A/N: Back at it again. Thanks as usual to Lady Starlight for her work on this chapter. As usual I own
nothing really.
Chapter 16: Bludgers to the Head
**********************Norway, above the Artic Circle************************
October 10, 2015 (Saturday)
8:15 am
The early morning light glinted off walls of ice and frozen rocks, as a baker's dozen stood on the edge of a frozen cliff over looking a grey, storm-tossed fiord. A tall, black-haired man stepped from the center of them and lifted his right arm. He shook the wand in it, and it shimmered, growing into a long, twisted ebony staff. {RETURN, FORTRESS OF THE DARK!} a hissing voice boomed off the ice-covered cliffs.
A dark, glittering spiral ghosted out from the staff, wrapping around a empty space against the cliffs backing the plateau they were standing on, overlooking a bay off the North Sea. The air shimmered and warped, moving back and forth as a dark castle appeared from nowhere, its black stone walls and towers trimmed in ice. A dark booming laugh came from His lips as he looked back to Bellatrix, "Come, let us explore our new home." He waved his staff again and the huge front doors crashed open and he lead his entourage into the dark fortress. The doors boomed closed behind them and a sudden, unnatural silence fell once more over the land.
*************************Hogwarts*******************************
11:52 am
Dozens of flags fluttered in the gusting winds that cut over and through the expansive Quidditch stadium at the ancient school. The stands were filled to overflowing, almost two thousand students, faculty and guests crowding the bleachers and boxes. Red and gold flags fluttered over the section nearest the northern set of golden hoops as even more students streamed into the Gryffindor stands, already waving banners with such slogans as "Eat the Badgers", "Potter X 2...Just Go Home Now" and other pity sayings.
Hermione grinned as she followed Harry up the stairs and stepped out into the Gryffindor box. Unless she and Harry were literally fighting for their lives somewhere, they never missed one of their kids' games. She squeezed Harry's hand where it had found itself in hers, and nodded over towards the rail where they found a familiar head of red hair, bouncing slightly on her toes as she nervously rung her hands together or played with the red and gold scarf hanging around her neck. Hermione let Harry pull her back against him, looked up at him, and they shared a silent laugh at Harriet's antics.
Harriet waved to her cousins as Virginia and Lawrence ripped past overhead, rolling in unison to the cheers from the Gryffindor stands. They pulled up sharply and started to orbit the pitch in opposite directions, waiting for Hooch to blow the whistle. Emilia started to circle much tighter circles around the center of the pitch. She glanced back over her shoulder to hold Xander's eye for an instant as he hovered in the center of the center hoop, tightening the straps on his gloves.
Rain ran up from the stairs, and shouted a greeting at Harry and Hermione as she rushed past to go stand with Harriet. Harriet pointed towards the field and Rain nodded, before she made a mug of chocolate appear from nowhere. She sipped it, trying not to laugh as she watched Harriet's eyes tracking only a certain black-haired Chaser in red and gold. She conjured another, and handed it Harriet, who took it distractedly as Sirius whipped by overhead. You've got it bad, girl, Rain thought absently, putting aside the fact that she, herself was trying not to think about what would happen when Ravenclaw played Gryffindor in their next game. When she had to decide whether to cheer for her own house, or for the Eagles.
Emilia took a breath as she settled directly over the center of the pitch, opposite the Hufflepuff seeker, Andrea Wendelquill. She compensated unconsciously for the occasional burst of wind that whipped across the air one hundred feet above the ever-green grass of the pitch. Only a distant corner of her mind remembered that her parents were in the stands, or that her brother, and erstwhile cousins where orbiting somewhere behind her between the centerline and the north, Gryffindor-defended goal. A somewhat larger portion of her mind knew exactly where Xander was waiting for the whistle, as nothing, not even death would break that connection.
"You're going down, Potter," Wendelquill shouted across over the wind.
Emilia only shook her head, not bothering to respond. The Mark VIII Firebolt that sat beneath her, seemed to respond to her thoughts, as she slowly panned her eyes around the pitch, shielded from the wind and sun behind a pair of tinted goggles.
Far below, Harry watched his daughter, wrapping both arms around Hermione as she stood in front of him, wedged between him and the rail. He rubbed his hands along her biceps, ignoring with a patience born of long experience, as bits of her hair that had escaped the thick tail that most of her hair was in.
