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The Stag and The Snake	By : JBankai89 Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 9713 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns Harry Potter, I gain nothing from this but a way to pass the time.

Chapter List
- 5
- 6
- 7
Chapter 6 – Complications

The trip home had been less than fun. “What did he mean Sirius? What did he mean?” Harry had asked in a tone nothing short of panic, “I don't have to come back, do I? Draco's mean! I don't want to be his friend!” The poor boy was practically in tears by the time they crossed the threshold. Sirius felt utterly helpless as he watched the little boy cling to his hand tightly, his knuckles white, and he seemed to be teetering between a deep desire to vocalize his distress, and genuine fear of being reprimanded for doing so. Remus gave Sirius a significant look, to which he nodded minutely.

“Come on Harry, you'll feel better in the morning,” Sirius picked him up, and Harry's little arms instinctively wrapped around his neck, and he pressed his head into Sirius's shoulder. The soft sniffling of the little boy trying to keep himself from crying almost broke him.

Being a parental figure to the child of his postmortem best friend was exhausting on many levels, especially considering that though he and Remus had spent the better part of the last five years preparing to take Harry in, Sirius had been wholly unprepared for the little James doppëlganger he had been confronted with. The illusion had been crushed almost at once as he saw nothing of James in him, save his appearance. Instead he saw a deeply sensitive boy who had been deprived from any form of comfort or love. It pained Sirius more than he thought possible, and he absolutely hated having to push Harry into this.

Sirius sat next to Remus on their sofa, and he pressed his fingers into his temples. “That was about as fun as arm wrestling a grindylow.” He took a steadying breath, and raked his fingers through his tangled hair. “Gods, the poor kid. After all the shit those Muggles put him through, I hate making him do this.” He looked up then and saw a small roll of parchment in Remus's hand. “More good news?” Remus's mouth twitched, and Sirius couldn't tell if the man wanted to smile or grimace.

“Dumbledore blocked our Petition for Adoption. He says because of Lily's protection Harry gets...there, it would be ill-advised for him to no longer consider it a home.” He sighed, and reached out to lace his fingers with Sirius's. “He also said that he can confirm, with absolute certainty, that Voldemort is definitely gone, though.” His mouth broke into a small smile. “So that's something.”

“Then why would Albus want to keep sending Harry back to those abusers if Voldemort's gone?” He knew the man was brilliant, but sometimes his thought process utterly baffled him.

“Many Death Eaters are still at large, ones that would mean Harry harm if he were to stop considering that place as a home.” Remus sighed and dropped the letter onto the table, his fingers moving to rub the bridge of his nose with his index finger and thumb. “And now that the Courting has officially begun, Albus is extra concerned for Harry's safety. The undercover Aurors in place, the extra protective enchantments around the Malfoy Manor as well as our own flat...it may not be enough to ensure that Harry will be completely safe.”

“And then there's Snape,” Sirius said, his voice surprisingly level, despite the fact that the idea of his presence earlier that week filled him with almost overwhelming anger and disgust.

“Albus swears up and down he was on our side.” Remus reminded him patiently, though his expression showed that he was uncertain whether he entirely believed it.

“He may have been allied against us in getting rid of Voldemort, but that doesn't mean he's a decent human being by any means,” Sirius muttered. “The git was infatuated with James, and it got out of hand pretty damn quickly.”

“It seems my recollections of our school days blocked that bit out,” Remus mused, while he reached forward and poured them each a healthy measure of Muggle whisky. “What happened?” He pressed the glass into Sirius's hand, and the man knocked it back before he began.

“I don't know all the details, James wasn't exactly eager to share that, erm, experience with me,” Sirius frowned, trying to get his thoughts in order. “I know Snape had been friends with Lily growing up, and they stopped talking to each other after fifth year, you know, when he called Lily a Mudblood?” Remus nodded, but remained silent while he waited for him to continue.

“Well in sixth year, James was cornered by Snape. I don't know everything, like I said he wasn't keen to discuss it. Suffice it to say Snape cursed him, and attempted to...well...” Sirius grimaced. “I think if James had been anyone else, Snape may have actually managed it, but James got out of there no worse for wear. He told me what happened in confidence, but I don't think it ever happened again. It wasn't hard to miss, how the little greaseball stared at him after that. I think it took all of James's willpower to refrain from tormenting the git, and, of course, Lily would never forgive him if he started that up again.” Sirius shook his head. Even after all these years, he still couldn't fathom why Lily was ever friends with someone like Snape.

“And here I thought he was just jealous that James had gotten close to Lily.” Remus frowned, and though his tone was even, Sirius could see the absolute disgust written all over his face. “But be fair, even Severus wouldn't do something like that to a child.”

“Wouldn't he? Not exactly the picture of mental health, is he?”

