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sam_storyteller) wrote2005-07-07 01:13 pm
sam_storyteller) wrote2005-07-07 01:13 pm
Entry tags:
Laocoon's Children, Year III, Ch. 24; PG
First Posted 7/18/2007
***
Harry returned to Hogwarts that evening aching in every muscle, his fingers rubbed raw from scouring and his clothes smelling of cleaning agent and sweat. When he sat down, the Slytherins nearby pulled away slightly.
"Wow, you reek," Cricket Creevey said, wrinkling his nose. "Where were you all day?"
"Cleaning," Harry said tiredly, breaking a dinner roll into tiny pieces and dipping them in the gravy on his plate. "Professor McGonagall sent me to help out in London as my punishment."
"Doesn't sound like much of a punishment to me," Goyle said.
"I spent the whole day scrubbing out the display windows they tried to set on fire," Harry replied. The food didn't taste like much in his mouth; he was too exhausted to really enjoy it.
"By the way, I'm not talking to you," Crabbe said.
"You just did," Harry answered. Crabbe's face formed into a comical look of intense concentration. "Fine, don't talk to me then."
"You missed Defence class," Theo said. He sipped from a cup of pumpkin juice, then continued. "Substitute again. I guess Professor Lupin gets sick an awful lot. Doesn't seem like he would, does it?"
"Who was lecturing?" Harry asked. The other boys sniggered. "What? What'd I miss? It wasn't Umbridge again, was it?"
"Better," Theo said, leering.
"So who was it? I know it wasn't Professor Tonks."
"Well," Goyle said. "There was this woman, right..."
He stopped and burst into chuckles again.
"I swear to Merlin, Goyle, if you don't tell me what happened I'll pull your guts out through your throat," Harry said.
"Yeah, well, if you do that I'll blow your arse up into your stomach," Goyle replied amiably. "Theo, you tell him."
"Sex education!" Crabbe burst out, overcoming his declaration that he was Not Talking to Harry.
"Crabbe!" Theo kicked him under the table.
"Sex education?" Harry asked.
"It wasn't supposed to be," Theo said, glaring at the other two. Goyle was making obscene in-out gestures with the porkchop on his plate. "The woman who came to class said that some Auror named Shacklebolt was supposed to be teaching but on account of the riots he couldn't, so she came from the Ministry for Magical Health instead."
"I'm here to talk to you today about in-ti-mate relations and the human boooooooody," Goyle said in a pinched, lilting voice.
"Every time she said body she did that," Theo related, gleefully. "Booooooooooody."
"Ron Weasley on a dare got up and asked a question about whether our boooooooodies could go wrong and grow horns or something, it was brilliant," Crabbe said. "She didn't even notice."
"Really, you should have been there," Theo said. "Besides, now YOU don't know anything about having sex."
"I do so, my godfather told me all that ages ago," Harry retorted.
"I bet Longbottom doesn't."
"You just shut your fat mouth about Neville," Harry said angrily. "I bet he knows more'n you about girls."
"Bet he doesn't. Anyway, she was dead interesting and funny. Don't think she meant to be funny. I'm going to ask Pansy if she'll help me study the human booooooody, see if I don't," Theo looked wicked.
"Oi, Pansy!" Harry called. Theo flushed scarlet. "Theo's got a crush on you!"
"He just wants to know more about the human boooooody!" Pansy called back. The third-years Slytherins and the nearby Hufflepuff table rocked with amusement. Harry winked at Draco, who looked as though sexual education had been the shock of his young life. "Want me to share my notes, Harry?"
"Is that what they're calling it now?" a fourth-year, who had seen it all and was weary of the constant sex jokes, asked tiredly.
"Settle down, you lot," Flint said, leaning over to be heard down the length of the table. "Potter, I hope you bloody well suffered. Eric spent half the day in the hospital wing."
"Yeah," Crabbe added righteously, remembering that he was supposed to be angry at Harry.
Harry sighed and picked at his food, looking up gratefully when a wad of paper hit him in the back of the head. He ducked down to retrieve it and opened it to find Neville's handwriting on the paper. He twisted around to see a pale, worn-looking but nevetheless smiling Neville, giving him a thumbs-up from the Gryffindor table.
Music Room after dinner -- lots to talk about.
Harry nodded, turning back to his food while around him the other third-year Slytherins found new and inventive ways to simulate the sex act with mashed potatoes, porkchops, and dinner rolls.
***
"How're your parents?" Harry asked, as Neville joined him outside the Great Hall on their way up to the music room. He'd seen Draco get buttonholed by the Hufflepuff prefect about something, and Padma was talking to her sister; they'd catch up in due time.
"Ted's not so great, but they let him out of hospital this afternoon," Neville answered. "Mum's just a bit bruised. Could have been a lot worse, they kept saying, but I don't want to think about it."
"Did you get any news about why it happened?"
"Nah. Grownups won't talk to me about it, 'fraid it'll upset me I expect. Sirius was there, he kept the MLE from pestering us. Professor Snape was there for a bit but only to make sure that the Healers didn't muck anything up. Where were you? I got back a few hours ago and everyone said you hexed someone and McGonagall dragged you off."
"She made me go help Dora clean up the mess."
"Who'd you hex?"
"Eric Crabbe. He was saying nasty things." Harry gave the passwords to the Music Room and stepped through the portrait-hole. Here, the outside world was muffled and a sense of serene peace prevailed. London and all its troubles seemed very far off. It wasn't long before the portrait opened again and Padma and Draco came through, each carrying desserts scrounged from the kitchen-elves.
