Disclaimer: We all know how these work, I acknowledge that J.K. Rowlings, Warner Bros. and Scholastic own Harry Potter and all other characters and settings from cannon, and I get to write whatever I please and even add in characters of my own as long as I don't get any money. The no money sucks but there you go, at least I don't get lawyers knocking on my door. Addendum: If you recognize a name of a character from elsewhere it isn't mine.
A/N: WOW! 200 alerts, thanks you all! I would love it if my reviews got to similar numbers ;)
Sirius' Savior
Chapter 51 Family Time
Sirius really didn't like Sheba. Actually it wasn't that he didn't like her, it was that she just freaked him out. She loved Harry; if he was home you would find them together. She liked Beth she would rub against Beth's legs if Harry wasn't home, and she even seemed to like the babies. But him, she would just watch. She would stalk him; the one time he changed to Padfoot to see if he could get her to stop, she had arched her back and hissed then chased him.
So he found it very odd on the second of January when she came into his and Beth's room at three in the morning and woke him up. She climbed on him and kneaded the covers covering him, until he was awake. She looked into his eyes and made a soft sound almost like a squeak but it was not a sound he would have expected a cat to make. Puzzled he sat up, she jumped from the bed and headed to the door halfway there she stopped and looked back at him. He couldn't believe this, the cat that hated him seemed to want him to follow her. Mentally swearing he grabbed his cane and quietly so as to not wake Beth or the babies he started to follow the cat.
She lead the way to Harry's room. Sirius knocked on the slightly open door but there was no response. Then he mentally kicked himself of course there wouldn't be. Harry probably had a silencing charm up so he wouldn't hear the babies at night. He didn't know how Harry had done it but he had figured out a way to do the silencing spell in an arcing bubble over the door so he could leave it cracked for Sheba when asked he just answered, "Mum's journal and some of what Charlie taught me about shield theory I experimented."
Sirius went in. Harry wasn't in bed, and there were groans and the sound of retching coming from the bathroom. He went over to the door it was obvious from the sour smell and the vomit on the floor that Harry was sick. "Harry?"
"What?" came the groan from the boy who was hugging the toilet.
"Are you...stupid question of course you're not alright you're sick. What can I do to help, should I call Winry?"
Harry pushed away from the toilet. "I think I'm done."
Sirius looked at his godson. Harry was sheet white and had dark circles around his eyes. Circles like that didn't come from one night of being sick. It occurred to Sirius that he hadn't really talked with Harry about much of anything since the babies had been born. "You look like hell."
Harry's lips quirked. "Yeah well I feel like it too. Don't disturb Winry I'll be fine it's just the goddamn nightmares."
"Nightmares huh? Nightmares don't usually make people throw up. Talk to me Harry what are you dreaming about."
"I'm..You know how you and George have me working on occlumency?"
"Yes."
"Well you know how you've both told me, I needed to sort my memories organize them."
"Yes."
"I've done that. I did mine at school and had everything shipshape except on the place were his soul left it's mark. At the start of December I started with that place. I felt for the least disturbing room to sort, I had a wake up gasping nightmare that night. Since then I've only worked on it when I've been here at home. He's sick insane. His real name isn't Voldemort it's Riddle. He likes Black magic, blood magic, sex magic mostly non consensual, and necromancy. He wants to cause a maximum of fear and pain from everyone around him in some sort of twisted revenge.
"When I sort the actual memories I can stay a little bit detached, but they're so horrible that when I go to sleep they give me nightmares. How am I going to do this Sirius? The burned out building is the biggest one in my mind scape and I've only managed eighteen rooms in a month. That's just a floors worth and the building is like the Empire State Building."
"Crap kiddo. Why didn't you tell me before? You shouldn't have to deal with this on your own."
"Yeah but everyone is so busy and the babies..."
"You are every bit as important to me as they are. I'm dismayed that you doubt that for even one second. Tell you what. I'm going to go back and get my wand to clean this up," he gestured to the mess on the floor, "You take a warm shower and clean yourself up. Then we'll talk okay."
"kay."
