"Hermione, not now. I'll do it later." Harry protested. The girl had been after him all week, insisting that he complete his homework. He still had a few days before he could go back to classes and Hermione felt it would be best if he were up to date with all his work.

The boy didn't agree with this. After being freed from the Hospital wing, he had been holed up in Sirius' quarters for the past few days. He was bored to death but that didn't mean he had to do his homework to fight the boredom. Hermione sniffed at him disapprovingly but didn't push him any further.

Instead, the three of them played exploding snap for a while. They were all enjoying themselves but Harry's fun ceased the moment Sirius came into the room, floating a tray of the boy's potions. "Ugh! Again! Dad, can I pleeease take them before bed instead? That way, I'll be asleep and won't have to feel their horrible taste in my mouth for the next hour. Pleease?"

"Certainly not. You're taking them now and not a minute later." Sirius said firmly. This had become a routine between them. Harry always tried to persuade Sirius to grant him some reprieve from those horrible medicines but his dad was immovable.

Ron and Hermione had become accustomed to this little banter between the two of them. They were the kind of simply natural moments that made one think that Sirius had raised Harry since his infancy. The two of them promised to meet Harry later before going off for classes.

"You either take these on your own or I'm more than willing to shove them down your throat." A few months ago, such a statement would have had Harry quivering fearfully but now he just laughed and accepted the potions from Sirius.

"Fine, I'll take them. But only because you're the world's greatest dad. And you're the most stubborn person I know." The man felt touched by Harry's words but he simply rolled his eyes and gave his pup an affectionate wink.

Three days later, Harry was finally ready to get back to his lessons. He'd taken Hermione's advice and had completed his homework. Classes continued in full swing and Harry had a lot to cover up. He didn't hear the creepy voice after the incident and for that, he was utterly thankful. The only lesson he did enjoy those days was Defence against the Dark Arts.

"So when are we getting back to Quidditch practice?" Harry asked George; when all of them were sitting in the common room. "Oh, you don't know, mate? Quidditch's been cancelled for the rest if the year. Mcgonagall' orders. Said it wasn't safe to play anymore. Wood was furious."

Great. Just great. The one thing he was looking forward to was gone. With a sigh, he slumped in his seat, looking more forlorn than ever. "Tough luck, mate. We're all equally miserable." Fred sympathized with him.

Harry went up to his dorm to put his books away when he saw something sticking out from his trunk. He reached forward and pulled it out. It was that diary he had found all those days ago. He'd completely forgotten about it. Just out of curiosity, he flipped it open. Written in tiny gold print on the right hand corner of the first page: Tom .M. Riddle. He'd heard that name somewhere. He simply couldn't recall where.

A week or so after resuming classes; the whispers started. He began noticing the changes a few days later. Students talked in hushed voices wherever he went. It was nearly impossible for him to remain at a certain place for more than fifteen minutes. They looked at him like he was some sort of abomination and it bloody hurt.

All sorts of rumours were spread about him. It was the same old story everywhere. "Potter's a bit on the freaky side." "Why wasn't he petrified like the others?" "He was just attacked. That's weird." "Did you know he can speak to snakes?" "Yeah. Apparently, he attacked his muggle cousin once." "What if he's the one behind all this?" "He attacked his family! Merlin knows what he's capable of."

That's what he heard always, those days. When he had told Ron and Hermione about the incident at the zoo, Ron hadn't been soft enough and quite a few students had heard him. Soon, the whole school knew that he was a parselmouth. One thing led to another and before he even knew what was going on, he was being blamed for all the unfortunate happenings at Hogwarts.

Harry felt miserable. Hogwarts had been his very first home. He'd never do anything to harm the place or the people in it. Why were they all targeting him? What did he do to deserve this?

"I wonder who he's going to hurt next." The sentence was whispered but Harry heard it. It came from the Hufflepuff's table. He had enough of it. There was no way he could sit and listen to them anymore. With a frustrated sigh, he slammed his textbook shut and shoved it into his bag. He shouldered his bag and stormed out of the Great Hall, not bothering to look back.

