Chapter 11
They made it a night before the topic came up again.
“But why not!” Harry complained.
“Harry, we have to be reasonable,” Lily retorted sharply but not unkindly.
James just stood in between them, a physical representation of how torn he was on the subject.
“Nothing about this whole situation is reasonable. If you guys came back, why can’t we try with Sirius too!”
Harry couldn’t understand how they were even having this conversation. He thought it was obvious that he would go back to save Sirius, give him the life that he didn’t get a chance to live, but it was clear that his parents did not agree, or at least Lily didn’t.
“That was just an accident, at least this time around, we know what to expect” Harry pointed out smartly.
“I don’t think it’s worth the risk,” she finalised.
“How can you say that!” Harry practically shouted, his voice amplifying in the small sitting room they were all in. “He’s my godfather, we can’t just leave him there when we have a chance to fix it.”
“Harry, he was my friend too, but I don’t want to lose you in the process.”
“You already did! You lost me when you stood in front of my crib and died! When dad opened the door without his wand. You already gave me up!” he shouted now. His short temper was rising and he wanted to move. He was filled with the overwhelming need to do something and this was the first time someone was actually trying to stop him.
“You say that as if it’s our fault, as if we chose to die,” she snapped back.
“I’m just saying, I don’t feel like I should have to run my decisions by you when I’ve been making all of my own for the past twenty years.”
Lily didn’t even respond to that. She just inhaled sharply and turned away from Harry, bringing up a hand to her mouth. The silence was overwhelming and Harry shifted his attention to James, not ready to let the conversation fall yet.
“Dad?” Harry pleaded weakly.
James turned sharp eyes to him. Harry tried to decipher what story swam in the depths of his eyes but he just felt like he was drowning in them.
“Haris I just don’t know if this is the right thing to do. Dumbledore only sees this as an experiment, he has no stake in whether it works or not. We do,” he said seriously.
“What, so you just don’t care about Sirius?” Harry gesticulated wildly as if it would emphasise his point but he was starting to feel like a madman.
“Harry don’t say that, of course I do. But I care about you equally if not more.”
“What about what I want, what I care about” he cried out.
“Beta, we have time, we don’t need to make a decision now” he tried to placate.
“Yes we do! Every minute we take is another that Sirius spends in the veil doing Merlin knows what. If we have the chance to do something, I say we take it.”
Lily tuned back in then and her eyes were practically on fire and she spoke slowly, “If I have to stand between you and death again I will do it.”
“Dad please!” Harry begged for him to take his side rather childishly.
“I think we need to take our time” he said again, the picture of neutrality.
“Sirius would never wait if our places were switched. What if you had the chance to bring back Regulus! Would you still hesitate then?”
Harry knew it was a low blow. It was downright disrespectful to bring up Regulus or Sirius like that and the way James’ face fell was enough to douse Harry’s fiery temper with ice cold water. He was practically frozen to the spot as he watched James’ face crumple and his body tense.
“Dad I’m s-” Harry began.
James simply raised a hand before dipping his head and striding out of the room. Lily went right after him, closing the door behind her and leaving Harry to stand in the middle of the room, alone.
It was just so infuriating. He could see their point, it was dangerous yes, but the payoff was astronomical.
He left the room a moment later, slowly creaking the door open and making his steps as light as possible. He could hear their quiet murmurs from later down the hall but he couldn’t face them now. It was a coward’s move but apparently that’s what he was now as he stalked away, fuming.
_______
The house was silent for the rest of the day. Even Kreacher didn’t call them when it was lunch, he just silently sent the plates up to each of their rooms, as if he also realised that there was heavy tension in the air and they all needed time apart.
After a few hours had passed, and distantly, Harry heard the sound of the downstairs floo roar to life but he couldn’t be sure seeing as he was curled up under a mountain of blankets wallowing in self pity.
The noise quieted but was followed by the loud thumping steps of someone bounding up the stairs. There was an extra loud thump which Harry supposed was Ron falling on the wonky step before the rhythm continued and Harry only had enough time to poke his head out of his blankets before Ron was on him.
“Mate I’m having a crisis, why are you in bed? It's like 4PM?” Ron asked in quick succession.
His head was so close to Harry’s that Harry was getting lost in his pretty blue eyes like Hermione and pushed back to sit up and face him properly.
“I’m tired but what’s the crisis?”
“I think I want to marry Hermione. Like right now.”
