My Eyes Burn

Harry woke up early the next morning and stretched in his bed he was just starting to get up and head for the loo when Tonks grumbled a bit and stuck her head further down into the coverlet. Gathering his clothes for the day Harry padded down the hall and checked in on Sirius and Remus before taking a shower. Remus was sitting at his bedside and they were talking softly. "Oy, we bought new bedsheets for you whenever you want to throw them on Remus." Harry called from the door.

His godfather was looking like he had some color back in his cheeks and he was brooding it looked like because Remus wouldn't let him get up and run about. Harry really couldn't blame the werewolf though, they were all trying to protect Sirius and keep the world away at this point. Harry didn't want to have to leave the house after the daily prophet found out about his age change and posted a new picture.

He shook his head and trotted down the hall to the loo. He really hadn't thought about this house being so large but he supposed everytime he had stayed in it before the Weasley's had all been present. Harry shut the bathroom door with a soft snick and proceeded to take the longest shower of his life, letting all the dust from Diagon Alley wash off of him and down the drain.

Harry continued to function on autopilot while throwing some jeans and a muscle shirt on so he would be decent before he went back and finished dressing. Sometimes the world thought to much, in his opinion, and would do well just to relax and live in the moment. Maybe I should take my own bloody advice and stop thinking so much about what I'm supposed to be doing and just start doing what I need to do for that moment.

His feet were soft on the black carpet underneath him and the walls looked like they could use a good scrubbing but at one time had been magnificently wrought to look like fabric. He reached the room and peeked inside, Tonks was still buried in the bed somewhere and he didn't feel like disturbing her so Harry grabbed a button up shirt and his socks and shoes before starting for the kitchen.

It was somewhere that he was comfortable, just being himself and doing something that he was rather good at. French Toast was on the menu for this morning and Harry was slightly surprised that it was only 7 am. Remus joined him and sat down at the table looking like he had actually showered and put on different clothes. "Sirius says the goblins are going to be here at 8. You should hurry and eat before then because they could eat us all out of the house if they wanted to.

Snorting Harry just continued what he was doing, making a plate for him, Remus and setting aside some for Tonks when she got up. The rest would be taken up to Sirius when Harry finished with his own meal.

"I don't know whats going on with me Remus. Everything is a little… different now." Harry said as he sat down.

To make dialogue easier on me during this part Harry will be in bold and Remus will be in underline

"If you could describe this a little more Harry it would be easier for me to help"

"Its just that, well I've been around Hermione my whole life and I've never really looked at her the way I've been…."Harry trailed off for a second, chewing on a piece of the toast. "looking at women."

"By women do you mean Tonks? I know how hard it is to be thrust up into your hormones but Harry I don't want you to react rashly here. It could affect many more things than just your friendship, your protection for one and the stability of this house for another."

"It doesn't really matter who I'm talking about Remus. No one would want to be with a 15 year old fully grown man. Not to mention the burden put on a bird if she wanted to be with me for longer than a few months, never know when I'm going to die do we?"

Admittedly Harry felt like he was being harsh on Remus when the man was only trying to help out but his feelings for Tonks were confused enough without having other people speculate about what could or could not be happening with them.

"Look Remus, I'm just going to head up and feed Sirius so that when the goblins get here I'll already be in the room."

Standing up Harry turned towards the sink, not seeing the female figure standing in the door of the kitchen, or how the crept to an unused room until he walked by. He fixed Sirius a plate, drizzled with syrup and then stopped up the stairs to announce further his bad mood.

Harry glanced up, just as he was feeding Sirius the last few bites a soft whooshing sound had distracted him and a goblin that looked eerily familiar to him bowed his head.

"Splendid of you to drop by Griphook." Harry said by way of greeting before standing up and offering his hand to the goblin.

(Goblin speech will now be done in underline Since Remus is still downstairs.)

"Mr. Potter, your godfather has asked me here to ascertain your bodily age and to have you legally emancipated. In order to find your age I will need you to consent to a bit of goblin magic."

"Right then, just … do whatever you have to and try not to make me bleed then" Harry said, trying to lighten the situation.

The goblin nodded towards a chair to the right side of Sirius' bed and Harry took it looking a bit nervous. He was even more disturbed when the goblin begin measuring the width of his shoulders, length of his though and forearm. To many numbers for Harry to try and keep track of by the time that the measurements were all over. He hadn't felt any goblin magic but then he wouldn't know what it felt like if it had been used on him.

The goblin grabbed some parchment and then did some quick calculations that Harry couldn't even begin to fathom, arithmancy not being his strongest subject by anyones opinion and then straightened looking pointedly at Harry.

"Mr. Potter, by these calculations your approximate age is currently 27. That makes you eligible to receive the Potter family properties and the rest of the contents of the Potter family vault."

Harry couldn't help himself the laughter bubbled out of his chest before he could even control it. How could he go from being a bloody teenager to in his late twenties without even a year passing by. Hell a month hadn't even passed by since he had been a teenager.

Sirius looked on in amusement thinking the hysteria of the entire situation had finally driven the poor kid mad as a hatter.

"No offense there mate but if I'm 27 then Sirius is 90" Harry said trying to lighten the situation but what he saw instead was a grave face from the already dour goblin.

"Actually Mr. Black's current age is closer to 101 judging by the rate of deterioration. He should still be able to maintain his life for 5 years at the maximum if cared for properly and allowed plenty of time to rest without any heavy activity to further deprive his body of energy."

Horrified and yet relieved at the same time Harry just closed his eyes and tried to take in the entire situation before the rest of his life fell out from under him.

AN: Alright I know it's a bit…. Ok much shorter than your all used to from me but I started college last week and I didn't want to leave you all hanging for another couple of days while I sorted through algebriac equations. Read and Review

P. S : I was originally going to have Sirius die quickly but due to the love of my readers he is going to stick around, so there you see reviews do make a difference.