Alright, so just before we start, I have an announcement to make. This is the first time I write and upload a fanfic. I have been reading them for many years now, and never thought of myself as a writer, to be honest. But sometimes I have ideas for stories that I think could be amazing, if someone else wrote them. So, tired of seeing those ideas die away, I just felt I could give this a try. I'd like to stress the fact that I am not a writer and to also point out that English is only my second language. I prefer to read fanfiction in English and I feel that writing in this language makes my story available to more people than if I were writing in Portuguese, which is my mother tongue.

I do realize there are several mistakes in my text which I didn't notice while revising and were published here. I apologize and assure you, readers, that I do try my best to avoid them, but sometimes they just go unnoticed until is too late, so please bear with me.

And also a reader left me a comment asking why I used hyphens in speech instead of speech marks. Thank you, Oliver for pointing this out. I do this because that's how you write dialogue in Portuguese, and all my writing training has been done having Portuguese as the base language. I apologize if this has been confusing for you guys, I'll try and change it from now on, even though I must confess using speech marks in dialogue doesn't come naturally to me.

I encourage you to keep commenting and giving me your opinions on the story and the writing, as this is super helpful and will surely improve my writing a lot.

And now, I leave you with the third chapter of our story, enjoy it

Roads – Chapter 3

Harry closed his hands in fists, feeling how sweaty his palms actually were. He also noticed his heart was beating faster, and even though he took steps as large as he possibly could, it was almost as if his legs couldn't carry him fast enough towards his destination.

There was just something odd about this situation, he knew. Not only was it unusual for Kingsley to contact him directly, especially on a Saturday evening, but the Department of Mysteries was also involved and Harry, as most Ministry employees, really had no business in what went on in that department. He disliked the place for all the memories it brought back, and had no plans to ever visit it again.

And yet, here he was, making his way across the Ministry atrium, towards the long hallways that would lead him to the place he once had rushed into as a boy, followed by his friends, only to be tricked, to have the people he loved hurt, or killed. The guilt was still there, weighting him down, even after all these years. How sorry he felt for what he had caused, how he wished he could go back and change things. So many losses could have been avoided if he had been more rational, if he had just…

"Harry!"

The call echoed through the green tile covered hall, interrupting Harry's train of thought and bringing him back to the present, to see Kingsley Shacklebolt standing ahead, besides a middle-aged woman, who Harry recognized to be an unspeakable from previous encounters on the lifts and halls of the Ministry, but whose name he never actually had learned. Kingsley looked worried, but also like he had control over whatever situation they had been facing and this reassured Harry somewhat. He nodded to greet them and had no time to ask questions, as Kingsley took his arm, leading Harry away from the unspeakable, down the hall.

"Harry, come with me" The minister led him around a corner, to another hallway. "I'm sorry to have interrupted your time of rest, my friend. But there has been a…" The older man was obviously lost for words, but he quickly carried on, before Harry had a chance to interrupt. "Well, something unexpected happened here at the department, and I feel this concerns you."

"Just tell me what it is, Minister. Is it a prophecy again?" Harry voiced his worst fear with little hesitance, anxious to understand what was going on. They had reached a black door at the end of the hallway, which Harry did not recognize. He was almost sure he had never been to this place before.

Kingsley rested his hand on the door knob, but didn't turn it, instead facing Harry and explaining: "There's no prophecy, Harry, don't worry. This is a new matter, entirely. We are still not sure if there's reason to be worried, but early this morning we received a visitor. I apologize; this is clearly not making much sense, let me start again." Kingsley smiled briefly and dropped his hand from the knob, taking a deep breath before continuing. "There's an unspeakable, Professor Saul Croaker, who has been working for the Ministry for several years now, perhaps you have heard of him?" Harry acquiesced and Kingsley went on. "Anyway, his work concerns the Death Chamber, and to be honest, I don't really know the specifics of his research, only part of it. Professor Croaker has been involved in a specific project for the past four years and there was an experiment he wanted to perform, which was denied by the Ministry, as we felt it went beyond the principles and interests of our kind. However, the professor ignored the department's guidelines and performed his experiment without authorization this last night."

Harry nodded, following along Kingsley's explanation but silently urging the Minister to get on to the point in which he was concerned. This was starting to sound bad again and Harry could hardly take the dread that started to wash over him. He hated that chamber and still had very vivid nightmares about losing his godfather in the veil inside it. Shacklebolt seemed to notice the young man's feelings and quickly resumed his explanation.

"The result of his experiment is that the tempering of the veil in the Death Chamber has caused someone to travel back through it, Harry".

