Chapter Five – The Value of Muggles

Whilst they ate dinner, Sirius couldn't help but drift off thinking about how beautiful Elizabeth was. He had never really wanted to be attracted to a Muggle in the past, he was adventurous and hiding his magical abilities would be something he didn't want to do. Now it was a necessity that he hide his true self. He had to do it for Harry. Now he was wondering if he could even impress a Muggle, Elizabeth had already impressed him.

"So, what's your current employment?" Elizabeth asked as she set her glass of wine on the table, Sirius looked up at her and then turned to his plate attempting to come up with an answer that might impress her. He didn't know what to say. He didn't want to lie but that would leave not saying anything.

"Currently, nothing," Sirius dared to reply and Elizabeth hummed, tilting her head to the side.

"Nothing?" she asked before he nodded. "So you're from a ric-"

"Yes," Sirius replied with a shudder. He placed his silverware down and made direct eye contact with Elizabeth. "I am from a rich family but I am not in contact with my family, they are not good people for the most part," he said and Elizabeth gave a sad smile. Sirius had no idea how to truly explain the wretched nature of his own relatives.

"I'm sorry, maybe one day?" she asked and Sirius shook his head. "Did you do anything before…doing nothing?" she asked and Sirius paused. How could he tell her that he was trying to fight against dark magic, that he was working with magic, that he belonged to a fantasy world that she had no knowledge of.

"I worked with the government," Sirius coughed thinking that might be a way to describe it, "Order of the umm…Phonenix," he said and a couple of people turned to him as he sat in the restaurant. Sirius half recognized one of them who was looking at him as if he had just announced himself as a ghost.

"Ah, government intelligence?" Elizabeth asked before winking, "I'll keep that a secret," she said to him and Sirius smiled. Muggle girls were charming in their own way. He hadn't wanted to hide his wizarding side but maybe if he found the right woman she would accept him with his magical blood. He smiled as he thought about how his parents would be horrified by this date.

"Thank you, been keeping secrets most of my life," Sirius chuckled, "With Harry though…it's a little different. I have to be there for him, at least until he's managed to accept the loss of his parents. I mean, one of my best friends died, I can't even accept that."

Elizabeth put her hand over Sirius's wrist, "I'm sorry that happened. You were in school together."

"Yes, we were," he replied which led to a question he was hoping to avoid.

"What school did you go to?" she asked and Sirius felt his breath catch in his chest. It seemed so easy to just announce that he was a Gryffindor at Hogwarts but this woman might get into trouble if she knew or he might be put in a straight jacket, labelled as insane, and Harry would be taken away from him because he appeared to be insane.

"A pr-private school," Sirius said quickly and Elizabeth could tell that it wasn't a topic that he wanted to expand upon. Was he that nervous that she would find him to be a person of privilege. She didn't care about money, she just wanted someone who would accept her for her flaws. She turned to Sirius and smiled.

"Thank you for this date," she said and Sirius nodded, "I'd love it if….is it too bold to ask that we do this again? I'd like to do this again," she told him and Sirius smiled. If he had someone to help him raise Harry then things might get better but no matter who it was, he would have to tell the woman eventually about his magical abilities before he could commit to her. He just didn't know if Elizabeth was the right woman.

…

…

At first Molly had agreed to babysit Harry and had brought Ron and Ginny with her so that the babies could all play together but as soon as she had explained where she was going, Arthur had asked her if he could go in her place. Molly was worried about how his interest in the Muggle world would hurt Harry but hopefully she could apologize to Sirius if anything happened.

"Wow, do you know how this works?" Arthur asked as he played with the small radio that Sirius had. "I mean, you can't even see the people talking. I have the feeling that they don't want to be seen, don't you think?" Arthur asked and turned to Harry for a reply. Harry blinked and tilted his head to the side. "Oh, right," he said before sitting down. "You can't tell me."

Harry looked at him again before going over to Ron who was staring at a ball as if it was the first time he had seen one. Well, it was one of the first ones he had seen which didn't have another purpose. The ones he had would fly and as Ron hurled the ball, it certainly did not fly.

Harry took the ball that Ron had just thrown and pushed it back to him and Ron had a huge smile on his face. Arthur watched them curiously, Muggles had strange toys. They had so many things that seemed so prohibitive and yet so easy in their features.

"I admire a good day of hard work," Arthur smiled happily and then heard the door get unlocked, he stood up and saw Sirius enter alone. He saw Sirius's look of surprise on his face as he sat there. "How did it go? Hope you don't mind that -"

"Yeah, it's cool," Sirius said before hearing Crookshanks meow and turned to him as he watched the kids. "They're still awake?" he asked before going over to Harry and picking him up in his arms. "Hey, buddy," he grinned before holding him close to his chest. "How was he?"

"Fascinating," Arthur said and Sirius kissed the top of Harry's head before putting him down again.

"Thanks," Sirius said before turning to Ron and Ginny. "I admire you. I mean, you get to use magic which I'm jealous of but to have so many children and to still want more," he told him and Arthur chuckled.

"You do love them," he said and Sirius nodded.

Sirius went over to a bowl in the house and grabbed an envelope that he had placed under it. "I….oh, right…" he went into the kitchen and unlocked a drawer before pulling out a bag of coins. "What do I owe you?"

"Nothing," Arthur chuckled, "It gave me a chance to play with all of these Muggle toys. Also, it gave my children some exposure to a Muggle world. I'd love to do it again," he said and Sirius nodded. "And you went out with a Mug-"

"I am a Muggle," Sirius told him, "or as good as one. She was wonderful but I have Harry and I have to take things slow. I mean, I'm not interested in creating an even more complicated reputation. Anyway, thank you, all of you. I would really love for Harry to have some friends," he told him and eventually they left. Sirius closed his eyes and then looked up to see Harry sitting there with a smile on his face. He hoped that he had fun.

Hopefully Sirius wouldn't be haunted by his cousins or by anyone who might have those purist views. He didn't want for either Elizabeth or Harry to get hurt or in the middle of things. He wanted to know if Harry would ever know magic or if he would live a life away from it. Of course he was magical, there was no doubt on that. Sirius sighed. He was hopefully giving Harry a good life, a better life than his Muggle aunt and uncle would give him at least.

As Sirius picked Harry up into his arms, he heard Crookshanks meowing loudly and rolled his eyes. He did prefer dogs over cats, as much of a shock as that was, but he saw the cat looking at one of the owls from the Hogwarts owlery. He opened the window and took the card from the owl, giving him a little bit of the wizarding money that he had kept a hold of and stared at the card.

I hope to talk to you. Please be at home tomorrow afternoon – Albus Dumbledore

Sirius stared at the card again, his eyes widening. What was all of this about?

End of Chapter Five

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ChocolateSauce18, Firebird-fenix, LadyClassical,

I will try to do better with my descriptions, I think I tend to neglect them 99% of the time