"Do you know the contraceptive charm?" asked Remus bluntly.
"Yes." Harry said. "Arthur showed Ron before third year and well, when he said so in the dorm, Seamus said he also knew, and they both taught the rest of us."
"The incantation?" checked Remus.
"Duosterillus." Harry and Neville chorused.
Remus nodded, satisfied. "Do you have any questions?"
"No." Harry answered immediately. He hoped that was the end of it.
"No." Neville echoed faintly.
Sirius nodded. "Well, I just want to reiterate that waiting until you're ready is good; don't be pressured into doing something when you don't really want to. I, uh, didn't wait and I've always regretted it."
That regret was written across his face.
"When did you…" Neville stopped and when Harry turned to look at him, Neville looked thoroughly appalled as though he couldn't believe he'd begun to ask such a personal question.
"I was fourteen." Sirius answered calmly.
"I was sixteen." Remus added. "But unlike Sirius my experience was a positive one and with a girl who I'd dated for a few months."
Harry wondered…
"Your Dad was seventeen, Harry." Sirius informed him before he could complete the thought. "I'm not sure about your Mum; girls don't tend to confide that kind of information in blokes."
"Didn't my Dad and my Mum…" Harry stopped abruptly, not sure he wanted the answer or to really ask the question.
"Your Mum wasn't your Dad's first lover." Sirius said quietly, answering the question anyway. "Your Dad took your Granddad's advice to heart in our fifth year. He asked your Mum once in private before the first Hogsmeade weekend if she would like to go out with him and when she refused he decided to move on. He dated other girls until your Mum finally consented to go out with him toward the end of sixth year. Again, not sure about your Mum; your Dad and I never discussed it."
Harry glanced at Remus who nodded in support of Sirius.
"Keep in mind that most girls don't take kindly to having their sex lives the topic of gossip and discussed in the boys' changing rooms or dorms. If you do get together with a girl, how far you go and what you do together should remain between her and you unless you're asking for advice." Remus said. "James never said a word about Lily which is why we don't know."
"It's about respecting your partner." Sirius said. "Confiding in a good friend is OK if you need advice but only if you trust them to keep quiet."
"Any other questions?" asked Remus brightly as Harry and Neville remained silent.
They shook their heads.
"Well, if you do have questions, Remus and I are always happy to talk to you." Sirius said. He motioned at them. "Harry, maybe you could see Neville to the floo?"
Harry nodded quickly. He and Neville escaped the study and both of them sighed with relief as they closed the door behind them. They walked to the floo in silence and Neville took a pinch of floo powder. He turned back to Harry slightly hesitantly.
"Well, that was…" Neville began awkwardly.
"Yes." Harry nodded. "Let's…"
"Never mention this again?" Neville suggested with a smile.
Harry grinned back at him.
Neville nodded still smiling, threw the floo powder and called out his home floo address before stepping into the flames.
Harry rubbed his forehead. Maybe he could obliviate himself…maybe? On the other hand, he couldn't deny that in between the excruciating embarrassment of the topic, it had been good to see the memory of his Dad, and there had been some useful information if he was going to be dating when he went back to Hogwarts.
If.
o-O-o
The cold of the basement skittered over his skin but Barty ignored it despite the fact that he was half-naked, shirtless, after spending the day in the garden sun-bathing under a disillusionment charm. It had been so good to simply soak up the sun and breathe fresh air. It wasn't something that had happened often in the last twelve years of his life. But life had certainly changed for Barty during the previous few weeks since Peter Pettigrew and the Dark Lord had rescued him.
It was a bizarre story really, one Pettigrew had told in the Crouch's front parlour, stumbling and sliding over his words while the Dark Lord looked on from the eyes of the two year old child he had possessed. In short, Pettigrew had been hiding but had been discovered the year before by Sirius Black and Harry Potter; he'd escaped and ran for Albania where he knew the last person to find the Dark Lord had gone and had managed to track him down (through a combination of what Barty believed was sheer luck and chance rather than any kind of skill).
Fortunately for Barty, Pettigrew had also stumbled into Bertha Jorkins and the Dark Lord had realised just what a treasure trove of information the gossipy woman was since she worked at the Ministry. Jorkins' mind had cracked like an egg as the Dark Lord had raped it of every memory she had ever had including the memory of coming to the Crouch house to deliver a report to Barty's father and accidentally seeing Barty, who was supposed to be dead, in one of his escape attempts. His father had obliviated her but even his strong magic was no match for the Dark Lord who had recovered the memory and found it fascinating.
Upon arriving back in England, the Dark Lord had ordered Pettigrew to the Crouch house. They'd quickly overcome his father and Winky, and liberated Barty from the depths of the basement where he was imprisoned. Winky had been fine once Barty had ordered her to obey the Dark Lord and to tell no-one of his father's capture. He detested the house elf who had been as much his jailer as his father but she was useful. Nobody considered house elves as important and they were always overlooked. She was also loyal and terrified of being given clothes. His father, on the other hand…
He descended into the tiny space down the wooden steps swishing his wand like a sword in front of him. There just enough space for a single bed, a small rickety table and an old Formica dining chair that looked like it should have been left in the Seventies. A single light illuminated the dank space; a candle on the tiny child's bedside table by the bed.
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