Chapter 3: Opportunities Accepted and Denied
Still staring at the ceiling his mind went completely blank. It was like his mind gave up and his emotions decided to go with it. He was empty in every sense. For what seemed like an eternity he sat in silence listening to crackles from the fireplace as it burned down. He could hear his breathing, and feel the hard embrace of the wooden arms of the chair against his hands and forearms. With an effort a weak half smile touched the corner of his lips. Too bad Snape wasn't here now he couldn't legilimens a crumb of a thought away from me, Harry thought to himself. That would irritate the hell out of him.
Harry closed is eyes for a long moment and finally took a deep breath and sat forward in his chair. Sirius was just sitting there across from Harry staring. For a while Sirius was concerned, but he understood that Harry needed this moment just to his thoughts.
Finally Sirius spoke up when he said, "To offer you some of my help I am going to give you a choice. Let this be the first day and let this be the first direction that may choose." Sirius thought this would get a reaction from Harry, instead the boy continued to stare blankly. "In the package this pensieve came in, you must have also noticed two felt bags. The first bag is directly connected to the funds in your newly opened account. You ask that bag for an amount and in what form and it will provide it to you…no matter where you go."
Sirius intensified his gaze on Harry as he spoke the last part of his offer. He looked at Harry to see if he understood what was being told to him. Harry stared back at Sirius and was starting to feel a little uncomfortable at the silence and the hard gaze he was getting from across the desk. Then it struck him.
"You're not suggesting that I run away! Are you?" Harry said in disbelief.
"I am not suggesting anything, I am simply providing you your first choice. In that vault is a significant fortune, I would say enough to ensure that you will never have to want for anything material in your life. Further, the location of the bag is untraceable so you can get money anywhere and not be found by others." Sirius said this flatly.
"But you just said to ask for help, to take it one day at a time." Harry argued.
"I didn't say where and how to ask for help, I just said to do so. Listen kid, I don't know why you were chosen for this destiny all I know is that it isn't fair. You weren't even a year old before your fate was decided. As far as I'm concerned that's just not right. Even for a complete stranger I would think the same, but I know you and the idea of it all pisses me off even more. If you don't want to think of it as running then think of it as taking time to prepare yourself, to get into the right frame of mind. Think of it as a brief vacation from life, or don't run at all. I'm not trying to give you advice here, just a choice."
Harry sat there quietly for a moment mulling over this option. It wasn't like he hadn't considered it many times before. But this time is was realistic, even more it was appealing. The past five years of his life had been dedicated to fighting, or searching, or guessing, or hiding, or nightmares, or lies, or loss. But he also realized it had also been about new found hope, about friends and family, quidditch and magic, Ron and Hermione. It had been about their sacrifices for each other and his parent's sacrifice for him, about trust, about belonging to something.
"NO!"
Harry said without blinking and without looking away from Sirius. Sirius watched and it seemed as if the boy's presence grew at this statement. He looked at the hardened face on Harry and into the fire in his eyes and just smiled.
"You have no idea how much you are the precise combination of your parents, it is absolutely astonishing." Sirius declared. He noticed that Harry softened a bit at this statement but decided not to go into it. "If that is your decision then we shall finish up with our proceedings here."
"Finish!" Harry said the fear evident in his voice, "but I am not ready for this to be over, for our discussion to end."
"Relax Harry, don't get your knickers in a wad. This must end, but our time here is far from over."
Harry very visibly relaxed and exhaled a breath he didn't know he was holding. Sirius just smiled at him again.
"Touchy today aren't we." Sirius smiled at the boy and looked back down to papers in front of him. "Ok then, the last thing – for these proceedings," Sirius looked over his glasses at the boy before returning to the paper in his hands, "is the contents of items transferred to your vault and their connection with the second felt bag. Like the other, this bag is connected to the vault, but is used to retrieve items rather than money. In order to retrieve the items you have to first know what is in the vault," Sirius held up a small stack of papers that were a list of the items, "what they look like, and where they are."
Sirius put the papers down and took his glasses off as he reclined back into his plush leather chair. "This obviously means that you are going to have to take a visit to Gringotts at some point. I'm sure Remus will take you. He's going to eventually have to come to terms with the fact that he is a fairly wealthy man now and will also have to visit his own Gringotts vault. Perhaps you, Remus, Hermione, and the Weasleys can make it a big field trip as you all have that in common."
