Loyal Friends & Mirror Calls

Chapter 26

Tuesday, September 3

After their rather eventful first day, Harry, Ron, and Hermione had a free period early next morning. They walked over to their favourite beech tree and sat down under the cool morning sun.

Harry caught them up on Dumbledore's visit to his house. He had been meaning to tell them quite earlier, but the common rooms were always crowded and people had the annoying habit of trying to listen in on their conversations. It was very difficult to find somewhere private these days as everyone wanted to know what the Chosen One was up to with his friends.

"So, he came to deliver your OWLs? That's it?" said Ron, looking rather disappointed.

"What do you mean 'that's it'?" asked Harry, narrowing his eyes.

"Well… we thought he would discuss… things with you," said Ron, mysteriously.

"Ron!" came Hermione's reproachful tone.

Harry pulled out the letter that had been in his bed on his first night back at Hogwarts and thrust it into Ron's hands. "This was left for me in my bed on our first night back."

Hermione leaned in to read the letter along with Ron.

"Blimey! Private lessons with Dumbledore? Could this be because of the prophecy?" Ron blurted out excitedly. Hermione gave him a withering glare.

Harry pretended to speak casually, "We did discuss it at the end of last year."

Ron and Hermione froze as they hung on to every word he was saying.

"The glass ball that smashed wasn't the only record of the prophecy. The Daily Prophet has got it right this time," said Harry in the same would-be casual voice. "At least, the prophecy said, 'Neither can live while the other survives.'"

Hermione nearly squealed. "Harry, oh, Harry…"

She put her arm on Harry's as she looked at him worriedly. "We wondered, after we got back from the Ministry… Obviously, we didn't have time to say anything to you and we couldn't put that in any of our letters, but from what Lucius Malfoy said about the prophecy, how it was about you and Voldemort, well, we thought it might be something like this… Oh, Harry…" She stared at him, then whispered, "Are you scared?"

"Not as much as I was," said Harry. "When I first heard it, I was… but now, it seems as though I always knew I'd have to face him in the end…"

"But, this is brilliant!" said Ron, eagerly. "Dumbledore wouldn't be giving you lessons if he thought you were a goner, wouldn't waste his time — he must think you've got a chance!"

"That's true," said Hermione. "I wonder what he'll teach you, Harry? Really advanced defensive magic, probably… powerful counter-curses… anti-jinxes…"

Harry did not really listen. A warmth was spreading through him that had nothing to do with the sunlight. He knew that Ron and Hermione were more shocked than they were letting on, but the mere fact that they were still there on either side of him, speaking bracing words of comfort, not shrinking from him as though he were contaminated or dangerous, was worth more than he could ever tell them. He had more than only Sirius on his side. He had his best friends with him too.

"… and evasive enchantments generally," concluded Hermione. "Does Sirius know about this?"

"Yes," said Harry, a smile on his face. "He was with me when Dumbledore told me last year."

"How did he take it?" asked Hermione, curiously.

"He knew about it, because my mum and dad told him when I was born."

Ron and Hermione gaped. "He knew all along?" said Ron, surprised.

"That explains why he was insistent on telling you about 'the weapon' during the Order meeting last year," said Hermione, nodding in agreement. "He knew what it really was, and he must have known you would want to hear about it sooner rather than later."

"He's been teaching me duelling this summer," said Harry.

"But—but you can't do magic at home!" exclaimed Hermione, scandalized.

Harry had promised Sirius he wouldn't tell Ron or Hermione about the Trace. Hermione would be seventeen soon, so it didn't matter, but Ron would probably take it to heart and use magic at home over the holidays. Sirius did not want to get into Molly's bad books for this, especially as they always seemed to be at loggerheads. Harry had already come up with a little white lie.

"It's the Fidelius. Magic can't be detected when you're under it," said Harry, looking away slightly.

Hermione still seemed disapproving but it was Ron's reaction that was priceless. "You mean we could have used magic for two months at Number 12 and we didn't!"

Harry sniggered. "Yes, actually."

"Merlin's pants! We could have used magic at least to clean that infernal house!"

Ron spent a good half hour, ranting about wasted opportunities when Hermione was discussing with Harry on what defensive spells Sirius had taught him over the summer.

oOo

Before retiring to the common room that evening, Harry had taken the mirror Sirius had given him. He perused the Marauder's Map and found an empty classroom close by. Making sure the corridor was sufficiently empty, Harry looked into his mirror and called for Sirius, his voice slightly echoing in the silence.

