Harry Potter: A Different Sirius

A week and a half later Beth sat sipping coffee and reflecting on how her vacation was turning out so different than she expected. Breakfast had become a bit of a ritual. She would come back from a morning walk on the beach and she, Harry, and Sirius would breakfast together on the terrace.

Harry amused her the most. He and Sirius would pour over the financial pages of the newspaper and discuss the ramifications of this merger or that contract. What astounded her was that the eight year old seemed to genuinely understand everything he read and could discuss it intelligently.

She laughed out loud when she learned that until the end of July Sirius had been doing security work. Here she was having deliberately ditched her security guards and the itinerary that ruled her life at home to come half the world away, and what kind of man was she attracted to, a person who worked security or at least used to. But Sirius was a lot more than a security guard.

He obviously understood the financial world and had managed to teach it to an eight year old. She had no doubts he had taught Harry, not someone else.

Back on that first day after breakfast the two had gone to their suite to sleep but had insisted she join them for a hike to see a waterfall that afternoon. After the hike Harry had tried to invite her for a trip to the beach and dinner but Sirius had stopped him saying she probably had plans of her own. Instead she had felt lonely as she had dinner that night and went back to her solitary room.

So the next morning when she returned from her beach walk and saw the two of them sparing on the beach she made a point to greet them, Harry again asked her to join in their post lunch plans of a kayaking trip. She agreed. When they got the kayaks Harry declared she should share a kayak with Sirius so she could help him.

Sirius looked fit to be tied. Once they were on the water she was surprised to see Harry was quite comfortable maneuvering his small kayak alone. He literally was paddling circles around them. She asked Sirius "Is he always this energetic?"

"Usually."

"He told me you're his godfather, what happened to his parents?"

"They were murdered when he was fifteen months old. I've cared for him since then."

"Harsh. Still he's lucky you were willing to take over you're like what twenty six?"

"Twenty-eight and he's my family. I'm the lucky one, he's what kept me from losing my mind that night. I don't know what I'll do if..."

In that moment Beth's gift of empathy made her aware of a combination of deeply felt fear and grief. She looked to make sure Harry wasn't close. "What did you tell him that upset him?"

Sirius was quiet for a moment as if considering before speaking "Harry has a condition that has lifelong consequences, and there's a treatment for it but it involves stopping his heart."

"Oh my god he seems so healthy, should he.."

"He's fine he's had the condition for a long time, and honestly the exercise is good for him mentally and physically."

"When?"

"Not sure, not before his next birthday. Beth, I appreciate you being willing to change your plans and come with us, but please don't feel obligated just because Harry asks."

"Do you want me to tell him no?"

"I want you to tell him whatever you want to tell him, If that's yes, great; if that's no, that's okay too."

"Sirius, I have a high stress job with the US State Department. I've worked there since I graduated college with my master's at twenty two. I've had the occasional break but no true vacations in the last ten... no sixteen years. I was ordered to take a vacation; they even went so far as to give me an itinerary. I decided if I was going to go on vacation; I was really going on vacation. I ditched my security detail, I ditched their itinerary."

"I bought a plane ticket to Palau and climbed on a plane when I got here I called around to find a place to stay and I bought myself a pilots case and all the clothes I'm going to have until I go home. I'm probably blowing half my savings on this vacation, but I'm okay with that. All that said, as I sat at dinner last night I realized something I don't really like being alone. I'm here for a month by myself. If you and Harry want me, I will be overjoyed to spend my time with you and if I need alone time I'll politely tell you."

"I...I just didn't want you to feel like you have to spend time with us because of Harry. He will shamelessly plot to have you with us most of the time. He likes you, probably because you treat him like a person not a kid."

"Well I like him too. He's not your typical eight year old."

Sirius smiled at Beth across the breakfast table. "You're laughing. Why?"

"You did security work?'

"I used to work as a police and security forces liaison officer in Indonesia. I also trained personnel, and once in a while I pulled a protective duty assignment. Back at the end of July while on a protection detail, my assignment got attacked. It was fairly large scale, we lost two people. I wound up in the hospital for five weeks, three and a half of which I was in a coma. The only good that came out of it was my co-workers managed to get the core group and the ringleaders behind the attack and several other attacks and my assignment survived the attack with minor injuries."

"What Sirius is leaving out is he has some permanent issues on his mobility because of it. But I'm not complaining, they told me at the hospital for the first three days they thought he would die in the next few hours which was a hell of a birthday present. I told them he was to stubborn and mule headed to die on their say so. Besides he isn't done teaching me everything he knows yet."

"But you spar, you swim, you.."

"I'm working on recovering. The sparing I do, is half having Harry help me work out how to compensate for what I've lost. I don't use this cane for show, as much as I wish I did."

"So what will you do?"

"I'm interested in technology, maybe I'll go back to school and do something with engineering. It's not like money is a huge concern."

"Yeah I kinda got that impression." Beth gestured at their surroundings. "You definitely know how to pick where to do your rehab."

Sirius grinned in response.

"Well I'm deserting you gents for the day."

"What are you doing?" Harry quickly inquired.

"I'm spending the day being pampered at the spa. I might join you for the beach late this afternoon though."

"We look forward to it." Sirius said.

.....

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