Chapter Six: Confrontations
Lunch was a silent affair. There were a few attempts at conversation made by the two older men, but the talk would always result in a series of grunts and nods from Harry. Finally, when they had all finished their food, Harry offered to clean up.
"Oh no, Harry! Its your first day here, you shouldn't have to lift a finger," Remus insisted. "In fact, Sirius why don't you show Harry to his room, he must be exhausted from this morning, if what you described was accurate, I bet that he could use some rest."
The almost-convict's eyes lit up. "That's an excellent idea Remus, follow me Harry, I can't wait to show you your room."
Harry hesitated. "But…I could stay down here and help with the dishes, really its not a problem…" he said shooting pleading looks at Remus. However, if the man noticed these looks he gave no indication.
"No, go on upstairs and rest," he maintained. Because there seemed to be no other choice, the Boy-Who-Lived sighed and followed his godfather.
"However," Remus started before they could leave the room completely, "Padfoot you are more than welcome to come back down and help clean up this mess you made." Sirius winced, but continued walking. "I mean it Black!" By then the two were almost half way up the stairs.
They went up one flight and stopped at a long corridor, about two doors down, Harry noticed a door painted red with the gold letters 'Harry' painted on the door. How did Black know he was a Gryffindor?
"Well, this is your room," Black said, approaching the door. Harry raised an eyebrow clearly saying, 'no shit.' The older man opened the door. Harry was actually somewhat surprised at what he saw inside. The whole room was decorated in red and gold; there was a corner that looked like a mini replica of the Gryffindor common room, fireplace and all. On the other corner was a four-poster bed that looked like it had been taken straight out of Harry's dormitory. The room even had a small balcony outside. Even though the room wasn't huge, it was certainly nothing like the size of Dudley's second bedroom.
"Do you like it?" Sirius asked nervously.
Harry shrugged, hiding any sort of excitement. "Its fine, very…red and gold."
Sirius hesitated. "You are a Gryffindor, aren't you?" Harry said nothing. "I mean its fine if you're not, I mean I don't care, we can change the colors of the room, I just thought because James and Lily were Gryffindor that you…well it doesn't always work like that, it didn't for me…but my parents…not the point, what house are you in?" He was babbling, Harry found it hilarious, so he waited a couple of seconds before responding.
"Gryffindor." Black visibly relaxed.
"Oh good. I better let you rest, like Remus suggested. Um, there's a bathroom one door down to your right, and my bedroom is just down the hall if you ever need me at night…but for now I'll just go downstairs and help with the dishes. Is there anything else you want or need?"
Harry grunted negative. "All right then, you know where I'll be, see you at dinner?" No response. Flustered, Sirius left the room and went downstairs to talk to his werewolf friend.
"You're in one piece! Congratulations Padfoot, you've survived another encounter with Harry," Remus said with a grin on his face as Sirius entered the kitchen. Sirius glared.
"You seem to be chummy with him pretty quick. Why does he like you better than me?" He whined.
"Maybe its because he doesn't think that I'm the sole reason for the death of his parents."
"Yeah, but your best friends with the man who he thinks is the sole reason for the death of his parents, he doesn't seem to hold that against you." Sirius quipped back. Remus smiled in a mischievous way.
"Oh but I'm not. I'm a spy sent by the Minister of Magic himself to protect Harry from you."
Sirius gasped dramatically. "But Moony! My own best friend! Oh how you've fooled me all these years. Why don't I just kick you out now?"
"Because if you did, you would starve to death, and who else will go and get your groceries?"
"True, true," Sirius said, hanging his head in defeat. His expression all of a sudden turned dark. "Really, though what am I going to do about Harry? I'm sure that he's already been brain washed by that no good-"
There was a pounding on the front door. The two friends looked before they nodded at each other, and pulled out their wands. Quietly, they went to the door, as the pounding continued, Harry came down the stairs.
"Whose that?" He asked. Sirius, in a panic, motioned for his godson to go back up the stairs.
"Harry, go upstairs now."
"But-"
Remus interrupted, "Harry, we don't know whose at this door, go!"
Harry obeyed, reluctantly. "Three, two,-" Remus mouthed before yelling, "ONE!"
Sirius flung open the door, wand drawn.
"That is unnecessary Mr. Black," it was the Minister of Magic, with an entourage of aurors. Sirius put his wand down.
"Minister, what brings your…delightful presence to my humble abode?"
"My son's owl was unable to get through to young Mr. Potter, so we decided to check and make sure that he was alright."
Sirius cursed under his breath, he had forgotten to take down the charms that made it impossible for owls to get through.
