Potions and Snitches
Snape and Harry Gen Fanfiction Archive

Author's Chapter Notes:
Helllloooooo! Look I'm back with a semi-timely update! thanks as usual too all of those lovely people who took the time to give me a comment. Warning in this chap for people who like Sirius, he's perhaps a little OOC. Enjoy reading your extra long chapter :)
Ironically Alive
Severus slowly finished stirring the cauldron of Pepper Up potion and placed the stirrer on the table. It was a bad habit considering how many potions were able to melt through wood but it was convenient.

Dumbledore had recently visited, telling him the Vincere stone was now safely enclosed inside the Headmaster’s office. The man had also asked how his interaction with Sirius Black had gone; he had needed to put a dampener on his anger when that question came out. How had he think it'd gone? He already been mad at the Headmaster for even putting him in that position to begin with.

Dumbledore was the only one who knew where Potter had been, thanks to a quick conversation he had through the floo where the headmaster had spotted the boy. He had apparently seen fit to dump that information on Black.

Well the matter was done now, he had cleaned his hands of all of it. Potter wouldn’t go back to his relatives, Black would ensure that, and the boy would have his fan club back again. Whatever emotional baggage Potter had, that house would clear it all away.

He would continue, as always, being the one fixing everything in the background. Subtly changing things so that this whole train wouldn’t go off the rails.

For now, that simply meant concocting a few potions for Madam Pomfrey before school started. Doubtless they’d be those who manage to land themselves in the infirmary on day one. Longbottom came to mind.

That night, he felt the wards on his house at Spinner’s End being strummed lightly.

Immediately he went through the floo in his chamber and arrived to the doorbell ringing. Taking a second to calm his expression he opened the door.

“Lucius.”

The tall blonde man flicked his head left and right before taking an uninvited step in.

“It is good to see you a free man Severus.”

“I suppose it is to you I owe that pleasure”

Dust was already coming off the walls simply from the small movements him and Lucius made. It fluttered onto their clothes like dirty snow.

“Why do you live here? It smells of must and mold.”

“Unlike you, I refuse to confine myself to one location. It is not preferable to be so easily found. ”

He knew he shouldn’t admit to having more than one house but a small sliver of pride couldn’t help but protest Lucius’s notion that he lived here.

“You’ve always been a touch too practical haven’t you? I could send a house-elf you know, just to keep the place up to scratch while you’re away.”

And have a mini Lucius spy here?

“Thanks but I do prefer to be alone. House-elfs tend to irritate me.”

Lucius shrugged, “Suit yourself.”

Severus didn’t move and simply watched as Lucius picked up and toyed with a couple possessions. Including, a Dark Arts book, a Quill with enchanted orange ink and an emerald ring.

“Is there a reason I owe to the pleasure of your visit?”

“Yes as a matter of fact there is.”

Of course Lucius didn’t elaborate causing him to probe,

“And that is…?”

“Well, it was quite the fiasco at the ministry after they’d found you gone. An Avada curse after all Severus, I’d expect you of all people to be a little more subtle. I mean why not use that curse you yourself invented; Sectump- Sectil- Sect something.”

“Yes…. well, I was quite pressed. It was what they call, a do or die situation.”

“Anyway it took quite a lot of smoothing over. Obliviating one Ms Ashton, an investigator who you met, burning a couple ministry records and a bribe or two. ”

“Well I would never doubt your ability to persuade the ministry Lucius. ”

“And I would never doubt your ability to manipulate the shadows. That is why I must call in a favour.”

He stilled, even Lucius had put down all the trinkets. He stared Severus dead in the eye.

“I need you to help find some particular students in Slytherin. Those who have the intelligence and skill to join our cause. The Dark Lord will always have his faithful servants such as you and I, but he needs fresh blood. We need the new generation to take up this fight and herald our world into a new age.”

This would be tricky, he would not put his own students at risk but he would need to find a way to appease Lucius.

“Of course, I am happy to be of service.”

Lucius smiled smoothly and clapped his hands together. “Excellent, once you have candidates, give me their names and invite them to experience the pleasure of Malfoy Manner. Perhaps encourage Draco to befriend them – if he hasn’t already done so.”

“Consider it done.”

“It was good to see you Severus.”

He didn’t miss the fact that Lucius had pocketed the ring.

