Author's Note: Hello, welcome to another chapter. I appreciate everyone who is reading. MNF
Chapter 5:
Even When You're Silent, I Hear You
(Continuing the day after the full moon)
Harry and Sirius's landing was anything but graceful and Harry bent over and vomited. "I never want to do that again. What was it?"
"Apparition, and it does take some getting used to," Sirius said. He'd come up and was rubbing circles on Harry's back. "Just take a few deep breaths."
"I can't, Sirius. I feel like I can barely breathe. It was bad enough that the Dursleys were receiving money from me, at least I understand it. I was living there. The fact that they never spent a dime on me is a different issue. What I can't stand is that Dumbledore arranged it. I wonder how many other Muggle-born or Muggle-raised witches and wizards he's been stealing from. Should I have Hermione check her account to make sure the Weasleys haven't been taking a 'kindness dividend' out of her account at Dumbledore's instigation as well. When I'm there so is she."
"Harry, I don't think it's a bad idea to warn some of your Muggle-born and raised friends to check their accounts carefully. At this point, I honestly don't know what the headmaster is capable of. I'm glad you're not going back to school, I wouldn't trust him around you," Sirius said gently. While the man's guts were in knots, now wasn't the time for him to be angry; Harry was pacing like a big cat ready to pounce. "Harry, come sit next to me." He plonked down on the front garden for the quaint cottage and waited for the younger man to join him. Harry paced for a moment or two more, threw a few stones into the river that flowed by and then huffed before sitting down on the soft grass.
"We are going to fight this. Me, Remus, my attorney, the goblins, and you, but you are not going to fight it alone. You're going to let us—the adults—do the front-line work," Sirius calmly explained as he laid a hand on Harry's shoulder. "I know I haven't been there for you before, but I'm going to make that up to you. You're going to enjoy the rest of your school years with someone else shouldering the hard stuff."
"I don't know if I can do that," Harry quietly muttered. "Every adult in my life has betrayed me."
"No, not every. You mum and dad would have moved heaven and earth for you. They did. The spellwork your mother learned to protect you was beyond what most people could imagine. Probably only Professor Flitwick could read her notes and understand them. Unfortunately, he wouldn't have been able to read them, as they were based on Potter family magic, and only Potters could read it." Harry perked up at this.
"There is Potter family magic?"
"Every old family has magic specific to their family. The Black family magic is mostly grey or dark magic, but it's powerful. When I put on the Lord's ring today, I felt it swirl around me. I'll be glad when I can get your Heir rings on your hands, so you have some protections too," Sirius explained.
"What kind of protection?"
"Well, the Black family excels at mind magics, and we're natural Occlumens, which means it is very difficult to read our minds. I'm hoping the heir ring to the Black family will give you a mild level of protection while we work on the branch of magic called Occlumency. The opposite side of the coin is Legilimency, which is reading someone's mind. In a few years we can work at that."
"Wicked. And the Potter magic?"
"Ah, the Potter family magics are mostly light, although the runic array your mother created for your room was on the grey side. Mostly Potter magics are protection spells: for homes, for neighbours, for people. They also excelled at potions creations. The Potters owned a very successful potions factory that produced useful medical potions and such. It was destroyed in the war, and due to your parents' deaths, it wasn't rebuilt."
"But that Sleekeazy's stuff? Where is it made?" Harry asked, since it was still in use.
"That comes from a small factory in Ireland. It was safe from Voldemort, for the most part. Are you feeling a bit better?" Sirius asked and Harry began picking grass out of the lawn blade by blade.
"I don't feel like I want to rip something apart or blast it with my wand, but I'm still angry, Sirius. How dare Dumbledore think the money my parents put away for me for school was fair game to give to my aunt and uncle and then the Weasleys? Does the man have no shame? And then, what in the world made Mrs Weasley think it was okay to take the money from me?" Harry's voice became increasingly louder as he spoke. "Oh, by the way, I am not marrying Ginny Weasley. She's nice and all, but I'm thirteen and I haven't even snogged a girl yet."
