6. GIVEN A CHANCE
Remus hadn't slept well; he never did when the full moon was drawing closer or had just passed. With dreams filled with blood and hunger and pain and the irresistible pull of the moon it was no wonder he didn't sleep well. Consequently he was ultimately grateful that he was awake early enough to have the shower all to himself without having to listen to Sirius' fussing over his hair or his shampoo or his boxer-shorts and James wanking about Lily, constantly forgetting to put up Silencing Charms and Peter trying to finish his homework and asking everyone if they knew the answers to certain questions. No, it was definitely better to enjoy a little privacy.
He tiredly rubbed the sleep from his eyes and after gathering his clothes, wandered over to the bathroom door. A small letter was attached to it, his name written on it in an unfamiliar hand and the scent of the little elf radiating from it. He cautiously peered over his shoulder at the new bed, noting that the hangings were already drawn back and that it was empty. It seemed like he hadn't been the first to rise after all. His wand in one hand, he carefully plucked the envelope from the door, mildly surprised when it didn't explode on him and opened it. A small piece of parchment with the same timid handwriting on it fell into his hand:
Dear Remus,
I'm sorry for how I acted yesterday and I wish I could change it; but I can't. Please, Remus, I never meant to hurt you and I don't think you are evil or anything just because you are a werewolf. But you scare me and I can't think rationally when you are around. I'm truly sorry that this is the case but I don't know what to do about it either.
You didn't want to be a werewolf. Do you think I wanted to be an elf? I had to leave my friends, I'm dependent on a nice dominant to take care of me because I can't do so myself. A friend of my parents, the only connection I have to them and who is like an uncle to me, can't come near me because he's a werewolf and I would freak out just like I did with you yesterday. He wrote me a letter, I panicked and set it on fire because it smelled like him.
Do you really think I want that? I'm so scared and no-one seems to be able to tell me what I should expect or what I can do about it. I understand that you must be angry at me, but could you maybe give me a chance? You are not dependent on them, you can survive the day without them, but I can't. I can't survive with them being angry and disgusted at me and I know they are. They will always be your friends, but I need them too.
I'm very sorry, Remus, please believe me.
Harry
He hadn't seen it like this. To be honest, he had happily stored that memory in the dustiest corner of his mind, content in the knowledge that Sirius and James wouldn't deign the little imp as much as a polite glance. Remus sighed, entering the bathroom and quickly stepping under the shower. He felt bad because he had never even considered that Harry's behaviour might not have been because of prejudices but simply a reaction of a submissive elf to a dominant werewolf. Of course it wasn't his fault that he scared Harry but neither was it Harry's fault that he was scared.
He sighed, resolving to talk with James and Sirius about it, maybe they could work something out. His acute werewolf senses told him that the other Gryffindors were gradually waking up so he finished showering and slipped into his school robes.
"How can you be awake at such an unearthly hour?" James stared blearily at him as the werewolf exited the bathroom and started to pack his things for the day.
"It's just the common need to have some breakfast." Remus rolled his eyes. "You should also get up if you want to have more than ten minutes to eat."
James groaned in displeasure but rolled out of his bed, swaying over to the bathroom where Sirius was already standing under the shower, singing his usual "We all live in a yellow submarine".
"Hey Remus, did you do Charms?" Peter asked doe-eyed and Remus sighed.
"Why don't you do your homework after school, Peter? You know I would help you."
"Will you help me now?" Peter pleaded, gnawing his bottom lip.
"If you mean with helping will I let you copy my homework then the answer is 'no'." Remus looked sternly at him. "You can have my notes if you want."
"Fine," the smaller boy grumbled and took the notes from Remus, copying them down on his paper, barely adding a conjunction once in a while.
The werewolf shook his head in exasperation and turned back to his own scrolls of parchment carefully putting them into his bag.
"Are you ready to go? We'll have to hurry or we'll miss breakfast," James said, still ruffling his hair with a towel.
"That's what I've been telling you." Remus scowled. "Peter, are you coming?"
"No, I need to finish this. Bring me a sandwich or something, okay?" Peter muttered and so Remus, Sirius and James went down to the common room.
"We need to talk." Remus stopped them just outside the door.
"Oh, Remus, please don't break up with us." Sirius went down on his knees, raising his hands in a pleading gesture, "I promise the Hufflepuff didn't mean anything to me."
