Payback Time

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Harry and Sirius bummed around London for the rest of the day in their female forms since Sirius was still wanted in his male form. They had a blast just doing nothing but seeing the sights. Sirius had never been in the big city, and Harry had only been as an unwanted tagalong with his relative, so he never got to enjoy the sights when he was there.

Harry used his magic to do random acts of kindness for people who were nice to him. Like the waitress that gave him an extra scoop of ice cream for being adorable, he whammied to get extra tips for the day. Or the bus driver that waited while they ran for the stop, he made the driver’s seat more comfortable. Little things like that. He didn’t want to only use his new magic for revenge, he wanted to make his life easier and if that meant helping others, as well as getting rid of the negative, then so be it.

“Harry, tell me about those teacups,” Sirius asked, when they stopped for tea on their way back to the Leaky Cauldron. They had just done the Windsor Castle tour and were tired as neither were in the best shape. “I know they were not normal cups, and people don’t normally hide dishes in alleys.” It had been on his mind since he saw it yesterday, but this was the only time they had sat down all day.

“Oh, well, you see, those were my relatives,” Harry said, not seeing the reason to lie, but knew if the man took it bad, he could erase the memory. He was comfortable with Sirius. The bloke was a stand-up kind of man, who was fun to be around and could crack a joke about anything. That and he had such a crap life, he might understand why Harry did what he did to the Dursleys.

“Why did you turn them into teacups?” the man wanted to know before he made any judgment. Merlin knew if he had the power, he would’ve done the same to his family as a kid. Heck, he still would.

“They are not nice people. But I left my cousin alone, he’s just a kid. I mean, he will go into the system, but he might get a family that will treat him like he needs, not one that spoils him like his parents did. That’s just another form of abuse, according to my friend Hermione,” Harry said, quickly, then added, “They were very mean to me, growing up. They kept me in a boot cupboard and called me all sorts of names. They told me my parents died in a car accident, drunks and on the dole. They were not nice people,” he reiterated. He fussed with his napkin, waiting to see if he needed to whammy the man he was growing to respect.

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. I would’ve done the same to my family,” his godfather said, nodding decisively, patting his godson’s hand. “My parents abused me too. Sure, they used magic, but it was abuse, all the same. I left when I was sixteen. I moved in with your dad’s family.” He puffed up proudly at that. “I’ll tell you more about that later, but for now, know that I will keep your secret,” he said again.

“Whew,” Harry said, picking up his teacup and taking a sip. He was glad he didn’t have to use his new magic on his godfather. He really liked the man, and with this respected him even more.

“So, what do you want to do now?” Sirius asked, not sure if he was up to anything else. It had been a thrilling day for him, but he was quite knackered.

“I was thinking of going back to the pub and getting dinner, then bed,” Harry confessed, he was quite tired himself.

“Okay, we can watch out for the newspapers for the next few days to see if I’m exonerated,” Sirius said, hoping Amelia did her job and that Fudge didn’t mess it up for him or her. If that man did, he was pointing Harry in his direction. Maybe his godson could make him tell the truth too. That would ruin his career in a flat minute. He might do that anyway. There was no need for that namby-pamby man to be in office. He was letting Lucius Malfoy pull his strings, of all people. He knew that, and he’d been in Azkaban. “So, tell me about your new powers,” he said for something to say.

“I don’t know much about them. I know I have to have line of sight for most things. For Peter, I had to think really hard about Ron’s face to get the rat to me. I don’t think I could do it for just anyone,” Harry said, scrunching up his brow in thought. “I mean, I don’t think I could call Voldy to me and kill him with a wave of my hand, because I don’t know where he is,” he explained in more detail.

“I get that,” Sirius said, thinking about it for a moment, and then added, “What about those two spells you did in the lift? You didn’t have line of sight then.”

“Oh, but I could picture them in my mind, because we had just left them,” Harry said, his eyes lighting up in realization. “I knew exactly where they were,” he pointed out.

