Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter; everything recognisable belongs to JK Rowling.

AN: OK, so this is the first fanfiction I've ever written so please be nice. Hope you enjoy it and R&R.

I Must Not Tell Lies

Harry yawned loudly as he sat at the dining table in Number 12 Grimmauld Place. It was Christmas and most of the house's occupants were either sitting at the table in the kitchen, and in the progress of trying not to fall asleep, or still asleep.

Harry looked around the table to see that Ron had his head in his arms and Harry thought that he could hear him snoring lightly. Hermione had her head buried in a book on god knows what, Ginny and the Twins, were each drinking a glass of coffee, trying desperately to wake up. And Remus, well, he was looking around the room in amusement. He turned to Harry and winked at him before getting up to help Mrs Weasley who was bustling around the kitchen, making breakfast.

The sound of someone's footsteps in the hallway, alerted everyone that Tonks was awake, seeing as she and Sirius were the only two still asleep as per usual. The Blacks were not morning people. Everyone heard her coming closer to the kitchen, hoping that she didn't trip on anything. They were wrong.

As usual, they heard her curse as she tripped on the elephant's foot umbrella stand and it crashed to the floor. Mrs Black's curtains flew open as she yelled and screamed at the 'dirty mudbloods in her precious house.'

Remus groaned and ran out of the room to get her to shut up, with Tonks helping him. Everyone tried to ignore her screaming about filthy half-breeds and sighed in relief when she quietened down as everyone became more awake at that. It was the same every morning; everyone in the house would be up except Tonks and Sirius. Tonks would wake first and trip on the umbrella stand, waking Mrs Black and Sirius.

Tonks and Remus walked into the kitchen, Tonks had a sheepish smile on her face.

"Sorry about that." she said apologetically. Everyone nodded in response and they were cut off from replying but Sirius, who walked in and rolled his eyes at Tonks,

"You know Tonks; I would like it to have a better wakeup call other than hearing my dear old mother's screams." Sirius stated and Tonks grinned.

"Ahh but where's the fun in that." she replied. Sirius ignored her and sat down next to Harry.

"Morning kiddo." Sirius chuckled. Harry had his head resting on his arms which were folded over on the table. He opened one eye and returned the greeting to his Godfather before closing it again.

Remus rolled his eyes at Sirius as he set down a plate full of bacon, eggs, toast and sausages in front of himself and began to eat while Sirius glared at him.

"What?" Remus questioned at Sirius just stared at him.

"You could have gotten me a plate Moony." Sirius complained quietly as he got a plate to grab some breakfast. Everyone followed him and conversations started to break out on the table. Sirius, Remus and Tonks were arguing over a prank, Hermione was trying to convince Ron to do his homework to finish it early. Fred and George were talking to each other in hushed voices and Mrs Weasley was talking to Ginny about when they were going to pick up Mr Weasley.

Harry was quietly eating his breakfast, trying not to move his left hand as for every time that he did, pain would blossom through it. Harry cursed Umbridge under his breath. On the last day before the Christmas holidays, she gave him another detention because he was, apparently out after curfew even though he still had about five minutes to get back to the common room.

He was at the library, researching about the quill that she made him use. He found out that it was called a blood quill, and it was illegal to use. The only time it should ever be used, was for signing a legal document.

Umbridge had kept him writing lines for so long, that when he got back it the common room, it was past one o'clock in the morning. His hand didn't stop hurting for the whole of the next day.

His hand had stopped healing long ago, the words I must not tell lies was attached permanently to him.

Harry thought that he did well in covering it, he wore his old baggy clothes from the Dursleys and it covered up his hands nicely enough.

"Harry? Are you OK? You spaced out there." Remus told him while he got picked up his dishes and put them in the sink. Harry looked a little startled at the fact that it was only Sirius, Remus, Tonks and he left in the kitchen. Then he recalled that everyone was going to bring back Mr Weasley from St Mungo's today.

"Yeah, I'm fine just thinking." Harry smiled back at him while he got his own plate and brought in to the sink just as Remus cast a charm that would make the dishes wash themselves.

"That's dangerous." Sirius commented with a smirk. Tonks and Remus laughed as Harry poked his tongue out at him.

"Says you Padfoot." Harry replied. Sirius looked confused.

"What? I'm a good thinker, aren't I Moony?" Sirius asked turning to Remus.

"Yeah, you always thought of the best pranks." Remus grinned and Sirius smiled triumphantly. "But with your plans, we always got detention." he finished.