"Sirius, stop it," the tawny-haired boy grumbled. "It's about Harry."
"What about him? Did he do something else?" James spat. "Seems like we have to teach him a lesson..."
"No, would you be reasonable for once?" Remus dragged his hands through his hair. "He wrote me a letter to apologise and it explained a lot of things."
"At least he apologised." Sirius sneered.
"I said it explained a lot," Remus repeated. "It was not his fault and yes, I believe him. Why did Dumbledore want you take care of him? Because he needs you. What do you know about submissive elves, James?"
James shrugged. "They are... I don't know, submissive?"
Even Sirius snorted at this answer.
"So, you don't know anything about elves and even less about Harry. But I know at least that elves are light creatures, and I am dark. James, even you glared at me and acted less than friendly when you came into your inheritance. Now just imagine how it was for Harry. He was frightened and you forcing him to sit back down didn't help matters."
Sirius looked mildly embarrassed at Remus' stern glare. "And what should we do now? I don't want to have him around if that means that I can't be friends with you anymore."
"Did you ever blame me when I hurt you during the full moon?" Remus asked them and they at once shook their heads. "I think Harry deserves the same leniency. Just give him a chance and maybe once he trusts you more, he will be able to get over his fear."
"Fine, we'll be nice to him. Can we go to breakfast now?" Sirius' stomach gave a low grumble as he sent Remus his best puppy-dog eyes.
The two black-haired boys didn't wait for a reply and hastily skipped down the last few steps. Remus followed more sedately.
A flash of wide green eyes caught Sirius' attention, reminding him strangely of his dream and then a small figure slipped out of the portrait whole. He fastened his pace, James hot on his heels.
"Wait!" he shouted and the small boy stopped immediately; allowing him to catch up. "Harry, look up."
Pale hands were clenched in the black robes and as long eyelashes fluttered up the emerald green eyes focused to somewhere over his right shoulder as crystal tears began to cascade down his cheeks. "I'm sorry."
Sirius was shocked at the pain in that small voice and gently took a hold of Harry's chin, turning his head towards him. "We should be sorry, Harry. Forgive me?"
"Why?" Harry whispered, finally locking his beautiful eyes on Sirius'.
"I know now that we shouldn't have treated you like this," Sirius tried to explain himself. "Remus explained it to us. We aren't very rational when it comes to our friends."
"Or I wouldn't be friends with Sirius," James intervened, rummaging through his robes to find a handkerchief for Harry. "I'm sorry, too, by the way."
"I couldn't help it." Harry sniffed. "I really tried but it didn't work. I didn't mean to make you angry."
"Shh, it's fine now. Let's start anew, alright?" Sirius proposed, sticking out his hand. "I'm Sirius Black and if you don't mind I would like to take care of you."
"I'm Harry." The green-eyed elf smiled shyly. "And I think I would like that."
"Perfect." Sirius laughed, brushing away Harry's tears with his thumbs, glad when the smaller boy trustingly leaned into his touch.
Remus carefully approached the group of three and Harry tensed immediately, whimpering quietly. This time, instead of ordering Harry to calm down, Sirius wrapped his arms tightly around the slim waist. "Will you try for me to allow Remus here? I promise I will protect you, okay?"
Harry nodded very reluctantly, staring warily at the werewolf and pressing back into Sirius' chest; trying to compel him to take a step back, to let him flee.
"Hey," Remus greeted self-consciously, noting that Harry seemed to be close to the breaking point. "I won't hurt you, I promise."
At Sirius' beck, James moved between them so that Harry could also hide behind his father's back, which indeed seemed to calm the small elf down a little.
"Hey," Harry finally whispered, peering around the other elf and Remus smiled in relief as Harry's strained face relaxed a little. "Thank you."
"It's not a problem," Remus assured him. "I know what it's like when you have no control over yourself. Are you hungry?"
Harry tensed again, unbidden images of Remus chewing on one of his legs flitted in front of his eyes.
"I think Remus was referring to some nice rolls or maybe scrambled eggs and bacon," Sirius soothed him as if reading his mind, a smirk playing about his lips. "Shall we go?"
"Okay," Harry whispered, blushing lightly, which in Sirius' opinion made him look all the more endearing.
