As promised a new chapter today!
It's a story, which will built up trust between Harry and the adults very slowly. A lot will happen before we reach the comfort part of the genre 'Hurt/Comfort'.
I hope you enjoy reading it, I at least enjoy writing it!
James flooed back to Sirius's house. Expectantly Sirius had been sitting on the couch opposite of the fireplace.
"What did you find out?" The fellow auror wanted to know.
"Exactly nothing."
"Nothing?"
"Yes. The only Vernon Dursley we could find doesn't have a wife named Petunia or a son." James explained.
"So, what does that mean?" Sirius asked.
"I can't really say. Petunia promised to keep looking. My best guess would be that the boy had told you a load of crap." James said.
"Just because you couldn't find them in half a day doesn't mean they don't exist. He was seven when he left. Maybe he got their names wrong." Sirius guessed.
James aggressively walked over to his friend and shook him by the shoulder. "Are you now making up excuses for the little Death Eater? He is playing you!" James shouted at his friend.
"I don't think so!" Sirius replied.
"No, you don't think, I know that much." James hissed insultingly.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Sirius wanted to know.
"Think about it, Sirius. He his manipulating us emotionally. He reminds you of your own screwed up childhood. He is as old as my own son and is accidentally found by me and my kids. Oh, and have you noticed that he is the spitting image of me? He could be my clone, except the eyes of course. He has Lily's eyes, that's how you get me soft. To top it all of Lily and I would have named our first son Harry."
James heard Sirius gulped. "He would have been a Harry? You never told me that." Both men had painful memories from the day, when Lily and James house got attacked by Death Eaters. The stress had induced a miscarriage, shattering the young couple's life. And Sirius had been there for all of it -and James would be thankful to the dog Animagus for the rest of his life.
"Yes, Sirius. His name would be Harry. Harry James Potter." James answered, and he couldn't hide the pain in his voice. He had said this name maybe five times in his life out loud. Although a long time had passed, it still hurt thinking about his son, who never even got a chance at life.
"You see, mate, there are too many weird coincidences. The child's story must be constructed." James said collecting himself again.
"So, what do you suggest?" Sirius shouted back.
"I'm just saying, we have to stay alert. He might not have done anything for now, but he will eventually. He probably waits for us to drop our guard completely."
"So, what? You want to imprison him in the basement like Moody suggested?" Sirius said clearly disagreeing.
"Well no. But I will stay here with you guarding the kid. Lily and Severus are researching at Hogwarts how he manages to avoid the identifying spell and how he de-aged himself so permanently."
"If Lily is already back in Hogwarts and you are here? Who takes care of Caspian and Phemie?"
"Phemie is with Lily in Hogwarts and Caspian is staying with the Weasleys. Molly is going with Caspian to Diagon Alley to buy everything for his first year. And on Monday Caspian is off to Hogwarts too." James explained.
"Wait, you and Lily are missing out on going to Diagon Alley with Caspian? You will miss out on him getting his first wand!" Sirius said exasperated.
"It's war, Sirius. There are more important things right now." James answered his voice heavy and filled with pain.
"Man seriously. This kid is harmless. I will be fine on my own."
"I'm staying." James determined. "Molly promised to share the memory with me and Lily." After a pause James asked, "Where is the kid?"
Sirius shrugged his shoulders. "Raiding the fridge in the kitchen probably. I told you, he is not more trouble than a Ghoul."
James put the arci-bracelet out of his pocket. "I picked on of the old expensive ones up at the ministry. He shouldn't be able to burn through that one." The bracelet was used by aurors to block the magic of prisoners. If the individual wearing it tried to use magic, the bracelet would get warm. Depending on how much magic he tried to use, it could also get hot, burning hot. They were mass-produced by now, but the boy had managed to burn through one of those mass-produced. But it hadn't been difficult for James as a high-ranked auror to sneak out one of the good-quality, hand-crafted ones from the ministry.
"You are not going to put that on him." Sirius insisted. "His magic is wild. Arci-bracelets are not to be used on kids."
"So, he will have to learn to control himself."
"What would you say if somebody did this to Caspian?" Sirius argued.
"That boy is not my son. Most likely he isn't even a child." James answered coldly.
"We are two aurors. Even if he is a full-ass-grown Death Eater his chances are slim without a wand. Just let him be."
"That's not up to you." James scoffed.
"Oh, so now you are the one in command? It's my house." Sirius fought back.
"Yes, but I can always ask Moody, Kingsley and Tonks what they think about your carelessness. That is if Lily doesn't kill you first, when I tell her that you slept peacefully, while a Death Eater was running free in your house."
Sirius gritted his teeth. "Fine. If you want to torture little kids, that's on you. Try not to scare him too much though."
James nodded and walked towards the kitchen.
"You coming?" He asked Sirius. Sirius sighed and followed him.
Sirius had been right. Harry was in the kitchen. The door to the fridge was open and Harry was making himself a peanut butter sandwich. And from the looks of it, it wasn't his first.
