So. Completely. Unfair.

With his arms crossed over his chest, right foot drumming against the leg of the wooden chair he was sitting in and audible huffs escaping from his mouth, Harry was the picture of a pouting teen.

The first few days at Celestial Court had been bloody fantastic and Harry had gotten himself settled in nicely surprisingly fast. The weather had been fine and Sirius had allowed him to spend most of his time either on his broom zipping after his snitch on the pitch or roaming around the extensive property on foot. Keeping his word, Harry had stayed far away from the forbidden grove, not even daring to fly above it just in case the wind shifted suddenly.

All the activity kept him constantly hungry and he seemed to finally be eating enough to satisfy even his overprotective godfather's concern for his overall health. The evenings found him wiped out physically and, with all the fresh air he was breathing in, he was sleeping deeply and restfully.

It was perfect.

Finally, Harry had the life he'd always dreamed of having. With a loving parent and a warm happy home where he was wanted and cherished.

Then, this morning at breakfast, Sirius had to go and ruin it all.

It was simply unfair, and the more Harry thought about it, the angrier he was becoming.

That morning, Harry had flown down the stairs and trotted through the hallway before making his way into the large dining room. Greeting his smiling godfather already seated at the head of the table, he took his usual seat on the right and helped himself from the pumpkin juice pitcher.

"How are you this morning, Harry?" Sirius asked with a twinkle in his eyes.

"Just great. The sky looks clear again. I was thinking about exploring that pathway in the woods that I found yesterday," Harry answered, excitement evident in his voice. Seeing his godfather frown a bit, he hurried to continue. "If that's okay with you, of course."

Sirius nodded slightly just as Harry's breakfast appeared before him. At Celestial Court, Dobby was now one of four house elves and Harry and Sirius no longer helped themselves. Life had become a bit more formal for the boy who had grown up waiting on his vile relations hand and foot and it was taking a bit to get used to it. Sirius had offered to let Dobby return to Hogwarts, but the loyal elf had practically prostrated himself to be allowed to stay and tend to young Harry and his godfather had not had the heart to dismiss him even though there were now two elves to every wizard in the house.

Staring down at his plate of egg, tomato, bacon and toast and a bowl of hot wheat cereal, Harry wrinkled his nose a bit at the bowl. The wheat cereal was thick and dark and slightly bitter and Sirius had started insisting on Harry eating it with his breakfast every morning even though it was completely unappetizing.

"Do I really have to eat that?" he asked pitifully, hoping for a reprieve.

"Yes. It's healthy for you. Your nutrition has been sorely neglected most of your life and we need to do something about it. You're still growing and you need all the vitamins you can get."

"Can't I just take the pill vitamins instead of eating this? It's nasty."

Sirius gave him a sympathetic look but didn't waiver.

"You can do both. Either way, you are still eating it."

Harry groaned a little, but he picked up his spoon and obediently started to take small bites of the hot grainy paste. He tried to keep the taste out of his mouth as much as possible with large swigs of his pumpkin juice between spoonfuls.

Sirius watched him, smirking. At Harry's age, that was exactly how he had consumed it as well, but now that he was the adult he could at least admit to its nutritional benefits for a growing boy.

They ate together comfortably as Harry talked excitedly about the Quidditch World Cup that was going to take place in August. Sirius had promised to see about tickets as they had already heard that the Weasley's were interested in going as well.

Finally Harry had managed to empty his cereal bowl and he stacked his dishes and balled his napkin to the side of them, eager to get out and enjoy the rest of the morning.

"May I be excused?"

Unexpectedly, Sirius shook his head slightly.

"Not just yet. We need to have a talk first."

Harry looked up at his godfather, a flicker of worry in his eyes. He had not done anything that could be considered misbehaving that he was aware of, but Sirius' voice had the stern tone to it that Harry was starting to recognize as the preamble to a serious conversation. He relaxed slightly when he was given a smile by the man and a small wink.

