Chapter sixteen - 'Did you even tell anyone you were coming here!'
The following morning Harry woke up to the sounds of Neville trying to get dressed in the dark and toppling over clumsily to wake both Harry and Dean up, who following the rules three against two turned the light on. Outside the window Harry noticed that the strange rattling noise hadn't just been Neville knocking around but the weather was in fully fledged super storm outside. The rain and sleet was pouring down, the wind was blowing like mad and the draft coming from the cracked window in the corner was freezing cold until Harry stuffed it with the old pillow.
Just like Neville, Harry pulled on two pairs of socks and an extra t-shirt under his jumper, it was a horrible day but Harry was just pleased to be going back to Sirius in a few long hours. The trip down in the Trestle pulled carriages was rocky, to say the least and thumping his case onto the train wasn't the most fun thing in the world either, when the rain was running cold down your back and the wind was blowing so strong Harry wondered if he'd take off at one point.
But Harry didn't care. As the train was pretty much empty Harry chose an empty compartment right at one end next to the engine where it was warmer and pulled Sirius's old coat tighter around him as he settled down for what was obviously going to be a long trip.
"Harry!" Sirius called brightly coming down the dusty steps to find Lupin bolting the door behind him and Harry and Tonks dragging his case out the way.
"Sirius, ya miss me!" Harry replied just as warmly as Sirius put two large arms around his shoulders and hugged him tightly. Sirius had finally got the knack of not squeezing Harry to death when he did this (by endless practicing on Tonks) and Harry had finally got used to the idea of Sirius being happy to see him.
"Leave that, come in here it's warmer and I made cake just like you asked." Sirius explained pushing the door to the living room open and half dragging Harry through with him before he had a chance to disagree.
"Have you finally found a way to get your mother off the wall Sirius, I can't hear her screaming?" Harry asked pulling his coat off and sitting down on one of the sofas that had been rearranged to be closer to the fire and not stretched out across the room like before (Sirius had been board while Harry was away and fancied a bit of a change).
"No, not exactly she's probably still shouting away like normal but I've got the plaster out and slapped it on her face. It doesn't last too long, I keep having to do it again, every fortnight or at least whenever Tonks decides to be extra clumsy but at least I don't have to listen to her." Sirius explained hanging Harry's coat up and sitting down next to him.
"Oh err, this is for you from Dumbledore.' Harry explained pulling out a letter from his pocket that Professor McGonagall had given him last night, this was after he had finally managed to change himself into a cat without throwing up or getting stuck.
'It's some homework for you, see Sirius, even if you've left Hogwarts you still get it." Harry grinned as Sirius pulled it open to start reading the paper slowly in his odd concentrating way that made the lines on his forehead crease more than usual and Lupin smile at himself when he remembered how much James used to tease him about it. The lines had only got worse with time.
Harry left him to read the letter and started kicking his shoes off to tuck his cold feet crossed legged under his bottom and watched at the sheer amazement on Sirius's face as he came to the end of the page.
"No way!" He half gasped all of a sudden when he'd finally reached the bottom of the page.
"Yeah way!" Harry half laughed back seeing his face.
"How long it take you to learn that?" Sirius asked having finally reached the part where he keeps Harry's new information to himself, however much he wants to show off how proud he is of Harry.
"Just over a week. I can do it now but it's really hard not to through up and I keep getting stuck." Harry explained to a half proud, half pissed off Sirius at how quickly Harry had learned something that took him years.
"You little devil took me years that did. Well, I suppose you have a good teacher, do you want some cake?" Sirius asked pulling out a tin from under the coffee table and waving his wand for a jug and several glasses to appear.
"Yeah it's really nice but I can't eat too much in one go though." Harry replied shuffling forward as Sirius started cutting three slices as Tonks sat down and Lupin was letting someone in to the house.
"Moody seems to have got a right taste for it you know, he gets really annoyed when I won't tell him the recipe, so I keep having to make them for him. By the amount of Fire whisky I keep sending Lupin to buy Mrs Weasley has got it in her head I have a drinking problem and doesn't want me err, inflicting my bad habits on you!" Sirius rolled his eyes and handed out the three pieces carefully.
"I have enough of my own and Mr Weasley seems to like it doesn't he?" Harry grinned pleased Sirius was taking Molly so lightly these days.
"Is that cake I smell Sirius?" Moody growled hobbling into the room and pulling his cloak off.
"How do you do that, every time I get my cake out you appear out of bleeding nowhere, I swear you must have a nose like a sodding blood hound Moody." Sirius complained cutting Moody an extra large piece and handing it unceremoniously to him as he sat down.
"Quit complaining, I came to check Harry made it here ok. It's some dodgy weather out there, I'm surprised Dumbledore let him wonder back here with just the two of you." Moody growled then tucked in to his cake.
"I was surprised at that too, but he did let you go off into London with just the two over the summer, but it doesn't matter now, Harry's fine, aren't you and Dumbledore's no idiot is he?" Sirius replied as he had been surprised but didn't care too much, anything to have Harry here.
"Can't argue with that Moody can ya?" Tonks added quickly in agreement.
"Yeah London's almost empty, just enough people to blend in with and that's it." Harry explained as Sirius noticed the little bit of pride Moody had developed since Harry had started following his example and paying more attention to things that would be important to his safety rather, than leaving it all to everybody else. Remus merely decided it was just an aspect of maturity Harry had but he also decided that things like that just tended to go over Sirius's head so it was useless to make a vocal comment to him.
"Did you even tell anyone you were coming here, Mrs Weasley told me a thousand times you weren't when she was here two days ago?" Lupin asked. But Harry was looking at Sirius who was still a little worried by Harry's last long chat with him up in the owlry when he wanted told Sirius why he wanted to come and stay.
"Yeah, well eventually, but the lads in my dorm didn't find out until I was packing last night. Hermione guessed I wanted to come here and she isn't exactly a fan of Mrs Weasley since she told her all muggle religious believers are brainwashed nutters meaning everyone in her family except her great-grandmother and Ginny isn't exactly on the best of terms with her mother at the moment so I'm not surprised she didn't mention it in the lack of letters she sends back." Harry explained taking a sip of his pumpkin juice and eating more cake to make himself feel warmer. Sirius and Lupin however noticed the clear fact that Ron was only referred to as one of 'the lads in my dorm' if at all.
