More Time with Harry
The falling of the cup on Remus’s head was supposed to be a bit of comedy. No nefarious reasons behind it, I promise. Though some of your thoughts were pretty cool.
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That afternoon, around teatime, Sirius and Remus were talking about what they had done that day. “Well, I’ve got an appointment with the Potter manager tomorrow, but you’re going to be on your way to Hogwarts,” Sirius said, picking up his glass of firewhiskey and taking a sip. He would have slugged it down, but they were not trying to get drunk tonight. It was just a bit until they got Remus locked up for the night.
“Yeah, I’ll be riding the train,” Remus said, putting his glass on the table and leaning back in his chair. “I was supposed to do it in case you got on the train, but now, I’m just going for nostalgic reasons,” he added, closing his eyes for a moment. He was tired. It had been a long boring day for him. Sirius had done most of the work today, and he had just followed along.
“Did they call off the dementors?” Sirius wanted to know. He never did approve of them posting those demons around the school. When he had read about them in the third book, he had almost lost his shite. What kind of idiot puts those demons around children? They were going to have to do something about Fudge. After they take care of Umbridge.
“As far as I know,” the werewolf said, opening his eyes, looking worried that they might not have.
“I’d better call Amelia,” Sirius said, going to the floo to do just that. He took the floo powder and threw it in the fire and bent down and called out the address she had left with them. He waited until she answered, then stuck his head in the fire. “Amelia, did they call off the dementors from Hogwarts?” he asked as soon as he saw her face.
“Yes,” she said, a smile on her lips. She was holding the fourth book in her hand, with a finger keeping her place. “I made sure of it,” she added.
“Oh, good, I was worried,” Sirius said, glad that that was taken care of. “Did you get Crouch?” he asked, not having heard anything on the news.
“Yes, he was hiding his son, just like the book said,” she said, sadly. “It was hard for me, but it is my job,” she added, straightening her back.
“I can imagine,” he said with sympathy in his voice. “I’ll let you get back to your reading,” he said, nodding to the book.
“I will contact you in three days,” she said, waving him off. She lifted the book and continued where she had left off.
He took his head out of the fire and stood. “They’re gone,” he told Remus. Both sighed a huge sigh of relief.
“Good, I think I’ll still teach Harry the Patronus Charm,” the werewolf said, thinking of how the dementors affected the teen. He didn’t want Harry to be caught unawares. The last thing that boy needed was to hear his parents last words before they were murdered.
“Good idea, but how will you do it, if his boggart isn’t a dementor?” Sirius asked, not sure how that would work. He too didn’t want Harry to remember that night.
“I’ll take a page out of his book and teach it like he did the kids in his DA classes. I mean, he taught all of them how to cast it so he must have done it right, right?” Remus said with pride in his voice. It still blew his mind that Harry had done such a feat. As far as he knew the charm was almost impossible to perform, but Harry had taught it to a bunch of children.
“I wish I could have spent more time with him,” Sirius said, morosely. “I mean, I spent so much time reading about him that I feel I know him better than he knows himself. However, I don’t know him at all,” he added, tapping his hand on his leg in agitation. Now that he was free, he feels that he spent too much time fixing things and not enough time with Harry, but it needed to be done. Harry deserved a better life than the books depicted.
“We can have breakfast with him tomorrow, and he has Hogsmeade weekends this year. You can come and visit him then,” Remus said, trying to sooth his irritated friend. He felt worse than Sirius, he didn’t have the excuse of Azkaban. He just forgot the boy. He took the word of the headmaster and left the boy in a bad home. He was going to make up for it though.
“That’s right. I’d better make sure that his permission slip is signed. I know that fat lump, Dursley, didn’t sign it before the kid blew up his aunt,” Sirius said with a laugh. “Okay, we’ll eat breakfast with him tomorrow, and I’ll dig up those mirrors and give them to him. That way he can call me anytime,” he said, getting up to go and dig in his old school trunk.
“You do that,” Remus said, getting up to get ready. He was tired, and tonight was the full moon. He was going to be locked up in the basement. Sirius had bought him some Wolfsbane potion and would be there with him as Padfoot, but he would still be tired tomorrow. He would have to take some Pepper-up in the morning just to get through breakfast and the train ride.
