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In His Place	By : SpeedyTomato Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Sirius Views: 72865 -:- Recommendations : 16 -:- Currently Reading : 16
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, so sad for me, and make no money off this story, even sadder for me.

Chapter List
- 1
- 2
- 3
Beta'd by the amazing Tenchi. Love you, woman, you're the best!

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Chapter 2

Alright, the shaking was frustrating, Harry would admit that. Sitting up at the table in Sirius' room, he was trying to eat his breakfast, a slightly modified bacon butty that had eggs, potatoes and cheese on it, but the way his hands shook was making it hard. In fact, it had him wanting to snarl. It was bad enough that Sirius had to cut it into pieces for him to even start, but the fact he was having problems getting the bits of the sandwich into his mouth made it worse. That had him wanting to chuck something across the room in sheer frustration.
Sliding as close to his godson as he could, Sirius put a hand on Harry's wrist to steady it slightly, hoping that helped. Quietly, he said, “It's the first day, Harry. You'll get used to it and adjust. It's just going to take time.”
Chewing the food he managed to get in his mouth, Harry nodded then sighed when he swallowed. “This is—it's maddening.”
“I know,” Sirius said, stroking his back softly. “Just give it time and work with it. You'll manage. You've been out for several months, so there hasn't been time to adjust to the tremors.”
Polishing off the last chunk of the sandwich, Harry leaned back with a sigh. “What's causing this? Do you know?”
“We think it's the spell you were hit with. Whatever it was did real damage to your nervous system,” Sirius explained, giving his head a rub. Looking at the side that Harry had hit on the archway, he reached up and fingered the lightning bolt-like streak of white hair that now ran down the one side where the damage was.
Sighing, picking up his glass, one that had a lid on it with a straw sticking out, Harry managed to finish off the last of the milk in it with minimal frustration. Sitting it back on the table, he asked, “Alright, what's gone on since I've been out?” As he was now coherent and not hungry anymore, he wanted filled in so he knew what he was dealing with.
Sending the dishes off, Sirius helped Harry to his feet then assisted him over to a small settee in the room where they would be more comfortable. Once he was sure is godson was settled in, he flopped down then said, “Let me ask this first; what do you remember about the spell? That might help us track it down. After that, I have another question to ask before we get into it as it'll help us try to figure out what's going on here.”
Quickly, Harry told him what he remembered of the feelings after being struck by the spell. When he finished, he shrugged, “I don't know about the second bit. That might be the spell or it might have been from hitting my head and shoulder.”
“I'm leaning towards the spell there,” Sirius told him, rubbing the back of his head. “It fits with what we know of the damage that was done. Come tomorrow night when the 48 hours are up, I'll get it to the person that will know what to look for to see what he can find.” Shifting around to where he was sitting sideways and looking at Harry, Sirius pressed on. “Let me ask this; when Albus told you about taking the Occlumency lessons, did he say any more to you about why other than what I overheard?”
“No, that was all,” Harry told him with a shake of his head, looking at Sirius.
“That's what I was afraid of,” Sirius sighed, stroking his mustache. “Harry, Snape didn't know exactly why you were being given the lessons or what could come of it. Neither of you realized just what the problem was, which meant that he didn't teach it right and you had no clue what could happen if you didn't learn. That sure as hell didn't help anything here. Snape made it clear to me and Remus, both, that if he had known the real reason behind why he was asked to give you those lessons, he would have gone about this differently.”
Brow furrowed, Harry looked at him but wasn't sure what to say. Finally, he said, quietly, “I don't understand.”
“I know,” Sirius told him. “I'll explain the best I can, but it's going to be confusing. What I do know comes from several sources here and not all of them are Albus. A few of us have put our heads together and are figuring out we haven't been told the whole truth. What we have been filled in on is part of it, but chunks were left out.”
Thinking over where to start, Sirius then launched in, “I'm going to confirm that Snape is a spy. He's not playing a spy to toy with Albus, he is one. He's made that crystal clear to several of us by now because of what happened in the Department of Mysteries. What happened there should never have taken place. We'll get to that later, though.
“After that bit in the cemetery, Albus acquired another spy in that camp, one very high ranking. We didn't know that. Honestly? We understand why. It would have put him in danger. However, from what we now know, Albus ended up with all kinds of information from him that could have saved everyone a world of grief and problems if he had passed it along. Like the bit with the lessons. The man knew what that side of this mess was trying to pull, thus the reason Albus was avoiding you and pushed for those lessons.”
