An old friend


Sirius took a deep breath and stepped out of the green flames. His eyes took in the entire scenario in front of him, gauging any potential threats for the little boy in his hands.

"Pa'foo, where are we?"

"This is the Ministry of Magic, Harry. You stay close to me," he steadied his wand and moved to the receiving desk when the area appeared clear.

Harry looked wide-eyed at the magnificent setting. His eyes particularly fixed on the fountain of magical brethren. The statues beamed in radiance, showering the entire area in their golden light. Even though he was entranced by the sight, he didn't leave Sirius' hand nor did the little toddler push Hermione out of his mind. "Hermine, here?"

"We'll soon find out, kid," Sirius said scrunching his forehead in worry. Sirius was ready to storm his way to Hogwarts, to question Dumbledore about the sudden turn of events, but Remus stopped him. Sirius argued, but he slowly understood, he couldn't take any action with Harry in his hands. Remus said he would scour the Muggle neighborhood for any clues. Somebody would have seen something. Remus also assured he wouldn't leave the place until he found something about his goddaughter. Sirius conceded, looking at the protectiveness that flared in the werewolf's eyes, when he talked about the little girl, who meant nothing to him, until a few days back.

Reaching Grimmauld Place, his thoughts started to flow in a new direction. After assuring Harry, Hermione was safe and they both would be playing together soon, the toddler relaxed, giving Sirius some time to do a bit of research of his own. That led, his trip to the ministry of magic, where a very dear acquaintance worked. He had to agree, there is no point in hiding anymore from the Wizarding world when he was officially back in London and things started to take a nasty turn.

Reaching the desk, Sirius flashed a charming smile at the young witch behind the desk and greeted, "Hey, beautiful!"

"May I help you?" she replied with a slight flustered look.

"Most certainly," Sirius smirked. "We are here to meet Madame Bones," he said, placing Harry out of the view.

"Oh, just a moment, please," she said moving to retrieve her wand. "I will need your wand."

The woman's eyes bulged open as she saw the name that popped out of the wand weighing scale. "You're Sirius Black."

"I sure am," he said propping his hand on the desk. "Now, I was wondering, where dear Amelia is this afternoon?"

But the question seemed to have bounced off her head, as she still looked dumbfounded. "Does that mean, Harry Potter is here too?"

Sirius stopped the eye roll and pushed Harry behind him. He didn't want to create any scene and he had to divert her attention to something else before she started spouting unnecessary questions. "Sweetheart," he addressed, making her gasp. "I would like to discuss, every single detail, but not here. How about, I take you out to dinner and we can talk. But first, I need to engage in this dull but an important discussion with Madame Bones."

The Witch nodded her head with a shy smile and handed him his wand.

Sirius gave a bow and pulling Harry to his side and strolled towards the lifts, thinking, if flirting with a witch was this tedious, before?

By the fortunate stance of times, the ministry wasn't crowded and they gained access to the lifts without dragging much attention to the pair of them. Sirius hoped it would be the same case as he stepped out of the lift on the second floor directly into DMLE.

The Auror office was bustling as usual and they didn't pay any thought to the passing pair. But, as soon as he tried to get past the door of the cramped office of misuse of muggle artifacts, a large hand clamped on his shoulder.

"Sirius Black? Good Lord! Is that you?" a kind voice, that betrayed the hard grasp on his shoulder, greeted him.

He let out a sigh of relief and spoke turning towards one of the friendly presences at the ministry, "Arthur Weasley. Good to see you."

Arthur beamed at him and replied, "Surely, not as good as I felt. I didn't know you were back in Britain." He squinted and looked at the child hanging on to Sirius' feet and his eyes widened, "Is that him?"

Sirius sighed and nodded his head. Before Arthur declared his exuberance, Sirius said, "Everything's new to him. The situation could be quite overwhelming for a three-year-old, so if you could, please," Sirius said making a hand motion of zipping his lips.

Arthur nodded his head without any hesitation. "Of course, Gentle little things, aren't they?" Arthur said extending his hand towards, Harry. "Arthur Weasley, how do you do?"

Harry blinked his bright green eyes and gave a hesitated look towards his Godfather. As Sirius gave his approval, he tentatively shook the offered hand and muttered, "Harry Potter."

