A/N: Hey guys, I've decided to start afresh with new stories that I feel suit more and the pairings at the beginning of stories won't be added to as I go and I'll be making more of a conscious effort in my planning and things. I'm sorry to anyone who enjoyed my previous stories after me removing them from the website, but it was unnecessary clutter when I was unhappy with how they'd turned out. This is a fresh start for me and I'm not going to work on more than three fics at a time from now on
Disclaimer: I don't own HP or anything associated.
A soft gleam of moonlight hit the surface of the window, the glow created an effect reminiscent of mid-morning shining through the smallest bedroom at Number Four. The room itself was adorned with reddish oak floorboards, a simple chest of drawers that a large, notably empty, owl cage rested atop and in the corner of the room was the wardrobe. Inside the bed just under the window a young boy slept on, a light breathing escaping his nostrils and mouth as he slept on. Harry Potter wasn't an ordinary boy by any stretch of the word, for one thing he was a Wizard due to start his fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in a few weeks. For another, he was a young man who didn't look forward to his birthday, ever since he was a small child Harry Potter's birthday had gone completely ignored by his relatives. He was in fact, only here because of the tragic loss of his parents when Harry himself was only a year old. The moonlight struck the young man directly in the face and he swiped at the air frustratedly, attempting to block out the light for even a moment. Finally, after a few moments of struggling, Harry was able to roll over and go back to sleep.
A few hours had passed, and Harry's almond-shaped emerald eyes snapped open, he rolled over and fumbled over his bedside table rummaging around for his glasses. Harry gripped onto the specs and shoved them onto his face. Once he had his glasses on Harry was able to see enough to pull himself up into his seat and lean against the headboard of his bed. His eyes were glazed over by frustrated tears, already threatening to fall. At the end of his previous year at Hogwarts, Harry had been part of the Triwizard Tournament. He'd made a crucial error of judgement and had gotten one of his classmates killed. Harry couldn't forgive himself for that. Cedric had deserved better than that.
A copy of the Daily Prophet sat on the bedside table, crumpled as though it'd been read several times over the course of a few weeks.
Sirius Black Innocent!?
Three nights ago, long thought dead wizard, Peter Pettigrew was discovered alive and well a short distance outside the village of Little Hangleton by the Accidental Magic Reversal Department who had been traveling to the destination on a routine operation dealing with a bout of underage magic in the area. Pettigrew was recognized by a former classmate working on the case. Pettigrew was then detained and questioned under the truth potion, Veritaserum and has admitted publicly that he was the cause of the Potter's Betrayal on the night of October Thirty-First, Nineteen Eighty One and that he faked his own death resulting in the death of thirteen muggles and the false accusing and arrest of Lord Sirius Orion Black. Lord Black has received a full pardon and shall also be gifted compensation in the form of a rather substantial payout, though Sirius will receive monetary compensation for his time in Azkaban, it is unlikely that he will ever truly recover from the effects the Prison may have on one's mind.
When asked what his plans for the next few weeks are, Lord Black informed this reporter that he wishes to take his godson, Harry Potter. Who, incidentally is the only remaining member of the Potter family and also the only known person to have ever survived the killing curse. We hope that the powers that be will see Harry and Sirius united once more.
Another piece of parchment was lay across the newspaper, this looked as though it been read as much, if not more than the paper itself.
Harry,
I've decided to take you up on that offer of living with me. Make sure you're ready at around eleven o'clock on Friday morning and I'll come and collect you from the muggles. Won't say more here, see you on Friday.
Sirius.
Harry was feeling the rush of excitement, after thirteen long years, today was the day he finally left the Dursleys forever. He quickly grabbed the wrist-watch he'd purchased himself the last time he was in Diagon Alley and smiled when he saw the time, ten thirty…only half an hour. Harry hadn't really unpacked from Hogwarts, The Dursleys liked to keep all of his belongings under lock and key when he was home from the holidays, they'd begrudgingly released them the previous night upon the announcement that Harry was leaving them forever and would cease to be their problem from now on.
He climbed out of bed and moved over to the drawers on the left of the room. Harry dug out a pair of old jeans and a shirt that looked at least four sizes bigger than he'd need, then changed into them. It took three rounds of the belt to his waist to keep the jeans up and the shirt almost went down to Harry's thighs. Not how he'd like to be when he saw Sirius for the first time, but…he'd not worry about that too much, Sirius had lived in horrible conditions for the past few years as well, so he wouldn't expect Harry to dress like royalty the moment he came into the Dursley household.
