Chapter 18- Pieces of soul

Sirius looked at him grimly, “Kingsley called to let me know. Bellatrix Lestrange and Peter Pettigrew escaped Azkaban.”

Chapter 19-The joys of Parenthood

Harry had always thought his dad was a little paranoid when the subject was Harry’s safety. Now that paranoia had reached a whole new level. Harry wasn’t allowed out of Grimmauld Place. He was never there alone either and the house had gone under the Fidelius Charm with Dumbledore as the Secret Keeper.

No one knew exactly how Bellatrix and Pettigrew had escaped. Pettigrew’s cell had been charmed against Animagus Transformation so they quickly ruled that out. Honestly Harry didn’t think they’d come after him, but his dad was sure Bellatrix was insane enough to want revenge for her Master’s demise.

Uncle Ted and Aunt Andy had moved to Grimmauld Place too. Sirius was afraid Bellatrix might try something on them. Tonks wasn’t here because she was living at the Auror Academy were she still had one year of training to undergo. She had been living there since she started. At that time, Sirius explained that most Aurors in training have to live at the Academy unless they have special dispensations like for being married.

She stopped by a few times to see her parents but didn’t have time for more than a quick word with them. Harry was sad about that, because since she graduated he had seen her only on Christmas of his first year and missed her a lot. Of course, she was quite acquainted with Hedwig by now since he kept her up to date with his life and she with hers. Apparently she was enjoying the Auror Academy and was best at Concealment and Disguise because she was a Metamorphmagus, and rubbish at Stealth and Tracking because she was dead clumsy. She tripped on her way in one day and fell right in Remus’ arms. She blushed so much that even her hair turned Weasley red. Remus of course said nothing, and left quickly because he had to hand one of his articles to his editor. She was very exited because this year she would start field training, though her mother was ever so worried about that with Bellatrix on the run.

Aurors were posted at the Longbottoms’ too in case Bellatrix tried to finish what she started all those years ago. The Malfoy and Lestrange Manors had been raided and both had Aurors stationed guarding the place. The Malfoys were being tagged constantly.

Harry noticed how most of the measures taken were because of Bellatrix and not Pettigrew.

On this particular evening they were having dinner when the fire turned green. Sirius was up in a second and had his wand out and pointing at the emerging figure.

“Put that down Sirius. Honestly, no one we don’t want could come in here,” Andromeda scolded him. Turning a smile to the guest she said, “Would you like to join us Albus?”

“I would be delighted.”

Sirius sat down pouting as Dumbledore took a seat and Twinky the house-elf served him.

“What brings you here Albus?” Remus asked.

“You.”

Remus choked and looked at him, “Me,” he squeaked.

“Yes, I am here to ask you to accept the Defense Against the Dark Arts position.”

“What about my current position?” Remus asked at the same time that Sirius asked:

“What about the curse?”

Dumbledore sighed, “Given the recent events I don’t want a stranger at Hogwarts. So, for a year, we will have to go without a tutor. As for the curse, I hope that by making the contract only for a year we will be spared anything drastic happening, since you would leave the position anyway. I hope.”

“That’s a lot of hoping isn’t it?” Ted asked. He may not have been privy to the details of the curse but he knew the job had been jinxed since his time at Hogwarts.

“I have no choice. Security will be tighter and the last thing we need is someone unknown in the castle,” Dumbledore said gravely.

Inside Harry was doing summersaults, finally; a decent DADA teacher!

“You are going to accept, right Uncle Moony?” he asked eagerly.

Remus looked at him and at the rest of them. Sirius was practically falling of his chair from nervousness.

“What do you think?” he asked him.

“I don’t want anything to happen to you but I agree with Albus.”

Remus looked pensively and nodded.

“Me too. I accept.”

“Good,” Dumbledore said happily, “Now shall we continue eating this marvelous feast?”

Harry smiled happily and saw Twinky blush from where she was bringing more food.

XXXXX

“Siri,” Andromeda said, calmly approaching her cousin who was seated at his desk in his room studying some rolls of parchment.

“Yes,” he said looking up.

“Have you realized your son just turned thirteen?”

“Yes. I know how old he is.”

Andromeda sighed, “Sirius, I know Uncle Orion wasn’t the best father but I happen to know for a fact that Harold Potter included you in a certain talk he had with his son.”

“Oh.”

“Yes, oh.”

“Do I have to?” he whined.

“Yes.”

