AN: I´m back and I bring the second chapter with me, isn´t that great? No really, enjoy the chapter and Review my dear readers.

Now I would like all those who have favorited, followed or reviewed. You´re what makes any writer happy and keeps me working. So thanks guys. And now, on to the story.

Disclaimer: I own nothing, nada, niente, nichts ...


Sirius Black was exhausted. Not simply tired, more like emotionally exhausted. After all, he had just found the remains of his brother´s house, with James and Lily dead. Then he finds out, that somehow Harry had survived the whole thing and was now … protected by a strange boy. Yes, emotionally exhausted sounded just right.

But not only that, despite the conflicting emotions, there was also the problem of the headache he was getting. This headache came from too much thinking, he was sure of it. After all there was not much to do, besides thinking, while Sirius sat on a transfigured couch in Dumbledore´s office and waited for the Headmaster and Remus to appear. So he sat there, besides the two boys he had promised himself to protect, and thought about how Harry could have survived the whole ordeal and most importantly how this boy was involved in it.

When he first had seen the boy holding Harry, he had been relived, but on the same time extremely tense and suspecting. That´s probably what you get, for fighting in a war, where you don´t know who´s friend or foe. But now, that he had time to think about the things he had seen earlier, Sirius was sure, that this boy had good intentions. After all, the boy had constantly made sure that Harry was safe and sound, while he was extremely exhausted and he also looked a bit … lost. And seeing such a young boy protecting his godson, despite his own well-being, had stirred something in Sirius that he hadn´t known before. Protective instinct. So he had sworn himself to watch after both boys till this whole mess was somehow resolved.

But with that matter resolved and his emotions calmed a bit, Sirius had nothing left to do, but to ponder what exactly and how all this had happened. Of course there was also the hand on the shoulder for Roxas and the rocking of Harry, whenever one of them seemed to have problems to sleep. Sirius didn´t really think about what he was doing and when he noticed that he was – effectively - helping the boys to stay asleep he nearly laughed out loud. 'Prongs is probably laughing about me right now and Lily coos about how sweet of a picture those two are.'

It was at that thought that Sirius started to cry, the whole gravity of the situation had just hit him. How was he supposed to go on? How was he supposed to do this? He just didn´t know anymore …

And just when he was about to reach a breaking point, he felt a small hand on his arm. Looking over he saw through misty eyes that Roxas had woken up. Sirius used his other arm and hand to wipe his, but still the tears didn´t stop. Roxas noticing that passed Harry on to Sirius and after that hugged Sirius as strong as he could. Sirius sat there shell-shocked, tears still streaming down his face, a small bundle of blankets with Harry within in his arms and another young boy dangling from his side.

That´s how he would go on. After all he had promised – no sworn, to protect these boys and right now said boys were comforting him as best as they could. He knew it would be hard. He knew that life wouldn´t be perfect. But he also knew that he would lay down his life for those two. And just like that a strange boy by the name of Roxas and his godson Harry had wormed their way into his heart.

If later asked, Sirius would never know how long they sat there comforting each other. He didn´t know if it was little Harry closing his hand around his finger or Roxas falling asleep while hugging him that had stopped the tears. But he knew that no matter what, he would protect those two.

It was to that picture, that Albus Dumbledore and Remus Lupin appeared through the Floo. A smiling Sirius, with tear strains on his face, holding some blankets, that held young Harry Potter and a young boy with blond spiky hair, who was hugging Sirius from the side, with his head on Sirius' leg and soundly asleep. It was, as Remus later admitted, one of the strangest, but at the same time most comforting sight.

Albus surveyed the sight and quickly noticed some things others may have overlooked. For example, the clothes the young boy wore were most interesting, to him at least. A full-length black coat with a hood and a waist-high slit going up the back (similar to a duster). It had a large silver zipper that fastens at the top and zips down to seal the coat. Together with black boots and fingerless gloves and two-colored pants; the legs of his pants were beige with several of what looked like buttons on the hem that appeared to attach the legs to the rest of the cloth, which were dark-colored.

