It was an odd feeling this. The heavy weight. The undeniable trust required from one so small to allow him to be the one to carry him in. The fact that he, out of all the other options, was the one the child had come to in his tiredness for help. The poor little tyke had been out there with the four of them for hours now, and he'd done his best to keep up, but his little arms and legs were half the size of the rest of them.
Harry, Ginny, Ron, Kenneth and Neville had gone outside to have a fly around, make snow angels, build snow forts and then use those forts to hide behind in a snow ball fight.
The fight was supposed to be Weasley's versus 'Away Team', but little Kenneth wanted to be with Harry and Neville. Probably because Harry had been the one to take him up on his broom.
Every ground based activity they'd done may have been rather juvenile considering they were all sixteen- and seventeen-year old's but having the little four-year-old with them and his exuberant enthusiasm for everything made it all so much more entertaining.
Now Kenneth was nearly comatose as they trekked back up to the Burrow.
With the way he'd fought to keep his eyes open it was clear he was badly in need of a nap. Ginny had gone to pick him up, but he'd gravitated towards Harry. She'd pouted at his reproach, but there was a twinkle in her eye when he'd picked him up and figured out how best to keep him in place against his chest. It made Harry wonder if there was some innate female thing coded into their DNA to be attracted to male's taking care of children.
It was an interesting feeling carrying a small child. It made Harry feel like he had all the responsibility in the world, and truthfully, he was very pleased Kenneth had chosen him to have the honor of carrying him inside. It was like he was already a member of the Weasley family, and he was not going to let the kid down by accidentally dropping him.
Once in the house he was instructed to lay him down on the dog bed/ turned Kenneth Nap Time Crash Landing Location, but he wasn't sure. "Really?" He asked Ginny after Ron had told him to place the little boy there.
"Really." Ginny told him. "It's as comfortable as the couch, and he is used to it. Even when Sirius was still a dog, he would push him off of it for his naps. Or cuddle up with him." She shrugged.
It just seemed wrong for some reason. He kind of just wanted to recline a bit on the couch and have the child continue to cuddle into him.
Ginny started pulling off Kenneth's boots and hat. Then she tugged off Harry's hat too as he stood there awkwardly. Then the choice was taken away from him when Ron came and took Kenneth out of Harry's arms and put him down on the bed on his belly.
It hadn't phased Kenneth in the least. He just made a small murmur and cuddled into the bed on the floor.
"Alright?" Ginny asked him, her cheeks all red from coming in from the cold.
"Yeah." Harry snapped out of whatever he'd been thinking. "Yeah. Just... he's really cute." He answered sheepishly.
"Adorable." She agreed, sounding more like she was talking about him than her nephew and came to stand in front of him and started undoing the buttons on his coat unnecessarily. "He's really keen on you. Something about that barrel roll you took him through." She raised an eyebrow.
"I held him really tight through that." He defended. "And I only did it the once." Because the kid had screamed with joy through the whole maneuver and it hurt the eardrums hours later just thinking of it. Ginny had given him this glare as well that told Harry that hadn't been a good thing to do.
"I've got some cocoa for you." Mrs. Weasley levitated a tray of steaming mugs into the sitting room. "Oh good, you've worn him out." She beamed down at her grandson. "He must have had a good time." They all gave their thanks to the woman, grabbing a mug each, before she turned back to the kitchen and left them to recover.
Harry pulled Ginny down beside him on the couch, she promptly curled up beside him. "So, Neville." She started. "It's been long enough and we've been patient. Now your time is up. Spill the beans."
"What? About what?" Neville asked her confused.
They'd all held off interrogating him about his love life these past few weeks. Granting him privacy in case he and this person he'd been sneaking around with didn't know whether it was worth telling. But it had been weeks now. It couldn't possibly just be a passing thing. Unless it was multiple passing 'things'.
"It's true, we have been patient." Harry told him. "Just in case you weren't sure, but now we're just too curious. And we're your friends. Why would you want to hide someone from us?" He'd tried to take Ginny's explanation for why he hadn't already shared to heart. Harry hadn't talked to Neville about Ginny's and his relationship, so why would he think Neville should do the same? But it still nagged at him. Neville at least knew Harry and Ginny were together. And he'd know Harry fancied her right from the off.
Neville, whose cheeks were already red from their outside activities, turned flush. "I. What makes you think I'm hiding someone?"
Ron let out a snort. "Something about you returning to Gryffindor Tower looking suitably ravaged a time or two." Ron smirked. "Come on mate. Who is she?"
"Or he?" Ginny asked point blank.
"SHE." Neville corrected quickly, then pinched his lips looking like he'd given too much away.
Ginny smiled wide and stuck out her tongue at him. "And what is the lovely girls name? And why would you want to keep her a secret? Or why would she want to keep you a secret?"
Neville let out a low groan. He'd been called out properly now, and admitted he'd been seeing a girl. There was no point in hiding the information any longer. "It just. It surprised me to start. She'd just shown up in the Greenhouse one day while I was working alone. I thought maybe she wanted some help with an assignment or something, but that wasn't it." A trace of a smile came to his mouth and an unspoken memory. "She was so forward. I thought for sure a girl would have come up with some other pretense. But no. She just. And then she kept showing up when I was working. She'd snog me, then work alongside me for a bit, then snog me again. She's just so different from. Well, anyone."
Ginny sucked in a breath. "Oh. My. God!" She sat up straight and put her mug down. "The Quatchitarms?!"
Neville went full on red, meanwhile Harry and Ron exchanged confused looks.
"Wow! I'd completely forgotten!" She exclaimed.
