Chapter - 22 : Unpacking and Uncertainties part - 2

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It didn't take long to dig out fresh robes and pull them on. Once he was finished he hesitated for a moment, then wandered upstairs to Sirius's room. The door was open, allowing Harry to peer inside. Quidditch posters in the purple of the Falmouth Falcons hung over the four poster bed, contrasting with the bright red hangings and bed-covers. Pictures of four boys in Gryffindor robes and magazine clippings of scantily clad witches were stuck haphazardly to the wall and wardrobe door. It was very clearly a teenager's room.

"Come in!" Sirius called out as soon as Harry knocked on the open door.

As Harry stepped inside, his attention was drawn away from the scarlet and gold colours that dominated the room, and was instead captured by the silver-framed photo standing on the dresser. It showed two laughing black-haired boys pulling funny faces at each other. At first Harry thought it was a picture of Sirius with James Potter, but then he noticed the boy's Slytherin scarf and aristocratic appearance. It was Regulus, Harry realised with some astonishment.

"Everything all right?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah. Fine." Harry sat hesitantly down on the four-poster bed, while Sirius rummaged through his wardrobe and various drawers to find clothes that would fit. "I just can't believe how different things are here. For one thing, Kreacher's actually cooking us dinner without muttering about blood-traitors and poison."

"Well what's the point of alternate universes if they're all the same?" Sirius shook out a dark blue robe and held it up to his reflection in the mirror. The hem hung just below his knees. Sirius sighed and tossed the robe onto the floor. "I suppose it was wishful thinking to expect any of my old stuff to fit me. I may be as skinny as an inferius but I'm still taller than I was when I was sixteen. You don't happen to know any tailoring spells, do you, Harry?"

"Nope, sorry. The only magic I'm any good at is offensive spells and stuff. A bit of warding magic, too; anything that's useful in a fight, you know?"

"That's it?" Sirius turned round to stare at him in surprise. "What are they teaching in schools nowadays," he said, then frowned. "Merlin, I can't believe I just said that. I really am getting old."

"My Hogwarts years were pretty useless," Harry admitted. "Every year I had to worry about Voldemort and teachers trying to kill me and all that. Honestly, I'm surprised I learnt anything at all."

Sirius stared at him for a long moment. "Then I suppose it's a good thing you're doing it all over again, hmm?"

"Merlin, seven more years of Binns!" Harry groaned and covered his face with his hands. "Hey, why don't you send me to Beaubatons instead?"

"Because my dear deceased mother would send Kreacher to strangle me in my sleep, that's why," Sirius said, laughing. "So, sorry, you'll just have to grin and bear it. Or cast an exorcism curse in the middle of the History classroom, you choose."

"I think that would be a tad too conspicuous," Harry said. "I'm not supposed to know any magic. It does sound tempting, though," he added wistfully.

Sirius scoffed. "There's no such thing as too conspicuous when you're a Black." Harry looked at him doubtfully. "No really, we all love being the centre of attention," Sirius insisted. "And we all dabble in strange magic even before we start Hogwarts, so it'll be seen as perfectly normal for you to know spells you shouldn't."

"So I'm joining a family of prodigies then?" Harry raised his eyebrows, thinking it could be useful if he ever slipped up and revealed knowledge of magic no normal child would know.

"Well not quite, but the Blacks do tend to be more powerful than most," Sirius told him seriously. "Bellatrix was one of the most feared witches in decades and it took twelve hit-wizards to take her down. As for me… well, there's a reason why people were so ready to believe I was Voldemort's second in command."

Harry thought that over, remembering the damage Bellatrix had caused, the overpowering spells she had cast even weak and half insane from Azkaban. "I know you and my dad were pretty brilliant at magic," he said. "I mean, you became animagi in your fifth year and the Marauders Map is an impressive bit of spellwork…"

Sirius smiled proudly. "Yeah, James was always talented, especially in Transfiguration. He also knew a lot of spells even as a first year. His mother was a Black, remember, so he was given free rein to practice magic and explore his family library, just like I was. It's the Black way."

"The… other you said your family knew a lot of dark magic."

Sirius shook his head. "Not just the Dark Arts. More whatever we were interested in, really. We Blacks have never cared about the legality of the spells we learn. I mean, the Ministry is made up of a bunch of idiots, so why should we listen to anything they have to say?"

"Well, I can definitely agree there," Harry said, scowling. "I despise the Ministry. People like Fudge can cause more damage than a Death Eater ever could."

"Well, my being innocent should shake them up a bit. Minister Fudge's approval rating probably isn't looking too good round about now," Sirius said with a smirk.

"Serves the idiot right! You know, in my old world he tried to have you Kissed even though my friends and I told him we'd seen Pettigrew with our very own eyes, and he spent my whole fifth year running a smear campaign against me."

"Well, I'm glad it was Amelia Bones in charge of my case, then," Sirius said. "She was always a stickler for rules. Never had much of an imagination, but at least she follows procedure and gives every wizard a fair trial."

Harry nodded. "Yeah, I always thought she seemed like an all right witch. She was killed quite early on in the war though, so I don't know much about her."

"What? Her too?" Sirius asked incredulously. "Your world was a very depressing place, wasn't it?"

"You're only just now realising this?"

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