The following morning, Harry packed up some of his possessions into his favorite space-expanded knapsack since he had no intention of hauling his trunk out for just a week's trip. He also packed the Vanishing Boxes in hopes that he could work on them during the late evenings. All he needed to do at the moment was continue the rune carving, and that was tedious manual work that didn't require use of magic, so he knew he could do it outside of school.
The knowledge that he likely wouldn't be able to use his wand for the next week was definitely irritating, and just made him that much more anxious for the aging potion to be done so he could finally be rid of his Trace. Snape was expecting it to be complete by the following Wednesday, so at least, it was soon... just not soon enough for this holiday.
Harry met up with Sirius at the main gates of Hogwarts and the two began to make their way down the path towards Hogsmeade. Sirius asked him if he'd eaten yet, and Harry told him he'd skipped breakfast that morning so the two decided to go to the Three Broomsticks before going to Sirius' flat.
They settled into a booth along one wall and were waited on by a rather large-chested woman named 'Rosmerta'. Sirius flirted with the woman shamelessly and got her giggling every time she came by.
They chatted lightly about nothing in particular while they finished their breakfast. The two headed out, Sirius bidding Rosmerta farewell, and then they began to walk down the road towards Sirius' flat. Sirius pointed out various shops on High Street as they passed them, telling Harry how much fun it would be once he reached third year and he was able to leave the school every few weeks for the Hogsmeade weekends.
They turned down Boyd Acres Rd and walked about two blocks before they reached a quaint little house and headed up an old wooden set of stairs going up along the right-hand side of the house to a small landing on the second floor.
Sirius ushered Harry inside after unlocking the door and they spend about a minute taking the 'grand tour' of the small flat. It had two bedrooms, a bathroom, and then the large open space in the mainroom that consisted of the living area and an open kitchen with a large fireplace that Sirius said was connected to the Floo network.
Harry was glad that there was a second bedroom because he really didn't fancy setting up a cot somewhere for a week. Harry dropped his bag off in 'his room' and gave it a quick look-around before heading back out to the mainroom.
Harry came out to find Sirius sitting in an overstuffed arm chair, bent forward a bit with his elbows rested on his knees and looking up at Harry with a hesitant smile. Harry sat down on the couch that was perched slightly diagonal from the arm chair and ran his hand through his hair feeling slightly off balance by not really have a plan for this situation.
"So, uh..." Harry said and frowned at himself before sighing slightly at the suddenly thick silence in the room.
Sirius shifted a bit, and it seemed like the weird atmosphere was stretching far too long before he finally spoke.
"I thought up an idea for your Marauder name."
Harry looked up and smirked slightly. "Oh yeah? What is it?"
"Leatherwings."
Harry nodded his head slowly, mulling it over in his mind before shrugging. "It fits. I'm good with that."
Sirius grinned widely.
"So... what now?" Harry asked.
"Well, we've got an appointment with my real estate witch at three o'clock, so we've got some time to kill until then. Would you want to get out of the house, or stay in till we need to leave?"
Harry pondered his options for a moment before grinning. "Do you own a broom yet?"
"A broom? No, I haven't gotten one yet. You want to go get brooms?" Sirius asked, his eyes lighting up.
Harry nodded excitedly. "Yeah, well, we can get you one. I've already got a broom. How about we go to Diagon Alley and visit Quality Qudditch Supplies and pick you up one and then go flying?"
"Sounds like a plan! The selection of brooms at the shop here in Hogsmeade is pretty pathetic, so Diagon Alley seems like a good option. But... how do you have a broom? First years aren't supposed to have their own brooms?" Sirius said while giving harry a reproving look that was made entirely unbelievable by the impressed gleam in the man's eyes and the smirk slowly curling up his lips.
"One of my friends got it for me for Yule," Harry said non-nonchalantly as he stood up and checked his pocket for his shrunk-down money pouch.
"Wow, that must have been a good friend to get you a broom. Expensive gift, plus they're risking getting in trouble for smuggling one into the school. What broom did you get?"
"It's a Numbus 2000."
Sirius' eyes widened and his brows show into his forehead. "A really good friend... and one with deep pockets too. Not exactly a cheap broom." Sirius stood up and grabbed a light traveling cloak off a hook on the wall beside the fireplace before turning back to Harry again. "So which friend got you this awesome gift? Oh, and did you bring it with you, or is it still up at the school? I didn't see anything on you big enough to carry a broom."
"I did bring it with. It's got a special charm on it so it can be shrunk down."
"Didn't used to be able to do that to brooms. Back in my day everyone said brooms were too complicated to apply shrinking charms on them." Sirius snorted then, "listen to me... in my day. Bloody hell, I sound like an old man."
