Chapter 7
To Harry’s complete and utter lack of surprise, Malfoy did not show up at 10 am the next day. When Harry finally tracked him down, he was on the seventh floor, angrily kicking a patch of wall.
“Um…is he okay?” Ron asked, sharing a look with Hermione. Harry sighed. “Let me handle this.”
Five minutes and a short shouting match later, Harry pulled a cantankerous Malfoy over to his friends.
“Is everything-”
“Everything’s fine, Hermione. Isn’t it Malfoy?” Harry glared. He got a scowl in return.
“Right! Let’s go.”
The walk to the village was tense, with Malfoy refusing to engage in conversation. That was fine with Harry, who had other things on his mind.
Primarily, the overwhelming thought of seeing Sirius again. And his parents. His actual, alive parents. He had no idea how to feel.
When they approached the shops, Hermione stopped them.
“What now?” Malfoy griped.
“Listen, if we’re going to pull this off, then we need some ground rules,” she said, face hard.
“Rules?” Harry asked.
“One,” she started, counting them off on her fingers. “While you’re in public, you will address each other as Harry and Draco. Two, when appropriate, you will be…affectionate towards each other.”
Harry made a face and looked at Malfoy, who made an equally disgusted face back.
“What does ‘affectionate’ mean exactly?” Harry asked.
“Just, you know, hold hands, hug each other, whatever comes naturally…” she trailed off at Malfoy’s snort.
“Something funny?” Harry glared.
“Is something…” Malfoy did laugh then, a loud, deranged sound. “Whatever comes naturally? Did you forget our little bedtime story yesterday or shall I show you my scars again?” He asked Hermione meanly.
She winced. “Er, right. So maybe the opposite of what comes naturally then.”
“This is never going to work,” Malfoy grumbled. “It was a mad idea.”
“Oi!” Ron shouted, getting the group’s attention. “I see professor Lupin making his way down here so we have about 20 seconds to make a decision. Are we doing this? Harry, Malfoy?”
Harry looked at Malfoy again and sighed heavily. “Yes. Yeah, fine. I will.”
Malfoy rolled his eyes. “Well since it seems I don’t have a choice,” he shrugged, putting his hands in his pockets. Harry noticed for the first time that it was a black leather jacket and felt a pang at the realization that Sirius must have given it to him.
Harry cleared his throat. “Come on then,” he said, making his way down the hill.
“Harry!” He turned to find Lupin catching up with the group.
“Remus,” he smiled, still not used to seeing him, even after attending a couple defense classes.
“Sirius and your parents should be at the Hog’s Head by now. Shall we meet them together?”
The walk to the pub was short, and Harry pushed open the doors in trepidation.
He stepped inside, seeking out his parents in the dim lighting. The place was empty as usual, but looked less grim than Harry remembered.
“Draco! Harry!” They turned to see Sirius Black, strong and tall, ushering them over with a smile from a table near the back.
Harry felt stuck to the floor. He completely underestimated just how unprepared he was to see a living, breathing, smiling, Sirius. He took in his godfather’s features, healthier than he’d ever looked when Harry knew him, and swallowed a lump in his throat.
“Potter, what are you doing, move!” Malfoy whispered, nudging him in the side. Harry felt grounded by the touch, even if it did come from Malfoy (Draco, he mentally corrected), and slowly made his way to the table.
“Sirius,” he grinned, when his godfather pulled him into a hug.
“Sirius? What are we, chopped liver?” A man called from behind him and Harry turned, coming face to face with James.
“Dad,” Harry breathed. “In the flesh,” James joked, stepping up to Harry and ruffling his hair. Harry just stood, staring.
“Everything alright, son?” James inquired, looking concerned. He turned to Draco with a frown. “Did something happen?”
“No,” Draco said. “He’s just,” Draco eyed Harry. “Hungry.”
“Yes, good idea. We should probably order – don’t want the Puddlemere captain on me about starving his next star,” James steered the boys to the table and sat them down in chairs between Sirius and Lily, with Ron and Hermione seated across from them and James taking his seat beside Lily in the corner.
“Harry,” she greeted him with a warm hug. “We’ve missed you, love. How are you? What are you feeling for lunch?” Harry looked into his mother’s face and took it all in from her dazzling smile to her fiery red hair. Everyone was right, he thought. I do have her eyes.
To his relief, Hermione and Ron quickly pulled his parents into conversation, giving Harry time to recover from his shock. From the corner of his eye, he saw Sirius and Remus head to the bar for drinks.
Draco meanwhile, pulled up a menu, hiding himself from view.
It didn’t last.
“Alright there, cousin?” Sirius knocked on the table in front of Draco’s menu, startling the blond.
He looked up at Sirius, offering him a polite nod and a “yes, thanks,” and was met with a confused stare. Harry groaned inwardly. If they kept this up, they’d be discovered in a heartbeat.
