13. Nott with Culinary Artists

Harry had gone to Prof. Snape who led the way to the Headmaster's Office. It was there that the two of them took floo and travelled to Grimmauld Place. Harry was welcomed by the sight of food. It looked absolutely delicious. While there was food on the table there was no sign of the houses occupant; Sirius Black. Harry followed Snape up the stairs and into the drawing room. Seated on the couch was his Godfather and his former Prof. of Defense, Remus Lupin. Both men were in comfortable attire. Their hair was unkempt as if they'd only just awoken.

Snape just crossed the floor and took to a chair at the far end of the room. Harry was welcomed with open arms and plenty of hugs. Sirius was too ecstatic to allow him freedom in using his lungs. Harry had to catch his breath when all the embracing was over. Lupin just smiled warmly at him with his head cocked to one side.

"I'm excited it's just us and… for some reason Snape over there," Sirius pointed over his shoulder at a half empty book shelf; Snape was on the other end of the room. "We made breakfast because we didn't know when you would be coming over. Are you hungry?"

Harry admitted that he was in fact hungry and they made their way back toward the kitchen. Snape was not with them this time. Lupin and Sirius sat on the far end of the table and let Harry fill his stomach. The food looked delicious but when he started to eat it he realized it tasted a little strange. He noted it out loud. "This food is very interesting," and that was the most he could make himself say.

Both men beamed at him as if it were the ultimate compliment. Harry was not going to tell them that he rather stop eating it. He apologized by saying he'd eaten some breakfast at the school before coming over. This seemed satisfactory an answer because they began to rise form their own chairs.

"I was thinking about baking some cookies. Maybe a cake. Would you be interested in helping?" Sirius asked him.

Harry decided if he was going to eat these cookies of cakes then he should agree to it. He had time to let his stomach settle before he had to help. The two men that had followed him down to the kitchen did not follow him back up toward the drawing room. Inside, Harry saw Snape reclined on the chair and reading a novel. Not a text book, but an actual novel. It seemed strange to see him not reading about potions.

When Harry sat back down on the sofa within the drawing room, Snape asked where the two men had gone. Harry just shrugged. He had no idea. The potions master flipped to the next page of his book. "Even as grown men they act like giddy school girls."

Harry did not reply. He knew of the animosity and contempt that both parties held against one another. Harry would have liked it if those feelings remained dormant—even if only while he was visiting for Break. Feeling bold asked, "Why did you come here, Professor?"

Snape did not look at him and Harry sighed as he raised one defined brow. "Because I might like taking breaks just as well as students."

"I didn't think you liked Sirius. Why would you take a break at his house?"

The teacher grunted and pulled the book up higher so that Harry no longer even saw his brow. His interrogation had come to a premature close. For the remainder of the day Harry roamed the Black House. After both an interesting lunch and dinner he set to work in helping Sirius produce a cake that might warrant the description of being good rather than being shrouded by ambivalence that made it a tossup on whether or not it was truly edible.

Snape had come down for the cake baking. Harry could not even chance a guess as to why. Lupin was perched on a stool with a cook book in his lap. Apparently he and Sirius had both been trying to better master the culinary arts. Harry was glad because both men were repulsively thin. Lupin with his monthly problem and Sirius after years in Azkaban. Harry was happy that they wanted to cook and bake cakes.

"What flavor are we looking at?" Lupin asked as his fingers traced the edge of the pages.

"I was thinking chocolate. You, Harry?"

"Sounds good," was all Harry said. He noticed how begrudgingly Sirius asked Snape the same questions. Snape said he didn't like cake and Sirius snapped that he could leave the kitchen then.

Harry and Lupin glanced at one another with a sense of dismay befalling the both of them. The other two men were glaring at one another until Lupin asked if they still planned on baking. Sirius nodded slowly and took a time which one would describe as too long to release his stare from Snape. Harry hoped that there would be no casualties this break. Once he was done listening to exactly what Lupin instructed from his cook book they sat down at the table to wait. Sirius wasn't to use magic and quickly heat up the stove, but Lupin told them it would be better if they followed instructions. Harry was having a sense of déjà vu; quickly realizing it was because of Theo's instructing in potions.

As the cake was finished and they began eating, Harry was all too happy to admit that he could indeed chalk it up as being better than the other three meals. Perhaps he would have to come down and help with them cook those meals the next day. Snape had staked his claim to not enjoying cake, but after seeing the looks on the other faces he had himself a piece. Harry felt especially happy at this moment. He was having a normal break. He was with those he would consider family—and Snape. They weren't all crouched and hiding. He wasn't with his Muggle relatives. Sure, Sirius was not yet a free man, but apparently Headmaster Dumbledore was working to fix that. The Ministry couldn't have too much to worry about if Voldemort was gone.

He and Sirius washed the dishes together. Lupin and Snape had left for something or other. Harry's heart was pounding in his chest and probably bruising his lungs. He calmed his nerves and swallowed as he ran the rag over the plate to dry it. Sirius had wanted to magic the dishes clean as well, but Harry insisted on cleaning them only so that he had an excuse for them to be together so that he might say; "Sirius… I need to tell you something."

Sirius was elbows deep in soapy water. He took his hand out to brush some of his bangs out of his face. "Is that so?"

Harry nodded even though the man was not watching him. "Yeah, but I'm a little worried you'll not want to be my Godfather anymore."

