home is where the heart is (and you hold mine)

they say the greatest thing to a man is family

TW: mentions of dead babies; child maltreatment; stillbirth

Chapter 15

they say the greatest thing to a man is family (but what do you do if you've never had one?)

"Are you absolutely sure about this, pup?."

Harry sighed as he put another rune stitched robe into his trunk. Sirius had been fretting since he floo'ed over and, while the concern was touching, it was also getting very tiresome. There wasn't much that he could do in this situation with Riddle and Harry had been offered one of the safer, and less exhausting, options, so he was going to take it and make use of it.

Sirius had all but demanded that Harry tell him everything that happened, listening intently as Harry began packing. Remus helped him as he spoke, filling in the details about the Slytherin Manor because Sirius was intent on making sure that Harry was just fine. Which was touching in a way, but the hovering was getting a bit annoying.

Hermione had left, dragging Ron with her, when he'd told her that he was going to be staying at the Slytherin Manor, or at least sleeping there because he was still going to visit the Black Manor and he had things he needed to do. She had shouted something about making something for communication, leaving Harry bemused as to what she had been making.

I'm not sure I trust this, Harry..."

Sirius hovered in the doorway as Harry packed, tempted to use magic, but ultimately allowing himself to do it the muggle way so that he could process his thoughts. Riddle agreeing wasn't something that Harry had allowed himself to entertain for very long but now that Riddle had agreed, it left Harry a little bit lost.

"You don't have to trust it, Sirius," Harry replied softly. "I just need you to trust me ."

Remus made a noise of agreement at that, giving Harry an approving look, from where he was in the closet and pinning pieces of parchment to Harry's robes. It was the runic sequence so that Harry could stitch it onto his clothes, something he happened to be very good at if he hadn't wanted Dudley's clothes to fall apart when he was little. Sirius didn't say anything more and a quick glance showed that he was pouting a little bit, but ultimately heeding Harry's words.

"He swore a fucking oath, Sirius—he signed the contract with blood and it's either this or fulfilling Death's wish of stripping him of his body and stuffing his magic into a crystal and drawing on it as needed," Harry snapped. "And naturally, I chose the less exerting option."

Sirius stared at him wide–eyed for a moment, and Harry then realized what he'd said. He ran a hand over his face with a sigh but didn't apologize—he was being completely honest and forthright with his godfather and he wasn't going to have anybody deciding this for him.

"You..." Sirius swallowed. "You can do that."

Harry nodded, hiding his slightly shaking hands by folding his trousers. "Yeah... I can. Antia explained it to me because I kept bugging him about it. I hadn't thought I could actually take somebody's magic but if I disintegrate the body, apparently I can."

That made Sirius sway lightly, looking a bit ashen, and Harry nibbled on his bottom lip. "I wouldn't actually do it if there was another option," he assured his godfather a bit shakily.

Remus cleared his throat and handed Harry a stack of folded robes. "That's very enlightening, cub," he said softly. "I am curious about this though—your magic has been very busy with the babes so how would you go about that without straining your magic overly much?"