Harry smiled up at his Godfather with a grateful look in his eyes. "I may not be able to properly tell you how grateful I am, but it doesn't mean I can't look at you admiringly -- like a school girl looks at the top bachelor's in Witch Weekly." Harry tried not to laugh at his godfather's reaction. "Why Sirius, your just so, so wonderful!" This time it was Harry's turn to use his mock lady voice at Sirius.
"Very funny kid, I didn't know that you liked to read such things as Witch Weekly."
This time it was Harry's turn to blush, realizing he had been called out in his own insult. Again the two shared a knowing look with each other, and Harry felt the emotion that had abandoned him earlier rush back all of sudden. Unfortunately, they brought back a familiar weight onto Harry's heart. Thankfully it seemed a little more bearable now.
"Last order of business, your decision to stay leads us to the next portion of the Interactive Pensieve. I'm going to help you as best I can to be prepared for whatever trials you may face in the future. I'm not quite sure that this is going to work correctly, because I don't quite understand everything that is possible in here myself. I guess we'll get to that when the time comes. Do you remember the name of the main character in our example 'choose your own adventure' book?"
Harry thought for a second, "Snape the Slimy Sn…"
"Easy now." Sirius quickly interrupted. "A simple yes will suffice for now. The title is the password to open the second and more significant portion of the enchantments in the pensieve. In it is training sessions for dueling, potions, charms, and transfigurations. It is limited to the extent of knowledge that I was able to enchant into the pensieve, which was most of what I know, but anything new you learn, you will not be able to perform in here, and I will have no idea what your talking about. Apparently, whatever magic supposedly happens in here is just a derivation of how I remember it should happen rather than magic itself. But let's not start right now. You need to leave and go get something to eat, matter of fact go get a lot of somethings to eat, and for Merlin's sake get some sleep. You really do look like shite!"
Harry went to argue, but Sirius held up his hand. "We are going to have enough time for training and further discussions later. I can't allow you to lose yourself in this place. Even though your mind may get smarter in here, your body on the outside is remaining idle. What good is all the training if your going to be physically incapable of performing it. In fact I would suggest that you begin some sort of physical regimen so that you don't wither away -- besides your kind of boney anyway, could use a touch of muscle development." Sirius smiled at Harry as he said this. "When you come back the memory of my speech will begin again, just interrupt me and say 'Snape the Slimy Snot Rag'. That will bring you to the training sessions."
Sirius stood up from his chair and walked around the desk to stand in front of Harry. "I'll see you in a little bit kid."
"Well, actually you won't see me ever again." Harry said with a touch of hurt in his voice.
"It's a saying you prat, is there ever a point when your not so melodramatic?" Sirius teased.
"Goodbye Sirius." Harry said with a little more finality then he meant to.
Harry leaned in to give Sirius a hug, but to his surprise he had traveled through the image of Sirius, who was still standing there with his arms at his side.
"Maybe I am just a memory after all." Sirius' face sulked as he said this.
"No Sirius, you will never be just a memory." Harry replied.
With that Harry felt the world around him tumble away and slowly the dark and grimy room in Number 4 Privet Drive returned to his senses. The glowing outline of sunlight around the window curtain in his bedroom remained a beacon to vivality of the outside world. Regardless of how hard Harry had tried, the light of the world never gave up trying to get to him. He got up achingly from his sitting position at the side of his bed. The crick in his neck and lower back only confirmed Sirius' convictions that his body had remained all too idle while he was in the pensieve.
Harry gave a long stretch to relieve the pain, and was surprised by all the other information his body relayed to him at that moment. The aches of suppressed rage and emotional pain throbbed through his head and behind his eyes. The cramps of poor posture, a result of sitting hunched over on a hard floor for four days, pinched his shoulders and upper back. He could feel a slight trembling behind his knees as they struggled to hold him upright without having had proper rest. His stomach gave a loud complaining grumble, and so as not to be left out, his nose cringed as it caught a whiff of the funk that Harry had let develop on him over the days. Harry shuddered for a moment as he wondered if it was possible that Sirius smelled him in the pensieve. "Oh well, when I go back he won't remember it even if I did. Guess that's a benefit."
