Harry Potter and the Ties that Bind

Chapter 7

After arriving at his temporary place of residence, Harry got to work.

He floated Sirius Black over to a chair he had fashioned using alchemy. It was a very basic chair made of steel and didn't look comfortable to sit on. After setting Sirius Black onto the chair, he conjured several chains and had them wrap around the animagus, effectively binding him.

Harry then waited for Sirius Black to regain consciousness. It was a slow going process, as the man appeared to be quite disoriented. He blamed that on how much blood his godfather had lost, but that was exactly why he'd not given the man any blood restoration potions. He wanted Sirius to be confused and disoriented. It would make interrogating him easier.

Sirius groaned several times, eyelids fluttering like drunken butterflies. It took several moments to become aware of his situation, namely that someone was standing over him. His eyes, glazed over to show that he wasn't all there, widened.

"J-James?" the man sounded as groggy as he looked. "Is that you?"

"No," Harry said coolly, ignoring the surge of anger. "I'm not James Potter."

Sirius seemed to gain his second wind. His eyes became sharper as they focused on him more fully.

Seconds later, they widened again.

"H-Harry? That... that really is you, isn't it?"

"It is."

"Merlin," Sirius breathed in shock. "You look just like James." His eyes softened. "All except for the eyes. You've got your mother's eyes."

Harry's eyes blazed with an intense ferocity as he hissed. "Do not mention my parents, Black. You have no right to even speak their name!"

"Harry..."

"And do not talk to me with such familiarity," Harry snapped. "You might be my godfather, but that doesn't mean you and I are in any way close."

Harry's words seemed to hit Sirius like a punch to the gut. The dark-haired man slumped in his seat, several choking noises erupting from the back of his throat.

Harry ignored Sirius and waved a hand at the shelf. A small vial rattled before slowly levitating off the surface and gently settling onto the palm of his hand. The vial had a round bottom similar to a bulb. Sloshing around inside like a fine white wine was a crystal clear liquid.

"Do you know what this is?" Harry asked.

Sirius jerked at the sound of Harry's voice. Looking at the vial, the black-haired man frowned but answered the question. "Um, some kind of potion?"

"This is veritaserum," Harry started, boring a hole into Sirius' head with his eyes. "I am going to give you two options, Black. The first is that you take this serum and answer all of my questions."

Sirius didn't really seem to understand what was going on. He frowned at his godson as if Harry was a puzzle that needed to be solved.

"You... you do not act very much like James or Lily, do you?"

Harry's smile was colder than a Scottish winter. "I wouldn't really know, would I? After all, my parents died when I was just one year old."

Sirius winced. "I guess... you do have a point," he muttered sadly before looking back at his godson. "What's the other option?"

"Should you choose not to go with option one, I will be forced to use option two, which involves me prying the information from your head using force."

Harry Potter still couldn't claim to be a great Legilimens, but he was proficient enough that he could delve into the minds of others. It wasn't very subtle, and it wasn't very pretty. His mind probes were more akin to a sledge hammer than a surgical scalpel. Chances were good that if Sirius Black resisted Harry's attempt at probing his thoughts, it would break his mind, shattering it into millions of irreparable pieces.