Chapter 19 A Day With Sirius

Monday came, and all his friends went to class. So Harry made his way to the Shrieking Shack. He went down the tunnel and past the wards, which reminded him the still needed to research those. He decided to scare his godfather, so he 'poofed' to the living room. The man in question startled so badly that he fell off the couch.

"What the hell was that? It wasn't Apparation, it doesn't make that 'Bampf' sound or have blue smoke," the dogman said when he realized it was Harry as he hauled himself up and dusted off his pants.

"It is my own form of travel," the teen said with a shrug. "I got it out of a comic book. I call it poofing," he added thoughtfully. He never heard what sound it made, so he was going to stick with 'poof'. He did note that he might want to get it to where there was no blue smoke or 'Bampf'. One couldn't sneak up on people if there was a sound and smoke.

'Put that in the databank, Mr. Spock, and see what can be done,' Picard ordered, making Harry's eye twitch again. He was still getting used to hearing his crew and was starting to think that he might be a bit peculiar. Still, it was awesome to have a mind that ran like his. He could hear what was going on and give suggestions when he needed something done.

"Can you teach me?" Sirius asked with a hopeful gleam in his eyes.

Harry thought about it, he was pretty sure you had to have a greater grasp on your magic than most wizards had. "Can you do magic without a wand?" he asked optimistically. He wouldn't mind teaching him. It would give him something to do.

"No, I can only turn into my Animagus form without one," was the sullen answer as Sirius's shoulders sunk in defeat.

"Perhaps that's enough, but you might need to get a better understanding of your core first," the messy-haired teen sighed. "I have a book that I can lend you, after a friend is done reading it, that might help," he offered, thinking about Merlin's book. He'd have to see if it helped the shy boy first. He hoped the older man wasn't too hard to teach but knowing that Black had learned magic since he was a baby, it was possible that he couldn't relearn how to do 'thought magic'.

"Well, alright," the older man said with a bit of a grumble. He thought he was through studying, but if it could let him do magic like Harry, well he'd give it a go. "What are your plans for today, pup?" he asked, changing the subject for now.

"Please, don't call me that," Harry whinged. He really didn't like pet names, unless it was from the lips of good looking birds, like Luna or Hermione. Or come to think of it, any of the females he had met so far could call him anything they wanted. If they kept it to how handsome and rebellious he was now.

"Why? It never bothered you before," a confused Sirius asked. He had always call Harry 'pup' or 'prongslet'. The kid never complained in the past, but then again, he hadn't called him that since he broke out of Azkaban, barring a few letters. Still Harry never wrote him that he disliked the name.

"It is too much like 'boy', and for some reason I loathe that moniker. I think it has something to do with my past, but I don't remember," was the explanation. Did all adults used derogatory pet names; my boy, idiot child, foolish boy, pup? They were all depictions of a small child, and the only type he had heard from an adult since he had been back. He was almost of age and a legal adult, dammit, and he needed these people to quit treating him like he was still a baby. Even the twins used Harrykins, which he didn't overly mind. Then again, what did it matter when he was planning on leaving as soon as he figured out what happened.

How the hell did his former self put up with all this bullshit? According to Hermione he never complained about the mistreatment from the student body during his first and second year. How could he keep shite like that to himself? He knew that if that happened to him now, he would have no problem telling the professors to do their damn job, or better yet, giving back as good as he got.

"Oh, I guess I can see that, so I'll try," Sirius promised with a sad nod. He was beginning to realize that he wasn't going to be able to pick up from where he left off all those years ago. This teen before him was independent and would not like to be coddled. That made him a bit melancholy, because he wanted to be the adult in the boy's life. However, now he could see that he was going to have to take the role of an adult friend or mentor. He berated himself for putting revenge over the safety of his godson. He missed so much of Harry's life, and now he may never know what happened in those years.

"Anyway, I'm going to London. Do you want to come with?" the teen asked as he stood, breaking Sirius from his morose thoughts.