"Well I suppose, it seems Fred and George accidentally let slip on purpose I gave you that cake in September and she doesn't think it's an appropriate food source. I can't see why though, it's got lots of carrots in and there supposed to be good for your eyes. Or at least that's what she said every time she tried to pour carrot soup down your neck in the summer!" Sirius smirked knowing full well that for however many carrots there were in the cake, there was at least twice as much alcohol.
"Yeah Fred and George want to remedy the recipe and sell it in some way at there shop, I told them I just eat it and I haven't a clue how to make it. Apparently your rather secretive about it?" Harry asked finishing his slice and eyeing Sirius's which was surprisingly still rather large and untouched.
"Yeah well, they have to make me a better offer than Peter on a plate to get it. It's a family secret that took me months of the trots to work out.' Sirius explained and he had that look of grave seriousness that meant it really had been several months of the trots and not just a joke.
'Even your dad couldn't get it out of me and he didn't half try. Even tried to shame me in to telling him by telling dear Andromeda some of my, err, well never mind what he said Harry, it just never worked." Sirius stopped checking himself firmly, as he was quiet sure Harry wouldn't want to know about him and James in a strip club and a bit drunk a very long time ago however innocent James himself was because of Lilly, Sirius certainly wasn't though and Remus had already past out from alcohol overdose and never did find out exactly why he ended up in that sort of state tied to the back of a grandfather clock in red dress.
"Yeah, now tell him what Lilly did after your little cat fight over cake got out of control in the living room and knocked a bowl of breakfast cereal on to her favourite jacket." Lupin added watching the conversation with amusement but not touching any of the cake himself.
"Well put it this way, your mother was very good a severing charms and you were nearly, officially, an only child for good Harry." Sirius explained in mock darkness and still with that odd glint in his eyes that meant he was still being truthful.
"Ouch. That happened to some poor lad who was in seventh year when I was in second. It was after he left Hogwarts but still, we all heard about it, something to do with its ok to cheat as long as it's not in same country.' Harry explained seeing both Lupin's and Sirius's odd faces. He however quickly looked over to where yet another painting of the Black family had been successfully and gleefully ripped off the wall by Sirius.
'How did you manage to get that one off, I remember you trying to use a magical crow bar last summer?"
"Oh that one, I used salt water." Sirius started looking up over to the blank space of wall while Harry snatched the piece of cake left of Sirius's plate ripped it in half a shoved a bit in his mouth.
"It was something Fred had said about getting sea urchins off with vinegar. Vinegar didn't work but the salt water did, just dropped lucky that's all." He finished as Harry had now shoved the second part of the cake in his mouth, chewed a bit and swallowed hard as Sirius turned back to him. He looked at his cake, or lack of cake, and then looked at Tonks in a fit of silent giggles and then too Moody who was trying not to catch Sirius's eye.
"I have to go and take some more potion now and I think, I might just go straight to bed. It's nice to see you again Harry." Lupin smiled then got up to leave the room looking shabby and grey as the full moon started to get close again. Harry had the sneaky suspicion his potion was actually in his pocket like normal and he just wanted an excuse to leave the room. Sirius also thought this but would rather spend time with Harry than squabble with Remus about his pathetic attempts at a love life.
"Honestly Moody, I made you another one. But I've run out of fire whisky again so if you want another after that then I'll have to get some more..." Sirius explained pulling out another tin from under the table and passing it to Moody who quick as a flash produced yet another bottle of extra strong fire whisky.
"I'm way ahead of you boy, way ahead. I'm off now, got guard duty later. It's good to see you safe again Potter. Don't you be leaving the house though unless you got more people with you than Tonks and Lupin!" Moody grumbled then he too stood up to pull his cloak around him and set off to the door. This left Tonks still in silent hysterical giggles and Sirius looking rather confused by Harry's totally innocent face and yet rather pink flushed cheeks.
"Your mums gonna go nuts if you go home smelling and laughing like that, stay here until you calm down Nymphadora while I show Harry what I've done to his room.' Sirius stood up and as a sign of how bad Tonks was laughing she barely even flinched when Sirius called her Nymphadora.
'To be honest I really wasn't expecting you to come back so soon but I do have a lot of time on my hands and finished cleaning it for you any way." Sirius explained leading the way on to the landing and Harry noticed just how friendlier this landing was, now it effectively had three people sleeping on it compared to the rest of the house.
"You didn't have to go to so much trouble Sirius. I don't mind a bit of scruff. I mean, I did spend several years sleeping in a dusty cupboard, even this place doesn't seem that bad when it's clean-ish. Least you get leg room!" Harry explained, slightly embarrassed by how much effort Sirius had put in for him and wondered if maybe he should have got a present or something too for him.
"You really weren't kidding about that were you?" Sirius asked darkly in the shadowy hallway.
"Nope, I really did sleep in a cupboard for many years. But honestly Sirius, you don't have to fuss." Harry repeated.
"Nonsense, I wanted it to be a nice room and besides Harry, I care.' Sirius replied pushing the door forward and offering Harry to go in first.
'It's not as if get a lot else to do, now is it?" He sighed stepping in behind Harry.
"Wow you have been playing hostess while I was away, I can hardly recognise this place.'
Harry stepped in to find a slightly plain but very clean bedroom with an old dark oak bed against one wall, a matching little chest of draws next to it as a bed side table and then against the opposite wall was the large dark wardrobe and writing desk, complete with a rather comfy looking chair with a red leather seat and a green velvet cushion.
The walls and ceiling had been scrubbed clean and painted top half a pale grassy green and the bottom half had wooden paneling over it. The window shone from the setting sun, shinning in bright orange sunshine through a spotless window pane, complete with red velvet curtains so you could either sit at the desk and look out across the roof tops of London or lie on the bed and see the sky.
'It looks too tidy Sirius I need to throw a few bits of crumpled clothes around to make it feel more homely." Harry grinned, turning back to Sirius who had been watching Harry avidly to see if he liked it or not.
"Yeah well it's your room so you keep it as scruffy as you like. I know it's a bit empty at the moment but I figured you could put some pictures up or something. However, Fred and George came by the other day and gave you this so I stuck it on the door." Sirius closed the bedroom door so Harry could see the large purple poster with big gold letters of Ooo-No-Poo written across it. It clashed brilliantly with the red velvet and covered almost the entire backside of the door.
