Chapter 13

Harry felt extremely comfortable, and snuggled into the warmth that was next to him. He felt amazingly well rested, and for once was waking up naturally instead of jolting awake from his usual nightmares. Blearily he became more aware of his surroundings and felt the soft warmth next to him slowly rising and falling, felt a heartbeat under his hand. Harry opened his eyes and saw that he was cuddled up next to Sirius in his bed. He gasped, and a smile appeared on his face. Now he remembered waking up last night, Sirius comforting him and promising not to leave. Slightly embarrassed at how he'd acted last night, Harry was still very happy that Sirius had indeed not left. It filled him with a warm fuzzy feeling to be curled up in bed next to him, and he vowed to make sure Sirius slept next to him more often.

After a while, Harry felt Sirius stir next to him and he held his breath, hoping Sirius wouldn't leave now that he was awake. Sirius didn't leave, however. He moved his arms slightly as if only just registering the fact that they were wrapped protectively around Harry's waist still, then he tightened his hold and smiled into Harry's messy hair and kissed him gently on the forehead.

"Good morning, Harry," Sirius whispered softly.

Harry smiled into Sirius' chest, and looked up to meet his eyes. He was suddenly struck by how lucky he was when he took in how handsome Sirius looked right now, with his mussed up bed hair and cheeky grin. Sighing softly, Harry tried to regain composure.

"Morning Sirius," he managed to say in an almost whisper. He wriggled upwards in the bed until his face was level with Sirius', and he looked into the older man's silvery grey eyes with a soft smile on his face. "Thank you…" he said gently, "you know…for staying last night…" he tailed off awkwardly. Sirius smiled back at him and shook his head slightly.

"You don't have to thank me, Harry. You know I'll never leave you as long as you need me." His words seemed to hold more meaning than what was on the surface, and his eyes were serious as he looked into Harry's. Harry almost forgot to breathe for a moment, then took a deep shaky breath and smirked. A mischievous glint appeared in his eye, and he slowly sat up in bed, swinging a leg over Sirius so he was straddling him. Sirius looked surprised for a second, then he smirked back at Harry and raised an eyebrow.

Harry gathered all of his courage, and leant down to capture Sirius' lips in a quick kiss. He pulled back slightly, amused at the frustration in Sirius' eyes. Kissing him again, longer this time, he felt Sirius' tongue dart out and pulled back again, laughing breathily at the scowl he had produced on his godfather's face. His amusement was short lived however, as Sirius suddenly grabbed him by the waist and flung him onto his back, reversing their positions so that he was straddling Harry instead. Harry panted, out of breath from the exertion, face flushed in anticipation. As Harry watched breathlessly, Sirius bent down, bringing his face closer to Harry's until they were only millimetres apart. Ghosting his lips over Harry's face, he bent down and whispered in his ear in a sultry voice.

"I'll teach you to tease me, Harry…" His voice was barely audible, and yet Harry heard every word as loudly as if Sirius had shouted it. His breath hitched, his heart raced, and he looked desperately into Sirius' eyes as if trying to wordlessly tell him to hurry the hell up and kiss him already. Sirius chuckled, reading the impatience in Harry's eyes, and he suddenly swooped down to capture Harry's lips in a searing, passionate kiss. His tongue probed Harry's, warm and wet, with a subtle taste of something that was undeniably Sirius. Harry moaned, the feeling of Sirius' mouth on his, mixed with the warm pressure of their bodies pressed together was exceptionally overwhelming.

If this is Sirius' idea of punishing me, I think I'll annoy him more often…Harry thought to himself idly, as Sirius pressed soft kisses along his jawline and down his neck, sucking gently on his collarbone. Harry couldn't help but moan out loud again, and he saw Sirius smirk at him. He moved upwards, apparently unable to resist kissing Harry on the lips again, and Harry gasped as he felt Sirius' hand slide under his shirt and stroke the soft skin of his stomach.

Harry was just beginning to consider never leaving this bed again when he was startled back into reality by his door opening loudly. Sirius' eyes widened and he pulled back, turning round to stare at the door. Remus was standing in the doorway, looking at them with shock, which quickly turned to anger.