Harry wanted to laugh at his friends’ absurdity, “And that’s a problem because?”
“Because now I can’t get the bloody idea out of my head. We were just sitting in the sitting room and she was reading a book and I was playing a game of wizarding chess, you know the one she got for me that plays itself, and I was thinking about that and I looked up at her. Mate, she looks just like she did when we were at the Hogwarts library figuring out ways for you not to die in the Tournament and then I was thinking about how long I’ve loved her and I’ll tell you, it’s been a bloody long time. She looked at me and I don’t know what happened, there was just something about her and I almost did it then and there. I haven’t even got the ring or anything and right when she was about to say something, I panicked.”
Ron was so arse over head for Hermione it’s a marvel it took them so long to even realise it. Harry knew since at least second year that they would get together, by about fifth year he was sure they would make it through the war, by the day the war ended, he was sure they’d make it a lifetime.
Love came so easily for them. They rarely ever fought and when they did, it was over minimal things that never really mattered, just a result of their hardheadedness.
Nothing Ron was saying sounded panic-worthy but Harry tried to be as empathetic as possible.
“Okay you want to marry Hermione, that’s brilliant. Why’d you run out? What’d you tell her then?”
“Hermione deserves more than some dumpy lounge room proposal so I ran. Also, I kind of told her that you invited all of us over for dinner tonight and that we were running late…”
Harry groaned, pulling the covers over him again and laying back. This was the worst possible time for one of their last minute plans.
“Mate, I’m really sorry. I can order takeaway, it’s fine, I don’t mean to run in on you but it was so quick and I knew she wouldn’t question it,” Ron apologised genuinely. “If it’s too much, I’ll go back and say you were busy.”
Harry didn’t want to kick Ron out now that he was already here and Hermione was probably on the way but he knew no one else in the house was necessarily in a party mood.
“No it’s fine” Harry mumbled, resurfacing for air from under the thick duvets, “C’mon.”
“Are you sure you’re okay? I didn’t see anyone downstairs either, the house was silent.”
“We just got into a bit of a disagreement today is all” Harry said whilst he went to the bathroom to change into something presentable.
“About?” Ron asked curiously.
“Everything” was all Harry offered before pulling open his bedroom door slowly, peeking out for his parents first.
He slowly made his way downstairs to the kitchen, “Did you invite Draco as well?”
“No but I said he’d be here too, just thought he’d say no if I asked so last minute” Ron explained sheepishly.
He was right.
Harry sighed then, “Well I suppose I’ll have to tell my parents about this plan, be right back.”
James was surprisingly in the Library. He was lounging sideways across a chair, his legs hung over the edge and he was throwing a snitch up and down, catching it, releasing it and watching it flutter for a bit, before closing his hands around it again. His face was neutral but Harry could see the tightness around his eyes.
“Dad?”
James abruptly caught the snitch and leaned up to see Harry standing awkwardly in the doorway.
“Yeah?”
Harry had the overwhelming urge to cry for some reason. He just felt like he had messed up horribly, for no reason. He was just cursed with a horrible temper.
“First, I just wanted to apologise for earlier…I shouldn’t have said what I said.”
He smiled lightly, “Come in Harry. I wanted you to know that you’re right…I might not have hesitated as much as I am right now if I was given a chance to save Regulus back then. When he died, I was so blinded by his loss, I was ready to go up to Voldemort himself and ask what the hell happened but I had Sirius, Remus, and all the rest of our friends. They held me back from making a rash decision like that which is what I am trying to do for you. I know you feel ready to go back and do what needs to be done but someone needs to be the voice of reason here and that’s what Lily and I are trying to do. I want Sirius back just as much as you but I know he wouldn’t want you to risk your life for it.”
Harry sat across from him on the matching wingback chair and James suddenly threw the snitch at him and Harry’s arm shot out immediately to catch it out of pure reflex.
Harry admired the engravings on it before speaking, “You’re right, I just have a tendency to act without thinking first and usually, no one stops me. All throughout my time at Hogwarts, I was put in these life threatening situations and I mean we tried to ask the adults for help but they never did so I just kind of took it up. No one stopped me from doing all these dangerous things, just thanked me after it was over. Even during the war, I walked straight to my death unobstructed because it was the only way so I’m sorry some of that self-sacrificing nature is still in me I suppose, Draco says I have a saviour complex and he might be right.”
James barked out a laugh then, “It truly amazes me how similar Draco and Regulus are. Sirius would like him though, I know that much.”
