A/N: Thanks againnnn for all the love I have been getting : )
The next morning, the Weasleys, Harry, Sirius and Hermione were up bright and early packing up all of their belongings and the tents, ready to get the first Portkey out of there and get back home. Everyone was yawning and looking generally miserable, seeing as they had only gotten about 3 hours of not-so-good sleep. An hour later, after waiting in a massive crowd of people for a Portkey to be issued, they were all back on the field.
"I don't much feel like walking, do you want to Apparate?" Sirius asked Harry, who nodded. He was still burnt out from the night before, and although at this point he preferred walking to Apparating, he was too tired for the former. He pictured his bed, tucked upstairs safely at home, and that was all he wanted at the moment.
He and Sirius turned towards the Weasleys, and Arthur said, "I believe Molly said something about a trip to Diagon Alley tomorrow, to get this lot ready to go back to school. Shall I tell her we'll still be going?"
Sirius nodded, "How about 10am? Sound good?"
"Perfect. Bye, you guys. See you tomorrow." Arthur said, rounding everyone up to walk back home, including Hermione, who was staying with Ron until term started.
"Bye, guys," Harry said with a half wave.
"See you soon, Harry," Hermione said, giving him a quick hug, and Ron did the same. Then everyone set off.
"Ready to go?" Sirius asked, and Harry nodded, taking Sirius's arm. He closed his eyes as he felt the uncomfortable feeling of Apparating, and when he opened his eyes, they were standing outside of 12 Grimmauld Place. They went inside and Sirius laid down all of their things right in the foyer "What do you say to a couple more hours of sleep?"
"Sounds amazing," Harry said, kicking off his tennis shoes and turning to go up the stairs, Sirius right behind him. Harry gave him a small smile as they turned in opposite directions at the landing, but then he felt a hand on his shoulder, so he turned around.
"I'm sorry that the World Cup sucked. I wanted us to have a great time together and it all kind of went to hell, but at least the match itself was pretty good." Sirius said.
"Why are you apologizing? It's not like you were one of those Death Eaters, it's not your fault! And it didn't suck, anyways. The match was absolutely amazing, and I had a lot of fun before everything last night. Thank you for taking me." Harry said, staring at his feet and scuffing them against the floor. Sirius gave him a smile and then they both went their separate ways. Harry climbed into bed and fell into sleep almost immediately after his head hit the pillow.
The next morning (after many hours of sleep, a few of which were interrupted with a meal or two and a game of chess, followed by even more sleep), Harry and Sirius were ready to go to Diagon Alley.
"We're going by Floo powder," Sirius said, and Harry shivered a little, remembering the incident a couple of years ago when he'd ended up in Knockturn Alley because of Floo powder. So far it seemed that the only modes of transportation he liked were flying and riding on the train, but he knew that he would have to become more comfortable with everything else as he got older. He followed Sirius into the sitting room, and took a handful of green powder from the sack sitting on the mantle.
"You remember how to do it?" Sirius asked curiously, watching as Harry cautiously climbed into the fire. He nodded.
"Diagon Alley!" He said as clear as he possibly could, and he went whizzing off. A moment later he came speeding out of the fireplace in the Leaky Cauldron, banging his head on the underside of a table. He scooted out of the way quickly, in case Sirius was coming out right behind him. He sat on a chair at the table, rubbing his head, and waited. A few minutes later, Sirius did the same, but managed to stop himself from bumping his head. He stood up and brushed off his clothes, looking around the crowded pub, who was used to this happening and not paying much attention. He spotted Harry and went over to him.
"Hey, are you okay?" He asked, noticing that Harry had his hand clamped tightly over his forehead. Sirius moved Harry's hand away and winced, as his forehead was already slightly swollen and there was a big bump there.
"I'm fine. I hit my head on the table when I came out of the fireplace." he said.
"Are you sure? It looks pretty painful. Here, hold some ice on it," Sirius said, pointing his wand at his hand, bringing an ice pack out of thin air. He wrapped it in a towel so it wasn't as cold and handed it to Harry, then the pair left the Leaky Cauldron, went out back, and tapped on the brick wall to get the entrance to Diagon Alley. They immediately spotted the Weasleys, or at least a few of them. Fred and George were nowhere to be seen, but Ron and Hermione were staring into the windows of one of the shops while Mr. and Mrs. Weasley argued with Ginny about why she couldn't have her own owl.
