Truth Imprisoned

The car was a Jaguar in a model even the Dursleys wouldn\'t be able to disapprove of, though with a few additions they undoubtedly would. The man who stepped out of it, with neatly trimmed hair and smart suit, had the sort of appearance even Aunt Petunia wouldn\'t be able to sneer at.

Harry crept out of his bedroom onto the landing, after a quick check that all his things were ready, feeling that this was the sort of show he couldn\'t possibly miss. He had a good view of the front door and could hear the murmuring of conversation down in the lounge come to a halt as the doorbell sounded. He pulled back slightly so that he wouldn\'t be noticed, but kept his eyes fixed on the door, grinning like a madman. He\'d been waiting for this for a week.

\"Can I help you?\" Aunt Petunia asked, feigning politeness. Uncle Vernon was a step behind her, looking at the man on the doorstep with mild confusion.

\"You are Vernon and Petunia Durlsey?\" the man asked.

\"Yes that\'s right,\" Vernon said.

\"I\'m Sirius Black.\" Petunia gave a small shriek. Clearly she hadn\'t even associated this man with the mass murderer Harry claimed as a godfather. Harry couldn\'t blame her, since Sirius now looked very little like the pale, desperate figure that had been shown on the news.

\"What do you want?\" Vernon demanded with a tremor in his voice, stepping betweiriuirius and Petunia.

\"I\'m here to speak to you about Harry.\" Sirius\' expression and tone were completely calm. It almost appeared that he didn\'t notice the terrified behaviour of the couple in front of him. Almost. Harry knew him well enough to see that Sirius was highly amused by the display. Clearly he, like Harry, thought this was suitable punishment for the fear Harry had lived in before he knew what he was.

\"What about him?\" Vernon asked.

\"I don\'t like the way you\'ve been treating him,\" Sirius said, taking a step forward, \"and so. . .\" There was a very long pause. Petunia looked about to faint. From the top of the stairs Harry was desperately trying not to laugh at their reactions.

\"And so,\" Sirius finished, \"I\'ve come to take him away from you. Everything ready?\" He switched his gaze instantaneously to Harry.

\"Of course,\" Harry replied cheerfully. He disappeared into his bedroom before his aunt and uncle could realise he\'d been there the whole time and spot that this was a joke to him.

It only took him two trips to get everything he owned downstairs, and this included the muggle clothing that had once belonged to Dudley and school books he hadn\'t used since the first year.

\"That\'s it?\" Sirius growled. He knew perfectly well that Harry didn\'t own much, but was using the excuse to draw out the joke. \"That\'s all these. . . these muggles have given you?\"

\"Actually\'s \'s almost all old school stuff,\" Harry replied. He said this as an accepted fact, struggling to keep his face straight as Sirius glowered at Petunia and Vernon.

\"You mean that they\'ve given you nothing?\" Sirius was looking so menacing that even Harry was almost convinced. Aunt Petunia\'s face was almost matching the wall, a respectable, boring shade of cream.

\"They\'ve given me shelter and a roof over my head. Well, stairs over my head at least.\"

\"You made him sleep under the stairs?\" If Sirius\' tone got any deeper it would drop below the range of human hearing. Uncle Vernon tried to say something, but it came out as more of a whimper.

\"Sirius, please,\" Harry said, \"you\'ve only just got over the mess caused by the murder of all those other people and that was sixteen years ago. You don\'t want to end up in trouble again so soon.\"

There was a long pause. From the looks of things, it appeared Harry\'s aunt and uncle had forgotten how to breathe. They were looking at Sirius with expressions suggesting that prayers were being said to every deity ever invented.

\"Alright,\" Sirius said at last, \"It is a bit soon to risk killing people.\" The way he said it suggested that he might be willing to wait a year or two to extract vengeance. Harry suspected that his aunt and uncle would be looking over their shoulders for a very long time to come.

