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Sorry guys, I've just haven't been motivated to do much lately, I'm uninspired, you might say. But I still managed to get this chapter out. I used to love to write this, but lately things are changing. I take the fact that I'm not willing to just post anything up here as a good thing. I still care enough to not want to ruin this story, and I will finish it, it just may take a bit more time then I had wanted it to. I also had a lot more planned for this, but I thought that since it had been so long, I should post what I have, so it will all get moved into the next chapter, which I'm hoping will be out very soon. So here it is:
A Different Life
Chapter 41 - Sirius
Harry looked over at Draco from the Slytherin table and saw him whispering to Goyle. It seemed that even though he had helped Harry escape, not many Slytherins cared. They still treated him the same, probably because they didn't mind Harry. A lot had grown up seeing him all the time, and having his father as the head of Slytherin would have helped as well.
"Harry, look." Hermione placed the Daily Prophet straight in his line of vision and far to close for him to be able to see the words. "Can you believe it Harry?"
Harry couldn't tell whether she sounded happy or angry, so he took the paper from her and placed it at a better distance for him to read. He scanned it and he didn't understand what she wanted him to read.
"Hermione, what am-"
"Down at the bottom, left hand corner Harry." Hermione pointed over his shoulder and at a small article that if not carefully looked at, could be easily missed.
Harry looked closer at it and read.
'Sirius Black Set Free.
Sirius Black has been freed from Azkaban, after a re-trial found him innocent of all charges against him. It is believed a new witness was brought forward, which was what lead to the re-trial. The Ministry has apologized for any inconvenience this may have caused.'
Harry re-read it again and turned the pages over, waiting to see the rest. Finally he realized that that was all there was.
"That's it? That's all Sirius gets after the Ministry wrongfully puts him away in Azkaban." Harry looked at the paper in disgust and threw it down onto the table.
***
Harry walked up to the Defense classroom and stood nervously at the open door.
"Harry, come in." Sirius signalled with his hands for Harry to come over and Harry nervously walked in. "You're early."
"Yeah, I'm sorry, I can come back later if you would like, it's just that I was bored and-" Harry said all in a rush, feeling it wasn't a smart idea to come here.
"Harry, its fine. Honest." Sirius said reassuringly, smiling at him. "Come and sit down, dinner should be appearing soon." Sirius sat down in front of a table that had obviously been put there for this dinner they were having.
Harry walked over and sat in the chair, feeling his nerves starting up again as he noticed Sirius staring at him.
"So...?" Harry really had no idea what to say, but he seemed to have knocked Sirius out of whatever trance he had been in.
"Sorry Harry, it's just, you look so much like James. You even act a bit like him." Sirius smiled warmly at Harry, and his smile brightened even further as food appeared over there once empty plates. "Merlin I missed house elves."
Harry laughed, and seeing Sirius digging in to his food, he too started to eat.
"Do you eat much Harry?" Sirius asked out of the blue as he took another bite out of a chicken leg.
"Eat much?" Harry didn't understand what he meant, or why he would ask that of all questions.
"Well you look too skinny for your age..." Sirius trailed off.
Harry shook his head, how many times had his father said that about him? "Yeah, Dad-"
"Could you do me a favour Harry?" Sirius cut Harry off, and he looked as though he had lost his appetite.
"Sure." Harry looked a bit nervous.
"Could you not call Snape that?"
Harry looked confused. "Pardon?"
"It's just that, I don't think I can handle you calling him that."
"But Sirius, he's my Dad, why wouldn't I call him-"
"Please Harry, can you not call him that, just around me." Sirius looked at Harry hopefully.
Harry bit his lip and thought about it. From Sirius' point of view, it must have been awkward to hear him calling Severus as his father, but he knew his Dad wouldn't see it that way if he heard Harry call him anything else but Dad.
"I don't know Sirius, I can't call him something else forev-"
"I know, just-" Sirius took a deep breath and collected himself. "-just until I get a bit more used to it, okay?"
"Is Severus okay?" Harry could cope with calling him that, but he didn't think he could say Snape. It would be too weird to say that, too... impersonal.
"That will do. Moony already calls him that. Are they friends?" Sirius took a sip of his drink while regarding Harry carefully.
Harry thought about Sirius' question, he hadn't ever thought about it before. "I don't know, I suppose friends is a bit too strong a word for it. They more get along because it would be too much effort to keep fighting. They see each other nearly everyday, and Remus was always over to see me when I was younger, I guess they made peace because of me." Harry shrugged at Sirius, not really sure if what he said made sense, or was true.