When none of the occupants of the room reacted to their entrance Albus decided to clear his throat – loudly. Sirius looked up and Roxas opened his eyes, while Harry thankfully stayed asleep. While Roxas sat up straighter, Sirius handed him Harry and stood up to greet his old friend. While the two friends greeted each other, Albus was more interested in this strange boy and thus decided to try a bit Legilimency on him. The moment he attempted to do so, he felt a head-splitting pain in his head, but it quickly subsided again when he stopped his attempt on the young boy. 'That ought to be interesting' was one of the more prominent thought´s going through Albus' mind while he nursed an upcoming headache.

Once Remus and Sirius had greeted each other, by a one-armed hug, Remus stepped back and looked Sirius over. Then he said "Sirius what happened? You seem fine, but say, I heard about Lily and James, surely it can´t be true?"

Sirius heaved a heavy sigh and walked back to the transfigured couch and sat down beside Roxas. Then he looked up and both Albus and Remus could see the unshed tears in his eyes. He spoke in a voice full of regret and sadness. "Remus my old friend, it is true. And I feel like I´m responsible." He sighed again and closed his eyes for a moment, when he reopened them he had a far off look. "I suggested James to choose Peter as his Secret Keeper, while I would play the decoy. Today … or more likely yesterday by now, I visited Peter´s hideout. There were no signs of him and no signs of a fight, but I still got suspicious. When I couldn´t find him, I decided to visit James and Lily to make sure they were okay … what I found were ruins. Remus they´re … they´re dead…" At this point Sirius choked up and tears started to spill from his eyes again. Seconds later Roxas was half hugging him, with one arm, while holding Harry with the other.

"It is not your fault Mr. Sirius. James and Lily trusted you … all of you and it is neither your, nor their fault. It was Voldemort and Pettigrew who did this. Please, don´t beat yourself up for this."

Sirius himself closed his arms around both boys and after some minutes the tears stopped flowing. It took another few minutes till Sirius released both boys and looked back at the two men. "Please, Dumbledore we need to send someone after Peter, we need to bring that rat to justice. I would do it myself, but you see…" He looked back at the boys and Dumbledore got the message.

Without another word the old Professor conjured a Patronus, in Phoenix form, and send it out with word to the other Order members to go after Pettigrew. With a final nod, Dumbledore sat down on the chair behind his desk.

Remus was far too agitated to sit down himself and instead decided to pace the office. While doing so he decided to ask the question, which had been on his mind since he got the Patronus from Sirius. "What happened there?"

For some moments it was silent in the office, if you overlooked Remus' pacing and Harry´s little snores of course, till a small voice answered him. "I think I can explain that." It was Roxas.

Immediately Remus stopped pacing and looked at the boy. He managed an embarrassed grin before he said "I´m sorry young man, I wasn´t aware that you … Well never mind. But where are my manners, I am Remus, Remus Jonathan Lupin."

Dumbledore who had stayed silent till now, decided now was a good moment to add his two cents. "Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, at your service young man. And who are you if I may ask?"

Roxas looked a tad bit uncomfortable, and answered, still in a small voice, without looking up. "The name is Roxas Ansem …" Here he hesitated and got a small flush in his cheeks. "Well, I don´t really have a surname. Sorry." Then he sniveled a bit and Sirius immediately noticed the small tears coming from Roxas' eyes.

He didn´t know why he did it, but it just felt like the right thing to do, and so Sirius placed an arm around Roxas shoulders and said "Hey there, no need to be sad. If you want to we can share my last name. It´s a bit used, but I think 'Black' would go nicely with your name." He added a small smile at Roxas and immediately the boy brightened up.

"Really Mr. Sirius?"

Sirius gave a small laugh, before he nodded his head and said "Of course, but under one condition. You have to call me Sirius or Padfoot. OK?"

Roxas seemed extremely eager and nodded his head very hard. Then he beamed at Sirius and said "Thanks Sirius." He looked back at the other two men and still with a big smile on his face, he said "The name´s Roxas Ansem Black, got it memorized? Oh, and I´m four years old, I think."

