Author's Note:
Thanks coloredwords, this has been in my head since I read your review and yes it does seem to fit, doesn't it?
'Cause we're Frenemies
We like disliking one another
Yes, we're frenemies
He's like my least favourite brother
Gold!
As for Hermione, I do have a somewhat plan with her house elf spiel, just give me time. As to the Thestrals, I assume, no. I always thought that it was only the death of a human being that would affect the sight of the Thestrals, but I could be wrong. And no, this will not be a Dramione, the boys just love teasing him, LOL.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own the speech on Unforgivable Curses or the little bit about SPEW that belongs to JKR.
Reviews and Comments: To coloredwords: Happy to make you laugh at 'babymort,' I had a similar reaction when my Beta suggested it. Thanks for the frenemy song, it's in my head. Seamus is falling and it confuses and worries him. Thank you! To Grazy Moraes: Thank you for saying ASC is amazing and that you like the way I am tampering with known events just enough to keep you anxious. Thank you! To Steelcode: Yes, poor Theo and Draco, they both have bad family members. Seamus and Will are getting more spicy by the minute and as to Draco and Harry, they've grudgingly agreed to share information. We'll see as to the rest. Thank you! To purplevictory: I love that, you're ASC fix! Thanks for liking the movement on Harry being a Horcrux, they are slowly trying to figure something out. Thanks for loving Harry's parents all taking things into their hands and taking care of their son first. I like giving him so much love. Thank you for saying you're glad Harry saw the Thestrals because it shows just how traumatic it was for him to see the death of Sirius, even if it was temporary. Thanks for saying you're enjoying the grey areas of my story with Snape, the Malfoys, and the Slytherins. I am trying to keep things interesting. Thank you for being so invested in the tension! What a beautiful review! Thank you so much!
To midnitewanderer: LMAO! I apologize for adding to your asthma issues but you're welcome for the laugh. Thank you! To Moony The Sheep: Thank you! Seamus does need to find his courage. Remus and Tonks are always cute together and yes, I love Harry being close with his friends. As to the Horcrux inside of Hogwarts… we shall see. Thank you! To Leaf Ranger: Hermione did listen to Remus. As I said, I have a plan there. Yes, Remus is at Hogwarts and no imposter Moody. Thank you! To scrappy8: Thank you! To speedsONEandONLY: Yes, Theo is a total cinnamon roll! He's much too sweet to ever be evil! As to lying to Harry, yes, but Sirius and Remus are scared for him. It doesn't mean they made the right choice. No, this will not be a Dramione. I just love Draco's friends teasing him because I always loved Malfoy and Hermione both being top of the class, kind of an academic standoff. To Guest: Because I like having people touch their hair. I think it fits the characters. So, no. I will not stop doing it. But thank you for your thoughts. To xXMizz Alec VolturiXx: Thank you for saying young Theo was so precious! You think something is coming because I've been focusing on Seamus? Interesting. We don't see Draco's date with Rowle, but we will see them if that makes sense. Thank you!
To Wolf's scream: Draco does know what real friendship is and he has it with Theo and Blaise. Those boys are like as thick as thieves. Thank you! Yes, those are the famous last words. Poor Ron. To HGRHfan35: Thank you. I am enjoying my minor changes. And yes, poor Seamus, the scared Catholic Irish boy lol. To iKingAnomalyII: Thanks for loving my Ginny and my characters in general. Thank you so much for saying my story has been helping you through some tough times. You are too sweet and I wish you nothing but the best! To alix33: Theo's father is horrible, you don't know the half of it. Thank you for loving Theo. Yes, the Thestrals reminding Harry of Cloud Dancing shows how important his family is. I don't know the joke from Dumbledore or I definitely would LOL. Thank you! To Saz J: I know, Seamus needs to admit it's okay to be who he is. Thank you! I knew you'd love the frenemies.
Thank you to my Beta — SilverStarwolfe!
My posting schedule: Once a week and sometimes on weekends.
As always, thank you very much for reading and please, please review!
Your reviews give me life! They give me inspiration! And they make me want to keep writing for more than just myself! Thank you for all of your continued support!
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-EIGHT:
The One Where Sirius Asks Zee To Move In
The school year started off fairly normal and his first week was already full due to his heavy workload. Monday started off with a dose of double Transfiguration with McGonagall and the Hufflepuffs. They were learning the Vanishing Charm, 'Evanesco,' first starting on a snail. Harry managed to vanish his snail on his first attempt, earning a bright smile from McGonagall and Gryffindor five points. He and Hermione were the only two to be successful on their first attempt. Then it was off to Astronomy with Professor Sinistra where she had the Gryffindors and the Ravenclaws working in partners (Harry's partner was Gary Rivers) to study the individual planets to be presented with your partner. Harry and Rivers were given Jupiter. Monday afternoon ended with double Muggle Studies.
Birmingham had started his class off straight away with a quick overview of last year, which had ended with a discussion on why revolutions had erupted all over the Muggle world in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. He moved on to talk about the Industrial Age. He went on to explain how the Industrial Age encompassed a new world for Muggles as they learned to replace hand tools with power driven machines over the course of two centuries and how they would be comparing Muggle inventions with their wizarding counterparts and discuss which Muggle devices wizards in fact used themselves. Birmingham explained how they would connect all of this together at the end of the school year to discuss how it all was supplanted by the Information Age of the twentieth century.
Tuesdays were filled with the Slytherins from double Defence Against the Dark Arts in the morning to Double Potions with Snape in the afternoon. Snape started class off with them brewing a Calming Drought. He walked around, his eyes narrowing as he spewed out instructions in his usual snarky manner, but he did stop over Harry's potion, raise an eyebrow when it turned the right colour, and simply nodded as he walked away. Harry figured that it was the highest form of compliment from the Potions professor that he was likely going to get. Knowing that he was the one who had told Voldemort of the prophecy and seeing him, Harry had expected to feel more anger towards his Potions professor, but he didn't. He knew that Sirius was right, Snape had to live with those choices and he thought that the man was suffering more internally than he was willing to admit and that sounded like a just punishment, at least for now, he thought bitterly.
Harry had a little break after lunch when he went to Ancient Runes where Professor Babbling was teaching them how to write Celtic Runes and how to find the root of the word within each rune while Ron and Hermione headed down to Care of Magical Creatures with Neville, Seamus, and Dean. Ron told him with horror that Hagrid had introduced some sort of new creature called a Blast-Ended Skrewt, which apparently looked as awful as it sounded.
On Wednesdays, Ron and Neville had Divination in the morning and Hermione had Life in the Magical World, so Harry was granted with a free period. He immediately sought the Quidditch pitch, saddened at the thought that this year he wouldn't be playing and found himself starting Oliver Wood's regular regiment as he ran up and down the steps, thankful for the excuse to stretch his legs as much as for the exercise that exhausted him before he took to the skies on his Firebolt. After lunch he went to Ancient Runes to study Celtic Runes again and then Double Charms with Flitwick and the Ravenclaws where he was learning the Cheering Charm.
Thursday was the longest day of the week as he started the morning off with Arithmancy and Professor Vector had them breaking down algorithms and designing their own. McGonagall had them practicing the Vanishing Spell again with the Hufflepuffs; Harry had advanced to vanishing hedgehogs. Then he was subjected to two and a half hours of Double History of Magic with Professor Binns and the Ravenclaws. Harry had invested in sugar quills in an attempt to stay awake as Binns droned on about the Giant Wars. On Fridays, they had Herbology with the Ravenclaws and Professor Sprout had them collecting Bubotuber pus which wasn't exactly fun, but Harry could see the merit of it. After lunch, they went back to Astronomy with the Ravenclaws before ending the day with Double Defence Against the Dark Arts with the Slytherins.