"Then let's hurry." James' stomach protested at the continued lack of food. After a bit of to and fro, he and Remus went ahead because Harry didn't feel safe as soon as there were no arms around him and no body between him and a werewolf.
"You really are afraid of Remus, aren't you?" Sirius asked gently as they followed the other two in a safe distance.
"I... I don't know if I'm afraid of Remus or of werewolves in general," Harry answered softly. "When he's near me all my senses scream at me that he's dangerous and dark and no amount of reasoning can change that. I'm afraid of everyone but I never thought it could be so all-consuming."
"Are you afraid of me, too?" the grey-eyed boy questioned, not sure if he wanted to know the answer.
"I was yesterday when you were so angry. I wanted so badly to please you and I wanted you to like me." Harry murmured softly.
"I'm sorry, Harry." Sirius sighed. "I can't say it often enough but I promise you don't have to be afraid of me. I will never hurt you, not even when I'm angry."
"But you could," the little elf whispered. "I'm totally at your mercy. I'm totally at everyone's mercy."
"Anyone who could hurt someone as beautifully innocent as you should be thrown from the Astronomy Tower after having to endure a dinner with my mother," Sirius growled.
Harry grinned. "As impressive as that threat might be I doubt that that will keep me safe."
"Ah yes, but then there's always the alternative that I will keep you safe." Sirius chuckled. "And I will. Gryffindor honour and all."
"That's a full time job, you know?" Harry laughed, "My friends at home had their hands full. Trouble seems to like me..."
"That would explain why I also like you so much," Sirius purred causing Harry's blush to return full force. "If my parents weren't so... Victorianthey would have named me Trouble."
"Sirius?" Harry asked suddenly.
"Yes, Harry?"
"You are a veela, aren't you?"
"Yes." Sirius seemed a bit confused. "And?"
"Why aren't you blond?" Harry blurted out. "I thought all veelas were blond. All the veelas I met so far are blond. Lucius and Narcissa and..."
Sirius laughed at him. "So you think I'm no veela because I'm not blond?"
Harry pouted. "I was just wondering..."
"I'm a shadow veela, Harry," Sirius smirked. "That's why my hair is black and why my skin is tanned. Come on, I'll show you."
He dragged a very wary looking Harry to a shadowed corner and wrapped his arms around his waist. To Harry's great relief, it looked for a moment as if nothing would happen. But then the shadows began to rise and swirl like dark grey vapour, enveloping them until they were completely hidden, the shadows closing around them like a dome, though for some reason Harry still had a clear view on the corridor. He looked back at Sirius, who had a look of concentration on his face. As he noticed Harry's gaze, he grinned and released the shadows.
"It comes in handy once in a while," the veela declared. "I can also see better than most in the dark and instead of throwing fire I can throw balls of ice at people."
"Oh, okay," Harry muttered, "Thanks for showing me."
"Not a problem, Harry." Sirius smiled and Harry thought that he very much liked those smiles that made him feel all warm inside and safe on the outside. He scowled.
"Why am I not afraid of you?" he asked almost accusingly. "Shouldn't you be a dark creature?"
Sirius grinned. "You forget that I'm still a veela; a creature of love and passion. How could I possibly be dark?" He spread his arms and swirled around once.
"But..." Harry faltered; he didn't want to offend the veela.
"What were you going to say, Harry?" Sirius prompted. "I promise not to get angry."
"I just thought that shadows aren't exactly light," Harry mumbled causing the taller boy to laugh once more.
"Yes but neither are they dark, are they?" Sirius asked back. "I guess I'm not exactly light, but I'm not exactly dark either. I'm in between darkness and light."
"Oh, okay, I guess that makes sense," Harry agreed with an unsure smile.
Sirius smiled back. "Now, if you don't have any more questions, we should really go before they think that I kidnapped you to have my wicked way with you."
"Sirius?" Harry stopped uncertainly as they entered the Great Hall and the older boy raised an eyebrow expectantly. "Can I say hi to Lucius and Narcissa?"
Sirius growled, displeased, and Harry shied away, hunching his shoulders. Now he had done it again and upset the dominant.
"Okay Harry," Sirius said with a sigh. "I'll come with you and you can say hello and then we'll have a quick breakfast."
"Thank you," Harry whispered and quickly walked over to the Slytherin table before Sirius could change his mind.
