The Figure Clothed in Black

Chapter Sixteen: Portraits I

Harry stared out the window, wondering about the voice of the figure clothed in black. He had considered every possibility, but still couldn't figure it out. Harry banged his head on the desk he was sitting at in frustration. He had finally caved and told Sirius what was wrong. Sirius had been relieved, and had helped Harry to try to figure out why the voice sounded like Ethan's, but to no avail.

Harry looked at the open potions book in front of him that Professor Snape had lent him. He had reluctantly told him what his mother had written and he had given Harry several large books that he hadn't read, and thought might help. Harry turned his attention back to the book and started looking through the potions in it. He looked for an hour before heading to the living room, where Sirius was, in a foul mood.

"Here," Harry said dropping a book beside Sirius on the couch, "you look for a while. I'm sick of looking. Besides it's probably in a book that only I can open buried in some ancient grave in Siberia." Harry plopped himself down beside Sirius.

"You're right, Harry. It probably is in a book only you can open buried in some ancient grave in Siberia," Sirius said jokingly.

Harry stared at him, stunned momentarily. "You're supposed to say that I'm wrong. You're supposed to say that we will find it if we just keep looking, and that I only said that because I'm frustrated," Harry said moodily, scowling at his godfather.

Sirius chuckled at him. "Harry, I was joking. It's not in some book that only you can open in some ancient tomb in Siberia. It's probably in some book only you can open in Australia," Sirius said, laughing. Harry sighed loudly, exasperated at his godfather.

"I'm joking. I'm sure we'll find it eventually. I'm just trying to get you to smile, but you're not cooperating."

Sirius reached over to tickle him, but Harry moved his arms over his sides before Sirius even had a chance to try. Sirius sighed.

"Do you want anything to eat? You hardly ate anything at breakfast."

Harry shook his head.

"Are you sure? I can fix you something if you want."

"I'm not hungry, Sirius," Harry mumbled.

"Well, what do you want to do? Flying, explore the castle, play chess? I'm not going to let you sit here and brood, so choose something to do."

Harry sighed. "Why can't I sit here and brood?" he asked pouting slightly, hoping his godfather would give in and let him.

"Put the lip away, you know that doesn't work. If you stay here you'll just get depressed and you're supposed to do what I say. Come on, "he said standing in front of Harry. He pulled the groaning Harry off the couch. "I've got something I want to show you."

"I thought I got to choose what we do. How do you now that I'll like what you've got to show me?" Harry asked in an annoyed tone.

First of all," Sirius said sternly, "don't use that tone with me, young man. You don't get to choose since you didn't tell me what you wanted to do. You will like what I have to show you, and no I'm not telling you where we're going. And even if you tell me what you want to do we aren't doing it."

Harry sighed and followed Sirius silently through the numerous halls of Hogwarts. They went through secret passageways that for some reason weren't on the Marauder's Map. They stopped at an empty picture frame. The background was a black swirling mist. Sirius put a finger on it and said something inaudible to Harry's ears. The blackness stared swirling more rapidly compared to the slow, lazy swirling it had been doing. After a moment a figure started to materialize and a minute later a tall man with untidy jet black hair and hazel eyes was standing in front of them. Harry and Sirius both gazed stunned at the figure of James Potter who was smiling broadly at them. He looked to be about twenty years old.

"Padfoot! Long time no see! So how are you?" the portrait of James Potter asked. When Sirius didn't answer he continued. "Who's this you've got with you? He looks like... Harry?" James asked disbelieving. His dead father was gazing at him with tears in his eyes. "Is it really you? I haven't seen you since you were a baby."

"James," Sirius' voice sounded odd and choked slightly, "why are you here? What happened to the portrait of your father?"

"Oh, he found a portrait of Mum on the eighth floor and is staying there so I took over here. Sirius, is... is that really my son?"

Sirius blinked and glanced at Harry. "Yes, this is Harry, James."

Tears filled his eyes again. "Harry... I can't believe this. I knew you where alive, but I figured you didn't know where this was... or that you didn't want to see me." His voice was chocked.