Thinking that over, brow furrowed, Harry shook his head then asked, “Why didn't he just come out and say something to me or Snape? I mean, not about the spy, obviously, but the other. If he told me just what was going on, I was more likely to actually put some real effort into learning that junk.”

“I know,” Sirius said with a nod, looking at Harry. “That we don't get either right now. Nothing, nowhere, explains that part to us. Snape is right furious over it too, as he said basically the same thing you just did. What we got was Albus wanted you to have a chance to be a 'normal teenager'. That's crap as far as we can see. If he knew this was going on, you needed told, as did some of the rest of us to make sure that you protected yourself. He made a mistake, a big one, that he's now admitting. And it led to that mess you ended up being pulled into.” Stopping, he shook his head then said, “There is more to it than that, though.” Looking at his godson, he said, “For now, this is going to stay between those of us in this house and Snape, alright, Harry?” Seeing his godson look confused, though nod, he pressed on, “We have learned other things since then, like Albus knew what was being planned. That was told to us bluntly by his spy. The man told him, in detail, what was supposed to happen. From what he was told by Albus, there was something in place to ensure if you did get that vision you wouldn't go there. We don't know what it was, but it was supposed to be there. It didn't happen. And it wasn't Snape that knew either. He was as clueless about what was going on as you were.”

Looking down, Harry shook his head, wondering about what he was hearing. “Do you know what failed? I mean—well, we had no idea who to go to or what to do to get help. Snape is—well, he's Snape; not someone exactly approachable there.”
“We don't know to this day,” Sirius told him, reaching out to rub his head gently. “Snape eventually figured out what was going on, and almost panicked when he realized just what had been set off. He then got hold of several of us. Albus was nowhere to be found nor was he the one to rally the troops and get us there. What went on we don't know. It was a set up, a big one, and you were pulled in, when we were told later he had something in place to ensure you weren't supposed to be.”
Looking at Sirius, confused, Harry didn't know what to say. Finally, he said, “The prophecy—it broke. I didn't hear it.”
“We know,” Sirius told him, quietly. “We honestly think that the prophecy is a red herring of some kind. Albus has put a lot of stock into it, though none of us know exactly what it says. Snape heard part of it long ago and relayed what he does know of it. The rest—we can't get it out of Albus. The more we've talked about it among ourselves, the more we think it's a waste of time and is something that means nothing. Albus is still pushing for something with that, though we don't know what, and knows something he's not saying. How we can get that out of him we don't know either.” Seeing Harry nod, he added, “Right now, we won't focus on that as we have no answers to it. All I do know is it involves you, or Albus swears it's you. We can't even confirm that right now.”
Taking a breath, Sirius then pressed on, “Let's say that part is a mess, a big one, that led to the disaster there. We'll skip forward from that as most of what else was involved will be explained when I walk you through that chunk of the nightmare.” Seeing Harry nod once more, he said, “When you hit that archway it was bad, Harry, really bad. Your shoulder took the brunt of the force, thankfully, but your head met with it hard enough that it caused real damage. You had to have all the bones in your shoulder and down to your elbow vanished and regrown because it had shattered them in places. They also had to stabilize and work with two of your vertebrae because they were cracked, badly, as well.” Looking at the white lightning bolt in Harry's inky hair, he added, “And have a chunk of your skull removed and regrown. You now have a very strange white streak where they had to do that. From what we were told, it probably won't ever go away. Your nerves are what are the worst and the cause of the shaking. They are healing, but whatever that spell was did plenty of damage to them, especially the ones that involve motor control. No one is sure if the tremors will ever fully stop.”
Reaching up, Harry felt that side of his head, brow furrowed. That he was going to have to see later to understand what Sirius meant.
“I got to you quickly enough, as did Remus and a couple others, but it was really bad. Bella was intent on finishing you off. That's when we learned who the spy was. Lucius Malfoy stepped in front of us and took Bella apart, literally. He killed her with a blasting hex after a short battle. By then, you were out and starting to seize. It was bad enough that your magic flared out of control, shattering every prophecy jar in that hall and the glass in the Ministry, all of it. We were desperately trying to help you and get it to stop while the whole battle raged on around us. Then He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named showed up.” Stopping, he chuckled and grinned slightly, then said, “At some point, we're going to get Lucius to pull the memory of that for you to see. He battled it out with You-Know-Who until Dumbledore showed up. And let me tell you, the man held his own. He was right furious, cussing Albus, as well as everyone else that allowed this mess to happen, up one side and down the other as he and You-Know-Who went at it. The man knows what he's doing, that's for damned sure. When Albus showed up, he and You-Know-Who went at it then Lucius was desperately trying to help us with you. We weren't trusting him, of course, but he was trying. I didn't know the posh prat even knew some of the language he was using.”