Sirius limped to his room to grab his wand. As he passed the potions room that doubled as Harry's darkroom he grabbed a dreamless sleep potion for Harry after they talked. He got back to Harry's room and grabbed a fresh set of p.j.s for Harry from the bureau drawer; before stepping back into the bathroom and waving his wand for the mess on the floor. Harry was drying off so Sirius stepped back into the bedroom and thought about what to tell Harry.
A few minutes later Harry stepped out. "Thanks for the p.j.s."
"How many nightmares Harry?" Sirius beckoned him back to his bed.
" A couple while I was gone. Almost every night since I got back from Italy, the dreamcatcher has helped a bit. But I've been trying to sort most nights too."
"How often have you been sick like this?"
"Twice."
"Harry I have never expected you to work through those memories alone. It's dangerous and a risk I don't want you taking by yourself. Promise you won't go it alone again?"
Harry gave him an uncertain look.
"I love you kiddo and I don't want anything to happen to you, 'sides what would James, Elizabeth, and Lila do without their big brother to show them the ropes."
"Alright I promise."
"So what has he done in the memories?"
"He grew up in an mundane orphanage in London. He hurts the other kids and scares them and the woman who runs the place, and the staff that helps there. Mostly petty stuff but he is cold, calculating, cruel and manipulative: for example he killed another boy's pet rabbit and stolen stuff from other kids. From the clothes people are wearing in his memories it's probably the late1930's or early 40's. He's been to Hogwarts it's his third year and he has started experimenting with the dark arts. He's killed a Hufflepuff girl's familiar for slighting him. He didn't kill it quick, he tortured it slowly using spells." Suddenly Harry bolted back to the bathroom where once more the sounds of retching were heard. It was over quickly. Harry didn't have much left to bring up Sirius listened as Harry brushed his teeth, washed his face and came back to the bedroom. "Sorry."
"Don't be, it speaks well of you that such things sicken you." Sirius knew it was the torture aspect that bothered Harry. Harry had shown a cast iron stomach while prepping potion ingredients including the ones that regularly caused Sirius' stomach to turn, and they had hunted for food while on a weekend camping trip in Montana. Harry had both killed and butchered animals before eating them afterward but that was different and Sirius knew it. He tucked Harry in again. "I'll get a notebook so we can keep track of the things you learn about him. late1930's would explain the use of dark arts at Hogwarts not being noticed. Armando Dippet was Headmaster then and he had been a protege of Phineas Nigellus Black my great great grandfather a true black Black. When Dumbledore took over he cut the dark arts and limited it to defense against dark arts."
"It's hard to defend against something you've never seen."
"Agreed. That's one reason I have you taking defense with the WIS trainers."
Sheba jumped up and draped herself across Harry's lap. Sirius smiled at the mostly grown kitten, "Your goofy cat woke me up." Her ears flatten and her eyes narrowed as she looked at him. Sirius could read the displeasure in her attitude. Back to why she brought him here. "Harry I can't tell you not to be sickened by the stuff you're seeing. It's got to be hellish to be seeing shit like that in your own mind. But you didn't do it Moldyshorts did, you may have the memories from a first person point of view but you aren't the one who did those things. Here's a dose of dreamless sleep. I think you need sleep, tomorrow we'll get George and talk about this set some guidelines so you aren't alone in this. I'm really sorry I didn't notice before it got this bad."
"Tidak apa-apa." Harry said after he drank the vial of dreamless sleep. [it's okay] He yawned and the green eyes drifted closed.
Beth was concerned when Harry was still asleep at noon the next day until Sirius told her what had happened. "What are we going to do? I feel guilty because you've been so busy helping me with the triplets, and he has too, and I didn't even notice."
"I know the feeling. I need to talk to George. I hope between the three of us we can work out how to handle things. I think at the very least we need to set strict limits on him doing it by himself. How am I going to do it Beth? How am I going to have him ready in a year and nine months?"
"What does he need to know and how can we teach him?"
"That's part of it, I don't know. He's going to have to understand politics. Especially since I heard from Nic that the ICW governing council decided that to meet more often than every five years is counter productive. Which basically translates to I can't get cleared until the summer before Harry's third year at Hogwarts."
"Maybe we should just keep him here. Since if we don't Dumbledore may try to claim custody."
"We need to force the wills open make it so if I can't be there Harry can be with Minerva McGonagall, Amelia, or even Andie. I'll conference call Moony and Amelia in the morning, and then have them get with the new lawyers in England."
