Chapter 29: Restarting a Family

As Harry looked at Sirius, a faint and old memory resurfaced. He was very young, before he was even at the Dursleys. He knew that because he could see two figures laughing as he rode around a room on a large black dog. "I.. I remember you, " he said slowly. "At least, I think I do - did you have a dog when I was a baby?" Sirius' tears of joy turned to laughter. "Sort of, Pup. In some ways I still do." A flicker of concentration crossed his face, and then the dog from Harry's memory was standing in Sirius' place. It barked once, and then Sirius was back, laughing at Harry's surprise.

"I'm glad that's one thing you remember about me, Pup. There's so much I want to tell you about your mum and dad, but like I just told the old fogies in there, I need to go buy 11 years worth of birthday and Christmas presents for you, and get my.. No. Not 'my'. I need to get OUR house sorted out in time for Christmas. But, before I go… can… can I hug you?" Harry nodded and was surprised for the second time in as many minutes as he was Sirius immediately glommed onto him. When Harry was released from the hug, Sirius thanked Professor Strange and Mr Murdock, then said goodbye to Harry with another, shorter hug.

"I need to get you back to school now Harry," said Professor Strange. "I'll be around Matt. I've a feeling we'll both be needed to defend Sirius or ourselves pretty soon. You might want to check if Jennifer could run your office for a while." "Just as long as she doesn't get angry at the lowlife defendants in my prosecuting cases. I might be able to get away with it, but she won't."

After a farewell handshake, Stephen conjured a sling portal to his office at Hogwarts, and both he and Harry stepped through, knowing that wizarding Britain had no idea what was going to hit it. It was well past the time for updating the law as it stood to protecting children, and it looked like Sirius and Harry were going to be the leaders of the change. Dumbledore and the Wizengamot were not going to able to run things the way they wanted much longer. During Sirius' visits, he had learned of these Muggle things called "elections". It was time for a change in political leadership on a grand scale. Before Harry left Professor Strange's office, he turned to him and said "Professor? Thank you. Thank you for everything you've done for me. For my scar, the Dursleys, and now I have a proper family. Thank you." Stephen smiled at him, and replied "You're welcome, Harry."

A/N: Apologies for the delay in posting! I was briefly afflicted by a combination of writer's block for this story and inspiration for something else I'm working on.