"They asked but Neville and Susan stepped in pretty sharpish when it was too personal and I may have directed them to be polite." Bill reassured him.
"Thank you." Sirius said.
"I got the feeling that he'd started some good friendships today more than anything." Bill added, shrugging a little. He grinned suddenly. "You may get a dinner invitation for an introduction from the Inglebees; young Lydia is quite taken with him."
"Really?" Sirius's lips twitched. "How bad was it?"
"About as bad as Ginny although entirely opposite in manifestation," Bill said promptly with a smirk, "Gin still can't speak around him but Lydia can and is actively flirting with him."
"And Harry?" Sirius asked amused and noted with concern how Bill's humour faded.
Bill changed position slightly and he was obviously debating how best to phrase his response. "Harry was deeply uncomfortable and I'm not sure all of it was because he hates people crushing on the Boy Who Lived." He said finally. "Has…has anyone spoken to him about…girls, boys…?" he waved a hand in a vague gesture that Sirius understood all too well.
Had anyone spoken to Harry about sex, dating, about generally interacting in a romantic fashion with someone else?
Bugger, thought Sirius and then half-hysterically thought the swear word was probably the least appropriate one he could have used.
"I take it that's a no?" asked Bill, his voice rich again with amusement.
"I've teased him a couple of times about girls so has Remus." Sirius admitted with a sigh. "But I know I haven't sat down and given him the usual Wizard's Talk and Remus would have told me if it had come up…arisen as a subject in his conversations with Harry."
Bill smirked at the innuendo that Sirius had unwittingly said and watched as Sirius dropped his head into his hands.
"I'm going to have to give him the Talk, aren't I?" Sirius sighed. Even if Vernon Dursley had talked to Harry – which was very unlikely – it had probably had been limited to 'don't get anyone pregnant.'
"I know my Dad gave it to each of my brothers when they turned thirteen." Bill said, briskly. "I was supposed to be sixteen but I was caught in a broom cupboard when I was fourteen so…Dad came up one Hogsmeade weekend and did it then. After that I think my Dad thought it best to be safe and told the others early."
Sirius wondered whether he could prevail upon Arthur to give Harry the Talk and discarded the thought. It was Sirius's duty; he would have to do it.
"Bugger." He repeated quietly.
Bill snorted. "To be honest, I don't think you're too late with Harry. He's like a stunned hippogriff when he has a girl paying him attention and while he sometimes looks at girls he's quick to look away again so I doubt he's had any practical experience."
"And boys?" asked Sirius delicately, not wanting to jump to conclusions about Harry's sexuality.
"I haven't spotted him looking but he does have boys interested in him. Connor hero-worships him which I doubt is serious given his age but Jeremy was very interested if much less obvious than Lydia probably because he's older."
Which was a different kind of problem, Sirius considered worriedly. It was bad enough that kids his own age and below crushed on Harry, but older girls and boys who might take advantage especially if Harry was as innocent as Bill made out…very worrying.
Sirius sighed heavily. "Thank you for bringing it to my attention."
"I'm not sure that your thank you is sincere." Bill teased.
"You'd be right." Sirius replied, smiling for the first time since Bill had raised the topic. "Anything else you noticed which isn't likely to send me to an early grave?"
"Nope," Bill replied, "just…they seem like a good bunch. When they started debating various things you could see that they were passionate about helping others and changing the world for the better." He blushed which surprised Sirius. "It was…inspiring. I was, uh…" he fidgeted a little before raising his gaze, "I was kind of disappointed to be a guard rather than part of it."
Sirius settled back in his chair. He had suspected Bill might feel that way; Bill was an Heir in a House which was in alliance itself with the House of Potter. Under different circumstances, the House of Weasley would have been part of the formal Wizengamot alliance.
"It's weird," Bill continued when Sirius remained silent, "because I've never considered that being an Heir could mean making a difference before now. I mean, you know it was Great-Granddad who lost the seat?"
Sirius nodded.
"Well, our Gramps was very anti-establishment because of that – hated any mention of us being an Ancient and Noble House. Dad only did the rituals and knows the traditions and etiquette because Grandma insisted. Same with me. But until this year, it hasn't mattered much." Bill confided. "Neither Dad nor I have ever put any emphasis on House stuff because apart from the main premise of living honourably, it didn't seem important."
"Because nobody acknowledged your status as an Ancient and Noble House." Sirius stated.
Bill nodded. "And here comes Harry with an alliance of friendship and the life debt and…" he sighed and rubbed his chin again, "and I guess both Dad and I have had our eyes opened to the possibility of what could be if we worked properly to re-establish the House of Weasley."
"Your Dad still insistent on not standing for the open seat?" Sirius asked bluntly.
"Yes, and I agree with him." Bill said firmly. "We need to have proven ourselves worthy of more than simply being an Ancient and Noble House to take a formal seat again."
"You want to earn your place." Sirius surmised.
Bill nodded again. "Although today I wished we'd already earned it. Which is bizarre because it's always been Percy who has wanted politics and the career in the Ministry, and all I've ever wanted to be is a curse-breaker…"
"Part of it is the magic you know." Sirius offered as some comfort. "The family magic of your House accepted you and it is probably encouraging you to take a wider view now you've started to use it again." He hesitated for a moment and forged on. "My Grandfather did the Heir ritual with me when I was eight."
Bill's eyebrows shot up.
"He didn't want my Father to have access to the family magic any longer." Sirius explained with a dismissive hand gesture. "Why I don't know or can't remember but I remember the ritual was done in secret and then announced at dinner and my parents were furious and it was probably only because my Grandfather forbade my getting punished for it that I wasn't whipped or hexed half to death." He looked out of the window not wanting to see Bill's reaction to what he had revealed about his childhood. "After that, I could always feel the Black magic pushing me…sometimes I think I rebelled so badly against my parents because instinctively the magic knew their direction wasn't good for the House and pushed me in the opposite one – although I probably took it to an extreme all on my own by sorting into Gryffindor."
"I think I'm disturbed by the idea that something could be influencing me like that." Bill said, sitting back and crossing his arms.
"It's your family magic; it's a part of you." Sirius pointed out. "It's very unlikely that it would encourage you down a path if you truly didn't want it."
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