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Well, Ain't That Strange?	By : SpeedyTomato Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male Views: 56080 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 12
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and make no money off this story

Chapter List
- 14
- 15
- 16
Just a reminder of what's on my profile; reviews complaining or whinging about the lack 'o sex in stories will get deleted. If you want a smut-filled romp, you need to find another story to read.

Beta'd by the most amazing Tenchi, who I can't thank enough for all the hard work she does for me!

And thanks to Lynn who works with me when it comes to flow, continuity and other issues.

Chapter 14

Seated at the kitchen table early the next day, Arthur was explaining the forms he had brought with him to Sirius as Albus had managed to get his hands on them overnight. There was something Albus was handling this morning and thought it best that Sirius sign them then get them to his solicitor as quickly as possible, so he sent them to him. It was his assumption that the uproar from the night before made Albus feel it was best he handle it to keep some of the other Order members away from Sirius lest they cause problems. A very quiet Bill had come with him. His son wouldn't cause problems, he knew that, but he thought part of the reason was that Bill wanted to see Harry and Sirius's interactions just to ease his mind. Kingsley and Tonks were there as well. Tonks seemed fine and was talking to Sirius like normal. He assumed that was due to her relationship with Remus. The man had probably spoken to her. With as much as Tonks trusted him, she would take his word for it. Kingsley was probably there for the same reason as Bill. That was fine, let them observe. It would only shore up everything they said the night before. That would help.

This wasn't the end of the problems, he knew that. Last night after leaving Grimmauld Place there had been a huge blow-up at home. Molly was the worst of it. Bill had been there, of course, as he had been at the meeting, but he hadn't said anything. For the first time in years, he and Molly had argued about something in front of the kids. They had explained what was going on to them and, as expected, it had caused issues. Molly, because she was still furious over it, had said more that set him off. Then the argument came. Ron hadn't helped as he was stunned, thus saying plenty of nasty things. Hermione, as always, asked for facts, probably so she could look into it. Ginny had been in tears. That he understood because of the crush because this meant that she would never have a chance, something that upset her. In the end, he had put his foot down again. As things were stressful enough now, Sirius and Harry didn't need people causing problems. That meant, he told Molly that until his she could keep herself under some form of control, he didn't want her over here. All there was to it. As would be expected, that caused the shouting match. In the end, he had won. She would stay away until she thought she had a handle on it. He thought he just needed some more gentle reminders to her about Harry to get her to see sense quickly. That he would do.

Pressing on, he was about to hand the forms over one at a time to Sirius when he was startled by Lucius, in his cat form, hopping into his lap. Giving a nervous chuckle because of who he knew this was, he reached down and petted the cat, grinning slightly when he started to purr. Not sure what was going on, he waited to see what Lucius was doing. Quickly, he figured out that the cat was trying to read the forms though looking like he wasn't. That he understood and petted him until he felt a couple of taps on his leg from the cat's paw. Assuming that meant that Lucius was done reading it, he handed the form over to Sirius and waited for Lucius to read the next one.

Chuckling at what he was seeing, Bill shook his head, but didn't make a move to reach over and pet the tetchy cat. “He likes you, Dad. The only other one he's done this with, at least that I've seen, is Remus. I think the only reason he did this with him was to steal some of his food.”

“Well, it appears so, doesn't it?” Arthur said, petting the cat, reminding himself to Scourgify the fur off of himself when he left so Crookshanks didn't pick up on it. When he felt the paw tap again, he passed that form to Sirius as well. This was good, though. Lucius was better with paperwork and what was needed with it than the rest of them, so it could only help.

Grinning at what he was seeing, Sirius shook his head as he went back to filling all this mess out. He planned to get with Lucius when he was done before sending it off to his solicitor. As he had quickly caught on to what Lucius was doing, it made him happy. Nudging Harry, he joked, “Maybe that spoiled cat of yours decided he actually likes someone. Everyone else, other than Remus, he turns his nose up at.”

Leaning against Sirius, Harry chuckled. “Maybe! One never knows with him.” He didn't like the tense atmosphere in the kitchen or dealing with it and assumed that it would get worse as others came in. He was coping, though. As that's all he could do about it, he went with it. Tonks had been fine. She greeted all of them the normal way. Kingsley had talked to him like he usually did, but seemed a bit cooler towards Sirius than he normally was. Bill was just staying quiet. Part of him wanted to snarl at some of them, though he didn’t. That wouldn't help anything and might just kick up arguments. No, it was better to go about it this way and just act normally. It just bothered him that some seemed to think that Sirius would do something to hurt him was all. After all, the man wouldn't and everyone should know that.

