A/N: Sorry, forgot about the disclaimer, should have put it back in chapter 1.

Anyways, I claim no rights whatsoever to Harry Potter and the wizarding world, they are all creative property of J.K. Rowling. All characters belong to her. I'm just playing around on her playground :).

Chapter 3: Padfoot at the Burrow

Their trip to the village was surprisingly short. Harry had suggested getting on the Knight Bus to get to the Leaky Cauldron, where they could use the floo. However, Sirius had told him people could tag along on an Apparition while somebody else did the spell, the so-called Side-along Apparition. Therefore, merely after 5 minutes, which was all it took the two to get to a muggle shop and get a map with Ottery Saint Catchpole on it, they were ready to go. After finding an empty park, they hid behind a bush, so as not to be seen, then Sirius grabbed Harry's hand and they Apparated.

Harry had never wondered what it felt like to Apparate, but he had noticed something weird about it. Last year, as he was staying with the Weasleys before the World Quidditch Cup, he had noticed something odd about Percy. Just after Apparating, he often looked on the brink of losing his last meal. Harry had never made the connection.

Until now.

As Harry and Sirius moved through nothingness, the boy felt a terrible compression. It was like steel fists pressing him from all directions, punching his ears inside his head and his eyes deep down their sockets…

Suddenly, the compression ceased and Harry felt himself falling down on wet grass. He desperately gasped for air, breathing in the chillness of the night. A nasty queasiness overtook him and he was glad he had eaten nothing for lunch.

Sirius stood above him and extended his arm, smiling sympathetically at the boy's plight.

"It packs a nasty punch the first few times. " he said as Harry grabbed his hand and stood up.

"I nearly retched all over my examiner when I passed my test."

"When did you pass your test, Sirius?" Harry asked as he looked around them. They had Apparated on the outskirts of Ottery Saint Catchpole. Harry soon realised they had appeared on the correct side, so they wouldn't have to go around the village. Discerning the road to the Burrow in the dusk, he pointed it to Sirius and headed that way. His godfather caught up with him in a moment.

"All sixth-years can start taking lessons from the spring term onwards during the weekends. Tests are usually held during the summer, though there is also a winter session if you can't manage it the first time, along with extra lessons during the first term of the seventh year."

"I aced it the first time, of course." he announced, earning himself an "I-know-you-didn't" look from Harry. Sirius faked outrage and gave Harry a light punch in the shoulder.

"Okay, alright, I may have splinched my moustache, but no one ever noticed! The examiner didn't have my picture, you see. Anyway, I still did loads better than your old man, Harry! James splinched his head at the exam! Ha! The examiner needed a Draught of Peace afterwards. And James was the "Headless Marauder" until next Christmas when he passed the test too. " the wizard laughed as he recalled this.

Although it sounded a bit gruesome, Harry couldn't help but grin at Sirius's story. Imagining himself Apparating somewhere without his head and scaring someone out of their mind sounded like a prank worthy of George and Fred Weasley.

Harry stopped dead in his tracks.

"What's wrong, Harry? Forgot the way?" Sirius asked.

"No." Harry smiled widely at the thought he'd just had. Sirius was just about to meet his spiritual successors. Over the summer, Sirius had included stories about himself and Harry's dad in his letters, hoping to let Harry know what his dad had been like. From what the boy had read so far, Sirius and James had been something like the original Fred and George, only with Lupin and Pettigrew to assist them with their every prank.

"I just thought about something… see, Ron has two brothers, Fred and George, who are just like you and dad, always driving everyone at Hogwarts crazy with their pranks. I got the Marauder's Map from them."

Sirius smiled broadly.

"Well, I can't wait to meet them. I'm eager to see if the next generation has learned any new tricks."

Harry's faced mirrored his godfather's as the two walked in the darkness. This encounter would go down in the ages. He only hoped Mrs. Weasley would be strong enough to endure.

"So, do you know how the Minister came to his senses, Sirius?" Harry asked, recalling his amazement at the article in the "Prophet" earlier that day.

"In fact, I have you to thank about all that, Harry." his godfather replied, as he squeezed the boy's shoulder.

