Redox

Sirius is the first to discover Harry and Draco's relationship. How does he figure it out?

Sirius felt the cold in his bones as he climbed the stairs of Hogwarts Castle wearily. He had been out on a mission for Dumbledore for three days - three days of cold, three days of raw meat for meals, and three days of Padfoot missing Moony. He stopped at the heavy oaken door and scrabbled his paws against it. He just hoped someone was passing through the entrance way, even though it was after students' curfew.

A moment later, he heard a key turn in the lock, and the point of a wand poke through the ensuing crack. "Lumos." The soft whisper was only picked up by Padfoot's sharpened hearing, and he recognised both voice and smell as his godson - although there was something particular about the smell. "Hello?" Harry had cautiously poked his head out the door. "Oh! Snuffles! You're back." The door was held open then, just a bit wider. "Come in out of the cold." The boy smiled. "Professor Lupin's going to be glad to see you - and so are the students. He's been a dreadful bear the past three days."

Sirius shook himself and whined, angling his nose towards the hallway that led to the kitchen. Harry looked around and then shrugged, heading off towards the kitchen, clearly expecting Sirius to follow him. Sirius shook his head and trotted off. Once they had cleared the inhabited areas, Sirius transformed. "Brr! I think I'll never be warm again."

Harry turned and smiled. "Welcome back."

"Thanks." Sirius stretched himself out. "So Moony's missed me just a little?" Sirius was fishing, and he knew it.

Harry snorted. "As if you didn't already know that, Sirius." Harry opened the door to the kitchen and was greeted enthusiastically by Dobby. Sirius still wasn't sure how - or whyÊ- Harry put up with the house-elf.

"And why are you out this late, young man?" Sirius was nothing if not curious, and protecting Harry was, after all, his job. Then another thought occured to him. "And where's your invisibility cloak, if you are going to be out after curfew?"

Harry flushed slightly. "I was just... walking. And since I'm a prefect now, and after what happened at the Burrow last summer, no one bothers me when I'm out late. So I don't worry about the cloak most nights."

Sirius narrowed his eyes suspiciously. He had, after all, smelled someone else on Harry when he entered, but his godson evidently wasn't saying a word. Sirius forced an understanding smile onto his face. "Oh, of course. Still, we should probably both get to bed."

"You're right. G'night, Sirius."

"Good night, Harry." Sirius quickly transformed to Padfoot, smelling Harry once more, trying to memorise the foreign scent. Then Harry had slipped off, and Sirius headed towards his mate, the problem of Harry's odd scent running over and over in his mind -Êuntil he smelled Remus, and all thoughts of Harry were forgotten for the evening.

The next morning, however, Sirius remembered the smell on Harry, and the way that the boy had evaded his questions about what he had been doing out after curfew, and why he didn't have the invisibility cloak. Was it all connected? He went down to breakfast, determined to follow Harry that day, to find the owner of that foreign smell. He had just entered the hall when it hit him. The scent was unmistakeably male. How could he have missed it? And Harry didn't know about the nature of his and Remus's relationship, so of course he wouldn't want to mention it. Well. Sirius decided he would definitely have to do some investigating. He trotted over to the Gryffindor table and ensconced himself between Harry and Ron. The faint otherness was still there, but Sirius confirmed that it wasn't Ron.

"Oh, hey, Snuffles," Ron said. "I didn't know you were back. Harry, look, Snuffles is back!"

"Snuffles! Hey, boy!" Harry was playacting, Sirius thought, inwardly frowning. So even his best friend didn't know that he left at night. Interesting. The dog that was Padfoot let his tongue loll out in a doggy grin. Padfoot was on the prowl.

Sirius roamed the length of the Gryffindor table as his godson ate, even though he was quite sure that the presence of Harry in the entranceway after hours bespoke that his paramour was not in Gryffindor. By the end of breakfast, a scent census of the Gryffindor males had confirmed this notion firmly in Sirius' head. He stopped to think. Ravenclaw, then, or Hufflepuff? He whined curiously at Harry.

"We've got Herbology now, Snuffles, you know that," Harry responded to the implied question. Padfoot perked up his ears and followed the sixth year Gryffindors down to the greenhouses. Herbology was with the sixth year Hufflepuffs; he could return to Moony after that and check out the classes of Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws that filled his mate's mornings on Tuesdays.

By the time the class was halfway over, however, Sirius was restless. He had committed to spending an hour when it barely took him fifteen minutes to discreetly sniff all of the Hufflepuff boys. Still no match, and he wondered if his godson was getting suspicious. He whined quietly and lay down at Harry's feet, deciding to take a small nap until he could leave the greenhouse and return to his mate.

By lunchtime, Sirius was extremely frustrated. He had investigated about a third of Hufflepuff and a fourth of Ravenclaw, and he was still no closer to his goal. He roamed the dining hall restlessly, trying to catch a whiff of the scent that still clung slightly to his godson. At the end of the lunch period, it was safe to say that Padfoot was starving, Sirius was short-tempered, and it definitely wasn't a Hufflepuff or a Gryffindor. Extremely frustrated, Sirius headed for the kitchens before taking an afternoon nap.

Sirius managed to sleep through dinner, which made him quite angry at himself, and then the evening was pleasantly taken up by a certain Defence Agaisnt the Dark Arts professor. He considered telling Moony about his quest, but decided that it truly wasn't his secret to tell. He'd ask Harry later. Once he had figured out the source of the smell.

