Chapter 11

Harry stared at Sirius, holding his breath, adrenalin pumping through his veins. His heart raced as Sirius walked closer to him, a hard blazing look in his eyes. He was very close now, they were almost touching. Up close the fire in his eyes lit them up and they took Harry's breath away.

Sirius quickly closed the gap between them and pushed Harry roughly against the wall, pressing their lips together eagerly. This was nothing like their first tender kiss, this was passionate, rough, full of pent up feelings. Sirius pressed his body close to Harry's, and Harry threw his arms around Sirius' neck, burying a hand in his thick hair. He felt Sirius lightly bite his lip and he gasped, allowing him to dart his tongue out at lick it better, before gently teasing Harry's tongue with quick and sensual licks.

They pulled apart after a while, and Sirius gently pressed their foreheads together as he breathed heavily, pulling Harry into a tight hug. He pulled back and looked into Harry's eyes, a soft smile appearing on his face. Harry smiled back, a single happy tear falling from his eye as he processed the importance of what had just happened. It was like there had been a massive shift in his life, everything was changing now. He wasn't at Hogwarts anymore, Voldemort was back in power and now his relationship with Sirius had changed.

"We need to talk about this," Sirius whispered softly in Harry's ear. Seeing the look of trepidation on Harry's face, he quickly continued, "Don't worry. I'm not going to get angry or anything. Even I can see that there's no going back now."

Harry nodded and Sirius pulled away from him, walking towards the kitchen. Harry suddenly realised that they were in the headquarters where anyone could have just walked in on then. He gulped, vowing to be more careful from now on. He was lucky that Remus was out at the moment, and that Molly hadn't followed up on her threat to make sure they weren't left home alone together anymore. Molly herself had been spending a lot of time at the Burrow recently, for which Harry was very grateful.

They sat down at the table, the atmosphere feeling almost awkward for a moment. How do you have a conversation about being in a relationship with your godfather? Harry hesitantly placed a hand on top of Sirius', and they smiled at each other tentatively.

"So…" Sirius said, smirking at Harry.

"Well. This is…different…" Harry replied, laughing.

"Harry," Sirius said gently, being serious now, "I'm not going to pretend that this isn't strange for me…it probably is for you too. But you threatening to leave gave me the kick that I needed to make me realise that I need you." Harry smiled at this. "And I guess I can't deny that I find you incredibly attractive…" Sirius tailed off, giving Harry a stare so intense that he felt like he was melting. He felt butterflies in his stomach and he blushed, looking at the floor.

"I really want to make this work, Sirius…I'm just relieved that you came to your senses," he teased. "If we feel this strongly for each other, then who are we to deny our feelings?"

Sirius nodded his agreement, putting an arm around Harry and pulling him into an affectionate hug. Harry grinned, feeling the happiest he could remember being for a long time. He sighed contentedly, relaxing into the comfort of Sirius' embrace.

Turning to look at him properly, Harry asked the important question. "Do you want to tell anyone about this?" He bit his lip anxiously. It was highly unlikely that anyone else would understand the relationship between them, and he blanched at the thought of what Molly's reaction would be if she found out.

"That's a difficult one, Harry. You understand that it won't exactly get the best reaction from anyone else?"

"Yeah, I understand. I just don't want to have to lie about it," Harry said.

"Well how about we just don't tell anyone? It's our business, not theirs. If someone asks outright then we'll tell them but otherwise we'll keep it to ourselves."

Harry nodded, agreeing that it sounded like a reasonable idea. "What about Ron and Hermione? I don't think I'm ready yet, but would you be okay with me telling them eventually?" He really didn't want to keep things from them.

"Of course you can, Harry, they're your best friends. If anyone's going to trust in your decision then it's them. And can I tell Remus?" Sirius asked.

"Okay," Harry said hesitantly, "although he's a lot more likely to overact to it. He was friends with my dad, after all," he pointed out. He immediately regretted saying it, as he knew it would probably touch a nerve with Sirius.

Sirius closed his eyes briefly and looked troubled, but he shook it off and smiled at Harry. "If I can get over that, then Remus can damn well get over it too."

Harry grinned widely, feeling a new wave of fondness for Sirius. He ruffled the older man's hair affectionately, earning himself a gorgeous trademark smile from him. Sirius leaned in to give Harry an unexpected kiss on the lips.

"I'm going to have a hard time keeping my hands off of you, Harry," he said gruffly. Harry's breath hitched in his throat and he looked shyly up at Sirius, both excited and nervous at this. Sirius clearly noticed this, and looked at him curiously. "You don't have much experience in this, do you?" he said gently.

"Er…no experience at all, actually," Harry admitted awkwardly.

"None?" Sirius looked shocked. "Not even with a girl?"

