Shattered Souls • Hedric

Chapter Twenty-five

Sirius was sitting at the table at Grimmauld Place staring off into nothing. It had been a week since he and Remus had returned from confronting Harry. The pain from his godson's rejection still hurt every bit now as it did a week ago. For the past week he had replayed every moment from Harry being accused of murder, Harry's trial, finding out his innocence, rescuing him from that hell, finding out about the beatings, rapes, his baby daughter, confronting him in Fork's and his rejection, on a constant loop. Sleep had been near impossible for him and when he did manage to sleep, he was plagued with nightmares.

"Still moping I see," said a pink haired Tonks, taking a seat across for her cousin.

"I lost everything," said Sirius brokenly.

"You only lost what you deserved to lose. You should be happy that Cedric and Harry are together and now a family with Leora. Harry deserves to get his happily ever after," said Tonks.

"I am happy that Harry will not have to suffer the pain of living without his soul mate. I just wish........" Sirius sighed, wishing wasn't going to get him his pup back. "Did you hear that Snape adopted him?"

"Yeah, you might have mentioned it once or twice....or fifteen times," chuckled Tonks. She did feel bad for her cousin, but he brought this on himself.

"That should be me," Sirius said sadly. "I was supposed to raise Harry as my son if anything ever happened to James and Lily. I was his godfather, it should have been me that adopted Harry. It should be me that he is calling dad, not Snape."

"That may be, but you severed the bond and lost all rights to him. Sirius, why did you believe the worst of Harry so easily? I would have thought that after that happened to you and Azkaban, that you would have questioned his guilt."

Sirius sat quietly staring at the old wooden table, unblinking. "I-I really don't know why," he said flatly. "I think my biggest mistake was believing in Dumbledore. I never questioned the old man. Dumbledore was.....well Dumbledore, all knowing, wise and never wrong. If Dumbledore said that Harry was guilty, then he must have been guilty."

Tonks gave a thoughtful hum. "I never took you for a sheep, blindly following one mans lead. I guess it was a good thing then that Harry wasn't a sheep when you were trying to prove your innocence. You would be dead right now if if wasn't for Harry. Hell, half the wizarding world would be dead right now if it wasn't for that boy. First he vanquished Voldemort when only a small baby and as a thanks, we ship him off to his abusive relatives. Then he killed Voldemort during his resurrection and once again as a thanks, he gets tossed into Azkaban. Honestly, can you blame him for walking away and never looking back?"

"What do I do now? How can I just forget about my pup?" cried Sirius.

"You do nothing. You go about your life as you did when Harry was locked up. You leave him alone and let him come to terms with everything that happened. Sirius, Harry has a big heart and he dearly loves you. Give him the time he needs to heal, you never know, he may reach out to you one day." Tonks stood up and gave her cousin a big hug. "Just give it time.

Sirius watched as his cousin walked out the door. It was going to be hard, but he was going to take her advise. He would prove to Harry that he could trust him again. He would give his pup the time that he needed to heal. Sirius was just getting up to head to his room, when his floo went off. With a groan, he sat back down as his old headmaster stepped out of the fireplace.

"Sirius, I'm so glad that you returned. I was concerned when you and Remus just up and disappeared. I take it you went looking for Harry. Did you find him my dear boy?"

"Not that it is any of your business, but yes, I found Harry. You will be happy to know that because of my faith in you, I have lost my pup. Harry has now been adopted by Snape and Bill Weasley," snapped Sirius.