Harry laughed at him while Sirius chuckled at himself as the pair went to stand in front of the fireplace and Sirius grabbed a small tin of Floo powder off the mantle. "You didn't tell me which friend got you the broom." Sirius said again as he offered Harry the tin. "You do know how to use the Floo, right?"
"Oh yeah, I know now," Harry said as his mind worked quickly at whether or not he should admit that it was Draco. He wasn't sure if he was yet ready to discuss the Malfoy's... but if it came up, he at least had some ideas of what to say... "and it was my friend Draco," Harry finally said with ease. "I've mentioned him in my letters."
"Oh yeah, you have... He's in that study group of yours, right?" Sirius trailed off and Harry ignored the speculative look the man was giving him.
"Yup, that's right. Diagon Alley, or should I specify the Leaky Cauldron?" Harry asked over his shoulder, even though he knew it didn't make a difference.
"I'm fairly sure that saying 'Diagon Alley' redirects to the Leaky Cauldron automatically... at least, it did back in my day... there I go, saying that again."
Harry snickered as he tossed some Floo powder into the fire turning it bright green and stepping into the heat-less flames. "Diagon Alley," he called out clearly and was instantly overwhelmed by the powerful sensation of spinning very very fast. He saw quick flashes of countless grates as he passed them before being shot out of the Floo in the Leaky Cauldron and only just barely catching himself upright. He moved out of the way and a moment later, Sirius came through behind him.
Harry fought the habit to pull out his wand and spell away the soot from his robes since he wasn't 'supposed to' use magic while away from Hogwarts. Although, from what he'd learned about how the Trace worked, he knew that it wouldn't actually be able to identify that it was he using magic, and not one of the many many adult wizards in the area using it instead, so technically, in a highly populated magical place like Diagon Alley, a young wizard could get away with using magic and not setting off their Trace. Still, Sirius would see it, and he might call him on it.
Fortunately, Sirius pulled out his wand and quickly rid them each of the soot that had collected on them from the Floo trip.
Sirius motioned for Harry to follow him and the two quickly made their way out the rear door and entered the small courtyard where the 'blank brick wall' was. A few specific taps of Sirius' wand, and the bricks quickly shifted and re-ordered themselves into the shape of a large archway, revealing Diagon Alley behind it.
"So, Harry," Sirius began conversationally as they began to walk down the sparsely populated road, "this 'Draco' you've mentioned wouldn't happen to be Draco Malfoy, would he?"
Decided to stick with the conversational tone that Sirius had set, Harry answered. "Yes he is. Actually... oh! Have you met him?"
Sirius paused and looked down at Harry with a bit of confusion on his face. "Met him? Why would I?"
"Well, he's your cousin's son, right? I just thought you might have visited your cousin Narcissa in the hospital after her son was born, since that happened almost two years before you ended up in Azkaban."
"Oh... yeah, well, Cissy and I... well, after she married Malfoy, she and I didn't really see much of each other. For that matter, we didn't get on very well after I was sorted into Gryffindor."
"Really? That's too bad. I mean, I know that my bitch-of-an-aunt hated my mum, but even Petunia came and saw me when I was born."
Sirius blinked down at Harry with a somewhat stunned expression on his face, but Harry just resumed walking towards the Quidditch Supply store.
"I feel like I should scold you for your language," Sirius said meekly and chuckled while running his hand through his shoulder-length wavy hair.
Harry snorted. "But you're not going to, are you?"
Sirius laughed as he caught up with Harry. "No, I guess not."
They got to Quality Quidditch Supply and began to browse around and Harry could see the happy light in Sirius' eyes as he looked over the latest brooms.
"You played Quidditch back in your Hogwarts days, right?" Harry asked from a few feet away where he was looking at some of the broom maintenance kits.
"That's right. Your father and I were chasers on the Gryffindor team. You dad became captain in our sixth year."
"That's pretty brilliant," Harry said with a small grin.
"Have you done much flying on your broom since you got it?"
"I've taken it out a few times, but I've had to be subtle about it. You know, being a first year and all. I'm not actually supposed to have it."
"Right," Sirius said with a small chuckle. "You enjoy it?"
"Flying? Oh yeah. It's brilliant. It's actually way better than I'd expected it to be."
"Think you'll try out for the Ravenclaw team next year?"
"Try out for the Quidditch team?" Harry said with a slight grimace. "Nah, I don't think so. I mean, I enjoy flying, but Quidditch really isn't my thing. Besides, I've always got things to do, and I can't imagine throwing Quidditch practice into that. I'm happy just getting out and flying every now and then."
