Sirius Black

Harry remained in his room for the rest of the day.

Ron, Hermione and the Twins had dropped in to make sure he was ok and had left after confirming he was alright. Once they had left, Harry took hold of Silias, closed his eyes and entered his 'Amulet trance' as he called it.

'Silisa, you've been pretty quiet lately. Are you ok?' asked a concerned Harry.

'I am, I was not sure if you would want to speak to me after what I did to you.' replied the pendant.

Harry sat there and thought about that statement for a time.

'You hurt me. I didn't like what you did at all but you did it to save me and my friends so I guess it's ok. I hope I never have to go through that again.'

'Thank-you master. I am sorry, I felt I had no other choice.' replied an obviously relieved Silias.

'It's alright Silias. You've been teaching me wandless magic right so we shouldn't need to do that anymore.'

Here Silias seemed a little hesitant. 'Well, due to the attacks on your mind I changed my focus from wandless magic to Occlumency. The need was more immediate.'

'How am I going to practice magic this summer then?' asked a now, very depressed Harry Potter.

'Well, your trunk is extra-dimensional pocket. It's not really in England, it's not really in this plane of existence actually so the sensor can't reach into it once the trunk is closed. You could fix up the cavern into a small apartment with a training area.'

Harry was broken out of his trance by a loud screeching coming from the door to his dorm. Hermione was standing there looking ecstatic.

"They said I could stay. My parents said I could stay!" she cried happily jumping into Harry's bed. Soon, Ron followed as well.

"That's great Hermione. What made them change their minds?" asked Harry.

"You and the others. They said they see that I'm happy here and I'm safer being equipped with the knowledge to control my gifts than being obliviated and sent back to the muggle world."

"That's great 'mione. We were worried we'd have to kidnap you or something." replied Ron.

"Ron, what have I told you about calling me 'mione?" Hermione didn't really look annoyed when she asked this.

'Here they go again' Harry thought to himself.

Harry grabbed Silias and quickly entered his trance.

'I only have a few minutes before they notice something is off. So we turn the trunk into an apartment and training hall?'

'Yes Master Potter. You have more than enough money to afford furniture and the likes. In the trunk, you are in a pocket dimension and with the lid closed, the gateway closes making it a self contained dimension. This is actually a much easier solution than my initial suggestion.' explained Silias.

'Good, then that's what we will do then.'

With that Harry broke out of his trance and found that his friends were still arguing.

"I don't think that chess is a barbaric game, just wizards chess. Why do they have to destroy the other pieces?"

'How did they end up arguing about chess? They were arguing about her nickname a minute ago.' Harry wondered to himself.

"It's traditional Hermione. Wizards have been playing Wizards Chess for over two-hundred years now."

"That does not make it any less bar ..."

Harry grabbed one of his pillows and thumped Hermione hard on the head, effectively ending the argument. Hermione looked at Harry incredulously while Ron started grinning like maniac, scrambling for his bed.

A few minutes later Neville entered the dorm to find feathers flying all over. The trio, who were in the process of pummeling each other senseless with half empty pillow cases noticed the new target and paused for a moment.

"Destroy Longbottom!" cried out Harry.

"Cry 'Havoc', and let slip the dogs of war, that this foul deed shall smell above the earth with carrion men, groaning for burial" was Hermione's literary contribution.

Ron simply contented himself with an intimidating roar as he launched himself off the bed towards a bemused Neville, pillow swinging wildly over his head.

Later that day.

"Minerva my dear. Perhaps you could enlighten this old wizard as to the location of your students?" asked the headmaster with a calm expression on his face.

The head of Gryffindor house had been wondering the same thing for the past few minutes. Her table was literally empty. Not a single student from Gryffindor was present for supper and considering that some of those students were Weasleys, well it did give one something to worry about.

The other heads of house looked towards the transfiguration teacher to see what her answer would be as they also were wondering were one quarter of the school was.

"I don't know Albus. I have never known the Weasleys to miss out on a meal before." she replied.

The headmaster nodded sagely and drew the Marauders map from the folds of his robes.

Looking over the map, the headmaster found all the students in Gryffindor tower.

"It would appear that they are all in Gryffindor Tower. Perhaps a few of us should go and investigate." This was not a question but a statement.

The headmaster and the head of Gryffindor house both quickly marched out the great hall in the direction of Gryffindor tower, closely followed by a few other teachers, Mrs. Weasley and the Grangers.

At the portrait of the fat lady, the assembled adults could hear screaming coming from the common room. McGonagall quickly gave the password to the Fat Lady and walked through the portrait hole only to receive a pillow in the stomach, knocking her over and into a chair by the entrance.

