The Portraits

Disclaimer: I do not own anything (unfortunately)


It had taken Sirius nearly 4 hours to find the two frames he was looking for. While Harry was napping he had owled the goblins a request of inventory for the Potter vaults. Being the godfather of the only living Potter he was responsable for the Potter Family finances until Harry was of age anyway, which he took over as soon as the Ministry cleared his name last year (not that the goblins cared much anyway). It had taken just over 45 minutes to go over all of the contents of the family vault. Not even a full 3 minutes after he sat the papers down disappointed, he had heard footsteps running down the stairs. He smiled and grabbed some floo powder from the mantle above the fireplace in his study. As the footsteps got closer he slammed it down into the fireplace "The Burrow!" The fire flared a bright green and he knelt and pushed his head into the fireplace.

"Molly" he shouted.

"Hello Sirius. How are you?"

"I'm fine. I was wondering if you, Arthur, and the children would like to go out to dinner with Remus, Harry, and me? On me, of course."

"Sirius.."

"Wait Molly, before you say anything, I want you to know that Harry will be very disappointed if you say no. He's looking forward to this."

"Sirius Black your too manipulative to raise a child, you're bad habits will rub off on him! I suppose it wouldn't hurt anything, might cheer Ron up a bit."

"The Leaky Cauldron at 6:30 then."

"I'll see you there, and Sirius? Thank you."

"No worries."

Just as he was pulling his head out of the floo he heard the study door bang open.

"How do you feel puppy?" He turned briefly to see his godson's face

"'M fine, are the Weasley's coming to dinner?"

"The Leaky Cauldron at 6:30"

"What about Remus?"

"I'm just about to ask him." Harry walked over to a chair obviously intending to wait for Sirius to fire-call Remus. He plopped down in one if the padded wooden chairs behind him and jumped up just as quickly.

"Careful Harry, pillows and cushioning charms, as well as caution might be necessary when sitting." Sirius turned slightly, wand in hand and cast the said charm on the chair Harry had tried to sit on.

"I know you have a numbing potion here, can't I just have that?"

"Nope."

"Sirius."

"No puppy, you earned the sting, now drop it."

With that Sirius turned back around threw another handful of floo powder into the fireplace.

"Moony's marauder den" The house had been a graduation present from the potters. James had gotten Godric's Hollow; somewhere he could settle down with Lily and have a family. Sirius had gotten a penthouse in a nicer part of London; somewhere he could live the perfect bachelor life with girls and parties. Remus had gotten a cottage in the middle of nowhere; somewhere he could rest and relax, as well as romp around during full moon.

Harry listened to the silence for a few seconds.

"Moony!"

"Ahh Sirius, what can I do for you?"

"A great many number of things I imagine, but more to the point is what you'll do for me tonight." Remus raised his eyebrow, clearly questioning Sirius.

"You Mr. Moony will be accompanying the Prongslet, Mr. Padfoot, and the Weasley's to the Leaky Cauldron tonight at precisely 6:30 for dinner."

"Very well, is there any other orders Mr. Padfoot has for Mr. Moony?" It was fairly obvious that Remus was being sarcastic, but Sirius answered anyway.

"Yes actually, I want you to keep an eye on Harry while I run an errand. I don't need you to come over or anything, just keep an ear out, and your floo opened. I should only be a couple of hours."

"Are you sure he'll stay put?"

"Positive, we dealt with the little disappearance act this morning. It won't happen again."

"Alright my old friend, I'll see you two at dinner."

With that Sirius ended his second fire-call of the day. Harry was sitting in the chair with the cushioning charm on it.

"You're going somewhere?"

"I need to run a quick errand. It shouldn't take more than a few hours tops. Will you be ok here by yourself?"

"Yeah I'll be fine."

"I want you to stay inside, no flying about on your broom and whatnot. Floo Remus if you need anything, or if you get bored and want to annoy someone. Remember where having dinner at 6:30, it's only 3 now, but make sure you're ready by that time."

"K see you later Siri." Harry stood and walked out of the room with that, trying to escape anymore instructions. Sirius gave out a genuine bark of laughter at that threw the powder into the fireplace for the third time that day and called out an address that had not passed his lips in 15 years.

"Potter Manor!"


He had decided to search floor by floor. Potter Manor had been designed the same way most old family manors where. First floor was for impressions, to show off your status, and wealth to anyone who might happen to enter your home. Second floor was for entertaining, not as formal as the first, but still meant to show off. Third floor was for friends and family, it served as a comfortable area for those people who you truly enjoyed spending time with. Fourth floor was for immediate family only, The Lord of the manor, his wife, and their children lived there, no one else set foot on that level. Sirius had first realized how strongly the Potters cared for him when they moved his room from the 3 floor to the 4. The Fifth floor was for storage, servants and the like.

