Chapter 16
After Harry had finally extracted himself from his friends and had the appropriate scolding from them much to Lily and James amusement, Ron noticed the way that Harry kept trying to look over his significantly taller shoulder towards the sheet that was hiding Sirius from the commotion that had previously happened. Noting this Ron said, “I’m not going to lie to you mate, he is not good the last the healers said he would be okay it would just take him a while.”
At this Hermione interrupted with a gentle glare, “Not because of the veil, I can physically see you trying to blame yourself, its because he went so long without treatment from the dementors, it is not at all your fault stop it, if anything him coming through helped him. Honestly, this universe is significantly better in the mental health department for the wizarding world.”
With a slight glance back toward his parents and Remus, Harry slowly started making his way towards the sheet. As he pulled it open he let out a startled gasp. Sirius was the most pale Harry had ever seen him, he was asleep in the bed surprisingly looking very peaceful more so than Harry had ever seen him.
While James and Lily were shocked by how bad this version of Sirius looked it was nothing compared to how Remus felt, while he had heard that he had spent a long time in Azkaban it had not truly hit him what that would mean for the man without any treatment after the fact. Remus had assumed, obviously incorrectly that Dumbledore would have at least made him see a mind healer after the trauma that he had obviously experienced.
While Remus was experiencing this revelation for the first time James and Lily were observing how Harry was acting around his friends. He was certainly not the same kid that he was when it was just the adults in the room. They had noticed through watching him interact with everyone else that while it seemed that he was relaxed and happy if they watched close enough it was obvious that he was not really comfortable it was as though he was always looking over his shoulder waiting for something to go wrong. However, it seemed as though he was not concerned when he was with his friends, rather than constantly looking toward James and Lily to make sure that what he was doing was okay, he just did it and Ron and Hermione never left his side. In fact, James was certain that when Harry had initially hugged Ron the redhead had given James and Lily a very impressive warning glare. It was so startling because that was the same look that he had given Regulus after Sirius was disowned. Thankfully James and Regulus had one thing in common, they never abandoned those they loved.
Lily had noticed some of the more subtle things that Harry’s friends were doing for example since they had come in the room one of them had made sure to be between Harry and everyone else in the room at all times as though they were anticipating an attack. She also was extremely aware of the wand holsters that both of them had attached to their arms. Even knowing that their world was still in active war with Voldemort it was still startling to see these sixteen-year-olds so openly ready for a fight, these kids had clearly been through a lot and the mother in her wanted to make sure that nothing would ever hurt them again.
Ron whispered in the tone that he had learned to keep even Snape from hearing what was said, “How much do they know and can we trust them?”
“Not much basically the bare minimum. I trust them but I am not sure how they would react to the truth, the war ended here that Halloween night, they never experienced his return.” Harry responded.
“Harry, you know that there is no going back right, this is your second chance, they deserve to know the truth, and you deserve the chance at a family,” Hermione said with a grim smile.
“I know Hermione. But where would I even start. They know what happened that night but I haven’t even been able to tell them about the Dursley’s, how am I going to explain everything else?”
“We can help, you just have to let us, Harry, start one story at a time and go from there we can always make a game of it. After all you want to know more about them too right?” Ron said.