Chapter 11 – Home

Home is not where you live, but where they understand you – Christian Morganstern

Harry was in his cupboard. Again. He hadn't meant to do anything. He wasn't even sure that he had done something. But Uncle Vernon didn't believe him. He never did. Aunt Petunia had served up dinner last night, toad in the hole with peas and carrots. Harry had never been a fan of peas. Which, Harry guessed was why Uncle Vernon thought that he'd done something. Though how Harry was meant to have done what had happened was beyond him. As soon as the peas had touched Harry's plate, they'd shrivelled and vanished. Uncle Vernon had shouted at Harry and thrown him into his cupboard with so much force that Harry cracked his head on the far wall.

He was still shut in his cupboard now, shut in the dark. There was a knock on the front door but Harry ignored it, focusing instead on finding somewhere comfortable to sit in the cupboard. His hands groped for his teddy bear and he pulled it close to his chest, willing the tears that were threatening to fall to go away. His head was still hurting and he wanted to get out of the cupboard. He didn't like it, but he knew that Uncle Vernon would be furious if he asked to come out. He winced as he heard Uncle Vernon's angry voice.

"I don't know what you people want, but I demand that you leave"

A deep, old sounding voice spoke next, "Please calm yourself Mr Dursleys. We merely came to see Harry"

Silence. That had to be him, right? Why were there people asking to see him? Or more importantly, who were they? Harry didn't know anybody outside of the Dursleys and Mrs Fig. There was no way this was someone he knew. Did that make it a good thing?

"Where is he?" A new voice demanded. The voice sounded strangely familiar, like he'd heard it before, a long time ago. He didn't when or where though. It was strange though, the voice seemed to bring with it a feeling of joy and of sadness. Harry shook his head, that made no sense. Maybe he was going mad, like Dudley always said.

"We know he's here Dursley, where is he?" The second voice snarled, sounding furious.

"Sirius, calm down!" A third, slightly hoarse voice added. The voice suddenly turned cold. "I think I know where he is"

"You didn't" The second man, Sirius sounded appalled with whatever realisation he had just made. There were heavy footsteps and then his cupboard door was wrenched open. Harry shrunk away from the door, pulling his bear closer to his chest as if to keep him safe from the intruder.

"How could you? He's just a little boy!"

"SHH! Harry? It's alright, I'm not going to hurt you" A man with shoulder length black hair and kind grey eyes was standing in the doorway. Harry didn't know what to do. The man looked kind, but the only time people ever visited him in his cupboard was when he was in trouble. "Harry, do you want to come out of there?"

What was he meant to do? He did want to get out, but he didn't know if he should. He didn't like strangers, and even though he recognised the voice, he still wasn't sure. The man reached his arms into the cupboard, obviously trying to pull Harry out of the cupboard. Harry stiffened and shrunk away. "Harry?" the man froze, his arms still outstretched. He let himself be pulled out of the cupboard, but he stiffened instantly in the man's arms, forcing the man to put him down. He backed away from the three men in the hallway.

They were quite odd looking. Aside from the man with black hair, there was a man with dark blonde hair and scars on his face and an old man with long white hair and beard. He looked he was wearing a dress. Harry had to suppress a giggle. It was quite an odd sight.

"Harry, I-I'm your godfather. I knew your mum and dad. They wanted me to take you if anything happened to them" Sirius stuttered, kneeling down to be at Harry's eye line.

Harry didn't know what to say to that. Was the man saying that he wanted Harry? But he was an ungrateful freak, why would the man want him? Harry must have misunderstood. He glanced over at Uncle Vernon, but he was staring at the four other people in the hall in disgust. Harry shivered. He knew that look. That was the look that normally meant something strange had happened and that it was Harry's fault. But this couldn't be his fault, could it? "I don't understand sir"

The man looked confused for a moment, before clearing his throat. "Your mum and dad wanted me to take you, if anything happened to them. That means you get to live with me…if you want to of course"

Want to? Of course he wanted to. He wanted to get away from the Dursleys, and the man did seem nice. He hadn't stopped smiling the whole time he'd looked at Harry, which was unusual because the Dursleys usually just frowned. The other man behind him hadn't said anything, but his eyes looked kind and he was smiling. He liked it when people smiled; it normally meant he didn't have to be frightened.

