He was standing right behind him, the closest thing Harry had to a family but he could do nothing but face away and squeeze his eyes while everyone around him spun on their heel and rushed towards the supposedly dead man. All, that is, except Snape. Even Draco had followed Ginny and Hermione over to Sirius, but Snape just stood glaring at the unkempt man. "It's too soon," he stammered.
"I do realise this Severus, but the children need all the help they can get. I spotted some death eaters on the other side of the valley heading your way. They didn't take the short cut but they're moving fast." Harry heard the voice but could not understand its existence; he'd seen Sirius die with his own two eyes. He'd seen his god-father stumble backwards on his feet before falling, as if in slow motion, backwards. Everything was so clear; the sights, the sounds, the emotions. "Harry?"
Harry's muscles were so stiff that his legs and arms started to shake violently. He flexed his fingers and tried to speak but all that came out was the chattering of his teeth. His breathing was distorted and he barely even heard Draco as he called his name and stood by him. He felt the warmth of an arm slide around his waist and squeeze lightly and he only vaguely acknowledged with that arm pulled him around to face in the other direction. His eyes were fuzzy but as the two images slowly came together, he started to recognise the face before him. The kind face of Sirius Black.
Draco pushed Harry in the square of his back, edging him forward with a soft, encouraging smile. He watched as the glaze over Harry's eyes faded and their shine came back, he felt the boy in his arms stop shaking and saw a smile slowly break over his face. Draco hugged his boyfriend in tightly as a welcome back and pecked his cheek, feeling it's warmth as softness, before pushing the dint of his back just above his pants, sending him on his way.
He was laughing, tingling from Draco's kiss and the excitement of what was happening. "Sirius!" He said nothing more for tears and laughter had taken over his ability to speak, instead he just launched himself into the shaggy man's embrace.
Nothing else mattered; it was Harry, his god-father, his friends and his boyfriend. He felt his childhood return to him, the childhood that he'd never had, and it felt good. His stomach tingled and tickled with butterflies, butterflies that felt huge, colourful and happy. Harry was grinning so wide that the corners of his mouth got stabbing pains, but he didn't care, he'd never stop smiling. His eyes were so full with the happiest of tears that he could feel them though his thick shirt.
Harry was so reluctant to move away but he had to investigate what had happened since the time they had last seen each other. Hesitantly he slid his hands from around Sirius's waist and relaxed his embrace. He looked up with his cheeks rosy from the still cascading tears of happiness and found Sirius's equally damp grey eyes that shone like the moon itself. Harry opened his mouth to speak but another wave of overwhelming happiness swept over him and he was forced to press himself back into his god father's chest with a Cheshire-Cat-like smile.
It was Hermione that eventually asked what Harry had attempted to ask three times without success, "We saw you die in front of our eyes. Care to tell us how you feigned death? It wasn't particularly nice on our part."
"Like you can talk," Draco teased, "You scared Harry and I to death back at the Whomping Willow."
Draco felt Ginny's eyes dart between him and Hermione. Of course, she wasn't there when Hermione was 'dead' or when she explained how she wasn't. But neither of them provided her with an explanation of the events that occurred before she joined them and let her moment of confusion pass. Sirius, however, looked unaffected by this news which caused Draco to suspect that this man had used the same technique of survival as Hermione had used for Bellatrix back at the school. Draco pondered the man; he only knew a few things about him having never met him before. The one was a murderer who was put in Azkaban for 12 years and then he wasn't a murderer and was actually innocent and Harry's god father. It was all too confusing to be able to get a proper grasp on whom and what this man was. Draco studied the man closely, looking him up and down, taking note of his boyfriend who was cuddled into his chest. Sirius. And all of a sudden things clicked. Sirius Black. His mother's maiden name, Bellatrix's maiden name. Technically he was Draco's family too.
Although he would never admit it in a million years, or even more, Sirius Black was the only family that Draco had left too. Perhaps, unlike Harry, he had living parents but Draco had no family that accepted and respected him for not becoming a death eater. This could be Draco's chance at a loving father, even if not biological. But he never admitted it because of Harry. Harry who had no living family who loved him, only Sirius. As much as he wanted the experience of having a father who loved him, he wanted the same for Harry.
His internal debate showed on his face because when his eyes refocused, he found Ginny's eyes studying his intently. Draco lowered his brow quizzically, questioning her in a silent conversation and she raised hers in a way that signalled that she suspected something but wasn't quite sure of the details yet. Her eyes flicked away and the conversation stopped.
With a final squeeze around Harry's middle, Sirius contemplated his answer. "I'm not really sure how to explain," he paused as Snape impatiently clicked his tongue with a certain immaturity what could only be brought out with the memories of his school days. With a slight crease of disapproval in his brow, Sirius went on, "When you saw me hit, saw me fall back, saw my heart stop beating…" He breather heavily and stepped back from Harry, he leaned down to Harry's height and looked into his eyes, "Like your mother's," he muttered.
"You ought to tell them the truth," Snape grumbled.
"Perhaps now is not the time," Sirius didn't take his eyes off Harry's but spoke to the others when he ordered, "Put up the tent, I trust you didn't leave the castle without it.