"I'm still a wanted man," the fugitive pointed out, slumping his shoulders and remaining in his seat.

"That didn't stop you from sneaking into the castle and turning Snape into an Oompa Loompa," our hero snarled, still upset that the man was so foolish. Yeah it was funny, still it was a great risk. "You're lucky I figured out it was you and erected a ward around this place," he said, folding his arms and glaring at the unrepentant dogman. "I don't understand how you could be so fucking reckless. Didn't your time in Azkaban teach you anything?"

"Low blow, Harry," his godfather stated with sad puppy dog eyes. Then he perked up remembering how Snivellus looked. "Besides, it was funny. He looked great, all tall with orange skin and green hair. It really set off his huge nose," he laughed, until he saw that Harry didn't think so. He sobered and got a fierce look on his face. "Moreover, he needed to know that I am watching him. I'm positive that he had something to do with your condition." He too stood and the two stared at one another for about five minutes, until the older man sighed, seeing he wasn't going to win this one. "Okay, fine, I was irresponsible. I won't do it again," he promised. He really couldn't now that Snape knew his Animagus form. He just hoped the Potions Master was too embarrassed to let that tidbit out.

"Well, good," Harry said. Sirius should have left it to him. He had had plans to get the slimy man to talk, but with that stunt he would have to be more careful.

"How did it go with the DMLE?" Sirius asked, trying to get the negative attention off of his thoughtlessness. "I saw them pass by here the other day."

"Pretty much like you predicted," the teen said with a sigh, still angry that the backwater, pure-blood laws prevented him from justice. "Thanks for contacting Waters that was helpful. I did get restraining orders on the old man and the Weasley kid."

"You're welcome. It was the least I could do," his godfather said, glad that he had finally done something right. "Are they complying?" he asked, thinking that a bit of paper might not do much. If he knew Albus, that conniving old man would find his way around it.

"Well the old coot is, but that Ron kid doesn't seem to understand what's what," he said with a snarl. "I showed him, though," he said with a smile and proceeded to tell the older prankster about the whole skunk incident.

The two shared a bout of laughter over the poor redhead's plight, and then the older man sobered when he realized what Harry had said. He did it without a wand or incantation. "Wow, your control of magic is that strong?" Sirius asked in wonder. He knew the kid was powerful, but to turn someone partially into an animal that he had never seen, complete with smell, sans wand, was beyond what he imagined. The best he could do as a teen was change someone's coloring and hair.

"Sure, but remember you promised not to tell anyone" Harry reminded him with a jab of his finger.

"I won't," the older man reiterated, vowing to himself that he wasn't going to let his godson down.

"Right, are you coming or not?" he really didn't want to talk about his powers. Not with an adult, at least not yet. Sirius hadn't proved himself all the way, that and he seemed to still be suffering from his time in Azkaban if his depressed mood was any indication. He wasn't entirely sure his godfather was stable. He really hoped that the older man would keep all of this to himself. So far he showed that he was a careless Gryffindor. Just jumping in things and not thinking about the consequences. The spell he had put on him would remind Sirius that he did make a promise, so maybe that would help.

"Sure, but I'll have to go as Padfoot," was the reluctant answer. He really wanted to get out of the house, but hated the fact that he wouldn't be able to talk to his godson. Still, time well spent and all.

"Or I could disguise you," our hero offered nonchalantly with a negligent wave of his hand. This would be a new bit of magic for him, but after what he had done to Ron, he was pretty sure he could pull it off.

"Really? How?" that perked the man up. It would be great to spend time with Harry. They could do so many things in London. With the kid having no memory, there were a great many things he could show him.

Harry waved his tricorder up and down his godfather's body, wanting the extra boost it gave his spells. He thought hard on what he wanted, and the man changed right before of his eyes. Sirius now looked like a teenage version of himself. He appeared to be eighteen with long dark hair, grey eyes and a lanky build. Another wave and he was dressed in more modern clothing; tight jeans and a clean t-shirt with a grey and black jumper.