It was Defence Against the Dark Arts that he found the most interesting so far this year as Remus had invited a special guest speaker to teach them about curses. To Harry's surprise the special guest was Alastor Moody.
He stood at the side of the classroom, his magical eye patrolling over all of them critically as Remus called the class to attention that Friday afternoon.
"Everyone, as promised, I have a special guest to speak to you all today. This is Alastor Moody, a retired Auror from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. As we spoke about on Monday, there are four main kinds of magic: Spells, Charms, Hexes, and Curses. Who can tell me what a spell is?" Hermione's hand immediately flew into the air and Remus smiled, "Miss Granger?"
"A spell is a general form of magic, a basic magical ability that all witches and wizards can perform easily, sometimes even without our wands."
"Excellent. Five points to Gryffindor. And a charm? Mr Nott?"
Theo swallowed before he spoke. "A Charm doesn't alter the properties of the subject of the spell, but changes it. For example, if we turn a teacup into a rat, that's a spell, but if I made the teacup dance, that would be a charm."
"Great example, ten points to Slytherin. So, spells are basic magic and charms change the property of the magic, which would makes hexes what, Mr Weasley?"
Ron stared at Remus, wrinkling his nose. "It's like a jinx, meant to harm or hinder an individual, but not necessarily dangerous."
"Right, another five points to Gryffindor and finally, what is a curse?" His eyes moved around the room, stopping at Neville who was pointedly staring at his desk. "Mr Longbottom?"
Neville looked up in surprise, his eyes wide. "Er, a curse is the worst kind of dark magic. As it's always meant to cause harm and sometimes lasting harm to the person it is inflicted on."
"Correct, five points," Remus said with a smile, quickly writing the four definitions on the blackboard. "Now, curses are what I would like to spend the next few lessons discussing. They are extremely dangerous and we need to learn how to protect ourselves against them to the best of our abilities. They are one of the most dangerous aspects of the dark arts and not all of them are defendable. Auror Moody experienced his share of being up against them over his many years working as an Auror so I'd like everyone to give him your full attention today. Auror Moody?"
Remus moved over, leaning back against the wall of the classroom as Moody made his way up to the front of the desk. "As Lupin said, I'm Alastor Moody, some people call me Mad-Eye, and I'm a retired Auror. It was my job to catch Dark Wizards and to think like a Dark Wizard would in order to apprehend them. I put away more bad witches and wizards then I can even remember. I was one of the best."
He stared around the classroom for a moment, his magical eye moving around in its socket. "As Professor Lupin told you, curses are one of the main dangers you can experience when fighting against those who use the dark arts. And most of them can be healed and fixed or even shielded against, but there are some that are too dark and too dangerous for even that. They can permanently disfigure you; leave you unable to perform magic or worse, keep hurting you for years. So, straight into it, then, curses. They come in many strengths and forms."
Harry pulled out his quill. He knew that anything that Moody had to share would definitely be important.
"Now, according to the Ministry of Magic, you're supposed to learn counter-curses and leave it at that. I'm not supposed to show you what illegal Dark curses look like until you're in sixth year. You're not supposed to be old enough to deal with it till then. But Professor Dumbledore's got a higher opinion of your nerves as does Professor Lupin. They reckon that you can cope, and I say, the sooner you know what you're up against, the better. How are you supposed to defend yourself against something that you've never seen? A wizard who's about to put an illegal curse on you isn't going to tell you what he's about to do. He's not going to do it nice and polite to your face. You need to be prepared. You need to be alert and watchful. You need to put that away, Blonde Girl, when I'm talking."
Lavender jumped when she realized that he was staring at her and blushed. She had been showing Parvati her completed horoscope from Divination under the desk. Apparently Moody's magical eye could see through solid wood, as well as out of the back of his head. Lupin gave her a pointed look and she bit her lip.
"Sorry, Professor. Sorry, Auror Moody."
Moody nodded and turned his attention back to the class. "As I was saying, curses! Do any of you know which curses are most heavily punished by Wizarding Law?"
Several hands rose tentatively into the air, including Ron and Hermione's. Moody pointed at Ron, though his magical eye was still fixed on Lavender suspiciously.
"Er," Ron said, tentatively. "My dad told me about one… It's called the Imperius Curse, or something?"
"Ah, yes," Moody said appreciatively. "Arthur Weasley's boy?" At Ron's nod, Moody attempted a smile with his scarred mouth. "Your father would know that one. Gave the Ministry a lot of trouble at one time, the Imperius Curse."
Moody got heavily to his mismatched feet, opened a briefcase that was sitting on the desk, and took out a glass jar. Three large black spiders were scuttling around inside it. Harry felt Ron recoil slightly next to him.
Ron hated spiders.
Moody reached into the jar, caught one of the spiders, and held it in the palm of his hand so that they could all see it. He then pointed his wand at it and muttered, "Imperio!"
The spider leapt from Moody's hand on a fine thread of silk and began to swing backward and forward as though on a trapeze. It stretched out its legs rigidly, then did a backflip, breaking the thread and landing on the desk, where it began to cartwheel in circles. Moody jerked his wand, and the spider rose onto two of its hind legs and went into what was unmistakably a tap dance. Everyone was laughing, everyone except Moody.
"Think it's funny, do you?" he growled. "You'd like it, would you, if I did it to you?"
The laughter died away almost instantly.
"Total control," Moody said, quietly, as the spider balled itself up and began to roll over and over. "I could make it jump out of the window, drown itself, throw itself down one of your throats… "
Ron gave an involuntary shudder.
"Years back, there were a lot of witches and wizards being controlled by the Imperius Curse," Moody said and Harry knew that he was talking about the war with Voldemort. "Some job for the Ministry, trying to sort out who was being forced to act, and who was acting of their own free will. The Imperius Curse can be fought, and I'll be helping Professor Lupin teach you how to fight it, but it takes real strength of character, and not everyone's got it. Better avoid being hit with it if you can. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" he barked, and everyone jumped.
Harry saw Remus stifle a laugh from the corner and he grinned at him as Moody picked up the somersaulting spider and threw it back into the jar.
"Anyone else know one? Another illegal curse?"
Hermione's hand flew into the air again and so, to Harry's slight surprise, did Neville's. The only class in which Neville usually volunteered information was Herbology which was easily his best subject. Neville looked surprised at his own daring.
"Yes?" Moody asked Neville.
"There's one, the Cru-Cruciatus Curse," Neville said in a small, but distinct voice. Harry nodded, smiling when Hermione reached out to squeeze his arm in reassurance.
Moody was looking very intently at Neville, this time with both eyes. "Your name's Longbottom?" he asked, his magical eye swooping down to check the register that Lupin had left open on his desk.
Neville nodded nervously, but Moody made no further inquiries. Turning back to the class at large, he reached into the jar for the next spider and placed it upon the desktop, where it remained motionless, apparently too scared to move.
"The Cruciatus Curse," Moody said. "Needs to be a bit bigger for you to get the idea." he said, pointing his wand at the spider and said, "Engorgio!"
The spider swelled. It was now larger than a tarantula. Abandoning all pretence, Ron pushed his chair backward, as far away from Lupin's desk as possible.