"We have to go to Gringotts, so I can get money for my stuff." Harry said, looking up at Sirius, who in turn gave him a puzzled look.
"Well we can go so you can get some spending money out, if you'd like, but I'll be paying for your books and supplies and stuff. You probably need new robes, and it looks like you need dress robes, too." Sirius said, consulting Harry's Hogwarts letter.
"No, Sirius, come on, you can't pay for my new things, it'll cost a fortune." Harry said incredulously. "I don't mind, really."
Sirius rolled his eyes and then looked at Harry, gripping his shoulders and saying, "Harry. We are not roommates, that's not how this works. You're...well, you're like my son now. I take care of your school stuff. Okay? Now, we can go to Gringotts after we get your things so you can get some spending money out, since you'll get to go into Hogsmeade this year. Understood?"
Harry nodded, not sure of what to say. Had he been thinking of his living arrangements with Sirius as if they were roommates?
"Good morning!" Mrs. Weasley said, and before anything else she gave Harry a tight hug. "I'm so glad you're alright, Harry dear, I was so worried about all of you at the World Cup! Thank goodness everything turned out...relatively fine." Harry gave her a smile and nodded, unsure of what to say.
"How about we get your books at Flourish and Blotts and then, well, we'll decide from there?" Sirius asked, and everyone agreed. The list of textbooks was rather lengthy and cost a small fortune, Harry noticed. They were stuck waiting in a long line, as it seemed most everyone else had waited until after the World Cup to do their back to school shopping as well. "Why don't you three go get your quills and ink and things, and I'll meet you in the Apothecary in a little while." Sirius gave Harry some galleons for his supplies and then sent them on their way.
"What was Sirius talking to you about earlier?" Hermione asked as they shoved themselves out of Flourish and Blotts and out into Diagon Alley, heading towards Scribbulus Writing Instruments, the shop where quills, ink and parchment were sold.
"I told him that we had to go to Gringotts so I could get money for my supplies and he told me that he was going to pay for them...then he got kind of weird and told me that we weren't roommates and it's his job to take care of me."
Ron raised his eyebrows and Hermione snuck a glance at Harry. "Have you been feeling that it's kind of like...living with a roommate?"
Harry shrugged, staring down at the cobbled street. "I don't know. I don't think I have been. If anything it's been like...living with a big brother, or an uncle. Because I know that he's the one who makes the rules, hence my month long hiatus in the middle of the summer, and I respect him and everything. It's just still so new for both of us." They reached the writing shop and he paused with his hand on the door before turning back around to face Ron and Hermione. "He told me I was like his son," he said quietly. "The truth is, I don't exactly know how to be someone's son. I'm trying really hard and everything but-"
"Harry. You and Sirius have an admittedly strange relationship. But just remember, he doesn't exactly have much experience being a father, so you're learning together." Hermione said.
"Haven't you had a good summer with him?" Ron asked.
"Yeah, it's been great. Aside from the whole thing you and me did."
Ron smiled at him. "Then what in the world are you worrying for, mate?"
Harry realized that Ron was right. What was the point in worrying now when they had clearly made it this far? It was pretty clear to him that Sirius didn't care much about whether Harry was living up to some pre-set standard of what a 'good son' should be; Sirius probably didn't have any of those ideas in his head, anyways, just as Harry didn't have any ideas of what a 'good' father should be. So far, from what he could tell, Sirius was doing a good job, if the fact that Harry's stomach twisted into knots at the thought of leaving him behind to go back to Hogwarts in a week was any indication.
He pushed any and all of the worries he had out of his mind and he managed to have a good time with everyone. By the end of the day, everyone was considerably poorer after stocking up on spellbooks, new quills, ink, and parchment, new potions ingredients, and for Harry, new robes and dress robes. Ron had had to get his robes from a second-hand shop and he was still sulking about this fact when the group had lunch together at the Leaky Cauldron.
"Cheer up, they're not that bad," Harry told him as he bit into a sandwich and Ron pushed his food around his plate.
"I'm going to look like a girl." He said bitterly. "Yours are normal, you're going to look fine."
"Oh, Ron, stop whining, I'm sure there's something we can do to make them look a bit better. Everything's going to be fine." Hermione said, but Ron just rolled his eyes.