"Harry, are you okay?" Lucius asked and stood up from his chair as they approached, glaring briefly at Sirius before he turned back to the smaller boy. "I was starting to worry."
"I'm fine," Harry smiled up at him. "I just wanted to wish you good morning."
"Good." Lucius relaxed slightly. "Good morning to you too. Do you want to eat here?" He was already motioning for the boy sitting next to him to vacate his chair.
"He will eat with us." Sirius growled and Harry found himself in a very possessive embrace. "He doesn't belong here."
"Yesterday you were of the opinion that you didn't need Harry, Black." Lucius sneered. "And you were all too eager to get rid of him."
"Well that changed and now I want him," Sirius retorted.
"I don't want this anymore," Harry whispered, clenching his hands into fists.
"What?" Sirius asked startled and Lucius also stared at the younger boy inquiringly.
"I don't want this anymore. I'm sick of this. I can make my own decisions and all you do is arguing about who will get me. I'm not a piece of meat! I don't want anymore. Let me go! Let me go!" Harry hammered against Sirius' chest, sobbing quietly.
"Harry... Come on, stop this," Sirius said at a loss for words, and the hammering stopped immediately. "Do you want to eat here?"
"No, I have no appetite," Harry whispered. "I don't want anymore."
"Lucius, let me handle this," Narcissa intervened, looking pleadingly at her mate. "You'll do more harm than good."
The blond nodded reluctantly and Sirius after a bit of hesitation allowed his arms to slip and hustled the small elf towards his cousin.
"We'll be in one of the unused classrooms," Narcissa stated firmly, though her voice trembled a little at the prospect of being away from her dom. "Come, Harry."
Harry mutely let her drag him out of the hall. He truly didn't care anymore that his fear seemed to tenfold with every step he took away from the two dominants. He was always afraid; it hardly made a difference anymore. He wanted his old life back, the life where he only had to worry about doing his homework on time and surviving Voldemort. He didn't want to be so dependent. Why couldn't he at least have been a veela? Narcissa seemed to handle all this much better. He didn't understand why he had to be submissive in any case. He had never submitted to anyone and living with a choleric uncle for over ten years and having Voldemort on his heels that did say a lot. It really felt like he had become nothing more than a commodity; one that patiently had to wait until someone came to buy it. He suddenly could relate much better to all the animals in the Magical Menagerie in Diagon Alley.
"Harry?" He looked up in surprise, finding himself seated on the floor, just inside a small, dusty classroom. "You can't fight it."
Harry snorted. "I can damn well try."
"If you don't accept it, you will destroy yourself."
"I'd rather destroy myself than let them do it for me," Harry growled, "I'm so sick of this, Narcissa."
"They're worried about you, Harry. I'm worried about you." Narcissa took his hands.
"And you know what? I'm not worried," Harry said bitterly. "I'm only afraid."
"That's because you don't trust them."
"Why should I trust them? They're all the same; they just want to order me around and have me obey them so that they can feel better. Even when they're in a good mood they still order me around and make decisions for me."
"They are not all the same," Narcissa protested. "You did enjoy Lucius' company yesterday."
"Lucius is yours. He's your mate and whatever I do I'd never be good enough for him," the black-haired boy argued.
"But you will find your mate, too."
"Wrong! If I'm lucky they will find me before someone else feels like having a bit of fun with me," Harry nearly shouted. "I can't feel anything. I don't have any dreams and it's not for me to find my mate."
"Oh, Harry." Narcissa sighed, pulling Harry into a hug. "I didn't know that but I'm still convinced that they will come for you. You know, Sirius likes you a lot."
"No he doesn't..."
"Yes he does Harry, he would never have come to the Slytherin table if he didn't and though his possessiveness didn't get across as something positive; that's how veelas demonstrate that they care about someone. Lucius does it all the time."
"Well, he'll also find his mate and then I'm alone again," Harry returned.
"If his mate were here at Hogwarts I'm sure he would know it by now, Harry. His birthday was almost a year ago and I know that he did look for his mate," Narcissa reasoned, not voicing her suspicions. "So you will have him at least for this year, and then we'll take it from there."
"He won't like me anymore, not after today."
"Do you know how often I broke down in the beginning?" The blonde girl laughed. "I shouted at Lucius to leave me alone at least once a week. Trust me, they love us too much to just let us go."