"Well, that was a day," Padma said, flopping down on the floor. "Neville gone, Harry vanished, Draco and I left to fend for ourselves in a crowd of horny thirteen-year-olds who can't talk about anything but sex. I imagined my life at Hogwarts would be quite different from this, you know. Draco's still traumatised."
She jerked a thumb at Draco, who frowned. "I am not."
"Are so. You've been quiet ever since class. Don't you want to know more about your booooody?" Padma teased.
"I didn't know it was so...squishy, that's all," Draco said primly. Neville hooted. "I mean it! I didn't know how you did things like that, it's a bit much to absorb. Did you know girls bleed down there?"
"Once a month," Padma said, annoyed. "It's not like it's a constant thing."
"Do you think we bleed?" Draco asked, looking extremely worried.
"Did you not pay any attention at all? Of course you don't."
"This is pleasant," Harry remarked. "I could just sit here and listen to this all day."
"Sorry," Draco said. "Weren't you a little shocked, Padma?"
"Nah, Mum told Parvati and me about all this. Didn't yours?"
"Picture Draco's mum talking to him about sex," Harry said.
"I'm really glad she didn't," Draco said fervently. "Did your parents?"
Harry glanced at Neville. "Well, Sirius did."
"Ted gave me a book about it," Neville added. "He got all red in the face, too."
"I'm just a freak, then," Draco sighed. "Nothing new there."
"You're not a freak, your mum's a freak," Padma said, which was probably intended to comfort. "That's why the Ministry sends people to talk to us about it, so that kids whose parents are freaks still know what's going on."
"Yeah, well, I'd rather just forget the whole thing," Draco said. "I wish Professor Lupin was back."
"Which is a good reminder that you have homework to do," Padma said, poking him. "And I'm supposed to be helping."
"We just got here!" Draco protested.
"Yes, well, when you fail Charms -- "
"Fine," Draco grumbled, rolling his eyes at Neville and Harry. "We have to go to the library. I'm behind on Charms homework. Want to come?"
"Nah, I'm going to stay here a bit," Harry said. "See you for breakfast tomorrow, though."
"Right. Come on, Padma," Draco said, offering her a hand up off the floor. Harry noticed that when she took it Draco blushed pink, and he wondered if Draco wasn't thinking about sexual education tutoring with Padma. She was nice enough, and he'd jump in front of a dragon for her any day, but he'd do that for Draco and Neville too and kissing Padma'd be like kissing a sister.
"Do you suppose we missed anything? Really, I mean," Neville said. "What if Ted or Sirius forgot to tell us something? Or didn't on purpose?"
"I don't think Sirius would do that," Harry said doubtfully. "He was pretty confident about it. And I bet he told me stuff she didn't tell the others today."
"Like what?"
"You know. About men," Harry said vaguely.
"Like, two men?" Neville pondered this. "Nope, my book didn't say anything about that either. How do they do it, then, do you suppose? Maybe it's like when you..." he made a vague gesture.
"When you wha -- oh," Harry said. "You do that?"
"Sure, don't you?" Neville frowned. "Only, if it's two men, you do it to the other person."
"I think this is the most uncomfortable conversation I've ever had," Harry said.
"Well, they must somehow, right? How do you suppose Remus and Sirius do it?"
"Neville!"
"What? They do, don't they? Do you suppose they have a book about it?"
Harry gave him a horrified look, in part because Neville was voicing questions he'd sort of wondered about too. "They're my parents!"
"So?"
"So picture Ted and Andromeda having sex! Reading books about it!"
Neville's face was hilarious to see. "Ew!"
"See?" Harry said. "Picture your gran -- "
"Eeew! Okay, okay! No more parents!" Neville brought his hands down in a placating gesture. Both boys fell silent for a while as they tried to excise the mental image of their parents in the throes of passion. Finally, Neville spoke again.
"Padma's kissed a boy. Sort of. Hermione told me that she heard from Lavender that Parvati said Padma kissed Zacharias, but that was to win a bet," he said. "You ever kiss a girl?"
"Nope. Not properly. You?"
"Nah. I suppose we've got loads of time before we need to worry, don't we?" Neville looked troubled nonetheless. "Though...it'd be nice to know if I'm any good at it."
"Good at kissing? Can you be bad at it?"
"I think so. How do you know, though? I mean, and if you aren't, how do you get any better?"
"Well..." Harry felt very daring. "We could try it."
"Kissing? Reckon I should just go up to Hermione and say Fancy a snog? It's for science! and see what she says?" Neville asked.
"No, I meant, you and me could try it."
Neville looked at him as if he'd lost his mind. "What, like kiss each other?"
"It's not like it would mean anything," Harry said defensively. "But then we'd know if we were any good at it or not and if we weren't the other person could say something. You said it yourself. It's for science!"
"It'd be nice to know," Neville said thoughtfully. Harry's heart was racing as if he was in the middle of a really great prank; this was something he knew that kids were probably not supposed to do, but it was exciting to try it out. And who better than Neville? Neville could keep a secret, and he wasn't high-strung about people like Draco could sometimes be.
"So...do you want to?" Harry asked.
"Okay, I guess," Neville said. "Should we stand up or something?"
"No, here, look," Harry said, scooting close to him so that their crossed legs touched at the knee. "Just lean forward."
Neville obediently leaned forward and Harry did something he'd seen Sirius do once, tipping his chin up slightly so that they were more on a level. Neville closed his eyes, so Harry did too; their noses bumped together and Neville laughed.
"That can't be right," he said, and Harry laughed too, opening his eyes and rubbing his nose. He turned his head slightly so that it wouldn't happen again, and then Neville leaned even further forward unexpectedly.