Sirius stopped washing the dishes at that point. His bright eyes widened and he peered down on Harry as if worried Harry was about to expire before him. "Harry, nothing you could do would make me stop loving you. I've wanted so much to be a part of your life and now I'm here. A little less free than I anticipated, but I know you're a good boy, Harry." There was a silence as Harry tried to find the words. Sirius wiped the subs from his forearms and took Harry over to the table so that they could sit.

Once seated, Harry fidgeted. He felt like staring the man in the face while he pleaded his case would be harder than if he had just blurted it out at the sink. So, Harry got up and wandered back toward the sink while Sirius remained seated. Harry apologized, but Sirius told him it was whatever made him comfortable. "I'm gay."

Sirius just stared at the back of his Godson's head and said nothing. After intense seconds of nothing, Sirius asked, "And?"

Harry rounded on his Godfather and asked, "And? I just told you I like blokes and all you say is 'And?'?"

Sirius gave it some thought and then nodded.

Harry's face grew warm and he placed the damp rag on his forehead. "I've got a boyfriend and everything."

"So do I," he heard Sirius say coolly.

"Excuse me?"

Sirius began to laugh. It was loud and hardy. Harry felt a little more at ease now that all the tension seemed to evaporate. "Harry, I'm in a committed relationship with a certain fellow upstairs."

"Snape?"

Sirius' hassle-free and sincere face warped into utter disdain. "That's not funny, Harry."

Harry had thought it was. He figured it was Lupin after Sirius had staked his claim, but both of the other men were upstairs. "It's Lupin. I know it's Lupin."

The two of them watched one another. Sirius finally asked, "So, who is the lucky boy that has my Godson?"

Harry wasn't sure if he should say. Sirius hated everything Slytherin. He gulped down the lump in his throat and muttered, "Theodore Nott."

"Come again?"

There was another awkward silence, even after Harry thought things would be better. Of course Harry never assumed that Sirius would know Theodore Nott, but apparently he knew the name Nott well enough that he exclaimed. "Absolutely not, Harry! The Nott family is just like the rest of those Pure-Blooded fools." Harry wanted to protest that Sirius was a pureblood, but the man snapped, "It's not the same Harry. I am not like them."

"Neither is Theo."

"You can't know that, Harry."

Harry frowned. "You can't either."

Both of them stared the other down until the door was opened by Lupin who carried some tea on a tray. He noticed the strain that had accumulated in a matter of minutes. He placed his burden on the table and walked up to Sirius, placing a hand on his shoulder. "What's happened in here? I leave you two alone for less than half an hour and you're already angry about something?'

Sirius apologized for his short fuse, but could not atone for how he felt. "Remus, get Snape down here. I need to have a chat."

With a bit of hesitation, Lupin left the room again. He was more certain that Sirius would not get overwhelmingly violent with Harry, unlike how he would with Severus. He returned with the man shortly after. Luckily he had caught him before he retired for the evening. He was freshly showered however, and seemed less than thrilled about sitting in the kitchen with Black right after cleansing himself of the man. Harry stayed put by the sink.

"Snape, I have a question for you." The man curtly bowed his head and Sirius continued.
"Let me inquire after you about a certain student." There was another pause and Snape still looked unamused. "Theodore Nott, give me the scoop."

Sirius propped himself on the table from his elbows. Harry tried to finish washing some of the dishes while the men discussed Theo. He was quiet regardless of how much he wished to protest. Snape interlaced his fingers as he put his own hands over the table. "He is one of my Slytherins. He is a fifth year. Possibly the best students in any of my potions classes. Extremely bright."

"Are you aware that—"

Snape cut him off, "That he is in a relationship with Mr. Potter? Completely."

Harry was actually appreciative of the Potions Master. He had not expected such complimentary words from him, but at the same time Theo went to Snape for lessons and did exceptionally well in class. He was not given praise he did not deserve. Harry found a spoon at the bottom of the sink and cleaned it. Snape ad Sirius weren't saying much at that point.

"Far be it from me to defend the boy, but he's been good for Harry." Everyone in the room noticed him calling Harry by his first name. Something was up, Snape must had felt more strongly then he expected. The man spoke about how Harry was doing much better in potions and he expect him to be in his next level of classes after passing the O.W.L.s.

Sirius interjected, "But you only know him as a student. Behind closed doors he could be just like his father."

"Unless you know Mr. Nott personally then save your remarks, Black, because he is of another breed."

"We have had the misfortune of meeting," Sirius stated.

Lupin could guess where the direction of conversation was about to turn and told Harry to follow him out of the kitchen. They left and, when far enough from the kitchens that they could not heard the other men, Lupin asked, "So, you're seeing Theodore Nott then?" Harry admitted that he was. Lupin smiled at him and said, "He as a good student."

"I guess, Sirius is just worried that he's like most other purebloods. The ones that want Voldemort to come back."

Lupin frowned at this. "If Severus has the ability to come up with only good things then I'm sure Sirius will eventually listen." He told Harry to not get too worked up about it. Snape and Sirius would patch things up and come to a conclusion that would hopefully be in Harry's favor. Harry did not plan on breaking up with Theodore no matter what Sirius wanted him to do. Snape seemed more on his side—or Theo's side. It hardly mattered and Harry was ready for bed. This night could dictate how the rest of break went; be it amazing or awful.