Sirius remained in the kitchen Harry as he worked, ready to answer any questions he had, yet giving him enough space to do the work on his own. His own mother and father had sat by his side as he worked long after he'd needed any supervision, and their imposing presence, not to mention his mother's pointed remarks at the textbooks or, more often, his own work, had made doing homework feel like near torture. As his father had used the torture curse on Sirius on more than one occasion, he could accurately make the comparison between the two. Sirius had resolved, if he ever had kids, to be on hand if they needed help, but never by force.
Harry had often said that he worked faster when Sirius was there, even asked if he put something in his food or drink.
"No, you're just more comfortable here, and you know that when you ask me questions, I'll give you the information you need-and not an essay," Sirius had replied, with a chuckle.
Once Harry announced that he'd finished with his weekend homework, Sirius smiled, knowing that his godson expected them to return to the lab to prepare potions from his horribly outdated textbook. Once there, however, Sirius took out not only the book, but a large piece of parchment. Harry looked at him inquisitively, but made no objections. Sirius smiled to himself, glad of Harry's trust. It was true, that, as far as he knew, he had never steered Harry wrong in Potions since they'd begun tutoring.
"Based on the ground Slughorn has covered, and my memory of his classes, you'll be studying Golpalott's Third Law. The book gives a convoluted and overly verbose explanation of this rule, but it's a difficult concept and not very easily simplified, unfortunately. So, we'll go through it slowly, and let me know if you have any questions or need me to explain more slowly," Sirius explained. He placed a hand on Harry's shoulder. "This was your dad's Achilles heel, to use the muggle expression, and it was only a bit harder for me. Honestly, you won't even need it most of the time, but the few times you do, it's essential that you understand it, and fully. With that being said, are you ready to begin?"
Harry took a deep breath, then nodded. "Sure. Let's get started."
"First of all, for most poisons, you can use a bezoar," Sirius began. "I can't tell you how many times Moody reminds everyone to keep on hand. They're rather rare, as they're taken from the stomach of a goat, but not terribly expensive, so you can replenish your stores if you come across them at any decent Potions ingredients store. You might ask, then, why we're bothering with this very complicated law?"
Harry grinned. "Well, sort of."
Sirius chuckled, and tousled Harry's hair. "Mostly because it doesn't always work, and it's better to have the antidote ready before you accidentally kill yourself or your colleague by relying on a bezoar. Well, that and there's the fact that when you take your NEWTs, it won't be enough to pass the blended poisons sections. The examiners will require you to complete, and document, the entire process.
"With that in mind, the third law says that if there's a blended poison, you'll need an antidote not just for each poison, but more than each antidote for every part of the poison." Sirius paused. "Which makes no sense when you first read it, I expect, because how can you detect the type of poison you're working with if it's blended?"
"Right," Harry agreed, looking thoroughly confused.
Well, Sirius hadn't expected Harry to grasp it all it once. The law was an extremely difficult concept, and the way he remembered Slughorn teaching it, they didn't spend nearly as much time grasping the theory as they should. Sirius was hardly one for spending a great deal of time on theory, but this was one of those rare exceptions. After he and James had spent over a week trying to understand it-even though their potions had come out flawless, regardless-they had created a method of understanding that Sirius planned to use with Harry. He set quill to parchment, and began to list, leaving lots of space in between each poison, each ingredient.
"Let's go over each one of these before we continue," Sirius instructed. "Do you see a pattern, here?"
Harry perused the parchment. "Well, some of the ingredients are fairly harmless. Others, like icedome, are only harmful if they're combined with others, like icetomp," Harry began. "Then, there's a couple, like doriups and greenwich, that are poisons by themselves."
He glanced up at Sirius, as though waiting for confirmation.
"Precisely. Very good, pup," Sirius praised, and Harry grinned.
Sirius began to explain how the antidotes worked to combat each harmful element of the potion, rendering it harmless.
"But when you're working with a blended poison, you can't be certain of the quantities of each ingredient, which is where the law comes in. You need the antidote for each, and there may be the same harmful ingredient for the two poisons. That's when you need extra antidotes." Sirius added some lines to connect the potions. "But since antidotes, in large quantities, can eliminate their use-but never become poison-you need to know what to use. By isolating each ingredient, and that's where your wand comes in, you can determine how much of each antidote you need."
