Lost: Young Man, Answers to Harry

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Moony visited Grimmauld place on two more weekends over the rest of the term, and then quite suddenly the winter holidays were upon them. Harry, to his enormous pleasure, was freed from school responsibilities, and Sirius was given a week's leave from work over Christmas. There was not yet any snow, only a lot of rain and flooding on the street outside, but the excitement of his first Christmas in London – his first real Christmas, Harry thought – could not be dampened by the weather.

Each day he took one of the umbrellas (the one that only tried to strangle you if you opened it too quickly) and splashed through the flooded streets to visit Patty, until in the second week she went away on holiday to Bristol with her family. She seemed to have taken his advice about forgetting the mouse to heart: at the least, she did not mention it, or the transfiguration book, in Harry's presence. She promised to write him a postcard while she was away, and Harry told her she could now address it to number 12 instead of to one of their neighbours, because Sirius had finally gotten around to erecting a letterbox for the muggle postman outside their house.

At last, on Christmas eve, Lupin arrived on their doorstep, carrying his worn travelling case in one hand and an umbrella with patches on it in the other. He had had to stay at Hogwarts later than usual because of "Business with Dumbledore," but he was not going to go back on his word to Harry that he would spend Christmas at Grimmauld Place.

"You can't mean the Order," said Sirius as the two of them stood over the sink, peeling vegetables, while Harry shelled peas into a bowl at the kitchen table, "you're still involved with all that?"

"Yes, there's still a war on, in case you've forgotten. But you know I can't tell you anything," Lupin sighed, "we're all charmed, jinxed and bewitched into secrecy. And besides, there really has been very little activity recently, since the McKinnons were killed last year, you might not of heard. You-know-who has been so quiet it's beginning to be a worry – and the Death Eaters have been laying so low we're wondering if they've all given up and gone to bed."

"All that amazes me is that the Order has lasted so long," Sirius whistled, "Old Dumb-door," (this was his nicknamed for Dumbledore), "must sure know how to pick 'em. I mean, the fact that there's never been a spy discovered is astounding -"

"Except for Peter," said Lupin quietly.

"Except for Peter," Sirius echoed grimly, hacking great chunks off a carrot he was skinning, "but in the end, it wasn't the Order that he betrayed, was it?"

"What's the Order?" Harry asked, dumping the bowlful of peas on the bench and picking up a parsnip and a knife.

Sirius and Lupin both jumped, "adults' stuff, Harry," Sirius grunted quickly.

"Suit yourself," shrugged Harry, cutting the ends off the parsnip, "we've got to get that chicken in the oven or it won't be cooked until midnight."

"I just wish I could remember the spell to make this thing work faster," said Sirius, heading over to the great cast-iron oven and opening the door as if hoping to discover its secret just by looking inside, "I'm sure Kreacher knows it, but every time I ask him he crosses his eyes and mutters that I deserve to starve to death for betraying the Black family."

"Well, let's have a look, then," Lupin wiped his hands on a tea-towel and bent down beside Sirius. The two of them poked around inside the oven with their wands for a while, but with no satisfactory change in the oven's cooking speed.

"There's nothing wrong with doing it the muggle way," said Harry at last, in exasperation, "we just have to be a bit patient, that's all."

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Harry slept soundly that night, full of the most the delicious roast dinner he had ever eaten, and awoke to the sound of his Godfather walking up and down the hall outside, singing rude Christmas carols at the top of his husky voice. He listened contentedly to Lupin, who was sleeping in the room next to Harry, leaning out into the corridor and telling Sirius to shut up because some people had been just apparated half-way across the country and wanted a bit of a lie-in.

"Oh, buck up, there's coffee downstairs!" Sirius called as he scampered away down the hall. His mother began shrieking again, erasing any possible hope that anybody would get any more sleep that morning, so Harry got up, pulled on some clothes and headed off towards the kitchen.

"Morning, Mrs Black," he said as he passed her portrait.