Sirius lost the smile on his face.

"I thought that you were on my side Moony?" Sirius asked whiningly and Remus just rolled his eyes at him and got up to make some tea.

When it was done, Harry, Remus, Sirius and Tonks all sat around the table with cups of tea in their hands and started talking about anything and everything.

After about 10 minutes of Sirius telling a pointless story, Tonks looked over at Harry.

"I've heard at the ministry, that Umbridge has been giving you a rough time lately." She said, cutting Sirius off mid-sentence. Harry nodded.

"Yeah, she keeps on giving me detention for saying that Voldemort's back." Remus frowned.

"What does she make you do?" He asked and Harry fidgeted in his seat a little something that all three of them picked up on.

"Nothing much, just lines." Harry replied. It was true, well half true anyway. He didn't have to tell them that he was using a blood quill.

"Oh, OK. That doesn't seem too bad." Tonks supposed.

"Lines. That's all?" Remus asked, probing Harry because he could tell that Harry was lying. He did the same as Lily. He tapped his foot against something, and with Remus' hearing, he could tell.

Harry looked so much like his father, but had so much of his mother in him. Remus thought with a smile.

"Yup." Harry nodded. "That's all." Sirius then gasped and launched into a tail of his worse detention while the other three rolled their eyes at his antics. But secretly, Harry loved this. Listening to the three of them talk about his parents. He now knows more of them then he ever thought that he would because of these three. Lily and Tonks were pretty close because most of the times that Sirius went to the Potters, Tonks went as well.

Harry sighed quietly in relief as they were off the topic of his detentions with Umbridge. He couldn't tell them. He didn't want them to see their reactions or go to Dumbledore, because he had too much on his mind right now. At least, that was what Harry hoped. He remembered when he was in his office when he looked into Dumbledore's eyes, a snake rising in him ready to strike the headmaster down. But it was gone as quickly as it had come.

Remus was watching Harry and saw him sigh in what seemed like relief when they went away from the topic of his detention. He frowned; it must be more than lines if he doesn't want to talk about it at all.

As soon as Sirius finished yet another one of his stories, Remus turned to Harry.

"So, Harry we've heard about Sirius' worst detention, what about yours?" Harry frowned.

"I can't really think of one, oh wait. It's probably the one in my first year for being out after curfew and going into the forest with Hagrid, Hermione, Neville and Draco Malfoy. " Harry replied trying to remember why they were out.

"What? You went into the forest in your first year for detention, for being out after hours? Who signed you the bloody detention?" Sirius asked angrily. Harry smiled bitterly.

"McGonagall." He replied simply and the others gaped at him. "What?" Harry asked starting to get a little freaked out at the behaviour.

"Ok tomorrow you are going to be telling us all about your first few years at Hogwarts." Remus stated. Harry smiled at them.

"OK Moony, but don't do anything drastic when I tell you guys. But if I remember correctly, I did scare Malfoy that night in the forest." Harry laughed just thinking about it.

"What did you do?" Sirius asked. Harry laughed and replied, telling them how he had scared him by blowing out the fire in the lantern.

They all laughed at the end of his story and Sirius reached up to give him a high five.

"OK, that deserves a high five." He laughed. Harry smiled and reached up to give him one.

Harry gasped in pain as his left hand flew to his chest to protect it as pain shot through it from the force of the high five that Sirius had given him. The other three shot out of their seats, worry clouding their faces as they tried to see what was wrong.

Harry couldn't believe how stupid he was, he hadn't used his left hand all day but when he went for the high five he wasn't thinking clearly.

"Harry, what's wrong?" Sirius asked as Remus and Tonks tried to pry his hands away from his chest to see the damage. Harry shot out of his seat.

"Nothing. Nothings wrongs." Harry forced a smile on his face. "That just jarred my hand. I'm fine really." While he was saying this, Harry was moving slowly backwards, to the door. "I think that I'm going to have a lie down, I'm a bit tried from all of these stories." Harry lied. He turned around to walk out the room only to find the door shutting by itself and locking.

Harry slowly turned around to face the three people behind him and he saw that Remus had his wand out and it was pointed at the door.

"Sit." Remus said and from the look on his face, there were no room from arguments. Harry complied, sitting down in his previous seat, looking up to the other three people in the room who were looking at him worriedly.

"Harry, can I see your hand please." Tonks asked quietly. Harry lifted up his right hand and she shook her head. "The other one Harry" and this time, there was a bit of annoyance in her voice.

