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Guest: I had not thought about Sirius and Remus teaching Harry to swim. It's a good idea and maybe I'll come back to it later but at least not for quite a while yet. Thanks for the prompt, and your lovely review :-)

Thanks, everyone, for being so very lovely. You always make my day, and here it is, the next chapter :-)

–oOo–

Tuesday started a little later than Monday. When Sirius got up, Harry was in his room reading the book that Sirius had left on his nightstand the previous evening but jumped out of bed eagerly when Sirius asked him if he would help preparing breakfast. Sirius turned up the volume of the radio to maximum and started to sing along – admittedly quite badly, as he did not know any of the songs. Harry watched him in confusion for a minute or two but eventually started to grin at the performance.

Sirius had always had a knack for making people laugh but Harry was proving a challenge. This ate away at his ego and was particularly troubling because he felt that Harry ought to be the one person he should be able to cheer up. Still, it seemed that today was going better than yesterday so that was something.

When a bleary-eyed Moony shuffled into the room a little later, they both simply grinned and waved at him, any verbal communication barred by the noise level. The mood was better than it had been the previous day, over breakfast and while getting ready to leave the house. No broken plates, no fear in Harry's eyes.

They would be walking into the village and connect the trip to the school with getting to know their new hometown. That was all that Sirius had set as their objective for the day, seeing as he had tried to pile on far too much the day before. He was not going to make that mistake again.

Harry walked between Sirius and Moony, taking in his surroundings with interest. There was not much to be seen except fields and the occasional tree or other shrubbery.

'It's not very central,' Sirius admitted. 'Wizards like to keep their privacy so that the muggles don't notice any kind of magic that might be going on.'

Harry shrugged. 'I don't like Privet Drive. Everything looks just the same.'

Sirius chuckled at that. He agreed with the sentiment. 'So, do you think you'll be okay with going to the new school?' Harry had answered the question the previous morning but even then, he had been less than enthusiastic and yesterday's events might have changed things.

'Yeah,' said Harry, his voice perking up. 'Maybe I'll find someone to play with if Dudley doesn't beat them up for talking to me.'

'I'm sure you will,' said Sirius, once more deciding not to go into detail about way Harry had been treated. He knew that if he tried to reassure him, he would do nothing but upset Harry further. Once they had a routine going, once Harry was convinced that he was here to stay, he would try to make him open up about what had happened. For now, telling him that things would change in future would have to be enough – he could not do everything at once, no matter how badly he wanted to.

'Harry, do you remember when I was talking to Dumbledore? We were saying that we need to make sure that nobody finds us.' Harry had no idea why he needed to remain hidden and Sirius was planning not to tell him until he asked. The thought of telling the boy that Voldemort had tried to kill him and that this still put him in danger today was almost too horrible to contemplate. He would not lie about it, of course not – but he was not keen on telling him any sooner than was needed.

Harry nodded.

'Well, I was thinking that you could use a different last name at school so nobody knows who you really are. You could be called "Evans" instead of "Potter". That was what your Mum was called before she married your Dad. Do you think you could do that?'

Harry pondered this for a moment and then shrugged. 'That's okay, I think. I just have to remember not to forget.'

'That's good,' said Sirius relieved. It would save them quite a few Confundus Charms. While he doubted that any Death Eater would ever think to search the muggle education system for a Harry Potter, it was better to be safe than sorry. "Harry" was popular enough not to stand out. It would have been even safer to use just any surname but he thought that Harry might have fewer problems if he was connected to the name in a real way. The last thing Sirius wanted was for him to stop being a Potter.

He had been mulling it over and decided that they would stick to the truth about everything else. Harry needed time to acclimatise and he was pretty sure that he would show some odd behaviour beyond simply settling in at a new school. Anyone who talked to him for an extended period of time would come to the conclusion that there was something off about his home life so Sirius did not want to claim that he had been raising him all along. He had considered putting himself down as Harry biological father but even if that was only for the sake of the muggles, it felt like an insult to Prongs. Also, that seemed like a good strategy if he wanted Harry silent and withdrawn again – they were already moving at a terrifying speed.