"This is great, how long will it last?" the glamored man asked excitedly. If he could just get Harry to trust him more, he could learn to do this himself then he wouldn't have to hide all the time.

"Until I release it," the dark-haired teen said, giving his godfather a weird look. "Why? How long do most glamors last?"

"Well, spells like I did to Snape can last up to a week, but stuff like this will stay around for about an hour. Same with Polyjuice," Sirius said, looking in the mirror over the fireplace. He put his fingers to his face and poked it. It was so real. Not like regular glamors that only imposed an image. This truly changed his entire body. He was for all intent and purposes a teenager.

"What is Polyjuice?"

"It's a potion that lets you take on the appearance of another person for an hour," the now teenage looking man explained. "It is a real vile concoction and you have to have a piece of the person you're impersonating, like hair or skin." He gave a full-body shudder.

"That sounds absolutely gross. How, the bloody hell, do you keep someone from impersonating other people if you have so many ways of changing your appearance?" Harry asked, thinking that someone could break it to the bank that way. How the hell did organizations know they were talking to the real person? All someone had to do was mimic a CEO and they could get all of the businesses' secrets. What other crimes could be committed just by using this potion? The things that could be done with it were endless, and few of them good… maybe spying, but even that could be used against you. He could imagine the chaos that one could do in the non-magical world, why they could become rich without hardly trying.

He had a tickling feeling that he had used it before, but the memory faded quickly. He'd have to ask Hermione about it.

"Well, there are spells that will tell you if someone is glamored. We used security questions during the war, to make sure there were no Polyjuiced spies. Gringotts has its own security, I don't know what, but they have only been broken into once that I know of," Sirius said in a lecturing tone. "Plus, like I said most only last an hour," he added, still looking at his youthful face.

"Alright, well this one will last until I disperse it, so we should be good to go," Harry said, shaking off his thoughts and coming up to the older man, getting his attention away from the mirror. "Let's get to London, yeah?"

"How are we going to get there? I can Apparate us, or we can get the Knight Bus," Sirius suggested, finally breaking away from his image.

"I was going to poof us there, but if you want, you can show me what Apparation is," the teen said with a shrug. It didn't matter to him either way.

"How about I take us, and then you can bring us back?" was the reply. He really wanted to see the difference. He wondered if the Death Eaters had a similar form of travel, since they liked to create black smoke when they appeared. It made them appear more dangerous. However, there was still a 'crack' sound when they came, so perhaps not.

"Sure," Harry agreed, hoping the wizard form of travel was as smooth as his.

"Grab my arm and close your eyes," Sirius instructed as he held his arm out.

Harry did as bid and then got the sensation of being sucked through a narrow straw. It felt like parts of his body were about to be torn off. He made sure to concentrate really hard on keeping his bits in place. Being a teen, the last thing he wanted was to lose his manhood. When they arrived, he threw up his breakfast. "God, that was awful," he said when he was done. He stood and glared at the unapologetic man.

"I take it your 'poofing' isn't anything like that?" Sirius asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"God, no."

"Then I can't wait to try it," the now teen said eagerly.

"Right, let's get this show on the road," Harry sighed as he looked around the alley.

"First we have to get some money," the godfather said, bouncing on his toes. He really wanted to go to the bank and see if the goblins could see through this glamor. He wasn't worried they would turn him in. They were mostly neutral about him. Probably, because he had used their services many times in the last year, well, that and he was big account.

"Right, where are we?" Harry asked, not recognizing the alley they were in, not that most alleys looked different, but there were subtle things that one could see to tell them apart. Like the placement of rubbish tips, and where the doors stood.

"Oh, right, well we're near Kings Cross, so we have a bit of a walk," the dogman said as he made his way to the mouth of the alley.

"You couldn't get us closer?" the teen whinged as he followed. Not that he had anything against walking, but he didn't want to spend all day in London.