The common room was covered in feathers. In the center of the common room, back to back were the Weasley twins, each wielding two pillows and keeping a small circle of students from varying years at bay. Apparently a few students had seen this as the perfect occasion to get even with the pranksters for years pranks.

In the stairs to the boys dormitory, Seamus Finigan and Dean Thomas were having a duel. By the entrance to the the girls dormitory, Neville Longbottom was fighting off both Ron and Hermione and all three were thumping any girl who tried to run from a boy by going up the girls staircase.

Sitting on a chair looking exhausted was Percy Weasley.

Apparently every single Gryffindor student had been somehow dragged into the pillow fight.

Finally someone noticed the teachers and parents standing, or in the case of professor McGonagall sitting, by the portrait hole and quickly a nervous quiet settled in the common room, spreading up the stairs with a whisper.

Harry, who had been sneaking up on Percy unawares, looked up at the assembled adults and then at the disaster that was the common room.

Percy quickly stood up and strode towards the assembled authority figures while the other students attempted to hide any incriminating evidence. This was of course a futile attempt as the whole room looked like a winter landscape.

"Professor, Headmaster. I am glad to see you all. I tried to calm them down, I tried to tell them there would be trouble for this but would they listen?" Percy started pompously.

The other heads of house were trying very hard not to start laughing at the state of Gryffindor tower while the headmaster was smiling brightly. Mrs. Weasley was giving the twins a glare, that could most likely burn through wood, obviously thinking the twins had been at the root of this mischief.

Minerva McGonagall looked at the assembled students quickly.

"Who is responsible for this chaos?"

"I am professor. I started it." Harry answered coming forward.

"We are professor, It was Ron, Harry and I who attacked Neville in the dorm and well, everything just snowballed from there."

"Very well Miss Granger. Five points each to Gryffindor for helping student morale."

Everyone looked up at this. They were being given points for causing a mess?

"But," continued the Transfiguration teacher "I expect you, Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley to clean up this mess and repair all the pillows before you go down for supper. Now everyone else should head down and get something to eat before the tables are cleared."

And so ended the "Great Gryffindor pillow fight of 1992".

The following days passed on quickly. Hermione's parents returned to their practice and Mrs. Weasley returned to the Burrow.

Ginny had replied to Harry's letter quickly with suggestions on how to convince Hermione's parents to let her stay but by then it was no longer needed. Things returned to a quiet routine of classes, Quidditch practice and homework with nary a dark wizard in sight.

Classes were once again very easy now that Harry could concentrate fully on the class instead of constantly struggle against an invading mind. Well all classes except potions.

Severus Snape had changed somewhat. The potions master was still horrible to Harry and his friends but coupled with his unreasonable hatred of Harry was also curiosity. On a few occasions, the potions master had attacked Harry's defenses during class only to quickly retreat, as if testing his defenses. Every time would be the similar.

The potions master hovered between the tables as the students worked diligently at their potions. Harry was paired with Ron while Hermione had volunteered to partner with Neville. Harry, Hermione, Seamus and Pavarti had all volunteered to alternate with poor Neville who had apparently no aptitude in potions.

The potion, if one simply followed the instructions on the board, was incredibly difficult. Thankfully Harry had Silias explaining the why of each step as he and Ron went about creating the potion. Harry would share some of this information with Ron as they went along.

"Ok, so we need to lower the heat on the potion. Since this is actually a paste, we have to let it simmer on a low heat so it thickens. That's also part of the reason we added the two Ashwinder eggs." Harry passed on to Ron after Silias had finished explaining. "The eggs help the paste thicken and since this is a burn paste, the Ashwinder eggs will help with healing the burns by drawing the heat into the paste."

Under Silias's tutelage, potions made so much more sense. Snape did not bother explaining the why of the steps and only expected the students to memorize the steps themselves.

"Mate, you sound like Hermione when you do that. How did you learn so much about potions?" Ron commented. He was rather happy to have both Harry and Hermione helping him with his school work.

"My parents, they left me a lot of information in a trunk. They wanted to be sure I was prepared." replied Harry. It was after all true, the information was in Silias and Silias had been in the trunk.

Potions, of course was the only class in which Harry showed what he could really do and even then only in the context of the material that was being taught. The reason for this was professor Snape's teaching method ... or lack thereof. Without Harry's and Hermione's careful explanations of the brewing process, the Gryffindors would be hard pressed to pass the class.

The fact that Harry was good at potions apparently annoyed the potion masters to no end.

"Mr. Potter. This is not a social hour but a classroom. You shall keep your chattering strictly out of my classroom or you shall receive a zero for the class! Is that clear?"