"You certainly seem to be a well-mannered one. I have a boy too, just about your age. In fact, he is here today. We are celebrating a unique Muggle tradition, I take pride in introducing, 'bring your child to work'." Arthur said stretching his shoulders in pride.

Harry drew his hand back slowly and shook his head and looked at Sirius. "Hermine?"

"I'm sure, your boy is a charming lad and that is a very interesting tradition. But I came to meet Madame Bones. Perhaps, we could drop by later and talk about Muggle transportation modes and lovely ladies covered in interesting clothing," Sirius said draping his hand over Harry's shoulders and whispering the last part.

"What a coincidence! Not your interest in Muggle transportation methods involving ladies, but your meeting with Madame Bones. Ron is now indeed, with her, as she's the only other one celebrating this Muggle tradition I've introduced. Let me walk you there," Arthur said moving forward, letting Sirius fall in step behind him.

But Sirius suddenly felt constricted. As far as he knew, Amelia didn't have any children. From, the knowledge he gathered, she wasn't in any relationship, either. Now, where did this child come from? Sirius' heart dropped into his stomach, thinking about the inevitable. When the time and his duties for the order, demanded to break things up with her, she never mentioned about a child. But Harry's tug on his shirt brought him back to the world and they moved forward to join Arthur.

"Madame Bones," Arthur's cheery voice erupted in the large office.

The children who were playing at one of the tables, looked at the newcomer and a small red haired child ran towards the door, "Dad!"

"How many times, should I tell you, Arthur, to call me Amelia?" the lady seated at the large pristine table, spoke, adjusting her monocle, but didn't raise her eyes from the parchments on the table.

"You'll always be Madame Bones in the office. But I will call you Amelia if you accept our Sunday lunch invitation. Molly would be delighted," Arthur said lifting up the exuberated red haired boy up to his shoulders. The girl, the little boy's playmate moved to the table and stood behind the lady of the office.

"Please tell Molly, I'm honored and I'll definitely make plans to come, with Susan," she said kissing the little girl on her cheek.

"That would be great. But that wasn't the reason, I came by now. Look, who is back in town," Arthur said moving to a side, giving Amelia Bones an uninterrupted view of Sirius and his Godson.

"Sirius Black," she gasped, dropping the quill from her hand to the table.

Sirius scratched the back of his neck sheepishly and gave an awkward wave, "Hey, Amy. Long time, no see." He took Harry into his hands and stood beside Arthur.

There reigned a pin drop silence for the next few moments, that was interrupted by a giggle from the little girl standing beside Amelia. She seemed to amused by the actions of the boy on Arthur's shoulders who was making funny sounds and imitating to chomp on his father's receding hair. Not a minute later, Harry too giggled, for the first time after their failed plans to play with Hermione.

"Your son is very charming, Arthur," Sirius said with a smile. He then gave a tentative glance at the girl beside Amelia and tried to make out any features that may give him a clue. "Such a beautiful daughter, Amy," Sirius said giving her an appraising glance.

Amelia bit the inside of her cheek but didn't say anything. "What brings you here, Black?" Her eyes moved to the boy with the infamous scar, but she didn't say anything, even though her eyes widened at the recognition.

"Well, some unfinished Business. I know only one person, in the whole wizarding world, could help," Sirius said flashing a roguish wink.

"If you think, that I'm going to help you, you're more delirious than I thought," she said dismissing him.

"Now, now, Amy, we all know, you don't really mean it," Sirius said dropping into the chair opposite her and adjusted Harry Potter in his lap. When Amelia Bones started to say something in quite a snappy tone, Sirius stopped. "Amy, there are children here. We might want to stall the foreplay."

"Okay," Arthur jumped in with an awkward smile. "Let me take care of the children, while you talk. Come on, Susan," he said beckoning to the little girl standing beside her.

"Auntie?" she asked the Amelia, who gave her a sharp nod. "Be a good girl and don't trouble Arthur."

She giggled and strolled to Arthur, gripping his hand. "I'll be happy to take care of your Godson, too," Arthur offered but Harry snuggled into Sirius, who looked clearly not pleased with the idea.

