Chapter - 17 : Healing and Hijinks part - 3

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"You know, I don't really care about Dumbledore's ruthlessness," Harry said thoughtfully. "I went along with the plan, after all. I let myself be killed. No, it's the fact that his bloody plan didn't work that makes me so angry. He made sure I grew up cut off from the wizarding world, but not really part of the muggle one either. He encouraged me every time I risked my life trying to save others, instead of telling me to let an adult handle it. He did all he could to ensure that I wouldn't have anything stopping me from walking to my death. Yet after all that, the Dark still won."

"But Voldemort was dead, wasn't he?"

Harry scowled in remembered anger. "Sure, Voldemort was defeated, but his Death Eaters were still free to wreak havoc. Dumbledore spent so much time obsessing over that stupid prophecy and organising my life to make me into the perfect willing sacrifice, that he completely ignored everything else. He didn't do anything about the corruption in the Ministry or try to stop the Death Eaters from killing. I know he isn't to blame for everything that went wrong… he was just one man. Still, he took it upon himself to drag me into the war, but he didn't actually succeed in solving anything. Basically, it was all for nothing."

"Not for nothing," Sirius disagreed. "It's true your world sounds like a lost cause, but what you experienced there can help us here. We can make sure things'll be different, make changes for the better. I for one am very pleased to be free and out of Azkaban. You did that Harry, and hopefully you'll be able to help other people, too."

"Do you really think it's possible for a ten-year-old to change a whole society, Sirius?" Harry asked tiredly.

"Well when that ten-year-old has the brilliant Sirius Black on his side, then definitely!" Sirius struck an heroic pose. It looked rather odd on someone wearing a yellow hospital gown. "Anyway, we can deal with the easier things first, like destroying all the Horcruxes."

"Hah! Easy!" Harry waved his arms indignantly. "Horcrux hunting isn't easy!"

Sirius appeared unconcerned. "Well, it can't be that hard. You know what they all are, after all. How many are there, by the way?"

"Seven," Harry said.

"S-Seven!" Sirius sputtered. "Voldemort split his soul seven times? No wonder he was insane!"

Harry laughed humourlessly. "Tell me about it. It probably isn't seven at the moment, though. The Harry Potter of this world died, meaning that one Horcrux died along with him. Then there's Voldemort's pet snake, Nagini. I'm not sure if she's a Horcrux yet. So… five, maybe six. And Voldemort himself, of course."

"So maybe it won't be quite as easy as I thought," Sirius admitted.

"There's also the fact that this is an alternate universe, so I have no idea if the Horcruxes are even the same in this world."

"So, not easy at all then. In fact more like close to impossible."

"Exactly."

They didn't discuss the difficult topics of Horcruxes, Voldemort and Death Eaters during Harry's other visits. It was too risky even with privacy wards in place and Harry was trying to keep their conversations more light-hearted. Healer Aberworthy had pulled him aside one day to tell him that Sirius was doing well and that Harry's visits were definitely helping, but that he should still be careful.

"You da's going to be a wee bit… fragile for a while," the Healer said awkwardly, obviously unsure about discussing the horrors of Azkaban and Dementors with a child. "He's had a hard time of it these past years. It's frankly amazing he's as stable as he is…"

Harry knew it was Sirius' animagus form that had helped him maintain his sanity, but couldn't exactly tell the Healer that, so he just continued to listen attentively.

"I'm glad you'll be living with your da, it'll do him good to have someone else to concentrate on," she added. "Just try not to ask him questions about his time in prison, or the war. It's the happy things in life he should be thinking about. Laughter is as good as a cheering charm, I always say."

"I'll try my best," Harry said, though he wasn't at all certain he'd be able to keep his promise. He couldn't just ignore the war with Voldemort, not if he wanted to have a chance of fixing things.

Healer Aberworthy patted him on the shoulder and nodded approvingly. "You're a good lad."

Harry wondered if he'd ever get used to being treated like a child by everyone around him. Even when Harry was a child he'd been the boy-who-lived and so considered somehow special. As Orion Aubrey he was seen as just another ten year old brat. Harry found it frustrating, especially when trying to arrange things Sirius' behalf. The healers of Saint Mungo's weren't prepared to discuss Sirius' condition in depth with a young boy and, since Harry didn't want to question Sirius about it, he was left trying to guess what all the different potions and spells were for. He just hoped Sirius would eventually make a full recovery.

Unable to help prepare for when Sirius was discharged from Saint Mungo's, Harry instead focused on continuing his efforts to learn about the world he was now living in. What time he didn't spend at the hospital with Sirius was spent in the Burrow reading up on the wizarding world and hanging around in the kitchen to listen to the wizarding wireless.

The Weasleys treatment of him had changed slightly ever since Harry's first visit with Sirius. Mr Weasley was as kind as ever and Mrs Weasley kept trying to 'fatten him up' (and Ron kept ignoring him), but there was a distance there that Harry had never felt before. Harry supposed he would have to get used to people reacting differently. Being the acknowledged son of Sirius Black was not the same as being some nameless orphan or the famous Boy-Who-Lived.

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