"Yeah, but flying by yourself is nothing like flying with other people. Broom racing is a pretty wicked sport too."
"I imagine I would enjoy that a bit more than playing Quidditch. Draco and I have gone flying together a couple times and done a bit of one-on-one racing. That was pretty fun."
Sirius chuckled. "So he's got his own broom too?"
"Of course. His father got him one in August and he brought it at the start of the year."
Sirius rolled his eyes. "Somehow, I am not surprised."
"Why's that?"
"Well... it's just that... I mean, if he's anything like his father... Back when your dad and I were in school, Malfoy believed that he was basically above the rules. That they didn't apply to him because he was a Malfoy. Basically, the way he looked at life was 'if you've got enough money, you can get out of anything.'"
"Ah... so you don't really like Mr. Malfoy much, then?"
"Have you met him?" Sirius asked, suddenly looking a bit concerned.
"Sure. A couple times. I visited Malfoy manor back in August, and I attended the Malfoy's Yule party in December. That's when I was able to speak to the Minister about getting you freed."
"You went to the Malfoy's home last August?" Sirius exclaimed, looking horrified. He looked as if he were about to speak, but he paused, looked around at the store that was empty except for the wizard working the counter on the other end of the shop, pulled out his wand and cast a quick sound-muffling spell. "Why? Who did you go with?"
Harry nodded a bit in approval and in thanks at Sirius' use of the privacy spell – although he would have used something a bit more powerful or secure, but this would have to do. He looked up at Sirius with a look that made it seem like he truly couldn't fathom what Sirius found so wrong with Harry having gone to the Malfoy's and answered simply.
"I didn't go with anyone. I mean, it's not like I was going to get Petunia to go with me," Harry snorted and rolled his eyes. "Not only would she not go, but I'm fairly sure that the Malfoy's would have fallen over from shock if I'd tried to bring a muggle into their home. As for why... well, I ran into Draco in Diagon Alley when I was doing my school shopping and when I realized who he was, I realized we were related. I took the opportunity to visit their home because I wanted to try and make some connections with actual living, breathing, wizards that I shared a blood relation with."
"Blood relation?" Sirius blanched and then looked confused.
"Well, yeah. I mean... technically, you and I are sort of cousins."
Sirius looked very confused for a moment before a flicker of comprehension passed over his eyes. "Oh... oh, yeah... Dorea was a Black! I completely forgot about that! She was always 'Mrs. Potter', to me. You know, I'd actually known your dad for several years before I even realized his mum was a Black?"
Harry laughed and shook his head in amusement. "Really? Wow. Well, I figured it out just last summer when I got a book on wizarding family trees because it had the Potters in there. I saw that my dad's mum's maiden name was 'Black' and I remembered that your name was Sirius Black, so I got curious. I looked up the Blacks and from there, I found I was related to not only you, but also Narcissa.
"So, if I recall it correctly... which I know I do, you're grandfather from you mum's side was Pollux Black, and he was the eldest brother of my grandmother, Dorea Black. Dorea was younger than him by a fair number of years, and the offset resulted to you and me being sort-of-cousins. Second cousins, I believe. And Draco is my 'second cousin once-removed', since his mother, Narcissa, is also my second cousin."
"Well, be that as it may, Harry, I really don't think it's a good idea for you to be spending any unsupervised time at the Malfoy's home."
Harry stopped with what he was doing completely and turned to give Sirius a hard look. "And, why not?" he asked, rather indignantly. "Just because you and Narcissa didn't get on very well doesn't mean I should cut off relations with a potential family member. I personally really like the idea of having some extended family. It's a nice contrast to being so utterly isolated."
"It's not that, Harry, it's just that... well, you are aware that Lucius Malfoy was a Death Eater, right?"
"He was cleared of all charges. He was under the Imperius curse," Harry defended stubbornly, making sure to put enough effort into his act since this was Sirius he was talking to, and he knew the chances of the man buying this was honestly slim-to-none.
Sirius scoffed. "Like I said, Malfoy always believed that with enough money he could break any rules he wanted and get away with it. He wasn't under the Imperius curse! He just used that as an excuse to appease the owners of all the pockets he lined with Malfoy family money to keep himself out of Azkaban."
"There was never any proof that he'd done anything illegal," Harry argued again, but it was weaker, he knew this wasn't going to work.
"I'm sure if there was any evidence, he made it conveniently disappear with a few more well placed 'donations'. It's really undeniable that he was a Death Eater. He had the Dark Mark on his arm, and, while we were never able to prove it, we were pretty sure that it wasn't something that could be taken involuntarily. A person couldn't be under the Imperius and be marked."