As they entered the village, Moony quietly pointed out what he had so far found out about it. There were a handful of little shops along the main road and lining the market place in front of the church. They passed a café and a pub, too. Moony had been right. It was a nice place, quiet and probably a little boring. That was a good thing, though. After all those years in Azkaban, space to breathe was very welcome.

Harry had been hopping from one tile of pavement to the next, avoiding the cracks, but he froze when Moony announced that they were approaching the school. This building was older than the one that had housed his previous school. It lay silent at the moment as classes had started quite a while ago and all the pupils were inside. It was small, Sirius estimated less than half the size of South Whinging Primary, but the schoolyard covered easily three times as much area.

They entered and followed a little sign indicating the way to the Headmaster's office. Here, too, the halls were lined with artwork of dozens and dozens of kids. It was a decidedly friendly place but even so, the sound of their echoing steps in the empty halls gave Sirius had the familiar sensation of being in a place where he was not supposed to be. Harry tentatively reached for his hand and Sirius squeezed Harry's gently in return, very glad that he was actively seeking comfort.

They reached their destination, the secretary's office, and were instantly invited in when Sirius knocked. A middle-aged man with a kind, round face and messy, dirty blonde hair smiled at them. 'How may I help you?'

'We would like for young Harry here to attend this school,' explained Sirius, placing a hand on Harry's shoulder.

The smile on the secretary's face widened. 'Please excuse me for one moment.' He got up to knock on a door leading off the room. He was called inside and Sirius could only hear muffled voices. It only took a few seconds for the man to re-emerge. 'Please, go on through.'

Sirius ushered Harry forwards but Moony remained where he was. 'I'll wait out here,' he explained.

Sirius frowned at him and shook his head. He assumed that Moony's reasoning would be along the lines of the fact that he had no connection to Harry other than being friends with Sirius. That did not entitle him to play a role in getting Harry enrolled at the school but he could still support Sirius. 'Come on. If you don't, what's the point of you tagging along in the first place?'

The Headmistress was a short and rather plump woman in her fifties. She wore bright red, round glasses and a matching necklace and bracelet. Her hair had once been dark brown but grey streaks ran through it now, and it had been tied into a loose bun. She wore a cardigan knitted out of thick, grey wool. She got up to greet them and offered her hand to Harry first. 'I'm Mrs April, the headmistress,' she said.

Harry shook her hand. 'I'm Harry P… Evans,' said Harry correcting himself. 'Nice to meet you, Ma'am.'

'Nice to meet you, Harry.' She turned to Sirius who shook her hand, too.

'Sirius Black,' he introduced himself. 'I'm Harry's godfather.'

'Nice to meet you, Mr Black.'

Moony shook her hand, too. 'Remus Lupin.' It was obvious that he was still reluctant to be in the room. Mrs April gave him a look but did not ask questions.

'Please, sit down,' she said instead and gestured for them to take a seat in front of her desk as she lowered herself back into her own chair. 'Now, why are you changing schools, Harry?'

Harry seemed a little struck at being asked a question and Sirius was, too. He had expected that all or at least all important questions would be addressed to him.

'I… I…' Harry stuttered, obviously confused as to what he was supposed to say. Sirius had the urge to intervene but noted that Mrs April was still watching Harry. She was not only after the answer but also wanted to see how Harry would react. He was squirming, looking to Sirius for directions. He shrugged and tried to smile encouragingly. 'This school is closer to where we live,' Harry said finally.

Mrs April smiled at him. 'You moved, did you?'

Harry nodded.

'What year are you in?'

'Year four.'

'Good.' She smiled again and turned to Sirius. 'When would you be looking for Harry to start?'

Sirius hesitated. He did not know when Harry would be ready to go to school.

'You will need to take him out of his old school first,' Mrs April helped him along.

'Yes, we did that yesterday.'

'Oh,' she said surprised. 'So this would be immediate?'

Sirius nodded. 'Sort of…'

'Usually, we receive a few weeks' or at least days' notice,' she said pointedly. 'It makes things easier. Why didn't you check with us when it was clear you were going to move?'

'It happened quite suddenly,' said Sirius truthfully. He did not want to go into detail. He was still not entirely sure what version of events he wanted known. He wanted to tell the truth, yes, but how much of it?