"I didn't know about this place. I didn't even know there was a portrait of you. If I had known I would have come long before now to talk," Harry said quietly.

Why didn't anyone tell me? Is there a portrait of Mum too?

"Well you've certainly grown since I've last saw you. How old are you?"

"Sixteen."

"James, can we go in? We can finish the conversation inside," Sirius said wanting to sit down.

"What? Oh right..."

He left the frame and it moved sideways revealing a hole for them to step through. The room inside wasn't spectacular. There was a couch, love seat, a few arm chairs, a coffee table and desk in the far corner. Harry and Sirius settled in armchairs. James was in a portrait that had an armchair and a bowl on fruit in it.

"Harry, won't you get in trouble for being out of class? Not that I care all that much if you are, carrying on the family tradition even though we didn't skip that many classes, but I don't know where you're mother is and she will kill me if I don't say that," James said giving them a crooked grin.

"Is Lily's portrait here also?" Sirius asked.

"Yes, she's somewhere in the school. Probably in the library."

"Where are we?" Harry asked.

"Marauder's Haven," James said in booming voice and took a bow. "Only the original Marauders can get in here."

"Oh really?" a female voice said. Harry and Sirius turned in the direction of the voice to see Lily Potter in the portrait on the opposite wall, hands on her hip and a light smile on her lips. "Only the original Marauders? I beg to differ, James."

"And of course my beautiful wife, whom I love very much, mother of my child, Lily," James said grinning at her hoping she wouldn't go completely off on him. Lily sniffed unapprovingly.

"James, that smile may have worked when we were going out, but its sure doesn't now," she said now standing behind him. "Hello, Sirius, I didn't see you there. And... Harry?" her voice sounded just like her husbands had. She was gazing at him.

"Yes, Lily this is your son, Harry. He's sixteen now instead of fifteen months," Sirius said.

"I didn't know if I was ever going to see you again. You hadn't come here yet, and I figured you didn't know about it. The last time I saw you, you were only fifteen months old and now you're almost an adult," her eyes were filled with tears and one fell down her cheek.

Harry suddenly missed his parents so much that tears filled his eyes that were so much like his mother's.

Why did you have to die?

Harry blinked away the tears, and ignoring the ache in his heart said, "How come I wasn't told that there was portraits of my parents'?" he asked Sirius.

"I didn't know they weren't destroyed in the fire. I really didn't know they were here. If I had known that they had survived the fire me, or someone else, would have told you by know. I had really forgotten about them to."

"Sirius, shouldn't he be in class?" Lily asked.

"I don't have to go to class for another two weeks. Greg decided to go back this week, but I didn't want to, and Sirius wouldn't let me. I think Greg went so he can be near Brittany," Harry said speaking up for himself.

Lily and James both sat up straighter when Harry had said Greg.

"Did you say Greg? As in your little bother Greg? He's alive?" Lily asked. "And why don't you have to go back to school?"

Harry made himself comfortable. They were going to be there for a while.

Four hours later found the foursome silent. Harry and Sirius had moved from the arm chairs to the couch and Harry was leaning lightly against Sirius. Lily and James looked shocked. Sirius had been about to give them a shortened version, but they had insisted on details. Fifteen minutes passed before Sirius said, "Are you two okay? You haven't said anything yet."

Lily opened her mouth several timed to say something, but never got anything out. After another ten minutes of silence with the occasional sigh from Harry, Lily said, "I am so sorry you had to go through that. Both of you. I... I really don't know what to say."

Harry wanted to ask some questions, but if he opened his eyes his head pounded from the light. He wasn't sure if he could stay conscious long enough to hear the answers.

Why do I feel like I'm going to faint? Oh yeah... I didn't take the potion Sirius told me to. Uh-oh.

"Sirius?" Harry tried to say it, but it came out as a whisper. Harry tried again, but to no avail. They were talking now and Sirius couldn't hear him. Harry groaned and buried his head against Sirius' shoulder. This got his attention along with Lily and James.

"Harry?" he said stroking his hair lightly. "What's wrong?"

Harry moved his head and tried to say something, but could get even a whisper out now. Harry pointed at his throat.