"Don't you speak to me, you aberrant little cretin!" Mrs Black screamed, frothing at the mouth, her hair flying wildly around her, "I will never rest until you filthy monstrosities are driven from my house!"

"Or until we figure out what type of charm is keeping you stuck to that wall," Harry replied, pausing in front of the portrait, "do you even know it's Christmas?"

Mrs Black wailed, "pagan beasts! Oh, the shame rips at my breast, that that disgusting muggle holiday should be celebrated in the noble home of my forefathers!"

"I could get you a present, if you like," Harry told her, "I'm not that bad an artist. I could just paint it into the corner there, a nice box of chocolates, or something."

"Do not dare to befoul my image with you worthless hand!" Mrs Black screamed, her hands flying to her head as if she were trying to tear her own ears off, "oh, why was I cursed to bear a son who would betray me, blood and heart? Why?"

"Perhaps the two of you could have a civilised conversation for once," Harry said brightly, "after all, Christmas is the time for forgiveness."

"Oh, stop teasing her, Harry," Lupin said as he came down the hall. Mrs Black was wailing about 'that repulsive disgrace that sprung from my womb' as he and Harry pulled the curtains over her picture.

"She really says some interesting things if you can calm her down a bit," said Harry, "I've learned so much about the history of the Black family from her. Did you know one of Sirius' ancestors was a headmaster at Hogwarts?"

"I had no idea," Lupin replied as they entered the kitchen. Harry's godfather was humming merrily over a large pot of porridge that was steaming on the stove. Sitting on the table were a number of packages wrapped in brightly-coloured paper.

"Wow!" Harry's eyes widened as he took a seat. As far as he could remember, he had never seen so many Christmas presents at once. Usually, when he was younger, he was lucky to get a book or a new toy for Christmas, and Sirius never bought anything for himself.

"Breakfast first," said Lupin, sitting down next to him and summoning bowls and spoons with a wave of his wand.

Harry wolfed down his porridge, unable to keep his eyes off the sparkling gifts, and was finished long before Sirius and Lupin. He waited while they both ate their porridge with exaggerated slowness, unable to stop himself wriggling a little.

"Alright," said Sirius, banishing the empty bowls to the sink and leaning back, "you can start opening them now."

Harry picked up the nearest package before his godfather had even finished speaking. The label said, 'To Harry, from Padfoot,' and inside was – surprise, surprise – a thick, paper-back book. However, he blinked when he saw that the brightly coloured cover was not moving, and opened it to find with was full of pictures.

"It's a comic book," he said.

"The best muggle comic collection around," said Sirius, "no son of mine could grow up without a little Pini in their lives. My mother jinxed my fingers off every time she caught me reading it. And I'll show you the spell to enchant the pages so that you can read it in class without getting caught."

"I knew dishonesty would come into it somewhere," Lupin muttered. Harry grinned at Sirius, carefully laid the thick comic book aside and picked up the next present.

"This one's for you, from Sirius," he said, handing a long, thin package to Lupin, who looked almost surprised. Apparently this was his first real Christmas for a long time, too. He opened the wrapping to reveal a brand new umbrella.

"Very practical," Lupin smiled.

"Hey, it's not a Black family biting umbrella," Sirius said, "it forecasts the weather ahead of time, repels water from the ankles upward, dries itself instantly and comes with six different interchangeable patterns."

"I have no doubt it will come in handy," said Lupin, putting the umbrella in his lap. He nodded for Harry to pick the next present.

"This one is from Tonks and Charlie, 'To Harry and that awful cousin of mine, what's his name? From Tonks', 'she's only kidding, Sirius, from Charlie'" Harry said, reading the card on a neon-pink box. He pulled off the wrapping, "oh! It's a selection of sweets. I haven't tried any of these since we went to Diagon Alley," he inspected the large box of toffees, jelly-beans, boiled lollies, sherbets, bubble-gum, peppermints, bonbons and row after row of chocolates, "I feel awful, I didn't even send them a card. I didn't expect to get anything, after all, and I don't even know where they live."