"Thanks, Arthur, But Harry's fine and I promise you, no more talk about foreplay," he said, giving a relieved wink at Amelia Bones.

Arthur slowly slipped out of the room, leaving the two to talk, with a light chuckle and a shake of his head.

"So, auntie, huh. You got me really scared for a minute there," Sirius said pushing Harry's head into his shoulder, encouraging him to relax.

"Don't tell me, you came all the way here, to talk about any probable children we may have had," she said disinterestedly. "After all that happened."

"Amy, please I need your help. The situation is too delicate." Sirius said. "No one could help me. It should be you."

"You have some serious guts to come back to me, after the way, you have behaved," Amelia Bones hissed in a lowered voice.

Sirius gave an exasperated sigh, "Whatever happened between us, did happen for a reason." He looked at the boy in his hands, who had dozed off into a slumber. "I can't give you, what you wholly deserve. There is nothing left in me, Amy. Whatever little I have left, I have to save it for him."

She sighed and dropped her shoulders. "What do you need, Sirius?"

"There's this muggle born witch, a sweet little girl around the same age as him, Harry had befriended," Sirius started.

"I may not be the correct person you need to come to if she had done some accidental magic," she interrupted.

"No, that's not what I'm talking about. Harry was supposed to meet her today, but when we went to meet her, she wasn't there."

Amelia was looking at him with a bored expression. "Sirius, I don't understand."

"For Merlin's sake, Amy. She is gone, vanished from her existence. Even her own parents don't remember her."

"What are you saying, Sirius? How is that even possible?"

"I don't know. Remus is scouring the area for any clues, as we speak."

"Why did you come to me, Sirius. You should have gone to Dumbledore."

"Think Amy. That is some powerful magic, what was done. They managed to erase her whole existence. The childhood years were gone, and their house looked barren, without any traces of any little girl that ever lived there. Who do you think could do that?"

"I would say You-know-who, but how is that possible? He was completely destroyed right. Thanks to him," she said pointing to Harry.

"I can't say anything about completely destroyed, but let's just say he's too weak to act now. Apart from him who else could have that much power?"

"Sirius, I know you have issues with Dumbledore, but I think you're wrong," she said bending forwards and taking his hand.

"Don't try to convince me. At least, not now. I know the ministry keeps records of all the magical activity from a muggle area. I want you to pull out all the records, that happened in this area in the past two weeks, " Sirius said reaching into his pockets and pulled out a parchment with Grangers' address written on it.

"Sirius, that's a punishable offense under the law. You can't ask me to do that."

"Amy, a little girl is in danger, because of her association with us. I have to save her, for his sake. Don't give me shite about offenses. You are head of the investigations department. If you can't do anything, nobody can," Sirius said.

"Sirius, you are hiding something," Amelia Bones said giving Sirius a guarded look.

"I assure you, it's nothing important. I have my reasons to not to believe Dumbledore, and I need those records. You know you can trust me."

A doubt flickered in her eyes, making his heart race. Amelia Bones was a person with strong moral convictions. She never did anything, until she believed it was right. Sirius had half a mind to step back but he had no other choice. Even if Remus found anything, it would be impossible to confront Dumbledore without any proof. He wasn't like Voldemort. Everybody loved Dumbledore.

"Okay, I'll humor you this time. But if your theory proves wrong, I won't hesitate to take you into my custody," she said narrowing her eyes.

"And I won't stop you. But I promise you, Amy, it's Dumbledore."

"Wait here. I'll need some time to get those records from the Auror office," she said getting up from her chair. She paused by the Sirius and ruffled the sleeping toddler's hair. "I never thought I would see this day, but this suits you."

Sirius couldn't agree more. Taking care of Harry, came to him, naturally. Even for a moment, it never felt like a burden. Though the loss of James and Lily gnawed at his insides, the little tyke pretty much compensated for everything. He was his life and he would do anything to ensure all his bonded friends are safe.

The next half an hour passed in an excruciatingly slow manner. As Harry was still dozing on his shoulder, Sirius stopped himself from barging into the Aurors' office. As his head started to drift off to sleep, the door opened and a fuming Amelia Bones stepped in.