"Wow they finally got them printed." Harry stepped over the rather nice looking cream shag pile rug to have a closer look, he was sure his feet were too dirty to step on it just yet but was really looking forward to getting ten clean wiggly toes in amongst it for a good half hour of wiggly toes.
"Yeah seems they got so many orders they couldn't make enough in time and wanted to send them all out together. You, however, get one early as a special bonus or something." Sirius explained as Harry wondered over to the bathroom door to see what marvels Sirius had been working in there.
"Wow, did you just replace the whole room?" Harry called as Sirius followed him to the now rather neat and spotlessly clean bathroom, complete with sunken pewter round sink and silver taps, spotless toilet and a rather swish looking not quiet double shower. It wasn't quiet like the muggle one they had at Privet drive but it was bigger and had several taps with what Harry knew must be magical soap on tap or something of that sort. Harry often questioned Sirius's ability to comprehend soap these days and figured he'd best check before using any of it.
The walls had the same wood paneling on the bottom half, but when Harry looked closer, it was actually bath tiles pretending to be wood. The top half of the walls however were painted a pale red to match the red towels left on a little dark wooden cupboard and matching red velvet roman blinds at the high up window, clearly Sirius had a taste for things red at the moment, that or he assumed if everything was the same colour at least it would match.
"Do you like it?' Sirius asked cautiously but before Harry could answer he pointed to the mirror.
'I couldn't fix the old one it kept falling to pieces again so I pulled another one down from somewhere else, cleaned it and stuck it up instead. I'm not sure about the silver flowers but I tested it on Kresher and this one definitely won't try to turn you mad or make you look like your twenty stone over weight." Sirius smiled seeing Harry's pleased face.
"I think its marvellous Sirius, you did a real nice job, considering you sleep in a boring bleak room with no character, at times questionable sheets and a suspicious looking wardrobe, I'm sure you never use to hang your clothes up in." Harry smirked knowing full well it had never occurred to Sirius to decorate his own room. Even Remus had, had his spare room cleaned up a bit so he wouldn't get dust up his wolf nose.
"Oi, I have you know, I've tested that odd looking wardrobe on Kresher so many times he doesn't even flinch when I chuck him in it." Sirius replied crossly but, laughed seeing Harry's comic face in the mirror.
"How is Kresher anyway, is he still as difficult as ever?" Harry asked heading back in to the bedroom with Sirius in tow and sighing a rather large sigh or relief that Harry was indeed happy with his room.
"Err, yeah, difficult would be the word, but he seems to be getting a little better, now I don't make him do much. I think his age is finally getting to him, so rather than chopping his head off and sticking it on the wall next to his relatives, Tonks has convinced me to put him in semi-retirement for the time being." Sirius explained then flicked his wand so Harry's case and coat appeared suddenly in the centre of the room.
"Yeah that's probably best, wouldn't want you exerting yourself with an axe or something." Harry explained quiet surprised by this new less aggressive Sirius when it came to his demented house elf.
"Now tell me about this girl you keep dodging questions for. What does she think about you buggering off here for the holidays as I guess you can hardly explain about me? I would have thought you would rather enjoy more 'stress relief' down in some cupboard or other than come here?" Sirius mocked, grabbing Harry around the shoulders and neck to pin him still and force some sort of an answer out of him.
"No, I'm not talking about her Sirius. And she was quiet happy about me coming to see you seemed to think it would do me some good." Harry mumbled as he twisted in Sirius's grasp unsuccessfully trying to get away.
"Ah so she knows about me then, well that really narrows it down because only Hermione and Ginny have ever been here." Sirius teased now tickling Harry under the arms to make him squirm just like his father used to.
"Not necessarily, quiet a lot of people know about you, even if they don't know where you are. Luna's wondering about writing another charming article about you for the quibbler and wonders if your actually a house elf working at the minister's, mistresses house as a kitchen skive. That's been paid for by wizarding taxes of course. I said I'd ask you and Nev say's hi and can you hurry up and make some more cake coz he's feeling thirsty. You know he's the only lad I've found that likes that stuff." Harry squealed as Sirius pinned him down on the bed and received a hefty kick by Harry's holey sock in the shoulder.
"Oh really, well I suppose I could let him have a few bits left over seen as he does seem a rather nice sort of lad. Bet his gran won't like that, I only met her the once ya know, and she didn't seem to take to me that much, called me a silly young narcissist." Sirius wondered still unable to think why anybody would think him a narcissist however many times he'd combed his hair at school.
Harry finally got the upper hand wiggled free and knocked Sirius off the bed to land in a heap on the now spotlessly clean cream shag pile rug. Grabbing a pillow from the bed he started to hit Sirius as often as he could with it while he had the advantage. Sirius merely barked with laughter at him and flicked his wand to make the two remaining pillows attack Harry from behind as he laid lazily back on the floor to watch.
Harry however after accidentally picking Ron up first thing in the morning by the ankle into the air thought it would be funny to do the same to Sirius and muttered in his head while holding his wand out to flick. He knew he could do magic here, the house was a bloody fortress after all and he liked the opportunity to show Sirius he really was good enough to give his dad a run for his money.
'Levicorpus.' He muttered and with a flash of light Sirius was suddenly dangling upside down by his ankle.
"Arrg. Oi you, how did you learn to do that and put me down you skinny little bugger?" Sirius bellowed going red in the face as he dangled helplessly having dropped his wand as he was yanked into this unfortunate position. Harry however merely laughed with his soft higher pitched voice and stood to face Sirius's feet slightly more than an arm's length away.
"No, you can dangle there for a bit! Then maybe you'll stop pestering me about my girl!" Harry smirked seeing Sirius get crosser and crosser as he struggled to reach his wand.
"Oi, put me down you little shit!" Sirius bellowed crossly and Harry thought that this was really time to stop so mumbled 'Levicorpus' in his head again to let Sirius down but unfortunately, Sirius suddenly shot upwards and his feet kicked the ceiling.
"Oh sorry, I really didn't mean to do that." Harry quickly apologised.
"Oh I can really believe that Harry, what, did you forget how to put me down or something?" Sirius retorted sarcastically folding his arms crossly despite his ridicules situation. Harry tried to remember the spell he used to put Ron down with and suddenly reached a problem.
