Seconds later, Sirius appeared out of the fire, dusting soot off his jacket. "Hello Gentlemen."
"Can you two something to drink? Pumpkin Juice, Butterbeer? Or actually, I have a case of firewiskey in the cellar." Harry nodded, and Sirius left to get the drinks.
Ian looked at Harry, "Firewiskey?"
"It's a type of wizard alcoholic drink." Sirius reappeared from the stairs and led them into the sitting room. He handed them both a dusty bottle which Ian popped open and took a long draught. The liquid seared his throat, and he coughed. Sirius clapped him on the back, laughing. "Takes some getting used to eh! So, word is you are the Deus Dimidium. Impressive."
"Yeah, would be if there wasn't some psycho who wants it too."
"Fortunately he can't get in here. Only people who Dumbledore has told where it is can get in here." Deciding not to even ask how the hell he can do that, Ian changed the subject.
"So Harry, who's that red head I keep seeing you with?"
Harry blushed. "She's Ron's sister, Ginny."
Sirius looked incredulous. "Are you serious? My godson finally gets a girl and I don't hear about it? How did that happen! And Ginny Weasley, not bad!"
Harry turned redder. "Yeah, we got together over the summer at the Burrow."
"Where's the Burrow?" asked Ian.
"The Burrow is the Weasleys' house. Their family is huge. Ron has one sister and five brothers."
"Wow, and I thought one was bad."
"Yeah, I usually spend most of my time there in the summer, cause its sure as hell beats living with my aunt and uncle." Seeing Ian's confused looks Harry explained, "Before Voldemort tried to kill me, when I was a year old, he murdered my parents, then tried to get me. After he fled the Hogwarts gamekeeper, Hagrid, and Dumbledore brought me to my aunt and uncle's house. I've been living in that hellhole for my whole life."
"And I thought my life was fucked up. Man, if I were you I'd be trying to kill that psycho."
"Well, that's the plan! According to destiny, one of us has gotta kill the other eventually. I just hope I'm not on the receiving end."
Sirius got up. "Well, on that happy note, I'm gonna make dinner, since doesn't look like Kreacher's gonna do anything. Any requests?" The teenagers shrugged. "Right, Chinese takeout it is. Be right back." Sirius walked out the door and shrugged his jacket on before disappearing with a crack on the top step.
"So Ian, I noticed you and Hermione seemed pretty friendly. What happed in that passageway?"
Ian shuffled his feet. "Is it that obvious?"
"Mate, I think even Ron noticed. And he doesn't notice much, believe me. And how you 'forgot' something in the room and Hermione stayed to 'help you find it'. Not very subtle. Just wait till Ron finds out. He'll freak."
"Why would he care?"
"Cause that's what he always does. Ah! Food's here." Sirius walked into the room carrying enough noodles and eggrolls for six people and then some.
"Dig in, I got it from this new muggle place down the street." They opened the boxes and stuffed their faces till it was all gone. No one talked much through the whole meal.
When they were done, Harry asked, "Hey Sirius, where did you get muggle money?"
"I transfigured a book into 50 pounds. Too bad you can't do that with wizard money."
"You guys have special money?"
Harry pulled out a bunch of coins from his pocket. "Yeah, you got a galleon, a sickle, and knuts," pointing to a big gold coin, a silver one, and a little bronze coin. Ian nodded.
"I think I'll stick to good ol' English pounds, thanks much." Ian leaned back in his seat, feeling the day's excitement starting to take its toll. "Whew, I think I might be done for the night."
Sirius stood up and shook his hand, "It was nice to meet you, Ian. You and Harry can bunk up in guest room. You wanna show him, Harry?"
Ian lugged his stuff up the stairs, following Harry into a small room on the 2nd floor. "Thanks mate, I appreciate you being so accommodating with a freak that's getting hunted because he's got a super-blob inside of him."
Harry laughed, shaking his head, "No problem. I know how it feels. Voldemort's tried to kill me almost every year since I turned 11, and it doesn't ever get any easier," he said with the same look of sympathy that he had when Ian first saw him. "Say, this magic thing can't hurt you, can it?"