"Oi, want to clue us in?" Ron asked. "What the bleeding hell in a Quatchitarm?"
Ginny pointedly ignored Ron and focused entirely on Neville with an awed look on her face. "So, do you like her? Or is it just because you don't have anything else going on right now?"
"I don't know." Neville chewed his lip. "I mean." He swallowed. "It was a surprise. It usually is." He admitted. "But I don't know what to say to her about it. She only seeks me out in the Greenhouse and seems to know when I'm working by myself. I don't know what she wants, but we've got to talking. Well." He blushed again. "She does most of the talking, and it isn't all crazy talk, like she'd known for. She's actually really insightful. Kind of poetic the way her fantastical theories mix in with the facts."
"Yeah, I've noticed that." Ginny nodded. "And she is quite pretty. Not everyone notices that because they just automatically deem her crazy."
"Wait, wait, wait." Ron held up his hand. "Are you talking Luna Lovegood?"
Harry's brow scrunched up trying to think of who Luna Lovegood was. Her dad owned the Quibbler, but he couldn't picture what she looked like. Harry frowned at that. He should have known who she was. He should have thanked her for getting them all those copies of the Quibbler they'd gone through. It had been rather rude of him not to think of doing that before now.
"Yeah. Luna Lovegood." Neville admitted, still blushing.
Ron snickered and Ginny threw a couch pillow at him. "Be nice! She was a good friend of mine once."
She turned back to Neville. "So, you don't know if she likes you? Or you don't know if you like her?"
"I just. You'll think I'm being shallow." He said quietly and into his mug.
"You're afraid of what people would say if they find out you're snogging her in the Greenhouses." Ginny answered for him.
Harry cringed on behalf of his friend. This might wind up with Neville incurring Ginny's wrath. She could be quite the hot-head when the situation called for it, and saying some girl was too crazy to go public with sounded exactly like something she could go off on someone about.
Neville didn't answer, he just looked upset with himself. "Look, you weren't there when I first started Hogwarts. I was the slowest one in all my classes. If Seamus wasn't blowing up cauldrons once a week, I'd be the worst all around. I got teased and bullied a lot."
"Mate." Harry started, but Neville gave him a look.
"I know you and Hermione stood by me." He turned back to Ginny. "And I just don't need the negative attention again. She gets that kind of attention all the time too, and probably doesn't need the association with me to make things worse for her." He pointed out. "She is the one always making sure I'm alone before she finds me."
Harry had been there beside Neville while the Slytherin's and sometimes the Hufflepuff's, hell, even sometimes it was Dean and Seamus, gave him a hard time. But Neville just hadn't been great at Transfiguration, or Charms. He'd probably be okay in Potions if Snape hadn't been making him so nervous. But he was stellar at Herbology.
Kids teased, it was something Harry had been used to in primary school. Harry had stood up for Neville when the teasing happened. He'd tried to be the friend he wished he'd had before Hogwarts.
Ginny huffed and leaned back against the couch, staring hard at Neville. "That's a crap reason Nev. Luna's never cared what other people's opinions are. She never will care. If you properly go out with her it won't matter to her what anyone else says. Would it really hurt to take her on a proper date and then decide?" She asked. "She may be seeking you out snogs to pass the time, but why not ask her and find out."
Neville tried to avoid looking Ginny in the eye then and fiddled with his cup.
Harry and Ron exchanged an uncomfortable look as the tension in the room was growing thick.
"Fine!" Neville caved. "I like her. Okay? She's sweet, and smart, and really pretty with these big blue eyes. And she listens to me when I talk about my work in the Greenhouses. And I really like kissing her." He admitted. "But what if she really does only want to snog me because she knows I wouldn't push her away? What if she doesn't actually like me?" He sounded desperate to know that it wouldn't be the case.
Ginny got up and went to sit on the arm of his chair, giving him a side hug. "I haven't spent a lot of time with her over the last few years, but even if that was the case, she would tell you straight. Wouldn't it be better to know?"
"No." Ron answered for him. "It'd be like a kick to the nuts to find that out. He'd be depressed for weeks finding out she was just tolerating snogging him because he was there but didn't actually like him for more than that."
"Two completely different situations Ron!" Ginny told him angrily knowing he was talking about he and Hermione, not Neville and Luna.
"No, he's right. That would suck." Neville agreed.
Harry wanted to bail, head into the kitchen, or maybe just go home. He could make up some story about Sirius having asked him home earlier than dinner. As inconspicuously as possible he leaned back to check the clock on the wall close to the kitchen. All stealth was lost when he squinted at it, realizing it had way more hands than any clock he'd ever seen before, and those hands had faces on them. And instead of numbers there were locations. It was some sort of tracking device for the Weasley family.
He shook his head and turned back to regard his two lovesick friends. He'd wanted them to share with him, now they were. He shouldn't be trying to get away from them now because things had got awkward. "Maybe." He finally started contributing. "Ginny, if you're friends with her, you could just ask her?"
"You want me to ask her?" She asked incredulously. "Isn't that rather cowardly?"
"Well." Harry gestured to Neville and his lost look of defeat.
Instead of looking offended by the insinuation Neville looked hopeful. "Please Ginny? I'd much rather you relay it than she tells me to my face that I shouldn't get my hopes up."
Ginny looked back and forth between Neville and Harry before scoffing and rolling her eyes. She stood up and stomped over to the kitchen muttering to herself. "Totally juvenile. Such babies."
"Hmm." Ron wondered. "Think she'd sus out the Daphne situation too?"
Ginny came back into the room after the three boys had shared several moments of silence and cuddled back into Harry's side. She said nothing, just picked up her drink and rested her back against his side.