“So, if I asked you to whammy the minister, you couldn’t do it, because you have no clue who he is, or where he’s at?” Sirius questioned, wanting to confirm what Harry was saying.

“I think so,” Harry said, his brow furrowing again. “I mean, I could try, but I don’t think it will work.” He wasn’t sure if he even wanted to, but if Sirius was asking there had to be a good reason.

“Why don’t you give it a go,” his godfather said, waving a hand in a ‘try it’ manner. He really wanted to see if Harry could do it. If he could, there could be an unlimited number of things the kid could do. He could… wait did he say that You-Know-Who was still around? A question for later.

“What do you want me to do?” Harry asked, concerned. He didn’t want to do anything too mean. He didn’t want to be a bully.

“Make it so he can’t lie, like you did Peter,” Sirius said, getting a vengeful look on his face. He really didn’t like Fudge.

“Do you have a picture of him?” Harry asked, never having seen the man to even think about what he looked like. “I’ve only seen him once for all of five minutes. I don’t think I can picture him well enough,” he added, remembering the man in a lime green suit. He could vaguely remember him, but it was fuzzy memory. 

“Ummm,” Sirius said, thinking about what he had on his person. “No,” he finally said, shoulders slumping.

“Then, no, I don’t think it’ll work. I have nothing to work with,” Harry said, shrugging his shoulders. He finished his tea and got up, throwing some money on the table for the bill.

“I’ll see what we can find when we get back to the Leaky,” Sirius said, getting up too.

“Do you still want to pose as my mum?” the teen asked, straightening out his shirt as he started walking down the street. They were only a few blocks away from the pub. Sure they’d been walking all day, but it was good for them. They would be feeling it tomorrow, but if they kept it up for the rest of the summer, it would get better.

“No, I’ll look in my Padfoot, or Snuffles, form,” the other man said, looking around to see if he recognized where they were. He did spot a few places that he had known before he was incarcerated, but it had changed so much since then.

“Do you want your man bits back before we get there? We can duck into an alley first,” Harry asked, pointing to the alley he had hid the teacups.

“Merlin, yes,” the man turned woman said, like he had been missing his manhood all day.

“Big baby,” Harry said, with a smirk, though he did understand what the man was feeling. He was going to turn back into a boy as soon as he was in his room for the same reason. “I have a moral question for you,” he asked, wondering if it was a good idea to ask a man who had escaped from prison a question about morals.

“Oh yeah, what?” the ex-prisoner asked, vowing to do his best to answer with as much maturity as possible.

“It’s about making people be honest. Isn’t it a form of brainwashing, or mental control?” Harry asked, not sure which dilemma it fell under.

Sirius thought long and hard on that while they moved to the alley that the teacups were hidden. They moved to the back and simply stood there while he pondered. “That is a good question, and I have one for you in return. Do you really want to know what people really think about you?” he asked instead, not that he wasn’t going to answer the original question, but he wanted Harry to think about a different perspective.

“I do, but I also don’t. I mean, there are some really mean people out there. I made Peter tell the truth so that you can be free. And getting a politician to tell the truth would be good for the people, but normal everyday people, I’m not so sure,” Harry said, tapping his chin in thought. “Maybe if I only used it for one conversation?” he questioned more to himself than Sirius.

“You would have to live with the consequences,” his godfather pointed out.

“I’ll have to think about it more,” Harry said, turning the woman back into a man, who promptly turned into a dog. They made their way to the pub and Harry went to the bar. “Hey, Tom. One of the specials, and some scraps for Snuffles,” he said, this time without any flirting.

Tom nodded and went to the kitchen to get ‘her’ order. He returned a few seconds later, magic was a wonderful thing. “Here you go, Harriet,” he said, putting some roast beef with the fixings in front of ‘her’ and a plate of fat and bones for the ‘dog’.

“Thanks,” Harry said, eating slowly since he wasn’t that hungry, but wanted to have a full belly before bed. He noticed the dining area wasn’t that full, but it was early in the evening. He finished most of his plate and waved to Tom that he was done. He and Snuffles went to the bedroom.