Ian paused, realizing he hadn't told anyone except Hermione. "Well, Dumbledore did mention it might affect my strength a little, but nothing too bad," he attempted to say with a smile.
"Good! Wouldn't want you dropping off before we got to know you after all," Harry said with just a hint of skepticism.
Ian grimaced, then turned towards his bag and began to remove some pajamas as the sound of Harry's footsteps faded down the steps.
He proceeded to lie in bed, waiting for sleep to come to his exhausted body. He contemplated the events of the day, his impending mortality, and a certain brunette with a luscious figure that wouldn't stay out of his thoughts.
Just as he had finally fallen asleep though, Ian heard the window burst open downstairs, accompanied by what sounded like owls squawking. He started down the stairs as to inquire what the hell owls were doing inside the house.
"Oi! What's with the-" Ian was cut by a loud, sudden scream filled with such anguish he was sure someone must be torturing an old lady in the sitting room. He slipped on the bottom steps in his rush to get downstairs and rolled right into a picture of an old lady that was literally pointing at him and screaming her head off.
"FILTH! A MUGGLE INSIDE THE HOUSE OF BLACK! VERMIN! GET IT OUT!"
Sirius stormed into the corridor, and wrestled the curtains shut around the angry portrait. "Will you ever shut up!" He turned to Ian, sighing as he held out a hand. "Sorry bout that one, mate. This is my ever-charming mother. As you can see, she gets a little worked up sometimes."
Standing, completely bewildered, Ian simply nodded his head and followed Sirius into the kitchen where Harry was busy untying a parchment from a large tawny owl perched upon the toaster.
Not even bother bothering to ask, Ian sat down at the counter. "Sorry to wake you, mate. I see you've been introduced to our hostess? Anyways, we got letters from the school," Harry explained, handing Ian the scroll.
He skimmed it over, "Well, seems as if you've developed something called Spattergroit, Harry, so you'll be away from school for quite sometime, and I was called away to my royal Uncle in Albania."
Harry nodded with approval, "Nice, I hear the weather's supposed to be extremely nice 'round those parts this time of year. Beats having Spattergroit anyways. Anything else?
"Hmm, just that Dumbledore hasn't detected any changes in Voldemort's movements, so looks like we might be here for a while. Oh! It says here that he's coming with Hermione, Ron, and Ginny after the first week of classes is over."
"Brilliant, I hope someone has told Ginny where we are, she'll be worried sick," Harry muttered, and Ian felt a pang inside of his chest when he saw the look on Harry's face as he spoke about Ginny.
He wondered what Hermione was doing right now, and if she was thinking of him the same way he was thinking of her.
Harry snapped his fingers in front of Ian's face, "Hey! Earth to Ian, we also got treats!" Harry said giddily as he opened a second package filled with what looked like boxes of Jelly Beans and frog-shaped chocolate. Harry looked at the note scribbled on the side and laughed. "Here, looks like Dumbledore wants you to get a real taste of the wizarding world."
He handed Ian a box of the Jelly Beans, and Ian carefully selected what appeared to be a nice watermelon. When he ate it however, he promptly spit it back out on the table. "Ugh! It tastes likeā¦"
Harry nibbled on one of the same colour, "Hmm, must be grass." Before Ian could ask, another, smaller owl came through the window, spilling the beans all over the countertop.
"Christ, what is it with all the bloody owls!" Ian stammered as he recovered from falling off his seat in surprise.
Sirius snatched the letter tied to its leg, and flipped the envelope over, "Ooo, it's for Ian from Hermione, we must take a peek at this!"
Ian snatched the parchment out of hands, trying not to turn as red as the cherry-coloured seal on the envelope. "I'll take that, thanks much!" Ian proceeded to walk up the stairs again, leaving Harry and his godfather snickering in the kitchen.
He lay down on the bed and slowly opened the letter as if it contained a check for all the money in the world.