Harry spent several moments studying the chart Sirius created, then consulting the textbook, then going back to the parchment.
"I think I understand. The theory, at least," Harry said, slowly.
"Yes, I think you're starting to. It takes awhile before everything becomes clear, but you do have a good working knowledge. Ready to try putting this into practice?" Sirius suggested, gently. Harry chewed his lip, then nodded. "Don't worry, we won't be consuming anything we produce," Sirius reassured Harry, with a smile. "Now, as according to your text, you'll use the spell Revelaspell, as developed by Magnus Scarpin. It's a bit like alchemy, which is not taught at Hogwarts anymore." Sirius retrieved a cauldron containing a murky, highly pungent substance, and cast the spell in front of it. "Specialis Revelio!"
The potion turned separate colors, and Sirius turned to Harry. "I'll cancel the spell, then, and have you do it. We'll take the next steps nice and slowly."
Harry complied, and his spell produced the same result. They spent the next hour dividing the potion into smaller portions, and allocating the antidotes required from Sirius' stores into each portion. By the end, the potion turned purple, and the bubbling that had been there until Harry added the last antidote ceased.
"Is it, er, not poison anymore?" Harry asked, cautiously.
Sirius beamed. "It's essentially purple water."
Harry couldn't hide a snort, and Sirius grinned, placing a hand around his shoulders.
"Well done. We'll do this again tomorrow, as it takes a bit of time to get it right, but you should be in good hands by the time you get to it in class," Sirius said, proudly.
"I already am in good hands," Harry said, softly, smiling at his godfather.
"Well, thanks." Sirius looked sheepish. "Now, time for some recreation. Or perhaps a rest?"
Harry considered. "How about a game of Chess?" He glanced down at himself. "I should shower, first."
"I'll get the board ready, you get cleaned up," Sirius playfully ordered, running a hand over Harry's hair. "Meet you in our room, all right?"
Harry nodded, and they left the potions lab together.
Sirius won the game of Chess, of course. He was almost as good as Ron, and Harry had yet to beat his best friend. (Hermione had, on occasion.) Still, he knew that he was loads better than he'd been in his first year, or even at the beginning of his last summer. He was still fascinated by the way his Chess pieces spoke to him, although their advice was often out of self-preservation than winning the game. Harry knew it was an enchantment, that the players weren't real, but it was a really good one. After an hour of play, Harry knew that Sirius would win, as he had a queen and king to Harry's king, bishop, and remaining pawn.
He'd rather hoped he might have a chance if he could get the pawn to the end of the board, but lost sight of protecting his king with that goal in mind. Hardly one space away from the final spot, Sirius announced, "Checkmate!"
Harry groaned, but it was a good natured one.
"You're getting quite good," Sirius insisted, clearing the board and, then, giving Harry a long hug.
"Sure, but I almost beat you this time!" he groaned, smiling.
"Next time." Sirius smirked. "Maybe."
A yawn escaped Harry, and Sirius gave him a knowing look. After checking his watch, he looked up at Harry.
"There's a few hours before dinner. Why don't you have a rest until then?" he suggested.
Harry nodded. "Stay with me for a bit?"
Sirius smiled down at Harry. He knew that, as much as year ago, Harry would have felt childish asking for this. No, more likely, it wouldn't have occurred to him to ask.
He knew that the two had grown much closer since he'd been given guardianship, but moments like this proved it.
Sirius pulled Harry a bit closer, and the teenager relaxed against his shoulders. "Of course I will, pup."
He summoned a couple of blankets, and tucked them around both of their bodies. Harry nestled close, and Sirius began to run his hands through Harry's hair. Immediately, the boy's eyes closed, his face taking on the look of contentedness Sirius was only recently being to see from him. He hummed a bit, and within moments, he knew that Harry was sound asleep.
Next up: A peaceful evening and a warm fire leads to more stories about Harry's dad.
Constructive reviews are always most welcome!
