A/N: Before you read, this chapter is going to get me a lot of hate. Read to the end, there's another author's note! Don't give up on this story until the next chapter (which I've already started writing) comes out later this week!
Sirius was extremely nervous for the rest of that evening; nervous for what tomorrow's revelation would mean for his son, and nervous as to how he would take it. Harry had destroyed two of the horcruxes so far, and thought them to be entirely evil things. Truly, Sirius was worried Harry would turn to self-loathing and try to get rid of the horcrux within himself before a solution could be found.
He couldn't bear the thought of that.
With a heavy heart full of determination, he walked into Harry's room in his quarters. Harry was lying on his bed, looking through a quidditch magazine. One look at his father's features, pinched with tension, had him jumping out of bed and moving towards him. "What's wrong? Did something happen with Dumbledore? Is his hand-"
"He's fine," Sirius rasped out, and he gestured for Harry to sit down on the bed. "He wants us to visit him in his office tomorrow morning."
Harry sat on his bed and looked up at his father curiously, but nodded nonetheless. "Is that a bad thing?"
"I… Yes, it's going to be bad news, but I can't explain it like Dumbledore can, so just trust me, okay? The world won't end, you won't be taken away from me, and it won't necessarily put us at a disadvantage in the war. It's just… a shock." Sirius said, trying his best to sound soothing when his fatherly instincts were telling him to pack Harry's things and run as far away as possible.
"You can't tell me anything about it right now?" Harry questioned, meeting his dad's grey gaze. "You tell me everything about the war, why can't this come from you too?"
"I just need to tell you with Dumbledore. He'll have my neck if I do it now. I'll keep you safe though, okay? I won't let anyone hurt you." Sirius vowed, more to himself than to Harry.
"You say that all the time," Harry said with a laugh, but it didn't have an amusing effect on Sirius - he winced at his son's words and looked away. "Dad? What's wrong?"
"I guess those words are kind of meaningless, huh?" Sirius said, dryly, looking away. "I say it all the time, but I've failed you miserably."
"What? No! Dad, it was a joke!" Harry said, nudging Sirius in his ribs. "I was trying to point out what a mother hen you were. You've done brilliantly."
This time, Sirius snorted. "Brilliantly… bollocks. Think of all the danger you've been forced into in the past year. The bloody tournament, all the times you were attacked by students, you going into ministry holding, Snape's occlumency… I've done a poor job of protecting you."
"Well, yeah… but Sirius, you've done so much more than protect me. Every time something like that has happened, you've been the one right by my side helping me heal, telling me jokes, giving me potions and food. You truly are a wonderful mother-"
"Oi!" Sirius protested, smiling a little bit at his son.
Harry chuckled, but then looked his dad in the eyes. "You came out of the worst prison in the world and have devoted your life to me just because you agreed with my dead father thirteen years before that you would be my godfather. You could have escaped once you got your freedom and moved to a new country, started a new life, gotten married, and had children of your own… but instead you stay with me and care for me like your own son, despite me having a price on my head by the most deadly wizard in history. You love me… that means more to me than if you had managed to prevent a few events that harmed me from occurring."
Sirius wrapped an arm around Harry's shoulders and kissed the boy's head gently. "You are my son and I do love you more than anything or anyone. Yes, you were born to James and Lily, but you're mine too, and I've always thought of you that way." Then, remembering his initial worries, his facial expression morphed from relaxed to nervous.
Harry noticed this, but decided not to comment and instead, returned his father's hug.
Sirius tightened his grip on the boy, his hold becoming desperate. He couldn't do this, couldn't accept that his child was a weapon of Voldemort's. They had to leave, he had to save his boy. He would not sit around and wait for Dumbledore's plan to play out, he wouldn't risk Harry's life for anything.
As he was preparing to voice this, Harry mumbled a question. "Will you sing?"
Sirius was shocked out of his tormented thoughts by this; he looked down at Harry, whose head was rested against his shoulder. "I thought you didn't like my singing?"