A moment later, Sirius' face appeared on the mirror and Harry smiled.

"Hello, Harry. Miss me already?"

"How come you never told me the new professor was your former teacher?" said Harry, trying and failing to keep the slight accusation out of his voice.

"Oh, you mean Slughorn?" said Sirius, before adding nervously, "Uh… has he talked to you already?"

"Yes," said Harry, frowning. "He invited me on the train along with Neville. He seems to like making acquaintances with students who have famous relatives."

"That's Sluggy to you! Lily, James and I were part of his club, making us meet all these famous personalities and connecting them to us," said Sirius, grimacing. "James and I made it a point to skip those boring little parties he always hosted. Poor Lily, though. She was too polite to refuse him. Slughorn liked her too much, it drove James up the wall."

Harry pointed out, "And Slughorn teaches Potions, apparently. Which makes Snape the DADA teacher."

Sirius scowled. "I know. Dumbledore told me."

"What was Dumbledore thinking, making him the defence teacher? Personally, I hope he's gone by the end of the year. Everyone knows that job is jinxed!"

Sirius threw his head back and laughed. "You won't hear any arguments from me. I heard from Dumbledore though that it's getting really hard to hire teachers at the present time. Because joining under Dumbledore practically means you have become an enemy of Voldemort."

"Except for Snape, of course," muttered Harry, scowling.

"Quite right," nodded Sirius.

"I had my first class with Slughorn yesterday," said Harry. "You won't believe what happened. Do you by any chance know someone called 'the Half-Blood Prince'?"

"'The Half-Blood Prince'?" said Sirius, incredulously. "No, I don't. You're not thinking of calling yourself that, are you? I thought the Chosen-One was already—"

"It's nothing to do with me!" said Harry hotly and Sirius smirked. "The Half-Blood Prince used to go to Hogwarts and he's really helped me with Potions—" and Harry told him about the book and how it had won him the Felix Felicis.

"For real?" said Sirius, excitedly. "You got the Felix Felicis from Slughorn! That's splendid!"

"Not through my own talents for sure," admitted Harry. "I was wondering if perhaps you might know who this 'Half-Blood Prince' was."

"There aren't any Wizarding princes. And, it sure isn't me. Or James. We're purebloods and I'm very certain it wasn't Remus." He looked thoughtful as he suggested, "Maybe you should check when the book was published. Perhaps that can give you an idea about when this Prince was at Hogwarts."

"That's a good idea," said Harry, wondering why he hadn't thought of that.

"How was it on your first day back?" asked Sirius.

Harry grimaced. "I thought I was prepared for all the pointing and staring, but clearly I was wrong. At least when I was with you, people seemed to run away in fear."

"Then, shall I make a visit and scare those pesky students away?" asked Sirius with a very mischievous glint in his eyes.

Hastily, Harry added, "No, no. I think it will die down after a while. It's still better than last year. What are you up to?"

"Just Order meetings and stuff," said Sirius, dismissively. "I'm thinking of visiting my old flat and cleaning it out. I should probably make a good income out of it if I could lease it."

"Like you need more money after that grand prize the Ministry gave you in apology," said Harry, rolling his eyes.

"True. I have another use for the flat in my mind, but I'm not going to say it out loud, for fear of jinxing it," said Sirius, with a smile.

Harry, however looked worried. "You're not thinking of moving out are you?"

"Merlin's balls!" exclaimed Sirius, aghast. "What the hell gave you that idea? I'm staying with you in this house until you get married." He remarked almost as an afterthought, "Probably even after that, if your future wife allows it."

Though Harry secretly cheered, he rolled his eyes instead. "No one's getting married anytime soon."

"Then, you're stuck with me for the indefinite future. And you don't have a say in it," said Sirius lifting his chin with an air of finality.

Harry couldn't quite contain the grin threatening to break free. He remembered something else, however. "Dumbledore told me he'll be giving me private lessons this year."

Sirius' eyes narrowed. "Did he tell you what it was about?"

"No. He said he'll discuss with me in detail on Saturday," said Harry.

"Hmm… I'll be having a word with Dumbledore about this," said Sirius, who didn't seem angry or upset, just intrigued and a little thoughtful.

Harry waited for Sirius to add something but when no response was forthcoming, he shrugged. "It's getting late. I'll see you next week."

Sirius looked at him fondly, his deep-set eyes crinkling. "I'll always be here if you need me. Don't ever doubt that, Harry."

