The Adventure That Lies Ahead | PJO x HP

CHAPTER 84

It was hard for Isa to say this was the strangest group she has ever been part of. 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, Hermione, Nolan, and Isa 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. Isa could see them edging awkwardly along the tunnel in single file. Crookshanks was still in the lead. Isa went behind Harry who went right after Black, who was still making Snape drift along ahead of them. He kept bumping his lolling head on the low ceiling. Isa had the impression Black was making no effort to prevent this.

"You know what this means?" Black said abruptly to Harry and Isa as they made their slow progress along the tunnel. "Turning Pettigrew in?"

"You're free," Isa said.

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

"Yeah, I knew that," Harry said.

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

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

"I'll understand, of course, if you want to stay with your aunt and uncle," Black said. "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?"

"Of course, I thought you wouldn't want to," Black 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?"

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!" Harry said.

Black's gaunt face broke into the first true smile Harry and Isa 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 recognizable as the man who Isa had seen in her dreams.

"And as for you, Isa," Black said. "I'm sure... we can... work something out seeing as how I am not your godfather... But that is if you want to move in."

Isa felt guilty. She can't just leave camp.

"I also understand if you want to stay with your aunt and uncle⎼"

"What?" Isa asked which brought Black out of his word vomit. "Did⎼do you not know?"

"Know what?" Black asked. He looked over at Lupin who met his eyes.

"I-I don't live with the Durselys... I live in America."

"America?" He asked. It was only then did he notice how she had an accent. "Oh... well I understand if you want to stay with your foster parents⎼"

Isa snorted. "I'm not adopted."

Black brightened up. "But then⎼How⎼Where?"

"I live in a camp," Isa told him. "In New York."