Their lips brushed, and Harry tried not to think so hard about it. What was there to think about, anyway? Neville's lips were a little bit dry, and Harry licked his own before he thought about it. He caught the edge of one of Neville's teeth with his tongue and realised that this was really a proper kiss. He'd seen people kiss like that.
It was strange, not to be kissing another boy or to be kissing Neville but to be kissing anyone that way. It was sort of...wet.
He pulled back, licked his lips again, and glanced at Neville.
"How was that?" Neville asked, looking startled.
"Well, you're all right," Harry said, head spinning a little. "What about me?"
"Yeah, well, I guess you do fine too."
Harry nodded. "So that's okay then, isn't it? Now we know and if you wanted to kiss a girl you won't have to tell her it's all in the name of science."
Neville laughed. "Sure. Let's go to the library and hex Draco's bum to his chair."
***
In the aftermath of the attack on Tonks & Tonks, Sirius spent much of his time in London, helping to put up new wards on the storefront and making sure Ted didn't do any more work than was absolutely necessary. He helped Julian move into a tiny but serviceable flat and, two days after the attacks, brought Anne home with him. The young woman had been terrified to wake up into chaos and even more frightened once she heard what had happened; she didn't even want to leave the house, but Sirius was certain a few days in the peaceful Scottish countryside would do her a world of good.
"It's spring; plants blooming, ducklings on the lake, birds fucking each other loudly in every tree, it takes a person right out of themselves," Sirius said, bringing Ted a cup of tea. Ted sat in one of the comfortable chairs in the living room of the house overlooking Creadonagh Valley while Anne bumped around upstairs, settling into a linen-closet hastily transfigured into a proper bedroom.
"So it is. Are you certain you don't mind? I know the kids have the Easter holiday in a few days, and you don't get much time with Harry."
"Bout as much as you get with Neville, he's home all summer," Sirius replied. "Don't you fret about Harry. He's going to spend most of his time up at Hogwarts anyway, I reckon, keeping Draco company. I've promised to show them some broomstick tricks. Harry tells me Oliver Wood is staying over too -- parents are off somewhere in Hungary, I think -- and he's impartial now that Gryffindor's definitely going to be playing in the House Cup."
"To the House," Ted said, raising his tea.
"Indeed."
"Which reminds me, you've yet to name your actual house, have you?" Ted said. He set the tea down and gazed out the window, watching a pair of kneazles patrolling regally through the yard. He looked tired, Sirius thought, and not at all like his usual genial self.
"Not yet. Remus thought the Valley House might be nice, but it's a little plain. I said we should call it Wolfhold but he says that's right out. He veto'd The Refuge too, said it made it sound like a hut in the woods."
"You could call it your winter house," Ted suggested.
"Rather bleak, don't you think? I'm sure the name'll come in time," Sirius said, sipping his own tea thoughtfully. "How's Mary getting on?"
"No change, she's still unconscious. We've spoken to a couple of other Support Network people about someone taking it over; neither Andi nor myself have the time and frankly I'm not sure my nerves would be up to it after this week. God, Sirius, it made me feel old, facing down those youngsters."
"Well, give the job to a werewolf, then."
Ted looked at him curiously. "Mary was a pensioner, Sirius. There's no salary for the job."
"None at all?"
"Nope. All the income she had was in goods -- clothing, food, that kind of thing. Didn't you know?"
"No, I thought perhaps she had some kind of grant."
Ted laughed bitterly. "From the Ministry? You need to move back down to London and get some perspective, my friend."
Sirius began to feel a little annoyed. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Ted leaned forward, steepling his fingers. He tapped them against his lips a few times before speaking, and when he did he spoke as if they were being listened to, in low tones. "The climate in Diagon's not very good right now. There's a lot of fear and anger boiling around under the surface. The Prophet doesn't help, either, but it's mostly just the gossip network. Nobody gossips like magical folk do. I'm a shopkeeper, people tell me we're pillars of the community -- we hear a lot."
Sirius sat down, feeling as if he were nineteen again and holding some kind of secret Order meeting. "A lot about what?"
"The Ministry's tightening security, they think Peter Pettigrew's going to...I don't know, blow up a building, murder people in their sleep. People have heard about the Dementors on the Hogwarts grounds, and they're worried London will be next, which seems to be a valid concern. Business is down because people are stockpiling money to get out of the country if things start to go bad."
"Merlin, Ted."
"That's not nearly so worrying as what's coming out of eastern Europe." Ted glanced towards the ceiling; the noise upstairs had stopped. He waited until it started again before continuing. "We do a little foreign mail-order and the embassies at the Ministry recommend us for foreign visitors who want English wizarding clothing. There are upsetting rumours in Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, even Poland -- which all add up to the idea that Pettigrew may be looking for a way to resurrect You-Know-Who."
Sirius dropped his teacup, cursed, and blotted at his trousers with a napkin.
"It's all hearsay," Ted said, leaning forward to pick up the cup. "But it's coming from people who have no reason to lie, and no real reason to be afraid of Pettigrew. After all, the Dark Lord never really extended his grasp much past this country. They say someone, maybe more than one someone, has been poking around asking nosy questions about You-Know-Who. Did he ever visit the village, are there known Death Eaters in the area, that kind of thing."
"Voldemort's dead," Sirius said, unaccountably angry and frightened by the news. "And when I get my hands on Peter, he will be too. That's all there is to it."
"Maybe for you, but not for Wizarding Britain. And you can bet the werewolves are suffering because of it."
Ted looked up suddenly and Sirius turned to see Anne standing on the stair like a ghost, one hand holding the banister.