"I'm sure they'll understand," said Lupin. The pile was dwindling now: the only thing left was a tiny model dragon from Sirius that really flew and breathed sparks, and for Lupin, a pair of enormous glittering earrings in the shape of crescent moons, (a joke from Tonks and Charlie, since Lupin, of course, did not have pierced ears). And then Harry tentatively offered Lupin and his godfather each a gift out of his own pocket.

"They're only things I found around the house," he said as he said as he handed them the tiny packages wrapped in parchment. He didn't have any money, so he'd had to get all his gifts by other means, "but I made sure they were things that didn't explode."

Lupin's gift from Harry seemed, at first, to be nothing more than a gold and black chipped tea-cup filled with dirt, but Harry explained that the seed of a Lupin flower was already planted in the soil, "it's not a very good pun, I know," said Harry hastily, while Sirius roared with laughter on the other side of the table, "but they're supposed to bloom in the full moon."

"Thank you, Harry," smiled Lupin, "I promise I will water it every day."

"Right, so what have you got me?" Sirius asked, unwrapping his gift. It was a small cardboard box, and it seemed to be wriggling. Sirius paused, then carefully opened the lid.

Sitting inside were two small mice, both striped purple-and-gold and both looking thoroughly shook-up from spending the morning in Harry's pocket.

"I finally figured out how to change a mouse's fur colour," said Harry, "but I still couldn't figure out how to make a hundred of them. So I got you a male and a female."

Sirius grinned and shook his head, "you caught these in the house?"

"Yes. Kreacher was about to eat them," said Harry, "and I didn't really know what to do with them after I saved them."

"Harry, they're beautiful," Sirius said, picking up one of the mice by its tail and rotating it in mid air, "that is some very nice charm work, by the way. I knew you'd have your mother's talent."

Wrapping paper was spread across the floor but the table was now empty. Harry looked up as Lupin cleared his throat, "I've got something as well," he said in his sleepy voice.

Harry watched as he withdrew a package wrapped in brown paper from under his robes, and handed it to Harry. It was light and floppy, and he looked at looked Lupin, wondering if the professor had given him a pair of socks.

"Open it," said Sirius, "I can't stand the suspense."

Harry ripped open one side of the package, and, like water, out flowed something that shimmered silver and soft like a puddle of liquid moonlight. Harry looked it and lifted it up, and Sirius put his hand to his mouth.

"Good god," he muttered, "that can't be…Lupin, how did you get it?"

"What is it?" Harry asked, shaking the strange material out. It was light, seamless, creaseless, thin as tissue paper yet strong as steel rope.

"Your father's invisibility cloak," Lupin told him.

"I thought it was burned in the Potter's house," Sirius shook his head, "I felt such a fool for leaving it there, but there wasn't time to search for it…Lupin, where did it come from?"

Lupin coughed and suddenly found his fingernails very interesting, "Dumbledore gave it to me," he said finally.

Sirius' face hardened, "you asked him for it?"

"I saw it in his office a few weeks ago," Lupin said hurriedly, "and I asked him if I could have it. He wasn't suspicious, Sirius, really he wasn't. He didn't think it was odd at all, he just said he was sure I had a good reason for wanting it, and he knew I could take care of it better than he could."

"Look!" Harry interrupted the mounting tension in the air. Sirius and Lupin looked around, but Harry was nowhere in sight, "it works!" Harry's voice emanated from thin air, "wow! It really works!"

Sirius' frown faded at the joy in his godson's voice, "now look what you've started," he shot a mock glower at Lupin, "none of us will ever be safe again. And you are not taking it to school, Harry," he added, looking around, but with no idea of where his godson was, "the last thing we need is another visit from Mrs Balder saying some invisible person has pissed on the headmaster or something."