Sirius nodded at him and seemed to take in his words. "How's Remus like as a teacher?"
"He's a great teacher, everybody loves him." Harry smiled warmly, thinking about his professor.
Sirius laughed. "I never thought I'd see the day where a Marauder became a teacher."
"I suppose he does let us get away with quite a bit..." Harry thought back to Remus' classes and had to admit that when it came down to it, Remus was a very easy teacher to get away with something.
"What about Snape? I bet his classes are a barrel of fun." The sarcasm was evident, and Sirius looked like he was about to take back what he had just said, more then likely thinking that Harry would get upset, but Harry interrupted him before he could.
"Actually, I don't take Da- Severus' classes, but I did sit in on quite a few. He's okay if you're Slytherin, Gryffindors get it pretty bad though." Harry stopped there and frowned, thinking about Neville again.
"Something wrong Harry?" Sirius took a bite out of his mash potatoes and looked at Harry, seemingly having got his appetite back.
Harry thought about if he should tell Sirius or not. Finally he decided to, it wasn't like he could tell his father.
So Harry told Sirius about Neville, and what his idea was. "I'm just having some trouble thinking of a story."
Sirius smiled mischievously, Harry was fast beginning to learn Sirius' reactions. "Why don't you just leave it to me Harry, I'm sure I'll be able to come up with something..."
Harry narrowed his eyes at Sirius, wondering if he should trust him or not.
"Alright."
***
Sirius was sitting down on Remus' couch when Remus came in. Sirius still found it very boring when class was in, there wasn't much to do. And he wasn't comfortable enough to sit in the Great Hall and be stared at open- mouthed all night. So he just waited.
"Hey Moony." Sirius said while reading a Quidditch book.
"Padfoot, we need to talk." Remus put some pieces of parchment he had onto his desk and walked over to Sirius, sitting next to him. "I think you should lay off spending time with Harry..."
"What?" Sirius looked up from his reading, shocked at Remus' abruptness.
"You've been spending a lot of time with Harry lately."
"Yeah, he's a great kid, a kid who's my godson and who I haven't seen in around ten years."
"Maybe you should, give him a bit of a break." Remus said quietly, seeing Sirius' anger starting to spark up.
"Why, has he said something?" Sirius looked hurt, and he looked away from Remus, thinking back to if ever Harry seemed to not want his company.
"No, no, nothing like that-" Remus winced as Sirius cut him off. The tone was a bit of hurt mixed in with anger.
"Then what's the problem?"
"Well, Severus-"
"What has Snape got to do with this?" Sirius snapped at him.
Remus sighed, this was going to be hard. Sirius didn't see how this was affecting Severus, he probably wouldn't care either, but Severus, try as he might deny it, was feeling jealous of the attention Sirius was getting from Harry. "Sirius, you have to face the fact that Severus is Harry's father now."
"James is Harry's father; nothing is going to change that." Sirius snarled, feeling anger flow freely through him now.
"You know what I mean. You just don't understand-"
"No Moony, it's you who doesn't understand. James would hate it if he knew what his son called Snape, and he would hate you for letting it happen." Sirius yelled at Remus before getting up and stalking out.
Sirius continued to stalk through the halls until he turned the corner and slammed straight into someone.
"Ouch."
Sirius looked down and realized he had knocked over Harry. "Sorry Harry, I didn't see you there." Sirius felt his anger starting to slip away, his adrenaline starting to wear off. He put his hand out and let Harry grab it for support.
"Thanks Sirius." Harry let go of Sirius' hand and dusted himself off.
"Where are you heading at this time of night?" Sirius asked curiously.
"I was just going to see Da- Severus." Harry smiled apologetically at Sirius as they began walking again.
"Come on, you can see him another time. Let's go to Hogsmeade." Sirius took Harry's arm and steered him away from the Dungeons.
"Hogsmeade? But I'm not allowed to-"
"Sure you are, you're with an adult, and I am giving you consent. I am your Godfather." Sirius explained, taking Harry over to a statue of a one-eyed witch.
"Are you sure about this Sirius?" Harry said uncertainly.
Sirius paused and looked carefully at Harry. "If you don't want to go Harry, I won't hold it against you. I just thought you might like to have a bit of fun."
Harry remained quiet, thinking about what was just said. After a couple of minutes he finally looked up at Sirius and smiled, nodding at the same time.