"I'm done unpacking," she said quietly.
"Splendid -- how'd you like to go down to Hogsmeade and we'll get some posters for your walls?" Sirius asked, still dabbing at the tea-stains on his trousers. Finally he took out his wand and flicked it at the stains, which evaporated neatly. "It's a nice walk..."
"If you want," she said, still in the same subdued tone.
"And I'm off for home. Enjoy yourself," Ted said, touching her shoulder hesitantly. "You'll have fun. There's loads to do in Hogsmeade."
She nodded and watched him as he walked to the fireplace and disappeared into the floo network. Sirius found himself alone with a young werewolf and a lot of uncertainties.
Still, she wasn't all that much older than Harry, just a few years, and Sirius had spent most of his life with a werewolf, so he ought to know something about it by now.
The silence stretched out between them, tense and thick. Finally, he walked to the entryway and began pulling on his shoes.
"Come on then," he said, with a cheer he didn't feel. "I'll show you the sights."
***
The next week brought a reprieve from school in the form of the Easter holiday, a full week off from school and for most, a much-relished trip home to see their families. Remus and Harry would both be home, all day, for a whole week, and Sirius could visit Hogwarts at any time without having to resort to being Padfoot or coming up with excuses.
It was good, too, because Draco was the only Hufflepuff in his year who was left behind. While he repeated that he was happier than he would be with his mum (and this in itself was depressing), he was still lonely and bored, fractious about spending the time doing homework.
On the first sunny day, a few days after everyone else had left for home, Sirius took Harry and Draco out on the Quidditch Pitch and spent hours showing them trick moves -- daredevil broom-dangles, sharp turns, and a disastrous attempt at the Wronski Feint that nearly resulted in a broken nose. After a few hours he left the boys to their own devices and climbed into the stands, where Remus and Anne were sitting and watching, occasionally calling out encouragement.
"That's no way to go about it," he said, sitting next to Anne and reaching around to ruffle Remus' already windblown hair. He cupped his hands around his mouth. "PUT SOME STICK INTO IT, SLACKERS!"
Harry pivoted on a dime and made a rude gesture.
"You're teaching him terrible manners," Remus commented.
"That's fine, Quidditch isn't the Daughters of the Goblin Rebellion Annual Dinner," Sirius replied. "Wotcha, Anne."
"Hi," she said, her eyes on Harry and Draco.
"Anne and I were just talking about when she goes back to London," Remus said. "Andromeda's holding a spot for her as a shopgirl with Tonks&Tonks, but I thought she might like working in an apothecary's shop."
"Six of one, half dozen of the other," Sirius said. Anne seemed to draw in on herself. "You'll learn more about potions, working for an apothecary, but there's a lot of slimy, slithery work to be done as well."
"Lots of access to potions ingredients, though," Remus said. "Plenty of Master Brewers got their start in shops. It's like an apprenticeship."
"Wolfsbane," Anne murmured quietly.
"Yes, you could definitely get a lot of training about that potion, I imagine it'll be quite popular in the future. And useful to you, of course," Remus added.
"I just meant plain wolfsbane," she said. Sirius saw Remus tense.
"What would you want plain wolfsbane for, Anne?" he asked cautiously.
"Well, it's a cheap way out," she replied, looking down at her hands.
"Out of what?" Remus inquired, a sharp edge to his voice.
"If I wanted...I mean if I didn't want..." she trailed off. "It's not important. I guess whichever you think is best."
Sirius looked over her head at Remus, whose face had gone very pale. What would the girl want poison for --
Oh.
Suddenly the edge in the other man's voice made perfect sense. It was hard to kill a werewolf, unless you knew what you were doing...or had easy access to wolfsbane.
"Anne," Remus said, his voice very distant, "I think you and I had better take a trip to London tomorrow. I think there's a man you should meet. His name is Seth, he's quite nice -- he works at St. Mungo's."
"I don't want someone to ask me if I've come to terms with my lycanthropy," she said rebelliously.
"I know, and Seth won't ask that. He never did me, anyway," Remus said. "He's been my caseworker at the hospital for years. Maybe he can help you in ways I can't."
"No, I want to stay with you."
"And you are, but a visit -- "
"I don't want to!"
Sirius blinked at her.
"Anne," Remus said, in a voice Sirius very rarely heard. "You will come with me tomorrow or so help me Merlin I will ground you like the child you're behaving as."
Anne looked up at him, then at Sirius, who shrugged. "Don't look at me. He knows more than either of us about it. If you won't be told by Remus Lupin you may as well just off yourself now."
"Sirius!" Remus said, looking suddenly furious.
"Well, that's what she's on about, isn't it?" Sirius asked. "Go to the bloody hospital, you silly child."
Anne looked like she was about to cry, but when she opened her mouth she shocked both men.
"You think I should?" she asked. Remus raised his eyebrows.
"Yes, I do," Sirius answered.
"Okay." She stood, shaking out the wrinkles in her robe. "I'm going to go talk to Harry and Draco."
They watched as she climbed the steps to the back of the stand, then disappeared from view down the ladder.
"How do you do that?" Remus asked. "How do you do that to everyone? You just say something and they do it."
Sirius shrugged, smiled, and leaned back. "I'm just that good. You think Rubins will help her?"
"He helped me."
Sirius, in the act of relaxing, found himself suddenly tense. "You never -- you didn't think about..."
"No, not like she is," Remus said, indicating where Harry and Draco had landed and were showing their brooms to Anne. "He just helped me, that's all. We're all screwed up when we're young."
