”

Sirius pulled his gaze from the pictures and turned to his godson. “You’re parents

loved you very much, Harry. Don’t forget that.”

“I won’t.” Harry said softly, looking up at Sirius, giving him a small smile. Sirius

smiled back before picking up another picture and handing it to Harry, “Here look

at this one…”

They spent the rest of the night looking at pictures and talking, forming a bond of

trust, that would grow even stronger with in time.




Chapter 13: A Change of Scenery

The next two weeks passed quickly for Harry and Sirius. They both met with

Dumbledore, permanently changing Harry’s living arrangements to Sirius’ place

(After placing even stronger protection wards on the house). Remus stopped by

often for dinner, letting them all just relax and enjoy each others company.

Over the week Harry wrote to Ron and Hermione for the first time all summer,

telling them about how he was living with his godfather (He left out the bit about

why he moved in with Sirius, not wanting his friends to know about the abuse).

Ron and Hermione were both shocked to hear how Sirius Black, ex-murder, was

the godfather to The-Boy-Who-Lived, but they were glad to here that Harry was

okay. Ron was even more shocked at the fact that it had been his brothers that

actually caused Sirius’ name to be cleared. Who knew that years of sibling

squabbling would actually lead to the discovery that their pet rat wasn’t really a

rat after all?

Ron and Hermione told Harry about their summers through their letters. Ron was

on vacation in Egypt and Hermione was in France with her parents. They both

were eager to see Harry before school started and were already making plans to

meet in Diagon Alley later in the summer.

On July thirty first, Harry spent his birthday with Sirius and Remus, they decided

that it was best to just have a small celebration between the three of them; it had

been a rough summer and the idea of being surrounded by a bunch of people

didn’t really excite Harry at the moment. He liked the idea of taking things easy

and having a quiet party. And although his party was small, it was easily the bestbirthday Harry had ever had. Sirius bought Harry a bunch of new clothes and

gave him his knife, knowing how much Harry liked it. Remus gave him a set of

books about Quidditch which he loved. Hermione and Ron sent him their gifts,

Hermione got him a Broomstick Servicing Kit and Ron sent him a Pocket

Sneakoscope. For the first time all summer, Harry was starting to feel like himself

and was looking forward to seeing his friends again.

Harry and Sirius were getting to know each other better, mostly discussing little

things like favorite foods and Quidditch, making up for all the years they spent

apart. Harry learned that Sirius’ favorite color was dark blue and that he had a

fear of hiccups (He became afraid of them after reading an article about a manwho had hiccups for seven years straight). He found that his godfather loved

cook and wanted to be a chef at one time. Even though he had only started

cooking again once he was freed from Azkaban, Sirius hadn’t lost his touch and

the food he made was great.

Harry, with much encouragement and support from Sirius, threw away his

cigarettes, finally deciding to kick the habit. Because of the amount He had been

smoking over the summer, his nicotine addiction was stronger than he realized,

making him slightly irritable when he was going through the nicotine withdrawal.

Sirius was able to bring Harry out of his sour moods by telling amusing storiesabout his days at Hogwarts (Many including Sirius and James sneaking around at



night with the aid of a map Sirius and his friends had created) or by telling a few

jokes, instantly bringing a smile to Harry’s face.

Harry couldn’t remember when he had been happier. Being at Sirius house was

doing wonders for his nerves. He was less edgy and much more relaxed. Harry

was still jumpy around physical affection and would tense up a bit when Siriuswould surprise him with a hug. They both knew that it would take time for him to

stop associating psychical contact with abuse; so far Harry was progressing

nicely and was becoming less tense with the idea of the surprise hugs. In a way,

Harry found them comforting.

When Thursday arrived, Sirius and Harry decided to take a trip back to the

Dursleys to pick up Harry’s things. He was a little nervous about going back, even

though he knew it was just going to be a quick trip to get his stuff. Sirius saw that

Harry was feeling apprehensive about the situation. He did his best to reassure

his godson that everything was going to be fine, and although this did seem to

help a little, Harry was still worried.

They arrived at the Dursleys around one in the afternoon. Luckily Vernon was out

in town with Dudley and his sister who had come to visit during the week. If he

had been home Sirius would have probably transformed him into a slug then

stepped on him. Petunia stayed away from Harry and Sirius, taking refuge in the

kitchen while they were packing up Harry’s room.

They quickly packed up Harry’s room, placing a few books and clothes into his

school trunk, Sirius then shrunk it with a flick of his wand and placed it in his

pocket for easy traveling. With one final glare at his aunt, Sirius and Harry left thehouse, not looking back as they closed the door behind them.

Sirius got on his motorcycle and put his helmet on. Harry was about to get on

when a voice called out to him.

“Harry!” It was Ben. He was walking down the block with Taylor, holding hands.

He waved at Harry, smiling brightly.

Harry turned to Sirius, “I’ll be right back.”