"Dumbledore showed Fudge the memory you gave him yesterday, Harry. I don't know exactly what it was, but it apparently had Wormtail in it and the Minister recognised him. After the public statement Dumbledore contacted me and told me I was a free man. " the wizard explained, looking at his godson with great gratitude.

Harry was happy to hear that his memory had helped prove Sirius innocent, but this story brought his attention back to what had happened in the graveyard. For a moment, he could again hear Voldemort's shrill voice casting curses at him, Pettigrew's whimpers, the Death Eathers' mocks and laughs. He shuddered as he remembered the green light from Voldemort's wand, flying straight at him…

"Harry? Harry! Are you OK?" the concern in his godfather's voice brought Harry out of his memories.

"I am." he turned towards the worried Sirius.

"It's just… it wasn't a very happy memory."

Sirius frowned as it dawned on him.

"It was the graveyard memory, wasn't it?" to which the boy nodded silently. He had told Sirius all about what had happened at the end of the Triwizard Tournament in the first letter after leaving Hogwarts for the summer, so the wizard knew which memory his godson was talking about.

He stopped Harry, turned him around and held him close. After a moment he pulled out of the hug and looked his godson in the eyes.

"That was a very brave thing you did, Harry, opposing Voldemort like that. I'm proud of you, and it's no wonder you're in Gryffindor, you know. By the way, speaking about my favourite house, please tell me you won the Quidditch Cup last year, you never told me anything about that."

Harry smiled knowingly. Sirius's attempt to distract him from his traumatic experience was kind of obvious, but he decided to fall for it intentionally.

"We didn't. It was cancelled because of the tournament."

"WHAT! How can Dumbledore do that, and only because of some glorified obstacle course!" now Sirius's outrage was real. Harry chuckled at his guardian's description of the Triwizard Tournament.

On the rest of their way to the Burrow, Harry filled in his godfather on all minor events from his fourth year that he hadn't mentioned in his letter. He was really excited to hear about Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and started wolf-whistling once Harry started telling him about his romance with Cho Chang, the Ravenclaw Seeker. Though a bit disappointed to hear she had broken up with him, Sirius still had words to encourage his godson.

"Eh, she didn't know what was good for her. Nevermind, Harry, whatever you do you're still a way bigger player than James ever was, it took him seven years to make a real move on your mum. You take more after me in that aspect." the wizard joked.

"I sure didn't get the modesty from you though." Harry replied just as the two entered the Weasleys' garden. As they got near the front door, Harry raised his hand to knock but thought better after a moment, so he turned around to ask something.

"Sirius, when was the newspaper from which you got the article printed?"

"Oh, about half an hour before I came to you, Harry." the Marauder replied.

"It was a preliminary edition, Dumbledore sent it to me."

"So that means it won't actually get printed to the mass public until tomorrow?" Harry raised his eyebrow. Sirius realised where his godson was going with this:

"OK, you go in and brief them on everything, I'll wait outside for a bit."

Harry nodded as Sirius hid behind the firewood stack next to the door. He didn't want to give Mrs. Weasley a heart attack, entering her house with a man she knew only as a mass murderer after all.

He then knocked on the door.

"Ginny! Be a darling and look who's at the door, would you?" Molly's voice sounded from the inside

"Yes mum." the girl's reply could be heard as she came down the stairs. A few moments later, she opened the door and gasped with surprise as she saw who was standing in front of it.

"Hey Ginny." Harry greeted her.

"Hi Harry. Come in, don't stay in the dark." Ginny replied, before turning around and calling her mum:

"Mum, Harry's come!"

Not even a second after Harry had entered, Mrs. Weasley peeked from behind the corner of the door frame leading to the kitchen, a most surprised expression on her face. Harry felt uncomfortable. It was a bit rude of him to just pop up unannounced like that, he thought. He should have told the Weasleys he was coming. Things just happened too quickly ever since Sirius showed up on Privet Drive.

"I'm sorry to barge in, Mrs. Weasley, I probably should have told you I was coming beforehand…"

"Oh, don't talk nonsense, Harry dear, you're welcome here anytime." she beamed at him, before turning to Ginny again:

"Ginny, could you please tell the others Harry has arrived?"

