AN: well, I'm really happy from the response I got from my last chapter but at the same time I'm slightly annoyed at the website. I had certain sentences that were all capitals and when it was put on the website the all caps thing didn't transfer. So there was actually a little more yelling then it looked like. Sorry about that. Oh well, at least the point still got across. Lol. Enjoy chapter 12.

This would have been up a little sooner but I had to get all four of my wisdom teeth out so I felt a bit crappy for a few days. Lol. Good reviews will make me feel better!

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Chapter 12: Talking through the pain

Sirius placed two mugs of hot chocolate down on the table as he sat down across from his godson. Harry gratefully took a mug, wrapping his hands around the hot beverage, letting the warmth of the mug heat up his hands. Harry lifted the mug and took a sip of it, instantly making him feel a little better. Surprisingly, Sirius made a pretty decent hot chocolate. Harry and Sirius had relocated themselves to the kitchen, feeling like it was a better place for them to talk.

Sirius took a sip from his own mug, wondering how he should start the conversation. Luckily, Harry spoke up first.

"I don't know what to say." Harry chuckled softly, looking a bit embarrassed.

"That's okay." Sirius reassured. "Why don't you just start with your relatives. We can cover everything else from there."

Harry nodded and took another sip of his hot chocolate. He placed his mug back on the table and looked into the hot drink, avoiding Sirius' eyes. "You know the story you told me about your family? Living with the Dursleys is sort of like that."

"I had a feeling that was the case." Sirius said. "I have a sort of sixth sense when it comes to stuff like that. Plus, you kept avoiding the topic of family and that was a clear giveaway on its own…"

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you." Harry said quietly, looking up at Sirius.

"It's alright, Harry. I'm just glad that you're telling me now." Sirius said. He paused a moment before speaking quietly. "How bad does it get?"

Harry looked down again, his eyes focused on the mug in his hands as he spoke. He took a deep breath before starting. "Not too bad. I mean once in a while I'll get punch or something, but mostly I just get slapped in the head and stuff like that. Sometimes Dudley will punch me in the stomach if I pass him or shove me into something. My uncle has hit me with a belt before, but it never left a mark like the one on your back. I heal sort of quickly. Mostly he just slaps me around. It doesn't happen very often anymore. It used to be worse when I was younger. I think they stopped a lot of it because they are afraid I'll blow them up with magic or something."

"When was the last time your uncle hit you?" Sirius asked.

"Last week. I forgot to clean up a mess in the living room. He slapped me around a bit for it." Harry said softly, his eyes still downcast at the table.

Sirius could tell how much the Dursleys had affected Harry just by the way his godson talked about them. Harry's voice was soft and quiet, his eyes avoided Sirius', making Sirius understand how small the Dursleys made Harry feel.

"It's okay to be upset and scared about this, you know. This is a tough thing for someone your age to deal with." Sirius spoke after a moment of silence.

"I know." Harry said quietly. "It's just; I don't really like talking about this stuff."

Sirius nodded. "Well, I can't really imagine anyone who actually likes talking about this stuff but it's good to get this all off your chest."

Harry nodded and Sirius continued speaking. "You'll never go back to them, Harry. I promise you that. You're staying here with me from now on. They can't hurt you anymore. You don't need to be afraid." Harry nodded again.

The room drifted into another silence, giving Harry and Sirius both time to have some more hot chocolate. Sirius lifted the mug to his lips, taking a long sip before placing the mug back down on the table. "Harry?"

"Yeah?"

"He never-I mean, did your uncle ever…touch you?" Sirius asked, hoping the answer would be no.

"No, he never did. Not like that." Harry replied truthfully, looking up at his godfather.

Sirius nodded, breathing a sigh of relief. Harry looked away from Sirius, uncomfortably, prompting Sirius to question Harry again.

"Harry?"

"Yeah?"

"Has anyone ever touched you?" Sirius asked, carefully.

"Not exactly." Harry said, after a delayed wait, as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"What do you mean?" Sirius asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

Harry sighed. "You know last week when I was leaving the park and then I met up with you and we went into town and got hot chocolate?"

"Yeah."

"Before I met you, I was hanging out with these kids. They're not wizards or anything, just muggles, but I started hanging out with them in the beginning of the summer. Some of them smoke and do drugs and stuff like that. So, I started hanging out with them because they could get me cigarettes-"

"Or other stuff?" Sirius asked, clearly indicating that he thought that Harry was getting drugs from the kids as well.

Harry shook his head. "No, I only wanted cigarettes from them. The pot was sort of given to me."

Sirius eyed Harry warily. "What kids give away free pot?"