Hermione reached up and grabbed his hands, pulling them down to her belly, and wrapping her hands around them to keep them there as the whistle blew and the ten players hanging in the air snapped into motion, seemingly violating several laws of physics as they did so.
The Snitch shot straight up between the two Seekers, and nosed over, darting towards the trench surrounding the pitch, followed closely by the two girls. It darted sideways as it passed a post and vanished, causing Emilia to curse softly and pull straight up, shooting straight through the crowded pack. She rolled sharply to the side as a Bludger shot at her head, and glanced back to watch Virginia batted it straight towards the Hufflepuff Keeper, just as Sirius darted in.
The Keeper pulled to the side, just as Sirius shot at the goal, the two balls passing one another by inches.
A loud gong sounded as Sirius scored, and then equally loud sigh, as a Bludger raced in, unseen from the side and clipped him on the side. The Gryffindor stands booed, and in those stands, two women shook, the elder of the pair turning and burying her face in Harry's shoulder...just like she did every time.
Harriet made a quiet whimpering sound, and grabbed Rain's hand, squeezing it tightly.
"He's fine, Harriet," Rain muttered, rolling her eyes.
Hermione turned back to the game as Sirius shook off the hit and pulled up and back, shooting back towards the Gryffindor goal in pursuit of the Quaffle, that the three Hufflepuff Chasers were tossing back and forth.
He almost caught up as Bob dove in from the side, spinning and shooting between two of them, and intercepting a pass, only to have it stripped from him in a collision with the third Hufflepuff Chaser.
The Chaser spun around a Bludger sent his way by Lawrence and ripped a cross-court shot at the leftmost goal, only to have Xander snag it out of the air and tuck it under one arm. He waited a beat as Sirius, Bob and Angel Rodriguez, a small, dark-haired fourth year playing in the third Chaser's slot, spun in the air, and ripped back downfield.
Xander shot a pass directly towards Angel, dropping it into her hands as she dove under a Bludger, and flicked a pass sideways; instants before a collision with one of the Hufflepuff Chasers.
She slowly fluttered to the grass, as Sirius caught it, deflected another Bludger with his armguard, and dropped the Quaffle straight down to Bob.
He caught it, and rolled up and right in a vast spiral, holding the opposing Keeper's gaze, just as he flung it to Sirius, who caught and shot in the same motion to score once more.
Harriet started to hop like a demented bunny rabbit in the stands, almost going over the edge in her excitement, and was caught by Rain's flashing hand on her shirt. Her eyes tracked him across the sky, her chest heaving for some reason, as Sirius spun in place with unconscious grace, and headed back across the sky.
Emilia distantly read the score from Xander's thoughts, though as it was with her father, it was only peripheral to her job, a marker as to when to strike. She took a breath as she caught a glitter of gold out of the corner of one eye and seemed to plummet almost thirty feet in a heartbeat, and nearly stopping her mother's before she leveled out, and tore across the ether under the play going on around her, as she raced towards the Slytherin stands.
The Snitch wove into the stands, darting amongst the spectators and Emilia pulled up, darting to the side, and nearly avoiding a collision with a rather large seventh year, in a bright green cloak. Ignoring him as he shouted something derogatory towards her, something about her getting fleas, she orbited back towards the pitch. Just then, the gong sounded another score for Gryffindor, and only a beat later, a score for Hufflepuff, a score that was accompanied by a rather inventive stream of curses in her head from the other half of her soul.
Think we need to go ahead and cast Arresto Momentum on your daughter-in-law? Harry asked laughingly as Harriet continued to watch Sirius closely, not noticing as she nearly fell once more.
He better damn well wait until he's at least seventeen to marry her, Hermione shot back instantly, smirking slightly, as Harry lifted a single eyebrow, he has to get on the damn broom first anyway, Harry.
Harry snorted and kissed the top of her head, not saying a thing as the game continued on, watching as Gryffindor scored another ten goals to Hufflepuff's four.
A whistle sounded as a foul was called on Virginia, and she spiraled upward, biting her lip to keep from cursing in Hooch's face.
A grey-eyed, brunette standing on Rain's other side, between her and her brother Michael, booed the call, only to be hurriedly hushed by Rain, "She's right, Kris, don't make it worse."
Kristina Spur crossed her arms and leaned on the railing as one of the Hufflepuff Chasers lined up for a bonus. She screamed in delight a beat later, along with the rest of the Gryffindor stands, as Xander blocked the shot.
A whistle sounded and play resumed.
