Dudley!?

Harry swings their linked hands between them as they walk, looking around giddily while Lee looks for a post office of some kind. They eventually find a place where you can leave a letter and a sickle, and an owl will take it, leaving the rest of their day free. They explore going into every shop Harry wants and a few Lee does, where they buy some more books and some supplies for potions pretending to be sent by their parents since ‘we’re big boys!’

They make it home on the bus hours later with bags full of shrunken supplies.

&&&

They spend the next few weeks reading their new books, trying a few easy potions, and practising their magic, until…

Lee’s startled by tapping at his window. He looks up from the occlumency book he's reading, Harry doing the same from his potions book, to an owl. Right! He’d ordered the daily prophet to see what’s going on in the magic world. He hops up as Harry puts his book to the side and moves over to his toys. Lee grabs the paper and puts a knut in the pouch tied to the owls leg. He flops back down on his bed, grabbing his tea as he shakes the paper out, only to quickly place the tea back down.

Sirius Black wrongfully imprisoned?

Oh. Oh! It’s happening! Harry can finally get out of here, and to someone who cares about him! Even if Sirius may not be the best parental figure, anything’s better than the Dursleys. But… he looks over at him, where he’s trying to change the colour of a toy horse, sadly. He’ll miss him. Harry looks up at him, expression questioning.

“Lee?” Lee puts on a grin, handing him the paper. “Padfoot?!”

“Yup! He’s free!”

“Can we go see him?!” Harry asks, jumping up, excited.

“Not yet, we have to wait for him to come to you. You’re his god son so he’ll probably take you in soon,” Lee explains.

“Take… me in?” Harry asks, grin dropping.

“Yeah, you won’t have to deal with my parents any more, and you’ll finally have an adult who really cares about you! It’ll be-”

“No!” Harry yells. “I’m staying with you!”

“Harry…”

“No! I won’t! You can’t make me!” Harry screams, jumping forward onto Lee, arms wrapped around him tightly and his face buried in his chest. “I’m staying!”

Lee stares for a second, surprised, before he feels the burn as tears fill his eyes.

“Okay Harry,” he whispers, wrapping his arms around his little cousin.

Harry sniffs, head leaning back to look up at him.

“Why can’t you just come live with me and Padfoot?”

“That’s not how it works Harry.”

“Why not?”

“Well…” he starts, as he tries to think on how to explain this. “As your aunt, Pertunia has a right to take you in, and as your godfather, so does Sirius. As for me, Sirius probably doesn’t even know I exist and has no right to take me in. And, well, Pertunia’s my mother so she has more right than anyone to have me, unless she’s proven to be an unfit parent-”

“How do we do that?” Harry perks up a little.

“It’s not that simple. Even if we managed it I’d probably go to aunt Marge.” Harry makes a face at that. “Yeah.”

“So we gotta stay here then?”

“You don’t-”

“ We got to stay here then?”

Lee chuckles.

“Yeah, we do.”

Harry grins.

&&&

As expected, it doesn’t take long.

Three weeks after reading about Sirius’s freedom, there’s a knock at the door.

They hear Pertunia answer, her loud accusatory voice, a calm but stern voice replying, and a man’s voice snarling something. Lee zones out the rest of the conversation, not able to actually hear any words, until there are footsteps coming up the stairs and a knock on the door of the room they share.

“Come in!” Lee calls, as Harry shuffles a little behind him, most of his experiences with adults not very good.

The door opens to a man who could only be Sirius Black and a stern woman Lee’s guessing is Madam Bones. They both look around the room, the desk, the drawers, the wardrobe, the bed and the little mattress on the floor (bought for Harry, but Lee sleeps there, telling Harry he prefers it) before their eyes finally land on them. (Lees so glad he hid all their magic stuff in the wardrobe) 

“Hey Harry, I’m-“ Sirius is interrupted by Harry sprinting at him and throwing himself into his arms.

“Padfoot!”

Sirius freezes, before he lets out a laugh, almost disbelieving, as hugs his godson tight.

“You remember me?” he asks, pulling away to look him over.

Harry nods, pulling away to grab his toy dog and show it to him.

“You’re Padfoot!”

Sirius laughs again with a nod.

“That’s me.”

“You came to see me?” Harry asks, giddy.

“Harry, I came to take you home with me,” Sirius tells him, smile wide and eyes bright, like he’s certain Harry will go with him.

Lee clenches his teeth, moving to be a little closer to Harry, not sure how a man who had been in Azkaban for years would react to rejection.

“What? No. I’m staying with Lee,” Harry says, like it’s a known fact.

“Harry, that’s-“

“ No ,” he steps away from the man, who already looks devastated, moving to cling to Lees side. “I’m not gonna leave Lee!”

“Harry-“

“Lord Black, may I please have a moment with Harry?”

Sirius looks reluctant, looking between the woman and Harry a few times before he nods, making his way out and back downstairs.

“Hello,” she says, closing the door and smiling at them, “I’m Amelia Bones, you’re Harry and Lee right?”

“Yes ma’am,” Lee replies dutifully, while Harry just nods.

“Well, Harry, the truth is… you were never supposed to come to the Dursleys. There was a list of people your parents wanted you to be with in their will, including your god parents Sirius Black and Alice Longbottom. It even clearly stated not to-“ she cuts herself off, seeming to remember who she’s talking to. “The point is, the Dursleys have no legal right to keep you here, and by the way they were talking to Lord Black and I, I wouldn’t want you to stay here even if they did,” Madam Bones explains.

“I’m staying with Lee!” Harry cries again, the lightbulb above them smashing as he does.

Madam Bones bites her lip in worry, before sighing, fixing the lightbulb with a flick of her wand.

“There is… a spell. It tells me who your magical guardian is, which it is illegal to take a child away from if they do not want it. With others it’s normally obvious, since they live with them, or it becomes a professor at school who they feel safe with. But for you, well, you were around magical folk, if only for a year, and maybe your aunt will count since she’s a muggle borns sister. Would you like me to try?”

Harry nods immediately, clinging to Lee even tighter. 

“You’ll have to stand in the middle of the room so we can see the result, and… don’t get your hopes up Harry. It’s unlikely,” she warns.

Harry steps away from Lee reluctantly, giving her a determined look. Madam Bones nods, and with a wave of her wand and mutter of words, a small white light floats over to land over his heart, a string swirling away from him, spinning slowly like it’s searching, before it moves. 

Lee blinks down at the end of the magic string, where it ended up, over his heart.

Maybe he was wrong about the ‘being too young to be a parent’ thing.

Fuck.