Unlikely Mentor
Chapter 14

Disclaimer: This work of fan-fiction is not intended for personal profit. All characters utilized herein which are not creations of myself belong to J. K. Rowling.

Harry woke the next morning to loud knocking on the door. Sirius's voice was calling out, "It's breakfast time!"

After he and Ron got ready for the day and went down the stairs to get breakfast in the basement, he saw that Hermione and Ginny were already at the table, with Crookshanks sitting atop it lapping at some water from a bowl while they ate some eggs and bacon.

As Mrs Weasley came back over to the table with a plate for Ron, who took a spot next to Hermione, Harry called, "Hello, um, Mrs Weasley?"

She had a bit of a strained smile as she came over to Harry. "Look, um, I'm sorry about yelling last night," he said quietly, feeling Sirius's reassuring presence behind him.

Mrs Weasley seemed to relax a bit, and she patted his shoulder. "That's all right, Harry. We're all under some strain these days. Now just sit yourself down for breakfast and we'll get you sorted out, all right? You too, Sirius."

Harry sat next to Ginny, who nodded at him, then went back to eating.

Breakfast went rather uneventfully, with Remus Lupin arriving shortly after Harry started eating. Fred and George joined the teenagers midway through the meal and for once, garnered only a mild admonishment from Mrs Weasley when she warned them to be careful levitating their plates over to the table.

Once everybody was finished, Mrs Weasley stood up and gathered up her plate. She called to the room at large, "We need to get started really cleaning this place up now that a number of us will be staying here nearly full-time. For starters we need to do the first floor; I noticed quite a few Doxys, plus there's a nest of dead Puffskeins under the sofa, and that's just the beginning."

Sirius spoke up. "Give Harry and me a few minutes to talk privately before you start with the Doxycide, okay?"

Mrs Weasley nodded, and the group around the table broke up and cleared their plates and cutlery. As Harry made to grab up his plate, a hand reached out and briefly clasped his. A blushing Ginny said, "Don't mind it, I'll take yours."

Harry gave her a brief smile and with a quick "Thanks!" he joined Sirius and Remus as they ascended the stairs. In the high-ceilinged drawing room, Harry saw that the walls were olive-green and that the room looked like it hadn't been used in years. A sudden rattling in the corner startled him, and Sirius barked, "Kreacher! Get out here."

The positively ancient, decrepit house-elf shuffled forwards from the shadows near the cabinet, clad in nothing more than a tea towel. The house-elf's mutterings became audible as he moved closer. "If Mistress could only see what has happened to her house, polluted with blood-traitors and werewolves and Mudbloods it is…"

"Shut up, Kreacher, and go somewhere else in this house." Sirius's face could have been carved from stone as he stared balefully at Kreacher. The house-elf's mouth worked as he seemed to try and find a way around his orders (Harry remembered that Dobby was good at that when it came to the Malfoys, and uneasily wondered if he ought to tell Sirius about that), but no further words could be heard as Kreacher slowly exited the room, pulling the door shut behind him as he went.

Sirius finally seemed to relax and with a jaunty tone, said, "Well, you've once again met my mum's dear old house-elf, and you can see he's as batty as she is. Little bugger's probably gotten even worse since your elf Dobby brought him to meet you."

Remus piped up, saying, "Padfoot, you really ought to go a little easier on him. Heaven knows I don't like him either, but acting like you want to kick him around can't be helping."

"You gonna start in on me too like Harry's friend Hermione's been doing?" snapped Sirius. At Lupin's raised eyebrow, Sirius expression somehow contrived to seem hangdog as he grumbled, "All right. That wasn't called for. Sorry."

Sirius turned to Harry and said, "Right. Okay. Godfather to godson talk, with our favorite furry other godfather-in-all-but-legal-name here too." He gestured Remus closer and in a quieter, conspiriatorial tone, said, "Now, Mrs Weasley's got this grand idea of having you all do this make-work of cleaning the house because she thinks it'll keep you out of trouble and keep you from asking too much about the Order."