“You too, I hope to meet again very soon.”

“As do I, as do I.”

The sharp features cheekbones and pointed chin vanished from his doorstep and he let himself breath a little more.

Let Lucius have the ring, it was cursed to attract bugs anyway.

***

It was a very busy house for one that had been so recently abandoned. That was part one of the irony.

Fred and George had popped, literally, into his room a couple of times now. He had got them to stop doing it by trading the jar of Doxy’s he’d collected. Apparently, the twins had wanted to try using them for their newest creations. Whatever that entailed he didn’t particularly want to know.

After that he’d been mostly left to his own devices. He often attempted to join in with Ron, Hermione and sometimes Ginny, but conversations had a way of stopping around him. He’d wandered around the house for a little bit instead like an aimless ghost wearing in the carpet.

Hermione managed to ambush him in one of these wanderings.

“Harry, you’ve got to tell me what’s going inside that head of yours.”

He nearly laughed, of course she’d be onto a problem.

“Well, rather a lot.” He was gripped by an urge to spill a little more. “If I tell you something can you promise not to tell anyone else? not even Ron?”

She nodded earnestly and he found he could trust her.

“This summer, I wasn’t with my relatives the whole time..”

She hid her surprise well, “Who were you with?”

“Uhhhh….. Professor Snape?”

This time she slipped a little more. “Professor Snape? Why?”

“Dumbledore needed him to get this… stone. Only problem was you needed Parstletoungue, thats where I came in.”

“Harry! You hid this from me for how long?! ”

He quickly came up with a defence. “Its not entirely my fault! I don’t know if I’m allowed to tell anyone or not, Dumbledore and Snape seemed to want to keep it hush hush. ”

“Well if they didn’t want you saying anything…” Of course Hermione would side with the teachers.

“That brings me to my next question. How much do you trust Snape?”

“Harry” she sighed, “We’ve been here before, Dumbledore trusts him, therefore you should too –”

“No, thats the thing. I think….I think I do now. Don’t get me wrong; he can be a real git, but he has been, well, continually saving my life now. Even telling me things that I needed to know about Voldemort and the like.”

“Wow, sounds like this trip really changed your opinion of him.”

“It did, even before then…. I think the Snape at Hogwarts in front of a room full of wannabe Death Eaters is different from the normal Snape. ”

She rolled her eyes at him, “You think?”

“Fine fine. You mighta been right. Thing is, some other not so great stuff happened on that trip too.” He couldn’t quite get the words out to say what but that was all Hermione seemed to need.

She nodded slowly. “Its still bugging you, isn’t it? I know you haven’t been sleeping well, I can see it. You barely talk and you look like you get lost in your own thoughts more and more these days.”

“Well thats quite a well rounded assessment, ever considered becoming a healer?”

She completely ignored his comment, urging him to be serious.

He ran a hand through his hair, “Everything’s bugging me. The graveyard, that trip, my Aunt and Uncle. Hell how about the fact theres now a homicidal manic in a position to kill others thanks to me?”

Her face softened with sympathy. “You know that’s not…”

“My fault? it kinda is. Other things that I can’t even tell you happened too…. I just, I feel like I’m going crazy.”

“Have you talked to Sirius? maybe he can help.”

He angrily let out a huff of air. “I tried talking yesterday and he suggested I take a walk. I think I just need time.”

She hesitantly nodded. “Maybe, maybe you need something more too.”

“Such as?”

She shook her head. “I don’t really know. Remember you can always talk to Ron and I though, you know that right?”

“Yeah yeah.”

“Is your arm okay?”

The question actually threw him for a few seconds. He hadn’t even known Hermione knew about that. Much less would ask about it.

He glimpsed at the small part of bandage exposed by his top; it looked good enough. A little bit of bleeding but nothing else.

“Yeah I think its fine. I’ll be up to a high five soon.”

She laughed a little. “Well tell me when you are. I’ll be ready to indulge.”

Harry distantly heard Ron calling Hermione’s name. She glanced at him and he nodded. She gave him one last quick smile before disappearing.

He spent the rest of the afternoon reading about himself in the Daily Prophet. Regretting it later given how useless and degrading the information had been.

Everything seemed a little slower, a little quieter at dinner. Hermione kept trying to catch his eye, even Ron kicked him under the table a few times to no avail. He just felt a bit too tired to involve himself in anything.