"Sirius! What the hell? It was bad enough seeing you all over him the other day, and now you're in his bed?" He sounded incredulous, and Harry averted his eyes, not wanting to see the disappointment in Remus' face. "I really thought that after I talked to you before, you might just let my words sink in and be an adult for once. I guess I was wrong…" With one last disgusted look at them, and without speaking a word to Harry at all, Remus turned and stalked out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Harry leaned back against the pillow, trying not to let it get to him and failing miserably.

"Harry, look at me," Sirius said gently, turning Harry's face with his warm hand. Harry looked at him, pouting slightly. "Just ignore him. He needs more time to get used to the idea of our…relationship."

"What if he never gets used to the idea?" Harry asked worriedly.

"Then that's his problem! If we spent our lives not doing anything unless everyone around us agreed with us, then we'd lead pretty boring lives. After all, this relationship is between us, therefore the only people it should concern are you and me. Remus can choose to agree with us or not, as long as we're happy with each other then it shouldn't affect us."

He put an arm around Harry and pulled him close, and Harry felt much better about everything. Sirius was right, Remus' opinion shouldn't keep them apart. He smiled slightly, relaxing into Sirius' warm embrace. There was no way he was giving up something that felt as good and as right as this, just for the opinion of one Remus Lupin. He would still rather Remus was happy with their relationship though…he sighed, wishing it could all just be simple for once. Sirius seemed to know just what he was thinking, as usual.

"Why don't we do something to take your mind off of this?" Sirius suggested quietly. Harry smirked at him and licked his lips. "I didn't mean that!" Sirius laughed, looking tempted, but he continued with his original train of thought. "What I meant was, perhaps we could start decorating the house today. I'm seriously fed up of this place now, I need to get rid of all these memories…" He trailed off, and Harry looked at him sympathetically.

"That's a great idea, Padfoot. Why don't we start with your bedroom?"

"Alright!" Sirius jumped out of bed eagerly and walked towards the bathroom, giving Harry a chance to check him out. "I know you're staring, Harry," he whispered seductively over his shoulder as he exited the room. Harry blushed, and buried his head under the covers as he listened to Sirius' laughter disappearing down the hallway.

After a much needed cold shower and a hurried breakfast, Harry climbed the stairs to the second floor and entered Sirius' bedroom. It was a dark, dingy room, much like the rest of the house. He apparently hadn't changed it since he had been living here as a teenager, as there were faded Gryffindor banners hung around the room and posters of Muggle girls in bikinis posing on motorcycles. Also, there was a photo next to the bed of Sirius and his three best friends; James, Remus and Peter. They were all waving happily at the camera, all unaware that the mousy boy on the end, Peter Pettigrew, would one day betray them all to Voldemort. Harry narrowed his eyes, wondering if the teenaged Peter in the photo knew yet how much of a traitor he would one day become.

In the midst of all this was Sirius himself, sitting on his old bed with a morose expression on his face. Harry understood how he felt, and he was determined to do something about it. He sat down on the bed next to Sirius and put an arm around his waist, squeezing him gently, letting him know that he was there for him. Sirius turned to him and smiled softly, lighting up his handsome face.

"We should start by getting rid of all this old furniture," Harry suggested enthusiastically. There wasn't that much in the room, other than Sirius' old bed, a wooden dresser, and a desk and chair in the corner.

"Okay, that sounds good to me," Sirius replied, obviously trying his best to get rid of the memories that were pulling him down. He grinned at Harry and pulled out his wand. "Ready to try some more Vanishing? It's much easier on inanimate objects."

"Er, okay!" Harry said apprehensively. The mouse he had Vanished the other day may have been alive, but it was much smaller than a piece of heavy furniture.

"You'll be fine! I'll get rid of this bed, and you try it out on that desk and chair. Just focus on the spell, concentrate on the idea of it not existing anymore." Sirius turned to the bed, and with a flourish of his wand it disappeared, leaving a large dusty area free in the middle of the room. Harry turned nervously to the chair, and closed his eyes.

Concentrating as hard as he could, Harry flourished his wand and cried "Evanesco!" He opened his eyes tentatively, and was surprised to see that the chair was no longer there.

"I did it!" He said eagerly to Sirius, who laughed at him.