"No, I didn't just get it for free. There was a reason it was given to me in the first place."

"Which was?"

Harry sighed and continued his story. "Besides the kids I was hanging out with there was this guy, Brock. He was the one who was getting me cigarettes and the other kids stuff. He's the one who gave me the pot. Brock asked me to do a job for him and he gave me the pot for doing the job for him."

Harry looked into Sirius' eyes, almost pleading for Sirius to believe him. "I've never smoked pot. I never had any intention to. It just came to me. I wasn't even going to smoke it. I was going to get rid of it myself."

Sirius nodded. "I believe you. You couldn't blame me for thinking that you were doing drugs though. I mean; the evidence sort of fell right in front of me. I'm sorry I didn't trust you."

"It's alright; I didn't really give you a reason to trust me. If I was in your place I probably would have thought the same."

Sirius nodded then asked, getting back to Harry's story, "What was the job Brock wanted you to do?"

"Uh… he wanted me to…ugh, er-he…shit…I don't know how to explain it really." Harry sighed in frustration. How could he describe to Sirius what Brock had tried to get him to do? I mean, it's wasn't as though Brock came out and told him. He tried to weasel him into the situation.

"It's alright." Sirius said, realizing how uncomfortable Harry was. "Just go slow. Start from the beginning. It sounds like this has a story to it."

Harry nodded and took a deep breath. "Okay. Um…the night that I left your house, I went to meet up with Brock and the others around midnight. When I got there, Brock asked me if I wanted to do a job from, but he never actually told me what it was. He told me he'd get my cigarettes and stuff if I did this job for him so I told him that I'd do it."

"Okay." Sirius said, indicating for Harry to continue.

Harry took another breath before continuing. "When I finally went to do the job, Brock brought me into this part of the park that was all wooded. I hadn't ever been there before. There was a car there, waiting for us. He told me that we were going to meet his friend Mauricio but that was all. So he went into the car and told me to wait outside. Then when he came back he told me to get into the car."

"And you got in?" Sirius asked, fearing that he already knew where Harry's story was going.

Harry nodded, avoiding Sirius' eyes again. "I thought Brock was coming too, but he didn't get it, he just walked away. So I was left with Mauricio."

Harry stopped talking at this point and his hands were shaking slightly on the coffee mug. Sirius asked softly, "What happened in the car, Harry?"

It took Harry a few minutes to answer, but when he finally did; his voice was quiet, barely above a whisper. "Mauricio, he put his arm around my shoulders and was just asking me questions for a while. The he started to move his hands. He tried to, he tried…"

"What did he try, Harry?" Sirius asked, a little more commanding.

"He tried to unzip my pants." Harry said in a shaky voice. Sirius closed his eyes and took a breath, fearing the next part of Harry's story. He opened his eyes and watched Harry for a moment before speaking again.

"What happened after that, Harry?" Sirius asked.

"I don't know." Harry said softly as he shook his head, his eyes still fixed on his mug.

"Harry, come on, don't say you don't know. Something obviously happened next." Sirius demanded.

"I tried to pull his hands away from me." Harry replied.

"Then what?" Sirius persisted.

"I don't know, I felt like something surged through my body and everything got really hot."

"What do you mean?" Sirius asked, not expecting Harry to reply the way he did.

"When I touched him, I sort burnt him I think, because he drew his hands back and just looked at them, like when I touched him his hands were on fire or something even though they weren't. He started calling me a freak and threw me out of the car then drove away really quickly. I don't know how it happened. It was so fast and everything. I've never done anything like that before. My magic, it's never been like fire. I think it was accidental magic or something."

Sirius thought for a moment. "Accidental magic, eh?"

Harry nodded, looking at Sirius who was watching him with great interest.

"How were you feeling when Mauricio was near you like that?" Sirius asked, resting his chin in his hand, leaning an elbow on the table, still watching Harry with a scrutinizing glance.

"Scared, I guess. I was really scared. I felt like I couldn't move too, like my body was frozen in place because I was so scared. I just wanted to stop him from doing anything. I wanted to protect myself." Harry said quietly, moving his eyes to Sirius.

Sirius nodded as a look of vague recognition grew across his face.

"What?" Harry asked, concerned about Sirius' look.

Sirius shook his head and let out a deep sigh. "Nothing, nothing, I'm just a little impressed actually."

"Huh?" Harry asked.

"Harry, for accidental magic to occur a person has to be feeling a really intense emotion, like extreme anger or fear. Most of the time when someone performs accidental magic they normal just break things or make the room shake a little. To actually protect yourself with accidental magic is a pretty difficult thing to do."

"So what are you trying to say?"