Another thirty minutes passed, with Sirius scoring three more goals, and the rest of Gryffindor four, before Emilia finally found, once more, a glint of gold hovering just behind Xander's right ear. His attention was utterly and totally on the three Hufflepuff Chasers racing towards him, even as his fiancée sped towards him.
A bright red blur shot directly at him, followed closely, and only slightly more slowly, by a black-haired, red jersey'ed figure on a broom. Xander's hand snapped up grabbed the Quaffle...
DUCK, Emilia snapped, rolling inverted, and snagged the Snitch, her gloved fingers ruffling his hair in passing an instant before they closed around the struggling winged Ball.
The Gryffindor stands erupted as the whistle blew, ending the game.
Hermione jumped up in Harry's arms, cheering as loudly as any of the students as Emilia started a slow victory lap. Continuing to cheer as the stands rapidly emptied, led by her red-haired goddaughter as she nearly sprinted to the stairs to greet the team on the field.
Harry and Hermione smiled as they looked down on the field, watching as Harriet jumped up and hugged an surprised Sirius, before stepping back quickly, obviously embarrassed even to such distant observers as themselves. Hermione sighed as Emilia kissed a newly-landed Xander, and reached into her pocket, pulling out a vibrating, folded mirror.
She checked the outside display, "We need to get back, we have a meeting, Harry."
"Yeah," he sighed, even as he watched Sirius shrug off several congratulations and head off towards the locker room, not looking up at anything or anyone. Harry took a breath and tightened his arms around Hermione, and they vanished, disappearing between eyeblinks.
*************************London********************************
11:15 pm
Reginald Armbruster moved briskly down a dark and twisted cobblestone street, tucked between old, tattered and run-down homes. He looked back at the clatter of boot-heels on the stones and sped up further, grabbing at a scroll in his hands. He jumped as something scurried in the trashheaps. He flicked a wand toward the sound only to let it droop as a mangy alleycat padded out with a mouse in its maw.
He hustled down the street towards a lighter rectangle demarking the entrance to Charing Cross Road, and safety only a few dozen yards away in the heart of Wizarding London. For about the thousandth time since he had ducked out the back of his home office at a crash, clutching a single scroll that he knew his nighttime guests were after, he bemoaned his inability to Apparate.
Eighteen years before, a letter had come to him, in the guise of his employ as a solicitor to some of Wizarding Europe's oldest Families, most notably, formally the Malfoys, the Notts, the Zabinis, and others. It was telling that at no time, the Houses of Potter, Weasley, Patil, and others had ever used his services in the slightest. Not even when they had desperately needed his or his father or grandfather's, admittedly outstanding skills.
The letter had arrived without an address, with only the admonition to keep it safe, that under no circumstances was he to let the Aurors have it. The second sheet in the packet had not been a correspondence, but a much, much more ancient scroll, tattered and stained with age. The language on it was unknown, at least to him, and the best that his back alley experts had been able to ascertain that it contained some sort of summoning ritual. They had suggested that he take it to the true experts...Albus Dumbledore, or perhaps Hermione Potter, but from the mere handwriting on the letter, he had known that that might not be the brightest of ideas. At least at the time.
Now that idea seemed rather inviting, the Slayers-of-He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named might be the only ones who could save him. He moved closer to the faint light of the streetlamps, panting slightly, not being used to such exertions as he had undertaken this night.
He took another step and a faint CRACK rent the air behind him, and he spun to find a pair of mocking faces, visible even behind the white masks they both wore. He stumbled back, crashing over a dustbin, and spun only to watch as the air wavered several strides ahead of him, and a dark pair stepped out from nowhere.
The taller of the pair slowly drew a dark wand from the pocket of his cloak and held it low in front of him. His face was hidden in the deep shadows of his hood, as he gestured towards Reginald with his free hand. The other of the pair, as she swept her hood back was not unknown to him, in fact he had been at her trial more than thirty years prior, when he had failed to keep her from Azkaban.
Bellatrix smirked, "CRUCIO," a searing yellow beam snapped out across the alley, sending him to his knees, screaming in pain. He fell over onto his side, the scroll tumbling from loose fingers as he curled into a ball. It floated up without a sound or a visible spell to the hooded one, and settled into his hand. Bellatrix laughed as his screams started to become interspaced with choking sobs as she started to move the spell to and fro, modifying its effect.
