Over the next couple of days, especially as he continued to work nearly nonstop with Ron and Hermione, Harry felt a bit of guilt at having said yes to Sirius so quickly. He knew that, most years, everyone at Hogwarts had been handed so much homework that any recreation during the holidays was out of the question. The one year where this had not been the case had been their second, and that had been because students had been attacked left and right by the monster of Slytherin, and their Defense Against the Dark Arts professor (and, he had to admit, the teachers in general) had done little to stop the attacks on the student body.
Harry didn't expect his work load to diminish at all during the Easter holidays. At the same time, he knew that he worked faster and better with the aid of Sirius, who was always there without intruding, who could explain difficult concepts without sounding like he'd swallowed the textbook. And besides, even if he did spend the entire holiday doing work, he knew it would be far more peaceful at a beach cottage than in the Gryffindor common room or the Hogwarts library.
His guilt came from saying yes without asking about Ron and Hermione. Harry was quite sure that Sirius would extend an invitation to them, if he asked for it. At the same time, Harry wasn't sure if Ron's parents would allow him to accept. Grimmauld Place was nearly as secure as it came, while Black Cottage would be less so. Or so Mr. and Mrs. Weasley would think, anyway. Then again, The Burrow hadn't been as safe as Grimmauld Place in Harry's fifth year, but Ron and Hermione had returned there for their summer holidays.
Well, they weren't him. Hermione might be a muggle born and Ron one of the sons of a family known to be sympathetic towards muggles and muggle borns, but they were hardly Harry Potter. The Boy Who Lived. The Chosen One. Their danger was just about the same as anyone else's, after all.
"Are you all right, Harry?" Hermione asked. "You've been staring at that page for the past fifteen minutes."
"You've been watching me stare at a page for fifteen minutes?" Harry asked, stalling.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean."
"Just thinking, I reckon," Harry answered, a bit evasively. "Anyway, this textbook is hard enough that spending fifteen minutes on a single page wouldn't be unheard of."
"Especially for you," Ron added, with a grin.
Hermione tried her best to hide a smile. "Is there something that you need help with?"
Truth be told, Harry hadn't managed to read a full sentence on his Transfiguration textbook. While it had never been his easiest class, it had taken on a new level of difficulty since September.
"I think I'll switch to another assignment," Harry said, closing the book and turning to his latest Charms essay.
Later that night, he brought up his concerns with Sirius. After all, what was the point of having a godfather if he couldn't go to him with this kind of thing?
It was hardly the most awkward conversation they'd had. Confronting him about what he and his dad had done to Snape after their DADA OWL certainly ranked first on the list, had Harry been keeping one.
"Hello, pup," Sirius greeted, upon seeing Harry. "And Tuxy," he added, cheerfully, as his kitten crawled up on top of his pajamas, settling on Harry's lap.
"Hi, Sirius," Harry answered, adjusting the mirror so that Sirius could get a full view of the kitten, before turning it back to him.
"You know," Sirius said, contemplatively, "your mum, when she learned about our mirrors, asked why we hadn't charmed their size."
"Oh? How's that?" Harry asked.
"Yes, she thought that we might have managed to put a charm on them to be able to shrink or expand as we needed," Sirius explained. "In case we wanted to show the other something and a pocket sized one wouldn't be large enough. She was always excellent in Charms, your mum. Better than your dad, even."
"What did you say? It sounds like a good idea," Harry wondered, giving Tuxy a scratch behind the ears.
"Well, much like our map, there were a certain number of charms that had to be put in place and locked," Sirius began, "and after that, for the safety of our item, it couldn't be changed. Oh, it could be fixed if it was damaged, but nothing more could be added to it. We'd have to start again with another set of mirrors, and we were halfway through our seventh year, not getting quite so many detentions as before, and it didn't seem worth the hassle. Besides, we had our NEWTs to study for, and not quite as much time for side projects."
Harry groaned. "Something else to look forward to."
"That's if you go back," Sirius reminded him. "There's a lot you're being taught that you won't need to know for the NEWTs, and I can teach you what you do need to know better than most of the teachers you've had."
Harry nodded. They'd talked about this before, of course, and he was leaning towards taking Sirius up on his offer, but still not entirely sure.
"Right. If I go back," Harry echoed.
There was a silence, and while it wasn't long enough to feel awkward, Harry felt like he should say something.
Except that Sirius spoke first.
"I was doing more reading regarding Hermione's idea," he began. "I expect that she's researching limitations for snake transfigurations?"
"I think so, from what she told me," Harry answered. "I don't know if she's started yet."
It had only been a few days since she'd asked to borrow his cloak. Each morning, it was back on the top of his trunk, exactly where he'd left it. Hermione might be using it, or she might not have gotten around to it.
"I started my own research about Transfiguration regarding dark objects," Sirius explained. "It's certainly more difficult than regular Transfiguration, and it doesn't remove the darkness from the object, but it removes part of it. It takes seven transfigurations for the darkness to be removed completely. Which we could have done with the horcruxes, I suppose, but it might not have been any easier." He shrugged. "I haven't come across any living horcruxes."
