Chapter - 39 : Paths of Understanding part - 3

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Harry wasn't looking forward to the upcoming visit to the Black Manor. At first he'd been rather blasé about the whole thing. Show up, smile politely, leave - Harry hadn't thought it would be more complicated than that, but Sirius soon convinced him otherwise.

He had insisted that they both needed proper robes for the event and dragged Harry to Twilfitt and Tattings – a shop Harry had never before been into, but quickly discovered was three times as expensive as Madame Malkins and catered only to Purebloods. Sirius and the snobbish tailor discussed sleeve length, which charms to weave into the fabric, and what colour thread should be used to embroider the Black Family crest - all details which were apparently very important and subtly declared the wearer as young, old, pureblood, conservative, muggle-loving, single, married, celibate or various combinations of the same.

All the while Sirius tried to lecture Harry on proper behaviour; when to stand, when to sit, when it was polite to use magic and when it wasn't (never draw you wand without permission from your host, don't cast spells at the dinner table). Harry found the whole thing ridiculous in its intricacy, but realised it was no doubt second nature to the wizards and witches brought up that way. Unfortunately Harry had only ever been exposed to the Dursley's ideas of a formal party, and so had to memorise all the rules of Pureblood behaviour by rote.

Harry really didn't want a repeat of the whole handshake disaster, so he did his best to pay attention to everything Sirius told him. Sirius himself scoffed at a lot of the etiquette he was instructing Harry in, but Harry knew there was a difference between being rude on purpose and offending out of ignorance. Sirius at least knew how to behave properly if he wanted to; Harry had so far blundered through life without knowing who he was insulting.

Luckily they didn't spend all their time preparing for the visit though, since Harry thought he would have gone mad if had to listen to non-stop lectures. While they were at Diagon Alley Sirius had suggested going to Eyelops Emporium for a post owl. Harry had immediately agreed and bought Hedwig. The snowy owl was younger and smaller than Harry had ever seen her counterpart, but just as beautiful and intelligent. It was wonderful having his faithful pet back, and Harry spent hours stroking her feathers and cooing at her. Sirius looked rather askance at this behaviour, making several pointed remarks about people being awfully strange about their pets.

The two wizards also spent some time in muggle London, eating lunch in a café near Trafalgar square and going to see the newly released 'Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves' in the cinema. The Dursleys had never taken Harry anywhere if they could avoid it, and once Harry had started Hogwarts he'd never really had the opportunity to explore the muggle world. As for Sirius, he'd apparently gone through a bit of a rebellious phase as a teenager. He told Harry that he'd taken perverse delight in wearing muggle clothes, using muggle swear-words and driving a motorbike instead of a broom, well aware of how much his behaviour infuriated his parents. But despite all that, Sirius didn't really have a better understanding of muggles than the typical Pureblood.

So it was a new experience for both of them and they thoroughly enjoyed it, managing to forget all about Azkaban and Voldemort and their interfering relatives for a few short hours.

Sirius could see that Orion was getting increasingly tense as the visit to Black Manor neared. He found it rather amusing that a wizard who had defeated Voldemort was nervous over a simple invitation to tea, but supposed that making a good impression was essential for their future plans. Sirius was pretty confident it would all work out all right, however. While there was a lot Orion didn't know, he had picked up some things during his years in the wizarding world and Sirius' lectures had filled in a lot of the gaps in his knowledge.

They both made sure to be ready well on time, which meant that Sirius was dressed in his elaborate formal robes when he opened the front door an hour or so before they were planning to leave. He wasn't particularly surprised to see Remus Lupin standing on the doorstep, his hand raised to knock a second time.

Sirius stared at his old friend, taking in his worn face and tattered robes and the new scars on his arms. It seemed he hadn't been the only one who had suffered over the years.

"Hullo, Sirius," Remus said quietly, a nervous smile on his face. "May I come in?"

"Of course." Sirius stepped aside and held the door open so that Remus could enter the hall. "Er, how about a cup of tea?"

"That would be lovely," Remus answered politely.

It was as if they were near-strangers, Sirius thought as he led the way downstairs to the kitchen. In a way they were, since people could change an awful lot in nine years. Yet they were all so close once; he, James, Remus and that rat Peter. Sirius used to think they'd always be friends no matter what.

"Thank you," Remus murmured as Sirius handed him a cup from the Black family china and poured him some tea.

Sirius took a seat on the opposite side of the table. "No problem."

Remus fiddled with the handle of his cup before sighing and meeting Sirius's eyes. "I'm sorry, Padfoot. So sorry for what I did. Believing the worst of you, not fighting your incarceration…"

Sirius didn't respond, only staring back at Remus in stony silence.

"I should've at least tried to get Professor Dumbledore to push for a trial," Remus continued. "I let you down, and for that I'll always be sorry."

There was a long pause as Sirius debated how to answer. He knew Remus meant what he said, but it wasn't quite enough to remove the anger boiling within him. "I forgive you for thinking I was the traitor," Sirius said at last. "I know Peter made my guilt look pretty convincing. I wasn't blameless in the whole thing either. I thought you were the spy… that's why I didn't tell you about switching Secret Keepers."

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