DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Harry Potter Universe.
Thank you to everyone who had read and reviewed, or favorited/followed! It makes it very motivating to keep writing.
To explain something: I know it must seem quite useless for Harry to learn Spanish, but that's the thing, he's a teenager, he should be learning things that he wants to because he likes them, not only because they are useful in a war. And in this story, he's learning to be a normal teenager that doesn't take responsibility and feels guilty for everything. Part of that means learning about himself, figuring out what he likes, and start dedicating time to those things.
I hope you like this chapter! Spoiler, He finally goes to Gringotts!
Chapter 18
"This has certainly been enlightening" Amelia Bones told them seriously the next day, which was the only expression Harry had seen in her so far. "I would like to join the Order of the Phoenix" she said matter of factly. Harry controlled his exclamation of surprise, and then remembered what Sirius had told him about Amelia's brother Edgar having been a member during the last war. The witch reminded him vaguely of McGonagall, as she was clearly someone not to be trifled with, and to Harry there was no question why Sirius and Remus wanted her on their side.
"I'll bring it up on the next order meeting" Sirius told her. "I'm glad to have you on board". Amelia nodded, and they talked about security in the department and at her home, Harry slightly tuning them out, thinking about Anto. They had talked on the phone last night, and Harry was glad she had suggested he buy one. Not talking to her until he saw her on Tuesday would not have been pleasant. Still, he already missed her. It had been strange not to have breakfast with her family today, though he had enjoyed the time with Sirius and Remus, and definitely enjoyed waking up in a room that really felt like his and his alone for the first time in his life.
They kept talking about some things, now with Harry paying more attention. Unfortunately, the wizarding world had no laws against writing whatever you wanted about other people, even about minors, so there was nothing he could do about the prophet slandering. Harry wondered how no one had ever thought a law like that might be necessary, given that Rita Skeeter had been at large for a long time. They left, with Amelia congratulating Harry for coming forward, and Sirius promising to keep Amelia up to date.
"You successfully completed your first order mission and you're not even a member yet!" Sirius told him grinning. Harry raised an eyebrow and shook his head, smiling. For a mission against Voldemort, it had been somewhat dull, and not nearly as dangerous as he would have expected.
"Now can we go to Gringotts?" Harry asked Sirius. Apparently, the account manager Sirius had was very good, so Harry had decided to hire the same one, and Sirius had some things he needed to attend to.
"Hello, we would like to speak to Shartooth please. I'm Sirius Black" Sirius told the teller once they were in Gringotts.
"I will check if he is available" the teller said formally, and stepped into a small door behind the counters that Harry had never noticed. Harry wondered what was behind. The one thing he hadn't been able to find out was how goblins in Britain lived, and where they were educated or healed. Apparently, goblin culture was not an interesting enough subject for anyone to write about, as during the summer he had meticulously searched the list of titles Flourish and Blotts had sent him, and there was nothing that seemed to clarify that kind of information.
"Please come with me" the teller instructed rather than asked, and turned without checking if they were following. Sirius seemed to automatically know to follow, and Harry hurried behind, marvelling at the richly decorated hallway once they crossed the mysterious door. The teller guided them without turning back until they reached the seventh door on the left, and Harry followed Sirius inside.
"Good morning, Lord Black" Sharptooth said, "please take a seat". As soon as he said it, two chairs magically appeared in front of the goblin's desk. Harry looked interestedly, wondering how goblin magic worked for the millionth time.
"Thank you" said Sirius, "I am here because I wish to see to several matters, the first one being linking my heir to the Black vaults". Harry was impressed at the speed of the conversation. Sirius had told him yesterday that goblins didn't like small talk, but he hadn't thought it had been quite so literal.
"Very well. I need to check both of your identities" Sharptooth replied, and Harry watched in fascination at the knife and parchment automatically appearing at his words. Sirius immediately took the knife and cut himself, and immediately three drops of blood fell on the parchment and the cut healed itself. Harry followed suit, with a faint feeling of nausea, being uncomfortably reminded of Pettigrew cutting his palm last june. Strangely, it didn't hurt, and the cut healed itself after exactly three drops of blood as well. Harry wondered how all the magic worked, and if it was linked to the knife or to the parchment, but he didn't dare ask. That would surely fall into the category of smalltalk.
