Padfoot and his Pup

23. | The Incident™️ - Part I

Harry Potter was a remarkably brave lad.

At the mere age of fifteen months, he had vanquished the Dark Lord. Then at the very end of his first year—because although Lord Voldemort was a diabolical maniac, he held Harry's education in surprisingly high regard— he had faced the evil wizard once more and lived to tell the tale.

But despite these displays of bravery, he was still woefully naive. No one could fault him for that though, since after everything he'd been through, he was still a child after all.

The revelation and true meaning behind the Incident™️ will dawn on him when he's nearly sixteen. And when that does happen, he'll spend the remainder of the week wishing he could go back in time and knock some sense into his twelve year old self, or even better: carve his brains out just to banish that particular memory forever. But unfortunately for him, such is not the case.

If there's one thing he can confirm is that his twelve year old self  was an utter idiot.

Currently he was only twelve and therefore blissfully ignorant to the corrupt labyrinth of hidden meanings and double entendres. If only he knew that one small, tiny conversation would come back to haunt him over the years.

It's probably not as dramatic as it sounds but Harry gets the final say on things since he'd actually lived through the Incident™️.

It all started out when Harry decided to go to Sirius's office one afternoon for lunch. A seemingly innocent afternoon that would in a few years leave him wishing he'd just stayed home instead.

Summer was nearly over and the new term began in less than a fortnight. Sirius and Harry had returned from their holiday in Corsica, a trip that could've only been described as unreal.

Sirius had reapplied for the Auror exam and had aced both, the theory and practical parts. He had therefore not only been reinstated, but also promoted to Senior Auror.

Cutting to the present, Harry stepped out of the floo at the Ministry, their lunch neatly packed and stored in a backpack which contained all of Harry's favourites.

Sirius would definitely remark on how he'd successfully swayed their house elf Becky to his side in less than two months.

It wasn't uncommon for Harry to show up for lunch. It was either here or at Black Manor when his friends came over.

The initial plan was that Ron and the twins would drop by that day for lunch and quidditch but that had gone sideways when he'd received a letter from his best friend about the twins' latest invention that had gone awry.

Apparently Fred and George had been experimenting with one of their products and Ron was the unfortunate test subject. Things hadn't turned out as planned and poor Ron had developed rashes all over his person. In conclusion, the twins were grounded for the foreseeable future and Ron was to rest until his mum said otherwise.

He'd snickered before feeling bad for his best mate.

The Auror department was one of the busiest ones in the ministry, even when they weren't in the middle of a war or certain doom.

Men and women went about their jobs, barking orders, writing up reports.. whatever it was that they did. Harry wasn't sure how everything worked. It was mostly empty that afternoon since nearly everyone had gone for lunch.

"Harry? Here for lunch I suppose?"

Hestia Jones strode over with a kind smile. "Auror Black is in a meeting right now with Madam Bones. He'll be done any minute now so feel free to take a seat... anywhere."