Sirius turned to Harry, his expression suddenly bright and cheerful. \"Well, are you ready to go?\"

The car was round the corner before the two of them burst into simultaneous hysterics. It was a long while before Sirius could calm his breathing down enough to gasp:

\"They looked as though I was about to turn them into toads!\"

\"That\'s probably what they thought,\" Harry responded, \"Better yet: ants. And then setting a little kid with a magnifying glass on them.\"

\"Sounds like fun.\"

The journey, according to any muggle map, should have taken several hours, but it seemed that Sirius\' new car had some useful tricks in its mechanics. It seemed to Harry that one moment they were coming up to a traffic jam on the motorway when suddenly they were passed it, a mile or so further on than they had been a second before.

They were on their way to the house that Sirius had just bought for them. Harry had insisted on paying half of the price himself. Though, as they turned into the drive, Harry suspected Sirius had been slightly less than honest about asking for Harry\'s half of the money.

As Harry stepped out of the car, looking at his new home, several words sprang instantly to mind. The first one was \'huge,\' followed shortly by \'enormous\' and chased by \'gigantic.\' The house was more like a mansion. The long driveway, lined with trees, led to a wide turning circle decorated with a small pond and fountain. Stone steps led up to a pair of large double doors, framed with pillars. On the balcony above the pillars two stone dragons were reared on their hind legs. Or rather, one was reared, the other appeared to have dozed off and took a few moments to realise what was expected and join its partner in an impressive stance.

The house itself was three stories high, with small windows in the roof suggesting that the attic might be habitable as well. Harry imagined that several families could live happily in the house without ever meeting each other. It seemed completely unnecessary for two of them.

\"We\'ll take your things up to your room,\" Sirius said, \"and then I\'ll give you the tour.\" Harry nodded and picked up his suitcase and firebolt. Sirius carried the other suitcase and Hedwig\'s cage. Harry turned at the sound of wheels on gravel and saw the jaguar driving itself off.

\"Don\'t worry,\" Sirius said, \"it\'s just putting itself in gar garage.\"

They walked up the stairs and into a large hall of marble and gold. Everything gleamed in the light streaming through the windows and the glittering candlelight of the chandelier above their heads. Two staircases, one on either side, curved up the sides of the hall and met in an elegant landing.

\"Wow!\" Harry managed. Sirius led the way upstaand and along a short corridor. He opened a door into a room that would have fitted both his and Dudley\'s bedrooms back at Privet Drive and still had room to spare. It was decorated with Gryffindor red and gold, furnished with a huge, four-poster bed, tables, chairs, wardrobe and chest of drawers. There were pictures on either side of the bed. Harry recognised both of them instantly. One was of himself, Ron and Hermione at their graduation. The other was of his parent\'s wedding, with Sirius standing, laughing beside the happy couple.

\"If you don\'t like the decorations, we can always change them,\" Sirius said. He was shifting nervously and couldn\'t have been more obvious if he\'d been shouting, \"Approve!\" at the top of his voice.

\"I think it\'s brilliant,\" Harry said. Two doors led off the main bedroom. One opened into a study, with fully stocked bookshelves. The other revealed what was either a large bath or a small swimming pool.

\"Do you want dinner first, or the tour?\"

\"I think the grand tour first.\"

Sirius began showing Harry round the enormous house. There were spare bedrooms to sleep any number of guests, a library that would have Hermione sick with envy, a swimming pool complete with artificial waterfall, a ballroom about the same size as the great hall at Hogwarts, an observatory up in the attic, a cavernous kitchen complete with a couple of busy house elves.

\"Harry Potter, sir!\" Harry grinned as a familiar elf ran up to great him.

\"Hello, Dobby,\" Harry said.

\"I asked Dumbledore if he\'d be willing to sell on some house elves to help us get started,\" Sirius said, \"and Dobby here was quick to volunteer.\"

\"Dobby is glad to be of service,\" Dobby squeaked, \"Dobby is always happy to serve Harry Potter.\" Harry was never quite sure how to react to Dobby\'s almost worsof hof him, but was sure that the elf would be happy here.

Sirius then continued the tour, taking in some storage cellars, a garage that could probably fit a good collectio car cars, a company and private lounge, a dining room, a couple of spare bathrooms, a billiard room which was odd since neither of them played, and various rooms neither of them was quite sure what to do with. As Sirius was taking Harry towards one of several side doors to show him the garden, Harry noticed a door they hadn\'t been through.