"Why?" Harry asked "What's the big deal. I just jarred my hand when me and Padfoot high fived." But from the looks of their faces, they didn't believe him.

"Harry show us your hand." Sirius stated clearly, a hint of anger in his voice now. Harry sighed; there was no escaping it now. He lifted his left hand up, his baggy top covering his most of his it, only his fingers were showing. Remus gently pulled it back to reveal the back of Harry's hand.

They all gasped a look of horror on their faces as they took in the horrible sight. Harry didn't look at it, in face he wasn't looking as anyone. It was as if he had just walked into the kitchen for the first time as he looked at everything, excluding the three people standing before him, his family.

It was silent in the room. Not a comfortable silent, or even awkward it was just silent as the three out of the four occupants looked at the sickening sight.

It can't be that bad, Harry thought but when he looked down to it, he immediately wished that he hadn't.

The words I must not tell lies looked very deep as it stood out in a nauseating blood red colour. A bit of his hand was caked with dry blood, but through that, you could see the black and blue of the skin around the words as it bruised. It looked even worse, contrasting with his deathly pale skin.

It was a horrifying sight.

Before anyone could do anything, the kitchen door burst open and the Weasley's and Hermione walked in, wheeling in Mr Weasley in a wheel chair.

"Look at whose back from St…." Mrs Weasley said cheerfully but slowly came to a stop at the sight before her. Harry sitting in a chair with Remus, Sirius and Tonks all standing around him, holding his hand which was black and blue and red.

Harry looked up to see the shocked and horrified faces of his best friends and favourite family and he ripped his hand from Remus' gentle grip and bolted up the stairs, nor caring that Mrs Black's portrait went berserk, as he slammed his door shut and sat on his bed holding his head in his hands.

Sirius and Remus knocked once on Harry's door and opened it, walking in quietly with serious looks on their faces. They took in Harry's hunched form on the bed and their expression softened a bit. Sirius and Remus walked up to him, Sirius sat next to him while Remus sat across from him on Ron's bed.

It was quite for a few moments, no one not knowing what to say. Finally Remus broke the uncomfortable silence.

"Harry. I'm just going to be blunt and ask you, who and why did someone do that to you?"

Harry lifted up his head and looked at Remus. They already knew about his hand what's the harm in them who did it?

"Harry?" Sirius prompted "Who did it?" His voice was quite but from the fire in his eyes, you could tell that he was anything but calm.

Harry sighed and mumbled something. Even with Remus' good hearing, he couldn't tell what Harry had said.

"What was that?" he asked.

"Umbridge" Harry said a little louder. Sirius sprang up from the bed and growled.

"I'll kill her!" With that, he started towards the door but Remus stopped him.

"Sirius, sit down!" Remus yelled over the top of Sirius' ranting. Harry could vaguely heard Mrs Black's screams echoing over the house and wondered how many times had they set her of today.

Sirius sat next to Harry still seething with anger. Remus looked over to Harry. He didn't look very happy, not at all. His eyes were glowing a sort of amber colour and that was the first time, other than the incident in his third year, that Harry had seen the wolf in Remus.

"Harry, how did she do that?" He paused for a second, frowning, "and why?

Harry sighed, no point in keeping anything else from them.

"Remember before, how Tonks asked me what I did in her detentions?" Sirius, it seemed, got even angrier with that question and he stiffly nodded, afraid of what he would do if he were to open his mouth. At Sirius' nod, Harry continued.

"Like I said, she had me doing lines," Remus narrowed his eyes thinking about what could do such a thing. "The quill wasn't a usual quill though, it didn't need ink and-" Harry was cut off at Remus gasped in horror and revulsion.

"She made you use a blood quill." he said disgusted. It wasn't a question, it was a statement. Harry nodded miserably. Sirius gaped at him, unable to speak.

"So, where did Tonks go?" Harry asked trying to change the subject, but knowing that it was futile. Sirius answered him.

"She's downstairs trying to calm the Weasleys down and don't try to change the subject." Sirius said a bit firmly. Harry nodded, looking down until Remus asked to see his hand again. He looked up, pulled his hand out of his lap and took the jumper away so his hand was visible. Remus and Sirius sucked in a breath at the sight of it. Remus looked up to Harry.

"How much did you use it and how long were the detentions?" Remus asked.

