A Change of Heart

Chapter Twenty Five

Harry sat next to Sirius in the rather uncomfortable couch in the room. In spite of all his misgivings on Sirius being here, he still had to acknowledge it was a relief to know Sirius was here, right next to him. Not that he meant to come running to Sirius for any reason, but just the knowledge that he would be there if Harry needed him was enough.

"I can think of a million things wrong with this arrangement." He said now, trying to distract Sirius. Sirius had discovered the words on the back of Harry's hand.

"Those quills are illegal," Sirius said grimly as his fingers traced the lines etched on to the back of Harry's hand. "And while I've had better living arrangements, it certainly beats staying in my parents' house with only Kreacher for company. Though there isn't much to choose between Snape and Kreacher when it comes to company."

Harry managed a chuckle while pulling his hand from Sirius' grasp. "Is he being nasty to you?"

Sirius shrugged. "No. He's just ignoring my existence which actually suits me. Of course, I am being very polite and civil for your sake, but I guess such things are beyond Snape."

"I wish he would ignore my existence," muttered Harry. "That would make my life a lot simpler."

"Perhaps you should tell Tom about the way Snape treats you," teased Sirius with a sly smile.

Harry mock-punched him and Sirius laughed. It struck Harry that he hadn't heard Sirius laugh in a long time. Being away from Grimmauld Place was obviously agreeing with him. But Harry was still worried about the risks involved. The ministry still believed that Sirius was a dark wizard and a murderer. And Umbridge lived right here in the school. He remembered Barty Crouch in the guise of Moody searching Snape's office in his fourth year. What if Fudge passed some law that allowed Umbridge to search other teachers' offices? What if some Slytherin spotted Sirius and reported to Umbridge?

But as he looked at the relaxed and smiling face of his Godfather, he could not bring himself to ask him to return to Grimmauld Place.

"This is too risky, your being here," he muttered at last.

"That makes it all the more fun," replied Sirius cheerfully. "Perhaps I can join you in your next Hogsmeade weekend as Snuffles?"

"No!" Exclaimed Harry. "Malfoy recognized you at the platform the other day! And Umbridge is right here! Malfoy wouldn't need to go far to turn you in!"

Sirius' face changed a bit. "I see," said he, his voice flat. "You are less like your father than I thought. The risk is what would've made it fun for James."

"I just don't want you going back to Azkaban," said Harry.

Just then Snape came in.

"It might look suspicious if you leave my office looking happy after detention," he remarked. He looked offended at the very idea of a happy student. "I believe we have sufficient time remaining for you to do your detention." Snape looked at Black. "If you can just go back to your quarters, Black."

Harry could feel from Snape's rigid stance that he was expecting Sirius to argue this point. But to his surprise, Sirius rose with alacrity.

"Certainly," he said coldly as he walked out of the room.

"Come with me," said Snape as he led Harry into another room. "You will be chopping potion ingredients for me. All these must be cut finely and uniformly. If they are not, we can do this again tomorrow."

Harry muttered darkly as he went to work. But, thought he, as he started on the huge pile of valerian roots, he was one with Ron in preferring to dice potion ingredients for Snape to doing lines with Umbridge.