She sighed. 'Well, you're lucky. We still have capacities for year four. Three of the pupils left over the summer holidays, so the class is currently very small with only eighteen students.'

Sirius nodded and tried to look contrite but was not sure if he managed to pull it off. It was not an expression he used often, and his heart was not in it. It was after all not his fault that he had had no time to sort things out. Still, he did not want to get off to a bad start.

'We will need contact information for his old school so we can ask them to forward his file,' she said.

Moony cleared his throat and reached into his bag for said file.

Her eyes widened. 'You are not supposed to have that,' she told them with obvious anger but her expression smoothed out as soon as she flipped open the file and her eyes scanned the first page. There was a Confundus Charm on it to make her forget that she had not received the papers in the usual way, curtesy of Moony.

There were several reasons why Sirius had been keen to take the paperwork. Firstly, he had not wanted to let it lie around, protected only by muggle locks, and secondly, he would not have been able to enrol Harry with a false name if the schools would be in contact. This way, he had merely changed Harry's surname on paper and the deed was done. To the muggles, it would look as if Harry Potter had simply vanished, a welcome effect.

Harry frowned at her sudden change in attitude and looked at Moony questioningly. He shook his head gently, telling him not to ask just now.

While they sat in silence, the bell rang and around them, a low rumble of chairs being pushed back and then footsteps and kids' voices in the corridors began to swell up. It seemed to be break time.

'Well, this seems to be in order,' said Mrs April after a few moments. She frowned a few times as she read and Sirius knew why.

One of the teachers had noted that Harry was "disruptive on a regular basis", something that Sirius found very hard to imagine. So far, he had not witnessed Harry as much as rolling his eyes in terms of disrespect or disobedience. He had not asked Harry about it, though, and hoped that she would not, either.

'That would be all from me for now – unless you have questions?' she asked.

Sirius shook his head.

'Wonderful,' she gave them a smile. 'Keith will go over the details with you, and give you a few forms to sign. Harry can stay here after break and get settled in.'

Harry froze, panicked, his eyes finding Sirius in a silent plea for help.

'He won't start today,' said Sirius determinedly. He had told Harry that they would get him enrolled, not that he would have to go to class. He was not going to break his word.

Mrs April looked like she was about to argue but she, too, took note of Harry's expression. It was obvious that the suggestion filled him with horror. She sighed. 'This is exactly why we like to know in advance, so that this sort of thing does not happen,' she scolded Sirius. 'But I think we can make an exception.'

Harry relaxed into his seat.

'However,' she continued, 'I expect him tomorrow morning, on time.'

Sirius hesitated. He was not sure that Harry was ready yet. He had been toying with the idea of keeping him at home for another few days, to give him a chance to acclimatise.

'It is the law,' the headmistress insisted with a cool glance at Sirius. 'And waiting does not help,' she added more gently. 'Usually, it everything gets more difficult as time passes. If you keep him at home for an extended period of time, it will only mean that he has to readjust again when he finally does start school. I also doubt that he will be able to calm down if his first day at a new school is looming over his head.'

Sirius found himself agreeing with her reasoning. Once Harry went to school, all the new things were over with and he could start to settle in. Also, it was not as if there was the possibility of him attending his old school for another few days of weeks by means of making the transition less abrupt. Harry had already found himself in a completely different environment.

'Alright,' he gave in. 'Tomorrow. Is that okay, Harry?'

Harry nodded instantly and Sirius was unable to tell whether he meant it or was simply uttering what he thought Sirius wanted to hear. He knew that he would not get an honest answer out of him and vowed to see whether he was okay tomorrow morning. If he was not, he would simply keep him at home. What was that woman going to do about that? As a wizard, Harry was not required to attend a muggle school at all. He would not even be breaking the law.

'Good,' said Mrs April with a smile at Harry. She stood and they followed her lead. 'I shall fetch Mr Clark,' she told them as they once more entered the secretary's office. 'He is teaching year four. Harry, you can go meet your new classmates and see where your classroom is, just so you know what to expect tomorrow.'

She left the room and Keith, the secretary, opened a drawer to pull out a stack of paper. 'Take a seat.' He walked Sirius through the most important parts while Moony filled out a form with all of Harry's data. Sirius was just scribbling his name at the bottom of the last form when the door to the corridor opened once more and Mrs April returned with an elderly man whose eyes were magnified by his thick glasses. He did not look like much but Sirius knew better than to judge people by their appearance. He was very well spoken, as Sirius would find out in the next few minutes, and observant. The latter could be both a good and a bad thing.

