I'm afraid there is not as much Harry in this chapter, there is a little, but not as much, anyway, I do hope you enjoy and review

Dark memories – He still had to catch the one person he truly wanted to make pay, but he had no idea how to do that because he had no idea where he was. Just thinking about that filthy rat made his blood boil, 'kill him... kill him...kill him!' It was a never ending mantra, but he couldn't, because he had disappeared. Still, he was a coward, he would not be a problem until the dark Lord rose again – if he ever did, but it seemed likely, it may take a decade, but it would happen eventually, he was sure of it. Perhaps when he felt ready he could pay Dumbledore a visit, or even face Azkaban again. The law was too soft on death eaters, the people in that hell hole needed to die or be kissed, they deserved it. He was going to ensure it; after he made sure everyone in there had gotten a fair trial.

As expected, he was still being hunted, hell he'd practically given the minister permission, the dangerous murderer that he was, but he noticed the number of aurors on him had mysteriously dwindled. He did however just take down Lucius Malfoy and they wanted to know how. He figured that they wanted to capture him and let him go officially after answering their questions. He was not planning on playing by their rules, but if they did not declare him free once he caught the rat, and he was sure that was going to happen if he had to level the sewers, then he would just pay the minister a little visit. He would be a fool not to clear him of all charges though, because once the press got out he might be sacked. He'd be expected to grovel, that might be why he's trying to kill him now, they were already corrupt, why not be dark too?

He was going through some drawers in his old room because Kreacher had managed to get it into a somewhat liveable condition for something other than a flobberworm. While he preferred to stay in the master bedroom or Regulus' old room or the playroom so he could be with Harry, Kreacher had put most of his newly acquired belongings in here as a storage room more than anything else. Now that he was the Lord of all the Black estates he thought he should at least know of all his belongings. As the family had never left a will, it all went to him as next of kin, his father had backed out of disowning him once Bellatrix became insane and Narcissa married a controlling arsehole who considered all she owned, including herself – his.

Kreacher had made him aware of all the estates that he owned, which were not very numerous but modest living, in Black terms anyway, had left him with a lot of money, but he did not know about all of his possessions. In the master bedroom were all of the jewels his mother and father owned along with clothes that were quite nice but a bit old fashioned and held a blue and green theme where as he preferred Black and Gold. He'd already enjoyed wearing Gold along with red, being the hardcore Griffindor he was, wearing Black was a newfound pleasure derived from his stay in hell. Black and gold, a mixture between Slytherin and Griffindor colours, because one could not spend time in Azkaban and go through what he did especially with Gate Master, even if he did get his revenge, and still remain the avid Griffindor he had been.

As he rootled through the doors his hands fell on a leather spiked collar. James had given it to him when he was eighteen as a sort of joke birthday present. He had also brought him polish, a new leather seat and three years' worth of insurance for his flying motorbike as a real birthday present. Indeed, while his parents were still alive, he had no money and had been living off James' family, so that was well received. A fond smile came to his lips as he fondled it, he had laughed for days, and when James' birthday came around days later he had brought him a kilo of venison meat, which they ironically fervently enjoyed, barbecued the next day. Oh yes, they may have been marauders, working as a team and were loyal to each other, or so he had thought, but they had no qualms against harmlessly pranking each other.

It had never been worn, obviously, it was two small anyway, he was a very large dog after all. He stroked each spike and then a thought came to his mind. A rather small man of 65 entered his mind who had arthritis and rheumatism and a passion for hurt animals. He still had not visited and paid Arnold back like he vowed he would and that thought was embarrassing. He was probably heartbroken about losing his dog as well, a dog that had robbed him. He thought of leaving a pile of money and/or valuable items in his house but he was not senile. If he was he would just accept them, not knowing they were not his and could be stolen and therefore incriminating in his possession, if he even remembered him at all.

As he was reading the paper he could not help but notice that they were looking for him more frantically than ever. It was no more than he expected of Fudge and the ministry but it displeased him all the same. While he was a convict he was scarier so he was not all that bothered by clearing his name until he had the rat and the ministry could think what they want of him, he did not care. What he did care about was what his old mentor Moody thought of him. Moody had been the one to make him into the exceptional warrior he was now, without Moody he would not be an auror. Even with Azkaban happening he would be as good as he was, it was all very well having a huge well of power but it meant very little if you could not use it.

