Diagonally
“Harry! A shrill voice called as soon as Harry and Sirius stepped out of the bank. Harry was immediately faced with a crowd that could fill a quidditch pitch. Striding toward him, blonde curls bouncing, was none other than Rita Skeeter.
“Harry, it is so lovely to see you in such good health,” she moved as if to embrace him, but Harry neatly side-stepped and shook her hand.
“That would be Lord Potter to you, Miss Skeeter.” Her red lined lips frowned and her quick-quote quill wizzed. “And, between you and me, I’d be sure to keep your quill in line. If not, you might find your, er, little secret the center of next week’s expose,” Harry said, low enough so that only Rita and Sirius could hear. Rita’s eyes widened comically.
“You know?” She gasped, looking around wildly.
“Oh yes I know. I'm good at keeping secrets though,” Harry winked. And grabbed Sirius’s arm to head into the crowd.
Harry led the way through the crowd, shaking hands, assuring all that asked that he was in perfect health, and even signing a few autographs. Professor Flitwick even made his way to squeak a welcome home. Harry kept a charming smile the whole time and did his best to remember all the names he was introduced to. Even Sirius was faced with his own band of admirers. Finally, the pair made it through the crowd. Harry’s arms were full of cards and trinkets and candies from well wishers.
“Let’s send these back to the house,” Sirius said as he pulled out his wand. Harry’s arms emptied a moment later.
“Thanks,” Harry grinned with bright eyes. “Thank goodness the aurors are finally getting the crowd broken up,” Harry watched as the excited crowd dissipated, chatting merrily and exchanging stories of talking with Harry.
“You didn’t seem to mind the crowd too much,” Sirius eyed Harry with a raised eyebrow.
“That sort of thing would have driven me up a wall a couple years– months– ago. But now, I don’t know. It’s not that I enjoy the attention, it’s just that I realized that I mean something to a lot of people. It’s not a bad thing to give them a little bit of myself every now and then. Maybe that makes me sound like a right prat, but it’s the truth,” He shrugged as they walked down the cobbled street.
“I think that’s reasonable. Even if you did enjoy the attention. You’ve sacrificed enough in yourself. You’ve earned more than a little bit of appreciation,”
“Cheers, Siri,” Harry grinned over at the blue eyed man, seeing a small blush dusting his cheeks. The signature pallor of the Black family did nothing in way of hiding emotions, Harry mused.
“What was that you said to Rita Skeeter?” Sirius asked suddenly. Harry smiled wide.
“Remind me to tell you at home. For now, let’s just say she has a little something in common with three-fourths of the Marauders,” The moment that comprehension dawned on Sirius’s face was golden. Harry roared with laughter at Sirius’s surprised and incredulous look.
“Come on, I have a lot to get done, and I still have summer homework to do,” Harry pulled Sirius towards the apothecary.
Several stops and even more galleons later, Harry and Sirius entered Flourish and Blotts. The bell tinkled lightly as they entered, but otherwise the shop was quiet. A few soft voices could be heard, but not enough to identify voices.
“A Spectrum of Defense?” Harry raised an eyebrow at Sirius. “Be careful professor, someone might accuse you of illicit teachings,” Harry teased. Sirius snorted.
“If I go down, I’m bringing you with me, Necromancer,” Sirius whispered; it was Harry’s turn to snort.
“Right you are. Anything else you recommend for Defense? I’m fairly advanced in the subject,” Sirius pointed out a few titles, some solidly in the dark-grey zone, as dark as Flourish and Blotts would sell, most likely. Harry gathered many that Sirius pointed out. Several were titles that they already had at home or he could access at Hogwarts. Next, Harry moved on to the Arithmancy section.
‘I don’t know what I was thinking when I chose my electives in third year,” Harry shook his head in disappointment. “Arithmancy and Ancient Runes are so much more useful. I’m going to self-study for OWLs this year. I figured I might as well take the Muggle Studies one as well. I lived in the muggle world for fourteen years, how hard could it be, right?”
“If you need help with Arithmancy or Runes, let me know. I’m rather good at both. Blacks tend to be especially adept at Runes, we have a natural gift for warding too,” Sirius explained.
