69. "I'm happy for you."

Harry, Luna, Neville, and Ginny were drawing an end to club activities for the Herbology club. In the center of the room was a Fire Seed Bush that was alight in beautiful red flames that swayed to and fro.

Neville secured the bush to a cart to put away. Ginny followed suit to help him. They directed concerned looks Harry's direction as they left, both had noticed that Harry was troubled.

Throughout the span of the club activities, Harry had been distracted and muttered beneath his breath.

Luna frowned thoughtfully before walking towards Harry. She step inside his personal space and wrapped him in a sympathetic hug.

"Luna?" He questioned confused.

Softly, she consoled him, never breaking the hug, "It's fine Harry, really it is. The world is a strange and frightening place. It doesn't always make sense and that hurts. But that's ok, it gets better with time."

"How do you know?" He muttered.

She broke the hug and took a couple of steps away from him, a smile plastered on her face, "I know because I met you, Ginny, and Neville. You three spoke to me and welcomed me, how could things not be better? I don't understand what's going on with you, but I'm sure there's someone you can reach to, right?" Her expression relaxed and she seemingly drifted out of the room.

Harry simply stared at the spot Luna had been and sighed. She was right; there was one person that could understand him. He closed the door and turned towards the fireplace nestled at the end of the room.

He walked over to the fireplace and sat on the ground, ignoring the dirt smearing against his clothing. Digging into his robe, he pulled out a pouch of powder. The pouch was filled to the brim with Floo powder.

Harry dug his fingers inside the pouch, enjoying how the magic within the substance melded into his skin. He could feel the compact magic swirling together, latching the ingredients together. Pulling a small handful from the whole, he brought the powder to his lips and blew.

The powder swirled as though pushed by a gentle gush into the fireplace. Flames poured out of the fireplace and harmlessly passed through him. The flames then compacted into itself and took the form of Grimmauld Place. Slowly the flame image broke apart and took the form of Sirius' face.

"Harry?" Sirius questioned surprised, but no less pleased. "How are things at Hogwarts?"

Harry sat away from the others as he sat in front of the fire place. A flaming rendition of Sirius head appeared and smiled welcomingly at Harry.

"Great seeing you Harry. How's the year coming along?"

Harry grinned from the energy Sirius was projecting. It did his heart good to see Sirius becoming brighter every month. "It's been strange."

Sirius' smiled became smaller. It was always a point of gloominess for Sirius that Harry hadn't come to love Hogwarts the same way that he had in his youth. But, he could tell that this was something more.

Harry paused a moment to collect his thoughts, "I found out about Snape and my mom."

Sirius cringed openly and seemed to mutter something darkly.

Harry continued, "I feel… conflicted. Snape has… is a terrible person. He projected his bitterness towards my dad on me. But I can't help but feel for him." It was a bitter thing to admit out loud for him.

If his bonds with Teleute had been broken so abruptly, no matter how much he may have deserved it, he wasn't sure that he wouldn't come out of it just as bitter. Since his childhood, she had been a gentle touch and reprieve. The thought of losing her made his heart clenched tightly.

Sirius' solemn voice broke him out of his thoughts, "Harry it takes a strong person to have the empathy you have for Snape, but don't ever forget that he's responsible for his choices. We were terrible to him, I can understand that now. We must have been a frightful lot for him. We pushed him to the edge, but he took that final step.

Lily had always stood by his side; he turned his back on her first out of jealousy. Just like you don't let the people in Hogwarts belittle you, your mother didn't let Snape make her less than she was. He crossed a line that hurt your mother so much that she would not return to that.

It's true, Snape probably wanted somewhere he belongs and we took it from him. But, that doesn't excuse the misery he caused to so many people as a Death Eater. No matter what he felt about me and the guys, his victims were innocent.

You're different from that man, Harry. I find it hard to believe that you would curse that lady of yours just because you were having a hard time in Hogwarts. Just because he has a sympathetic background, it does not make him a good man.

Ask yourself this, if what happened to your mother had happened to another woman would he have shed a tear?"

Harry digested Sirius words. In the surge of memories, he had seen moments of him pleading with Headmaster Dumbledore. At that moment Snape would have easily abandoned him to save just his mother.

He clenched him fist and wanted to laugh bitterly. It seemed people had problems with seeing Harry as his own person. The students saw an idol, the ministry a scapegoat, Sirius used to see his father, and Snape saw him as some twisted combination of his parents.

"Everything is so complicated. I hadn't expected this when I got that letter years ago," he finally said.

Sirius sighed, "I'm sorry, but that's the life you live. For what it's worth, I'm proud of how you've handled yourself. You're becoming a fine man."

Those words held a lot for weight for Harry and he could not help but beam in pride.