He hated himself for it but deep inside he cared about what Dumbledore thought of him too. He always would care, Dumbledore had been like a grandfather to him and he had been lacking in the parent department until he met the old man. There was Minnie too of course but he wanted her love more than he wanted her respect. He did not want to prove himself to the ministry he was right and he did not need to run from them, they'd never find him. No, he smiled, this was the perfect opportunity to prank them, he had the property, it was the place he'd bought for Remus' transformations after they left school, that would be perfect. It had no dark creatures or questionable artefacts in it. It was trashed up but it would be fine for a couple of days, it was only a prank after all.

Harry had been getting fitter over the two weeks he'd been with him, he enjoyed going on walks with him in the woods and in the town of muggle and magic communities. Harry was happy with magic displays and barely even flinched in surprise as Sirius waved a hand over himself to change himself into a man with lighter brown hair, green eyes and just an inch or two taller. He had not made vast differences but he did not need to, a simple glamour was fine for outings and just properly groomed he looked so different from the pictures of him it was not needed to create a new person. Harry also needed very little work, covering the scar was the main thing and that was it, there was no need to change his son, he loved him as he was.

They were in a muggle community at the moment, shopping for clothes as Harry had finally gained the confidence to pick things out. He'd been too timid to even say anything before, and while Sirius was sure he'd be happy with anything that fit, Sirius wanted to spoil him and that meant getting him the things he wanted. It was quite satisfying to see the boy wearing his clothes, it made him his miniature, and Harry did look a lot like him in his original form, with their hair, would be stature without the malnutrition and the personalities too – but that was another matter. Still, the child could not wear black slacks for the remainder of his childhood. He wore black because of the newfound fondness for his surname and the Gate Master incident and if he had his way, Harry would never find himself in such a position.

Harry was looking at socks, he seemed to be far more interested in things like socks which did not have holes in and underwear that stayed up by themselves and not having to use string or a tight belt with his trousers than anything else. He remembered the socks Harry had been wearing when he found them had had a total of thirteen holes on them and he was wearing underwear that obviously belonged to his whale of a cousin. The first time he took him to a clothing department four days ago, Harry had run out of the cubicle wearing nothing but his underwear to proclaim loudly and proudly that his underwear were clean and fit him. Luckily he managed to bustle him back into the cubicle before too many people turned around.

After that he thought it best to remain in the cubicle with Harry while he was changing. He was only four, he did not know much about dignity, and he could only just dress himself as it was. Still, he could not be blamed; he was rather new to this parenting thing. As expected, Harry thought nothing of it and seemed to appreciate the help offered in dressing himself, the man was reminded he'd never been shown nurture like this before, not that he could remember anyway. Sirius was still left to picking out his tops, and after realising Harry showed slightly more than indifference to the colours of black (probably because he was used to it), orange, gold, red, green and silver, he stuck with those. The Griffindor streak in there made him proud, however, he had the Slytherin colours in there too, strange, he was both – like him, a Slythindor.

It turned out that muggles had the equivalent of Fortesque's ice cream, just not as many flavours or toppings. Harry chose fudge, and then spent the whole time asking for bits of his choice Phish food, the best choice by anyone's standards. The two males had an insatiable sweet tooth which made Sirius nothing less than proud, because you were not right in the head if you did not have at least part of a sweet tooth at some point in your life. Sirius was reminded of the time when he and Regulus were kids; Reg would have to hide his sweets from his brother, as not even the oldest, mustiest chocolate Santa was safe from him. The facts were much the same now, but he did not have anybody to steal from.

To date, the only thing Sirius consumed which was unsweetened to the point most normal people would wince at, was cocoa. He was unsure why he preferred the thing with the bitter twang instead of about five sugars, indeed that was how many Harry requested before he discovered hot chocolate which only required two before he was satisfied. He sipped his cocoa while Harry had his hot chocolate to combat the brain freeze from their recent ice cream eating contest, something Sirius had let Harry win. Sirius picked through the bags and wrapped a blue and golden scarf around his son's neck when he noticed the weather had taken a sudden dip and Harry was still entirely too thin for his liking, two weeks would not fix all the damage.