Pulling from whatever stores of Gryffindor courage he had left, Harry put on a brave face and grinned at Sirius. “How’s the bike?” he asked, taking a shot in the dark.
“Oh, it’s great,” Sirius answered. “And no you still cannot ride it.”
“You got Draco the jacket,” Harry argued, relieved he found something to talk about. “No, Draco got Draco the jacket. All he got from me is good taste,” Sirius boasted.
“Hardly,” Draco scoffed, and for the first time in his life Harry was grateful for the prat’s inability to hold his judgement. If they could manage a conversation through lunch, they might just pull this off.
“You wound me. See what happens next time you ask to borrow the bike,” Sirius replied in mock anger.
“Wait, since when does he get to borrow the bike?” Harry asked, swallowing the envy at the thought that this is what life with Sirius might have been.
“Since he got his license,” Sirius said, raising his eyebrows at Draco. “Tsk tsk, keeping secrets from each other now?”
“It was meant to be a surprise” Draco drawled. “Thanks a lot.”
“I’ll still act surprised, don’t worry,” Harry improvised, offering Draco what he hoped came off as a fond smile and not indigestion. He put his arm over the blond’s shoulder for good measure. To his credit, Draco didn’t even flinch. “Thank you,” he said, patting Harry’s hand awkwardly.
“If you’re done being gross,” Ron wrinkled his nose. “Can we order?”
The rest of lunch went on in a similar manner, Harry’s parents inquiring about school and quidditch and Draco avoiding eye contact with everyone in favour of pushing around the peas on his plate.
After lunch, Lupin returned to the castle, while Ron left to meet Lavender. Hermione made a valiant attempt to look like she didn’t care.
Harry put his arm around her in a tight squeeze. “Alright?”
She nodded, smiling at him gratefully.
“Careful, cousin,” Sirius stage-whispered to Malfoy. “Looks like you have some competition.”
“Hm?” Malfoy looked up with a bored expression, taking in the sight of Harry and Hermione.
“Oh. Right. Away you saucy minx,” he drawled with a lazy wave of his hand, like a king dismissing a subject.
Harry couldn’t help his laugh. The sound seemed to startle Malfoy out of his ennui and he narrowed his eyes at Harry.
“Don’t worry, Draco, you’re still number one in my heart,” Harry joked.
“I’m flattered,” the blond snorted.
The group spent the rest of the afternoon strolling through Hogsmeade, stopping here and there to make purchases. Harry committed every detail to memory. His father’s laugh, his mother’s affectionate eyerolls, the permanent gleam in Sirius’s eye.
By the end of the evening, Harry’s parents had bought him new robes, a trunk load of sweets, enough parchment and ink to last him a lifetime (“so you don’t have an excuse not to write!” his mother teased) and a new wind up alarm clock, spelled to be as annoying as possible, courtesy of Sirius.
“It’s really a gift for Ron,” he smirked. “Now he won’t have to be the one to wake you up every day.”
“I’m sure he’ll appreciate it,” Harry laughed.
Before saying goodbye, James pulled him aside. “I’ve got something else for you,” he said conspiratorially, tossing him a shrunken package in the shape of a broom.
Harry caught it in surprise. “But I already have a broom,” he said dumbstruck. James grinned. “And now you have two. Don't think I didn’t see you salivating over it all summer,” he said with a wink.
At sunset his parents apparated home with a kiss to his head and promises to see him before Christmas.
Before following suit, Sirius clapped Harry on the shoulder and mussed up Draco’s hair, eliciting a displeased squawk. With a huff, Draco marched over to Hermione to start the trek back to the castle.
“Yeah, love you too mate,” Sirius called after him. Harry turned to follow but Sirius held him back, clearing his throat.
“Everything okay?” Harry asked, concerned.
“Yeah, yeah nothing to worry about…it’s just…is something the matter with Draco? He seems… odder than usual,” Sirius said with a frown.
Whatever Harry expected his godfather to say, it wasn’t that.
“Oh,” Harry blinked. “Yeah, no, he’s great. Very um, Draco-ish.”
Harry saw worry flash across Sirius’s face before he pasted on a smile.
“Alright. Just, look out for him, yeah? And let me know if there’s anything…anything I can do.”
“What do you mean?”
Sirius sighed, running a hand through his hair. “Narcissa got in touch with me. She said he’s been trying to reach her.”
“Oh,” Harry said, unsure of what to say. Sirius misinterpreted the reaction.
“Not that he shouldn’t speak to his mother! But you know how she is…and with everything still so tense…”
“Right,” Harry said, hiding his confusion. “I’ll…I’ll take care of him.”
Sirius gave him a genuine smile, then. “Good. Thank you, Harry,” he squeezed his shoulder affectionately.
“And you take care of you too, yeah?”
Harry nodded. With another quick smile, Sirius was gone.