Abruptly, Harry's eyes shot open, and they looked wild and frightened as they darted around the room, as though he was still with Voldemort and looking for an escape. After a few seconds, he was able to focus and remember where he was, and who he was with. "Sirius?" he said, his voice small and soft. He let out a shaky breath and continued, "Sirius, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you up." He sounded scared then, and a burning anger roared to life inside Sirius which was directed at the unloving Dursleys. From the way Harry was reacting, his relatives were furious when he woke them up with nightmares. Try living this boy's life and you'd be screaming bloody murder every night, you bloody bastards, Sirius thought viciously. You call us freaks? No, you're the freaks around here.
Sirius took a deep breath himself, reigned in the anger and said, "You didn't wake me up, Harry. I couldn't sleep, and was in the kitchen drinking some tea. But," he said, lifting Harry's chin and forcing the boy's emerald eyes to meet his gray ones, "even if you had woken me up, it wouldn't matter. Guardians are not supposed to get angry when the children in their care have nightmares. And with what you've been through, kiddo, I'm surprised you're not screaming your lungs out."
Harry looked ashamed and embarrassed, causing Sirius to pull him closer to his body. He watched as Harry tried to calm himself down. After a few seconds he said, "Would you like to talk about it, Harry?" He knew what his godson's answer would probably be, and he would not push him. Eventually, they would need to talk about it, but everything was so flayed and raw at the moment.
"No," Harry muttered lowly, releasing his tight hold on Sirius a little, but still letting himself be held gently. Sirius felt hope burgeon in his stomach; it seemed as though Harry was trusting him a little more each minute. His answer to talking about the nightmares was predictable, but Sirius's determination did not waver that they would eventually get there.
"Okay," Sirius said reassuringly, squeezing Harry's hand. "I'm here for you, whenever you need me."
The two lapsed into a comfortable silence. Both godfather and godson were lost in their own thoughts, and Sirius saw the deep frown marring Harry's face and the haunted look in those emerald eyes and decided the boy needed a distraction. Sleep was eluding him tonight, what with being back in this house and his agonizing over Harry, and it was plain to see that the last thing Harry wished to do was attempt to go back to sleep. "Want to go to the kitchen for a while?" he asked the boy. "I can make you some tea and we can have a little midnight snack, if you want. Or," he said, checking the time, "a three-o'clock-in-the-morning snack."
"I'm not hungry," Harry murmured, but Sirius couldn't help but glimpse the relieved look on the young face. "And I don't want to keep you up. You should be asleep."
"I can't sleep either, honestly," Sirius admitted. "I need a distraction, and it looks as though you do, too."
Harry couldn't help the smile that came to his face, although there was a great amount of concern there, too. "Okay," he said softly. "I want to make sure you're okay, too."
And with that, they both quietly got up and headed out of the room, down the stairs, and to the kitchen. All the while, Sirius was thinking of many topics and questions to ask Harry that were not sensitive in nature, that he didn't think Harry would have a problem opening up about. After all, life had granted him a reprieve, some time to spend with his godson.
And what better time to get to know the boy properly?
As he made a cup of tea for Harry and prepared another one for himself, there was so much he wanted to find out. It was time to really get to know this boy apart from all the trials and traumas he had faced.
It was time to learn all about Harry Potter.
.....
Join my P*atreon and dive into over 60 advanced chapters!
Link: p*atreon.com/Nebula_Scribe (Remove the *)
Plus, enjoy the next two chapters for free—grab them while they're fresh!