"Your throat's sore? Can you talk?"

Harry shook his head no.

"Did you take that potion I left you last night?" Sirius asked.

Harry shook his head no again.

"This is way you were supposed to take it. If I had known you hadn't taken it I would have made you eat more at breakfast, and made you eat something before we left. If you don't take the potion and don't eat a lot your whole body almost shuts down. You did more damage than any of us though when you tried to kill yourself. It messed up your metabolism and how much you need to eat and when, so you won't faint. Does your stomach and head hurt?"

Harry nodded.

"James, do you still get food in here just like we used to?"

"Yes, you can because Remus came here when he was teaching here and he got some."

Harry groaned as Sirius got up. He had been comfortable and now his head hurt even more. He walked over to where Lily and James were in the portrait, tapped the wall beneath it and small red button appeared. Sirius pushed it and the coffee table turned over and food was on it.

"Sirius, do you need me to get Madame Pomphrey and ask her to come down here?" Lily asked.

"If you would."

Lily left the portrait immediately.

"How long has he had to take the potion?" James asked concern in his voice.

"Last night was the first night he was supposed to. He would eat and eat and still be hungry, but I didn't think much of it since he's sixteen and has a large appetite. But then he started to get dizzy and feel like he was going to faint so I took him to Madame Pomphrey. We ran some tests and it turns out that if he doesn't take a potion with some vitamins and nutrients in it this happens. Harry does it hurt to open your eyes?"

Harry nodded his head. His face was as pale as ghost.

"Open your mouth."

Harry did as he was told, allowing Sirius to feed him.

James left to go to the entrance to let Madame Pomphrey in as Lily reappeared.

The nurse bustled in a second later and came over to them.

"So he didn't take the potion?"

"Apparently not. I had trusted him to take it, but he didn't, "Sirius said sighing.

She bent down on the other side of Sirius who was sitting on the couch, in order to reach Harry's arm to give him an injection. Harry was so near unconsciousness even with the few bites of food that Sirius had feed, that he hardly felt the shot.

"That will swell some and hurt quite a bit. Here are some pain pills for him if he complains too much. He should be able to open his eyes without a searing headache in about fifteen minutes."

Fifteen minutes later Harry was leaning heavily against Sirius with his head on Sirius' shoulder. He was blinking in the light as his head ache lessened. The color returned to his face and he looked around the room looking confused, but then realized what had happened and sighed. Madame Pomphrey left seeing that he was recovering fine.

"Why does my arm hurt?" Harry asked quietly.

"Madame Pomphrey had to give you an injection. She said it would swell and hurt a lot, but she gave me some pain pills for you if it gets to bad," Sirius said stroking his head gently.

"Am I in trouble?"

Sirius sighed. "No, you're not. I think you know to take the potion, besides it's hard to be upset with you when you still feel bad, and didn't do it intentionally. Sit up some so you can eat something."

The only thing he did was to move his head off Sirius' shoulder. He placed the plate of food in Harry's lap and they all kept a watchful eye on him as he ate.

"Someone's at the door again, I'll be right back," James said.

Madame Pomphrey came back in. "I'm sorry for coming again, but I forgot to give you the potion. Even though I gave him an injection he still needs to take the potion. It'll probably make him drowsy, but that's the only thing."

Sirius took the potion from her, smiled his thanks, and she left.

He gave it to Harry to drink. He took a sip of it before spitting it out.

"Arg, that's tastes horrible!" Harry exclaimed making a face.

"I can always get Madame Pomphrey to came back and give you another shot or two if you would prefer," Sirius said lightly.

Harry grimaced. He pinched his nose and quickly gulped the potion down. He immediately coughed after he had took it all and took a drink of pumpkin juice, but that only made the taste in his mouth worse. He grabbed a cup of water and gulped it down.

"Mum?" Harry said hesitantly now that the horrible taste was out of his mouth. The word sounded foreign to him.

"What, honey?"

Harry grinned slightly when she called him honey. "Can you answer some questions I have about the potion that is supposed to be able to kill Voldemort along with the killing curse that you talked about in the letter you wrote before you died?" he said quickly in one breath. He wasn't sure if she wanted to talk about it.