“I don't think it's something we'll need to worry about, at least not yet. We could send an owl to Albus and request that he keep a close eye on things after Harry starts at Hogwarts, make sure Severus doesn't do anything...untoward?” But even as he spoke, Remus seemed to sense that it would be a useless endeavour.

“Albus has a soft spot for him, I think. I feel like it might be a safer bet to tell Harry, well, not that, but just ask him to be extra cautious, at least when the time comes.” Sirius helped himself to another shot of whisky. “I don't know why he trusts the man so completely. There's got to be a reason, but I don't like the idea of Harry going anywhere near him.”

“There won't be much we can do about that in the long run,” Remus said, still maintaining his almost infuriatingly level tone of voice. “I understand your feelings towards Severus, but especially under Albus's watchful eye I don't think he'd try anything, even if he wanted to.” He grimaced a little, “let us hope we're overreacting.”

Sirius set down his glass, and removed his hand from Remus's. He pressed his hands into his face with a heavy sigh, before raking them through his hair again. “I don't know Remus, I just want him to have something as close to a normal childhood and adolescence as he can, given the circumstances. His life has been so effectively fucked up already, I don't think he'd be able to cope if Snape...”

“Slow down,” Remus said, and despite the subject of their conversation, he heard the man chuckle. “You have a father's love for Harry, of course you want to shield him from the evils of the world.”

“Oh? And you don't?”

“You're his godfather. I was close with James, but you were like a brother to him. I see myself more in an uncle sort of role.” He winced a little at the title, and Sirius wondered if Remus was thinking of Vernon. “Don't mistake me, I care for Harry, but you're like the family he never had.” Remus smiled slightly, “I have no desire to wedge myself between the two of you to satisfy my own cares that I carry for him.”

“You're too good for me,” Sirius said, smiling slightly, squeezing his Bonded's hand.

“I know.” They both laughed.

It took Sirius a long time to get to sleep that night. The whisky had helped relax him, but his mind still swam with worries. Was he overreacting to the whole Snape thing? No matter what anyone said, the way he had glared at Harry had deeply unsettled him. He was certain that this wasn't the end of it. Harry was growing used to his life here, but Sirius hated to shatter his new sense of security when they had to hand him back to the Muggles. He had no illusions about what was likely to happen, and he was certain it would take some weeks to put Harry back together when they were reunited.

Rolling over and relaxing into Remus's warmth, he fell into an uneasy sleep.

~*~

Over the following few days they made no mention of Harry's expectation to meet with Draco the following year, and they both struggled with the temptation to over-indulge him. They took him out to parks and cinemas, to shopping malls and burger bars. Harry was still extremely reluctant to ask for things, no doubt a tendency he had learned at the hands of his loving relatives. Sirius tried to drop hints that he would not be reprimanded for asking for things that he wanted, but they seemed to go over the boy's head. For the time being, he and Remus had come to a silent agreement to always ask him, “would you like some more?” “Would you like to pick out a toy?”

They did their best not to overdo it, and it seemed Harry also thought along the same vein. “I don't want to be selfish,” Harry had whispered hesitantly to Sirius one evening as he was being tucked in, “I don't want to be like that.” Harry looked genuinely frightened as he said it. Sirius assumed that his cousin had been doted on by Vernon and Petunia more than just a little, while entirely excluding his Harry. The thought made him feel almost sick with anger, and he struggled to keep his expression neutral for Harry's sake.

“Asking for things doesn't make you selfish Harry,” he said gently, though the fearful look in the boy's eyes did not fade right away. “You're allowed to ask for things that you want. Selfishness means wanting more and more all the time, and no matter what you have, you always still want things.” He paused, and he watched the boy work over what he was being told. “Remus and I don't think you're selfish, Harry. I don't think you ever could be, so try not to worry about it too much, all right?” Harry smiled sightly and nodded. Sirius stood and watched as Harry took his glasses off and rested them gently upon his night table.

“G'night Sirius,” Harry said, yawning a little.

“Goodnight Harry.”

Sirius stepped into the hall, and shifted the door until it was almost closed. He leaned against the wall, watching Harry for a few moments with a small smile. As expected, Harry grabbed his glasses and crawled back out of bed, and pulled out his rucksack. He heard the sharp gasp of shock and watched as Harry pulled from the bag a large pile of Muggle storybooks. Sirius watched with a small grin as he touched the covers of each one, looked inside, and went on to the next one. He knelt next to his bed for a very long time, just staring at the surprise.

Sirius had felt that Harry might be embarrassed if he knew that Sirius knew. Instead, he had left for a few hours with a small wad of Muggle bank notes, and bought as many storybooks as he could. True to their word to Dumbledore, they were trying to keep Harry's contact with the wizarding world to a bare minimum, but Sirius refused to let Harry go through his childhood feeling as if he didn't deserved to be doted on by his guardians.

His work done, he walked quietly out to the sitting room where Remus was waiting.
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The Stag and The Snake