Harry reached his room and angrily flung his bag on the bed before flopping down on the floor and bringing his knees to his chest. Why couldn't he be normal? How long was this going to continue? The way the talked about him, it bloody hurt. In a fit of anger, he picked up the nearest book and hurled it across the room with a yell. He was so mad.

He had a Defence class in ten minutes but he didn't want to go. To sit there and listen to everyone murmur about him was just too much. Harry couldn't sit there knowing that he was the main topic of conversation amongst students. He just couldn't. He grabbed a pillow from the bed and buried his face in it, wanting to just disappear for a while, to get away from everything that was going on.

Sirius came back to his quarters at the end of the day. He went straight to his room to change. When he came out, he saw a book thrown across the hallway leading to Harry's room. Frowning slightly, he picked up the book and went into the boy's room.

Harry was slouching on the floor, his head tucked into a pillow. The man settled down next to his pup, gently pulling the pillow from his grasp. Harry looked up and Sirius's heart broke at the sight. His son's face was red; his eyes were bloodshot like he'd been crying.

"What's wrong puppy?" He asked nestling Harry in his arms. "I hate it, dad. I absolutely hate it." The boy whispered, his arm going around the man's stomach. "They all hate me. I didn't do anything to them but they still hate me." Harry narrated the entire thing, leaning into his dad.

"You didn't do anything wrong kiddo." Sirius consoled the distraught child, feeling a pang of sadness in his chest. Harry's situation was all too similar to the one he had been in, at the beginning of his own first year.

Most of the students were afraid of him or disliked him because of his family background. The Blacks, after all were the pioneers of the dark arts. The students' opinion of him had changed gradually after a month or two when they found how different he was from the rest of his family and before he knew it, he was the most popular student in his year. Boys wanted to be like him while girls wanted to be with him.

"They're all wrong, pup. They will realise their mistake soon and that I can guarantee." Sirius said. "How can be so sure?" Harry looked so miserable at that moment. "I just do pup. You're not wrong and you've done nothing bad. That's that."

"But-"

"No buts Harry. They will come around. I know that." Sirius' words were reassuring. "What concerns me is how all this is affecting you." The man continued, looking at Harry with concern. The bags under the boy's eyes were a little too prominent. It was clearly evident that he hadn't been sleeping properly. "You haven't had a goodnight's rest in a while. When was the last time you just hung out with your friends and did absolutely nothing? You've been hurting yourself Harry, albeit unknowingly. I won't watch you do this to yourself."

Harry's gaze dropped to the carpet when his father looked at him sternly. "You're being far too hard on yourself Harry James. That stops now. What's happening around the school is not your fault. The students who are blaming you- that's not your fault either. You know that and I know that. So, you need to stop working yourself up over this. They will come around and see sense. Now, when are you going to start seeing sense? Hmm?" Sirius scolded gently, running his fingers through the untamable mop.

"Here's what you are going to do for the next couple of days. You're going to invite Ron and Hermione over as frequently as you can. The three of you are going to enjoy yourselves and have fun. You will play snap, chess or whatever it is that you want. You'll focus on your studies and not on the rubbish around you. You're going to eat properly and I will make sure you do. If I find you're not eating or that you are skipping meals just to avoid students, I'm going to take a spoon and feed you every one of your meals. Are we clear?" Sirius lifted Harry's chin to look him in the eye. He had meant every word of what he had just said.

"Yes, sir." Harry responded as his eyes conveyed that he understood the seriousness behind his father's words and he would do as told. "Good. Because if I come to know that you've been doing anything but taking care of yourself, I'll transfigure your ears into an elephant's." Sirius threatened jokingly, as he gently pulled one of the boy's ears.

Harry giggled slightly at the mental image of him roaming around the castle with large elephant ears sticking out from the sides of his head and that's when he realised that he already felt better. It never failed to amaze him as to how even a small conversation with his dad made him feel loads better.

"Don't worry, you won't have to. I'll make sure to play lots of games and eat tons of candy." Harry promised with a cheeky smile. Laughing, Sirius ruffled his son' hair. "Good lad. Now get to bed. You don't have classes tomorrow and so, if I see you out of bed before nine, I'm going to throw you over my shoulder and haul your bum right back in." said Sirius.