"Well?" Ron asked. "What'd you just do?"
"I invited her over." Ginny told him plainly.
Neville sputtered a bit. "You. She's coming here?" He asked aghast.
"I don't know if she can make it." She prefaced. "I just invited her. She might be in South Sudan for all I know. If that's the case, then no, she won't be coming here. But if she is home then she could be here any moment."
"She is home." Neville said in a panic.
"How do you know?" Harry probed.
"Well. I've been. Writing her." He admitted.
"Then what are you so worried about?" Ginny asked. "If the two of you are writing each other then it can't be that awkward between you."
"I'm not worried." He said determinedly. "I'm just." He wrung his hands.
"Look. Do you want her to be your girlfriend? Or just carry on being casual like this?" Ginny asked straight.
Neville didn't respond, he simply looked pained. And Harry felt for him. That first month at school where he was fairly sure that Ginny returned his affection, he'd been too chicken shit to do anything about it because he didn't want to chance it getting awkward between them in case he was wrong. Now, Harry didn't really know Luna at all, but from what he'd heard she was direct with a touch of crazy, but incredibly nice. That didn't sound like someone that would hurt his friends' feelings.
"Look, Nev." Harry offered. "Wouldn't it be better just to talk to her about this and know? Your gut must be twisted about it a bit."
"I just don't know if I can get the words out." He admitted.
A whimper came from the child on the dog bed distracting them all. Kenneth was still out cold though.
Man, he was adorable.
The flames in the sitting room let out a burst of green abruptly, followed by a slender girl with long blonde hair and big blue eyes, a Santa hat adorning her head. She looked rather surprised to be there.
"Luna!" Ginny jumped up and gave her a hug. "Welcome. Were you in the middle of something?"
"Oh, nothing I can't pick up later. I was quite excited to be invited over. I don't get many invitations to things." She said simply. "Hello Ron, hello Neville." She nodded at them and turned to Harry. "We've never talked before." She came over and held out her hand. "I'm Luna Lovegood."
Harry stood up quickly and took her hand. She seemed alright to him. "Harry, uh Potter."
"I know. You are much less intimidating than one would expect." She peered at him studiously. "Taller too."
His jaw went slack at that. "Uh. Well, I try?"
Ron snickered and Harry saw Ginny shoot him a glare. "Hey Luna." He nodded trying to stifle his chuckles. "I hear you know Neville pretty well."
"Oh!" She turned to the boy in question. "I suppose it makes sense you told your friends. I didn't think you'd tell anyone though." She stared at him, twirling the end of one of her locks.
"I. Uh. Sorry?" Neville floundered.
"For what?" She asked.
Harry looked over Luna's shoulder at Ginny. He wasn't quite sure what to make of this girl. Stories about people were usually exaggerated through the halls of Hogwarts. Even the description Ginny and Hermione had given of her over a month ago; quite nice with a few screws loose, he was sure there would be more to her. Like maybe they'd caught her on an off day, even though Ginny said she'd been friends with her when they were younger. She had this child like innocence about her. Ginny wasn't paying any attention to him though; her eyes were on Neville.
"Well. Um. I thought maybe you didn't want people to know." Neville landed on, blushing furiously.
"Me? Why would I want to hide it? No one cares what I do, I didn't want to hurt your reputation. You've been so nice to me." She tilted her head at him curiously.
Neville stared at her in awe. Harry was rather surprised at her as well. She was a quirky, but still a pretty girl. Why wouldn't Neville want people to know he'd been snogging her? Who would care?
Neville got up from the armchair and slowly, cautiously, put one hand on her hip, the other cupping her face and gave her a full kiss on the lips.
Ginny looked like she wanted to cheer for them, and it made Harry chuckle, she was so proud.
()()
"Wow, don't you two look like rays of sunshine." Harry commented when he came in through the Floo.
Sirius grumbled. He and Remus had come back to Grimmauld through the Floo in Remus' office at Hogwarts and promptly collapsed on the couch, letting Dobby cater to them. Remus had been in a pretty bad state. He hadn't had all that much energy when Sirius had picked him up that afternoon, after dealing with the Horcrux the excitement of it all nearly made him pass out.
"What happened to you two?" Harry asked.
"We got another one." Sirius told him and eyed his drink. It was all the way over on the coffee table, and that was two feet away from his hand that was resting on the arm of the couch. He vaguely wondered if it was the epitome of laziness to ask Harry to pass it to him.
"The Badger Chalice?" Harry asked excitedly. "That was it? You found it?"
"No." Remus all but moaned. "There was something at Hogwarts."
"At Hogwarts? Just laying around? And it's been there all this time?" Harry looked like he found that rather dubious.
Sirius summoned his strength and managed to grab his drink and tell Harry a shortened version of what had happened that afternoon at the school. Memories, Grey Lady, Horcrux and how they needed to find another way to destroy the things as Dumbledore was using up too much of his magic trying to control the Fiendfyre and it wasn't safe to try that again.
"No wonder you two are so worn out." Harry stated in awe.
Remus lifted a single hand and flopped it back down in an unsuccessful attempt to wave off worry.
"We'll be fine tomorrow." Sirius answered on behalf of Remus' attempt.
"You staying here tonight?" Harry asked his professor in concern. Remus hummed in response and kept his eyes closed. "Right then. Uh." He turned back to Sirius. "Any idea what we're doing for tea?"
Sirius was sure that one of the elves was on it but hadn't given any specific instructions. "Err, mind checking on that for me? Hadn't thought." He was really doing a crack up job at this responsible guardian business, wasn't he?
