'And he's the best fuck that ever walked. He's beautiful - rich, in money and everything else; he's a rockstar to boot, trapped in the body of a fighter. And how he fought; at a state of turmoil with himself - somewhere inside his soul that only she...
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♱
'Dung will not soil the slowworm's mosaic. Breathless lark drops to nest in sodden trash; Rawthey truculent, dingy. Drudge at the mallet, the may is down, fog on fells. Guilty of spring and spring's ending amputated years ache after the bull is beef, love a convenience. It is easier to die than to remember. Name and date split in soft slate a few months obliterate.'
"You know what this means?" Black said abruptly to Harry as they made their slow progress along the tunnel. "Turning Pettigrew in?"
"You're free, " Harry said.
"But I'm also — I don't know if anyone ever told you — I'm your godfather. " Black said breathily.
"Yeah, I knew that, " Harry replied.
"I understand, of course, if you want to stay with your aunt and uncle, with your sister, " he said stiffly. "But... well... think about it. Once my name's cleared... if you wanted a... a different home... "
Meanwhile, Hera had been walking a few short paces behind them, privy to the entire exchange.
Hermione did not press her for conversation when she saw Hera inching an extra step closer, trying to listen in on them.
"What — live with you?" he said, accidentally cracking his head on a bit of rock protruding from the ceiling. "Leave the Dursleys?"
"Of course, I thought you wouldn't want to, " Sirius said quickly. "I understand, I just thought I'd— "
"Are you insane?" Harry said, his voice easily as croaky as Black's. "Of course I want to leave the Dursleys! Have you got a house? When can I move in?"
Sirius turned right around to look at him; Snape's head was scraping the ceiling but Sirius didn't seem to care. "You want to?" he said. "You mean it?"
"Yeah, I mean it!" Harry cried out.
Sirius's gaunt face broke into the first true smile Harry had seen upon it.
The difference it made was startling, as though a person ten years younger were shining through the starved mask; for a moment, he was recognisable as the man who had laughed at their parents' wedding.