Harry just put on a childish, stubborn face, folded his arms across his chest and looked away. "Fine, whatever. But he's been nothing but nice to me, and I like Narcissa. Draco is one of my best friends at school."
"Of course he's been nothing but nice. He wants to use your name to gain political influence. But Harry... the real danger is in what he might do to you. He was a Death Eater. He was loyal to You-Know-Who! And you're the child who is known as being the one who defeated his master! He might be a bit bitter about that."
Harry rolled his eyes and scoffed. "What's he going to do to me? No matter how much money he has, he couldn't get away with making me mysteriously disappear. The public outcry would be enormous and there would be an investigation immediately. He wouldn't be able to buy his way out of that."
Sirius looked as if he were about to argue something again, but he stopped suddenly and gave Harry a speculative look through narrowed eyes. Harry shifted slightly, feeling uncomfortable under the man's gaze.
"You're not so naïve that you honestly believed any of that Imperius rubbish, are you?" Sirius asked finally, not really asking at all. "You already knew that he really was a Death Eater, didn't you? I mean, you know you can't trust him."
Harry huffed and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I do. And I don't bloody care, either."
Sirius suddenly looked stunned. "How can you not care? He followed the man who killed your parents, Harry!"
Harry heaved a heavy and slightly annoyed breath and fully faced Sirius. "Lucius Malfoy did not kill my parents. He did not personally betray them, or their trust. They had no interaction with the man. Chances are, even as part of his role as a Death Eater, he didn't have anything to do with the attack on them at all. He probably didn't even know about it until after it had happened. Yes, I'll admit that he probably did follow Voldemort of his own free will. Yes, he does prescribe to Voldemort's politics. But he did not, personally, play any role in my parent's death, so how can I lay any of the blame for it on his shoulders?"
Harry rose a questioning eyebrow and folded his arms across his chest defiantly before continuing.
"I cannot spend the rest of my life instantly despising and shunning anyone and everyone who may have had something to do with Voldemort because there were a lot of people who sided with him back then who didn't end up in prison. I certainly can't lay the blame for my parents death on all of them, can I? No, that's ridiculous. Plus, there are a lot of my classmates who are the children of supposed Death Eaters and children of people who just quietly supported Voldemort, politically, in the last war. Am I supposed to judge every one of them because of the theoretical 'crimes' of their parents? Is that really the right thing to do? Or should I shun all of them just because of some theoretical risk that they or their family might pose to me? Would it be okay if the Death Eater kids instantly hated me because I supposedly 'defeated' the Dark Lord? Instantly shunned me because of the political affiliations of my parents?"
"No, but that doesn't mean you can just instantly trust any of them, Harry!" Sirius said in a pleading voice. "I'm sure you're smart enough to realize that some of them could just be pretending to be nice to you so that they can get close to you because of who you are. Especially if they're Slytherins. You don't know what it's like in Slytherin house. It's all a power game to them. Whose on top and who has the best bragging rights, and who has the best dirt on who."
Harry rolled his eyes. "I'm perfectly aware of that, already, Sirius. You're right, I am smart enough to have realized that anyone who plays nice with me could very well be doing it just to use me, or my name. I don't give my trust away easily. I'm not an idiot. In fact, if I'm being frank with you, I'd have to admit that I hardly trust anyone. Even my friends. And I know perfectly well how Slytherin house works. In fact, I've told the friends I have that are in Slytherin house that they can go ahead and tell their house mates that they're tricking me, if it'll help them explain to the other kids why they're socializing with the Boy-Who-Lived."
Sirius blinked at him, obviously bewildered. "Why would you do that?"
"So that they can hang out with me without receiving any shit from their housemates for it," Harry said with a clear tinge of exasperation. "It may not be the 'right' or 'reasonable' thing to do, but I know that there are loads of people that are going to look at me and only see 'the-boy-who-lived' and nothing more. And for a great many of the Slytherins and their families, the 'boy-who-lived' is the person who lost them their Lord and the war. Any Slytherin seen as honestly and truly being 'friends' with me, would probably be shunned by those people. I'm simply giving them the opportunity to continue being my friend and still save face among the other Slytherins. On top of that, by pretending to be manipulating and tricking me, they're getting bonus points with their house mates."
"You really do understand Slytherins." Sirius said with a tinge of surprised awe.
Harry snorted and rolled his eyes. "Yes, I do. I'm not a fool, Sirius. I'm in Ravenclaw for a reason, you know. And I know how to look after myself. I've basically been doing it for the last ten years. I've gotten pretty good at it."
