12 Grimmauld Place was disgusting.

"You've had a month – you couldn't have cleaned a little?" Harry asked as she walked down the narrow hallway. Even the walls were thick with dust, and she could only worry about what awful things she might be inhaling. Privet Drive felt like a lifetime ago, but even that awful muggle residence had at least been clean.

"I haven't had a month," Sirius returned as he batted away cobwebs. "But hey, I'm sure with a little hard work we could get this place liveable in no time."

Harry stopped in the doorway when he showed her to the living room. There wasn't even anywhere to sit. Sirius saw her hesitation and grinned.

"I don't have many happy memories of this house. If the past had form, this," He lifted his arms to the desolation around them, "would be mine." Harry could feel his sorrow, his miserable childhood. His eyes were just too expressive even through his roguish grin and his sad reminiscence was almost tangible. She stepped into the room to take his hand.

"It's ok, we aren't…" She was interrupted by the sorriest looking house elf Harry had ever seen. It was older than any she'd ever seen and looked to be as filthy as the house – which was the filthiest house she had ever seen.

"Nasty brat brought Harriet Potter, she who stopped the Dark Lord, into this home. Poor Mistress, poor…" It muttered as though they couldn't hear it. At first she felt bad for it, but then she processed its words and was rather outraged to hear an elf speak that they to its masters. She hadn't heard anything like it since she first met Dobby.

"An elf?" Harry asked in shock. "You have an elf and the place is in this state?"

"Kreacher isn't exactly happy we're here. Maybe you can tell?" He gave a wry laugh. Harry just looked confused.

"It doesn't matter whether he's happy about it. Aren't you his master?" Her confusion was genuine and Sirius was easily reminded that she was truly not a creation of the Potters. Not that he every really forgot. She pretentiously rounded on Kreacher. "Elf, you are a disgrace." The haggard creature turned as though just noticing their presence and gave a begrudging bow, not at all moved by her words.

"The vile girl is talking to Kreacher, bold as brass. What would my poor mistress say if she saw the scum here…"

"How dare you?!" Harry's voice was dignified and hard for a ten year old girl, harder then he'd ever heard her, but he couldn't blame her for it; she was used to respectful, obedient elves – her 'best friend' accepted nothing less. She went on in equal parts anger and confusion. "Shouldn't you be honoured to serve the Noble House of Black? How could you let the house fall into such disrepair? What would your poor mistress say if she could see her proud home this way? Your master should toss you out!" She was rather cruel even in Sirius' opinion and Kreacher did look cowed for a second at the thought of being disowned – the greatest shame that could he placed on a house elf.

Harry gave Sirius a quizzical look, so he took a breath and turned to Kreacher. "Kreacher, prepare two bedrooms – that means clean them, so they're spotless." He didn't have much faith that Kreacher would do such a thing, but was mildly surprised to see him bow before leaving.

"You should have had him start in here."

"Well we'll be needing somewhere to sleep." She gave him a strange look. "I know it's a mess now, but it could be a nice home. New life in here might help chase away the past." He tried to joke lightly, but could see she was clearly uncomfortable with where this was going.

"You mean cover home?" She asked slowly.

"Well, we could stay here?" Harry quickly closed her eyes and focused inside. She'd come a long way in her mental arts training, but still had to concentrate really hard in order to tell whether Tom was engaging the link. To her immense relief it appeared they were safe. She cringed, thinking about what Tom would do if he heard Sirius talking like this.

"Sirius, I have a home. We have a home!" She stressed.

"We could set up here. Away from the war and the… Death Eaters."

Harry rolled her eyes. "There is no war at home, just friends." She tugged his sleeve. "And family."

"Harry…"

"Sirius stop! Please." He heard the quiver in her voice and frowned. "If he hears you…"

"He's not here. He doesn't even know where this house is – we'd be safe here."