"What are we going to talk about?"

Leaning back into his chair and bringing his hands up to his face, Sirius laced his fingers together and positioned his index fingers against his chin. Harry, being quite the observant boy, already recognized the gesture as one of Sirius' habits when he was considering something heavily.

"Now that you have had the chance to settle in, I think it is time we talk about some house rules," he answered, still in contemplation.

Rules were something Harry was very familiar with. The Dursleys had lots of rules and most of them concerned how much work Harry was required to do in the house and how little he was allowed to be seen. Maybe Sirius had something similar in mind, and while the thought made Harry sad and a little worried, he already knew that whatever his godfather required of him would still be better than living at Privet Drive.

Resigning himself, Harry squirmed a bit in his chair, but nodded his head.

"Alright. Like what?"

"Well, like chores. I know your relatives used to make you work around the house during the summer. I don't approve of they way they treated you, but I do think it is appropriate for you to have responsibilities here," Sirius said firmly. "So, from now on, you will be responsible for keeping your room picked up, your bathroom tidy and making your bed in the morning. The house elves will still do a proper cleaning every few days, but you will have to keep in it order."

"Okay," Harry answered agreeably, nodding his head. That sounded fair enough.

"Do you chores timely and I will give you a weekly allowance, but if you don't, I will withhold it for an appropriate period of time."

Wait, what? Allowance? Sirius would actually pay him to do this? House rules were brilliant!

"Alright."

Sirius gave him a stern look before continuing.

"Also, I want you in bed by ten o'clock every night."

House rules suck.

"Ten o'clock? But that's so early! It's summertime, Sirius," Harry protested loudly, even though lately he was already in bed by this time. To have Sirius insist upon it, though, rankled his teen rebellion a bit. Especially since the Dursleys had never cared what time Harry went to sleep as long as he was tucked away out of their sight.

"All the same, from now on it's ten o'clock," Sirius stated with finality. "You need your rest. You get very cranky when you have not slept enough. Your body needs it as well, especially when you run around like you do."

The part of Harry that was a disgruntled, hormonal teenager reared its head. The part of him that had practically raised himself both at the Dursleys and at Hogwarts and went to bed whenever he chose.

"Oh, come on. It's not fair! It's too early. I'm not a little kid, Sirius. I'm almost fourteen," Harry whined, like a little kid.

Becoming a bit grouchy over the protests, Sirius arched his eyebrow at his godson and smirked slightly.

"Oh, that's right. Thank you for reminding me that you are still only thirteen. Bedtime at nine-thirty then."

Oops...

"No, no," Harry backpedaled, his hands raised in surrender. "I'm sorry. Ten o'clock is fine."

Upon the boy's acceptance, Sirius nodded and gave him The Look that warned him to behave.

"That's what I thought."

Breathing a little sigh of relief, Harry waited for his godfather to continue.

"I also want you back at the house by six o'clock in the evening so that you have time to have a bath before dinner. I'm glad that you are getting enough exercise during the day, but you come back to the house so filthy that I fear we could start growing potatoes in the dirt on your skin," Sirius said with a little grin on his face.

Harry rolled his eyes at the slight jest and nodded good-naturedly.

"Okay, okay."

"I want you in the dining room promptly for mealtimes and, when you go out, I would like to know where you are planning to go. I know that you have been enjoying your explorations of the grounds, but I would like to know approximately where you are in case I need to find you."

Harry nodded again. This was a little constricting, but it seemed fair to him.

Lowering his hands and nodding his head slightly, Sirius leaned forward again.

"Alright, then. I also reserve the right to add to this list as time goes on and we see what comes up in our daily schedules."

Harry smiled agreeably.

That wasn't so bad. Well, except for the bedtime thing, but whatever.

He started to get up from his chair again, thinking that the conversation was over, but Sirius gently grabbed his hand and, once more, pulled him back down.

