Disclaimer: We all know how these work, I acknowledge that J.K. Rowlings, Warner Bros. and Scholastic own Harry Potter and all other characters and settings from cannon, and I get to write whatever I please and even add in characters of my own as long as I don't get any money. The no money sucks but there you go, at least I don't get lawyers knocking on my door. Addendum: If you recognize a name of a character from elsewhere it isn't mine.

A/N: Sorry for the slow update I'm fighting a cold and strep. It's hard to write when you can't even think. This chapter took me this long to finish so I hope you'll take it's longer length as an apology.

Sirius' Savior

Chapter 28 Finding a New Life

Sirius pulled Beth's sleeping body closer, it was amazing to him how wonderful it was to hold her again. He cuddled her as he thought about the news Beth gave him. In August their family would expand. Beth would be going back to work in the coming week, he would have to work with the real estate agent to find a house, find a school for Harry, get a car, find out about some electrical engineering and computer engineering courses for himself, deal with clearing his name here in the United States and last but not least see about arranging a wedding. But for tonight he would enjoy holding Beth.

The week that followed lived up to it's promise of being busy. Monday Sirius met with Matthias Beckley, Silverton Richards, and Nic he underwent a questioning session under the influence of veritaserum, after which he spent three hours filling out paperwork so he and Harry would have all the proper documents they would need to establish a life in the U.S. He bought a BMV M5 and insurance for it and found a wedding planner that worked with both magical and muggle people. That evening he, Beth, and Harry went house hunting with Ronda. She showed them four homes none of which they liked enough to buy. Beth had spoken to her co-workers and had gotten the names of several private schools for them to look into. Tuesday Sirius and Harry spoke to administrators of three of the schools it didn't take them long to determine they needed to keep looking. That night they had dinner with Beth's parents.

After dinner, Roderick looked at Beth as she talked with Maryanne and young Harry. "Things must be crowded at Nic's. Maryanne was hoping to convince Beth to move home to the castle." he said to Sirius.

Sirius looked at Beth. Nic's condo was small with the four of them and the security team members. But as far as he was concerned it was up to Beth, one of the reasons she had agreed to dinner was so they could talk with her parents about their plans. He would rather find an apartment until they found a house because the castle would be bad for Harry.

"Short term if Beth wants to, but Harry has a condition that would be adversely affected by the magic levels here."

"I thought he was a wizard. I've never heard of any condition that would do that."

"Yeah well Harry is one of a kind. We will need to find a healer, another thing for my list."

Maryanne and Beth came over to them, "What are you two talking about?" Beth asked.

"You moving home. I was saying Nic's must be crowded and that if you moved here things would be better."

Beth noticed Sirius pressed his lips together but said nothing. She got the impression that "better" was her father's assessment. "Actually Daddy, Sirius, Harry and I came here for dinner tonight because we had some news for you. We've set the date for our wedding, we'll be getting married on Valentine's day. We're still looking for a house. Yes we're a bit crowded at Nic's but the atmosphere here at the castle is bad for Harry. It's bad enough at Nic's the castle would be worse. If we temporarily stay anywhere, I'll probably try to set up one of the secure condominiums that the state department has."

Maryanne spoke up, "Valentine's day but that's only six weeks away! How can you plan a nice wedding in such a short amount of time. Surely it would be better to wait until next summer."

"Mother, I know this will come as a shock but Sirius and I are expecting in early August. I don't want to be obviously pregnant on our wedding day. Sirius has already looked into getting a wedding planner. We have an appointment with her tomorrow night I was hoping you would be free to come along. Be sure to bring a list of people you want to invite. We hope to keep it smallish, friends and family a few co-workers, not a monstrously large society event. Sirius' side will be lightly attended most likely." Both of her parents looked gobsmacked. "I realize that there are certain invitations that have to be given for political reasons, I've already put the Reagans and the rest of the Muggle Cabinet down but I know the President and the Vice President will be out of town that weekend so I'm hopeful that only a few in the cabinet will come. I've done the same for your cabinet but I refuse to invite all of those... in the wizarding congress; most have looked down their noses at me one to many times. This will be a muggle style wedding and I don't wish to strain their small minds by forcing them to blend in. I also plan on inviting my whole detail; they'll probably change out for each other over the course of the day. I plan on the O'Neills through 1st cousins, though I doubt Jack and Sarah will come given they're in Guam. I plan on having my college roommates as my bridesmaids. I'll ask Lia to be maid of honor since she's local and able to help. Sirius who will you have to stand up with you?"