Sirius features darkened and Harry could see an angry storm brewing behind his gray eyes as he no doubt recalled some of the things that Remus and Harry himself had told Sirius about the Dursley's treatment of him when he was younger.
"I get that you want to look after me and protect me now," Harry continued before Sirius had a chance to say something. "That you see this whole 'getting custody thing' as a chance to try and... I don't know, raise me, or something. But I really should tell you right now, up front; I'm a very independent person. I've done pretty well on my own for a long time, and it's going to be weird for me to suddenly have an adult who actually gives a damn about what I'm doing all the time."
"What do you mean?" Sirius said, pulling back and staring at Harry with confusion plastered across his face.
"The Dursley's never gave a damn what I was doing, or where I was. Basically from age seven onward, I slept there, and bathed there, and that was it. I spent as little time in their house as I could possibly manage. During the school year, I spent a good portion of my day at school, and then I was out and on my own until I came back to the house to sleep. No one ever asked where I'd been, or what I'd been doing, and I got used to that. Its not a habit thats going to be easy for me to break, come summer... do you get that?"
"I... Well, where did you go? During the day when you weren't at school or at the Dursley's house, I mean?"
Harry shrugged. "It varied, really. I visited some friends houses, I went to the library, I went shopping, I spent hours reading in various cafes, or I'd hang out in a park. I'd go for long walks, I'd find some place that was nice and isolated and I'd practice my intentional-accidental magic. Basically, I did whatever I felt like, whenever I felt like doing it. Very independent. I looked after myself and I learned to watch my own back." Harry paused for a moment, deciding that it was probably necessary to let something out. "Do you want to know a secret no one else knows?"
Sirius blinked and then nodded quickly. "Of course."
"I came to Diagon Alley."
"Wait, you what?"
"I came to Diagon Alley. Several times. I remembered it from the times that mum and dad brought me here before they died. There were times that I felt like maybe I was crazy for remembering all that wizarding stuff when I was now stuck in a world with absolutely no sign of magic at all, except for all the wards and stuff I could see around the Dursley's house – not that I knew what the hell wards were. But anyway, I remembered the Knight bus and I remembered where in London the Leaky Cauldron was, and I managed to find my way here, several times."
Sirius stared down at Harry, totally gobsmacked. "And no one recognized you?" he finally asked, clearly stunned.
"The first visit I was lucky, I suppose. It was at that point that I actually got the first clue about how people saw me and that they would recognize me by my scar, so every time I came after that I made sure to keep it well hidden. I only stuck around long enough to get a couple books to tide over my curiosity. But even when I was only eight years old I was able to make my way through a densely populated wizarding shopping district, keep my identity secret, and stay out of trouble. I don't need babysitting."
Sirius gave a bit of an exasperated sigh and shook his head. "Yeah, but no one expected you to be in the wizarding world then. No one would have ever known to look for you... that was still incredibly reckless. Merlin, anything could have happened to you!"
"But it didn't. Nothing happened."
"Yeah, because you were lucky!"
Harry rolled his eyes and sighed. "Fine, whatever. But that doesn't change what I was saying earlier. I've gotten very used to my independence and I'm going to have a hard time adjusting to something different. Even at school I've been able to maintain my independence and do what I want, other than the whole 'not leaving school grounds' thing. It's just a matter of working within the confines of the rules and doing everything that your expected to do, when you're expected to do it. The rest of the time, I'm free to do whatever I want. As long as I get my homework done, no one cares how I spend my time. It's not like my head of house tries to babysit me. Not even the prefects bother me since they can all tell I've got my shit together without any need for their help."
Sirius was frowning and a moment passed while the man seemed to be mulling over what he wanted to say. Finally, he opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat. The pair turned their heads to find the wizard who was working the shop looking at them with obvious annoyance gracing his features. Sirius quickly canceled his muffling spell and grinned sheepishly at the man before he pointed at the Nimbus 2000 and said he'd be buying one.
The wizard's face instantly brightened and he started an obviously well-practiced routine of trying to sell Sirius a mountain of accessories to go along with the broom.
After that, the two managed to keep their conversation much lighter. They did a bit more shopping before they flooed to a community pitch that Sirius said he and Harry's father used to go to a lot when they were younger. Apparently it was the pitch that the 'Wigtown Wanderers' played their home games at, and whenever it wasn't be used for the professional quiddich matches, it was open to anyone who was willing to pay the entry fee to fly around and play any amateur games with their friends. You could even rent it out for private parties and such.
So the pair did just that, and the two spent a couple hours just flying through the sky, racing each other, and generally just screwing around.