He looked at the parchment, in which Sirius' name and status as Lord of House Black had appeared, as well as his numerous vault numbers. On the bottom was his own name, mentioning he was Heir of House Potter and of House Black, as well as the three vaults he possessed that the Spanish teller had told him about. According to what Sirius had told him yesterday, being heir of House Black meant that, unless Sirius had any children of his own, he would inherit the Lord title upon his death, and everything that Sirius hadn't explicitly bequeathed to anyone else. Harry understood the point of this, seeing as how Voldemort was back, but thinking about the possibility of Sirius dying made him queasy.
"Sign this. It's your official acceptance to be linked to the vaults of House Black" Sharptooth told Harry drily, handing him another piece of parchment. Harry read it quickly, glad that it was only a few lines long. Simple and to the point, as Sirius had told him goblin liked things. Apparently, being linked to the Black vaults as heir gave Sirius the capacity to set up a trust vault in Harry's name with the Black money, and give him access to the vaults and amounts he saw fit, and also automatically keyed Harry into the wards of all the Black properties. Harry hoped Sirius didn't see the need of setting up yet another vault for him. His own trust vault was more than enough for everything he needed and wanted.
As soon as he signed the parchment, a ring appeared, and Harry looked at it quizzically.
"Now you need to put on your heir ring" Sharptooth told him impatiently. Harry stared at the goblin, confused, but obeyed. He felt a buzzing sensation for a second, and then it was gone. The ring was simple, black with silver borders, and something engraved in silver in the middle.
"What's this for?" he asked curiously. He knew that he shouldn't be delaying the meeting, but too much had happened that he didn't understand. The goblin looked at him incredulously, and so did Sirius.
"The heir ring makes it so that no one can take Black family secrets from you, not even through torture, controlling spells or potions, or legilimency. The secrets can be locations of properties, private information about members of the family, things like that" Sirius told him, managing a calm face. Harry wondered if this was one of the things that he should have definitely known about. Once again, he cursed himself for having been so passive in the past. This was his world, but his knowledge of it was severely lacking.
"Neat. What's legilimency?" he asked.
"Basically mind-reading", Sirius replied smiling at Harry's curiosity. Sharptooth didn't seem to share Sirius' good mood, looking annoyed at Harry for wasting his precious time, and proceeded with a succinct, but complete explanation about the ring. Apparently, no one could take heir rings off anyone, or wear one that didn't belong to them. Also, once the heir had put it on, the protection magic would be in effect permanently, even if someone were to cut off his finger. If Sirius were to have a child, the ring would automatically disappear from Harry's hand, but the protection magic would remain.
"What's the second order of business?" Sharptooth asked. Sirius gestured to Harry, and Harry knew it was his turn.
"I would like to make you my account manager" he told the goblin, feeling uncomfortable at not preceding or following his statement with some kind of pleasantry.
"You need to sign this form" Sharpblade told him without batting an eye. Harry wondered if he had the same quality as Dumbledore, of never looking surprised, or if changing account managers was a common practice. The teen read the form, which was as straightforward as the other one, and signed it, giving it back to Sharptooth, who lost no time in signing it as well.
"I'm now your new account manager, heir Potter. Sharptooth at your service". The goblin stood up and held out his hand to shake to a surprised Harry, who scrambled to do the same. It was strange, but after this action, Sharptooth looked at him differently, almost curiously.
"First order of business, you have not yet requested your heir ring. Do you wish to request it now?" the goblin asked him. Sirius had been gaping at Harry, and back at Sharptooth, since they had greeted each other. The teen wondered what was so strange, and filed it away to ask Sirius later.
"Er, yes" Harry replied, confused. He hadn't realized he would also have a Potter heir ring. "When should I have requested it?" he asked. Maybe some of his ignorance about his fortune questions would be answered today.
"Heirs can start wearing the ring and activate the magic as soon as they turn eleven. Most do so immediately" the goblin told him matter-of-factly, but furrowing his brow. It was probably strange that Harry didn't know these things, and the teen found it alarming as well. There were even more things that he hadn't known about.
"Who should have told me about this?" he asked.
"The lord or lady of the house, or the Gringotts regent, in the case that the first options are not available" Sharptooth replied. The "in your case" went unsaid.
"Who is my regent?" Harry asked.