"But..."
"They might be the ones who order us around but we can make them forget what they wanted to say. Did no-one tell you? They feel the need to protect us and make us happy even if they aren't our mates. Of course, it's stronger if they are but it also works for normal dominants and submissives. All you have to do is to turn on your charm."
"I don't have any charm. I'm not a veela." Harry pouted.
"Of course you do Harry. You have that innocent-naive boy image going on that's screams: 'Protect me and I can make you the happiest man alive!'," Narcissa chastised him. "Like Lucius said you are beautiful - though you should really think about some new clothes."
Harry gave her a watery laugh, feeling inexplicably better. "Okay, but you have to help me pick out some clothes. I never really went shopping before."
"You don't say." Narcissa rolled her pretty blue eyes. "Now we are a bit more than fashionably late for our first class. We should really go."
"What is the first class?" Harry asked, standing up as well.
"Arthimancy," Narcissa answered, already out of the door.
"But I don't have Arthimancy," Harry protested which stopped the Slytherin witch quite effectively.
"Do you have Care of Magical Creatures?" she asked and Harry nodded. "All right, just go outside you should see them soon enough. Do you think you will find the class on your own?"
"Yes, don't worry and thank you," Harry appeased her.
"It's fine, Harry," Narcissa threw over her shoulder before she disappeared around a corner.
As soon as she was gone Harry realised that he felt even more alone and scared and all but ran outside, hoping that one of the dominants would have the class with him. It turned out he needn't have worried as all the Gryffindor boys seemed to have chosen that course.
"I'm sorry, Professor," Harry mumbled, shuffling his feet.
"It's alright, Mr. Parker." The wiry old man seemed delighted to have a second elf in his class. "I think Mr. Black already fetched a mixen."
Harry carefully approached the black-haired veela, who seemed to be preoccupied with avoiding the mixen's vicious bite.
"Hey, little one," Harry whispered holding out his hand. "Why are you so angry?"
The mixen, which looked like a little fox with a long bushy tail and black markings around its eyes, cocked its head and then quickly jumped into Harry's lap nudging his hand to make him pat it.
"That's unfair." Sirius pouted, nursing his hand that now bore marks of sharp teeth and claws over it. "I tried for the last twenty minutes to get it to stop biting at least and you just have to sit down and it acts like a good little puppy."
The mixen lazily bared its teeth at Sirius as he made to pat it as well but relaxed immediately as Harry's nimble fingers ran through its thick fur allowing Sirius to touch it.
"Maybe you should have asked," Harry murmured and they both knew that he wasn't referring to the mixen anymore.
"I should have, Harry." Sirius tipped Harry's chin with his fingers to make him look up. "And I'm sorry that I made you feel bad. I can't change that you are an elf but I will try to make it better for you, okay?"
"Thank you," Harry nodded lightly. "Do you want to hold it? It's really soft and warm."
"And it has sharp teeth," Sirius added. "I'm quite happy to watch you, thank you very much."
"What are we supposed to do?" Harry asked, rearranging his limbs so that he could lean against the older boy.
By the time he realised what he was done, Sirius had already put an arm around his shoulder and drawn him close.
"We were supposed to calm it down." Sirius smirked. "Thanks to you that task is completed. Even Jamie usually has more problems with such things. His mixen calmed down after about ten minutes."
Harry blushed at the compliment looking around at the other pairs, absently stroking the red fur beneath his fingers. Remus, Peter and James sat on the grass; playing with their mixen; something that looked like tug-of-war. The other students were more or less successfully trying to escape sharp teeth and at the same time to keep the mixens from escaping.
"Excellent, Mr. Parker." Professor Kettleburn beamed. "I see you have a good hand for magical creatures. Would you perhaps be so kind and help the other students to calm their mixens down; so that we might begin to note down their characteristics?"
Harry nodded. Though Sirius tried to protest, he soon found his lap full of a sleepy mixen instead of a delicious little elf which he would have much preferred. Harry walked around and with a few touches changed the furious little beasts into tame, friendly little fur balls.
As Harry returned to their place and mixen Sirius had chummed with the fox-like creature and was tickling its belly.
"What about the teeth?" Harry asked with amusement, snuggling back into the other boy's taller frame.
