AN: Again, just revision for now.
Disclaimer: Same as before. Not mine.
Kindness of Strangers
WATCH OUT FOR THAT STOVE!
"Hey Sirius?" Harry glanced back over his shoulder from where he was kneeling on a counter cleaning out a cupboard.
"Yeah, Harry?" Sirius asked absently, attempting to scrub at an un-cooperating stove.
"Where'd the dog go?"
"Oh, him," Sirius chuckled for a moment before continuing to attempt cleaning the stove. It looked more like he was waging a full scale war against it and it seemed as if the stove were winning. "That was me actually. I'm an animagus. Peter wasn't the only one. James and I helped him with it. It was our idea."
"So an animagus is a wizard that can turn into an animal, then," Harry turned around, dangling his legs over the side of the countertop to watch his godfather. There were so many interesting things about him.
"Correct. Although since I'm not registered, my actually doing so is illegal, but hey. So is breaking out of Azkaban," he shrugged kicking the stove once for good measure as it tried to bite him. "Every animagus is required to register. We didn't, which actually turned out to be a blessing and a curse for me. It's what got me out of Azkaban, but it's also what got me into it."
"So my Dad was one, too?" green eyes lit up in interest. With Sirius around he'd be able to learn more about his parents. He'd heard a bit here and there from people, but not nearly enough to satisfy his curiosity.
"Yup, a stag. Why he chose that in particular, I'll never know. Odd creature in my opinion. Well I can understand since it was big, but the hooves and just the fact that it was a stag was strange," he chuckled making a peculiar face as if trying to figure out the beast's appeal.
It did seem like an odd animal to choose in his opinion as well, but one comment had caught his attention. "Why did size matter? And how is a dog any better than a stag?" In his mind, by being the dog, it would make the person an easy target for those sorts of jokes.
"Oh, well. We did it in our fifth year. We wanted to be able to hang out with Remus when the full moon came around. He was a werewolf, y'see? They're only dangerous to humans so we figured out a way to go with him. We'd become animagi. We needed to be big so that we could control him if necessary," he explained patiently, pleased that Harry was so interested in his parents.
"Was? Does that mean he's died to?" he asked cautiously, partially afraid to hear the answer. He didn't want to say anything that would upset the man. It was obvious that the man had suffered during his time in Azkaban, and he certainly didn't want to add to his godfather's pain.
"Huh? Oh, I don't think so. I haven't heard from him. He could be doing anything. An' no smart aleck remarks about being a dog. It looks like a grim," Sirius chided gently giving a dirty glare to the uncooperative stove. "You'd think it didn't want to be cleaned," he muttered under his breath.
Green eyes crossed a bit in confusion of the explanation as to why he shouldn't tease his godfather about being a dog. "Oh, okay. Um, what's a grim?" Harry asked tilting his head to the side as he slid off of the counter and moved over to where Black was standing practically cursing the stove now.
"It's a bear sized dog that is a symbol of death. People usually tend to die shortly after seeing one. You know something Harry? Maybe we should work on where we're sleeping first. I should have thought of that earlier, but well, we were in here, and it just made sense at the time... Come on. Let's go stake out a room for you. Shall we?" he turned to the smaller boy, smiling down at him. It wasn't all that late, but the stove was starting to irritate him and by the time they finished cleaning Harry's room it would be late if the time it was taking to work on the kitchen was any indication.
"Sure. I am getting sort of tired," he shrugged smiling back. He liked seeing Sirius smile. It made him look younger and less like the man he had seen on the Muggle news. Less like a crazed mass murderer that is.
"I thought so. Either that or I'm old and get tired a lot sooner than I'd like."
"Naw, yer not old, just ancient," he reassured him, somehow managing to keep an even tone.
"Thanks... Hey!" Black stared down at the boy. He had a hard time adjusting to the fact that the words had come out of his godson's mouth. He grinned. At least it meant the boy felt comfortable around him.
"Hmm?" Harry looked up at him innocently. He held back a snicker as he tried to remain straight faced. It only lasted a split second before he broke out laughing.
Sirius shook his head in disbelief as they climbed the stairs. "I'll give you my brother's old room. I'll advise you to keep the door locked at night though. Kreacher tends to wander around annoying people," Sirius warned unlocking a door to his right and allowing Harry to enter before he too followed him into the dark room.
"Who's Kreacher?" Whoever, or whatever it was didn't sound too pleasant.
"The house elf. He's old, crotchety and hates me. He won't like you any better. Trust me. If he gives you any trouble just let me know." He took a look around the room. It was better than the kitchen had been which was a good sign. "Well, it looks like you'll have to do stuff manually since I don't want you to get into trouble any more with the ministry. It'll be bad enough that they won't be able to locate you here. Here ya go. Start anywhere you'd like," Sirius tossed Harry a few rags he had conjured up along with a heavy duty cleaner.
After waiting for Harry to get started on cleaning off the surfaces, he took to cleaning the drapery on the windows and bed, refreshing the sheets as well. "Hey, Har'? What are those Muggle things called? Those boxes that play music. Did you want to listen to one?"
"Oh, a radio. Yeah, sure. That'd be great," Harry grinned happily. He couldn't believe he was finally away from the Dursleys. Sure the house needed a bit of fixing up. Okay, so it needed a lot of fixing up, but it was still better than the Dursleys. At least here he was wanted it seemed. He didn't have to pretend to be "normal." He was normal, a normal wizard boy.