“Yes we do, cousin,” A lilting voice said, emerging from the row of books next to Harry. He looked over and met the eyes of Narcissa Malfoy. Her blue eyes were striking, though not to the same degree as her cousin’s. She looked like a Black in every way except for her white-blonde hair. Harry idly wondered where she got its color from.
“Cissy, what a lovely surprise,” Sirius greeted easily, turning to face his cousin, putting himself between Harry and Lady Malfoy.
“Likewise. We heard a rumor you were in town. We wondered if we’d run into you,”
“We?” Sirius asked sharply. Harry’s heartbeat quickened waiting for Narcissa’s response.
“My darling Draco, of course,” Narcissa smiled as Harry’s eyes shifted to the shadows behind her. As if on queue, Draco seemingly materialized behind her. Green locked with silver.
The world stopped.
Safe.
“Draco, dear, this is Lord Sirius Black,” Narcissa introduced. Draco broke off their eye contact and bowed respectfully to Sirius. Draco wore his once slicked-back hair in a stylishly mused sort of way, the blonde gleaming under the lights.
“Well met, cousin,” Sirius said with the voice of a Lord. He turned back to Narcissa, “This is my heir, Lord Potter,” Narcissa’s eyes widened in surprise. She clearly didn’t know the full story of this summer.
“Well met, Lord Potter,” Narcissa coutsied.
“Well met, Lady Malfoy,” Harry bowed his head in greeting before turning to Draco and extending a hand. “Heir Malfoy,” The side of Draco’s lips quirked up. He too was probably remembering a different day, a different hand.
“Lord Potter,” he greeted, clasping Harry’s hand with his own. His hand was cool but quickly warmed in Harry’s grip. A jolt of something like electricity traveled up Harry’s arm at the contact. It broke too soon.
Both Sirius and Narcissa were watching with skeptic looks on their faces.
“Draco why don’t you continue your shopping without me for a moment. I have something to discuss with Lord Black, if he is agreeable,” Narcissa said, shaking off the confused expression and replacing it with a pleasant smile.
“Yes mother, I’ll be fine here,” Draco assured her. Sirius looked at Harry questioningly.
“I’m fine Sirius, I’ll probably still be back here by the time you’re done,” Harry assured him. Sirius leaned in to whisper in Harry’s ear.
“One thing out of the ordinary and you will apparate home, understood?” His whisper was that of the Lord to his heir. Harry nodded his agreement. Sirius clapped him on the back and instructed Narcissa to lead the way, leaving Harry Potter alone with Draco Malfoy.
“You’re looking well, Heir Malfoy,” Harry said, eyeing the other man up and down. He had also grown over the summer, he was taller than Harry by a solid inch or two. He kept his slender build and harsh angles, cheekbones high enough to make any nobleman or woman swoon.
“Oh piss off, Lord Potter,” He sneered, advancing upon Harry who took a step backwards.
“I can leave if you would prefer,” Harry said, cocking an eyebrow, but taking another step back as he did. Draco smirked, revealing one of his wickedly sharp canines.
“Are you sure about that?’ He breathed out as Harry’s back came into contact with the wall. Draco advanced further, until he was all but touching Harry. “Have you any idea how worried I have been?” Draco demanded with a dangerous edge to his voice. “Have you any idea the million and one ways my imagination made the events of yesterday play out?” Draco took a steadying breath. He raised a hand up to Harry’s face, tracing his thumb across Harry’s jaw. Harry closed his eyes at the touch. Draco leaned his head down to rest against Harry’s.
“Thank fuck for Potter Luck,” Draco muttered causing Harry to laugh in surprise. Draco breathed Harry in deeply before straightening up. “You look old as fuck though, Harry,”
“Oh you can piss off, we can’t all have veela blood, can we?” Draco smirked down at him. “Besides, I don’t look that old. I look seventeen, which is my age as you might recall, you did spend my birthday at my sickbed,” Draco’s silver eyes darkened and his hand tightened on Harry’s face.