They walked out of the little parlour hand in hand and they were about to take a trip to the Leaky Cauldron when Sirius saw something out of the corner of his eye. It was an old man hobbling along the path, clutching his chest as if he was in horrible pain. He took two more steps before he realised to his horror, two things, one: the man was suffering from a heart attack, and two: it was Arnold. "Kreacher," he called, heading into a side alley where none could see them, being his personal elf Kreacher would hear him anywhere and respond. "Take Harry home, then get all the healing supplies needed for a heart condition and take them to me, I'll be in the master bedroom." Kreacher apparated with Harry and Sirius few across the street.

When Arnold woke, he was in unfamiliar surroundings, he took in the bed, he took in the large room, he took in the young man sleeping in the armchair by the bed. He remembered his heart, the pain, the cold, the fear no one would see him and he would not get to hospital in time. He did not know where he was but he knew for certain that it was no hospital. The pain in his chest was gone; it was not like he'd recovered from a heart attack it was as if he'd never had one. He stroked his chest; he was, in fact, feeling younger, if that was possible. He stomach rumbled faintly, perhaps the young man who he assumed found him and took him in and nursed him back to health would also provide him with sustenance.

He would wait until he woke though, he did look so incredibly young and yet, so incredibly old. He was reminded of how his father looked when he came back from the war. He had only been a boy then, and his father was not an old man in any case but there was a pallor under than tan on his skin and a haunted look to his eyes. That same pallor could be seen with this young man, and once he opened his eyes he was sure he'd see it, the look of someone who had encountered far too much. Soon enough the young man stirred and a couple of minutes later he opened his eyes and looked to Arnold who was not sitting up in the bed, looking at him with curiosity. "Good morning," he said with a smile, "how are you feeling?"

Arnold blinked, he supposed the young man was referring to his chest, well the angina was gone and he did not feel another one on the onset. "I am feeling much better than when you found me," he said, still assuming this young man must have been the one to find him, "I don't know what you did but I feel very good considering."

"I am glad," the man said, still sporting that gentle smile of him. Now he could see into his eyes he could see he was right. This man used to be in the military perhaps, there were always conflicts of some sort going on. "I have some skill in healing, I guess you could say, I am not a doctor, but if I do say so myself, I do a better job. I am sorry, I have not yet introduced myself, my name is Adam Tanner, I saw you collapse and brought you to my home, it was much nearer than a hospital and I could guarantee you'd be seen to immediately with the top care."

"I thank you; I believe you may very well have saved my life. My name is Arnold Baking. You have a very impressive house here."

"You flatter me, but I must agree."

Arnold chuckled, "you are most noble to help me, I am but a stranger." He did not notice how the young man's eyes tightened, "my mind may not be what it used to be but I am not decrepit enough to agree mindlessly yet." Still, he did not fully believe his own words, there was something about the man that looked familiar, something about his black hair and grey eyes (the glamour had by now worn off) which sparked something within his mind.

"We have met," Sirius said carefully, "but I doubt you remember me."

"I would never forget a face so worth remembering." His eyes clenched again in that painfully familiar way, so he had had a different face? There was something about the way he cocked his head at him, about his grey eyes and his dark hair and the way his face clenched slightly in pain. "I know this sounds quite weird, but you kind of remind me of my old dog." He did not stop to think about how his words could be interpreted as insulting. The young man sighed and Arnold swore he saw a tear leak out of the corner of his eye, he did not like to think himself as a man of superstition but perhaps this man just might be more than he appeared. "You-" he got no further.

Sirius launched himself at him, kneeling by the bed and wrapping his arms around the man like a lifeline, vowing not to let go. He had been so scared when he saw him collapse, as if he was responsible for his death. He had stolen his money, money maybe he had not been able to spend on heating or something. He felt the man's arms come up and around him and he had never met a kindlier muggle, or one with such an open mind. "I'm sorry Arnold, what I did was wrong, but I had so much I had to do, and without your help, I could not have gotten all of this?" He let go and gestured to his house, "I always meant to pay you back, I'm not a robber."

"You really are my dog?" He sounded a little unsure. Sirius turned into his dog form, prepared to obliviate the man if he had to, but needing to show him this once. He put his two forepaws on his bed and licked his cheek."

"Oh I see, you are an animagus."

Sirius turned back, "oh, you are familiar with this sort of thing."