"Albus Dumbledore" Sharptooth replied, reading the parchment in front of him. Harry had been expecting that answer, but it still felt like a ton of bricks. Why had the headmaster never informed Harry of these things? Had he forgotten? He always seemed to make some time to talk to Harry, so why hadn't he thought to include this important information? If he had had his heir ring on from when he started Hogwarts, would that have stopped Quirrelmort from knowing he'd been lying about the stone? That would surely fall under "private information", about a member of House Potter, wouldn't it? Dumbledore had not been a good regent, Harry reflected. This mishap had probably not been on purpose, but still, if Dumbledore had taken this role he should be doing it properly.
"Now that you turned fifteen, you can change your regent to any willing magical adult. The regent you choose will also vote representing House Potter in the Wizengamot until you turn twenty-one and can claim your lordship" Sharptooth volunteered. Harry noticed Sirius gaping at the goblin at this, and resolved to ask him about this later as well. Harry was of course shocked, as he hadn't known he would be a lord of any sort, but Sirius clearly knew about this subject, so why was he acting shocked so often?
"I would like to change my regent to Sirius Black" Harry said, not really hesitating. Sirius was the closest thing he had to a father, even if they didn't know each other very well, and the only adult who had fought for Harry, much more than Dumbledore had in any case. Harry had felt a connection to him from the moment the ex-prisoner had asked him to move in the first day they'd met.
The goblin made sure Sirius accepted, and then they both signed a form, a regent ring appearing on Sirius' finger. Harry felt somewhat relieved, but mostly confused. He hadn't even known that the Potter family had a seat on the Wizengamot, though that wasn't too odd, since he hadn't known what the Wizengamot was until this summer when he had read about it. He would have to ask Sirius what all of this entailed after the meeting.
"Would you like to eliminate Albus Dumbledore's key to your vault?" Sharptooth asked him. Harry agreed, not thinking much about it, though Sirius' surprised look, which was back, was beginning to annoy him.
"Does anyone else have keys to any of Harry's vaults?" Sirius asked.
"No, now Heir Potter is the only one who can access his accounts. Now that you turned fifteen, you can provide temporary or permanent keys to anyone you wish" the goblin informed him. Harry nodded and thanked him, though it was unlikely that he would use that tidbit of information any time soon.
"Now, would you like to hire any of Gringotts services?" Sharptooth asked him. Once again, Harry was confused, and the goblin gave him a detailed list that had everything he could think of, including fabricating muggle passports and documents. He'd had no idea he could do anything besides visiting his vault and taking money out of it. It would take him at least a few days to go through the list and actually decide if something was convenient.
"You should hire the self-filling money pouch and the checks" Sirius told him, reading his mind. Harry looked at him gratefully. He hadn't even thought of asking for help. He really had to get used to adults being able to take care of him. Apparently, the pouch was a little, featherlight bag, that filled whenever he wanted with the amount that he requested, provided that he had enough in his vault to cover it. It was keyed to his magical signature, so no one save him could open it. The checks worked just like muggle checks, the receivers being able to transfer Harry's money directly to their accounts, instead of having to physically receive and deposit the coins.
"Is there something that lets me use muggle money?" Harry asked, thinking of his future meetings with Anto. He didn't want to waste time converting galleons if they ever wanted to go to muggle Madrid.
"Yes, the muggle wallet" replied Sharptooth, indicating the service in the list. "It works the same way as the self-filling pouch, but you have to state in which muggle currency you want your money to appear". Harry hired the three services, taking the list to read later in case there was something useful, and signed the appropriate forms to allow the fees to be taken periodically from his vault. Then Sirius requested for monthly reports to be sent to Harry, detailing his investments performance and movements, and for a detailed copy of Harry's current assets. The goblin produced the list, which looked impossibly long, and Sirius shrunk it and pocketed it, telling Harry they could go over it in the evening. The teen was glad that Sirius had helped him with his finances. It made him feel more cared for than he ever had before by an adult.
"It has been a pleasure to meet you, Heir Potter" Sharptooth told him, standing up and extending his hand when they were done. Harry imitated him again and said his own pleasantries, wondering at the goblin's eyes peering at him intensely. Sirius was looking weirdly surprised again, and Harry impatiently waited until they walked out of Gringotts to round on him.
