The Darkening of Your Soul

Chapter 43

Chapter 43

Everyone in the room looked at Harry with wide eyes and it dawned on Harry that he’d just voiced his objections out loud when he hadn’t really meant to do so.

“Er…” Harry’s brain was working overtime to come up with an explanation for his response because Sirius was staring at him with an absolutely crestfallen expression. Harry blinked a few times and then said in his best child-like voice, “That’s allowed? Two men together?”

Andromeda sat up a little straighter and gave Harry a questioning look. “Why would you ask that, Harry?”

Ducking his head, as though deeply ashamed, Harry shrugged. “Uncle Vernon always said that two men together was dirty and wrong and they should be given electroshocks like they used to do.”

“Well,” Ted said after everyone had sat in stunned silent for almost a full minute. “Harry, you must understand that muggles sometimes have very strange ideas about what people should and shouldn’t do.” Ted offered Harry a kind, reassuring smile. “In the wizarding world it is completely normal for two men, or two women, to be in a relationship together. They can even get married if they want to.”

Harry’s whole face lit up as he gave Ted a bright smile. “Really? I’m so glad to hear that.” Then he looked at Sirius, who narrowed his eyes at Harry in a way that said he would drag the real explanation out of his godson later, and said, “I’m very happy for you and Remus. Is this a new relationship or were you already together in the past?” Harry was genuinely curious about that.

Sirius sipped his sherry and glanced from Remus to Harry. “We were on and off during Hogwarts, and later, during the war. Times were dangerous and we were busy, so we barely had time for each other. But that’s different now, right, Moony?”

Remus nodded with a little sigh. “Yes, but it is still early on in the relationship, so I would prefer you not announce it to the entire world just yet.”

Sirius waved Remus’ objections off with his glass of sherry. “Pah, Moony, this here is family. They can know. I’ll keep it to myself around everyone else for now, promise.”

“That’s all I ask.” Remus sipped his own glass of sherry, and Harry wondered what exactly the objections Remus seemed to have were. Harry vaguely remembered some drama between Remus and Tonks, about Remus not deeming himself good enough for her or something like that because he was a werewolf. Honestly, Harry had been far too busy with his own crappy life to pay much attention to the love lives of the adult acquaintances around him, so he wasn’t entirely sure what had been going on between Remus and Tonks before they ended up getting married.

Seeing how Sirius and Remus apparently had a history of dating on and off, any objections Remus had might be of an entirely different nature, Harry reasoned. Whatever it was, Sirius and Remus were grown men so they could solve their own relationship problems.

Harry quietly mourned his godson Teddy, though, until he realized they were wizards and if two men could get married perhaps two men might have a baby, too. Who knew?

“Harry,” Sirius whispered as he pulled Harry aside after the Tonks’ had left in the early evening. “What the hell was that all about?”

Harry gave Sirius a sheepish smile. “You just caught me off guard. You never got together with Remus in my previous life, or if you did, you certainly never told me about it. And later, Remus actually married someone else.”