Sorry guys, I've just haven't been motivated to do much lately, I'm uninspired, you might say. But I still managed to get this chapter out. I used to love to write this, but lately things are changing. I take the fact that I'm not willing to just post anything up here as a good thing. I still care enough to not want to ruin this story, and I will finish it, it just may take a bit more time then I had wanted it to. I also had a lot more planned for this, but I thought that since it had been so long, I should post what I have, so it will all get moved into the next chapter, which I'm hoping will be out very soon. So here it is:
A Different Life
Chapter 41 - Sirius
Harry looked over at Draco from the Slytherin table and saw him whispering to Goyle. It seemed that even though he had helped Harry escape, not many Slytherins cared. They still treated him the same, probably because they didn't mind Harry. A lot had grown up seeing him all the time, and having his father as the head of Slytherin would have helped as well.
"Harry, look." Hermione placed the Daily Prophet straight in his line of vision and far to close for him to be able to see the words. "Can you believe it Harry?"
Harry couldn't tell whether she sounded happy or angry, so he took the paper from her and placed it at a better distance for him to read. He scanned it and he didn't understand what she wanted him to read.
"Hermione, what am-"
"Down at the bottom, left hand corner Harry." Hermione pointed over his shoulder and at a small article that if not carefully looked at, could be easily missed.
Harry looked closer at it and read.
'Sirius Black Set Free.
Sirius Black has been freed from Azkaban, after a re-trial found him innocent of all charges against him. It is believed a new witness was brought forward, which was what lead to the re-trial. The Ministry has apologized for any inconvenience this may have caused.'
Harry re-read it again and turned the pages over, waiting to see the rest. Finally he realized that that was all there was.
"That's it? That's all Sirius gets after the Ministry wrongfully puts him away in Azkaban." Harry looked at the paper in disgust and threw it down onto the table.
***
Harry walked up to the Defense classroom and stood nervously at the open door.
"Harry, come in." Sirius signalled with his hands for Harry to come over and Harry nervously walked in. "You're early."
"Yeah, I'm sorry, I can come back later if you would like, it's just that I was bored and-" Harry said all in a rush, feeling it wasn't a smart idea to come here.
"Harry, its fine. Honest." Sirius said reassuringly, smiling at him. "Come and sit down, dinner should be appearing soon." Sirius sat down in front of a table that had obviously been put there for this dinner they were having.
Harry walked over and sat in the chair, feeling his nerves starting up again as he noticed Sirius staring at him.
"So...?" Harry really had no idea what to say, but he seemed to have knocked Sirius out of whatever trance he had been in.
"Sorry Harry, it's just, you look so much like James. You even act a bit like him." Sirius smiled warmly at Harry, and his smile brightened even further as food appeared over there once empty plates. "Merlin I missed house elves."
Harry laughed, and seeing Sirius digging in to his food, he too started to eat.
"Do you eat much Harry?" Sirius asked out of the blue as he took another bite out of a chicken leg.
"Eat much?" Harry didn't understand what he meant, or why he would ask that of all questions.
"Well you look too skinny for your age..." Sirius trailed off.
Harry shook his head, how many times had his father said that about him? "Yeah, Dad-"
"Could you do me a favour Harry?" Sirius cut Harry off, and he looked as though he had lost his appetite.
"Sure." Harry looked a bit nervous.
"Could you not call Snape that?"
Harry looked confused. "Pardon?"
"It's just that, I don't think I can handle you calling him that."
"But Sirius, he's my Dad, why wouldn't I call him-"
"Please Harry, can you not call him that, just around me." Sirius looked at Harry hopefully.
Harry bit his lip and thought about it. From Sirius' point of view, it must have been awkward to hear him calling Severus as his father, but he knew his Dad wouldn't see it that way if he heard Harry call him anything else but Dad.
"I don't know Sirius, I can't call him something else forev-"
"I know, just-" Sirius took a deep breath and collected himself. "-just until I get a bit more used to it, okay?"
"Is Severus okay?" Harry could cope with calling him that, but he didn't think he could say Snape. It would be too weird to say that, too... impersonal.
"That will do. Moony already calls him that. Are they friends?" Sirius took a sip of his drink while regarding Harry carefully.
Harry thought about Sirius' question, he hadn't ever thought about it before. "I don't know, I suppose friends is a bit too strong a word for it. They more get along because it would be too much effort to keep fighting. They see each other nearly everyday, and Remus was always over to see me when I was younger, I guess they made peace because of me." Harry shrugged at Sirius, not really sure if what he said made sense, or was true.
