A.N. Thank you to all of you who reviewed! This chapter is dedicated to Liquid Metal, who has a new story out (read it, it's really good)!!!!! Happy Holidays!!!!
Mal
"T-Thank you."
Sirius grinned at Harry, who quickly turned to look at the floor.
"You're most welcome," Sirius replied, glancing at Remus who gave him a thumbs up. "Are you sure that you wouldn't like anything more to eat?" Harry didn't answer. Instead he stood up and walked back upstairs, still holding the picture of the wedding.
"Yes!" Sirius exclaimed after Harry had shut the door to his room. "Did you hear that? He spoke!" Sirius went jumping around the room while Remus laughed.
"We're making progress Remus!" Sirius said, still frolicking around the room. "He spoke! He spoke!"
"Calm down," Remus laughed. "I'm as happy as you are, but the way you're acting it's more likely to scare the boy!"
Sirius stopped jumping and stood their grinning. "He ate and he spoke! Thank Merlin!"
"It's a good thing he ate everything, because I put the Power Pills and Nutrient Pills in there," Remus added.
"Well, judging from how thin he is, I would think that he would eat anything placed in front of him."
"But at first he didn't want to eat? Why though? If he was so thin…"
"When you're in Azkaban, for some people it's so horrible that you just want to die… most stop eating… I suppose that that's how Harry felt when he was there…" Sirius got a dark look on his face.
"Well, he's here now and we'll make him feel better. At the rate he's going I'm sure he'll be ready for anything soon! Even Diagon Alley…"
~*~
Harry let the water from the shower pound down on his head. He hadn't slept much for the previous night, and he wasn't in the mood to wash his hair at that moment. So he just stood in the shower and let the water pour down on him. When he had slept the previous nights his dreams were filled with horrible images, and he would wake up quickly. When he wasn't dozing he was curled up in his corner.
"Why did I say that to Sirius?" Harry had wondered for the last couple of days. "Why did I have to go downstairs last night. They were so happy just being by themselves, why did I have to go…"
Harry finished in the shower and turned off the water. He dried himself off and pulled on his clothes. It was early. About 8 in the morning. Remus hadn't been up when he had decided to take a shower.
Harry went back to his room and ran a hand through his damp hair. It was a bit longer and wilder. Harry wished that it was shorter, and all of a sudden it got as short as it was before he was in Azkaban. He blinked and frowned.
Just then there was a knock on his door. Harry jumped and slowly went over and opened the door. Sirius was standing there, grinning.
"Someone's here to see you," he said simply. Harry just frowned. Who would be here to see him?
"Come on downstairs," Sirius said, putting a hand on Harry's shoulder. Harry backed away, starting to tremble again.
"Sorry," Sirius said softly. "Forgot…"
Harry nodded and followed Sirius downstairs.
Sitting on the kitchen table was two owls. Harry recognized the snowy owl.
"She was staying at the Weasleys. They've written you a letter as well," Sirius said as Hedwig flew into the air and landed on Harry's shoulder. Harry slowly reached over, patted her on the head, and she nipped at his fingers lovingly. The other owl had a letter with the Hogwarts seal on it.
Harry opened the letters from the Weasleys first.
Dear Harry,
Are you okay!?!?!- Nice, Hermione. Make him feel even worse by saying we were worried about him- but we were! Are you okay? Was it awful in Azkaban?-of course it was awful in Azkaban, it's a prison and there are Dementors- Ron will you shut up for a moment? Anyway, we hope you're all right, and that we will be able to see you soon!- Fred and George are back to semi-normalcy now that you're out of Azkaban. You should have seen them, they didn't play one joke on anyone while you were there! Not even Percy!
-You have to come visit us sometime, even if it is just for dinner. We miss you horribly and we can't wait to see you again!
Love from,
Ron and Hermione
P.S. Call us sometime, we now have the felly- telephone working.
"I think they miss you," said Sirius, who had been reading over Harry's shoulder. "You know, next Wednesday is a full moon, and Remus is going to have to transform. I'm sure we could arrange for you to oh… spend the night at the Weasleys…" Harry slowly looked up at Sirius. Sirius was startled to see a worried look on his face. "If you want to."
Harry gave a small shrug and went on to open the letter from Hogwarts.
HOGWARTS SCHOOL
of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,
Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)
To Mr. Harry Potter,
Term for your fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry begins on September 1st. You are exempt from your holiday work due to recent events in your life. You will, however, have to visit Hogwarts during your holiday in order to make sure that your magical powers are still intact. The date for this meeting will be planned at a later time. Enclosed in this letter is a list of the things you will be needing for school.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress
Harry set the letter down on the table and sat down. Hedwig hopped from his shoulder and onto the table.
"Would you like some breakfast?" Sirius asked while he cracked to eggs into a pan. "Mmmm… bacon and eggs." Harry shook his head.
"Toast?"