"I was one, sort of," Harry pointed out, a bit uneasily.
"That was your scar, pup, not you," Sirius corrected, gently. "You're far too good of a person to be a horcrux."
Harry had to smile at that. "Snape might have said otherwise, at least before."
Sirius snorted. "And how are things with the old bat?"
"Not bad, really. He mostly ignores me, except to correct me," Harry said, truthfully, not wanting to point out that the "old bat" was more or less the same age as Sirius and Remus.
Perhaps it had been because his teacher had been the one to remove Harry's scar, but they seemed to have come to a truce. Certainly, neither liked each other, and Harry would sooner go to Hermione or Sirius if he had a question about the latest lesson, but Snape no longer looked at Harry as though he was a nasty insect he was forbidden from killing. They were civil to each other-Harry because to do otherwise would mean loss of points or a detention, of course-but perhaps Snape because they realized that the two of them were fighting against the same enemy.
"As I understand, he was still a bully and a prat to you up until recently," Sirius reminded Harry.
Harry shrugged. "No sense dwelling in the past, I guess."
"Well, you're a better person than I am. Had I been your guardian and received any news of his treatment, I would have removed you from his class and forbidden any interaction between you and him." Sirius paused before adding, "Might have done the same with Dumbledore after he let you battle a basilisk in your second year!"
"You can do that?" Harry asked, raising his eyebrows.
"Being a lord to the house of Black has its advantages, Harry," Sirius chuckled.
Harry stared at his godfather's reflection in the mirror. "You're a lord?"
Sirius looked rather baffled. "I told you that, remember? Before your fifth year?"
Harry vaguely recalled some reference to Black being an ancient house.
"I guess I figured you were making a joke," he admitted.
Sirius chuckled. "No, lordship is a remnant of pure blood families. Lucius Malfoy is one as well, and Narcissa is a lady. Gives you a great deal of influence over the wizarding community, as you can imagine." Sirius' expression turned sour at that.
"Is that how Lucius Malfoy ended up on the governor's board at Hogwarts?" he asked. "Not that he's there anymore. Before he got sent off to Azkaban, I mean. They sacked him at the end of our second year."
"Oh, now there's a story you'll have to give me the full details of when I see you next." Sirius' grin rivaled that of the Cheshire Cat. "And yes, that's likely how he was able to wrangle his way in. Mind you, his son being a student and having a load of money couldn't have hurt matters. They like to have members who have offspring at the school, so that the parents know the full goings on. Doesn't occur to them that house rivalries and the like can interfere."
"Were your parents on the board?"
Sirius shook his head. "No, they thought there was no hope for the school while Dumbledore was the headmaster. Thought that old Phineas was the best Hogwarts had ever seen, and were hoping that Regallus would take his place. Not that they were all that upset when he chose to serve Voldemort instead, and likely as not, Lucius and the others said he died in the line of service. Probably thought he had, come to think of it."
"Is it strange, how people who narrowly escaped Azkaban ended up having so much influence in the ministry and at the school?" Harry wondered.
"It's because of their money and power that they managed to have their influence in the ministry in the first place," Sirius explained, "and given how many people working in the ministry were connected to Voldemort last time around, it's more of a surprise that as many ended up in Azkaban as they did."
Harry sighed. "That's rather depressing."
"The truth can be, pup," Sirius gently reminded him.
He had a point there.
"Anything else on your mind?" Sirius asked, after a moment.
"It's about the Easter holidays...would it be all right if Ron and Hermione come along?" Harry asked. "I mean, I usually spend Christmas with them, and part of the summer. Not that I wasn't really happy to spend it with you..."
"Harry, take a breath," Sirius said, with a laugh. "Sure, the more, the merrier. However," he added, "with the way things have been, it might be better if I talk to the Weasleys and get their permission before you invite them. If they say yes, they're more than welcome."
Harry grinned. "Thanks."
"Anyone else you want to invite?"
Harry frowned. "Who?"
"Ron's sister, for example."
Harry frowned, then shrugged. "She'll likely want to stay here with her friends."
"All right, then," Sirius answered, with an odd smile. "I'll let you know what Molly says...probably in about three days."
They chatted a bit more, and then Harry said good night. Sirius' odd comment about Ginny was still in his head. Did he think that Harry had a crush on Ron's sister? Or, did he think that she still had a crush on him?
Life was complicated enough without worrying about girls. He should know, having tried to date Cho Chang last year.
Author's note:
It's been a little while since I updated because, even though I had this chapter for some time, I wasn't sure where to go afterwards. I do have the next chapter written, and an idea for the following, so I hope to update more frequently.
I am in the process of writing "Harry Potter's Adoption," which I am updating considerably more frequently, and a separate AU fic called "The Unlikely Gryffindor," featuring a Severus Snape being sorted into Gryffindor.
All constructive feedback is most appreciated!
Next up--Harry prepares his team in the upcoming match against Hufflepuff.