"Good thing you've got me to tell you what to do then, isn't it?"
Remus gave him a warm, tolerant smile. "Good thing."
To the Next Part
***
Harry returned to Hogwarts that evening aching in every muscle, his fingers rubbed raw from scouring and his clothes smelling of cleaning agent and sweat. When he sat down, the Slytherins nearby pulled away slightly.
"Wow, you reek," Cricket Creevey said, wrinkling his nose. "Where were you all day?"
"Cleaning," Harry said tiredly, breaking a dinner roll into tiny pieces and dipping them in the gravy on his plate. "Professor McGonagall sent me to help out in London as my punishment."
"Doesn't sound like much of a punishment to me," Goyle said.
"I spent the whole day scrubbing out the display windows they tried to set on fire," Harry replied. The food didn't taste like much in his mouth; he was too exhausted to really enjoy it.
"By the way, I'm not talking to you," Crabbe said.
"You just did," Harry answered. Crabbe's face formed into a comical look of intense concentration. "Fine, don't talk to me then."
"You missed Defence class," Theo said. He sipped from a cup of pumpkin juice, then continued. "Substitute again. I guess Professor Lupin gets sick an awful lot. Doesn't seem like he would, does it?"
"Who was lecturing?" Harry asked. The other boys sniggered. "What? What'd I miss? It wasn't Umbridge again, was it?"
"Better," Theo said, leering.
"So who was it? I know it wasn't Professor Tonks."
"Well," Goyle said. "There was this woman, right..."
He stopped and burst into chuckles again.
"I swear to Merlin, Goyle, if you don't tell me what happened I'll pull your guts out through your throat," Harry said.
"Yeah, well, if you do that I'll blow your arse up into your stomach," Goyle replied amiably. "Theo, you tell him."
"Sex education!" Crabbe burst out, overcoming his declaration that he was Not Talking to Harry.
"Crabbe!" Theo kicked him under the table.
"Sex education?" Harry asked.
"It wasn't supposed to be," Theo said, glaring at the other two. Goyle was making obscene in-out gestures with the porkchop on his plate. "The woman who came to class said that some Auror named Shacklebolt was supposed to be teaching but on account of the riots he couldn't, so she came from the Ministry for Magical Health instead."
"I'm here to talk to you today about in-ti-mate relations and the human boooooooody," Goyle said in a pinched, lilting voice.
"Every time she said body she did that," Theo related, gleefully. "Booooooooooody."
"Ron Weasley on a dare got up and asked a question about whether our boooooooodies could go wrong and grow horns or something, it was brilliant," Crabbe said. "She didn't even notice."
"Really, you should have been there," Theo said. "Besides, now YOU don't know anything about having sex."
"I do so, my godfather told me all that ages ago," Harry retorted.
"I bet Longbottom doesn't."
"You just shut your fat mouth about Neville," Harry said angrily. "I bet he knows more'n you about girls."
"Bet he doesn't. Anyway, she was dead interesting and funny. Don't think she meant to be funny. I'm going to ask Pansy if she'll help me study the human booooooody, see if I don't," Theo looked wicked.
"Oi, Pansy!" Harry called. Theo flushed scarlet. "Theo's got a crush on you!"
"He just wants to know more about the human boooooody!" Pansy called back. The third-years Slytherins and the nearby Hufflepuff table rocked with amusement. Harry winked at Draco, who looked as though sexual education had been the shock of his young life. "Want me to share my notes, Harry?"
"Is that what they're calling it now?" a fourth-year, who had seen it all and was weary of the constant sex jokes, asked tiredly.
"Settle down, you lot," Flint said, leaning over to be heard down the length of the table. "Potter, I hope you bloody well suffered. Eric spent half the day in the hospital wing."
"Yeah," Crabbe added righteously, remembering that he was supposed to be angry at Harry.
Harry sighed and picked at his food, looking up gratefully when a wad of paper hit him in the back of the head. He ducked down to retrieve it and opened it to find Neville's handwriting on the paper. He twisted around to see a pale, worn-looking but nevetheless smiling Neville, giving him a thumbs-up from the Gryffindor table.
Music Room after dinner -- lots to talk about.
Harry nodded, turning back to his food while around him the other third-year Slytherins found new and inventive ways to simulate the sex act with mashed potatoes, porkchops, and dinner rolls.
***
"How're your parents?" Harry asked, as Neville joined him outside the Great Hall on their way up to the music room. He'd seen Draco get buttonholed by the Hufflepuff prefect about something, and Padma was talking to her sister; they'd catch up in due time.
"Ted's not so great, but they let him out of hospital this afternoon," Neville answered. "Mum's just a bit bruised. Could have been a lot worse, they kept saying, but I don't want to think about it."
"Did you get any news about why it happened?"
"Nah. Grownups won't talk to me about it, 'fraid it'll upset me I expect. Sirius was there, he kept the MLE from pestering us. Professor Snape was there for a bit but only to make sure that the Healers didn't muck anything up. Where were you? I got back a few hours ago and everyone said you hexed someone and McGonagall dragged you off."
"She made me go help Dora clean up the mess."
"Who'd you hex?"
"Eric Crabbe. He was saying nasty things." Harry gave the passwords to the Music Room and stepped through the portrait-hole. Here, the outside world was muffled and a sense of serene peace prevailed. London and all its troubles seemed very far off. It wasn't long before the portrait opened again and Padma and Draco came through, each carrying desserts scrounged from the kitchen-elves.
"Well, that was a day," Padma said, flopping down on the floor. "Neville gone, Harry vanished, Draco and I left to fend for ourselves in a crowd of horny thirteen-year-olds who can't talk about anything but sex. I imagined my life at Hogwarts would be quite different from this, you know. Draco's still traumatised."
