Midnight & Destiny | Harry Potter FanFiction

Capitulum Sedecim

Opening his eyes, Harry had to blink a few times for his eyes to adjust to the sunlight filling his room. He felt extremely warm and reflexively pushed back his overabundance of bed covers only to be hit with a blast of cold air coming from his opened door. Curious to where the cold air was coming from, Harry slid out of bed, grabbing his glasses off his bedside table in the process. With everything coming into focus, Harry walked towards the partially opened door. Black Manor was large but it was rarely as quiet as it was right now. Sirius hated the quiet. That was why there had been modified silencing charms around Harry's room during the summer. Harry couldn't hear what was happening outside his room but people could hear him.

Entering the hallway, Harry shivered as the cold air strengthened, seeming to swirl around him. He walked the familiar path down the hallway, turning the corner then continued walking to the staircase, trying to stop himself from shaking. Something wasn't right. Sirius and Remus never allowed the temperature to fall this low since the cold tended to remind Sirius of his cell in Azkaban. Each occupant of the Black Manor had their own horrors of the past that affected who they were today. Sirius avoided silence and cold because of Azkaban. Remus avoided people around the full moon because of an incident while he had been a student at Hogwarts. Harry avoided loud, angry voices that reminded him of his uncle.

As Harry reached the staircase, he could hear distant voices that were too muffled to make out. He held on to the railing tightly as he descended the stairs. He was still shivering and didn't trust himself to walk down the stairs quietly without some form of support at the moment. Knowing his luck he would end up tripping and alerting everyone in the house that he was out of bed. He didn't know if an Order meeting was in process, Sirius and Remus had company, or if something was being discussed that he didn't know about. At the moment, Harry's goal was to make it to the living room and sit down in front of the fire. He could see as he reached the bottom of the stairs that it was currently empty which meant whoever was here must be talking in the kitchen.

Reaching the sofa chair in front of the burning fire seemed to take forever but Harry was grateful he made the effort. The warmth of the fire was exactly what he needed. Staring into the fire, Harry could make out Sirius' voice but he still couldn't understand what his godfather was saying. There was a brief silence then another voice spoke that clearly belonged to Remus but again Harry couldn't figure out what was being said. Well, at least I know they're here.

The sound of the door opening caused Harry to quickly look up and see Sirius and Remus enter the room. Both of them stopped abruptly when they noticed Harry. "What are you doing out of bed?" Sirius instantly asked as he approached. He felt Harry's forehead then looked over his shoulder at Remus. "Still a little warm but well enough for his appointment."

"Appointment?" Harry asked in confusion. "What appointment?"

No one answered him. "I'll let her know," Remus said to Sirius then walked back into the kitchen.

Sirius looked back down at Harry and took a step back as he enfolded his arms across his chest. "We have tried to be patient, Harry," he said firmly. "We thought that you just needed time but we were wrong. We now see that you'll never change. We can't continue to put our lives on hold, hoping against hope that you'll change. We gave you everything, Harry, but I guess it just wasn't enough for you."

Harry shrank back in his chair, completely confused. Where was this coming from? "What are you talking about?" Harry asked nervously. "What did I do?"

Sirius narrowed his gaze at Harry. "What haven't you done?" he spat. "If your parents could see you now they would disown you. You're a disgrace to the Potter, Black and Lupin families. You're a murderer, a liar, and a freak. I never should have taken you from your uncle. That has been the biggest mistake of my life which is saying a lot."