Since dinner was still a few hours away Harry thought it best that he take a shower and sort through some of the things Sirius had told him. Forty-five minutes later Harry left a steam filled bathroom behind him to be welcomed by the distant grumbling of his Uncle Vernon, "I'm not paying the gas and water bills for that boy to take showers here like he's on holiday!" Vernon's rant continued but Harry didn't bother to hear it out as he walked back into his bedroom.
The dismal state of Harry's bedroom wasn't much less pleasant than his Uncles whining. He hadn't bothered to unpack his trunk yet and had only grabbed things out of it as he needed them, the result was that any unwanted things were strewn about on the floor. Hedwig's cage also hadn't been cleaned since he got back, and even though the bird had only been in it for three days, it was due for a cleaning. In his new state of cleanliness, the grim of the room was that much more awkward.
An hour later and a much brighter room Harry looked at his room and two thoughts came to his mind. "This would have been much easier if I were allowed to use magic, and I could use another shower." Seeing as how both weren't options he head downstairs to see if dinner was ready.
The Dursley's living room was the image of what was so often seen at Number 4 Privet Drive. Petunia was busy in the kitchen cooking up that evening's meal while Vernon sat on the couch passing judgment at the various tidings of the evening news report. Dudley, as to be expected, was sitting in the kitchen wearing a sleeveless hooded jumper eating his pre-dinner meal. All attempts at a regimented diet for the boy had gone astray since he took to boxing. Though by the looks of the boy, it didn't seem that he needed it so much anymore. He had bulked up even more from the previous summer. He wasn't skinny by any stretch of the imagination, but he also wasn't the portly pig of a boy he had once been either.
As usual no body paid attention to his entrance into the living room. He had come to accept that at best he would receive an incoherent grumbling from his Uncle whenever he was in the presence of the family. However, as he made his way over to the dining room table and took a seat, everything in the room around him came to a halt. The stillness of the room was unsettling. Harry glanced over at the television just to make sure that the newscasters hadn't stopped to stare with open mouths as well.
"Erm, is there something that you need?" Petunia asked uneasily.
"No, just thought I would come down to eat dinner." Harry said matter-of-factly.
"I'm not signing any sort of permission slip for you to go on some other abnormal trip at that school of yours boy, so don't try and play nice now!" Vernon boomed from the living room. "Only slip I'll be signing is the one to get you out of this house for good!"
Harry tensed for a second, remembering all the many reasons that he detested being at the Dursley's. "I'm not here to ask you for anything. Just thought that I would eat here instead of in my room." Harry said as calmly as he could manage.
Vernon looked as if he were about to add something before Petunia spoke up and said, "Dinner won't be ready for another few minutes so you will have to wait."
At that she returned to her previous activities. Vernon turned a slight shade of his famous purple and grumbled something as he turned back to the news report. Dudley just shot Harry a nasty glare across the dining room table and returned to eating his meal. That evening's dinner was consumed in complete silence. Throughout the meal Dudley kept looking up over his plate to give Harry several defiant stares. Harry did his best to not let the silence unsettle him and even summoned up the courage to go for second portions, which he was surprised was allowed to happen.
After dinner Harry cleaned his plate in the sink and thanked his Aunt for the meal and even complimented her cooking, which he knew was a stretch. He wasn't surprised when all three Dursleys stared at him as though he had grown a second head. He just ignored the stares and made his way upstairs into his room. He was about to settle down for a rest when his door flew open with a bang and the stocky image of his cousin stood in the doorway.
"What are you playing at Potter?" Dudley hissed.
Harry was exhausted and wasn't in the mood to entertain Dudley's taunts. "Playing at? I'm not playing at anything and I'm not in the mood if you don't mind."
"No I don't mind! I don't know what you're trying to do, but your not going to walk around here acting like you belong all of a sudden!" Dudley said.
Harry cringed through his teeth, "No Dudley, I don't belong here. If it were up to me I wouldn't be here at all."
"Then why don't you just leave…before…those d-d-dementels come here again? I won't let you just wander around here like nothing's going to happen."
