Wolfbite (A Harry Potter Fanfiction)

Chapter 9: Taking One For the Team

Chapter 9: Taking One For the Team

Saw Rosier picking on that Ravenclaw girl Pandora again. Froze his feet to the floor and none of the teachers could thaw him out. I eventually let him go after Remy stared at me disapprovingly all through dinner. Git.

**

Leo returned to his dorm room later that evening just before everyone returned for dinner. He was muddier and wetter than he had ever been – which was a feat in and of itself given all the Quidditch practices he'd been through – but also very happy and more relaxed than he had been since Zabini's attack on Draco. He decided he'd shower and change first before he snuck down to the kitchens for some food. When he exited the showers, he was surprised to find Harry sitting on his bed with a photo album in his hands.

Leo opened his mouth to say something but Harry cut him off.

"Did you know?"

"Probably," Leo shrugged before frowning. "What're we talking about?"

"Did you know," Harry began again, rising to his feet, "that Sirius Black was friends with my parents? That he betrayed them to Voldemort? That he was my godfather?"

Leo raised his eyebrows. This conversation wouldn't end well no matter what he said.

"In order: yes, no, and I never bothered to ask," Leo replied, leaning against the wall.

"Why didn't you tell me that Sirius Black knew my parents?!" Harry yelled.

Leo flicked out his wand, pointing it at the doors to the dorm room and mumbling "Colloportus," locking it before casting a Silencing Charm for good measure.

"I didn't think I had to," Leo responded, striding over to sit on his own bed. "You knew he was my dad's twin. You knew my dad and yours went to school together. You knew they hung out. Not that big a leap to assume he knew Sirius Black as well." He paused. "Where did you hear all this anyway?"

"Three Broomsticks," Harry replied, the anger draining out of him as he sat back down on his bed. "The teachers sat next to us – I hid under the table – and they talked with Fudge about Black." He glanced up at Leo nervously. "They said he might be after you too. Not to kill you or anything but -"

"To turn me onto his side?" Leo finished shrewdly as Harry nodded in assent. "Figures. Bet old Fudgems came up with that, didn't he?"

"Yeah... he also said you visited Black in Azkaban."

"Yeah, summer after our first year," Leo laid back in his bed. "I'd heard a lot about him, and I was curious. Dumbledore set it up as part of an agreement. I don't take you from Privet Drive before our birthday and I get to see Sirius. Simple as that."

Harry was quiet for a moment, staring at the album in his hands. Leo's gaze was focused upward to the canopy of his four-poster. He tilted his head to the side, suddenly wishing he knew the charm that would enchant it to look like the night sky. It would be a relaxing change from the blank canvas that stared back at him. The two were quiet for some time before Harry was the first to break the silence.

"What was he like?" Harry mumbled. "What was he like when you met him in Azkaban?"

"He was... nice - bit cheerful and excited to have a visitor," Leo smiled to himself. "I had my first panic attack halfway through our visit and he talked me down – gave me some breathing exercises and everything."

"So, what, you're saying he's not the mass-murdering lunatic everyone says he is?" Harry questioned angrily.

"I'm saying that there are two sides to every story, and you've only ever heard one, Harry," Leo answered simply.