The talk
Sirius was in the kitchen cooking lunch. They could hear him singing along to a David Bowie song, and Remus nearly smiled. “Siri, can you come to the living room? I have harry with me we’re going to have a little chat”
“Sure baby! Is everyone ok?” Sirius said cheerfully, and they could hear him finishing up. “It’s not, but it will be” Remus said firmly.
Sirius walked through the door and sat on the couch. His smile dropped when he saw the look on Harry’s face. Remus gave him a look, and then and there he knew it was time to be serious.
“Is everything ok…” sirius asked looking at harry intently. He could tell from Harry’s face that there was something going on. He saw the scratch marks on Harry’s arms and blood where he had broken skin. He saw the baggy clothes and the dark eye bags under Harry’s eyes. Harry smelt bad, and that’s saying something considering the classic teenage smell Sirius was so used to.
Sirius shared a look with Remus and sighed. “Pup… talk to us. I can see there’s something going on”
Remus chimed in. “We won’t be angry at all. We just want to help. I can tell things are getting pretty loud in your head at the moment?”
Harry looked down at the floor. “Im fine. Can I please go to my room?” Again Sirius and Remus’s shared a look. “Harry, I don’t think that’s the best idea at the moment… sometimes when we’re upset we do things without thinking.” As Remus spoke he put an arm out to comfort harry, and harry flinched back a look of pure terror on his face.
“ I.. I can’t do this right now, I need to rest..” he dug his fingers into his thigh. His eyes darted around the room in panic.
“Hey, hey Harry pup, just breath with us. Come on you can do it, we’ve done it before.”
“No no no no, I can’t… I can’t do this, it’s too much” his breathing was unsteady and he was tugging at his hair.
Remus went into full parent mode, getting up and sitting next to harry from his seat across the couch. “Harry do you think you can handle touch right now? I want to give you a hug.” He spoke calmly and smoothly, holding his arms out ready.
“O-ok” harry got out between gulps of air. Remus wrapped his arms around harry and held him tightly. They sat there for about half an hour, just breathing and Remus didn’t let go until harry pulled away.
“I think I’m not ok”
Harry’s words felt strong and powerful and full of pain.
Tears filled Sirius’s eyes. “That’s ok. How can we help?”
“I don’t think I can be helped… things have been bad for a while. On and off since I was a kid” Remus looked at harry. “You still are a kid”
“I haven’t felt like one for years” harry said softly. Sirius grasped Harry’s hand. “Harry pup we love you so, so much and I know there’s things that have happened, with the Dursleys and at school that you can’t talk about right now, but if you ever want to we’re here”
Harry wiped tears from his eyes a nodded. Remus then spoke up. “I know that it sometimes can be hard to talk to us, but maybe we could talk to a mind healer together? I talked to one for a while when I was at school, and it was really helpful.”
Harry’s eyes widened in suprise. “You talked to a mind healer?” Remus smiled softly. “Yeah. For a while I was really unhappy with myself. You know being a werewolf and all. For a while I started to hurt myself. And I think maybe, I can help you a bit with that, because I don’t want you to harm yourself in any way.”
“Remus..” Remus met eyes with him. “I’d like that. You helping me stop hurting myself, I mean. Sometimes I can’t control it” Sirius injected into the conversation. “If you ever feel like that you can get one of us. We would never be mad. And I get what it’s like to try moving on from abuse. If you ever feel like you need a chat, I’m right here”
“I love you guys” harry said. “Can I… sleep with you tonight?” Sirius smiled. “Of course pup, I’m so proud of you for asking.” They all sat there enjoying each others company for a few minutes.
“I think I’m hungry… let’s go eat” harry smiled. Sirius rolled his eyes. “All you teens think of is food!”
Remus laughed. “A bit rich coming from you Sirius”
They all got up to go to the kitchen. “Im so glad that’s done and dusted” Remus thought.