As much as Harry tried to stretch out his time and make it last, the next week flew by as quickly as possible in a flurry of laundry, flying in the backyard, games of chess and Gobstones, and trying to clean his room, which was abnormally messy again. Before he knew it, it was the night before term started and he still wasn't done packing. He was packing all of his robes when he heard a knock on his bedroom door before Sirius came in.
"You told me you finished packing two days ago!" Sirius said, looking around at all of the things Harry would be taking with him, which were currently spread out all over his bed and some piled high on his desk.
"We just finished with the laundry tonight, how could that have been the truth? I just wanted you to stop bugging me about it," Harry said with a laugh.
"You're such a brat," Sirius said, but he was smiling. He picked up some of Harry's books and handed them to him, and they got stowed away in his trunk. "I can't believe how fast this summer flew by."
"I know. It never feels like this, the summer usually drags on and on." Harry said, remembering the countless days and weeks he'd whiled away at the Dursleys, dreaming of the train back to Hogwarts.
"The house is going to be pretty quiet without you," Sirius said, and Harry said nothing, not wanting to ruin the moment of knowing, knowing that someone was going to miss him while he was at school. After a few minutes, Sirius turned to leave, "I'll leave you to your packing, then, dinner'll be ready in about 20."
The next morning dawned bright and early, and before he knew it it was 10:30am and he and Sirius were entering King's Cross, his trunk and Hedwig's cage in tow. It was a familiar scene-Muggles bustling around, many giving him funny looks because of the large snowy owl in his hand, the platform between 9 and 10 looming in the distance- but he had never stood here with Sirius. They walked closer to the platform until they were in front of the barrier.
"Ready?" Sirius asked. Harry nodded, and the two of them leaned into the barrier casually, trying not to attract any more attention to themselves than necessary. They found themselves on Platform 9 ¾, surrounded by his classmates and their parents. He didn't recognize everyone, but he did see Seamus and Dean, who smiled and said hi to him. It took several minutes for them to navigate through the crowd of people to get Harry's trunk and owl loaded onto the train. By then, it was 10 minutes to 11am and the Weasleys and Hermione had arrived, all of them looking rather frazzled. It was always a challenge to get everyone out of the house the morning the train left, while making sure they had everything.
Ron and Hermione were fighting about something, going back and forth, until they saw Harry looking at him with raised eyebrows.
"Ronald is just being totally ridiculous, he's still mad about his dress robes-"
"Well you don't have to wear them, now do you?" Ron said, annoyed.
"Oh, both of you, hush. Time to start getting along." He said, laughing. There was a pause, and then Mrs. Weasley said, "Five minutes until the train leaves everyone, come on." Then everyone started saying their goodbyes.
"Have a good term, Harry!" Mrs. Weasley said, giving him a tight hug. "See you at Christmas."
"See you, Mrs. Weasley. Thanks." He smiled at her. Then he turned and shook Mr. Weasley's hand. Ron and Hermione were saying goodbye to Sirius, Hermione also saying goodbye to the Weasleys and thanking them, and then Ron turned to his parents. Hermione left to find them a compartment on the train, and Harry, finally, turned to say goodbye to Sirius.
"Well...have a good term, kid." Sirius said to him, and Harry smiled.
"Thanks," he said, then he threw his arms around Sirius. "Thank you for everything this summer."
"Hey. We're a family now." Sirius said, "Okay. Now study hard and do well, and don't get into too much trouble...certainly no more than your father and I and Remus would've gotten into. And please, please be safe." Sirius said. Harry looked up at him.
"I will. See you at Christmas?" Harry said tentatively.
"Whether you want to or not!" Sirius said with a laugh. "Love you, son," he said, ruffling Harry's hair and giving him one last hug. "Love you, too," Harry said before he ran off to the train to find Ron and Hermione.
Once he was seated in their compartment, he didn't say anything for a little while. His stomach hurt, and he felt his eyes burning with tears that he didn't want to cry. He couldn't believe he was getting so emotional, but he wondered if this was the way a lot of the other students felt when they went back to Hogwarts. If they were excited about being on their own and learning magic, but achingly sad about what they were leaving behind-the people who loved them. Or, in Harry's case, the person. He was torn between being at the first place he'd been able to call home, and the place he called home now. He knew that in a few days he would be okay, he'd write Sirius and everything would be fine, but at the moment, he felt like his heart was being tugged in two different directions, and it hurt. A lot.