"What was so strange?" Harry asked his godfather without preamble as soon as they stepped out of the building. "You were gaping half the time in there".
"I've never seen a wizard stand up to meet a goblin before" Sirius told him.
"Oh, was that rude? Should I not have done it?" Harry asked, concerned. There was so much he still didn't know, even if he had made some progress this summer. Sometimes it was frustrating.
"I don't think so" Sirius replied pensively "I've also never seen a goblin be so helpful and warm before, and it started when you stood up to greet him."
"What d'you mean?" Harry asked. Sharptooth had seemed completely normal to Harry. Of course he was helpful, that was his job. And he hadn't been "warm" in the least as far as the teen had noticed.
"Well, with goblins you have to ask for everything you want to do yourself. They never volunteer suggestions or information, it's one of the first things my father taught me before I visited Gringotts. But Sharptooth told you that you could change the regent and about your heir ring, and he offered you the key elimination and the Gringotts services without you requesting them." Sirius explained. "He also said he was pleased to meet you, that's practically unheard of. He must have taken you standing up as a great sign of respect. You did well, Harry" Sirius told him proudly.
"It's just basic courtesy" Harry mumbled, embarrassed. How could that be so uncommon? If it was, it certainly explained part of the conflicts between goblins and wizards. In any case, he was glad Sharptooth had apparently liked him. Having the person who managed your money not like you didn't seem like a smart idea.
Sirius apparated them to St. Mungo's, and proceeded to check-in, noticing that Harry feeling quite unsure of this part of the day. The ex-prisoner had insisted that his godson needed a medical check-up, admitting no argument.
"The Potter family has a seat on the Wizengamot?" Harry asked Sirius while they waited.
"Yes, two seats, one was inherited from the Peverell family" Sirius told him. "You didn't know?" Harry shook his head, clearly trying to make sense of all this, and told him that not only he hadn't known he was ridiculously wealthy, but he would also be a lord and be able to promote and vote for laws in six years. Understandingly, the teen felt woefully unprepared.
"Don't worry, the lordship instruction usually begins once you've graduated from Hogwarts for everyone, no one really knows how to do it at your age" Sirius told him when Harry expressed his concerns. "Most people don't even become a lord until the previous one has died or retired, you will have to start quite early". Sirius himself had received that training from James' father after graduation, along with his best friend, since he had run away from his home at sixteen. Charlus Potter had insisted it was necessary, and had made Sirius realize that he hadn't been legally disowned, as his heir ring was still in place. Orion Black had probably tried to ensure the future of the house with that action, having Sirius as a heir in case Voldemort lost, and disowning him in favour of Regulus if Voldemort won.
Sirius spoke calmly while explaining things to Harry, but inside he was seething. What was Dumbledore playing at? It was a gross fault as a magical guardian not to have told Harry about his wealth and future responsibilities. He could understand that the headmaster might have wanted to wait until Harry turned fifteen to tell him about the managing of his vaults, as before the teen couldn't have done anything about them anyway, and he could have been waiting for Harry to arrive back to England. But not telling him about his heir ring, and his future lordship? He should have done that as soon as Harry found out about the magical world! The old man seemed so concerned with Harry's safety, yet he had neglected to give him an important protection amulet that rightly belonged to him. Who knows how many of Harry's adventures could have been avoided had he been wearing it. It didn't add up. There was something fishy about the way Dumbledore managed Harry's affairs, and Sirius would definitely warn Harry about it, no matter how much he trusted the headmaster on other matters. Sirius priority was, and should be, his godson's wellbeing, and Dumbledore, no matter how great a wizard he was, did not seem to fully share it.
"Please, come in, Healer Tonks is expecting you in office four" the receptionist told them, her eyes dashing briefly to Harry's covered scar. Sirius led Harry into the office, glaring at the girl when he noticed Harry's discomfort, noting, satisfied, that she shrank back.
"Harry, this is Andromeda Tonks, my favorite cousin" he told his godson grinning. Andromeda rolled her eyes at him at the introduction, but smiled, amused, and greeted Harry, motioning for both men to sit.
"We are going to give you a routine check up" Andromeda told Harry smiling warmly. "When was your last check-up, and with who? I couldn't find anything in your file after you turned fourteen months old."
"I've never had a check-up, this is my first time here" Harry replied. Sirius went white. This couldn't be possible.