"Nope. I had other things to think about at school generally. Y'know, Voldemort being on the back of my teacher's head, a Basilisk being loose in the school and attacking students, my long lost godfather breaking out of prison to commit the murder he was imprisoned for, not to mention being entered into the Triwizard Tournament at the age of fourteen…" Harry tailed off and looked at the unreadable expression on Sirius' face.

"You make a good point. Dating opportunities weren't exactly your main priority…" Sirius smiled at him but it didn't quite reach his eyes. He sighed, looking worried again. "You're so young, Harry…"

Harry scowled at him. "It doesn't matter how old I am. I've been through more shit than half the members of the Order combined. You were arguing with Molly the other day about how I'm not a child anymore, well maybe you should listen to yourself more often." Harry tried to keep his voice even but the subject of age was a tender one for him.

"Look, I'm sorry Harry. This is going to take some getting used to, and I'm almost definitely going to make mistakes. I didn't mean to make you feel bad," he said gently, pulling Harry closer into a hug.

"It's ok. I'm sure I'll mess up as well, we're both only human after all. Well, one of us is also a bit of a dog," he laughed, and Sirius snorted, an evil glint appearing in his eye.

"Oi! You'll live to regret that…" he moved one of his hands from Harry's back to his ribs, and Harry tried to run away as he knew what was coming. He was too slow however, and he screamed in laughter and Sirius started tickling him. Sirius picked him up and dropped him to the ground, straddling him and pinning his hands above his head so he couldn't push him off. That was the last thing on his mind now, however, as he was rather enjoying the feeling of the older man's body pressing into his own. Sirius seemed to come to the same conclusion, and the laughter in his eyes turned to a look of desire.

Harry bit his lip, wishing he could touch Sirius, but he still had his hands pinned above his head. He squirmed slightly, trying to pull his arms away and Sirius let go. Harry moved his hands down Sirius' body, enjoying the feeling of his defined muscles. Sirius moaned and captured Harry's mouth in a searing kiss. They didn't move from their position on the floor for some time, pausing for breath every now and then but neither of them wanting to stop kissing each other. Suddenly, however, they heard the front door slam shut and they shot away from each other quicker than Harry could have believed possible. About a second later they were sitting at the kitchen table, trying to look as normal as possible, when Remus walked into the room. He looked at them suspiciously, taking in their flustered appearance.

"Are you alright, guys?" he asked curiously.

"Yeah," they both replied breathlessly, laughing at each other nervously. Remus looked surprised but happy.

"You're talking to each other again, then?"

"We worked out our differences," Harry smiled, speaking to Remus but not looking away from Sirius. Sirius winked at him, and Harry couldn't help but blush and look away. Remus looked at them suspiciously again, but decided not to ask them anything in case he upset the balance that had finally been restored.

Harry was filled with a bubble of happiness that day that he couldn't shake off, and didn't want to. With a permanent smile on his face, he decided it would be a good idea to call Ron and Hermione and apologise for ignoring them for the last week, and for being so moody the last time they'd spoken. He picked up the two way mirror and called Ron's name. After a few seconds his friend's face appeared in the mirror, looking concerned.

"Harry, finally! We've been trying to contact you for the last week, what the hell happened?" Ron sounded relieved, but also slightly annoyed. Harry felt that he deserved it.

"I'm really sorry about that, mate. I had an…argument of sorts with Sirius, and we weren't speaking to each other and I was pretty depressed. But it's all sorted now!" Harry had tried to look guilty as he was talking to Ron but he couldn't help the smile coming back onto his face. Ron looked at him strangely.

"Fair enough…I'm just gonna get Hermione. Oi, Hermione, get over here!" He yelled over his shoulder, and he was joined a second later by a disgruntled Hermione.

"Ron, don't speak to me like that! What do you want, anyway? Oh!" She exclaimed, noticing the mirror that Ron was holding. "Harry! Are you okay? What happened?"

Harry smiled at her. "I'm fine Hermione! How are you on this fine day?" She looked shocked, and exchanged a look with Ron, who shrugged at her.

"He said he's talking to Sirius again," Ron said to her.

"Well, that's good news!" Hermione said, recovering from the surprise. "I don't suppose you're going to tell us what happened in the first place to make you punch a wall and ignore your best friends for a week?" A stern look had appeared on her face.

"No, I'm not going to tell you. Not yet anyway…I'm just not ready." He blushed slightly and looked away from the mirror. The idea of telling his friends made him extremely nervous, and there was no way he was doing that yet. He saw Ron looking mildly irritated and Hermione looking highly suspicious. He felt it was time for a quick subject change.

"Anyway! What's been happening at Hogwarts?"

"Well, seeing it's OWLs year we've been getting ridiculous amounts of homework," Ron grumbled.