"I won't ever make a betrothal for you unless you ask. Find your own girl and fall in love; if marriage is for you, then do it. Your dad was a late bloomer too. Not as late as Remus, although he had girls wanting to snog him from like fourth year on or Peter, who never had girls wanting to snog him. Your dad lost his heart the moment he met your mother on our first day at Hogwarts. He kissed a few girls along the way, but your mum was it for him – and she hated him from the start. To be fair, your dad and I were prats of the highest degree. Rich, good looking, basically wizarding royalty and we knew it. We weren't all that different from Draco, I'm afraid."
"What changed?"
"We got older. We figured out what was wrong with Remus, and it really affected us. Working to become Animagi was hard work, but we weren't going to let a mate suffer alone."
"That was a really great thing you did."
"Really though, we got yelled at but good by your grandfather when our mid-year marks for fifth year were atrocious. He told us if we didn't buckle down and get at least six OWLs at the Exceeds Expectations level or higher he would pull us from Quidditch. Your dad was just nuts for Quidditch. I went along because hitting a ball at people was fun, and Remus played Keeper because he was just so long and lanky it was hard to beat him to the hoops. We buckled down and got to work."
"Makes sense. I just wish I could understand why everything happens to me," Harry grumbled. Sirius slung his arm over his shoulders.
"I know it feels that way, and truthfully, you've had more than your fair share of shitty things happen. However, being a teenager is a confusing time. You've got your body changing rapidly, doing things it never did before and you feel like you're trapped inside trying to get out. You're at school and it's a balance between your education and social fun. There are pitfalls all over the place with girls and emotions and believe me, I remember feeling like it was never going to end. But it does, and by the time you leave Hogwarts you will have a better understanding of who you are and your place in this world. As for the extra crap of being The Boy Who Lived, ignore it. People who are really your friends – Hermione, Neville, even Ron – they're going to treat you exactly the way they always have."
"Thanks," Harry said. "Can we get some lunch now. I'm really hungry."
"Yes, I forgot that teenaged boys run on their stomachs."
BB*BB*BB
When Minerva returned to the castle in the late afternoon, the first thing she did was seek out Remus Lupin and share with him what Harry and Sirius had just shared with her. The pair shared their righteous indignation. From there, they went together to confront the headmaster.
"Good evening, Minerva, Remus. Your return is a bit later than you expected," Dumbledore said, looking at the clock to see it was a quarter-to-six.
"I was back when I said I would be," she snipped, being the schoolmarm her students knew but she rarely shared with the other staff. "However, I felt I should share with Remus what Sirius and Harry had told me. How could you? Money to the Dursleys and to the Weasleys? Really Albus, what were you thinking?"
"There is more going on than you realize, Minerva. Voldemort will be back, and Harry is going to be targeted and –"
"Balderdash," Minerva exclaimed. "You've been saying that for years and it's never happened. If it does, I'm quite certain we can keep Mr Potter safe. I don't know what is going to happen to you, or the school and poor Molly. You have truly gone round the twist, Albus, and you will not take Hogwarts with you. I advise you to resign before the goblins come for you because they will. I'm headed down for dinner, someone needs to supervise." She turned on her heel and marched out of the office.
Remus looked at Albus and seethed. "I have always been grateful that you allowed me that first step on my formal education. I have a loved teaching and hope that I will be able to continue but know this – I am no longer in your debt. You did the one thing I could never condone. You hurt the weakest member of the pack. Harry will never trust you again, even if Sirius lets you near him which I'm sure he won't." He then went for the door.
"Remus, please understand that I only had Harry's best interests at heart," Albus pleaded. Remus grasped the frame of the door and broke a piece off in his hand. Few understood how much strength and power the wolf inside gave him. He held it at bay most of the time, but knowing his cub had been hurt was riling up the beast.
"Never say that to me," Remus growled. "You are just another abuser, Dumbledore." Remus tossed the wood onto his desk and then stalked out. Albus looked at it, sighed deeply and then put his head in his hands.
BB*BB*BB
Shortly after midnight a keening wail was heard throughout the cottage. It awoke Sirius with a start, and he went to the larger guest room, the room he insisted Harry take. His boy was never going to be in a tiny room again in his life. Harry was asleep and thrashing about his bed. Sirius lit the end of his wand softly and began to gently hold Harry against him, whispering words of comfort.
"I know, I know. I saw your back, Harry, and had I known that was happening I would have broken out of Azkaban sooner. No child should be treated that way. Ssshh, I have you. I'm never going to let you go."