"We should probably have Nic there for that too. I'll ask Dad to give Harry a crash course in politics and strategy."
"You think he would?"
"Yes, Harry already understands the economic side of politics, between Dad and Nic he could get a good base in legal, and Dad loves strategy he'll even make it fun. Muggles have hundreds of games that teach strategic thinking and political thought. Dad, I swear, has collected all of them. We just need to schedule times. I'll go call him and Nic and invite them for dinner tonight or if they can't make it later in the week.
"Also Sirius we probably look into getting a nanny to help with the babies soon. I have to return to the State Department soon."
"Already in process sweetheart. I knew that was coming up so I advertised with The Witches Helper agency they got twenty resumes for us. I gave them to Radar to screen he said he'd have the WIS approved candidates to us Monday after that we do the interviews and we'll have a nanny."
Two hours later Harry wandered into the kitchen and poured a glass of milk for himself and a small saucer for Sheba. Then he toasted some bread.
"How are you feeling?" Sirius asked.
"A little rough but better than last night. Sleep helped."
"I think I want to set some guidelines. At school during the week, you close yourself off from that segment of your mind. Friday you come home and we work on a small segment you don't do it by yourself you work either with me or George so you have someone with you while you process. Afterward, you talk with one or both of us. George made the decision to join our private force and just do consulting for WIS. Chambers doesn't really use him the way he expected, he thought he'd be doing profiling and helping his fellows recover from stress. He feels under utilized and he's tired of Chamber's bull on his annual reviews."
"What's Roy say?"
"He's pissed as hell at Chambers, but is torn between being annoyed at me for luring another of his future best people away and being happy for his friend. He tells me, I can't have anyone else." Sirius chuckled. "He may not get that option, Rachel's been hinting if I made an offer she'd jump ship."
"So what's George going to do for you?"
"Well I think I'll have him doing pyschological evaluations on employees so I can optimize the people I hire and their placement. I plan for him and Rachel to come up with a mental and physical training program to rival WIS' so the security people for DeSable Potter Industries can keep secret what we want and prevent anyone with questionable intentions from endangering any of our people. That's in addition to teaching you. I found out that George knows kendo and fencing so he'll be tutoring you in those on weekends in addition to your other teachers that you'll met with during the week.
"I was pleased with your grades last trimester, straight A's. What are you taking this time?"
"Same old. Humanities, Social Science we're supposed to do a sociology project this trimester which should be fun, last trimester we did a mock trial. The new teacher is very hands on project oriented. Pre-Algebra, Biology last trimester was a overview with an emphasis on classification, environments and webs and the nitrogen and carbon cycles, this trimester is an emphasis on anatomy, next trimester is an emphasis on cellular biology. Orchestra, Cotillion, Latin the teacher says I've advanced enough in that that I'll have to have another language next year cause I've moved through the coursework faster than most students. Composition. I'll be doing water polo for school sport." Harry paused before continuing in a bit of a rush. "I signed up for a different sort of class in place of Horsemanship. Actually Dominic, Michael, Steve and I all signed up for it. It's kind of stupid, Michael still has Mr. Ingalls as a floor parent and he recommended to all the boys on that floor to take a home economics course before graduation to learn the basics of cooking, cleaning, sewing and house hold budgets and whatnot. Well a bunch of the boys from both our floors were mocking Michael in the cafeteria for even considering it; but I opened my mouth and Steve opened his so in the end all four of us signed up for it together. This way we all know we won't be the only boy in the class. "
Sirius blinked. Harry was blushing slightly.
"Are you going to say anything?"
"I think that a class like that is a very good idea. It will give you some good life skills. I wish Hogwarts had offered such a course. And some boys might mock you but I think a lot of men when they get out on their own wish they had taken something like that. So your mundane education is well in hand. How are we going to handle the magical?"
"Well charms is a matter of practice and memorizing spells I'll put in an hour or two of practice with Hawkeye each weekend. She already volunteered. Transfiguration is a little different. I'm doing decent at inanimate to inanimate. I've successfully done objects up to the size of a lunch box. I'm okay at animate to inanimate and Rachel got me started on inanimate to animate which just leaves animate to animate, human transfiguration, before doing the final aspect of transfiguration conjuration.
