Here is the next chapter of my story. Please read and review love Sag x
Harry stood outside the door attempting to collect himself and burst into tears. He couldn't tell if they were tears of nerves or tears of relief. The last time he'd been here they'd been in a harrowing war and he'd been reminded of how lonely he was without Sirius. That Sirius was long gone but this Sirius, his Sirius was alive in there. Inside Sirius was feeling exceptionally nervous. What would Harry be like? What would he like? Could Sirius provide for him the way he needed? Harry eventually collected himself drying his tears and gently knocking on the door which a now exceptionally healthy looking Sirius opened. In fact he'd never seen Sirius looking so well. It was a shock to say the least. He stood staring at him in utter awe before remembering himself and running inside to hug and equally stunned Sirius who delighted in the hug. Harry looked very like James with Lilly's eyes the only difference being he didn't have glasses whereas James did. He led Harry inside to the living room and smiled at him.
"Harry it's so good to see you!" he enthused as Harry thought of how to approach this situation.
"Sirius it's great to see you too. You know I do sometimes remember my childhood and I remember calling you Padfoot. I also remember flying on a motorcycle with someone or something called Hagrid driving it. He left me with the Dursleys Sirius! He didn't do it because he wanted to though I do remember that much!" he said as Sirius looked stunned.
"Oh my goodness pup! You remembered old Padfoot! I love you Harry. That motorcycle was mine and I loaned it to Hagrid. He promised to keep you safe for me until I returned from getting my vengeance on Peter Pettigrew. I am so very sorry in my grief I didn't think of you first when I should have. Can you ever forgive me?" he asked as Harry thought about what he was saying for the first time. The last time he'd never thought of this and it had never come up so this was the first time he realised what Sirius done and felt very sudden and immense rage well within him. He hadn't even been Sirius' first thought had he!
"I will be able to forgive you eventually but don't push it. The fact that you didn't immediately think of me first sucks. I was left in the so called care of the Dursleys while you were off seeking revenge instead of caring for me like you should have been. I found out my name on my first day of school. Up until then I had assumed it was either boy or freak. Thankfully things are better now that I have a house elf. I will not say anything more about that situation anymore. We have a week together and although I am very angry right now I am still happy to see you!" he said smiling as tears fell from the distraught eyes of Sirius. Harry internally ached to see him that way but Sirius would need to suffer if only for a day or so to learn his mistake. He knew he'd never put anything before Harry ever again.
"Has Tilly been telling you about Hogwarts? Do you even know that you're magical?" Sirius suddenly asked feeling incredibly stupid as he'd not have a house elf if he didn't know he was magical. He had no idea where the stupid question had come from but he couldn't take it back now. Harry just giggled at him.
"Yes she has been telling me all about Hogwarts and I am a wizard I know that. She told me about the houses and the only houses which appeal to me are either Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw but as Ravenclaw is the smart house and I love doing well at school it would be the place to go. I also love pranks and I do feel that Ravenclaw might be the most tolerant of them!" he said as Sirius looked highly conflicted initially and then laughed at the end part.
"I love pranks too. What kind of pranks do you do?" he asked practically jumping for joy as Harry smiled slightly. Sirius would not be getting the answer he expected that's one sure thing.
"My last prank involved muggle laxatives and Uncle Vernon's sweets. Essentially he was a jerk to me and as a consequence spent the week shitting himself. I only ever prank those who actually deserve it though and I never ever prank someone just for fun, especially not an innocent person. Pranking for me is a funny way to get revenge on those who have harmed me in a serious way or otherwise. As I said before I'm not getting into what he did to me because I don't want to do that but he constantly shits himself now until I feel he has learned his lesson. Pranking just for the sake of it or pranking innocent people because they do not do as you would like is evil no matter how you look at it! I do not ever have time for people who prank innocent people in a way which hurts because they can!" he said sternly as Sirius looked highly conflicted at that statement.