"I am safe. At home!" He took a breath, but his heart wasn't in it. If he truly wanted to keep Harry away he'd have told Dumbledore what was really going on. He hadn't said a thing, convincing himself it was for Harry's sake, that she would be crushed by such a betrayal, but deep down he was simply defeated. Besides, he knew he wouldn't be able to keep her from Him. It was Sirius who desperately didn't want to return, but he couldn't abandon Harry, and he knew he would never be able to hide from the Dark Lord forever, and the thought of that froze his soul. He couldn't even say she was in an unhealthy, damaging situation – unconventional sure, but he couldn't give her any better. He was only trying to keep her here out of a sense of duty and self-preservation.

When Sirius hesitated, Harry continued. "Sirius, I'm going home. I'd really, really, really like you to come with me, but I'm going either way." He stayed silent. "Sirius please! I don't want to lose you. And… I love you, but I don't know what He'll do if you don't come back."

"Don't you think we should talk about that?" She shook her head. "Look, I'll come back. I never really thought you'd agree to stay here anyway." He laughed. "But I want to use this opportunity to talk, can't we at least do that?" Crossing her arms Harry fell back into a sofa, trying to ignore the puff of dust. He carefully sat on the opposite armchair, having no idea of what he actually wanted to say. In truth, he knew what he really wanted was the reason Harry and Voldemort were so close, so… not mortal enemies… Maybe he could trick her into telling.

"We're away from everyone here, so honestly, do you think its ok – the way He treats people? The things they do to muggles and muggleborns?"

"That's not really any of my business." She returned defensively. "I don't like muggles anyway. And mudbloods come from them. They try to ruin our culture and replace it with their own. They're a poison." He wanted to shout at her, to slap her even to snap her out of the indoctrination.

"That's understandable though isn't it? Imagine you were taken to a new world, where everything you knew was flipped on its head. Where you were told you had to dress a certain way and eat different things and learn a whole language specific to that place. Wouldn't you feel the need to cling to what you knew? Your culture is a part of who you are, you can't just toss it aside because your circumstances change."

"I know!" She said, not appreciating the feeling that he was talking down to her like she was stupid. "That's why we have to be stronger in protecting ourselves. Mudbloods will always want to change things just to make themselves feel better, so we have to stop them – at the very least stop them from taking positions of power." He wanted to hit himself this time: It was like talking to a Death Eater.

"What do you think your mum would say to you using that word?" Oh, she was really defensive now and scowled at him.

"Don't bring her into this Sirius. That's not fair!" That was the most childish thing he'd heard her say yet, and he was relieved to hear it. "Mum adjusted rather well, but if she'd been held to higher standards, maybe she would have had the strength to deal with her horrible sister the way she should have, or at least not allowed her to…" She cut herself off.

Sirius could clearly see her walls going up, but pressed on: If she was focused on herself he could use that. "What about you? Do you think its ok for the Dark Lord to treat you the way he does?" He was glad to see her thrown off a little at that. "Why does he get to control everything you do?" She rolled her eyes.

"He really doesn't. He certainly has better things to do than fuss about me. The Malfoys have way more control." She said bitterly, as any child would when talking about their parents. "But he's the only one who has always looked out for me, and whatever he does that you seem to have a problem with has always been for my benefit." Sirius couldn't deny that. "Draco hates his parents half the time, but that's just how things work. I'm ten Sirius, if I didn't have guardians I'd run out and do stupid things like getting hit with a death curse." He almost laughed at the deadpan look, but parental responsibility wasn't what he was trying to get at here.

"But Harry, I'm your guardian now officially, maybe the Malfoys' in practice. It should be our responsibility to find you a home, so why is it His decision that you can't stay here?"

Harry stood and gave a look that told him exactly how foolish she though he was at that moment. "He's the Dark Lord: Lord trumps guardian." She explained as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Well then what about me, Harry? He's done terrible, awful things to me. Are you ok with that?"

"Of course not! But Sirius, you were his enemy – maybe still are if you're talking like this, but I want you in my life, so what's he supposed to do?" She saw Sirius frown, but she couldn't explain to him the countless arguments with Tom about her godfather. Sirius was obviously punished sometimes, but she never saw him injured afterwards the way she did the Death Eaters, which meant Tom had him healed more quickly than them, and that could only be for her benefit.

"I'm going back now, are you coming?"

Sirius was going back, he'd been going back all along, and this conversation had been a waste of breath!

He stood, ready to follow her, when the front door closed heavily.