"Now Sirius don't be mad with me, but I'm really going to try and put you down but if I get this wrong, I really do hope you wearing clean underwear or at least underwear of some description!" Harry added quickly with a cheeky grin and called.
"Liberacorpus." Gently as he could Harry lowered Sirius and he flopped on to the floor with a rather pissed off grin but managed to contain himself when he saw Harry's rather amused face coupled with the relief that he had indeed got the right spell and that Sirius wasn't now dangling in only his underwear.
"I suppose I should be grateful you didn't rip my trousers off." Sirius grumbled coming to sit back down on the bed, with Harry still suppressing his amusement and giggling away like a girl with her friends.
"Yeah well it's not as if you haven't done it hundred times before Sirius, I know what you were like at school, so don't look so hurt and innocent at me." Harry replied sitting down next to Sirius but carefully keeping an eye on his wand just to be sure.
"Hum, I suppose, I wasn't exactly unaccustomed to dangling people upside down. But at least I could remember the correct way to put them down, well most the time anyway!" He added with a shrug.
"However, I do accept Snape must have been a very special case when you tried to float him up the grand staircase." Harry added as Sirius ruffled Harry's hair appreciatively and pulled out the letter from Dumbledore.
"How'd you know about that?' Sirius suddenly asked sure Remus had never found out about it and Snape wasn't likely to brag to anybody about getting picked on so often by the terrible two-some James and Sirius. But Harry merely winked and Sirius decided he probably didn't want to know how.
'So managed to get yourself private, illegal lessons on how to become an Animagus then. Well I can't say I'm not entirely surprised. What sort of animal are you then? Bunny rabbit, toad, wiggly worm, you've got the toes for it ya know wiggling them like that all the time?" He wondered aloud.
"Guess." Harry replied quickly as Sirius tried to think carefully.
"How many chances do I get?"
"Five because you're getting slow in your middle age." Harry replied and ducked a quick swing from Sirius.
"Oi, who you calling old? Well are you going to give me a clue then to get me started?"
"OK. I'm not a stag before you ask." Harry explained flatly making Sirius a bit confused. As soon as he read the letter he didn't expect Harry to become a stag, as having finally got to know Harry properly, he really wasn't like James at all most the time.
"Hmm, that was my second guess.' Sirius muttered then started scratching the back of his neck tried to think.
'Erm, are you a lion?"
"Nope." Harry replied flatly expecting this, he wasn't quiet sure why people always picked him as a lion, once rather a long time ago Ron had mentioned Harry may have turned into a lion but now Harry had no intention of talking to Ron about his nearly new found jaguar ability, which unfortunately relieved him of having the chance to be so smug and satisfied at seeing him wrong.
"Ok that was my first guess but I didn't think it would be true anyway, far too obvious. What about some sort of bird because I know you like flying a lot?"
"Nope."
"Oh ok, well I suppose that was a bit off. What about a,a, what about something small, like a bunny rabbit because you do have that weird wriggling nose thing don't ya?"
"No I don't and stop taking the piss Sirius!" Harry snapped back a little seeing his obvious idiotic grin.
"I wasn't, I really do think you have a weird wriggling nose." Harry hit Sirius over the head now with a cushion as he obviously couldn't think of anything that would be quiet right for Harry. This didn't surprise Harry as even Dumbledore had obviously found it difficult to guess what Harry had been thinking about.
"Ok, hum, your not a snake are you, because with all that business last year I wouldn't be that surprised? I mean, its not that I would be disappointed or anything but I honestly would find it a bit too weird at first seeing you turn into something like that."
"No, but as I told Dumbledore not all snakes are bad some are actually rather friendly when you get talking to them, but yes I guess it would be a bit weird for you seeing me wiggling around like a snake." Harry explained also having expected Sirius to have suggested this.
"Really can't say I've ever wanted to have a chat with a snake to be honest, but I'll take your word on it. Ok I've got one last guess. Hmm, what about some sort of wolf or dog because that would be really cool you know, me and Remus would have so much fun with that?" Sirius finally asked then seeing Harry shaking his head gravely gave in.
"I think you were closest with you first guess to be honest and I don't want to be up all night with your lame guessing either. We can still have fun though if you two old men can keep up with me that is!" Harry teased as he ducked another playful swing.
"Ok then show me." Sirius finally asked really quiet curious by what sort of creature Harry would turn in to. After he'd been born him and James had sat for hours watching him sleep thinking up fun creatures they could teach Harry to turn into when he was older, and now he'd gone and done it all by himself and Sirius had to confess he was curious to see if James's guesses were very close.
"Ok, but I can't turn myself back and I can't do it anywhere near as quick as you, but to be fair you are old." Harry gave another quirky grin and jumped out of Sirius's reach to the middle of the room.
"That's ok it took me a while to get the hang of it too and for your information I am not old! I currently consider myself to be about twenty seven-five-nine-ish.' Sirius explained trying to ignore Harry's snort of laughter as Azkaban or not, Sirius was never anywhere near twenty five or twenty seven.
Harry merely grinned then let his face go soft to concentrate on his hand that he was now willing to become a paw. It took several moments for it to start going small and black but Sirius was very patient and sat quietly watching with his wand ready to jump in if Harry needed it.
Fortunately for Harry his will to please Sirius pushed his will to change on quicker and he was soon kneeling on the floor and willing his face to turn long and hairy. It was the fastest Harry had ever done it and he managed to push his way through the horrible churning inside him quiet well.
Until eventually he was shaking all four limbs and his tail to see that he had managed to do it properly. Sirius was clearly very impressed as Harry looked up at him when he got up to stroke the back of his head. Harry moved his head around to let Sirius scratch behind his ears. He'd always wanted to know what it was like and why Snuffles seemed to enjoy and pester people to do it so much.
'Wow I really wasn't expecting this, a large black cat. Impressive!' Sirius added walking around Harry as he padded about a bit to let Sirius see him from most sides. Harry enjoyed padding around, he enjoyed even more jumping up on things but hadn't had much chance after clawing his way up on to Dumbledore's desk.
He half meowed half growled at Sirius to get him to do something other than stare at him pacing around the room.
'What do you expect me to say? I'm shocked you chose a big black cat but to be honest I can see why now, you do seem very cat like sometimes lazing around in front of the fire all the time.' Sirius explained standing to face Harry who wanted to guess how long he was when stood up on his back legs.