After handing the last of the forms over, Arthur wasn't surprised that Lucius rubbed against him, purring loudly, probably to look good, then walked over to plant himself on Harry's lap. Smiling, he said, watching as Harry gave him tidbits of his breakfast, “I think food won out over getting to know me.”

“Looks like it, Dad,” Bill chuckled, shaking his head. “He probably smelled Crookshanks and wanted to override his scent markings on you or something.”

“That could be,” Arthur laughed. “They are both males, after all. Those tend to get territorial. And, as much as we don't like it, we're territory for them to mark.”

Watching Harry feed the cat off his plate, Kingsley grinned and shook his head. Though not happy about any of this, he wasn't going to act coldly towards Harry. After all, it wasn't his fault. Sirius—he didn't know what to think there and needed time to come to terms with some of it. Chuckling, he said after watching Harry feed the cat part of his sausage, “It's a good thing owls are stand-offish. If they weren't, Hedwig would probably be so fat she couldn't fly, what with how you spoil that cat with human food.”

Snickering, Harry said, “Well, yeah, I admit to this. He doesn't like the kibble, so I feed him human food. Besides, he works most of it off when he goes out to hunt. So, it's not a big deal.”

“That is one spoiled feline,” Kingsley snorted, watching the cat steal some of Sirius' bacon only to see Sirius just pet him, not hearing any kind of reprimand.

“Trust me, he doesn't care whose plate he takes it off of,” Remus chuckled, chiming in. “Mine's fair game whenever he's around. He just hops right on my lap, takes what he wants, then moves over to Harry.”

Chuckling, Kingsley shook his head. “You're worse than Arabella with her cats, Harry!”

“He adores Harry and just attached. I couldn't resist getting him for that reason.” Sirius shrugged, reaching over to pet Lucius. Since the bond sealed, anytime all three of them were touching in some way it felt good and was relaxing. It also seemed to help with the stress. So, as long as 'Hobbes' stayed put, it would help.

Watching the cat cuddle up to Harry, hearing the creature purring even from where he sat, Kingsley said, “Yeah, I can see this. He certainly picked a good servant in Harry.”

Sitting there, Bill watched Harry hold the cat then lean against Sirius. From where he was seated, he could see Sirius slip an arm around him and hold him close. That simple gesture, one all of them had seen plenty of times from Sirius, spoke volumes for him.

He didn't know when the consummation of the bond had taken place, and really didn't want to, but this was something all of them had seen since Sirius opened the house for the Order to use. That told him nothing had changed in that time. Harry was comfortable with whatever was going on and not overly stressed. The two were acting just like they always had, other than, it seemed, Sirius spoiling Harry in plenty of ways. With what he knew of such things, that breed of cat was quite expensive, so it had to have set Sirius back a bundle. Over the years, there had been plenty of those kinds of gifts from Sirius, like the Firebolt, that had cost a fortune. From what he knew, none of those were things that were done to make up for something, more because Sirius wanted to give Harry a gift, that's all. And Harry was acting the same way he always had, other than seeming happier.

Right now, you could tell he was tense, but that probably had to do with the atmosphere in the kitchen and what the younger man had to know was coming from some. Understandable there. Nothing else was off, though. That was good and things were probably just as his dad said. And it was enough for him to not worry about it. It was there and nothing could be done, so they needed to let the two of them go about their business. There was enough stress in their lives that they didn't need those in the Order harping on them about something they couldn't control.

Curled up in their bed, Harry watched as Lucius went through all the papers that Sirius had filled out and signed. First, of course, he had checked for spells on them. As none of them trusted Dumbledore to do the right thing about any of this mess, that was almost a requirement. Thankfully, there hadn't been any and they were just how they seemed. Once Lucius was done, from what he said, they were to go to Sirius' solicitor. As he didn't know much about this kind of matter, he had no clue what it would take to pull him out of Hogwarts.

As Lucius was taking a sip of his wine after finishing off another set, he asked, “How much more does he have to fill out when it comes to this mess?”