"I can't ok, it's not up to me." He hated admitting anything to his cousin that might imply he wasn't in control.
"Why, does it have to do with the dementals? Were they sent after you by someone…by the person that killed your parents?"
"It's none of your business, now get out of my room!" Harry's patience had run out and he was too tired to argue with Dudley, especially about dementors or Lord Voldemort.
"No, I won't leave! I'm making it my business. I should thump you one for telling me what to do in my house!" Dudley said waving his fist.
Harry could tell that arguing was not going to get Dudley out of his room, defeated he replied angrily, "Fine Dudley, I can't leave because of Lord Voldemort, though I doubt you will have to worry about dementals. Now will you please go?" Harry hoped this would get his cousin out of his room instead Dudley walked through the doorway and sat down on the bed.
"Lord Voldemort, what kind of name is that? He ought to be smacked just for having such a stupid name."
Harry almost laughed at this. The name that invoked fear throughout the wizarding world, so much that people refused to even speak the words, was being mocked by a muggle, and of all muggles Dudley Dursley.
"Well Dudums, this isn't the kind of guy that is likely to get smacked." He expected Dudley to rile up at the play on his name but instead he paused.
"Is that the guy who killed your parents?
Harry flared at the mention of his parents' death and was ready to curse Dudley, but when he looked at him there was no malevolence in his demeanor. Instead he hissed a hard "Yes."
Dudley smacked his fist into his open palm and said, "Well I'd crack him in his effing jaw, if it were me. But then you're hardly built for that are you."
To amazed about the thought of Dudley hitting Voldemort Harry replied, "No I guess not."
"Well, if it's gonna get you out of my house quicker, maybe I can give you a few tips. I am the Heavyweight Inter-School Boxing Champion you know." Dudley's chest puffed out a bit at this. "Besides I've always wanted a reason to beat on you and get away with it."
This hardly sounded appealing to Harry. Not only would it give his hated cousin an opportunity to use Harry as a punching bag, but he would also have to admit that Dudley could teach him something worth his while.
"Ah geez Duds, thanks but no thanks." Harry said.
"What's the matter cousin, afraid of taking a beating? How bout I promise that I'll only hit you at half strength?"
This didn't ease Harry's apprehension, Dudley wasn't a small guy after all. But Harry knew he could use the physical exercise and the truth was that without a wand Harry was fairly helpless. Testing his last way out Harry asked, "Why would you want to show me how to box?"
"Well you're pretty helpless without that wand of yours," Harry cringed slightly when Dudley called out the weakness Harry had only just admitted to himself. Dudley continued, "and like I said, if it can get you out of here any sooner than I'm all for it, more like helping myself really."
Harry thought he had finally found an out from the situation, "Showing me how to box isn't going to get me out of here any sooner. Like I said, the situation's out of my control."
"You're tall – and you got a long reach." Dudley said.
"What's that got to do with anything?" Harry said.
"Well I'm going to be moving out of the Inter-School Boxing Division soon, most of the better fighters in my weight class are taller and have a fair reach. I could use the practice against you to prepare for that."
Harry could argue the point no longer. He knew that even if it meant his getting smacked around by Dudley he could only benefit from the training. Besides, it wasn't like any blow from his cousin was going to compare to the pain of a Cruciatus Curse. Reluctantly Harry swallowed his pride, "Fine I'll do it. Can you please go now?"
Dudley stood up from the bed with a small look of triumph. It was obvious to Harry that Dudley was enjoying the thought of pounding his cousin a little more than was good for Harry's sake. "Be up at 7:30 tomorrow and in the basement, we'll start with some basic footwork, then we'll see if you can apply that to dodging a couple light blows."
Harry was positive this was going to be a nightmare.
Harry fell asleep not much longer after Dudley left and for the first time since he had gotten back from Hogwarts he had a night of dreamless sleep. Though he tossed and turned a couple of times through the night, he awoke early the next morning with no recollection of the events.
AN: I just wanted to say thanks to Brightest Star. My first ever review! Wish you could have seen the happy dance, it's really worth the embarrassment of performing it just to get such a laugh from the people who see it. I'll keep posting don't worry. Thanks again.