He went to bed early sick of hearing the voices nearby underwater; muffled and meaningless.

At lunch the next day Sirius confronted him.

“Harry, you doing okay?”

He was well aware that the kitchen was particularly big and others could probably hear this conversation easily.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

Sirius obviously wasn’t convinced. “Its just… you haven’t exactly been engaged the past couple of days.”

“What do you mean?” he knew exactly what the man meant but he was stalling.

“Well, you’ve been a bit mopey…. kinda a little sad. Draining, if I’m really honest.”

Ouch, “Maybe a little, but thats not really a big problem right?”

“Yeah not a big one. Maybe you just need to get over whatever it is thats been eating you. Whenever your dad was upset he used to say ‘Padfoot, this sucks but never forget, we’re the lucky ones. We have everything we ever need right here.’ ”

He nodded perhaps a little too enthusiastically. “I know, and your right. We are… I am lucky. Lucky to be with you and Hermione, Ron and everyone else in this house. I’ll keep it in mind… and maybe I’ll let go of, you know, the extra junk.”

Sirius grinned and returned to his cocky self, obviously feeling a little uncomfortable playing mind healer. “Great. Gotta say I could use some cheer around here being you know, so … trapped. ”

“I know, I can’t imagine how tough that is.”

“Not’so bad when you’ve got good company.”

He laughed and walked away.

His cheeks were burning by the time he got to his room. So essentially he’d been bumming everyone out. Perhaps thats why Fred and George kept apparating around him; they’s been encouraged by the rest of the house.

He needed to get over himself and fast. So what if Cedric had died, people have loved ones die all the time and they do just fine. Thompson hadn’t actually done that much besides well, drugging him and severely injuring him. But that was nothing compared to those subjected to torture from Death Eaters. He himself had seen the fallout of that first hand. His Aunt and Uncle? well he was far from special in that regard.

Going to the makeshift library covered in fine layers of grime, he picked up a book on potions. It didn’t have anything along the lines of what he was looking for so he grabbed a new one.This time with a dark blue embroidered cover, but again, useless. This cycle repeated itself a few times before he finally reached something he found interest in.

‘Wistful Dulcis’ or simply just called ‘Dulcis’ for short.

It would apparently make him joyful, happier. Smiling, talking and laughing more. He knew it wasn’t exactly a permanent solution but that was fine. He just needed something to make everyone think he’d kicked himself out of his daze, then he could quietly work on himself in peace. It wouldn’t even be long until Hogwarts started again, at the very least he would just wait it out until then. He couldn’t bare making Sirius any more miserable than he already was, to have lived in Azkaban for 12 years only to be trapped in his childhood home…. It was more than unfair.

Reading through the recipe he was confident everything he needed could be found in the Black household. They had kept a very well stocked pantry after all. It would be hiding his brewing that may prove difficult; smells, fumes and spills always had a way of making themselves known.

It was a plan of action though, and that was more than he’d had for days.

***

He finished scrubbing the inside of the scratched black cauldron and placed it upside-down to dry. Finding muggle supplies had actually been the hardest part of all this. He’d asked Remus if they could go on a small outing, citing that he needed to get out, and the man had agreed. There was a little bit of suspicion when he’d grabbed a few cloths and detergent but he told Remus that he desperately wanted to clean his room of the grime. The manual way.

Now he just hoped Remus wouldn’t come in and see that he’d yet to actually clean any of the room. Everything else had practically gone without a hitch… well, he had a little trouble getting the potion to cooperate but he’d always struggled in that field.

His end product now sat in a vial resting on the nightstand. Half of it was all he needed; just one night of frequent jokes, smiles and laughter. Harry promised himself that he would make Sirius just a little happier even if it was only for one night.

Nobody had really questioned his confinement to his room, that was pretty normal for him. Two nights later, when Harry came out, they were most pleasantly surprised.

***

Severus threw one of his vials at the wall, watching as it smashed and the green liquid splayed out over the black marble. He didn’t even bother with a cleaning spell before grabbing another vial and doing much the same thing.

He brushed away the sweat that had accumulated on his forehead and heaved in a few gulps of cooler air. Finally, he lazily waved his wand at the wall and the glass began knitting itself back together.