Shake.
"Would you just like some orange juice?"
Shake.
"Harry, you really should have something," Sirius said, turning and flipping the bacon that he had also placed in the pan. "You need your strength. We have a big day ahead of us." Harry looked up sharply. "Remember, we're going to Diagon Alley." Harry glanced at the calendar on the refrigerator. It was Saturday.
"Remus is busy preparing for his date, even though it's at 3 in the afternoon. He always was nervous when it came to dating… We should probably leave about that time?" Harry gave a small shrug.
Sirius placed a plate in front of Harry, even though he had objected to breakfast. There were two eggs and a piece of bacon, but the food had been placed so it looked like the plate was smiling at him, with eggs for eyes and the bacon for a mouth. It would have been cute, except for the fact that the eggs were kind of soggy and were kind of spilling onto the bacon.
"Good lord, Sirius," Said Remus coming into the kitchen and eyeing Harry's plate. "What did the poor eggs do to deserve this torture?"
"Hey! That's how I always make eggs!"
"Do you want Harry to get food poisoning?"
"No…"
"Stick to toast Sirius. Oh wait, the last time you tried to make toast the toaster blew up."
"Darn Muggle contraptions…"
Sirius took Harry's plate away, and Harry left the table before Sirius could give him anything else to eat…
~*~
"There are so many people…" Harry thought to himself as they walked down the cobblestone street in Diagon Alley. Harry was wearing a hat to help disguise him, because people tended to stare at him. Sirius kept glancing at Harry, who was staring at the ground.
"You okay?" Sirius asked. Harry nodded. "Do you want to go to Flourish and Blotts first?"
Harry frowned and motioned to Gringotts, the wizard bank.
"Don't worry, I'll pay for anything you need," Sirius said. "When I got out they gave me a huge pile of money. I don't know what to do with it all!"
Harry shrugged slowly and continued to stare at the ground.
Sirius led him to Flourish and Blotts. It was relatively empty, only the manager was there.
Harry slowly went over to the bookshelf with the Standard Book of Spells books and picked up the fifth year edition. He wandered along the Transfiguration aisle and found An Advanced Guide to Transfiguration. He was in the middle of looking through the Defense Against the Dark Arts aisle when Sirius came up behind him.
"Finding everything?"
Harry slowly nodded, and picked up a copy of The Dark Arts: an Advanced Guide to dealing with Dark Wizards, Creatures, and Demons.
"Ready to go?" Sirus asked, seeing that Harry didn't have anything else on his list. Sirius paid for the books and they set off down Diagon Alley again. Some of the people gave them odd looks, and Harry couldn't tell if they recognized him or if they were staring at Sirius. Sirius stopped to talk to an old friend while Harry went to get potion ingredients. The storeowner kept staring at him, and didn't say anything except how much the ingredients were.
"Is there anything else you need?" Sirius asked when Harry returned. He shook his head.
"Well, there's time to get a bite to eat," Sirius replied.
A few minutes later Harry and Sirius were sitting in the Leaky Cauldron with sandwiches in front of them. Harry had taken a few bites, even though he wasn't in the mood to eat. Sirius was staring at him with a worried expression on his face.
Harry set down his sandwich and slowly said, "S-Sirius?"
Sirius jumped slightly and said, "Yes, Harry?"
"A-are you g-going to s-s-send me back?" Harry asked softly.
"Send you back where?"
"T-to the D-D-D-"
"The Dursleys?"
Harry nodded. Sirius frowned.
"Of course not. Well, unless you want to go (don't know why you would) But your home is with me now."
Harry nodded again, looked at the table, and took a sip of his water.
"I-I'm s-sorry that I'm so m-m-much trouble," Harry said, so soft that Sirius could hardly hear him.
"You're not that much trouble," Sirius said. "Really!"
"If it w-wasn't for m-me you wouldn't have h-had to g-go b-back to Azk-kaban to g-et me," Harry stuttered. He was trembling again. "I'm r-r-really not worth it!"
"Yes you are," Sirius said firmly. Harry frowned.
"Honestly Harry, do you think that I would go through all of that trouble to rescue someone who doesn't mean anything to me?"
"B-b-bu…" Harry trailed off and stared intently at the table. Sirius reached over and put his hand on Harry's arm. Harry jumped and pulled away, a scared look on his face.
"Sorry…" Sirius said.
"B-b-but wouldn't you rather g-go and start a l-l-life of your own?" Harry asked. "Instead of me s-staying with y-you."
"Harry, relax," Sirius said a little louder than intended, Harry jumped shrank back in his seat. "I'm perfectly happy with my life the way it is. Don't worry about it."
Harry nodded softly, and then added, "R-r-really?"
"Really."
Harry stared up at Sirius for a long moment, before a small smile appeared on his lips. Sirius grinned back.
"You'd better finish your lunch. We have to make it back home in time to pester Remus about his date…"
