Close Or Far From The Law

Chapter 26 : 25. Tempering the moon and the stars

Harry was unable to feel calm and kept playing with his bracelet while the sounds of the night made him strain his ears like he probably never had before. He tried to understand his bad feeling, his eyes on Buck who was scratching the ground to find he didn't know what. Next to him, her head on his left shoulder, Hermione had her eyes closed but Harry knew she wasn't sleeping. Moreover, the brunette moved a little to better cover herself with her cape. Although late spring was here, under the forest canopy, the chill was biting and Harry renewed his warming spell on both of them. He received a somewhat muffled 'thank you' and returned to the hippogriff who had raised his head.

Harry looked in the same direction as the beast without seeing anything in particular at first glance. Then he thought he saw the leaves moving and began to grip his wand tighter, shaking his best friend. She immediately put herself on guard and Harry was able to get up and feel a strong sense of relief running through him when a man smiled at him while pushing away a group of branches.

-Sirius.

Harry ran to his godfather who hugged him. Harry was genuinely surprised that he was the first on the scene before Voldemort but he wasn't going to complain. He broke free from his guardian's bear hug and turned to Hermione.

-Sirius, this is Hermione, my best friend. Hermione, Sirius, my godfather.

-It's about time we had some real introductions, Mr. Black.

Hermione held out her hand and Sirius shook it with his bark-like laugh.

-It's an understatement to say it, young lady since we've already crossed paths. Circumstances have never been on our side.

Harry thought it was a good omen that they were getting along somewhat. Sirius bowed to Buck, who looked at him haughtily for quite a long time before greeting him in turn. Sirius came and petted him happily, explaining that he loved magical creatures and that the hippogriff was truly superb. Buck acted a little more and Harry had to hold back a laugh, so as not to offend the animal. Especially since it was true, he was handsome.

Sirius then grabbed Buckbeak's chain and explained to them that he would fly away with him when he was closer to the gates of Hogwarts, so they were going to walk a little in the forest together. Harry didn't mind, Sirius was qualified to defend them, he knew how to do it himself and Hermione was much more resourceful than many other wizards their age. Besides, they weren't going to go deeper into the woods, just stay under his cover.

As they moved cautiously forward, Sirius told them stories about the Forbidden Forest and how he had loved wandering there as a teenager, looking for thrills. Hermione noted that for their part, he had enough of it with future exams. Sirius looked at her as if she were speaking Mandarin, Harry held back a laugh. They bickered for part of the journey, the oldest arguing that it wasn't the grades that mattered, while Hermione asserted that without good grades you couldn't overcome the crowd and get the best jobs. The brunette was ambitious and she even talked about one day being secretary of magic or head of a ministry department. Sirius turned to Harry, somewhere between amusement and surprise.

-And you, what do you want to be, Harry?

-Me ? Um... If I really have a choice...

-Of course you really have a choice.

Harry would like to be as categorical on this subject but with what was going on behind the scenes with Voldemort... He didn't necessarily think that the man would refuse him every job in the world but he had a hard time seeing the dark wizard accepting a Quidditch player star. He seemed to expect so much from Harry and Harry… Harry wanted to make him proud. He grimaced inside, accompanied by a feeling of sadness that the dark mage hadn't come to help him, just in case. For once he was calling for help. He felt abandoned. And it was a feeling Harry hated.