Jumping once Sirius stepped to the side thinking Harry wanted to pass him but Harry merely walked around the back of him and came to face him again this time jumping up properly on his back legs and resting the purposely claw-less paws just below Sirius's shoulders to have a sniff. This worked for a few moments until Harry tried to move and then he soon fell back on all four legs with more grace than he thought he was capable of.
'Hmm I suppose we should take you for a proper test drive but I think it would be best to wait for Lupin and Tonks to be both out. I should send them out on another little date or something." Sirius pondered as Harry started jumping around impatient to do something with his lovely padding paws other than pace. He agreed with Sirius though, Dumbledore had said he didn't want people knowing what he could now do for the time being until Harry had mastered it properly.
Harry meowed with a little roar for Sirius and started to slide his head around Sirius's legs as he made involuntary purring noises. This continued for about a minuet before Harry finally came to rest on his belly on the shag pile rug and look up with huge bright green eyes at Sirius. This was his cue to turn him back into a human and Sirius guessed it.
"What do you think then?" Harry asked rubbing his eyes as he pulled himself up slowly to standing in front of Sirius.
"Not bad but I bet I can still beat you in most things." Sirius replied lazily.
"Careful, that might turn into a proper bet, besides, you haven't seen me claw my way up on to Dumbledore's desk yet, nearly jumped the full length of it when I tried." Harry grinned as Sirius took this as a joke at first but then seeing Harry's honest face couldn't believe it to be true.
"No, you didn't jump up on to his desk!" He asked suddenly after studying Harry's face for a few moments.
"Yeah I did, next time you see it, look for the claw marks at one end. He said I should move around a bit to get a feel of what four legs were like, so, I jumped up on to his desk. He didn't seem too annoyed with me but I daren't do it again, I'm supposed to be in control of myself not, err, playing in his lesson's.' Harry explained to a very interested Sirius.
'He did say though I should have a go a clawing my way up on your furniture as Lupin had obviously been for a midnight wonder sometime in the dinning room. He mentioned something about using a grandfather clock as a scratching post or something but I was sure he must have been joking."
"Yeah well, once or twice we got a bit board and I was hungry so fancied a wonder for a snack. He'll only do it though when no ones about, I shouldn't worry though, I had a similar problem when I started doing it and more than once I cocked a leg on James bed post when I needed to go. But we can play later as you put it.' Harry laughed at Sirius's face as he remembered doing it.
'Having said that, after the second time, I did do it more for the amusement, than anything else! He got me back though, kept head butting me with his bloody great antlers when I had my back turned. Gave me a right sore arse that did, them things were really quiet powerful, no wonder Moony quickly learnt to get out the way when he felt like ramming something." Sirius laughed sitting down next to Harry on the bed.
Harry was always happy to hear Sirius talk fondly about his father, partly because he just liked to hear the funny stories but also because it made Sirius happy to remember a time when he wasn't hiding in a dingy house full of bad memories. Or scabbing around in dark holes eating rats or whatever rodent he could get his hands on.
He also enjoyed making Sirius laugh and seeing him happy and would sometimes sit up hours dreaming up ways he could do it from school, most the time it would end in the resolution of either it was impossible while Sirius was locked up in London or just totally unrealistic. He did agree however, that being able to turn into an animal would open up a whole load of fun for Sirius.
"You don't half smell weird when I'm a cat you know?" Harry suddenly commented bringing Sirius out of his happy day dream.
"What, I smell weird?" Sirius wondered lifting the sleeve of his jumper up to give it a quick sniff.
"Yeah, it's not bad just very you and a bit like wet dog which given that you spend half your life padding around with a wagging tale and scratchy flees is quiet understandable."
"I don't smell, I had a wash yesterday! And I haven't had fleas since before the summer, Remus keeps vaccinating me after I gave them to him and it drove him mad." Sirius replied getting mock annoyed again having washed properly for the first time in a while just because Harry was coming to stay.
"Yeah you do, now I'm hungry, what ya cooked for tea?" Harry asked with a cheeky grin glad he was finally comfortable to push to boundary lines a little without being too offensive or even better, to make Sirius laugh.
"What do you want? Lupin claims he's ill again and keeps hiding away in his room so it's probably just us two unless I open the cake and then Moody is bound to turn up again."
"Err, I suppose we can't have takeout Chinese seen as neither of us can really order it and its unlikely anywhere is going to deliver to an invisible un-plotable house. So can you do pizza?" Harry asked having only had pizza a few times in his life and loved it every time.
"Pizza I've herd of that from somewhere but, I'm not sure what it is?" Sirius replied feeling uncomfortable that he might not manage to get Harry his favourite meal.
"Cricky, you have had a boring life. Never mind if I get a chance to go in to town while I'm here I'll pick some up but for now bangers and mash?" Harry asked hoping Sirius would like it.
"Easy, why don't you stick summit clean on and I'll go lay the table and find out if Tonks has sobered up yet?" Sirius got up to leave and Harry agreed he could do with something cleaner to wear but called after him when he reached the landing.
"Don't forget the peas I like my mash lumpy with peas init." Sirius merely grinned, that was exactly how Lilly liked her mash when she was pregnant with him. He headed down stairs leaving Harry to open his case put his favourite photo on the bedside table, toss a few clothes around to make it feel normal and dumped a few books on the writing desk along with a hefty pile of homework. He surveyed his homely mess and Sirius was right, it did look bare but figured he could probably get hold of a few more posters and go mad with a paint brush to give the walls a bit of texture or something.
The only thing missing now was Hedwig as her cage that Harry had perched on top of the wardrobe was still empty. He missed her and even though he'd told her clearly he was going to London he did wonder about giving her such a long flight down south what with all the dangerous creatures and bad weather out there these days.
Harry shoved his half empty case into the wardrobe and closed the door before heading down the dark and dank stairs to the dinning room where Sirius was pouring out butterbeer and laying plates for three.
"Is Tonks joining us then?" Harry asked sitting down at one of the places and passing another plate to Sirius.
"Yeah she's just cleaning up a bottle of juice she knocked over in the living room.' Sirius gestured through the door and rolled his eyes.