Harry nodded and left the room.
"He's such a good kid." Sirius commented to Remus.
"No kidding. Not annoying like so many others I have to teach. That Malfoy brat is so spoiled." Remus sighed.
"You going to make it until dinner?" His friend was in need of a nap at least, but sustenance should be had first. Remus simply gave a yawn in response. Sirius decided to copy his friend and rested his head against the back of the couch and close his eyes again.
"Hedwig came back with a response." Harry stated loudly coming back into the sitting room a few minutes later. "Oh. Sorry." He whispered having realized that he'd startled both of them awake.
"No problem." Sirius rasped. "Must have fallen asleep there." He wiped his eyes. "A response from whom?"
Harry held out the letter to show him. "Your old potions professor. Shall I open it?"
Sirius hummed in affirmation.
"Slughorn?" Remus asked confused, trying to sit up straight and keep his eyes open.
"Yeah. Did I not mention? Albus thinks that we can get the real memory from him about Tom Riddle with enough encouragement." He tilted his head to Harry and looked back to Remus as though that was all the answer he'd need.
"Hmm." Remus understood. "Lily was his favorite."
"Dear Mr. Black." Harry read out. "I would be delighted to meet with you and the young mister Potter. How nice of you to reach out to your dear old Potions Professor at what must be such a busy time for you. No doubt you must be looking for what might be coming next in your life. I am quite excited to meet the young man as well. If you would like I am quite keen on the idea of a Three Broomsticks Bangers and Mash for my Sunday tea, wouldn't say no to a pint as well. Please let me know if that would work with your schedule. Yours, Horace Slughorn."
Sirius let out a distressed groan. "I really don't want to do this."
Remus chuckled and patted him on the shoulder. "You will manage."
"Are you going to come too?" Harry asked Remus brightly.
"You should." Sirius told him. "We can all share stories with Harry about our school days. Get a few drinks in Sluggy and get his guard down. It'll make it more likely he'll share what actually happened."
Now it was Remus' turn to let out a distressed groan. "Fine." He nearly sulked.
()()()
"Oh, she was so mad!" Horace Slughorn laughed, going red in the face both from the laughter and the drink.
The old professor had started off with a pint, then switched over to a brandy, then some kind of liqueur and now he was starting into a scotch that Sirius had brought him. This large man sure could drink.
Harry, Sirius, Remus and the old professor had been occupying the corner booth at the Three Broomsticks for three hours now. This walrus of a man sure loved to talk. He'd gone on and on about all the people he knew that were high ups in this that or the other thing, making damn sure Harry knew he could go to him if he ever needed a reference for anything because he 'knew people'.
It was rather irritating, but Harry forced a tight smile onto his face.
Sirius had warned him ahead of time that he'd be schmoozing up to the professor and might lead to embarrassing him a little. That part happened when Sirius brought up the fact that his girlfriend was a redhead. Apparently, that ran in the Potter family. Potter men had been marrying red headed women for generations. He didn't like how it got the attention on his love life, but it was a good way to bring up the school days of Lily Evans.
Currently they were telling some stories about the days before Lily Evans caved to James Potters attempts to woo her. Before he'd calmed down a bit it seemed that Harry's father sure knew how to piss her off. Right now, they were talking about how his dad had secured a date as a plus one to the Slug Club (terrible name in Harry's opinion) Gatherings with the sole intention of occupying his mum away from her date for the evening. And how that tactic had seemed so charming from James Potter's end, but Lily Evans was thoroughly annoyed by it.
"She wouldn't even look at him for a month after that." Remus laughed. He looked like he was actually enjoying himself, but that could have something to do with the three cognac's he'd had already. He'd also fallen asleep right after tea last night and slept right through until lunch time today so he would be feeling much better than he had yesterday.
"And we had to hear all his moaning about it." Sirius groaned at the memory. "He winged incessantly about every rebuff your mum made." He said turning to Harry.
"I've heard." He smiled. "She finally came around in their seventh year?" Harry found it was a rather romantic story with how his father pursued his mother and finally won her affections. He liked to think that they were truly and madly in love with each other and that had been their reason for marrying and having him so young, but it could have just been because of it being war time. Hearing how his dad was this doe eyed bumbling romantic helped reinforce his ideal version of their relationship.
"I remember that." Horace looked wistful. "Potter finally calmed down and put his smarts to use. He was Head Boy you know." He looked serious, well, as serious as one with glassy drunken eyes could, at Harry. "He'd been having a gay old time at school until the end of his sixth. Then the war really started effecting some of the students and he whipped right into shape." He dipped his finger into his tumbler and twirled it around. "Must have been that dedication to his education that really got to Lily." He sighed. "She was one of my favorites."
He'd said that a few times now and Harry was trying not to roll his eyes.
"You know what? I've never visited their house." Horace tapped his chin. "I should visit, see the statue." Harry felt a weight settle in his stomach.
"What?" Harry asked dumbly. Statue? What statue? How could he visit their house? That'd be the one in Godrics Hollow, one of the properties he had the deed for back in his trunk. But it had been exploded or something, hadn't it?
Remus and Sirius stiffened slightly.
"Yes. I should plan to go there and see where it all ended." Horace nodded, oblivious to the reaction from his dining partners and taking a pull from his drink.
That statement caused Harry to tuck his confusion away for later and get back to the whole reason they were here with him now. "Hope it ended anyways." He said quietly, but loud enough for Horace to hear. He also had tried to make it sound like a distracted comment.
"What? What was that." Horace asked.