Harry perked up and looked from Sirius to Remus eagerly. "And?"

Remus laid a hand on Harry's right shoulder, and Sirius rested a hand on Harry's left. Their grips seemed to signal caution and reassurance. Remus said, "Again, we can only tell you so much and one of the biggest reasons has to do with Dumbledore bringing Horace Slughorn here to teach you. We've a pretty good idea that it isn't extra potions tutoring, given that he insists so strenuously that whatever else you're doing, Slughorn takes priority and nobody else is to intrude. If what we think is right – and it's up to you if you want to tell us or not – you'll be in a better position to keep the Order's secrets in a few months, even if it's just between you, me and Padfoot."

Harry nodded to both men. "I'll tell you. It's Occlumency. S'posed to protect my mind and keep me from getting weird dreams. Scar hurts sometimes too, I think because Voldemort's alive."

Sirius thumped Remus's shoulder. "I knew it, Moony! I knew that old git was for more than just show when Dumbledore mentioned him!" To Harry, he said, "Listen, as soon as Slughorn and Dumbledore say you've mastered Occlumency, you tell us. We'll tell you everything we can at that point. All right?"

Harry grinned. "Deal!"

No one was quite sure who started it, but the three found themselves embracing in a three-way hug before breaking apart again. Sirius's eyes went around the room and lit up. "Ah! Got it. C'mere, Harry. This'll be what people will think I've been talking to you about. Moony, go crack the door and Harry, I'll talk a bit loudly, okay?"

"Got it." Harry's heart thrilled at the promise of more to come, and the secret that now bound him, his godfather and his father's other best friend.

"Okay, Harry. This here—" Sirius gestured at a dusty, faded tapestry on the wall with still-legible writing, and announced, "is the Black Family Tree."

Harry took in the writing and the gold-embroidered lines connecting one generation to the next, and he saw that the names stretched back to the Middle Ages. At the very top read, "The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black" and below it, "Toujours pur".

"What's that?" Harry pointed.

"Oh, the French?" Sirius snorted. "'Always pure'. See the holes? That's where my family disowned anyone too open-minded for them. I'm not on there – see the hole next to my brother, Regulus? And then there's Uncle Alphard, blasted off for having the temerity to will me his money. And Andromeda, you remember I talked about my favourite cousin – she got taken off for marrying Ted Tonks, who's Muggleborn."

"Why'd you get blasted off?" Harry said, making sure his voice echoed off the walls.

"Ran away from home at sixteen. Mum and Dad considered that the height of disgrace because it meant I was throwing all their pure-blood fanaticism back in their faces, et cetera and so on."

Harry spotted a familiar name and said, "There's Malfoy! I remember, you told me you're related to them."

"More's the pity. But yeah, if you want to stay pure-blood by the strictest definitions of such, you pretty much are going to end up being related to the major names in the wizarding world. I'm even sort of a cousin to your dad, you know."

"Huh, cool," replied Harry, as his eyes traced the connection to the Lestranges, and a memory stirred of his witnessing their trial in Dumbledore's Pensieve. He decided not to say anything about them to Sirius, deciding his godfather really wouldn't feel like discussing Death Eaters he was related to.

Remus sidled up next to them, winked at the two of them and nodded. Harry also heard the faint clattering of footsteps through the now-ajar door. Remus said out loud, "Oh, and Harry, I'm still registered as your magical tutor so there's nothing out of the ordinary about teaching you cleaning charms in a house like this, hmm?"

Mrs Weasley, having just entered the room, got rather a thunderous look on her face, while Harry's friends, Hermione especially, suddenly had an air of anticipation about them.

Remus nodded, and as though he hadn't said anything of importance, said to the room at large, "And of course being your tutor, I couldn't possibly keep your friends from being nearby while I teach you, hmm?"

Ron whooped, "Yes!"

