The Godfather, the Divorce and the New High School

By youre not you

Summary: After his guardian's divorce, Harry is thrown into a world of politics, confusion and desperation. (No magic – AU – Set in Montreal, QC, CA – Slash)

Chapter one – The Beginning

"Divorced?" The words hit Harry harder than anything else. His aunt had caught her husband of 20 years cheating on her with an intern at the Bombardier offices in the western part of the city of Montreal. It had been decided that Petunia and her 17 year old son Dudley would move to Toronto, Ontario to live with some friends of the family until they could get back on their feet again.

'But what about me?' the words that Harry had not dare to utter came from his mouth. He learned that his uncle – who wasn't too happy to be taking care of him in the first place – had been talking to his father's best friend, his godfather. Harry would be moving in with Sirius Black and his roommate Remus in their Mile End home.

The summer of 1996 was a hard one for Harry. The seventeen year old had to not only leave the only home and family he had ever known, but was recently discovering himself - who he was. He didn't want anyone in his conservative "family" to know who, or what he was, but he knew. He was gay. Almost no one knew. Almost. He had met with a counselor from Project 10 - a local organization dedicated to helping young gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender teens – who helped him realize that he was not a freak like his guardians had called him so many times.

So with the knowledge that he'd be meeting an unknown godparent for the first time, to live with until he finished his CEGEP education, he brought the few things he owned on the Metro and made his way to rue Henri-Julien. Harry and his two bags boarded a public bus which eventually made its way to the Atwater metro station, and he then swiped his bus pass and hoped on the Orange line (direction Henri-Bourassa). Harry luckily found a corner seat, where he was able to safely stash on bag below the seat and another on his lap and patiently sat until "Prochaine station: Laurier". At the call of the annoying female voice, Harry gathered his belongings and stood by the door. As the metro slowed down to a halt, and the doors opened, he wished ever so frantically that he could stay with his unloving uncle in the suburb of Pointe-Claire, in the cool tree lined streets, in the home dating back to the 1950s.

Harry exited at the corner of Berri and Chaplais and walked a block until he reached Henri-Julien. He then turned left and walked down until he found number 23928. A second floor apartment with a winding staircase and a brightly colored door. He walked up the metal stairs and was just about to knock when:

"Oh! You must be Harry. You look just like James you know, except with your mother's eyes!" A man with frantic looking black hair and kind eyes had opened the door and was accessing the boy in front of him like there was no tomorrow. "Well come in, come in Harry! I'm Sirius and welcome to your new home!".

Harry stepped into his new dwelling and was overwhelmed by the chaos. Unlike the Dursleys' neat home, with everything places almost obsessively, the home of Sirius was filled with books and old newspaper clippings. It was the work of a madman! But no, Sirius hadn't given Harry time to look at the names of any of the tome's, or the subjects of the many clippings. He whisked Harry down a short hallway and into "your new room!"

Unlike the rest of the house – from what he had seen – the small room was bare, with just a bed, a closet, a bookshelf and a desk. The walls were plain – white - and the furniture looked as though it had been purchased from Village des Valeurs. The pieces were mismatched, a desk made of dark wood, a metal bookshelf, and a laminate bedframe. They were all in fairly good condition however. The godfather informed Harry that he would be able to decorate the room however he wished and that it would be his own private domain. Neither himself or Remus (the ever elusive roommate) would enter it without Harry's consent.

Of course, with Harry's past of Big Brother like guardians, he scoffed at the idea of complete privacy and figured that this… Black character was just trying to get into his good books. Next thing he'd know, Black would be forcing him to go to mass and anti-abortion rallies.

Sirius left his young charge to himself, to sort out his belongings and gave him the money to get some paint to paint his bare walls. After a quick stop to the neighborhood hardware store to pick out a quart of paint – teal, Harry's favorite color – he dashed back to Casa de Sirius and upon entered was shocked, even more so than when his aunt announced the divorce.

Author's notes: So yes, I am a real Montrealer, and my story is geographically accurate (more or less). I've tried to keep it to canon as much as possible, such as with dates and whatnot but yes. The characters are vaguely OOC I know, but this is also an AU fic. Sirius' house number is completely made up, the street is not. I've been consulting a map of Montreal for the non-major streets, and so they're all correct.

Translations:

"Prochaine station: Laurier" – Next station: Laurier

Village des Valeurs – Value Village (a chain of second hand stores across Canada)

Now to answer a couple Quebec type questions.

CEGEP – An acronym (pronounced say-ghep) that is for the "college" education in Quebec. Pre-university programs last two years (generally), and there are 4 English CEGEPs on the island of Montreal (I go to one of them)

Secondary V – Quebec had a weird education system. Grade school is from Kindergarden to grade 6 and then you go to high school. This lasts from grade 7 to grade 11 (where you get your high school diploma). These grades are commonly refered to as secondary (or sec) 1-5 (1 being grade 7, 5 being grade 11).

Metro – the subway

Project 10 – a real organization. I'm currently designing their new website.