"Harry." Sirius said in a concerned and warning voice. Horace turned to Sirius with growing alarm, then turned back to Harry. Harry caught the little eyebrow twitch from his godfather telling him to go ahead and give it a go.
"Well. I mean." Harry started. "They say I was the reason that he died, right? But there wasn't a body. I've read through everything I could get my hands on from then, and they never found a body." That part he'd read in the Quibbler, and Hermione had tried to find something claiming differently in the Prophet, but there was no mention of a body anywhere. His parents, yes. Voldemort, no. "Tom Riddle could very well have used Dark Magic to keep himself alive somehow."
"T-Tom R-Riddle." Horace squeaked. "You. Then you know who he was."
"Of course." Harry acted like he was surprised at the question. "I hadn't known anything about this world I was born into until Hagrid showed up to take me to Diagon Alley when I was eleven. I wanted to know as much about my real family as possible. And to find out I'd apparently killed someone when I was a baby, well, I wanted to know about that person too." Lie. Lie. It was all lies. He hadn't tried to find out anything until a few months ago, then it was just a deluge of information. But it sounded like the truth.
"We haven't taken Harry to see the Godric Hollow house yet." Sirius said apologetically. "He didn't know about the statue." He explained to Horace.
"Didn't know about a Horcrux until recently either." Harry said offhand.
Horace sucked in a breath. He stared at Harry with wide eyes. "He didn't." It was all he said as he stared at him in horror.
"Harry." Remus stage whispered. "It's not the time. Or the place. Hell, or the people." He stated tersely with a jab of his head towards the large man, the twitch at the corner of his mouth betraying him. Luckily that twitch was on the opposite side of his face from what Horace could see of him.
"Sorry." Harry looked down at his Butterbeer glumly. "Just been a lot this week. And a little fried from trying to get through all of my homework earlier." He shrugged a shoulder.
"You're lucky we can trust Horace here to keep that to himself." Sirius scolded. "We can. Right?" He turned to the man.
"I-I. Of course. You mean to say. He did it?" Horace asked them.
"He certainly had all the ability to. And now with Sirius cleared, we have some resources to look into it properly." Remus gestured. "We just don't know how many he may have attempted."
"Please." Sirius held out a hand. "Please swear to keep this to yourself. We'd cause a major panic if the general population learned of it." Sirius leaned forward. "Truly. You have to swear. We don't want to have to Obliviate you, but that is how serious we are taking this."
"I won't. I haven't said anything all these years." Horace said in shock and took another nervous sip of his scotch.
"Excuse me?" Harry asked. He wasn't supposed to have known that Horace Slughorn already knew about the Tom Riddle Horcrux potential. "You knew that he might have made them?" He peered deep into the man's drunken eyes. "Or you suspected?"
"I taught Tom Riddle." He admitted regrettably and gave a heavy sigh. "He was bright and captivating. It's really no wonder he managed to sway so many to his... cause." Another heavy sigh and pull from his glass while the three others looked on. "He asked me about them one night you know. Horcruxes." He said all importantly. "Asked if there was a limit to the number that could be made." His head was lowering as though he was slowly falling asleep, his eyes drooping with his head. "Seven's a lot." He snorted once and then did come forward as though he was asleep, his eyes closed completely.
"Uh. Horace? Mister Slughorn?" Harry asked concerned.
Sirius snorted. "Well. That answers that."
Harry turned to him, then looked over to Remus. Remus though was giving Sirius a disapproving look. "What?" Harry asked them in confusion.
"What did you give him?" Remus asked, looking directly at Sirius.
"Just a little motivation." He offered, unconcerned for their dining partners current state. "Figured if Dumbledore couldn't get him to offer it up willingly, then why should we try to get him to tell us willingly."
Harry was confused. He quickly replayed the actions at the table for the last hour, which was when Horace started getting rather intoxicated. He hadn't seen Sirius pull his wand on him at any time. But Sirius had excused himself to go to the toilets and came back with the last round of drinks. "You put something in his drink." He said out loud, softly though.
"Just a little truth serum with a calming draught. Figured it would come in handy to have just in case." He stated, sounding rather proud of himself.
"How did he not taste it?" Remus asked astounded.
"Please. Scotch will cover the flavor of anything even the chamomile." Sirius shook his head dismissively. "He would have been too drunk to notice it anyway."
Harry had to give him credit. Drugging him, which is essentially what he'd done, was a good call and not at all something that he would have thought to do himself. "But. What do we do with him now?" He eyed the enormous man warily.
"I got it." Sirius waved over the barmaid. "Madame Rosmerta, still beautiful as ever." He gave a winning smile to the, still not unattractive for her age, proprietor.
She shook her head at him. "What have you done to the poor old professor, Black?" She asked in good nature jutting her thumb at the sleeping man.
"He has simply enjoyed himself a little too much. Any chance you've got a room upstairs available? He could sleep it off? I'll pay." Sirius held up a hand palm out to imply his honor.
She pursed her lips at him. "Yeah. Alright. Wouldn't be the first time he's woken up here." She pulled out her wand and levitated his body. It took some negotiation with the way that the man was wedged into the booth to get him out. It was rather amusing watching him get floated up the stairs by the woman.
"Have a history with her, do you?" Harry asked smiling.
"Ah. She was the first to capture my heart." Sirius held a mocking hand to his chest. "Gave me my first proper drink way back when. Well. The first one at an establishment anyways. And there's just something about her. The take-no-prisoners attitude. Like she can handle herself." He smirked. "She's also quite a looker. And she's kept her figure."
"Don't you have a woman." Remus mused.
"Maybe I was pointing it out for your sake." Sirius teased. Remus merely narrowed his eyes in response.