Mad at himself, Dumbledore and every other person he’d ever had the misfortune of encountering in his life time.

He was yet to think of a solution to Lucius’s proposal, of course, and Dumbledore had almost out right ignored him the past few days. When he’d dropped by the Hospital wing to drop off his potions he’d found all the stocks had been full already.

Rendering his work, completely pointless. Hence why the wall dripped with a Calming draught (ironically) and a Blood Replenishing potion. He never quite got the hang of controlling a temper.

He was feeling ready to almost chuck another one when a knock at his door stopped him.

Opening it he was greeted by the stern face and tall navy hat of Minerva Mcgonagall. He felt hers was a name that should often be said in full, even if it was just in his head.

He was almost glad to see her, had it been the headmaster he might’ve thrown one of his vials at those half moon glasses.

“Minerva. What is it you want?”

“Order meeting; today, preferably now. Number 12 as usual.”

“Really? Now? why do we even have ‘new’ meetings when there is no ‘new’ information?”

She was already looking entirely out of patience with this conversation. “I don’t know Severus and since I didn’t call the meeting, I doubt I’ll ever be able to answer that.”

She turned away and left. Severus actually enjoyed the no-nonsense exterior she had presented. Too often he got sick of small talk or pretence.

Bracing himself he slipped back into his quarters and towards the fireplace. The unfortunate connection Dumbledore had made between Order floo systems saved time, however it also meant Sirius Black could come traipsing in whenever he pleased…. if it was up to him… well..

When he arrived nobody noticed his presence. Not that he expected them too, or wanted them too, in fact it was a very good habit for a spy.

He heard a knock at the door and went towards it. A quick spell revealed it to be Minerva and he began undoing a few of the locking charms. Why she hadn’t also used the floo was beyond him.

Apparently the mutt had also heard the knock and came thundering down the door way.

“Letting in some Death Eater friends Snivellus?”

He let his full annoyance show as he glared and rolled back his shoulders.

“Hardly call Order members Death Eaters but if you would prefer to lock a Hogwarts professor out… be my guest.”

He stepped aside dramatically to allow Black full access to the door. Of course the man uttered the same spell he had to check her identity and opened the door.

He shot Severus a wary look, “How the hell did you get in here anyway?”

He stepped closer happily invading the mutt’s personal space. “What, you don’t enjoy having others entering your home unannounced and doing as they please?”

There was a sweet satisfaction in seeing Sirius Black completely fail to come up with a response.

The man was saved by Minerva who pushed past them both to main dining room where almost all meetings were conducted.

“You’re on the same side of this war. Act like it.”

He let Black go first, there was no way he was having that man behind him out of eyesight. Apparently Black felt the same considering he did a quick shield charm around himself. Severus felt the urge to laugh in the mutts face; if he wanted to curse Black, a flimsy shield charm like that wouldn’t stop him. Not much would.

He glimpsed into the sitting room as they walked past and saw a familiar lanky teenager throwing his head back in laughter. Granger and Weasley apparently hanging onto his every word.

Of course he had been right, these people were so enamoured by Potter that they’d reverse any harm done to the boy in a matter of days. He would be back to his bratty and arrogant Hogwarts self that Severus knew so well.

Stepping into the dining room he tried to chase away any thoughts of Potter. Even the default ones he had about the damaged shoulder and leg. He had actually been waiting for Black to request more potions for the boy and enjoy the satisfaction of having the mutt beholden too him. Of course Black hadn’t trusted him not to poison wonder boy, probably had sent one of the many pets here to go get some from the apothecary in Diagon Alley. He inwardly snorted, as if he would poison Potter after so long spent trying to save him.

The meeting was more than slow. Severus didn’t speak for the entire duration except when Dumbledore had asked him if he had anything to report. A low-toned ‘No’ was Dumbldore getting of lightly in his opinion. The Headmaster had not been forgotten in his frustrations.

Apparently the whole meeting had been called due to the rumour that the Dark Lord was out to get something in the Department of Mysteries. He, and a few others, knew exactly what that was and the thought of it had made him feel almost ill. That stupid Prophecy made by that old bat Trelawney had devastated his life. Yes he had taken an axe to it well before that, but the day that Prophecy was delivered to a homicidal psychopath, he had crossed a line he could never return from.