A dazzling orange beam snapped past her, and the solicitor exploded, sending charred bits bouncing off the walls, and a shower of blood in all directions. The gore stopped short of the pair in the back and slid down to the ground off an invisible wall in front of Bellatrix. She pouted as she looked back at her heretofore silent companion, "He was weak," a dark, silky voice answered her unsaid question, with the barest trace of a hiss underlying it, "any enjoyment would have been brief...let us leave, we have what we have come for. It was foolish of Zabini to think that the knowledge would not be found." He waved his hand and the far pair of Death Eaters vanished, and looked to Bellatrix, his face still hidden. He flicked his wand and they both vanished in a swirl of noxious smoke, leaving behind only the dark remnants of the night's fell deeds.
****************************Godric's Hollow******************************
October 11, 2015
1:15 am
Harry lay awake in the dappled moonlight slipping past the opened curtains of the bedroom windows. He watched, rolled up on his side, the slow rise and fall of his wife's chest as his mind danced around the events that had occurred since the summer. Automatically, one finger gently reached out and started to trace along a breast, sliding up and down a bare side. "Harry," she muttered, moving slightly on the bed towards him, reacting even in her sleep to his presence.
He let the hand trace down until it rested flat on her belly, just below her navel and spreading to the tops of her thighs. Her eyes fell open, and her head turned to his, even as one of her hands moved, grasping and interlacing their fingers, before letting the new whole fall back to her stomach, possibly even lower than before. I know, Harry, she said softly after holding his gaze for a moment as her thoughts snapped back to the sight of their son after they congratulated him for Gryffindor's win. She moved on the bed, pushing him onto his back and rolling half on top of him, sending the sheets somewhere south of their hips. They moved back up with a thought, covering her to mid back, as she settled in.
He's bothered by it...
And Em knows, and she didn't tell us, whatever it is, Hermione finished for him. Do you think it has to do with the 'Train'? Harry nodded silently, and Hermione took a breath. We are total and utter fuckups at being parents, she growled darkly, Harry started to say something, something that he probably meant to be reassuring, but she cut him off, I mean, sure we saw Em damn near lose it, but besides that bit of puking, he seemed alright...Damn it, Harry, I knew...know better....
Do we, Hermione, he asked and she looked up at him, moving just her eyes, I mean...how did we learn to handle it?
She smiled, just faintly, Besides crawling into bed and shagging each other until we stopped crying? He nodded, and she sighed, I don't know that we ever did besides just be there...it was a different time, at least for me, Harry. There was nothing I wouldn't have done...still won't do to keep you or them safe. That first time, at my parents, I just drove through it, and then did about what I'm doing now, afterward.
Harry rolled his tongue around the inside of his cheek, staring upward at the ceiling he had enchanted for her after Emilia was born, and while she was still carrying Sirius. Back when just for a brief while they had thought the tumult in their lives was finally over. A pair of shooting stars flashed across the ceiling from right to left, as he took a breath, He was doing the same thing, Mione, you know what Anna said, about the part she saw.
Neither of them are admitting it, Harry, if they were, then at least they'd have each other. Hermione further tried to bury her face in his shoulder, tickling his chest with her hair. I never thought that I'd be wanting my son to get off his arse and admit it...She shook her head, One of us needs to talk to him.
Me or you?
You, I had Em. Harry tightened his arms around her as he felt dampness on his chest, and started to stroke her hair idly. This really sucks, Harry, she added with a faintly choked 'voice'. Harry nodded and pressed his lips to the top of her head. I wasn't ready for this one...I thought...had hoped it was over.
Yeah, me too.
*****************************Hogwarts***********************************
October 14, 2015
10:20 pm
Emilia pulled along her more than slightly recalcitrant brother, jerking him along by her hand on his wrist. She paused as they came to a corner, and peeked around, checking for the housekeeper, even though both of them were prefects. She looked back at her brother and without a word, shoved him at a black section of wall with more than a bit of magical boost to her muscles.
He stumbled straight at the wall, hit it, and passed straight through. Sirius straightened as he looked up and around, finding a cozy round room lit by the light from a blazing fire set in a flagstone grate. A pair of tattered couches were set in front of the fire, and as Sirius approached the couch, he could see a small coffee table set between the two couches with a pair of chilled butterbeers.
"I never knew this room was here," Sirius mused as he walked around the couch. He looked back toward the stretch of wall he had been tumbled through, and then around the room suspiciously. His hand flashed to his thigh, drawing his wand in a seamless blur. He spun around, looking for someone...