"I told you it was easy. Now, do the rest!" Sirius gestured to the desk, and the dresser. Harry screwed up his face and pointed his wand at them both in turn, shouting the incantation and watching with undisguised excitement as he Vanished the tired old furniture from the room. They were now left with an empty room, the dull carpet covered with dust and what looked suspiciously like mouse droppings in one corner. Sirius looked at him proudly.

"Nicely done, Harry, nicely done. The next bit's up to me though, I'm afraid. I put permanent sticking charms on these posters and banners when I was in school, which means no one but me can get rid of them."

"How come you put permanent sticking charms on them?" Harry asked curiously. "And why, may I ask, are there photos of Muggle girls in bikinis all over the room?" he added with a disgruntled frown on his face. Sirius laughed, unashamed.

"Why do you think? I wanted to piss off my parents as much as possible. If I hadn't ensured that no one else could take the posters down, my mother would have snuck in here while I was at Hogwarts and taken them down herself. I always was a disappointment, ending up in Gryffindor." Sirius looked annoyed, and Harry felt bad for bringing it up.

"Hey, it's fine. We're getting rid of these memories now! Soon your room will be unrecognisable," he smiled at Sirius, trying to lighten the mood. Sirius grinned back, and went to work on the Gryffindor banners first. It seemed to take a fair amount of work, and he could hear Sirius muttering what sounded like complex incantations as he ran his wand around the edges of the banners, so he decided to sit on the floor and think about how they were going to decorate the room when it was empty. It was up to Sirius, of course, but at the moment Harry was imagining it with a simple colour scheme of blues and greens, with a large comfortable bed and perhaps some new furniture such as a wardrobe or a bookcase or something. He also had an idea for something special to reflect Sirius, but he was still unsure about bringing it up.

As he waited, Harry absentmindedly began daydreaming about the two of them breaking in Sirius' bed. He flushed furiously when he realised what he was thinking about, and quickly distracted himself by looking around to see how far Sirius had got with clearing the walls. They were all bare now, and Sirius was working on the final thing – the photograph of himself and his friends at Hogwarts. With one final grim look at Peter Pettigrew, Sirius managed to remove the photo from the wall and he Vanished it with a flick of his wand. He turned to Harry with a pleased expression on his face.

"Well, there we have it! My room is now a blank canvas…" He looked around, clearly satisfied with what they had achieved so far. "Now what?"

"I was thinking…don't hate me for this, Padfoot, but perhaps we could paint the walls the Muggle way?" He saw Sirius' expression and hasted on, "don't look at me like that! Painting is fun, and putting the effort in makes it feel like you actually accomplished something at the end of it." He looked earnestly at Sirius, hoping he could convince him. "I've always wanted to paint a room," he added quietly, looking at the floor instead of Sirius, "the Dursley's never let me paint mine, so it stayed a boring white colour the whole time I lived there." He glanced upwards tentatively, and saw Sirius looking at him with an unreadable expression. He held his breath, fingers crossed behind his back.

"Okay, you convinced me. We'll do it your way," Sirius grinned at him. "Now where can we buy some Muggle paint around here?" He asked, walking towards the door as if he was going to leave.

"Sirius!" Harry shouted after him, panicking. Sirius turned just outside the bedroom door and laughed at him.

"I'm kidding, Harry, c'mon now! I'm not stupid enough to go outside after the bollocking we got last time. I'll conjure us some paint." Sirius smirked at him, and Harry breathed a sigh of relief, feeling stupid for falling for his godfather's joke. Sirius stood in his room looking pensive for a moment, and Harry watched him worriedly as he began to look concerned about something.

"What's up, Sirius?"

"We've hit a very important problem," he said with a deadly serious expression on his face.

"What?" Harry asked him, bemused.

"What colour should I paint my room?" Sirius asked loudly, almost shouting. Harry scowled.

"That was your big problem?"

"It's important, Harry! I have no idea how to even approach this!"

Harry sighed, looked at Sirius in amusement. The older man looked genuinely concerned about what colour his bedroom should be. "Well, what colours do you like?" He asked patiently, as if talking to a child.