Moody raised his wand again, pointed it at the spider, and muttered, "Crucio!"
At once, the spider's legs bent in upon its body; it rolled over and began to twitch horribly, rocking from side to side. No sound came from it, but Harry was sure that if it could have been given voice, it would have been screaming. Moody did not remove his wand, and the spider started to shudder and jerk more violently. All Harry could think about was that this is what Sirius' own mother had done to him; she had performed that spell on her son when he disobeyed and he felt sick. How could anyone perform that on a living person let alone a child?
"Stop it!" Hermione said, shrilly.
Harry looked around at her. She was looking, not at the spider, but at Neville, and Harry, following her gaze, saw that Neville's hands were clenched upon the desk in front of him, his knuckles white, his eyes wide and horrified. He got up, moving to grab his friend's arm as Hermione did the same.
Moody raised his wand. The spider's legs relaxed, but it continued to twitch. "Reducio," Moody muttered, and the spider shrank back to its proper size. He put it back into the jar.
"You alright, Nev?" Harry asked.
Neville nodded and urged his friends to sit back down.
"Pain," Moody softly as Harry and Hermione once more took their seats. "You don't need thumbscrews or knives to torture someone if you can perform the Cruciatus Curse. That one was very popular once, too. Right, does anyone know of any others?"
Harry's eyes met Remus' before he slowly raised his hand.
"Potter," Moody said, simply.
"Avada Kedavra," Harry said, quietly.
Several people looked uneasily around at him, including Ron.
"Ah," Moody said, another slight smile twisting his lopsided mouth. "Yes, the last and the worst of them. Avada Kedavra… the Killing Curse."
He put his hand into the glass jar, and almost as though it knew what was coming, the third spider scuttled frantically around the bottom of the jar, trying to evade Moody's fingers, but he trapped it, and placed it upon the desktop. It started to scuttle frantically across the wooden surface. Moody raised his wand, and Harry felt a sudden thrill of foreboding.
"Avada Kedavra!" Moody roared.
There was a flash of blinding green light and a rushing sound, as though a vast, invisible something was soaring through the air — instantaneously the spider rolled over onto its back, unmarked, but unmistakably dead. Several of the students stifled cries; Ron had thrown himself backward and almost toppled off his seat as the spider skidded toward him. Moody vanished the spider.
"Not nice," he said calmly. "Not pleasant. And there's no counter-curse. There's no blocking it. Only one known person has ever survived it, and he's sitting right in front of me."
Harry felt his face redden as Moody's eyes looked into his own. He could feel everyone else looking around at him as well. Harry stared at the blank blackboard as though fascinated by it, but not really seeing it at all. Knowing that it was the curse to have killed his parents, knowing that was what Voldemort had used on him before it had bounced off of him because of his mother's sacrifice, knowing that the green light from his dreams were reflected in that curse… didn't make seeing it any easier. How could a simple flash of green light wipe the life from someone so quickly?
"Avada Kedavra's a curse that needs a powerful bit of magic behind it — you could all get your wands out right now and point them at me and say the words, and I doubt I'd get so much as a nosebleed. But that doesn't matter. I'm not here to teach you how to do it. Now, if there's no counter-curse, why am I showing you? Because you've got to know. You've got to appreciate what the worst is. You don't want to find yourself in a situation where you're facing it. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" he roared a second time, and the whole class jumped again.
"Now… those three curses — Avada Kedavra, Imperius, and Cruciatus — are known as the Unforgivable Curses. The use of any one of them on a fellow human being is enough to earn a life sentence in Azkaban Prison. That's what you're up against. That's what we've got to teach you to fight. You need preparing. You need arming. But most of all, you need to practice constant, never-ceasing vigilance. Professor Lupin, why don't you take over again?"
Remus moved back to the front of the room, talking about each of the Unforgivable Curses in more detail and they spent the rest of the lesson writing notes on them. When the bell sounded, Remus asked Harry and Neville to stay behind. Harry shuffled his feet as his classmates left and Moody moved to take a seat in the chair behind Remus' desk.
"You two all right?" Remus asked, placing a hand on both boys' shoulders. "I can't imagine seeing that today was very easy."
Neville nodded, wiping at a tear that escaped from his eye. "It hurts. Auror Moody didn't say that it hurt."
Remus put an arm around Neville. "Neville, that is a curse that is extremely illegal and only the darkest witches and wizards would even consider using it on another human being. Bellatrix Lestrange is a monster and we both know this. What she did to you and… to Alice and Frank… she will be punished for it one day, I believe that."
Harry was staring at Moody, watching his magical eye roam around the room. "Auror Moody, what did you mean when you said that some people can fight off the Imperius Curse? How?"
Moody smiled. "You're inquisitive, Potter, I like that. Black and Lupin distilled good morals in you, boy." The back of Harry's neck flushed at this. "The Imperius Curse is a battle of wills and if a witch or wizard is strong enough then they can outsmart any witch or wizard who places that curse on them." He tapped Harry's forehead. "It's about what you know up there. Now, Lupin tells me that you've already mastered a Patronus, that's a strong bit of magic. Fighting off the Imperius is about understanding what's real and what's not real, what your mind is telling you, and what it isn't really telling you. An example would be…"
"Veela," Remus said with a smile. "You know how I feel about Nymphadora and we are connected, deeply, on many levels, and because of my feelings for her, the Veela didn't affect me at the World Cup. I saw them as beautiful women, beautiful creatures, but that was it, I wasn't overcome with the same urges that other men were to do something impressive in order to gain their attention. My mind was able to comprehend the difference between the illusion and reality."
Harry nodded. "At the Cup, when the Veela came out, I wanted to impress them in some way, but then I thought it was dumb, I guess because I just… stopped."
Moody grinned an ugly scarred smile. "That's an excellent start, Potter. Lupin, I think that he would be an excellent one to test the curse on first, to see how his will fights against the demands."
Remus stared at him. "We'll talk more about it. I'm still not sold on you performing an Unforgivable on my students no matter what Dumbledore says on the subject."
Harry stared at his father. "But if I could learn to fight it, wouldn't that be a good thing?"
Remus squeezed his shoulder gently. "It would be. We'll talk about it. If you and Neville are okay, you can head out. I just wanted to check, I know what kind of memories watching those curses probably brought up for the two of you."
They both nodded, thanked him and Moody, and headed out of the classroom. Neville moved his shoulders around as if he was uncomfortable in his own skin.
Harry merely raised an eyebrow. "You okay?"
"Yeah, I… I think I want to transform and just… run."
Harry nodded, his eyes lighting up. "That sounds brilliant! Let's put our bags away and head out."
"Should we get the others?" Neville asked.
Harry shook his head. "No. Come on, Nev, this is for us."
Neville just grinned at him.
Twenty minutes later, a puppy and a badger were running around near Hagrid's hut. The badger rolled and stumbled as he ran and the puppy yipped happily, running circles around the badger's form. Harry could feel that he had grown into his paws somewhat. His Tamaskan had gotten a bit taller and a bit longer, but he was still very much a puppy who was tripping over his too big paws. The badger had grown a bit as well, but was still baby-like as he moved around.
They spent an hour playing and running near Hagrid's hut before they transformed back into themselves. They were grinning as Hagrid saw them.
"Neville, 'Arry! What are yeh two doing out 'ere?"
"Just taking a break, Hagrid," Harry said with a smile.
"Come in for some tea," he said, urging them inside.