"What was that Mr. Black?"
"Nothing Minister, I assure you, I only have to take down some of my wards. Harry is doing excellently. We ate lunch and now he is upstairs resting. Good day Minister." He tried to shut the door, but the Minister stuck his foot in the door.
"I'm afraid that I must insist on seeing Mr. Potter for myself Black."
"He's sleeping, Minister, I don't want to disturb him."
"I assure you Minister Weasley, that Harry is fine," Remus added in.
"I believe you Mr. Lupin," the Minister said in a kinder voice than he had been using before, "but I'm sure you'll understand why we need to check up on the well being of the boy."
"I told you-" Sirius started, but before he could finish, a voice came from the stairwell.
"I'm here Mr. Weasley."
Sirius winced, and in a somewhat annoyed voice said, "I told you to go upstairs Harry."
Both Harry and Mr. Weasley ignored the almost-convict. "Its nice to see you Harry, we were worried when Ron's owl wasn't able to get through to you. Are you alright?"
Harry was considering lying, but a look on Remus' face told him not to. "I'm fine Mr. Weasley. Ron sent me an owl?"
"Oh yes," responded the red-haired man. "I have it right here in my pocket…here its is…"
Sirius stopped him in mid-action. "I get the final word on what mail Harry can and cannot receive, as his guardian, better give that to me Minster, it could be dangerous."
Mr. Weasley went red. "Are you accusing my son of being dangerous?"
"I don't know," Sirius shrugged. "I've never gotten a real chance to get to know him, for all I know, he could be trying to hurt my godson. And I wont allow that."
"I'm sure you wouldn't." Weasley grounded out.
"Sirius, just let Harry have his letter," Remus said, stepping in between the Minister and his friend. Sirius took the letter from the Minister and handed it to Harry, who happily took it.
"Thanks Mr. Weasley."
"No trouble Harry, just let me know if you need anything else. Mr. Lupin could I have a word with you outside?"
Lupin faked a concerned and confused look. "Why, of course Minister."
The two of them, and the aurors walked outside, shutting the door behind them. Harry started heading up the stairs, but he didn't get far before his godfather started in on him.
"HARRY JAMES POTTER, you get back here this minute." Harry was so shocked by the harsh voice that he turned around.
"If I tell you to do something, you need to do it right away. What if that had been death eaters? You could have been hurt!"
Harry mumbled something under his breath. "What was that?" Harry looked up defiantly.
"I said, 'Like you care.'"
Sirius reddened. "Like I care, like I CARE? Of course I care Harry, your parents left you to me before-"
"Before you BETRAYED them, before you led them to their deaths, before you STABBED them in the back. Would my parents really want to leave me with a murderer?"
"LISTEN HERE-"
"NO! I WILL not listen to a WORD from YOU Black. I don't want to be here. I don't want anything to do with you. You killed my parents, and left me an orphan, and then you pretend to CARE? Leave me the hell alone." Harry ran up the stairs, stomping as much as possible.
"COME BACK HERE-" Before Sirius could finish his statement, Remus came back into the house, and gave Sirius a confused look.
"What's happening Padfoot? Did I hear Harry yelling in here?"
Sirius nodded. "He has to believe me Moony, he has to," he said in a defeated voice. Remus felt for his friend. It had been a long time since he had seen him look so…hopeless.
"He'll come around eventually Padfoot, you'll see." The werewolf said, vowing to himself that by the end of the summer he would win Harry over, because if he didn't, he was pretty sure that it would be the death of his best friend.
'I wont lose another friend,' he thought. 'I'll stop at nothing short of the imperious to make Harry come around…'
AN- Thank you for all the wonderful reviews from the last chapter. I hope you like this one. Hopefully it cleared up all the confusion in the Remus/Sirius situation. But in case it did not, yes, Remus knows that Sirius is innocent, and he lied to Harry because Dumbledore and Mr. Weasley don't know that he is convinced that Sirius is innocent. Remember he is their "spy." Congratulations to EcScaper, who understood all the subtly that I put into that flashback in the last chapter. So, once again, thank you for all the wonderful reviews, and don't hesitate to e-mail or ask questions in your reviews, because I want to make sure that everything is clear!
And now some more enticement…"As soon as you left the Leaky Cauldron Hermione, Fred, George, and I started coming up with a plan to rescue you, just like last year from the Dursleys."
"I'll think about it, on one condition."
"But he didn't eat it, no one was harmed!"
"Where's Remus?" He demanded, panicking at seeing only his godfather sitting at the table, and a table setting for two.
'I win,' Sirius thought.