"So, are we going to tell Dumbledore?" Harry asked. "I mean, he said it didn't he? Seven." He worried. They knew for sure of three of them now, with a potential fourth still in Sirius' vault somewhere in the shape of a chalice. Possibly a fifth with the ring that Sirius mentioned from the Horace Slughorn memory and of Tom Riddle's grandfather.
"Eventually." Sirius offered up hesitantly. "I mean. He said something about that... family home." He squinted at Remus.
Remus nodded. "Well then." He put his hands on the table indicating he was ready to go. "I've had enough, and you two have the Ministry in the morning."
"Back to ours?" Sirius asked him.
Harry liked the sound of that. Sirius calling his home 'ours', meaning it belonged to both he and Sirius.
()()()
It was sappy, but he missed Ginny. It hadn't even been two full days, but he'd gotten so used to having her around all the time. He sent Hedwig off with a letter for her last night after they'd gotten back from the pub and received one back this morning. Just filling each other in on their days, it wasn't anything earth shattering on her end and he hadn't want to go into details about what had happened at the Three Broomsticks last night.
Today he was heading into the Ministry with Sirius and he was nervous about it. Sirius was adopting him.
Like, actually adopting him.
It was weird, because he was so close to being a proper adult in the wizarding world.
He'd also been basically responsible for himself since as far back as he could remember.
He'd been cooking and cleaning for the Dursleys since he was old enough to reach the knobs at the back of the oven without pulling a chair over. And while he was away from them at school it was like they didn't even exist, and he was just... him. No family whatsoever. If something went wrong in the wizarding world it wasn't like they would be able to help him out anyways. Perhaps that was the same way for Hermione and the other Muggleborns, but she at least exchanged letters with her parents throughout the year.
He was responsible for his own finances, apparently he had properties and investments and all that too. He got his own school supplies, replaced his robes and such as needed by himself. The only part that the Dursleys had was signing off his permission slip for Hogsmeade, and it had only been needed that one time, even that had been a trial.
Now he had someone wanting to be a parent figure.
Sirius had welcomed him into his home, given him an enormous bedroom, taken him to talk to the Goblins. He'd bought him clothes and Quidditch equipment. He'd arranged his holidays to include family type persons. It was an adjustment, and one that he was trying not to think too hard about. But even that was difficult to do when times were quiet.
It had been wonderful to read the stories about his dad Sirius had given him back at the start of November, and great to hear from both Remus and Sirius when they were sitting around. Hearing stories of his parents from their former potions' professor had been fun too.
Aunt Petunia never talked about his mum. He also never heard her talking about her childhood at all, her only priority had been her dinky diddydums and what the neighbors might think of the foliage in the yard.
When it came to this adoption though, he'd had all kinds of questions pop into his head over the last few days at random times. Like, would he have to change his name to Black?
No.
Remus had assured him yesterday when he'd asked at lunch. He was staying a Potter. This was technically called an adoption, but it was really a guardianship change. That's why he wasn't a Dursley either. He would be allowed access to the Black vault and should Sirius pass on without having any biological children then Harry would be his successor.
Harry was still feeling slightly conflicted. He didn't know if his parents would want him to be 'adopted'. Even if it was by his Godfather. But he was certain that they would have wanted him away from the oppressive environment he'd actually been raised in. No parent could want that kind of neglect inflicted on their child. He'd lived in a closet for the first several years, possibly since he was dumped with them.
Really, he felt most odd because he'd only just started looking into his family history on the Potter side, and now he was gaining a parent figure that wasn't one. Harry was kicking himself. He should have investigated his family history as soon as he found out he was a wizard and he hadn't. He blamed it on being young and not knowing any better.
Sirius was turning out to be great so far though.
His parents had chosen for him to be his Godfather for a reason, which meant that they trusted him. And Harry really liked him. He was quirky, charming, mischievous and really just a big kid at heart, but he also had done and seen a lot in his time. Azkaban surely had a lasting effect somewhere there. He'd already admitted to Harry that he needed those three years with the Weasley family to heal, and Harry could completely understand that having been to the Burrow four times now himself. Each of those visits had been... well, magical for lack of a better word.
If he'd been wrongfully imprisoned for eleven years around those soul sucking Dementors and found himself in a place like that, he would have wound up being a little selfish and sticking with them too.
Nothing bad had happened to Harry with Sirius having chosen to stay there and heal either. And Sirius had still been a wanted man, what could he have possibly done about Harry's situation?
Life had really been looking up for Harry lately and he was trying to squash this odd longing feeling in his chest for the parent's he didn't remember.
Their stories were all he had left of them now.
If Ginny was with him right then, he could have told her all that and she would have listened and comforted him. Not that he really needed comforting, but it was just turning into a more emotional day that he'd thought it would be, and he hadn't even done anything yet.
Due to the privacy allowed to him by his expansive empty bedroom he gave a big dramatic sigh for his ears only and felt a little better.
He could do this.
It was just a step by step thing. If he didn't think about the meaning behind it all then it was just a simple signature type situation in front of a Notary Public, or whatever the Ministry of Magic equivalent is.
At least, that's what he thought was going to happen. He wasn't quite sure.
Now he wished he'd asked Hermione. She'd probably know all about it.
He shrugged on one of his new jumpers and went downstairs. He was heading to the Ministry with Sirius for mid-morning and had excused himself claiming he wanted to finish an essay after breakfast so he could have a think about it all. Now his time was up. No more thinking, it was 'do' o'clock.
"All set?" Sirius asked when he reached the sitting room. "Got your wand?"
