"Not used to the bed in the new house yet." Sirius said lightly, not wanting to worry Harry with his sleeplessness. He threw an arm around his son's shoulders and urged him toward the door. "Come on; I'll walk to your dorm. So, any pranking yet?"
Harry rolled his eyes. "Fred and George managed to prank the Gryffindor seventh years red and gold all through dinner on Monday."
"Ah, showing House loyalty!" Sirius said, grinning. "A wonderful thing!"
"They're planning to get them back." Harry commented with a shrug. "Angelina's already warned them if they put Fred and George out of action, she's not going to be pleased."
"Encouraging creativity! Excellent, she'll be a good Captain." Sirius joked. "And what about your lessons? How are they going?"
"They're going," Harry said lightly and shrugged, "I, uh, I'm finding the practical side easy. The essays they've assigned us are quite difficult though. What do you know of Chanker's Charm theory?"
They chatted absently as they walked, both confident of their direction after their years in the school. It seemed like no time at all before they were in front of the Fat Lady.
The Fat Lady bristled angry at the sight of Sirius. "YOU!"
Sirius shifted weight as he fidgeted at the sight of the irate portrait. "I've been found innocent! And…uh, may I offer my sincere apologies about, um, attacking your portrait last year? I wasn't quite in my right mind."
"You were never in your right mind, Sirius Black." The Fat Lady huffed. She glared at Harry. "He's not coming in even if you know the password."
"I should get back anyway." Sirius said.
Harry's face fell.
Sirius hugged him goodbye and for the first time questioned whether it was a good idea for them to see each other every week. It was going to be even harder to let go and step away.
No.
It might be difficult but it was better to see Harry every week than not to see him. Sirius dropped a kiss on Harry's head and eased back.
"Nott's arranging with Albus for us to do the vow of loyalty at the weekend so I'll see you then." Sirius said.
"And you'll call me tomorrow?" pressed Harry. "I want to know what happens at the Wizengamot."
"I'll call you." Sirius promised. He ruffled Harry's hair. "Go on, inside."
The Fat Lady grudgingly allowed Harry in after making him whisper the password. Sirius waved a final time to him as he disappeared behind the portrait. He made his way slowly back to Alastor's office, feeling an all too familiar ache of loneliness again.
He found Alastor and Amelia sat drinking Firewhiskey and talking about the tribunals.
"Want to join us?" Alastor raised his flask.
Sirius shook his head. The mood he was in he'd start and not stop, Sirius thought morosely; his father had been the same way and he had no wish to tread that path. "I should get going. I have a stack of reading still to do for tomorrow."
It was a lie but a good one.
Amelia nodded and downed her drink. "I should get going too. Brian's expecting me for a late supper." She sighed. "And I have to 'fess up to being beaten by Harry."
"You've gotten slow behind a desk." Alastor informed her bluntly. "Time was you would never have been surprised by a fourteen year old."
"Thank you for helping to heal my wounded ego, Alastor." Amelia said dryly.
"That's Cutter's job." Alastor returned with a glint of mischief in his eye. "Mine's to keep you alive."
The words gave away Moody's sense of responsibility to every one of the Aurors and Hit Wizards he'd trained. Sirius felt comforted knowing Harry was being trained by Moody.
Amelia frowned suddenly and reached into her robes pulling out a communication mirror. "Bones."
"Director," it was Rufus who looked like the lion who'd just caught the antelope, "Rowle is singing like a songbird."
"You'd better call his solicitor on record." Amelia sighed heavily. "I'm on my way."
Sirius and Alastor said goodbye to her as she flooed back to the Ministry. Sirius didn't wait around; he said his own goodbye to Alastor and flooed to the Hogsmeade home they'd named The School House since they'd only ever use it when Harry was in school.
Dobby popped in immediately. "Dobby has Harry Potter's Paddy's supper waiting."
"I've eaten, Dobby, thank you."
"Kreacher informs Dobby that Paddy has not eaten." Dobby's ears flapped wildly. "Harry Potter beings upset if he learns his Paddy not eating."
Well, who said house elves couldn't throw guilt trips, Sirius mused as he was ushered to the table where a roast beef sandwich and a mug of tea awaited him.
"You will bes eating and then going to bed." Dobby instructed fiercely.
Sirius gave in and sat down. "So," he said to the hovering house elf, "do you want to hear about Master Harry Potter's fantastic duelling lesson?"
Dobby smiled widely and waggled his ears; he climbed into an empty dining chair and looked expectantly at Sirius. And Sirius began talking in between bites of sandwich, the loneliness eked away in the company of the happy elf.
o-O-o
Amelia wasn't happy.
Janice Mickle had both gone missing the day before. Mickle was an unmarried pureblood who had been reported missing by St Mungo's after she'd failed to attend a pre-natal check-up and they'd been unable to find her. Her mother had been hysterical when they'd told her but more about Mickle's unknown pregnancy than at her being missing in Amelia's opinion. The pregnant woman had been seen in the Market Place just off Diagon Alley around two o'clock but nothing after that.
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