Disclaimer: Not mine, never was, never will be.
Author's Note: Okay, I already should be doing my homework and stuff, but you guys just write too many reviews grins- don't you dare to stop! Anyway, it's story time...
10. SO-CALLED FRIENDS
The next morning Harry walked into the breakfast parlour, which he had found with the help of Wobbly, where everyone was already assembled: "Good morning!", he yawned, went over to his godfather and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"Harry", Sirius exclaimed, "We were worried sick over you! Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?", the black-haired boy answered confusedly, but with the bad feeling that he was successfully suppressing something important.
Holding him at arms length and checking him for any visible injuries, Sirius replied: "Because Malfoy told us you were in tears after your little shopping trip yesterday and you were hiding in your rooms since then. What happened?"
"That was confidential", he growled at the blond, sitting across from Sirius and Remus, who sat next to his boy-friend, "It was nothing. I'm okay now, Siri."
Sirius looked about ready to protest, but the werewolf laid a hand on his thigh and so he only hmpfed and allowed his godson to take a bite of his croissant, while Remus silently offered him his cup of white coffee.
"You know, it may be a foreign notion to you with you sitting next to the Weasel constantly, but we have enough food so that everyone can have their own croissant and their own coffee", Draco teased lightly and cocked one blond eyebrow.
"Really, is that so, Draco?", he stepped around the long table to where the Malfoy heir sat and leaned over the back of the chair, "But you forgot something..."
Draco meanwhile had a hard time to hide his... arousal. Well, what did you expect? He was a perfectly healthy gay teenage boy and it isn't everyday that you have a gorgeous wizard practically purring in your ear.
"What?", he asked rather breathlessly.
"The fact that I'm too lazy", Harry whispered rather seductively and bit into one half of Draco's honey-covered roll, before gracefully sitting down next to the Potion's Master.
"You'll get that back, Potter", the blond boy sneered, while the rest of the table was either laughing (Sirius), hiding laughter (Remus and Narcissa), smirking (Lucius and Severus) or looking more than innocent (Harry).
"I'm looking forward to it", was the green-eyed wizard's reply, "Would you mind if I continue my breakfast, while you come up with a plan?"
"Not at all, you're much too thin, anyway", the Slytherin agreed, smirking slightly as he saw the obvious look of discomfort on Harry's features.
"How comes everyone says that?", he asked exasperatedly, "And don't you dare to say 'because it's true'", he added, glowering at Sirius.
"So, are the new rooms to your liking?", Lucius, who sat at the head of the table and ate something that looked suspiciously like cereals, changed the subject.
"Yes, they're great", he smiled, as he remembered waking up in his new chambers this morning.
They were even more spacious than Severus' guest-room, but instead of the dark colour scheme there, his had mostly a light cream colour with a few darker browns. The first thing he noticed after waking up was the softness of the enormous bed. The covers were maroon (Ron would have hated it) with runes on them and there was only one big pillow in the middle, in which he had previously burrowed his head. However, the bed was not what made him like those rooms so much. No, because the next thing he saw, was a huge window spanning from one side of the room to the other and through it the little river, where he went with Lucius the other day, and the bench and the whole park. It was an amazing sight.
He must have spaced off, because it took a while for him to register Pig, Ron's owl, who had landed in front of him (nearly missing his plate) with a red envelope bound to one leg.
"Morning to you, too, Pig", he greeted the little bird, who chirped happily and leaned into his hand, while he unbound the envelope, "Do you want a piece of my roll? You don't have to wait for an answer, Pig, I'll sent one with Hedwig, okay?"
Pig chirped once again, before he disappeared through the open window, leaving the envelope in his hands. A red smoking envelope... Harry had no time to open the envelope, let alone go somewhere private, before the howler started to shout at him with Hermione's shrill and angry voice:
"You ungrateful little slut, are you happy now? I mean you have everything now, don't you, Potter? What did he offer you for you? And don't give me that crap about peace and Sirius' freedom, did you really think we bought that? Not everyone is as gullible as you. So what is it? Power? Did he promise you to give us to you as your slaves? That's something you would want, isn't it? Well, forget it, we aren't your friends and we certainly won't be your slaves. Or maybe money? But you don't need him for that, do you? After all you're sleeping with a Malfoy and they certainly pay their whores well. But which Malfoy, huh? Most likely they share, don't they? What does Sirius say to this? But anyway he isn't the brightest, is he, not to see Peter was the traitor. Although, I'm not so sure about that anymore, maybe you would have been better off dead and we would all live in peace. Live, you hear. You got Cedric killed. You didn't like that he was more popular than you, did you? And then you brought You-Know-Who back so that you could once again play hero. Well, bad luck for you the ministry didn't believe you. And why should they? You do know too many Cruciatuses can meddle with your brain, right? Remember the Longbottoms? But of course you knew that before us and didn't tell us! What kind of friend does that, huh? No, the only important person to you is yourself! Always complaining about the Dursleys, because they don't worship you like everyone else does. In my opinion they are much better for you than your mutt of a godfather or his boy-friend. I have to congratulate them sometime for deflating your head at least a little. Did it ever occur to you that Ron and I have problems, too? Real problems, not some hallucination like you! Your parents are lucky they're dead at least they don't have to feel responsible for you! Without us you're nothing..."