After hours of searching he had found the two wooden frames hanging on the wall on the 4 floor. They were rather beautiful frames both made of a hard black wood, and accented with silver. The people weren't in their frames, but all the same he knew it was theirs.

"Young man what are you doing?"

"Hello uncle Phineas" that's what James had introduced the man as, and Sirius had never bothered to call him anything different. The man was one of the few (the only one Sirius could think of) nastily tempered portraits in Potter Manor. James and Sirius had delighted in pranking him (well as much as you can prank a portrait). In return he had delighted in running to Mr. Potter and tatting whenever he thought he seen them doing something 'strange'.

"You're always standing about causing trouble. Don't you have something better to do? In my day all respectable men had jobs to do during the day."

"Good to see you again too. Would you mind fetching Mr. Potter for me?"

"The outrage! You, you telling me, Phineas Caster Potter to run along and fetch someone! Who do you think you are? Oh, I'll fetch him alright, and I'll be sure to tell him how horribly one of his son's turned out. No manners at all!"

Sirius chuckled a bit, that man certainly hadn't changed.

"And what exactly are you laughing at young man." The voice was deep, rich with laughter and teasing, the sharp, crisp accent of someone raised in high society. "I was having a rather pleasant conversation when Uncle Phineas came storming in. He told me that one of my ill-mannered sons had marched up to his portrait and demanded he fetch me."

"He turned around and looked at the right hand portrait. A painting of Mr. Potter stood, just the same as Sirius remembered him. Well-tailored, casual robes; a tan face that held both laugh lines and worry lines, showing off both his time as a father and his time as a politician. His hair was 3 shades darker than James', closer to Harry's almost black than James dark brown. The eye's though, his eyes where the exact shade of hazel James' where.

Sirius took a deep breath. He had never addressed Mr. Potter as he was about to. He wondered if the man stuck in the portrait would say anything.

"Hello Da." The man smiled

"Hello my son. How are you?"

"I'm alright, and you?"

"Unfortunately I'm a portrait, but other than that I'm just dandy. Where's James, I thought he would come with you when you two went looking for your mother and I.'

Sirius sucked it a breath at the pain in his chest. The Potters didn't know how could they? They had been trapped in the manor since before Harry was born. They didn't even know if their grandchild was a girl or a boy. Mr. Potter had clearly seen something was wrong.

"Just tell me Sirius. I need to know."

Sirius did just that. He told them about the little tiny baby Lily had. He told then it had been named Harry James, after Lily's father and the baby's father. He told Mr. Potter the little he knew about the prophecy. He spilled about all of the Marauders going into hiding. How they had all been so scared, and how they had switched the secret keeper at the last second. He told him of finding the body of his best friends and how Harry was crying. He went on forcing out the words, telling his tale of revenge and all the years he spent in prison. About how hard it had been hiding from everyone after he escaped. He told them of what he had learned in that time of Harry, and what he had come to know in the year sence. He told them about Harry coming to live with him three weeks ago, after Hogwarts got out. He went on and on, telling everything from what he had eaten in Azkaban to Harry's behavior, constantly putting himself in danger.

When Sirius finished he had exhausted himself, with tears on his face. Mr. Potter looked solemn.

"I'm sorry for what you have suffered Sirius. It was needless, and should have never happened. But it did and now it's over, you have people who love you to help you pick up the pieces and move on. I'm sorry for the fate of my daughter-in-law and son. A madman took their lives into his own hands and destroyed something beautiful, something that had barely begun. In this world though, nothing happens for no reason, their death's gave life to something even more important to them than themselves. I cannot tell you, in good conscience, that it will all be alright. Your no longer a child, and you know in life that there is no guarantees, that's why you laugh twice as hard over the little things. It's all tragic hardships, but it is something your generation must shoulder fully, so your children don't have to. I wish I could have done the same for you."

Mr. Potter's words brought more tears to his eyes.

"I need to talk to Dorea. To tell her what's happened. Then we will be ready to go with you to meet our grandson."

Mr. Potter walked out of his frame. Sirius sat alone quietly. After about 5 minutes of sitting quietly on the floor he looked at his watch. It was nearly 6. He got up and walked to his old room. He had a few robes left here from his last stay, and he was certain they would still fit. It took him about 15 minutes to shower and get dresses.

Both Potters where in their respective portraits when Sirius walked back into the hall. Mrs. Potter looked just like she did the last Sirius saw her. She had the Black Family coloring. Black hair pale face, the exception being her blue eyes.