"It's not so bad," Sirius admitted sheepishly. "It's kind of cute."
"Glad you agree." Harry laughed, reaching for a piece of paper to start with the description.
Suddenly the patting transferred from the mixen to Harry's hair, long, callused fingers gliding through the silky black hair. "You are also cute, you know that?" Sirius whispered, making a shiver run down Harry's back as he leaned into the touch. "Much cuter than this little beast here."
"Sirius? What..."
The grey-eyed wizard snapped out of his trance at those words, looking guilty. "I'm sorry, Harry. We should really get this description done. Would you like to take the mixen for a while so I can write? Thank you, Harry."
Sirius frantically rummaged through his bag before wrapping his hand firmly around his quill and jotted some things down, barely looking at Harry or the object of his description. How could he lose control like this? First he hurt Harry and made him cry more than once and then he suddenly had the hots for the smaller Gryffindor? This was so wrong! He couldn't take advantage of Harry like this; he was there to protect him, not to try to get in his pants!
"Did I do something wrong?" Harry finally broke the silence. "I'm sorry."
"No, Harry, it's not like that," Sirius exclaimed, earning him a stern look from the Professor. "You did nothing wrong, okay? I just... You... I can't explain it, Harry, because I don't understand it myself. Let me sort it out myself first, please."
"Okay," Harry agreed at once and Sirius smiled in relief, trying to ignore how absolutely delicious Harry smelled.
This was so not good!
They spent the rest of the lesson in silence, Harry playing with the mixen while Sirius half-heartedly jutted down some keywords. He absentmindedly took Harry by the hand after they had brought their mixen back in the corral with the others and led him up to the castle. Harry whimpered quietly as Remus, Peter and James caught up with them, but relaxed slightly after Sirius' arm tightened around him and both Peter and James walked between him and Remus.
"I can't believe how easily you got them to behave," James mused. "I got ours to calm down after a while, but as soon as I left, it went berserk again. What's your trick?"
"I don't know; it just happened." Harry looked apologetically at him. "I was never very good in Care of Magical Creatures."
"I know what you mean." James laughed putting an arm around Harry's shoulders. "It was the same with me. When I went to the owlery for the first time, after I came into my inheritance, all the owls came down at once and fluttered around me. They were kind of disappointed when I didn't have any treats for them though."
"He came into the common room covered in feathers." Sirius chuckled, eyeing James' arm around Harry's shoulders suspiciously. "And McGonagall gave him a detention for getting the common room and the corridors dirty."
Harry laughed softly, glad that the atmosphere was so relaxed.
"What is our next class?" he asked nudging Sirius slightly; who once again seemed to be on a holiday in dream world.
"What? Oh, double potions with the Slytherins," Sirius murmured his face darkening at the prospect.
Harry groaned.
"Don't like potions much?" Sirius teased him.
"I hate potions," Harry declared with conviction.
"You should have dropped it like I and Remus did," Peter stated.
"If you dropped potions then why are you still here?" Harry asked in confusion. "Remus took another turn about two minutes ago."
"What? Ah, oh..." Peter blushed brightly, and the other Marauders laughed. "I'll better go then."
A tall, thin boy with shallow skin brushed past then. Snorting almost inaudibly as he threw a contemptuous glance at them and before Harry could make the connection to Professor Snape, Sirius had drawn his wand, pushing Harry behind his back.
"What is so funny, Snivellus? Care to share?" he spat with loathing dripping from every syllable.
James and Peter had also drawn their wands though Peter kept in the background, just watching the show unfold.
"I was merely wondering when the thing that's constantly trailing behind you would learn to read a simple timetable," Snape drawled with a menacing stare and tense shoulders. "I guess before it accomplished that there is hopes that it would pass a grade without your generous help."
"At least I have friends, Snivellus," Peter squeaked shaking with rage; a sharp contrast to the Slytherin's rigid form.
"And I so envy you for them." The tall boy sneered. "One has a too big head and the other only uses it to grow his hair on it. And of course, then there's the little monster that likes to tag along..."
"Don't speak about Remus like this!" Sirius and James shouted at the same time, levitating the other boy up in the air until he bounced against the ceiling before turning him upside down.
Snape's book bag slipped from his grasp and books, rolls of parchment and potions ingredients spilled over the floor, a broken inkwell ruining the pages.