"I really don't think I deserve to be hexed today, Sirius," Harry commented wryly from the shadows, "though your mother may disagree...But she is rather fond of doing the job herself."
Sirius spun to Harry's voice and watched as his father faded from the shadows. He moved to the couches and vaulted casually over the back of one, dropping into the seat. He reached forward and grabbed a butterbeer, popped the cork and took a long sip. "What are you doing here, Dad?" Sirius asked warily, without moving from his spot.
"Didn't get a chance to talk to you the other day while we were here," Harry replied and gestured towards the other couch, "sit down."
Sirius frowned and looked back towards the blank wall again, before he reluctantly moved to the couch across from Harry and dropped onto it. He looked across at his father, and impatiently shook his hair out of his eyes. "I'm fine, Dad, everything is fine." He reached forward and picked up his butterbeer, swallowing a third of it, "Thanks for the butterbeer, but I really need to get back to studying."
"No you don't, Sirius...I know better, you can skip one night, son," Harry said, hiding his smile as he watched Sirius fidget. Harry sat quietly, and waited, watching Sirius as he played with his sleeve, took another sip of his beer and looked around at the room. Sirius pulled his wand back out and examined it, before resheathing it.
"What did you want to talk about?" Sirius asked quietly, finally breaking the silence.
"Something's bothering you, Sirius," Harry replied, watching as Sirius' eyes hardened suddenly, and he muttered something under his breath.
"What did Em tell you?" he snarled, "I knew that I shouldn't have said anything to her, I knew she was up to something..."
"Your sister didn't say anything, your mother and I have known you since you were born, Sirius...we could read it in your eyes," Harry shot back, watching his own eyes flare across the couch, and fade, as Sirius took a breath and closed them. Sirius looked down as he picked up his bottle in both hands and watched it as it rolled back and forth between them. "Now, Sirius, what's wrong...is it what happened on the train?" Sirius shrugged and sighed, talking a sip of his drink without looking up.
Harry nodded as if to himself, as he took a sip of his own beer. Briefly, he almost considered using Legilimency, though he pretty much knew what was on his son's mind, he wasn't all that different from himself or Hermione, in the end, in many ways. Not in this, and besides, he was not about to use the amount of power it would take to push through Sirius' defenses, not after the years of training his children had undergone to gain that proficiency. "It sucks doesn't it?" Harry said conversationally, "you don't want to remember, but you do, pops up at the damnest times."
Sirius shrugged again, and Harry half frowned, not that Sirius saw. "It's alright, Sirius, you aren't supposed to bury it, keep it down; it'll drive you insane."
"I...I couldn't handle it, Dad...not like you or Mum, or even Em...none of you puked their guts out, just wanted to go crawl in a corner and cry. It doesn't seem to bother any of you overly..."
"I did more than once, Sirius...it still does sometimes," Harry replied softly and his son's head snapped up and locked to his gaze. Harry nodded, and took a breath, closing his eyes for an instant as almost thirty years life in the magical world through both the darkest and lightest of times flashed past his mind. Distantly he heard Hermione whisper to him. I'm fine, Mione, Harry muttered and got the image of a disbelieving nod in return. He felt her squeeze his hand and retreat to the back of his mind. "That's not in the books, is it, son?"
Sirius shook his head slowly, "I...I don't ..."
"Sirius, the only reason that I am still here, that I am more or less still sane is your mother," Harry said, bending forward and cradling his own beer between his hands, "I woke up for years with nightmares, I still do occasionally, you know that, and Merlin help me, if there were anyway to keep them from you, I would...I'd offer to Obliviate the memories from your head...but that's not really a solution. I've seen too many Wizards take that easy path...it's just worse in the end."
"But what if I can't handle it," Sirius looked up, his eyes dark, "What if I screw up next time?" Harry opened his mouth, only to remain silent as Sirius shook his head, "You know there will be, Dad, if not in this fight, then another...what if I choke, freeze and let, Em or Ha...someone get hurt because of it?"
Harry looked away from Sirius, watching the flames in the grate for a bit. He slowly glanced around the room, examining the small little room that the Twins had used for their little, interludes, during their stays. In addition to the fireplace, which almost every single room in the huge castle had in one form or another, despite some of them having no possible way for them to hook to any actual chimney, a small polished wooden bar was set over to one side, along with a large cedar chest that Harry knew from a brief examination had held blankets and pillows. Just for an instant, he let a brief wry thought about what Molly would think about him showing his son, a de facto, excellent place to snog, but shook it off, along with the smile that threatened to bloom. "I can't tell you, Sirius," Harry replied quietly, "but if it is any comfort, I would trust you at my back before almost anyone."