'I suppose, she isn't the most graceful person and I did give her an extra large bit of cake but still, she's very uncomfortable around Remus these days, won't hardly talk. I mean she's not as bad as him but still, its getting right awkward. I hoped sending them to get you on there own might have helped a bit but so far I don't think they said a word until you got there and they left pretty early because of the weather.' Sirius explained casually, just as Tonks entered the room and sat down, Sirius however avoided her eyes until he'd thought of a new topic to bring up.
'Hows your mum been, last time you mentioned her you said she was going mad at the decorating?"
"Yeah it's best to keep out her way at the moment, she can't decide what colour to do the kitchen and keeps changing her mind between eggshell and ostrage cream for the table tops."
"What's the difference?" Harry asked innocently pouring gravy on his plate.
"That's what I said and well, she was a bit pissed with me at the time. I can't see why it was my fault but still, Molly had come round to see me when I wasn't in and started chatting away about my inability to keep a man very long. It seems mum got very annoyed by the whole conversation and after she'd gone told me she didn't want that interfering old bat of a busy body in the house again.'
Tonks took a deep sip of her drink while Sirius contained his pleased amusement and Harry covered his mouth to stop himself from laughing too openly.
'The thing is, she didn't care about how Molly was talking none stop about me and even dropped a few unfounded hints about Remus, it was all because Molly had said what a lovely rustic kitchen we have, so full and lived-in like."
"I bet that didn't go down well?" Sirius laughed as Harry dug into his now lumpy with peas mash potatoes, he was actually quiet surprised by how well Sirius had managed and was beginning to get slightly suspicious that he was right and Ron was wrong, there wasn't just him with these quirky food habits in the world.
"No, well, mum's always been very proud of her kitchen, it's the only room dads not aloud to err, help in. And you know how bad Mrs Weasley's getting these days Sirius, after all, she isn't even living here and she still manages to cause some sort of an argument almost every week."
"Yeah, I know, it's best to try and hide from her like Lupin does. But even he can't manage it all the time she just seems to track people down. I'm not looking forward to her finding out you're here either Harry, I bet soon as she does she'll be right over to tell me what she thinks about it!"
"Or probably check you aren't miss-treating him or something. Like you'd ever do anything that possibly resembles Dursley care, I mean it's not as if he's two or something! Harry's perfectly capable of making his own bad habits." Tonks sighed digging into her own plate.
"Miss-treating me?" Harry asked totally oblivious to how Sirius's over affectionate manner and overwhelming need to care for him could possibly lead to anything resembling his life with the Dursley's. It might make him a bit over affectionate sometimes to make up for before and Harry may feel that he sometimes worry's a little too much about Harry's well being but that was about it.
"Yeah well, she does seem to have a warped mind!' Sirius grumbled but seeing Harry's still slightly confused face started to explain more.
'Well she wanted you to go stop at the burro over the summer and not come here, but I kind of argued against it and I think I may have got a little annoying about my, err methods!' At this there was a somewhat stifled snort coming from Tonks that Sirius thought best he ignored.
'I wanted to see you again properly and I'm glad you came." Sirius explained firmly.
"Me too, well, despite everything I still had a good time, I like coming here its fun, you don't make me clean too much or get up in the morning, will you?" Harry explained leaving Sirius to swell a bit with pride discreetly and carry on explaining about the dreaded bright red and yet black cloud that was Mrs Weasley.
"Anyway, when you got here and ended up being ill and stuff she got worse, saying I wasn't doing a very good job of looking after you, and that it was all my fault you weren't well in the first place.' He added feeling much more mundane now but after seeing Harry's disagreeing face felt a bit better.
'The only reason she gave in was because it meant she could spy on us and pester Lupin seen as he's living here too." Sirius explained but Harry was rather hurt by how Mrs Weasley didn't think Sirius was very good at looking after him and was sure he could never like her if she didn't like Sirius as well, he was sort of part of the Harry package now and Harry liked it like that.
Harry loved the way Sirius had taken such an interest in him, other than Mr Weasley who was nice to everybody, Hagrid who tended to be more like an older uncle in some ways and Dumbledore who watched from behind Harry's back which if he was honest, annoyed him. Sirius was the only adult ever openly and honestly willing to care for him. Harry didn't know how to express it enough, how happy he was with just having Sirius to talk to, coming to visit was just too much pleasure for him which was why he felt he couldn't quiet express it to anybody yet. After trying to explain to Hermione recently she got all smiley at him said 'arr' a lot and 'how sweet' even more before she suddenly hugged him tightly and then went back to her book giving Harry the distinct impression she didn't have a clue what he was talking about.
"I heard she seems to like the spying game but I don't know what she wants with Lupin, he's not exactly as interesting as you when it comes to causing, err, well you don't half like rocking the boat sometimes Sirius." Harry tried to explain best he could. Tonks however burst out laughing and Sirius wasn't sure if he was meant to be offended or not, all he managed to get was that Remus wasn't exactly interesting, which was true and something about him in a boat.
"Rocking the boat, more like yanking the plug out and sinking it." Tonks laughed as Sirius took on a very placid face deciding it was only a joke and will pass soon enough.
"Err, I think I'll take that as a compliment and leave it at that Harry."
"Ok, Ginny says she's totally unbearable and Hermione's refusing to come visit here again if she is too and absolutely refuses to let her mother open the door to her anymore incase she causes too much trouble, if Mrs Weasley has anything to say to Mrs Granger apparently she's to do it through a slightly open window on the first floor for safety. But I didn't think she'd stoop that low." Harry explained going off his sausages a bit and taking his time about drinking his butterbeer.
"Hermione's refusing to let her be around her mother?" Tonks asked slightly surprised by this, she was sure Hermione was one of those good hard-working girls that never broke rules and was struggling to understand why Ron and Harry liked her so much as clearly one way or another they adored the nutty young women.
"Would you want her banging in your mothers door when you weren't around to buffer things?"
"Err, no chance Harry." Tonks sulked at the memory of what must have happened when she came home to be friendly one day.
"Oh I don't know, my mothers quiet a good match for Molly. I'm sure they'd get on famously." Sirius muttered sarcastically in the background as he supped on a small glass of mulled wine.
"Yeah well things just sort of started off bad when Hermy came in the summer and went way down hill since. Now she's decided that given the choice, she prefers your mother to Ron's because at least you can yank the curtains over her and walk off with out her following you!" Harry explained as Sirius smirked.
