The mood was light when they returned to Grimmauld Place that evening. Remus was, as he had promised, waiting for them with a pot full of hot chocolate, and Sirius and Harry's first words to him were, "It worked!"
Remus' face broke out into a grin, and he pulled them both into a fierce hug.
"Not that I was expecting to hear otherwise, mind you," he added, after letting them go. "Tell me everything."
Over the hot chocolate and biscuits that Sirius had prepared earlier (Remus could cook and bake, but not as well as his remaining marauder brother), they took turns recounting what had transpired in the lesson.
"Dumbledore's lesson plan certainly changed when he got a good look at Harry," Sirius said, with a bit of a smirk.
Harry burst into laughter, nearly choking on his biscuit. Sirius lightly thumped him on the back.
"I wonder why Dumbledore went to all the bother of taking us to Moaning Myrtle's toilet, when he could have just transfigured a snake," Harry mused, once he'd gotten his breath back.
"Probably wanted a real reason to see the bathroom everyone avoids," Remus said, with a bit of a laugh. "Mind you, I suppose he could have taken a trip over the summer holidays, but you know how Moaning Myrtle is about visitors."
That was true. Speaking of which...
"Did you lot ever go inside?" Harry asked, looking from Sirius to Remus.
They both shuddered. "Bad enough with trying to avoid her in the Prefects' bathroom," Remus explained. "She didn't go there often, but it was enough to make you want to avoid it entirely. Or, at least, go when you were sure she'd be haunting her regular toilet."
"I had an encounter with her there during my fourth year," Harry admitted. "She was rather helpful in figuring out the clue."
At the looks and encouraging of Remus and Sirius, and the knowledge that no punishment or detention would be handed out, Harry recapped the story.
Sirius frowned. "Why didn't Cedric just say something like, 'They're going to kidnap one of your friends and put them in the lake. You have an hour to figure out how to rescue him or her. Oh, and you'll need to breathe underwater.'? Loads easier than the hoops he made you go through."
Harry shrugged. "Dunno. I did tell him about the dragons flat out. Part of the competition, I guess."
He couldn't be angry, though, at his former rival. Cedric had died at the hands of Wormtail, after all, and he was still alive.
Considering all of the strings the Death Eater had pulled to get Harry in the top two, all the help he'd tried to give, Harry certainly hadn't found the contest easy. Not by a long stretch.
They changed the subject back to Dumbledore, and how he would alter his plans (and Harry's lessons, should they continue) with the new knowledge on hand. Certainly, they had to destroy Nagini at some point, and she would be the most difficult horcrux, as she wasn't just an inanimate object they could pick up and eliminate with fiendfyre or basilisk venom or any other forms of similar dark magic.
After Harry yawned twice in the span of a moment, and Remus not far behind him, Sirius chuckled and took on his rarely used godfather authority.
"Time for bed, the both of you," he ordered, smiling.
Harry didn't protest. Besides being ready to fall asleep then and there, the biscuits and hot chocolate were long gone.
"All right," he agreed, managing to get to his feet.
Remus laughed and rose as well.
They said goodbye to Remus as he retreated to his bedroom, which was only a few doors down from the one Harry shared with Sirius. Harry drag himself along to his room, managing to brush his teeth and change from his school robes to a spare pair of pajamas before nearly collapsing onto the bed. Sirius was next to him less than a moment later, and tucked them both in under the warm pile of blankets.
Without any embarrassment, Harry curled up close against his guardian, who began to run a hand through his hair. He felt entirely safe, protected, and warm. Once again, he was home.
"I'm so proud of you, pup," Sirius murmured.
Harry tried to hide yet another yawn, but didn't succeed. "Thanks, Sirius."
Sirius chuckled to himself as he continued to card Harry's hair.
Over breakfast the next morning, Harry surprised Sirius with a question he never would have expected him to ask.
"Sirius, do you remember what I called you when I was a baby?"
Sirius didn't have to attempt to recall the information. "Several things, actually." He grinned. "Do you want to know all of them, or just the main ones?"
Harry's face reddened, but Sirius knew that while his pup was embarrassed, it wasn't a horrible kind of embarrassment. Sirius chuckled at his reaction.
"You were barely one, you know, when you started realizing that I wasn't Dada," Sirius began. "I was Paddy, or Adfoo, which I think was your way of trying to say Padfoot. You couldn't pronounce Sirius, so you often said Siri, or Irie. Which made everyone laugh, because it sounded so much like 'eerie.' Those were the main ones. You had a couple of other things you liked to call me. Your dad was amused to no end when you said Noirie once."
Harry nodded, probably trying to imagine the scenes of him as a baby, surrounded by his parents and the Marauders.
"When was Remus?" he asked, then took a bite of food.