“Okay.” Sirius said, eyeing the Ben and Taylor warily.

Harry walked over to Ben and Taylor, noticing how different they looked. Ben’s

face had healed since the last time they he seen each other and was no longer

swollen. He was dressed nicely wearing a red button up shirt and nice jeans.

Taylor also looked different. Harry almost didn’t recognize her at first. He black

hair had been dyed a light brown color. Her face was fuller than before and

brighter. Her hazel eyes were more carefree, as though she had gotten a good

night sleep. One thing Harry noticed is that they were happy, both smiling. He

also noticed how friendly they seemed towards each other. Some things had

obviously changed over the past week.

“Hey.” Ben said nervously.



“Hi.” Harry replied, not meeting Ben’s eyes.

“Do you think I can talk to Harry alone?” Ben asked Taylor.

“Sure.” She nodded then turned to Harry and said, “It was nice seeing you again,

Harry.”

“You too.” Harry said, looking back up at her as she walked away from the two,

giving them some privacy to talk.

“So,” Ben cleared his throat, “how have you been?”

“I’ve been alright.” Responded Harry, timidly.

Ben nodded. He gave Harry a small smile. “You look different.” Ben said, taking

in Harry’s appearance. He wasn’t wearing his usual hand-me-downs from Dudley

but a nice dark blue jacket and a white tee-shirt. Harry’s jeans weren’t baggy and

actually fit him nicely.

Harry rubbed the back of his neck. “Thanks. My godfather bought me some new

clothes the other day.” Harry paused and looked at Ben again, observing the

changes in the older boy. “You and Taylor look different too.”

“Yeah,” Ben said, rubbing the back of his neck like Harry had, “we’ve been pretty

good, staying out of trouble and whatnot. She made me go shopping with her

yesterday and we bought some new stuff.”

“Her hair looks nice. I like it better than the black.” Harry comment, looking over

at Taylor. She was standing next to Sirius, both of them talking about their loveof motorcycles.

“That’s what I said also.” Ben beamed. “I told her how I liked her hair better when

it was lighter so she dyed it to something less dramatic.”

“Have you guys been spending a lot of time together lately?” Harry asked.

Ben grinned. “Yeah, well, we’re dating now; doing stuff together comes with the

couple territory.”

“Really. When did that happen?”

“Last Thursday.”

“So she left Brock then…” Harry said, more to himself then Ben.

Ben nodded. “Yeah, we aren’t exactly hanging around with Brock anymore. He’s

a dick, you know. She was sick of him treating her like crap and I was tired of

dealing with him. I’ve got school to worry about and Taylor is starting to get her

act together and it’s easier to do that without Brock and all his bullshit.”

“I’m sure Brock was thrilled about that.” Harry replied sarcastically. “Taylor was

one of his better customers, so were you.”



“I’m not doing any of that crap anymore. Neither is Taylor. She started going to

these meeting things to help her clean up her act and stuff. I was really proud of

her, it was her own decision too; her parents didn’t force her to go or anything.”

“I guess Brock will need to find new people to sell crap to then.”

“Well, Brock isn’t exactly selling much of anything right now.” Ben snorted.

“What do you mean?” Harry inquired, raising an eyebrow.

“Brock was busted by the cops a few days ago.” Ben explained.

“Are you serious?” Harry gaped.

Ben nodded then gave Harry a sly smile. “Yeah. Let’s just say that the cops got a

mysterious tip from an anonymous person about some of the things that were

going on involving dear old Brock.”

Harry stared at Ben in disbelief. “You ratted him out? Why?”

Ben pulled his eyes from Harry’s and looked towards the ground. “The other day

when you said that I should have said something to my dad but I didn’t because I

was covering my own ass-”

“I didn’t mean to make you feel bad about that, I was just upset.” Harry broke in.

“No, you had every right to be upset. You were right. I could have stopped

everything but I didn’t because I was protecting myself. I couldn’t stop thinking

about what you said though.” Ben chuckled softly, “What you said just keptreplaying in my mind. I was losing sleep over it because I felt so guilty. So, I

talked to Taylor about it and we decided that we could let the cops know what

was going on with Brock without them actually knowing it was us who told them.

We made an anonymous call to them.”

“So what happened to Brock?” Harry asked.

“The cops got warrant and they searched Brock’s house. The found tons of illegal

drugs and arrested him. He’s supposedly going to spend some time in jail for it

unless he can pay a rather large fee.”

“Wow.” Harry said, “I never expected that to happen.”

Ben nodded and took a deep breath before speaking again. “Harry, I’m really

sorry that I didn’t say anything to my dad. You could have been killed or

something. You never should have been put in the position you were in and I’m

really sorry and I just hope that you can forgive me.”

Harry could tell by the look on Ben’s face that he truly was sorry. But Harry didn’t

blame Ben. Harry knew that it wasn’t Ben who had gotten him into the situation.