"We've been through this, Ron, its necessary if we want to pass our exams!" Hermione said testily, "anyway, the only reason you're so behind is because you keep flying every evening."

"You've been flying?" Harry asked eagerly. "Are you trying out for the team? Are they picking someone to be Seeker too? I hope it's someone good!" Harry enthused, he had forgotten about the fact that they'd need two new players this year. Oliver Wood had now left, and Harry of course had also left the team so they were in need of a Keeper and Seeker. Hermione huffed, she obviously wasn't interested in discussing Quidditch.

"Yeah, I thought I might try out for Keeper," Ron said awkwardly. "I mean, I'm not that good but it's worth a try right?"

"You're a good flier, you'll be fine!" Harry assured him, "have faith in yourself! They'd be mad not to pick you."

"Thanks mate," Ron said with a grin.

"Do you know who's going to try out for Seeker?" Harry asked curiously. It would be interesting to see who replaced him.

"I dunno yet, although Ginny's been flying a lot recently too. It wouldn't surprise me if she tried out for Seeker."

Harry was about to reply when he was interrupted by Hermione. "Look, I think we should be discussing more important things!" She looked exasperatedly at Ron who didn't seem to understand. "You know, things Harry could actually help us with, things that people in the Order will know about!"

"Oh right, yeah!" Ron said.

"Hagrid still isn't back," Hermione told Harry grimly. It was obvious they were becoming quite worried about him. "We thought maybe you could ask Sirius about it, see if he'll tell you what he was supposed to be off doing this summer."

"Hmm, it's definitely odd that he's not back yet. I'll ask Sirius, hopefully he'll tell me." Harry was concerned for their half-giant friend. He had a knack for thinking dangerous creatures were cute and cuddly, and it had got him into trouble a few times. "I really hope he's not hurt…"

"We hope so too Harry, we really do. There was something else we were going to mention actually," Hermione said.

"Yeah, Dumbledore is still away from the school most of the time. He looks tired whenever we do see him." Ron looked thoughtful.

"We were thinking maybe Sirius might know something about that too? Of course it might not be anything to do with the Order but it seems the most likely option," Hermione continued.

"Okay, I'll ask Snuffles about that too. I wonder what Dumbledore's up to? Maybe it's something to do with that weapon Sirius was talking about when I first came to Grimmauld Place," Harry speculated.

"Yeah, maybe! What if You-Know-Who has it now and Dumbledore's trying to steal it back?" Ron said wildly.

"I really don't think that's likely, Ronald. Harry would probably have noticed if something that major had happened, even if no one mentioned it." Hermione sounded unconvinced.

"Fine, whatever," Ron said grumpily, not happy at having his idea discounted.

"Look, I should go guys, it's nearly dinner time," Harry grinned at them.

"Alright Harry! Well, I hope everything keeps going okay with Sirius," Hermione said, watching him carefully.

"Thanks, Mione. See you!" Harry ended the call and wandered down to the kitchen. The smell of cooking food hit his nose, and he sniffed appreciatively. Sirius was standing in front of the oven with his back to Harry, so he crept into the kitchen and put his arms around Sirius' waist from behind, hugging him tightly.

"Hey, Padfoot," Harry said brightly. Sirius turned and looked at him over his shoulder, giving him a wide smile.

"Hey Harry! Want some dinner?"

"Course I do," Harry grinned at him, reluctantly letting him go and sitting at the table. A few minutes later Remus had joined them and they sat down to eat generous portions of steak and homemade fries. As they ate, Harry's mind drifted to its usual subject; Sirius. He remembered what he'd been thinking the other day about this place being full of bad memories for his godfather. He had an idea in his mind…he waited patiently for everyone to finish their dinner, then hinted that he wanted to talk to Sirius alone. Remus gave them a suspicious look, but left them anyway.

"What did you want to talk about, Harry?" Sirius asked him curiously.

"I had an idea…I mean, feel free to tell me if it sounds stupid…" Harry said self-consciously, already starting to doubt himself.

"I'm sure it's not stupid! Tell me," Sirius badgered him, an eager grin on his face.

"Okay, well. I know you hate living in this place, because it brings back horrible memories of your childhood…" Harry began, trying to judge Sirius' expression. His face visibly darkened, but he didn't speak. "I thought it might be a cool idea for the two of us to redecorate the house together…if we got rid of all the dark gloomy furniture and painted the walls and stuff, it would feel like a completely different house! And then we could build our own memories here instead…" Harry trailed off, hoping that Sirius didn't think it was a stupid idea.

"Harry…" Sirius said hoarsely, his voice almost breaking, "that's… I mean…Merlin, that's the sweetest thing anyone's ever said to me," he said softly with a smile appearing on his face. Harry threw his arms around Sirius and hugged him tightly, his throat feeling suddenly tight with emotion. "But don't tell anyone I said that, okay?" he added with a grin, "Moony wouldn't let me hear the end of it if he knew I was talking about my actual feelings, out loud."

