Hours were passing. Hours Harry could have been spending getting some much needed sleep. However, it seemed impossible to even close his eyes. The truth was that Harry, for the first time he could remember, he was not at all excited to return to Hogwarts. The thought of returning to no Quidditch, Dumbledore completely ignoring him, the stress of studying for his O.W.L.s, and worst of all, Umbridge, made Harry wish he could stay at Grimmauld Place forever. Unfortunately, he didn't have a choice. As much as he wished he could stay where he was, he knew it was important for him to return to school. At least the D.A. meetings were something to bring him slight comfort when the thought of returning to Hogwarts seeped into his mind, filling him with a sense of dread.
Eventually, Harry sat up in bed, sighing, and turned to look at Ron, who was sound asleep and snoring loudly. Harry wondered briefly what Ron was dreaming about (probably not taking the form of a giant snake and attacking people...), then pulled on his sneakers and strode to the door, opening it quietly and pulling it closed behind him. He made his way downstairs, tiptoeing past Mrs. Black's portrait, creeping slowly down the creaky staircase. He fancied a cup of tea, or maybe hot chocolate, hoping it might help him sleep.
To Harry's surprise, the kitchen was not empty; Sirius sat alone at the end of the long table, a mug in his hand, his long dark hair pulled back in a messy ponytail.
"Harry," Sirius said, looking up from his mug. "What are you doing awake?"
Harry shrugged. "Couldn't sleep."
He sat beside Sirius at the table, and with a flick of his wand, Sirius summoned a steaming mug from the kitchen. Harry accepted it, taking a long drink, letting it warm him up. "Why are you up? Its past midnight."
"Same as you," Sirius sighed. "Couldn't sleep."
Wondering briefly if Sirius was normally awake at this time, Harry nodded. In a moment of desperation to voice his problems to his godfather, he blurted out, "I don't wanna go back to Hogwarts."
Sirius didn't look surprised. "I know. I figured. But Harry-"
"Can't I stay here? With you? And Remus?"
"Harry-"
"I can't go back," Harry said desperately. "Not with that Umbridge woman, she's horrible. And - and the O.W.L.s, Dumbledore won't talk to me, everyone thinks I've gone mad..."
Sirius started to say something but stopped. He was staring at Harry's hand, which was closed around his mug.
"What's happened to your hand?" Sirius reached out to touch Harry's hand, but Harry pulled it back.
"I...fell."
It was a horrible excuse, and they both knew it.
Sirius raised an eyebrow. "You fell. Really?"
He gently grabbed Harry's arm and pulled his hand onto the table.
Sirius looked at it and silently mouthed the words etched into Harry's skin. 'I must not tell lies.' He slowly looked up at Harry, his face paler than usual, and though his expression was relaxed, there was a furious rage in his eyes. "Did - did she - ?"
"It was detention," Harry mumbled.
"Detention - I thought she had you writing lines!" Sirius exclaimed. "She-"
He stopped. A look of realization spread over his face. "Did she use a blood quill?!"
"Sshh...," Harry pulled his sleeve over his hand. "Yes, I think so."
Harry could tell Sirius was barely containing his anger behind his calm face, and it was taking every bit of self-control in him to not march out the door and up to Hogwarts himself.
"Harry, you do know blood quills are illegal?" Sirius said quietly, but angrily. "She's breaking all sorts of laws! Have you reported this? To Dumbledore, McGonagall, anyone?!"
"NO," Harry said, motioning for Sirius to keep his voice down."I don't want to give her the satisfaction-"
"GIVE HER THE SATISFACTION?!" Sirius said in the loudest whisper Harry had ever heard. "She's probably delighted that no one knows! You need to report this!"
Harry thought Sirius was starting to sound an awful lot like Hermione. "I can't. Dumbledore has enough going on right now. It's not like he'd actually talk to me anyway."
"And McGonagall?" Sirius asked.
"No," Harry replied. "It's fine! Look, it's starting to fade anyway!"
"How long has this been going on?" Sirius demanded.
"Every detention I've had with her," Harry mumbled.
"Every - And how many is that?"
"Once a week for the past few months..."
"THIS HAS BEEN GOING ON FOR MONTHS?!" Sirius roared.
Before Harry could answer, Mrs. Black started screaming upstairs.
Sirius threw up his hands looking exasperated. "Stay here."
He ran out of the kitchen, leaving Harry sitting alone at the table, running his thumb over the back of his hand. When the screaming had stopped, Harry heard everyone getting up to see what was going on, and Sirius reassuring them everything was fine, and to go back to bed.
When Sirius returned, he was followed by Lupin, who was carrying a few small bottles and containers of various creams and liquids.
"Harry," he said, walking around the table to sit next to him. "Sirius told me everything."
Sirius sat on Harry's other side, opening one of the bottles Remus carried, and started applying a bright orange paste on the back of Harry's hand.
"It'll help with the pain and the scarring," Lupin assured him.
It did. The light throbbing he had been feeling for most of the day had already started to subside. "Thank you. It feels better."
"Harry, this is the sort of the stuff you need to report to Dumbledore or a teacher as soon as it happens," Sirius said quietly. He seemed to have calmed down and was ready to reasonably discuss the matter. Harry suspected Lupin was the one who had calmed him down.
"Things like this cannot happen," Lupin agreed. "Someone might have been able to prevent this from going on for as long as it has if you had told someone."
"I know," Harry mumbled, looking down at his hand now covered in orange paste. "I just didn't want to cause any more trouble."
"All we want is for you to be okay, Harry," Sirius assured him, putting a hand on his arm. "As does Dumbledore."
"Does anyone else know?" Lupin asked.
"Ron and Hermione," Harry said. They found out themselves. Hermione gave me this stuff called 'murtlap' or something that made it better."
Lupin smiled softly. "That was clever of her. I assume she also urged you to tell a teacher?"
"She and Ron both did. I should have listened. They were only trying to help." He paused. "Is it okay if I go to bed?"
"Of course," Lupin said. He pushed the other containers towards Harry. "Use those. They'll help."
Harry stood, putting the containers in in his hoodie pocket, and bid them goodnight.
Before he left the kitchen, Sirius stood up and hugged him tightly.
"You know you'll always be welcome here, right?" Sirius said. "That doesn't mean I want you leaving Hogwarts, but if you ever need somewhere to stay, I'll always be happy to have you here. Whenever you want."
Harry smiled. "I know. Here's the closest to home I've got."
Sirius smiled back, and let Harry go back upstairs to him and Ron's bedroom.
Ron was still sleeping; Harry wasn't sure if Mrs. Black's screams had woken him up. He put the bottles beside his bed and burrowed into his blankets, finally ready to go to sleep.