The girl nodded and headed back up the staircase. Mrs. Weasley then beckoned Harry to come over to the kitchen and sit down at the table.

As always, the Weasleys' kitchen was bustling with activity. Dishes scrubbed themselves clean and different sauces emitted pleasant smells as they stirred themselves, all synchronized to the movement of the witch's wand, like an orchestra following the instructions of the conductor. Harry took a deep breath, filling his lungs with the mixture of smells. The slight tinge of old wood from the furniture around him, combined with the various odours of the various dishes, along with a small contribution from the cinder in the fireplace together formed the distinctive smell of the Burrow, which Harry loved as much as the place itself.

However, he had to admit he had also smelled an unknown element. Added to the Burrow's usual aroma was a light and airy, flowery type of scent that pleasantly tickled Harry's nose but one he couldn't quite attribute to anything.

"So, Harry, why didn't you tell us you were coming? I mean, it is a pleasant surprise and all, but it still would have been better to know in advance, in order to prepare a bed for you. " Ron's mum asked as she passed Harry a dish with a hastily made cheese sandwich, which he took with a nod of gratitude.

"I'm sorry again, Mrs. Weasley." here Harry hesitated. He didn't quite want to start with the big revelations just yet, so he decided a little omission wouldn't hurt much.

"I just kind of decided it on a whim."

"But still, I think Hedwig would have had time to fly here while you were on the Knight Bus. Surrey isn't that far away, you know, and the bus is quite busy this time of the day, so you wouldn't have reached the Burrow all that soon."

Just as Harry himself had done not even an hour ago, Mrs. Weasley had thought he would either floo to the Burrow or take the Knight Bus.

"In fact, it was only half an hour ago. I travelled by Apparition." Harry replied, mentally going over answers for the question he was sure would follow. He didn't want to drop Sirius on her just yet.

"Side-along Apparition? With whom, dear?" the witch asked, looking around just as Sirius walked into the kitchen. Harry's jaw dropped. This was just what he was hoping to avoid.

"Harry travelled with me." he answered Molly's question, ignoring the stunned state she was currently in.

"Nice to meet you, Mrs. Weasley, my name is Sirius Black. I am Harry's godfather." he introduced himself, spreading his hand forward. For a moment she just stood there looking at him, shocked out of her speech. However, she quickly regained her senses and aimed her wand at him.

"Mrs. Weasley, no!" Harry yelled, but she had already said the words:

"STUPEFY!"

White light flew from her wandtip, hitting Sirius straight in the chest and slamming him against the wall behind him, breaking a few porcelain dishes in the process. As he slumped to the ground unconscious, Mrs. Weasley ran to the staircase and screamed desperately:

"Arthur! Come down at once! It's Black! Sirius Black has broken into our house!"


"You know, this was just the kind of situation I was hoping to avoid." Harry said, quite annoyed with his godfather, after casting the Reviving Spell on him. Sirius pulled himself back up and then sat in one of the chairs.

"It's getting chilly outside, I was freezing there and you were taking your time here." Sirius mumbled accusingly as he extended his hands to the fire while Harry casted "Reparo" on all the broken plates.

Soon enough what could easily be mistaken for the march of an army was heard from the stairs, just a moment before Mrs. Weasley burst back into the kitchen, her wand dead on Sirius. She had brought reinforcements this time: Ron, his dad, Fred and George. All but Ron had their wands out, pointing them straight at the former prisoner of Azkaban.

Ron caught his mate's gaze and winced apologetically. While kind of disappointed that Ron hadn't told his family that Sirius was innocent after their third year, Harry understood that he probably wouldn't have been believed at the time. Now, however, the two had to solve this mess once and for all.

"Leave this house at once, Black, and stay away from Harry. You've caused the Potter family enough harm already." Arthur Weasley spoke calmly but menacingly.

Harry's sigh of exasperation brought the Weasleys' attention back to him.

