Chapter Five
The day started with comfortable slowness, everybody waking and taking time to wonder if the night before had been no more than a dream before filtering into the Great Hall for breakfast. Not to say that everyone slept well. No, they did not. In fact, most of the people at the table that morning were grumbling and grouchy as befit those who spent the night tossing and turning and are waiting impatiently for their first cup of coffee. Sirius, James, Remus, and Lily were all downing the caffeinated wonder as quickly as possible while they stole not-so-subtle glances at the doorway and each other. Again, they found themselves nervously waiting for Harry to arrive.
Ginny Weasley was particularly vicious in the early mornings, not that it was very early, but still, morning was morning and lack of sleep was lack of sleep, and she was only on her second cup of coffee. The other red-heads all gave her a wide berth. Even the twins knew better than to badger their sister now that she had graduated and formed an addiction.
Oh, sweet coffee, she crooned in her mind. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
Molly Weasley busied herself with her favorite hobby – mother-henning. The clucked, and tsk'ed and quibbled on and on about how little her family was eating, or that someone needed to eat more of this and less of that, and the other Weasley all busied themselves with listening to her and following her demands with a roll of the eye or a meaningless complaint. It was business as usual.
Neville bounded in looking harried and disheveled, carrying a notebook with papers falling out and covered in his scrawling chicken-scratch handwriting. He quipped a distracted hello to the room's occupants and ignored (or didn't hear) his gran's nervous good morning. Sitting himself down next to Ginny, he pushed the plate to one side, set down his notebook and poured himself a mug of coffee, tossing in heaps of cream and sugar, oblivious to the red head's incredulous gaze.
"Want coffee with that cream and sugar?" she asked wryly.
"Just a dash," he answered groggily, without missing a beat. Ginny smiled, and returned to her breakfast.
He dished himself up a small helping of eyes and bacon and picked at it while he reviewed the notes he'd taken over the past months.
Moments later, Ron trudged in behind Cassie, who, bright eyed and bushy tailed, was craning her neck to see all the Hall's decorations at once.
"Why do we have to be up at nine again?" he asked.
"Just shut up and eat," Cassie responded, shoving him towards the table. Grumbling beneath his breath, Ron sat down and stared at his plate for a few seconds before asking where the coffee was.
The Grangers and Conners strode in as a group, lead by Hermione who was dragging Sam along by his wrist. Without a word she set herself down on Ron's right side and started dishing up two plates while Sam filled two mugs with coffee.
"So she gets to pick at you, now," Ron quipped when he noticed what Hermione was doing. Sam just smiled and shrugged.
"I thought I told you to shut up and eat." The bushy haired girl raised an eyebrow at Ron, and tried not to laugh as his ears turned a brilliant shade of red. Huffing, he spun around in his seat to glare at Cassie on his left. She smirked and started eating.
"You – Aargh!" He huffed again and filled his plate violently before shoveling the food into his mouth.
Hermione broke into a wide grin and exclaimed, "Ron, you're disgusting!" before throwing her arms around him in a rib crunching embrace.
"It's so good to see you again!"
"Is goo to ee ou oo, Mione."
Rolling their eyes, Cassie, Hermione, and Ginny all admonished, "Don't speak with your mouth full!"
"Dear God, I've missed that."
There in the doorway stood Harry, Luna, and Angela. Luna was smiling faintly, seemingly even more dazed in the mornings than she was the rest of the day, while Angela tried in vain to muffle her snickers behind her hand, and Harry smiled faintly, looking weary and strained with bags beneath his eyes and a pallor complexion.
"Harry! Did you sleep alright?" His smile stretched painfully and he shrugged.
"Yeah, mate," Ron added, swallowing. "You're really pale."
"Yeah, well, that's blood loss for you Ron," Harry responded. "And I slept fine, Mione. Wonderfully even."
Nodding Ron turned back to his food while Hermione pursed her lips together in a thoughtful frown. Obviously she wanted to ask just why he was suffering from blood loss, but she restrained herself.
"Speak for yourself," Angela interjected. "You kick. I don't know why I never noticed before."
"Yeah, well, you're a blanket hog, so we're even."
"I am not!" she exclaimed indignantly.
"Yes. Yes, you are. Is there coffee?"
"Over here," Ron said, holding up the pot.
"Joy of joys," he groaned happily, taking the pot and choosing a seat.
"So are you two like, together?" Cassie asked, glancing between Harry and his purple haired companion. The green eyed boy snorted.
"Hey!" again Angela was indignant.
"Angie doesn't lean my way," he explained. "I'm just a stray she took in."