In school they'd done what he had said he hated and in that moment he suddenly felt very old and very guilty. Harry loved the Weasley twins because when they pranked they usually changed the colour of someone's hair or clothing or something else which could be easily rectified and never hurt. Embarrassed maybe but physically harmed never. However he'd seen his father and his friends transfiguring animal parts out of people's bodies whom they didn't like. He remembered seeing a muggleborn girl with antlers on her head in much pain because she had refused to go on a date with James Potter and he had retaliated that way. Harry found that very difficult indeed to see. It made things very mentally complicated for him. He loved his father I mean how could he not, but seeing some of the things his father did make him resent him a little too. Who the hell was he to lord everything over others? Why couldn't he just accept rejection like a normal man would have? Was it so awful that someone had refused to date him? In fact James became very unpopular as every girl who turned him down ended up transfigured in some way because he was a pro at that subject.
Sirius hadn't been any better using potions to get dates and then freaking out when the girls would be mad at him after learning what he'd done. Remus was in general useless because he spent so long panicking and worrying about his own condition that he failed to see the kinds of friends he had. Many women had wanted to date Remus but as he had been so obsessed with his own condition he never even noticed them and then jealousy had set in when Peter was largely ignored or forgotten about constantly as he left little to no impression on anyone he ever met. His jealousy had stewed and stewed until he could take it no more betraying them to Voldemort. He'd be remembered now for sure wouldn't he? At least now they could say Peter was dead and Sirius was out of jail. Harry could tell that jail had changed Sirius and he really seemed to see that actions really did have consequences now. He didn't mention what they'd done as children but just agreed that Harry was right of course.
He was torn because Harry hadn't mentioned Gryffindor as somewhere he'd like to go. I mean there was nothing wrong with Ravenclaw but did that mean Harry was a nerd? James had always been good at his subjects in school but he'd never been the smartest one in their friend group. That had been Remus who always got straight O's in everything he ever did. He and James had always gotten EE marks in everything they'd done with the odd O here and there and Peter had always failed at everything. In fact most staff seemed surprised to see Peter and remember he existed at all. He was so quiet that he never helped himself there either. He never did anything memorable to get noticed until he led to the destruction of James and Lily Potter for which he was now thankfully deceased.
"Harry just know that your mother, father and myself were all in Gryffindor. I went to Gryffindor to get out of needing to go to Slytherin because every member of my family had been in that evil house and I wished to break the mould. You can be in any house you like and it will never stop me loving you and doing my best to care for you as long as I live. You make whatever you do go into your own though. Please don't spend so much time studying that you forget to live too. It doesn't do to live in the library as some people do" Sirius said as Harry instantly thought of Hermione and blushed.
He probably shouldn't have but she did practically live in there and it was in there that Viktor Krum used to watch her like a creep. He had said he was fascinated in her because she wasn't one bit interested in him and didn't follow him around in the creepy way his other female fans did. He seemed very annoyed that she didn't care about his career either something she had told him to stop talking about. She had told him she was studying and he'd need to go away while she continued to work. She agreed to go to the ball with him and had enjoyed a wonderful night until Ron had ruined it at the end with his jealousy which of course he'd not yet been mature enough to identify. He knew he felt bad just not why. Harry of course got it in the neck from Hermione as he usually did whenever Ron did something wrong, something he would be sure to not take this time. Harry had preciously asked Tilly if there was a potion to calm down hair permanently and she had told him there was.
He rejoiced asking her to get two bottles. One was for him which he drank at once making him look a more put together James. He also felt much better. He'd loved letting his hair grow out some more and then be calm something it never usually was. He looked neat and tidy. Tilly was asked to find Hermione Granger and make her drink the potion which took a few hours but was done. Hermione had hated the taste of the potion and there had been an explosion sound once she'd finished drinking it because her hair had been such a bird's nest of tangles. Her hair now fell in neat controlled waves down her back much like her mothers. Whilst she was there Tilly fixed her huge front teeth too. This was Harry's gift to Hermione much like the ones he'd given the Weasley family earlier on. He hoped that by giving her perfect hair and normal looking teeth she'd be less chaotic and over bearing when they did eventually meet. After spending many hours catching up with Sirius he was shown to his bedroom and told he could design it any way he wanted to with no expense spared. They'd be going shopping tomorrow and he was so excited. As he lay in his new bed he felt content for the first time in a while. It was a wonderful feeling.