At two o'clock they called it quits and flooed back to Sirius' flat so that they could clean up and shower. Just before one, they flooed again to the real estate witch's office and she took them to the first house via port key.
Over the course of the next week, Sirius and Harry visited over a dozen of houses and by the end of the week, even Harry's perfect memory was having trouble keeping them all straight in his mind. He'd kept copies of all the papers from the real estate witch that detailed what wards were already in place on the various properties, since a few of them were relatively old wizarding homes, and a number of them were already unplottable.
Unfortunately, Sirius hadn't been very fond of many of the ones that had the best wards, already in place. Apparently they reminded him too much of his Uncle Cygnus' old manor home, or the Black family's London townhouse he'd grown up in. A townhouse that Harry was secretly hoping he might get to visit at some point since he hadn't been there since he was a teen in his previous life, but had not yet found a reasonable excuse for why he would want such a thing, when Sirius had made it quite clear he wanted nothing more to do with the place.
During the course of the week, the topic of Harry's association and defense of the Malfoys had not come up again, and Harry was grateful for that. But he had completely given up any attempts to come off as naive or innocent in Sirius' presence. It had simply become blatantly obvious that Sirius just wouldn't fall for it. He'd seen through Harry once, and that was enough for him to always look deeper into things when they spoke, and he would call Harry on his attempts to portray himself as someone stupider than he really was. Plus it was counter-productive to his argument that he could take care of himself and didn't need a baby sitter.
That didn't mean that Sirius saw Harry's real self, though. Harry had found a nice medium to portray to the man that seemed to work well and fell within the wizard's reasonable expectations of what sort of person Harry might be. He could work with this.
Remus had also visited them several times over the course of the week, and had even been dragged along to visit a few of the houses. He had the week off from school too, in theory, but he always insisted he needed to get back to Hogwarts so he could finish all of the grading he had fallen behind in, and the preparation he still needed to make for the end of year exams that would be approaching in the near future.
But now it was Saturday evening, and the three of them were sitting around the mainroom of Sirius' flat, talking easily. Harry had one of his school books open on his lap and had been pretending to occasionally study while also listening as Sirius and Remus talked about their school days at Hogwarts. The topic of Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers had come up, and they were debating which of the seven Defense professors they'd had, had been the least useless. The only consensus so far was that they'd all been rubbish in general – the debate was which was the least rubbish.
"I can't believe you took the post, Mooney," Sirius sighed at one point, shaking his head. "You are being careful, right?"
"Of course," Remus said tiredly and rolled his eyes.
"I mean, you of all people! You've got so much that could be exposed!" Sirius exclaimed, throwing his hands into the air in an exasperated gesture.
"What are you two on about now?" Harry asked, looking up from the book he hadn't actually been reading.
"Oh... it's just the damned Defense-post curse," Sirius grumbled.
"It's not a curse," Remus put in, but Sirius scoffed.
"It damn well is too a curse! Half of them end up physically maimed one way or another by the end of the year, and the other half end up publicly destroyed in some way. Or they're just so damned scared by something or another that they refuse to come back. Some of them even end up dead."
"It's been nine years since the last one died, and only three have died before that," Remus insisted.
"Defense teachers have died?" Harry exclaimed, feigning surprise and taking on a deeply concerned expression as he looked at Remus.
He had to admit it wasn't very hard to look worried. He'd completely let the curse slip his mind, actually, and he really did care about Remus. Now that he had been reminded about the curse's existence, he realized he was going to have to do something about it.
"Don't look like that, Harry. I'm not going to die," Remus said reassuringly before turning and glaring at Sirius.
"Yeah, but even if you don't end up dead – which you damn well better not! – I think it's pretty easy to guess what might go wrong," Sirius said, scowling. "You're just playing with fire here, Mooney. This curse has a way of finding the one thing that will destroy the teacher the best way and making it happen. We both know what's probably going to come out of this. You're lycanthropy is going to get exposed to the public, somehow. If it gets out to the public that you're a werewolf you'll never work in the wizarding world again!"
"Like I could get work before," Remus grumbled bitterly looking away. "Enough people were able to see the signs anyway. You know how much I always wanted to teach. Even if it was only for one year, I couldn't pass up the opportunity when Professor Dumbledore contacted me. I just couldn't."
"Are either of you going to explain this whole curse thing you keep talking about?" Harry interrupted them, knowing that he wouldn't be able to contribute to the issue until they thought he knew what they were really talking about.
Remus sighed and ran his hand through his short graying hair. "There are people who believe that the Defense post is cursed. It started back in the mid-to-late fifties, they say. And ever since the curse was cast, not a single defense teacher has made it past two years. Actually anyone that made it through the whole first year unscathed and came back for a second year, always ended up having to leave before first term was even over. No one has ever made it longer than that."