Snuffles turned to Sirius as Harry got ready for bed. “What did you mean you couldn’t call You-Know-Who? He’s still alive?” he asked, watching the kid wave his hand to change clothes.

“Yeah, I’ve fought him twice already,” Harry said like it was no big deal. To him it really wasn’t. It had already happened. He had won. Sure, it was plain dumb luck both times, but he now had his new magic on his side. He was confident that if Voldy came to him, he’d have more than luck to help him.

“How?” the flabbergasted man asked, dropping into a chair. This could not be happening. The man was supposed to be dead. Not attacking his godson. What was Dumbledore doing while the boy was fighting off the Dark Lord? Why was Harry fighting the git in the first place? Where was he fighting him? How was he fighting him? Harry was just a kid. He didn’t get the powerup until yesterday. What the hell had been going on while he had been locked up? And just where was Remus during all of this? These were questions he was going to get answers to as soon as possible.

“Once as a wraith and the second time as a memory,” Harry said through a yawn. He was really tired and wanted to have this conversation later. Why did the man have to start asking questions now? Wasn’t he just as tired as Harry?

“I mean, how is he still alive?” Sirius reiterated, looking at the exhausted young man.

“That I don’t know. You’ll have to ask Dumbledore. He won’t tell me. That might be one thing I make him tell me the truth on,” Harry said, crawling into the bed, and pulling the covers up to his chin. “Good night, Sirius,” he said, effectively ending the conversation.

“Yeah, yeah, good night,” the man said, not paying attention. He sat in that chair and thought for a very long time that night. It was halfway through the night that he got some parchment and ink and started writing letters. He didn’t have an owl, but he’d have Harry post them tomorrow. Sirius didn’t get to sleep until five in the morning.

The next morning, a very tired Sirius was woken by a very awake Harry. “Why are you so tired?” the teen asked the grumpy man.

“I couldn’t get over the fact that you’ve fought Voldy twice already,” the dogman said, stretching the kinks out.

“It’s really no big deal,” Harry said, looking at the bags under the man’s eyes.

“No, it really is. You weren’t alive during the last war. Sure, you were the reason it ended, but it was bad before that. I lost a lot of good friends in that war,” Sirius said, his face sad and mad at the same time. “If he is still alive, it could happen again,” he pointed out. “Not to mention that you are a kid and have no business fighting a Dark Lord, be it Voldemort, or not,” he said, pointing a finger at his godson, then grabbing him into a hug. “It scares me that it doesn’t scare you,” he added, hugging him tight.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know,” Harry said, hugging him back. “I can take him now,” he said with confidence.

“But you shouldn’t have to, that’s the point,” Sirius said, pulling away to look at the boy’s face.

“But I’m the Boy-Who-Lived,” Harry said with a bitter bite to his tone.

“Which means you survived a killing curse, not that you are some kind of boy hero,” the man pointed out. He hated that blasted name.

“You haven’t read the books they’ve written about me then,” more bitterness poured out of the boy’s mouth.

“What books?” Sirius said, his voice was now firm.

“There’s a whole series of books about my ‘adventures’,” Harry said, scorn showing on his face. He hated those books. “The kids that read them think I’m some kind of hero that goes around rescuing princesses, and such,” he added, completely disappointed that people believed that crap. Who believed that a five-year-old would ride a unicorn and kill a vampire king?

“I’m going to find out who wrote those and…” was as far as he got, when Harry just shrugged.

“It’s done,” the teen said, waving it off. “Nothing you do now can mitigate the damage,” he added, knowing that even if they sued all it would do was give him bad press.

“I’ll do it anyway. Once I’m free.”

“Let’s get you free first,” Harry said, waving his hand and changing their clothes to new jeans and shirts.

“Breakfast? Then can you post these for me?” Sirius asked, pointing to the three letters he had written last night. He’d hold off this conversation until he could actually do something about it.

“Sure, I have to write Hermione and get Hedwig back,” Harry said, turning into Harriet and waiting until Sirius was Snuffles. He picked up the letters, and they went to breakfast.