"I'm trying to say that I don't think it was accidental magic that protected you."

"What?" Harry exclaimed, totally baffled.

Sirius gave Harry a sad smile. "I think it was your mum."

Harry gave Sirius a blank look, not understanding what Sirius was getting at. Sirius continued, "Harry, you could be right, it could have just been accidental magic that protected you, but I think it was more than that. When your mother died, she sacrificed herself for you. It's very old magic, but by her doing that, it gave you extra protection from harm. When Mauricio tried to touch you, your mother's protection shielded you from him. It saved you."

Harry pondered the situation briefly before speaking. "I guess it makes sense. I mean, in my first year, the reason Voldemort couldn't touch me was because of my mother's protection. I guess it worked the same way with Mauricio."

Sirius sighed again. "I guess so. It's a good thing that you had that extra protection, Harry. Do you realize what could have happened if your magic didn't act up at that moment? Do you realize what you got yourself into? That was beyond dangerous."

Harry nodded and looked away from his godfather. Sirius sighed and asked gently, "Harry, why didn't you tell me?"

"I don't know. I wasn't sure how to."

"Still, I just, I don't want you to feel like he have to keep things from me. Harry, what happened to you, no one your age should ever have that happen to them. You could have been raped or killed. Harry, people like that are sick. If you had said something earlier maybe we could have done something about it. The sick fuck is probably miles away by now. Promise me that you'll never get into anything like that ever again."

"I promise. I don't want to get into anything like that again." Harry said quietly, and then looked back up at Sirius, his green eyes still showing fear. "I was really scared. More scared than I've ever been before. It was worse then getting hit by my uncle. I can't stop thinking about it. It keeps replaying in my mind everything I close my eyes. I haven't slept in days."

"It will take away from the pain to go away, but talking really helps, Harry. Trust me. Something like that, it will never leave you kiddo, I'm not going to lie to you about that. You've already seen more than most kids your age will ever see. You'll carry this with you forever, it will never go away, Harry, but the pain gets less. The fear goes away and it just becomes another part of your life. You'll learn not to think about it. It will take time, but things will go back to the way they were-"

"I don't want things to go back to the way they were. My life wasn't exactly peachy up till then."

"Well, you know what you do in that case?"

"What?"

"You make a new life. A better one. You're with me now. You have a second chance, Harry. Your life might not have been perfect, and no, we can't change the past, but we can change your future. Harry, before, you were going nowhere fast, and now, you have your whole life ahead of you. Everything will work out in time. You'll see, everything will get better soon."

Harry nodded, giving Sirius a small smile, feeling a little bit better than before. Harry yawned, rubbing his eye with the back of his hand.

Sirius smiled. "Tired?"

"A little." Harry said.

"It's late. You should go to bed. It's been a rough night. You should try to get some sleep."

Harry hesitated before speaking. "What if I have a dream about it?"

"Try going to sleep and if you wake up because of a bad dream come wake me and I'll give you a dreamless sleep potion. I don't want to give you some unless you really need it. It isn't good to use potions all the time when it comes to sleeping. It can ruin your natural sleeping patterns because you come to rely on potions."

Harry nodded and stood up, heading to leave the kitchen. He stopped and looked back, expecting Sirius to get up too. "You aren't going to bed?"

"I will. I'm just going to clean up the kitchen a little before I do."

"Okay. Night, Sirius."

"Good night, Harry."

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Harry couldn't sleep. There was just too much going through his mind at the moment. At least he had tried falling asleep; no one could say he didn't try. Harry pulled the covers off himself and rolled out of bed. He walked to his dresser and pulled out a navy, long sleeve shirt that matched his plaid pajama pants, and put it on, feeling a little cold. He opened the door to his room and walked down the hallway, wondering if Sirius was still awake.

Seeing a light poke out from the bottom of Sirius' door, Harry timidly knocked on the door to Sirius' room and waited for a reply.

"Come in." Sirius replied from behind the door, sounding as though he was wide awake.

Harry poked his head into the room. Sirius was sitting Indian style on his bed, wearing a pair of black pajama pants and a dark red long sleeve shirt. Obviously the events from earlier had made Sirius' skin feel cold like Harry's. Spread out on the bed was a grey shoe box with the top open and several pictures spread around the bed.

Sirius looked up at Harry, surprised that Harry was still awake. "Hey kiddo. You okay?"

Harry just shrugged. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just…"

Sirius gave Harry a half smile. "You couldn't sleep either, huh?"

Harry shook his head. Sirius nodded, understanding that it was going to be one of those nights were no one was going to be getting much sleep.