"Harry, please tell me you are kidding" he implored him.
To Sirius' horror, Harry shook his head. "Madame Pomphrey's healed me whenever I had a problem" he replied. Sirius tried hard not to scream. This definitely confirmed his suspicious that Dumbledore was not prioritizing Harry's well being. Hell, he wasn't even doing the minimum required. Harry should have had at least a yearly check-up with a healer since he'd entered the wizarding world.
"Ok, that means you need a complete check-up, not a routine one" Andromeda said, in a no-nonsense voice, though she looked at Sirius concernedly. "First of all, your last immunity potions were shortly after you turned one, which means you are missing four". Sirius felt like banging his head. He had forgotten about the immunity potions. How could have Dumbledore neglected those potions? Harry could have become seriously sick, or even died. He was lucky he hadn't caught anything so far. He struggled to get his breath under control.
"What are immunity potions?" Harry asked curiously.
"They are like muggle vaccines, but for wizarding diseases" Andromeda replied, "You should have taken them at different stages of your childhood. Luckily you didn't have any contact with the wizarding world until you turned eleven, so that lowered your chance of getting the diseases when you were little, but we have to correct that". Harry nodded, while Andromeda take a bright green potion from the cupboard.
"It doesn't look very tasty" he commented, and Sirius managed to chuckle weakly. He hoped they weren't too late, and Harry didn't have any serious problems.
"Don't worry, it is. You should have taken this potion when you were four, we make it as tasty as possible so kids swallow it" Andromeda told him. To Harry's surprise, she was right, as it tasted sort of like strawberry gum.
"Unfortunately, you need to wait at least three weeks to have the next shot. I'll send them to your head of house and they will call you to take it on the appropriate date. Which house are you in?" Andromeda asked him. Harry supplied the information, and Andromeda wrote it down. Sirius ardently hoped that Harry didn't catch any disease before he took the rest of his potions. He should have been protected from Kneazle Fever since he was seven.
"Ok, now let's do your general check-up". Andromeda waved her wand over Harry several times, and Sirius watched concernedly. The beams of light moved so fast it seemed like a dance.
"You are slightly malnourished and your height it a bit lower than what it should according to your data, but nothing too bad, it seems to have been corrected over the past years." Andromeda informed him, to Sirius' relief.
"How do we correct that?" The animagus asked.
"I'm going to prescribe Harry a nutrient potion, you'll need to take it every morning for the next three months, with that you should be alright" Andromeda replied turning to Harry, while writing the prescription on a notepad. Sirius resolved to buy it immediately after and start healing Harry as soon as possible. While slight malnourishment was nothing terrible, it bothered Sirius to know that it was probably Harry's relatives that caused it. Once again, he had failed his godson. If he hadn't been so blinded by his anger, he would have prioritized Harry instead of Peter, and the teenager would have grown up properly. Also, given that Harry needed to defend himself from Voldemort, it was vital that his health condition was optimal.
"Ok Harry, are you currently on any other health treatment?" asked Andromeda. To Sirius' surprise, Harry answered positively after hesitating, and proceeded to say he had a mind healer, whatever that was.
"Why a mind healer? You're not crazy" he asked, before he could control his words.
"Don't be close-minded, Sirius. In the muggle world it's very common, I'm not surprised the discipline exists in other magical communities" Andromeda admonished him, before explaining that mind healing was used to help people deal with psychological and emotional problems, and get through traumas.
"I think it's helped me a lot" Harry told him defiantly, though he was clearly embarrassed.
"All right, don't worry Harry" Sirius placated him. In truth, he wasn't too convinced about the usefulness, but it didn't seem to be doing any harm, specially if it was abroad, and Harry seemed quite invested in it. He would ask Harry to give him more details later to make sure the kid was alright. Still, they would have to make sure that information remained private. The Daily Prophet would have a field day if they ever found out the boy-who-lived was going to something called a mind healer.
"We have to fill out this form and send it to Madame Pomfrey so Harry's allowed to use his portkey during the year to go to the sessions" Andromeda told him, and Sirius obeyed. Harry seemed surprised, and Sirius realized it hadn't occurred to the teen to tell anyone about the mind healer, or that he would need some sort of special permission to leave the school. He tried not to take it personally, breathing to calm himself, but the thought felt like a blow to his stomach. It probably had nothing to do with Sirius. His godson had simply been on his own for so long (he didn't think his aunt and uncle counted as parental figures) that he didn't even think to confide in an adult. Sirius didn't know if that was better or worse than the idea that Harry didn't know him that well, and so didn't trust him. He sighed internally. He would really need to work with Harry on their communication in any case.