Eyes wide, Harry looked at him, “Lucius Malfoy was the spy? He turned?”
“Yeah,” Sirius said, nodding with a slight smile. “He wanted no part of that side after what he saw in the cemetery. Albus managed to talk him into spying with the promise to get him and his family out when it got bad enough. He's out now. There's no way he could go back after what he did.” Sobering up, Sirius looked at his godson and shook his head then told him, quietly, tone quivering a little, “You died, Harry. You were gone for a good five minutes as that battle raged. It was Moody that finally managed to get your heart going again. It was—you don't want to know, Harry. We were all sure you were gone for good.”
Looking down, brow furrowed, Harry was remembering that first step across that threshold when the veil was pulled back. Something was clicking there, but he didn't know what. Shaking his head, he looked back at his godfather and waited, telling himself he would think about that part later.
Running his fingers through Harry's hair, Sirius said, gently, “You finally stopped seizing on your own, thankfully, but you were in bad shape. We all wanted you to go to St. Mungos because of what happened, but Albus sent you back to Hogwarts. From what I heard from Snape, who, at that point, was right furious, even Poppy thought it best you go to St. Mungos. Dumbledore wanted you at the school, supposedly to protect you. I don't know.” Sighing, he said, “It didn't improve much. She got your shoulder and arm fixed then started you on some other potions for the nerve damage. The seizures kept happening though. You had one not long after you went back to the school that took out all the windows there.”
“You got out of there alright, didn't you?” Harry asked, sure he had if he was sitting here and not back in Azkaban or having been Kissed.
“I did,” Sirius nodded, grinning again. “You can thank Lucius for that too. He managed it. As I said, he was right furious. He lit into Fudge about everything from You-Know-Who to Peter to where, when he finished, the man was pale and stammering. By the time he was done, Fudge had backed off everything. He had seen You-Know-Who when he Flooed in, so that ended his denial there. With as mad as Lucius was, Fudge was going to agree to anything the man had to say too, thankfully. Part of that was Peter. He's now one of the most wanted people in Britain. I was pardoned by executive order.”
“Good,” Harry said, sighing in relief and smiling. “It's about time!”
“I can't say I'm objecting to that,” Sirius laughed, rubbing Harry's head carefully. Grinning again, he said, “That's another memory we're going to have to get Lucius to show you. 'Cause when he was done ripping chunks off Fudge, he went after Albus. That was no better. I've never seen Albus that off-kilter in my life. If I hadn't been so worried about you, I would have been laughing my arse off.” Nudging Harry, he added, “And Albus wasn't done getting chewed up and spit out. From what Ron said, Snape let him have it when he got to the school as well. 'Right spectacular chewing, put mum to shame' is how he put it to me. From what I was told, you lot have never seen Snape that mad before, ever. He went after the man full-bore and let him have it with everything.”
Snickering at that though, Harry shook his head, trying to envision it. That had to have been good.
“That's where more of this began to make no sense and we get the feeling that something really odd is going on,” Sirius told Harry. Seeing the look shot in his direction, one of bewilderment, he pressed on. “By the time of closing feast, you were still out and nothing Poppy, or the ones she called in, did could bring you out of it. She was pushing for St. Mungos again, hoping they could do something. Albus wanted no part of that, talking about your protection. That was something all of us bought, at the time anyway. However, we were beginning to wonder when he wanted you to go to the Dursleys for a couple of weeks with someone to take care of you. Let me tell you, that suggestion caused an uproar, a huge one. Remus and me, well, you would expect that. This time, though, it was everyone. The suggestion went down in dragon flames very fast. In the end, you came here.”
“What about the wards? If I didn't go back, they were supposed to fall,” Harry inquired.
“They're gone,” Sirius told him bluntly. “They fell the day after school let out. Charlie, Moody, Remus, Arthur and a few others went over then put some damned good wards up to protect them, but the Blood Wards are gone for good. And none of us are sorry over it. You needed taken care of in a way that no one there could do. We've had all kinds of people in and out of this house to help since you were brought here. There was no way to do that at the Dursley's. The care you needed was something that required a lot of people. Plus, you're better protected here. Remus stays, of course. I'm here. Lucius and Narcissa are as well. Draco was here over the summer. Plus, all kinds of others rotated in and out, especially at first when the seizures were so bad. Hell, I think Snape practically lived here for the first month to help because of all the potions you needed. We couldn't have done that on Privet Drive.”