Harry nodded, beaming. "Good night, Sirius."

oOo

Wednesday, September 4

It hadn't been until early next morning after the mirror call, that it really hit Sirius how much he missed Harry. He had been busy the last two days with the Order meetings, but now he was acutely aware of the gaping hole that had been Harry's presence for the past two months. It felt like the longest two months of his life, yet also felt like it had flown by in the blink of an eye.

It was something to love Harry blindly at first, because he was his best friend's son. He would have loved him no matter what he was like just for the sake of his godson. But, Sirius had really gotten to know Harry in the time they had spent and, if possible, Sirius loved him more. Harry was the best possible combination of both his parents. He had James' wit and Lily's cheek, James' nobility and Lily's heart of gold, but he also had James' stubbornness and Lily's temper. It occurred to him that James and Lily would have been extremely proud of how their son had turned out to be. Merlin knew, he was.

He decided to pull himself out of his melancholy and made the decision to visit his old flat. Showered and dressed, he Apparated to Upper Flagley, one of the wizarding villages in Yorkshire. He had chosen the little town when he was seventeen as it was in the same vicinity as Potter Manor. He was pleasantly surprised to find the building still there.

It was as he had expected. Someone had searched it; probably during the time he was put in Azkaban or had escaped from it. A thick layer of dust had settled over everything and the air smelled musty and rotten. He summoned Kreacher and ordered the elf to clean out the house within the week. He spent the rest of the day, retrieving anything that might be of value.

He was in for a shock when he saw the drawers full of yellowing parchments, letters and pictures that he had gotten from James or Lily when they had been in hiding. He had collected the boxes of things that he could use along with the letters and left for his home.

Reading and rereading them, tears in his eyes to think of all he had lost, he was almost thankful when Tonks came over to visit Sirius at Potter Manor that evening.

Sirius was in Mr. Potter's study, all the letters and pictures he had collected strewn over the desk, a goblet of firewhiskey in his hand as he stared at the last letter James had written to him. That was how Tonks found him.

"Twitchet said you were here. Wha… What's wrong?" stuttered Tonks, looking taken aback.

Hastily, Sirius tried to wipe his eyes and said hoarsely, "It's nothing."

"It's clearly not 'nothing'. What's all this?" said Tonks, looking around curiously.

Wordlessly, Sirius invited her to take a look at them as he threw back the firewhiskey in one gulp. She picked up a few and skimmed through, gasping as she made sense of it all.

"Oh, Sirius… I'm so sorry."

"I'm fine. It's just a shock, is all," said Sirius, pushing away the bottle and lighting his cigarette.

Tonks cooed, looking at a picture. "Aww, is that baby Harry? Merlin, he's flying a broom when he was one!"

An honest smile found its way on Sirius' face, and he looked chuffed. "Yes. I bought him that for his first birthday."

Tonks was smiling as she looked at the other pictures. "You should show these to Harry."

"No!" exclaimed Sirius, alarmed. "He – he'll probably hate me."

"Hate you?" asked Tonks, raising her eyebrows. "For showing him letters that his parents had written?"

"For knowing that I could spend so much time with them, when he couldn't! I'm the reason he never knew his parents. It's not fair at all that they died and I lived!" exclaimed Sirius as he stood up, agitated. He never could forgive himself for that even after all these years.

"Sirius, I'm sure Harry wouldn't think like that," said Tonks, slowly. "That boy loves you and he'll be really happy that you can give him things like these of his parents."

Sirius walked over to the window and watched the misty drizzle, the cool air whipping his hair. He took a long drag from his cigarette. "How is it stationed at Hogwarts?"

"Not bad, but not very good either," said Tonks, unperturbed by the sudden switch in subject. "Dawlish is a right jerk. He knows I'm your cousin and he keeps pestering me for information about you. I know for a fact that he'll do anything to please his superiors, which is Scrimgeour in his case. It's only the fact that he works against You-Know-Who that's keeping me from hexing him."

Sirius nodded slowly and remembering something added, "Arthur told me to remind you that the next Order meeting is on Friday. Make sure you have your shift covered for 5 o' clock."

"Sure. Do you mind if I see off that last bottle of wine?" asked Tonks, a bit eagerly.

Sirius motioned for her to help herself and she grinned, a small skip in her step when she walked out of the study.

oOo

A/N: Though it isn't mentioned, Harry smells the Amortentia differently in my story. Partly, because Harry did not spend time in the Burrow during the holidays. Mostly, something that reminds him of flying and home.