Harry thought that was a rather ridiculous question. He didn't go anywhere without his wand since he first received it. But he patted his pocket none the less and checked his other pocket to make sure he had the paperwork he'd wanted to bring along with him. "Got it."
Sirius tilted his head slightly. "We should go and get you a want holster for your arm after."
Harry's eyebrows went up. That'd be cool, then he wouldn't have to worry about it poking out of his pocket or accidentally sitting on it. "Alright." He gave a nervous half smile.
If Sirius caught on to how nervous Harry was then he wasn't saying anything. Perhaps he was nervous too, he was kind of gaining a son today. "Okay. Let's get going. We have an appointment and wouldn't want to look bad by showing up late."
"You've, er, got all the paperwork and everything?" Harry nodded towards Sirius' pocket.
He was wearing a blazer instead of his jacket, probably trying to look more official and presentable. His jacket was a leather one and didn't exactly scream 'father figure', well, maybe the motorcycle-riding/help-me-change-the-brakes-on-this-car kind.
"Got em'." He assured and held out the pot from on top of the mantle with the Floo powder for Harry to go first.
Harry stepped to the fireplace and threw in the powder. "Ministry of Magic Atrium." He shouted and swirled off.
He coughed as he stumbled out of the correct grate and beat off the soot that had collected on his journey. Floo was great with how quick it was, but it was damn disorienting and uncomfortable.
His eyes caught on the dark wood of the Atrium floor then drifted over to the gilded fireplaces, then up to the blue ceiling with golden symbols moving across it. He'd never been here before and had assumed that any government building would be a little ostentatious, but as his eyes drifted over to the golden statues of a witch and wizard with various creatures in a pool of water, he had to wonder how much money had been spent to build up this particular building.
Sirius came through a different grate and guided him over to the security stand for them to hand over their wands.
"Gave him my wanted poster last time." Sirius winked at Harry before giving the guard a cheeky smile.
The guard, whose embroidered badge read 'E. Munch' pursed his lips in recognition. "Purpose of your visit." Clearly, he wasn't as amused with that as Sirius had been.
"Visiting Harley Gordon, Department of Magical Law Enforcement." Sirius replied. "She is expecting us."
Mister Munch checked something on his desk and then did a double take on Harry before Harry saw that 'Oh!' moment cross his face. It had been a while since that happened.
"Right. Well. Here are your visitor badges." The guard returned their wands and handed over silver visitor badges waving them towards the lifts. "Level two."
"Well thank you so much kind sir." Sirius prostrated before heading over to the lift. Harry followed in behind him trying and failing to hide his amusement with Sirius' handling of the guard. He would have loved to see the face the guard made when he used his wanted poster as proof of identity.
"So, just one floor up?" Harry asked when they were standing in front of the lift.
"No, we're going to the second floor, we're currently on the eight."
"What?" Harry asked confused. "But." He looked around. There weren't any windows looking out into the street, but he'd just assumed that a building's entrance was on the 'ground floor'. He sighed, magic was so confusing. "So, is this even the lowest floor?"
"No." Sirius looked at him confused. "There are two levels below us."
"Like basement levels?" It wasn't important information, but he was curious.
"No, the Department of Mysteries, then level ten with the courtrooms for hearings and the Wizengamut."
It took great will power to not roll his eyes. Why must everything in this world be so convoluted? One thing at a time though. They had to go uo to floor two. And now he was trying to figure out where this building was. Was it even a building or more of an elaborate bunker? And wasn't it supposed to be in London? Was there a missing level because that's where part of the Underground Tubes were running?
They stepped into the lift with a few other people. It stopped at level 7 and a female voice rang out "Department of Magical Games and Sports." That was another thing that always caught him up. Wouldn't it be just Games and Sports? Ron didn't even know what football was before Dean introduced him, so why preface the 'magical'?
The next floor up a few paper airplanes came in from the Department of Magical Transportation and Harry stared up at them. All were regular parchment except for one that was a crimson color, he assumed that one was important. It was letting off a little puff of smoke every few seconds. No one else in the lift found this at all interesting, not even Sirius.
At level two he and Sirius were two of only four people left in the lift and the only two that exited.
"What's on the top floor?" He was pretty sure that they'd been going up and not down.
"Administration and the Minister of Magic offices." A petite blonde woman answered. It looked like she'd been waiting for them. "Harley Gordon." She held her hand out for Harry.
"Er, Harry Potter." He shook her hand.
She turned to Sirius and they shook hands too. "Pleased to meet you. Well, follow me. We've got a private meeting room so we can get this all official."
"Will the Department Head be signing off on this?" Sirius asked hesitantly as they followed behind her.
She hadn't led them very far before reaching for a door handle and swinging it inward to reveal a room with a cumbersome shiny meeting table with four comfortable swivel chairs and a small fireplace at the far end. "She will be joining us at the end to sign off on everything herself. Oh." She exclaimed and waved her wand to add a fifth chair.
Harry went forward and took the chair farthest away from the door.
"I've also asked for an Auror to join us, but I assure you that they are completely reliable and will not be blabbing to the press about this." Harley took the seat across from Harry, Sirius the one beside him.
"How sure?" Sirius asked just before the door popped open again and a young purple haired woman came in wearing a black leather jacket with silver buttons. She was the spitting image of a Gothic Muggle girl with her eyebrow ring, save for the bright smile on her face.
"Wotcher." She greeted them. "They call me Tonks round here." She held a hand out for Sirius. "Cousin."
Sirius face instantly lost the hardened look he'd adorned when they came in the room. "Ah! You're Andromeda's girl." He waved off the hand and came around the table to give her a hug. "Love the hair."