To here the group talking about it so moronically made him clench his teeth.

By the time Mad-Eye had stopped throwing him glances and asked Dumbledore for the millionth time ‘Why is the Death Eater here?’ he resigned himself to not listening in at all. If, on the off chance, anything remotely interesting happened, Minerva would probably fill him in.

He knew better than most, important conversations and true decisions didn’t happen by democratic murmuring. They happened in locked rooms and on the whim of choices made by those conveniently in the situation. Besides, when Dumbledore was your friendly dictator, there were no choices to be made anyhow.

When the slog of a meeting was over he patiently waited on the corner of table. As usual he would watch everybody else leave first. They would shake hands, tip there hats to one another and maybe glance suspiciously in his direction.

Dumbledore walked over to him and he sent the man a warning look that stopped senior students in their tracks.

“Severus I have am sorry that I- ”

“Don’t. I don’t need to be one of the people lining up for a minute of your attention. I am not one of the clueless wizards here supporting the cause. You will tell me anything and everything I need to know and I’ll offer the same courtesy to you.”

Dumbledore gave him a sad smile, “Okay. Whenever you want more than a trade of information, you needn’t look far.”

He didn’t bother saying anything else.

Eventually it was just him sitting on the extra long, (thanks to some transfiguring), dining table of grainy oak wood. Even Black had chased after Dumbledore and forgotten Severus was there.

His wand was at his fingertips in an instant, pointed at the doorframe.

Slowly, Granger appeared with her hands held out in front of her.

“Professor Snape Sir. Its uh, Hermione Granger.”

“I am perfectly well aware of who you are Miss Granger having had the displeasure of the ‘golden trio’ in my class for four years. Now why are you here.”

He didn’t exactly mention she had perhaps a little more right to be here than he did. This wasn’t exactly a private area after all.

She awkwardly fidgeted with her striped jumper and looked slightly to the left of him.

“Its… Well its about Harry Sir.”

“Is anything ever not about the famous Gryffindor?”

To her credit, she didn’t seem affected by his comment at all.

“Look, he kinda told me that you and him were on some sort of mission – ”

“In doing so violating one one of the many rules he swore to abide by….” Not that he had thought that rule wasn’t going to be broken in a heart beat.

She got a little more distressed and met his eye, “No! he didn’t tell me anything except that it was you and him I swear! I’m the only one he’s told too, nobody else knows.”

“Calm down. I’m not exactly about to start docking points, although now I mention it ..”

She looked a tad fearful but ploughed on anyway, “Sir, please. Harry trusts you now for whatever reason and I’m beginning to think you’re the only person who can fix him.”

He let a little amusement show, “And what, pray tell, does he need ‘fixing’ from? From what I’ve seen he is more than happy here.”

“Er yeah” She shot a look towards another room.

“Thats the thing, he’s been really miserable ever since he’s been forced in this old house. I haven’t seen him solidly sleep more than five hours and he rarely eats properly, just enough to fool Mrs Weasley. ” A little bit of guilt seemed to be fighting her as she confided her best friends secrets to the Ex-Death Eater Professor. “But today…. He’s been really happy. Saying all these things about how amazing everyone is and what great luck it was this place even existed.”

“And this is a problem because….?”

“Its not right Professor. Nobody goes from barely talking to life of the party.”

“Fine. Let’s pretend there is something wrong, what do you want me to do that his godfather can’t?” He almost congratulated himself on managing to not insult Black.

Granger got ever the more frustrated. “I’m not exactly sure Sir. I just want you to talk to him, thats it. Then I’ll leave you alone.”

He thought for a about a minute and then waited a little longer just to make Granger worried.

“I’ll do it. Relief from pestering Gryffindors is too great an offer to dismiss.”

Whether the comment annoyed her he didn’t see as she was already speeding out of the room; obviously expecting him to follow.

The room they went to was the same one he’d spotted Potter in before. Of course now it was minus Weasley.

The boy sat comfortably on the sagging couch watching the fire. He turned and smiled broadly at both Granger and him.

It was a little off putting.

“Uh Harry? Snapes here. ”

The boy didn’t move but was giving off so much energy he may as well have. “Professor? well, the more the merrier. Is that an expression in the wizarding world? who knows, and who cares.” he shrugged his shoulders carefree as he glanced between the fire, his friend, and the head of Slytherin.