“I remember the occasion rather well, thanks,” Draco muttered. Harry reached a hand up to brush a stray lock of hair behind Draco’s delicately pointed ear.
“I’m sorry, Dray. Look, we’re both alive, we’re both free of that place. Let’s get our books for school. If we’re fast I’ll take you to Fortescue’s,” Harry offered gently.
“I’ll be damned, Lord Potter, are you asking me on a date?” Draco teased, his cheeks reddened in poorly hidden glee.
“Only if you behave,” Harry countered, turning his head to kiss Draco’s hand before ducking out from where he was pinned to the wall. “Help me pick out my arithmancy and runes books, I know how much you love the subjects.” Draco smiled and followed Harry to the correct shelves.
Some time later, the pair found themselves sitting under an umbrella at Fortescue's bickering lightheartedly over the pros and cons of different Nimbus models.
“You would say the 2001 is better, that’s what bought your place on the team,” Harry asserted boldly. Draco’s splutters of indignation were priceless.
“I did not buy my way onto the team!” he exclaimed, somehow managing to keep his voice from carrying to the table nearby, many of which were casting curious glances to the unlikely pair. “I’m good at quidditch!”
“You are,” Harry allowed, “But not seeker. You would be ten times the player you are now if you were chaser instead,” Harry pointed out.
“Chaser wasn’t available,” he frowned. “You’re right about it being my better position, though. There should be an opening this year, maybe I’ll talk to Montague about switching,” he mused. “But that’s irrelevant right now! The 2001 is better than the 2000, you’re just blinded by grief,” Draco stated matter-of-factly.
“Blinded by grief?” Harry asked incredulously.
“Yes, grief. Your Nimbus died a violent and tragic death, that will always color your memories of it. Which, mind you, weren’t all that positive. Let’s see, first year it almost threw you off, second year it did throw you off, and third year, well third year, you fell off. Now that I think of it, maybe you just have a streak for dramatics,” Draco reflected thoughtfully.
“His father was the same way,” Sirius said, pulling a chair out beside Harry and taking a seat. Narcissa did the same beside her son. Harry looked at Sirius, betrayal etched into his face. Sirius reached across him to take a spoonful of his ice cream before grimacing at the flavor. “Treacle? Really Harry, you have issues,”
“Oi, leave me and my ice cream alone,” Harry looked doubly offended as he pulled his cup closer to his chest. Beside him, Draco scoffed.
“It’s not just your ice cream, dunderhead. I watched you eat an entire platter of treacle tart after the first task last year,” A moment after the words were out of his mouth, Draco’s jaw closed with a snap. His face was red and he was looking anywhere other than at Harry. An almost awkward silence passed before Harry said:
“Did you seriously just call me a dunderhead?” he shook his head in disgust. “You need to stop spending so much time with Snape,” Sirius barked out a laugh. Narcissus giggled in her hand as well. Draco’s face reddened even more.
“I’ll have you know, Severus is my godfather,” he sniffed, head held high in the air.
“Better you than me,” Harry muttered, causing Sirius to laugh harder. Harry could listen to that unapologetic joy all day long.
Draco was rescued from making a response by his mother.
“I’m glad to see you young men setting aside your differences. I never would have thought the day would come,” Narcissa remarked casually. Draco and Harry shrugged. “It’s especially good considering the circumstances,” she continued.
“I’m sorry, to which circumstances are you referring, Lady Malfoy?” Harry asked, looking between her and Sirius, trying to puzzle out what was happening.
It was the latter that responded, “Cissy and Draco will be coming to stay in Grimmauld with us, Harry,” he said, voice betraying nothing of his true feelings.
“We are?” Draco asked, surprise etching his voice. His mother nodded.
“We are finding our own home less and less hospitable by the day,” she explained.
“No kidding,” Harry said blandly. Draco failed to hide his laugh behind a cough. “I look forward to the extra company. Grimmauld Place seems entirely too big for just the two of us, right Sirius?” Harry offered as an olive branch of sorts.
“It’s always been too big,” Sirius agreed, smiling fondly at Harry.
“When are we moving in?” Draco looked between his mother and Sirius.