"That is true, I much prefer her now I can slam the door on her and not have it blown off the hinges behind me." Sirius continued in his sarcastic honest undertone.
"She said that?" Tonks was totally flabbergasted and had completely forgotten her dinner while Harry munched politely.
"Yeah but not in front of Ron. Ginny heard it and found it rather funny but Ron recons he knows better than to go openly against his mother, he said he isn't doing his own washing for anything and hopes what with Bill and his Fleur. Percy being well Percy, Charlie taking every opportunity to opt out of anything family related. Fred and George daring to do well at there business then he might have a chance of being the favourite child providing Sirius can successfully claim me as his own."
Tonks laughed as Sirius finally finished his plate triumphantly having munched through the explanation as he listened on.
"So Ron has to fight against you to be his own mother's favourite child?" Tonks asked with a smirk but Harry sulked a bit when he looked back at her.
"What? I claimed you as mine over her years ago Harry! I'm not giving you back to the old bat now!" Sirius explained a little unsure by how bad things were for the Weasley children and not noticing the sudden change in facial expressions on Harry while Tonks took the opportunity to remember her food. As far as he was concerned after James, Harry was his for the meddling and influencing of. Remus was only supposed to be a voice of reason so Sirius didn't get too carried away and so far in it's way the system did seem to be working in Lilly's absence, even if it had taken several years to get started.
"I don't like the way she mothers me. I have my own mother and I'm happy with her, I don't want some one else taking over and ruining it for me! And I won't let her try to replace her I don't want to be made to forget...' Harry explained then went back to his food so he wouldn't have to look at Sirius for a while.
'I like not having to share my mum with anybody, she'd mine. I wouldn't want a load of brothers like Ron." Harry muttered into his food as Sirius began to truly see just how hurtful Mrs Weasley could be, when it came to Harry and his mother. Harry was like his father, he adored his mother and couldn't help but have a slightly idealistic view of her, it was only natural and to constantly have someone picking away at it must be dreadful.
"I understand Harry, it must be really insensitive of her to try and take over like that. But you always did have your mother all to yourself and your never going to forget her. I can't stand mine and unfortunately I can't forget her, and God I have tried hard too, you obviously adore yours so you won't forget her either." Sirius explained and Harry merely nodded and tried not to look up as Tonks and Sirius exchanged difficult looks.
"Even James came second to Lilly's little baby boy, didn't he?' Tonks added hopefully having only met the Potters a few times when she was still rather young.
Sirius didn't know what to say to Harry now, he was usually about as sad as Harry when it came to remembering that the Potters were dead, but he could rarely bring himself to talk about it. Tonks however could see for the first time just how much it must hurt Harry, the way Molly behaved around him and became even more angry at her. She however was determined to see Harry cheery again even if it was only for a short while.
'You shouldn't have to put up with her Harry, she should know better than to over step the mark with you like that." Tonks explained gently while she tried to think of something to bring the mood around.
"I suppose you can't exactly bar her from the house now can you Sirius?" Harry mumbled softly.
"Not exactly, and like you said, she'll turn up sooner or later Harry to stick her nose in. Anyway, we shouldn't let her ruin our dinner, what would you like for pudding Harry?" He asked trying to smile as Harry finished the last of his peas and lifted his head back up clearly covering the vacant eyes that had been invisibly crying again so know one would no. Sirius unfortunately noticed that Harry was getting far too good at this now and tried to make a mental note to watch closer for a sign of him doing it again, it unfortunately was pushed out by the sight of a juicy sausage he hadn't yet eaten.
"Don't mind, something really unhealthy." Harry decided, just in the hopes of sticking two fingers up at Mrs Weasley if she happened to barge in tonight.
"Oh ok, err, how about sticky toffee pudding?" Sirius asked.
"Or even better, fried Mars Bars." Tonks added hoping the talk of ridicules food would finally bring the mood around a bit.
"Or cake. I should have some left somewhere?" Sirius continued.
"What about cookie dough fudge ice-cream?" Harry asked having heard Hermione talk about it before.
"What's that?" Sirius asked curiously he understood all the words separately but put them together and he was oblivious to the sort of concoction he was going to get for pudding.
"Harry, Sirius is too old to remember that, besides, cookie dough chocolate, double chip ice-cream is far better." Tonks explained flatly trying to sound mature but grinned like an idiot as Sirius still wasn't sure what it was.
"Yeah I guess, it might be too chocolately though." Harry wondered cheering up a bit now while Tonks stood up to concentrate as she waved her wand to make three large Sunday's appeared with a thick choclately goo in them with whipped cream on top and a bright red cherry to finish it off.
"Err, Sirius you try it first I'm not sure if I got it right." Tonks decided looking down at the three tall bowls.
"So you'd rather poison me than test it on yourself?" Sirius asked sarcastically raising an eyebrow.
"Well I could hardly test it on Harry now can I, besides, your stomach's lined with lead I'm sure of it!" Tonks smirked as Sirius nodded his head in agreement and pulled a bowl towards him, digging in with an extra long silver spoon he carefully took a mouthful.
"What's it like?" Harry asked watching Sirius's face but suddenly he started to chock and keeled over.
"Oh god I poisoned him!" Tonks cried and jumped around the side of the table to find Sirius in a heap laughing his head off on the floor.
"Haha got ya!" Sirius barked as Tonks started to slap him round the head as he and Harry continued to laugh at her white face.
"You little git, making out I'd poison you again." She complained as they came to sit back down and Harry pulled a bowl over to start testing it himself.
"Again?" He asked as Sirius finally stopped laughing long enough to sit down and eat properly as he explained.
"Years and years ago I went to have dinner with Tonks and her mum while Ted was away and Tonks spent the whole day cooking this pudding for us."
"It was a hard thing to do and I wasn't that old anyway." Tonks tried to explain quickly with very pink cheeks.
"Yeah well, I can see how jam roly-poly could be very difficult to make but you were old enough to change you shape weren't ya. Anyway, we get all the way through salmon started and the main course, I'd chopped my way though her pudding that despite the long pink hair was ok and said all the right things about how nice it was, we'd started having coffee when suddenly, I keeled over and ran to the toilet to start throwing up." Sirius explained as Tonks rolled her eyes and tried to look innocent.
"So you got a bit of food poisoning its not as if you hadn't been sick before." She snapped.