"Eemus or Remy or Moony," Sirius answered, promptly. "He wasn't over as much as I was, but you knew who he was."
"Wormtail came over, too?" Harry asked, as though the name tasted bad.
Sirius could relate. He couldn't even think of his former friend without wanting to punch a hole in the wall. At the very least. Had he been at the Department of Mysteries, Sirius would have wasted no time in killing him.
Wasn't there a muggle saying about fooling someone once, shame on you, but fool me twice, shame on me? He'd have to find out.
Realizing his pup was expecting an answer, Sirius nodded. "Perhaps, once a week or so? We all had business in the Order, even your mum and dad, although your father made sure that at least one of them was with you nearly at all times. Even when I was there." He grinned. "Perhaps, especially when I was there. But they had plenty of visitors, including some of your Hogwarts teachers."
"You're kidding," Harry said, surprised. "Who?"
Sirius chuckled. "Professor McGonagall, for starters. You really, really liked her. Aside from me, she was the only one not in the family who you'd fall asleep in their arms. She'd become a cat on occasion, but your mum would have to lock the other cat in a room, because they'd fight terribly."
"We had a cat?"
"Mr. Muggle," Sirius answered, promptly.
"Mr. Muggle?" Harry repeated.
"Well, he was a male, so it couldn't have been Miss or Mrs. Muggle," Sirius teased. "Anyway, Professor McGonagall was rather a nicer cat than Mr. Muggle, because she didn't hiss when you accidentally trod on her tail. She also let you pet her for at least an hour, and while you tried to be gentle, pup, a baby doesn't have the best control of their body."
Harry, to his credit, looked more amused by this than embarrassed. "Who else? I can't imagine that Snape would have made the list."
Sirius snorted. "Even if he had wanted to, no. Can you imagine how he would have been with you? Probably would have glared at you, because you certainly had some of your dad's features. 'Course, without your glasses, your mum's eyes really stood out, so perhaps it would have worked out."
Harry raised his eyebrows. "I don't know. I reckon he would have glared at me something awful, at least."
"Maybe." Sirius shrugged. "He was a slimy git back in school, always spying on us, trying to hex us." Seeing Harry's discomfort, he changed the subject. "Professor Sprout came over a few times. You liked her, and would tolerate her hugs and occasional cheek punches. You had very, very nice cheeks," he teased, reaching over playfully, and Harry laughed as he swatted his hand away. "Also Professor Flitwick, who would charm your toys to fly. That could keep you occupied for hours. You were quite a popular baby and toddler, pup."
Grinning a bit, Harry asked, "They didn't visit all of their future students, did they?"
"Well, it would have been impossible to visit the muggle borns, but some kids from certain families got regular visitors. And even before the prophecy, you were a favorite, in part because your mum and dad were so loved," Sirius explained, with a fond smile. "You were a happy baby and very easygoing. Still are. Well, we could do things to increase your happiness, and last year was particularly hard for you..."
Sirius trailed off, feeling awkward.
Harry, looking rather embarrassed, turned back to his breakfast.
"This year has been loads better than the last one," Harry said, finally. "Really."
Sirius reached over and put a hand on his shoulder. "I only hope that we destroy Voldemort soon and you can have the happiness and relative normalcy you deserve, pup."
Harry nodded. "Any chance you can help me with my homework?"
"Of course," Sirius promised. "Then, we'll have a fun and relaxing weekend. Remus might be over tomorrow, too..."
"Great! What's he been up to, anyway?" Harry asked.
"Recruiting more Order members, mostly. Dumbledore the fool wanted him living with werewolves to recruit there, and Remus almost said yes, but I might have had a few words with both." Sirius grinned sheepishly. "The days of him using us for hopeless causes are long gone."
Harry's face took on a pensive look. "Do you think he'll cancel my lessons, since we know about the horcruxes?"
Sirius frowned. "Perhaps. The less he's involved, the better, but I don't deny that he might have more information to give us."
"Seeing the memories about him were rather interesting," Harry noted.
"I won't argue with you there," Sirius said, with a slight laugh. "Do you want to start your studies now, or take a break?"
"I better get started," Harry said, with a bit of a sigh.
Sirius summoned his bag from the sitting room, and they got to work.
Next up: Harry properly learns Golpalott's Third Law and begins working on antidotes to blended potions. Also, perhaps a future Chess match against Ron and Sirius?
Author's note:
I've been working on another story called "Harry's Adoption" which has received very kind feedback. If you're following it, I want to let you know that I won't be updating that as much as I intend to update this one. I don't have very much more written than I have posted, and I'm running a bit low on steam. So, rather than post something rushed, I'll be taking a temporary break.
As I'm running into a lesser version of that problem here, I want to focus my efforts on this fic.
As always, constructive feedback is greatly appreciated.