I'd like to go to Chicago again. Walter has let me brew with him a few times he says I have potential. But I haven't done much with it. Maybe we should have me meet with Walter as well as George each weekend to get me going on potions. As far as specialized training how about next break I do two jumps one at the end of the trimester so I am elsewhere maybe Chicago for Defense I jump back to February from April. One of me takes the month of school off because I need the downtime. And I do one more jump and I work exclusively on processing Moldyshorts memories."
"Are you sure Harry?"
"Actually not really maybe we should schedule the jump before the vacation so I get to relax afterward. Sirius, I may not want to process those memories but I'm not sure we have a choice. What if those memories can tell us about the rest of the horcruxes."
"I don't like it but you're right. We do need the intelligence. Any ideas where you'd like to go?"
"Somewhere relaxing and private. Chicago will be cold so someplace warm, someplace I can surf."
"I'll look into it. I'll plan on-"
"Sirius I love you but Beth, James, Lila and Elizabeth need you more."
"If we both jump they won't even know I'm gone."
"So you're saying we'll have for lack of a better description real time and Jump one and Jump two? When we do the jump to do the occlumency could we take Sheba with us?"
"I... I'll look into it." Sirius thought having Sheba along might be a good thing because it might help Harry stay calm.
The next week Sirius escorted Harry and his friends back to school on Sunday afternoon. Before that however Beth had cheerfully plated hostess at a Sunday morning brunch that included Michael's father, Steve's mother sister grandmother and twin little brothers, and Dominic's whole family. All the families had been regaled with details of the theater performance the previous Friday. Michael's father left early to catch a flight to New York. Steve's family seemed to find the wealth displayed in the Black home so casually intimidating and left shortly after Michael's father the boys talked about their courses, and helped Harry double check he had everything.
Dominic started the teasing "Harry has anyone every told you you're crazy."
"I'm not crazy."
"What do you call it then?" Michael asked.
"What do you mean?" Harry asked totally bewildered as he packed his Boy Scout uniform.
"I think they mean you Boy Scouts, astronomy club, sports team , ..." Steve started.
"never the same sport twice mind you, yearbook, debate team,.." Michael continued.
"Not to mention your extra curricular studies, martial arts, the other humanities section. Don't think I haven't noticed. I'm your roommate for heaven's sake." Dominic cut in.
"I don't like to be bored and I read fast, and I'm organized."
"You pinch your time the way my Nana used to pinch her liras, till they squeak for mercy." Dominic said.
"Is this some hold over from your illness, trying to squeeze in as much of everything as you can in your life so you don't miss anything because your scared it may get ripped away?" Michael asked.
Harry thought about it. "Maybe."
"Hey guys, someone out of the loop here. What illness?" Steve cut in.
"I had heart surgery last summer they had to stop and restart my heart."
"Where do you think that scar on his chest came from?" Dominic asked.
"I never thought about it," Steve answered.
Harry had been quiet for several minutes. "I guess I do try to squeeze as much life out of every minute as I can because I know how quickly life can be snuffed out, and I want to have no regrets if it's my life that's gone. I think sometimes if I know enough or train enough I can somehow buy extra time. I try to make sure I have time for the important stuff like friends and family. I want to be strong enough that I can be my own person not someone else's puppet and that I can protect my loved ones."
Michael noticed the unwanted somber tone that had overtaken the conversation. "Like I said crazy. You need spontaneity my friend. Which is why I'm gonna.." He tackled Harry and started tickling him. The other boys joined in but it wasn't long before Harry had turned the tables.
When Sirius came to get them Harry was on top of the pile of laughing boys on the floor and his things weren't packed. "Am I interrupting something. Harry I thought I told you to get packed."
"Sorry Mr. Black we distracted Harry." the other boys intoned.
"I can see that, would you let him finish please? You boys need to get settled back in the dorms."
"Yes sir."
Thirty minutes later Harry gave Beth and the babies hugs and kisses goodbye. He tries to give Sheba a goodbye pet but instead she ignored him and when he persisted Sheba jumped onto the top of Sirius' shoulders and hissed at Harry.
"Sorry girl school rules no pets in the dorm." Harry apologized to his cat. Beth retrieved her from Sirius' shoulder and they got into the van with the other boys.