"Not likely Harry, I was throwing up blue jelly stuff and it didn't stop for three days the idiot had got her jam jars mixed up and put coconbelly jelly in it instead of raspberry jam." Sirius explained but Harry was a bit lost at how it would affect Sirius and not Tonks and her mother.
"You've never heard of it have you Harry?" Tonks asked pleased Harry hadn't got the full effect yet.
"No, I'm afraid not." He shrugged hoping for the punch line.
"It's what older witches use to treat cramps and other girly pains Harry. It was a used jar too but Tonks and her mum were resilient to it, any bloke however, got blue jelly pouring out of every orifice for at least two days." Sirius complained but Harry finally twigged.
"God that's groose and you let her make pudding." Harry cried put off his pudding and putting his spoon down quickly.
"Stop complained the healer said you had a very clean digestive system afterwards and wouldn't be that healthy even if you'd done a dodgy spring cleaning spell." Tonks defended going even pinker in the cheeks.
"Of course it was a healthy stomach, I'd pucked everything up from my intestines and the rest went south for three days, there was nothing left in it." Sirius mock argued back with his mischievous grin.
"Yeah well, I worked really hard on that and how was I supposed to know, mum should of checked what I was using for jam and you were really rude about my homemade wine." Tonks defended hotly while Harry laughed his head off.
"Yeah well I don't know what was worse, the thought of eating anything you'd cooked for me previously or having to sleep with my head in James's not so squeaky clean toilet for two days." Sirius complained.
"Squeaky clean toilet?" Harry asked curiously.
"Yeah, well after we left school, me and your dad moved in together for a while but it wasn't until he moved in with your mother was he trained to actually clean something in the house. Your dad relied heavily on his house elves at home so never actually learned to change his sheets or wash his clothes. He used to send them home and his mum sent clean ones back. Lilly just refused to go point blank in his rather messy room so he didn't see any need to clean it." Sirius explained grinning at Harry's bemused face.
"So he was just a total scrubber?" Harry asked not sure how this picture of his dad fitted in with the photo's he had.
"Well he washed himself properly and he got away with it up until then by getting other people to wash his stuff and afterwards your mother either did it herself or trained him to. It's just he couldn't be doing with it and would rather go out or something with your mother than stop in and clean up after himself." Sirius explained before finally taking up his spoon and having another go at the pudding.
"See, it is nice Sirius and I don't see any blue jelly pouring out of you yet?" Tonks claimed happily eating hers.
"It might do him so good you know, get rid of all those things you ate before. Vermin and stuff?" Harry wondered as he started to eat his rather sickly sweet pudding.
"I'd rather just make do and hope it all passes through naturally Harry to be honest and your right Tonks, this is rather nice, but about as unhealthy as you can get food wise."
The three finished there puddings and sat about for a while telling jokes by the fire while there stomach's settled and they carried on chatting and laughing until Tonks finally fell asleep and Sirius covered her over with the blanket.
"Err, maybe we should go to bed now Harry, it's getting late?" Sirius asked poking the fire and looking over to Harry's sleepy face.
"Suppose, should we just leave her here?" He wondered looking around at the dark dingy room.
"Yeah she'll be fine." Harry sighed following Sirius up to the landing.
"Do you really expect Mrs Weasley to come barging in here ranting and raving?" Harry asked nervously looking up at Sirius as they started heading up the stairs.
"Hmm, well I wouldn't be surprised if she did, why do you ask?" Sirius wondered looking down at Harry's now thoughtful face.
"Just, I don't like the way she acts as if I'm totally incompetent and that my mother never even existed.' Harry explained quietly but Sirius really didn't know what to say to this so rested a hand on Harry's shoulder as they headed along the landing to another set of stairs.
'But I suppose there's not much we can do to stop her coming here when ever she wants is there. But I just wanted to be left alone by insensitive idiots and ignorant arseholes for a bit that's all. That's why I asked to come here. I mean Tonks is fun, Remus is quiet and you your only real fault is your occasionally a bit dim." Harry explained as they finally reached his bedroom door.
"I know Harry, you want a break from things don't ya, if she does come I suppose we could always hide from her. You brought your cloak didn't ya?' Sirius asked finally bringing a bit of a smile to Harry's face as he opened the door and turned the bedside light on.
'Well I see you've been making yourself at home." Sirius commented looking around at the clothes and books Harry had carefully littered around the place.
"Yeah well, needed a few finishing touches and you did say tidying was only an option." Harry grinned before Sirius gently hugged him and closed the door quietly on his way out.
Harry was so happy to be sleeping in the room next to Sirius, it really was his own room and although it wasn't exactly what Sirius had promised to him the first night they met, it was nearly there and that was still a hundred times better than anything he'd previously had to deal with.
Sirius headed down the landing past his room to Lupin's and after knocking quietly stuck his head around the door to see Lupin fully dressed and half asleep on his bed.
"Hay you missed dinner." Sirius asked softly in case he was half dead to the world and snoozing.
"Yeah I know. I had some up here." Lupin replied groggily rubbing his eyes and checking the time.
"You ok?" Sirius continued to wonder.
"Yeah, just worn out that's all. This month just seems to be kicking the life out of me that's all." Lupin replied rubbing his eyes sleepily.
"Sure your not just trying to avoid Tonks?"
"I don't know what to say to her Sirius." He pleaded looking up at Sirius with scraggy tired eyes.
"Look if you wanted me to talk to her I will but you have to actually go talk to her yourself, she thinks you don't like her anymore or something and Molly hardly helps matters with her constant comments however far off the mark she is."
"I do honestly, I think she's wonderful but I was so rude to her that night and then I was all moon bathing and since then she won't hang around long enough." Lupin sighed as Sirius rolled his eyes.
"You can't hide behind yourself forever Remus, the wolf doesn't control you, you control it. Now get some sleep and tomorrow I want you to go down there and be nice, make her some breakfast or something for her, she's snoozing on the sofa tonight coz I can't be arsed to carry her up to a bed."
"Fine, but it'll never work." He grumbled rolling back over.
"Then be nice. Now go to sleep you look ruddy awful." Sirius retorted then finally disappeared off to his own bed after stopping on the landing to listen to the sound of Harry pulling his clothes off dumping them on the floor and climbing in to bed. He really did seem to be taking this cleaning and tidying as only an optional extra!