She jerked a thumb at Draco, who frowned. "I am not."
"Are so. You've been quiet ever since class. Don't you want to know more about your booooody?" Padma teased.
"I didn't know it was so...squishy, that's all," Draco said primly. Neville hooted. "I mean it! I didn't know how you did things like that, it's a bit much to absorb. Did you know girls bleed down there?"
"Once a month," Padma said, annoyed. "It's not like it's a constant thing."
"Do you think we bleed?" Draco asked, looking extremely worried.
"Did you not pay any attention at all? Of course you don't."
"This is pleasant," Harry remarked. "I could just sit here and listen to this all day."
"Sorry," Draco said. "Weren't you a little shocked, Padma?"
"Nah, Mum told Parvati and me about all this. Didn't yours?"
"Picture Draco's mum talking to him about sex," Harry said.
"I'm really glad she didn't," Draco said fervently. "Did your parents?"
Harry glanced at Neville. "Well, Sirius did."
"Ted gave me a book about it," Neville added. "He got all red in the face, too."
"I'm just a freak, then," Draco sighed. "Nothing new there."
"You're not a freak, your mum's a freak," Padma said, which was probably intended to comfort. "That's why the Ministry sends people to talk to us about it, so that kids whose parents are freaks still know what's going on."
"Yeah, well, I'd rather just forget the whole thing," Draco said. "I wish Professor Lupin was back."
"Which is a good reminder that you have homework to do," Padma said, poking him. "And I'm supposed to be helping."
"We just got here!" Draco protested.
"Yes, well, when you fail Charms -- "
"Fine," Draco grumbled, rolling his eyes at Neville and Harry. "We have to go to the library. I'm behind on Charms homework. Want to come?"
"Nah, I'm going to stay here a bit," Harry said. "See you for breakfast tomorrow, though."
"Right. Come on, Padma," Draco said, offering her a hand up off the floor. Harry noticed that when she took it Draco blushed pink, and he wondered if Draco wasn't thinking about sexual education tutoring with Padma. She was nice enough, and he'd jump in front of a dragon for her any day, but he'd do that for Draco and Neville too and kissing Padma'd be like kissing a sister.
"Do you suppose we missed anything? Really, I mean," Neville said. "What if Ted or Sirius forgot to tell us something? Or didn't on purpose?"
"I don't think Sirius would do that," Harry said doubtfully. "He was pretty confident about it. And I bet he told me stuff she didn't tell the others today."
"Like what?"
"You know. About men," Harry said vaguely.
"Like, two men?" Neville pondered this. "Nope, my book didn't say anything about that either. How do they do it, then, do you suppose? Maybe it's like when you..." he made a vague gesture.
"When you wha -- oh," Harry said. "You do that?"
"Sure, don't you?" Neville frowned. "Only, if it's two men, you do it to the other person."
"I think this is the most uncomfortable conversation I've ever had," Harry said.
"Well, they must somehow, right? How do you suppose Remus and Sirius do it?"
"Neville!"
"What? They do, don't they? Do you suppose they have a book about it?"
Harry gave him a horrified look, in part because Neville was voicing questions he'd sort of wondered about too. "They're my parents!"
"So?"
"So picture Ted and Andromeda having sex! Reading books about it!"
Neville's face was hilarious to see. "Ew!"
"See?" Harry said. "Picture your gran -- "
"Eeew! Okay, okay! No more parents!" Neville brought his hands down in a placating gesture. Both boys fell silent for a while as they tried to excise the mental image of their parents in the throes of passion. Finally, Neville spoke again.
"Padma's kissed a boy. Sort of. Hermione told me that she heard from Lavender that Parvati said Padma kissed Zacharias, but that was to win a bet," he said. "You ever kiss a girl?"
"Nope. Not properly. You?"
"Nah. I suppose we've got loads of time before we need to worry, don't we?" Neville looked troubled nonetheless. "Though...it'd be nice to know if I'm any good at it."
"Good at kissing? Can you be bad at it?"
"I think so. How do you know, though? I mean, and if you aren't, how do you get any better?"
"Well..." Harry felt very daring. "We could try it."
"Kissing? Reckon I should just go up to Hermione and say Fancy a snog? It's for science! and see what she says?" Neville asked.
"No, I meant, you and me could try it."
Neville looked at him as if he'd lost his mind. "What, like kiss each other?"
"It's not like it would mean anything," Harry said defensively. "But then we'd know if we were any good at it or not and if we weren't the other person could say something. You said it yourself. It's for science!"
"It'd be nice to know," Neville said thoughtfully. Harry's heart was racing as if he was in the middle of a really great prank; this was something he knew that kids were probably not supposed to do, but it was exciting to try it out. And who better than Neville? Neville could keep a secret, and he wasn't high-strung about people like Draco could sometimes be.
"So...do you want to?" Harry asked.
"Okay, I guess," Neville said. "Should we stand up or something?"
"No, here, look," Harry said, scooting close to him so that their crossed legs touched at the knee. "Just lean forward."
Neville obediently leaned forward and Harry did something he'd seen Sirius do once, tipping his chin up slightly so that they were more on a level. Neville closed his eyes, so Harry did too; their noses bumped together and Neville laughed.
"That can't be right," he said, and Harry laughed too, opening his eyes and rubbing his nose. He turned his head slightly so that it wouldn't happen again, and then Neville leaned even further forward unexpectedly.