"I may be an old man now Mr Tanner, but I was in love once, a long time ago," his voice grew wistful. "She was a little younger than me and would barely cast me a second glance but I needed her, she was always in my thoughts. I knew I had to have her, so I started to court her in the only way I knew how, gifts and attention. She always accepted what I gave her but she always kept me at arm's length, it was clear to me that she found it hard to say 'no' and that was why she went on dates with me. Eventually I grew tired of her skirting around me, I was sad, for this had been going on for two and a half months, I gave her roses and such gifts every day, being so bold as to kiss her cheek or give her a gentle hug in greeting."

"What happened next?" Arnold had trailed off into silence, possibly in sadness.

"I confronted her, well it started as a confrontation, but it ended in a confession. I was planning to confront her, to tell her that she knew I had feelings for her and her coy nature was aggravating and teasing and how much longer she expected me to continue. I was planning on demanding for her to tell me if she felt anything for me at all yet when I actually saw her it fell from my mind. I was a young man and I was in love and I could not possibly be angry with her. I knew that she had not done anything wrong so I could not shout at her. I ended up striding up to her and then blurting out a clumsy confession about just how much I loved her and then I broke down, tears pouring out my face at the rejection I knew was coming."

"I am guessing she did not reject you."

"She kissed me, and she seemed to love me more than she had ever loved anyone before. She confessed to me to and she said she was sorry for being so 'on the fence' about me but she had a secret; a secret that she was afraid would either tear us apart or allow us not to be together at all. It was then that she told me she was a witch and she gave me a demonstration of her magic. She looked at me with the wide eyes of a child, so desperate to be accepted. To think that she considered herself to be lucky to have me instead of things being the other way around, a peculiar feeling, she was so worried, and very much in love with me. I had never before loved and probably never will love like I loved her then."

"You both considered yourself to be the lucky party, a perfect match."

"Indeed, I told her that I didn't care if she was a flipping werewolf, I would still love her just as much and never want anyone else. Of course at that particular moment in time I did not know werewolves existed, along with vampires and all other sorts of creatures and races, but she never became one thankfully. I would have still loved her, but having to organise a cage for your loved one once a month may have been something I could not have borne. I think I may have asked her to turn me into one too, if it is possible of a man of no magic to survive such a harsh change. After our confessions we got engaged, and we were married three months later, her family was not all that fond of me but my family adored her, so we were happy with that."

"There are some families, even if they are not one of the old pure blood ones that do not approve of their offspring marrying those of no magic."

"Yes, she did say pretty much the same thing but that she did not care and ever since she saw me in the coffee shop she knew I was the one, which was why she crossed paths with me some way or other every day since, I had thought it was luck. It was a family friend of hers that led her up the aisle, the only person she had who approved, it was sad in a way, but she beamed through our wedding. We were married for sixteen long happy years, we had a child, he is grown now and making his way in the world, I do not hear from him often, not at all in recent times, but I suppose that is usual. He had magic too and my wife, Clara, she took care of seeing our boy got a schooling in a school called Durmstrang."

"A fine school, their quidditch teams are quite fine."

"Quidditch, yes of course, he joined the team, held a candle for some boy I forget the name of who was captain of the team, and seeker. It was always… Damian… that was his name, and it was Damian this and Damian that. I thought he might have feelings for this boy that went beyond friendship, might still do, as I said, I lost contact with him. He became even more estranged when disaster struck, but I am glad we got sixteen years, and they were the most blissful years of my life. I was always hoping he would come home and he did for her funeral. He cried in my arms that night just like he did when he was a little boy, and he told me he loved me, and I told him I loved him to and that I was so proud of him, so, so proud."

"How did she die, Clara?"

Arnold was not crying, but there was a dark look in his eyes, "she was killed Mr Tanner, in a very dark way by a very dark man. I will never forgive him, it was because of him that my son is becoming a soldier, in the wizarding way, an auror I believe it is called," Sirius nodded an affirmative. "They came for her because she was powerful, the death eaters, she fought valiantly, she managed to chase them away and she protected me and our son who was only fifteen at the time. He wanted to rush out into battle to help her and I wanted to as well, but I held him back because there was nothing we could do. He blamed me for her death for three weeks and God knows I blamed myself, until that night, when he cried in my arms and said he was sorry."

"The death eaters and their leader have caused so much pain and misery, but the man is gone for now and soon will be permanently, I assume you have heard of the boy-who-lived?"

"My son means I do occasionally keep contact with the wizarding world."