-x-x-x-x-x
Sirius Orion Black, Lord of the Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Black had only recently been able to file his exoneration papers at the Ministry of Magic a few nights beforehand. His life as a free man had barely began and he was already an entirely different person than he had been upon escaping the prison almost a year ago now. Sure, he'd technically been free of his constraints for that time but being trapped inside other places as a substitute couldn't be called true freedom. Sirius' appearance had been tidied up exponentially following his release from Azkaban, and he'd even shaved the sideburns of his beard off to leave him with only a circle beard remaining. His grey-blue eyes peered over the bustling street as multiple cars sped along the roads, swooping past Sirius as if he didn't even exist. The Muggle world had always been one of a fast pace and although they didn't have magic, they more than invented their own ways to compensate for it. Once the onslaught of traffic had passed, Sirius crossed the street and approached the well-painted door of the house he'd come to. He remained on the pathway, not wanting to step out on the grass, in case it would cause offense. He'd had first-hand experience with how Vernon and Petunia Dursley could be, he'd seen as much at Lily's wedding and he was still in shock that Harry had even ended up living with the Dursleys in the first place.
Once he'd arrived at the front door, Sirius rose his hand and rapped it against the wooden surface. It wasn't even a minute past the time he'd knocked and the door swung open to reveal a young man possessing watery blue eyes and thick blond hair. The boywas extremely fat, at least four times Harry's size and Sirius could only assume that this was the cousin Harry had mentioned to him once.
"Hello?" the boy said somewhat politely, the man before him looked incredibly regal, almost as if he'd walked straight out of a business meeting and Vernon had always told him to respect elders and especially ones who looked like they were important, "My name is Dudley Dursley, how may I help you?"
Sirius smiled down at the young man, "My name is Sirius Black, could I please speak with your parents, young man?"
"Yeah," Dudley answered and spun round, waddling off through the hallway, "Mum, there's someone at the door for you!"
Sirius placed his hands inside each other behind his back and swung his knees back and forth a small amount as he waited for the woman to answer the-
"YOU!" Petunia roared, "How dare you show up here!?"
Sirius' eyes narrowed, "I suggest you shut your mouth, Petunia. I've come for my godson and unless you'd rather incur my wrath I suggest you piss off."
"Oh," Petunia seemed taken aback, "You're the one they sent to collect the boy."
"I am. My godson?"
"He's upstairs."
Petunia spoke no further to the man that had entered her house and merely stepped aside, taking Dudley into the next room with her. Sirius arched a brow, but didn't let this deter him from the task at hand. He cautiously removed his wand from the inside of his suit jacket and aimed it in a position directly in front of him. The Lord Black slowly traipsed across the carpeted flooring, his metallic soles made a light sound as they lightly tapped against the floor below.
He wouldn't have ordinarily been so cautious when collecting Harry from somewhere, but Sirius didn't trust these Muggles as far as he could throw them, magically of course, that little walrus would be too heavy for him to lift on his own physical ability. Sirius eventually made his way upstairs, his eyes narrowing at the sight of the all the photographs on the wall. These pictures all had one thing glaringly in common with each other. The absence of Harry. He'd heard a couple of stories about how much Harry hated it here, but he'd never envisioned that his reason for hating this place would be this bad. He approached the final door at the end of the upstairs hallway and pressed his wand against the opening of the lock, "Alohamora!"
After a moment of nothing happening, Sirius realized that the door, was not in fact locked and he pushed it open.
"Harry?"
"Sirius!"
Harry darted off the end of his bed and threw his arms around his god-father, entrapping him in a brotherly embrace. Sirius quickly returned the pressure and clapped Harry on the back a few times.
It felt like they'd not seen each other in forever, even though it'd barely been a few weeks since Harry and his best-friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley had helped gain Sirius his initial freedom and now they'd helped him claim his full freedom. The two released each other from the embrace and stepped back, smiling broadly at each other.
"It's good to see you again pup."
"You as well, Padfoot. How's life as a free man?"
"Better than I could've ever imagined, supposed I got lucky, considering that Wormtail is an imbecile. Dumb enough to be spotted in the open like that. Nonetheless, it has proved to suit my needs better than anything else and I am not going to complain. Have you packed?"
"Yeah," Harry said, jerking his head towards the trunk at the foot of his bed.
"That…that's all of it?"