“Potter. Granger here believes that your not feeling particularly well, care to explain?”

Again with the incessant shrugging except this time Severus caught a definite wince. “Dunno whats she’s talking about. I’m feeling great, I’m not even close to some mortal peril situation.” He laughed at his own joke and Granger gave Severus a look as if this was the cue that something was very wrong. He was almost inclined to agree.

“How is the shoulder Potter?”

“Oh uh, dunno to be honest. I thought it was fine but now its seems to be hurting just a little more. An incy wincy bit.” Potter drew down his T-shirt a little revealing the thing was still bandaged making Severus frown.

More worryingly, it looked like there was still a few fresh blood stains.

“And you’ve been taking what potions to stop infection setting in?”

He grinned stupidly, “Do I lose points if I say none?”

Severus was already gritting his teeth, “You lose an arm actually.”

Harry faltered a little bit and did stare at it for a few seconds longer. “Guess that’s why we’ve got two of them.” He burst out laughing and Severus noticed even Granger smiled a little, seemingly finding the laughter infectious.

Severus pulled out his wand and slowly lowered it as Harry every so slightly winced.

“Potter I’m running something similar to a Diagnostic.” In reality it was a little more complicated than that. Half of what he was doing was checking if Potter had been charmed cursed ect. the other part was a spell that would tell him the condition of the boy’s muscles, nerves, blood vessels, skin and bone.

Harry nodded enthusiastically and held his shoulder up.

“Whatever you need Doc.”

When Severus finished he was borderline angry, very curious, a little amused and slightly impressed about the fact that Harry Potter was under the influence of “Wistful Dulcis” .

“Granger please leave the room.” He didn’t know exactly why he was sending her away but it felt right.

She started to protest and he held up a hand to silence her, “There is nothing seriously wrong with Potter, however I do believe he and I need to speak.”

She glanced between them both, unsure. He could see she needed a tad more convincing.

“I swear that I’ll do nothing to harm him, I just want to talk.”

She finally nodded and left. He couldn’t help but cast a muffliato spell, seems habits die hard.

Potter kept staring at the closed door, even as he talked. “You know, if I remember correctly, you were supposed to call me Harry.”

“Never did I agree to do so in front of others.” sick of the distraction he jumped to the point. “Would you like to explain why your currently feeling the effect of Dulcis?”

He watched to see if the information confused Potter, when it didn’t he had his answer about whether this was done purposefully.

Potter cringed instead. “Look I had no idea there was gonna be a whole Order meeting tonight, I definitely didn’t know you were gonna be here.”

“Would that have stopped you if you had known?”

Despite the serious conversation Potter was half laughing through everything he said. “Hell yeah! I’m not stupid enough to take a potion in front of the potions professor. I knew you’d see through me in a heart beat.”

“Why even take it?” As far as Severus was concerned it didn’t actually do much.

“Dunno.. A night where everyone didn’t keep looking at me like I’m gonna blow.”

“So fake happiness is the best option?”

“Yes actually.” Potter grinned wildly.

“How long ago did you take it?”

“Five hours.”

Thank god, it would be wearing off soon. Potter was annoying at the best of times.

“I was serious about the shoulder question earlier. What did the mu– your godfather buy for it? To stop infection?”

Potter’s forehead creased for a second, “Like I said. Nothing, I think he and I kinda forgot about it. Besides didn’t you put something on it that already did that?”

He felt an urge to break a vial again. Even when he was nowhere near it, he was still cleaning up messes.

“No, Peronish only temporarily stops infection as you should know. Can you show me it?”

Potter completely unbothered, took of his T-shirt so Severus could see the full bandage. Luckily it seemed fine. Only a little bleeding, less than he’d originally thought. He tried to keep his stare away from a few other scars.

He gestured for Potter to put his shirt back on. “As usual Potter, you escaped on pure luck.”

Potter happily collapsed back on the couch.

“Professor?”

“Yes?”

“I never quite actually said thanks. Thanks for everything that happened and thanks for not telling everyone what you found out. Despite what the Prophet thinks, I’m actually not that big on attention.”

“You are not telling your.. godfather?”

Potter screwed up his nose in a familiar gesture. “No. I can’t imagine how that’ll go down… Just thanks anyway.”

