The Contract

Chapter 39

"Sirius? You've been making wonderful progress, do not let whatever is on your mind prevent you from recovering. Talk it out, it's the only way, a problem shared is a problem halved." Sirius' therapist Miriam Rowle said in her usual calm and soothing voice.

"My parents died while I was in prison," Sirius murmured, a faraway look on his face, "I had no idea," they hadn't been the best of parents...but they had been his parents nonetheless. To learn that after writing a letter to them had been painful. One of his lessons of therapy was to atone for his mistakes, his parents had been his first thought surprisingly. How did he get forgiveness if they were no longer here? The knowledge that he was the only male Black left had slightly left him reeling. His cousins were alive, that was all he knew.

"Yes, Walburga and Orion their passing was mourned by many," Rowle said with a sympathetic smile. "They were buried in Godric's Hollow, perhaps one day you might like to visit them on a day pass? Talk to them there." It was the best Sirius Black was ever going to get she was afraid to say.

"Maybe," Sirius sighed, his entire body just sagging in defeat, looking drained, despite the fact he'd just entered the office and they hadn't discussed anything difficult today.

"Do you want to really discuss what's on your mind?" Rowle asked, surprising Sirius immensely, who glanced up at the witch in disbelief. "Yes, I'm aware that it was a distraction from what's really on your mind." she had been a therapist for years, she knew he wouldn't just blurt out what was really wrong with him. She also knew from the Healers and Medi-wizards and witches that he had been exceedingly down these past days. She also knew she might not get the real reason he's so down today, it might take weeks to coax it out of him.

"Harry visited at the weekend," Sirius admitted, his entire face lighting up, as if someone had given him a Pepper-up draught. "He looks like a mixture of Dorea, Charles and James."

"How did that go?" she asked, watching him closely, judging by his reaction things had gone well.

"I ran away like a coward," Sirius grimaced a bit, "But he tells me that it's okay, that he understood." He wasn't sure how Harry could be so understanding, he reckoned he would have been pissed off if it happened to him.

"Why? What happened?" Miriam asked, perhaps they would get to the root of the problem today.

"It wasn't his fault, it was...something he mentioned," Sirius answered blankly, eyes tearing up yet again. He didn't understand why he kept crying, for Merlin's sake, he was angry he wanted to be angry not frustrated to the point of tears.

"Oh?" Miriam made a small noise, hoping that he would continue. If he wanted to get better, he needed to talk, to let it all out, to learn how to deal with things again instead of just keeping it all locked up inside until he did something foolish.

Sirius licked his dry lips, "He mentioned that Dumbledore became the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot...which must have happened after I was imprisoned." From what he knew...Dumbledore definitely didn't have the seats to be the chief warlock before then, he wondered who had given their seats to Dumbledore for him to accomplish the feat of becoming Chief Warlock. To become CW of the Wizengamot you must have a lot of seats, and it was voted after the fact unless the seats were more than immense allowing them to actually be situated in as Chief Warlock without contestation. He might not like politics but he knew them well, his father had taught him everything he needed to know. Or rather everything he didn't want to or need to know.

"Why would that upset you?" Miriam questioned him, she already had a good idea why, but he had to say it, had to give voice to his thoughts.

Sirius remained silent, eyes closed, just sitting in the comfortable and warm room.