Remus had watched the scene with great interest and pride, it seems Sirius was finally maturing enough and the way he was taking care of the boy … Still he would have a talk with Sirius later on, giving Roxas the name 'Black' was an equivalent to adopting him, while Remus didn´t doubt that Sirius could handle it if he really set his mind on it, he still like to make sure. But first this mess had to be sorted out. With a smile at Roxas he said "It´s nice to meet you then Roxas. Now, you said you knew what had happened. Could you tell us?" Remus had made sure that his voice was nice and gentle, because if the boy really saw what had happened there he could very well have a trauma.

Roxas was thoughtful for a moment, before he looked up and gave a nod. "I think it all started a bit over four years ago. At March the 8th 1977, Lily, well at that point in time, Evans made her first successful summoning of a guardian spirit. I think it was a Celestial Spirit, but I´m not really sure." Roxas took a look around and saw all three men listening intently and a quick look down, confirmed that Harry was still asleep. Good. He continued "At that point many things were set in motion, one of them being my … well you could call it 'creation' ..."

At this point Albus took a sharp breath and said "It can´t be! You mean to tell me…"

"Sorry Mr. Dumbledore, but please don´t interrupt I will come to it. On that day I first got a glimpse of Lily´s life and I can still remember how happy she was when she had managed the summoning. After that I got glimpses of her life from time to time whenever she was extremely happy, sometimes when she was scared or sad as well. But it were only glimpses foggy pictures from the greatest moments of her life, but still I was aware of myself and my … 'life' was good. And then last night happened. I knew something was wrong when I, for the first time, could hear James' thoughts. It had started only moments before he had died and in the end I tried to assure him, that I would do everything in my power to fulfill his last wish. Protect Harry. Seconds later it was like a switch had been turned and I suddenly found myself in Lily´s mind, also only moments before her end. She … she had used her last moments to prepare a very old and forgotten ritual. It probably is unknown to you but I will still tell you that it is called Key of Destiny. A summoning ritual, which essentially summons a-"

At this point Roxas stopped and stood up from the couch. He stretched out his left arm and in a flash of light a giant key appeared. With some imagination you could call it a sword with a hand guard, but the design was very strange to most people. The whole blade was in silver and black; the main part of the blade was a curved, notched blade in silver-gray with a noticeably sharp edge; the hand guard and handle were black. But the real specialty of this sword were the so-called teeth at the top of the blade, which marked it as a Keyblade. A chain connected the handle of the blade to the Keychain, the same one Lily Potter had used for the ritual, which was a silver, notched cross.

Several gasps accompanied the summoning of Roxas' Keyblade and with a sigh Roxas dispelled the weapon again. He sat back down on the couch and proceeded to tell the stunned adults his story. "Like I said, it is a Summoning Ritual and essentially it summons a Keyblade Wielder, someone like me. Lily summoned me to protect Harry, which I still intend to do by the way, I appeared when Voldemort fired the Killing Curse, blocked it back at him with the Keyblade and he vanished. End of the story. Now could you please stop gaping, it makes me shiver."

To his credit Sirius was the first to recover from this tale. He shook his head once and placed one of his arms back around Roxas' shoulders, while the other arm still held Harry. He leaned down and whispered in Roxas ear "Quite the tale Rox, but it changes nothing okay?" He gave Roxas a small smile and the young boy practically launched himself at Sirius. Sirius had of course noticed how uncomfortable Roxas had been while telling his story and while he may had sounded like a far older men while emotionless telling the story, he was still a young boy and obviously liked to be treated just normal. He had anticipated Roxas behavior and was more than ready - and happy - to return the hug with one arm. After some moments Roxas let go of him and sat back down normally, Sirius of course placed Harry in Roxas arms, because he knew Albus Dumbledore quite well and knew this situation could get … let´s say serious.

It took some time for Remus and Albus to comprehend and accept the story they had just heard, but once they were at this point, things could have gotten messy. However, Remus decided to finally sit down on a comfortable looking chair and crossed his arms in front of his body, a completely peaceful position, not that Sirius ever thought otherwise. Albus took a bit more time, probably going over every possibility and every change this new situation brought. When he finally had enough of his musings, and Sirius was getting highly nervous from the waiting, he placed his elbows on his desk, interlinked his fingers and placed his chin on them – a resigned, but peaceful, posture.

