Chapter Eight: Flying and Kidnappings
After the episode at dinner, Harry would have been happy to stay in his room for the remainder of the evening, actually, he would have been happy staying in his room for the rest of the month, to avoid that type of embarrassment again. And he would have stayed there, polishing his broom with the new broom-stick servicing kit Hermione had given him as an early birthday present, if it weren't for the fact that his godfather had to intervene, only about half an hour after dinner. Sirius knocked on the door and asked, "Can I come in?"
Harry scoffed. "I don't know can you?" Sirius ignored the hostile tone and entered the room.
"Look Harry, I'm sorry about dinner, you just were being impossible, and well, I thought I might as well have some fun. Really the look on your face was priceless when-" Harry sent his godfather a glare that was usually only reserved for Voldemort, Snape, and Malfoy.
Sirius got the hint and stood there with the awkward silence for a few moments. "I see you have your own broom, do you play Quidditch?" He wasn't surprised at the lack of response. "I mean, of course you play Quidditch, probably a natural at it just like James." Sirius frowned slightly, before his eyes started to shine brightly. "You know we have a little Quidditch Pitch outside, it'll be light out for a couple more hours, if you want to play…"
"Where?" Harry asked earnestly. Sirius grinned.
"Just out back, I'm kind-of surprised that you haven't found it yet. Although I suppose if you spend all your time in your room sulking you miss out on your surroundings." The youngest Quidditch player in a century, took no notice of the words of his godfather, and started heading out to look for the pitch. "Harry wait!"
Harry stopped, "What?"
"Wait for me, I don't want you going outside alone, plus I haven't played since…well not for a long time, I'll join you." Harry was too happy about the prospect of being able to practice Quidditch during the summer to truly be bothered by the idea of having to spend more time with his godfather. He couldn't wait to see the look on Oliver's face after being able to spend summer training for the upcoming season.
III
"Great dive Harry!" Sirius exclaimed, watching his godson pull off a spectacular move on his broomstick. "You're a natural just like you're father."
Harry grinned, "Really?"
"Yeah, James made it on to the Quidditch team in his 2nd year, which is rare, he beat some 6th years at try outs. He was made Captain in his 5th year. Did you make the Gryffindor team?"
"In my first year," Harry bragged, forgetting who he was talking to.
"Really? With McGonnagal as the Head of House?"
"Yeah, see my friend fell of his broom during our first class, and while Madame Hooch was taking him to the hospital wing Malfoy-"
"Son of Lucius?"
"That's him, Draco Malfoy. He stole Neville's rememberall and was going to put it up someplace high, and I decided to save it. When I went after him, Malfoy threw the rememberall down, and just as I caught it McGonnagal comes running out yelling at me. I was so terrified, I thought that I was going to be expelled, but instead she took me to meet Oliver Wood, the Quidditch captain. Later, this broom arrived, and the look on Malfoy's face was priceless when I told him that not only did I make the team and not get expelled, but I had the best broom on the market, the Nimbus 2000." Sirius was very much enjoying this new side to his godson.
"You know, there was a time that James challenged Snape to a broom race in 3rd year-"
"Severus Snape?"
"Yeah, although your dad and I preferred to call him Snivellus. Do you know him?"
Harry laughed. "He's my potions professor, he hates me."
"Who let that greasy git become a teacher? Ugg, I am truly sorry for you Harry, it was bad enough having to be in school with him. Anyway with the broom race, Snape didn't know that James had cursed his broom before and-" Sirius happily told the story and the two of them spent the next hour talking about Harry's adventures at Hogwarts, as well as those of his father's. They might have continued for longer if a voice came from the doorway of the house.
"And here I thought that you two would have killed each other by this time, what brought about this sudden change?" Remus asked amused. Harry froze immediately. Here he was talking happily with the man who was responsible for the death of his parents, and Harry had completely forgotten. How had he forgotten? All of sudden he felt ill.
"Its late, I better go to bed." Harry said quietly before flying to the ground and going up to his room. Sirius frowned, also landing on the ground.