Harry smiled at the thought and threw the snitch back, “Sirius said Draco was a ‘poncy blond prat like his dad’ when he heard about him.”
“I imagine he did a lot of growing up since then,” James smiled.
Harry suddenly shot up when he remembered Ron was still waiting downstairs and once Harry told him the whole story, they got up and went to find Lily who was sitting in the attic.
“Mum?” Harry asked into the dark space.
“In here,” Lily called out weakly and her Lumos brightened, indicating her spot amidst all the boxes.
She was surrounded by a scattering of newspapers with red eyes and splotchy cheeks. As Harry scanned the covers, he saw that he was the main story for most of them and the one in her hands was when he made the cover after the fight at the Ministry, of course. It was right after Sirius died and after Voldemort had invaded his mind, and he would’ve looked like a ghost if it wasn’t for all the blood on his face and clothes.
She turned to look at him as if to reassure himself that he was there and Harry just silently collected the papers and put them back in the box.
He gently held her hands, “I spoke to dad…you’re right. It’s dangerous and risky but I’d like to talk about it soon. I was being impulsive and I said some things I regret and don’t mean.”
Lily nodded and seemed open to the idea.
Once that matter was settled, all three of them ran downstairs much happier after the express therapy session.
Ron looked up from where he was sitting at the table and grinned.
“Trust me, I was shitting my pants the month before I was going to propose to Lily,” James admitted and Ron blushed.
“Well Hermione should be here soon and Harry, if you want to invite Malfoy?” Ron reminded Harry.
“Oh yeah right,” he said, grabbing his wand.
He cast the familiar Patronus charm and when the proud stag burst out of his wand, blue and shimmery, James and Lily gasped.
“Oh my gods!” James shouted.
Lily just laughed maniacally and shook her head.
“Tell Draco to get his arse over here for dinner as soon as possible. It’s non-negotiable. Ron and Hermione will be there too along with…other guests.”
There was a possibility of Draco being at the manor as he visited his mum often so he thought it best to keep it vague.
The stag just bowed his head once before leaping into the air, circling them all once and bounding through the glass window panes and disappearing.
“Your patronus is a stag! Of course it is, if I had any doubts about you being my son they’re gone now” he laughed gleefully pulling Harry in for a hug and ruffling his hair rather aggressively.
“That fact that you’re twins wasn’t obvious enough?” Ron quipped but before anyone could respond the floo woke up and there was the rhythmic tapping of shoes on the hardwood floor. Based on the pace and intensity, Harry knew it was a very annoyed Hermione.
“Hello Mr. and Mrs. Potter, Harry,” she greeted delightfully but her expression soured, “Ronald.”
He just lifted his shoulders and awkwardly turned away.
“Sorry I’m late, this one forgot to mention dinner tonight,” she apologised.
“Not to worry,” Lily smiled, not giving anything away.
“Where’s Kreacher then?” James asked aloud and when he called him, he didn’t show up.
They all looked confused when he didn’t pop up and when Harry remembered, he groaned and slapped his forehead.
“He’s not here tonight,” he complained.
“Isn’t that the whole point of elves? They come when summoned?” James asked oddly.
“Well yeah but after the war, I basically freed him but he didn’t want to be freed. We settled on an agreement where every once in a while, he takes a night off “work.” I honestly don’t even know where he goes but he won’t be coming back. I can come up with something though” Harry decided.
Hermione smiled coyly as she was the main reason Kreacher had these days off. She had gotten into a long debate with the old house elf who ended up shoving cotton in his ears and agreeing so Hermione would leave him alone.
“How about I take over the cooking tonight? I have a feeling all of you need some authentic desi food, no takeaways,” James announced with a clap.
“I love Butter chicken,” Ron mused dreamily.
James shot him an incredulous look, “Have you ever tried anything else?”
He just shook his head and James nodded exasperatedly as if to say ‘of course he hasn’t.’
As he set to work opening cabinets and gathering ingredients, Draco arrived.
“What’s this then?” he announced, walking in.
Harry just shrugged and everyone dispersed as James cooked. He demanded space and silence as he commanded the kitchen and so everyone left before he lashed out at them like he did at Ron who stuck his hand to grab at whatever he was chopping.
“Where were you then before Ron’s untimely intrusion?” Harry asked Draco as they were curled up with each other on the sofa in front of the hearth.
