O, CURSED CHILD. ﹙ harry potter ﹚

XVII ; the dementor's kiss

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            ELARA HAD NEVER BEEN APART OF SUCH A STRANGE 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 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 and elara went right after black, who was still making snape drift along ahead of them; he kept bumping his lolling head on the low ceiling. elara had the impression black was making no effort to prevent this.

            "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 black stiffly. "if anything happened to them..."

            harry waited. black grew a worried look on his face at his silence. elara smiled at his inability to talk to his godson now that everything's been sorted --  it was a tad heartwarming. black really wanted to make a good impression (even though he and harry engaged in some sort of fist fight just an hour before) on his godson.

            "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..."

            "what — live with you?" harry said, accidentally cracking his head on a bit of rock protruding from the ceiling. "leave the dursleys?"

            elara had to stifle a laugh at harry's clumsiness.

            "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?"