Lupin snorted as he tried to repress a laugh, then said seriously, "I got you a present too."

Sirius quickly covered up his surprise, "really?"

"Yes. But it's outside," Lupin got up, "come on, I want to show you before it starts raining again."

Harry's head reappeared, floating in mid-air, "what is it?"

"Don't spoil the surprise!" Sirius put his hands over his ears as he got up and followed Lupin up the stairs, with Harry's head bobbing along behind them.

Lupin paused when they reached the door, while Harry took the invisibility cloak off and bundled it up in his arms. Lupin put his hand on the doorknob, "I hid it around the back of the house when I got here, and I had to get up in the middle of the night to bring it out front, so don't you go waking me up early tomorrow morning," he said to Sirius.

And then he opened the door and stepped back so Sirius could look out.

Sitting in the front yard, with the sunshine gleaming on each chrome facet, polished so that it looked as good as new, was an enormous black motorbike. It was huge: twice the size of a regular motorbike, and careful inspection would have revealed several strange mechanisms hidden on it that would not have been seen on any muggle motorbike.

Sirius inhaled so quickly it sounded as if he had been winded.

Like a sprinter in a race, he leapt down the front steps, shot across the lawn and threw himself over the seat of the motorbike as if he was a teenager again. Harry was almost certain he was kissing the leather seat, "my baby," he cried, "my darling. You've come back to me. Oh, I never thought I'd see you again."

Harry looked at Lupin, "I think that's a better welcome than he gave you," he said dryly.

"Well, that motorbike was more intimately connected to Sirius than I would ever have liked to be," Lupin replied with a wry smile, as they headed down the steps to join Harry's godfather, who was now stroking one great wheel of the motorbike as if it was the hair of a long-lost lover.

"How did you get it?" Sirius croaked, his eyes sparkling with tears, as Lupin approached, "I thought it was lost, or sold for scrap."

"No, just hidden in Mundungus Fletcher's cellar under a sheet for nearly a decade," Lupin said, chuckling, "when you disappeared, he laid claim to all of your belongings, since you were living in his basement at the time. He's told me for years that he never knew where that bike went, because he was hoping to sell it, I guess. But he didn't know the spell to start the ignition, so it never left the basement where you use to live. I've been trying to track the damn thing down for months now, and I finally found it about a week ago when I searched his house, on the pretext that I was bringing him a message from Dumbledore."

"But he's such a hoarder," said Sirius, wiping his eyes, "how did you convince him to give it to you?"

"I didn't," said Lupin, "I won it off him. In a game of Kings and Arseholes."

"You never," Sirius shook his shaggy head, one arm still draped protectively over the motorbike, "no one can beat Mundungus at that game, not unless they cheated."

"Well," said Lupin, folding his arms, "I did learn from the best."

Sirius snicked, then began to bellow with laughter, "I bet he wasn't expecting it from you!" he roared, "I know I wouldn't. Not honest old Lupin!"

He swung one leg over the motorbike, gripped the handles, bent down towards the fuel gauge and said something too quiet for Harry to catch. If the motorbike had been a horse, Sirius would have been whispering in its ear. As soon as the words had left his lips, there was a growl, then a roar, and the motorbike sprang to life. Sirius revved it up, and grinned at his godson, "Like a ride, Harry?"

Harry did not need to be asked twice. He handed the invisibility cloak to Lupin, then darted forward and touched the smooth leather seat. Sirius picked him up around the waist and lifted him right up onto the bike, so that Harry was sitting in front of him. Then his godfather kicked the throttle, and suddenly they were moving, the bike grunting with a noise like a pack of lions roaring, speeding out the gate, bouncing off the kerb and onto the street, and shooting away down the road like a meteorite.

Harry, his hair flying around his face, half-blinded by the wind in his eyes, clutching his godfather's jacket with all his strength, shouted at the top of his lungs, "this is amazing!"

And Sirius replied, "this is nothing! You wait to you see her fly!"

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TBC