Disclaimer: This work is in no way associated with J K Rowling. All recognisable characters and places belong to J K Rowling. This was written purely for my enjoyment, I am making no money from this story. No infringement is intended.
A/N: This is a story where Sirius manages to get custody of Harry and Voldemort stays in the land of the dead where he belongs. No horcruxes
October 31, 1981 - Godric's Hollow - Sirius
The moment that my motorcycle hits the street in front of Godric's hollow, I jump off and manage to keep my footing, before bolting for the door. In my head the words, please dont be dead… please dont be dead, repeat over and over like a gong.
I rip open the front door and run into the living room.
Thud.
A I lay on the ground stunned, my slowly moving mind remembers how organised Lily was. Lily would never leave stuff lying around on the floor. I roll over onto my back and break into tears… I hadn't tripped over something, it was a someone, it was James.
"Sirius," A voices question breaks through my grief fogged mind.
I look up and almost shout for joy, "Hagrid, Harry's still alive, where's Lily."
The half-giant slumps in on himself. No not Lily, what who will take care of Harry.
"She's upstairs, You-Know-Who got her," Hagrid whispers, tears streaming down his face.
"Hagrid," I manage to whisper, without sobbing, "give me Harry I'll take him home."
"No, Dumbledore wants me to take Harry to him," Hagrid said as he wipes his eyes with a handkerchief.
"Hagrid, give Harry to me, he's my godson not Dumbledores," I shought, rage burning through my grief at the thought of someone taking Harry, my godson, away from me.
"No, Sirius, Dumbledore wants him," Hagrid said more firmly.
In a flash I draw my wand and scream "Accio Harry Potter." The baby leaps out of Hagrids arms and I catch him with a ease that comes with practice from passing Harry back and forth with James.
Hagrid charges me and I hit him with a stunner, so overpowered by grief and desperation, that it brings him to his knees with one shot.
In moments I'm out the door and back on my motorcycle, one Harry Potter heavier, making a beeline for Number 12. And my mother.
October 31, 1981 - Number 12 Grimmauld Place - Sirius
As my motorcycle stops in front of Number 12, a sense of foreboding settles over me. Hopefully my parents will understand, hopefully the release about Voldemort after Regulus death. I slowly walk up to the front door and knock. It takes a moment before the door opens.
"Sirius," My mother said slowly, as if she didn't believe her eyes.
"Mother," I responded, "c-can I please come in. I have nowhere else to go. James and Lily are dead and- and-" tears start to flow down my cheeks and she looks at me with horror.
"GET IN," She screams, "before they get you to." Mum drags me into the house. The loud noises wake up Harry and struggles to get a look at the unfamiliar surroundings as I walk to the living room. I hear Mum close the door and activate some kind of enchantment before joining me.
"Mum," Harry whispers and then turns to me, "Padfoo."
"Is that-" Mum whispers and she reaches out and touches Harry's head.
"Yes," I said, as I sit down on one of the couches, "This is Harry, James and Lily's son," I crush my growing despair before saying, "we'll have to think up a proper pureblood name if i'm going to adopted him and raise him as a Black," I look up at my Mother, "James and Lily we're thinking of naming him Hadrian."
"He could be Hadrian Taurus," My Mother whispers with a sad smile.
"Ya," I crack up into tears again, "welcome to the family Hardian Taurus Black, so mote it be." A pulse of magic fares around myself and Harry- Hadrian and then settles into the small child. The changes were almost unnoticeable on his young feachers.
With the deed done I finally allow myself to weep, no longer for just Lily and James, but for Harry to for the loss of his birth parents.
November 1, 1981 - Number 12 Grimmauld Place - Sirius
I bolt upright from the sound of explosions as Auror's attempt to break down the wards and a voice booms over the commotion, "WE HAVE YOU SURROUNDED, COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP. SURRENDER THE CHILD."
I cast a silencing charm around Hadrian's crib, thank goodness he hasn't woken up from all this racket, and quickly dress before heading to the door. Mum is already there and is fiddling with a slab of stone carved with glowing runes.
"Are the wards holding," I ask as I open the curtains to get a look at the Aurors again.
She chuckles and said, "Oh they will get through the wards… in about ten, maybe twenty years. Now Sirius you may not have agreed with your father on very much, but the he was the best warder from a family who has spit out a top notch warder since antiquity. If we don't let them in, they aren't getting in."
I smile and walk out the door and close it behind me, no reason to take chances. I don't care how good the wards are.
"So," I call out after casting a Sonorus charm on myself, "who is the meddlesome twit who ordered this particular bit of idiocy."
A man that I had once trusted steps forward and said in his best grandfatherly voice, "Sirius you need to give Harry to me, he isn't safe here."
I literally fall to the ground laughing, I manage to say through my chuckles, "Are you that stupid Albus, it would take the whole of magical Britain years to break through the Black ancestral wards, there is no place safer in all of Britain."
