His love for Potions II

Chapter 4: Molly means well

Harry felt something brush against his knees and started, but it was only Crookshanks, Hermione's bandy-legged ginger cat, who wound himself once around Harry's legs, purring, then jumped on to Sirius's lap and curled up. Sirius scratched him absent-mindedly behind the ears as he turned, still grim-faced, to Harry.

"Had a good summer so far?"

Harry dredged up another smile for his godfather.

"Well, I was bored."

Sirius barked bitter laughter.

"Been boring around here, too."

"How come?"

"Because the Ministry of Magic's still after me, and Voldemort will know all about me being an Animagus by now, Wormtail will have told him, so my big disguise is useless. There's not much I can do for the Order of the Phoenix ... or so Dumbledore feels."

There was something about the slightly flattened tone of voice in which Sirius uttered Dumbledore's name that told Harry that Sirius, too, was not very happy with the headmaster either. Harry felt a sudden upsurge of affection for his godfather.

At this point in the conversation, Kitten swept through the room and Molly Weasley swatted at her with a broom.

"Upstairs, Kitten!" she ordered fiercely. "Upstairs!"

"She likes people," Sirius informed her tiredly. "I told you."

"Kitten," Harry said. "I saw a delicious-looking dust bunny on the third floor landing. You can have some outdoor mud later."

Kitten purred away out the door again, and Sirius laughed.

"Only funny thing to happen around here all month," Sirius told him. "Come to a turn, when I'm spending my time watching a ball of soap."

"Kitten's a very complex magical artifact," Harry said piously. "You should say thank you." He paused. "And I bet you like how she drives Professor Snape crazy."

Sirius looked beautific.

"He can't even be in the same room with her. He gets this twitch."

#

Dinner was going very well until Molly Weasley started arguing with Sirius.

"He's not a child!" said Sirius impatiently.

"He's not an adult either!" said Mrs. Weasley, the colour rising in her cheeks. "He's not James, Sirius!"

"I'm perfectly clear who he is, thanks, Molly," said Sirius coldly.

"I'm not sure you are!" said Mrs. Weasley. "Sometimes, the way you talk about him, it's as though you think you've got your best friend back!"

"I'm not asking about Voldemort," Harry said abruptly, "Because I'm going to find out whether or not you lot tell me. I've done that every time before this, and I'll do it this time too. Why're Sirius and Professor Snape the only ones who notice that?"

Mrs. Weasley was wonderful, but that didn't mean she got to question Sirius' sanity in front of Harry. Harry had a number of jobs in his life, and taking care of Sirius was undoubtedly one of them. He met Remus' eyes across the table, and Remus looked away.

"You see?" asked Mrs. Weasley, still talking to Sirius. "You keep encouraging him to act rashly-"

Harry was very tempted to start breaking plates, but he let the argument play out anyway.

#

"He's not your son," said Sirius quietly.

"He's as good as," said Mrs. Weasley fiercely. "Who else has he got?"

"He's got me!"

"Yes,'"said Mrs. Weasley, her lip curling, "The thing is, it's been rather difficult for you to look after him while you've been locked up in Azkaban, hasn't it?"

Sirius started to rise from his chair.

"Molly, you're not the only person at this table who cares about Harry," said Lupin sharply. "Sirius, sit down."

#

"Right," Harry said to Ron, after Fred and George had left. "Nice room, but there's been a bit of a misunderstanding. I'll see you in the morning."

"You're not sleeping here?"

"I've got my own room, don't I?" Harry asked. "G'night."

And Harry slipped out of the room he'd been ushered into by Molly, covered in his invisibility cloak, and then Harry knocked on Sirius' door.

Sirius barked at him softly, so Harry let himself in. He sat down next to Sirius on his bed, and ruffled his furry ears.

"Life's a little easier as a dog, isn't it."

Sirius nosed at Harry's leg, and Harry gripped his ruff affectionately.

"I'm not her son," Harry said quietly.

Sirius went still.

"It's nothing to do with her, really. She's lovely. So's Mr. Weasley. But she has screaming rows with her sons. She never has screaming rows with me." Harry tried to put it into words, the oppressive aura of the house not helping. He closed his eyes for a moment, visualizing the perfect feeling of a snitch in front of him, darting through the air. It helped, a little. "You were the only one who asked me how my summer's gone, today. She just thinks she knew. Everyone thinks they know who I am."

Sirius's ears were drooping. Harry decided that the better part of valor was stopping talking before he set Sirius to biting Mrs. Weasley, and curled up to sleep with Sirius as a pillow.