\"What\'s in that room?\" he asked. He figured Sirius had just forgotten about it, hardly surprising given the size of the building. Instead of opening the door, Sirius began to blush slightly and failed to meet Harry\'s eye.

\"I think I\'ll. . . um. . . explain about that room later.\" He hurried on past as such a pace that Harry had to run a couple of steps to catch up to him again. He was intrigued, but decided he\'d be able to pester Sirius about it later.

They stepped out into the sunlight. A wide lawn spread out in front of them, with three high hoops at one end. Surrounding the lawn were enough tall trees to mean there wasn\'t the slightest chance of anyone accidentally seeing him practising his quiddich.

\"Thank you,\" Harry grinned at Sirius.

\"I thought you\'d like it.\"

The gardens were as expansive and unnecessarily large as the house had been. A small lake had a tiny island at its heart and a boathouse sat at the edge. A patch of trees held a tree house with a ladder that would lower itself when the correct password was spoken. There were flowerbeds and hidden statues, winding paths and walled kitchen gardens, patches of wilderness and unexpected outhouses. They came across a gardener, a specialised house elf, pruning rare plants in a low greenhouse.
Harry had the feeling he could wander lost in the grounds for days without managing to find his way back to the house. Sirius was watching Harry carefully, trying to be certain that the delight Harry was showing was genuine and not put on for his benefit. Harry was certain that if he made even the slightest hint of not being happy, Sirius would sell up the place in seconds and be willing to move anyway Harry suggested.

\"I think it\'s amazing,\" Harry said honestly, \"I think it\'s far bigger than we could ever need. But it\'s amazing.\" He gave Sirius a sideways glance. \"I also think that the amount you asked for was rather an underestimation.\"

\"It was about half,\" Sirius said, failing completely to look Harry in the eye.

\"Half of what? The price of one room?\"

Sirius mumbled something, eyes firmly fixed on the path.

\"Didn\'t quite catch that,\" Harry said.

\"It was about half of what wasn\'t covered by the Ministry\'s compensation. And what I got from selling my mother\'s house.\" Harry stopped short. Sirius continued on a couple of paces before realising Harry wasn\'t walking any more. He turned round, but was still looking anywhere but at Harry. Harry was unable to say anything for a short while, just staring open mouthed at his godfather.

\"The Ministry gave you ten thousand galleons!\" Sirius didn\'t say anything. Harry wasn\'t sure of the exact conversion rate, but he guessed that one galleon was about a hundred pounds. \"How much did this place cost, Sirius?\"

\"What does it matter, really?\" Sirius asked, \"After all, my money\'s been gaining interest in Gringott\'s for sixteen years without me being able to spent a knut. And we both like the house.\"

\"Sirius.\" If anything, Harry\'s tone was more menacing than Sirius\' had been when talking to the Dursleys.

\"Twenty five thousand galleons,\" Sirius muttered.

\"That\'s it!\" Harry declared, \"I\'m never letting you go shopping alone again!\"

\"It wasn\'t as though we didn\'t have the mo\" S\" Sirius protested, \"after all, I inherited a huge amount from my mother and someone paid quite a lot for Grimmauld Place. Can\'t imagine why, but someone wanted it. Then there was the compensation for being sent to Askaban wrongly. And I got quite a bit when Dumbledore split the Order\'s funds when Voldemort was killed. And will you please stop glaring at me like that.\"

Sirius was actually sounding apologetic. No wonder he\'d been so desperate for Harry to like the house. He was right that they had a lot of money between them, especially sincth tth the Potter and the Black families were old, respected and rich. Dumbledore had apparently gathered a good deal of money for the Order of the Phoenix in case of emergencies and now, since the Order was officially disbanded, the money was split equally between its members. The Weasleys had done exceptionally well out of the arrangement, since all of the their family except for Percy were involved.

\"Have you never heard of investments?\" Harry asked, wondering if he was somehow channelling Hermione\'s spirit.