XXXXXXXXX

Harry was finishing his Potions essay. He thought Uncle Sev took extra pleasure in depriving students of summer time. There was a knock on his door and before he could answer Sirius entered looking uneasy. Harry instantly got worried.

“What happened?”

“We need to talk,” Sirius said pulling a chair next to Harry’s. Harry turned his and faced his father.

“About Bellatrix and Wormtail?”

“I wish.”

“Dad?” he asked worriedly.

“Well, you see. Andy-“

“What happened to her? Is she hurt?”

“No.”

“Is she sick? Oh my God, she’s dying from some horrible illness,” he cried a little hysterically.

“NO! Harry! Calm down! Nothing happened to Andy,” Sirius tried to sooth him.

“Then why did you scare me like that?” Harry asked angrily putting a hand to his chest.

“You’re the one that jumped to disaster,” he defended himself, then took a deep breath “Harry, when a man loves a woman. Can't keep his mind on nothing else. He'd trade the world for the good thing he's found, If she is bad, he can't see it. She can do no wrong. Turn his back on his best friend if he put her down ….”

“Isn’t that a Muggle song?”

“Harry, I didn’t want to be here but Andy said I had to,” Sirius said annoyed.

“Sing?” Harry asked innocently.

“No, talk to you. About, you know?” Sirius asked fidgeting and gesturing widely with his hands.

“No,” Harry had a pretty good idea but seeing his father squirm was fun.

“About what happens between two people that are deeply in love.” Sirius said slowly entwining his hands in front of his face.

“No idea what you are talking about.” You had to give Harry credit for the straight face he was keeping.

“I am talking about, you know Harry, about-“ Sirius kept waving his hands as if it would save him. His face was getting a nice red color.

Harry bit a smile, “Sex?”

“How do you know about that?” Sirius asked shocked, he was sure this was the doing of Harry’s deviant roommates. Those perverted boys! That Finnegan boy did not look like good influence.

“I’m thirteen.”

“Exactly, you are only thirteen. You are way too young!”

“So you didn’t know about sex at thirteen?”

“That’s neither here nor there.”

“So how old do I have to be to talk about sex?”

“I don’t know. Thirty,” Sirius said with a hopeful face.

“So I can’t talk about sex till I am thirty, but I can have it right?”

“NO!” Sirius cried, “Not till you’re fifty.”

“You mean to tell me you haven’t ever had sex,” Harry asked with a straight face.

“That’s neither here nor there,” Sirius said blushing.

“And what about my parents? They were twenty when I was born which means they were nineteen when mom was pregnant.”

“They were married,” this was not going the way he wanted, Sirius vaguely thought.

“So as long as I am married I can.”

“NO! I mean you can only get married at one hundred,” his poor, poor innocent baby having to talk about such things.

“You’re going up. You said I could have sex at fifty.”

“Changed my mind, you have to wait until one hundred and fifty.”

On the other side of Harry’s bedroom door, Andromeda, Ted and Remus were trying very hard to muffle their laughter. After they heard more of the discussion and a mention of a diagram that Sirius apparently Conjured the door opened and a very ruffled Sirius Black came out. He glared at them.

“One of you could have helped!”

In a very straight voice, Remus said, “That’s neither here nor there.” Sirius fumed and that just sent them in more fits of laughter again.

XXXX

“What?” Harry asked outraged from where he was standing in the middle of the drawing room. He couldn’t believe his ears.

“You heard me,” Sirius said calmly in front of him.

“But I wanted to meet Ron, Neville and Hermione there!”

“Well I want a very much alive son, so we’re sticking with what I want!”

Harry fumed and stormed upstairs, slamming shut the door of his room. Sirius sighed.

“Maybe you are overreacting,” Remus said calmly. “Bellatrix and Wormtail wouldn’t dare do anything in broad daylight in a crowded Diagon Alley.”

“Bellatrix is mental! Completely psychotic, I wouldn’t put anything past her,” Sirius exclaimed and stalked upstairs too.

That night Harry woke thirsty, but as he was getting up he found his feet being held by something heavy. As he investigated he found that the heavy thing also had fur. He sighed and stroked Padfoot’s fur. He knew his dad was just very, very worried, but he was thirteen and didn’t enjoy being locked up for his own good.

XXXXXXX

“You are so cute when you pout.”

The teenager glared at him.

“You remind me of when you were little. I miss those times, back then you did whatever I told you to.”