"We're ready to leave when you are Sirius." Her voice was soft, feminine, and utterly aristocratic.

"Well then we'll be off. Harry and I are having dinner at the Leaky Cauldron with Remus and the Weasley's. He won't have much time to talk; we're supposed to meet at 6:30."

"We best be on our way then."

As it turned out Harry didn't have any time to talk before they left because he wasn't home. He had left a note on the kitchen table about going over to Remus's. Sirius cast 2 quick sticking charms on the wall in the living room and stuck the frame's there.

"We shouldn't be gone too long."

"Go on son." Mr. Potter made shooing motions with his hands "Your mother and I are perfectly capable of taking care of ourselves."

"Have fun dear." Mrs. Potter smiled at him gently, swatting her husband.

With a surprisingly quiet pop he apprated to Moony's house. Within 2 minutes the party of three found themselves walking into the Leaky Cauldron. The Weasley's were already there. Molly was trying to settle everyone down, and get them all seated. Arthur and Percy where talking. The twins where nowhere to be found; making Sirius quite nervous, he would be casting quite a few detection charms tonight. Ron had dragged Harry away as soon as they had arrived, probably to compare how much trouble they got into. Ginny was reading some sort of magazine, suspiciously not touching the appetizer that the staff had put in front of her.

Dinner was excellent. Sirius and Remus as well as Ginny (Sirius was sure she was in on it) and the twins had avoided being pranked. Sirius thought it very unfair that Molly had questioned the twins and himself about the prank (all the while being forced to rhyme) but not Remus, who was just as guilty as being a prankster as they were. It was 7:53 when Harry and Sirius, both laughing, Harry occasionally still spitting out a rhyme.

Harry lead the way to the living room, and flopped down on the couch. The sting from his spanking earlier in the day long faded.

"Evening lads!" Mr. Potter cried out quite jovially. Harry jumped, and spun around startled, while the other three laughed. Harry was still staring at the portraits when Sirius called back.

"Evening Da, Mum" That broke Harry from his trance.

"There your parents Sirius?"

"Harry I would like you to meet my parents in all but blood. Your grandparents, Lord Charlus Potter, and Lady Dorea Potter."

"Hush with that nonsense Sirius. He'll call me Grandmum and Charlus Granddad."

Harry decided to butt in here "There my Grandparents?"

"They are. Marvelous people; I'll leave you to talk."

"Ahh. I have much to say my dearest grandson, and I'd like to end the conversation on a high note. So if you don't mind let's get the unpleasantries out-of-the-way now."

"O-O.K." He was somewhat taken aback by his grandfathers' directness.

"That's a lad. First things first, we both love you very much, nothing could change that. You could burn us to the ground and we would still love you. Now let's start with you constantly putting yourself in danger. I don't care what Dumbledore says, what a prophecy foretells, I don't care if Merlin himself pop's up from a hole in the ground and starts singing about your destiny. You will not put yourself in danger, and on the off-chance you ignore me you should know that you will be spanked for it, just as you were today. You are a child; it is not your place to fight a war. Leave that to the adults around you. If you see someone in danger you inform an adult around you. Rushing to save them puts you in just as much danger. Do you know why your safety is so important?"

"Because I'm the savior; I have to defeat Voldemort." Harry's voice was quiet, reserved, and dead. As if repeating unpleasant words he had heard a thousand times.

"No, it's because your my grandson, Sirius' godson, Remus' nephew, Ron and Hermione's best friend. You have people who love you. This nonsense of you going running off and putting yourself in danger at the end of every year is going to stop young man, or you will find yourself spending a lot more time than you would like over Sirius' knees. I know Sirius is quite worried about the whole business, but he's new at parenting and doesn't quite know what to say, so I'm saying it for him. No more. In addition I want you to behave altogether for one more month at least, let him get used to being a parent before you go off and find mischief."

Harry's Grandmum butted in "Then feel free to prank him dear, after all he has plenty of payback coming his way. Now that unpleasant business is out-of-the-way, would you rather tell us about yourself or hear about us. Or perhaps you would like us to tell you about your dad and godfather when they were at school?"

"Tell me about them please."

Mr. Potter took charge of the conversation again "The third year incident?" Mr. Potters eye's sparkled when he ask his wife, and her's sparkled equally when she replied.

"Indeed."

"No! Absolutely not!" Sirius walked into the room with two butterbeers.

"Sirius give the boy his drink, hush up, and sit down. I have a story to tell." Sirius did as he was told with a groan.

"Foolish, utterly stupid ideal." Harry heard him mutter under his breath.


The End

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