Present - In the previous Chapter, Remus goes to collect Harry from Privet Drive while Sirius stays at home and waits for their return and isn't particularly pleased when they do.
I marched to the curtain, using all my force to attempt to pull it shut. "Oh shut up you stupid bitch!" I was not in the mood for my mother. Not one bit.
Bloody Harry Potter, keeping me from my Remus Lupin. Bloody Remus Lupin, breaking my Harry Potter.
After a strenuous heartfelt tug, the pieces of fabric drew, a quiet sound of metal scraping against metal, a delicate brush of longing hands. The spot tingled for a moment, yearning for more, but I didn't let the strain show – if Remus was coping with all he had to worry about on top of this then I had to too. As much as I'd rather Severus' scoffs weren't true, the fact of the matter was that I really had very little to concentrate on, so in theory this wouldn't be much of a feat.
I turned to the boy, who was looking slightly shaken, and gave him a broad grin and a warm hug. "Ah, Harry, it's been a while."
It certainly had, he'd grown a little taller since we'd last met, thinner – losing in some of his previous 'baby fat' – ever more resembling James with the same untameable black hair, glasses, and as it seemed as I spoke more to him, the same go-get-it attitude that I loved about his father. Part of me wanted to jump back to my 16 year-old self, bitch slap that ginger tit, and reclaim my rightful prize. It had been a long hard 13 years with out him and as they say 'distance makes the heart grow fonder', but I knew jumping on his son wouldn't change the past and that what I had now was better than anything I'd have if I did. Though a young Sirius Black was still trying to wiggle himself through the gaps in the bars that had shut him off the first time I saw Remus for what he was.
x
Once we'd all settled ourselves nicely in our seats and the small conversations had died down a little, Arthur spoke, only directly to Harry and our end of the table, but loud enough for the whole table to stop in their tracks and watch. "You know, it's very peculiar that your hearing at the Ministry will be before the entire Wizengamot."
Harry frowned. "I don't quite get it… What's the ministry got against me all of a sudden?"
Remus clutched nervously at the Daily Prophet, looking almost unsure of whether to involve himself.
"Show it to him, Remus, he'll find out soon enough." Grumbled the low voice of Alistair Moody from the corner of the room.
Quite reluctantly, he gave a sigh and unfolded the paper for Harry to look at. "Fudge is using every morsel of his power, including that within the Daily Prophet…" He paused, as if enough had been said, but after a quick look at Harry opened his mouth to speak once more.
"To smear anyone who claims the dark lord has returned." I smiled, snatching the words from his beautiful little mouth.
"Why?"
"He thinks Dumbledore wants to take his job."
"That's insane!" Harry exclaimed, in the voice of someone who'd been castrated. "No-one in their right mind would actually believe that!"
Remus leant forward a little, to give the boy a hard look. "That's exactly my point, he isn't in his right mind and hasn't been for a while. It's been twisted by fear and we all know fear makes us do terrible things, Harry. Last time Voldemort rose he almost destroyed everything" he shot me a stealthy glance, but I avoided it, unsure that I wanted to remember what we'd gone through last time "that we held most dear to us. And now he's back, I'm certain the Minister will do nearly anything as not to face the terrifying reality."
"We think Voldemort wants to rebuild his army. Fourteen years ago, he had huge numbers under his waking orders: witches, wizards were just the front of it, but there were all manners of-" I took a deep breath, trying to clear my head, trying not to remember the feelings of the past. "-dark creatures. He's been recruiting heavily, as we have attempted. But followers aren't the only things he's interested in…" My eyes wandered up to Molly's reddening face – a clear sign that she was becoming frustrated and a goading for the most immature part of me. "We think he's after something."
Molly wringed the tea towel she was holding and glared daggers at me, mouthing what looked something like "don't even think about it" while Mad-eye grunted from the other side of the room.
"Sirius…"
It didn't stop me though, rather, gave me a kind of kick… more fun and exciting than taking orders from the miserable lot all day.
"Something he didn't have last time."
"What, like a weapon?" squeaked Harry, almost as thrilled by my risky revelations as I was.
Molly snapped us all awake from it with a stark slap of cloth against wood. "Stop it now, Sirius. That – is – enough! He is just a young boy, not James! If you say anymore he might as well become part of the order!"
Harry rose, eyes hard, strong, focused on what he wanted, truly the son of my best friend. "Good! I want to join! If Voldemort is out there I want to fight him, I will fight him with all the power I have in me!"
Yes, he was truly the son of James Potter and not an ounce of him said he was not.