Harry stared at the dancing red flames that used to only remind him of Ron but now he was reminded of Lily as well and it was a comforting thought.
“I was at the Manor and it was certainly untimely. Lucius was having another one of his episodes, calling me into his office and everything like I was eleven years old again educating me on the “duties of a Malfoy heir.” When the patronus came, he heard everything and became even more unhinged than usual, asking why Potter was summoning me like I was some lackey but he was practically frothing at the mouth at whoever your guests were. I didn’t tell him, just left after” Draco mumbled.
Harry knew intimately the problems Draco continued to face with Lucius. He only had to spend a year in Azkaban before being resentenced to house arrest and the only thing Lucius seemed to have learned in his time in the prison was how to make a shank and what not to do as a Malfoy heir and since he’d done so terribly on the second item, he seemed it imperative to take on the task of re-educating Malfoy. He didn’t understand how he didn’t see the problem in that.
His mum was supportive of him and Harry but she also loved Lucius and after the war, she was left very fragile, both of mind and body. She was content to spend her days gardening or reading about gardening in her sunroom and Draco never pushed her. Even Lucius rarely bothered her, he just stayed in his wing of the manor, ranting and raving to the equally senile portraits.
“He talked to me about marriage again, saying that the Greengrasses might be willing to accept me with a sufficient dowry,” he drawled sourly.
“And who’s going to tell him about Daphne and Theo?” Harry laughed.
“Apparently he’s set on Astoria.”
“Okay what about her and Bulstrode?”
“I thought it best not to poke the bear,” he huffed.
“Hey that’s a good one,” Harry smiled.
Draco grinned cheekily, “I know. Granger taught me that one after I tried to get She-Weasley back for the birthday thing. I found a potion that affects speech and brewed it and when spelled, it would make her squawk in between every word.”
“You really went through all the effort now even though it’s been so long since your birthday?” Harry questioned but was secretly impressed and incredibly fond of the boy across him.
“Of course, that’s the point. The anticipation makes it that much better for me and worse for her.”
Harry just shoved him and Draco kissed him lightly on the cheek before settling himself into a much more serious expression, “Robbards has been asking about you, says your time off is running out. You’ve already got a stack of papers taller than Hagrid and Kingsley says he needs to talk to you about some bill in the Wizengamot that he wants you to publicly endorse to get it passed.”
Harry just groaned, collapsing onto Draco dramatically.
Ever since the end of the war, Kingsley and reporters had been after Harry for press interviews or public endorsements or just to see what’s going on in the life of Harry Potter now that he doesn’t have a war to fight or a dark Lord to defeat.
The answer was not much really. Or atleast, he wished that was the case. He never necessarily had a problem with it but he craved a silent life where nothing happened and no one hounded him for a quote when he didn’t really care about any of that anymore. He felt like saving the Wizarding World was more than enough activity for a lifetime.
Robbards was a whole other topic and the idea of a Hagrid sized stack of papers waiting for him was enough to make his stomach turn.
“I’m not so sure when I want to come back, if at all,” Harry whispered and Draco jolted up, jostling his head that was resting on his shoulder.
“What do you mean?” he asked quickly.
“Well it’s just that I received an offer for another job,” he said.
“Where?”
Harry looked up at Draco’s face to answer, “From McGonagall, as professor for Defense Against the Dark Arts.”
Harry desperately wished he had a camera to capture the look of pure shock on his face.
“She what!” he burst out and Harry shushed him so he whisper-shouted, repeating himself. “When did this happen?”
“About a week ago. She’s been asking me for updates since then as the new year is starting up and I still don’t have an answer for her,” Harry said unsurely.
“What do your parents think?”
“They don’t know. Neither do Ron or Hermione, you’re the first person I’ve told and quite honestly, I don’t know whether to do it or not” Harry admitted, biting his lip.
As Harry’s nerves rose, Draco’s expression softened and he wrapped slim fingers around his own and squeezed gently.
“I could really see you as a professor you know, it’d actually be quite sexy, Professor Potter” Draco whispered into his ear.
“Is it now?” Harry answered back, lowering his voice.
“I’d stay after every class for some…extra help,” Draco said leaning in closer.
Draco climbed into his lap easily and Harry’s arms wrapped around him and they had a solid few minutes before a strangled sound came from the doorway and at the sight of James choking, Harry immediately shoved Draco off who fell half onto the sofa and half on the ground.
