Bloodline | Harry Potter x Reader [DISCONTINUED]

Third Year~Chapter Seventeen

Third Person POV

Harry had never been part of a stranger group. Crookshanks led the way down the stairs; Lupin, Pettigrew and Ron went next, looking like contestants in a six-legged race. Next came Professor Snape, drifting creepily along, his toes hitting each stair as they descended, held up by (F/N) and Sirius – Sirius using Snape's wand. Harry, (Y/N) and Hermione brought up the rear.

Getting back into the tunnel was difficult. Lupin, Pettigrew and Ron had to turn sideways to manage it; Lupin still had Pettigrew covered with his wand. Harry could see them edging awkwardly along the tunnel in single file. Crookshanks was still in the lead. Harry went right after Sirius and (F/N), who were still making Snape drift along ahead of them; they kept bumping his lolling head on the low ceiling. (Y/N) had the impression Sirius and (F/N) was making no effort to prevent this.

'You know what this means?' Sirius said abruptly to Harry and (Y/N), as they made their slow progress along the tunnel. 'Turning Pettigrew in?'

'You're free,' said Harry.

'Yes ...' said Sirius. 'But I'm also – I don't know if anyone ever told you – I'm your godfather, Harry.'

'Yeah, I knew that,' said Harry.

'Well ... your parents appointed me your guardian,' said Sirius stiffly. 'If anything happened to them ...'

Harry waited. Did Sirius mean what he thought he meant?

'I'll understand, of course, if you want to stay with your aunt and uncle,' said Sirius. 'But ... well ... think about it. Once my name's cleared ... if you wanted a ... a different home ...'

Some sort of explosion took place in the pit of Harry's stomach.

'What – live with you?' he said, accidentally cracking his head on a bit of rock protruding from the ceiling. 'Leave the Dursleys?'

'Of course, I thought you wouldn't want to,' said Sirius quickly. 'I understand. I just thought I'd –'

'Are you mad?' said Harry, his voice easily as croaky as Sirius'. 'Of course I want to leave the Dursleys! Have you got a house? When can I move in?'

Sirius turned right around to look at him; (F/N) took full control of guiding Snape through the passage.

'You want to?' he said. 'You mean it?'

'Yeah, I mean it!' said Harry.

Sirius' gaunt face broke into the first true smile Harry had seen upon it. The difference it made was startling, as though a person ten years younger was shining through the starved mask; for a moment, he was recognisable as the man who had laughed at Harry's parents' and (M/N) and (F/N)'s weddings.

(Y/N) smiled to herself. She was glad that Harry had the chance to leave the awful Muggles that he lived with.

They did not speak again until they had reached the end of the tunnel. Crookshanks darted up first; he had evidently pressed his paw to the knot on the trunk, because Lupin, Pettigrew and Ron clambered upwards without any sound of savaging branches.

(F/N) saw Snape up through the hole, then stood back for Sirius, Harry, (Y/N) and Hermione to pass. At last, all of them were out.

The grounds were very dark now, the only light came from the distant windows of the castle. Without a word, they set off. Pettigrew was still wheezing and occasionally whimpering. Harry's mind was buzzing. He was going to leave the Dursleys. He was going to live with Sirius Black, his parents' best friend ... he felt dazed ... What would happen when he told the Dursleys he was going to live with the convict they'd seen on television?