Eight and a Half Years Later
Harry hadn't thought he'd ever be more happy to be wrong about someone than he was about Sirius. He'd been wrong about that too.
Watching Bellatrix Black, formerly Lestrange, destroy training dummy after training dummy in a fit of rage, he couldn't help but be mesmerized by the sheer beauty and grace she exuded while attacking savagely. At fifteen, he was done with general schooling and ready to move onto the Academy tomorrow, but the Academy he had chosen to attend wouldn't let her visit throughout the year. The only time she would get to see him was during breaks and on outings. Hence why he was sitting on the side of their personal training room watching her demonstrate every method of mutilation she could perform without collapsing the room.
"Gods, I can't wait to marry her," he muttered to himself, only to hear snickering to his left. Looking towards the noise, he realized he'd been so engrossed in watching Bellatrix that he hadn't noticed Sirius come into the room.
"If watching this is what gets your engine going, I'm glad you guys will be moving to the other house next summer," he jabbed with a smirk on his face. "Though now that I think about it, I'm not sure how little Luna fits into that dynamic."
Harry rolled his eyes, used to the teasing by now. "Not that it's any of your business, but I'm a man of many tastes and I refuse to be shamed for it. Especially by a degenerate like you," he returned.
"Fair enough. I'm sure James is cheering you on from Tír na nÓg," he said with a grin.
"Why would my dad be there? He wasn't Irish."
"I never told you before? Tír na nÓg was your mother's chosen afterlife, and your father said he didn't care where he went as long as he was with Lily."
They continued to talk until Bellatrix looked like she was finally calming down, and Sirius left to start making dinner.
Seeing her finally deactivate the training room, Harry walked up behind her and pulled her into a hug, offering what comfort he could at the moment. "Are you going to be alright?" he asked softly.
"I'll be fine, you shouldn't be hugging me right now though, I'm all sweaty," was the subdued reply, letting him know that most of the anger was really drained.
In response, he tightened his hold on her while murmuring in her ear, "I don't care if you're sweaty, I want to hold you, and you could use a hug."
Snorting at his cheesy line, she broke his hold while turning around to poke him in the chest. "If you really want to hold me, you can read to me after dinner." Her piece said, she left the room.
Dinner was a nice meal of steak and potatoes, courtesy of Sirius's slowly developing culinary skills. They made small talk while eating for almost an hour before they cleaned up and Sirius retreated to his room while Bella and Harry got comfortable on the couch with a book.
Harry woke around one in the morning, the duo having fallen asleep on the couch, and he managed to carry Bella to her room and tucked her in, before making his way to his own room, casting an alarm spell and then collapsing face first on his bed, out like a light.
"Harry, get up! You're going to miss the shuttle!"
A sudden shout had his eyes flying open and a quick glance at the clock on the adjacent wall had him bolting from his bed and snagging his Academy-issued supply bag as he rushed out the bedroom door and down the stairs, realizing how late he was. Reaching the first-floor landing and seeing Sirius leaning against the wall, ready to go, he grumbled, "Why didn't you wake me up sooner?"
"And miss the chance to see you flustered? Not a chance. Besides, I figured you would have set an alarm ward on today of all days."
"I did. Must have slept through it." How he'd done that was beyond him, but oh well. "Where's Bella?" he asked in confusion as he walked into the kitchen to grab something for breakfast. With how she reacted last night, he didn't think that she would miss seeing him off. Hell, he'd thought he would be forced to pry her off with a crowbar when he left.
"Probably still sleeping."
Glancing out the window to see the sun already making its way up the sky, he turned around and quirked an eyebrow at Sirius. "I've never seen her sleep past six." The question was implied.
"I don't claim to understand how that mad woman works, but who knows? Maybe she was up too late because her favorite plush is leaving her." Sirius snarked, only to dodge a bludgeon spell reflexively.
"Oh, touchy, touchy. That could have hurt someone, you know?"
"Yeah, you. That was kind of the point."