Looking down at the floor, remembering those odd dreams, Harry asked, voice quiet, “Did a lot of people come up and talk to me during that time?”
Slightly startled, Sirius looked at him then said, “Yeah, they did. Poppy told us to talk to you, though it didn't matter about what, because it might help bring you around. So, we talked, read, whatever, when I wasn't up here sleeping. In fact, most everyone did it at one time or another. Why?”
“I think I remember some of that,” Harry told him, looking at Sirius. “I thought it was strange dreams, like feeling my head in Mrs. Malfoy's lap while she ran her fingers through my hair. I mean, that was so real I could feel her long fingernails against my scalp. Some made no sense, like some kind of strange stories Snape read to me.”
“What kind? Do you remember?” Sirius asked, eyes wide.
“Like I said, it was strange. Something about a wizard with a hairy heart and another about a cackling stump,” Harry shrugged, looking at him.
“Those are real stories, Harry,” Sirius told him quietly. “Snape was reading to you out of a book of Wizarding fairy tales for kids. Cissy did sit up here with you. She would put your head in her lap and either read to you or just talk. We all did.”
Nodding, looking at Sirius strangely, Harry then asked, “Did I sleep with you? And you had me take a bath with you? I vaguely remember that too.”
“Yup,” Sirius confirmed with a nod. “You needed someone with you all the time for various reasons. And I wanted you with me. Poppy told us to try for various kinds of stimulation, so I thought giving you a bath and touching you that way would do better than cleaning charms.” Leaning over, he lowered his voice and said, grinning, “I left your y-fronts on and just worked a cleaning charm that way so you didn't get upset.”
Grinning, Harry nodded, thankful for that. Then he said, softly, “So, it wasn't a dream.”
“No. We're going to have to tell Poppy that too. It might help her determine something or other. Plus, if you do remember, it might help others.”
Nodding, Harry asked, “What's this bit about the 48 hours and that? I'm gathering it means something important.”
“It's another part that is making us wonder what's going on with Albus. Since this happened, he's been pushing to make sure you go back to the school if you wake up. And I mean pushing. He's tried everything to get you to come around so he can get you to the school despite everyone telling him you'll be in no shape to attend classes anytime soon, even if you did come around. He swears you'd stay in the infirmary, but we're leery here. So, since the term officially started before you woke, if you aren't there in 48 hours, you'll be considered out for the term due to medical reasons and nothing Albus can do will work to get you there. The Board of Governors will stamp it official as medical leave at the end of supper tomorrow night. That's why. We want you here to recover where we can keep an eye on you, not at the school.” Quietly, looking at Harry, he said, “We don't know why he's pushing for that, but we don't like it. Something is rotten there, though we don't know what. And I'm going to be real honest here, Harry; you have a long hard road ahead of you to recover. It's going to take a lot of work. The tremors are just the start of the problems. And they are probably going to be the easiest of the lot to deal with.”
Taking in what Sirius said, wondering just what was going on, Harry nodded. Right now, he didn't know what questions to ask or what to think. Plenty was going through his mind. First and foremost was that if Sirius believed this, he was going to lean in that direction. Shaking his head after a couple moments, he asked, “How bad of shape am I in? What all is wrong?”
“The tremors I explained. The rest—Harry, when you hit your head, it caused a massive amount of damage. You have a form of epilepsy now that causes seizures. It took everyone up until a couple of weeks ago to find something to get them under control. We know your brain activity is off from the scans. That's from it trying to heal from that blow to the head. It's affected your magic as well. Teenagers' magic is chaotic anyway, something that happens as you learn to harness and channel it. What you're getting is almost like an out of control form of accidental magic. It flares up at odd times, causing all kinds of problems. Then it fluctuates to different levels. When you have a seizure, it flares out of control. The last seizure you had was the worst we've ever seen. Not only did it stop your heart, but it shattered every chunk of glassware, window and mirror in a two block radius around this house in something like a shockwave of magic. It was bad. We don't know if it'll ever settle down completely, which means you'll need to work with it to do that. The level it does settle at now, when it calms, is far above what you used to have, power-wise. Which means you're going to have to work with plenty of things you already know to adjust to that.”