"Why'd you have to interrupt Remus?" He asked, scowling at his friend as they walked into the kitchen.
"Well its half after 10, I thought that it might be good for Harry to get to sleep."
"Really? Its 10:30?"
"Yeah, how long were you two out there?"
"A good two hours. Two hours Moony! I got him to talk to me for two hours!"
"That's great Padfoot. You're finally getting him to open up a bit. What did you guys talk about?"
Sirius was grinning from ear to ear. "We talked about everything! From the time he got onto the Quidditch team, to the pranks that we played on Snape. Did you know that he made the team in his first year? It's incredible! Also Dumbledore is officially cracked, Snape is a teacher at Hogwarts. Did you know that?"
Remus smiled slightly. "I did, who do you think has been making my Wolfsbane potion these last couple of years?"
"That was Snape? You never told me that."
"You never asked. I'm really happy for you Sirius, but I think that I better go to sleep its late. Do you mind if I crash in the guest room again?"
Sirius waved his friend off. "Of course not. Moony he talked to me! Actually talking, not just grunting! This may work out after all." Remus grinned.
"That's great Sirius. Goodnight."
"Goodnight." Sirius just couldn't keep smiling. He hadn't been this happy in a very long time, it was like having Lily and James back. Because Harry was a perfect combination of the two. He had James' Quidditch abilities and Lily's sense of humor. Finally, things were going well.
III
Harry was panicking. He had just spent two hours talking to his godfather. His murdering, back-stabber, evil godfather. And he had enjoyed it! Harry had never felt more awful, conspiring with the man who was responsible for the death of his parents and countless others, no doubt. As terrible as this was a small part of him wanted what he had had to those two hours again. Trading stories about his parents. No one had ever given him so much information about them before. He had not known why Snape had hated his father, or vice versa. And the pranks that his dad has pulled with his friends!
Later he would have to have Sirius- there he went again. Actually wanting to talk to the betrayer of his parents. Harry shuddered. He had to get out here. He looked down at his watch. It was 10:10 on Tuesday. It was 10:10 on Tuesday! 'Damn it,' Harry thought. In spending time with Black he had nearly forgotten that tonight was the night that Ron was coming to get him. And he hadn't even started packing yet, because he didn't want to make Remus or Black suspicious. Frantically The-Boy-Who-Lived dragged his trunk out of the closet and started throwing stuff into. He stopped suddenly when there was a knock on the door.
"Harry can I come in?" It was Remus.
"Umm, one second." Harry, instead of throwing the book in his hand in the trunk he took it to the bed and quickly lay down. "Come in." As Remus opened the door Harry tried to make it look like he was marking the place in his book.
"Good book? You're more like Lily than I thought. James was never much of a reader."
"It's a fine book. Do you need something?" Remus looked slightly hurt at the harshness of this comment.
"No, I just heard you had a good time with Sirius tonight, and I wanted to congratulate you on being able to keep your temper in check." Harry grunted in acknowledgment.
"Remus, I'm really tired. Would you mind if we talked about this in the morning?"
"No, not at all. Goodnight Harry." Remus left the room, wondering what was going on with that boy, and why he was reading The Standard Book of Spells (Year 1) for bedtime reading. The werewolf shrugged. Maybe Harry was more studious than he had originally thought…
Harry waited a good five minutes after Remus had left before he cautiously got out of his bed, and started packing again. It took him until five to 11 to get all his stuff packed up. It was times like these that he wished that magic were allowed during the summer. There was a tap on the window. Harry grinned and went over and opened the window. There, on his balcony, was one of the Weasley twins, grinning.
"How'd you get up here?" Harry asked, whispering so not to be heard.
"By flying carpet of course!" The twin answered in a whisper as well. Sure enough beneath his feet was a beautiful Persian rug. "George and I nicked it when we went to visit Dad at work." Harry was impressed, and happy that he now knew that the twin was Fred, avoiding embarrassment. "Should we go then?" Fred asked.
"Of course, my trunk's just here. Be careful its heavy," Harry advised when Fred started dragging the trunk over to the carpet.