“I’ll be down in a little while,” Sirius called down the stairs, hoping it wouldn’t take too long to find the mirrors. He hadn’t kept company with a werewolf in ages, but at least this time Moony would be in control of himself. Wolfsbane hadn’t been around when they were in school, so this would be a new experience for the both of them.
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The next morning saw them once again knocking on Harry’s door. This time the boy was awake and seemed to be expecting them. He opened the door fully dressed and ready for the day. Though his hair was still a rat’s nest, just not near as bad as yesterday.
“Sirius, Mr. Lupin,” Harry said, holding the door open. “Come in,” he said, moving out of the way. the room was already packed up, though the trunk was open and looked like it needed to be organized.
Remus dragged his feet as he made his way to the nearest chair. Sirius felt bad for his friend, but he was much more chipper. “Heya, Harry, how are you this morning?” he asked, giving his godson a hug.
“I’m good,” Harry said, returning the hug. “Breakfast?” he asked, snapping his fingers like he saw Sirius do yesterday. When the elf appeared, he ordered some eggs and soldiers with fruit and milk. “I want a light breakfast,” he explained when they looked at him. “I plan on eating more on the train,” he added.
“Ah, the snack lady,” Sirius said with an air of wisdom. “Do you have enough money?” he asked. Harry nodded that he did.
“Oh,” was all Remus said, still slouching in his chair.
“Are you alright, Mr. Lupin?” Harry asked, peering at the man’s washed-out face. “You look tired,” he said, looking concerned.
“It was a long night, Harry. Don’t worry, I’ll be right as rain soon,” Remus said, waving away his concern.
“If you say so,” the teen said, not believing it for a moment. The man did look like shite. His eyes had circles under them that were dark and huge. Like he hadn’t slept in months. He had no idea what could have happened to make him look like that in one day.
“So, Harry, I’ve got something for you,” Sirius said, holding out a small package.
“What is it?” Harry asked, taking it, and pulling on the string. Out fell a small mirror. He looked at his godfather quizzically.
“It’s a communication mirror. Just call my name, Sirius Black, and I’ll answer in my mirror,” the man said, holding a matching mirror up. “Just don’t do it around the teachers, or they’ll take it away,” he warned with a firm tone.
“Wicked,” Harry said, tucking his mirror in his trunk, hiding it within his clothes so it didn’t get broken. “I’ll hide it,” he promised.
There was a knock on his door and Harry answered it. It was Ron. “Harry, are you coming to breakfast?” the other teen asked, then he looked into the room and saw the two men. “Oh,” the redhead said, “Never mind. I’ll let Mum know,” he said as he turned and left.
“Thanks, mate,” Harry said, watching his friend leave. It was then that the elf appeared with breakfast.
“Harry, give me your Hogsmeade permission slip and I’ll sign it,” Sirius said, holding out his hand.
“How did you know it wasn’t signed?” the teen asked, digging the slip out of his bag. Sirius just seemed to know things that he shouldn’t know. It was weird.
“Lucky guess,” was the answer accompanied by a smirk.
Harry frowned at that, but he shrugged and handed the slip over with a quill and ink. He was just glad that someone could sign it and he got to go with his friends. That and he got to see and talk to his godfather.
Sirius signed with a flourish and gave it back. “There you go. Write to me when the weekends are, and I’ll come and visit you. Or better yet, mirror call me,” he said, pointing to his mirror in his pocket.
“I will,” Harry said, then he applied himself to his breakfast. Sirius and Remus doing the same. It wasn’t long before Harry joined the Weasleys, Hermione, and Remus to go to the train. Sirius made his way to the bank to talk to the Potter manager.
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Sirius was sitting in Bragrast’s office. He was the Potter’s manager and had been for generations. Well, his clan had. They had been going over the books and to Sirius’s relief Dumbledore had not been stealing from Harry. However, he had been making some very bad business decisions. Things he never should have been making in the first place.
He had been investing ventures of friends. Some of them were pure scams, like a deal from that thief Mundungus. While he and Remus had been going to get a name of a heavy hitter from the thief, they would never invest in anything that man thought up. Mundungus would sell his own grandmother for a sickle if he thought he could make more money off it.