"Ah, I see."
Ignoring the looks sent their way with practiced ease, Harry and Angela dished up their own breakfasts.
"Harry, if you're her pet, shouldn't you have a collar?"
The green eyed boy froze, hearing his dead godfather's voice. Angela choked on her coffee, thrown immediately into throws of laughter interspersed with fits of coughing due to the liquid in her lungs.
"Oh, shut up," her companion told her as he stood. Remus watched nervously as he made his way over to Sirius, and tried to convey those thoughts to James and Lily. They weren't paying him any attention, though, being far more focused on hiding their own joy and nervousness at finally being acknowledged by their son.
Sirius had effectively jumped to his death in the Department of Mysteries, not only by following the rest of the Order in the first place, but for being so arrogant as to taunt his Death Eater cousin. Both Harry and Remus had only begun expressing their anger at him for just that when the boy had been charged with murder. Harry was either going to apologize for getting Padfoot killed, or he was going to beat the crap out of him. Neither action was one to be celebrated.
James watched as Padfoot's roguish smirk was offset by the anxiousness in his eyes, and Harry Potter sauntered over to them slowly. For the first time, he got a good look at his son and felt a weight lift off of his heart. He was very pale and had James' own fly-away hair that fell into his mother's piercing green eyes. His right eyebrow was pierced twice, and there was a silver stud in his nose, and a small hoop running through his lower lip. There was a trail of fire tattooed down his left arm, ending at the elbow, and another tattoo peaking around the curve of his neck. His clothes were all black and his pants tucked into a pair of steel toed boots. He looked like a delinquent, albeit a well dressed one. James breathed easier at the sight. He wouldn't have to hate his friends.
"Sirius," the young man breathed. "It's good to see you again."
Smiling in relief, Sirius stood, intending to embrace his godson. Remus cringed, and Harry's right hook hit with great accuracy, breaking the man's nose with a sickening crunch and a spray of blood.
"YOU BASTARD! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU? RUNNING OFF TO THE MINISTRY LIKE THAT AND PLAYING WITH YOUR BITCH OF A COUSIN, GETTING YOURSELF PUSHED BEHIND THAT DAMN VEIL! YOU CARELESS IDIOT!"
"What the hell, Harry? I WENT TO SAVE YOUR SORRY ASS!"
"LETTING YOUR GUARD DOWN WHEN FIGHTING DEATH EATERS IS NOT A RESCUE TACTIC, SIRIUS!"
"YOU'RE THE ONE WHO WENT TO THE MINISTRY IN THE FIRST PLACE!"
"Sirius!" Remus cried angrily. It had taken an entire summer to convince Harry that the DoM incident hadn't been his fault entirely, and his friend was about undo all of his hard work. What a homecoming this was.
"I WAS FIFTEEN!" Harry screeched indignantly. "I WAS TRICKED, I WAS LIED TO, AND I WAS ARROGANT! NOBODY BOTHERED TO TELL ME THEY WERE CHECKING ON YOU BEFORE THEY WANDERED OFF! NOBODY BOTHERED TO TELL ME TOM COULD GET INTO MY HEAD!" He paused for a moment and seemed to shrink in on himself, hunching over and glaring at the floor so that his hair hid most of his face. "Your death was not my fucking fault!"
Sirius gaped at the man in front of him in surprise. The rest of the room was silent and full of spectators, all of them either watching the exchange in shock or pity or confusion.
"Harry," Remus began, intending to reassure him.
"Of course it's not your fault," Sirius interrupted. "It's nobody's damn fault."
"I know," Harry insisted. "But you're the only one I haven't yelled at yet."
At the other end of the table, Ron, Ginny, and the twins all snorted and tried to stifle their laughter.
"Well, did you have to punch me too?" Padfoot whined. This time Remus laughed, and shook his head.
"You're not the only one, Padfoot," he said. "I took my fair share of hits, and Severus took many times that. I believe Dumbledore also lost a few knick-knacks, and trinkets in his office."
"You trashed Dumbledore's office, Harry?" The young man in question merely shrugged at the outraged cry.
"What can I say, except the man has the worst timing in the world. I offered to pay for everything I broke."
"Bad timing?" Lily asked. Surprisingly, Harry answered her, as opposed to pretending she didn't exist, though he refused to even glance in her direction.
"Ask him. I don't feel like explaining. Now, I'm going to go eat. And to answer your question, Sirius, there is no way in hell that anyone is getting me into a collar ever again."
Angela started laughing again, and Harry told her to shut up, looking supremely uncomfortable.
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