Their lips brushed, and Harry tried not to think so hard about it. What was there to think about, anyway? Neville's lips were a little bit dry, and Harry licked his own before he thought about it. He caught the edge of one of Neville's teeth with his tongue and realised that this was really a proper kiss. He'd seen people kiss like that.
It was strange, not to be kissing another boy or to be kissing Neville but to be kissing anyone that way. It was sort of...wet.
He pulled back, licked his lips again, and glanced at Neville.
"How was that?" Neville asked, looking startled.
"Well, you're all right," Harry said, head spinning a little. "What about me?"
"Yeah, well, I guess you do fine too."
Harry nodded. "So that's okay then, isn't it? Now we know and if you wanted to kiss a girl you won't have to tell her it's all in the name of science."
Neville laughed. "Sure. Let's go to the library and hex Draco's bum to his chair."
***
In the aftermath of the attack on Tonks & Tonks, Sirius spent much of his time in London, helping to put up new wards on the storefront and making sure Ted didn't do any more work than was absolutely necessary. He helped Julian move into a tiny but serviceable flat and, two days after the attacks, brought Anne home with him. The young woman had been terrified to wake up into chaos and even more frightened once she heard what had happened; she didn't even want to leave the house, but Sirius was certain a few days in the peaceful Scottish countryside would do her a world of good.
"It's spring; plants blooming, ducklings on the lake, birds fucking each other loudly in every tree, it takes a person right out of themselves," Sirius said, bringing Ted a cup of tea. Ted sat in one of the comfortable chairs in the living room of the house overlooking Creadonagh Valley while Anne bumped around upstairs, settling into a linen-closet hastily transfigured into a proper bedroom.
"So it is. Are you certain you don't mind? I know the kids have the Easter holiday in a few days, and you don't get much time with Harry."
"Bout as much as you get with Neville, he's home all summer," Sirius replied. "Don't you fret about Harry. He's going to spend most of his time up at Hogwarts anyway, I reckon, keeping Draco company. I've promised to show them some broomstick tricks. Harry tells me Oliver Wood is staying over too -- parents are off somewhere in Hungary, I think -- and he's impartial now that Gryffindor's definitely going to be playing in the House Cup."
"To the House," Ted said, raising his tea.
"Indeed."
"Which reminds me, you've yet to name your actual house, have you?" Ted said. He set the tea down and gazed out the window, watching a pair of kneazles patrolling regally through the yard. He looked tired, Sirius thought, and not at all like his usual genial self.
"Not yet. Remus thought the Valley House might be nice, but it's a little plain. I said we should call it Wolfhold but he says that's right out. He veto'd The Refuge too, said it made it sound like a hut in the woods."
"You could call it your winter house," Ted suggested.
"Rather bleak, don't you think? I'm sure the name'll come in time," Sirius said, sipping his own tea thoughtfully. "How's Mary getting on?"
"No change, she's still unconscious. We've spoken to a couple of other Support Network people about someone taking it over; neither Andi nor myself have the time and frankly I'm not sure my nerves would be up to it after this week. God, Sirius, it made me feel old, facing down those youngsters."
"Well, give the job to a werewolf, then."
Ted looked at him curiously. "Mary was a pensioner, Sirius. There's no salary for the job."
"None at all?"
"Nope. All the income she had was in goods -- clothing, food, that kind of thing. Didn't you know?"
"No, I thought perhaps she had some kind of grant."
Ted laughed bitterly. "From the Ministry? You need to move back down to London and get some perspective, my friend."
Sirius began to feel a little annoyed. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Ted leaned forward, steepling his fingers. He tapped them against his lips a few times before speaking, and when he did he spoke as if they were being listened to, in low tones. "The climate in Diagon's not very good right now. There's a lot of fear and anger boiling around under the surface. The Prophet doesn't help, either, but it's mostly just the gossip network. Nobody gossips like magical folk do. I'm a shopkeeper, people tell me we're pillars of the community -- we hear a lot."
Sirius sat down, feeling as if he were nineteen again and holding some kind of secret Order meeting. "A lot about what?"
"The Ministry's tightening security, they think Peter Pettigrew's going to...I don't know, blow up a building, murder people in their sleep. People have heard about the Dementors on the Hogwarts grounds, and they're worried London will be next, which seems to be a valid concern. Business is down because people are stockpiling money to get out of the country if things start to go bad."
"Merlin, Ted."
"That's not nearly so worrying as what's coming out of eastern Europe." Ted glanced towards the ceiling; the noise upstairs had stopped. He waited until it started again before continuing. "We do a little foreign mail-order and the embassies at the Ministry recommend us for foreign visitors who want English wizarding clothing. There are upsetting rumours in Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, even Poland -- which all add up to the idea that Pettigrew may be looking for a way to resurrect You-Know-Who."
Sirius dropped his teacup, cursed, and blotted at his trousers with a napkin.
"It's all hearsay," Ted said, leaning forward to pick up the cup. "But it's coming from people who have no reason to lie, and no real reason to be afraid of Pettigrew. After all, the Dark Lord never really extended his grasp much past this country. They say someone, maybe more than one someone, has been poking around asking nosy questions about You-Know-Who. Did he ever visit the village, are there known Death Eaters in the area, that kind of thing."
"Voldemort's dead," Sirius said, unaccountably angry and frightened by the news. "And when I get my hands on Peter, he will be too. That's all there is to it."
"Maybe for you, but not for Wizarding Britain. And you can bet the werewolves are suffering because of it."
Ted looked up suddenly and Sirius turned to see Anne standing on the stair like a ghost, one hand holding the banister.
"I'm done unpacking," she said quietly.