Andromeda proceeded to check Harry more in detail, detailing and fixing a couple of badly healed old fractures as she went. Harry seemed to have relaxed about being checked by a healer, but Sirius was having an increasingly harder time controlling his temper. He wondered how bad his life had been with the Dursleys, as, according to Harry, the injuries had been caused by his cousin chasing him and hitting him, and no one had ever cared to get him proper medical attention. He hoped for the Dursleys' sake that it was true, and that it wasn't adults who had hurt him. Otherwise nothing would be stopping Sirius from appearing at their doorstep and end their lives. He caught Harry looking at his expression apprehensively, and fought to relax.
"Tomorrow we have an order meeting. Your friends are at headquarters, in case you want to see them before school starts" Sirius told Harry conversationally, trying to distract himself from his dark thoughts.
"Yeah, I'd like that. Can I bring my video games and console?" Harry told him happily. Sirius agreed, smiling. The few times he had met Harry, he had seemed like quite an angsty and brooding kid, so the teen was turning to be quite different to what Sirius had expected. He was surprised at how normal and well-adjusted Harry acted now. He wondered if Harry had changed somehow, or if Sirius had simply seen him only in stressing circumstances before.
"No, impossible!" Andromeda whispered loudly, stunned. Sirius then noticed that she had been doing the diagnostic spell over Harry's scar, and a black jet of light had come out. He blanched. He had never seen the spell turn such a color before, but it didn't seem very positive.
"What does that mean?" he asked worriedly.
"All I know is that Harry's scar has a huge concentration of dark magic" Andromeda replied, clearly afraid. "I can't tell what is it, but the black means it could be extremely dangerous." The way she said extremely, hesitating, made Sirius look for a hidden meaning. Her eyes were clear. Whatever Harry had in his scar, it could be deadly. He felt a pang of fear stronger than anything he'd ever experienced. Harry could not die. Sirius would not let him.
"Dangerous? It only hurts when Voldemort is around, and once when I had a dream about him". Harry replied casually "Though it does hurt a lot".
"We need to find everything about this so we can fix it" Sirius said resolutely to Andromeda. "How do we do that?"
"You need to tell me everything you know about the scar" she replied, looking at both of them. "I'll arrange a consult for Harry with a curse breaker and an expert healer in dark magic, and I'll need to tell them everything that's possible so they can have theories before they see Harry." Andromeda was as pale as Sirius surely looked, but seemed determined. Harry proceeded to tell Andromeda about the times his scar had hurt, under his cousin's thorough questioning, and about his sparse memories of the night his parents had died. He also told her about being a parseltongue, and that Dumbledore suspected that it was because Voldemort had transferred Harry some of his powers that night, and about their strange connection through the brother wands. Sirius cursed himself for his stupidity. Dumbledore, and the whole Wizarding World, had always treated Harry's scar as a mere eccentricity, even when he had had those strange pains. Sirius had never thought the scar itself might hold something dangerous, beyond signalling the obvious danger of Voldemort being near in some way. Why had he never wondered more about it, or studied it in detail? If Andromeda was right, this curse, or whatever it was, needed to be eliminated. Urgently.
"Ok, it will take time to arrange a consult with both professionals, I will let you know. If any of you remembers anything else that might be useful please tell me about it" Andromeda told them seriously. Sirius nodded, wondering if he should tell her about the prophecy. Could that possibly have anything to do with what Harry had in his scar? If there was a small chance that it did, and that it could help heal him, Andromeda had to know.
"Harry, I have to tell you something about the questions you gave me yesterday" Sirius told the teen in the evening. Harry had been less worried than Sirius had expected about his scar, but that was probably because he was so used to being in danger. The teen had inaugurated his Mario Bros game and played with Sirius and Remus happily during the afternoon, just like they had planned to the day before. Harry promptly gave Sirius his full attention, asking him which of the questions he could answer.