"Padfoot?" Harry stepped quickly to Sirius, concerned about the stranger in the house.

"We should go!" She whispered urgently, but her concern turned to confusion when Sirius broke into a wide grin.

"We're in here!" He called to Harry's dismay. What was he up to now? She just wanted to go home! "Harry, there's someone I want you to meet."

As soon as news broke that Sirius was innocent, Remus had sort him out to apologise for ever doubting him. It was wonderful – to finally have a friendly face in his life, someone who didn't want something from him. He just worried about how he could incorporate an old friend into his present situation.

Harry watched warily as the tired looking man stepped into the living room.

They only stayed for a further forty minutes or so, but it was only five before Harry lightened up and decided she would give this man a chance. Sirius and Remus were obviously close and it was heart-warming to see her godfather so happy, and Remus had that same familiarity she felt from him. She just wondered what Tom would say about having another Light wizard in her life.

As soon as she landed in her bedroom at Bleeding Wolf Lane, Harry took her godfather's hand and raced down to Tom's office, ignoring the protestations behind her. She flew into the room – without knocking – with a large smile.

Tom sighed heavily at the ceiling, before dismissing the two masked figures – fighting Harry really wasn't worth the hassle right now. She lunged at him and pulled him into a hug that would surely cause internal bruising.

"Tom."

"Don't 'Tom' me." He said sternly, not wanting to let her off so easily.

"I think you mean 'I missed you Harry, and I'm so glad to have you back.'" Harry didn't care whether she was in trouble at that moment, only that she was home.

"I am." He conceded, raising his arms to hug her back, and after quickly glancing to make sure Sirius was knelling and therefore not watching, he closed his eyes – enjoying the moment Harry was finally back safe and alive in his arms.

Harry enjoyed the moment too. Hugs from Tom were rare, but were her favourite. She never felt safer or more cared for, even with Sirius. Everything Sirius had said back in London was inconsequential: She loved Tom and had accepted who he was a long time ago. And she knew Tom loved her.

She only ended the hug when she realised the memories of this afternoon were a little too clear. Oh crap, she thought, stepping back to see Tom's dark smile.

"Oh crap, indeed. And to think I would have finally had a reason to reward him: He'd done so well." "Here Black." Tom commanded, pointing at the floor beside the arm chair he was settling into. Sirius made his way over easily, though his jaw clenched tightly at the next order. "On your knees." He reached down and patted Black's head like a dog. "Good boy." He could smell the blood that slowly rose from where Black's nails cut into his palm as he clenched his fists too tightly. "Such a good dog." He mocked.

Back only a few minutes and Harry was already glaring at Tom.

"He was only trying to look out for me." She tried to defend.

"Oh, I know, but such treachery cannot be ignored. He was trying to turn your head and fill you with doubt. Believe me, did he not foolishly believe he was doing so for your benefit, the consequences would be much, much more severe." He laughed at her scowl. "Humiliation may be hard to stomach, so if you prefer I could think of another way to punish him?" He asked pleasantly, taking a light grip of Sirius' hair to shake his head a little, and already knowing he'd won. "Good, now I can decide what on earth I'm to do with you." Her glared died and left uncertainty in its wake.

"What do you mean?" She asked uneasily as she worried her lip.

"You know very well what I mean. You know I don't appreciate when you try to keep things from me."

"I was trying to protect my godfather." Sirius flinched from Tom's sudden laugh.

"From me!" Harry could tell he was angry and felt awful. She'd caused so many problems lately, and now she was basically lying to him. "Black is responsible for his own actions, just as you are responsible for yours. Now go to your room and I'll see you about it later."

"What? No! I only just got back and I want to see everyone. And what about Sirius?"

"Sirius will remain here for the rest of the day." And now Harry felt even worse: she could only imagine how humiliating it would be for Sirius to be kneeling and petted like a dog beside Tom while Death Eaters came and went, but she guessed that was probably the point. "Now Harry. Go to your room. I need to have a little chat with your pet."

With a loud, dramatic huff, she left to obey – he hadn't said anything about being alone in her room, so if she happened to bump into someone on the way and told said person to invite all those she considered family to join her she would still be obeying…