Severus fought the tears trying to fall from his eyes as he looked at his lost friend in front of him.
He knew...
If he did this, he sealed their fate...
"I'm sorry." He choked out to her. "It's got to be now."
He gripped the wand in his hand tigh...
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March 1995
Sirius hadn't been able to stay long after the second task, apparently he'd never told Uncle Moony he was even coming.
"What do you mean Remus doesn't know!?" Meae had raged.
Sirius had stood nervously in front of the enraged woman with a towel over his shoulders. "Well... I had only gotten the letter yesterday and... well Moony has been maybe out of town for a bit for work see? And I- well I didn't want to miss out on ALL of Harry's tasks, and look it was fine no one got hurt!!" He defended.
Harry shook his head frantically at his godfather to keep him from digging his own grave.
It was to no avail.
Meae was pissed. She yelled about recklessness, and encouraging stupidity, and how maybe he should have more concern over Harry's wellbeing...
"He is MY godson, you think I don't care?! You think it's easy having to sit back and just LET all this happen?! At least you get to be here! Not all of us get that luxury, it's not easy hearing about these tasks and then just waiting around for the next Daily Profit to tell me he's ok!!" Sirius had yelled back.
Meae took a small step back and relaxed her posture, there was silence between them.
"Feel better?" She asked calmly.
Sirius had slumped his tense stance at her question and mumbled a quiet "yes".
"Good." She responded "I'm still telling Remus about this, Siri."
Sirius chuckled lightly "he'll never let me be alone again."
Meae smirked at him "he shouldn't, you're a magnet for danger." She teased.
He and Sirius did have time to plan another Hogsmede visit though, Harry didn't think anything could kill his mood...
Until he grit his teeth through another potions lesson with Snape and Malfoy.
There was a part of Harry that desperately wanted to tell Meae all about how Snape treated him in class, show her his true colors.
There was another part of himself that wondered if it would even matter to her. If Harry and the family she claimed they were, were more important to her than him.
The final part of himself decided the latter, no matter how minuscule the risk, was too painful to know.
"Hi, Harry!" He heard called from behind him.
Harry panicked momentarily as he saw Meae approaching them, he hoped beyond all else Snape never mentioned his suspicion of Harry stealing from his office.
"Oh I'm so glad I caught you in time." She beamed as she held out a rather large package towards him.
Harry stared at the box for only a moment before realization dawned upon him. "Oh is this for Uncle Moony?" He asked her.
"Yeah, Siri mentioned you'd be meeting in Hogsmede today and I hoped you'd take this so he could give it to him day of instead of waiting for the Owl." She shrugged.
"I was going to pick up some chocolate in town today... what did you end up getting him?" Harry asked hoping for inspiration.
She shrugged effortlessly "nothing too grand, I'm sure. A new robe to replace the one he just tore through, some music, chocolate, quills, a few books. Mostly small things, Remus is pretty uncomplicated to shop for." She told him "anyways I wish I could join you, but I have a few papers to finish grading so I better be off. Send the boys my love and that I expect an Owl soon." She waved before briskly walking back into the castle.
"What was that about?" Ron asked when they started on their way away from the castle.
"Oh she asked me to give this to Sirius for her." Harry shrugged lifting the box slightly so he could see.
"Is it something for their work?" Hermione asked.
Harry narrowed his eyes in confusion at his friends before finally understanding why they were so confused.
"Oh no, Uncle Moony's birthday is coming up, it's a gift for him." Harry explained.
"I didn't know his birthday was soon, should we be getting him something as well?" Hermione asked
"No!" Harry interrupted quickly "He didn't want to make a big fuss about it, and he'd hate it if you spent your money on him."
"Then what are you doing?" Ron asked
Harry pulled the small sack of coins from his pockets "well Meae and Sirius gave me some extra money in my allowance to get him something, ill probably just buy him some chocolate." Harry shrugged before putting the sack away again.
"Allowance? What about all that money your parents left you?" Ron asked.
"They want me to save it for when I'm out of school, said they could easily afford everything I needed until then." He explained.
"That's really smart of them." Hermione said.
Harry smiled gently "Yeah it's kinda nice, makes us feel like a family ya know? However, unconventional it is."
"Unconventional or not, they're still yours. Cant change them even if you wanted to." Ron told him.
"I don't think I'd change them for the world." Harry said.