Stopping, he looked at his godson then said, quietly, “We're pretty sure that we're going to have to take you to get a new wand, one that's custom-made. That will help you harness what's there so it doesn't flare like it is now. That, they think, is coming from whatever is going on with your brain. Unlike most people, what's happening with you is whatever coma you were in completely locked down your magic so it wasn't used. Normally, all of us use some tiny part in every chunk of our lives, even if we don't use a wand. For something like flying, seeing things that Muggles can't and things like that. Yours locked down completely and wasn't used at all. So, when it broke free, it did it in a big way. With you awake, that might be stopped as you're exposed to magic and can, obviously, see and deal with it. I hope it is as that'll be one less thing to worry about. None of this is going to be easy to work with. We also don't know if there is some kind of brain damage no one can pick up on scans. Snape sent over a few pages of test type things to get you to do. It's not writing or anything, more like things to see if it's affecting how you think and whatever. If there is, we have to work around that. Honestly? We don't know what all we're going to have to do here to get you to where you can handle what's happened and function again. It's going to be a wait and see thing. Snape sent a note this morning that he's planning to get Poppy over here again to look at you once we let everyone know you're awake. He's already looking up potions that might calm the nerve spasms as they heal. Once tomorrow night hits, we're going to give what you told us about the spell to Lucius to see if he can't determine what was used. If he can, we might be able to reverse it. So far, nothing anyone's done has been able to do that. If it was a curse, we're going to have to let it heal on its own.”
Taking that all in, Harry groaned and rubbed his eyes. None of it sounded good.
Slipping an arm around his godson's back, Sirius pulled him close then said, gently, “Don't worry about it. We'll work with it as it comes. All of us here plan to help, which means you're going to have some damned good teachers that will be patient with you. We'll take it one step at a time, Harry.” Stopping, he quietly added, “One thing you do need to know is that you can't stay alone for a while. I don't trust the elves to keep an eye on you either. So, we're going to enlarge this room and move a bed in here for you. That way I can keep an eye on you. Dinkle and Tinkle are the elves that help me. Cissy and Lucius gave them to me so I had help keeping an eye on you if I was asleep or something. They're great and if you need anything, you call one of them.”

“I don't have a problem with that,” Harry told him. Snorting, he shook his head then said, “You had to help me to the loo this morning. I'm going to need someone for a while.”
“You're weak, that's all that is. You've been asleep for three months, Harry. That'll work itself out in a few days. Other things might not, like the stairs. It'll take time, don't worry. We'll work with it. You'll be good on that in a week or so I would think.”
Liking that at least, Harry nodded. Quietly, he asked, “What happened to Snape? I mean, he's always—you know. Why is he helping so much?”
“It's a combination of things,” Sirius told him. “He was right furious over what went on because—well, honestly? He's doing what he is to protect you. It was a promise he made to your mum. That infuriated him. What hell he's gone through as a spy was almost for naught because someone messed something up somewhere and it wasn't you. It wasn't supposed to come to that. He's mad at being played by Albus in some way, though we don't know what is going on there. Even he doesn't. Lucius said he thinks that for the first time Snape realizes you aren't your dad. You went in and did what you did with no thought for yourself to save someone else because you cared. It wasn't to show off or look good, but because you cared. That changed some things for him. He and I—the problems are still there, but we're working on them. He's done everything he can to help you. I'll take that for what it is and press on.”
Taking that in, Harry nodded, “Alright, I get it.” Stopping, he thought it all over then asked, “Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy don't know I'm awake then? Is there anyone else staying here now?”
“Remus is, but Cissy and Lucius are the only other ones,” Sirius shook his head. “They know something is up with you, just not what. With how they are, they aren't going to ask either, knowing it's probably for a good reason. Nothing to worry about there. We have people in and out a lot right now, but Remus is going to make damned sure they stay downstairs. He'll come up with something. Tomorrow night at supper we'll let everyone know you're awake then go from there.” Seeing Harry nod at that, Sirius smiled, “How about this; let's see what Snape wants you to do for these tests and start on that. I imagine you'll be tired soon and want to nap. So, we'll work on that a little at a time. It should help determine what we need to focus on. As we do that, we'll talk a little and I'll fill you in on what isn't clear. Good with you, Harry?”
“Works with me,” Harry grinned. Actually, he didn't mind this, besides all the strangeness and how bad it was going to be. He was going to be able to spend tons of time with Sirius. That was something he longed for anyway.
Grabbing the parchments off the nearby table, Sirius began to look through them. “These should be easy enough. If you get tired, let me know. No need to push it. We're going to take several breaks anyway to let you rest. Then we'll talk over how to do things so you're comfortable with them, like bathing and that. Remus will come up and join us for a while to talk.” Seeing Harry nod again, he scratched his head as he tried to figure out where to start.
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In His Place