Harry changed into his pajamas and crawled into bed. Sirius kissed his son's forehead and made to leave when his pup grabbed his wrist. "Will you stay?" Harry asked, ignoring that little voice that told him that he was acting like a needy five year old. "Of course."

Sirius climbed in next to Harry and the boy snuggled close, burying his face in his dad's chest, drawing comfort. Sirius wrapped his arm around Harry's middle. "Sleep tight, pup."

For the next few days, Harry stuck to his promise. He made a sincere effort to ignore all the nonsense whispered by the other students. He played games of chess with Ron, ate chocolate frogs and liquorice wands and even gave in when Hermione insisted that he study an extra hour everyday. After a while, he genuinely felt better. Every time he heard something being mumbled about himself, he imagined Sirius' voice in his head, telling him to ignore it all and stay calm. It took some time but eventually, the rumours and whispers didn't affect him anymore. He focused on just the happy parts of life.

His back had also healed considerably by then and all that remained was a slight ache and a thin white scar running down the length of his back.

If only such temporary solutions could solve the problems looming before them. If only.

"Come on, there's got to be a way." Ron said, looking eager. The three of them wanted to find out more about the Chamber of Secrets. Harry had come up with the brilliant idea of sneaking into the Slytherin common room and see if any of the students knew anything. They could take the invisibility cloak.

"I bet Malfoy knows something about it. Dad said that his father was of the Dark sort." Ron continued. "Mione, think. How do we get in?" Harry prompted. "I've already told you, even with the cloak, we need the password to get in. The Slytherins are not stupid enough to give away the password to anyone, least of all a Gryffindor." Hermione explained. "What about Crabbe and Goyle?" "Well, the two of them are always with Malfoy so that's not an option either."

"Think Hermione, think. You're the brightest of the lot. If anyone can come up with an idea then it's you." Said Ron. Hermione turned a shade of red at the compliment. "I'll try and figure something out."

By the end of Herbology, Hermione approached the two boys. "Well, I've got an idea but it's dangerous. We'll be breaking over fifty school rules. If we're caught there's a good chance that we may be suspended." She said. "We will just have to be extra careful then." Ron looked excited at the idea of getting into the Slytherin common room. "It's not that simple, Ronald. It'll take me a while to carry this out." Hermione pulled out a book from her bag and showed it to them. "Look at this. The polyjuice potion allows you to temporarily transform into another wizard or witch. So, if we disguise ourselves, getting in shouldn't be a problem. We're just going to need a few ingredients."

"So what are we waiting for? Start making it Mione." Said Ron. Hermione looked rather unsure. "Ron, we can get into a lot of trouble for this." She said. "Relax Hermione. We have the cloak. No one will even see us." Said Harry. She looked uncertain for a moment but then she relented. "Fine. We'll do it. Tomorrow during classes I'll take the cloak, sneak into Snape's lab and get the things that we need." She looked determined. The two boys looked at her like she'd sprouted an extra head. Who would've thought that Hermione Granger would willingly break rules?

"Alright. Then it's settled."

The next day however turned out to be utterly disappointing. "I searched the entire lab but Snape seems to have ran out of Boomslang skin and knotgrass. I found everything else."

"Well now that's bloody brilliant isn't it." Came Ron's sarcastic response. "Can't we use anything else?" Asked Harry. They were so close. "Unfortunately, there isn't. We can't replace the original ingredients."

"I've got it! I just thought of an amazing idea. The coming Saturday is a Hogsmeade weekend." Said Ron, looking very excited. "So? That's third year onwards." Hermione spoke slowly like she was talking to a three year old. "I know that. Here's what we can do. Last week, Fred and George were planning all these pranks so they had this map of Hogwarts that they were using. Apparently, there's this One-eyed witch passageway that leads straight into Honeydukes. We're into Hogsmeade. We can then get whatever we need." Ron appeared very pleased with himself.

"Well, for someone as dull as yourself, that's a pretty good idea Ron." Hermione teased. Ron was too happy to respond to her comment.