Thankfully Severus regained his composure, before Hermione could start to insult anyone else (namely him) and set the screaming letter on fire. The sudden silence snapped Sirius out of his stupor and in the blink of an eye he was next to his quietly crying godson and took him into his arms.
"Shh, it'll be alright", he tried to comfort him, "You know it's not true what she said. Shh..."
"Maybe it would be better, if you left us alone for a moment", Remus asked the Malfoy family and the Potion's Master, "If that would be possible."
"Of course, Mr. Lupin", answered Narcissa with a concerned but genuine smile, "If you need anything, we'll be in Lucius' study or you can just ask a house-elf", with that she ushered everyone out and closed the door behind them.
In the meantime, Sirius had started to walk around with the distressed boy in his arms, like you would do to make a baby fall asleep, rubbed his back and murmured comforting words, until the heart-wrenching sobs finally subsided to softer ones. When Sirius eventually settled down on a windowsill, Remus sat down behind him and pulled both of them in a tight embrace after conjuring up a blanket, with which he covered the now shivering boy. He too made soothing circles on his back.
"Is he asleep?", Remus asked after a while which they had spent in silence.
"No", it was not Sirius who answered but the boy himself, "You don't", he choked, "You don't hate me, right? Please, don't hate me..."
"Hush, don't ever think that we hate you, hell, don't even think that we don't love you, because we do", Sirius admonished sternly, "Granger had no right to insult you like this and the fact alone that she thinks she does, shows how wrong she is with everything, she said. She was lucky, she had you as her friend. You're an intelligent, beautiful, funny, extraordinary and powerful young man and I want you to believe me!"
"Then why do they hate me?", sobbed the small bundle in his arms.
There were hundred answers to that question, at least ten would make someone believe, they were overreacting and that everything would work out just fine. About twice as many would make someone see that the reason wasn't really important, because there're always some people who hate you. A bit more than thirty would make someone at least feel slightly better and reassure them you really cared about them. The rest would probably make someone cry even harder, because whatever those answers were, they simple were not good enough for that purpose- unless of course your intention was to make someone cry harder. Knowing Sirius as he did, Remus feared he would pick one of the forty bad answers and he sincerely wished he could reply instead, for he was used to handling children of all sorts. Happy children, overactive children, hysterical children, melodramatic children, sad children, hurt children. He was the one good at such stuff. That's the reason he was made prefect, even though some of Sirius' and James' marks were better than his. And that's the reason he was always sent to apologise, if one of their pranks hurt someone unintentionally.
"Maybe you could tell us first what happened yesterday at Diagon Alley, hm?", the Animagus urged gently, "You met Ron and Hermione there, didn't you?"
Harry sobbed once again, but nodded nonetheless and reported what happened the other day, his head buried in Sirius' dark blue robes:"... and then I ran and now they hate me!"
"Shh, listen to me", the Animagus soothed him and Remus brought the blanket back up around his shaking shoulders, "I'll tell you a story about your parents. Okay? I never told you that I had a crush on your mother, have I?", Harry lifted his head a little and stared at this godfather in surprise, "Yes, it was somewhen in fifth year before I got together with Remus. It wasn't really surprising, seeing as James talked non-stop about her and pointed out endearing facts about her. So, when I started to notice these things as well and found myself thinking about her more than is normal I talked to James. At first he was furious and I'm sure if it hadn't been for the Silencing Spells half of the school's population then, would be deaf now", he chuckled lightly with a far-away look in his eyes, before resuming his story- "I told him that I thought it was nothing serious- after all I had many of such crushes- and that I didn't plan to snatch her away from him, for he certainly had the 'older rights'- I'm sure if your mother had heard us, we wouldn't have survived the following weeks with all our limps attached- I asked him instead to shut up about her at least for a while so that I could find another girl to crush on. James of course agreed and didn't talk about her for at least three weeks, until I had a date with some Hufflepuff-girl and declared to him that Lily was in no danger from me any longer. That was when Jamie said that he was glad about it for he really loved your mother, but he was also glad, because our friendship was more important to him. Naturally he didn't say it like this, but it was his way of telling me that if I had really loved Lily and she would have chosen me, he would have accepted that."
"So... what exactly is it that you want to tell me with this?", Harry asked confused.
