New Residents of Privet Drive

Sirius Black tossed and turned around in his bed. He rolled over, and adjusted his posture while trying to will himself to sleep, again, and again, and again. But, it was all for naught. This was yet another night, where he would have to either drink himself to sleep, or just stay up, and watch over the slumbering form of his godson. The cause of his insomnia was not his harrowing past in the living embodiment of hell on earth, that he had survived for well over seven years, but rather the memory of his first encounter with his godson.

He sighed, as he stood up from his bed, uncaring of his form, as he dragged himself through his new home, towards the kitchenette, where he had stored his firewhiskey. He glanced at the clock, and he noticed, that it was pretty close to morning, already. He opened the cabinet, and procured, a half-empty bottle of the fiery liquid, that had become his comfort, apart from the time he spent with his godson.

He swirled the liquid in the bottle and downed it all in one go. The burning liquid drowned a lot of his sorrows, as had become the norm lately.

He had arrived at Number 4 Privet Drive, along with Albus Dumbledore, a week after his trial. The bloody old coot, insisted on him visiting, a mind healer before he set off to meet his godson. Though he could understand the need for it, he would have likely murdered the wastes of human flesh, that were the Dursleys, their son and all, had it not been for the clarity, and the semblance of calm, the mind healers were able to help him achieve in that one week.

The dark thought, of committing the crime, and returning to Azkaban still reared its way in his head, every now and then. Even if, it had been a month, since his trial. That was mainly, because of the number of off-hand comments, Harry made, that a child his age should not consider normal.

'Do I get a cupboard of my own, if I come to live with you?' Was the first question he had asked, after being explained that he would be living with him. Dumbledore had to petrify him, to prevent him from casting the killing curse at the cowering masses of fat that had been watching the meeting, in their home. He had stayed his hand then, not for any undue sense of morality, but for fear of scaring his godson.

'I can do all the chores, in the house, if you don't send me back to them, Sir.' He had wept himself to sleep, playing that line on repeat in his head, several times till now. He had to explain to the Innocent child, that he wouldn't have to do chores in the house, to earn his stay, ever again. Lily's eyes had shone so brightly when Harry had realized that, and Sirius had to fight very hard to hold back a sob.

"Can't sleep again?" A voice broke him out of his misery, and Sirius turned to look at the hunched form of his best friend Remus Lupin, standing in the doorway. The werewolf had slowly started cleaning himself up. Sirius knew that it was because of Harry, that he was finally breaking out of his self-pity tirade. The sweet child had that effect on causing others to want to be better versions of themselves on many occasions. Despite his traumatic childhood, Harry Potter had not lost his innocence. Though, after a month with Sirius, he could say that Harry was finally, showing his snarkiness, and sarcasm that was so reminiscent of James.

That resemblance is yet another reason, that Sirius was slowly able to get past his own trauma. Though he did realize that he was doing a disservice to Harry by expecting him to be a clone of James and Lily, but sometimes, he couldn't help himself.

"It's getting better. Don't have to drink myself to sleep as often as the first week." Sirius replied as he watched his friend slowly make his way into the kitchenette.

"Anything left, in that bottle?" He asked.

Sirius shook his head, he knew he was lying to himself, but he hoped that if lied to himself enough, it would become true.

"Are you going to give Harry that wand today? You know he's been dying to learn magic, right?" Remus asked, changing the topics. He knew how to get his friend out of the memories of his and Harry's haunted past.

It was like a switch was flipped, and a smile bloomed on Sirius' face as he replied, "Yeah! I finally got that training wand from Ted. It will work magnificently for Harry. I can't wait to teach him all kinds of spells. Oh, I know, I will start with the color-changing charm, so that he can change the color of a portion of Dudley's pants in class to get back at him if he comes for him again. Or should I go with the fart noise-making charm? I will make a marauder out of him yet!" Sirius rambled.

Remus smiled as his strategy worked. It was the same with the both of them, interactions with Harry were a very effective method to break the somber mood, and it also doubled as a way to provide Harry with all the love and affection that he so richly deserved till now, but had been kept void of.

"Go for a combo, I say. Though, I believe we will have to teach him how not to be a bully. We were guilty of bullying back in Hogwarts, during our earlier days, and we want him to be better than either of us or James. It's what Lily would want for him." Remus commented.

"Oh hush, you prude. You be the responsible uncle, I don't care. I am spoiling him regardless." Sirius jested, yet internally, he agreed with Remus' statement. Harry Potter would be loved and cared for, and raised in a way that Lily Potter would approve of. He could feel Lily smiling at him, from wherever she was.

"Speaking of being responsible, we need to introduce Harry to other magical children his age. I still feel that he needs to make more friends. The muggle children from his school, have been disenfranchised with him due to the actions of that oaf of a son, the elephant next door, and his giraffe of a wife, have managed to raise. I still suggest we change his school, to some other primary school, outside of Surrey." Remus pointed out.