“Dad!” Harry said, his voice loud and high but Draco just groaned, piecing himself together and standing up.
“I just wanted to let you know that the lassis are done” James said, laughing while simultaneously cringing before quickly leaving.
“Ow!” Draco pushed Harry then quickly dug his finger into the space between Harry’s collarbone and neck.
Harry jumped back at Draco’s surprisingly firm finger and the odd place he stuck it, “What was that!”
“I poked the bear” was all he said before striding through the door and out to the lassis.
_______
“Those were the best drinks I’ve ever had in my life Mr. Potter” Hermione grinned widely, already finished with her second glass.
“This is the drink he made me the time I finally agreed to go on a date with him, if it wasn’t for them, Harry wouldn’t be here right now,” Lily winked at Harry, raising her glass at him.
James preened under the praise, “My mum taught me how to make them after she got tired of making them for me all the time.”
The sweet lassis were so delicious that Harry wished he had tried them before. He wished he could have helped his dad in the kitchen, chopping vegetables or adding spices to the dishes but he hadn’t any clue about Pakistani food.
After a very long time full of complaints and desperate pleas for James to hurry up, head chef James called them all in for food and they rushed in like they hadn’t eaten for a year before tonight.
James had laid out a buffet and identified everything for everyone: “So first we have daal which is a sort of slow cooked lentil stew with lots of spices, there we have aloo gobi which is a vegetable dish, and then we have beef kabobs. You can have any of those with roti or rice which are in those dishes at the end.”
Everyone stared at the table in awe and Harry wondered how he had managed to make all of this so quickly. He didn’t even know he had all of these ingredients in the first place.
At the look on his face, “Kreacher keeps a very well stocked kitchen and there’s loads of cooking spells that helped speed this along,” he smiled, handing plates out to everyone. “It’s been so long since I got to cook for anyone I suppose I got a little overexcited.”
Seeing James’ excitement over making food for everyone made Harry pause. He enjoyed cooking but he always associated it with being a chore, like it was at the Dursleys. He just saw food as a necessary thing, never putting much time or care into it but James clearly poured love into his food.
Harry thought it might be possible to change the way he thought about food, not as a basic necessity but as a luxury meant to be savoured and shared.
And savoured it they did. Everyone took seconds and thirds, all the negative energy from earlier dissipated as everyone chatted about anything and everything and were quickly on their way into falling into a food coma.
Harry watched as Draco set his utensils down with a deep breath and a drunk smile but he didn’t miss the way his skin reddened because of how spicy all the food was. He leaned over to grab some napkins but in his haste, he dipped his sleeve into the daal, causing the yellow to stain his crisp white sleeves.
Lily, who was on his left, tutted and lightly grabbed his wrist, guiding it towards her and she raised her wand to it to presumably, clean up the stain.
Draco jerked back, his knee hitting the table and his chair screeching as he pushed back from the table. His face was construed into one of horror as he stared at Lily’s wand hand that was still suspended in mid air over the spot where his hand once was.
She immediately connected the dots when she saw the tail end of the dark mark peeking out of his sleeve and Draco’s skin blanched as his breathing quickened.
Harry quickly put a reassuring hand on his shoulder but he shook it off, “I- I just n- need,” was all he managed to stutter before stepping away from the table and heading out of the kitchen quickly.
“I didn’t even realise” Lily whispered in horror. Not at the mark on his arm, but at her actions.
Draco hated anyone even seeing his arm but seeing a wand pointed at it brought back a torrent of dark and horrible memories from the worst time period of his life. He would never forget the pain he felt as the brand was burned into his arm and the ensuing pain he felt after he constantly clawed at it and rejected it.
“I’ll go talk to him,” Harry said quietly but Lily just put a hand out and stood up herself.
She padded out of the room slowly and headed in the direction of his footsteps.
He was pacing in a receiving room just off the main corridor downstairs and Lily knocked once on the door before stepping in. He stopped in his tracks and tried to control his breathing.
“I’m sorry, I just-” he began but he couldn’t get enough air into his lungs to form full sentences. His hands compulsively scratched at his arm, just like he used to but he didn’t even feel the pain of it, just the overwhelming need to scrub it off.
She walked in with her hands raised, “I am so sorry Draco, I should’ve asked before I did that, it was careless of me.”
He shook his head vehemently, “No no I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be so sensitive, I don’t even care, it’s fine.” The words sounded fake even to his own ears.