"Do you want to come in? I was just sorting through some old photos."

"Okay." Harry said and entered the room, closing the door behind him. Sirius moved some of the pictures out of the way as Harry sat down on the bed. Harry looked around at the pictures, interestingly.

Sirius picked up a picture as he said, "When I was taken to Azkaban most of my possessions were destroyed by the Ministry, but some things were placed into the ministry's storage, like my wand and my bike. Dumbledore actually had saved quite a few things that belong to me as well, not too sure why he saved them but he did. When I saw him last week he handed me a box full of my old stuff."

"What was in it?" Harry asked, picking up one of the pictures on the bed of Sirius standing in front of his motorcycle.

"Some books that I had owned, my knife," Sirius said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a beautifully crafted, black marble handled buck knife. Sirius flipped out the blade, making the metal shine from the light in the room. Harry grinned at the knife, he had to admit; it was pretty cool.

Sirius smiled fondly. "My uncle, Alphard, gave this to me when I turned fifteen. It was probably the best gift I ever got."

"I thought you hated your family." Harry pointed out.

"Not all of them. My uncle wasn't a bad guy. We actually got along really well. I think he looked at me as a son because he didn't have any kids of his own. When he died he left me a good deal of money; I used it to buy my own place when I was seventeen."

"Can I see it?" Harry asked, pointing at the knife.

Sirius nodded and folded the blade back before handing it to Harry. "Just be careful, it's still really sharp."

Harry unfolded the knife and held it in his hand, admiring it. "This is so cool. Your uncle had good taste."

Sirius chuckled. "Yeah, he did. He wasn't a pure-blood maniac like the rest of them. He just kept to himself really and didn't get involved. He also got along well with my cousin Andromeda."

"Who's she?" Harry asked, still examining the knife, much to Sirius' amusement.

"She was my favorite cousin. She wasn't a bighead like the rest of my family. Blood wasn't an important trait to her. We sort of stuck together at family parties and holiday gatherings. She was disowned by the family because she married a muggleborn."

"Do you still talk to her?" Harry asked.

"We spoke briefly after I got out of Azkaban. Maybe I'll get together with her one of these days. I'm sure she'd love to meet you." Sirius said.

Harry extended his hand, giving the knife back to Sirius. "This is really cool."

Sirius smiled. "Maybe I'll give it to you when you're older."

"I am older." Harry smirked.

"Nah, I don't want to get a lecture from Remus about giving minors weapons anytime soon." Sirius smiled. "Maybe next year."

"I guess I can wait." Harry sighed then asked, "What else was in the box that Dumbledore gave to you?"

"Well," Sirius began, "there was something that you might be interested in, but I'm waiting for the right time to give it to you."

"What is it?" Harry asked, highly interested.

Sirius smirked, "The only thing I'll tell you is that it has to do with your dad."

Harry looked exasperated. "Come on, you have to tell me now…"

Sirius grinned and ruffled Harry's hair playfully. "You'll just have to wait, kiddo. Trust me; you'll be glad you waited."

Harry rolled his eyes and grinned. "Alright, alright, I'll wait. What else was in the box?"

"All these pictures." Sirius said, picking up a picture from the bed. "One year at school, your grandmother sent James a camera so he could take pictures of him and his friends, that way he could look back at them when he was older and remember the good old days."

"What did you guys take pictures of?" Harry asked, looking at the piles of pictures on the bed.

"Anything and everything. James took quite a few of Lily that she yelled at him about. That's in this pile." Sirius said as he reached over to a pile and handed Harry a picture of Lily trying to cover the camera with her hand.

Harry laughed at the annoyed look on Lily's face. Her green eyes were narrowed, she was shouting at James who was taking the picture.

"We have pictures of us all in Hogsmeade and just around Hogwarts. There are a couple of nice ones of Remus." Sirius indicated, picking up a picture that one of them had taken of Remus reading a book under a tree by the lake.

"What pictures are in that pile?" Harry asked, pointing to the farthest pile. Sirius' smile dropped. "Some of Pettigrew that were mixed in."

Harry's mouth formed a 'O' shape. He reached over to the pile and picked up one of the pictures. "That's him?"

"It is." Sirius replied dryly, turning his attention to another pile of pictures.

Harry studied the picture for a moment, as though trying to figure something out. After seeing picture of his father and his godfather, Peter just didn't fit into the mix. James, Sirius and Remus were all tall, each with their own good looks and strong personalities. But Pettigrew just didn't fit. He was short with watery eyes and mousey blonde hair. He was a bit on the chubby side and was not as good looking as his friends. This was the man who betrayed his parents. In a way, Harry even felt bad for Pettigrew for seeming so out of place with his friends.

