Harry looked at him eagerly. "Us?"
"Yes, us." Sirius conceded. "Look, if I had my way you wouldn't be anywhere near the fight with Voldepants until you're of age and trained and wrapped in several layers of dragonhide and maybe several more protective layers of bodyguards and possibly a dragon or two, but…as you say, it's obvious that he has an interest in you." He grimaced. "So, maybe we can agree a compromise."
His godson perked up considerably at that.
"Remus and I will handle searching out these objects with the help of others – which may or may not include your Headmaster," Sirius said, holding up a hand before Harry could argue the point, "but we will keep you in the loop, and you will help in searching out if there is actually a prophecy."
Harry smiled happily.
"You will also start learning something called Occlumency to help us keep these things secret and we will train you in some defensive magic so if you do end up facing Voldepants again, you have some tricks up your sleeve." Sirius tried to sound parental. He figured Remus was trying not to laugh at him. "How does that sound?"
Harry beamed at him and Sirius couldn't help the warm rush of affection that rose up in response.
"This is kind of the way I want this to work, Harry," Sirius admitted, "we talk, and we agree together what we want to do. What do you think?"
"I like that I get a say." Harry admitted. His eyes lit up mischievously. "I guess it's like you said about Dumbledore, it's a bit frustrating if people make decisions for you without asking what you want."
Sirius inclined his head at the acknowledged hit for his previous 'you will stay out of it' position. He gave a mischievous grin of his own. "I'm glad you want to be involved because the other thing we'll use to fight Voldemort is politics."
A look of uncertainty crossed Harry's face. "Politics?"
"We need to ensure his followers or people who follow his agenda don't have the political power to help him," Remus said, "which means building alliances with the other Ancient and Noble families."
"And we need to shut down his access to money." Sirius added, wielding his own spoon through the air like a sword.
"Uh, maybe I'll leave this bit to you guys." Harry suggested.
Sirius smirked at him and Harry inclined his head as he acknowledged that a point had been scored by his godfather.
"Actually, you will need to be involved with politics. The Potters are an Ancient and Noble family, and you personally have the potential to have a lot of political influence because of your celebrity no matter how much you might dislike the idea." Sirius commiserated. "We'll add it to your training."
Harry sighed miserably. "I guess."
"But not tonight." Sirius added. "We should probably discuss what's going to happen in the immediate future."
Harry brightened.
"So first things first," Sirius said, nerves attacking him again, "as part of the guardianship deal, I agreed that I would get some medical treatment."
His godson looked alarmed and concerned.
"I'm fine," Sirius hastened to reassure him, "but I was exposed to Dementors for a long time in Azkaban and on the run eating out of dustbins for a year, so I can't say I necessarily disagree that I could do with a check-up."
"You're really OK though?" Harry asked, dropping his spoon into his bowl.
"Really." Sirius said firmly. And he was – yes, his emotions were still unsteady, his mind sometimes foggy and he hadn't yet regained all of his physical strength – but he was OK. "I could be better," he allowed, "and I am concerned about your exposure to Dementors so I've arranged for us both to take a trip to the States to The Valley Clinic."
Harry squirmed and grimaced.
"I expect," Sirius continued as though he hadn't noticed Harry's silent response, "that we'll go in, they'll give us a check-up and then we'll have a bit of a holiday while they feed me some nutrient potions."
"A holiday?" Harry stopped squirming and started looking interested.
"Hmm-hmm," Sirius agreed, finishing his ice-cream and setting the bowl aside, "I understand from my Uncle Alphard's journal that there's plenty of space for flying, a swimming pool and some great hiking trails."
"Flying?"
Sirius struggled not to smile at Harry's hopeful expression; he couldn't look at Remus because he figured the two of them would break down laughing if he did. "Yep. So how about it?"
"I'd like to go on a holiday." Harry admitted shyly.
"Good, well, that's settled then. We'll only be gone for a week in normal time but the clinic is in a time bubble to provide people with as much time as they need to heal, so we'll probably stay a bit longer than that." Sirius said cheerfully. "We should talk about disguises."
"Disguises?" Harry repeated warily, getting diverted from the topic of why it might take more than a week for them to heal and whole complicated magic of the time bubble as Sirius had intended.
Remus cleared his throat drawing their attention. "As you've pointed out, Voldemort has an interest in you. One of the reasons Albus placed you with your muggle relatives was the protection provided to you by the blood wards left by your mother. Now you're safe here but we need to make sure you're safe when you travel."
"We'll be going muggle." Sirius said brightly. "I've never been on an aeroplane before."
"Neither have I." Harry's face was alight with excitement. "And you think we should be disguised too?"
"We have two choices for you, Harry." Remus clasped his hands on the top of the polished table. "The first is that we put a glamour charm on you, turn your hair blond, your eyes blue, for example. But you'd still be thirteen years old and so if anyone was looking for you, you'd fall into the age group they would watch for."
"And if they're magical they'll know I might be wearing a glamour charm." Harry surmised very quickly.
.
.
.
.
🎉The novel is available in PDF with more than 400 chapters, visit us in our Ko-Fi store🎉
🎉ko-fi.com/gokublack444🎉