"Their leader took my two best friends and orphaned their baby son, I took him in, he is mine now and thankfully I guess does not remember who he lost. They were wonderful parents; I only hope I can live up to them. I had two other friends who were also wonderful aurors, they were tortured into insanity by one of his closest followers. I only hope than one day they will return to their senses, for they too have a baby son." He kept his voice void of all emotion, "he sent one of my other closest friends into depression, it is the only excuse I can think for him, and my other companion who used to be someone I'd die for is now the person I breathe to kill one day. The death eaters and their leader will not be around forever, I'm going to take care of them."

"You alone, Clara told me all about him, how could you achieve such? And why have you given yourself such responsibility?"

"Because I am the only one who will it seems."

"You are Sirius Black, aren't you?" His voice too was void of all emotion.

Sirius smiled bitterly, "what was your first clue?"

"I guessed when you talked about who the leader of the death eaters took from you."

"Yes, he angered me a lot and I swear he will know my wrath. You are not scared of me."

"I doubt that a man who rushed to save a man who collapsed on the street from a heart attack is capable to killing fourteen people."

Sirius nodded, "you are a fine man." Just then his stomach rumbled and as if on cue, Arnold's did the same, "well I think it is time for a meal. What would you like?"

"What do you have?"

"I'll be honest with you, I don't know, but I'm pretty sure I have pretty much everything, and a wonderful cook to boot, so name it."

"Something healthy I guess, I need to watch my heart in my old age it would seem."

To Sirius 67 did not seem all that old but then again the average wizard will live to see 150, and a man of such power as he would probably live to see 170 or even 180, he was, after all, the heir or Merlin, the greatest magician of all time: a warlock even. It turned out Kreacher was already cooking a roast on the request of Harry when he saw the chicken in the kitchen God knows how he got there, so that was decided upon. He plated up two servings and brought them up to the room where Arnold was waiting, along with the gifts he had prepared for him and left them beside the door waiting until they were finished eating to present them. He was sorry for what he had done, to hurt him, to steal from him, but it was never too late to right old wrongs.

"It is good," Arnold said and Sirius took a moment to realise he was talking about the meal. "You have a good cook, do you have a wife?"

Sirius shook his head, then he laughed, Kreacher was just like a housewife. He cooked, he cleaned, he took care of him, genuinely seemed to care. Then there was that matter of Sirius proposing to him when he got very, very drunk at Christmas. "No, no, Arnold, I do not have the time to be thinking about-" and there he broke off. How could he say he did not the time to be thinking about starting a family when he already had one? Sure, one could say that he and Harry did not make a family but they functioned perfectly together, and Kreacher counted in his mind, he'd done more than enough to earn his place in the household. "I've never so much as been in love, not properly, but I am still young."

"Never been in love, are you sure?"

"I've been to school and thought I was in love with the first girl I went on a date with. I was young, and everyone believes that they are in love and invincible. What I thought was love turned out to be nothing but hormones." He was talking about one girl in particular, she kissed another and he dumped her, she got killed soon after and he cried like a baby for weeks even though he had not seen her in a couple of years. "Anyway, there will be time for all that later in my life I am sure, for now I must focus on my duties. This brings me to my main point; I have bought you a couple of presents to say sorry. I know it is not much, but you saved my life, I owe you and it would please me if you would accept them."

He brought out the money first, he had gone to Gringotts, well he'd had Kreacher go to Gringotts and turn 1000 galleons into muggle money. It came to about £5000 and while Arnold tried to resist, Sirius was a lot more stubborn. "Please, take it and do something with it, go on holiday, buy yourself something nice. I am your friend, you can send me a letter using muggle means or an owl, I'm sure you can ask your son to get you one. I have one more gift for you," he whistled and a large, black Labrador padded into the room, wearing the spiked collar. It was not just a dog, it was an intelligent magical breed and Sirius had told her to look after this old man with everything in him and the dog had agreed to care for her master.

"She will look after you, she is a very intelligent dog, I call her Canis simply because I am too lazy to think of something better, but I am sure you could."

Arnold smiled and held out his hand to her, she padded over and licked his hand, "welcome to the family, Clara," he said. Then he looked up at Sirius, "thank you, I mean it, and if there is any way I can help you get rid of the ones who took our loved one away from us, I will be willing and there for you to do whatever it is you need."