Sirius smiled slightly, and looked up at Harry, "Really...even as much as Mum?"
Harry snorted, "Well your mother does have a hell of a vested interest in me, something about not wanting to have to carry all the groceries in herself, and a lot of lost training...but, yeah, as much as your mother."
Sirius swallowed, "Thanks...I think."
"You're welcome," Harry said lightly, even though the sentiment was not. He watched Sirius as the younger Potter seemed to consider his words. "I'll tell you mine if you'll tell me yours."
Sirius cocked his head slightly and finished his beer. He set the empty to the table and the bottle vanished with a snap of light to be replaced by a new one. "Are they all squicky involving Mum?"
Harry laughed, "Some of them, yeah," then sobered, "a lot of them are, yeah, or you and your sister, sometimes friends..." Harry closed his eyes for a beat as a flash of the one of the darkest, variants of which had never really went away flicked across his mind, only new and updated through the years.
Sirius thought about his words for a minute or two; then stood from the couch, walking over to the fire and turning to face it. Harry watched the back of his head, knowing that no son really wanted his father to see the tears that might fall. "I've had a few over the years," Sirius began, "our family seems to breed them occasionally...It's alright, Dad, I'm not going to trade you off." He took a breath, "It usually starts on that train...sometimes, I don't know if I'm going to able to stand to get on it at Christmas, the train slams to a stop, and Harriet crashes into me and hits her head on...something, and her blood...it's all over my hands."
He shoved his hands into his pockets, "We go outside, and we split up, like we did...and it just goes to the crapper...All of them come out on my side, I see a Eater line up on Rain on top of the train and before I can say anything or get a shield up...there's just this flash of green, and...she's just gone." He took another shuddering breath and went on with a hitch in his throat, "I can hear Em screaming her name from the other side, and then her voice is just...cut off..." He shrugged and scuffed the toe of his trainers against the stone floor, "I just go...cold, and Justin flies past me, at least I think its him, all I can see is blood, and they are on me and Harriet...and I try to fight them off...God, it seems like forever, they just keep coming...and I just can't fire another spell, can't even swing...and a were comes from the side...I should have seen it, but can't get there...and Harriet's...down. They all stop attacking, and just-laugh as I dive over to her, and...and she's just looking at me...her blood is all over my hands...and she's just staring at me, and she's not there, Dad...she's not fucking there," he whispered desperately and seemed to quiver on his feet.
"Sirius, I..."
"No...I'm looking down at her, I don't even know or care where my wand or sword are, and I hear all these Disapparitions, and then I look up and see you and Mum there...and one of you goes, 'All you had to do was to hold them for a couple more minutes'."
Harry scrubbed his hand through his hair, as Sirius looked back at him, a faint glimmer in the corner of his eyes, "You held them for more than long enough, Sirius...you did more than anyone could or should have expected from you. You lot stopped a force that would have ripped through half of my Aurors, Sirius, let alone most of the students there." Harry cocked his head slightly, "You do know that right?" Sirius nodded and gripped the back of the couch across from Harry. "Do you want to hear mine?" Harry asked softly, and Sirius looked up at him blearily.
"Is it much different from mine?" he asked with sudden insight.
"Only in the particulars," Harry replied, watching his son's face as he slowly regained lost color, "They usually feature Tom when he was still alive, and your mother in the place of your g...friends," Sirius did not even quiver at the faint slip, "but they are remarkably similar in the end."
"Then no," Sirius said, taking a breath and straightening, "Are you going to tell...Mum?"
"Do you want me not to?"
"No...go ahead, I guess." Sirius looked down at his watch, and looked towards the wall, "I really should get back to studying...Thanks, Dad." Harry just nodded as Sirius started towards the wall that hid the entrance to the room. "I'm not going to let anything hurt them if I can help it...you know that, don't you?"
"Yeah," Harry nodded, "I rather thought so...You can call me or your Mum anytime at all, Sirius."
"I know." He stepped through the invisible wall and Harry let out a deep breath and unclenched a fist that he had not noticed had closed. A pair of calming breaths and he vanished, leaving the room as he had found it.
A/N: Next chapter, Sirius brings back a bit of the past.