\"Of course,\" Sirius answered, \"why do you think my money\'s been building up so well while I was in Askaban? Your grandparents made me a loan when I left my parents\' house and, mainly with their help, I made a few good investments and now I have a decent packet in my vaults. So you could say I\'m just paying back the loan with interest by not letting you pay your half on the house.\"

Harry stared at him for a few moments. He was amused, touched and only slightly annoyed. He felt that Sirius should have at least asked first before spending a fairly substantial fortune.

\"I don\'t care what your excuses are,\" Harry said sternly, \"you\'re grounded.\"

\"You\'re grounding me?\" Harry could tell Sirius was trying not to laugh.

\"Well, someone\'s got to be the responsible one in this family. You\'re not to leave our new property until I can find my way round without a map.\"

\"That\'s it?\"

\"Don\'t think you\'re getting off lightly,\" Harry scolded, \"this place is as confusing as Hogwarts. It might tme ame a while.\"

A short while later they were enjoying their dinner in the dining room. They were at one end of the long, mahogany table. Harry looked down the room at all the empty places.

\"We ought to have a house warming party,\" he said.

\"I think that\'s a good idea,\" grinned Sirius, \"We\'ll invite all the members of the Order.\"

\"Except Snape.\"

\"Except Snape,\" Sirius agreed.

\"And I\'m not sure about Mundungus.\"

\"He\'s a decent guy.\"

\"He\'s a crook!\"

\"Well, apart from that.\"

\"We\'ve definitely got to invite all the Weasleys,\" Harry said, \"and Hermione, naturally.\"

\"Naturally.\" They discussed possible guests for a few more minutes. That conversation dried up, the room fell silent. Sirius was staring hard at the table and Harry knew he was about to say something. He waited.

\"Since we\'re living together now,\" Sirius said, \"there\'s something I ought to tell you.\" There was a long pause. Harry continued waiting. \"I\'m gay.\"

\"Fair enough,\" Harry took another mouthful. He caught the slightly surprised expression on Sirius\' face. \"What?\" he asked, \"You expected me to disown you?\"

\"You don\'t have a problem with it then?\" Sirius asked, slightly nervously.

\"I\'d be a bit stuck if I had a problem with gay people,\" Harry commented.

\"What do you mean? You\'re...\"

\"Gay. Actually, I\'m not quite sure. I liked Cho Chang. But she was the only girl I ever really looked at. Usually, it\'s guys.\" Sirius gave a small smile, but he still looked nervous.

\"It\'s not just that. That room I didn\'t take you in? That\'s my. . . playroom.\"

\"Playroom?\"

\"Yeah,\" Sirius was clutching convulsively at the tablecloth. \"I\'m kinda into. . . bondage. . . stuff like that. Only with people I know I can trust, and it\'s been a long time since. . . but still.\"

\"Don\'t worry about it,\" Harry said.

\"I just didn\'t want you to get the wrong idea if you heard anything. I put up silencing charms usually, but these things can be forgotten in the heat of the moment.\"

\"You sound like you\'re speaking from experience,\" Harry commented.

\"Yeah,\" Sirius\' cheeks were slightly pinker than usual, \"that was the last time we ever did anything in the dormitory.\"

\"Dormitory?\" Harry almost spat out the piece of meat he was chewing in the shock. \"At Hogwarts? It wasn\'t my dad, was it?\" Harry didn\'t want to think about things like that at the dinner table.

\"No, no,\" Sirius said quickly, \"Your dad was too busy daydreaming about Lily to even think about looking at guys. No. It was me and Moony.\"

That admission came as Harry was swallowing. When he finally managed to stop choking, he croaked out a surprised, \"Remus?\"

\"It was never anything serious when we were together,\" Sirius said, \"Just two kids experimenting. It was basically just friendship with a lot of great sex.\"

\"Could we change the subject. Please!\" There were some images Harry didn\'t want in his mind when he was eating. He wasn\'t sure whether he\'d find them disgusting or appealing and, if he was honest with himself, he wasn\'t sure which way would be the more disturbing.

***

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