"Yeah…"
Sirius sighed, he feared that this may be the case. He would definitely step in and make sure Harry was getting the care and love that he deserved. A proper family.
"Don't worry about anything in the drawers or dresser. You and I will get more clothing and things once you've settled in at home."
"Sirius are you su-"
"Don't worry about it, I've got enough money that I'll never spend it even if I bought a business everyday for the rest of my life."
"Only if it isn't any trouble."
"It isn't, I swear."
"Alright."
Once Harry had begrudgingly agreed to Sirius' proposal, it finally sunk in. Harry was leaving the Dursley's forever! He was going to live with his godfather!
A smile on his face that couldn't be moved, Harry approached the trunk at the foot of his bed and kicked the side of it gently, causing the locks to firmly seal shut once more.
"I was just checking I had everything," he explained for Sirius' benefit, "Can you directly use magic to get out of here? I'd rather not have to deal with the Dursleys ever again, starting now."
Sirius nodded and extracted a small golden scarab beetle from the inside of his jacket, He extended his hand and the beetle flew out of it, soaring into the air until with a resounding boom! The metallic beetle exploded, shaping itself into a mass of silvery energy that floated right by the window.
"What is that?"
"An old family heirloom belonging to my family," Sirius explained, moving to stand beside Harry and he knelt down to clutch onto one side of the large trunk on the floor, "Grab onto your trunk Harry."
Harry arched a brow, but he carried out his godfather's instruction.
"Are you sure, Sirius?"
"Never been surer in my life, kiddo. Alkhinfusa' alqadimat, tueiduna 'iilaa almanzil!"
The mass of energy zipped over from its position, lowering itself onto the surface of the trunk and encasing both the storage case and Harry and Sirius in a powerful looking orb of light. Two seconds passed and they had vanished, a loud expulsion of sound signaling their travel. The second the light expanded, Harry felt as though he'd had a fist thrown into his stomach with the force of a giant. Definitely a winding experience. What was worse about this experience was the zipping of the light through the young man's eyes as they tried to keep up with the scenery changing so quickly.
Finally the sensation settled and the light returned to normal. Harry's eyes darted around the location, quite surprised to find that he and Sirius had appeared inside an alleyway. The standard brick walls and several large trash cans being the most notable of the scenery before his visage.
"Er, Sirius?"
"Welcome home, Harry," Sirius spoke with so much conviction to his voice, he wasn't surprised to see the look of fear shaping onto Harry's face, a rush of bark-like laughter came to his lips and Sirius clapped his godson on the shoulder and helped him back to his feet, "just kidding, we can't teleport into the house. This was as close as I could get us."
Sirius tapped Harry's trunk with the tip of his wand and it vanished barely a second after the wand hit the surface of the wood. He then slipped his wand back into his jacket and caught the metallic scarab beetle when it returned towards his hand. Another thing that was then hastily stowed inside the jacket.
"Come Harry."
The two wizards approached Grimmauld Place, a third house shoved its neighboring houses, number eleven and number thirteen, out of the way as it appears between them. Uncovered by this is a worn set of front steps, leading to a battered front door. On the door is a silver knocker in the shape of a twisted serpent, with no keyholes, handles, or anything else that would indicate it to be a door.
"How did that happen?" Harry asked quickly.
"Fidelius Charm, I'm the secret keeper. Only people whom are revealed the location by the secret keeper may enter what's hidden," Sirius explained, reaching out and tapping the silver knocker precisely three times against the wooden door and a second later, it swung open.
"Come along inside Harry, time to show you your new home."
Harry nodded, following Sirius down a long hallway, lit with gas lamps and a large overhead chandelier. At one time this must have been a grand entryway, complete with ornate portraits on the walls, but Harry could only assume the house was once that illustrious, for now it was gloomy and cobwebby, with the wallpaper peeling off and the carpet worn thin. Much of the decor in the entry hall is made of serpents, though there is also an umbrella stand made from the severed leg of a troll resting by a door at the far end of the hallway. Sirius pulled Harry to the side and pushed open a door fashioned from Acacia wood, the darkened door also possessed a metallic shield containing the Black Family Crest a small amount above the door handle. Hidden behind this door was the dining room, housing a large dresser holding the Black family crest and china. Harry noted that the Blacks must've been proud of their heritage, because the crest seemed to be everywhere he and his godfather looked.
The dining room also contained a long wooden table with chairs and hanging light fixtures. It was rather gloomy he had to admit, but he had to bite back a smirk at the thought of Dudley's face if he ever saw a dining room this size and it finally twigged in his tiny brain the amount of food that could be fit in here.