This all sounded a bit suspicious to Hermione; the fact that Snape and Sirius were talking as if they'd planned this all along, planned it together. She liked the fact that her friends and herself were involved in it less than Snape and Sirius working together. Nevertheless, she put aside her fears and drew the tent from her bag, flicked her wand at it and waited for the others to join in and help. The tent was set up quicker than it had ever been set up before with the addition of another skilled wizard.
While there was still a large hole in the heart of the group with Ron now gone, his absence came with an advantage that was that there was now an extra room. A room for Sirius. And with his sudden arrival, the whole in their hearts shrunk; but it was not filled for they were still anxious about the whereabouts of Ron.
The group, almost a family, sat around the large table and served up their rations discussing that they needed to go hunting and gathering for more supplies. Snape volunteered for the gathering, of course, with the most in depth knowledge of the poisonous and edible plants in the forest. Working on their strongest point, Sirius volunteered to be a hunter with his obvious abilities, Ginny went to gathering because of her reluctance to kill an animal, Hermione saw it best that she hunted too due to her knowledge about the habitats of relevant animals. Harry and Draco were torn, Harry wanting to go hunting because of Sirius and Draco wanting to go gathering because of the same reason. While they both wanted to work together it was obvious that they had to split ways for the day.
"I believe we haven't been properly introduced," Sirius said gesturing towards Draco.
"Draco Malfoy," his hand shot out.
Sirius took the hand and shook it; even after so long in the forest without human contact he remembered to be a gentleman. "Ahh, you're Lucuis's son…"
"No," Draco cut him off, "I am Narcissa's son, I'll have nothing to do with that man."
Sirius's eyebrows rose but then fluttered back into place when he asked, "So you and Harry are in a relationship then?" His face grew excited and hopeful but Draco misinterpreted His expression to be negative rather than positive.
"Yes."
Draco waited for the blow, for the yelling and screaming, but instead he felt Siruis's arms encase his entire body in a hug, dragging him almost all the way off his chair. He wasn't used to this acceptance, at home he'd have been beaten for being gay let alone having Harry Potter as a boyfriend. Unused to hugging, his arms stayed limp at his sides as Sirius's hug got rougher and more loving. He growled playfully before releasing him from his grip, "My godson and my godson in law!" He exclaimed loudly, he wanted to announce it to the world, "I'm so proud, he caught a handsome one too," He added winking at Draco. Draco blushed furiously.
"Enough flirting with my boyfriend," he heard Harry laugh from the other side of him.
"How long have you been together?"
"Only a couple of days but I've loved him since I first set eyes on him," he glanced at Harry smiling subtly.
"You still haven't told us how you got out of there alive," said Hermione as she gulped down the last of her meal and twirling her fork around her fingers.
"Yes," he rubbed both hands through his lengthy hair and dragged them from the base of his hairline, pulling the tousles of hair onto his face. He flicked this back, looking annoyed with the strands that disobeyed his actions, "When I fell back, the attention was turned away from me and I transformed. When you transform it's an alternate life; you have the same memories and motives, the same personality, but one vital difference is that it's another life another source of life and if you practice enough an animagus can put energy and life magic into the animal. You can keep yourself on the brink of death this way, providing that the human form is still alive just a little. Just a heartbeat is enough." He looked around the room and saw the disbelieving eyes of Snape stare back at him, he knew he was lying, but the kids around him all looked up with admiration.
Hermione's voice was airy with respect and high esteem when she next used it, "You are pure genius. She clasped her hands together and squeezed until it hurt to prevent herself from launching her body across the table in Sirius's direction.
"I apparated to the forest without the use of a wand and I've been living here ever since with only the magic that can be achieved wandless," this part of his story was true but he still avoided making eye contact with Severus again.
Suddenly, Hermione was on her feet with five sets of eyes watching her. "I'm off to bed," she stammered as she blushed redder than her ex-boyfriend's hair. She bustled off to her bedroom where she would soon be met with Ginny.
"We're off too," said Harry looking at Draco with a glint in his eye. They too rushed to their room, leaving Ginny, Snape and Sirius to clean up the table.
Sirius gave Ginny clearance to go to her bed and get some shut eye before they set off again in the early morning but she insisted that she stay and help knowing that Hermione would not want to be seen for a little time while she calmed herself. Ginny was more intuitive now that she was older and wiser than she'd ever known herself to be.
She only left Sirius and Snape for her room when absolutely all the work was finished. When she entered, she entered with eyes lowered just in case. To her relief she found that Hermione was fast asleep beneath her covers, she even made the effort to poke her a few times to make sure that she wasn't just feigning sleep.
She changed into clean pyjamas and cozied herself into her bed, wrapping herself tightly in her blanket and extinguished the candle flame with her wand.
He couldn't have been more than four or five days walk away, if what Bellatrix had told him was correct, but it would be even less with the thestral he'd acquired from the house. Of course, he'd have to be rid of it before he met with the others. He'd need to ditch the saddle bag full of food and supplies too and only take what he absolutely needed.
Sure enough, it only took him just over 2 days of travel before he saw their tent set up just half a mile away. Easy enough to walk from here, he thought as he dismounted and bugun to sort his supplies.
With a rough slap on the backside, Ron sent the thestral galloping in the opposite direction and he started towards the tent with only his wand and what he could carry concealed in his pockets.
5