"I had detention with her for almost 3 days every week, sometimes more and the detentions started around 7 and I'm usually out around midnight." Sirius leaped out of his chair and this time, Remus didn't stop him.

"That's inhuman! How dare she do that to you! That sick, twisted son of a bit-"

"Padfoot" Remus warned, cutting Sirius off.

"What? Look at what she did Remus! I'm not letting her get away with this. I'm going to kill her!" Sirius threatened and shot towards the door. Remus stopped him this time though by grabbing on to the back of his robes and pulling him back.

"Sirius think about this for a second! What are you going to do? You're meant to be on the run, if you go charging into Hogwarts you'll most defiantly get caught and get thrown back in Azkaban or even given the kiss!" Remus tried to reason, even though his own anger was at boiling point.

"I don't care!" Sirius snarled, trying to get out of Remus' grip "Let me go Remus!"

"No! Think about Harry! Think about what you're capture would do to him." Sirius stopped struggling against Remus' grip and looked down.

"Moony, I can't believe this is happening. I'm a failure of a godfather." Sirius said despairingly. Harry, who was watching the scene from his bed shot up and stood next to Sirius.

"Sirius, I don't care what you think. You're a great godfather, sure you weren't there before but that was out of your control. You're here now and that's what matters." Remus smiled at Harry. He's so much like Lily, it's unbelievable.

Sirius still looked unconvinced as he sat down on the space that Harry was just occupying and put his head in his hands. Harry looked over to Remus, questioning him about what he should do because he's never dealt with an emotional Sirius. A playful and loud Sirius Harry could take, but not this.

"Could you get us a cup of tea each Harry." Remus stated quietly and agreed, walking out of the room soundlessly and shutting the door behind him with a click.

Remus turned to Sirius who still hadn't looked up yet and Remus sighed.

"Padfoot, you have to stop blaming yourself for things that are out of your control." Remus alleged. Sirius looked up to him, a pained look on his face and his eyes as haunted as much as when he escaped out of Azkaban.

"But it is my fault Moony. If I didn't go after Pettigrew then Harry wouldn't have lived with the Dursleys. He wouldn't be quite and Merin, Remus he's so thin! I bet you they don't even feed him" Sirius snarled. Remus opened his mouth to answer but Sirius beat him to it.

"If Harry didn't live with the Dursleys, than he would have at least talked to us about this. He's so conscious that other people would think he were weak if he talked about anything that's bothering him. See, it all comes back to me." Sirius finished miserably and Remus stared at him, mouth slightly open.

"Pads, you're over thinking this, really what's done is done and now that you're out of Azkaban and with Harry, you should make up for all that time that you missed out on with him. Get to know each other, talk to him. Sirius, once you're free, you'll have Harry living with you before you could blink. So you guys have heaps of time to figure thing out in between you. You're his godfather, Pads, if he'd going to trust anyone with his life secrets, it'll be you." Remus stated with as much conviction as he could.

During Remus' little speech, Sirius had been slowly lifting up his head to look at his best friend, a smile spreading onto his face.

"Your right Moony, but Harry's got you as well." Remus blinked.

"Huh?" He asked and Sirius rolled his eyes, sometimes Remus could be so oblivious.

"He cares about you a lot as well you know. You were the first person in his life that told him true and nice stories about Lily and James. I know that Harry loves you almost as much as he loves me." Sirius smiled over to his friend as Remus grinned at him in return.

"And besides, Harry's not the only one who going to be living with me when I'm freed. I'll be buying a new house for me, Harry and you, the invitation is open if you want to come live with us."

"Harry, you and I." Remus corrected automatically and Sirius rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I'd love that. Thanks Padfoot" Remus beamed over at his long-time friend. "We can all help each other heal."

The door opened quite suddenly and Remus and Sirius looked up to see Harry walk into the room with a tray in his arms full of tea, honey, sugar and cream and he put it down on the nearest table.

"I forgot what you guys had in your tea so I bought everything." Harry said sheepishly, a grin making its way onto his face. "You guys OK?" He asked as he looked at their expressions, completely the opposite of what he walked out of.

"Yeah Harry. We're good." Sirius smiled over to him and Harry nodded and helped Remus with his tea as Sirius watched. "We'll be fine. We will be" Sirius assured himself, making a promise to keep Harry out of as much danger as he can and to get everything right between the three of them.

AN: Please R&R and remember this is my first ever fanfiction so be nice. Thanks and hope you enjoyed it :)

-DreamStrike