Godfather And Godson

Harry closed his book. He had given up trying to read the chapter Professor Binns had assigned as part of the fifth years' History Of Magic homework. 

Hermione looked up from the thick book she was reading and puckered her brow. "Harry, you are not concentrating!" she said accusingly.

Ron too, was struggling with his homework and huge blotchy ink patches were appearing on his Divination assignment.  "I'm running out of ways to kill myself," he moaned.

Hermione shook her head at Ron's messy parchment and replied distractedly, "Just predict that you'll be drowned in ink or something." 

"That's a good idea! Thanks, Hermione!"  Ron brightened up and immediately began scribbling furiously on his parchment. 

Harry was grateful for the little distraction from Ron and hoped that he would be left alone to his thoughts, but he had no such luck.  Hermione returned her attention to him once again. 

"What's wrong, Harry?  Now, don't try to deny it because I can tell.  You have been moping around for the past three days since we met that awful woman," she commanded.

Harry stared down at the table.  This wasn't something he wished to share with his friends.  He did not want to seem needy, and he also felt that they would not fully understand his feelings since they had always had a family to turn to.

"Harry?" Ron urged gently.  He had put down his quill, giving Harry his full attention.

"I don't want to talk about it," Harry said firmly, gathering his things. "I'm going back to my…"

Just then, there was loud banging on the other side of the portrait door.  A second-year Gryffindor who was seated nearest the door, nervously jumped to her feet and opened it.

The students in the Gryffindor common room gasped when the notorious Sirius Black gracefully climbed through the portrait hole.

Sirius ignored the shocked faces and his eyes quickly scanned the room before he made his way purposefully towards Harry.

"Sirius! Why are you here? You were the one banging the door?" Hermione managed to say.

The older man threw her a glance and answered impatiently, "I was just about to threaten to slash her portrait again if she doesn't let me through soon."

"Harry," Sirius waited no time in addressing his godson. "Are you avoiding me?"

Harry caught sight of Hermione and Ron widening their eyes. He kept his head bent low to stare at the carpet before turning back to Sirius.  "No," he said quietly.

"Cut the crap," Sirius barked. "Come. We need to talk."  Before Harry could protest, Sirius had grabbed his arm and began steering him towards his dormitory upstairs.  Ron and Hermione quickly gathered their things and hurried after the pair.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" Harry yelled as soon as they reached his dormitory.   Sirius released his grip on Harry right away, taken aback by the young man's outcry.

Harry felt his anger and frustration surfacing again. "YOU DON'T HAVE TO WASTE YOUR TIME ON ME.  YOU DON'T HAVE TO FEEL OBLIGED TO TAKE CARE OF ME.  I KNOW YOU WANT TO LEAD YOUR OWN LIFE AND I WILL NOT BURDEN YOU!"

Sirius paled when he heard Harry's words, while Ron and Hermione were at a loss of what to do.

There was stunned silence.

"Why are you saying all these things, Harry?" Sirius asked his godson in a strained voice.  "Have I done something to make you feel this way?"

Harry tried to put off answering the question for as long as he could.

"I know you have your own life to lead, Sirius.  Don't let me hold you back," he said finally. 

Sirius grabbed Harry's shoulders and forced the younger man to look at him.  "You're my godson, Harry. You are my responsibility."

"That's the problem! I don't want you to feel you have to take care of me just because you're my godfather."

"What's wrong with a godfather taking care of his godson?"

"I don't want you to feel obliged to me just because my dad made you agree to be my godfather."

"James made me? It's more like I made him agree to let you be my godson!"

Harry stared at Sirius, speechless.

"I have to take care of you, Harry.  And I want to take care of you.  What's wrong with that?"

Harry remained silent, staring at Sirius' faces, trying desperately to read his godfather's thoughts.

"You're my responsibility, Harry.  That's a responsibility I choose to take, and want to take." Sirius told him firmly.

"You don't mind me being a burden to you?" Harry asked in a small hopeful voice.