Harry and Neville filled Hagrid in about their summer. Hagrid was charmed by the idea of Harry learning how to ride a horse and Harry told him all about Cloud Dancing and how wonderful he had been. He explained how great Zee's family had been to him and how much he loved being there and then he and Neville revealed that they were studying to be Animagus. Hagrid had only smirked in response.
"Oh, so that's why yeh needed my 'elp so much last year wit' th' dew an' Hawk Moth chrysalis thing! That's great! What animals are yeh?"
Harry grinned and transformed into his Tamaskan, startling Fang, who immediately hid behind Hagrid's chair.
"It's a bloody puppy, yeh coward!" Hagrid bellowed, grinning like a fool when Harry propped his front paws on his knee and Hagrid scratched him behind the ears. He looked at Neville when he changed into a badger and his grin widened. "An' a badger! Majestic creatures, they are!"
The badger rolled over and Hagrid chuckled, moving to rub the belly of the animal happily. They both changed back, telling him what it felt like to become an animal as he listened with rapt interest. They headed down to the Great Hall with him for dinner, still telling him all about their summer and he listened attentively, a big smile on his hairy face.
~ ASC ~
Hermione approached Harry after dinner on Friday, a large pile of library books in her hands. Harry's eyebrow merely rose as she dropped them next to his chair in the Gryffindor Common Room.
"I have done as much research as possible on house elves and I still think that the way that Crouch treated Winky is an absolute abomination!"
Harry let out a slow sigh. "I knew that when I told you about it that you weren't okay with it. The look you gave Percy when he said that he agreed with him firing the elf so as not to embarrass him in public… if looks could kill…"
She let out a huff a she sat on the floor and looked up at him. "I just don't understand how this entire race of creatures has been enslaved to the wizarding world for generations! For centuries! I talked about it with Professor Carthaginian after class and she told me that they want to serve witches and wizards, which is absolutely preposterous to me! They have been brainwashed into believing that its what they want! Hogwarts employs hundreds of them! Hundreds, Harry! How come we've never seen them around outside of the kitchens?"
Harry hesitated. "That's a sign of a good house elf, Hermione. You're not supposed to know that they're around. You know that Uncle Sirius and I have a house elf who takes care of some of the Black properties."
"I know and now after reading up on all of this, doesn't it disturb you that he calls you master? That you can call for him right now and that he has to come because you own him?"
"Hermione, I'm not saying that I know a whole lot about house elves because I don't, but what I do know is that their magic is tied to their work. They love to keep busy, to cook, to clean, to do what they love, and working for wizards who appreciate them is all that they want in the world. Now, it is true that we own them and that part isn't right either, but… you do know that the house elf is connected to our magic, right?"
She shook her head. "What do you mean?"
"A house elf, when they present themselves to work for their master, they present their magic as well. Which means that a house elf cannot use magic against their master nor can a witch or wizard use magic against them. They are very powerful creatures on their own and can do spells and Apparate and charms and are very formidable, but what they love is work, no matter the kind."
"But Dobby used to tell you that his master hurt him, remember?"
Harry shook his head. "He hurt himself on his master's wishes which is something else entirely. They like to work. That's why Winky was so upset. Not only did Mr Crouch fire her, but he severed their magical tie. It was traumatic for her."
Hermione huffed indignantly. "Well, they can like to work all they want, I still refuse to support a system that calls for slavery! They deserve payment for their hard work!" She opened the container on top of her books just as Ron came over and she gave Ron and Harry each a button.
"Spew?" Ron asked in bewilderment. "What the bloody hell is this?"
"It's not spew, its S-P-E-W, Ron, and it stands for the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare!"
"Never heard of it," Ron muttered.
"Well, of course you haven't because I just started it!"
"Yeah?" Ron asked in mild surprise. "How many members have you got?"
"Well, with you two, three but —"
"— And you think that we want to walk around wearing badges that say, 'spew,' do you?"
"S-P-E-W!" Hermione exclaimed, hotly. "It's about time that someone does something about the way that house elves are treated! I was going to put Stop The Outrageous Abuse of Our Fellow Magical Creatures and Campaign for a Change in Their Legal Status, but it wouldn't fit. So, that's the heading of our manifesto."
Ron's mouth opened in amazement and then closed it again as she brandished a leaf of parchment at them. "House elves like working, Hermione."
"I've been researching it thoroughly in the library. Elf enslavement goes back centuries. I can't believe that no one has done anything about it before now."
"Hermione! Open your ears," Ron exclaimed, loudly. "They. Like. It."
"Our short-term aims," Hermione said, blatantly ignoring Ron. "Are to secure house elves fair wages and working conditions. Our long-term aims include changing the law about non-wand use, and trying to get an elf into the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures because they are shockingly underrepresented."
"And how do we do this?" Harry asked in defeat, sticking the button to his shirt and making her beam at him.
"We start by recruiting members. I thought two Sickles to join as it buys the badge and then the proceeds can fund our leaflet campaign. Ron, you are the treasurer. I've got you a collecting tin upstairs and Harry, you'll be the secretary so, you have to write down everything that I'm saying to keep a record of our first meeting."
There was a pause in which Hermione beamed at the pair of them and Harry sat, torn between exasperation at Hermione and the look of amusement on Ron's face. Hermione merely narrowed her eyes at Ron and he sighed as he pinned the button to his shirt.
"Fine, but for the record, I think that this is pointless," Ron insisted.
Harry just shrugged as Hermione spotted Ginny coming into the common room with Colin and she jumped up, hurrying over to them to tell them all about Spew. Harry pulled out his notebook to finish writing his letter to Grandma and Grandpa and Grandmama and Papa, half listening to Hermione's spiel around the common room. He wrote to Zee next, telling her all about Hermione's new manifesto and adding a button and a leaflet. He figured that if anyone would get a kick out of it, she would. She might even have some advice for Hermione on the subject.
It was after eleven by the time he finished so he put them aside to mail out in the morning, stifling a yawn and made his way upstairs. He pulled back his bed curtains and jolted at the sight of the wolverine lying there. He shoved him and the wolverine seemed to smile before changing back into Ron.
"Looking good mate, I think that you definitely got bigger."
Ron grinned, putting his arms behind his head as he made himself comfortable in Harry's bed. "I have. How long did Sirius say it takes until our animals are, you know, fully grown?"
"About a year and they changed every day," Harry said, changing into his pyjamas. "And it's been… what four months for us already?"
"Almost," Ron said with a grin. "You've definitely already doubled in size, but as you were such a tiny puppy to begin with, that's not saying much," at Harry's look, he grinned. "What? You're a baby! Anyway, I looked up the sizes and approximate weight of our animals just to help us figure it out, you know? I'm supposed to be around twenty-seven kilograms. You on the other hand, are supposed to be close to forty kilograms."
"And where do you think we are?" Harry asked him.
Ron shrugged. "No idea."
Harry grinned and urged him to transform before he pulled out his wand and checked Ron's height and mass. "You're about eleven kilograms." Ron changed back and checked Harry's height and mass: He was only eight.
Seamus raised an eyebrow at them as he changed into his pjs. "If you two are done measuring sizes over there, you're welcome to come get a load of mine." He put his hand over his crotch and winked at them.
Ron rolled his eyes. "We're not measuring our pricks, you prat!"
"Wise," Seamus said. "Comparing sizes can ruin friendships."
Harry and Ron both shot Seamus a rude hand gesture before Harry climbed into his bed next to Ron. "He's a git."
"It was kind of funny," Ron admitted, turning on his side to face Harry. "So, what do you think by my birthday, maybe?"
