Disclaimer: I do not unfortunately own Harry Potter or anything that is associated with it.

Chapter Two: A Startling Surprise

Sirius Black sat in his cell with his head buried in his hands. He couldn't believe that this was happening. Lily and James were dead, Peter was a traitor, Remus hated him and thought him the traitor, and he had been wrongly accused of mass murder and condemned to life in Azkaban. Thinking about his friends, or one time friends as now they were either dead, or as good as dead to him, Sirius's mind began to wonder to their days at Hogwarts. Things had seemed so simple then. It had just been the four of them. Four pranksters that had decided to call themselves the Marauders. Four friends that had grown to become the most popular boys in Gryffindor and eventually all of Hogwarts.

He chuckled as he remembered how close he and James had become. After they had decided to become friends, they had also become inseparable. It got to the point that the younger students actually thought that they were brothers until…

Slowly, the image of Remus began to wonder into his mind. He could still see him as he had looked as a young boy at Hogwarts. It had always puzzled Sirius that Remus had looked so worn out and tired all the time, so he was not all that surprised when Remus had decided to fill his friends in on his secret. After all, it did make quite a bit of sense. It explained why he avoided his friends at certain times of the month, why he was always in the infirmary, and it explained his appearance. Thinking of Remus only saddened Sirius. He knew that his friend was out there all alone and blaming him for something he had not even done.

He and Remus were the only ones left. He wanted so badly to explained to Remus that he was innocent. He didn't want his only remaining friend to believe that he was a murderer, or worse, that he would ever betray Lily and James. James had saved him. Sirius had always known that he was nothing like his family and growing up in that house was unbearable. When he and James had met on the train, Sirius instantly found someone that he knew he could be close to. He knew he had found someone that would understand him. He had found a brother; He'd finally found his true family.

Sirius wanted Remus to know that he would never betray James. He wouldn't kill the first bit of family he had ever had. He would rather of died, then give away James' location.

Sirius cursed Peter loudly when the image of the rat came to his mind. He was barely able to contain his anger. Peter was suppose to be their friend! He was suppose to be a brother! How could he turn against them? How could he just hand over his friends like that? If it hadn't been for Peter none of this ever would have happened. Lily and James would still be alive and he wouldn't be spending the rest of his life in a damp dark cell, surrounded by wizards that actually deserved to be in this place.

Lying down on the dirty, uncomfortable cot that was located in the corner of his cell, Sirius began questioning himself. How could things have gone so terribly wrong? If they had been so close friends at Hogwarts, then how could things have turned out this way only years later? Sirius began to wonder if he would ever feel whole again. It was at Hogwarts that he had first learned the meaning of family. His friends had become his family and he saw Mr. and Mrs. Potters as his own mother and father more than his biological ones. To him, family was where you were loved and you loved back, not by blood. Blood meant nothing to Sirius. With James and Lily dead, Sirius didn't believe that he would ever feel loved again. The world now hated him for a crime he hadn't committed and everyone that had once loved him was either dead or thought he had betrayed them.

And what about Harry? What would Harry think of him? Would he grow up thinking that his godfather was a murderer? Or would he even know he had a godfather? Would he blame him for the death of his parents? These haunting thoughts ran through Sirius's mind as he finally drifted off to sleep.

When Sirius awoke the next morning, he instantly knew that something was definitely different from the previous night. When he looked to the left, he could see that a group of at least twenty people were huddled together close to two of the larger cells. From what he could see, which wasn't much considering other cells were blocking his view, these people, who looked and behaved like ministry officials, were placing charms on two of the larger cells. It also appeared as if they were planning on knocking out the middle wall and making the two cells into one big one.

Sitting back down on his cot, Sirius thought about what these people might be doing. No matter how much he thought, he just could not come up with any reason why someone in Azkaban would need charms and a cell of that size. Wasn't one of the points of Azkaban to make prisoners feel as uncomfortable as possible? The small cells, the horrible cots, the lack of heat, and the dementors? That all made sense, but what these people were doing contradicted all of that. They were making the cell bigger, placing charms that ranged from cleaning charms to warming spells. What amazed him most, however, was that there was not a dementor in sight. What was the point of placing someone in Azkaban if you were going to repel the dementors?

Getting back up, Sirius decided that since there was nothing else that he could do in his cell, he might as well watch the people as they worked. Maybe, he reasoned, he could figure out just what they were doing. All day he watched them, yet he couldn't figure out what they were doing nor what they planned to use the cell for. He heard his name mentioned a few times and occasional glances were thrown his way, but he figured they were just discussing what they believed he had done. After all, he had been thrown into Azkaban only yesterday.

