Chapter 19
Upon reentering the hospital room the first thing that Lily noticed was that Sirius was now sitting up in the bed with the curtain pulled back looking pale but significantly better than he had before. As the group walked closer to the bed she could see the tears forming in his eyes as he choked out the words, “Merlin, its good to see you…” as Sirius reached his had out to them and James did not hesitate to step forward and take it.
Harry stepped forward and sat on the side of the bed placing his hand on Sirius’s leg and asked, “Are you okay? And don’t you lie to me I know you better than that.”
“Yes I am, after all I've seen this world is significantly better than ours. Not to mention that I know you are safe now, I'm bloody brilliant pup.”
At that moment there was a slight knock on the door and Healer Jenson slowly walked in saying, “Sorry to interrupt, I know that you all are catching up so I truly am sorry but I just wanted to let you all know that Ron and Hermione you are all clear to check out, we are working to get into contact with Sarah Hempley, she is the head of social services here to find you both a place to stay for now.”
At that Lily interrupted, “Excuse me, no you do not need to contact social services, this is my sons family, they are going to be living with us!” in a tone that very much reminded Harry of Mrs. Weasley. Harry felt a warmth rise in his chest at the fact that his mum recognized that these people were his family even though she had just met them.
With a slightly startled expression on his face Healer Jenson responded, “Oh of course ma’am my apologies let me go let her know that her assistance is no longer needed… I am afraid Mr. Black that you will be staying with us for a while longer.”
Sirius seemed to be the only person that noticed Harry’s alarmed face that quickly morphed into his usual blank stare that showed that he was occluding. Noticing that he gave Harry’s leg a slight pat saying no worries pup I will be right as rain in no time and you get to go spend time with your parents.”
At this moment Remus leaned over to James and said in a quite voice, “I am going to go and let Pads and Mark know what all is going on I can keep Mark again tonight don’t worry about him.”
As Healer Jenson and Remus left the room Sirius gave Harry a nod saying, “why don’t we try out what we talked about?”
Harry gave a slight nod and noticing the confused looks on everyone else in the rooms faces began to explain, “Well Sirius made a note that while you guys don’t know anything about us we really don’t know anything about you all either. So, he thought it would be a good idea that each day we each get to pick a story that we want to know about the other group and we tell that story. Deal?”
The relief that James and Lily felt at their son beginning to open up slightly to them was almost palpable. They both gave an enthusiastic nod at the prospect of learning more about their oldest son.
With that nod Harry said, “Okay I guess let’s do the most difficult part first, you can pick the first story.”
Looking at each other as though they were silently communicating Lily gave a slight sigh and asked, “Who did you grow up with if it wasn’t Sirius or us? I'm sure they wouldn’t allow Remus to adopt you the way you described your world? Was it Marleen or Dorcus? They both should have been on the will’s after Sirius.”
Seeing Ron and Hermione slowly scoot closer to Harry and the way that Sirius began to lower his gaze, they knew it must not have been good, but nothing could have prepared them to hear what came out of their son's mouth next.
“Well, I promised to be honest, so please don’t freak out. I've never met Dorcus or Marleen.” Looking to Sirius for clarification allowing him to interject, “they were both killed in our world about a week before you both were.”
Lily felt her stomach fall as she realized she no longer had any idea who could have raised her son. Their list was empty now. However, it only worsened as Harry continued, “Dumbledore placed me with Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon so that he could use the blood wards.” At that, you could hear a pin drop in the room as the reality of those words sunk in to James and Lily.