"Definitely. We have to be fully grown by then and then maybe Uncle Rem will let me stay with him."
"Did you ask?"
Harry shook his head. "It didn't work out. But I'm going to."
Ron nodded and stifled a yawn. "You know he's going to say no."
"Doesn't mean I can't convince him," Harry said.
Ron snuggled into Harry's pillow. "Right. Night."
Harry poked him. "Go back to your own bed."
"But I'm comfy."
Harry poked him again, but Ron started snoring and he sighed. Some things never changed.
~ ASC ~
Sirius spent Harry's first week back to school talking to people at the Ministry. The Ministry of Magic was still dealing with the aftermath of the attacks, witches and wizards complaining about injuries, broken and damaged tents and other issues that came up due to the attacks. The Muggles all had their memories modified and no one had been caught, much to the dismay of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.
Sirius spoke to the Wizengamot at the first session that September about the Death Eaters who had attacked. Fudge shut him down, vehemently declaring that a few loose cannons did not mean that the Death Eaters were back in full force; nor was it any inclination that Voldemort was mounting any kind of return. According to Fudge, Harry had killed Voldemort thirteen years ago and he wasn't coming back from the dead.
Sirius brought up Fudge's overreaction last year, insisting on Dementors guarding Hogwarts because of two escaped Death Eaters and how these attacks at the World Cup were now warranting no reaction in comparison. His words were met on deaf ears and Dumbledore only shook his head at him.
Fudge wasn't listening and Sirius knew that without direct proof, the Minister wasn't going to listen to anything that he had to say on the subject. He had immediately sent word to everyone of FUVP to meet at headquarters that Saturday where he felt that at least they would be able to do something about the potential situation.
Remus had asked him to come by the cottage the first night of school and he had filled Sirius in on what Harry and Draco had discussed.
"The journal said that there was one in the school?" he had asked in amazement.
"Harry seems to think so and frankly it's definitely what it sounded like. Of course, what it could be, we have no idea, but a location is a definite start."
Sirius nodded, his head full of thoughts on the subject.
By the time Saturday came around, he was feeling antsy. He drummed his fingers on the table in Number Twelve as he waited for everyone to arrive. Tonks got there first, moving to sit across from him and watching his leg bounce.
"You okay over there?"
"Antsy," he said, simply. "The Ministry pulling you through the mud on this Death Eater stuff as well?"
She rolled her eyes. "Basically the common consensus is that we know that the riots at the World Cup were led by Death Eaters and the Ministry knows that they were Death Eaters, but no one can prove it; therefore they were not Death Eaters, to prevent causing the public to panic," she explained in exasperation. "I told King who we suspected some of them were and let's just say that we have some Aurors discreetly keeping an eye on them, but there is literally nothing that we can do unless we witness them, unmasked to identify, committing a crime."
Sirius swore. "This is so frustrating! It's like I know what is going to happen and I can do nothing to stop it!"
Tonks nodded as Remus came in. She held her arms open and he smiled wrapping her in his embrace, kissing her neck, and lifting her from the bench. He took a seat and simply put her on his lap as if it was the most natural move in the world and she snuggled into his arms.
"Hi, missed you."
He smiled at her and kissed her softly.
Sirius rolled his eyes. "You two are disgustingly happy, do you know that?"
Tonks simply grinned at him.
It was only another fifteen minutes before Bill, Moody, Dumbledore, and McGonagall came in. Sirius glanced up at the clock. "Anyone heard from Zee?"
Tonks nodded. "I ran into her at Ministry this afternoon, she was working a double on some animal abuse case, but she said that she was coming."
Sirius nodded. "We'll give her ten more minutes and then we'll start."
She took twenty, apologizing as she came in and kissing Sirius before she sat down.
"Hey, I was worried," he kissed her fingers.
"I'm sorry, I'll send word next time I'm running behind," she told him.
He nodded and turned his attention back to the room. "We've learned a few things over the last few weeks. I'd like to fill you all in before we talk about them." After everyone's general consensus, he cleared his throat. "The World Cup, that scare threw all of us for a loop, and we are very much aware that there are Death Eaters out there; the ones who walked free during the war and many of them who are helping Abraxas Malfoy in his mission to bring Voldemort back. The following are people who we strongly suspect to be Death Eaters and ones who we all should be watching out for."
He pointed his wand at the blackboard and the names appeared there as he spoke them.
➾ Abraxas Malfoy
➾ Lucius Malfoy
➾ Bellatrix Lestrange
➾ Peter Pettigrew (CAPTURED)
➾ Linus Lestrange
➾ Titus Avery
➾ Aurelius Avery
➾ Wendall Selwyn
➾ Woodrow Selwyn
➾ Thaddeus Nott
"Pettigrew, as most of you are aware, broke into Hogwarts at the end of May with a message for my son about the Cup of Helga Hufflepuff. Harry and I found it in the vault of Bellatrix Lestrange in June, as he said we would, and we destroyed it. That was the last meeting that we had, to confirm that we had destroyed the cup. In the meantime, Albus and I have moved Pettigrew to a secure location in this house where he is being held prisoner until we know for certain that he has given us all of the information that he knows about Voldemort and what he is doing or potentially doing in the future."
"You've had him here all summer?" Moody asked gruffly, sipping the scotch that Kreacher had just passed to him after examining it critically.
"We have. Kreacher has been taking care of him and has kept me updated on his movements."
"Mr Pettigrew sleeps a lot," Kreacher said to the room. "He mumbles in his sleep and he cries. He does not ask Kreacher where he is. He does not ask Kreacher to leave. He just tells Kreacher he is sorry."
Sirius nodded. "Thank you, Kreacher."
The elf beamed at him and hurried off to continue preparing dinner.
"He did give us some information in June that Albus, Minerva, and I did not share right away for a few reasons. First, we wanted to wait for Remus to be here and secondly, we didn't know what to believe of it, but now we are certain that it is accurate."
He quickly explained about what Pettigrew had told him concerning Voldemort's status as an infant.
"Babymort?" Bill said with a grin. "Interesting name, but… that is sick. This poor woman… she's still alive?"
"From what I gathered, yes, she is being kept in Selwyn Manor in Croatia where she is being constantly sexually assaulted for the pleasure of whomever chooses. They keep promising to take her to her child, but she has no idea that her child has died and Voldemort now possesses him. I imagine that the thought of her child is the only thing keeping her alive," Sirius said, sadly.
"And there's no way for us to get to Selwyn Manor?" McGonagall asked, her eyes wide. "We know that she's there, we should be able to mount some form of rescue?"
Tonks shook her head. "Unfortunately no, because first of all it's in Croatia so, we don't have jurisdiction to slip in there and mount any form of rescue mission. That would be something the MIA would handle, and they aren't involved in this yet. Secondly, the manor is guarded and Unplottable. No one knows where it is located outside of its country of origin which again is no help to us. Pettigrew says that it is also under the Fidelius Charm and he doesn't know who the Secret Keeper is. It is well guarded and beyond our reach. The perfect place to grow and to restore the body of the darkest wizard we've ever seen."
"Which brings us back to this mysterious ritual that he is planning to use to try to come back," Sirius said, clearing his throat. "Two weeks ago, Harry had a dream that I believe was more than just a dream. He was watching Voldemort as if he himself was there in the room, witnessing this event. I think that we can all agree that the Horcrux inside of him allowed this event to take place. His scar hurt when he woke and he came to me immediately. I viewed the memory of his dream in a Pensieve. I would like to share it with you now."