Ginny grinned. "Magic will make it so much faster to clean this place up!"

"Now you just wait one minute!" Mrs Weasley stepped forward, heedless of the way the carpet seemed to cough up dust with each step. "I was under the very distinct impression that we were trying to get as little notice drawn to this house as we could, and that should include no underage magic." Her voice had started taking on a rather hectoring tone that somehow gratingly reminded Harry of Aunt Petunia and made him rather want to do magic just because she was against it.

Sirius scoffed, "My parents threw gold at whoever would do the work to make this house so secure the only reason I could open it up is because like it or not, I'm the closest relation to them and Black blood is what's needed to permit entry to anyone else. They made the house Unplottable too, and it's under a Fidelius charm. If you think in this house the Trace could get sensed at the Ministry, keep dreaming!"

It occurred to Harry that he might have asked Sirius why he and Mrs Weasley had been arguing over him, instead of just yelling at them to stop it. If he had to guess, though, it was obvious both felt rather proprietary about him and he knew Mrs Weasley could be rather a forceful personality when she wanted to.

Harry held up his wand and said, "Lumos!" His wand lit up. "Nox." His wand went dark again, and he pocketed it.

Mrs Weasley huffed and announced, "Fine. While we wait for the Ministry Owl to show up – and mark my words, Harry, as much as you might think having already been hauled up for an investigation about a Patronus Charm makes a simple light spell meaningless, it will go badly for you at the Ministry if they think you're a habitual lawbreaker – now as I said, while we wait, let's at least get the Doxys in the curtains taken care of."

Harry looked over at that part of the room. He realised he, Sirius and Remus had stayed near the doorway, facing the wall that parallelled the entrance hallway, and so had not really noticed the curtains covering the windows. They seemed to buzz and shift a bit, as though a slight wind were stirring them.

Mrs Weasley grabbed up her box and handed out a spray-bottle of the black liquid Doxycide to as many people as wanted to remain in the room. Sirius took his leave at that point and said, "I've got to feed Buckbeak and keep an eye out for a nonexistent owl. Harry, come see me when you're done here, all right?"

Harry nodded back, and shoulder to shoulder with Remus on one side and Ron on the other, towels wrapped around their mouths to keep from breathing in the poison, slowly approached the curtains. Mrs Weasley said, "All right. One good shot should do it, and we'll bin the Doxys after that. Remember, they're poisonous. I've got antivenom, but don't let them bite you anyway."

With that, the group sprayed Doxycide at the tall curtains, trying to avoid the cluster of Doxys that swarmed out from behind them. Harry caught Fred and George pocketing a couple that they'd sprayed only lightly, and made a mental note to ask them later about it. The group spent several minutes trying to track and spray Doxys which flew high above them and tried dive-bombing attacks.

Unfortunately for Ron, a rather determined pair of Doxys got around him and he turned halfway; realising he could accidentally get Harry in the face, he dropped his spray bottle, yanked out his wand, whirled around to point it at the Doxys and barked, "Immobulus!"

The Doxys fell to the floor with loud thumps, and Mrs Weasley yanked her towel down from her face to yell, "Ron!"

"They were going to attack me! And Mum, Harry still hasn't gotten an owl for his magic, has he?!"

Hermione consulted her watch after dropping her Doxy, along with Ron's, into a rubbish bag. "Well, Harry did his Lumos about, I'd say, nine-thirty? It's been twenty minutes since."

"Took about that for a Ministry owl to notify the Dursleys when Dobby did that Hover Charm," noted Harry.

Mrs Weasley stomped out of the room and yelled up the stairs, "Sirius!"

A faint voice called back, "Yes?"

"Any owl post?"

"Not a word from anyone! I told you, Molly!"