"I want to tell you why Voldemort came for you, instead of James and Lily. But you have to promise to listen to me until the end" Sirius told him once they were seated comfortably. Harry gestured for him to go on, impatiently. He had been wondering about that, among other things, all summer.
"There was a prophecy made. I don't know the contents, but I know Voldemort heard the first part of it, and interpreted it as you being a threat to him, that's why he tried to kill you as early as possible" Sirius told him. Harry looked at Sirius in shock. He didn't know what he had expected, but it certainly wasn't something as strange as Trelawney's episode last year.
"But that means that whatever it says there is true, prophecies come true, right?" Harry asked uncertainly. This subject had not been in any of the new information he had found out, but Voldemort had clearly believed it. Sirius watched Harry, wondering how to tread delicately. He wasn't going to tell him his own conclusions about the prophecy, or that Voldemort was looking for it. If Dumbledore was guarding it so carefully from Voldemort, it meant that it couldn't just be talking about Harry defeating the wizard when he was a baby. It meant at least part of it hadn't come to pass, or was relevant to the war. Otherwise, Dumbledore would care about Voldemort getting old information.
But Sirius felt like everything had shifted in the last twenty-four hours. Yesterday, he had been all for treating Harry as much as possible like an adult, almost like he would treat James. He felt Harry had never had a parent, so wouldn't want one, and had achieved many things that made him more mature that the usual teenager, and worthy of knowing the order's secrets, though obviously, Sirius knew he couldn't tell Harry anything too sensitive because the teen was not versed in occlumency. Now, Sirius had realized Harry was a kid that needed parental support, and a childhood as peaceful and happy as Sirius could give him, even though he needed to train and be as prepared as possible for a confrontation with Voldemort. And that required Sirius to act like an adult, and tell him only what would be helpful or necessary, and leave him out of the big responsibilities the rest of the world insisted on placing on his shoulders. Knowing too much was not a price, it was a burden, and there was no reason to give them to Harry. He already had enough, and would have more in the future.
"Here's the thing about prophecies, Harry" Sirius started to explain, wondering how to make it clear. "You can't stop them, so knowing about them makes no difference. By trying to stop one from happening, you might cause it. Also, they are usually very vague, and don't have specific names. They can be interpreted in a bunch of different ways, so no one could know for sure that the prophecy is actually about you and Voldemort until after it has come true". Sirius told him. Harry mulled that over carefully, thinking that what Sirius was saying made sense. Trelawney's prophecy about Pettigrew had been very vague, and Harry had never made any connections about it until it had already happened. Hearing it early had certainly not helped him predict or stop Pettigrew's escape.
"So Voldemort tried to stop the prophecy from coming true by going after me, and it didn't work? And instead he lost his body" he asked, making the connection.
"I believe so" Sirius told him. "You shouldn't worry about the prophecy, it won't help you defend against Voldemort. And whatever you do, it's not going to stop becoming true, even if it is indeed about you" Sirius warned him. "Still, I think you deserved to know why he came after you and not your parents". Harry thanked him for telling him, thinking Sirius was right. It wouldn't help him to worry about it. Carmen had drilled into him not to fret over things he couldn't control, and this definitely seemed to be one of those things. Still, it was good to know, now there was one less bit of information that he couldn't help wondering about. And against all odds, it helped him feel less guilty about his parents' deaths. He hadn't chosen to make a prophecy, or for Voldemort to take it as a sign to attack him as a baby.
"Harry, it's really important that you focus on getting better at magic, in case you need to defend yourself. But you shouldn't get involved in unnecessary dangers, or go looking extra for information and trouble" Sirius told him firmly, "if there is something that you should know, I will tell you. But this war is not your responsibility, the adults need to step up and handle it. You deserve to live as peacefully as you can while you are young". Harry agreed, and told Sirius that he had come to the same conclusion during the summer. If he ever wanted to help bring down Voldemort, he had to focus on what he could do, and let others solve what he couldn't, or shouldn't, handle. He had tasted two months of what it meant to be a regular teenager. He deserved to have that, just like everyone else did. Instead of getting caught up in the yearly adventure at Hogwarts, he should have been having normal hobbies, studying and making friends. He supposed he had always been used to handling things himself, and with reason, since he'd never had an adult to do it for him. But now he did, and he had to embrace it.
I hope you liked it! Please Read and Review! Next Chapter Harry meets his friends again, and they see his changes!