"Blue. And green. And bluey green, oh and greeny blue. And…silver." Harry looked at his godfather in an entirely new light. Getting rid of his bad memories and replacing them with new ones seemed to be making him so happy that he was acting like an excitable child, and it was quite frankly adorable to watch.

"Green and silver? Are you sure you're not a Slytherin?" he teased, watching the outrage form on Sirius' face.

"I didn't say green and silver! I said blue and green and bluey green-"

"Alright, I know, I was kidding!" Harry laughed at him. "How about we paint the walls a kind of sea green, and the ceiling midnight blue, and add silver highlights to lighten it up?" Sirius thought about it, a look of concentration on his face.

"So…it would be kind of green and silver but not in a Slytherin way?"

"Slytherin is emerald green and silver. Sea green is a bluey green, and it with the blue ceiling it wouldn't look anything like Slytherin colours," Harry patiently explained to him.

"Since when do you know so much about colour combinations, Harry?" Sirius asked him mockingly, smirking at him.

"I liked art a lot at school," Harry said defensively. It had been his favourite subject, in fact, and was one of the main reasons he was so enthusiastic about Sirius agreeing to paint his room the Muggle way. Sirius looked surprised at this bit of information, and let the matter drop, getting to work on conjuring them some paint. After a brief interlude of Sirius trying to get the paint to be exactly the right shade, he conjured them some rollers and brushes and they got to work.

They passed a couple of hours happily painting the walls, and it already looked like a completely new room. Sirius had begrudgingly admitted that Muggle painting was actually much more fun than just charming the walls into a different colour, although he had won the battle to charm the ceiling blue instead of attempting to paint it themselves. The two of them, a ladder and a tin of paint would never have been a good mix.

When the walls were done and Sirius was admiring their efforts, Harry spontaneously decided that it would be a brilliant and hilarious idea to spray a little paint at Sirius. He grabbed a brush that was still sitting in the tin of silver paint, and innocently wandered towards Sirius. When the older man turned around and smiled at him, Harry quickly flung the brush at Sirius and flicked paint onto him. Sirius' face was a picture of surprise, and Harry laughed hysterically at the sight. It wasn't helped by the fact that there was paint sprayed on his face and in his hair, which completely took away from the angry expression Sirius was trying to uphold. With a growl, he picked up the brush from the tin of green paint and stalked towards Harry, who backed away from him nervously.

Before he knew what was happening, Sirius was throwing paint at him and he was throwing it back, both of them giving up on looking angry and simply laughing at each other, trying to dodge around the room and cursing the lack of furniture to hide behind. After a while they both collapsed to the floor, out of breath and covered in paint. The smooth sea green walls were sprayed with silver all over, and Harry thought it actually looked quite nice. Sirius agreed with a laugh, and they decided to keep it that way. After all, it would create a nice memory of the fun they had decorating the room.

They lay back on the floor, and Harry gently entwined their hands. He smiled at the comforting feeling of Sirius' fingers wound around his own, and turned to look at him.

"Sirius?" he spoke quietly, not wanting to disturb this peaceful moment.

"Harry?"

"I have an idea for a finishing touch to the room…feel free to tell me if it's a stupid idea…" Harry began hesitantly, unsure of what Sirius would think.

"I have complete confidence in you," Sirius grinned at him, and Harry felt his mouth twitch into a responding smile.

"Alright. Well, I thought that a cool way to make the room reflect you as a person would be to paint the night sky on the ceiling, including the constellation of Canis Major of course…" Harry held his breath, looking expectantly at Sirius' face to judge his reaction. Canis Major was of course the constellation also known as the Great Dog, which included Sirius, the brightest star in the sky. Sirius simply rolled over on the carpet and put an arm around Harry, pulling him into a hug.

"You know what, Harry, just when I think you've surpassed my expectations you go and think up something even more awesome," Sirius whispered in his ear. Harry could hear the smile in his voice, "that's a brilliant idea, I love it!"

With a sudden rush of energy and enthusiasm, Sirius jumped up and grabbed his wand, pacing up and down and looking at the ceiling every now and then, clearly deep in thought. Harry sat up and watched him silently, giving him a chance to think. He was so glad Sirius had liked his idea, it was one he was particularly proud of. This room would now reflect Sirius, and bring memories of the time they spent together decorating it, instead of memories of Sirius rebelling against his parents and his troubled childhood in general.