Harry laughed and squeezed him tighter, then pulled back so he could see his face. He loved seeing Sirius laugh, knowing that it was him that made him happy.

"Maybe we should start on that tomorrow. I have a plan for us this evening, if you're interested."

"What is it?" Harry asked eagerly.

"Well, seeing as we got kind of distracted last time I started telling you about Animagi, I thought maybe we could start on it properly tonight. What do you think?"

Harry felt his excitement rise, he'd forgotten in all the drama that he'd had that discussion with Sirius. "That sounds great! Can we start right now?" Harry asked him enthusiastically.

Sirius laughed and stood up, offering Harry a hand. He pulled Harry up and starting walking towards the Drawing Room, still holding Harry's hand. "No time like the present!" he announced, strolling into the room and taking out his wand. As before, he banished all the furniture to the side of the room, except the sofa, which they sat on so Sirius could talk him through the basics.

"I doubt we'll actually need this space tonight, because you're only just beginning, but when you start trying to access your other form, we're going to need it. You could turn into something small, like a cat, or you could end up being something huge like a horse. It's always good to be sure," Sirius began. Harry was nervous, it sounded like it was going to be a very long and difficult process and he really didn't want Sirius to get frustrated at him if he was too slow. Sirius, as always, seemed to know what he was thinking.

"Don't worry, you won't be slow at it. You've already shown incredible strength of mind by being able to cast a Patronus at your age, plus being able to throw off the Imperius curse! You'll be fine," he smiled. Harry felt a warmth in his chest when Sirius complimented him.

"Okay, I believe you. So what's the first step? Do I have to read up on stuff first?"

"That can wait, you can do it during the week. Maybe we should have these lessons once a week? Then the rest of the time Moony can teach you all the boring things, and I'll help too."

"Sounds good to me!" Harry said.

"The first thing you need to do is to empty your mind. It's a basic principle of Animagus transformations, and it's necessary when you're trying to find your other form for the first time."

"Okay…so how do I empty my mind?"

"It's harder than it sounds. Lay back, and close your eyes." Harry did as he was told, getting comfortable on the sofa and closing his eyes. "Now, try not to think about anything at all."

Harry tried to banish everything from his mind. His brain was teaming with thoughts, however, thoughts about Sirius, nerves about trying to find his Animagus form, and random phrases like 'am I doing this right?' and 'damn it, stop thinking things' kept popping up in his mind. He heard Sirius' amused voice coming from next to him.

"It's sometimes easier if you try to just think about darkness. Imagine you're in a completely black room, there's nothing around you, let it take over your mind. Feel the emptiness," Sirius whispered.

After he'd gotten over how sexy Sirius sounded when he whispered in that deep voice, Harry tried out this technique. He felt the blackness encompass his mind, and strangely enough it actually started to work. Concentrating on the darkness made his other thoughts take a back seat and after a while he almost thought he was going to fall asleep. He was jolted back into reality by Sirius' voice coming at him through the fog of darkness surrounding his mind.

"That's really good Harry, I think you're getting the hang of it! You need to practice emptying your mind as much as possible, so that you can do it quicker and easier each time you try. When you have that sorted, you can start trying to connect with your magic and feeling the animal inside you trying to break out."

Harry listened excitedly, already eager to find out what his form would be. He knew however that it would probably be a long time before he reached that point.

"How soon do you think I'll be able to start that step?" Harry asked.

"Well, it depends how quickly you manage to read up on the theory, and how much you manage to practice. When I see how you're progressing next week, it'll be easier to put a time frame on it."

Harry was engrossed in what Sirius was saying. This all sounded fascinating to him. Not to mention, Sirius was very sexy when he was in teacher mode. Harry stifled a yawn. It was much later in the evening than he'd realised. How long had he been sitting there with an empty mind? Maybe he really had fallen asleep. Sirius didn't miss the yawn, and he stretched and yawned himself.

"Well, I don't know about you but it's been a bloody long day and I'm tired," Sirius said, standing up stiffly.

"Yeah, I'm knackered," Harry agreed, and they strode up the stairs together. When they reached Harry's floor, they stopped outside his bedroom.

"Well, goodnight Harry. I'll see you in the morning," Sirius smiled at him. He leaned forwards and captured Harry's lips in a breath-taking kiss goodnight. Harry gasped and smiled.

"Night, Sirius." He watched his godfather climb the stairs to the next floor, definitely not checking out his arse, then retired into his room for the night.

Here's the next chapter for you! I really hope you enjoyed it and it wasn't way too fluffy (let's face it, it totally was!)