Harry watched horrified as they turned him upside down so that his robes covered his face and his thin legs were revealed.
"Stop it, please Sirius, stop it," he whispered but Sirius didn't seem to hear him, even when he repeated his plea a little louder.
This was so unfair, three against one. Peter had started to hex the Slytherin randomly and some of those curses were quite vicious when used correctly.
"We should go," James stated in a bored tone, "or we'll be late for class."
"This is not over yet," Sirius spat pocketing his wand while James lowered the thin boy none too gently. "Where's Harry?"
"Maybe he went ahead." James shrugged. "Malfoy is in that class; he must have gone to him. Let's go."
Sirius followed reluctantly, looking over his shoulder more than once. When he was sure that they wouldn't come back, Harry slipped out from the alcove he had hidden in and carefully approached Snape.
"Are you okay?"
"What is it to you? I bet you enjoyed this." The black-eyed boy glared at him, picking up his things and trying to save his assignments.
"No, I didn't," Harry said quietly, using a spell to repair the inkwell and to pour the ink back into it. "I'm sorry I didn't stop them."
"I don't need your pity," Snape growled, snatching the inkwell from Harry's hands.
"I don't pity you. I just said that I feel bad because I didn't stop them because it would have been the right thing to do," Harry said evenly. "I don't know you. How should I know if you deserve my pity?"
"Then why didn't you stop them?" the future Potion's Master challenged. "Didn't want to get your hands dirty, did you?"
"I can't disobey them," the green-eyed elf returned. "I can't even displease them."
"Oh, you're the little elf, right," the taller boy stated, sounding as if he didn't care in the least, and then swiftly turned and walked towards the potion's classroom.
Harry followed silently.
"What is your problem? I have no interest in a puppy that follows me wherever I go," the Slytherin boy snapped, and Harry shied away.
"I have potions now, too," he answered softly. The other wizard huffed but continued on his way, picking up speed so that Harry almost had to run to keep up.
"Mr. Snape, you are late," a square-shouldered witch with something like diving goggles in front of her eyes admonished him as they entered.
"Professor, it was my fault," Harry said before Snape could get out a word. "I got lost and Snape was so nice to show me the way."
"Mr. Parker, am I correct?" The witch eyed him from head to toe. "I'm Professor Degenhardt, the Potion's Mistress. We are working on a project to combine two healing potions and a potion of your choosing. We will be working in pairs. Let's see; I think you can work with Mr. Snape, I'm sure he will catch you up in no time."
Snape sent him a glare as he sat down next to him; Harry gulped.
"So... which three potions are we combining?" Harry asked timidly, trying to get the other boy's attention.
"Two potions," Snape answered indifferently, adding powdered spider legs.
"But she said we should combine three potions," Harry argued.
"I'm not deaf," Snape growled, swivelling around to sneer quite impressively at him. "And this is my project, so keep your nose out of it."
"This is our project," Harry stressed, halting the taller boy's hand. "I don't expect you to like me; I could care less if you do, to be honest. But I won't let you do all the work. I'm not stupid so explain to me what you are doing so that I can help you."
"If you had even an inkling of an idea about potions you would let me drop this in the potion before it explodes," Snape sneered.
"And if you possessed a bit of decency; you would stop shouting at me." Harry glared at him, knocking against Snape's hand so that he dropped the dried leaves.
"Pain-relief and a Bone-mending Potion," Snape said shortly. "I haven't decided on the third potion yet."
"Why only two potions?" Harry asked chancing a look at the Slytherin, who was chopping some roots with practised ease.
"Because it's easier that way. I'll create a whole new potion after which I then only have to combine it with another one," the black-haired boy answered. "Stir counter-clockwise after I add the mandrake roots."
"Okay," Harry nodded obediently, stirring the potion while Snape started to powder another ingredient.
They worked in an almost companionable silence only breached when Snape gave Harry a new instruction every once in a while. Finally the future Potion's Master declared that the potion was finished and he quickly bottled it, leaving Harry to clean up their workplace.
"Why did you lie for Snivellus?" Sirius demanded as Harry stepped out of the classroom. "Where were you?"
"I didn't lie. He showed me the way," Harry said stubbornly.
"Then why didn't you stay with us?" the black-haired veela asked, looking confused and hurt.