"I mean, you won't go to the opera with your voice, but you don't sound bad. Besides, I like it… you don't sing for anyone else the way you do for me. And it was my mother's lullaby. It means a lot to hear you sing it to me." Harry mumbled thickly, beginning to fall asleep.
Sirius smiled tenderly at him and readjusted the two of them so he was leaning against the headboard and Harry was situated against his side. He began to sing softly, while simultaneously rubbing swirling circles on Harry's back.
Once the song was finished and Harry had fallen asleep, he made himself more comfortable in the four poster. He was unsure of how Harry would react tomorrow, but he couldn't bring himself to leave. He couldn't take the horcrux out of Harry, but as long as the boy trusted him to be there and never abandon or betray him, he wouldn't leave his side. He loved him far too much for that, and Harry wouldn't die because of the horcrux - he would at least guarantee himself that.
So with a weary and tortured heart, he fell into a fitful sleep, awaiting the morning when he would need to wake his son for a painful conversation with the headmaster.
The morning was rough for Sirius, and the tension he was exuberating was negatively affecting Harry. When they finally made it to the headmaster's office, Sirius was a nervous wreck, and Harry was completely bewildered. There were very few things that frightened his father, so if Sirius was shaking as he approached Dumbledore's desk that morning, this was going to be bad. He just knew it.
"Harry," Dumbledore said solemnly, looking back and forth between the two. "There's something that I need to tell you… Sirius doesn't want to believe this, but it's become much more apparent in recent know how we've been hunting horcruxes?"
Harry nodded, and looked at his father, who now had his head in his hands, concerned. "Right, we've destroyed the ring, the locket, the diary, and now the diadem. That leaves… two, right? Or three? Since he split his soul into seven?"
"Not exactly," Dumbledore said, eyeing Sirius, who still hadn't looked up. "I think he meant to split his soul into seven, but he actually split it into eight. There was an unintentional horcrux that I've recently gotten quite a bit of proof on. Remember, I told you I wasn't sure about one in our last meeting?"
"Yeah…" Harry said, nodding. "So, what is it?"
"Harry…" Sirius choked out, finally looking up. His eyes were swollen red and he had a pained expression on his handsome features.
"What's wrong, dad?" Harry asked, immediately alarmed.
Sirius took a deep breath before speaking. "It's… it's… puppy, it's you. When he killed James and Lily… his soul attached to you."
Harry looked at his father incredulously for a moment, then back at Dumbledore, as if needing confirmation. At Dumbledore's nod, Harry grew angry, and turned back to his dad. "So you knew this whole time, huh? And didn't even bother to tell me?"
"We weren't sure, Harry," Dumbledore interjected, knowing that Sirius hadn't wanted to believe this for himself. "Sirius didn't want to believe it was true when I told him, and only recently has it been confirmed-"
"And why didn't you want to tell me?" Harry asked, his voice growing deathly quiet as he turned back to his father. "Because you're disgusted by me now? You didn't want to believe that I was a freak like my relatives always said? You lied to me!"
Sirius, who was normally fairly collected, was spluttering. He didn't know what to say - sure, he had expected a harsh reaction out of his son, but was definitely not expecting the anger and hatred in his child's eyes to be directed towards him.
"So what then? You're both just going to kill me off too, like we've done with the other objects? Is that all I've been to any of you? Someone to be raised to fight, to lead a little army of students, and then be killed off?"
Sirius managed to find his voice, though it cracked when he spoke. "No, Harry! Bloody hell, no, that's not-"
"Then what?" Harry yelled, anger surging. "What? I'm supposed to just keep on living while that monster lives? Isn't that what the prophecy says anyway? Neither can live while the other survives? I'm the one that has to die and you knew it and you lied to me! I hate you!"
Sirius jumped from his chair as Harry ran out the office door and chased after him frantically. "Harry! Come back!"