"Alright then," Black swished his wand in the direction of the dresser and at once a small black radio appeared just a little too close to the edge. Harry made a mad dash to catch it before it hit the floor. He grunted as he caught it landing harshly on the ground himself. He rubbed at his shoulder trying to dull the ache. Sirius stuck out a hand to help him too his feet, looking sheepish as he did so. "Sorry, Har. Didn't mean for it ta fall."
"It's all right. I've had worse," Harry shrugged off the concern, carefully placing the radio on top of the dresser and flipping it on. He blinked when his godfather caught his arm. He looked up at him questioningly.
"What do you mean you've 'had worse'? The Dursleys didn't abuse you did they? Tell me they didn't lay a finger on you," Sirius growled dangerously causing Harry to shrink back at the unexpected violence in the man.
That it was not directed at him was no consolation. "No, no that's not what I meant. They never hit me. Only Dudley and his gang did," Harry stumbled over the words in a rush to get them out.
Silver eyes narrowed dangerously in barely repressed rage. "Who's Dudley?" he asked, his voice low, his temper held taut by a thin thread.
"My, m-my cousin," Harry winced as the grip tightened on his arm where a bruise was sure to form before his godfather seemed to realize what he was doing and let go of him hastily.
It took Sirius several moments to gain enough control back to respond. "Alright. Thankfully, you will no longer be staying with him. I, I'm sorry Harry. I didn't hurt you too bad did I?" Sirius looked down at him with a pained expression. He couldn't believe he had just done that to his godson. He was there to protect him, not manhandle him!
"No. I'll be okay," he gave the man a tremulous smile deciding never to tell him what the Dursleys had done to him instead of hitting him. Nor would he tell him about his run-ins with Voldemort.
"If you're sure," he waited until Harry nodded. "Well then, we should probably get this finished. We still have a lot of cleaning to do tomorrow. It'll probably take us until it's time for you to go back to school to get it all done or even close to done. I'm sorry I couldn't have had this in better shape. I wasn't intending for you to actually see me and want to stay with me. It was sorta more than I had hoped for," he murmured apologetically, all traces of the earlier menace gone from his voice.
Harry paused to look questioningly at his godfather, trying to figure out why he wouldn't want to leave the Dursley's to stay with him. Well, other than the fact that he was a convict, but that had been explained already. "Why? Oh. I get it. You blame yourself. Is that it?"
Sirius snorted and Harry smiled in response. He was reminded of the snuffling sound the man had made when he had still been in his canine for.
"It wasn't, you know." He immediately clarified himself catching sight of Sirius' questioning look. "Your fault, I mean. If anyone is to blame, it's Peter and Voldemort. You did what any intelligent person would have. It was a great idea, you just didn't have all the information. I don't blame you for their murder. You had no way of knowing," he murmured quietly, cleaning off the nightstand so that he'd be able to put his glasses there later.
"Thank you, Harry. That means a lot to me. If... if you understand then maybe, so do Lily and James." He knew that James would never blame him for outright killing them, but it was possible that James blamed him for urging Peter to be the secret keeper instead.
Harry nodded confidently back at his godfather. "I would think so. You were my Dad's best friend. He had to have known that you wouldn't want anything to happen to him."
"Yes, yes, you're right," Sirius smiled. "Okay no more soppiness. One of us might end up crying if we keep this up," he chuckled, fearful that in the end it would be he that broke first and cried.
Harry chuckled, but silently agreed. "Sure thing, Snuffles."
"What did you call me?" Black asked in an almost incredulous tone.
"Snuffles" Harry turned to face him, smiling broadly.
"I'll show you Snuffles!" he growled playfully, lunging at Harry and knocking him to the bed as he began tickling him.
"I give! I give! Mercy!" Harry laughed trying to wriggle out from underneath the man, ineffectually trying to push the hands away. "I give!" he screeched clutching his aching sides as his godfather finally decided to let up.
Sirius laughed pushing himself up from the bed and moving to the door. The room was clean enough for the night and he still had his own to work on. "So where'd 'Snuffles' come from?"
"Well, when you were a dog, you kept making these snuffling noises so I thought that if we went out in public, you could go as a dog and I could call you Snuffles. That way no one would be suspicious," Harry shrugged, wincing a little at the pain in his side from laughing so much. Blowing up Marge had definitely been worth this. Hopefully, he wouldn't be expelled for it.
The convict stood silently for a few moment, pondering the nickname. "All right. Actually, that's a really good idea. You can call me that while we're at Hogwart's too, since I'll be attending it with you," he grinned, striding out of the room and shutting the door behind him, effectively causing him to miss the stunned expression on his godson's face.
Grey eyes glanced down, noticing Kreacher lurking about in the shadows. "Go back downstairs. You are to leave this room alone. It is off limits to you at all times," he ordered quietly, yet firmly indicating that there would be serious trouble if his wish were denied. He called back to Harry to remember to lock the door before going upstairs to his own room. Thankfully he already had a head start on it and it would only need a little bit of work before it was deemed habitable for the night. There was also the slight need to retrieve his godson's trunk from the forest. Harry might want it if he planned to wear different clothes come morning. Quickly, he took care of that task, leaving the trunk just inside Harry's door and saying another quick goodnight before heading to his own room.
TBC…