"Does anyone know why this happens? How'd the post get cursed? Does anyone know who did it?" Harry asked since he honestly wondered how much they knew.
"No clue," Remus said with a sigh as he leaned back in the arm chair he was sitting in. "I get the impression that Dumbledore knows something, but he seems to prefer to pretend the curse isn't there at all. He won't even openly acknowledge it, it's rather annoying actually."
Harry blinked at him for a moment before turning to Sirius who just shrugged.
"There were loads of theories, but they were just pulled out of people's arses. No one ever really knew."
Remus made a weak attempt to reprimand Sirius for his language around Harry, but at this point had almost entirely given up.
"What efforts have people made towards identifying and countering the curse?" Harry asked.
The two adults looked at each other and then back at Harry and shrugged.
"What... nothing? Surely there's been loads of people to try and counter this thing if it's been killing off and loosing the school defense teachers since the fifties," Harry said incredulously.
"Oh, I'm sure, Dumbledore has tried loads of things. But like I said, he doesn't exactly like to talk about it." Sirius said.
"But what about the Defense professors themselves. Surely there were some curse specialists in the bunch. It's the Defense Against the Dark Arts post for Merlin's sake."
"I really don't know, Harry," Remus said softly.
Harry screwed up his mouth as he pondered the issue. He didn't want Remus getting hurt out of this, nor did he want the man's lycanthropy to get publicly exposed. And knowing the curse the way he did – which was pretty well since he had helped to make the damned thing – he knew it would expose Remus' secret in the worst possible way. Mostly like some sort of compulsion would slip in somewhere making Remus forget his Wolfsbane one month and he'd end up attacking a student when transformed. Something that would utterly destroy him – possibly even end him up in Azkaban.
Fuck.
He had to stop this.
"Curses have to have a focal point..." Harry began thoughtfully. "Has Defense been moved around to different classrooms over the years?"
Sirius and Remus both frowned and shook their heads. "I don't think so," Sirius began.
"The room I teach in is the same one that we took Defense in when we were students there. My understanding is that it's been the Defense classroom for more than a hundred years."
"And your office – its the same office the Defense professors always use?" Harry asked and Remus nodded.
"Well... it seems like that would be the first thing to test. I can't imagine why Dumbledore wouldn't have tried moving the class to a different room. That would be the easiest solution if it worked. The location could be the focal point."
"Well, surely he would have tried that at some point," Remus said.
Harry nodded slowly. "Yeah, maybe. Anyway, I'll think on it and look into some stuff when I get back to the castle."
"Harry, there's no doubt that many many witches and wizards have looked into this. I wouldn't exactly get your hopes up," Remus said softly.
"Doesn't hurt to try," Harry said reassuringly.
– –
By Sunday Harry and Sirius had narrowed down their favorite houses from the previously sizable batch down to just two. The real estate witch was kind enough to take them back to the two houses again so that they could make the final decision. They were basically stuck between two extremely different options, but the houses they had looked at all fundamentally fit into two different categories, and these were the best of each of those categories.
One was basically isolated and out in the middle of no-where, so it could very easily be warded, and they would be very well protected from any unwanted visitors – however being totally isolated certainly wasn't a mandate for good wards. A house could be in the middle of London and be strongly warded. But this house came with a lot of land and even had it's own small quidditch pitch out there. The house wasn't overly extravagant, or uppity, which Sirius had been rather insistent on. In fact, it rather resembled a farm house, and had quite a homey feel to it.
The other house was nestled in a nice little wizarding village not far from Perth in Eastern Scotland. Harry was actually leaning more towards the village since it would give him the opportunity to leave the house from time to time with a reasonable excuse – going down to the market, or going to the library. At the farm house he would feel dreadfully isolated and have a hard time coming up with excuses for leaving the house without a chaperon.
As he had feared, but totally expected, Sirius was slipping into that over-protective parent mode and wanted to make sure he could keep Harry safe. He insisted he wasn't, and that he liked the farm house with the land best because of the quidditch pitch, but Harry could tell part of the man was worried and liked that Harry could go flying around the house freely and remain within the protective wards and out of Death Eater hands.
Harry knew that some of the letters Dumbledore had sent Sirius had gone on about the potential Death Eater threat and how Harry needed to be properly protected when he was away from the safety of the school and it's extensive wards. No matter how much Sirius now distrusted the old headmaster when Harry was concerned, Harry knew that Sirius couldn't help but worry about the concerns mentioned. He may not trust Dumbledore, but he sure as hell didn't trust any Death Eaters either.