"Wait, wait, wait. I'm not quite finished yet. My, my you are in a hurry today," he scolded gently.

Blushing, Harry leaned back in his chair and waited patiently for his godfather to speak again. Sirius eyed the boy speculatively and took a moment to compose the right words. Harry was not going to be very pleased with what he had to tell him but, after several conversations with Remus and Albus, he was sure that it was the right move to make.

"Harry...I know that you don't like to talk about what your special circumstances are," Sirius started cautiously, trying to be as delicate as possible.

Harry shifted slightly in his chair, immediately uncomfortable as to where this was leading.

"You mean being the Boy-Who-Lived?" he asked contemptuously, his forehead furrowed in agitation.

"Yes. That's exactly what I mean." Sirius gave him a sympathetic smile, hoping that Harry understood that Sirius didn't like the idea anymore than Harry did himself before continuing. "I have come to the decision that you have special educational needs."

The words made the boy visibly bristle and Sirius immediately felt bad for the poor phrasing.

"Special educational needs? What, am I too daft or something?"

"No, no, no," Sirius rushed to calm him. "No one thinks that you are daft. On the contrary, you are quite a bright young man."

"Then what special needs do I have?" Harry asked with a large note of confusion in his voice.

Sirius sighed deeply for a minute and tried to find a better way of explaining without putting his foot back into his mouth. Merlin knew this wasn't easy for him either.

"We believe that it would be in your best interests to receive extra tutoring over the summer holidays, both in classes that you are taking now and also a special discipline that normal Hogwarts students are not trained in. I feel that you should get as much of a head start on your knowledge and abilities as possible."

"Well...well, how much extra tutoring?" Harry asked warily. The idea of classes during the summer just too horrible to imagine.

"Every day during the week for two hours after breakfast."

"WHAT?"

Affronted, jumped up from the table and came very close to knocking his empty juice glass to the floor.

"Harry, calm down. Let's talk about this rationally." Sirius' voice was low, but there was an undercurrent of irritation in it at how far off the handle his godson was currently flying.

"No, YOU calm down. I don't want to spend my summer in school!" Harry's eyes were enraged and his chest was heaving. "Why are you doing this to me? For the first time I was finally having so much fun! Can't I just have fun for once?"

Although his heart was breaking from the boy's woeful declaration about something Sirius believed to be absolutely true, he also knew that he needed to stand firm. This was no different from any other decision he had to make for his godson's own good.

Grabbing Harry's hand firmly, Sirius gently pushed him back into his chair.

"Sit down," he insisted as he paused to temper himself. "No one is telling you that you can't have any more fun. You will still have the whole afternoon every day and both days of the weekend to do as you please. There is no need to act like this is the end of the world."

Still breathing heavily and agitated, Harry caught the look on his godfather's face and clamped his mouth shut over more harsh words. He was honest enough to realize that he'd been acting like a bit of a prat and Sirius didn't deserve it.

"What lessons do I have to study and who is going to be teaching me?" he asked with as much politeness as he could muster.

Sirius relaxed a little bit at the change in the boy's tone, hoping that Harry was taking the news better than he anticipated.

"Well, Remus is going to tutor you in Charms and Defense Against the Dark Arts and I'll be tutoring you in Transfiguration and Potions. Actually, I wanted to do the DADA work with you, but Moony's Potions knowledge is utter pants," he replied a bit mischievously, shaking his head fondly at his old friend's one failing.

Harry smirked at his godfather's ribbing of his favorite former professor. Remus had been such a great DADA teacher and it wouldn't be a hardship to be under his tutelage again.

Then,remembering what Sirius had originally stated about the coursework, he frowned again.

"You said that I would also study a discipline not offered at Hogwarts. What is that going to be?"

Sirius cleared his throat, a little uncomfortably, and steeled himself for the next announcement. One that neither of them was going to be particularly happy about.

"Well, you will also be studying something called Occlumancy."

"What's Occlumancy?"

