𝗨𝗡𝗘𝗫𝗣𝗘𝗖𝗧𝗘𝗗 ━ Golden Trio Era

━chapter 14

Chapter 14
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Warning: graphic description of injury caused by child abuse and of burn marks

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FOR THE RECORD, HARRY DID NOT WANT TO WRITE TO SIRIUS. He was trying to stay away from the man. Create a distance, in fact. He thought, perhaps, that if he stayed clear, maybe Adhara and Sirius would sort out their differences, and the girl would finally be able to go home.

So yes, Harry didn't want to write to Sirius. He wasn't going to. But Hermione convinced him to do it, so he did.

It was a short letter. Very brief. But Harry had managed to explain what he needed to, thus he thought that would be that. Sirius would be happy that his godson was keeping him up to date and would leave it at that.

He was wrong.

"Mr. Potter, if you could follow me, please. You too, Miss Black."

McGonagall came to personally excuse both of them from Potions one afternoon. Harry was so busy mentally recalling Snape's seething face as he left the man's lesson early for the second time that week that he hadn't registered Sirius standing right in front of him.

Harry only broke away from his thoughts when his godfather grabbed him by the elbows, looking nearly frantic.

"Harry, are you okay?"

Harry blinked. "I — I'm fine."

Sirius raised a brow, and Harry couldn't resist anymore. Despite his valiant efforts to keep away from the man, it didn't change the fact that Sirius was one of the few adults that made him feel safe. And that was what Harry needed right now: safety and just someone by his side.

Any other reassuring words caught of up in his throat, and out came spilling everything he had bottled up the last few days.

He told him about the goblet, the glares, and the badges. He told him about the dragons and even about Ron. Harry almost blurted out his worries about Adhara until he remembered that the girl was in the room with them. She was standing further away, doing a very bad job at pretending to not hear them.

Sirius listened, watching Harry with worry written in his eyes. He pulled him in his arms, soothingly rubbing the boy's back. Sirius answered every one of Harry's worries with the right amount of assurance, pulling back right at the end to give both his god kids some warnings.

Apparently, Karkaroff was a Death Eater, and so he had a motive. And Moody was attacked before he started the school year, which meant someone didn't want him at Hogwarts this year.

Though, Sirius saved his most important warning for last.

"Bertha Jorkins," said Sirius, sounding grave.

Harry frowned. He heard Adhara take a step closer.

"I saw her at that murder trial, and, needless to say, she was acting quite differently."

"How so?"

Sirius shook his head. "Listen, Death Eaters have been more active recently. I mean, you saw what happened at the World Cup? And I did some digging after the trial. Bertha was in Albania earlier this summer, which is where Voldemort was last seen."

A chill ran down Harry's spine. "W — what are the odds that she just happened to bump into Voldemort of all people?"

Sirius blocked his tongue. "Bertha and I were at Hogwarts at the same time. She was a few years above your dad and me. And she was an idiot. Very nosy, and no brains, but that day, at the trial? She was nothing like how I remembered. Bright and cunning, it was almost like..." Sirius looked lost in his thoughts for a second, gazing elsewhere, "...almost like she was looking at everyone else like we were prey."