"Sorry." Harry mumbled looking at James uncertainly. He closed the door of the fridge magically and some of the mess on the table disappeared into thin air. "Sirius had said that everything in the fridge is going to go bad soon and that I could help him clean it out before he has to throw things away."
James knew that Sirius had lied to the child. Kreacher came once a week to make the groceries and the house elf certainly wouldn't leave stuff to rot in the fridge.
"That's alright." James murmured. The kid was really far too thin. He was still wearing Caspian's pyjama with the cats, frogs and brooms. Lily had found that pyjama particularly cute and she had bought one for Caspian, Dudley, Ron and Neville two years ago. All the boys had outgrown the outfit by now except for Caspian, who was rather on the small side. But on this boy the pyjamas even seemed to be a bit too big.
Some part of James got angry though. Harry looked freaking adorable with his messy hair, that seemed to make his head two times larger and those bright green eyes. James detested being manipulated and people from all sides tried it all the time. It was war after all. Voldemort, the ministry and the order, they all tried to bend people's wills and wishes in some way. And this boy almost succeeded with it. Some part of James wanted to give this child a long hug and bring him home to Lily, so that they both could fuss over him. A more rational part of James took the arci-bracelet out of his pocket.
Instantly the boy jumped up. Suddenly Harry had a wooden stick in his hand. James almost panicked thinking that the boy somehow had gotten a wand, but then he realized that it was just a wooden cooking spoon turned upside down. James grinned and Sirius behind him laughed.
"Harry, that's a cooking spoon, not a wand or weapon. The bracelet is just a precaution and if you stay calm, the bracelet will not hurt you." Sirius tried to argue, but unsuccessfully. Betrayed eyes stared back at Sirius.
"Whatever my aunt has told you about me, she is lying." Harry suddenly yelled at James.
That kind of got James off guard. The boy was sticking with the story?
"What would she be lying about?" James wanted to know.
"That… that I'm dangerous. But I'm not. Really, my magic isn't doing anything weird, if I'm not scared. I'm sorry that I bit Dudley."
James got a bit irritated. Was this a tactic to distract them?
"Kid, just don't fight me on this. The bracelet is coming on you, whether you cooperate or not."
Just as James wanted to hex the child, Harry swung the cooking spoon and yelled "Expelliarmus". Trying to use anything else than a wand as a wand was highly dangerous and would most likely not work. This time though the spell had worked partly. The spoon exploded in Harrys hand with a loud blast. But James wand also flew out of his hand towards the child. He had taken the wand from James successfully. Still, a cooking spoon really wasn't made to be used as a wand. Harry's hand got burned and Harry cried in pain as three of the child's fingers were severed by the explosion. James saw raw fear in the child's face after the boy had realized that three of his fingers were lying on the floor. Harry stared then at his right hand. His little finger, ring finger and middle finger were missing. A huge amount of blood was gushing out of the wounds and the rest of his hand was by now coloured in a dark, almost blackish red. But the boy didn't dwell too long on it as if it wasn't a life-threatening injury, but rather a scratch. He picked James' wand up and held it shakily with his unharmed hand towards James and Sirius.
"Let me go." Harry ordered, and James could see tear drops on the child's cheeks.
"That's not going to happen. I'm sorry." Sirius said stepping in front of his now unarmed friend protectively. "Now, give James his wand back. Then we will make sure that you will not lose three fingers permanently."
Harry walked back holding James' wand up high. Harry pointed it then towards the wall and the wall exploded. The kitchen got fire and while Sirius was distracted Harry jumped through the hole in the wall. He ran towards the main entrance. He tried to make the entrance explode as well, but the magic bounced of the barrier and shoved Harry to the other side of the room instead. Quickly the kid stood up again trying it again but with even more force destroying anything that was closer than three meters to the entrance.
"Stupify," Sirius shouted as the child tried to recover from his third failed attempted to blast the door open.
Before the boy could react, he got hit by the red light crashing to the ground and falling into unconsciousness.
James ran over and first picked up his wand. He put the arci-bracelet on the child before examining the damage which the exploding spoon did. James took a quick look on the wounds on the hand, and then he held the arm of the kid up in an attempt to slow down the blood loss.
"He is losing blood quickly. I don't think we can save his fingers without professional care." James said urgently.
"St Mungo's will ask too many questions we can't answer. Is Poppy back in Hogwarts yet?" Sirius asked.
James nodded. "She always comes in two weeks before the new term to brew some potions and to check her inventory."
"Hogwarts then. Is the floo to Lily's office open?" Sirius required.
"Yes, it should be." James answered. He took a handkerchief out of his pocket and wrapped it tightly around the child's hand in an attempt to slow the bleeding a little bit. Then he picked up the unconscious boy. "Take the severed fingers, Sirius. Poppy will need them, to fix his hand."
Sirius grimaced unhappily but did as his friend had requested.
I hope you enjoyed the story! Please leave a comment.
By the way, for those, who wonder how Harry knows about the hex Expelliarmus, Sirius used it on him the night before.
Next update: Tomorrow!