"This is the only alley I know," Sirius defended himself. It was the one he and the Potters used whenever Lily wanted to get out of the house. They spent many days in London, just getting away from the war. Lily wanted them to be educated on the city in case they ever had to hide here. That and his old flat wasn't far. "Besides, a bit of walk will do you good. If you use magic to move around, you get fat and lazy."

"Fine," Harry said mulishly. "I'll show you a better place to appear. It's closer to the Leaky Cauldron," he offered as they made it to the streets. Being a weekday, it wasn't that busy, so they made good time. Harry showed Sirius where he slept and what businesses were nice to him when he had been living here. Sirius showed Harry what sites there were; where a good place to eat was, and the few places that were still around from when he dwelled here.

The two made their way to Gringotts, and Sirius was not recognized by the goblins. He was speechless, if Harry could teach him this magic, he could go anywhere. Of course, he didn't ask to see his accounts, or try and get money from the teller.

Money was exchanged, and they went back to the city proper. They spent a good part of the day in bookstores and touring the sites. Harry had to admit he had a good time. Sirius was a funny and happy guy, when he wasn't depressed. He did pick up some wicked books at a Wiccan store that focused on ritual magic and tuning yourself with nature. He figured if he could use ambient magic as well as his core, well he'd be more unstoppable than he was now. Mostly though, he bought ones on meditation.

Thanks to Luna's advice, and Mr. Waters' warning, he realized that there was someone in the castle that put his name in the cup. He was already going over security with Worf in his head. However, from what he had been told of this Voldemort person, he would need to be more powerful, hence the books. He reckoned it was a good thing that he was a mostly moral person, or he would attempt to rule the world. But who wanted that headache?

He also found some self-defense books that he wanted to learn in case Mr. Waters and the goblins were wrong and he lost his magic. He didn't think it would happen, he was really in tune with his core, but why take the chance? Now that he had these books, if the worst happened he could still defend himself.

After five hours of roaming the city, Harry 'poofed' them back to the Shrieking Shack.

"That was really smooth," Sirius commented when they appeared in a cloud of blue smoke. "I hope that book helps me learn this magic."

"I'm sure it will. Barring what you did to Snape, you seem like an intelligent man," Harry encouraged. He really wanted this man to be able to protect himself, if not for the fact that he was his godfather, then for the fact that a great injustice had been carried out on his person. He hoped that when Sirius was acquitted they could do something about that Fudge guy. It had to be illegal to put a Kiss on Sight order out for someone who never had a trial.

"Hey, I wanted to tell you that I have a house that we can hide in over the summer, if you don't want to go back to the Dursleys," the dogman said as if just remembering. He didn't really want to go to his childhood home, but it was the only Black house that wasn't occupied. "It probably needs some work, because it's been standing empty for a while, but with your magic and the elves' help, it should be easy to clean." He wondered if Kreacher were still about, but he wasn't going to call the demented elf to find out.

"Let me think about it. I want to try and to go to the non-magical part of London and get a flat. I could do the reverse on what I did to you today and make myself older. Plus, I can shield that just as easily. You're welcome to join me, as long as you don't try and run my life," Harry said, thinking over some plans to leave. He still had to find out how he lost his memory, talk to the bloody ghost and scare that Ron kid. That and the library was full of things he would never think of, like household spells and defensive magic. He wondered if he could use his invisibility to get into the restricted section. It was something he would try here soon. However, if he could glamor his godfather, he saw no reason why he couldn't do it to himself to look older. Speaking of which, "Do you want me to drop the glamor?" he asked.

"Merlin, no. I want to be able to walk the streets. It's not like I'm a real teen and have to go through puberty. No, leave it on," Sirius said excitedly. He was ecstatic, not even Dumbledore could fault him wanting his freedom. He could even go and talk to Waters about getting cleared. His memories were intact and he could show them to the lawyer, and hopefully obtain a trial. They would have to do some heavy politicking, but he now had hope. Unlike Harry, he was a pure-blood, so the laws were on his side. All he had to do was get around that idiot Fudge.