"Let me first recount another story to you about me and a certain rat. I think it was in fourth year, when that rat had a crush on some girl. This was nothing unusual, seeing as Peter liked a lot of girls. To his dismay the feeling was seldom mutual and most of the girls only tolerated him because he hung out with us. This particular girl also had a crush on her own- me. And really, who can blame her?", Harry gave a short laugh and Remus punched Sirius lightly on the arm, which didn't bother him at all, "Peter of course didn't see a problem in this and just told me to back off, which wasn't difficult, given that I wasn't interested in her- Peter never had good taste. That didn't however make him more attractive or the girl less obsessed with me. So the fateful day came, when she asked me out on a date. I of course told her in the most polite way that she didn't stand a chance and that I wouldn't go out with her. She didn't take it too well and avoided me all together and therefor Peter. Peter blamed me for this, said I had ruined everything and that I was egoistic, something like that. He wouldn't talk to me for weeks, till he got a new crush."
Harry was quiet for a few moments, so Sirius continued: "What I wanted to show you with this is, if Hermione would really love Ron or care for your friendship she would've at least tried to be happy for him and you, like I was for James and he would've been for me, if it had worked out with Lily. She's acting like Peter did and that doesn't speak in her favour. As for Ron if he was in love with you, he would either fight for you or be the best friend, you could wish for. Maybe he'll finally come to terms with it, most likely, I don't think he's mature enough to be really in love, yet, but in my opinion you're better off without them, like we would've been without Peter."
"I still lost my friends, Sirius", his godson answered dully, "And even though it might be better that way, they still despise me and want nothing to do with me. Now, I'll be all alone in Hogwarts."
"Harry, remember what you said to Tanea?", Remus interrupted leaning around Sirius so that he could look into his teary eyes, "In Hogwarts are more people than Ron and Hermione and they have different views on things. I'm sure you'll find new friends!"
"What about for example the Malfoy kid?", suggested Sirius, "I'm not very fond of these pureblood fanatics, but they seem rather nice and didn't you tell me, he offered you his friendship in your first year?"
"You wouldn't be angry with me for befriending a Slytherin?", the back-haired boy inquired astonished.
"No, Harry", Sirius protested, hugging him a bit tighter, "Although I have to admit that I am a bit prejudiced against them, there have to be some good ones in that house, too. And if they're willing to stand up for you against Dumbledore, I'm willing to give them a chance."
"Thanks", Harry said, smiling for the first time, "I'm feeling a lot better, though I'm still sorry for what she said about you two."
"Oh, it's okay, we've both been insulted with far worse", laughed Sirius, "I think the general opinion in Hogwarts was that I got my good marks with either bribery, blackmail or by sleeping with the teacher, but I can assure you I did none of those things."
"Sirius is right"- "Thank you very much!"- "Be quiet, Padfoot, being called the boy-friend of Sirius, isn't too bad..."- "Well, I'm honoured!"- "Being his boy-friend, however, can grate on your nerves", Remus added consistently interrupted by Sirius' enthusiastic interjections.
Harry smiled slightly and freed himself from Sirius' embrace, who was berating the werewolf for "being mean" with such a pouty voice that you could almost think he was serious about his complaint. The keyword being 'almost'.
Just as he was about to drop Remus' half finished coffee cup over Sirius' head as a token of his gratitude (he was the son of a Marauder after all), there was a loud knock on the breakfast parlour's doors and they all swivelled around wands at the ready (Sirius tried- unsuccessfully I might add- to shove his godson behind his back).
Draco's silver-blond head appeared in the door, followed by the rest of his body (it would be completely undignified to hide behind doors): "I'm sorry to interrupt your 'family time', but the Dark Lord decided to make an unannounced appearance and well, he'd like to see you."
"Thank you, Draco", said Harry with so much composure that it surprised the young blond, "If you'll give us a minute, we'll be in your father's study soon."
The Slytherin nodded his head and disappeared, shutting the door quietly behind him.
"Harry, you don't have to go, if you don't want to", Remus offered and Sirius nodded enthusiastically, but Harry only smiled disbelievingly, standing in front of the silver-framed, ceiling high mirror, checking his face and making sure, there was no evidence that he had been crying, before leaving the room.
Sirius was on the way to the door as Remus grabbed his arm: "I always wondered why you were made godfather, Paddy, but now I think James and Lily made the best choice."
To his surprise Sirius laughed at his words: "Oh, Moony, I can't believe this was bothering you all this years. Do you want to know why I was made godfather and not you? Lily wanted you of course, but James insisted on me, so they made a deal: Whomever Harry looked at first would get the post. So being the eye-catching, gorgeous Sirius Black, he looked at me. Of course you're not bad looking yourself..."
"I think you should reason your hypothesis some other time", Remus interrupted, before the Animagus could delve into a long explanation about why exactly his good looks were superior to Remus' appearance, "Or do you want to leave your godson with a bunch of Slytherins and their Dark Lord?"
Sirius gave no reply and instead strutted out of the door. Laughing lightly, Remus followed.
Oh, already done reading? My, that was fast... Okay, what could you do now, I thought it would take you longer and that I'd have a bit more free time sigh... I have absolutely no idea, maybe you do? I have the feeling it has to do with pressing buttons and using your keypad, but I just can't wrap my mind around it...