Percy Jackson and the Department of Mysteries

71) Sirius Takes On Harry's Daddy Issues

"D'you know if there's going to be anything about Dumbledore in the Daily Prophet tomorrow?" Harry asked Sirius. "Only Ron's brother Perry reckons there will be —"

"I don't know," Sirius said, "I haven't seen anyone from the Order all weekend, they're all busy. It's just been Kreacher and me here..."

I didn't fail to notice the bitterness in Sirius's voice, so I changed the subject, "So you haven't had any news about Hagrid, either?"

"Ah..." Sirius said, "well, he was supposed to be back by now, no one's sure what's happened to him." He noticed our worried reactions and quickly added. "But Dumbledore's not worried, so don't you four get yourselves in a state; I'm sure Hagrid's fine."

"But if he was supposed to be back by now..." Hermione's voice wavered towards the end.

"Madame Maxime was with him, we've been in touch with her and she says they got separated on the journey home — but there's nothing to suggest he's hurt or — well, nothing to suggest he's not perfectly okay." We were unconvinced, and Sirius sighed. "Listen, don't go asking too many questions about Hagrid, it'll just draw even more attention to the fact that he's not back, and I know Dumbledore doesn't want that. Hagrid's tough, he'll be okay." I guess we still didn't look to happy, 'cause Sirius continued. "When's your next Hogsmeade weekend anyway? I was thinking, we got away with the dog disguise at the station, didn't we? I thought I could —"

"NO!" Harry, Hermione, and I said very loudly.

"Sirius, didn't you see the Daily Prophet?" Hermione asked restlessly.

"Oh that," Sirius grinned, "they're always guessing where I am, they haven't really got a clue —"

"Yeah, but we think this time they have," Harry said. "Something Malfoy said on the train made us think he knew it was you, and his father was on the platform, Sirius — you know, Lucius Malfoy — so don't come up here, whatever you do, if Malfoy recognizes you again —"

"All right, all right, I've got the point," Sirius frowned. "Just an idea, thought you might like to get together —"

"I would, I just don't want you chucked back in Azkaban!" Harry nearly bellowed, but quieted after the first shout, knowing people would come running downstairs.

A pause filled the air, a crease forming between Sirius's eyebrows. He nodded his head, and when he spoke, his voice was strangely cold, "You're less like your father than I thought. The risk would've been what made it fun for James."

"Look —"

"Well, I'd better get going, I can hear Kreacher coming down the stairs," Sirius said, though I figured this was untrue. "I'll write to tell you a time I can make it back into the fire, then, shall I? If you can stand to risk it?" Before anyone could respond, there was a small pop, and Sirius's head disappeared.

We sat there in silence for a while, staring at the flames, each of us mulling over Sirius's words. His surprising, controlled anger at Harry.

"You're not your father, Harry," I finally said.

"I know," Harry nodded, though he seemed sort of ashamed.

"You're not expected to be your father, you shouldn't be your father," I said. "Or your mother. You're Harry, not James, and that's perfectly fine with me."

"And me," Hermione nodded quickly.

"And me," Ron said, staring at the flames.

I stared at the fire for a moment as well, wondering what Hestia would want me to say. How should I comfort Harry? Did he even really need comforting?

Ron, at some point in our Hogwarts career, had figured it out. He'd changed a lot from the boy in first year who got mad I beat Gryffindor at Quidditch. He'd figured out the whole comforting thing.

He continued to stare into the flames as he started, "I have read so many files of demigods, so, so many. I... I've noticed a trend. They've got it worse than most, even before they find out they're demigods. I've met some, met several. I've heard the old stories of the gods and goddesses, their mistakes and their revenge, and no matter what they do, there is collateral. Their parents. The people that define their lives... give them their powers, give them their fears, their flaws, their monsters.... I have never met a single demigod who is truly like their parent. Some qualities are shared, of course, but... they're different. Percy's fatal flaw is loyalty, and his father runs around with other women... Neville's mother caused winter to plague the world, and her son hates hurting things... the goddess of war had a son who hopes for peace.... They're all perfect, just the way they are, and they're not like their parents. Not really."

Harry smiled slightly, and we sat there in silence again, but this time it was comfortable. We were friends, and we were together, and we didn't have to worry about anything, not in that moment.

Then Hermione had to open her mouth, "What happened on the quest this summer?"

I had an opportunity to make an amazing joke today, but didn't. Emblem was showing us her favorite song in the car, and I wanted to go, "Oh, can I show you my favorite song?" And I would play that like ten hour video of silence, and when questioned, I'd say, "Oh, it's The Sound of Silence." It would be amazing. But I didn't do it. I am weak. We've been playing the Oregon Trail for the last two days, and we almost made it. So close. But we let Fire Boy man the wagon as we did the mini game on the river, and, naturally, he hit the rock. Three of us died, but we still had our wagon leader. Then he hit another rock, and we lost. This whole thing was inspired by the fact that I'm in the top ten leaderboard on the official Oregon website. Sorta. It won't show up on other computers and I'm pissed. I get fourth and it's great but I can only prove it on my own computer. Maybe it just needs a time to figure stuff out. Idk. Tomorrow we're wearing hats for a dollar at school. All the money goes to the family of a boy who died at a nearby school. I think my school doing that is pretty great. Props to whoever thought to do that. You're awesome.

Anyway, I hope you all are having a yummy Tuesday, and I'll see you on Thursday CT. Love ya!