Sirius couldn't help but smirk at how effectively Beth had derailed her father's plans. "I would like to see if we can sneak Remus in he's been a best friend since Hogwarts. The tricky part is he's a werewolf and Britain has all those pesky archaic laws regarding his freedom to travel fortunately for him he's dual citizenship in France maybe we can portkey him from there and just skip the whole stamp the passport thing just have him here for the weekend no one in Britain would be the wiser as long as his passport didn't get stamped. Amelia, if she comes, would know but as she's an ally. She'd probably look the other way. Oh and Beth remind me to send details to Grimjaw. He'll want to come but he need time to set up a glamour stone to blend in with the crowd and I'll want him to bring the tiaras and the family jewels so you can pick what you want to wear for the wedding. I think the de Sable inheritance included a tiara that was once Empress Marie Theresa's. The last Duke bought it for his bride after World War I, if I remember the inventories correctly."

"Maybe he can send photographs of it all to us in the next week or two, and then he would only have to bring the pieces we want." Beth suggested.

"Excellent idea, actually I think I should probably have it all gone through cleaned, appraised, and photographed. I'm sure the goblins would be delighted to do it for a fee of course."

"Bien sur" Harry said. [of course]

Beth smiled down at Harry but then noticed he looked strained, "Harry are you okay?"

"Je regret. J'ai mal a la tete." [I'm sorry. I have a headache]

"Perhaps we should go. Call me tomorrow at lunchtime at work Mother?"

Roderick finally found his voice, "You can't just drop a bombshell like that and leave!"

"Good night Daddy." Beth collected her jacket, and headed towards the castle's main doors Sirius and Harry trailing in her wake.

As she walked away she heard her mother ask, "Did he just say the last Duke?" She grinned.

The next day Beth went to work, and Sirius and Harry went school hunting. They met up at six to speak with Bonnie Barnes, they were joined by Maryanne. They got to her office right on time.

Bonnie waited patiently for her six p.m. Appointment. She was a muggleborn witch that had taken her mother's love of a good party and he father's administrative talents and turned them to a unique purpose in the magical world. She was interested in talking to the couple because it was the groom and not the bride that had first contacted her, she looked up, as four people came through her door. It was disconcerting that they had four others with them that stayed outside. She looked closer at the women of the group and realized who her potential new clients were. "First Lady of Magic Maryanne Stevens, and Beth O'Neill the President of Magic's step-daughter. Oh my goodness."

Sirius smirked, "Hi Miss Barnes I see introductions are only half necessary. I'm Sirius Black and this is my godson and ward Harry Potter."

Coming back to herself Bonnie reached forward to shake hands with everyone starting with Harry. "Call me Bonnie please. I'm curious how come did you come to me? I'm good at what I do and all but I'm a newcomer to the field and you could get just about anyone you wanted."

"I was at the Department of Magical Justice and noticed Deb Halstead's wedding photo the other day. Beth and I want to get married on Valentine's day, I knew to make that happen I needed to find someone to make it happen so I asked if she used a planner and she gave me your name. Then I checked the muggle phonebook and found that your name was listed there as well, it cinched it for me and I called." Sirius said.

"Six weeks huh? You believe in a challenge I take it Mr. Black. Venues are usually booked months not weeks in advance. How many people are we talking about?"

Beth said "Probably one fifty to two hundred based on the guest list we've come up with."

"Budget?"

"Up to a million, I'd prefer for it to be a third to a half that. That said, I realize with the tight time line you are probably going to have to pay a premium to get this done. You are going to be dealing with a mixed magical and muggle wedding so plan accordingly." Sirius said.

" Okay. Theme? Colors? Formal or more casual?"

Sirius looked to Beth, "Formal, elegant, with the occasional unexpected touch of the whimsical," she said.

"Whimsical, huh?" Bonnie said. "Colors?"

"Blue. Sky blue like Beth's eyes," Sirius said.

"Brown like dark chocolate." Harry spoke up.

Bonnie looked at the adults, after looking at each other they nodded their agreement. "Unusual choice for a Valentines wedding. You said you made a guest list?"

"Mother did you bring yours and Daddy's list?"

Maryanne handed it to Beth. Beth pulled out her own for comparison. She check marked on her mother's list the names that were on her and Sirius' list. She added a couple of names from her parents list to hers, but there were fifteen names on her mother's list that she looked at and said, "No I categorically refuse to have those bigots at my wedding. I know they are part of the wizarding government but those particular people have always been snide and rude and condescending I will not pollute my wedding by having them attend."

