The Girl Who Fought | h.p |

Bloody Furry Little Problem

Harry had never been part of a stranger group. Crookshanks led the way down the stairs; Lupin, Pettigrew, and Ron went next, looking like entrants in a six-legged race. Next came Professor Snape, drifting creepily along, his toes hitting each stair as they descended, held up by his own wand, which was being pointed at him by Sirius. Harry, Nova, and Hermione brought up the rear. 

Getting back into the tunnel was difficult. Lupin, Pettigrew, and Ron had to turn sideways to manage it; Lupin still had Pettigrew covered with his wand. Harry could see them edging awkwardly along the tunnel in single file. Crookshanks was still in the lead. Harry went right after Black, who was still making Snape drift along ahead of them; he kept bumping his lolling head on the low ceiling. Harry had the impression Black was making no effort to prevent this. Harry noted it was something Nova would do. 

Nova and Hermione chatted in hushed voices. Nova, despite having dried blood on her head, looked alright. Hermione looked severely shaken with a cut on her cheek. 

"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," said Harry. 

"Yes . . . ," said Black. "But I'm also — I don't know if anyone ever told you — I'm your godfather." 

"Yeah, I knew that," said Harry. 

"Well . . . your parents appointed me your guardian," said Blackstiffly. "If anything happened to them . . ." 

Harry waited. Did Black mean what he thought he meant? 

"I'll understand, of course, if you want to stay with your aunt and uncle," said Black. "But . . . well . . . think about it. Once my name's cleared . . . if you wanted a . . . a different home . . ." 

Some sort of explosion took place in the pit of Harry's stomach. 

"What — live with you?" he said, accidentally cracking his head on a bit of rock protruding from the ceiling. "Leave the Dursleys?" 

"And Nova. Of course, I thought you wouldn't want to," said Black quickly."I understand, I just thought I'd —" 

"Are you insane?" said Harry, 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?" 

Black turned right around to look at him; Snape's head was scraping the ceiling but Black didn't seem to care. 

"You want to?" he said. "You mean it?" 

"Yeah, I mean it!" said Harry. 

Black's face broke out into a real smile. The first real smile Harry had seen. He noticed that it faded as his eyes found a figure chatting with her friend. 

Nova Lily Black. 

"You know . . ." Harry began, realizing how awkward it is giving advice to the father of your best friend about said best friend. "You could just talk to her."

"She hates me." 

"She doesn't hate you," Harry said confidently, but he himself was unsure. 

"She thinks I abandoned her," Sirius stated sadly. 

"Well . . .ya kinda did. . ." Harry trailed off. 

In heaven, several people facepalmed. 

"Nova may not act like it, but she needs you." Harry began to redeem himself. "She grew up fiercely independent. She never admits when she needs someone."

Sirius stared at his godson as he tried to explain his daughter to him. 

"She's afraid of letting people in," Harry informed. Sirius knew this. Nova admitted it herself when he was Snuffles. "She's afraid they'll just leave."