Harry and Ron both jumped at the voice of the potion master. They had not noticed him creep up on them. In his surprise, Harry forgot the first rule of Occlumency: Avoid Eye Contact.

Instantly, Harry felt a presence pushing into his mind. He calmed his thoughts and formed the white walls of his defenses. Instantly, the classroom faded from sight and Harry found himself in the blank landscape of his mind. The presence stalked at the edge of the wall seeking a weakness. There was no pressure, simply the knowledge of a presence lurking beyond the safety of the walls of his mind. Apparently finding no weaknesses, the professor retreated from Harry's mind and stalked away.

'We really must improve on your defenses. We need you to be conscious of your surroundings while defending yourself.'

Harry did not bother replying and simply returned to the task at hand.

The week went on and Harry found himself in front , yet again, of the headmasters office. The headmaster had sent Harry a note during lunch asking for his presence that evening.

Before he could even knock on the door a voice greeted him.

"Come in Mr. Potter, come in."

Harry opened the door and noticed that the headmaster was not alone in the room. Present were Kingsley Shaklebolt; a tired looking man with a kindly face and a few scars, his sandy hair appeared peppered with gray and finally, sitting in a chair, was the man who had haunted his dreams: Sirius Black.

How Harry knew that the man before him was his godfather was a mystery. He had seen this mans face in his dreams over the past few weeks but it was impossible, he had never met the man. More accurately he had no proper recollection of the man. The last time he would have seen him, he would have been one year old.

Harry sat heavily in his usual chair and stared silently at his godfather. The man looked almost exactly as he had in his dreams. Maybe a bit cleaner and better fed but everything else was accurate down to the gray eyes.

A hand on his shoulder brought Harry out of his stunned state.

"Are you alright dear boy?" asked the headmaster with concern.

"Yeah ..." replied Harry. Then with more confidence "Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, we have been trying to get your attention for the past five minutes." laughed the headmaster.

"Right ... sorry."

The assembled adults laughed.

"Well, I believe I will start the introductions over as Mr. Potter, the only person for whom these introductions matter, was somewhat distracted." this was said in a kindly voice.

"I believe you already know Mr. Shaklebolt."

Kingsley gave Harry a happy wave.

"And this is Remus Lupin. An old friend of your mother and father."

"Moony?" Harry whispered.

Sirius and Remus looked stunned.

"How did you know Harry?" asked the tired looking man.

"My parents left me some journals about their lives."

"And I'm Sirius Black." said the dark haired man with a flourish.

"Padfoot?"

"That's right pup."

They all sat in silence for a time.

"Mr. Shaklebolt, perhaps we could go to the kitchens and get ourselves some hot chocolate? I do not believe that our presence here is required." asked the headmaster in his grandfatherly way.

Kingsley, on his part, looked unsure.

"I'm not supposed to leave them alone ..."

"I did not suggest you do. Fawkes will remain to watch over Mr. Potter, he has grown rather fond of him over the past school year, and so will Mr. Lupin. Now Mr. Black, I have your word you will not try to abscond with Mr. Potter while we are away?"

The man in question simply rolled his eyes at the headmaster.

Taking that as an affirmative, the headmaster left with the auror.

"So kiddo. Uhm, I guess I should introduce myself properly. I'm Sirius Black. I was like a brother to your dad. My family didn't like me much, at all really, and him and his parents took me in when I ran off from my folks. I was best man at your parents wedding and ..." here the man hesitated for a moment "... they made me your godfather."

Sirius finished and looked to Harry expectantly.

"Well, feels kind of silly doing this but ... I'm Harry Potter and really you know who I am and all. There's nothing much to say. I'm just Harry." Harry finished lamely.

An awkward silence filled the air.

"Ok, I guess I'll have a go at this then." pipped in Remus Lupin. "I'm Remus Lupin. I was a good friend of your father and this miscreant sitting there." he said pointing to Sirius.

"Oy! I resemble that remark." replied Sirius, with fake indignation.

"Come on now Sirius, you and James were the only two male students to ever make it into the girls dormitory. That officially makes you a miscreant and might also qualify you for the title of rabble-rouser."

"And who helped us research the spells to get around the protections?"

"Well, it was either that or let you and James try to fly up the stairs on your brooms. You would have broken your necks."

'They're just like Ron and Hermione.' Harry thought to himself.

"You have no faith in our flying abilities." replied Sirius with a huff.

"Oh no. I had complete faith in your ability to crash." replied Remus with a chuckle.

They quieted down for a time.