"It is the study of closing your mind off from someone who may be trying to read it or invade it," Sirius answered. "There are wizards, Harry, who are skilled in the opposite discipline called Legilimency. These wizards have the power to penetrate your mind and read what is in there. Some of them would also try to bend or twist your mind to their will. It is a very powerful dark art. A skilled Occlumens can prevent this from happening. We feel that it is important that you learn Occlumency as soon as possible. It is difficult to master and will take you quite some time."

Harry's mind spun for a minute. It sounded interesting but also really, really hard. But, if that is what Sirius wanted him to do, then Harry would give it his best shot. He already trusted his godfather to have Harry's best interests in mind since Sirius had been caring for him very well so far.

"Well, okay. I'll give it a try."

Relieved that his godson seemed amenable enough to the idea, Sirius beamed at him and his pleasure was infectious as Harry grinned.

"So, which one of you is going to instruct me?" he asked innocently.

Suddenly Sirius stopped smiling and his face became pinched as he fidgeted a little.

Uh oh. What does that mean? Harry wondered, getting a little nervous.

"Sirius?"

"Actually, Harry," Sirius answered with more confidence than he felt, "we are very fortunate that a very highly skilled Occlumens is willing to instruct you. There are not many of them, and he is one of the best."

Sirius' avoidance of the question did not do anything to help with the nervous butterflies that began to flit in his stomach. So far his godfather had always been frank and forthcoming with him.

"Who, Sirius?"

Taking a deep breath, Sirius reached over and put his hand over Harry's where it rested on the table.

"Professor Dumbledore has kindly arranged to have Professor Snape come instruct you every Friday morning."

The. Hell. With. That!

Harry pulled his hand away and jumped up.

"NO WAY, Sirius! NO BLOODY WAY!"

"Language, young man," Sirius frowned. Harry was allowed to be upset by the news, but he wasn't allowed to be defiant or disrespectful.

"SOD my language! I'm not spending my summer taking classes with that greasy git!" Harry bellowed at the top of his voice.

Having been a hot tempered boy himself at one time, Sirius was trying very hard to stay calm. Of course he completely understood why Harry was so upset, but this was important and, like it or not, Harry would have to obey him.

"Harry, sit down and let's talk about this rationally."

"NO!" the boy raged. "I don't want to talk about this rationally! This is crap! Complete and utter rubbish!"

Harry's breathing was jagged and, to his horror, he found himself blinking back tears of rage and frustration. It was bad enough that he had to endure Snape's cruelty and disdain during the school year.

"He hates me Sirius!" Harry spit out bitterly. "He tortures me all year at school! You are absolutely insane if you think I'm going to willingly spend even one more second with him than I have to."

Sirius took several deep breaths. He really didn't blame Harry for being upset because he already knew how Snape had treated Harry during the past few years. Remus had been very clear about the way Snivellous was making Harry pay for the sins of his father. If there was any other way around this, Sirius would have been more than happy to take it.

"Harry, listen to me," Sirius pleaded. "This is something that is really important for you to do. Professor Snape may not be your favorite person, but he is incredibly skilled. You are very lucky to have him willing and able to instruct you."

He reached over and tried to grab Harry's hand to get him to sit back down and calm himself, but Harry ripped it away from him angrily.

"NO! I am not doing it. The hell with Snape!"

"Harry...," Sirius' voice was laced with warning and his face was beginning to form The Look. But Harry was angry and hurt and feeling betrayed by his godfather.

"And the hell with you if you try to make me!" he shouted, tears stinging his eyes.

Although he understood why Harry would be upset, Sirius had reached his limit. This was a boundary that needed to be set before the boy could get into the habit of not doing what he was told and being disrespectful. Jumping up from his chair, he grabbed Harry by the arm.

"You do not speak to me like that, young man. Ever!" Sirius' voice was firm, masking the underlying hurt of how much Harry's words had upset him.