By the time they had decided to go home for the night, the cells they had been working on looked completely different. In fact, if you had not known that there had been two cells there in the first place, you would never have been able to tell. It now looked like a small house where two or three people could live comfortably. The cell bars had been knocked out and replaced by walls, a bathroom had been installed, as well as a kitchen, and windows and doors had been placed on the newly installed walls. Still mystified by what was going on, Sirius fell asleep not knowing that all his questions would be answered the next day.

- x -

Albus Dumbledore sat in his office, baby Harry in his arms as he leafed through book after book. He had been searching nonstop for the last two days, yet he could not find a single spell that would break the one that Lily and James Potter had used to bind their will. If he did not find something by tonight, then this precious little baby would have to spend the next eleven years of his life living within the walls of Azkaban and in a little house with his godfather that had caused his parents death. Truth be told, Harry might not ever get to go to Hogwarts if he was raised by Black. After all, the will did say that Harry could only be taken from him if he gave permission.

No, Albus told himself. He could not and would not allow this child, the savior of the wizarding world to live in such a place with a mass murder. With that thought in mind, he placed the child back into his carrier and began searching once more for a counter spell.

For hours and hours Albus searched. He stopped for nothing. Food, water, the bathroom. None of that mattered. All that mattered to him was finding something that would save Harry Potter from living such a horrible life. However, when the clock struck nine o'clock, young Harry and his carrier magically disappeared and Albus knew that he was out of time. There was only one thing left for him to do, he told himself. And that was to go to Azkaban and beg Sirius Black to release Harry Potter from his care.

-x-

Once again, Sirius Black awoke to find ministry officials at the cell, which could now be called a house. This time however, they were not fixing up the 'house', but were instead bringing in various household items. Including a refrigerator, a stove and a bed. He continued to watch as they brought more and more furniture into the house, but he received the surprise of his life when he saw two men carrying in a crib. The crib was followed by boxes of toys, baby food, baby books, and a changing table. Who in there right mind would allow a baby to live in Azkaban? He didn't know what to think. All he knew was that this was not the place for a child to grow up. A child deserved a to live in a nice loving home with his or her mother and father, not a prison like Azkaban.

Deciding that he had seen enough for the day, Sirius sat in the corner where he soon was lost in thought about the things he had witnessed the past few days, the death of Lily and James as well as the loss of Harry, and his Hogwarts days. The baby items had reminded him of Harry, but he tried his hardest to push the baby from his mind. His godson would never know him and that thought was just as painful as his best friend's death. He remained in the corner and would have probably stayed there much longer, if he had not been brought out of his thoughts by one of the ministry officials that had been working in the house earlier that day.

"You are Sirius Black, am I correct?" He asked in a nervous kind of way.

"No, I'm Paul Shay," Sirius answered sarcastically and the man gave him a strange look before he proceeded in opening Sirius's cell.

"I would appreciate it you just cooperate Mr. Black. I'm sure you don't want to deal with me just as much as I would rather not deal with you. Now please follow me and no funny business or I will be forced to stun you," he answered as he led Sirius toward the house. Once they reached it, the group of people cast several spells on him. Some of which cleaned him up and others that were commonly used to check for weapons or anything that could be a danger to the people around an individual. After they were all done, the guy that had brought him over opened the door and began to speak once again.

"Go inside and sit down. Someone will be in later to discuss what is going on, if things do not go the way we planned. However, if everything goes the way that it is suppose to, you will be removed from this house and placed back into your cell where you will carry out your sentence like you deserve." The guy said as he pushed Sirius into the house and closed the door.

Once inside, Sirius sat in a chair near the door in a confused state. He had no clue what was going on. What was he doing in this little makeshift house and what plans was that guy talking about? Why was he involved in any plan that the Ministry was making? Sirius, however didn't have much time to wonder what was happening, for he was only in the house for about seven minutes when he suddenly felt something land on his stomach and heard a soft giggle. That giggle, Sirius knew very well. It was the same giggle that Harry had whenever Sirius played with him. Slowly looking down, Sirius saw the smiling face and shining emerald eyes of his godson and slowly he smiled back.

A/n well that is all for chapter two. Sorry if it was a bit boring, but there wasn't much that I could really do to make it more interesting.

Please review and let me know what you thought of this chapter.

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