"We usually eat in the kitchen," Sirius explained, "This is more for formal events and whatnot, but if you'd rather we ate in here then by all means we will, pup."
"Either's fine," Harry said softly, he wasn't prepared for Sirius to live in such grandeur.
"I know it's a bit much to take in Harry," Sirius said, comfortingly placing a hand on his godson's shoulder, "but as a future Lord yourself, it's probably something you should consider getting used to."
If Sirius had wanted to shock him, then this had been the best way to do it. Him? Harry Potter was supposed to be some kind of Lord!? That was insanity! Okay, maybe he'd done his fair share of insane things over the years, including the amount of times he'd faced down some kind of trouble, at least once a year to his memory, but more often than not the amount was exponentially higher. Unfortunately, this train of thought had once again led Harry to thinking about the events of the previous year and his face noticeably fell.
"It's not your fault Harry," Sirius said sternly, immediately picking up on where his godson's train of thought was headed, "It's okay to feel awful about it, but don't blame yourself for it. I spent twelve years blaming myself for Lily and James' death, but Pettigrew betrayed them, and Voldemort killed them. We must live for them, Harry. They'd want that."
Harry nodded weakly, he wasn't entirely ready to accept that it wasn't his fault, after-all he was the one who convinced Cedric to take the cup, it was supposed to be a united Hogwarts victory and instead it had been anything but that.
"Let's continue with the rest of the tour."
"Sirius?"
"Yes, Harry?"
"What's a Lordship?"
"Well, Harry," Sirius said, scratching at the bottom of his circle beard, trying to figure out the best way to word his answer to his godson's question. This was the sort of thing Sirius wished James was around to tell his son. Not that Harry should have to face taking lordship before he'd even turned fifteen. Unfortunately, that was just how life was sometimes, "A Lordship is basically being the head of the family, all members of the family represent you as much as they represent themselves. It also gains you a seat on the Wizenagamot, which is the wizarding court as well."
"Why didn't Dumbledore tell me before now?" Harry interrupted, "if I was going to be the Lord of an Ancient and Noble House, shouldn't I have been told?"
"I assume, as cruel as it might sound to you, Harry, Dumbledore was trying to give as normal a childhood as possible before all these responsibilities were thrust upon you. Yes, he had no right to conceal the information, but consider his reasons."
Harry had to admit, his godfather had a point. Dumbledore wasn't inherently evil and even though he made mistakes as all humans did, Harry could not fault that Dumbledore was good at heart and did the things he did for everyone's best interest. He nodded to Sirius and continued on through the hallway toward the stairs at the end of it that led to the upper levels of the house.
"It also generally means that marriages are arranged to the benefit of the families involved."
Harry balked at the word, marriage!? He wasn't even of age yet! But he resolved to be mature about this, his life was already tied up in Voldemort, why not take even more control off him? "So, like an alliance between houses?"
"Good," Sirius nodded in agreement, "I'm surprised you're catching on so quickly, but yes. Uniting the houses through marriage is the most surefire way to unite houses and create powerful alliances. Some Lords even ended up with multiple titles and had to take a wife for each title, giving all families involved even more power. It is not so commonly practiced these days as none of the Purebloods have had more than one title for almost a century."
"And let me guess…"
"Yes, Harry, you are the first Pureblood Lord in over a century to carry more than one title. Your full name is Harry Potter-Black."
"But, you're Lord Black?"
"Yes, but seeing as you're my heir…"
"You can name me heir?" Harry didn't know how things worked with the old wizarding families but he assumed that one had to at least be biologically related in order to take the title of a Lord for the house.
"I can, you're actually related to me distantly through my great aunt Dorea," Sirius explained, "So, it allows me to name you heir and I've decided it's time to pass my title on to you."
"Why? I don't know the first thing about being the Lord of an Ancient and Noble House and you want me to lead two!? Sirius are you bat-shit insane?"
"Funny you should mention that, Harry-" Sirius began, as if he was leading into a joke, then he changed tack, "Harry, I wasted most of my adult life in Azkaban, instead of rebuilding the Black Family as I should have done and I fear it may be too late for me to make much of a difference, you have much more time on your hands than I do and I can teach you what you need to know for this role in your life Harry, don't worry."
"So, what must I do?"
"Well, we should finish the tour of Grimmauld Place first, then we can discuss how we should move forward."
End Chapter