Turning Harry to the side, he delivered a stinging smack to the boy's backside before pushing him down to sit back in the chair. He pulled his wand from his pocket and gave it a quick twirl. Before Harry knew what was happening, his chair had spun around and whooshed across the right side of the dining room until he found himself facing the corner.

Placing his wand back in his pocket, Sirius attempted to calm himself. It would not do either of them any good if he could not contain his own temper.

"I know you are upset, Harry, but that does not give you the right to treat me so disrespectfully. You are going to sit in that corner until you can behave yourself and act with some small degree of maturity. Then we will finish our conversation."

With that, Sirius stalked off towards his study leaving the fuming teen behind.

And that was how Harry found himself sitting on the hard wooden chair, wondering how his perfect day had just gone so terribly wrong.

For the first fifteen minutes, Harry seethed at all of the injustices.

Extra school work, Snape, the smack, corner time. Why do these things always happen to me!

The worst part, though, was Sirius' betrayal.

How could he do this to me? I thought he wanted me to be happy!

But, the more he thought about it, the more he realized just how bratty he had behaved. Honestly he knew that Sirius wanted him to be happy. Just look at everything he had given him.

His godfather just wanted him to be prepared if he had to face Voldemort, that's all. And Sirius knew what Snape was like. As protective as he was of Harry, surely he would keep an eye on things and keep Snape from torturing him. Harry knew that Sirius would listen if Harry told him that he was being mistreated and he also knew that Sirius would make Snape pay for it if it did happen.

His godfather loved him. He'd proved it a hundred times already since they'd been living together.

Then Harry felt sick.

He could feel the heat rising in his face and ears as the shame of his treatment of his godfather spread. It wasn't right to take out his frustration with the greasy git on the one person who had finally given him unconditional love. Blushing furiously, he folded his hands in his lap and closed his eyes as he leaned his head back. Sirius was treating him like a child because that was exactly the way that Harry was acting.

Feeling very contrite, he resolved to sit there quietly until he godfather came back for him so he could apologize.

Sirius spent almost a full half hour pacing in his study. He was mostly furious with himself since he felt that he had handled things very badly.

On the one hand, he completely understood Harry's anger and frustration. Snape had always been a sniveling git as a young boy and Moony had confirmed that he was difficult to deal with as an adultin the best of times. However, he was unfortunately also the best man for the job and that was what was so important.

Sirius also found himself feeling an enormous amount of gratitude towards Snape, whether he wanted to or not. Snape was responsible, directly or indirectly, for Sirius' freedom and whether or not Snape had done it to spare his life, Sirius was not a man to treat that kind of obligation lightly. So, he was determined to put on a gracious face and treat Snape with all of the respect that he deserved while under his roof.

But, he was no fool either. Leopard rarely changed their spots and Death Eaters were almost always rotten to the core. If the potions master treated Harry cruelly during these lessons, Sirius would personally see to it that Snivellous was hexed until he was no longer recognizable.

Feeling that enough time had passed for Harry's temper to have died down, Sirius made his way quietly back to the dining room. Leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed, he stood in silence, observing the small messy haired figure sitting dejectedly in the corner. Every now and then, he heard a small sniff and knew that the boy was much calmer than before.

"Are you ready to come back to the table and act rationally? Or do you need more time to think about it?" he asked with a degree of sternness in his voice.

"Yes, sir," came the small whisper from the corner.

Sirius felt the corner of his mouth tug into a small smile and couldn't resist teasing his godson.

"Is that a 'yes, sir, I'm ready to act rationally' or a 'yes, sir, I need more time'?"

"Yes, sir, I'm ready to act rationally," Harry answered, a bit more forcefully than before.

Sirius grinned and pulled out his wand.

"Alright then."

He twirled his wand again and Harry and his chair came zooming back across the room and resumed their original place at the table.

Harry's face was flushed red and his eyes were cast down. He was indeed a contrite boy.