"But those are people your father has to work with..."
"No! Sirius and I aren't asking you to pay for this, so no I don't want them at my wedding! Not to mention they couldn't blend in to save their lives, and a little over a third of my list are muggles. It's my wedding Mother not yours. If you want to socialize with them do it yourself because I won't."

"Announcements might be a potential solution," Bonnie interjected. Beth passed her the list. When she saw the names on the list she inwardly whistled, this wedding could make or break her business: a success would almost guarantee work in the area for years to come both for magicals and muggles, a failure and she might as well pack her bags and move to Antarctica. "I have a wedding I'm doing the day before but my schedule is open Valentine's day. I think I'd like the challenge but I'll warn you now this is going to mean a horrendous amount of work on all our parts. I suspect we're going to run into problems finding a venue and we have to do that before we can print invitations. I'll see what I can find out. Do you... of course you don't never mind is there a number I can reach you at?"

Sirius grinned, "I have a cell or rather my cell is supposed to get a local number tomorrow it's supposed to be (410)555-0987. As Beth works for the state department, she's not free to deal with much my schedule at the moment is much more fluid."

"A wizard with a cell phone you're just full of surprises aren't you. It's unusual for the groom to be more involved in the planning than the bride but I look forward to working with you. I think the things we need to get set first are: the venue, invitations, pre-marital counseling and dresses. Follow that by photographer, videographer, music, caterer, flowers and decoration. I have preferred vendors for most of that but the date works against us. At least Valentines day is a Sunday this year that should help. It's really helpful that you have your list of invites and their addresses already down and that you've marked them as to whether their magical or muggle."

"We plan on shopping this weekend. Sirius and Harry need winter clothes and I can start looking for a dress."

"I'll help you Beth," Harry said cheerfully. He then looked at Bonnie, " and I'll have ideas for that touch of whimsical when the time comes."

"Of course you will," she said slightly condescendingly. Bonnie pulled out copies of the questionnaire she gave all her clients and her standard contract for her services. "Have you got someone in mind for the pre-martial counseling? It's something I strongly urge because I want the couples I help to last. If not I can refer you to someone. Six weeks isn't a lot of time. Where and how did you two meet?"

Beth smiled brightly, "We met because of Harry here. I was on vacation in Palau..."

Thirty minutes later Bonnie had a few ideas and had revamped her view of the boy, she got the impression that he was uncannily intelligent for someone his age. She also had an idea for a venue that would be totally in keeping with the family to be, the only question was would it be possible.

Friday Beth found out that one under secretaries/ liaisons to the UN Ambassador was going to be sent to New York for two months in a week and was looking for someone to house and cat sit while he was gone. He lived in one of the secured communities the state department offered to it's workers that traveled.

"John, I hear you're looking for a house sitter."

"Beth..I.. Yes I am."

"I finally decided to stop letting my family run my life and got engaged. But Sirius and I need time to find the place that we want meanwhile we're looking for a temporary place. How much space do you have?"

"It's a three bedroom. I bought it when Margot and I were together. It's a bit big for a single guy but I don't plan to be single forever."

"How would you feel about one of the people staying there being a kid?"

"How old? I don't think I'd be okay with like a toddler, besides I'd want to see how Belle, RK and Grimalkin, my cats felt about it."

"Harry is a very mature and smart eight year old."

"Maybe you all should come over for dinner tonight and we could discuss it. I could pick up some Indian on my way home. I'm a little surprised to hear you're getting married though, when's the wedding?"

"Valentines day."

"That soon huh?"

"Yes. And what time for tonight?"

"Seven thirty. I have to work a little late tonight. This New York trip is real inconvenient but should help me in the ranks we're not all as well connected as you. Too bad I'll likely miss the wedding. Food preferences and tell me about this son to be."

"Harry's a scary brilliant, athletic and caring boy; that we're having trouble finding a school for. As far as food vegetable koorma, dahl, aloo gobi, and biriyani surprise me and Sirius and Harry aren't picky."

"Public or private school?"

"Private by preference."

"Have you ever heard of the Stuart-Cavanaugh Academy."

"No."

" It's a very exclusive and advanced school. I heard about it from the Italian Ambassador, his son attends there. I've met his son he must be around Harry's age, he's another of those frighteningly brilliant children. Just an idea."

"Thanks. See you tonight."

Beth returned to her office and during her lunch hour she hunted down the number for the Stuart-Cavanaugh Academy. She called.

"Stuart-Cavanaugh Academy. Heather speaking, how can I help you?"