After a little while Sirius stopped pacing and looked triumphant. "I've got it! I think I know how we can recreate the actual night sky on the ceiling, so that it changes with the movement of the earth. It's a bit like the spell on the Great Hall at Hogwarts, but much smaller and less complex obviously."

Harry watched in awe as Sirius pointed his wand at the ceiling, muttering different incantations and waving his wand about in what appeared to be completely random motions. A sort of haze appeared on the ceiling, almost like looking at the horizon on a hot summer's day, and Harry could almost feel the tangible magic surrounding them. Finally, when he was becoming increasingly intrigued as to whether the spell was actually working, Harry saw the haze clear and the ceiling was left with the soft, cool light of millions of stars. The one that shone the brightest, which was true to fact, was Sirius.

Harry stared up at the ceiling in awe, along with Sirius himself. He suddenly came to the realisation that they were embracing, although he didn't recall it happening. This room was now spectacular to behold, and Harry was confident that their decorating skills had completely wiped out all of the old memories of Sirius' childhood. It might even be a place that he enjoyed being in now, and that was something spectacular in itself.

Harry and Sirius both decided to head downstairs for some lunch, both of them feeling light hearted and happy after the successful morning they'd had. They settled down for some good old fashioned grilled cheese sandwiches, laughing and joking together. Harry couldn't help but notice that Remus was nowhere to be seen, however, and that dampened his mood slightly. He really hoped Remus would see sense and realise that this relationship was good for the two of them, and that neither of them could change how they felt even if they'd wanted to.

As Harry munched on his sandwiches, his mind wandered and he found himself thinking about Ron and Hermione. He felt guilty for neglecting them again, and vowed to call them on his two way mirror soon. As he thought about their last conversation, he suddenly realised that he'd told Ron and Hermione that he'd ask Sirius about Hagrid. Now he felt even guiltier for forgetting about everything they'd spoken about. He'd been so wrapped up in himself, and his changing relationship with Sirius, that he'd forgotten about everyone and everything else important to him. Now seemed as good a time as ever to bring it up, so he decided to just go for it.

"Sirius, there's something I've been thinking about. Worrying about, actually. I was wondering if I could ask you something…" Harry began, feeling awkward and worried as to whether Sirius would actually tell him anything or not. Sirius looked at him, slightly concerned.

"Ask away, Harry," he said curiously.

"I was talking to Ron and Hermione the other day and they told me that Hagrid still isn't back at school. I was just wondering if he was doing something for the Order, you know. We're worried that he's injured or something," Harry said quickly, his concern clear in his voice. Sirius looked at him with a frown on his face, and he didn't answer straight away.

"The thing is, Harry, Hagrid was doing something important for the Order. I can't tell you what," he said quickly before Harry could interrupt, "he was supposed to be back by now, and we aren't quite sure what happened to him." Harry's mouth dropped open at this, and Sirius shifted guiltily.

"What do you mean, you don't know what happened to him?" Harry asked loudly.

"He was with Madame Maxime, you remember her? She got back a month or so ago, and she told us that they'd got separated on the way home. Dumbledore isn't worried, and there isn't anything to suggest he's hurt…" Sirius trailed off, knowing his explanation wasn't good enough.

"If he was supposed to be back a month ago, and no one's heard from him…" Harry said quietly, filled with worry and doubt. His good mood from the morning had been wiped out completely.

"He'll be fine, Harry, you'll see. He's tough, I'm sure he can handle himself," Sirius tried his best to comfort Harry.

"What was he doing for the Order?" Harry asked bluntly.

"I can't tell you Harry, I'm sorry. You have to be an Order member to have that kind of information-"

"Well, why can't I be an Order member?" Harry asked crossly, "I still don't see why I'm not allowed. It's not like I'm even at Hogwarts anymore."

"It's not just about whether you're at school or not, Harry," Sirius said intently, "you're still only fifteen and it's too dangerous."

"Who are you to speak to me about danger?" Harry asked indignantly.