And even if none of them were willing to leave Harry's safety in Dumbledore's hands anymore, none of them would argue with the fact that Dumbledore did honestly want to keep him safe from Death Eaters. In that regard, the Headmaster honestly did want was in Harry's best interest, in regards to his safety.
At least, it would be in Harry's best interest if Death Eaters were actually a legitimate concern for him... which they weren't. Not even remotely. But he couldn't exactly tell that to any of them without them wanting to know why, and he definitely couldn't tell them that.
And it didn't matter how many times Harry insisted to Sirius that he could take care of himself if anything dangerous did come up, because Sirius would never really believe it. Not unless he actually witnessed it, and Harry was definitely not ready to give Sirius any sort of demonstration of his real skills.
And so they were left at a bit of a deadlock on the two houses.
But there was one thing that the house in the wizarding village had going for it over the other one. It already had a veritable mountain of quite impressive protective wards on it. The previous owner was an old man who had lived to the ripe old age of 179 before he'd finally kicked the bucket, and he had apparently lived so long because he was exceptionally paranoid.
The house was unplottable to everyone except those that knew the exact address. Normally 'unplottable' just meant that muggles couldn't see a place, but even wizards couldn't see this house unless they knew the address and they wouldn't be able to know the address unless allowed, because the very address itself was heavily warded with what Harry thought was an incredibly ingenuous bit of magic. As an added level of security, only those listed in a specially charmed book that controlled some of the wards, could actually remember the address. It was almost like a variation on a fidelius charm, only instead of a secret keeper, you had the book that controlled whether or not you could know the secret. If someone was in the book at one point but then removed from it, they would instantly forget the address and no longer be able to see the house at all.
A person could be told the address while standing outside of it, be able to temporarily know and remember it and then led inside, but as soon as they left the property, if their name wasn't added to the list, they wouldn't be able to return. Harry had to admit it was a pretty effective home protection ward, and one he hadn't quite seen before in such a way. The real estate witch believed that the old man himself has invented it as well as his own security system around the whole property, and Harry was inclined to think she was right since he recognized the old man's name as the author of a few advanced warding books he'd read about forty years ago.
The house was hooked up to the floo network, but once again, if you didn't know the address then you couldn't get in, so only those listed in the book could enter through the floo. There was a secondary label for the property that was open so people could place floo calls, but not actually use the floo to enter the house. It was fairly obvious that the old man wanted to have very strict control of who could and could not enter his home.
He was also clearly a booky type because he had a fairly large room on the ground level that had been converted to serve as a library. Judging from the layout of the home, Harry suspected that the room used to be a formal dining room, but the house also had a breakfast nook to one end of the kitchen that was more than sufficient for he and Sirius and Remus to have a table for meals.
That was another thing that he and Sirius had silently established while house-hunting even though they had never really spoken it aloud. No matter what the houses were they were looking at, they always made sure there was room for Remus. There had to be at least three good-sized bedrooms for them to even consider a house, and they still liked the houses to have four rooms so that there would be an extra guest room should the need ever arise.
Remus didn't know about this though. Both Harry and Sirius knew the man well enough to know that if they suggested he move in, he would consider it charity and fight them. They still intended to do it. Sirius would probably just tell Remus to move in once the school year ended just 'until he found his own place' and then convince him to stick around until Harry went back to school in September so Harry 'wouldn't miss him', and assuming Remus wasn't going back to teach another year – which was both Remus and Sirius standing assumptions at the moment – Sirius would then guilt the man into sticking around because he was lonely now that Harry was gone back to school...
It would probably work, honestly.
Another bonus of this house was the basement. The old man had clearly been quite a potion's hobbyist because he had a fairly extensive little lab down there. He also had an spare room down there with a cot set up that Harry suspected the man had used when making those touchy brews that required frequent maintenance over a twenty-four hour period. The basement's spare room could easily be converted to hold Remus during the full moons.
So with a very nicely equipped kitchen, good sized family room, library and bath on the first level, four bedrooms and two baths on the second, and potions lab and spare room in the basement, Harry was voting for the house in the village.
They went to the farm house out in the country first and Sirius spent a good half hour going on about all the room and the pitch and the fresh air, and then the real estate witch took them to the village and Harry spent his half hour needling Sirius and eventually sunk to using the old 'puppy-dog-eyes' thing that he used on Tom when they were kids.
Sirius had scowled at Harry the moment he started doing it, but then turned away and muttered something about 'Lily's eyes' before heaving a sigh and giving in.
Harry was quite satisfied.
– –