Still feeling something was off about this whole situation, he set his toast down and walked towards the front door, watching as the smirk on Sirius's face grew the closer he got. Opening the door, his shoulders slumped as the mutt behind him started roaring in laughter.
"I loathe your existence," he bit out, causing the laughter to get louder, before a shout from upstairs quickly silenced him. "If you don't shut up, I'm going to blast you through a wall! It's four o'clock in the morning!!!"
Quickly finishing his breakfast, he contemplated going back to his room and lying down, but knew it was pointless; the adrenaline rush from thinking he was going to be late would keep him awake. So he might as well make the best of his time until he needed to leave.
"Come on, mutt, I could use some last-minute practice."
"Aww, but I haven't even slept yet!" Sirius whined as they made their way to the dueling room in the basement.
"I might have had sympathy for you if the reason for your lack of sleep wasn't because you stayed up preparing a prank that cost me my sleep as well." He deadpanned.
Sirius gripped his chest in mock pain while lamenting, "My godson is so cruel to me. What did I ever do to deserve this, James, Lily?"
Ignoring the theatrics, he stepped into the room and immediately ducked the spell fired at his back. As much as he liked to ham it up, Sirius was a powerful wizard, in the middle of Tier Four. He also had no compunctions about taking cheap shots, facing a kid or not. Spinning so they were face to face, Harry lashed out with a punch aimed at the face, which was easily side-stepped, before he launched a lightning curse under the extended arm, from the wand now in his left hand. To his disappointment, but not surprise, it was blocked and redirected into the ground by a metal shield that materialized between them.
Not letting Sirius make space, lest he be magically bombarded into submission by his vastly superior opponent, Harry vaulted the shield, launching a kick in the process to keep pressure. Big mistake. Sirius, seeing the kick, ducked. Before Harry could land or even reposition, Sirius grabbed his ankle. He then subjected Harry to some of the strength his Tier Four magic afforded, spinning on his heel and dragging Harry in an overhead swing, slamming him into the ground.
Thankfully, he held back and did it at a speed Harry could react to, letting him cast a cushioning charm before he hit the ground. Otherwise, instead of having his breath knocked out of him, he'd be under the ministrations of his Aunt Narcissa until it was time to leave. He loved the woman, but listening to her rant about Sirius going too far for the next four hours while she healed him was not how he wanted to spend his last morning home before the Academy.
After catching his breath and refocusing, he looked up to see the mocking smile on his opponent's face and rolled to his feet, suddenly ready for round two. He was going to land a good hit on this bastard before leaving, even if it killed him.
Several hours later, a very tired and bruised Harry slumped into his seat at the table next to Bella, grumbling under his breath, while a very smug Sirius strutted into the room behind him and sat in his chair, smiling ear to ear as he buttered a croissant. The git. 'One day, just you wait, one day I will return this humiliation a hundredfold,' he thought to himself.
A kiss to the crown of his head shook him from his thoughts of vengeance and had him looking over at Bella, who sported an amused grin. "I see you lost a fight with the stairs again," she said teasingly.
"Yeah, well, one day those stairs are gonna get what's coming to them."
Sirius snorted into his coffee, earning him a glare.
"Well, let me know if you ever want help with that. It's long overdue." She replied with a wink, wiping the smirk from Sirius's face. Just as Sirius could stomp Harry with minimal effort as a Tier Four mage to Harry's fresh Tier Three, so too could Bella stomp Sirius as a newly minted Tier Five. He'd count that as a small win.
"That sounds like a wonderful idea, but it will sadly have to wait a bit longer. I have to leave for the shuttle in thirty minutes and would never live down the shame of leaving the fight to such a fair maiden," he replied in mock gallantry.
Clasping her hands in front of her chest, she swooned theatrically. "My knight in shining armor, I would never dare cause you shame!"
Sirius just rolled his eyes at them and faked retching, drawing laughs from the duo, before he finally spoke up. "As entertaining as this is, I think we should meet up with Sissy so she can heal your bruises and we can grab Draco. No reason to go out looking like you got jumped."
Nodding their agreement, they all got up and left the house.