Sirius looked at Harry for several long moments.  His expression was sad and grave. "I've never felt you're a burden to me.  You'll never be a burden, Harry.  You're more…more like part of family." Sirius' eyes were misting over.  "I mean…James was my family.  He was like a brother to me, and I'll be happy to take care of his son.  But that's not all.  I'm very proud of you, Harry.  You have achieved many things beyond your years, and have gone through a lot of pain – more than many will ever experience in their whole lives. I want to do whatever I can to make you happy.  That's what little I can do for James…and for you.  Do you understand me?"

Harry felt hot tears that threatened to spill over.  He walked over to Sirius and hugged the older man.  "I'm happy and proud to have you as my godfather, Sirius.  You're the closest thing I have to a family.  You're the single most important person to me now.  I want you to be happy too."

He took a deep breath and continued, "I know there are many things you want to do, Sirius.  I just want you to know that you don't have to worry about me.  You can go ahead and do the things you want to do."

Sirius shot him a puzzled look. "There're things I want to do?" he repeated blankly.

"That woman said..." Harry began.

"What woman?" Sirius snapped.

"Dawn Umbridge."

"DAWN UMBRIDGE? She spoke to you? What did she tell you?"

"She said that you have your own life to lead and I shouldn't hinder or inconvenience you."

"SHE SAID THAT?" Sirius was looking as scary as he did when Harry first saw him at the Shrieking Shack years ago. "And you believed her?" he looked at Harry disbelievingly.

"She said she's your special friend and that in future, the two of you will have your own kids…" said Harry lamely, beginning to feel foolish for being so gullible.

Sirius gave a laugh that sounded like a bark and paced around the room.  When he finally stopped and faced Harry again, he looked as though he was going to laugh and yell at the same time.

"You really don't think much of your godfather's taste, do you?" Sirius asked, shaking his head at the same time.

"No…I…" Harry stammered.

"Don't pay any attention to that woman, Harry.  If you want to know more about how deluded she is, you can ask Remus. She's the ultimate …" Sirius was ranting. He stopped himself in time and looked at Harry with concern. "But right now, I just want to be sure that you understand me.  You're not my burden and you can feel free to come to me anytime, okay?"

Harry nodded, a warm happiness filled his insides.  He was sure that he could conjure the best patronus right now.

"Good!" Sirius let out a breath of relief.

"Sirius?"

"Yes, Harry?"

"Can I ask you a question?"

"You're already doing that," Sirius pointed out, with amusement in his voice.

A sly smile appeared on Harry's lips.  "You said Dawn Umbridge is not your type.  So what's your type exactly?"

Sirius' mouth fell open.  He closed it and looked at Harry suspiciously, "Why are you asking this question?"

Harry's smile grew wider. "I just thought of anyone else who may just be the type you like."

Sirius racked his brains for a witty comeback so that he did not have to answer Harry's question directly. "Anyone but that irritating Umbridge is fine," he mumbled before announcing that he had something he forgot to do and left the dormitory in a haste.

"That was really something!" Ron spoke up at last, stepping out from the shadows.

"Harry, why didn't you tell us what that horrible woman told you?" Hermione demanded.

"Sorry, I wasn't thinking straight.  I was too preoccupied with what she said to consider if there's any truth to her words, " Harry admitted sheepishly.

"That must be tough…keeping all these terrible thoughts to yourself," Ron said sympathetically.

"That hateful woman! We have to get her out of Hogwarts fast!" Hermione continued to fume on her friend's behalf.

Harry was, at that moment, too happy to worry about Dawn Umbridge.  He was relieved to know that it was all a lie and Sirius still cared for him.  In fact, he was almost perversely glad that Umbridge lied to him.  Now, he no longer doubted that Harry Potter had Sirius Black as his first real family member, someone who genuinely loved him.

Goodbye Dursleys, hello family.

***

Please review :)

A/N: I'll not be replying to reviews for my previous chapter individually, as there are a handful posted on 1 Aug and 2 Aug that are missing. The number of reviews jumped on these two days, and the reviews are still not displayed. Anyway, thanks for all your encouragement and reviews! So no one likes Dawn Umbridge! (Hee…I didn't think anyone would.)  We'll have fun with her and take our revenge for Harry soon.  He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has to wait till I'm done with She-With-The-Horrible-Aunt!