Harry didn't know how to tell his friends his current dilemma. Last year, he would've rushed in to the idea without a second thought but this year was different. He had somebody to answer to. If they got caught, they would be in major trouble. Sirius would get mad and although Harry knew that the man wouldn't hit him, he most certainly wasn't looking forward to being grounded, along with his father's disappointment in him.

He decided to be honest with his friends. "Ron, if we do this and are caught, my dad is going to be really mad at me. He was pretty ticked off when we flew the car and I promised him that I wouldn't put myself in danger." He confessed. Ron looked surprised for a moment but then he said: "Harry, mate, I'm just as likely to get caught as you. My mum will kill me if she finds out."

Harry remained silent. On one hand, he didn't want to let Sirius down. But, on the other hand, Hogwarts was the first place he had ever felt at home and he didn't want to see the place destroyed. Some of his life's first good memories were connected with this place. Perhaps if they were really careful. "Fine let's do it."

Finding the passage wasn't a difficult task. They were soon inside. Harry tucked the invisibility cloak into his sweater. His pocket was filled with a few sickles and galleons to pay for whatever they bought. As far as Hermione had told them, the ingredients weren't very expensive.

After their walk, they reached the end of the passageway that led upwards. There was an iron ladder going to the top. It was a little hard to cover all three of them with the cloak and climb the ladder at the same time but with some effort, they managed to do it.

Harry slowly lifted up the floorboard and was at once greeted by the bustling scene at Honeydukes. Trying to make as little sound as possible, they climbed out and headed for the exit.

J. Pippin' Potions was a half hour walk from Honeydukes. It took them longer since all three of them had to walk at the same pace. They reached the dimly lit shop. The door was open and they walked inside. Different sorts of ingredients and potions hung from the racks. Cauldrons of different sizes had been placed on the shelves. A small man, probably in his late fifties sat at the main counter. He was dressed in tatty robes and wore a sour expression.

The plan was to quietly take what was required, leave the money on one of the shelves and get back quickly. "Harry, over there." Hermione whispered, pointing to the third column from the left. The boomslang skin was there and two shelves below it was the knotgrass. They were about to grab it and go when another customer walked in: Remus.

The three of them exited the shop as quietly as possible. They waited outside nervously for Remus to get what he wanted and leave so that they could do their job. They hadn't planned for this at all.

Remus had come to buy his ingredients required to make the Wolfsbane potion. The moment he walked into the shop, his senses caught whiff of a highly familiar scent.

He sharply turned his head to the left. Yes, it was definitely stronger that side. Someone had been here. It then hit him: it was Harry's scent. But that couldn't be possible right? The boy was at Hogwarts right now or was he?

He quickly paid for his materials and headed out when the scent suddenly became extremely strong. His suspicions were confirmed. Harry was certainly here, hidden under the invisibility cloak. Without further ado, Remus briskly marched forward and tugged the cloak off. And there he found Harry with Ron and Hermione: his partners in crime.

"What do you think you're doing out here, young man?" He demanded sternly.

For Harry, it seemed as though the world had stopped. They had been caught. They were in trouble; they were so dead. Ron's expression was frozen in a similar fashion and Hermione; the one who always had an answer for everything was quiet.

"Please don't tell dad!" Even as Harry said it, he knew what was going to follow. There was no way Remus would not tell Sirius. "I won't. You will. But first, back to the castle."

They took the floo back to Hogwarts and as luck would have it, they ran into Mcgonagall on the way. The Transfiguration professor was surprised to see Remus with the three students and when she found out what was going on, she was furious. "To the headmaster's office this instant!" Remus didn't come with them. "I'll go and get Sirius."

Harry was beginning to panic. They were in so much trouble. The only relieving thing was that neither Remus nor Mcgonagall knew why they were caught out of bounds.

Harry had never been to Dumbledore's office before. Mcgonagall said the password and the Gargoyle sprang aside, revealing a spiral staircase. If anyone looked more worried than Harry then it was Hermione. She absolutely hated getting into trouble. She didn't want to know what was in store for them.

Dumbledore listened quietly to their story. Ron and Harry did most of the explaining since Hermione was too nervous to speak coherently. They left out the part as to why they had been outside in the first place. Instead, they told him it was for a prank. At the end of it, he pushed himself forward and laced his fingers. "I must say, it's disappointing to see such disregard for school rules."

