( Harry // Thread. ) - Tumblr Posts
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One day, Harry surmises, he’ll be as graceful and impeccable on his landing as Padfoot when he steps out of the floo, almost near-perfect, scant for the taste of floo powder on his tongue. Though Andy has consistently assured him that he will reach the same level of elegance that Sirius has when he lands in the floo, Harry wonders if it’s truly possible as he shakes his head out of the remaining bits of powder from his hair.
But the laugh of his adoptive father breaks his idle thought, lifting his gaze to the grin on Padfoot’s face that Harry is unable to help his own matching grin in return. He reaches for his father in an embrace as he greets him in a warm hug—one he never thought ever possible back with the Dursley’s—and briefly squeezes.
He would’ve stayed longer since it’s been some time since he’s seen Padfoot, were it not for the teasing remark.
With a gentle shove to pull away, immediately flushing in embarrassment, Harry manages to retort without heat, ❝Padfoot!❞ Unfortunately, words failed him that Harry isn’t able to find anything else to retort back—until he noticed a certain woman isn’t in the room, giving Harry the retort he needs as his own grin appears.
❝And it’s not like you haven’t gotten cosy with Scales, right? Especially since I’ve been gone?❞
Harry is barely able to contain his snickers.
↳ random starter ( sirius ) : @yiqiannian ( for harry )
𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐃 𝐋𝐀𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒 𝐓𝐎 𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐋𝐈𝐏𝐒. Despite the years lost to the depths of Azkaban, dragged from his soul shred by withered shred by the bony fingers of the Dementors guarding those tortured halls, Sirius feels indescribably whole when his son—and Merlin, isn’t that still so wild to think, his adopted son—is with him. Athena and Remus would no doubt tease him endlessly for the way he’d brightened visibly once Harry had exited the floo, his entire being perking up not at all unlike Padfoot, but Sirius can’t bring himself to feel embarrassed of the thrill that surges through his heart at the sight of Harry, home and safe for the duration of Hogwarts’ holiday break.
❛ Welcome home, Pronglet, ❜ he says while dragging his son into an embrace, ❛ should I go ahead and ask what’s all this about you getting yourself a girlfriend, or would you rather get settled in first? ❜
ℙ𝔸𝔻𝔽𝕆𝕆𝕋 [ amaeranthos. ]
𝐀𝐍 𝐀𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐅𝐎𝐍𝐃𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐒𝐄𝐓𝐓𝐋𝐄𝐒 𝐈𝐍 𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐁𝐎𝐍𝐄𝐒. The way Harry all but launches himself into his arms speaks volumes to Sirius, reassures him that he wasn’t the only one suffering from the phenomena of Separation Anxiety™ in the face of Harry’s return to Hogwarts. Honestly, he’d felt rather silly for the reaction, despite the fact that Athena hadn’t given him grief for it even once ( and had even been understanding, she’d let him curl up on her lap as Padfoot! ) in his son’s time away from him. Sirius takes great care in the way his arms wrap around the boy’s shoulders, his embrace curls around Harry like a great cloak, his body bowing around him as if to shield him from any blow that may come his way.
He’s only a little sorry when the tender moment is brutally slain with the razor edge of Harry’s boyish embarrassment, which is why he doesn’t throw his head back to bark a laugh in the way that he oh so desperately wants to. No, Sirius bites his tongue—literally and figuratively—in order to swallow his mirth as his red-faced, flustered son glares up at him with eyes akin to the sun filtering through leaves overhead. ( Lily, oh Lilyflower, is he making her proud? Is Prongs happy with how he’s raising Harry? ) Nostalgia weighs on him, his heart heavy, always so heavy, even despite the warmth that permeates his entire being at the sight of Harry, safe and whole and alive, standing before him.
Up until Harry stabs him in the back with the dagger named betrayal and twists it.
❛ Wh I mean…! ❜ Sputtering in a completely unrefined manner, the Lord of the House of Black lets out a wordless squawk of denial as he stumbles back from Harry, arms flailing in much the same fashion they had when he was but a school boy. Oh, and wouldn’t Athena be grinning like the cat who’d caught the canary? She’s clearly a poor influence on his innocent little Pronglet. Just awful. ❛ That’s not we are not cosy! ❜
( He’s not pouting. Refined and elegant Lords of the Ancient and Noble Houses do not blush like a scandalised boy and pout. )
There’s a sense of fullness that Harry never had until he’s with Sirius. There’s always been this sort of feeling of happiness and genuine warmth whenever he’s with Ron and Hermione, but ever since Sirius and Remus has taken him in, it’s a feeling he’s constantly aware of that it always feels like a hole is left when he leaves them. It overflows. The ache has lessened over time, knowing that he always has a home with Sirius, and he has to thank the new friends and Ron and Hermione for their constant companionship. With Athena there, a woman he’s never met before until he was reunited with Sirius, immediately welcoming him as much as Sirius, leaves him emotionally overwhelmed.
Since their time in the healing clinic in the States and since his departure for the year, Sirius has definitely looked healthier than Harry has ever seen him. And Harry takes each embrace with a soft ache and withheld emotion that he didn’t think possible. To think, he has a family! It’s enough to make him feel like crying all over again.