"You're going to have to follow behind on your broom, while we go to meet George and Ron a little further away. This carpet will only carry me and your trunk."
"What about Ron and George then?" Harry asked. Fred grinned.
"You'll see." Harry couldn't help be slightly afraid at the twinkle in Fred's eyes, he had seen that look before, and nothing good ever came from that look. The two flew for about ten minutes before arriving to a wooded area, where Ron was waiting for them at the entrance.
"Still in one piece mate?" He asked as Harry landed on the ground. Harry grinned.
"Yeah, but I'm loads better now. Thanks for once again rescuing me." Ron waved his thanks off.
"As if you hadn't saved me once or twice by now. Although, I think that we are even after this. You know Hermione is beside herself with worry. We had to use her and Ginny as a distraction for Mum." As he was talking Fred lead the two friends to a clearing in the woods, where he turned around and faced the two younger boys and grinned.
"Here we are, we made it. George, reveal the tent!" Fred exclaimed. Nothing happened, Harry looked very bewildered. "GEORGE!" Still nothing, so Fred decided to go investigate the matter, but before he could go further into the woods something, or rather, someone came out first. "Uh oh."
"Uh oh is right," said a fuming Sirius Black, holding George by the back of his collar. "Let's see the amount of charges I have on you three boys: breaking and entering; illegal possession of a portal floo and flying carpet, oh and attempted kidnapping of the Boy-Who-Lived. What will your Daddy think?"
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AN- Once again thank you for all your wonderful reviews. This is the last of the "light" chapters I'm afraid, it gets very serious (and not in the joke form, this is the only point where I will even bring up that overused joke).
But I do want to address the issue of Remus, some of you love him, some of you hate him. Both is ok, I appreciate everyone's views, but I figured I should give you my take on him. EsScaper said it well in this review: "Since Sirius didn't get imprisoned in this version, Remus wasn't left alone and grieving. He would be more confident. In addition, he'd be more cynical about the Ministry's ethics. After all he does know that Sirius was innocent and that they wanted nothing more than to throw an innocent man into the hellish existence of Azkaban."
EsScaper read my mind in the approach to this fic. Remember in the books we never get to see much interaction between Remus and Sirius. Actually we don't see much of Remus other than in the 3rd book. Which makes him an interesting character. Don't forget, he was a Marauder, and unlike in other fanfics, I like to think that he wasn't the Hermione of the group. He may have been smart, and calmer than the others, but that doesn't mean that he wasn't just as mischievous and ready to break the rules. But that's just my point of view, you are more than welcome to disagree.
Valerie- There isn't a competition between Remus and Sirius for Harry's affection. Sirius is jealous, but he understands why, and hopes to build a similar relationship with Harry in the future. But there is no malice towards Sirius in Remus' actions. Maybe he's being selfish, but he's a person too, and he was good friends with Lily and James too, and wants to know their son. About Dumbledore and Mr. Weasley, they aren't supposed to be bad characters. You didn't hate them in the 3rd book did you? They truly believe that Sirius is the bad guy, and they want to protect Harry. They aren't trying to manipulate Harry for their own benefits, like I've seen in other fics, but they do want him to be safe, and they could be mislead in their belief. Hopefully that helps with your frustration. They are basically the same characters as in the books.
SiriusFan- I like this Remus too, I get really frustrated with fics that make him super mild mannered and calm. He IS human! Thanks for the review.
LiliacBookstar- Don't worry, I actually know exactly where this story is going, and it may seem hopeless now, but there is a happy ending. (hint hint, wink wink)
And now, after the longest AN ever, for a preview of Chapter Nine: Busted
"NOW! OR SO HELP ME MERLIN I WILL MAKE YOU COME HOME FOR CHRISTMAS AND EASTER JUST SO THAT I CAN CONTINUE THIS GROUNDING!"
"He still believes that Pettigrew is alive?"
"I think that I will just let that Weasley fellow have 'im. Tha's where he wants to be…""
"Sirius Black, you are under arrest for the attempted murder of Harry Potter…"