"So Harry, how's about you tell us a bit more about yourself? I heard you have a bit of the Marauder streak in you. Sneaking off to Diagon Alley and all that." Sirius asked.

"Well, what do you want to know?" Harry really didn't know where to start. He very rarely spoke about himself.

"Well, I heard that you are an extraordinary flier. How about telling us about Quiditch?" suggested Remus.

So Harry told them all about Quidditch, how he had been selected for the team.

"... so I go to McGonagall's office thinking I'm going to be punished. She invites me in and then tells me 'We are simply waiting for wood to begin.'. And I'm thinking she's waiting for a paddle or a switch or something. Then she offers me tea and I start wondering if she's gone insane. Who offers someone their about to paddle, tea? Eventually someone knocked on the door and Oliver WOOD comes in. I relax a bit thinking I'm not going to get a paddling and she introduces me to Wood. 'Oliver, I would like to introduce you to your new seeker.'. I spat out my tea I was so surprised."

The two adults laughed hard. Sirius's laugh was a strong barking laugh while Remus's was long, deep chuckle.

"I got a tryout the next evening and made the team." Harry had finished the story. He was not very comfortable with talking about himself but this was one of the few things he didn't mind gloating about.

Remus looked to his wristwatch. "Our time here is almost done Harry. Sirius, I'll leave you two alone for a few minutes and then we have to go."

Turning to Harry. "It was nice meeting you Harry. Maybe we'll have a chance to chat again soon?"

"I'd like that Mr. Lupin."

"Please, call me Remus Harry."

With that Remus Lupin left the office leaving Harry alone with his godfather.

"Well kiddo, there are a few things we need to talk about. First I'd like to thank you for getting those solicitors for me. They made things go a lot faster." Here he paused as if gathering his thoughts.

"I already told you how your parents made me your godfather. I'm sorry I failed you, I'm sorry I let my hate for the traitor take me away from Godric's Hollow and from you. Anyways, I'd like to invite you to come live with me."

"Live with you?" asked Harry with surprise.

Apparently Sirius misunderstood the reaction. " I'd understand if you don't want to .."

"When can I move in? Do you have a house?" cut in an ecstatic Harry.

Sirius laughed hard this time and tears were running down his cheeks.

"Yes, I do have a house. It hasn't been lived in in a while so I'll need to fix it up before you can move in. I'd rather not live there since it was my parents house but, well my family was a bit paranoid so it's heavily protected. Albus said we would have to take extra precautions for your safety and privacy. I'm currently living with Moony while we work things out. Now, as to when you can move in well we have a problem there. I was in Azkaban for a long time and most people go insane there so the ministry wants me to go through some therapy and then an evaluation before they allow me to take custody of you. So not this summer but you should be able to come and spend the Christmas holls with me and move in over the next summer."

"And maybe, only if you want of course, maybe you could come and visit me at the Weasleys when I go there for the summer? Mrs. Weasley invited me over for the summer but I have to go back to the Dursleys for a bit."

"I'll ask Molly but I don't think there would be much of a problem."

They sat there for a few more minutes, sipping tea until the others returned.

"As you can see Kingsley, Mr. Black did not kidnap Mr. Potter and he was left almost entirely alone with him." said the headmaster with some humour.

"Sorry Black, just doing my job you know."

"It's alright Kinglsey." Sirius turned back to Harry.

"Well pup, I gotta go. I'll see if we can't arrange a few more visits like this and I'll talk to Molly and see what we can do for the summer. Take care of yourself and try to have some fun alright?"

Harry simply nodded.

Sirius and Remus left for Remus's home while Shaklebolt left for the ministry.

The headmaster sat down around the small table, across from Harry. Fawkes flew over to harry and nipped his hand gently to get Harry to pet him.

"Did you enjoy the visit Mr. Potter?" asked the headmaster.

"It was a bit of a shock. I didn't know what to expect. Why was Mr. Shaklebolt there?"

"The ministry has asked that the first few visits from your godfather be supervised. It's not that they believe he would cause you harm but they are worried for your safety non the less. Sirius appears rather sane but he has episodes sometimes, flashbacks if you will. I have been told that they will pass in time but during these flashbacks he may say or do things that are disturbing and potentially harmful. Also, Sirius has always been somewhat rash and he was not happy with the ministry's decision to withhold his rights as a guardian."

Harry sat there for a few moments thinking this over.

"They're afraid he would take me away?"

"Yes. But I believe that Sirius known that he is not yet ready to take care of a child."

Harry gave the headmaster a rebellious look.

"You still are a child Harry, enjoy it while you can. A time will come when you yearn for the simpler days of your youth a time when it was perfectly acceptable to attack others with pillows."