"You want me to live with you?" Harry whispered, unable to make his voice any louder.

"More than anything Harry. But it's your choice" Sirius answered, sounding very nervous. Harry wasn't really sure why he was nervous.

"You can take the freak! Ungrateful little thing he is" Uncle Vernon burst out, apparently unable to stay silent any longer. Harry glanced up at his Uncle and then began to stare at his feet, unsure what to say. A reassuring hand was placed on Harry's small shoulder and an angry voice erupted from above him.

"A FREAK? THE ONLY FREAK I SEE HERE IS YOU"

"Remus calm down!" the old man ordered calmly. Harry sniffed loudly, trying to stop tears falling from his eyes. It was one thing to know that they thought him a freak, but another thing entirely to know that they didn't like him and didn't want him here. It wasn't exactly a big surprise, but it still hurt. The man, Sirius, pulled Harry into a hug before realising what he had done. Harry stiffened and then relaxed into the hug.

"It's okay Harry. Everything will be alright Harry" Sirius whispered. Harry looked up at Sirius; unshed tears glistening in his eyes. "Do you want to come and live with me…and Remus? We have a bedroom for you"

He would get a bedroom? But Uncle Vernon always said that ungrateful children didn't get a bedroom. He was confused, Uncle Vernon had said that he was ungrateful and a freak, and yet the man still wanted to take him. Harry couldn't deny that he'd like to go with this man, but… But what? The Dursleys didn't want him, he didn't want to stay here and the man obviously did want Harry. And maybe the man would tell him about his mum and dad. He did say that he knew them, and Aunt Petunia wouldn't tell him.

"Sir, I-"

"Sirius, Harry. Call me Sirius"

Harry smiled shyly at him and then threw himself at the man called Sirius. He was almost as surprised by his actions as Sirius was. He wanted to go with Sirius. Harry pulled away bashfully, taking in the broad grin on Sirius' gaunt face. It was contagious. Harry felt his own face split into a grin. Sirius swung him up in one motion and placed Harry on his hip. Harry froze in surprise. Sirius apparently chose to ignore it.

"Harry, this is Remus, he's going to be living with us" Sirius said, gesturing towards the man with the scars. Remus smiled and waved at Harry, who didn't know what to say. "And the tall man is Professor Dumbledore, he was a friend of your parents"

"Are you going now then?" Uncle Vernon asked coldly. Harry hung his head. But then again, Harry had a feeling that he was going somewhere better than 4 Privet Drive. Sirius pulled Harry closer, placing a hand on the back of his head to pull him into a hug. Harry had a feeling that Sirius was trying to block him from hearing the furious retorts that were being thrown at Uncle Vernon. Harry didn't really mind though, for the first time that he could remember he felt safe. Harry felt quite content to rest his head on Sirius' shoulder and hug his bear to his chest.

"Ready to go Harry?" Sirius asked, feeling the vibrations in Sirius' chest as he spoke. Remus walked over to his cupboard, obviously searching for something for Harry to keep. Even if he did find anything, which Harry doubted, he didn't think that he'd want to keep anything anyway. He wanted to put everything from Privet Drive behind him and move past it. Harry had his arms wrapped around Sirius' neck, as the door to 4 Privet Drive swung shut behind them. He couldn't help but smile. He was going home.

AN: Sorry I didn't update yesterday, but I spent the day writing furiously instead. I'm going to try and do a twice-weekly update for now; I'm thinking Wednesdays and Saturdays. But anyway, please let me know what you think about this chapter – you have no idea how hard it was to write. I'm still not 100% about this chapter, so please let me know?