My Godfather

Chapter VI: Reunions and Reassurance

Sirius rushed into the living room and his gaze hardened. "Lupin. What are you doing here?" He he glared at the man, visage softening only slightly as he took in the tired and pale face of Remus Lupin.

"I-I came to apologise, Sirius. I'm sorry. I really am. I'm sorry for suspecting you, sorry for accusing you, sorry for not believing you, abandoning you and I'm just really sorry Sirius. Please you have to believe me." Pleaded Remus.

Sirius stared at Remus long and hard before the hard demeanour evaporated. It had been hard to send a letter, telling his friend to sod off but when Remus was right in front of him, apologising so sincerely, he found it impossible to remain angry at him. "I believe you." Those three words were enough to make Remus smile broadly, making him look nearly ten years younger.

Sirius strode forward and pulled his friend into a brotherly embrace which was almost immediately returned. "It's good to have you back, Padfoot." Said Remus, the grin never leaving his face. That night, on Sirius's insistence, Remus crashed in one of the bedrooms in Black Manor.

The next morning Harry awoke to the sound of voices coming from the living room downstairs. He quickly got dressed and went down, curious to find out who else was there with Sirius.

"Good morning, Harry." He heard his godfather's cheerful voice as he took his usual seat at the table. It was then that he saw Sirius coming  out of the kitchen with another man in tow. He had seen this man in many of the pictures that Sirius had shown him. He looked tired but his amber eyes were sparkling. His robes and shoes looked worn as well. "Ah hello there, Harry. I'm Remus Lupin. I was your father's good friend."

"Hello, sir." Said Harry, feeling shy all of a sudden. Sirius caught that look on his face and shook his head fondly. He came over and ruffled Harry's hair.

"Eat up." Becky placed a plate loaded with toast, beacon and scrambled eggs in front of him. Harry didn't need to be told twice and dug in instantly. As Remus spoke to him and got to know Harry, even the shy eleven year old started liking the friendly man. "So tell me, how do you like your new home, Harry?"

"It's brilliant. I absolutely love it here. Sirius is simply awesome." Harry gushed out, sincerely and Sirius couldn't help but smile so wide that his face ached.

After breakfast, and a bit more of talking, Remus went back to his own home, leaving Harry and Sirius alone. "Well, how did you like Remus?" Asked Sirius, sitting down next to Harry in the living room. "He's nice." replied Harry. "Now I suggest that you get started with that essay assigned to you." Said Sirius and Harry reluctantly went to fetch his quill and parchment.

Once Harry had settled down to work on his punishment, Sirius decided to pen a letter to Rufus Scrimgeour, regarding the invitation he had received on his visit to the ministry. He had been invited to rejoin the Auror department. Sirius decided to keep it as an option as of now. He had absolutely loved his job as an Auror and wanted to return so maybe he would do that once Harry was back at Hogwarts.

About two hours later, when Sirius was sitting in his favourite armchair, Harry came up to him with a rolled up parchment in his hand. "I'm sorry." He said for the millionth time as he handed his punishment to Sirius and started to go back to his room. The older wizard sighed. "Come here pup." He said, holding his arms out and Harry complied.

Once Harry was within arms reach, he pulled his godson into his arms, stroking the black head soothingly. The hug was eagerly returned and neither said anything for a while. Once he had pulled back, he looked right into Harry's eyes. "Listen to me carefully. What you did yesterday was wrong. You could have been seriously injured and not to mention, you scared the devil out of me. But, at the same time, you apologised and were punished as well. Now, all of that is over and we move on. Alright? You have got to stop thinking over it. Everything has been forgiven. And always remember that I am always there for you. If you ever want to talk about something, a hug or anything for that matter, you come right to me. Ok?"

Throughout Sirius's reassuring speech, Harry hadn't said a word. But now, as he looked at Sirius with a bashful expression, a smile spreading across his face and Sirius knew that everything was going to be just fine.

"Now, how about some lunch? I suppose an essay does make you hungry." Said Sirius, ruffling Harry's hair. The two of them ate lunch and in no time at all, Harry was back to his normal cheery self.

After lunch, as Harry was idly lying on his bed, hanging off the edge when Sirius came into his room. As Sirius closed the door behind him, he furrowed his brows at Harry in an amused way. The boy was still draped over the edge of his bed as if he were looking for a lost sock underneath the bed. His t-shirt had climbed halfway up his back as he hung awkwardly.

Smiling mischievously, he reached forward and poked Harry's bare skin with his index fingers. Harry immediately burst out laughing and wrapped his arms around his sides protectively. "Get up pup. You can go to sleep at ten. If you feel you're getting less sleep, nine o' clock is alright with me." At the last sentence, Harry bolted up. Sirius laughed at the effect that one sentence had on his godson.

"Come on." Said Sirius, taking Harry's hands in his own ones and pulling him off the bed. "I need to go to Hogwarts today and you are coming with me." He said. "I don't want to come!"  Harry whined, not at all liking the prospect of going back to school just when the summer had begun, even if it was for only a short while. "Why can't I stay home? Pleeease Sirius!"

Sirius looked down sternly at Harry. "Remind me why am I not comfortable with the idea of you staying at home alone young man?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at his godson. "I don't kn-" He paused abruptly when he realised what Sirius was implying. He blushed profusely. "But Sirius, I've learned my lesson. I won't try something like that again so can I please stay home? Pretty please?" The pleading emerald eyes looked absolutely adorable and Sirius didn't want to refuse the request but as firmly as he could, he shook his head.

In all honesty, Sirius trusted his godson but at the same time, he knew that Harry was his father's son and was bound to do something he wasn't supposed to do. "No. I don't think that's possible Harry and besides, it's not going to be that bad. You can go visit Hagrid or you can come with me to Dumbledore's office."

Harry's shoulders slumped at this but he didn't say anything. Sirius felt a little bad for his godson and placed his hand between Harry's shoulder blades. "Come now, I promise you will not get bored. We'll be back in an hour alright and if you're good, I'll take you to honeydukes and you can pick up some chocolate frogs, a few licorice wands or something. How does that sound?" 

"Can we leave right now Sirius? You can talk to Dumbledore, I'll come along with you and after that we can go to honeydukes." The excitement in his voice was prominent, his despondency long forgotten. Sirius laughed at Harry's change in mood and grabbed him round the middle and ruffled his hair. "Um, why are we going to Hogwarts?" He asked curiously, but at the same time he didn't want to pry.

Harry was having mixed emotions all the time.

Although the major part of his brain was starting to enjoy the feeling of having a family, a tiny  portion of his brain kept telling him that it was all too good to be true.

"I don't know. I got a letter from Dumbledore today morning and he said that he wanted me to come over. That's all."

In ten minutes, godfather and godson were ready, standing right next to the floo. "Here. You go first." Said Sirius, handing Harry the clay pot that contained the floo powder. "Well I uh..." Harry trailed off, reddening slightly. "What's wrong, kiddo?" Sirius bent down to look Harry in the eye.

"I've never used floo powder before." Said Harry, all in one breath. "Ah I see. No worries, we can floo together." Said Sirius. He placed a hand on Harry's back and led him into the fireplace and with that the two of them were gone in a whoosh of flames.