"He seems like the odd man out." Harry said. "I mean, you guys were tall and he's so short. What made you guys become friends in the first place?"

"I don't really remember. It was a long time ago." Sirius replied. "I think he started talking to James about Quidditch on the way to Hogwarts during our first year and then we just all started getting along from there."

"What are you going to do with his pictures?" Harry asked.

"Don't know. Burn them maybe." Sirius said grumpily.

"Like it or not, he's part of your past. Burning his picture doesn't erase him from everything, Sirius."

Sirius half smiled. "When did you become so wise?"

"Don't know. When you're a guy like me who's been so open to the world at such an early age you just pick up these things."

Sirius snorted and ruffled Harry's hair. "Well, 'oh wise one', there are a few pictures in here that have you in them."

"Really?" Harry asked; an excited grin spread across his face.

Sirius nodded and reached into the box and looked through some of the pictures that were still in there. He smiled when he found the ones he was looking for. He handed them to Harry, who took them gratefully.

Harry beamed at the picture he held in his hand. It was a picture of him as a baby, maybe around eight months old. He was in James' arms, giggling as he chewed on James' glasses which he Harry had gotten hold of. James just seemed amused as he tried to pry his glasses from Harry's hands, with little success.

Harry moved to the next picture which was of a younger Sirius tickling his feet, making baby Harry squeal in delight, trying to pull his tiny feet out of his godfather's grip. Lily was in the background of the picture, yelling at Sirius who was ignoring her.

Sirius laughed. "Your mum was yelling at me because I was supposed to be putting your socks on, not playing."

The next picture was of newborn Harry, wrapped in soft blue blankets, sleeping in Lily's arms. James was standing next to her, placing a kiss on her check before moving to plant a kiss on Harry's head, which was already covered with some messy black hair.

"That was the day you came home from the hospital." Sirius said, smiling fondly at the photo. "Remus and I were waiting at your parents place when they arrived. They were so happy to finally bring you home, Harry."

"Where was Pettigrew?" Harry asked.

"He had work or something like that. He dropped by the following day." Sirius said then smiled as he continued telling Harry about the day he was brought home. "You were so small. Your mum was afraid to let me hold you because she thought I was going to drop you."

Harry grinned. "That was a little neurotic of her."

"Just a bit. When we were finally able to pry you from her and I held you, it was like nothing I had ever felt before. You were so tiny. You wrapped you little fingers around my thumb and I remember that I just couldn't stop smiling. And then when James asked me to be your godfather later that night-it was one of them best days of my life that I'll never forget."

Sirius pulled his gaze from the pictures and turned to his godson. "You're parents loved you very much, Harry. Don't forget that."

"I won't." Harry said softly, looking up at Sirius, giving him a small smile. Sirius smiled back before picking up another picture and handing it to Harry, "Here look at this one…"

They spent the rest of the night looking at pictures and talking, forming a bond of trust, that would grow even stronger with in time.

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VERY IMPORTAND AUTHORS NOTE, PLEASE READ!

Okay, first off, I hope everyone liked the chapter. It was a bit mellower than the previous one. I'm hope that everyone was happy to hear that Harry was not raped or molested. I had a really hard time writing this chapter for some reason.

There will only be one chapter left and then this story is finished. So here is my question: Does this story need a sequel?

So far I have an idea for a sequel involving Harry learning about James in a unique way. This would take place during his third year at Hogwarts. Remus would still be dark arts teacher and Sirius would still be very important in the story.

But I was just wondering, what are some things that people would really want to see in a sequel. I already have an idea for an argument between Sirius and Harry. But what else?

If anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear them. Anything for Sirius and Harry to fight about would be good.

Or anything for Sirius and Remus to fight about would be interesting to incorporate in.

Or Sirius and Snape, somehow involving Harry. That could be interesting too.

I already have a funny situation planned out involving Fred, George and a certain Marauders map...thanks to glory boots for that idea…I cant wait till I write about that.

Hmm…what else does a sequel need?

More Sirius and Harry bonding perhaps? I already know that I am going to have the story start out on a much lighter note, bringing more of the fun side out in Sirius, making him and Harry a bit more relaxed.

Also, if James and Sirius were to have a fight about something when they were younger (around 15 or 16) what would it be (besides the Whomping willow incident)?

Give me some ideas people! I already have a few in mind but any little bit helps. I love to hear what others think. I don't have anything written in stone as of right now of if there are any specific things someone wants to happen just let me know. I don't even know if I will be writing a sequel yet lol. Just want to here from everyone first. Thanks everyone.

Please review.