Everyone watched as Sirius pulled out the Pensieve and amplified the memory onto the wall to be watched like a screen. When the memory faded, Bill spoke up.
"That thing… that… it's not a fucking baby."
"No, it's not," Remus said. "The baby was born sometime around March and this was in August and as you can all see he can already hold a wand and think and communicate the way that an adult can. The soul piece that he has left is merely residing inside of the body, the child is dead."
Moody scratched his chin as he spoke. "That Muggle that he killed, I know him. His name was Frank Bryce. Did anyone look into the Muggle police reports, see if there was anything on his death?"
Sirius shook his head. "No, we didn't know where they were nor who the Muggle was so, it made it a little harder to do so. Frank Bryce, you say? Who was he?"
"A war veteran from the Second World War, a Muggle war back in the '30s and '40s. If you remember, I had mentioned it before that Bryce was the original suspect of the Riddle Murders back in the forties. My father, Arnold, was the Auror assigned to the case and I remember him arguing about it for ages that the Muggles were barking up the wrong tree looking at this veteran, who worked as a groundskeeper and caretaker of the Riddle Mansion in Little Hangleton. Obviously, they never proved he did it and the charges were dropped," Moody explained. "Morfin Gaunt was arrested for their deaths, but as we know now, he wasn't guilty of it either."
Dumbledore nodded. "So, as of two weeks ago, Voldemort was in his father's childhood home in Little Hangleton."
"Do you think that he sent someone to check on the Horcrux at the Gaunt Shack? It would be close by and if they saw the wards were down?"
Bill shook his head. "The wards aren't down, Zee. Alastor and I reinstated them before we followed Sirius and Tonks to Hogwarts. You wouldn't know that someone had tampered with them at all unless you attempted to get past them."
"Well, that's one small blessing."
"But he doesn't plan to stay there, as we know, he plans on returning to Croatia, which is safer for him, but this ritual that he has planned with Harry is something that we do need to concern ourselves with."
Dumbledore nodded. "As well as this connection that Harry seems to have with him… nothing like this has ever happened before?"
"No, never," Sirius told him. "Remus and I were contemplating the idea of teaching Harry Occlumency to help stop it."
"That could be an option," Dumbledore said, quietly, his eyes guarded in thought.
Lastly, Remus explained about what Draco Malfoy had told Harry and they all agreed that the castle needed to be checked.
"I think that the only place we know it's not for sure is in the Chamber of Secrets," McGonagall said with a sigh. "The castle alone, the secret rooms, the hidden rooms… it could take us years."
Sirius nodded. "I know, especially because we have no idea what the object in question is. What I'm thinking is that we can divide and conquer. I think that we can all agree that it's not going to be some place that is constantly full of students like the Great Hall or the main classrooms. It won't be in any of your private offices or in any of the dorm rooms, but the common rooms, the other classrooms, and anywhere else in the school is essentially up for grabs. The problem again is that we have no idea what this last one could be. We're going to have to keep looking for anything that is warded or gives up a negative vibe or energy. We all know what that Horcrux feels like when we get close to it and I think that we'd all know that feeling if we came across one, am I right?"
At everyone's nod, he sighed.
"So, divide and conquer. Moony, Minnie, and Albus are going to get the bulk of this one being that you're all at Hogwarts on a daily basis. With Albus' permission, perhaps, Tonks, Zee, and I can also try to look around and I'd like to get Harry and his friends to do the same. All eyes on this can only be helpful and Harry knows how dangerous the Horcrux can be so, I trust him to help us find it."
Bill nodded. "Gringotts has been transferring me to London every few weeks which means I'll be in the country a lot more and I'd like the chance to help look for it as well. Like you said, all eyes on this."
Dumbledore held up his hand. "I agree with this plan, however, the all eyes is going to be a problem this year. With Hogwarts hosting the TriWizard Tournament, the amount of people that we are going to have in the school won't allow anyone to move around and search for this so easily. I think for the time being, Minerva, Remus, and I should be the only ones looking. Harry of course, may also be included because he will already be at Hogwarts."
Sirius nodded. "I guess I can see that. Who else is going to be at the school?"
"Ludo Bagman, Barty Crouch, and Cornelius Fudge are the three main ones, but there will also be reporters attending certain events, Ministry officials, and international Ministry officials, plus the headmaster and headmistress from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, not to mention the students that they bring to sign up for the tournament."
"Karkaroff needs to be watched," Moody said, gruffly.
"Igor Karkaroff?" Sirius asked in surprise. "The accused Death Eater?"
Moody nodded. "He's the Headmaster of Durmstrang now. Ironic, isn't it?"
Sirius frowned. "When did he get out of Azkaban?"
"He only served a little time. The Ministry released him when he gave up the names of other Death Eaters," Moody said, a scowl on his face. "The dirty rat deserved a Kiss if you ask me. He was caught with Anton Dolohov torturing Muggles."
Dumbledore only raised an eyebrow. "His past crimes are that, his past, Alastor. He's been a free man now for over a decade and he is now the Headmaster of a school and we will show him the respect that grants him. But yes, he will still be watched."
Remus let out a slow breath. "Well, we can start the search for this potential Horcrux anyway, no matter how small, and in the meantime, maybe Bill, Sirius, and Zee can try to research what the object in question could be. Maybe try to give us an idea of what exactly we're looking for."
"Harry mentioned the lost diadem of Ravenclaw as a potential founder object, but as we know, that has been lost for centuries," Sirius said. "But something along those lines could be a good start."
Everyone seemed to be in agreement. Talk turned to the upcoming tournament and Moody told Sirius that he was thinking of putting Harry under the Imperius Curse to see if he had the ability to throw it off.
Sirius' eyes widened. "You want to do what to my son?"
Remus chuckled. "I had the same reaction."
"Potter thinks that it's a good idea," Moody said with a smile. "We spoke about it yesterday after class."
"Harry is fourteen and not always a great judge on what a good idea is," Sirius said, still staring at Moody like he'd grown a second head.
"Dumbledore has given me the authority to do so and I think that if anyone is going to have the mindset to do it, it's going to be Potter."
"Sirius, you yourself could fight it off by the time you were, what, twelve?" Remus asked him.
"Excuse me?" Zee exclaimed, her eyes wide. "You fought off the Imperius Curse at twelve?"
Sirius glared at Remus. "One of those lovely traits about my dear mum," he said. "This may come as a surprise, but I didn't exactly listen to my parents as a kid and they decided that in order to discipline me, they would put me under the Imperius Curse and make me do what they wanted. The first time I think I was about eight. But yeah, but it was actually by the time I was eleven, I could throw it off completely."
McGonagall reached out to touch his arm. "Sirius, you… you should have told someone, told me."
He smiled at her. "By the time that I started Hogwarts, the Imperius was basically a long memory. My mother couldn't control me with it."
Zee was scowling. "Yeah, because she moved onto the Cruciatus," she muttered, remembering the image of a young boy cowering under his mother's hateful wand in the eerie glow of the Horcrux.
"Long time ago," Sirius told her. "And yes, I get the ramifications of learning how to fight against it. The last thing that any of us would want was for anyone to be put under the curse and forced to do something against their wishes but… he's fourteen!"
"And I think that he can do it," Moody told him. "Remus and I decided that the class wasn't the place for it, but his Defence Club starts up again in two weeks and I'm going to be a guest speaker to the Advanced Classes. I want to practice putting them all under it, just the Advanced students."
