The Darkening of Your Soul

Chapter 55

Chapter 55

Since it was Wednesday, they only had two classes in the morning, Herbology and Charms. They had the afternoon off, though they did have Astronomy at midnight, but that was still very far off as Harry tried to keep his mind from wandering too far off while he attended classes. But he couldn't help the anxiety that blossomed in his chest and grew at steady intervals with each worrying thought Harry had about the upcoming custody battle.

Because thanks to Rita Skeeter, Harry was now sure it was going to be a battle.

Tom had already warned Harry that the Wizengamot might not automatically grand custody to Sirius, since he was a single man with some mental health issues thanks to spending a decade amongst dementors. Still, if Sirius had been the only one applying for custody, the Wizengamot might have eventually gone along with his application, especially because Sirius had the solicitor Sybil Post working for him.

But now that Rita Skeeter had let it publicly be known that Harry's custody was apparently up for grabs, there was no telling who would apply for it. Anyone technically could apply for it, for any reason, or none at all. Some might want to genuinely offer poor orphan Harry Potter a good, loving home, but others would undoubtedly only offer to take Harry in to use his fame and fortune for their own betterment. And others still might want to get custody of Harry to try to harm him and make it look like an unfortunate accident.

And of course there was now also the possibility that Dumbledore might actively try to get his hands on Harry through some light family that followed him blindly. Hell, Dumbledore might even urge the Weasleys to apply for custody of Harry. Molly and Arthur well and truly lived in Dumbledore's pocket and they would follow his lead without question should they get their hands on Harry.

Yeah, the more Harry thought about it, the more his stomach tied itself up in knots. He was well and truly fucked.

"You okay?" Theo asked in a whisper as they left the greenhouse and made their way to the Charms classroom.

Harry shrugged. He wanted to share some of his worries with his friends, but at the same time he didn't want to dump all of his problems in the laps of a couple of 11-year-olds. Harry was technically a grown-up, who should be able to shoulder such burdens better than a bunch of kids. "Now that Skeeter has let it slip that Sirius has applied for my custody, lots of other people will probably apply as well, making a huge mess of things."

"Black is your godfather," Blaise pointed out while giving Harry a sideways look. "It's an honorary title, sure, but your parents still gave it to him and not anyone else."

Harry nodded. "Sirius has Sybil Post, the solicitor who helped to free him, working the custody case for him, so he's got some decent backup. Still, I don't want complete strangers fighting over me."

"Then tell that to the Wizengamot," Theo said with an optimistic smile. "They always take the child's preferences into account as well, I'm sure."

"Yeah, okay, I'll do that." Harry didn't say anything else because they entered the Charms classroom and he didn't want the Gryffindors to overhear his personal problems. Neville gave Harry a worried look as Harry sat down beside him, but Harry shook his head to indicate that he wasn't going to talk about it at that time. Soon, Flitwick started lecturing and Harry used that time to write a letter to Sirius, bemoaning Rita Skeeter's inability to keep her nose out of other people's business and reminding him that he needed to come to Hogwarts the next day to teach Harry and his classmates Defence. Harry was sure that McGonagall had also sent Sirius the correct class schedule along, but Harry wanted to make sure Sirius knew when to show up. The last thing Harry wanted was to end up back in Moody's class thanks to an administrative error.