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Regulus loved to complain about how Sirius spoiled his son. He was right. But that was his job, he was the fun uncle, the one that never said no, that giggled and promised to keep secrets, that snuck him sweets and presents after his parents already said no. And Harry adored him. The two were practically inseperable, Padfoot and his little troublmaker, the automatic suspects of anything and everything.
The best part, according to Sirius anyways, was that Harry told him everything. When he was really little Sirius used his knowledge for evil, "mate, next time you go fucking my brother when the kid's around, keep him quiet", but when he got a bit older they started talking about everyday things. How a friend that Harry had met at the playground told him that his glasses looked silly. Why sometimes people were mean because he had two dads. What to do when he'd tried to cut his own hair and it became more of a disaster than it already was. When he snuck out at night and felt guilty about it even though he hadn't even left the street, which Sirius thought was silly but talked him though anyways.
That was his favorite part of this whole uncle/godfather thing. Knowing that no matter what it was, Harry would tell him first.
Seeing Harry off to Hogwarts had been one of the hardest days of his life, Remus kept telling him that he'd be back for the holidays and that it'd be okay but he still cried harder than James. But even being at Hogwarts couldn't stop him, Harry sent letters at least twice a week and Sirius treasured all of them. Regulus sulked for a whole week after learning that Sirius got more letters than he did from his own kid, something Sirius and their friends all found wildly hilarious.
Harry came back from holidays as promised and by time he went back everyone but Sirius was sick of their shenanigans. When he went back to school he kept sending letters, even if sometimes it was just a story of what one of his friends or teachers did.
Holidays always passed too fast, school years felt too long, and before Sirius realized it, Harry was in his third year. He received a personal scolding from McGonagall after Harry visited Hogsmeade for the first time and promptly spent way too much on prank supplies so he and his friends could cause chaos. Apparently it had his handwriting all over it, none of his excuses spared him from Regulus's or Minerva's scoldings.
Harry sent him a letter saying that he'd gotten two weeks detention a few days after that, which he thought was entirely unfair, is wasn't like anyone payed attention in History of Magic anyways. Sirius sent a box of sweets to console him, but didn't get a response until a full week had gone by. Remus poked fun every time he complained he hadn't gotten a letter but Sirius just ignored him. This was the longest he'd ever gone without talking to his godson.
The letter after that was short, saying that detention had eaten up a lot of his free time. Sirius asked about it but he just brushed it off. Lines apparently, supervised by some new teacher. Harry had talked about him before and said he seemed cool, lines was outright cruelty though.
Letters were sporadic after that, but always accompanied with apologies for not writing as often. Sirius just told him not to worry, to focus on school and they'd catch up during holidays. With how many letters Minnie was sending Regulus and James about him getting in trouble he doubted he was being entirely truthful about what was taking his time. Pranking was a valiant cause however and it was important to tend to chaos.
When Harry returned for the holidays he seemed tired so they didn't bother everyone as much with their mayhem, just stayed in the house and talked or played games. He seemed a bit quieter than normal but when Sirius brought it up Remus just reminded him that Harry was getting older, he was bound to act a bit funny.
Something still didn't quite sit right but he assumed Remus was right.
When Harry went back to school again the letters all but stopped. Regulus and James only got four the entire semester and Sirius didn't even get twice that. Their friends seemed amused but something felt wrong to Sirius. He asked Regulus if it felt right but he just brushed him off. Still, he could see a bit of uneasiness in his eyes. Yes, Harry was getting older but this just felt odd.
When he got back for the summer he was outright annoyed with seemingly everyone, shutting himself in his room most of the time. For nearly two weeks Harry didn't want to talk to him, then abruptly knocked on his door one afternoon. He opened the door and just blinked at him. "How'd you get here?"
"Knight bus."
"Do your parents know your here?"
"Not unless you plan on telling them." After a moment Sirius stepped aside to let him in. "Where's Remus?"
"Visiting Hope. Just us in the house." Harry took off his shoes and nodded a little, still not losing that little half scowl resting on his face. "Why'd you come over?"
"Can you bleach my hair?"
"What?"
"Not all of it," He clarified quickly. "Just like streaks." When Sirius still looked at him blankly he winced. "Like Barty? But just white and less poorly done?"
Sirius laughed. "I'm telling him you said that. Sure kid, I think I've still got some bleach in the guest bathroom. You want to grab a snack real quick and I'll find it?" He nodded and Sirius went down the hall while he raided the kitchen.
He'd just found the bleach when Harry came in with a bowl of strawberries and a handful of chocolate he'd stolen from the pantry. "Oh we're being fancy today I see." Grinning, he stole a strawberry, then patted the lid of the toilet. "Have a seat, Salon De Sirius is open."
"Never call yourself that again." Still, he settled on the lid, so Sirius just grinned.
"If you say so." He worked in relative silence, sectioning hair and clipping little bits out of the way, occasionly asking for Harry's opinion. The quiet felt thick, like there was something important that hadn't been acknowledged yet. But he'd let him talk in his own time.