Sirius smiled humourlessly at him. "I know, we've both seen our fair share of danger, but that's not the point. I don't want you getting hurt, I couldn't bear it-" he stopped talking for a moment as his voice almost broke, and Harry felt some of his resolve disappearing. "You've been through enough already, and I really don't want to see you get hurt." Sirius spoke softly, avoiding Harry's eyes, and Harry decided to stop arguing for now. As he finished his lunch in silence, they were interrupted by someone stomping angrily into the kitchen.

"Tonks?" Harry said tentatively, taking in her obviously angry and upset appearance. She was muttering furiously under her breath, there were tear tracks down her face and her hair was short and bright red streaked with black, sticking up all over the place.

"Oh, hello Harry. Sirius." She spoke roughly, clearing her throat and sitting down heavily at the table.

"Er…are you okay?" Harry asked awkwardly. This was the sort of conversation he was terrible at.

"No, not really. Thanks to Remus…" she muttered angrily, shooting a mutinous look in the direction of where Harry assumed she had just spoken to Remus.

"What's he done now?" Sirius asked loudly, a scowl on his face.

"Well…" Tonks began, looking slightly awkward, "I just wish he would make his stupid mind up, and not lead me on if he's just going to get angry at me when I try to…" she tailed off, her cheeks red. Harry got the gist of what she was saying, and he immediately felt sorry for her. He had noticed the growing attraction between the two of them, and he was surprised that Remus would get angry at her. He supposed the werewolf had been in a bad mood today after finding Sirius in Harry's bed this morning…

"He got angry at you?" Sirius asked incredulously, "I'm going to give that man a piece of my mind," he said angrily, standing up abruptly and striding from the room. Tonks watched him leave, not trying to stop him, but looking mildly apprehensive none the less. Harry sat in an awkward silence, not sure what to say in this situation. He twiddled his thumbs and looked at the table until Tonks broke the awkward silence.

"I guess it just wasn't meant to be," Tonks said morosely, mostly speaking to herself, Harry thought. "I must have been stupid to even fall for him in the first place."

This stirred up something in Harry, as he thought back to how he'd felt when Sirius had initially rejected him. It hadn't been because they were wrong for each other, but because Sirius was worried about starting a relationship with him.

"Don't talk like that, Tonks, it's not your fault," Harry began, trying his best to word this right, "it's probably more complicated than that. Did Remus give you a reason why he didn't…you know…reciprocate?"

Tonks looked at the table, and Harry was glad she didn't try to initiate eye contact. "He just shouted at me about how it could never work between us, we were too different to each other."

"Well maybe it's him that has self-esteem issues, and it's not your fault at all. He's in a crappy mood today anyway, after he saw-" Harry cut off that sentence quickly. "The point is, me and Sirius had an argument with him and he was pretty angry already."

Tonks looked curiously at him, but didn't press the issue, for which Harry was immensely grateful. "Remus, self-esteem issues? Are you sure?" She asked him pensively.

"Well, he is a werewolf. Maybe he feels that he's too dangerous, he's scared of hurting you?"

"That…well, that does sound like something he'd say," Tonks said thoughtfully, looking more hopeful than when she'd walked in. Harry was immensely glad, because he was running out of insightful things to say.

"I think if you just give him some time, and come up with an argument that he can't say no to, then you'll be fine. You have to convince him that you don't care that he's a werewolf, that you love him anyway," Harry said passionately, thinking about how he'd had to convince Sirius that being his godfather wasn't as big an issue as Sirius had first thought. He suddenly realised what he had said to Tonks, and he blushed. Since when did he have in depth conversations with women about love? Tonks looked pleased, however, and she thanked Harry before rushing off upstairs. Harry let out a sigh of relief, glad that he'd somehow handled that situation without making it worse.

Finding himself now sitting alone in the kitchen, with lunch finished, Harry decided to go up to his room and carry on reading the book he'd been given by Sirius about Animagus transformations. The theory was essential to successfully mastering the transformation, and Harry found that the book was fascinating. Some of the sections did get a bit complex and took slightly more concentration to understand, but it was totally worth it. Harry opened up the book to the place that he'd marked, and continued reading about how getting to know your magical core was imperative for the initial discovery of your soul animal.

