Dysfunctional

24 - Great Godfathers And Goodbyes

Sunday, August 25

Harry was at home, alone again as Sirius had left for another Order meeting. Harry was using the time to get his nonverbal spells right, as he had made himself a promise that he would get the hang of it, at least before he left for Hogwarts.

His grandfather's duelling room was very useful as it had all sorts of books and practice dummies that repaired itself after a spell had hit it.

Harry had been practising for the better part of an hour and was almost confident he could do the basic defence spells non-verbally. They were a little weaker than his regular spells, but it was a good improvement to last time.

The nonverbal spells he had been practicing had effectively pushed the metal transfiguration lessons to the backburner. Thinking of brushing up on it again, he decided to read his now-favourite book, Elemental Transfiguration and Ways to Implement in Duelling.

Sirius had borrowed it from him earlier, so he went up to Sirius' room to get it. He pushed open the door to Sirius' bedroom and searched around for the book on the bedside table.

However, something else caught his eye.

It was a framed moving photograph; Harry picked it up to look at it closer. It was Sirius, obviously when he was younger and more handsome, sitting beside Harry's father. Sirius was unmistakeably holding a baby in his arms and gazing at it fondly. Harry realized that the laughing baby was himself when his father smiled and clapped a hand on Sirius' shoulder as he too looked at the baby. Harry snorted when he saw that his baby self was wearing a sleepsuit with the words: I HAVE THE WORLD'S GREATEST GODFATHER. No doubt Sirius must have gotten it for him.

Harry felt his eyes growing misty and quickly brushed away the wetness in his eyes. The happy grins on his father and godfather reflecting the happier times of the past made Harry yearn for his dead parents. He wished he could go and visit them at Godric's Hollow; now that he knew that's where he had lived before, he had such a great longing to look at the place that would have been his home, if not for that dreadful Halloween night.

He placed the picture back where it was. To think that Sirius had this picture on his bedside table made him really glad that his parents had chosen Sirius as his godfather.

That afternoon, Sirius came home with the news that he had notified Arthur Weasley and so he would look into the matter of Draco Malfoy soon. Harry was relieved that it seemed taken care of.

Harry waited until after lunch to break the other pressing matter to Sirius that had been on his mind for the whole day. He was very uncertain how to go about it, but decided to broach the subject sooner rather than later.

"Um... Sirius?"

"Hmm?"

"I - I was wondering if I could visit Godric's Hollow."

The silence would have been deafening, if not for the thumping Beatles' song playing in the background. Sirius had gone pale and Harry was momentarily angry with himself for not having thought about how it would affect Sirius. He had probably never visited their graves too, seeing as he had been in Azkaban all this while.

Sirius swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing nervously. "Uh... you mean today?"

"No!" exclaimed Harry. He wasn't ready for that yet and clearly, Sirius wasn't too. "I mean, not today, but... some day soon... maybe during the holidays."