"Miss Granger, I expected you to know better than the other two. How could you three do this?" Mcgonagall scolded, looking at her three students with disappointment. "After everything that's going on, you'll wander off like this! It's outrageous!"

"I'm afraid we shall have to call your parents immediately. We cannot ignore such behavior. It's simply unbecoming of you. I'm disappointed in all three of you. Twenty points from Gryffindor, each."

Harry's shoulders sagged further. He waited for the other shoe to drop. "Mr. Weasley, your parents shall be coming now in a few minutes. Miss Granger, I shall be writing to your parents. You may return to your common room. Mr. Potter, you godfather will come and deal with this matter. Until then, you may take a seat over there." She pointed to a plush sofa and they sat down, trepidation increasing by the second.

Harry watched as Mcgonagall waved her wand and a silvery cat popped out. She sent a message with it. Now for the real trouble.

Sirius was the first to arrive. He looked a little confused since Remus hadn't given many details. Harry's stomach twisted uncomfortably the moment he saw his father. He had no idea about how he was going to explain himself.

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley arrived next, looking equally confused. "What's all this about?" Sirius asked, taking a seat on the opposite side of the large desk. "Mr. Black, I'm afraid your godson has landed himself in quite a bit of trouble. Same goes for your son, Mr. Weasley."

Sirius turned around to look at Harry but the boy's gaze was firmly directed towards the floor. He couldn't even look at Sirius.

The story was retold and the parents listened, ever so attentive. "Albus, I apologise for Ronald's behaviour. It was completely out of line and unacceptable. I assure you, we will deal with him properly." Said Mrs. Weasley, glaring at her son who shrunk into his seat.

"I believe that's it." Said Mcgonagall.

"Albus, is it alright if I take Ronald home for the weekend. He'll be back for lessons on Monday. We have things to discuss." Said Mrs. Weasley. Harry had a feeling that this 'discussion' was going to be far from pleasant. "Of course Molly."

Mrs. Weasley marched over to where they were seated, grabbed Ron by the ear and hoisted him off the sofa and dragged him towards the floo. Harry shot his best mate a sympathetic look before the three Weasleys flooed off to the Burrow.

The walk back to Sirius' quarters was quiet, much like the day they had flown the car. "Dad I'm-"

"Not now Harry." Uh oh. His dad was so mad. The portrait swung open and the two of them climbed inside. Remus was sitting in the living room. "Go to your room please." Said Sirius. Harry went inside almost immediately, softly closing the door after him.

Remus observed his friend. Sirius was handling the whole situation a whole lot better than he had expected him to. The man was calm although a little worried. "I didn't expect something like this from Harry. Come on, even James and I didn't do something like this. After everything that's going on, I expected him to be a little more careful. I don't know what to do, Moony."

"Of course you do Padfoot. Harry looks up to you. He listens to you and you're the only adult he has ever trusted."

"Which is why he decided to do this behind my back?" Asked Sirius sarcastically. "He's a child Sirius. He'll make mistakes, which is exactly why you're here: to show him the right way. Go talk to him and I'm sure the two of you will work it out."

"Well, I do hope you're right." Sirius briefly squeezed Remus' shoulder in appreciation. Remus nodded with a smile and went back to his house.

Sirius took a deep breath. He wasn't going to yell at Harry. No. They would talk it all out calmly and then Sirius would do what was needed. He opened the door to Harry's room to find the boy on his bed. Harry's head shot up the moment he heard the door click. "Dad, I'm sorry. We-"

"You're not sorry you did it. You're sorry because you got caught and don't you deny it."

Harry opened his mouth to deny it but he closed it again. Sirius had a fair point. He wasn't exactly sorry that he had gone off like that. But yes, he was sorry because he had worried his father, got his friends in trouble and put himself in danger.

"Why did you go Harry? You know as well as I do that it wasn't to buy materials for a prank. Please, stop lying to me. You know how much I hate it."