He was met with more glaring. Sirius sighed and watched the road. They had Apparated to the outskirts of Hogsmeade where a Threstal-drawn carriage was waiting for the three of them. Harry was very unhappy about not being allowed on the train, but this time it wasn’t just for his safety. The fact that Harry Potter Black would not be on the train was going to be largely publicized. They had come a week early to the castle, so they had time to let everyone know that fact after Harry was already safe at Hogwarts.

Sirius shivered, it was getting cold. Unnaturally cold. It was just as he heard his own voice crying: “James, no!” that he realized what was going on. He drew his wand and was about to conjure a Patronus when he heard Remus shout:

“Harry!”

Sirius looked to the side and his heart sank. Harry was sliding down his chair completely unconscious and yet shaking like mad. Sirius didn’t think twice.

“Expecto Patronum!” he shouted at them same time as Remus and the two Patronuses went running outside. He knelt next to Harry and touched his cheeks. They were clammy and cold.

“Pup, wake up! Come on. Glare at me.”

“The Dementors are gone,” Remus said kneeling next to him, “We should be up at the school in moments.”

“What the bloody hell were they doing here?” Sirius cried angry.

“No idea,” Remus said not looking at him, but was instead helping lift Harry to the seat. “I never saw anyone faint from Dementors,” he said worried.

“But they couldn’t have…I mean, they were nowhere near him,” Sirius said worried.

“No, they couldn’t. His soul has to be intact,” Remus said forcibly. As to prove his point Harry stirred.

“What happened?” he said drowsily, “Who screamed?”

“Harry, “Sirius said caressing his forehead. “How are you feeling?”

“Like I have the flu. Who screamed?”

“No one,” Remus said hoarsely, “We’re almost there. Have some of this,” he finished fishing some chocolate off of his pocket.

“You know Moony, your addictions astound me,” Sirius teased.

“Then you can have none,” Remus said as he put a piece in his own mouth.

“But Moony,” he whined.

“What happened?” Harry asked as he ate. The color was coming back to his face.

“Dementors,” Sirius grimaced. “I’ll have a chat with Albus. What the hell were they doing at the gates?” he finished putting a piece of Honeydukes finest on his mouth.

“Hey! How did you? You pickpocketer!” Remus cried outraged. Sirius blew him a kiss. Remus scowled and crossed his arms.

”Children, behave,” Harry teased weakly as he leaned on his dad’s shoulder with a slight shudder.

XXXX

Remus was calmly putting away his things when he heard the portrait open and bang against the wall not too gently. He knew it wasn’t Harry; he had just gone down to the dungeons to see Severus. Remus sighed and went to the living room ready to calm his stormy best friend.

“Nice chat with Albus?” he asked Sirius who was pacing the living room clenching and unclenching his fists.

“Fudge, the moron, is the one that stationed the Dementors at the gates.”

“Did he stop to think that the children need to go through the gates?” Remus asked bewildered.

“Apparently NOT!” Sirius was fuming. “He could have stationed Aurors, but no, that’s too rational!”

Remus sighed as he sat on the couch. He watched as Sirius paced some more. Sadly he said, “Do you want to talk about what’s really bothering you?”

“Yes, the fact that Fudge is an idiot!”

 “Not that! Harry heard Lily!” Remus said exasperated, “You know that!”

Sirius looked at him with such a lost puppy expression that Remus tried to calm himself. “I think we should show him some of our memories of his parents. It’s time.”

“But Moony! He’s too young. He’s not ready,” Sirius pleaded.

“Do you really want what he heard to be the only memory he has of Lily?” Remus asked Sirius looking straight into his eyes. Pained grey met brown.

“No,” Sirius said in a small voice, “But I don’t know if I’m ready to see them and not be able to talk to them.”

“I don’t think we’ll ever be,” Remus said seriously, “I’ll talk to Severus. He knew Lily better when she was younger.”

Sirius nodded glumly, “I told Albus about the secret passages and,” he flinched, “I’m not letting Harry go on Hogsmeade weekends.”

“Sirius.”

“She could be there! And anyway he would have to go through the Dementors and I don’t want a repeat of that!”

“I understand,” Remus said nodding, “But Harry is not going to be happy about that. He’s already feeling trapped.”

“I know. I was thinking of bribery. Give him something to make up for it.”

“What?” Remus asked and narrowed his eyes at his friend’s guilty face, “NO!”

“He’ll be supervised by me and you.”

“No, he’s too young. Do you even remember how much strain you and James were put through?”