The magical core is an important part of a wizard or witch. It is the essential part of a wizard that sets him apart from a Muggle – the origin of the magic. It is a part of your soul, buried deep within yourself, and it is only by connecting to your magical core and learning to feel it when you use your magic, that you can reach within yourself and discover the animal that is closely linked with your soul.

This book really was fascinating, and Harry was completely engrossed in it for the next couple of hours. Eventually, his concentration began to waver however and his mind wandered off to think about other things. He found himself thinking back to his conversation with Sirius earlier that had been cut off by Tonks entering the kitchen. He was still frustrated that Sirius wouldn't let him join the Order, even if he understood that it was because he was worried for Harry's safety.

It wasn't as if he was planning on running off to find Voldemort and duel with him, Harry thought to himself angrily. He wasn't stupid. It would just be nice to be given information, to be trusted with it. He had, after all, witnessed the regeneration of Lord Voldemort. It was him that had been targeted by the Dark wizard since he was a baby. Surely Harry might actually have some useful information himself that no one had bothered to ask him yet, about the night that he had returned. It seemed reasonable enough to him, and Harry decided that he should try asking Sirius about it again soon.

It was a few days before Harry actually got round to asking Sirius again. They had been a busy few days, and Harry had been understandably distracted in his opinion. Sirius had come to Harry on the evening of the day that they'd decorated his room, and reminded him that they hadn't actually put any new furniture in his room. This conversation had resulted in them both working together to conjure Sirius a bed, and Sirius ultimately asking Harry if he would stay and sleep next to him that night. Harry had of course agreed, after much blushing, and since then they'd come to an unspoken agreement that this was now their bedroom, instead of just Sirius'.

Remus and Tonks had since had some sort of discussion in the privacy of the kitchen (they'd shut the door and cast an Impervius charm on it so that Sirius' attempts to eavesdrop with Fred and George's extendable ears were unsuccessful). Since that day they'd looked a lot happier around each other, and Harry had even seen Remus give Tonks a quick kiss on the lips when he didn't think anyone was looking.

Harry finally got the courage to ask Sirius about the Order again when they had just finished dinner. They were both feeling satisfied and content, and full of food, and it seemed a good a time as any to try to discuss it.

"Sirius, I've been thinking…" Harry began, looking thoughtfully at his godfather. Sirius narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"This sounds worrying," he replied.

"Oh shut up, you old dog," Harry grinned at him. "Will you let me finish?"

Sirius grinned back at him. "I suppose so. Carry on."

"I was thinking about the Order. Now, hear me out," he said quickly, noticing Sirius' guarded expression. "I think I have a right to join. Voldemort has targeted me since I was a baby, he's tried to kill me multiple times. It was me that saw him return to his full strength, and I think that if someone actually bothered to ask me about that night I could give them some useful information. Not only that, but I've faced a lot and despite my age, I think I really am mature enough and intelligent enough to be given a chance." He finished his rant and looked at Sirius, trying to judge his reaction. Sirius looked pensive, and didn't speak for a while. Harry was just starting to get irritable and impatient when Sirius finally replied.

"You do have some good points there, Harry," he admitted slowly, "but you have to understand that if you did join the Order, I wouldn't let you go out there and do anything dangerous. You'd be sitting in meetings and giving your opinion only."

"That sounds reasonable enough to me!" Harry said eagerly, happy that Sirius was even considering his argument.

"It's not only my opinion that counts, however," Sirius warned him. "I'll have to call a meeting and speak about this to everyone else, and I can't guarantee that they'll agree with me."

"Okay," Harry said seriously. "But you'll argue for me?"

Sirius sighed, and nodded. "Yes, I'll try to convince them to let you join. If I've learned anything about you, Harry, it's that you're genuinely more mature than your fifteen years. I do think you'd be a good asset to the Order, as long as you accept that you won't have a physical role."

"That's fine by me," Harry said with a smile on his face. "Thank you for listening to me and trusting me," he said simply. Sirius smiled and embraced him.

"Just don't do anything stupid, Harry," he whispered softly in his ear. "I don't know what I would do if I were to lose you."

That was the longest chapter so far! I really hope you enjoyed it, please please leave a review because they're what keeps me going :)