"Mr. Weasley, Mrs. Weasley, could you sit down for a moment? Me and Ron have got some explaining to do about Sirius. Don't worry, he's not dangerous." Harry told them, as he slid the Prophet cutout on the table. The Weasley matriarch and patriarch took turns to read it, the other still holding Black in their wand's metaphorical sights. After both had read it, Harry could notice their hostility had ebbed somewhat, but they both still aimed their wands at Sirius.

"How could we be sure this isn't falsified, Harry?" Mr. Weasley asked him, only to receive an answer from his son instead.

"Because I saw him, dad. I saw Pettigrew."

Over the following 15 minutes Ron guided his parents and siblings through the events at the end of his third year, Ginny joining the rest halfway through. At the end, Harry added how he and Hermione had rescued Sirius, though omitting the use of the time turner: this secret was Hermione's to reveal.

At the end of the story, while they all still bore bewildered and slightly suspicious looks, the Weasleys finally brought down their wands and sat around the table, though still leaving the seat next to Sirius empty. Seeing they still didn't seem to trust Sirius, Harry spoke again:

"Oh, and the article you just read will be in tomorrow's Prophet. You can also ask Hermione, she also went through all that. Maybe I can write to her tomorrow."

"But you needn't, Harry, she's coming over in a few days anyway. In fact, we were planning to come fetch you in a day or two as well. " Mrs. Weasley replied. Quick to notice Harry's surprise, she clarified:

"Your birthday is in a week or two, isn't it? Well, I really wanted you to celebrate it properly for once, Harry. Ron's told me all about your muggle relatives. By the sound of it they're awful people, and I really doubt you have fun on the parties they make for your birthday."

"No way I would know that, they never make them."

Mrs. Weasley was appalled to hear that and everybody else around the table (but Harry) was also unpleasantly surprised. True, they all knew Harry had some pretty mean aunt and uncle… but not even celebrating his birthday?

"That's it, dear." Molly exclaimed, and the Weasley kids all winced instinctively as they heard her voice. She was now using her mum voice, which meant her word was law.

"I don't really care about what Dumbledore has to say; from now on I will have you here each year on the 31st of July and all the dementors in Azkaban could. Not. Stop. Me. " the witch declared, punctuating her last words by hitting the table with her fist.

Dinner was excellent as always when Mrs. Weasley did her magic in the kitchen. Harry was hooked on her treacle tart ever since he first tried it and this time it was as magnificent as ever. He also spent quite a nice time too, talking with Ron and his siblings about the upcoming school year, trying to predict whether the Quidditch Cup would be held this year and speculating about the identity of their new Defense against the Dark Arts teacher.

Only two things somewhat brought Harry's mood down. First, during the whole dinner, everyone but him and Ron would shoot Sirius this distrustful look, waiting for him to reveal his evil scheme. His godfather scoffed it off, but Harry knew he was feeling down in the dumps. Second, when Percy had come home late from work mid-dinner, he had nearly cursed the former prisoner's nose off. Only Sirius's excellent reflexes and Harry and Ron's storytelling had stopped Percy from rushing to the Ministry and coming back with a squad of Aurors.

After dinner it was time for sleep. As usual, Harry would share Ron's room. Sirius proposed spending the night in Arthur's shed, an offer the elder Weasleys gladly accepted. Harry frowned at his godfather's self-imposed exile, but realised the Weasleys still didn't trust him enough and probably wouldn't let him sleep inside anyway. After he climbed up to Ron's room, Harry hurried to the window, opened it and levitated a big heap of blankets down to the shed, dropping them right onto Sirius's head. After the two laughed for a bit, Sirius looked upwards, towards Harry, and said:

"Good night, Harry. Sleep well. And don't worry about me too much, it'll be all different when they see the Prophet tomorrow."

"Good night, Sirius!" Harry replied, before shutting the window and lying down in his bed. His godfather was right. The Weasleys would surely warm up to him once they read tomorrow's newspaper. With that thought still on his mind, he drifted off to sleep.


A/N 2: I know Harry and Cho dated in the 5th year and not the 4th, but I changed that for the purposes of this story. Another small retcon: none of the Weasleys met Sirius in the hospital wing at the end of Harry's fourth year.