“I wouldn’t let him do the practical, just theory.”

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t know you were talking about your other son named Harry because this one won’t stop just because of a little thing called his health!”

“Moony!” Sirius whined.

“NO!”

XXXXXXXXx

They had been preparing ingredients for the school cabinets for over an hour now. They had already started brewing the Potions Madam Pomfrey would need for the start of term, which were currently cooling.

“So, Uncle Sev. When are you going to teach me how to brew the Animagus Ostendo potion?”

“How about never.”

“Aw, come on. I know you took it. We could make it a twin project. You and me.”

“Have you asked your father’s permission?”

“He says I am too young. The hypocrite. He was already training at my age.”

“Considering since he went through this at your age he knows how hard and straining it is for such a young body.”

Harry pouted.

“If you wait until you are older your body will be more prepared for the magic, and the training will be easier and quicker. Remember your first year when you had that detention in the forest?”

Harry shuddered. Yes he remembered.

“You cast a strong shield then and your body wasn’t ready for that kind of magic yet. That’s why you passed out. The same applies here.”

Harry huffed, “But I could just take the potion and know my form,” he whined.

“You could.”

“And then we could train together” he prodded.

“I am not that old that I forgot what I said a second ago. Besides I decided not to complete my Transformation.”

“But you took the potion!”

“Yes, and decided I have no wish to complete the process,” Severus said stonily.

Harry smirked, “Oh, why not? You’re a little squirrel?”

“No,” Severus answered not looking at the youth.

“Oh, a bug?”

“No, you brat.”

“The rumors are true then?” Harry asked.

“What rumors?”

“You are the big bat from the dungeons” Harry teased and was met by a very cold glare. “Oh, come on Uncle Sev. Tell me. I won’t tell anyone that you’re a cockroach!”

“I am not a cockroach!” Severus cried indignantly, “If you must know, I take the form of a black wolf.”

Harry couldn’t help it. He burst out laughing.

“And you will not, by any means, let your fleabags of a father and Uncle know about this,” Severus said sternly.

“But, Uncle Sev,” Harry said through chuckles, “You’re a fleabag too.”

“No, I am not,” he huffed.

“I find it quite appropriate,” Harry said smiling. Severus huffed and glared. “Face it Uncle Sev, you’re a member of the pack!”

XXXXX

“So you’ll let me do the Transformation?” Harry asked suspiciously. Didn’t Uncle Sev say just today that he was too young? Wasn’t dad always saying that? Why the change of heart?

“Not quite,” Sirius said calmly and shot Remus a pleading look. Remus, who was sulking on the couch, arms crossed and a pout on his face, mumbling incoherently, ignored him. “I’ll let you do the theory. Brew the potion and study the Transformation. But for the actual training you’ll have to wait until your body is more prepared to handle it.”

“But-“

“No buts, it’s this or nothing. And don’t think you can go behind my back; don’t forget I know the signs and I’ll be looking for them.”

Harry pouted but agreed, “Okay.”

“I’ll ask Severus to teach you the potion. After you know your form you’ll have to study its anatomy thoroughly and read about the transformation process.”

Harry nodded but asked suspiciously, “This is too easy. What’s the catch?”

Sirius sighed and shot Remus another pleading look that was once again ignored, “I can’t allow you to join your friends on Hogsmeade weekends.”

“WHAT?”

“Sorry, but it’s too dangerous and with the Dementors... I just can’t Harry. I am sorry.”

“So this is bribery?”

“Yes.”

Harry was about to blow it but deflated at Sirius pained look.

“Fine,” he mumbled. Sirius crossed the distance between them and embraced Harry.

“I’m really sorry pup. If I could I’d let you.”

“I know,” Harry mumbled.

“I can’t lose you Harry. I love you too much.”

“Love you too dad.”

“Hem, hem,” Remus cleared his throat.

“I think Moony is feeling left out,” Sirius chuckled. Harry jumped on the couch and threw himself at Remus.

“Love you too, Uncle Moony!”

“Love you cub.”

“See everyone is loved,” Sirius said happily.

“Yeah,” Harry said, “But since I can’t go to Hogsmeade, I won’t tell you Uncle Sev’s Animagus form that I just found out.”

“What? Harry, you have to!” Sirius begged.

“No, sorry, can’t,” he said as he ran to his room.

“But, Harry!” Sirius whined. “He can’t do that Moony!”

Remus just laughed.

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