No, Dumbledore hadn’t been stealing, but he had been losing money that wasn’t his. Like the goblins said, he hadn’t broken the law, but he pushed the boundaries a lot. Sirius would be speaking to the man about that as soon as he could. It was just foolishness to spend money that wasn’t his. He might speak to his cousin who was a lawyer to see if there were any legal actions that he could take.
“Now that we’ve fixed the books and taken Dumbles off the accounts, let’s take care of the wills,” Sirius said, closing the last of the folders and pushing it back across the desk to the goblin’s waiting hands.
“Do you want to have them publicly read, or will here and now suffice,” Bragrast asked, taking the folder, and filing it away. He was just glad it was all said and done. Now that old man could no longer lose money in this account. He never liked that old fool. He had no head for money.
“Here is fine,” Sirius said, waving away the public reading. There was no sense in calling everyone together when most of them were dead or incapacitated. Only he, Remus, and Wormtail were alive or healthy.
Bragrast read the wills and Sirius took note that they were just as he remembered them. He was named the guardian of Harry, and if not him then the Longbottoms. They were still in St. Mungo’s. He was hale and hardy, so he would take up the role.
“Everyone, besides Peter Pettigrew, can have what was left to them. Give Neville, via his grandmother, his parents bequeath,” Sirius said, going over what needed to go where. “Marlene is dead, so hers will go back to Harry. I think that’s it,” he finished, looking over the parchments that the wills were written on. At least Remus would now have some money that the ministry couldn’t take from him. He would be able to afford some clothes that didn’t look like he took from the tip.
“It will be done,” the goblin said, making notes as Sirius talked. “Are there any other things needing to be done?” he asked, hoping to get back to work on the things they had discussed earlier.
“Nope, I think we’ve got it all done. Thank you for not letting that old coot bleed Harry dry,” Sirius said, knowing it had been this goblin putting his foot down on a lot of things that had kept Harry’s vault from being emptied. He had capped the investments to a limited amount a year. And Sirius was very thankful for that.
“Until next time then,” Bragrast said, going back to his books and ignoring the wizard now that they were finished.
“Right, I’ll just show myself out,” Sirius said, doing just that.
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Remus tagged along with the Weasleys, Harry and Hermione to King’s Cross Station. Mr. Weasley had had the ministry have cars take them when they thought Sirius was going to be after Harry. They hadn’t changed plans, so they still rode in those cars. They were quite a sight walking down the station with their trunks and owls and cats. But they made it, so that is all that mattered. They all crossed over into platform 9 ¾ with little fuss.
“Do you kids mind if I ride along with you?” he asked Harry and his friends. “It’s just I used to be a friend of Harry’s father and I’d like to get to know him better,” he added, looking abashed. He was still dead tired, so his emotions were raw.
“I don’t mind,” Harry said, wanting to hear more stories about his parents. “What do you guys think?” he asked his two friends.
“I don’t mind either,” Hermione stated, more than happy to pick a teacher’s brain.
“Whatever,” was Ron’s contribution. He didn’t care either way. He wasn’t overly excited about having Hermione talk a professor’s ear off, but the man had some wicked stories about Harry’s parents’ time in Hogwarts.
“Brilliant,” Remus said, leading the way to the nearest car to find a compartment. Hopefully it would be a smooth ride. Now that the dementors were not a threat. He had almost lost his lunch when he read about them in the third book. He only hoped they had made enough of a difference now and that it would not be a problem.
The train ride when smoothly. The only issue that popped up was when Draco Malfoy came to the compartment, but that was quickly dealt with by Remus being awake and a professor. Soon it was time for the Welcoming Feast and Remus left the kids to get to the Great Hall as he made his way to the Teachers’ Table. He was sitting next to Hagrid, and he remembered that it would be his first year teaching.
He leaned over and said, “Hey, Hagrid, I hear you are teaching this year. If you want, come by my suite and I’ll give you some pointers.”
“That’s right nice of you, Remus,” the half-giant said, slapping the smaller man’s back, almost knocking him out of his chair. “I’ll do that,” he said as he turned forward and watched the sorting.
Remus just hoped he could stave off the half-giant’s more dangerous animals. He didn’t want to have fourth years abominations come to past. Whatever those things were called. If only Hagrid would listen. He had to try though.