If Harry had been in his place, chances are he wouldn’t have said anything either.



Harry nodded and pierced Ben with his emerald eyes. “Ben, it isn’t your fault. I’m

not mad or anything. I don’t blame you. I never did blame you. I was just upset

the other day. I was my fault that I got into the situation in the first place. If I

hadn’t been so stupid then none of it would have happened at all.”

“It wasn’t really your fault either. It was Brocks.” Ben pointed out.

Harry nodded in agreement. “It was a little of everyone’s fault I guess.”

“But mostly Brocks.” Ben smirked, making Harry snort in amusement.

Ben grinned at Harry then looked towards Taylor who was still talking to Sirius.

“So, that’s your godfather?”

Harry looked towards Sirius and smirked. “That’s him.”

“He seems cool. I like the motorcycle. I wish my godfather had a motorcycle.”

Ben Joked. “He seems like a good guy, he’s listening to Taylor’s babbling so hemust be really nice then. Most people would have told her to shut up by now.”

“Yeah, he’s really nice.” Harry said, giving Ben a small smile. “I’m going to live

with him from now on. That’s why I’m actually here today. We just came to tie up

a few loose ends with my relatives.”

“That’s good, Harry. You needed to get away from your uncle.” Ben said and

Harry just nodded in agreement.

They stood silently for a moment before Ben spoke. “Does he treat you well? I

mean, I’m sure anything is better then living with your aunt and uncle, but areyou happier with him? You always seemed so down all the time…”

Harry looked back over at Sirius who was letting Taylor try on his helmet, making

them both laugh in amusement. Harry half smiled. “You know, I am happy. Sirius

is really great. I can talk to him about stuff. I trust him, even though I haven’t

known him that long. I’ve never really trusted anyone before.”

“I’m glad that things worked out for you. For both of us really.” Ben said then

sighed. “So, this is it then? This is the last time you’ll be around here?”

Harry nodded. Ben gave Harry a sad smile. “It will be weird not having youaround.”

“It will be weird not being here.” Harry said truthfully, it wasn’t until now that he

had actually stopped to think that this was the last time he’d ever see the

Dursleys.

“It’s probably for the best though. It will be better for you to be away from here.”

Harry nodded. Ben smiled sadly. “You take care of yourself, Harry.”

Harry smiled back. “I will.”



Ben nodded and nudged his head towards Sirius and Taylor and smirked. “We

should probably get over there and save your godfather from Taylor. She can be

a bit chatty.”

Harry snorted at the comment as he and Ben walked back over to Sirius and

Taylor.

“Hello.” Sirius said as they approached. He smiled at Harry and asked, “Ready?”

Harry nodded as Taylor went to stand next to Ben, their fingers threading

together. Ben squeezed her hand gently as he said to Harry, “See you around,

Harry.”

Harry just smiled and nodded. With a final wave, Ben and Taylor turned away and

continued walking down the street, holding hands.

“Who was that?” Sirius asked as Harry climbed onto the motorcycle.

“That was Ben.”

“He seems like a nice kid. His girlfriend really liked my bike.” Sirius grinned.

“Yeah, they’re both really nice.”

“So, you ready to go?”

“Yeah.” Harry said.

And with that, Sirius started the engine and drove down the street away from the

Dursleys, neither of them looking back as number four Privet Drive faded out of

sight.


The sunset crept into the window of the kitchen, providing the room with the last

hours of daylight. Sirius stood at the stove, making some soup for dinner. The

smell of freshly baked rolls came from the pan cooling on the countertop.

Harry leaned against the kitchen door frame, just watching his godfather cook,

the aroma from the soup and rolls making him feel hungry. Harry slowly walked

into the kitchen, his bare feet padding on the cool floor, hands in his pockets as

he went to stand next to his godfather.

Without saying a word, Harry awkwardly wrapped his arms around Sirius’ waist,

resting his head on his godfather’s chest. Sirius stopped cooking and returned

the hug, surprised at the sudden embrace. He gave Harry a small smile as his

godson pulled away.

“What was that for?” Sirius asked, ruffling Harry’s hair, making it even messier.

Harry shrugged. “Nothing, just wondered what it felt like.”

“How’d it feel?”



Harry chuckled as he rubbed the back of his neck, “A bit awkward.”

Sirius let out a bark-like laugh and pulled Harry back into a one armed hug, using

his other hand to stir the soup. He looked down at Harry and smiled. “Still

awkward?”

Harry smirked. “Not as much as before.”

They stayed like that for a while, Harry resting his head on his godfather as Sirius

kept a comforting grip on Harry. It would take time to heal their pasts and to

make the pain fade away. It would be a bumpy road for them, after all, two

strong personalities are bound to clash occasionally, but they knew, they had

each other and that would be enough for them to overcome anything that came

their way.


THE END!

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