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Chapter 4:
A bang indicated Sirius' return, the cellar door was always getting stuck and it needed a good slam to close it properly. Remus quickly put the box down and stood as Sirius entered the room.
"Shall we sit in the kitchen?" Sirius asked obviously not noticing the peculiar look on his friend's face.
"Sure," Remus answered quietly.
He followed Sirius into the kitchen and soon he was clasping a glass of fire whisky.
"Sirius…" Remus started, he was unsure how to start off the conversation.
"Is this about Harry?" Sirius asked.
Remus looked slightly taken aback, did Sirius know the game was for up to six players? "Well, yes actually."
Sirius frowned as he sloshed his whiskey around in his glass. "I know what you are going to say."
"You do?" Remus was amazed that Sirius had known and had not said anything to Emerald.
"Yeah, you want to know all about Harry and you want to know why he was standing in the corner when you came." Sirius replied.
Remus felt a confliction of emotions, relief that his friend hadn't known about the game and hadn't just turned a blind eye, disappointment that this meant that he would have to find a whole new way or broaching the subject, excitement about finding out about Harry and curiosity over what his friend was about to say about the corner incident.
"Well, umm…" Remus tried to find an appropriate way of saying yes without sounding too eager but it seemed Sirius already knew the answer.
"Harry is… different." Sirius began setting his glass down awkwardly.
"Different?" Remus' brow furrowed in confusion.
"Different from how he was in the orphanage," Sirius clarified. "You remember me telling you how quiet and sweet and well behaved he was?"
Remus nodded, still slightly bewildered. "That's how he seemed to me today."
"But he would!" Sirius exclaimed. "He always appears like that in front of me but when he is alone with Emerald he is really… well," Sirius was reluctant to actually voice it, "well, vicious I guess would be one way to describe it."
Vicious, vicious, vicious, vicious, vicious, the word spun around Remus' head. Vicious? The little boy he had just met hadn't seemed vicious at all. Alarm bells were also starting to ring about what Sirius had just said. Harry was only 'vicious' when he wasn't around. So… it was only Emerald's word against Harry's.
"He only misbehaves when you aren't around?" Remus asked thoughtfully.
"That's right," Sirius answered refilling both of their glasses.
"Don't you think that's rather… unusual?" Remus said delicately.
"Well, not really. I mean I thought it was at first but then when you think about it it's me he wants to be with and me he wants to love him so its unlikely he would do anything to tarnish that. So I guess, he does it when I'm not there." Sirius' argument sounded weak even to his own ears.
"What sort of things does he do?" Remus asked taking a big gulp of his drink.
"Well, he… well… you know as you came I was just sending Harry to the corner?" After being reassured by his friends nod Sirius continued. "well, that was for kicking her."
"Kicking her!?" Remus exclaimed. "Why would Harry do that?"
Sirius seemed to ignore the question. "and earlier he repeatedly knocked down the chess board when Em was playing with Molly."
"But why would Harry do that?" Remus tried again.
"I don't know!" Sirius said in frustration. "It's like… it's like he's got a vendetta against Emerald."
Remus sipped his drink slowly as he tried to find a tactful way of phrasing the next question.
"Have you ever thought that maybe its Emerald who has a vendetta against Harry?" he said at last.
Sirius stood up so fast that his drink sloshed onto the floor.
"What are you saying?" he asked dangerously.
"Nothing at all, I was just suggesting that maybe Emerald doesn't want to share you and is maybe trying to get Harry into trouble. I mean, she's had a lot to adapt to and it is strange that Harry is fine around you…"
"Are you saying my daughter is lying?" Sirius demanded.
"Either she is or Harry is," Remus pointed out logically.
Sirius sighed and sank back onto his seat, he didn't believe Emerald would lie to him but he didn't believe Harry would do any of the stuff he supposedly had been doing. It was so complicated.
"Emerald has had a lot on her mind lately," Remus added.
"WILL YOU SHUT UP ABOUT EMERALD!" Sirius yelled.
Remus raised his eyebrows but kept silent. Sirius was feeling uncomfortable then. Remus had long ago discovered that whenever his friend felt confused, lost or as if he might have done something wrong he shouted. Sirius hated someone proving him wrong and he was determined that Remus was not going to be able to.
" I think maybe Harry feels… left out," Sirius said after a long, heavy pause.
"Well, he would. You and Emerald have always been together and he has only just come," Remus answered still feeling slightly put out that his friend had not gone to the same conclusion as he had.
"Hmmm" Sirius said unhelpfully.
"I expect Emerald feels quite left out as well," Remus pressed on "now that Harry is taking up a lot of your time and attention."
"Why do you keep bringing this round to Emerald?" Sirius demanded.
"I'm just helping you get your head around it," Remus said with a shrug, he waited until it seemed that Sirius had accepted his answer before continuing. "you know that game we were playing earlier?"
Sirius nodded, not taking his eyes off his drink which was his third glass and was already only half full.
"You know she said it was only for three players?" He continued hoping that this evidence would make his friend realise that his godson wouldn't do any of the things he had described.
"So she picked a game for three players, its not a crime and it doesn't mean she doesn't like Harry," Sirius snapped.
Remus rose and stalked out the kitchen, he retrieved the box he had been reading only half an hour ago and shoved it into his friends hands.
"Wow a box, lucky me," Sirius said sarcastically, he was obviously still stinging from Remus' accusations about his daughter.
Remus pointed to the bold print which had caught his attention earlier. Sirius stared at it for a long while and said nothing, Remus could practically hear his brain ticking.
"So Emerald made a mistake, so what?" Sirius said at last.
"We always played that game with her, Sirius. She knows the instructions by heart. She knew how many players there were." Remus retorted, his friends naivety was beginning to get to him.
"Well maybe she is a bit jealous and maybe she does want things to go back to the way they were but she wouldn't lie. I know she wouldn't." Sirius tried and failed to sound confident.
"Jealously can lead us to do things we wouldn't normally do." Remus said simply.
"She wouldn't lie to me." Sirius repeated weakly.
"Would Harry do any of the stuff Emerald claims?" Remus asked.
Sirius shook his head. "It's so confusing, I-I-I just want us to live as a happy little family" Sirius said putting his head in his hands.
"Talk to them then," Remus said patting his friend on the back awkwardly.
Sirius sat up, nothing kept him down for long. "Yes, I'll talk to them!" He said smiling for the first time since their conversation began, he seemed excited at the prospect of a solution to his troubles. He was getting nearer to having his perfect little family. "I'll talk to Emerald when we get back to the zoo and then when Emerald has gone swimming I'll talk to Harry!"
Remus smiled, his friend was not the easiest person to associate with, he could argue like the best of them, was the most stubborn person Remus had ever met and he didn't see the most obvious of things but he truly wanted the best for his daughter and his godson and he truly wanted to do right by them. The little family had a long way to go, but they were getting somewhere at last.