He felt small hands reach out towards him, not quite touching him, but just hovering near him and it was enough to stop his pacing.
“Can I?” she asked and not quite understanding, Draco nodded.
She wrapped her hands around his right wrist, forcing him to cease his incessant scratching. When she raised his left wrist, the skin was irritated and bleeding, the small stain from before paling in comparison to the damage he had wrought to himself.
She sucked in a harsh breath at the sight of the blood dripping down his arms and he cringed, pulling his arm back, not wanting her to see it. He had followed the same man that had killed her and here she was, cradling his arm with such tenderness it’s as if it wasn’t even there. She turned startling green eyes onto him and Draco felt just as he did when he looked in Harry’s- calm. She simply held him, breathing in tandem with him and forcing him to slow down and release the tension in his limbs.
She didn’t comment on anything, his reaction, the mark, or the blood. It was just her and him at this moment.
Once he had calmed down she asked, “How about we get this cleaned up?”
He nodded and she guided him out of the room and into the restroom upstairs.
She grabbed the healing kit there and settled Draco on top of the toilet lid, pulling his arm to rest on the counter. She could have healed his arm immediately with her wand, but she didn’t, and for that he was grateful.
“The first time Harry held my left hand I practically fainted. I thought I got over it but when I saw your wand I just remembered the night I got it,” he said aloud with a vacant and distant expression.
“You don’t just get over trauma Draco, I can’t even begin to imagine what you’ve gone through, you should afford yourself some grace,” she advised lightly, dabbing at his arm.
“How can you even look at it, much less heal it?” he asked genuinely. “I remember when I saw you two, the first thing I thought was that you’d never accept me…not when you found out about the mark.”
Lily looked at Draco sadly, a frown creasing her lips, “The thought hadn’t even crossed our minds. Harry told us all about you and the look on his face was enough to tell us all we needed to know about you two. I would never judge you for the mark, especially knowing you never had a choice in it, I grew up around it and could tell quite easily who genuinely wanted it and who were coerced into it.”
They were silent for a moment before Draco continued, “But I could’ve run away like Sirius, my cousin. Harry told me about him and how he’d run away from home to live with James after refusing the mark. I was just too much of a coward to leave.”
She paused, “You are not a coward. Yes Sirius left but you two were in entirely different situations and no one faults you for that.” She considered for a moment before starting again, “What do you know about Regulus, Sirius’ brother?”
He thought about it as Lily wrapped up his arm, “I know he was a death eater but defected and that he died young. Mum doesn’t really like to talk about him, she always gets quite emotional about it and I feel bad about pushing the topic.”
Lily hummed and nodded, “Well when Sirius left, he received the mark at sixteen, much like you did. He was forced into it, being the sole heir to their house. Anyone that knew Regulus knew that he was miserable after getting it, looking nothing like Mulciber or Yaxley did. When I think about you or him with the mark, I don’t see you like I saw them, I just see two boys who were born into unfortunate situations.”
She tied off the bandage and quickly scrubbed at the stain with a wet cloth and some soap, determined to get that as well.
Draco didn’t respond and Lily didn’t continue, both of them seeming to have come to a settlement.
“Thank you” Draco said genuinely.
“Of course” she smiled, folding his sleeve back down and buttoning it perfectly.
“I was wondering if you would ever be open to meeting my mum some time,” he said shyly, his cheeks pinking, “I know you might not have been close at school but I know I loved meeting you two and I’m sure she would too. I don’t know if Harry told you what happened during the war but they’re quite close now and I think it might be, er, nice.”
“I would love to,” she answered. Harry did tell her about the sacrifice she made as well, lying directly to Voldemort’s face, saving both of their children in the process and she was honoured to have the chance to thank her in person.
They went back downstairs, rejoining the rest of the group silently, and the atmosphere was lightened once more.
“You’ll have to settle this engagement thing soon mate” Harry reminded Ron, looping Draco into the conversation as well.
“Promise you’ll help me?” Ron asked nervously.
“Swear it” Harry guaranteed.
________
That night all Harry could think about was how the night would’ve gone if Sirius was there.
That’s precisely how he ended up on Hogwarts grounds the next day, walking up to the main entrance of the school on his own, hoping to make his way up undetected to the headmistresses office and get a moment alone with Dumbledore’s portrait so that he may tell him where the device is and what he would have to do to save Sirius.
Because he would do it, it was just up to everyone else to get on board with his plan.