Mr Clark smiled around the room and shook Sirius' hand first.

'Sirius Black, nice to meet you.'

'Likewise.' He turned to find Harry who had been sitting next to Sirius and listening quietly. He slid of his chair and took the hand that was offered to him. 'I'm Mr Clark. I'll be your form teacher here.'

'Nice to meet you, Sir. I'm Harry.'

'The pleasure is all mine, young man. Mrs April told me you will start tomorrow?'

Harry looked to Sirius for confirmation and then nodded.

Mr Clark then shook hands with Moony who had gotten up when he had entered. 'Remus Lupin,' he introduced himself.

Mr Clark nodded and smiled politely, even if a little puzzled. His eyes darted back to Sirius but he did not ask for the missing connection between Moony and Harry he was obviously wondering about. He turned his gaze back to Harry. 'If you like, I can show you around the playground and make sure that you know where you need to be tomorrow morning when the bell rings. You can also say hello to your new classmates while we're at it.'

Harry nodded again but took a step toward Sirius at the words.

'Your godfather can come along, of course,' Mr Clark added, recognising the signs.

Sirius nodded and looked to Keith. 'Were we finished?'

'Almost. I was going to walk you through the list of equipment Harry will need.'

'You can tell me,' offered Moony. 'I can meet you outside in a few minutes.'

Nobody argued with that and Sirius and Harry left the room after Mr Clark who checked his watch. 'There isn't much time so I'll only walk you through the most important things,' he told them. He showed them the schoolyard where several dozen kids were running around busily. Harry watched them apprehensively.

The bell rang and everyone started moving towards the school building again. Sirius, Harry and Mr Clark let most of them pass before following. They stopped in front of a bright red door with a poster to which the letters "YEAR 4" and a class photo had been stuck. Inside, things were moving but they quietened down when Mr Clark entered. 'Settle down, please,' he said. Kids moved to their seats and pulled out exercise books and pencils. It took a minute for the room to fall silent and by then, all eyes were on Harry and Sirius who were waiting in the doorway. Harry was tensing up and made a move as if to grab Sirius' hand but changed his mind. Sirius assumed he did not want to be seen holding hands. He placed a hand on Harry's shoulder and squeezed it gently. Harry leaned into him.

'Now, before we begin, I would like to introduce you to Harry, who will be in our class from tomorrow. Say hello.'

'Hello, Harry,' the class chorused and a few children giggled uncomfortably.

'Hello,' mouthed Harry almost inaudibly.

'Harry, you will be sitting with Benjamin.' Mr Clark indicated to a dark haired boy who as of yet had a table to himself. He grinned self-consciously at Harry but did not seem displeased to have a new neighbour assigned to him. The corners of Harry's mouth twitched upwards almost unnoticeably as he smiled back.

For a moment, it seemed as though Mr Clark was going to address Harry again, probably to ask him to introduce himself with a bit more detail, but his pale face seemed to convince him otherwise. 'I think that will do for today,' he said to Sirius who found himself wholeheartedly agreeing. 'We shall see you tomorrow,' he said to Harry. 'We are looking forward to having you.'

They left, retracing their steps back to the main entrance. Outside, Moony was already waiting for them. 'So, do you like the school?' he asked Harry.

Harry nodded as a response. 'I like the playground. There're eight sets of swings.' He seemed genuinely relieved at the moment, almost at peace. He had relaxed the second they had stepped out of the building.

Moony smiled at him. 'So, I think we'll need to go into London for you shopping, Harry,' he said.

'Do you think we could do that today or will that be too much?' added Sirius. 'We can go home and play if that'd be better.' He was not going to be forced to send Harry to school tomorrow. He could go out shopping with him tomorrow and Harry could have his first day at school on Thursday. Sirius did not mind that.

Harry watched him carefully. It was strange to him that his opinion mattered, Sirius could tell. 'We can do whatever you want,' he gave the exact answer Sirius did not want to hear.