“Our belongings are already there,”
“Father…?”
“Will remain at the Manor,” Narcissa said. Draco nodded and seemed to relax at her assurance.
“Excellent, now that that’s all settled, we’ll meet at the Leaky Cauldron in an hour. The wards are locked down right now, even to blood relations, given the circumstances. You’ll have to floo in with us,” Sirius explained. Narcissa nodded.
“Very well. We’ll see you in an hour. Thank you Lord Black, Lord Potter,” she said earnestly before she rose gracefully from the table and ushered Draco away quickly. Harry stood with Sirius and headed in the direction of Madam Malkins’. Harry needed new school and quidditch robes, given his growth since the previous term. He also planned to order several robes like the ones Sirius had purchased for him so he could take them to school. Now that he had ones other than the uniform, Harry found robes to be comfortable and right in line with his style. Long past were the days that Harry would swim in Dudley’s old clothes.
“You and Draco seemed to be getting along surprisingly well,” Sirius remarked, trying to sound casual.
“It was a bit dicey at the start, but we got around to it. It turns out we have more in common than I thought,” Harry mused honestly, if vaguely.
“I expect that being free of compulsions helped as well,” Sirius remarked.
“Huh. Yeah you’re probably right,” Harry shook his head. “If you don’t mind me asking, how are you and Narcissa spinning this? People will notice that Lady and Heir Malfoy are no longer at the manor,” Harry inquired.
“Harry, you’re the heir of our family, you get to be privy to these decisions, of course I don’t mind you asking. Cissy explained the issues with their houseguests and her desire to remove Draco from that situation. She asked that I claim them for the House, similar to how I claimed you.” Sirius explained. “They are Blacks by blood, and as Lord Black I have just as much claim to them as Lord Malfoy. In fact, it’s an even larger claim because we are a Most Ancient House, while Malfoy is not. Since the Black family has been dormant for over a decade, it’s not unexpected that I would reclaim certain family members,” Sirius remarked.
“So even if Narcissa didn’t want this, you could claim her and Draco and they would be forced to do what?” Harry asked, not knowing the full extent of being a Lord to a house that actually had other living members.
“Whatever I wanted, to a point. The family magic is strong in the Blacks. Familial solidarity has always been its cornerstones, to its own detriment at times. It’s no easy thing to ignore the will of your family magic, which is directed by the Lord of the House,” Sirius flashed his ring. “You can also direct a small piece of the family magic, as the heir.”
“What about Draco being the Malfoy Heir?” Harry asked, surely Narcissa wouldn’t be throwing away her son’s birthright.
“Oh he’s still Lucy’s heir alright. He accepted the Heirship ring presented to him by his father. The only way it can be taken is if Draco himself forfeits his title.”
“That’s good,” Harry nodded, lost in thought.
Thirty minutes later, they emerged from the robes store, having bought an entirely new wardrobe for school ranging from formal wear to dueling robes and jumpers.
“I think that’s everything. Is there anywhere else you’d like to go?” Sirius asked, coming to a stop in the center of the street. Harry hesitated, looking at a storefront in the distance.
“Well, er, yeah. Yes, one more stop please,” Harry took off in the direction of Vison’s Vision Essentials. Sirius smiled as the store came into view.
“I’ll swing by Gringotts while you take care of that,” he said, grinning. Harry smiled back and plowed inside.
Mr. Vison was an eccentric old man with salt and pepper hair. He wore the most peculiar pair of glasses that Harry had ever seen. They had seven lenses per side that seemed to rotate with no discernible pattern as he worked. He questioned Harry three ways to Sunday on his eyesight, casting diagnostic spells as he worked. He tutted and hummed as the result of the diagnostics came back.
“Hm, yes, a difficult case indeed,” he muttered to himself. Harry deflated at the words, which had Mr. Vison exclaiming: “Oh never fear Lord Potter! You are difficult, yes, but never impossible,” he winked at Harry, his eye magnified behind one of the largest lenses, and disappeared to the back of his shop.