Sirius got most of the sections bleached before Harry spoke up, voice soft. "Uncle Padfoot?" He froze, it'd been awhile since he was Uncle Padfoot, he was Sirius nowadays.
"Yeah Bambi?" He expected a face from the name. He didn't get one.
"If a teacher were... doing things they shouldn't be-" His voice died and he just stared at the mirror where Sirius's hands had frozen.
After a moment Sirius took a deep breath. "What kind of things?" Harry hesitated.
"Inappropriate things. Like with students." Sirius's chest did something painful and he set the bleach aside, murmuring a spell to keep the bleach on his hair intact. Only then did he move to crouch in front of Harry who was watching him with wide eyes.
"Harry, I need you to be honest with me, is one of your teachers being inappropriate with the students?" He nodded a little. "Who?"
"The one-" He faltered and Sirius grabbed the bowl from him, setting it aside as well to hold his hands. "The new one I wrote you about."
The one- oh.
"The one you've been having detention with a lot?" Harry nodded again and he felt sick. "Oh Harry-" He sniffled and stared at the floor.
"Harry," He just shook his head like he didn't want to look up at him. "Bambi, can you look at me please?" He did, lower lip trembling a little. "Thank you. Can you tell me what exactly goes on with your teacher?" He shook his head. "Can I ask questions and you tell me yes or no?" slowly, he nodded, like he wasn't pleased with that either.
"Does he touch you?" A nod. "Maybe in places he shouldn't?" Another nod. "Has he ever made you take your clothes off?" He nodded again, trying to look away, face red. Sirius squeezed his hand.
"Hey, it's alright, you've done nothing wrong, okay? You don't need to be embarrassed." He waited until Harry looked back to continue his questions. "Is that what detentions are?"
"Yeah." His voice cracked halfway through and he winced.
"All of them?"
"Most of the time. Sometimes he's busy, lets me go. Most of the time-" He took a breath. "Most of the time he does things though."
"Can you tell me what kind of things?" Harry bit his lip, looking nauseous. After a moment Sirius offered "It's okay if you can't."
"Sometimes... sometimes he's just happy to touch. If I... He likes when I get bad marks I think, he gets to... he gets to punish me." It was quiet for long enough Sirius almost prompted him again but he just sniffled a little and continued. "He likes spanking. Every point I miss. And... well he fucks me a lot. He likes it."
His gaze had drifted somewhere along the wall and Sirius just studied his expression. He recognized it, knew those eyes. Something hurt inside far beyond any physical injury. Something had broken in him, something that took a very long time to fix.
"I'm so sorry." Harry looked back to him and Sirius reached up to wipe tears off his cheeks. "Oh Bambi, I'm so, so sorry." He started really crying then and Sirius let him fall forward into his shoulder.
"It's okay now, I've got you. You'll be alright." They stayed there for what felt like forever but could only have been a few minutes. He kept murmuring little reasurances, telling Harry that he'd be safe now, that he'd been so brave, that it was over. He was entirely sure how much of it Harry believed but it did seem to calm him.
Once his breathing bacame even again, Sirius pulled away a bit. "I have to go get Reg and Prongs now Harry, is that okay?"
"I don't want-"
"They have to know Bambi, you're their kid." He seemed ready to start crying again. "I promise, it'll be alright. No one's going to be upset, no one's going to blame you. If you want, I can even do all the talking, but they have to know." After a long moment, he nodded.
"Okay."
"Do you wanna go sit on the couch and I can apparate over and get them?" A nod. Sirius gave him a last hug before heading out on legs shakier than he wanted them to be.
Getting Regulus and James over was easy once they knew that's where their missing kid was. Explaing what was going on while said kid did his best to hide in his side was considerably harder. James just sat there, stunned, while Regulus got to his feet and started shouting in rapid fire French that even Sirius had trouble keeping up with.
Harry started crying and as soon as Regulus saw Sirius trying to cut him off, he went silent. Hearing the little sniffling he immediately crouched in front of Harry. "Harry, no Harry, it's okay. I'm so sorry, I'm not mad at you." After a little bit of coaxing he let go of Sirius and allowed Regulus to pull him into a hug. James joined them, settling next to Harry to rub his back.
"Hey Bambi," He glanced up at Sirius. "I'm going to leave for a little bit, how about I come over before dinner and I finish you hair?"
"His hair-" Pulling back a little, Regulus caught a glimpse of the bleached bits. "I- okay. We'll talk about that later." When Regulus wasn't looking he stuck his tounge out at him, earning a little smile from Harry.
Even with that whole mess, Sirius still thought his favorite bit about his godson and him being close was that he told him everything. Was being the safe person he knew he could tell. Because fuck, getting Minerva to let him on school grounds to talk and then punching that professor straight in the jaw was satisfying. So was making Regulus watch as he bleached his kid's hair because he absolutely could not say no to his kid now.