"How could they do this? They kept a big incident like this under the wraps," she said throwing a parchment on the table. She moved to the cabinet at the end of the room, and began to take dusty old folders from the cupboard and unceremoniously dropped the on the floor.

"Amy, what happened?" Sirius asked, placing the boy on the chair, as he was woken up from all the commotion.

"I'm sorry, Sirius," she gave an apologetic glance but gestured him to come closer. "A spell was performed on a Muggle family. A dangerous spell. One which we haven't seen since Grindelwald."

"The dark wizard," Sirius gasped. "What has he got to do with anything? He didn't even belong in Britain."

"Pay attention, Sirius. I'm talking about a spell he used," she said pointing to a particular entry in the thick journal. "See, these were the times when he was very active. He was not like Voldemort. His methods were devious and twisted. Where You-know-who was vicious, Grindelwald was clever with a devious thinking. He played with minds of his victims. This particular spell altered their perception. The spell made them believe that they were living in their own past. Fighting with their own perception and what the others conceived, the victims were slowly driven into madness."

"That bas...," Sirius growled but stopped immediately noticing Harry's curious eyes. "I know what I'm going to do with him."

"Sirius, we're not sure if it was Dumbledore. The records only showed the magical event, not the person who cast the spell."

Interrupting their dialogue, a bright light swooped into the room and halted beside Sirius, making both the witch and the wizard to draw out their wands. But Harry clapped his hands at the bright silver wolf and cried, "Uncle Moo'y."

The Patronus opened his mouth and Remus' voice burst out of it. "Some kind of terrible magic was performed on the Grangers. An attendant at their workplace confirmed it. They started behaving oddly, overnight. But that's not it. I need you to come here, immediately."

"I have to go," Sirius rushed to Harry, who was still looking with a fascinated expression, at the wolf. "Come on, buddy. We have to go."

"Wait, I'm coming with you," Amelia said striding up to him. "But we can't take the boy. We don't know into what situation we are walking into."

"Remus would have warned us if the situation was dire," Sirius said unrelenting his grip on the child.

"I trust Remus. But that's practically the affected area. We can't take a child into it. You don't know what might be lurking there."

"I'll be there to protect him," Sirius said adamantly.

"I've been in these situations before. We might think, everything is under control, but you can never guess, what might happen in the next moment. Merlin forbid, but if anything happened to the child, you cannot survive the guilt, Sirius."

That stopped him. It would be undeniably stupid of him to take Harry with him. Damn, she was right. "What can I do?"

"Do you trust me?" she asked taking his hand.

"Of course," Sirius said without letting the hesitation show on his face.

"Then follow me. I know the correct person to take care of Harry Potter."

Sirius understood her plan as he followed her to the office of misuse of Muggle Artefacts office, where Arthur Weasley engaged his son and Amelia's niece.

"Arthur," Amelia knocked the door catching their attention. "I'm afraid I have to ask for a favor."

"Anything Madame Bones. I'm almost done for the day."

She tugged on Sirius shirt to pull him forward with Harry clutching tightly onto him. "I want to come with you, Pafoo."

Sirius smiled awkwardly at the older Weasley, "We have to attend to a situation, that may not be child-friendly. So, I was just wondering..."

Arthur didn't let him finish, "Of course. I'd be delighted."

Sirius gave a gratified smile and bent down to Harry's height. "It's going to be great, Harry. You have two new friends to play with."

"I want Hermine," Harry said adamantly.

"Very soon, buddy," Sirius assured Harry and gently pushed him towards Arthur's waiting hands.

Arthur lifted a very hesitant Harry Potter into his arms and consoled him. "We're going to have an amazing time, Harry. Susan here can tell many interesting stories and Ron knows some very fun games. And if you get bored we can go home and meet a very new pet, my other son had recently got." Harry gave a tentative nod looking at Ron and Susan, who were waving enthusiastically at him to come and join the play.

"Thank you so much, Arthur," Amelia said and turned to Sirius. "Shall we?"

Sirius, who was still looking at Harry with concerned eyes, gave a final nod and said good bye to him. He took Amelia's offered hand, following the witch's lead, all the while muttering, "I hope I'm not doing a stupid thing."


A/N: Thank you so much for all the follows, favorites, and the reviews.