And they loved him!
So, in some level, it’s like a betrayal ( much like the one Sirius sent his way! ) when he pokes at his slow understanding of girls. In some regard, however, it’s something he’s never thought he’d ever joke about with a family member about something as mundane as relationships.
Harry’s mouth quirks into a wider grin when Sirius sputters in a way that’s heartwarming and familiar. He doesn’t think he could ever take for granted the gestures Sirius makes, appreciating that he gets to jab back in a way that eases the tension in his heart. His shoulders drop and he’s trying his best to hide his snickers behind his hand. He’ll have to confess that Athena’s mischievous nature has been rather contagious.
❝So you were then, I take it?❞ Harry isn’t able to hide his grin anymore, blatant and obvious. The redness on his cheeks is almost cute, and he has no doubt Athena would’ve said something if she were here. ❝I think it’d be great if you did get a little cosy with Scales.❞
The teen recognizes that while Sirius always prioritizes and thinks of him first and foremost, there’s something about Sirius and Athena being in the same room together that leaves Harry feeling simply better by watching them be together. Just as seeing Sirius always makes him happy, Athena lights up the same way whenever she sees either him or Sirius. Yet, there’s something about how they interact together that leaves Harry wanting Sirius to find his own happiness as much as Sirius wants him to be happy.
Harry’s smile fades somewhat, now that he knows that Athena isn’t in the room as he casts another look around. And then he frowns. It normally doesn’t take her that long to come and see him when he comes home.
❝Actually, where is Scales? And Moony?❞
ℙ𝔸𝔻𝔽𝕆𝕆𝕋 [ amaeranthos. ]
𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐒𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐔𝐍 𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐄𝐒. Sirius is undoubtedly glad to have his son back home, despite knowing—thanks to Remus and Athena’s countless lectures—that the separation was a necessary thing for them as Harry grew. Blah blah independence, blah blah healthy relationship boundaries, blah blah blah. Sure, maybe Sirius felt more and more tempted to fall back on Plan A, wrapping Harry up in wool and hiding him away forever, but he didn’t think he was becoming That Sort™ of overprotective. Yet.
Absently, Sirius notes Dobby’s arrival and reaches out to pat his head in thanks as the small elf goes about whisking Harry’s belongings away. He can’t help but smile at the cheerful don’t worry, Dobby be’s looking after Harry Potter’s Paddy his son’s devoted house elf leaves in his wake. Dobby is a good elf.
❛ We absolutely did not get cosy. ❜ And Merlin, isn’t it a suddenly horrifying thought that his son—his teenaged son who will undoubtedly need it—hasn’t been given The Talk™ before. He silently curses Petunia even more than usual, realising that this was an aspect of fatherhood he has no idea how to even begin with. Prongs, he pleads internally, send help! He very well can’t send Harry back to Hogwarts knowing that his son is not only interested in Hermione ( thank Merlin he’s got eyes for good, sensible, trustworthy Hermione ) but that he could very well be going into dating completely blind.
That’s a crisis for later.
❛ She’s actually got some family business that’s come up the kind that would only get worse if I were to tag along. ❜ Sirius can’t help but pull a face as he says it, the unspoken truth bitter on his tongue. Athena clawed her way into the Wizengamot entirely on her own merits, using her family’s trade ties to Britain to justify a foreign noble house holding a coveted seat of the British Wizengamot, but already political opponents are trying to rewrite the House of Liang seat’s history. If it were anyone else, the notion that Sirius’ relationship with her having allowed her a seat would be preposterous; however, for Athena—as a Chinese woman in a white man’s world—it’s suddenly being construed as completely likely.
( Racism, Harry—racism everywhere. )
❛ Basically, our detractors are already spreading rumours to claim that the Black family ensured the House of Liang claimed a seat because she’s a single witch and the first of her line, so they can twist perspectives to make it seem suspicious. Even with public record showing I’d been outcast from the House of Black and in Azkaban when she’d begun her campaign for a seat, it’s still a gross double standard that she’s had to live with even before now. ❜ There’s no small amount of disdain in his tone as Sirius moves to take a seat on one of the nearby parlour loveseats for an impromptu politics lesson. Anger burns in his veins not only for Athena, but for his late grandmother as well—Arcturus may have done everything within his power to silence those who spoke ill of his wife’s heritage, but even still Sirius hears whispers implying he’s of tainted blood. The idea that Athena is enduring it now makes him itch with the desire to hex each and every old coot to open their mouth. ❛ Prejudice in the wizarding world isn’t restricted to muggles, but also to race in general, so Athena has always experienced even more scrutiny than is fair. We’ll be building my alliance with her slowly, which means that while she and I are allies through your house, our… personal history puts her in a difficult position. ❜
❛ But, well, you know me ❜ Sirius pauses to dip a biscuit into the tea left inconspicuously on the sitting table beside him. Dobby’s getting rather good at silently providing accommodations—perhaps he should thank old Lucy for being so kind as to free Dobby from employment so he could work for them. ❛ Politics one-oh-one, Harry: where I can’t go, Moony sure as hell can. ❜
Harry waits for the question to be answered, seeing Dobby briefly with a quick nod of acknowledgement before he disappears again. Harry feels whatever discomfort he has at separating from the man disappear. He watches with amusement as Sirius retorts that they hadn’t gotten cosy at all. What a disappointment, but he knows that it’s not the case. With an exaggerated roll of his eyes, Harry lightly shakes his head with mirth tinting the green in his eyes.