Once both men were calm again, Sirius spoke up. "Headmaster, surely you have already thought about this, but I think I will make it clear. I will take Harry and Roxas with me, they can live with me for as long as they want."

Albus heaved a deep sigh, before he said "I´m sorry Sirius, but I don´t think this would be wise and thus I cannot allow it. Harry will have to life with his last living relatives and I think the Ministry – especially the Department of Mysteries – would like to have a word with young Roxas, before this day ends. So no, you will not-"

He would have said more, but quite frankly Sirius had enough of this. "Enough of this!" Sirius boomed and Roxas actually winced at that point. Seeing this Sirius brought his voice back under control and continued in a much calmer, but none the less determined, voice. "I am Harry´s Godfather, as simple as it is and thus I will take him with him. One way or the other… And when it comes to Roxas, I already gave him my last name and now I will give him a home on top of that. I know Albus, you only want the best for everyone, but just for this once do what your heart tells you to do. Can´t you see what would happen to the boys when we would do what you suggested?"

"Sirius I already said I´m sorry and I say it again, for I can´t see how this could go bad for the boys. My decision stands."

Remus had watched this … discussion most interested, but of course he had been thinking and he actually came to the same conclusion as Sirius. He knew how the Ministry worked and about the Dursleys he had heard some things from James. Sirius is right, better him than them. "Albus, please think again. You know how the Ministry works, that can´t be good for such a young boy. And when it comes to Petunia Dursley, well James told me some things about that family and I would never allow Harry to live there if I had something to say."

"Remus, Sirius you both may be right, but you miss the greater picture, this has to be done. For the greater good."

For some moments everything was silent. Albus waited for the other two men to agree to his decision, like everyone did, after all he did it for the greater good. Remus, while thinking about what Dumbledore had said, was also shocked that the man could be so … stubborn. Sirius was silent because of his anger, how could this man dare to look at his (?) boys and see sacrificial lambs for the greater good. How dare he!? Harry, while awake, was rather comfortable in Roxas' arms and thus stayed silent for now, but of course he wondered where his Mom and Dad were.

And Roxas, well he wasn´t really silent, he just prepared himself for something he really didn´t want to do. "Mr. Dumbledore, I want to live with Sirius and I think it would be good for Harry too. And if you … don´t … back down, well maybe I have to find someone who still knows about the Ancient Magic …"

The statement was vague and left pen, but Albus wasn´t fooled. This young boy knew about the rules and magical properties of a Keyblade and its Wielder. Albus of course knew them too, it was a very old magic, engraved in the depths of this planet and forgotten by most. But still these rules were binding and if this young man decided to arouse them, then not even he could do something against it. Better to back down it seems …

"Very well, you made your point young Roxas. If it is your wish to live with Sirius, than who am I not to grant it. And of course you were right Sirius, he is your Godson and thus it is only right that Harry lives with you." The other occupants of the room, minus Harry, beamed at each other, before they looked back at him. "Now there is still the question of living arrangements …"

Dumbledore would have said more, but Harry decided now was a good time to make himself known. After a long conversation with Uncle Siri and Uncle Moony and many tears from Harry, the situation had been explained to the young child, more or less at least. Since then he hadn´t let go of Sirius and Roxas.

When it came to the living arrangements, Sirius decided to take Dumbledore up on his offer to arrange something in exchange for a favor. Something turned out to be a nice two-story house near Ottery St. Catchpole, on a piece of land that belonged to the Dumbledore family. Sirius knew why Dumbledore had chosen this place, but he was okay with the extra protection of other 'light' families and moved in with his two boys nearly two weeks after that fateful day, which had cost him his brother and sister, but had given him two 'sons' to look out for.

Sirius knew that things would be hard in this makeshift family, but he had sworn to help and protect the boys, no matter how hard it would be. But for now "Let´s unpack boys." Sirius said with a big smile to his two favorite boys after they had made a little tour through the house.

"Okay Sirius" came the smiling answer of both boys in choir.

Yes, life would be good. Hopefully …


AN: Next chapter will have a big time skip and actually start the story, in the summer before Harry´s first year. Well till then dear readers.