Harry stared at the former auror and blinked a couple of times, his forehead creased as he tried not to jump into conclusions only to be disappointed. Kingsley looked dead serious, but he still nodded, indicating Harry's conclusions were true, and slowly let his lips form a smile.

"He's back, Harry. Sirius is back"

Harry moved his lips but didn't utter a sound, trying to put his rushing thoughts into words. The first question he managed to utter was "Is he the same?" And a terrifying image of an inferi came to his mind. What if Sirius was really back, but as a shadow or deviation of his former self? Harry was not sure he could take that.

"He's himself, alright. We have kept him under observation most of the day, Harry, running some tests, and as far as we can tell, he's still the same man who left us eleven years ago."

Harry couldn't believe his ears. This was too much. Tears slid down his face as he bit his fist, trying his best not to run down the hall screaming, or burst into the next room looking for his godfather. Could this really be real?

"Come, let's take a look at him, shall we? He's anxious to see you too."

Harry was trembling as he followed Kingsley through the threshold, feeling as if at any second he would wake up only to find this had been a very vivid dream. Kingsley took a step aside and Harry saw, a few meters ahead, sat on a chair and talking to a young unspeakable man was Sirius, his beloved godfather, still dressed on the very same robes from the day they had lost him, hair just as long, framing the kind and still young face, as if he had not aged a single day.

Harry's presence must have been noticed then, for Sirius turned his head toward him, his blue eyes fixing the man that Harry now was. Those eyes soon watered just as Harry's and Sirius leapt from his seat, both men smiling and striding to meet in a tight hug, which lasted for minutes and was followed by many shed tears. At last, Sirius held Harry at arm's length, studying the face of his godson, so changed by the years. The boy had been replaced by an almost exact replica of his father, if Sirius didn't know better, he could have mistaken Harry for James. Except Harry's eyes gave away more than the fact that Lily was his mother. Harry's eyes spoke of loss and pain, of a harsh past. These could never be James's eyes. Sirius could only imagine what his godson had had to go through, without his help, without his guidance. Two more tears slid down Sirius's face as he drew Harry in for another hug.

"I'm so glad you are alive! And well. I'm so sorry, Harry"

Harry was the one who took a step back and shook his head, holding Sirius still.

"No, I'm sorry, Sirius. It was my fault."

"Well, I'm sure the fault was neither of yours" Kingsley interrupted. "Just be glad you are both here now, and the worst is past us. Harry, we won't keep you long. Sirius has spent the day allowing us to run test over test to detect his condition, and as nothing seems to be amiss for the time being, we will let him go and rest for the night."

Harry nodded, still smiling and not quite believing his luck. Sirius, on the other hand seemed bothered by Shacklebolt's words.

"Don't worry Sirius, you are not a prisoner, you may come and go as you please, although we would like you to return on a daily basis at first, just for us to make sure everything is alright with you. I would also recommend avoiding public appearances for a while, you don't want the press all over you, believe me. And neither does the Ministry. There's a lot we cannot explain and we still have to deal with Professor Croaker's disregard for magical laws." Kingsley seemed genuinely worried about the situation.

It was Sirius's time to nod, as he put his arm over Harry's shoulder. "I can do that."

"Good. Harry, we'll meet on Monday morning, if you don't mind?"

"Not at all, minister. Thank you for calling me here."

"Don't mention it, Harry. I expect you are taking Sirius in tonight?"

"Yes, we'll go home now"

Kingsley approached Sirius and gave him a quick hug "It's good to have you back, mate."

"It's good to be back, mate." Sirius clapped Kingsley on the back as the two said their goodbye. Harry nodded his goodbye as well and soon Sirius found himself walking side by side to his godson, through the Ministry atrium, towards the fireplace area. It was still hard to believe so much time had passed while he was away. To Sirius, it felt as if he had been sleeping for a long time, but not as if years had gone by. It would certainly take some time to get used to this new life. He noticed the Statue on the center of the atrium had been replaced. "It seems like things have really changed around here."

Harry nodded, as he reached for some floo powder. "Some things have, yeah. We'll talk about it when we get home"

"Yes" Sirius stared at his godson some more, a big smile on his face. "So, where's home?"

"Ginny and I have a place at Godric's Hollow"

"Ginny? Really?" Sirius's smile just kept getting bigger. He quite liked the idea of Harry and the redhead together, it seemed fitting. "That's good to hear. We really have a lot of catching up to do."

"Don't worry, we will" Harry pat Sirius on the back and threw the powder in the fireplace, stepping into it and shouting "Potter residence", and finally twisting in green flames. Sirius followed suit and soon disappeared in the flames, leaving an empty hall behind him.