Still, there’s something that flashes in Sirius’ eyes that Harry can’t help but notice. Hm? He wonders what it could be, but it’s a thought quickly cast aside while he makes for a seat, listening to Sirius begin to explain to him where Athena has gone off to.
It’s the moment that Harry sits next to Sirius that he frowns, feeling the implication that comes with his words. This immediately makes Harry realize a lesson is coming and that the work Athena has done in the Wizengamot has been of her own merit, her own hard work. Athena has always been exceptional, he always thought, as she’s the only one that kept her faith and belief in Sirius was innocent. As the only Asian woman on one of the coveted seats, Harry wondered how she had gotten there, but trusted that Sirius would eventually explain it to him.
And it looks like that lesson has finally arrived.
The disdain is apparent and Harry can’t help but wrinkle his nose. Just like Sirius, he makes a face. He’s never liked how the wizards separated people by their blood as it really makes no difference. One is either exceptional or not, but politics and all that, the teen listens carefully and intently.
Sirius is the head of one of the Old Houses, old nobles, a lesson he’s learned back when they were in the time bubble in America just this summer. The House of Black has ancient and old pull, a leverage, and powerful magic that gives them their right to a seat. From what he’s gleaned in his time with Athena, she’s of similar and a powerful lineage, only she’s based in China. And from what he’s seen, she might even be of an even older lineage than that of House of Black, given from what he vaguely remembers of Chinese history. It’s really a pity and frustrating that Sirius can’t help Athena without someone spinning it that she’s leaning on another’s political power, a man specifically, without demoralizing and degrading Athena in the process.
His furrowed brow expresses his own frustration, thinking how many years it’s been since she’s gained the seat, and how long it’s been since she’s had it that they’re still questioning her standing within the Wizengamot.
❝That’s terrible,❞ he says quite lamely, not finding any other way of really and truly wording the near unfathomable frustration and annoyance that this entire thing is.
❛ Prejudice in the wizarding world isn’t restricted to muggles, but also to race in general, so Athena has always experienced even more scrutiny than is fair. We’ll be building my alliance with her slowly, which means that while she and I are allies through your house, our… personal history puts her in a difficult position. ❜
At this, Harry can’t help but feel indignant. Just when he thinks that muggles are already terrible in how they separate people by the color of their skin that they’ve waged wars, it’s also in the wizarding world? He’s always been aware of the unfair treatment because of it, but to see and hear it first hand in a world he calls home, well, it leaves a bitter taste in his mouth. But then, this entire thing of pureblood versus anything that’s related to the “purity” of blood has always made him angry. What’s more, just because of her past connections with Sirius has to make it harder for her to keep that connection? To make her last in their alliance together when she ought to be one of the first?
❝That’s not fair!❞ Harry finds the passionate words come out without intention, wanting to properly form words before he speaks, but ah, it’s a little late now. It’s easier sometimes when he takes a moment to pause and think about the words to come out, but in this case, he can only see how hard it must’ve been for Athena. Not only is she a woman, but because she’s Chinese, she has to face even more scrutiny and standards than any of the other women in the Wizengamot? Bloody hell. ❝She was the only one in that place that believed you were innocent—before I knew you were innocent! And that’s the reason why she’s not here? Here, with us?❞
Only a teen and empathetic, Harry takes a minute to realize his outburst, and properly sits back down, having gotten up in his fury. He’s furious on Athena’s behalf, but he has no doubt Sirius is feeling much the same. He slumps back into the loveseat that he shares with Sirius, running a hand down his face before sitting up. ❝Sorry, Padfoot, but that’s just—that’s just so terrible that she has to go and deal with that by herself.❞ For the entirety of almost all of her adult life, in fact, that he wonders how is she even okay.
Sirius shifts the conversation and Harry just now notices the tea and biscuits set on his side of the couch. Eager for a snack and tea, Harry copies Sirius in partaking as he listens.
He sighs in relief, glad that Athena has Remus.
After eating a whole biscuit and drinking some of the tea, careful not to burn his tongue, Harry turns to Sirius with the tea in his hands. ❝But, is there anything we can do to help her without us actually helping her?❞ Though, Harry has an idea, Sirius knows the finer details that involve the issues with Athena. After all, Athena has left the political lessons to Sirius that she hasn’t explained too much of her own situation and standing. He recollects the last meeting and thoughtfully frowns.
❝Why would the detractors be trying so hard now to contest her seat when she’s won and had her seat since years ago?❞ It’s not hard to remember the faces of the people there when she showed up, a woman who had the aura and presence that’s only matched by Sirius himself. Hm, is there something else he’s missing with all of this?