Harry ran as fast as he could, but he knew being in the castle was no good. The Marauder's Map was in his room, Sirius could find him eventually. He needed to get out, go to Hogsmeade, get on the Knight Bus-
Turning a corner, Harry ran smack into an unfriendly face. "Malfoy," he growled as the tall man approached him.
"My, my," Malfoy senior said, a twisted grin gracing his features. "Where are your manners, Mr. Potter? I am a ministry official after all."
Harry attempted to move around him, but Malfoy caught him around his bicep and didn't let go. "As it happens," he drawled, his breath tickling the back of Harry's neck. "I'm here on ministry business. You see, the Minister needs to know the Boy-Who-Lived plans for stopping the Dark Lord, so that he can help… accommodate you."
Malfoy gave the boy a wicked smile. "Come with me, I'll return you later… perhaps."
Harry tried to call for help, but all he could do was grunt as he attempted to move out of the older man's grasp.
As if on cue, Sirius shot through the hallway and stopped dead at the scene in front of him. "Let go of my son, Malfoy," Sirius growled, holding his wand up.
Lucius placed the tip of his wand against Harry's neck. "Ah ah, not so fast. Don't worry, Black, the Ministry just needs Mr. Potter for some… private business."
Sirius faltered as the wand tip pressed harder into his son's neck. "D-don't hurt him, please." There was a note of pleading in Sirius's voice that surprised Harry - if he wanted Harry to die because he was a horcrux, why was he begging Malfoy not to hurt him? Wouldn't that just make the Order's job easier? "I'll do anything, just don't hurt him."
"Touching," Lucius said, the wicked grin playing on his features again. "Maybe we'll invite you back once Harry's done with his ministry business… The Dark Lord might be interested in your offer, we're always looking for new recruits."
"Please…" Sirius begged, looking around desperately. "Dumbledore and the other professor's are coming, just give me Harry and we'll let you go free. Don't hurt my son, please-"
"Well, then it sounds like it's time for us to leave, right Mr. Potter? Perhaps you should say goodbye to your dear father, who knows when you'll see him again." Lucius snarled, wrapping a hand around the necklace on his neck and yanking Harry's hand up to it as well.
"No!" Harry shouted, jerking away from what he assumed was a portkey and simultaneously realizing that he had forgiven his father, and knew the man hadn't meant to hurt him. "Dad!"
Sirius lunged for the two of them desperately, and attempted to grab one of their ankles, but it was too late - the portkey went off, and the they had disappeared.
"We've got to go to the ministry right now!" Sirius exclaimed, pacing back and forth in Dumbledore's office. "Malfoy's going to use Harry to get the prophecy… he'll hurt him!"
"Sirius, we can't go without a plan," Dumbledore tried to console. "We'll get to him, but we need to make sure we know what we're doing. People will be suspicious if you go rushing in there."
"That's doesn't bloody matter!" Sirius yelled, slamming his fist down on a nearby table. "My son could be being tortured right now!" A lone tear fell down Sirius's cheek as he thought about some of the last words Harry had spoken to him. "He… he said he hated me."
"Sirius, you know he didn't mean that." Dumbledore said gently. "He was rightfully angry and needed someone to take it out on, that's all."
Before Sirius could respond, McGonagall, Snape, and Remus all came bursting through the door of the office.
"Dumbledore, what has happened?" McGonagall said, looking pale.
"Harry's been taken to the ministry by Malfoy," Dumbledore said gravely. "We need to get Kingsley, Tonks, and Arthur here, and then we'll head over there. Severus," Dumbledore said, turning to him. "Find out the plans for him and report back, you know what to do."
Snape nodded and left the office without a word. Dumbledore turned to Remus. "Alert the three I just mentioned and all of you get to the ministry. McGonagall, watch over the school in my absence. I will keep you updated. Sirius, go with Remus and get to the ministry. I will meet you there once I hear from Severus."
Sirius and Remus nodded and departed immediately; however, once they got in the main corridor, Sirius took a sharp right towards the castle exit.