Lily blinked. "What? Oh, yeah, sure what do you want to?"

"Why didn't you tell me how to make in the letter? And where in heck is it, and how can I get him to drink it?"

"I didn't tell what the potion is called, or how to make it since I don't remember. I found it my third year when I was doing extra credit. It wasn't in the restricted section and I don't remember the title of the book. Its looks like a simple potion, but it's not. That's all I remember about it. Anyway, I copied the potion into my journal that I had. I kept the same journal all my seven years here and then left it under a loose floor board in the seventh year girl dormitories. It's probably still there."

"The one place I can't go. But Hermione can. Do you remember what bed you slept in so she doesn't have to look under all of them?"

"No, I don't remember, and who's Hermione?"

"One of my two best friends. Ron Weasley is the other one. I'll tell you about them another time and... well I don't know if I should tell you that."

"Tell me what?" she asked her eyes narrowing.

"Nothing," Harry said.

"Harry," she said warningly.

Harry wasn't sure why he felt like something bad would happen if he didn't.

"Just some of my school adventures. You might not think I should have done them because I almost died several times," Harry said nervously.

"So, who is this girl Brittany you mentioned about five hours ago that Greg likes?" James asked changing the subject, smiling mischievously.

"James Potter you haven't even seen him since he was a few weeks old and you're already thinking of ways to embarrass the poor kid? Don't deny that wasn't what you were doing; I know that smile," Lily said scowling at her husband. Harry grinned at the interaction between the two of them.

Well, I know now that if they hadn't died and I had grown up with them I wouldn't be the only one getting fussed at.

"Actually she is his girlfriend. Hermione and her are nothing a like. Hermione's a book worm and very studious. Brittany is completely the opposite. She's worse about not wanting to do her homework than me and Ron are. She's really shy too. She made friends with Ginny really easily, but she doesn't really have any other close friends besides Ginny and Greg. Sirius do you think anyone will wonder where we are."

"No. I told Remus I was considering taking you somewhere to try to cheer you up some more and get away from those potion books. If anyone asks he'll tell them that and they'll spread it around."

"How come this, and the secret passage ways we went through aren't on the map?" Harry asked.

"They are on the map, you just can't see them. We didn't want to give all of you secrets away. Only the ones you helped make the map, and now your mother, can see them," James said.

"That's not fair. I could've used some of them passage ways to get away from Filch," Harry said playfully scowling at his father and godfather.

"Are there more rooms like this?"

"Yes, we each have one. This is James. Peter did have one, but Remus told me it had been destroyed," Sirius said.

"I had one of the professor's destroy it for me the first year I was here, "James said.

"Can you please bring Greg here tonight? And Kirsten and Dustin as soon as possible. I want to see all my babies together again," Lily said.

"Yes, please bring him here tonight. I want to them again to. All of them," James said.

"Don't worry; we'll bring Greg here tonight. Kirsten and Dustin might be able to get here tonight. If not tonight, tomorrow. I promise," Sirius said.

"You might get to see Kirsten and her boyfriend, "Harry said wanting to see his father's reaction to that.

James' eyes narrowed. "She had a boyfriend? Some creep is dating my baby girl? Sirius, why are you letting her date him?" James asked looking at his friend indignant.

Sirius laughed. "It's not like I can stop her. She's a grown woman and she's more than capable of taking care of herself. I have talked to him and gave warnings, but really there isn't a need to with him. He's training to be an Auror, has his own place, very responsible, and would never dream of hurting any woman. His father was an alcoholic and hit his mother, and him, after that happened he vowed never to treat any of girlfriends, and eventually his wife, like that. He's only had two other girlfriends and both relationships weren't that serious. He's actually very nice."

"You're not supposed to say that! You're supposed to say he's a creep and agree with me," James said scowling,"not give Lily stuff to throw back at me when I'm complaining about her dating."

Sirius simply shrugged his shoulders, grinning.

I wonder what will happen when I have to confront an over protective father.

*~*