"Because I don't enjoy witnessing you bully someone," the submissive said tiredly. "I didn't want to see it because it is wrong. You were ignoring me, that's why I didn't go with you."
"But he deserved it!" Sirius protested.
"Oh, yes?" Harry challenged. "I don't understand. You started it and you were three against one. Sirius, I don't want you to be angry at me again, but if I had a choice I would rather side with Snape in this."
"Why, Harry?" Sirius tried very hard to keep his temper in check.
"Because I know how it is if you are completely out-powered." Harry sighed. "I've been bullied all my life and it doesn't feel good. I just don't want anyone to have to endure something like that."
"Who bullied you?" Sirius growled protectively; briefly forgetting about Snape and the matter at hand.
"The kids in my Muggle school." Harry shrugged. "There was one of the big kids who didn't like me so he made sure that no-one would be stupid enough to be nice to me. One of my teachers at my old school, he apparently knew my parents and hated my dad so he took it out on me. The veela who was supposed to take care of me, he never liked me and that didn't change just because I had to obey him."
"I'm sorry, Harry." Sirius sighed pulling the smaller boy to his chest. "I certainly don't want to remind you of any of them. Lily and Remus; they don't approve of it either, you know? I'll try to grow up but I can't promise you anything."
"How touching." Snape had finally exited the classroom after talking with the professor about an assignment for extra-credit. "Parker, we need to meet sometime to decide on a potion. I don't suppose you can fit it in your tight schedule?"
"I can come down to the dungeons after dinner," Harry offered neutrally, pleading with his eyes for Sirius to keep out of this. "Unless you want to go to the library?"
"The common room is fine." Snape strode away without another word.
"Thank you, Sirius," Harry whispered gratefully, snuggling into the older boy's chest. "This really means a lot to me."
"I should hope so," Sirius muttered, absently drawing circles on Harry's back. "You know we don't always start it. He hexes us every chance he gets."
"Then prove that you are the more mature one of you two and that you outgrew this childish grudge," Harry pleaded.
"Mature isn't a word that people would generally apply to me." Sirius grinned impishly. "Besides, it might just make my parents proud if I grew out of my childishness."
"You don't like your parents very much, do you?" Harry asked cautiously as Sirius steered them towards the Great Hall.
"No, not really." Sirius sobered up. "They were really disappointed when I was sorted into Gryffindor. My whole family went to Slytherin and they're so damn proud of it. I just don't fit their image of what the family heir should be like. They tried everything to set me right again - I was resorted three times; every time ending up in Gryffindor. Somewhere along the way I stopped trying to please them because I realised that I would never be who they wanted me to be. Instead I played pranks and skipped classes and associated with Muggleborns. My family is one of those that think that only Purebloods should be allowed magic and that it would be best to kill all the Muggles prophylactically so that there wouldn't be anymore Muggleborns to infest our world. I even took Muggle Studies just to get a rise out of them. I moved in with James after fifth year. He's like a brother for me and his parents treat me like I was their second son. I think it's only a matter of time until my parents disown me."
"I'm sorry." Harry shyly pressed his lips to Sirius' cheek before blushing bright red. "I think you are perfect how you are now!"
"Why, thank you." The taller boy laughed, ruffling Harry's hair. "I'm also quite glad that I didn't become who my parents wanted me to be, otherwise I would be married or at least betrothed to Melanie Bullstrode by now..." He shuddered demonstratively and Harry laughed as he imagined the handsome young man married to the square-faced, pudgy girl.
"But," Harry said and scowled as a thought hit him, "you are a veela!"
"I thought we had covered this already?" Sirius chuckled.
"You have a mate; you can't marry someone else," Harry protested.
"Oh, I assure you my parents would have found a way. Besides, it's not like I would be required to produce more than one heir with her. After that, I would be free to indulge in my private pleasure - of course, all with due discretion."
"I'll never understand Purebloods," Harry muttered, making Sirius laugh once more.
"Trust me, it isn't worthwhile trying to understand them. It's dreadfully boring." He smiled that warm and safe smile again. "Now, what do you say to enormous amounts of foods to make up for the missed breakfast?"
"Sounds great," the green-eyed boy agreed, glad as Sirius once again put an arm around him when they came near Remus and he even felt brave enough to smile a little at the werewolf.