Sirius and Remus overslept the next morning, which meant that Sirius didn't even lay eyes on Harry until lunch time. When he approached, he was nearly overwhelmed with the scent of other. It was like Harry had just been with whomever this boy was; then, when he looked closer, Sirius saw the telling swollen lips, flushed cheeks, and glittering eyes of someone who had been thoroughly snogged. Sirius berated himself soundly for not being there to capture the moment and solve the mystery. Still, it provided him with a great deal more scent, and he was able to peruse much of the rest of the Ravenclaw table before lunch drew to a close. He thought briefly, then decided to follow Harry to his afternoon classes. Maybe he would meet up with this mystery boy yet again.

Padfoot whined unhappily, however, when he realised that they were descending into the dungeons. The last thing he wanted to do was listen to Snape sneering disgustedly at his godson, and it was highly unlikely he would find the source of the scent in a classroom full of Slytherins.

Except.... Padfoot pulled up sharply, and then sniffed deeply at Harry once more. Yes, it was the same scent. He could smell it wafting through the stale air of the dungeon classroom. He was just getting up to follow the smell when Snape swept in, sending him a withering glare. Sirius settled down unhappily. He would find the source of the smell, the person Harry was seeing, just as soon as the class was over.

"Get out, now." Severus Snape's voice woke Sirius from his half-asleep daze. He perked up his nose and began to follow the source of the scent, right to the feet of someone.

"Potter! Tell your dog to - agh! What's he doing?"

Sirius had sensed immediately that while this was the right person, the smell that he had caught wind of two nights before was slightly different. Was it perhaps...? He stuck his nose right up to Draco Malfoy's crotch.

"Snuffles!" Harry's voice cut across his consciousness, following the blond boy's exclamation. "Behave yourself!" Then he was aware of a hand delivering a sharp blow to his nose. Harry had never hit him! "I'm sorry about that, Malfoy," he said in a low, hard voice. "And he's not my dog; he's Lupin's. He feels the need to stick his nose in my business occasionally though -Êor into things that don't belong to him. I'll take him back to Professor Lupin now."

Padfoot looked up warily at his godson, who was radiating fury. The other boy - Draco Malfoy? - smelled of love, deceit, and... humilation? His eyes widened as Harry conjured a large collar and short leash, which he fastened around the neck of the large black dog. Padfoot whined.

"It's nothing you don't deserve," Harry said harshly, and Padfoot looked around. Ron and Hermione had been long gone before he had found the source of the scent. No one was in the hall now except for Harry and Draco Malfoy. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Harry mouth something, and he definitely saw the answering nod from the other boy. Then he was being propelled down the hallway, thanks to the very tight grip Harry had on that dratted leash. Harry didn't say a word until they reached Remus's office, which was currently empty.

Harry released the collar and then turned on his godfather, eyes blazing. Padfoot shrank back. Why was Harry so inflamed...? Then it hit him. He transformed back into Sirius and cowered into the couch. "I... I'm sssorry, Harry."

"Sorry! And I suppose that's supposed to make it all better! First you can't trust me, and then you bloody well try to give my boyfriend a blow job in front of me!"

"No!" Sirius was horrified. "I wasn't, I swear, I was just sniffing to see..."

"To see if I'd been having sex two nights ago," Harry finished his sentence, voice harder still.

"Well, yes. And Harry... a MALFOY?" Sirius was livid as the reality of what he had discovered sank in. "His father's a Death Eater! He's probably either already a Death Eater or next in line to be initiated. How can you be so bloody stupid?"

"SHUT UP!" Harry bellowed. "You don't know him, alright? And god knows that people aren't always carbon copies of their father!" Harry was pacing the room angrily, and Sirius could smell the anger that was almost palatable. "You... you... you just fucking stuck your nose up my boyfriend's ass!"

"No I didn't!" Sirius protested weakly. "I was in front of him," he finished lamely, and from the dark look on his godson's face, that hadn't been the right thing to say.

"Not to mention," Harry continued, "that's really none of your business who I'm seeing unless I decide to tell you. It's even less of your business about the extent of our relationship."

"But..." Sirius protested. "You're my godson. Someone has to, I don't know, keep an eye on you."

"Sirius," Harry cut in, and now he sounded weary, and resigned. "I'm sixteen years old. I've been keeping an eye on myself for the past sixteen years. Isn't it a little late?"

Sirius winced. That was harsh. True, he hadn't been able to be there for Harry, but it wasn't his choice, and for Harry to throw it back in his face like that... He sighed. Harry must be very very angry - as if the sight and smell of him hadn't been clues enough

"Okay, perhaps, but, still, Harry - a Malfoy? He's a Slytherin, for Merlin's sake! Evil! Hates Muggle-borns! A supporter of Voldemort!"

Harry's face was red now, and Sirius squeaked involuntarily. Perhaps he had gone to far. "Draco. Is. Not. Evil." The words were ground out. "Frankly, I would have though I would have gotten more comments on his gender by now."

Sirius flushed. "Um, well... Harry... I should have told you before, but, um, that is, well, Remus and I..."

Harry stared. "You mean," he said, voice carefully controlled, "that my godfather, and my favorite professor, are also gay, and never found it important to tell me? That I have been feeling like no oneelse was gay, but you two were right under my nose?" He snorted and shook his head. "God, Sirius, you are such a fuck up."

Sirius cringed. Harry was right. He had screwed up big time. "Er, well... maybe you and... and Malfoy could, um, talk with me tonight -"

"His name is Draco," Harry interrupted wearily. "It's not that hard to say, I promise. Look. I can't guarantee anything, but if we decide to talk to you, we'll be in the Transfiguration classroom at 10." Sirius nodded carefully as Harry stood. "Good-bye, Sirius."

After the door had closed behind Harry, Sirius stared at it for several moments. Harry was gay... Harry was seeing a Malfoy... Harry had said... oh, Harry had been angry, so angry... Sirius slipped back into dog form and howled.