Unsure what to do with a thankful Potter he left the room. Not before placing three potions on the ornamental cupboard with a note saying ‘FOR INFECTION’.

As he rounded the doorway the very person he was still trying to avoid came to an abrupt stop in front of him. The man even had a half formed apology on his lips before realising who he would be apologising too.

“What are you still doing here? skulking around my home as if it belonged to you.” “Well it doesn’t quite belong to you now does it? convicted felons can’t own property.”

“One day they’ll find the right people to put in Azkaban and when that happens, I’ll be there to throw away the key.”

Rather than respond with something that would mostly definitely escalate the situation, he bit his tongue and shouldered past the mutt.

Of course that irritating voice followed him down the hallway.

“Why do you have to be here? why not just make everyone happy by staying far away? We’ll call if we need our little spy.”

He swiftly turned and flashed his wand dangerously. Only Black was already looking smug, giving his game away. He would not attack Black if the man did not actually give him proper cause. He simply would not be able to explain himself in a manner that did not sound immature.

So he stuck with words. “At least I have the luxury of leaving. Have fun spending the rest of your life in the old Black Household. Nearly as bad as Azkaban if you ask me.”

Not willing to let himself be tempted, he finally made it to the floo and arrived back in his quarters without attacking Black once.

*** Harry felt the effects fading but they were still there, like pouring out golden honey where the last remnants clung to the bottle.

No matter how hard he tried, he really couldn’t stop smiling. It was almost starting to hurt.

When Sirius walked in he didn’t even feel the least bit apprehensive.

“ ‘ullo!”

Sirius looked like he wanted to turn into his animagus form and rip something to shreds. He did give Harry a brief quick smile though.

“Hiya. Not having too much trouble with old Snapey?”

“Not at all, he just dropped these off.” Harry gestured to the potions sitting on top of an ornamental glass cabinet.

Sirius held up his wand and banished all three of them.

“Hey! what are you doing?!”

Sirius gave him a slightly quizzical look. “You’re really going to trust that? jeeze I thought a few run ins with danger would make you a little more suspicious hahah.” “I can be suspicious, just of the right people.” “Honestly bud, you gotta get a little better at reading people. Snape? he’s not your friend, I don’t what kind of brainwashed crap he was telling you why you were trapped there but if it really served his cause, you’d be dead.”

He was finding even with the potion his happy exterior was slipping. “You don’t know that! You don’t even know what his ‘cause’ is.”

“I know its certainly not something honourable... Look lets just change the subject, you’ve seemed really upbeat tonight and I wouldn’t want to..”

“What? wouldn’t want to ruin it? wouldn’t want to go back to having Harry all moody?” “

No kiddo thats not what–”

“Look Sirius I’m sorry but could you please acting like I’m some petulant child?”

“Well then maybe you should stop behaving like one!” Sirius was looking all the more angry and seemed to have found something to latch onto. “What am I supposed to say? You stay up all night, not talk to anyone and then act like its us who’ve pissed you off!” “It’s not that… I’ve just been trying to deal with everything that keeps getting thrown at me–” “Look around! everyone’s dealing with something. I think it’s Dumbledore or someone else whose perhaps convinced you that you are more special and your problems are bigger. Guess what, if some girl doesn’t like you or you lose a Quidditch match doesn’t mean everybody has to drop what there doing!”

He was stunned for a few seconds. He knew he wasn’t special, he didn’t need reminding and hearing it from his last remaining family (the Dursley’s didn’t count) stung a bit more than he thought it would.

Sirius seemed to realise he’d gone a bit far and let out a long sigh. “I’m sorry, I didn’t really mean it like that. Let’s just call it a night and try again tomorrow hey? ”

He supposed there was enough Dulcis left in his system that he wanted any and all conflict gone. So he smiled briefly and nodded. “Okay. Goodnight.”

Sirius began leaving and tiredly threw out “Goodnight James.”

Harry made himself forget it by morning.
To be continued...
Chapter End Notes:
Well there you go. Not a lot of action in this one but ya know, angst gotta angst, Hope Sirius wasn't completely OOC despite arguing with Harry. Interesting tidbit; Dulcis means 'Sweet' so the name of the potion is really Wistfully Sweet. Give me a comment if you had any thoughts!

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