Sirius nodded at him and seemed to take in his words. "How's Remus like as a teacher?"
"He's a great teacher, everybody loves him." Harry smiled warmly, thinking about his professor.
Sirius laughed. "I never thought I'd see the day where a Marauder became a teacher."
"I suppose he does let us get away with quite a bit..." Harry thought back to Remus' classes and had to admit that when it came down to it, Remus was a very easy teacher to get away with something.
"What about Snape? I bet his classes are a barrel of fun." The sarcasm was evident, and Sirius looked like he was about to take back what he had just said, more then likely thinking that Harry would get upset, but Harry interrupted him before he could.
"Actually, I don't take Da- Severus' classes, but I did sit in on quite a few. He's okay if you're Slytherin, Gryffindors get it pretty bad though." Harry stopped there and frowned, thinking about Neville again.
"Something wrong Harry?" Sirius took a bite out of his mash potatoes and looked at Harry, seemingly having got his appetite back.
Harry thought about if he should tell Sirius or not. Finally he decided to, it wasn't like he could tell his father.
So Harry told Sirius about Neville, and what his idea was. "I'm just having some trouble thinking of a story."
Sirius smiled mischievously, Harry was fast beginning to learn Sirius' reactions. "Why don't you just leave it to me Harry, I'm sure I'll be able to come up with something..."
Harry narrowed his eyes at Sirius, wondering if he should trust him or not.
"Alright."
***
Sirius was sitting down on Remus' couch when Remus came in. Sirius still found it very boring when class was in, there wasn't much to do. And he wasn't comfortable enough to sit in the Great Hall and be stared at open- mouthed all night. So he just waited.
"Hey Moony." Sirius said while reading a Quidditch book.
"Padfoot, we need to talk." Remus put some pieces of parchment he had onto his desk and walked over to Sirius, sitting next to him. "I think you should lay off spending time with Harry..."
"What?" Sirius looked up from his reading, shocked at Remus' abruptness.
"You've been spending a lot of time with Harry lately."
"Yeah, he's a great kid, a kid who's my godson and who I haven't seen in around ten years."
"Maybe you should, give him a bit of a break." Remus said quietly, seeing Sirius' anger starting to spark up.
"Why, has he said something?" Sirius looked hurt, and he looked away from Remus, thinking back to if ever Harry seemed to not want his company.
"No, no, nothing like that-" Remus winced as Sirius cut him off. The tone was a bit of hurt mixed in with anger.
"Then what's the problem?"
"Well, Severus-"
"What has Snape got to do with this?" Sirius snapped at him.
Remus sighed, this was going to be hard. Sirius didn't see how this was affecting Severus, he probably wouldn't care either, but Severus, try as he might deny it, was feeling jealous of the attention Sirius was getting from Harry. "Sirius, you have to face the fact that Severus is Harry's father now."
"James is Harry's father; nothing is going to change that." Sirius snarled, feeling anger flow freely through him now.
"You know what I mean. You just don't understand-"
"No Moony, it's you who doesn't understand. James would hate it if he knew what his son called Snape, and he would hate you for letting it happen." Sirius yelled at Remus before getting up and stalking out.
Sirius continued to stalk through the halls until he turned the corner and slammed straight into someone.
"Ouch."
Sirius looked down and realized he had knocked over Harry. "Sorry Harry, I didn't see you there." Sirius felt his anger starting to slip away, his adrenaline starting to wear off. He put his hand out and let Harry grab it for support.
"Thanks Sirius." Harry let go of Sirius' hand and dusted himself off.
"Where are you heading at this time of night?" Sirius asked curiously.
"I was just going to see Da- Severus." Harry smiled apologetically at Sirius as they began walking again.
"Come on, you can see him another time. Let's go to Hogsmeade." Sirius took Harry's arm and steered him away from the Dungeons.
"Hogsmeade? But I'm not allowed to-"
"Sure you are, you're with an adult, and I am giving you consent. I am your Godfather." Sirius explained, taking Harry over to a statue of a one-eyed witch.
"Are you sure about this Sirius?" Harry said uncertainly.
Sirius paused and looked carefully at Harry. "If you don't want to go Harry, I won't hold it against you. I just thought you might like to have a bit of fun."
Harry remained quiet, thinking about what was just said. After a couple of minutes he finally looked up at Sirius and smiled, nodding at the same time.