As September 1st drew closer and closer, Sirius became more and more withdrawn. Yet Harry couldn't manage to feel angry. After all the children left, there would barely be anyone permanently living in the house, and Remus was constantly being sent on missions. The pain of being alone, of the world being quiet, of being locked in a place that was haunted with memories, Harry couldn't find it within himself to get mad.
Eventually however, the problem had to be addressed. Harry went to Sirius' bedroom, doing his best to ignore the room beside Sirius', the name Regulus, burning in clarity. He knocked on the door. There was no answer. After a while, Harry slipped open the door, and watched as Sirius, curled up on the bed, tried to push himself back up. As Harry got closer, he heard the whispered words, "Sorry, sorry, sorry…"
His eyes, normally twinkling, had faded to a lifeless grey, and as he watched Harry, he said, "I'm meant to be better than this."
And Harry knew that perhaps, if everything had gone as his parents had planned, Sirius should have found an adult to lean on, but now, in this world, Sirius couldn't be blamed.
So Harry sat down on the edge of the bed, "You don't have to be. You might, you might never be like you were… before. But you care, and you're trying, and that's enough, okay?"
"You just have really low standards."
"I just have more than the emotional range of a teaspoon."
Sirius looked confused, but it was better than the blankness, than the black hole that his eyes could become, so Harry just said, "Come downstairs, I know this house feels haunted, but, you really should talk to someone."
A twisted smile curled up Sirius' face, "After all, my only company left after tomorrow will be my dear old mother."
Harry winced, "Is there really no way to get rid of her?"
Sirius wrinkled his nose in return, "I don't- I don't think everyone here would appreciate them."
Harry froze, "You know dark spells?"
Sirius looked vaguely worried, "You're not scared of th-"
Harry giggled a little. No. Dark magic might have caused pain but the words fight fire with fire had always been true.
So he said, pulling Sirius up, "Can you teach me?"
A ringing laugh escaped Sirius, "You sound like your father."
Harry tilted his head.
"You know? I don't think your mother's magic could ever manage anything dark, but your dad always found it fascinating. I think your mum actually based some of her light rituals off some things I taught him."
Harry looked blank, "I thought they'd hate me for… this."
He waved his hand absently, letting magic swirl around.
Sirius looked devastated, "No. No, prongslet, never. Okay, we are going to have a lesson, I don't think we can wait for the muggleborn introduction."
The prospect seemed to bring him back to life, as he grabbed Harry's hand and pulled him down the hallway, into room after room until they were in a library, looking at shelf after shelf of books that radiated magic glowing dark colours, shades of blue and purple. and the occasional seeping red. Harry's magic almost immediately burst out, skimming the magic, before leading him down the hall till he was looking at shelf after shelf of orbs, eerily similar to those of prophecy. His hand was already reaching for one, when he heard Sirius screaming, "Stop!"
Harry looked over slowly, hand gradually falling down.
Sirius continued, panting slightly, "Those, those help wake up your magical talents, like parseltongue or something like that but, well… they're dangerous. You fall into a trance for hours, and then the powers they wake, they don't come in slowly, they just burst into full strength. They used to be Black tradition, parents would store up their magic from a young age, give one to their children so the kid could show off their talent at full power by the time school started, but, well, the Black family kept getting smaller, there weren't enough who stayed in the family that actually had kids, so…"
Sirius gestured to the building, "There would always be spares."
Harry looked for a moment. Then he took an orb.
His eyes fell shut.
When he woke, he was seated on the ground, legs crossed. He looked around to see skeletons, of rodents, bugs and the occasional snake running along the ground. Somehow, he wasn't scared. He looked over to see Sirius, with a shimmering shield around his body. Sirius too didn't look particularly scared, instead a blinding grin was on his face. He whispered, eyes wide, "Your father would be so proud."
Harry was just confused, he gestured to the skeletons that were gradually crawling into the crevices of the wall or crumbling to dust, "What is… this?"
Sirius smiled, "You're a necromancer. I should have known, your eyes are just that slightly greener that Lily's."
Harry's breath caught in his throat, "That sounds dangerous."
Sirius looked like he was talking to a particularly moronic child… which he was, "Not if you ARE a necromancer. There are those morons who try necromantic magic without the talent, it never goes well, they pull on their own soul and end up… well… not quite right. I'm sure you've heard about Bellatrix. But you… you can do so much. My brother was a necromancer, you kn-"
"Regulus?" Harry cut in.
Sirius froze, "How do you know that?"
The lie fell of Harry's tongue, "His name is on the door next to your bedroom, I assumed-"
"You assumed right. Reg was… he could wake the dead and make them haunt you, he could see your soul sometimes, he was brilliant. But you have to be careful Harry, sometimes Reg would get lost, he'd lift his soul out of his body, and he wouldn't bother to return for days."
Harry thought that sounded awfully nice but he didn't say so, he just asked for a book suggestion on necromancy. With it, he got given a pile of other books, the wheel of time, an introduction to the dark, rituals for beginners, the light and the dark: what's the difference, and a warning that while they were all perfectly legal, there was a stigma from some families, especially those in Gryffindor.
Harry was about to read them, when he heard Mrs Weasley calling for all of them to finish packing their bags. Harry sheepishly grinned and got ready to leave, when he felt Sirius' hand in his, "Be careful, okay. That magic all just woke up, it's going to be a bit wild. And make sure not to wind anyone up, fight behind closed doors, with subtlety please for Merlin's sake, and try your best to prank Snivellus for me and-"
"I've got it. But you really should get over that rivalry."