"Sirius, where are you going?" Remus asked, following him.
"You alert the others, I'm going to get my son." Sirius said, now breaking out into a run to get to the apparation area.
"Sirius, no, it will be better if all of us are there-" Remus started, but was cut off.
"My child, James' little boy, is being tortured right now for that damn prophecy, and you're telling me to wait? Hell no. I'm going, whether you like it or not. Just get the others and get there as soon as possible." Sirius demanded, eyes flashing dangerously.
Remus considered arguing, but knew they were wasting precious time. "Fine, but it's on your own head!" He warned.
"As long as it's not Harry's head being risked, I'm fine with that." Sirius spat before running off again. Remus watched him for a second, then went in the direction of his quarters to contact the rest of the Order. He knew that Sirius would stop at nothing to save his child, so he had to contact the Order as soon as possible and hope it wouldn't be too late.
"Go ahead, Potter, use those quidditch skills. I need you to collect that prophecy for me." Lucius drawled in the boy's ear.
"Never," Harry said, giving the man a death glare.
"Oh, you'll come around. Crucio!" Lucius said with a lazy flick of his wand. Immediately Harry's body filled with the familiar burning sensation, attacking his nerves and setting him on fire. Still, he did not scream.
This had been going on for an hour now and Harry wasn't sure when it would end - he knew one thing though, he couldn't give in. He didn't learn occlumency and train for the past year and a half just for it to end so easily.
When Lucius lifted the curse, Harry vaguely registered laughing. He realized other death eaters had joined them, and among them, was Sirius's cousin, Bellatrix.
"What's wrong, ickle Potter? Trying to be a hero like daddy and mummy?" She crooned to him, a wicked grin crossing her own crazed features. "Speaking of daddy, where is my dear, blood traitor of a cousin? Decided you were too much trouble, did he?" She asked, reaching out and stroking a hand across Harry's cheek.
The next few minutes went by in a blur - one minute, he was cringing away from the evil witch, and the next she was being blown away from him and his father was running towards him.
Sirius stood protectively in front of Harry, pulling the boy to his feet and tucking him safely against his back. "You will not touch my son," he growled. Harry felt the bonds that Lucius had cast on him be lifted as Sirius flicked his wand silently.
Harry pressed his forehead in between his father's shoulder blades, breathing freely again, despite the ache throughout his body from the cruciatus curse.
"Touching, truly, but we aren't done with him yet," Lucius said, stepping forward. "Now, Black, I suggest you move, or you'll soon feel the Dark Lord's wrath."
"You'll have to kill me before I move." Sirius said with determination, holding up his wand towards Lucius. The two began to duel, both using intricate wand patterns and voiceless incantations. Sirius never let go of his grip on Harry, so he was at a slight disadvantage, especially when the other death eaters began to help Lucius.
Soon, other Order members and aurors were joining the fray, and prophecies were breaking left and right - Harry hadn't grabbed the prophecy about Voldemort and him, so he wasn't sure whether or not it had been broken yet. He stayed behind his father, helping out by sending a few jinxes and hexes over his shoulder and attempting to watch behind them.
Out of nowhere, he heard an evil cackle to his right, then saw Bellatrix shoot a spell at him out of the corner of his eye. Everything went black for a moment and he had the sensation that he was falling. When he opened his eyes, he was on the ground and his dad had run off to fight Bellatrix. Harry tried to get up and go after him, but he was groggy and his head hurt, so he just managed to stand up.
As he was getting his bearings, his heart began to race. Dumbledore had appeared and managed to restrain all the Death Eaters except for Bellatrix - Sirius and her were still dueling.
Harry looked around frantically to see what the others were doing, wanting to find out why no one was helping his father. Remus was looking over an unconscious Tonks, and Kingsley was helping restrain the other Death Eaters, which to Harry's satisfaction, included Peter Pettigrew. The other aurors were near Kingsley, getting instructions on sending the people to Azkaban. Dumbledore was approaching him, but before he could say anything, he heard a spell that made his heart stop.