"Splendid -- how'd you like to go down to Hogsmeade and we'll get some posters for your walls?" Sirius asked, still dabbing at the tea-stains on his trousers. Finally he took out his wand and flicked it at the stains, which evaporated neatly. "It's a nice walk..."
"If you want," she said, still in the same subdued tone.
"And I'm off for home. Enjoy yourself," Ted said, touching her shoulder hesitantly. "You'll have fun. There's loads to do in Hogsmeade."
She nodded and watched him as he walked to the fireplace and disappeared into the floo network. Sirius found himself alone with a young werewolf and a lot of uncertainties.
Still, she wasn't all that much older than Harry, just a few years, and Sirius had spent most of his life with a werewolf, so he ought to know something about it by now.
The silence stretched out between them, tense and thick. Finally, he walked to the entryway and began pulling on his shoes.
"Come on then," he said, with a cheer he didn't feel. "I'll show you the sights."
***
The next week brought a reprieve from school in the form of the Easter holiday, a full week off from school and for most, a much-relished trip home to see their families. Remus and Harry would both be home, all day, for a whole week, and Sirius could visit Hogwarts at any time without having to resort to being Padfoot or coming up with excuses.
It was good, too, because Draco was the only Hufflepuff in his year who was left behind. While he repeated that he was happier than he would be with his mum (and this in itself was depressing), he was still lonely and bored, fractious about spending the time doing homework.
On the first sunny day, a few days after everyone else had left for home, Sirius took Harry and Draco out on the Quidditch Pitch and spent hours showing them trick moves -- daredevil broom-dangles, sharp turns, and a disastrous attempt at the Wronski Feint that nearly resulted in a broken nose. After a few hours he left the boys to their own devices and climbed into the stands, where Remus and Anne were sitting and watching, occasionally calling out encouragement.
"That's no way to go about it," he said, sitting next to Anne and reaching around to ruffle Remus' already windblown hair. He cupped his hands around his mouth. "PUT SOME STICK INTO IT, SLACKERS!"
Harry pivoted on a dime and made a rude gesture.
"You're teaching him terrible manners," Remus commented.
"That's fine, Quidditch isn't the Daughters of the Goblin Rebellion Annual Dinner," Sirius replied. "Wotcha, Anne."
"Hi," she said, her eyes on Harry and Draco.
"Anne and I were just talking about when she goes back to London," Remus said. "Andromeda's holding a spot for her as a shopgirl with Tonks&Tonks, but I thought she might like working in an apothecary's shop."
"Six of one, half dozen of the other," Sirius said. Anne seemed to draw in on herself. "You'll learn more about potions, working for an apothecary, but there's a lot of slimy, slithery work to be done as well."
"Lots of access to potions ingredients, though," Remus said. "Plenty of Master Brewers got their start in shops. It's like an apprenticeship."
"Wolfsbane," Anne murmured quietly.
"Yes, you could definitely get a lot of training about that potion, I imagine it'll be quite popular in the future. And useful to you, of course," Remus added.
"I just meant plain wolfsbane," she said. Sirius saw Remus tense.
"What would you want plain wolfsbane for, Anne?" he asked cautiously.
"Well, it's a cheap way out," she replied, looking down at her hands.
"Out of what?" Remus inquired, a sharp edge to his voice.
"If I wanted...I mean if I didn't want..." she trailed off. "It's not important. I guess whichever you think is best."
Sirius looked over her head at Remus, whose face had gone very pale. What would the girl want poison for --
Oh.
Suddenly the edge in the other man's voice made perfect sense. It was hard to kill a werewolf, unless you knew what you were doing...or had easy access to wolfsbane.
"Anne," Remus said, his voice very distant, "I think you and I had better take a trip to London tomorrow. I think there's a man you should meet. His name is Seth, he's quite nice -- he works at St. Mungo's."
"I don't want someone to ask me if I've come to terms with my lycanthropy," she said rebelliously.
"I know, and Seth won't ask that. He never did me, anyway," Remus said. "He's been my caseworker at the hospital for years. Maybe he can help you in ways I can't."
"No, I want to stay with you."
"And you are, but a visit -- "
"I don't want to!"
Sirius blinked at her.
"Anne," Remus said, in a voice Sirius very rarely heard. "You will come with me tomorrow or so help me Merlin I will ground you like the child you're behaving as."
Anne looked up at him, then at Sirius, who shrugged. "Don't look at me. He knows more than either of us about it. If you won't be told by Remus Lupin you may as well just off yourself now."
"Sirius!" Remus said, looking suddenly furious.
"Well, that's what she's on about, isn't it?" Sirius asked. "Go to the bloody hospital, you silly child."
Anne looked like she was about to cry, but when she opened her mouth she shocked both men.
"You think I should?" she asked. Remus raised his eyebrows.
"Yes, I do," Sirius answered.
"Okay." She stood, shaking out the wrinkles in her robe. "I'm going to go talk to Harry and Draco."
They watched as she climbed the steps to the back of the stand, then disappeared from view down the ladder.
"How do you do that?" Remus asked. "How do you do that to everyone? You just say something and they do it."
Sirius shrugged, smiled, and leaned back. "I'm just that good. You think Rubins will help her?"
"He helped me."
Sirius, in the act of relaxing, found himself suddenly tense. "You never -- you didn't think about..."
"No, not like she is," Remus said, indicating where Harry and Draco had landed and were showing their brooms to Anne. "He just helped me, that's all. We're all screwed up when we're young."
"Good thing you've got me to tell you what to do then, isn't it?"
Remus gave him a warm, tolerant smile. "Good thing."
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