With ill-grace, Mrs Weasley stepped back into the room and gestured for the group to continue de-Doxying the room. At once, the group began a combination of mixed spellwork and spraying to get the rest of the Doxys, and when all the Doxys were exterminated Lupin took the opportunity to use some powerful cleaning charms to restore the curtains to near-pristine condition, as well as get the dust and grime off the window they covered. The room cleaning went on like this, with Mrs Weasley finally getting in on the magic-cleaning with a stiff rug-beating charm that once and for all expelled all the dust in the carpet, and then with a couple more waves of her wand, the dust itself vanished from the room.

And during that time, not one owl letter arrived for either Harry or Ron, and the two boys shared matching conspiratorial grins as they realised their fortune.

The rattling of the cabinet at the far wall drew their attention, and Remus said, "That's likely to be a Boggart. We'd best be careful about it, all right? Does everybody remember the countercurse?"

As one, the teenagers chorused, "Riddikulus!"

Remus grinned. "Good. And remember, we must make ourselves laugh. All right. I'm going to approach, you stay close but just a bit behind; hopefully with us all being together we can confuse the Boggart and banish it more easily."

With that, Remus swung his wand, and out leapt a sort of undefinable shape that landed near Ginny Weasley. Before she could react, it became a bleeding, mortally injured Harry Potter!

Harry stood stock-still, stunned at seeing his dead self as Ginny's worst fear. Ginny's jaw dropped in shock and she backed away, her wand quavering as she stammered, "R-r-rid—d"

Mrs Weasley rushed over, bodily protecting Ginny from the Boggart, only for it to shift, and become a still, unmoving Arthur Weasley. She waved her wand and frantically shouted, "Riddikulus! R-R-RIDDIKULUS!"

Harry lunged forward, upon which the Boggart shifted again, becoming a sort of Voldemort-faced Dementor. For a moment, Harry couldn't move, riveted to the floor as an eerie laugh echoed through the room and the figure loomed over him. Suddenly, he knew what he had to do. His wand snapped out, and he barked, "Riddikulus!"

Dementor-Mort suddenly became an undignified-looking Voldemort in a clown suit on roller skates, and the room shook with laughter as even Ginny joined in, overcoming her earlier petrification. The Boggart nervously looked around, slinking back towards the cabinet, but not before Remus Lupin gave the finishing blow, with another "Riddikulus!" that vanished the Boggart permanently.

Harry's knees felt weak as he slowly let his breath out, counting himself lucky he hadn't frozen up. Ginny, eyeing him uncertainly, finally seemed to overcome something and walked over to him, sweeping her arms around him as she hugged him with all her strength, letting out a tremulous sigh as she did so.

Harry looked around the room, and most of the people in it seemed to be uncertainly looking about, but Ron was giving him a rather steady gaze, and unsettled, Harry shifted his attention back to Ginny. He cautiously returned Ginny's embrace, and when she didn't seem to mind, he held her more tightly and whispered, "Hey. I'm okay."

Mrs Weasley's announcement brought Ginny back to herself, and she hesitantly pulled away from Harry to look at her mother, who was speaking. "That was… quite a shock, I'm afraid. I'm really, terribly sorry you children had to see Arthur like that. I want you all to know your father is undoubtedly safe and fine in the Ministry, and as for the others—" she gestured at Harry and Ginny "—You-Know-Who is definitely not here, and Harry dear, you're just fine." She managed to paste a rather wobbly smile on her face, and briskly changing the subject, she said, "We'd better leave off the rest of this room for now. I'll make some sandwiches and be back."

Harry looked at Ginny and smiled at her. "Are you okay?"

She nodded. "Better now. Can we, um, talk about what you saw?"

"Sure, but I think now is probably not the best of times. Your brothers are probably all wondering what's up."

With that, Remus approached Harry and said, "Sirius will be wanting to chat with you for a bit anyway, Harry."

Ginny gave Harry a lopsided smirk. "Gets you out of the Brotherly Inquisition, yeah?"

Harry let out a snort. "We'll talk later, I promise."

With that, Harry left the drawing room, grateful to not feel Ron's stare when the latter wasn't talking to Hermione.

