Chapter 9: A Morning with Sirius

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"Don't mind Sniffy, he's harmless."

He looked down at the Snorkack, "Sniffy?"

"Dobby named him," Sirius explained, walking up to Harry and picking up the creature. Its eight legs kicked in excitement as its tubular mouth extended and nudged Sirius in what looked like something between a nuzzle and a lick. Snorkacks were bloody weird. "Apparently Snorkacks eat magic too, and can find it in artifacts, though they need to smash a object to get at it's magic. We've been transforming him into a dog and taking him to Mexican markets to find rare treasures. He also sometimes finds stuff on the island, if it was buried too deep for them to get at before."

Harry stared at it for a second. And then held his hand out to pet it. It felt like tough skin, but seemed to enjoy it, wriggling happily.

Sirius grinned, "why don't we go to the fire pit and chat."

The fire pit was on the beach, apparently above the high tide line. Sirius incindio-ed a fire, "you have any breakfast, yet?"

Harry shrugged, "I'm good for now."

"Then we can just skip to marshmallows, and eat properly when Dobby gets here," Sirius said, sitting down as Sniffy curled up in his lap.

Harry smiled awkwardly, "so... what have you been doing? Is everything going okay? What was that bit with Mexico?"

Sirius chuckled, "Everything is fine. Now that you're here the only possible improvement would be Mooney coming to visit. I've started enchanting again, and selling may wares in Mexico, Brazil, and some of the little nations between the two. I'm a bit too paranoid to try the US though. Dobby takes good care of me. I'm fed and watered and everything."

Harry smiled, glad Sirius was taken care of, "I've never heard of enchanting."

Sirius looked surprised for a second, then chuckled, "right, muggle-raised. I get magic to permanently stick to objects. Broomsticks, self-inking quills, I even had a flying motorbike."

"I always wondered how they did that," never asking questions was too ingrained in him for it to not affect him when he was nervous; unless he felt the question was necessary, he tended to avoid them.

"Eh, mostly Runes. Some Arithmancy, with a dash of charms."

Harry was starting to regret his choice in electives. After a moment of silence Sirius broke it with a, "I can teach you if you want. Maybe catch you up to where you need to be to switch electives from divination."

Harry looked at him in shock.

Sirius snorted, "even an idiot can tell you hate that class. Not surprising, since you've apparently died a few hundred times this year."

Harry chuckled, "I know she isn't a total fraud, but it's kind of ridiculous."

"No, shit?" Sirius didn't actually ask, voice full of amusement.

They sat there, eating roasted marshmallows and talking until the sun came up a few hours later. Watching the sun raise over the water; it was the best day of his life. There may be better days in the future, but today was perfect.

Sirius was finishing up a story about how Snape took revenge on him fourth year with a potion that gave him bunny ears for a week, when Dobby popped in next to them, squealing gleefully, "Harry Potter is visiting! Dobby will make breakfast!"

He popped away again, and popped back with three fishes, that he skewered and started roasting over the fire. He then brought out plates with eggs and toast. It was wonderful, comparable to Hogwarts fair.

"Is Harry Potter staying for the summer or just today?"

Harry smiled, "both. I'm sleeping at my relatives house so no one thinks I got kidnapped, but I should be visiting every day. I'm being paid to come home late and help my uncle cheat in his wife mandated support of my cousin's diet with meaty fast food."

Sirius snorted, "that's one way to get an income... speaking of incomes, you know how this is called Bloop Island?"

"I take it Dobby told you."

Sirius shrugged, "What do you know about Bloops?"

AN: Why is it, that the stories where Snape gives as good as he got, it's always an informed trait?

Also, I've tried to find the Word of God on Sirius' old job, and came up blank. I like to think he made is own flying motorcycle, and if he had the enchanting ability for that, he probably at least *helped* with the spellwork on the Maradurs Map.

Now, overall question for my readers: I just got a new App for my phone with a longer character limit. Unless I get a bit of an uproar over it, I'm going to try for a 1500 to 3000 word chapter length (suggested by Penny the Wise). Updates probably won't be any slower (chapters 8 & 9 are really just part of the same 1500ish word chapter, and I wrote them in one sitting). So, Good Idea?

It looks like the couple is going to be Harry/Luna. No one has an opinion on redeemed Ron, but there is at least one more chapter (probably more) until everyone shows up again, so still time to vote.

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