A Sirius Summer

31st August 1995

The last day of the holidays dawned with an overcast sky and a sad drizzle of rain. Harry pulled himself from the comfort of his bed, only pausing to throw on the robes Kretcher had left out before making his way into the kitchen. Mrs Weasley was already hard at work, plates of food flying to the table. Harry sat down the far end near the twins, ignoring the scowl he received from Ron when the red head noticed he was wearing his new clothes.

He had barely finished his last bite when Moody entered the kitchen, declining Mrs Weasley's offer of coffee and beckoning Harry to follow him into the hall. Harry followed warily. The old auror had been to headquarters several times over the summer but did not interact with any of the kids, grumbling concerns of safety and their liability if they were captured.

Harry still hadn't forgotten the Barty Crouch incident, though it had only been a few months ago. Every time he looked at the auror he could just picture the bubbling of his skin as the polyjuice potion wore off.

"Look here Potter." Moody began brusquely "You have had a lot to deal with these past few years, but that doesn't make you any less susceptible to outside forces."

"Uh okay." Harry glanced up towards the dining room where he knew Sirius was taking breakfast. He didn't want to be coerced into anything by the paranoid ex-auror, but he knew none of the rest of the order would intervene.

"I have been keeping an eye on you laddie and you are treading a dangerous path. You are young and don't know the full extent of terrors that are out there."

"What do you mean, sir." Harry asked, backing away slightly.

"Now don't play coy with me boy. You have been acting funny all summer." Moody barked, following Harry until he had backed into the bannister "I know all this seems exciting to you now. You are young and you don't understand the ways of the world. But Dark magic is no toy, people get hurt with it. People die. "

"Honestly sir I...."

"Listen to your headmaster and keep your nose clean. I know you have been excited to see your godfather but you don't grow up in a family like his and become a good example. Azkaban won't have helped either. I dread to think what the other low life's taught him there."

"Don't you dare!" Harry began, his temper rising for the first time in weeks.

"LISTEN BOY," Moody roared. "We were lenient with you this summer. Perhaps too lenient. You have good friends in the Weasley's and the Granger girl so stick with them. Listen to the adults, we know what is what and it is our job to keep you safe until you can do it yourself."

Harry nodded in resignation. The old auror still scared him, but it seemed like it was coming from a good place. At least he would be able to honestly say he was taking Moody's advice. He was still friends with everyone, even if their relationship had changed slightly and he fully intended to listen to Sirius and Remus.

As Moody stomped off to wherever he spent his days, Harry glimpsed the twins creeping across the first floor landing, their arms full of a variety of boxes Harry knew held various prototypes. Muttering a quick spell to muffle his footsteps, Harry snuck up the stairs behind them.

"Smuggling contraband to school." he intoned using his best Snape voice. He had to hold back a giggle as the twins jumped in the air, boxes scattering at their feet.

"Harrison Potter-Black!" Fred whisper screeched in a surprisingly good impression of Mrs Weasley. "How dare you disturb fine upstanding members of the public such as ourselves."

"Sorry, but you were so obvious sneaking across the landing there that I couldn't resist." Harry said with a grin. "You trying to smuggle your things to school."

"Yeah, you know mum will search our trunks before we leave." George said with a sigh.

"Bring your stuff to my room, I'm sure you can fit a box or two in my trunk and anything you don't want to take you can put in the back of my wardrobe." Harry offered with a grin. "Sirius won't let your mum check my things and he doesn't mind what I take with me. I wouldn't be surprised if he snuck a couple of pranks in himself."

"Harry-cat, this is why you are our favourite person." Fred said with a grin pulling them all into a group hug. Harry blushed as he felt a kiss pressed to his temple, the twins were becoming far too comfortable like this, yet he knew he would not say no to their affection.

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Harry's temper had nearly reached breaking point by the end of dinner, between Mrs Weasley getting stressed about them packing, Ron still in a snit about his new clothes, and Hermione's panicked realisation that OWL exams were less than ten months away, the house had turned into a madhouse. Desperate to get away he excused himself to his room, claiming the need to do some last minute packing of his own.

Once in his room, he glanced at his trunk before grabbing his fifth year ancient runes book and flopping down on his bed to read. A knock at the door had him groaning to himself, before he made his way to the door.

"Hey pup, got half an hour for your old man?" Sirius said with a grin. Harry opened the door with a smile before flopping back down on his bed.

"I noticed earlier you were packed." Sirius said sitting on the desk chair. "I thought you were trying to escape the company downstairs."

"Sorry Siri, I couldn't cope with all their preaching and complaining"

"You get to leave tomorrow." Sirius pointed out sourly . "I on the other hand am stuck here indefinitely."

"I'm gonna miss you," Harry confessed, "I've learnt so much this summer. I don't want to go back to how things were before."

"Here," Sirius said, pulling a tarnished silver compact mirror from his robe pocket. "A gift, it will help us keep in touch this year. I don't know how often I will be able to send letters."

"Uh, how does it work?" Harry asked, turning the mirror over in his hands.

"Just open it and say my name. I have the connecting mirror and will reply as soon as I can." Sirius said, showing Harry another pocket mirror. "James and I used to use them to communicate when we were in separate detentions."

"This is brilliant." Harry said grinning. He had been worried how often he would be able to talk to Sirius over the school year, especially about sensitive topics. He knew from all the warnings they had been given that summer that owl post was not the most secure of communication methods, but the school did not offer any other way to communicate with family.

"I do have another gift for you," Sirius said, looking slightly nervous. Harry placed the mirror on his bedside table, looking at his godfather in worry.

"What?" Harry asked, Sirius had gifted him many things over the last month, and had never seemed this nervous about his gifts before.

"A trunk and school bag. It's not new, they used to belong to my brother. I noticed you only had the basic trunk and bag. These would be a lot more use to you than sat wasting away in the attic." Sirius said with a small smile, "The bag has an undetectable expansion charm and featherweight charm on it so you can carry all your books at once. The trunk has three separate compartments so you can be a bit more organised and you won't accidentality spill ink on your robes or something."

"You really would let me use them?" Harry asked in awe. He had heard Sirius' stories about his brother and knew that he loved him and was devastated when he died in the service of the Dark Lord.

"Of course pup. They deserve to be used, not locked away rotting in the attic. Regulus would be proud that his things were going to a Black heir." Sirius said waving his wand to summon the items. "Kretcher has already said he would take care of repacking everything for you, so you get to bed. You have a long day ahead of you tomorrow"

Settling down under the covers, Harry bid his godfather goodnight. Tomorrow he would be starting his fifth year, beginning his OWLs and potentially starting the year in a new house. Many things had changed over the summer and he could only imagine what the new school year would bring.