At the upstairs Master bedroom on the third floor, Harry carefully opened the door and slipped inside. Sirius was standing near Buckbeak, handing him what appeared to be a dead ferret or rat. His godfather turned, saw Harry, and called, "Hello! Come say hello to my travelling companion!"

Harry approached Buckbeak, and when he was about as far away as he remembered the first time he'd seen the Hippogriff, he executed a careful bow, keeping his eyes on the animal the whole time. After Buckbeak bowed back, Harry came up next to Sirius. "Hey. You've been up here a while."

Sirius shrugged and turned partway to look at Harry. "I suppose I ha—Harry, you look pretty pale! What's wrong?"

"Just a Boggart," Harry mumbled.

Sirius looked like he wanted to say a few choice words, but ended up just growling, "Damn. I knew Kreacher was bound and determined to let this place just go to hell after my mum died! Should've known there'd be a Boggart you'd have to clean out. I'm sorry I wasn't there; if I'd had any idea at all you were going to—"

"It's all right, Sirius! Remus helped get rid of it, no problem," Harry interrupted.

"Good." Sirius took a deep breath, then let it out. "Good to hear Moony helped out. It didn't try and hurt…?"

Harry shook his head. "Just became something like Voldemort for me, which… y'know, I should've expected. But Ginny – it turned into me, only… not alive."

Sirius let out a low whistle. "I can't say much about a Boggart becoming Voldemort, only that I hope you found a way to laugh at that."

"I made him turn into a clown," replied Harry. He let out a chuckle at the memory.

Sirius just managed to restrain his laugh. "Well, good on you for that. But about Ginny – I guess it's not the best way to find out who wants you for a boyfriend, hmm?"

"I had no idea, Sirius! And she wants to talk to me about it after, which I kind of understand, but Ron was giving me this look and I've heard about girls and their brothers from the telly and it always means doom for the bloke."

Sirius faced Harry squarely and reached out to hold Harry's shoulders. "Now, Harry, none of that! Telly or whatever, it's Ginny you need to worry about. I'm sure she can take care of her brothers if it comes to that, all right? Just treat her properly, make sure you listen to her when you have that all-important conversation, and you'll get started off on the right foot." Sirius seemed to wince. "Heaven knows I never quite figured that out until after I got out of Hogwarts."

"Before then?" wondered Harry.

Sirius let his hands drop and shoved them in his pockets. "You have to understand, I was… perhaps a bit full of myself in those days. I've talked a bird or two into my bed at Hogwarts, believe it or not, but they never exactly… what was that phrase Lily used? 'Returned my calls', I think I'd say."

"Hm," Harry muttered. "Well, I'm not exactly rushing to do that, if you know what I mean."

"No, no! No rush at all, Harry," agreed Sirius. "Take it from me, if there's a girl you like you want to take time getting to know her. When you've been in prison like I have, and then hiding out or being here now with not much to do, it rather makes you think about what you could've done better. One of the not-so-life-changing ones would've been to be better-behaved with the ladies. Life-changing? Not chasing after Wormtail like a complete idiot."

The distant banging of the front door got their attention, and the two of them went out to the landing to look down the stairs. A familiar voice called, "Harry Potter?"

"Dumbledore!" Harry whispered to Sirius. "I should go see what he wants."

Sirius nodded and waved him off. "We'll have plenty more times to talk, Harry. Take care."

Harry thundered down the stairs, and arrived at the ground floor, a bit short of breath as he got his bearings. He went to the front door, and in the antechamber he was greeted by the old Headmaster and a shorter, rather rotund man of indeterminate middle age, who smiled genially at Harry.

"This, Harry," Dumbledore said as he gestured, "is Horace Slughorn."

Author Notes: Some text has been adapted or rephrased from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. While I again thank my friend Ayala for looking this over, I'd like to find a beta who's been active in the Harry Potter fandom and would be able to catch canon details I might miss or overlook. Just PM me please. :)