'No,' Sirius argued, trying not to sound confrontational, 'I'm asking if you are okay with going shopping. I don't want you to feel… uncomfortable.' He could not think of a better word. As he spoke, he realised that he was pressuring Harry again, the exact thing that he had not wanted to do. Harry was not going to say that he wanted to go home, he realised that now, but he could not force him to do just that after Harry had said that he wanted to go out shopping, not if he wanted him to think that his words counted.

Harry shrugged. 'I'm fine.'

Sirius watched him, pondering his dilemma. He did look fine, calm but not scared. Moony shrugged at his questioning look and Sirius sighed. 'Alright, let's go shopping,' he declared, vowing to himself that he would stop talking himself into dead ends.

'Alright,' Moony jumped in. 'Harry, could you have a look at this list and tell me what you already have?'

Harry obediently consulted the sheet of paper that Moony handed him. 'I have most of the writing stuff,' he concluded. 'But some of it's broken because Dudley always kicks my bag around.'

'We'll have to get you new things, then,' said Sirius and decided there and then that he would simply buy everything on the list. Nothing that Harry already owned would be in good condition – he knew that without having to look at it.

They apparated to the alley opposite the Leaky Cauldron that was often used when wizards wanted to reach Diagon Alley via apparation. They did not acknowledge the presence of the pub, however, and instead headed down Tottenham Court Road and away from magic eyes.

To their surprise, Harry told them that he had never been in London before. He was as amazed by the big city as Sirius but he did know his way around muggle stores better than either adult. They spent the rest of them morning in the shops and then went for a lunch of fish and chips.

In addition to the new uniforms, Harry was also equipped with more everyday clothes. He was obviously not a fan of shopping – which eight year old boy was? – but he was on perfect behaviour, so much so that the shop assistant commented on it. He stared at Sirius with wide eyes when the cashier announced how much his new clothes had cost. When Sirius handed over the money without hesitation, he stammered his thanks, blushing.

'Harry, when you need something, I will buy it for you,' Sirius explained. 'That's what I'm here for… well, amongst other things.'

Moony chuckled at that but Harry blushed further. Sirius once more pretended not to notice. He was sticking with his hope that Harry would get used to things and really, he could not do more than tell and show him.

Moony quietly suggested offering to buy Harry some more books, to read himself as well as listening to at night. Sirius did so gladly and together they picked a whole stack of books. None of them involved the magical world but since there were so few witches and wizards, literature set in their reality was rather difficult to come by at any rate and while there were a good number of legends and fairy tales, there were no books for kids as such.

They stopped at a toyshop, too, where Sirius claimed that he wanted to buy some games for himself. He asked Harry's opinion, wondering whether he would get through with that. Harry was clever, after all. Still, it seemed that either Harry had not picked up on it or decided not to comment as they left the shop with a big bag of boardgames.

They returned home hungry and exhausted and after a hasty dinner of sandwiches, Harry climbed the stairs to get ready for bed without complaint even though it was still more than an hour before his bedtime. He fell asleep while Sirius was reading him a chapter of one of the new books.

Sirius collapsed on the sofa downstairs. 'Who'd've thought that buying stuff could be so exhausting,' he groaned, his eyes closed. He had assumed that accompanying Prongs to get dress robes for his wedding would be the most straining shopping tour he would ever have to endure.

Moony agreed with a yawn. 'It went well though, didn't it? The school seems decent enough and we have at least partially solved the problem of how to buy Harry what he needs.'

Sirius sat up straighter and rubbed his face. 'I suppose. The whole school thing is also more complicated than I anticipated. I assumed we'd just tell them that he'll attend that's it.'

Moony sighed. 'Muggles tend to be more involved in their kids' schooling,' he told him. 'Also, Hogwarts students are older. You've never been to any other school, have you?'

Sirius shook his head. 'I just hope he gets along with the other kids. He should, shouldn't he? He's a nice kid.'

'He'll be fine. I think all the bullying was because his cousin initiated it. Harry gets a clean slate and he knows it.'

'From your lips to Merlin's ears,' muttered Sirius, forcing his eyes to remain open. He was not yet done for the day.

–oOo–

Thanks ever so much for reading! If you've got anything to say, please leave a review. I always love to read them :-)

DFTBA!