"Hi my name is Beth and I am looking for a school for my son. He's very intelligent and..."

"Beth was it? The Academy is very rigorous in it's entrance standards. What's his previous education?"

"He attended a private school in Indonesia. He's actually not my son yet, he's my fiancé's ward. I know he's fluent in four languages, he and my fiance intelligently discuss the stock market pages every morning at breakfast. He likes martial arts, foot-- sorry soccer, he plays guitar and cello, and he's amazing with a camera."

"Sounds like he might meet our criteria then. We start back on January 11th. I'll send you a packet giving you information and I'll schedule you for the entrance tests on January 4th if that works for you."

"What kind of tests?"

"We test for many things. In general we don't accept any students with less than 60% immediate recall we find that the students with recall less than that don't do well in our classes because of the pace and the amount of self study involved. We look for learning disabilities, we have students that have them but make a point to test for them so teachers will know the students strengths and weaknesses. We test for learning modalities. As well as testing for knowledge and previous education."

"Harry likes languages, what languages do you teach there?"

"We offer many languages including Latin and Greek."

"Call Benson's courier service ask them to pick up your information and bring it to Beth O'Neill at the State Department have them bill it to me. Thank you for your help Heather."

"Your welcome."

Five hours later Beth and Hawkeye exited the State Department Building that housed Beth's office. They were met by Sirius and Harry. "How was your day?"Beth asked.

Wearing matching frowns they both shook their heads.

Beth smiled sympathetically. "Well today was a good one for me, and I got a lead on a non-magical residence were we could maybe live for two months and possibly a school for Harry." She grinned when they both perked up. "We're going to have dinner with John Shepard, he own one of the condos in one of the state department's secure complexes. He's being sent to New York for two months and needs someone to watch his house and cats. He also gave me the lead on a potential school. Here's the information packet."

Harry immediately dived into it.

Sirius spoke up, "When do we need to be there for dinner?"

"In two hours. It will take approximately thirty minutes in this sort of traffic to get there."

" What should we do for the rest of the time?"

"I thought we could maybe stop at a stationary store and get ideas for invitations."

"Sounds good. I was wondering if you have a preference as to who performs the marriage ceremony?"

"I hadn't thought about it."

"In England Albus Dumbledore can marry people as head of the Wizengamot, he's like a judge. Is that true here in the States as well that judges can marry people?"

"Yes. Why?"

"How would you feel about asking Silverton Richards to perform the ceremony?"

Beth thought for a moment, "He could do it but I don't think he's married anyone in years. But I think I'd like that. He's been a friend of the family for years, and he's the one that encouraged Nic to become an attorney."

"Well he impressed me the day I met him, and I thought I'd like it if he did the ceremony. I realize we'll be limited in what magical rituals we can incorporate but I do want to include at least a little, a bonding sash for instance."

"Sirius I can deal with a bonding sash but I don't have enough.."

"power to do much I know. I know you aren't a witch and I'm fine with that, I love you because of who you are, because of who I get to be when I'm with you, so don't worry that you don't have enough power for a full on Wizarding bonding ceremony."

They spent an hour at a stationary store looking at invitations. Beth saw many she wouldn't mind but Sirius frowned at all of them. They left in time to get to John's in time for dinner, without having found one they could agree on.

When they got to John's, they went in. He greeted them and said, "Food is hot so let's eat first and we can talk after." After dinner were Sirius and Harry politely cooperated with John's subtle interrogation the four of them slowly moved to the living room.

On the way Harry said, "Was it you who gave Beth the name of the Stuart-Cavanaugh Academy?"

"It was." John said smiling.

"Thank you, it looks more interesting than the schools that Sirius and I have looked at so far." Harry said and then covering his mouth he yawned. "Sorry."

On reaching the living room, Sirius suggested to Harry, "Settle down on the chaise by the fireplace kiddo. The rest of us will sit and talk over here." Harry nodded and he removed his shoes before curling up on the chaise.

John smiled and said quietly, "Cute kid, he has good manners too. But I'm kind of surprised my cats haven't come to see us."

"That's probably my fault." Sirius confessed. "Cats don't like me much I'm afraid."

"Do you dislike them?"

"No I like them just fine, for some reason they don't like me at all though." he said fighting a smirk.

"I suppose we should talk about what my expectations are if you all decide to stay here."

"Probably." Beth said with a grin.

"I was thinking you'd pay the equivalent of the house payment in rent, and the utilities,but I'd continue to cover the homeowners insurance and the community dues. But you'll have full access to the community pool and gym and whatnot."