"Sirius," the old man said calmly, "you have been charged with the murder-"
In a second I spring off the ground and had my wand draw and pointed directly at Dumbledore's nose. "Albus, if you believe that I killed Lily and James, them we have nothing left to say to each other."
"You were their secret keeper Black, and everyone knows it, you must be a Death Eater," one of the Ministers flunkies accused.
"Exactly," I laugh, "that was the plan nimwit, everyone thought I was the secret keeper, but I was only a decoy," my face grows cold and I growl, "and when I find that rat I will kill him, myself." I turn around and walk back into the house, the sound of chaos was like music to my ears.
December 25, 1981 - Sirius
"Well will you look at that," My mother said out loud as she read the Daily Prophet headline, "Sirius come read this."
I wall over with little Hadrian in my arms and look over my mothers shoulder at the paper. The headline SIRIUS BLACK, INNOCENT OF ALL CRIMES. WIZARDING WORLD WANTS TO SEE ITS SAVIOUR, greets me. My, my it took them long enough.
"Thats good, it will be nice to be able to leave every once in a while, but this is probably just a ploy to get him out of the house isn't it," I said in slow measured tones, but inside i'm fuming. Do you really think I'm that stupid, Dumbledore?
"Yes, Hadrian should probably stay here but at least they can legally arrest you anymore," Mother said in a light airy tone and the laughs, "don't worry Sirius, Dumbledore can't get Hadrian in here."
Hadrian's Third Birthday - Sirius
"He just looks so peaceful when he sleeps," I said slowly and mum nodded.
"Its good that he can't remember that night anymore, that the nightmares stopped," She whispers and I sag into myself.
If only I had been secret keeper James and Lily would still be alive.
"He can't remember Lily and James at all," I whisper sadly as mum walks out of the room, "he doesn't remember his own mother." I push his hair away from the scar that he got that night. The scar that refused to be healed for so long… and suddenly closed up almost overnight. I still don't know what made that scream… it couldn't have been Hadrian… could it?
Hadrian's Sixth Birthday - Sirius
"Here Hadrian, open the present from your Grandmother first," I said and Hadrian, with perfect manners, opens the present mum got him as she looks on.
When he finally gets the wrapping off the book he falls back in shock and almost drops the book.
"Grandma…" Hadrian whispers slowly, "this… this is the Black family grimore. Y- you can't be giving this to me. I'm just a child… I don't even have a wand-"
"Thats enough Hadrian," mum cut Hadrian off, "that book is full of magics that have been passed down from Black to Black for generations. There are two magics that are in that book that you can and will learn. First you will learn Occlumency to protect the secrets of the Black family. Then you will study runes and their application. By the time you go to Hogwarts I expect you to understand the all the theory in that book. Especially the warding theory, I have seen that you have a knack for it. Then we will place it back in the Black vaults for when your children come of age."
"Thank you Grandma," Hadrian whispers and clutches the grimoire to his chest, "I wont fail you."
Haidrian's Eleventh Birthday - Sirius
"I didn't fail you Grandma," Hadrian whispers as he gets up off his knees from in front of my mother Walburga's grave, "I'm finished with the Black grimoire and we managed to get the Potter one to. Its got lots of charms and transfiguration stuff in it. Well, I'll talk to you again next year, until then Grandma."
He turns and walks towards me, looking the proper Pureblood heir. No tears in his eyes where others could see, his face controlled. Mum would have been proud of how far Harry had come. The boy had managed to pick up all the best traits of the Pureblood aristocracy and he hadn't taken on any of its weaknesses. Mum had even made him learn some muggle science and math when he showed a knack for it.
"Can we go home Sirius," Hadrian whispers, "I don't know how long-"
"Your doing fine, Hadrian, lets go," I whisper back and take his hand before apparating back to Number 12. He rushes into the house and I can hear his sobs as he finally begins to lose control. At least he isnt made of stone.
Platform 9 ¾ - Sirius
As the two of us floo onto the platform, Hadrian doesn't even stumble. Good he has finally go floo travel down. We walk over to the train and a tear forms in the corner of my eye. Lily, James? Did I do a good job?
Hadrian turns to me and said in a slightly choked up voice, "I'll see you soon father."
He looks so much like his mother. His eyes are still emerald green, his face almost the exact same shape as hers, the same nose. But the blood adoption had changed him. His hair is still black, but sleek and controlled. His face and an aristocratic elegance that only comes from centuries as breeding. But the biggest difference is in how he acts. Hadrian stands tall and proud, perfect posture, perfect manors. A pureblood heir if I had ever seen one. But he still has some of Lily in him…
"Goodbye Hadrian," I said firmly, holding back tears, "be sure to write."
"I will father," He said with a bow and marches onto the train. The heir of Black, Lily and James would understand.