"Sirius?" Harry said quitely, unable to look his godfather in the eye.

"Yes, Harry?"

"I'm sorry for talking back to you. I didn't mean it."

Sirius walked over to his godson and fondly ruffled his hair.

"I accept your apology."

Sitting back down in his chair at the head of the table, Sirius leaned over and clasped his hands together.

"Harry, I know that this is not how you wanted to spend your summer. I understand that, really I do. I don't blame you. However, I think that it is really important for you to do this. Most of the time, we can act like you are just another thirteen year old boy but, in the end, you can't change who you are, Harry. You have had to deal with a lot of unfair things happening to you in your life and I am sorry for that. Unfortunately, there will come a time, whether either of us likes it or not, when you have to be ready for things because you are who you are. I know it's not fair and, if I could, I would change it for you, but I can't. I just want you to be prepared when that time comes. Can you understand that?"

Harry looked into his godfather's kind and beseeching eyes and nodded slowly. He would do this for Sirius.

"Thank you, Harry. I promise that I will not let Snape bully you. I will be close by the whole time and I will protect you if he steps over the line."

Harry gave him a small smile and the blush on his face slowly started to recede. Sirius winked at him and grinned.

"You didn't give me the chance to tell you the best part of this deal, however."

Harry cocked an eyebrow at him, the traces of a smirk playing on the corner of his mouth.

"It wasn't easy, in fact, it was quite difficult, but being who you are sometimes has its perks. With a great deal of persuasion, the Minister of Magic has granted you the right to use magic outside of school this summer so that you may work on your lessons efficiently. He sees the wisdom of allowing you more time to learn the necessities."

Harry's eyes widened and a broad smile lit up his entire face.

"I get to do magic this summer?"

"Yes, you do. I told you that it was not all bad", Sirius replied happily, pleased that his cheerful Harry was back. "But, Harry," he continued gravely, "You must promise me to act responsibly. A lot of people had to speak on your behalf to allow this. You don't want to disappoint them by misbehaving, do you?"

"No, sir. I'll be careful," Harry answered quickly. He was so excited at the prospect that he would agree to whatever conditions he had to at that moment.

"Okay, then," Sirius said as he clapped his hands together and stood up. "That's settled."

Harry stood too, knowing that the talk was over and he was free to go outside to his beloved broom and pitch. Hesitantly, and still a little ashamed of his earlier outburst, he walked over to his godfather and wrapped his arms around the tall man's waist, burying his face into the broad chest.

"I am sorry, Sirius. I know you only want what is best for me."

Sirius held his godson tightly and leaned down to brush the unruly head with a light kiss. Merlin, how he loved this child!

When he drew apart from the boy after a moment, Harry saw that Sirius had small rectangular pieces of paper extended in his long elegant fingers and he was holding them out for Harry to take them from him.

"What are these?" Harry asked curiously. His godfather's smile was infectious.

"They're tickets to a match between Puddlemere United and the Chudley Cannons on Saturday. Call it a peace offering for having to deal with Snape this summer. I thought you might like to invite Ron over for the weekend. You can practice rooting them on for the Quidditch World Cup."

Sirius couldn't see his godson's reaction because he found himself almost being knocked over by the boy's enthusiastic embrace.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you! I've never seen a professional match before!" Harry gushed, excitedly.

"I assumed as much. I take it that you like them?"

"Like them? I love them! I can't wait! May I go floo call Ron?" Harry was practically jumping up and down, so Sirius nodded and watched as his godson tore out of the dining room.

As Harry ran to the parlor to call his best friend, he couldn't remember why he had thought that this was going to be a less than perfect day.

After all, he may have to do extra classes, and he may have to deal with Snape, but he was going to get to do magic over the summer, he was going to see his first professional Quidditch match and, best of all, he was going to get to invite his best mate to spend the weekend with him at Harry's own house.

Yes, as far as Harry's life went, that was perfect.