"Sorry. Will you tell Dumbledore?" Harry whispered, his face was a light shade of red because of the scolding. "This conversation is between you and me. You have my word that I won't tell anybody." Sirius promised. That was all Harry needed. He told Sirius the full truth about their plan to make the Polyjuice potion and question Malfoy.

"Your idea would've been completely useless." Sirius pointed out bluntly. "The Malfoys were deemed untrustworthy a few decades ago and so, they weren't given any information about such dark topics. Whatever they do know now, is irrelevant. Nothing more than what you already know. I can assure you that young Malfoy knows nothing much."

"Oh." Harry felt like such an idiot. To think they underwent all this trouble for nothing. "What I want to know is why you were getting involved in all this. It's dangerous and you know it."

"Hogwarts was my first home, Dad. I can't watch it crumble like this." Harry's confession made Sirius think about his own childhood. Hogwarts had been his first home too. His parents had always hated him for being different. "I know what that feels like Harry but I can't simply ignore the fact that you rushed into danger. Several things could've gone wrong today." Said Sirius, his voice going stern.

Harry suddenly found the paisley carpet very interesting. "I trusted you, Harry James. Apparently, I shouldn't have." A kick in the gut would've hurt less. "Give me the cloak please."

Without a word of argument, Harry handed over his invisibility cloak. "You can have this back once I'm assured that you won't use it for anything dangerous." Harry nodded reluctantly. That was fair.

Harry got up and threw his arms around the man. "I'm sorry, Dad. I really am. I'm sorry I risked my life, I'm sorry for worrying you and endangering myself." At the last bit, Harry's voice broke a little.

Strong arms pulled him close. "I know you mean that, pup. I can't lose you Harry. It would kill me." Said Sirius. Harry nodded against him.

"We won't bring this up again." The man said. Harry smiled at that. It was one of his favourite rules. Sirius believed that once something had been dealt with, it wasn't to be mentioned again.

"Will Ron be okay?" Harry asked. His best friend's mother had appeared livid when she had taken him home. "He'll be alright. His mother will be hard on him, but no doubt but he'll be fine. Don't you worry."

"In the meantime, I suggest you worry about yourself." Harry looked at Sirius questioningly. He followed Sirius down the stairs and into a room that was like the ground floor of the Defence quarters. It had a door on either side, probably leading to other such poorly maintained rooms. Harry had never been down here before and by the looks of it, no one else had either.

Every inch of the place was coated with a thick layer of dust. Cobwebs hung from the junctions of every wall. A couple of boxes had been haphazardly stacked here and there. Files were lying in a corner in an untidy pile. "This room could use some cleaning. Couldn't it?" Asked Sirius, leaning against the staircase. "Um yes..." Harry wasn't exactly sure where this conversation was headed.

"So, I suggest you get to it. It needn't be spotless, just presentable. You can do one now and the other two tomorrow. Without magic of course." Said Sirius, casually. Harry stared at his dad with a gaping mouth. "You can't be serious!" He said. It would take him hours to clean this place. Why had he thought of sneaking off like that!

"I'm perfectly serious about this Harry. You risked your life and I'll just take your cloak away? Absolutely not, young man. The longer you spend talking to me, the more time you're wasting so for your sake, I suggest you get started."

"But you said I didn't have to do chores." He cheekily replied, remembering the time Sirius had told him those very words. "I remember what I said Harry James. This isn't a chore. It's punishment. Unless of course you'd rather be grounded for the week." Quickly shaking his head, Harry picked up the dusting cloth and began his task. Being grounded was truly terrible.

"What are you going to do?" Harry asked. Sirius conjured a chair for himself. "I'm going to supervise."

With a sigh Harry started with clearing the cobwebs. Brilliant way to spend the weekend indeed.

So how was it? Just to make one thing clear, for all those who think Sirius was wrong to get mad at Harry, please do think again. Sirius is a great friend, marauder and prankster but in this story, he's also a father. His reaction to Harry risking his life like that was very normal. His paternal instincts are stronger than his other aspects.

Harry is his world and he will do what it takes to keep the boy safe. Even if that means a little tough love. So for those of you who think he's wrong, stop calling him a hypocrite!

Had to put that out there. Other than that, I hope you'll liked the chapter. I'll try and update soon. R&R!