"Thanks. It's usually pink." She said cheekily and instantly it turned pink.
"Cool." Harry couldn't help himself from commenting.
"Harry." Sirius gestured. "This is my cousin Andromeda's daughter. We're going to theirs tomorrow." He looked over to Harley. "Thank you for asking her instead of someone else."
She nodded pleasantly. "Thought you might appreciate it." She gestured for everyone to take their seats. "Now then. You have some documentation for me?"
It didn't take long for the whole process. Harry barely had to do anything other than nod, and with the legal jargon being passed back and forth between Miss Gordon and Sirius he was quite content to sit there and look like he knew what was going on. He understood the gist. Sirius was going to be his guardian officially and he got to keep his Surname. Sign here, date there. Done.
There was a knock at the door just as it looked like they were finishing up with the official signing and another woman came into the room. She looked rather pleasant and dressed in a smart way that would fit in in both the Muggle and Magical world.
"Hello." She greeted Harry directly. "I am Amelia Bones." She came around the table and shook his hand, taking up the seat at the head. "I am the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement."
Harry couldn't stop his eyebrows from shooting up and his jaw going slack. She was so young. And rather pretty. He'd always imagined jobs like that going to crotchety old farts that had 'seen some things' in their time.
"Not to worry. I've certainly put in my time with the Auror's." She chuckled at his response. "This job is mostly paper pushing and hand holding. With a little biting." She added to be amusing.
"Sorry." Harry blushed at his uncontrolled reaction. "I'm not doubting your qualifications. I was just surprised."
She didn't look offended, she just took the documentation offered to her by Miss Gordon and added her own signature after a short perusal.
"Alright." She said at the final dating of the last document. "Congratulations Mister Black, you are now a proud official guardian of one Harry Potter." She gave him a demure look that confused Harry. "Anything else we can help you with today?" This time she asked Harry directly.
"Uh. I don't know if you're the right person to ask, but um." He looked more towards Tonks and Miss Gordon. "I just found out that I actually own the house that my Aunt and Uncle live in. And I was living in until, well, now, I guess. Anyways. There was this stipulation that the Deed be given to them directly once I become of age and still reside under that roof. Well. Now that I don't, I want to just give them the Deed and be done with it." Sirius made a small protesting noise, but Harry ignored it. "I have the Deed, and it's pretty specific that if I leave before I am of age then they don't get the Deed, but I wanted to just give it to them anyways."
He pulled it out of his pocket and put it on the table.
Miss Gordon reached over and picked it up. "That is quite nice of you Mister Potter."
Harry felt an involuntary facial twitch that he saw Tonks notice. She leaned over in her chair and read the Deed over Miss Gordon's shoulder. "Just the Deed?" Tonks asked after a minute. "Not the repayment?"
"Just the Deed." Harry insisted. "Any work done on the house was their own choice." He stated, referring to the upkeep reimbursement.
"And the child expenses?" Miss Gordon asked.
"They really didn't have any. I um." He swallowed hard, not really wanting to mention this part, but wanting them to understand also. "I believe I worked that off myself with tasks around the house."
All three of the women's' eyes turned to him sharply. They'd understood what he'd been eluding to.
"May I?" Miss Bones held out her hand for the document and gave it a quick read. "Well. Then I'd say you are being quite generous. This does specifically state that they are to receive the Deed once you become of age under their guardianship. Hmm. Interesting." She paused and did a quick re-read. "Well. Now that you are under Mister Black's guardianship, he can sign off on this if you wish." She didn't elaborate of what she found 'interesting'.
"It's what he wants." Sirius backed.
"Alright then." Miss Bones gave Harry a pleasant, but obviously forced smile. "I think that Miss Gordon and Tonks here can let them know themselves." She looked at the two other women imploringly. They both nodded. "Well then. It's a bit short notice to do that today. Ladies, if you wouldn't mind letting them know first thing on... Thursday I'd say with the New Year in front of us."
The two of them nodded in agreement. "I'll just pop out and grab the paperwork to get that going." Miss Gordon got up and left the room.
"You don't need me for that bit." Miss Bones rose as well. "Mister Potter." She held out her hand. "It is really good to see you, and I'm sure we'll meet again."
Harry shook her hand and saw her glance over at Sirius and nod at him before taking her leave.
"She's been a little more relaxed lately." Tonks shared after she'd left, her hair turning back to purple.
"How are you doing that?" Harry couldn't help himself from asking.
"Metamorphmagus." She beamed. "I can change my appearance at will." She morphed into Miss Gordon.
Harry had to laugh. While both women were roughly the same size, Miss Gordon looked rather out of place in Tonk's clothes.
The door opened again and Miss Gordon came in. "Stop that." She told Tonks with an air that told him it wasn't the first time she'd had to tell Tonks not to look like her. Tonks winked once at Harry before turning back into herself. Or at least what he assumed was herself.
Just a few minutes later and he and Sirius were back in front of the lifts. It hadn't been such a daunting experience after all. Harry was quite grateful that he'd only had a few days heads up for all this rather than a few weeks. It would have eaten away at his stomach thinking about how it could have gone if those women hadn't been so open and easy to get on with.
"Alright?" Sirius asked.
Harry gave a contented sigh. "Pretty great actually." He grinned.
The lift doors dinged open. "Harry!" Came a surprised familiar voice from inside the lift.
"Hermione?" Harry asked confused and went forward to greet her with a smile. "What are you doing here?"
"Oh Harry." She had a wild look to her eye that she normally got after finding a new spell or a fascinating angle to an essay. "I've discovered something!"