Moments later, the man returned holding a small glass phial filled with an acid-green liquid. Harry eyed it wearily. Mr. Vison laughed at Harry’s expression, “The color may be intimidating, but I promise it is painless,”
“What exactly is it?” Harry asked curiously, taking the offered phial. It was cool to touch, and heavier than he expected it to be.
“This is a potion that will permanently alter your vision. It will heal what is broken and strengthen what is already there. One drop in each eye once a day until the phial is empty. It is immediately effective, but the effects will not truly be permanent until you’ve used the entire potion,” Mr. Vision explained. Harry nodded along, excited for a future where he was no longer dependent on glasses.
“That sounds perfect,” Harry said, grinning. “Are there any side effects?”
“No, you shouldn’t experience any side effects, if you do stop using them immediately, owl me, and we’ll figure something else out,” Mr. Vision led Harry to the counter where Harry paid for the potion before removing his glasses and stepping close to the mirror that sat upon the counter. Harry removed the dropper from the phial and carefully added one drop to each eye. He blinked once and the effects were immediate.
Bright eyes stared back at Harry in the mirror. They were a green so bright and so pure that Harry could think of only one thing that shared its color.
His mother’s scream, a flash of green light. Silence. A second jet of green. Pain.
Avada Kedavra green looked back at him, seeing itself for what it was for the first time with nothing to dull their glow.
Harry turned from the mirror and was overwhelmed with the sharpness of all that he saw. He realized just how little he had been seeing his whole life. He had no idea there were so many colors, so many different shades and shadows. He could see.
“They’re working, yes?” Mr. Vision asked, smiling in a self-satisfied sort of way.
“Yes,” Harry breathed out, “Thank you, Mr. Vision. Truly, thank you,” Harry shook the man’s hand enthusiastically before throwing himself from the store and into Diagon Alley.
He was immediately blinded by all that he saw. Colors and shapes and blessed clear, clear images. He couldn’t stop the grin that stretched across his face even if he wanted to.
“I take it you were successful?” Harry could hear a laugh just beneath Sirius’s voice. He turned to face the man and froze when he saw him.
Harry had always thought his godfather was a good looking man, he can comfortably admit that to anyone. In pictures from his parent’s wedding Harry could easily appreciate the care-free youth and his casual haughty, good looks. Even when he was on the run from the ministry, yes he looked rough and exactly as one was expected to look after spending 12 years in the presence of Dementors, but Harry could admit he had all the tell-tale makings of a handsome man. When Harry saw him upon returning to the Burrow, it was undeniable. Sirius looked years younger than the last time Harry had seen him, he carried himself with the grace and confidence of a Lord.
Oh, but now.
Harry was drinking in the sight of Sirius Black. Stormy blue eyes flecked with shining grey studied Harry under long dark eyelashes. Unblemished pale skin highlighted his sharp, aristocratic features, and drew a sharp contrast to the blacker-than-night waves that fell almost to his shoulders in a haphazard, uncaring way. It was as if Sirius Black woke up, unaware of the striking beauty that he possessed.
Harry could have studied the contours of Sirius’s face all day, could have watched the way light danced in his eyes, could have watched the aura of power that surrounded him in a midnight blue haze.
“Like what you see?” Sirius grinned lopsidedly, flashing brilliant white teeth. Harry broke out of his trance, unabashed, and grinned at Sirius.
“I do,” He replied easily. He enjoyed the faint flush that graced the other man’s cheeks. Sirius cleared his throat.
“Me too,” Sirius flashed Harry a grin that had Harry’s heart beat uncomfortably. “How’s it feel?”
“Wicked. I didn’t realize how much detail there is in the world. Now that I can see it, I feel as if I was living my whole life blind,” Harry spoke with awe in his voice. His eyes roved over all the sights Diagon had to offer.
“Imagine how easy it’ll be to catch the snitch now,” Sirius laughed.
“Merlin, I didn’t even think of that!” Harry said incredulously. “Wood will kick himself if he ever finds out. Honestly, I can’t believe he never forced me to do this,” Harry shook his head.
Sirius chuckled and knocked his shoulder into Harry's, sending a jolt of magic to his core.
“C’mon let us not leave the Malfoys waiting.”