Harry had awoken and wrapped his arms around Sirius' neck. Sirius did his best to cradle him like he had when he was small, and something had frightened the toddler.
"Your mother had a cat when you were little, a little ginger cat who she called Tabitha after some witch on a telly show she'd watched. Anyway, Tabitha and I did not get along," Sirius explained to Harry. "Because you were often with me, and I was usually playing with you as Padfoot, you carried my scent, so she wasn't too sure about you. Well, one afternoon we were in the back garden playing, and you were riding on my back. I was moving too fast, and you fell off, bumping your head. I immediately changed over and checked you out, and you were fine, save one little cut on your forehead I immediately healed. You mum opened the door to check on you, and Tabitha flew out and began to attack my legs. I was quite happy I was in my denim jeans, because if I hadn't been, the cat would have shredded my flesh. Your dad stood on the back stoop and laughed at me."
"From what you and Remus have said, sounds like dad laughed at you a lot," Harry said meekly.
"I spent just as much time laughing at him, I promise." They were silent for a long moment, Sirius rocking Harry as you would a small child. Harry had so little comfort in his life he was soaking it in. Sirius was in a tee-shirt and pyjama pants, and Harry once again saw the scars on his arms.
"Are the scars on your arms, are they from a prank gone wrong or Azkaban?" Harry whispered.
"Neither; they are gifts from my father."
"Why?"
"There really wasn't a why from Orion. He was just an angry man who hated his wife and especially hated his children. The long scars on my forearms, those are from a drunken night out on the town with Voldemort." Harry's head turned so he could look at Sirius. "Yes, I knew Voldemort. I met him when I was small and then he'd turn up from time to time. Orion and Walburga went to school with him, although he was more human then, or so they say. Voldemort had an inner circle of those he kept close, people he'd collected from his school years."
"Why do you say that?" Harry inquired.
"Because even from a small age it was obvious the man didn't make friends. He didn't care about them as people, merely what they could provide and what the Blacks could provide was gold. Anyway, I had already started school and I was the white sheep of the family. Andi was gone from the family, so I was very much on my own. Orion had been out with him and came back with tales of the family of a Muggle-born witch they'd just murdered. I couldn't imagine they'd done anything to warrant their deaths, but the mere existence of a Muggle-born witch was enough to make these men upset. I made the mistake of asking if it was your mum, Lily. Orion exploded at my mere concern over someone like Lily. He pinned me to the wall with his magic and methodically began cutting my arms. He left me there bleeding overnight, stuck to the wall."
"Were you ever hurt just because you existed?"
"Yes." They were quiet again for a very long while.
"Thank you for not asking about my back," Harry said in his smallest voice. "I appreciate it, but I know you saw it and were horrified."
"Harry, no child should be whipped like that," Sirius said. "That you withstood that and came out as the wonderful, kind, and gentle young man you are is a miracle. You can tell me about them, or you can keep it to yourself. I will never press you for information." It took Harry several minutes to gather himself to tell his story.
"I don't remember a time when I wasn't beaten by Uncle Vernon. At first, it was just his hand. Once, when I was about four, he backhanded me so hard that I flew against the fireplace and ended up with a deep cut on my head. You can still feel the scar. I guess magic healed it because no one ever took me to get stitches. After that, he used his belt. It didn't matter what had happened, or he thought had happened, the belt came off. It was the worst if I did accidental magic. The strange thing was that I was always healed in the morning. That frustrated him, so he'd just whip me more. Eventually, my body couldn't stop the scaring."
"Pup, I promise you that you'll never be struck by me or anyone in our household for the remainder of your life. We aren't going to let our pasts break us. Agreed?"
"Agreed."
"Excellent. Now, how about you lay down. I can get you a potion if you'd like," Sirius suggested.
"I don't like how I feel the morning after," Harry confessed.
"I get that. How about if I stay here with you?"
"Sleep in my bed?" Harry wasn't sure that was a good idea.
"Yes, but as a furry companion, not as a human," Sirius said with a wink. Harry nodded and Sirius changed into Padfoot, and he leapt onto the bed and the two settled down to rest. Tomorrow, he was buying a house and they'd spend the summer with Hermione and her family.