He turned just in time to see a jet of green light hurtling straight towards him from Bellatrix's direction; however, before either Harry or Dumbledore could react, Sirius jumped in front of it, then crumbled to the ground.
Harry stared at his father's still, unmoving body for a few seconds, expecting him to jump back up and make a joke, or continue fighting the crazed witch. Instead, he didn't move - his eyes stared above, unseeing.
Dumbledore raced to where Bellatrix was now laughing hysterically on the ground, ready to continue the fight. Harry let out a strangled sob and kneeled down next to Sirius's body.
"Dad, dad! Wake up, get up!" Harry called, jerking on his father's arm. When Sirius didn't move, Harry started to get angry - he punched the man twice in the chest, attempting to get some sort of reaction. "Dad! Bloody hell, wake up! Dad!"
Strong arms wrapped around Harry's torso and lifted him up and away from Sirius. "No, stop!" Harry shouted, pulling away from whoever was moving him. "Sirius! Sirius!"
"He won't wake up, Harry, we need to leave." Remus's voice cracked in his ear. Harry turned to face him and was met with a red face and very swollen eyes.
"I can't leave him! He's okay, we just need to get him to the hospital wing!" Harry shouted, fighting with all his might to escape Remus's grasp. "Dad! Sirius! Sirius Black! Damn it dad, get up!" Harry yanked out of Remus's arms and fell to Sirius's side, pulling on his father's robes.
"Harry, we've got to get you out of here - one of the death eaters called Voldemort, he's on his way." Remus sucked in a deep breath as he stared at his lifeless best friend. "Dumbledore's going to bring Sirius with him, you and I need to go."
"Dumbledore!" Harry exclaimed. "He'll save dad?"
Remus couldn't take it anymore - he started crying. It was hard enough to watch his best friend drop dead in front of his eyes, but to see the child that meant so much to him, the one who had already lost so much, believe that his father was merely sleeping or injured was too much to bear. "Harry, it's too late... Sirius is dead, he can't wake up. We need to go."
"HE IS NOT DEAD!" Harry shouted, getting angry; however, when he turned and looked at his father's lifeless form on the ground, his expression grew soft and hopeless. "Dad please… just move."
When Sirius continued to lie there motionless, it started to hit Harry. Sirius was always there for him, every minute of everyday. If he wasn't moving when Harry was begging and screaming for him to move, it could only mean one thing…
Harry felt his shoulders begin to sag and shake with the force of his own sobs. What does it matter if Voldemort found him and killed him? He'd do the Order a favor, he was a horcrux after all. He had to die…
… And then he'd see Sirius again.
Despite this, he felt arms surround him and carry him away, but this time he didn't fight it. He couldn't look at Sirius's lifeless eyes anymore, didn't want to relive the way his body collapsed in front of him.
He only wished his last words to the man hadn't been that he hated him. That wasn't true at all - he loved him, more than he loved anybody else. He wasn't sure what he would do now or where he would go, but he knew if his father wasn't there, he would never be happy. He choked on a sob as he buried his face in Remus robes, allowing himself to give in to his pain and heartbreak.
SUPER CRAZY IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE: Don't flame me! This is not what it looks like! I know it seems like we're getting to a conclusion, but we're not even close! There are more horcruxes to be found, and also a plot twist that you might catch if you read this chapter closely. A quick disclaimer: Sirius is my favorite character and I hate that he died in canon… that's all I'm going to say, but I guess just wait for the next update before you freak out and hate me for what just happened because everything is not as it seems. As always, please read and review (AND PLEASE if you want to give up on this story because of what happened just wait until the next chapter goes up, give it one last chance, and if it disappoints you, then you can quit following the story, just wait a little longer plz plz plz.) Also, if you want a happier note for a story, go check out Harry's New Home, it's a cute one about little Harry growing up with Sirius.