Sighing then glancing at the pile he not only already went through, but was still in his hand, he said, “At least three more packets of papers like what you have here. It doesn't take long to get such matters through the board, as they don't have to handle it often, but there are plenty. If you wanted just to drop out, I would say we wait until you turn 16 and file the one piece we need. We don't though. So, we need to go about it this way to get not only the paperwork the board requires and packets we need for your studies, but to make it official.” Glancing at the paperwork again, he added, tone distracted, “We also have to get with you about what you want as a career plan. Auror isn't in the offing with the bond, I don't think. With what could come of that, it's not a wise idea, Harry.”

Sighing, Harry shook his head then admitted, “That's not really what I wanted to do, honestly, but everything else—it didn't look interesting to me. And I'll be honest that I had no interest in continuing Potions with Snape. With the fight last year when it came to Umbridge, the only reason I pressed on with that as a career plan was that Professor McGonagall argued with her, swearing she would get me into training. I just don't know what else I might want to try or what we can do with the bond.”

Rubbing a hand over his mouth, Lucius looked at Harry then shook his head. Quietly, he admitted, “I don't know either. I imagine, from what I've read, that the bond will loosen up slightly in the next couple of years so we don't have to be around each other like we do now and the time needed will be there for you to pursue what you want, but I don't know what. Maybe we need to get with Sirius on this and see what he says. We may have to get Minerva or someone else to cover other options with you. Let me see what the Dark Lord says on the matter tomorrow. He may know other things you can do. We need this in place before the end of the summer so we know what classes to take on. Though I agree that leaving out Potions is probably for the best. We can obviously set something up if you want to take that, but if we don't have to, I would prefer not to cover it.”

“Any interest I had in that class died the first week with Snape,” Harry snorted, shaking his head. “Since then, I just don't care about it. If I don't have to take it and never have to do it again, I'm not going to bother.”

“Which is a sad commentary on his teaching methods,” Lucius told him softly, a sigh in his voice. “We'll find you something, Harry. Even if you never use it or go into that career, we'll find you something that interests you.”

Shrugging, Harry didn't know what to say to that. Honestly? Most of what he heard about for careers bored him to tears. There was just nothing he thought was interesting. And he had no desire to work for the Ministry after his dealings with them, not to mention what Sirius went through. Yeah, sure, the Ministry could probably change, but he doubted it would alter that much with what he had seen so far. Which didn't leave much.

Quietly, setting the papers aside, Lucius began to ask Harry about what he liked to do hoping to narrow the scope down of what he could suggest for him. While he wasn't up on everything out there, he knew enough that he might be able to come up with something.

Looking around the table after Albus finished talking about the article that hit that day and the reaction to it plus what could come then asking if there was anything else, Sirius sighed then chimed in, “Yeah, one thing. And it's something Harry needs help with.” Thankfully, this wasn't a full meeting, with only a few there that weren't the sort to cause issues. He also thought invoking Harry's name and saying he's the one that needed help would calm anything untoward said to him about what was revealed the night before.

“What's that, Sirius?” Albus asked, wondering what it could be.

Quickly talking about what Lucius and Harry brought up to him about the career bit, he said, “I have the first batch of papers off. We need to come up with something for a career, though. There's no chance at Auror training. And Harry made it very clear he wants nothing to do with any job in the Ministry, anywhere. The rest—what he was shown, he's just not interested in. Anything with Potions is out. He said any interest or enthusiasm he had for Potions died the first week in that class and he just can't stand it anymore. Which leaves me at a loss as to what the hell he can do. So, we need help.”

“The Ministry is something that can change, Sirius,” Albus told him gently. “The more people that go into jobs there that truly want to help and make a change can only assist in making it better. Perhaps just talking to him about that can help. There are plenty of jobs there that he would be wonderful at and could easily do.”

“He doesn't see it that way,” Sirius told him firmly with a shake of his head. “He sees what happened to me, how people like Remus are discriminated against, what's happened with him, Umbridge, all of it and wants nothing to do with it as he doesn't see that taking a job like that could help much of anything. That and he absolutely refuses to help or be associated with a body that will allow those things to happen.” Stopping, he shrugged then added, “Can't say I blame him for that.”