McGonagall frowned. "I would like to say that I hate this idea and I fully support it at the same time."
Moody grinned at her. "It will be in a controlled environment, Minerva. Remus will be there, watching and keeping track, and most importantly, we can make sure that no one can hurt them."
Sirius let out a slow sigh. "Let me know how he does."
Remus just nodded, a small smile on his face. "We will. It should be quite the Defence Club meeting."
Sirius could only agree.
~ ASC ~
Sirius tapped his hands on the table as everyone headed out after the meeting an hour later. He waited a beat before heading into the study and opening the secret passage to where he had hidden Pettigrew away. He hadn't seen him since he had put him in there at the beginning of the summer.
He tried not to think about him at all if he was honest with himself.
Peter didn't even look up when he came into the room. Sirius grabbed the wooden chair in the corner, turning it around to straddle it, his eyes on the man lying in the bed. His hair seemed to be more patchy, full of bald spots, and he looked old and worn down. Sirius let out a slow sigh and the sound made him turn around.
"Sirius?" he croaked in surprise.
Sirius nodded, his eyes on him. "Kreacher says that you don't say much. But you're eating so, obviously you don't want to die."
Peter simply stared at him. "Some days I think I do."
"What else do you know, Pete?"
"What?"
"You heard me," Sirius said, carefully. "You know more than you've let on. Maybe it's a survival instinct, you think if you only share pieces with me that I'll let you live longer. Is that the case?"
"What do you want from me?"
"I want you to do the right thing just once in your life. Help me. Help Harry. Help yourself."
Peter stared at him and swallowed. "I don't know how to help you. I told you what I knew." He looked up when Zee stepped into the doorway. "Need reinforcements, worried I'll attack?"
Zee only moved forward, placing her hands on Sirius' shoulders. "Are you going to attack?"
Peter stared at the two of them. "I don't know anything."
"And I think that you know more," Sirius told him. "You came all the way to Hogwarts just to tell Harry that Bella was given a special gift from Voldemort? That seems strange. Why that moment? Why that gift? Harry shared the memory of that night with me, I know what you said to him about how in another life he would have called you uncle. Does the thought of what you did to James and Lily haunt you, Wormtail?"
Peter only blinked and closed his eyes.
"You told me about Kata Novak and about the baby that Voldemort is possessing. You told us about the ritual that he is doing, but not enough about it."
"I don't know any more," Peter said, desperately. "If I knew I would tell you! I swear."
Sirius nodded. "Maybe. Maybe, not. But my question is, what am I going to do with you? If you don't know anything else; why am I even bothering to keep you around? I think it might be time to turn you back over the Aurors and to the Dementors. You obviously have nothing more to tell me and therefore are of no use to me."
Peter paled. "I know stuff! I mean, I can tell you about the other Death Eaters, the ones that I know!"
"More than you've already told me? I know about Woodrow and Wendall Selwyn and Thaddeus Nott, what else do you know? Who else is behind this?"
Peter swallowed slowly. "Abraxas Malfoy is working with Titus Avery, Linus Lestrange, and Wendall Selwyn to keep the Dark Lord alive. Bella was also helping, but that was back before I came here so I don't know if it's the same."
"How are they keeping him alive?"
"They feed him, part milk and part venom from the snake Nagini, and they mix it with unicorn blood. It's important that he has all three of them mixed together consistently and constantly because it's supposed to help sustain him when he gets his old body back."
"How is he going to get his old body back?" Sirius asked him, his fingers tapping his arms as they lay across the back of the chair. "He, for all intents and purposes, died thirteen years ago. His body is dust and decay; rotted flesh and bones."
Peter stared at him. "But his soul didn't die and that means that if he puts his soul back into his body, he can heal it, for the most part. The soul is what gives life to the body. I don't think that it will be exactly the same, but he seems to think that it will work out okay."
Sirius nodded, letting out a slow breath. "You know that we can't let that happen, Pete."
"I don't know how you're going to stop it," he admitted.
"He wants Harry for the ritual."
Peter nodded. "He said that it's important because it will show the world that not even The Boy Who Lived can stop him from returning; that nothing will stop him from showing how powerful he really is."
"He has a point about that," he admitted as Zee let out a small breath behind him. "And the ritual itself?"
Peter shook his head. "I swear I don't know!"
"How does he plan to get to Harry? He has to know how well protected he is."
"He does," he told him carefully. "I don't know how, but I know that he was working on something with Brax and Wendall. They had an idea of some kind, but whatever it was they always discussed it behind closed doors."
"And Lucius?"
Peter shook his head. "Brax thinks that he's a coward; claims his son is not really a man. He wasn't around much and when he did he looked uncomfortable to be there. He knows even less than me."
Sirius nodded, standing up and putting the chair back in the corner. "Just so you know, Harry is the most amazing kid, young man, actually. He's bright and sassy and has the biggest heart of anyone that I have ever met, even bigger than Lily's was, if you can imagine. He's the best of Jamie and Lily and you lost the chance to know him and I feel sorry for you."
"Sirius… I… I fought as hard as I could."
Sirius only stared at him, his grey eyes sad. "No, Wormy, you didn't."
And he closed the door behind him, sealing Peter once more in the vault.
He leaned back against the door, surprised to find tears in his eyes and he hastily wiped them away as Zee simply wrapped her arms around him.
"You okay?"
"Yeah, yeah," he said, kissing the top of her head. "I'm fine."
She only raised her eyebrow. "We're not going to let him take Harry. I will do everything I can to protect him along side of you, you know that, right?"
He leaned down and kissed her deeply. "I know."
"As for Peter, you can't just leave him in there indefinitely."
"Sure, I can," he said with a grin. "No, I know that. But for now, it works."
Zee smiled at him and tugged him back into the kitchen. "I was just talking to Kreacher, he said that Winky is adjusting, but that she's not ready to take on a new family. She still sees Crouch as her master and won't hear of accepting anyone else."
"I know. She is helping Kreacher with the work for now so I guess that's something. Do you have any other suggestions about what we can do for her?"
"Maybe we can send her to Hogwarts? More elves are there and they might be able to help her cope a bit?"
"But you don't think so?" he asked, taking a seat on the bench at the table.
Zee shook her head. "I think being here with Kreacher is good for her. It might take her a while to adjust, but she's here with another elf and she can help out here."
He nodded. "I agree. I guess we'll give her a few more weeks and then we'll see where she's at."
Zee smiled at him, moving to sit in his lap. "I want to talk to you about something."
"Oh?" he asked when her arms wrapped around his neck. He placed a hand on her hip, the other on her leg, holding her in place. "About?"
"The Imperius Curse."
His eyebrow rose. "I don't like it either, but if Harry can learn to fight it off that's going to be beneficial to him in the future."
"Yes, I agree with that, even if I don't like it."
"Then what about it?"
"I know that you spoke with Harry already and I know that you don't want to tell me about it, but… sometimes it just hits me, the things that your parents did to you…"
Sirius bent his head and captured her lips in his for a long kiss. "I'm okay, baby. It was a long time ago and talking to Harry did help me. I'm glad that I told him everything."
She played with the hair at the nape of his neck. "You are an amazing man. An incredible father and so strong, you didn't let them break you, you kept fighting, and I am so proud of you." She kissed him. "And I love you and the thought of you as a helpless child undergoing Unforgivable Curses pains me so much. I want to hurt the person who did this to you and knowing they are dead…"
Sirius dipped his forehead to hers. "Do you really want to know everything, Zahira?"
