The Master of Death

Chapter16: Fears and Revelations

Throughout the next few days, Harry noticed that Sirius was in a bad mood. Harry didn't know if it was because he wouldn't live with Sirius now that he was allowed to go back to Hogwarts, or because Remus was once again absent to work for the order.

"Hey Sirius," Harry addressed him when the holidays were almost over. He met him in the hallway, after he, Ron and Hermione had finally finished scrubbing a mouldy wardrobe clean.

Thankfully nobody noticed Harry using his magic to keep the smell away from him and to clean some of the harder stains. "On the way to lock yourself up with Buckbeak huh?" Harry asked, "Never leaving your room anymore, are you?" Sirius shrugged grumpily and mumbled something. "Wanna get out of here for a while?"

Sirius's eyes lit up a little bit. "Yeah. What did you have in mind?"

"Dunno," Harry shrugged, "We could visit Remus."

"Remus is on order business," Sirius said, "He is undercover with the werewolves. It would take days to locate them apart from the fact that visiting him would threaten his mission."

"I don't get why Dumbledore is still sending him there," Harry said. He somehow doubted that finding Remus would be a problem.

"I know. He hates it," Sirius said, "...to be there, with the other werewolves."

"Well he isn't too fond of his own wolf either."

"His wolf?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah," Harry replied, "Mostly he ignores him."

"His wolf - you mean his werewolf form?"

"Mhm. I can sense him. The wolf grows stronger with the approaching full moon. It's a bit like a split personality. Generally, they are the same person, like two sides of the same coin. I think it would be better for Remus if he gave in to his wolf sometimes."

"Going around and biting people or pissing against a tree to mark one's territory?" Sirius asked. "Don't laugh, I've seen him doing it. He also wags his tail if he is happy."

Harry smirked alongside Sirius. "No. But if he would listen to him more, he wouldn't put up with so much bullshit. He would've long quit going on missions, that he deems pointless anyways." Sirius hummed in agreement.

"Harry, the letters from Hogwarts are here!" Ron shouted from downstairs. Sirius sighed.

"You should go. We can go out some other time," he said. Harry was already turning away but stopped to face him once more.

"Sirius, I know it's not my business but are you and Remus a couple?" Harry asked curiously. Sirius seemed surprised but then sighed once more, as he leaned against the wall.

"It's- It's complicated. We were a thing once, you know? Now..."Sirius laughed a dry laugh, "We haven't really talked about it since I escaped," his godfather said and pushed his long hair out of his face.

"If it bothers you do something about it," Harry suggested. "He likes you and you like him."

"I don't know," Sirius said. "Sometimes it's more complicated than that. He thought I was a traitor for over ten years and I can't blame him."

"Sirius, the guy shaved his beard because you said it looked stupid!" Harry insisted. "You will regret it if you do nothing," Harry said and with a last glance at Sirius, he left.

In the evening, Harry found himself sitting in the kitchen underneath a banner that read, "Congratulations to the new prefects, Ron and Hermione". Mrs Weasley was ecstatic and her good mood seemed to be contagious as everyone was for once forgetting about the reason that had all led them here. The whole fuss about it was slightly annoying, at least in Harry's opinion. In any case, Sirius had found some peace after Remus arrived in the late afternoon and Harry soon picked a seat near them, as they didn't shoot him pitying looks. Even Kingsley questioned Dumbledore's decision to not choose Harry as a prefect. The latter, perfectly content not having to deal with that load of unnecessary workload.