“Can't say I do either if you think about it from his end,” Bill added, looking around. “He has every right to feel that way with not only all he's gone through with them, but how they aren't willing to do a damned thing about so much even though it's right.” Looking at Sirius, he asked, “Any clue what he likes to do? Or an area we can work with to give suggestions?”

“Charms, Transfiguration and Defense are what he likes. That and he liked teaching DADA. That's just not much help,” Sirius admitted with a sigh.

Sighing sadly, Albus shook his head then said, “It's a sad state of affairs that our government is so badly run, corrupt and mismanaged that a student who has the most hope of helping effect change won't consider a job there. Let me get with Minerva to see what she can find in the way of a career he might like and can work around the bond. There are other options than what they were shown last year, as those are the most in demand jobs. If you could talk him into keep taking Potions, he has a better chance at finding something he would like.”

“He won't, he made that crystal clear to me,” Sirius told him firmly. “Snape, his teaching methods, how he plays favorites and takes after people killed any desire Harry has to take that class. He wants nothing to do with it and plainly said he's sure you're the only reason Snape didn't tank his grade.” Staring at Albus, he added, “And I bet that's the damned truth, isn't it, Albus?”

Stroking his beard, Albus looked at Sirius then nodded before saying with a sigh, “It is. Severus—well, he has issues with some. I ensure that the grades given are fair in the end.”

“He has 'issues' with everyone and anyone unless they are in his house,” Bill snorted, shaking his head. “And I can see Harry's line of reasoning. The only reason I stuck with that class was because I had to have it. He's a horrible teacher. Him and Binns, both, are just bad. Some of those in my class would have been wonderful in Potions for plenty of things, but they refused to continue on because of Severus.”

“With him teaching Defense this year, I'm betting plenty are going to give up on that as well,” Moody snorted, shaking his head.

Looking sad though not wanting to go into that topic, Albus glanced around then said, “Let me see what I can find and get Minerva over here to talk to him. She might be able to come up with something he'll enjoy. If not, it just means we have to look harder.”

“I'll talk to him as well,” Bill said, looking at Sirius. “Maybe Alastor can too. We might be able to get an inkling what he might like to do. With him being homeschooled, you can pick up subjects that aren't normally taught or areas he didn't take. That's easy enough. You lot can handle taking them on even if you didn't take the subject in school.”

“There are a couple of other Order members we can refer him to as well,” Albus assured Sirius. “We'll find something.”

“Just keep in mind that if someone even mentions the debacle last night, Harry's going to come unglued all over them,” Sirius said firmly, glancing around. “He knows what was said as I talked to him about it. And he's not happy either. With him being the way he is, chances are he'll lose his temper over it. This is hard enough, on both of us, that we need no help in making it worse than it is!”

“I'll make certain I say something about controlling impulses,” Albus assured him firmly. Pressing on to other things, he made a mental note to see if he couldn't talk to Harry as well. That might help. If he could convince him to take Potions, he was sure that he could find a wonderful career he would like.

Lying in bed that night around midnight, Lucius found he couldn't sleep. The issue wasn't that he wasn't tired, more that his mind couldn't seem to rest. It was all over. Part of it was the stress of what was going on coupled with all he had to handle in this delicate ballet. Mostly though, was confusion on his end.

Glancing down, he looked at the sleeping Harry. As was normal, Harry was curled up to the sleeping Sirius, one arm draped over him. He was spooned up against Harry's back, actually holding him. Even with Narcissa, he hadn't been one that would hold someone as they slept. Oh, they would press together, but not something like this. His wife was a lot like himself; reserved with emotions and affection. When it came to Sirius, it was the same way. Harry, though, was completely different. There was something about him that lent to that. If he thought about it, it he figured it might have something to do with how Harry, of the three of them, that needed the most protection. He was the most vulnerable not only because of his age, but many other factors as well. Though that was part of it, he was sure it wasn't all. Harry just seemed to be the crux of the bond with all of them. Maybe that was something that he should have the Dark Lord look into. It wasn't that it bothered him, he was just curious.

Sighing softly, he spooned up closer to Harry, holding him close, then shut his eyes. The feelings produced by actions like this were utterly amazing and he adored them. It also made him feel better than he ever had in his life. That he adored. So, despite the fact that he wasn't used to such activities, he would go with it and continue to partake.
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Well, Ain't That Strange?