She stared at him for a long moment. "I keep telling myself that it doesn't matter, but it does. I wish your parents were still alive so that I could inflict the same pain on them that they put a helpless child through."
He half smiled. "I would have paid good money to watch you take on my mother." He kissed her nose. He let out a slow breath. "I didn't know how bad it really was until after I told Jamie…"
By the time he was done, Zee had tears pouring down her cheeks. She kissed his cheeks, his nose, his forehead. "You didn't deserve it. None of it."
"I know," he told her. "But it protected my brother from them and I would have done it all over again if it did that."
"Thank you for telling me. I know that you didn't want too and I know that it was hard and —"
"— I wanted to," he interrupted. "Ever since I told Harry I… now you know all of my secrets."
"Not all of them," she said with a coy smile.
"Oh? What else don't you know?"
"The age you were when you lost your virginity."
He chuckled. "Thirteen. She was older by a year and more experienced. I thought it was the greatest day of my life."
She smiled. "Was it?"
"Up until that point, hell yeah," he said with a grin. "Now? I think the best sexual encounter was the day that I told you I loved you. You… fucking destroyed me and it was amazing, but then again, the night after my first Wizengamot session was… fuck, basically any time I'm in your mouth, in you, with you…"
She grinned cheekily. "Flatterer."
"Oh, and what's your best sexual encounter?"
Zee looked thoughtful for a moment. "Six years ago in Australia when I was —" she yelped when he tickled her stomach, laughing.
"I'm sorry, I don't think I hear you saying, 'Sirius Black, the God of Sex,' you might want to start over."
She laughed, desperately swatting his hand away. "You!"
He grinned and kissed her. "You're the best I've ever had, Zahira, and I mean that in so much more than just the sex."
She smiled against his mouth. "For me, too, and that very much includes the sex." She kissed him again, long and deep, and they just sat there, holding each other and snogging for the longest time. When Zee finally tugged her lips from his, she was smiling. "Walk me home?"
Sirius simply stood up, still holding her in his arms, kissing her deeply again, and Disapparating to the property line of Black Cottage, where he carried her up the drive.
"I said home," she told him with a grin.
Sirius pulled her inside and carried her upstairs to his room, lying her on the large bed and crawling on top of her, his arms caging her in as he kissed her softly. "We are home."
Zee smiled up at him. "This is your home."
"I'm tired of being without you, Zee."
"You're not without me," she said.
Sirius kissed her forehead, her cheeks, her neck. "I want more."
Zee stared at him, stopping his lips by framing his face in her hands. "You want more what?"
"Of you."
He tugged his face away, undoing her jeans and sliding them down her hips. He was tugging down her knickers when she spoke.
"Sirius, you have me. All of me. What are you asking?"
He didn't respond. His eyes met hers for a moment and then he buried his head between her legs. She arched her head back in surprise as his tongue got busy and when his fingers joined in, she cried out in pleasure as he worked her over. His name burst from her lips when she came and he kissed her thighs, resting his chin on her stomach as he looked up at her.
Zee blinked slowly, her body still coming down from her incredible high. Her fingers gently brushed through his hair as she smiled down at him. "Mmm, it's been much too long since we've done that."
He grinned. "I love you."
"I love you," she said, her fingers still in his hair.
He licked his lips. "You should have more stuff here."
"Hmm?"
"Stuff. You should have it, here. You always have to go home for clothes and you're always stealing mine."
"Are you asking me to leave my clothes here?"
"Well, I'd prefer if you were naked all of the time," he said with a grin. "Especially when you run up and down the stairs. I want to watch these big beautiful knockers bounce."
Zee rolled her eyes. "You are a piece of work."
She made to move out from under him, but he hung on, sliding her shirt up and unclasping her bra. "Big beautiful cantaloupe sized tits," he corrected, his tongue sliding over a brown nipple as she smacked him lightly in the head and making him grin. "But really, we almost never spend a night apart so, you should have more stuff here."
"I've already moved some stuff into your bathroom."
"I noticed," he said with a grin, tugging her shirt over her head and leaving her fully naked beneath him. "Bring more. I want…" he said as his tongue trailed across a nipple. "I just want."
"Are we almost moving in together?" she asked him as his hands slid up to fondle her large breasts.
Sirius' eyes widened. "No! I mean, you still have your own place, but… I want some of your stuff here, with you, that's all."
Zee smiled and tugged his face up to hers to kiss him softly. "You are an adorable coward."
"I'm not a coward," he said, pouting.
Zee kissed his nose. "You are. You want me here, but you don't want me to actually move in, that's a coward."
He looked thoughtful for a moment. "So, move in."
Zee's eyes widened in surprise. "What?"
He grinned now. "Now, who's the coward."
"Sirius, I… we… do you even know what you're saying?"
"I love you. I know that you are one of the most important people in my life and in Harry's life. I need you. Next month it will have been exactly four years since the first time I fucked you on my kitchen floor and proceeded to shag you for about a year. In November, it will have been three years since I asked you to officially be my girlfriend after you fucked me into oblivion."
"Mmm, that was a good night," she said, smiling up at him. "Let's make a deal. I will move some of my stuff in here and we'll see how this goes, part-time. We need to make sure that it's okay with Harry first and to be honest, I don't know if I'm completely ready to give up my own space one hundred percent. It's the first place I've ever had that was truly mine and I love that house."
Sirius licked her nipple again, flattening his tongue to pebble it. "So, you'll be here, but not fully here?"
Her fingers were still in his hair as he moved his tongue to her other breast. "I'm always fully here with you, Sirius Black, but I want to keep my house next door for a bit even while I'm living here with you. Is that all right? We'll see how this goes, just the two of us? Then we can talk to Harry about it and just test the waters, the two of us, and then later the three of us?"
He slid his hand down between her legs and slid his fingers inside of her. "Best idea I've heard all day."
"Sirius," she moaned. "Take off your clothes."
"No," he said, using his tongue on her breasts as his fingers worked her.
"Sirius," she hissed in pleasure.
He simply grinned, pulling a nipple into his mouth to suckle enthusiastically and her hips arched into his hand. He moved to her other breast, twisting and flicking with his tongue and teeth and she screamed his name as his fingers brought her to orgasm a second time. He slid his wet fingers up her stomach to knead a breast and Zee turned towards him, shoving him back to straddle him.
Sirius grinned up at her. "Excuse me, I was busy."
She opened his jeans, shoving them down his hips just enough and simply lowered herself onto him. He groaned as she took all of him in and he watched her breasts bounce in front of him as she rode him. The setting sun from the bedroom window illuminating her in a beautiful orange glow and when he added two fingers she cried out, the orgasm ripping through her and he grinned in satisfaction before he fell over the edge, rising himself up from the bed to kiss her as he came, slipping deeper inside of her.
Zee collapsed next to him. "Take off your clothes."
He grinned, pulling his shirt off and tugging his jeans and socks down, tossing them onto the bedroom floor. "Didn't need too."
She slapped his abs lightly. "I need to sleep."
Sirius wrapped his arms around her, snuggling her up against him. "So sleep. When you wake up, we'll start packing up some of your things."
She smiled against his chest. "Are we really doing this? Are we really going to try living together?"
"Don't you think we're ready?"
"More than," she admitted, kissing his chest. "I love you, Sirius."
He kissed the top of her head and tugged the blanket up over them and he couldn't stop the smile from spreading across his face.