"You know, we can't change his school anymore. Dumbledore has placed that ward around this one to monitor Harry, now that he knows how he had been treated. I still can't believe that Figg thought that everything about Harry was okay, I told Dumbledore that she's mad, but he wouldn't listen, but then again, he is mad too, so I suppose it's no wonder." Sirius mused before he continued "Anyway, I think you're right about him needing more friends. We could try with Arthur and Molly's brood. They had a son and a daughter his age, no?"

Remus thought for a second and replied "Yes, they do have a son, Ron I think, he is Harry's age. And they have a daughter, Ginevra, I believe, she's a year younger. We could also try introducing him to the boy, that caught Peter, Nathan, right? Ted seems to like him, and he's a couple of years older than Harry and he would be able to help Harry when he goes to Hogwarts."

"Alright, then. Nathan did say that he wanted to see me about something, I could invite him over, and then we can plan for Harry to visit the burrow, maybe this weekend?"

Remus nodded as he got up from his seat, and said "That's done then, you head on and write the letter to Nathan, and I will use Mrs. Figg's floo to head over to Diagon Alley, I want to buy a training broom for Harry. I think we should introduce him to the wonders of flying!"

"HEY! I wanted to introduce him to flying first! I am the fun uncle, not you!" Sirius complained, as he chased Moony out of the room, his worries and misery completely forgotten, for the time being.

oOOOOOOOOOOOo

The back garden of number four, Privet Drive, was meticulously kept. The wisteria grew in winding, colorful bursts, adding a magic to the outside of the home that the Dursleys certainly wouldn't have tolerated inside. Primrose and lavender dotted the neat flowerbeds, and a towering willow tree stood in the back corner. The garden fence was solid, sturdy, and routinely inspected by Vernon Dursley "to keep those pesky neighbors out of our business." Which, of course, never stopped Aunt Petunia from spying on theirs.

Ever since they had 'gotten rid' of their nephew, as they liked to tell their more normal neighbors, well, those who listened to their ravings anyway, the Dursleys had made it a habit of pretending that their neighbors did not exist. They had 'suffered' enough, from their freakish unnaturalness. Poor Dudley and his friends had mighty afraid of the bony little ruffian as it is, and Vernon had to endure the unruly man, who had apparently popped out and declared himself, as the little freak's 'Godfather'. The man went out of his way, to cause torture their family. The ungrateful freak, they took in the boy when he had no home. Gave him food, clothes, and a place to sleep. So, what if the food was made by his own hands? He had to work to show his gratitude somehow, and if the clothes were a size or two bigger than Dudley's, it wasn't their fault. The boy should have fed himself better.

It was a good thing, that they no longer had to look after the boy anymore. If they could, they would prevent any and all contact with the family and their ilk, whatsoever. But alas, they couldn't. They had to stay if they wanted to remain safe from the more, dangerous part of their kind.

'As if these freaks weren't problem enough' Vernon internally complained.

His internal ramblings were broken by the sound of a loud engine driving outside of his home.

"Dear, could you please tell whoever is making that god-awful noise, to get lost please!" His wife shouted from the kitchen.

"Yes, Pet! I will give them a piece of my mind; this is too much!" He replied as he waddled onto his feet, and made his way to the hallway.

He avoided looking at the blown apart piece of door, that used to be their cupboard and the bedroom for the freak, and he made a mental list of calling the carpenters to get that fixed, again.

He opened the front door to his home, and he saw a silver sports car parked right in front of their freaky neighbor's driveway. He couldn't help but admire the car, as he observed the passengers who alighted the vehicle.

They were an old woman, who was driving the fine piece of British engineering, and a handsome young boy, probably a few years older than his Dudley. They were neatly dressed, and looking at the sign of the house that said 'Number 5 Privet Drive.'

The boy looked at him, and Vernon thought that he saw a flash of disgust and loathing on the boy's face, before he turned to speak to the woman, who had finished locking her car. He had to strain his ears, as he turned away from the people, ignoring the boy in turn, yet still trying to keep an ear on their conversation.

'What business do these upstanding folk, have with the freaks?' he mused internally. His jealousy at both the owner of the vehicle and their freak neighbor that they were acquainted with rearing in his head.

"Mum, this is the place that his letter said. Could you get the gift we brought for Harry from the back? I want to see his reaction when he receives it. I just hope he likes it." The boy said, to his now identified mother.

The older woman nodded and said "I am sure he will. Based on what Sirius' letter said, he loves learning, and introducing him to Runes and Potions early on, would be good for him."

Vernon's thoughts came to a screeching halt, and he nearly stumbled on his footing, despite himself he turned around to look at the pair.

'They're Freaks! Freaks! I can't believe it!' He internally wailed, as his jealousy increased threefold. He could swear he saw the freakish boy glance at him and smirk a little as if he knew what Vernon was thinking about.

Vernon couldn't handle anymore of the torture, and he stomped on his feet and made his way back into his home, to clear his mind from any more freaky business, by either feasting on some of his wife's cooking, or watching the telly.

Outside, on the street, Nathan Frye quietly laughed to himself, as he amused himself, on the quiet display of emotion from Vernon Dursley, taking pleasure in his increasingly apparent jealousy.

He quickly regained his composure, and nodded to his mother, as she retrieved the packages from their car's trunk, and they made their way up to the house that now housed Harry Potter.

**********

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