He knew Harry wasn't normal, he had accepted that, truly he had. His sanity had been tested and stretched to the limits while adapting to his loving, bloodthirsty boy. But the solace he had held throughout the whole time, was his unshaken notion that Harry was safe with Alabasandria. That she cared for him and had his best interests. Never before had he experienced any doubt in this, even when he disagreed heartily with the way Harry was being raised. But the thought of his boy… Sirius could barely contemplate the thought, it was so horrendous.
Harry continued in a petulant voice. "I don't get what the big deal about it is, honestly. You've been there when I tortured those children, you've watched me kill before. I'm sure whatever you and mum get up to with the hunt for the horcruxes is gory. What about this is so reprehensible? Can't you let it go? I know you both are sad, neither of you have any other friends. I don't like seeing you fight!"
"It's complicated, Harry. She's an adult. She should know better. I trusted her with you!"
"What? But mama would never hurt me! She never has, I promise, I can't believe you think that!" Harry felt offended on his mama's behalf, and his face burned hot from anger. Sirius had no right to say something awful like that! "Even when we first met and she refused to hug me and didn't like being my mama, she never hit me or deprived me of food or anything."
Sirius held up his hands in a placating manner. He said calmly, "There are different ways to hurt someone besides physical. Crafting a horcrux at the tender age of - how old were you anyway?"
"Er," Harry faltered. He didn't want to make things worse. "Look, it's not a big deal. It's dangerous to learn necromancy, you know that. All of her other apprentices died! It was a safety precaution. It really doesn't upset me, honest. Can you please just tell mama you aren't mad anymore? You should go to the dance with her. You know she hates dancing. It would be funny." He whined.
"Alright," Sirius muttered. It was obvious that Harry was uncomfortable with their arguing, even though he was acting as though it was a simple spat over when Harry's bedtime should be, not whether his soul should be shattered into bits. Concern for his boy's safety came first and concerned he felt at Harry's avoidance of his question, but he would try to keep their argument private. "We aren't here to talk about me, we're here to talk about you, kiddo. So who are you going to ask to the ball?"
...
"What do you mean you have a date?" Ron demanded.
"I mean that someone has already asked me!" Hermione rolled her eyes. "The Yule Ball is next week! Most of the girls already have dates by now!"
"But - but you were supposed to go with me!" Ron said.
"Oh really! Since when? I don't recall you asking me!"
The other three friends made awkward eye contact and huddled a little closer together to avoid Ron and Hermione's squabble. Harry turned to Luna.
"Are you going with anyone yet?" He asked.
"Oh, Neville asked me. We're going as friends," she said.
"Neville asked you?" Ron interrupted, face red. "Just like that?"
Neville shrugged. "It's not that hard to ask a girl out, sorry guys. I knew she wouldn't be able to go if she didn't have a date, so I asked her ages ago."
Ron looked a bit horrified at the realization that Neville was better at girl stuff than the other two. Harry was more concerned that his Plan A was ruined, and he now had to resort to running around harassing women until he found someone single to go with him out of pity. He would owl Sirius again but he wasn't stupid. He was still traumatized from learning about how babies were made. He'd… figure something out. Merlin help him, this was worse than fighting a dragon.
"Honestly, you two! Why don't you just go together?" Hemione demanded.
"What! Me and Ron?" Harry asked.
"Me? Go with Harry!" Ron spluttered. "But we can't do that! That's gay!"
"Ronald! What if Viktor Krum asked you, would you mind then?"
"That's different," Ron said immediately. "Krum is a Quidditch player. He's fit. Everyone would be jealous of me, it wouldn't be gay at all."
"Harry plays Quidditch," Luna noted.
Ron pondered that, spinning around in his seat to eye Harry.
"Hang on, excuse me! What the hell is this conversation?" he complained. "I am not a piece of meat!"
"Harry snores too much. And he's scrawny. He's not fit." Ron decided. Neville nodded. Harry threw his hands in the air. For some reason, he found that very offensive.
"I guess we'll both have no one to go with!" he said, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Oh fine. I guess. You're not ugly."
"Ron!"
"What! I have a reputation to uphold. I'm Hogwarts' top contender for the dueling competition, didn't you know, Hermione?"
"You could have easily gotten a date if you weren't such an arse," Hermione huffed and stormed off.
"You know, she's got a point. Girls are weird. Fuck that! We'll go together. Less drama." Ron announced. Luna gave him an equally offended look and took off after Hermione. Neville glanced between the two groups with very wide eyes before he muttered something under his breath and fled after the girls. "Well, are you in or what?" Ron asked, helping himself without worry to the leftovers on Luna's plate.
"Wow, thank you for the kind offer, Ron. I feel real special."
....
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