"Right," Harry said with a nod. He could see the man's point of view. He searched his brain for something to talk about, and then remember his talk with the twins' father. "Hey, I was talking to Mr. Weasley and he told me that there was a life debt between me and Ginny. What does that mean exactly? I mean, I don't want to have to marry the girl. I don't even know her." That was one Weasley that had kept her distance, though every time he looked at her she was staring at him with cow-eyes. It was almost flattering. Almost.

"To put it simple, a lift debt means that she is going to be pulled by magic into helping you until it is repaid," the older man said, taking a seat on the couch. He crossed his right leg over the left and thought hard on how to explain it more.

"So if I demanded that she do the first task for me, she would have to comply?" Harry asked, sitting in one of the chairs and leaning his arms on his knees. That wasn't the type of power he wanted over anyone.

"Well, yeah, but I really hope you're not planning on pitting a thirteen year old girl against a magical beast," the godfather stated firmly. He really didn't want to think that, but…

"Fuck off, I'm not like that. It was just a question," Harry snarled, completely affronted that anyone would think he'd do that.

"I don't really know the new you, not like I really knew the old you either," Sirius mumbled the last part, distraught over the fact he really didn't understand the teen sitting across from him. These mood swings were starting to get to him. He wondered if the self-help books Harry made him buy were going to help. He really hoped so.

"Does this mean others owe me debts too. I mean, I've practically saved the entire castle at one point or another. At least, so I'm told," he asked a bit worried that people were going to start throwing themselves in front of curses or something. "Do I owe that Ron kid for breaking me out of my relatives? I don't know what happened, Hermione only touch on it vaguely, but she said he and the twins rescued me."

"Well, I'm not sure," came the vague answer. "I don't know all the stories. We never really got to talking about your life. You usually only tell me what's going on right now. I can tell you this, magic will find a way. If there is a debt. I suggest you just go with the flow. Let magic suss it out," his godfather said seriously.

"Right. How did you know it's going to be a magical creature?" Harry asked, changing the subject and vowing to do his own research on life debts.

"Oh, my family would wail about how the tournament had been canceled. They thought it was a great idea in getting rid of anyone could be more powerful than them," Sirius said with a wave of his hand. "They'd talk about the past ones and would go into great detail on how contestants died. Which is why I'm glad that you don't have to compete," he added with a softer tone. "Anyway, the first task is traditionally a magical beast. It's supposed to test your daring."

"Your family sounds like right bastards," the dark-haired teen said with a concentrated look.

"Oh, they were," he admitted with a laugh. "They tried to disown me just because I got sorted into Gryffindor. I left when I was sixteen, which is how I knew no one would rent to you. I lived with your dad's family until I graduated. That put a hair up Mum's nose," the fugitive laughed. "She's probably rolling in her grave over the fact that I'm now Head of the family." That had been a surprise, he thought for sure that being disown would make him ineligible, but it seems his grandfather didn't agree with his mum.

Harry looked at his watch and cussed, "Fuck. I missed lunch, the girls and Neville will be worried. I've got to run. I had a great time getting to know you better, I hope you understand more about me now," he said, getting up from the chair and heading to the tunnel. He still didn't know if the old man could feel his poofing and he really didn't want to find out.

"You still haven't told me about these birds," Sirius whinged, wanting to live vicariously through his godson. Then he realized he could get some of his own now. Hopefully it would be an older woman, who liked younger men. He glanced in the mirror and cringed, 'Not this young,' was his thought. "Harry, do you think you could make me a little older? I want so to see if I can score, but I don't think I can if I look like a pimply teen."

"Sure," the younger man said with a shrug. He waved his hand and now Sirius looked to be in his mid-twenties, with brown hair and bluer eyes. This way he wouldn't be recognized.

The jokester went and looked in the mirror and smiled wickedly. "Perfect," he said.

"Well, that's done. I really have to run," Harry said, making his way out the entrance. "Try not to get into trouble," were his parting words.

"Yeah, right," Sirius laughed as he made his way to the front door.