"Sounds fair the community dues also pays the security right?"

"Yes. I'll reprogram the security system so it will have whatever access code you want and all make sure the security company comes to you if something comes up. Other than that take care of the cats and be comfortable."

"How will the security company feel about working with my personal security?" Beth asked.

"It should be fine although I still don't get how a negotiator at your level warrants round the clock security, I mean it's not like your the President's family. But what I really want to know is how you two met because I've never even heard of you Mr. Black and I know how tight security is around Beth, even if that detail has always been a little strange. The new detail is much better by the way."

Beth smiled ruefully. "That mandatory vacation last month. I decided to really get away. I ditched my security. The old detail got replaced because of it; my father was not happy. I met Sirius and Harry at the resort I went to." Beth paused and glanced at Harry. He had fallen asleep, but he had company; three cats had placed themselves around him. "Look," she said.

Both men looked over. Sirius wished he had a camera.

John smiled. His cats must have decided they liked the boy because Belle who was usually standoffish had curled up in the hollow created by Harry's bent legs. Grimalkin, slut for pets that she was, had actually draped herself over his hips and even RK was curled up near Harry's head. "I still want details Beth. I don't know if you realize it Sirius but Beth here has a reputation at the department of being a bit of an ice queen probably for looking through men as if they aren't really there. Men who made plays found themselves ignored. Several of us figured out that she's a good friend but is resistant to men with agendas and instead of making plays for her, we settled for friendship. So how did you do it?"

"Harry. I owe the little marauder all the credit. I used to focus so much on being a parent to him, that I was a little slow to move in on Beth. He introduced us. He maneuvered our first real date and he put us together."

"Beth? You let a kid maneuver you?"

Beth grinned sheepishly at her colleague. "Yup, looked into those seemingly guileless green eyes and fell right into his trap. Mind you it's a very lovely place to be, everything I've ever wanted in fact. But yes we were set up by an eight year old.

"It looks good on you. You're calmer more centered. You used to worry more or so I've heard, from the office scuttlebutt. But I've also heard that you've been sick to your stomach a lot."

Beth winced slightly. "Yes well there's a reason for that."

"Is that reason also related to the wedding in six weeks?"

Beth blushed furiously.

"Congratulations. I'll keep my mouth shut. Not that I'd be at the office to gossip anyways."

"Thanks John."

"Yes thank you John. For dinner and conversation, a place to call home for two months. Hopefully by the time you're back the real estate agent will have found a place for us. We should probably take Harry and head back to Nic's." Sirius said.

"I leave Saturday evening next week so come over that morning and we'll do the security system. I appreciate you doing this Beth.

She smiled and went over to Harry. "Harry. It's time to go."

Harry slowly blinked awake. He noticed the cats around him. He stroked the one laying on him. It immediately started to purr and go boneless in his lap. The one by his legs moved to sniff his hand, then it to started to purr. He stroked its head twice before he noticed the third cat. The first two cats were sleek and beautiful the third one looked as if it had been through wars. Harry tentatively extended his hand to the third cat it sniffed his hand and then ignored him. "What are their names?"

John grinned. "The cinnamon abyssinian is Belle, the ragdoll in your lap is Grimalkin, and the other one is RK."

"RK?"

"It's short for road kill. It refers to how I got him. I was walking in a park and was on my way home when I saw this stray cat get hit by a car. I was surprised when I got close to discover the poor thing was still alive. So I carefully picked it up. It was still alive when I got home so I grabbed my keys and took it to the veterinarian. It was just after Margot and I broke up so I guess I felt a little like he looked. I told the vet that I'd foot the bill that he should try to save him. We were both astonished that he survived. He lost his eye and has a permanent limp but he kinda rules the roost and these ladies," he petted the two purebred cats, "let him."

Sirius came over. All three cats instantly got up, arched their backs and hissed. "Time to go kiddo."

"Thank you Mr. Shepard. It was nice meeting you."

"Tell you what Harry. Since you're going to live her and take care of these guys while I'm gone you can call me Uncle John. Mr. Shepard is my father."

Harry glanced at Sirius and got a nod okay. "Okay, thanks for having us and dinner and all. Goodnight."

"Goodnight and thanks for dinner." Sirius said.

"Thanks John I'll see you at work tomorrow."

"Your welcome and I'll talk to the security company tomorrow."

"Do you have one of their cards I can give my detail?" Beth asked.

"I'll bring it in the morning."

"Good enough. Thank you for dinner, goodnight."